Family Business

by Methos2523

YAHF - When a teacher decided to combine a school project with the Halloween safety project, Xander has to dress as a family member and talk about their lives... leaving him wearing the same costume for Halloween, the costume of his uncle in New York, Doctor Egon Spengler. Now with the emergence of a new Ghostbuster on the Hellmouth, things are changed drastically...

TITLE: Family Business

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong Joss Whedon, Egon Spengler, The Ghostbusters, and the Extreme Ghostbusters universe all belong to different people, but were originally created by the legendary Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis… Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea...

---

"I can't believe this. We have to get dressed up and the whole deal?" Xander complained as he walked into the hallway alongside Buffy and Willow, still reeling from being roped into the Halloween Volunteer Safety program Principal Snyder had set up for the children.

"Snyder said costumes were mandatory." Willow confirmed with a sad nod.

"Just great. I was gonna stay in and veg. The one night a year things are supposed to be quiet for me." Buffy joined in complaining, ever since Giles had told her Halloween was the quietest night of the year she'd been looking forward to a night in front of the TV with a large tub of ice cream.

"Halloween quiet?" Xander asked in bemusement. "I figured it'd be a big old vamp scare-apalooza." He explained as they walked into the school lounge to find some drinks before class.

"Not according to Giles." Buffy shrugged in response. "He swears that tomorrow night is, like, dead for the undead." She explained as they found a space with chairs to relax in. "They stay in."

"Those wacky vampires! That's why I love 'em!" Xander grinned, heading to the drinks machine. "They just keep you…" He trailed off, fishing in his pocket for some money before noticing Mrs Castle, their social studies teacher, heading towards him. "Oh no, I forgot… I mean, oh hi there Mrs Castle…" He quickly amended himself as Mrs Castle came over.

"Mr Harris," Mrs Castle frowned at him. "I assume you are ready for tomorrow's presentation?"

"Pre… presentation?" Xander slipped out, his eyes going wide as Mrs Castle glared at him.

"You are slacking Mr Harris, and badly," Mrs Castle continued to lecture him as Xander glanced over her shoulder with begging eyes at Buffy and Willow to help. "Your presentation tomorrow on a family member's work or business life. What they do, why the do it, and what sort of business is run."

"But, Mrs Castle, I've been… I mean, I've tried…" Xander floundered around as Buffy and Willow stood up to help him.

"He means he's working on it Mrs Castle," Willow interrupted, trying to be helpful. "Principal Snyder just volunteered us for his Halloween safety project tomorrow night, so we've got to get costumes and everything ready for that as well."

"Well then, I see no reason why you can't do both together," Mrs Castle frowned, looking back at Xander. "Include your costume as part of your project tomorrow." She said, starting to turn around before catching Xander with a glare again. "That wasn't a suggestion Mr Harris, and make sure it's good. Need I remind you that forty percent of your grade rests on your family history essay, and this presentation may make the difference between an F and a slightly higher grade for once in your academic life." She said with finality, glaring at Xander one last time before turning and walking away.

"Oh man," Xander slumped in on himself, following Buffy and Willow back to the chairs where they'd left their bags and sitting down with them, a drink forgotten in his mind right now. "Forty percent of my grade?" He asked in shock.

"I didn't know that," Buffy whimpered herself. "I was doing it all on mom's gallery, but forty percent? Wah… I'm going to have to work all night on it."

"And a costume too?" Xander frowned to himself. "Where am I supposed to get a costume from that fits with a family members business?"

"Well who were you writing about?" Willow asked helpfully, she'd already written out her essay on her father's psychiatric practice in LA, and was more than happy with the three thousand word essay that included charts and graphs so far.

"I haven't," Xander shrugged with panicked eyes. "I mean, I don't… there's my uncle, I mean my mom's brother over in New York, he runs a business I guess, but I haven't heard anything from him in years."

"You have an uncle in New York?" Willow asked curiously. "Is he the one that came to your tenth birthday, the one with the weird hair?"

"Yeah," Xander nodded, remembering his Uncle Egon's gravity defying hair style well enough. "That birthday was the last time he visited, got into some argument with dad and he hit him. I remember mom… well, that's the last time any of mom's family came to visit." He ended with a shrug, not wanting to say that that was when his mother's drinking habits started to match his dad's.

"So, write about him? He seemed pretty quirky right, I mean, that hair, nobody with hair like that could be boring." Willow laughed at him causing Buffy to take interest.

"Hair?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Uncle Egon," Xander clarified as Buffy looked up from her own notes on her mom's gallery business. "He had this hair, sort of half curled up, half stuck out," He explained, pantomiming a large curled quaffed pompadour style coming out from the front of his own hair. "And this sort of tiny pony tail thing at the back, it was mad."

"And he still has hair like that?" Buffy asked in disbelief, not sure if Xander was pulling her leg or not.

"He did last time I saw him, but that was about six years ago," Xander shrugged. "He runs some business in New York I guess, he never told me exactly what he did though, but mom'd know."

"Well you've got tonight to get it done," Willow said reassuringly. "You can do it Xander, I know you can."

"An entire essay and presentation in one night," Xander thought about it, panicking slightly at the thought. "Sure, no pressure." He said, swallowing loudly.

---

"Hmmm," Giles muttered to himself as he walked out of the library office, a cup of tea in one hand and his copy of Tobins Spirit Guide in the other, flicking through it to try and identify the large reptilian demon that had attacked Buffy and Cordelia earlier in the week. Flicking another page awkwardly he looked up to find the table to set down his tea so he could read comfortably before catching sight of Xander sat at the table with a note pad in front of him. "Oh, Xander, I didn't know you were here."

"Hey Giles," Xander nodded, turning around as he heard the man speak. "Needed somewhere quiet to work on this essay thing for tomorrow."

"Ahh I see," Giles nodded with a smile. "Very well, I shall leave you to your studies then."

"Kinda need a break," Xander grimaced, leaning back in his chair and stretching. "I'm writing down everything I can remember about my uncle, and the presentation thing is due tomorrow."

"I see," Giles nodded thoughtfully, moving over to sit down at the table himself. "And this presentation is on a family member?"

"Yeah," Xander nodded. "We've all got to do a presentation about a family member that works or runs a business somewhere, kinda sucks that all I can remember about uncle Egon was his funky hair, lives in New York, and loves his mushrooms." Xander rattled off, dropping his pencil on the table with a clatter.

"Egon?" Giles asked, raising an eyebrow at the name.

"Yeah, weird name right?" Xander shrugged. "Mum's side of the family all had weird names I guess, Grandma Katherine got off lightly really."

"Yes, well, I can't think of many notable Egon's off hand," Giles admitted, thinking about the only one he could reference. "Though there is the scientist Dr Spengler of note, one of the aptly named Ghostbusters for what it's worth."

"That's him!" Xander grinned. "Uncle Egon was a Ghostbuster? Wait, those were real?"

"Oh good grief," Giles muttered to himself, closing his book and looking at Xander properly. "Uncle Egon is Egon Spengler? One of the foremost paranormal researchers in the world? And you are having trouble writing about him?"

"Paranormal research… huh?" Xander asked, his eyes going wide at this new knowledge. "Come on Giles, spill. My whole grade rests on this essay and presentation."

"Yes, well," Giles sighed, standing up from the table and looking around. "If memory serves there should be some articles in Time Magazine, from the mid-eighties if I remember rightly. If you find those…" He trailed off, looking at Xander's blank expression. "Reference magazines, in the stacks to the right."

"Gotcha," Xander nodded, quickly standing up from the table and darting off to where Giles had indicated.

"A Spengler, good lord," Giles shook his head in bemusement before moving to the modern history section of the library and searching for any books he could think that might have reference to the Ghostbusters antics in New York and Dr Spengler's work, along with trying to remember where in his office he'd actually stored his well-used copy of the Spengler's Spirit Guide reference book he used regularly.

---

That afternoon when Xander got home he was feeling much more optimistic about tomorrow's school project, Giles had managed to give him tons of material about Uncle Egon and the business in New York, he'd had no idea his uncle was actually a Ghostbuster, it had taken several articles in Time Magazine to prove to him that it wasn't a joke and the movies were actually based on real events.

His uncle was the basis for a movie, which made the whole project even more exiting for him. Running up the stairs to his bedroom he quickly dumped his bag to one side, opening it and fishing out the magazine Giles had let him take home.

"Tools of the trade," He read aloud off the cover of the Omni magazine that had been in the electronics reference section of the library. "A proton pack." Xander grinned to himself, opening the magazine and flipping through to the article Giles had marked for him with a yellow post it note. "Oh yeah, Uncle Egon kicked ass." Xander grinned as he flopped down on the bed and started flicking through the article, taking careful note of all the pictures that showed Uncle Egon talking about the various parts of a proton pack and how they worked together to create a charged ion stream.

"I wish I had one of those for tomorrow," Xander muttered wistfully, looking at the cover of the magazine again and marvelling at the black backpack design before a plan started coming together in his head. "Oh yeah, I'm totally going to ace this presentation." He laughed to himself as he grabbed the magazine and darted to the bedroom door, downstairs and then into the garage where all sorts of odds and ends were stored for Uncle Rory's garage business.

His mom and dad didn't really use the garage anymore, not since his dad had had to sell the car to pay off some gambling debts, not that the old piece of junk would have run much longer anyway. But now the garage, where he'd always seen just boxes of junk and scrap that Rory stored there, now he saw bits and pieces he could put together for a proton pack prop. It wouldn't work of course, it wouldn't even have the flashing lights that the magazine showed, but it was the best he could do, and he'd bet good money no one else in the social studies class would be bringing a proton pack in for their presentation.

Turning the light on he smiled to himself as he placed the magazine down on one side table, opening it to the section where they interviewed Uncle Egon and talked about the various parts of the proton pack in detail. "Ok, big parts first." He muttered to himself, flicking the page over until he found the picture he was looking for. "Cyclotron, ok, large round thing that needs holes in it, gotcha." He nodded, taking one last look at the circular area of the proton pack before picking a box at random to dive into and start looking.

---

Later on that evening

"So, whatcha got?" Buffy asked, looking away from the tacky Halloween decorations to where Willow was walking over to join them.

"A time honoured classic," She announced proudly as she held up the 'ghastly ghost' costume, sealed up in its plastic wrapper like a dozen others on the shelf behind her.

"Ok Will, can I give you a bit of friendly advice?" Buffy asked, looking at the costume doubtfully.

"It's not spooky enough?" Willow asked, disheartened as she looked down at the costume, which was basically a white sheet with the word 'boo' emblazoned across the front.

"It's just…" Buffy started, trying to word her thoughts gently for her quiet friend. "You're never going to get noticed if you keep hiding, you're missing the whole point of Halloween."

"Free candy?" Willow asked, a smile coming over her face as she thought about the night's festivities.

"It's come as you aren't night," Buffy corrected her with a smile. "The perfect night for a girl to get sexy and wild without any repercussions."

"Ohhhh no," Willow shook her head quickly. "I don't do wild, wild on me equals spaz."

"Don't underestimate yourself," Buffy said, smiling reassuringly. "You've got it in…"

"Hey, Xander," Willow smiled over, waving to where she'd spotted Xander entering the store and waved for him to come and join them. "You ok?" She asked, looking at Xander's dishevelled clothes, where he had black paint dripping down his jeans and covering half his right hand.

"Hey Willow, Buffy." Xander nodded as he walked over. "Yeah, fine, just working on some bits for tomorrow." He explained with a shrug.

"We haven't seen you all day," Willow almost pouted at him. "Where have you been?"

"The library mostly," Xander explained as they started walking around the store. "Giles helped me out with some stuff for my presentation tomorrow, Uncle Egon was kinda badass right? There's this whole…" He trailed off as he looked on the rack ahead where they were heading. "One sec." He grinned as he moved forward, grabbing the off green jump suit from where it was hanging on the rails. "Perfect." He smiled to himself, looking at the sleeves and hoping that he had some white and red paint at home where he could draw on the Ghostbusters logo while seeing Buffy picking up a purple ball gown off to one side.

"Please, let me," The shop owner said with a disarming smile as he approached the group, unzipping the back of the magenta ball gown before sliding it away from the mannequin it was stored on for display to hold it up against the young blonde.

"Oh, it's…" Buffy trailed off, watching as the shop owner held the ball gown up for her to take.

"Magnificent, I know." The shop owner smiled as he stepped around behind the blonde girl, holding the dress up to her shoulders and moving her slightly so she could see her reflection in the floor length mirror opposite. "My, meet the hidden princess." He said with a smile, seeing the dress catch on to the girl's feminine side, and pushing the 'princess' angle into her subconscious. "I think we've found a match, don't you?" He asked with another smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry, there's no way I could ever afford this," Buffy explained, turning away from her reflection sadly and looking up at the taller shop owner.

"Oh nonsense," The shop owner smiled down. "I feel quite moved to make you an offer you can't refuse." He said with a nod as he let the blonde girl take hold of the gown again. "Please," He said, stepping to the side. "Take it to the counter and I'll be with you shortly." He said with another smile, watching as the young redhead that was with the blonde started fawning over the gown as well, mentioning someone called 'Angel' as they walked before noting the young man with them as well. "Is there anything else you need as well?"

"Uh, a blonde wig?" Xander asked, looking around. "Poofy looking, sort of styled out the front?"

"A pompadour wig?" The shop owner muttered thoughtfully. "Perhaps, yes, there were some I believe over to the far side with the makeup."

"Great, thanks." Xander nodded thankfully, grabbing the jump suit and rolling it up in his arm before moving over to where the man had indicated the wigs were.

His original plan of using army fatigues from home and buying a toy gun for an army costume had been blown out of the water by Mrs Castle, so he'd had to splurge a bit more than he'd expected on the jump suit and wig, though if it helped him actually pass a course for once, it might actually be worth it.

"Xander?" Willow called out from outside the store as Xander queued up to pay for his costume pieces after looking at the wigs, while the girls had both paid for those while he'd been searching.

"I've got some bits to finish up at home," Xander explained once he'd paid for the suit, pocketing the change as he walked out of the store to where Buffy and Willow were waiting for him.

"The social studies project," Willow nodded knowingly. "Do you need any help?" She asked hopefully.

"Nah, I'm good." Xander shrugged, feeling the weight of the jumpsuit in his bag with the urge to get home and see how everything had dried off after leaving the glue to bond the various pieces together and the black paint to set. "I'll see you tomorrow ok?" He said with a smile, nodding at them both before heading off towards home to continue work on his little project.

---

The next day

It was an odd feeling Xander decided as he wandered into the library to return the magazine he'd borrowed from Giles, not just actually checking something out from the library and returning it, actually having read it several times over the night while working on his prop proton pack, but actually having a family member to be proud of. Definitely a new sensation.

"Ahh, Xander, I trust you had everything you needed to prepare for your presentation today?" Giles asked as he looked up from the desk area to the side of the library, noting Xander's entrance.

"Yeah," Xander nodded, swinging his backpack around and gesturing to the large black trash bag he was carrying that had concealed his prop proton pack and Ghostbuster uniform for the carry to school. "Just got to get things ready for it now."

"Very well, do you have everything you need?" Giles asked, eyeing the two heavy looking bags Xander was carrying with him.

"Yup," Xander grinned as he walked over to the table in the middle of the library, putting the trash bag containing the proton pack prop down gently first before dropping his own rucksack alongside. "Found some old photos of Uncle Egon when he used to come down for family visits, you mind if I keep the magazines and stuff to show around the class?" He asked hopefully.

"Not at all," Giles nodded with a smile, actually amused to see Xander this engrossed in a school project for once. "I found this as well, though it's from my personal collection, so I'd ask that you do be careful with it." Giles explained as he moved over from the desk to the main table, carrying a copy of Spengler's Spirit Guide for Xander to borrow.

"Oh man, Uncle Egon wrote books as well?" Xander asked, taking the offered book and eyeing it with optimism.

"Yes, quite useful actually," Giles nodded thoughtfully. "While most people thankfully have dismissed the thought of ghosts and goblins as a fad of the eighties, those of us in the know still have our own resources and publications, if you know what to look for of course."

"So my uncle was kinda like you right? Except he used awesome proton pack tools instead of a stake and cross." Xander grinned at the way Giles shook his head and started cleaning his glasses. "I mean, he sounds like he was the brains of the bunch from all the articles I read about him."

"Oh yes, quite." Giles nodded. "I believe Doctor Spengler was actually a lecturer at Columbia University prior to the eighties trend in ghost hunting, though I'll admit to being at a loss to what he has been upto since. The last time the Ghostbusters were active, so to speak, in the public eye was a few years ago, perhaps ninety or ninety one."

"Yeah, the last time I saw Uncle Egon was about that time as well," Xander admitted, thinking back to his tenth birthday party when he'd seen his uncle for the last time. "You mind if I get changed here? Kinda want to get everything together ready for class."

"Be my guest," Giles nodded with a smile, half wondering what Xander had put together for his presentation, but distracted by other things on his mind as he wandered off back to the desk area to continue his search for information about the reptilian demon Cordelia had described to him.

"Thanks," Xander smiled as Giles wandered off, leaving him to unpack the prop and costume he'd brought with him and get ready. The uniform was the first thing he unpacked, taking off his shirt but leaving his black t-shirt on underneath he pulled it on over his clothes, smiling at the way the now turquoise jump suit looked after being put through a mild bleach wash to lighten it slightly. The Ghostbusters symbol had been faithfully painted just below the shoulder on his right arm, and he'd blacked out an area on the chest where he saw the name badges were on the pictures in the magazines, stencilling 'Spengler' in capital letters with red paint as a badge.

Zipping the suit up half way he grinned to himself as he opened the trash bag, pulling out his prop proton pack. It wasn't heavy by any means, cobbled together from bits of plastic, metal, and anything else that looked the part in his junkyard of a garage. He'd cut away two straps from an old rucksack and glued them onto the back of the proton pack so he could actually wear it, and a cardboard box painted up as a 'Ghost Trap' was the last piece to hang from his belt as he got ready.

"Good lord," Giles whispered, looking over as Xander suited up fully for the first time, the junk made proton pack looking surprisingly realistic against the uniform Xander was wearing, which while badly fitted, made Xander look a lot more professional than anyone that knew him would think of him otherwise.

"You like?" Xander grinned over, reaching up and pulling the positron thrower, or ghost zapper as he'd named it, away from the pack itself with a click, the tube connecting the gun to the proton pack itself, an old hoover tube, hung nicely as he pulled the ghost zapper around.

"Yes, quite, you did this all in one night?" Giles asked in amazement, looking at the work that Xander had obviously put in to the costume.

"Yeah," Xander nodded with a smile. "I mean, I wanted to do more, like a PKE meter and goggles, but I had to write out notes and things for the presentation as well. Don't think Mrs Castle would let me just wear the costume and grade on that do you?" Xander laughed at the thought. "Besides, it was fun. I mean, I always thought Uncle Egon was cool growing up, I just didn't know how cool until you showed me all this Ghostbuster stuff he was involved in."

"Yes, I know what you mean." Giles smiled, seeing Xander actually take pride in his family when he avoided any talk about them before was quite a telling sign. The fact he'd actually gone out of his way to make such an elaborate prop for a school project was more proof that finding out about Egon Spengler had been a god send for the teenager.

"Anyway, show time." Xander grinned as he pulled out a pair of thick rubber gloves from his bag. "My uncle Rory uses them to cover up when he's cleaning up gas spills and stuff." He explained at the curious look Giles gave him. "He had a few spare pairs in the garage, looked close enough to the ones the Ghostbusters wore right?" He asked hopefully as he hung them from his belt.

"Quite accurate," Giles smiled at him as he watched Xander collect the rest of his belongings into his rucksack, awkwardly moving around to get used to the weight of the junk proton pack on his back. "Well, good luck with your presentation."

"Thanks Giles," Xander smiled as he zipped up his bag, turning to him properly. "I mean thanks, I wouldn't have known half about Uncle Egon without you, and the book, you know, thanks."

"Any time," Giles nodded with a smile.

"I'll let you know how it goes," Xander smiled as he grabbed the copy of Spengler's Spirit Guide from the table, holding it under his arm before putting the Ghost Zapper gun back on the backpack with a click and heading out the library doors to class.

---

The end of school that day

"This sucks," Xander groaned to himself as he walked into the library alone, his head hanging low after a day of being mocked and taunted by the rest of the class that had been there for his Social Studies presentation.

Even Mrs Castle had made fun of him, he'd thought it would have been cool, showing everyone about the Ghostbusters in his family, showing off the magazine articles and book Uncle Egon had written. Showing his prop Proton Pack and talking them through the parts of it he'd memorised from the magazine.

Only things hadn't gone according to plan, he'd barely got started when Mrs Castle had interrupted, asking him why he was doing his presentation on a movie character instead of a real family member. He'd thought he'd won that argument when he produced photos taken at home when he was younger, several photos showing Uncle Egon with him and his mother.

So Mrs Castle had let him continue for a bit longer, but then interrupted again when he'd started talking about the ghosts and various articles talking about the work the Ghostbusters had done in New York. She'd barely let him get a word in edgeways before telling him off for lying in front of the class, talking about a movie character as if he was real, and producing obviously faked magazines when the Ghostbusters was only a boring movie for children back in the eighties.

He hadn't even bothered to argue back when Mrs Castle had written a large 'F' on his essay without even reading it, ordering him back to his chair, not even letting him defend himself to her as the rest of the class laughed at him. Only Buffy and Willow looked on with some semblance of sympathy as the other classmates mocked him and his 'toys'.

So he'd just dropped the junk proton pack off back in the library after class, stripped out of the uniform he had been so proud of in the morning, and fought back the urge to destroy both of the props for good, the only thing that kept him from doing so was the thought of getting into even more trouble with Principal Snyder for not having a costume for taking the kids trick or treating, as he'd been 'volunteered' to do so.

So now he had to wear the uniform and pack again, another trek through the school halls, more laughing and jokes about his fake family, and more jibes about going ghost busting on his weekends. Like it bothered him, he knew the truth, and if he had it his way, he'd go ghostbusting with his uncle any day of the week over spending another day in this hellhole of a school.

Pulling on the uniform again he shook his head, dismissing all the jokes and taunts he'd heard so far through the day. It was one more evening, by tomorrow chances are everyone else would have something else to talk about, they always did. Getting the junk proton pack out of the trash bag he smiled at the chipped paint that had come off through the day of not being cared for, he didn't have time to touch it up now, but it would do. Sliding the trap into his belt he shrugged, getting used to the junk pack's weight again and adjusting the straps for comfort.

"Ok, ghosts beware." He grinned to himself as walked through the library doors and out into the halls, ready to collect his bunch of little kids from Snyder and take them out for a proper trick or treat session.

---

Professor Egon Spengler, now Professor teaching Paranormal Phenomena 101 at New York City College, was understandably confused when he appeared in the middle of a small town street, from where he had been at the old firehouse working on some curriculum plans for his new students, all four of them that had formed his newly minted Ghostbusters to take over where he couldn't.

Glancing down he could see he was in his old uniform, the old colour coded ones Venkman had suggested after the Vigo incident to help the media distinguish them in pictures after being incorrectly labelled as Ray one to many times.

A ghost trap was hanging from his belt, empty of course, along with one of the old proton packs he'd originally designed when they'd first gone into business.

"Hmmm, what's going on?" He muttered to himself, reaching around and flicking on the proton pack with practiced ease, the quiet hum and vibration of the pack powering up told him the pack was still viable and working well.

Reaching up he idly moved to run his fingers through his hair, touching it with surprise when he realised his hair wasn't pulled back in a loose pony tail as he'd grown it out over the years, but was instead quaffed forward in his old pompadour style, the same style he'd wore the last time he'd worn this style of uniform in fact.

"Curiouser and curiouser," He muttered to himself, looking around the street he was on. "Obviously some sort of paranormal event." He frowned, looking at the little demons that were running around the streets, completely ignoring him for now as he pulled the positron thrower free from the pack, bringing it around and flipping on the control area, dialling up the thrower to full power. "I think I'm going to need some more traps." He muttered to himself, taking off running down the street when he saw two little demons attacking someone, firing a proton blast at them to warn them off, successfully scaring them away from the student that ran off into the night before he could say anything.

"Xander!" Egon spun around as he heard a familiar name being yelled, noting a young girl wearing a red shirt and a pleather skirt moving towards him. "It's me, Willow!"

"I don't know anyone named Willow, at least I don't think I do." Egon shrugged. "I suggest you find cover Miss, I'm not quite sure what sort of paranormal phenomena has been unleashed tonight, but I suggest that you…" Egon trailed off as he reached up to hold her shoulder to guide her away from where he'd seen the little demons scamper off to after his proton blast. What he didn't expect was for his hand to pass through the woman completely.

"Oh!" The woman exclaimed, seemingly just as surprised as Egon was at this turn of events.

"A class four, maybe class five spectral apparition," Egon frowned to himself, waving his hand through the girl, surprisingly without any ectoplasm or residue tainting his skin from the apparition.

"Xander, listen to me. I'm on your side, I swear! Something crazy is happening. I was dressed as a ghost for Halloween, a-and now I am a ghost. And you were supposed to be… oh my god, you're him, Xander's Uncle Egon!" The girl babbled out. "You're a Ghostbuster, and I… I'm a ghost!" She whispered the last, turning slightly white in a surprising feat for a ghost.

"Uncle…" Egon frowned. "Xander, Jessica's son?" Egon asked in disbelief. "This is Sunnydale? You know Alexander?"

"Uhuh!" Willow nodded her head. "I'm not a ghost, not really, well I am now I guess, but not one of the busting ones, this is all happening because of Halloween."

"I see," Egon frowned at her. "You mean to say I'm not really here, but possessing Alexander?"

"I swear!" Willow nodded fervently. "Xander was dressed as you for a school project on a family member, he got laughed at because nobody believed him." Willow explained. "And I was dressed as a ghost, only a ghost sheet, you know, not hooker ghost." She babbled out as another little demon jumped out onto the street, glaring at them both and snarling as Egon readied his positron thrower and took aim. "No!" Willow yelled out, moving to stand between Egon and the little demon. "That's still a little kid in there!"

"A demon possessing a child?" Egon frowned at the idea, they'd come across many types of ghost and demon over the years, including many who possessed others, The Gatekeeper and Keymaster to name two of the more notorious ones that sprung to mind.

"We just need to find…" Willow trailed off, looking around the street before turning around and looking the other way. "Buffy!" She yelled out, catching sight of Buffy's burgundy gown wandering through the street aimlessly ahead.

"You know this woman?" Egon asked, jogging alongside the ghost Willow as she made her way towards a woman in a fancy style ball gown with coiffed hair.

"Buffy! Are you ok?" Willow asked as they got closer, making sure it was Buffy and not another girl in the same outfit.

"Willow, Buffy was it?" Egon frowned, moving around to he could cover both of the young girls as he spotted four of the little demons now approaching from a small park area off to one side of the street. "This could be a problem." He muttered to himself, dialling down the power of the positron thrower to a minimum and sending a charged blast out into the ground in front of the group of little demons, the impact of the charged particle beam hitting the concrete threw up debris and dirt all over the little demons, making them scatter back into the park area.

"Butty, what do we do?" Willow asked, practically begged as she turned to her friend in time for the brunette girl in the ball gown to faint to the floor unconscious.

"Great," Egon muttered to himself, looking around making sure the little demons were gone or good while the ghost Willow knelt down beside her friend.

"Buffy, are you alright?" Willow asked with a concerned voice.

"What?" Buffy asked, coming around and looking between them with a confused look on her face.

"Miss, are you hurt?" Egon asked, satisfied the proton stream had scared off the little demons for now and turning to look at the young woman on the floor. "Is she possessed like you claim you and I am?"

"I guess," Willow nodded hesitantly. "What year is this?" Willow asked curiously, looking at Buffy hopefully.

"Seventeen seventy five I believe," Buffy replied quietly. "But I… I don't understand, who are you?"

"We're friends," Willow answered softly. "This is crazy," She whispered, looking back up at Egon. "How are we supposed to get through this without The Slayer?"

"The Slayer?" Egon asked curiously, looking down at the young woman Ghost Willow had identified as The Slayer. "I'm familiar with the title and legends of course, but I wasn't aware that the girl actually existed, nor was friends with Alexander."

"Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, that's her." Willow nodded. "You know about Slayers?" She asked after a moment's pause.

"Of course," Egon nodded thoughtfully. "Tobins Spirit Guide actually notes three Slayers of note through the history, though I'm sure there are more references, perhaps Kylie would be…" He trailed off, reaching down with his free hand to help Buffy up off the ground. "My apologies Miss." He offered with a smile. "I'd like to run some scans if I may once…" He trailed off, interrupted as another demon jumped out into the road and roared at them, causing him to swing around his positron thrower and send a low charge stream at the demon, shocking it lightly as the proton stream enveloped it, singing it's hair and fur, before it ran off back into the night. "Yes, well, I suggest we get inside before we come across anything..."

"A demon! A demon!" Buffy yelled out, interrupting Egon's thoughts as she jumped behind him, causing him to spin and look for the offending demon, only to see an old car coming down the street towards them.

"That's not a demon. It's a car." Willow supplied helpfully, trying to calm Buffy down.

"What does it want?" Buffy asked meekly, still hiding behind Egon and clutching on to his proton pack for comfort.

"Yes, well," Egon cleared his throat, looking over at Ghost Willow. "You claim to know the area, I confess it's been a few years since I visited Alexander or Jessica."

"Buffy's house," Willow supplied, pointing further down the road. "It's just down there on Revello Drive." She explained.

"Very well," Egon nodded. "I suggest we relocate there for now, until I can formulate a plan for dealing with these possessed children."

"Sounds good," Willow nodded enthusiastically before turning to Buffy. "We're going to go somewhere safe ok?" She asked in a reassuring voice. "We'll look after you." She smiled as Buffy nodded, ready to follow them as they walked through the Sunnydale streets, Egon leading the way and keeping an eye out for little demons, every so often sending a particle stream from his positron thrower towards the demons that got a little too close, scaring them away for now.

"Why did you stop visiting?" Willow asked after several minutes of walking silence as they turned a street corner onto Revello Drive. "Xander said he hasn't seen you since his tenth birthday."

"Yes, I suppose that must have been it." Egon nodded thoughtfully. "There was, an altercation I should say, between myself and Jessica's husband. After I witnessed him yelling at Alexander and raising his hand, I intervened."

"You stopped him from hitting Xander." Willow said in a soft voice.

"Tony doesn't pick on people his own size, so he backed down when I intervened." Egon explained. "I told Jessica that if he ever raised a hand to Alexander or her again, she just had to call and I'd be there." He said as they walked on. "She never called."

"And you never came back." Willow said sadly.

"I had assumed that Tony had learnt his lesson that night," Egon said thoughtfully. "To be honest, I'd forgotten all about it until tonight."

"Xander doesn't talk about his parents much," Willow explained. "But I don't go over any more, I used to to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas, but Xander doesn't want me there anymore." She explained sadly. "I think he's ashamed of his mom and dad."

"I see," Egon said with a frown, thinking about what sort of home life Alexander had had where he would be ashamed to have his friends over for Christmas. "Once this is over, I shall make the time to visit… Xander you called him?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded. "Only his parents and teachers call him Alexander."

"Fine," Egon nodded. "Then I shall make the time to visit more once this is over."

"He'd like that," Willow smiled over as she gestured to a house down the street. "That's it, that's Buffy's house. Number sixteen thirty."

"Fine, we'll stay there. Does she have a phone, I have some friends I could call to get some help with the situation here." Egon explained as he quickened their pace towards the house Ghost Willow had identified.

"Yeah, she's got a phone." Willow explained as they approached the house, letting Egon go first to open the kitchen door and walk inside, his positron thrower at the ready for anything that might jump out at them.

"All clear," Egon nodded, standing inside the doorway and holding the door open for Willow and Buffy to enter behind him.

"Hello? Mrs Summers?" Willow called out as she walked in the kitchen, listening for a reply before turning back to Egon. "Good, she's gone." She said as Egon closed the door behind them and locked it firmly.

"Where are we?" Buffy asked, looking around the kitchen area.

"Your place," Willow explained patiently. "Now we just need to…" She trailed off startled, jumping as a loud bang came from the front door area outside of the kitchen.

"Stay here," Egon said, nodding at them before quietly heading away towards the front door, rolling his eyes as Willow followed him, though not saying anything as he knew she was already a ghost and unlikely to be the target for any other spectral or demonic attack.

"Don't open it!" Willow yelled out as Egon reached for the door handle.

"It could be someone else that needs our help." Egon frowned at her.

"Or another demon!" Willow countered back, turning away as Buffy started looking around the living room off to one side of the entrance hallway.

"Demon!" Egon yelled out, jumping away from the door as a giant red fist punched through the window of the door before raising his positron thrower and shooting a stream out through the window, lightly scorching the wood of the door in the process.

"Definitely not a person needing help!" Willow yelled out over the sound of the proton stream as a woman's scream called out from outside. "That however…"

"Stay safe," Egon said firmly, looking at Willow. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He explained, opening the door a crack first to make sure the red demon had gone before opening it wider and slipping out, closing it behind him.

"I haven't seen this much demonic activity in years," Egon frowned to himself as he looked around the streets, keeping his positronic thrower ready for any attack as he scanned for the source of the scream.

"Somebody help me!" Another scream came from down the street, giving Egon the direction he needed to run in, picking up his pace as he ran across the grass in front of the house and on to the street, seeing a young woman in some sort of cat costume leotard with ears and a tail, running away from… he had to blink in bemusement as he saw it, because his eyes couldn't be believed, if they could, they were telling him the young woman was running away from a Wookie from the Star Wars movies.

"Help me!" The woman screamed, running towards Egon as he levelled his positron thrower at the Wookie, sending a low charge proton blast past her and enveloping the Wookie, filling the street with the smell of burnt hair before stopping the blast. The Wookie roared at them both, glaring at them from behind matted singed fur before charging off down the street away from them.

"Come inside," Egon said, gesturing to the house where he'd left Ghost Willow and Buffy, walking behind her and making sure that none of the other demonic or spectral entities followed them inside.

"Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed as Egon closed the door behind them. "What…"

"What's going on?" Cordelia demanded, looking between Willow, where Buffy was curled up behind a sofa looking terrified, and the blonde man that had saved her. "And what's with that hair?" She asked in amazement, looking at Egon's hair. "Seriously, how do you get that much volume in one style?"

"Okay, your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, and we're your friends. Well, sort of." Willow babbled out, trying to fill Cordelia in as quickly as she could.

"That's nice, Willow. And you went mental when?" Cordelia shot back.

"You know us?" Willow asked, looking down at Cordelia's tightly fit leotard and cat girl outfit.

"Yeah. Lucky me. What's with the name game? And who's Mr Hairdo over there? Not that I'm not thankful for the rescue from Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy, I mean look at my costume, do you really think Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back now?"

"He's Egon, well, Xander." Willow explained. "You remember Xander's Social Studies presentation?" Willow explained further. "This, this is Xander's uncle. Egon Spengler, the Ghostbuster."

"You're kidding?" Cordelia asked, looking at Willow then over to Egon. "You're Xander's uncle?" She asked, eyeing him for any similarity to Xander. While the uniform did look similar to the tatty one Xander had been wearing in social studies, the man stood in front of her now didn't look anything like Xander, for one he was much taller, over six foot, maybe six four or five with that ridiculous hair. And the equipment he was wearing certainly wasn't the cobbled together junk Xander had on his back in the class room. It was humming, with lights, and looked powerful, and judging from the way her hair had stood on end when he'd shot that stream of energy at her attacker, it obviously worked as intended.

"Egon Spengler Miss?" Egon introduced himself with a smile, holding out his hand for the young woman to shake.

"Cordelia, Cordelia Chase." Cordelia smiled, accepting the offered hand and shaking it. "Wow, you don't look anything like you did in the movie."

"You saw Ghostbusters?" Willow asked in disbelief.

"Like, who hasn't?" Cordelia asked, catching Willow with a glare and idly wondering what the hell she was wearing. "Bill Murray is hilarious."

"I'm sure," Egon frowned thoughtfully. "The movie was based on some of our earliest adventures, with certain dramatic changes."

"Venkman isn't as annoying in real life?" Cordelia asked curiously.

"Sadly Peter's character was toned down slightly if anything," Egon corrected her. "But we should be focusing on tonight's problems, not my prior movie dealings." He explained, turning back to Willow.

"Okay. You guys stay here while I get some help. If something tries to get in, just fight it off." Willow explained, looking at Egon. "I know someone who might know what's going on here." She explained.

"Very well," Egon nodded at her. "Be careful though."

"Well, it… it's not our place to fight. Surely some men will protect us like the blond wizard?" Buffy asked, looking at Egon.

"What's that about?" Cordelia frowned over, looking at Egon for an explanation.

"It's like amnesia, okay?" Willow explained, calling Cordelia's attention to her. "They don't know who they are. Just sit tight." She explained before heading past Cordelia and through a wall behind her, causing Buffy to go wide eyed at the sight as Egon moved to the wall and touched it with his fingers to feel for any sign of ectoplasm or bio-morphic residue.

"Fascinating." Egon muttered to himself as he fingers came away from the wall dry.

"Who died and made her the boss?" Cordelia rolled her eyes, looking around Buffy's house in disdain.

"We should check the house, make sure there aren't any windows open the demons could crawl in through." Egon suggested, looking at where Buffy had retreated back to behind the Sofa with a scared look on her face. "Can you check upstairs, I'll check down here after I've made some calls." He asked, looking at Cordelia.

"Sure, whatever." Cordelia shrugged. "You're calling the other Ghostbusters?" She asked, watching as Egon made his way to where the phone was easily visible on a small table in the entrance hall.

"Ray might have some ideas on how to modify the equipment to separate the possessing entities from their hosts." Egon explained. "I'll be here if you need me." He said reassuringly as Cordelia started towards the stairs cautiously.

"I don't suppose you have a spare one of those gun thingies do you?" Cordelia asked hopefully, eyeing the obviously heavy pack Egon was wearing linked to the gun he'd used to protect her from the giant furry thing outside.

"I'm afraid not," Egon shook his head. "Check upstairs and make sure all the windows are bolted shut. If there's any weapons you can find, those would be great too."

"Sure thing," Cordelia shrugged. "Buffy's house, there's got to be weapons somewhere right?" She asked, looking around cautiously as she made her way up the stairs.

---

"Ray Stanz?" Ray answered the phone, looking up from his office desk from the papers he was grading.

"Ray? It's Egon." Egon's voice came over the line. "I wasn't sure if this number was still good."

"Egon!" Ray smiled, leaning back in his chair, the thoughts of grading the papers of pyrokinesis research by the grad students assisting him now forgotten as he thought about his old friend. "It's been an age. How are you? How's Janine?"

"I'm good thanks," Egon's voice came back. "I have a slight problem here and was hoping you could assist me."

"Anything," Ray smiled, Egon always was the one getting into trouble with his experiments getting away from him. "I was planning on heading back for your birthday next month, get Venkman and Winston to come as well. What do you need?"

"Class four possessions," Egon's voice came back. "It's a long story, but is there any way I could reconfigure one of the old Mark One packs to separate the possessing entity from the host?"

"A class four?" Ray whistled as he leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on his desk thoughtfully.

"Lots of class fours," Egon corrected him over the phone. "I think so anyway, I don't have a PKE here to be sure, but they possess all the signs of a class four possessing entity."

"Spectral or demonic?" Ray frowned thoughtfully, wedging the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he stood up from his desk, making his way to his book shelf to pull down a few books that might be relevant.

"Demonic," Egon confirmed over the line. "The spectral presence here is… assisting me."

"A helpful ghost?" Ray asked in amusement. "Slimer?"

"Another," Egon's voice came back. "I only have one of the Mark One packs with me."

"We put the old Mark One's in storage years ago," Ray muttered thoughtfully as he leafed through one of the spectral tomes he'd pulled down. "What are you doing bringing those out again?"

"It's a long story," Egon's voice came over the line. "Can you think of anything?"

"Demonic possession is tricky," Ray mused thoughtfully. "We dealt with Vigo using a combination of the Mark One's and the Mood Slime."

"Of course," Egon's voice came back with certainty. "Could I retune the positron output to a variance equivalent to the Mood Slime?"

"I doubt it," Ray said as he leafed through a few more pages. "Do you have anything else?"

"Just the Mark One kit and a trap." Egon's voice came back.

"That's it!" Ray slammed his hand down on the desk with a grin. "In theory at least. If you closely modify a trap and compensate for the difference in positronic frequencies between a possessing entity and a human soul. You should be able to extract the possessor from the host."

"That sounds like it could work." Egon's voice came back thoughtfully, he hadn't even considered using the trap himself, but the engineering side had always been more Ray's forte than his.

"The down side, of course, is that even a minor error could be catastrophic for the host." Ray added thoughtfully, pulling down one of his old note books from the shelf and flicking through it quickly.

"Of course," Egon's voice came back, telling Ray he'd reached the same conclusion. "But I don't have the time or equipment to find another way."

"I didn't think so." Ray shrugged as he found the right pages in his old note books. "Ok, I've got the equations here. Class four through eight have very similar frequencies, so you shouldn't have any trouble with the lower demonic possessions."

"Very well," Egon's voice came back. "I'm heading to a work top now, you'll have to bear with me though, I don't have any of my tools here."

"Where are you anyway?" Ray asked curiously, flipping through another of his old note books nostalgically, knowing if Egon was back at the firehouse he'd have all the newer equipment with him to use.

"Sunnydale." Egon's voice came back with a tinge of worry in the tone, causing Ray to nearly drop the note book he was flicking through.

"The Hellmouth?!" Ray practically screamed down the phone.

---

"Who are you?"

Egon looked up from the worktop where he was making the adjustments to the ghost trap Ray had walked him through, he was nearly finished but was double checking everything just to make sure, as they'd both concluded, any variance in frequency could be catastrophic for the hosts, and since they were using the trap to destroy the demonic possessing entities instead of trapping them, it would burn out pretty quickly, leaving them only seven or eight uses before it burnt out.

However in his work, he hadn't heard the man enter behind him, startled by the voice he grabbed the positron thrower from his pack, spinning round to face the intruder and nearly knocking the trap off the counter as he did.

"Who are you?" Egon shot back.

"Angel," The man replied simply. "Is Buffy…" He trailed off as he saw Buffy and Cordelia in the living room through past the kitchen. "Good, they're alright. It's total chaos out there."

"You're a friend of theirs." Egon said simply, lowering his positron thrower slightly. "Do you live here?"

"No," The man that had introduced himself as Angel shook his head. "How do you know Buffy?" He asked, eyeing the strange equipment Egon was carrying and working on.

"She's a friend of my nephew," Egon said simply, not wanting to go into it any further. "Cordelia, could you come here please?" He asked aloud, turning to the living room where he saw the young woman in the cat costume heading towards the kitchen like he'd asked. "Do you know what's going on here?" He asked, looking back at Angel.

"No," Angel shook his head slowly. "Cordelia?" He asked, curious why the annoying teen drama queen was with Buffy and this stranger.

"Angel, hi." Cordelia beamed at him. "Is Egon being nice?"

"So far," Angel nodded, noting Egon still had his strange gun out but it wasn't specifically aimed at him anymore. "Somebody want to fill me in?" He asked, looking from Egon to Cordelia. "Where's Buffy?"

"She doesn't know who she is," Cordelia explained. "Everyone's turned into a monster, it's a whole big thing." She trailed off with a shrug before smiling flirtatiously at him again. "How are you?" She asked, moving closer to Angel.

"I hardly think…" Egon frowned at the way the teen was flirting with the other man, mentally placing him in his mid-twenties before the lights suddenly went out, causing a scream to come from Buffy in the living room.

"Buffy!" Angel exclaimed, recognising the voice and pushing past Egon into the living room, with Cordelia following close behind, Egon following after once he'd grabbed his modified trap from the worktop.

"Is she alright?" Egon asked, coming into the living room to see Angel and Cordelia kneeling beside a terrified Buffy.

"The dark just scared her." Angel said simply. "What happened to her?"

"Take her upstairs," Egon said, looking at Cordelia. "We'll find the fuse box." He explained, looking at Angel.

"The kitchen," Angel said with a nod. "What happened?"

"A class four possession I believe," Egon explained as they made their way to the kitchen. "She's possessed by the spirit of a noble woman from the seventeenth century."

"Buffy's possessed?" Angel frowned as they entered the kitchen, looking around for the fuse box Angel paused, nodding towards the door. "I didn't leave that open." He said with a frown.

"No," Egon confirmed, remembering the door was shut when he'd retrieved his trap as well. "Be careful." He whispered, flicking the power on his positron thrower up slightly as he looked around the kitchen darkness, crouching down slightly to check under the table before looking at the basement door, opening it gingerly before being forcefully pushed aside.

"Vampire!" Angel shouted as Egon hit the floor, the vampire's strength combined with the weight of the proton pack had toppled him over easily. "A stake!"

"What?" Egon shouted out, aiming his thrower at the vampire and wishing that the other man would move out of the way of where he was forcefully holding him down.

"Get me a stake!" Angel growled out as his face changed, the demonic visage pushing to the surface from the excitement of a fight.

The sight of the two vampires fighting was enough proof for Egon, dropping his positron thrower for the moment he grabbed the modified trap he'd been working on, tossing it on its side towards where Angel and the other vampire were fighting before making sure it was facing them and slamming his hand down on the peddle.

The trap snapped open, the modified yellow glow lighting up the kitchen in an almost blinding light as the streams of frequency specific energy lashed out from the trap, entwining both of the vampires in a swirl of positronic energy, latching on to the possessing entities and snatching them into the light before pulling them both towards the trap.

Both demons screaming and screeching as the energy gripped them and pulled them towards the trap, shrinking them down before pulling them inside as the trap slammed its doors shut, the red light flashing for a moment before a frazzled hiss came from the trap and a bellow of smoke hissed out from the doors.

"Are you alright?" Egon asked cautiously, readying his positronic thrower in case the trap hadn't work, despite what he'd seen.

"Who… who are you?" The teenager in the cheap vampire costume asked, looking around the kitchen cautiously.

"Where am I?" Angel asked, pushing back from the boy and standing up, shaking his head as if to clear some cobwebs. "What did you do?" He demanded, glaring at Egon.

"You're both fine," Egon nodded, standing up from the floor and lowering his positronic thrower cautiously. "You were being possessed, I managed to remove the possessing entities and destroy them." He explained, walking over to help the young teenager up. "Are you ok Mr?"

"Jonathan," The teenager nodded. "I think so." He said hesitantly.

"Go into the living room, we'll…" Egon frowned, looking through to the living room where the front door was open and clearly visible. "Oh no." He muttered to himself, darting through into the living room to the stairs. "Buffy? Cordelia?" He yelled up the stairs, hoping for an answer then turning to the door when none came. "She must have run outside." He said, turning to Angel.

"You… you did this to me?" Angel asked, pointing at Egon as he came through into the living room.

"I removed the possession, yes." Egon confirmed, curious what the man meant by 'did this' to him, he was about to elaborate when the man raised his hand to his own chest, resting it there with an awed look on his face.

"You destroyed the demon." Angel said, confirming it more for himself than anyone else.

"And the girls are out there, alone," Egon frowned, not understanding what the man was saying. "We've got to find them." He said, marching to the door with the younger teenager and out into the Sunnydale evening.

"Wait," Angel called out, running to catch up with Egon. "You don't understand, you destroyed the demon." He said as he caught up with him outside.

"You said that," Egon clarified with a nod. "I did the same for Mr Jonathan."

"Just Jonathan," Jonathan said with a small smile. "Thanks by the way."

"Don't mention it," Egon smiled back.

"He was possessed by his costume." Angel explained as he followed Egon out onto the street, looking either way for any sign of Buffy or Cordelia. "I… I wasn't."

"Ah," Egon frowned, looking at Angel more closely now. "I simply assumed…"

"I wasn't wearing a costume." Angel confirmed. "I've been a vampire… I'd been a vampire for over four hundred years."

"I'll have to tell Ray his modifications work on Class 10 demonic possessions as well then." Egon frowned thoughtfully, wishing he had a PKE Meter here so he could confirm Angel's story.

"My heart is beating again, I can feel the cold air." Angel stated simply. "I have my life back." He finished in awe.

"Spend it wisely," Egon frowned, picking a direction on the street at random and starting to walk with Jonathan and Angel following him.

"You don't understand…" Angel started, jogging to catch up with Egon.

"No, you don't understand." Egon snapped, spinning to catch Angel with a glare over his glasses. "There are two young girls out here alone, defenceless. Your friends, Buffy and Cordelia. Anything could happen to them while you're here preaching about yourself. So I suggest you get it together, and help me find them. Or go back inside and shut yourself away." He said simply before turning away from Angel and heading down the street with Jonathan following him.

---

"Do you think she came this way?" Jonathan asked as Egon led them down an alley way through the back streets of Sunnydale.

"No," Egon frowned, once again wishing he had a PKE meter with him to track the missing girls, though honestly with the amount of demonic energy that he'd already witnessed floating around the town, he doubted the PKE would be able to get a fix on a single possessed girl. "I don't know." He said cautiously, looking around the dark alley with his positron thrower at the ready.

"But… she'll be alright right? She's Buffy?" Jonathan asked hopefully.

"And Cordelia." Egon added on, noting that both Jonathan and Angel had been more than worried about Buffy, while Cordelia seemed to have been forgotten or written off already.

"I can't smell them," Angel said from behind Egon. "I can't smell anything." He frowned, looking around the dark alley and squinting slightly. "I'd forgotten how limiting human senses were." He added with a petulant glare at Egon.

"Get used to them." Egon muttered, not even bothering to dignify Angel with a glare as he looked around further. "There's nothing here, we should…" He trailed off as a scream came from a few streets down, taking off running towards the scream with Jonathan and Angel following behind a few moments later.

Rounding the corner of the alley way into a wider alley Egon frowned to himself as he saw Buffy crouched on the floor, kneeling by Cordelia who had been knocked down, with three pirates stood over them, one smirking and rubbing the back of his hand where he'd obviously used it to knock the cat woman down.

"Hey!" Egon shouted, firing a proton blast down the alley way over the heads of the attacking pirates, lighting the walls of the alley up with the energy from the blast. "Back off now!" He ordered, taking careful aim at the pirates with his thrower.

"Buffy!" Angel pushed forward, moving towards the two girls as the pirates backed away. "Are you ok?"

"Cordelia?" Egon asked, coming forward with Angel, keeping a close eye on the pirates as they slunk away into the shadows before helping the young girl up. "Are you alright miss?" He asked as he slowly helped her to her feet and dusted off her prop tail. "You shouldn't be out here." He said, looking at Cordelia and then at Buffy.

"She ran," Cordelia frowned back at Egon. "I was just following her, couldn't let Lady Useless here roam the streets alone could I?"

"I suppose not," Egon frowned over at Buffy. "What…" He trailed off, about to ask why Buffy had run from the safety of the house in the first place when he saw Ghost Willow coming down the alley towards them.

"Guys!" Willow shouted as she ran towards them. "Guys, you've gotta get inside!"

"Willow?" Angel asked incredulously. "What are you…"

"Inside!" Willow interrupted. "Spike and his…"

"Hello pretties!" A snarl with the undertone of a smirk came from the corner of the alley, drawing everyone's attention to where a blonde vampire along with a group of mini demons was approaching from the darkness.

"Perhaps Willow is right," Egon frowned, looking at the group of mini demons along with the vampire leading them. "Find somewhere, I'll cover you." He ordered, firing a proton blast into the ground in front of the group, blasting them with debris and dirt from the concrete.

"The trap!" Angel suggested, coming up behind Egon as Cordelia and Willow led Buffy and Jonathan away from the scene. "Can you use it on them?"

"I don't know," Egon admitted, he hadn't had chance to actually confirm how well the trap had held up after removing the possessions on Angel and Jonathan, for all he knew parts of the trap could have been fused already, rendering it useless or dangerous to the hosts.

"You need to try!" Angel all but demanded. "If he gets hold of Buffy…" Angel trailed off. "Please." He said after a moment while Spike and the demons regrouped. "You've got to try, he's my fault. I won't let him get his hands on Buffy."

Egon frowned, reaching for the trap and looking into Angel's eyes, not quite understanding what Angel meant by the blonde vampire being 'his fault', but willing to accept the premise for now. "I don't know if this is going to work, take cover." He said softly to Angel before tossing the trap towards the group approaching them.

"And what's that supposed to do blondie?" The blonde vampire quipped. "Wrong shape for football mate."

"It's not a football," Egon shot back as the group continued approaching, getting in range of the trap before he slammed his foot down on the pedal, opening the trap and lighting the alley way up with the bright lights from inside the trap, the yellow and blue positronic energy streams lashing out from the bright inner light and snatching on to the group of demons close by.

Egon watched in fascination as the possessing spirits were torn from their hosts, the positronic energy wrapping around their spirit bodies and lifting them free from the hosts, a group of spirits and one older demon being held in the writhing energy, screaming and snarling at him as they were pulled into the trap. The older demon screeching at him and clawing around the alleyway in an unsuccessful attempt to save himself from the trap.

"Goodbye Spike," Angel said with venom as he watched the demon being pulled into the trap, a satisfied smile on his face lit up for a second as the trap slammed shut, plunging the alley way into darkness again as the trap beeped once, beeped twice, and then a third time, the red light on the back of the ghost trap flashing brightly.

"Get back!" Egon shouted, pulling Angel away and diving for cover away from the beeping equipment, falling to the floor in the alleyway and rolling behind some trash cans just in time for the trap to explode, sending metal shrapnel and sparks all over the alley in a flash of yellow light.

If this wasn't heaven, Angel decided, it was pretty damn close. The man with the strange hairdo beside him had not only saved their lives, but had removed his demon, and with the trap gadget thingie gone now, so was Angelus and Spike, gone for good.

"Are you…" Angel started to ask, momentarily wincing in pain as he looked down at his arm where a piece of the trap shrapnel had embedded itself in his arm, tearing through his leather jacket with ease. "Ow." He said, rubbing his arm and pulling out the piece of offending metal. "Are you alright?" He asked, rolling Egon to one side, the weight of the proton pack assisting him.

"I'm fine," Egon nodded, shaking his head and blinking repeatedly to recover his night vision after the blinding light of the trap. "We should…" He started to say as he stood up, stumbling mid-way, causing his positron thrower to fall to the ground beside him as his feet lost grip.

"Whoa!" Angel lunged forward, catching Egon and holding him upright, his arm screaming in protest as he held the taller man up, only as he caught him he wasn't a taller man anymore. Helping him up the wig that hadn't been a wig moments ago fell to the floor, falling into a dirty puddle forgotten for the moment as Angel recognised the teen he was holding up. "Xander?" He asked in bemusement.

"Angel?!" Xander asked, pushing away from Angel and nearly falling over from the weight of the proton pack on his back. "What… where… how?" Xander babbled out, looking around the dark alleyway.

"That was you?" Angel frowned, looking at the tattered overalls Xander was wearing, now badly fitted and baggy, a long way from the respectable uniform Egon wore it as.

"Back off dead boy!" Xander glared over. "What happened? Where's Buffy?"

"Buffy!" Angel exclaimed, darting away from Xander for the moment, following the route he'd seen Cordelia and Willow lead Buffy and Jonathan down.

"Uh, hang on mate?"

Xander frowned, looking around the alley way until he saw Spike surrounded by little children. "Ahh!" Xander exclaimed, pushing himself back in the alleyway against the wall, his hands gripping around for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"I want my mommy!" One of the children started crying, while another clung on to Spike's legs and another cried "I want to go home!"

"Yeah yeah, hold your soddin' horses alright?" Spike muttered, walking forward towards Xander awkwardly with the children gripping on to his legs and coat. "Harris?" Spike asked, practically sneering out. "What did you bloody do to me?" He glared, pushing forward through the children to Xander.

"Stay back!" Xander yelled out, grabbing a piece of wood from the trash and holding it up like a makeshift stake for now, though it was barely sharp and looked like it would probably snap in half before it staked someone.

"Easy there whelp," Spike rolled his eyes. "I ain't a threat to you or… whatever." He muttered, waving around at the children surrounding him. "What the soddin' hell did that flashy box thing do to me?" He asked, staring at Xander for an answer. "One minute I'm all grrrr and fangs, another I'm lying on the ground with a bloody beating heart and breathing again." He pushed through the children to Xander who backed up against the wall further. "I ain't needed to breathe in two hundred bloody years mate, so what the hell did you do?"

"I don't know?" Xander answered honestly, the night was still a bit of a blur for him, he remembered getting ready dressed up as his Uncle Egon for the night, wearing a prop costume and proton pack he'd made, but after that it was all a blur. "Oh god!" He whispered, looking down at where the positron thrower was still hanging to his side connected to the proton pack. Reaching down he picked up the thrower with ease, looking at the weapon sparked a memory as he thumbed the thrower controls around, listening in awe to the hum the proton pack made in response to the controls being changed.

"What's that do?" Spike asked, staring at the positron thrower with a bit of trepidation.

"The positron thrower emits a positronic ionized stream of proton energy that polarizes with negatively charged ectoplasmic entities, capturing them in the stream while active even if they are out of phase with reality." Xander rattled off, reciting from memory before staring at Spike in disbelief. "Uh, yeah, that."

"Well, that was a waste of a perfectly soddin' good explanation." Spike muttered, waving the technobabble off.

"It shoots ghosts and demons ready to trap them." Xander condensed it down. "Egon he… he trapped your demon."

"He bloody what?" Spike shouted out, glaring at Xander again. "Where is he? I'll bloody… I'll… hang on a bloody second, are you telling me that blonde wanker pulled the demon out of me?" Spike asked, catching on to the concept for a moment.

"Uh, yeah?" Xander nodded.

"I'm human again?" Spike asked, feeling around his body and ignoring the children who were still clinging on to his legs and coat.

"I guess… I mean…" Xander stammered out.

"Spit it out Harris!" Spike snapped out. "Am I bloody human or what?"

"I don't know?" Xander offered weakly. "Egon configured the trap to remove the possessing spirits from the children, I don't know how it affected you or the demon." He admitted. "If the demon was possessing you like the…" He trailed off, waving his hand at the surrounding children who were crying meekly around Spike's legs. "Then… yeah, I guess the demon is gone."

"Huh," Spike frowned, looking around the alley way, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes, fishing one out and lighting it with a zippo from his pocket. "Bloody hell," He muttered, breathing in the smoke once and coughing, spluttering for a second before tossing the cigarette down the alley into a puddle. "Those things look soddin' cool, but taste like crap!" He muttered, making a face and scraping his tongue against his teeth.

"Bad for your health as well." Xander quipped with a shrug. "Or so they tell me."

"Health?" Spike lent his head to one side considering this. "Bloody right, got me old body back right? No more demon to go around fixing things and all that." He muttered, considering things properly.

"Uh, do you mind?" Xander asked, gesturing to the children surrounding Spike and slowly leaning down to pick one up and help them all. "We need to get these kids back to their parents." He explained.

"Fine, whatever." Spike shrugged. "Little nibblet's missing their mommy?" He asked, looking down at the crying child who had a death grip around his leg.

"Come on." Xander smiled, putting the positron thrower back on the proton pack for now, holding one child in his left arm and holding his other hand out for one of the children to take. "So, uh, Spike?" He asked, watching in bemusement as Spike picked up one of the children and walked alongside him awkwardly with one of them still attached to his leg.

"Huh?" Spike asked, looking over at him. "You know, that's a bloody fancy piece of kit you got there Harris."

"Don't I know it," Xander grinned, feeling the weight and hum of the proton pack on his back. Idly wondering how Egon would feel about having another unlicensed nuclear accelerator running around the world.

"So, uh," Xander frowned, trying to figure out how to talk to the ex-vampire. "What are you going to do now?" He asked hesitantly as they led the children out of the alleyway onto a main street and headed towards the school area.

"Not a soddin' clue mate," Spike laughed, grinning over at Xander. "Not a one." He laughed, causing the children to look at him with confused expressions on their faces.

---

"Ah Xander, thank god!" Giles looked around as he entered the library, seeing Xander along with Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Angel and… Spike? Sat around the table in the library. "What the…" He blustered out, fishing a cross out from his jacket and brandishing it at the group wildly.

"Wot's he plan to do with that?" Spike muttered out, eying Giles with a smirk. "Baptise me again? Wait, do I need to be baptised or sommet?" Spike asked, thinking about things now.

"Shut up Spike," Angel and Buffy chorused at the same time.

"What is going on here?" Giles asked, demanding an explanation why the vicious vampire was sat around the library table with his Slayer and friends.

"Seems Harris 'ere had some fancy equipment thanks to that soddin' Halloween bollocks," Spike shrugged, ignoring Angel and Buffy's glares. "Red's been explaining it like some sort of possession type magic stuff, which fits with what Harris says."

"Halloween? Equipment?" Giles asked, rubbing his forehead in confusion. "Perhaps you should start from the…" He trailed off as he looked at Xander, noting the proton pack on his back that looked a lot more real than it had when Xander had first brought it into the library this morning. "Oh good lord." He muttered out, removing his glasses and polishing them against his shirt. "What happened?" He asked again, looking for a semblance of an explanation he could understand.

"We all got possessed by our costumes," Buffy explained.

"I didn't," Cordelia held her hand up with a smirk. "Just saying." She shrugged at the glares levelled at her. "You're the one that turned into Lady Useless, not me."

"Fine," Buffy glared at her.

"Yes, the costume shop owner, Ethan." Giles nodded. "Though I fail to see how…" He trailed off, still staring at Xander. "You were possessed by Doctor Spengler." He said, moving towards Xander who stood up from the table, fingering the red glasses on his face as if he wanted to remove them but wasn't used to them. "Xander?" He asked hesitantly.

"Still here," Xander nodded, taking off the glasses and frowning at them, rubbing them on his overalls as he'd seen Giles do dozens of times before replacing them. "Seems Uncle Egon's eyesight was worse than he let on." Xander shrugged as he put the glasses back on. "A left over or something right?" He asked hopefully.

"I don't see how…" Giles frowned, now carefully looking at the proton pack Xander was still wearing. "Good lord, is that…"

"Fully functioning," Xander nodded, reaching around and turning the pack on again, grinning at the soothing hum that it made as it powered up.

"I see," Giles whispered in awe, backing up slightly from the proton pack, being one of the two people in the room that knew how dangerous that equipment really was. "And the… the rest?" He asked, gesturing to the table where Angel and Spike were glaring at each other across the table.

"The bloke that possessed Harris, this Egon whatever-'is-face." Spike shrugged. "Rigged up some fancy bollocks with this boxy trap thing, ripped the demon right out of me." He explained.

"A frequency modulated positronic trap," Xander confirmed with a nod. "It sucks possessing ghosts out of the host." He explained at the blank face Giles gave him. "A de-vamp trap?" He offered with a grin.

"Oh good lord," Giles spluttered out. "Do you mean to say…" He trailed off, looking at Angel and Spike, then looking closely at Angel who was nursing some sort of wound on his right arm that hadn't healed yet.

"Human," Spike shrugged. "Or at least that's what it bloody feels like." He muttered, looking at Angel. "You got anything to eat around 'ere Watcher? Bloody starving, feels like I haven't eaten in years."

"You haven't," Buffy shot back with a smirk.

"You successfully returned Spike and Angel to human form?" Giles asked, looking at Xander with no small amount of awe.

"Egon did," Xander corrected him. "The trap kinda went kabloowie though after Spike and the kids, so it's not a regular thing or anything." He explained.

"I… I see… Kabloowie?" Giles asked with a frown at the word.

"Bloody thing went up like the fourth of July," Spike muttered from the table.

"When it exploded it hurt Angel," Buffy explained, nodding to a shard of metal on the table. "That was stuck in his arm pretty good." She said, glaring at Xander.

"Let me summarise this," Giles frowned, taking off his glasses and polishing them on his jacket. "Willow was possessed by a ghost, Buffy as a noble woman, and you as…"

"Uncle Egon," Xander grinned with a nod.

"To which, Doctor Spengler modified some equipment that successfully removed the possessing entities from several costumed children, as well as removing the demonic entity from two of the most notorious vampires in recorded history?" Giles asked in awe, looking around the table as everyone nodded.

"Sums it up," Spike nodded.

"That's it," Buffy nodded in response.

"That's what happened." Willow nodded as well.

"And he did it with that ridiculous hair." Cordelia shrugged as everyone stared at her. "What?" She shrugged. "It was!" She defended herself.

"And the… proton pack?" Giles asked hesitantly. "It's still active?" He asked, looking at Xander. "And other… residual effects?" He asked, looking at Buffy and Willow specifically.

"Just Willow here, not ghostly anymore." Willow said, tapping her hand on the table as proof that she was solid again, though still feeling slightly self-conscious in the outfit Buffy had had her wear under the ghost sheet.

"I remember some French," Buffy shrugged. "Curtsey-ey stuff, kinda all a blur now." She explained.

"I see," Giles nodded thankfully, looking back towards Xander. "And?"

"Doctorate of Physics and Engineering, graduate of M.I.T," Xander shrugged sheepishly as he met Giles' eyes. "Lots of stuff about moulds and fungus," He continued with a smirk. "I remember conducting an anti-gravity experiment utilizing a jungle gym and hundreds of feet of industrial copper wire when I was twelve," he admitted. "Didn't work but I… Uncle Egon, sorry, hard to keep the memories apart."

"Good…" Giles trailed off in awe, staring at Xander who mirrored his own expression behind his own red framed glasses. "You mean… you mean to say you have complete memories of Doctor Spengler's life?"

"Yeah," Xander nodded, turning away from Giles' staring eyes and removing his own glasses. "Including the need for these." He said, holding up the circular glasses in the air for clarification.

"Doctor Spengler's whole…" Giles frowned, taking off his own glasses and polishing them on his shirt. "The sheer, I mean, the…" He stammered out, taking a minute to gather his thoughts. "I fail to see how… the focus, the spell I mean, I destroyed the focus that Ethan was using to…"

"Blood link," Xander offered, turning to Giles and replacing his own glasses. "The combination of the spectral foci used for the enchantment, and the genetic link between myself and Uncle Egon. I guess whoever cast the spell didn't figure anyone would be dressing as a blood relative."

"Of course!" Giles explained, staring at Xander and nodding in agreement. "Blood magicks are the oldest form of ritual work, the link between yourself and Doctor Spengler, it must have been the catalyst for the residual link."

"Speaking of," Xander nodded, looking towards the office. "Mind if I use the phone? I need to check if Uncle Egon remembers any of this or if it was a one sided thing."

"Of course," Giles nodded, gesturing for Xander to go ahead and use the office phone. "Dial nine for an outside line." He explained.

"Excuse me," Spike asked, raising his hand. "Not that all this fancy talk about bloody magic or whatever you two eggheads are talking about ain't interesting, cause, well, it's not." He smirked. "But what the soddin' hell are we s'possed to do 'ere?" He asked, gesturing to himself and Angel.

"Well," Giles floundered, looking between Spike and Angel. "The fact… well, the fact is… I rather don't know." He admitted, removing his glasses and looking at the two ex-vampires. "I honestly don't know what we can do for either of you. The simple fact that Doctor Spengler managed to create a device that…"

"A de-vamper?" Buffy offered, looking at Giles while holding Angel's warm hand in her own, marvelling at the feel of it.

"Yes, quite," Giles nodded, cringing inwardly at the name Buffy had given to the device. "How such a thing is possible is… well, beyond my technical knowledge I will admit."

"But we can do it again right?" Buffy asked, looking to Giles. "Xander's uncle, he can make more of these de-vamp thingies?"

"Without the bloody things exploding right?" Spike asked, remembering the bright flash and violent explosion in the alleyway.

"Well, the technical aspects aside, I would be remiss to suggest such a venture before assessing any long lasting effects on the subjects." Giles explained.

"'Old up," Spike exclaimed. "Effects, what sort of effects we talking about?"

"Aside from being human again?" Angel asked curiously. "Whatever other effects, they're worth it." He said simply, turning between Buffy and looking at Spike. "To walk in sunlight, to hold Buffy's hand, to be a real person again." He said, looking down at Buffy's hand in his own. "It's worth it." He said simply.

---

"Ghostbusters?" Janine announced as she picked up the wall phone, having transferred all calls from the main desk upstairs to the firehouse living area so she could keep an eye on Egon's recovery.

Kylie had been the one to find him, nearly three hours ago. She'd been doing some research on Shanbahac and how the Amazonian ghost had managed to fool her so completely, she'd come in to Egon's private book collection to look for more information about other spirits like Shanbahac, but found Egon on the ground unconscious instead.

They'd transferred him to one of the beds in the firehouse, running all the scans they could. PKE, positronic, bio-rhythmic, psychokinetic. But all of the scans showed the same, that Egon was alive, but comatose, with no brain activity whatsoever. It was like something had ripped his very essence out of his body somehow.

Then simply he'd just woke up with a start, snapping back to consciousness and muttering things about vampires and possessions, hellmouths and someone called Xander.

"Janine?" The unfamiliar voice came over the line. "Is Egon there?"

"Who is this?" Janine demanded, lifting the phone away from her ear and glaring at it before replacing it and looking over at where Egon was on the sofa in the firehouse reading some reference material.

"Xander," The voice replied easily. "Is he… is Uncle Egon alright?" The voice asked, tinged with worry.

"Egon?" Janine asked, looking to where Egon was on the sofa. "It's someone asking for you."

"Who is it?" Egon asked, looking up from his reference book where he'd been going through the various spirit guide materials he had, looking for references to Slayers and the Hellmouth to substantiate what the odd memories of the night were telling him had happened.

"Xander?" Janine asked, raising her eyebrow at the weird name. "He called you Uncle Egon?"

"My nephew," Egon nodded, standing up from the sofa quickly and moving to take the phone from Janine. "Alexander?" He asked hesitantly. "Did you…"

"Yeah," Xander's voice came back. "Good to hear your voice again too uncle." Xander's voice held the distinct sound of a smile. "Is everything… are you alright?"

"I'm recovering," Egon admitted. "A rather strange experience for the night. Bio-morphic possession, the foci used for such an event must have been…"

"The uniform," Xander's voice interrupted. "Giles' can explain it more, but it was the uniform that was the focus." He explained.

"Of course." Egon frowned thoughtfully, remembering what the redhead ghost had told him about Xander wearing a costume based on him for a school project.

"The curse, or whatever, didn't account for a blood link though." Xander's voice continued. "Giles… we, I mean, we think the reason the possession was so strong and left so much residual artefact was because of the genetic link between us."

"It would make sense," Egon frowned in thought. "Residual artefact?" He asked curiously, pacing around the living area of the firehouse.

"The proton pack," Xander's voice admitted over the line. "Along with…"

"Yes?" Egon prompted him after a moment of silence.

"I know why you left on my birthday," Xander's voice admitted quietly. "I know… I saw… the memories are still there." The voice continued to explain. "Your college thesis you wrote in grade school on bionucleonic applications for superconductors, the same superconductors that are running through the positron thrower." The voice trailed off. "All of it."

"I see," Egon frowned, taking off his glasses in thought.

"Did you… do you have…" Xander's voice came back.

"No," Egon shook his head. "The possession was only one way." He explained thoughtfully. "Though Venkman has more knowledge on the physic phenomenon and spirit applications than I can confess to."

"Yeah, I checked with Giles as well," Xander's voice admitted over the line. "I just wanted to call and… you know, thanks."

"Of course," Egon admitted. "Though I did have a rather interesting discussion with your friend, Willow was it?" He asked curiously. "The Slayer is one of your friends? And the Hellmouth is located in your town?"

"How did you…" Xander's voice trailed off as Egon answered him.

"Ray filled me in on the history of the town," Egon explained with a smile, moving to the couch and sitting down, looking at his reference book and half smiling at the title. "Boca del Infierno."

"The Hellmouth," Xander confirmed.

"Yes, Ray seemed quite excited to know I was there," Egon smiled as he sat back in the chair. "It seems he'd like to plan a field trip himself some time."

"Figures," Xander's voice came back with a grin. "Tell him to bring more ghost traps configured like the last, we could do with some more de-vamping equipment."

"Xander, I don't have to tell you to be careful with the equipment." Egon said, leaning forward on the sofa and reminding his nephew how serious things were. "If you have my memories you know exactly what could happen if…"

"Yeah, I got it." Xander's voice came back equally as serious. "We'll be careful unc,"

"I know," Egon nodded with a half-smile. "I shall see you soon anyway, I have some… well, I'd rather it be a surprise."

"Oh yay," Xander's voice came back dryly. "'Cause, Hellmouth, surprises, nothing goes wrong here." He laughed down the line.

Egon chuckled back into the phone, causing Janine to look at him curiously from where she was stood by the kitchen area making some camomile tea to help Egon get some of his energy back. "I'll see you soon Xander."

"See you then unc," Xander's voice came back before the line went dead, causing Egon to move the phone away from his face and place it on the table with a smile.

"Your nephew?" Janine asked, coming through into the living area with a cup of camomile for Egon. "Cyrus' son?"

"No," Egon shook his head but accepted the cup of tea with a smile and a nod of thanks. "Jessica, my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister Egon!" Janine complained as she sat down. "Tell me," She asked, sitting down next to Egon and waiting for an explanation.

"A rather estranged part of the family," Egon admitted as he took a sip of the tea. "I haven't spoken to Jessica or Xander in, nearly seven years."

"And he called because of what happened tonight?" Janine asked curiously, having only heard Egon's side of the conversation.

"And more," Egon nodded thoughtfully, picking up the phone again. "Can you get me Venkman's latest number, Winston as well?" He said, looking at Janine before picking up the phone. "I'll be transferring some assets from Spengler Laboratories as well, so I'll need to speak to Cyrus about the investment's I made."

"I'll get those for you," Janine nodded, standing up from the couch. "Are you planning something Egon? A get together perhaps for your birthday?"

"Ray was already planning one," Egon admitted with a smile. "I'm just changing the location." He said while dialling Ray's number and putting the phone to his ear, idly calculating how much of the investments he'd made to his Uncle Cyrus' laboratories over the years he'd have to liquidate in order to set up a new operation in Sunnydale.

---

"Well 'ow the bloody hell am I s'possed to know?"

Xander raised his eyebrow at the scene as he walked back into the main library, Buffy and Angel were still sat at the table, seemingly more engrossed in each other's eyes than the actual conversation, while Spike was arguing with Giles and Willow to one side, leaving Cordelia simply looking bored. "What's going on?" He asked, moving to the table to stand by Giles.

"Angel raised actually a valid point with regards to Spike," Giles explained. "While Doctor Spengler seems to ah, restored Spike's human body, unlike Angel, Spike doesn't have a soul."

"Prove it you soddin' watcher!" Spike argued back. "What, want me to break into some James Brown or sommet?"

"I hardly think…" Giles trailed off, rubbing his forehead.

"Ok, so, what's the diff?" Xander asked curiously, eying Spike and Angel separately. "Human's human right?"

"The difference, as you say, is the soul, the essence of being." Giles explained patiently. "Angel had his soul restored as a curse, as you all well know. Prior to that, Angelus and Spike cut a bloody swath through untold countries."

"Ah," Xander nodded with a frown. "You're still evil?" He asked, looking at Spike curiously.

"What?" Spike asked, doing a double take at Xander. "I'm bloody human here you wanker, just like you."

"So was Hitler," Xander argued back.

"Yes, though… well," Giles frowned thoughtfully, taking off his glasses.

"What?" Xander asked, looking at Giles.

"Well, Hitler had a soul." Giles admitted thoughtfully.

"Proving my point here for me mate," Spike smirked over. "Soul don't mean dick, unless you're like Captain Forehead over there." He shrugged, pointing to Angel. "I'm here, joining the fight, fight the good fight and all that bollocks. Ain't that enough?"

"That remains to be seen," Giles frowned thoughtfully, turning to Xander. "I trust Doctor Spengler was helpful?"

"Yeah, Uncle Egon was a bit thrown by everything, but seemed alright." Xander nodded. "Didn't even blink about the fact the equipment stayed real for me." He said with a shrug. "He's used to weirder things though."

"No doubt," Giles smiled, thinking about the stories he'd read and heard about what the Ghostbusters had gone through in their time.

"Said he had a surprise though," Xander said, looking around the library as everyone looked at him. "Think he's planning on coming back to Sunnydale with Ray."

"The Ghostbusters are coming to Sunnydale?" Buffy asked in awe, hearing about how Giles and Xander talked about them made them out to be some sort of legends in the fight against demons and ghosts. Not to mention in a single night, a lone member of their team had managed to return Angel and Spike to being humans, which alone would put them in a legendary status on their own in her mind.

"Oh good grief," Giles smirked good naturedly to Xander. "Well, I guess I should make sure my insurance premiums are paid up then?"

"And then some," Xander smiled back. "I've got some ideas for adjusting the proton packs as well, modulating the frequency of the positronic stream so it emits the same frequency light as sunlight."

"You're bloody making an anti-vamp proton whatsit?" Spike interrupted.

"That's the plan," Xander nodded. "We can't rely on the traps, they aren't reliable for multiple demonic traps without having somewhere to contain the energy, and we don't even know how long the traps would be able to contain that sort of energy before exploding either." He explained.

"Anti-vamp guns sound good to me," Cordelia shrugged. "But not looking like that." She grimaced, looking at the proton pack Xander was still wearing.

"Yes, because style over substance is so important." Giles muttered, rolling his eyes at Cordelia's comment.

"Exactly," Cordelia nodded, happy someone else was siding with her.

"I'm sure we can work on something," Xander shrugged, thinking that creating a proton pack alone without access to any uranium, radioactive materials no one questioned Doctor Egon Spengler for requesting, but something that was quite out of the range of a high school student. "I'll talk with Egon when I see him." He said after a moment's pause, thinking about a few things.

"Very well, a talk I believe that can be postponed for a later date." Giles nodded thoughtfully. "As it is quite late, I believe you all have places to be tonight?" He said, looking at Buffy specifically.

"Patrol," Buffy shrugged, standing up from the table and nodding. "I'll hit the west cemeteries on my way home."

"I'll come with," Xander nodded. "I want to test the proton pack at different frequencies." He explained. "It's been a while since Egon had the Mark One packs out, so I…" He shrugged with a grin. "I want to get out there and try it out."

"Yes, well," Giles flustered, rolling his eyes at Xander's grin. "Do try and be careful, having read some of the technical specifications of those packs, I dread to think what one of their proton streams could do if you caught a civilian, or Buffy, by accident."

"I'll keep it on low," Xander nodded. "A weak spread shouldn't do a host, or civilian… well, it wouldn't hurt them too much." He added with a nod.

"Too much?" Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow. "And by too much you mean?" She asked, eying the pack Xander was wearing cautiously.

"Um, some short term memory loss," Xander nodded, looking away from Buffy. "And, uh…" He trailed off, mumbling something.

"What?" Buffy demanded, her eyes going wide at what Xander had just mumbled under the volume normal human ears could pick up.

"It's only possible, not likely," Xander defended himself. "Positronic streams weren't designed to be used on humans."

"What would be the possible outcome?" Giles asked, curious what Buffy had looked so offended at. "Short term memory loss and?" He prompted Xander.

"A violent bowel evacuation," Xander said sheepishly.

"Keep that thing away from me!" Buffy glared, pointing at the proton pack. "I see that thing pointed anywhere near my direction, you'll be suffering from a violet bowl insertion, that gun thing, got me Xander!"

"I think he gets the message Buffy," Giles coughed out, covering the smile on his lips with his hand. "Though I do agree with Buffy, if you insist on discharging that device, do try to make sure it is aimed away from us all."

"Sure," Xander nodded. "Proton Pack isn't a toy, got it." He grinned. "I'm sure with some modifications we'd be able to make sure there weren't any effects like that."

"Yes, well, until then…" Giles trailed off. "Shall we?" He asked, gesturing to the library doors.

"'Old up," Spike held his hand up. "What am I supposed to do?" He asked, looking at Giles and Xander. "The great poof over there 'as his Buffy, probably somewhere to shack up. What about me?"

"Ah, yes," Giles frowned, looking at Spike curiously. "I'd rather think you can't exactly go back to your usual haunts."

"Not unless I wanted to become a snack for my old minions," Spike shook his head. "Not exactly big on that plan."

"I'd think not," Giles nodded thoughtfully.

"Angel can stay with me tonight," Buffy volunteered. "Mom's away until Monday in LA anyway." She explained.

"Ain't helping me any," Spike huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at Angel.

"He can stay at mine," Willow offered. "Mom and Dad are in San Francisco for a psychiatric conference for the weekend." She explained. "We can sort something out over the weekend right?" She asked, looking at Giles hopefully.

"I'm sure we can," Giles nodded, looking at Willow. "Do be careful however, and if anything happens to her…" He trailed off, glaring at Spike.

"He'll find out what a full power positronic blast does to a human," Xander finished off, pulling the positronic thrower free from the pack and resting it on his shoulder.

"Got it," Spike nodded. "You've got food there right Red?" He asked, looking at Willow hopefully. "Onion blossoms?"

"You like onion blossoms?" Willow asked in disbelief, shaking her head at the comment.

"Yes, well, odd eating habits aside," Giles frowned at the exchange. "Shall we?"

"Well I'm heading home," Cordelia shrugged. "Like I'm even needed here anyway." She muttered to herself, collecting her cat ears and tail from the table where she'd taken them off.

"I've got some of my own ideas for things as well," Xander agreed, walking to the library doors with Giles while Buffy and Angel walked behind, Willow and Spike following last still talking about odd foods. "You remember Calex? Where Moloch made himself a new body?" He asked, looking at Giles as they walked out the doors into the school halls.

"Oh good lord," Giles muttered to himself, going wide eyed as Xander outlined possibly the craziest plan he'd ever heard. "Sunnydale is doomed." He continued to mutter as Xander laughed alongside.