Now
A warm wind blew across the roof of the old firehouse.

One would look at the young man standing alone there, scratching his red hair with both hands, and think he had a lot on his mind.

You'd be right.

He clenched inside as he heard the door to the roof open. Dammit, I told them I didn't want to...

He recognized the cadence to the footsteps. He sighed. "I knew it'd be you."

The young woman who moved beside him had an obvious look of concern. "Well, who else would it be?" Her voice had a pronounced English accent. "Talk to me, Johnathan. What happened?"

"Eden and Pop said they'd fill everyone in, right?"

She shook her head. "I'd rather hear it from you."

He said nothing, shoulders slumping as he leaned on the edge of the roof. She was almost a full foot shorter than him, so she just stood there.

He was silent for a good two minutes.

"It's obvious that this has you intensely concerned." she said.

"Yeah." he finally replied.

"I don't want to pry on something if it isn't my business, but..."

"Especially after last night anything concerning me is your business, I'd think." He rubbed his face with his right hand. "I'm just scared to death about what it could mean to me. What it could mean to you. What it could mean to the 'us' we only just got started with."

She was quiet for a few seconds. "I won't know until you tell me, Johnathan."

He sighed again. "Janey, that odd dream you had, Peter Capaldi whisking me away in the TARDIS." He finally looked at her. "It...wasn't a dream. At least not completely."

Her brown eyes went wide.

"I guess the best way to put it...was that it was a half-erased memory." He said. "Of something that actually happened in the middle of last night."

"...Oh fuck..." she inhaled. "What the bloody hell does that mean?"

"A lot."

2024:
THE SIGN OF THE TWINS
PART TWO

From the Files of Dr. Fritz V. Baugh, GBI Historian
GBI Case File GBNY-2024-42/500

In 1983, three unemployed scientists started up the world's first agency of professional paranormal investigators and eliminators. Now, forty-one years later, Dr. Johnathan Spengler, Dr. Eden Spengler, Eric Stantz, Marie Lupin, and TJ Anderson hunt strange things in the neighborhood, weird things that don't look good, things running through people's head, and invisible men sleeping in beds as the newest generation of Ghostbusters.

After three years of sexual tension, John Spengler and TJ Anderson have made love for the first time. Eden Spengler and Edward Sanders also seem to have reached a new level in their relationship.

The next morning, it's the Twins' twenty-fifth birthday. Something odd happens when the two see each other for the first time that day. And elsewhere, the wizard Zandrik Fallagar has been told about something shocking that happened the day Eden and John were born.

Ghostbusters Central
New York City
June 13, 2024
Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline Year Fourty-Two

A Few Moments Ago

"Son of a bitch!!!" John said as he rubbed his forehead, slowly getting up. His mother and TJ were there to help him. "They did it to us too...."

Eden was being helped up by her father. "It would seem so."

"John, that stuff you said before you and Eden collapsed..." Janine said nervously. "I...I've heard something like that before, but where..." Her eyes went wide "Adonai!!! Pollux and Romulus...were YOU!?"

"Janine, what..." Egon blinked. He looked at his children. "You're right. How could we have..." He shook his head. "Temporal integrity. Just like the incidents last year..."

"Affirmative." Eden nodded. "For us it just happened a few hours ago. But just as immediate events were rewritten for you in 1999, it appears Johnathan and I were similarly affected."

Janine looked at her son again. "What Nodus said. Johnathan, was it true?"

John shook his head. "They didn't tell me." He rubbed his temples.

"I think it would be prudent to let everyone else know what happened." Eden said.

"Peter and Winston will be here soon." Ray said. 'We need to wait for them. If they're like me and your parents, they just remembered everything."

"I feel I missed a homework assignment I didn't even know I had..." Eric said to Marie, then looked at TJ. "You have any idea?"

TJ shook her head.

"I gotta...I gotta get some air..." John said as he turned to the staircase. "I don't want to talk about it yet!"

Janine started to follow him, before Egon put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps we should give him a few minutes."

Ray's phone rang, a clashing, dissonant synthesizer cue. (Eric asked his father about it once--it was apparently a "love song" that Uncle Peter wrote during the 1980's, which Ray made his ring tone for Venkman just to annoy the latter man.) "Hey, Pete..." Ray nodded. "Get here as quick as you can. Yeah, that's exactly what it involves--see you soon."

Janine, Eden, and TJ looked at each other. They each looked at the staircase. Eden nudged TJ. "Go" she said quietly, as her mother nodded.

She was half a second from going anyway whether they agreed with it or not.

Which Brings Us Back To Now
"Looks like Uncle Pete and Winston are here..." John sighed. "Okay, where to begin?"

TJ didn't say anything, but did put her arm around him.

"I guess the quickest way is to start with Pop, and you'll see why later." John finally said. "Six years before I was even born, when he was basically at the low point of his entire life--he'd pushed away Mom, and the Ghostbusters were out of business and scattered all over the country--Pop was kidnapped by a sorta cosmic sage calling himself 'Sarim-Lar, the Voice of Knowledge'. He looked like a giant beetle in cargo shorts. Anyway, he put Pop through some 'tests' and after he passed them Lar offered to make Pop his apprentice. Perfect knowledge, all the answers, etc, but there was a catch."

"There always is with these things." TJ nodded.

"The price was his humanity." John continued. "His emotions, his attachments, all of it would be burned away." John shook his head. "But even though it was everything Pop'd ever said he'd wanted, even though he was at the low point of his life, even though he'd just learned Mom had done something reeeeeally stupid, he told Sarim-Lar to go to hell."

"I should think so." TJ agreed.

John continued. "So because of that, he was here on Earth when Achira manifested, Mom came back to him, GBI got restarted, and...you know, the whole marriage and having a genius child and her trouble-making brother thing kinda confirms that, yeah." He was quiet for a moment. "Now we need to talk about Nodus."

He waited a moment, then began. "Josiah Nodus was a mystery man who came from nowhere in 1990, and bought up Grossjuck Industries, which had been previously run by a rich asshole that Pop's team had...unpleasant dealings with." TJ felt him tense at the mention. "Nodus contracted the OGs to go to Romania in 1991--that's where Ray met Aunt Liz--and then Nodus himself popped up in the middle of the Stonehenge Solstice Crossrip of '91. Everything about him was a big mystery, especially how he knew so much about Pop's tech that he could avoid detection."

"That's disconcerting." TJ said.

"You don't know the half of it." John shook his head. "Pop's group didn't see him again until the day Edie and I were born--when he barged in and kidnapped us both."

"What?" TJ exclaimed. "Bloody hell!"

"And somehow, right after that, the timeline started to fall apart. And that's why Delphia grabbed Edie last night, and I was scooped up by...well, he wasn't Peter Capaldi, but he was an old guy with a blue time travel device, Professor Ul..." John's brow knit. "Dammit, I just had his name in my head a second ago, but ...Ul..." He shook his head with a bit of annoyance. "Ultros. I'll just call him Professor Ultros. Anyway, they told us only we could stop Nodus, and then sent us back in time..."

John shook his head. "And then when we arrived in 1999, we were separated and each dropped into a different weird distorted timeline. Eden went to some dark, grungy desaturated world where everything that could have gone wrong for Mom and Pop did. He and Pete never reconciled, Mom stayed married to DooDooH...er, Tully, and everybody looked like the actors from the movies."

"Blimey"

"Meanwhile, I was dropped into this candy-colored Saturday morning cartoon world where Slimer talked like Jar-Jar and was an action hero, Uncle Pete sounded like a dumb sitcom character, Uncle Ray was wearing one of Pop's flight suits, Mom sounded like a fifteen year old cheerleader, and she and Pop weren't together either but didn't even know why."

"We each tracked down Nodus, but instead met his kids--Marie and Albert. Kicker was, Albert looked just like me, Marie was Eden. In our respective weird timelines we beat them and ended up in a null zone with each set of the original five...and we finally pieced it all together. Josiah Nodus had somehow used these other selves of ours to tear time apart; Delphia and Ultros held things together, but we needed to get each set of Ghostbusters back together quick." He did manage a slight smirk. "And both of Pop realized that and led the way."

"Edie, the restored original five, and I headed to the center of the null zone and confronted Nodus. And this was the biggest kick of them all: Josiah Nodus's real name....was Egon Spengler."

TJ leaned in to look him in the eye. "What the bloody hell?!"

"Remember what I said earlier about Pop and Sarim-Lar?" John noted. "In our timeline, Pop told Lar to go to hell. But in another timeline...he accepted. He became this cold, knowledge-hungry sociopath. He became Josiah Nodus. And then he came back in time, because there was something really really bugging him about the way things went after he left Earth."

TJ thought for a few moments, taking it all in, her brain already buzzing with questions. "That's...terrifying. The ghost clones we were sent back to deal with last year...the clone of your father was frightening, and he didn't have time travel capacity."

"Yeah." John agreed. "That freak sent chills down my spine--but that was nothing compared to Nodus."

"Losing the Professor on that other world..." TJ continued. "It would have to have changed things...catastrophically, at the very least on the personal levels of the other original Ghostbusters, to say nothing of the possible fate of the entire world without them..." She stopped. "So...why?! Why did this...fetch do all of this?"

"That gets to the heart of it." John said.

Then...
In the ancient myths of Atlantis, they told of a great War of the Gods, long before man arose...Vulguus the Traveler, and the Fiery One, Hob Anagarak, coveted the land known as Earth. The birthworld of your physical form, Knot.

The Great Beasts, enormous lizards that made the ground shake like thunder, were the prize. Both sought them for a grand army...but in their violence and zeal, they destroyed that which they sought to posses.

The dinosaurs? Sixty five million years ago, they were wiped out by a grand disaster. Current consensus was that a giant asteroid struck the Earth in the Yucatan, causing a "nuclear winter."

In the aftermath, Vulguus was shorn of his very form...

Vulguus Zildrohar. Gozer the Gozarian. I know of him. And of Hob Anagarak.

Yes...of that I am aware. Which is why I tell you of this...for there is a conundrum in this story, a mystery I have yet to unravel...

A mystery?

After the death of the dinosaurs, and the censure of Vulguus, it is written that Xodiac, the Keeper of the Twelve Keys of Magic, rent his form into ether, and spread his essence throughout the very fabric of the Universe.

Fascinating. This Atlantean lore is something new to me. Much has been written about Atlantis's fate, but only fragments in legend.

The Atlanteans maintained that it was only after Xodiac destroyed himself, that sentience was brought to mortal life.

The Greek legend of Prometheus. He brought fire to mortal men, and was condemned by the Gods for it.

It can be assumed, that the Gods were, indeed, not happy.

They never are when mortals acquire knowledge. The Greek gods punished Prometheus. The Abrahamic God forbid his creation to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Gods fear what would happen if the mortals became wise to their ways.

You seem disdainful...

Thus far, I have never met a God too far removed from the thirst for destruction. Even the most 'benevolent' glory in their own power and superiority to the humans I used to protect.

But you spoke of a mystery...

Yes...it is said, then, that though Xodiac was no longer, in his essence...ingrained in the pattern of mortal life itself, retained the power of his Twelve Keys. The essence of his power, and his universal understanding. The Atlanteans became convinced of the power of Xodiac, influenced by the very shape of the skies around them.

They ingrained the Twelve Principles in their lore. They spoke of the seven Grand Lights, which reflected his power...Helios, Selene, Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus, and Cronus. And the subtle power of the Other Lights--Oranos, Poseidon, and Hades...

The planets? At least as defined by ancient astrology...the Sun is a class G2 yellow star, while the Moon is a satellite... Then the Twelve Keys? The signs of the Zodiac.

Yes. Xodiac. Zodiac. The Twelve Keys survived in Atlantean science...but when the continent sank beneath the waves only the rudiments of that knowledge survived. The Sumerians and later the Greeks adapted it to their own cosmology...but only the echoes of the grand Atlantean truth.

But ingrained in sentient life are these twelve principles...the four Elements...the Wind, the domain of the Mind. The Water, the domain of Emotion. The Earth, the domain of Matter. And the Fire, the domain of Energy. And each, then, in three states...the Primordial state, raw and unformed....the Dynamic state, creating or destroying...and the Steady state, formed into pattern and resolute. Combined, the domains and the states produce the twelve principles.

The signs of the Zodiac. Aries: Cardinal Fire...

The Dynamic Fire in the Atlantean system...

Scorpio. The Fixed Water sign.

The Steady Waters

Gemini. The Mutable Air sign.

Gemini of the Primordial Wind....appropriate that you mention it...

Oh?

I am getting ahead of myself...but here is the beginning of the conundrum: Not long after Atlantis formed, twelve of their people suddenly fell ill. When they awoke, they invoked the names of the Twelve Principles. Twelve people, each invoking one Principle. They gathered, and tried to destroy Atlantis...but were opposed by a woman called the Forever Swimmer, who had brought together several gifted magi. They convinced the Twelve Avatars that Atlantis was worthy of survival...and the Twelve abandoned their bodies, leaving Atlantis in peace--but only until the turning of a new Age. In two millennia, they would return...

I sense comprehension?

Two years before I came here...something very much like you describe occurred at Stonehenge. Twelve avatars--including some people known to my past self--were taken. We stopped them, but both Eventide and that other mage, Fallagar, called them the Zodiac Lords...or should that be Xodiac Lords?

Then you heard the prophesy of the Five Who Are One...

At the Cusp of Oranos, the Stars Will Seek Judgment
The Twelve stand Marked by their Destinies
The Five Who Are One Will Stand United Against Them
And then, When the Enigma Is Revealed
They Will Stand United with the Restless Warrior
And Secure the Destiny of Hermes,
Thus the Ascension of the Children of the Twelve..."

They were talking about....the Ghostbusters. The four of them. And the woman who served them. It sounded important--is it? And if so, what does it mean?

That, my dear Knot, is the conundrum...

We fulfilled our destiny when it came to halting the Xodiac Lords. So there is more?

If the words are to be believed, yes...I believe that "Destiny of Hermes" refers to the missing Childe of Xodiac. That is something else you may not have heard about, so let me tell you...

The Xodiac Lords are the twelve Principles embodied as spirits. Powerful spirits. But there is another manifestation of the Xodiac principles--the Children of Xodiac. The Children are born of human blood, but in each of them, one of the principles takes root. Tthe Children are still human...but with a touch of the spirits in them.

They live for millennia--indeed, the oldest of them, the Forever Swimmer, the one born under the sign of the Primordial Waters--is one of the first true humans ever born on that world. The Lord of the Primordial Fire is almost as old. The Lady of the Dynamic Earth and the Lord of the Steady Wind are known to you; she was born in ancient, dead Atlantis, while he was a child of Medieval Germany. Indeed, it has been suggested that, while they are killable, they will never die of old age or "natural" cause.

Immortality?

Perhaps. But here is the missing piece: only eleven have been born into the world. The Twelfth--the one to be born with the power of the Primordial Wind--has not manifested as yet. Gemini, ruled by the power of Mercury--Hermes. Only then will the circle will be complete. Only then will the Children of Xodiac begin their true quest for Ascension.

Ascension? And what does that entail?

Not even they know. They each have their own pet ideas, I've gathered--some think this means they will become unified, and lead Earth to a new, higher state of being. Some think it will mean the Twelve must war on each other, leaving only One...

Hm. Sounds like a movie Ray forced me to watch once...

One, the Lady of the Steady Waters, works to bring about the destruction of the world. She assumes that once the circle is complete, it will trigger some manner of apocalypse--and that is not impossible that she is correct.

Then somehow...the Five of us were to be instrumental in the creation of Lord Gemini. The daemonseed, Shannon Phillips, was possessed by the Gemini force.

Yes...but Shannon Phillips is not Lord Gemini. And we know it will be a male child, because the five signs that are classified as male--Aries, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius--were embodied in male Children, while the six female signs--Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces--produced female Children.

Is that why I was chosen? Because of my own link to his mystery?

No. You were chosen because you are the finest mind your world has seen in at least a century. But as one indeed linked to this mystery...I would think it would make discovering the truth all the more important to you.

Indeed, Master Lar...I will uncover the truth. I will find Lord Gemini.

Now
" 'The Lady of the Dynamic Earth and the Lord of the Steady Wind are known to you; she was born in ancient, dead Atlantis, while he was a child of Medieval Germany. ' " TJ mused. "Any idea what that meant?"

John shook his head. "Pop and the rest might know, but...I haven't had a chance to ask yet."

Also Now
Downstairs, Eden had been telling much the same story to the assembled original, Extreme, and 2024 Ghostbusters.

"Wait a second..." Kylie interrupted. "The German guy..it's that wizard from the second Anthal-Noje case, isn't it? The guy who Coda and Terchi worked for? He weirded me out because he's one of them, and I was one of the avatars back in '91."

Ray nodded. "Yeah. We saw the guy regenerate back from being almost totally roasted, not to mention Liz confirming he turned up alive after all the stuff in '04, and he's like eight hundred and fifty years old. 'Steady Wind' does equate to 'fixed air', the temperament attributed to the sign Aquarius."

"I feel it's entirely plausible that Delphia herself might be the one from 'dead Atlantis'. Ray, 'Dynamic Earth' would be Capricorn, am I correct?" Egon asked.

Ray nodded again. " 'Cardinal earth' yeah."

"This all sounds nuts to me..." Marie quipped. "But it might just be my practical, nitpicky Virgo Sun talking."

Peter Venkman high-fived her.

"I know how you feel, Marie." Winston chuckled.

"Please continue, Eden." Egon coughed

"Right." Eden continued. "So the focus of Nodus's efforts was uncovering the identity of 'Lord Gemini', who apparently did not exist in his timeline..."

And Also Now
Rose Rivera scratched Pippi's chin. "I thought we were coming to a party--so how much longer is this snap meeting gonna take?"

Liz shrugged. "I don't know, Rose. It's GBI business. All Ray could tell me was a new insight on an old case; nothing immediately dangerous, but it couldn't wait for a briefing either."

Kaila Zeddemore nodded. "It just sucks to be out here waiting while they talk shop. I hate being out of the loop."

"We should all be used to this stuff by now." Jessica Venkman yawned. Right beside her, Rose's older sister Conchita was playing "Peekaboo" with Jessica's eight month old son Thomas.

"Bloody inconvenience, I know." Jess's husband, Hayden Wallance joked. "I was so looking forward to asking TJ how she thinks the election will go."

Liz's phone rang. She raised an eyebrow. "Windy?"

"So 'ow's it goin'? Not piggin' out on cake, are y'?""

"Well, not yet--we haven't even gotten our order to Dick's Pizza in yet." Liz answered. "Something wrong?"

"Not wiv me. Sorry to bug y, Miz 'Lizbef, but m' Mum called. Wants y' t' call 'r as soon as y' can. Said it concerns 'er...Boss, y'know."

Liz's face got more serious. "I will as soon as I can. Thanks, Windy."

"I know that look--something's up." Dana, Jessica's mother, noted.

"I'm not sure yet." Liz shook her head. But the Archmage wants to talk to me now, of all times? I get the feeling this is not a coincidence...

Then...
"Lord...Gemini?" Johnathan Christopher Spengler inhaled. His sister grabbed his hand, and held it tight.

"Yes..." Nodus said. "The great conundrum that eluded Sarim-Lar. If the Ghostbusters defeated the Xodiac Lords, then where is their role in the creation of Lord Gemini? It is a question that weighed heavily on the man now known as Knot..." He turned away once more. "He searched...and found nothing. He began to doubt his master's 'wisdom'...and on a rather peculiar day, he made a particularly peculiar decision." He looked back at them. "June 13, 1999."

"Today..." Eden pointed out.

"Yes. It seems today is fated to be one of destiny for Egon Spengler no matter which world he lives in..."

Now
"In Nodus's timeline, Sarim-Lar realized on that day that it had all gone wrong." John rubbed his head. TJ could feel his muscles becoming more tense. "The day Eden and I should have been born...was the day it all fucked up."

TJ felt a suspicion starting to form; it made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Was she just jumping to conclusions? Because otherwise...it would suddenly make all of this click into place.

Which was the only comforting aspect of it.

"So Nodus called Lar a failure and murdered him. Then he jumped back into time...and when Pop turned Lar down in our timeline, Nodus murdered our Sarim-Lar. Guess he didn't want the competition." John managed a rueful chuckle. He was quiet for a good thirty seconds.

"Johnathan..."

"Oh shit, Janey, I...it just doesn't...I can't..."

He's trembling! she realized. "What is it? she asked quietly.

Then...
"But I needed the power of the Children of Zodiac--a unique ability to process temporal energy was integral to my plans. It's a power even I cannot give myself yet. Thus, I was compelled to solve Sarim-Lar's last riddle. Where is Lord Gemini?" Nodus turned back to them. "And then I found him. I found him in the one place I never would have expected--I had ruled out the children of my old comrades. Not Oscar Wallance, not Charlene Zeddemore, not Jessica Venkman--they were born exactly as they were, brought into this world before it was changed. Not Eric Stantz, powerful as he would become. And certainly not Lana Tully."

"But you, Egon Spengler, made a different choice than I did. And from that choice, children I did not foresee--because they did not exist in the world I came from. Children, born in the Ninth Year of the Age of Aquarius, on the twenty-third day of the transit of Gemini..."

Ray gulped. "That's...that's Hermetic Reckoning..." He looked at Romulus and Pollux. "That's today."

"You, Johnathan Christopher Spengler." Nodus walked up to him. "You are the answer to Sarim-Lar's mystery. You are the Lord of the Primordial Winds. You are the one everyone's been awaiting."

Romulus couldn't process this. It seemed so impossible.

Now
The room was quiet.

"What...what happened next?" Eric asked.

"Johnathan and I temporarily gained the same powers that our...alternate selves had been granted." Eden answered, hesitantly.

"We...managed to shut down Nodus's Robo-Busters, while Eden and Johnathan kept Nodus busy." Egon added.

"Fortunately, the guy had a glass jaw just like the real Egon." Venkman quipped.

"It was Uncle Raymond that delivered the final blow..." Eden added. "Metaphorically, anyway."

Then
Ray walked between John and Eden. "There's no logic in this anymore, Egon."

"Don't call me that..." Nodus snarled.

"But then again...I don't think there's been much logic to this all along."

Nodus cocked an eyebrow. A very familiar gesture.

"Because I look at you, and I don't see the logic. Do you know what I see? I see a man who who's spent a hundred and fifty years going over his mistakes again and again. I see a man who wants to get back at the world that he feels wronged him."

"You made the choice that turned you into Nodus while you were in pain--Janine had just married Louis. All of us had abandoned you. Maybe you felt that was the only way..."

"And then you became obsessed with finding Lord Gemini. But don't you see? You became obsessed with finding why the Ascension--whatever that is--had failed. The problem is, deep down, you know what the failure is."

Ray walked up to him. "You saw the other choice that could've been made--the choice of hope instead of despair. You see what your life would've been. You may not have had your knowledge, or your power, or been able to crack reality with a snap of your finger. But you would've been happy; the kind of genuine happiness that can't come out of numbers, cold logic, and godlike power. And you would've not only answered the question...you would've been part of the solution."

"I don't..."

"You're the failure." Ray shook his head. "You chose wrong."

Nodus looked ready to explode. "I chose wrong?! You dare to say that to me?! I was destined to be the greatest scientist of all!!! I became a far greater scientist than my father would have ever dared hope!!!" Nodus clutched his head, going into some kind of seizure. "How could I have been wrong?! I chose logic!!! I chose knowledge!!! Why was that the wrong choice?! Why is he the one being rewarded with destiny?! I don't...I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!"

Josiah Nodus--a man who once called himself Egon Spengler, but a man that Egon Spengler will never be--uttered one last feral howl, which diminished to a whimper, and then fell to the ground.

Ray exhaled and staggered, looking about ready to faint.

"I'm confused....did we just win?" Venkman asked after fifteen long, quiet seconds.

Now
TJ couldn't process this. It seemed so impossible.

"Ultros sent our family and our younger selves back to 1999." John said, visibly shaking. "He said he'd...'smooth over' their memories, lessen the trauma they just went through. When he was ready to send Edie and me back, I asked him directly..."

Then...
"What of the rest of it...?" John finally said, features hardening. "The Ascension...the Children of Zodiac. Am I really this Lord Gemini that Nodus thought I was? If not, who is, and why are we so important to bringing him about? And if I am...what does it mean?"

"That, Doctor Spengler..." the man in the chair finally answered. "Is something that you will discover at a later time..."

Now
" 'Discover at a later time'?!" TJ exploded. "That's the pile of rubbish arse nonsense he left you with?!"

"And then he sent Edie and I back to the moment we left..." John finished. "And he clearly 'smoothed over' our memories too, because none of us remembered it until Edie and I were in the same place."

TJ's nose wrinkled. "My memories too, obviously. If I ever get my hands on that wanker..."

"Dammit, Janey, I don't know what to do with this..." John shook. "I'm a guy who catches ghosts and builds stuff that explodes! That's all I am, all I need to be--I don't need to be some kind of fucking demigod or superhero or some starchild chosen one!!! That's just complete stupid bullshit!!!"

He collapsed. She collapsed with him. She just held him for several minutes.

"No, he didn't deny it, but he didn't confirm it either." TJ finally said. "Johnathan, I understand your instinctive desire to believe something that a...version of your own father asserted, but as Doctor Stantz asserted...Nodus was a madman. His 'perfect logic' had clearly failed him."

"So what are you saying?"

"What I'm saying, Love, is that... what if Nodus was wrong?"

"But what if he was right, Janey?" John shook his head. "What if he was right?!"

She held him for several long minutes.

"Whatever the truth, we deal with it together. As always." she finally said, before she gently kissed him.

Now
The three groups of Ghostbusters, past and present, were quiet for a good minute after Eden finished.

Marie rolled her eyes. "Okay, nobody else will say it, but Professor, what are the chances that Mirror Universe You is full of shit?"

There was a round of laughter. "I admit, Miss Lupin, I don't think Nodus was necessarily lying..."

"Exaggerating." Venkman quipped. Egon ignored him.

"...But it does seem entirely plausible that he did not interpret events correctly." Egon continued.

"It's not something I want to say often about the concept of you being wrong about something, Pop, but I'm glad to hear that." a voice very similar to Egon's broke in. "TJ suggested that too."

"John!" Janine ran up and embraced her son. "Are you all right?"

"About as much as I can be." he nodded. His sister hugged him next.

Janine hugged TJ "Thanks."

TJ managed a slight smirk at Janine. "You weren't exaggerating when you said Spengler men could be a handful."

John cleared his throat. "I guess what I'm saying, assuming I'm given a say just because this whole thing appears to be about me, is that for now, we just carry on as normal."

"Normal being a fairly relative term in this case." Marie quipped.

"You stole my line." Venkman retorted.

"That does seem like the best course of action." Egon agreed. "Nobody outside this room needs to know about this, unless and until we discover something that makes it relevant. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded.

"Great." John said more brightly. "So what about that birthday party thing? We still gonna do that? 'Cause I'm starving..."

"Well, you had a very busy night." Marie quipped, poking TJ.

Eden's phone beeped. She checked it...and it was obvious whatever she saw met with her approval.

"Is it Edward, Dear?" Janine asked; Eden nodded.

"He sending you nude selfies?" Marie asked.

"No." Eden answered. "But he will have his break at three; he wants me to meet him at the hospital."

"Guess you better not eat too much pizza then." Marie quipped.

A Short Time Later
"That's all I know, Coda." Liz spoke into her phone. "Something happened in the exact time frame the Archmage mentioned, but Ray can't tell me anything about it because it's a GBI matter."

"Fuckin' great." Coda complained. "Means th' Boss'll prob'ly be pissy f' th' next week."

"Can't be helped, Coda." Liz shook her head, an amused smile appearing on her face. "Ray can't pry into Order business, I can't pry into GBI's. That's what the Magus Dominus and the Prima of Guernicus agreed." After a few seconds. "But if I find out anything else on my own, I will let all of you know."

"Fair'nuff." Coda exhaled. "Eric doin' all right?"

"He's having the time of his life." Liz chuckled.

"Well, 'at's all a Mum wants f' 'er sprogs, so guess w' bof doin' okay." Coda got a mischievous tone to her voice. "Jus' don't blow up mine again anytime soon, right?"

"I will definitely promise not to do it on purpose." Liz laughed. Coda laughed back and then they ended the call.

At The Same Time
" 'At's it then, Boss." Coda said after hanging up on Liz.

"[I assume you heard it all?]" Fallagar said, sitting impassively in a chair, speaking in Latin.

"Si" came the response (which was actually in Italian) from another cell phone sitting nearby.

"[Now I remember why I hid for five hundred years.]" Fallagar continued. "[Hermetic politics is often the worst part of the Order.]"

"[I appreciate the position it puts you and Lady Enlightenment in, Archmage.]" On the screen of the phone was a bespectacled man with olive skin and curled black hair; the display on the screen read "E. Amore". "[Fortunately, all three Doctors Spengler--the father, the son, and the daughter--are initiates of the Etheric tradition. Perhaps it's time for me to take a more...direct interest in things in New York.]"

"[That would probably be the best action, yes.]" Fallagar agreed.

"[I rather like New York, actually. The first time I was in New York was in 1904; there was a rather gruesome situation with a lodge house--every member of the Manhattan Adventurers Society was found frozen solid. In July. But that was a hundred and twenty years ago, so, it's changed a bit since then.]"

"[A bit...]" Fallagar managed a chuckle. "[Keep me informed.]"

"[Absolutely]"

After the call ended, Fallagar sat in the quiet darkness for a few minutes more. Delphia says the time and dimensional fluctuations are all resolved...but why can't I shake the feeling that there's something I've overlooked. Something dangerous...







Somewhere Else
A woman swam in a small, private grotto. She sighed.

Submerged like this, only her nose above water, this was the only way she could almost...relax. The water soothed her...the rage almost dispelled, almost made her see why others fought so hard to protect the blighted world.

But at the same time...it filled her with a pang of disgust. The others...those ten deluded fools who insisted that she was one of them...their dogma would no doubt say "But water is your element, of course you feel at home there..."

She poked her head up above water, and opened one eye to peek from under the flat, wet red hair that covered it. The Lupine had gotten better at evading her senses, and he had the demeanor of a rutting beast even in the best of circumstances.

And giving the rutting Lupine the messy, painful death he so clearly deserved more than most would complicate things with the allies he brought her to. Nearly two years of rejection and abuse hadn't cooled the creature's ardor yet.

Satisfied she was still alone, she submerged again, swimming completely underwater for a time...

Until she felt a sharp pain in her skull.

And with that pain, memories...


"How can you do this? You're human!" the dark skinned Ghostbuster shouted. "Gozer will just destroy you too!"

"If it is his will..." she replied. She selected one key from the ring she'd taken from the fat Ghostbuster, and placed it into a waiting socket on the power switch. There was a flash of light. And suddenly two young boys were in the basement with her.

"Huh?!" the older exclaimed out loud, apparently just as surprised as she was.

"What in the name of the Kordath...?" she managed to snarl.

Before she could react further, the younger boy jumped on her, howling with a fury surprising for one so young.

"Get the keys!!!" the fat Ghostbuster shouted.

"Get off of me, dust mote!!!" she snarled, throwing the redheaded boy off of her. She gestured with her outstretched hand, and the older boy was hit with a bolt of blue force, slamming the small boy into the brickwork of the wall. He collapsed. "Tremble, Mortals--for the return of the Destructor is at hand!!!" she shouted, her amusement gone. Who was the older boy, that he could resist my power? she found herself thinking. And the younger one...I sensed something in him as well... She angrily turned the key, triggering a red light to start blinking by the power switch, and on the ECU's control panel.


The water exploded around her.

She rose, a brilliant green-blue glow shining from her eyes through the hair that otherwise obscured them. An aura of the same color swirled around her as she floated in the air, water dripping off of her naked body.

"Damn you, Demiurge--taking this memory from me..." she snarled, shaking with the rage that had now returned in full force. "But now your failure is complete--now I know where I need to look...and thus turn all of that deluded cult's blathering into dust!!!"

Her face twisted into a sneering grin. "And more--avenge the Destructor for all that the Ghostbusters did to him!!!"

To Be Continued
Questions? Comments? Go to the Ectozone Message Board

Based on Ghostbusters Created by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis

The Real Ghostbusters 2024 Created by Fritz Baugh and OgreBBQ

Ectozone.com Editorial Staff: Dr. Vincent Belmont, EGB Fan, TheRazorsEdge
Additional Beta: Kingpin, OgreBBQ
Extreme Ghostbusters Created by Fil Barlow

Venkman's "love song" is from the episode "Moaning Stones" by Steve Barnes (RGB-76055; #239)

A few canon elements mentioned in flashbacks: Hob Anagarak was from "Cold Cash and Hot Water" by Richard Mueller (RGB-76039;#219). Shannon Phillips was from "The Father Thing Trilogy" by James Van Hise and John Tobias, and first appeared in Now's The Real Ghostbusters Vol.1 No. 9 (XU RGB 9A). Robo-Buster and Grossjuck Industries were from "Robo-Buster" by Francis Moss (RGB-175005;#405)

Kaila MacMillan Zeddemore loosely based on a character created by James Van Hise and Phil Hester debuting in Now's The Real Ghostbusters Vol.1 No. 19 (XU RGB 19A). Developed for the Ectozone universe by Brian Reilly.

Dick's Pizza was from the IDW comic series, and first appeared in Ghostbusters Vol.1 No.13 by Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening (XU GBIDW 13A)

The Order of Hermes is from Ars Magica, created by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen in 1987; now owned by Atlas Games save a few concepts owned by White Wolf Games.

The Sons of Ether come from Mage:The Ascension from White Wolf Games. Created by Mark Rein-Hagen and Stuart Weick.

Characters not taken from official material were created by Fritz Baugh unless otherwise specified.

Much of the material reprinted and referenced in this story comes from 2006's The Real Ghostbusters: Gemini Rising.

Marie Lupin, Eric Stantz, and Liz Hawthorne Stantz created by OgreBBQ.

Edward Sanders created by Ghostdiva.

Jessica Venkman, Conchita and Rose Rivera, and Hayden and Thomas Wallance created by EGB Fan.

The 2023 Ghostbusters encountered ghost clones of the original Ghostbusters in Extreme Ghostbusters: Separated At Rebirth by Kingpin. The ghost clones were based on those seen in "Citizen Ghost" by J. Micheal Straczynski (RGB-75012; #111)


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