A/N: Sorry this took so long! I've been really busy lately. Anyway, thanks for reading and leave a comment if you'd like. I love hearing what the readers have to say!
The whole room was illuminated with moonlight that poured through the high windows. All of the machinery that had been running a few hours ago now looked as if it had been abandoned for years. The only audible sound was the eerie, faint clanging of metal on the other side of the factory. Erin was still recovering from the case they were on earlier. Chasing a ghost paperboy on a bicycle for three city blocks really wore her out, and the undead train conductor from earlier that morning didn't make it much better. It also didn't help that she was woken up earlier than expected because her kitchen was being torn apart by a ravenous animal, better known as Holtzmann. The cereal chase was all good and fun, and the breakfast they had really hit the spot. Holtzmann ate more than enough bacon for the two of them, and, in between bites, told the story of when she crashed her friend's motorcycle in high school.
Apparently, when her friend let her borrow the bike for a weekend, she totaled the thing. Holtz didn't know what to do, because she didn't want her friend to be angry with her, so she hid it behind her house and told her friend that aliens took it. Her friend didn't take the news well, though. Holtz felt guilty, and she didn't have the money to send it into a shop or buy a new one, so she taught herself how to fix it. A few months later, she brought it to her friend and said that the aliens were sorry.
Erin thought it was a cute story, and she found Holtz's dedication to her friends endearing, "That was a really nice thing for you to do."
Holtzmann finished a long sip from her coffee, "She didn't think so. She didn't want to be my friend anymore after that."
Erin scoffed, "Even after you went to all that trouble of fixing her motorcycle?"
"Yep."
"I'm sorry." Erin pushed some of her scrambled eggs around on her plate.
"Meh, it's fine. That's how most of my friendships end; I'm used to it. Abby is the only real friend I've ever had. At least until I met you and Patty." Holtz took a bite of her greasy bacon.
There was a brief pause in the conversation while they chewed.
"What was her name?" Erin asked.
Holtzmann drug out her name and had a little venom behind it, "Natasha."
"Well, Natasha sounds like a bitch." Erin chirped.
"Oh yeah, big time. She was like a female Danny Zuko, and I was a nameless background character. She mostly just kept me around for comic relief. I thought that maybe she actually saw something in me and really liked me, but I just ended up being the butt of her jokes." Holtz held her mug up to her face and muttered some things, just barely audible, before taking a big gulp, "Stupid Natasha with her stupid leather pants."
"If I was Natasha, I would have appreciated you fixing up the bike, and I wouldn't make you the butt of my jokes. You deserve better than that."
Holtzmann smiled, "Thanks Gilbert."
Erin always liked the conversations she had with Holtz. They were always interesting, and sometimes led to personal stuff about Holtzmann's past that she didn't know. The rest of their breakfast went off without a hitch, and Erin felt a little closer to that mystery of a woman.
Now, though, Erin was more concerned with the mystery of a ghost that was lurking somewhere in the factory. It was well past midnight and she was dragging. She crept across the factory floor carefully, making sure that she didn't make any noises that would give away her position. It wasn't her idea to split up, but given the scale of the factory, they needed to if they wanted to catch the ramped ghost. She tried to keep her breathing steady and her mind focused. She glanced around the room, looking for any indication of the paranormal. A door at the far end of the ill-lit factory caught her attention. It looked as if it led to some sort of control room for all of the machines. Just as she had made up her mind to go investigate it, she heard something metal fall on the floor, shattering the tense silence. Erin jumped and quickly turned; pointing her proton gun in the direction the clatter had come from. She held her breath. It was silent, except for the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. She waited for the surge of adrenalin that just shocked her system to subside before taking another step forward. She followed the source of the noise until she found herself up against one of the larger pieces of machinery. There was something rustling just around the corner. Erin took three deep breaths and put her thumb on the trigger of her proton gun; ready to face whatever was right around the corner. In one quick movement, she jumped around the corner and came face to face with Jillian Holtzmann.
Holtzy stared cross-eyed at the barrel of Erin's gun that was less than an inch away from her nose, and then she looked up at Erin. Holtz had an armload of potato chip bags and one dangling from her mouth. Both women stared with wide eyes, in shock.
Holtzmann dropped the bag from her mouth, "…They make potato chips here."
Erin quickly lowered her weapon, "J-Jesus Christ Holtzmann… I could have killed you!"
The engineer looked at the gun and back up at Erin once more. A smirk flashed across her face, "Yeah, I guess you could've."
"C'mon, we need to keep moving if we want to catch this thing before sunrise. Put those back and come with me." Erin ordered.
Holtz groaned, "But I need a snack."
"That doesn't mean you can just steal a bunch of chips!" Erin argued, careful to keep her volume low.
"It's not stealing if I need to take them back to the lab for further analysis." The blonde countered smugly.
Erin just gave her a stern look. Holtz let out a heavy sigh and dropped her treasure back onto a conveyer belt. She turned back around, displaying her empty hands.
"All of it." Erin said.
"That is all of it."
Erin just shot another look her way, making Holtzmann let out another heavy sigh. She reached down the front of her jump suit and removed several bags, tossing them with the rest.
"Thank you," Erin nodded, "now come with me. I saw a door over here and-" She stopped mid sentence when she turned around and noticed that the door was now wide open.
"Was that… open earlier?" Holtz asked.
Erin slowly shook her head and started to creep over to the mysterious room. She leaned in the doorway and looked around. There was an array of control panels and levers, a one-way window looking out over the factory floor, and no sign of the paranormal. Holtz flipped on the light an immediately spotted an intercom. While Erin inspected some gauges on the wall, Holtz seized the opportunity to lighten the mood. She pressed the button on the intercom and leaned in close, "Clean up on isle three!"
Her voice rang out loud and clear throughout the factory floor. Erin, who wasn't surprised that Holtz had managed to find the loudest thing in the room, snatched the intercom away, "Holtzmann!" She scolded, "Need I remind you that this is a stealth mission? You're blowing our cover!"
"I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Besides, we've been in here for over an hour and we haven't even spotted the ghost yet. What's gotten into you, Captain Buzzkill?" Holtz asked, placing a cute, yet defiant hand on her hip.
Erin closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, "It's just… we've been working practically nonstop since the whole portal incident, and this is our third all-nighter this week. I'm just stressed out. I'm ready to just go home and go to sleep."
Holtzmann nodded, "Well, there's your problem, you're overworked. Just do what I do and make it fun."
"Easier said than done." Erin admitted.
"Hmm," Holtz thought for a moment, "here, let me give you an example." She smiled slyly as she held out her hand for the intercom. Erin reluctantly handed it over, and she immediately regretted her decision when she saw Holtzy bring the microphone to her rear. Wind broke throughout the factory.
"Oh my God, Holtzmann!" She tried, in vain, to stifle her laughter at the childish act. She gave the engineer a playful shove, "What did you eat?"
Holtz, who was cracking up, offered a shrug, "I don't know!"
The two women just kept laughing. The kind of laughter where just looking at each other made them laugh, and they couldn't stop until they had forgotten what was even so funny in the first place. They had completely forgotten about the mission at hand as well; they were only aware of the breaker box coated walls that surrounded them, and the comfortable space between them. Erin hadn't allowed herself to have fun like that ever since the portal, and it felt good to let loose.
Erin shook her head and wiped away the tears that were welling in her eyes from laughing too hard, "I don't know why I'm laughing. I'm an adult, this shouldn't be funny."
Holtzmann shrugged again, also wiping away tears. She gave a surprisingly serious answer, "Some of us never really got to act like kids."
The comment caught Erin off guard. She immediately thought back to when she was younger and traumatized by the old woman who would stand at the foot of her bed every night. She stopped laughing.
Holtz could tell that she had accidentally stuck a nerve. She tried to recover the fleeting fun, "Here," she held out the intercom, "you give it a try."
Erin leaned away, "There is no way I'm putting that near my mouth."
The witty engineer was about ready to make an inappropriate comment when the door to the room slammed shut. Both women jumped, and Erin instinctually grabbed Holtzmann's arm tightly. Suddenly, all of the switches in the room started flipping, and the loud whirr of machinery filled the factory. Erin looked out the window and could see a glowing blue figure appearing out of thin air. The ghost looked mangled and torn up, as if he had gotten stuck in one of the machines.
"I see it! There it is!" She pointed. Se went to the door and tried desperately to push it open, but it was no use, "Damn it, this was a trap the whole time!" Erin backed up and rammed into the door to try to open it, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Holtzmann was trying a different approach, "Excuse me, Mr. Ghost, sir," she said into the intercom, "Jillian Holtzmann, Radio Times. It would appear that you've locked us in this room. Any chance you could, oh, I don't know, let us out?"
The figure let out a loud, angry roar and started flying around. He began tearing machines apart, ripping up conveyers and pulling off panels.
"Okay, thank you for your time." She turned off the intercom and turned towards Erin, "I don't think he plans on letting us out anytime soon…"
"You don't say," Erin said sarcastically, "come help me with the door." She backed up to take another run at it, but Holtz stopped her.
"Don't hurt yourself; I got this one." Holtz reached into her mess of curls that and yanked out two Bobbie pins. She knelt down, unfolded the pins, and went to work on the lock. She was so nonchalant about the act that it seemed almost routine.
"Wait, you know how to pick a lock?" Erin asked.
Holtz let out a chuckle, "You say that like you're surprised." She made weird faces as she worked.
"Honestly, nothing about you surprises me anymore." Erin admitted. What she wouldn't admit, mostly to herself, was that the whole "bad girl" trope was kind of hot.
"It's a nice skill to have." Holtz piped up, "Let's just say I've had to break out of handcuffs a few times."
"You've been arrested before?"
Holtz looked up, confused, "Arrested?"
The distinctive sound of Patty and Abby shouting caught their attention. The ruckus of the ghost having his way with the machines must have led them there. Both busters had charged their proton packs and opened fire on the specter.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon." Erin muttered anxiously.
Suddenly, Holtz hopped to her feet and pushed the door open. The two busters ran out to join the action.
"Welcome to the party!" Abby greeted as she lassoed the apparition with her proton stream.
"Yeah, while you two was busy playing 7 minutes in heaven, we've been out here catchin' a ghost!" Patty shouted.
The specter struggled and broke free, soaring across the room. It effortlessly dodged oncoming streams and swooped down, grabbing Erin by the throat. Erin tried to pry the icy hands off of her neck, but she was being jerked around and quickly running out of breath. The ghost flew up to the rafters and looked down at the remaining trio. None of them dared to fire at the ghost because they didn't want to accidently shoot Erin, who was more or less being used as a human shield. The spirit brought Erin to eye level and looked her up and down. Erin continued to struggle, pulling at the transparent hand that was choking her. The ghost's expression changed from malice joy to recognition. Its voice bellowed as it spat, "Erin Gilbert."
An involuntary shiver went down Erin's spine as she heard her name uttered from the unfamiliar specter's lips.
The ghost began grinning again, "She's been looking for you."
Her head started to feel foggy from the lack of oxygen. She slowly reached one of her hands into her back pocket, and grabbed a proton grenade. With her fleeting strength, she brought the grenade between them and clicked the button. At 5 seconds left on the timer, the ghost noticed the grenade. 4 seconds left, the ghost realized what Erin was doing. 3 seconds left, Erin latched an arm around the ghost's neck. 2 seconds left, Erin took a deep breath as the ghost released her and she dangled from its shoulders. 1 second left, the ghost tried to fly away. As the timer hit zero, Erin let go. She closed her eyes as she heard the spirit screeching and then nothing. She kept her eyes closed as she felt herself falling, and she tensed up, bracing herself for impact. She came crashing down on a conveyer belt as her heavy pack broke her fall. The little air she had managed to suck in on her way down was knocked out of her when she landed flat on her back, and she lay there wheezing. After a few moments, Erin opened her eyes. Everything was blurry, but she could see the ghost wrapped up in two proton streams as it was lowered into a ghost trap. As soon as it was captured, the three remaining busters came rushing over. Patty knelt down and was saying something, but Erin's hearing was still recovering from the blast of the proton grenade, so everything was muffled. Abby was feeling the physicist's forehead as if that would somehow indicate if she was well or not. Holtzmann reached for Erin's hand, squeezing it tightly while she said something urgently, but Erin could only make out the last few words as her hearing returned, "…please be okay."
Although her head was still reeling, she managed to muddle through a reply, "Of… course... I'm okay."
Holtz quickly unstrapped Erin's pack, and all three busters helped her get to her feet. Her head was pounding. Abby pulled Erin into a tight embrace, "Oh my God, Erin, you scared me to death. I though you were seriously injured or concussed or worse."
"I thought you were dead!" Patty chimed in.
Erin smiled at them, "Nope, I'm still kicking." Her focus shifted over to Holtzmann who was standing back from the group. Her face was unreadable.
As Abby released Erin, they all noticed Holtz's odd behavior.
"What's wrong?" Erin asked.
The engineer let out a shaky breath, "That was… dangerous and stupid and…" She trailed off and everyone was convinced that she was angry until she continued, "… and the most badass thing I've ever seen!"
They all perked up at her change of tone.
"You made that ghost scream like a little girl! It was so awesome!" She was bursting at the seams with excitement. Abby and Patty joined in, commenting on Erin's bravery and badassery as they made their way back to the Ecto-1. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Holtzmann made an announcement.
"Hey guys!" She sat her duffle bag between all of them, "Who's hungry?" She undid the zipper, revealing the dozens of bags of chips. Erin gave Holtz a look, and the cocky engineer just shrugged. She couldn't really be mad; what else did she expect? Erin put her inhibitions to the side and indulged with the rest of her friends, laughing and eating all the way back to headquarters. There was one thing that Erin couldn't stop thinking about, though.
Erin Gilbert. She's been looking for you.