"Right, so tell me again why we're the only two goin' on this call?"
"Easy, Pete, neither of us have any idea how to design whatever that hub thing Egon mentioned."
"Still, I say we should've brought Ray. He's good at playin' bait."
Peter and Winston talked as they drove ecto-1a toward Queens. The Unisphere construct in Flushing Meadows Park was reported to be under attack by a ghost. Egon and Ray elected to stay behind as they wanted to continue working on the plans for the observational hub. Despite Peck's warnings.
Eventually they pulled up at the front of the park and were met with several police vehicles and an officer who held up his hand, stopping them. Both Ghostbusters exited the car and Peter walked around to meet up with the police officer. "Alright. What's the deal and how serious is it if we shoot the sphere with an accidental proton stream?" Venkman asked.
"Very serious. Try to avoid any and all damage to the Unisphere. A ghost has been attacking civilians. Reports say it comes in and out of the sphere," the cop explained.
"Maybe it doesn't like guests," Venkman joked.
"Whatever it is, the meter's pickin' up on it," said Winston as he switched a few settings on the pke meter.
"No worries, we'll get it out of the sphere and into another national landmark," Venkman said as he shook the cop's hand and walked off to the back of ecto-1a.
Strapped with proton packs on their back, Winston and Peter headed into the park as Peter held his hand against the trap that hung from his belt. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" said Venkman.
"What?" Winston replied as he followed the meter's readings.
"That sphere got so sick of the damn tourists that it adopted a spook. Hell of a way to get rid of hippies," Venkman chuckled.
"Hippies? Man, you've got issues."
"Why do you think I became a scientist?"
When they came upon the Unionsphere there was no one in sight, civilians had fled the scene and there were backpacks and other objects left behind. "Place is dead, no one's here," Peter said as he drew his thrower and activated his pack.
"No one alive that is. Getting a strong reading from the sphere itself, a class 5," said Winston as he looked up from the meter's screen at the Unisphere. "Whatever's here is inside that thing."
"Class five, huh? I got this," Peter said as he walked ahead and approached the sphere. His thrower at the ready, he stood in front of the globe landmark and looked up at it. "HEY NASTY! Wanna come out and play?"
An eerie moan echoed from all sides and the unisphere lit up like Christmas. A transparent red-eyed skeleton of a huge bird flew out of the sphere and up into the sky. "Gotcha!" Peter said as he shot a proton stream up at the class five entity.
The skeleton apparition screeched as it flew opposite of the stream and dove straight down, headed for Peter. It opened its mouth, no teeth whatsoever, and threw up a ball of pink-ish slime that it fired at Peter. He ceased fire and jumped aside, dodging the slime but there was a trick to it. The slime began to move and tremble when suddenly it morphed into a miniature ghost, some little pink spook with wings and a pair of red eyes.
"OH C'MON!" Peter yelled as he opend fire on the little ghost and it melted on impact.
Meanwhile Winston shot at the skeleton bird but it dodged his proton stream like it did Peter's and threw a lump of slime at Winston's feet. "That's disgusting, we gotta catch this bird quick," said Winston as he blasted the lump of slime.
"No kiddin'," Peter replied while he fired at the bird in the sky. "This thing's not goin' down easy."
The skeleton ghost coughed-up five lumps of slime rapidly and showed no sign of stopping. "Hey Winston? I got an idea, follow my lead," said Peter as he ran toward the unisphere with the thrower in one hand and with the other he struggled to unhook the trap from his belt.
Winston followed in pursuit but stopped in his tracks when Peter suddenly opened fire on the unisphere, the proton stream blazed across the landmark. The ghost recoiled and screeched even louder as it flew back straight into the unisphere. "Now!" Peter said as he rolled out the trap and opened fire again, this time Winston joined.
Two proton streams cut across the sphere and with another loud screech the bird flew out of it again and into the streams as it headed straight for the Ghostbusters. They had it as the bird fought against the streams and they struggled to contain it. "That's it you slime pigeon!" said Peter as he stepped on the trap pedal and a cone of light sucked the ghost inside.
"Yep, knew we should've brought Ray," Peter said as he walked toward the loaded trap and nudged it with his boot. Smoke oozed out as he picked it up by its cord. "C'mon let's tell that cop we shot at the sphere."
"How'd you come up with that plan of yours?" Winston questioned as they walked back.
"Simple, I once listened to one of Egon's lectures about ghosts and their habitats. Some ghosts tend to sleep for years on end in whatever place they haunt. I figured this thing must've spent decades in that sphere before it finally woke up," Peter replied as he held the trap away from his face. "How would you feel if someone shot at your house?"
As evening set-in they arrived back at the firehouse and got out of the car with the loaded trap in hand. "How'd it go guys?" Janine asked from behind her desk.
"No big deal," Peter replied as he held up the trap, the red indicator light continued to blink.
"No big deal? Yeah, right," Winston said as he followed Peter down to the containment unit.
As they came down the steps, a whole construction site had been raised as Egon and Ray were busy building their Spectral Observation Hub.
"You catch whatever haunted the Unisphere?" Ray asked as he looked up from the table he and Egon stood at.
"No, Ray. We gave up and went back home. That's why I'm holdin' this empty trap here," Peter answered as he walked toward the containment unit.
While Peter unloaded the trap into the unit, Winston joined the other two Ghostbusters at the table. "So how's the hub comin' along?" he asked.
"In theory we've got a fully functional observation tank. Much like the one upstairs only with a stronger grid and more space," Egon said while he was face-down and drawing on the latest batch of blueprints.
"We should be able to summon ghosts from the contaiment unit and draw them into the observation tank and study them. Even multiple ghosts at the same time," Ray added as he smiled from ear-to-ear.
"More than one ghost at a time? Isn't that a potential risk?" Venkman asked as he joined the conversation. "If we put a couple of class fives and sevens into that tank, wouldn't they overload the grid?"
"No, no it'll do fine," Egon said as he straightened his back and cleaned his glasses.
"Whatever you say, genius," Venkman said as he yawned and scratched the top of his head. "I'm gonna plunder the fridge, see you guys later."
"Pete, don't touch my cheesecake!" Ray said.
"Sorry can't hear ya, Ray. My stomach's growling," Venkman yelled as he walked up the stairs.
"I'm headin' out, see you two in the morning," Winston said and padded Ray on the shoulder. He began to unzip his jumpsuit as he walked up the stairs.
"Can you imagine, Egon? Having the opportunity to study every entity we trap. No matter how big," Ray said as he turned toward the containment unit and thought about the possibilites.
"Yes, it'll be fascinating for sure," Egon replied as he grabbed the latest blueprints and held it up as he stared at them. "I've got an idea, Raymond."
"I'm all ears!" Ray said.
Meanwhile Winston had taken the ecto-1a and told Janine he had something to take care of.
While he drove across the Brooklyn Bridge, Winston had the car phone dial his father's cell. The sirens were silent and the flashing lights on top of the car were off. It'd been a while since he visited his father's construction company and seeing as they moved constantly, he knew they wouldn't be on the last location he visited which was months ago.
"Pick up," Winston quietly mumbled as he dialed again.
"Hello?" a voice said on the other end, speakerphone switched on naturally.
"Dad?" Winston said somewhat unsure, the voice he couldn't recognize.
"Dad? Look kid I ain't no one's father, at least I hope not," the voice replied.
"I'm lookin' for Ed Zeddemore, Big Ed. This is Winston, his son," he said.
"Ol' Greaser Zeddemore, that you?" the voice replied somewhat excited.
"Wait a sec, Bobby that you?" Winston replied while he turned a corner and drove the car down a street. Parking it quickly.
"Yeah, kid. It's me! How ya been?" Bobby asked.
"Fine. But where's dad?" Winston said.
"Your— your dad, he's retired," Bobby replied hesitantly.
"RETIRED!? Since when? He's 55, no way he'd retire," Winston argued.
"Well, uhm, he sold the company and made a nice buck. He retired to Canada, moved there last month," Bobby said.
"Ca— Canada? You're kiddin' me, really? He didn't tell me anything about it, and why do you have his cell?" Winston asked, frustration to his voice.
"He gave it to me, gave me his cell before he said his goodbyes to me and the boys," Bobby said. "I'm sorry, kid."
"Gotta go," Winston said and ended the call. He grabbed the wheel, held it tightly as he closed his eyes. "You son of a—"
He remained silent for a minute or two before he turned the key and ignited the engine, he pulled away and drove further down the street.