Parking one block away from the Mercado Hotel the bold Dr. Venkman found himself walking alone down the dark, deserted street. The storm had frightened many New Yorkers over the past few days, may of whom had fled the city after having witnessed the near return of Gozer the Gozerian and the near resurrection of Vigo the Carpathian.

With the camera dangling from its strap around his neck Peter confidently strolled toward the ominous building fearlessly.

"It's quiet." Peter commented to himself as he looked up at the swirling storm encircling the sky over the hotel. A low rumble of thunder echoed from the dark blue clouds and shook the sidewalk beneath his feet. "Never mind."

The police tape that had been wrapped around the front of the building to deter any nosy onlookers was still in place. Just as he and Ray had done before Peter lifted the tape and slipped underneath it easily, pushing open the unlocked front doors of the hotel and stood in the vacated lobby with an inquisitive glint in his eyes.

"Hello?" He instinctively called out only to receive the echo of his own voice as the reply. "Come out, come out where ever you are..." His voice sang out playfully as he coolly walked through the lobby and toward the large door leading to the stairwell. Checking the door of the basement he knocked on it playfully and pushed it open. "Are you descent?" No response from the empty room. "Good! I won't peek..."

Pushing open the door fully with enough force that is banged loudly against the concrete wall Peter nonchalantly resumed his exploration of the basement.

"Nuh-uh!" Peter ducked under the pipe that he had hit his head against during his first entrance of the basement. "Not this time baby!"

Fortunately the expansive basement didn't feature multiple winding corridors or lengthy hallways to hinder his progress. The power had been restored to the building and all of the lights were still burning bright.

"There you are." Peter found the odd furnace once more. "Hello beautiful." Setting up the camera he put the lens to his eye and began snapping photographs. "Smile!"

After taking at least a dozen photos of the furnace from multiple angles Peter then turned off the lights via the break box and took a dozen more photos of the furnace in the dark. The unnatural green glow of the large mysterious device cast a jade aura throughout the room and over Peter himself. The flash of the camera kept the green glow at bay, which meant he had to turn off the flash to even attempt to capture the glow on film.

"Not as good as Vigo, but not as bad as Gozer." Peter quipped coyly as he put the lens cap back in place and turned on the lights. "Don't change a thing, stay just the way you are."

As he turned his back on the furnace to return down the hallway a strong gust of icy wind blew through the basement with enough strength to cause Peter to stumble forward. Turning back to face the furnace the green glowing aura suddenly brightened and intensified as twisted humanoid face jutted outward from the furnace and unleashed an ear piercing shriek that shattered all the light bulbs through basement and down the connected hallway.

Peter covered his ears and ducked in a futile attempt to block out the painful noise as the green banshee let loose her horrible cry.

The banshee herself had hollow, black eyes that seemed as deep as an ocean abyss. She has long white hair that whipped around her face in a frenzy of wind that intensified as shriek heightened in pitch. Her lip less mouth opened wide revealing her jagged, uneven teeth as her powerful voice surged from the netherworld into the real world.

Just as quickly as the ethereal creature appeared she disappeared back into the aura of the furnace leaving only a heart pounding ringing in Peter's ears that temporarily deafened him to the world.

Shaking with fear and confusion in the suddenly dark basement Peter slowly lowered his hands from his ears and stared wide eyed at the unusual contraption.

"This..." He stopped before he began when he realized he couldn't hear himself as he spoke. "I..." He tried again but could only hear the ringing in his ears. "RAY!"

Turning on his heels Peter ran full tilt out of the darkened basement, up the stairs, through the lobby, through the hotel entrance and down the sidewalk to Ecto-1. The sound of broken glass from the shattered bulbs ground into the soles of Peter's shoes crunched vividly with each of his quick, panicked steps into the stormy night.

Inside the quiet bunk room of Ghostbusters HQ Dana stared sadly out the window as she was drawn to the ethereal and eerily beautiful storm. With her arms folded around herself she stood in front of the window watching the swirling storm clouds and listening to the wind as it blew past the old brick building. An occasional rumble of thunder would remind her that the storm had yet to unleash its full potential.

Dana could only think of all of the people in her life that she couldn't bear to lose in the event of a worst case scenario. Her son Oscar, her now husband Peter Venkman, her sister, her mother, the brave scientists who have become her good friends and protections; Ray, Egon and Winston.

It was all at stake.

Only when a weak and quiet voice called her name did Dana awaken from her daydream, or more accurately, her nightmare.

"D...Dana...?"

Turning quickly her eyes were drawn to the bunk where Egon was laying. "Egon." An immense weight was lifted from her shoulders as she approached the bunk and put her hand on his arm as a means of comforting her good friend. "You're awake. You were unconscious for almost eleven hours. How do you feel?"

"My... My chest hurts." He winced midsentence as he struggled to catch his breath before attempting to speak again. "My heads hurts." Wincing once more he tensed up and put a hand to his bandaged chest. "And my chest hurts." He repeated as a means of putting emphasis on his discomfort.

"Do you remember what happened?" She asked sincerely, taking in every word he said and every movement he made from his bunk. "Can you remember anything from last night?"

"I was... I was scanning." Egon put his other to his face as his two fore fingers pressed against the bridge of his nose as he struggled to remember what had happened to him at the Mercado. "The storm. I was taking a... PKE reading. The meter lead me to the roof of the hotel. There was a voice..." He paused as the final word he heard spoken flashed in his mind. "Kismet. The voice said 'kismet'. Then there was a bright flash... What was it?"

"Egon, I don't quite know how to say this, but, you were struck by lightning." Dana wasn't sure how to say something so extreme, so rare and implausible. Keeping her tone steady she chose to be honest and tell him the truth. "The storm caused it. You stumbled back here to the firehouse and I helped you inside. Do you remember getting back here at all?"

"That's right, yes. I remember." He pulled his hand away from his face and stared at Dana's blurry figure beside his bed. "I fell down the hotel's stairwell and lost my glasses. I... I found the elevator. I must've found my way back here through instinct and adrenaline." His head was throbbing but his chest hurt him even more as each breath strained every muscle in his chest. "How bad?"

"Your injury?" She was hoping he wouldn't ask, at least not yet.

From the bunk beside Egon there was a stirring as Ray was awoken by the conversation taking place. He sat upright on his bunk confused and looked around the room. His eyes lit up when he saw that Egon was not only awake but talking. "Spengler!" Ray through his legs off the edge of his bunk, shot to his feet and put his hand on his injured friend's shoulder. "Egon, you're awake! Boy, you sure gave us a scare."

"I'm sorry, Ray." Egon apologized in a rather bewildered manner. "That was not my intention."

Ray gave Dana an inquisitive look and she knew that he too was struggling with whether or not to tell Egon about his close call with death itself.

"How's your chest?" Ray asked as he carefully lifted Egon's hand away from the bandage. Neither he nor Dana wanted to tell Egon the full story. "Any pain or sign of infection?"

"Pain is adamant." Egon admitted tiredly. "Any potential infection has yet to be seen."

"I think Venkman has some pain meds in his footlocker if you need something. I'm sure he'd be willing to share."

"No, thank you. Barbiturates inhibit my thinking process." Egon rubbed at his sore eyes. "Ray I find it extremely difficult and uncomfortable to attempt to make conversation with people I cannot see clearly. Can you please get my spare glasses from my locker?"

"Sure thing pal. I'll be right back." Ray made his way to the fire pole in the corner of the connected rec room and slid into the garage below, out of sight.

"Dana," Egon lightly put his hand over top of hers, which was still resting on his arm. "how bad?"

She swallowed nervously and broke eye contact, staring uneasily at the floor. "Bad."

"I figured as much." He shut his eyes and took in a deep, shuddering breath. "Ray is a terrible liar. I knew by his reaction that my regaining consciousness was seemingly an unexpected feat."

"Egon, when you stumbled back to the firehouse you were bleeding and in a daze. We got you inside and we did our best to take care of your wound. The whole time you were..." She paused to recollect her thoughts and to keep herself from breaking down over the highly emotional and upsetting experience. "You kept muttering 'kismet' over and over again."

"'Kismet'?"

"Yes. Peter says it means 'apocalypse'."

"It's also synonymous with 'chance', 'destiny', 'doom', and even 'luck'. A broad term with oddly specific outcomes."

Ray returned to the second floor with Egon's spare glasses in his hand and walked briskly through the rec room back into the bunk room. "Here you go. I even cleaned the lenses for you."

"Thanks." Egon tried to accept the offered item but his reach was halted by a shooting pain from his chest through his arm. "Ow."

"Let me." Ray easily slipped the glasses on for Egon. "Better?"

"Yes. Thank you."

There was a loud bang as the doors to the garage were forced open. Soon the sound of Ecto-1's engine rumbled through the building reverberating easily through the brick and mortar structure.

"Venkman's back." Ray confirmed as he knew the sound of Ecto-1 very well. Keeping the hearse running smoothly was his hobby. "I hope he has some new information on the Mercado."

Egon furrowed his brow at the mention of the Hotel's name. "Mercado."

"Something wrong?" Ray was trying to not fret over Egon but he still felt immense guilt and was desperate to make sure his friend was going to be okay. "You do remember going to the Mercado, don't you? You went to investigate while I went to see if Winston was back in town."

"Yes, I do remember." Egon confirmed through half closed eyes. "I also remember that the Mercado once went by another name."

Dana was intrigued by Egon's quite serious reaction. "What was it before?"

"It was called 'The Ingress'."

"And why is that significant? I mean, what's the connection? A name is only a name, right?"

Ray felt a knot tighten in his stomach. "Usually yes, but I this case I don't think so."

Peter raced up the staircase, nearly falling as he risked missing each step in his rushing panic and interrupted loudly. "Ray, we have a problem. A BIG problem!"

Dana felt Egon's hand tighten over her own.

Egon shut his eyes entirely as he tried to breathe through the chronic pain in his chest. "'Ingress' means 'portal'."

...to be continued...