I don't own Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson, or anything really.
I own Angie and Kitty Reed, and Remy Safar.
On Liberty Island stood the most iconic statue in American history, the pale green-copper state stood with her right arm high in the air holding onto a golden torch. How many people, coming to this new world looking for a better life for their families, say this magnificent statue, watching over them as they finished the last of their journey to America. It as an American Icon if there ever was one, something that people could get behind it times of need.
Standing high above their heads at 151 feet, the Statue of Liberty looked over the Hudson proudly, seemingly unaware of what four scientist and a house cleaner where about to do.
Looking up at the blue-green patina of the statue, the Ghostbusters stood in silence, admiring the look of the beauty of Ellis Island. Each other them having different thoughts running through their heads on the impact of the statue itself, the symbolism behind it, the history of the statue itself.
Kitty had to imagine what it must have been like for the thousands of people that emigrated over from other European countries, looking to America for a better life. It must have been scary to pack up all of their things for a chance – not even a guarantee – that they'd have a better life. The pure bravery that some of these people had.
"It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Peter said, breaking the respectful silence between them all.
"About what?"
"Whether or not she's naked under that toga." Venkman said, killing the reflective mood between them all as he earned a tired look from Kitty. "She's French. You know that."
"Yeah," Kitty said as the boys began to make their trek up to the statue itself.
"The French don't shave. You know that." Kitty remarked quickly, leaving Peter at the base of Liberty Island as he silently gagged on the idea.
The inside of the statue was incredible. Inside the green statue of freedom was an entire empty cavity, where people over the years would do work on the beauty to keep her in pristine condition; Just enough room for four guys in slime throwers – and one girl trying to help as best as she could – could move around safely, prepping the copper body for its venture. Against Kitty's best wishes, Egon climbed up on one of the steel rafters inside, wrapping cords and wire around the rafter before hooking it to a large PA system, similar to the ones at school.
"Ready with the speakers, Ray. Slime blowers ready."
Ray checked over the electric, making sure they had enough power to do what they needed to do. With the proton packs running on nuclear power, he thought it would work just as well on the national monument. But, just incase, every one knew to back away from the generators if things got… Hectic. "Internal audio, set." Ray said, flipping a switch on the generators and studio system. "Internal electric, set."
Winston strapped himself into the slime blower that Egon had worked on since finding out the slimes kinetic prowess. The large scuba-tank like devices held a good 20 lbs. of slime, which with the nozzle that Egon had created, would be sure to cover this bad-boy in no time.
"Slime blower, prime, set."
Peter climbed down from the staircase, skipping down two steps at a time. He caressed the steel slime blower on Winston's back, giving off good feelings if he ever had any. "Oooh. Good slime, good slime." He cooed to the psychomagnatheric slime. He could have sworn he felt a spark in there. "Winston, is our slime in a good mood tonight?"
"I hope so." Winston said, looking over the sheer size of the Statue. "She's a lot bigger than a toaster."
Egon, to the relief of Kitty as she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, climbed down off of the rafters, silently entertained by Kitty's worrisome attitude. He handed Peter the microphone that they had set up to the loud speakers. "It's all yours, Venkman."
"Thank you." Peter took the microphone from Egon's hand quickly and turned to the staircase once more, climbing to the crown while playing with the microphone. "Testing, one, two, testing. Hey how many of your people out here are a national monument, raise your hand please. Oh, hello, miss!"
Kitty and Egon followed up, both shaking their heads at Venkman as he continued to 'check' the speaker system. "You just had to give him the mic, didn't you?" Kitty groaned, getting a quick cackle from Egon as the three of them made their way to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
Winston and Ray stayed down below, both primed with slime blowers on each of their backs and a blower in their hands.
"Hey." Winston said, getting Ray's attention as he lit up a cigar. "Let's frost it."
Ray smiled with the fat rolled tobacco between his teeth. "It's slime time." He said as he clinked both his and Winston's slime blowers together, toasting one another and hoping to god that it works.
The slime took a while to charge up, but once it started the slime flowed through like a dream, painting the walls of the Statue of Liberty with the thick, paste-like slime. Winston took one side; Ray took the other, hoping to cover more ground with the slime as it covered everything. The walls were a given, but the banisters, the rafter, even the speakers. Ray tried to stay away from the nuclear reactor that they had set up for electronic purposes – but other then that, the entire inside of the Statue of Liberty was getting a nice coat of mood slime.
Looking out of the crown on the statue of liberty, Kitty was in awe of the sight. All of New York was in a tizzy, worrying over ghosts and/or the New Year about to spring, ignoring the fact that they live in the greatest city in the world. Even with the chaos that the 16th century Moldavian tyrant brought forth, it was still beautiful; the purple, blue and yellow lights reflecting off of the water of the Hudson, giving the city a beautiful effect.
Kitty was the only one to reflect on the sights before her as Ray and Winston followed up quickly up the staircase, the clinking of the heavy metal canisters ringing out their whereabouts like echolocation before they reached the top of the stairs. With Angie's Nintendo SNES control in hand, specially modified to control large national monuments, Ray flicked the switch to the controls; Libby was now a remote controlled.
"Pilot controls ready."
Like the brain effects the body, different buttons of the controlled would 'zap' different parts of the statue with a little extra current, making the react differently/the way they wanted.
"All right. It's getting late." Egon said, looking down at his watch as the minute hand got ever closer to the 12 mark on the dial. "It's almost midnight. Let's go, Venkman."
Sounding like a morning DJ - you know, the kind you want to punch in the face for being so happy in the morning – Venkman grabbed onto the microphone and began with his best Kasey Kasem voice.
"Here's something off the request line from Liberty Island! We're gonna squeeze some New Year's juice from ya, Big Apple!"
Kitty's job was simple, push down on the play button on the walkman and wait. She pushed the play button, the cassette inside began to roll the tape and Jackie Wilson's song 'Higher and Higher' began to play out over the speakers.
"Your love,
Keep on lifting me,
higher and higher (higher)"
Nothing happened. Just like the toaster, Kitty guessed, it needed some time to warm up to the tune.
"I said your love,
Keep on lifting me
Lifting me,
Higher and higher (higher)"
Kitty could almost hear the sound of the slime reacting, the zapping and bubbling of the slime as it reacted positively to the song. Kitty couldn't have been hearing things like that, it was just wishful thinking. Surely the whole entire moment wouldn't start jumping, or dancing.
But she couldn't be negative. If she was, the slime could sense it and the whole thing might blow up, or explode in a million pieces.—
As if on cue, the torch that Libby had held from over one hundred and four years burst into flames, scaring the shit out of Kitty. While the boys found it amazing that such a feat could happen because of a little Jackie Wilson; Kitty jumped, shrieking before ducking from the imaginary shrapnel.
Ray was giddy, excited that it actually worked! This would surely be enough to get the people of New York behind them. Using Angie's Nintendo controller, Ray pushed a button that made the statue pick up its feet, pulling it from the platform and forcing her to walk through the Hudson River on its way to Manhattan.
"Man, I can't wait to see people's faces when we come on shore! This should really get the city's positive energy flowing, huh, Venkie!" Ray exclaimed, his voice echoing on the bay.
"Keep kicking, Libby! You make this work, we'll pop for a a weekend in Vegas with the Jolly Green Giant!"
Kitty looked down the stairwell as the boys were too busy looking out front. She watched slowly as the muck and nasty water from the Hudson River began to seep in to the main cavity of the statue, flooding the bottom half as the water continued to rise. Kitty was in shock, her mouth agape and eyes widened. Yep, this was how she was gonna die.
"Uhh… guys?" Kitty asked, earning only the oblivious glance of Egon. He was so excited about the statue moving at when his eyes focused on the rushing water that she could watch the happiness in him drain.
"Uhh.. Ray?"
"Yeah!" Ray said, his eyes focused on the skyline.
"Can you keep her in shallow water?"
"Sure." Ray silently questioned, but didn't poke too much farther.
The water of the Hudson River only got to the Statues eyes, just high enough to keep their boots dry. Any higher and the Statue of Liberty might have sunken to the bottom of the river, bringing the Ghostbusters with it; again, Death by Ghostbuster.
What a headline that would have been!
Somehow, can't imagine how, but someone had called the police, saying four guys in grey suits had kidnapped the Statue of Liberty and that Liberty Island was empty. Thinking it was nothing more than another David Copperfield thing, they sent out two police officers to check it out. They came back on the radio saying that they Statue was missing from Liberty Island, but they had found her, making her way across the Hudson while the Motown tune 'Higher and Higher' played over mega phone. After the calls they had been getting about park benches chasing down people, the Police Commissioner simply shrugged his shoulders thinking 'Why not?"
In a matter of minutes, The Ghostbusters and the Statue of Liberty made their way through the eerily empty streets of Manhattan as Ray skillfully dodged the massive buildings. Who says Tertis was a waste of time?
Lead by a barricade of police car and motorcycles alike, the rescue mission turned parade made its way through downtown. The people where cheering once again at the sight of the Statue from behind police barricades, some of them even belting out the lyrics to the song, if they knew them. The sirens of the police cars and the cheering of the crowds below couldn't block out the song from the massive speakers as it continued on the next verse.
"I'm so glad,
I finally found you.
Yes that one,
in a million girl."
The copper sandal of the statues stomped on the asphalt, shaking the ground for the people just standing and cheering.
"So now with,
My loving arms around you, honey.
I can stand up,
And face the world!"
"It's a love fest, New York!" Peter shouted through the PA system, trying his hardest to get the cheering people of New York so sing along, egging the slime to keep doing what it was doing. "Come on! Sing it out!" Ray shouted down at the people on the ground. They needed to get people in a good mood, and what could have been better than the Statue of Liberty singing 'Higher and Higher'. The song itself was such a happy song that no one in a twenty block radius could be upset.
"I said your love,
Keep on lifting me.
Higher and higher! (Higher!)"
The police bikes and cars seemed to knew to stay out fo the way of the Statues massive feet., Even with Ray at the controls, he still wasn't completely in control.
"You love,
Keeping on lifting,
Lifting me,
Higher and higher! (Higher!)
"Your love is liftin' me higher and higher!" Peter sang, off-key into the PA system, his tune-less voice carrying over the lower side of Manhattan.
"You sing!" Winston shouted, to the people below. The Ghostbusters had been used to this kind of exposer, the people cheering and congratulating them – Kitty on the other hand was just not that used to it. Kitty peaked her head over the ridge of Libby's crown, staring down at the people waving below her. They cheering relentlessly and even waved at them as the statue walked by. Her fear of heights had to wait, as she waved down to the people below, actually taking some enjoyment out of the whole ordeal.
"We're running out of time, Ray." Egon said, looking down again at his watch, five minutes until the New Year.
"Can't you make her go any faster?"
"I'm afraid the vibrations would shake her to pieces. We should have padded her feet." Ray said, looking at Egon. Egon scofted, laughing at the idea in his head. "I don't think they make Nikes in her size, Ray."
"Ah, don't worry, she's tough." Peter said, sticking his hand outside of the crown and patting the national monument on the head lovingly.. "She's a harbor chick!"
Slowly, as fast as a national monument could go, they made their way to the Museum. The four of them thought a plan after they broke through the wall of ooze surrounding the building. They decided, without really knowing the consequences of it, to agree to Peter's idea of completely winging it and hoping for the best.
My computer died last weekend.
I had written this chapter before it died.
I almost cried when my friend told me that I'd need a new hard drive, wiping any chapter I hadn't posted already.
But then he surprised me and saved three files: Music, Pictures, and Fiction.
Yay.
As my favorite Blues Brother said
"The next one is gonna be dynamite... Huge. You'll see."
~pure.