Augur radiated an unfathomable power as it used the receptionist's body to walk from the ethereal plane to the mortal world. Steadily the human features of the receptionist faded away as a more demonic aesthetic took hold. Her short black hair lengthened to her waist as it took on a fiery red color, as her dark brown eyes brightened to a lime green and her fair skin became almost ivory white. Two small protrusions formed beneath her skin at her hairline and emerged as two separate, sharp horns. As she smiled wickedly her teeth seemed to angle abruptly into a fanged grin of sinister intent.

Just as easily as her physical appearance changed, as did her attire. The commonplace red blazer and black slacks of her uniform disintegrated in a cloud of smoldering orange embers, leaving a flowing thin, black veil which wrapped around her entire body; starting at her chest, encircling her waist and her hips, while trailing down her left leg. Two individualized strips from the same veil extended from the top of her chest and wove around her upper arms to her elbows.

Taking a barefooted step forward storm quieted in both its crashing thunder and lightning strikes as the wind slowed to a calm breeze.

"Egon," Peter spoke in a low tone as he kept his voice from shaking with the fear that welled up in his throat. "she's coming toward us. We should do something now..."

Unwilling to flee from the confrontation or leave Ray behind Egon could only rise to his feet and aim his proton wand at the newly arrived demigoddess of destruction.

Peter mirrored Egon's move and fixed his gaze upon the horrifyingly beautiful figure. "Freeze! You have one chance to return to your world and leave our world in peace." He warned in a harsh voice. "Choose wisely."

Augur paused her movements, unphased by the seemingly empty threat. She gave Peter an evil glare that sent a chill up his spine before giving the same icy stare to Egon. Focusing on Ray, who was still unconscious and face down on the roof, she pointed a finger at the prone Ghostbuster.

"No!" Egon yelled as he reacted quickly, perceiving her swift gesture as an impending attack. Firing directly at the Augur's chest he unleashed a blast of his proton stream.

The intense beam of energy from the proton pack managed to push Augur backward, closer to the portal from whence the ethereal power flowed. Augur attempted to deflect the beam with the raise of her hand, but Peter used his own proton stream to keep her movements all the more restricted.

"We got her!" Peter called out as he attempted to take a step forward, putting himself between Augur and helpless Ray. "Don't mess with Ray, that's my job!"

The high pitched scream of the banshee lashed out with an ear splitting siren song. Egon and Peter struggled to keep their aim steady as the urge to cover their ears to shield away the deafening cry tempted them with each passing second with the painful cry echoing across the rooftop.

From beyond the portal the banshee swept through the air, passing by Augur and tackling Peter with a mighty shove!

"Peter!" Egon watched in horror as he his friend was sent flying backward through the air, the proton stream being shut down in the process.

Without the second stream to hold her at bay Augur managed to raise her hand, deflect Egon's single particle stream and cause a power surge that sent Egon falling to the ground under a painful wave of power.

Satisfied with the current condition of the weakened Ghostbusters Augur lifted her arms out to its sides and began to float from the roof and up to the sky with minimal effort. Static charged the air as the demigoddess began absorb any and all untapped energy that lingered in the stormy air.

Peter struggled to get back up, to get off his back and onto one knee so he could aim and fire again, but the banshee circled around him and tried to claw at his face. Using the proton wand as a small barricade between himself and the menacing banshee he was unable to fire or to get to his feet.

"Peter..." Egon was laying on his side with his eyes shut tight, one arm wrapped around his chest as the impact surely reopened the healing wounds that had already hindered his every move. "I... I can't..."

"Don't let her touch Ray!" Peter responded boldly as he continued to fight against the banshee. "Get him to safety!"

Egon forced his eyes open. Looking at Ray, who was laying defenselessly just a few feet away, Egon made the only logical decision he could process. Using one arm he slowly, awkwardly dragged himself across the roof and over to Ray and pressed his hand against Ray's neck; needing to feel the pulse as reassurance. With one arm still wrapped protectively around his throbbing chest, Egon used his one free hand and rolled Ray from his stomach and onto his uninjured side. Egon then patted the sides of Ray's face in attempt to awaken his downed friend.

"Ray, look at me. Wake up." Egon begged as he watched Augur hovering above the portal, fueling itself on the remaining power contained within the storm clouds above. "We need your help." Egon winced in tremendous pain as every muscle in his chest began spasming from the continued physical assault he had endured in such a short amount of time. "We... We can't do this alone!"

Peter continued to struggle with the banshee. Having wrested the wand out of the spiritual siren's grip he took a quick shot at Augur in the sky only to see his efforts fail. One particle stream, even after being enhanced and upgraded, still wasn't strong enough to stop the demigoddess.

"Egon, we need to get her back through the portal, NOW." Peter side stepped the banshee as she took another swiping dive at him. "If she recharges from the storm we'll never be able to stop her!"

"Hear that?" Lamenting his current situation Egon pulled his arm from his chest and saw the unmistakable crimson color of fresh blood beginning to seep through the fabric of his jumpsuit. "Ray, get up!" Already feeling vulnerable Egon easily admitted that he was in trouble. "I'm still hurt."

Seemingly as if he had been waiting to hear those words Ray slowly stirred as consciousness seeped back in. His lax face suddenly contorted as the burning pain in his side became to very first thing Ray was able to feel as he began waking up. "Ow..." He moaned as he placed once hand on his burnt, bloody side. "What the hell?" He shook his head as he opened his eyes and stared at the blackened torn bits of fabric of his jumpsuit. "What happened?!"

"The trap exploded. The banshee escaped." Egon explained in the simplest of terms for the sake of their already limited time. "I'm sorry, I didn't reprogram the traps to handle-"

"Egon," Ray lifted hand to silence his guilt riddled friend. "neither did I. Now we know better..." Weakly he tried to lift his head to look up, but he was still too stunned by the initial explosion to move too much. "What's going on?"

"Augur has arrived." Egon put his good hand under Ray's head and neck to support the injured occultist as he carefully pushed himself up from his side to sit down normally. "And Peter is trying to take down the banshee. Again."

"Augur?" Ray was unfamiliar with the name. "I take it Augur is the spectral anomaly that we're here to stop."

Egon nodded in the affirmative as he watched Peter tango with the banshee. Every time she dove toward him he easily side stepped the spirit and fired his proton stream. Unfortunately with each attempt to wrangle the banshee with the stream she let out a piercing scream that disrupted his focus and subsequently his aim.

Ray glanced up and saw Augur absorbing the storm's energy overhead. "If this 'Augur' manages to harness the power of the storm there will be no way to match her power with anything that our proton packs can generate." The shriek of the banshee drew his attention back to Peter. "But we can't focus on Augur until that she-beast is back in the box."

Peter noticed from the corner of his eye that Ray was now conscious and that he and Egon were planning something together. "Yo! A little help over here!" The banshee screeched and down dangerously close to his face, leaving a deep scratch just below his right eye. "ANY help would be great!"

Augur's power continued to build as she managed to absorb the storm's energy without any intrusions. A blue energy aura began emanating from her body. "The Destructor's will shall be done."

The booming voice of Augur was enough to make Egon flinch. "Ray, even if we managed to trap the banshee again, I fear that three proton streams will not be enough to stop Augur." Egon's voice carried an uncharacteristic lilt of doubt as he spoke.

"Then we'll think of something else." Ray decided as he pressed his hand firmly into his side. He sat up straight in an attempt to shift the weight of the proton pack over to take the strain off his injured side. The metal parts of the pack clanked together with each movement made by the uncomfortable scientist. "Speaking of which..." Reaching back with one hand Ray pulled the ghost trap from the supportive clip attached to the bottom of the proton pack. "you'll need this."

Egon accepted the trap but shot Ray a puzzled look. "What am I going to do with this?"

"Adjust it. We need to catch that banshee, and this time we won't make any mistakes!" Ray encouraged with a genuine enthusiasm that only he could muster in such a dire moment. "The repair tools should be enough to make a frequency adjustment on the trap. You work on the wires and I'll keep the PKE meter running."

"But I-"

"No 'buts' Egon." Ray refused to let the physicist blame himself for an accidental oversight. "You can do this, I'll help."

Peter was knocked from his feet by the banshee, but he managed to lock on his proton stream and hold her at bay. She trashed about wildly and continued to scream her awful cry, of which he couldn't escape or tune out. "Uh, guys? HELP."

...to be continued...