It took almost four hours for Holtzmann to run a full diagnostic on the containment unit. It was nearly 2am when she'd finally finished it. Patty and Abby had turned in for the night, opting to sleep in the third-floor living quarters instead of going home. Erin had done her best to keep up with Holtzmann's tenacious search for answers, but had lost her fight with sleep shortly after midnight. Holtz glanced over at the physicist sleeping, head down on her desk in the corner of the room. She's going to have one hell of a sore neck in the morning. Holtz thought to herself.
She slid off her stool, walked across the room and kneeled next to Erin's chair. She placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. Erin snorted as she sat up, eyes still closed and swayed in her chair.
"What?" Erin mumbled through her sleep, "I'm up. What do you need me to do?"
"Go to bed Erin," Holtz answered.
"Did you fix the containment unit?"
"Yeah, about that," Holtzmann pushed herself back up to her feet, "there's nothing wrong with it."
Erin's eyes blinked open at this, quickly finding the blonde and staring, "What do you mean nothing's wrong with it? What about the power surge and the batteries? I mean, that thing electrocuted you."
"It did not," Holtz defended her machine, "Mild shock at best."
"Whatever it was, what caused it?"
Holtzmann shrugged. She didn't have an answer for her. She had run diagnostic after diagnostic and re-calibrated every circuit she could. The power levels remained steadily running off the building's power supply and showed no signs of fluctuating.
"So, it really could have been the storm?"
Holtzmann shook her head, frustrated, "No, I don't think so."
Erin studied her colleague for a moment. Her shoulders were slumped, the dark circles under her eyes emphasized how red they were, and her wild hair had fallen loose in spots in the back. She looked exhausted.
"You need to get some sleep Holtz. We can all take another look at it in the morning with fresh eyes."
"Yeah, I guess," Holtzmann shrugged. She hated leaving a job undone, but she was tired and her head ached.
Erin seemed to read her mind and gave her a sympathetic smile before patting a hand on her shoulder and leading her up to their sleeping quarters.
Fire. Fire burned all around her. She couldn't remember when it had started or where, or what had caused it. She blinked as smoke attacked her eyes, making them burn and water. She wiped at them frantically with her gloved hands, clearing her vision and scanning her surroundings. Rubble lay everywhere. Piles of shattered cinder block, wood fragments, and broken asphalt surrounded her. She took a step forward, looking up into the smoky, star littered sky. She was suddenly aware of the familiar weight on her back and the straps digging into her shoulders. She was wearing her proton pack and coveralls. But if she was suited up, where were the others?
"Erin?" She yelled into the fire, "Abby? Patty?"
She searched the area quickly, getting more and more panicked when she couldn't find her teammates anywhere. The fire was getting hotter and the smoke thicker. She wouldn't be able to stay much longer. She coughed and staggered around a pile of debris and her boot connected with something. She looked down, and her chest clenched. A bloody hand stuck out from under a large pile of debris at her foot.
"No, no no no," she panicked, dropping to her knees and digging, tossing pieces of stone and wood from around the arm until she reached her face.
Lines of blood had cut paths through the dirt and grime on her face and pooled on the floor beneath her head. Her vibrant blue eyes were dull through a postmortem film and stared straight ahead, lifeless.
Holtzmann sat back onto her feet, trying to choke back the tears that were blinding her. She still had to find the others. Abby and Patty could still be alive somewhere. She had to find them.
"Holtzmann."
Holtzmann spun on her knees, blinking through her tears to focus on the owner of the voice. The relief she felt at the sight nearly toppled her over. Abby was there, standing tall and alive and Patty was standing just a few steps behind her.
"Abby," she choked out, "Erin…"
"You did this."
Holtzmann froze, staring at Abby. She didn't look sad, she looked furious, and behind her Patty held the same look of rage.
"What?" she stammered, "I…"
"You did this," Abby repeated and reached for the wand on her back.
Holtzmann whipped her head from Abby to look at Erin. Poor, sweet, lovable Erin. How did this happen? She couldn't remember anything. She forced herself to look away, back to Abby, who now had the wand pointing at her and her pack humming to life.
Holtz didn't argue or plead for her life. If she was somehow responsible for Erin's death, then she deserved this. She would never endanger her family. Everything had happened so fast. She just couldn't remember. She let her stare falter from Abby and caught sight of a reflective surface behind her. Some sort of broken mirror. But she wasn't interested at all in what sort of surface it was. She was stunned at what looked back at her. The face that looked back at her held no tear soaked cheeks, no wild blonde hair and no yellow glasses. The woman staring back at her was a stranger. Long brown braided hair and sharp cheekbones. But her eyes were what had captivated her the most. Blue and green spirals of glowing light spun brightly within their irises.
"Abby!" Holtzmann tried to warn her of the danger, but was stunned when the reflections mouth moved with her words.
"I'm sorry Holtz," Abby's voice cracked and Holtzmann looked back to her.
"No! Abby, look!"
"I'm sorry."
Abby's thumb pressed the trigger and the burst of light of proton energy consumed her with a wailing scream ringing through her ears.
Holtzmann jerked awake with a gasp, sitting up quickly in her bunk. She blinked hard a few times, forcing her eyes to adjust to the dark. With every blink, visions of Erin's dead eyes, or Abby's accusing glare flashed through her mind. She fought to calm her breathing as the darkness of the room seemed to close in on her. She untangled her legs from her blanket and rolled over until her feet hit the cold concrete floor and hurried to the door. As quietly as she could, she exited the room, latching the door behind her and then bolted to the closest bathroom.
Her stomach twisted in knots and the muscles in her back screamed at her as she was well and thoroughly sick. When the dry heaving had stopped, she flushed away the evidence of her ordeal and sat back against the wall, tilting her head back to rest against the cool bricks.
"Holtz?"
She jumped in surprise at the sudden voice on the other side of the door.
"Holtz, are you okay?"
It was Erin. Poor, sweet, dead…no, not dead.
"Get a grip," she whispered to herself, before pushing herself up to her feet and opening the door.
"Erin," she greeted quietly, "What are you doing up?"
"I felt you get up," she answered, "I was worried. Are you okay?"
Holtzmann winced. Erin was sleeping above her on the top bunk. Of course she'd felt her wake up. She'd probably shaken the whole bed when she'd sat up from the dream. The downside to bunk beds and yet, she'd been the one to insist the get them.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she avoided looking at her. The images from the dream were still too raw.
"Are you sick?"
She did look at her then. Had she been standing outside the door the whole time? She considered lying, but knew she wasn't any good at it. She was covered in sweat, though she wasn't sure if it was from puking her guts up or the nightmare.
"I need to lay off the junk food," she smirked.
Erin did a quick scan of the blonde as she shuffled from one foot to the other nervously. Though it had been a couple hours since they had left the lab and turned in for some sleep, she somehow looked even more exhausted. Her eyes were redder, circles darker, and her damp tank top clung to her clammy skin.
"Are you sure? she asked, concerned, "Holtz, if you hit your head in that fall earlier, you could have a concussion. Nausea can be a serious symptom."
Holtzmann mulled over this for a few moments. It would make sense that the rattling of her brain in her skull could have caused such a vivid dream and even the nausea that followed.
"Nothing I can't handle."
That was all Erin was going to get. Holtzmann needed to get her mind focused on something else. So, she gave her friend a reassuring smile and walked away.
Erin watched the engineer leave, walking passed the bedroom door and disappearing down the stairs toward the sanctuary of her lab. She thought about following her, but Holtzmann wasn't one for hovering. Her presence there would only irritate her and make it even harder for her to relax. So Erin re-entered the bedroom as quietly as she could.
"She okay?" Patty's whisper startled her. Apparently, she hadn't been the only one woken up by the bed rustling and abrupt exit of their youngest member.
"She said she's fine."
Patty didn't reply. There was nothing more to say about it. Holtz would be reckless, stubborn, carefree Holtzmann. They'd be there if she needed them, but until then, they'd give her her space.
Downstairs, Holtzmann pulled open her locker and retrieved her burgundy satin robe and pulled it on to ward off the chill of the air on her drying skin. She padded across the small kitchen area and proceeded to put on a pot of coffee, adding two extra scoops for good measure. She could already feel the anxiousness of the nightmare fading. But if she was going to me anything more than a walking zombie for the rest of the day, she was going to need the caffeine. While the coffee brewed, she wandered around aimlessly. She stopped at Patty's desk, picked up the notebook from top and read over the notes scribbled across the page. Boring. She put it down and picked up another. Something about a retired battleship dry docked at a harbor in Jersey. Cool. She puts it down, shuffles through a few more papers, glancing only briefly at them as she purposely mixes them up. She smirks, thinking about Patty's reaction when she notices the mess.
She moves away from the desk, taking only a few steps before she freezes. A strange tingling sensation creeps up from the back of her mind making her feel light headed for a moment then suddenly she's focused sharply. She turns quickly, hurries back to the desk and scatters the papers, spilling some on the floor. She finds the one she had spotted and reads it over. The Trinity Gadget.
Ugh. What a stupid name. Why would they call it that?
The voice in her mind makes her shake her head. She doesn't know why they called it that. She reads over the notes. She'd seen them already when Patty had first told them about the laboratory and the device, but its suddenly as if she's hearing it again for the first time and the information makes her feel angry. The notion confuses her. Why is she suddenly angry about something that happened well before she was even born.
The coffee machine beeps, pulling her attention away. She mechanically drops the papers back to the desk and follows the sound back to the kitchen. She fills a mug with the strong brew and carries it back up the stairs to her lab. She has work to do.
Erin wake again when the sun begins peeking through the curtains. She rolls over and looks at her watch. 7 o'clock. Patty and Abby are still sleeping on the other bunk across the room. She rubs her eyes with her palms, then rolls over and leans over the side of the bed to look at the bunk below her. It's empty. She climbs down, noticing Abby roll over to look at the source of the sound.
"She ever come back?" she croaked out, causing Patty to roll over and look at her as well. Apparently neither of them had actually been sleeping.
"Doesn't look like it."
"Aw Man," Patty grumbled and sits up as Abby begins climbing down to the floor.
They enter the lab as a group and as they expected, Holtzmann was sitting at her workbench holding a cup of coffee. What they didn't expected was the blank stare she had locked on the opposite wall. They shared a wary look between themselves as they approached her. She didn't seem to have any clue they were there.
"Holtz?" Abby spoke softly.
The engineer jumped in surprise, splashing coffee from her mug up onto her chest and into her lap.
"Oh shoot," Abby quickly grabbed the nearby roll of paper towels and hurried the help her wipe herself off, "I'm sorry!"
"Oh, it's okay. It's fine. It's...," her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "it's cold."
Abby stopped dabbing at the mess and frowned at her friend. Erin and Patty stepped up to the table as well, watching the duo.
"Why are you drinking cold coffee?" Erin asked.
"I…" Holtz looked down at the now nearly empty mug, then up at her colleagues again. "It…It was hot when I started."
"You must have been really deep into whatever you were working on then," Abby replied, "I have never seen you waste a cup of coffee. What have you been working on that's so much more important than sleeping?"
Holtz opened her mouth to answer, then shut it, looking around at her workbench. There was nothing there. She had been working on something. She had to have been. Her vision zeroed in on the empty desk. Her chest clenched making her gasp. How long had she been just sitting there staring at the wall? Long enough for her coffee to go cold in her hand. What the hell was going on?
"Aight, that's it," Patty blurted out, "What is goin' on with you Baby?"
"I'm fi…"
"Nope," Patty cut her off, "Not fine, try again."
"But…" Holtz began, breathing quickly, but was again cut off.
"Nah!"
"Patt…"
"Holtzy! I swear to God, I'm 'bout two seconds from physically carryin' your dainty ass to a hospital to get that brilliant, but crazy, head of yours scanned."
There was a long pause with Patty standing with hands on her hips, daring anyone to argue. Holtzmann stared back at her with a confusing array of emotions crossing her face, and appeared to be holding her breath. Abby and Erin watched on as the two engaged in a silent battle of wills.
"You're right." Holtz finally breathed out, before hiccuping another inhale.
The response from the engineer left them all speechless and slack jawed for a moment.
"I am?" Patty's hands fell from her hips.
"Something..." her breathing suddenly started picking up more speed, "Somethings, not right. Up here," she tapped a finger against her right temple.
"Ok," Abby stepped in, "Everyone just calm down. Come sit down Holtz. Erin grab her a blanket will ya please?"
Erin's brows furrowed at the odd request until she noticed that Holtzmann's hands shook with slight tremors. She was shivering. Erin scurried away to the bedroom to retrieve the blanket from Holtzmann's bunk. When she reached for it she instantly remembered the amount of sweat Holtz had been covered in after waking up in the night. Instead she grabbed the blanket from her own bunk and hurried back to the lab where Abby had settled Holtzmann into sitting on the couch next to her. Erin wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and sat down on her other side.
"It's alright Holtz," Abby said softly running her hand up and down the blonde's back, trying to ease the tremors, "Just breathe okay. You gotta slow down."
Erin watched Holtzmann's bandaged hand clench and unclench into a fist as she fought to control the sudden outpour of adrenaline which Erin knew all too well. She was no stranger to the overwhelming pressure on her chest which came with no discernable cause. The panic that set in when she was unable to catch her breath. The panic made it difficult to breathe and the difficulty breathing made her panic. It was a vicious cycle. But she had never witnessed it as an outside party before. She was usually the one suffering, who Abby had always talked through it as a teenager with crippling anxiety. She didn't have time to dwell when Patty pulled her from the memories as she reentered the room after running back to the bedroom to retrieve her cell phone. She held it up, ready to dial for an ambulance the second Abby gave the word.
"Not yet," Abby said quickly., "Giver her a minute."
Before Abby could do anything more to help, Holtzmann pushed their hands away, pitching forward and heaved what little amount of coffee she'd managed to drink onto the concrete floor. Abby and Erin were instantly at her sides keeping her from falling on her face when her arms gave out. Abby fell back onto her butt, pulling the engineer back with her and pulled her back into her chest, wrapping her arms around her.
"Call 'em Patty!"
Abby was no longer calm. This wasn't a simple Erin Gilbert panic attack. This was something else entirely. Holtzmann was gasping and shivering despite the sweat that had begun beading on her face and drenching her tank top and robe. Erin grabbed the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around her as best as she could. She didn't know what else to do. Holtzmann's head tipped back, resting on Abby's shoulder and Abby turned to speak directly into her ear.
"Holtzmann, you listen to me," she spoke between clenched teeth, "Just breathe. Feel my chest moving? Breathe with me."
Holtz braced her foot against the floor, pushing herself back further into Abby's chest as her eyes clenched shut and she groaned in pain. She did this twice more, fighting to follow the directions Abby repeated in her ear before she finally started to slow down.
The sounds of her ragged breathing was finally drown out by the tromping boots from the stairs as the paramedics, led by Patty, entered the room and surrounded the two women.
"Whats her name?" Someone asked Erin as they pushed passed her.
"Holtz...Jillian." she answered, watching as the went to work.
"Jillian?" The tallest of them called out to her, "Jillian, can you hear me?"
Holtz didn't respond, and Abby turned her head, attempting to see if she was even still awake.
"Are you good to stay there for a few minutes?" One of the medics asked Abby.
Abby nodded yes and he quickly pulled an oxygen mask from a bag and handed it to Abby, directing her to put it over her Holtz's mouth and nose. Abby followed the instructions as he and the other two medics went to work attaching electrodes and monitors to various parts of her friend. While this happened, Abby noticed that Holtzmann was slowly becoming more and more limp in her arms as her breathing evened out. The breathing comforted her while the unconsciousness worried her even more.
While Erin and Patty watched everything unfold in front of them, the youngest looking of the medics carried a tablet over to them and began asking them questions and it wasn't until then that either of them realized how little personal information they actually knew about their friend.
After a few minutes, they moved Holtz off of Abby to load her onto a gurney, and Abby pushed herself up to stand with Erin and Patty.
"I'll get the car," Patty announced to them.
"I'm going with her," Erin said before Abby could suggest otherwise.
"Go," Abby instructed, nodding toward the medic pushing the now occupied gurney toward the exit.
On the way out the door, Erin passed by Kevin who was just arriving. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb to the gurney, confused.
"What happened?"
"I don't know yet, Kevin. Take the day off okay. We aren't taking any calls today."
They sat in the waiting area of the hospital for three hours before a doctor came out to get them. They jumped up from their seats the moment they saw him coming.
"Jillian Holtzmann?" he asked them.
"Yes," Erin answered, "Whats going on? Is she okay?"
"She's just fine," he answered with a smile. "Everything came back negative. We believe she may have simply had a panic attack brought on by stress. Has she been overly stressed at work lately?"
Simple Panic attack, Erin thought to herself. Easy for him to say. He's obviously never had one.
"I've seen panic attacks before Doctor," Abby shook her head, "That's not what this was."
"Do you have another idea?"
"She may have gotten a concussion yesterday evening," Erin spoke up, "Could that be a factor."
"Well it wouldn't help things, but I don't believe that's what could have caused the episode she suffered. You're welcome to go back and speak with her yourselves."
They jumped up, eager to get to their friend. When they entered the room, Holtzmann was sitting up on the bed, head tilted back staring at the ceiling.
"Holtz!" Abby called out, and she lifted her head to look at them and smiled, "Don't ever do that to us again, you hear me. You scared the hell out of us!"
"I'm sorry Abs. I gotta say it wasn't any fun for me either though."
"Man, I'm sorry if I caused that attack Holtzy," Patty apologized.
"What?!" Holtz shook her head, "Not a chance Patty. Something was going on up here before you even came in the lab.
"Speaking of that?" Erin said, "
"Welcome to the world of anxiety," Abby gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Meet Erin, she's the Mayor of this town."
Holtzmann turned her head to look at Erin and Erin gave her a sympathetic smile.
"This happens to you?"
"Not for a while," Erin shrugged, "But it used to happen all the time. Like she said, I'm the Mayor."
Holtz lifted her bandaged hand, still slightly trembling. "Nice to meet you Mayor. I suppose I'm your newest resident."
Erin chuckled and gently shook her hand. Her smile instantly fell when she felt the wetness on her palm. Before Holtzmann could pull her hand away, Erin gripped it with both hands and turned it over. The clenching fist had reopened the wound which had now seeped through the bandage, but it wasn't the blood that Erin had fixated on.
"Is that what I think it is?" Patty asked, having stepped in close to see what Erin had become so focused on.
A mixture of red and green spotted the white bandage covering Holtzmann's palm. The red was to be expected, but green. When Holtz realized what Erin had discovered, she stood up quickly, ripping the bandage away from her hand and scowling at the open wound on her palm.
"Oh my god," Erin gasped, grabbing her hand again.
"Oh man," Patty groaned, pointing at the wound, "That's slime man. You're bleedin' slime."
"How?" Erin shook her head, "How's this even possible."
Holtzmann was about to start freaking out again, when it suddenly hit her. It all made sense. The containment unit malfunction, the nightmare, the anxiety attach, the slime. She ripped her hand from Erin's grip and made for the door.
"We haveta get back to the lab!"
"What? No Holtzmann, you need to just sit here and relax. That attack was your body telling you to stop."
"No, I don't think it was." Holtz shook her head and pulled the door open, "The doctor already cleared me. I'm going back with or without you guys."
With that she left the room and her three gaping friends behind. They shared a look among them before sprinting for the door to follow her. They caught up to her at the elevator. They drove in relative silence on the way back, no one really knowing what to say. Erin shared the backseat with Holtzmann and watched her fidget nervously the entire ride back.
"Holtz," she whispered, "Whats back at the lab?"
"Just a hunch Erin, I just really gotta check on something."
Holtzmann was practically vibrating with pent up energy when they arrived at the firehouse. Before the garage door had even closed she was out of the car and running for the lab.
"Damn it," Abby swore watching her go, and hopped out with the others to chase after her.
When they caught up she was frantically typing at the keypad of the containment unit, staring at the display screen. It beeped and she tensed before her shoulders drooped and all the air left her lungs in a whoosh.
"What?" Abby asked while moving in to help again, if another attack was about to happen.
"I figured out what happened with the unit."
"Holtzmann, I don't care about the unit. We're more worried about you right now."
"The two really aren't mutually exclusive."
"That's good right?" Patty asked, "You can fix it?"
Holtzmann turned and looked to her three best friends, her family, and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. She looked to Abby, knowing she would take what she was about to say the hardest. She had the only first hand experience.
"The unit is fine."
"But?" Abby prodded.
"We've captured forty-seven ghosts and put them in here."
"Sounds right."
"There's only forty-six."
Erin spoke up after a long pause, "What do you mean there's only forty-six? What happened to the forth-seventh?"
"Our new guest is one clever girl."
"Holtz? What are you saying here?"
Holtzmann looked down at her hand, then back up at Erin and tapped a finger to her right temple again.
"I think I have a stowaway."
Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay. I hope you're still with me here. Drop me a review and let me know what you think!