AN: Tumblr prompt: Avengers mess with time and Danny (as Clockwork's Apprentice) has to set them straight

Drabble 22-Dino Land

"Daniel."

Clockwork didn't bother turning as Daniel, his apprentice, entered the room. He calmly floated over to Clockwork, looking at him expectantly.

"Yeah, what's up?" Danny asked, popping his gum.

"There is a team of super humans that are time traveling, and ironically enough I don't have time to intervene. And you need experience. I want you to take care of it."

It was probably one of the only times he had never been cryptic with Danny (After all, he did love a good riddle), but this was far too important.

Danny tapped his staff on the floor twice and disappeared in a swirl of whatever shade of blue his cloak was. He was very picky about his shades of blue.

—

When Danny landed, his stomach was swimming, and apparently, so was he.

He had landed in some sort of river, slowly going downstream. It was odd seeing no trees or buildings. It kind of reminded him of a desert.

At least, until he was lifted out of the water.

He didn't notice it at first until he blinked and he was suddenly in the air without having to fly. He looked down and yelped, almost falling off of…

A dinosaur?

His whole body was smaller than its head, and the thing's neck was freakin' huge. But that would explain the lack of buildings. And people. But he could see trees further off into the distance, along with something…Smoking? If people weren't around during this time, and there was no lighting, and it was just cool enough to not cause a fire, then that smoke should in fact not be there.

He lifted off of the dinosaur's head (it started with a b, he knew, but all he could think of was Long Neck) and flew towards the small trail of smoke, ignoring the way his pants pinched from the water.

He stopped about twenty or thirty yards away, invisible and intangible for convenience, and slowly glided over. He didn't want them to know he was there just yet.

There was one guy with his head in a ship that had a large red A on it, being griped at by a blonde guy with a bandage on his nose and stitched up gash on his forearm.

"We've been here for three days!" He whined. "What about my dog? Even worse, what about my coffee?!"

"Clint, calm down," the other guy said. "We'll be out of here in no time, all I have to do is build the whole ship from scrap parts because we're in freaking dinosaur land!"

So obviously there was a bit of tension between these friends. Probably because they had been stuck in dino land for three days, but hey, Danny wasn't going to jump to conclusions.

"Will you two knock it off?" A woman with curly red hair approached them, her hips swinging back and forth. She looked beautiful but Danny wouldn't touch her with a ten foot pole. Behind her was another blond guy who was taller and broader than the other one, with torn American spandex. Yikes.

"Nat's right," he said. "Besides, at least we beat Kang. And this problem is solvable. Right, Tony?"

The guy who was in the ship stuck his head out and wiped his brow, smearing grease across his forehead as he did so. "I don't know, Steve. We could be here a while. I only have so many materials, and there's no way I can use any prehistoric thing to make the ship go and time travel. Except for fuel, maybe, but it would take us weeks to get us even that."

"What about Thor?" Clint asked hopefully.

"He's MIA in our home time. He ain't answering anytime soon now," Steve replied. Clint didn't put any effort into hiding his disappointment. Danny almost felt sorry for him, but he knew of Kang the Conqueror, and if they beat him, well, they truly are a force to be reckoned with. He stepped through a tree, losing his invisibility half way through it, and greeted them.

"You guys beat Kang? How?"

Okay, so maybe not as politely as he would have thought, but he still wasn't mean, and that was the important part.

They all immediately hopped into a fighting stance, but nobody tried making a shot. He waved them off.

"Relax, I'm here to take you back to your own time. See the staff with the little hourglass on top?"

They still didn't back down, and he was pretty sure the guy named Tony was going to throw his wrench at him.

"How?" Nat asked, eyes narrowing.

"I…I don't know how the power works, I just kind of do it. Now do you want to go home or not?" He put his hand on his hip and gave them an irritated look. Clint was the first to drop his fighting stance, looking utterly exhausted as he did so.

"I do," he said. He raised his hand and fell onto the ground, sitting cross legged and looking like he wasn't gonna stand up again unless his life depended on it.

"Close enough."

Danny tapped his staff on the ground twice, and the whole site disappeared in a swirl of rainbow colors.

—–
"Where are we?" Steve asked. "And who are you?"

"I am Phantom, Clockwork's Apprentice, and you are all in the Ghost Zone. Which is how we knew you guys needed help. This place is kind of the gateway to lots of other dimensions and time because of all of the natural portals that pop up," he explained. "Anyway, you guys are super heroes, right? What's your name? The Justice League?"

"Who?" Clint asked.

"We are the Avengers," Tony but in. Danny made an 'o' shape with his mouth, nodding in understanding before he opened his hand and opened a portal with it. In it was their beloved city and Tower. They could see Thor on the roof, looking slightly confused but not dead so that was always a good sign.

"So we just…?" Clint asked, letting his sentence trail off.

"Walk right through, pretty much. Anyway, try not to do any more time travel, please. Deal?"

"We'll do our best. Thank you," Steve said, patting his shoulder. He stepped through the portal, and the others followed one by one, leaving Danny by himself. Even though he only knew them for a short time, he kind of missed them.

Maybe he could talk Clockwork into letting him hang out with them more.