Egon grits his teeth as he feels the very core of his body vibrating within, thanks to a great deal to the jackhammer he holds later that night. The jackhammer pounds away at the pavement over the spot their instruments lead them on First Avenue. The site is made up to look like a typical construction site so as to throw off suspicion. Barricades behind him flash with amber warning lights, directing traffic to merge out of that lane into the next. The compressor powering the jackhammer sits by the second barricade, while behind Egon is a winch and pulley system in bars shaped like a pyramid.
Egon wears work boots and slacks with thick work gloves, a flannel shirt and a reflective orange vest; a departure from his usual suits for the sake of appearance. His hardhat remarkably stays in place, though his superior can't fathom how as he feels sure his fillings will need replacement in the near future. A police car pulls up just outside the perimeter of torn up street and stops, the driving officer honking the horn. Egon stops hammering and looks around puzzled, until he sees the other cop hanging out of the passenger window.
"Hey! How ya doing?" he asks. Egon feels his heart begin to race. Ray has a boyish charm, able to win over even the most stonehearted of aggressors. Venkman has a quick wit and a sharp mind that rivals that of any used car salesman in the Tri-State Area. Egon was pure logic. Ask him to work on time travel, find the missing link in the evolutionary chain or master cloning, but when it comes to improvisational bullshitting…that was another matter. Egon looks around, trying to find the words and not blow their cover, while trying to hide his own fear and not arouse suspicion.
"Me?" he dumbly asks.
"Yeah," the officer answers.
"Fine…fine…it's cutting fine now…"
"Great. Why are you cutting?"
"Why am I cutting?" Egon looks across the street where Ray and Peter emerge from the cafe, dressed similar to him and carrying cups of coffee. Thank God, he thinks with some hope finally in his heart, and quickly waves them over. "BOSS!" he calls. Ray and Peter had seen the police car when they emerged, and were already quickly on their way over, minds racing. Peter, of course, takes the lead.
"Who told you to stop cutting? Someone tell you to stop cutting?" Peter says in an extremely stressed out and agitated voice.
"He did," Egon says, setting the jackhammer down and pointing to the officer.
"You tell him to stop cutting?" Peter asks the officer.
"Yes I did. What're you guys doing here?"
"What does it look like we're doing! Why don't you let us work! We let you work!"
"Hey, take it easy!" Ray says to Peter in an exaggerated Brooklyn accent. "He's been working overtime," he starts to the officer, "I'll tell you why we're here; we're here 'cause some diaper bag downtown's bein' a jerk and making us work on a Friday night. I mean, am I right Peter?"
"Of course you're right, Raymond…is he right, Ziggy?" Peter asks Egon. Egon looks at him, quickly thinking of how to respond.
"Yo!" in a deep voice was the best he could come up with accompanied by raising his fist.
"Well, you guys take it easy, alright?" the officer says as the car begins to pull away. They start back towards the hole Egon was digging. Ray checks behind him to see if the car is out of earshot, then returns back to business.
"What've you been doing?" Ray asks, handing Egon his coffee.
"What've I been doing while you've been getting coffee for an hour? I've been digging a hole in the middle of the street!" Peter and Ray crouch down by the hole while Egon sets down his coffee and opens up the case next to it. Ray flashes his light down the hole, trying to see what's down there.
"Wow, looks like you've uncovered an old airshaft." Egon pulls the Giga meter out of the bag and crouches down by the hold, holding it over as he takes a reading. "Man, it just goes on and on!"
"It's very intense," Egon declares, "we should get a deeper reading." He turns off his meter as Ray puts his flashlight away. They all stand up.
"Yeah, we're gonna need a deeper reading," Ray agrees.
"Someone's going to have to go down there," Egon adds.
"Someone's gotta go down there," Ray concurs, shaking his head. He looks up to see both Egon and Peter looking towards him, smirks on their faces. Ray slumps as he realizes what they're thinking.
It's after hours and the entire museum is quiet and dark; save for the lonely light coming from within the Restoration Room. Janosz stands on the top step of the small ladder positioned next to the painting of Vigo. He dabs his brush on his pallet and begins his work on the canvas by Vigo's face. He steadily moves in, lightly brushing against the old paint. He begins to dab on the corner of the eye, then moves over to do the eye itself when suddenly, bolts fly out from both of Vigo's eyes and travel into his body.
His arm flies back and he stumbles down the ladder, the energy coursing through his body and causing him to spasm. He falls onto the floor and flops around like a fish as the energy lessens in intensity and fades.
"Listen to me!" an ominous booming voice in a strange tongue orders from behind him. Janosz looks around, startled, before turning back to the painting. He sees that the form of Prince Vigo has been replaced with his large head floating over a pink river in some kind of artistically designed tunnel. Waterfalls of the substance fall into the river from between the columns that line either side. Through the top of the tunnel, yellow clouds can be seen moving in the sky.
"What! Who!" Janosz starts.
"I, Vigo, the scourge of Carpathia, the sorrow of Moldavia, command you!" the head booms, his eyes flashing with red energy. Janosz's eyes flash with the same energy, and suddenly his fear is completely erased. The strange language Vigo speaks is now instantly translated within his head, and he quickly stumbles to his knees to bow before the painting.
"Command me, Lord!" he pleads.
"On a mountain of skulls in a castle of pain I sat on a throne of blood. What was will be, what is shall be no more. Now is the season of rebirth."
"Rebirth?"
"Find me a child that I might live again!" The head flies back into the background as the painting fades back to its original state.
"A child! A child!" Janosz quickly stands up, eager to carry out his new master's wishes. He stops when he suddenly realizes he doesn't completely understand his new master's wishes. He looks towards the painting, confused. "A child?" Vigo's eyes glow and two beams of energy fly out and into Janosz's eyes. His head is quickly filled with the knowledge he will need to fully serve Vigo, and he feels his body becoming charged with a strange new energy. The beams stop, and Janosz stands, paralyzed. After a few moments, he runs his hands up his body and rubs his eyes, everything becoming crystal clear.
"A child!" he declares, smiling with a new sense of purpose. He knew of just the perfect child.
The winch has been set up above the hole as Egon and Peter crouch down around the support bars. Egon runs the controls for the winch while Peter carefully guides the steel cable down.
"You alright?" Peter asks into the headset he now wears as he looks down the hole.
Ray descends down the shaft hooked up in a harness connected to the winch. He looks around the old area, covered in uneven rock, dirt and cobwebs. The only light comes primarily from his flashlight and the light on his hardhat. He pushes himself clear of an ancient rusty pipe before grabbing the receiver of his headset.
"I'm good, speed's good, boys, keep it coming," he responds. He continues down in the eerily quiet darkness, spanning his light over the walls and pipes as he passes. He notices a small rumbling from below growing louder as he continues to move down. A rod-like device with a rounded end connected to his belt bumps up against his leg every time he's slightly jostled. He notices as a pink glow begins to fill the shaft, faint at first but also growing in intensity. Finally, he passes through a hole though what appears to be a tiled rounded ceiling illuminated by the pink glow.
"We're breaking through…I see some light…tunnel work. I'm in some kind of a chamber…there's tile work..." Ray notices the rumbling sound he was hearing had become almost deafening. He looks down, and that's when he sees it; there below him running through a tunnel like a river was a bubbling, flowing mass of pink and purple slime. "Slime!" Ray exclaims.
"What?" Egon calls over the headset.
"It's a river of slime! There must be 25,000 gallons of it! It's flowing through here like a river!" Ray frantically searches around, trying to get some bearing…some sense. The tiling continues down from the ceiling to cover every inch of the walls. Off to his right is a subway platform with rusting hand rails by the end. Along the wall are fancy cast iron lanterns that once provided illumination to the area, as well as an archway leading to stairs covered in chunks of rock that have broken down from the surroundings from decades of neglect. "Van Horne…" Ray reads aloud the tiled sign in the center of the arch, thinking it sounds very familiar. He looks to his left and tiled above the tunnel itself is a sign that reads "Pneumatic Transit 1870".
"Pneumatic Transit! I can't believe it, it's the old Pneumatic Transit System! It's still here!" In his excitement, Ray had failed to notice that he had forgotten to tell his partners when to stop feeding his line. He snaps back to reality just in time to notice he was about to be dunked like a teabag into the river. "Okay, boys, that's good! Hold it right there!"
"What do you see?" Peter calls down, neither he nor Egon noticing the same police car from earlier pulling up with a Con Edison van.
Ray slips his flashlight into his belt and grabs the rod. He grabs the rounded end and extends it out. Ray dips the rod's end into the slime and presses a button, opening the globe to take in a sample.
Meanwhile, above ground, a grizzled Con Ed supervisor emerges from the van, putting on his blue hardhat. From the scowl on his face seeing the work site, one can tell that he isn't the type to take shit lightly, especially when it comes to his profession.
"HEY!" he calls out. His voice snaps Peter and Egon back to reality, and Egon gives Peter a worried glance. Peter hides it, but he was a little worried as well, but quickly pushes those thoughts in the back of his mind as he slips back into character. The officers emerge from their car as Peter and Egon stand up to approach them.
"What's going on, here? What's the story?" he asks as he approaches Peter and Egon.
"Oh, what, you boys're gonna come rouse me out again!" Peter asks. "I got about 3,000 phones out in Greenwich Village! I got about 8 million miles of cable I gotta check! You guys're gonna come around and go up my ass!"
"What're you talkin' about, buddy? The phone lines are over there!" the supervisor yells, pointing across the street. Peter stares at him for a few moments before turning to Egon and slapping him in the helmet.
"What'd I say to you? The phone lines are over there! How many times! Huh? Huh?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" the officer from earlier interjects, stopping Peter from smacking Egon further. "You're not with Con Ed or the phone company, we checked. So tell me another one." Egon suddenly becomes paralyzed. Panic fills his entire being as he realizes the prospect of jail looms in his future. The experiments he had yet to perform, the contributions to science he had yet to make; all gone in one instant. Peter, however, was not so quick to accept his inevitable defeat. He turns back towards the site, pointing around at all the work they did.
"I got a major gas leak over here! Where do you think all this is coming from, the sky!"
Ray reels in the end of the rod and locks it into place. He looks down as he notices the section of the river just below him beginning to rise up higher than the rest.
"Okay, boys, bring me up," he says nervously. After a few seconds, he realizes there's no response. "Uh, boys? There's some kind of activity down here." Below him, the raising slime begins to morph into tentacles. "Boys?" The tentacles take a swipe at Ray, but he kicks it off, leaving only some residue on his boot. "Hey guys! Help! Bring me up!"
"Ray!" Peter exclaims. He points down to the controls next to Egon. "Start it! Start it!" Egon hits the recall button and the winch comes to life, reeling the line back in. Ray goes flying up, leaving the river safely below him.
"What's going on up there! Come on!" He quickly moves up through the shaft, flailing his arms in panic as he attempts to avoid being caught on any of the pipes. He accidentally kicks one, however, and the rusted piece gives out, falling onto a cluster of pipes below. Sparks fly up as the heavy piece knocks them loose. On the street above, the street lights go out, followed by the surrounding building lights. Then surround blocks, until eventually, the entire island of Manhattan becomes one with the night.
Dana walks into Oscar's room, carefully carrying a candle she had managed to find in the sudden darkness. He looks into his crib to check on him, smiling when she finds him sleeping peacefully. That is until heavy knocking came at the door. She curses under her breath at the intrusion as she quickly makes her way to the door.
"Who is it?" she calls.
"It's Janosz!" the familiar voice answers from behind. Dana rolls her eyes and quietly groans.
"Hello, Janosz," Dana reluctantly says as she takes locks off the door and opening it. "This is a surprise." Janosz smiles, half his face cast in darkness from the red generator powered emergency lights that fill the hallway.
"Oh, hello! Well, I, uh, happen to be here in this, uh, neighborhood and I thought that I would stop by to see how it is with you because of all this blackness…"
"Oh, we're fine. Thank you."
"Oh, well then you're okay. How's the baby?"
"Oh, he's okay…" Dana says, giving him a strange look as he leans down to look past her into the apartment.
"WOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!" He makes the noise, calling out to the baby.
"…but he's sleeping," Dana adds. Janosz puts on a look of embarrassment as he brings his fingers to his smiling lips.
"Oh, but I wooed." His smile turns sly as he tries to turn on the charm. "Do you need anything? You know, do you want me to come in?" Dana stares at him for a moment, wonder when he would ever take the hint…IF he would ever take the hint.
"No thank you," she says as politely as possible. Janosz nods in understanding.
"Well, just thought that I would check, you know? Well…hey you, don't let the bedbugs bite."
"Goodnight, Janosz." She shuts the door, resisting every urge to slam it and hide in her apartment from this…weirdo. Janosz watches as the wood of the door comes close to his face as it shuts and he hears her lock it again from behind. He stiffly turns to the hallway and his eyes begin to light up. He walks down the hallway, scanning the walls and casting light from his eyes as he uses them to help him see in the darkness.
The United States Courthouse in Foley Square days later. Judge Steven Wexler sits behind the bench, having the misfortune to draw this particular case. His demeanor and face make no effort to hide his disdain of the defendants and this obvious waste of his time and the taxpayers' money. He holds his glasses in his hand as he rubs his eyes.
"Before we get started I want to make one thing very clear; the law does not recognize the existence of ghosts, and I don't believe in them either. So, I don't want to hear a lot of malarkey about goblins and spooks and demons. We're going to stick to the facts in this case and save the ghost stories for the kiddies, understood?" Winston shakes his head as he leans over the defendant's table where Ray and Egon sit.
"Sounds like a pretty open minded guy," he jokes.
"Yeah, they call him 'The Hammer,'" Egon tells him.
"Well, what can we do?" Ray asks. "It's all in the hands of our lawyer now." As if on cue, Louis drops the two stacks of thick law books he was carrying under his arms on the table. Ray, Egon and Winston look him and his bad green suit over, knowing they're in for a hell of a bumpy ride.
"I think you guys are making a big mistake!" Louis says. "I do mostly tax laws and probate stuff occasionally. I got my law degree at night school."
"That's fine, Louis. We got arrested at night," Ray says before slamming his head on the table.
By the wooden railing of the spectator's gallery, Dana and Peter stand by the gate talking.
"I wish I could stay. I feel personally responsible for you being here."
"You are personally responsible," Peter says. "If I get conjugal rights, will you visit me in prison?"
"Don't say that. You won't go to jail."
"Don't worry about me, I'm like a cat."
"You cough up hairballs on the rug?" she asks with a smirk. Peter gives her a pretend dirty look.
"No, I land on my feet, you nutball."
"Good luck," she says sincerely. They stand there for a moment, neither one sure if this was the time or place for a kiss. She smiles at him and nods, heading off. She stops and looks back as Peter gives her a thumbs up and a smile. She nods and reluctantly heads out of the courtroom.
At the prosecutor's table, a no-nonsense woman in her 30s sits in one of the chairs, reviewing her notes one final time before the trial begins with her partner, a young man in a brown suit. Hardemeyer approaches her table and leans down on it to talk to her.
"Just put these guys away fast and make sure they stay for a very long time."
"It shouldn't be too hard with this list of charges," she says with a sly smile. Hardemeyer smiles and nods.
"Good, very good." He stands up and walks over to the defense table. "Fraud, malicious mischief, willful destruction of public property…see you in a couple of years…at your first parole hearing." He makes his way out of the courtroom, smiling the smile of the just. Peter looks after him.
"They'll never take us alive!" he says, wanting nothing more than to belt him one. Wexler bangs his gavel.
"Alright, alright. Let's get on with it."
Louis can't remember a time when he was more nervous in his life. Maybe it was the first time he tried to ask a girl out and ended up throwing up on her? Or the time when he gave a valedictorian speech in front of his graduating class and threw up on the principal? Oh Lord, he thinks, please don't let me throw up! He takes a deep breath and looks up at the judge, ready, somewhat, to give his opening statement.
"Y-Your honor…ladies and gentlemen of the…of the audience…I don't think it's fair to call my clients frauds. Okay, so the blackout was a big problem for everyone, okay. I got stuck in an elevator for three hours and hadda make the whole time, but I don't blame them because once I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you." Louis returns to his seat next to Ray as Wexler just stares at him, dumbfounded and in disbelief at what he had just heard.
"Very good, Louis," Egon says, "short yet pointless."
The Prosecutor runs her hand over the table in front of the defendant's table. On it sits the Ghostbusters' proton packs, two traps, the PKE and Giga Meters, and the rod used to gather the slime sample now in a glass jar.
"Mr. Fianella, please look at Exhibits A through G on the table here. Do you recognize this equipment?" On the witness stand, the man from Con Ed looks over at the table.
"Yeah, that's the stuff the cops took from their truck."
"And, do you know what this equipment is used for?" Fianella shrugs, thinking.
"I dunno, catching ghosts?" Wexler looks over and flashes him a dirty look. The Prosecutor walks over to her table and picks up two sheets of paper. She turns and brings one to Wexler, motioning for Louis to come for the other one.
"May I remind the court that the defendants are under probation by the city in regards to the levels of destruction of public property caused by their so-called services as paranormal investigators and eliminators within the period of the last five years." Louis takes his copy and returns to his seat.
"So noted," Wexler says. The Prosecutor returns to the evidence table and picks up the jar.
"Now, Mr. Fianella, can you identify the substance in the jar marked exhibit G?" She walks over to the stand and hands it too him. He takes it and looks it over, rolling it around in his hands and watching the viscous substance ooze around the jar's smooth surface.
"Yeah, that's the stuff. Your honor, I've been working underground for Con Ed for over 27 years, and I never saw anything like this in my life. Whatever's down there, they musta put it there," he says, pointing towards the Ghostbusters.
"No we didn't!" Ray yells out while standing up, obviously not liking the accusation. Wexler bangs his gavel hard.
"Shut up!" he shouts at him.
It's Peter's turn on the stand with Louis examining him. Peter looks around the courtroom as he speaks out of the side of his mouth in a whisper, telling Louis what to say which he does word for word.
"So, you were just trying to help out a friend who was ascared of what was happening to her and when you're scared…what? …There was no evil intended, no malice because you live here and when you live in a place and you love it like you do you don't want nothing bad to happen…what? …Because it'll never happen again it's an isolated incident…it's a one shot deal…"
"Objection!" the Prosecutor says, finally having enough. "Objection, your honor," she says again, regaining some composure.
"What!" Louis asks her.
"He's leading the witness."
"Sustained!" Wexler says. Louis shakes his head.
"Gimmie a break, we're both lawyers!" he says to her.
"Mr. Tully!" Louis turns back to the judge who motions for him to come to the bench. "Do you have any questions for this witness that might have some bearing on this case?" Wexler asks. Louis looks over at Peter.
"Do I?"
"No, I think we've helped them out enough," Peter says. Louis turns back to the judge.
"No, your honor." He begins to walk back to his seat, glaring at the prosecutor and curtly telling her "Your witness." The Prosecutor stands up and casually walks to the front of her table.
"Dr. Venkman, would you please to the court why it is you and your co-defendants took it upon yourselves to dig a very big hole in the middle of First Avenue?" Peter shrugs.
"Well, there's so many holes on First Avenue we really didn't think anyone would notice," he says sarcastically. That causes some of the people in the gallery to crack up a bit. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet them.
"Keep that up, mister, and I'll find you in contempt!" The venom in his voice causes a bubble to form inside the slime jar.
"I am truly sorry, your honor," Peter says, trying to hold back more sarcasm.
"I'll ask you again, Dr. Venkman; why the hole? And remember you ARE under oath, " The Prosecutor says, her patience at end as well.
"There are things in this world that go way beyond human understanding, things that can't be explained…things that most people don't want to know about. That's where we come in," he says, motioning towards Egon and Ray. Ray and Egon exchanged satisfied glances and nods over that statement. The Prosecutor approaches the stand and places her hands on it.
"So, what you're trying to say is that the world of the supernatural is your special province?" Peter puts his hand on top of hers, causing her to quickly draw them back in disgust.
"Kitten, what I'm trying to say is that sometimes shit happens, someone's gotta do something about it, and who're you gonna call?" The gallery bursts out in applause and cheers, and Wexler angrily bangs his gavel.
"SHUT UP!"
"Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, Egon Spengler…stand up! Get up!" Wexler demands. The three of them exchange disappointed looks as they stand. "You too, Mr. Tully." Louis quickly shoots up. "I find you guilty on all charges. I order you to pay fines in the amount of 25,000 each and I sentence you to eighteen months in the city correctional facility at Ryker's Island!" Amidst his disappointment, Ray notices a stirring within the slime jar as more bubbles form. He pats Egon's arm.
"Iggy…she's twitching!" he says. Egon and Peter follow his gaze to the table. Wexler bangs his gavel to quiet the disappointed grumblings of the gallery.
"I'm not finished! On a more personal note, let me go on record as saying that there is no place in decent society for fakes, charlatans and tricksters like you…"
"Uh, your honor?" Egon tries to interject as the jar begins to bubble more.
"Shut up! …who prey on the gullibility of innocent people!"
"Your honor, this is important!" Peter says.
"You're beneath the contempt of this court!"
"Yes, your honor…" Ray starts.
"SHUT UP!"
"But…" Ray says, making a motion with his hands to the jar as it begins to over flow and spill out onto the table. A wind begins to pick up in the courtroom.
"And believe me, if my hands were not tied by the unalterable fetters of the law, a law which has become in my view far too permissive and inadequate in it's standards of punishment…" The Ghostbusters slowly back away from their table as the slime begins to spit up little globs into the air, the jar rocking fiercely, threatening to throw itself off the table.
"…I would invoke the tradition of our illustrious fore bearers, reach back to a sterner, purer justice…" Realizing the judge was far too into listening to his own voice to care, Egon makes a motion that they should duck under the table. They quickly comply, dragging Louis with them. "…and have you burned at the stake!"
The slime jar bursts and two entities fly up from the spot it once occupied. They hover in the air above the bench and take the form of a skinny transparent skeleton and a fat ghostly blob, both wearing what resembles prison-issued clothing and sitting in electric chairs. Blue electricity courses over their bodies as they convulse and twitch as though they are being electrocuted.
"Wow!" Ray exclaims from under the table, looking up at them. The gallery members begin to retreat from the courtroom, Winston ushering them out as best he can.
"Move, move, move!" he shouts.
"Oh my God, it's the Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims from his chair, terrified after having recognized them. The Scoleris burst from their chairs and turn towards Wexler, recognizing him too. His eyes grow wide and he scrambles over the bench, quickly leaping off of it as they dive down onto it, causing it to explode. Winston turns towards the sound, only to get caught up in the last of the spectators and pushed out of the door with them. The thin brother flies up and points his hand, firing some energy at the doors. The energy dances on them before they close shut, energy flashing briefly around the door frame.
"No!" Winston shouts as he lunges for the doors. He grabs hold of the knobs only to get electricity coursing through his body. He's blown back across the hall and into the wall where he crumples to the floor.
"The Scoleri Brothers!" Wexler exclaims, scrambling under the table with the Ghostbusters.
"Friends of yours?" Ray asks.
"I tried 'em for murder! Gave 'em the chair! You gotta do something! Help me!"
"Why don't you tell them you don't believe in ghosts?" Egon asks. Suddenly, the table lifts up from above them as the two brothers pick it up to expose them. The occupants quickly run behind the glass partition separating the bench area from the side doorway as the Scoleris throw the table into the wrecked bench.
Wexler tries the door knob, but receives a jolt. He bangs on it, hoping someone outside would open the door. He turns back as the glow from the energy and twisted, inhuman laughter fills the room. Wexler turns frantically to Ray, grabbing his sport coat and shaking him violently.
"You gotta do something! Help me!" Ray gives him an emotionless look.
"Don't talk to me, talk to my attorney."
"That's me!" Louis says, stepping up. "My boys are in probatationimal vol…viol…vionitim…that blue thing I got from her! They could be exposing themselves!"
"And you don't want us exposing ourselves!" Peter chimes in. They all perk up as they hear the Prosecutor screaming. They quickly dash to the end of the partition and peer out to see the fat brother carrying her upside down towards the door by her leg. She hits the door, sending it flying open as the ghost rams her into the people outside.
Winston sees his opportunity and makes a mad dash for the doors as they begin to close. Using his military training, he leaps, expertly lands, and rolls out into the courtroom just as the doors slam shut and reseal themselves. He looks back and lets out a breath of relief, quickly standing up and heading towards the front of the room.
Behind the partition, Wexler grabs his head knowing for sure he's next. Peter, aware of this fear, smiles smugly.
"You're next, bubbles."
"Alright, alright! I dismiss the charges, case dismissed!" Wexler says, desperately. "Now do something!"
"All right! We won the case!" Louis cheers as the other three celebrate quickly. Winston appears at the opening.
"Yo, guys, think we got some work to do."
"I think you're right, Z," Peter says, patting him on the back as they head out from behind the partition towards their equipment. As Ray and Egon help each other on with their packs, Winston chucks his suit jacket and pulls his on. Peter fastens the pack's belt around his waist, pulling his proton gun down. "Well, boys, time to do some damage."
"Yeah. Heat 'em up, boys," Ray says. Peter turns on his gun, filling the room with the familiar hum as the pack comes to life.
"Doe…"
"Rae…" Ray says with a smile as he turns his on. Egon flips his switch.
"Egon…" Peter and Ray give Egon a look, and he gives them a smirk in return. Winston shakes head behind them.
"You guys are nuts." The courtroom grows silent as the four of them look around for any sign of the spooks. Ray looks towards Egon who holds the PKE meter, but he shakes his head indicating no trace yet. Ray's eyes grow wide as he begins to feel his hair move at the suddenly increasing breeze within the room. The wings on the PKE move up to their full position, prompting Egon to put it back on the table and grab his positron rifle with both hands.
Suddenly, two chairs from the back row of the spectators gallery come flying up as if being smacked aside, catching their attention. The next two chairs follow, then the next to, right down the line until they reach the railing. The Scoleris shoot up from the floor, letting out an inhuman roar. The Ghostbusters press the rifle triggers and begin blasting at them. But the ghosts move too fast, causing the proton streams to blast the walls and ceiling instead, leaving burns and small fires in their wake. The ghosts fly over them towards the back wall. They stop firing when they disappear through it.
"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Peter shouts after them. He looks at the guys and begins to laugh mockingly. They stare at him for a second before Ray catches on to his plan and laughs with him, followed by Winston. Egon begins to make forced noises that could pass as laughing. Louis comes out from behind the partition, looking around curiously as Peter's laughing gets a bit more goofy. Not taking too kindly to being laughed at, the fat brother reappears in the courtroom, furious, and looking at Peter.
"Oh shit!" Peter says, firing his proton stream up at the ghost as Louis dives back behind his cover, screaming. He moves out of the way as Peter's stream hits the wall, sending up a wave of sparks. Peter keeps firing, follow the ghost across the courtroom. "C'mon, big boy! C'mon! I'm gonna take you home to my Wanda Sue!" The ghost tries to maneuver, but Peter moves a step ahead of him and the proton stream wraps around the ghost, immobilizing him.
"You got him! You got him!" Ray exclaims. He looks towards Egon. "Spengy, bring the trap!"
"Okay, okay!" Egon says, turning for the table. Winston perks up as he notices the other brother coming through the wall and making a line straight for Ray.
"Behind you, Ray!" he shouts, firing at the ghost. Ray ducks as both the beam and ghost miss him. He fires his beam after him, forcing Egon to duck as the ghost doges the beam allowing it to hit the partition and sending a wave of broken glass down on Wexler. Winston turns and fires, catching the other brother in his stream.
"Hold him, Winston!" Egon says. "Start bringing him back, Venkman!" Peter starts to slowly move back towards the bench, the ghost in tow.
"C'mon, big boy! That'sa boy!" Peter says.
"Keep moving to the right, Winston!" Egon shouts as he throws the trap in between him and Peter. Peter and Winston position their ghosts right next to each other, and Ray joins in to give them extra support and control. "Okay, get ready, I'm opening the trap!" Egon drops the pedal onto the ground and stomps down on it.
The trap doors open, emitting a column of brilliant light around the ghosts and forcing the Ghostbusters to stop blasting to look away. The ghosts begin to lose their coherent shapes as they're sucked down into the rectangular box. Once inside, the doors shut, sealing them in. The indicator lights flare up, showing that the trap is full and that the ghosts won't be getting out any time soon. They Ghostbusters gather around the trap, looking down at it happily.
"Two in the box!" Ray says.
"Ready to go!" Peter adds.
"We be fast…" Winston starts.
"And they be slow!" they all say together. Louis runs over to them and looks down at the trap.
"Wow!" he exclaims, picking it up carefully.
Outside the courtroom is a chaotic mess. Paramedics and police attend to the frightened gallery members while reporters struggle for a position in the cramped hallway to get the best story. They all turn towards the courtroom doors as they burst open, the Ghostbusters and Louis walking out of the decimated courtroom victoriously. Immediately, cameras begin flashing in their faces, and Peter realizes now's a good chance for some free publicity.
"We're the best, we're the beautiful, we're the ONLY…Ghostbusters!"
