"Until you came along", Rob said, nearly spitting.
"You are correct Mr. Statler. I, myself, am schooled in the Occult. I studied for twenty-five years in Europe to learn of the Wu Clan. Additionally, I learned theology, and from there learned of the Spear of Destiny."
"So what's the deal with trying to have all that power to yourself?" Andrew asked.
"It's not a matter of having power; it is a matter of what you can do with it. Hitler, Napoleon, Constantine, Frederick II. All of them had the Spear, yet they didn't know how to unleash its full potential. My prerogative, you ask? I want to change the world."
"Look around you: death, violence, war. Ills we have to resort to brute force to eradicate."
"And by changing people into creatures, you have done something better for them?" CJ asked sarcastically. He received a sharp poke in his stomach from his guard.
"Yet you still miss the point. Dalton was just a starting off point; these creatures that you have been fighting all day are merely an extension of what mankind truly is inside."
Thorsen produced from his pocket a small, dagger shaped object, no bigger than his palm. "That's the thing that's been causing this whole mess?" Andrew asked. "Why, it doesn't even have its shaft!"
But Thorsen just smiled and held the spearhead horizontally in front of them. "Decca sig pious o carpe noctem driad! " Thorsen said, his hair beginning to swirl as a mysterious wind swept through the complex.
"Look!" Brian shouted, pointing to the spearhead. A mysterious orange glow reshaped itself into a horizontal lien and began growing from the spearhead. It lasted a short time, but beheld in front of the Ghostbusters was the complete Spear of Longinus. It was a hasta spear, about as long as Thorsen was tall.
"Impressive, I take it?" Thorsen asked, now holding the spear upright. "I wanted to show you the massive power of the Spear, at least before I killed you." He pointed the spearhead towards the swirling vortex and said a few unintelligible words that the others, save Brian, could not understand.
"What you're seeing here is really an engine", said Thorsen, "a four dimensional object transposed into 3-D space. When I finish the final incantation, this engine will soon engulf the whole world, placing every man, woman, and child under my control. However..." He looked at the Ghostbusters and grinned.
"My army wouldn't be complete without generals to lead, so I have a proposition for you: You can forget that you ever were heroes and become my allies. Sure there's a place for you all within my regime. There always is for those that swear their allegiance to me."
"And if we refuse?" CJ asked. Thorsen simply pointed the Spear at the wolf- guard. A look of horror passed over the guard's face before a blinding light shot from the Spear hit the guard in the middle of his chest, disintegrating him.
"Need any other questions?"
"Yeah, GET BENT POOZER!" CJ said. With quickness and speed that surprised even him, he reached for his neutrona wand and fired directly at the short guard that had been harassing him. In seconds, the other Ghostbusters had their wands pointed at Thorsen. Rob, his pistol running low on juice, held his at Thorsen's head.
"An interesting show", Thorsen said, apparently amused. "I must admit, that is why I left you armed. I knew that you wouldn't become my allies, my generals. And with any empire, there must be the blood of all those that oppose me." He now turned the Spear on the Ghostbusters and fired in the middle of the group. But instead of sending shockwaves that would have knocked the Ghostbusters off their feet, it immediately was absorbed by the ground. For a few moments, nothing happened.
"What's the matter?" Andrew asked mockingly. "Your dingy run out of juice?"
"No", Thorsen said calmly. At that moment, the ground began to shake underneath them. It was Salina who screamed first as a hand grabbed her ankle, bringing her towards the ground and pulling her down. It was Andrew who stopped it with a mighty swipe of his gleaning sword. More and More zombies began to pile from underneath the dirt, many of them wearing Army issue uniforms.
"You see", Thorsen said, "History is wrought with the blood of those that rise against their emperors. Thankfully, with the powers of the Spear and the—Clan with me, I can make my enemies part of my army."
The Ghostbusters went right to work trying to stop these undead soldiers, using their various methods to get the job done. But this time, the zombies proved more difficult than the ones that they had fought the last time around. As soon as one was cut down, be it by Andrew's blade or Brian's sonic boom proton pack, more would spring up.
They were more violent than their predecessors, actually clawing and scratching at the Ghostbusters.
"Are you enjoying your impending doom, heroes?" Thorsen asked bemusedly.
"Fk you!" Andrew shouted at the madman, as he sliced one zombie down the middle. "You have to call on your soldiers to take us down. Why, I bet you couldn't even take us in an even matchup! Heck, you couldn't even take me!"
CJ looked at Andrew as if he were crazy. "Are you mental?" he asked. But Andrew grinned back at him.
"Don't worry, trust me on this, you guys just keep fighting."
"Is that so?" Thorsen said. Pointing the Spear, Andrew could feel himself being pulled forward by its power until he was literally level with the obviously taller Thorsen.
"So, you think that you are of more power than I am?"
"Dude", Andrew said calmly, "I KNOW I have more power than you do in my pinky."
"Let's see about that." With that, Thorsen threw Andrew to the ground. Placing his Spear upon a small boulder, he began to unbutton his coat, revealing a heavily muscled frame that was offset by the stiff uniform.
"You have the option of backing down now and letting me kill you quick and easy", Thorsen offered cracking knuckles. But, as CJ and the others saw, Andrew tossed his sword into one corner of the cave and removed his proton pack and various other tool he used. Taking off his cloak, he stood in a familiar position and said simply to Thorsen, "Bring it on...poozer." Thorsen charged towards Andrew and they both gripped each other. Thorsen had the upper hand, grabbing Andrew's head and placing him in a lock and began pounding the daylights out of him, before standing him up and kicking him in the gut.
Dazed, Andrew stumbled around for a few moments, not expecting Thorsen's attack to be like that. His back turned, Thorsen placed Andrew in a jujitsu bear-hug, crushing Andrew's ribs. The Ghostbusters could see that he was in obvious pain, but tried to hold it in as he winced and scrunched up his face. Thorsen dropped Andrew to the ground and kicked him in the face.
"What the hell is he doing?" Rob asked, breaking the jaw of one of the zombies before placing it in the Stone Cold Stunner.
His eyes widening, CJ said:
"He's buying us time." He pointed at the zombies and noticed that they were beginning to lose some of their power now that Thorsen was not controlling them with the Spear of Destiny. They were crumbling back into dust, but Thorsen was too busy to notice.
"If those zombies are losing power because Thorsen is too busy to focus on them", CJ wondered, "then the same might just go for this insane engine of his."
"I take it you have a plan?" Salina said kicking one zombie in its gonads.
"Yeah", CJ said looking towards Thorsen's engine. "If we can just pour enough of our protons into the thing, and cross the streams, then maybe we can cause it to overload and destroy itself."
"Cross the streams?" Salina asked surprised and shocked. "Have you lost your ever-lovin' mind? You remember what Professor Spengler said about crossing the streams. That whole 'total protonic reversal' thing ring a bell with you?"
"Yeah", CJ said. "But what other option have we got?"
"Will it work?" Rob asked. CJ shrugged.
"I'm trying to think but nothing's happening."
"Well, I've lived a full life", Brian said firing first into the vortex. He was followed by CJ and Salina. Rob checked to see how much power was left in his proton pistol and then fired at it as well, crossing his streams with Salina's.
Realizing that his friends had caught on to his plan, Andrew smiled at Thorsen. As the older man raised his fist to land another slam at Andrew's face, Andrew grabbed his wrist.
"Game over", he said and drove his fist into Thorsen's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, unaware of the attack coming. Andrew drove his knee into Thorsen's face, causing the madman to fall backwards, a look of shock in his eyes.
"Wh-what is this sudden burst of fury from you?" Thorsen asked scrambling from the ground. "Or where you waiting until your friends caught on to your plan?"
Andrew's face dropped. "You knew?" Tapping his skull, Thorsen grinned.
"I knew it the moment before you challenged me." Picking up the Spear, unknown to the four Ghostbusters, he pointed at the engine and muttered a new incantation. A burst of sudden energy emanated from it, hitting the vortex directly, causing an explosion to burst from it, throwing the Ghostbusters backwards.
"What happened?" Salina asked. Andrew helped her up.
"Thorsen caught on to what we were doing", he said. Then he looked up at the engine. "And came up with a plan of his own."
"Huh?" they all said in unison as they stared at Thorsen's engine. The creature that stepped out of the vortex was taller than the whole complex, standing about 100-feet high in the air. Its skin was tinged a grayish color, its eyes as black as night. Raising its fist high in the air, the Colossus brought it down hard upon the ground that shook the Ghostbusters off their feet.
"Allow me to introduce my associate", Thorsen laughed. "In my initial explorations in the Spear's power, I came across him. He wasn't hard to subdue, but that was for me. Let's see how you young heroes fair."
The Colossus let a roar escape its lungs as it grabbed Brian in its large palm.
"BRIAN!" Salina shouted as she and CJ fired a proton stream at the beast. It had no effect as the hand encircled Brian. But the Colossus had picked Brian off the ground no more than a couple of feet before a blue flame burst in its hand. Screaming in pain, the creature tossed Brian back to earth.
"You all right dude?" Rob asked going over to him.
"Yeah", Brian replied. "I think I'll be, but we can't be out in the open." He pointed as the creature picked a piece of granite from the complex and threw it towards the ground at the Ghostbusters. They scattered in different directions, until meeting behind a boulder. Thorsen laughed at them, as he began reciting the final spell that would cause the vortex to encircle the globe.
"Imagine us going out like this", Salina said. "Killed by a Colossus and a Spear."
"So we're just going to sit here like ducks then?" Andrew asked shaking his head. "I always figured I'd die either in the ring or by the hands of a bloodsucker, but never with my head between my legs. I ain't going out like that."
"Okay", CJ said. "We now know that this creature is impervious to protons but magic hurts it. How does one help the other?"
Rob stroked his beard. "We can still send a proton attack at that engine", he said. "But with that thing blocking it, it's going to be tough."
"Not if we can distract it", Andrew said joining in. "You saw how Thorsen let his guard down."
"Yeah", CJ agreed, "but he was toying with us."
"But, you know when he wasn't able to put his concentration into the Spear's power, and had something else to occupy his mind, everything was weaker."
"So what are you suggesting?"
"I'm saying one of us distracts the creature and Thorsen, and the rest does what needs to be done." There was a momentary silence as the Colossus threw another rock at the Ghostbusters boulder. They all exchanged glances at one another, until it was Salina who said:
"I like this plan, I'm excited to be apart of it. Let's do this then!"
Brian was the one to step out first. He took off his proton pack and handed it to Rob ("You'll need it" he said). Concentrating, he was able to convert his energy into his hands, as they flared a dark blue. Winding up like a baseball pitcher, he sent one energy beam sailing at the Colossus. It took a step back, then bent down to try and swat at Brian, missing him by inches. Not missing his chance, Brian threw another beam at the creature's face, blinding it for that one second. It backed away from the vortex as it held its face.
"Cheap magic tricks from a sub-par sorcerer", Thorsen said as he pointed the Spear at Brian. But as he was doing so, he felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned around, only to be met by one of Andrew's fists that sent him sprawling towards the ground. The Spear fell out of his hands, landing at Andrew's feet. With one step, Andrew snapped the Spear's shaft in half.
"All right bitch", he said holding both fists in front of him, "let's finish this!"
Thorsen wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth as he got up. "As you wish", he said and dove at Andrew.
"It looks like Andrew's plan is working", CJ said. "He and Brian have their enemies distracted." He looked at Rob and Salina. Charging his pack, he said:
"Let's do this job and go home."
The trio stepped from behind the boulder and walked towards the vortex as it swirled in front of them, illuminating their tired faces. CJ was the one who fired the first stream, followed by Salina and Rob, who crossed theirs with his.
Brian took a quick minute to look over at his friends, to make sure that things were going over all right on their end. Making a giant blue fist, he swung it at the Colossus's face, knocking it down.
At that moment, as villains fell, CJ, Salina, and Rob squinted their eyes as the vortex grew brighter.
"TAKE COVER!" CJ shouted as the trio shut down their packs and ran behind the boulder. Thorsen's engine exploded with tremendous fury and force that shook the whole complex, causing several pieces of granite to fall from the ceiling.
"NO! THE ENGINE!" Thorsen said looking at the void where his invention had been. The Colossus, a being derived from the energy inside the vortex, disappeared along with it.
"That's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you", Andrew said swinging at Thorsen. But that would be the last hit Andrew would land.
"ENOUGH!" Opening his hand, a burst of energy hit Andrew, causing him to fly backwards towards a wall. Suddenly, his entire body became engulfed in a mystical energy field as he picked up the Spear of Destiny and reformed it's shaft.
Brian, trying to summon a spell, was also hit with a magic beam that put him out of action. Thorsen then turned his attention towards the three remaining Ghostbusters. Rob, CJ, and Salina aimed their neutrona wands at the mad Thorsen, whose eyes glistened with the magic of the Spear as he laughed.
"You had your chance to join me", Thorsen said. "You could have been legends in the new world order. But you had to choose the righteous path of being heroes. As I speak, I'm beginning the spell to recreate my device." Taking one step towards the Ghostbusters, they fired their packs full blast at Thorsen. They did not stop him.
"Shit!" Rob said. "That Spear must have some kind of grid around him."
"There is one chance we have to stop this guy", Salina said. "Like CJ's idea of crossing the streams, we might have to set the packs on simultaneous overload."
"Great", CJ said. "Not only will that take him out, but also this whole building and us with it."
"Not necessarily. What if we shut the overload down in time for the extra energy buildup to blow through the wands and at Thorsen?" CJ and Rob looked at each other and said nothing.
"Alright, let's do what needs to be done." Muttering the location of the button for Rob, CJ and Salina pressed theirs. Their neutrona wands shut off for as they cackled and spit small streams.
"Giving up?" Thorsen asked coming closer to the Ghostbusters. The Spear began to accumulate energy
"Okay, we got five seconds until overload", Salina said looking at her watch. She still had her wand pointed at Thorsen.
"Four seconds. Three...two...NOW!"
Instead of the customary yellow and blue proton streams that the packs usually emitted, the color red burst from them, hitting Thorsen directly.
The streams had broken the Spear's grid and now mobilized Thorsen, but Thorsen did not give up; pointing the Spear at the three Ghostbusters, he fired a beam that met with the proton packs.
"FEEL MY HATE!" Thorsen shouted as sweat poured from his face. "FEEL MY FURY!"
CJ, unhooking the ghost trap from his belt, threw it at Thorsen's feet. Without stopping, he slammed on the pedal with his fist. A bright energy field surrounded Thorsen as he felt his power being drained from him. CJ let go of the pedal as Thorsen fell, the Spear clattering at his side, depowered.
Looking at him, Rob asked, "How'd you know that would work?"
Shrugging, CJ said, "I didn't. That was a gambled."
The three Ghostbusters walked over towards Thorsen as he breathed in heavily.
"No", he said. "It—it can't end like this." His hand reached weakly towards the Spear, but Salina kicked it away.
"As a duly designated representative of the city, state, and county of New York, I place you under arrest."
But Thorsen smiled weakly and said:
"He warned me that I would fail. I didn't believe him and now I will pay for it."
"Who warned you?" Rob asked. "You were working for someone else?"
"That's not going to be a worry for you lot...for now." Thorsen muttered a spell underneath his breath. The Ghostbusters watched astonished as Thorsen began to disapparate before their eyes, until he disappeared completely, his high insane laugh filling the air.
They stood there for a few moments, staring at the spot where Thorsen had been. It was CJ who broke the silence as he was picking up the Spear.
"So, do you suppose that this mission can be classified as a success?"
"I hope so", Salina said. "This has been one of those days when everything that can go wrong has gone all to hell." She went over to Andrew to see if he was alright; as she put a finger towards the pulse in his neck, Andrew grabbed her wrist.
"Sorry", he said. "Reflex."
Brian shook his head as he got up from the ground. "Did you guys do it?" he asked.
"I dunno", CJ said. "Let's see how the town looks."
Walking outside of the complex and out of Dalton's forest, the Ghostbusters saw several citizens walking around in the streets, many of whom reverting back to their human forms. Some were actually dancing about in the street, overjoyed that their nightmare had ended.
"I'd call that a big yes", Rob said, stifling back a tear of joy himself.
"So what happened to ol' Asshead", Andrew asked, meaning Thorsen. CJ, Rob, and Salina all exchanged glances at each other, not answering him.
EPILOGUE: On the Road Again
"So I take it that your excursion to Dalton went accordingly?" Egon asked, calling from the Firehouse in New York. He was talking to CJ, who had just boarded the airplane that the town had provided them. Outside, Dalton had extended their thanks to the Ghostbusters with a banner that read THANK YOU GHOSTBUSTERS! in bright red letters.
"Better than we could have expected", CJ said. He was wearing his flightsuit unzipped, exposing a Kid Flash shirt underneath. A bandage was wrapped around his head. "We were all pretty good at it. Our various skills came in handy in stopping these monsters and we had one heckuva adventure doing it!"
"You have to remember Cedric that being a Ghostbuster is more than just having an adventure. It takes responsibility and conviction to do the job."
"Yeah, I know what you mean", CJ said as he soothed his throbbing skull. "But it is cool having everybody know who you are. Heck, there's even some CNN guys over here interviewing the people."
"Has anyone revealed the exact reason for the...problem?"
"Not entirely, mostly everyone's said it had something to do with an insane warlock coming here and turning them into monsters. Even Rob's been avoiding the paparazzi, and he knew more about this than any of us."
"The mechanic?" Egon asked.
"Yeah", CJ replied. "Without him, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did. That's why we invited him back with us. He didn't want to stay in Dalton, and had no connections anymore with the army."
"Fascinating", Egon said.
"Which leads me to my next question: since we're kind of like Ghostbusters now, does that mean we can be a franchise of our own?"
Egon thought for a second. "Well, we'll see when you get back to New York. There are a couple of quid pro quos that we have to discuss before anything is definite."
"Cool sir!" CJ said, unable to hold back his excitement. "Don't worry about funds: Dalton was pretty generous in their appreciation for our services rendered, and we got that bonus coming from the Army."
"Anyway, take care Doctor Spengler. We'll see you when we land in JFK Airport."
"Bye CJ", Egon said and hung up the phone. CJ began to relax in his seat, but took a moment to look at his fellow teammates: Salina was already pouring into her book ("The Necronomicon?" CJ thought to himself); Rob was sitting back sipping on a bottle of Busch that he had bought at the store before boarding the plane; and Andrew sat in one corner of the plane in a meditative trance it seemed.
Brian came up and took a seat next to CJ.
"So what'd our great leader want to say?" he asked opening a can of soda.
"Mostly he wanted to know if we all were all right", CJ replied. "But, how does the idea of being in a Ghostbusters franchise grab you?"
"Appeals to me fine", Brian said. "I can't think of any other team that needs a magician on their squad."
CJ laughed. "Alright then."
"But, if we do become a team, what would our name be?"
It was then that CJ looked over at the Dalton Journal; the paper had just printed a story of the previous day's adventure, and the headline read: "GHOSTBUSTERS GAIN AMAZING VICTORY OVER DALTON'S DOOM!" Looking back at Brian, CJ said:
"How does 'Ghostbusters Doom Patrol' sound?"
Brian shrugged. "It's got possibilities..."
"You failed." Thorsen screamed in pain as a shockwave entered his body. Falling to the ground, he was held up by two hooded shapes. "I warned you of the consequences if you failed me Adrik."
"Master, I did not fail specifically", Thorsen sputtered, blood falling to the darkness that surrounded him. "I had not foreseen the idea that those Ghostbusters would defeat me."
"And so that was you blunder Adrik. Even with the Spear of Destiny at your disposal, you still underestimated your opponents."
Thorsen dropped to his knees and began begging for mercy. "It won't happen again, master. Please, send me back and I will kill them all."
"How do I know that you will not fail me again?"
"It is as you said", Thorsen said getting up. His voice showed that he was regaining some of his confidence. "I underestimated them, especially that vampire hunter Andrew Williams and that magician Brian Roig. I will annihilate them personally and bring their still beating hearts to his lordship."
"Very well. But remember this: I appointed you to lead my army of darkness, not to cause them to stumble. You fail me again, Adrik, and it will be you I kill."
"As you wish, my lord." And with that, Thorsen disappeared. After he was gone, one of the hooded shapes spoke up.
"So you are just going to let him go?"
Lord Koth, the Great Dog of War stepped out from the shadows and looked at his minion. "Thorsen will fail me again; he will let the Spear fall from his hands. But when he does, I will be ready. And when darkness falls, I will annihilate those that pose a threat to me."