It was the night of the 27th. The night that chaos would reign. The night that would belong to the demons. Gabby sat on the stairs leading to The Containment Room. She watched as Winston gave a last minute pep talk to the college students who had trained during these last few days. But she wasn't a scared, pitiful creature hiding from what was about to happen. She was actually excited to bust an entire demon army. It should be easy since they were able to bust at least one that had turned into a Chinese dragon.
Of course, a part of her realized that she wasn't allowed to be anything OTHER than excited about doing this. It wasn't like she could chicken out. Sure, they had reinforcements, but the team would still be losing quite a lot without her being on it. She wanted to make sure that her parents would be okay during this demonic deluge. Thankfully, her older sisters had long since moved away from New York City, so her parents were the only family members she had to worry about.
Marta wandered into the stairway, always interested in the person who was tutoring her about how to behave like a human. Egon had relented and let her wander around The Firehouse without her protective bubble.
"What's up?" she asked, "Did I get that phrase right?"
"Yes, you got it perfectly," said Gabby. "And since you're here, there was something that I was wondering."
"Yeah?"
"Why is The Witch scheduling The Ruckus for tonight? We're at a point in the Lunar Cycle when the moon is at its tiniest sliver, almost a new moon. Any witch's magic would be at its weakest at this point."
"Any witch but Yasmine. When she pledged her soul to the demons, they gave her the ability to have full moon-strength magic at all points in the Lunar Cycle. She has this advantage while anyone else using magic doesn't."
Gabby's heart sank. "Aye… this bruja thought of EVERYTHING. We need to give this all we've got."
"I'm still trying to learn how to transform into things that are existentially scary. Since I know what her biggest fear is, I'm trying my best to depict that. What would you say is the best way to depict the march of time? Plants dying? Food rotting? The sun growing bigger and bigger until it engulfs the dying earth?"
"Maybe try that first one. The sun going supernova is probably overdoing it." Gabby sighed. "I don't understand… A few days ago, you were pretty scary when you were trying and failing to talk in a baby voice. And yet you can't transform into a scary monster?"
"Yeah, I wasn't TRANSFORMING into anything. I was just being my natural self. I was feeling good for the most part. I could never really complete my transformation into a scary monster because Yasmine has always intimidated me. I just couldn't be angry or scary when I'm around her."
Gabby was in a position to encourage Marta to keep trying when it came to transforming into monsters or anything else that was visibly and immediately scary. But Gabby didn't want to push Marta into doing something that she just wasn't suited for. Marta was motivated to be a different demon from the rest and Gabby would rather push her in that direction.
"Let's see how well you… transform into a dying plant."
"Okay, here I go," said Marta as she clapped her claws. She closed her eyes and glowed, although not enough to blind anybody. She shrunk down into a small, healthy-looking potted plant. She then tipped over, causing some of the soil to spill onto the stairs.
"You did a nice job at transforming into the plant."
"Buuuuuut…" Marta somehow managed to say this despite not having a mouth at that moment.
"But that's not how plants die. Plants die by withering and losing their color."
Marta quickly transformed back into her alp form. "Oh. Do you think you can kill a plant in front of me right now?"
"Even if I did, it would take a while for a plant to die. I recommend talking to your local botanist." Unfortunately, Gabby didn't have any advice that was better than this.
"All right… Off to a botanist I go!"
Once Marta left, Gabby continued to sit there and listen in on Winston's pep talk to the students/temporary ghostbusters.
"All right, you guys," he said with a booming voice as he paced back and forth, "We've spent these past few days training. Just a week ago, none of you had even been within fifty feet of a proton gun. But look at you now… keeping one at your side, ready to take on the city, READY TO BUST SOME GHOSTS. You're not whiny, pathetic individuals ready to run away from danger. You're GHOSTBUSTERS. You're the heroes of this movie, but this sure as hell ain't no movie. Now repeat after me… I ain't afraid of no ghost!"
"I ain't afraid of no ghost!" said the students.
"I can't hear you!"
"I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOST!"
"That's more like it! Now get ready, because we're about to head out!"
With that, the students went outside and split up.
Gabby walked downstairs to talk to Winston. He already looked ready for what he was about to do.
"That was quite the pep talk," said Gabby, "You certainly got ME worked up."
"I'm sure you've noticed that I didn't call them maggots at any point," said Winston, "I figure that it would be better to encourage them rather than degrade them like my own drill instructor did."
Gabby thought about the part of Winston's speech where he told them that they weren't whiny wimps who would run away… which was why she was surprised to see Louis Tully in the room. She had heard about him from the other ghostbusters and from the sounds of it, he wasn't the most heroic person around. And yet here he was in a ghostbuster outfit with a proton pack.
"I'm ready!" he said, "I think…"
"You must be Louis Tully, the accountant!" said Gabby, "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, too." Louis shook her hand. Suddenly, a fluffy, brown cat climbed up his leg and perched onto Louis' shoulder. "And this is Maurice. He insists on joining us since he gets jealous whenever another living creature appears in my apartment."
"Oh, how cute! He's your familiar!"
"Why, yes. He would be familiar to those who have met him before."
Gabby had to admit, there was also something cute about someone trying and failing to understand witch lingo.
"I don't know if he needs his own ghostbuster suit or not. He did pretty well attacking that demon last time."
"Cats are uniquely attuned to The Spirit World. With that said, I wish I could have seen him attacking that demon."
Louis took his proton gun out of his holster to look at it, resulting in him accidentally firing it upwards. It hit the ceiling, causing a burn mark on the ceiling and a frazzled look on Louis' face.
Peter walked down the steps as this happened.
"I think you need some more training before the big moment there, Buddy," said Peter, "Maybe the college students can give you a hand."
"Gabby?" said Egon.
Gabby turned around. She was a little startled.
"Yes, Egon?"
Egon and Ray walked toward her.
"We had some discussion about your role in protecting the city. You said that you will be using your magical ability in your efforts."
"Yes, I definitely will," said Gabby.
"Well, we've decided that your magical efforts should be dedicated to protecting The Containment Unit."
"Those nightmare demons are already going to cause trouble and if they open The Containment Unit, the results would be… well… nightmarish," said Ray.
Gabby was planning on using her most powerful protection spell on protecting her house and her parents' business. But she couldn't argue with the fact that protecting The Containment Unit would mean protecting her family as well as the entire city. What she had to hope for was that one of the ghostbusters would bust the demons before they could hurt her parents or their livelihood. Or possibly that her parents' prayers to God would get anywhere.
"I'd be happy to do that," said Gabby.
"Of course, we also want you to bust any of the demons that come anywhere near it," said Ray.
"That, too."
Once the time came, Gabby prepared the protection spell. As soon as she turned off the lights in The Containment Room, she placed a mix of white and black candles in a circle. Both those colors were good for protection spells. She lit the candles. She had one of her drawstring crystal bags in her hand containing several shards of obsidian. She poured the bag into her hand and looked at the shards. Each one was imperfect and not carved into any particular shape, but they had never failed her before. She squeezed the rocks and closed her eyes. She set forth her intentions: protection, shielding from the negative, a shield big enough to cover the entire Containment Unit and then some. Now that she had that intention caught in her mental net, she was not going to let it go. She opened her eyes and set the stones down between the candles. The stones were now glowing a faint white.
She stood where she was before and recited the following chant while swirling her glowing wand:
Sun and moon, sun and moon
Bring protection, bring it soon
Sun and moon, sun and moon
Bring protection, bring it soon.
Those two repeated lines managed to have a big effect. A white light enveloped The Containment Unit. Gabby closed her eyes at this light's very brief zenith. Once it faded, a transparent blue shield covered The Containment Unit. It was pretty, but that was the least important part of it. Gabby walked up and knocked on it.
TUM, TUM, TUM…
It was hard like glass but if it did its job right, it would be much sturdier. No demon was going to get through this thing. Despite this, she was still tasked to stand by The Containment Unit and bust any paranormal being that came near. She was the first line of defense. The power of her actions and the power of her words would be together in one room.
She reached inside of her pocket to feel the rosary beads. As much as she wanted to keep her magic secret from her Catholic family, she knew that Mother Mary would never forsake her. She wasn't that kind of person. She was just as forgiving as her even-more-famous son and she believed in whatever drastic measures needed to be taken to ensure the best outcome.
"You lonely in here?" asked Marta as she walked toward the ceremony. She knew not to walk directly into the sacred space.
"Not really," said Gabby, "I sense the presence of the gods here, so it's hard to be lonely."
"I know when I'm not wanted." She turned around and flew up the stairs.
"Wait…"
Marta turned around while she was in midair.
"You can hang out if you want. I'm only asking for help from the gods in this moment. I'm sure they have other things to do during the rest of the night."
10 PM: A half hour before the demonic attack. The army of ghostbusters were in their assigned places throughout the city. The Firehouse was dark and eerily quiet save for Gabby and Marta being at their posts downstairs. Egon sat at Janine's desk with the phone's receiver planted to the side of his face. Janine was on the other end of the line, speaking to him from her apartment.
"I trust that you've studied the pages of the Demon Guide on how to best protect yourselves from alp attacks?" asked Egon.
"I sure have," said Janine, "I've put a broomstick under my pillow. I plugged up the keyholes. I placed pairs of shoes by my bed and Casey's crib and made sure that they're facing the door. I tried getting some horseshoes to hang on the bedposts but the carriage driver in Central Park just laughed at me."
Egon knew that these methods were only rumored to work. People in the olden days swore by them but they also swore by certain medicines that either did nothing or made their illnesses worse. But alas, this was better than Janine doing nothing,
"Well, it sounds like you've done enough as it is," said Egon, "You can also try methods that work against other paranormal beings. Do you happen to have any wooden crosses around?"
"I have a wooden Star of David," said Janine, "Will that do?"
"I'm sure that any wooden holy symbol will have an effect."
"Trust me, Egon. I may not have a gun but if any of those demons come for me or my baby, they have my little friend to answer to."
"And who is this 'little friend'?"
"I called him 'Ol'-Two-by-Four-with-a-Rusted-Nail-Sticking-Out-of-It.'"
"How about we call him something shorter and more memorable? Like Jeremy."
"That's okay, I guess. But you know that means that we can't use that name for any of our future kids."
Egon was smacked in the face by confusion and more than a little bit of fear.
"There's going to be future kids?" He asked.
"We'll talk about this later," said Janine, "MUCH later."
"You don't have to worry about us too much. This will be no different than our other missions."
"So it'll be no different than your other near-death experiences? Got it. I'll hold down the fort just fine. Don't worry about me."
"I'll try, but there's no guarantee that I won't worry about you and Casey."
"See ya later."
Egon hung up the phone. He was normally nervous with smatterings of exhilaration before going on a mission but this time, he felt empty. Those demons weren't specifically after his family, were they? He didn't think so. From what he knew, they were just after a good time, even if that good time were to come with casualties. He wished he could protect Janine and Casey but he had to face the sobering fact that no matter how powerful he was with his bells and whistles, he was only human, and therefore he could not be in multiple places at once. Even if there was a magical spell that Gabby could teach him to make him be in multiple places at once, he didn't know it in that moment. But it was precisely because of this limitation that humans relied on each other. Ray was right in that Egon was not the only caring adult in his child's life. No good-hearted person would put a baby in danger, even if it wasn't their baby.
He also had to remind himself never to underestimate Janine. After all, she once donned a ghostbusters suit and rescued the four of them from a power-hungry demigod. A mischievous demon would be nothing to her.
Egon listened to the fun conversation that Gabby was having with Marta by The Containment Unit. He wasn't sure what they were talking about. Something about fruit candy? He had no reason to be worried about HER. She proved herself as a dyed-in-the-wool ghostbuster these past few months. Also, she was mainly doing guard duty. After a few minutes of listening to their conversation, Egon felt a little less empty and he gathered himself enough to leave The Firehouse and take on the upcoming onslaught.
Once Egon was outside, he joined up with Ray. Peter and Winston were in another part of the city. All four of them had regular communication with the college students through walkie-talkies, although this would get messy if multiple students tried reaching out to the main ghostbusters at the same time.
As Egon and Ray walked away from The Firehouse, they stared up at the sky. Through the lights of the city, it was cloudy enough that the moon could not be seen.
"So, we're not entirely sure of how these demons are going to get here?" said Ray.
"Judging from how demons usually get here, I'd wager a guess that some sort of portal is involved. Now, where that portal will appear will largely be a surprise."
"Darn. I normally like surprises. But then again, that doesn't make it any different than any other mode of transportation in this city. There are days when you never know when the bus will arrive."
Suddenly, Egon heard something. It was a cacophony of cackling and growling that was becoming louder. He looked closely at the sky and saw winged figures raining down onto the city, each one with glowing red eyes. Even from afar, those eyes pierced Egon in his very soul, just like the glowing eyes of the demon that stole his strange dream that night. These tiny eyes - these tiny lights - were far away but managed to have the same effect as that pair of close-up eyes that he stared into back when these demons were still elusive to him. As the demons flew down toward the city, they were no doubt gleeful. They were so high in number that they could not be stopped all at once.
"It's happening," said Egon, "Dear God, it's happening…"