THE WEREWOLF OF NOTRE-DAME
PART THREE

A few days ago, a werewolf appeared in Notre-Dame.

Worried that the Eiffel Tower is again beginning to malfunction, Ghostbusters International has dispatched an ad hoc team to deal with the situation: Ghostbusters West Coast's Dr. Charlene Zeddemore, Ghostbusters New York's TJ Anderson and Marie Lupin, and Spengler Institute researcher and GBI reservist Dr. Jillian Holtzmann.

Holtzmann checks the Tower, and it seems fine. The others check Notre-Dame, coming up with a few samples of hair. The foursome return to Notre-Dame that evening, only to be accosted by the same greasy pervert who hit on Holtzmann earlier that day, who calls himself Tungsten--and reveals himself as the werewolf they were looking for!

"Wassa matter?" the werewolf guffawed. "I scare you poor widdle wadies with my massive animal magnetism?"

" 'Tungsten' " Holtzmann slapped her forehead with one hand as the other grabbed one of her proton pistols. "It's German name is 'wolfram', meaning 'wolf soot'. I should have seen this coming."

"Well, my real name sucks, so I figured I'd pick something cool to call myself instead." Tungsten said.

"And what might that real name be?" TJ asked. The metal cylinder she'd brought with her was still on her right hip.

"I only give that away during pillow talk, Shortstack." Tungsten retorted.

"Gross." Marie shook her head. "First thing you need to be a good werewolf is cooler pants. I have that on good authority. You don't strike me as the reverent type, though--why is an American Werewolf in Paris skulking around a church in the middle of the night?"

Good question Charlene thought to herself. Gotta keep our heads clear...

"By the way, tungsten is paramagnetic, which frankly means it's not all that magnetic at all." Holtzmann continued. "So it continues to fit."

"Maybe if you weren't a carpet muncher." Tungsten replied. "And who's to say I'm not doing it to meet cute chicks? Seems to be working so far."

TJ removed the cylinder, but didn't activate it. She remembered something from the files she'd read on the plane over. "Delirium is the overwhelming instinctive fear that affects human beings who see werewolves in their war forms - with the exception of their kinfolk, who are entirely immune to the effects of Delirium. Fortunately, while the Delirium can affect most Ghostbusters, our knowledge of the reality of the supernatural offers us greater resistance, and immunizes us from the 'Veil' effect, which causes most humans to eventually disbelieve and sometimes even forget the lycanthrope they saw."

"I'm not sure you could handle me, Rover." Marie continued.

Keep him talking, Lupin Charlene thought to herself. We don't know he's here for anything worse than scaring a few construction workers for jollies...

Holtzmann fiddled with her pistol. "Depends on how brittle you are, Mister 183.84"

Tungsten guffawed. "I'm two feet taller than you, made of muscle, and have supernatural powers! What'ya mean I might not be able to handle you?!"

TJ blinked. "Wait...'Shortstack'?!"

"Even if you could...maybe I'm not a furry like my Mom is." Marie replied breezily.

Tungsten shuddered, then grabbed his head. "I'm trying, Dammit!!! Just stop yelling at me!!"

"What's up, Fuzzy?" Marie asked. "Eat some bad cat turds on the way here?"

"Maybe I got his atomic weight wrong." Holtzmann said. "If he's actually tungsten-180, he may be alpha decaying into hafnium."

Tungsten shook his head, and stood back up as his expression hardened. "I can't play any more, Girls. I got things to do." His voice was lower, growlier, and drained of its previous mirth.

"Like what?" Charlene asked.

"Get out of my way, Bitch." Tungsten snarled.

Something is here...something that has power...

"But if he turned into hafnium then would he have to become An American Werewolf in Copenhagen?" Holtzmann quipped, drawing her second proton pistol. They emitted an electronic whine as their safeties were also released. "Now I'm hungry for a cheese danish."

"You think you can stop me!?" Tungsten howled, leaping toward the cathedral.

Charlene was ready for that, firing a proton blast that the werewolf barely dodged, driving him away from his target.

"Aw, shit!" Tungsten cried. "I didn't know cosmonauts packed heat!"

"Marie--the entrance!!!" TJ barked, running to the nearest entrance to Notre-Dame.

"I know a lot of guys who buy dogs in hopes of meeting women." Marie continued as she joined her colleague. "Not too many who become dogs. Though I do know a few..."

I can't fire on him indiscriminately... Charlene noted to herself. Too much risk of damaging the building, and it's had enough problems the last few years...

TJ flicked the activation switch on the cylinder she carried--a meter-long beam of energy crackled to life, the bright orange, wobbling beam surrounded by blue crackles that quickly tamed it into the shape of a blade.

"Wait, so you're not cosmonauts?" Tungsten snarled. "You're fucking Jedi now?"

"You really are as dense as your name." Holtzmann told him. "I mean, you undoubtedly saw the nametags, considering where they are, but you missed the Mooglie logos on our shoulders? We're Ghostbusters, punk." She paused a second. "And no horseshit about how women can't be Ghostbusters--I've heard enough of that to last a life time."

"I ain't a ghost, Cupcake." Tungsten growled, looking around.

"We can fix that." Charlene responded.

"And you don't think we have some idea?" Charlene countered. "The original Ghostbusters dealt with werewolves before any of us were born. The nutrona saber came from my franchise--one that's been dealin' with vampires and werewolves for almost twenty years now. You don't scare us."

"And you don't scare me!!!" Tungsten leapt at TJ and Marie, his body distorting, becoming smaller and more canine.

Hispo form TJ noted. A step in-between the hybrid "Crinos" and the full "Lupus" wolf form.

That thought only flashed in her mind for half a second. The nutrona blade swung true, striking Tungsten.

He yowled and rolled away, reverting to his Crinos form. "Dafuq?"

"See?" Marie said. "And if Mistress Jedi doesn't impress you, Fuzzbutt, maybe this will get your attention..." She pulled out the gleaming silver knife wrapped in stained leather.

Tungsten's eyes went wide. "Oh fuck...a klaive?! Where in the hell did you get one of those?!"

"My Dad gave it to me." Marie answered simply.

Tungsten sniffed slightly as he continued to face Marie. "Wait a sec...you...you're...no, you're not Garou..." He shook his head, then his eyes lit up. "You're Kinfolk! Yeah...that's what I kept sensing about you. Sooo..." He fluffed up his jeans. "...How do you feel about havin' some awesome puppies?"

"Dad said to use it on naughty boys who got too frisky." Marie replied.

"NOW!!!" Charlene shouted.

Holtzmann's proton pistols sprung to life. They snared Tungsten in twin beams. They were different from Charlene's though, bluer in color.

Organic confinement. Setting five--it won't hold him long, but he doesn't know that.

"Surrender now, Rover." Marie said. "Or we'll have to get rough."

"All right all right!!!" Tungsten howled.

The beam cut off, and he hit the ground. He exhaled heavily for a few seconds, and then reverted to his human form.

"So what's the deal?" Marie asked. "You just get off on scaring construction workers or something?"

"I hate this place...I hate this whole fucking city..." Tungsten moaned. "The cathedral and the Tower...all the fucking Weaver-stink...it's like running in molasses...I can't believe I let..." He suddenly gripped his head.

"Fuzzbutt?" Marie asked.

When the light faded a second later, Tungsten was gone.

"Anderson!" Charlene barked, looking around, ready to fire if necessary.

TJ deactivated the nutrona saber and whipped out her GBX. "PKE level is high...but dwindling rapidly. I can't get a lock on Tungsten. At all."

"What the fuck just happened?" Marie asked.

Holtzmann shrugged.

"What was he saying before he disappeared...how much he hated this place." TJ mused.

" 'Like running in molasses' " Marie added. "My Dad once visited a wizard's fortress, and they have anti-supernatural defenses there. Anything but Homid, and he said it was like 'drowning in a sea of cement'. Maybe it's like that."

Charlene sighed, and rearmed the safety on her thrower. "Where's Clarice?"

"Over here!" Clarice said, popping up from behind the car they'd driven here. "I hid at the first sign of trouble, just as you told me to do. Is everyone all right?"

"The only wounds are to my pride." Holtzmann replied, blowing an enormous bubble.

TJ and Charlene nodded. "I have the feeling that whatever happened here might not really be over. Though it does appear to be over for now." TJ observed.

"I don't know what in the hell we're gonna tell Monsieur Lucien, though." Charlene then shook her head.

The mote slammed into the water, illuminating it.

A moment later, Tungsten emerged, still in his human form, coughing up water.

"Gakk! What the fuck was that?!" he spat as he crawled onto dry land.

He turned around to see the water still bubbling with the blue glow; after a minute or so of this, the glow faded.

A few seconds later, a woman emerged. She was completely nude, with long red hair that covered her face from Tungsten's view. Not that he was really looking at her face.

"All right!!! I'm gettin' some tonight after all!!!"

The naked woman gestured, and Tungsten's vision exploded with blue-green light, and he felt like someone had smacked his brain with a telephone pole.

Tungsten fell back to the ground, groaning with pain.

The woman gestured again. When she turned around, her nudity was covered with a glowing aqua blue garment, her face completely concealed by a featureless mask framed by her limp red hair, not even exposing her eyes.

"Free..." her voice rasped. "...Free at least of that foul prison, trapped by the choking stench of the Demiurge...the Steady Wind failed, but he's good at that."

She turned to Tungsten. "I thank you, Lupine--your gnosis allowed me to escape that blighted place and manifest at last. You are weakened now, but your power will return in time."

"I just need one more bit of information from you." There was another blast of blue-green light, and Tungsten screamed again, as he felt her rifling through his surface memories.

The woman in blue also jolted. "Two-thousand twenty two?! It's been eighteen years?!?!"

"You're welcome..." Tungsten groaned, slumping back to the ground.

"This is annoying." the woman snarled, and then turned away. She started to rise into the air.

"Hey! Wait!!!" Tungsten called out, finally standing up.

The woman paused, but did not look back at him. "You try my patience, Lupine."

"It wasn't a coincidence I came here, you know! I'm a Theurge--the spirits talk to me!!! They led me there, because they said you're a powerful ally of the Wyrm! There's some guys I know that are looking for a great ally like that!!!"

The woman floated down. "My previous cult contained a sorcerer devoted to the Wyrm, but that cult was destroyed...and the years I've lost allows the hated ascension of the Primordial Wind to draw nigh. I will see what those who you represent have to offer me."

"Glad to hear it, Babe!" Tungsten said. As they walked away, his hand slid onto the woman's buttocks...

And he got zapped again.

"Two days and nothing." Marie added. "I think it's safe to say that ol'Tungsten's gone. Whether that means dead or just high-tailed it out of the city--or even this dimension--I don't know."

" 'Dimension'?" Holtzmann asked.

"I'd explain all about 'stepping sideways', but I really don't understand it either." Marie shrugged.

TJ was on her laptop. "We did manage to locate our 'Tungsten' through French immigration records. I've sent it all to Interpol."

Marie looked over at the screen. Sure enough, there were scans of their quarry's passport, including a photo. Marie almost choked on her drink. " 'Reinhold Elmer Talbot'?!?! Geez, he ain't kidding--his real name really does suck!"

"If Mr. Talbot surfaces anywhere in the world, he'll be flagged." TJ said firmly. "Especially as the French police now have his passport."

"Only if he shows up legally." Charlene countered.

"Too bad though..." Marie said wistfully. "I may not be a furry like my Mom is, but ol'Reinhold was kinda cute..."

As the other three Ghostbusters were eyerolling hard, there was a knock at their door.

It was Monsieur Lucien.

"Jean-Luc!" Marie said excitedly.

"Jean-Ma...no, never mind, not worth it." Lucien shook his head.

"You're learning." Holtzmann nodded.

"So how did it go with the Prime Minister?" Charlene asked.

"Quite well." Lucien replied. "He wishes to convey his gratitude for your assistance in the matter, and the agreed payment will be made to Ghostbusters International's account."

"Too bad we personally won't see a dime of it." Holtzmann smirked.

"Hey, Uncle Peter needs to keep his money bin at the 99 foot mark somehow." Charlene chuckled.

"We got a week's vacation in Paris outta this." Marie shrugged. "I ain't complaining about it!"

Lucien coughed. "The Prime Minister also asked me to pass along a request. Specifically, to Doctor Zeddemore and Doctor Holtzmann."

Charlene and Holtzmann looked at each other. "Oh?" Holtzmann asked.

Fils de l'Ether
Pavilion Principal

In English, this would be "Sons of Ether Main Lodge"

The woman in the yellow rain coat walked to the front door. A guard sat at a check-in station. "[Welcome to the Main Lodge. Please state your business]"

The woman pulled out a badge, featuring a bright yellow glyph. "[I am here to see the Dean.]"

The guard nodded. "[Of course, Agent Yellow. Is he expecting you?]"

"[More or less.]"

The guard talked into a phone. A few moments later, the guard turned back to her. "[He is awaiting you in his office, Mademoiselle.]"

"Merci" she nodded. and went inside.

Upon entry, "Agent Yellow" doffed her rain coat, revealing the attractive features of Clarice LaMarche.

At the center of the office, the other occupant stood up; a short man with olive skin and curled black hair adjusting his glasses. He was dressed in a jacket and scarf in shades of green.

Were any of the four members of the Spengler family present, they would have recognized him as the Etheric Dean, Dr. Enrico Amore.

"I take it things went well?" Amore asked her, switching to English lightly accented not with French, but Italian. He could speak French quite fluently, actually, but for various reasons these conversations were usually made in English.

Clarice nodded. "Everything worked out quite well, Doctor. The problem in Notre-Dame was resolved, and the Tower is still functioning. Even better, Dr. Zeddemore and Dr. Holtzmann have agreed to a request from Monsieur Lucien and the Prime Minister to remain in Paris until they can perform a comprehensive diagnostic."

Amore nodded. "I imagine you were quite pleased that your old friend is visiting for a while."

"I will not deny that, Doctor." Clarice admitted. "It will be an opportunity for us to gain information about the...other matters of your interest. With a few months to talk, I don't have to bluntly go 'So how are your friends the Spengler children doing?' "

"That is true, Ms. LaMarche. It's unfortunate that neither of the Twins were sent on this mission, but that is what it is. The English detective and the Fuyuno niece--it would have been fortuitous had they remained, also."

"Agent Red?"

Amore looked contemplative. "His death was definitely a set back. I would surmise that Tsukiko has no idea that he was working for me, or had any involvement with the Etherians at all." He shook his head. "A terrible waste, though."

"What if she did suspect?" Clarice asked.

"I would imagine that she would have come here." Amore answered. "And probably not in the most polite mood about it."

"You are probably correct, Doctor." Clarice agreed. "Inspector Anderson probably the same."

"I will have to manage an invite to Doctor Holtzmann, though." Amore sat back down. "She is an Etheric initiate, after all, and it would be unseemly to ignore someone that Egon Spengler trusted to work in his place during this matter."

"She is quite a character, Doctor." Clarice smiled slightly. "But be advised that she does not swing that way."

Amore rolled his eyes. "Neither do I, Clarice, so the discussion will be quite professional. But I will wait at least a week--I don't want to seem too eager. Is there anything else of note?"

Clarice shook her head. "Not at this time, Sir."

Amore nodded. "The completion of the circle, the fulfillment of prophesies that were ancient when your ancestors settled this land, it's all so close now, Agent Yellow. So very close indeed."