"Holtzmann, this is incredible, but are you sure this will work?" Erin asked her fellow Ghostbuster.
Holtzmann smirked at her, "Oh ye of little faith, my dear Erin," she said as she stood in front of her newest invention and the latest addition to the Ghostbuster's technology. "This is what you all wanted, right? This is what we wanted all the time; a way of studying the ghosts, rather than just simply going after them, and catching them. Well, here it is!" She gestured dramatically towards it.
Erin looked past her friend and studied it. The device was easily big, dominated by a large tank, like a giant fish tank that was empty of water and sealed on top. There were cables leading to it to power it up. Erin knew if Holtzmann had tried to build this thing in the restaurant floor they had taken as a temporary HQ before the Mayor's office had secretly given them the funding they'd needed after dealing with Rowan and his plan to destroy the world by tearing open a hole in the Ley lines, it would likely never be like this.
But the Ghostbusters were now living and working in an old firehouse. The moment they'd gotten it, they hadn't wasted any time; aside from taking a whole floor, to the frustration and annoyance of Patty, Holtzmann had spent a lot of her time taking advantage of their new resources building a new generation of proton packs and traps, but also a ghost containment system to gather all of the ghosts together in a kind of prison.
Inspired by this, Holtzmann had backtracked on that, and she had spent weeks designing and painstakingly built a second containment system, designed to contain captured ghosts for scientific research.
"How does it work?" Abby asked.
Holtzmann brightened. Nothing made her happier than to show off her latest inventions. She picked up a trap that was nearby.
"There isn't a ghost in that thing, is there?" Patty asked curiously.
"No. It's empty. I brought it up for demonstration purposes. I was thinking of getting a different ghost for later," Holtzmann said and she began the demonstration. "To use it, you take your trap," she lifted the trap, "and you unlock the system," she pulled a lever on the hatch built into the stand, "and when it switches to green, the protection grid is open. Then you slot your trap inside…," she placed the trap into the opening, "and then you close and lock to the system. And you can open the trap from the outside, and you release the ghost."
Erin frowned, knowing that Holtzmann would be watching them like hawks to make sure they didn't mess up. "How are the ghosts kept inside?"
"This containment system uses the same technology as the traps, but it's been boosted," Holtzmann replied as she took the trap out of the new containment unit.
"Have you tested this?" Patty asked.
"No, not yet. I wanted to show it to you before I took a ghost out of prison." Taking the trap with her, Holtzmann went down to the basement where the main containment prison was located. A few minutes later, she came back, holding the trap extremely carefully. Everyone backed up, giving Holtzman some space as she fitted the trap inside and released the ghost.
The ghost flew around inside the containment vessel; it was a glowing female ghost, her body translucent as she shot around the vessel looking for a way out. The team remembered capturing this ghost only too well; they'd caught her shortly after they'd gotten the firehouse. The moment the ghost was inside the containment unit, computers linked to it lit up and information scrawled over the screens. Holtzmann walked over to them and checked each monitor quickly, her mad smile growing as she examined them.
"Ah with these readings, we can learn a lot about the ghosts; their atomic nature, every conceivable scientific test I can think of, and believe me, I can think of dozens," she said.
Erin and Abby, intrigued, hurried over. "Y'know, with these readings we could discover a way of defying gravity," Erin breathed.
"That's not all we can do," Abby grinned. "We could probably learn more about the Ley lines themselves using these readings. Maybe even find a way of discovering other dimensions!"
"Holtzmann, this is incredible!" Erin gushed.
"I know. Abby and me, we've been trying to study ghosts outside the lab, but the truth is without this containment vessel, we couldn't get these clear readings as ghosts continuously phase in and out of our space-time continuum," Holtzmann said.
All of the scientific stuff went over Patty's head and she walked around the containment unit carefully, taking care not to step or trip up on any of the cables. It was a good thing she was there because Kevin came in and looked around casually. But he wasn't alone. Right behind him was Mayor Bradley, his assistant Jennifer Lynch and Agents Hawkins and Rourke. As she realised who Kevin brought in with him, Patty needed a second to realise the mayor looked a little bit fearful when he saw the ghost.
"Kevin, why is the Mayor and his assistant and two agents here?" Patty demanded. Her question made the others look up, and scowl internally at the visitors.
"Oh yeah, the Mayor's here," Kevin said, as if Patty hadn't just seen him.
Erin closed her eyes. Why was it that when Rowan possessed Kevin, he hadn't passed over a few IQ points? "Yes, we can see that," she muttered to herself while she stood up. Holtzmann walked over to the containment unit quietly, prepared to get the ghost out. The Ghostbusters didn't have a warm relationship with the Mayor, his simpering and patronising assistant, but the FBI agents had proven to have a very limited view of the way the world worked. The last thing she wanted was for them to make some stupid mistake, and release the ghost.
"Hello, everyone," the mayor said with his typical oily and insincere voice.
"Hello, Mayor Bradley," Abby smiled in greeting, hoping she was sincere. "What can we do for you?"
"I was in the area and thought I would drop in and see how you were doing, and we're trying to keep this meeting…hush-hush," Bradley explained.
None of the Ghostbusters believed him. This meeting had been planned. Why else would he have brought two FBI agents who had been tasked with keeping all of the weird paranormal events secret?
"That looks interesting. Is that a real ghost? She looks very angry," Ms Lynch said as she approached the containment unit. Holtzmann paused in her moves to trigger the trap, and suck the ghost back inside so she could take it back. She was left watching the woman as she approached the unit, and kept watch on her.
"It is a real ghost," Erin said, tensing slightly and hoping there wasn't a repeat of the Heiss mess.
"We're studying it," Abby added.
"Studying it? Wow, that sounds interesting. What have you found out?" The mayor asked, in a tone that would have told anyone who didn't know him that well he was genuinely interested, but once more the Ghostbusters knew he didn't mean it.
"Quite a few things," Erin didn't see any point in keeping it from him; the Ghostbusters didn't like or trust the mayor or his team that much, but at the same time they knew if they didn't have his permission to keep up with their operations, they would lose a lot of their newfound resources, and they didn't want that. "With some luck, we might learn more about how the Ley lines work, and many other things." Okay, she had no desire to tell them about gravity and perhaps discovering a way of beating it and making things like interplanetary flight possible, to say nothing of a Star Wars-like hyperdrive.
"But is there something going on?" Abby asked.
"No, why?"
"Why is the….subject," Agent Hawkins began, unable to say the word ghost, "in that tank-thing?"
"This tank thing," Holtzmann began, sounding dramatically annoyed, which made her fellow Ghostbusters flinch as she saw her inventions as her own kids, "is an observation vessel designed to study ghosts."
"That sounds very interesting. Is there a chance you'd be interested in handing the ghost over, for study?" Agent Hawkins asked.
"There are scientific institutions who would probably be better equipped to study these….phenomena," Agent Rourke added.
"Most of those institutes deny the existence of ghosts, even now," Abby pointed out.
"We know. We worked for them," Erin added.
"They might make some stupid mistake and the ghost could get loose, and they wouldn't have the gear to get it back," Patty said.
"However, we are open to scientists coming here and to see the ghosts and watch them from this lab," Erin surprised the Ghostbusters.
"Erin," Abby began, but Erin turned to her friend.
"Abby, this is a great compromise; we make sure the ghosts don't get out, and other scientists come and take a look. That way we please both parties," Erin said, keeping half an eye and ear on their visitors. "That way there aren't any disasters."
"I guess you've got a point."
"I know I'm right."
"Didn't say you weren't."
"That ghost is still a subject for study," Lynch interrupted them.
But Mayor Bradley was not in the mood for an argument. "I think that you've given us a good enough compromise, ladies," he said, although they didn't believe him, "but this is not the reason I'm here. I'm here to see for myself just how far you've come."
And for that, you brought your FBI stooges, everyone barring Kevin thought to themselves.
"We're doing quite well, thanks," Erin smiled and she walked over to the mayor, gesturing for Patty to come over with her, "why don't I show you around? I don't think you've seen how far we've come." Lowering her voice she said to Abby, "Make sure the ghost is out of the unit."
Abby nodded and hurried over to Holtzmann and waited until the mayor and his entourage were out of earshot and sight before they took the ghost out. When he came back, they could always say that they were going to make improvements to the containment vessel.