Author's Note: Thank you so much to the couple of people the left reviews! They really do spur me to keep going knowing people are enjoying reading it.
Erin held her head between her hands, staring down at the notepad on her desk in front of her. She'd been staring at the equation scratched into the paper for the better part of an hour and was still nowhere near solving it. Every time she'd made progress, a loud bang or smell of something burning pulled her attention away to return only after she was sure crisis had been adverted and they were not going to explode.
Holtzmann had been banging, soldering and welding away at their new ghost trap for nearly three days and Erin was sure she must have scrapped the thing at least a half dozen times. Their lab, which was mostly Holtzmann's lab in which Erin shared a small corner, was strewn with metal shavings, wadded up caution tape and empty takeout containers were beginning to spill over the top of the trashcan. Erin had wanted to clean it up, but restrained herself solely by reminding herself that she wasn't exactly sure what was scraps and what was actual working pieces of tech the engineer was still working with. Her method, much like the engineer herself, was chaotic and unpredictable and Erin had learned early on not to pick up anything in the lab without knowing exactly what it was.
"How's it goin?"
Abby's voice at her side made her jump, scratching a pencil line across the paper in surprise. She looked wide eyed to her friend then took the cup of coffee being offered to her with a shaky hand.
"I didn't hear you come in," she confessed.
"No kidding," Abby laughed, "With all that racket over there it's amazing you don't already have tinnitus."
Erin followed Abby's eyes over to Holtzmann who pulled her goggles over her eyes, oblivious to them watching, and began cutting away at a piece of sheet metal with a power saw. The screeching grind of metal on metal made them both wince. Erin watched the glowing rain of sparks bounce up from the saw and shower down onto the floor, and all the objects stored there.
"God I hate when she does that," Erin grumbled where Abby could barely hear her, "This whole place is going to go up in flames one of these days."
"Nah," Abby shrugged, "If anyone knows how to put out a fire, its Holtzmann. Whatever the chemical, she knows how to douse it."
"That's only mildly comforting."
Abby laughed then motioned back to the notepad on her desk.
"Making any progress?"
"Not really," Erin confessed, "I think I've just been staring at it for too long."
"Hmm. Well Patty's making progress in the history of our scientist house haunting."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I'll go get her and see where we are in all of this."
A few minutes later they were all gathered up in the lab, carefully avoiding the metal parts on the floor.
"Alright, so I found out some stuff about that house, and I think I know who our ghost is," Patty started, earning raised eyebrows and undivided attention from the other three women. "I dug back to the mid 30's for ownership of the estate. The house was built by a James Michael Murphy in 1937. He and his wife Rebecca lived there until he died of a heart attack in 1940 but before that he worked for the government under the FDR administration. Now Becca was a real pioneer in nuclear research of her time. There were rumors that she took over her husband's research into nuclear weapons after he died. Basically, this bitch was the Holtzmann of the 40s."
"There were no traces of anything remotely radioactive in that lab," Erin shook her head, "Our equipment would have picked it up, wouldn't it?"
"Depends on the material and the quantity," Holtzmann answered, "Back then they would have been crazy to have any more than a gram of nuclear chemicals present for testing. Anything more and they would have blown themselves, and half the country, into smithereens."
"Yeah man," Patty continued, "lucky for us she never completed it. Rebecca was found dead in that basement in July 1943."
"How did she die?" Abby asked.
"Only old report I could find said they believed she died of inhaling poisonous gas."
"Makes sense," Erin shrugged, "They didn't have nearly the amount of knowledge and access to safety precautions we have now. Who knew what she was inhaling down there."
"So we have a radioactive ghost," Holtz grinned, "Nice!"
"Can I finish?" Patty looked pointedly at the engineer before continuing. "Anyway, I was able to dig up some notes from a few articles, but it's all gibberish to me. Maybe you nerds can make some sense of it."
Patty handed a pad of paper that she'd scribbled down some notes on to Abby and Erin and Holtzmann moved in close to read it over her shoulders. Suddenly Erin's eyes went wide and she looked back up to Patty in surprise.
"Are you sure this was from that lab?" she asked.
"Pretty sure," Patty answered, "It was from an old journal recovered by police when they removed the body. Why? What is it?"
"They were creating fission…" Erin's answer faded off as she drifted into her own thoughts, mind running equations at lightning speed.
"Fission? You mean that stuff from Rowan's sparking things?"
"Sort of. The levels they're implying here are crazy though. I mean, we're talking about a bombardment of 235U and 239Pu."
"They were breaking down subatomic masses." Abby nodded, also getting excited about the implications.
"Hey!" Patty cut in, "Ya'll are gonna have to speak English here."
"They were splitting atoms." Abby said flatly.
"Hang on a sec," Holtz reached under Abby's arm to tap a finger against the paper, "Boron, Aluminum, Plutonium, Uranium, Polonium Beryllium."
"Sounds like they were building a bomb," Erin speculated.
"No. I know this design. Patty, when did you say this was dated?"
"Uhm," Patty took the notebook back and flipped back a few pages, "forty-four."
"You guys," Holtzmann's eyes were alight in the way that made her look like even more of a mad scientist, "This isn't just a bomb. This the bomb!"
"Okay Holtz, you gotta back up and pretend we can't read your mind," Abby prodded, "What is the bomb?"
Holtzmann took a deep shaky breath, doing her best to stamp down her excitement before explaining.
"In nineteen forty-five, scientists constructed a steel containment vessel capable of containing one hundred and eight short tons of high explosives spiked with radioactive isotopes." She paused, giving them a moment to follow her line of thought, "You guys, we're looking at the original designs for the Trinity Gadget!"
"What the hell is the Trinity Gadget?" Patty barked out, frustrated with all the cryptic science talk.
"It was the first nuclear weapon," Erin answered quietly. The color had drained from her face. "It was the predecessor to the nuke they detonated over Nagasaki."
Nobody said anything after that. They were all familiar with the historical detonation of the first wartime atomic bomb. If Holtzmann was right, they were holding in their hands the prequel to one of the most horrific acts of war that history had ever seen and had even captured the ghost of one of the scientists involved in creating it.
"We have to get back to that house," Abby broke their rumination, "we can't leave that stuff there."
"You're right," Erin agreed, "Without Rebecca's ghost down in that lab, her work is there for anyone to find. I think we can all agree the world is better off without ever knowing it existed."
"Lets go get it," Patty voiced her agreement.
They broke apart, each hurrying to their respective working spaces to set aside what they'd been working on before bustling downstairs to the Ecto, none of them noticing the gently flickering of light on Holtzmann's desk, covered by the notepad she'd hurriedly tossed down in her haste to leave.
They returned to the firehouse nearly six hours later. It hadn't taken them long to come up with a story of radioactive residue being left behind by the ghost to explain to the homeowner that they needed to collect everything from the basement lab to prevent any hazardous contamination. She'd been eager to let them remove each item, not even asking questions as to what it had all been used for. They'd been correct in assuming she would just want it all gone so she and her husband could move on with their lives.
Abby was the first to enter the firehouse, pushed the door open, surprised to find the room dark. She took a few steps inside, sliding her hand down the wall, searching for where she knew the light switch was. She found it with ease and flipped it down, then back up. She did it twice more before accepting there would be no light. Erin, Patty and Holtzmann entered behind her, confused by the darkness.
"Did we forget to pay the bill?" Holtzmann joked.
Before anyone could answer her, the lights flickered back on, making them squint by the sudden brightness.
"Hey!" a voice from the desk across the room called to them, "You're back!"
"Were you just sitting there in the dark?" Erin asked Kevin.
"Only for a few minutes," He answered. "I think we might have forgotten to pay the bill."
Holtzmann grinned and smacked Patty's shoulder playfully to emphasize that it had been a good joke.
"I hope that wasn't my job," Kevin looked sullenly at Abby.
"No," she answered, "It's not. I'm sure it was just…"
Before she could finish her sentence, the lights again flickered, briefly going off then flashing back on.
"What the hell was that?" Patty voiced what they were all thinking.
"Some sort of power surge?" Erin offered.
"Kevin," Abby got his attention back with a stern voice, "How long have the lights been doing this?"
"Couple hours."
"A couple hours?! And you didn't think to call and tell us?"
"I figured it was just from the rain."
"I'll check the lab," Holtzmann announced before Abby could respond to Kevin.
"I'll go with her," Erin said, chasing the engineer who was taking the steps two at a time.
"I'll check the breakers," Patty added, leaving the room in the opposite direction.
Holtzmann and Erin got to the lab just as another surge killed the lights again. The dim blinking of light was easy to notice in the darkness, despite being underneath a stack of papers. Holtzmann swore, hurrying for the desk, stepping around the various project parts on the floor. It may look like chaos to everyone else, but it was organized chaos. She placed them for reasons and didn't need to see them to know exactly where they were. Unfortunately, Erin did not. She tried to follow Holtzmann to the blinking light but quickly found herself tripping over something solid and heavy. She prayed nothing would explode as she stumbled, catching another object with her toe and falling forward.
Instead of hitting the floor, her flailing arms were caught in the engineer's strong grip as Holtzmann balanced her. Erin breathed out a thank you, but Holtzmann had already moved on, flinging the papers off the blinking light and swearing under her breath.
"What is that?" Erin asked, carefully shuffling the rest of the way to the table.
"A problem," Holtzmann answered shortly, "The backup batteries are drained. The surge protector isn't working."
"Wait, it's a safety light?" Erin would have laughed had Holtzmann not been so serious, tossing things aside and digging through boxes.
"I need two more batteries," Holtzmann barked and pressed a flashlight into the palm of Erin's hand, "They're in the third locker from the right. Bottom shelf."
Erin hurried to the locker and pulled it open. She pulled at one of the large batteries with her free hand, frowning when it didn't budge. They were a lot heavier than they looked. At Holtzmann's urging to hurry up, she put the flashlight under her left arm and used both hands to drag the battery from the locker. She grunted with effort and waddled under its weight as she walked it back over to the engineer. She took quick notice of Holtzmann splicing some wires and expertly running cables from a now open panel on the containment unit before scurrying back to the locker for the second battery. When she set the second battery down, Holtzmann had already attached the cables to the first one and was sliding a spent battery from its compartment in the unit, making it look much easier than Erin knew it was.
"What's going on Holtz?"
"Just a minor setback," She lied.
In the beam of Erin's flashlight, she noticed the shimmer of sweat beading on the engineer's forehead, which made her even more nervous. She worked quickly, threading wires from the open panel to the batteries and typing a few things into the keypad on the front of the unit. The more time that ticked by, the more quickly the engineer worked, and the more anxious Erin became.
The sudden pulse of electricity made Erin's heart skip a beat in her chest as she watched the static arch pop from the cable in Holtzmann's hand to the battery she was connecting it to. Holtzmann jerked back away from the jolt with enough force that her back collided with the metal cabinet behind her, knocking it over with a loud crash. Erin was moving instantly to help her when the lights of the room blinded her as they kicked back on and the containment unit hummed back to life.
"Erin!" Abby was shouting from the stairs, "Holtzmann!"
Erin called back to her and spun around to face Holtzmann, who was slowly attempting to push herself up from the pile of fire extinguishers and baking soda boxes that had spilled out of the toppled cabinet.
"Holtz, are you alright?" she asked, helping her to her feet.
Holtzmann looked stunned, cradling her right hand to her chest and glaring at the containment unit. Erin repeated her question, as Abby and Patty entered the room. The commotion of their entry gained the attention of the engineer and she blinked hard a few times, clearing her head.
"Yeah," she said quietly, then cleared her throat, "Yeah, I'm okay."
"Are you sure?" Erin was skeptical, "Maybe you should sit down for a minute."
"No, I'm fine," Holtzmann shook her head, "We have to stabilize the containment unit. It can't run off those batteries alone for long."
"What happened to it?" Abby asked.
"Massive power surge of some kind. Something overloaded the generator and drained the backup batteries."
"Lightning maybe?" Patty suggested.
Abby watched Holtzmann take a few steps toward the unit, smearing blood from her injured hand as she ran it over its metal surface as if she was admiring it. Abby turned to Erin, who frowned and shook her head in response.
"Holtzmann?" Abby said quietly. When she didn't respond, she stepped up next to her and set her hand on her shoulder and spun her slowly to face her. When their eyes met, she saw confusion in them.
"Are you okay? Did you hit your head?"
Holtzmann stared at her blankly for a fraction of a second before answering uncomfortably.
"I'm fine Abs. Just got a little jolt that's all."
Abby held her gaze for a few more seconds before releasing her to turn back to the unit. She typed a few buttons on the keypad before frowning at it and typing them again.
"What is it?" Erin asked.
"Its…" Holtz paused, running hundreds of possibilities through her head, "Its stable."
"How is it stable? You just said it can't run off the batteries alone."
"It can't."
"Alright Holtzy," Patty's voice sounded harsh after the softer tone the rest of them had taken, "I know you're a little crispy fried around the edges right now, but ya need to make up your mind about that thing. Cause if its gonna explode or somethin', I'd rather not be in the same room with it."
Holtzmann mulled this over for a few second before looking to each one of them. She'd been zapped by one of her machines more times than she could remember, but her brain had never felt so foggy afterwards before. Maybe Abby was right. Maybe she had hit her head on something in her tumble into the steel cabinet.
"I'll run some tests," she shrugged and unconsciously rubbed the back of her head, "may be just a fluke, but we need to know for sure."