.

.

.

When Clockwork first took Danny on as an apprentice, he'd laid out some ground rules for when he unexpectedly found himself in an unknown timeline. As Apprentice of Time, Danny was more likely to attract anomalies like natural portals and the like, and when that was combined with his innate bad luck regarding portals, well… winding up in weird places wasn't quite a weekly occurrence, but saying it was wouldn't have been a huge exaggeration.

That's all to say, Danny appreciated the rules. He didn't want to wind up never having been born again, or, worse, making it so that one of his friends had never been born. Or causing an apocalypse. Or wrecking the future. Or—

There were just a lot of problems that he could, and had, caused.

If Clockwork were able to pick Danny up right away every time, most of the rules probably would have been unnecessary. But he wasn't. Mostly because of physics-shaped problems involving paradoxes and how too many time portals in the same general area could screw things up, but also because of Observant- and politics-shaped problems. And, Clockwork had admitted to Danny, sometime Clockwork left him somewhere because he was supposed to be there.

The first rule was to lay low. Avoid people when possible, except to acquire basic necessities. Avoid major events, crowds, protests, and cameras. Avoid important-looking buildings.

Do not offer help unless asked first, or unless the person is a ghost. There was, evidently, a loophole that made it okay for Danny to interact with ghosts even in places where it wasn't okay for him to do the same to humans. Clockwork had said ghosts fell under Danny's 'jurisdiction,' a term that seemed just a bit too weighty with meaning for Danny. As for being allowed to help when asked… Well, Clockwork knew that Danny was incapable of not helping. Although he did ask that Danny be subtle and indirect about it.

He was also not supposed to fight anyone unless he himself was directly attacked, for similar reasons.

The fourth rule was to stay within the accepted rules of the world he found himself in, where possible. In other words, if people generally didn't believe in ghosts or the supernatural, don't challenge that belief by using his powers in public, but if superpowers were common, it was okay to use them.

The fifth was that, if he found himself in the past, leave civilized areas. With the threat of unpersoning himself hanging over his head, Danny took that one very seriously.

The sixth, the one that made Danny feel like a little kid despite his real age, was, if the previous rule didn't apply, try to stay in the same general area he first found himself in.

There were others, of course, and special ones for special circumstances. For example, if he was captured by law enforcement, or injured, or actively in danger, or if he didn't know what time period he was in. Different sets of rules prevailed if he was actually on a mission.

Clockwork had also told him that the rules no loner applied if it took him more than two weeks to find Danny. That, if he'd been waiting for that long, something had gone wrong, or Clockwork was unable to find him or pull him out.

It had been just under half that time, and Danny was starting to get worried. More worried.

He pulled his legs up, closer to himself. He didn't need to conserve warmth, being what he was, but the action was comforting and the abandoned warehouse he was in was weird and creepy.

This whole timeline was weird and creepy. Also, semi-apocalyptic. They were going through some serious societal upheaval. Danny wasn't entirely sure why, having only been here for six days, but he was pretty sure it had to do with the nascent ghosts partially overshadowing people and giving them power.

At least, that's what it felt like. Danny wasn't sure. The next nearest thing to this he'd ever encountered was a warlock, and that had been just one person. Ghosts were under his jurisdiction, but, like the warlock, the people with powers here didn't quite feel like ghosts, and he wasn't sure how trustworthy news sources saying that metahumans were all soulless degenerates were…

Hopefully, he wouldn't have to find out. Hopefully, Clockwork would pick him up before another week went by.

He didn't think the government here could actually catch him, but some of the things they apparently did to metahumans made his core ache. It was a very X-Men-like situation. Except, well, set in Japan.

Why Japan?

But! Eight more days. Tops. Clockwork would get him.

Before he'd finished the thought, something blew the door of the warehouse in and a ropelike appendage hurtled towards Danny's corner.

He reacted. Rules were, if someone attacked him, he could respond in kind, and if superpowers were common knowledge, he could use his.

There were at least a dozen of them, all of them displaying an eclectic array of superpowers, some reminiscent of Danny's ghostly enemies, others entirely novel to him. A fair few also had guns. One man even used multiple powers. Needless to say, the battle was incredibly one sided.

In Danny's favor.

Hey, he'd been doing this for years, and he was very comfortable with his abilities. Most of these guys weren't. Most. The multiple-power guy had been challenging.

Danny examined his captives. He should probably just knock them out, then go find a new hideout somewhere else, but he wanted to know why he was attacked, first.

"So," he said, deciding that the curly-haired man with multiple powers was probably the leader, given the way the battle had been structured, "why did you and your goons attack me?"

"I heard you were like me," growled the man, attempting to escape Danny's telekinetic hold. "I'm looking for a power that can help my brother."

Danny twitched slightly at the word help. "What do you mean, like you?"

"You can take powers, too," said the man, staring up at Danny with desperate, hungry, red eyes.

Danny blinked, frowned. "You thought I could help you, or your brother, so you attacked me?" His frown became deeper. "Or did you attack me to, what, steal my powers?"

The man squirmed.

It was. That was such a ridiculous villain cliché, although the brother thing was a twist. People could get desperate about their families and do terrible things.

Including Danny. As had been proven many, many times.

His heart and stance both softened. This counted as a request for help, right? And the guy was sort of ghostly. On the other hand… Transplanting whatever it was giving these people powers willy-nilly couldn't be healthy, especially if it was related to ghosts.

(Multiple ghosts in one body… It reminded him of his dark future self, which was never good.)

"Okay," he said, dragging a hand down his face. "Alright. What exactly does your brother need help with?"

The man clearly hadn't expected Danny to ask this question. "He's sick," he said. His eyes gleamed at the edge of tears. "His body is tearing itself apart, DNA molecule by DNA molecule. If I could just find the right ability, I could save him," the man's voice broke, "I know it."

Molecule by molecule, huh?

Actually… that was something Danny could help with. Crud. People had powers here, right? He was being asked for help, wasn't he? He was staying within the rules. Especially seeing as these guys were like warlocks. He was only doing warlock stuff.

"If I help you with this—if," he stressed when the man perked up. "If I help you with this, I need two things from you. Well, three, really. Actually, no, four."

"Name them," declared the man.

"Yeah, I was about to," said Danny. "Anyway, first, you need to ask your brother if he wants this. If he doesn't, you have to come back here and return it. Asap. As in, tomorrow." He was pretty sure he could get Clockwork to give him a day, even if he came to pick Danny up right now.

"Those are your first two conditions, then?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah. Third one is, you have to stop taking powers from people who don't give you permission. The end of that road isn't pretty." At least, he was pretty sure it wasn't. All those little maybe-ghosts, slammed together… Even if it didn't have any immediate effect on this guy's personality, the resulting ghost could wind up possessing him. If the ghost vaguely wanted to go with him, that might change things. Maybe. At least, it'd slow things down.

If this worked the way he thought it did.

The man scowled. "And you know this, how?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Look, you're the one who said I was like you, not me. Too much of these powers can mess you up."

"If the number is the problem, it shouldn't matter how I take them."

"Do you ever get bad dreams?"

The man stilled completely. "What do you know about that?"

Danny shrugged. "Enough," he said. "Do you want to be overwhelmed by your powers? Do you want to explode? It could happen." Actually, Danny had no idea if it could happen or not. But it sounded good. "More importantly, do you want to help your brother or not?"

"Of course I do!"

"Great!" said Danny, clapping his hands together. "Let's finish this up somewhere privately, okay?" He grabbed the man's shoulder and phased them through the floor into the basement, which he lit with a ball of ectoplasm. "Okay," he said. "Fourth thing."

The man was staring at the ectoplasm with undisguised curiosity. "What is it? Money? A new identity? Passage out of the country?"

"Uh, no," said Danny. What would he do with any of that, after all? "I need to know the full story behind you and your brother."

"What? Why? Don't you know enough?"

"So that I can be sure that I can help, first off. Also, the way I'd be doing it involved me giving you something rather personal, so…" He trailed off with a gesture that indicated he expected the man to talk.

He sighed. "My name is Shigaraki Hisashi. My brother's name is Kazuki, and he's been sick since we were children…"

Danny let him give a summary of his life up until this point. He had the vague feeling that he wasn't being told everything of importance, but, then, not everything about a person's life could be condensed into an hour or so of storytelling.

Apparently Hisashi had basically raised Kazuki, and once Hisashi's meta power had come in as a young adult, they'd been completely abandoned by their parents. Hisashi had put together a group of freedom fighters (Danny skeptically recalled the guns, but also forced himself to remember the hints that there might be something like concentration camps for power users) to defend himself, his brother, and others with power. But Kazuki's illness made him incredibly vulnerable, and as he was Hisashi's one major weakness…

The feeling that he was living through an 'X-Men Japan' comic intensified. He felt so sorry for this guy. Danny knew what this kind of life was like.

"Alright," he said, softly, finally, "I can help. And, this probably doesn't mean anything coming from me, but that better world you were talking about? Where people with powers and people without can coexist? I think you'll be able to make it happen. Just don't let anyone stop you."

"I don't intend to."

Danny nodded. "I can give you something to help your brother. A power," he clarified. "But I need you to know, it could change him."

"Change him?"

"His personality."

"You were saying something about that before. Forgive me if I don't agree with you. These powers are tools."

"Okay, sure, but even just having more options can influence how a person behaves. Just warn him before you give it to him, okay?"

"Of course. I'm a man of my word, after all."

"Right," said Danny. "Give me your hand."

"A handshake?" asked Hisashi.

"Not exactly."

Danny let a minuscule, almost microscopic, piece of his core break free from the whole. It hurt like a knife to the chest, and some of his physical and mental abilities would be impaired for a while, but he had done it before, and it would heal before long. A fragment this size would give a power on par with those he'd seen so far in this world. It would also grow, of course, but it was unlikely for any human to live long enough for that to become a problem.

He let it pass into Hisashi, and the man shivered.

"That should strengthen his body without being too much of a burden on him," said Danny.

"What kind of power is it?" asked Hisashi, reclaiming his hand and flexing his fingers.

"Uh," said Danny, casting about for something vague that would fit. "A gradual stockpile of power. That enhances the user's body." That should be close enough. "Remember, ask first."

"I will, I will," assured Hisashi one more time. "And you can be sure I'll be returning regardless, to thank you."

"Uh huh."

It took a while for Hisashi and his men to clear out. Longer still for Danny to find a new place to sleep. But he did.

He woke to a time medallion around his neck and Clockwork's exasperated expression. "Daniel," he said, "what did you do?"

.

Toshinori and Izuku stared at Danny with open mouths.

"You're the original stockpile user?" yelled Izuku, pointing.

Danny smiled sheepishly. "Surprise?"