Chapter 22: The Embodiment of Fear

Sam walked a few paces behind Danny, Tucker, and Jazz as they made their way back toward the main street of the city, her violet eyes glued to the ground. Her mind was swimming through a murky sea of thoughts and questions, and she wished she understood what she was feeling. So much had happened in such a short period of time, and Sam was having difficulty wrapping her brain around the situation.

Danny had become convinced that if he just got his bearings and took a look around, he would be able to figure out where the portal in and out of this place was based on what he learned inside of Hollow. He kept referring to this city as "the maze," which worried Sam on some level because it caused her to wonder how many of Hollow's memories had left an imprint on her friend's brain. And what about the other minds in the network? How many of those personalities had left something floating behind in Danny? He was still Danny, there was no question about that, but he seemed to have a few additional fragments of knowledge. Sam could have sworn that she heard him humming a tune earlier that she didn't recognize, and shortly after he made some comment about the trajectory of a flight path across the city that they could use in an emergency.

But Danny was terrible at math!

And there was something else that was bothering Sam – something that gnawed at her mind even more than Danny's extra bits of knowledge or their current dilemma. Danny had kissed her! What did this mean? Had he been serious, or was he just reacting to the shock of having his memories flood back into his consciousness? After having no concept of who he was for three years, how was he supposed to know how he really felt? Maybe he had just gotten carried away with the relief of remembering who he was. Or maybe he had just been confused.

Aside from the occasional snide remark from Tucker, the subject had been completely dropped. There had been no time for resolution or clarification once Tucker and Jazz showed up, so Sam was left suspended in the grey limbo of uncertainty – unsure as to where she and Danny now stood.

God! Why am I being so stupid? Sam thought as she continued to trail behind her friends. We have more important things to deal with right now. Like Keeper. Like getting home. A stupid little kiss is the least of my worries!

"Sam?"

Sam snapped back into reality to find that Danny, Jazz, and Tucker had all stopped and had turned to face her. Her lagging behind and slumped posture had not gone unnoticed.

"Sam, are you ok?" Danny said. "You've been... awfully quiet..."

"Oh," Sam said, plastering on an attempt at a smile. "It's nothing. I'm fine. Just tired from everything that's been going on, you know?"

Danny frowned and put a hand on his hip. He might have spent three years away from Sam, but he could still tell when something was bothering her. He caught her gaze, his ice-blue eyes looking directly into pools of purple, and he and Sam became locked in a silent staring match.

Tucker and Jazz looked at each other with quirked brows as the silence grew thick and heavy. This obviously did not involve them.

"Umm, I think Tucker and I will go scout out up ahead," Jazz said after a painful pause. "You two catch up when you're ready."

Before Sam had any opportunity to protest, Jazz and Tucker bolted down the street, turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

"Now," said Danny once Jazz and Tucker were gone, "what's wrong?"

Sam was unable to keep looking in Danny's eyes, and her gaze fell back down to the ground.

"It's stupid..." Sam said, a pink glow emanating from her fair cheeks as she rubbed her hands together nervously. How was it possible that she could jump headfirst into a mysterious portal and risk death, but she couldn't talk to her best friend about how she felt?

Danny let out a sigh and nodded to himself as he watched her fidget. It was pretty clear what was on her mind. He crossed over to where she stood and gently put his hands on her shoulders, cocking his head to one side as he looked down at her.

"Sam," Danny said, "if this is about what happened before, please don't think that –"

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Once again Sam was left hanging. Danny's sentence was sliced into by the sharp scream that came from where Jazz and Tucker had rounded the bend.

"Jazz!" Danny shouted as he whirled around and headed toward his sister's cry. Sam bolted after him, pulling out her weapon as she ran. This place was not a good environment for the discussion of relationships. There were bigger problems here. Problems like...

THAT!

As Sam and Danny rounded the bend and sprinted down to where Jazz and Tucker had stopped at an intersection, it became quite clear what had caused Jazz to scream. The streets of the city were in complete pandemonium. What had once been the groans and gurgles of mindless, soulless drones had now been transformed into terrified and confused shrieks that echoed after Jazz's cry like a rising chorus. The people in the streets swarmed in a wailing, frantic mob – trampling over each other in their desperation.

And what they were running from was descending from the sky in a graceful dive, blue fire raging from its enormous eyes. The wingspan of the giant metallic bird engulfed the sky, casting a shadow over the already darkened streets.

"What is that thing?" Tucker shouted, gripping the handle of his weapon. "And why aren't these people acting like zombies anymore?"

"I don't know," said Danny. "But right now it hardly matters. You know the drill!"

Danny clenched his fists, and a white circle of light manifested around his torso, splitting in two and traveling up and down the whole of his body. Black hair turned to shock white, blue eyes glowed to green, and ragged jeans and a tee shirt transformed into the signature black uniform of Danny Phantom.

Danny kicked off the ground and sped toward the metal bird as it swooped low over the screaming crowd. A ball of green energy illuminated in a white-gloved hand, and Danny shot his fist out in front of him, releasing an energy blast as he flew. But the monster anticipated the attack and swerved upward, avoiding Danny's blast only within an inch of the gyrating gears of its underbelly. It looped back around and spouted a blast of blue flame from its beak that hit Danny square in the chest and sent him hurtling backwards.

However, the bird did not anticipate the attack from below. A bolt from Sam's Ecto-Blaster struck the creature in the underside of its left wing just as it charged after Danny, causing it to tilt and careen off course like damaged airplane. The massive wing dipped to the ground, scraping along the pavement a few yards away from Sam, Tucker, and Jazz as the terrified horde scurried for cover. The rest of the creature's body started to make contact with the ground as well, but its forward momentum was only slowed by the impact and it was clear that once it was able to regain control of itself it would be airborne again.

Tucker wasted no time. As the wing touched the street he lunged forward on an impulse, leaping toward the wing and grabbing a hold of the edge. He buried his fingers in between the metal plates that were the feathers, and started to climb up onto the creature's back. This was definitely not one of his better ideas, but he couldn't really think of anything else. If he could just get on top of the thing, maybe he could attack it at its head – or at the very least, distract it.

"Tucker!" Jazz and Sam screamed simultaneously as they watched him scramble up the side of the wing.

"Is he crazy?" Jazz said, slapping a hand onto her forehead. But when she turned to face Sam she found that the girl was no longer standing next to her. Instead, she was charging toward the beast just as Tucker had, and soon she too was clambering up onto the bird.

"Dammit!" Jazz said as she threw herself into the fray. "How do I end up in these situations?"

But Jazz was not able to make it to the raptor in time. Just as she started to bolt forward, the creature managed pulled itself upright. Tucker and Sam were barely able to maintain their hold as they finally hoisted themselves into the crevice between the wings. It reared back, its metal wings flaring outward with a loud chink, and the massive silver beak snapped angrily at the air The creature turned its fiery gaze toward Jazz and let out a screech that echoed in her brain like the scraping of cement on steel.

It was unlike anything she had ever heard. It was a sound that resonated with the purest terror, striking Jazz at her very core. The world faded around her as everything was absorbed by that sound, and it swept through her like a wave of absolute dread. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. This horror consumed every corner of her mind and left her completely paralyzed.

"Tremble, girl!" A metallic, vaguely feminine voice rang in Jazz's ears. "I am Deathbird. I am the embodiment of fear!"