You know he did it on purpose.

Valerie blinked back tears, but they escaped anyway to drip onto her tightly clenched fists.

You know that, right?

Danny would never have killed anyone, not on purpose. Ghost or not, he was still human.

Humans can be evil, too.

But Danny wasn't.

He hasn't been Danny for thirty years.

She could almost hear the cries, the pleas for mercy as people fled their former hero's wrath. They didn't understand; they couldn't understand what could drive a person to such murderous extremes.

But is it really an extreme? Violence is an art and a game. It is a thing of beauty, and the feeling is most satisfying. To hold a pillow over someone's face as they struggle beneath you, to know that you hold the very power of life and death in your hands, to know that death is nothing more than a change, that your loved one will always be with you…

Put like that, was it all bad?

When you take a life, you make it part of you…

And unbidden, the memory of Dan standing over her father, his eyes blazing red and a sneer on his otherwise emotionless face. A memory she was beyond realizing that she couldn't have had.

He killed your father. Kill him, and they will both be part of you.

Yes, kill him and-

"No!" Valerie shouted, throwing herself backwards in an effort to escape the mental trap. She put her hands over her ears as though to block out the voices, only vaguely aware of her audience. "Get out of my head!" Pain lanced through her wrist, finally driving Silver's voice away, and she fell to her knees. Sandruu relaxed his grip, but didn't let go. Someone, possibly Lucy, demanded to know how the psychic ghost had made it through the ghost shields.

"Valerie!" Danny said fervently, his blue eyes centimeters away and his hands tightly around her shoulders. "Valerie, listen to me. Don't listen to her."

Listen to yourself…

"Silver, shut up!"

"He did it on purpose." The world seemed to pause at the voice of Valerie's older self. Then Dan jumped to his feet, and the moment was gone.

"You're okay?" he gasped gratefully, almost without thinking.

She took the last few steps, eyes fixed on Danny. What was left of her gear sparked slightly; her helmet was completely gone. A silver dog-like creature with a vaguely human face trotted at her heels: Silver, projecting the image of a mauler instead of her own.

Do you remember Baltimore? the psychic asked. You wanted me, then. Why do you run from me, now?

"Leave them alone," Dan said, his voice low and menacing. "If you want him, you have to go through me."

Laughter echoed through their minds, but it was future Valerie who actually responded. She smirked and raised some futuristic weapon. "If that's how you want it." She fired. The older half ghost was unable to dodge or even shield himself as Silver telekinetically held him. There was a moment when everyone wondered what happened, then she let go. He crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Valerie cringed and buried her face in Danny's shirt.

Now, amante… Silver began. She was interrupted by a squeal of metal. Lucy yelled something, but it did nothing to stop the sickening crack of skull meeting wall at a high speed. That sound was followed by the second crack of a neck snapping; both of the teens had turned away by then. There was a metal thud, possibly Sandruu discovering that his fist went right through Silver.

"Andrew, stop!" Lucy sobbed.

Yes! Silver exclaimed joyously. Such rage! Such a killer! A more wonderful prize than even my niño! We will meet again, one day…

Danny risked a look back at the carnage. Lucy sobbed uncontrollably, leaning over her father's body. Valerie's older self lay against the far wall, her neck tilted at an unnatural angle. In the pale green glow of Sandruu's eye, he thought he could see blood on the wall. The cyborg turned then, his face a mask of rage, and lunged for the still-living Valerie. "You did this…" he hissed.

There was one, final crack as something heavy hit the protective metal plate in the side of Sandruu's head. He cried out and hit the floor as his machinery died. After a moment, his common sense intruded. His eye returned to its usual hue, and he dropped his head against the floor. "What did I do…?" he whispered.

"You could have stopped that," Danny muttered accusingly. Valerie turned her head to see whom he was talking to. It took her a moment to place why the time-obsessed ghost looked familiar.

Clockwork nodded once. "I could have, but that would have been interfering. This, however, I can do. Andrew, do you think you can keep your temper in check long enough to help in the past? Or do you need more time?"

"Why don't you send Luce?" the cyborg groaned without opening his eye.

"Because I'm asking you." There was an edge to his voice that Danny had never heard before. Apparently, it got through even Sandruu's thick skull because he gulped slightly and nodded. "Good. Lucy, I want you to go home and wait for me there. I have something else for you."

She seemed about to object, but thought better of it. She lingered for a moment to kiss her father goodbye, then fled. Clockwork sighed heavily, almost regretfully, and turned his attention back to Danny and Valerie. "As for the two of you, I'm sure you've realized you weren't supposed to be here. Do you think you're strong enough to prevent this?" Although his words were meant for them both, his eyes were on Valerie. She didn't answer. The ghost clicked the button on his staff.

Five minutes passed. "I hate him sometimes…"

"Why didn't you dodge? I thought you were going to make that last longer."

"Silver wouldn't let me."

There was a pause. "All three of us are going to burn for that."

"I can't believe that worked."

"Your son…"

"Is going to kill us both when he gets back. Did you really have to do the blood on the wall?"

Valerie faded slightly and reformed as Kat, the disgruntled thespian. "If I still had a body, that would have been real." She wagged her finger slightly at nothing in particular. "Your son…"

"Has a temper. I know." Dan sat up and rolled his neck, then cringed. "Lucy's going to kill me."

"Temper? You call that a temper?"

"I need to do something about Silver. Clockwork never said she was going to be here."

"He probably knew you'd object."

"Damn right, I would have." He shook his head. "I thought she was gone."

"Well, now you can deal with her. I'm going home. You'd better go get Val down from that flagpole."

Dan blanched, paling slightly. "I hope we changed time enough that she was in on this."

Kat snickered and let her time medallion fall around his neck to join the one already there, one that had not been there five minutes previous. "I don't envy you finding out. Cheerio."

A/N: And now I'm going to clarify a point. For Sandruu, this is before he went back in time. However, he did meet Necrowind when he attacked the second time. Keepin mind, Sandruu's a bit too dense to just lie about something, and even Valerie decided that he thought he was telling the truth.For Valerie, even future Valerie, it's now happened twice before: the one Sandruu went back tostop, and the one they're all talking about.Danny, if you all will recall, was half brainwashed and half out of his mind and starving to death. He doesn't remember either of Necrowind's attacks, and no one ever told him.

But you have to figure out what's going on in the end there for yourselves. All I'm saying is that no one expected Silver to be there, with the possible exception of Clockwork. (Heck, that surprised even me. I wasn't planning it...)