A strange and ominous force of paranormal origin hung heavily over the city like a snowy cloud during a blizzard. The sky over New York City had steadily darkened over the previous weeks until daylight was seemingly only a fond memory. As the clouds thickened the air became colder and heavier with an ethereal weight that threatened to crush all of those who dared to set foot outside.
The Ghostbusters had urged the mayor to announce a state of alert but, of course he wasn't going to tell millions of registered voters to panic because of a cloudy day. Those who had learned from past incidents to listen to the unorthodox scientists had left the city for a brighter, warmer locale until the bizarre event overhead began to clear.
Dr. Peter Venkman and his wife, Dana Barrett, had decided to take an extended honeymoon before the bizarre event unfolded over the city and neither knew of the disturbance that was awaiting them back home.
"This is very strange, Ray." Dr. Egon Spengler was reviewing the latest gathered on the otherworldly event on the horizon. Handing the data to his colleague Egon resumed his exposition. "According to this reading, alongside the hot readings confirmed on the PKE meter, there is an absurdly high amount of electrical activity in the atmosphere; but only above the city in a centrally localized radius."
"What!?" Dr. Ray Stantz blurted as he snatched the gather papers offered. "That's impossible! This isn't just some passing storm cloud or disruption from the city's electrical grid..." Ray sat back in a chair and sighed as he ran a hand through his brown hair. "It's scientifically impossible for a storm of this magnitude to be condensed to such a limited range, let alone remain stationary for sixteen consecutive days."
"I know." Egon was just as perplexed by the readings as Ray. "I think we should take a closer look. If we can get a more accurate reading of atmospheric conditions we might be able to pinpoint and identify the cause of this psychokinetic storm."
"Good idea. I'll get ahold of Peter and ask him to help." Ray reached for the phone sitting on the edge of his personal work desk and lifted it off of its receiver. "Think he and Dana are back from Greece by now?"
"They should've flown back two nights ago, but thanks to our little weather phenomenon many flights have delayed and others have been completely canceled."
"Great." Ray hung up the phone and thought for a moment. "I'll swing by their apartment and see if they did make it back. They probably swung by Dana's sister's place to pick up Oscar."
"Right. I'm going to check out the area and take another reading." Egon decided as he pulled off his white lab coat from over his gray three piece suit in favor of his heavier brown jacket. "If I find anything of interest I'll call." He grabbed his trusty PKE meter and tucked it away in his pocket. "I have a feeling that something big is on the horizon."
Ray nodded his head in agreement as he checked for the keys for the Ecto-1 in his pants pocket. "Think I'll call in Winston, too. I know it's his night off but right now if we can't find Peter we're going to need all the help we can get."
Outside the clouds continued to darken and thicken over the city. The air was chilly despite being the middle of August, and felt unnaturally charged. The streets were unusually vacant as many New Yorkers took it upon themselves to either leave the city or simply lock themselves inside their homes.
Egon pulled the collar of his coat up around his neck as a brisk wind chilled him to the bone. "I'll meet you back here at nine, which is about..." he glanced down at his watch as he pulled the sleeve of his coat up. "two and half hours from now."
"Sounds good." Ray agreed as he locked the front door to Ghostbusters HQ. "After I check in on Peter and Winston I'll come back here and check our instruments for any misalignment before we continue our investigation."
"Good plan."
On that final note Egon began walking down the lengthy sidewalk with the PKE meter in his hand. Ray took off in the Ecto-1 heading in the opposite direction toward Peter and Dana Barrett's shared apartment.
A string of uneventful months throughout the entire city had left the Ghostbusters with plenty of time to adjust and improve their instrumentation, while also performing many experiments on all the paranormal energy they've collected over their years of patrolling and cleaning the streets of New York. During this lull Peter and Dana had rekindled their past relationship and finally found a way to make it work. With Dana's son, Oscar, as the honorary ring bearer Peter and Dana were married two months after the incident with Vigo at the Museum. Ray was made the best man with Egon and Winston as the groomsmen. Dana's sister was the matron of honor and had two of her closest friends from the orchestra as bridesmaids. It was a brief wedding but lovely and memorable all the same.
Ray pulled up in front of the apartment complex and parked the car out front. The building wasn't as grand as Dana's old penthouse had been, but it was safer and free of Gozer worshiping architects. It was, however, much nicer than the slummy apartment that Peter had settled for after the Ghostbusters were temporarily disbanded and went their separate ways.
Walking up to the door Ray pressed the little button on the intercom to buzz Peter and Dana's apartment but there was no answer. He decided to try again just in case but still nothing.
"Hey!" An older woman with a thick accent yelled down at Ray from her now opened apartment window. "You looking for that Venkman character? You're one of the Ghostbusters, right?"
"Yeah!" Ray confirmed as he looked upward and waved to the helpful woman. "Is he back yet? I need to speak with him."
"Yeah, got back home about an hour ago, but you just missed him!"
"Where'd he go? Do you know?"
"He and the wife went to go pick up their baby!" The woman smiled as she spoke. "Such a cute little thing, sure glad he looks nothing like his father!"
Ray chuckled quietly to himself, not wanting to correct the lady about Peter being Oscar's step father and having no relation to Oscar at all. "Yeah, uh, thanks for your help! Say, if you see him coming back could you tell him Ray was looking for him?"
"Sure, no problem! Just make sure the sky doesn't fall and I can pass along that message!"
"Thanks..." Ray looked past the woman to the swirling dark clouds overhead. "I'll do my best."
Climbing back into the car Ray looked down at his watch. "I have sometime before I meeting up with Egon. I can go swing by Winston's place." He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. "Just hope he's home. And won't be mad for ruining his time off."
Following the readings on the PKE meter Egon found himself walking closer to the eye of the storm that loomed threateningly over the hearts of the city. The needle on the small display shifted wildly from left to right as he held the device out at arm's length into the air and toward the sky.
"This isn't good." He told himself as his worst suspicions were seemingly confirmed. "I need an air sample to be sure."
Eyeing the numerous buildings of various heights and widths that made New York the iconic city that it was Egon chose the building nearest the center of the storm.
"This is the near center of the psychokinetic concentration, I should get a better reading from the top floor." Egon looked up at the front of the villain with a scientific curiosity as his focused brown eyes read the name aglow in elegantly lights and large letters. "The Mercado Hotel."
...to be continued...