Chapter 7: Witnesses

The ominous hum of the Containment Unit echoed off the walls of the basement, the green light of the unit's indicator casting the large red device in a green hue. At the desk Roland had been working at the day before Mina and Eduardo spoke. Mina had her arms crossed, gripping as though she was cold. It wasn't because the basement was cold, but from the cold shiver that shot up her spine from what Eduardo had explained to her. The images were clear in her mind, "You survived all of that?"

Eduardo wasn't thrilled. He had explained his time before reincarnation to extreme detail, forcing him to see and describe the thing that had been looping in his mind for several hours. He was trying very hard not to break down, "All it did was make me hate myself more." "So, it wasn't Darien's fault?" Mina asked. Eduardo sighed in exacerbation, "Oh, no, he's not off the hook. He was still responsible for putting us in that situation. Still…" he stood up and began pacing. He walked to the Containment Unit as he collected his thoughts. Mina saw images again, but this time they were somewhat fuzzy. It was odd, "I've been trying to avoid working on anything that would mean failure almost my whole life. Even being a Ghostbuster…"

"Someone could get hurt, or die, and it could be your fault." Eduardo turned to Mina again as she stood and approached him. She tried to coax the images out of him; to explain what it was he was thinking, "There's more to it than that. What happened?" Eduardo again looked into Mina's eyes and saw the worry. It was a strong trust that emitted from her. He knew if he were to talk about it, this would be the best time if any. He closed his eyes and sighed through his nose, "I had a nightmare. The only other one I've told this to was Serena, but I wasn't specific…"

It was dark. I attempted to move, but I felt like I was stuck in a chair with chains on my feet. A light turned on above me and I found myself in an orange prison jumper. The chains were prisoner shackles; like the ones they put on guys before moving them to the courthouse. Everything was dark around me. All I could tell was there was a table in front of me with a file folder with my name on it. With a gust of wind the folder opened and I saw what looked like a rap sheet.

I heard a hard pounding, like wood on wood. Another light shined out from above and lit up a judge's bench. Sitting on the bench was my brother, Carlos. He was bangging a gavel as he spoke.

Carl had looked down from the bench toward Eduardo amidst the darkness. He pointed to him as he spoke, "Eduardo Rivera, this court has convened to determine your guilt or your innocence. Counsel," Carl turned beside them in the darkness as another light turned on, revealing Garrett sitting in his wheelchair wearing a three piece suit, "recite the charges to the accused."

"Will do, your honor!" Garrett said, "Eddie, you're accused of lackluster performance on the job; selfish tendencies endangering your fellow Ghostbusters; rule breaking; reckless abandon in equipment usage and retention; above all else, being a complete failure in the ability to overcome your fears."

"Thank you, Counsel," Carl turned back to his brother, "How does the defendant plead?"

The next thing I know, I'm looking next to me and I see Dan sitting there. I was starting to realize what it was I was in the middle of. Dan was wearing a suit like Garrett. He stood up.

"The defense pleads, 'Not Guilty' your Honor."

When he gave the plea, another light came down from above us and lit up the jury box. It was, like, 12 people in cloaks. I-I couldn't see their faces! I could feel the room get colder. My brother banged the gavel again as he called out.

"Order. This court is now in session. Moon Kingdom vs. Eduardo Rivera. Counsel, call your first witness."

Garrett rubbed his hands together and he started showboating immediately, "Alright! I call on Dr. Egon Spengler!"

Another light lit. It was the stand. Egon was already sitting in the chair as Garrett rolled over to him.

"Dr. Spengler," Garrett straightened his tie as he stopped in front of Egon at the bench, "How would you describe Eddie's attitude toward work and personal responsibility?"

"Objection, your Honor!" Dan stood as he spoke out, "This case is in regards to the Plaintiff being in association with the Moon Kingdom, not the Ghostbusters! What bearing does this line of questioning let alone questioning of this witness have on the case?"

"Your Honor," Garrett said humbly, an almost kiss-ass tone in the man's voice, "the witnesses I call will show how Eddie's work ethic has a tendency to place people in danger. It is illustrative of my case."

"Overruled."

When Dan sat down, he gave me a look. It was a look I've seen before. He knew what kind of person I was, but he also knew how unforgiving Garrett was. It was like Dan was my defense because he knew what it was like to be wronged. That was when Egon spoke up.

"Eduardo refuses to take his studies or responsibilities seriously. He is a poor student."

That was when they started cycling people through; people I knew. Kylie…

"He's lost equipment and blamed others for it. The equipment was used in a string of robberies as a result."

Roland…

"He's broken rules and allowed a trap loaded with a case five desiccator to be stolen, endangering the city."

Janine…

"He never pulls his own weight."

My Sister-in-Law, Beth…

"He never spends time with his family."

And that was when… when the Scouts took the stand.

Mercury...

"He's simpleminded."

Mars…

"Childish."

Jupiter…

"Heartless."

And then… then… You.

Sailor Venus sat on the stand, her head low. She refused to look at Garrett. There was a whimper in her voice as she spoke. It would have been hard to look at if Eduardo had any other choice but to hear her and see her, but his dream forced him to. It was stressing, "When we needed him most - when I needed him - he turned and ran away. He's a coward!" With tears in her own eyes she looked up and looked Eduardo in the eye; directly into his soul, "You're a coward!" Without much restriction, Sailor Venus ran away from the stand and into the darkness.

Do you know that feeling you get when someone calls you out, and even though you don't believe yourself to be that way, you can't argue against them? I screwed up so bad in my life, all I've tried to do was make it right. All I saw was Garrett grinning ear to ear after that. He rolled in front of Carlos and started gloating.

"Your Honor, I have presented my case. Without any doubt in my mind, let alone the minds of the jury, this man," Garrett pointed to Eduardo, "is the worst example of the human race in charge of the safety of others."

"Objection!" Dan stood again, "The life that Mr. Rivera leads now is one of redemption. Granted, mistakes will still be made until the right person comes along to help him; one willing to give him the proper constructive criticism when he fails, but also praise when he succeeds. We have all made mistakes in our lives, but without a path to redemption, we are doomed to doom all. If repeatedly called monsters, do we stride to avoid such a fate? Or do we embrace it because our judgement would never change?"

I donno why that was so damn clear in my dream. I never understood why Dan got along with me, but knowing what I know now, it's not that surprising. There was one thing about this whole thing that still surprised me, though…

"Mr. Shannon," Carl spoke up, an annoyed growl in his voice, "do you have anything to add to this other than your soapboxing?"

"I do, your Honor. I would like to call my singular witness. Would Queen Serenity please take the stand?"

I didn't know who she was or why she was there at first, but when her flowing white hair came into the room behind her, I felt like there was this kinda… I donno, "glow" about her. Even then not knowing the past properly, I knew she was important. Dan had helped her to the stand and helped her with her gown when she sat. I knew when I saw Serena, her hairstyle reminded me of something vague. When I saw it in the dream, I felt… guilty. I felt like everything I did in my life up to that point was pointless and that everyone who was on the stand before her was right. I felt like a failure.

That was, I mean, until she spoke.

Dan led in with his statement, "Your Highness, if there was anything you wish to say about Mr. Rivera, positive or negative…"

Queen Serenity had a saddened look on her face. She knew if she were to tell the truth, "Sir Eduardo had truly made a mistake. It was a very selfish thing he had done at the time, but it was because of his past to that point. He had witnessed whole villages destroyed; countless people murdered. When left with the prospect of having to destroy, he couldn't bear to be something he wasn't." Serenity then looked directly at Eduardo, her eyes glassy, "You didn't run because of fear of your own death; you couldn't do it and become the monster you've seen others become. The true kindness came from the aftermath."

Dan took a deep breath. He felt tension in Serenity's words. He spoke, "Along with the rest of us, why did you bring him back?"

"Sir Eduardo was a good man in his previous life. Had he done anything questionable in this life, it was his past telling him not to do anything to avoid the pain. I do not fault a man who has felt so much sorrow to wish to avoid it. He had made a promise, both to myself and to the Kingdom's Court, that he would make it right. That is why I plead with the court to give this man a second chance; to show the true nature of his being."

Dan had his hands behind his back, standing before her with his head up high. He looked worried, "Thank you, your Highness," he turned to Carl at the bench, "No further questions, your Honor. The defense rests."

As Dan started waking toward the bench, the lights around me faded. Dan disappeared in the darkness. So did Garrett. All that was left was Carlos on the bench and the jury. Carlos looked at the people in the cloaks…

"Has the Jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, your Honor."

The voice. It was seductive. I looked at her. I couldn't see past the hood, but all I could see was bright red lipstick. I felt my heart pound. I knew something was wrong. The woman stood and looked at me. She started to smirk. I felt nothing but goosebumps from that smirk.

"We find the defendant guilty. All he's going to do… is do it again."

"That was when I woke up." Eduardo was now sitting back in his chair, sweating. His blood pressure was going through the roof causing him to feel tense and become emotional. He felt lost, "When you told me I was a coward, it hurt. I felt like I needed to apologize for what I did, but I was worried you'd think I was a psycho or somethin'. I was hoping this was just nothing. When Darien unlocked my head…" He pounded his fist onto the bench beside him, growling in anger, "Goddamnit! That pendejo had to make me see it again!"

Mina acted quickly and grabbed his balled up hand on the desk, "Hey, hey, it's okay!" She attempted to calm him down, speaking softly as she rubbed said hand of his, "If there's anything I can say, I don't believe you're a coward. It took a lot of guts to stand up to one of those big ugly things, even without your equipment. Serena told me you stood in front of her to protect her without even hesitating. When I came to, you wiped out many of those creatures to protect me. I don't know why you're so hard on yourself, considering.."

"No one here thinks I'm not!" His voice bellowed, it reverberated off the equipment in the room, "The only one that has any faith in me is Dan! That was why he was my defense!"

Mina now understood the images in his mind. Because of Eduardo's criminal justice education and his family's background as a law enforcement family, the courtroom setting and everyone's role was clearly defined. "Your brother is always judging you; Garrett is always making the case to demean you. Almost everyone else, you've made a mistake with. Even Kylie." Eduardo looked at her surprised. She had to stop him from talking and immediately started again, "You have feelings for her. When she was about to be attacked, you jumped right in the way and threw up your shield. It was the most terror you've ever felt in your life; if she died, it would be the worst failure. It happened more than once with her, too."

Eduardo was shell shocked. The many instances of him diving toward her to save her kept coming to mind, Mina obviously able to see it as it happened. He looked her in the eyes, "So it was you that asked me. How did you…"

"Like Amy explained, we have a psychic link. Whatever you know, I know, too. I took a chance and tried to talk to you with my mind. I wasn't sure it was gonna work, but," she gave a muffled giggle, "here we are, I guess." Eduardo looked away from her again. The dream still replayed in his mind over and over hearing her call him a coward. The other faces in the dream also worried him. The woman in the cloak…

"I guess it was good you did," he lamented, "because I think my dream was a warning."

"Warning?" Mina asked.

Behind a guard rail on the lone industrial road, Amy, Kylie, Darien, and Roland snuck behind the embankment for the road opposite of the cement plant. Just beyond the facility parking lot were bright flood lights around a gathering of people in black clothing chanting in tongues. Just behind them was a podium erected just before a fire that was burning on the grounds. Between the fire and the podium was a line of people wearing cloaks. Kylie silently whistled in amazement, "We got a lotta people here. They must be establishing some kind of ritualistic circle. Explains the increase."

Roland pulled out his PKE meter to confirm his suspicions, "I knew it. Kylie, look at this." She moved his way and looked at the meter as he explained, "You see?" Kylie took the meter from him and looked it over, "It's pulsating. It's coming from the cement elevator structure. It looks familiar." "I was thinking the same thing. It's like that dragon statue Gu Mo was trapped in; it's acting like a containment unit."

"The structure is made from a magnesium-tungsten alloy," Amy was looking at her screen taking a scan, "The cores of the tube stock is lined with a thin layer of gold, and then filled with selenium. The whole structure looks like it's connected to some sort of control box." Roland shimmied over to Amy and looked at the minicomputer. The device performed a breakdown of the electronics of a box on the far side of the structure. There were several high voltage components that looked familiar, "Those look like the same emitters we use in the Ghost Traps, but bigger. It's making the structure psionically attractive."

Kylie heard that and became concerned, "Why does that sound like I've heard of that before?"

Darien had kept proper watch on the facility as the others gathered data on the structure when a large amount of activity started taking place, "Heads up; we've got people moving over there!" Everyone began looking toward the structure again and watched as a cloaked figure surrounded by several other cloaked people approached the podium. The crowd began to chant louder as the figure was helped onto the platform the podium sat. The chanting became louder more and more, the roar of their chanting overcoming the sound of rushing water that fell from the skies. The sounds were so disturbing the louder they became the more chills ran up everyone's spine.

Amy herself was becoming so distured by the situation, she had stopped looking at her computer and wrapped her arms around Roland's. She seemed to have been doing it inadvertently. The fear coming over her hit Roland so hard he looked down and grabbed her open hand. They looked at each other as Roland attempted to instill her with a sense of calm; a skill gained through his years fighting the paranormal.

The crowd's volume increased more to the point of screaming the chant. The screaming was causing Kylie to have issues breathing; the calm Roland attempted to give Amy was even starting to wane; if it weren't for the rain Darien would have been seen breaking into a sweat. The noise was beyond disturbing, the language the people spoke shaking the foundations of basic sanity.

The figure at the podium threw up their hands.

The crowd stopped.

"My Congregation!" a woman's voice rang among the people, "The journey we take this night will take us closer to Hel and her Palaces! On this night of the Blood Moon, we shall make our way to the next milestone!" The woman raised up a ratty old book in her hands.

The meter in Kylie's hands suddenly beeped. She cleared the screen and saw a new dataset scroll across the screen, "Oh, sweet heavenly Christ!"

Roland looked over and saw the look on her face, "What? What's wrong?"

"Roland, that's the book!" Kylie messed with the meter again to confirm, "The book stolen from the Library's protected section!"

"My Order of Asatro," the woman addressed again, "we are about to take a new foothold in our desire to move forward and allow Her to reclaim what's rightfully Her's! Bring forward the trespasser, for he shall pay for his crime!" One of the doors was opened on one of the black SUVs parked on the periphery of the circle. Two people were dragged out of the vehicle. Both of them were also wearing cloaks, but they were obviously treated like parahs as some of the people in the crowd started throwing garbage and rocks at the people.

The two people were thrown in front of the cloaked woman as the others stood back. The woman walked forward and yelled out, "What have you to say for yourselves? You endangered our Order and allowed Kino to escape. Above all else, you allowed yourselves to be beaten by a man who was supposed to be injured by your own hand. Are you working in league with our enemies?"

Kylie heard that and felt her heart skip, "They… they were gonna use Lita!"

Darien also knew what that meant, putting a hand on her shoulder, "That also means Dan got her out. They're okay."

Kylie looked back to the scene before them, "But for how long?"

One of the two people got up on their knees as the other slowly joined them as they spoke, "No, my Gydje, we worked him! He was even bleeding heavily when he… uh…"

"My Gydje," the man beside the other spoke attempting to save face, "There's something about Shannon you don't know about. He… He's unnatural! He was able to move things without touching them!"

"Yeah! Look!" the first man pulled his hands from under the cloak's sleeves revealing a bandaged hand, "He grabbed the electrodes and caused my taser to backfire and explode on me! He didn't fall when I tased him a second time!"

"SILENCE!" the woman wound up her arm and backhanded the figure with the bandaged hand. After falling over, the cloaked man was picked up by his brethren. The woman took the handwritten book from the Library and forcefully put it in the man's hand. She yelled at him, "You have but one goal now; for us to bring about the end, we must gain the second Stanza from this tome, and to do it, we need to open said tome. If you are to serve Hel for her greater glory, you will fight the guardian within!" She pointed to the open space behind the podium.

An area behind the podium lit up with additional spotlights, a decent sized space between the podium and the cement elevator. The two cloaks threw their own into the space, him tripping and falling into a muddy puddle. The man removed his mud soaked hood to reveal a younger white man. He cleared his eyes and looked in front of him…

The book lay open before him.

Kylie's meter went wild. She glanced at the device, terror shooting her spine as she saw the reading, "Oh, crap."

An explosion erupted from the book sending a spiral of steam from the pages. A set of yellow glowing eyes protruded from within and looked down to the man in the mud. The smoke began to form into the form of a serpent. It sprouted two legs and a long tail, the eyes forming inside a head with a long snout. The Lindworm towered over the cloaked man, it's dragon-like appearance striking fear into him as he fell onto his back.

The other man beside the cloaked woman pleaded with her, "Please, Madame Holly, stop it!" The man removed his hood revealing the Asain man with the martial arts skills, "I should of stopped Shannon! Please, don't hurt him!"

The beast hissed as it looked to it's prey. The man began screaming as it slithered forward, him scrambling to his feet.

In the distance everyone was witnessing the horror before them. Amy suddenly felt a hard urge to start running toward the danger and save the man. She began reaching for her transformation wand and climbing the wet hill to the street. Roland saw this and grabbed her before she made it to the road, "No! Amy," he said quietly, "you'll give us away!"

"We gotta do something!" Kylie watched the scene unfold as she spoke to Darien, "We can't just let that man die!" She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked to the Japanese man beside her and saw his eyes closed. He was stressed, "I don't want to either, Kylie," he looked at her with his blue eyes, "but we have no choice. We have to know what we're dealing with."

Kylie started speaking gruff, angry and disgusted with Darien's statement, "I could of told you what we were up against," she looked at the serpent again, "but now we're gonna watch it."

The Asain man screamed out, "John! No, he's my best friend! Please, stop it! John!" He tried to rush toward his friend only to be grabbed by other cloaked men. He began to fight them with his martial arts skills when another shotgun welding member took the butt of the shotgun and hit him in the back of the head. He fell to his knees and in his haze, he looked one last time to his friend, "John…"

The man backed away in panic as the lindworm approached him faster. He hit the support post of the elevator and became pinned. He looked up into the scattered light of the floodlight to have it blotted out with the lindworm's form. The man again let out a blood curdling scream.

The lindworm spit a vapor on the man. He screamed harder as his flesh began to smoke. As he tried to inhale, he suddenly grasped his throat. He fell onto his knees and tried to breathe as the serpent took one of it's claws and slashed the man down. The beast proceeded to open it's jowls wide…

The woman they called their Gydje called out, "Power on the controller!" Another man on top of the elevator's foundation pulled a large breaker and powered on a large control box attached to the elevator's scaffold. The sound of capacitors charging could be heard through the rainfall. The lindworm started to howl as the sound reached its peak, it beginning to disintegrate. Parts of the monster started to fly off and sped toward the tower structures, once hitting it becoming absorbed into it.

Kylie looked back to her meter and started seeing the ambient PKE levels drop to almost non-existent, "Holy…"

After being pulled back down, Amy quickly recovered and realized what was happening. She started the computer again and saw the lindworm falling apart on the screen. She saw the datastream and looked back to the tower, "All the energy in the area is increasing speed to the structure!" Roland had let her go and looked toward the sky, "It's like a gigantic Ectoplasmic antenna! That's the reason the area had a decrease in energy!" Amy nodded her head in agreement, "Yes! They must have tested that device the night of the headquarters attack!"

Darien watched as the monster's body was pulled little by little into the metal of the structure, "I've never seen anything like this! Why release it if it was just going to be contained inside that structure?" Kylie kept watch of the situation as she explained, "The Second Stanza of the Symphony of Destruction was contained inside that book. They must of tried opening the tome the night they tried to steal it to get bum rushed by the creature. A security guard at the library was killed as a result."

Roland heard that and added his input, "They must have built this thing to capture it!"

The last of the lindworm was now contained inside the metal scaffold. The man that was attacked laid on the ground still clenching his throat with the skin on his face starting to blister and bleed. Back at the podium, the woman in the cloak nodded at her minions to release the Asian man in their grasp, allowing him to fall to the ground on his knees. She then nodded to the others before looking into the direction of the book and the man in the space. The cloaked figures started running their way into the space, two of them running toward the book, and the Asain man scrambling to his feet and running toward the man attacked by the lindworm. He bent down and cradled the man in his arms, "John! John, say something!"

The scene was horrifying. Darien, Amy, Roland, and Kylie watched as the woman was handed the book again, her turning to the crowd and holding it aloft her head. The crowd cheered as she held the book triumphantly. They heard the crowd begin to chant over and over in Swedish, "För gudarna! För gudarna! För gudarna!" The chanting continued as they saw the man in the field where the lindworm attacked him, his friend holding him in his arms. Roland sighed, "Come on. There's nothing left for us to see here. We better get out of here before we're spotted." One by one the team left back to the bar where the Ecto-1 sat in waiting. The last to leave was Kylie, watching the man hold the other in his arms.

Darien looked back to her and saw her still looking at the scene. She witnessed something that ate a hole in her heart. He didn't want to. He knew if he did - if he transformed into Tuxedo Mask and attempted to rescue that man - he would have put others in danger and disrupted their chance to learn what was going on. He worried about Kylie. Of the Ghostbusters this time around she had no powers like the others. She was smart like Amy; rowdy like Raye; still, she was just a normal person.

Then again, the original Ghostbusters were just normal men. They achieved great things against great odds, including saving his life and the life of the Scouts 7 years ago. Maybe it wasn't because she was weak he worried about her; maybe it was because he felt that she felt left out. When he said they can't interfere, for a brief moment she thought of the powers he had as well as the Knights and the Scouts, and thought of how she would handle the situation. That look of disgust she had. She knew what was to happen, and if she could move like Eduardo did in his Venus Knight form, she could have saved that man. That was her thought, he was sure of it.

Still, what is now is now. What has happened has happened. It was more important to get back to the firehouse and get Egon this data and the data on Issac Hacker's mutation. With any hope, the next fight would allow the upper hand in their favor. He called out softly, "Come on, Kylie. We better get going." She sighed an angry sigh as she closed her eyes. She turned and started walking along the embankment past Darien and toward the Ectomobile.

The chants of "För gudarna!" continued as they walked. It was a disturbing sound; a sound of defeat. Still, it was another insight to what it was they were dealing with. Any information was a clue to where to go next, drawbacks notwithstanding. So long as no other drawbacks take place, there was a chance.