Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does, and I somehow doubt that will be changing any time soon. Since I'm not making any money from this, there is nothing for the law-ninjas to sue out of me.
Author's Note: Hey, I got this one done before Sunday night for a change! My apologies for the length (this is by far the longest chapter on any of my fics, the epilogue to Jeremiad notwithstanding.) As of this chapter, while my pages-per-chapter minimum is five, the average is roughly eight. I do not jest when I estimate that this fanfic will possibly be longer than Jeremiad, Anathema, and Benediction put together!
Chapter Four: Friendship
"Falling and crawling
A fight to stand up
Memory still haunts me
In the dead of night"
-"Overcome" - Within Temptation
"Clockwork, this is your responsibility!" Several dozen Observants were gathered in the Master of Time's lair, each in a state best described as extremely agitated.
"Something must be done before it's too late!"
"Why have you done nothing to stop this?"
"If nothing is done, he will destroy us all!"
"You had to know this would happen!"
"You swore you would not let this happen!"
"Yet we are running out of time, and you choose to sit back and merely watch as our doom is unleashed?!"
Clockwork appeared completely unfazed, though the cacophony of protests drowned out even the steady ticking of clocks that usually dominated his lair.
"Time?" He looked calmly at the last to speak. "I have nothing but time. My part has been done for some time now."
The remark might not have been intended as flippant, but that was apparently how the gathered ghosts interpreted it. The babble picked up again, louder and more strained than before. Clockwork hid a smile, shifting to his grizzled older form; it had been ages since he'd last seen the usually calm Observants in such a tizzy.
"What part is that?"
"You have done nothing! We would have seen it!"
"There is nothing in place to halt him and all his terrible power!"
"Nothing at all!"
Clockwork merely raised his distinctive staff to silence the crowd; one by one they fell silent, turning one-eyed glares on the Master of Time. Ah, how proud the Observants were of their role as protectors of the natural order and observers of events! So proud, and yet so very blinded by that pride; preventing them from ever seeing the whole picture. They were quibbling over the qualities of the threads, and failing to pay heed to the intricate weaving of the complete tapestry, the whole picture.
"I have expected this situation since he was first sealed." The ghostly timekeeper stated simply. "And I have already set plans in motion that may resolve it."
"May? That is not sufficient, Clockwork!" The apparent leader of the one-eyed mob spoke up before a general murmuring could get underway again. "We must eliminate any uncertainty about this situation. If he were to rampage freely again, the results would be disastrous! Surely you recall the damage he did the last time."
The Master of Time nodded, shifting to his younger appearance as he did so. "I am probably the only one that truly recalls that disaster and all of its implications. The solution is not as simple as you think it is."
"Then why will you not act?"
Clockwork shifted once more to his adult form and gave the Observant a stony glare. "What would you have me do? Go back in time, before he was sealed... and then what?"
"You are the master of time, Clockwork!" The ghost responded, a slight hesitation in his voice. "Surely there is something you could manipulate, some paradox to cheat, so that this problem will never happen!"
Clockwork said nothing, merely leveled that glare at the crowd. It was rare for the Master of Time to show such outright displeasure; often his thoughts and feelings on a situation were hidden behind a calm and collected facade. He was annoyed, but then the Observants and their demands that he meddle because they would not were a familiar nuisance. The scope of his scheme was far beyond their inadequate tunnel-vision, and the ghostly timekeeper had no intentions of divulging his plan just yet.
"And who's to say that I haven't already done just that?" Clockwork replied with a wry smirk.
---
"So nobody in the Ghost Zone has seen him either?" Valerie leaned back in her seat with a thoughtful frown. "He's just... vanished?"
"Seems like it, Val." Tucker nodded, the geek ghost floating in front of the meeting table opposite the huntress. "None of the scouts we've sent have seen or heard a thing."
"I don't like it." Valerie crossed her arms, tipping her chair backward slightly with a creak of protest from the plastic seat. "He's back. We've all seen him once, but now it's like he's disappeared entirely."
"Maybe... he won't be back?" Tucker ventured.
The look Valerie gave him clearly told the ghost how likely she thought that was. He couldn't blame the huntress however. Every time Phantom appeared in the past, it was to wreck havoc. He only ever 'vanished' when thwarted; and only then to recover and return more powerful than before. To the huntress, it was clear that there could be no deviation from that pattern.
"We've kept the news from the public right now." Valerie's frown deepened. "I don't like hiding something this important from the city, but-"
"There'd be mass panic if they knew." Tucker agreed. "And there's no real threat from him yet, since nobody can find him."
"In any case, the Patrol is running at full alert. I've had the patrol schedules doubled and we're running regular evacuation drills... just in case." Valerie counted off the preparations that had been underway in response to the fire-headed ghost's apparent return.
"Not much else anybody can do." Tucker mused. "Until we know where he is and what he's going to do."
"Yeah." The huntress sighed. "Well, I'll keep in touch."
"Same here. Catch ya later!" The ghost excused himself and sank through the meeting room floor to the lab below.
Valerie drummed her fingers against the meeting room table in thought. It was the not knowing where Phantom was that had her nerves grated raw. It was a tension that ran rampant throughout the entire Patrol in the form of shortened tempers and worried glances. The population had to know something was up, just from the constant patrols and the regular drills; not to mention the worried faces of Patrol members.
The waiting was the worst. An attack, she could deal with. She would know exactly what was going on and what she needed to do. In her mind it was a forgone conclusion there would be an attack; the huntress simply did not know when it would come or where it would strike.
Something had to give; otherwise all the tension was going to drive her insane.
---
Tucker ducked through the portal after briefly exchanging greetings with the posted guard. He didn't lie to Valerie, not exactly; but the royal geek didn't like having to keep a secret from the Patrol commander. The scouts had not seen Dan. He made sure of that; Tucker had told the fearsome specter where they would be so he could evade detection. He didn't like the deception, but it was for the best; nor was it a decision the geek ghost had come to lightly.
"And I want to try talking with him." Tucker finished his explanation, pacing the stone floor of the chamber. "What do you think, Dora? Am I just being an idiot?"
His wife stood silently in thought for several moments as she considered what Tucker had just finished telling her. It had taken a year or so and a great deal of coaching from Sam to put the princess at ease expressing her opinions rather than parroting what she thought someone wanted to hear. Once she had shed the submissiveness that had been reinforced for centuries by her brother Aragon, the dragon princess had proven to be an independent, intelligent woman and a wonderful partner. Tucker trusted Dora's opinion, perhaps more now than he trusted Sam, or even Danny. Relationships were just like that.
"It's not a bad idea." Dora finally spoke, her head tipped to one side as she mused on the situation. "We already know that we can't simply fight him and accomplish anything. It's still dangerous, perhaps we should both go?"
Tucker adjusted his glasses and considered that. He would certainly feel better about meeting with Dan a second time with Dora at his side. Somehow though, the geek ghost knew that Dora's presence would likely not be welcome; at least not at this stage. For whatever reason, the fire-headed ghost had gotten control of his explosive temper and decided to trust Tucker; the royal geek knew better than to push that fragile faith too far.
"Nah. I appreciate the offer, sweetie. But the castle guards and servants would notice something weird going on if we both leave without saying anything." Tucker mused. "And that'd just mean gossip, which could get back..."
"And we don't want the Amity Park Ghost Patrol catching wind of it." Dora finished the thought with a nod. "I'm sure you'll be careful, and it's not idiocy to find a solution to a difficult problem. It's risky, but I don't think there are any better options."
"Yeah." Tucker agreed. "We can still send scouts to look for him, otherwise Sam or Danny would probably notice we aren't doing anything. When I meet up with Ph-... I mean, Dan, I can tell him where our guys are so he can just avoid them."
"Hopefully then, that is what he'll do." Dora gave her husband a level look. "Rather than decide to destroy them."
Well, a few weeks and no vaporized minions later, it was clear that Dan had no problem simply avoiding the patrols that were supposed to be looking for him. Dora's apprehension about Tucker's secret meetings had tapered off as no harm came to him; and even Tucker slowly found himself more at ease in the ghost's presence.
Their first few clandestine meetings had been awkward at best, full of long awkward silences and halting attempts at small talk. After all, what do you talk about after a decade of silence and destruction? Tucker had finally managed to break the ice by bringing Dan up to speed on events in the year he'd been gone; details about Amity Park's recovery. He'd quickly learned that Valerie was still a very sore subject, and focused his stories instead on the other key players; Sam and her role in taming Undergrowth, the work between many ghosts and the Patrol as a whole in establishing mutually beneficial agreements.
Then Tucker had started to pry into the cause for Dan's apparent change of heart. The fire-headed ghost had been hesitant and even defensive at first, but gradually shared bits and pieces of that story. The other timeline, he'd gotten loose and set out to destroy the city like he had so many times in this timeline. Somehow his other self, that timeline's Danny had prevented it; and somehow Jazz had convinced him to change his ways. He had that timeline's Sam to thank for making him decide to return to his proper timeline.
Still, the ghost clammed up when pressed for details, leaving Tucker with only a general idea of the events that must have transpired. He had no room to complain though; regardless of whatever the details were, the results were clear. Jazz in that other timeline had done something that had restored the fire-headed ghost to something approaching rationality.
"So... what have you been doing between meetings, anyway?" Tucker asked after one of the long silences that were standard for their conversations.
Dan shrugged. "What is there to do? I can't just wander around without being attacked, you realize."
"So you've been hiding in the Ghost Zone." Tucker surmised. "... Isn't that... I dunno, boring? I mean, you've been avoiding everybody, don't you have anything to do to kill time?"
The geek ghost's choice of words set off a short bark of a laugh from Dan. "I've been killing time alone for ten years, what difference does it make?"
"Yeah... but during those ten years you had stuff to do, what with all that 'kill everything' hobby of yours." Tucker crossed his arms, thinking. "Hey, why don't you try talking to Vlad?"
The offhand comment apparently startled the fire-headed spook, for Tucker was treated to the unusual and oddly funny sight of Dan sputtering in surprised shock. "What good would that do?!"
"Well, for one, he's older than everyone else." Tucker mused aloud. "So maybe he's got a better perspective on everything that's happened."
"I spent the better part of ten years intending to slaughter that fruit loop!" Dan protested with a growl.
"Let's not forget where some of that fruit loop's heritage went." Tucker decided to push his luck and remind Dan about that.
"I am nothing like him!" Dan steamed.
"Whatcha think of the Green Bay Packers?" Tucker asked randomly.
"They're the greatest team in the history of the NFL!" Dan retorted irritably. "They've won more championships than any team in history! Including three Super Bowls!"
"Thought so." Tucker nodded.
It took a moment for the fire-headed spook to process what he'd just blurted. He slapped his forehead and cringed. The royal geek had just very neatly proven that despite what he wanted to think, Dan had more in common with that fruit loop than he cared to admit.
"That doesn't mean anything!" Dan protested.
"It means enough." Tucker pointed out. "Besides, nobody is looking for you in Wisconsin. A change of scenery can't hurt."
"Why would I want to have anything to do with him?" The fire-headed spook hissed.
"Well, let's see..." Tucker counted off, deciding it safe enough to really push his luck. "It'll give you someone else to talk to when I'm not around, it'll be a change of scenery and safe from Valerie and everybody, and you already met Danny, so why not Vlad? He's almost like your dad in a way."
"EW!" Dan recoiled at that last statement and caught Tucker by the front of his robes, hauling the shorter ghost up to glare at him up close. "Never say that to me again! Never! My father is dead and gone!"
"Okay! Okay!" Tucker yelped, struggling against the immovable ghost's grip. "Sorry, just put me down! I was kidding!"
Annoyed, Dan tossed the smaller ghost aside; Tucker tumbled for several dozen feet before he regained control of his trajectory. That could have gone better. The geek ghost mused to himself.
"Look, it can't hurt anything to try talking to him at least." Tucker pressed, catching up to Dan.
"Unless he chooses to give Valerie-" Dan spat the name. "-a call and tell her where I am."
"Nah, I doubt he'll do that." Tucker smirked. "Y'see, Val doesn't really like Vlad. She almost never talks to him, even though he's been funding the reconstruction of the city. She lets Paulina deal with him."
"So he'll just call Paulina and regardless she would find out." Dan growled.
"Say, when was the last time you saw Vlad, anyway?" Tucker quirked an eyebrow and decided it wise to shift the subject away from the huntress.
The fire-headed spook paused in thought. Despite his efforts, he never had managed to track Vlad Masters down to finish what he started with the detonation of the castle. And all that rare Packers merchandise... He cringed to himself.
"Not since..." Dan frowned. "That day."
Tucker whistled at that. "When all the bad stuff happened? Dude, it's been ages then; he's changed a lot from what you probably remember. He's almost got that wise old man vibe going now."
Dan paused an raised an eyebrow at that. "Vlad? Wise?"
"Well yeah, not counting when he tried to kill other-Danny after you went back in time." Tucker nodded.
"That's not exactly a good recommendation." Dan noted dryly.
"Well it's worth a shot. C'mon, I'll go too if y'want." Tucker offered. "Besides, it's not like you've got anything better to do, right?"
"Will you quit harping on it if I say yes?" Dan grumbled.
"Totally."
---
It was a far cry from the great castle he'd called home over a decade ago, but the three-story mansion that Vlad Masters currently resided in was far more comfortable than the primitive underground accommodations of the past ten years. Even without ghost powers, Vlad had been able to maintain his business empire the old-fashioned way; through shrewd management and sensible business practices. He wasn't as wealthy as he had been as Vlad Plasmius, the first known half-ghost and infamous archrival to Danny Phantom; but he was wealthy enough to live in comfort and still have the funding to throw at rebuilding Amity Park.
With that monstrous ghost he was responsible for creating gone, Vlad had finally come out of hiding and put that wealth to good use. Some of it was invested in building his new mansion. Some went toward developing the areas in Madison, Wisconsin that the ghost had decimated. The majority of it went, however, to Amity Park. Perhaps a case of too little, too late, but it seemed to the billionaire a suitable place to atone for what he'd done.
Funny what ten years of being powerless can do to one's perspective on things. Vlad mused to himself as he hobbled down the hallways of his mansion to his new lab.
The facility could have been a carbon copy of the one where his life had changed for the worst. It wasn't that lab in reality; the ruins of the castle itself and its underground laboratory were a few acres away and untouched save for the steady attrition of the elements. No, this was a new facility, and the fruits of its research went straight to the Ghost Patrol in Amity Park.
Well, and to some of the companies under the umbrella of his business empire, of course. But that was simply good business!
Vlad stifled a groan as he got seated in the control chair for the lab. In his youth he would never have needed a comfy place to sit while conducting his work; however those days were a good ten years gone. Though only in his fifties, the billionaire quietly thought he felt far older. Being torn in half hadn't done his health any favors, and Vlad knew that he was probably fortunate to have even survived the separation and the subsequent explosion of his old castle with as little personal injury as he had. Sure, that left knee would probably never be the same again, but he was still able to walk.
The physical injuries had long since healed, but some wounds never would. The billionaire had come to accept the familiar mental anguish, the pain of loss had long since ceased to be a stabbing agony; now it was merely a familiar acquaintance. The loss of Maddie, knowing she was gone forever; the sight of young Daniel's mangled form lying against the wrecked wall of the old lab, knowing the boy's death was squarely on his head. He may not have done the horrible deed personally, but Vlad knew he was at least partly responsible for that tragedy; that horror that replayed itself for ten years for thousands of innocent bystanders.
The former archvillain paused in thought. The tragedy was preying on his mind today more than it had in quite some time. He had been contacted by Miss Sanchez, the young woman informing him that he had been sighted in Amity Park; soon after that word had arrived via the Ghost Zone confirming it.
I must be worrying that the ghost will find my portal and try to finish things. The billionaire decided, resolving to put the matter out of his mind for the time being.
Then he heard the footsteps.
From the direction of the portal.
The steps stopped, and a cold silence fell over the enclosed lab. Vlad suppressed a shiver, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He couldn't say how he knew, but the billionaire knew beyond all doubt who precisely was looming behind him; the ghost who had just come through the portal.
The silence stretched out, seemingly content to remain unbroken and looming. No blast came, no witty rejoinder; no oblivion save for the unnerving void of sound. Finally Vlad couldn't take it any longer and spoke first.
"Come to finish an old man off, have you?" He didn't turn around, the billionaire wasn't certain he was quite prepared to stare his death in the face. "I'm rather surprised it took you this long."
Vlad heard a derisive snort from the ghost behind him. "You're not worth the effort, old man."
Vlad raised an eyebrow at the voice. It carried familiar tones and inflections, though the voice itself had become deeper since he'd last heard it a decade ago; deeper and brimming with a sort of smug confidence that the billionaire recalled clearly from that day ten years ago.
"Stay back, Daniel."
Vlad stood on quaking legs, interposing himself between the demented specter and Daniel's dazed human self; staring with eyes wide as he beheld the results of his botched attempt to help the boy. To say he ached all over would be an understatement; if given the chance he could likely have waxed quite crudely eloquent about the sensation of having his ghost half ripped out of him. At least Daniel had been knocked out for the operation!
"Out of the way, old man." The warped form of Daniel's ghost half sneered.
Still shaken and unable to resist, Vlad could only yelp with further pain as the ghost launched a green energy blast. Unwilling to evade it and leave Daniel exposed, the billionaire had taken the hit full on, crying out when his back hit the wall. The blow knocked the wind out of him, leaving him dazed and only able to stare blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
"Get back-!" Daniel was awake now, a look of terror flashing across his pale face as he scrambled away from the ghost.
"Or else what? What can you do? You're useless, a waste of time." The ghost veritably purred, walking toward the boy, almost leisurely. "You can't do anything."
"I can too-!" Daniel protested weakly, sliding shakily into a battle stance. "I'm-"
Vlad could see the realization dawn on the boy, clear as day. He knew what Daniel had been about to say. "I'm going ghost!" That silly battle cry that the billionaire had mocked the younger half-ghost about when they'd first met months prior at the college reunion.
"You're what? Going ghost?" The ghost vocalized the exact sentiment Vlad had been thinking, punching Daniel in the gut hard enough to send the boy crashing into the far wall. "What could you possibly do?"
Vlad struggled to make his body respond to the commands he was trying to give it. He'd botched things badly enough, he refused to let Maddie down; not here, not like this! The impact had winded him worse than the billionaire originally thought, as he watched helplessly while the angry ghost menaced the boy.
"You can't save anyone. You couldn't save Tucker, you couldn't save Jazz, you couldn't save Dad-" The ghost hissed, visibly angry; enraged even. "-and you couldn't save Sam OR Maddie."
The amount of venom in the ghost's tone about both the females momentarily baffled Vlad. The terrible realization dawned on the billionaire. He hadn't separated out the boy's emotions, not precisely. The unstable anguish of Daniel had in that instant shortly prior merged with his own hatred for Jack; his own obsession with Maddie. The fire-headed ghost was the perfect combination of all the worst qualities of both Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius.
"You know, I think I'm going to enjoy this." The ghost sneered, hefting Danny by the wreckage of the teen's shirt. "You want to join them?"
"No! Daniel!" Vlad finally found his voice, struggling upright at the boy's terrified cry.
"Yes..." The ghost hissed, his grip shifting from Daniel's shirt and instead locking onto the boy's arms. "You're in my way, but not for long."
Daniel's cry of terror turned into a thin wail of pain, the sound driving the billionaire blindly to his feet. What Vlad could do against the demented ghost, he had no idea. His recollection was hazy at best; a blind charge at the ghost, a frantic demand that the ghost release Daniel...
... A fist carelessly slamming the billionaire upside the head and tumbling him back against one of the walls...
...and then...
...nothing.
"If I'm not worth the effort, what brings you to my humble abode?" Vlad retorted, still unwilling to face the ghost.
"You think I'd come here willingly?" Came the snappy response.
"Hey, you did agree, dude!"
The third voice, wholly unexpected, was what got Vlad to turn his chair around. He had coordinated efforts with the Ghost Patrol, and in turn with the King and Queen of the Mattingly estate before. Still, he didn't speak with the ghosts of Daniel's friends very often, so the King's presence along with the fire-headed ghost was something of a surprise.
Tucker was quickly forgotten as clouded blue eyes met glowing red for the first time in a decade. Vlad hadn't been sure what to expect of the ghost's appearance. He hadn't seen much video footage of the specter, and the ghost's form had changed over the several years since he'd last seen the specter personally. When the billionaire had last seen the ghost, he'd been a scrawny twig in a black jumpsuit.
If not for the spook's face, Vlad would almost not have recognized him. He'd grown, no longer a demented fire-headed teenager; but rather a tall adult who's gawky scrawniness had filled out and carried the barely veiled threat of terrifying speed and power. The ghost still wore the jumpsuit, though somewhere over the course of ten years the design of the outfit had changed, adding more white to the pattern in a way that eerily reminded Vlad of his own ghostly appearance. The jagged cape and white shadow of facial hair only reinforced that image. It made a certain sort of sense; after all the ghost was the fusion of both Vlad and Danny's ghostly selves.
Still, making sense didn't make the sight any less unsettling.
"I don't remember you looking so pathetic the last time we met." The ghost sneered, crossing his arms and obscuring the emblem on his chest.
"Yes, being ripped in half tends to be bad for one's health." Vlad retorted, slightly surprised at his rejoinder to the insult. "But then I suppose you would know about that."
Rather than show offense at the barb, the ghost broke into a snide sneer, fangs gleaming in the fluorescent light. It was all Vlad could do not to stare, the expression so familiar and yet at the same time so alien. The billionaire knew on some level he ought to be impressed; two wildly disparate identities had somehow come together and established something that carried traits of both yet was somehow wholly new. It was still entirely too creepy for Vlad's tastes; and given the research he had been doing years ago, that was quite a statement!
"I suppose I would." The ghost responded with a sneer.
"Well then, Ph-" Vlad began.
"Vlad, this is Dan." Tucker cut the billionaire off, already well aware of the ghost's apparent complex about the name Phantom. "Dan Plasmius."
A quick look at the fire-headed spook's face confirmed to Vlad that the name issue was a sensitive subject. He shrugged, still unsure what the ghost's presence meant.
"Clever." The billionaire ventured warily. "And I suppose appropriate enough, considering the circumstances."
"That was the idea." Dan retorted, though quietly he was glad Tucker had corrected Vlad about the name thing.
Awkward silence fell over the room again, stifling and uncertain. This time, it was Dan who broke it.
"Say something already, old man." Dan griped, arms crossed defensively. "I stink at making small talk."
"And you think living in a hole in the ground for ten years has made me any better at it?" Vlad retorted almost automatically.
"Hole in the ground?" Dan raised an eyebrow as he surveyed the lab. "Some hole you've got here."
"Not this one!" Vlad snapped, surprised at his own fearlessness in the face of the ghost that had torn Daniel to bits ten years ago. "The ruins of my old lab, you fool!"
Vlad regretted his choice of words the instant they left his mouth. Surely the ghost had an uncertain temper at best; though he had privately thought it strange that there had yet to be a repeat of the destruction that the ghost had plagued Amity Park with for ten years.
Instead of a snarl or the halfway expected violent response, Dan merely looked shocked.
"The old-" He murmured, eyes going wide. "You mean to say you've been living in that wreckage for the past decade?!"
"Yes, no thanks to you." Vlad shot back.
Dan facepalmed at the revelation. "To think, I've been past that heap of rubble how many times when I was looking to kill you, and you were right under my nose the entire time?"
"Mmhm." Vlad responded, one eyebrow raised. "But I suppose no thanks to King Foley, you've the perfect opportunity now."
It was a challenge, plain and simple. If the ghost wanted to finish Vlad off, he'd been given the opportunity on a silver platter. Dan had after all just admitted that he had been looking to kill the billionaire for some time; was that still on his agenda? Vlad suspected that was not the case, otherwise Tucker would have been a fool to lead the ghost to the portal. While Vlad often found the royal geek annoying, he had enough respect for the geek to know Tucker wasn't stupid.
"Clean our your ears, old man." Dan snapped in response. "I already said you aren't worth it."
The tension in the room eased; a nearly tangible pressure lifting with that confirmation that for whatever reason the ghost was no longer interested in wholesale slaughter.
"You know, if you prefer that I simply call you Dan, Daniel-" Vlad retorted, feeling annoyed enough by all the 'old mans' to chance the spook's wrath. "-I expect the same consideration."
The ghost bristled visibly, fists clenching reflexively. Tucker gave a yelp and backed away, almost certain things had just gone downhill. Dan and Vlad locked glares, neither wavering. Vlad certainly was in the right, but Dan was the one with all the power that could render who was 'right' and who was 'wrong' a non-issue in a single shot.
Amazingly, it was Dan who yielded first, diverting his gaze to one side with an exasperated snort. "Whatever, Vlad."
"Thank you." Vlad let his expression soften slightly. "So as I've inquired before; if you're not here to finish me off, then what are you doing here?"
"Actually, Vlad, it was kinda my idea." Tucker spoke up again, once he was sure there wasn't going to be a nuclear explosion. "I mean, things have been tense in the Ghost Zone and in Amity Park-"
"Yes, I recall hearing he-" Vlad gestured at Dan. "-had somehow returned despite being reportedly trapped outside of time itself."
"Clockwork." Dan growled. "That was an unpleasant six months."
"Six months?" Vlad quirked an eyebrow. "You've been gone a year-"
"Yes, I'm quite aware of that." Dan interrupted with a scowl. "Six months of it were spent crammed into one of those accursed thermoses."
While Vlad had never had the 'pleasure' of being caught in one of Jack's insidious little ghost traps, he could only shudder at the thought. Six months of entrapment, it was no small miracle that the ghost was even remotely sane after that!
"Yeah..." Tucker didn't want to even imagine what that must have been like. "And Dan's kinda gotten over all that... but try telling that to Valerie."
Vlad quirked an eyebrow at the cloud of rage that the huntress' name triggered in Dan's expression. "Yes, you do realize that she's not likely to forgive events very easily. She can be-"
"-quite dedicated to her work." Dan finished the sentence with a growl. "I'm well aware, and I couldn't care less what she thinks."
Vlad kept his thoughts to himself, but it was a revelation that would have rocked the billionaire back on his heels had he been standing. That was the voice of pure obsession, the same sort of senseless hatred that had propelled Vlad himself into scheming against Jack all those years ago. It was rather sobering to see the exact same emotion from the outside.
To think, had I succeeded in getting Daniel to join me back then... Vlad mused, deciding he had more in common with the ghost than he really wanted to admit; but he could see what Tucker was up to. They had no way to fight the ghost, so they had to seize upon the opportunity to prevent further violence by any means possible. If that meant giving the apparently lonely specter someone to talk to, so be it. Valerie was of course too set in her ways to do anything but shoot; but Vlad was older and perhaps a bit more removed from the disaster though he was at its source. To think, this might be what he would have been had things gone differently.
---
"If Clockwork will not act, there is little choice left."
The air hung heavy over the headquarters of the Observants, the complex completely filled to capacity for the first time in ages. It was rare for the one-eyed ghosts to gather en masse like this; they hadn't even all gathered when they dealt with Vortex. Indeed, they hadn't all gathered when Pariah was accidentally freed over a decade ago; nor had they all been present when it was decided to turn the Ghost King loose in a botched attempt at ridding the Ghost Zone of that fire-headed Danny Phantom. Only two had been dispatched to make sure that Phantom was dealt with a year ago.
That was then, however; and this was now. Clockwork remained tight-lipped about the so-called "plans" he had put in motion to stop the pending disaster. The gathered Observants had analyzed the situation several times over, yet they could find nothing to indicate that anything had been done. The Master of Time's movements were difficult to track of course, being that he could move freely across four dimensions while the ghosts could only observe events in three. Still, there was no sign that Clockwork had done anything at all; his inaction would surely doom them all if nothing was done soon!
"If Clockwork will not act to stop this disaster, then we must..." The leader of the gathered ghosts hesitated on voicing what they all knew already. "... We must interfere directly."
"Will that be enough?" Another voice chimed in. "We know the terrible power he has at his command. Our force is no small matter, but can anything stop his destruction?"
"It is impossible, there is nothing on Earth or in the Ghost Zone that can compete with that!"
"We have no choice!" A third protested. "We cannot simply sit and watch him destroy everything!"
---
It was deep within the Ghost Zone, a spot of void like every other spot of void. To the untrained eye, it was a location of no consequence; merely a spot in the center of a floating cloud of rocky debris. To a ghost trying to navigate the debris field, it was a welcome respite from the boulders and rocks.
It was where Pariah's Keep had once stood, a deadly fortress in years past. Reduced now to rubble thanks to Dan's struggle against the Ghost King, it was merely one more cloud of wreckage in the Ghost Zone; no different than the wreckage that remained of Walker's prison or any other landmark that Dan saw fit to destroy in his deadly rampages. Many deemed the location as being no longer significant.
There was a sound, low and creaking and faintly reminiscent of heavy cloth being torn. The phenomenon had been noticed years ago by the denizens of the Ghost Zone, and it had summarily been dismissed as yet another oddity of the spectral realm.
If only they had known what it truly meant...
Author's Note: And back to the cliffhangers. I'll have you know the ending scene of this chapter gave me all sorts of grief, because I didn't want to write it in a way that gives too much information away too soon; but I still wanted it to be a cliffie. In any case, the action picks up and the plot thickens in the next chapter, so I hope to see you there!
And as always, huge thanks and virtual cookies (I know I've done cookies before, but dangit, as long as I've been doing this, I'm running out of options!) to my super-awesome readers and reviewers: Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, i AM the Random Idiot, Fulcon, Eleirah, Akino Ame, Luiz4200, Selofain, Moony's Metamorphmagus, BaronOBeefDip, Yenattirb, Serphenia, Hunter097, and Tie-dyed Trickster!