Deep in the sewers of New York. 7 am.
The silence lasted when the four brothers filed into the lair. It lasted while they slipped into Donnie's lab, to the section he had partitioned off as a rough medical area. Everyone stayed silent until Mikey got Donnie sitting on a bunk and started scrounging for medical equipment and supplies. Then the silence broke. Hard.
"I still can't believe you just wandered off on your own like that! Without telling anyone! What would have happened if Mikey didn't decide to follow you? What would have happened if those foot had captured you?!" Leo ranted "What would have happened? You could have gotten hurt! You could have died!"
"Didn't we already hash this out?" Donnie asked as Mikey glanced in annoyed silence in Leo's direction. "Or was I hallucinating and you didn't give me that long-winded lecture all the way from the dump?"
"It is not exactly a lecture if the person being lectured interrupted the lecturer every other sentence!"
Donnie blinked. "I don't think that sentence is very grammatically sound." He observed pensively, the faintest of slurs sounding in his words that nobody seemed to notice but Mikey, who looked at him quickly with narrowed eyes.
"Are you serious? You really think this is a good time for a grammar lesson, Donnie?!" Leo glared, crossing his arms, with an are of aggrieved annoyance.
"It pays to be accurate." Donnie muttered with a shrug. Then seemed to catch on to the tone Leo was using and added with a roll of his eyes. "But since you ask in that way...geesh. Can you just drop it. I was stupid. I made a mistake. I won't do it again. Happy now?"
"No, I am not happy now. You could have been captured! You could have been killed! And yet you still act like all this is no big deal!"
"Hey, hey! Chill, bro! We get that you have every right to be seriously wigging right now. But you're getting too loud."
"Can it, Mikey." Raph snapped, reminding the other three of his existence. He leaned on the wall, with his arms crossed, and a tense expression on his face and figure. "Fearless is tripping. Let's drop the issue of da nerd with da death wish for a moment, and focus on dem monsters we stumbled on."
"Yeah, that's another thing. Thank you, Raph, for bringing up the elephant in the room."
"I don't got a death wish!" Donnie protested. Then he blinked and added pensively. "Or is it get?" Get Got?"
"Shut up Donnie. Trusting a complete stranger just because he looked like a mutant was a completely stupid thing to do. What were you thinking?! You are really too smart to be making this kind of bone-headed.."
"You know, I really am starting to get sick of all the stupid comments about my intelligence. Could you please, for the love of Darwin, can it?!"
"No I will not can it!"
"Then get out." Mikey snapped.
Both Leo and Raph stared at Mikey in shock. The vehemence in Mikey's tone was unmistakeable. "What did you say?" Leo managed at last.
"I didn't stutter. Get the shell out!" Mikey yelled, straightening up. He gave Leo's torso a hard shove. "Get out right now! Now!"
"Mikey! You can't talk to me like that!"
"Like shell, I can't! Donnie needs his hurts treated, and I am sick of you two treating him like shit. OUT!"
"Watch it, you little snot." Raph began, his expression sliding to one of annoyance but Mikey cut him off. "No, you watch it! For years you talked to Donnie and me like whatever. Well, that ends now. So Get out! Now! And don't come back till you can show some respect!"
He started shoving even harder and managed to push the other two to the other side of the curtain before Leo and Raph knew exactly what happened. Donnie glared sullenly at them the whole time, not once coming to stop Mikey or get anyone to calm down.
It was only when Leo and Raph were on the other end of a slamming door that they realized they were outside. Bright green eyes stared at bright blue. "What the shell just happened."
At the Ghostbusters Headquarters. 7 am.
"I don't see why we are going to divide like this," Winston said, with his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his normally placid face.
"I keep telling you, we need to go where our talents are best going to be used. And where it makes sense for us to go to. We don't need anyone alerted that these visits are more than what they seem, right?" Peter said, shrewdly.
"But why do I have to go to"
"I am so excited about this!" Ray exclaimed, interrupting Winston without meaning to. His round face was full of excitement and smiles. "I have been wanted to look into that castle! The one that is on top of Zanato's tower!"
"He would be a good client," Peter said reflectively. The money sighs were very visible in his calculating eyes.
"Plus, I really do want to see it! It's scot history, you know? I heard my family comes from the area that the castle came from, and heard all kinds of stories about it! They were really neat!"
Even Egon smiled at the hopeful, eager tone and expression that were shown in Ray's face and voice. Ray always seemed to wear his heart on his sleave and the others had a really hard time not getting swept along whenever he got excited about anything that caught his attention.
"Please take excellent notes when you go, Raymond," Egon instructed with a thoughtful expression. "I am sure the castle is breaking a number of safety regulations. Not to mention a few laws of physics with it somehow being placed on top of a skyscraper."
"Well, I am not going to rain on Ray's parade, but I do have one problem here. We don't need anyone like Zanatos as a client."
"What! Why not? He's got money. We need money." Peter protested, eyes going wide.
"But he's in jail."
"Under mysterious circumstances. After that crazy night, with all the rocks falling in the street, and all the...it is clear he has something going on up there, and he's going to need people to go take care of it. For a modest fee of course."
"I fear that I am in agreement with Winston," Egon said, frowning thoughtfully. "We are still a relatively young business, and who we take as a client reflects on what we are."
"We are a business. We need to make a profit. Besides, most people think we are conmen ourselves." Peter protested.
"But I agree wth Egon. We don't need a con on our records, no matter how rich he is."
Egon nodded, a can't smile in Winston's direction. But Ray was shaking his head. "Guys, we can't just write him off just because he went to jail. Maybe he has a good reason for what he did. Maybe he's sorry he did it. Maybe he'll repent. We need to give him another chance."
"I think you forget that we have to actually have an offer of a job before we worry about accepting it," Peter said, with a quick wave of his hand, as he grinned. "Either way, allow me a moment to daydream. OF all the money."
"I rather see the castle, than worry about the money." Ray shrugged. HIs eyes lit up again with excitement. "You are right, Peter. Something happened there. A lot of something, and I want to go see for myself If I can find out what."
"Well, fine. Ray can do that. But why do I have to go to the."
"I have plans as well," Egon said, unaware that he had interrupted Winston as well as Ray had. "I am going to leave the city today."
"Where to?" Ray asked as he leaned on the table, alive with interest.
"To the Xavier School."
"Whoa, wait. To that Mutie school?" Peter asked, frowning slightly. "You were so worried about our image, yet you would consort with Mutants?"
"One, it is unconfirmed that they are more than supporters for the Pro-mutant movement. And two, I am merely going to visit Professor Xavier and Doctor McCoy."
"Isn't he that blue guy?" Winston asked, "The one running for office?"
"The same."
"Well, He was more your friend than mine." Peter shrugged. "Too bad there's not much chance for a job there."
"Is everything about money for you?" Egon noted, with a wry expression on his thin face.
"Hey, I happen to like being able to eat." Peter shrugged again. "And I'm going to check on some leads myself."
"Where?"
"I rather not say," Peter said evasively, as he kicked back his chair on its hind legs and rested his feet on the kitchen table. "But I think I'll get some leads from it before the day is out. Plus I want to visit a couple of friends.
Egon's expression slid from a wary one to one of wry understanding. "Oh. Him."
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Right…"
"What I want to know is," Winston said, slamming his hands down on the table, as he glared at each of them in turn, as though daring them to interrupt him again. "Why am I the one who has to explore the damn sewers!"