Hi everyone! Pretty fast upload, I know, it's just I felt bad about being gone for so long so I thought I'd treat you guys. I'll try and keep this pace of uploads but no promises. Life doesn't really like me that much lol.
Again, I own nothing. Only Juliet.
The following week after the whole possession incident was a stressful one for Ray. For one, the others wouldn't let him out of their sight. Egon would constantly want to do more tests on him and the other three would check on him every five minutes. It was getting annoying. Also add the fact that he was sporting a bruise on the right side of his jaw and you could say he was pretty much done with that week.
He stumbled into the kitchen after getting about two hours of sleep that night. His head was pounding and so was his jaw as the bruise refused to heal any faster than it was. The others who were already sitting at the table looked up at him and he rolled his eyes when he noticed the worried looks they sent him.
"Venkman, you make the coffee yet?" he asked in a tired voice.
"Yeah, course. Pot's on the counter." Peter responded and Ray ignored the concern he could hear in Peter's voice. After about ten minutes, he turned to them, coffee mug in hand and glared at them.
"What is it?" he growled and they immediately looked defensive.
"Nothing!" they exclaimed in unison and looked down at their hands.
He sighed and walked to the lab, not wanting to sit in awkward silence.
"You think he's alright?" Winston asked after a while.
Egon nodded, though a little hesitant. "All the tests I've done say he's fine."
"Right. And what about how he snapped at us just now?" Peter muttered into his own coffee mug and took a sip of the bitter drink.
None of them said anything to that comment. They had really never dealt with something like this. They had worked jobs with possession but it was never one of their own.
"Um, one of us should go check on him, I think." Winston mumbled and they nodded but no one moved to get up.
"Barlow, you go." Peter said and she looked over to him.
"Why me?" she asked, her voice cracking slightly.
"Well cause you're sleeping with him." he responded with a small smirk and she blushed a dark red.
"Venkman, you could have said that a little better." Egon coughed.
Peter only crossed his arms and smirked.
With a sigh, Juliet stood from the table and walked over to the lab where Ray was working. She felt a small smile appear on her face as she watched him write stuff down in multiple notebooks.
She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He jumped a little put smiled when he glanced back to see who it was.
"Hey, Julie." he said softly to her and fully turned around to face her. "Sorry about the whole outburst in the kitchen."
"It's fine." she said to him. "We're just worried about you." she kissed him on the head.
"I don't need you guys worrying about me." he muttered. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Well, I mean you did get possessed. And almost killed us." she mumbled, looking at her feet.
Ray felt the guilt of what happened come back and he winced. "Yeah. I know."
"Don't feel bad about it." Juliet put a hand on his cheek. "It wasn't your fault."
"I should have been more careful." he looked at her with a hurt expression. "I almost killed you."
"Ray, it's fine." Juliet said and she put a hand on the bruise on the right side of his jaw. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry. The bruise is still there."
Ray chuckled. "No, I deserved that. I probably wouldn't have been able to stop if it hadn't been for that hit."
"I still feel bad about hitting you." she said. As she looked at him, she started to feel her eyes water and she tried to blink away the tears that were threatening to fall. All of the emotions that she had been holding in were coming back. Her fear and worry came crashing into her all at once.
"Hey, you okay?" Ray asked and she quickly hugged him, burying her face into his shoulder. He looked down at her in surprise but then put his arms around her when he heard her whimpering and sniffling.
"I was so scared." she cried into his shirt. "I should have paid more attention to what was going on and what you were doing."
"That isn't your responsibility." he told her softly as he rubbed her back.
"Ray, you got possessed and all I could do to help was punch you." she exclaimed. "I hate feeling that helpless and useless."
"No, don't say that. You did great. You reacted and stopped me from doing something really crazy." he said and kissed her head.
"Look, I know that we might be annoying with how we keep asking and checking to see if you're alright but we're just worried about. We care about you, Ray." Juliet moved so she could look at him. He raised an eyebrow in skepticism and she chuckled, wiping her eyes.
"Even Venkman." she added and he grinned.
"I knew he had a heart." he said and she laughed.
Ray got up from his chair and gave a sigh. "Well, I'm gonna go take a shower. Tell Peter to get the packs ready cause we got a few cases today."
Juliet smiled and yelled over to him just as he was about to leave the room.
"Tell me when you're gonna shave. I'll help!"
"Juliet! I'm fine!"
Juliet sighed as she hung up the last picture that Peter had taken at the museum. Hopefully, Ray and Egon find something on them to help because she really wanted this whole thing to be over.
She left and walked into the living room where the others were. Egon and Ray were getting their equipment ready and Winston was just sitting on the couch watching television.
"Okay, the pictures are all set. You guys can go in now." she announced.
"Are you sure you don't want to help? It might be interesting." Ray said and she shook her head.
"No, I'm good. I can barely stand to look at the one painting, I don't really want to look at multiple pictures of that guy." she shivered, remembering the unsettling feeling she had while she was in there.
"Alright then," Ray said with a shrug of his shoulders. "We won't take long."
They went straight to work and Juliet plopped herself down next to Winston, who sent her a smile.
It was quiet for a while, the only sound coming from the television and the occasional comment from Winston or Juliet. With their line of work, it was nice to get time like this. Unfortunately, it never lasts long because they suddenly hear pounding and yelling from the room Ray and Egon where in they both shot up to their feet and ran to the room.
"It's locked!" Winston yelled and he began to ram his shoulder into the door. Juliet felt herself start to panic but she forced herself to think straight and quickly went over to the kitchen. She grabbed the fire extinguisher and raced back to the locked door.
"Move!" she yelled and Winston stepped out of the way as she slammed the fire extinguisher into the door a few times before it gave way. Winston pushed her softly out of the way and gave the door a final slam with his shoulder so the heat from the room hit him first.
The minute the door was open, Juliet ran in and yanked the clip off the fire extinguisher. She sprayed the room, putting out the fire.
"You guys okay?!" Juliet exclaimed, rushing over to them. Egon and Ray looked at her, coughing.
"Yeah, we're fine Julie." Ray responded with a grateful smile and stomped on one of the pictures on the floor that was still on fire.
"What happened?" Winston asked, patting Egon on the back to help him catch his breath.
"The pictures. They spontaneously burst into flames." he said as he re-adjusted his glasses and nodded a thanks to Winston for helping him. "Raymond, I think we may need to go back to that tunnel you saw."
Ray's eyes widened but he nodded. "Yeah, alright."
"Wait, you mean we have to go into the sewers?" Winston asked.
"Yes." Egon answered simply, completely serious.
Winston sighed and shook his head. He mumbled something under his breath about not getting paid enough but it seemed like he was on board.
"What'll we need?" Juliet said and Ray quickly looked over to her.
"You're not going." he said to her and her jaw dropped.
"Wait, WHAT?!" she yelled in surprise and anger. Egon could see the argument that was going to happen so he quickly left the room.
Ray ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know you can handle this, but this is getting dangerous and I don't really want you gett-"
"Don't give me that, Raymond Stantz!" Juliet interrupted him. He froze and she continued. "I can handle anything that happens. I was with you guys when Gozer happened for Christ sake! So don't give the whole 'I don't want you getting hurt' speech. Just because we're in a relationship now does not change the fact that just like you, I almost died five years ago and am willing to do it again."
Ray looked conflicted. "It's not that." he sighed. "It's just...It's just I've already been possessed by this guy and what if he does it again and I end up being the one who...who..." he stuttered and Juliet's shoulders slumped.
"You won't hurt me, Ray." she said softly. She put a hand on his cheek and he looked at her. She leaned up and kissed him lightly. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.
"Julie, I..." Ray started to say but a knock on the door interrupted them.
"Hey, guys almost done?" Winston yelled. "Egon's getting a little impatient."
"We can finish this later." Juliet said and Ray looked a little disappointed but nodded. They both left the room and got ready to leave.
The fact that Peter was already outside his apartment building, wearing a suit and by the looks of it, was hailing a cab made Juliet a little skeptic about convincing Peter to join them.
Ray leap from the car the minute it parked on the curb. "Pete, it's great that you're here! We've got incredible news!" he announced to his friend.
Peter only stared at him with a slight surprised expression and looked him up and down. He turned to the others and saw that they were dressed the same way so he smirked.
"Don't tell me, let me guess. All you can eat barbecue rib night at the Sizzler." he joked.
"Better!" Ray beamed. "We're going down into the sewer system to see if we can trace the source of that psycho-reactive slime flow."
Juliet rolled her eyes but smiled and from her position of leaning against the car, spoke in a very sarcastic tone. "We thought you might want to come along." Winston chuckled next to her.
Peter snapped his fingers theatrically. "Darn it! I wish I'd have known you were going. I'm stuck with these silly dinner reservations."
Egon ignored him. "You know, animals and lower life forms often anticipate major disasters. Given the new magnetheric readings, we could see a tremendous breeding surge in the cockroach population."
"Roach breeding?" Peter replied. "Gosh! This is sounding better and better!"
Right at that moment, Dana came out of the front doors of Peter's apartment building, looking very pretty in a long, shiny evening gown, her auburn hair cascading down onto her shoulders.
"Hi." she said to them and Juliet felt a small ounce of embarrassment pop up in her when she remembered what she was wearing.
"Dana?" Peter asked, turning to her, a grin on his face. "The guys are going down to the sewer to check for slime stuff. And Egon thinks there may be a huge surge in cockroach breeding. Want to blow off this dinner thing and go with them?"
Dana only smiled at Peter and walked past him, raising her arm into the air. "Taxi!"
Peter sighed dramatically and turned to the others. "Women! Huh?"
He followed Dana and looked back to them. "I think we're going to have to pass on the sewer trip. Let me know what you find."
"Okay, but you're missing out on all the fun." Ray said with a sigh.
"I bet he is." Winston muttered under his breath and Juliet giggled as they got back into the Ecto-1A.
"Will you watch your step?" Winston yelled as he nearly tripped while Egon was staring down at his Giga meter.
"I hate this." Juliet muttered, looking around at the grimy walls and old, rusty rails.
"According to this old transit map there should be an entrance anywhere along here somewhere." Ray said, staying on task.
"I'm not getting anything yet." Egon said with slight disappointment.
"Well," Winston spoke as he moved his flashlight around the sewer tunnel. "At least it's too dark to see the cockroaches."
Juliet grimaced as she looked down at her feet.
"Forget about cockroaches. It's the subway rats you gotta worry about. Big as beavers." Ray commented and Egon smirked.
"Yeah some of them can go four, five kilo." he added.
"Hey, hey, enough, all right?" Winston whined and Juliet had to agree with him.
"Listen to them," Ray said with a grin. "You hear them behind the walls? Scratching. There must be thousands of them!"
"You guys!" Juliet gave Ray small punch in the shoulder. "Just shut up about the rats."
He laughed. "Okay, okay." He wrapped an arm her waist and kissed her temple. She smiled and cupped her hands around her mouth.
"Hello?" she shouted and the subway replied back.
Egon smiled at her and he did the same. "Hey!" the subway responding once again.
"Hello!" Winston shouted as well, now more calm than before but this time, the subway responded a little differently.
"Winston..." the voice growled.
They all fell silent. Winston and Juliet looked at each other and they each thought the same thing.
"Okay, I'm outta here." they said in unison but as they turned around, they screamed at the sight in front of them. The other two had a second of confusion but then they saw what had scared them. Severed heads were on pikes all around them and they all screamed. But just as quickly as they came out, the heads vanished.
The four of them stood still for a second, catching their breath.
"They're...they're gone." Juliet gasped out.
"Before we go any further I think we should get our proton packs." Egon suggested.
They all nodded.
"Good idea." Winston said.
The four turned around and headed for the entrance but before they could get more than a step in, a loud rumbling sound came from behind them.
"What's that?" Winston asked in a hushed voice.
"What's what?" Ray tried to act like he hadn't heard anything.
"Sounded like a...train." Juliet said, wanting now very much to leave.
Ray shook his head. "Uh-uh. These lines have been abandoned for fifty years."
"Oh." was all Winston and Juliet answered with.
"Probably in one of the tunnels above us." Egon tried to sound calm but his voice quivered slightly as he stared at the ceiling.
Winston looked up at the ceiling and back in front of him. "I don't know. Sounds awfully close to me."
A rumbling sound followed by a light whistle came from down the tunnel. They all gulp and see a faint light become brighter and brighter. As the train comes closer, in a very fast pace, they all jump to safety on both sides of the tracks. Well, all except for Winston.
The train never stopped though. It went right through him while he only stood there and screamed.
After the train had passed, Egon and Juliet jumped back out and ran over to Winston, who was still frozen in both shock and fear after what had happened.
"I think that was the old New York Central City Albany! Derailed in 1920! Killed hundreds of people!" Egon said in one breath. "Did you catch the number on the locomotive?"
Winston looked around to make sure nothing would try and pop out and he answered half-halfheartedly. "Sorry. I missed it."
Juliet rubbed his shoulder in comfort and he let out a breath.
"Something's trying to stop us. We must be close." Egon spoke and the other two nodded. Juliet looked around and frowned.
"Wait, where's Ray?" she asked. The other two finally noticed their friend wasn't there after she had mentioned it and they began to look around for him.
They all called out for him but they got no answer. Juliet felt herself start to panic and tears prickle the corners of her eyes. Damn it, Ray. If anything happened to him, if he got hurt, or worse...
"Guys!" Ray yelled and the others jumped. They turned around and he saw their worried faces. "Sorry."
"Ray!" Juliet exclaimed with a smile and wrapped her arms around him. After a few seconds she stepped back, and started to hit him.
"You. Idiot. Don't. Scare. Me. Like. That!" she emphasized each word as she hit him.
"I'm sorry!" he yelled over her hits. He grabbed her hands and pulled her to him and kissed her. "I'm sorry, really." he said and she smiled.
Ray smiled back at her and at the others. "I found it!"
"Where?" Egon asked, his attention quickly returning back to work.
"Right here, there's a hole." Ray pointed and Egon and Juliet followed him. Winston though, spoke up.
"Wait, what about the packs? What about the packs?" he whined but the others were too caught up in what they were doing to care.
They went through the hole that lead to the old train station, their flashlights blazing and shining at the ancient platform. They unhooked their cables that had lowered to the old Van Horne Station and gazed down into the churning, glowing, whirling river of pink slime beneath them.
"Unbelievable." Egon breathed out in amazement.
Ray gave a satisfied smile. "What'd I tell you? I wasn't lying, was I?"
"Do you realize how much negative energy it must have taken to generate a flow this size?" Egon said, still trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
"Hey! New York, what a town." Winston said, making Juliet chuckle. To be honest, it did make sense. You couldn't get anywhere in this town without getting yelled at by someone.
"Let's get a sounding on the depth of that flow." Ray said, getting back to business.
He grabbed a long coiled cord with a bobbing flotation device on the end. It was attached firmly to his utility belt. "Stand back." he told the others and they listened, taking a couple of steps back.
Ray took the cord and swinging the flotation device over his head, cast the line into the slime like a fisherman. The line sank into the pink sludge and Egon bent down next to the line, calculating the depths on a small hand-held device.
"Six feet. Seven feet. Eight feet."
The line stopped moving.
"That's it." Ray announced. "It's on the bottom."
The line suddenly began to move again and Egon started to calculate once more. "Nine feet. Ten feet."
Winston looked at the line, confused. "Is the line still sinking?"
Juliet narrowed her eyes but then widened them in surprise. "No! The slime is rising!"
Ray glanced down and saw the slime climbing up over the edge of the train station platform and oozing around his boots.
"Let's get out of here, guys!" he yelled.
He tried to pull the cord out of the slime but it seemed to be stuck. Even worse, the line seemed to be pulling back.
"Help me!" Ray yelled at the others. "It's stuck!"
Winston leap forwards, Juliet not far behind, and they both began to help pull the cord. The cord wouldn't budge though and slowly the slime started to pull them towards the edge of the platform.
Egon tossed his monitoring device onto the floor and joined in the tug of war. The four of them struggled to pull the cord back but it was no use as the slime was clearly stronger. Supernaturally stronger.
Ray worked a free hand and tried to cut the cord from his utility belt. If he didn't sever the the tie, he was a dead man. Or at the very least a very slimed man. The cord though held fast to his belt. Ray grimaced and attacked his belt buckle.
Quickly, frantically, he worked at the belt. Finally, he yanked the entire belt from his waist. The belt and cord were yanked toward the river of slime.
Ray, Egon, and Juliet broke free from the cord in time. Winston, however, didn't get the memo and was still holding onto the cord. He was yanked off of his feet, high into the air, and into the river of slime.
"Ray! Egon!" he yelled, gurgling. "Juliet!"
The other three glanced at each other.
"Bummer." Egon muttered. Juliet rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Oh well." she pinched her nose and dove head first into the swirling river. The other two cringed but followed swiftly after her.
As I am sure you all can tell, I changed some of the dialogue in the whole Recruiting Peter scene. I just found the dialogue from the deleted scene to be funnier and just changed that. I kept the actual scene the same though because I like how Dana reacts there. I also changed the river of slime scene. I just really liked how the book version of the movie made that scene work out so I just decided to go with that one. Hope you all liked it! Please review!
