Love & Hate

Disclaimer: In case you didn't catch it the first time, this is an AU story. ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, meaning ANY ARTISTIC LICENSE CAN BE TAKEN. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the whole Mary Sue thing DOES NOT APPLY EITHER in an AU story? So, if you don't like it, then DON'T READ. It's really just that simple when you think about it.

Note: I don't own RGB

As their various battles got more intense, Egon, Peter, Ray and Winston began to realize that the four of them alone was not enough. It was time to hire another person. An ad for a placement was run in one of the city's local newspapers, but not very many details were added. This was to prevent having a huge influx of people showing up. Someone very specific would only get this job. One week later, someone saw the ad and decided to reply. She headed over to the address listed, and to her surprise, found herself in front of GBHQ. She knocked on the door, then after a couple seconds, pushed it open. "Hello?" She called out. Since Janine had gone home for the day, Egon came to answer the door.

"Can I help you?" He asked

"Hi, I'm Clara Hamilton, and you are…"

"Spengler, Dr. Egon Spengler." He shook her hand. "Please, come in." He said. "Here, let me get you a seat." As he walked around, trying to find a chair for Clara to sit down in, Egon ended up tripping over the trash can by Janine's desk. "What the-?" He muttered. "Peter must've moved the trash can." Egon finally decided on grabbing Janine's desk chair. "Well, Miss Hamilton-"

"Please, call me Clara."

"Right, Clara. Well, our more recent battles have been getting more and more intense, so it was decided that another addition to our team is needed. I'm hoping, since you're the only one that has responded to our newspaper ad, that you'll be the addition to the team that we've been hoping for." Egon explained

"Okay, well, I just completed my degree in Physics. I hope that helps." Clara offered.

"That just might." Egon was very intrigued.

"Um, I'm also a Level-3 gymnast," Clara continued,

"That's excellent. It may be a skill that could be quite useful.

"And I've also studied various musical instruments."

"Really? May I ask, what instruments to you play?"

"I play the piano, guitar, bass guitar, and drums."

"Fascinating."

"But not on a professional level," Clara continued, "and it's mostly that I can play parts from songs that I like and have listened to. However, it's been a while since I've last played them, so I'm probably really rusty right now." She replied with a nervous laugh

"Ah, I see. Well, I like your enthusiasm, and since you seem to be the only one we may get who displays such enthusiasm, welcome aboard. You're hired." Egon said.

"Cool." Clara shook his hand. "You won't regret this."

"I don't think I will. Come on, I'll introduce you to the others." Egon headed upstairs, and Clara followed behind him. Upstairs in the living area, Peter, Ray and Winston were watching America's Funniest Home Videos. "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to our newest team member. This is Clara Hamilton. Clara, this is Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Peter Venkman, and finally, Winston Zeddemore."

"Welcome aboard." Ray greeted, shaking Clara's hand.

"Hey wassup homegirl." Winston added. He and she slapped hands with each other.

"Hey Clara, welcome to Hell on Earth." Peter said. Clara tried not to laugh.

"Pay no attention to him. We never do." Egon told her.

"I'll try." Clara replied.

The next day, a moving truck arrived at the firehouse, and Clara's bed and other stuff was moved in. As Janine was working that day, Egon wanted to make sure she was introduced to Clara. "Janine, I'd like you to meet our new team member. This is Clara Hamilton." Janine looked up from her typing and saw that Egon had his hand on Clara's shoulder. She felt a pang of jealousy. Chill, She thought to herself. It's not what you think. Janine quickly pushed the feeling to the back of her mind

"Hi" She greeted cheerfully, shaking Clara's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Clara replied.

"Why don't we go upstairs and relax?" Egon offered to Clara. "Free time can be a rarity in our work."

"I'll bet." Clara responded as she followed him. Janine stared for a moment, but then went back to her typing.

Over the next few weeks, work was relatively routine, a Class 3 or 4 here and there, a few repeaters, some poltergeists, mostly easy ones to deal with. But Clara, because she was still adjusting to the job, would let the guys do most of the zapping and trapping, as she was still unsure of herself, and whether she would be able to perform her duties as a Ghostbuster well enough to expectations. However, nothing would prepare her, and the guys, for this next and latest adversary they were about to face.

It happened just a few days after one of their more routine assignments. Everyone was upstairs, watching TV, when fifteen minutes into the program they were watching, the alarm went off. It was time for another assignment. "What is this time Janine?" Peter asked. "Hope it's not that nasty Class 5 repeater again."

"Nope, a ghost is terrorizing the Business District. A really ugly one at that."

"Lets Roll!" Ray shouted. They all climbed into the Ecto-1 and drove off.

"Alright, where's the ghost! He's gonna pay for disturbing my TV time!" Peter said.

"I'm right here, Peter Venkman." A loud, eerie voice responded. Then they saw it. And he was huge.

"Man, this guy's worse than the Devil." Winston commented.

"I am more than the Devil. I am The Hatemaster! I am all that is Evil! Mwah-ha-ha-ha!" He laughed evilly.

"Alright that's enough. It's fryin' time!" Ray shouted.

"Fire!" Egon commanded. As they fired their neutrona beams, the Hatemaster zapped at them simultaneously, sending a feedback pulse into their proton packs. The shock was powerful enough to knock all five of them down.

"Now worthless mortals, feel the power of hate!" The Hatemaster roared and zapped them again before they could recover. His power radiated throughout their bodies. Clara however, was the only one unaffected. The Hatemaster vanished as quickly as he appeared. Everyone struggled as they got up. "Well that was a big bust." Egon growled bitterly.

"Ah cram it egghead!" Ray snapped.

"What did you say?" Egon yelled.

"Hey, hey, chill out guys." Clara got in between them.

"Oh spare me your nonsense Know-It-All!"

"Egon!"

"You're the Know-It-All!" Winston shouted.

"Watch your mouth or I'll bash your cranium in!"

"Just try it Brainiac!"

"Guys! Why are you acting like this?" Clara asked.

"Maybe because fatty here didn't charge the proton packs high enough!" Peter said.

"You talking to me?" Ray asked angrily.

"Course I'm talking to you, I'm looking at you!" Peter retorted.

"Why I aughta….." Ray pushed Peter.

"You wanna fight? You got a fight!" Peter shoved Ray back.

"Guys!" Clara pleaded.

"Stay outta this!" Peter and Ray shouted at her.

"I've had enough of this, I'm leaving!" Egon growled, and pushed past Peter and Ray.

"Yeah." added Winston.

"Same here." Ray muttered.

"Me too." Peter sneered. They all stormed off in separate directions.

"Guys!" Clara protested, trying to stop them. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Meanwhile back at the firehouse, Janine was busy going over some paperwork. Suddenly, the feeling came over her that she wasn't alone. "Slimer?" Janine looked up.

"Well, what do we have here?" It was the Hatemaster.

"The hell-?" Janine was speechless.

"Now, feel the power of Hate!" He roared, zapping Janine. His power pulsated throughout her body. "HA-HA-HA-HA!" He laughed, then vanished. Just then, Slimer floated downstairs and saw Janine recovering from the blast.

"Whatty wong Yanine?" He asked. Janine looked up and glared at him.

"Go away ya ugly green blob!" She shouted.

"YAAAAAH!" Slimer screamed and zoomed back upstairs.

Clara on the other hand, was alone now. After giving up on trying to reason with the guys, seeing that they were totally under control of the Hatemaster's spell, she walked back to the firehouse, trying to figure out why only the guys, and not her, were affected by it. It wasn't until a few hours had passed that she finally got back to the headquarters. She went in and found Janine out of her desk. "Janine, thank god. The guys have been-" Janine glared at her. "Are you alright?"

"You two-faced Jezebel!" She growled and lunged at Clara, catching her off guard. As they rolled on the ground, Clara struggled to fight her off. She managed to push Janine off with her feet. However, Janine ended up hitting the back of her head against the desk and was knocked unconscious.

"Shit!" Clara gasped, and went to check if she was seriously injured. Carefully, she picked Janine up and got her into the chair, then carefully laid her down on the desk. Clara then hurried upstairs. She found Slimer cowering in a corner of the living room. "Slimer, do you have any idea what is happening here?"

"No, me no whatty wong." Then Slimer noticed something strange. "Clawa neckylace!" He pointed at the necklace she was wearing.

"What?"

"Neckylace glowy!" Clara looked at it.

"Slimer what are you talking about? It's just a plain gold heart pendant. Gold is supposed to shine."

"No golshiny. Stony glowy!" Slimer tried to say.

"Slimer, it's just an ordinary-" Clara then looked at the stone in the middle of the heart pendant. For a moment, she saw a strange glow. " You're right Slimer. I saw it too." Clara then headed over to the computer in the lab and logged on, glad that Egon had shown her how to use it earlier.

"Whatty looky for?" Slimer asked.

"To see if the guys keep any information on precious stones around here." She typed in a series of commands, and found some information that looked promising. It was a list of stones and their corresponding pictures. Finally she saw a picture of a stone that looked exactly like the one on her pendant. It was a Lapis Lazuli. She read through the information listed, and found what she needed. "Look here Slimer, it says that according to an ancient legend, when a person wears an amulet made of Lapis Lazuli, they are then protected from evil." It hit her. "That's why I was unaffected by the Hatemaster's spell. The stone in my pedant acted like an amulet." Clara then cross-referenced her findings with the information on amulets in Tobin's Spirit Guide, which Ray had shown to her as well. Slimer also helped out too. "Find anything?" Clara asked.

"No" Slimer replied.

"This didn't help either. Lapis Lazuli don't free anyone from evil spells, they only protect them from a spell, preventing it. sigh Well, back to the drawing board." Clara continued to go through all the books on the shelf. Just then, Slimer tried to grab a book to look at, but it was really heavy.

"Whoa! YAAAH! Oof!" He cried as he was pulled down to the floor under the wait of the book. "Owee." He moaned.

"Ooh be careful Slimer." Clara told him and picked up the book he had pulled out. "A botany book? Boy, Egon sure like to keep all kinds of books around." The page it was opened to caught her attention. "Hmm, this looks interesting." Clara was reading the page on roses. "Hey Slimer, check this out. It says here that roses are one of many flowers commonly used in love spells." She explained.

"Whatty mean?"

"I don't know. All I have is a hunch." Clara then went back to Tobin's Spirit Guide to see if the Hatemaster was listed. Sure enough, he was, and so was an incantation powerful enough to reverse his spell. "Slimer, I think I may have found something that'll help the guys." Clara got up and went downstairs.

"Where-y going?" Slimer asked her.
"I need to buy some things. Watch the firehouse, okay? I'll be back soon." She told Slimer as she left.

After finding what she needed, Clara returned to the firehouse. A full half hour had passed. Clara had with her five roses, a special powder, and four Lapis Lazuli stones. The guys must've returned while she was gone, because they were all asleep. "Probably got tired of fighting amongst themselves." Clara thought out loud. She got to work. First, she placed a rose under each of the guys' noses. Then while sprinkling a little bit of the special powder she bought over them, Clara recited the incantation that was in Tobin's Spirit Guide. Finally she went downstairs and repeated the same process with Janine. "Well Slimer, I just hope this works. I hope I got that reversal spell right."

"Yeah me too." He added.

Two hours passed. Finally the guys woke up from their naps. "Aw man, I've got one giant headache." Peter groaned.

"What happened?" Ray asked, confused.

"I don't remember a thing." Winston said.

"Huh? We're back at the firehouse." Egon commented. He turned towards Clara. "Clara what's going on?"

"You were all put under a spell by the Hatemaster. It turned you all against each other, but I was not affected." Clara explained.

"How?" Egon asked.

"Apparently this pendant on my necklace acted like an amulet, which protected me from his power." Egon grabbed a look at Clara's necklace.

"It's a Lapis Lazuli. This stone is know to protect against evil." He said.

"That's some swell detective work there girl." Winston added with a whistle.

"And I brought one for each of you." Clara handed them each a stone, which they put in their pockets. Just then, the phone rang downstairs. Janine, who had also woken up, got up to answer it, and took down all the details.

"Looks like your Hatemaster is at it again." She said as she hung up the phone. She didn't even have to ring the alarm, as they had already come downstairs.

"Let's get him!" Peter shouted. The Ghostbusters scrambled into the Ecto-1 and drove off.

They arrived to find the Hatemaster terrorizing the citizens at Central Park. "Hey Ugly! Why don't you pick on people your own size!" Ray shouted.

"So, back for more eh?" The Hatemaster grinned evilly.

"Yeah, and this you've had it!" Winston replied.

"Not this time!" He roared and zapped at them with another one of his hate spells. This time, it had no affect. "What? It's not possible! How can it be?" The Hatemaster was shocked.

"Seems we've outsmarted you this time." Peter cracked sarcastically.

"Alright guys, full stream!" Egon commanded. "Fire!" This time, they caught they caught the Hatemaster with their beams. He screamed and writhed in pain as highly charged ions surged throughout his body.

"Clara, could you do the honour of trapping this thing?" Ray asked her.

"Me? I'm not even sure if I'll aim it right and get the trap underneath it!" Clara stammered, struggling to hold the proton stream steady and not bump it next to any of the guys' streams.

"Clara, it's now or never! And you gotta learn sometime!" Egon said.

"We can't hold him off much longer!" Peter added. Clara sighed reluctantly, and pulled out her trap. She rolled it forward and got it right under the Hatemaster, still caught in the proton beams.

"Okay, I'm opening the trap...NOW!" She stomped on the trap, opening it up, and the brilliant beam began to draw the Hatemaster into the trap.

"You may have won, but over the years, man's evil deeds will build up, and another one of me will be back to take my place!" Those were the Hatemaster's last words as he was sucked into the trap.

"I, did it." Clara was surprised at herself.

"BOO-YAH!" Peter cheered.

"Nice trapping Clara!" Ray patted her on the back.

"And the crowd goes wild!" Peter added, still cheering.

"Yeah, you're pretty good at this." Winston told her.

"Good job." Egon hugged her without realizing it. "Oh, uh, oops. Normally I don't, hug fellow employees."

"It's okay. Now that that's over with, can we head back home?" Clara asked with a nervous laugh.

"No argument there." Peter joked.

When they arrived back at the firehouse, Egon taught Clara how to load the trap into the Containment Unit. "Hmm, seems easy enough." Clara commented.

"Uh Clara, there's something I should tell you." Egon said as they walked back upstairs to the main floor. "I may have said some rather, unpleasant things to you. I just want you to know, that, I didn't mean what I had said." Soon they reached the main floor.

"Egon," Clara said, taking his hands, "It's okay. You weren't yourself."

"It's still no excuse. At least to me it isn't. That's why I still want to apologize. I'm sorry I said anything that hurt you." Clara put her hands up.

"Egon, don't worry about it. Okay? All I know is that I'm glad there was a way to reverse the spell, and that I found it in time. Well, actually I shouldn't take all the credit. Slimer helped out to."

"Well I'll be sure to thank him." Egon joked. He and Clara giggled as they went upstairs to the living room to join the other guys for an evening of television and hot chocolate.

"C'mon Janine, why don't you come upstairs too?" Clara offered.

"No, but thanks anyway. I really need to finish up this paperwork."

"Alright then." Clara replied, and went upstairs

The End