Danny was alert.
It wasn't that the plane had anything on it that was suspicious, but that nothing happened.
Nothing had Happened!
He had just left the border of Amity Park an hour ago and there was no sudden air turbulence or exploding engines, not even a ghost sense
As Danny was saying, highly suspicious.
This morning he had finished packing up all of his clothes and a few of his parents' weapons; lip blaster, small guns, extra thermoses, a mini portable Fenton Portal ect.
( Leave nothing to chance, for the odds are never in your favor except when they are. )
He had bid farewell to his parents and Vlad who had stopped by, refusing to be dropped off by Vlad by saying he didn't need dropped off.
( Behind him Vlad smiled and pulled out some files from his brief case before turning back to Danny's parents. His plan was almost complete. )
Thankfully he could fly to the air port or he would have missed the flight. That Vlad hadn't taken advantage of the time to convince his parents to drive him was suspicious, but it probably had something to do with his new phone.
Vlad's company recently put out a phone secretly filled with ghost tech that could get signal 'anywhere' they claim and no one has been able to disprove the claim. It has become an internet challenge to try and find a place where it doesn't have signal.
( The Fenton phones got signal in alternate dimensions and across time, good luck finding a place where the upgraded Masters phone doesn't.
Meanwhile Flash and some of his fellow superheroes, in the space station, were staring at his new phone in disbelief. He had just answered a call How did he even have signal up here?! )
Vlad had convinced his parents that he should get him one as a beta tester for all new updates which also came with a check in his new bank account every month. The zeros always gave him a headache but maybe he could pay for the schooling it takes to become an astronaut with the money he earns reporting the errors he sometimes has on his phone when he visits the ghost zone.
( Danny had adamantly refused the phone, his parents were another story
The technicians however were wondering about the genius beta tester kid the ceo found who's traveling dimensions constantly and finding fixes for dimensional glitches before the people who are actually trying to glitch the phones, honestly when did the kid have time to figure out the Bermuda had a time stream glitch that messed with the clock's time zone? )
Vlad sends him messages on his new phone everyday asking how he is. Danny tolerates the phone because he can communicate with his sister, Jazz even when he's in a different time-stream. Danny usually texts instead of calls because one time Danny had called in the Bermuda and it was past his bed time, Danny found a way to avoid the ghost zone portals' interference but better safe than sorry.
( Meanwhile, Klarion was cursing while looking at his phone. "This is the middle of the Bermuda Triangle how is the connection still okay! There are gates to hell here!" On the other side of the call Billy rolled his eyes. He'd been getting calls from the demon for weeks already.)
He made it to the airplane with time to spare which leads to this moment.
Just when he seriously debated leaving the plane and just flying the rest of the way everything froze.
( and so, time stopped. )
Danny smiled politely at his mentor but was wary of what he might request from him. ( most of his glitches occur on a task from Clockwork. )
" Clockwork," Danny greeted the ghost of time, " What can I do for you?"
" Good afternoon Danny, you know the plane is safe, right? None of the ghosts will risk breaking the treaty to bring you out of retirement." Clockwork smiled, to Danny it was slightly patronizing and he was overcome with a sense of foreboding.
( If Danny had gone ghost he would find out that the plane is inside a portable ghost shield that shocks any ghosts inside. Clockwork is fine because time is frozen. )
" Why?" Danny asked.
" Hm?" Clockwork smiled politely with his eyes closed, in his child form he looked like a cheeky kid with a secret.
" Why wouldn't they risk breaking the treaty?" If anyone else had told him that the ghosts didn't want to attack him and break the treaty he probably wouldn't have mentioned it.
Probably.
But this was Clockwork.
( And his mentor was never one to waste time )
" Because when you turn 18 you'll become the ghost king, and the observants can't do anything because I blocked all of their attempts for the past year thereby voiding their right, and yours, to intervene." Danny shot up straight eyes wide open, " By the way, Vlad just finished making you the official heir to his company after getting your parents' signatures.
For what it's worth, I am sorry Prince Phantom.
Time in"
And Clockwork was gone, meanwhile Danny held his head and the bridge of his nose as he repeatedly muttered, " why me?" In a pathetic tone.
Unbeknownst to Danny though, something was happening back home that was far worse then what he knew right then. And maybe the true reason Clockwork apologized.
( Jack and Maddie were reviewing the original schematics of the portal in order to build another for the town square, after having unknowingly signed away their son when they agreed to let Danny be Vlad's heir. When checking the schematic, though, they noticed an issue, and the reason the portal didn't work when they first built it.
The on button was on the inside of the portal, so how did it turn on?
How did Danny turn it on?
Maddie turned to Jack with tears in her eyes. Jack looked back with dawning horror.
Vlad never knew that Maddie was in charge of placing the button. He just blamed Jack, when the portal incidents were both Jack and Maddie's faults, he only ever blamed Jack. )
But Danny didn't know that, doesn't know what's been done, and won't find out for a long, long time standing in front of a grave not his own and yet his. Right now he was contemplating his life decisions, specifically the hero complex he will never admit to having.
( Why do I always have to save them, when they always hate me? )
