Chapter 17: The First Stanza

Sunday, June 23, 2002

Rockefeller State Park Preserve

Mount Pleasant, NY

7:30 AM

New York State Police and New York State Park Police currently find themselves at the foot of a tree looking up. In the early hours of the morning, a jogger made their way around the running path and found an orange-clad individual hanging by his neck from the very tree that police are looking up at this very moment. The New York county coroner and the state park investigation unit are currently cataloging evidence and photographs of what everyone feels is apparent: Suicide.

"Saculopholus didn't get far, did he?" A plainclothes detective looked to the Sergeant on site. The detective was middle-aged with gray growing on his temples offsetting the dark hair he had. Wearing a polo shirt and dress pants, he stopped trying to light his cigarette and looked at the Sergeant, "He managed to get here; right where Mickey DeLaRosa was buried. Must of finally had a guilty mind."

The Sergeant looked to the detective, "DeLaWho?"

The detective finished lighting his cigarette, him speaking from the corner of his mouth "One of Saculopholus's hits," He took a drag and exhaled, removing the cigarette from his mouth, "I recognise the area. They found him face down under a mound of gravel that was to be used for the path going through here. Not one of Joey's best burial plot jobs; it's what got him busted."

"I still don't get it, detective; he took the opportunity to escape the overturned paddy wagon, why come here? Why did he hang himself? Why is he not as bruised as the deputies? Where did he get the rope?"

The Detective got stern, "Look, Sergeant, I'm the one who has to answer these questions; not you. Do us a favor and do your job, unless…"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" the Sergeant put his hands up in a halting motion. The detectives phone went off. As he looked at the caller id, he spoke out to the uniformed officer, "I have to take this. Get that piece of shit off the tree." The Sergeant walked toward the tree as the detective answered the phone, "Detective Sheffield." There was a silence as the detective nodded his head.

He finally spoke, "Don't worry, between me and the Captain, we have it under control here," He nodded again, "Yes. För gudarna."

Ghostbusters HQ

8:30 AM

Between Dan and Lita, the two of them managed to cook up enough food for not only all the day shift Ghostbusters, but even Slimer. Roland very politely put down his napkin on the table, "That was really good. Thank you for making breakfast for us, Lita."

"Yeah," Garrett chimed in, "the flavor was very chien mouillé." "Garrett," Egon was at the head of the table, "that means, 'Wet dog,' in French." Everyone busted out laughing as Garrett once again had an indignant look on his face, "Hey, I'm still learning! Gonna be takin' French 102 next semester."

"Garrett," Kylie put down her coffee as she looked to the side, "you're not gonna learn anything if you keep sneaking your Game Boy into class."

"Hey, I only got it confiscated twice. I'm doin' good!"

Dan sighed and looked to Lita who sat opposite to Egon, coffee cup in his hand pointing it in Garrett's direction, "You see what I gotta live with here?" Lita was very happy everyone enjoyed themselves, "Thanks, everyone. I know since I got here things went haywire, I figured I'd treat everyone."

Kylie put down her fork as she looked to the woman, "Where did you learn to cook like that? I haven't had breakfast like that since my Grandma Rose passed away." Lita had a look of pity on her face when she heard that, "Oh, I'm sorry…" "It's okay," she tried to stop Lita from apologizing again, "It's been some time since. I'm just saying you're really good at it."

"Well, thank you," Lita looked to her coffee cup as she smiled. Her smile faded quickly as she began to explain, "When I was younger, I was always told I was so tomboyish. It made me self-conscious. I remember my mother always working in her garden and always improving her cooking, so I decided to work on those two things. I really came to enjoy both of them."

"Those Martial Arts skills helps," Garrett looked to the others as he joked, "You should have seen it; the woman cooks like a ninja. She even made her own smoke bombs out of the sausage."

Dan didn't like that, "Garrett!"

Garrett put his hands up, "Hey, I'm joking! No need for the stairs!" referring back to Dan's earlier threat.

Dan put down his coffee cup and pointed at the wheelchaired Ghostbuster, "You best mind your P's and Q's, buddy; I might just knock you down a firepole access instead."

Lita was actually laughing a bit to herself at the joke, "It's okay, Dan; body parts don't need breaking today." Dan looked back to Garrett, "You're getting off light."

Roland was sensing way too much tension going on. He helped switch subjects, "So, how far are you getting the truck done?" Dan looked to his second in command, "Well, we got the lights wired and decals on. Got the valves done yesterday. All we have left is the intake manifold, then we can install that Holley Double-pumper," a look of annoyance came to the engineer's face as he looked to the dregs of coffee in his cup, "I wish we could get the 250 shot of nitrous installed, but those parts are a pain in the ass to find in Manhattan."

Dan went to pick up and drink what was left of his coffee when he noticed ripples in his cup. After a second, the whole cup started shaking along with everything else on the table. All the Ghostbusters looked around as suddenly the whole firehouse was shaking. Objects fell off shelves and landed on the stove, floor, and counters of the kitchen.

"What the hell is that?!" Garrett yelled over the rumbling, "Is it the Containment Unit?"

"No!" Roland was covering his head as he stood up, avoiding the plaster that was breaking away from the ceiling, "The alarm isn't going off!"

"Nevertheless, we have to get to the basement!" Egon said as he stood, himself covering his head from the ceiling, "Whatever's going on, we have to check the integrity of the Unit!"

"Egon," Dan called out, "isn't going to the basement during an earthquake a bad idea?"

"Yes, but allowing a containment breach that could wipe out all of lower Manhattan would be a worse idea!" Dan's eyes went wide from that. He looked to Lita, "He's got a point!" he stood as he looked back and forth to her and Kylie, "You two get downstairs and get Janine out of here!" He turned to Slimer who was floating overhead, "Slimer, help Garrett downstairs!"

"Dan," Garrett called out, "I can use the elevator!"

"Do you wanna get stuck in the elevator when it fails?" Garrett just realized what that meant for him and shook his head. From there, Dan looked back to Slimer, "Go! Now!" Slimer saluted and flew down to grab Garrett under his arms as everyone else ran to the nearest firepole. Egon, Dan, and Roland ran to the basement access after hitting the main floor as the women made their way out of the main door.

In the containment area, Egon ran to the main panel next to the large red device as Dan and Roland ran to two different control computers. Dan started typing fast as he accessed the grid monitor, "Jesus Christ! The alignment servos are all over the place!"

"We're getting a power falloff through the main line!" Roland shouted over the rumbling, "I'm activating the backup generator!" The diesel generator in the corner of the basement activated as Egon looked through the viewfinder of the main panel, "The unit's physically holding, but it may not be for long! Dan, activate the laser realignment protocols!"

"That's what I've been doing," he shouted, "the shaking is messing with the optics!" That was when the alarm started sounding. All three men looked to the red light on the containment unit, then to each other. It looked to be all over.

The shaking stopped.

After a few seconds, the lasers inside the unit realigned and the alarm disengaged; the light switched from red to green. The unit was safe. All three men kept looking at each other as the events played out. Dan checked his monitor, "Laser grid reestablished. Grid integrity holding," he took a deep breath as he leaned against the desk, "And here I was afraid of living by the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant. This thing is under me when I sleep."

"What was that?" Roland asked confused, "I don't remember earthquakes being a thing in New York." "They're not," Egon responded, "and it makes he wonder," he walked to the work bench opposite of the unit and picked up a PKE meter. He turned it on and it screeched at high yield, "Oh. My. God!" Egon had a 1,000 year stare as he looked at the device in his hand. The look on the man's face scared Roland and Dan.

Outside, Janine, Kylie, and Lita stood. The earthquake had all their hearts racing. Slimer came out last with Garrett in his arms. The little ghost was panting hard as he carried the man outside, putting him down on the curb. Slimer then hovered down and sat on the curb alongside the parapalegic Ghostbuster and made an attempt to calm himself down, "You heavy!"

"Hey, it's all that upper arm muscle you gain from being in a wheelchair." Garrett looked around and saw some of the buildings had large cracks and pieces missing from them, "Good God! The whole island must of been rocked."

Janine looked to the outside of the headquarters and saw practically no damage, "It's a good thing Egon and the guys reinforced the firehouse after the original Containment Unit exploded. This whole place would have fell in on us otherwise."

Down the street they saw a familiar face wearing a familiar leather jacket round a corner. Eduardo was running his way to the firehouse stopping short of the group, doubling over to breathe, "Dios bueno, the whole neighborhood is nuked!"

"Eduardo?" Lita looked to the man and found blood coming from his lip when he looked up to speak, "What happened to you?" He stood up, still breathing heavy as he spoke, "I was… on the bus… everything was shaking. Next thing I know... the bus nosedived into a hole in the road. I just ran three blocks!"

"Eduardo," Kylie walked up and examined the cut on his lip, anger in her voice, "you shouldn't be walking around like that after a vehicle accident, let alone running! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, 'Oh shit, the Containment Unit is gonna blow! I better get to the base!'" Eduardo had an extreme look of annoyance on his face as he stated that out loud. It was a statement that perplexed everyone present, with the exception of Lita. Kylie had a look on her face of not just confusion; she actually looked to be… impressed, "Eduardo?"

"Look, Dan's told me multiple times the Containment Unit is like a nuclear reactor. You treat it nice, it stays nice. You treat it bad… well…" he rubbed the back of his neck as he didn't want to say it, so he found a good analogue, "You'd best pick up 'Change Of Address' forms on the way out of town."

"Luckily that's not gonna happen today," everyone turned to the main doors and found Dan and Roland stepping out, Dan speaking aloud, "The Containment Unit's stable, and the building is intact. Uh… Egon has an announcement to make. Everyone…" Dan looked back to the door then back to the group. He was as pale as a sheet of paper. He didn't like what he had heard. All he could do is look to Lita with apologetic eyes. Without saying anything more, he turned and walked inside. Roland also looked just as uneased by the event and followed behind.

The looks. There was a sea of them amongst the Ghostbusters outside along with their secretary and their live-in experiment ghost friend. Everyone followed their peers into the firehouse, Garrett again being lifted by Eduardo and Lita into the building.

Madame Holly. It was a name given by herself to herself as an avatar. What few do know of her would follow her to the end. She was in fact someone of a different identity. Inside an office with sunlight now shining dimly through the blinds, she sat at her desk with her feet on it with the golden recorder in her hand. She had felt the massive tremors from inside her office. She held the recorder in her hands as she looked to it with fascination, "Oh, wow. Talk about feeling alive with anticipation!" She looked to the mouthpiece; her bright red lipstick lightly coating the end of the musical instrument. She took her high heels off the desk as she looked at an old - very old, upon closer inspection - scroll on her desk. It was written in runes.

A knock came from her door. She quickly put the scroll and the recorder into a drawer as she answered, "Yes?"

"Ms. Bautista?" She heard a man speaking through the door. The voice sounded frightened and haggard, "We're sorry to bother you, but we have a huge nightmare out here! We need to talk!"

As she closed the drawer of her desk, a smirk came to her face knowing full well she'll need to lose it before she left the office. She composed herself, "Okay. I'll announce it on the PA in a few moments. Just stand by." She took a deep breath as she heard the footsteps walk away from the door. After a moment of silence, she opened a different drawer and pulled out her bottle of whiskey. She poured a shot out in her glass, then put the bottle back. As she went to grab the glass…

You know what you're doing is…

Before she could hear the sentence complete, she grabbed and downed the shot. She grimaced as the bitter alcohol flowed down her throat. The burn drowned out the voice as she took a moment. She placed the back of her hand that was holding the shot glass against her forehead as she closed her eyes and sighed. After the moment passed, she put down the glass and picked up the phone. She pressed the building-wide PA, "Attention all Stoneface Employees…"