Winston

We'd just finished unloading our gear when Lt. Finn's radio gave another one of those weird whistling noises. I left Pete to make sure that Egon, Ray, and Dr. Craven didn't get sidetracked trying to rebuild the sensors and headed that direction, just in case it was bad news.

"Uh… hello?" A kid's voice this time, high and a little husky. Finn's eyebrows went up, but his voice didn't show any of that as he replied.

"Hello. This is Nick, right?" Around the worksite, the rest of HEAT's heads snapped up like somebody'd yelled "walkies" at a dog show.

"Uh, yeah. Major Hicks is driving right now, so he asked me to call you guys. He says to tell you that we're coming for the barrier and we can probably get out through it, but you should definitely clear the road, because we might have people after us. Also we… maybe started a forest fire, I dunno. It depends on whether that cave has chimney vents or not."

Damn, the last time I heard that kind of casually unconcerned tone, Peter had just blasted the support beam holding up the roof of the building he was in, because he had a better chance of surviving the collapse than of surviving getting caught by the gooper chasing him. I was beginning to understand why a couple of cops had asked if Pete had any Greek relatives.

Finn bit his lip, obviously struggling not to laugh. "Got it. Anything else we should know?"

"Yeah, those guys we saw? They were doing some weird ceremony in the cave, with a circle and chanting and runes and everything. There was a ball of light, too, but I hit that with a rock from a slingshot, and it kind of… exploded. Oh, hold on!"

Several beeping noises came from the radio, then the kid's voice came back. "Okay, I think I did that right… The Major says Randy should check his email. What's email?"

Randy blinked and opened up his laptop, tapping on the keyboard, then blinked again. "I… have a file waiting. Which is seriously weird, because I'm not actually online right now. What the hell?"

Silence from the radio for a moment, then Nick replied. "He says you don't want to know, and more to the point, he doesn't want to tell you. Can you show the pictures to the Ghostbusters?"

Randy turned his laptop so Egon and Ray could get a look at the screen. The two of them squinted at it for a second, then exchanged glances. I'd seen those facial expressions a few million times by now, so Pete and I were echoing Egon's next words pretty much in unison with him.

"This Is Bad."

Dr. Chapman sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Of course it is. Okay, what's the problem?"

"Judging by these pictures, that cave is a magical upflow point," Ray replied, soberly. "Think of it like a geyser, only for magic. The magical energy of the planet flows around in lines, and places where these flows come together, there's upwellings. Some are bigger, more powerful than others… I'm thinking this one's pretty big."

Egon nodded. "I can't read most of the inscribed lettering, but the glyphs are familiar, likely a variant of Enochian. If that's the case, then we're very lucky the ritual was disrupted, and a forest fire might be a relatively small price to pay."

"Uh, Egon?" Peter put up a hand. "I thought Enochian was a scam, or maybe a code, depending on whether you subscribe to the 'John Dee, Double-Oh-Seven' theory or not."

I hid a smile behind my fist. Pete worked pretty hard to make people think he was all mouth and no brains, but he hadn't fast-talked his way into two PhDs. Not to mention, he remembered some of the damn weirdest trivia at times.

"Dee's Enochian, whatever it was, was definitely not the language of angels as he purported," Egon replied. "However, it appears to have been a deliberate bastardization of another language, also referred to as Enochian, that dates back considerably further. These glyphs are similar, but not the same."

Dr. Craven peered over Egon's shoulder at the pictures. "Uh… leaving aside any questions of magic, is it me, or does that sheeting look like it would basically act as baffles? Like, in a heat exchanger?"

That got an excited nod from Ray. "He's right, look, there's no clear path from the circle to the door! The energy would flow around and around, then out."

"And what would that accomplish?" Monique Dupres asked, head cocked to one side.

"We'd have to see the ritual to be sure, but, it could be to get more work out of the current, like putting a paddlewheel in a river, or maybe to keep the power flow from gushing out like a flood tide. Regardless, it looks like they were planning to force the well open completely, and that is not an action that has any uses that are beneficial for modern society," Egon replied, gravely. Yeah, he was worried, the way he'd ended that sentence proved it. He always broke out the big words when he was feeling unsure.

"So it's a good thing I kind of blew it up?" Nick asked, worriedly.

Egon nodded, even though the kid couldn't see him. "Absolutely. You would have slammed the gateway shut, and burnt off the power that was already built up, leaving them absolutely nothing to work with. Like blowing out the pilot light on a stove."

"Oh, good. Um… I think that's everything, so…" A deep breath. "Uh. Major Hicks says I have some friends waiting for me back there. I'm… sorry I don't remember you guys, you sound pretty cool. We're okay, though, and we're on our way, so I guess I'll be seeing you soon?"

"We'll be here waiting for you, Nicky," Dr. Chapman replied, pitching her voice to be heard across the distance between her and Finn.

"Okay then. Um. Nick out."

Well, then. Time to get to work, because I had a nagging feeling that things were rapidly coming to a head.

Nick

I hung up the phone and tucked it back in my jeans pocket, next to the other one. "Who was that? At the end, I mean?"

"That was Elsie, Dr. Chapman. She's a paleo-biologist and likes giving people nicknames. If she ever actually calls you 'Nick,' I start looking for what's exploding."

"I don't think anybody's called me 'Nicky' since that one really awful kindergarten teacher, honestly. It's just Nick. Unless I'm in trouble, then Mom goes the full 'Niko Alexander Tatopoulos' route."

The Major winced. "Tell me about it. My mother's almost seventy, I'm a combat veteran in the US Army, and hearing my mom bust out with 'Anthony Lee Hicks' is still enough to make me cringe and look for a foxhole to hide in. And my dad's no help, he thinks it's hilarious."

"Yeah, well… I don't have a dad. Mom never says anything about him, whoever he was, and I never wanted to ask because… I didn't want to know. I mean, if she's never wanted to talk about him, then something bad must have happened, right?" I honestly didn't feel too worried about telling the Major about this. One, he probably already knew about it, if we'd been friends before now. Two, he just didn't seem like one of those stuffy jerks who made a big deal about it back home. Not that most people did. Grandma and Grandpa were pretty well-respected in town, so being Dimitrios and Anna's grandson apparently meant more to most people than the fact that my mom had never gotten married.

He just nodded, eyes still on the road. "I knew some of it- we ran a background check on you when we first hauled you out of Chernobyl, and your birth certificate says 'Father unknown.' Your mom had b- a spine of solid titanium, I wish I could have met her."

Okay, I knew exactly what he'd been going to say, but I wasn't going to call him on it. And he was right, she totally had. "I think she'd have liked you. Grandma and Grandpa, too."

Nobody said anything for a few more minutes. Above us, I could see the green energy's angle changing as it lowered, meaning we were getting closer and closer to the barrier. I wasn't sure I was ready for meeting a bunch of people who only knew a version of me twenty years older, but I wasn't going to get to put it off much longer.

"Major?" I asked, still staring out the window. I couldn't make myself look back at him. "What if… what if I can't get back? To normal, I mean. What if I'm stuck like this?"

He was quiet for a second, then sighed. "To be honest, I'm not sure, Worm Guy. HEAT would take care of you in a heartbeat, but given the needs of the job and how close to the line the group's finances run, custody might be an issue. But… worst case scenario, you can come live with me."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I've got some connections. We can get you set up as a cousin or something, say your parents made me guardian just in case. But let's not borrow trouble, okay? At least four of the most brilliant people I've ever met are waiting at that barrier for us, and there isn't a hell of a lot that's beyond them. We'll get you back to normal. You've got a hell of a lot to go back for."

I was glad I was looking out the window, because all of a sudden, my face was burning hot. I waited until I had some control of my voice before replying.

"Thanks, Major." Just then, a flash of black in the side mirror caught my eye, and I turned around to look behind us. "Oh, crap."

"I see 'em." The Major's voice was tight, and I heard the engine rev as he pushed the gas pedal down a little farther.

There was only one of the weird cars this time, probably because I'd buried the distributor caps in two different parts of the campsite. No telling how many guys were riding in it, though; I remember Mrs. Gates managing to fit a high school baseball team into her old Chevy Suburban, although they'd been sitting on each other half the time.

"Sit down and brace yourself!" Major Hicks barked. "This is where the road gets tricky."

I did as ordered, grabbing onto the chicken stick with one hand and bracing against the dashboard with the other. I could see the barrier was just ahead, but before we reached it, we had to go through a couple turns that curved around the edge of what looked like a big lake. A big truck like this could only take those turns so fast without overturning, which meant the guys behind us had time to catch up.

Ahead of us, the pavement suddenly started to shimmer, like it does in the really hot part of summer. Then the air… twisted, I guess, and then popped like a balloon, leaving what looked like a lion- no, wait, that was a human head, and a scorpion's tail rising behind it. We were looking at a freaking manticore blocking the road in front of us. Then the thing screamed and leaped at us, and the Major swore and cut the wheel sideways, throwing the truck into a skid.

I heard a heavy thud as the manticore hit the driver's side of the truck, and then we were overbalancing, crashing down onto our side and sliding down the bank into the lake. Drawing his sidearm, the Major put several shots into the windshield, then kicked the shattered glass out of its frame. He crawled out first, gun ready, and I followed.

The cocoon had slid or rolled out of the truck and was now farther out in the lake, water soaking into the silk. I had no idea if that was going to be good for it or bad, but right now, I didn't much care. Up on the bank, the manticore was pulling itself to its feet, obviously having been knocked a little silly by hitting the truck. Its eyes fell on us and it growled, baring sharp teeth at us before it lunged.

We threw ourselves in opposite directions as it touched down in the water where we'd been standing. Major Hicks shot at it a couple times, but it deflected the bullets with that scorpion tail. It looked in my direction and… I swear it seemed to recognize me or something. The tail whipped out again, and I dodged, but not fast enough. The tip grazed my side, and my skin went numb. The feeling started to spread, and I stumbled to the lake bank, just trying to get out of the water before I lost motion completely. I collapsed onto the grass, trying to remember what my grandma had said about poisons. My breathing was okay, even though my legs weren't working, so it was probably targeted to the… voluntary nervous system, that was it. No seizures, either so… it would probably wear off… right?

Nearby, I could hear the Major's gun bark again, and the manticore screaming in rage, but I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I just… needed… a few minutes…

Ray

"What the hell was that?" Lt. Finn demanded, as we saw the truck crash down onto its side through the green energy of the barrier.

"A Class 2 ectoplasmic emanation, more commonly known as a familiar," Egon replied. "They're usually summoned and directed by a sorcerer or some other entity, usually for specific tasks like combat."

Inside the barrier, we could see Major Hicks crawl out of the truck's cab, followed by a kid that had to be Nick Tatopoulos. The familiar attacked them, and I saw the boy get tagged with the tail and collapse on the bank of the lake. Peter'd pulled his thrower, but until we could get that barrier open, we weren't going to be able to do anything to help, so I rejoined Egon and Mendel at the console. Then a thought hit me.

"Hey, you said NIGEL, your probe, can generate an electrical charge, right?"

Mendel nodded. "Yeah, it's mostly to discourage mutations from chomping on him, but it's been useful in other situations."

"What if we hit the barrier with a fluctuating pulse, matching the barrier's frequency? It should cancel out the signal enough to open a hole. Maybe not a big one, but it would work, at least long enough to get in there and get them out."

"We'll need to rewire NIGEL's generator a little and program in the pulse code, but that shouldn't take too long. Which is good, because I'm pretty sure this is the point where things suddenly get worse really quickly."

Yeah, I couldn't even argue with that.

We quickly made the changes, and sent the robot trundling along the lakeshore to intersect the barrier, closest to where Major Hicks was still playing cat-and-mouse with the familiar. Extending a pair of manipulators, NIGEL pushed them up against the energy barrier and began to crackle with electricity. Slowly, the barrier began to pull apart, a widening opening appearing in the green energy. One last shot echoed out over the lake, and I saw the familiar dissolve into sparkling dust, as Hicks holstered his gun and ran for where the unconscious Nick was lying on the lakeshore.

Then a sound like tearing silk echoed through the air. All eyes flew to the cocoon in the lake, which shivered once, twice, and then split apart to reveal a giant butterfly, or possibly a moth. The wings were a glittering black, marked with jagged stripes of red edged with yellow. The compound eyes were a deep, vicious red, and instead of one large yellow horn on its head, there were three smaller ones. The creature flapped its wings once, twice, and then took off, soaring up into the air. Yellow light gathered around the horns and then shot out, striking the barrier and shattering it into glittering dust. The energy backlash was too much for Mendel's probe, and it blew up with a strangled scream, sending parts everywhere.

"NIGEL! Nooooo!" Mendel dropped his face into his hands. Egon put a hand on his shoulder.

"This happens to us all the time- I'll give you the name of my wholesaler," he said supportively.

"GUYS!" Peter's yell was accompanied by the sound of proton beams lashing out, as he and Winston opened fire on the moth. Above us, the sky was rapidly clouding up, wind rising in a way that I was pretty sure wasn't natural. Egon and I joined in, but the moth just avoided our shots, raining energy down on the ground around us. I noticed that the blasts didn't break or burn anything, but wherever they hit, the grass turned brown and withered, and in some cases fell to dust.

"It's siphoning energy from the environment!" I yelled. "That must be how it feeds!"

Peter snarled. "Great, Ray, just what we need, a vampire moth. If this thing gets out of here, the entire state is going to be one big smorgasbord!"

By this time, Lt. Finn had ordered his soldiers to open fire and try targeting the wings, which was a good idea. The more projectiles in the air, the harder it would be for the moth to dodge, although it was still doing a pretty good job.

Meanwhile, Dr. Chapman and Ms. Dupres had pulled out energy rifles and were firing at the thing as well, while Mendel was hovering over our sensor suite, trying to find something that might be useful. Randy, on the other hand, had grabbed up one of HEAT's trank rifles, slung a second over his shoulder, and was dashing along the road towards the overturned truck, sliding to a stop in front of Nick and Hicks just as a black SUV screeched to a halt and four men in black windbreakers poured out. They looked a little worse for wear, especially the one in the back who was fruitlessly trying to stop a nosebleed. I'd bet he was the one who'd summoned the manticore- the backlash from having your summons disrupted tended to be nasty.

At that point, I couldn't pay any more attention to that confrontation, as the moth was taking up too much of our attention. Suddenly the ground seemed to tremble under my feet, and I shot a quick look at Egon.

"Did you feel that?"

He nodded. "I'm uncertain what it was, it was too short for an earth tremor."

It came again, then again, faster, and then the air was split with a horrendous roar, one which was followed almost immediately by the sound of a whoop from Randy's direction. Because rising out of the waters of Butterfly Lake, water sheeting off him, was the two-hundred foot lizard known as Godzilla. And he did not look happy.

Hicks

Jesus, what a difference two years makes. Hernandez had slid into position in front of us as smooth as butter, perfectly balanced and ready to move in any direction at a moment's notice. One hand kept the trank rifle aimed squarely at the approaching foursome while the other hit the release on the sling holding the second one to his back.

"Brought you a present," he said lightly, gripping his gun with both hands again.

"And it's not even my birthday." Quickly, I slung the thing over my shoulder and went back to checking on Nick. His breathing was good, deep and regular, and his pulse felt strong, he was just out cold. The way his eyes were twitching under their lids, though, suggested he'd be waking up sooner rather than later.

I looked up to see the four goons stop dead as they came around the SUV, all four sets of eyes locked on Hernandez and his gun. I couldn't see the kid's face, but I could almost hear his cocky smile. God knows I'd seen it enough times.

"Think that's far enough, guys," he announced. "How about you just get in the car and leave? I don't think you've got a net big enough for this butterfly."

The guy in the back dabbed at his bloody nose, and I realized it was the one in charge back at the cave, the one I'd dubbed "Goldilocks." Those amber eyes gave us both a look that probably could have set fires at thirty places.

"Give us the boy and we'll go," he replied, a hint of a growl in his voice. "Or we will take him from you."

The playfulness leaked out of Hernandez's tone like water through a spaghetti strainer. "I'm thinking it's a big 'no' on that one. Instead, how about you back off, and I won't put a steel-tipped trank dart loaded with enough sedative to knock down a two-ton Gila Monster in your chest."

They had to know this standoff wasn't in their favor, especially with Godzilla throwing down with the giant moth over our heads. Sooner or later, somebody on our side was going to get enough breathing space to come interfere, and then the game would really be up. So what the hell were they waiting for?

I got my answer when one of the other men raised a hand, and a bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky, hitting the cab of the truck and sending bits and pieces of engine and tire scattering everywhere. Goldilocks smirked at us, malice glittering in his stare.

"We can target almost anything with that, you know. Give us the boy, and live."

Before either Hernandez or I could say anything, Nick started to stir. "Mmm… so sick of headaches," he muttered, eyes opening slowly.

"If you could have done that before, you would have," Hernandez said slowly. "Major, grab Nick and make for the rest stop, it's a straight shot through the shallows. I'll cover your retreat."

Nick sat bolt upright at that. "What? We can't just-"

"Jefe, you have been covering our butts forever. For once in your life, shut up and let us return the favor. Major, you ready?"

"On your signal, kid."

"Go!"

As soon as the word was out, I had Nick scooped up and thrown over my shoulder in a fireman's carry, dashing through the calf-high water to the one-story building that stood by the rest stop's scenic overlook. Behind us, I could hear Hernandez retreating through the water at a slower rate, probably because he was going backward.

There was a sound of something… twisting, or warping, and then three somethings splashing down into the water, accompanied by muffled cursing from Hernandez. I didn't look back, just put on more speed as I reached the other shore and headed for the building's door. Just as I got my hand on it, there was an unearthly scream and something hot grazed the side of my leg. I had to bite my tongue not to yell, but I managed to open the door and haul myself and the kid inside before collapsing onto the smooth tile.

It was all I could do to stay sitting up and not land on Nick, but as I let go of his legs, he did a roll off my shoulder that would have made Mary Lou Retton proud. Coming back around, he saw the burned spot on my pant leg and sucked in a hiss.

"That does not look good."

"Doesn't feel good either, but I'll handle it. Take a look out the window, what's our situation?"

While he did as told, I ripped the fabric of the pants open to expose the burn. Good news, it definitely looked first degree, and ripping the cloth away hadn't taken any skin with it. Bad news was, it was pretty big, and I was probably not going to be walking on it any time soon if I knew what was good for me.

Nick, meanwhile, had low-crawled to one of the windows overlooking the lake. "Uh. We've got a Greek chimera, spitting fireballs from the goat head- that's probably what got your leg. There's a giant snake with a pair of arms, and… a bird. With a deer's head and antlers."

"Peryton," I said, a little light-headed from the pain. I may have played Dungeons and Dragons a time or two on base in my younger years.

"Right. They don't seem to want to try and break the windows, they're just… circling. That guy's out cold in the lake, but at least he's facing up? The other guys are just… waiting. And the giant lizard just breathed a bunch of glowing green fire at the giant moth, which may be the weirdest sentence I have ever said."

He looked back and caught sight of my leg and made a face. "Do not move, I will be right back." With that, he low-crawled off again. He was surprisingly good at that. It wasn't more than a few minutes before he was back with a first-aid kit.

"Where'd that come from?" I asked, as he tore the pants open a little farther and started smearing antibiotic ointment onto the burn.

"There's an office back there, probably for administration. It was on the wall."

I raised an eyebrow. "Was that office locked?"

"Yes? But there was one of those vent windows over the door, and that was open."

And Nick was a skinny ten year old who could fit through something like that, although how he'd gotten up there, I couldn't guess. We were both quiet for a moment while he used the gauze from the kit to bandage me up further.

"You need to stay off of it, and you really shouldn't risk getting it wet," he told me, chewing on his lip. Before I could say anything about being mother-henned by a ten year-old, especially a ten year-old who had a habit of dangling out of helicopters in his spare time, we heard Goldilocks calling us from outside.

"Boy! Come out and we'll let your friends go." Oh, I had a bad feeling about this. Nick peeked out the windows again, and then said something in Greek that I suspect would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap.

I sighed. "Lemme guess, they've got Hernandez."

"The chimera's got her paw on his chest, and he's still out cold," Nick confirmed. "The other two are just sitting nearby, probably waiting for us to come out."

"Crap. Why the hell are they so focused on you, anyway?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Why don't they just come in after us?"

Now that one, I could answer. "Charging into a fortified point with no idea what's waiting aside from at least one armed target? Bad idea. Pretty sure my taking out the manticore from before is what gave Goldilocks back there his bloody nose, they're not gonna want to risk the backlash."

He considered that for a moment, then his jaw firmed. "Major. Give me the trank rifle and stay down. I have a plan."

I have a plan. Four words that never failed to chill my blood when I heard them from Nick. Oh, it always worked, but the risks he took putting 'em into practice were going to give me gray hairs one of these days. Still… there wasn't too much I could do myself. I handed the rifle over and watched as he adjusted the sling to hold it tight to his back. It looked almost comically oversized there, but it wasn't going to come loose as he moved. "Worm guy, if you get yourself killed, I'm never going to forgive you."

"Okay, then." He took a deep breath, let it out, then low-crawled to the rear door of the rest stop. Reaching up, he disconnected the alarm sensor from the bar, then looked back at me.

"Um… Major? I just wanted to say… growing up again, it wouldn't be so bad. If you were my dad."

Before I could even begin to think about answering, he'd rolled out the door and was gone.

Nick

"BOY! Do you hear me?"

Yeah, yeah, people in Detroit can hear you, give it a rest, already. Yeesh. I was on the landward side of the rest stop, and I could just see the rest of the army guys firing high artillery up at the butterfly, but I didn't really have much time to think about that. I was just kind of impressed with this guy's lung capacity, or maybe he was using some kind of magic to make sure his voice carried. I dunno.

The building was made of brick, and it had those bricks that stick out to make it look fancy. They'd be a good handhold, but they didn't start until almost four feet off the ground. So this was going to take some finesse.

"I'm going to count to ten. Do you want to lose any more friends today?"

Oh, shut up, you preening jackass. I took a deep breath and ran towards the wall, jumping up and planting my foot against the bricks, pushing off sideways, going just high enough to grab one of the projecting bricks.

"One."

I scrabbled for a second handhold, then managed to get a toehold and push myself up. Stretch for the next brick, wedge my other foot into the corner where two of the walls came together, heave myself up for another one.

"Two."

Remember what Grandpa always said about climbing, Don't hurry. Be sure of your next handhold before you move. Not to mention that one gymnastics teacher. Commit! A half-assed vault never got anyone anywhere! When you choose to move, throw everything you've got into it!

"Three."

Overhanging eaves, complete with gutter. This was going to be a little harder, because the gutter wasn't strong enough to take any weight. Brace against the side wall, get my foot on the brick, hands on the lower roof, push up and vault onto the shingles-

"Four"

- and then lay flat and spread out so as not to roll or slide right the hell off again. Don't bump your head on the trank rifle, dumbass.

"Five."

Low-crawl over the peaks and gables, get back to the lake side of the building.

"Six."

Tuck yourself into the valley between two roof slopes, look out to confirm your targets.

"Seven."

Chimera still standing over the unconscious guy- Randy, that was his name. Peryton perched on a dead tree, watching the entrance like a… okay, a hawk. Snake with arms slithering a perimeter around the building. All right, they weren't complete idiots, I'd just had good timing.

"Eight."

Check the cartridge- ten darts, all intact. Load it. Flick the safety off.

"Nine."

Lay the rifle out, using the edge of the roof as a support. Aim. Deep breath, let half of it out.

"Ten." Goldilocks, as the Major'd called him, nodded at the chimera, which raised her clawed paw into the air.

Fire.

The dart took the chimera right through the head, causing her to burst into sparkling dust and making one of the guys in windbreakers crumple to the ground. Couldn't tell if he was bleeding, didn't really care. Instead, I was working the slide action on the trank rifle, turning to track the peryton as it took to the air and tried to swoop down on me. Bad idea- at that angle, I couldn't possibly miss. Another dart, and it was so much dust on the breeze, while another of the bad guys was flat on the ground. No sign of the snake thing, and by now, the two conscious goons had figured out where I was.

"Call off your snake and go away!" I yelled. "If you even twitch towards my friends, I will put one of these darts into your head."

He scoffed. "You're only a child, and barely awake. You'll do no such thing."

Awake? What the hell did that mean? Whatever, I didn't care. "I have been having a really bad day, and you're responsible for like, four-fifths of it. Try me."

Somewhere behind me, I heard the faint scraping sound of what was probably claws against brick. Really? Did they honestly think I was dumb? Oh well, might as well not contradict them too early.

"... What is your name, boy?"

"I'm not supposed to give my name to strangers, and you're pretty damn strange," I replied. Yeah, he was trying to keep me talking so I didn't hear (or feel, why could I feel) the snake thing climbing up onto the roof behind me. Wait for it… let it get closer so that it couldn't possibly dodge…

Bringing the rifle up in front of my face like presenting arms, I flopped down on my back, craning my head backwards and putting a dart right between the eyes of one very surprised snake. It puffed into nothingness about an inch away from my face, and this close, I could almost smell that weird electric smell you picked up during really bad thunderstorms.

A strangled scream came from down in the lake- apparently getting shot at point-blank range resulted in nastier backlash for the caster, who knew? Sitting up, I scooted a bit farther forward and took aim at Goldilocks again, who was now the only one out of his group standing.

"I've got seven more darts, you know. Do you really want to test me?"

He stared at me for a long moment, then snapped his fingers and all four of them disappeared in a burst of what honestly looked like black flame. I just lay there for a minute, processing that it was finally over, until I got jolted back to reality by the sound of an angry lizard roar.

Oh yeah, there were still a couple of giant monsters fighting here, weren't there? Maybe I should get off the roof. Fast.

Then again, given the kind of waves that tail was kicking up, maybe I'd be safer staying up here.

Egon

We'd been halfway across the country dealing with an infestation of tsukumogami when the first Godzilla had hit New York. We honestly hadn't known anything about it until the next morning, as we'd spent most of the night dealing with angry hammers, screwdrivers, and a very bloodthirsty vintage drill press. It wasn't until we'd gotten back to the hotel room and turned on the news that we'd heard.

After that, well, our firehouse was in Lower Manhattan, and this second Godzilla tended to come ashore farther to the south, given that HEAT was based in Staten Island. To make a long-winded point short, I had never seen the creature in the flesh, and certainly not this close. He was… magnificent, to put it bluntly.

For one thing, he was far more agile than you'd expect something of his size to be. Mr. Stay-Puft, merely half his height, lumbered around with a distinct lack of grace, but Godzilla was able to twist and dodge the moth's energy beams almost as if he was dancing around them.

One clawed hand lashed out, and the moth only barely dodged, backwinging away almost frantically and unleashing another barrage of beams from its horns. These managed to hit Godzilla's back, rendering the scales they hit an unpleasant greyish brown, but just as quickly, color flowed back into them, as Godzilla spat another gout of flame at his adversary.

At this point, the guns had fallen mostly silent, and we were only shooting at the moth to keep it from attempting to flee the area. The storm was beginning to die away, and if the air were clear, the moth could easily cover half the country in less than an hour. Any time it attempted to break away from the fight, however, we used the proton beams to attempt clipping its wings, and I suspect it was starting to get annoyed with us. That was fine with me; the feeling was most definitely mutual.

Dropping into a fluttering "falling leaf" path, the moth attempted to strafe those of us on the ground with its beams, only to find itself blocked by Godzilla, who roared anger before swiping at the moth with both hands and following up with a vicious bite. Whether or not Godzilla was protective of humans in general was still a subject hotly debated, but it seemed fairly clear that he considered this particular group, at least, his to protect, and he did not take attempts to harm us lightly.

This stalemate couldn't go on forever, though, and I could see by the looks on Lt. Finn and Dr. Chapman's faces that I wasn't the only one who knew it. The moth's flight and speed were keeping Godzilla from connecting with a shot powerful enough to do some damage. As the battle stood, the winner would be the one who tired last… and there was no telling which one that would be.

Hovering, the moth suddenly unleashed a barrage of violet energy beams from its eyes, targeted for Godzilla's own. The giant lizard threw up a an arm to protect against the onslaught, and I saw minor craters blasted out of the hardened scales, but no sign of blood or fluids.

Suddenly, as if a switch had been pulled, Godzilla dove back into the center of the lake, sending a wave crashing on the shore. I could hear Randy Hernandez coughing from where he'd been finally awakened by the shock of cold water washing over him. The lake's waters were deep enough that the creature completely disappeared from sight, and for a long moment, all was still.

The moth was obviously suspicious of this turn of events, because it continued to circle, hovering far above the water and letting go with the occasional blast. No doubt it hoped to force its opponent out of hiding, but each blast brought up nothing but another splash.

It was then that I noticed a portion of the lake beginning to bubble. Before I could even realize what I was seeing, the water in that section had flashed into steam, sending a geyser of superheated water and water vapor skyward. The moth dodged that, but fell prey to the secondary effect of what had to be the release of Godzilla's fire. Heated air rises, and even in avoiding the plume of steam, the moth had been caught in a vicious updraft.

Knocked head over abdomen by the sudden force of air, the moth tumbled for a second, trying desperately to right itself. That second was one second too long, however, as Godzilla leaped into the air and bit down onto it, rather like a dog retrieving a Frisbee. He shook the creature once, twice, then threw it down in the shallows of the lake. Another gout of fire followed, trained on the moth's body until there was nothing left but some smouldering chitin and a truly unholy smell.

Suddenly the remains of the moth began to spark, as a wind seemed to pick up from nowhere. Pulling the PKE meter off my belt, I aimed it at the heap as the electrical arcs grew larger and more numerous, culminating in a ball of vaguely purple electricity. The ball swooped a couple times and then made a beeline for the roof of the rest stop, grounding itself on the structure with a loud snap that did nothing to cover up the blood-curdling scream that followed.

"NICK!" The cry came simultaneously from three throats, and even Ms. Dupres looked concerned, as the members of HEAT converged on that section of the lake shore.

"You don't look concerned, Spengs," Peter murmured, as we shipped our throwers.

I shook my head. "I'm not. The readings I got from that direction are quite distinctive, and while it sounded quite disturbing, I don't believe Dr. Tatopoulos is in any danger." We were, however, making our way over in that direction. For one thing, I wanted a better look at what was left of the moth… assuming I could stomach the smell.

Ray leaned over to look at the meter in my hand, eyes widening. "Oh, wow! That pattern… it's not quite right, is it?"

"No, but it it differs in only a few particulars, and the amplitude is considerably higher across the board."

Peter gave the two of us one of his patented "I can wait all day for you to make sense" looks. Which is frankly unfair, as he understands us far better than he pretends to.

"The higher amplitude isn't just due to aging, is it?" he asked finally.

A groan from the roof of the building cut off any reply. "Uh… guys?" A slightly gravelly voice asked. A distinctly adult voice. "Would someone like to explain what I'm doing on the roof?"

HEAT dissolved into a chorus of babble as three of them tried to explain at once, while Dr. Tatopoulous lowered himself off the roof's edge, then dropped the remaining five feet to the ground with the ease of a trained gymnast.

The door of the rest stop slid open, as Major Hicks limped out, Lt. Finn tucked firmly under his arm as a living crutch. Dr. Tatopoulos turned and the expression of relief on his face was almost painful.

"Major- You're all right? The last thing I remember was seeing your helicopter shot down by that caterpillar thing."

The Major's expression flickered through several microexpressions I couldn't identify before settling into a pleased, if slightly wistful smile. Dr. Tatopoulos obviously noticed, because his own smile faltered just a little.

"Major? Something wrong?"

Hicks shook his head, smile broadening a bit. "Nope. Just glad to have you back, Worm Guy."

Hicks

I definitely need to take leave more often, if I'm feeling this weird showing up to HEAT headquarters in civvies. It had taken me longer than I liked to find a pair of jeans that fit- I'd apparently gained a few inches in some places and lost them in others. Age will do that to you no matter how hard you work to stay in shape.

Pulling my car into the parking lot outside the old ferry building, I didn't even bother knocking on the door. Given everything that went down last week, I was pretty sure I knew exactly where to find Nick.

Swinging around the outside of the building, I saw I'd been right. Nick was standing at the end of the concrete pier, hands in his pockets as he stared out at the water of the bay. Out among the waves, I could see the occasional dorsal spike break the surface, indicating that Godzilla was currently in residence, and probably in a reasonably good mood. I did my best to walk loudly as I headed down the walkway, which got me an idle look as I approached, rather than thrown headlong into the drink. Not that I've ever been dumb enough to sneak up on Nick, but some people just don't listen. Telling a superior officer "I told you so," even if not in so many words, was a rare treat.

"Major," Nick greeted me. His hands stayed in his pockets, which I was taking as a good sign. At least he didn't feel the need to be full-on defensive around me.

"How're you feeling?" I asked, looking out at the water myself. It always was easier to have conversations this way, and besides, I felt better knowing what that lizard was doing. He had his adoptive daddy's sense of humor, and I wasn't going to bet against my leaving here soaked to the skin by a rogue splash or two.

He shrugged. "I read your report, and the guys filled me in on most of what happened on their end, but… it doesn't seem real, honestly. I believe you, don't get me wrong, it's just…"

"Hard to get your mind around when you don't remember any of it, yeah, I get it. Kinda sorry I didn't get any pictures, you were pretty cute as a kid."

That got me an eyeroll. "Thanks, Major. Pictures I have, they weren't in the half of the house that went over the cliff." He stopped, then looked at me.

"... you know, that may be the first time in ten years I've been able to even mention that without freezing up. Did I miss a therapy session or something?"

I grimaced. "No, but… did you read the reports from the Ghostbusters?"

"Haven't had time, honestly, especially since I'd need Mendel to translate Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz's anyway. I'm a radiobiologist, my knowledge of esoteric physics is slim to none."

"Yeah, same here. But I got a… connection of mine to read them over and she zeroed in on one part of it- they took a reading of you right after you got your… time back, or whatever the hell happened. Apparently human beings show up on PKE meters if you tune 'em right, they've used it for Search and Rescue before. Anyway, they'd gotten baseline readings on all of us when we arrived that morning, just in case."

"Let me guess, what they took after I got back didn't match what they grabbed the first time."

"Nope. They tell me most people give off a bunch of different signals that interact. Apparently when they ran the breakdown, there was one less signal after you grew back up, like something got taken out and didn't get put back."

I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what it was, too. We were talking about the Ghostbusters and a verifiable paranormal occurrence, and Nick hadn't even made a face or complained about "junk science." The other two scientist members of HEAT didn't exactly like it when things started to get into paranormal territory, but Nick's brain had almost seemed to shut down when faced with anything weird. It wasn't doing that anymore.

He groaned, rubbing his forehead with one hand. "Wonderful. I'd say I don't feel any different, and I don't, but I also know our luck. Whatever this is is going to come back and bite us all in the ass at the worst possible moment."

"With an attitude like that, Worm Guy, you sound like an Army grunt."

That got me a snort. "I once made a recruiter run screaming from the building, Major, we both know I'd never have made the cut."

Yeah, Nick didn't really take orders well. Honestly, he didn't take orders at all, though if he respected you, he might take your suggestions under advisement. Might.

"He didn't have any trouble finding me, even shrunk, apparently," Nick said, breaking the silence we'd fallen into.

"Of course not, you were still you, and whatever that lizard uses to hunt you down, it doesn't seem easy to block. Lucky for us. Still trying to figure out how the hell he got across land and into that lake without freaking out everybody from the coast inland."

Nick snorted again. It made him sound a lot more like Godzilla than I think he knew. "I still haven't figured that out, he's two-hundred feet tall, he shouldn't be stealthy."

Things got quiet again, as we watched a tail lazily wave at the sky, then disappear back below the waves. Finally I shook myself as I remembered the other reason I was here.

"Oh, right. You got a lot of use out of my folding knife out there, and I noticed you didn't have one of your own, even though I can think of a lot of times it would have been pretty useful for you. So… I brought you a present." Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a folding knife. It was pretty simple, just a five-inch blade that folded back and locked into a handle made of antler, with brass fittings. There was wear here and there on the handle, but nothing severe. Nick took it as I handed it to him, flipping it open curiously.

"Belonged to my uncle, I got it after he died in Vietnam. Can't carry it in the field, doesn't fit regulations. I thought it might do you more good than it's done me, sitting on my dresser for the past ten years," I told him.

He looked at it for a long moment, then flipped the blade back into the locked position and tucked it away in his pocket.

"Thanks, Major," he said, and if his voice was a bit rougher than usual, well, I wasn't going to call attention to it. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Uh… you want to stay for dinner? I warn you, Randy's cooking, but he promised to keep the chili to three-alarm level or lower this time."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good. And it can't possibly be worse than the chili that time I was stationed in Texas as a Captain. That was my first exposure to ghost peppers."

"How do you have tastebuds left?"

"I don't, but I'm in the Army. Losing them was a mercy."

He was still laughing as I followed him inside. The evening, at least, was off to a fairly good start.

Owari