It was a seemingly routine call for the intrepid Ghostbusters as the quartet arrived at the ever active Sedgwick Hotel at the behest of the manager. The usual array of noisy and messy guests were overshadowed by the mournful wails of pain and disheveled twelfth floor as a single vengeful spirit roamed throughout the corner penthouse in an ambient rage.

"Careful!" The manager whispered as he cowered in the corner of the elevator car. He watched through his shaking fingers that covered his eyes as the four Ghostbusters exited the elevator with their proton packs armed and PKE meters scanning the air. "Th-The ghost is v-very angry!"

"Yeah, yeah." Dr. Peter Venkman was far from rattled by the sound of the ghost tearing apart the room in the distance. "Not the first ghost with a pissy attitude and it won't be the last."

The doors of the elevator shut and the manager frantically began pressing the button to return to the first floor of the hotel.

"Don't let your guard down." Dr. Egon Spengler cautioned his laidback colleague. "We must be diligent and alert."

"Aren't we always?" Peter quipped dryly.

Egon wasn't amused. "It's imperative we handle this situation with complete seriousness. This ghost has shown violent tendencies and is apparently emitting a very high psychokinetic energy signature."

Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz had been studied the display on his PKE meter and took a few steps toward the very active room at the end of the long hallway. "Getting a strong reading. Possible Class-5 full body apparition."

"Not the first," Peter repeated with indifference. "won't be the last."

Winston Zeddemore had been brushing up on the history of the hotel since their last visit resulted in a less than endearing encounter with a powerful spirit known as "The Spider Witch". Armed with newfound knowledge on their environment he offered up his own take on the situation. "This floor has seen a lot of pain, gore and violence over the decades." He stated firmly as he followed right behind Ray. "Aside from the various Gozerian cult members using this place as a base of operations, there have been other psychotic guests who left their dark mark behind."

"Not the first psycho..." Peter echoed with waning interest as he followed behind Winston. "not the last."

Egon followed his three team members as he too began scanning the air with his own PKE meter. "What can you tell us about this ghost Winston?"

"If it's the ghost that I think it is," Winston continued on with his story as the sounds of the rampaging ghost grew louder and more violent. "we're dealing with the ghost of Johnathan 'The Mystic' Alvis. He was an infamous skilled hypnotist who used his talent to manipulate his clients into either giving him all of their money or into committing crimes on his behalf."

"Hypnotist?" Ray asked sincerely curious as he stopped just outside the door of the penthouse. "What else did he do? Why is he haunting the hotel?"

"From what I read," Winston explained with a level tone of voice. "Alvis had been exposed as a criminal mastermind by a maid who used to work in the hotel. The maid noticed the abundance of clients visiting him in the hotel and then seeing those same clients either arrested for committing violent crimes or living on the streets after losing their life savings. The police investigated by Alvis used his hypnotism to push the police away and frame innocent bystanders or his personal enemies."

"Sounds like a real chipper guy." Peter commented bitterly.

"In the end," Winston finished the story. "Alvis took his own life in the penthouse after his scam had been exposed and various police officials began investigating him on a regular basis. He hung himself in the bathroom and left behind a note swearing revenge on the hotel staff for giving him up to the police."

Ray held the meter up the door as the carnage inside the room carried on with loud crashes, smashing glass, menacing screams and the door itself shaking on its hinges. A loud 'bang' against the door caused Ray to step back warily while his colleagues stood their ground behind him.

"Sounds like Alvis is starting his revenge by messing with housekeeping." Peter joked as he unsheathed the thrower on his proton pack. "Should be knock or just let ourselves in?"

Ray reached for the door's handle and tried to turn the knob. "Locked."

"Stand back." Winston instructed as he prepared to land a well aimed kick on the locked door. "I got this."

The door burst open with a loud 'bang' with the tremendous force from Winston's kick. As the door swung open inward to the room a loud wail of anger roared out at the four Ghostbusters as a translucent humanoid figure with burning red eyes stared them down from the center of the room.

"Housekeeping!" Peter yelled out sarcastically as he raised and aimed his thrower at the ghost.

The ghost roared angrily a second time before rushing through the door frame at an incredible speed that caused all four men to fall to the ground in a heavy, collective 'thud'.

Peter raised his head and watched as the ghost raced down the corridor and faded through the wall at the end. "Should've said 'room service'."

Ray grabbed onto Egon's arm and pulled the physicist to his feet as he himself began running down the corridor in pursuit of the ghost. "C'mon! We can't let it get away!"

Peter slowly sat up on the floor and looked over at Winston. "Want to wait and see if it comes back?"

"I think it'd be better to try and head it off." Winston suggested as he took a knee and slowly stood up in the dimly lit section of the corridor. "Ray and Egon are trailing after it, we should head down the Eastern wing and cut it off."

"Cut what off?" Peter asked arrogantly. "It's a ghost! We already saw it faze through a wall, what's to stop it from doing it again?"

"Well I'm not going to sit and wait." Winston decided. "I'm going to try to help the others, if you want to sit here and wait then go ahead. Just keep your radio open if you see something."

"Great idea, I love it when I don't have to run around like a lunatic."

Winston patted Peter's shoulder once before jogging down the corridor and taking a sharp turn down the Eastern junction.

Peter pushed himself up from the ground, smoothed out the sleeves of his jumpsuit and sheathed the dropped thrower of his proton pack. He leaned back against the opened door frame with his arms folded across his chest and he shut his eyes.

Through the floor of the haunted penthouse the ghost of Alvis slowly emerged with a wicked grin on his face. Using his ethereal speed the ghost lurched toward Peter and put a cold hand on the psychologist's shoulder, which in turn caused Peter to freeze in place.

Alvis leaned in toward Peter's ear and whispered a few choice words before releasing his grip and fading back down through the floor.

Peter fell heavily onto the floor as he slipped down the door frame with a sudden pounding headache. His eyelids were shut so tightly in response to the painful headache that tears were being forced from the corners of his eyes. Instinctively he reached for his radio and called out the first name that popped into his head. "Winston..."

A short delay and crackle over the radio carried the response. 'Peter? You okay?'

"Not sure..." Peter stammered weakly as he pressed a hand to his forehead. "Don't feel right."

'You still by the penthouse?'

"Y-Yeah."

'Alright, stay there! I'm on my way back.'

Peter opened his eyes and stared in a blank stare at the floor as his naturally blue eyes dimmed and transitioned into dull brown hue. He felt numb and weak as if he were trapped in the midst of a vivid dream.

"Peter?" Winston had returned to the penthouse and was now kneeling beside his dazed friend. "You okay man? You don't look so good."

"I..." Peter was struggling to speak. His words were lost in the fog that had become his mind. "I think I saw it..."

"The ghost?"

Peter nodded once.

"Where?"

A loud 'bang' from the penthouse tore Winston's attention from Peter and to the center of the room. A large chair had been thrown from one side of the room and into the center by an unseen force.

"Wait here." Winston cautioned as he took a step inside the room and powered up his thrower.

Alvis emerged from the floor once again and used a powerful wave of psychokinetic energy through the weakened floorboards. Winston felt the wave sweep over the floor and heard the boards begin to buckle under his weight.

"Winston!" Peter had been watching his friend from the door frame and stared in horror as the floor gave out and Winston began to fall.

Reacting quickly Winston clung desperately to the broken, jagged boards and hung helplessly onto the edge of the broken floor.

Peter crawled over to the gaping hole in the floor and extended his hand for Winston to take.

"Get back!" Winston shouted as he fought desperately to keep his grip on the broken floor. "You'll fall too!"

"Not going anywhere." Peter insisted as he laid flat down on his stomach and stretched his hand out as far as he could. "Come on, take my hand!"

Winston reluctantly released one hand from the edge of the floor and took a firm, yet shaking grip on Peter's offered hand.

As Peter began to pull Winston up and away from the hole Alvis appeared behind the hanging marine and snapped his fingers. Right before Peter's eye he saw a swarm of massive cockroaches begin to swarm over the floor.

Frightened to death by cockroaches Peter froze in abject horror at the creeping insects that suddenly filled the room.

"Peter!" Winston shouted as he struggled to hang on for dear life. "Hey! Snap out of it!"

The cockroaches crawled everywhere that Peter could see. The bugs clicked, chirped and scurried at a sickening pace. One particularly large cockroach climbed up from Winston's back, over his shoulder and up his arm toward Peter's exposed hand.

Fear overtook his mind.

The flight or fight instinct kicked in and before he realized what he had done, Peter let go of Winston's hand.

...to be continued...