Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Battle for Washington DC, Part 5: Sam

The irony wasn't lost on Sam, that she had protested so fervently against the actions of the government and its policies in the past, and now she was fighting to defend it. From the moment she launched her ATV from the Ops Centre, she was questioning why they were bothering with this whole thing. She certainly had no lost love for any of the politicians they were protecting, and she would have been the first to agree that the government needed radical change if the US was to survive and thrive. But seeing what the half-ghosts were doing, the way they were indiscriminately attacking any human they saw, made her think that this probably wasn't the best way to do it.

'You know, I'm surprised you agreed to be here at all,' Danny joked to her from her right. He had been determined to stay with her, at least for as long as he could, and for that she was grateful. She felt remarkably exposed on the ATV.

'I was just thinking the same thing,' she replied, 'But a coup wasn't really what I had in mind when I said the government needs to change. Especially not by these psychos.'

She lifted her blaster, steering with one hand, and fired on three halfas that had surged towards them while Danny leapt to engage with another group to her right. Ahead of them, the White House stood behind what was quickly turning into a battlefield on the South Lawn. The perfectly pristine grass was already pockmarked with craters and charred earth, while several of the trees had been toppled or were actively on fire. That infuriated Sam even more, though the lawn wasn't bothering her too much, and she turned the ATV towards the nearest, unfortunate halfas.

She lost sight of Danny soon after as he hared off to protect some unfortunate civilians who had been caught in the crossfire. The Secret Service were hard at work trying to repel the invaders, for all the good it was doing them, and it was only when Valerie was able to drop off some of the ecto-weapons that they started being able to actually fight back.

In all, Sam thought they were doing alright. Their superior numbers against the halfas meant that they were being hemmed in which was sparing the rest of the city from their destruction. The ghostly army and volunteers seemed to be having the best times of their afterlives, finally able to let loose without any repercussions. Youngblood was laughing manically from the mast of his ship as it sailed overhead, cannons firing at random and exploding against the halfas who apparently hadn't been expecting to see a full-masted ship. Walker's guards were moving with mechanical efficiency, clearly having been used to this kind of chaos and subduing their opponents cleanly and quickly, for which Sam was grateful. Even the Box Ghost was doing his part, summoning cubes of pink energy and blasting them at the halfas, some of them exploding, others capturing them, while he rambled on about the superior power of boxes above all other shapes. Not to mention Frostbite's army who were attacking with devastating accuracy. Already the temperature was plummeting thanks to the ice that had been blasted across the grass and any stationary surface. She shot past three halfas frozen solid, their green eyes burning with anger but apparently unable to manifest their powers enough to free themselves.

Ahead of her, an ear-splitting roar echoed across the lawn, and she gaped as Dora in her full dragon form, with Aragon right beside her, breathed a wall of flame down at a group of halfas that had apparently decided to form up against their opponents.

'Pitiful mortals!' Aragon roared, slamming his claws down and flaring his wings, 'None shall stand before the true might of King Aragon!'

Dora glared at him and growled, and Aragon faltered before adding, 'I mean, Queen Dora, first and foremost, of course.'

'Way to go, guys!' Sam shouted, raising her blaster overhead as she raced by, 'Let's show them some medieval firepower!'

'Don't mind if I do!' Dora declared and lunged back skyward, charging towards another cluster with Aragon close behind.