Chapter 3:
What the hell happened!?
"Hello there, my name is Clockwork, and I am the master of time. Why am I here, you may ask? Well, that is an easy question to answer. I will be the narrator for a good majority of this story. Just know that everything is as it should be. We don't need to worry; our heroes' lives changed mostly for the better, some for the worse, as their fates have been changed by two certain people. But like I said before, everything is as it should be. Now let's go join our heroes as they seem to have woken up from the events in their flashbacks…"
-Present Day-
As Dr. Snow walks into the lab, she starts to look at the computer to see any changes to Barry Allen's condition since the accelerator explosion 8 months ago. Barry was transferred from the hospital to STAR labs because Dr. Wells was convinced that they had the technical knowledge and equipment needed to stabilize his condition. The first few hours in the hospital were brutal for Barry and his family. His heart rate was unstable, and it kept flatlining even though he was breathing through the entire thing. It was as if his life force was in flux.
Meanwhile, a boy named Danny Fenton suffered something similar to his accident, although his parents seemed to be the better people for the job due to their knowledge. Of course, this didn't mean that Dr. Wells was uninterested in the boy. He had insisted to the boy's parents that they have him rest in the lab with Barry if only to make sure that both had the best equipment available. After a couple of weeks, it appeared that both boys' conditions had stabilized, but both were in comas for what seemed forever. It has been eight months since STAR labs and Axiom were shut down and placed under investigation for the incident.
"Ug, what the hell hit me?" Danny stated as he woke up with a start. "Ok, where the hell am I, and who the hell are you? Danny asked Dr. Snow as she realized he was awake. "This isn't Axiom Labs, nor is this my house…" He continued becoming more and more confused as he regained his bearings. As he began to stand, Danny looked in the mirror next to him and realized he was shirtless. "ok where is my shirt and why do I look like I gained muscle?"
Dr. Snow slowly started to walk over to him and answered, "Danny? My name is Dr. Snow, and right now, you are in the middle of STAR Labs' control center located just above the particle accelerator room. As for why you are here, well, you were in a coma 8 months ago after the particle accelerator exploded."
"The particle accelerator exploded?" Danny asked as his eyes turned wide to what that actually meant. As he finished his sentence, he started to remember eight months ago. He was in the ghost portal fixing a wire or something for Vlad. Then there was a loud boom, the lights when out, a flash of light and pain, lots and lots of pain. As Danny continued to remember that night, he started to scream out in pain, and he grabbed his head. He began to thrash about until he finally passed out from the pain he was experiencing. As soon as Danny passed out, the other guest started to stir, unaware of the events that had just occurred.
Barry also woke up with a start. As soon as Dr. Snow realized the other patient had woken up, she realized she needed to keep him calm, if only to prevent him from passing out like the other patient did. "Ok, where am I, who are you, and who is that sleeping next to me?" Barry asked Dr. Snow as he started to get up. Dr. Snow immediately walked over to Barry and began to give the same explain she had just given Danny a few minutes ago.
"Ok, in order: You are currently at STAR labs. We have been taking care of you and Danny Fenton since you both went into comas 8 months ago. I am Dr. Caitlin Snow, and the person is currently passed out sleeping next to is my other patient, Danny Fenton." "There is more information that I need to give you regarding the events that took place 8 months ago, but I think we should wait for the other patient to wake up so that I don't repeat myself," Caitlin said as she made her way towards the computer. "I need to do some physical tests on you anyway, and since Danny passed out before I could do some on him, I think we should do those first before I say anything else." "I am a doctor, after all, and I need to make sure that you aren't experiencing any side effects."
-Meanwhile, at Vladco in Amity Park, Vlad and Dr. Wells are meeting to discuss the events from 8 months ago-
"Dr. Wells, so nice of you to join me for our meeting," Vlad said with a smirk that ran across his face. The smirk on his face fell as Dr. Wells wheeled up to him. "You know I am not very happy with you right now." He continued as Dr. Wells just sat there in his wheelchair listening to his partner in crime. "I thought you said that the explosion in conjunction with portal would kill the boy, not give him ghost powers!"
Dr. Wells sighed. He knew he would have to tell his partner that he missed calculated. I mean, the accident was the moment in history where Danny Fenton dies unexpectedly from an accident. It is possible that because of his interference in the timeline that the events had changed. No, Wells thought. Of course, that hadn't changed if they did, the time vault would tell him something; Nothing had changed from the events of 2024 when the Flash had disappeared.
"Are you even listening, Wells?!" Vlad shouted. Wells was pulled from his thoughts by a clearly frustrated Vlad Masters. "You were supposed to make it so that Danny Phantom doesn't interfere with my plans!"
"Well, Mr. Masters, Wells began, the particle accelerator was a miscalculation on my part. However, I do believe we have an opportunity here." Vlad looked at Wells like he had just grown three heads. "Allow me to explain…" Wells started. It was then that Well's phone started to ring. It was Dr. Caitlin Snow. She was supposed to call him if the boys woke up from their coma. It had appeared to him that they had. "We will have finished this when I am done introducing myself to the boys," Wells stated. With that, Dr. Wells started to turn away from Vlad's office and towards the elevator. Before he went, Wells turned around and said, "Oh, and Mr. Masters? I'll be sure to call you tonight after everyone has gone to sleep to give a proper explanation." And with that, he entered the elevator and started his descent towards the exit.
-STAR labs-
"Ok, Barry, I am going to do some tests, and while those are going on, I am going to alert Dr. Well and Cisco." Dr. Snow said as she began to draw blood from Barry and Danny. "Since Danny has passed out, I am going to do some tests on him as well." She continued. Dr. Snow then placed Barry's and Danny's blood under the microscope. She started with Barry's first, and she observed something exciting. His cells were in a state of chronic degeneration. She decided to look at Danny's cells, and what she saw also caught her eye. His cells were red, but they were also switching between a usual red and green. A few minutes later, Danny finally regained consciousness. That is when Dr. Wells made his appearance in the control room. Danny was still confused about what happened, and Wells suggested that he give them a tour of the facility to explain what happened several months ago. Wells started to roll his wheelchair towards the particle accelerator observation room, where the three could see the wreckage below.
"8 months ago, Wells began, the particle accelerator went online. At that moment, I had achieved my life's dream." "Unfortunately, there was an anomaly that created a lightning storm from the energy that was sent into the air by an explosion caused by the accelerator that hurt everyone here, including me." "That same lightning storm caused power outages across the entire city and created a lightning bolt that…" "Also struck me…" Barry finished Wells' sentence. "Yes, but that wasn't the only thing it did, Barry." Wells continued. "When the power outages happened, Daniel was inside the Axiom ghost portal fixing something for Mr. Masters. The power surge to the portal caused the portal to turn on while he was inside to make his fix. He should have died, but instead, he was placed into a coma."
As they started to move back into the control room, Wells then said, "Thankfully, I was able to convince your parents to let STAR Labs take care of you, Daniel." "Well, I guess that is all then?" Barry asked. "Well, no, Barry, we still need to do more tests to make sure you are both ok." Dr. Snow stated. "Why? I feel fine." Barry asked. "I mean, you feel fine, right Danny?" Barry asked Danny. "I'm not sure, Barry, I mean; I don't know how the accident affected me that night. Plus, when I woke up, my hands started to feel tingly. I think I will stay here at least for the time being while they do some tests." "Well, if that is how you feel, Danny, I am going to go," Barry stated as he headed out the door. "Thank you for saving my life." "Oh, before I go, can I keep the sweatshirt?" "Yes, you can keep the sweatshirt," Wells responded. With that, Barry left and headed straight to Jitters, a coffee shop located downtown Central City to go see Iris.
"So, care to tell me about my blood test result, Dr. Snow? Danny asked. "Sure, just let me... Wait, how did you know I was doing blood tests on you? Dr. Snow asked. "Oh, I didn't," Danny replied. "I knew at some point that I would have to get them to make sure there were no side effects from the accident, but until you confirmed that you took them, I didn't know," Danny said.
It was then at that point that Danny felt odd. The bottom half of his body began to turn intangible and slowly move through the control room floor. Danny panicked, and both Cisco and Caitlin pulled Danny back up to the control room. "Huh, well, that was interesting." Dr. Snow commented. "I wasn't expecting you to go through the floor like that." "Um, Dr. Snow? Can I get a look at those results?" Danny asked; still a little shaken up by the fact that he just turned intangible. "Yes, Danny." Dr. Snow replied as she left the control room for the testing lab, with Danny following close behind.
Danny then walked up to the microscope his blood samples were under and observed the cells. Danny saw that the cells were switching between two colors. When they were red, the cells were normal. However, when the cells were green, they had an eerie glow that made them look unnatural. The glowing green color looked almost like ectoplasm. After what seemed like a long while, Danny finally said out loud, "This shouldn't be possible. These cells look normal when they are red. However, whenever they change color, they have an unnatural green glow that makes it look like ectoplasm." "But that is impossible." Danny continued. "I shouldn't have ectoplasm in my cells since ectoplasm makes up ghosts."
It was then Danny was beginning to visibly become more and more panicked. It got so bad that it started to become intangible again, nearly falling through the floor for the second time. He looked back at his cells again, and right then, he knew that what he was observing could no longer be denied. He was somehow, someway a ghost and was beginning to panic about the reaction his parents may have. For years his parents Dr. Maddie and Jack Fenton, have been ghost experts, traveling to different conventions to show off both weapons to other ghost hunters and give lectures. They also tend to teach their kids Jazz and Danny about ghosts. Meaning that they teach both siblings that ghosts are nothing but odd manifestations of ectoplasm and post-human consciousness and need to be ripped apart, vaporized, or some sort of combination of the two. Since his parent also thought that ghosts were evil, Danny was also panicked about he would turn out in the future as a ghost. Would his obsession consume him? Would he ultimately turn evil? He had no idea, and he needed to keep his parent as far away from his secret as humanly possible. Upon realizing that Danny was panicking, possibly about family reactions if his parents were any indication, Dr. Snow attempted to calm him down. "Danny, she started, I need you to take some deep breaths for me." Danny then looked her way a started to take deep breaths, and as he did so, he began to calm down. "That's good, Danny, just deep breaths." She continued. "Danny, I'm going to have to take more tests to find out more about your condition." Dr. Snow then asked Danny to sit on the bed so that she could take some more tests.
-Meanwhile at Jitters-
Barry had made his way into Jitterz after spotting Iris in the business serving coffee. As Barry walked into the entrance, Iris turned around from serving coffee and immediately went up to Barry to give him a hug. "Barry!" Iris shouted. "You're awake!" "Dad and I were so worried about you. You kept dying. We weren't sure if you were going to live." "Well, Iris," Barry responded as he placed her hand against his chest, "it's still beating." "Yeah, but it feels fast." She responded.
As soon as Iris replied, Barry noticed that things started to slow down when one of the waitresses began to drop a set of coffee cups. When the moment passed, everything turned back to normal time, and Iris, upon noticing the cups break, turned around to see if her co-worker was ok. While Iris was helping her co-worker with the dropped coffee cups, Barry got lost in his thoughts. "Hm, well, that was weird." Barry thought. "I am not sure how that happened." "I should get back to STAR Labs to figure this out." Upon realizing that he needed answers, he got out of his thoughts and began to say, "Hey Iris, I know that we haven't seen each other in months but would it be ok if we did that tonight?" "I need to check some things, and then I should be available to catch up with you."
"The sounds great, Barry," Iris responded. "I need to work anyway. We can catch up afterward."
-Central City Bank, at the same time Barry is at Jitters-
A man with a hoody and a bag walks into Central City Bank. "This is a robbery! Put all the money in the bag, and no one gets hurt!" the mystery man said as he placed the bag on the counter.
The clerk at the counter started laughing, "Is this some kind of joke?" Suddenly, the man in the hoody put down the hood, revealing his face, and shouted, "I'll show you a joke!" The man immediately began to create a storm inside the bank with a strange power as a twister started to form in his hands. "Now, put the money in the bag, and no one gets hurt!" He repeated. As the clerk grabbed the money from the register, she also hit a silent alarm button that alerted the CCPD. As the twister from the man's hands calmed down, the debris also covered his escape, and just like that, he was gone without a trace.
Meanwhile, the CCPD finally arrived at the scene, and Detective Joe West was at the crime scene to interview witnesses. The clerk began to describe the robbery as one of impossibility. "The man, she said while still terrified from the events from just a few minutes ago, put down a bag and asked for her to put money inside it." "When I refused and started to laugh, he put down his hood, and a storm was created out of nowhere." "When that storm came into being, he repeated himself to have me put money into the bag and started calm down." However, the debris the wind picked up from earlier in that exact moment covered his escape, and he was gone without a trace."
One of the police officers, who was in the back of the bank watch security cam footage, walked up to the detective and said, "Detective West?" "Yes, officer?" the detective responded. "Well, sir, while I was in the back, I was watching footage from the security cam, and well, sir, you are going to want to see this." The officer replied.
When the officer and detective finally got into the back, the officer began to playback footage from just ten minutes ago. As footage played through the moments leading up to their arrival, the detective's eyes widened at what he had just seen. Not only did the security cam footage corroborate the clerk's version of events, but the footage also shows the suspect's face. "This is impossible," the detective began to think, "I saw the plane explode the night of the particle accelerate incident, and there is no way that they could have survived!" "Detective West? Detective West, are you ok?" The officer asked as he was trying to get the detective out of his thoughts. "Yes, officer, I am alright," Joe responded as he heard the office pull him from his thoughts. "I want an APB out for this suspect whom I believe to be a Mardon brother." He continued. "I won't know which brother it is until confronting him, but in the meantime, an APB is required so that any and all police officers are alert and ready."
-Line break-
Vlad was in the office watching the news when he saw a report about a bank robber. The man's face was revealed from a screenshot taken from security cam footage at the time of the robber. "If you have any information on the suspect in this photo, please call the police hotline." The news anchor said. The screen then showed the emergency number. "Please be aware that this suspect is assumed to be armed and dangerous. If anyone sees this person in public, do not speak or interact with him just call the police immediately." The anchor then completed the news report and handed the weather news over to the weatherman, who promptly began to tell the audience about the weather.
"Ah damn it," Vlad said as he turned off the tv. "I thought the Mardon brothers would both be dead. Oh well, I guess I just regained an old pawn." He continued as he walked down the hall to the elevator and to his lab. "Hmm, maybe I should hire Clyde for some more items? After all, I do have someone eager to hunt a rare specimen." "Enough to keep young Daniel distracted while he does some procuring for me." "Ah, Skulker. Vlad said as he saw Skulker step through his personal portal. "I have a job for you to do, Skulker. Of course, you'll be paid handsomely for it." Vlad continued as Skulker smirked and walked towards Vlad. Vlad shows a picture of the person that Skulker needs to hunt. "I need you to hunt a half for me to test him when the time comes." "For now, I want you to stay invisible and keep an eye on him while he begins to discover his abilities. I want you to monitor him and his progress and report back to me. Once he reaches a certain point, I will give the order to engage him. I am sure you will enjoy yourself since he is one of two living half-ghosts." With that, Skulker left the building and Vlad to his own scheming.
-Line Break-
Danny stood in the middle of the testing room with many wires stuck to his head, wondering how he had gotten convinced to test out what Dr. Snow described as a possible cellular transformation of sorts. Apparently, Danny was standing in the testing room to attempt to reach the change that his cells go under. Of course, that isn't the only thing either. Since Danny turned intangible and nearly fell through the floor, Dr. Snow is also hoping to control his new abilities provided they actually respond to Danny's commands.
"Alright, Danny," Dr. Snow began, "we are trying to get you to reach your new abilities, and using the wires attached to your body, we will monitor your vitals from here." As Dr. Snow finished her sentence, Danny began to concentrate on what made him go intangible the first two times he nearly sank through the floor. He remembered freaking out about his parents possibly discovering him as a ghost, and at that moment, he turned invisible. Danny was surprised; he actually turned invisible, disappearing from sight. Dr. Snow began to panic a little in case Danny couldn't change back to normal.
However, as soon as he dropped his concentration, he dropped his invisibility and dropped to his knees. As soon as Caitlyn saw him fall, she began to rush over to make sure he was alright, but Danny held out his hand, stating, "I'm alright, Dr. Snow, I just wasn't expecting the exhaustion just from turning invisible."
At that moment, Barry comes rushing back in, stating that he experienced something rather odd while he was at Jitters. "Ok, Barry, just sit down, and I'll do some more tests." Dr. Snow said as she got out the other monitoring equipment. "Alright, Barry, describe what you experienced while you were at Jitters." Dr. Snow said.
Barry then began to recall the events that took place while he saw Iris, including what he described as a slowing down of time, or at least that's what it felt like. Dr. Wells overheard the conversation that Barry was having with Caitlyn and then suggested that they go outside for a run. When asked by Caitlyn why he told them to go for a run, Wells stated that he has an idea as to what may be happening inside Barry. Wells also said that it may be a good idea for Danny to stretch his legs as well.
While outside, Dr. Wells told Barry that he thought that he may have gotten super-speed powered by the lightning bolt Barry got hit by the night of the accident because of what he described. With Danny, on the other hand, Dr. Wells thinks that the abilities he demonstrated in the lab may be linked in some way to his emotions. "Barry," Wells started, you are going to start running down the track that we have set up behind the lab." "Danny, while Barry is doing that, you are going to meditate while thinking about your powers. The meditation should be enough to calm your emotions down enough that you will be able to activate your powers at will. After that, it will be a matter of remembering how that felt, and of course, being outside should make it easier to concentrate on your task." Wells continued. So, Barry started to run at full speed down the track, and as he did so, he noticed that time begin to slow down. He was running so fast that he broke the sound barrier. While Barry was running, though, he got lost in his own thoughts and began to lose concentration. He wasn't paying attention he and he slammed right into the barrels of water on the other side of the track.
While Barry was running, though, Danny just sat down and began to meditate. While he was meditating, a light began to shine at his waist. The light then became a white ring with a blue hue that split itself in half, making its way throughout his body. As the white ring began to make its way to Danny's head and disappear, his jet-black hair became a snow-white, and the top half of his shirt became a jumpsuit, black with a white-collar. The ring also made his top half of Danny's shirt black with white cuffs and placed his hand inside stark white gloves. The other half of the white ring that was making its way to his leg and waist turned the bottom half of his shirt black as well, revealing a white stylized letter "D" that looked like it had a letter "P" inside it. As the ring continued down his body, his jeans become the bottom half of the jumpsuit he was wearing the day of the accident, and his shoes also changed into stark white boots. While his transformation was occurring, his body began to float. When the rings finally disappeared, Danny's body began to give off an unearthly, supernatural glow that got brighter and brighter to the point that it started to blind everyone in the area. When the light finally settled, he floated gently back down. Danny then opened his eyes and began wondering why everyone was staring at him. Dr. Snow grabbed a mirror to show him what happened, and Danny saw his ghost half complete with glowing emerald green eyes staring back at him.