Ghostbusters West Coast: Music Of The Night

"Those arrogant, undead bastards!" Rachel shouted, stomping through the rec room and tossing an envelope aside.

It landed on the dining room table where Mick and Jason were seated. Mick rolled his eyes at the sight. "Hey good news guys, Rachel is back..."

"I'm serious, Mick, the stupid BPU is trying to set me up!" She shot back.

Mick picked up the envelope and opened it up again, looking inside. "They look like concert tickets..."

"THEY ARE! That's why I'm so pissed!"

"... You're angry... Because they gave you tickets?" Jason inquired, a highly confused look on his face. "I dunno how things work in the ghost world, but usually when someone gives ME tickets to a concert, I say 'thank you'."

"Which is why YOU would be dead if you were me!"

"Well apparently-"

"Don't even say it, Mick..." Rachel cut him off. "I'm fully aware I was already dead."

"Look, my point is, maybe this is their way of burying the hatchet." Jason offered, spooning another mouthful of Rice Krispies into his mouth.

"Yeah... Bury the hatchet... Right into my FACE, maybe!" Rachel said, storming off. "Anyone want some free tickets!?" She shouted angrily to nobody.

Mick shrugged and picked up the envelope, sticking it into his jumpsuit pocket. Jason blinked. "How do you know I didn't want those?"

Mick crunched a piece of bacon loudly. "The better question is... Do I care?"

"You're such a dick sometimes..."

"Oh shut up. You know there's two of them and who the hell else would I give one to?"

Jason perked up. "Really? Thanks!"

"Oh don't get too excited... I'm driving."

"Dammit..."

"Dammit..." Jason said again, bracing himself in the passenger seat of Mick's newly refurbished Dodge Charger as Nielson did a few last minute checks on the engine.

As Mick worked, Rachel approached them. "Hey, you know this is probably a trap, right? They might kill YOU GUYS if you reveal that your Ghostbusters."

"Kay... Do you SEE us wearing our Jumpsuits?" Mick asked, indicating his leather jacket, white T-shirt and black jeans. Jason waved to her, he was wearing a much more casual style of a button-up short sleeved shirt with loose-fitting jeans.

"Yeah... You guys will blend in alright..." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Look Rachel... I don't really care if they find out who we are, I'm going for the concert and that's all. They wanna fight... I have no problem fighting." He said, grinning as he closed the hood of the Charger.

"Yeah... You outta try NOT fighting sometime Mick, you might FEEL something while your at it."

"Duly noted, now excuse me." He said, climbing into the driver's seat and speeding off out of the garage.

Rachel watched them go as the smoke from the tires and the burnt rubber smell faded. Someone approached her from the direction of the offices. "You know why he's going, don't you?"

"To annoy me?" Rachel asked Fritz without turning away.

Fritz shook his head. "No... He's going because he'd rather have the fate fall on HIM than someone he actually cares about. The man holds a lot of self-loathing."

"Yeah... Don't we all." Rachel said to herself quietly.

With "Iron Man" blasting over the speakers, Mick's charger roared down the well-lit highway a few hours later and Mick was grim-faced. "I feel plenty..." He said to himself.

"What?" Jason asked, surprised by the sudden speech from Mick after all the time of silence.

"Nothing, never mind... You sure Rose is okay to watch John though?" He asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Yeah, they're probably fine."

"So uh... You got a boyfriend?" John inquired suavely as he sat next to Rose Prevost, Client Administrator for GB:WC.

"Yup..." She said without looking.

"Well uh... How'd ya like a better one?"

The woman froze from her magazine reading and looked at the 15 year old beside her in awe. "Did you just hit on me?"

"I dunno... Is it working?" He asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Oh God, Nielson..." She said to herself, then looked at him incredulously. "Kid, you sure your mom and Mick weren't involved? Cause you're WAY too much like him..."

A few minutes after that, Mick and Jason entered the concert amphitheater, all around them, the area was packed with semi and fully spectral forms. There were a few humans dotting the area as well though. "Oh good... That means there's live women here..." Mick said.

"I dunno... I'd settle for a hot ghost chick..." Jason said, obviously not intending to say it aloud.

Mick just looked at him awkwardly. Jason's eyes widened as he realized he spoke it. "Oh look, concessions..." He said, quickly moving towards it.

Mick shook his head and moved through the crowd towards the stage, as the concert continued and the concert-goers moved to the music, something caught his eye...

Mick looked in the direction he'd noticed it, and found himself looking at a gorgeous form with hair that was such a dark blonde it was almost brown, gentle features and green eyes. Mick found himself unable to look away from her as she danced. "Wow..." was all he was able to get out.

After a few moments, the girl saw Mick staring and looked at him directly. "Oh crap..." Mick said. "Uh... think of something slick to say..." He said, moving towards her. "Hi, names Mick. You know you dance really well and-"

"Ever try NOT using pickup lines?" She asked directly.

"I... what?"

"Not using pickup lines. Ever try just saying 'hey, I think your pretty. What's your name' for a change?"

"Um... What's your name?" Mick stuttered out.

"Triana" She said, smiling at him. "Nice to meet you, Mick."

As the two talked, someone watched from a distance, someone unfriendly...

"Hey Boss... Isn't that the guy who cleaned us out of all those kittens?" Brock asked, nudging Gino.

Gino Hammerhead glanced through the crowd, his reptilian eyes easily discerning faces until he spotted him. "Mick Nielson... Never thought he'd be dumb enough to come to my turf again..."

Brock cracked his rock-like knuckles (which were actually made of rock) together. "Want we should break him?"

Gino thought a moment, then grinned, baring his shark-like teeth. "Yeah... Bring him over for a chat."

"So you... Um... How to put this... You are-"

"Human? Are you trying to ask me if I'm human?" She finished, giggling.

Mick nodded a bit stupidly. "Yea, that's what I'm asking."

Before she could reply, Mick's gaze drifted behind her and his eyes widened. "Ah shit..."

Brock shoved his way through the crowd until he was within speaking range of Mick. "Nielson... Good to see you's again... The Boss wants a chat."

"Well tell Mr. Hammerhead that I have to respectfully decline, I'm having a conversation with my friend here." He responded, turning back to Triana.

"Friend of yours?" She asked.

Mick nodded, but Brock's massive hand clamped down on Mick's shoulder, tightening a bit. "You don't get it... He's VERY insistent... Now move."

Mick grimaced in pain at the grip. "Well when ya put it that way..." He wrestled his way out of the grip, adjusting his jacket. "Sorry Triana, would you excuse me?"

She glanced at the big rock guy and just nodded.

Mick was flung down in the seat across from Hammerhead with a grunt and the chair creaked in protest. Mick glared at Brock and looked at Hammerhead. "Evening Gino... How're things?"

"Mr. Nielson, what brings you to my territory once again? Thought you said you were done with our games..."

"I am. A friend gave me tickets to this thing. Didn't know you'd be here."

"Ah, so you just happened to be here tonight completely by mistake? Weren't looking to cheat me out of another 15 rounds of poker?"

Mick's eye twitched a bit. "I beat you fair and square, Hammerhead, we went over this already."

The reptilian creature's fist slammed down on the tabletop, shaking the entire thing. "And it was decided that you stay AWAY from my operations!" He said angrily, hissing the 's'.

"Who said this was your operation?" Mick inquired, furrowing his brow.

Hammerhead realized he'd said too much and leaned back, grinning. "Nobody... Now how bout you rectify the situation and get the hell outta my concert hall?"

"You don't own this place."

"Maybe my names not on the lease... but trust me, I get the VIP tables."

Jason was halfway through smooth-talking a witch when he noticed Mick sitting across the bar at a table. He didn't look too happy... and neither did the characters with him.

"Uh... 'scuse me, I'll be right back." Jason said, excusing himself and getting to his feet. He made his way over to the bar and seated himself so that he could watch the table from his peripheral vision.

"So Mick... Before you go, lets talk about your debt to me."

"I'm not giving you jack. I won the kittens, I owe you nothing. This conversation is over. Goodnight."

"Your right, this conversation is over. Goodnight." Hammerhead said, motioning to Mick.

Brock's hand clamped down on Mick's shoulder once again and lifted him out of the chair like he was nothing. Mick kicked and swung his fists at Brock, but as he was carried through the crowd, which looked on in shock.

As they neared the entrance to the service tunnel, a barstool flew through the air and clocked Brock in the back of the head, stunning him briefly. Mick dropped to the ground and spun around, finding himself looking at Jason, who just dropped his jaw, not realizing until this moment just how BIG his adversary was...

"Your bones is gonna be POWDER!"

He took a step towards Jason, but Mick jammed a pool cue into the back of Brock's knee, bringing him crashing down into a kneeling position. Mick planted his foot on Brock's shoulder, launched himself over the leviathan and landed hard in front of him. He grabbed Jason's sleeve and yanked him along as he sprinted into the crowd.

"Wanna fill me in!?" Jason asked as they fought through the surging crowd, which by this time had begun to mosh to the beat of the rock music playing and booing the new lead singer, who apparently was a 'shitty wannabe Backstreet Boy' according to one very vocal fan.

"Not exactly the best time!" Mick responded. He screeched to a halt as a large reptilian-looking thug similar to Hammerhead appeared through the crowd ahead of them. The two Ghostbusters turned to run back the way they'd come, but saw Brock angrily flinging the beings around him as he searched for Mick and Jason.

"We could be in trouble here..." Mick suggested, backing up against the guardrail.

"Come on!" Jason shouted as he jumped over the guardrail and ran to the stage. Mick followed close behind as they both jumped up on stage.

"What're we doing?!" Mick demanded. Jason answered him by swinging a massive punch directly to the face of the lead singer; the blond, spikey-haired youth toppled to the stage and the crowd erupted in mixed reviews of the action. One thing they all agreed on: They needed to rush the stage.

The huge mass of people surged forward, easily overtaking Hammerhead, Brock and the other reptilian thug. Mick looked at Jason, realizing his plan and grinned. "Genius!" he shouted as they both sprinted for the edge of the stage and leapt.

The two Ghostbusters found themselves floating over the sea of creatures, ghosts and the few humans present as they were passed along by their hands, tentacles and other such appendages. As they reached the second level of the concert hall, Jason snagged the guardrail and pulled himself up out of the crowd, but Mick missed, nearly toppling down into the almost certain death under spiked feet and hooves below him. Just before he fell though, a female hand shot down from the second level and grabbed his wrist, pulling him up out of the pit of beings below. Mick managed to grab the railing and pull himself the rest of the way up, seeing the form of Triana standing there pulling.

Mick toppled to the floor on the second level next to Jason as she crossed her arms, looking down at him. "So this is an average day for you?"

"Nope..." Mick said, getting to his feet. "This is better than most."

The three sprinted away from the railing as debris began flying up from the now decidedly negative crowd below. They broke down the tunnel to the exit and headed into the parking garage.

"Mick... Why do I keep hanging out with you!?" Jason demanded as they saw his Charger ahead. "I keep having near-death experiences!"

"Better than playing GTA for a couple hours though, isn't it?" He said with a chuckle, unlocking the doors.

Jason rolled his eyes, climbing into the car. Mick turned to Triana, making sure nobody had seen them flee the building and pursued. "So... Thanks for saving my life back there, and um... Yeah..."

"God, you just have to over-complicate every moment don't you?" She said, yanking him forward and kissing him quickly. "Here's my number," she said, handing him a piece of paper. "Call me if your still alive." She said, hurrying off as the crowd surged into the parking garage.

Mick tilted his head to the side a bit, laughing. "What an oddball..."

"MICK! We ARE GOING TO DIE!" Jason shouted, snapping him back to reality. Mick jumped into the car and floored the accelerator, jetting them down the ramp and out of the garage.

Neither man spoke a word until they reached the expressway, then Jason huffed angrily.

"What?" Mick asked.

"I was gonna get some tonight man... I know I would have."

"Look, its not like I WANTED to nearly get trampled to death..."

Jason sighed, looking out the window. "Sometimes I wonder if you CAN have a good time without getting nearly killed."

An hour and a half later, the Charger pulled into the garage of the WC Headquarters. Jason walked off without a word and Mick shook his head, going into the reception office of the warehouse. "Hey, anything interesting happen?"

He spotted John sitting in the corner, holding his cheek, which had a red mark on it.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

John just pointed to Rose, who ignored the indication and continued doing her paperwork. "Don't point at me, you know what you did..."

Mick groaned. "You touch somewhere you shouldn't have?"

John nodded. "I may have... Put my arm around her."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad." Mick said.

Rose glared at John, who sighed. "And I guess I coulda made a move too..."

"He tried kissing me."

"Ah. Well then you got what you deserved. Get to bed now, its late." Mick ordered, pointing to his room.

John sulked away and Mick sat down across from Rose, putting his feet up and rubbing his shoulder.

"Bad mosh pitting?" She inquired.

"Nope, card snake."

Rose looked very confused, but Mick just waved a hand at her. "Nevermind... Sorry bout John trying to feel you up, won't happen again."

"He's a guy, I've handled worse. He's just lucky I didn't get the mace out."

"Right... Well, g'night."

Mick walked out of the office, heading up to his office to catch some sleep before his shift started. As he unlocked the door, he felt like someone was watching him. He turned, but nobody was there. Mick shrugged, heading inside and shutting the door. As it clicked shut, an upside-down head sank through the ceiling and Rachel looked at his door.

"Thank God..." She said quietly, then rose back up through to the upper floor, leaving a slime spot on the ceiling behind her.

THE END

MUSIC OF THE NIGHT