Of Lightning Bolts, Half-Ghosts & Time Pieces
By Twin Kats
Beta'd by FlyonSilverWings

Chapter Thirteen
Fruitloop Is A Fruitloop

Clockwork's whole form was shaking furiously as he flew as fast as he could after Danielle and Plasmius. How could he have been so stupid? He knew Danielle wouldn't listen no matter what! She was so blinded by her pure affection for her 'father' that of course she'd ignore the growing connection between them! Of course she'd follow his orders!

And now Plasmius had his brother! Plasmius! The one that brought out all the darkness in Daniel in the first place!

"I swear," Clockwork growled, voice wavering ever so slightly, "I swear I'll get you back before he can do anything to you, Daniel! I swear!"

"All secure," the Maddie program uttered and Vlad sighed.

"Dad?" Danielle asked, raising green eyes towards the older ghost. Vlad placed a gentle hand on her head, patting it twice, before making a shooing motion.

"Go up to your room, Danielle," he said, calm as can be. "I have things I need to discuss with your...cousin."

Danielle blinked once, twice, and floated up through the ceiling obediently, her gaze thoughtfully facing downward. It is because of this position that she ran right into Clockwork's chest.

"Ah!" Danielle's eyes widened as she raised her head up to stare at the blue-skinned boy. Clockwork's eyes narrowed.

"Danielle," he said, voice oddly dark, "we need to talk. Now."

Danielle eeped as Clockwork's gloved hand wrapped around her wrist and dragged her off.

"Ugh, ah, egh! Let go of me!" Danielle growled, tugging on her hand in Clockwork's grip.

"No."

"Why not? What'd I do to you?" Danielle whined, pulling on her wrist more.

"Shut up Danielle!" Clockwork snapped and she quieted. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and pushed her down onto the bed. His eyes narrowed for the briefest of seconds and Danielle jumped as her hands and feet were surrounded in a blue glow.

"What did you do?"

"I've placed you in a telekinetic hold," Clockwork uttered darkly. "This way you'll sit and listen to me before running off all willy-nilly with no care as to what trouble you're getting yourself into! I swear for all of being Daniel's clone you are far worse than he! Honestly these are the traits Plasmius adores so much? No wonder Dan was such a peach!"

Danielle, who quieted during Clockwork's rant, hesitantly asked, "Who's Dan?"

Clockwork scowled, "A very evil, very vile, ghost whom you will hope you never have the pleasure of meeting or so help me Pariah I will do much worse than make a Time Quake!" He grunted and rubbed his temples. "Lord I haven't had this large of a headache since Writer decided the Christmas Poem Around the World was a damn good idea, and that was last christmas!"

Danielle wisely kept her mouth shut, eyeing Clockwork with a vague tinge of fear. Clockwork in turn sighed and lowered his hands from his temples, shutting his red eyes tiredly.

"I flew all the way from Illinois to Colorado chasing you two down," he uttered, collapsing against the wall facing the bed. "I'm damn tired."

"Then why don't you rest?" Danielle asked; secretly she was hoping, and this Clockwork knew, that he would fall asleep so that she could get her father.

"And allow you the chance to let that fruitloop get his hands on me? No way!" Clockwork snorted, disgusted.

"Dad is not a fruitloop!" Danielle shot back.

"And he is not your father!" Clockwork snapped.

"Oh so Jack Fenton is my father then?" Danielle scoffed. "Yeah right. Just because I'm a clone doesn't mean I'll believe that tripe."

"No, you are not related to Jack Fenton either," Clockwork uttered. "Neither is Daniel for that matter."

Danielle frowned, opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Clockwork half-smirked in her direction.

"Good, now let me explain," he stated and she frowned but nodded, slowly.

Fifteen minutes later Danielle found herself invisible and intangibly watching as Vlad set Danny up to get his mid-morph DNA, wondering if just what Clockwork had told her was true or not.

"Argh, ugh," Danny groaned, collapsing onto the ground. "Got...to get...away..."

"Ha!" Danielle roared, shooting up from the ground below. Danny let out a yelp, crashing into the ceiling before falling to the ground a second time. "You're not going anywhere!" she yelled, charging up yet another ecto-blast.

"Ahh!" Danny winced, covering his head and trying to summon a shield but it just wouldn't work!

"Hah!"

Danny glanced up, surprised to see Clockwork, his teenaged and grungy looking twin brother, crouched above him with a 'minute hand' spinning in front of his outstretched hands, holding up a glowing blue shield.

"You!" Danielle snapped, eyes narrowing in anger. "You lied to me!"

"Danielle, no!" Clockwork growled, out, still standing guard over Danny. "Listen to yourself and pay attention!"

"Nuh uh!" Danielle shook her head, glaring at Clockwork.

"Danielle..." Danny groaned. "Listen to Clock. He knows what he's talking about." There was a pause before, "You do know what you're talking about, right?"

"That she's technically a clone of you, that Plasmius wants nothing more than to use her to make his perfect clone of you, and that she's being tricked by that fruitloop? Yes, I know what I'm talking about, twinny," Clockwork rolled his eyes.

Danny grinned, "Just checking."

"Dad is not a fruitloop! And you're lying!" Danielle growled out, raising for another ecto-blast.

"Danielle, stop!" Danny pulled himself to his feet, leaning slightly on Clockwork who glanced at him worriedly. "Look, you're not mindless like those other clones, but even now you're turning into ectoplasmic goop!"

Danille glanced down and shrieked, dropping her ecto-blast. She stared up and Danny, pleading.

"Then why won't you give daddy your mid-morph DNA? He'll fix me!"

"No, Vlad won't! You're just a mess he won't clean up!" Danny snapped and Danielle's eyes narrowed.

"Then I'll prove you wrong! Hya!"

Clockwork's eyes went wide as the blast hit Danny dead center, knocking him into the wall and blasting Clockwork into a dresser.

"Danielle, no!" Clockwork coughed out, standing up wobbly. He collapsed a second later, his legs refusing to hold his weight. "D-Dammit!"

Danielle just glared, stuck her head through the floor for a second, and then Plasmius made his way into the room.

"Good work, Danielle," he murmured, patting her on the head. Danielle grinned up at him and shifted back into her human form.

"Thanks Dad!"

Plasmius just smiled and headed over to Danny, bending down to pick him up. Clockwork growled and forced his legs to work, thrusting a hand out and firing off a blue ghost ray. It went wide.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him!" he roared.

Vlad arched an eyebrow, "Danielle? Who is this?"

Danielle shrugged, "Danny called him Clock. I don't know who he is otherwise, just that he's a lying jerk!" she stuck her tongue at him.

"Danielle..." Clockwork growled, softly, but the distraction cost him. The next thing he knew was getting a face-full of one of Vlad's red, hot ecto-blasts. Then nothing but darkness.

Clockwork awoke to find himself strapped to some sort of table, vision hazy and limbs feeling oddly weak. He groaned softly and tried to look around but that just made the room swim dangerously.

"Hm, you certainly are an interesting one, aren't you?" he heard someone mutter.

"Wh-Where...?" Clockwork groaned slightly, trying to focus his vision long enough to get a sense of just where he was, why he couldn't feel Danny - sense Danny - something!

"Temporary memory loss? How intriguing!" the person from before uttered. "Having trouble focusing your vision, boy?" was asked a second later.

The voice was oddly familiar now.

"No matter. I'll deal with you soon enough; for now I must take care of my little badger...sleep, why don't you?"

"What...?" Clockwork rasped and suddenly the haze cleared and his eyes snapped open wide enough to see Vlad Plasmius walk off, leaving him strapped to a table slightly out of sight. He blinked and tested his restraints, wincing as he did nothing more than cut into his wrists.

"Well this sucks," the teenager muttered darkly, slumping. He blinked again as he caught sight of his own, pale, legs. "Where the hell are my pants?"

Danny came to just as Danielle shut the door on one of Vlad's chamber things that supposedly would get his mid-morph DNA. The elder halfa then walked up from some out of corner spot and smiled down at the clone. Danny felt sick.

And where was Clock? He wanted to ask but fear bringing his twin to Vlad's attention. That...just wouldn't do.

"FRUITLOOP WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY PANTS?"

Danny blinked, "That...was Clock," he muttered, and then glanced at Vlad who looked suddenly...flushed? "What...is Clock yelling about?" Danny asked.

"Ahh, you know that ghost?" Vlad asked and Danny could see the 'must stall' look cross the other halfa's face.

"Know him?" Danny laughed, figuring on playing Vlad's game. "Of course I know him!"

"Oh? Well...how well do you know him, Daniel?" Vlad questioned.

"GUH! You FREAK! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Vlad winced.

"I know him enough to know that he doesn't like you," Danny said cheerfully, "that he doesn't care that I'm a halfa, and that he's very overprotective of me."

"Hey! Don't you dare come near me with that - WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"Oh really?" Vlad asked and Danny could see him sweating nervously.

"What are you doing?" Danny narrowed his eyes.

"YOU FREAK! GIVE THOSE BACK!"

Vlad turned his head away, "Trying to give him back his pants," he muttered, eye twitching. He sighed and floated out of Danny's sight and over to where Clockwork was struggling futilely against his bonds.

"Keep your freaked out clone the hell away from me!" Clockwork snarled.

"Really, boy, is that any way to treat your host?"

"Host my ass! If this is how you treat your guests I never wanted to be on the guest list!"

"They you shouldn't have come here, should you!" Vlad snarled, stepping up close and gripping Clockwork's chin tightly. Clockwork's struggles increased.

"Don't touch me!" he snarled and Vlad increased the pressure on the teen's jaw.

"Shut your mouth, child," he sneered and Clockwork froze, eyes going wide and posture stiffening.

Then, he screeched, and blue energy similar to Danny's green ghostly wail flung Vlad backward. The bindings that kept him attached to the table snapped and Clockwork fell to the ground. There he actually retched and dry heaved, shuddering.

"I said," Clockwork coughed, "don't touch me."

"Clock? You okay?" Danny yelled.

Clockwork grabbed his pants from nearby and quick phased into them before stumbling into Danny's light of sight and smiling weakly at his younger twin.

"Never better," he uttered and then glanced at Danielle. "You mind letting him out? I think...I'm gonna crash...right here..." Clockwork face-planted onto the floor.

"CLOCK!" Danny yelled, eyes widening in shock.

Plasmius growled.

"You little brat!"

It was then the cavalry arrived.

Onwards to the Authors Note!

Hmm...I was going to finish this chapter but...oh well. Next chapter then. Enjoy~

Edit: beta'd by FlyonSilverWings