Chapter 10: And Then There Was Two

With a heavy grunt and a deep, tired sigh, a half dressed mass collapses onto his couch.

"*Omf* That's it, I'm done…" Derek said with his face buried into the soft cushion.

Leo just sighed before chuckling, "Yeah I wouldn't blame you. Four days straight and no one's seen you at school at all. I thought you had died." at that he looked over his shoulder at Derek's work table. His proton packs both on the ground propped up against containers under his table. All over said table was a mountain chain of traps stacked messily together all flashing red beacons indicating a full cartridge. And most of them were the wireless units made to hold a lot more entities than normal.

"*Mmufff mu. Mmmm…*"

"What?"

Derek lifted his head, "247 captures. In four days…" he sighed laying his head sideways. "And most of them have been clusters. Big boss sends out all the little guys to piss me off while he comes at the end when I'm about ready to quit it. Phantom's, Shadow Walkers, Slimers, Animators and God knows what else. I had maybe 3 seconds at max to draw my Pke and scan it." at that his head fell back down. Letting another sigh escaped between him and the couch.

"Derek," a female voice came the side door. Leo quickly snapped around to see the person walk through as he froze up. Wondering if someone had discovered them. But to his relief, it was someone familiar. "Your phone's going off again. 12 calls and the last one at the Striker Skies Bowling Alley." Lisa, Derek's older sister by just a few years said.

Derek didn't respond immediately. Instead lazily lifting his arm up and pointing to Leo before letting it flop back down. Following his finger she just shrugged and walked over to hand him the phone.

"Surprised he's still kicking." She said looking over him and the equipment as Leo took the phone.

"That's what I said. By now one would think he would've stopped by now. Guess not."

At that Lisa turned to leave, "Oh and by the way Derek you got another package of stuff. And dad ran the numbers on the cash, we have enough. He said you can use whatever you get now for whatever." His response was his arm rising again with a thumbs up before Lisa walked out. Shutting the door firmly behind her as the room fell to silence.

Leo for the time began going through the recent calls Derek was getting. "You know, a smart man would double down and hire more help."

"HA!" Derek sat up. "The only way that could happen is if they're a robot and i programmed it. There's no way in hell I'm gonna bringing some person here thinking they can handle it when they most cry out in fear, don't know how to aim, and act like a celebrity on front of a crowd while I do the work. There's a reason why I'm keeping this secret, Leo."

"Wasn't it so that you can raise enough money for your mom's treatment? And you got that. Not to meant the fanbase of Ghost Heads you have following."

"That's because they're all excited to see someone fighting ghosts with laser guns."

"And what about this then." Leo held out the phone showing a Deviant Art section with a list of images. One was of that night at the theater with Derek slam dunking the first animator and another with him walking into the dark building. Another was a gif of him walking past the camera with both his proton thrower and rifle firing in the air at a swarm. Next was a nice one; Derek assumed it was someone at one of his jobs that got a lucky shot and add it where he was hunched over his bike making a turn with the no ghost patch perfectly facing the camera while he himself faced forward with his mask and goggles on.

With of his brow and a shrugged at the images. "I actually like the third one a lot. Really catches my seriousness."

Leo sighed as he put the phone down. "In all seriousness you really do need help. How about I do a few jobs for ya?"

Derek looked to the ground for a second to ponder the idea. Having someone else would greatly reduce the workload on his shoulders and they could cover a lot more than what one man could. He knew a good chunk about the equipment, having to fix some when Derek came back to get replacement traps, and had a good idea on how the packs worked. But he didn't know what it really was like.

So he shook his head, "No, while it's nice of you to do it. Hell I wouldn't mind a little vacation for once from this. You don't have the right experience in the procedure."

"I can learn on the job."

Just then Derek's phone went off again. The ring down sounding like a old fashioned rotary phone used in war times. It meant one thing: High Class Situation. The caller ID reading once again Strikers. At the sound of the different tone, Derek sighed as he got up.

"Great…" he sulked over to his packs. Grabbing his Mini Pack instead of his bigger unit. Just as he goes to throw it on, he feels a hand on his shoulder stop him.

"Like I said, I can learn it." Leo said grinning. Derek felt the palm of his glove collide over his face as he just couldn't help but sigh again.

"Alright, fine." He quickly starts to undress his suit. Ripping his over coat and undercoat as he tossed both to Leo. Next were his boots that he easily kicked off and pushed towards him as he reached under his coffee table for a pair of sneakers. Looking around he tried to find something before grabbing a pair of sunglasses off a self.

"Put all those on and fast. I'll give you a crash course when we're on the road." With that said he grabs the Mini Pack, his utility belt and a empty Pressure Trap. Leo stood there for a good moment before shrugging and proceeded to get dressed.

"How in the name of God can you wear all this so often?" Leo asked pulling out the arm out of the overcoat. Already feeling the constraints in his armpits pinching more than his comfort level allowed.

"It's more practical after it's super cooled." Derek answered as he spun Leo's van around a corner at nearly 70 mph. "Alright, let's go over it again." he said only glancing at his friend.

"Focus stream to be under level set of 4 when in highly populated areas. Make sure to keep the stream aimed above the head. Focus on closer target's and dodge if charged at. If meter flashes yellow scan it for future reference. Don't look in the trap or you'll go blind and no direct interaction with others. Talk about being anti social."

"Its called keeping it together. Something like a straight face you're gonna need to do." Reaching down he pulled out his red bandanna mask. "Here, put this on. Hides your face more than just the glasses."

Grabbing the cloth Leo proceeded to the it around. "Boy don't I feel- wow this thing stinks." his nose cringed at the smell of what Derek's heavy breathing on the cloth lead it to be like this.

Leo didn't say much after wards as they pulled up to the bowling alley. A moderate crowd was gathered with police blocking off the entrance. Derek honked several times for people to move. Thankful that Leo's van had mostly tinted windows that prevented anyone from seeing inside. Pulling around he turns the can around so that the back doors faced the entrance. Not knowing what this was, the two cops standing guard stood aside and waited.

"And that's your cue killer." Derek said putting the vehicle in park. "Go get them."

Pulling his seat back he slides it as far away from the windows as he could leaning back. Crossing his arms as he held a radio tightly in his right hand. Leo took a deep breath before turning back and squeezed past his friend. Carefully stepping in the back where the Mini Pack and his belt laid on the ground. Looking back at Derek still wondering if he was sure about this, all he got was a light snore coming from the driver's seat.

He flings the pack on as he buckles the waist strap. "Well this odda be interesting…" grabbing the belt and makes sure it's tight around his person as he reached out and opens the rear doors.

Instantly he was swarmed by shouts by the crowd that pushed closer to the van as the police held them back in the gap between the building and car. Stepping out Leo couldn't help but feel a bit more nervous than he would like to be with sweat already running down the side of his forehead.

"Anyone still inside?" he asked the cop at his left.

"No. You're good." he nodded as he turned back to the door. Gulping down the lump in his throat he proceeds inside pushing the glass door aside.

Once he gets to the second set of doors he carefully sticks his head just enough so his neck was between the frame. Looking from left to right he stretches a hand out and pulls his sunglasses off to drop his goggles. The device whirls for a moment before his vision is covered by a familiar screen. Going from right to left this time he lets it scan more thoroughly than his eyes could. In his view he could see several purplish splotches covering nearly the whole bowling alley.

"God I hope I don't step in anything…" he muttered before stepping completely through.

Instinctively he goes to pull the Pke meter. But as he lifts the device up in his hand, he couldn't help but feel a sudden surge of memories from the night back at the mansion. Swallowing the golf ball sized lump in his throat he pressed on further in. The meter's graph them shifted from it's base green to a low level red color as he stopped. Raising the meter so that it was level with the goggles. The graph them spiked higher, the higher bars shifting on both right and left sides as he slowly turned his body to face on of them.

But as he got halfway, a loud belch sound made him finish his turn in one swift move.

"Oh My God…" he whispered. His eyes practically bulging out of the gives as he watched the 3 entities, all similar in look by being dressed on a bowling uniform minus the fact one was missing it's arm and legs. One was short red guy with a bowling ball sized hole in it's chest and the other a green guy that was without his head and hands.

"Wow you three look like utter crap…" he says out loud.

Leo suddenly clamps his hand over his mouth. Fearing that the three ghosts did hear him. His suspicion was further confirmed, when all three entities stopped what they were doing and, minus the two without real or any heads at all, faced him. Feeling the gaze of the spirits on him, Leo carefully lifted the goggles off his eyes. Seeing the creatures with his own, he could move without fear of not knowing what they could do next.

'Okay Think! Think! Think! What's a easy way that won't make them want to kill me?'

"Umm… hi?"

"AHHHHH!"

Derek jolted from his light slumber as he heard his friend's scream over the radio. Shaking his head he was ⅓ in favor of rushing in to help. Being that Leo wanted to this he wasn't too keen on letting him go solo on his first job. It was the first rule of ghostbusting; 'Never go solo'. But he did, and it worked out so far as of handling the entities themselves. But it was the amount that really got him.

Glancing around to his left he looked between the gap of his seat and the van to make sure that the gun he's come to really consider his personal weapon of choice, his Proton Rifle, was strapped to the wall in a X cross of velcro. Wondering if he should jump out and go help. But his other 2/3s won him over, and he nestled back into his seat.

"He'll be fine."

Leo for the situation was anything but fine. After nearly being slimed by three charging ghosts, Leo ducked to the ground as fast as he could possibly dodge a bullet narrowly missing the hit. After realization struck him he want to make a run for the door but was stopped by a flying pool table that smashed to pieces before he could make the door. Without much choice he dived for the front counter. Hitting the floor now with the weight of the pack acting alongside gravity.

*CRASH*

The glass case next to him shatters over him. Quickly crawling on his hands and knees he heads to the other end of the counter. Nearly missing a bowling ball that flew past him and embedded itself into the wall. Moving faster he twists his body around so that the pack now faced counter and he, the wall.

"God dammit derek where are-"

*Smash*

He crouches covering his face as another section of the counter exploded into splinters. He nearly saw a bowling pin take a direct hit on the cash register before it too flew into many tiny parts. The sound of metal and plastic was further driven by the sound of laughter from farther away. Reaching over he quickly places the meter back as he pulled off the proton gun. Feeling the solid aluminum body it was built out of he feels his thumb over the top mini toggle switch between the handle and heat bar as he forces it up.

Upon hearing the sound of the proton pack clicking followed by its famous hum, Leo held it closely as he tried to think of a plan.

'Okay, there's 3 of them and one of me. They have no idea what I'm packing and I just made a pun…'

*Thump.*

Jolting his head around Leo turned to a freshly made dent formed out of the sheet of wood that made up the counter bulge out from a impact.

*Thump. Thump*

He winced as two more formed. This time closer than the first.

*CRACK*

He jumped when the next one actually went all the way through. Only now it was 6 feet away from him and closing.

'Okay… plan, plan, plan… need a… of screw it…'

"Alright." he gripped the thrower tighter. Bringing his feet under him so that he was in almost a crouching position. "3…"

*Crash*

"2."

*CRASH*

Jumping to his feet and standing at his full height, Leo brings around the thrower so it was aimed over the counter. Seeing the person suddenly jump up the ghosts stopped their bombardment as they waited for what he would do next.

What they didn't expect was a powerful energy beam to erupt out of the frosted barrel at the end of the thrower to come in there direction. What Leo didn't expect was the immediate push back that the gun would put out, and when he hit the trigger, felt his whole right arm snap back as he was pushed back into the wall. Losing his firm grip on the forward guiding handle (the rear handle is mostly for support, the main forward with the barrel is usually the one you use to aim with.) caused the particle stream to fling to the right as it went higher. Dragging across the drop down ceiling taking out four score board displays. Realizing this Leo quickly tightens his grip again only for the gun to whip back around. Hitting the supports that held the screens to the roof as the stream easily broke through causing them to explode in a shower of sparks. The units came crashing down onto the seats and controls below as bits of plastic and metal scattered everywhere. In a small bit of strength he pulls the stream up while finally getting his finger off the trigger. But not before the stream had cut off in time to destroy 2 light fixtures in a shower of glass.

Breathing heavily after his first firing the pack, Leo eyed his handy work. Climbing over the tall counter minding the damage he looked around at the destroyed place. Wincing as a pop of more sparks blew out of the lights.

"Ouch… that's definitely coming of the paycheck." he said looking around for the ghosts. "Now where did they go this time…"

*GRAAA!*

The small red entity charged at him with two bowling balls in each hand. Without a second to spare Leo twists the forward handle and slips his pointer finger of the secondary fire.

*KCH-OOOOOMMMMM*

In a flash of orange and green, a echoing splat filled the room as Leo quickly brought his through thrower up to shield his face. But luckily for him, the two balls traveling 30mph both sailed passed his right and left sides as they crashed into the front desk again. After the moment had passed, Leo looked down to the pale green puddle of slime that stained the red carpet

He had just actually eliminated a ghost.

It was something Derek did talk about at times. With what the Stasis and Meson functions on his main pack are meant more towards direct destroying than wrangling to capture. He said it could significantly cut back on the amount of traps needed and cut bust times quicker. But out of everything he's caught he hasn't once been able to do it. Now Leo did just that, and with a uncharged boson dart. It was definitely something they needed to do.

Though that would have to wait, as the Pke meter began to spike again.

The green and blue ghosts both swarmed out from alleyways with pins flying all over the room. Charging head long in the same way their comrade did. If the scan was right, they were actually weaker than the first ghost, meaning a solid boson would easily finish them. But both of them were too far apart for just one blast and coming at the same time.

Reaching over he quickly pulls off and drops the pressure trap he kicks the unit under the handle towards the middle of where the ghosts would be. Bringing the thrower down he fired off again. This time a lot more off course just to the right of the blue ghost. Seeing what the stream had done it quickly dashes to the left as it avoided the stream. Quickly swapping back Leo then fires to the left of the green ghost. It too doing the same as its companion and moved further in. Once Leo got them right where he wanted them, almost side by side, he looked down at the floor to make sure that the foot pedal was close by as he hovered his shoe above the circular plate before pressing it down like stepping. Looking away he quickly puts the goggles down as a bright light engulfed the whole area. The only thing Leo could sense was the warmth of the light on the side of his body, the whirl from the trap and the dual screams from the ghosts roared out.

At the feeling of the van suddenly shaking from the force of someone entering, Derek jolts out of his slumber as he snapped his head around. Ready to grab his rifle or tackle the intruder. But when the sound of a trap hitting and rolling across the floor. Looking up to his friend he was surprised to see Leo

"You catch them? Not bad for your first bust eh?"

Leo just shrugged as he started unbuckling his pack. Once he had placed it back on the ground Derek let off the parking brake and easily drive away from the crowd. Honking the horn a few times to clear people away as he gunned it down the road. Once they had gotten a good distance away Leo snaked his way back into his seat.

"I'll tell you what, this thing," he held up the bulky meter, "is incredible."

"Isn't that my Real Ghostbusters version? I thought you had the normal one."

"Well…" Leo drifted off not knowing how to escape this situation. It didn't help him either that Derek had an arched brow facing his way. "Alright so I decided to keep it after the Westmore Mansion incident. I've felt more safer now with it by my bed side than before all this started. Plus I have been checking up on everything you scan. My book's even helped out cataloging them.

"I wondered where all that info came from… But still this is still unproven tech at the moment. There's bound to be bugs somewhere."

Leo shrugged a agreement. "Plus I have been making it a little more fine tuned." he then held it to where the screen faced Stewart. Glancing over Derek was surprised it wasn't like a box with an old phone on top with wires running in and out connected to switches. The body was completely clean and organized with the monitor built directly in the device. The 'antenna' that the two wing bars were attached to was perfectly clean and reinforced with a metal rod that held them tightly. To finish it all off the body was now a darker shade of blue with a mix of gray on the handle and front plate.

Nodding his approval of the redesign, Leo reached over and clipped the device on the loop of his pants. "So I guess this makes me a full fledged ghostbuster then huh?"

"Hell no, then again I guess you can handle the next 47 calls by yourself." he said pressing on the gas to the next job. Leo had felt like he just put his foot in his mouth as he sunk as far as he could in the seat.

"Me and my mouth sometimes …" he muttered in his hand.

"Yeah and I'm usually the one to do that." Leo's only response was shifting two fingers apart so that his left eye sent a glare at Derek's direction. While not looking the 17 year old could only laugh knowing his friend's current agony.

The next job was clear across town near the West Virginia state border, meaning they had to cut straight through town in order to make up for the lost time. Turning down a old farm road that went up near the high school Derek pressed harder on the gas as the speedometer rose. But the ride was anything but smooth.

"Umm… Derek. I know you we're in a hurry but- oww!" both teens felt the car jump in and out of a pothole. "but I would like it of you didn't destroy my suspension."

"Sorry Leo, but -ow- I'm used to just weaving past them on the bike. You're -oww- gonna gave to bear it." Leo groaned. He felt that Derek was either pushing him to some point or this was what busting was to be like.

As they climbed over the top of a hill and head down into a small valley with farms covering both sides of the road Derek sped up even faster down the slope as he whizzed passed trees and signs. The road did smooth out a lot better and flattened out providing a much more relaxing ride as they got closer to town.

"Alright, so the next job is another poltergeist. They're very violent and can cause a lot of destruct- HOLY SHIT!

He slams on the brakes as the rear wheels of the van burn rubber against the pavement as a massive dust plume explodes over the road like a forming twister. Van nearly fishtails as it came to a stop just several yards away from the cloud as the wind slightly shook the vehicle. The source slowly revealed itself as the spinning blades on a white moderate sized helicopter hover directly in front of them just 15 feet off the road.

Leaning on the wheel Derek tried to see the chopper better. "What the hell is that guy thinking?!"

Leo too leaned in. This time dropping the Ecto Goggles over his eyes as he scanned. "What is it, police? News?"

"No, Private. No decals. But you ever it is sure has some balls." Just then the nose of the chopper lifted higher into the air before flying off in the other direction.

"Can't tell if that was a ghost flying that or not…" he said looking in the direction the chopper went.

"We're not gonna follow that thing, right?"

"Nope." Satisfied that the random moment had passed they continued down the road towards town.

(Might add another bit here later on.)

In New York City...

As day faded and night rose, the city that never sleeps was once again living up to its name. The bright, gleaming lights that towered over the rivers that conjoined past Liberty Island to some great distance over the Atlantic.

Over on the Brooklyn side of town, towards the more industrial area close to the bay, the Parker and Phil's Oil Refinement and Storage stood like a brand new going green. The outside of the main building consisting of a freshly tarred parking lot that lead from the street across towards a semi circle round about the divided the front of the building from a basketball court sized patch of pure green grass that in the center stood a Empire State Building fountain. Its clean blue and white exterior would make anyone think that in here the future was happening.

Only did the swarm of emergency, utility and EPA vehicle's surrounding the area say otherwise. Mean in hazmat suits walking all over the rear storage facility the building walked about holding or moving several pieces of equipment around. Inside was a complete scene as if an alien was being harbored here with spot lights and sterilizing equipment. Three men holding a large scoop dunked the utensil into a opened oil barrel pulling out a decent amount as another holding a container held it out as the black substance was poured in. Once sealed tightly the third man took the sample over to a table where a stack of the same liquid was undergoing tests.

On the other side of the warehouse, the situation was much more bleak.

Surrounded by evidence markers, chalk outlines, a empty, tipped over oil barrel and police, 4 body bags sat parallel to each other as the investigators worked on the situation.

"What do we got?" one officer that had arrived asked looking at the mess.

Another cop answered, "Happened about a 2 hours ago at least. Alarm sounded for screaming when they found it in here. Reports say that two workers were moving barrels when one got hit too hard and spilled out."

"And cause of death?"

"The spill." The one cop looked over to his comrade in confusion. "What did they spill, acid?"

The other shook his head, "No. Some weird oil sample they found offshore and tried to process. This along with the ones the other guys are testing are from the same batch that shut this whole place down. When they were yelling everyone ran over to help; two of them tried to wipe the stuff off but started yelling too. One guy got a water hose to wash them off and that's when they said they collapsed. Medics called it nerve trauma, nerve and tissue damage, shock, heart, lung, kidney and liver failure. Into addition of that, the 4 went literally brain dead half way."

The one officer looked down at the place where the 4 men had died. There wasn't a perfect body outline in pure white chalk usually meant to show the position one dies in; but when they arrived to assess the situation, there wasn't much to identify them. Their bodies looked more like practical effects from The Thing with parts of their bodies melted over the concrete.

"Officer Miles." a stern voice said behind both men. Turning around the two cops looked back at the source of the voice.

He was a well built man, but more like the kind of structure you would find in sailors. A grown stubble wrapped down the 24 year old's chin as the bright lights around did little to show. From head to toe he was dressed in a standard New York Police uniform but with a much heavier tone of black on his coat. With how puffed out he was most would think he was really buff, but under closer inspection one could easily see the large amount of padding stuffed inside his suit.

Walking up to the two fellow cops, the man stopped just 5 feet away shifting his gaze between both before speaking; "Officer Mike Docks reporting for duty, sir."

First brief but real appearance of Lisa Stewart. While she might not have a big roll on this story she will in the next.

So I decided to do something really different this time than what I planned this. Originally it was just meant to show how Leo eventually became the 2nd Protonix Ghostbuster and his first bust, but thinking over the title it got me thinking that i could actually introduce all the characters earlier, even though not fully or directly, but still state who they will be when they become part of the team.