Clockwork's domain was a nightmare. Danny could only stare in silent horror at the carnage that surrounded him. Some kind of black goo was spread in a thin coating across most of Clockwork's home, occasionally splatters of ectoplasm mixed with it. The master of time himself was nowhere to be seen and, perhaps most worrying of all, the Fenton Thermos that had contained Dan Phantom was gone. Danny lifted a hand to the Fenton Phone to activate it. "Jazz, you there?"
"I'm here," came his sister's voice, the calmness of her tone soothing his quickly fraying nerves. "What's wrong?"
"I'm in Clockwork's home right now and something is seriously wrong," Danny told her, voice wavering a little. "There's this goo all over the floor but I can't find Clockwork anywhere."
"Okay, stay calm," Jazz told him. "I'll grab Sam and Tucker and we'll take the Specter Speeder into the Ghost Zone to meet up with you."
"Okay," Danny agreed, shoulders slumping a little as if a weight had been lifted from them. Now that everyone close to him knew his secret, he didn't have to try to do everything on his own. Instead he could rely on his friends and family to help him.
"We're on our way," Jazz announced suddenly, Danny flinching in surprise. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that a ghost could have easily snuck up on him and attacked him. That wasn't a good feeling. Danny quickly scanned his surroundings for any sign of trouble and then relaxed when he saw that he was still alone.
"How far away are you guys?" he asked, beginning to pace.
"We're only a couple minutes away," Sam's voice informed him. She sounded worried. "This thing has got you really shaken up, hasn't it?"
"Last time I was in a place without Clockwork present in the Ghost Zone, he was dead and I was being hunted by my evil future self," Danny replied, his voice going a little sharp.
"But your future self is locked in a Fenton Thermos," Tucker pointed out reasonably.
"Not anymore," was Danny's dark reply as he turned his attention towards the empty corner of Clockwork's home. "The thermos is gone." That earned him a series of choked sounds on the other end of the line that would have been funny under other circumstances.
"You mean he's free?" Sam demanded, sounding even more worried than she had before.
"Either that or someone stole his thermos," Danny agreed, increasing his pacing speed in order to deal with some of the anxious energy filling him. "I'm not sure which option is worse."
"I don't think he's free yet," Jazz cut in, always the voice of reason. "From what you three have told me, if Danny's future self was free we would have already seen him."
"Right," Danny agreed, letting out a shaky breath. "You're probably right."
"I usually am," Jazz teased and Danny let out a little borderline hysterical giggle. He turned to make another round of his new pacing track and caught sight of the Specter Speeder approaching. Letting out a sigh of relief, Danny lifted his hand and waved at Jazz, Sam, and Tucker. Tuck and Sam waved back as Jazz maneuvered the Speeder to park alongside Clockwork's home. The three stepped out and joined him, Danny leading the way into the master of time's home.
Jazz, Tucker, and Sam gasped when they took in their surroundings. "What happened here?" Tucker asked, actually slipping his PDA into his pocket.
"I have no idea," Danny replied. "But I doubt it was anything good." Sam nodded in agreement and stepped further into Clockwork's home.
"Uh, guys, is that goo moving?" Jazz asked, her voice going high with shock. Danny's head snapped around and his eyes went wide with shock. The goo was moving, slowly, creeping together and rising upwards. Danny shifted so he was standing between the rapidly reforming creature and his big sister.
"I know we see strange things on a regular basis, but this is really weird," Tucker said as the creature blinked open violet eyes and then roared at them. Danny aimed a blast of ectoplasm at the creature that it simply absorbed, letting out a low predatory sounding rumble.
"Well that's not gonna work," he mumbled and changed tactics to ice that slowly rose up the creature's chest until it had consumed it completely.
"Nice job Danny," Jazz cheered s Danny lifted a hand and shattered the ice, sending chunks of the creature flying everywhere.
"What was that thing?" Sam asked, carefully stepping around Danny to kneel next to one still frozen section.
"I was hoping you'd have an idea," Danny replied, kneeling next to her. "I've never seen anything like it before."
"Do you think this is what got Clockwork?" Tucker asked, picking up a piece and chucking it at a wall after studying it for a moment.
"Judging by the condition it was in when we arrived, I'd say he got it," Sam replied, scooping up the piece. "Do you think your parents will have something that can analyze this?"
"Probably," Danny and Jazz replied together, grinning at each other.
"If not they'll make something," Jazz continued.
"Let's just get it back before it melts and starts reforming again," Danny said, grabbing Sam's arm and tugging her gently towards the Specter Speeder. "Because I have an awful feeling that this thing won't fall for the same trick twice."
Hanna's back slammed hard on to something that felt like wet dirt and a canopy of green passed by at incredible speed overhead before they finally skidded to a stop. She gasped, pulled in a full breath, and shoved Dan off of her. Without two hundred pounds of ghost, however that worked, lying on top of her she could push herself upright and study her surroundings. Massive tree trunks too big for her to wrap her arms around towered, up, up, up to blot out the sun. Massive green leaves as big as her head sprung from the branches and she could hear birds chirping, undisturbed by their abrupt arrival. "Where are we?" Dan demanded, towering over her, and Hanna shrugged. She had an idea but the only way to tell whether or not she was correct was her phone and if they really were where she thought they were, she probably wasn't going to have a signal.
She stood and brushed as much of the damp earth off of her as she could manage before swinging her backpack off her shoulders and digging in it for her cell. A tap of the correct button brought it to life and she input the password to see her suspicions confirmed. No signal. The only information it told her was that it was eleven forty-five in the morning the day after she'd entered the portal. She was officially late for work. Great. "Take a guess," the irritated ghost growled and Hanna let out an irritated breath before turning and flashing a wide smile at him.
"The Amazon Rainforest." The blonde watched in satisfaction as Dan Phantom's eyes widened in shock. Laughter bubbled up in her chest and she forced it down, struggling to keep control of her facial expression. After a moment she gave in and burst into giggles. "That expression is priceless," she managed to choke out between giggles, ignoring the growl that comment earned her. A blast of ectoplasm silenced her mid giggle, the flash of light barely missing her head. "Rude," she snapped, good mood ruined, as she turned to face the ghost with her hands planted on her hips.
"Are you finished?" he asked pointedly.
"For the moment," she replied. "If only because we need to pick a direction and start walking so maybe we can get out of here."
"Or you could just open up another portal and take us back," Dan suggested, voice full of low menace. Hanna snorted in response.
"Good luck with that. I kind of stink at this portal opening thing. Plus it takes a lot more energy than I can afford to expend right now."
Dan studied her skeptically and then said, "You're being serious."
"Completely," she confirmed. "I hate to break it to you, but we're stuck here for at least a couple days." Dan studied her for a moment, as if trying to decide whether or not he believed her, and then let out a put upon sigh. "Oh don't act as if I've set back your plans for world domination or something like that," she said, rolling her eyes. "You're weaker than I am right now."
"You had best hope I am," was his response, the smirk crossing his face enough to make her roll her eyes again. He was all bark and no bite right now and she knew it.
Instead of responding any further, Hanna turned her back on him and started walking. The temperature was rising steadily and in her ghost form it was almost unbearable, but she didn't trust Dan Phantom as far as she could throw him which, admittedly, wasn't very far. She wasn't going to risk changing back only to have him use what little power he had to eliminate her. She'd rather suffer than be promoted to fully dead. As much as she enjoyed the company of some of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone, Ember and Kitty to name a few, the last thing she wanted to do was float around behind a door hidden in a swirling green vortex. Not really her thing.
She didn't have to look behind her to know that Dan was following her. The fact that her ghost sense, a stream of aqua that slipped over her lips in a thin stream for a moment, kept going off was enough. The prickling between her shoulders where his gaze had fallen was just an added bonus. Hanna resisted the urged to shoot an irritated glare over her shoulder as she climbed over a massive tree root, one hand pressed to the damp bark to keep her balance. The further she walked the higher the humidity seemed to rise, reaching almost unbearable levels. Thunder rumbled ominously overhead, warning her of coming rain. Great. Just what she needed.
As if cued by her thoughts,fat rain drops began plummeting down through the massive leaves to the ground below. Hanna managed to dodge the first few drops but when one finally smacked her it was with enough force to hurt. Hanna winced and took shelter in a large hole in the trunk of a tree, snickering as she watched Dan try to dodge raindrops before finally turning intangible and making his way over to join her. "Great job stranding us in the middle of a rainforest," he growled was he'd ducked inside and become solid again.
"Hey, I'm not the one who shoved us both through a portal without knowing where it led to," Hanna snapped back, folding her arms over her chest.
"I assumed it would head somewhere reasonable," Dan hissed at her in reply. "Actually I assumed you knew what you were doing when you created it."
"Well la-di-freakin-da," Hanna retorted, rolling her eyes. She leaned further against the bark at her back with a huff, scowling at her companion for the time being. Oh why couldn't the goo monster have killed him? It would have made her life so much easier. "Maybe next time you'll actually look and see where a portal is leading before you dive headlong through it," she muttered under the sound of the rain. Judging by the glare that comment earned her, he'd heard her anyway. She wasn't sure she cared at this point. It wasn't as if he could incinerate her right now. He probably had enough power to fire a couple ectoplasm blast at her, which would sting, but if she was estimating his current power level correctly, he couldn't destroy her.
With time to think, her mind turned towards the goo monster in Clockwork's lair. Dan had made it explode for the second time, but that didn't necessarily mean it was dead. Clockwork hadn't killed it when he'd somehow exploded it so that mean the thing was probably still alive. Hanna could only hope that it didn't reform and start wandering the Ghost Zone. The last thing she needed was a visit from irate Observers whining about how she'd allowed a monster to wander unchecked since she was to take up Clockwork's duties in his absence. In her current agitated state, she'd probably blast them.
The sound of rainfall began to lessen so Hanna pushed herself upright and headed for the entrance, peering outside. The air still felt ridiculously humid, especially since she'd spent several years living in the dry air of Arizona, but the rain drops were falling more slowly now. She stretched out a cautious hand and grinned when the splash of water against her palm didn't sting. "Rain's letting up," she called over her shoulder, stepping out from the safety of the tree trunk. "So let's get moving. The further we walk today, the better chance we have of actually finding civilization." She didn't pause for a response, simply marching off the direction she'd been walking before the downpour.