Scorpio (or Scorpius)

Symbol: The Scorpion. Sometimes a Lizard or an Eagle.

Major Stars: Antares, Schaula

Mythology: In Greek mythology, a scorpion stung the hero Orion to death; it's said to be why Orion sets as Scorpius rises in the sky. Some astrologers equate the scorpion to the "normal" Scorpio; a "debased' Scorpio, beaten down by life, is a lizard, while an "evolved" Scorpio who has triumphed over their base urges is represented by an eagle.

Dates: The Sun's transit of Scorpio occurs from around October 23 to November 21 of the Gregorian Calendar. This is the middle part of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

Modality: Fixed (Resistance to change, great willpower, inflexible)

Element: Water (Emotion, empathy, sensitivity)

Keyword: "I Desire"

Scorpio is the sign of desire and the metaphysical. Its gifts are passion, magnetism, and insight. Its dangers are obsession, paranoia, and holding grudges.

Body Parts Associated with Scorpio: The genitals.

Metallic Element: Iron (Fe)

Spectral Band: Green-blue

Ruling Planet: Mars (classic) and Pluto (modern)

Exaltation: Uranus

Detriment: Venus

Fall: The Moon

2024:
THE SIGN OF THE TWINS
PART FIVE

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

After a time trip on the night of their twenty-fifth birthday, Eden and John each found themselves in a different cracked version of reality as of the day they were born. With the help of the two distorted versions of their parents and the other original Ghostbusters, the mad plan of the man called Josiah Nodus was thwarted and reality was restored. But in the process, Nodus made the shocking claim that John is the missing Child of Zodiac, Gemini of the Primordial Winds.

John met with the Dean of the Sons of Ether, Dr. Enrico Amore, who reveals himself as another of the Children, Libra of the Dynamic Winds. But even he doesn't know if John is the one they've been looking for--no one will until something happens that would otherwise kill John.

To make matters worse, a mysterious woman visits Ghostbusters Central when the others are gone--a woman who may be the Herald of Gozer, aka Scorpio of the Steady Waters, the fallen Child of Zodiac not seen since GBI close the Tonnes Quarry Crossrip in 2004.

I can almost remember how many...

Edward took another bite. "And you're a bit miffed you weren't invited too, aren't you?"

Now she realized exactly what her father meant when he told her once "Your mother long ago developed the ability to tell exactly how I felt, even when I sometimes wished she didn't. Sometimes when I wasn't even sure myself."

She'd replied to Edward, with total honesty...Well...um...yes." and "It's like I'm being told my accomplishments matter less than my brother's. That is...annoying."

She hated this whole situation.

She hated all the questions, and what they were doing to Johnathan.

And she immensely hated that she was unable to tell Edward the full truth. "Plus my brother may essentially be a demigod, and he's not dealing with that possibility well." Edward wasn't a member of GBI, and this was most definitely a GBI secret of the highest level.

She saw the light come on for the next stop, which would bring her back to the Spengler Institute.

And what I haven't told anybody is...neither am I

Or was it my own?

"Well, remember, this is just Slimer's word we're going on." Marie pointed out. "He's not exactly the brain trust around here."

"True." Eric agreed.

"Maybe..." Ray said hesitantly. "...But I guess we should have figured it would happen. We last saw her battling the Archmage Fallagar when Gozer's realm was falling apart; he was missing for almost four years, but turned up just fine." Ray shrugged. "No reason we should have thought the Herald couldn't do the same."

Eric looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "This something we should get Mom in on? I'm pretty sure this bitch is considered an enemy of the Order."

"Not yet." Ray shook his head. "We need a little more to go on first."

Slimer babbled, sounding a bit angry.

"I trust you, Spud, but you know how it is--it's not what we believe, it's what we can prove."

Slimer looked confused and started doing cartwheels.

"I think you broke him, Ray." Marie quipped.

"Not the first time." Ray chuckled.

"What about the PK trace we got?" Marie asked. "We could find whoever it is anywhere in the city with that."

"Um...no..." Jerry broke in hesitantly. "She hadn't signed a waiver yet."

"It's a privacy and liability issue." TJ added.

"Ah, lawyers." Eric rolled his eyes.

TJ gave him a dirty look. But then her attention went back to John.

"Getting a traceable PK profile is a little more involved than just waving a GBX under her nose anyway." Ray continued. "The sensors upstairs were just running passive scans. Maybe John and I'd better take a closer look at them, see if there's anything we can glean from them."

John didn't seem to hear him.

"John?"

John startled slightly. "Yeah, right--the upstairs scan system. Good call."

TJ grabbed his arm gently. "Are you all right?"

"I...kinda met this psycho when I was a kid, just like Eric." he answered. "Scared the living hell out of me."

She let him go with Ray, but couldn't shake the feeling that while his answer was truthful, he was leaving something out. Something important.

And then they came for me...

"Anyway, next up is a classic from Toilet Sushi..."

"Oh, yeah..." Jillian Holtzmann said. "This is music you can blow up labs to!"

"Hey, Eden!" Kylie Griffin said as the younger woman entered the room.

"Greetings." Eden said simply, nodding.

"She was out having lunch with her boooyfrieeend..." Holtzmann said in a sing-song voice.

"Nothing wrong with that." Kylie said. She looked back at Eden. "You don't look all that happy about it, though."

Eden groaned inwardly. Always the danger when dealing with someone who's known you your entire life.

Holtzmann excitedly pulled a chair up to Eden and Kylie, sitting in it backwards. "Trouble in paradise already?! Don't mind me, just go ahead and talk about it like I'm not here."

"Aren't you doing something else?" Eden asked.

"Just recharging a temperature gauge." Holtzmann replied blithely. "It's at the part where it takes care of itself."

Eden shook her head. "It's nothing to do with Edward, I promise. It's...Johnathan."

Holtzmann blew and popped a bubble. "Feeling like you're competing with him and hot little Miz TJ? I mean, if you want your own bit of English muffins, Lars Pinfiend's still single I think..."

Eden groaned--audibly this time--and started to head to her office.

"You're not helping, Holtzy." Kylie rolled her eyes.

Holtzmann shrugged. "What? You know I'm no good with straight people problems." She chewed her gum a time or two. "Doesn't stop me from trying, mind you...it's too fun to ignore!"

Kylie sighed. "Watch the coolant flow...I'll be back in a minute or two."

"Zirconium nitroxide! Yum yum!!!" Holtzmann said excitedly.

Left for dead.

"It could just be a glitch." Ray shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to wait to see if that lady comes back."

John shook his head. "You really think it could be the Herald of Gozer?"

"It could be." Ray rubbed his eyes. "But I hope not. And I know that goes for a lot more people than just us."

As the girl he'd just murdered stood up

"Okay, it's not Edward, it's John." Kylie said. "What did he do?"

Eden sighed "I really need to compile these updates for the TOBIN network..."

Kylie glared at her.

"You learned that glare from my Mother, didn't you?" Eden stopped typing.

"No, it's one all mothers learn." Kylie replied. "Spill it."

"He was invited to a meeting with the Dean of the Sons of Ether. I wasn't."

"That doesn't mean anything. John's an active Ghost...."

Eden cut her off, brow furrowing. "Edward said the same damn thing. But it's not that...or mostly not that..." She exhaled loudly. "It's something I couldn't talk about with Edward or even the others at the Institute. It's the whole...'Lord Gemini' business."

Kylie nodded. "It's a lot for him to deal with."

"And it's not for anyone else?"

"What do you mean?"

Eden stood up. Kylie was taken aback. It wasn't often she saw Eden Spengler expressing much emotion at all...and now she was furious, in that seething way Kylie'd seen in Janine numerous times.

"My brother's possibly been handed something almost incomprehensibly precious. How many people throughout history have sought the secret of longevity, or even immortality? And Johnathan Christopher Spengler might be having it just handed to him?!"

Kylie decided it was not the time to interrupt. Good grief, conscious of it or not, she's starting to talk in a Brooklyn accent!

"He may be getting the gift of seeing centuries...maybe even millennia...of scientific advancement. He's going to live to see things as difficult for us to even imagine now as an Australopithecus africanus would have imagining satellites, smart phones, and air travel." Eden growled. "And he's acting like it's some kind of curse!!! It's the opposite of a death sentence, but he's acting like that's what it is!!!"

After a few moments Kylie spoke. "He's still processing..."

"He's refusing to process it!!!" Eden shouted. She collapsed into her chair.

After a few moments, in a quiet, almost childish voice, she said. "And that means he's going to leave me behind."

Kylie saw the tears starting to form. "Oh Eden..."

"We started our lives together. But he's going to live forever...and I'm not." She laid her head on her desk. "And I've never felt like this before. I know it's wrong, but I'm so fucking angry with him and so fucking jealous of him right now I can't think straight." Eden slammed the desk with her right fist for emphasis.

Kylie started to say something, but she stopped.

There was an odd feeling, like ice water poured into her brain.

Eden looked up, face quizzical. "I feel..strange..."

She stood up when Kylie said "So do I..."

Kylie breathed a small sigh of relief when she clearly saw Eden going back into "Egon Mode". I'm almost glad for the interruption--I have no idea what I could have said to make any difference...

So very much rage

"Frighteningly powerful telepath." Ray answered. "She hypnotized one of those deranged fangirls Egon used to attract into walking into the Firehouse and try to murder Janine." He shuddered. "Once she was in here the Herald invaded my mind to find out how to let Stay Puft out of the Containment Unit. And this was after some of the mental protection techniques Liz was allowed to teach me."

"GBI Case File GBI-2004-22/001, the Tonnes Quarry Crossrip." TJ read from her tablet screen. "She also seems to have considerable telekinetic abilities--some form of flight, and she was able to knock ECTO-2 out of the sky."

"Ask your Mom about that one, John." Ray said wryly. "But be ready for the words she didn't say around you guys until you were at least thirteen."

"Ouch." John winced.

"I really hoped no more Gozer stuff after 2004, especially after the 2020 date came and went without incident." Ray shook his head. "I mean, even without Gozer being forcefully discorporated by a full matter/magic paradox inversion, the next stellar alignment isn't until 2134."

"Is there anything we can do other than just sit and wait for her to pop in here again?" TJ asked.

John couldn't keep her gaze.

"I'm not sure..." Ray answered.

He placed it on a branch next to the pond, and sat down behind a rock, unable to see my emergence.

A woman wearing sunglasses, a surgical mask, and a black and dark red outfit was standing there. "I need help, Mister..." the woman looked at the nameplate on his desk. "...Beckman. I have a supernatural problem."

Another of the Institutes researchers, Abby Yates, popped her head out. "A supernatural problem?" She rushed out the meet the woman. "Tell me more, Miss...um..."

The woman hesitated for a second. "Sharon. Sharon Baylor." She looked around. "I think a werewolf is trying to kidnap me! It wants me to..." She shuddered. "...Have his puppies."

"Eeew..." Abby and Kevin said in unison, faces curdling.

"I guess I have to ask, Miss Baylor..." Abby looked a little reluctant. "...Did you know we're more of a research laboratory? That you might be better off contacting the Ghostbusters?"

"I tried." Sharon admitted. "But they were out on another case, and I was afraid to wait for them."

"Oh! I heard on the radio! They got to meet Ichika!" Kevin babbled.

"Then you've definitely come to the second best place, Sharon." Abby said more jovially. "Let me assemble the staff!"

He nodded, and looked to the sky. "But there is one who is not defeated yet. He sleeps, but is soon to awaken. And when he does, he will create the world that truly should have been. All I can tell you for now, young one, is that he is called The Traveler. And for the time being..." He looked at me with a strange smile. "...I am his Herald."

"There's definitely something you're not telling the rest of us." TJ said firmly.

John sighed. "I saw Amore today, you knew that part. But there's something he told me...he said he's one of the Children of Zodiac, and his sign's Libra."

TJ's eyes went wide. "Then does that mean..."

"Not even he knows." John shook his head. "And with luck we won't know for a very long time, so long I could just put it out of my mind except..."

She waited.

"...Except he specifically mentioned the Herald of Gozer. And that she's their Scorpio."

"Bloody hell."

"Amore gave me a number to call him..." John continued. "...But I don't know if I should." He sighed again, and switched to a different contact. "I need to let Eden know what's going on..."

They all nodded their agreement

"No, Doctor. As expected, the passive scans of Doctor Spengler detected no definitive evidence in regards to his potential nature. There was still a noticeable amount of delta energy residue, consistent with Lady Delphia's account" The voice was clearly mechanical, as was the speaker.

Amore nodded. "Understood. Thank you. I will probably be staying a few more days, but unless something changes we may still be years away from resolving this."

After shutting off the communication, he sat on the hotel bed. I still feel that unease...

He reached into his jacket, and produced a small object--a small hand lantern, about the size of a 12oz soda can, cast in metal.

He held up the item, and started to chant softly.

"Intellego vim..."

The lantern began to shine with a green light.

"Revela fontem eorum quae me perturbant..."

The green light intensified...then it flared aqua blue before going out.

"...Oh no...it can't be..." Amore said with obvious distress.

Kylie stiffened beside her as they walked into the main conference area. Abby and Holtzmann were interviewing a woman they'd never seen before.

"...Hey, I can feel you on the horny werewolf thing, Sharon." Holtzmann said. "I had to deal with one of those myself a couple years ago."

"No unusual readings, at least not..." Abby's eyebrows knit. "Though there's suddenly an interference pattern forming."

Eden looked at the woman. It wasn't something she was used to: this otherwise nondescript woman in the sunglasses and surgical mask was giving her the creeps. The creeps, and an odd feeling of deja vu.

I know Mother speaks highly of "female intuition"...is that what is happening here?

The woman looked over at Kylie. With her eyes and mouth concealed, there wasn't any expression to read.

Kylie was dealing with a feeling of deja vu of her own. I've felt something like this before, but where?

The woman looked over at Eden.

"This is Sharon Baylor, she says she's being stalked by a werewolf." Abby explained. "The Ghostbusters weren't home, so she came here for help."

Eden pulled out her GBX. "Can confirm no unusal reading..save for the interference pattern. This is most peculiar."

Kylie startled. It hit her. It was..when Coda and Terchi were here! When the Archmage came take them home. Is this woman somehow involved with him too?

"You are Dr. Eden Spengler?" Sharon asked her.

Eden's eyebrow went up. "Affirmative."

The woman nodded. "Excellent."

The door into the conference area exploded.

Standing there, on two legs, was a seven foot tall creature covered in dark brown fur, with the head of a wolf.

"Showtime!!!" it said gleefully.