Chapter Text
January 2, 1991
The Ghostbusters had gotten a call from an upscale clothing boutique about a major spectral disturbance in the building. They’re currently dealing with said disturbance.
“Could really use a trap any minute now!” Peter shouted as he, along with Winston and Egon, wrangled a Class III entity.
Ray threw a trap and called back, “On it!” The trap landed perfectly under the struggling ghost. He stomped on the trap pedal and the ghost shrieked as it got sucked in. The trap closed with a satisfying click.
The team collectively let out a breath. Winston said, “Beautifully done as always, guys.”
Peter moved to collect the trap and replied, “Yeah, I think we deserve a vacation after that one.”
Ray shook his head, smiling, “You say that after half the jobs we do, Pete.”
“And I’m right every time!” Peter looked around then said, “So where’s the owner of this place? I have a feeling we could squeeze out a good paycheck from this one. What are we thinking, Egon, five thousand?”
Egon was staring at his PKE meter a couple feet away. He looked up at the mention of his name, “Hm?”
“Money, Egon. How much.” The other Ghostbusters were now looking at Egon, curious as well.
Egon picked up a jacket from the floor and looked at the price tag. He raised his eyebrows, “A lot.”
Peter grinned, “Ooo, ‘a lot’ I like that.”
Suddenly a woman’s voice called out, “What happened?!”
They all turned to the front door of the boutique. Two women stood at the door, in complete shock. The shorter one had short blonde hair and wore an expensive looking burgundy coat and matching boots. The other had long brown curls and wore an equally expensive looking brown coat with tall black heels.
Ray answered, “Ma’am don’t worry, we’re the Ghostbusters. We just took care of a dangerous Class III spectral manifes-”
“I know who you are, I called you here!” The blonde one said, her voice rising.
Peter spoke up, which was almost never a good thing in these cases, “Great! So you can pay us now.”
“Pay you? Do you know how much damage you caused?”
Peter looked around confused, then Winston whispered to him, pointing at the floor, “The clothing.”
The four of them looked around at the floor. Articles of clothing were scattered across the floor, either dirty or completely torn.
Peter whistled, “Lemme guess, this clothing costs ‘a lot.’”
Egon looked back to his PKE meter and started walking towards the women. The blonde woman yelled, “Yes, it does! And someone has to pay fo-”
“Excuse me,” Egon said calmly, “Does this boutique have a basement?”
Before the blonde woman could say anything, the brunette woman suddenly spoke, “Yes it does, why?”
“I’m detecting some ectoplasmic energy and I suspect it’s emitting from below the building.” He looked towards the blonde woman, “I want to investigate the basement, if that’s okay with the owner.”
The brunette woman spoke again, “I’m the owner actually. She’s just my assistant. I’m April.”
The other Ghostbusters glanced at each other. Egon simply looked at her and said, “My mistake, may we take a look at the basement?”
The assistant looked at both of them, eyes wide. April looked up at Egon and smiled with her red painted lips, “Of course. Let me show you the way.”
She walked past Egon and the other men, leading them to a door at the back of the boutique. Once she unlocked the door, she said to Egon, “We have somewhere to be, unfortunately. So just call the boutique to get your payment.” She pulled out a notepad and pen from her coat and wrote two phone numbers, “And if for whatever reason you can’t reach the boutique, here’s my personal number.” She smiled as placed the paper in Egon’s hand.
He placed the paper in his pocket, “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Of course. Good luck, boys.” She said, and then left.
Egon turned back to the other three Ghostbusters. They looked at him wide eyed.
Winston patted him on the shoulder as he walked past him into the basement, “Nice, man.”
Peter stopped in front of Egon and looked him up and down, “I just don't get it. I really don’t.” He shook his head as he followed Winston.
Egon stood still and quiet. He stopped Ray before he could walk into the basement and whispered, “Ray, what did I do?”
Ray looked at him slightly confused and whispered back, “You mean with April?”
“Was that her name? And, yes. That’s what I mean.”
Ray blinked at him, surprised, “Yeah and well…she gave you her personal phone number, after we destroyed her shop. Not to mention the way she was eyeing you the whole time”
Egon considered the information, “Are you implying I charmed her, somehow?”
“Yeah! I assumed it was a purposeful thing.”
“Since when have I ever tried charming someone?”
Ray shrugged and walked past him into the basement, “Either way, it saved us from an angry client.”
Egon nodded and followed him, “It seems it did.”
Ray stopped briefly at the top of the staircase and looked back at Egon, “So…you’re not gonna call her personal number?”
“Why would I?”
“No reason, just wondering.” Ray continued down the steps as his shoulders unexplainably relaxed.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Ray called out to Peter and Winston, “You guys see anything?” The basement was dark, save the one struggling lightbulb Winston had turned on.
“Barely.” Winston said.
Egon’s PKE meter stirred, “It’s coming from the west side of the room, c’mon.”
Peter mumbled, “Yeah sure, lemme just pull out my compass.”
The four of them, in a single file line, followed Egon deeper into the basement and its darkness. Egon stuck an arm out in front of him, searching for the wall, but never reached anything.
“Does anyone have a flashlight?” Winston asked. The only light at this point was Egon’s meter.
“Yeah sure, hold on.” Ray in front of him said, then he pulled out a tiny utility flashlight and turned it on. It gave off a small circle of light in front of them, barely enough to see two or three steps in front of them.
“Is this the only flashlight we have?” Winston asked desperately.
Egon glanced at them over his shoulder, “You can take out your PKE meters if you need extra light.” A chorus of mumbled explanations came from the three of them, ranging from ‘I left it in the car’ to ‘I think my dog ate it.’ Egon raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet.
After a few seconds of silence, Peter’s voice rang out from the end of their line, “I, for one, appreciate not knowing what gross things I’m stepping on.”
The ground was different from when they had first entered the basement. Instead of cracked concrete, it was soft dirt. As the Ghostbusters continued walking, their steps started to sink slightly into the soggy ground.
“Hey, Egon?” Peter said, “Any idea if we’re getting close to…whatever we’re looking for? This dirt is starting to soak into my socks.”
“Our boots are waterproof, Peter.” Egon replied, “And yes, the source of the energy should be close…” He took a few more steps then stopped. He waved the meter to his right and said, “There, do you see it?” The other three looked to the right and faintly could see a blue glow in the distance.
Ray aimed the flashlight to the right of them and they ran to the light. Eventually the flashlight shone on a cylindrical brick tower completely coated in light blue ectoplasm.
Winston pointed out, “So I’m guessing it isn’t water soaking this dirt.”
Peter groaned, looking down at his boots, “Aw c’monnn...”
Egon walked up to the structure, his steps significantly slowed by the slimed dirt surrounding it. The structure reached up to his chest. “It’s a well.” He said, then looked inside, “It’s filled to the brim with ectoplasm.”
The other three started to step closer to the well, but then suddenly a woman’s muffled scream rang out from beneath the slime in the well,
“PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”
Peter pulled out his pack’s particle thrower and said, “No offense, but if you’re in there, you’re prolly already dead.”
Winston looked at the others curiously, “Are we just gonna blast this well?”
Ray looked pointedly at Peter, “No, we-.”
The lady in the well shrieked impressively louder. The four of them flinched, Egon covered his ears. The ectoplasm in the well bubbled and Egon tried to backup. The ground under him was covered in too much ectoplasm though, and instead he slipped and fell on his back with a shout.
“Egon!” Ray yelled. He tried to move forward to help him, but Peter grabbed his arm, “Ray, wait-”
The well blasted a tall glowing geyser of ectoplasm. Everyone ducked their heads and closed their mouths shut as the ectoplasm flew into the air and proceeded to rain down on them in large globs.
The shrieking became much louder as the ectoplasm stopped raining down. The three standing Ghostbusters covered their ears. Winston was the first one to lift his head up and he squinted his eyes against the bright blue light of the ghostly woman. She was screaming above the well with her head hanging further back than naturally possible. Winston tried to step back, but his boots were completely stuck in the slimed floor.
Ray and Peter had been hit the worst by the rain. Soon enough though, they cleared their sights of the blue ectoplasm and realized their boots were also stuck.
Peter tried yelling over the ghost’s screams, “Now can we blast it?!”
Winston winced as he took his hands away from his ears to pull out his pack’s thrower and fired a proton stream at the well ghost. Peter and Ray joined him in firing at her.
The ghost never ceased shrieking as she struggled against the capture streams, it was a mix of loud wails and pleads for her life. Ray shouted, his voice cracking and his eyes practically closed as he squinted against the bright glowing, “Can we please trap her already?!”
A white light appeared at the foot of the well and the three of them glanced down to see Egon’s shaky arm holding up an open trap. They pulled the ghost down from above the well into the trap, the shrieking somehow getting louder right before it abruptly stopped as the trap closed.
The Ghostbusters collectively sighed.
They stayed still for a second, celebrating the silence, until Ray quickly realized Egon was still on the floor.
“Egon!” He shouted, he quickly tried to move his feet, but fell forward onto his hands and knees. Winston started wiggling his boots to get out of the slime to help him up.
“Nice one, Ray.” Peter muttered. Carefully, he wiggled his boots out of the slime and took a step towards Egon. However, his foot landed on a slimed piece of broken brick on the ground, and it slipped under his boot, sending him falling on his ass with a loud yelp.
Winston looked down at Peter as he helped Ray up and mumbled, “Karma.”
Ray finally got to Egon’s figure at the foot of the well. The trap was still held in his hand beside him.
“Egon, you alright?” He asked as he started to pull Egon’s body up into a sitting position. Egon’s head simply lobbed to the side, his eyes closed. Ray’s eyes widened.
Peter and Winston glanced at each other concerned, then Peter said quietly, “I’m sure he’s just passed out, Ray.”
Ray held his breath and watched Egon’s chest. He saw a small rise and fall, he was breathing, albeit shallowly. Ray sighed and nodded, “Yeah, yeah he’s just passed out.”
Peter and Winston gently helped Ray pull Egon up out of the slime and they all moved a couple feet away from the well.
They stood in the dim light blue glow of the ectoplasm, catching their breaths, Egon being held up between Ray and Winston. Peter held the full trap and Egon’s PKE meter, “Sooo…any idea how to get out of here?”
It took about twenty minutes, but they eventually found their way back out of the boutique, dragging Egon’s passed out body the whole way. Ray’s worrying only got worse as time passed and he didn’t wake up.
“What if he’s in a coma?” Ray asked as he got in the back of the Ecto-1 beside Egon.
“He’ll be fine, I think the fall and all that ghost’s screaming just did a number on him.” Winston reassured him as he started the car, “Besides, God knows he needs some rest.”
“Right, yeah.” Ray said, his eyes not leaving Egon. He looked peaceful at least.
Peter groaned as he slid into the passenger seat, “Let’s get the hell out of here, my head is killing me.” He looked at Egon and Ray in the rearview mirror, “Is it a good idea to just have him sitting like that?”
Winston looked back at a limp, hunched over Egon, “Prolly not. Maybe lay him down, Ray.”
“Oh, yeah, good idea.” He put his hands on Egon’s shoulders, “Uh…how should I-”
Peter rolled his eyes, “Put his head in your lap, genius.”
“Right, right.” Ray moved Egon onto his back, wincing at the way his tall legs hung uncomfortably over the front of the seats (and ignoring how the ectoplasm from his suit got all over them). He placed an ungloved hand under Egon’s head as he placed it in his lap. Winston started driving.
About less than halfway through the ride home, Egon stirred and his eyes slowly opened. Ray had been staring out the window the whole ride, his hand absentmindedly gently scratching Egon’s hair.
Egon looked up at Ray, the dried ectoplasm was not flattering in the slightest, but Egon couldn’t help but feel comforted at the sight of him. He sighed through his nose at the calming repetitive sensation in his hair.
Ray glanced down and he pulled his hand away, startled. Softly, he asked, “Egon? Are you awake?”
“Mhm…” He hummed, things sounded a bit strange in his ears.
“Good, that’s great.” Ray smiled, still keeping his voice low.
Peter looked back at them, “Sleeping Beauty’s up? Did you finally give him a true love’s kiss?”
Winston quietly scolded him, “Leave them alone, Peter.”
Ray ignored the comments, “Can you sit up?”
Egon tried, with Ray’s help, but he groaned as his head lifted up and lowered back down.
Egon mumbled, “My head…”
Ray instinctively placed a hand on his forehead and said, “Just go back to sleep, Egie, we’re almost home.” Egon was more than willing to oblige.