Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Battle for Washington DC, Part 4: Tucker

Tucker's teeth were clenched painfully tight as he steered three separate drones at the same time. Most of his hoard was operating under instructions from his AI, but he was particularly focused on the three that were assisting Dani, Valerie, and Sam. He was so focused on his own task, he was barely aware of Maddie piloting the Ops Centre at the nose of the plane and firing back at the half-ghosts that were trying to bring it down.

Dani had apparently decided to duplicate herself as she took up position over K Street and Tucker was stuck trying to figure out which of them his drone should protect. But there was hardly any time to think about it or call another drone over because Valerie was currently being surrounded by a swarm of half-ghosts and about to be obliterated. Tucker desperately tried to get his drone over to her to help, but with the half-ghosts and full ghosts battling it out in every direction, it was all he could do to keep the drone airborne. So it was with great relief that Skulker and Ember apparently arrived to help her, something he'd never thought he'd see, and he was able to move his attention to the third drone he was operating around Sam.

She was tearing up the White House lawn, seeming not to care all that much about the perfectly manicured grass as she steered her ATV with one had and fired a bazooka at the half-ghosts with the other. Tucker directed his drone to fly immediately behind and above her to keep an eye on her blind spots, projecting its ghost shield into a disk to cover her back. Already he had deflected at least ten blasts in the span of a few seconds and was returning fire on any half-ghosts that dared to try to approach her.

Sam approached a cluster of Secret Service agents who were trying and failing to defend themselves against a cluster of half-ghosts. Tucker quickly assigned two of his drones to supply them with ecto-weaponry as Sam skidded to a halt before them. He could hear her talking to them and handing off some of her excess blasters that she had stored on the back of the ATV before she was moving off again and Tucker had to redirect the drone to race after her.

A loud alert drew his attention back to the drone assigned to Valerie and he felt his heart begin to hammer in fear as he read the warnings coming in from her suit that she was caught in some kind of sonic blast. He could see her through the drone's camera and tried to reach her, but the moment it got within a few feet, it was abruptly thrown off course and the screen was filled with static.

'No!' he shouted and swivelled to tap away at another computer. It registered that Drone 23 had been destroyed and he glared furiously at the message. But only for a moment before he was taking control of another and flying it to Valerie's position. The sonic attack, whatever it had been, seemed to be over by the time the new drone arrived and he saw Skulker approaching Valerie who was waving at her head. Skulker flew off and Tucker moved the drone up to her and opened a channel between it and her visor.

Are you okay? he typed and heaved a sigh of relief when Valerie nodded and gave him a thumbs up. Her suit was looking more battered than it had been earlier, but it was still functioning according to its diagnostics and Tucker was confident it wasn't about to malfunction any time soon. Before he could type again, he heard Jazz's desperate voice over the coms pleading for help and he accessed the cameras of the drones closest to her position.

He hadn't assigned any to her, thinking she would be more than safe in the Spectre Speeder, but now as he looked from multiple viewpoints towards the Speeder, he was realising that had been far too optimistic. The Speeder was careening out of control towards the Washington Monument, the entire back end of it missing and on fire. He could only watch as it slammed into the side of the obelisk and the coms went dead.

'Who was that?' he heard Valerie ask, far too loudly.

His hands shaking, he typed back, Jazz.