Chapter 2: Hard Sell

Monday June 30th, 2002

North Shore, Staten Island

12:09 AM

Lita was bound and gagged. The room she sat in was dark and dusty. Every so often, lightning from the storm outside flashed through the etched, yellowed plastic windows that surrounded her. The room looked to be inside a much larger building not unlike an office inside a warehouse.

She was still soaking wet from the rain, her Ghostbuster uniform still wicking water from her underclothing. She was placed in the chair she was in nearly an hour ago and now she was starting to lose feeling in her hands, them tied behind her back. She had attempted for that hour to escape, but being worn from the emotional and physical strain of the day, had given up soon after. Accidentally kicking a dead creature in the head in Egon's Lab; Dan's collapse in the lab; the Draugr attack in Tribeca; her unfettered anger at Dan; knocking him out; constant adrenaline highs and lows… She just didn't have the strength.

The gag in her mouth - a simple rag - was soaked with her tears. Never in her life as a Sailor Scout had she ever had a set of firearms pointed at her. Real firearms. After being bested in a physical fight with one of the cloaked figures, she was placed in handcuffs while having shotguns trained on her. She watched as Dan was hit with a stun gun and physically assaulted, her powerless to stop the hooded figures. She caused such a problem; hurting the man she loved beforehand weakened him, making it difficult for him to defend himself. She felt a guilt even worse than the night before when one of the creatures clawed him. The last she saw of him they put her into the Ecto-Truck and through the front windshield she saw a group of cloaked men surround him. She feared the worst.

The door opened. Lita looked up and saw the hooded woman that commanded these people, her red lipstick being the dead giveaway. One of the guards to the room had opened the door for her to walk in. She spoke with a smooth, seductive voice as the guard closed the door, "Ms. Kino," the woman took notice of her captive's eyes, them being glassy, "what seems to be bothering you? Are you unhappy with your accommodations?" As she gave a small laugh, Lita began to cry again. She felt absolutely powerless.

The woman grabbed a disused chair in the corner of the room and dragged it toward her as she spoke, "Lita Kino: Born December 5th, 1979 at Tokyo Metropolitan Hiroo Hospital, Shibuya. Parents: Deceased, 1986, Airliner Crash. Grandparents handled all school affairs. Transferred multiple schools for fighting and bullying." As the woman talked Lita's eyes widened. The woman dropped the chair, the chair's back pointing toward Lita. The woman straddled the chair back and sat down, looking at Lita through the darkness of her cloak's hood, "Met Ghostbuster Daniel Shannon between possible dates of October 22nd and October 27th, 1995. Arrived at Ghostbusters HQ on June 18th. Tell me honestly, kid," the woman removed her hood, "you're not here because you needed a job, right? The last job you had had a bad review of you."

Lita's eyes bugged from her head. The short brown hair; the gray eyes; the lipstick; it was the woman from Sardis. Lita exclaimed, "Oh my God!" from under her gag. The woman smiled at the reaction, "So, you do remember? I've learned to hold my liquor well. I've also avoided…" she looked to the side, mocking like she was thinking. She turned back, "Oh, yes, 'breathing on open flames'? I can still recall things while intoxicated."

Lita started talking through her gag. The woman pulled at her gag allowing her to talk proper, "Who are you, lady? Why are you trying to destroy everything?"

"Haven't you ever made a mistake so bad," the woman answered, "that no matter what good you do, you could never, ever be allowed to live it down? No matter the intention, you're never to be forgiven?"

Lita heard that and almost instantly understood. Without context, though, she tried to counter the woman's question, "The people who don't forgive you for such things should never be taken into account! You have to start with yourself…"

"What the fuck do you think this is?" the woman shouted, interrupting her, "A Saturday morning PSA? Your future is not yours when your peers hold your prospects in their hands! When they have that, all you have left is your dignity, and they expect you to hand that over gift-wrapped, all in the name of breaking you! The banks hold your grandparents' deaths over your head. After they denied your loan, you had nowhere left to go, didn't you?" she grabbed Lita by her uniform and pressed the question harder, "Didn't you?!"

The woman's eyes were intense. The gray in her eyes became more prominent as the lightning flashed outside again. The woman's voice quieted up as she peered into Lita' s eyes, "This world is full of sick people who wish the worst on others, all for their own sadistic pleasure. Saculopholus paid for his, and now we will end it all."

"Wait, lady, that recorder isn't…" Lita's plea was muffed by her gag being reapplied to her mouth. The woman stood as Lita kept trying to tell her the truth, but it was for naught. The woman dragged the chair back into the corner as she spoke, "That recorder is the only way to correct anything now. Seeing that you signed your grandfather's order," putting the chair back she turned, only showing the side of her face, "you know what it's like to take a life; the life of someone you love. You're just fortunate you have no one to blame you."

Lightning flashed again. This time, Lita noticed something. It glistened in the light. It came from one of the woman's gray eyes. As quickly as she saw it, the woman raised her hood and turned, the door opened allowing her out. The guard closed the door behind her. That last thing she said - it hurt Lita, but there was something else to it. She sighed in defeat, then began to cry.

Matthew stood outside what looked like a storage warehouse holding an umbrella. The rain continued to fall heavily as one of the bay doors opened. Madame Holly emerged from the door with two more hooded figures at each side, one also holding an umbrella for her. He watched as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a flask. She took a drink as he approached, "The main facility is ready. All of the congregation is standing by for your arrival."

Holly finished her drink, gasping for air after. She put the flask away, "Good. Fine." "My Gydje, is there something…" "No," she cut him off. He walked to her side taking over for the one figure.

Holly continued toward her BMW's driver side as Matthew followed. She opened the door and fished out a folder, "There's one last thing," she handed it to him, "I don't know who or what I'm seeing in these pictures, but I need an answer here. Find it." She got into the car and started it up. Matthew closed the door and the tires spun, gaining traction and taking off toward the road.

Curious, Matthew opened the folder and saw the photographs. Lightning flashed, illuminating the figures on the photos. The two figures that accompanied Madame Holly saw the look on his face, "Mr. St. James? Sir, what's wrong?" Matthew looked up, "There's nothing wrong, gentlemen. I need to head back to the depot. Watch over the captive." It was an unsettling answer, but they nodded and proceeded inside. Matthew turned and walked toward the road. There was another flash of lightning…

One of the hooded men came back out, "Mr. St. James, how do you want…" he looked around and found the man gone, "That's weird," he commented as the other cloaked man joined him outside, "He was just here…"

"I heard that guy's not normal," his compatriot commented, "Did you ever notice he never drives anywhere?"

"Yeah, but he should still be…"

"Don't ask too many questions," the man had a gravity to his voice, "or you'll be finding yourself missing." With that the both of them walked inside.

Ghostbusters HQ

12:20 AM

Janine was speechless. It was time the secretary was brought into the fold as well as all of the new Ghostbusters. Of all the odd things she saw with this company, of all the stories, and all of the questionable motives both by the dead and the living alike, this was a whole new level of weird, "So, what you're all saying is, you're a bunch of reincarnated princesses from various planets who died on the moon some one-thousand years ago, and fight extra dimensional creatures with elemental-based powers."

The woman stood before the four Sailor Scouts and Darien. All of them exchanged looks as Mina spoke up, "Well, when you say it like that, it sounds…"

"Made up?" Everyone had been in Egon's lab talking about the truth of what they were all up against. Janine's assessment of the story made the Scouts uneasy. Amy attempted to quell the fears, "We've said it several times; we're not your enemy. I don't know how else we can prove it."

Janine heard that and realized what she said was a bit harsh, "I'm sorry, it's nothing personal, but I've worked here since the company started. Every time I've seen anyone have any sort of power, it goes right to their head, and they come close to wiping New York off the map every time."

"We assure you, Ms. Melnitz," a voice spoke, "the Sailor Scouts are nothing of that sort." Everyone looked around the lab and found two cats with crescent moon symbols on their foreheads walking through the door. Egon, the Scouts, Darien, and even Roland showed no reaction, but Janine, Eduardo, Garrett, and Kylie looked down and saw the two felines approach. Kylie cocked an eyebrow, "Don't tell me: The cats talk."

Luna sat before the Extreme Ghostbusters, "Dr. Spengler had told us you were very bright, Kylie." Artemis sat beside her soon after, clearly soaking wet. Mina looked to the white cat, who was shivering, "Artemis, what happened? Why are you all wet?"

"He fell off the fire escape and fell into a garbage can full of rain water. I told him not to rush toward the living quarters."

Eduardo was becoming unnerved, "I'm startin' to have some weird flashbacks, man!"

Garrett snickered, "So am I; of the time you became Pegan!"

"How many times have I told ya never to bring that up?!"

Artemis sneezed, "I take it back - New York is a horrible place!" He shook the water off as Kylie approached, "Artemis? Greek Goddess of the moon?"

"Yes," Luna confirmed, "and I'm Luna."

"The Roman Goddess? Based on the story you all told us," Kylie scratched her head in confusion, "you've all had some sort of influence on Earth religion. Obviously, some of it was not applied correctly; Artemis is male." Kylie stopped as she started getting annoyed, "I gotta sit down. This whole thing is giving me a headache. Now I gotta relearn mythology all over again."

As Kylie sat down, Artemis got heated, "They thought I was a girl? Stupid Greeks!" After his rant, he sneezed again.

"As I was about to explain," Luna spoke again, "we are the Scouts' trainers and guardians. We had met the Original Ghostbusters - Dan included - several years ago. One of Queen Beryl's minions had risen from the dead and attempted to destroy us. If it wasn't for the Ghostbusters, none of us would be here. Would any of the Ghostbusters of old help us if we were your enemy?"

"We came to a silent agreement shortly after the event," Egon spoke up, "that myself, Peter, Ray, Winston, and Dan never speak of them or their involvement in the case. It was because of the PKE meters we discovered them, so when Roland and myself built the new meters, I hard-programmed them to not pick up the Scout's signatures. I had also removed all information on the Moon Kingdom from all our research materials, though there wasn't much to begin with."

Kylie looked to her professor and mentor, hurt in her eyes, "Why? Didn't you trust us?"

"It wasn't because of you I did it," Egon said with a sigh, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses, "Back when we were in Tokyo the last time, Dan picked up Lita on his Ecto-Goggles and his PKE meter. My fears of losing equipment came to pass when you and Eduardo lost your Proton Packs, but I had the forethought about that when the time came to make new meters. If for some reason the Scouts visited, then the meters would have endangered them as well as us. In doing so, It also shielded Roland, Garrett, and Eduardo from being discovered as the remaining Solar Knights."

Eduardo commented in a hostile tone, "About the only good thing it did."

Garrett cocked an eyebrow at that, "What's with you tonight, Eddie? You've been pissed off since you got to the firehouse."

"Ya think?" Eduardo snapped his neck around, looking from Garrett to Darien, "Why not ask Prince Jerkoff there why." Darien was taken aback at that, but understood why. The Scouts became upset at that outburst, Serena being the most vocal about it, "Don't insult Darien like that! You have no reason to be upset with him."

"The hell I don't!" the latino clapped back, "He dragged us all into that damn fight that…"

"Please!" Luna cut in and stopped the argument, "Whatever the past holds, we must first unlock your powers. Roland has already received his necklace; Eduardo and Garrett are yet to receive theirs."

"Hey, I already did the Power Ranger routine once," Eduardo barked, "I'd love to never do it again."

"'Power Ranger routine'?" Garrett parroted, "Like, drive giant robots?"

"Necklace?" Kylie looked at the cats, "You mean, they have to focus their power through physical objects, like a talisman?"

Luna was becoming more and more impressed with Kylie's deductive reasoning, "Why, yes! All of the Scouts have transformation aids; the Knights are no different."

"Then," again, Kylie scratched her head, "how did Eduardo change without one of these objects?"

For a moment everyone - even the cats - had no answer. Darien knew the truth, "It was a reflex; seeing Sailor Venus knocked out and injured drove him into a rage. Being in close proximity to her allowed him to access the power."

Serena looked up to him, "H-how did you know that?" Raye also inquired, "Darien, what link do you have with the Knights? I thought they were the Generals of our planets' armies?"

"Yeah," Eduardo chimed in again, "against our wills." The Scouts looked back and forth between Eduardo and Darien. Darien looked hesitant to say anything as Eduardo looked rather angry, him crossing his arms as he looked the Japanese man in the face.

Roland had stayed silent up to this point. He realized the tension in the room was overflowing. In order to keep the peace he stepped up, "Whatever the case, we have a responsibility. In order for us to stop what's happening, you're going to have to continue this until the end," he looked to Amy, confidence projecting in his voice, "I know I will."

"Whatever happened in the past," Luna approached Eduardo and Garrett, "you are still the Solar Knights; we need you, and you need us. Please," she pleaded, "accept these." The black cat with the crescent moon symbol on her head crouched then lept skyward. At the peak of the jump she flipped causing a flash of light to pulse briefly. Two objects appeared and from there dropped.

Eduardo and Garrett snatched the necklaces out of the air and looked at them. Garrett especially looked his over, "Sooooo… This'll allow me to toast bread without a toaster?"

Eduardo looked at the chain with disdain. He had the urge to throw the chain away…

"Eduardo?" he looked to the voice and saw Mina looking at him. Her blue eyes had a look of worry in them. In a very subtle motion she shook her head. Kylie took notice of this and realized there was something going on. Mina gave a small nod and then shifted her eyes toward Kylie. Eduardo's face of anger changed. At first it was of surprise, then he nodded as though there was an agreement. He gripped the chain harder.

Mina gave a look of relief as she began to smile mildly.

Luna saw both Ghostbusters accept their chains, albeit with hesitation, "When the time is right you'll be trained in how to use your powers. Until then, we must wait for Dan and Lita."

"I hope it isn't for too long," Egon stated. He turned in his computer chair toward the others, "Something is happening in an area of Staten Island where the city's PKE is gathering."

"Egon," he looked to Kylie as she spoke up, "when we were fighting the Draugrs, I noticed something off on one of the meters."

"You mean the energy shield?"

Her eyes widened, "You saw it, too?"

"Yes," he stood and walked to the map of the five boroughs of New York on the back wall and closed in on an isolated spot, "If I am to assume anything, based on Amy and myself's calculations, not only are we dealing with - now confirmed - several individuals, but they have control of these Draugrs, magical spells used to shield their energy, the ability to draw said energy from the city, and all the while keep themselves concealed. That is, until now." Egon grabbed a marker pin from the corner of the map and placed it on a spot in Staten Island.

Roland walked forward, squinting at the map as he tried to recall something, "Is that what I think it is?"

Garrett recognized it, "Isn't that where the concrete plant that Hacker guy was attacked at was?"

Just as Amy went to explain, the phone rang. As Janine answered it Amy continued, "Yes. On a guess, I checked the attacks on the map again and had Dr. Spengler check the wind patterns to account for atmospheric shift."

Darien looked at the map then looked to the Ghostbusters in the room, "What could be at a concrete plant that can pull in all that energy?" It took a moment, but Roland began thinking about it. He recalled when they were at the plant when Garrett called him over…

"That might have to wait," Janine put the phone handset to her chest, "We have a call at the Staten Island University South Hospital. They say it's like nothing they've ever seen."

"Aw, man!" Eduardo griped, "Not another hospital!"

"That's okay, Eduardo," Roland stated, "You and Garrett stay here and wait for Dan and Lita. Me and Kylie'll go," he turned to Amy and Darien, "Would you be willing to go with us? I got the feeling this isn't a coincidence." Darien and Amy nodded. Garrett began to protest, "Wait, I'll come with you guys."

Luna stepped back up and approached the wheelchaired man, "You still need to be taught about your powers. Perhaps you should stay here for the time being." "I have an extremely pissed off Chicagoan Irishman who wants to use my lungs as pool floats coming back here. I think instead of being here when he gets back, I'll just tag along to the hospital."

Garrett backed his chair when Raye spoke out, "It might be best you stay here," she sighed, "Even if Dan is still mad, you'll just have to admit it." "Admit what?" he asked. Almost everyone in the room groaned. Raye said aloud, "That you screwed up, Hot Wheels!"

"I ultimately agree, Garrett," Egon spoke again, "You need to rebuild Dan's trust. Two and half years is a long time to verbally accost someone, let alone what's been done tonight." Garrett winced at that. He knew there was no getting out of this, and everyone here was going to hold his feet to the fire. He sighed, "Fine."

It had been a long day for everyone. Egon looked to the crowd and caught a glimpse of Serena and Eduardo yawning. He turned to Janine just as she hung up the phone, "Could you retrieve the sleeping bags from storage? I believe our guests won't be heading back to their hotel tonight," he then looked back to Garrett and Eduardo, "You two need to stand guard for the night. Garrett, since you haven't caught anything, it's only fit if you take the first watch."