Danny, Tucker, the reluctant Ember, and the unconscious Sam arrive to Clockwork's lair, where it's been completely torn apart by Dan Phantom. Several corpses of strange beings with eyes for heads, particularly the Observants, lay flat on the floor; some strewn about the walls and rubble.
Tucker covering his mouth: Dang…
Danny: (Sighs with worry) Clockwork…I just hope he didn't…(Looks and sees Clockwork's Ghost Portal)
Clockwork's Ghost Portal is still active, but someone seems to be behind it. His attire is almost different than the Observants, leading to Danny to check it out. He finds a severely damaged Clockwork, old and unconscious, hiding himself behind as much as he can get. But unlike everyday, Clockwork isn't phasing in and out of ages. He's now an old man, who seems to have aged even more than what is required of him, and his clock is smashed open as though Dan managed to jam it.
Danny holding Clockwork: Clockwork?! Clockwork!
Clockwork slowly opening his eyes and pointing behind Danny: ...The thermos…
Danny turns and sees that the thermos that originally held Dan is broken, with some of its inner electronics missing. Danny brings Clockwork to the table the thermos sat on and sets him down next to Sam, who's still unconscious.
Ember: So, what now?
Danny: Now, we do his job. (Rewinds Clockwork's clock)
Clockwork immediately ages backward to his child years, only slightly older, yet still pretty short compared to everyone else. He is still damaged, however, even though the rewinding of his internal clock should've repaired him. Thankfully, he's a lot healthier than he was a moment ago.
Danny smiling: There we go.
Clockwork: D-Danny...You didn't...have to come here.
Danny: Of course I did, Clockwork. Dan's a huge deal. Plus, he used to BE me. I've gotta stop him somehow.
Sam wakes up next to Clockwork, who turns towards her.
Clockwork with a player voice: Heeey…Cough Cough
Sam lifting herself up in confusion: What just happened?
Ember: You grabbed my shoulder when I turned intangible, love. You're lucky I even bothered, considering what happened to everyone else back home.
Sam looking around the room: Oh no. I'm guessing Dan's escaped?
Tucker: Yeah. And apparently, he's even worse than he was last time! I mean, the entire park we were just in turned from that to flat Earth in .1 seconds!
Danny: Even Clockwork's seen better days. What happened?
Clockwork still struggling to speak: Observants...wanted me to watch over him...broke their own mandate...Tried, to interfere with...timeline…
Danny shrugging in confusion: I don't understand.
Sam: Sounds like those eyes...or, guys used to be the ones who watched Clockwork. And they're not supposed to mess with any point in history.
Ember: Aaaand, lemme guess. They did it anyway?
Clockwork nodding yes: Ah-huh...
Tucker: What were they trying to do to get Dan to come back?
Clockwork: The Monitor...They were after, the, monitor...
Danny: Not sure what that is buddy. And I get the feeling we made a huge mistake leaving Amity Park. Thankfully, those defenses in the city my parents set up should keep it safe, even from Dan. At least for a while, I hope.
Sam: Well, we'd better find a way to beat him before he breaks through. Can you tell us what that Monitor thing is?
Clockwork: I-its an interdimensional device that's not meant to be seen in our dimension and was kept hidden somewhere outside it. It has the power to send us across multiple dimensions at once, and it holds several secrets to the multiverse that were lost when it was abandoned in its hiding place.
Ember: Ouch…
Danny: Sounds to me like Dan's already found out what those secrets are. Because we haven't even seen him yet, and he's already doing things he couldn't do before.
Ember: So, blah blah blah. He's jacked up on books and a box. He's super powerful...but how do we stop him?
Danny: I don't know, Ember. I'm guessing if he still has the McGuffin, that might be some kind of power source. If not, we'll have to do things the old fashioned way.
Clockwork: I'm afraid it's not that simple, Daniel. If Dan unlocked all of its potential and knowledge, he could ultimately doom the entire multiverse and free himself from the Ghost Zone and the Thermos an endless amount of times, hence why the Observants had interfered in fear of their inevitable demise.
Danny: How did Dan escape from the Fenton Thermos, and why were the Observants back here?
Clockwork: He merged his outfit with some of the device's parts to reverse engineer it and break loose. The Observants wanted me to try destroy this timeline and everyone in both these dimensions in favor of keeping themselves safe from the legend kept within the cube. I refused the order, so they instead sought to use Dan to fulfill it. But he had already found a way to escape.
Tucker: Sounds like some kind of evil genius now.
Clockwork: You could say that. No one is meant to have what knowledge it holds. It holds the secrets of the multiverse, our own timeline, and our fates. I don't know what is going to happen to these dimensions we live in, not anymore now that most of my powers have been stripped away from fighting Dan. But whatever it is, it seems that part of it, or the legend itself was referring to his inevitable return. With my powers drained, I have no connection with the other timelines. All I know is with the power of the Dimensional Monitor in Dan's grasp, he will unleash terror beyond our wildest dreams. Or at the very least, a prelude to it, assuming he hasn't fully learned its abilities yet.
Tucker: That doesn't sound so bad.
Clockwork: That is if he hadn't already learned how to absorb it onto himself to keep others from finding it.
Tucker disappointed: Oh.
Danny trying to sound hopeful: Well, there's gotta be some kinda way we can beat him. We'll just have to get back there and see what he can do till we find a weakness.
Sam: Alright. Not our best bet, but, that's all we got.
Ember: Well, I don't care what you do. (Grins while holding guitar) I just wanna get back at him for ruining my concert!
Tucker with sarcasm and boredom: Riiight…
End of Danny's Second Chapter...