**NOTE: I'm publishing the last three chapters of this here today. Chapter 4 was the last one you read if you've only been following this story here. I published the whole thing on archive of our own actual months ago because the people over there were more welcoming and responsive. I'm only publishing the rest of it so the story isn't incomplete. Unfortunately, the lack of reviews on this one when I could tell people were reading and favoriting and following and when I got gobs of responses elsewhere broke my delicate little writer-heart, so my other Ghostbusters stories are only on archive of our own and not here.

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CHAPTER 6

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Although her hands were still cuffed, Holtzmann grabbed toward Patty's hand as they made their way through the warehouse. She was feeling a little less brave than usual... probably because these past several hours had been entirely nightmarish. She'd been overpowered, threatened, abused, and groped one time too many and had for the moment lost all confidence in her ability to keep herself safe.

She felt Patty squeeze her hand as they walked. Neither of them knew where Lenny had gotten to, and they knew Miller could get back up at any moment, so they were trying to be both quick and cautious.

The warehouse had a rather basic floor plan, with few individual rooms. The way out was simple. In fact, the door they had come in from was visible just as soon as Holtzmann and Patty had gotten themselves out of the room where they'd been tied up. They just had to get across the large, open room without being noticed, and then they'd be good - assuming there was a place nearby they could flee to and call the police.

Holtz sucked in a sharp breath and stopped in her tracks as she saw Lenny step between them and the door. He glared at them with anger in his eyes as Patty stopped in front of her and glared back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lenny growled.

"We're leaving." Patty growled back, squeezing Holtzmann's hand tighter.

"I don't think so." Lenny disagreed. "How'd you get untied? Where's..." He stopped himself from saying his friend's name, unaware that Holtzmann and Patty had already learned it on their own.

"You miserable bitches!" Miller's angry, strained voice echoed from somewhere behind them.

Holtzmann looked over her shoulder in time to see the man approaching. He looked absolutely pissed, and held a gun in his hand. Holtzmann wanted to kick herself for forgetting about that. They should have checked his pockets for his weapons... But they hadn't, and there was no use getting hung up on it now. "Patty, we should run." She whispered.

Patty nodded and did just that, dragging Holtzmann behind her as they ran off to the side. They were no longer headed toward the way out, but they were creating a distance between themselves and either of the men, so for now, it would have to do.

They made their way toward a set of metal stairs, creating a lot of noise as they ran up them.

"I seem to remember being told not to run up stairs when you're being chased..." Holtzmann noted as she followed Patty up the stairs to the second floor. There wasn't going to be a way out from up here...

"We don't have a choice this time." Patty squeezed her hand tighter as she lead the younger woman along a ledge.

Holtzmann let out an inadvertent shriek as she heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. She winced and shrunk down as Patty continued pulling her along. She wondered how good a shot Miller was... Could he hit them while they ran?

"Stop right there!" Lenny's rather serious voice growled from in front of them. He must have known the layout of the building better than they did. Somehow he'd gotten up here from a different set of stairs.

The two women stopped in their tracks, staring breathlessly at Lenny. Holtzmann frowned as she saw he held a gun too.

"Get on your knees." Miller's voice demanded from behind. "You're cornered..."

Holtzmann glanced up toward Patty, trying to read in the other woman's eyes what her plan might be. Obviously, when two men corner you and hold guns on you, it might be smart to do what they say... But then, when they're both already mad, and they've each already proven that they'll hurt you, maybe taking your chances and running would be a better plan.

"Get on your knees, or I'll shoot you in the back of the fucking head!" Miller screamed, his voice shaking with anger.

Holtzmann's chest felt cold as she watched Lenny taking slow steps toward them. They were trapped. They couldn't run this time, as they were on a ledge going only two directions. Short of leaping over the side and breaking their legs, the only ways to go were forward and backward - toward one violent man with a gun or another.

Reluctantly, they both sunk down to their knees. Holtzmann kept a tight hold of Patty's hand. she hoped Miller wouldn't shoot them anyway.

"Patricia..." Miller spoke, his voice sounding almost disappointed as he walked around so that he was in front of them. "Why the fuck do you think what you did was appropriate?" His words shook slightly. He was clearly angry.

Patty squeezed Holtzmann's hand tighter. Holtzmann could feel her own heart pounding in her chest. Obviously Miller wasn't happy. Patty had nearly strangled him to death... He had warned them both over and over not to try anything defensive... Now what was he going to do?

"Hm?" Miller asked again. "Why'd you do that, Patricia? You were doing so well listening to instructions and not doing anything dumb, and then you had to go and do that..."

Holtzmann squeezed Patty's hand back as she swallowed a lump in her throat. The older woman's hand was shaking.

"You were hurting my friend." Patty answered simply. "I had to make you stop."

Miller scowled, his eyes darting between Holtzmann and Patty. "Was I hurting you, Doll?" He asked with raised eyebrows as he stared down at Holtz.

Holtzmann swallowed. "Well... in the traditional sense, maybe not... Now, mentally, emotionally-" She yelped as she was cut off by Miller slamming the butt of his gun across her face. She whimpered and brought her bound hands up toward her temple, ready to shield herself from possibly being hit again.

"Hey!" Patty growled pulling Holtzmann toward her and hugging her arms around the smaller woman. "Why don't you bullies leave her alone? What's wrong with you? You see someone smaller and weaker than you and you keep picking on them because it's easy? That makes you a coward!"

Holtzmann gasped and squeezed her eyes shut as she heard Patty let out a pained scream and felt the woman flinch and shrink down while still holding tightly onto Holtz. She must have been hit too.

"Is that better?" Miller asked sarcastically. "Do you feel better about me smacking you around instead?"

"Of course I do." Patty's voice dripped with anger as she straightened herself back up.

Holtzmann forced herself to fix her own posture as well, trying to stand tall and proud like Patty. She couldn't let her fear take away her dignity.

"Oh." Miller sounded very matter of fact as he raised up his gun again, slamming it back down across Patty's face. The older woman winced and fell forward, releasing her grip on Holtzmann's hand as she caught herself with her hands.

"Stop!" Holtzmann gasped.

"Face it, girl. Your friend deserves this. She tried to fucking kill me." Miller growled, holding the gun up again, preparing to strike Patty a third time.

"No..." Holtzmann shook her head. "No, she didn't... She let go as soon as you passed out. She could have killed you. She didn't... She just wanted you to stop..."

Patty whimpered again as Miller swung out and hit her a third time. He raised the gun back up, and Holtz knew she had to do something, no matter how reckless it would be. She couldn't just sit here while this guy beat up Patty. Patty would have stepped in if it were her being hit. Holtzmann owed the older woman the same defense.

"Stop!" Holtzmann growled, leaping up and grabbing at the man's arm.

Miller raised his arm up so that she couldn't reach the gun. "Lenny, come and get her." He exhaled as though she was a minor inconvenience.

Holtzmann frowned and jumped up, grabbing ahold of his arm and pulling it down, effectively knocking the gun out of his hand.

They both looked to the floor, after the gun as it teetered precariously on the ledge, about ready to fall over. Holtzmann's eyes met Patty's. The older woman was closer to it than anyone else. Holtz nodded slightly, but immediately gasped and winced as she felt Miller's hands on her, pulling her back against his chest.

"Leave it, Patricia." He growled, gripping his hand hard around Holtzmann's throat and squeezing. "I don't need a gun to kill someone..." He reminded her.

Holtzmann whimpered as she tried to inhale. The pressure of Miller's hand squeezing her throat made that almost impossible. She could barely manage to breathe in any oxygen.

"Let go..." She rasped, bringing her hands up to her neck and gripping at his thick fingers. He only squeezed tighter, cutting off her voice entirely.

"Don't! I'll leave the gun..." Patty sounded out of breath as she raised her hands up in defense. "Look... I'm not going for it... You don't have to hurt her... I won't try anything..."

"Good choice." Miller growled, but still didn't loosen his grip around Holtzmann's throat. "You know, you really fucked up back there, Patricia." He noted again. "You were both doing fairly okay not fighting us on this... Besides a couple minor instances of little Jillian here getting scared and lashing out... Besides that, you were doing alright..."

Holtzmann watched with wide, terrified eyes as Lenny walked over and retrieved his partner's gun. He pointed both his and Miller's guns at Patty, who had no choice but to remain on the floor.

Miller's hand around Holtzmann's throat didn't let up, if anything, he was squeezing tighter and tighter. She clawed at his hand as she did her best to thrash her body under his grip.

"But then you had to go and almost choke me to death..." Miller shook his head and squeezed his hand tighter around Holtmann's throat. "And you didn't have to... I wasn't even hurting her. I made sure not to. I never wanted to hurt you, Sweetheart." He whispered into Holtzmann's ear.

"Let her go!" Patty's voice shook. "If you don't want to hurt her, then stop. You're hurting her now... Please let her go..."

"Why should I?" Miller laughed. "I warned you girls... You didn't listen. I've been telling you this whole time, both of you, that if you try anything, the other will be the one to suffer for it. I was just talking to her back there. I was being so gentle and careful... I could have hurt her a lot, and I didn't. But you choked me anyway... Now I get to choke her."

Holtzmann grabbed at his arms with desperate fingers as she still failed to inhale a breath. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to either breathe or manage to speak enough to beg him to stop hurting her. She couldn't do either.

"Please don't do this." Patty's voice sounded further away. Maybe Holtzmann was losing consciousness... She hoped she wasn't dying... "She didn't do anything wrong... If you wan to punish someone, I'm right here... I'm the one who attacked you... Not her."

"Where's the fun in that?" He laughed. "I told Jillian if she screamed and woke you up, I'd hurt you. She listened to me. I still made her cry... Didn't mean to... But she kept quiet as best as she could... because she cares about you, Patricia. Now you get to see what your actions have caused. You didn't care about her enough to follow simple orders."

Holtzmann whimpered as she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. She could feel she was close to passing out. Miller kept releasing his grip just enough for her to breathe a tiny bit at a time, probably to prolong this - to teach Patty a lesson... But it wasn't enough. None of those tiny breaths filled her lungs. They just made passing out take longer...

"You're going to kill her!" Patty screamed.

"No... I don't think so, Honey... I don't want her dead... I just want you to see her struggle. See her in pain, knowing it's your fault. Can you breathe at all, Sweetheart?" Miller's hot breath whispered into Holtzmann's ear.

She couldn't answer. Couldn't even shake her head. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, but they shot open when she felt something wet and slimy splash down onto her arm.

Though her vision was growing a little hazy, she managed to take note of green slime running down her forearm. She tried to look up.

"What the hell is that?" Miller growled, loosening his grip as the slime must have dripped onto him too.

Holtzmann sucked in several shaking breaths, coughing and blinking back tears as she as finally able to breathe again.

"Ew..." She heard Lenny's voice from over by Patty. "Miller, what is that? It's glowing..."

As her breaths became more steady, Holtzmann glanced down at the green slime running down her forearm. She would recognize it anywhere... "Ectoplasm." Holtzmann rasped, feeling her eyes grow wide as her heart fluttered in her chest. "I think your friend is here..."

Miller pulled her closer against his chest, but wasn't strangling her anymore, more like holding her close in case he had to use her as a human shield. Holtzmann looked across the space at Patty as the older woman stared back from her place on the floor. Patty looked pretty upset. Holtzmann forced a smile and nodded slightly, trying to reassure her friend that she was alright.

"What do you fucking mean, my friend's here?" Miller growled.

"You mean Leroy?" Lenny sounded nervous.

Holtzmann nodded.

"I think he's mad at you." Patty noted with a stare so angry that Holtzmann could swear her eyes themselves might physically hurt the man.

"How did you guys..." Miller frowned as he trailed off.

"Leroy, buddy... if you're here, could you kindly get this brute off of me?" Holtzmann spoke. She had no idea of this guy's ghost would be willing to help them or not... but it was worth a try.

"Shut up, Jillian." Miller growled, grabbing her harder and pulling her back as he took steps backward. "Lenny, grab her." He nodded toward Patty. "We're getting out of here."

"Where are we gonna go that a ghost can't find us?" Holtzmann asked, very purposefully trying to make the man more nervous. "You know they can go through walls..."

"Shut up." He repeated, squeezing his hands around her arms to the point where she couldn't help but to wince.

"Leeeeeroooy... Over here..." Holtzmann called out.

"Shut up!" Miller growled, obviously getting angrier by the second as he dragged Holtzmann toward the set of stairs she and Patty had come up.

"Leroy! W-" Holtzmann was cut off when Miller spun her around and slapped her very hard across the face. She whimpered as she fell back, unable to catch herself very well with her hands still cuffed in front of her.

Holtz winced and shrunk down as Miller closed in on her. Just when she felt entirely sure that further pain was imminent, a rather sizable gush of green slime shot out from somewhere, knocking Miller off of his feet.

Holtzmann gasped and crawled backwards as she heard Lenny's shocked voice nearby.

"Jesus Christ!" He yelled. "Miller?!"

He must have lost his hold on Patty, because the taller woman was next to Holtz now, dragging her up to her feet and pulling her away from the growing puddle of green ectoplasm.

"Holtzy, let's get out of here..." Patty breathed.

Holtzmann nodded as she let Patty lead her back toward he stairs.

"Wait!" Lenny growled from behind them. "Stop! I'll shoot you!"

Holtzmann bit her lip and looked over her shoulder. Clearly, these guys were getting more and more desperate. He probably really would shoot them. She felt her mouth drop open and her eyes widen as another gratuitous gush of ectoplasm shot out toward the second man, knocking him backwards.

"Come on." Patty urged, pulling her further.

"Did you see that?" Holtzmann breathed. Patty didn't offer a response. "Patty, did you see all that ectoplasm? This guy must be, super-pissed. Or a super-ghost..." She cocked her head to the side. "Why would one ghost produce more ectoplasm than the next..?" She wondered out loud.

"We can talk about it later." Patty dragged her down the stairs and toward the door.

As they reached the warehouse door, pulled it open, and ran out, both Patty and Holtzmann let out startled screams as they collided with two other people. All four of them fell back, landing hard against the ground.

"Holtz! Patty!" It was Abby's voice. "Oh my god... Are you okay?" She breathed, offering a hand down to Patty as Erin quickly climbed to her feet next to her and helped Holtzmann up. She felt Erin pull her into a quick hug.

"Yeah... But we should probably go..." Holtzmann laughed nervously.

"Why?" Erin frowned.

"Well... Leroy's ghost is in there... and he's making a huge mess." Holtzmann pressed her lips together in a sort of smile and looked up at Erin.

"Shouldn't we go bust him?" Abby asked.

"Eh..." Holtzmann shrugged.

"Maybe not this time." Patty added.

"Well... I know he's going after the bad guys right now, but it might not always be that way... I think we should stop him before he hurts someone who doesn't deserve it." Abby suggested.

"No..." Holtzmann bounced slightly in place, feeling excitement crowd out what was previously fear. "Abby, he helped us... You should'a seen it... He was shootin' slime around in there like a fire hose!"

"Maybe we shouldn't go in..." Erin noted, likely remembering various examples of ghosts hitting her more heavily than the others with ectoplasm.

"So he is destructive then?" Abby's eyebrows rose. "What if he chooses to use that on someone innocent?"

"You want to punish him because he might do something?" Holtzmann frowned. "That doesn't seem fair, Abby. I have the capacity to build dangerous weapons, and I could choose to use them on someone innocent... Should I get sent to prison for it?"

Abby's shoulders slumped. "It's not like that... I know it doesn't seem fair, but he's a ghost... We can't risk it..."

"Yes, we can." Holtz frowned.

"Abby, he had every opportunity to slime us too, but he didn't. Maybe we can let this one go... If he becomes a problem later, we'll take care of him... but maybe we don't need to get rid of every ghost, every time." Patty suggested. "He's not hurting anyone who doesn't really, really deserve it."

"Miller was choking me pretty good and Leroy's ghost attacked him. I was right there... He could have indiscriminately killed everyone in the room. He attacked Lenny when Lenny said he was gonna shoot us too. He didn't do a thing to me or Patty. Just the two bad guys." Holtzmann explained.

"He was choking you?" Abby frowned, her brows furrowed as she narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah. But Leroy showed up and it was all fine... He's a good ghost... We should just leave him... Please?" Holtzmann pouted. "Abby, please? Please, Abby? Please?" She watched Erin and Abby make eye contact with each other. Erin shrugged and Abby exhaled.

"Fine." Abby gave in. "But just because he helped you guys... We're not letting every ghost we see have a trial."

"Thanks, Abby." Holtzmann jumped excitedly forward, ready to wrap her friend in a hug, but immediately remembering her wrists were cuffed together. She settled on pressing her body against Abby's instead and letting the other woman hug her arms around her.

Abby looked down at the cuffs and frowned before stepping back and letting her eyes look Holtzmann over with more scrutiny, likely noticing her insane mess of hair, lack of jacket, and probable bruises. She glanced toward Patty next, looking her over too.

"Are you guys alright?" Abby asked.

Patty shrugged. "More or less." She looked toward Holtzmann, probably unsure what to answer on her friend's behalf.

Holtzmann exhaled. She felt giddy at the moment... Whatever pain she knew her body was experiencing was all but buried under adrenaline and nerves. Coming across a ghost that was on their side was pretty exciting, and the amount of ectoplasm he'd poured onto her enemies was intriguing. Maybe this ghost was stronger than others. Maybe he was just more angry. Maybe all ghosts could shoot out that much ectoplasm and just chose not to. There was still so much to learn.

"Holtzmann?" Abby repeated. "You okay?"

"Oh... Um... Yeah." Holtz breathed, laughing as she realized she had forgotten to answer the first time.

"Let's get out of here." Patty suggested, putting her hand on Holtzmann's back and leading her back toward the car Erin and Abby had arrived in.

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