"So Nightwing takes any tall beam as a challenge?"
"He swung on a chandelier, once."
"Please tell me he sung the song too."
"What song?"
"Nevermind." Jazz smiled as she tied the specially made fishing line that went to the ghost fisher, around the net that contained the weapons they dug out for the others.
"That string can't possibly hold."
"Oh, my dear little friend! It can- oh sorry dear friend. ...dear?" Jazz noticing the expression on Damian's face and tried to tailor what she said, giving an apologetic smile. "It takes a lot of force to snap it. Dead weight won't do anything."
Jazz snorted away a laugh that threatened to come with the mentioning of dead weight about a fishing line that was used for ghosts... Oh no. Danny's humor was contagious.
"Alright! Annnnnd Done! Want to do the honors?" Jazz asked handing Robin the line, to toss over the rafters.
Robin smirked spinning the reel of the pole they left attached to the line and tossing it over the rafter. He grinned a little first try.
Jazz quietly clapping, "Nice shot!"
"Tt. It was easy." Damian tried to play it off, definitely not feeling heat to his cheeks at the praise.
"Still a nice shot." Jazz walking over to pick up the reel, starting to wind up the line, til it was tight. Locking the reel up, she now used her hands to pull on the line, wrapping the wire around her hands for a tighter grip. She grunted as she pulled the netted weapons up into the rafters.
They had decided on a corner of the garage that was blocked by beams and boxes. It wasn't the hardest one to reach as it was only a few feet away from the roof of the control room that sat in the garage. But it was the most concealed.
Jazz had all her body weight on the line, as she made her way to the forklift parked to the side with the palette of boxes. She tied it to the forklift, making sure it was secure with a tug. "That should do it."
"The line is glowing." Damian pointed out. "And so is the net."
"...mmm... It is." Jazz frowned taking a step back to see how noticeable it was from a distance. That might be a problem. She could budge the line to be hidden.
"Hey can you climb up there and help budge the line behind the boxes some then?"
Damian rolled his eyes, but climbed the set of boxes. He pulled on the line, using corners of the boxes to help keep it in place.
"Perfect! That'll have to do. Hopefully. Be careful coming back down."
"Who do you think I am?"
"Robin. Batman's sidekick, a skilled swordsman and fighter, despite being so young."
"So you are aware that I don't need a reminder." Damian huffed as he hopped down the boxes.
"Everyone could use a reminder, but if it makes you feel better, its mostly out of habit. Danny... isn't.. the most cautious." Jazz explained as she tested the door on the control room.
Neither of them seemed to be cautious, but Damian decided to keep that to himself.
Jazz frowned as the door was locked. Taking a tighter grip of the handle, she prepared to use her body weight to open the door. Only to be stopped by Damian, who demanded her to step aside with a gesture of his hand.
Damian huffed, as he took a look at the lock. It wasn't electronic, which seemed odd as most locks in high security were. Guess, there was no reason to for a ghost hideout. He pulled out a lock pick from his belt. He picked it open, and walked inside.
He marched right up to the control panel, examining it. It was mostly ran by a computer that needed a numerical password. Kind of lame-
Jazz leaned over and typed into the keypad, and gained access immediately. Damian raised a brow, in question.
"The day of Plasmius's accident. Ghosts are pretty predictable."
Damian just nodded as he accessed the files. It wasn't his expertise, as he rather cut the villain down and call it a day, but it wasn't hard either. The password gained them access to all the functions of the control panel. He navigated to lift controls, turning them on-
"Ghost Near by, please walk ten feet behind."
Jazz and Damian paled. Damian glancing down at where the sound came from, which was the device Jazz told him to turn down earlier. She was right with how loud it was.
"Five feet-"
Damian silenced the device. Then felt himself being shoved under the panel, chair pulled to block view of him.
"Ah-Jasmine! What a surprise!" A ghost resembling a Vampire phased out of the wall.
"Plasmius." Jazz hissed, as she stepped in front of where Damian was hiding, adding more cover. Keeping Plasmius's attention on her.
"Leaving so soon?" Plasmius just floated without any urgency, just mildly amused. He leaned over to see the control panel and charged up a pink blast with his fist.
"Why not stay and enjoy the fun?" Aiming his fist at the computer, he shot it at it.
Damian had to scramble away from the main panel as it burst into flames. Jazz gasping, but hurrying to keep Plasmiu's attention.
"I was planning on it!" Jazz whipped out the ghost repellent she had attached to her belt, spraying Plasmius in the face.
"ARGGGHH! WHAT IS THIS-" Plasmius choked and gagged.
Damian took out the anti-ghost roasting stick, after crawling out from under the panel, thrusting it straight into the ghost's behind.
Plasmius howled, before dissolving into goo before their eyes. Damian stared in confusion, as he was to believe that the villain was not suppose to be that easy-
"Duplicate..." Jazz gasped staring at the goo, then looked back at Damian. She grabbed his arm and started running. "We got to run. To the GAV, now!"
Damian dropped the stick, as he was dragged out of the room by the girl. The Fenton Finder flashing on his hip. Jazz slung Damian to run in front of her, making sure that his view was blocked from Plasmius.
"Jasmine~" A voice sung from the entrance of the garage as they hopped into the GAV.
"We're trapped in here!" Damian not liking being stuck with little exit points.
Jazz locked the doors behind them, "Just hide. He doesn't know you're here! We need to keep it that way!"
"Oh, Jasmine, and here I thought you came to say your last goodbyes. Or were you planning to distract me, while Daniel goes and plays hero?"
Damian cursed as he reluctantly climbed into an open cabinet, squeezing himself in. Jasmine turned back towards the dash, seeing Vlad in his suit walking up to the GAV. He already knew ghost form would be useless.
"I know its useless to explain to Daniel, but surely you must realize this is better? After all, it must be hard to raise your brother in a house made to kill him."
She poked open at panels on the dash, trying to find the right one. Trying to ignore Vlad's words, as he walked right up to the GAV.
"Ah-ha!" Jazz exclaimed as she found the emergency access, which was a hand scanner that allowed all the Fentons access to the GAV.
"Loading... one moment."
Her mother had put it in, after Dad had lost the keys again, allowing Johnny13 to have a joy ride in it. Danny had a field day with that one.
"Ready for Fenton prints."
Damian raised a brow. Did this family named everything after there-hmmm He suppose their family weren't ones to speak on this manner.
"I really was hoping you were far less stubborn than your brother. After all, you are one of the smartest in your family. No doubt, you take it after your mother." Vlad knocked on the door.
Jazz had placed her hand on the scanner, whispering for it to hurry, so she could gain access to the guns on the assault vehicle as well as fully armor the GAV.
"Welcome Jazzirincess. Starting Ghost Assault Vehicle now.-"
The locks clicked open, with a sound of an honk. Vlad walking right in, dangling the keys in his hand. "Tsk, as if I allow this abomination of scrap metal to be in my domain without the keys."
"Keys found. Override Emergency Access."
Jazz hissed at the machine, keeping eyes on Vlad. She took a step back, glaring him down. One hand on the blaster on her belt, and the other on the repellent.
"Really, expected better from you."
"No, you don't. You expected me to play like a chess piece."
"There's that bright girl. I forget you can be as infuriating as your brother. Speaking of, don't tell me Daniel has abandoned you? He must be here too." Vlad glancing towards the back of the GAV, as if trying to spot the black hair teen.
Damian shrunk in his cabinet, as if to try and conceal himself more. If he turned around, then maybe he could-
Jazz reached out to try and spray Vlad again, only to get her wrist caught and the spray tossed to the side. "I do retain all my memory of my duplicates you know."
Jazz giving a sheepish smile, "I know." She then shot at the repellent, but missed by a hair, making it roll away. That did not go as planned.
Vlad laughed at her, "You really have your father's aim."
Damian took the moment, to reach his hand out with the lipstick blaster he kept from Danny. He shot at the repellent, making the can burst open and cover the whole GAV in the stuff.
Vlad coughed and hacked, being choked and blinded by the spray. Jazz took no time to kick Vlad in the balls, then shove him out. She motioned for Damian to stay, before running out of the GAV.
"Danny! GET MOM AND DAD!"
Vlad coughed and wheezed, before turning into Plasmius with a flash of light, chasing after Jasmine. A deep growl in his throat.
-ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
"So Vlad Masters is a half-ghost like Danny, who is trying to kill their Dad for turning him into one?" Dick questioning , making sure he was getting it right.
"That's the rough sum of it. Yep." Tim panted through the comms.
"Hm." Dick nodded, crossing his arms. Jason sat on the ground next to where he was standing. He had his chin rested on his hand, glaring at the catfish. The catfish showing off that it had successfully taking Jason's ecto-ray from him, playing with it.
After they cleared up their findings, Jason didn't blame the guy for wanting to kill his killer... However that was not going to stop him from taking the guy out for messing with kids. Plus, he felt like he heard that name before.. some rich bastard. He was a creep then, from what he could remember. Bruce was certain, he did something to him.
The ground rumbled under them. Jason hurried to his feet, as him and Dick ran up the bank away from the water. Cass running towards them from where she was trying to find a way to fit in the vent.
The platform was starting to lift, mud and water falling off the sides.
"Lift is rising-"
A sputter was heard, making them glance at each other. Then the lift sparked and crashed back down, only six inches stay above the ground.
Dick felt the dread rising, as he tried to get Damian to pick up on his comms.
"What was that?!" Batman asked over the comms.
"The lift crashed."
"Controls must have been busted." Tim suggested.
"How'd we get in now?"
"You said there was a giant catfish in the way, right?" Danny asked, sounding distant from Tim's comm.
"Its a giant coc-"
Dick interrupted, "Yes. Why?"
–ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Danny knew what he was going to do, as he pulled out the bat-a-rangs. He looked at Tim, "Got a rope or something I can use."
Tim furrowed his brows, "Uh... I got the grappling-"
"Even better!" He stuck one of the rangs into his mouth, as he grabbed the grappling hook from Tim.
Tim watched as Danny successfully tied a bat-a-rang to the grappling hook, while they were still running at full speed, dodging fallen trees and low hanging branches.
"Wait, are you going to... fish?"
"More like hitchhiking," Danny ran forward, adrenaline mostly kicking in as he feared for his sister.
He felt a cold shiver, and his breath fogged. They were close, he ran straight into the clearing, not slowing down for a moment. He locked eyes with Red Hood yelling, "Get me up!"
Jason having no time to react, went on instinct as Danny jumped, reaching his hands out to toss Danny up into the air. He stared at his cup hands, in shock and then back in the air at Danny, who was up way higher than he should be.
Dick was in just as much shock, staring at Jason, then gritting his teeth nervously as he watched Danny.
Tim running up to stand along side them, "How did he get up there?!"
"I.. tossed him?"
"You what?"
Danny missed the air. Once he had his powers back, he was making a promise to himself to get a flight in. Right, he didn't have powers, so being this high probably wasn't a good thing.
Glancing down at the glowing patch of water, he whistled. "Here, kitty kitty!"
On cue the catfish leapt from the water, much like a shark. Danny aimed at an angle, then shot the grappling hook into the catfish's mouth. The iced bat-a-rang snagged onto its gills, Danny locking the grapple in place as to not be reeled in.
He swung his body to miss the mouth of the catfish, dangling to the side of it now. Danny climbed up onto the rope a little, using his thighs to anchor the gun, to free up his hands. The ghostly catfish splashed back into the water, dragging Danny down with it.
Danny held onto the rope with one hand, as he pulled out the other bat-a-rang. He worked on tying the other one to the rope, struggling through the current the catfish made through the water. Once or twice have to brace for impact, as the catfish tried to slam Danny into the ground.
The catfish flung itself back out of the water, slinging Danny up into the air. Danny coughed and sputtered out water, but managed to finish tying the bat-a-rang.
He then slid down the rope, towards the catfish, using the momentum of his body to swing the cable with him. He tossed the newly tied end at the other side of the ghost catfish's mouth, snagging it.
"Hook, line, and sinkerrrrrrrrr-" Danny realized the mistake he made. Staring now at the jaws of the catfish. He didn't have time or momentum to swing the rope back over the ghost's head. He was going to be eaten like a worm on a hook.
The bats panicked, as Batman demanded to know what was going on. (He was benched at the plane.) Seeing Danny popped back out of the water was a temporary relief as if became clear he was going to be a snack.
Jason patted Dick, "Get me up there-"
Dick pushed Jason forward, "No. Toss me, I'll go farther."
Jason did a double take, but Dick was already getting distance to run. Jason position himself by the bank, gesturing for Tim to help. Tim cupping his hands under Jason's. Cass sliding in to cup hers, standing between the two boys.
Dick ran forward, jumping up onto their hands and using their force to propel his body forward, towards Danny.
Tim rubbed his shoulder, looking at Cass then back at Dick. "...why didn't we toss Orphan?"
Jason smacking his forehead. Cass just showing off her bicep, as suitable reason.
Danny thought he was fish food, until he felt a muscular arm swing around his waist. He glanced up seeing Nightwing, giving Danny a half grin.
"I'm starting to wonder who has the nine lives here."
"Being honest, I think I past the nine lives mark about a year ago."
Dick laughed a bit as he grabbed the rope and flipped them back over the ghost's head, barely missing the fish's mouth. Once they landed on the fish's head, Danny knelled down as Dick stayed crouched behind him. Both keeping firm grip onto the rope.
"Going under-" They gasped a big breath of air.
The catfish dived into the water, thrashing. It was trying to knocked them off, as it bashed into rocks, even a few times into Vlad's base. Danny tried to pull the makeshift reigns to make the catfish go up.
Nightwing budged him with his knee, signaling to Danny to follow his lead instead. They leaned to the left into the rocks, and then to the right, trying to make the fish pull up on its own. Nightwing struggling to not lose his breath, feeling relieved as the ghost finally pulled up to the surface.
The catfish popped out of the water, onto the bank. Jason grabbed Cass and Tim by their waist, jumping back out of the way. The ghost snapped his jaws at them, meowing, before settling down.
Dick coughed and hack, knelling down as he tried to recollect the air in his lungs. Danny sputtered out water, coughing a bit too. He didn't need to breath, but water in lungs was still painful and concerning.
Danny gave a glance at Nightwing, who gestured with his hand that he be fine, as he coughed into the other. Danny leaned forward on the fish, trying to get the ghost's attention with a light tap.
"W̵̤̳̾̓́̑̂̔ė̵̛̪̦͇̻̾̏̏ ̵̧̮̺̻̱̘̻̗̃̒̎̕d̶̦͜͝o̵̝͈̝͙͊́̅̀̽̿͝n̷̬͑̓̽̄̈́'̶̤̗̜̠͙͉̒͆͒͋̎͠͝͝t̸̡̮̠̪̘̳̖̰͛̓͘ ̸͓͍̇̇͆̓̍w̸̺͕͕̞̦͆̆̃̿͂̽̕a̴̹̥̣͕̟͌̍͝n̷̡̟̠͙͚̮̂̒̅͠ṭ̵̹̱̬̗̗͛ ̷̬̹̰͙̥͂͘t̵̟̤̫̭̊͌̉͒̿̊ơ̷̯̲̙͈̿ ̸̧͍̻͈͎̗̂f̴̛͕̬͇̦̐̎͗̋̽i̵͚͙͍̬̯̻̰̍͂̑̐̅̇̐̓g̷̢̻͓͉̺̤̈́̐ḣ̸̡̲̞̲͛͘͘ţ̴̢̣͚̪̠͙̈́̽̾̂̐̍ ̸̢̙͈̻̖͇̄̈̓̈́y̴͓͌́̃̍o̴̮̥͕̞̣̻͍͌͛u̶̩̩̪̘̎͊̂̚͜ͅ.̸͓̱͚̲͗͑͜" Danny spoke in a garble language, eyes glowing faintly green.
"M̵̧̝̼͍̅͊͋͘͜e̵̢̧̜͖̘̹̱͖ͅǫ̴̬̓̑̔͌͝ȑ̷͖̗̣̲̃̌̋̿̍ŗ̴̥̯̞̦͔̻̊͊͜͝ͅǒ̵̧̫̬̩͓͔̗ͅŵ̸̫͎̙͉͕̲̟͇̳͙͑͊̑̈́̚͝w̶̨̠̲͖̣͚̟͍͈̫̽w̴̪̏̊̇̑̌̓̃̔͆͠"
Jason furrowed his brows, he could vaguely decipher what they said. It was a garbled messed, but it was like he could get the context. Well at least of what Danny was saying. The catfish kept going.. meow?
Tim felt so lost, checking to make sure his hearing was correct. Cass trying to follow along, reading their mouths and body. She wasn't doing much better.
Danny slid down the catfish with a grin, seemingly satisfied with the conversation. "I got us a ride in."
Danny scratched the side of the catfish's face making it purr. "This little guy going to take us in. Though we'll have to find another way out-OW"
Jason smacked the back of Danny's head. Danny rubbed his head, confused. The catfish hissing at Jason.
"Great, but next time you do something reckless, FUCKING WARN US!"
Danny chuckled weakly, "Heh.. sorry."
Dick casually sitting on the edge of the ghost's head, "We're here to help."
Danny nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed now. He guessed, he isn't use to having people around that could actually help. Well besides team phantom, but they all relied on him the most. They had to, he had to...
"Oh, hold on. I think that's Robin."
"What's the situation, baby bird?"
"...Plasmius destroyed the controls to the tunnel..."
"We speculated that much, are you and Jazz ok?"
"...we've been separated... " The grit in his teeth was heard.
