Chapter 16: Fall Seven Times

An army of tow trucks ran on the sides of the highways and major roads removing cars as quickly as possible. Every obstruction that would slow down the evacuation was removed as quickly as they arrived. There wasn't so much as a moment of lull as the people of New York were scrambling to get out. Along with assisting people out of the city, the police were ordered to round up any and all looters and have them thrown into armored prisoner buses out of the city for later processing.

No one was taking chances, not even the Order members and the police formerly on the Bishop's payroll. They knew damn well refusing to do anything of the sort was just like outting themselves. On the outskirts of the city was a deployment of the National Guard. All the roads in and out were now being guarded so that no one could enter the city until the order was rescinded.

At the Ghostbusters firehouse Janine was at the back desk watching as Roland, Dan, Lita, and Eduardo were loading the vehicles with the modified Disruptors. On the roof Darien and Old Dan were practicing firing the Proton Pack. Because of the need for bodies to load the Disruptors, Old Dan took over crash-course training. Darien was dressed in a spare black jumpsuit with red trim. The pack was kicking back hard, giving him a hard time keeping control of the thrower. Their target was simple: cardboard boxes with crude drawings of ghosts on them.

"Okay," Old Dan instructed, "let's try it again. Start just below the target. Throw your weight forward slightly as you fire to counter the discharge thrust. Be sure to plant your back foot this time! And… fire." Darien did as he was instructed and managed to hit the box. As Darien continued to fire and switched targets to more boxes on the roof beside the now ablaze target. Old Dan praised him, "Alright! I think you're finally getting it!"

"Oh, wow! You're nailing those targets!" Darien turned to the voice behind him, the beam still engaged. The beam veered off and was starting to fly into the other buildings in the neighborhood. Glass shattered as the beam dragged across the neighboring buildings faces. Old Dan grabbed the thrower and forced him to disengage the beam. Both of them looked and saw the damage being inflicted with several windows destroyed and the brickface being burned into. Old Dan slowly and calmly took his hands off the controls of the thrower, "The moment you become distracted, you. Shut. Down. Get it?" Darien sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Uh… Sorry!" They then turned to the source of the voice. Darien's jaw dropped.

Behind them at the roof access door was Kylie accompanied by Serena. Serena was dressed in the same one-piece black leotard Kylie wore as a uniform, minus as the orange trap harness. Loaded with gloves, protective elbow and knee pads, and boots, she had the long strands of her hair shortened by having the ends wrapped around her buns, making loops with her hair. On her side was the thrower of the Proton Pistol and the small support pack on her belt on her back. She took notice of her fiance's attire, "Oooh, Darien, you look handsome in that uniform!" Darien was stunned. For some reason, Serena in a Ghostbuster uniform froze his senses.

"I gotta admit, Moondust," Old Dan said as he crossed his arms and smirked, "you don't look too shabby in that uniform."

"I'm surprised she could fit in it," Kylie stated, "You should have seen her at the deli when she got her appetite back." Serena suddenly got heated and started yelling at the occultist making her flinch, "You look like an American version of Raye; you gotta pick on me like her, too?!"

Dairen got into the middle of the argument saying all the right things, "I have to say, Serena, you look good in black." Serena instantly forgot Kylie's slight as she looked to him with her eyes sparkling. She grabbed the pistol and pulled it out, deciding to strike a pose, "I look good in any color! What ya think? Do I look the part?"

Back downstairs the phone rang prompting Janine to pick it up at her desk, "Ghostbusters." She listened to the call as she nodded, "Okay, hold on. I have to call the team down. Hold please?" Pressing hold, she went to the building PA microphone and began calling everyone.

On the roof Old Dan responded to Serena's question, "Anyone can look the part, but can you play it? We need to give you some training…" The speaker at the roof access let off the burst of static as Janine's voice rang over it, "We have an incoming call from the mayor's office. Everyone to the garage."

"...Or," Old Dan said as he removed his Blackhawks hat and grabbed the bridge of his nose, "we can just wing it and hope for the best." With that everyone started for the door and headed down.

Sliding down the fire poles the group from the roof came to the garage to join the others by Venkman's desk with Janine and Egon standing before them. Egon clicked the speakerphone button and spoke, "Okay, Mr. Mayor, the team is here." "Good. You're at the phone," McShane said as his voice projected out of the handset, "Field reports say the evacuation is proceeding," the Mayor could be heard grunting in frustration knowing this whole thing was still stupid to him, "I've had the media and the Governor up my ass about this. I can only imagine what this is doing for my poll numbers."

The sounds of facepalms and the sight of eyes rolling permeated throughout the crowd. Eduardo whispered to Amy beside him what he was thinking, "It's amazing he can get those reporters up there considering his head is in the way." Amy looked at him confused and was about to ask when Mina grabbed her and whispered in her ear. After a moment Amy blushed as Mina explained what that meant. Old Dan commented loudly, "If I'm to paraphrase Don Rimgale from Backdraft, 'Mayor, I have an uncomplicated job: To determine if a cult is destroying the world or not, and if so, to catch the sons of bitches doing it. And if my investigative methods happen to muck up the reelection campaign of a mayor, I gotta tell ya, I'm not gonna go losing any sleep over it.'"

"Is this plan of yours going to work or not?" The Mayor complained, "I have half the city panicking over the message calling my office ad nauseum with no real reassurances to give them. The looters alone are causing a massive outcry and slowdown of operations. The city wasn't ready for this kind of panic." Darien approached the phone to ask, "How much longer is the evacuation going to take?" "Current reports say three hours. The hospitals have been evacuated; it'll be nighttime by the time the city is clear. We have every cop car, bus, and hack in the city getting people out. The National Guard has the city limits blocked. Don't tell me this'll be like those instances of Mr. Stay Puft going through Columbus Circle again, is it?"

Dan approached the phone, "Mr. Mayor, this is Shannon. Look, we're doing what we can about the situation. In order to keep the city from crashing and burning, we have to get the winged assholes under control. There's also the matter of the Draugrs. The best we can figure, these things are not going to be affected by the shields, but the Man-Bat creatures will be stopped. It would be best to prepare for the worst."

"That's it?" the mayor said with discontent, "That's all you can say?! You do know what you're up against, don't you?!"

"We still have more to do, Sir," Amy explained, "We have to make sure the cult members are rooted out as well, but that'll have to come when we have the shields up." The shuffling on the other side of the phone was a clear indicator that the Mayor was fuming. Still, he had nothing left to go on.

As the conversation continued the main front door opened as a woman with blonde hair walked in with a book in her hand. After a moment the woman stopped and saw the vehicles in the garage bay and saw the damage that were inflicted on at least one. Janine looked over everyone's head and saw the woman standing there. She nudged Egon and pointed to her. Egon recognized her and decided to cut the mayor off, "Mr. Mayor, we'll keep you apprised of the situation. We'll be in contact." He reached down and disconnected the call, soon after addressing the woman, "Cindy? Cindy Whittington?" Dan, Eduardo, and Lita turned and saw that Cindy was standing beside Ecto-1 holding a brown leather-clad journal. Everyone else followed suit turning to the woman as she approached, "I'm sorry about barging in like this, Egon. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

By this time Egon and Janine rounded the desk and approached the woman. Janine came up and hugged her before Egon came up and did the same, him saying, "I heard about Jeremy. I'm sorry, we didn't know." The woman pulled away as she responded, "It's okay, Egon. I know things get hectic around here."

"Mrs. Whittington," Dan said as he approached, "why are you here? You need to get outta here! Get your son and evacuate. DyTyllio should have left with the rest of the hospital evacuees, so…" That was when he noticed Cindy's body language shifting hard at mention of his name. She started clinching the book in her hands harder as she began hugging it to her chest. She bit her lower lip and lowered her head as her eyes closed. It was a hard swing, "Mrs. Whittington?" he asked. "After you left," she spoke in a pained voice, "he went to sleep. They didn't realize it until later when they went to check on him. He was so… content."

Everyone looked at each other until Dan and Egon locked eyes. Egon's face also looked pained because he realized what happened. Lita also realized what had happened through the link with Dan. DyTyllio - Jeremy's friend - Godfather to her child…

DyTyllio passed away.

Lita stepped forward and hugged Cindy, tears forming in her eyes. She felt the older woman's pain. That day a couple of weeks ago when the issues started Dan, Eduardo, and Lita went to visit Cindy in hopes to talk to Jeremy. When they learned he had died they hoped DyTyllio could give them a clue on where to start looking for the recorder. Lita spent what was the last few moments he was alive giving her the confidence to confront Dan with her pain. The way he spoke to her. He was kind despite his physical deformities. At first she was nervous around him, but she soon became comfortable like she was talking to her grandfather. She felt so bad because she had a connection with him for such a short time.

"DyTyllio wanted me to give you this, Ms. Kino," Cindy broke the hug and backed away from Lita a bit as she handed the journal to the Japanese woman before her, "There was a note inside. The journal was Jeremy's. DyTyllio kept hold of it up until the last days. I-I didn't even know my husband kept a journal let alone DyTyllio guarding it. I was too afraid to look inside it…"

By this time Lita took the notepad sheet out of the pages of the journal and read the letter:

Ms. Kino and Mr. Shannon,

If you are reading this, there is no doubt I'm gone. It was inevitable, but after your visit, I witnessed the both of you embracing each other. I knew there was something between you that was stronger than any other force in this world, and that was when I decided to let go of mine and Master Jeremy's agreement to never speak of what we learned with the recorder.

Contained in this Journal was Master Jeremy's writings - after the fact - of the events that lead to the research the both of us made while globetrotting putting together the pieces of this puzzle. I had always refrained from looking inside of the journal. In truth, I wish I had burned it the day he was killed, but I was compelled to hold onto it in case anything like this ever happened as it did before. I prayed I was wrong. My prayers went unanswered. I hope wherever I go past this life, I can go somewhere where my prayers can be heard because I know it's only going to get worse.

To Ms. Kino: Thank you for giving me one last chance to feel like a normal man again. You looked upon me not as a distorted and twisted man. You saw past my outer being and saw my soul. It's rare for a person to see one for who they really are and be fearless in approaching them. When you placed your hand onto mine you made me feel an acceptance I had only felt with Master Jeremy, Cindy, and Scotty. You are an exceptionally kind woman with a thunder in your heart. Never let your anger or your fear rob you of that one last moment. My last moment was of hope. For that, I will forever be eternally grateful and can only hope to come back to help you someday, no matter my form.

As they say in your country, 'Nana korobi ya oki.'

DyTyllio

"'Nana korobi ya oki.'" Dan repeated the final line from DyTyllio. Cindy cocked an eyebrow as she noticed Dan wasn't near Lita enough to read the letter. She looked between the both of them and asked, "I saw that in the letter. What does that mean?" Lita answered, "It's a proverb from my country: 'Fall Seven Times; Raise Eight.'" She looked down at the journal in her hands, "It means to never give up." Dan walked up behind her and put his hands on Lita's shoulders as she said, "DyTyllio meant a lot to you and your family. I can see why." With that she handed the book to Dan. Dan looked at the book briefly before looking back to Egon and handing it to him, "What ya think, Spengs?"

Egon took the journal and opened it. He took the PKE meter on his belt out and took a mild scan. The meter didn't yield anything, "I may have to parse through this later," he put the meter away and closed the book, "Cindy, is there anything else that needs to be addressed?" She shook her head, "No. I have to go now." She turned to leave…

"I have a question." Cindy stopped and turned to the man asking: Dan, "Why did DyTyllio say Jeremy was killed? You said he ran out to save a little girl from…"

Cindy recoiled in horror.

She promptly shook her head and started to walk out quickly. He stepped forward and called out to her, "Mrs. Whittington? Mrs. Whittington… Cindy, wait! Why…?" She walked out and closed the door behind her. She was gone, evacuating with the rest of the New York citizens. That shook Dan, "That did not sit well with me."

Wednesday July 3rd, 2002

NYPD 1st Precinct

16 Ericsson Place

5:25 PM

Having to drive through the streets of Tribeca was a pain in the ass normally. When the mayor orders an evacuation, it makes it worse. The nice thing was he didn't need to drive and just walk the sidewalks, albeit slowly to avoid hitting the non-attentive morons on said sidewalks. Old Dan stopped in front of the precinct which was just around the block from the main firehouse. He saw Carl standing outside waiting for him. Carl had called Old Dan to come to the police station for something and he wasn't told why. He walked up to him, "What's this about? We got a major operation we need to pull off tonight."

"If what Eddie knows about you is true," the Sergeant stated, "and what you said about the Bishops is also true, I need your psychic whatever-it-is to separate the rotten ones from the good ones. I mean, how did you know Jensen was going to pull my pistol?"

Old Dan now understood what it was Carl needed him for: He needed his Ecto-Activation abilities to see people's auras. There was something he noticed that was odd from that morning that he had never seen before and Carl pointed it out, "That was a new one on me. I guess because I was with Sailor Moon when the cult assassins were on our asses it made my activation mutate. The more ethereal energy one of us is exposed to, the stranger the abilities. I guess I can see peoples thoughts start to telegraph with their auras now. I thought I saw Darien's when he went to take a swipe at me after the chase, but…"

"Look," Carl interrupted the older Ghostbusters thoughts, "can it help us? Can it help me weed these assholes out?"

Old Dan thought about it for a moment. After the moment passed he nodded in agreement, "I was able to before; I think it became easier. Yeah, I can help."

The station was bustling with activity. The building was being cleaned out of arrested and people coming to file complaints despite the evacuation orders. Walking into the station house all of the cops in the room took notice of Carl and Old Dan as they stepped into the center of the room. That morning Mayor McShane gave Carl the authority to take control of the Tribeca station and everyone there knew if they did something stupid they would be in serious trouble. Even the chief and the commissioner couldn't do anything to Carl. He had one task that was given to him: Put together a task force that would assist the Ghostbusters.

The tension in the room was thick. At the very least he had to get the Tribeca station cleared of cultists so they had a decent chance of taking control of the situation, and everyone in the room was aware something was either amiss, or that the pressure was on. He approached the desk and spoke to the duty sergeant, "I want everyone in the building with a badge in the garage in 30 minutes; Patrolmen; Detectives; Meter Maids; everyone, including you. Anyone on the street is to be recalled back to the station. Get on it."

30 minutes pass. Every officer that reported to this precinct - little over 450 - was lined up in alphabetical order and trotted into the garage one by one. The first officer was led in and interviewed. Every one of them took notice of Old Dan and his uniform. As they went person to person Carl went down the list of personnel and marked off Old Dan's reaction to their presence. Old Dan watched from behind each person as there was a flareup from their aura, some rather violent with the telegraph ability letting him see some of the officers wanting to beat the hell out of him. It was disturbing, seeing a ghostly outline of some of the officers wanting to commit such violent inflictions onto him. Those were the ones he knew were likely cultists or at the least formerly on the Bishop's take.

It took a couple of hours. With each person checked Old Dan looked to Carl and either shook or nodded his head. Those that had no reaction at first, Old Dan made sure he tried to get their attention somehow, usually going full Groucho Marx or at least Deadpool adjacent making smartass comments, "Have you ever tested the hardness of a cinder block? There are many methods; using your face isn't one," and "A witch's hat is just a dunce cap with a brim," being just a few.

Some of them tried hard to hold back their laughter showing they had no ill will or intent. As they finally got to an older man in the group toward the end dressed in a white uniform shirt, Old Dan stopped as he took notice of who he was. He knew from the research he did how serious it was, "So, Captain Savalia. Fancy seein' your happy ass here." He looked to Carl and used his head to nod in a way to make sure he was paying attention. Carl wasn't sure what Old Dan was thinking or what he knew, but he knew he had to be ready. He tucked the clipboard he had under his arm and explained it to his Captain, "Sir, Mr. Shannon here would like to interview you."

Old Dan began, "Starting with this: Has the pay been consistent for ya, or has inflation rendered it plateaued? Seems like there might have been a drop off after Valentino pulled stakes and hauled ass outta town." He was getting a reaction. The Captain knew damn well he couldn't do anything and knew he was out of the loop on everything Asatro related. Old Dan knew he had to get this man out just for the safety of the situation, "I have to ask, how many pieces of evidence were thrown in the trash that were against Geno Bishop? To imagine, I work in a building just down the street from here, and all of that evidence; those pieces of clothing that had… how do I put this…" from the corner of his eye he saw the Captain's aura start to grow in anger as he spoke. He finally got it out, " …Geno's 'genetics' on them? To imagine, all of that genetic material going into the same garbage truck as our pizza boxes. Seems kinda gross. Know what I mean, Cap?"

Old Dan paced around the Captain as he talked. The Captain was reacting to that hard as the man paced slowly around him. He responded to the Ghostbuster, "You're making accusations you can't prove." "Fuck judges and lawyers. They allow pieces of shit to become politicians then make idiotic amounts of money defending rich fuckers all while saving their political parties and forcing the working man to foot the bill for it. Worst part is, you get two paychecks while doing the opposite of your sworn duty," Old Dan mockingly pointed to the captain on the return lap as he spoke to Carl, "Senator in the making, huh, Rivera?"

Carl grabbed the bridge of his nose as Old Dan started again, "The proof I need lies in your demeanor, Captain. Considering you were letting Geno bounce on your daughter and you decided to save his ass before anything tells me the money was more important than your family." Right there, Old Dan saw the flare up go full Hiroshima. Old Dan saw the Captain's hand reach out for him through his aura before he did it for real. Old Dan grabbed the man by his wrist and twisted the man's arm behind his back. Carl jumped at the sudden movement the two of them made before Old Dan promptly grabbed the back of the Captain's head and threw him against a car still in the repair bay of the garage.

The Captain grunted as he was being held, "Valentino was a piece of shit. It wasn't so much the money as it was the scandal!" "Yeah, yeah," Old Dan pressed him harder into the squad car, disarming him and throwing the pistol across the garage, "Geno - the fucker - got drunk. I know. Face it, fucker was mean and his father was a weak-ass. Here was his only son going around and doing every woman with a short skirt. Had to save his baby boy, right? The victim being an NYPD Captain, it was either your daughter or your daughter; his son wasn't up for slaughter. Better with the big R to her name rather than having her dead, right? What happened later? After putting yourself on the take to shut Valentino up, what happened?"

Old Man Dan saw the change as he was talking. He knew he was getting through to the Captain as he was talking, his body no longer trying to fight and even going limp. It became clear once he heard the Captain begin to talk, "She…" he heard him whimper, "…she found out what I did and had a mental breakdown. They found her in her cell at the hospital hanging from…" he couldn't finish it. As much as Old Dan wanted to have sympathy, it was for the Captain's daughter, not the Captain. Grabbing his collar with his free hand while still holding the man's arm with the other Old Dan picked him up and threw him toward the outside door to the garage.

Old Man Dan spat at the man as he regained his balance, "You're damaged goods, Captain. I know damn well you put this St. James guy's cronies in your department. My suggestion to you is pack up and get the fuck outta Dodge before these Cultist fucks slice your ass like gyro meat. In truth, you should have fought this whole thing the moment Geno whipped it out."

The Captain pleaded, "You don't understand…"

"And I don't care!" Old Dan yelled over him, "I don't know what kind of cop you were, but it had to be a shit one if you were willing to do something like that to your family! I have a niece and I could never imagine my brother doing something like that to his own daughter. Get the fuck outta here and don't you dare come back." Captain Savalia looked back at both the Ghostbuster and the police Sergeant. He was found out. The feeling of a horrible pit in his stomach started to grow as he hung his head in shame. He knew he was marked. He walked his way to the door, almost stepping out…

"One last thing, Captain." The man stopped and turned to see Carl stepping forward and addressing him, "I want to know: Where's my son? What have these people done with him and Manny?" The Captain looked away back to the exit door. He shook his head, "I don't know. You're on your own, Sergeant." Hitting the door latch, he walked out with the door shutting behind him.