Chapter Text
The thick black smoke steadily cleared from the decimated makeshift battlefield. Dr. Egon Spengler was laying on his chest on the ground, his jumpsuit torn, his glasses broken and blood stained his skin with fresh wounds and gnawing pain. The slashes to his clothing had been so deep that his black t-shirt beneath was just as tattered as the gray jumpsuit, with just as many blood stains that now marred the iconic uniform.
The proton pack that had been his primary weapon had been torn from his back and destroyed with a single, swift strike. Debris from what was once the incredible instrument for scientific purposes was now an irreparably mangled lump of scorched metal resting several yards from where Egon laid.
Lifting his head slowly Egon blinked a few times to clear his vision of the haze and blood that hindered his already limited vision. "No..." His bruised, bloodied left hand reached up slowly in a trembling motion to the form of his colleague, Dr. Peter Venkman, who was laying on his side motionless just a few feet away. Obstructing his line of sight a familiar, powerful foe loomed menacingly over him and stole his attention. "You can't... You can't do this!"
Smiling with a sinister sneer that shone brilliantly against the darkened, hooded face that bore it, Moirai took great pleasure in watching the lone Ghostbuster laying helpless and prone at her feet.
Moirai donned a long black robe that trailed behind her tall, slender frame. The sleeves were longer than her arms and the hem formed a long bell like covering that kept her body concealed beneath the dark fabric. Wind wisped her robe about lightly, contrasting against the environment of the harsh battleground that the group had gathered upon.
"We will..." Egon's hand fell slightly as his eyelids drooped with fatigue as unconsciousness crept in to take over his mind. "We will find a way... To stop you!"
The feminine deity turned her back without even the slightest hint of intimidation from the downed physicist as she hovered over Peter's body. "Such arrogance." She waved her sleeved hand and created a wave of dark purple energy that washed over Peter's form and consumed him within the energy. "Mortals fail to appreciate the life that they are given." Peter's body had disappeared as the energy wave dissipated. "Your demise is imminent, why resist the inevitable?"
"No!" Egon refused to accept what had just unfolded before his eyes. "Peter..."
"Your friend will pay for his crimes. Do not risk your blood for his."
With those final words Moirai disappeared in a burst of purple light that electrified the air, leaving only a small ring of charred earth behind.
Unable to get up, unable to do anything help Peter, unable to resist his own injuries Egon closed his eyes and allowed the bliss of unconsciousness take him into the painless void of darkness and sleep...
Earlier that same morning...
The firehouse that had been renovated and repurposed as the headquarter for the Ghostbusters was busy as a call reporting a swarm of tiny imps terrorizing China Town had summoned Dr. Raymond 'Ray' Stantz and Winston Zeddemore to the scene of the call. Egon and Peter had stayed behind in case a second call was reported, and so the two men could finish chronicling the collected data on the bizarre surges in psychokinetic energy that had been occurring throughout the city for the past twenty-four hours.
As Egon, wearing his white lab coat over his usual three piece gray suit, set down a large volume of paranormal history Peter flinched and pressed his hands to the sides of his head in pain. "Easy! My hangover would greatly appreciate it if you'd take it down a notch..."
"Sorry Venkman." Egon apathetically apologized as he picked up a clipboard and began taking notes. "You should know quite well by now that excessive drinking will result in massive dehydration, nausea and headaches. Especially since you are no longer a college student with a higher tolerance level for alcohol and pain."
"Yeah... I know." Peter pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes in an attempt to block out the dim lighting of the firehouse's rec room. Unlike Egon his current outfit was the opposite of professional; blue jeans, an old gray t-shirt and a dark blue over shirt was all indicative of Peter's more laidback nature. "But it's tradition, ya' know? Every birthday since turning twenty-one I have to go party and make an ass out of myself."
"I'm very aware of this tradition you have decided to uphold." Egon gave his friend an odd look but continued to make notes on the clipboard. "I've put up with it for the past six years now."
"Should've been there for the big 'two-one'," Peter tried to joke but his headache was too painful. "never been so sick in all my life!"
"I've seen the photographs." Egon reminded him sharply. "I'm proud that you've at least refrained from dismantling furniture and vomiting on vehicles."
"Watch it Spengz," Peter playfully cautioned as he pointed a finger at his friend. "the day is still young and I wouldn't mind taking apart your fancy computers to see what makes them tick!"
A stern look and cocked eyebrow was the single response Egon gave Peter as he set aside the clipboard and opened the heavy volume of information.
"So what did you do for your thirtieth birthday?" Peter asked in an attempt to distract himself from the monstrous hangover that constantly plagued him. "Turning thirty is kind of a milestone after all."
Egon looked up from the volume to make eye contact with Peter. "I spent the evening with my former girlfriend and watched a movie."
"That's it?"
"Yes."
"Wow... you party animal!"
"Where was I during all this?" Peter had known Egon for about eight years and in that time he hadn't known Egon to celebrate any date for any reason.
"You were hosting your failed television show during our brief respite as Ghostbusters."
"Oh yeah..." Peter was always bad at keeping track of him, especially when it revolved around other people. "That was... what? About four months before we were back in business?"
"Four months, one week and two days to be precise."
"Show off..."
The soft clicking of heels walking up the stairs to the second floor was enough to make Peter flinch once again and move his hands from eyes to his ears. Janine Melnitz, the fiery and loyal receptionist to the Ghostbusters, walked into the rec room with a bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water in her hands. She stopped and stood in front of Peter and offered him the two items.
"Here. This is your birthday present from me." She quipped dryly. "Enjoy it."
"Janine," Peter gratefully took the two items greedily from her hands. "you're the absolute best! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, even if it's me!"
"Gee, thanks." Janine ignored the comment as Peter downed two pills and gulped the water in a rather frantic matter. From the small pocket on her skirt she took a neatly folded piece of paper and handed it over to Egon. "Here ya' go, another call."
"Another?" Egon accepted the paper and unfolded it.
Peter let out a very loud, theatrical sigh of irritation. "It's not even noon! Why are we so busy?"
Egon read the details that Janine written down on the paper and closed the book he had opened in the process. "Another massive spike in energy had been reported in the abandoned warehouse storage facility in the outskirts of the city."
Janine heard the phone ringing downstairs and took her leave of the room to answer it. "I didn't get a name on that call," she shouted as she jogged down the stairs. "only the address!"
"Let me guess," Peter sarcastically lamented as he rubbed at his aching temples. "we need to go check it out."
"Correct."
"Great. Can't we wait for Ray and Winston to get back? They love road trips outside of the city!"
"I'm afraid not Peter." Egon slipped off his white lab coat and draped it over the chair. "We'll take Ecto-2. It'd be best for us to check out this abnormal reading sooner rather than later."
"Somehow I knew you'd day that..." Peter reluctantly rose from his seat and walked very slowly down the stairs to the garage. "Just do me one favor."
"What's that?" Egon asked as he followed his friend down the staircase.
"Do NOT turn on the siren..."
"Deal."
Though not uncommon to receive a call that took the Ghostbusters out of the city and into sparsely populated areas, it was still an unusual change of scenery for Peter as he had spent his entire life living in the city. Egon had grown up in a small town in Ohio which made it easier for him to adjust to the more opened spaces of the environment. Even the act of driving the pick-up truck that is Ecto-2 wasn't unusual for Egon as that type of vehicle was more abundant in more rural settings as opposed to big cities.
"How come we always have to go to abandoned places to hunt for ghosts?" Peter asked bitterly with his arms folded over his chest. "Why can't we go explore the Haunted Mansion at Disney World or something?"
"Because the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion are supposed to be there."
"Tee-hee." Peter snapped as he stared at the opened road ahead of him. "Feels so weird not fighting through traffic. I don't like it."
"Don't worry Peter, the storage facility is just around the corner. We'll take a reading and get you back to the firehouse so you can sleep through your headache."
"Thanks Egon, but I think a full day off would be better than just a nap..."
"That could be arranged." Egon stated as he pulled the truck into the vacated parking lot of the abandoned storage site. "Once Ray and Winston return you'll be able to go home and rest."
"I'm going to hold you to that!" Peter declared as he and Egon exited the cab of the truck. "Now... where do we start?"
Egon pulled open the rear door of the truck bed to slide out a rolling rack holding two proton packs and two PKE meters. As he hefted a proton pack onto his back he motioned with a nod toward the wide open space at the center of the storage facility that rested between half a dozen vacated, rusty rectangular storage containers.
"I suggest we start at the center and work our way out."
"Sounds good." Peter picked up a meter and turned it on. It instantly picked up on an energy signature that was emanating from the designated area. "Let's get going. My head is killing me..."
"Very well." Egon walked beside Peter as his friend scanned the area with the meter.
It was quiet in the area. Far enough away from the city to escape the chaos of the constant traffic, shouting voices, rumbling subway and other blaring city ambience the abandoned local produced an unintentional weight of isolation and desolation. The screech of the PKE meter and rhythmic steps of the heavy boots over the cracked concrete ground seemed uncharacteristically loud in the wide open area.
"There should be something here." Egon noted the reading on the display of the meter. A small blip on the radar was becoming more intense in energy level the closer they walked toward the center of the area. "We're very close."
"Hey, uh, Spengz..." Peter froze midstep as a terrifying thought popped into his aching head. "we're the only ones out here, so who called us?"
Egon froze as well. Peter had stopped walking a few feet behind Egon and wasn't budging from his spot. Realizing that they've foolishly and willingly went into the designated area without any confirmation or details was enough to make a chill run up his spine.
"We should head back." Peter decided quickly.
"Agreed!"
Before either man could retreat the ground began to tremble violently causing cracks, fissures and other imperfections to snake alone the brittle concrete ground. What sounded like thunder began to rumble from under the ground as gusts of wind blew upward in harsh torrents through the newly opened and ever widening cracks in the ground that now surrounded the two men.
Peter and Egon instinctively dropped down to their knees and put their arms over their hands and faces to protect themselves from the incredible display of paranormal energy that was being displayed.
"Spengler!" Peter shouted over the roaring wind that surrounded them in a whirling barricade of air. "What do we do?!"
"I don't know!"
The wind suddenly stopped swirling, shot downward and dispersed over the ground in a strong tidal wave of gusting energy. Egon and Peter were blown back by the wind and fell to the ground with a forceful thud!
Egon managed to push himself up from his side and take a knee, but Peter had been thrown in such a way that his head struck a rock and was rendered unconscious due to the blow to the head. Seeing his friend defenseless and motionless forced Egon into a sprint toward Peter in a desperate bid to try and protect his friend.
Before he could reach Peter just a few yards away Egon felt a strong force lift him up from the ground with an unseen hand. Turning his gaze to look over his shoulder he saw the ethereal being responsible for the chaos that had just unfolded. Its arm was outstretched in Egon's direction, indicating that it was the reason Egon had been lifted off his feet and into the air.
"Who are you?" Egon demanded as struggled to turn in the air to face the being directly.
"I am Moirai." The feminine voice responded coldly and bitterly. "Do not interfere."
Egon moved his hand quickly to unsheathe and power up his proton pack thrower but Moirai knew what Egon was attempting to do. Bright green eyes shown through the darkened silhouette provided by the drawn hood as Moirai harnessed her energy and used it to lift loose, jagged rocks created by the damaged ground and swirling the collected debris around Egon.
With a quick flick of her wrist the rocks stopped swirling and launched themselves at Egon's body like a blast of birdshot from a shotgun. Egon cried out in pain as the rocks cut into his skin, bashed into his bones and bruised every inch of flesh the rocks unfortunately touched.
Flicking her wrist once again Moirai pulled the proton pack from Egon's back and let the wounded physicist fall to the ground several feet below. As Egon's body impacted the ground with a horrific crash Moirai used her invisible touch to smolder, dismantle, crumple and twist the proton pack into an indiscernible shape before throwing it to the ground with an abject indifference.
"I warned you." Moirai repeated sternly as she descended from the air and to the ground just as Egon was regaining his composure. "Do not interfere. I will take what I am owed. Peter Venkman shall be my prisoner."
Angrily Egon pushed himself up on his elbow to glare at the ethereal foe who had so easily bested the two Ghostbusters without so much as blinking. Egon could feel his right swelling shut as a painful bruised formed on the orbital bone, the right lens in his glasses had been broken during the fall which only inhibited his sight further. Ignoring the pain that radiated throughout his entire body as best as he could Egon tried to get up, tried to take a final defiant stand against Moirai to protect his friend. A stand that the otherworldly deity merely scoffed at upon seeing the physicist futilely trying to defy her power.
"Do not test me." The black robed being lifted her hand to gather the surrounding rocks once more. Without so much as second thought she took aim at the downed man. "Do not act foolishly."
Unable to say anything or even possibly attempt to get out of the line of fire Egon just shot the vile woman an angry, rebellious glare as he braced himself for the impact of stones against his body for the second time.
The rocks flew toward Egon and all he knew went black.