2024:
THE SIGN OF THE TWINS
PART THREE
After three years of sexual tension, John Spengler and TJ Anderson have made love for the first time. Eden Spengler and Edward Sanders also seem to have reached a new level in their relationship. But on the very night all of that occurred, the Chronomancer Delphia and the mysterious Professor Ulforce took the Spengler twins away.
They each found themselves in a different cracked version of reality as of the day they were born. With the help of the two distorted versions of their parents and the other original Ghostbusters, the mad plan of the man called Josiah Nodus was thwarted and reality was restored.
But in the process, Nodus made some shocking claims about John Spengler's true potential, which have left him deeply worried just as it seemed his life was becoming something a lot more fulfilling...
He sat down at the reception desk, and rechecked. Heh. All the invoices are up to date. He glanced around furtively. Now to check DMZ and see how the new Ichika Nakano movie's coming along...
To his delight, there was a top story about "Japanese Scream Queen on the Set of the 'Nature Trail to Hell' Remake". Man, my Mom would probably be mad at me looking at all of these Japanese girls, but...
It was about then that he heard the door to the firehouse open. He looked up to see a woman walk in. There was nothing exceptional about the way she was dressed, though the cloth face mask was a bit unusual (though less so than say five years earlier). Between that and the dark sunglasses, she could be anyone--heck, for all Jeremy knew, even the tightly-bound red hair was just a wig.
"Welcome to Ghostbusters, I'm Jeremy--how can I help you?"
She looked around. "Are the Ghostbusters here?"
"Afraid not, Miss..." He waited a few seconds in case she introduced herself. She didn't. "...The team just had a call, though one of the Spenglers had a meeting. Do you wish to wait, or do you want to leave your contact information? I'm not a paranormal expert myself, but I can answer some basic questions."
The woman started to reach up and remove her sunglasses...then seemed to think the better of it. "That will be fine for the moment, Mister Cranston." She turned and left. "I will try again some other time."
Jeremy found himself shivering as she closed the door.
Slimer peeked up from behind the file cabinet. He babbled something that sounded worried.
"Something wrong?"
Slimer shrugged.
Jeremy looked over at Slimer one more time. He shrugged back.
"Tummel Square Mall". TJ read from the print-out she held.
"A mall? You mean some of those still exist?!" Marie asked with mock incredulity.
"It's probably hipsters keeping it open." Eric joked. "The same ones who buy up vinyl records, and now are buying old cassettes and VHS tapes because 'The way that the tape can be destroyed by the player any time it's played makes every listen or viewing special, and is a commentary on the ephemeral nature of art' or some junk."
"You just made that up." TJ said.
"Well, yeah." Eric nodded. "But it does sound like something some hipsters could say..."
"Except that real hipsters would insist on Betamax" Marie chuckled. "What's the matter, Anderson? Antsy about Johnny being somewhere without you?"
TJ rolled her eyes. "Of course not. For one thing, he's meeting a man."
"Yeah, but Holtzy met the guy in Paris, and says he's gay as hell." Marie teased. "And if anyone would recognize a gay person, it's Holtzy.
"I'm ignoring you now, Lupin."
Eric laughed. "I mean, c'mon, Marie, if anyone has firsthand evidence of JC's heterosexuality, it's TJ."
"Fair point." Marie admitted.
TJ's face turned red, but she didn't dignify any of that with a verbal response.
Known as One World Observatory, it was on the hundredth floor of the building. From there, all of New York City could be seen.
John walked to one of the observation windows. "Quite a sight..."
"It is, isn't it?" a voice lightly accented in Italian broke in.
The shorter man was named Enrico Amore. He was Dean of the Sons of Ether, a society of scholars and researchers that existed on...the outer fringes of science. In other words, just like the Ghostbusters--so perhaps it was no surprise that Egon Spengler and both of his children were members.
Amore laughed. "I told you, it wasn't a summons, it was a request...an invitation, as it were." He turned and looked outside. "You reside in an incredible city, Doctor."
"Yeah." John nodded. "Greatest city on Earth. Though I've also become rather fond of London in recent times...'
"London is quite spectacular also." Amore raised an eyebrow and looked a bit mischievous. He was silent for a few moments. "I've been looking up at the sky since I was a child, and I quite like being up in the air, Doctor. Even better if I can feel the wind on my face. It relaxes me; I feel at home there."
John looked a little bit longer. "I can kinda relate to that, actually. One of my happiest childhood memories was when Pop took Edie and me up in the ECTO-4. Afterwards I couldn't wait to go up again." He shrugged. "I even took a few flying lessons while at MIT."
Amore nodded, grinning slightly. "My very first invention was a home made hang glider. And I was not someone who had ever encountered the idea before." He turned away from the observation window. "But I imagine you are quite curious as to why I invited you here. Come, let us have a meal first, and I will tell you."
Eric gestured to let TJ talk to the cops as he began to scan with his GBX. Marie opened the tailgate of the car and rolled out the proton packs.
"Definitely something here." Eric said.
"...Event in the mall, a promotional thing." one of the cops was telling TJ. "Then, based on what the people who got out said, a couple ghosts showed up and started arguing, throwing things around."
"So there's still civilians in the mall?" TJ asked.
"Yeah. At least three children, and one adult--the adult's the celebrity who was in the event."
A man in a bad toupee came up and started shouting frantically in Japanese.
"Let me deal with this guy, all right?" Marie smirked, going up to the agent, and started to speak back to him in rapid Japanese. He looked a little surprised for a second, then kept talking rapidly, waving his arms around in a frantic manner.
After a few moments, Marie's words seemed to calm the man down, and she turned to her fellow Ghostbusters. "Guess what? Oda-San's the agent for the celebrity at the promo. It's a Japanese actress--Ichika Nakano!"
"Ichika?!" Eric exclaimed. "Oh man, is Jerry gonna be jealous when we tell him this one!"
"I'm not familiar with whoever you're talking about..." TJ said.
"Get Johnny to take you to one of her movies." Marie quipped. "She's usually the first one the slasher takes out."
"So why are kids here?" Eric whistled. "I didn't think 'Nature Trail to Hell' was gonna be kid friendly..."
"The kids were with their parents." Marie snarked. "Somebody's Dad probably had the idea."
"So no information on the entities?" TJ continued with the cop.
The officer shook her head. "NYPD doesn't offer much training in paranormal events. Just basically 'get out of the way and call GBI'."
"Wise stance." Marie said, unholstering her thrower. She then jabbed Eric with her left elbow. "Pardon the pun."
"Ha ha." Eric deadpanned.
"Yeah." John answered. They were in an observation deck that didn't have anyone else in it.
"I promised you I'd tell you why I wanted to meet with you, Doctor Spengler." Amore finally said, looking around as though to reconfirm that they were alone.
"So you did."
Amore sat in a chair. He gestured for John to sit next to him; John kept standing.
"In your young life, you have personally seen things that very few others in all of history have; you are born of parents who have seen even more. So nothing I am going to say will seem impossible." He leaned in slightly. "Especially as you know of it already."
"I'm not gonna be able to confirm that or not until you tell me what it is."
"Very well, Doctor." Amore smirked. "What exactly have you been told of the Children of Zodiac?"
John felt his nervous system light up; his posture stiffened. "Um..."
"And please, do not insult either of our intelligences by pretending that you know nothing--I know for a fact that would be a lie."
John regarded the smaller man for a moment. From the day they'd met three years earlier, something about Amore had disturbed him. This mention of something so esoteric--especially after the events of the previous week--only added to that unease.
"Not much, Doc." John finally said. "And the source was of....questionable reliability."
Amore nodded. "All things considered, understandable."
"What about you, Doctor Amore?" John's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?"
"Much of what you were told I know to be true. The Children of Zodiac are as human as any other...but they have been gifted by what the ancient Atlanteans called the Twelve Keys of Reality, the ancient system that survives in the symbology of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. That makes them...well, not truly immortal, mind you, but unable to die of old age or disease. Capable of regenerating from injuries that would mean the death of the average human. And from that key, connected to greater potential power, each according to their sign's attunement."
"That...matches what I heard." John admitted, feeling even more uncomfortable by the thought.
Amore continued. "You are aware that there are eleven. Of those, I can confirm that you have met two. One is the Lady of the Dynamic Earth--she is the Chronomancer, Delphia Tesmihirus, who is also known to your parents. Your parents and their comrades have met three more--the Lord of the Steady Wind, the Archmage Fallagar; the Lord of the Primordial Fire, who's identity I am at not liberty to disclose; and the Lady of the Steady Waters." Amore shook his head. "The lost one. The Herald of the Destructor."
John startled. A memory popped into his head. "A Gozer cultist? Psychic powers, dressed in a black hood, really bad attitude?"
Amore looked a bit surprised himself. "That would seem to be a good description, yes. But she hasn't been seen since the Gozarian's thwarted return twenty years ago."
John scratched his head. "That's when I saw her--during all of that. I was like five at the time, so I don't remember much about it clearly, but I do remember her--she made my skin crawl. She'd zapped us with some blue light that made us unable to move; she was going down to open our Containment Unit; I kept wishing I could do something, and suddenly Eric--Ray Stantz's son--and I just...appeared in the basement. I lunged for her throat; she threw me off--I mean, c'mon, I was only five." He shook his head. "Don't remember much after that; she probably zapped us out cold."
"Fascinating." Amore nodded, stroking his chin. "You don't seem surprised by any of the others I mentioned."
"It only seems to confirm what Pop and Ray already guessed." John answered. He looked at Amore more intently. "You said I'd met two, but you didn't know about the Herald. That another one you 'can't disclose'?"
Amore smiled slightly. "It's a very interesting story, Doctor Spengler..."
The ghosts were in the food court. They were both exaggerated human shapes, one glowing red, the other green.
"Prepare to die all over ag'in, Clem McField!!!" the shorter, fatter green one said, throwing a taco at the taller, skinnier red one.
"Yer aim sucks just as much as ever, Shorty Hatcoy!" the tall red ghost shouted back, throwing a pepperoni pizza. "Thet's why I lived to such a ripe old age!!!"
"If we'd known there'd be this much food being wasted, we would have brought Slimer." Eric shrugged.
"Any sign of the civilians?" TJ asked.
Marie snorted. " 'McField' and 'Hatcoy'? What is this, some kind of Saturday Night Live skit?"
TJ looked quizzical.
"The Hatfields and McCoys--look it up after we get back to the Firehouse." Marie told her. "There!!!"
Marie pointed to a table near the center of the food court. A Japanese woman with short pink hair and a couple of children were huddled there to avoid the flying consumables.
"Dammit, Hatcoy, it's all yer fault!!!" McField shouted, throwing potato chips like they were ninja stars. "You got yer chocolate in muh peanut butter!!!"
"Fuck you, McField!!! It's yer fault for gettin' yer peanut butter in muh chocolate!!!" Hatcoy shouted back, throwing some giant pretzels.
"Well, at least they're fighting about something rational." Marie rolled her eyes.
"Bloody hell." TJ shook her head.
"I'm open to ideas." Eric said as he adjusted his nutrona wand.
"Giordano de Medici was an inquisitive young lad, always looking up at the sky; fascinated by the birds during the day, fascinated by the stars at night." Amore sighed. "But there was something...off about him in the eyes of his parents and everyone around him."
"Still, he was bright and inventive, so the family sent Giordano to a very prestigious school. He excelled in his studies of astronomy and astrology--they were still very much the same thing in those days--and he was recruited to a fringe society that called themselves the Celestial Masters."
John laughed.
Amore chuckled too. "Yes, a rather presumptuous name, I admit. They were born in a fit of hubris over a century earlier, in an alliance of Hermetic foes who called themselves the 'Order of Reason'. The Order of Hermes destroyed them in 1325, though a few scattered members of the Celestial Masters survived."
He looked at John. "Giordano de Medici, they realized, was in possession of a trait they liked to call 'The Spark'. With your family's Hermetic connections, you may have heard it referred to as 'The Gift'."
John paused before answering. I realize parts of my Pop's career are public knowledge, but how much does this guy know about us?!. He nodded. "It's the potential to use magic--Pop thinks it's an inborn capacity to store large amounts of PKE in the bioelectric field. However, it often causes instinctive suspicion--or sometimes weird fascination--in others." John shrugged. "Eric thinks my sister, our father, and I all have it."
"Would not surprise me in the slightest." Amore nodded, smiling a little more. "Giordano realized he was finally among people who understood him. His inventiveness and mastery over knowledge grew, but in time he began to notice something--he didn't seem to be aging. By 1496, he was fifty-six years old, but didn't look any older than he did at twenty--and this was without the aid of any sort of longevity techniques of the sort known to the Hermetics and others. It's like...it was natural to him."
"Giordano de Medici was one of the Children of Zodiac is what you're saying." John deduced.
"He was...and still is." Amore nodded. "But he didn't know that until 1496, when a mysterious man in a purple cloak arrived in Florence, confronting Giordano with that knowledge. That man, you see, was the same Zandrik Fallagar I mentioned earlier; and he was the one who found Giordano because they were, as the Children like to say, 'element brothers'--just as Fallagar was Aquarius, the Lord of the Steady Wind, Giordano de Medici was the Dynamic Wind: Lord Libra."
John raised an eyebrow. "And where and when did I meet this guy, then, if that's what this is leading up to?" He was already formulating a hypothesis, but wanted to keep quiet until Amore told him more.
"Let us not get ahead of ourselves" Amore chuckled. "Giordano was taken to a meeting of the others; all who were born at the time were in attendance save Lady Scorpio--the Herald. Giordano was quite overwhelmed, as you might imagine. The Archmage, having gone through the same experience just short of three centuries earlier, was of great assistance in acclimating him."
Amore stood up, and walked past John to the observation window. He took off his glasses and stuck them in a pocket. "Giordano returned to the Celestial Masters, though in time he changed his look and assumed a new name, to obscure the truth. He was there when the most famous of the Celestial Masters--a fellow named Nicholas Copernicus--radically broadened human knowledge of the true nature of the universe. Giordano was there in the Nineteenth Century when the Celestial Masters and others formed the Electrodyne Engineers. Giordano de Medici was still around in the early Twentieth Century when the Electrodyne Engineers became the Sons of Ether." Amore paused. "He still is a member of this society. Indeed, near the turn of the Twenty-First Century, under another assumed name, Giordano de Medici became the Dean of the Sons of Ether."
John nodded. "In other words, Doc--you're saying that you're Giordano de Medici."
Amore looked at John, with a gleam in his eye. "Well, that would seem to match the facts you've been given, wouldn't it?"
The squabbling ghosts looked to see a woman in a skimpy t-shirt walking up to them. The upper half of her green coveralls were tied around her waist.
"Huh?" McField said.
"It's a girl, y' damn idjit!" Hatcoy shouted. He puffed himself up.
"Ah just came in here to get a muffler for muh 1974 flatbed Ford pickup. Can y'all tell little ol' me whereabout Ah might find such a thing?" She batted her eyelashes.
"Why, I shore can, Missy!" Hatcoy sidled up next to her.
"I saw'r first, y' damn sneak-thief!!!" McField shouted.
"Oh!" One of the girls started to cry out; Ichika put her hand over the child's mouth, not wanting to attract the attention of the squabbling ghosts.
What the girl was pointing at was a woman in a purple flight suit who had just snuck around to them. "TJ Anderson, Ghostbusters International." she whispered. "Are any of you hurt?"
"No." Ichika shook her head as she whispered back.
The three girls looked at TJ, eyes going wide.
"Yes, I'm a Ghostbuster." TJ said as reassuringly as she could. "And we are going to get you out of this situation."
"He's fulla crap, Darlin'." Hatcoy broke in. "You clearly need to have your truck's gonkometer realigned..."
"Ignore this dumbass, Missy." McField growled. "He's been drinkin' too much of his shitty moonshine agin'..."
Marie giggled coquettishly.
Ichika and the three girls nodded.
McField puffed himself up. "Don't see why not, Missy!"
"Git muh good side, Darlin'." Hatcoy adjusted his ectoplasmic nose hairs.
"You don't have a good side." McField snarked.
"Now boys..." Marie giggled. "Say 'cheese'..."
Ichika and the three girls ran.
TJ released the safety on her thrower, and got ready to fire.
Marie pulled the slider on the device she held. But it wasn't the "fancy picture phone" she said it was.
It was her GBX.
The white containment field grabbed the two surprised ghosts.
"The hell?"
"This has got to be your fault, Hatcoy!!! Anyone that sneaky has to be onea yer relatives!!!"
"YOU were the one who saw her first, y' dang viper!!!"
"AAAAAAAAHHHH!"
Their screams lasted until they were securely inside the device.
"Thank y'all!" Marie said brightly.
For a creature that didn't actually breathe anymore, Ahagotsu did a great impression of a weary sigh. "I hope the dreary old stick-in-the-mud got what she needed." He then giggled like a proverbial school girl. "This was one of my best puppet shows ever! They even compared me to Saturday Night Live--me, up there with the greats like Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider!!! It's about time someone appreciated my genius!!!"
Igor rolled his eyes as he stuffed the phone back into his jacket pocket.
Marie held up her GBX. "We came, we saw, we kicked..." she coughed "We conquered!!!"
"Thank goodness." the lead police officer exhaled.
"Good job keeping those children calm, Miss Nakano." TJ said.
Ichika laughed. "I have four younger sisters--compared to wrangling that bunch of duelling egos, this was easy!"
As Eric started to discuss the city invoice with the officer, and Marie, Ichika, and Oda began to converse in Japanese, the three girls came back over to TJ with their parents in tow.
"My girls say we owe you a lot, Ms. Ghostbuster." one of the fathers said.
"Just doing my job, Sir." TJ said simply.
The three girls began to giggle.
"What?" TJ asked.
"See, Daddy? I told you she talked like Peppa Pig!"
"That is so awesome!"
"Do you know Peppa Pig?"
TJ was taken aback for a moment, then collected herself, chuckling. "I'm afraid I've never met her, but I did watch her show with my little brother Jacob. I sound like her because her show was made in England, where I'm from."
After she said this, horrified realization set in. She glanced over at Marie...
...Who was now looking at her with a wide, shit-eating grin.
Bloody hell...I'm never going to hear the end of this...
"Job or not, you have my gratitude, Ms. Anderson" the man said, shaking her hand.
Marie walked over to Eric, who was still filling in the policewoman. "...Marie's idea, actually, to bamboozle the ghosts."
"My Dad's side of the family is part French, but all redneck." Marie quipped. "I just turned on some stereotypical Southern Belle charm, and those two goobers were eating out of my hand."
"Again, my thanks." the cop said. "Mayor Jacobs will get the invoice taken care of pronto--especially as you actually did this job with no property damage."
As they finished up, Eric and Marie walked back toward the ECTO-1. "I don't like that look, Marie."
"I got an autograph for Jerry." Marie answered.
"That's not it."
Marie chuckled as they walked up to TJ, the latter having finally disengaged from her young fans.
Bloody hell... TJ cringed.
Marie just walked by the shorter women without saying a thing.
"What are you up to, Marie?!" Eric said a little more insistently.
"Nothing." Marie replied, winking at him. "But I'm going to let her sweat about it for a while."
"Oh boy...." Eric rolled his eyes.
"So what does this mean, then, Doc Amore or Doc de Medici or Lord Libra or whatever I should call you? Are you here because Nodus was right--I'm this 'Lord Gemini'?"
"Honestly, Doctor Spengler, I don't know for sure." Amore answered. "Zandrik sensed something in your parents; I've sensed it too, though it could be because they indeed fulfilled an ancient prophesy known to our circle. Delphia seems to have taken a special interest in your family. I too sense something in you, Johnathan Spengler, which might be the power of the Primordial Wind awaiting its release, or it may be something else."
John groaned and clutched his head. "Fine, great, and here I thought I might have gotten a straight answer from someone who might not be nuts even though 'I'm a five hundred eighty-three year old astrological avatar' certainly doesn't sound completely sane, Adonai knows I haven't gotten a lot of that lately." He exhaled.
Amore shook his head. "There would only be one way to be sure you are or are not the one we've been awaiting, Doctor Spengler."
"Yeah?"
"I would have to kill you."
The Real Ghostbusters 2024 Created by Fritz Baugh and OgreBBQ
Tummel Square Mall is a reference to "You Can't Take It With You" by Richard Mueller and Durnie King (RGB-76024; #223)
"Holtzy" is a reference to the 8932 version of Dr. Jillian Holtzmann, the character from Ghostbusters: Answer The Call Created by Paul Feig and Katie Dippold.
The Sons of Ether, the Celestial Masters, and the Order of Reason are loosely based on traditions from White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension, created by Mark Rein-Hagen and Stuart Weick.
The Order of Hermes is from Ars Magica, created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen. It is currently being published by Atlas Games, though the name "Order of Hermes" and a few other elements are still owned by White Wolf Games.
Stacy's Department Store is a reference to "Killerwatt" (RGB-75001; #102) by Len Jansen and Chuck Menville.
Ahagotsu is from the Ghostbusters International RPG supplement Tobin's Spirit Guide, by Kim Mohan with Robert S. Babcock. (West End Games, 1989).
Igor is loosely based on the Quasimodo Monster from Kenner's Real Ghostbusters toy line.
Peppa Pig created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker. It is currently owned by Hasbro.
Mayor Jacobs based on a character created by Jim Van Hise and Neil Grahame in "Hat Trick" (The Real Ghostbusters No.28 by Now Comics)
Characters not taken from official material were created by Fritz Baugh unless otherwise specified.
Marie Lupin and Eric Stantz created by OgreBBQ
Edward Sanders created by Ghostdiva