Tea. The Master of All Time had invited him over for tea.
It sounded absurd and very intimidating when he thought about it and yet here he was, at the lair of the legendary ghost. When Clockwork had stopped their fight he had expected a death sentence or something even worse but he had just reversed time to before he and Danny crossed paths on this particular day and told Vlad to meet him in his lair, which happened to be a giant clocktower. This whole afternoon was strange, the strangest thing of all though? Vlad didn't feel intimidated in the slightest. It wasn't his ego, even he knew when he was outmatched. It just turned out that Clockwork himself was so... amiable? Or maybe all the ghost zone lore he studied had put a very different picture of who the ghost was in his mind. Whatever the case was, Vlad found himself completely at ease in the clocktower sitting across from him.
Currently Clockwork was telling him about the history of football. Vlad was happy to listen, how often could you hear a first hand account of a thing like that? Clockwork was equally delighted that someone wanted to listen. Not often did he have visitors, and those who did stop by were never interested in his stories.
They were both interrupted when an observant invited himself in, talking about a distant catastrophe that needed fixing. Clockwork looked mildly irritated and Vlad shrunk back in his seat. He was hoping that the myth about the two working together was false but obviously that was not the case. Well it was a nice visit while it lasted, maybe Clockwork wouldn't hand him over to the observants, but that was wishful thinking really.
The observant looked at the pair having afternoon tea and glared, as much as a being with an eye for a face could, at Vlad.
"What is he doing here?" The accusatory tone served to let him know how unwelcome he was as far as the floating eyeball was concerned.
Clockwork put down his teacup with a sigh. "Well he was listening about the origins of the NFL before you so rudely interrupted us."
"Do you know what trouble he has caused, what he released onto the human world? It took months to rebuild our sentencing room after he destroyed it!"
"Yes, I am well aware of his past actions against the high council. I am also trying to enjoy my afternoon with Vladimir here. As such I trust that you see him as my guest and treat him with respect."
Vlad was floored, he knew about what he had done to the Observants and he still invited him over? The observant however didn't seem surprised in the least, just enraged. He floated back out of the room, muttering something about problematic ghosts to himself.
"Well, now that he is gone, where was I?" He asked Vlad who was still fairly dumbstruck.
"You knew about me breaking Vortex out?" Vlad questioned. "And you still wanted me to come here and have tea with you?"
Clockwork looked at him with an amused expression. "Of course I did, I know everything that has come to pass and everything that could come to be. I trust you would know at least that much about me. Besides, anyone who can surpass me in annoying the Observants is always welcome in my home."
Vlad had known, it was just hard to grasp that someone knew the full extent of his wrongdoings and still wanted him around. This was the first time anyone who knew everything willingly spent time with him.
Clockwork took another sip of tea and continued where he had left off. Here he was, having tea with the Master of all Time and it was anything but normal.