Chapter 9

Twenty-thousand codes. Strands upon strands of twelve-numbered digits and binary encryptions.

"How much longer will it take?" Jazz asked, her eyes glued to the laptop screen.

The newly released Tucker glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, before returning to his work. "I've made it past their main firewalls blocking access to the Containment Labs, and I'm shutting down a Spectral Energy Deactivator, which is tied to bunch of even more encrypted functions. But I think it's the key to freeing Danny."

They were in Jazz's apartment. Having been finally released by the petition, the trio had rushed straight back to the only safe haven they had. Just a few minutes more, and the Containment Chamber's inner circuitry would give way. The metal encryptions would unlock.

Danny would be free.

In the meantime, Sam and Jazz watched as Tucker worked feverishly. Streams of code slipped by in a language only Tucker could decipher.

And then…

A cry of triumph.

"Ha! Let's see them hold back Danny now!"

The containment chamber gave way to Tucker's various commands. The Spectral Energy Deactivator's remote access controls blinked with the words Shut down in progress.

And with that, a signature smile rose on Tucker's face, an expression that hadn't appeared for over two years.

Sam's rough hands clenched to rein in her tears. "Tell me this will work."

The man bit his lip. "Man, that's everything that could possibly be holding him down. If he's halfway with it, he could go intangible now and fly out of there."

Jazz broke down crying and wrapped her arms around Tucker, who in return held her just as tightly. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," Tucker said. "We don't know for sure yet if he can get out."

"But now he's got a fighting chance," Jazz said. "And he's good at improvising."

Jazz had still left the TV on, and an urgent news update was flashing on the screen. It wasn't until Ghostey pawed at Jazz's foot that she noticed. The dog barked loudly, refusing to stop.

"What's going on?" Jazz's confused, startled voice rose above the barking. "What are you—? Hey, quit that!"

The white dog bit at her pant leg, jerking it. Follow me! she seemed to say. Her little paws dug into the carpet, trying to move Jazz from her spot.

Finally, Jazz seemed to get the idea. "Alright, alright! What do you want?" Torn between confusion, excitement, and frustration, she just stared down at Ghostey. For all of the noise, Jazz almost expected her brother to traipse through the front door.

But at her master's consent, Ghostey made a beeline straight to the TV, and began barking again. She stuck her wet nose on the screen, leaving a little imprint on the TV.

"Ghostey," Jazz asked with a huff, "why are you making such a fuss…over…" And then her voice trailed off.

Her eyes widened as they locked onto the screen.

Behind her, Sam's jaw dropped. The laptop slipped out of Tucker's hands and clattered to the floor.

"—Firefighters ordering an immediate evacuation of the premises. The search for Valerie Gray, Amity Park's own Red Huntress, has been terminated as of fifteen minutes ago. Scientists on the scene are denying even the possible survival of Danny Phantom, folks. The CGIA has gotten-"

"…I'm going," Jazz whispered over the TV. Her voice, despite its quietness, was clear, and it rang with fatal determination. "If he's still drained from all that suppressor tech, he'll need my help to get home."

Sam instantly jumped up from her seat on the couch, with Tucker just a millisecond behind her.

"I'm going with you," Sam said, eyes haunted.

Tucker nodded. "Count me in too."

...

Meanwhile, Valerie remained by the generator, staring at the bloodied panels. "I…I can't…" Her voice was hoarse and so soft that Danny barely heard it. "I can't disable it…"

Phantom leaned his forehead against the glass, beads of sweat falling from his temples. The line of hope in his shoulders broke as his hand slipped from the ring he carried with him.

His eyes, such a ghostly green, carried a deep and human defeat.

But just as they both gave up, the generator began sparking of its own volition, the circuitry within shutting down. A spark backlashed up the wires, and Phantom jolted in surprise, looking down at his arms. Judging by the expression on his face, it dampened his pain, and he shakily ran a hand across his face in surprise, wiping away the blood that had seeped from his nose and mouth.

Awe.

Valerie was surrounded by black smoke now, coughing as every breath grew punishing. She stumbled backwards when a strange whine decompressed from the cables of the generator.

Phantom flexed his right hand, a brightness reappearing across his form. He stood on his own power, and breathed, "Shutting down." An unstable smile stretched on his face, made disturbing by the tears streaked down his cheeks. "Valerie, it's—shutting down!"

The wires connected to him blitzed with energy returning back to him from the generator, and the cell around him began to flicker down as his own glow enhanced, spinning his shock white hair with invisible wind. His body drank it up like water. The wires connected to his torso dropped, and they clanged harshly onto the floor at his feet.

The generator whirled to a quiet whine and then breathed its last. Its metal plates sighed, sagging into the smoke.

But by then, Valerie had lost sight of Phantom. The smoke had overwhelmed her, and she could no longer see safety from danger. Flames from the wall licked at her suit, and everything hurt. Her knees weakened as she struggled a step forward, only to stumble.

She hit the tiles in a swoon, her eyes dilating as her brain and lungs screamed for air.

Suffocating. She was beginning to suffocate.

"—alerie?" came the strained call of Phantom. "Valerie!"

His voice warbled in her ears as she gasped for air, only to inhale more smoke. It hit her she was dying. And for all the pain in her body, she just wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep.

"No, no," Phantom called to her, his voice sharpening. "Valerie!"

She struggled to drag herself forward in a final attempt at self-preservation, and as she raised her head, she caught sight of Phantom through her blurry vision. The ghost had crouched in the silent cell, placing gloved hands against the cell, closing his eyes. Pools of energy flowed from his palms.

The entire cell glowed a bright green, with Phantom just a shadow within. And then the glass disintegrated, dropping in shattered sheets in a circle around him.

The next thing Valerie knew, she felt cold.

Cold arms wrapped around her protectively, lifting her into the air.

She rasped against Phantom's chest, instinctively grabbing onto him with the last of her strength. And she held on for dear life as the ground dizzily spun away from them both, and as his cooling power stretched over her, turning them both intangible.

His breath was a rough rasp against the curls of her hair. "Hold on," he said. His arms shook with the effort of exerting energy, but his hands had locked around her tightly.

Half out of her mind and dazed by the smoke, Valerie dared to lean into him, rasping through ragged breath after breath. On the intangible plane, the smoke slipped through them, as did the fire. "C-coulda left me," she wheezed out.

Phantom pulled her closer, and she did not fight how good it felt in that moment, to just be held. To let someone else carry her for once. "You didn't leave me," he said, voice halted. "And you know I'm good for my word."

Valerie closed her weary eyes, the smoke inhalation having done its number on her.

"Don't fall asleep," he snapped at her in what sounded like worry. "You're not allowed to die on me."

But she did not have the energy to snap back. In that moment, she did not even care that she was flying as ghosts did, cradled in the arms of the infamous Danny Phantom. His body was corded with lithe muscle, and his arms shook, even as he seemed to cradle her.

It distantly struck her that this was the first time that Phantom had felt nonviolent human contact in over two years—a heartbeat, another person.

His gloved hand supported her neck as he flew them from the Containment Lab, leaving behind his cage and the labs and the generators he had powered.

Valerie blearily watched the flames blur by in a mild, surreal curiosity, and she weakly coughed up ash against Phantom's shoulder, smoke the taste on her tongue. Her good hand tightened into the somewhat loose material of his jumpsuit.

His voice was a vibration against the top of her head. "Hold on," he pleaded, and instead of flying up to the sky, he dove to the side, storming through the walls of the CGIA into the earth itself, flying under the radar of the agents standing above.