Chapter 9- Recovery Rants
Minutes later, Gadd enters the room panting. "I'm getting too old for this tom-foolery," he exhales as he holds his chest. "This old legs are just not as fast as they use to be," he notes then looks over to see Luigi slumped over against the mirrors. "Luigi!" He scrambles and squats in front of the plumber. "Lad, lad, can you hear me?" The elderly man pats the green clad man's face trying to get him to stir. "Come on feller, you got to wake up." E. Gadd stands up and moves to Luigi's side, so he can look at the back of his head. He notices the blood splatter on the mirrors and pieces of glass in Luigi's hair. "Poor feller looks like you got slammed hard. I got to get you back to the lab; this was much easier when you were outside," Gadd grimaces. He heads over to the windows and yanks one of the large curtains down from its rod. After detaching the curtain, he lays it out flat on the floor then carefully rolls the plumber onto it. "I will take this, I will need it and it'll make you lighter," Gadd notes as he slides the Poltergust 5000 off of Luigi's back and onto his own.
After tending to Luigi's shoulder and tucking him into bed to recover, Gadd enters the lab and heads toward his stool situated in front of the wall of monitors. "Phew what a trek," he slumps off the Poltergust from his back and climbs into the chair. "Luckily there were no ghosts to deal with coming back," he leans back and starts to doze off then suddenly snaps to attention. "Oh wait, I must empty the Poltergust," he slides off the chair and rolls the Poltergust 5000 over to the Ghost Portraitificationizer. He attaches the hose to the vent and watches as all the ghosts are transformed from their meta-physical state to a physical state of a painting. He watches Amelia with particular interest as he wonders what her portrait will look like. As the portrait comes off the press, E. Gadd picks it up and examines it. His face turns to a grimace at the sight. "Poor Lass," he shakes his head. Amelia is standing very poised, in her wedding dress with tears streaming down her cheeks with the blood stain clearly visible. Gadd places the portrait back into the machine to be stored with the others until he hangs them in the gallery.
The elderly professor scuttles back to his stool and perches atop of it then turns his attention to the monitors. "Maybe the spectralometer will be able to get a fix on the primary target since Amelia is gone," the professor mumbles to himself as he boots up the software. An image of the mansion pops up on the screen; it looks like a thermal image as the mansion's outline is green and the rest of the screen is black. A second green outline appears behind the mansion and E. Gadd zooms in. "Hmm, looks like there is another significant building back behind the mansion in the woods," he observes. Beyond the second building is a large mass of red, indicating massive activity. "Sneaky little devil," the elderly man comments. "Not even hiding in the mansion, just using it as a decoy." The professor continues to monitor the area, studying the screen trying to figure out what he is looking at.
An hour later, the squeal of a door hinge causes the elderly professor to turn away from his monitors. Out from the bedroom the plumber emerges, holding his head. "Welcome back to the land of the living," Gadd greets. "You took quite a nasty tumble, are you all right?"
"Yes and no," Luigi replies wincing.
"Understandable sonny, I've never seen you take such a beating," Gadd sympathizes.
"King Boo is playing hardball and he let me know that at the very beginning," the plumber notes. "The worst part is that Jezebel is doing the same, but even worse! I am still confused as to what I did to her!"
"Maybe she has you confused with your brother," Gadd offers. "He did take down her mentor."
"No this is more personal, she did this to me not King Boo. I'm sure he was responsible for the greenhouse and all the ghosts, but the black boos, the kitchen encounter, and this last one was all her," Luigi sighs. "And now I know, she has a hostage," he informs worried.
"Hostage," Gadd repeats shocked. "Who?"
"Princess Daisy from Sasaraland; my girlfriend," he chokes out, tears welling in his eyes.
Gadd gulps, "I guess it is personal."
"King Boo kidnaps Mario; Jezebel takes Daisy; they force me to traverse another mansion, which has severely kicked my ass multiple times; they are trying to kill me and have almost succeeded a couple of times; and I haven't even found them yet," he rants frustrated, tears rolling down his cheeks. "What did I do to deserve this? What did Mario and Daisy do to deserve this? Oh wait I know, they are two of the most important people in my life; that's a crime to these paranormal assholes! I just want to quit, let them win, maybe just trade me for them and let them have their way with me, just as long as no one else has to suffer. I don't care what they do to me as long as this stops!"
"I know this had been hard lad, but you got to dust yourself off and get back up on the horse as they say." The elderly professor hops down from his stool and walks over to the plumber. "They've got you depressed and feeling hopeless and they want you to give up, but think about it son; you offer yourself in trade for their freedom, the will kill, then go back on their word and take them as well. Trading is not an option lad," Gadd informs. "The only way this stops is by you catching King Boo and Jezebel."
"You're right," Luigi agrees; "they have pushed me to a breaking point, you know?"
"I know sonny, I've been there before," Gadd comforts.
"I've got important people counting on me," Luigi straps on the Poltergust 5000 and turns to the wall of monitors, "so where to next?"
"You're in luck my boy," Gadd smiles and hops back onto his stool. "I believe I have located our hosts for the evening," he punches a couple of keys to bring up various views of the woods behind the mansion. "The Spectralometer has picked up an enormous amount of paranormal activity in the woods behind the mansion. There's a small building back there; I'm not sure what it is, but that seems to be where they are hiding."
"Hmm, so that's the stronghold," Luigi notes. "I guess its time to walk into the lion's den."