Bust or Jump.
Disclaimer: This is all for my personal enjoyment. I own nothing to do with Ghostbusters as Sony owns the rights to them.
Note: This is based on the 2016 film. I thought of an interesting story idea. Also, I plan to conclude my story, "A Vapor in the Lab," soon.
A lot of time has passed since New York was saved by Abby, Erin, Holtzmann, and Patty from the ravages of Rowan North, whom had been the one responsible for a lot of the paranormal element that nearly plagued NYC.
Despite having defeated Rowan and a lot of the ghosts that he had unleashed, New York was not without any paranormal activity. The Ghostbusters were far from being out of business as they had dealt with some supernatural entities along the way. The paranormal element was still strong.
One day, at New York City Hall, Mayor Bradley's assistant, Jennifer Lynch, had received a call from an unexpected source.
"Hello, this is Jennifer Lynch, Mayor Bradley's assistant," she said. "How may I help you today?"
"Yes, may I speak to the mayor, please?" said the man.
"May I ask who is calling?" Jennifer replied. "Mayor Bradley is currently busy. May I take a message? Who may I ask is calling?"
"This is Chris Stephens, producer of the television show, 'Ghost Jumpers,'" said the man. "I would like to discuss with the mayor about an episode we want to do. We have heard about a haunted building there and we would to shoot the episode there."
"I…," Jennifer paused for a few seconds. "See. Why don't you give me your phone number, and I will have Mayor Bradley get back to you, okay?"
The phone conversation had ended and Jennifer stared off into the distance wondering about this idea.
Is this a good idea, or a bad idea? We already have paranormal investigators in New York, so why would we need some TV show to investigate it? Plus, aren't those guys frauds?
Jennifer knocked on Mayor Bradley's door.
"Come on in, Jennifer," Mayor Bradley said.
Jennifer walked in wasting no time in what she wanted to discuss with the mayor.
"Mayor Bradley, I just received a call from Chris Stephens, the producer of the TV show, 'Ghost Jumpers.'"
"What does he want?" Mayor Bradley said.
"He wants to discuss with you about an episode he wants to do on a haunted building in New York," Jennifer said. "Apparently, he is aware of the paranormal element that we have in the city and wants to shoot it here in New York."
"Are you kidding me?!" Mayor Bradley said with so much derision. He turned his back to his assistant and put his finger tips to his forehead while his eyes were closed for a split second. "We already have people who specialize in this sort of thing, so why would we need an episode shot here for some show that has little proof in what they had found?"
"Well…," Jennifer paused yet again, with her eyes shifting to her left with her head tilted to her right. "I think there could be a change made for their show. I think maybe we could have them work with the Ghostbusters on their episode and because New York still has a bit of a paranormal problem, the building that they may want to shoot at, the ladies could do some hunting themselves. They have made quite a presence in the media, so why not help them a bit?"
Mayor Bradley placed his right hand to his chain, with his index finger adjacent to his lips as he started to smirk.
"This sounds like a good idea," Mayor Bradley said. "Think of what kind of exposure that it could give to the Ghostbusters, as much as it pains me to think that I support them a bit, but I like it."
Mayor Bradley picked up his phone and made that call.
Meanwhile, at the firehouse, business has slowed down a bit for a few months. Because of it, Patty went back to work part-time at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as she not only needed to pay off some other bills she has and maybe get benefits from it, but also to keep herself busy. Abby, Erin, and Holtzmann continued to do their thing, on the other hand.
One day, at the firehouse, with business being slow, things were a little slow there, too. Abby and Erin were studying a captured entity that they have in the containment unit.
"It amazes me how we haven't been as busy with our business lately," Abby said. "I can't believe we were lucky to catch a ghost."
"You said it," Erin said. "Where is Holtzmann, by the way? Shouldn't she be helping us with this?"
"She is probably upstairs again, girl has been a little lazy lately," Abby said. "I'll go get her."
Abby went up the stairs to find Holtzmann sitting on the catch right in front of the TV. She had her left leg right on the couch with her left arm extended on the cushion above it and leaned her head right towards her left.
"Holtzmann, what are you doing?" Abby said. "Why aren't you helping Erin and I study this ghost? You need to get off your lazy ass. You have been kind of lazy lately."
"I got a lot on my mind, Abby," Holtzmann said. "I mean, what happened? Why have things slowed down for us?"
"Holtz, I don't know what has been up, but at least we found something lately, so come on downstairs," Abby said. "We need you to look at this."
Right when Holtzmann got up from the couch, the TV announced the next TV show.
Tonight, on "Ghost Jumpers," the team investigates an old run-down mental asylum, where it had been speculated that the ghosts of a mental patient and his doctor died in the middle of a session…
"Oh, come on, Holtzmann, tell me you're not watching this crap," Abby said. "We have proven the existence of the paranormal a lot more than these phonies ever have."
Abby smiles a bit. "I don't know, Abby. These guys crack me up with their so-called investigations. I almost get a kick out of this because of how fake it seems."
"Just come on, Holtz, Erin is waiting for us," Abby said.
Abby approached the stairs, but Holtzmann had other ideas as she grabbed onto the pole and slid down to meet with Erin. Abby turned her attention towards Holtzmann when she did that.
Oh no, you did not just do that!
Abby ran down the stairs to go meet with Holtzmann and Erin. Suddenly, the phone rang and Kevin picked it up.
"Hello, Ghostbusters, this is Kevin speaking," Kevin said. "May I ask who is calling?"
Just when Kevin said that, the three women turned their heads towards him, looking surprised at having received a call out of the blue, as it had not happened much as of late. They were lucky they had caught a ghost rather recently. Just having received a call was a sign of relief for them, or so they hoped.
"Yes, you may speak to her," Kevin said, as he called Erin over to talk on the phone.
Erin approached Kevin who held the phone towards her. She smiled at him amorously, however, Kevin smiled back in a rather friendly sense, but not as friendly as Erin's expression towards him.
"Hello, this is Erin," she said. "What? You want us to come down for a meeting?"
The facial expressions on Abby and Holtzmann's faces expressed curiosity and confusion as their eyes squinted a tad and their jaws slowly dropped.
"Well, we're busy right now with something," Erin said. "Well, I might have to talk to my partners about this. Okay, we'll come by sometime soon. We'll have our meeting tomorrow. Bye."
Erin hung up the phone. Right when she turned around, she noticed that Abby and Holtzmann stood in the distance looking directly at her.
"What? What's going on? Did you find anything on the ghost?" Erin said.
"Not yet, but who was it on the phone?" Abby said. "What was the call about?"
Erin cleared her throat. "That was Jennifer, Mayor Bradley's assistant. She wants us to talk to the mayor about an opportunity for us."
"What kind of opportunity does the powerful one speak of?" Holtzmann said.
"Well…," Erin said. "They want to talk to us about being featured in an episode of 'Ghost Jumpers.'"
Right when Erin said that, a smile grew on Holtzmann's face, while Abby's jaw dropped to the floor as she could not believe what she just heard.
"Are you serious about this?" Abby said.
"Why would I lie about something like this?" Erin said.
"I don't know about this," Abby said. "I have watched their show a few times and I have a lot of doubts about their so-called 'investigations.'"
Holtzmann, on the other hand, was a little more enthused.
"Abby, I know you don't like that show, but come on, we can one-up them with our expertise," Holtzmann said. "They don't have the kind of equipment we got, so we have the upper hand on those phonies."
Erin retorted. "It's just to see if we want to work with them on an investigation somewhere in upstate New York."
"Wait, what?" Abby said. "Has it been said that there is any paranormal activity occurring in other parts of the state?"
"That is what I was told where the Ghost Jumpers want to shoot their episode," Erin said. "The mayor is supposed to talk to the producer about having us on there as guest investigators."
The idea made Abby change her mind about this. She had wanted to explore other parts of the state, or country for that matter, to see about other entities that may haunt those areas.
"I don't know about you two, but I am in," Holtzmann said and did a bit of a dance while Erin and Abby looked at her.
Out of nowhere, Patty walked in through the door as her shift at the MTA ended and she was still wearing her uniform.
"Hey, y'all, what's going on?" Patty said. "You got anything on that ghost?"
She walked up and noticed Erin and Abby standing there while Holtzmann was still dancing.
"Did I miss something here?" Patty looked on at the three ladies with so much confusion.
"Oh, you didn't miss much, we were just discussing an opportunity to maybe check out other parts of the state for ghosts," Abby said.
"And also a chance for us to be on TV," Holtzmann said.
"What?!" Patty's got bigger after having heard that. "Are you serious?!"
"Well, we don't know yet," Erin said. "Abby here is sort of opposed because she doesn't like the show we will appear on."
"What show is that?" Patty asked.
"'Ghost Jumpers,'" Abby said. "But I think that this opportunity is changing my mind a bit."
"Well, girls, I'm game for this," Patty said. "This should be fun."