Symbol: The Scales.

Major Stars: Zubenelgenubi, Zubeneschamali

Mythology: The symbol of the scales is based on the Scales of Justice held by Themis, the Greek personification of divine law and custom. She became the inspiration for modern depictions of Lady Justice. Libra is the only zodiac sign that is represented by an object; the other eleven signs are represented by either an animal or a mythological character.

Dates: The Sun's transit of Libra occurs from around September 23 to October 23 of the Gregorian Calendar. The Sun's entry into Libra marks the beginning of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.

Modality: Cardinal (Action, dynamic, initiative, great force)

Element: Air (Communication, socialization, conceptualization)

Keyword: "I Relate"

Libra is the sign of partnership and justice. Its gifts are diplomacy and the ability to see multiple points of view. Its dangers are indecisiveness and superficiality.

Body Parts Associated with Libra: The spine and buttocks.

Metallic Element: Copper (Cu)

Spectral Band: Green

Ruling Planet: Venus

Exaltation: Saturn

Detriment: Mars

Fall: The Sun

-Excerpt from Quick Notes on Astrology for the Hermetic Apprentice by Dragonis Vici ex Jerbiton, XXXIV Age of Aquarius.

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 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.

A week later, 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--there's only way to do so, he claims...

Dr. Edward Sanders smiled as he looked into the hospital commissary; sitting at one of the tables was Dr. Eden Spengler, his girlfriend.

He stopped to savor that thought again. My girlfriend

"Hello, Eden! Been waiting long?"

Eden put her phone down. "Not long. How has it gone today?"

Edward nodded. "Not bad at all! Sarah's latest report came back, showing she's continuing to be in remission! You remember Sarah, right?"

Eden smirked slightly. "Your ex-fiancee. One of your ex-fiancees."

Edward sat down with his lunch tray. "Yes, well, I had to break it to them all that I can no longer be the heart breaker of the fourth floor." He took a bite out of his sandwich.

She smiled, then looked at her phone. Her face curdled slightly before she put her phone down.

"Expecting a call?"

"Maybe." Eden answered after a few seconds. "My brother was invited to a meeting with the head of the Sons of Ether."

"I don't know if you've mentioned that before." Edward answered. "That something to do with GBI?"

"No." Eden shook her head. "It's a society of scientific minds of a somewhat...non-mainstream bent. There are a number of GBI members in the research and paranormology departments who are, however. That includes my father, my brother, and myself."

Edward shrugged. " 'Sons' of Ether? I assume they've been around for a while. Might want to update their name."

Eden nodded with some amusement. "They've been around for over a century. And a change in name has been proposed more than once."

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

Eden's face showed shock. "Well...um...yes." She answered, looking downward. "It seems somewhat incongruous."

Edward considered his next words carefully, remembering some of the things TJ Anderson had told him during their clandestine meetings. "It's not as though you and your brother haven't done things separately before."

Eden looked a bit pouty. "It's like I'm being told my accomplishments matter less than my brother's. That is...annoying."

"I doubt that's the case at all, Eden." Edward said. "Perhaps it's just because Johnathan is more in the public eye as a full time Ghostbuster. It's just a matter of public relations. I never would have thought that would be a concern to you."

"You make a good point, Edward." Eden nodded, exhaling. "I guess I do...well...envy Johnathan for this. Dr. Amore could be a key to useful contacts in the paranormal community; I hate feeling left out."

"Well, he could always put in a good word for you."

"That would seem...tacky."

Edward took another bite. "Perhaps you're right."

Eden sipped her chamomile tea. "That said, I really wish he would get finished and let me know."

"I think you're disgruntled about nothing, Eden." Edward said. "It's probably something incredibly, mind-bendingly dull."

Eden managed a slight, mischievous giggle. "That would serve him right..."

"So what does this mean, then, Doc Amore or Doc de Medici or Lord Libra or whatever I should call you? Are you here because Nodus was right--I'm this 'Lord Gemini'?"

"Honestly, Doctor Spengler, I don't know for sure." Amore answered. "Zandrik sensed something in your parents; I've sensed it too, though it could be because they indeed fulfilled an ancient prophesy known to our circle. Delphia seems to have taken a special interest in your family. I too sense something in you, Johnathan Spengler, which might be the power of the Primordial Wind awaiting its release, or it may be something else."

John groaned and clutched his head. "Fine, great, and here I thought I might have gotten a straight answer from someone who might not be nuts even though 'I'm a five hundred eighty-three year old astrological avatar' certainly doesn't sound completely sane, Adonai knows I haven't gotten a lot of that lately." He exhaled.

Amore shook his head. "There would only be one way to be sure you are or are not the one we've been awaiting, Doctor Spengler."

"Yeah?"

"I would have to kill you."

John flinched. He started to look around the room for any sort of weapon. If necessary, he could use his GBX--his father had invented a "taser mode" for the older PKE meters that John kept in the newer design--but it would completely discharge the battery...

"Which is why it may yet be years before we know for sure." Amore continued. "The longer the better, in many ways."

"Oooh...kay..." John said, relaxing some.

Amore raised an eyebrow. "So no, I have no intention--or desire--to administer that test, if that is your concern."

"So what do you mean, Doc?" John asked after a few moments, further--but not completely--relaxing his state of alert.

Amore sighed and sat back down.

The ECTO-1 pulled into the garage; the three Ghostbusters got out of the car as Jerry shuffled some papers.

Eric dropped another piece of paper on his desk. "Here's the paperwork, Jer--get that to the Mayor's office as quick as possible." Eric yawned as he headed to the stairs. "Gonna get something to eat and take a nap.'

"A magnificent plan." Pippi said as she followed him.

"I guess I'll send these hillbillies to their new trailer park." Marie quipped, twirling her blinking GBX, and then headed downstairs.

"No other calls?" TJ asked.

"Nope. We did have one walk-in about an hour ago, but she changed her mind." Jerry shrugged. "Didn't even give me her name." He smiled. "No sign of John either."

TJ grumbled slightly and pretended to be looking at her GBX.

Eric appeared at the fire pole opening, his head hanging upside down. "Hey Jer...did something happen about an hour ago?"

Jerry looked confused. "Huh?"

"I saw an alert from the firehouse's internal PK sensors." Eric explained. "Got a signal spike about an hour ago."

"Um...could it have been Slimer?" Jerry asked.

Eric shook his head. "Slimer, Pippi, Mom, me, and a few other allies are whitelisted in the system memory. We don't get flagged."

TJ looked at Jerry. "Jeremy, didn't you say you had a visitor about an hour ago?"

"Yeah..." Jerry shrugged. "Like I said, she didn't give her name."

"What'd she look like?" Eric asked, sliding down the firepole.

Jerry was quite a bit uncomfortable with Eric and TJ both staring at him. "Well, she was, about normal height, with red hair, but she was wearing dark glasses and a face mask...like the ones we all had to wear a few years ago?"

"Curious..." TJ mused.

"Damn." Eric shook his head. "If she's in real trouble, like an entity trying to take over her body or she's being haunted, we don't have any way of finding her."

"Unless she contacts us again." TJ noted.

"Yeah." Eric nodded.

"Wait..." Jerry remembered. "Slimer saw her too! And he seemed a little weirded out afterwards."

The limousine pulled up to the curb. The rear window opened to reveal a face wrapped in bandages wearing a fake Groucho Marx nose, mustache, and glasses. "Goin' our way, Miss?"

The woman opened the door and got in without saying a word. She didn't even look at Ahagotsu until she'd doffed her sunglasses, removed her face mask, and pulled a black hood over her head.

"Find what you needed?" He asked.

"I think I have what I need now, yes." she replied curtly. "Your assistance in distracting the Ghostbusters was helpful."

"High praise!!!"

"Don't antagonize her, Quentin." Igor admonished from next to him. "Anything I might pass to the Count?" the hunchback asked the black hooded woman.

"Not yet." she replied, and didn't speak for the rest of the car ride.

"Sliiiiimer!!!" Eric called.

"Okay, why are you calling Slimer?" Marie asked as she came up the stairs. "Something go bad in the refrigerator?"

TJ explained it to her. "But it does bring to mind an idea. Anybody have a Munch Bar?"

They looked around.

"Okay, now I am worried." Eric fretted. "Usually just mentioning a Munch Bar makes him appear."

Pippi, who was on the reception desk cleaning her butt, stopped to look up at them. "I know where he is--let me take care of it."

Eric sighed with relief. "Yeah, thanks."

Pippi strode off.

"She had an evil tone to her voice." Marie noted. "I kinda like it."

"As it was said by a far better wordsmith than I, 'Aye, there's the rub.' " Amore said after a moment of silence. "We cannot be completely positive a prospective Child of Zodiac is indeed a Child of Zodiac until they meet their moment of personal Ascension." He paused. "The moment, were they not one of the Children, that they would die."

"Yeah, I'm not in any hurry to verify that." John said. "Especially as it could all still be a misunderstanding."

"Exactly." Amore nodded. "But for all of us, a day comes where our lives would have otherwise ended. For me...well...mine came when I was twenty-four."

"I mentioned that my first invention was a hang glider." he continued. "I designed it when I was thirteen, but kept improving the design. In 1464, I thought I had perfected my invention--I took it into the Apennines and give it a workout." He shrugged. "Wasn't quite as perfected as I had thought--the wings buckled during an unexpected updraft, and I rather abruptly lost buoyancy at a height of three thousand feet or so."

"I don't see how that didn't hurt." John deadpanned.

"Oh, it most definitely did." Amore chuckled ruefully. "Every bone in my body was pulverized. It didn't hurt long though, as my nervous system was overloaded and started to shut down...and then...and then..."

John leaned in closer. "And then what?"

"I expected to either see angels welcoming me to the Kingdom Come, or demons dragging me to Perdition." Amore shook his head. "Instead, I awoke. My body undulated, indescribably painfully, but as it did my bones reknit themselves. My torn skin closed up. I lay on the ground for five minutes, breathing heavily even after the pain subsided." He looked at his hands. "And then I sat up--completely healed. My clothes were torn and covered in my blood, otherwise I might have thought the crash to be a dream." He shook his head. "It wasn't. But as I mentioned earlier, it took thirty more years before I understood why."

He stood up. "Doctor Spengler, there is a lot I cannot tell you--because, as you say, it may still be that you are not Lord Gemini. But if that day comes, even if it is decades hence--which is honestly what I hope--I will be there to tell you everything you will need to know."

John's face hardened. A million more questions were racing through his head. And after all of this, he still didn't know. In fact, he felt like he'd been jerked around. "So that's it, then?"

"I am afraid so, Doctor." Amore nodded. "I cannot answer the most important question. No one else in the world can. The first to know for sure, Johnathan Christopher Spengler, will be you."

Pippi strode down the stairs, with a trembling Slimer close behind.

"He was up in his rubbish heap in the attic." Pippi yawned. "Cowering under all the Frosty Cake and Krazys wrappers."

"Yuck" Marie wrinkled her nose.

"I told him to get out of there or I would get mean." Pippi continued. "It worked."

"You are an evil cat." Marie said approvingly.

"Food Slave, the dog woman is talking to me again." Pippi snorted, looking at Eric.

Eric went over to the diminutive Class V Full Roaming Vapor. "What's wrong, Slimer?"

Slimer babbled.

" 'Kweepiyadey'?" Eric repeated. "What does that mean?"

Slimer gestured frantically for a moment or two, then slapped his forehead. "Gaway!"

" 'Gaway'?" TJ repeated. "I can't understand this bloody gibberish..." she grumbled, shaking her head.

Slimer grabbed Eric, and said the same thing three more times.

" 'Get Ray!' " Eric realized. Slimer nodded vigorously. "Dad always was the one who came the closest to understanding Slimer."

"Hope he and your Mom aren't 'studying' too hard." Marie quipped.

John pulled his red 2015 VW Beetle into the parking area behind the Firehouse; he was surprised when Ray Stantz's pea soup green SUV was pulling into the area at the same time.

"Uncle Ray?" John asked as he got out of his car. "Something up?"

Ray shrugged. "They're having some kind of trouble with Slimer." After a couple seconds. "Everything all right with you?"

John sighed. "Yeah. Maybe. I dunno." He shook his head. "I'll fill you in later.

They walked into the Firehouse; Jerry and Marie were in the garage.

"Ooh, look, Ray's here!" Marie quipped. "And Pedro Pony's back to boot!"

"Huh?" John asked, understandably confused.

"Don't ask." Jerry shook his head. "Doctor Stantz, they need you in the kitchen."

"That's something I don't hear very often." Ray chuckled.

The Fifth Dimension's song "Age of Aquarius" started to play from Amore's pocket.

He pulled out his phone and answered it. "Salve."

"[How did it go, Giordano?]" The voice spoke in Latin.

"[Not as well as we might have hoped, but not a complete disaster either.]" Amore answered. "[He handled it well when I told him who I really was, and that we were not an unknown quantity to himself or his parents.]"

"[But?]"

Amore sighed. "[More than anything, he was a bit angry that I couldn't give him a firm answer. That none of us know for sure until the moment of personal Ascension. He had hoped I would have that firm answer to give him.]"

"[It has to be him, Giordano. All of the signs, all of the portents, everything that happened to his parents, everything that happened at the time of his birth, everything that happened last week.]"

"[I feel that is so as well, Zandrik. But he is obviously much fearful of the implications. We will know when it is time for us to know.]"

He heard Fallagar sigh. "[I suppose I shouldn't feel so impatient...but this is something I've been hearing about for eight hundred years. To be so tantalizingly close...]"

Amore was quiet for a moment. "[I don't know what it means, Zandrik, but there's something else...]"

"[Oh?]"

He looked out the window of the car. "[Ever since I landed in this city...I've felt uneasy. There's something else going on here...I don't know what, but what if it's somehow involved with this?]"

Slimer yelled happily when Ray walked into the kitchen, and bear-hugged him.

John went over to TJ "Miss me?"

"Of course." TJ smirked. "Have an interesting meeting?"

"Too interesting, yet not interesting enough." he replied.

TJ's eyes narrowed a bit. "There's something you're not telling me. He didn't hit on you, did he? Dr. Holtzmann did warn you..."

"He's not female nor English enough for me." He said with a wry grin. "I'll tell you what he said later, I promise."

"Okay, okay, slow down, Slimer, what's the problem?" Ray said in tones as calm and soothing as he could manage.

Slimer babbled rapidly.

" 'Creepy lady'?" Ray asked. "Is that what you said?"

" 'Kweepiyadey' is the best we could do." Eric shrugged.

"Okay, okay, what else?" Ray continued to Slimer

More babbles.

"Stay Puft? What about Stay Puft?"

Slimer babbled some more, more rapidly.

"The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man." John's eyebrow went up. "He was composed of the ectoplasm collected after the original team's fight with Gozer."

Slimer nodded vigorously.

"Slimer, Stay-Puft's gone!" Ray shrugged. "He was let out twenty years ago, and destroyed during our battle with Gozer at Tonnes Quarry!"

Slimer kept babbling.

"The creepy woman who did it?" Ray interpreted. "Is that what you're saying? Slimer, I..." He went white as a sheet, and gulped. "Are you saying she was HERE?! Today?!"

Slimer nodded so vigorously that green slime splattered all over the room.

"...oh my god..." Ray said, eyes wide.

"Dad, what are you talking about?" Eric asked.

"You...you may not remember it, Eric, but you were there..." Ray said, looking like he was about to throw up. "There was a Gozer cult led by a woman all in black, and she used a brainwashed fangirl to help her break in here and..." He sat down at the table. "She rifled through my mind and got everything she needed to let Mr. Stay-Puft out. She called herself the Herald of Gozer."

"Oh wow..." Eric said. "Yeah...it was the first time my Gift manifested, I..." He startled. "Is Slimer saying she was here just a couple hours ago?!"

Ray nodded.

John's eyes went wide. Words only a couple hours old exploded back into his mind.

"The Lady of the Steady Waters." Amore shook his head. "The lost one. The Herald of the Destructor."

"...Lady Scorpio..." John said quietly.

She sighed as she settled into a trance. Process....

---

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 press pictures and brief summaries from their GBI files sat before her. Three women, two men. Three of them are children of the original Ghostbusters, another the child of one of Talbot's kind, the last is of no real note other than being another native of Vidius's damned country.

But they are not what I seek. The dogma of the Zodiac cult is clear--masculine sign, male immortal.

She looked at the two men. One with a wide, stupid expression, his curled hair sporting goggles. The other tall, with a mane of red hair much like her own. As two children of the original Ghostbusters, they very easily could have been at the firehouse that day twenty years ago, as mere children.

Her eyes glowed aqua blue.

These two are the ones I met in the past. The ones who briefly resisted my power all of those years ago are now adults. They are two of the current Ghostbusters.

Stantz is the older boy. He is the son of the fat Ghostbuster, the one that I tore the secret to releasing the Corpus from. The child resisted me due to his "Gift"--and is now a magician. Another one corrupted by the cursed Merlin's stinking heirs.

But he was born under the sign of the lion. That seat is already filled.

Then there's the younger one with the red hair. The ferocious one.

Johnathan Spengler. Son of the mad Etherite that created the Ghostbusters technology...

Her eyes narrowed as they stopped glowing.

Born under the sign of the twins. Even has a fraternal twin sister. And he also resisted my power.

Like his sire an Etherite. The fey Florentine, damn him, is almost certainly aware of this one.

She stood. I must be cautious...but I will not be denied. I will have my revenge on that circle of pompous idiots and the mad Etherites that thwarted the Destructor--in one fell strike!

To Be Continued

Based on Ghostbusters Created by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis

The Real Ghostbusters 2024 Created by Fritz Baugh and OgreBBQ