Danny Phantom - The Next Chapter

The Battle for Washington DC, Part 3: Jazz

She caught sight of the ground rapidly approaching through the windshield but with the right thruster malfunctioning, there was nothing she could do to stop he deadly corkscrew she was stuck in. She gritted her teeth and braced herself as well as she could, preparing for the inevitably bad impact. But when the sudden halt came, there was no crash, no crumpling of metal or shattering glass. Instead, alarms were still beeping at her, warning of the damage as the systems tried to reboot.

She blinked and looked around. She still seemed to be floating above the ground though with the engines still struggling to restart she tried to figure out what had saved her. Moments later her question was answered when a shadowy ghost's grinning face appeared in her windshield. She knew that ghost.

The engines finally restarted and the Speeder began to hover under its own power again. A new engine revved outside and none other than Johnny 13 appeared outside, grinning at her.

'Hey, Jazz,' he greeted her as if they were old friends.

'You!' Jazz snapped.

'Long time, no see.'

Jazz glowered at him for a moment before another ghost appeared that also seemed familiar to Jazz and it took her a moment to place her as one of the three ghosts that had banished all the men in Amity Park.

'C'mon, Johnny,' she exclaimed, 'Don't waste your time on this human.'

Johnny winked at Jazz and she felt her skin crawl. Not for the first time she was relieved Danny had been so persistent in refusing to let Johnny take control of her.

'Until next time,' Johnny said and revved the engine of his motorbike. Kitty jumped on behind him and the two sped off, the black shadow racing close behind.

'Jazz, are you all good?' Tucker's voice called over the crackling radio.

'Fine,' she replied, shaking herself back to reality.

With the engines sputtering but still functional, she pushed the Speeder back into motion, acutely aware of the creaks and groans the hull was making.

'Good because the National Guard need help setting up a perimeter against the river.'

She silently turned the controls to head towards the river, willing the Speeder to stay in one piece just a bit longer. The joystick was shuddering in her grasp, threatening to send the vehicle spinning out of control again. A quick assessment of the panel told her the ghost shield was fluctuating as power levels faltered, sitting between thirty-six and eighteen percent. To make matters worse, every time a wayward ghost ray or ectoball exploded against the hull, the Speeder jolted violently and the energy levels dipped.

'Come on,' she grunted as she wrenched the controls back after a particularly violent crash.

It was with a massive sense of relief that the river came into view and she eased off the throttle. Just as Tucker had said, the National Guard had set up their equipment along its banks, firing up at the half-ghosts that were attempting to cross to the rest of the city. Some of them were bearing various ecto weapons likely courtesy of Tucker's drones but the vast majority were doing what they could with the weapons they already had.

She halted the Speeder behind their lines and threw the doors open again. This time they seemed to know what to expect as they rushed forward and quickly began passing along the weapons and ammunition she offered.

For the first time, Jazz caught sight of the outside of the Speeder and swallowed nervously. The metal was buckled and warped in several places, and some panels were missing entirely, exposing the internal wiring that was sparking dangerously. The right thruster had a worrying amount of smoke spilling upwards and as she watched, the ghost shield shimmered in and out of view.