Kat sat cross-legged on a surprisingly clear area of desk; though considering the manner in which it became clear, perhaps it wasn't such a surprise. She stared at her hands and listened to her father off somewhere else, ranting to himself.

It had started out as ego. She had wanted nothing more than to prove she could beat herself. It was the ultimate contest of strength for her, and the loss was worse than any she had ever known. It had finally faded somewhat, leaving her feeling rather empty inside.

No longer was she concerned with appearances, at least, not in this case. Her counterpart was evil, and that was someone she could have been had things been a little different. She hated Electra more than she ever hated anything else, and it was almost a physical blow to realize that her hatred was directed at those qualities she saw in herself.

She needed to beat Electra. She needed to, and it wasn't even a matter of her ego anymore. She needed to prove that she wasn't that, that she was never going to be that, and…

And she didn't know what she would do if she lost a second time. For just a moment, she let the old hatred overwhelm her to better understand her opponent. Her eyes flashed red as she opened them again. "That's not me," she whispered emphatically. Fading into her true form, held together by nothing but thought and electrical impulses, she broke through to the human world to hunt the imposter down.

As the day wore on, Danny grew increasingly nervous that he had not been attacked. He knew he should simply be grateful that he was allowed to have a relatively normal day, but he couldn't seem to relax with AU Skulker and Electra still on the loose. They didn't seem like the type to spare people who got in their way.

The longer he thought about what might happen if they didn't find him, the more he regretted not hunting them down the night before. He shouldn't have given them the chance to power up, he thought, effectively forgetting that he'd been about to drop from exhaustion. It was almost a relief when his ghost sense went off, and the objects of his musing smashed through the window.

AU Skulker had managed a surprisingly passable mishmash of the two ecto-skeletons. If he had been working alone, he might have taken longer to do a better job. However, it appeared that Electra had thrown the two suits together using her power, and was probably the only thing holding them together. Danny wondered about that; Kat had never been able to. That she had been willing to admit it made him believe her since her ego wouldn't have let her simply hide the fact. At least, not when there was an opportunity to impress.

Judging by the way the ecto-skeleton sparked, Danny surmised that Electra had possessed it. That made perfect sense if he went by the way Technus usually worked. He ducked beneath his desk to transform, unnoticed among the throng of screaming, fleeing students, his mind already racing. All he needed to take out the "mistress" of electricity was a good jolt; without her to increase his power, AU Skulker would be defenseless again the half ghost.

His transformation rings had barely finished their job before the desk was suddenly whisked away. "Not trying to hide, are you?" AU Skulker laughed. He was used to fighting Shade, who was weaker and more inclined to subterfuge. He expected Danny to drop through the floor and try to get away; Shade would have. Consequently, he failed to dodge quickly enough when they boy lunged at him, fists first.

"Do you have to attack me in school?" Danny addressed the empty classroom before flying through the outer wall after his opponent. Certain that the fight was going to go a lot easier than he surmised, he let his guard down slightly.

Moments after clearing the edge of the brick, he found himself slammed to the dirt. "Good!" AU Skulker exclaimed. "I thought you'd be more of a challenge than my whelp."

It was like trying to touch live power lines, so Danny employed the method he usually used against Kat when circumstance drew them into a sparring match: maintaining as little physical contact as possible. He blocked a punch and returned with an ectoplasmic energy blast. "He's not your 'whelp'!"

"Not yet. But he will be. And so will you." He activated Skulker's wrist blades and charged forward.

The boy dodged and swung his leg around to kick the ghost in the back of the head. AU Skulker went intangible just before he crashed to the earth, causing Danny to lose sight of him until he erupted from the ground and caught the boy around the neck. Danny was used to Kat's playful jolts, but this was anything but playful. Electra must have increased her voltage output; it was all he could do to focus on not changing back, let alone think about counterattacking.

He thought he heard a shout, and then he was kneeling on the ground, twitching and shuddering from the shock. A voice that sounded suspiciously like his own demanded to know if he was okay, so he turned his head slightly. "What are…are you doing…here?" he managed.

Shade jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and grinned. "Your mom."

But they would kill her…Danny shook his head and stumbled to his feet. "Stay here!" he commanded.

Shade watched him go, more than happy to allow them to fight for him. There were only a handful of ghosts that he had never beaten, and Skulker was one of them. In fact, it had taken the combined efforts of a whole shielded community just to get him weakened enough to capture. And that was only the first time; he had since grown stronger. Shade had finally gotten to the point where he let himself be dragged back into the Ghost Zone before trying to escape simply to minimize any damage the hunter might do.

Somehow, the knowledge that a tiny bit of ectoplasmic goo was the force behind that killing machine did not help his courage any.

Suddenly, a voice spoke just behind and to his left, and he whirled around. "His friends managed to hack Skulker's system, I believe," said the aging spirit as though he unfamiliar with the terms. He smiled slightly and didn't appear to notice when he became somewhat younger before the half ghost's eyes. "You were wondering how to defeat him, weren't you?"

"Who are you?" the boy demanded.

"You remember me, Shade. I took Danny home after he helped defeat your Plasmius."

Shade did not become any less suspicious. "The Guardians of Space weren't very good," he pointed out.

Clockwork nodded sadly. "That's true. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly 'good' myself. I freely admit that I have my own agendas. However, I can assure you that I'm not evil in any sense."

Shade thought for a moment, then nodded acceptance. "So you're here to take me home?" he asked hopefully. At the now child-like ghost's headshake, he wilted.

"There's something missing from this fight, you know," he mentioned vaguely in a voice that did not fit with his appearance. It was rather unnerving. "Ah, there she is. I was wondering when she would arrive."

Shade looked but didn't immediately see what Clockwork was talking about. Suddenly, a flash of light threw three people in two directions, and the space they had previously occupied was taken up by what looked like a warring pair of electrical storms. AU Skulker's battle suit held together, however, proving that it had been put together just fine despite the hurried job. Danny and Maddie recovered quickly enough to avoid being pulverized by their opponent while Kat drew Electra farther away.

"No," Clockwork said. "There's something else…" He stared at the ghost boy out of the corner of his eye, amusement etched into his features while he waited to be noticed.

"Me?" Shade squeaked after a moment. "I-I can't beat Skulker!"

"Certainly with that attitude you can't," the again-aging ghost agreed. The constant shifting made Shade a bit nauseous.

"He's too strong for me!"

"He was too strong for my Danny once. And that Skulker is too strong for him now, even with Maddie's help. They need you."

Shade had never been more inclined to stomp his feet and throw a childish tantrum. "I'll only get in the way!"

"Look at them!" Clockwork exclaimed, gesturing emphatically. "They are losing, Danny. You are stronger than you think, believe me. Ebony Angel wouldn't have accepted your friendship if she didn't think so, and you know she wouldn't have called you Ivory Demon."

Shade cringed at the memory. He had always been hesitant to tell people that part, what with the rumors that he was behind the massive ghost attack. They had just started to spread when the mercenary rode into town with orders to destroy him. He still failed to understand why she changed her mind; she said he reminded her of herself… People had heard enough of the dialogue that he had to make something up, and thus, Ivory Shadow was born.

Apparently sensing the direction of his thoughts, Clockwork continued. "You defeated the greatest bounty hunter on the East Coast; that's no small feat. Now, go help them and prove that you are worthy of the name she gave you."

The look in Shade's eyes was reminiscent of a deer caught in the headlights. He glanced back at the battle, and his expression hardened. Danny was his hero, and he refused to watch Maddie die a second time. He was Ivory Demon, darn it, and he wouldn't let them down!

Danny put up a shield as his mother ducked behind him. They had entered a state in which nothing mattered except the fight, and he didn't even bother to wonder at her easy acceptance of his help. After a token, "Get out of here; I'll handle it," she had barely said two words beyond, "Look out!"

Maddie, for her part, felt much the same. Initially, she had worried about her little boy, but even that had faded in the face of necessity. She felt the beginnings of concern as she hid behind him and noticed how exhausted he seemed, but that was forced to the back of her mind as the attack broke through and blasted them both to the ground.

AU Skulker strode forward, self-satisfaction plainly evident even through the machinery. "I haven't had a fight like that in years," he mentioned, obviously pleased. "A shame it's over now, but I can't risk the two of you escaping. You might actually win next time." He raised his arm cannon, but before either of them could react, a blast of green energy hit him from out of nowhere, followed closely by a white blur.

"Shade!" Danny yelled. "Get out of here! You're not strong enough to be beat him!"

"I beat Ebony Angel!" the boy called back, punctuating each word with a blow. "And I can beat some stupid puddle of goop!"

Danny grinned briefly and decided not to point out that Angel was only human, and not nearly a match for Skulker. The kid finally had his confidence back, and he wasn't about to ruin it again. Instead, he checked that Maddie was all right before they both charged back into the fray.

With the three of them involved, Maddie and Shade were able to focus on the weak points Skulker had told them about while Danny harried the armored ghost and drew the majority of his attacks. Finally, the combined ecto-skeletons fell apart and the real AU Skulker tumbled out. He barely had time for an enraged squeak before Shade sucked him into a Fenton Thermos.

"Where's-" Danny began, but he was interrupted by the painful shriek of either Kat or Electra as she crashed to the ground and halfway through it.

"Give me that!" the other demanded, using her power to pull the thermos from Shade's grasp.

"No!" yelled the one Danny hoped was Electra as she was pulled in with AU Skulker. "You can't win! I'm the best! Me!"

The remaining astral gremlin proved she was, in fact, Kat when she let her eyes fade back to brown, although the boy was tempted to wonder when she said quietly, "It wasn't about ego."

There was silence all around the battlefield as the former combatants wondered what came next. "Where's Skulker?" Danny asked quietly. "Ours, I mean."

"In the Assault Vehicle," Maddie answered, just as quietly.

"Can't she get out?" Shade asked Kat, all traces of his former fear replaced by something akin to challenge.

Kat deigned not to notice and allowed some of her arrogance to return. "Not while I'm holding it."

"Or I am," Clockwork piped up, startling everyone. He floated into their midst and held out his hand. "If you please."

Katrina Technus actually blushed and cowered slightly. "Of course, Master of Time," she murmured respectfully, handing the thermos over with very little hesitation. Danny would have paid money to see that again.

Clockwork started to turn, then stopped as though just remembering something. "By the way, death threats are rather useless against ghosts, don't you think?" Kat faded from sight. She had been so certain her ill-tempered comment from the Bone Dragon's attack wouldn't actually make its way back to him.

Maddie, who had been forced into far fewer encounters with the gremlin than her son, still knew her well enough to join in the laughter at her expense. The sudden appearance of the ghost who couldn't seem to decide on an age for any length of time had put her back on edge, but no one else seemed particularly bothered. She decided to take her cues from Danny and let him lead.

Danny glanced at his mother and wondered at her quiet, then changed his mind and decided to be grateful. "So you're here to take Shade home?" he asked even though it was blatantly obvious.

Clockwork was kind enough not to point that out, contenting himself with a nod. "If you have anything to say, now is the time. You won't be seeing each other again." Not if he had any say in the matter, he amended quietly, still angry at the complete disregard for order the self-titled Guardians showed.

Maddie dropped back to return to the GAV. Kat was still nowhere to be found, but the sudden lack of static discharge implied that she was gone as well. Danny and Shade strode up to each other to shake, for once as equals rather than a master and his apprentice. "Will you be okay?" Danny asked.

Shade nodded, then nodded again more forcefully. "Yeah, I'll be fine," he answered, almost surprised at his own conviction. Then he flashed a lopsided grin. "I'm you, after all, right?"

Danny returned the grin and, in a flash of insight, said, "Nah. I think you're you."

Shade backed away slightly and turned to Clockwork. It was on his lips to ask if he could visit sometime, but it was with no surprise that he heard himself say, "I'm ready."

Then they were gone.