AN: Yay! No more writer's block! I rather like this chapter, to be honest. Thanks to Eris-chan, Animekitty-chan, and for their reviews!

Chapter 4: Death for the dead

Once they found Alpha's hideout, it was easy to get their breathers back.

At least, it should have been if Nightshade kept her pockets organized.

The female blonde glared at Beetlejuice when he gave yet another annoyed sigh. He tapped his boots, waiting on her to find a weapon. They had decided to go with the machine route, not wanting to waste any time or energy. Bullets worked just as well as energy blasts.

"Do you want one of mine," he finally asked her.

"No!" she snapped. "I want mine." Spending a few more minutes digging around in the pockets of her trench coat, Nights finally pulled out one of her handguns. She ejected the clip to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied, she slipped it back in, and clicked off the safety. She stood like she was one of Charlie's Angels and said, "Let's go kick some ass."

"'Bout fuckin' time," Beej muttered, cocking his gun. He was about to kick open the door when it opened.

The young redhead stared at them, his grey eyes wide in shock. The blondes stared at him, equally surprised. Nights was the first to recover, grabbing Delta by the arm and pulling him to her. She wrapped her arm around his neck and grabbed her opposite shoulder, pinning him to her chest. Nights touched her gun to his temple. Surprisingly, the awkward youth was more aware of what has against his back as opposed to the gun pointed at his head. Nights nudged her knee against the back of his thigh.

"Okay, darlin', be a good boy, and tell us where our breathers are," she said sweetly.

Delta glanced at Beetlejuice who simply grinned. "Th-they're in the machine."

"What machine, love."

"The machine that Epsilon built! That's all I know, I swear!"

"You're lying," she sang. "Tell me the truth, or I will exorcise you."

Beetlejuice blinked, honestly confused. "Yer not gonna exorcise him. You've never done it before."

Exasperated, she glared at him. "There are things I have done that you don't know about. Look, you asked why I was in the exorcism chant—"

"Because ya found a more efficient way ta do it."

"Yeah. How the hell do you think I figured it out, sweetheart? Now," she said, returning her attention to Delta. "Tell me the truth."

The redhead squirmed in her grip. "It supposed to exorcise you, but Beta said it ends up exploding you."

Nights and Beej exchanged a rather shocked look, and Delta continued. "The plan was to lure you two in there and . . . blow you up."

"Lure us in by leaving the breathers in there?" Beetlejuice asked.

"Yup."

Beej looked at Nights. "I think we can arrest them for attempted murder of a breather."

"You ain't cops!" Delta yelled, but he wasn't able to hide the doubt.

"Nah," Nightshade said. "We're members of the Powers That Be." She felt his Adam's apple bob against her arm, and she grinned. "Be a dear, and take us to Alpha. If you're a good boy, we'll say we lost track of you."

Delta was fully aware of what would happen if they were arrested. Alpha would be exorcised, and the rest of them would be lucky if they only had to serve a century in prison. The young 'geist nodded and led the blondes into the hideout to the control room. He opened the door and smiled weakly at the other three of his Greek-named buddies.

"Hey, boss," he said, sounding a bit strangled because Nightshade's hold tightened.

Beetlejuice pointed his gun at Alpha. "Tell us where they are, and we'll kill ya painlessly." He grinned. "Mostly."

Alpha smirked, and tapped his orange nails against the window. "In there. You gonna go get them?"

Nightshade turned to Beetlejuice. "I think we can arrest them for that, too."

"Fer what?" he asked, not looking away from the dirty blonde.

"Conspiracy of murdering one of the Powers."

Alpha barked in laughter, doubling over. "Shade, that is the most hilarious thing I've ever heard!" Beta joined in with a nervous laugh, but Epsilon noticed Delta looked rather sick.

"Boss," the scientist said quietly. "I do not believe she is joking."

Alpha stopped and looked from Epsilon to Delta, and the blondes.

"B, why does no one believe me?" Nights asked, annoyed. "Perhaps we should get badges."

"Like the FBI?"

"Yeah. I think that would be pretty neato. I'll bring it up with Seren when I see him again."

Alpha blinked a few time before he said, "Oh, shit."

"'Oh, shit' is right, bub," Beej said and shot him in the knee.

"We're not gonna arrest them?" Nights asked lightly when Alpha fell.

"We'll arrest the other three, but Alpha was resisting so we had to use lethal force," Beetlejuice explained.

"Oh, okay." She let go of Delta and pushed him in the room towards the corner. Then she motioned with her gun for the girls to join him. Alpha growled when they walked past him to stand next to Delta without hesitation.

"Traitors!" he yelled, but he was stopped from saying anything else when Nights emptied her clip in his chest.

"Stay," she told the other three, walking to the window. "Yup, they're in here." Beetlejuice joined her, and she looked around the chamber. "I don't see any doors."

"So?"

"How the hell are we gonna get in?"

"We're ghosts, Nights."

"B, we've been dead for nearly seven hundred years. I know we're ghosts."

Beetlejuice rolled his eyes, and shoved his arm through the window. Nightshade blinked as she looked at his hand on the other side of the glass.

"I knew that," she lied, phasing through the wall into the chamber. She dropped to the ground and knelt next to Derrick, ignoring the dark red splattered against the walls. Nights looked over at Beej next to Lydia.

"I'm kinda shocked I can find her in all this red poufy shit," he said with a grin.

"That dress was not designed to be worn during a rescue mission. Now let's get outta here. I wanna get married before I have time to change my mind." She laid her hand on Derrick's shoulder when the air suddenly filled with electricity. The ghosts shot a panicked look to each other before looking up at the window. Alpha was grinning down at them, his hand leaving a bloody print against the glass. "B," Nightshade said through clenched teeth, pain lancing through her body.

Beetlejuice winced as his lungs burned for air he hadn't needed for over six hundred years. Gods, it felt like he was drowning again! He heard Nights whimper as she went through the same thing, and looked back towards the window above them. He saw Delta attack Alpha and a panicking Beta gesturing frantically at someone. He could only assume it was Epsilon.

They could taste the rich vanilla and strawberries in the static air as the machine tried to rip their energies from them. Nights curled up in a ball, vainly trying to stop it. Beej glanced at the breathers, unable to do anything about it as intense pain coursed through him. Derrick and Lydia were still unconscious, but their noses had started bleeding.

All four of them were dying, and they couldn't do anything about it.

AN: That was rather evil of me, wasn't it? Didn't update in forever, and I leave you with a cliff-hanger. Suspense, baby. That's why I did it. I'm fairly certain it won't take me as long to get the next one up.