Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Battle for Washington DC, Part 3: Jazz

Jazz considered herself as a pretty decent driver; she was always aware of her surroundings, and kept a close eye on anything that might suddenly put her or others in danger. But that hadn't prepared her in any way to piloting the Spectre Speeder through the firefight that was roaring over the streets of the capital city.

Her hands were an iron grip on the controls and she veered the machine through the air to try to avoid any direct hits. But with so many weapons and ghost rays being fired, there was a constant peppering against the side of the Speeder that set her teeth on edge. A particularly powerful blast struck the left side and she yelped as the Speeder jolted to the right. A red warning light began blinking on the console, alerting her to the status of the ghost shield which was now sitting at seventy-three percent.

'We're fine,' she muttered to herself, quickly darting between ghosts as well as she could. But despite how frequently she tried to reassure herself, a nagging voice at the back of her head reminded her constantly that this was way out of her league. Yes she came from a family of ghost hunters and could hold her own in a fight but this was entirely different. Not to mention the political ramifications if they lost the fight. Even if they won she wasn't sure what would happen. Surely half-ghosts would be considered too dangerous to be allowed to exist freely, and that didn't bode well for her brother or sister.

A shadow passed overhead and she looked up at the Ops Centre that she had been forced to abandon to the half-ghosts swarming its surface. The Speeder couldn't keep up with the jet at its full speed, and all she would end up doing was putting herself at risk from the ghosts. But it seemed that its own weapons were finally able to clear the ghosts away and it was back to its full manoeuvrability.

Another loud explosion struck her from below and she yelled as the Speeder jerked violently in the air. She struggled to regain control, fighting to rein in its spinning. Once it had stopped spinning, she forced herself to take a deep breath and focus.

'No time for self-doubt now, Jasmine,' she declared, 'I have a job to do.'

Up ahead, she spotted a cluster of soldiers taking shelter amongst two armoured cars, firing up at the half-ghosts who were simply going intangible to avoid their bullets. She gunned the throttle and slammed the Speeder straight into two that were returning fire, sending them sailing through the air for a good five meters before crashing to the ground and reverting to their human forms.

Jazz quickly unbuckled herself from the pilot seat and threw open the doors into the surprised faces of the soldiers.

'They can phase through your bullets,' she explained without bothering to introduce herself. 'Ecto weapons are the only things that will hit them.'

She reached down and pulled free a number of blasters, cannons, and ecto-infused bullets that filled the back of the Speeder and began distributing them to the soldiers. Their shock and confusion turned to grins as they accepted their new weapons and ammunition.

'Good luck!' Jazz called before she slammed the door again and returned to her seat. As she sped away, she turned the Speeder slightly so she could see the soldiers had accepted their new gear with gusto and were now blasting away at the half-ghosts.

A shadow passed overhead and she glanced upwards to see Youngblood's ship swerving through the air. The cannons were firing nonstop as the pirates swung from the rigging, swords deflecting the attacks of the half-ghosts that were swarming around it. Youngblood laughed maniacally from the wheel, clearly enjoying the havoc way too much but Jazz found she couldn't fault him. At the very least, his massive glowing green ship was proving to be a good distraction for the swarms of half-ghosts.

Without warning, the ship swerved as a powerful explosion rocked its starboard side and slammed into the Spectre Speeder before Jazz could react. The side of the ship buckled under the impact and she shouted with alarm as she lost control.