A Chance to Trust (YJ/DP)

-17- Tick Tock

Amorpho's feathers quivered as the threatening gun trained on him moved closer.

"I said, who are you working double agent for?!" The ghost zone's greatest hunter asked-er, demanded. Amorpho took in a shuddered breath, he might as well spill the beans.

"Fine," Skulker lowered his gun but kept it charged, Johnny glanced from side to side. They were in a forest of some sort, Amorpho was covered in a dusty layer of dirt and the air was salty. He figured they were somewhere near the ocean, probably near the mountain he had just escaped from.

"I've been delivering information from the GIW to Martian Manhunter."

Johnny blinked a few times while Skulker nearly dropped his gun in surprise.

"A Martian? What-? How the-?" Skulker tried to ask but he was so stunned the words didn't come out right. Amorpho hopped to his scaly feet, shaking off the dust from his dark feathers. He would have changed forms but the collar around his neck kept him in whatever form the GIW wanted him to be in.

"He's staked himself out in the Ghost Zone, right outside the GIW prison." Amorpho explained, "The first time I met him was a complete accident but once he knew what was going on he said he could help free the ghosts. So I jumped at the chance, I've been relaying all the information I get from the GIW to him."

"This Martian Manhunter is part of the Justice League right?" Skulker asked, he liked to know his enemies and potential friends, in case they became enemies.

"Yeah, but as far as I know the League didn't send him." Amorpho shrugged. Johnny was scanning his surroundings again, no doubt checking to see if they were being spied on. His shirt was ragged and dusty, his usual dirty blonde hair was nearly black. His boots had mud stains on them, like he'd been trudging around in a swamp for days.

"How did you guys escape?" Amorpho asked, despite his time crunch.

"We were never caught in the first place. I am the greatest ghost hunter in the ghost zone, I know my way around traps set specifically for ghosts." Skulker said with boastful pride, but there was truth in his words, he knew all the ins and outs of ghost traps.

"I was in the human realm when they attacked, ran into Skulker and we decided to stick together for safety. Soon all the ghosts started disappearing, I hear they have Clockwork now." Johnny said, his arms folded and a small frown on his face.

"Is Ember and Kitty with you?" Amorho asked, he may not be a well known ghost but he knew well of others. Skulker seemed to deflate and Johnny winced.

"Kitty is back at our base with our other friends." He trailed off, Amorpho picked up on the depressing atmosphere. "Ember... Ember didnt make it."

Amorpho blinked. So far no one had been killed yet, to his knowledge. knowledge that has now been updated. He looked to Skulker, his normally cocky, egotistic manner had changed. His fiery green hair had tamed, his shoulders slumped and he stared down into the dirt. No doubt lost in thought.

"She saved us all..." Skulker said in a very un-Skulker like way, in a whisper. Johnny saw Amorpho's confusion and decided to elaborate.

"We were hiding out in Wisconsin, we didn't know Vlad had turned. He attacked, Ember decided to stay back to give the rest of us a fighting chance. Skulker watched as that ectoplasmic waste of space tore her core out, and crushed it in his hands."

"Because of her sacrifice we are here today, I will not let her sacrifice be wasted." Skulker said with surprising resolve, his jaw set and fists clenched. "We will fight back, find a way to rid the ghost zone of the GIW. Johnny heard that there was another halfa, a younger one, not yet rotten. The little whelp will help us defeat the GIW, weather he wants to or not."