Chapter Twenty-Two: Memories
"My leg is falling asleep," Technus whined.
"Quiet!" Skulker growled. "They'll hear us."
Perched in a tree, the two former ghost-generals, each responsible for thousands of human deaths, where looking inside a window of Fenton Manor, concealed both by invisibility and by Skulker's masking gas.
"Why do we not strike now?" Skulker asked the empty air.
"Because," came a mechanical voice, "Master Vladimir says to wait until every member of the family arrives." From out of the shadows, the insect-like HEXAPOD clambered out, its pincers gripping into the trees.
"Well, that doesn't seem feasible," Skulker said.
"It doesn't matter," Technus said. "As long as I get my paycheck, I'm fine."
Skulker sighed irritably. Technus never understood the subtleties of the hunt. The immense waiting time, the patient watching, the rush of the chase, and the thrill of success. Instead, he sat up in that tree and complained about every stupid thing. If not for Vlad's specific orders, Skulker might have been inclined to boot Technus so hard that his ghostly butt would go up between his shoulder blades.
"Oh, that's it!" the hunter snarled quietly. "If I don't see some carnage within the next five minutes, I'll blast the first thing I see!"
As Technus and HEXAPOD gave ground to the enraged ghost, the William Tell Overture sounded out from his forearm. "What is it?" Skulker asked, irritated.
"This is the Piper, sir," came a voice from the comlink. "I encountered the ghost-girl out in the forest, and she...well, she..."
"She what?"
"She...kinda...vanished."
Skulker gave no immediate reply. Instead, he gave an unreadable expression, then said, "Converge on our location, and keep quiet."
"Understood. Piper out."
After a few more minutes of patient waiting, spying, and listening to Technus's complaints, Skulker saw that Piper had arrived, his green cloak tattered by a recent battle, flute in gloved hand. "Now then," Skulker growled, "What happened? Where is the ghost-girl?"
"I told you...she vanished." Piper replied, scared of the ghost hunter.
"And do you know why?"
"Uh...n–n–no..."
Skulker sneered, his mechanical scent receptors producing a very credible imitation of a snort. Raising his right arm to level with the green-clad ghost's head, a small cannon emerged from his wrist. In a blast of ectoplasmic power, a glowing blue net shot out from the cannon, encasing Piper in its grip.
The green ghost let out a yell of surprise and pain. "What are you doing?"
"Dealing with you the way my employer would," Skulker answered as he pressed the button to electrocute the net.
The first thing she realized was that it was cold.
Very cold.
As Ellie opened her eyes, she came to realize that she was lying in the middle of a strange room. Through her bleary eyes, she could make out a series of giant cogs and sprockets, each intertwined in an endless Babbage-like mechanism. Beyond that were Romanesque pillars spread out in quadrilateral form, supporting a ceiling that looked miles high. The entire mechanism ticked with a deafening resonance, and Ellie felt like she was being assaulted by the sights and sounds of the room.
Getting up with such effort that her head spun, she saw a great staircase leading up the impossibly high room. Deciding to explore–partly out of curiosity–she went ghost, flying upwards through the clockworks. Eventually, she emerged at the top of the room, gaping at the sight.
There was another room astride a balcony near the ceiling, completely devoid of the mechanisms of the former. Instead, it was furnished with wooden beams and floorboards, like that of a clock tower. Also–like a clock tower–there was a giant clock face of stained glass fixed into one of the walls.
Suddenly a voice came from behind Ellie: "Oh good. You're up."
Ellie wheeled around to face who had spoken to her, and came face-to-face with the strangest ghost she'd ever seen.
He seemed to be a twenty-year old man, clad completely in shades of purple: lavender tunic, violet cloak, and plum gloves with numerous wristwatches upon them. His face was blue, containing solid, laser-red eyes, the right one being mutilated by a scar. In his hands was a blue staff with a stopwatch perched on top. On his chest was a clock pendulum encased underneath a glass cover.
"After all this time–or should I say lack of time–I was beginning to think you wouldn't visit me." he said with a frosty, wizened voice.
Ellie found this ghost incredibly strange. "Who...are you?" she asked.
"Introductions?" the ghost asked. "Very well then. I am Clockwork, Master of Time."
"And...why am I here?"
"Because we have your future to discuss."
Clockwork floated to the clock face in the wall, motioning with his gloved hand for Ellie to come near. Ellie walked over, looking intently at the clock: it didn't seem special in any way. Then, she saw a series of keyholes below the clock face, oddly placed in some sort of sequence.
"Um...sir?" Ellie asked. "What did you mean by my future?"
"Exactly that," Clockwork answered. "The series of events that will happen depending upon which path you choose. But first, you must know something."
"What?"
"About your ghost powers."
Clockwork pressed the timer on the stopwatch, and the clock face began to swirl in a rainbow of ornate color. Within moments, it dissolved into an image:
The clock face showed what looked like a fourteen-year old boy with white hair, green eyes, and a black and white hazmat suit. But this boy wasn't human: he was flying through the air by a spectral tail, towards a building burning with blue flame.
"Who's that?" Ellie asked.
"That," Clockwork said, "is the teenage Danny Phantom. Your father."
Ellie's mind went numb. It was a strange feeling: everything made sense, and everything was confusing as well.
"My father?"
"Yes," Clockwork said. "If you wish to know more, I suggest you keep watching."
Ellie focused back on the clock face:
Going intangible, Danny Phantom phased harmlessly through the azure flames engulfing the building. Inside, the fire was eating away at the supports of an apartment, which Phantom had the lack of luck to arrive in. Somewhere in the inferno, he heard a woman scream.
"It's alright!" he called to the screamer. "I'm here to help you!" After a few seconds of searching, he came across a cringing form wrapped in a purple shawl.
"Oh, Mr. Phantom!" the woman called. "Thank you! You're my hero!"
A jet of blue flame shot out from where the shawl covered the woman's head, nearly incinerating the ghost-boy, had he not altered the shape of his midsection to weave around the azure backdraft. The shawl burned away, revealing a young ghost woman clad in black leather. Her skin was pure alabaster, with extensive makeup painted on her face. Across her back was a flame-painted Les Paul guitar, and her hair was a blue ponytail that burned like flame.
"Ember!" Phantom exclaimed. "You started this fire?"
"You got that right, dipstick," the ghost replied. Taking the guitar from her back sling, Ember strummed a low chord, sending a sound wave screaming towards Phantom. The sheer concussion was enough to knock down a few beams of burning wood, along with sending Phantom flying back through two walls.
The ghost-boy got up, brushing off some errant flames from his hazmat suit. "Could we get this over with? Lancer's giving me a test in a few minutes, and I don't want to be late." He charged Ember, starting a grapple and forcing the ghost to drop her guitar.
"Being late's the least of your worries," Ember said. "Because once I burn your heinie alive, I'll find those two stupid friends of yours and fry them both!"
"Are you serious?"
"I'm so serious!"
Throwing him over her head, Ember laughed as she saw the ghost-boy buried under a pile of burning plaster and cinders.
"I did it!" she said in triumph. "I finally beat that little yutz!"
However, her triumph was interrupted by that same boy emerging from the flames unscathed.
"Uh-huh," he said sardonically. "Come back to me on that when you get some new one-liners. You know, ones that apply to this decade."
Pulling the cap off a thermos-like device on his belt, Phantom shot a blue-white vortex towards Ember. The ghost was encased in the glowing maelstrom, sent spiraling into the thermos before the ghost-boy clamped it down again.
"Well, that's that," he said, rising out of the building. The fire department was now controlling the fire, which had turned orange due to Ember's absence. "I'd better get outta here before anyone sees me."
Danny Phantom proceeded to land in a nearby alleyway, white rings forming around his midsection and spreading along his body, transforming him into someone Ellie knew from old photographs...
"Dad?" Ellie asked. "But...how did he..."
"Become half-ghost?" Clockwork asked. "Many years ago, your father was infused with ectoplasm by his parents' artificial ghost portal. Since this portal also released malevolent ghosts into his dimension, he decided to become Danny Phantom to face them."
This was all coming at once. It was more than Ellie could comprehend.
"Why didn't he tell us?" she asked.
"He didn't want to put his family in worry for him," Clockwork said. "Besides, his parents were ghost-hunters; what would you do if you were in his situation?"
Ellie was left speechless. Inside, she knew this ghost was right; she'd probably be even more reluctant to tell a pair of ighost-hunting/i parents.
"Indeed," Clockwork continued. "Now then, any more questions?"
Ellie thought of one. "How'd I get my ghost powers?"
"How do you think you got them?"
Ellie told Clockwork the theory she'd pondered on for months: "Through my parents?"
The Master of Time nodded.
She sighed. Considering what could have been, it wasn't that bad an origin. But the fact that her father was the most famous ghost on the planet still nagged at her.
"This is all too surreal," she said. "Why am I here?"
"Because," Clockwork said, "nobody else will deliver this news to you before you make the wrong decision."
"What wrong decision? What will I do? How do you know all this?"
"Well, you see," Clockwork said, "for me, time moves backwards, and forwards, and–oh, why am I bothering? You're fourteen." Throughout this little speech, Ellie watched in wonder as the ghost's age changed spontaneously from child, to man, to venerable ancient, back to man again.
"Wow..." she said in awe. "You can manipulate time?"
"Of course."
"Then...I have one more question," Ellie said shyly. "What did you mean by 'the wrong path?'"
"Oh, that," Clockwork said. "You are about to be faced with a decision that will change your life forever. One path leads to sorrow and misery, the other to a life of happiness. I have brought you to my realm to help you choose correctly."
"Choose what correctly?" Ellie was getting impatient. "What is it you're talking about?"
"In order to know that," Clockwork said, changing into an elderly man, "you must see a section of your father's past fifteen years ago." He pressed the button on his stopwatch, bringing another image from the clock face:
It was a scene of tranquility. A grand waterfall cascaded down a magnificent mountain, filling the depths of a vast lake below. On the top of the mountain, there was a stately cabin, larger than most and far more decadent. As the image closed in, it revealed a man standing out on the balcony overlooking the falls. That man was Vlad Masters. He looked younger somehow, as he stood upright without a cane. The lines of age were still in his face, though, and his eyes were fixed on a distant object closing in.
As the object on the horizon became clearer, Ellie saw what it was: a twenty-four year old version of her father in ghost mode. As he closed completely on the balcony, he landed right in front of Vlad, a scowl on his face. He looked very much like his high school self, save for the fact that his muscular structure was far more developed, and his bangs were a bit shorter than those of his teenage hairstyle.
"Why hello, Daniel," Vlad said silkily. "What brings you here today?"
"Don't start with your sleazy businessman talk," Danny said coldly. "I just figured it out. It was you. It's been you all along."
"What are they talking about?" Ellie asked.
"They speak of the Ghost Wars," Clockwork explained, "which Vlad Plasmius started."
"But Vlad Masters couldn't have..." She trailed off, thinking about what she was seeing in the mirror.
Vlad Masters.
Vlad Plasmius.
Ellie refocused her eyes on the image, still in deep thought.
"Why Daniel, whatever do you mean?" Vlad asked.
"You were the one who started this whole war! You were the one who funded both sides, trying to destroy those I care about!"
Vlad smiled snidely. "Oh dear, you've found me out!" he said mockingly. "And just what exactly are you going to do about it?"
"What I should have done a long time ago," Danny replied in a voice of blood. He charged at Vlad, who promptly disappeared, reappearing in a nearby armchair.
"Oh, stop it, Daniel," he said. "You and I both know that you don't stand a chance against me!"
"I've beaten you before," Danny said hotly.
"Then why am I still around?"
An explosion of shadow later, Vlad transformed into his ghost half, casting an eerie rose-colored light on the balcony. He brought his hands to a perpendicular angle with his body, and they spat amethyst light right at Danny, who was knocked back by the force. The ghost-man growled, his eyes glowing green, and lunged at Vlad once more, this time connecting with the older man.
The battle was fierce. Each opponent seemed to know the other better than a sibling, more intimately than a lover. It didn't matter what move either used: punch, kick, ghost ray, ecto-shaping, and duplication were all in vain, as each could counter the other's techniques with utter ease. Eventually, they came to a standstill outside the balcony, Danny on the edge of Reichenbach Falls–incidentally, the spot where Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty fought to the death.
"You've improved posthumously," Vlad said with his casual air. "Why don't you join me, Daniel? You could have anything!"
"Forget it, Vlad." Danny spat the name out as though it were something foul. "You can never buy me."
"I don't have to," Vlad said. "Not when this war has molded you into a machine of war and driven you away from your friends and family. You haven't seen any of them in weeks, have you? Not even your new wife?"
Danny gritted his teeth in anger.
"Face it, Danny. We're exactly alike. Cop and killer. Each the same person, one step removed from being the one we hate most. I once said you'd join me by choice. Now, you have no choice left."
Danny grinned wryly. "Yes, I do."
Drawing in breath, Danny let out a truly ghastly sound from the depths of himself. The Ghostly Wail shook the house from its foundations, shattered rocks on the mountaintop, and even caused the falls to stop flowing. Even Vlad Plasmius seemed to be tearing asunder, collapsing on the falling balcony in a fizzle of darkness as he transformed back into a human.
As the Wail was finished, Danny sunk to his knees, transforming himself. In his exhaustion, he didn't seem to notice that the rocks he was standing on were collapsing out from under his feet.
The mountain imploded like a poorly made toothpick model.
Danny and Vlad fell into the mist of the waterfall...
Ellie couldn't speak. This was proving to be more than she could take in one sitting.
"What...happened?" she stammered.
"Both men were found by Valerie Gray, your father's friend," Clockwork said, "who happened to be in the area. Both survived, though Danny suffered a spinal cord injury. If not for his half-ghost attributes, he could very well have been killed."
"And Vlad?"
"Valerie used a pair of Ghost Gauntlets to separate his ghost and human halves. Until recently, the Plasmius part of Vlad was stored in high security at your house."
Ellie stared into space.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Too much sense for comfort.
Sitting on the ground, she went over what she'd found: her powers came from her father, who was crippled by Vlad, who was Plasmius, who had lied to her and tried to make her his new protegee...
A tear crept from Ellie's eye down her cheek.
"Take. It. Back," she said bluntly.
Clockwork said, "What do you mean?" It seemed as though he knew the answer already.
"I said take it back!" Ellie screamed. "You have time-control powers! You're practically a god! You can save my daddy!"
"No, I can't," Clockwork replied. He didn't seem so much sad as tired.
"WHY THE HECK NOT?" Ellie's voice shook through the tower.
"Because it is necessary that these events occur."
"Then take it away! I don't want my powers anymore! Take them away!"
"How could I possibly do that?"
"I don't know! Just do it!"
"No," Clockwork said firmly.
"Why?" Ellie cried. "I don't want my bad dreams! I want my life back..." She collapsed on the floor, sobbing profusely.
She felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. "Ellie," came the soft voice of the Master of Time as he transformed into a child. "You must understand that everything happens for a reason. Your father was meant to become paralyzed, just as you and your brother were meant to gain his incredible powers."
Ellie looked up at the ghost. He looked kind as a child.
"I...just wish...it could go away..." she sobbed.
"It's alright. So do many others, but they cannot decide that. A wise man once said that all we can do with a bad situation is do what we can with the time that is given to us. You have to make a decision soon. One that will affect your life forever."
Clockwork pressed a button on the stopwatch of his staff. In a flash of light, Ellie found herself and the ghost back in the massacred field where she had fought Piper. The sight of it brought more tears.
"If it is any consolation," Clockwork said calmly, "I already know that you will make the right choice. Goodbye."
And in a flash of light, Clockwork vanished, leaving the ghost-girl crying in a ruined storybook glen.