A cab pulls up outside the famed Ghostbusters firehouse on a particularly clear and sunny afternoon. Its occupant, Cynthia Crawford from UBN News, emerges and looks up at the old building. She shuts the door to the cab and it drives off as she approaches the large front doors.

Inside, she approaches the reception desk where Janine sits using the Ghostbusters' downtime to be engrossed in a fashion magazine. Cynthia brings a fist to her mouth and clears her throat, trying to get her attention. Janine looks up.

"Ms. Melnitz? I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Cynthia Crawford from UBN News."

"Yeah, I know; I see you on TV every night," Janine responds, putting her magazine down on the desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping to do a follow-up interview with Dr. Venkman to the one I did with him a couple years ago. Is he avail…" Her sentence is cut off by Peter's quick emergence from the office area behind Janine. He jumps over the gate in the partition, catching it slightly with his heel, and lands by Janine's desk. He regains his composure and stands next to Cynthia, putting on his most charming smile.

"Ms. Crawford, so nice to see you again!" he says sweetly, shaking her hand. Janine rolls her eyes at the display and returns to her magazine. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing a follow-up piece to our past interview." Peter rubs his chin as he pretends to consider the request.

"Well, ordinarily I don't like to do sequels…"

"Proven by your lack of second dates…" Janine mutters under her breath. Peter shuffles aside, striking a gentlemanly bow with his arm extended out as he allows her to proceed towards the office area.

"…but for you, what the hell." She nods and walks through the gate. Peter holds up his finger at Janine as he walks after Cynthia, a smug "watch me score" expression on his face. "Janine, hold my calls."

"Whatever," she mutters. Peter walks into the office as Cynthia takes a seat in front of the desk.

"I'm surprised I haven't seen our little green friend yet," she comments as she pulls her tape recorder out of her bag.

"Well, we gave him a bit of a 'time out'. Doubtful you'd see him anytime soon," Peter says as he takes his seat behind the desk. "So, what did you have in mind for our little discussion this time around?"

"My station has received a lot of public interest in another ghost story…involving the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

"Oh, him," Peter says, rubbing his chin as he smirks at the beauty before him. Cynthia starts up her recorder and leans back.

"Mr. Stay Puft was destroyed during your battle with Gozer, and yet somehow you have him stored in your containment unit. How is this possible?"

"Well, that's a good question, and do I have a story for you!"

GHOSTBUSTERS
PROFESSIONAL PARANORMAL ELIMINATORS
#3
"OF MARSHMALLOWS AND MEN"

CHRIS BUCHNER & BRIAN REILLY-Concept
CHRIS BUCHNER-Writer & Editor in Chief
ROLANDO MUNOZ-Artist
BEN KING-Inker & Letterer
ADAM BESTLER-Colorist
DAN LIBERG-Editor
FRITZ BAUGH-Cover Artist & Continuity

Inspired by
J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI

Created by
DAN AYKROYD & HAROLD RAMIS

SOME YEARS AGO

"It all began when we were out on a job chasing down a nightmare demon in the warehouse district. As usual, we were our professional selves…"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Peter screams out in panic as he dances around, trying to shake off all of the bugs crawling all over his legs. He swats at them frantically doing little to improve his situation, because in reality those bugs are not there; rather his mind has been tricked to perceive their existence. "Get them off! Get them off!"

"Peter, fight it! Whatever your seeing is just a hallucination caused by the demon!" Egon shouts at him.

"R-Right…" Winston forces himself to agree as he looks at Egon nervously. Egon turns quickly to Winston, causing him to jump. From Winston's perspective, he no longer sees colleague as he is but in the brightly colored make-up and baggy attire of a circus clown, Winston's only true fear.

"Winston, whatever it is it's not real!" Egon tells him. Winston hears but finds it hard to believe. Egon's scientific mind, logical deductive reasoning, and his overall knowledge about their quarry protects him from the paralyzing effects of the nightmare hallucinations projected into their minds. Typically, nightmare demons feast on the fear of their prey and their hallucination of choice is the victim's worst fear. Taking that from their subconscious mind, they have the ability to project them into the consciousness and allow the nightmares to appear real to the intended target. They were called to this warehouse to deal with the spook and get workers too scared to return to come back to work. Splitting up, Peter and Winston were nailed leaving them as Egon found them. Only he and Ray remained clear mind; providing Ray didn't meet the same fate.

"We need to find Ray," Egon sighs, knowing his two associated are for the most part disabled.

Upstairs in one of the warehouse's dark hallways, Ray moves carefully down it carrying a flashlight and his proton gun. He waves it into the office of the left. He walks down a few more feet and waves it into the office on the right. A few more steps and he looks forward, only to come face-to-face with it. The nightmare demon is only about 4 feet tall, extremely thin and bony. It wears tattered green and black clothing, pointed shoes, and has wild black hair, pointed ears pale skin and piercing black eyes. It hovers above the ground upside-down to look Ray square in the eyes.

"YAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ray exclaims, startled, quickly dropping his flashlight as he begins to fire his proton gun. The beam connects with the demon before it can move, trapping it where it floats.

"AAAAAAARGH!" it screams out in pain.

"HAHA! Gotcha!" Ray cheers. He reaches back with his free hand and pulls his trap off his belt. He drops it to the ground and kicks it out to slide under the demon. He slams on the pedal and the doors open, engulfing the demon in the column of light.

"A curse on you, mortal!" the demon hisses as his form begins to break apart. "May what you hold dear take death's hold upon youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" he finishes just before he's sucked fully into the trap and the doors shut. Ray walks over to the smoke trap and picks it up, looking at it with his gun held against his shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah…death to the Ghostbuster. You guys need better writers," he comments.

THE FIREHOUSE, LATER THAT NIGHT

"So we got the ghost and headed home for some rest; none the wiser about what was going to happen."

In the sleeping quarters, the Ghostbusters are in various stages of their nightly routines as they get ready for bed. Egon tries to put on his pajama top absently-mindedly while being engrossed in the latest issue of Fungus Quarterly in hs free hand. Winston yawns as he does a few exercises with his weights. Peter beats on his pillow as he snuggles up under his covers. Ray yawns as he stretches, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I'm so tired I think I'll sleep for a year," he comments.

"Ha! If the spooks'll let us!" Winston quips, setting his weights down. Ray lays down into his bed and pulls the blanket up. He grabs his Mr. Stay Puft plush and cuddles with it as he shuts off the light by his bed.

"Night, guys," he says as Egon and Winston finally settle in for the night.

"Night," they all respond before the lights go out completely. Ray sighs, smiling, as he begins to drift off to sleep; blissfully unaware of the small aura surrounding his doll or its formerly happy expression now angrily looking up at him.

The bell rings throughout the firehouse, causing all the Ghostbusters to shoot up in their respective beds.

"God damn it, we just went to bed!" Peter shouts, holding his head due to the headache he just got.

"Groan Feels like it, but it's daytime," Winston informs him, noticing the daylight flowing in through the large windows on the front of the building. They get up and lumber over to the nearest fire pole like zombies, sliding down one by one.

"Whoever's brilliant idea it was to be a 24-hour operation is gonna die!" Peter growls as he slides. Minutes later, they finish suiting up and climb into Ecto-1. The doors open and the car roars out of the firehouse; lights and siren blazing.

Meanwhile in the sleeping quarters, the Mr. Stay Puft doll lays on Ray's messy bed, softly glowing. Slowly its form begins to change, looking less like a stuffed toy and more like a small being made of marshmallow. Suddenly it sits up, an angry expression on its face. It leaps off the bed and waddles over to the fire pole while progressively growing with each passing minute. It moves towards the opening around the pole and falls through to land in the garage bay in front of Janine, startling her as she was taking the empty coffee pot to be filled.

"Yikes!" she exclaims. Janine sees the object is Ray's doll and privately scolds herself for being so jumpy, especially considering the line of work she's in. She crouches down and reaches for the doll. "Damn it, Ray…" She gets another start when the doll bats her hand away and sits up, growing faster than before. "Oh my god!"

The doors to the firehouse fly off their hinges and across the street into the parking lot, damaging the cars they land on. With a bit of effort, Mr. Stay Puft, now slightly bigger than the doorway, squeezes himself out of the firehouse and proceeds forward as he continues to grow. He steps on the doors and the cars beneath them as he cuts across the lot and up the street. Janine peers out of the firehouse after him, watching the traffic try to keep from being squashed under his massive feet. What was once a doll has become the true Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

5TH AVENUE

The Ghostbusters emerge from the Barns & Noble bookstore located there, Egon carrying a smoking ghost trap. They approach Ecto-1 by the curb as Peter holds an icepack to his eye.

"You sure you're okay, Peter?" Winston asks.

"Oh sure. I just love being pelted with classic books. Reminds me why I gave up reading in high school," Peter quips angrily. Ray opens the back door of Ecto-1 and slides out the pack rack. Winston looks down at the book he holds.

"At least they gave you the book for free as a thank you."

"Which one is it anyway?" Peter asks, taking the pack off his eye and reaching for the book. He holds it up to see Oprah's smiling face on the cover.

"Oprah's Biography," Winston tells him. Peter sighs as he tosses it over his shoulder and landing it in a puddle in the street.

"No wonder they gave it away," he says. Ray helps Winston off with his pack and turns to place it on the rack when suddenly the ground shakes slightly. They all look around puzzled.

"Did you guys feel that?" Ray asks. Another shake comes, this time with a slight rumble. Peter looks down curiously at the puddle the book lays in. Another louder rumble and shake sends ripples through it. Soon followed by another. Then another. The shaking grows more violent as the rumbles draw closer.

"Egon, is it me or does that sound familiar?" Peter asks as another rumble comes.

"LOOK!" Ray exclaims, pointing up with a panicked expression on his face. The Ghostbusters all look down the street as people run in terror across the street a few blocks away. The object of their fear is revealed as Mr. Stay Puft emerges, as real as life and as big as ever.

"Holy shit!" Peter utters quietly. The Ghostbusters all stare up in shock as the pasty ghoul turns onto their street and looks directly at the Ghostbusters. They could almost swear he was giving them a sinister smirk as he began to approach. "Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Peter rambles as they come out of their funk. He and Egon grab their blasters and open fire while Ray and Winston scramble to get their packs back on.

"Ray, what did we tell you about making decisions!" Peter shouts back.

"It wasn't me this time! I swear!" Ray claims as he and Winston join their blasting. The beams connect with Stay Puft, but instead of setting him on fire like their last encounter he only stumbles back a bit and his expression takes that of annoyance; much like if being annoyed by a mosquito. He continues to approach against their streams.

"The throwers aren't having any effect!" Egon declares.

"Well thank you Captain Obvious! Any other astute observations you wanna make?" Peter says sarcastically.

"Just one…RUN!" The Ghostbusters don't need to be told twice. They stop blasting and scramble inside Ecto-1. Ray starts the motor and shifts into gear just as Mr. Stay Puft's foot lands on the spot they were parked. He turns down 5th with Stay Puft in hot pursuit. They pass by St. Patrick's Cathedral as Ray turns down another side street. Stay Puft swipes at one of the spires, shattering it to attempt to have the debris land on the car. He roars angrily as the massive chunks miss.

"Okay, big brain, talk to us…I thought we vaporized that thing!" Winston says to Egon across from him in the back, who checks his PKE Meter.

"We did. According to my readings, this is a different Mr. Stay Puft. It shares no similarities to Gozer whatsoever. It appears to be made up entirely of a high concentration of ectoplasmic energy."

"Which explains why our throwers didn't even singe it this time." Ray says as he tries to maneuver around the dense New York traffic.

"Yeah, but that means it's too big to be trapped," Peter adds. Egon adjusts his glasses and nods.

"Precisely. It would take a trap much larger than our conventional ones that we have no time to make or test properly."

"Wait a second," Ray says, "Egon, didn't you modify the new containment unit to open up to allow human access inside for research purposes?"

"Yes, but I don't…OF COURSE! Ray, get us to the firehouse quickly! Time is of the essence provided Stay Puft doesn't lose interest in us." Ray quickly checks the rear view mirror, seeing Stay Puft shrug off attempts by police to stop him as he continues to follow Ecto-1.

"I don't think that'll be much of a concern…"

THE FIREHOUSE

Ecto-1 pulls up inside the firehouse where Janine waits for them.

"I tried to call you guys, but the radio's been cluttered with emergency calls…"

"We know, Janine," Winston says as they get out of the car and start to breeze past her, "Stay Puft's back."

"Yeah, but did you know he's Dr. Stantz's doll?"

"Say what?" Peter asks as they stop in their tracks to look at her. Janine motions to the doorway and they finally notice the doors lying crushed across the street.

"It fell down the pole and when I went to pick it up it came to life and walked out."

"Now how the hell could that happen?" Winston asks. Ray slaps his head.

"Oh no! That nightmare demon we busted yesterday. When I trapped him he said something about what I hold dear taking death's hold on me." Egon furrows his brow.

"A nightmare curse; it turns one's good things in life into engines of their destruction." Ray slumps down, looking at the floor.

"I'm sorry, guys. I just shrugged it off as another idle threat…it IS my fault Mr. Stay Puft's back." Winston puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, man…you couldn't've known. Hey, at least it wasn't Ecto-1 this time."

"Come one, we'll discuss this later!" Egon says as he leads them all quickly towards the basement stairs.

ELSEWHERE

Stay Puft continues his trek downtown, swatting at NYPD helicopters buzzing around him. Soldiers called in from the nearest army base in Brooklyn prove equally ineffective with their weapons; not risking higher caliber fire in a populated area. On a rooftop, soldiers try their best to do any kind of damage to Stay Puft with their rifles. All they serve to do is make themselves targets as Stay Puft slams his hand down on the roof, causing it to collapse in and send the soldiers tumbling.

Mayor Lenny Klotch has seen a lot of strange things in his time as mayor of New York. Fortunately, most of the time he's only had to see them once. But when a giant Marshmallow Man starts wrecking the streets of New York for the SECOND time in his term, Lenny just feels like strangling one Peter Venkman.

"'Lenny, we could save the lives of millions of registered voters'" he mocks thinking angrily about Venkman's words that fateful day as he waits for someone to pick up the receiver on the other end of his phone call. "Damn it!" he says, slamming the phone down. "Where are we?"

"The creature seems to be heading towards downtown," and aide tells him.

"Maybe we should move you to a secure location…" the police commissioner starts.

"I sincerely doubt there's a new brand of terrorist using supernatural corporate mascots as weapons! Where are the Ghostbusters!"

"They don't seem to be answering," another aid says, sitting at a phone at the other end of the office.

"Of course not! Why should they answer the phone? This city's ONLY going to hell thanks to something they supposedly dealt with already!"

"Mr. Mayor, the army is reporting zero effect; the creature's not stopping," another aide declares, sitting with a headset. "They're requesting permission to increase firepower."

"Permission DENIED! People still have to LIVE in this city, and the last thing I need is a nuclear solution. Kreig, have your men just evacuate everyone along its path, get them the hell out of the way," he says to the commissioner who nods and runs out of the office. "And somebody get me the Ghostbusters! And an antacid!" He slumps down into his chair, holding his head as his headache builds from all the ringing phones. "And a vacation," he mutters quietly.

MEANWHILE

The Ghostbusters and Janine work feverishly in the basement of the firehouse. Panels are removed so that the insides of machines can be tinkered with. Egon and Ray work on the more complicated electronics. Winston handles the mechanics. Peter plays with some wires and receives a nice electrical shock. Janine plays gofer and grabs them supplies as needed. In record time, the modifications to the containment unit are complete.

The group gathers on the roof of the firehouse, listening as the sound of Stay Puft's footsteps draw closer.

"I contacted the Mayor and told him we're on the job. The NYPD and the army are going to hold back until we try this," Ray says, trying to hide his nervousness. If this idea didn't work, they'd be sitting ducks for Stay Puft with no way to defeat him.

"Egon, remind me…nothing bad could happen with this, can it?" Peter asks.

"Well, one slight miscalculation could result in the containment unit exploding, or the force of the resulting event could cause the firehouse to crumble, or it could backfire and release all the ghosts, or it could release a radiation cloud obliterating most of the life on the eastern sea board, or…."

"Alright, alright! Sorry I asked!" Peter turns his attention to Beach street a block away where Stay Puft makes his way past the Thread Exchange, knocking trees over in the small park that breaks up the block. He draws closer to the firehouse, the Ghostbusters standing in wait. Sweat drips from their brows while saying quiet prayers to come out of this. Janine clings herself closer to Egon, hugging his arm.

"It's show time!" Winston declares.

"Guys, I just want to say…in case we don't survive…I'm sorry," Ray states.

"S'okay, Ray. I'll only hate you for the first millennia or two in heaven," Peter assures him.

"Heaven is a myth. Theoretically, we'd most likely become roaming phantasms remaining on Earth for the rest of eternity," Egon informs them. Peter gives him a blank stare.

"Egon, you really know how to kill the mood. I'll miss that. Really." Peter looks up as Stay Puft looms over the firehouse. "And me without my cocoa," he nervously quips looking into Stay Puft's angry eyes. Stay Puft raises his hand up high, ready to smash down on the objects of his creation, releasing a deafening roar. Egon raises up his free hand and presses his thumb down onto a button on what resembles the a remote from a machine to show slides.

In the basement, every piece of equipment lights up and a loud humming fills the small space. Steam blows out quickly from the line that bisects the middle section of the containment unit as the face begins to open up along it. As it opens wider, a brilliant light emits from the inside and completely engulfs the room.

Stay Puft falls back, covering his eyes as the light suddenly shoots out of every opening of the firehouse. He roars again and brings his hand up and down to smash at the Ghostbusters, but it never reaches them. As it drew close, it began to lose its form and be pulled back down towards the beams of light. The rest of Stay Puft follows and his entire body is sucked into the firehouse. He travels down into the basement and into the containment unit, which quickly shuts behind him like a giant ghost trap; smoke billowing from the opening.

"So you turned the containment unit into a giant ghost trap in order to catch the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man?" Cynthia Crawford asks.

"Yep," Peter confirms, "ol' big brain did it again, lemme tell ya."

"And what about Dr. Stantz?"

"Well, Ray was beating himself up over it for a while, but eventually he came around. What he didn't get over so easily was missing his childhood friend."

"Friend?"

"Er, the doll. He had that thing since he was a kid, and it's not like they make those anymore that he could just go out and buy a new one. Although, I did end up feeling kinda sorry for the big lug; I mean, I knew how it felt to lose something you loved. I ended up spending many valuable sleep hours on Ebay until I found a perfect match and won it. Last time I saw him that happy was probably when we bought this dump," he says, motioning to the firehouse. Cynthia shuts off her recorder and stands up.

"Well, thank you again, Dr. Venkman. You've given my story a whole new dimension."

"Really," Peter asks in a sly tone, "any chance you'd like to thank me by getting some coffee sometime?" Cynthia starts out of the office area.

"I'll…take that into consideration."

2 WEEKS LATER

"Come on, it's starting!" Peter calls. Winston hops over the back of the couch to sit between Ray, Egon and Peter. Ray munches on some popcorn while Egon tinkers with a gadget. Janine sits on the chair next to the couch while Peter flips through the channels. "Here we go!" he says, finding the right one. Cynthia appears on the screen in front of a gray background with a no-ghost logo superimposed over her right shoulder.

"Good evening; I'm Cynthia Crawford. Tonight, I have a follow-up to the piece I did on the true story behind the Ghostbusters." The logo changes to a file photo of Mr. Stay Puft. "Tonight, we'll finally be answering the all your questions about how the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, destroyed years ago by the Ghostbusters, came to be inside their legendary containment unit..." The image changes to that of a picture of Ray hugging his Stay Puft doll with the caption "Photo provided by Peter Venkman". "…by exploring a man's deep emotional connection with a childhood object that means the world to him. Tonight, we present an introspective on Dr. Raymond Stantz, the veritable heart of the Ghostbusters."

The Ghostbusters all stare at the TV, dumbfounded and confused. They all turn towards Peter, looking at him angrily. "Oh shit…" he mutters quietly.

"You TOLD them about my doll! You told a national news show about my DOLL!"

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Peter exclaims as he leaps over the couch. Ray throws up the popcorn bowl as he gets up after him.

"Venkman, you are DEAD!" Peter runs over to and leaps onto a fire pole, sliding down to the garage bay. He lands and quickly moves for the doors, grabbing the knob on one and pulling it open. He gets a start by finding Cynthia standing behind it, her fist up as if she was just about ready to knock.

"Gah!"

"Oh! Hi…" she says, equally startled.

"PETER!" Ray calls as he lands in the garage bay. His anger quickly turns to surprise as he sees Cynthia over Peter's shoulder. "Oh."

"Oh, Dr. Stantz, I was hoping to see you tonight."

"Huh? Why?" Ray asks, puzzled.

"Well, no doubt you know my piece was airing tonight, and I kind of changed the focus from my original Stay Puft angle to focus more on you…" Cynthia looks down, blushing. "Well, originally it was just a human interest story to grab some ratings, but I…I just kind of liked what I learned about you in my research and…I was wondering if…well, would you maybe like to go get some coffee? Maybe do a follow-up interview? Or…not…" Ray stares at her, taken by complete surprise by this being asked out…by a famous anchor woman. Something that only seems to happen to Peter has just happened to him. Then he realizes while he stands there busy being stunned he's not giving her an answer. He shakes his head to regain his composure to speak.

"Uh, well, yeah! I mean, yeah, sure!" he finally manages to get out. Cynthia looks up at him and smiles, and he steps out of the firehouse to join her. He offers his arm and she takes it as they walk towards the nearest coffee shop. A stunned Peter pokes his head out of the firehouse, looking after them.

"Hey! What about me! The coffee was my idea! Ray! Hey, Ray! Weren't you gonna kill me?"

"Yeah, but I have a feeling I might need to thank you later instead," Ray calls back, smiling at Cynthia.

THE BEGINNING?

GHOSTBUSTERS: PROFESSIONAL PARANORMAL ELIMINATORS VOL. 1 NO. 3 DECEMBER, 2005 Q-CREW COMICS. GHOSTBUSTERS AND ALL RELATED CHARACTERS TM & © COLUMBIA PICTURES, INC. GHOSTBUSTERS: PPE TM & © Q-CREW COMICS. THIS STORY IS ENTIRELY FICTIONAL. ANY SIMILARITIES TO ANY LIVING OR DEAD PERSONS, BUSINESSES OR ORGANIZATIONS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. RELEASED THROUGH ATOMIC MEDIA GROUP.