Mick Nielson
Ghostbusters West Coast
"I'll be hard-pressed to think of another sight more satisfying than Valek screaming like the woman he dresses as."
"I'll be hard-pressed to think of another sight more satisfying than Valek screaming like the woman he dresses as."
Mick Nielson has led one of the more interesting lives of anyone in GBI outside the Founders themselves. After an ordinary upbringing with a little sister, his life took a turn for the bizzare in 1996, where as a student in Tampa Florida he had an encounter with a werewolf hiding in the woods.
The werewolf was being pursued by the agents of the mysterious "Shadow Chasers" organization, a paranormal investigations group seperate from both GBI and the Order of Hermes; after aiding the Chaser group in catching the lycanthrope, Mick was asked to join Shadow Chasers. He accepted, and a year later he was made leader of his unit.
The very next year his Shadow Chaser unit first encountered the being that would be Mick's arch enemy for the next decade: the vampire lord Valek, Viceroy of the Night. Their enmity came to a head in 2001--Mick barely managed to destroy the vampire after it slaughtered the rest of his team. His spirit broken by the encounter, he resigned from Shadow Chasers and returned to his studies.
Fate intervened three years later, in 2004, when with two friends--Damon and Mark Lucas--he found himself as the CEO of a Ghostbusters International Franchise, the GB Tampa Division (GBTD). The next year or so is marked by both triumph (the most spectacular of them being the defeat of Mars, the Roman God of War) and setback (GBTD was hounded by Max Fuller and "Ghost Aid"; interpersonal stress with the Lucas brothers). Mick's relationship with the Lucas brothers mutated to fullblown enmity, and Tampa Division was torn to pieces and shut down.
But the wheel of karma swung around again a year later, when Tampa Division rose again, this time with Mick's college friends Kurt Summers and Jerry Lewis (no, not THAT Jerry Lewis) at his side. Shortly after, the one enemy Mick never thought he would have to deal with again returned: Valek. As Hurricane Alberto roiled around Florida, Mick and his foe clashed once more; once again, the Viceroy of the Night was, by all appearances, destroyed and gone once and for all.
Tragedy began to beset the team as 2006 rolled on. Mick's former comrades the Lucas brothers became constant irritants, forming their own bogus team "Banshee Busters"...which ended very badly for them, as they got in over their heads and were defeated. GBTD stepped in and stopped the entity they couldn't, but at the cost of the life of GBTD member Julie Madison. One of the surviving "Banshee Busters", Damon Lucas, later came to LA and harassed GBWC Spirit Liason Rachel Leavenworth.
In early 2007, Tampa Division consolidated operations with a number of smaller GBI teams, to form Ghostbusters South Coast Division (GBSC). Nielson ended up heading this franchise for only a short amount of time: in late March 2007, a traumatic battle in New Orleans led Mick to step down as CEO of GBSC.
After a month of down time, Mick requested transfer to another GBI Franchise, one where he could "just be a 'Buster for a while, and not have to worry about the CEO [stuff]". That decision led him to Los Angeles, and the front door of Ghostbusters Central West...
Since that time, Mick's become the foster father of John Vernon, the son of an old friend of his. John is currently in training to become a Ghostbuster himself.
