Bradley Wood was a lazy man. He'd never married, he was prematurely balding and never had much in the way of ambition. It's probably why he was stuck in a dead end security job at the Museum of Natural History. He sat in the security office, the Museum having not long closed, and watched a small television. He scoffed at a poorly acted ad featuring the Ghostbusters. Those smucks.... all they did was save New York City a few times and they get to ride on easy street.

His seething jealousy was overwhelmed as a burst of psionic energy shot past him, causing the feeds and the televisions to short out. He immediately grabbed his walkie-talkie:

"Oh! Russell! Hey, man. You near the East Wing?" Bradley asked in a panic.

"Yep" his colleague Russell replied calmly.

"B-b-by the new Gozer exhibit?" Bradley stammered, scared out of his mind.

"Yeah. Why?"

"There's something headed your way!" Bradley answered, shaking like a leaf.

"Wait. I hear something. I'm gonna take a look." Russell said, turning around and heading deeper into the exhibit. Bradley continued speaking into the wallow-talkie:

"You wanna hear something really creepy? I was reading about Shandor, you know the guy who donated most of the Gozer stuff. He was into the occult. You know, the supernatural. Weird dude."

Russell turned a corner and saw an exhibit of a skeleton holding a sword.

"Ummm, why don't we talk about it some other time.  Any other time" Russell replied before jumping as a woman ran past him holding books.

"Hey, you can't be in here! Stop!" he yelled chasing her before stopping and screaming as a powerful wave of psionic energy shot through and past him.

The psi energy pulse surges out of the museum through New York City and past the Statue of Liberty.

—~—

Y/N walked up the stairs of the ageing firehouse, still thrown by Janine's seemingly innocent question. Memories flooded into his mind as he ascended.

August 1, 1988

Y/N and Lily were sat in a doctor's office. Lily had began to cry. Y/N sat there speechless, his eyes widened as he hugged his wife, her head falling onto his chest as she squeezed and wailed.

"I understand this is extremely devastating news. I'll give you a few minutes" the doctor said in a sympathetic tone as he stood and left his office.

Y/N hugged as Lily looked up from her husbands chest, tearfully looking him in the eyes as she cried:

"No, no I don't believe it. There's gotta be a miracle cure or something. God please save our little girl"

"God?" Y/N asked coldly.

"What kind of God would do this to a little girl?" he growled coldly.

"Hey it's the new cadet!" Ray said cheerfully, pulling Y/N from his memories.

Y/N looked up to see Egon strapping a Proton Pack on Ray.

"Welcome aboard!" Ray continued, smiling.

"This might be a little dangerous." Egon said, oblivious to Y/N's presence.

"Great. Danger is our life." Ray replied happily.

"We'll start at fifty-percent capacity.
That should keep any burning or tissue damage to a minimum." Egon mumbled.

"Hey. If you're gonna burn any tissue,
do it to the new kid. You can't use Ray.
Our mortgage is in his name." Peter said in his droll sardonic way.

Ray frowned.

"I guess he's right. Guys this is-"

"No names, Ray. I don't want to get too attached  to his kid. You know, just in case. You remember what happened to the last guy?" Peter sighed.

"That guy was a putz. This is Y/N L/N. Been a New York firefighter for almost a decade. This is his letter of recommendation from his chief. Listen to this..." Ray smirked at Y/N and cleared his throat:

"...Youngest Lieutenant in the precinct in thirty years, four commendations from the mayor; two medals of Valor and a James Gordon Bennett medal. Y/N is one of the best firefighters I've ever worked with and a better man. I hate to lose him..."

"Huh... maybe the kid will go alright then" Peter chuckled.

—~—

After half an hour Y/N had been fitted with his own 50lbs proton pack, an unlicensed nuclear accelerator now sitting on his back.

"He's tuned and ready to go." Ray said with a smile.

"You may feel a little tingle." Egon added as Y/N switched the pack on and it hummed to life. Egon smiled and nodded:

"Good. We've perfected an extensive and rigorous training regimen that will teach you all your equipment's basic functions."

"It takes some time to achieve Master Throw Skill, but it's definitely worth the effort." Ray added.

The group were suddenly shaken like an earthquake as the Psionic energy pulse shot through the building and the neighbourhood. Dogs barked, car alarms went off and Egon looked at the others as they all steadied themselves:

"Was that us?" he asked worried.

"I don't think so." Ray replied.

"Ray?" Peter asked with a sense of foreboding.

"It had to be some sort of Psi energy pulse. Substantial! A significant collected and centralized necromantic convulsion
level seven or more." Ray exclaimed. He struck Y/N as being like a puppy- innocent and excitable.

"Agreed. We need EMF measurement checks now." Egon said as he checked around with a P.K.E. Meter, or Psychokinetic Energy Meter. It was a handheld device for detecting, tracking and measuring paranormal activity. The meter was going crazy.

Janine had walked upstairs:

"I know the answer, but I'm gonna ask anyway... is a level seven, uh, whatever...bad? Or very bad?"

"On a scale of one to ten, I would say..."

"Let me guess. It's a seven." Peter chuckled, cutting Egon off.

"Let's just say we're about to get real busy" Ray added.

Slimer burst through the broken glass chamber.

"And that is not the fun kind of getting busy - is it, Ray?" Peter asked before there was a smash and an unearthly scream from downstairs.

Slimer smashed through his glass containment cell on the first floor and flew off with a screeech

"Look out. Slimer's escaped again!" Ray yelled.

"Let's move!" Egon added as they rushed down the fireman pole.

"No wait... come back..." Peter said lazily, ignoring the chaos and walking to play the Galaga arcade game in the corner. Y/N followed the other two down with practiced ease. He followed them down to the basement where Slimer was floating facing the containment unit.

The containment unit was a large, laser-confinement grid that holds and restrains all the vapors and entities that the Ghostbusters trap. It acted as a "pocket dimension" to hold them in a reduced-mass state. The unit uses magnetic repellers and ionizing diode lasers to neutralize the entities' energy, preventing escape.

"There it is. It seems oddly drawn to the containment grid" Egon whispered.

"He's been fascinated with it ever since you added the viewer to the unit. Okay. Easy now, cadet. I'll talk you through this. Use the proton stream to get his attention" Ray added.

Y/N shrugged and fired, his proton stream hitting both Slimer and the Containment Unit.

"No! Not the Containment Unit! That's some highly sensitive equipment you're disintegrating there, kid!" Ray gasped.

"Shit! Sorry man!" Y/N replied quickly turning off his stream. A large bulbous and stinking ghost escaped and followed Slimer into the sun basement.

Egon ran to the Unit.

"That's my fault. I was fine-tuning the
interspatial gasket this afternoon. I'll fix it.
You two get those ghosts back."

Ray grinned, already turning two escaped ghosts into a positive:

"Hey, this will work out great! Since you're already strapped into a pack, it's a perfect opportunity for some training! Taking the right precautions, Slimer's harmless. Uh, more or less. Not sure about the other guy, though..."

He looks worried momentarily then smiles:

"Okay, let's go get'em, then. Oh, and don't sweat the containment unit. It's easy to get excited your first time out with the proton stream. Egon will fix it in no time."

"Thanks man" Y/N nodded and followed Ray to the sub basement. He got a crash course in catching ghosts on the fly:

"For the most part, capturing a ghost is pretty straightforward. We break it into three basic steps: Sap 'em, Cap 'em, and Trap 'em. The first step is blasting a ghost to sap its energy."

Y/N fired at Slimer, blasting him with his proton beam. Slimer screeched at the contact.

"You're a wicked shot, Noobie!" Ray grinned before Slimer disappeared through a wall.

"Ooh! We lost Slimer!" Ray grumbled before the second ghost appeared and projectile vomited ectoplasm that just missed the two ghostbusters.

"Ugh. And I thought Slimer wasn't disgusting." Ray added. It took a while but together they captured the ghost.

"And...there! Oh, yes! One escapee accounted for. Oh and always remember to retrieve your trap!" Ray grinned. They walked upstairs to Egon.

"Did you get them?" The bespectacled ghostbuster asked.

"Ah, we're batting .500. Slimer slipped out. Our cadet bagged his first one though! A very nasty customer" Ray said proudly patting Y/N on the back.

"Slimer would go back where he always does. Venkman! Let's go! To the Sedgewick Hotel!" Egon said with determination.