Author's Note: I can't for the life of me remember where this was set and don't have the DVD on hand.. someone remind me? :) Thanks...
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Dennis had been living in slowly decreasing mortal dread for the past week. Ever since Erik's abrupt pronouncement at dinner that night, he'd been certain that they were all going to pack off for parts unknown, to engage in metaphysical struggle with the ghosts of the Ocularis. Which, since the ghosts were almost entirely unpleasent people, did not bode well for Dennis' survival and insanity. When, after the first day or two, no one made any hurried preparations to leave, Dennis was confused. After the third day, he actually brought up the nerve to ask out loud.
"Uh... it could just be me, I'm not exactly ... I don't really know what you guys do. But, why aren't we going after the ghosts?"
They were in the massive county library, he and the three witches. For the past two days they had met here, conferring in hushed tones with each other and then scattering to the four corners of the building (also known as Public Records). Dennis had been politely put off his efforts to help, and told to do his assigned reading, that they would grab him if they needed his help.
"Research," Laurel looked up at him in surprise. "Why, what did you do, go in blind?"
"Well..." he paused, then shrugged slightly, a little ashamed. "Cyrus always did that part of it."
Amber wrinkled her nose in disgust, and for one panicked moment Dennis thought it was directed at him. "Figures. Stupid man was never really inclined to share information unless he had to. No wonder he got killed."
"See," Laurel interrupted before Amber could go on a tirade, "We figure that it's better for everyone if everyone knows what's up when we go into a dangerous situation, like we're probably going to do with these ghosts. So we're digging up everything we can... trial records, census records, birth certificates... anything we can on these ghosts before we go out and catch them. That way, we know what we're dealing with."
Dennis frowned slightly. That actually made perfect sense, and he didn't really understand why it hadn't occured to him. "Oh."
Laurel reached out and touched his hand, smiling. "It's okay. You haven't exactly been taught how to do this kind of thing... how to stay safe, or anything. That's what we're here for, to teach you. There's no shame in being ignorant, only in being willfully stupid."
It still didn't sound good, but... "Well, when you put it that way," he shrugged wryly and gave them a little smile.
"Don't worry about it." Merry hadn't looked up once from her laptop where she seemed to be busy tracking down information that couldn't be requested in their library. "Oh, DAMN."
Laurel and Amber leaned over her shoulders, and Dennis moved to stand directly behind her (being taller than any of the three girls. "What?"
"Oh no."
She sighed and slumped over her keyboard, hands pushing her hair back from her forehead. Her voice was muffled by keyboard and desk. "Erik wasn't kidding when he said that the ghosts were wreaking havoc across the country. Look..." she reached out and pushed a button without looking up. "There's the Juggernaught, rampaging along I-74... the police are looking for a mortal serial killer, little do they know... there's the Jackal. Again, the police are looking for someone actually human. They've already attacked five people between them. And that's just some the more noticeable ones..."
Laurel was staring at the screen, openmouthed in dismay. "Have... have they killed anyone?"
"Doesn't say." A sound that might have been a sniffle, a gasp, or a choked laugh came from beneath the pile of hair.
"We've got to get moving on this..." Amber said slowly. "On the more dangerous ones, at least."
"Amber, they're almost ALL dangerous," Merry snapped, then sighed. "Sorry. It's just..."
Amber put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know... it sucks."
"Dennis?"
Laurel's startled exclamation made both women turn and stare. Dennis had gone stark white and looked as though he was about to faint. "Here..." Merry quickly vacated her seat and gently pulled Dennis into it. "Sit down... Dennis, breathe." He was hyperventilating. The girls all hovered over him, worried, and Merry snaked her body between him and the laptop screen, blocking his view.
"Oh god..." he panted, trying to make sense of it all, trying to get ahold of himself. "It's my fault.. it's all my fault."
"Dennis..." Laurel practically grabbed for his hands, even as Amber muttered a prayer to keep them out of the curious gazes of other library patrons. Merry reached behind her and switched off her laptop, one hand gently stroking Dennis' forehead. "Listen to us, okay? It's not your fault. We told you that the day the house exploded, and it's still true now. It's not your fault. You had no idea, and there was no reason you should have known. You had no idea what you were getting into. There's no way you could have stopped this by yourself."
As awkward as it was, Merry reached forward and hugged him. "You did the best you could," she murmured. "It's okay. There's no shame in being scared, either. And now you've got us, and you know different. You know better. That doesn't mean you necessarily should have done anything different back then. Hindsight is always 20/20."
Dennis swallowed. Between the gentle, comforting touches of Laurel and Merry and the steadfast, protective presence of Amber standing over them all, he was starting to feel a little better. He still didn't want to tell them that a good chunk of his panic and guilt wasn't just guilt over what he had done in the past, but over what he didn't want to do in the future. Not to mention the fear that he wouldn't be able to go through with it. He was terrified of banishing the ghosts and ashamed at his unwillingness to clean up the mess he'd helped make. Especially in the face of three beautiful, powerful women who seemed to be willing to drop everything at a moment's notice and do it for him.
"You can do this, okay?" Laurel leaned over and hugged him too, murmuring close to his ear. "Hey, you think we're not scared? We're terrified. Maybe even more so, because trust me, knowing what you're getting into isn't always as good as it sounds. But between the four of us, maybe we can pull ourselves together and get it done. You think?"
Dennis smiled weakly, extricating an arm each to wrap around Merry and Laurel. He glanced up ironically at Amber. "Funny, you don't look scared."
"I'm shaking in my stylish yet inexpensively priced boots," she said, perfectly deadpan, and they all broke up laughing. "Seriously, Den. C'mon, you think we're not terrified? We've done this before too, you know, we know what we're getting into. That doesn't mean we won't do it."
He nodded slowly. They sat there in silence for a minute, taking the little time they had for breathing space and comfort before they went out and confronted the ghosts.
"So, how are we doing this," Dennis spoke up abruptly. "By the numbers or by who's nearest?"
All three women stared at him and, as one, all three women broke up laughing.
"What?"
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As reassuring as the session in the library had been, it did nothing to combat the terror that Dennis and the women felt as they all drove out to Rockford, Wisconsin. They had managed to track (with some arcane use of a pendulum and a map that Dennis had never actually seen work before) the Juggernaught to that location, and Sebastian had dispatched all of them to deal with the ghost while he dealt with the Jackal. Merry was driving, which Dennis privately thought was a bad idea, since she was clearly distracted by the thought of her father facing down the ghost alone. Laurel and Amber didn't seem worried, and Dennis agreed with them. Sebastian had been grim, and seemed more than able to take care of himself.
The part that worried him most about this expedition was the thought of them all with a gun. He knew he couldn't shoot for shit, and he didn't know anything about the girls' abilities with firearms. The fact that the guns were loaded with blanks wasn't much comfort. He'd heard horror stories about guns with blanks. And wasn't Brandon Lee killed with a blank? Or had that been a ... he didn't remember anymore.
They'd left the house at dawn, sleepy and toting bags, blankets, and road snacks. Amber had started out driving, with Merry in the front seat with a pillow and Laurel curling up in the back seat with a blanket. She had suggested (before falling asleep) that Dennis do the same, as it was going to be a bit of a drive. It had almost been like a college road trip, and for a little while before he fell asleep, he had been able to convince himself that that was all it was. Just a normal college road trip.
When the nightmares woke him up for the third time in a row, he stopped trying to go to sleep. At least he hadn't been screaming.
They stopped at a gas station and filled up, Amber and Laurel clambering out of the car and stretching, while Dennis stayed curled up in the back seat and twitched. His legs were aching, but he didn't care. He didn't want to remember what they were going to have to face soon.
"Hey..." Dennis yelped as Amber rapped on the windows. "Don't you want to come out and stretch ..." there was a pause as she said something that made Laurel elbow her and giggle. "Don't you want to stretch your legs?"
After his heart stopped triphammering in his chest he admitted that it wasn't a bad idea, and got out. The sky was remarkably clear, and the surrounding land looked really beautiful. "Where are we?"
"Indiana..." Merry was perched on the trunk, water bottle in hand and head leaning back on the rear windshield. "A wonderful little town called Normal."
He blinked. "You're kidding."
"Nope." Laurel giggled again. "Pop out the map if you want. We're in Normal, Indiana."
He did. They were. "I can't believe there's a town called Normal," he grinned, feeling better than he had all day.
"There's a town called Hell, Michigan, too," Amber shrugged and grinned. "And Intercourse, Pennsylvania..."
"Which is right near Blue Balls..."
Laurel doubled over with laughter and had to lean on the car. Dennis stared at Merry in disbelief. "Okay, I know about Intercourse, Pennsylvania, but ..."
"No joke," she grinned. "Blue Balls, Pennsylvania. That whole area's got weird names like those. I don't know why. Must be something in the water."
"What, Viagra?" Laurel had just regained her composure as he said that, and she burst into snorting peals of laughter again and had to sit down.
"Oh goddess... you guys..." she took several deep breaths. "You guys are going to make me pee myself..."
For some reason that sent Merry off into hysterical giggles. She had to set down her water bottle. Dennis snatched it up. "Hey, Laurel.. have a drink..." Merry rolled over to one side, laughing.
Amber reached between the giggling gang as the pump nozzle clicked and set it back up on the gas pump, screwing in the cap. "You guys are nuts. I'm driving. I don't trust Merry to drive when she's laughing like that..."
"I'm fine..." Merry protested, still having trouble breathing.
"Yeah. And I'm the President of Burundi. In the car, girl." All three of them crowded in the backseat as Amber grabbed the keys and immediately started a round of 'he's touching meeeee' 'no, I'm not, you're on my side' 'moooooommmmmm!' It was the most fun Dennis had had in a long time.
"Keep an eye out," Laurel said, though, after about fifteen minutes. Amber nodded tensely. "The sightings started here, and he's been up and down this stretch of highway. We don't know where he is right now..."
Dennis stopped grinning almost immediately. He started to shiver, but pressed in between the two witches it was next to impossible to be as terrified as he had been the first time he'd encountered the ghost. Slowly, he started to settle down.
"Anyone remember what he looks like?" Merry asked, nose stuck against the window. Then she was abruptly tossed sideways into Dennis as Amber slung the car around into the shoulder and slammed on the brakes.
"Like that, maybe?"
Dennis looked where Amber had pointed the car. The two witches on either side of him peered up and around the seats. He didn't see anything on the road, but he could see Amber white-knuckling the steering wheel and staring at what looked like a heat shimmer in front of them... and then it coalesced into a form. From the looks of everyone else in the car, they saw it too. Dennis swallowed through a dry throat.
"So now what?" he said, and it came out raspy and breathless.
"Now.." Amber swallowed. It was little comfort that the three witches seemed to be as terrified as he was. "Now we put him back where he belongs."
Laurel, to Dennis' surprise, was the first one to set foot out of the car. She pulled out her .357 that, even as small as the revolver was, looked huge in her tiny hand. He concentrated for a second, frowning and squinting at her as he tried to flip his vision to the other plane that the women kept talking about. To his surprise, it was easier to do than it had been the first several times. She was taller in the astral or spectral plane (whichever it was), dressed in a trenchcoat... she looked older too. The sound of the other two getting out of the car distracted him for a second, but he managed to grab onto the vision before he lost it. Merry and Amber were similarly dressed. Amber was holding a shotgun, and he had to blink a lot before he realized that it was just a spectral manifestation.
Down the road, the Juggernaugt dragged the body of some poor motorist. As he got out of the car, Dennis was revolted to see that it wasn't even a whole corpse. His vision swam, bile rose in his throat, and he took several deep breaths to get himself under control again.
"Breaker Mahoney!" Amber called, her voice ringing loud and clear. "You're under arrest! Stand down, or be destroyed."
He was pretty sure that wasn't what cops said.
"You have the right to remain silent," Laurel said, starting to walk forward.
Dennis found himself following. "Anything you say can and will be used against you..." Think cop, he thought to himself frantically. Think, cop. You're a cop. You're a cop, and you're going to arrest a dangerous serial killer. The words 'dangerous serial killer' stuck in his mind more than 'cop' did. "You have ... you have the right to an attorney..."
The Juggernaut turned to face them.
Everyone blanched. Merry turned first pale, then green. Dennis thought he was going to be sick again, and had to fight to remain in the 'cop' personal, to keep his vision where it was. His eyes were watering, but he didn't want to blink in case he lost the image. It helped, a little, that when he looked down he could see himself in the trenchcoat and uniform of a police detective. The 9mm sat in his hand and should have been comforting, but wasn't.
"Stay back!"
He looked up. The Juggernaut was advancing, and blind panic filled his mind. Laurel was backing up a step, two...
"I'm warning you..."
He didn't even think. Dennis raised his pistol and fired, two shots straight into the Juggernaut's torso, not thinking that blanks weren't likely to harm anyone, living or dead. He forgot for that instant that the Juggernaut was a ghost, and shouldn't have been able to hurt him. Breaker Mahoney jerked, and started to charge. Laurel squeaked and ran.
"Laurel!" He ran after her, still not thinking, realizing only that if she kept running the Juggernaut would keep chasing her. Behind him Merry and Amber were firing their pistols at the ghost, pouring bullet after bullet into him. Dennis struggled with the terrified woman, trying to fire at the ghost and keep her from running away, possibly even into traffic. After a few seconds he managed to pick her up, holding her in front of him with one arm around her waist. Her arm shook, but she raised the gun, aimed, and fired.
Breaker Mahoney twitched with each shot as though it was a live bullet that had actually struck him. He kept advancing, and they poured round after round into him. Just as Dennis was starting to wonder in panic what would happen when they had to reload, the Juggernaut screamed and crumpled to the ground, fading from sight. They all dropped their arms as one, guns suddenly heavy in their hands. He couldn't believe it had been that easy.
"Let's go..." Amber said slowly, breathing hard as though she'd just run a marathon. "Before the cops show up and wonder what we're all doing on the side of the road firing blanks into thin air."
They packed themselves into the car and pulled out just as the first sirens dopplared into their hearing.
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Dennis had been living in slowly decreasing mortal dread for the past week. Ever since Erik's abrupt pronouncement at dinner that night, he'd been certain that they were all going to pack off for parts unknown, to engage in metaphysical struggle with the ghosts of the Ocularis. Which, since the ghosts were almost entirely unpleasent people, did not bode well for Dennis' survival and insanity. When, after the first day or two, no one made any hurried preparations to leave, Dennis was confused. After the third day, he actually brought up the nerve to ask out loud.
"Uh... it could just be me, I'm not exactly ... I don't really know what you guys do. But, why aren't we going after the ghosts?"
They were in the massive county library, he and the three witches. For the past two days they had met here, conferring in hushed tones with each other and then scattering to the four corners of the building (also known as Public Records). Dennis had been politely put off his efforts to help, and told to do his assigned reading, that they would grab him if they needed his help.
"Research," Laurel looked up at him in surprise. "Why, what did you do, go in blind?"
"Well..." he paused, then shrugged slightly, a little ashamed. "Cyrus always did that part of it."
Amber wrinkled her nose in disgust, and for one panicked moment Dennis thought it was directed at him. "Figures. Stupid man was never really inclined to share information unless he had to. No wonder he got killed."
"See," Laurel interrupted before Amber could go on a tirade, "We figure that it's better for everyone if everyone knows what's up when we go into a dangerous situation, like we're probably going to do with these ghosts. So we're digging up everything we can... trial records, census records, birth certificates... anything we can on these ghosts before we go out and catch them. That way, we know what we're dealing with."
Dennis frowned slightly. That actually made perfect sense, and he didn't really understand why it hadn't occured to him. "Oh."
Laurel reached out and touched his hand, smiling. "It's okay. You haven't exactly been taught how to do this kind of thing... how to stay safe, or anything. That's what we're here for, to teach you. There's no shame in being ignorant, only in being willfully stupid."
It still didn't sound good, but... "Well, when you put it that way," he shrugged wryly and gave them a little smile.
"Don't worry about it." Merry hadn't looked up once from her laptop where she seemed to be busy tracking down information that couldn't be requested in their library. "Oh, DAMN."
Laurel and Amber leaned over her shoulders, and Dennis moved to stand directly behind her (being taller than any of the three girls. "What?"
"Oh no."
She sighed and slumped over her keyboard, hands pushing her hair back from her forehead. Her voice was muffled by keyboard and desk. "Erik wasn't kidding when he said that the ghosts were wreaking havoc across the country. Look..." she reached out and pushed a button without looking up. "There's the Juggernaught, rampaging along I-74... the police are looking for a mortal serial killer, little do they know... there's the Jackal. Again, the police are looking for someone actually human. They've already attacked five people between them. And that's just some the more noticeable ones..."
Laurel was staring at the screen, openmouthed in dismay. "Have... have they killed anyone?"
"Doesn't say." A sound that might have been a sniffle, a gasp, or a choked laugh came from beneath the pile of hair.
"We've got to get moving on this..." Amber said slowly. "On the more dangerous ones, at least."
"Amber, they're almost ALL dangerous," Merry snapped, then sighed. "Sorry. It's just..."
Amber put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I know... it sucks."
"Dennis?"
Laurel's startled exclamation made both women turn and stare. Dennis had gone stark white and looked as though he was about to faint. "Here..." Merry quickly vacated her seat and gently pulled Dennis into it. "Sit down... Dennis, breathe." He was hyperventilating. The girls all hovered over him, worried, and Merry snaked her body between him and the laptop screen, blocking his view.
"Oh god..." he panted, trying to make sense of it all, trying to get ahold of himself. "It's my fault.. it's all my fault."
"Dennis..." Laurel practically grabbed for his hands, even as Amber muttered a prayer to keep them out of the curious gazes of other library patrons. Merry reached behind her and switched off her laptop, one hand gently stroking Dennis' forehead. "Listen to us, okay? It's not your fault. We told you that the day the house exploded, and it's still true now. It's not your fault. You had no idea, and there was no reason you should have known. You had no idea what you were getting into. There's no way you could have stopped this by yourself."
As awkward as it was, Merry reached forward and hugged him. "You did the best you could," she murmured. "It's okay. There's no shame in being scared, either. And now you've got us, and you know different. You know better. That doesn't mean you necessarily should have done anything different back then. Hindsight is always 20/20."
Dennis swallowed. Between the gentle, comforting touches of Laurel and Merry and the steadfast, protective presence of Amber standing over them all, he was starting to feel a little better. He still didn't want to tell them that a good chunk of his panic and guilt wasn't just guilt over what he had done in the past, but over what he didn't want to do in the future. Not to mention the fear that he wouldn't be able to go through with it. He was terrified of banishing the ghosts and ashamed at his unwillingness to clean up the mess he'd helped make. Especially in the face of three beautiful, powerful women who seemed to be willing to drop everything at a moment's notice and do it for him.
"You can do this, okay?" Laurel leaned over and hugged him too, murmuring close to his ear. "Hey, you think we're not scared? We're terrified. Maybe even more so, because trust me, knowing what you're getting into isn't always as good as it sounds. But between the four of us, maybe we can pull ourselves together and get it done. You think?"
Dennis smiled weakly, extricating an arm each to wrap around Merry and Laurel. He glanced up ironically at Amber. "Funny, you don't look scared."
"I'm shaking in my stylish yet inexpensively priced boots," she said, perfectly deadpan, and they all broke up laughing. "Seriously, Den. C'mon, you think we're not terrified? We've done this before too, you know, we know what we're getting into. That doesn't mean we won't do it."
He nodded slowly. They sat there in silence for a minute, taking the little time they had for breathing space and comfort before they went out and confronted the ghosts.
"So, how are we doing this," Dennis spoke up abruptly. "By the numbers or by who's nearest?"
All three women stared at him and, as one, all three women broke up laughing.
"What?"
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As reassuring as the session in the library had been, it did nothing to combat the terror that Dennis and the women felt as they all drove out to Rockford, Wisconsin. They had managed to track (with some arcane use of a pendulum and a map that Dennis had never actually seen work before) the Juggernaught to that location, and Sebastian had dispatched all of them to deal with the ghost while he dealt with the Jackal. Merry was driving, which Dennis privately thought was a bad idea, since she was clearly distracted by the thought of her father facing down the ghost alone. Laurel and Amber didn't seem worried, and Dennis agreed with them. Sebastian had been grim, and seemed more than able to take care of himself.
The part that worried him most about this expedition was the thought of them all with a gun. He knew he couldn't shoot for shit, and he didn't know anything about the girls' abilities with firearms. The fact that the guns were loaded with blanks wasn't much comfort. He'd heard horror stories about guns with blanks. And wasn't Brandon Lee killed with a blank? Or had that been a ... he didn't remember anymore.
They'd left the house at dawn, sleepy and toting bags, blankets, and road snacks. Amber had started out driving, with Merry in the front seat with a pillow and Laurel curling up in the back seat with a blanket. She had suggested (before falling asleep) that Dennis do the same, as it was going to be a bit of a drive. It had almost been like a college road trip, and for a little while before he fell asleep, he had been able to convince himself that that was all it was. Just a normal college road trip.
When the nightmares woke him up for the third time in a row, he stopped trying to go to sleep. At least he hadn't been screaming.
They stopped at a gas station and filled up, Amber and Laurel clambering out of the car and stretching, while Dennis stayed curled up in the back seat and twitched. His legs were aching, but he didn't care. He didn't want to remember what they were going to have to face soon.
"Hey..." Dennis yelped as Amber rapped on the windows. "Don't you want to come out and stretch ..." there was a pause as she said something that made Laurel elbow her and giggle. "Don't you want to stretch your legs?"
After his heart stopped triphammering in his chest he admitted that it wasn't a bad idea, and got out. The sky was remarkably clear, and the surrounding land looked really beautiful. "Where are we?"
"Indiana..." Merry was perched on the trunk, water bottle in hand and head leaning back on the rear windshield. "A wonderful little town called Normal."
He blinked. "You're kidding."
"Nope." Laurel giggled again. "Pop out the map if you want. We're in Normal, Indiana."
He did. They were. "I can't believe there's a town called Normal," he grinned, feeling better than he had all day.
"There's a town called Hell, Michigan, too," Amber shrugged and grinned. "And Intercourse, Pennsylvania..."
"Which is right near Blue Balls..."
Laurel doubled over with laughter and had to lean on the car. Dennis stared at Merry in disbelief. "Okay, I know about Intercourse, Pennsylvania, but ..."
"No joke," she grinned. "Blue Balls, Pennsylvania. That whole area's got weird names like those. I don't know why. Must be something in the water."
"What, Viagra?" Laurel had just regained her composure as he said that, and she burst into snorting peals of laughter again and had to sit down.
"Oh goddess... you guys..." she took several deep breaths. "You guys are going to make me pee myself..."
For some reason that sent Merry off into hysterical giggles. She had to set down her water bottle. Dennis snatched it up. "Hey, Laurel.. have a drink..." Merry rolled over to one side, laughing.
Amber reached between the giggling gang as the pump nozzle clicked and set it back up on the gas pump, screwing in the cap. "You guys are nuts. I'm driving. I don't trust Merry to drive when she's laughing like that..."
"I'm fine..." Merry protested, still having trouble breathing.
"Yeah. And I'm the President of Burundi. In the car, girl." All three of them crowded in the backseat as Amber grabbed the keys and immediately started a round of 'he's touching meeeee' 'no, I'm not, you're on my side' 'moooooommmmmm!' It was the most fun Dennis had had in a long time.
"Keep an eye out," Laurel said, though, after about fifteen minutes. Amber nodded tensely. "The sightings started here, and he's been up and down this stretch of highway. We don't know where he is right now..."
Dennis stopped grinning almost immediately. He started to shiver, but pressed in between the two witches it was next to impossible to be as terrified as he had been the first time he'd encountered the ghost. Slowly, he started to settle down.
"Anyone remember what he looks like?" Merry asked, nose stuck against the window. Then she was abruptly tossed sideways into Dennis as Amber slung the car around into the shoulder and slammed on the brakes.
"Like that, maybe?"
Dennis looked where Amber had pointed the car. The two witches on either side of him peered up and around the seats. He didn't see anything on the road, but he could see Amber white-knuckling the steering wheel and staring at what looked like a heat shimmer in front of them... and then it coalesced into a form. From the looks of everyone else in the car, they saw it too. Dennis swallowed through a dry throat.
"So now what?" he said, and it came out raspy and breathless.
"Now.." Amber swallowed. It was little comfort that the three witches seemed to be as terrified as he was. "Now we put him back where he belongs."
Laurel, to Dennis' surprise, was the first one to set foot out of the car. She pulled out her .357 that, even as small as the revolver was, looked huge in her tiny hand. He concentrated for a second, frowning and squinting at her as he tried to flip his vision to the other plane that the women kept talking about. To his surprise, it was easier to do than it had been the first several times. She was taller in the astral or spectral plane (whichever it was), dressed in a trenchcoat... she looked older too. The sound of the other two getting out of the car distracted him for a second, but he managed to grab onto the vision before he lost it. Merry and Amber were similarly dressed. Amber was holding a shotgun, and he had to blink a lot before he realized that it was just a spectral manifestation.
Down the road, the Juggernaugt dragged the body of some poor motorist. As he got out of the car, Dennis was revolted to see that it wasn't even a whole corpse. His vision swam, bile rose in his throat, and he took several deep breaths to get himself under control again.
"Breaker Mahoney!" Amber called, her voice ringing loud and clear. "You're under arrest! Stand down, or be destroyed."
He was pretty sure that wasn't what cops said.
"You have the right to remain silent," Laurel said, starting to walk forward.
Dennis found himself following. "Anything you say can and will be used against you..." Think cop, he thought to himself frantically. Think, cop. You're a cop. You're a cop, and you're going to arrest a dangerous serial killer. The words 'dangerous serial killer' stuck in his mind more than 'cop' did. "You have ... you have the right to an attorney..."
The Juggernaut turned to face them.
Everyone blanched. Merry turned first pale, then green. Dennis thought he was going to be sick again, and had to fight to remain in the 'cop' personal, to keep his vision where it was. His eyes were watering, but he didn't want to blink in case he lost the image. It helped, a little, that when he looked down he could see himself in the trenchcoat and uniform of a police detective. The 9mm sat in his hand and should have been comforting, but wasn't.
"Stay back!"
He looked up. The Juggernaut was advancing, and blind panic filled his mind. Laurel was backing up a step, two...
"I'm warning you..."
He didn't even think. Dennis raised his pistol and fired, two shots straight into the Juggernaut's torso, not thinking that blanks weren't likely to harm anyone, living or dead. He forgot for that instant that the Juggernaut was a ghost, and shouldn't have been able to hurt him. Breaker Mahoney jerked, and started to charge. Laurel squeaked and ran.
"Laurel!" He ran after her, still not thinking, realizing only that if she kept running the Juggernaut would keep chasing her. Behind him Merry and Amber were firing their pistols at the ghost, pouring bullet after bullet into him. Dennis struggled with the terrified woman, trying to fire at the ghost and keep her from running away, possibly even into traffic. After a few seconds he managed to pick her up, holding her in front of him with one arm around her waist. Her arm shook, but she raised the gun, aimed, and fired.
Breaker Mahoney twitched with each shot as though it was a live bullet that had actually struck him. He kept advancing, and they poured round after round into him. Just as Dennis was starting to wonder in panic what would happen when they had to reload, the Juggernaut screamed and crumpled to the ground, fading from sight. They all dropped their arms as one, guns suddenly heavy in their hands. He couldn't believe it had been that easy.
"Let's go..." Amber said slowly, breathing hard as though she'd just run a marathon. "Before the cops show up and wonder what we're all doing on the side of the road firing blanks into thin air."
They packed themselves into the car and pulled out just as the first sirens dopplared into their hearing.