Chapter 22: Change In Objective
As the truck distracted the large beast, the mass flying above started diving toward Sailor Mercury and her Knight. Mercury Knight stood in front of her and gripped tighter on his sword, "You will not harm her! MERCURY… FRIDGED… WAVE!" He slashed his sword in front of him as a thin streak of ice flew off the blade's edge. The ice was so sharp it virtually sliced all of the Man-Bat's in its wake in half to varying degrees. A large swath of creatures fell to the ground in chunks as the ice blade traveled far into the sky.
More avoided the ice blade hovering just above its path. When a few stragglers were left, Mercury Knight knelt down, "You wanna learn the hard way? I'm all for it!" When he went to jump up, his boots began to hiss as what looked like compressed gas shot from the bottom of the solenoids, their plungers pushing him off the ground suddenly. Mercury Knight lept high into the air and readied his sword. RASP! CLANG! The sword slashed through the creatures as their remains fell to terra firma.
The truck fishtailed, stopping to turn around. Dan braced himself again as Egon held onto the side of the vehicle to make sure he didn't slide out of the window. The Draugr approached slowly with it's mace at the ready. Dan looked to the monster's damaged leg, "Lita, aim for it's leg! Egon, shoot right where it's kneecap is exposed!" Lita yelled out the window, "Wait, wouldn't that damage the truck?"
"The bumper and bull bar are reinforced," the Ghostbuster in the bed responded, loading a new Proton Canister as he did, "I installed heavy-duty parts for this purpose."
"He's correct to attempt this," Egon also responded as he reloaded, "with our proton beams aimed at a weak point, the kinetic force and mass of the truck should break it's Ecto-charged skeleton, immobilizing it."
Lita was unsure, but she proceeded to shift into first, "I hope you maniacs know what you're doing." She heard Dan yell out, indignant, "Who you callin' a maniac?" She rolled her eyes, "That psychic link is starting to annoy me," she tore out, pushing the truck's engine to its limits. Dan and Egon fired their packs on the agreed upon spot.
The Draugr hollered in agony and went to swing its weapon in rage, but the vehicle was too fast. Egon watched their approach to the creature's leg calling out, "Keep firing! Hold it... Hold it... NOW!" On command, Egon quickly crawled back into the truck's cab as Dan slipped down back into the bed. Lita flinched as the truck was practically on top of the monster.
CRACK! The monster's leg broke off right where Dan and Egon shot it. The break was high up enough for the truck to completely miss the remaining part of the Draugr's leg. The dislodged part rolled under the truck causing the vehicle to bounce wildly, throwing Dan all over the bed of the truck. Lita instinctively slammed on the brakes and caused the truck to skid to a stop. The Draugr collapsed to the ground falling onto the garden of the front entrance of the building. The beast was down.
Lita and Egon climbed out of the truck and looked into the bed, "Dan!" The both of them exclaimed, Egon taking over from there, "Are you okay?" Dan was budded up against the bed's toolbox still covering his head laying on his side. When he heard them calling out Dan lifted his head. He appeared to be okay, "Did we get it?" "Yeah," Lita answered, "it's down!" Dan scrambled to his feet and jumped out of the truck's bed.
Standing close to the truck, Egon took his PKE meter out and took a scan as both Dan and Lita approached it quickly. Lita took the trap off her back and began to prime it. She heard Egon yell to her, "Tune the trap to modulation 606.11. It'll trap it's essence!" She stopped to make the adjustments as Dan covered her.
Mercury Knight in the meantime was busy jumping into the air and leaping from Man-Bat to Man-Bat to take out as many as he could. Sailor Mercury was aiding in the battle throwing punches, kicks, and freezing maneuvers to kill and freeze monsters in place. Only a few dozen of the creatures remained when one landed on the ground, Mercury Knight joining it on the pavement. He panted as he spoke, "Geez, don't you guys ever stop?" The beast walked forward a small stint causing the Knight to raise his sword...
The creature stopped as it's horde screeched out. The flock of creatures including the one before the Knight turned its attention from him and flew off in another direction. He watched this happen before his eyes as the beast fled, "What the…?"
Sailor Mercury was locked in a physical struggle with a beast, her pushing back its arms which had its claws unfurled. It was screeching in her face and beginning to overtake her…
The beast heard its kin call out, its attention drawn to the horde's cry. It stopped, let Sailor Mercury go, and took flight away from her. The sudden jarring shocked her, "Hey!" She watched where they were heading, "Oh, no! DR. SPENGLER, LOOK OUT!"
Egon looked from his meter to see a creature drop directly in front of him. It startled him as it wound up and slammed its fist into his face. His glasses went flying off his face as he fell to the ground unconscious. He didn't have enough time to warn Dan and Lita.
Lita finally got the trap adjusted, "Ready!" Dan armed his thrower, "Do it!" he commanded. He was turned to the beast and kept an eye on it as he watched the trap fly from his peripheral vision onto the monster's chest. It was a short while after the trap reached the monster, but nothing was happening. That was when he felt a sudden spike of terror crawl over him, he turned and found Lita had been once again grabbed by one of the Man-Bats. It had its arms around her holding her from behind. She was struggling to get free.
Dan unholstered his Ectoplasmic Destabilizing pistol and aimed, but he couldn't get a clean shot. As he attempted to keep aiming, the Draugr sat up and grabbed him. It brought him to it's face and it leered at him with its good eye, "You destroyed my brother; you shall DIE!"
"Aw, man," Dan lamented, "I'm gonna need a looooot of Tylenol after this." The Draugr flung the Ghostbuster in it's hand toward the building. Dan screamed as he tore through the air. Lita witnessed this and screamed out his name in terror.
As all of this happened, Luna and Artemis watched the two-front fight unfold before them, but now they looked on as Dan was grabbed and thrown like a baby throwing a toy. Dan sailed the air and toward the upper windows of the building's lobby, crashing into them and falling to the marble floor.
The two cats ran over and checked on him as he struggled to breathe, "Dan!" Luna cried out, "Dan, are you okay?" He finally coughed and gasped, "That fuckin' hurt!" He rolled a bit to try alleviate the pain, groaning as he did, "Newton and his goddamn gravity!"
Outside, Lita kept struggling with the beast finally forcing it to turn her loose. Elbowing it in the chest, the creature backed off enough for her to grab it's arm and flip it onto it's back. Stepping on it's chest, she twisted it's arm and broke it.
Another set of six creatures dropped from the sky surrounding her. She readied herself and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, "You're messin' with the wrong woman, boys! Dan is not going to be hurt over me again!" She took her pent up rage and let loose, throwing kicks and punches in rapid succession knocking the monsters away from her. At one point, she even unholstered her Proton Pistol, stuck the barrel under a beast's chin, and pulled the trigger sending it flying through the air.
Sailor Mercury and Mercury Knight rushed toward Lita to aid her when the remaining creatures landed before them blocking their path.
Dan got to his feet and walked to the door, leaning onto the frame watching what was happening, "Goddamn these things! There's nothing in our arsenal that can stop these things!" Luna and Artemis walked beside him, Artemis speaking up as he walked up to the psykinetic pulse-rail, "That's not true! This shotgun-looking thing Roland was using worked until it ran out of power."
Dan looked down and found the railgun at his feet. He picked it up, but spoke in an annoyed tone, "Damnit, Roland! I still needed to make adjustments!" Luna commented as Dan reloaded the Proton Canisters on the back of the weapon, popping the lock bar and ejecting both canisters, "It seemed to have run out rather quickly." "I needed to adjust the power input matrix. Roland's good at building equipment; damn good," he pushed down on the weapon's lock bar securing the new canisters from his pack in place, "but he needs work on his efficiency tuning."
Every creature Lita knocked down got back up. Every time a creature was knocked down, another took its place as the other stood. She kept fighting, but was starting to become overrun as more creatures boxed her in. Egon was out cold, Roland was nowhere to be seen, Dan had been knocked away and possibly injured, and Sailor Mercury was fighting alongside someone she's never seen before but being blocked by the creatures. She was isolated by these creatures, she didn't think to bring her transformation wand with her, and the Proton Packs were still useless. These things knew how to wear her down.
The Man-Bats finally got a definitive hold of her grabbing her by the arms. They stripped her of the trap rig and her Proton Pistol disarming her. She continued to struggle, but too many of them flanked her making it impossible to maneuver. She yelled in anger, "What do you ugly things want with me? Leave me alone!" She still had use of her legs, she managed to jump up and kick a beast with both her feet, but it did little to stop the horde swarming her.
That wasn't the only type of beast that wanted in. The horrible stench of rotting flesh again filled the space around as a Norse accent boomed in the void, "No! She is my prize to deliver!" The beasts turned to the Draugr as it crawled across the front courtyard of the building reaching for her. It reached out toward her with it's injured hand as it spoke, "I WILL have you!"
An energy wake tore through the air as hot plasma struck the monster in it's large oversized arm. The impact blew the arm off leaving a decaying stump. The beast bellowed in pain as it gripped it's arm, soon after hearing a very anger-laced voice fill the clearing, "She is nobody's prize!" A sound similar to a shotgun pump handle cocking was heard as a high pitched whine accompanied it. Dan walked out of the building and aimed the railgun at the Draugr's head, "She belongs to no one so long as I breathe!"
Another plasma blast left the barrel of the weapon hitting the beast in the side of the head. In quick succession, Dan charged and fired multiple shots blowing the winged monsters swarming Lita apart. A small contingent of Man-Bats left Lita's side and began to lunge at him. Taking the back of the weapon, Dan cracked the first beast that approached him in the face. He quickly flipped the gun back around and fired into the chest of another creature behind the first.
While the creatures were distracted Lita managed to jump and flip behind her would-be captors pulling free from their grip and landing behind them. She proceeded to leg sweep the two that were holding onto her.
Sailor Mercury and Mercury Knight managed to finally plow through the remaining monsters and proceeded toward the Ecto-Truck and found Egon still on the ground. Mercury Knight grabbed the scientist's glasses and Sailor Mercury rushed to his side, kneeling down, "Dr. Spengler!" She lifted him up slightly and cradled his head in her lap. She started to lightly tap him on the face to try and make him stir. Mercury Knight went into the truck and pulled Dan's first aid kit from under the seat retrieving the ice pack from it. He handed it to his Sailor Scout where she proceeded to administer it to his head.
After a moment, Egon began to stir him groaning as he opened his eyes, "What happened?" "One of the creatures knocked you out," she applied the ice pack to a different part of his head, "We tried to warn you…" "That's okay," he rubbed where he was hit, "I'm suddenly recalling why I no longer perform field work." He looked up to Mercury Knight as he handed him his glasses. At first he was confused, but he took the glasses and looked at the figure before him, "Wait, Roland, is that you?"
"Afraid so." His tone of voice was none too thrilled if Egon could decipher. Egon understood why, so he sat up to explain, "You have to understand…" "No, I get it, Egon," Mercury Knight sighed, "I can't hold it against you for not telling us." By this time Egon and Sailor Mercury stood, "Still, I feel as though I have to apologize." They heard the Draugr starting to move about again then they saw the giant mace it was carrying start to grind against the concrete.
The Draugr ignored them as it crawled toward Dan and Lita again, missing one leg, one arm, and now a whole half of it's head. Mercury Knight reached into the back of the truck and took a Proton Pack out, stating as he did, "We don't have time for apologies. We have to stop that thing from reaching Lita!"
They we're surrounded. Dan and Lita kept fighting, the two of them now fighting back to back against the horde attacking them. Lita threw a jab as she yelled out, "Are you okay?" "It's not the first time I've been flung through glass," Dan responded, discharging the weapon in his possession, "I'll manage. How 'bout you?"
She grabbed a monster by it's head and kneed it in the face, "I'm fine. I've been able to fight fine without you, after all." That sounded rather aggressive, if not anger-laced. Dan didn't like that, "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, reloading the weapon's canisters. "I was fighting bigger and meaner things long after you left! HYAH!" She mashed her foot into a Man-Bat's throat, "I can take care of myself!"
A creature tried to grab a hold of Dan and instead grabbed the railgun in his hands. He struggled as he responded, "I never said you couldn't. Here!" he took another canister off his pack, "Chew on this, scumbag!" He jammed the canister into the beast's mouth, then kicked it in the chest. It put its hands to its throat while he charged the weapon up. He shot at the Proton Canister, the pulse detonating the canister and blowing the monster's head apart.
Lita dropkicked another creature in the jaw, then performed a roundhouse kick on it, "You don't have to protect me all the time!" Dan reached back and threw all of his weight behind his fist punching a demon in the face, "Yes I do. That's my purpose!" She turned to him, "Is that all it is for you?"
Dan was shaking his hand from the punch when she said that. He turned to look at her, eyebrow raised, "What? What in the fuck are you going on about?" She glared at him, "Do you even care about me anymore?" Dan twitched in confusion, "Of course I do! Why in the hell do you think I'm defending you right now?" He looked behind her, raised the railgun, and shot the final creature flying toward her. She turned to the sound of the monster's corpse hitting the ground. He cocked the rifle again as he stated, "Case in point."
While they bickered the mace of the Draugr hit the ground behind Dan completely startling him. As his back was turned, the Draugr grabbed Lita with it's remaining hand. The Draugr was drooling as it looked at Lita with it's remaining eye, it clearly losing a great deal of it's mental acuity with half of its head missing. She struggled to get loose as Dan attempted to shoot the beast again. He pulled the trigger to have nothing happen. He looked into the clear window of the gun's tank. It was out of the gallium metal that made the projectiles, "Shit!" He threw the gun down and unhooked his particle thrower off his pack. He took aim, but once again, he couldn't get a clean shot.
CLANG! Mercury Knight flew through and cleaved the monster's arm off. The hand hit the ground releasing Lita, her rolling out of the hand. The fingers of the hand twitched as she picked herself up, the hand slowly starting to crystallize in ice. With a clank of metal the discarded large yellow Ghost Trap landed in front of the Draugr, Egon holding onto the hand trigger, "Stand clear!"
The wedges of the trap doors opened allowing the proton vortex to flash upward. The Draugr looked down to it's doom just before Egon triggered the capture function. Like the sound of a jet engine roaring, the trap began pulling the Draugr's essence in turning it's body into dust. The doors on the trap closed, it beeping indicating a successful capture. The physicist picked up the smoking trap as Sailor Mercury finally walked up, her scanning the area with her minicomputer and visor. Mercury Knight joined her looking at his wrist mounted display, "That looks to be all of them."
Dan ran over to Lita and checked over her, him putting the particle thrower back on his pack as he bent down to pick her up, "You okay? Did it hurt you?" Lita looked to him after pushing off the pavement. She saw him put his hand out for her to take. She promptly pushed it away, "I don't need your help! I can get up on my own!" She turned away from him and stood. If she had looked at his face she would have seen his hurt expression.
Egon, Sailor Mercury, and Mercury Knight came to them as Mercury Knight addressed them, "Are you guys okay?" He saw a tension between them as Dan looked emotionally hurt and Lita looked upset, her arms crossed and back to him. He saw this and stalled, "Uh…" Without looking at anyone, Lita stormed off toward the firehouse.
Egon walked up to them after doubling back picking up Lita's trap rig and Proton Pistol, "What was all that about?"
"I donno!" Dan exclaimed, "She's royally pissed at me and I donno why. I think she shut me out," that was when he finally took notice of Mercury Knight, "Okay, two questions: Where's Roland, and who's the dufus in the coat?" Egon and Sailor Mercury looked a hare uncomfortable upon the questions being asked. The Knight cleared his throat, "Ummm, Dan?" The knight drew attention to the aquamarine blue embroidered insignia on the arm of the blue coat. It was the symbol of Mercury.
Dan finally realized what it meant, him looking up with an eyebrow raised, "Roland?" Dan gave a small apologetic laugh, remorse in his voice, "Well… welcome to the club, buddy."
Mercury Knight picked up the railgun off the ground as he started, "You were right; these things are after her. They changed their objective from me and Amy to her." Sailor Mercury looked between the two of them, "After her?" "After last night," Dan explained, "when Eduardo talked about the slash patterns in my back, I started thinking about the whole attack on us in Battery Park and everything that happened in the Mustang. Whoever is controlling these things is trying to get her. For what reason…" he shrugged, a stressed expression of confusion on his face.
Egon placed the equipment on the ground, "Perhaps it's for another sacrifice for the recorder." Egon's words shot an alarming chill up Dan's spine as his eyes widened. Mercury Knight winced, "Egon, ex-nay on acrifice-say!" Egon looked at him confused for a second, but then realized what both that meant and what he had just done, "...Oops." Dan reached into his pocket and took out his keys, "Take the truck and pick her up. I'll walk back. I don't like what's going on, and the last thing I want is for her to be wandering around New York by herself," he handed the keys to Mercury Knight then turned to walk to the building. Sailor Mercury called out, "Where are you going?" He responded, "I gotta talk to Luna and Artemis."
As the Sailor Scout and her Knight watched him walk back to the main building entrance, Egon had taken a Petri dish and a pair of tweezers from his pocket. He knelt down to the Draugr's half-frozen limb and took a skin sample speaking to himself as he did, "Hmmm, a gratuitous amount of decay. Looks to have been dormant for some time." "Egon, we better get Lita and get her back," the Knight stated, "I agree with Dan; we better keep an eye on her." Egon laid the sample into the dish and closed it up, "Very well," he stood and placed the dish in his pocket, "Seeing as the beasts failed, the next avenue this person or persons can do is do the job themselves. We need to be diligent with who we interact with."
Sailor Mercury grabbed the Ghost Trap by the pile of dust that was the Draugr as Mercury Knight grabbed Lita's equipment. As they all walked back to the black F-150, the Sailor suited woman asked, "Exactly who can we trust?"
In the distance, a figure rounded a corner from an alleyway. They were dressed in all black with a helmet which covered their face. They knelt down and produced a camera with a telescopic lense. After a few clicks of the camera, it rounded back around as we see 4 letters on their back, but it's obscured. The figure walks down the alley and rounds another corner, disappearing from the scene.