Chapter 2: Going into Business

"'Get her', you said." Cuphead chuckled as the three walked across the bridge from Isle 1 to Isle 2. "That was you're whole plan? Get her? Yeah, real scientific."

Mugman shrugged sheepishly while Silverworth continued examining the readings on the PKE meter. "I was excited, okay? But wasn't it incredible, Cuphead? I mean, we actually came into contact with the spiritual plane! You what this could mean to science?"

Cuphead rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it's gonna be bigger than the microchip, Mugs. I'm so very excited."

"I wouldn't say the experience was a complete waste of time." Silverworth spoke up. "According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely."

Mugman took a look at the readings. "If this energy rate the same for all ectoplasmic entities, we could really bust some heads! Well, in a spiritual sense of course."

"Your actually serious about this, Silvy?" Cuphead asked. "About catching an actual ghost?"

Silverworth stared at him with a neutral expression. "I'm always serious." He told him, adjusting his monocle.

Cuphead was silent for a moment before his lips curved into a smile. "Silvy," He said, "I think I'm gonna take back some of the things I've said about you." He then pulled out a crunch bar from his pocket. "Here, I think you've earned this."

With an eager gleam that was barley noticeable in Silveroworth's eyes, he slowly grabbed the bar from Cuphead.

"But then comes another problem," Silverworth spoke up, eating the crunch bat, "who are we going to bring this too? The last time we tried to conduct our research, we were banned from nearly all the schools on the Isles for life."

Mugman frowned, holding his chin in his hand. "True." He admitted. "None of those places would touch us with a ten foot pole. Besides, I've worked in the private sector a few times. They expect results."

Cuphead rolled his eyes. "You're always so concerned about your reputation. Einstein did some of his best work when he was a patent clerk. Heck, our old friend Dr. Khal lives and works in a junkyard of all places and he's still a genius."

"Do you even know how much a patent clerk gets paid?" Mugman replied.

"No." Cuphead answered. He then threw his arms around his two friends shoulders. "Look, what I'm trying to say is, we're all pretty much jobless right now. But call it fate... call it luck... call it karma... I believe everything happens for a reason. And I believe we were destined to have that little encounter in the library."

The three of them then stopped and looked to each other. "For what purpose, bro?" Mugman asked curiously.

Cuphead smiled. "To go into business for ourselves." He then handed his brother a small drink.

Mugman accepted it and took a small sip. "This ecto-containment system that Silvy and I had in mind is gonna require a lotta dough to capitalize."

"He's got a point you know, Cuphead." Silverworth added. "We know where were going to get the parts, but where are we going to get the money?"

Cuphead's grin widened. "I don't know."


The very next day...

Isle III, the city Isle. The one best known for the loud noises of rushing, bustling cars and tall buildings full of offices. And from the city bank, the trio emerged, with Cuphead having a big smile on his face while Mugman trailed behind him with a more unsure look, an envelope in his hands. Silverworth remained neutral, still looking at his calculator.

"I'm telling ya, you're never gonna regret this, Mugs!" Cuphead told him, throwing his arm around his brother's shoulder.

Mugman however, remained uncertain. "Elder Kettle left us that cottage, Cuphead. We were raised there. Heck, we were practically born there!"

"Relax, Mugs, we're not gonna lose the house." Cuphead reassured him. "Besides, everyone has mortgages nowadays."

"But at nineteen percent? You didn't even try to bargain with the guy."

"Mugman, for your information, the interest rate alone for the first five years comes to ninety-five thousand dollars." Silverworth told him as he finished his calculations.

"By the way, did you pick up some of the stuff from Dr Khal for our equipment?" Mugman inquired.

Silverworth nodded, holding up a large duffle bag that he had apparently kept with him. "Got everything we need." He listed. "Nutrona wands, parts for a nuclear accelerator, some fuel pallets, and lots more. With luck, we'll have our equipment assembled in about a day or so." He then put his chin in his hand, his neutral expression shifting slightly to an unnerved one. "Assuming nothing goes wrong."

"Will you guys relax?" Cuphead said, maintaining his enthusiasm as he rubbed his hands excitedly. "We're about to be on the threshold of establishing the indispensable defense science of the century. Professional paranormal investigations and eliminations. The franchise rights alone will us rich beyond our wildest dreams."

Mugman shook his head. It was always Cuphead when it came to the money.


Later...

Cuphead, Mugman, and Silverworth were now touring an old firehouse building that stood eight stories tall and sat comfortably on a street corner. And outside on the door of the building was a sign that read 'Building for Sale' in big red letters.

"There's office space here, bedrooms upstairs on the second floor, and showers on the third floor and there's a full kitchen on the top left with a fridge and a stove." The Real Estate Agent told Cuphead and Silverworth as they stood in the garage bay. "Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Cuphead took a good look around. The whole place was covered in cobwebs, dust, and rotting wood. Not exactly the most appealing place to set up a headquarters for a paranormal investigation and containment organization, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. However, there was one little problem in the price, which was a lot of money. "Seems pretty pricey for a unique fixer-upper opportunity, that's all." He said aloud. "What do you think, Silvy?"

Silverworth took one long look at the entirety of the garage. "I think this place this should be condemned." He voiced honestly. "There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, completely inadequate for our power needs, and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone." He then opened one of the lockers which was already loose on the hinges. Upon opening it, a whole family of spiders came crawling out, each of them carrying a hobo-stick with them.

"Hey, does this pole still work?"

The three of them looked up to see Mugman slide down the fire pole from the second floor, landing smoothly on his boots.

"Wow, this place is great!" He exclaimed excitedly. "When can we move in? You guys have gotta try this pole!" He then to the stairs. "I'm gonna get my stuff!" He told them. "We should stay here tonight. Sleep here. You know, try it out, break it in a little."

As Mugman continued up the stairs, Cuphead looked to Silverworth. The fork, obviously displeased with having to stay here, shook his head 'no'. But Mugman seemed to like this place, and Cuphead had always been a sucker for supportive big brother instincts.

"We'll take it." He told the Real Estate Agent, pulling out a large bag of money from his pocket.


Meanwhile across the city at the Ivo Shandor apartment building, a small yellow taxi pulled up at the front entrance. And out stepped a female orange fish named Angel. The air was cool as it was going into the fall season, the leafs on the trees in the nearby park starting to turn brown and orange.

As she stepped out of the cab carrying her bags of groceries, she felt a strange chill. She looked up to one of the gargoyles that sat perched above and couldn't help but feel uneasy, as if it was watching her.

It didn't take long for her to take the elevator to the top floor. The hallways were quiet as usual as Angel made her way to the end of the hall where her apartment was.

As she got out the keys for her door, the door behind her opened, and out stepped her neighbor Mac Apple.

"Oh, Angel, it's you."

Angel turned around and smiled at her friend. "Oh hi, Mac." She greeted cheerfully.

"I thought it was the drugstore." Mac said.

The fish girl looked concerned. "Oh, are you alright? You're not sick, are you?"

"Oh no, no, I'm fine." Mac reassured her. "I feel great actually. Just ordered some vitamins and stuff, was just exercising. I ran on the treadmill for about an hour, slipped and hit my face a few times but I'm fine. Had a great workout actually."

"Oh, that's nice."

"You wanna come in for some cider or something?" Mac asked.

"Oh, I'd like to, Mac, I have to go rehearsal now for the orchestra." Angel replied, turning the keys and opening the door to her apartment.

"Hey, listen, I'm having a big party with all my clients. It's my fourth anniversary as an accountant, you know. And even though you do your own tax return, which you shouldn't do, I'd appreciate it if you stopped by, being that your my neighbor and all-"

"Thanks, Mac. I'll really try to stop by." Angel smiled.

"Listen, that reminds me, you shouldn't leave your tv on so loud when you go out. The creepy guy down the hall called the manager." Mac told her.

Angel looked confused. She then looked into her room and saw that her television was indeed on. "That's weird. I thought I'd turned it off when I when I left." She replied.

"Well you know what I did?" Mac asked. "I climbed on the ledge and tried to disconnect the cable, but I couldn't get in, so I turned my tv up real loud too so everyone would think all our tv's had something wrong with them-"

"Goodbye, Mac." Angel said, closing the door in front of him.

Mac, not the least bit phased, continued to drone on. "Okay, so I'll see you later, huh? I'll give you a call! I'm gonna go take a bath." He then went back to his apartment and tried to open the door only to realize he had somehow locked himself out.

Inside her apartment, Angel rolled her eyes. Mac was a good friend and a nice guy, but he could be pretty oblivious and annoying sometimes.

Her apartment was average sized but nice, with a small living room and kitchen with a bedroom nearby. The room also a large window in the living room, giving a very pretty view of the city.

As she walked into her living room, she set her bags down by the table and looked at the screen as it seemed to be playing a new commercial. On the screen were three figures, a red cup, a blue mug, and a silver fork, all of them were wearing blue lab coats. As she looked at the screen, Angel couldn't help but feel as if she had seen the red cup and the blue mug before.

"Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night?" The blue mug asked dramatically.

"Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?" The silver fork asked in a more monotone voice.

"Have you or any of your family and friends ever seen a spook, specter, or ghost?" The red cup asked in a cool voice, though it sounded like he was reading off of a script.

"If the answer is yes, then don't wait another minute." The blue mug stated. "Pick up your phone and call the professionals."

"Ghostbusters." All three of them said at once, with a phone number appearing below them on the screen reading 555-92917.

"Our courteous and efficient staff is on call twenty-four hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs." The blue mug said, gesturing to what looked like an old fire house behind them.

"We're ready to believe you!" All three of them said together, pointing towards the camera.

Deciding she'd had enough, Angel hit the button to turn off the tv. Eh, they were probably just some losers trying to hopefully scam the more superstitious people with all that talk about ghosts and nonsense. Besides, ghosts didn't exist.

Picking up her grocery bags, she made her way into the kitchen and set them on the table, taking some lettuce, a bag of Stay Puft Marshmallows, and a carton of eggs.

However, when she turned away to put some other things in the cabinet, she heard a loud pop followed by a hissing sizzle. She heard it again and when she turned back, she was surprised to the eggs trembling and leaping out of the shelfs like jumping jacks. What was even stranger was that the yolks were now beginning to cook on the counter as if they were on the stove.

Strange, she thought, if not a little creepy. She reached out with her fin and touched the counter with the eggs on it, and was even more disturbed when all she felt was the cool surface of the counter as the eggs continued to cook.

Just then, Angel heard a low growl as the lights flickered, as if some wild animal had come into her home. She heard the growl again, this time closer, and she soon noticed that it seemed to be coming from her fridge.

Her curiosity overriding her fear, Angel slowly tip-toed over to the fridge, which now had a strange glowing outline behind the door.

Mustering whatever courage she had, Angel ripped the door open... and she froze.

What she expected to see behind the door was simply her groceries and other stored away foods. But now that was all gone. Now behind the fridge door was almost what seemed to be another world, the sky ripe with thunder storms and fire, the color of it being an unnerving blood red. And at the center of it all sat a giant temple that looked incredibly ancient and yet surged with a power that seemed beyond the world of the living.

And just when she thought she saw it all, she noticed what appeared to be a giant stone dog mixed with a gargoyle shout in a loud booming voice, "ZUUL!"

Angel screamed as she slammed the door to the fridge shut. What the heck had she just seen?! There was no way that was real, was it? What would she do? Who could she call?

She didn't really think too much as she ran right out of her apartment.

The phone number for the Inkwell Ghostbusters is supposed to be a reference to the release date of Cuphead. Just thought I'd tell ya.