Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to update. Cursed school. Anyway. I believe I'll have the first chapter of Legacy of the Tamaranian up by the end of this weekend, so stay tuned!

Haven Base, Colorado

"Danny," Maddie said. It came out along side a laugh of joy. "Danny!" She embraced her son. Maddie had been fairly hopless for a long time. But now, with Danny and his power, the dread could be lifted! Her son could free the world! She told herself this. And she believed it.

"Mom..." Danny returned the embrace. Wow. Ten years. It had been ten years since she'd seen him. And so much had changed...

Danny sat down in a chair near Maddie's. "Mom," he said, "please tell me what is going on here! What happened?"

"Oh Danny. You... You haven't changed a bit. Where have you been?"

"Mom. I... I came here in a time machine. I've not been anywhere."

Maddie's eyes seemed to drop at that. He hadn't been training. He was not out learning some omnipotent technique as she'd so often told herself for comfort. He was the same he was when he'd dissapeared. Not everything had changed.

"Danny. A lot has changed since you've been gone."

"I need to know everything..."

In another room..

Marty's eyes flickered open. Everything was dark. His vision extened mere inches infront of his face. He rolled over, not sure what to make of the situation, and a soft feminine hand touched his arm. He rolled the way it pulled.

"Jennifer, is that you?" he asked, "I had the most horrible dream. Me and Doc went into the future and he got wasted... And I was attacked by a one-eyed mercenary. It was terrible."

"There, there now." A voice came. "You're safe now. In the security of the Haven Bunker."

Marrty sat up in his bed: "THE HAVEN BUNKER!" he blurted.

A light flickered on, and Marty looked up to see a hispanic woman in a faded yellow jumpsuit resembling the red one Valerie had worn in the past. "This place is secured against ghost attacks," she told him.

"How did I get here? Where is Dan... where is the Phantom?"

"Danny is with his mother," the woman told him. "I'm Paulina..."

She may have given her last name, but Marty was dazed and didn't hear it. So this was a ghost bunker? Some sort of shelter from Valerie's forces. Actually, Vlad's forces. Marty continuted to forget what Danny had told him. It didn't make any sense. If he wanted to rule the world, then why didn't he just declare himself ruler? What did he need the body of Valerie Gray for? How had it even lasted so long?

Marty surveyed the area. It was a long room with similar economy beds against the walls. A door at the far end released into a hallway that was visible through some windows. The base was apparently designed to prevent people from hiding out inside it, which made sense. Ghosts were know to phase through walls at random and other such acts of paranormal nonsense. And now that Deathstroke had destroyed the Striker Z time-machine, Marty didn't know how they would get home.

"What is your name?"

"Er... I go by Marty," he told her. She was so gorgeous! Of course, he was a married man, and she only interested him aesthetically. But her beauty only made him long for Jennifer's embrace all the more. Would he ever see her again?

"You're Marty!" Paulina's words and expression betrayed a suddenly understanding and a spark of hope. But sadness remained too. "I have something to show you, then. Can you walk?"

Back in Maddie's Chamber

"After we'd been driven out of Amity Park, we relocated to a government housing area. Well. A series of them. We stayed in New Mexico for several years. All the while, metahumans from around the world fought to contain the seemingly endless armies. The Empress Valerie..."

Danny cringed at that...

"... could summon and control legions of dead soldiers. I once heard that here are about as many people alive today as the sum of the lives in earth's history before this generation. I don't know if that is true, but I don't believe it. So many came from the portal that was stolen that day. Eventually, the Empress built a new portal. It could summon ghosts by the hundreds. How they stay under control, I have no idea. Sometimes we get a rogue ghost or two randomly doing something bad, but they mostly serve the throne...

"...The US Military was re-equiped with weapons that proved somewhat effective, and the metahumans continued to fight. Eventually, something of a truce was reached, and the Empire is no longer an expansionist force. But that may change. Because Superman was killed just last week and.."

Danny gasped at that. He interrupted his mother. "Mom. It isn't Valerie that is doing these things. Her body was possessed! This is really all because of.."

"Vlad," Maddie finished. "I know. After the town was destroyed, Jazz told me about your powers. Sam and Tucker found me and told me everything I didn't know. But even they didn't know that Vlad was behind this. They thought Valerie had gone insane and allowed ghosts to control her or something. None of it made sense unitl I reviewed the video of Superman's death..."

Maddie told him of seeing the explosion and the face in it. The face of Plasmius, the ghost Jack had 'defeated' all that time ago in Wisconsin. And then it make sense, because he looked exactly as Sam had described him to her.

"So..." Danny said. "Who are these people?"

Maddie sighed and smiled sadly. "Well, Paulina you know. Dash and Qwan are here too. Dora is the cousin of Paulina. Her parents were social relief workers killed in Africa years back. She was forced to survive on her own as a child. She had only her backpack and it's AI, and a genetically engineered sentient monkey named Boots as companions. Somehow she made it back to Norh America, where she lived with relatives. She was visiting Paulina's family when Vlad attacked Amity Park."

"Where are Tucker and Sam?"

That seemed to hurt Maddie. "Sam is here." She said sadly. "She comes and goes. She's changed a lot Danny. Her idealism is gone. All she wants now is revenge. Terrible. It really hurts to look at her anymore. What she's become is so unlike who she used to be and.."

Danny interupted. "But what about Tucker? And what does she want revenge for?" Danny was beginning to panick. When his mother of all people dodged a question, it was bad news.

"Oh, Danny. I'm sorry..." Maddie's expresion said it all. "A ghost who called himself Clockwork murdered him. Sam's been trying to find him ever since, but we believe he skipped this era. He can control time."

Danny's heart began to ache. The hole his father's death had caused had just been torn a few miles wider. His best friend was gone. And what hurt the most was that he was probably a slave to Vlad now. His eyes begand to water. But he didn't have time to be sad... He quickly let his grief give way to anger. And he buried that to use at a more oportune time. He was getting used to dealing with terrible tragedies.

"And the guy at the gate? With the green jumpsuit?" Danny asked, changing the subject.

"That's Gyzz. He's said to have a checkered past, but none of that matters. He's really smart, and pretty much runs this whole base. He upgraded Dora's backpack to hold weapons and such. In all there are about 20 people that call this place home. We do what we can to save pulsers from ghosts attacks, and we fight Vlad in any small ways we can."

"Pulsers?" Danny asked?

"It's what we call the living. Since they have a pulse. Now, dear, are you sure your alright? How did you get here? I mean... Where in heaven's name did you get a time machine?"

Danny told her of Marty and his time traversing Striker Z.

And that name seemed to enlighten Maddie...

Briefing Room

Gyzz manipulated his backpack, which was hooked into the complex's media system, with his thoughts. Eventually, the small screen flickered to life.

A grainy image of Doctor Emmet Brown appeared on the screen. He seemed to be in a hospital. He looked at the camera and addressed the viewers directly.

"Hello. I am Dr. Emmet Brown. The date of this recording is February 24, 2005. As you may know, the Green Lanter Core has set out to defend Amity Park General Hostpital here in Amity Park, Wyoming, from the continuos threat of the ectoplasmic army of Valerie Gray. Unfortunately, these brave men and women are unable to hold the army off much longer, and this hostpital will soon fall under direct attack. Most of the patients have been evacuated, however, and this world's heroes are making one last stand here in effort to slow the army down."

The video flickered out for a moment.

"This message is directed to my dear friend Marty McFly. If you are viewing this message, my friend, then I am likely long since passed on. I promise that I will remain in the ghost zone, if that is indeed my fate, and stay as far from the mind controlling amulet Valerie possesses as I possibly can. She will not have me without a fight.

"The purpose of this video is to inform you of a way home. I was able to sneak out and back in during an evacuation run, and am aiding in the battle in anyway I can. Unfortunately, I am unable to reach the proper speed to initiate the time travel mechanism inside the hospital, and can no longer escape. I fear I am doomed to go down with this structure. But it is not a paralyzing fear. I have repaired the Flux Capacitor and sequestered the DeLorean in the hospital basement. I hope it shall remain safe until the day it can be put to use in halting this terrible tragedy.

"Please, Marty. Make me proud. If the Phantom Child is with you, then tell him that all our hope is riding on him. And it is on you as well, Marty. This is the last wish of a man who's lived beyond his years in epochs he should never have seen. Good bye."

The video ended. Danny thought it was was powreful, and he was moved... But Marty was actually crying.

"Where and when did you find this tape?" Danny asked the room. Gyzz hesitated and Maddie answered.

"It wasn't a tape. It seems that this Doctor set up a machine to broadcast his message on a certain date. We monitor Amity Park of course, because we always expected you to return there first. Which you did. But Vlad did too, it seemed. Before we could get there, the time machine was taken by a group of ghosts. They all had the red eyes indicative of Vlad's control."

Vlad had gotten there first.

"Then we'll have to fight back. That machine is the only thing that can undo this!" This came, surprisingly, from Marty.

Danny was sick when he saw the way his mother looked at him. The expectant look she gave him when she wanted him to rise above himself and achieve greatness. He knew what she was thinking...

"Danny. You can defeat Vlad. You have the power to end this."

"No Mom, I don't," Danny said somberly.

"What do you mean?" Maddie's hope was gone. Now it was replaced by horror.

"Vlad is much stronger than I am. He was ten years ago and he's had ten more years to train today. I don't know what I can do."

Maddie suddenly realized something: He doesn't even know how he defeated the fire demon.

Master's Castle

"I swear it, my liege," said the informant, a small grey ghost. "I saw the Phantom Child. He has returned to Amity Park."

Vlad's mouth twisted in disgust. Why now? Why had he returned after ten years, just when Vlad was about to become ruler of the world?

He summoned his crystal communicator with the wave of his hand. His ghost vultures carried the huge crystal-ball esque device over to him.

"Hanma soucktah Rose!" Vlad said into the crystal, indicating the target of this correspondence.

"Howdy, Mi'lord," the dusty ghost on the other end grinned. "Need some holes in some varmits?"

"Please drop that ridiculous accent, Rose. I need you to find someone. Her name is Maddie."

"How can I go about finding someone with just her first name?"

"You idiot. I have a lead. Now listen closely..."