The Damocles Solution 22
Another four full traps later, the men ran through the scarlet-carpeted hallway at top speed after destroying brazier number three, which, confirming Ray's theory, didn't even require the addition of Winston's single shot capability. Even though this time the demons had somehow managed to get to them before zapping the old woman's power source, Slimer's "instant banana-peel" method of slowing down the scaly humanoids had proven just as useful as a proton gun.
Ray consulted the meter, after sending Slimer down yet again with the newest four full traps. "Power level reduction is down yet another twenty percent! This is GREAT!" said Ray, grinning darkly while fiddling with the knob on the meter.
"I don't care how great it is! I was almost hit square in the face with a nice heavy Wedgwood plate because Spud here decided to take his time dumping those traps!" Peter complained. He was starting to tend delicately to the top of his head, which certainly now sported a few implanted porcelain chips from that thrown collector's plate that practically exploded right above his head. It would've been right on the mark if Slimer hadn't knocked the demon's arm off course just in time.
"Cut it out, Peter, he's helpin' us clean up pretty good here," said Winston, scolding him as Smiler babbled in his own defense. "Well, now that we got number three, where's the last one?"
"All the way on the other side of the mansion…looks like it's right on the yard…weird," said Ray, confused. "It's definitely right next to the front wall, on this level."
"On an outer balcony, maybe?" suggested Winston.
"Yeah…let's check out the windows on that side when we get there first!"
"Rooooger that, kimosabi!" said Peter.
Winston raised an eyebrow. "'ey Ray…how many other entities ya seein' on that thing?"
Ray stopped running for a moment so he could further adjust the meter's scanning parameters, and the rest of them all halted, too, panting. "Phew! Looks pretty clean for now…at least in the house…except for that brazier signal! There's a couple echoes that are further away, but it's pretty muddled…the only logical way to get to them would be downward."
"Hey, you guys can go and zap number four…I'm gonna see if I can scout out where Egon and Janine are and let ya'll know exactly how to get there by communicator."
They nodded, and Winston found one of the doors to the back of the building.
After parting, Peter took an extra glance at the door the dark man disappeared into. "He's feelin really guilty, Tex. Really guilty. I will have to have a little consultation or two with 'im later and fix this."
Ray looked at the doorway, too, and sighed heavily before sending Slimer to go with Winston.
Winston looked around the darkened area in the back of the house. Janine had told him that Morgan first took a set of stairs down to the basement, accessible on the ground near the outer wall of the front of the mansion, to get down to the underground chamber. He began to run along the outer edge of the wall, scouting carefully for the entryway.
Rounding the corner to the front, a demon was on its hands and knees, calling out to something, as if exhausted and left behind. "Morgan, sir! Use caution…now that the altars…are…"
Almost sliding to a stop, Winston scowled at the demon, and fired up his pack. He raised his gun, while cautiously staying a good distance away.
"Tell me where they are before I blast ya to kingdom come, Snakeyes," he growled as Slimer floated aside him.
The demon looked up, and laughed. "It was a good ten years I spent here, then, because you'll have to find it yourself. So that means what I received from my superior is a going away present! Here—," it said, and threw something at him.
Winston kept his gaze nailed on the scaly entity, and caught the object easily. When he looked at it, he recognized it as Egon's glasses—the lenses and scarlet frames smashed as to render them useless.
Slimer gasped, and managed to say Egon's name in worry, then Janine's.
Enraged, Winston wordlessly threw what was left of the eyeglasses on the ground, and in a flash, he had already hit the button, and single-shotted the demon…and watched it struggle, just for a moment, before switching to stream.
It was so weakened that one shot, and one gun was more than plenty to control it now. "Slimer-toss a box out for me," he growled darkly.
The meter guided Ray onward, and they stopped to check each alternating set of windows and french doors on the way there. Some had flags outside, others had statues and figures of similar forms, but they weren't seeing the brazier yet.
"Uh-oh, here comes trouble…strong readings, coming right at us! It's fast!" He pointed where they came from, turned the meter off and threw it on his belt. "Shoot! Just shoot, straight ahead!"
Ray and Peter locked on, and Morgan, now in the form of a large serpent, materialized as soon as they fired. The demon easily dodged, and reappeared behind them, and dodged more fire.
"This one isn't as affected by the loss of their power source as the others!" yelled Ray in frustration. "Watch out!"
It took a sweeping swipe at Peter, and the psychologist returned fire. However, the serpent picked up a marble-topped coffee table to guard itself, and the table took the impact of the blast before it disappeared again.
The two men stood back to back, weapons raised, points turning very which way in preparation for its expected immediate reappearance. Nothing happened for a long few moments, and that was even worse than smashing the whole house apart, as far as the psychologist was concerned.
"It's playin' with us, Ray…"
"…Yeah."
The demon may have been successfully trapped, but Winston was even more uneasy than before…it was taking them too long to get to Egon and Janine, and by now, he was sure Aracelli knew they were all after her.
He flipped out his own PKE meter and scouted around for readings. There was an odd, quickly growing reading which seemed to be below him.
He frowned, and ground his teeth. That last brazier was still there, too, along with another strong reading…a demon-one that seemed quite strong—it wasn't quite as affected by the others they were encountering. The guys had obviously run into some trouble in there and were stopped from finishing off the last brazier.
As much as he hated the delay in finding Egon and Jnine, he ran along the front of the building, looking at the balconies high above him, that one reading on the meter growing so quickly in intensity, that he was afraid it would explode any moment.
He followed the meter, getting closer to where it said the last brazier was, and sure enough, before he could get a final lock on it, smoke started curling around the PKE meter. Knowing that this would usually mean second-degree burns in the near future if quick action wasn't taken, he hurled it away, and soon enough, it blew up in a smoky, orange-and-black mess before it even hit the ground.
Terrified at the strong, growing presence he was feeling, Slimer cried loudly, and zipped back toward the Ecto-1.
Annoyed that he didn't have the meter to aid him in finding the brazier, Winston stopped in his tracks, looking up at the monuments and statues on the window balconies, all which, from this far away, could have been the right one. Wondering how he was going to see specifically which one it was, he stopped for a moment, having an idea. He removed the scope from his gun, and, used it to examine each balcony.
…There! he thought. He slapped the scope back on his gun, took aim, and fired.
They could hear it hissing…
It reappeared, and both of them had to duck. It vanished, and reappeared at the end of the hallway, facing them…panting hard, with both hands on the ground.
While it was recovering, both of them shot at it, blasting a hole in the plush carpeting, only to have it dodge again and disappear.
"Did ya see that? It's gettin' tired," said Peter, and Ray nodded. "Losing those braziers did a number on it after all!"
Peter looked to his side, and all he saw was another heavy coffee table coming right after the both of them. He yelled, and they separated, throwing themselves to the walls on either side of the hallway. The table smashed inbetween them, separating them.
The demon reappeared in the middle of them, turned, and took a swipe at Ray in front of him. Ray ducked, and dodged, backing away from the demon into the center of the hallway. It lunged again for him, this time driving him back into a wall. It swiped, and he dropped to a knee, barely avoiding claws that tore deep trenches through the wall above his head.
Peter shot at it, and the shot landed. The demon glowed brightly in the proton wave that hit it—however, it looked more uncomfortable than controlled by the men at this point.
"Two beams are not gonna be enough for this thing!" Ray ground his teeth when he saw the demon fighting off Peter's shot relatively easily. He added in his own beam, and the demon hissed in pain—for just a moment.
Peter, staying behind it toward the tail, grinned broadly. "We got ya surrounded, buddy!"
The humanoid serpent turned slightly, just enough to be able to look at Peter cooly over its shoulder.
"Wanna tell us where the lad and lass are, and we'll make getting into a trap quick and painless fer ya…maybe?"
Morgan went to swipe at Ray, and missed by not much. His claws tore into the wall again behind him.
"BAD ANSWER!" yelled Peter.
The demon looked over his shoulder again as Peter's hand moved to throw a trap. By the time Ray yelled to him about the tail, Peter was grabbed around the leg, and pulled hard enough to knock him off balance, and he landed hard on the floor.
Wasting no time, the demon wrapped its tail around Peter's neck, and began squeezing the daylights out of him.
Ray called out to Peter uselessly, and the demon knocked his gun away with a lightning-fast swipe, and grabbed him by the collar, poised to begin clawing into him, while Peter was on the ground, turning reddish-purple.
There was the sound of an explosion outside the window, and Morgan's clawed hand froze in the air, a terrified look in his eyes for a moment…then dropped Ray, released Peter, and landed on the floor hard with both hands, shaking like it had been electrocuted.
Recovering, Ray shot it, and this time, the serpent flinched against the shot, and writhed in the air. Peter got back up, and added in his beam, and once the demon was controlled, Peter threw a trap out and captured it.
Exhausted, they returned their guns to their pack. Peter bent over, supporting himself with his hands on his legs, and Ray sank to the ground.
"This…really makes me wanna…add snakes to the few of my un-favorite things!" commented Peter inbetween puffs.
Ray's communicator beeped.
"Hey, homies!" said Winston. "I got the fourth brazier out here, I'm headin' for the basement…the door is under the fourth window over from the front left corner!"
Panting hard, Ray could barely answer. "O…okay, we're…right behind!"
"Just to let you know, guys, don't use your PKE meters! I had some fireworks out here even though I had it on a low setting!"
Ray went pale. "Gotcha. Be right there," he said, clicking a button. "She knows we're here. His meter exploded and that means she's…she's summoned Jormunger, and I betcha she's begun to channel its power!"
Peter recovered enough to look over at him. "Ray? Is this trouble?"
"Those braziers must have been there just for her staff!" he said, more to himself than anyone else. "Peter, this is more than just trouble…this is a god-sized pile of trouble!"