Chapter 26: The Silver Lining

I've finally gotten back into the groove and determined to finish this. This chapter is more of a small bridge between last chapters' events involving the firehouse, the bridge scene and Jack's discovery to the main climax of the story next chapter.

Unlike any other Ghostbusters stories here where a origin's story usually has a big bad villain for the new team to fight this actually isn't the case. Not all origin stories involve that and this story is just that, how they started. For there is still a lot for this group for the future.

"I can't believe I just talked to a police officer like that…" Derek tighten the steering wheel as he drove on feeling the realization hit him right as they got off the bridge.

"Frankly I'm more shocked you weren't arrested right there and then." Leo added. They all knew that while what they did was important it didn't mean they were untouchable with the law. Sure they had problems in the past but never so far as getting arrested.

"Then again we seemed to have strange luck with that." He realized. Making Derek looked back him with a unnerving nod as he focused on getting them to the location.

Taking the road that lead up to the refinery the some of the crew was speculating on what they were possibly about to expect after hearing Jack's call.

Pulling in the lot had gone back to normal somewhat with environmental, utility and maintenance units still stationed at the facility. But after the Ghostbusters had them stop processing the slime to allow their machinery to be cleaned and checked they were running back at half efficiency due to the level of damage most of the machines suffered from the substance. The whole area surround where they were storing the slime itself was mostly inactive due to it and their equipment's nature so it mostly left the space for repairs that would be sent out elsewhere.

As the team pulled up towards the entrance that had immediately taken note of the flatbed truck that was parked right out front with something large under a tarp.

Even Marcus Cooper and Nicholas was there taking to one another as 2 men worked on unloading whatever was loaded with.

Coming up behind the truck but still a car's length away the lights on the cars faded off as the team piled out.

"What the hell is that...?" Derek asked himself out loud as he headed towards the two business men.

It was then that as the team came up, with the crew in Ecto-3 getting geared up, Derek, Leo and Rachel came up the sidewalk as the pair took notice.

"Ah! There you are!" Cooper gleed as he closed the gap. "We were originally going to call about this but since you are here this might both spoil the surprise and but also save us time!."

"Huh…" Derek sent him a small nod as he looked to the flatbed, "And what exactly did you get us that us being here would be a spoiler?"

Just then, as if God himself was answering his question, a heavy gust of wind ripped through the area. There was some clouds over head that blocked the sun out somewhat but they were rapidly clearing away. But it was a strong enough wind that lasted long enough that it was able to hook itself under the tarp and lift up part of the passenger side of what was underneath it and keep it pinned allowing the whole back half to be exposed.

It was a car, a really old car. But it wasn't just a cat; it was a Ectomobile. A really old Ectomobile.

Even standing 20 feet away one could see the horrific rust that covered the rear fenders and bumper with the weathered white paint having a almost grey tint to it with spots of rust while the tail fins themselves lost most of their red. And that wasn't just it; the tail fins themselves was a give away of how old this car was. It was no doubt a old Cadillac with the large fins that were made on the vehicles to make it look like it could fly.

The two men that were trying to unlatch the car failed to keep the tarp on, the wind blowing it further up the car as it revealed more of the backside to the windows. Or what was left of them. Sun baked, so dirty it was nearly impossible to see their, all the chrome missing and more rust.

At this point it was pointless to try to keep the tarp covered and Derek's interest has peaked. Walking over he stepped up to the truck using the rear wheel as a lift as he hopped on to the flatbed.

"Leo, come up and help me here." he said as he started moving the tarp more. Leo soon came up doing the same as Derek worked the passenger side while Leo took the driver. Both having to tug, flip and yank the large sheet off of various areas as they pulled it all the way over the front and let it pile behind the cab.

With the car now out in the sun they all could see the ungodly state it was in. So much so Derek had a hard time struggling to think of how to describe it.

"Hey, Danny!" He called over to the eldest Smith who was able to get his pack on. The Smith looked over around the car to whoever called him. "Get over here! We got something for ya to look at."

With a shrug Danny put his pack back into the truck as the trio came over. Danny was the first to see them on the flatbed and stopped immediately once he saw the vehicle.

"Jesus Christ this thing looks like a piece of crap…" and truth be told, he wasn't wrong. From his point of view to what Derek and Leo were seeing the car was a complete wreck.

The entire body was weathered to a point that it wasn't even possible to see any other color than faded white or rust. Most of the red striping that led from the sides to the fin had faded away. There was no front bumper or grill, the only thing left of the front itself was the headlights with one set smashed and one light itself missing with part of the hood disfigured with a severe warp to it. The windshield itself in is worse state with a massive hole in the passenger side and large cracks webbing across almost half of the glass. No decals of any kind and any sign of them had been long since weathered away. There was a roof rack on, though it was backwards and leaning over the windshield like one of its legs had poked the hole.

Leo moved around to the rear and ever so carefully, using one of straps to pull the handle open as neither of them tempted to open the door in fear that it would fall off or they get tetanus, pulled the door open with a sickening grinding noise that would need gallons of WD40 to fix.

The interior, from what the two could tell, was slightly better than the outside but still rust city. Some of the leather and fabrics that made up part of the roof was ripped down to the body with signs of rust, the sides were a bit better but the rest was hard to tell by the amount of clutter stuffed into the rear area.

"I got 3 different light bars, several hoses, or what's left to of them, a broken dish, several parts boxes, parts of what I could assume is the for the rack and a couple of yellow tanks." Leo listed off. "And," he reached inside, carefully shifting around some stuff before pulling out what it was that he got.

"This." he held out a heavily dirty license plate, the red of the letters being just a bit weathered but what it read was easily seen.

Ecto-1A.

After seeing the plate and the condition the car was in Derek turned back to the men, "Alright, Cooper, spill it." he came down sitting on the flatbed facing the CEO. "What's the story with this and why is it here?"

The man cleared his throat before pressing forward, "Well you see, before your arrival as we were making plans we were preparing to help acquire anything you may need for your endeavors around the city. Our associates were capable of getting into contact with Sony to use the original vehicle. After they denied our request they offered a follow up for the second vehicle. However… we weren't expecting it to be in this condition for you…" he was restraining himself from wincing as Leo shut the door that caused the grinding noise again.

"How much?" Leo asked coming up beside Derek.

"We originally made a offer of $450,000, but including the shipping here it totaled to roughly $600,000." Derek let out a deep groan as if just having been punched in the gut. Turning to the side to use the truck to catch himself on from falling off. Even the other recoiled at the price given what they had just bought.

"BUT! You don't have to worry about it. All expenses has already been paid in advance and wasn't taking out of your pay. Even before you uh… bought something." He rolled his hands letting them know that he knew what he meant.

"Danny." Derek propped himself back up, "a word." Derek let himself slid fully off the truck back onto the sidewalk. Leo following suite as Danny came up.

"Alright, congratulations, you're officially promoted to Head Mechanic. Now what do you think?"

"I-"

"No, we are not putting it through the crusher or turning it into a derby car..."

The Eldest Smith frowned at the remark but continued, "Honestly, a derby car is really the only thing this thing would be worth for. I mean LOOK AT IT! It's like someone poured acid all over it! It's probably older than my great aunt. But bottom line from what I'm just seeing from 10 feet away is that this is impossible. You're talking rust issues in so many places the body work alone would bankrupt you. Interior if the windows have been closed for the past 30 years is probably salvageable, god forbid what the engine looks like. Wiring is probably gone by now, paint, rebuilding the engine, new shocks, brakes, brake pads, not to mention any of the chrome missing, no idea about the windshield and that's just to list off the top of my head."

Derek looked over to Cooper, "This is for us right?"

He nodded, "It's yours to do whatever."

He nodded and turned back, "Great because we're not fully restoring it." This brought a wave of huhs and what's from everyone. "If we're gonna use this for anything we're gonna give it one hell of an upgrade. Rebuild it from the ground up, new everything; new axles, new suspension, new interior, wiring, the works."

"Derek that cost alone would be several hundred k." Leo added already thinking about what they had put into the current 3 vehicles to this one, "With the firehouse I don't see how we're gonna be able to fund this and the renovations."

"That and hire a crew to help restore the damn thing…" Danny muttered.

"And because of that we'll have to work on it as we go. We don't exactly need it right away. X,2, and 3 are all fine and I'll throw in my bike to the list but once we find a place to set up shop for the better while getting the building situation under control we can focus on just getting it as far along as possible. Do bursts of work with what we can fund it."

Danny and Leo both shook their heads, "Derek, maybe this is a bit too mu-"

"Can you do it or not?" Derek focused onto Smith.

Smith thought about it. Working in his dad's car shop along with his brother meant that he did have experience on dealing with both new and old cars. But the latter of that was the case of simply cannibalizing them to use them to smash into other old cars. Restoration was more like his father's department but the most he's ever done was a 2000 Dodge Ram, not a 1959 Cadillac.

"Give me enough time, money and parts…" he shook his head around like he was weighing his options. "Probably. But don't expect it to be done within a month."

"GUYS!"

They all immediately jumped at the sudden loud yell as they all turned around to see Jack running out of the front doors towards them.

"GUYS! YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED!" he shouted bouncing in place.

"Whoa,whoa, whoa, calm down, Jackie." Derek grabbed him by his shoulders to try to keep him still.

It seemed to work; as the technician started to calm down and finally get his bearings again. Closing his eyes as he took a deep breath to clear his head.

"Now," Derek let go of him, "What's the problem?"

Jack's joyful grin, a bit smaller this time, returned, "I got a reaction."

"Wow, what a mess…"

"Well, Rachel, science itself isn't exactly all that nice and clean as everyone sets it out to be." Without looking Leo knew Rachel was giving him a death stare that in no words said 'shut up' in perfect context.

What was presented before them after literally 10 minutes of walking through the refinery to the storage area the team of 6 was bestowed the sight of what could be described as the aftermath of a Nickelodeon Awards ceremony.

The work area was a mess from end to end; all the equipment had been moved off onto just one table pushed some distance away while the slime table had a significantly different look of there being a lot more jars filled with green goo. In the middle of the room was what could be considered a toxic spill with a massive green puddle like Slimer exploded.

"Well… you've been busy…" Roger noted the mess as they had to walk around avoiding the puddle and other areas with scorch marks.

"Yeah…" Jack rubbed the back of his head with the hint of embarrassment evident in a slight blush. "I got a little… frustrated and…" he gestured to the mess.

"But! It was worth it!" He walked over to the slime table and grabbed both a chemical glove and green jar. Holding it out for the others to see.

"So you figured it out, hmm?" Derek mused over the jar as Leo grabbed it out of Jack's hands and waved his meter over it. Surprisingly it didn't register as black slime or basic ectoplasm on the device. It actually felt lighter than a jar of the black substance and, with a shake, acted more like glue then goo.

"Fascinating. And it works?" Leo asked. Jack answered with a nod of confirmation.

"That puddle back there was once a mix of black and 14 Pure. I tried charging it with the proton stream but after I accidentally added additional mixtures it bubbled away. That whole puddle and that stuff in the jar is 100% human safe."

To emphasize this he grabbed another jar and popped it open. Sticking his glove into the goo and pulling out with now a heavy layer of residue oozing off back into the jar.

"Note, I'm just wearing a glove because its a pain to wash off and I don't want to wash my hands again after 4 times. Pke puts it as a Class 1 Caustic Seep, inert environmental effect. Just like black slime but registering as a positive charged plasma."

It was Danny's turn then to take the jar. Holding it up to where he was eye level and tried seeing through, "So you mean this stuff will help us not have to deal with any of the black stuff anymore."

"From what few test's I've done, yes. This mixture at its current state is strong enough to neutralize black slime and possibly other entities comprised of it. But that would need actual field testing. And there's still one large problem."

"And that is…?" Derek asked both worryingly and curious.

"Unlike actual Mood Slime or even some cases with Black Slime this stuff doesn't regenerate. I don't know how they did it in the video game as it's always regenerating but at the current moment what you have in the tank is all you would have to use."

"So we're limited on how much we can physically carry?" Jack slowly nodded.

It was a bit of a handicap. The purpose of having a slime blower on a pack was meant for how portable it was in never having to run out. Having the substance itself is good, they can actually get rid of black slime on sight now. But it's at the risk of running out when it's needed.

"How much can we carry per pack?" Leo asked approaching the equipment table and eyeing the 2 new packs.

The proton pack now looked more complete than it did less than an hour ago. Propped up on a pack stand, which really was all but a guitar stands with a modified neck to hold onto the top of the Alice Frame, in its new silver-bronze and jet black color combo. Despite looking like a complete mess when it was first built in Derek's garage and the amount of use it has gotten over time it practically looked brand new minus the gun staying the same barring some new parts. More noticeable changes was the giant green tank mounted on the side where the water tank use to be. This one was easily double the size of the previous unit and reached nearly the entire height of the pack with metal braces holding it onto the shell and several bungee cords wrapped around it. The booster tube now also had a actual slime tube with the plunger sticking out of the tube with green liquid sitting inside leading down a clear tube into the pack with the same tube now leading from the pack to the thrower. The slime blower however looked much like it did but with its noticeable color changes.

Jack walked over coming up to the side of the pack the tank was on. "The blower itself from what's at the tip of the nozzle to the top of the main tank is roughly 40 gallons. For the pack from the bottom of the tank to the tip of the nozzle and the plasm banks is a rough total of 12 gallons. Tack on an extra 6 if you decided to add a second tank but then you're risking weight issues. On full pressure they might have a range of roughly 30 feet but you'll end up drying them out in less than 30 seconds. Half pressure and you might be able to make it last roughly 10-15 minutes? Times all that by 5 and you got what the blower itself can do."

Already Derek and Leo were brainstorming ideas to how to fix this. Without the regenerative properties the slime was heavily limited, more limited than when the coolant system was still being perfected, and this actually required refilling and producing more.

"How much can we make of this stuff?" Leo asked looking over at the puddle.

Jack tapped on the tank again, "From what I've done to get enough to fill both of these packs, it was a pain in the ass by the way, 14 Pure seemed suitable with the need of being mixed with a small dose of black and a large dose of this green slime and just be mixed till it's leveled out."

"So we'll just have to make a couple dozen batches of 14 Pure and mix in black and positive slime." He looked over to Derek, "We can retool Ecto's storage tank to hold this stuff and use it to refill the packs on site. Not to mention having extra tanks on hand for quick swap outs."

Derek hesitated for a moment before his head slowly started to nod, "It could work. Be a pain in the ass to do, we're going to have to make sure to tap off each pack before we go on a call."

"6, roughly 7 proton packs and one large blower, provided if we do upgrade the Mini-Pack Ecto-X's tank would probably only be able to hold enough slime for 3 packs alone."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Now," Derek turned towards what was his first pack, "what else is new?"

Jack actually got a little more excited, "Well, everything you see has been basically redone and further refined. It's basically a whole new system. Improved coolant system using less but more concentrated in the cores. Proton yield has been increased by roughly 7% with better polarization and ionization so you won't have to worry about accidentally setting something on fire."

Several eyes went back to the scorch trails.

"So it's a bit safer if you accidentally hit someone minus a possibly getting shocked beyond comprehension And," he shifted over to the thrower side, pulling the gun off onto the table as he turned the pack some. "The brand-new Pke Flux Shields."

With a flick of the power switch the pack flashed and hummed to life. With the new shell and lights it honestly looked fresh from the factory. But the most new addition was the sudden display of a large blue light circling around the pack between the motherboard and the shell itself. It was colored much like the Stasis lights were with a more purplish color that, once it connected itself at the top of the pack, dimmed down some to where it was like a purple glow stick.

"This fancy little upgrade is going to make ghostbusting a lot safer for the wearer. It basically acts as a inverted Ion cage like what's used to keep entities inside traps but now used instead to take the external hits. It's should be able to absorb a degree energy based impacts, including some levels of kinetic, that should help tone down any bodily harm you'll get if in a ghost fight. Plus it adds a extra layer of protection from stray equipment in case you accidentally get hit in cross fire."

"Question," Ben raised his hand, "So it's like a force field from Halo?"

Jack looked down a moment then back to the pack. Thinking over the question, "Well, Not… exactly, no. It should prove a extra layer of protection against the kind of stuff you'll tend to get hit by if a ghost packs a bit more punch to it. It should help against being near black slime but it won't be much unless you actually step in-"

"And I'm Proud to be an American! Where at least I know I'm free!"

All eyes turned to the source of the noise as Derek fished out his phone. Looking at it for a moment, making sure it was either 'a call' or just someone calling. The number he was getting however wasn't their service number that everyone calls to so he figured it was something else.

"Keep talking, I'm just gonna take this real quick." he said walking away some distance as he answered. Continuing out until he was outside the room and around the corner where no one could hear him.

"A major drawback to this system however is that it's practically a Revive system." Leo stated, "It's a lot like the video game, the health bars now actually display current shield levels. The revive system is meant to tell the user to take action when taking too much damage. As such when the shield is lost the pack will automatically deactivate all non vital components to minimize wear and tear on equipment. The cyclotron cores will revert to soley the proton stream mode and be lock in a manual vent stage with steam being vented from the gearbox. The SOS box below the power cell will send out a bright strobe light to help get others attention and be easier to locate."

Jack then stepped in, "While the shields do regenerate, if in revive, will take time to This can be undone a switch in the back of the neck," he turned the pack more to where it showed a small red and black box behind the neck brace of the Alice Frame, "or by proximity of another pack with an active shield regardless of how low it is to be able to 'revive' them but allowing their pack to charge off the other. There is the issue that it might drain the other's shields but that's yet to be tested."

Looking around at the remaining 4 busters they each had similar to different reactions to the truck load of information that they were just hit with in the same of 7 minutes. Danny looked like he was remotely trying to figure it out with Ben not even caring. Roger looked like he did understand but in all actuality he was more or less shaking his head at everything said. Rachel, while still not knowing the full gist of the tech, understood some, like the shields, but after that it was a bit hard to follow.

"So… let me get this straight." Rachel rubbed her temple, "From all intents and purposes, you guys added a revive system that acts just like from a video game, to a real nuclear accelerator that we use on just about a daily basis over a dozen times a day, that the moment it goes down, you do down with it?"

Leo and Jack both looked to each other with a questioning gaze. The way it really sounded like that was that they were actually trying to make the video game come to life. Having the packs as is was close enough but having actual energy shields? That was a step into a more crazy territory than the slime business. Everything done to the equipment since day one had been about making it perform better than it did the day before.

This on the other hand...

"I know its a bit crazy," Leo reassured her, "but we'll be a lot safer out there with these shield. Sure it won't stop us from getting slimed but before that force was able to knock the wind right out of you. This time you'll be able to get right back up and pop a stream on its ass before it can get away."

"Besides, this is a prototype modified from the traps. It's still going to need a lot of field testing before we can implement all the upgrades to the other equipment." Jack added.

"That field test is gonna happen sooner than later." Derek firmly stated walking past everyone and immediately to the equipment table. Quickly snatching up his proton pack as he slung it over one shoulder.

Without much word he power walked back to the cars. The others not knowing what was up followed, "What's the situation?" Leo asked having been a little annoyed Derek wasn't sharing needed information.

"A fire broke out at 781 Fifth Avenue. Floors 12 to 14 are in danger of or are currently burning."

"So why do they need us?" Roger questioned, "Isn't that the reason there's bound to be dozens of firefighters there?"

Derek stopped and turned before he was even out the door, "Because according to the fire chief, in his words 'the fire was fighting back.' And reports of people physically being seen in the fire is starting to draw in some conclusions.

"A Fire Elemental." Leo said in surprise and realization to which Derek nodded.

"Gotta be either Class 4 or 5. All they know is that the 14th floor is in danger of collapsing in on the others and there might still be people inside. Jack!" the technician jumped when his name was yelled and echoed off the concrete walls. "Bring the slime blower and load it up, might as well put these new upgrades to the test."

"But-but- we haven't even tested they on a fully operating rig!" Jack exclaimed. "For all we know something can happen out there and cause the whole pack to just suddenly die."

"Then we'll just have to pray that it holds up and that doesn't happen." he said before suddenly pausing when a thought washed over him.

Pulling his thrower he walked back over to Jack; tapping his right shoulder with the thrower then over to the left like one would knight somebody. "Also, congratulations, you're an official honorary Ghostbuster. Now let's move, people!"

Just three more chapters left of this almost 3 years old story and I'm already planning to get the first chapter of Shadows of the Past out before or on the Ghostbusters 35th anniversary.

So now the real world Ghostbusters got the real world car from the second movie. Truth be told I like Ecto-1A better than Ecto-1 itself just like how I like the Video Game Proton Packs more than the originals. There's more going for it and in the world of Ghostbusters that's bound to always happen.

With it being 2013 (in this story) and the Ecto-1 restoration already completed back in 2009 Ecto-1A's project was scrapped for unknown reasons (probably costs as it's guesstimated to have cost 100K to rebuild the original) and possibly used as a parts donor for Ecto-1. However, images showed the car was briefly worked on as all the decals and accessories were removed, the latter part was that what wasn't missing was just stored inside it and it was left to riot.

For the PGB here I of course wanted them to have a classic Ectomobile but as stated in the story it was timing, cost and overall convince that was the reason. As buying, restoring and heavily using a classic 1959 Cadillac wouldn't really be efficient even on gas and maintenance.

The team got Ecto-1A because, 1. They didn't know where it was and didn't have to pay for it. 2. Ecto-1 is a classic movie car and I highly doubt Sony would just give it away for people to use it in a way that it could end in one crash and be scrapped forever. 3. With what the GB stated they will have to do massive upgrades to the car to make it worth its weight.

This is just my take on what the future of Ecto-1A would of become had PGB actually existed as by now it would of been rebuilt into their new flagship vehicle (the GMC is their current one). It ironic how despite building themselves from the ground up they suddenly are in possession of a 50 year old hearse and a firehouse that's not even 8 tenths livable.

It's gonna be a long time before Ecto-1A is rolling again but here is a image (of which I need to seriously make a new one) of what the car will become over the course of 3 years: protonixghostbusters/art/Protonix-Ghostbusters-Ecto-1A-712134277

A note for those about the gear, the GB are ALWAYS upgrading their stuff. They don't like to immediately build a whole new set of packs, traps, etc. once they get something new. They evolve the equipment on the same units and only need to build more packs if needed, like backups, test rigs or a completely new system. Its why there are currently 3 different version of the gear:

-The Clunker

-The Power Driver

-The Silver Vain

The Clunker was basically the first 3 packs, Derek's pack he built at the beginning of the story, The Mini-Pack and Leo's Pack that were all the early stages and needed high amounts of work done. The Power Driver is the incarnation of the packs that received upgrades that improved efficiency such as better power management. The Silver Vain is all about improved functions like the Slime Blower and Shield.