Wow! What a boost in hits! Thanks for coming along on this ride - we're just about at the end of it. Enjoy this latest chapter, and feel free to let me know what you think!
Peter dashed through the trees on a course toward the south end of the park after leaving Sabrina, hoping to find some sign that the guys and Lau were nearby. Fortunately he didn't run into anyone else, human or ghost, and finally broke through to come out onto Fourteenth Street. He looked around quickly, noticing the unusually light traffic and Ecto-1 parked just down the road.
"Finally, something's going right tonight," he muttered. "Now if only they brought an extra pack or two..."
He ran up to the car and peeked into the back end, finding that fate had decided to be kind. There was one pack left - his own Old Betsy - with a number of blinking traps beside it. "Yes!" he exulted quietly, pulling his keys out of his pocket and quickly retrieving his weapon of choice. Once he had donned the device, he moved to the front seat, slipping inside to use the radio to contact the others since they were nowhere in sight.
"Guys? It's Peter. I'm at Ecto right now. Where are you?"
All he heard was static.
Peter muttered a vicious oath and decided to try one last time, just in case they could hear him but not respond. "Okay, guys, I'm going to keep moving. Just in case you're hearing this, Dillinger's being held toward the northwest corner of the park, and Sabrina and I are going to go get him. There's a circle etched into the ground somewhere near the center, I think, so watch yourselves. You won't be able to miss it - there's a huge glowing doorway in the middle of it. There's one last thing they have to do to open it. We've got to stop them. Catch you soon. Peter out."
He replaced the radio and resecured the vehicle, then adjusted his pack slightly and took off back the way he came. The guys could take care of themselves, but Sabrina was going to need his help and probably sooner than anyone thought.
Sabrina watched from the trees as Fitzgerald and Vega walked Dillinger toward the huge pentagram in the center of the park, the sniper growling something at his captors that she couldn't quite make out due to her distance. She was surprised when the ghost called a halt to their progress about halfway to their destination. "Do it now," he told the black-robed man.
"What?" Fitzgerald asked, confused. "But we don't have that much farther before we reach the circle. Gramzen is waiting for us."
"I know he is, but I think I'd like to arrive wearing the gift he's providing me. I'm just itching to try it on." Vega grinned evilly as he eyed up Dillinger's frozen form.
"If I could flip you the bird right now, I would. Just want you to know," the government agent said sarcastically.
"Cast it, Fitzgerald."
"But I thought..." The sorcerer sighed. "Fine. But I'm going to go closer to the circle. As long as I can still see you everything will be fine, and I want to be there when Gramzen enters our world. He will be certain to reward me for opening the gate for him."
Vega's expression was amused. "If that's what you want, go ahead. One way or the other, I get what I want." He grinned again at Dillinger.
Sabrina's brows creased in thought as she pondered the conversation she had just overheard. As Fitzgerald moved to his new position alone, just barely visible from where she remained hidden, she realized there was something more to this than just killing her teammate slowly and painfully. She just didn't know exactly what it was.
Ancient arcane words began to echo through the air, Fitzgerald's voice droning on melodramatically as it rose and fell with each phrase. Sabrina tensed, wishing they had brought Damien with them. Their team's arcanist would have at least some idea of what to do. She was just lost.
The words paused after a few moments. "Do it now while I finish the last two sections of the ritual!" the blond wizard cried out. "The timing should work out perfectly!"
Vega, who had been pacing during the first half of the spell, stopped in his tracks and grinned ferally at Dillinger. "Now revenge is truly mine," he snarled, building up a huge psi blast in his right hand. "I've already hit you twice with this, Dillinger," he said in a triumphantly menacing tone. "And you know what they say... three strikes and you're out." The frozen sniper could only growl futilely at the gloating ghost before him.
Sabrina gasped as Vega prepared to fire. Running forward, she threw up a psychic shield around her friend just as the deadly blast came in, watching as once again it caused the energy to flow harmlessly around the startled agent. "I don't think so, Vega!" she cried.
She stopped dead in her tracks as he spun to face her. "Marconi! I should have known you were the one that freed him! And now I'll do what I should have done at the library!" Another psi blast built up quickly and flew at the shocked psychologist before she had time to completely regain her balance.
"No!" a new voice called as a brown-colored blur slammed into the black-haired woman and took the blow for her. His scream of pain temporarily drowned out the arcane chanting that continued on nearer to the circle.
Sabrina flew forward and managed to roll with the fall, somersaulting back to her feet in one smooth motion. She quickly turned and looked at the man who had saved her. "Peter!" she cried, running back to him. "Why did you do that? Are you all right?" She knelt beside the sprawled form, brushing the bangs off his forehead as he lay on his side, his position supported by the proton pack on his back.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be a hero," the Ghostbuster coughed out. "That's what heroes do."
"You idiot," she said in return, glancing over her shoulder at where Vega was now slowly advancing on the still-frozen Dillinger. "He could have killed you."
"He said it took three times to do that. Now get over there and save your partner."
"I'm not sure I can leave you, Peter. I think you need medical attention."
"Probably, but that's not the point. Go finish your assignment, Agent Marconi." His pain-filled green gaze held her emotionally-torn blue one until she started to rise. Then a smile softened Peter's features and his head slumped to the ground, his eyelids closing.
Sabrina gazed at him a second longer to make sure he was breathing then turned and hurried toward the eminent confrontation between the two trained killers. Her mind was too jumbled to concentrate on another shield, so she did the only thing she could think of. Just as Vega was about to put his fist, surrounded by a nimbus of psi energy, into Dillinger's stomach, Sabrina dove in front of the intended victim, taking the full force of the blast right to her diaphragm. That same force blew her backwards, pushing her into Dillinger and sending the both of them backward about ten feet to land in an interesting jumble of Sabrina's limbs over and around Dillinger's stiff, unyielding body.
"Okay, that hurt," the sniper muttered as his teammate struggled to keep breathing. Just then, a soul-wrenching scream cut through the night, making everything pause. "What was that?" he asked as he found that suddenly he could move again. He shifted Sabrina off of him as gently as he could considering her condition, and quickly got himself into a crouched position beside her.
"I couldn't tell you," Vega replied as a blinding flash of golden light shot into the air from the vicinity of the gateway. "But I will tell you this. I'm going to kill you, Dillinger, and I'm going to enjoy every second!"
Dillinger dodged a small ball of energy that exploded behind him. Before he could move away from his downed teammate, he felt a tug on his coat. "Peter," she gasped when he looked down at her. "Proton pack."
His eyes began to gleam wickedly and he grinned to match. "Gotcha," he muttered, then moved out of the way of another blast.
Sidestepping another volley of energy bursts, the dark-haired man weaved his way over to the fallen Ghostbuster and started to tug on the pack. "Un...fasten the...straps," Peter managed to breathe without opening his eyes. "I'll...roll forward."
Dillinger blinked at the unexpected response and did as suggested. "I didn't realize you were still with us," he said as he ducked another shot. Vega's furious rage echoed through the night.
"Party's...not over," the brown-haired man whispered, the corners of his mouth twitching.
"Dang right it's not," the E-Branch agent confirmed decisively. "I haven't caught him yet." He freed the pack and pulled it on as Peter rolled onto his front, his head turned toward Sabrina. Again he evaded the explosions of energy as he shifted position to keep the stray shots away from the prone psychologists. He guessed that anger was causing Vega's lack of accuracy, but then again, he was just that good. Dillinger grinned at the thought.
"That's not going to do you any good, Dillinger," Vega said tauntingly, the evil gleam in his eyes not quite on this side of sanity. "I have a demon backing me. My power is limitless!"
"Haven't you heard size doesn't matter?" Dillinger shot back. "It's how you use it that counts."
"We'll see about that," the ghost said, amused. "The power in that weapon will eventually run out, and you will eventually tire. Then we'll see how you use it."
The sniper's response wasn't in words. He fired, hitting Vega square in the chest. The ghost merely crossed his arms under the shot and smirked. "See? Your little squirt gun doesn't have any effect on me. I have the protection of a demon lord. This is nothing."
"We'll see about that," Dillinger muttered under his breath, trying to give the stream a quick flick to catch his opponent in the eyes. It moved the way he wanted it to, but it had no effect.
It was then that the circle exploded. Both antagonists managed to remain standing as the shock wave washed over them, and Dillinger somehow kept the beam in place. To both their surprise, Vega roiled with the force of the proton stream, it catching him and keeping him in place. "No!" he cried, fiercely writhing in the ray of energy, nearly breaking free in his desperation. "This can't be happening!"
"But it is, Vega! I guess your demon lord buddy didn't want to back a lost cause!" Dillinger's grin split his face.
From her position in the dirt to the side of the struggle, Sabrina watched as her teammate fought to keep Vega under wraps, waging a fight of her own to keep breathing regularly. Pushing that aside for the time being as less important than the task at hand, she somehow summoned the strength to get to her feet and jog staggeringly over to where Peter lay still. She lowered herself carefully to the ground beside him, reaching for something on his belt.
"I usually prefer...somewhere more private," Peter whispered as Sabrina got what she was looking for and prepared to rise again.
The black-haired woman fought not to laugh. "Don't do that, Peter. I can't afford to lose it right now." Her voice was breathy and broken.
"You shouldn't...be up at all," he replied. "But you are...anyway. Just come back...in one piece. We haven't...had our date yet."
"You got it, Peter. Just remember, our side's winning." She got up and moved on.
Dillinger was trying to work out how to keep the stream on Vega while he worked the trap attached to the pack free to toss out. He couldn't wait to see this thorn in his side go down. A movement out of the corner of his right eye caught his attention, and he spared a quick glance just in time to see Sabrina jog up and throw a trap out under the fiercely writhing ghost.
"Trap out!" she called, closing the space between them.
He turned his head to fully face her, fury transforming his features into something cold and frightening. She smiled as she tossed the foot pedal at his feet. "Put him away, Dillinger. Finally for the last time."
His expression cleared as he turned back to his main objective and Sabrina wrapped both her arms around her midsection, her breathing short and shallow. Both watched their long-time nemesis realize that he had lost, this time for good. "No!" Vega cried. "This isn't over! You're mine, Dillinger! You and Marconi are mine!"
"Tell someone who cares," Dillinger said coldly as he brought his foot down on the pedal, the doors of the trap springing open and the wedge of bright white light enveloping the still-struggling spirit. His and Sabrina's faces were expressionless as they witnessed Vega's last moments of freedom in the world of the living.
With one last wordless howl, Vincent Vega disappeared into the trap. Dillinger turned to Sabrina, an evil grin blooming on his features, to see a completely relieved smile on hers. The psychologist's expression softened to something undefinable then went blank as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap. The sniper gasped and dropped to his knees beside her, holstering the thrower as he did. She wasn't breathing.
Lau's hazel eyes fluttered open and he groaned. "That was a doozy," he muttered, raising himself to his elbows and looking around. He saw the forms of the three Ghostbusters strewn about around him, Ray to his left and Egon and Winston to his right, all of them still unconscious.
The Chinese man dragged himself to his feet and trudged over to where the black man lay, having thought he saw some movement. "Hey, Winston," he called gently, kneeling down beside him. "It's okay to get up. The big, bad demon's gone now."
A soft moan drifted up from the supine man. "He better be after all that," Winston declared, a hand reaching for his head as his eyelids opened to reveal slightly dazed dark brown eyes. "I don't like the idea of going through an explosion just to find out the bad guy made it, too."
"Yeah, well, he wasn't the only one we had to worry about. Vega's still out there, and he's got Dillinger and Sabrina."
"And Peter." The dazed look faded away. "Are you okay, Lau?"
"I'm just fine. But we better go check on the others if you're up for it."
"You bet I am. Help me up." Lau offered him a hand and tugged Winston to his feet. Then the two of them moved over to Egon, who was just beginning to stir.
"That was not pleasant," the physicist muttered as he rolled to the side and pushed himself up into a sitting position.
"Better than some of the things we've dealt with," Winston said with a smile. "You okay, Egon?"
"I believe I may be suffering from a mild concussion and a number of scrapes and bruises, but other than that I'm fine. What about you?"
"About the same," the black man responded as Lau pulled the blond man to his feet. "We need to check on Ray and then get our three missing people back. The gate's gone."
Egon pulled out his PKE meter. It beeped slightly, the arms moving upward, but nowhere near the way it had reacted earlier. "You are correct, Winston. The gate has indeed been closed and Gramzen forced back. The only spiritual activity I'm detecting now is Vega."
"Is he here?" a weak voice asked from the last country heard from. Ray managed to maneuver himself to a sitting position, pausing to regain his balance before refocusing on the others.
"No, slightly to the northwest," Egon replied. "Are you all right, Raymond?"
"I will be. But we need to get Peter, Sabrina, and Dillinger back. Then we can worry about our little problems."
"You guys are amazing," Lau said with a small smile and a shake of his head. "So let's go."
The four of them gathered their wits and moved out in the direction the meter suggested Vega was in. Just as they reached the opposite edge of the circle, a wedge of white light shot into the sky, and soon after disappeared. "That was a ghost trap!" Ray exclaimed.
"I am no longer detecting any signs of Vega," Egon declared.
"Well, that's saying something then, isn't it?" Lau commented with a cheesy grin. Then something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. "You guys go ahead. I think I see something over there I want to check out."
"You sure you don't want back up?" Winston offered.
"I'll be fine. The only one left if you guys are right would be whoever etched that circle and cast the spell to let Gramzen out. And if that's him, he's not much of a threat. Bodies on the ground like that usually aren't."
"Call out if you need us," Egon reminded them as the three Ghostbusters continued on.
"Like a foghorn," Lau assured them, separating and moving to his own destination.
Egon, Ray, and Winston rushed over to where the others were when they caught sight of someone wearing a proton pack kneeling beside someone who was stretched out on the ground. Thinking it was Peter, they were surprised to find Dillinger giving Sabrina mouth to mouth resuscitation and their friend lying off to the side, unconscious. "Dillinger?" Ray asked as the three of them came to a startled halt. "What happened?"
"Call the paramedics," he gasped out. "I'll explain later."
"The mobile phone should be working in Ecto," Egon said as he quickly moved over to Peter's side. He found the psychologist still breathing and wondered what could have taken him down.
"Spengs?" a whispered voice, barely audible, asked from the ground in front of the physicist. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Peter. I'm here." Relief shone through Egon's tone.
"Everyone okay?"
"Dillinger is still working on Sabrina, but we're about to get the paramedics. Everyone else is fine."
"Oh, good. Make sure they check me out, too, okay, Spengs?" With that, Peter finally passed out altogether.
"Of course, Peter," Egon said gently, brushing his best friend's bangs away from his forehead.
Lau ran up to them just as Winston was about to leave for the mobile phone in the car. "Well, it looks like Spiritech's magic-user is out for the count. I called the paramedics when I found him. Things don't look good." He finally caught sight of the two kneeling men and the activities happening around the blinking trap. "What the hell? Sabrina! Dillinger, what's going on?"
"Mouth to mouth, Lau," the sniper quipped a bit breathlessly as he came up from giving her one more breath. "What's it look like?"
"Thank you for calling the EMTs, Lau," Ray said, moving over to spell Dillinger. "Now we don't have to run back to the car."
"I forgot you guys had those things with you," Winston said.
"You weren't the only one, Winston," Egon said, still holding Peter's hand.
"Me too," Ray said briefly, having taken over for the dark-haired man in the black trenchcoat.
"Well, they got called so don't worry about it," Dillinger said from his seat on the ground next to Ray.
Lau looked around seriously for a moment. "So now all that there's left to do is wait."