gone_byebye | (no subject)

Depression-era Toronto is a bustling urban metropolis--in Kit's world, anyway.

It's nothing compared to this.

One boggling superhero on your left.

"eeeeee!" And one airplane-armed squeeing, running 10 year-old to your right.

Fresh air! ...Sorta. And light and sound and most of all TECHNOLOGY HE UNDERSTANDS.

Ray smiles a little. "Right this way," he says, leading Tyler and Kit towards the street. "I usually bring people into the Firehouse for a bit before we go out anywhere. Ecto likes to say hi, even if we're just going to be riding the subway."

"Remind me who Ecto is again?"

"Ecto's his daughter, Walter Peck threatened to erase her mind from existance." Tyler says over his shoulder. "She's also a really cool car most of the time, and sometimes a giant robot."

"She's adopted," Ray notes.

People get weird ideas sometimes.

"...well, she'd kinda have ta be, wouldn't she?" says the Flying Squirrel with a raised eyebrow.

"She's really cool, and she helps me out figuring out new settings for the Daffy Putty..." Tyler is running ahead of Ray towards the front door to yell inside. "HI ECTO!"

There's a gleeful honking noise from inside the garage as Ray notes to the Squirrel, "Some people get this weird look on their faces when they realize my daughter's a car. I don't know what they're thinking, exactly, but I like to head off that kind of thinking as fast as possible."

The car rolls forward to meet Tyler, her lights on and blinking in an approximation of a human wave.

And the company car is getting Tyler hugging her front fender a bit before pulling off his backpack.

"I brought some more comicbooks," He says excitedly, pulling out four wire-ringed notebooks, one of which is full of comic books, "And a couple more journals for you to read! How's work been for you guys over here?"

"Excellent!" says Ecto. "On both counts. Dad's been working with the government to put together the Paranormal Response Corps, did he tell you? We're not the only Ghostbusters any more."

"That's great news!!" In his mind, Ray deserves even more of a vacation than any other grown-up. Quite possibly because Ray gets into weirder things than Tyler does. "How many more Ghostbusters are there going to be?"

The Flying Squirrel hangs back, feeling very much out of her depth. Sure, she's talked to cars before--usually in four-letter words while she's elbow-deep in the Pandamobile's transmission--but she's never expected one to talk back.

"Forty-five to start with," Ecto says. "The first five've already been stationed in northern Manhattan. They're called the Harlem Hellfighters. The next two units are going to Chicago and New Orleans."

"Good thing, you guys have been fighting ghosts and ghouls by yourselves for waaaaaay too long." He looks back at Miss Squirrel. "Ecto, this is Miss Flying Squirrel, she was one of the heroes who came with your dad to the Arctic battle, from Milliways."

A tentative wave. "Uh, hi... Ecto."

A complicated robotic arm slides out from under one side of the car, and a five-fingered hand at the end waves. "Hi, Miss Squirrel!" she calls out. "Thank you for helping!"

Just when you thought you were all boggled out...

"Holy smokes, whered'ja get that??"

"Aliens!" says Ecto happily. "Robot aliens. They did some work on me so that I could have hands and do other things, too."

"Robot... aliens."

A beat.

"Okay, is this the universe where Canada was run by a dog?"

(It makes sense if you're Kit. Trust us.)

"Nope, not that I know of," says Ecto. "And the aliens're all right, they're from Cybertron and they go to Milliways a lot of the time."

"WHURF," comes a voice from one of the firehouse corners. Francis gets up and takka-takka-takkas his way over to the newcomers.

"Hey there, Francis..." And the kid goes down on one knee. "C'mere boy, how're you doing..."

...First the mini-raptor, now the robot dog.

Does this kid have any normal friends?

Kit quirks an eyebrow. "No offense, but are there any people in this place that don't run on batteries?"

"I don't," says Ray, coming up behind them. "Neither do Venkman or Egon or Winston, and Janine's human, too. There's Slimer, but Winston was taking him for a walk when I left, and then there's the two fish, although most people don't like Blinky very much."

"Most people here don't like Peck much either." The hero-in-training remarks giving the fish in the bowl a face.

Annoying Peck never gets old.

"That's the fish that useta be the guy who tried to kill you?" The Flying Squirrel leans over to have a better look at the tank. "I thought he'd be... I dunno, spikier, maybe."

The betta fish spreads all its fins and flares the red stuff out from behind its gill covers.

"My friend Garion chose the species," Ray says. "I gave him a book of tropical fish and asked him to pick one."

"Still think you shoulda let Matilda toss him around some more." And possibly let him practice on the guy. "Or that he shoulda turned him into a hamster."

"Nah, a hamster could get out."

"Hamsters bite," Ray points out. "I'd rather have something that's not going to breed and that we can keep a close eye on."

...Okay the thought of Peck breeding is quite enough now.

And very deserving of an 'eeeeewww' face.

"Point made."

The Flying Squirrel is making a similar face.

"There's a mental image I didn't need."

"That makes two of us," Ray says. "Anyway. Did you want a tour of the place, or do you want to see some of New York first- with or without Ecto- or something else?"

She thinks for a moment. "Y'know, if I weren't in uniform, I'd say I'd like the grand tour, but as it is I think I'd better just collect my pay an' go home."

There'll be other chances to visit New York. (Sooner than she realizes, in fact.)

Tyler is not making an 'aww fudgebunnies'* face on the outside right now. Miss Squirrel has a point, they came here to get something, and trouble usually happens when a hero is in an area in uniform.

* For some reason, it has been impressed upon the dear child that hanging around** with the Flying Squirrel is rather nice, despite all the little bumps that happened during boxing training.

** Perhaps this line of thought is due to the lack of anything even remotely normal about Tyler's upbringing thus far.

"We could go with Ecto there..." Good way to see the sights, even if it's from a car-window.

"I'm good with that if you guys are," says Ecto. Ray glances in the Squirrel's direction; some people are weird about riding inside a car that can talk to them.

Ray may not be the best arbiter of what's considered weird. We're sorry.

A moment's hesitation, then a shrug. "Aww, what the hey."

"Yes! Race you for shotgun!"

"Heck, you can have it, I wanna sit in the back for once."

"...okay..." Tyler shrugs and hops into the front passenger seat.

"Not a problem," says Ray, and heads around to the front seat. Ecto opens the back door for the Squirrel herself. "Make sure you buckle your seatbelt. Ecto's an excellent driver, but we have laws about that here."

She's already in and has her seatbelt buckled before that last bit registers.

"...the car drives itself??"

"...I think it'd be kinda creepy for her if she didn't."

"I don't mind Daddy or Uncle Winston driving," Ecto says, the voice issuing from the dashboard, "but I compensate a little bit when they make mistakes behind the wheel. That's all."