Chapter Text
It was an unusually slow day for the Ghostbusters. Although a few calls had trickled in, Janine screened them well and the amount that actually required action on their part boiled down to about three. Two were class II anomalies that hardly required their full outfit to take care of and the third was a class V phantom that had been a little tricker, but still containable in the end.
In lieu of actual busts, Ray and Winston decided it was the perfect time to tune up the Ecto-1. Ray had wasted no time in popping the hood and diving into the inner workings of the engine while Winston crawled underneath the chassis. Every so often they would discuss changes and tune ups while sharing Ray's lighter for a smoke.
Peter, always looking for the excuse, had called Dana with the intent of taking her out to lunch. Lunch however, had to be turned into dinner because Dana was stuck in rehearsal for the next several hours. So Peter ambled around the firehouse, taking intermittent naps at his desk, and antagonizing Janine, who snarked right back.
Egon also intended to make the best use of what little free time they had working on the proton packs. Their equipment, like the car, always held room for improvement. The world of the paranormal was not a static state and Egon had no reason to believe their tools shouldn't evolve along with their quarry.
He was, however, finding it very difficult to focus on his project at the moment. In fact, his focus was across the garage.
Janine Melnitz was the Ghostbusters’ secretary by title, but her influence reached far beyond that. She answered phones, filed paperwork, and generally kept the firehouse running when the four of them forgot to pay the bills or were coming off a 16-hour busting shift. Egon had an incredible amount of respect for Janine, although in the past few months that respect had blossomed into something else.
"Hey, loverboy." Peter's voice shook him from his thoughts. Egon hadn't even noticed him standing there. "You working hard or hardly workin'?"
From the grin creeping across his friend's face, Egon knew the comment was intended to get a rise out of him. He and Janine had been dating a little over a month now, and it seemed that Peter had still not gotten over his need to poke fun at him for it.
Egon looked up at him cooly from over his glasses. "You would know quite a bit about “hardly working”, Peter."
From across the garage, Ray choked on his cigarette. Janine smirked as the phone rang and she picked it up without hesitation.
"Ghostbusters."
There was a pause as Janine listened to the caller on the other end of the line. Peter hovered near Egon's shoulder, looking over the various parts, tools, and wires the physicist had spread out on the table, giving his best wounded puppy impression.
“Ouch, Egon you really know how to go for the throat don’t you?”
Egon rolled his eyes, turning his full attention to his work. Janine had a pen and pad out, taking notes with the phone cradled between her ear and shoulder.
“Uh huh, and have you actually seen a figure at all?” Janine frowned, scratching something out. “No- no, okay…. It what? ”
The change in her voice alerted the Ghostbusters. Janine was sitting up straighter now, eyes wide behind her glasses. Whatever the caller was saying was clearly alarming.
Ray pushed himself out of the engine, tapping Winston’s leg with his foot. The former Marine poked his head out from under the car, listening.
“Yes, yes of course they’ll be over as soon as they can.” Janine turned and pushed the notepad towards Peter, tapping it with some urgency. He picked it up, reading. “Yes I’ll- I’ll tell them. Thank you-”
She set the receiver back in its cradle. “That was a worker at Pier 57.” She announced. “They’ve been having some activity lately. Tools being thrown, boxes being moved. She tapped the notepad in Peter’s hand. “Just yesterday some poor man got scratched up real good by something- but no one has ever seen it.”
“Sounds like your classic poltergeist.” Ray mused, drifting closer to the desk. Egon nodded in agreement.
“There’s more, apparently this morning one of the forklifts turned on by itself and tried to run over a foreman.”
“You’re kidding.”
“That’s what they’re saying. Whatever it is, it’s real mad.”
“Sounds like just the job for you, Ray.” Peter ripped the paper off the top of the notepad and stuffed it into Ray’s hand. “Say hi to the ConEd boys for me if you see them-”
“Oh no, Pete, this is a four man job.” Ray insisted. “If this one is as pissed as it sounds we’re gonna need all hands on deck to bring it in.”
“Ray’s right.” Winston nodded. “I don’t fancy risking getting shish-kabobed by some angry machinery without some backup.”
As if that was the last word, Ray headed straight for his locker, snuffing his cigarette out on his jeans. Winston slammed the hood of the Ecto-1 shut before moving towards his own.
Peter huffed, dragging his feet. “One day off, one full day off …is that too much to ask?”
Egon smirked, quickly working to snap the proton pack back together again. His modifications would have to wait.
Pier 57 was not far from the firehouse, but Ray kicked the sirens on anyway. It cut a short commute into an even shorter one and the people loved it. They waved as the Ecto-1 sped by, some gathering along the sidewalks to catch a glimpse of the now famous vehicle.
With the threat of Gozer defeated, the city still looked to the Ghostbusters as heroes. For the most part, this meant their work was usually met with cheers and enthusiastic shouts of encouragement. Today was no exception. Ray slowed as they approached the pier and Peter actually rolled the window down in order to wave at and schmooze the bystanders.
He complained about the work but Peter loved his job.
Ray parked the car and the Ghostbusters moved into position. Packs were unloaded and strapped on. Ray donned his pair of paragoggles as Peter met up with a young man outside one of the offices. The worker actually looked surprised.
“Uh, Ghostbusters-!”
“The one and only.” Peter shook the kid’s hand smoothly. “Dr. Peter Venkman, these are my colleagues, Dr. Stantz-” he nodded at each Ghostbuster in turn “Dr. Spengler, and Mr. Zeddemore.”
“Kenny Delvin.” The kid looked a little star-struck. “It’s great to finally meet you guys. We uh, well we’re not really sure what we’re dealing with here.”
“How long has this been going on?” Ray jumped in immediately, all business.
“About…two weeks?” Delvin replied. Egon frowned.
“Nothing before that?”
“No, but it’s been getting worse and worse every day-” Delvin motioned for them to follow and they made their way down the pier. “Some of the guys think we disturbed something, like a grave you know? The bosses figured it wouldn’t get any worse than some thrown boxes but-”
“But then the forklift?” Winston guessed.
Delvin stopped outside a larger warehouse, looking grim. “Yeah- they closed up the place as soon as that happened.”
“Not to worry, sir.” Ray pulled his goggles down over his eyes and pulled his wand. “We’ll get this taken care of in no time.” He looked around at the other three Ghostbusters. “Heat ‘em up.”
Each of the guys flipped the switches on their respective packs, the familiar start-up sound of the internal motors echoing off the old buildings of the pier.
"Let's get to work!"