Sunset, September 19, 2003

The sun was starting to sink below the western horizon by the time the ECTO-1X roared into final approach to their headquarters, sirens blazing; several teenagers in black clothes ran away.

The customer door to the side of the double doors stood upen.

"f***..." Bo snarled as he pressed the small switch on the ECTO-1X's ceiling and the double green doors opened; within seconds, the car skidded to a halt.

The sound froze them. A very loud klaxon blaring every few seconds.

"The Containment Unit?!" Jen shouted. "But how?! There's several backups and security measures..."

"Oh shit..." Shades breathed.

"BACK IN THE F***ING CAR!!!" Bo howled.

"We have less than a minute to get out of here." Jen shouted as she opened her door and jumped in. Shades jumped in his side and closed the door behind him as Bo started up the engine.

"Hold on tight!" Bo shouted as he shifted the car into reverse.

"Bo, the doors!" Ernie shouted in warning.

"F*** the doors!" Bo shouted as he slammed his boot down onto the gas pedal. The car shot backwards and slammed through the wooden doors, their remains raining onto the ECTO-1X's hood. Bo then performed a 90 degree turn and shot down the street. When he was a block away he pulled the car through a 180 degree turn and faced the Firehouse, causing broken glass and wooden framework to slide across the hood and fall onto the roadway.

Onlookers were gawking.

Bo screamed at them. "GET AWAY FROM THERE, YOU F***TARDS, BEFORE..."

The windows on the first floor and the gap in the double doors began to glow a ghostly white, then the windows on the second floor began to glow. Soon they could see newspapers and other lose articles being blown out of the destroyed doors. A brighter flash suddenly went off in the garage and the windows blew out, broken glass rained down a block away as a second white flash blew out the second floor windows, the sign shook as the aged structure was assaulted by the built up paranormal energy.

The final death throes of the Firehouse were witnessed by the team as they watched the roof of their headquarters buckle and explode, wooden support beams and roof tiles rained down as a pillar of energy rose from the building.

The elevator housing shook apart and collapsed into the Firehouse, and all along the Eastern bank of Manhattan Island, people crowded the railings to watch the red pillar of energy rise over the small skyline of Brooklyn.

The top half of the Eastern wall of the Firehouse collapsed to the ground, taking some of the fancy roof cornice with it, it tumbled to the pavement where it smashed into several large pieces of concrete. Large burning objects rained down and smashed into the street, the nearest burning debris turned out to be the burning remains of a card table.

"So much for Solitare!" Shades said in annoyance and slumped back in his seat. All three of his team-mates were staring at him. "What?" He asked. They turned back to the scene in front of them.

"This...this can be happening!" Ernie stuttered as he watched what he assumed was burning paper float to the street.

"How did this happen?" Jen asked as something shattered on the roof of the car.

"F***ing Goth douche bags I saw running out of the Firehouse..." Bo flinched as another large chunk of wall collapsed to the ground. "It had to be them. Shit...I saw them yesterday, too...at..."

Bo didn't get to finish the thought. A bunch of NYPD officers were surrounding the ECTO-1X.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Shades exhaled.

"Come out of the car with your hands up!!!" the lead officer shouted, brandishing a firearm.

"Lord Vega..." one of the acolytes reported. "We have success!!!"

Lord Vega actually allowed himself to laugh with pleasure.

"Phase one complete." he said after a few minutes of cackling maniacally like a cartoon villain. "You know what to do next...seek out the one that our Master seeks. Who will both allow him to live again, and make her power unlimited..."

The Goths nodded, and sauntered off.

"I'm wondering if I should follow Mister Zeddemore's advice." Shades grumbled as he paced the cell. "Get my own lawyer..."

Ernie, meanwhile, was sweating profusely as a 350 pound transvestite in a floral dress and roughly the same amount of makeup as Tammy Faye Bakker was winking at him. "We gotta get out of here..."

Bo felt ready to hit someone. For one thing, Jen was in a seperate lock-up, and wondering if she was alright (being hurt, being preyed upon by Ernie's new boyfriend's female counterpart, ect.) was driving him crazy. And the sheer indignity of this was grating on him.

"Holbrook, McPherson, and Slaughter?" one of the guards called out. "Yer lawyer's here..."

Underneath his sunglasses, Shades rolled his eyes and couldn't help but say "In the words of Mister Zeddemore...'I'm with them'..."

"Call me" the fat transvestite said, blowing Ernie a kiss as they left.

The three men were led to a side room, and let inside. They were relieved that Jen was there--she and Bo shared a quick embrace.

Three other men were in the room as the guards closed the door, and left them to their consultation.

One was a short man dressed in a brown suit, wearing a yellow bow tie and overly large eyeglasses. His brown hair had turned white below his earline (he was, after all, forty six years old). He nervously set a briefcase on the table. "I'm getting a bunch of motions filed but it may take some time turns out the captain of this precinct was there in 1983 when the Containment Unit at Ghostbusters Central exploded and bought into the line that it was all a light show and a hoax..."

Bo grunted "We know you're doing your best, Louis." Louis Tully, of course, was Ghostbusters International's Chief Financial Officer and legal advisor. He'd been at the center of the original Ghostbusters' first major case, and joined the company five years later.

"What can you tell us about what really happened?" the second man asked. He was a few years younger than Bo, also wearing eyeglasses, and with dark hair worn long. Vincent Belmont was the leader of the Arcane Division, and a member of the Order of Hermes (the first authentic magus to be employed by GBI).

"Who's that guy?" Ernie asked, indicating the last man in the room. He was a little older than Belmont, closer to Bo in age. He made eyeglasses a hat trick with the threesome, and was wearing a Mickey Mouse tie. Jen found him somehow reminding her of her uncle, despite the differences in build, and his unruly reddish brown hair.

"Fritz Baugh, West Coast Division." the man introduced himself. "I believe Mister Holbrook met my colleague, Jeff Chrismer, yesterday?"

"My Dad didn't meet nobody yesterday." Bo replied, shaking the man's hand. "So you're the poor guy Vincent took away and performed his evil experiments on?"

Fritz chuckled. "Nothing of the sort. But it was a most interesting discussion...Dr. Belmont has some interesting philosophies..."

"Can we get to the business at hand?" Shades said a bit impatiently. "I know I for one don't look good in orange, and I think Ernie's virginity is being threatened..."

Ernie smacked him on the back of the head.

The members of Nightsquad told Vincent and Fritz everything that had happened the last couple days. The prank call to Salem Center. The "Goth douche bags" hanging around both the Nightsquad and GBNY firehouses. And the expolsion of the Nightsquad Containment Unit.

"We tried to get a look at your firehouse, but the police have it blocked off." Louis told them. "I'm trying to see if I can get a court order but it may take some time..."

"We may not have a lot of time." Jen shook her head. "I've heard stories about what happened when your ECU ruptured, and that was when Uncle Egon and the others had only been in business a few months. Nightsquad's been in business for six years."

Fritz nodded. "Mr. Jackson and I pulled the maintenance reports you filed with GBI on your Containment Unit. There was no sign of any technical problem--as far as the records show, it was working perfectly."

"We may need those records as evidence..." Louis noted. "I know Ray and Professor Spengler put in lots of safeguards and back-up power systems into place after the Gozer crisis, and the time the Professor's uncle accidentally let the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man loose..."

"Then how the f*** did they blow ours?" Shades asked.

"We don't know." Fritz replied. "Without an on-hand inspection of the damage, we just don't know."

"They had plenty of time." Jen shook her head. "We were gone for hours chasing a wild goose in Westchester. Anything from a really proficient computer hacker to a bomb is possible..."

"Bomb?" Bo said. "There was something on the radio this morning about chemicals being stolen..."

Fritz and Vincent looked at each other. "Put that on the list of things for follow up..." Fritz noted.

Bo slammed his fist on the table. "Somebody did this deliberately. Whoever these Goth douche bags are, they did this on purpose. Maybe they like chaos and thought we were easier pickings than the main guys, maybe they wanted one specific entity out of the unit." He paused. "Damn I need a stogie..."

"Shortly after the rupture of your ECU, a few calls came into the main office." Vincent told them. "Strange glows and a bonfire in Central Park. And the trees have become...rather shabby. And we're not even talking about overnight, either."

"The trees?" Bo asked. The foursome looked at each other.

"Oh God..." Shades slumped back.

"No matter what we do, the Blair Witch is gonna come back and bite us on the ass." Ernie muttered.

"The Blair Witch?" Fritz asked.

"Number one bitch from hell, Fritzy." Bo shook his head. "Back in '99, we got a call from Burkittsville, Maryland, a little town that got tired of its tourists being killed after someone found a video of a bunch of whiny would-be filmmakers. Turns out they'd taped themselves getting offed. We rolled in and put an end to her, but..."

"It was the worst fight we've ever been in." Shades finished.

"It makes sense. We trapped their twisted version of a god and they want payback." Jen said, her face suddenly changed to one of surprise and she delved into her pocket. She pulled out a piece of paper that had been neatly folded once, but was now crumpled. She unfolded it and handed it to Vince.

"The day the dream ends, is a day for much rejoicing." Vincent read out. "They warned you."

"Well that was nice of them." Shades muttered.

"So what happens next?" Ernie paced like a caged animal. "We can't do shit locked up here..."

"I'll keep working on that I promise..." Louis whined.

"We'll let Roland and the others know. " Vincent said. "But they're not the ones who defeated the Blair Witch--you are."

Fritz nodded. "If there's an electronic copy of the Blair Witch file I'll pull it."

Vincent added. "I recently perused a reference work...'Cults and the Demons they Worship', and one of the cults was the Cult of Verbum Ex Ille Striga, or 'The Word of the Witch'. That might be related..."

"Get us out of here, Tully." Bo said grimly. "I don't wanna check out in this pit watching Ernie be felt up by Big Louie."

The Early Morning Hours of September 20, 2003
The ECTO-1 pulled to a halt at Central Park. Roland Jackson, Eduardo Rivera, and Kylie Griffin got out of the car. Garrett Miller rolled out the back in his wheelchair.

"So you think Spooky is on to something?" Garrett asked.

Roland pulled a PKE meter off his utility belt. It was the newest model, the one that had just entered service earlier in the year, the Model 3.0

Kylie looked at the park and shivered. It still resembled it's regular self, barely. The trees were now much more unkempt and wild, and they pulsed with a green glow that was unnatural. A man in a topcoat and trilby had approached the car as he walked home; Eduardo snagged his arm and looked him in the face.

"Jefe', do you see anything weird with the trees in the park?" Eduardo asked. The man turned, looked at the park, and turned back to face Eduardo. He gave Eduardo a look as if he was crazy.

"You need help kid, there's nothing wrong with the park." The man said and walked on.

The Ghostbusters watched him go, but then turned their attention back to the park.

"It could be part of whatever spell is on, that some people don't notice." Roland explained. "There's definitely a spike in ambient PKE."

"I miss my proton pack." Garrett grumbled. The device he pulled on was the Mark 4 proton pack, which like the meter had only officially entered service that year. It looked far more like the original Mark 1 packs the older team had used than the Mark 2 ones the "Extreme" team had started with in 1997.

"This one's better." Roland replied, arming his.

Kylie rolled her eyes and shrugged. She strapped on the same "proton pistol" (officially the Mark 3 proton pack system) she'd used for the last six years.

"This place is getting spookier than the Professor's lab." Eduardo quipped.

It was a lot darker then it should have been, even at night. As they made their way along the path in the direction of the center of the park, Kylie noted how the streetlamps were not only dimmer, but the white glass was now crimson.

The further they moved into the park, the creepier it became. The trees that had simply looked wild were now black and spindly, and almost seemed to have contortioned faces formed into their trunks. The path was also getting worse; weeds grew through the bricks in the pathway and they were coming loose. Park benches were covered in thorny growth and hot dog stands were buried in tree branches.

"The PK level is definitely going up the further in we get..." Roland said gravely. "Maybe we'd better pull back. Wait until Vincent gets more information, wait until Louis gets Nightsquad freed..."

"f*** that!!!" Garrett growled. "If Holbrook's bunch of shitheads can take out this bitch, we should be able to whip her in our sleep!"

Then the fountain next to them stopped flowing. A few seconds later, it started up again--but the flow was red with blood. A strange structure had appeared behind the fountain, made of twisted branches and twigs.

A rocking chair slowly creaked in front of a run-down house. An elderly lady sat in the chair quietly humming to herself.

"Ghostbusters..." a voice spoke, too loud for the distance between us.

"Speaking. You have something to do with this?" Garrett snarled, aiming his thrower at the lady.

Kylie shivered as she noticed several head-sized objects floated in the murky liquid of the fountain. She didn't chance seeing if they were what she thought they were.

Roland muttered a curse. The meter's display had been replaced by an error message:

Error: PK Level Exceeds Sensor Tolerance Parameter.

"You aren't the Ghostbusters..." the voice spoke, annoyance creeping in.

"I beg to differ..." Garrett grumbled.

"Since 1997." Eduardo said firmly.

"These are not the ones you seek, Mistress?" another voice spoke.

"No..." the old lady replied.

A bunch of teenagers appeared, all wearing dark clothing and pale make-up. To make matters even worse, their eyes were glowing orange. The leader wore a black druidic robe with red hand print symbols and an infinity sign on it. Next to him, one of the cultists held a jack-o-lantern complete with glowing candle inside.

"Er, Kylie...is there some Goth protocol that can stop them from attacking us?" Garrett quipped. "Since you're one of them, you know..."

"My minions..." Lord Vega told his group. "Dispense with these interlopers."

"Interlopers?!" Eduardo said angrily, levelling his thrower. "I'll show you interlopers you son of a..."

"Eddie, wait!!!" Kylie shouted. "They're not ghosts--they're kids! We can't just shoot them!!!"

"Plan B--run like hell!!!" Roland shouted. "Make for the ECTO!!!"

"ATTACK!!!" Lord Vega shouted.

The glowing eyed Goths tore after the Ghostbusters with supernaturally enhanced speed. Only the one holding the pumpkin stayed with Lord Vega.

They got Eduardo first, pummelling him and tossing him into the blood-filled fountain.

An errant branch shot out of the ground and tripped Kylie. Before she knew it she too was pummelled unconscious.

"Split up!!!" Garrett shouted. "They can't get both of us!!!" He started to wheel off in a different direction.

Roland nodded, and went the opposite way. This would be hard enough without sixty pound packs on...

Garrett kept rolling. He was in top shape, and was practiced at rolling himself along. Even with their enhanced speed, he wasn't having much trouble keeping a lead on his pursuers...

Until he realized they'd led him into a trap. There was only one way to go, and that way was a staircase down to a sidewalk.

"Oh shit..."

Two of the Goths rammed him, sending him and his wheelchair tumbling down the staircase.

Unaware of his comrade's fate, but hearing a scream and loud crashing noises, Roland stopped. "Wait a f***ing minute..." he growled to himself. "I helped put these damn things together...how the hell could I forget?!" He did quick twist of a dial on the particle thrower; when one of the Goths came out of the bushes the kid got a nasty surprise-- a proton beam that held him fast.

Setting five of the new system...Roland reminded himself. Organic confinement.

He couldn't keep the hold on the Goth, but the teen was stunned, allowing Roland to continue his escape.

He gasped when he reached the ECTO-1. The old lady in the rocking chair was sitting right next to the car, along with the three unconscious forms of his friends.

"Are they..." Roland started to ask, levelling his thrower.

"If I wanted to kill you now I would've done so easily. I would have destroyed you and your friends when you arrived. You live, because I want you to pass a message along to Bo Holbrook, the leader of the Ghostbusters..."

She means Nightsquad. It has to be the Blair Witch, just like Vincent said...

"Tell him I could have easily destroyed him and his friends the instant I was free. But he has incurred my wrath--I have other plans for him. Special plans. "

"And those are?" Roland asked.

"Ah, that would be telling." The witch smiled a sinister smile and raised a clawed hand at him. "You will find out soon enough." A flash of white appeared from her hand.

Once the flash ended Roland found himself outside the park entrance. His three unconscious colleagues lay nearby, next to the ECTO-1; he took a few hesitant steps toward the gate, but as his boot touched the path a bright red wall appeared on the other side of the gate and flung him into the ECTO-1.

He looked up as the pulse of energy that had flung him from the gate flowed up and eventually dispersed. A late night jogger who was running along the sidewalk tried to enter the park but was flung next to Roland.

He looked at Roland and Roland looked back.

"New York." The jogger swore and continued along Central Park West, ignoring the park altogether.

Morning
"Serious shit." Jeff said to his colleage.

"GBI Case File GBNS-1999-17/103..." Fritz muttered, the lack of sleep showing in his eyes. "Nightsquad contacted by mayor of Birkittsville, Maryland..." He shook his head, reading it again as though something new would appear there. "Nightsquad was contacted by the mayor of Burkittsville, Maryland. Three filmmakers had gone missing while searching in the woods for the legendary 'Blair Witch'. At just about the same time Nightsquad arrived, one of the filmmakers--Heather Donahue, age 23--appeared at the edge of town, amnesiac and naked. She regained some coherence, but was then disembowled telekinetically."

"Then Jen was nearly drowned in a blood shower." Jeff remarked. "I'm beginning to wonder if this witch had some kinky lesbo snuff side or something..."

Fritz rolled his eyes. "Nightsquad eventually determined that the woods were actually a pocket dimension completely controlled by the Witch. They confronted the Witch and managed to capture her."

"With the help of Bo's Super Pack." Jeff finished. "I'll admit, if it still existed that might be a good piece of hardware to get a look at..."

"I saw some of the design specs a few weeks ago." Fritz shook his head. "Doctor Stantz still can't figure out why it didn't spontaneously explode and take half of the Eastern Seabord with it..."

Jeff mused. "There's still a lot I can't figure out on this, though. I mean, if the Witch's power is over the woods, I can figure out why she's basically sticking around in Central Park. But what gets me are these Goth kids--what's their story? I can't believe a bunch of jaded urban douche bags are worshipping what's basically an evil nature goddess..."

The phone rang. Slimer babbled worriedly as Fritz went and answered it. "Ghostbusters New York. I apologize, but at this moment we...Roland? We were just...." Fritz was quiet, then his face pinched. "Damn. Are they all right?" Another pause. He nodded a few times. "We'll be right there."

"What's up?" Jeff asked.

"That was Roland--he's at the hospital."

Ernie finally extracted himself from Big Louie's smelly grip (thankful that the huge weirdo had finally gone to sleep) and noticed Bo was awake, staring at the wall.

"You okay?" Ernie asked.

"Just thinking, that's all." Bo muttered.

"Dangerous thing to do." Ernie joked lightly. "Bo, honestly, do you think we can bounce back from this? We've never had to deal with so many loses in such short time before." Ernie asked.

"Don't you even think that Ernie.We'll pull through, we always pull through." Bo replied, anger in his voice. Ernie stared at him for a moment.

"Holbrook, Slaughter, McPherson, your lawyers are here again..." the guard informed them.

After rousing shades, they were brought to the same room as before. Bo and Jen once more shared a quick embrace. "You're starting to smell worse than ever..." Jen said, but not without affection.

"I think my jumpsuit is about ready to come to life and attack me." Shades sniffed.

"I understand that happened to the originals once..." Ernie replied brightly.

"Twice." Jen quipped.

Their banter ceased when they saw the look on Louis's face, far more somber than even the day before.

"It was definitely the Blair Witch." he told them. "Roland and his group got beat up bad--all of them but Roland are gonna be in the hospital for at least the next couple days."

"Damn." Shades muttered.

"Dr. Baugh and Dr. Chrismer are going to pick Roland up. They've been looking over the original case file and..."

There was a knock. "The Ghostbusters? His Honor..." the guard's statement was cut short by the loud voice of New York Mayor Edwin MacShayne, who forced his way into the interview room.

"Where the hell are the Ghostbusters?!" the portly man, mostly bald, yelled as he barged in.

"Er, Your Honor, I'm Louis Tully, Chief Financial Officer of Ghostbusters International, and..."

"I don't care about their finances!!!" MacShayne snarled. "I want something done about that mess in Central Park!!!"

They all knew MacShayne made many loud public statements critical of the Ghostbusters, even though one team or another had personally saved the man's life more than once. Jen agreed with her aunt Janine's theory--MacShayne had to keep blustering, because he'd been the Attorney General that had prosecuted the original team out of business back in 1986. Acting in any way supportive or thankful in public would be too much like admitting a mistake, which far too many politicians considered anathema.

Bo was about to tell the guy off when he was beat to the punch. What happened next amazed everyone in the room.

Louis inhaled sharply, and got up in MacShayne's sweaty, puffy face. "Your Honor, I don't have time for this. This is the situation: while New York is about to be sucked into the Tenth Level of Hell--again--one of my veteran teams is in the hospital, and the most experienced guys are out of the state. All I have available is a couple of rookies, because my other veteran team--the team that, by the way, fought and beat the Witch in the park before..." he gestured towarde Nightsquad "...has been locked up by some incompetant beaurocrat who thinks somehow they bombed their own headquarters!!!"

MacShayne shrunk back.

"Daaaaaaaaamn..." Shades muttered to Ernie quietly.

Jen smirked. I guess some of Janine rubbed off onto him after all...

"They...can stop this thing?" MacShayne finally said, mopping his brow. "You don't know the pressure I'm under on this...I swear the Vice President is about ready to start bombing the place..."

Louis adjusted his glasses. "I'm afraid I can't do anything until the Nightsquad Ghostbusters are released."

"Done." MacShayne said through gritted teeth.

"I also need you to sign this non-liability binding legal waiver, and this agreement to pay all expenses related to this case, including the rebuilding of Nightsquad's headquarters..."

"You must be insane!!!" MacShayne's face was turning red.

"I guess it's not too bad here." Bo quipped. "We can probably hear Cheney's fighters attacking Central Park pretty good from here."

MacShayne pounded the table, then started signing the papers.

One Hour Later
Bo stood in the doorway and sighed at the garage stood in front of him.

Or at least the charred remains of it.

The bricks that made up the walls were blackened with dust and soot. The brass firepole was warped out of shape--it didn't even touch the floor anymore. One of the walls that screened off the lockers had a large chunk missing from it and the whole front of the small lab had caved in. The glass in the wooden partition in the office was gone and most of the wooden frame was charred black. Bo's office chair lay on its back and most of the framed newspapers either hung at angles or were on the floor.

Water dripped down from the hole in the ceiling into the garage--the hole was big enough to fit the ECTO-1X into. Water and random bits of debris fell from the shattered ceiling into the hole in the garage floor; the hole in the garage floor was the same size as the hole in the ceiling.

Bo peered over the ragged edge, down in the remains of the basement where the slightly visible remains of the Containment Unit lay; the shattered red paneling was just visable in the gloom caused by the rising sun. Several emergency light rigs had been set up and loaned to the Ghostbusters for the next couple of days. Bo waved a gloved hand in front of his face: even twelve hours after the Containment had blown, there was still smoke drifting up from the basement.

"How long did it take Uncle Egon and the guys to put their place back together again?" Bo asked bitterly.

"Three months." Jen replied, shaking her head.

"Not much left is there?" Shades commented.

Ernie walked over to the elevator shaft; he could see the crashed elevator car and the doors that led into the shaft smashed at the bottom, the elevator motor was also in the shaft.

Jen walked over to the door that led to the stairs to the basement; the door was torn from its hinges and snapped in half.

Bo walked over to the remains of his office: the wooden partition that had nicly bordered off his office from the garage was either charred black or covered in soot, most of the frosted and clear glass that had been in the wooden framework was broken, the sharp shards glistened in the morning light. The desk that had been in the office when they'd bought the place was still upright, but it was pushed back and the front was blackened. There was nothing left on top of the desk.

Bo walked around and picked up his office chair. It was similarily covered in soot and creaked angrily when he moved it. He moved over to the back wall and picked up one of the pictures, a framed newspaper cover. The glass in the frame was broken and one side of the frame was coming unglued.

It was almost like the Burkittville Sentinel cover was taunting him: "Nightsquad Beats Down Blair Witch."

Bo sighed and dropped the picture on the desk; the broken glass jangled.

Shades edged his way up the staircase; several of the posts in the balcony were either snapped or completely gone, and even some parts of the rail were missing. When he climbed up into the lab, he had to edge his way around a fallen metal shelf. Most of the equipment had survived the blast, but a small corner of the lab near the middle of the building was collapsed, anything near it had either been damaged or destroyed. He uttered a slight cry of horror when he entered the small rec room. A chunk of the ceiling lay on the top of the TV.

Ernie crossed the garage to his locker, the door was burnt and his name sticker completely gone, he opened the door and looked inside, he frowned and closed it again.

Jen stood on the landing which overlooked the basment. She let out a resigned sigh and sat down; she could just see the crater in the gloom and the small jagged pieces of metal that were spread across the basment floor. The metal gridwork that made up the floor was bent upwards where it met the base of the Containment Unit.

"Bo?" Jen said loudly. "I think we're in luck..."

Bo grunted as he pushed the door to the basement out of the way.

Jen pulled out a flashlight and they descended into the darkened bowels of the Nightsquad firehouse.

"Be careful!" Shades admonished.

They eventually reached the balcony that overlooked the basment and Bo released a starled gasp--the wall that had been behind the Containment Unit was buckled outwards, the blast had been enough to force the stone slabs into the concrete behind them. He shook off the shock and they continued down into the basement to the set of industrial style equipment lockers.

Bo fumbled in his pocket for a set of keys. Most of the lockers had had their locks blown off or bent out of place in the explosion, but one had been reinforced and was still in reasonable shape.

"I see what you mean, Jen." Bo smirked as he placed one of the keys into the lock. With a click, it opened.

Inside was an abnormally large proton pack, at least twice the bulk of the standard ones. The device featured a large square cyclotron and a neutrona blaster so large that Bo had eventually mounted a strap on it similar to the ones on the Slime Blowers.

"The Super Pack appears to have survived without damage." Jen remarked, studying it with the flashlight. Bo grunted as he picked the device up and slung it on his back--at his size, it actually looked just about right on him.

"Do you really think we'll be able to beat her this time? We we lucky to do it last time." Ernie asked. "Even with the Super Pack--what if she adapted to its power. You know, like the Borg?"

"Don't you ever have anything sensible to say?" Shades retorted. "What's gotten into you lately? We beat this bitch before we can do it again."

Bo set the Super Pack down in the back of the ECTO-1X. "Let's give this a try."

Ernie inched ever so slightly further away from Bo as the Super Pack's power was armed; it was a similar sound to the arming of a normal pack, but deeper in tone, and quite a bit louder.

"So far so good." Jen remarked. "The cyclotron appears to be fully functional."

Bo grabbed the neutrona wand, and squeezed off a shot--the purple beam nailed a pidgeon that was thinking about roosting in the rafters of the firehouse.

"Jesus!!!" Shades cried. "You could've at least warned us first!!!"

"And the neutrona wand works." Bo said matter-of-factly.

Jen was on her cell phone. "Dr. Baugh? Let Vincent know we're on our way--we may have a shot at this now."