Italics: Thoughts/history
Disclaimer: I don't own Extreme Ghostbusters. I just own my characters.
(A/N: This is my first Extreme Ghostbusters fanfic, so go easy on me. Please.)
Chapter 1: The Discovery
Prologue:
17 years ago. Mad scientists developed a project called, "Project Phantom". They were experimenting on 9 human infants to try and fuse ectoplasm into their DNA when they got older, therefore turning them into half-human, half-ghost hybrids. 8 of them rejected the ectoplasm infusion and they turned into monstrosities. However, the DNA of the 9th one accepted the ectoplasm infusion and he was considered a success; able to still be human while being half-ghost in his genetics as well as gaining the abilities of accelerated healing, heightened senses, the ability to sense the presence of ghosts, and is 5 times stronger, faster, more agile, and possesses 5 times more stamina than a normal adult human. In addition, he was still able to keep his human sanity and has a conscience so he can tell right from wrong and possessing an IQ of 154 and his IQ level still continued to increase to its full capacity, and so far, he's as smart as a grade A senior in high school.
However, after he hit his age of 12, the 9th experiment also known as Phantom 9 escaped when overhearing that the scientists were going to terminate him due to the fact that he's not like the other 8 failed half-human, half-ghost monsters and able to think on his own. Now, his whereabouts are unknown to this day, but he wasn't the only one who escaped; the other 8 experiments turned on their scientists and killed them. Now, they are dormant and will awaken when the presence of Phantom 9 is nearby or in the location of any city they are in.
:Present day:
In the firehouse, a little green ghost named Slimer was snacking on a sandwich which he usually does when he's hungry as the Ghostbustersreturned after another successful mission of dealing with a ghost that was causing trouble in New York City. After Egon placed the trap onto the containment unit to secure and lock away the ghost that was recently captured, Kylie was sitting on the couch while reading the novel, Dracula as Roland and Garrett turned on the TV and Eduardo finished up his term paper on a laptop computer. However, Janine was at a computer checking for updates as the phone rang and suspected that another ghost was on the loose.
Janine: (answering the phone) Ghostbusters...Huh? Oh sure, he's here. Just a second.
Soon, Janine went to the kitchen while Egon was busy putting the washed dishes away.
Janine: Egon, you got a phone call. It's Frank Rodriguez.
Egon: Wonder what he wants now.
Soon, Egon reached the phone as he was about to talk to his old rival from the past.
Egon: What is it Frank?
Frank: (over the phone) Come now Egon, is that any way to greet your old buddy?
Egon: Well, I wouldn't exactly call you, "my buddy" either way. Why did you call me for?
Frank: (over the phone) Well, I heard your Ghostbusters caught another ghost in the city. Congradulations.
Egon: Well, I don't hear any word on the street about your progress.
Frank: (over the phone) Oh, but you've heard wrong. You see, my new member just annihilated a ghost that you and your kindergarten crackerjacks missed after catching that one ghost they were busy with.
Egon: Frank, you know that our job is to capture and lock away ghosts, not destroy them like they're pests.
Frank: And I suppose your containment method is doing some good for these people, right? One of these days Egon, old boy, you'll see things my way.
Egon: If that day comes, which of course, it won't.
Then, Egon hangs up the phone and sighs while the others were confused on the details of everything that just recently happened.
Garrett: Hey, what was that all about?
Egon: Oh, just talking to an old rival of mine. Apparently, his new recruit just destroyed another ghost that wasn't even detected yet.
Kylie: I don't get it, why would this guy have one of his employees destroy a ghost he or she encounters instead of capturing it?
Egon: Personally, he's got some serious issues with ghosts and sees them as an epidemic which he thinks should be destroyed instead of being contained.
Soon, the phone rang again as Garrett picked it up this time to answer the call.
Garrett: Extreme Ghostbusters. We ain't afraid of no ghosts! Yeah...All right, we'll be there in 30 minutes tops or you don't pay. (hangs up the phone) We've got a situation at an old abandoned building.
20 minutes later, the Extreme Ghostbusters arrived at the site of the building that was going to be torn down by morning. However, when they got there, they found that the demolition workers were severely traumatized as they shook uncontrollably in fear.
Roland: Damn, whatever they saw, it scared the shit out of them, severely.
Garrett: Well then, let's go check it out.
Then, everyonesearched the areas of the building. However, what kept them alert is that the PKE meters were beeping at an alarming rate which is usually classified as an extremely hostile ghost.
Eduardo: Man, the meters are soaring through the roof.
However, Roland was searching the area as he accidentally steppped on a loose floor tile which somehow acted as a button and a secret door on a wall opened up which surprised the Ghostbusters as they aimed their proton blasters to fire at any ghost they see.
Garrett: Man, look at this place. Who would've thought that this place had a secret lab or something.
Roland: Stay alert. Whatever's down there, make sure you're ready for it.
Soon, the Ghostbusters checked the rooms individually to see if there is any activity. In one room, Kylie found an overturned desk, a filing cabinet, and a computer on the floor with a camera on it. Plus, behind the chair, she also saw a gigantic hole on the wall which led to another room from the back.
Kylie: (whispering) What is this place?
Soon, Kylie was looking around the area as she opened the file cabinet which of course spewed some dust into her face which made her cough and wave her hand to clear the dust away, she looked through all of the files that were labelled individually.
Kylie: What is "Project Phantom"?
In another area, Roland found a tiny puddle of red liquid as well as a trail of it leading it to a hole which led to the outside of the building. Eduardo barely entered the area as he saw what Roland was seeing.
Eduardo: Yo dude, is that...blood?
Roland: Could be. However, the PKE is detecting ectoplasmic readings from it, and it's off scale.
Eduardo: Perhaps, we should take a sample of it and take a further look on this.
Roland: I agree. Whatever we're dealing with here, we better get some more info about this.
As Roland was using a dropper to extract some of the blood from the puddle and squirt it into a glass tube before closing the cap, Kylie began to radio the others through a walkie-talkie.
Kylie: (through the radio) Guys, get your asses over here. I found something you may want to see.
However, in the shadows, a strange creature was watching Kylie before it disappeared into the darkness.
Back at the Ghostbusters HQ, Egon, Janine, Eduardo, Roland, Garrett, and Kylie were looking through the files that were found during the investigation.
Egon: (slowly flipping the pages) So, there was a secret, yet, illegal project called "Project Phantom" going on almost 18 years ago, huh?
Garrett: I don't get it, (picking up a file folder) what is this so-called secret project all about?
Roland: From the looks of these notes, they were supposed to fuse ectoplasm into the DNA of 9 human children.
Eduardo: Which explains the blood giving off ectoplasmic reading to the PKE.
Janine: (looking at some notes) Exactly how are they supposed to get these subjects for testing?
Roland was looking through the files before he found some notes which may had the answer to her question.
Roland: It says here in this file that 9 infants were taken from the hospital and the nurses of their facility would take care of these children until they've hit the age of 5 to begin the ectoplasmic infusion into their DNA.
Garrett found some other note from the files and began reading what it said.
Garrett: Well, it says in this note that only 8 of the test subjects bodies rejected the ectoplasm infusion and therefore it turned into half-human, half-ghost monsters with physical mutations. However, the 9th one's body accepted the infusion and is able to keep his human with the only physical mutation is that his DNA is fused to the ectoplasm from a random ghost that was captured.
Egon: Wonder how this one developed while it still kept his human form?
Eduardo: Hey Egon, this note says that the 9th subject, even at the age of 6, has been displaying intelligence equal to that of a second grader and it is hinted that his IQ will continue to increase until it reaches its full capacity in uncharted amount of years. In addition, the 9th subject is able to make moral decisions and actually have his own human soul.
Roland: Interesting. I'll bet that by the time the 9th one hits our age, he might be as smart as me.
Janine was looking through other notes and found the rest of them completely empty. However, she found one note and began to read it.
Janine: Look at this. This note says that the 9th subject, like the other 8 subjects developed his enhancements of heightened senses, can sense the presence of a ghost similar to those who have a proximity sense, can heal from any fatal injuries even if it hits all four vital spots in an instant, and is naturally stronger, faster, more agile, and has 5 times more stamina than a normal human athlete. However, like subject 1 also codenamed, Phantom 1, he is able to tap into his physical strength and literally rip chucks of concrete from the ground and can punt heavy objects such as cars and dumpsters.
Kylie: What else does it say?
As Janine scanned the paper, she found the rest of it empty but Slimer was about to eat a paper that had writing which may have information they need.
Janine: Slimer, don't even think about eating that.
While Slimer grumbled something in jibberish, he handed the paper to Janine as she looked through it as the little green ghost went to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich, Roland took a look at it as well and found what they needed.
Roland: This note says that the 9th subject when he hit the age of 12, he escaped from the facility after overhearing the other scientists talking about terminating him and obtain a sample of his blood and perhaps cure the other 8 subjects since the ectoplasm is becoming too much for them to control and therefore affecting their minds to the point where they're uncontrollable and become a danger to themselves, to everyone and everything around them.
Garrett: Wonder how that place got trashed when we found it?
Kylie: I think I know how we'll find the answer. (pulls out a disc) I managed to salvage this disc and it's dated a day after the 9th subject escaped.
Soon, Egon inserted the disc into a computer as a video of a man wearing a doctor uniform with gray hair and blue eyes was sitting on a chair while the Ghostbusters watched in curiosity.
Man: Well, if you're viewing this, then you'll know what happened to "Project Phantom". I was a fool to actually experiment with humans and ghosts, trying to turn them into hybrids. Phantoms 1 through 8 have lost their humanity and also, we've lost Phantom 9 yesterday. He overheard about us terminating him since he wasn't like the other 8 phantoms. Also, he was the only one who would've kept the others in line since he's proven to be more than match against them. So far, the 8 phantoms have killed several scientists and I'm the only one who is still alive, for now anyway. For those who are working on projects and see this video, don't make the same mistake that I did. Life is not something to tampered with or taken for granted.
Soon, the wall behind the man bursts open to reveal a creature that was heavily muscled and has an open wound on its chest as it grabbed the scientist while he kicked the desk and the camera was pointed to the ceiling as the man was crying out in terror as the sounds of flesh being torn off and bones being crunched were heard before the man was suddenly silent before the screen blacked out, leaving the Ghostbusters speechless.
Eduardo: Man, now that's some shit you don't see everyday.
Egon: We have to find this "Phantom 9" quickly. If those creatures, whatever they are, have been loose in the city the whole time, Lord knows what kind of destruction they will bring.
Suddenly, the phone rang again as Janine picked it up to answer the call.
Janine: Ghostbusters. Uh-huh...how many? Ok, we're on our way.
Soon, Janine hangs up the phone while the other Ghostbusters were curious.
Janine: We've got a major problem at Empire State University and we're dealing with 4 ghosts this time.
-Unknown Headquarters-
Meanwhile, in Frank Rodriguez's office, a woman named Jenny went upstairs and entered a room where there was a boy likely 17 close to 18 years of age, who had jet black, shoulder-length hair, blue sapphire eyes, and was wearing black pants, a black shirt and was wearing some body armor which was metallic dark gray, sitting on a chair while drinking a can of root beer before he placed the can on the nightstand and didn't even look at her when she entered.
Boy: Is it them?
Jenny: Yes.
Boy: How many and what numbers?
Jenny: 4 of them; numbers 2, 3, 4, and 7.
Boy: All right. Tell Frank that I'll take care of it.
Soon, the boy puts on a black trench coat that stopped slightly above his ankles and puts on a proton pack full of proton cylinders and a big gun was connected to it by a robotic arm-like joint and a few cords before getting on his black Suzuki motorcycle and drove off to the area of the disturbance.
Looks like the Ghostbusters are about to face a challenge unlike anything they've dealt with before. Who is this Phantom 9 and will the Ghostbusters get help from him or will he leave them? Find out in the next chapter. R&R.
