Chapter 31: Tomorrow's World
The storm was getting worse. The F-150's wipers were set to high, but visibility was extremely low. The spotlights on the bumper and roll bar were powerful enough, but all the light did was reflect back off the wall of water coming out of the sky. Dan kept looking out the windows trying to see if he could spot Lita, but everywhere he went, he got nothing. Lita - not being familiar with New York - could have become lost and could have ended up in an extremely dangerous part of town. Granted, Tokyo wasn't exactly crime-free, but New York made a day in Tokyo look like a day at Disneyland. Lita was a martial arts master, but you can only fool so many muggers before they catch on. And arm firearms at distance.
"Jackson to Shannon, you read?" Without taking his eyes off the road Dan grabbed the mic, "Shannon here," he said anxiously, "You find her?" "Negative. I've checked everywhere around Midtown. I've also been scanning for the creatures, but I don't see anything, either."
"Then check the area again!" Dan yelled, "We gotta make sure she's safe!"
"Dan," Roland's voice started to stress, "I've checked Midtown three times!"
"Then check for a forth, goddamnit!"
"Rivera to Shannon," Eduardo broke in, "We've been at this for two hours! The girl don't wanna be found right now!"
"Eddie, I couldn't give two flying fucks nor a rat's ass what she wants," Dan's irritation was etched on his voice, "I want her safe! Keep looking!" "Dan, there's over a million places she could be right now," Eduardo replied back, "Stop acting like this is a walk in the park!"
Park? He saw the image in his mind. He groaned in annoyance, "Of course. Just like last time," it took a moment, but he finally activated the mic, "I have an idea. I think I know where she is. Head back to the firehouse and wait for my call. Shannon out." "Dan, wai…" Eduardo was cut off with Dan switching off his radio. He put the microphone down and activated his truck's lightbar and siren.
Lita was soaking wet. She sat beside the bench her and Dan sat on the night before overlooking New York harbor and Liberty Island. Her tears were being washed away by the rain. Her heart hurt worse than it did weeks prior to coming to New York, "I'm such a horrible person," she looked to her striking hand, "why did I do it?" She was so blinded by her own rage, all of the feelings she had experienced when Dan left hit her all at once.
She remembered, "I called him Freddie," she brought her knees to her chest, sitting in the fetal position. She cried, her whimpers barely audible through the rumbles of thunder. She had repeated it so many times since reaching Battery Park, "I'm just like they said. I should have never come here."
That feeling. The same feeling she had when she first arrived at the Ghostbusters firehouse. It was a warm feeling. In the bone-chilling cold of the rain, she felt a warmth coming from within. She picked her head up and began looking for something. She wasn't sure of what yet. Through the raindrops spattering on the walking path and thunder rolling in the sky she heard a familiar sound. She looked to the sound and saw a set of red flashing lights among bright spotlights. The roar of an engine accompanied it as the sound repeated over and over, both sounds getting louder as the lights approached.
The F-150 approached on the walking path of the park and came to a stop, the low-moan siren winding down. Lita stood from where she sat and witnessed a human shadow walk before the active lights, "Lita?" She started to back away as Dan approached her, "H-how did…?"
"I felt it," he replied as he tried to get closer to her, "The two of us have a bad tendency to repeat history, don't we?"
Lita kept backing away, her camouflaged tears rolling down her face as she pleaded with him, "Stay away from me! All I'm gonna do is hurt you!" "Lita, you ain't the first person to jack me in the jaw. Granted," he rubbed his face a bit, "you did it a hell of a lot harder than anyone else did…"
"That's what I mean!" she turned her back to him, gripping her upper arms, "I saw what your father did to you. All I did was become him!"
"Honey, you can't become him; only I can become him… and I did." She looked back to him and saw guilt on his face. He ran his hands through his now wet blonde hair, it becoming slicked back. He sighed, "I didn't tell anyone - not even my own family - about you because I didn't want people to think… Think that…" he couldn't say it, but it was being screamed in his mind. When she realized what he meant, it fell into place. She now knew why, "Then… then it wasn't me."
Dan approached her again, but this time she didn't back away. He told her everything, "Had my mother known, she would have believed I was like my dad, too. When she learned the truth about him being… you know... she was destroyed; felt betrayed and lied to. When I didn't date and she didn't know why, she assumed I was…" again, he didn't say it aloud. He moved to his next point, "I haven't talked to my mom since I had that fight with her," Dan put his hands on Lita's shoulders and peered into her eyes, "Every time I thought about you, I kept thinking about when we first met. You were literally a damn kid; I fell in love with a child," Lita closed her eyes, offended. Dan picked up on it, "That's not against you! If I had a fear worse than radiophobia, it was becoming my father. My old man hurt everyone he ever knew, and he reveled in it! Or at least, he never showed remorse for it."
Lita's eyes snapped open. She felt his heart ache hard when he said that. It was an extremely sharp pain; like a hot needle in the chest. She looked back to him and saw a look she saw on him once before at Gracie Square Hospital. She couldn't see it, but she knew his tears were there. It was clear to her now: he never meant to hurt anyone. He tried to be better than better. He wanted trust, but the only person he could never get it from was himself. Only through his team could he get trust, and when that failed, he needed her.
In all the years they didn't talk, Dan lost himself. He thought he really had turned into his father. Even now, she could see what happened between him and Kylie, and even him and Garrett through his memories. He felt he couldn't care enough, especially the way the two of them treated him. He felt great remorse for what happened to them, but it didn't reciprocate.
"Dan," Lita watched as he slowly looked her in her green eyes, pain being broadcast loudly, "You're not like him. I don't know how such a selfish person was able to produce the most kind-hearted, selfless, and caring man I've ever known," she embraced him, "I'm so sorry. About everything. I just…" she choked up a bit, "I just don't want to see you hurt anymore!"
"Considering the last 24 hours," he joked, "I don't think it could get any worse."
The lights from the truck suddenly became blotted out as a female voice interjected, "You hope, anyway."
Dan and Lita turned to the voice and found twenty cloaked figures standing before Dan's truck. Lightning flashed causing them to see even more cloaked people behind them. Dan faced the ones before the truck as Lita turned to face the one behind them. Lita immediately readied herself in a fighting stance as Dan simply guarded Lita. One of the cloaked figures came forward, the only thing visible under her hood was bright red lipstick, "Certainly took you long enough, Shannon; Ms. Kino was about to catch a cold."
Dan's heart jumped into his throat, "Who in the fuck and you people?"
The red lips smirked from the hood's darkness, "What's the matter? Not enjoying our handywork?" Dan's eyes fluttered and widened; that statement told him nearly everything he needed to know, "You're the ones causing all this shit, ain't you?" "And here the mass media says you Ghostbusters are slow," she mocked, "a bunch of con-artists and nut jobs; an existential threat to honest hard-working people," the woman's lips stopped smirking and became grimacing, "but in truth, you're a threat to me and my Order. Hel will reclaim this world and the next, but for her to do so, I must control those who will stop her!"
"Look, lady," Dan stated, "you have zero idea what you're fucking with; that recorder is not what you think it is!"
"You have your orders," was all she said. Another figure stepped forward and produced a taser gun. The electrodes shot from the weapon and stuck into Dan's chest. 150,000 volts passed from the head unit into Dan causing him to tense and groan in agony. Releasing the trigger, Dan lost all motor control causing him to drop to his knees, then face down into a puddle.
Lita heard him groan while being zapped and turned to see it play before her, "Dan!" a cloaked figure approached her and grabbed her shoulder. She instantly in reflex grabbed the hand on her and flipped the figure on their back. Another figure approached forcing her to high-kick them in the face. When they didn't fall, she drop-kicked them in the face again. When a third figure approached she gave an ultimatum, "I'm a martial arts master," she huffed. The figure quickly went into a fighting stance himself and before Lita knew it she was leg swept onto the wet ground. Before she could get back up, the cloaked man put his boot on her chest. Two more figures surrounded her and revealed shotguns from under their cloaks, cocking them and aiming for her head.
The figure with their boot on her knelt down, "I know. You fell out of practice three years ago. Is that right, my Gydje?"
The woman in the cloak laughed to herself a bit as she walked forward, "Yes, after your grandparents died, you couldn't afford the membership fees for your dojo." Before she could get any closer, her leg was caught on something. When she looked down, Dan grabbed her by the ankle, "Get the hell away from hUGH!" She kicked him in the ribcage, making him release her. Shortly after he grabbed his ribs, the cloaked figure with the taser shocked him again.
Lita called out his name as he was tased a second time. The taser operator stopped, but once again, Dan tried to move. He looked at the taser, "Geez, this guy is stubborn. People usually can't move for ten minutes." The woman in the cloak bent down and looked Dan in the face, her grabbing his face and pointing it at her, "He's an electronic engineer; he gets shocked often," she started to address the stunned Ghostbuster, "Nevertheless, if you know what's good for you, Shannon, you'll do as I tell you; back off."
"Go fuck yourself," he growled, the pain in his jaw making him more aggressive.
"Did I say, 'what's good for you'?" she asked. She snapped her gloved fingers and two more people grabbed Lita and brought her to her feet. Placed in handcuffs, Lita couldn't move her arms. The shotgunners stood at either side as the mysterious woman spoke again, "I would suggest you think it over, or there's gonna be a nice deposit of lead in the heart." She stood and ordered her people about, "Put the girl in the truck; we'll get in contact with our DMV person in the morning."
Some of the followers questioned, "What of Shannon?" She stopped and looked to the man writhing in pain on the ground. After a moment, "Make sure you explain it to him, but don't overdo it."
A small contingent of followers stayed behind, "För gudarna!" The cloaked men watched as the Ghostbusters-branded vehicle closed up and backed away from the scene. They heard rustling on the ground and looked down to see Dan on all fours reaching for the truck, "L-Lita!" he said weakly. One figure - the one with the taser - kicked him in the ribs again causing him to fall on his back. He proceeded to pull the electrodes by their wire out of Dan's chest.
Dan yelled in agony as the electrode's barbs were ripped out of his skin. He gripped where the barbs pierced his chest as the cloaked men surrounded him. One asked, "What do we do with him?" "You heard our Gydje - Explain it."
Ghostbusters HQ
10:40 PM
Everyone was getting anxious. It had been hours since Dan left with Roland and Eduardo following behind to find Lita. After Dan ordered the two back, nearly everyone was questioning where they were. In the garage area, Garrett, Raye, Eduardo, and Roland stood by. Roland used Ecto-1's radio to contact the truck as Eduardo tried calling Dan's cell phone. Roland kept trying, "Headquarters to Shannon. Dan, if you can hear me, please respond."
"Come on, man," Eduardo had his cell phone to his ear, "Pick up!" "You have reached the number of Dan Shannon," Dan's recorded voice came over the speaker, "If you leave your name and number…" Eduardo hung up, "I'm still only getting his voicemail."
Garrett was really starting to worry. Realizing what had happened, and acknowledging his part in the sewing of dissidence between Dan and Lita, he feared he made a very bad decision. He didn't realize how badly a grudge could endanger someone until he heard the truth. Garrett and Raye were in the back office, Garrett talking with the temple priestess, "I never thought in my whole life, I could do such questionable things. There was a time in my life, I knew people who hated people for stupid reasons," he sighed and looked to his lap, "Come to find I'm just like Spence." Garrett thought back to the Golem incident at the Beth Shalom and remembered how his old friends from his neighborhood went to vandalize the synagogue.
Raye saw the images in his mind and understood why, "It was also because you viewed Dan as an outsider; because he wasn't one of you." Garrett didn't look at her, but he did nod. "That doesn't make you just like your old friends," she assured, "Your old friends were bigoted. You just simply didn't know anything about Dan. Is it possible you're just… jealous?"
Garrett looked up, confused, "Jealous?"
"Well, think about it," she explained, "He used to work with the originals long before you. And when he came back, Egon made this random guy from Chicago your leader. Him and Roland got along immediately; Kylie had the hots for him; Eduardo was paired with him… Not to mention, he seems… well…"
"...It seems like we have a lot in common?" He finished.
"Wheelchair notwithstanding, yeah." It was true. Dan had done some extremely insane stuff in his time back as a Ghostbuster. If he could drive a car, he'd drive just like Dan. Garrett - from time to time - saw Dan having a need for the juice; the thrill of the adrenaline rush. The fact Dan still had that flight-based Proton Pack for years told him how nuts he was… and that envied him for it.
"If I were to be completely honest," Raye said as she stood from the office chair and walked to the back of the office, "you wouldn't be the only one jealous of someone."
"Serena and Lita?" Raye looked back to him as he responded. She nodded, "Yeah. Both of them have great guys that love them and would protect them to the end," she looked to the floor and turned away again, "I know I'm harsh, but I can't help but be envious of them. I wish I wasn't so difficult to be with. I have no idea how I can change to be better."
"You don't need to change," she turned to find Garrett beside her. He took her hand, "If you did, the best parts of you would be lost. Accept who you are and use it as a strength; I do every day." She looked to her hand in his, then looked into his eyes. His steely blues entranced her as her violets did just days before.
"Headquarters to Shannon, please respond!" Roland grunted. He wanted so badly to slam the car's radio mic down, but as he got halfway through the motion, he stopped abruptly, then gently put it back in it's cradle. Roland was losing his patience, "Something's definitely wrong."
Outside in the rain a figure stumbles their way through the darkness toward the firehouse. After tripping over their own feet, the figure falls face first into a puddle in the gutter. Pulling themselves out on their hands and knees, the figure coughs hard. Red tinted liquid drips from their mouth and back into the puddle below.
"Have you had any luck getting in touch with him?" Roland asked Eduardo, pulling himself from Ecto-1. Eduardo was still trying to call him when Dan's voicemail played again. He hung up and put the phone in his pocket, "Nada," he started limping over, "His battery ain't dead; it's ringing before it goes to his mailbox."
The figure got back on its feet and started moving closer. It wiped the water from its eyes as it moved.
"Did you have any success raising Dan?" They looked to the stairs and saw Egon and Amy walking down them, Egon's voice denoting worry. "No," Roland said, closing the door of the car, "And Eduardo can't get him on the phone." Garrett and Raye exited the back office as Egon and Amy reached the garage floor, "We just finished plotting the siphoning effect on the city." "All of the data is showing all of the city's energy is moving west of here," Amy explained.
The figure ran shoulder-first into the telephone pole just outside the firehouse. They looked up to the sign above the main door, swinging heavily in the storm's winds. The sky flashed behind the sign leaving a flash-burned image of the sign in his sight. They breathed heavily, holding their side in pain.
"Do you have the exact location?" Roland asked. Amy nodded, "Yes. It's in Staten Island."
"Hold on, Amy," Egon interrupted, "We really should wait for Dan and Lita." "I hope they're okay," Raye said aloud. Garrett had remorse in his voice, "So do I. I donno what I'd do if anything happened to them."
SLAM! CRASH! Everyone jumped at the front door opening. The lightning and thunder came through the door with the lone figure. Eduardo saw who it was, "Hey! It's them!" He turned and yelled upstairs., "Hey! They're back!" He turned back to the door and limped up, "Man, I'm so glad you guys are alright…" That was when he noticed Lita wasn't there…
And Dan was bleeding profusely.
Eduardo stumbled back as Dan shambled into the garage, soaked with rain and his own blood. Roland was horrified, "I don't think he's okay, Eduardo!"
Kylie ran up from the basement from the yelling only to see Dan busted up and bruised. Serena, Mina, Darien, and Janine came from the second floor and stopped short when they saw Dan in the state he was in. As Dan shuffled to his locker, Egon questioned in worried surprised, "Dan, what happened?"
Dan stumbled and ran into the firepole by his locker. He winced in pain, then used the pole to stabilize himself. He took a breath and picked himself up, answering as he did, "They took her!"
"Who?" Kylie asked, "Who took her?"
"Jagoffs in cloaks. Called themselves the Order. They took her, stole my truck and my equipment, and beat the shit outta me!" Dan began heading toward his locker again, "I gotta go after her! They're causing all this shit!"
"You don't even know where they have her!" Roland pleaded.
Dan fumbled with his locker door as he responded, "I'll find her. I'll find her or I'll die trying!"
Garrett rolled behind Dan, panic filling his voice, "Dan, I swear to God, I didn't know this was gonna happen!" Dan slowly turned to the paraplegic member of the team and saw genuine tears in his eyes, "Had I known this was gonna happen…"
Dan's breathing began to accelerate as his expression turned from pained, to angry, to pure psychotic. He snapped around, grabbed Garrett out of his chair, and whipped him around slamming him into the door of his locker, lightning in time. Dan held him up and in a violent tone he screamed at him, "If anything happens to her, I will hold you responsible!"
The look on his face terrified Raye. Images of that night in Starlight Tower came to her mind; when Dan was so angry when Lita was kidnapped. She remembered when Dan scared her so badly on the building's 101st floor, the look on his face and the psychotic tone of his voice had permanently etched in her mind. She was seeing it again, but the rage was no longer directed at Jedite; it was now directed at a fellow Ghostbuster.
"Dan," Garrett was feeling deep terror, worse than being in the refrigerator, "I swear to you, I didn't do it on purpose!"
"You better hope I don't come back alive, because if I do…" Dan pulled Garrett closer to be face to face, "I'm gonna fucking kill you!" his voice suddenly became low, "Start praying, motherfucker." With all his strength Dan threw Garrett behind him, throwing him into the side of Ecto-1. Garrett bounced off the car and slammed into the floor. Raye ran to his side as he struggled to push himself up.
Dan opened his locker. He began aggressively putting on his uniform. He zipped up his suit; slammed his feet against his locker frame to tie his boots; clicked his equipment belt together; slid on his elbow pads; loaded his pistol into it's holster; tightened his gloves over his hands; strapped on his Mk. I Proton Pack onto his back; He reached into the locker for one more thing - his fitted Chicago Blackhawks cap.
As he looked at the hat intently, he remembered the night at the tower. As the memories flooded his mind, he sneered. Eduardo knew that face, "Oh, no. Don't tell me…" Dan put the hat on…
The bill was pointed forward.
Egon recoiled in horror; he knew what that meant.
"I don't get it," Raye watched as every one of the Ghostbusters suddenly had a look of terror etch on their faces, "He did that before. What does that mean?"
Dan turned toward the door and began walking out. The rage he was feeling gave him a second wind as he stepped into the rain. Garrett explained as Dan walked out, "When Dan wears his hat forward like that…"
Dan walked into the wall of rain; the only thing visible as he's enveloped in the darkness are the cyclotron lights on his older-style Proton Pack. As he disappeared into the night, Garrett can be heard concluding, "...you get out of his way."
To be continued in Lunar Impact: Blood Moon Rising.