Just a little something that's been banging around in my head. Totally making this up as I go so we'll see where this ends up!
"Let me..FUCKING…"
Clockwork sighed for the umpteenth time that day. Usually he was able to ignore Dan Phantom's constant ranting, but his patience was unusually thin today due to the fact that the Observants had been on his case more than normal. Floating up to the Fenton thermos he lifted it to his ear to hear better.
"What was that Phantom?" he drawled, "I didn't hear you the first thirty million times."
"LET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING TIN CAN YOU DECREPIT PIECE OF SHIT!" Dan bellowed. His prison vibrated as his ghostly wail tried to break through.
Clockwork gasped feigning offense, "My my, such vulgar language from such an upstanding young man," he muttered, sarcasm dripping from his words. "I think it's time you got an attitude adjustment."
Suddenly, he started shaking the thermos as if he was making a martini, hell he deserved one after having to listen to Phantom's incessant complaining for the past decade. Once he decided that Dan had enough, he paused and listened. Only when there was complete silence did he sit the metal container down to walk back to the time portal to watch the future. It wasn't long at all until he could hear the Observants scuffling down the hallway.
"CLOCKWORK!" They shrieked in unison as they entered his office.
"Not again," the temporal spirit growled before turning to face the intruders. "Good day gentlemen, to what do I owe this lovely surprise visit? Again."
"Something terrible has happened! The reaper king…" Observant one started.
"Has been defeated!" Observant two finished.
"Huh", Clockwork mused still watching the portal of the future. "And what do you want me to do about it?"
"That's all you're going to say?!" Observant one.
"You're the master of time! It's your job to do something!" Observant two panicked.
"And your job is to observe. So focus on your job and let me focus on mine." Clockwork sneered, And with a wave of his wand he banished the two cyclops out of his office. He stood there for a moment, watching the ever changing images of the future before going to sit down at his desk. With a wave of his staff another gear framed monitor appeared, screen bright and ready to do his bidding.
"Show her to me" he whispered, and as the screen fizzled and whirred he watched patiently as the scene came into focus. "It's time for you to come home little girl."
Dan laid on the cold metal ground seething. "Damn it. That dusty old fucker is gonna have hell to pay once I get out of here." he growled. Filling up his lungs to the brim with air, Dan prepared to unleash another round of his ghostly wail, that is until the screams of the Observants made him stop short. He let out a huff and pressed his ear against the wall, desperate to hear any snippet of information he could grab on to. Holding his breath trying to be as quiet as possible, there was only three words he could hear clearly.
Reaper King defeated.
Dan's stomach dropped. There were only two ghosts in all of the ghost zone that he could never beat, and that was Clockwork and The Reaper King. With him gone then the entire world and ghost zone would be thrown into complete and utter chaos unless his successor stepped forward to take the throne. If hewasn't strong enough to beat him, then who in the hell did.
Lost in his own thoughts, Dan didn't even notice how his room began to shake, that is until he was swallowed in a blinding light. Next thing he knew his cold metal floor was replaced with a cool tile, his surroundings went from absolutely nothing to clocks and cogs. Clockwork gazed down at him expectantly.
"Woah, you should really warn a guy before you let them out of that thing," Dan breathed rubbing his chest, the realization that he was free then hit him like a dump truck. Reading his mind, Clockwork reached for the timer on his staff.
"Time out," he echoed, freezing everything just as Dan was jumping to fly off. Everything was still except for Clockwork himself and Dan's eyes which were throwing daggers. "You really think I'd let you out of your cage without putting you on a leash?" With a wave of his staff two golden bands of light appeared on each of Dan's wrists and one around his neck. "Time in."
With time back in motion, Dan crashed unceremoniously back to the floor. "Wha- what the hell is this?!" he growled. Once he stood he reached to try and take the bands off, only to have an electric shock render him useless.
"Restraints to keep you and your powers in line," Clockwork explained, turning to walk back to his desk ignoring Dan's muttered curses. "I have a job for you."
"Since when did I become your fucking errand boy." Dan huffed getting to his feet.
Clockwork sat down in his desk chair and sighed. "Ok, not necessarily a job, more of an opportunity to prove yourself."
Dan cocked an eyebrow. "Prove myself for what?"
"Your freedom."
This got Dan's attention. "I'm listening."
Clockwork closed his eyes and brought his fingers together in front of him. He seemed to be choosing his words very carefully before launching into his explanation. "You know, I got to thinking the other day about you and your future, and I think it's time you've gotten a second chance."
"A second chance at what? In case you've forgotten Clocky I don't exactly have a purpose in this timeline anymore." Dan sneered.
Clockwork held a finger up and corrected him. "Ah, see that's where you're wrong. Every being in the universe has a purpose otherwise they wouldn't exist, the hard part is finding what exactly that purpose is."
Dan threw his hands up in the air impatiently. "Will you just get to the fucking point?!"
Clockwork sighed then leveled him a warning glare. Dan could feel the bands vibrate as a reminder to watch his temper. "Forever is a long time Dan. Too long to be spent cooped up in a thermos. Everyone needs to learn from their mistakes, and in order to do that you need that chance."
"And what makes you think I want a chance? How do you know that I just won't go ape shit and destroy the world again." Dan asked pretending to be uninterested.
Clockwork stood and got to eye level with Dan. "Because I believe that somewhere deep down inside you, there is a sliver of humanity left that wants to be trusted again."
Dan stood there completely silent and dumbfounded, then threw his head back and cackled. "You're out of your fucking mind Clocky."
Clockwork crossed his arms and grinned. "Well you have to have a few screws loose to be able to do this job, but I didn't hear a denial."
The phantom growled trying to hide the fact he was flustered. "Whatthehellever. So I'm getting a chance to get out of my hell hole. Awesome. So what do I have to do?"
"Ah before we get to that let's go over the conditions."
"Of course the conditions. There's always fucking conditions." Dan growled.
Ignoring him, Clockwork continued. "As I've mentioned before, those bands on your wrists and neck are to keep you in line. They are under my control, if your temper gets out of hand, well you saw what they could do."
"No shit sherlock." Dan deadpanned. "Anything else?"
"You need to take this seriously Dan. Think of it as a test, you have to meet ALL of the requirements to pass and gain your freedom, you can't just half ass it and expect me to let you go. There has to be a true change within yourself." Clockwork explained, hoping to break through to him. "If you attempt to break your bonds or any of the rules then I won't hesitate to end your existence, on every timeline, permanently."
Dan gulped. Never has Clockwork threatened to go that far, so he knew he was meaning business. "I understand already. Now what the hell do I have to do for this test."
Clockwork motioned to the monitor that was hovering over his desk. "As I'm sure you've already heard from my employers, the reaper king has been defeated."
"And you want me to find his successor and bring him here." Dan quipped gazing into the screen himself.
"Actually I've already found her." Clockwork corrected, "I've been keeping my eye on her for awhile so the easy part's done."
"Her? Who is she?" Dan asked truly intrigued. Any signs of snarky sarcasm was long gone.
With a wave of his hand, Clockwork brought up her image in the monitor. They both watched as the screen focus on a young woman with long coal black hair and teal eyes. "Her name is Rebecca Stone, but she goes by Becca."
"The human world?! Why in the hell is she there?"
"Your guess is a good as mine Phantom. This is where it gets a bit complicated. Becca is a halfa like you once were, instead of being half ghost she's half reaper." Dan's eyes turned cold. This conversation was getting dangerously close to being about his past, something he refused to talk about. "So she's half human and half reaper, what's complicated about that?" Dan asked.
Clockwork turned towards the door, "Follow me. I have something to show you." They walked out of the office and towards his lab down the hall. Dan couldn't do anything but look around, he had lived here for over a decade and had no idea what the place even looked like. Once they walked into the lab, Clockwork locked the door behind him and made his way to a heavily secured metal cylinder against the wall.
"When Becca was little, her parents had her human half and reaper half separated. They brought her reaper half to me for safe keeping." Clockwork explained.
Dan couldn't help but think of when he had separated from his human half. The pain and confusion was too much for him to bear and to this day still made him shudder. He couldn't think of why a parent would put their six year old through something so horrendous. "Why in the hell would they do that? Shit hurts." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Back then things were a bit chaotic between the reapers. Their job is to judge if a soul goes to heaven or hell, but instead of reaping souls they were too busy fighting each other for power leaving the ghost zone as well as the human world rife with lost spirits." Clockwork explained as he started typing away at the keypad next to the cylinder. Dan could hear metal gears beginning to grind as a series of locks became undone. "Being the reaper king's daughter would've put a target on her back. So they decided to separate her halves, erase her memory temporarily, and when the time was right she would merge back with her reaper half and take her fathers place."
"Still not seeing where it's complicated." Dan huffed impatiently. "Just drag her ass back here and stick her back together."
"That's where the complication comes in." Clockwork pressed enter on the keypad. The metal plates that were covering the center of the cylinder slid open, showing a fluid filled chamber inside. Suspended within the fluid was Becca's reaper half, sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. "Her human half isn't strong enough yet to house her reaper half. Your job will be to train her, get her strong enough physically and mentally to be able to merge with her other half."
Dan walked up and put a hand on the glass. "And what makes you think I'm qualified for this?" he growled. "Surely this is a job better suited for that stupid ass cheese head, or even better how about you get ol' Danny boy to do it?"
"Because they've been halfa's since day one. You're the only being in the known universe that knows the struggles of being a halfa as well as a full ghost." Clockwork explained, "She'll be going from half human to full reaper, the transition will be tough as you know and the only person that can teach her not to give in to her evil half is you."
"HAHAHAHA" Dan barked, "Now I know I'm not the one for this. If you don't seem to remember Clocky, I not only gave in to my evil side, I cannonballed in the deep end."
Clockwork put a finger to his chin as if he suddenly remembered. "Ah, yes. That's why you let Vlad and Valerie live correct?" Dan's arrogant smirk fled his face as he continued. "You and I both know that if you didn't have any humanity left your victim count would be alot higher than it is." Clockwork clapped a hand on Dan's shoulder in reassurance. "The perfect person for this job is you."
Dan stood there dumbfounded, then glared at the ground as he reigned his emotions and memories back in. "Fine," he spat, "I'll do it." He didn't have a choice anyway, not if he wanted to be free from that shithole.
"Excellent," Clockwork clapped his hands together turning to walk back to his office. "First thing we need to do is bring her here and explain everything to her. Time is of the essence so we can't afford to waste it by trying to ease her into this, she'll have to face it head on."
Dan cast one last glance to Becca's sleeping reaper form, then followed the temporal spirit out of the lab.