3:18 a.m.

Jazz stared at the red numbers in silence. Her eyes were wide open as she listened out for any sounds. They'd all gone to bed hours ago, but she needed to make sure. She couldn't risk getting caught.

3:27 a.m.

She was itching with the desire to move. It had to be long enough. Pulling back the blankets, Jazz slowly stepped out, still in her day clothes. She tiptoed to her door in socks and eased it open, making sure to lift it slightly as she did to avoid the creaking noise it normally made.

Walking down the hallway and stairs, Jazz made sure to avoid all the creaky boards and keep her footsteps as light as possible. She wouldn't wake her parents with this amount of noise, but she had no way of knowing if Danny was home or out fighting ghosts. The extra care she was taking to not be heard was to avoid his enhanced hearing picking up on what she was doing.

She couldn't let Danny find out. She might have been doing this for him, but he wouldn't be happy if he knew what she was planning.

Ever since she'd been in the know of his secret, Jazz had been asking him about when he was going to tell their parents. He couldn't hide it from them forever, no matter how hesitant he was. What Jazz didn't understand was 'why'. If he was afraid they wouldn't accept him as a ghost, she could understand that. They weren't fond of ghosts in any way, but Danny was insistent that they would still love him, still treat him the same way. That they would be able to get past their hatred of ghosts if they knew the truth. But he still wouldn't tell them.

The only conclusion Jazz could come to, was that despite all his optimism, he wasn't sure how they'd react. And honestly, she wasn't either.

She'd tried pushing, telling him that it was better to know and have it all in the open than let things go on like this. The longer it was hidden, the more it would hurt when it came out. And what if they found out through other means, came to the wrong conclusion, or did something they'd always regret once they knew Phantom as their own son?

Danny hadn't appreciated her questions. He'd snapped at her to leave it alone and he flew out of the room.

They hadn't talked about it since then, and Jazz thought that would be the end of the topic for a while longer.

But a few days later, during a fight at the school, their parents had managed to get close to Phantom, and their mother had shot him in the back.

Jazz's heart had nearly stopped when she saw her brother fall from the sky. He got up quickly, and prepared to fight back, but he froze when he saw who had shot him.

Jazz would never forget the heartbroken look on his face.

He left the fight before they could hurt him further and she hadn't seen him again until after school, when their parents lectured him about using a ghost attack to skip the rest of school. Danny didn't make eye contact with any of them, making their parents quickly catch on that something was wrong. Their dad asked him if anything was wrong and gave him, what was supposed to be, a comforting pat on the back. Danny had winced and ran to his room without a word.

Jazz called his friends and confirmed that they'd already bandaged his back before deciding to leave him alone, knowing he wouldn't be in any mood to talk to her.

It was during dinner that night, when Danny was still hiding in his room and their parents were talking about how'd they'd managed to hit Phantom earlier that Jazz made her decision.

She would respect Danny's wishes to not tell them until he was ready, but she would not let them keep hurting her brother.

The door to the lab locked behind her with a click, and she breathed a little easier knowing the room was soundproof. Down the stairs she went straight to the weapons vault, turning on the light and looking out at the sea of weapons with a determined expression.

Grabbing the first gun off the rack she took a deep breath and aimed it at the second one. With such a close shot, it burst apart immediately.

Jazz stepped back, gasping. The recoil, sudden noise, and the destruction before her snapped her mind into focus and what she was doing fully hit her.

She was destroying her parents' weapons.

With the reality of it in front of her, doubt started to creep in.

Was this really a smart decision? Sure, she'd be protecting Danny but not all ghosts were him. Some did want to hurt people, and they could. These weapons didn't just cause harm, they were a means of protection. But if her parents didn't know the difference, should they really be allowed to keep them?

Besides, these things weren't cheap, and they took a lot of time to make. This was her parents' work, the stuff they'd spent years of their lives on.

Jazz closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. No, she'd already gone through these thoughts when she made her decision. She wouldn't destroy everything. The weapons were her only target. The shields, detectors, deflectors, thermoses, anything useful that could protect people and not cause great harm to ghosts, would all be staying. She wouldn't even destroy all the weapons, she'd keep a few in her room in case of emergencies.

As for everything else, her parents needed to learn a lesson. They couldn't keep hurting every ghost because they were ghosts, and they couldn't keep hurting Danny.

Her mind was already made up, she couldn't let fear or doubt stop her now.

Taking another breath, she destroyed the next one, and the next one, and the next one. Adrenaline kicked in and Jazz could feel relief bloom in her chest as she fell into a rhythm. After a while the shooting wasn't enough, and she left to get a sledgehammer from the workstation.

Jazz swung with all her might, breaking everything in her sight. She might have worried at how much she was enjoying the destruction if she didn't feel lighter with every hit. It was powerful and freeing. Soon it wasn't just about protecting Danny or any other innocent ghost, she was taking out all her frustrations and anger at everything her parents had done. They let ghost hunting rule their lives, they left the lab unlocked leading to Danny coming down and getting hurt by the portal, they didn't listen to anyone, certainly not their own children, about anything. They caused public damage on a day to day basis, shot at or attacked anyone they thought was a ghost or overshadowed without thinking twice or looking for proof, leading to several people ending up in a hospital, they never considered how much their actions hurt others. This was for every time they hurt someone, whether they meant to or not. For every time they embarrassed her, broke a promise, or did something that could have been avoided had they just listened.

There were tears pouring down her face as she smashed into yet another weapon. Sharp pieces of metal and plastic went flying, cutting her arms and face. Splatters of ectoplasm burned her skin. Her arms were tiring as she repeatedly bashed the same weapon over and over.

But she was laughing too.

It felt liberating to destroy it all. Using brute force to smash it to pieces. It was therapeutic in a way.

By the time she reached the end and there were only a handful of weapons left, Jazz was smiling freely. She'd deal with the backlash later; it probably wouldn't take long for her parents to figure out who did this with the destruction being clearly human and only so many people who had access to the vault. Maybe she would care when that happened, but in that moment, Jazz had never felt lighter.

Didn't intend for Jazz to have a little breakdown when doing this, but it fits the prompt which is cool.