Once upon a time, far too long ago, there was a roleplaying campaign using Palladium Books' Beyond the Supernatural system. The player characters created a team of CIA agents that were part of a secret branch of the agency, the answer to the FBI's X-Files, that investigated various supernatural incidents around the world and even in different dimensions. The idea eventually came to me that those characters and that agency would make an interesting addition to my RGB universe, and the seed to this story was born. So the original characters you'll meet in the upcoming chapters are actual player characters from that campaign - and I have to thank all of my friends who took part. Brian and Jon, Jim, Eric, Josh, Bill, Mike, and L.T. - all of us together made that an amazing, completely unforgettable experience that I always look back on fondly. I hope I do all of us justice.

I hope all of you enjoy this wild ride, at least as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to let me know what you think!

The shrill ringing of the bedroom phone tore the four Ghostbusters from the arms of slumber with a vengeance. "What now?" Peter Venkman groaned almost unintelligibly, pulling the covers over his brown-haired head.

"Ghostbusters," Winston Zeddemore said around a yawn, the black man being the first to reach the offending device. His dark brown eyes were closed.

He listened for a moment then his eyes snapped wide open. "We'll be there as soon as we can. You can count on us." He hung up the phone and jumped out of bed, scrambling for his wardrobe and the clothing within. "Come on, guys, up and at 'em. There's been a strange explosion at the corner of Fifth and Forty-second and there are people down."

"People have been hurt? Oh, no!" Ray Stantz cried, horrified at the thought as he joined Winston in his hurry to get dressed.

"Not to be crass or anything, but what does that have to do with us?" Peter grumbled as he dragged himself out of bed to follow the example, albeit slower, of his colleagues.

"Like I said, Pete, there was a strange explosion. The teams the police brought in can't explain it. Beginning to sound familiar?"

"That does sound like the pattern of strange incidents that have been occurring for the past two months," Egon Spengler said thoughtfully, already halfway dressed. "Let's hope we can find more conclusive evidence than we have at previous encounters."

"But this is supernatural, right?" Peter asked after pulling a grey t-shirt over his head. "We aren't running around and looking like fools for nothing, right?"

"We don't look like fools," Ray argued as he tied his second boot's laces. "No one's been holding us to blame for the explosions. Even the police have admitted numerous times that there's just nothing to go on."

"Well, no matter what anyone's been saying or not saying, the confidence level of our public cannot be boosted by this. Heck, I'm not thrilled by our performance. You guys are sure there's nothing to go on?"

"Peter, you know we would have told you if there was," the blond physicist said as he made a final adjustment to his suspenders. "The only thing we know is that there's a common ectoplasmic signature, one that we've never encountered before. It appears that only black vans have been targeted, yet there's no correlation between each vehicle other than their color. There's not even any set time these explosions take place."

The psychologist sighed. "I know all that, Spengs. I'm sorry if I sounded like I was blaming you. It's just that this is getting really frustrating. The only thing I can see even remotely common about all these, apart from the flashing lights and weird electrical noises people usually report a day afterward, is that they all seem to be taking place around the main branch of the New York Public Library, and we can't even be sure of that thanks to Bryant Park."

"Hey, you don't think there's a ghost out there that's using this to get back at us, do you?" Ray suggested, pausing in the act of straightening his sweater vest. "I mean, it's common knowledge now that we ran into our first real ghost there. What if it's some spirit's way of telling us to stop busting?"

"I think you're a little off base there, homeboy," Winston said skeptically, standing and stretching after finishing getting dressed. "That seems like a pretty flimsy connection, and nothing's actually happened at the library."

"As far as we know," Egon corrected. "Things may have occurred and no one has mentioned the incidences. We did not make many friends there the last time we were called in at that location."

Peter snickered wickedly. "Maybe not, but Delacourt's face was priceless." He allowed himself a few more chuckles then cleared his throat meaningfully. "But pleasant memories aside, we have a job to do. Let's get to it." He brushed off his sweatshirt and ran to the pole, sliding down to the ground floor and quickly followed by the others. Their converted hearse, Ecto-1, tore out into traffic soon after.

"Ah, it's nice to see you arriving promptly for once," a tall, lean, balding man in a colonel's dress uniform said from his standing position behind a desk as the last two people of the team he had called together walked into the room and closed the door behind them. They looked at each other briefly and made their way to the two free seats in front of him.

"Well, I didn't have anything better to do, so I figured what the heck," the newly arrived man said flippantly, a twinkle in his dark brown eyes as he leaned against his chair.

"Dillinger, cool it," a Chinese-American man dressed in a red windbreaker and black sweatpants said from his position next to the desk.

"So what's so urgent?" the only woman in the room said, crossing her arms over her chest and flipping her long, straight black hair over her shoulder. "It's got to be something big for you to pull us off our week break."
"It's only a day early, Marconi," the colonel said a touch annoyed. "And it's not so much big, as... important. We have reports coming in that there's supernatural activity occurring around the main branch of the New York Public Library, and it's been going on for the past two months." He seated himself.

"And how is that news?" the Chinese man asked. "The Ghostbusters deal with that kind of stuff on a daily basis there. That's why you have a small, permanent team based out of the city, so we can keep tabs on them."

"Have a seat, team," the uniformed man said seriously. Once the three of them had done as requested, he continued. "The main target appears to be black vans."

"And what does that mean?" the leader of the trio asked.

"It means this, Lau. We believe there may be a connection to E-Branch. There may be a ghost or some other supernatural force attempting to get revenge on our agents."

"So why don't you send in the team you have there?" Marconi asked, cocking her head to the side as she narrowed her bright blue eyes.

"We just received word that they were killed last night in another explosion. We're not even sure they were deliberate targets. Our experts looked at the reports from the police and what they had managed to glean about the Ghostbusters' additions and found that this was probably just an odd coincidence. The van didn't have its new plates yet." The man behind the desk continued to watch the last two arrivals carefully.

The woman took in a sharp breath through her teeth. "Well, that answers that question."

"So why us?" Dillinger asked. "You obviously purposefully picked us. Why?"

The colonel fixed him with a stern eye. "Looking through our records, we found that only one team has been directly involved in a supernatural incident at or near the library."

Marconi and Dillinger shot each other a surprised look, while Lau looked on suspiciously. "Why do I get the feeling there's a story behind all this that I really don't want to know, but I'm probably going to have to?" he said with a sigh.

"You can hear it on the plane," the colonel said sharply. "I'm sending you out in an hour. Get back to your residences and pack whatever you think you'll need. I want this done as quickly and quietly as possible. If the source is supernatural, I want the Ghostbusters getting the press. You know how to do it."

"Yes, Colonel Taylor. We're on it. Let's move, team," Lau said authoritatively, leading the other two out of the room.

"How are we going to handle this?" the black-haired woman asked once the three of them were ensconced in Lau's hotel room in New York.

"I think we'll do a little investigating on our own, and then visit the Ghostbusters."

"Are they cleared or do we have some sort of cover story?" Dillinger asked.

"They do have governmental security clearance, so I think we'll be able to be above board with them. I don't think we should go into too much detail, but we don't have to hide the fact that we're CIA agents. In private, at least."

"That's an odd change of pace," Marconi said with a sardonic twist of her lips. "Of course, so is an assignment outside the basement."

"Just take it as the blessing it is, Sabrina, and leave it alone," Lau said with a smile.

"So we stake out the library, possibly interview some witnesses and see what we come up with?" Dillinger queried emotionlessly. Sabrina shot a quick look at the man dressed all in black.

"Sounds good. Why don't we do it now, then we can catch lunch before dropping in on the area's supernatural experts?"

"Just one thing, Lau," the woman said, trying to share a look with the cold member of the team. They made a half-second's eye contact, and she was relieved to see his mouth twitch slightly.

"What's that?"

"No Taco Bell," the other two said in unison, rising to their feet and heading for the door.

Lau shook his head as he followed the smiling, to a greater and lesser degree, pair under his command. "One of these days you will let me in on that little inside joke, I swear."

"Okay, Spengs, you want to tell me why we're back here this morning? Didn't we get all the information we were going to get last night when it was fresh?" Peter asked as the four of them got out of Ecto-1 and stepped out onto the sidewalk at the sight of the explosion that happened before sunrise that morning.

"I wanted to make sure we weren't missing anything," Spengler said distractedly, his pale blue eyes on the PKE meter in his hand. "As you said earlier, Peter, we haven't exactly made a good showing of ourselves in regards to this matter."

"And you're frustrated as hell," Winston concluded, coming up on the physicist's other side. Egon didn't bother to respond.

"I think we all are," Ray commented from Peter's other side as he gazed around the area with a pair of ecto-scopes over his light brown eyes. "Earlier today, three people lost their lives because we hadn't figured this out yet." He gave a sad sigh.

"We're just lucky the press hasn't picked up on that," Peter said.

Egon shot him a narrow-eyed look. "I don't believe that is the most important factor at the moment, Peter," he said in a disapproving tone.

Peter returned his gaze seriously as he accepted the magnetometer from Winston and turned it on. "Maybe not the most important factor, Egon, but an important one all the same. Yeah, I'll admit the flack we'd get for not having solved this thing yet wouldn't exactly be good for business or our reputations, but look around you." He gestured to the pedestrians walking around the quartet in their usual New York hurry. "Do you think they'd still be this calm if they knew what happened? Do you think we'd be able to be standing here with just the occasional nasty hand gesture thrown our way to distract us while we work? No, this area would be overflowing with reporters and photographers, not to mention tourists and curious natives. The police might be able to put up a barricade and hold people back, but we'd still be stuck performing for the public eye. The extra scrutiny wouldn't exactly be the most supportive atmosphere, not to mention what could happen if this thing strikes again with all those people in the area. Most likely those three men wouldn't be the only casualties."

"Pete's got a point," Winston agreed quietly, lifting his eyes from the detection device he was using.

"He does," Egon said with a nod. "I apologize, Peter."

Peter grinned. "Don't sweat it, Spengs. Now I believe we have a job to do." He gave his blond friend a wink and started to walk around the accident site with his eyes on his hand-held machine. Egon shook his head fondly and did the same with his meter.

Fifteen minutes later, Peter had gotten everything he was going to get from the magnetometer and recorded his results onto a small notepad he had shoved in his breast pocket. He stood behind the other three as they finished their own scans, his stance lazy but his emerald green eyes sharp as they checked out the surrounding buildings. They finally settled on a trio of people: two men, one Chinese and one of indeterminate origin, on either side of an Italian woman with her eyes closed. "What do you think those people are up to?" he asked, pointing.

"I don't know, but they're not winning any points with the crowd by standing in the middle of the sidewalk like that," Winston commented as he shut down his device, his last reading written down in his own notebook.

"And neither are we," Peter said, grinning. "You getting anything, guys? Because otherwise we should probably get out of everyone's way before we get mobbed."

"Oh, wow," Ray breathed, excitement infusing his words. "That woman has a really strange aura surrounding her. It's kind of familiar, but I can't tell what it is."

Egon immediately turned the meter in that direction. "Hmm, I see what you mean, Raymond. I believe I have seen something similar in the past, but I'll have to look through our previous records. This bears further study."

"Hey, it's gone now!" Ray exclaimed.

"Oh, that's okay," Peter drawled. "Because the source of it all is headed this way, along with the two guys who look like they don't care for the way you were checking her out."

"Peter!" Egon reprimanded, but he didn't get any further along those lines due to the arrival of the people the psychologist had mentioned.

"Gentlemen," the Chinese man greeted them politely. "You would be the Ghostbusters, correct?"

"Did the car give us away, or was it the uniforms?" Peter responded sarcastically.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," the man continued, ignoring the insulting tone. "We've been sent by our superiors to investigate the events of the past two months. Would it be possible to speak with you about it?"

"You were finished with your scan of the area, right?" the woman asked.

Peter looked over at Egon with his eyebrows raised. "I don't believe we will be able to obtain any further information from this location at this time," the blond man said, turning off his meter and attaching it to his belt.

The brown-haired man at his side narrowed his eyes at the trio. "Just who are your superiors? And why would they be interested in this?" The suspicion was thick in his tone.

"They've got their reasons," the second man said with a shrug. "But this isn't the place to talk about it."

"If you'd agree, maybe we could meet you back at your headquarters?" the woman offered. "We can explain ourselves better there, and then share information that could be useful for all of us."

Peter shared a look with his three teammates. "What do you guys think?" he asked them.

Ray shrugged. "We could always use more information. I don't think it would hurt to hear them out."

"You'd say that about a class seven mega-specter," Winston said with a fond smile.

"Yeah, but he's probably right on this one," Peter said reluctantly after receiving a look from Egon that said it was up to him. He turned to the waiting threesome. "Fine. We'll talk to you. I just hope you have at least some of the answers we're looking for."

"I hope so, too," the Chinese man said with a wry smile. "I suppose we'll meet you at your headquarters then." Without waiting for a response, he nodded a farewell and led the other two people with him away.

The four Ghostbusters shared another look before packing up their detection equipment. When they looked back at the other three people, they saw them climb into a black convertible with the plates BBCOD 4. "Personalized plates. I wonder what it stands for," Winston queried as he and the others got into the old ambulance and headed for the firehouse in lower Manhattan.

"I'm sure it's something mysterious," Peter said with a roll of his eyes. "Black Trenchcoat Man sure makes me think so. Talk about someone with secret agent wannabe written all over him. Sheesh!"

"Peter, these people really could have some information that'll help us solve this case!" Ray enthused. "They sure seemed to know what we were doing there."

"Ray, even without taking what happened this morning into account, this area's been boiling over with supernatural events for the past two months. It wouldn't take much to guess that we were there to check it out during our investigation. It wouldn't surprise me to find out they were reporters."

"We'll get all our answers at Central," Egon said pragmatically. "Until then it's useless to speculate as to the reasons behind their interest in our activities."

"Ah, Egon. Always taking the fun out of things." Peter leaned back in his seat and waited out the rest of the ride home.

Janine Melnitz looked up from her typing as Ecto-1 pulled back into the garage. Her eyebrows rose when a few moments later a black convertible pulled in beside them and three people she had never seen before got out. "What's going on, guys?" she asked when her employers stepped out of their vehicle.

Peter looked over the hood of the car to where the three visitors stood patiently waiting. He sighed. "Janine, honey, it seems our guests want to talk to us about those weird explosions that have been going on for the last two months. Could you bring some coffee up to the lab?"

She scowled at him. "That's not in my job description, Doctor Venkman."

He grinned back at her. "Would you like it to be?"

"I don't believe we were formally introduced," Egon said quickly, cutting off the normal byplay of the secretary and psychologist. "I am Doctor Egon Spengler, my colleagues are Doctor Raymond Stantz, Doctor Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore." The blond man gestured to each man as he said their name. "And of course our secretary, Janine Melnitz."

"We've heard of you, of course," the Chinese man said politely. "My name is Lau Long, and this would be Captain James Dillinger and Doctor Sabrina Marconi."

"Nice to meet you," Ray said with a smile. "Why don't we go up to the lab and talk?" He gestured toward the stairs.

"You don't have to worry about the coffee, Miss Melnitz," Lau told the still-fuming woman. "We'll be fine."

"Says you," Dillinger muttered under his breath. "You aren't still suffering from jet lag."

"If you'd follow us?" Egon said, leading the way upstairs, Ray and Winston right behind him.

Lau and Dillinger fell into step behind the three men, while Peter came up next to Sabrina last in line, earning him an unseen suspicious glare from the trenchcoat-wearing captain. "So, what exactly are you a doctor of, anyway?"

She smiled at him knowingly. "That would be psychology."

His eyebrows rose. "Wow. I have two in psychology and parapsychology."

"I know. I also happen to be halfway to a higher parapsychology degree myself. When I can find time for the classes at any rate."

"Busy woman, huh? I hope not too busy to enjoy the finer things in life?"

"I find time to have fun. Although I just got called off my week-long vacation a day early for this." She rolled her eyes.

"Now that is a shame." He smiled ingratiatingly. "Maybe I'll be able to take you out sometime to make up for that."

Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled with merriment. "Once this case is solved it might be a possibility. The higher-ups don't care for leisure activities on the clock, so to speak."

His green eyes sparkled in kind. "One of the benefits of being your own boss." By this time they had reached the metal spiral staircase that led to the third floor. Peter gestured for Sabrina to take the lead. "Ladies first." He ignored the snort of amusement from Dillinger as the party continued their way up.

"There's a change of pace. I'm not used to being allowed to go first." She shook her head and followed her teammate.

"Then you aren't being treated like a lady should," Peter replied.

"I wouldn't say that. It's probably better for my health this way." Any quip Peter had been about to say died at that unexpected response.

Just before Lau reached the top of the stairs Sabrina stiffened and began looking around warily. "Lau, Dillinger, watch it!" she called, stopping her ascent and crouching down on the stairs.

Her teammates did the same, the man in black drawing a handgun in the blink of an eye. Sabrina and Lau gripped the railing of the stairs, prepared for the possibility of being knocked down them as well as ready to brace Dillinger if necessary. Peter and the rest of the Ghostbusters stared at them in shock and confusion, and half a minute later Slimer came swooping out of the open doors of the lab to greet them, covering each of the three men fully on the third floor with his ectoplasmic greeting.

"Hi, guys!" the little green blob cried cheerfully as he moved onto the next man in line, stopping in his tracks at the sight of Lau crouched near the top of the stairs. They could all tell that if he hadn't stopped where he was, Lau might have gotten knocked down the stairs in Slimer's exuberance before anyone would have realized what was happening. "Who's he?" the ghost asked.

Dillinger, meanwhile, drew a bead on the gooper, narrowing his eyes as he prepared to eliminate what he saw as a threat. Sabrina suddenly relaxed and let out a relieved sigh. "It's okay, Dillinger," she said to the man in front of her. "It's over. That was it. I think this is Slimer, the Ghostbuster's pet ghost."

"Yes," Egon said, stepping over to the stairs. "This is he."

"Come on over here, Slimer," Ray called. "Let them get up the stairs." The spud did as requested.

"Boy, am I glad I wasn't up there," Peter muttered so only Sabrina could hear. "If you think the slime job on the guys was bad, you should see what he would have done to me. But what just happened? Why'd you freeze?"

"Just a feeling, I guess. Dillinger," she said quickly to her teammate who had let his aim follow the moving spirit, "stand down. He's no threat. I promise."

The man's shoulders started to relax, but he didn't put the gun away until Lau gave him a stern, pointed look. "Now, Dillinger," he said intensely. The other man sighed and did as he was told.

Soon after, the seven of them had gathered in the lab, scattered around the room. Peter had invited Sabrina to share the couch with him, causing the other Ghostbusters to grin knowingly. The brown-haired man knew he was in for some serious teasing later. "So what kind of information did you want to share exactly?" Peter asked Lau, who stood leaning against one of the tables.

"As we mentioned earlier, we're interested in the case that you were investigating when we met a short while ago. We have reason to believe whatever supernatural events are taking place are being aimed at members of our organization." Lau shrugged. "We like black vehicles." Sabrina rolled her eyes while Dillinger chuckled from his position next to the closed doors.

"Which organization would that be, Mister Long?" Egon asked curiously. "Maybe we've heard of it."

"You haven't," Dillinger said shortly.

"Oh, you never know about that," Ray said. "We have some pretty far-ranging contacts."

"Believe me, Doctor Stantz, you don't," Lau repeated. "We've worked very hard to insure that. In fact, any publicity we manage to attract we're supposed to point in your direction." He turned to face Peter. "You should like that, Doctor Venkman. No matter what happens, you and your friends will get the credit for solving this thing."

"While that's a definite plus, it still doesn't answer Egon's question. Who are you with?" Peter raised his eyebrows and gave each of the visitors an expectant look.

Sabrina looked a question at Lau, who thought for a moment then nodded his head. She made eye contact with the man next to her on the couch. "We're part of a secret branch of the CIA that investigates incidences of paranormal and supernatural origin. It's called E-Branch."

Four pairs of eyes widened. "Whoa," Winston said in amazement. "You mean the government is investigating the supernatural?"

Peter's look turned skeptical. "They better not be infringing on us. But I think the better question would be why the heck should we believe you?"

Sabrina reached into the inner pocket of her hunter green vest and pulled out a thin billfold. She handed it to him. "My I.D. If you look closely you'll see there's no way it could be fake."

"There're ways," Peter said confidently before examining the piece of plastic thoroughly. "This thing doesn't say anything about E-Branch," he said after a few moments, "but otherwise it looks like a real CIA badge."

"Do you believe it's real, Peter?" Egon asked.

Peter hesitated briefly before responding. "Yeah, I think I do," he said begrudgingly. "The jury's still out on the E-Branch thing, though."

Winston nodded. "It is a bit out there," he agreed.

Egon looked over at their guests, who watched them all carefully. "But what would they have to gain from such a claim?" the physicist asked.

"And why would they be interested in our investigation?" Ray piped in. "We may not know exactly what's going on, but it's more likely ghosts than some international spy."

"You would have to point that out," Peter grumbled. "And then there's the reports of how the CIA uses remote viewers and has been funding various psychic studies over the years. Taking that into consideration I guess it's not as far out there as it looks." He handed Sabrina her wallet back. "Okay, so you're E-Branch. Why haven't we run into you around New York before?"

"We aren't based in New York," Lau replied. "We do normally have a team based here because of all the activity in the area, but we're more than happy to let you handle it. Our efforts lean more toward the more subtle occurrences that take place outside your usual territory, especially outside the country."

Dillinger smiled, a touch of frost in the expression. "You have to admit, you can't get much more outside the country than another dimension."

Winston raised a hand for a moment to get everyone's attention. "Wait a second. You said that you normally have a team in New York. Why aren't they here now?"

The three agents became completely serious. "They died in the most recent explosion," Sabrina said softly. "We were sent out as soon as we received word."

"We're sorry," Ray said immediately, his tone sympathetic.

"We didn't know them personally," the woman replied with a look toward Lau. When he shook his head, she continued. "Although it hurts in a way because they were fellow agents. It makes it all the more important to us that this case is solved, and soon."

"So what do you already know about the investigation?" Egon asked.

Sabrina and Dillinger looked over at Lau, suggesting to the Ghostbusters that he was their commander. The Chinese man gestured to the black-haired woman. "Well, let's see," Sabrina said slowly, her eyes unfocused for a moment. She blinked and looked around the room. "Okay. For the past two months, at random intervals, black vans are exploding at various times of the day and night. The police can't explain them, and you've only been able to find traces of ectoplasmic energy signatures, not enough to build any leads. They've all taken place around the main branch of the New York Public Library, with no out-of-the-ordinary occurrences taking place inside that have been reported. Within twenty-four hours of each explosion, noises and lights are reported for a period of approximately fifteen minutes, and then nothing." She shrugged. "That's pretty much what we have."

Peter's mouth twisted into a wry smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Pretty much all we have, too," he said, his tone matching his expression.

"Do you have any theories as to the reason for these attacks?" Egon asked.

"A few years ago there was a confrontation between E-Branch and Spiritech agents over a certain book at the library. Things... didn't go well," Lau explained. "We've expanded the color scheme of our vehicles since then, but at the time we used black vans pretty exclusively. It was easy to fit in with the public at large and it was large enough to carry the array of equipment we might need to accomplish any mission."

"Hold on a second. Spiritech?" Winston queried. "As in the international company that deals in all sorts of trade goods? Why would you be facing off against their people?"

"The company is a marvelous cover, Mister Zeddemore," Sabrina said with a fierce scowl. "The president of the corporation in particular is looking for power, magical and supernatural power, anyway he can get it. These people don't care what they have to do or who they have to go through. We have regulations, limits to what we can do - they don't. We've had to deal with them too many times to count." The other two members of her team wore matching expressions of utter anger and loathing.

"Wait a minute, a few years ago?" Ray asked. "Would that be about the same time as that all-out gang war that happened near the library? The one where all those cars were blown up and all that damage was done to those buildings? They blamed us for it at first, said some of the marks looked like what our proton packs can do. But we were upstate handling another bust at the time. Was that it?"

Sabrina shared a quick look with Dillinger before responding. "Yeah, that was it. A lot of the damage was Spiritech's fault. Like I said, they don't care what they do. We came up with the cover story of a gang war." Her right hand rubbed the center of her chest absently.

Peter's green eyes narrowed. "You were there, weren't you?" Sabrina started in surprise. "You were there and something happened. Something bad. What was it?" Peter's comments were intense, but there was curiosity and concern behind it all.

The other psychologist shot a quick look at Lau, who shrugged, and let her gaze linger longer on Dillinger. The man in black went completely cold, withdrawing into an emotionless shell and becoming utterly alert. Suddenly all four Ghostbusters were extremely afraid of this man. Finally his eyes, having shifted to a deep, intense brown just this side of black, met Sabrina's sapphire blue ones and he nodded sharply once.

She sighed, dropping her head as she turned back to the four men who didn't know the tale. When she raised her head again, tears filled her eyes, but a fierce anger filled her expression. "It was early in E-Branch's history," she began quietly. "Dillinger and I had been teamed up from the beginning under Connor Drake, our field commander. Connor had just been transferred to Interdiction, and our new commander was a man we knew as Hawk. Our first assignment with him was supposed to be simple. We had heard that there was a mystical book somehow kept under wraps at the main branch of the library, and that Spiritech was interested in it. They were going to be sending someone to pick it up, and we were supposed to stop them. Like I said, simple, right? The man they were sending went by the name of Vincent Vega." She sighed as she wiped away the tears.

"Dillinger and I had a brief run-in with him that afternoon on our way back from grabbing something to eat that nearly resulted in our being blown to kingdom come - just say no to grenades, by the way, and don't talk to strangers like your mom always told you. But everything was set up inside the building, and we were just waiting for our man to make his appearance. He finally did, and I can happily say that I managed to get him with my taser." She smiled smugly as she snapped her wrist, causing a small black device to fly into her hand. "This little baby has saved my life more than once, and I don't always have to kill people. Anyway," she continued as she replaced the non-lethal weapon, "Vega was down, but not out. In the utter confusion that happened next, we lost the book, and had to chase after it. We hopped into the BBVOD, Dillinger at the wheel, and got ready to go, but were quickly cut off by another vehicle full of Spiritech agents."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Winston said quickly, "but I have to know. What does that stand for? I noticed your car has a similar plate."

Sabrina smiled. "Big Black Van of Death. And believe me it fits. You wouldn't believe the amounts and kinds of weaponry we put in those things. Oh, and other equipment, too."

"Sure," Peter drawled. "Right."

She shot him a quick smile and went on. "Hawk decided to try to get around them his way, and went out the back on his motorcycle and took off. He got to about the front of our van when a weapon that I'd never seen before - although I'm sure Dillinger had - fired from their vehicle hitting the bike. There was an explosion, sending Hawk into the air and out of sight; we never saw him land. That left the two of us to deal with a van full of people ready to kill us to keep us from the book. We're thinking that we're still okay - the van's bulletproof after all, even the tires - when they decide to turn the big guns on us, the same one they used on Hawk. A particle weapon."

All four Ghostbusters gasped at that. "But our designs are patented!" Ray protested.

Sabrina nodded. "I know they are. From what I can tell and what I've been told, these weapons - that our military has, too, don't let 'em fool you - are based on a different principle. The beams only look like what your proton packs produce, but they can cause some serious damage." She made a sour face. "Especially to your hair."

"I take it you know this thanks to personal experience?" Peter asked.

"Unfortunately, yes, although that's a different story or two... or three. Back to what I was saying though, Spiritech turned their particle weapon on the front of our van. Bulletproof it may have been, but energy weapons tend to ignore such things as armor plating. Soon enough they were cutting through our engine block, and we realized we needed to get out of there or we'd be dead. Unfortunately they were waiting for us outside, a sniper having gone out with the guy with the book." She grinned wickedly. "I guess they didn't realize that I had with me someone better than they could ever dream of having. Lieutenant James Dillinger, his rank at the time, was - and still is - the greatest sniper in the world. I've seen him take out an outboard motor at the range of a mile.

"Not being completely stupid and realizing we were totally outgunned, we called in the cavalry from the mobile phone in the van. But we still had to deal with these idiots until they could get there, and hopefully keep the book from getting away. So, since we had an arsenal at our disposal, we completely armed ourselves and went to town. Dillinger threw open the side door and laid down suppressing fire, causing the man with the book to run and covering my own exit from the van. The two men exchanged fire, from everything I heard later, while the other car took off, eventually leading to Dillinger using the underslung grenade launcher to take out the cars the other man was hiding behind. Meanwhile, I was playing hide and seek with Spiritech's messenger boy, both of us dodging in, out, and around parked cars, taking pot shots at each other as we could. I finally got him in my sights, and I rolled behind a car ready to come up shooting. Unfortunately, he had the same idea, and had picked the same car to hide behind. We surprised each other, and he recovered just a couple seconds faster than I did. He unloaded half a clip into my chest, dropping me, and managed to get away with the book." Again her hand rubbed at her chest.

"I found out later that Dillinger wasn't all that far behind me, having finally taken care of his man, and he found my body bleeding all over the sidewalk. Luckily for me, our backup had finally arrived and they somehow managed to keep me in the world of the living. Don't ask me how; even with my training I couldn't tell you how they did it. I do know we have some people in E-Branch with some special gifts, and I can only assume they put them to good use for me. What really pisses me off, though, is that they got the damn book, and killed my commander. And nearly killed me of course, but that goes without saying. They rubbed the book in our faces later, but we usually win our little face-offs, so I tend to do the same in return. I like that part of the job." Her evil grin returned and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Do you know the name of the book?" Ray asked curiously.

Sabrina looked apologetic. "Sorry, Doctor Stantz. I can't tell you. It's classified."

"That's okay. I guess I kind of expected that. And call me Ray."

She smiled. "And you can all call me Sabrina."

Lau nodded. "It looks like we'll be working together on this one. I think we'll all be more comfortable if we're on a first name basis."

"Except for him." Sabrina hiked a thumb over her shoulder at the man standing guard by the door with a smile. "You can call him Dillinger. It's what we call him. That okay, Dillinger?" She turned her head to look at him.

He shrugged, having thawed out now that the recollections were over, although there was a coldness lingering in his eyes. "Doesn't bother me. They're not military. Except Zeddemore, but he served his time. He's okay." Winston raised an eyebrow at that but didn't comment.

"How about the rest of you?" Lau asked. "Would you be comfortable with us calling you by your first names? We'll work with whatever you want."

Peter looked at Winston and Egon. "That should all right," he said after a moment.

"That settles that then," Lau said as Sabrina laid a gentle hand on Peter's forearm. She gave him a grateful smile that made him relax a bit. "Now I think we need some theories of who this mad spectral bomber could be. What has everyone got?"

"Hold on a second, Lau," the black-haired woman said quickly, rising to her feet as the Ghostbusters looked at the Chinese man shocked. "You may be Dillinger's and my commander, but these are civilians with their own group structure that I'm sure works perfectly well. We're already walking all over it by butting in on their investigation. Don't belittle them by trying to take over. At the very least stop sounding like this is the rest of the E-Branch team." She smiled wryly. "I doubt they'll give you anywhere near as much trouble."

Lau stared at her for a moment, the intensity being returned in kind. Finally, he backed down. "Alright, alright, fine. You got me. Sorry, gentlemen. My training took over there for a minute. We really do want to work with you as equal partners."

Peter nodded, his eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at the agents' commander. "Yeah, if we work together it'll be as equals. We've already put in the time on this one, and it looks like we'll be taking all the credit, good or bad, from what you said earlier. You'll probably want to remember that."

Lau nodded. "I'll do my best. You have to remember I'm used to leading a large number of people in this sort of investigation. I may backtrack from time to time." He smiled.

"Yeah, well, don't get offended if I put you back in your place when you do," Peter replied, his expression lighter than it had been.

"When, huh? It's good to know you have so much confidence in me." Lau chuckled and shook his head. "Anyway, now that you've heard the story, do you have any ideas as to who this bomber could be?"

"From what you've said, the only two deaths that occurred during the incident were the man Dillinger faced off against and your commander, Hawk," Egon offered. "I would theorize the identity of the bomber would belong to one of those two men."

"The readings were muted," Ray added, "but there were slight Class Four overtones. That would explain those."

"But not the readings being muted, I hope," Sabrina said as she sat down once again.

"No, not that," Spengler agreed. "We still haven't determined a cause for that. Unfortunately, the readings we have managed to get haven't been substantial enough."

"Those aren't the only men dead, though," Dillinger chimed in. "Vega's dead, too." He gave a chilling smile. "I should know. I killed him myself."

"And then did it again. On vacation, if you can believe that," Sabrina said with a roll of her eyes.

"Again?" Winston asked, shocked.

"Well, not really again. Turns out Spiritech was trying to raise the slimy bastard. Dillinger had been assigned to lead one of the newer teams - while he was supposed to be on vacation - that had been sent to find out what the heck Spiritech was doing somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Our favorite corporate lackeys had gathered at a center of power, and were going to use it, as I said, to bring Vega back from the dead. Don't ask me how; I have no idea. They were in the middle of the ceremony when Dillinger blew them all to kingdom come with the C4 the E-Branch team had buried under the spot to be used as a last resort. Totally vaporized the body along with a couple of the people that had been standing there as well."

"I would still lean more toward the first two men mentioned," Egon said firmly. "Their violent deaths were directly connected to the incident that appears to have inspired the attacks. But we will keep the fact of Vincent Vega's death in mind."

"Fair enough," Dillinger conceded. "Just thought I'd let you know."

"What can we do to help you get the information you need to figure out what's going on?" Lau offered.

Ray and Egon exchanged a look. "I'm not really sure," the occultist replied. "But if you could run some of our detection equipment we could take even more kinds of readings at once. That might help."

"I know we've tried this before, guys," Winston said slowly, "but what if we go back to the site of the explosion and wait for the lights and noises? They're supposed to happen within twenty-four hours."

Peter shrugged. "And hey, it's not like we're busy with other jobs right now. It's been slow lately. And maybe a chance to get paid by the government?" He looked at Lau hopefully.

The field commander laughed. "We'll see that you get paid for your services, Peter. It won't be public knowledge of course, but you will get paid."

"Well, that's settled then," the psychologist said smugly. "Let's not keep these nice agents waiting any longer, shall we? We have a job to do."

"Speaking of agents," Sabrina said as the group of them began gathering up various pieces of equipment at Ray and Egon's direction. "It would probably be best if you didn't mention our affiliation in public. The last thing we need is some ghost or Spiritech agent overhearing and deciding we need to be eliminated."

"A very wise precaution," Egon agreed. "Since the ghost is targeting black vans and by extrapolation E-Branch agents, it would be foolish indeed to suggest that you are part of that organization. We won't say anything."

"But what do we say?" Winston asked. "We don't normally have outside people helping us with our cases. People are going to wonder."

"We're members of a parapsychology organization from Colorado that heard about the troubles you were having and came to offer our services," Lau suggested. "It would explain our knowledge and your acceptance."

"That works for me," Peter said. "You guys are used to coming up with cover stories on the fly like that, aren't you?"

"Way too used to it, Peter. Way too used to it," Sabrina said with a rueful twist to her lips.

The seven of them finished their packing and headed out.