Splash. Splash. Splash.
Boots move through the alley way, splashing through puddles and hitting asphalt. The sound of heavy gear rattling around is accompanied by a low, electronic humming sound fills, which fills the space between the brick buildings.
"Hey! I saw him!" a cry comes out from one of the alley's occupants. This voice is deep and smooth. It's owner having dark brown skin and short, black hair. His grey jumpsuit blends well with the ally in the night hours.
"After him!" calls another voice. This person has a much higher pitch and clearly female. Her long, black hair somehow staying out of her face as she tries to keep up with her two taller companions. She is further slowed by bulky armor on her upper body, but her gear is smaller and lighter, so the difference is slightly mitigated.
The three pursuers follow their quarry. Only catching the most trailing glimpse of a glowing green tail. Bolting around corners, never giving any more of a view of itself, their target stays just one step ahead. Coming up on an exit to the maze between buildings, they see the trail disappear through the door of a large and expensive building across the street.
"We're right back where we started, man!" the third person complains, sighing in great exasperation, and some exhaustion, scratching his styled brown hair in frustration. His voice is not quite as deep as his other male companions, but still clearly masculine, and displays his Latino accent that is also made clear my his darker skin tone.. His tan leather vest over his bright green shirt bunching under the gear under his back, forcing him to adjust it.
"No use complaining about it, Eduardo. Let's move," his female companion orders as she moves forward a bit while grabbing Eduardo's goatee to drag him along.
The three cross the street, devoid of any cars at this time of night, and enter the building. Rushing in to the building, the three come up to the elevator, which displays a green goo, dripping down the door.
"Eduardo, you and Kylie will take the stairs. I'll take the elevator, in case it decides to come back down or it stayed in the shaft," their third compatriot suggested.
"You gonna be fine by yourself, Roland?" Kylie asked him.
"It probably went all the way to the top, so I don't think it'll be an issue," Roland told her, answering for her worries.
Kylie nods and heads for the stairs as Eduardo finishes catching his breath before bolting after her. Before the door to the stairwell closes, a faint 'ding' is heard as the elevator door opens for Roland.
Traveling up the stairs at a break-neck pace, Eduardo keeping easy pace behind Kylie, his eyes finding his motivation, the two make it up stairs, to the top floor, floor 15. Kylie plants her, foot firmly into the push bar of the door, small device in hand, and moves in to the hall as the door flies open.
Opening in to a plush, decorated hall, Kylie looks towards the elevator to see that it's only on floor 7. "Come on," she orders, thick Brooklyn accent coming through in her voice, "Rol's gonna take a bit. Let's go join up with Garret and wait there."
Eduardo only nods, out of breath again, as he follows after her, eyes still on their motivation. Reaching the end of the hallway, Eduardo opens the door. He's greeted by the sound of a small explosion on the door frame above him. He shouts out as he dives into the room, keeping next to the wall.
"Whoa! Sorry about that, Eddy. You should have knocked," a masculine voice jokes. Having the same gear on his back as Eduardo and Roland, and holding a gun-like device in his hand, this man, with auburn hair, is wearing a tan jumpsuit, similar to Roland's, he sits in a wheel chair, but having an upper body tone show through his suit to show that all the wheel chair does is give him focus on what to work out.
"Yeah, well I don't think our little friend would come in by opening the door, Garret," he retorted with a little venom in his words.
Garret ignored him. "So where's Roland?"
"Coming up the elevator now," Kylie told him, coming in and closing the door.
"Excuse me," a new voice question, and sounding panicked, "But where is it?"
This new voice belongs to a well-dressed man, cowering on the seat of his couch, peering over the back. His dirty blond hair, perfectly in place, aside from a few strays due to his current mental state.
"Back and the building, and still after you for waking him up," Eduardo casually informed the man, "But don't worry about it. Cause we're scientists."
Kylie and Garret let their eyes roll in their head on reflex now, as they kept their eyes and gear trained on the door. But it's not the door that gets their attention. It's the low rumbling that threatens to shake the whole building apart. Looking around for the source, all of their eyes fall on a grand piano in the corner of the room that shoots up and is thrown out the window, and is accompanied by a crunching metal sound.
Now taking up the corner of the room that the piano sat in is a behemoth of a creature. And almost vestigial lower body is attached to a much more hulking and over developed upper body. Leaning on arms the size of small cars, and leading up to a tiny, featureless head, another distinct aspect of this beast is that parts of it are in objects. A little bit in a book case, some in a pillar. This is a textbook example of a ghost.
The device in Garret's hand buzzes to life as it's primed. "On three!" He shouts.
"THREE!" the defenders yell in unison.
From the front of the gun shaped devices in their hand shoot multi-colored beams that ensnare the savage ghoul. It shouts and bucks, trying to free itself. The strain from its pull is clear on Kylie, Eduardo, and Garret as it fights back. "Kylie! Trap it!" Garret calls to her.
"I can't! It's fighting too much. We need Roland!" She yells back in response.
Almost as soon as these words leave her mouth, the door to the room is slammed open with a boot as Roland storms in, and he immediately fires on the specter, adding his own strength to this tug of war. With back up arriving, Kylie pulls a disk, the size of a hub cap, off of her back, and throws it under the hulking haunt. A trigger remains in her hand after the throw, which she pushes, causing light to erupt from the disk, and dragging the aberration down into it. It clicks shut as Kylie releases the trigger, and smoke rolls off of it.
"Oh thank you so much!" the well-dressed man sings their praises as he comes to them, shaking their hands, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't helped. If there's anything I can do aside from the already agreed on pay to help, just let me know."
Eduardo carries himself over to the window that shattered out in to the alley behind the building. "Uh, I think I may have a suggestion."
The other occupants of the room move towards him and look out the window. Underneath the defenestrated piano sits an old white ambulance/hearse style vehicle, with pieces of electronics sticking out from under it, and clearly beyond repair.
"The Ecto," Roland whimpers, barely audible for even those nearby. "Egon is going to be so upset."
"Well, let's go get what we can before the long haul back to the firehouse. Cause I don't know about you, but I could use a nap," Garret spoke, seeming to let the situation not bother him, as he rolled for the door.
"This is gonna be a long walk," Kylie sighed as she grabbed the trap while they exited the building.
-End Prolog-
