Orville Reitman struggled up the stairs. He wanted to use the elevator, but thought it was a death trap if the building started collapsing. He would be crushed as the top came down on the elevator shaft and pushed everything into the lobby.
He hoped Kendra could keep the Doom Bird busy until he figured out some way to stop it from freezing the city.
He hoped the others were keeping the secondary spirit focused on them. The last thing he wanted was to have another murderous thing trying to kill him while he was trying to save the world.
Tam and Tyler had enough magic between them to deal with the thing. He had to trust his friends, and they could do the job. His job was trying to figure out how to stop the weather changer.
He took a moment to catch his breath on a landing. He should have just cleared security on his own, and hoped for the best. The Persona would be empty, and people would be moving away from the doors to someplace safe.
A chill brushed against him. The other ghost was in the stairwell with him. He didn't see anything, but the brush of air against him was unmistakable. He needed to get out of there before he fell over the railing to his death.
He hugged the wall away from the railing in the center of the stairwell. He reached for the door knob. He needed to get through the exit before the ghost rallied enough to try to get rid of him.
He wished he had brought one of the smaller guns along with the big cannon he had loaned to Kendra.
He ordered himself not to panic. He was an ordinary human being facing a monster. He had done the same thing a number of times. He just had to move faster and keep ahead of the thing.
Maybe Kendra would circle back and help him without being called for help.
He couldn't count on that turn of events.
He felt something grab his arm. He leaned away from the pull, grabbing the handle of the exit door. He winced as he tried to pull his captured arm in. He had to get through that door, and break the grip on his arm.
“How do you get out of this, Orville?,” Reitman asked himself.
He let the grip drag him so he was stretched on his grip of the handle. If his grip slipped, he doubted he would survive the next few seconds after that. The door opened as his feet floated off the floor.
He forced his feet against the railing and kicked. He fell on his back and rolled into the corridor on the other side of the door. He moved away from the shutting door before the spirit could try to drag him back into the stairwell.
He got up and headed down the central hall marked out by cubicles on either side of him. People looked at him moving by, but no one tried to stop him. The spirit stayed in the stairwell for the moment so he was safe from most of the known dangers until he trnmed to climb to the roof.
He doubted security was going to let him run around on his own for long. They had a vested interest in getting rid of him, but he knew they wouldn't accept that he was there to keep the building from collapsing into the ground.
The explanation for what was going on would be dismissed by anyone who wasn't at the center of the collapse.
And a lot of the witnesses would be killed in the destruction ahead unless he figured out how to stop things without his usual bag of tricks.
He needed to find another way to get to the roof without giving the other ghost a free shot at him.
He definitely didn't want to get on an elevator now. It would be easy to cut the cables and send the thing to the bottom of the shaft with him inside of it. It was better to figure out how to keep it away while trying to climb the stairs to the roof.
How did he keep it locked down so he could save the building and escape before someone tried to sue him for the damage he had did to the lobby floor with Kendra.
That had been impressive. Too bad they had thought of doing that too late.
“It's Orville,” said a familiar voice from somewhere down by the elevator banks. “Hey, Orville!”
Reitman turned and saw Roy Gillis waving a hand at him. The other man was smiling, unconcerned with the danger he could be in. He started limping toward the scientist.
“Where are the others, Roy?,” asked Reitman.
“They're still chasing the small ghost,” said Gillis. “Let's head up to the roof and help Kendra.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?,” asked Reitman.
“I have a special sign that keeps spirits from attacking,” said Gillis. He smiled. “I got it off a monk in Tibet.”
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“A special sign?,” said Reitman. “Do I want to know how that happened?”
“I had a run of good luck traveling that part of the world,” said Gillis. He waved at the other man to follow him. “That's where I ran into that Russian guy I told you about.”
“Which Russian guy?,” asked Reitman. He fell in beside his limping friend as the man headed back toward the elevators.
“The one with the transparent skull,” said Gillis.
“I remember that story now,” said Reitman. “Something about finding machines trying to expand into a conquering force and they shot themselves while you ran for your life.”
“Sort of,” said Gillis. “The details aren't that important at this point.”
Gillis liked to travel, and he had a knack for catching rides whenever he was circling the globe. It had been a piece of good luck that he had answered the distress call to save the Persona from the Doom Bird.
He probably didn't see it that way.
“We need to go up to the roof to help Kendra,” said Reitman.
“No problem, Orville,” said Gillis. He hit the button to summon a cab. “We just need to avoid everyone else looking for us.”
“And you have a plan for that?,” asked the ghost buster.
He stepped out of the way, motioning for Reitman to follow suit. He stood still as he waited for security guards to crash out on the floor. He motioned for the doctor to follow him on the elevator. He pushed the close door button, and then the top floor button in succession.
“Now we have to join Ty and Tam,” said Gillis. He checked his watch. “The other ghost will probably try to stop us.”
“It tried to pull me over the railing in the stairwell,” said Reitman. He watched the floor number climb upwards.
“It's feisty,” said Gillis. “But a chicken. It only attacks people it thinks it can overpower in one shot.”
“Has it tried to stop you?,” said Reitman.
“A couple of times, but the guys were close enough to try to snag it with their things,” said Gillis.
“I think it is going to crash the elevator,” said Reitman.
“It can try,” said Gillis. “But it needs to do it in the next few minutes. After that, it will have to try to kill us before the Doom Bird does.”
“Don't tell me,” said Reitman. “They're hoping for another Jamaica Hills.”
“Maybe a Harlem,” said Gillis. He smiled.
“That's wonderful,” said Reitman. “I got set on fire in Harlem.”
“But we stopped those hellhounds before they could burn down the apartment buildings,” said Gillis.
“We stopped them eventually,” said Reitman.
“I'm sure Tam has worked out the kinks in the plan by now,” said Gillis.
“Really?,” said Reitman.
“Sure,” said Gillis. “We're almost on schedule.”
The elevator door opened. Gillis hopped off the cab, heading to the left. Reitman followed, watching for danger. Light burned against his back. He covered his face.
“An extraordinarily dangerous beastie,” said Tam, stepping out of the shadows. “But it's ours now.”
“And it is dismissed,” said Tyler. He stabbed the floor of the elevator. Fire filled the inside of the thing in burning letters. “I knew it would go after Roy.”
“You knew it would go after Roy?,” said Reitman.
“Sure,” said Tam. “He is the most harmless looking of us, while also being able to avoid trouble.”
“So you two just let it do what it does best and trusted Roy to protect himself,” said Reitman.
“That and his protective sign,” said Tyler. “I didn't think it would work, but it does.”
“The monk will be happy at the confirmation,” said Gillis.
“You guys figured out who we are going to help Kendra save the city?,” asked Reitman.
“Not yet,” said Tam. “I'm sure something will come to me while we head up to the roof.”
“I need to get my magnetic cannon back so I'm not useless,” said Reitman.
“I wouldn't worry too much about that,” said Tyler. “This thing might be too big for your usual arsenal.”
“It might be too big for any of our usual methods,” said Tam. “But with Roy here, I think something will show itself to help us.”
“That's the plan?,” asked Reitman.
“I wouldn't call it a plan per se,” said Tam. “More like a guess outlined into a probability.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” said the doctor.
“We'll have something worked out before we die, Orville,” said Tam. “We've always come through before, and we will now.”
“Let's see what this Doom Bird looks like,” said Gillis. “Kendra probably has it on the ropes by now.”
“You're right,” said Reitman. “We can't stay here.”
Tam turned and led the way across the open space full of machinery. Reitman felt the chill in the air as he walked to a small door to let them on the roof. The magician opened the door with a gesture so they could pass without a lock barring their way.
The group stepped on the roof. They looked around as mist escaped their mouths. They could freeze just standing in the open like this.
Reitman heard the familiar sound of his cannon working. Kendra was still in the fight. They had to help her before she was thrown off the roof.
“This way,” said Roy. He started hopping along toward the sound of combat.
“Go with him,” said Tam. “We'll try to take it from behind.”
Reitman jogged across the space, sliding on ice as he went. A little more, and he wouldn't be able to keep his footing.
How was Gillis doing it with his bum leg?
Something smashed into Kendra. She flew across the roof. She skidded to a stop before she hit the rampart that was the warning to not stand so close unless you intended to jump. She smiled at Reitman sliding toward her.
“It's about time,” she said.
“I got used for bait while the guys figured out how to get rid of the smaller ghost,” said Reitman. “Let me have my cannon. I feel helpless without it.”
“It's not doing that much,” said Kendra. She shrugged off the equipment. “We might have to retreat.”
“We can't,” said Reitman. “The Persona will crash into the street. We have to figure out how to stop it here and now.”
“I'm ready to try,” said Kendra.
Reitman pulled on his equipment harness. He readied the cannon, checking what the instruments had to tell him. This was their only shot at stopping this from tearing the city apart.
He looked at the shadow that spread its wings over the skyscrapers in that part of the city. Cold filled the air. He had to do something to stop it from taking flight and wrecking the buildings around the Persona.
Reitman fired his cannon.