Chapter 14: Fighting City Hall

Wednesday July 3rd, 2002

New York City Hall

43 Park Row

10:27 AM

It had been a long and trying year for the city of New York. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the city was slowly starting to come back from the fear that shook the city as well as the nation. Mayor McShane - a white, short, fat, balding man - was at his desk going over the various reports of phenomena throughout the city as of late. He only had one thing on his mind: The 4th of July Celebrations.

The Mayor had been playing phone tag with various aids who were talking to reporters and news organizations downplaying the monster attacks and the earthquakes. On top of that there was this strange incident of a Ford Explorer with police lights being chased by black SUVs and his own NYPD's police cruisers that went through both New Jersey and Manhattan. The Trade Center site was one of the places where this incident came to a head with the truck disappearing. None of the NYPD involved allegedly could identify the vehicle and even the New Jersey police knew what was going on.

He was trying to keep the peace where he could, mostly to save face. Ever since the Ghostbusters came back into operation he's had to avoid making comments on the situation because he was the first out to insult them and make them out as frauds. In truth there were at least two mayors before him that believed in them and it was starting to look like - ever since they had their 5th field agent added to the team - they might have been onto something approving of their operation. The Ghostbusters became more efficient and were slowly starting to grow a following, mostly among the school-aged kids in the city. It was making him look like a typical politician that would ban something on the internet just because someone among his aides told him to do it. Bad optics. After all, when you're a public figure you tend to seek trends, not true solutions.

McShane was on the phone with his press secretary, "I don't care if they're asking about the Turnpike! It was Jersey's side of the gate, so tell them to ask the Mayor of Hoboken about it!" He started to look annoyed as he put his head into his free hand, listening to his secretary explain on the other side of the phone, "Look, Geraldine, I don't want you to say anything about it! Focus on telling them about the parade… What? What ya mean a bunch of those… things ripped the Spider-Man balloon apart?" He heard more before interrupting the person on the other side, "I don't care! Get the Murray the Mantis balloon back out and…" before anyone knew it McShane started to turn red, "I told you, if you mention the Ghostbusters again, I'm gonna…"

There was a bang at the main doors to the office. The door opened as a man with salt and pepper hair with a matching mustache in a suit and red bowtie walked in. Jensen - McShane's most trusted aid and assistant - softly spoke to the Mayor as he saw he was on the phone, "Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but we have a situation." McShane took the phone receiver away from his head as he addressed the man at the door, "What is it, Jensen? Can't you see I'm in the middle of a nightmare right now?"

The office door swung open further as Dan stepped into the office, "That's putting it lightly. Let me guess: not enough hot dogs, or not enough people to eat 'em?" The Mayor watched as all of the Ghostbusters accompanied by the girls and Darien walked into the mayor's office, Serena and Mina holding Luna and Artemis respectively. Dan pushed Jensen out of the way as all of them made their way to the desk. McShane became miffed as he hastefully concluded his phone call, "I'll call you back." Hanging up the phone he stood from the desk and started yelling at the group before him, "What is the meaning of this? How dare you just burst your way into my office during a vital…"

"Will you shut up!" Dan yelled, "You know, I'm glad I never actually had to meet you up to this point in my career, but considering the amount of bullshit I heard about you up to now…"

Kylie came up beside Dan and held onto his arm to try and stop him from flying off the handle, "There's a reason why we're here, remember?" Dan looked to Kylie and saw she was trying to get him back on point. Egon came to the forefront of the crowd and stood beside Kylie, "Correct," Egon cleared his throat and began explaining, "Mr. Mayor, I understand you have a disdain for us and believe us to be questionable, but we have to explain the situation…" "And why should I listen to a group of vigilantes like the likes of you?" McShane said cutting Egon off, "We clearly don't need your snake oil operation mussing up this city's Independence Day all on the account of a bunch of people claiming they're seeing bat-things in the sky. Anything you have to say isn't worth my time," the Mayor sat back down in his seat as he addressed them for what he thought was the last time, "now get out of my office!"

Lita stepped forward and raised her own voice, "Snake oil?! Give me one good reason to…" Eduardo got behind her and slapped his hand over her mouth as he addressed her, "Chica, don't push it," he slowly let her go as he stated candidly, "he's more worried about getting re-elected to a smoldering crater in the ground." Garrett joined in on the riffing, "Of course, he's hoping the uglies in the sky will just take up residence in Connecticut." Old Man Dan was also among the people in the office, "Like Californians fleeing to Austin, Texas?" The whole room turned and looked at the extradimensional clone of Dan with befuddled expressions. Old Dan took notice with a nonchalant response, "It'll make sense in 20 years."

McShane noticed that the two Dans were in the room and raised an eyebrow before shaking his head and calling out to the staff outside the office, "Security, get these lunatics out of my office!" He looked to Jensen and started reaffirming his demands, "Get security and the police. I want these jokers locked up." Jensen was just about to walk back out the door when Carl came up to the rear of the group and began pushing Jensen back. When the Mayor took notice of the police uniform he started throwing commands, "Sargant, get these people out of here!"

"That's not gonna happen, Sir," Carl stated as he moved his way to the front of the group, "We have a massive issue and you need to stop playing pussyfoot with the situation." McShane became indignant, "Excuse me?" Carl waved back behind him to the group of people in the office as he started bluntly stating to the Mayor, "Mr. Mayor, the monster attacks are getting worse. The Ghostbusters have been in pursuit of members of a cult that are responsible for all of this. I've seen it. My own partner is a member of this cult and he turned my son against me. We're about to be up to our necks in monsters and we need to take action."

"He speaks the truth, Mr. Mayor," Amy broke her silence being the first of the Scouts to speak, "The cultists are using a magical flute to play the Symphony of Destruction. The flute was considered to be of Norse origin at first, but we learned it was from an evil parallel dimension we call the Negaverse." The Mayor scoffed. He looked at everyone in the room with a level of disgust he only showed to political opponents, "And you expect me to believe that? What do I look like to you, Jock Mulligan? You're interfering with official city business, and I'm not going to stand for it!" Dan just about lost his patience, "You could always sit for it; I can help you do so."

Everyone just winced, Roland facepalming himself as he commented, "Great, now we're in trouble."

"Did you just threaten the Mayor of New York?" McShane asked, clearly not taking kindly to the tone of voice. Just then the City Hall security guards came toward the door. McShane saw them and started yelling out, "These people are threatening my life! I want them arrested and charged with intent to commit assault on a public official!" Dan turned and looked out the door and saw the army of guards coming toward the office. He turned to the cat guardians and asked, "Are you ready to do this?" Luna and Artemis nodded in unison. This whole thing was planned. They looked to Garrett and Roland, them looking back and nodding just the same. Raye was a bit unnerved, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Dan took a deep breath before he answered, "No."

Suddenly Dan spun on his heels and looked at the door. He threw out his hand and waved it across the door causing the doors to close rapidly. The heavy steel reinforced parts in the door were grabbed and thrown by Dan's incognito magnetic manipulation ability, soon after seeing a set of decorative swords on the wall. Dan threw his hand again, taking both swords and wrapping them around the door knobs causing the doors to be effectively sealed for the moment. Garrett turned in his chair and put a hand toward the swords making them heat up and glow. After Dan used the magnetic field to further shape the steel, Roland then used his power to rapidly cool the swords down and make them contract. The door was now completely closed.

As the guards banged on the doors from the outside McShane and Jensen retreated behind the wooden desk putting them to the wall. Almost immediately the two of them started sweating bullets. Dan, Egon, Serena, and Mina approached the desk and stopped before it. McShane was clearly starting to tremble as they walked closer, "W-what d-do you want? Is there something you want from the Mayor's office? We can get you anything, j-just don't hurt us!"

Old Man Dan looked to Carl, "I can see why you picked this asshole over Giuliani. How the hell did he handle the September Attacks?"

Dan raised his eyebrow, "Anything, huh?" "Y-yes! Money; a flight out of here; a lifetime supply of Doublemint Gum!" That one made Dan squint in confusion, making him look to Egon. Egon shrugged, "Perhaps he had garlic for lunch and didn't want to upset his constituency with his foul breath. The mind works strangely under duress." Dan shook his head and went back to the Mayor, "Okay, you'll give us anything. We want your undivided attention with no interruptions. Get it?" "Y-yes," the Mayor agreed, "Anything you have to say! We'll listen!" "Not us," Dan looked toward Serena and Mina, still standing at the front of the desk, "Them."

The Mayor and his aide looked at each other confused and then back to the two girls with the cats in their hands, their fear replaced with confusion, "These two girls?"

"Not the girls," Egon confirmed, "the cats." Luna and Artemis jumped from Serena and Mina's grips and landed on the desk. The Mayor was starting to become angry again as he raised his voice, "Cats? Spengler, are you and your band of frauds finally admitting you've lost it?! Cats can't talk!"

"Mr. Mayor, it would be best if you didn't automatically assume all animals are speechless, dumb beasts." McShane turned his attention slowly to the black cat that started to address him. After he had his attention on both of them, Artemis added to the dialog, "Considering what's happening right in front of your face, it would be a smart idea to heed what we have to say." From out of the side of his mouth McShane spoke to Jensen as quietly as he could, "You're seeing this too, right?" Jensen responded more candidly, "I am, Sir." "This is no hallucination, Mr. Mayor," Luna stated as she walked to the back edge of the desk, "My name is Luna, and this is my counterpart Artemis. We are the advisors to the Sailor Scouts." "The Sailor Scouts?" McShane was beyond confused, "Exactly who or what are they?"

Luna turned and looked to the girls and Darien, "I never thought I'd say this, especially after keeping everything secret for years, but it's time to transform." Each of the girls in the group stepped forward toward the mayor's desk and grabbed their transformation aids, taking them out into the open. Mina commented before they initiated their transformation, "I hope this isn't a bad idea." They raised them up as one by one they called out…

"Mars Power!"

"Mercury Power!"

"Venus Power!"

"Jupiter Power!"

"Moon Cosmic Power!"

The transformations illuminated the girls and wrapped them in energies respective to their uniforms' colors. The Ghostbusters stood back as each of the girls magically changed before their eyes. The Mayor and his aide stood stiff as they watched the energies of the girls light up the office in a brilliant light. Garrett especially watched as Raye transformed into Sailor Mars, the red pleated skirt wrapping her lower half and ribbons covering her arms forming her gloves. He was utterly transfixed on her watching the beauty before him, his jaw hanging open during the awakening of her powers. Roland and Eduardo were doing the same in complete amaration.

Dan looked away and saw Garrett's expression as he clearly saw the surprise from watching Raye's transformation. He commented, "Yeah, you never forget the first time you witness it. Especially…" Garrett looked to him and saw the smirk on his leader's face. Dan knew very well what he was feeling.

Their transformations were complete. The girls were now clad in their uniforms before the mayor. They were now the Sailor Scouts.

Darien then walked beside Sailor Moon and produced a single rose from the inside of his suit jacket. The rose began to glisten as he was enveloped in a starfield-like shroud before emerging in a Tuxedo wearing a domino masquerade mask. The tophat in his hand flew out and zoomed over the heads of McShane and Jensen causing Jensen to run away to stand beside Carl. The tophat came flying back to land on the tuxedoed man's head. Tuxedo Mask joined the Sailor Scouts in their presentation to the Mayor of New York.

"Wha…?" The Mayor was clearly shaken by what just happened. His back was against the wall between the windows of his office as he looked at the people that just changed before his eyes. He was having difficulty trying to form words, "What are you?" Sailor Moon stood tall and spoke, "I'm Sailor Moon. I right wrongs and triumph over evil. Mr. Mayor, the monsters attacking your city are from another world. Years ago we met the Ghostbusters and they helped us stop one of our enemies. We've done what we have today because we need you to help us help you."

Sailor Mercury spoke up next, "Mr. Mayor, us Sailor Scouts came here when we learned the Ghostbusters were trying to fight something we only just discovered was related to us. As I told you before, these monsters are part of a bigger conspiracy and it involves the police department, the Angel Guardian Home, and several other people in several other places."

Old Man Dan joined in, "The cult leader and her second in command have control of the Bishop Family's assets," he approached and leaned onto the desk with his hand on the top of the desk, "These people are infiltrated in everything like fucking cockroaches. We're about to hit a major influx of not only the airborne monsters but also the large Draugrs that had been tearing the place apart. We only have one option left in this whole thing: We have to evacuate Manhattan; maybe all five boroughs."

McShane was overloaded. He was a very stubborn man, but at this point he was unsure if he was losing his mind, already lost his mind, or if he was being messed with in some fashion or another. Egon walked up behind Sailor Mercury and placed his hands on her shoulders as he spoke, "These women have abilities that can stop a great amount of the monsters while we have the technology to help protect a great deal of the property. The trouble we have are the people. Mr. Mayor, we need the power of your office to help, otherwise we're all as good as done for. Between finding trusted police and rooting out the cultists, a lot of people will be caught in the crossfire."

McShane started to cautiously approach the desk as Sailor Mars now talked, "We've been told of your past interactions with the Ghostbusters which is why he decided to do what we did in front of you. We wanted to show we were on your side." McShane wiped the sweat from his forehead as he tried to regain his composure, "The Sailor Scouts. I've heard rumors…" All of the Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and the cats started looking at each other and exchanging looks before looking back to the Mayor, Sailor Jupiter asking, "You heard of us? Why did you act like you didn't?" "I-I look up other mayors' policies and decisions across the world," he explained, "I heard of the Mayors of Tokyo mentioning the Sailor Scouts in press conferences, but I didn't believe it. You?" he pointed to the Ghostbusters in the room, "You're friends with these con artists?"

Sailor Jupiter lost her temper and approached the desk, making Old Man Dan back away a bit as she yelled at the Mayor, "Con artists?!" Artemis looked back and saw the look in her eyes, "Uh, oh!" "If it weren't for these 'Con Artists' the whole planet would have been sucked into a black hole at the top of Starlight Tower long before you became mayor of this stinking place!" she stopped at the front of the desk as she yelled further, "How dare you say anything that disgusting about them! Without them, you wouldn't be here!" she punctuated her rant by punching the desk causing it to crack in half.

As the desktop came crashing to the floor, McShane and Old Dan jumped back from the desk while Luna and Artemis jumped off the desk. It took a moment but as soon as she calmed down enough to get her senses back she looked down and saw the desk in shambles. She winced, "Oops!" After Luna got herself stabilized on the floor she turned and began to scold the Scout of Thunder, "Sailor Jupiter!" The Scout's wincing intensified as she sheepishly put her hand to the back of her head in embarrassment, "Sorry!" Garrett wheeled up and knocked on the top of the desk and heard the sound profile of the material before looking back, "Woah! That's three inches of solid oak!"

The Mayor was shocked at the sheer strength of the woman before what was his former desk. He started to regret angering the Sailor Scout and was starting to run in survival mode as he started to get himself under control, "Perhaps I misspoke." "Hey, McShane," Garrett called out, "we need a leader; not a politician. These unstable loons are causing your earthquakes and are destroying your buildings." "And all of it with a magical flute that can summon it all," Sailor Venus added, "If we don't find these guys, the world's going to end and billions of people will die."

"You can't just expect the Mayor to take your word for it," everyone turned to Jensen as he interjected, "Do any of you have any proof of this cult's existence?" Old Man Dan looked at the man and took notice of something. There was a flare up in his Ecto-Activation he never saw before.

"Right," the Mayor was taking his cue on command, "How do we know this isn't just some wild story you made up to cover your miserable hides?" Jensen took over the conversation again, "Funny how these things show up right before you did!" Old Dan saw it again. He was starting to feel like something was wrong…

Sailor Moon felt slighted by that, "You think we did this?"

Carl broke in, "What we're saying is true. Me and Shannon were kidnapped by my partner and he told us they were ending the world." "We know what they need to complete the whole Symphony," Dan came forward and walked beside Sailor Jupiter, "We've been trying to find the last Stanza for the last week. If given access to the city without anyone in our way, we can find it ahead of the cult. The other reason is, people could die as a direct result of their actions aside from the Symphony. We need to get them out of here."

Jensen started walking closer to Carl's side as he questioned further, "And do you know where this Stanza is?"

Old Man Dan turned to the Mayor's aide and answered, "My counterpart just told you, we don't know!"

Jensen spoke in an eerily calm tone of voice, "That's what I thought."

Old Man Dan suddenly saw a massive set of motions emanating from Jensen's body; his aura was projecting out like his hand was reaching for Carl's side. It did it a few times, each time pulling away from Carl's side with a new object in the hand. It looked like a handgun.

Old Dan realized what it was he was seeing, "Holy… Carl, grab your gun!" he said quickly, "Grab it! Grab it now!"

Before Carl could process what the older version of Dan was saying Jensen reached for Carl's service pistol and pulled it from his holster. He then grabbed Kylie by the wrist and pulled her toward him then putting the pistol to her head. Eduardo and Sailor Venus yelled out, "Kylie!" "Everyone, don't move!" Jensen yelled. Everyone in the room stood stiff. The Mayor was befuddled at what just happened, "Jensen, why are…?" "Don't you get it, Mayor?" Kylie said with strain, "He's a member of the Order of Asatro; the cult."

"Griffin is correct, Sir," Jensen said in mock platitude, "I was assigned to your side leading up to your election years in advance. Did any of you ever wonder why McShane had a disdain for all of you? It was to make sure if a citywide issue like what's happening now happened, the Mayor's office would make it difficult for you to get cooperation. I made sure I had the most influence over the situation and made sure I fed into his distrust of you in our goals."

McShane was appalled, "You've been at my side for six years. You've done this the whole time!?"

"That was exactly what he needed." Jensen's response didn't jive with Old Dan. Six years? He? Something was off, "Holly wasn't in charge of this cult this far back. How…" "I figured you would have learned by now, but since you're all going to go down anyway, I might as well tell you. Mr. St. James organized the whole ordeal. I worked for the Bishop's as far back as the 80's. I was one of their influencing plants in the case the mayor couldn't be bought. When Mr. St. James joined the family in 1992, he said he had a master plan. I went along with it because there was a promise of a better life after the coming of Hel. As much as I didn't believe in any of this, I knew it still meant I would be at the side of someone more powerful and useful. The Bishop's were goons; they killed Holly's father all because he was trying to undo all the corruption the family put in the construction market. It was petty and stupid. Mr. St. James had just joined the family and he agreed."

Tuxedo Mask needed to ask, "What was his motivation for doing this? Why was he a part of the family?"

"I don't know," Jensen answered, "All I know was it wasn't the way. From there he started massaging the Boss to look into the Angel Guardian Home. There was something about the place that fascinated him. It was like someone was there that was a rival."

Sailor Mars was at her limit, "None of this makes any sense! What does this St. James guy have to do with the Negaverse?"

"Enough questions!" he yelled, "I got forced into the family with the threat of my own family's life and after I did, Geno Bishop killed my daughter in a drunken rage after he violated her. The Boss, Valentino - Geno's father - laughed in my face. This was right after he hired me to be his tax lawyer. After his son killed my little girl, he told me, 'Whatever my family wants, you supply it; even if it's yours.' Mr. St. James promised me he would get him back for me. He did exactly that while also helping Holly Bautista. I would follow him to the end. As much as I don't like doing this, Asatro was my only way out of the family. This new family I can understand. Now that's been said, I want a way out of here. Now!"

"Mr. Jensen," Everyone turned to Sailor Jupiter as she started to slowly approach. Jensen put the gun harder to Kylie's head prompting her to stop. She put up her hands and signaled she wasn't trying anything, "Mr. Jensen, I know what it's like to lose a family. My parents were taken from me when I was just a little girl. We all become afraid of the thing that killed our family members, and your's is corruption. I'm so sorry your daughter was hurt from what happened; whatever happened to this 'Geno' is likely too good for him, but you can't just destroy the world over one death. My parents and grandparents; Tuxedo Mask's parents; Eduardo and Carl's father; Dan's grandfather; Kylie's Great grandmother; these deaths didn't make us evil. Any sacrifice that has to be made, it doesn't make up for the people we lost. If anything, we're making other good people lose the ones they love. Doing what you're doing is the exact evil that was put on you." Sailor Jupiter started walking toward Jensen slowly.

Luna and Artemis watched as she approached the man holding the gun to the Ghostbuster's head. Luna exclaimed in a whispered voice, "Sailor Jupiter, no!"

Dan was also feeling the panic in him, "Lita? Lita, don't…"

Sailor Jupiter ignored her link with Dan and kept approaching the man. She had sympathy in her eyes as she approached and held out her hand slowly, "Please, Mr. Jensen, just give me the gun. It doesn't have to be like this." Kylie started to feel the gun shake in Jensen's hand as he was pressing it against her temple. She looked to the side to see what his face looked like with no way of actually seeing it. She heard his breathing and it was becoming unstable. Sailor Jupiter could see tears in Jensen's eyes as she approached with her hand outreached. She spoke softly, "Please, don't hurt my friend."

After a few moments, Jensen responded, "You're right. This is wrong," he closed his eyes as the tears streamed down his face and slowly took the pistol barrel away from Kylie's head, "I shouldn't do this to anyone else." It seemed like it was over…

Old Man Dan saw otherwise, "Oh, fuck!"

Right before it happened, Old Man Dan saw Jensen's aura telegraph putting the gun to his head instead.

"Lita, get down!" the old Ghostbuster yelled as he drew his Tether Pistol and fired an Ecto-Wad. Sailor Jupiter dropped to the floor just in time for Old Dan's Ecto-Wad to hit the hammer on the back of the pistol stopping Jensen from commiting suicide. Tuxedo Mask pulled a rose from his tuxedo jacket and whipped it at Carl's pistol in Jensen's hand, ripping it from his grip. The gun flew across the office and became stuck in the wall with the rose stem being threaded through the trigger guard.

Carl and Eduardo immediately ran toward Jensen and Kylie, Carl grabbing him and Eduardo grabbing her. Carl grabbed both of Jensen's arms and started the process of restraining him with his hand cuffs. Kylie's legs gave out just as Eduardo grabbed her and set her down easy, "Kylie! Kylie, you okay?"

"I just saw my life flash before my eyes," she said as she tried to regain her breath, "Man, I really did spend too much of Junior High at cheerleading practice." Dan's face contorted into confusion, "Cheerleading?" Sailor Venus whispered into his ear, "She was Cheerleader of the Year when she was in 8th grade."

"Go ahead, arrest me," Jensen cried out, "I'm as good as dead." "Be quiet, goddamnit!" Carl yelled as he locked the cuffs behind his back. McShane was starting to come down from his adrenaline rush, having heard the conversation to the end. He was at a loss for words, "How long has this been going on?" Egon explained, "The best we can estimate, September of 1987; right after Jeremy Whittington attempted to do the same. There was a man that showed up two days after the events of the Symphony of Destruction. This man - Matthew St. James, as Jensen described - is now at the cult leader's side. Two of these Stanzas have been played and have one last Stanza to obtain."

McShane put his hand to his head as he was taking it all in, "W-where is this last Stanza?"

"That's the trouble," Sailor Mercury answered as she helped Sailor Jupiter off the floor, "Dr. Spengler had been asking around for information for the last week. We believe it's somewhere in the city, but none of the curators of the museums have responded."

"And you won't find it," Jensen said as Carl turned him around, "The Stanza is hidden in an artifact. Holly and Matthew are the only ones that know what and where the artifact is. They couldn't get any of their agents into the location where it's held."

Sailor Jupiter walked to Jensen and asked, "Where is it being held?"

"I just told you!" the Mayor's former aide yelled at her, "Only Holly and Matthew know! The only other thing I know is they were using the big gray dead warriors to scope out the locations. The college was one; the library all we needed were our people, but that's all I know!" "The college?" Garrett asked, putting the thoughts together, "Those bleachers in the gym! One of those big ugly things might have ripped them apart!"

McShane just had his world turned upside down. This whole time he had been manipulated into hating the Ghostbusters preemptively to stop this issue. After all of this time, even during the Pied Piper Incident where Jensen actually suggested he call the Ghostbusters, it was all a ruse. He probably did that much to throw him off the scent of his manipulation. He felt so betrayed.

But that was then. He realized now he had to take the situation seriously - no matter how ridiculous - because of the now clear danger the city was under. He sighed a hard sigh, "Okay, you have my attention. What's your plan?"