Chapter 4: The Next Step

Tuesday July 2nd, 2002

Ghostbusters HQ

1:20 AM

Ecto-1 pulled into the garage and powered down. Dan stepped out of the vehicle to be greeted by Janine and Egon, Janine wrapping his arms around the senior field Ghostbuster. She was worried, "Egon told me what happened. Are you okay?" "I'm alright," he said as he pulled away from her, "Just another day where Tylenol is involved." Egon watched as everyone else also stepped out of the car. He looked to Dan as Eduardo also approached, "Lita told us what was happening," the scientist began to look uncomfortable as he looked to Eduardo, "Kevin?" Eduardo sighed and shook his head. Dan spoke in his place, "He didn't want to kill me or Carl, but he was still pretty pissed. He's with the Order. We have another guest we have to look after." He saw Carl round the vehicle and come into view. He started walking toward Egon as he started talking, "Spengler, I need to know…"

Egon immediately put up his hand in a halting gesture and spoke in an assured tone, "I promise you we will bring your son back unharmed. We're just as worried about him as you are." "What are they going to do with him?" Dan put his hand on the NYPD's shoulder, "We don't know. They still may have a use for him because of Eddie. He should be okay." Carl turned and looked Dan in the eye, "What do I tell Beth? How do you think she's gonna handle this?"

Roland was still standing near the open driver door when he spoke, "It might be best you leave her out of it. They already have your son, so I doubt they're going to attack her for any reason."

"I have to tell her something!" He began to pace the garage walking the length of both Ecto-1 and Chi-Ecto while taking notice of the Explorer. He stopped and looked the vehicle over and took note of the bullet holes. He turned and looked at the group in the garage, "Who's…" Old Dan raised his hand, "Mine. I was driving it when I came into this world." "Did you drive in here through a warzone?" Old Dan became pissed as he walked up to him, "I told you on the ride back here. This? This was done by those Cultists. They thought I was him," he pointed to Dan before pointing back at the wounds on his face, "You see this shit? This was a bullet fired from an AR-15 loaded with 5.56 rounds that impacted inside the truck and hit me in the face. If it had hit me, I'd have an appointment with an Undertaker. And I'm sure it'd be a closed casket, too."

"Look," Dan walked up to Carl again and spoke frankly, "at this point, we have a huge issue here and we need your help. Like my doppelganger here said, we talked about it in the car on the way here." Egon stepped forward and asked, "What did you talk about?" Lita approached the scientist's side and spoke, "We might need more help than just Carl. Dan and Roland were thinking… We might have to…" she was having a hard time saying it. Egon looked at the look on the young Japanese woman's face. He was filled with dread, "No. You're not suggesting…"

Dan nodded, "First thing in the morning, we gotta call Peter, Ray, and Winston."

Stoneface Masonry Main Office

1:55 AM

The NYPD police car stopped in front of the warehouse door as Kevin blew the horn. The door opened allowing the vehicle into the warehouse. The vehicle stopped in front of Matthew as he was turning to see the vehicle approach. Kevin jumped out of the driver seat and ran to the passenger side as Matthew asked in his calm tone, "What happened, initiate?" Kevin helped Manny to his feet, Manny explaining vaguely, "He broke loose again…" "I asked the boy." Matthew said sternly. He then turned his attention back to Kevin and asked again. Kevin looked nervous, knowing now what his father and grandfather went through with his father trying to be in a gang. He swallowed his fear and spoke in a stutter, "Dan g-got loose. H-he got loose from his cuffs and s-started fighting Manny," the teenager started talking fast as his fear started to fly back up from whence he swallowed, "The shotgun was thrown out of his hand. Dan threw his hands out and Manny…"

Matthew started to chuckle. After a moment that chuckle escalated to a laugh, "Just as I thought! Initiate, you have passed your test. Welcome to the Order, Brother Rivera. Bring Brother Chang with you; we'll have our doctor check him out." With that Matthew turned on heel and started walking toward the back of the warehouse. Manny was being held up by Kevin whose shoulder he was leaning on. The both of them looked at each other confused. Kevin kept trying to ask a question when Manny stopped him, "First rule about being the Forgotten: Never question Mr. St. James. There were 30 of us once; there's 20 now. Remember that." Manny sighed and rubbed the back of his head as Kevin started assisting him behind the silver-haired man in black. As Kevin helped the man he began to wonder what he got himself into.

Ghostbusters HQ

2:25 AM

In Egon's lab all of the Sailor Scouts, Darien, and the cat guardians were having a meeting. Running out of places to convene, Egon offered the lab for them to talk. Lita brought everyone up to speed on the situation that happened with Dan and Carl as well as the cult, "...so that's where we are. Egon agreed, Janine is going to get a hold of the Original Ghostbusters later today." "You mean," Raye was not liking what she was hearing, "we have to drag them into it?" "I understand why you'd feel that way," Luna said sitting on Egon's workbench, "but it looks like we're running out of options. If the members of this Order are out to kill them, we may have to get as many people involved as possible."

"That's what I'm thinking as well," Amy said sitting in Egon's chair, "If they're willing to call in for help, perhaps we need to do the same." Lita was suddenly unsure about the idea, "I-I don't think…" the black cat stopped her and expressed herself, "I know you and Amara have your differences, but this is a matter of life and death! The world needs the Ghostbusters and the Sailor Scouts. All of them!" Artemis had been sitting quietly beside his counterpart but had now decided to interject, "The Outer Scouts could tip the balance in our favor. We'd have a powerhouse team on our side as the Ghostbusters do on theirs. I mean, what could go wrong with that?"

Lita groaned as she looked to the ceiling of the lab, "Dan wanting to kill Amara once he sees what she did to me?" Artemis's ears went back as he understood the problem, "Oh… uh, maybe we might want to rethink this, then." Luna snapped at the already cowering white cat beside her, "We don't have time for another plan!" she looked to Lita, "You two and the two of them will have to hash it out on the fly. Otherwise, we need to get in contact with them immediately." "About that, Luna," Mina asked, "how do we do that?" Luna suddenly froze up and realized that did present a new problem.

In the intervening time after the events of the Dark Moon Circus invasion, the Outer Sailor Scouts - Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Pluto, and even Sailor Saturn - had decided to return with Rini - Sailor Mini Moon and daughter of Neo-Queen Serenity - to the future to protect Crystal Tokyo. Under normal circumstances they would use Sailor Teleport in conjunction with the Moon Crystal Key to enter the Door of Time and Space. Alas, they had no such artifact as the Moon Crystal Key. To be able to move forward in time one had to be left behind. Even if it was, they couldn't abandon the Ghostbusters at this critical moment. It was a terrible conundrum.

Darien asked, "Do you think maybe Egon might be able to help? We don't have to physically go there ourselves; maybe he can come up with a way to, say, send a message?" "I know Dr. Spengler is brilliant," Amy lamented, "but even he wouldn't be able to work on such a thing fast enough." Lita grunted in annoyance, "If only Dan and Eduardo didn't blow that DeLorean up…" Mina caught on with that one as well, "Right, the DeLorean. That would have worked!" Raye was lost in the conversation, "Uh… DeLorean?" The two of them remembered that they had access to Dan and Eduardo's memories. Mina explained, "A couple of years ago Dan and Eduardo were accidentally sent through time in a time machine built into a DeLorean." "Dan made a deal with the time machine's inventor to destroy it," Lita said as defeated look graced her face, "Just like how Sailor Pluto has to guard the time gate so no one can abuse it, leaving that time machine in the hands of the American government would have caused all kinds of problems. The FBI rebuilt it after the first time it was destroyed and sent it here because they thought it was possessed. No wonder Dan thinks the term 'Military Intelligence' is an oxymoron."

There was a snore. Everyone looked around a moment and found Serena sitting at a table on the other side of the room loaded with books. Serena was face down at Kylie's research table asleep. All of the girls looked at their leader and saw she was nowhere near consciousness to even have a comment. Luna sighed and bemoaned, "Does that girl ever do anything but sleep?" "Don't pick on her, Luna," Darien said as he walked toward her, "She was stuck in a high-speed chase with the other Dan. She snuck into the back of his truck when he went to confront the leader of the cult. She nearly got shot. On top of it, she was severely sick. Old Dan said something about her drinking something called 'energy drinks' loaded with a lot of caffeine."

Darien got the young woman in his arms and lifted her up as Luna stood, "Oh, I-I didn't know. I haven't heard much about this other world's version of Dan; I was up early to scope out the area when all of this happened." Artemis huffed, "Lucky you. I met the guy and he started shooting at me." Luna turned to her fellow guardian and asked, concerned, "Why would he do that?"

That was when Amy started shifting in her seat. There was something about the demonstration she saw the morning before that scared her, but the information was… hard to digest to be able to explain it. The information with Hacker's mutation; the hamster Old Man Dan subjected the toxin to… "Perhaps," Amy said, "we should just get sleep for now. There's still something me and Dr. Spengler needs to tell all of you. Luna, we can bring you up to current then." There was a very off-putting expression on Amy's face that had been there since last night and Darien saw it. Nevertheless, he agreed and all of them adjourned to the bunk room and lounge area to turn in for the night.

As the girls got themselves ready Darien walked into the bunk room to lay Serena down on a bunk. After getting her under the covers he heard someone on the other side of the room sigh. Looking up toward the window on the far side of the room he saw Old Man Dan standing there looking out the window. He stood and watched as he stood there and looked outside. He could sense the tension on the man as he stood there. He was about to turn and leave, "Hey, don't think so loud over there, dude."

Darien saw the man turn to look at him, "You guys done in the lab? Honestly, I thought it would have taken longer for all of you to say what you were gonna say." Darien was compelled to walk toward him. A pit grew in his stomach as he approached the older version of Dan Shannon knowing what he tried to do to him earlier after Chi-Ecto came back from the chase. He wasn't sure what his next step was going to be, but he figured he'd just wing it, "Yeah, we just finished. Look, about this afternoon…" "Don't get your hackles up, man," the old man stated, "You were upset because you thought I invited her to come with me. If I did that knowingly - putting someone in danger - I'd be pissed at me, too."

"Dan - our Dan - told us about what happened this morning and showed us the damage to the truck more thoroughly," Old Dan watched as Darien sat in a chair at Dan's computer desk, "You not only nearly got irradiated from the roof equipment, but your pack had a nick in it, just like you said." Old Man Dan nodded as he leaned against the window sill, the moonlight shining through the window and illuminating the cuts on his face, "Look, whatever your role is in this whole thing, I'm not here to hurt anyone except those who hurt others. What those assholes did today royally pissed me off, and it ain't for a lack of trying."

Darien looked the man in the eye, "About that: Why did you confront her?" Old Dan averted his eyes looking to the floor. He knew it was going to be difficult to explain. He took a breath and began, "I can tell when someone is hurt, too. That's not just unique to Moondust back there," he looked up, "Holly Bautista is a tortured soul. She thought for the last 6-7 years that she was ultimately responsible for her father's death. On top of the guilt, she's been haunted by these voices that were attracted to her pain; the car accident giving her the ability to hear the dead. I know what it's like to be treated like a pariah; someone that no matter how hard you try to prove people wrong about that stigma that's on you, it remains forever more because you feel they might be right. In other words: I know what it's like for someone's lies to stick, especially when you honestly believe you were wrong for what you did."

Darien watched him talk. He could see in the man's face that he believed this Holly woman - this cult leader - was nothing more than just someone looking for a way to get rid of the pain. It made sense, "You mean, she's ending the world because she thinks there's nothing good in it?" Old Dan nodded, "I know it'll take more than that to convince some of the people here, but understand I went over there because I believed she really didn't know what she was doing and I discovered how right I was. She doesn't even know what she's done so far. Her constantly being intoxicated made her an easily controllable asset."

That disturbed Darien, "'Asset'?"

Again, Old Man Dan nodded. Looking toward a nearby clock on the wall, he saw it was 2:45 AM. Shortly after the Scouts with the exception of Lita came into the bunk room to sleep. He spoke candidly, "We'll talk about it later. I'm gonna just sleep in the back of Chi-Ecto, clear up some space on the floor for ya." With that, the old man walked to the firepole and slid down. Darien watched as the man spoke and took notice of something. He saw that at certain points of his explanation he had looks of pain on his face. They were subtle, but they were there, no doubt about it.

Raye walked up behind Darien and looked to the same firepole Old Dan was just using. She proceeded to ask, "What were you talking about?" "We were just talking about why he did what he did today," Darien turned to the Scout of Fire and noticed how calm she was. Never had she known Raye Hino to be so docile, "Hey, you okay, Raye?" The temple priestess bit her lower lip and blushed a bit. It may have been dark in the room, but she could clearly be seen turning bright red. She smirked a bit, "I'm okay." She looked getty. She turned and walked to her bunk getting ready for the night.

In the infirmary of the concrete company main office the former mob doctor was looking Manny over as he was sitting on an examination table. He had been sitting waiting for the results of his tests so he could go home for the night. On the work tray beside the table was an assortment of basic examination tools and among them was a single syringe loaded with what looked like a greenish liquid. Having taken off his NYPD uniform shirt he had his undershirt sleeve rolled up as the doctor began swabbing his arm with alcohol, "All we need now is a vitamin shot and you should be on your way." "Seriously, doc, can't we just skip the damn shot?" Manny complained, "I hate needles. I may have been placed where I was to act like a cop, but it doesn't change the fact I see people use the damn things all day."

"It's a special serum that's supposed to help you heal faster," Manny and the doctor jolted as they looked to the door and saw Matthew there. The doctor turned and attended to Manny again while commenting, "I hate it when you do that." "Mr. St. James," Manny asked, "do I seriously need to take this shot? I take enough vitamins at home for this." "As I said, Brother Chang," Matthew began in his calm voice, "this will accelerate things for you." As the doctor proceeded to purge the air from the syringe and plunge it into Manny's upper arm Manny asked, "What about Shannon and Rivera? The rest of the Ghostbusters? Isn't there…"

"Oh, there will be something done," he said as he watched the doctor push the fluid into Manny's arm. After the last of the syringe's contents were injected a smirk crept onto the man's face, "As a matter of fact, two things will now happen starting this moment. We will now have enough leeway to finish the Ghostbusters and the Sailor Scouts off all while punishing insubordinates." Manny looked away from his arm and toward Matthew, confused, "Sailor Scouts? What the fuck is a Sailor Scout?"

As soon as Manny finished his question, he felt a sudden burning in his chest. His heart suddenly started pounding like it was a race car motor. He put his hand to his chest and started choking like his lungs seized. He tried to stand off the table but his legs gave out making him collapse to the floor. He could feel his whole body start to burn, his muscles feeling like he was being microwaved.

Matthew walked beside the surprisingly calm doctor as the doctor spoke, "How many more do we have to do this to? I may need more of the toxin." "Don't worry, doctor, Brother Wojciechowicz brought back many specimens from the Ghostbusters' headquarters. We could turn every member of the Forgotten into one and still have enough left over." "That's what I don't understand, sir. Why are we putting this weakened toxin into them?" Matthew watched as Manny Chang stopped convulsing on the floor and started to pick himself up, "Because we need subordinates that can not be harmed. Where we go from here is going to be perilous and we need the most resilient people we can find. Seeing as no human is that resilient," Matthew kneeled down and looked at Manny, "we have to make them that way. Wouldn't you agree, Brother?" Manny heard he was being addressed. He raised his head…

Manny's eyes were glowing.