We're the best. We're the beautiful. We're the Ghostbusters.
Hope, Egon, and Ray had stayed the entire night at Dana's apartment. They had gone through it with a fine toothed comb, but couldn't find anything more then a little bit of the pink slime in the tub. They left in the early morning, Ray going back to headquarters and Hope and Egon heading home. There was a little of the slime here and there from the front door to the kitchen sink. The only other evidence that the events of the night before had actually happened was the black and blue bruise that circled up Hope's left arm.
"How's your arm?" Winston asked as he looked to the back of the car as Hope and Egon stepped into the Ghostbuster mobile. She pulled back the sleeve of her Ghostbusters uniform and showed him the bruise, "And your hip?"
"Still hurts sometimes if I sit a certain way or something." Hope replied as Winston gave a small sorrowful nod and looked back towards the front. Egon sat beside her in the back, looking through several papers he had wanted to bring to Peter. Ray climbed in last and they all took off for the museum and the painting.
Peter was waiting outside for them all as they pulled up. Egon helped Hope from the car and then moved to the trunk, helping Winston pull out the proton packs. Winston helped Egon with his first and then Hope, making sure to ask her three times if it was too heavy for her, making her laugh.
"Vigo the Carpathian, born 1505 and died in 1610." Hope looked over at Egon and Ray telling Peter what they had found out about the mystery painting.
"A hundred and five. He hung in there, huh?" Peter spoke sarcastically as he looked down at the papers Egon had handed him.
"He didn't die of old age." Hope spoke up, rearranging the pack on her back as she stepped up beside Egon and Ray.
"Yeah, he was poisoned, stabbed, shot, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn, and quartered." Ray elaborated on the details of Vigo's death, making Hope cringe at thinking about the pain he must have gone through.
"Ouch." Peter said, causing Hope to laugh.
"You could say that again." She whispered as Winston moved beside her.
"He wasn't exactly a man of the people. Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Torturer, the Despised, and Vigo the Unholy." Egon stated each of Vigo's aliases as Ray closed the trunk of the car.
"Hope what was that speech he gave when he was dying?" Ray asked as they all began to walk towards the museum entrance.
"Death is but a door, time is but a window; I'll be back." Hope recited as she climbed the stairs, her left hip seeming to be on one of its better days. As they walked into the museum everyone turned and stared at them, some surprised and others unhappy with the visit.
"No! No! You must leave!" A short man with curly reddish blonde hair came out from behind a series of desks, waving them all to leave. Hope recognized him instantly and groaned.
"Who is he?" Ray asked as he looked at Peter and then at Hope.
"Dr. Janosz Poha." She answered, shaking her head towards the man that still waved his arms for them to depart, "Director of Restoration."
"He's yours Ray. Sick him." Peter sarcastically growled out as his eyes continued to stay locked on Janosz.
"Hi there. Ray Stantz with the Ghostbusters." Ray moved forwards tentatively, not knowing what was in store for him from the shorter man, "Just doing a regular spook check is all."
Hope followed Egon over to the right of the large room as they all began to do a sweep of the surrounding area using the meters and detectors Egon and Ray had invented.
"Ballroom's extremely hot." Egon stated as he looked up from the meter he was using to Hope. She nodded her head and looked back down at the detector she was holding, moving it back and forth slowly as she walked around the room. She stopped when she noticed she stood before a rather large painting.
This was the Vigo painting they had come to see and now she understood why Dana hated it so much. Vigo was scary with his narrowed dark eyes that seemed to follow you as you moved. His expression was stern and almost bleeding the word evil.
Hope swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, feeling uneasiness sweep over her as she stared up at Vigo. The meter in her hand fell limply at her side as she felt herself being pulled into a trance.
"No! No photographs!" Janosz suddenly yelled as Peter walked up beside Hope, snapping picture after picture with the camera dangling around his neck. Hope looked at him and then the ground before looking back at the painting. Ray walked passed her and up onto the step ladder beside the painting, running over it with a meter.
Hope stared into Vigo's dark eyes that seemed to flame and flicker the longer she stared at them. She soon felt a burning sensation start up in her arm that was bruised. She took hold of it and rubbed it gently, her eyes never leaving the painting as the uneasy feeling turned into fear. Her right hand mindlessly moved to her stomach where a sick feeling was rising.
"Venkman." Egon walked up behind Peter and patted his back several times, taking notice to Hope standing fixed to her spot before the painting, "We need to talk. Come on."
"Hey. Hey!" Winston spoke up when Egon and Peter had walked away. He patted Ray on the arm, who seemed to be in a trance as he stared off at the painting like Hope. Winston looked over at Hope and noticed the same kind of look on her face, "Hope?"
"Yeah?" Hope's eyes snapped to him as she took a deep breath and licked her lips.
"You alright?" Winston asked slowly, eying her suspiciously.
"I'm fine. Just...feeling kind of sick all of a sudden." She gave a small laugh and half smile before looking to Ray, "Ray? HEY RAY!"
"Wha-? What?" He shook his head and looked back at her and then at Winston, "What is it?"
"You alright?" Winston asked as Ray made his way slowly down the step ladder. Hope watched Ray carefully as he and Winston passed by her.
"Yeah, I'm good." Ray replied, nodding his head several times. Hope looked back up at the painting, the same feelings from before returning.
"Hope!" Hope gave one last look at Vigo and then turned around walking to where Egon was waiting for her. He stared down at her, a question glittering in his eyes.
"What?" Hope asked him, noticing the look he was giving her.
"Are you alright?" He asked gently as they began to walk towards the front of the building. Hope thought about the question and then shook her head.
"No, that painting, the one of Vigo, it...it doesn't...feel right." She tried to explain as they walked down the steps. Egon gently took her arm, stopping her from going any further.
"What do you mean?" He asked, slightly bothered by the information. Hope shook her head again as she stared off blankly.
"I just...I...God, I'm going to sound insane." Hope gave a small grim laugh and rubbed her forehead. Egon took her hands from her head and held them between them.
"Trust me, you won't to me." Egon encouraged as she looked up at him. She took a deep breath a nodded, knowing that of all people he was the one she could speak completely honest with about virtually anything. Well, almost anything...
"When I was staring at him it was like he was...like he was staring back at me...and I felt scared for some reason. More scared then I was after the accident." Hope swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and shook her head, looking back to the ground, "I felt as though...he wanted me for some reason. Like he was telling me through his eyes to come to him or something."
"He's a painting." Egon began, placing his hands on her upper arms, trying to rationalize a reason for the way she was feeling, "Whatever feelings you were getting were probably caused by whatever was giving off those readings in the ballroom."
Hope nodded her head, liking Egon's logic and smiled. She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him, nodding her head again. They walked down to the car and Egon helped Hope remove the proton pack from her back before getting in the back with her.
Hope watched the museum as they drove away, not being able to help the feelings that once more arose in her at remembering the look in Vigo the Carpathian's eyes.