Mr Stay Puft, the colourful cartoon sailor mascot of the Stay Puft Marshmallows Corporation, had come to life. He was a hundred feet tall, possessed by the spirit of a demon intent on burning the world, and coming straight for the Ghostbusters.

"I tried to think of the most harmless thing," Jesse explained, as they all stood, paralysed with disbelief, high atop Chloe's apartment building. "I thought to myself: you can't think of nothing. That's impossible. So the logical choice was to think of something that could never, ever possibly destroy us. And then… I just thought of him."

Beca observed the gigantic piece of confection coming to kill her, stomping on parked cars and kicking over trees while wearing a child-friendly, focus-group-tested smile on his face.

"Hate to go all Spock on you, Jess," she said, "but your logic isn't very sound in this case."

"We used to roast Stay Puft Marshmallows," he said, turning to her with a look of distraught nostalgia. "Freshman year, in the old empty swimming pool. Remember?"

Since they were all about to die anyway, she figured compassion was probably the best way forward, and patted him softly on the arm. "I remember, buddy." Then, she turned subtly to her other former classmate. "Jesse has retreated to a childlike state here, Benji, so any bright ideas are gonna have to come from you."

"Sorry Beca. I'm afraid I'm terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought," Benji replied, an emotionless look on his face as he watched the marshmallow man draw near.

"Cool," Beca nodded. "How about you Amy, you got anything? No bad ideas."

Amy's face scrunched up as she scrutinized Gozer's new form. "If it was any other type of desert, I'd be suggesting we try eating him, but I think I'm actually allergic to marshmallow."

"And we wouldn't want you to get sick," said Beca, "obviously. So I guess there's nothing else left to do but die. Wait, what's he doing?"

Mr Stay Puft had reached them, stopping just outside the super old Lutheran church which stood next to the apartment building, whereupon he raised his left foot. The cartoon smile had vanished from his face; the malicious grin looking up at them now was all Gozer.

"Don't you dare," said Beca.

Stay Puft moved his foot an inch closer.

"I think he's gonna dare," said Amy.

With a wink of his big black eyes, he stepped right through the roof of the church and crushed it to bits.

"Motherf-" Beca fumed. "I'm not even religious but that's just straight up disrespectful."

"Okay, screw this," said Jesse, suddenly snapping out of his trance and aiming his proton thrower at the big white sailor. "Roast him!"

He let loose and the others quickly followed his lead. A grimace found its way onto Mr Stay Puft's face, and he howled into the night as four streaks from the rooftop burned into his midsection. His marshmallow form quickly caught flame.

"We've got him!" Amy yelled in delight. "I can't believe it, we've actually…" Stay Puft quickly marched the rest of the distance to Chloe's building and flung himself around it, hugging it to his burning chest. The flames began spreading up towards them. "…never mind."

"Get down!" Benji yelled.

A sheet of fire flew up the building, and they were forced to jump away from the rooftop's edge and seek cover behind a chunk of concrete that had snapped away from the building during the earlier earthquake.

"Well, we had a good run," Jesse sighed, resigned to their fate. "We helped some folks and made some money. We even got to meet John Mayer!"

Beca shook her head. "Maybe we've been thinking about this all wrong. Mr Stay Puft is a sailor and he's in New York, right? If we just get him laid, maybe we won't have any trouble?"

Amy shrugged. "I'll take that bullet."

They could hear crunching noises getting louder by the second. Gozer/Stay Puft was obviously scaling the building. Any second now, he'd reach the top, smush them beneath his foot like he had done the church, and then end the world. Beca wondered what her Dad would say, about whatever important thing she was obviously missing that was going to cost everyone their lives. And then she found herself peeking over the concrete block, to see the two four-legged creatures that were once Aubrey and Chloe.

Aubrey's terror-dog was at the rooftop edge, looking over at her approaching master and hopping up and down with delight. If she had a tail, it would be wagging. Zuul, meanwhile, was still at the top of the staircase in front of the glass structure. The creature's eyes were blinking. It looked confused. Conflicted, even. It glanced over and caught Beca's gaze.

"I have a radical idea," came Benji's voice, regaining Beca's attention.

"The radical the better!" she said eagerly.

Benji hesitated. "We cross the streams."

"Are you nuts?" cried Beca. (Beside her, Jesse gasped in surprise. "Cross the streams!" he whispered.) "That's not a way out; you said it would kill us all instantly."

Amy raised a hand. "I'm gonna side with Beca pretty early on in the debate here."

"It's not 100% confirmed that we'd die," Benji stressed. "We just probably almost certainly would."

"Not exactly selling it to me!" Beca yelled.

Benji wiped his brow, trying for once in his life to be able to communicate the things in his head to other humans. "Look, crossing the streams causes a counter reaction. All that energy we're shooting out turns around and goes in the other direction. But! If we aim the combined streams at the glass pyramid thing-y, there's a very, very, ridiculously slim chance that we'd cause a reversal of the particle flow back through the gate. Gozer would get sucked out the way he came through, and it's entirely possible we'd survive the process of that."

Beca narrowed her gaze. "How entirely possible?"

Benji paused, then raised his left hand and gave a very un-confident, so-so hand gesture.

Beca groaned and buried her face in her hands. The sound of Stay Puft climbing the building like a jungle-gym was getting louder. He'd be here any second. When Beca opened her eyes, she found everybody else looking pretty much willing, but waiting on her for the final say. And then she looked over at Zuul again.

The creature was staring at her now, looking more and more distressed. The mouth of the thing opened, an anguished howl escaped it, and Beca had the weirdest feeling that it didn't come from Zuul.

She turned back to the others. "Fine, let's do the suicide plan. It's been that sort of day, I guess."

They emerged from their cover just in time to see a massive burning marshmallow hand come into view and grip the edge of the rooftop.

"Quickly!" Benji yelled. "He's almost here."

They rushed to the foot of the stairs to stand before the pyramid structure. Beca aimed her proton thrower at the glass gateway, stopping just long enough to glance at the three idiots standing either side of her, whom she might never see again. She smiled. "I love you, awesome nerds."

Then she fired. Her proton stream flew up the steps and struck the pyramid gates. It fizzled and sparked, but otherwise had little effect.

Jesse took a deep breath. "See you on the side, guys," he said, then sent his proton stream up towards the glass structure too. And then he carefully moved his fire to the left, until it crossed and merged with Beca's stream. There was an instant kickback that they both had to dig their heels in to protect against. The double stream took on an intense, neon glow as it cut into the pyramid gates.

Beca glanced over her shoulder. Stay Puft had reared his ugly, half melted face.

"Benji, Amy - now!"

There was no time for caution. Benji and Amy opened up their fire and quickly crossed them over to Beca and Jesse's. The force of all four proton streams coming together to fire as one was bone-shaking. Beca felt all the hairs on her body stand up. Her knuckles went white as they gripped her thrower. The mega-proton stream turned bright green. Cracks started breaking out across the glass pyramid. Stay Puft roared in fury.

And then there was an explosion.

Later, Beca would vaguely recall being thrown off her feet, and feeling the heat from the fire. She had blurry images of glass bursting outward before being sucked back in the opposite direction. But the next solid thing Beca really remembered was a ringing in her ears, cold concrete pressing against her face, and the overpowering smell of s'mores.

She shakily drew herself up to her knees and looked around. Gozer's pyramid was half destroyed, and what remained seemed to have been turned to rock and stone, like the after-effects of a volcano eruption. Stay Puft was gone too, but giant gloops of his marshmallow form covered just about every inch of the rooftop.

"Guys?" came a voice from a few feet away. Beca saw a figure drenched head to toe in fluffy marshmallow stuff stagger towards her, and she realised it was Jesse. "Is anybody else alive?"

"Hey," she greeted from the floor, waving slightly when his gaze found her.

"Becs! You made it. What about the others? Benji! Amy!"

Benji stumbled out from under a rock, similarly unrecognisable due to the light and sugary substance he was coated with. "I had an out-of-body experience," he calmly announced.

"Oh god," came Amy's voice, and she too appeared, though in much more of a panic than the others. She was holding her hands out to the sides, like the marshmallow all over her was poisonous. "I'm allergic!" she reminded them. "I'm allergic, I'm allergic, I'm… oh no wait. It's walnuts that I'm allergic to! Phew, close call."

Beca drew herself to her feet once they were all back together. "You guys okay?"

The others nodded, bits of marshmallow flying everywhere as they did. "Are you?" Jesse asked.

Beca looked down at herself. There were scuffs on her jumpsuit and her ponytail had come loose, but other than that she was miraculously spotless and marshmallow-free.

"I'm fine," she said in slight disbelief.

"Wow," said Jesse. He had turned to look at what was left of Gozer's structure, slowly climbing the steps now that it was safe to. The others followed. "I can't believe it actually worked."

"A possibility is a possibility," Benji mused, "no matter how big or how small."

"Ew," said Amy when they reached the top of the stairs. "Smells rank up here. Like barbecued dog breath or something."

Beca went very still. Standing at either side of Gozer's temple were two four-legged statues. The remnants of Gozer's loyal subjects, turned to stone by the blast that Beca helped cause.

"Oh," said Amy, when she and the others realised. "Oh, Bec. I'm so sorry."

Beca didn't reply. She came to the one that used to be Zuul.

"I think I might have solved that little problem you were having with your fridge," she said softly. The lifeless eyes of the statue simply stared back at her.

"Beca…" said Jesse, coming to place a hand on her shoulder.

She turned away from the statue. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Jesse had put his arm around her and began leading her back down the steps, when they heard the tiniest little groan. Muffled and echo-y, like it was coming from inside of something. Beca turned around and listened. There was silence for a second, and then she heard it again.

"She's alive in there!"

They rushed forward, feeling around for any weakness in the statue, and when they couldn't find any they just started whacking it.

"Ow!" came the little voice from inside.

"Sorry," Beca called, then continued striking and digging her fingers into the stone until she could get a hold of it, and when she did she tore and tore at it. As she and the others ripped the statue to bits, she gradually saw flashes of pale skin, a dress the colour of a sunset, and strands of bright ginger hair.

The dark clouds were receding, and Chloe covered her eyes against the harsh sunlight beginning to poke through, but tried her best to inspect her surroundings. The roof of her apartment building was half destroyed, and three of the people standing in front of her were covered in a strange white substance. But then she saw Beca.

"Oh," she said. "Hi."

Beca grinned. "Hey."

Another muffled voice started calling from inside the other statue. "Excuse me? Is anybody there? I could use some help."

"Aubrey," said Chloe with a sigh of relief.

"Go help her," said Beca, sending the other Ghostbusters towards the remaining statue.

"So, what happened, exactly?" Chloe asked, as Beca helped her stand up straight.

"Well," she began, "you got possessed before we could go out for dinner, and the spirit possessing your body tried to seduce me. Then you got turned into a dog by Gozer, who ended up shape-shifting into a giant corporate logo to try to end the world, but we blew it up and covered most of Central Park in other-dimensional marshmallow gook."

Chloe frowned and held a hand to her temple while she tried to process all that. "So… Gozer? Zuul?"

"Gone."

Chloe smiled. "You blew up a god for me?"

Beca smiled too, but kind of goofily, because Chloe's eyes suddenly seemed really big and pretty. Or maybe she had just moved in a little close. "Well, yeah," she managed to reply. "But it's not all that romantic when you realise we're gonna bill the city for the service."

Judging from the kiss, Chloe didn't consider that small fact to be a mood-killer.

Less making out was happening on the other side of the rooftop, where Jesse, Benji and Amy were helping a very unsteady Aubrey out of her crumbled tomb.

"Easy," said Jessie nervously, as Aubrey swayed and clung onto them for balance. "Get your bearings. You've been through a lot."

"Too right," Amy agreed. "You had somebody else walking around in your body, and then you got turned into a dog! And then the world almost ended."

Aubrey blinked a few times, then looked up at Benji in panic.

"Did we miss the ICCAs?"

Benji would have told her that he didn't have a clue what an ICCA was, but the second Aubrey's eyes found Chloe, she rushed towards her, not caring that she hadn't regained full use of her legs yet or that Chloe's lips were currently all over Beca's.

"Chloe!" she cried.

Chloe turned at the sound and they smashed together in a crushing hug.

"I was such a bitch," said Aubrey.

"Who cares?" insisted Chloe. "I'm just glad you're okay." But then Aubrey pulled back to fix Chloe with a very intense gaze.

"It's all so clear now: we should sing different songs. Newer songs. And change up our outfits. Bring the Barden Bellas into the 21st century!"

Chloe stared back. "Aubrey, we just went through a near death experience, and your epiphany is that the Bellas should sing more than just Ace of Base?"

Aubrey nodded, with a delirious look of joy. "Yes!"

And to Beca's surprise, Chloe responded by pulling her back in for another embrace. "That's so great!"

They continued to cling to one another for a few more seconds, while the Ghosbusters just sort of stood there awkwardly. Then Benji cleared his throat. "Hey, just a thought but I wouldn't hug each other too hard. Your molecules might still be unstable from the transformation. There's a slight chance you could fuse together."

"I'd be fine with that," Aubrey mumbled into Chloe's shoulder.

Regardless, the Ghostbusters gently pried them apart. Jesse fetched the shock blanket, re-placed it around Aubrey's shoulders, and he and Benji led her downstairs.

"Wow," said Chloe, as she and Beca watched Aubrey leave. "How long do you think that new attitude will last?"

"It's totally temporary," Beca confirmed. "Generally when this sort of thing happens, it goes away once the thrill of, y'know, still being alive wears off."

Chloe gave her a curious look. "Does that mean I'll eventually stop wanting to kiss you, too?"

Beca shrugged. "Probably. Most people do."

Chloe grinned. "Might as well enjoy it while it lasts then, huh?" She grabbed the collar of Beca's Ghostbusters jumpsuit and pulled her in again. Above, Gozer's unnatural cloud finally lifted as they kissed. Newly free sunlight stretched out across the rooftop. Beca's arms circled around Chloe's back to hold her close on the ruins of the temple.

At the far side of the rooftop, Amy gazed down at the police cars breaking their own perimeter to start rushing toward the apartment building.

"The most exciting thing that ever happened in Tanzania was the time that dingo ate that crocodile," she said with a smile. "I love this country."

When his knocking went unanswered, Dr Mitchell pushed the firehouse doors open a crack, and peered inside. The ground floor was empty, yet the Ghostbusters' car, still with bits of marshmallow residue dripping from it, was parked just a few feet from the doors, so someone must be home. He stepped inside.

"Hello?" he called. "Anybody here?"

There was no answer. He walked toward the office at the end of the ground floor. There was still soot and scorch marks from the earlier explosion covering various areas, and Dr Mitchell was overcome with a sudden, protective anger. This was highly powerful equipment, and it was dangerous for Beca to just…

The thought escaped him when he entered Beca's office. There was a framed newspaper hanging from the wall, its front page dominated by a headline - GHOSTBUSTERS STOP CARE-HOME SPOOK - and a picture of Beca, Jesse, Benji and Amy posing with elderly citizens. Beca was crouched down to be the same level as a grey-haired lady sitting in a wheelchair, the both of them sending thumbs up and cheesy grins to the camera.

Dr Mitchell smiled. Beca had been right, when she yelled at him on the street yesterday. She was bringing a service to this city that it desperately needed. If it hadn't been for Beca and her friends today…

"Dad?"

Dr Mitchell turned at the sound. Beca was coming down the stairs, looking remarkably un-scathed but with a worried look on her face.

"I tried calling you," she said.

"Sorry," he replied. "My phone rang itself to death in all the craziness. Where is everybody?"

Beca nodded upwards. "The power in here is still kaput, so we're grilling burgers on the roof."

An awkward silence crept into the room.

"Are you… okay?" he asked.

"Fine," she said quickly. "Everybody made it through alright."

"Great," he replied, clearing his throat. "I watched it all from the Mayor's office. Everybody there sends their deepest gratitude."

Beca watched him for a beat, then looked to the floor, a familiarly bitter smile coming over her face.

"What?" asked Dr Mitchell, genuinely unsure of how he'd upset her this time.

"Nothing," she shrugged. "I'm just glad you came all the way down here to offer the Mayor's thanks."

Dr Mitchell studied her for a second.

"I must have done a really good job," he said quietly, "of convincing you that I don't think much of you. I'm sorry about that. Really."

Beca frowned, more weirded out than anything else. Another voice interrupted their moment.

"Beca! Come quick."

Another young woman came running down the stairs, stopping halfway when she spotted Dr Mitchell.

"Oh. Hi," she said. She was tall, with bright red hair, and though she was wearing a Ghostbusters jumpsuit, he didn't recognise her as part of the team.

"I'll just be a sec," said Beca - rather hurriedly, and that brought a grin to Dr Mitchell's face.

"You wouldn't happen to be Chloe, would you?"

Beca's cheeks flushed as Chloe gave him a surprised look. "I would," she said.

"I've heard a lot about you," he said, risking a sly glance at Beca, who glared at him with silent threats. He decided not to torture her, and gave Chloe a big smile. "I'm Warren, Beca's Dad."

"Oh," Chloe relaxed. "Then you're probably want to come see this too."

As they climbed the many stairs it took to reach the Firehouse's roof, Chloe hugged the Ghostbusters jumpsuit she was wearing. "This is actually really snug and comfy."

"I imagine anything is comfy when all the other clothes you owned were turned to ash and slime," Beca replied.

"No but seriously," Chloe insisted. "I might actually keep this and use it as pyjamas."

Beca looked at her like she was nuts. "You are aware of what we do here, right? Do you even know where that jumpsuit has been? The substances its come into contact with?"

"Sorry to interrupt," Dr Mitchell piped up from behind them. "But why are we heading to the roof again?"

"Oh," sad Chloe, a shiver of excitement passing over her, "you'll see!"

The sun was just about gone when they finally reached the rooftop (gone for real this time, without any supernatural assistance). When Beca had left the grill was in full use, Amy frying burger after burger while Jesse happily discussed suing Homeland Security with Kimmy-Jin, and Benji tried to convince a more back down to earth Aubrey to let him take a sample of her brain tissue.

But now, only the remnants of smoke were drifting out of the grill and into the cool night air. Paper plates with forgotten leftovers littered the floor. And everybody was standing at the rooftop edge, looking out at the city.

Chloe, Beca and her Dad came to stand by their side, and found out what was so captivating.

"Holy shit," Beca mumbled to herself.

Every skyscraper in view had strategically turned certain lights off, so that the remaining ones spelt out 'THANK YOU GHOSTBUSTERS', or 'NY LOVES GB', or some variation of a message of gratitude.

"I'm just amazed New Yorkers are capable of this level of co-ordination," Amy mused.

Aubrey nodded, but with a smile added, "The end of the world brings funny things out of people."

Chloe nudged Beca with her elbow. "Not bad, huh?"

Beca was without words. She looked blankly to Jesse, who was beaming back at her. Benji wiped a tear away mumbling that "Conductors Of The Metaphysical Examination would have been way harder to spell out like that." Even Kimmy-Jin looked mildly impressed. But of all the things she'd been through that day, the one Beca was most unprepared for was when she felt her dad's arm circle around her shoulders.

She looked up at him. He was staring out at the city, the light from the heartfelt messages reflected in his eyes.

"I am so proud of you, kiddo."

Beca turned back to the skyline, not looking at her Dad probably for the same reason he wasn't looking at her. This was already way more affection than either of them had shown one another in a long time. But even avoiding eye contact couldn't damper the effect of the words they were finally exchanging.

"Thanks, Dad. That means a whole lot."

She glanced quickly at Chloe, seeing a tiny, smug smile on the redhead's face. Beca scowled, but reached out to take her hand. Chloe let their fingers lace together. This was no temporary reaction to a near death experience. They stayed that way for a long, long time.

A few blocks away, deep in the basements of the Manhattan Museum of Art, Kommisar was quick to re-assure her colleague on the phone.

"Not at all," she stressed. "This was an isolated incident, and one that has already been taken care of. This museum is perfectly unharmed and still ready to house your piece for the next few years. I give you my word, as soon as it reaches this city, I will place the Vigo painting under my personal protection."