Vic was about to rush over to aid the Grey Ghost when a vestige of someone familiar stopped them.
"Wait... why are you... how are you..."
The vestige of Patricia May smiled at Vic. "I know you want to help him, but this is something he must overcome by himself." Vic nodded slowly as Patricia looked at them.
"But he's in pain! Isn't there anything I can do?"
Patricia nodded, "Yes. As of now, I am tethered to you. Get me close enough for them to speak to them." Vic nods and rushes towards them. Cheryl and her daughter raise their weapons, only for Patricia to appear.
"Mom..." Said Scott in disbelief.
"Be quiet." She commanded. She looked at Cheryl, her granddaughter and son, then spoke. "You have hurt him too much. You've all gone too far this time..." Patricia looked down and clenched her spirit fist. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Suddenly, the Grey Ghost's eyes snap locked onto Patricia. As she was a vestige, he could mentally communicate with her.
"Your son has a simple message for me to deliver to you."
"Oh? Now what might that be?" Sneered Cheryl.
"What happens next... what is to transpire... is all on you." As she stopped speaking her vestige seemingly vanished. What they didn't see was Patricia breaking the mind control hold on the Grey Ghost, and unlocking the link between that voice within his soul and his mind. "Grandma will always love you." She said, just before the vestige was impaled by Cheryl.
As Mike Brisson broadcasted everything across the US, Vic's eyes widened in horror. Nolan and Liam were all in complete shock. For the first time, Cheryl's true nature was on full display for everyone to see. They all now saw the Ghost's mother as the narcissistic, abusive monster she was.
"Any last words, Pat?" Asked Cheryl smirking.
"Yeah... Do you remember the bad robot from that show my grandson used to watch?"
Cheryl glared at her. "Yeah, what about it?"
As Patricia faded away, she pointed her finger to something behind Cheryl. As she turned around, everyone, including Cheryl, watched as the Ghost slammed his fist through his father's chest, and then they all watched as he absorbed his life force... Entirely.
"This... Is merely the beginning!" Wheezed the Grey Ghost, finally unleashing his full potential as rage. "I now possess enough rage energy... TO KILL EVEN THE GODS THEMSELVES!" He began to fully crash out with a rage, unlike anything they'd ever seen.
As he marched towards his mother and sister, all of the vestiges he'd given a second voice suddenly appeared in a large circle around the two targets. They glared with an intensity more powerful than any atomic weapon. The two tried to get past them but found themselves trapped and pushed back by those who'd supported the Ghost.
As he approached them, various vestiges spoke.
"No matter how long it may take us, to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might, shall win through to absolute victory." Said F.D.R. He was followed up by another voice. "When Tyranny becomes law, Rebellion becomes duty." Said Thomas Jefferson.
Various vestiges shoved them closer to the center of the circle, all speaking to them. "They hung me for walking by a white woman. Unlike me, you're guilty of everything he accused you of." Said Emmett Till. As he passed, Cheryl was slammed by Mammy.
"That's your child!" Her southern accent rang out as the old, black woman stared at Cheryl. "You are a disgrace." Mammy walked away from her just to have Amelia Earhart kneel down to be on her level. "I never had kids, but maybe God's sign to you not to have any, was him taking away your ability to. He's a bright young man with incredible potential, and yet, you found every way for him to be unworthy of your attention and unconditional love."
As Amelia stood up and walked away, the big four, John Henry, Badman Stagolee, Lemuel Curtis, and Charlie Wiggins looked down at her. "It takes a particularly small kind of person to go to the lengths you did to ensure he'd fail. Yet, it takes an incredibly strong will and stronger soul to endure that and rise above adversity. Said Lemuel, shaking his head. As the big four moved away from her, the Ghost's sister punched the Grey Ghost in the chest. Unphased he glared at her and nodded. Constitution, who was standing behind the circles, fired her unibeam close to them. The Grey Ghost shoved her into it as Cheryl screamed at him, but his eyes, glowing crimson red and halogen yellow as they had earlier in the hospital, hadn't left his mother.
Once Constitution had vaporized his sister, the Grey Ghost began to speak, combining moves and skills he'd been thinking up.
"American Heritage multiplied by Folklore: Rage of the USS New Jersey, Wrath of Enterprise's flight deck, Empowered Endurance of the Redtails, Righteous Fury of the MacArthur Nuclear Doctrine, Strength of John Henry in his Steam-Drill Duel, Outrage of the Forgotten Americans of every race, gender and fucking creed throughout all of American History..."
The Grey Ghost was now looming ominously above his mother. She looked up at him and yelled at him. "WAS I NOT A GOOD MOTHER?! HUH!? WAS DAWN BETTER THAN ME?!"
The Grey Ghost glared at her. "No. No, the fuck you were not a good mother. Dawn abandoned me... Dad, at your orders, beat me, choked me, and tried to break me... your daughter, the perfect child, blindsided me, tried to crush my soul... and you... oh, and you..."
His eyes burned with a raging, seething hatred of the women before him. "Allow me to spell it out for you since you're clearly incapable of seeing for yourself. I will never beg for your forgiveness. I will never bow to you, and I will never, and I mean NEVER! Allow you to harm my friends, my family of friends, and/or anyone else so long as my soul is marked by the scars you've made me collect."
The Grey Ghost exhaled a hot breath. He shook his head at her then spoke again. "Of things, peoples, and emotions I named, I hereby sentence your soul to rot in the depths of hell..."
The Grey Ghost lowered his arms and pushed them upwards. He held nothing, but Cheryl was lifted off the ground along with the bodies of the fallen soldiers, her daughter, and her husband. Those who'd helped the Grey Ghost rush to a safe distance, while Mike Brisson began to broadcast live the entire process. The vestiges all returned to his soul setting it ablaze with pure passionate resolve. The Grey Ghost raised his arms higher, then suspended everything twenty feet above the ground.
"You blame this accursed blue state for who I am?! YOU MORON! I am the culmination of lessons taught to me by Grandma and Grandpa. I am the combination of white and black heritages within this nation. I... MADE... ME! NOT YOU! NOT BLUE DEMOCRATS OR RED REPUBLICANS! I HATE THE COMBINED LOT OF THEM! ALL THEY DID WAS REVENGE VOTE. IMPLEMENT REVENGE POLICIES AND CRUSH EACH OTHER." The Grey Ghost took a deep breath as Mike zoomed in on him. "OUR ANCESTORS DIDN'T SACRIFICE THEMSELVES FOR YOUR IDENTITY POLITICS, NARCISSISM, AND OVERALL FAILURE OF CHARACTER! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF AND ANYONE WHO DARES ATTUNE THEIR FUCKING LIVES TO THIS MADDENING NONSENSE!"
The area around the Grey Ghost seemed to crack and buckle as if reality was breaking under the weight and stress of his rage. The Grey Ghost pulled his arms upward toward his chest as if to compress all of his rage, all of his passion, and all of his hurt. However, rather than cry, rather than apologize, rather than do anything remotely suggestive of any sort of a repentance-seeking mind, Cheryl laughed and cackled. "You were a weak-willed, pathetic excuse of a person. Your friends, your family of friends, and everyone you ever come in contact with are pathetic..."
The Grey Ghost leaped to her in a blinding fury of rage. Under his breath, he muttered a small, simple request. "Forgive me, Grandma...", as his punch launched her into the sky. As he followed her upwards, he yelled with such a volume it was as if he had a built-in stereo system. "YOU ARE EVIL INCARNATE! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT ABOUT MY FRIENDS! MY FRAMILY (Friend-Family)! GRANDPA, MIKE, AND EVERYONE! As his punches landed, she laughed.
"SEE! YOU WOULD ABUSE WOMEN! HIT THEM! BREAK THEM!"
"NO! I WOULD NEVER! YOU ARE NOT A FUCKING WOMAN AS MUCH AS YOU ARE THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE! YOU WERE WILLING TO ATTACK MY PEOPLE! FORGET ABOUT ME! YOU WISHED THEY'D ALL DROP DEAD!"
"YOU BEST BELIEVE IT!"
The Grey Ghost fired off a punch that laid her into the ground. He convulsed, pure rage flooding his heart as his soul unleashed every bit of energy he had.
"I WOULD DIE FOR ALL OF THOSE I HOLD CLOSE TO MY HEART! YOU ARE SO PATHETIC, NOBODY WOULD EVER DIE FOR YOU WILLINGLY!"
"Y-you... don't..."
"BE SILENT, YOU DISGRACEFUL PIECE OF SHIT!" Yelled the Grey Ghost. He hovered over her crater, summoning the move he was going to use earlier. "American Heritage multiplied by Folklore: Rage of the USS New Jersey, Wrath of Enterprise's flight deck, Empowered Endurance of the Redtails, Righteous Fury of the MacArthur Nuclear Doctrine, Strength of John Henry in his Steam-Drill Duel, Outrage of the Forgotten Americans of every race, gender and fucking creed throughout all of American History...", he paused briefly to look at her one last time. "May my rage be used as fuel, let this fire consume me! I HEREBY CONDEMN YOU TO AN ETERNITY OF A FRACTION OF EVERYTHING I SUFFERED! GO TO HELL! RESOLUTE SOUL OF THE GREY GHOST!"