To Garrett, the drive there was always the worst part of the job. It wasn't because of the anticipation of whatever lies ahead, not the fact that this could be his final mission. Death didn't scare him. What did was, sitting in his wheelchair, the roof was too low. The sides seem to be slowly closing in on him. It made him sweat and think of head-on collisions that leave him trapped, crunched in this car without the aid of his legs to get out.

Though it seemed to Garrett, like it always does, that it took an eternity to get there, they arrived at Marie's apartment. They took the elevator to the third floor and knocked on door 317. The door opened a crack, Marie's eye peering out at them.

"Ghostbusters, ma'am," Roland said in a pleasant tone. The door closed, the sound of the chain being removed could be heard, the door opened again. She smiled and asked them to come in. Her smile, they could tell, was forced. Her eyes were wide and had bags underneath them. She attempted to describe what she had seen.

"It was horrible. The most disgusting creature to ever live. It's bones were jagged and breaking through its skin. It's jaw was huge with razor sharp teeth." She stopped there for a moment and Kylie suggested she show them where the attack took place. On the walk there, Marie continued to tell of the Marinean's hideousness; each time she mentioned a characteristic it seemed to get bigger and more gruesome. Eduardo fell back a step to walk alongside Garrett.

"Every time she mentions its teeth they get an inch bigger, or the claws become just a tad longer. You realize that?"

Garrett allowed himself a small smile. "Yes, but that's only normal for someone who's just seen something supernatural for the first time. Remember your first time? You totally wimped out!"

"Si, but you saw that thing. Akira was gruesome with huge eyes and tentacles with mouths on the ends for arms. I had a right to freak out, man."

"Actually, I was referring to Slimer! Man, did you ever wimp out!"

Marie announced they were nearing the alley. Eduardo, thankful for the interuption, decided to take his chances walking by Kylie.

When they reached the alley, Kylie took out her PKE meter and started searching for any trace of the Marinzean. "Well," she said, "something was definitely here, the readings are extremely high."

Garrett reached over his wheelchair and picked up a scrap of clothing with some recently dried blood. Marie recognized it as a piece of John's jacket.

Eduardo noticed the sun beginning to set in the sky. "Guys, maybe we should head back to Ecto-1, radio Egon and tell him we're on our way back. Won't be able to track anything in the dark.

"As much as I'd hate to admit it," Kylie said, "Eduardo is right. We'll continue looking tomorrow morning."

Roland was leading the five of them back out the alley when he froze. The others behind him pushed by to see what we was staring at. A group of kids were running back across the street, laughing. The Ecto-1's hood was popped open, with wires hanging out of the car. Roland, who had remodified most of the car, was devastated.

"The car! Look what they did to the car!" Roland walked up slowly, and started examining every little detail.

"Is anything busted?" Kylie asked.

"Doesn't look like it, except maybe for the electrical stuff, like the tape deck or the radio. We should probably try getting in touch with Egon and seeing if it still works."

Roland slammed the hood down and unlocked the doors for everybody. "Don't worry, ma'am," Roland told Marie as they got in the car, "We'll find this thing and find John."

Kylie headed towards the driver's side of the car when Eduardo ran in front of her and jumped behind the wheel. "Hey!"

"What do you mean, 'Hey' ?" Eduardo exclaimed, his crooked grin creeping up his lips. "I just thought I'd relieve you from the stress of driving."

"But I need to contact Dr. Spengler."

"You can do it from the passenger side."

As Kylie walked to the other side of the car, she swore she could feel her blood temperature rising. *Sometimes he can be the biggest JERK*, she thought, *and other times...*

"Chica, you commin' or not?" Eduardo called out. Kylie got in the passenger seat and picked up the transmitter.

"Dr. Spengler, this is Kylie. We're continuing the investigation tomorrow. We're on our way back now."

After a short pause, Egon's voice faded in and out of the static. "...ylie...an't..ear you...are..kay?"

"That never happened before. It's worked in locations further than this without any problem," Kylie said, a little nervous.

Roland leaned forward from the back seat. "It's probably because of the kids messing around with the wiring. I'll have to work on it when we get back to the firehouse."

*****

At the firehouse, Egon was preparing to go find his students, fearing that something had happened to them. "Janine, you stay here. I'm going to help the kids."

"Not without me you're aren't."

"No, Janine, this could be dangerous."

"Which is why I'm going. I can't let anything happen to those kids. Or to you."

Egon's face turned a slight shade of red. He couldn't find anything to say for a moment, but just stared into her eyes. He suddenly had a strange revelation, a thought that seemed to tell him he may not see one of them, or her or himself, again. He felt a sense of helplessness, knowing Janine had to come along. He looked at her with concern and said, "At the first sign of trouble, you run, okay, Janine?"

Janine stared back at him, had the same bad feeling. She wanted to hold him forever, to convince him to just run, go with her to someplace safe where they could be together, not have to worry about ghosts and demons, spirits or Gozers. She just nodded at his question and turned away, knowing she couldn't be selfish, that the kids needed help. She knew so long as there were ghostbusters, he would always put the team in front of everything else.

As Egon got prepared, he realized for the first time how much heavier the new equipment felt to him. "Janine, take this as a last resort." He handed her a small proton gun, similar to Kylie's and a ghost trap with straps to carry on her back. "But if you can, I still want you to run to safety."

Janine took the weapons and put them on. They got into Egon's car, Slimer flying through the roof and into the back seat, and headed for the address Marie had told him over the phone. He knew the Marinzean attacked John in an alley nearby the theatre, and to him, that was enough to start on. Nobody said a word on the way there, each lost in their own thoughts, Slimer eating a Snickers bar.

Upon arriving to the theatre, Egon, Janine and Slimer got out of the car and headed for the nearest alley. Egon pulled the PKE meter out from his belt and swept for readings. He walked down the street untill the readings were strongest and went into the nearest alleyway. Janine followed, gun in hand, and Slimer trailed after her. "Whatever it is we're following," Egon said, "we're getting really clo-"

A giant hand closed over his head as the Marinzean seemed to simply materialize out of the ghostly shadows that played across the alley during the night. The Marinzean picked Egon up, still holding him by the head, and tossed him with all its brutal might into a brick wall not more than five yards away. He hit the wall hard on his right shoulder with a sickening thud and fell on a heap to the ground. Janine looked, frozen with terror, as he let out a barely audible moan, winced, and lost consciousness.

The Marinzean, satisfied Egon wasn't going anywhere, turned and advanced toward Janine. She snapped out of her hypnotic gaze, and realized it was now up to her. She raised her gun to the Marinzean, closed her eyes and prepared to pull the trigger. The Marinzean pulled back his right arm and lashed forward all force, knocking the gun out of her hand. The gun clattered to the ground and went off, firing a nuclear blast towards the wall, not too far from Egon. The blast from the proton gun shattered a piece of the brick wall, raining a pile of rubble on Egon's already battered body. With his other arm, the Marinzean struck Janine full force in the face, knocking her off her feet onto the ground. Blood trickled from her nose as she slipped out of consciousness. The Marinzean picked Janine and Egon up, carrying each over a shoulder. Egon's body, his shoulder terribly damaged, was covered with bruises and gashes from the rubble that fell on him. It walked toward the black shadows from which it had appeared, until it seemed to join the shadows, become a dark image and vanish.

Slimer, deserting his hiding spot behind a trash can, tried to follow whatever it was that had taken Egon and Janine, but found the shadows that the Marinzean had walked through were just being cast onto a brick wall. If that thing had walked through some kind of portal, it took it with him. Slimer found Janine's gun and Egon's PKE meter laying on the ground and picked them up. He flew high up in the air, looking for the Ecto-1 in the dead of night. He could think of only one thing to do; he had to find the Ghostbusters.