Vlad Masters' Mansion, Wisconsin
The silence in Vlad Masters' study was disturbed by the soft crackle of the fireplace and the faint hum of hidden machinery. The billionaire reclined in his leather chair, a crystal glass of wine swirling in his hand, his attention half on a corporate merger proposal.
A soft, insistent chime cut through the peace.
Vlad's eyes went towards a seemingly blank section of wall. A holographic screen flickered to life, displaying a complex energy map of the continental United States. His brow furrowed. A single, sharp spike of energy had flared on the map over Amity Park. It was a clean, artificial signature—a precise, controlled tear in reality—before it vanished moments later.
"A stable portal signature," he murmured. He tapped his fingers, an intrigued smile spreading across his face. This was not the chaotic, explosive failure of the Fentons' usual experiments. This was different. It was cleaner and more intentional. And the signature disappeared almost immediately, like a door being carefully opened and shut.
His first assumption was that Jack and Maddie had finally, miraculously, succeeded. But the signature's brief, controlled nature felt… off. Their style was brute force and lingering radiation, not controlled precision.
"Interesting," he whispered to the empty, opulent room. "What are you up to, my old friends? Or is someone else playing with doors they shouldn't?"
It wasn't an immediate threat. It was an amusing mystery. He made a mental note to schedule a "spontaneous" visit to Amity Park soon. A check-in on dear, departed colleagues' families was only polite, after all. And it presented a perfect opportunity to investigate this new energy signature up from close.
Elmerton - Kael's Room
A deep, resonating cold had taken root in Kael's chest, a constant reminder of the price of survival. Lying in bed, he focused on assessing the damage. The hairline fracture in his core was a leaky faucet, steadily draining his power. At his current rate, natural healing would take half a year. Time was a luxury he didn't have. He needed to explore the zone and to recover to his peak power. He had a powerful enemy who saw the portal. Both his and the portals safety is now compromised. Skulker was out there looking for him.
He needed a solution. His mind fueled by desperation, raced through his parents' research, the Fentons' theories, and his own experience in the Ghost Zone.
The answer came to him like a jolt. The ambient energy of the Ghost Zone itself is the answer to his problem. It had accelerated his stamina recovery slightly while he was there. If he could harness that raw, dimensional power and channel it into a concentrated field his recovery time could be reduce a lot.
He sat upright, and grabbed his notebook. Drawings began to spill onto the page—a Recovery Chamber. It would use his repaired portal as a direct power source, siphoning ecto-energy from the Ghost Zone into a focused containment field. He wouldn't just be resting; he'd be passively absorbing energy to increase his core's healing. Kael did not know, was it because of time travel or because of his good genes. The original body is a genius in tech and research. It saved him a lot of trouble in doing his planning and building things.
Kael completed the design. The design was complex, the power requirements enormous. But the principle was sound. If it worked, he could reduce his recovery from months to weeks.
There was only one place to build it: the Veyne mansion basement.
Kael thought of a feasible idea. He would tell his aunt he was spending the summer vacation in Amity Park, to visit old friends and sort through his parents' belongings. It was a perfect, logical cover.
But recovery was only one part of his trouble. His encounter with Skulker had proven that raw power was meaningless without the right tools. While his ghostly abilities were stuck for now, his human mind was not. He needed to bridge the gap with technology.
He opened a new page: Project: Hunter. The goal: to design and build a prototype hunter suit and gear within six months—technology that could allow a skilled human to rival a B-tier ghost.
His blueprint was ambitious but grounded:
An Ecto-Reactor (100 EU capacity) with passive recharge and swappable power cells.
Wrist-Mounted Blasters with variable output settings (5-50 EU/shot).
Containment Orbs (25 EU/deployment) for capture, not just dispersal.
A front-facing Energy Shield (10 EU/10 sec).
A Thruster-Assisted Hoverboard for mobility (5 EU/min).
A HUD Googles with energy tracking, ghost proximity alerts, and targeting assist.
(EU is the smallest packet of ecto-energy unit the tech can draw).
The limitations were serious: high energy drain, prototype unreliability, and a strict need for tactical efficiency. He wouldn't be a one-man army; he'd be a hunter who had to make every shot, every shield activation, count. But for now, this is enough. He will work to increase the efficiency in the future.
The next few days became a grueling pivot. His ghost training was reduced to basic maintenance of his injured core. Instead, his focus shifted.
Mornings were for academics, but now with purpose. He devoured online courses on electrical engineering, capacitor design, and exotic energy storage. Evenings in the library were spent on material science texts, studying polymers and lightweight composites for armor and containment systems.
In his makeshift basement gym, combat training intensified. He practiced drills with a modified paintball gun, simulating quick-draw aim and leading moving targets. His training in the master Feng's academy is also increasing his combat efficiency. He began sketching the mechanics for a compact net launcher, thinking about deployment angles and fail-safes. He was building the foundation not just for gadgets, but also for the skill to use them.
When the summer vacation finally came, Kael approached his aunt. "Aunt Claire, I've been thinking… I'd like to spend the summer in Amity Park. I haven't visited them for months since I came here. I have now settled down in Emerton. Now, I want to see Jazz and Danny, and to properly go through my parents' lab. I feel like it's the right time."
Aunt Claire's eyes softened with understanding. "I think that's a very healthy idea, Kael. A summer to visit friends. Of course you can go there. But promise you will take care of yourself."
Two days later, a car dropped him off at the silent, majestic Veyne mansion. As the door clicked shut behind him, the grieving nephew's posture straightened. His eyes, once shadowed with sadness, now glinted with determined calculation.
He descended into the basement. The portal hummed quietly, a dormant beast of potential. Kael ran a hand over its cool metal frame.
"Time to get to work," he said, his voice echoing in the silent, subterranean room. The summer of creation had begun. His first stop tomorrow would be Fenton Works—to see the Fentons and to casually examine the latest prototypes of the only other people on Earth who understood ghost-tech. Every piece of their ingenuity was a valuable asset he intended to use.