The large elevator shuddered with halting stomach churning jerks as it descended from the top floor of the Mercado Hotel back to the ground floor. Egon, the lone occupant, had propped himself up at an uncomfortable angle in the far corner of the elevator car; one hand supporting himself on the handrail and the other pressed firmly against the red wound on his chest.

Still panting for breath Egon tried to focus his mind and keep himself from panicking. Each gasping breath burned into every fiber of his being. His trembling hands were almost numb and barely able to keep hold of the railing and his own chest.

The ringing in Egon's ears mercifully quieted and his vision cleared. It was only then he realized that at some point between the second strike and his fall down the stairs he had lost his glasses. While the temporarily blinding whiteness faded his vision was still blurry.

The elevator came a puttering stop on the ground floor as the lights flickered for the final time. The doors slowly parted and Egon pulled himself up from the ground and used the wall to navigate his way out of the elevator car and back into the main lobby of the hotel.

He was alone.

All occupants and staff of the hotel had fled after the two consecutive lightning strikes rocked the building. Dropped suitcases, bags and even purses were scattered across the floor. The phone on the receptionists desk was left off the hook and hanging off the edge sounding off with an error tone.

A loud groan emanated from the basement of the library as the power through the entire building went out. The hotel was dark, quiet and abandoned all within a matter of seconds.

Stumbling across the lobby Egon forced himself to walk to the main doors despite the horrific pain in his chest and his lack of breath. His fingers and hands were tingling with numbness with each step he took. Pushing the front doors opened Egon hung onto the door frame with his dwindling strength as the bone searing pain in his chest stung anew in the unnaturally brisk air.

"Ray..." Egon propped himself up against the door as he struggled to maintain focus. "Need your... help. Kismet..."

The sidewalk was just as vacated and empty at the hotel itself. No one was walking past, no cars were driving by. Alone and wounded Egon had no choice but to make his way back to Ghostbusters HQ eight blocks away on foot.

Ecto-1 backed into the garage of Ghostbusters HQ with Ray behind the wheel. Alone. The large renovated hearse was as cumbersome as it was iconic, but it was still a reliable source of transportation. Ray prided himself on his devoted restoration of the long neglected vehicle.

Awaiting the return of the titular Ghostbusters, receptionist Janine Melnitz was sitting behind her desk with a smarmy grin on her face. "Welcome back." She greeted. "Did you find anything out about the storm?" She asked curiously as she leaned over her desk with interest at the returned scientist. "Or Winston for that matter?"

"Not yet." Ray shrugged off his coat and put the keys to the car in his pocket. "Any messages? Any word from Egon or Peter?"

"No and yes." Janine replied as she motioned toward the rec room at the top of the staircase.

Ray just arched his eyebrow as he went up into the rec room without any clue as to why Janine seemed so unusually chipper.

Inside the rec room the low muttering of the small portable television could be heard and the smell of coffee was thick in the air. The TV was sitting on the billiard table and set to a news station. Standing at the counter with a freshly brewed pot of coffee Dana turned and smiled warmly at her truly unique friend. "Ray!" She greeted with a melodic joy in her voice. "So good to see you!"

"Dana!" Ray went in for a hug which she happily accepted. "Boy am I glad you're here! Where's Peter and Oscar?"

Dana stepped back from the hug and ran a hand through her thick wavy hair. "Peter took Oscar and my sister out of town. They'll be staying at a hotel in Jersey until this..." She glanced at the nearby small TV with a news report on the very same weather phenomenon being discussed. "whatever this is clears up. She was worried, and I didn't want the baby being exposed to anything paranormal."

"Can't say that I blame you." Ray chimed in with complete understanding. "I think that's for the best. But why are you here?"

"My neighbor Mrs. Nelson told me that you had stopped by. So I told Peter to find me here after he finished taking care of the baby."

"Do you know when Peter will be back?"

"Soon, I think." Dana's reply was less than reaffirming. "I'm not sure how long he'll be."

"Great." Was stressing himself to the brink of fatigue as his mind was racing with every possible worst case scenario that his twisted imagination could conjure. "Winston's out of the state, Peter is out the state and Egon is chasing down readings on the streets."

Dana sympathetically took Ray's hand in her own. "Ray please don't blame yourself. You're not the one responsible for this."

"Yeah, thanks." He forced himself to smile as he realized that it was a little silly to try and carry the full weight of the situation himself. "Look, Egon should be back soon. Why don't you make yourself at home? I'm sure Peter will be here any minute, he wouldn't leave you alone for too long."

Dana appreciated Ray's renewed confidence and resumed her routine in the kitchen. "You hungry? I just made some coffee, I could whip something up in the kitchen for you."

"No thanks, I'm not very hungry. I'll be down in the lab checking over the recent data samples. When Egon and Peter get here-"

"I'll point them in your direction." She knew exactly what to do and what to say to ease his mind. "Go. Everything will be okay. I know it."

Without another word Ray took his leave and slipped into the lab. The unorthodox scientist was as curious as he was tired.

"Poor guy." Dana remarked as she poured a cup of coffee. She carried it out of the rec room and down to the main area where Janine had her desk set up. "How long has it been like this?" She asked as she handed Janine the coffee. "We were gone for three weeks, what did we miss?"

"A lot. And thanks." Janine replied as she gratefully took the offered coffee. "It's been like this for..." She quickly tallied the days in her head. "sixteen days now."

"Wow. Sixteen days?" Dana had no idea that this was going on. "We didn't know anything was happening back here."

"Yeah, I can't imagine that Greece would be up to date with New York and its latest in strangeness." Janine looked at the large clock on the far wall. "Hey, could you tell Ray that I had to go. My mother's sick and she doesn't like to be alone at night."

"Oh sure." Dana's heart went out to the fiery receptionist. She knew all too well the emotional strain of having family needing help, especially during times of crisis. "I'll take care of things here, you go."

"Thanks Dana, you're a peach!" Janine grabbed her coat and scarf and slipped it around her shoulders. "I'll be back in the morning, goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

Janine left the old firehouse and disappeared into the night.

Dana looked around the garage admiring the enhanced equipment and overall restoration of the near century old building. Glancing over Janine's desk is when she noticed that Janine had accidentally left her purse behind.

"Oh, shoot." Dana grabbed the small bag from the edge of the desk and rushed out the door to try and find Janine before she was gone. "Janine? Janine, you left your purse!"

"D-Dana..." A hoarse male voice called her name as a tall figure suddenly fell forward into her arms. "K...Kismet... Kismet..."

Bleeding and weak Egon had finally made his way back to HQ.

"Oh my God! Egon!" Dana managed to hold onto his heavy form as he began to lose consciousness. "Come on, come on!" She encouraged as she took one of his long arms and wrapped it around her shoulders. Wrapping her own arm around his waist she poorly lifted and carried the injured man from the sidewalk into the firehouse. "Ray! Help! It's Egon!" She called out as Egon began coughing between his panting breaths. "Ray! Help us! Egon's hurt!"

...to be continued...