Viral Attach -7- Smash and Grab
"Put me down!"
"T'Keisa!"
"Put me down!"
"T'Keisa!"
"Put me down!"
"T'Keisa! Will you listen to me," Danny Phantom shouted at the slender black girl struggling in his arms. "I can't put you down, we're too high in the air!"
He rolled over a bit so that she could see over his shoulder. The ground was a blur of lines and squares -- streets, city blocks, sickenly far away. The girl's flailing arms suddenly clamped tightly about him while she tried to bury her face into his neck.
"What are you doing?" she gasped into his ear.
"I need your help."
"Couldn't you find someone who wasn't afraid of heights."
"As long as you touch me you can't fall. You don't have to hold on so tight. It's a little -- hard to breathe."
After a moment when her arms still constricted like a python Danny asked, "T"Keisha, can you hear me?"
"U-huh." she squeaked faintly.
"I will not let you fall. You're safe here."
"U-huh." She did not sound at all convinced.
"We're going to get help."
"U-huh."
"And I need your help getting it. Ok?"
"U-huh."
"Are you going to relax?"
"Uh-uh."
Great, Danny thought.
He was heading east out of the greater Chicago area. Behind, he had left Sam and Tucker and their friends Altheria, and Abigail fighting a clone army of Technus 0.7's. The computer virus generated ghost had invaded an appliance store after rampaging through T'Keisha's home town of East Gratiot. Inside it had infected first one, then all the computers on display, and from each infected computer dozens of new viruses had emerged. It was just luck that none of the display computer had been connected to the Internet, or Technus 0.7 might have begun infected the entire world. As it was the constantly generating new ghosts was overwhelming Danny's own ghost powers and the many weapons of his four (five counting T'Keisha) friends. They had to try a different tack and Danny thought he had the answer. But to get it he would have to enter the Ghost Zone, which meant a trip back to his parent's lab and the Ghost Zone Portal. But what he planned to do would take two people and of all the people fighting ghosts right now, T'Keisha was the only one they could spare.
He flew in silence for a while, wondering what his sister, Jazz, would do in a situation like this. Jazz was the cool collected one, the girl who was going be a psychologist when she grew up. This seemed like exactly the sort of thing psychologists dealt with. He wished he could pull out his cell phone and call her but he couldn't get to it while T'Keisha was holding on so tight and Jazz would not like to be interrupted while shopping. He was already on pretty thin ice with her with his clever little expedition to Chicago spinning wildly out of control. He didn't want to press his luck with in case she decided to pull the plug on the whole scam.
"T'keisha?" he asked after a while.
She voice came faintly to his ear, "huh?"
"You still with me?"
"I guess."
"Good. Here's what we're doing. We're going to Amity Park. When we get to we're going to Danny's parent's lab, the FentonWorks. Inside the lab is a portal to the Ghost Zone."
"Uh-huh."
"We're going to borrow their Specter Speeder and go into the Ghost Zone. You'll be safe inside the Speeder because it has ghost deflector technology built into its hull."
"Do we have to?" she plaintively asked.
"The only thing that can stop the Technus-clones is in the Ghost Zone. We have to get it. It's the only way to help Tucker. You understand?"
"I don't want to go there."
"T'Keisha, you can do this. Tucker and Sam have been in the Ghost Zones lots of times. Nothing can harm you there while you stay in the Specter Speeder. I need you to pilot the speeder while I go collect what we need."
"But I don't know how to fly a plane."
"It's not a plane."
"But..."
"T'keisha, we've all learned how to fly the speeder. None of us have ever had any formal training. The speeder is easy to flight. You can do this. I know you can."
"Is that why you pick me?"
"mmm" Danny hesitated answering.
"Oh," she sighed.
"It not like that. Well maybe it is. Look, T'keisha, you weren't doing much good back there. Sam and Tucker know how to fly the Speeder, but they're also familiar with fighting ghosts so it was best to leave them back there in charge. Abigail and Altheria don't know any more about flying the speeder but they were doing pretty good at knocking down Technus. So, yeah, that left you, but this will be different. Ghosts won't be flying at you. You'll be inside the Speeder, protected by the Speeder. You can do this."
"Don't make me do this." she asked.
"You'll be fine," he said but somehow that didn't seem to comfort the girl at all.
***
After what seemed like an eternity, Amity park hoved into view. He stopped following the freeway he'd used to guide him out of Chicago, and aimed directly for FentonWorks. The crazy old brownstone with what looked like a flying saucer beached on its roof soon came into view and without slowing down Danny went immaterial passed through its brick walls, wood floors and inactive ghost alarms into the basement laboratory.
"You can open your eyes," he told T'Keisha when they had come to a rest on the cement floor. She gasped a little as she looked around at all the strange devices and gizmos piled up on shelves and benches there. The place was bizarre, eerie and, oddly, intriguing. She was about to step towards something that looked like a vacuum cleaner built into a microwave oven when Danny touched her arm and pulled her towards a large, shiny van sitting on steel rails that lead towards closed double doors. He tapped in the password Sam had has figured out, opening the door. T'Keisha was pulled in and pushed down into a pilot's seat in the front. The ghost boy took the other seat in front of the large windshield.
He started pushing a number of button on his set of controls. The board in front of T'Keisha lit up, a faint rumbling from the back of the vehicle indicated that a generator had started.
"Once we get into the Ghost Zone," Danny said, "I'll show you how to fly the Speeder."
Without meaning to, T'Keisha cringed from his voice. It echoed in a weird and sinister manner. it made her think of the grave which on an rational level she knew was ridiculous because she had no idea what a grave would sound like. But on the animal level, deep at the base of her brain, she knew exactly what that was.
The Speeder started turning on its stand and came to rest facing the far wall of the lab. There was a large octagonal frame built into the wall with heavy steel shutters covering it. Out of the corner of her eye (because it almost made her sick to look at him) Danny Phantom flicked up a plastic cover on a button situated on the top right corner of the panel. She saw there was one on her set of controls. When he pushed this button the shutters on the big opening began to crank open.
Beyond was a swirling void, bluish like the color of Danny Phantom's ectoplasm blasts or maybe not colored at all. Or maybe a color she had never seen before. The void, T'Keisha decided, was like nothing on Earth. "So this is the Ghost Zone" one part of her brain wondered, interested in spite of herself. T'Keisha liked science. She liked understanding things, knowing how stuff works. The Unknown called to her, even as it scared the bejeebus out of her.
"Here we go," the creepy voice of Danny Phantom announced. The Speeder lifted a few inches, then with no sense of movement, slide across the room and into the void. T'Keisha braced herself for impact but when she opened an eye a moment later to peek, they were already through the portal into a vast, endless expansive, swirling the same non-color as before. Dotting through the void were endless numbers of doors. Wooden, with frame and brass doorknobs, looking for all the world like they're ready to be opened.
The speeder picked up speed and quickly left the realm of Doors behind.
In the distant small islands began appearing, floating in the void like seaweed in a lake.
"OK," said the graveyard voice, "We've got a few minutes to go over the operation of the Speeder." T'Keisha turned towards the voice by reflex, saw Danny's glowing green eyes and turned away shuddering.
She must have heard him sigh in exasperation.
"I'm sorry," she complained. "I can't look at you, you scare me."
"I'm the one ghost in the world who will not hurt you. I'm here to protect you."
She shook her head.
"What?" Danny asked.
"I try to tell myself that but it doesn't work. Something about the way you look scares me."
"I need your help. I really need your help. Tucker needs your help. I think the whole world needs you to overcome that this one time."
T'Keisha just kept shaking her head.
"Does it creep you out to hear me?" Danny asked,
T'Keisha nodded, her eyes still tightly closed and buried in her shoulder.
"But not as much as see me?"
"Yeah." she said faintly.
"OK. Let's work with that. I'm going to step back. I want to you to open your eyes and look at the control panel."
The girl straightened up slightly. Her shoulders were still hunched like she still feared something was going to leap on her.
"Tp your right is a handle. Put your hand on it. That's the throttle. Push it forward a little bit." The speeder leaped forward with a lurch when she moved the handle. Danny had her move the throttle back, then forward again until she seemed confident using it. Next he had her place her hands on the wheel and practice that control. Pushing forward caused the Speeder to descend, pulling up to ascend. Turning the wheel right or left took them in that direction. He put her through a few maneuvers until she felt confident that she could put the Speeder where she wanted it. Danny pointed out a few other controls on the console: lights, the spectral deflector controls, how to open and close the side door, and the beacon that linked them to the Fenton's Ghost Zone Portal. Finally he stuck his hand out to point to a region slightly to the right and below central. T'Keisha flinched at the sight of his arm but changed directions to where he wanted.
Danny muttered "sorry," and fell into one of the back seats and closed his eyes. "Let me know when you see a largish island ahead with what looks like a castle on it. It shouldn't be more than ten or fifteen minutes. I'm going to rest back here, out of your way. Things are going to get pretty hectic when we get to Walker's Prison."
They flew in silence for a few minutes. Danny was nearly asleep. Using the Ghostly Wail took a lot out of him. Often it left him unconscious or reverted to human form at the end. Of course in his ghost form he recovered quickly but not that quickly. And flying back to Amity park with T'Keisha right after using it earlier had kept him from recovering fully.
"You must really hate me," T'Keisha unexpectedly said.
"What?" Danny asked as his brain worked overtime to catch up. "No, No? Why do you say that? I'd never say a thing like that."
"Well, all your friends are so great at this. They're brave, resourceful, fearless. They knew what to do without being told. And I -- I was just a -- a wuzz."
"That has nothing to do with it," Danny protested.
"It has everything to do with it."
"Sam and Tucker were friends of mi -- were friends of Danny Fenton's long before I came along. They're my friends because they are his friend. I want to call you my friend, too, because you're Tucker's friend. Besides they've just had a lot of experience already on fighting ghosts. This is your first time."
"How can I be your friend when I can't even stand looking at you?"
"You've got a lot of good attributes, T'Keisha. You're smart, clever. You can be very funny. You're the best thing that ever happened to Tucker. You're like the first girl who was able to look past his geeky exterior and see what a great guy he is inside."
"He is geeky. That's for sure."
"I'd do anything to see him happy."
"Like putting up with me?"
"No, by accepting that you are what you are." Danny sighed. "Look what all you've done so far. You handled an attack by Technus as well as anyone, then knew who to call for help. You saw the pattern of attacks later and called us down here. You figured out that those ATM slips were printing winning lottery numbers and stock market tips. If it weren't for you we'd be sitting around happy as frogs in a pond until Technus had taken over the world. Your smarts has been a big help. You're just not a frontline person. Don't get down on yourself, that's my job."
"I'd feel better if I were a frontline person."
"You're going to get your chance in just a few minutes," said Danny as he caught a glimpse of something in the distance. "Take us down a little bit. Walker has troopers circling the upper part of his island but for some reason not the lower part."
"What are we going to do?" she asked as Danny moved up to the co-pilot's seat. He made some adjustments to the controls there.
"We are going to fight fire with fire?"
"This is a prison for ghosts? There are laws that even ghosts can't break?"
"No, but there is a ghost who thinks he's the warden of all the Ghost Zone. He's always locking up ghosts here who, he thinks, has broken some law. But for there to be any laws there has to be a government right, elementary civics. There's no government in the ghost zone, therefore no laws, so Walker doesn't have any authority to run a prison. But there's no one to say he can't, either. As it happens Walker has the one ghost who could possibly defeat all those Technus 0.7s we left behind on Earth."
"Who? Ghost Superman?"
"Better. How do you fix a buggy program?"
"Generally I hack into it until I find the problem and re-write the code."
"You would. OK, when I have a buggy program, because I don't know anything about programming, I look for an update. Because a newer version of a program will always override an older version."
"There's a Technus in this prison?"
"Technus 2.0 he calls himself. I think that will trump any number of 0.7s."
"But won't he try to take over the world, too?"
"He's tried -- several times. But I've beat him every time. I think I can do it again if I have to."
"We're getting close to this prison thing of your," T'Keisha warned.
"OK. Here's the plan....."
***
Danny found some rope in a cabinet and tied one end to a back seat and the other around his waist. He cycled the side door open and leaned out. He watched as T'Keisha aimed the Speeder straight for the massive gate at the front of Walker's prison. He waited for the right moment.
"We're getting close," T'Keisha called nervously.
"Not yet," Danny answered. He waited, nervous, too, but not wanting to add to T'Keisha's alarm. Was he ready for this. Would Walker react the way he calculated he would.
"How much sooner?" T'Keisha asked again.
"Not yet."
"Don't wait too long."
"Don't worry. We're almost there."
"We're about to hit the Gate..."
"Good. I don't want to miss." Danny said then had to take a hurried breathe as the Gate was suddenly there. Guard were scrambling along the walkway across the top of the walls. Guns were swinging in their direction. Someone was shouting into a megaphone though Danny couldn't hear what they were saying.
He reached deep within himself and found that ragged note that began it all. There was, he was surprised to find all the power he wanted waiting for him as he breathed that note out and let it grow into the Ghostly Wail. His breathe expanded as a visible wavering wall, a tornado of energy that hit the Gates and tore them to shreds. The guards atop the towers were tossed high into the air where they floated too stunned to fly back to their stations. The towers on either side of the Gate shivered under the torrent of Danny's Ghostly Wail, then slide down into piles of rubble. The walls along the sides of the prison shuddered, cracked, parts tumbled into the prison yard were prisoners and guards alike were scrambling for shelter.
Danny swept his Wail around the prison yard into he found the doors leading into the prison proper. He concentrated the last of his energy at those doors. For a moment they rattled but withstood the eerie power being thrown at them, then abruptly exploded out.
T'Keisha pointed the Speeder at the opening Danny had made and pushed the throttle forward. Danny collapsed to his knees as the energy left him. He would have fallen out the open door but for the rope he'd tied about himself.
The slender girl followed the route Danny had sketched out, piloting the Speeder down the stairs into the basement, turning into the torch lit side of the tunnels there and stopping before the door of the last cell. Danny was just pulling himself back to his feet as she came to a stop. He grabbed a Fenton Blaster and shot down the door, snatched up a Fenton Thermos, and leaped through.
"Wha-a-a-t?" Technus 2.0 squawked before Danny shot him with the blaster, knocking the ghost to the floor. Flipping open the Thermos Danny sucked him in before he had a chance to recover. He leaped back into the Speeder yelling, "Go! Go! Go!"
T'Keisha spun the Speed around on a dime, marveling at how maneuverable it was, not realizing that the craft's aft was passing through walls like a ghost does in the material world. Danny found himself being shoved towards the center of the cabin in the process. Because he was in his ghost form he was subject to the rules of physics of the Ghost Zone even though he was instead the Spectral Speeder.
In a moment the black girl had the Speeder out of the prison and heading into the sky overhead. Vaguely Danny could see hundreds of ghost prisoners streaking off, taking their chances on freedom. Prison Guards were chasing after the escaping prisoners in ones and two, just as Danny had hoped. There were none left to pursue them as they headed back to the Fenton Portal. He staggered over to a back seat, set the thermos with Technus beside him and collapsed. He was going to tell T'Keisha something about the Portal but abruptly all power had deserted him. He's eyes closed and he knew no more.
***
It seemed like only an instant later that someone was poking Danny on the shoulder. He opened his eyes to see T'Keisha standing near him, jabbing him with the Fenton Thermos. We're at the Portal she said, backing away. "And how do you turn this thing off?" She waved the thermos. "It's been screaming something awful since we left the prison."
"Anyone following us?" Danny asked, taking the Thermos from the girl.
She shook her head, still backing away and taking shelter in the pilot's seat.
Danny dropped the Thermos on the seat. A faint shrill voice could he heard shouting "Hey, be careful!"
He took the co-pilot's seat and found the controls for the portal. He cycled it open and taking control of the Speeder from T'Keisha, piloted it through and into the lab. Without slowing down he headed into the tunnel the lead to the outside exit. The swimming pool that disguised the exit flopped out of the way, spilling its water on the lawn. Danny took the Speeder to two thousand feet and found the bearing for Chicago. He pushed the throttle to the bar. "When we cross the Indiana Toll Road follow that to Chicago. You know how to find your home from there, right? I've got a ghost to talk to."
Danny flopped down next to the Thermos. "Knock, knock"
"Who's there?" Technus answered faintly from inside the Thermos.
"Danny."
"Danny Who?"
"Danny -- Your Worst Nightmare -- Phantom."
"Is this where I'm supposed to laugh at your wit?"
"I'm not hearing any laughter."
"I'm not hearing anything funny. Child, why have you kidnaped me from that pleasant room in Walker's Prison."
"I need your help."
"No, serious, why did you kidnap me?"
Danny shook the Thermos like a snow globe for moment. "I said I need your help."
"I think I'm the one who needs help," Technus whined.
"I'm just trying to get your attention." Danny answered.
"Attention? I'm stuck in this tiny little -- and might I add very dark -- space with nothing to do or anyone to talk to but you, you have my undivided attention!"
"So are you going to help me?"
"Why should I?"
"I'll let you out of the Thermos."
"I'm starting to like it in here. It's cozy."
"You're rather stay in there then have your freedom?"
"I'm playing hard to get, child. Don't you know anything about negotiations?"
"I don't have time for that. Remember the other time I visited?"
"Yes I do. You were such a nice child -- you left! And you didn't shoot me with painful blasters."
"I also asked if you had ever heard of someone going around calling themself 'Technus 0.7'."
"An impostor!"
"But they look just like you, only cruder."
"There is only one Technus, Master of all things Technological and Mechanical. And I am that Master."
"They beg to differ."
"Then they're liars!"
"Are you going to just let them go around acting like morons while claiming to be you?"
"Never!"
"So you will help me."
"And you'll set me free afterwards?"
"In the Ghost Zone." Danny said, hopefully.
"Where Walker is after me? No way?"
"I can't hardly let you free on Earth. You keep trying to take it over."
"That is my destiny!" Technus cackled.
"And it's my destiny to kick your butt every time you try." Danny sighed. "Look, Technus, your choices are to stay in the Thermos, get sent back to Walker or do this one thing for me and be free in the Ghost Zone. You're a smart ghost" ("Did I really just say that?" Danny thought.) I think you can stay one step ahead of Walker. So what do you say?"
"Child, you strike a hard bargain, but since I don't care to remain here or to return to Walker's care I will do this thing you ask. Ah -- what it is you want me to do?"
With a sigh of relief, Danny explained.
***
"Danny," T'Keisha called. "We're nearing a big city. I guess it's Chicago, but I don't know how to find my town from here. Danny got up from the seat where he had been napping and looked out of the windshield.
"Head for that column of smoke," he said pointing to a massive tower of black smoke rising into the stratosphere off to the right. "I think that's it."
"Oh, no," she cried, then angled the Speeder towards the tower of smoke. The smoke grew rapidly in size as the Speeder made short work of the remaining distance. Danny warned T'Keisha to avoid the many helicopter circling the burning district in the city. He didn't want them seeing the Speeder, or worse, photographing it and linking the Fentons to this disaster.
As they got closer to East Gratiot, T'Keisha began to recognize landmarks and was able to pilot the Speeder to the corner park near her parent's house without help. There was a slight jar as the Speeder settled to the ground. Danny hurriedly shut down the Speeders systems. Then he grabbed T'Keisha's hand and, holding the Thermos in the other phased through the Speeder and invisibility soared to find the battle.
Sam and the others had slowly allowed themselves to be pushed back about ten blocks. The milling hordes of Technuses were levitating cars and taking them apart, or the occasional automatic door or window air conditioner. Fires burned unchecked from most of the buildings they had 'inspected'.
Sam, Tucker, Altheria and Abigail were firing only sporadically, pushing the Technuses back if they got too close, sometimes shooting at one of the clone ghosts at the far end of the group if it became to drift away from the pack. Those so stung would drift towards the kids, thus staying in the pack.
Police and fire fighters also were around the edges of the cloud. The police were trying to hold back the crowds, the firemen to put out the blazes but their vehicles, sadly, were slowly being disassembled in the air by the scores of Technuses. Hoses hooked directly to hydrants were pouring weak sprays into the nearest buildings.
Danny floated to the ground, letting go of T'Keisha."I'm back!" he called to Sam. "I've got it!" he said, waving the Thermos over his head.
"Awk, cut that out," the Thermos complained.
Danny hit the release and Technus 2.0 oozed from the Thermos. "I think I've got a kink in my back." the thin face ghost complained as it stood up.
"There's the enemy," Danny said, pointing at the scores of Technus 0.7 floating across the street from them. "What can you do about them?"
The ghost straightened his cloak and brushed back his hair. He stared at the cloned ghosts, noting their blocky half-formed form and their last century mullet and trench coats. "They're hideous!" he squawked.
"They're computer programs, so basically they're just bits of technology," Danny explained to the ghost villain. "Do you think you can handle them."
"I am Technus, Master of all things Technological! Of course I can handle them! But -- there are a lot of them..." he concluded somewhat uncertainly.
"Stop them and it's freedom in the Ghost Zone. Any funny business and its back in the Thermos." Danny warned.
"Yes, Yes, Yes!" Technus snapped. "Now leave me be. I can sense that something controls these clones but it's hard for me to isolate and master it."
The cloaked, blue-skinned ghost slowly rose into the air, facing the clones. They, likewise, turned to face him, clumping up into a half-circle around him. The half-disassembled cars and trucks behind them crashed to the ground as the clone ghost lost interest in them.
After a while Technus raised one arm high in the air. The clones followed suit. He pulled his arm back. So did they. Them he pumped his arm several times in the air, the clones following in perfect synchronism. Then he pumped the other arm.
"Is that 'thing' doing the Saturday Night Fever dance?" Altheria asked as she and Abigail joined Sam and Tucker.
"Is that a movie?" Tucker asked in all sincerity.
"Chick flick," Sam explained.
"Just shut them down!" Danny hollered from the ground up to the floating Technus 2.0.
"Yes -- of course. -- That was the bargain." Technus lazily answered. "So many minions -- and all under my control ---"
"Shut them down!" Danny hollered impatiently.
"Yes -- yes --"
The clones began flickering out in rows.
"No!" Technus shouted. "This is too great an opportunity. I am Technus, Master of all things Mechanical and Technological! It is my destiny to rule this world!" the clones began reappearing in rows as they had disappeared.
"Arise my clones, my minions. Together we are invincib--"
Technus felt a tapping on his shoulder.
"What?" he squawked, spinning around in mid-air.
Danny was floating beside him, a blaster in one hand and the Thermos in the other.
"We had a bargain," he said.
"No one tells Technus, master of technology what to do."
"Say 'Good Night, Gracie"
"Who's Gracie?" Technus wonder as the blaster flared. When the pain stopped he was once again inside the Thermos.
Danny watched as the clones Technus has reappeared evaporated when the ghost lost consciousness. The sky was suddenly clear of ghost. Danny dropped to the ground where Tucker had put aside his blaster and was sweeping the area with a Fenton Finder.
"No ghosts but you," he told Danny. "Good thing you were ready with that Thermos when Technus tried to take over the clones."
"I expected it. It is in his nature, you know. He always tried to take over the world. And always loses sight of what is going on around him. Um, let's get out of here before any cops try to stop us. Or the Guys in White show up. I've got to take the Specter Speeder back and will -- Danny Fenton will -- catch up with you at the hotel, OK?"
The others hurried away from the fire. T'Keisha lingered. "My God," she whispered. "I can't believe it's all gone. Couldn't you have stopped this, some how."
"I can do something about the fires now but once Technus 0.7 started cloning himself from those computers it was more than I could handle," Danny Phantom paused. "You know, you handled yourself really well in the Ghost Zone. I couldn't have gotten the real Technus without your help, and without him this would have just kept spreading. You really helped save the day."
"There's so much destruction." She looked at the fires, unable to look at Danny.
"I guess that's why superheros wear masks, too much collateral damage."
"Oh, yeah, that TV show."
"Futurama."
Danny was anxious to get T'Keisha out of the area. He could see policemen working their way through to debris towards them, but he didn't was to push the girl, either. "There are parts of Amity Park that look like this, too. All burned up," he said. "Too many fights with too many ghosts."
"Yes," T;Keisha sighed. "I should get back home. I'm sure my parents are worried about me."
"But they think you're at the comics convention in Chicago. They will expect you to be at the hotel, safe and removed from all of this."
"You want me to go back to the hotel? But what if they're hurt?"
"Do either of them work around here?"
"No."
"Then they're safe. We passed your house coming here so we know that it's alright. Go to the hotel -- then call them, say you just heard about it on the news."
She nodded in a rustle of beaded cornrows. "And you're going to put out the fires?"
"I'll do what I can to help."
She turned and ran after the others. Danny searched around the corner they'd been standing on to make sure there was no incriminating evidence left behind, then took to the air.
He smashed fire hydrants as he came to them and directed the water spraying out into the nearby burning buildings. Some of the water he gathered up in an ectoplasm formed bottle and carried deeper into the ring of fire, dousing some of the fires there, forming something of a lane for the firemen to advance into. Surprisingly a few people popped out of basements in some of the buildings and dashed for safety. Danny hoped there weren't anyone dead here.
After fifteen minutes Danny decided he had done all that he could. Some of the fires were out, many were greatly reduced in intensity. More fire trucks were arriving now, so it looked like everything was under control.
He flew back to the corner park, passing over his friends along the way, making sure that they were getting away cleanly. Back in the park he opened the Speeder and brought up the engines; sent it aloft and programmed it to return to FentonWorks. He set a timer to sound a few miles from the place and wearily leaned back in the pilot's chair. He was asleep before he had fully closed his eyes.