"Call In The Replacements…Again!"
Diana had been driving the Ecto-1 for what seemed like hours through the streets of Manhattan, following the readings that Spengler was getting through the P.K.E., which was functioning as their personal G.P.S. for the time being. She gave the old car less credit than J.G. did, being able to last this long through the hours of driving, as opposed to her—someone who was beginning to show signs of sleep deprivation.
It surprised her to realize just how long she had actually been awake that day, not having slept since eight o'clock…last night! The hours of busting ghosts seemed to have multiplied, ever since they went back into business earlier that year. And as she sat there in the driver's side, fighting to keep her eyelids above her pupils, she thought back to the discussion she had with Stantz, whom ironically was sitting the same place as he was before.
"Hey, Jay. You remember those stories in the Bible about the last days before the dead would rise from the grave?"
"Sure, Dye. I can recall once reading Revelations 7:12 once. 'And I looked and he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became as black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood'."
"'And the seas boiled and the skies fell'."
"The 'Judgment Day' prophecy. Well, every ancient religion has its own myth about the end of the world, Dye."
"Myth?! Has it ever occurred to you that the reason we've been busting both ghosts and our butts so much is that the dead have in fact been rising from the grave, just like in Revelations?"
"Diana!!" She snapped out from her flashback, as soon as she heard the voice of Sean Spengler, who wasn't present at the time of their discussion. "Pull the car over here."
As she did what he told her, she looked around at the empty neighborhood they were in and how remarkably familiar it was. There were antique stores, diners, and worn-out, abandoned buildings all around. It was without a doubt one of the poorest neighborhoods she had been through…"Fifth Avenue" was what the folks of New York referred it as. And it was the same area where the Ghostbusters discovered a river of pink slime under the city.
J.G. looked around the neighborhood himself and almost got nostalgic. "You have got to be kidding me! This is where the source is?!"
Spengler glanced closely at the P.K.E., checking the readings carefully. He then nodded his head and said, "It most certainly is."
"Sean, I know it's been almost a couple of years since we've stepped foot on this spot, but we've been ordered by the city to never step foot on here again!" Stantz remarked. "If they find the three of us here, no doubt will they haul our butts off back to jail!"
"And, no offense, but I'd rather spend my Fourth of July holiday in someplace other than sing-sing." Diana added.
Sean shook his head negatively. "Doesn't matter what the city tells us to do. If we're facing another massive threat, then we'll have to do whatever's necessary to fight it off, before it gets worse." With that said, he climbed out of the Ecto-1 and began scanning the sidewalk.
Watching the scientist at work (and obviously breaking the law at the same time), J.G. sighed and told Zeddemore, "He's got a point, ya know."
"I know he does, and that's the problem," said a disgruntled Diana, while getting out of the car with J.G.
They watched Spengler as he scanned towards the buildings in the area, the P.K.E. whining and crackling electronically in his hand. When he didn't get much reading from the buildings and the sidewalk, he aimed it near the street, where it began to pick up mighty big results. The P.K.E. vibrated wildly in Sean's hand, as he stood right in the middle of the street.
"This is the exact spot…unfortunately." He revealed to his cohorts.
J.G.'s face instantly went to the palm of his hand, while Diana appeared just as disapproving of this news. "You mean we're gonna have to dig another hole here?" she inquired in frustration.
Spengler took a few more scans on the P.K.E. before he answered her. "It seems we won't have to. The readings I'm getting are nowhere as deep as they were from the River of Slime. They're about the same level as the subway tunnels."
"So our problem's in the subway tunnel?" Stantz uttered. "Well, that lowers the level of measures we'd have to take in investigating it. All we've just got to do is visit the nearest transit, while ordering for a temporal shutdown."
"I don't think that'll be so much of a problem, Jay." Sean stated, while holstering the P.K.E. to his utility belt. "My readings indicate this being the same spot where a disturbance occurred late last year, around the same time of our encounter with Maleficent, leading to the tunnel being off limits."
Diana raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Disturbance? What kind?"
"They did not say." Sean revealed. "All they reported were missing construction workers and pieces of metal debris from an explosion that occurred down there. However, one source claimed of the sound of moaning and the smell of brimstone, while sensing intense heat seeping through the tunnel."
"Could they have unlocked some type of gateway to hell?" J.G. questioned.
"That's what we're going to find out," said Spengler, as he made his way back to the Ecto-1, followed by Zeddemore and Stantz.
The three paranormal investigators were just about to get into the vehicle, until they heard the distant sound of two children frantically crying out to them. "Ghostbusters! Ghostbusters! Ghostbusters!" Turning around to look behind them, they noticed two redheaded children (a young boy and an older girl) running right towards them with looks of horror masked on their faces. The color on their faces was pure white in high contrast to their colorful outfits.
Diana, having an experience with children this age in her past, ran up to them while wondering why they were in this part of the city so late at night, without parental supervision. When she was within a few feet from them, she knelt down and let them come to her as she asked, "What in the world are you kids doing here this time of night? Where are your parents?"
"At home," the boy sarcastically replied. "Where else would they be?"
"Todd, show some respect," the girl politely said. "These are the Ghostbusters. They're going to help us from…whatever it was we just saw."
"Well, I hope so, Riley!" Todd exclaimed. "We called them like fifty times already! The second before that thing showed up, we almost had Fleemco replace them with two guys and a gorilla!"
Diana rolled her eyes at the idea, just as J.G. and Sean walked their way into the conversation. "What 'thing' did you kids see?" J.G. asked them.
"I didn't think he could actually exist out of the work of Washington Irving, and believe me when I say that I wish it was just my imagination gone wild!" Riley exclaimed, still sounding very frantic. "But I promise on a steed of phonies that I saw the Headless Horseman!"
J.G., Diana, and Sean exchanged some very puzzled looks. "You kids are referring to the 'Sleepy Hollow' antagonist, right?" Sean curiously questioned.
"Do you know any other Headless Horsemen out there?!" Todd bantered. "C'mon, dude! Even I've seen the Disney cartoon a billion times by now!"
"Don't you guys believe us?!" Riley shouted, nearly on the verge of tears.
Diana gently grabbed her by the arms and calmly told her, "Sweetie, relax. We believe what you're saying. We're the Ghostbusters…we'll believe just about everything people alert us about."
"Then why are you guys lookin' at us like we're on a sugar rush or somethin'?" Todd angrily inquired.
The three Ghostbusters were barely paying much attention to how they were looking at the two children. Their minds were so focused on the fact that one of the greatest myths they had ever dreamed of encountering was there in the city. But the only problem was that the Headless Horseman was an England-based apparition. And if it were there in Manhattan, then it had to be some sort of trick.
Meanwhile, Todd was growing tired of the Ghostbusters' disbelieving attitude—a trait often displayed to them by adults. "Ya see, Riley? They don't believe us! We're better off callin' Fleemco and getting some real help to show up! Because these guys are just big pho…"
BBBBBBBBBBBUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
It was the darkest, most horrifying neigh that they all had ever heard, and it came from directly near them. All heads turned in the direction that it came, and they were met with the terrifying sight of a dark, cloaked figure riding on a horse with hair and skin that were as black as night and eyes that were as red as blood, breathing fire and smoke. The rider was headless, just as the horseman in English mythology; and in his hand was a massive, flaming pumpkin.
J.G., Diana, and Sean each blinked repeatedly to ensure they were not seeing things. And when it turned out that they weren't, they slowly edged towards the Ectomobile, with Todd and Riley at their side. The Headless Horseman, as if sensing their movement, reared his demonic horse and began advancing towards them.
"MOVE!!!" J.G. yelled, although they were already climbing into the Ectomobile, before he even told them to.
Diana got back into the driver's seat and started up the car, screeching their way out of Fifth Avenue, while the Headless Horseman continued chasing after them. She was thankful that the streets were so empty in that neighborhood, as they were being chased by this dangerous foe. Displaying some skillful driving techniques, Zeddemore was able to put a great distance between them and the Horseman.
J.G. and the others looked behind to see the Horseman vanish in a large fog that was created through steam emitting from a nearby grating. Stantz smiled as he turned to Diana and said, "Nice move! He long behind us now!"
Diana smiled herself, feeling very relieved of getting the Headless Horseman off their trail. But there was still the issue boggling her mind of where exactly did he come from. Since the day started, lots of ghosts that Diana wouldn't expect to encounter, either for the first time or a second one, have appeared from almost nowhere. But when she witnessed that Terror Dog arrive and attack her and Alexis, she feared that another catastrophe of biblical proportions was on the horizon.
And, at the moment, there was something else that seemed to be on the horizon…
Directly in front of them was the Headless Horseman, maintaining his menacing pose on horseback right in the middle of the street. His flaming pumpkin still branded in hand, he bellowed with deep, ominous laughter, as he waited for his prey to come to him. The trap had been set, long before the chase had even begun. And Diana inadvertently drove right into it.
"Oh, shoot!!!" She screamed.
She immediately stomped on the brake, as soon as the Horseman came into view. However, the car did not stop. Either this was the worst time to have a faulty brake mechanism or something had taken control of the Ecto-1. And Diana was willing to bet on the latter, as the car had just recently been repaired after taking intense damage from last year's escapade.
Zeddemore then tried an alternative, which was basically turning the wheel and swerving out of the way, before they could've gotten anywhere near the Horseman. But just the wheel didn't budge one bit, not even after she put her entire weight upon it. Panic quickly settled in, as the Ecto-1 got within fifteen feet from the Horseman.
"HOLD ON!!!!" Diana cried to the others.
The Horseman cackled again, while it hurled the flaming pumpkin directly at the Ecto-1. Its passengers ducked upon seeing the grinning object fly at them and smash over the windshield. There was bright orange flash and then the vehicle suddenly jolted to a stop.
"Are we dead yet?" asked Todd, who realized along with everyone else how they were still in one piece.
Rising up from cover, they looked through the windows to see no sign of the Headless Horseman. There weren't even traces of the flaming pumpkin that smashed against the windshield (not even sign of damages). The street corner appeared darker than it was a moment ago, being partially lit from overhanging lanterns that had an eighteenth century style to them.
"What the heck just happened?" Diana asked, not expecting anyone in the car to exactly know, except for Spengler.
The scientist was already glancing through readings on his P.K.E., which appeared to be of the same type that he had seen from when they encountered the Terror Dog. "The readings are bouncing off one another again. I can't get a good fix on what's going on."
J.G. glanced through the windshield, seeing something ahead of them that sparked quite an astonished look upon his face. "Uh, Sean? I might not know what is going on, but I can definitely tell you where we are."
"Jay, no offense, but I fail to see the importance of our current location." Sean stated.
"Oh, yeah?" Stantz remarked, right before he reached over the steering wheel and brighten up the headlights, illuminating a colossal cathedral that stood majestically ahead of them.
But it was not just any cathedral—at least not one that was supposed to be standing in Manhattan. It was the well-known Gothic cathedral from Paris, France referred as "Notre Dame." And other than the fact that it stood within the parameters of New York City, it looked as if it had just recently been established.
"Remind me never to question your perception ever again, Jay," uttered the bewildered Spengler.
As the five passengers exited the Ecto-1, the bells of Notre Dame began ringing immensely from both the South and North Towers. Either they were rung manually like in the old days or through electric motors like in current times in Paris, France. Whatever the case might've been, the Proton Packs were strapped onto the backs of Zeddemore, Stantz, and Spengler, as they journeyed into the cathedral with Todd and Riley.