Chapter 10: Back In Business
Walking down the street on a gray cloudy day holding hands, John and Phoebe were going to celebrate their engagement at Spinners Roller Hop. After the events that had taken place with Gozer, things were calming down. More or less. When Phoebe and John told everyone that they were engaged, Callie and John's parents were overjoyed to hear and quickly started planning ahead for their wedding. That is until the two told them that they do not want to do a traditional wedding. Instead, the two have agreed of having a civil marriage at the courthouse.
"There has been a lot of ghost sightings, since we defeated Gozer." Phoebe pointed out as she entered inside the restaurant.
"Your grandfather calculated that based on the letter he wrote me." John pulled a chair for Phoebe. "There is no longer a ghost shortage. This time it is permanent endless ghosting."
Phoebe looked at her engagement ring with a big small on her face. "I love my engagement ring."
John opened his menu and smiled. "I know. And I know that you would love it. Do you think the rain will hit anytime soon?."
Phoebe looked at window. "Hmmm, I will say about sometime from five to fifteen minutes."
"Excuse me, you two. Mind if we join you?."
John and Phoebe looked up to see none other then two of the original Ghostbusters. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore.
Phoebe can see her lover automatically going full-fledged fanboy and immediately said yes, without her having a say so. Ray and Winston who were in regular clothes sat down with John and Phoebe with smiles on their faces. They answered everything what John asked of them and even enjoy the teen's praises of them.
"Man, you guys are my heroes." John said before drinking his milkshake.
Winston relaxed in his seat. "Egon was not pulling our legs about you, John. You truly do know almost everything about us and the business."
"And speaking of the business." Ray smiled at the two. "Me and Winston were here to offer you guys a deal of a lifetime."
John put his finger up. "I will have to stop you right there, Ray. Egon have given me his final wishes. See."
Once Phoebe pulled her grandfather's letter out from her pocket and hand it to the two elder guys. Winston hold the paper in his hand while he and Ray read what Egon wrote. John took a bite of his caesar salad while playing footsie with Phoebe.
"I see." Winston handed back the letter to Phoebe.
"Well, that checks all that." Ray took his medical pill before taking some water. "John, you have the perfect knowledge of Ghostbusting and know the paranormal. So, what do you say?. You wanna join our world?. You, Phoebe, and the other youngsters?."
John looked at Phoebe who came over to him and wrap her arms around him.
"You did tell me and Podcast that we were destined to revive the Ghostbusters and get right back to business." said Phoebe.
Before John can respond, Phoebe planted a kiss on his cheek which made him smile, and kissed her back by the lips. Winston and Ray watched the two love birds as they waited patiently for their answer.
"We're in." Phoebe and John said together.
"Perfect." Ray took a bite of his burger.
Winston set down his cup of soda. "I will go and buy and get the old firehouse up and running."
"Believe it or not, Winston, I have thought out the designs on the firehouse and the additional add-on of Ray's bookstore. I have made a sketched blueprint four years ago. I recently updated once I moved here and recent. Let alone all the other things. I will be happy to show you." said John.
"By all means, kid." Winston reached his hand out. "You and Phoebe are one of us now."
John did not hesitate in shaking Winston's head. Phoebe did the same with Ray. "Bet."
After the settlement and arrangements being made, and taking everything from the basement and loading it into the moving truck. John, Phoebe, Podcast, Lucky, and Trevor drove Ecto-1 out of Summerville, with Callie and Gary following behind the truck. John had the sirens going off to prevent them from anyone in getting their way. It took nightfall for them to return to New York as Ecto-1 drove through the bridge that is entering them to the city.
"Home Sweet Home." Phoebe lay on John with a smile.
Trevor looked at his home city. "You got that right."
"This is so my first time being in another state. Much less see New York in person." said Lucky.
"I feel the same, Luck." Podcast looked at his phone to see if he has any new subscribers.
"You two are going to love New York and the fire house. That is after I help put the place up to code." said John.
"And I will be there to help assist you." Phoebe opened her eyes and looked at her now husband.
"I know." John looked at the window and saw that the sky is going from night to day.
They reached the area where the rundown closed firehouse stands. Winston opened the door and took the moment to let memory lane go through his mind. Before seeing the double doors open wide open. Winston motioned Trevor to pull Ecto-1 in and from there came the remodel and revival of the Ghostbusters original firehouse.
Weeks after getting the firehouse up to code and operational, John who is wearing his Ghostbuster jumpsuit, can not help but to smile at his dream coming true. He finally became a Ghostbuster. A real Ghostbuster. He is finally going to live it!. John currently upstairs in the lab with Eddy, who Winston highly recommended in aiding tech for the team and helping John out when developing the next big thing for Ghostbusting. John and Eddy got along famously as they shared the same interest of science. And speaking of Eddy, he was tinkering with a ghost trap and accidentally caused the prototype to blow up.
John quickly backed up when hearing the explosion going off. "Yo, Eddy, you good?."
"Yeah, John, I'm good. I played with the battery too much." said Eddy.
John approached the team's only research and development. "Dude, like I told you. We should be good with the traps that we have already built."
Eddy adjusted his glasses before sitting back to his desk. "Yeah, I have to admit on the designs you have made for the new traps are awesome, John. But fortunately, you guys hired me to be the researcher and developer, so that means I have to keep developing new things based on the scanned data of ghosts and paranormal activated from the PKE. Speaking of data, when are you going out there and bust ghosts?."
John crossed his arms while watching his new friend get working on something else. "As soon as we get the first call. Since everyone voted me as leader of the busting team, I am doing this the old fashion way and today's methods."
Eddy nodded before looking at the circuit chip in his hand. "Gotcha."
"Hey, John, it is time to brief us on the orientation. We are all here in the lobby and are waiting for you and Eddy."
John pulled his walkie-talkie from his pants and answered. "We are on the way Catty."
Catt responded. "Man, I wish you did not add a Y to my name, John. I got picked on from having a cat as a name."
John chuckled. "I'm not making fun of you, Catt. We are friends. We will see you down. Over and out. Your girlfriend is something else."
Eddy chuckled while getting up from his work desk. "Well, she may be a pain form time to time. But she is my pain."
John took hold of the pole located where their are. "I feel the same dude."
Once John slid down the pole and Eddy following and approached the others. Catt, who is the team's operations manager looked up from her tablet and smiled at her second head boss.
"I hope my boyfriend did not injured you in the lab. We all heard the slight explosion." said Catt.
"Hey, it is part of the job. My job." Eddy spoke with a smirk and a shrug.
As soon as Eddy kissed Catt and stand beside her, John looked at everyone who were waiting for this orientation to get well underway. Winston, who had his suit on, sat at the desk with both feet up. Callie sat at her desk that is once Janine's while Gary sat on the desk itself. Phoebe, Podcast, Tervor, and Lucky sat in fold up chairs, along with Ray and Kylie Griffin, who is 17 and Ray's gothic only grandchild.
John looked at everyone with a big smile and breathed in the atmosphere. "Well, you guys, tonight is the night that we are officially in business. And I do not know about you guys but, I am super hyped and loving every second of it."
"You told us that the moment we arrived back to New York." pointed out Phoebe, while adjusting her glasses.
"And I for one can not blame him." Ray looked at Phoebe with a proud smile. "This job can make you excited."
John got their attention. "Now, during construction of the firehouse and building Ray's new bookstore, I have made us to be cut off from the city's power grid and have ourselves our own power source. You see, the firehouse and Ray's Occult runs on proton energy. Yes, the same proton energy that powers the proton packs. Our self powered energy will last us for 5,000 years."
"That, and we do not have to worry about paying any electric bills. Boy, those were expensive back in the day." commented Winston.
"I know. I saw one of the old electricity bills from Egon's basement. Damn, that is expensive. Now, for the job roles. Catt is our operations manager. She will be the one searching up potential busting hotspots that needs our attention. Eddy is our research and developer, who will be crafting us some cool gadgets and help improve the busting based on collected PKE data scans. Callie and Gary are our call takers. Meaning you guys are going to be taking calls of distressed people in need of our services, let alone be secretaries of the Ghostbusters." John motioned his wife and the other three to follow him.
Thus, leaving Winston to finish up the orientation for those who are working in the firehouse and bookstore.
John took them where the newly cleaned, fixed, and upgraded Ecto-1 parked. "Guys, say hi and hello to SE1B."
Trevor raised his brow. "SE1B?."
"The Super Ecto-1B." Phoebe responded while looking at the freshly waxed car.
"The Super Ecto-1B stands out from its siblings as this is the first ever all four wheel drive all electric car, running on proton energy. The same energy that our new home is running on. It has gunners seats, Bluetooth radio, portable chargers, PKE rador detection, and its main weapon. The Ultra Slammer." said John.
"Is that the same version of the Super Slammer, John?." asked Podcast, admiring the big device with a big pyramid shaped tip.
"Oh, buddy, my Ultra Slammer is by far beyond better and more powerful than the Super Slammer itself. The Ultra Slammer has an instant vent cooling system, and capture ghosts in an instant. Best of all, with the help from Eddy, the ghosts that are sucked into the Ultra Slammer will travel through the invisible channels and be thrown right inside the containment unit." pointed out John.
"Wait, you are saying that ever time we put a ghost into your new trap they will be instantly be sent into the containment unit?. John how did you and Eddy were able to pull that off?." Phoebe asked in all astonishment.
John eyed his silver Ultra Slammer. "It is just like phone call signals going through invisible channels. The containment unit and the Ultra Slammer are synced. But do not worry. The ghosts go in the Ultra Slammer and into the containment unit but they do not come back out."
Once done explaining about the Super-Ecto-1B's signature weapon, John took them outside through the door that leads them to personal access to Ray's bookstore. From there it was a targeting range as John has set up from them to use for target practice.
"And here you guys is our target practice range to help sharpen out particle throwing." John pointed at the obstacles before showing the four the newly improved multipurpose proton packs. "And here is our newly upgraded multipurpose proton packs. I colored on your favorite colors, so that way we know which pack is ours."
"Now, that is what I am talking about, cuz." Lucky grab the proton pack that has her favorite color.
"Dude, these are sweet." Trevor took a try at the target range.
Before John can explain on what he and Eddy did with the packs, they all heard the classic ring of the bell which exited John.
"We got one!." John quickly grab his golden pack and headed back inside.
"Let's do this thing you guys." Phoebe grabbed her silver pack.
Podcast grabbed his blue pack. "Man, I am so going to enjoy this."
After waiting for the four to put on their custom-made jumpsuits, the five got into the SE1B and drove out of the firehouse without delay.
Trevor floored as sirens were sounded as they drove through the streets. John looked at his tablet to see the location of where the call had came from. To his excitement they were going one of the Ghostbusters first bust location. After sending the GPS coordinates to the car's GPS screen for Trevor to follow. It did not take long for Trevor to find the five star hotel when seeing its light up sign.
After pulling up to the hotel and parked the Super Ecto-1B, the five got out of the car and put on their packs. They entered inside looking all cool and brave, receiving some attention.
"Have any of you guys have seen a ghost?!." asked John, to get anyone's attention.
"No response." Phoebe stopped to have a look around of the place with the PKE in hand.
"Oh, thank goodness that you are here, Ghostbusters. Which one of you is in charge?." came the current female asian manager.
"He is." Phoebe, Trevor, Podcast, and Lucky said and pointed.
John sighed and shook the manger's hand. "The name's John, ma'am. Walk and talk."
She nodded walked and talked. "We have been having trouble with this issue for some time. It keeps eating all the metal or objects that has metal in it."
"Metal you say?." John stopped when reaching the elevator lobby. "And by any chance this ghost has been haunting the 12th floor?."
"Why yes it has. You are truly a profession." the woman commented.
"And how exactly did you heard about us?." Phoebe called elevator.
"From your old advertisement from tv and Youtube." the manager informed.
"Well, do not worry about anything, ma'am." John got inside the elevator. "We handle this loads of times. Just keep people off of the 12th floor until we are done. Cool?."
After getting a nod before the door closed, John informed the others of the rules of the Ghostbusters such as the policy of turning on the pack with no populated area based on 1991's settlement agreement. Just as soon as the elevator doors opened, the five were surprisingly introduced by a ghost that they dealt with back in Summerville.
"Muncher!." John, Phoebe, and Podcast said in shock.
The blue ghost shrieked as he phased right through John to his distaste. And flew right into the other wall.
"That sneaky bastard." John rubbed the blue slime off of him.
"Damn, that smells." Podcast stepped out of the way.
"John are you good?." Trevor asked his brother-in-law.
"Muncher pulled a Slimer on me." John pulled out his PKE. "Let's get his ass."
*Hours Later*
Kylie was at the bookstore and being done serving a customer before seeing John coming inside. She smiled as she and John shares the same love for paranormal to Phoebe's jealousy.
"How was the bust?. Tell, me all about it." Kylie rested her chin on her hand.
"Man, where can I begin?." John leans on the glass display.
Kylie looked and studied John's body language. "By all means take your time."
"Right before you check out this." Ray set an old book down.
Kylie and John looked at the book and read the cover. Ray started telling them that this is the original handwritten only copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide.
"Is this the legit, Ray?." John asked when looking at the book.
"It sure is, John." Ray broke the strap of the book and hand it to John. "Here you go something to remember this moment."
"Grandpa, you told me you and Egon have been hunting down the original book of Tobin's Spirit Guide for years. Where did you get it?." Kylie picked up the heavy book.
"That is a long and prefer not say story." Ray spoke truthfully. He looked at the book and then at John. "You already know the relationship with Tobin's Guide to the Ghostbusters. Tobin literally had this book buried with him for a good reason."
"Yeah, to keep it from going to the wrong hands." said John.
"Exactly." Ray looked at the book. "Tobin is the only one who was bold and brave enough to go as far to search the paranormal and what lays to the unknown. Some say he went too far when doing this. I too was about to reach that same rabbit hole as well when Inwas in my prime. But glad that I did not do so. I will let you to take this moment all in and have yourself a nice browse through those pages."
"Thanks, Grandpa." Kylie rubbed her hands on the cover. "Freaky. I will be in the storage to do inventory if you need me, John."
"No kidding. Ok." John eyed the book before seeing Kylie get missing. "Let's look inside shall we?."
As soon as John opened the book, the book itself started glowing and instantly sucked him to what it looks to be Ray's bookstore in Ghost World form. John looked and saw a pink ghost and Tobin's book floating. And talking. John watched and listen.
(A/N): And I'm going to stop right here. Sorry, for taking so long. I hope all of you are doing well and I encourage you guys to leave your thoughts about this chapter. Do not be shy to leave comments. I do not bite. Your opinions helps me shape into a better writer. And of course. Happy Ghostbusters Day. Excelsior!.