Jefferson and Constance watched through the bars of the jail window as ghosts began to run rampant throughout the city. They could hear the screams coming from the people. It upset them that they were helpless to stop the calamity.
"We gotta get out of here," Constance said.
"Who's going to believe us?" Gordon asked. "We may be capable of fighting ghosts, but they still think we're the ones who started this in the first place. They'll never trust us to help them."
"The police aren't capable of stopping them," Jefferson told him. "They need our help, no matter what they think. If we can convince one of them to let us assist them, we might be able to stop all this."
Hogarth had tuned out Constance, Jefferson, and Gordon's conversation and sat against the wall of the jail cell they occupied. He had been in jails so many times, he knew exactly what to do: Call someone to get him out, then wait until they came.
However, he knew he didn't need to call someone this time. Given that his mother was a cop, he knew she would find out what happened and would come to get him. He didn't know how much trouble he was going to be in, but he was certain it was going to be a lot more than the last time his father had to come bail him out before sending him to San Francisco.
"Don't you think we should wait until we are before the city judge to tell him that the city needs us to save the world from an evil ghost sorceress?" Gordon asked.
"Gordon, the ley lines have been energized, and Morgana now has the last living member of her blood," Constance said. "We don't have that kind of time. We need to get out of here now."
"Strange, your bail's been made," said an officer, opening the cell door.
With a sigh, Hogarth stood up and exited the cell. The others tried to follow, but the officer slammed the door shut.
"Just Strange," he said.
Hogarth glanced at the others for a moment, then followed the officer down the hallway.
"Who posted my bail?" he asked.
"Who do you think?" the officer asked, opening the door.
Standing past the door was Officer Stephanie, arms folded, and a look on her face more furious than Hogarth had ever seen.
Without a word, Hogarth's mother turned around and started walking away. Taking that as an indication to follow her, Hogarth did so. He followed her out of the station and to her police car. He sat in the backseat without arguing, knowing better than to do that.
"You have no idea how much trouble you're in, Hogarth," she said in a low and very angry voice. "Your father sent you here so you could avoid getting sent to juvenile hall, and now, I had to come bail you out of my own precinct!"
"What do you want me to say?"
"There is nothing to say, Hogarth! I let you keep working with those nutjobs because you convinced me that this job would help others, but today proved just how wrong you were! Now all of us are stretched thin across the city trying to clean up the mess you all made!"
"It wasn't our fault, Mom! A couple of ghosts attacked us and shut down our containment unit! We were trying to help!"
"You weren't helping anybody, Hogarth! You destroyed private property, drove recklessly through San Francisco, and caused an explosion in a populated area! How is that helping people?!"
"Do you see what's going on?" Hogarth said. "Ghosts are destroying the city, and the chaos is only going to spread! We're the only ones who can help!"
Stephanie turned around in her seat and stared at her son with razor-sharp daggers in her eyes.
"I think you've done enough," she snapped. "When we get home, I'm sending you on the next plane back to New York."
"I'm not going anywhere, Mom!"
"This is not up for discussion, Hogarth! I'm returning you to your father, and you will face whatever consequences will be waiting!"
Hogarth stared hatefully at his mother and shook his head in anger.
"The only way you're sending me back to New York is in a bodybag," he said, "because you're gonna have to shoot me to stop me."
With that, he jumped out of the car and ran. Stephanie gave out a cry of anger and climbed out.
"HOGARTH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "GET BACK HERE!"
But Hogarth didn't listen. He continued to run until he disappeared down the street. He didn't care. All that mattered to him now was getting his equipment back, stopping Morgana, and saving Sam's life.
~GB~
Hogarth sprinted through San Francisco's Chinatown district, trying to avoid both people and ghosts as they went by. Even if he did collide with a ghost, his flight suit would have kept most of the slime off him.
He ran until he found himself at the Dragon Gate. Spotting the Ghostbusters headquarters, he ran across the street and hurried inside.
The building was a mess. Debris was scattered all over from the explosion that was caused when the containment unit was shut down. Hogarth had to move carefully to avoid toppling over.
Climbing up the stairs, Hogarth rummaged through the debris until he found the proton packs. He set them on the table, then found the boson dart rifles Jefferson had been working on. He reached down, grabbed a hose, then started working on attaching one of the rifles to a proton pack.
"Stop this, Hogarth."
No sooner than he heard it, Hogarth grabbed the neutrona wand, switched the proton pack on, and pointed it directly at his mother.
"Don't try to stop me," he warned.
"Are you really going to blast me, Hogarth?" Stephanie asked.
"If it means being able to stop Morgana, then I will do it in a heartbeat."
"Listen to me, Hogarth-"
"No, you listen! Dad sent me here so I could start a new life free of street racing, and I found it right here. Being a Ghostbuster made me a better person, allowing me to make a difference. Despite any of the damage we caused, we helped people all over the city, and now, they need us more than ever, whether they know it or not.
"When you tried to make me quit that night, I told you that it wasn't gonna happen, and that you needed to get with the program or get out of the way. You need to decide that right now, and I hope to high heaven that you make the right choice."
It was at that moment Stephanie saw something in Hogarth's eyes, a look she saw in criminals she had to shoot to stop them. It was a look that meant nothing was going to stop him except bullets, and she could never shoot her own son.
Stephanie sighed, shook her head, and looked at her son again.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
"Help me get these rifles attached to the packs," Hogarth said.
"What are they?"
"Boson Dart rifles. They shoot bursts of powerful energy, something that packs a huge punch against ghosts."
"Sounds like something even my friends at the station shouldn't have."
"That's why we had to build them from scratch."
Hogarth showed his mother how to properly connect the boson dart rifles to the packs with the hoses. It took them half an hour to fit all the packs with the rifles. When they were finished, they loaded the packs in the Ecto-1SF, then attached boson dart rifles to the gunner seats.
"What else do you need?" Stephanie asked.
"A fast escort back to the station, so we can get the others," Hogarth said. "Once they're out, you should go help evacuate civilians. We'll deal with Morgana."
Stephanie hurried out to her police cruiser while Hogarth climbed into Ecto-1SF's driver seat. Both cars turned on their lights and sirens, and Stephanie pulled away from the curb and sped back towards the precinct with Ecto-1SF close behind.
~GB~
Stephanie grabbed the jail cell keys off the hook and headed through the door leading to the cells with Hogarth behind her.
"I could lose my job over this," she told him.
"I know, but I'd rather you didn't have a job than be dead," Hogarth replied.
The Ghostbusters looked up when Stephanie walked over to their jail cell and opened the door.
"What is this?" Jefferson asked.
"Get moving," Stephanie ordered. "You've got a job to do."
The Ghostbusters hurried out of the jail cell and followed Hogarth out of the building. As she went by, Constance quickly turned to Stephanie.
"I can't thank you enough," she said.
"You can thank me by saving the world and bringing my son back alive," Stephanie told her.
Constance nodded and hurried away. Outside, the Ghostbusters quickly piled into Ecto-1SF. Starting the engine, Hogarth quickly pulled away from the precinct.
"Where do we need to go?" Hogarth asked.
"We need to find the Order of Morganians' temple," Constance said. "That's where Morgana and the Prime Morganians should be."
"According to these readings," Jefferson said as he adjusted his PKE Meter, "the most powerful source of PKE energy is coming from the northwest corner of the Lone Mountain District."
"Of course!" Constance said. "The San Francisco Columbarium! There have been reports of excess supernatural activity over the years at that location! They must have been a side-product of the Order's many sessions of worship."
"If that's where Morgana is," Gordon said, "I'll bet there will be a lot of ghosts defending it."
"We're gonna have to fight our way through them," Jefferson said. "Every second we spend is another second that Morgana gets closer to her ultimate objective."
Suddenly, Hogarth slammed on the brakes, and Ecto-1SF came to a halt at an intersection.
"Hogarth, what are you doing?" Constance hissed.
Hogarth held up his hand for silence.
"Do you hear that?" he asked.
The Ghostbusters remained silent, trying to listen to what Hogarth was hearing. But all they could hear was the sound of ghosts running wild across San Francisco, and police sirens evacuating civilians from the city.
And they heard it: A big thud. Faint, but strong enough to make Ecto-1SF shake. Then another one, and another. Each one grew louder and stronger.
Looking in the rearview, Constance's eyes widened in terror as she saw Scarface stomp around the corner. The T-Rex walked up to the side of Ecto-1SF, peered in through the windows, then reared its head up and let out a roar loud enough to shatter eardrums.
Hogarth didn't need to wait for Constance to scream for him to get going. He floored the gas pedal, and Ecto-1SF sped away, with Scarface chasing after it. He stayed right on Ecto-1SF's tail and was gaining.
"He's gonna catch us!" Gordon shouted. "Do something!"
"You're gonna have to do something!" Hogarth said. "This dino's too hard to shake off!"
"I'm not sure if the gunner seat's equipped for this!" Jefferson said. "It was designed to restrain ghosts that Ecto-1SF was chasing, not the other way around!"
"Oh, yes it is!"
Hogarth told them about how he and his mother attached boson dart rifles to the packs and gunner seats before leaving to retrieve the others from the precinct.
"Hogarth, the rifle is an untested prototype!" Jefferson exclaimed. "We don't even know the risks that come with using it, not to mention we have no idea if you and your mom attached them properly!"
"Well, you better test them fast! He's gaining on us!"
"All right. Take us out," Gordon said.
Before Jefferson had time to protest, Hogarth pulled on the lever next to him, activating the gunner seats. Jefferson scrambled to strap himself in as his seat was pushed out.
Gordon activated his proton unit and grabbed the boson dart rifle as it emerged from behind his seat. Feeling along the side of the seat, he hit the red button as soon as his fingers touched it, spinning his chair around one-eighty degrees.
Shaking his head, Jefferson grabbed his boson dart rifle and did the same thing, spinning his chair around to face in the reverse direction.
"All right, I'm gonna get ready to maneuver a trap," Constance said. "See if those rifles work as well as Hogarth claims."
Pointing their rifles at Scarface, Jefferson and Gordon pulled the triggers. Balls of bright energy shot from the rifles, striking Scarface on the sides and causing him to roar in anger. But he still continued in hot pursuit of Ecto-1SF.
Gritting his teeth, Jefferson shot more boson darts at Scarface. While they left severe burns on his side, Scarface continued to chase them at full speed.
"It's not working!" he shouted.
"Then let's try this!" Hogarth shouted.
He brought his foot down hard on the brakes, causing Ecto-1SF to screech to a halt. Throwing the car into reverse, Hogarth spun Ecto-1SF around until it was perpendicular with Scarface's path. He pushed down on the gunner seat lever, bringing Jefferson and Gordon safely back inside.
Ecto-1SF now acted as tripwire, as it collided with Scarface's legs, and the dinosaur was flipped over the car's roof, crashing into the ground.
Constance grabbed a ghost trap and climbed out of Ecto-1SF. Rushing over to Scarface, she threw the trap in front of his snout, then stomped on the pedal.
Scarface roared as he got up and turned to run. He strained against the pull of the trap, but it was too powerful, even for him. He was pulled into the trap and it snapped shut a split-second later.
Constance reached down and picked up the trap as the others got out and walked over to her.
"Those darts didn't do anything to slow him down," Jefferson said.
"Well, he is a T-Rex," Hogarth pointed out. "It takes a lot more than shots from a gun to faze him."
"Unfortunately, he's only the first of what's to come," Constance said. "Morgana will undoubtedly have every ghost in San Francisco guarding the Columbarium."
She looked up in the sky as flashes of lightning could be seen within the green cloud that covered the city.
"All right, gear up," she said. "We're walking from here."
"Are you crazy?" Hogarth said. "We haven't even reached Anza Vista yet!"
"And there's no way Ecto-1SF can get through all those ghosts without being trashed by them. We're gonna have to go on foot and fight our way through them."
Hogarth groaned and turned and went with the others to get their equipment out of the back of the car.