"Hello, Danny. Miss me?"
Danny's eyes widen at the sight before him. "No. No, it can't be you. You're gone!"
"Oh, but it is me. Did you really think Clockwork could keep me locked up forever? You're more ignorant than I thought." Dan said with a snicker.
Danny knew this wasn't the time to be freaking out. He took a deep breath and a defensive stance and said, "I defeated you once. I can do it again."
Dan laughed. "I'd like to see you try, boy." Danny shot an ecto-blast at Dan who simply put up a shield and faked a yawn. "Is that the best you can do? Well, watch this!" He duplicated himself into four and they each shot an ecto-blast more powerful than Danny's, hitting Danny square in the chest.
Danny went flying back. He hit the side of a brick building, leaving a small crater in it. The thunder cracked and the lighting struck as the rain poured in the darkness. Danny looked around for Dan but he was nowhere to be seen. "Come out and fight!" Danny yelled. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and he fell to the ground, changing back in the process.
Dan laughed in the darkness. "Until next time." Danny's vision blurred and his ears rang as he fell unconscious.
It had been an hour since Jazz had called Danny to come home and she was worried. She decided to call him again. But the longer it rang, the bigger the pit of dread filled Jazz's stomach. What if something bad happened to him? She thought. The rings ended and it went to voicemail. She hung up and decided to call Sam. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.
From the other line, Sam said, "Hello? Jazz?"
"Hi, Sam." Said Jazz. "Is Danny still with you? It's been an hour and he still isn't home."
"No, he's not. Is something wrong? He said he would call when he got home because Tucker and I were worried about him. He came over freaking out and we didn't feel right letting him go alone." Sam explained. She was worried.
Jazz felt her heart drop. "He's been acting jumpy all weekend but wouldn't tell me anything. I'm going to go out and look for him. I'm worried something happened to him."
"My parents have me on high alert since I came home late the other night, so I won't be able to sneak out and help. But call me if you find anything." Said Sam with rising anxiety.
"I will." Jazz hung up her phone and grabbed her car keys off the coffee table in the living room. But as she opened the front door, Jack walked in.
"Jazzykins. Where are you going?" He asked.
Jazz faltered for a moment, trying to think up a decent lie and ended up settling on a rather bad one. "Oh, Danny got lost walking home so I'm going to go pick him up." She smiled and quickly left before she could give her father a chance to respond.
Jazz ran to her small car and got in. She opened the glove compartment and pulled out the booomerang. She's kept it with her ever since she found out Danny's secret, just for situations like this. Jazz thanked every good thing out there that it was still coordinated to Danny's DNA. She drove out into the road and held the booomerang out the window saying, "I need you to find Danny." The booomerang sprang to life and Jazz threw it, following it with her car.
Jazz drove for no more than five minutes before ending up at an alley. She parked her car on the side of the road, pulling out an umbrella against the rain as she got out. "Danny?" She yelled as the thunder clapped in the sky. "Danny?" She yelled again, looking around. Jazz sighed. Perhaps the booomerang was defective? As she was about to turn in favor of searching somewhere else, through the darkness, she noticed a figure lying on the ground. "Danny!" She yelled, dropping the umbrella, letting it fly away in the wind. Jazz ran to the figure. "Danny?" She sobbed, dropping down next to him.
Danny was lying on his back. Cuts and bruises littered his upper body and face. Behind his head there was a large gash which was bleeding onto the concrete. "Danny?" Jazz asked again, lightly shaking his shoulder. Jazz began to cry when her little brother still didn't respond. But as she sat there, tears falling down her face, she heard a sudden large intake of breath. Jazz looked down and saw Danny's eyes open, scanning his surroundings anxiously. He stopped when his eyes landed on Jazz. "Oh, gosh. Danny!" Jazz untied her headband and carefully lifted Danny up, placing it on his head wound. "What happened to you!?" She yelled.
When Danny's vision cleared, and he regained his senses, he bolted straight up. "Where is he!?" He demanded, ignoring the painful throbbing in his head.
Upon seeing Danny's unpredictable behavior, Jazz regained her composure. "What?"
"Him!" Danny shouted, standing up. "Where'd he go!?"
"Be careful, Danny. You're hurt." Warned Jazz.
"I'm fine. I need to stop him! Going -"
Jazz stopped him. "Danny, the only place you're going is back home! You're hurt and you need to at least get cleaned up, you'll catch a cold in this weather if you haven't already."
"But -"
"No buts, we're going home." Jazz proclaimed. She put Danny's arm around her shoulder and helped him to the car. After she helped Danny in the passenger seat, she got in the driver's seat. "Now, why don't you tell me what happened and I promise I won't tell Mom and Dad." Jazz suggested as she started the car.
Danny sighed. He was holding Jazz's headband against his head wound. "He's back. I was flying home and he showed up. We fought and he knocked me down."
"Danny, you need to be a little more specific. Who's he?"
"Me. The bad me. The future me. The one I promised to never become. He escaped." Danny was barely able to comprehend his own words. He wasn't going to lie to himself, he was terrified.
Jazz's eyes widen. She gulped. She remembered him, he was not a force to be reckoned with. And now he's escaped. "Well… what are we going to do?"
Danny shook his head. "I have no idea. All I know is that he needs to be stopped. I'm just wondering why he hasn't taken over the city yet."
"Well, whatever he's planning, it isn't good."
