//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Sweet and Present Danger // Story: Ghostbusters: A Different Adventure // by Chrome Masquerade //------------------------------// Chapter 5: Sweet and Present Danger Nearby, a reporter was on the scene. "If you can see behind me, the streets are in absolute chaos! Authorities are doing everything they can to quell the panic and maintain order! It is madness out here! The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, star of the popular children's television show, is on a rampage! This is NOT the Stay Puft we've come to love!” Just then the 'Busters arrived on scene. “Fortunately, the Ghostbusters have arrived to put everything to rights!” He continued, motioning for the camera to shift over to the heroes of the hour. “As for me? I'm getting outta here!" He added, before running to his vehicle, the camera crew packing up as well. Ray and Egon had gone in one direction while Peter, Winston and Twilight went in another, to distract their target. Egon communicated, "The trap is damaged. I've got to fix it or we won't stand a chance." Ray added, "You need to get from here to there... make sure the big boy doesn't find whatever he's looking for!" Egon spoke again, "Good strategy. It's dangerous, though... that's a lot of open ground to cover." Turning to Twilight, Winston said, "Alright, 'rook. Looks like it's me and you. Let's go across Times Square and get into the building Stay Puft is so interested in. You guys keep him off of us if you think you can!" Egon communicated, "He knows you're there, Winston! I don't think he likes it!" Ray added, "Yep. He spotted you. Keep moving!” Winston warned, “Keep away from those feet! He'll stomp you into jelly!” Of course, he was in more danger than Twilight was, as he couldn't get a full range of mobility as she could. “Boson Darts!” Winston called, firing off one of his own. Twilight, having an idea, charged hers up before letting it off as a much more powerful shot. (New Upgrade: Boson Dart Supercharge) “Nice Boson, that really rocked him!” Winston praised Twilight. “Now let's see if he wants... S'more!” Twilight joked. At this, Winston facepalmed. As they kept firing, Stay Puft started moving toward them. “Here he comes! Evasive maneuvers! In other words: stick as close to me and as far away from him as you can!” Winston called out. “Venkman! You've gotta distract him!” Winston communicated, trying to get a hold of Peter, receiving no answer. “Venkman! Are you getting coffee?! Venkman's getting coffee!” He complained. Sighing and turning back to Twilight, Winston said, “I guess it's up to us. Stay on your toes!” “I don't have toes!” Twilight said, following Winston's lead anyway. “Just follow me! Quick!” Winston clarified, firing off another Boson Dart Stay Puft roared in anger and frustration, starting to advance again.. “Oooh, boy! He's really mad now!” Twilight noted, running faster. “There's our way in! Break for it!” Winston said, running through the front door to the building nearby. Inside, people were panicking and running all over. “It's okay! Ghostbusters! Just a level 5 thought-form Crossrip! The professionals are here! Everybody calmly exit the street! Make no sudden movements!” Winston said, trying to calm the people down. “Better yet,” Twilight added, “Get to the basement!” Suddenly a thud resonated through the building. “Guess he didn't find what he was looking for on the bottom floors. Come on. We've got to get to the top floors!" Another cursed artifact later, this time a painting, Twilight followed. “Did you just... Scan that away?” Winston asked, pressing the elevator call button. “Actually,” Twilight replied, “I've been teleporting the artifacts i find directly to our vault, where they.... SHOULD be safe.” “Smart idea, Twi.” Winston said, nodding As the elevator's bell pinged and the door opened, two men could be seen inside. The first man said, "All full. Going up. He, uh, just passed gas. Catch the next one." Thinking quickly, Winston stuck his foot in the doorway, opening the elevator once more. "Relax, sir. We handle foul vapours all the time." He said. The first man said to the second ""Let's stay in for lunch", you said. "Why leave the building?", you said. "It'll be quiet", you said. You know you're fired?" The second replied, "You're right. I secretly knew our lives would be in danger and thought, "Hey, I'll make sure I trap Mark with me inside an elevator!"." The elevator pinged again. "Excuse us. Our stop.” Winston said. “Stay with me, Twi. I'm sure there's more fun up ahead.” Twilight and Winston entered what looked to be a drafting room. PKE meters out, they started trying to get some readings. It wasn't long before the meter buzzed a red signal. Which, of course, meant more trouble. Winston froze. "Uh oh. Careful...” “Okay... it sure got quiet all of a sudden.” Twilight noted. Slowly, Twilight followed the trace upward. And upward... As if on cue, the grate to the air vent above them was knocked aside and Marshmallow Minions began flooding into the room. “They're in the vents! They're in the vents!” Winston said, raising his Proton Wand again. Ray communicated, “Don't let them circle behind you! We encountered that problem at one point.” “Too late!” Twilight said, having found that they were surrounded already. They started firing all that they had at the irritating targets, only for them to explode each time. “Yuck! I'm getting covered in marshmallow!” Twilight complained. “Looks like Stay Puft is working overtime generating these little creeps. Like crazed, hormonal teenagers on a pre-Final-exam bender!” At an opportune time, the two of them shot a Boson Dart, eliminating the rest of the minions that were around. “Good shooting!" Winston said, giving Twilight a bro-fist. Suddenly, more Marshmallow Minions burst through the double door to the next room, but they were made short work of. "Aaaaah!” a woman's voice rang out. Winston said, encouragingly, "Ready to be a hero, kid?” To this, Twilight nodded. “By the way,” Twilight said, “Judging by the heat off of those Boson Darts, i assume that they would... kind of hurt if we were hit. I think i'll implement an Immunity clause into that so we can't get hurt by each other's fire.” “Good idea.” Winston agreed. (New Upgrade: Boson Dart Immunity... Pending) After collecting another cursed artifact, a diorama, they continued to the next room. Winston tried communicating again, “Venkman, come in please. It's pandemonium up here - chunks of the building missing everywhere. You are required at this site now!" Stay Puft's head came into view, causing the two to duck behind the wall, thankfully remaining unseen. Peter replied, "I'm so happy to be in demand, but these sugar balls have got me nailed down. I can't get past 'em. They're disgusting! And they're unhealthy!" Twilight said, "Oh, did we mention there's a spectacularly beautiful lady in distress?" Peter replied, "I'll be right there." Winston and Twilight shook their heads. Classic Peter. Winston re-focused on the task at hand. "Alright! Show time!" Again, a scream sounded. "Aaaaah! No! Somebody help me!" The duo reached the room that the voice was coming from, finding that Stay Puft had also discovered the room. Winston tried to reassure her. "Easy now, Miss. Just relax. No sudden movements. You're perfectly safe." As if on cue, Stay Puft reached into the room. "Sudden movements! Sudden movements!” The woman proceeded to run through the nearest door as Twilight and Winston started firing on Stay Puft, the combined power of the two's assault at point-blank range driving it off, though reluctantly. Nearby was another hole in the wall that revealed a rather spectacular view of the area. “Wow! Check it out, kid! What a view. Manhattan! I love it!” Winston cheered. Suddenly, Peter charged in. “So, where is she?” Twilight and Winston rolled their eyes, but opened the door and pointed the way, Peter eagerly going through. Winston and Twilight soon followed and reached Peter and the woman. Peter said to the woman, "It's okay. I've got you covered. You're fine now." Winston chided, "You didn't spill your coffee, did you Peter?" "I got coffee for all of us. Except you, Twiggles. You're a touch too young for that.” He said to Twilight at the last bit. “Anyway, the little monsters spilled it. And what's the story with those things, anyway?" The woman said, "W-was... that a Manifestation of Gozer?" Peter and Winston exchanged a look. Peter said, "Uh. Yeah, probably. It just may be. Could be.” then he added, “Would you like to take the most direct route outta here or the scenic route? It's the lady's choice." She replied, "There's a stairwell over here. Let's go!" Peter commented, offhandedly, "Whew! Yeah; grace under pressure. I appreciate that in a lady." following after. Winston said to Twilight, "Okay, 'rook. Let's do this quick and quiet-like. Before tubby soft squeeze out there figures out what we're up to." A rumble sounded through the building. Peter venomously retorted, "I think “tubby soft squeeze” has dog ears, Winston!" glaring. Twilight said, "We go up then. To the roof! Go! Go!" Stay Puft punched a hole in the wall, right near the 34th floor. The woman screamed again. "Aaaah!" Peter said, "Well, hello there." still moving Winston warned, "Stay Puft's spotted us! Move! Move!” “This way!" Twilight called, heading to the nearby door. Peter, upon reaching the door, said, "Well, that's some relief." The woman said, "Come on! Let's go! There's gotta be a way out of this situation!” Suddenly, a slew of ghosts rose from... pretty much nowhere and attacked, causing the busters to retaliate, doing their best to keep their charge safe. After collecting a new artifact, Twilight continued fighting, using every bit of mobility she could, crossing streams often. After all of the ghosts were trapped, the 'Busters shared a high five, or a high one , in Twilight's case. “Great job!” Peter exclaimed. Egon communicated, suddenly, "I don't mean to alarm you, but we have lost sight of Stay Puft." “Huh?!” Peter said, “How could you lose sight of something that big?” “Wait...” Winston said, checking his PKE meter, "I'm picking up a pretty strong signal!” The trio started toward the edge of the building while the woman tried to stay as far away as she could. All of a sudden, Stay Puft reached over the edge, nearly pulling itself up all the way, roaring. Twilight jumped at this, her wings locking in an upright position. “Yaaah!” she shouted. “Cross the streams!” Winston ordered. The combined blast knocked Stay Puft from the edge, falling from the building “That's how you do it! Great job, guys!" Winston said. “Ha! Free s'mores for everybody, from 54th Street to 5th Avenue! Happy Thanksgiving!" Peter joked. Peter, looked over the edge, "There he goes! The big evil sailor all the way to the - ...oooh! Not quite! Didn't make it. Hey, Winston? Say three people, each about the size of one of your fingers knocked you off the side of a thirty story building and you had to climb all the way back up t-to tear 'em apart. H-how mad would you be at these three little dinky types?" Winston replied, "I'd go with mighty pissed." Peter added, "Uh huh. Okay, and throw in a sugar high, too." The woman looked over the edge and said, "That giant blue and white toy... man... thing... whatever! It's still coming! It's climbing the building!" Peter quipped, "I'm impressed with his agility, considering his complete lack of bones." Egon communicated, "Good news. We've got the Super Slammer back on pulse and Ecto-1 is rolling. We're re-positioning now. Can you hold Stay Puft there for a few minutes?" Winston said, "If by 'a few' you mean less than one, then sure, we can probably do that." A rumble shook the building, causing Twilight to fall over the edge. Winston thought quickly and extended a grappling cable from his belt, latching on to Twilight. "No sweat, kid! We've got you!" then he added, “I knew that this would come in handy, someday.” Peter held on as well, putting in, "Hey, did somebody tell you it was break time? Well, as long as you're down there, would you see if you can knock Mr. Sweetness off?" Winston said, "All right there, Sparks, are you okay? You're all strapped in, we've got a good tight grip on you. Now pay attention! Here he comes! The Big Daddy manifestation himself! A raging blob of densely packed marshmallow!” “Whoa, boy! Melt him, Twiggy! Give him full stream!" Peter cheered on. Egon communicated, "He's right, Twilight. Your health insurance isn't set up yet and probably won't begin for another 89 days." Twilight did her best to blast Stay Puft with all she had, but due to her modification, she was only working at about 50% of the usual, so it was taking much longer than usual. Things got worse when Stay Puft started sending out more Marshmallow Minions, these ones on fire. Winston commented, "More of those minis. How many can he possibly make?" Peter said, "From two hundred thousand square feet of solid marshmallow? Mm hmm. Probably about sixty. Thousand." "Twenty thousand, three hundred and ninety two, if he wanted to maintain cohesion. But that's by our physics, which i think we can say he defies!" Twilight corrected. After blasting Stay Puft with her barrage of energy, Twilight noticed that Stay Puft seemed to be getting tired. One supercharged Boson Dart later, Stay Puft fell part of the way down the building, though he was quick to latch back on, looking even more angry than before. Peter said, "Is that his upset look? What do you think, guys?" Twilight slowly wore Stay Puft down, blasting him as much as she could, but she had to be careful, because her wings were still locked in place from the adrenaline rush she was receiving and she couldn't move as much. “You've got him on the ropes, kid!” Winston said, as Stay Puft became tired for the third time, “Land the last one so we can go home!" Twilight charged another Boson Dart, this one for much longer than before. “Now take THIS!” she called out, releasing the super-supercharged Dart. Stay Puft couldn't take that, and this time fell all the way to the ground, exploding. Peter joked, "You've killed my dessert!" Winston crowed, pulling Twilight back up, "Scoreboard reads: Ghostbusters, two! Gozer the Gozerian, zero! Lookin' like a big-leaguer out there, kid!" Egon Communicated, "Ray and I are in position, the trap is set. We are prepared to capture Stay Puft.” after a beat, “Where is he?" Peter said, "He's that white puddle you're driving through." Twilight said, "Timing's off by just a hair, father. But we're glad the trap is working again." (Later, on the ground) The woman said, "I guess I owe you guys my life." Egon finished scanning her. "She's clean." Ray asked, "How do you feel?" She replied, "Pretty good, all extremely weird things considered." Peter put in, "So far, just another screwed up day at the office.” “Pretty much.” Egon and Ray said in unison. Twilight said, “You know, I never forget a face. I think we saw you earlier at the Sedgewick Hotel. You gave pops here the brush-off." The woman said, "My name's Ilyssa. Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn. And-" Peter Interrupted, "I am Dr. Peter Venkman. And that's, uh, Egon, Ray, Winston and Twilight.” “Uh huh. The Ghostbusters." Egon asked, "Have you ever been involved in this type of quantum temporal rift event before?" Ilyssa tilted her head slightly, confused. "A quantum what?" Ray clarified, "It's called 'arcing'; a large pulse of psychic energy." Ilyssa said, "Ah. Actually, yes. I was at the museum. A pulse of blue light surged through the building... and then I was standing outside a room on the thirteenth floor of an old hotel." Winston said, "The Sedgewick." "That doesn't make sense. The Sedgewick doesn't have a thirteenth-floor." Twilight noted. Ilyssa went on. "It was pulling me, like a magnet. I felt as though I was in a deep dream. I came to and ran over here." Ray asked, "Here?" Ilyssa clarified, "It's a temporary office while I'm in town. I came to do research after I... woke up." Egon said, "We'd like you to come to our lab so we can run some brief tests and ask you some more questions." Peter suggested, "Here's an easy one: would you like to go out for Thai, Mexican, Japanese?" All of the others present gave Peter a deadpan look. "Wow, Dr. Venkman. That time you almost went 45 seconds without saying something abrasive. Wanna try for a whole minute next time?" Ilyssa retorted. "Besides, we have dinner waiting for us." Twilight added. Peter said, undeterred, "A doctor. And a fiery one too! Charming. So charming." If you listened carefully, you could hear the sound of face meeting palm (or hoof) echo through the streets.