I know I say this a lot, but I apologize again for my lack of updating this past week. I went out of town with my sister this weekend and with upcoming Halloween plans...I'm stretched a little thin. But I'll get through this, so don't worry! I'll try to update again soon!
So, me and my sister went up to Gatlinburg TN which is a tourist place with lots of shopping and people. My sister had the idea to dress up and walk the streets in our Halloween costumes...so I finally agreed. Let's just say a lot of people know the Ghostbusters, and only a few knew who my sister was as Loki the god of mischief. It was a pretty amazing trip!
"Pete? Egon?" Ray called out worriedly as he spotted their limp forms lying at odd angles against the wall. He looked across the room to where Winston also lay against a fallen table. Ray braced against the desk as he struggled to pull himself to his feet with a cry of pain.
"Come on guys…we don't have time for this…" He said, as he clutched his side which had taken a majority of the hit when he'd been thrown against the desk. He shoved the couch aside and fell to his knees next to Peter, noticing that a splatter of red had stained the ground next to his colleague. Ray moved to the side and examined his colleague's head which was bleeding through his dark hair.
"R-Ray?" He heard Egon mumble from a few feet away. Ray glanced up hurriedly to see that Egon was slowly crawling towards them, his glasses cracked from the impact of his fall.
"Spengler, are you okay?" Ray asked worriedly. Egon reached Peter and looked him over just as Ray was doing.
"I'll be alright in a few minutes. Let's get the others checked over first."
Egon reached up for a grip on the edge of his damaged desk and pulled himself to his feet as he looked for something to stop the bleeding in Peter's temple. He reached for a towel that he used when he worked on his equipment and slowly knelt back next to Ray, cautious as spots ran across his blurred vision.
"Ugh…anybody got any Tylenol?" Winston called out from across the room. Ray smiled in relief.
"Just a second, Winston. We're trying to fix up Venkman." He called over his shoulder. He turned back to see Egon seriously at work on Peter, despite the shine of pain in his eyes. Ray watched Peter's pale, still face worriedly. "Do we need to go to the hospital?"
Egon frowned as the cream colored towel he was using to gently dab at Peter's wound quickly turned red with his blood. After a few seconds, he noticed that the bleeding had lessened and he relaxed a little.
"It would be a good idea, since he's still unconscious." Egon said, squinting through his broken glasses as he lifted Peter's eyelids to glance at his pupils.
"I wondered why it was so quiet in here." Winston joked half-heartedly as he stumbled across the room to the others.
"You okay?" Ray asked him as he handed Egon another few stray clean towels he had found while rummaging in one of the desk drawers. Winston scoffed.
"Aside from having a table broken on top of me and landing on Egon's durable, but definitely solid proton pack…I'm just fine." Winston said, as he set the proton pack on the floor. Using one hand to brace against his sore back, he gestured towards the splintered table against the far wall of the room. Egon squeezed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes to the dizzying blurriness around him.
"Could someone please get my spare pair of glasses?" He asked weakly. Ray climbed shakily to his feet once more and headed for the bunk room where he knew Egon stashed at least one extra pair of glasses in his nightstand. Upon returning, he was relieved to see that Venkman was moaning as he slowly stirred awake.
"Ray….can I ask you one thing?" Peter slurred groggily. He waved Egon away and grabbed for the towel Winston held out to him, full of ice from the fridge. He winced as he placed it against his badly bruised head and glanced up at Ray.
"Sure." Ray said, handing Egon his glasses. Egon blinked several times after putting them on and relaxed slightly as having the blurriness removed lessened the dizziness he had been feeling.
"When this is all over…is this girl still gonna stick around? Because I might file for a restraining order against her." Peter said, wincing as his smile made his head ache. Ray smirked halfheartedly.
"So what's the plan? Are we going after her or what?" Winston asked. Ray looked back at him and sighed.
"It took me a while to get grounded again and you all were out of it for a good fifteen to twenty minutes…I'm not sure where she went, but she obviously didn't want to be followed." Ray said. "And with a head start like that…"
"Lucille most likely wouldn't have gone back to Keira's apartment. She knows that's one of the first places we'll look." Egon said as he tried once more to dress Peter's wound against his protests.
"Yeah…we can probably rule out the library too." Ray mumbled in thought.
"Did you ever figure out what exactly the ghost wants? She didn't show up for her old boyfriend…what else did she tell you?" Winston offered. Ray shook his head.
"I think we should try to go after John anyway. Even if she's not with him, he would be the one who knows Lucille better than anyone else." Ray suggested. The other three Ghostbusters thought it over silently for a few seconds.
"It's a start." Egon finally said. Ray nodded and looked to the other two for their input. Winston shrugged as he picked up the proton pack from where he had dropped it on the floor.
"I guess I'm ready to go." He said. Ray, Winston and Egon all turned to Peter who lowered the icy towel from his head slowly with a weary sigh.
"Just give me some pain meds and I'll be good as new." He said as he took Ray's hand to help him stand up. Ray looked at his fellow Ghostbuster worriedly and then glanced back at Egon who was packing up the supplies he had gathered to help Peter.
"What do you think, Spengler?" Ray asked. Egon stood and placed the stack of used towels and gauze on the desk. He turned back to his battered and bruised companions and picked up the dark matter generator from where it had thankfully stayed on the table next to the computer.
"We need to be ready for a fight. Lucille is definitely a hostile spirit now." Egon said seriously.
"You're telling me…" Peter scoffed as he once more placed the ice against the side of his head.
"What do we need?" Ray asked, looking around at the disheveled room.
"My guess is a little bit of everything." Winston said. Egon nodded.
"I'll make a few modifications to the dark matter generator on the way over. We need to be sure that it will work quickly enough to prevent the ghost from retreating into Keira's unconsciousness to avoid the hit. I'll get the supplies to do that while the rest of you can load up Ecto-1." Egon said, turning back to his desk to begin gathering the tools he needed.
"I'll get the packs down to the car." Winston said, slipping his own pack over his shoulder and grabbing another from the table.
"I can get the pain killers." Peter said as he shuffled over to the small kitchen area and began rummaging in the cabinets.
"Hey Egon…" Ray trailed off as he watched his colleagues move in action.
"Yeah?" Egon said, throwing a few screwdrivers into a small tool bag.
"Do you think we can pull this off?" Ray asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm worried. What if she's been possessed too long? I was only possessed for a few minutes by Vigo those years ago and I suffered for it for weeks afterward. There's no telling what effects this will have on her…" Ray said.
"We can only hope that Lucille will still need Keira to survive. If she's already gained enough strength from Keira's consciousness…she may have no more need for her and she'll be able to fully inhabit the girl's body." Egon said as he sorted through a drawer searching for more tools.
"And then she'll just dispose of Keira's spirit altogether…" Ray murmured worriedly.
"Aren't you supposed to be the optimistic one here, Ray?" Peter asked after he'd downed a few pain pills. "We'll get this all sorted out and Keira will be good as new, ready to go back into work on Monday."
"I highly doubt that one weekend will be long enough to recover from over a week's worth of spirit possession, but it's a nice expectation." Egon said. "Here Ray, help me take this all down to the car."
Ray took the dark matter generator from Egon's grasp, wincing as the weight of the mechanism caused his sore ribs pain. Wordlessly, he turned and followed Egon and Peter down to the Ecto-1 where Winston had loaded up two of the proton packs.
"I really think we should all be going to the hospital or something…" Winston said as he turned back to the stairs to go after the other two packs.
"We'll go later, and we'll be taking Keira with us." Ray said firmly. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand clap on his shoulder.
"There's the Ray I know." Peter said. Ray blinked and slowly nodded.
As they finished gathering everything they could think of to use against Lucille, Ray slid into the back seat of the vehicle and took a deep breath to center himself. He silently hoped against hope that they would be able to track Lucille down and release Keira from the ghost's hold on her before it was too late.