She opened her eyes slowly and as she regained consciousness, her body let her know the deep state of pain in which she was. She winced and brought her hand to her abdomen. The ringing in her ears and her blurry vision made her not fully aware of her surroundings. Bursts of memories filled her mind quickly… Tucker and her were on the scooter, an explosion in the distance, a bright flash, a sound that she could feel in her gut and finally a shock wave that had knocked her out.
She blinked many times to clear her vision, but everything was still dark. She tried to sit up and a sharp stinging pain in her right elbow caused her to bring her other hand to the affected area. She grunted at the pain the action caused her and she felt something warm in her hand. Carefully, she reached into her left pocket to get her cell phone out of it. She prayed to God that it would still work and when she pushed the button to unlock it, she was blinded by the brightness on the screen. The screen was cracked, but it was still functional.
She narrowed her eyes to turn on the flashlight and looked at her elbow. A large scratch extended from her elbow up to parts of her forearm, and she stared at it in dismay. "That will leave an ugly scar." She thought to herself as she looked at the blood and dirt that she had around her wound. She left the phone with the screen down to illuminate her surroundings and she managed to sit up, leaning against the wall and hugging her abdomen. She felt like vomiting. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, trying not to cry. When she couldn't hold back her tears, she covered her mouth to keep her sobs from being audible to…
Her eyes snapped open and she tried to take a deep breath to calm herself. Looking down, she noticed that in front of her there was a rag. More memories came to her mind: both of them running through the streets, the dark-haired one telling her that they wouldn't make it on time, he throwing the syringe inside that place and pushing her inside, and then, the shock wave throwing them against the wall. "That explains the blackout."
She scrambled over to the syringe and quickly unwrapped it. She sighed in relief when she noted that the plastic was intact and there was no fluid leaking inside from the needle. She sniffled once and wiped away her tears with her hand as she leaned against the wall to stand up. When she was upright, she felt a pain in her back, similar to the time fool Wesley had dropped her off the pyramid in the middle of her routine in the semifinal game of their last year at Casper. She sighed bitterly, thinking of the terrible bruise that had most likely already formed on her lower back.
She looked inside the place where she was, to realize that it was an underground parking lot, but there was no sign of the man. She didn't go in any more when she remembered that the boy hadn't been able to get in through the access, so, at a slow pace, she took her cell phone and went out to look for him. On the sidewalk she observed the destruction that the shock wave had caused, destroying all the glass in the buildings, the vehicles had been turned over until they became useless, the light poles had fallen and the city was in the dark.
With her broken voice she called softly to the boy as she advanced on the path her cell phone illuminated. Her throat was closing again and her eyes were glazed over. Usually, she thought of herself as someone strong… but the current situation far exceeded any personal parameters. What Danny and his friends were doing…she wasn't cut out for it. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued walking down the street. She found her scooter embedded in a vehicle on the street, and made a mental note to thank the boy for getting her off it when the glow flashed in the sky.
She stopped at an intersection when she saw Tucker's body lying in the street next to an abandoned taxi. She got closer as fast as she could and noticed the dent in the car door, probably from the impact. She crouched down and lightly shook the brunet's body as she spoke to him. She noticed that he was bleeding a little from the head, so she decided to be more careful when shaking him.
Her breathing became irregular and her heart began to beat very fast when the boy did not react. In a moment of utter panic, she decided to slap him to make him react, letting out a held breath when Tucker grunted in pain and annoyance. She smiled and wiped away her tears as she helped the boy to lie flat. She placed her phone on the taxi's tire to illuminate her surroundings while she inspected him for any injuries.
Tucker started to cough and put a hand to his head. When he felt something hot and slimy on his fingers, he grunted and wiped himself off as fast as he could. Paulina bent down and took him by his free hand to straighten him up. Tucker grumbled until he leaned against the cab door as he tried to catch his breath with the effort. He coughed again and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. When he finished, he held them up in front of him and felt that the crystals were shattered.
- Shit.
Paulina laughed and tossed her hair back. "Shit indeed." She thought as she looked at the boy in front of her. Tucker's eyes were closed and he had a pained expression on his face. She reached out her hand and took her phone.
- How long were we unconscious?
- I don't know. I also just woke up.
He sighed and began to feel around his body. When he reached the right pocket of his pants, he took out his cell phone. He pushed the buttons, but heard no sound nor saw any light, so he inferred that it was useless. Reluctant, he tossed it aside and continued to feel in the other pockets. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he began to hyperventilate and search his entire body, until Paulina understood what he was doing. She quickly handed him the syringe and held it in front of his face. Tucker narrowed his eyes and turned to see the blur in front of him that he deduced was Paulina.
- I can't see. What's that?
- The syringe. It's intact.
Tucker exhaled and put a hand to his chest in relief. He tried to stand up, but a tug on his arm forced him back down. Paulina observed the situation and opened the back door of the taxi. She took the boy's left hand and placed it over the place where the window used to be and she turned to take his right arm. At the same time, they both made the effort and managed to get him to his feet.
- We have to move. – The boy said trying to identify where they were.
- Where?
- It depends. Where are we?
Paulina looked around her. They were at an intersection, so the street name sign must have been there. She pointed the lamp up the street to inspect the ground.
- Follow me. - She told him.
- I can't see…
- Then follow the light.
- They usually advise the opposite.
Paulina rolled her eyes and then looked at him seriously. She raised an eyebrow, and then she remembered that the boy couldn't tell her apart. When his attempted prank didn't have the effect he wanted, Tucker fell silent and murmured "sorry," before following the light that led the way. She advanced a few meters and finally found what she was looking for. She crouched down and read the names on the plates.
- Washington and… the third.
She turned to see the boy who just nodded. He closed his eyes to remember the route they had taken before the explosion and to be able to locate himself.
- Ok… on this street, are there residential buildings and there are 3 with equal accesses?
Paulina stood up and pointed the lamp forward. She saw the stairs that gave access to the three buildings and nodded.
- Yeah.
- Okay, so we're close.
Tucker walked with Paulina to one side until they reached the end of the street. They turned to the right and the girl noticed that there were two residential buildings next to each other and then, only one gigantic one with an access almost at the end of the street. Tucker walked around without the need to follow the light she carried, as if he knew the path by heart. But what surprised her was that lights were visible through the windows inside that property. The curtains limited the amount of light that could get out, but it was still visible.
- How come they have electricity? – She whispered to herself, but Tucker heard her.
- Sam practically forced her parents to install solar panels. – He paused as he climbed the steps. - I doubt they'll complain now.
- Sam?
Paulina stood still and Tucker took the doorknob. He sighed when he heard that the girl was no longer following him.
- Look, I can't guarantee that they'll welcome us with open arms... but we need some first aid and a way to get to them, because we'll never get there on time walking.
He sighed again and gently tried to move the knob. When he realized that it wasn't locked, he smiled and opened the door fully. He heard movement inside, but Paulina stopped him when he was about to take a step forward.
- Wow! Hold up! Wait! – Paulina yelled at the people inside.
What Tucker hadn't been able to see had been the security staff who immediately turned their guns on them. Paulina pulled him back and raised her hands, but the boy just turned to her with his head down.
- What's going on? - He whispered.
- You almost got shot! - She hissed violently.
- Wait, what?! – He turned around and raised his hands. - Don't shoot!
Pamela screamed when she entered her living room and saw the entire security team with their guns drawn pointing at the door.
- Would you like to put those things away? God, you almost gave me a heart attack. – Pamela scolded them.
- Ma'am, we have a perimeter breach. How do you want us to proceed?
Pamela, with one hand on her heart, walked to the door. The first thing that caught her attention was seeing a girl in a pink blouse, tight aquamarine pants, low shoes of the same color and a beautiful facial symmetry. If it wasn't for the dirt that stained all over her outfit and skin, she would say that she looked attractive. She definitely liked her as a prospective friend for her daughter. She could even swear that she recognized her from somewhere else.
Jeremy ran into the room after hearing his wife's scream and observed the situation. But seconds later, he recognized one of the intruders.
- Tucker Foley. – He said acidly.
- Mr. Manson? – He answered him, trying to locate the origin of the voice.
- Get rid of them. – He told his security team.
- Oh, c'mon! – The boy complained.
- Right away, sir.
The head of security put his gun away and walked to the door, taking the boy by the arm.
- Wait, wait! We don't want to stay!
The agent stopped and turned to look at Jeremy, who crossed his arms as Pamela walked up to stand next to him, holding onto his arm.
- Then what do you want? - He frowned.
- She's hurt. – He pointed to the girl behind him. – And she needs some help.
The Mansons turned to see her and the girl raised her entire arm so they could see her wound on her elbow.
- The explosion grabbed us outside and, well… - The girl tried to explain.
- What were you doing outside? - Pamela asked.
- We needed to bring something to Danny. - Tucker explained. - It is a weapon that they need to…
The Mansons stopped hearing him at the mention of young man.
- Let the girl in, get rid of him.
The agent nodded at Jeremy's order and yanked the boy out harder.
- No, wait!
The agent took him out of the house and pulled Paulina's wrist to get her inside. Once inside, he closed the door and this time, he did put the lock. Tucker tried to open it and lacking success; he began pounding on the door.
- Open up, please! – Frustrated, he kicked the door. - I have to help my friends!
He stood in front of the door, breathing hard until a voice to his right caught his attention.
- Friends... in plural?
The unmistakable voice of Ida Manson spoke to the boy from her window. Thanks to the explosion, there was no glass separating her from the outside, so she only needed to open the curtain to observe the dark-haired man. Tucker couldn't see anything, but he knew they were talking to him.
- Is Sam there with Danny?
Tucker rubbed his forehead and just nodded. He didn't know, but considering that the last thing he saw Sam do was enter the ghost zone… it was highly probable.
- Come in through the window.
The boy looked up and missed the smile the older woman was giving him. Feeling around with his hand, he stepped to stand under the window and then made a major effort to lift all of his weight and propel himself up. Inside, he took a few seconds to recover.
- Hold on to my chair. And don't worry… I'll take care of my son.
- Have I ever told you that you are an angel? - He smiled at her.
Ida opened the door and began to drive back into the living room, Tucker trailing behind her. She caught a glimpse of Jeremy at the bottom of the stairs with one of the lawyers as he went through some documents. He turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye when he heard the noise of her chair's engine, but before he could scold her for leaving her room, he looked at the brunette behind her.
- Mother... are you kidding me? - He said somewhat irritated.
They all turned their gaze to the older lady, who stopped when Tucker was in full view. Pamela was cleaning Paulina's wound when she saw the young man again in her house. The Latina got nervous and the security agents stood up. Even other people who were coming down the stairs stopped.
- Jeremy, you will listen to the young man and you will do what he asks you to.
- And why would I do that? – He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Tucker a stern look.
- Because he is the only one in this house who is really trying to help my granddaughter.
Jeremy's facial expression changed dramatically at those words and Pamela jumped to her feet, spilling the bottle of alcohol she was using on the floor.
- Sam? Is my Sammykins in trouble?
Paulina opened her eyes when she heard that. Sammykins? Oh boy, that opened up too many opportunities to tease Sam. God! Had she known, she would have reached out to Sam's parents every time she saw them at the club while they were still at school…that would have been nuclear to take down the Goth!
- Where is my daughter? - Jeremy said seriously.
Tucker paused before speaking, he had to be very careful with his choice of words.
- After regrouping, Danny knocked us out so we wouldn't follow him while he went to fight the ghost, but the explosion woke us up.
- Wow, he couldn't even do that right… - Jeremy muttered, earning himself a blow to the shin courtesy of his mother.
- Sam took advantage of the fact that we were getting the weapon that I mentioned to run off to where they were fighting. We couldn't find her and then with the evacuation, they dragged us here...
- So, she is...?
- I don't know. - He sighed. - But I'm sure Danny wouldn't let something happen to her.
Pamela walked up behind Jeremy and they looked at Tucker, who leaned close to Ida's ear to ask what was going on.
- What do you want? - Pamela asked.
- First of all... does anyone have glasses with a prescription of 4?
Time seemed to move with amazing slowness as he kept his eyes closed and inhaled. Little by little he opened them, watching in slow motion as the three charged at him, one behind the other. Meanwhile, the rest of the people present mobilized to completely surround him at the time they opened fire on him. He exhaled slowly and when he released all the air he was holding, it was as if time returned to his normal speed.
He immediately dodged Vlad's punch by stepping to the side, knocked Danny out of the way by slapping him, and disposed of Dani by punching her in the jaw that sent her flying through the air. He set his gaze on Clockwork and flew straight at him, catching him and crashing through the wall of the building in front of him. However, when he was about to destroy him, the ghost disappeared into thin air. "A variant." He straightened up, but before turning around, he felt someone pull his cape back with enough force to pull him back outside.
He managed to turn around and shot Vlad in the chest to get rid of him, but seconds later Danny hit him square with a vehicle. The bodywork was smashed and Dan ran through a building, demolishing it in the process. Clockwork opened a portal in the middle of Dan's path, bringing him back to the middle of the battlefield where Danny threw the vehicle's bits on him and all the ghost hunters were shooting at him.
Dan formed a dome of ice around himself for protection and disappeared to the ground. They all kept shooting at him while the halfas monitored the surroundings in case he tried to attack any humans. They stopped firing when the dome was destroyed and some Guys in White formed around the Clockwork variants to protect them. They all activated the special vision in their glasses to see if Dan tried to attack them in his invisible state…and he did.
He came hurtling out of the ground and grabbed two operatives by their suit, pulling them through the air and becoming intangible as he charged through a building. He returned to his normal state when they were both halfway through the building, but unlike the previous occasion, neither ended up being split in half because Vlad followed closely behind and grabbed their ankles, keeping them intangible. He swung them back and let Valerie catch one and Dani the other.
Dan frowned, but didn't fight him, just flew off in another direction. Flying over the area, he fired beams at all the humans he saw in his path; however, Danny was following his path at ground level and moving all operatives out of the path of the beams. Just when he was about to attack Danny, some vines got wrapped around his waist and he was thrown to the ground with force. Angered, he tore them apart and stood up, being greeted by O using the Fenton ghost peeler and punched in the face.
He managed to land four straight punches before stepping back as Dan started his counter. Dani came flying in from the side and, hugging O, pulled him away as Dan was about to punch him through the chest. He went head on from the momentum of his attack and was met by two of Clockwork's variants, who hit him in the face and abdomen before disappearing and making way for Operative H who ran him over with the ship. He hit a button on the dash and was ejected from the vehicle just as Dan had already brought it to a stop, giving way to Valerie who fired two missiles at the ship's thrusters to blow it up.
Dan rolled to the ground and ended up on his hands and knees to get up off the ground. Officially, he was furious. The little smoke screen that kept him hidden dissipated as Danny blew cold air in his direction. He looked up to see Danny raising a hand in the air, signaling for everyone to cease fire. They all compacted back behind the ghosts without stopping to aim at him. He went for a surprise attack, extending his left hand to fire a bolt of lightning that split the group in two, and immediately scaling himself up to crush the group on the right with his hand.
However, Sam raised both hands and a gigantic hand made of plants came out of the ground around the group preventing them from being crushed. The group on the left started shooting at him as Sam cleared spaces for those below the hand to evacuate the area. With everyone safe, she dove into the dirt as her hand filtered through Dan's fingers to grasp his wrist and apply pressure. He returned to his normal size to escape the vegetal grip and floated into a fetal position for a few seconds, then released a white flame in all directions.
The operatives activated their shields by pressing their belt buckles, Vlad created an energy sphere to protect the Masters' Blasters, Valerie created her own shield, Danny covered his parents and O with another sphere, and Dani created a wall of energy. to protect Jazz and the speeder. As soon as the attack ceased, he covered his face with one hand to stop the ectoplasm energy beam that Clockwork was shooting at him. The other variant merged with the original and the force of the attack increased, managing to push him back half a meter.
Snarling, Dan spun to get out of the direction of the attack and was immediately greeted by another one, courtesy of Danielle. Danny, Vlad, and Clockwork joined her and forced him to create a wall of ectoplasm as a shield. He clenched his left fist making the ring glow when he noticed some operatives approaching him from the sides and smiled. Danny noticed the movement of the operatives too late.
- No! Come back!
Dan hit the ground with the ring and released all the energy he was containing, causing a shock wave that threw everyone several meters backwards, himself included. By the time Danny managed to get up, it was too late: Dan had flown to the left of him and killed 4 operatives. He flew as fast as he could to get in front of the fifth and parry Dan's punch. He clung on with all his might and Dan smiled at him before using his superior strength to shake him off and kill the operative with his laser vision. The rest of the people were just regrouping, but with the formation broken, it all went smoothly for Dan.
As Danny closed in on him, he grabbed Danny's leg and began slamming him to the ground, lifting him up then dropping him and repeating the process. Danny tailed his legs to free himself from the hold, but Dan immediately kicked him in the abdomen and sent him crashing into a building, which eventually collapsed.
When he visualized Clockwork, he charged at him at full speed. But instead of crashing into the blue ghost, he ran into Dani using all of his strength to maintain an energy shield that protected them both. Clockwork took the girl's ankle and disappeared with her as Dan broke through her defense.
From behind, Vlad raced past him and grabbed his single horn, forcing it to spin around to take a blow from Danny, who returned holding a metal rod with rubble on the end. Dan tried to go intangible to avoid the blow, but Vlad turned him tangible with an electrical shock, and the debris smashed into his face. Vlad released him and stepped away from him as Danny started to swing the rod at him, until Dan raised his forearm and the rod broke on contact. He was going to use the ring to attack him, but Dani came up from the ground and caught his open hand to stop him from making a fist. He fired a freeze beam at the girl that left her inside a block of ice that began to slide backwards, while Danny tried to stab him with the rusty hunk of metal in his hand.
He backed away little by little as he dodged Danny's thrusts, until he used his mace and threw it at him. Danny easily dodged it, but as the mace was about to hit Dani's sculpture, Vlad appeared and grabbed the handle of the mace and twisted it, sending it forward. Danny blocked his way to Danielle while Vlad defrosted her and some metallic footsteps caught their attention. He turned and saw O take the mace in the air and hit him on the back. Half of his body went forward and Danny took advantage of it to slash at him, but Dan caught the rod in his hand and with force, overheated it to the point of starting to melt it.
O hit his left leg and moved away from him. He heard a shot and turned to see an operative on the speeder firing the Fenton harpoon at... O? O slammed the spear point with the mace at Vlad, who took it in his hand and hurled it hard at Danny. Danny flew back and quickly tied a knot in the Fenton fishing line that carried the harpoon. When Dan tried to run from his trap, Sam caught him in his place by entangling his limbs long enough for Jazz to reverse the speeder and the thread tightened around his body.
- Vlad! N…!
Engulfed in flames, Dan broke free before Vlad could use the detonator and took him up into the sky.
- We could've done things the easy way! – He yelled at everyone. – But… you chose badly.
His eyes and both hands emitted white smoke before shooting fire in all directions, but not towards the people below him, but towards the city. Buildings in the distance began to burn, others had partial collapses due to the trajectory of the fire shot by Dan's eyes, it even caused 3 other explosions in the distance.
Without thinking, Danny went to those places to put out the fires, while Clockwork flew to Dan's left and with his staff, stopped the fire and sent it back to Dan. Managing to distract them, he went through the fire and went all out against Clockwork. The Time Master fired at him as he approached, but Dan split in two, going over and under the attack before reaching his target. The one that flew low punched him in the jaw and the one that flew high grabbed him from his suit and brought him down hard to the ground. Dani tried to help him, but Dan reached out and the mace (still under O's grip) came at him and hit the girl before she got close enough. Vlad came from the other side, splitting his body in half as Dan swatted him high in the abdomen.
He rejoined and began to hit him with the anti-ghost gloves making him back slightly. He dodged a punch and managed to punch Vlad in the face, knocking him aside. Clockwork took advantage and hit him on the head with his staff and walked away from him, while Valerie detonated grenades between them to hide Clockwork. With the ring, he shot a bolt of lightning at her and she took cover behind a nearby building, causing the destruction of the entire wall. Vlad yanked on his right hand as he shoved into his shoulder, giving O an opening to shoot him three times in the chest.
He flung Vlad forward and kicked O out of the chest, then from behind he was tackled by Jack and shoved until a giant fist of plants smashed him to the ground. Sam raised her hand and tightened it around Dan as they all opened fire on him.
- Enough!
He used his ghostly wail in all directions, stunning all of his opponents and sending them flying backwards. A few operatives ended up inside buildings, dying when it collapsed on them. He took a few seconds to catch his breath and looked directly at Clockwork lying on the ground. He used the ghostly wail again, but only in the surroundings of the blue ghost, paying special attention to Vlad and Dani.
- Stay down.
He flew towards a Clockwork that was standing up. He tried to defend himself, but when it came to physical dominance, he was no match for Dan. He caught his fist halfway and pulled him toward him to hit his abdomen, then his face, his abdomen again, kicking him in the back, ending up grabbing him by the neck and bringing him to the ground. Clockwork clung with all his strength to the staff as he tried to hit him with his free hand, but Dan quickly pinned him down: his left foot crushed his right wrist, he buried his right knee in his chest, punched him twice hard in the face and then he placed his left hand across the ghost's face, pressing down hard to immobilize it. He smiled sadistically as he took the staff in his hand, but Clockwork refused to let go.
Dan moved his hand to Clockwork's wrist and began to squeeze it to make him open his hand. He started to press harder, but before he could open his hand, a beam of blue light illuminated Clockwork's body and seconds later, he disappeared. Suddenly Dan fell to the ground still in the same position he was in seconds before and looked back with an intense red glow in his eyes.
Jazz took a step back as she tried to close the thermos she captured Clockwork in. Being on the speeder, she hadn't resented the effects of the ghostly wail in the same way as the rest of them, so she ran outside as soon as she saw what was happening. Now, with trembling hands, she hung the thermos on her waist and pointed the gun she had in her hands at Dan. She swallowed and kept backing away, watching as Dan stood up without taking his eyes off her.
- That's… the last time you meddle.
Her blue eyes widened as she saw him narrow the space between them in a second. The next thing was confusing to her, because Dan was about to crush her head with both hands when she noticed him suddenly pulling away from her. It was when her hair waved in front of her that he realized it was she who was pulling away from him. She looked down and noticed that Danny was carrying her flying over her shoulder, but he was gone before she could ask him what was going on. She started screaming as she lost altitude but soon landed on the roof of a building. She quickly scrambled to her feet and ran to the end of the ledge to see if she could identify anything.
Back on the battlefield, Danny had seen Dan's intentions and sent a duplicate to save her while he distracted him. He grabbed the mace from the ground and tried to hit him on the back of the neck, but ducked in time. Danny turned and noticed that Dan was following the trajectory of his duplicate with his eyes. He tried to hit him in the face again, but he blocked it with his forearm and with his free hand he struck him in the pit of the stomach. He headbutted him and then another punch that sent him to the ground. As best he could, Danny raised a wall of ice that Dan ran into when he was going to go for Jazz and got back to his feet.
- Stay away from her. - He told him while trying to catch his breath.
Dan turned and descended a few feet from him. Still moving, he materialized the sword and began to attack him. With somewhat clumsy reactions, he managed to block the blows with the mace, although with each blow he had to take a step back. At one point, Dan landed an upward swing that Danny managed to block, but the force of the attack caused him to end up with his arms in the air, exposing his body. Dan used his laser vision and shot him in the chest, sending him crashing into the wall of ice. He quickly took his sword as a spear and hurled it at the boy, who managed to dodge it in time. What he couldn't dodge were the subsequent blows that Dan gave him: one to his face, another to his abdomen and finished off with another on the cheek, which made him hit his head against the ice.
Without hesitation, Dan grabbed Danny's head and quickly tried to cut Danny's neck with the edge of his sword that was still embedded in the thick layer of ice. A detonation behind the ice shattered the wall, causing the sword to fall to the ground before Dan could finish what he had started. Still holding Danny's head, he looked straight ahead and watched the Masters' Blasters. The blond man was holding a bazooka that was still releasing smoke after being fired.
With force, Dan threw Danny to the ground and then kicked him forward, dislodging Vid in the process. Trash and Download quickly charged in with what appeared to be swords made from ectoplasm. Angered, he walked up to face them both and blocked their attacks with what was left of his armor on his right arm, destroying the blades of the weapons. He grabbed the skinniest by the suit and threw him hard behind him in the direction of Maddie, who was coming at him. As soon as he laid eyes on Trash, he lashed out at his abdomen with all his fury. His blow was stopped not by the wall behind him as he imagined it would be, but by two sets of hands coming from behind the blond.
Horrified and panicking, Trash watched as Dani's and Vlad's hands reached out from his stomach, before Vlad decided to go all the way through to land a punch on Dan. Dani immediately hugged him and flew him out of there. Dan took a few more blows from Vlad before capturing his fist with his left hand and twisting his hand. He nearly knocked him out with a punch to his cheek and then grabbed him by the neck to go flying, going through many buildings in the process. He was already fed up with them.
- Are you sure you don't prefer to go to a hospital first? Your head…
- I'm fine. - Tucker interrupted. - I'll be fine. This is more urgent.
Hunter gave Tucker a skeptical look before sighing and unlocking Sam's vehicle. They opened the doors at the same time and entered the vehicle. Tucker couldn't help but whistle when he saw the interior of that car. Sam could say what she wanted about her parents, but they had good taste. Sam's car, and by extension the rest of the Mansons' cars, were intact thanks to their private parking lot being underground.
- I think I just fell in love… - He whispered as he caressed the interior of the car.
Hunter just smiled at him and turned to see him. Tucker looked at him curiously and the older man only widened his smile when he started the engine. Hunter saw his reaction when the entire dashboard of the car lit up without making any noise or movement. Tucker just looked at his surroundings in amazement and sighed. He regretted not being the one to drive, but he was in no condition to drive, and besides, he had other things to do.
- How fast…?
- From 0 to 100... in 2.1 seconds.
Tucker closed his eyes and leaned back against the seat. He was in heaven. He had died and was in heaven. One with high-tech, fast and super comfortable cars. Hunter glanced at him one last time as he pulled out of the garage and turned on the fares so he could see the road ahead. Slowly, he advanced through the streets, avoiding colliding with parked cars and the rest of the rubble and structures that had been knocked down by the explosion.
- The girl… shouldn't she have come with you?
Tucker opened his eyes and looked at the man.
- Paulina? No. – He shook his head. – She already did more than enough… Besides I don't think she's made for this.
- And you are? - Hunter looked at him. You, Samantha...
- No... but we're used to it.
Hunter snorted as he turned left onto a street.
- But are you sure it was the best thing to leave her at the Manson house? I mean, if she's your friend...
- Paulina… - He paused to choose his words. – She technically isn't our friend. She's more like a…temporary ally. She showed us hospitality by sheltering us when they were looking for us all over the world… and we returned her favor by keeping her safe and leaving her in a safe area.
- That explains a lot.
- Like what? - He said turning to look at him.
- Well, when they took you out of the house…she didn't even try to advocate for you.
Tucker held back his urge to laugh and just shook his head.
- Survival instinct, I guess.
He didn't really blame her for not doing something. They weren't friends and barely knew each other. He knew the girl wasn't such a bad person, just the notion of helping others before taking care of her own needs was foreign to her. Paulina was… a work in progress. They continued through the streets in silence, Hunter concentrating on the road ahead of him and Tucker devising a plan to deliver the lethal dose of ectoranium to Dan.
- So... Where do you have to go?
A series of explosions echoed through the city and great balls of fire lit up the sky, raising columns of smoke that were visible to both of them. Hunter stopped to watch what was happening miles away from them.
- Over there. - Tucker pointed out with a smile. – And if it's not too much trouble, would you lend me your cell phone?
Danny went through another building and fell to the ground on his back. When he tried to get up, Dan landed on top of him and pinned him to the ground with his right hand on his neck. With his left, he tried to stab him with his sword, but Vlad appeared next to Danny to stop the hand that held the sword. Seeing his eyes flash, Danny put his hand on his chin and pushed him up, while Vlad dropped to the ground and pushed Dan with his leg up by the neck. As Dan fired the beams, Danielle landed in front of him and formed a shield to prevent him from destroying even more of the city's buildings.
Little by little, Dan's attack force pushed her back, but she only had to hold on long enough for reinforcements to arrive to them. By concentrating only on the 3 of them, Dan was getting them more and more into the center of the city, taking them away from the others. Dani tried to step forward, but she was dragged another meter.
- Fucking… die… already!
He overcharged the energy beam and generated a small explosion by destroying Danielle's shield. The girl rolled to the ground several feet backward, but she didn't allow herself to be pulled as Dan buried her knee into Danny's chest and released his other hand. With both hands she began to lower the sword towards the boy. Vlad's strength was insufficient to stop him, but luckily Dani flew towards them, knelt next to her cousin and used all of her strength to stop the sword inches from Dani's chest. The three of them grunted as they used all of their strength to hold it back, while Dan gained inches with each exhalation he gave, widening his smile. At one point, the ring began to glow and the three of them widened their eyes, but before Dan could use the additional force he was generating, red smoke billowed from his nostrils.
"Clockwork". He thought with a smile. There was no other ghost stupid enough to interrupt him at that moment. Dan dropped his sword and rose to his feet to kick Danny into an abandoned car a street away. With several headbutts, he broke Vlad's hold on his hand and with a kick to his chest, sent him into a building through a window. Alone, he took Danielle by her neck and pulled her close to him.
- You know? I had plans for you... but you're making it so hard for me to find reasons to keep you alive!
With force, he flung her towards Danny who was standing up at the time. The sword floated back into his hand and he turned, determined to finish off Clockwork.
The expression on his face changed drastically when he found out how wrong he was.