It was a normal day at the Ghostbusters' headquarters in New York City. Well, ALMOST normal. Unfortunately a few days ago, Dr. Egon Spengler came down with a bad case of the flu. While he had gotten a little better, it wasn't very much. The guys and Janine had been helping him the best they could, and while they were doing a very good job, he was still quite ill. He was even having trouble keeping anything down. Almost immediately or some time later, he'd throw up the contents.
"You feeling any better?" Dr. Ray Stantz asked as he walked into the bedroom. He had come up to check on his friend. And Ray didn't like when one of his friends was sick.
"Not really." Egon replied sounding really stopped up.
The usually workaholic and well-dressed physicist was downgraded to being stuck in bed under several blankets, wearing an old white t-shirt, grey sweatpants and navy blue socks, and his usually neat dark brown hair a bit messy and disheveled. He was also quite pale, despite his cheeks having a slight pink hue to them cause of his fever, and dark circles under his icy blue eyes particularly stood out against his pale complexion.
"Well, you're getting there. I know your stomach's not agreeing with you right now, but you're a little dehydrated so you think you can at least try to drink some water?" asked Ray.
"I could try." Egon replied as he weakly propped himself up on his shoulders.
Ray handed Egon the glass and he drank it all. However this time he didn't throw it up immediately afterwards.
"Huh, well there's something." Dr. Peter Venkman asked as he walked in the bedroom, "Feeling any better Spengs?"
"Nope." said Egon as he let out a harsh cough.
"Well, you'll get better soon." said Winston Zeddemore as he walked in.
"I hope so." Egon said, "I'm getting sick of throwing everything up. And everything else associated with being sick."
"Yeah, cause I have a date with Dana tomorrow and if I get Oscar sick, she'll be pissed." Peter said.
Just then the alarm sounded, meaning that there was a call. Peter, Ray, and Winston all quickly slid down the fire pole.
"What do we got Janine?" asked Winston.
"We got what sounds like a Class 6 at the Stacey's department store." Janine replied.
"Again?" Ray said. "And a Class 6? We'll need 4 people for this. But with Egon sick, we'll need you for this Janine."
"Ok" Janine replied as she put on her jumpsuit. "Do you think Egon will be ok here alone for a little bit?"
"Maybe, but just in case, we'll lock the back doors." Winston said
Meanwhile, Peter went upstairs to tell Egon their plan, "Hey Egon, we gotta a call. Sounds like a Class 6 manifestation, and Janine's coming with us. Will you be ok here alone for a bit?"
"I'll be just fine..." Egon replied nasally.
"We'll lock all the doors, including the back ones. And we'll have the phone automated so it won't bother you. Sound good?" asked Peter.
"Yeah" said Egon.
"Ok, call us if you need anything." said Peter.
Peter then went downstairs to join Ray, Winston, and Janine in Ecto-1. The four then sped off to their location. After a few minutes, the iconic red and white hearse pulled up to the famous department store. A crowd of people was crowded on the sidewalk with more running out of the building and screaming. The four got out and grabbed their gear before heading inside.
Once inside, the three Ghostbusters and Janine surveyed the mess on the first floor which was dedicated to furniture. Couches, chairs, loveseats, tables and other kinds of furniture were either broken, toppled over, smashed or covered in a blueish colored slime. Ray walked over to the slime and peered at it through his ecto goggles.
"Yep, this is a Class 6 all right." the heart of the Ghostbusters declared.
"Do you know where it went?" Janine asked.
"Uhh...I think it went this way." Winston replied as he pointed his PKE meter in the direction of the kitchen appliances.
The quartet made their way across broken furniture, tipped over shopping carts and whatever else to get to the kitchen appliance section. When they got there, all they saw were broken kitchen appliances. And more of that blue slime.
"It's hiding in one of appliances." Winston said glancing at his PKE meter, "Start looking."
The four began opening refrigerators, ovens, and dishwashers in order to find the ghost. However as Peter opened the door to one of the refrigerators, the ghost flew out, knocking the psychologist to the ground and covering him in more blue slime. Ray, Winston and Janine rushed over.
"Why, why does this always happen to me?!" Peter exclaimed frustrated as Ray and Winston helped him up.
"Maybe they're just attracted to your sparkling personality." Janine snarkily replied.
"Hahaha..." Peter said sarcastically, "Ray, I thought Class 6s don't slime things."
"Most don't, but this kind does." Ray replied.
"Terrific..." Winston muttered.
The ghost stopped and observed the Ghostbusters. It was both animalistic and humanoid in appearance. It had the head of a deer with 14-point horns, a human torso covered in hair, humans arms covered in glowing tattoos, and eagle claws for hands. The bottom of it was just a blue whisp and it was bathed in a blue aura.
"Throw 'em!!" Peter exclaimed.
The three Ghostbusters and Janine fired their proton streams. The four streams of nuclear energy wrapped around the creature who began to shriek in confusion.
"Keep firing, don't let up!!" Ray yelled.
The ghost then let out a strong burst of blue energy which not only freed it from the streams but knocked the Ghostbusters off their feet. The ghost then flew through the ceiling only leaving a bit of blue slime behind.
"Well that went well." Peter remarked.
"So what do we do?" Janine asked as Ray helped her up off the floor.
"We go after it." Winston replied as he took off after the ghost.
""You heard what the man said, let's go." Peter said.
With that, Peter, Ray and Janine took off behind Winston and the ghost.
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Meanwhile back at the firehall, two robbers forced their way into the firehall through one of the back doors. They weren't there for any particular reason, they just wanted to see what they could find. They started ransacking the filing cabinets, the guys' lockers, Janine's desk, Peter's office and everything else. Meanwhile upstairs, Egon was drifting in and out of consciousness but he could still hear clearly. He heard voices that he knew did not belong to either Peter, Ray, Winston, or Janine. Or anyone else he knew for that matter. He was worried and felt his heart pound faster, but he kept quiet.
The robbers then ran upstairs. They made their way into the lab and starting awing at what they were finding. Egon remained quiet for fear that the robbers were armed. He then heard a bang followed by men yelling at each other. Egon then got out of bed and surely but quietly making his way to the door. He silently opened it and crept down the hall towards the lab. He peered around the corner and despite not having his glasses, he saw the robbers going through some dangerous stuff including several untested experiments he'd been working on. Egon then stepped out from around the corner and called out to the robbers.
"Hey!" Egon exclaimed getting the robbers' attention, "Put that stuff down, that's dangerous!"
"Yeah, well so is this buddy." one of the robbers said as he pulled out a gun and started shooting at Egon. Egon didn't have time to duck and the bullets hit him in the chest and abdomen. Egon stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. He clinched his eyes shut as several tears fell from his eyes and his hands Meanwhile the robbers got whatever was interesting to them.
"OK, we'd better go before the others come back." one of the robbers said.
"Yeah, but should we take him with us?" the other said pointing to Egon, who was lying on the floor and bleeding.
"What, no!!" the first robber hissed, "Besides, he'll die here anyway. And by the looks of him, he has the flu. So no way."
"Yeah, let's go." the other replied.
The two made their way downstairs and out the back door and into their car, and they sped away.
Meanwhile upstairs, Egon was still lying on the ground and bleeding badly from the multiple gunshot wounds on his chest and abdomen. His temperature was rising and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. The physicist felt a wave of dread and despair wash over him. He never imagined this was how he would die. Shot and left to die in the very firehall where he and his friends founded and grew their business while seriously ill with the flu.
Egon felt a sense of loneliness come over him. He wanted his friends and Janine beside him, no he needed them. He stared up at the ceiling with blurry vision as his breathing became shallower and shallower.
"P-Peter....Ray.....W-Winston....J-Janine.....help....me..." Egon gasped as he lay bleeding on the floor with his life slipping away with each passing moment.
To be continued......