Chapter 5: In Reverse

Harlan Airport

Staten Island

2:05 AM

Black Vengeance pulled onto the abandoned airstrip and stopped, it's headlights turning off. Dan took the truck out of gear, soon after leaning back in his seat panting. He rubbed his chest where the probes pierced into it, two sets of wounds now bleeding. He arched his back in pain as he winced. He removed his hat and cleared blood away from his eyes.

Lita looked around vaguely and realized what they were parked on, "Why are we at an airport?" she asked, her becoming unnerved, "What if a plane comes?"

"This place had been abandoned for years," Dan said weakly, "People used to run illegal drag races here. Took the original Lucky Black here. This was where me, Roland, and Eduardo tested that DeLorean. I don't feel so good."

Lita heard that. She didn't like it. She turned on the cabin light and looked him over. He was still bleeding heavily from his cuts. His jumpsuit's gray collar was no longer gray. The whole top portion of his suit was darkened with the staining of blood. She reached out and grabbed one of his hands. Alarms started going off in her mind, "Your hands are like ice! How long have you been bleeding?"

He looked over to her. One of his eyes was starting to swell shut, a look of exhaustion on his face. Lita was starting to have flashbacks of when her best friend Ken was injured. He attempted to stop a Cardian sent by Alan and Ann from harming her only for him to become severely injured and needing a blood transfusion. She recognized the symptoms, "Oh my God! Dan, we gotta get you to a hospital! You need blood!"

He shook his head, "Not enough time. I can't feel my legs. I…" he started looking confused. The blood loss was beginning to harm his memory, "I can't remember what I was gonna say."

Panic was starting to set in. She remembered when she was hurt by the Draugr and Dan was holding her in his arms. The reverse was now happening and she didn't know what to do. He risked his life again for her, and now he was bleeding out - just like Ken.

That was when it occurred to her. When he wrecked his last truck he cut his head and lip. As she was fading out, she remembered his injuries before he healed her, then what happened after.

"I'm just glad you're okay," Dan looked to her weakly, "Tell Egon where I found you. He'll know… what…" His eyes rolled back into his head as he slid toward his door. His body went limp as he banged his head against the window, a blood stain left on the glass.

"No!" Lita quickly undid her seatbelt and slid over to him. She grabbed his bloody jumpsuit and shook him. Tears were in her eyes as she shook him again, "Dan! Dan! Don't leave me!" she wrapped her arms around his body and gripped tightly, "Please, Dan," she whimpered, "I love you!"

That was when a bright light suddenly formed between them. In the darkness of the airport's cracked overgrown tarmac the windows of the black pickup light up with a bright green-tinted white light. The light cut through the rain and pulsated into the sky.

Ecto-1 was still parked in the hospital parking garage. Roland had started the car and was about to back the car out when the bright flash of light caught everyone's attention. Roland looked out the windshield to see the greenish haze in the distance, "What the...?"

Kylie and Amy stepped out of the back seat to see the light. Amy immediately took out the computer and booted it up as Kylie looked into the distance, "Holy crap!" she rounded the car door and rushed to the edge of the garage wall, "Is that what I think it is?"

Roland was transfixed on the light. Darien was beside him in the front passenger seat also looking at the glow. The Ghostbuster looked to the man beside him, "Do you know what that is? I've seen it before."

"The Light of Healing," Darien responded, "The Knight's ability to heal."

Roland looked back at the light, "Heal? Knights can heal?" it suddenly hit him, "A Knight is healing someone?"

Back outside the car Amy joined Kylie at the periphery of the garage, "It's the power of Jupiter's energy signature!"

Kylie asked, "Is it Dan?"

"No," Amy typed as she answered, "It's Lita! Even though Dan shares her power, they still have distinctive energy patterns."

"I thought…" Kylie recalled earlier that day; what Eduardo did to Mina, "I thought only the Knights could heal their princess, "Amy looked to the goth woman beside her, "Not the reverse?"

The light died down. Dan's eyes opened. He blinked a few times to clear his sight when he looked into the rear-view mirror and saw his cuts were healed. He looked down and saw the top of Lita's head on his chest. Her arms were weakly holding onto him. The panic welled, "Oh hell! Lita!" He put his hand behind her head and carefully leaned her back.

Lita opened her eyes weakly, "I remembered. When you healed me, your wounds healed, too."

"What wounds?"

"When you crashed your truck," she was fading, "you were bleeding from your head and lip." Dan couldn't believe what she was telling him. He didn't even realize he had injured himself during the Draugr fight. He didn't have enough time to realize it before healing her. He became upset, "Goddamnit, Lita, you can't ever use that power on me again! Your life is far more important than mine!"

"It was my fault you got hurt. I didn't want to hurt any more people I love. You are important… too…" her eyes closed, "...me." she fainted. Her body became limp in his arms.

Dan shook her lightly, "Lita?" She didn't respond. He winced then groaned, "Shit! Not again!" He picked her up, slid her into the passenger seat, and fastened her seatbelt. He quickly scrambled back into the driver's seat and started the truck back up, "Hang on, kid, I'll get ya back to the firehouse. I know the fastest way outta here. The benefit of emergency lights." The 460 cubic inch engine roared to life, soon after the red and white light bar began flashing. The truck tore off, the turbocharger whining and the tires spinning.

Stoneface Cement Mill

2:45 AM

The rain had not let up. A new fire was started nearby with packing material and construction lumber. It burned so hot the fire vaporized the rain before getting close to the flame. Members of the Order stood in the rain in a circle around the fire, wearing black as they always did.

Nearby was the storage dome, the fencing down and discarded. Everyone had stood longer than expected, some of the members talking among themselves in the confusion. Everyone was wondering why they weren't at the normal warehouse. All of them were soaking, cold, and were debating on leaving.

Engines roared in the distance. Headlights illuminated the area as a convoy of black SUVs entered the parking lot then proceeded to approach the dome elevator. The vehicles parked between the elevator structure and the fire. All but one vehicle's doors opened with several people in cloaks stepping out.

Among the cloaks was Matthew. He deployed his umbrella and quickly walked to the trailer used as an office. Stepping in, everyone else looked after him as near-silent speculation echoed through the complex.

Holly sat behind the desk, her usual paraphernalia for alcohol beside the copy of The Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok that was stolen from the New York Library. Opposite of that was the recorder. She was about to take a shot of her whiskey when the door opened. She grabbed her shot glass as she stood, "What in the hell took you so long?" She took her shot, her voice becoming gruff, "We should have opened the book by now."

"We had a complication," Matthew said calmly, watching her discard her glass, "Shannon found the facility."

Holly felt her heart jump into her throat, her eyes opening wide in terror. She rounded the desk quickly and stood before him, "How? He didn't know who I was when I saw him! How did he find…"

"That's not all," he interrupted, "He fought his way through the guards and broke Ms. Kino out. We arrived just as they came out of the facility."

"Did you capture them?"

"He was wearing the older version of his equipment," he took his folded umbrella and leaned on it like a cane, "He set it to overload. I had no choice but to let them go."

Madame Holly began to panic as she leaned against the front of the desk, "What about our sacrifice?" she pushed off and approached him, "It's the night of the Blood Moon! We needed Kino!"

"We do have another matter to settle," Matthew walked to the window like he did two days ago and looked at the closed vehicle between the fire and the scaffold, "If you remember, we set the building up in a dummy company name. It is known that the Ghostbusters can use their equipment to find people. It is possible Shannon knew how to achieve this. He couldn't possibly know you."

"Matthew," Holly approached him from behind, worry in her voice, "why do I feel like you're not telling me everything?" He turned to her to find her unsure, "I'm not even sure I'm really in charge of this Order. Is what we're doing now the same thing we have been doing?"

"I have been getting everything organized for you, my Gydje," he said as he looked back out the window, "Just as we agreed upon. All that I ask is that you trust me and follow through."

"What are we going to do otherwise?" she walked to his side, "We need to sacrifice someone, and we have no time." He turned to look at her, "You get ready. We will take care of it." With that, Matthew turned back to the office door and stepped out, deploying his umbrella again. Holly stepped to the door and watched him walk back to the storage elevator, the spray of rainfall hitting her in the face.

"You can't trust him, can you?"

That voice. It spoke loudly in the room around Holly. She looked around, "Who in the hell are you?"

"He's using you. You've seen him become more hostile as of late and you know it's because of what you're doing."

Holly rushed back to the desk and grabbed the bottle of whiskey. As she uncorked the bottle, the voice became more persistent, "This is going to hurt more people. You just want the pain to end; he wants to cause more. You were never like this before. Not before that day…" She started chugging the contents hard, the brown liquor draining at an alarming rate. Before she knew it the bottle was empty. She gasped for air soon after. She dropped the bottle, coughing hard as the burn of alcohol vapor entered her lungs. She doubled over as she continued, but she could be heard whimpering between coughs.

That was when she fell to her knees and began to cry. There was this terror filling her that she couldn't identify. The voice. It wasn't the first time she heard it. Every time she started to sober she heard it. This time however was too clear. It was a strong voice. Wise. She had been drinking for so long she forgot why it sounded familiar. When she did hear it she had convinced herself it was a painful voice, but it was calm.

Nevertheless, it hurt to hear it. Every shot she took to silence it, it became more resistant to the drink, "I have to finish it," she said in a small voice, "I can never go back." She leaned against the front of the desk, soft sobbing heard as she said one last thing, barely audible, "...I didn't mean to."