While Winston began work on adjusting the two PKE meters at the small table in the rec room Peter hovered between Ray and Egon's beds as he waited to see any sign of recovery from his two downed colleagues. Staring at the monitor beside Ray's bed he sighed and shook his head at the sight. When the equipment was initially stocked inside the firehouse Peter thought it was just going to be a useless piece of junk taking up space; little did he know how much of their work would require an in-depth look at human biology.

"Guess you were right after all Spengz," Peter confessed halfheartedly. "this hunk of metal and wires is pretty useful."

"Glad you finally admit it." A slurred voice responded.

"Egon? You awake buddy?" Peter asked as he sat on the edge of Egon's bed. He put his hand on Egon's arm as if he could somehow keep Egon awake and talking by sheer force of will.

"Not for long." Egon opened his eyes partially and struggled to focus his glassy irises on Peter. "Still extraordinarily weak."

"Then don't keep me in suspense, tell me everything you can about that ghost!"

"It feeds on electrical impulses, draining its chosen source to the brink of death within a few seconds. While it merely brushed through my body by passing through the PKE meter it still managed to siphon a substantial amount of energy from my body. When it bit down onto Ray I believe it intended to drain away all of Ray's energy. It would've killed him had Winston not pulled the ghost from his body."

Peter felt himself pale knowing that Ray was in fact perilously close to death just the previous night. "So it's dangerous, great. How do we stop it?"

"The standard ion trap will not be sufficient enough to contain it." Egon's eyes were beginning to shut again. "The dampening effects caused by the ion field will have to be enhanced long enough to contain the ghost until it burns up its own energy and dispearses."

"We have to use the trap to starve the ghost and 'kill' it?"

"Precisely." Egon's voice was beginning to slur. "It will require a significant power source... to..."

"To?" Peter grabbed onto the lapels of Egon's jumpsuit and pulled his fading friend upward from the bed in a strong grip. "Come on! Spit it out!"

"You must lure the ghost to the trap... Then... seal it."

"Lure it?" Peter stared blankly at the floor before looking back at Egon. "How?"

Egon didn't say anything further as he again lost consciousness as the need to sleep was too overwhelming for him to resist any longer.

"Egon? Egon!" Peter called out loudly but he felt Egon's body go limp and become heavier in his grip. Laying Egon back down Peter took in a deep breath and rose from the bed. "Better go tell Winston. Looks like we'll need some 'chum' after all!"

Janine held a flashlight over his shoulder as Winston used every engineering skill Ray had trained him under to make the proper adjustments to the necessary meter. It was delicate work but Winston was a man of exuberant patience who never quit when faced with a challenge.

"Hold the light just a little higher." Winston instructed as he used a small screwdriver to finish transferring the circuit boards. "Almost got it!"

"This better work." Peter grumbled as he joined Winston and Janine at the table. "I just had a very brief word with Egon, we need to find a way to trap this nuisance of a ghost and keep it trapped until it uses it up all of its own energy."

Janine's eyes went wide with excitement. "Egon was awake?"

"Barely a minute."

Winston set aside the screwdriver. "At least we know he's still with us." Testing the power on the PKE meter Winston checked the recorded data for the troublesome ghost's unique signature. "And we're going to find this ghost before it causing any more problems!"

"Good." Peter rubbed at the back of his neck anxiously. "This ghost does have the potential to kill people."

Both Winston and Janine gave Peter a startled glance.

"Now," Peter clapped his hands together expectantly. "Winston where do we find this 'lethal leech'?"

"From what I can get on the meter it looks like our ghost is hiding out a few blocks East from here. Maybe at the pier, or better yet, the light house!"

"Makes sense to me. A lot of energy and a lot of people passing by." Peter sounded all too casual about the event. "Let's head out and catch our little leech." As he walked away from the table he couldn't resist toying with Janine one last time. "Keep an eye on our two favorite scientists, will ya' Janine?"

"Yes, of course." Janine did her best to not sound defensive.

"Play nice, and don't do anything weird while they're asleep!"

Janine blushed deeply as she bit her tongue, unable to think of anything to say to Peter as he and Winston walked down from the second floor and into the garage.


The pier was quiet as Ecto-1 rolled up the coast. The late hour chill kept many people from walking the docks at night which gave the two Ghostbusters clearance to check out the pier without any innocent bystanders being at risk.

"There's the old lighthouse." Winston commented as he held the meter out of the driver's side window and up to the towering beacon of light. "And the ghost is nearby. I looks like it's circling the light at the top of the tower."

"Like a moth to a flame." Peter stared at the light through the windshield. "Good thing we have a bug zapper!"

"Is the trap fully charged?" Winston asked as he opened his door.

"Should be. I'll double check." Peter opened his own door and pulled open the rear compartment. Pulling the single trap from its rack in the back he opened the side panel and exposed the interior circuit board. "The emergency shut off should be right here," Peter fumbled with the wires between his fingertips. "we can't afford to limit our power for this pain in the butt." Closing the panel he hefted the trap over his shoulder. "The trap is ready to go."

Taking the two proton packs from the rear compartment Peter kept his cool as he handed the unique piece of equipment over to Winston.

"Ready?" Winston waited for Peter to join him at the front of the parked car before heading down the dock to the lighthouse.

"Yeah, let's gear up."

Armed only with their proton packs and single, unstable trap the duo dared to enter the lighthouse and confront the ghost that had already taken down two members of the team. Peter didn't tell Winston about the unorthodox modification he had made to the trap. Without the safety of the emergency shut off the trap could easily overheat or even explode if exposed to an intense surge of psychokinetic energy.

Using the PKE meter to keep the trail fresh Winston nodded to Peter as he pushed open the access door to the lighthouse. "It's here."

"Good thing we are, too."

Stepping inside the lighthouse Winston turned on the flashlight attached the strap of his proton pack and shined the beam straight up the tower and through the spiraling staircase that outlined the walls of the ovular structure. "One way up."

"Of course it is..." Peter muttered as he looked up and then away from the exhausting climb he'd have to endure. "After you."

"Come on, we go together."

"I had a feeling you'd say that..." Peter quipped as he followed Winston up the stairs.

Two sets of boots stomping down on the metal steps echoed with an incredibly loud sound as the small area seemed to prevent the sound from leaving the building. As the two men climbed higher the sounds grew louder.

"Think we should slow down a little? What if the ghost hears us and leaves?"

"I don't think the ghost is too worried about us," Winston stared at the door at the top of the winding stairs. "I mean it attacked Ray when I was standing right next to him and it had no problem going after Egon either."

"Good point."

Pressing the palm of his hand on the surface of the flat door Winston looked at Peter over his shoulder. "Ready?"

Unsheathing his thrower Peter powered up his pack with a fiendish grin. "Ready."

Moving his hand from the door Winston gripped the door knob tightly and turned it slowly. The door opened without any difficulty as Winston pushed it open, keeping the pace slow to ensure that it didn't squeak or alert the ghost to their arrival in the top of the tower.

Circling the massive yellow light that guided ships along the coat was the bold ghost. It seemed to be absorbing energy from the light with each pass it made, causing the light to steadily grow dimmer and dimmer as even the massive source of energy wasn't enough to placate the ghost's hunger. The ghost was completely enthralled with the light and oblivious to the arrival of the Ghostbusters.

"Move to the left, I'll go right." Winston whispered as he took his thrower in his hands and positioned himself accordingly.

Peter kept his pace as steady as Winston as he took his position. Aiming the thrower with one hand and lowered the trap from his shoulder with the other the psychologist kept his focus on the ghost.

"Now!" Winston shouted as he opened fire on the ghost and easily ensnared it in his proton stream as it passed by the light between where he and Peter were standing.

Peter opened fire as well. Just as they had done the previous night in the factory the two Ghostbusters managed to hold the ghost between their beams without it breaking free or even giving them too much of a struggle to resist against.

"We have it," Winston shouted over the whirring of the proton streams. "how long can we trap it before it breaks out?"

"Not long." Peter answered as he gave a single look down at the trap.

"Did Egon say how long it'd take for the ghost to lose it's power?"

"No, he blacked out before he could say anything else." Peter remembered everything Egon had told him, especially about how the ghost nearly killed Ray. "But if we can use up its energy now and then lock it up maybe it'll-"

The ghost suddenly lurched forward as Peter's proton stream suddenly sputtered.

"What the hell?!"

"Peter! I think the ghost is feeding off of our packs!"

"Oh, crap..."

The ghost managed to break free of the streams as it absorbed the powerful energy. Hovering ominously toward Winston the ghost honed in on the PKE meter hanging from his belt.

"Winston! The meter! Toss it!"

Reacting quickly Winston unclipped the meter and threw it up high into the air and watched at the ghost darted through the device and destroyed it as its body passed through. Smoke and sparks showered down all around Peter and Winston.

"It likes our equipment..." Peter realized with a grimace. Unfastening the proton pack from his back Peter put it down on the floor and pulled open the side panel to expose the circuits. Pulling the wires loose a flurry of electrical energy began spewing forth in a blue light. Picking up the trap he held it in his arms against his chest with his foot hovering over the release trigger. "Come and get it you leech!"

Sensing the overflow of power the ghost stopped feasting on the meter and turned its full attention to the proton pack sparking on the floor. Winston watched as the ghost honed in on the malfunctioning pack's escaping power with a gaping wide maw. The look in Peter's eyes told the marine that his colleague had a plan in mind.

"That's it. A little closer... and..." Peter stomped down on the trigger for the trap and watched as both the ghost and excess protonic energy from the pack were pulled inside the metallic box. "Gotcha'!"

"Peter! Drop the trap!" Winston could see the small bolts of electricity flowing over the body of the trap. "It's going to blow!"

The ghost snarled and attempted to once again break free of its confining stream but the intense energy of the trap's now unlimited power supply was too much for the ghost to endure. As the ghost was pulled inside by the ionized light it lashed out viciously and enveloped Peter in an aura of its electricity draining energy.

Peter cried out in pain and shock as the ghost siphoned energy from his body just seconds before the trap fully encased it in the ionized prison, locking it away and dampening its power. As Peter fell backward in a crumpled heap onto the floor the trap fell from his hands and crashed to the floor with a heavy 'thud'.

"Peter! Not you too!" Winston rushed over to where Peter was laying sprawled on his back and pressed his fingers against the psychologist's neck. No pulse. "No you're not! You are NOT going to die tonight!"

Interlacing his fingers together Winston placed his hands down near the center of Peter's chest and began compressing in a controlled, precise rhythm. Performing CPR alone in the lighthouse Winston openly counted the compressions and watched Peter's opened, expressionless glazed over eyes staring upward at nothing.

"...fourteen, fifteen!" Winston paused and performed a pulse check on Peter. There was a very faint beat but Winston could feel it beneath his fingertips. "That's it Peter, come back to me."

Peter coughed weakly as he took in a slow deep breath, his chest barely rising with the effort.

"Ray and Egon may be on the road to recovery," Winston commented with a faint smile as Peter breathed again. "but you've only just begun. Come on, let's go home..."

...to be continued...