Upon Collision

“Chippy!” Frank called once he stepped through the door.
“Oh chao bro! I didn’t think you’d come visit me.” Chippy beamed at him. Frank just sighed, and walked into the next room where he knew Chippy would be.
“Save it. You know what I’m here for.” Chippy shrugged, feigning innocence.
“Not a clue.”

“What the hell man! You don’t just go off buying cell phones and dropping them in my possession and then call me in the middle of school! What if I was in class?”
Chippy spun around on his chair, facing away from one of the many computers and held up one hand.

“First things first. I knew you weren’t in class. Your school breaks into extra-curricular actives at half past one, so don’t try that card. Secondly, you don’t just destroy a phone that I paid for!”
Frank removed some old t-shits that were on a stool nearby and sat on it.
“Chippy you can easily manipulate a banks security and get cash, so don’t complain about that.” Chippy sighed and turned back to the computers.
“Look Frank, I don’t enjoy this thing much more than you do. I paid for that cell with MY money. I don’t do robberies. I’m only a computer tech, and I’m not that low. And thirdly-“
“Okay. Whatever I’ve had enough, just talk about something else.”

Chippy stared at Frank, who dropped his head, with a bland expression. “And thirdly, G9 contacted me.” Frank’s head shot up so fast you could hear the ‘pop’ in his neck. Chippy just continued while typing on the main computer. “Since you denied that little ‘job’-“
“Whoa. I am NOT risking my life just to show my presence and scare a bunch of small fry.”
“Would you stop cutting me off!”
“Sorry.”
“Yes. As I was saying, G9 sent instructions. You are to send a message to the investigation unit as Ghost. I’ll hack into the live feeds for the television stations and broad cast you. Don’t worry, when I modified you helmet I installed a voice morpher so you’d be fine. Just get changed.”

“How did you get my helm-…you were in my apartment!” Frank couldn’t believe it. This guy was something else. Chippy pointed to a black bag on the floor, which Frank presumed was his Ghost outfit.
“I’ll be back.” And with that, Chippy got up and left.
Frank quickly changed and picked up his helmet. He knew that once he put this helmet on his head, he would no longer be Frank Iero, but he would be the Ghost that everyone feared. A killer. A filthy criminal. A pawn, only to be used by Commander G9, because he owed his life to that man. So no matter how much he hated the life he lived now, he was still a mere tool. Frank cursed under his breath and put the mask on, and with it, putting on a different aura; a dark aura of anger and hatred.

Chippy came into the room and sighed. “Frank…” Frank took off the helmet.
“I-I really don’t like this. Can’t we do something else with our lives.” Chippy frowned and so did Frank. “I’m 16 and I’ve never been to school. I- I just-“ Frank cut him off with a hug.
“I understand buddy, and I feel the same way. But we owe our lives to Commander G. You know that. Let’s just get it over with.” Chippy hugged him back and they let go. Chippy set up the camera and the mic while Ghost went over the script that G9 had sent.
Chippy went around all his computers doing…something. It was sort of hard to tell which one he was at considering he had about 6 or 7 computers that covered the wall.

“Alright Ghost you’re on in 5…4…3…2...” Chippy pointed at him signaling his time to begin and then turned his attention to the camera screen. They had set up a plain, grey background and Ghost sat on the stool and began reciting the lines.

“Skip the pleasantries.” His voice came out deep and computerized, venomous and just plain menacing. “I…am Ghost. This is a message to everyone; everywhere in the hearing of my voice…Fear me! I have plans, to set this world straight on the right path of justice. Anyone who stands in my way of making this world a better place will be eliminated.” He paused for effect.

“The Minister of Works and Transport was murdered, not by me, but by the Minister of Finance himself. That’s why they both met their ends. This world has found itself trapped in an ever spiraling whirlwind of karma, doom and hatred. I have taken it upon myself to put my life on the line to do the job that everyone else neglects. I am offering my assistance to the police and other officials to make this world a better place. I am willing to co-operate with you.
However, if you do not agree with my methods of justice, then stand aside. I will not falter and I will not fail.”

His little speech was over and Chippy cut the stream. Ghost waited for a few minutes before getting off the stool and walking into the next room. He sighed and plopped himself down on a couch while Chippy walked up to him and gave him a sympathetic smile.
……………

Frank sat around moping for the rest of the weekend, not even bothering with homework. He needed rest, and by the looks of it, this week was going to be busy. After one deep breath and a mental push, Frank managed to drag himself off of his couch and stretch his muscles a bit, stifling a yawn.

He slumped his way into the simple kitchen of his also simple apartment, to put a cup of coffee to brew. He slumped over the kitchen counter, closing his eyes as he waited for the coffee to finish. ‘What a simple yet complicated life’ he thought. Here at ‘home’ he was a lame 17 year old boy, with no friends, no parents and little money. But when the time comes, he’s the most prized killer, with a team of accomplices to watch his back and a little ‘brother’.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The loud beep of the coffee machine alerted him to the fact that he needed to get his butt moving. He cherished the warmth of the cup of liquid gold, and he inhaled deeply the scent of the freshly brewed coffee, savoring each mouthful. By the time the coffee was done, Frank was fully awake. He glanced over at the clock…. 11:46. He took this as his cue to head on into the bathroom and take a shower.

Despite being a teenage boy, Frank was trained and prided himself in discipline and cleanliness, so his laundry was always done, rooms were well kept, the wares were washed and the floors were moped. He didn’t lack one bit in that aspect.

After a quick, 3 minute shower, Frank got dressed in a sweatpants and a grey t-shirt that he cut the arms out of and geared himself with a sweat band for his head and wrists, a mini-towel, a bottle of water and his cell phone. Time to hit the gym.

Promptly at noon, Frank was running treadmills and pumping iron, adding a few push-ups, pull-ups, crunches and squats here and there, to keep up with his fitness. After an intense two hour work-out, he grabbed his stuff and began the 10 minute jog back to his apartment. He received a few winks from teenage girls and even a few guys on his way back, nothing he wasn’t accustomed to.

As he was passing a flower shop, he caught a glimpse of Stephanie in a bakery store across the road, standing behind the counter with a bright smile, leaning forward to give a little girl a lollipop. He found himself slowing down and staring in awe at her simplicity, and yet she was more beautiful than any Cover Girl.
He gaped at the way her blonde ponytail shook behind her head with every slight movement.He stood there, dumbfounded, watching her as she bustled about her business, handing out pastries to old couples, dealing with demanding teenagers and crying babies.

A tall male shoving into him by accident on the side walk shook him back to reality, and it only took him a moment to realize that his mouth was wide open an was staring at Stephanie. In a spit second he was crossing the road to talk to her. All of a sudden a knot began to form in his stomach as he neared her location, his mouth ran dry and he became self-conscious of the way he was looked or smelled, but he kept walking, mainly because he was in the middle of the
road.

He stood at the entrance, but she didn’t notice him. Instead, she was frantically searching all over for something while a hand rested on her neck. Whatever it was, it had to be really small and really precious. The way she padded around behind the counter with a worried expression on her face, flushed cheeks and glassy eyes said it all. Frank let his eye wander around to see if he could find anything that looked like it might be hers, but by the time he looked back up, she was already whispering to another employee and heading out the “Employees Only” door.

Frank sighed and turned to leave, but a small glimmer caught his attention. He spun around and looked in the general direction of the shiny object. There, on the floor of the shop, right in front of the cash register, was a gold necklace.

It consisted of a single, thin gold chain that sported a blue sapphire stone. Without a second thought, Frank waltz right up to the cashier and ducked, picking up the object in one smooth move before passing it off as if he dropped his phone.

“Uh..hi.” He greeted the attendant. The boy who now stood as a replacement for Stephanie watched him with an unimpressed, poker face.
“Good day, how may I help you?” Frank just sighed.
“You guys got cigarettes?” The young man looked at him with a confused and still unimpressed and tired expression.
“This is a Bakery.” He stretched the ‘bakery’ as if trying for it to soak into Frank’s mind. Frank just shook his head.
”Yeh…wadev. Laters.” He threw a casual wave over his shoulder as he left, winking at a few girls who were sat in a corner before disappearing into the traffic.
……………

Brriiiiiiiiinnngg!!!
The school bell rang as Frank got a few books out of his locker. Information technology, first two periods then straight into a single maths period. He cared for neither. Slamming the door shut, he turned to hear a distant voice calling, more like screaming, his name.

“Fraaank!” He scanned the crowd until his eyes met with the dark-haired boy whose eyes lit up immediately. Gerard was running through the halls, dodging students to get to him, and on instinct, Frank immediately turned the opposite direction, ducked his head, and began walking. “Fraaaank! Hey! Frank!” Mumbling and complaining, as well as apologies, could be heard behind him as the voice neared.

“Oi! Frank!” Gerard tapped Frank’s shoulder and grinned at him. “Oh hey there Gerard! What’s up!” Frank returned the smile, though his was less enthusiastic as Gerard’s. “Nothing much. Just wondering..where’s the Information Technology class?” He asked scanning over his schedulewith a bewildered expression. Aah f*ck me!
“In the Information Technology Lab.” Frank answered nonchalantly and began walking to class.

Gerard just tagged along, a lot more collected than he was a few minutes ago.
“And where is the Information Technology Lab?” Frank sighed.
“You can just call it I.T. Lab? And uhh, I’ve got that class now let’s just go. The teacher can be a bit of a weirdo.” Gerard smirked and mumbled softly, ”anybody to you can be a bit of a weirdo.”

“That, my friend, is true.” Gerard just smiled wider as they headed off to the lab, which wasn’t too far away.
“Oh and by the way?” Gerard said, pausing as he pushed open the lab door.
“Yeah?”
“I knew you saw me running down that hall.” They both entered the lab with a smirk on their faces.
……………

“Hey Steph!” Gerard greeted as he and Frank entered the cafeteria for lunch. Turns out they have the same classes for the day. Hopefully tomorrow would be different. Stephanie was sitting at an empty table with her head resting on her hands, food barely touched, but she looked up and smiled as she greeted Frank and Gerard. “
Steph?” She enquired, to which Gerard just laughed.
“I’m fine guys, how are you?” Frank could tell something was bothering her.

Gerard probably caught on as well, because they both stood there giving her this ‘tell-me-what’s-wrong’ look and she just ducked her head and sighed.

“I lost something, is all.” She said sadly. Frank then remembered the necklace he found as he and Gerard took their seats across from her.
“It’s ok. You’d get it back.” Gerard comforted. Frank on the other hand reached into his pocket for his wallet where he remembered putting the item.

“Uh…Stephanie?” She looked up at him. “Gimme your hand and close your eyes.” She watched him confused, but complied anyway. That was one thing Frank always admired about her, the way she would so easily trust him, something he could never do. But he did trust Stephanie, to an extent. They weren’t exactly close, but they’d hang out now and then.

Frank placed the necklace into Stephanie’s hand carefully, then commanded her to open her eyes. She gasped. “Oh Frank!” Stephanie jumped out her seat and ran to Frank’s side and hugged him with tears in her eyes. “Where’d you…I can’t even. Omigosh! Ithoughti’dlostit!”Frank just chuckled and hugged her back.

“Oh good it’s yours.” He sat her down and patted her hair and she sniffled and clutched the necklace to her chest. Finally she turned to him.
“Where’d you find it?”
He shrugged, not wanting to make much of a deal of it.
“I was jogging home from gym yesterday and I saw you in that bakery store you work at, you looked like you were looking for something. By the time I crossed the road to talk to you, you disappeared out back. I saw it on the floor and picked it up, guessing it was yours by the way you were clutching you neck like you wanted to rip your throat out!” She giggled. She turned as Frank took the necklace and put it around her neck.

“You’re such a drama queen when you’re ready, I wasn’t that flustered.”
“Really?” Frank raised an eyebrow. “You were like a fish out of water.”
She gazed off at nothing in particular. “I suppose I was.” They got quiet as Frank finished clipping the necklace and gently smoothed her hair out of it's hold and down her back.

Gerard cleared his throat. They completely forgot about him being there. “Oh hi Gerard!” Stephanie greeted again. He just smiled and laughed,
“Hi Stephanie! What’s the big deal with the necklace anyway.” She frowned a little, but quickly smiled.

“My dad gave it to me when I was a little girl…for my birthday. It was my great-grandmother’s. He kept it after she died, and I’m his only daughter so he gave it to me. It’s even more of a big-deal now because he’s not around.”

Gerard looked shocked, but Frank knew from before. “He’s a police officer. He usually works on the road, body-guarding, stuff like that, and he has to work extra hours these days, so I don’t get to see him that often.”

“Oh.” Was all Gerard could say, but he didn’t have to say much again because the principal’s voice boomed over the intercom.
“All students please head to the main auditorium for the live viewing of the funeral of our late Minister of Finance…” Frank couldn’t help but notice how Gerard tensed a little, but chose to ignore it as students were flooding in and out of the cafeteria. “All students please make your way to the main auditorium for the live viewing of the funeral of out late Minister of Finance.”

Frank sighed and he and Stephanie made their way, amongst other students, to the main auditorium. As they took their seats, a helicopter could be heard landing on the school roof, nothing out of the ordinary… for other students, but Frank knew it wasn’t exactly right. He was sure there was supposed to be something official set-up when it came to using the school’s helicopter platform, but he made nothing much of it.

“Hey…”He whispered to Stephanie beside him. “..think you’ll see your dad?” She shrugged. “Dunno. Where’s Gerard?” Really, where was Gerard? Frank looked around him and shrugged, “Dunno…probably got lost among the zombies in this school, you know the idiot.” She giggled a little, and Frank relaxed into the chair.
……………

“Moving along, we would like to welcome to the platform, a young man who…” Frank looked around some more getting slightly nervous. Where was Gerard? He just had this weird feeling that something huge was going to happen. It was an odd feeling and he had no idea what it was about or why, but he just had this weird feeling.

“…He is the son of our nation’s Minister of National Security and he is experienced beyond his years, assisting his father in bringing many of the nation’s most ruthless criminals to justice. We believe he is fit to handle the task assigned him.” Frank yawned, getting bored of the introduction. Just bring the douche bag on already.

“He is in charge of leading the investigations into the recent assassinations of our leaders, and we trust him to bring us a little closer to revealing the identity of ‘Ghost.’”

Few people in the auditorium sat up in their seats to this news. Now this piqued Frank’s interest. He was interested to know who the guy was. The last one they put, he just murdered the guy. He was old anyway and bound to meet death soon, so why not a few years earlier. Who was going to try and stop him now…he was curious to know.

“Please welcome to the platform, the young and talented, Mr. Gerard Way.” Everyone watched silently as a young man with slightly over-grown, yet neatly brushed dark hair, a shy, yet confident expression and decked in a neatly pressed and sharp looking tuxedo, made his way to the podium.

What!? Gasps and murmurs arose around the auditorium as Gerard made his way to the platform and cleared his throat. Stephanie turned in her seat and gaped at Frank with an open mouth and wide eyes. Frank however stayed glued to the spot. Why was Gerard standing at the podium?

Why did he have a speech in his hand?
WHEN did he get there?
WHAT?!

Notes

So chapter two is up..Sorry, i actually uploaded it yesterday, but then I took it down to edit it. So i may change my update days to Sundays or Saturday nights. Please Vote, Rate, Subscribe, Comment. And tell a friend :) Thanks ever!
~xXSleepingBulletsXx