September 20, 2003
Even though the traffic had been murder they had reached the park in record time and Bo stopped the car on the pavement, crushing a parking meter as he did so.

"You know, I'm all for pulling dangerous stunts across 5th Avenue, but you could have let the meter maid get out of the way before you started mowing down her parking meters?" Shades shouted with exasperation.

"Hey it worked didn't it?" Bo asked, they then got out of the car and inspected the large crowd that had gathered.

The ECTO-1 was parked nearby. Vincent, Roland, Jeff, and Fritz were already waiting there.

"Shit..." Bo cussed. The changes to the park were now evident--the trees were bent into place completely blocking it from outside access.

Bo picked up a piece of parking meter and tossed it at the park gate, a large "ZAP" sound was issued with a bright red flash and the parking meter shot across Central Park West and embedded itself in the windscreen of a yellow taxi.

"Woah!" Ernie shouted as the taxi's windscreen exploded.

"Thought so..." Bo muttered. "Vince, any ideas?" He asked.

"Fritz?"

"It's a psychomagnetherically charged ectoplasmic shield--it's similar to the one that appeared around the Manhattan Museum of Art in 1988, but the reading is lower."

"I estimate if we fire at a spot in the dead center of the gate we'll be able to break the shield." Vincent suggested.

Roland nodded. "We activated the full lockdown at HQ just in case." he explained to Bo and Jen. "If we don't call Louis in two hours, he'll scramble every GBI agent he can."

"I love this job..." Jeff shook his head.

Roland looked at Bo. "Your case, your call, Bo."

"Alright, team, fire on three..." Bo shouted. "THREE!!!"

Seven standard beams slammed into the shield, and it started to shimmer red.

"Eat this, Motherf***ers!!!" Bo revved up the Super Pack...

KROOOM!!!

"Quick! Into the car before the shield has a chance to reform!" Vincent shouted.

"Jeff! Fritz! Keep firing--keep the gap open!!!" Roland shouted.

"Three beams won't hold it long!!!" Jeff added. "GO!!!"

Nightsquad and Vincent Belmont dove into the ECTO-1X; within seconds, Bo hit the gas, and the car zoomed through the gap just as the broken shards reformed, sealing the hole.

"Is it just me, or is it awefully dark in here?" Shades asked.

"Do you read?" Fritz's voice came over Jen's radio.

"Affirmative." she answered.

"It must be part of the Witch's domain, eternal darkness." Vincent commented as he stared at the glowing trees, gnarled and deformed to a look that could only be described as evil.

Ernie finally spoke after a few minutes of silence. "Err...Bo, do you have an idea of where we're going?"

"Yes...why?" Bo asked.

"Well I'm a regular visitor to this park and I don't recognise the current layout." Shades replied, looking out of his window.

"WHAT?!" Bo shouted. Vincent delved into the glove compartment and pulled out a map of Manhattan which hand an inset map of the park.

"He's right," Jen said as she looked at the map over Vince's shoulder, "I haven't seen one single landmark so far, only trees and pathways."

"What's wrong with the streetlighting here?" Ernie pointed at one of the decorative lamps. Apart from the fact that they had deformed growths sprouting from what should have been symmetrical shaped posts, the lamps glowed a ghasty red like Roland had described.

"I get the feeling that the welcoming party was cancelled." Shades said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It appears the Witch's manipulative abillites are in effect." Vince said as he looked up at the sky. Bats flew about it, a ghostly white moon shone down but cast no light on the pathway.

"Welcome to Central Park Forest." Jen said as they continued in deeper into the darkness, the hearse's headlight barely piercing the gloomy fog that began to build up.

"Hey Vince, you okay? You seem really tense right about now." Shades asked in worry.

"Let's simply say...I've had bad memories of fog..."

The team traveled without incident until hey reached the stairs that led to small tunnel that was before the open area with the fountain. The vines now covered the roadway, the narrow arches it formed impassible for the Miller Meteor.

"I guess we're now have to travel on foot." Ernie replied and they got out of the car. They each strapped on their Proton Packs and Vince turned on his PKE Meter.

Error: PK Level Exceeds Sensor Tolerance Parameter.

Vincent shook his head. "At least they don't blow up anymore..."

"Try the patch Otter and I wrote" Fritz's voice came over the radio. "If it works, the energy receptors will be completely offlined--only PK movement flow will be tracked."

"Let's give it a shot." He said. After a few minutes. .."So far, so good..."

They decended the same staircase Garrett had been thrown down, and started to move towards the arches under the bridge, avoiding the vines so not to get entangled in them. The air was distinctly chillier.

...evening...evening...evening...evening...evening...

"Does anyone hear something?" Ernie asked as a cloud of vapour rose from his mouth.

"Do I really want to?" Shade replied.

"Chanting..." Jen replied. "We must be getting close..."

"There was a cult working with the Witch." Jeff reminded them. "What's the invocation?"

"It's not Latin." Vincent shook has head as they crept closer. "It's English. The same word over and over again..."

...evening...evening...evening...evening...evening...

"It sounds like...'evening'" Bo grimaced.

"Evening?" Fritz replied, before the radio signal was lost to static.

"Fritz? Jeff? Roland?" Vincent called into the radio. "The PK's so strong it's cut off the radio signal.

"I don't want to alarm anyone, but the sooner we get out from beneath here the better." Jen said, a hint of worry in her voice; she flinched when she heard a sound that was either made by a bat, or was a deformed cackle.

The second set of arches that marked the end of the tunnel loomed into sight and the team let out a collective sigh of relief when they stepped out of the tunnel. The fog was even thicker now, but they could easily make out the fountain, now covered in thick, diseased vines that oozed and pulsed; the liquids that the vines oozed became mixed with the blood that flowed out of the plumbing.

"Aw hell..." Ernie moaned.

The house loomed in front of them. Just as they remembered from Burkittsville, just as Roland had described it, the elderly lady that was the Blair Witch sat in her rocking chair.

Nearby, the cult stood in a circle. The Goth-dressed members chanting about a throng of pumpkins assembled into an infinity sign.

...evening...evening...evening...evening...evening...
"I lost the signal" Roland grumbled. "The PK's drowned it out..."

"Evening" Fritz muttered. His eyes went wide, and he rushed to the back of the ECTO-1.

"Fritz?"

"You said it yourself, Jeff, what are a bunch of urban disaffected doing worshipping an evil nature goddess?" Fritz answered, typing away furiously on the computer onboard the car.

"Actually I called them 'Goth douche bags', but that was the point, yeah."

"Fritz, I'm not following yet."

"Roland, you described the leader as wearing an infinity sign. His minion was carrying a pumpkin. And now the cult is chaning 'Evening'...I've got an uncomfortable feeling where this is going."

"From where?" Roland asked. "You deal with something like that before?"

"No." Fritz answered. "But Professor Spengler, Doctor Venkman, and the other original Ghostbusters have..."

"I'm gonna kick your ass you undead c***" Bo snarled, charging up the Super Pack.

"Why if it isn't Bo Holbrook..." It cackled a little.

"You know my name?" he replied.

"Oh, I know all of your names, my incarceration allowed me to pick up a few intresting bits of information." She said, eyes glowing red.

"This time Witch, you're going back with no chance of parole!" Shades shouted.

...evening...evening...evening...evening...evening...

"We have to stop the cult." Vincent said. There was something...familiar about the cult, now that he saw them. But they don't resemble the normal cult of the Witch. These have the trappings of a Celtic inspired group...

"Why dear, don't be silly." The elderly lady rose from her rocking chair and started to walk towards them. "These nice young folks have freed me, and soon will give me the power I need to bend your world to a new will!!!" The elderly lady's voice became deeper and more demonic, her flowery dress rotted and became torn up, her body grew and rotted.

"Ew..." Ernie moaned.

Suddenly the house exploded. Hundreds of ghosts that Nightsquad recognized swirled and howled angrily.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!" Shades howled, and started to blast away.

"Bo!!! You need to get through to the Witch!!!" Jen shouted.

...evening...evening...evening...evening...evening...
Fritz's eyes narrowed. "I was right...Sowwen..."

"Sowwen?" Roland replied. "I still..."

Jeff's eyes went wide. "Well, that's the proper Celtic pronunciation...you're probably more familiar with the pronunciation Samhain."

Roland inhaled. "You're sure about this?"

"Samhain was represented by the infinity sign. It was part of the spell his minions used to free him from the Ecto Containment Unit in 1985, and appeared again when he was freed a second time in 1989." Fritz looked at them. "But the primary part of that spell involved the invoking of the word 'Evening'"

Roland looked shocked for a few seconds. Then he shook his head. "But what are we worried about, then? Samhaine's been in the Containment Unit for the last fourteen years!!!"

The blood drained out of Fritz's face. "No he hasn't..."

"You cannot defeat me again Ghostbusters." The Blair Witch cried in a voice dripping with evil.

"Don't count on it." Bo started up the pack and readied the gun. "Welcome to my nightmare you death-whore." Bo said and gritted his teeth. He fired at the Blair Witch, snagging her instantly.

"No! This cannot be! I shall rule this world!!" She screamed as the beam continued to hold her.

"Night night." Bo said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" She screamed and the ground beneath her began to smoke.

Evening. Evening. Evening. Evening. Evening.

"HIT THE DECK!" Shades shouted, they all dove to the ground as the ground in front of them exploded.

"Holy shit!" Ernie cried out; they all looked at the small crater created by explosion. The Witch stood there intact, shaking a finger non-chantly.

"Tsk tsk, you fools do not realise the power you trifle with. You can not even comprehend what is really going on." The Witch boasted.

"WHAT?!?" Shades shouted.

"Do you honestly believe I would go to this much trouble of taking over your park when I could easily destroy you where you stand?" The Witch mocked.

"Oh crap!" Ernie shouted.

"This was..." Vincent began.

"A decoy." The Witch said and grinned, her eyes glowed bright red.

Evening!!! Evening!!! Evening!!! Evening!!! Evening!!!

The cult leader, Lord Vega, howled into the night. "Now is the time, my followers, for Eternal Night to fall, and the world to become as one with it!!! Eternal Night---ETERNAL HALLOWEEN!!!"

EVENING!!! EVENING!!! EVENING!!! EVENING!!! EVENING!!!

"EVENING!!!" Vega shouted, slashed his own wrist with a sacrificial knife, and plunged it into the heart of the burning pumpkin standing at the crux of the infinity sign.

"GBI Case File GBNY 1990-8/206..." Fritz said, starting to shake. "Halloween 1990. Samhaine had somehow escaped once again over the previous year, but he was still very weak--he was posing as a kindly old man giving out candy to children. The Ghostbusters caught on to him, and stopped his plan, but they had to overload his energy flow as he was attempting to link both the Earth plane and the spirit world..." He looked at them eyes wide with unwanted comprehension and horror. "He was never re-contained!!!"

The cult leader, Lord Vega, began to glow, then his body was engulfed in an angry orange fire. He began to grow larger...his head especially began to swell, becoming bulbous and orange...with only dark holes for eyes and a mouth...

Like a jack-o-lantern.

"Oh...Shit." Vincent whispered, wide eyed. He knew what he was seeing would be burnt into his mind for long after the event.

With one final, feral howl, the burning being shot into the sky, tearing through the canopy the Blair Witch had formed over the park. The fireball headed south.

"Shit! Quick, back to the car!" Bo shot a quick stream at the Witch as he started to run back toward ECTO-1X.

The Witch fired a blast in response, hitting the Super Pack. The thrower sparked and the cyclotron died out. Bo threw a glare at the Witch and then joined his teammates.

"Minions, stop them!" The Witch cried out and the horde of entities and cultists threw themselved toward the Ghostbusters in the ECTO-1X.

"Bo, we need to get out of here NOW!" Jen shouted.

"Hold on to your asses!!!" Bo shouted, throwing the car into a 180 degree turn. The ECTO-1X barrelled back down the pathway, sending misshapen lampposts, branches of evil trees, and vine-ridden park equipment flying in its wake.

A hill approached and the car mounted it, shooting several feet into the air, badly shaking the contents of the vehicle.

Two more hills shot by and the ECTO-1X crashed back down onto the pathway two more times. The warped gateway approached.

"Bo, we haven't blasted the sheild yet!" Ernie shouted.

"F*** the shield!!!" Bo shouted and braced himself.

The ECTO-1X passed through the shield with negligable effort, slamming to a stop on the street near the original ECTO-1.

"Is this as bad as it looks?!" Shades yelled to the other Ghostbusters.

"Worse." Jeff answered.

A man in business suit and carrying a briefcase screamed as he ran across the street, a swerving cab blared it's horn and he dropped his briefcase, not caring.

For three decades the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood nearby. Two years before, a horror made all the more terrifying by being instigated solely by human beings had transformed this site into a graveyard.

But now, something happened in this place. Something appeared in the ruins of Ground Zero, rising up to the sky, a gnarled and deformed parody of the towers that had once stood there.

These towers were blackened, the windows blood red, diseased growths and chaotic protrusions sprouting from the sheer sides. Lightning began to flash in the sky as a large bridge formed between the two towers, made of the same substance as the growths.

A large mound on the bridge continued to rise high above the streets of Manhattan. Once the mound was roughly half the size of one of the towers a platform formed atop it, then a set of obelisks with a strange language scrawled into them. A series of steps formed atop the platform, and several oversized bats appeared among the storm clouds, hovering around the new structure like vultures.

"Oh my God in heaven..." A cabbie gasped as the sky was filled with a bright red flash and a crack of thunder.

A throne appeared, with a stretched demon head forming the backboard.

The head was flagged either side by posts that ended in a sharp point. The throne was flagged by two burning torches, similar to those down in the courtyard.

A streak of fire came from the north, Central Park to be precise, and settled into place above the throne. It started to solidify once more, but if there was anything of Lord Vega left within it, it didn't show. A swirl of shadow formed a cape covering a tall, thin form, topped off with a jack-o-lantern head, grinning with insane glee.

Just as the last of it formed, the sculpture above the fountain had formed into a copy of the leering pumpkin.

"Foolish mortals, you shall pay for imprisoning the spirit of Halloween!" The figure looked down and pointed a clawed hand at the people in the city, its voice echoey, tinged with an Irish accent, and too loud to be human. "For I, am Samhain, spirit of Halloween...And I shall reign eternal, the night shall be...ETERNAL!"

"It's really f***ing Samhain?!" Bo howled, incredulous of what he'd seen and what he was being told.

Fritz nodded. "Yes..." he finally replied through a dry throat.

Samhain raised his hands and clapped them together, a green flash issued from them and the city decended into night. In Times Square, the people watched as the electronic clocks on the buildings sped forward until it read: 12:00AM, then most of the billboards flickered out, darkening the neon heart of Manhattan.

And in that moment, in the terrified city, now populated with hundreds of ghosts, a single creature turned its attention toward the pair of misshapen towers in Downtown. The Blair Witch regarded the sight, and grinned.

"How the f*** can this happen?" Ernie asked. "I though Samhain's power was only at its strongest at Halloween?"

The members of Nightsquad, Vincent, Roland, and the two West Coast Ghostbusters were at Ghostbusters HQ, in the third floor laboratory area. The computer screens near them filled with the information collected on Samhain by the original Ghostbusters. A giant map of New York City was covering most of the card table they'd set up in the center of the room.

"It's possible that with the increased PKE from the Blair Witch, Samhain has enough power to draw from, either that...or something I don't want to even think about." Jen admitted.

"Think about what?" Jeff prodded.

"That Samhain may have drained the PK energy from other ghosts inside the original Ghostbusters' Containment Unit to increase his own power." Jen answered, provoking some uncomfortable looks from those gathered.

"Can he do that?" Shades finally asked.

"It's been theorized." Roland answered. "The Professor has mentioned that the raw number of entities sometimes fluctuates. It could have been errors in the inventory programs, however..."

"I've also seen it as a possible theory in Tobin's Spirit Guide, but Tobin hadn't had the required tools or knowledge to prove this theory." Jen explained.

"It might even be part of how he escaped in 1990 in the first place..." Fritz mused

"Well, it seems that Samhain has done a DIY job on Ground Zero, and I'm not sure that's the kind of memorial anybody had in mind. What can we do? Take him on?" Shades asked.

"That would be difficult to the verge of suicidal." Vincent answered. "There's a frightening amount of deathforce lingering in that area still..."

"We've all had those calls to chase away the cults that wanted to harness that." Ernie nodded.

"I'd hate to think how this is damaging the tourist trade." Shades said. Jen cast him a glare.

"Can't you ever take anything seriously? It's either you or Ernie." She scolded.

"Ernie can’t help it, and me? I don't really care either way." Shades retorted.

"We need to concentrate on the situation on hand, unless we want to be the home of the world's largest throne." Vince said. Shades snickered while Jen threw them both a glare.

"This does answer one question: why the cult of disaffected urban youth..." Fritz started to say.

"Goth douche bags." Bo broke in.

"...Had thrown in with a nature witch. They were working together to revive Samhain." Fritz finished.

"But why?" Roland asked. "It's still not making a lot of sense."

"Yeah." Jeff added. "Bad guys like that always end up at each other's throats--'This world isn't big enough for both of us to be the absolute ruler' and shit like that."

"Even if that's true, the world's ass is gonna be sore long before they reach that point." Bo said, grinding out his cigar. "We need to come up with a plan, and now."

"Okay...The Blair Witch has turned Central Park into her domain..." Vincent drew a circle around the park, then lightly shading it in. "Samhain is currently at the top of this a structure he erected at Ground Zero, and he has already cast 'Eternal Night' over New York." Vincent circled the former World Trade site.

Jen's brow furrowed. "The Blair Witch's main Achilles' Heel is that she can only draw power from her own dimension. If we can cause her dimension to collapse she'll be rendered powerless."

"Samhain's Achilles' Heel is his...for a better description...allergy for light. He can't tolerate bright lights. We will try to trap Samhain and send the Blair Witch to...hell." Vincent added.

"You make it sound so easy." Shades interjected brightly. "Are all wizards as weird as you, or are you exceptional?"

"Shhhh! Tell no-one." He smirked in reply.

"Why'd I get stuck with the crazy people?" Jen asked herself.

"You think we're crazy? You should meet my friend Chris who's a perfectionist and a trekkie!" Shades retorted. One of the group raised his hand.

"Yes Ernie?" Vincent asked.

"Okay, Gandalf...how are we going to get up Samhain's fortress?" He asked.

"Leave that to me." Vincent explained.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Bo protested.

They were looking at a small, two-seat helicopter with the familiar Ghostbuster logo painted on it.

"The ECTO-2." Roland explained. "Doctor Stantz and I got it put back together around the Fourth of July."

"So are you saying you can fly it?" Fritz asked.

"Doctor Stantz has been giving me lessons..." Roland answered.

"Didn't he have exactly one formal lesson? In 1976?"

"Experience, Doctor Baugh, can make up for a lack of formal training..."

"There's one more thing that will need to be added before you can use it against Samhain." Vincent said as he walked over to a truck with a rear compartment.

"What's that?" Jeff asked.

"This!" Vincent said and whipped a tarp of off a pair light rigs, they consisted of sixteen studio lights, eight on each side which were bolted onto a pair of scaffolding that was welded together.

"Wow." Roland said.

"How the hell do you get this kind of equipment?" Bo asked.

"Trade secret." Vincent replied.

"It shouldn't take too long to get these babies bolted on, a hour and a half tops." Roland said.

"We'll leave you to it, Carlton." Bo smirked. "You guys wanna see the big gun?"

"Well, what do you think?" Bo asked.

"So this is the infamous Super Pack..." Jeff noted.

"Even more impressive than it sounded in the plans." Fritz said. "How did you copensate for the increased particle flow?" he asked as he examined the oversized gun of the Super Pack.

"We added several new circuits to the flow regulator." Bo replied.

"Hold up...this circuit's burned, what happened?" Fritz asked.

"The Blair Witch overloaded it during the fight earlier." Bo replied.

"Should be easily fixable." Fritz said, squinting at the damaged part.

"And we're going to run off to fight a Celtic god with it!" Jeff said with facetious glee. "Are we insane or what?"

"I doubt anyone who was mentally unstable would make much of a difference at this point." Vincent replied

Bo walked out of the basement and observed the many Ghostbusters scattered across the building's garage, performing last minute checks on the equipment.

"Let's get a f***ing move on!" Bo shouted, the Ghostbusters finished what they were doing, exited the building and stood next to the two vehicles.

"Load up the equipment!" Vincent instructed. Shades and Jen nodded and started to load NS's packs and traps into the back of the ECTO-1X. Roland and Fritz nodded and loaded their equipment into the ECTO-2.

"You think we'll beat her this time?" Bo asked.

"Don't concern yourself with the outcome. Just concentrate on standing your ground when the time comes." Vincent said. He then turned to the group as the last of the equipment was loaded into the vehicles. "As I explained before, we'll attack the Blair Witch first, forcing her out of Central Park, then we'll attack Samhain at his fortress over the World Trade Center. Is there anyone who doesn't want to go?" No-one replied. "Excellent..."

"LET'S MOVE OUT!" Bo interrupted, startling Vince.

"Roger!" Roland said, firing up the engine of the ECTO-2. Fritz would be manning the gunner seat in the back of the copter. Vincent and Jeff would be with the members of Nightsquad in the ECTO-1X.

"Will we still be able to break the shield without the Super Pack"? Jen asked.

"We'll have to adjust the beam's frequency to make sure the hole is large enought for ECTO-2. Otherwise we might as well give up." Vincent explained. With this done, the helicopter started up and pulled into the air moments before Bo started the ECTO-1X.

Within moments, the two vehicles tore into the artificial night, headed for Central Park West.

The car screeched to a halt at the same spot as before. Nightsquad and the other two Ghostbusters hopped out and armed themselves.

"You know, this is the biggest thing we've had to deal with so far." Ernie said, wincing slightly from the weight of the pack.

"Don't remind me." Bo said, he then shrugged on his own pack and clipped a trap onto his belt.

"You know how to reassure the new guy." Jeff deadpanned.

"What happens if this doesn't work?" Shades asked.

"Then you better start looking for cheap space travel." Vincent said, he held a PKE meter at the wall and noted the frequency. He then instructed the team to adjust their particle throwers accordingly.

"This is it..." Roland inhaled.

"Ready?" Bo asked, the team nodded.

"FIRE!" Vincent shouted and the six altered beams hit the shield. Within moments the shield cracked and shattered, creating a hole the height of a three story building.

The Nightsquad jumped into the ECTO-1X and Bo started the engine. The ECTO-2 flew through and the ECTO-1X shortly followed. Within moments the hole closed up like before, just as the ECTO-1X's tailgate had passed through.

The two vehicles arrived at the tunnel. The ones on the ground abandoned the car, and walked the rest of the way to the fountain.

The Blair Witch actually looked surprised this time. "When will you fools give up?" She asked.

"Will you shut the hell up you freak?" Bo asked and fired, the other five Ghostbusters joining in. From the ECTO-2 came a sixth beam.

"You...cannot defeat...me!" The Blair Witch screamed as it writhed in the beam, it's scream grew louder and it then exploded in a bright red light, leaving a group of stunned Ghostbusters.

"We beat her?" Ernie asked in surprise.

"I don't...know..." Jen replied, she didn't seem convinced.

"Am I the only one who thinks that was waaay too easy?" Shades asked.

"Agreed, she put up too little a fight." Vincent said, looking arround their environment.

"Come on guys, we'll talk about this later. We've still got Samhain to deal with." Bo said, waving his gun in the direction of Ground Zero.

Samhain frowned and stared at the creature now standing before him.

"So, we meet at last." Samhain mused, scratching his pumpkin chin with a clawed hand.

"It is an honor to be summoned by the Lord of Halloween" The Blair Witch asked. "I am flattered..."

"The cult I manipulated that fool Vega into forming learned much of you." Samhain replied. "It was my design that freed you from the prison these other Ghostbusters threw you into. I know that prison well--I was interred in one very much like it for far too long a time..."

"And from them I know why you freed me. You and I both have our weaknesses, Lord Samhain." the Witch said. "Your power is strongest in the city."

"Yours is strongest in the forest." Samhaine countered.

"Your hatred for light, my need for a seperate dimension." She continued. "Even beings such as ourselves have rules that we must follow, rules that these mortals used against us."

Samhain's mouth twisted into a grin. "There is a way to unite our powers and thus leave those rules behind." Samhain explained as he steepled his hands.

"The Ritual of Azalon..." The Witch nodded. "It is an elegant solution...we become something far greater than we are, though we lose something of what we were in the process."

"If it will allow us to destroy these wretched Ghostbusters, that have vexed me like no others, it is a price I will gladly pay..." Samhain said. The Witch turned away for a moment, watching some of the fires that burned in the city below. She then turned back, and stared him in the eye.

"When shall we begin? Now?"

"No," Samhain said, waving a finger. "Let them think they can beat me, then when they least expect it...we'll perform the ritual." Samhain said.

"Perfect..." the Witch replied. "I have already feigned my own defeat...it will make their surprise all the sweeter..." With that, the Witch vanished in a flash of red light.

"Excellent..." Samhain laughed into the night as he waited for the two teams to arrive. "Come along Ghostbusters...I am waiting."

Several reckless stunts later, the ECTO-1X pulled to a halt at base of the grotesque parodies defiling Ground Zero. As the four members of Nightsquad and their two allies got out of the car, Jen hurled a Pepsi can at the towers; it clattered noisily as it hit the ground.

"No shield, Roland!" she shouted into her walkie talkie.

Roland waved from the ECTO-2, and the small helicopter began it's ascent.

"I hadn't been in this city since before..." Fritz started to say, shaking his head. he didn't finish, but Roland--having lived in New York his entire life--more than agreed with the disgust in the older man's voice. The further up the building, the more unnatural it became; by the summit, the material formed giant tentacles, twisted together into an unnatural mountaintop.

On top of the mountaintop was the platform that supported Samhain's throne.

"It's go time." Roland said.

"Pleasure working with you, Mister Jackson..." Fritz replied. "And if he asks if we're Gods..." Roland managed a wry chuckle.

Fritz grabbed the microphone. "Attention Samhain. As duly designated representatives of Ghostbusters International, I ask you to cease and desist any activites that will result in the domination of this world, give yourself up quietly and we won't be forced to shoot!" He shouted.

"At least you pronounced it correctly..." Samhain chuckled. "You pathetic fools think that I, Samhain, the spirit of Halloween will go willingly?" Samhain asked.

"You asked for it." Fritz said, then gestured at Roland to point towards Samhain. When the chopper faced Samhain, the light rig was activated, bathing the summit in pure white light.

Samhain flinched and growled. He clicked his fingers.

There was a loud "pop" and one of the spotlights attached to ECTO-2 shattered, sending burning hot glass falling to the street. Within seconds, all burst in succession.

"Oh shit..." Roland said.

Once the final spotlight had shattered, Samhain clicked his finger again and smoke started to pour out of the rear of the helicopter. The ECTO-2 shook about, and started to plummet to the street below.

"Shit! They're going down!" Ernie shouted, the wounded mini-chopper falling toward them rapidly. Ernie started to move towards the car just as the helicopter leveled out and the roters started spinning again; it's decent slowed, the helicopter touched down. By then no smoke could be seen coming from the vehicle.

"What happened?" Shades asked.

"We don't know, she's working fine now!" Roland shouted from the cockpit.

"Foolish Ghostbusters, you shall pay for your insolence!" Samhain shouted. With a grand, impossible leap, he landed in front of them straight from the top of his unholy parody of the World Trade Center. Part of the sidewalk caved in as he landed, the shock wave collapsing a lamppost and causing windows in nearby offices to explode.

Smoke drifted up from the sidewalk as Samhain stood up from his crouched position.

"Eeep." Ernie replied, starled. There was a bright red flash a few seconds later and the Blair Witch stood next to Samhain, smiling.

"What the hell?!" Bo asked.

"You thought you'd beaten me? Ha, you're dumber then I thought."

"Of course! She has the ability to warp to another plane!" Vincent shouted.

"Nice to know this in advance Vince." Bo retorted, he then turned back.

"I'm so glad I have you undivided attention Dr. Belmont. Too bad you won't live long enough to see the full potential of my power!" The Witch screamed, then in some sort of bizarre dance, Samhain and the Blair Witch clapped their hands together over their heads.

"What is this? the demon version of YMCA?" Ernie asked.

"Hey Pumpkin Jack, eat some of this!" Shades shouted and fired at Samhain. It flashed against a forcefield inches from Samhain's head.

"Pathetic mortals...too feeble minded to comprehend the power that stands before you. For within time the entites known as Samhain and the Blair Witch shall cease to exist. And then, you shall know true pain." Samhain said, then he joined the Blair Witch in looking towards the clouds above the city.

They glowed green and then the clouds parted. A beam of green energy stabbed from the sky and struck them, the force of the blast sending all of the gathered Ghostbusters sprawling on the street. Bo managed to catch Jen just as he landed.

The green glow continued. A series of pulses exploded from the glow; lights in the nearby buildings flickered out and streetlights died.

"Unus...corporem...

Unus...mentem...

Unus...vim!!!"

It had only lasted a minute, though it seemed an eternity to the horrified witnesses. When the pulses ceased, the only thing left to mark the spot was the glowing ball of green energy. Then, those gathered noticed a startling thing, the shadows of the Blair Witch and Samhain were fading, replaced by a new shadow nearly twice as tall as Samhain. Wings spread out from the shadow's back and tendrils grew from the creature's head.

Only a single shadow stood there, surrounded by green light that faded to green smoke.

"Shit." Bo breathed.

"What...what is that?" Ernie shouted, they all looked at it, and a shiver ran down each of their spine's as the creature's eyes opened, they glowed green.

"Where's Samhain...and the Witch?" Shades asked.

"Oh no." Vincent inhaled.

"The ones you know as Samhain and the Blair Witch are no more." It's voice was still tinged with Samhaine's Irish accent, but it had a throaty, unearthly quality that belonged to niether of the beings that comprised it."Tremble mortals, for you shall receive the wrath of the HAIN WITCH!" The creature shouted and raised its hands.

"Scramble!" Bo shouted, pulling Jen behind him. The assembled Ghostbusters made a mad dash to the ECTO-1X. In record time, the ECTO-2 and ECTO-1X were tearing ass away from the site of the horror, Ernie Slaughter gripping the roof rack for dear life.

"OH SHIT!!!" he shouted. "THE F***ING THING IS CHASING US!!!

All of them except Bo shot a backward glance to confirm what Ernie had just said--there it was, the Hain Witch, wave after wave of blasts blowing holes in the street.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Shades asked as a store burst into flames beside them.

"I've got the f***ing pedal almost to the floor already!" Bo shouted. Suddenly, the buildings gave way to thin air and the car started to climb the ramp up to the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Hain Witch stopped.

"WHAT?!" Ernie shouted, he looked at the Hain Witch with surprise. "BO HE'S...SHE'S...IT'S STOPPED." Bo thought about it for half a second, realized it would be far from the first stupid decision he'd ever made, and slammed on the brakes.

"What the hell are you doing, man?" Shades screamed.

"Shut the f*** up, Shades." Bo unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car.

"He's gone mental." Jeff muttered.

"You don't know us well enough to make that decision." Jen corrected. "He's gone more mental."

The ECTO-2 stopped. They heard Roland on the radio. "ECTO-1X? Hello? I thought we were being chased by a major demonic entity? Why have you stopped?!"

Bo looked up at the monsterous creature. "So tell me, What kinda equipment are you packin' down there under that robe? So you got both parts or none, like Micheal Jackson?"

"Flippancy in the face of total destruction..." The Hain Witch replied. "One of you Ghostbusters' more charming traits."

"I don't see you destroying me."

"We challenge you to meet us here in three of your puny hours for a final battle, Ghostbusters. Three hours, no more, no less!" The Hain Witch proclaimed, then vanished in a flash of green. Bo then turned, sat in his seat and eventually started the engine.

"Bo?" Ernie asked, having taken the opportunity to squeeze himself into the car.

"What did it say?" Jen asked quietly. Bo turned and faced her, looking her dead in the eye, Jen gasped, his eyes were stone grey.

"It's time we finished it, we're sending this bitch to hell." He said, he then shifted the gear and started to move off into Brooklyn.