The dark blue swirling clouds of the ghostly storm seemed to thicken and surge with psychokinetic energy. Hovering over the hotel like a bat from the ceiling the storm itself was an ominous, unsettling sight to behold. As a brisk wind blew over the city the storm clouds spun around at a steady pace, threatening to drop down like a funnel and destroy everything it dared to touch.

"I don't like this Peter." Ray was using the freshly repaired PKE meter to scan the air as Ecto-1 neared the hotel. "These readings are already intense and we're still two blocks away from the hotel."

"Relax Ray. I'm sure that a storm of doom lingering over New York City only looks worse than it really is." Peter was using his well known sarcasm as a means of disguising his mounting fears. "Let's just check out the hotel and head back to the firehouse."

Ray shook his head as he rolled down his window and looked out toward the storm above. The air was thick with the smell of impending rain and ozone as it passed through his hair. The closer the car came to the hotel the more intense the smell and the more intense the wind blew as it encircled the seemingly targeted hotel.

Stopping the car on the street in front of the hotel it was evident that the entire building was deserted and powerless. Dark windows, dark doors and even the sign on the front of the hotel was dark. There was a line of police tape that blocked off the entrance of the building, but no police officers were patrolling the area.

"Ready?" Ray asked as he climbed out of the car and waved the PKE meter in front of the building. "This is definitely the source of the wild readings. Whatever happened to Egon must've happened here."

"Whatever you say, Ray." Peter joined Ray on the sidewalk beside the car. "Come on." He lifted the bright yellow police tape and slipped underneath it. "Let's get this over with."

"You can't cross the police tape!" Ray nearly shouted as he pointed at the border Peter just passed.

"Apparently I can." Peter retorted.

"But we-"

"Ray, how are we supposed to investigate the hotel unless we get inside the hotel?"

"Good point." Ray looked around suspiciously before quickly lifting up the tape, slipping beneath it and running inside the front doors past Peter. "Come on! Before someone sees us!"

Peter rolled his eyes as he followed Ray at a casual pace. "Yes, before someone sees. Good thing we didn't drive something completely conspicuous with lights, sirens or our business name and number printed on the sides."

Walking into the lobby of the hotel Ray and Peter found themselves surrounded by abandoned luggage, dropped bags and the sound of a buzzing from the receptionist's phone left off the hook.

"Something really bad must have happened here." Ray remarked on the dreary situation. "If the building was struck by lightning from the storm we should find electrical scorching at the point of impact."

"So the roof?" Peter gave Ray a strange look.

"Precisely." Ray made his way toward the elevator and pressed the call button. "Coming?"

"No."

"But why? We need to-"

"Because the elevator isn't coming, Ray." Peter pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose in a somewhat annoyed gesture. "There's no power. Remember?"

"Right." Ray took an embarrassed step to the side and looked for the doorway leading to the stairs. "I knew that!"

Peter was tired from the extensive amount of traveling he had just accomplished over the past few days, and his unspoken worry for Egon was only pushing him to his limits quicker. Following Ray to the stairwell he looked up and sighed with a heavy tone that echoed through the lengthy, tall corridor.

"Up." Ray commented, his own voice echoing like Peter. "This... might take a while."

"How many floors does the Mercado have?"

"Just a guess here, but I'd say... thirty-two."

"Great. When we reach the nineteenth floor you're going to carry me."

"Maybe we can get the power going again. The breaker must be in the basement." Ray suggested as just the thought of walking up thirty stories made his legs hurt.

"You go up, I'll go down." Peter decided as he turned on his heel and made his way to the basement at the bottom of the staircase, one level lower than the ground floor they started on.

In the poor lighting Peter found his way to the basement door and pushed it open only to find more darkness and emptiness. The hotel itself was creepy enough when there was no one around, but the basement was its own level of dark and disturbing.

"Where is that breaker box?" Peter muttered to himself as he pressed his hands against the walls to guide him into the large expansive room. "It better- OW!"

"Peter?" Ray called down from the staircase. "You okay?"

"Fine, fine." Peter pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead. "Just a concussion." With his opposite hand he found the low hanging pipe that was concealed in the darkness until he walked headfirst into it. "I'm fine."

Stumbling through the darkness Peter caught a glimpse of a faint green glow. Curious about the ethereal, almost unnatural light he walked down the narrowly lit corridor thanks to the green glow and edged around the corner.

"What the...?" A large machine powered by some unknown force was glowing with life in a large opening in the rear of the basement. "What kind of nutty science project is this?"

"Peter!" Ray called again. "Hurry up! We don't know how long we have!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Peter turned his attention from the machine. "I'm on it! Now where's that, aha!" Mounted on the wall just beside the end of the corridor he had walked down was the large breaker box. Popping it open and using the green glow of the machine Peter was able to find the main power switch and flipped it back on.

The building surged to life as the restored power filled every floor of the hotel. Light bulbs shone to life, the elevator doors opened and the sign outside the hotel reignited with an almost inviting brightness.

"Ta-da!" He closed the breaker box. "Damn I'm good!"

The machine behind Peter had lost its eerie green glow in the restored light.

"Huh. That's some crazy furnace."

"That did it!" Ray yelled down a third time. "Meet me at the elevator!"

"Where else would I meet you?" Peter muttered to himself as he was able to far more easily make his way back through the basement in the light and rejoin Ray on the ground floor.

Reaching the ground floor Peter saw Ray standing in front of the elevator as he waited for the doors to open. The lobby was nice and bright but the area still felt heavy and awkward with a foreboding weight.

The doors to the elevator parted with a 'ding'. As Ray and Peter stepped inside the elevator car they noticed a few drops of somewhat fresh blood on the floor and faint bloody smudges on the walls.

"You don't think..." Ray felt his stomach knot as his thoughts went back to Egon.

"I don't know Ray." Peter looked up at the ceiling to look away from the disturbing stains as he pressed the button for the top floor. "And I don't want to know."

The doors shut with a slow shudder and the elevator began its long ascent to the roof of the hotel.

Back at Ghostbusters headquarters Dana kept vigil over Egon as he rested easily in his bunk. Unable to stand the thick silence that penetrated every brick of the old firehouse she had turned the small TV back and on and waited any updates on the storm or the hotel.

Flipping through the various channels she came across one static filled station after another.

"What's the matter with the reception?" She asked herself as she grew increasingly frustrated. "Can't one thing go right tonight?"

As she leaned on the counter with a heavy doubt on her shoulders Dana turned her gaze back to Egon as he slept int he bunk. He was breathing slowly but deeply as the medication administered by Peter coursed through his veins. No longer coughing or muttering it seemed as though the injured scientist was well on his way to recovering from his devastating injury.

"Peter, what's going on? Why do these bizarre things keep happening?"

Reaching the top floor of the hotel the elevator doors opened and the two exploring scientists stepped outside the car and into the empty hallway. Just like the lobby on the ground floor many abandoned suitcases and bags littered the ground as hotel guests fled the building out of fear, panic and frustration.

"Geez, you'd think there was a rapture or something!" Ray tried to joke but quickly found his comment to be of poor taste. "Sorry..."

"It's okay." Peter was surprisingly empathetic. "You didn't mean anything by it."

Feeling ashamed of his tactlessness Ray followed behind Peter quietly as he resumed scanning the area with the PKE meter.

"Sounds like we're heading in the right direction." Peter was using the high pitched squeals and chirps of the meter as a guide as he walked down the halls. "I think there's a roof access at the end of this hall."

"Let's just hope we can find some answers once we're there."

"There." Peter spotted the door, still propped open, leading to the roof. "And I bet you another ten bucks that this is how Egon got to the roof first."

"I bet you're right."

As Peter walked through the door he heard a distinct 'crunch' under his foot. Bending down he picked up the offending, crushed object and held it up for Ray to see. "Yeah, I'm right." In his hand he held the broken frames and lenses of Egon's lost glasses. "He was here."

Ray swallowed nervously as watched small fragments of broken glass fall from the damaged frames. "We better be careful. We still don't know what caused this or what could be waiting for us."

Peter stepped back and pushed Ray ahead of him. "You lead!"

"Thanks Peter, you're a good friend."

"And a better lover."

"What?"

"What?" Peter replied feigning innocence. "I didn't say anything."

The PKE meter suddenly spiked and drew both men's attention to the device. There was something very powerful on the roof, and it seemed to be growing in strength by the second.

Approaching the rooftop the meter continued to spike, squeal and chirp as it picked up very strong and fluctuating psychokinetic readings.

"Oh boy..." Ray was wisely nervous about continuing any further. "This is big, VERY big."

The storm clouds above began rumble with thunder and flash with streaks of lightning.

"Ray, let's go back." Peter put his hand on Ray's shoulder and tried to pull him back inside the stairwell of the roof access. In the process he noticed the hairs on the back his hand beginning to stand up from building static in the air. "Let's go back NOW."

"But we're so close to identifying the source of the disturbances, maybe even the source of the storm itself!" Ray rebutted as he watched in a trance as the needle of the PKE meter danced back and forth. "If we leave now-"

"MOVE!" Peter yelled as he pulled Ray back inside the stairwell causing both men to fall to the ground.

A bolt of lightning struck the roof where Ray had been standing, leaving a smoldering crater in its wake.

...to be continued...