o.O
FORTY TWO REVIEWS IN TWO DAYS! OH MY GOD! Um, I think my last chapter was liked, or something. Ehe... Wow, I just hope this one lives up to the last one. This is Actions, where Actions are taken. The ending is a bit abrupt, but it's also spectacular (not necessarily good, but definitely big). One chapter to go, wherin you will learn why these three are a trilogy and not just a loosely associated series, and what's been happening behind the scenes since book one, and why Clockwork does what he does, and what's up with Danny and everybody else. Yeah, I think that one will be a big chapter too.
Love to reviewers. Uh...(deep breath)...thanks to: MarinJayde, Airgirl Phantom, Dark Dagzar, Esme Kali Phantom, The Fluff Ghost, hermie-the-frog, mattchew, bluename, Butterflywing, egyptianqueen777, Epona Harper, "NLN", Meagainsttheworld, BratCat, Sasia93, Diamond Raider, Nikky Phantom of the Opera, acosta parez jose ramiro, "Lisel", Unrealistic, whirlgirl, nathow111, chaotic.calm, "Tej", Blues59, "Quacked Lurker", "Linda", SevenStar, XME, "Jennifer Price", "Kirika Moonshadow", JDPhoenix, "NNF", Pieling, Dragon of Despair, Warrior of winds, Egyptian Ghost Kitty, December's Morose, "Sharpwind", Nonasuki-chan, Funkatron, and Queen S of Randomness.
o.O I'm still freaking out a little bit about that.
Oh, and one more thing. This is a trilogy, but several people don't like calling it the trilogy. Any ideas? I got nothin.
Byes!
HiddenAuthor
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Chapter 15 – Actions
In the swirling depths of the desolate plane called the Ghost Zone, a lone castle floated in the void. A steady ticking could usually be heard from the thousands upon thousands of intricately connected gears and pendulums. But at the moment, this was not the case.
You couldn't hear a thing over Greg screaming.
"CLOCKWORK!" Shouted the council leader, running down the halls of the vast castle towards the study. "Answer me!"
There was no response. Gregory ran faster. In his haste, he almost smacked into the closed Study door. Shaking with his efforts, the diminutive ghost tore the door open and barreled in.
Clockwork looked up, five cards in his hand. A moment later he shrugged and looked down again, throwing his hand to the tabletop. A pair of threes. Shrugging, the Ghost of Time shuffled the deck and dealt himself a new hand. The councilor finally stopped ogling at the spectacle and cleared his throat loudly. With a flick of his fingers, Clockwork hid his new hand and finally gave the intruder his attention.
"Yes, Gregory?" The Time Ghost asked mildly, turning in his seat with a neutral expression.
"Masters has been revealed! To a government agent!" Clockwork shrugged.
"Actually, Danny is about to be exposed as well. What's your point?" Gregory started at the cool spirit, mouth working soundlessly. Eventually, he managed to find his voice.
"What's my point? Are you mad? Everything's come undone! The hybrids will multiply, and our world will end!" Clockwork sniffed, and looked back at his hand for a moment.
"You're being very dramatic, Gregory, but once again you seem to mistakenly think something is wrong. The past can never be wrong, it just is. Besides, I doubt a little change will end the world."
"A little change?"
"And I did offer to personally handle the situation." The Time Ghost continued. "You said no. What's done is done. We both know changing the past always creates a paradox and well," he chuckled, "that would be against the rules." Greg stared.
"That's not the point! You must be able to do something. Fix this! Now!" Clockwork shrugged again.
"What are your orders? How am I supposed to fix this?"
"I don't know. I don't care! Do something, and your charges will be dropped! Just don't let the Guys in White find out!" And with that, Greg vanished in a brilliant flash, off to inform his fellow councilors of the news.
Clockwork sat alone in his study for some time. Then, with a small smile, he dropped his hand. Royal Flush.
"I may not know everything, but I'm still the best bluffer, alive or dead." He chuckled, summoning his staff. Thus equipped, he immediately went to the viewing window to see exactly what was going on. Hopefully he wouldn't have to alter time too much. But if he was careful, if he was precise…
Perhaps he could settle this half-ghost matter once and for all.
With a quiet smile, the powerful spirit spun his staff in the air, and vanished.
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"Ahhh!" Vlad shouted in pain as the Maximus did its work. Dark rings ran over the length of his body, changing him back into a human. Eyes rolling up in his head, the older hybrid collapsed at Tucker's feet.
"Is he dead?" Sam asked quietly, looking down at the man with wide eyes. Gulping, Tucker dropped to one knee and laid his finger on the man's neck.
"No more than usual." He announced at last. Seconds later, Danny landed beside him, and changed back to his human form, panting with exhaustion.
"He's alive?" Tucker nodded. "Swell. Between the shock and those shields," he gestured up, "he probably didn't have enough energy to stay awake." Danny groaned. "Unbelievable. After all this, I'm gonna have to fight the 'good guys' on the Guys in White and bring down that shield so I can save Vlad."
"Freeze! You…whatever you are!" Danny actually obeyed for a second, gasping. Eyes wide, the three friends turned to see a stunned, shaking agent pointing an ectogun straight at Danny's chest. "Don't move!" Collecting himself, he pulled a radio to his face. "All units! This is Commander Agent S. I…don't know how, but these ghosts are-"
A blast blew the radio straight off of his face and vaporized it midair. S seemed unharmed, but his eyes shot wide. Standing by Vlad, hand outstretched and smoking, was Danny. Danny Fenton.
"Wh-what are you?" S stuttered, involuntarily backing up a step. Danny rolled his eyes.
"I get that a lot." He said sarcastically. A second later, the kid was somehow behind him, gripping him tightly around the chest. S struggled for a second, but despite his years of training, he couldn't move! Tucker and Sam started cautiously approaching.
"I don't want to hurt you!" His captor said loudly, tightening his grip. "You're a jerk, but you're still trying to do the right thing. I'm sorry about the radio, but people can't find out about me."
"Let me go, ghost!" He shouted, struggling harder. "Kid! Whatever! I am a Guys in White agent! Holding me against my will is a Federal Crime!"
"Yeah? Murder's a crime too, and there's no way I'm letting you kill me!" Danny shouted.
"We're not here to kill you!" S shouted. Danny froze, stunned, almost letting his prisoner go in his surprise. "We were trying to capture you so we could question you and send you back to the Ghost Zone! Admit it; you know you're too powerful to be trusted amongst humans!" Danny swallowed.
"I-if I let you go, will you promise to stay there, and tell me what's going on?" Came his eventual question. S gave a brusque nod. Suddenly, he was phasing through the boy's arms, crashing to the floor in front of him. "Talk."
S brushed himself off. "I'm one of two agents assigned to bringing you in to Guys in White custody." He answered stiffly. "The former head agent, K, was…damaged. He can't remember anything about you or his last mission, and seems almost…programmed not to look for you. I was sent to catch you so we could find out what you did to him, fix it, and send you back to the Ghost Zone. Some of those articles I wrote might not have been true, but the public wouldn't hear of it if we accused their 'precious perfect Phantom' of any wrong. We know it was you! You can play hero all you want, but no good person would drive an honest man like K insane!" Danny paled, sitting down hard.
"He's really that bad?" He asked in a small voice. S stopped mid-rant and stared at the boy. "He…he's crazy now?"
S sat still for a while, silent, giving Danny his full attention. The ghost boy shifted uncomfortably under the prolonged gaze, but eventually the man stopped and stood up.
"What are you kid?" He asked. "What are you really?" Danny shook his head.
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "I freak out you guys because I'm a ghost, but ghosts don't trust me because I'm human. And you both think I'm way too powerful." He chucked hollowly. "I think so, too, but I can't change who I am. But if more people knew, I'd be strapped to a table and cut open in half a second. My own parents wanted to do that before they knew it was me. You can't tell anyone!" S shook his head.
"Look kid, I'm sorry about your troubles." He said professionally as he stood. "I can't believe I actually feel sorry for a…well, whatever you are. But you need someone to look at you. Understand you. It's nothing personal," he added walking off. Danny didn't move to stop him, and quickly motioned for Sam and Tucker to stay still as well. "I just need to know you won't hurt the people I'm supposed to protect."
Danny nodded mutely, sitting down. What could he do? This man was trying to protect people, just like him. He wasn't going to hurt an innocent man. Even if he was exposed.
"Time. Out." S froze mid-stride. Spinning his staff, The Ghost of Time appeared with a flourish. Danny stared for a second, before breaking into a hopeful grin.
"C-Clockwork?" His mentor and friend nodded.
"Cleared of all charges." He said cheerfully. "Provided I can clean up this mess. Nice job keeping the peace, by the way." Despite the situation, Danny managed to get affronted by that.
"How exactly was I supposed to stop this?" He asked in exasperation as the two walked past his frozen friends and went over to S, gesturing around him emphatically. "Vlad I can handle. The Guys in White I can handle. I was ready for an evil plot. But two plots at the same time? Clockwork, I know you're old and wise and all that junk, but that's not fair!" The Time Ghost Chuckled as they came to a stop.
"No, it's not." He agreed. "But if it's any consolation, I expected you to fail." For a second, it looked like Danny was frozen, too.
"What?"
"I'll tell you later." His mentor said conspiratorially as he waved his hand through S's head. "That should do it." He said in satisfaction. "Short term memory resets after several hours, and I just gave that part of his brain a few weeks, just to be safe. He won't remember a thing." Clockwork frowned distastefully. "He'll also wake up in a few hours with a roaring headache. "The Time Ghost turned to go.
"Hold it!" Danny called, changing back to Phantom form. Clockwork stopped, and turned around with a questioning look. "Thanks for the save, Clockwork, really. But there's still one small problem. How am I supposed to fix that?" He asked, gesturing upwards at the glowing dome above them. Though time was frozen, the second Clockwork left it would start draining him again, and possibly stealing energy Vlad needed to stay alive. The Time Ghost shrugged, a quiet smile on his face.
"Just do your best Danny. I'm sure you'll be able to take that barrier down. In time." Still smiling his quiet smile, Clockwork floated up and started to fly away. "In the meantime, you should probably go take care of your cousin. That agent's last broadcast didn't sound good, you know."
And the next second, time moved once more, and Clockwork was gone.
"Oh my gosh! Dani!"
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"Move over!" Val pushed hard against her passenger, mentally ruing the day she'd decided to be such a quiet, sensitive, caring person. Jazz shrieked in fear and wrapped her arms around Valerie's neck in a death grip.
It had taken several minutes, but the two had finally managed to get Jack wrapped up in the large blanket and tied under the jet board. Val had been all set to zip off to the hospital and drop the man off when they ran into their first real problem.
Jazz wanted to come too.
So now the pair of them were sharing the tiny, narrow, slippery board, and Jazz had no balance, no traction boots, and a rapidly developing fear of heights.
"Jazz…" Val coughed, sucking in air desperately. "Let…go…"
"Are you insane?" Jazz shrieked, tightening her grip. Valerie was seeing stars. Did Jazz work out or something?
"If you don't…" She gasped, "I'm gonna pass out. Can you fly?" The grip on her neck lessened instantly, but Jazz still had her body close up to Val's, eyes tight shut.
"Slow down!" She called.
"Come on! We're only going thirty miles an hour! We could have driven there faster!" She yelled angrily.
"Why didn't we?" Jazz whimpered. Val scowled
"Because I didn't know you wanted to tag along, and I could have been to the hospital ten times by now if I were alone!" She shouted. "We're missing the fight!"
"I-I'm sure they're fine!" The older girl stuttered, looking down to check her father and then once again strangling the huntress after a glimpse of the ground. "Let's just get to the hospital."
Val sighed, turning her sights ahead once more. Her quite literal pain in the neck passenger was probably right. What could happen in just a few minutes?
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It had only been a few minutes since Danny left, but Dani was not having fun. Dodging another barrage of laser beams from enraged GIW agents, the ghost girl flipped in midair and dove underground. She managed about fifteen feet before she hit the very solid ghost shield. The brief contact with the surface sent waves of cold nausea through her body and sucked the very life from her. Gasping, she managed to find a small underground air pocket, now caught between an army of angry men with guns and a life sucking energy wall that drained her more the closer she got.
"This is not fair." She said to the world in general, lighting up her left hand with energy to get out of the dark. "I wake up after being a puddle for half a year, I'm only just getting my head back together, and what happens? My house blows up! And I'm surrounded by a bunch of big jerks who want to blast me for no reason, and now that stupid shield thing is sucking me dry! How can life reek this much?"
"Welcome to my life." Came a dry voice behind her. Sagging with relief, Dani rotated to see Danny float up behind her, looking relieved to see her.
"Is it over?" She asked. Even she thought it was a dumb question. Danny snorted.
"Yeah right. I single-handedly brought down an entire army of armed government agents, broke through an impenetrable force field designed to suck my life out and resist even my most powerful attacks, locked Vlad away, and proved my innocence. I just came down here because I was bored."
"Well, you don't have to be sarcastic about it. The last few months haven't been that great for me, you know." Dani scowled. "And what are you talking about? I thought it was just Vlad and the GIW."
"Tell you later." Danny said shortly, starting to leave. Dani moved to follow. "Right now we need to save Vlad." The ghost girl pulled up short.
"Wait, what?" Danny scowled.
"He's out of power, and the shield's still up. If we don't shut it off, he's toast. Now let's go." The two of them took off towards the shield wall.
"And that's bad why?"
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"Maddie, can we talk?" Maddie looked up from her seat on Smith's chest and set down the little green blob that kept following her around.
"What is it, Damon?" Mr. Gray's eyes remained fixed on the screen, his fingers flying, but his voice carried more than enough expression for the older huntress.
"You…seem very close to Phantom." He said as he broke into yet another automated ectoconverter."
"Is that a bad thing? He is a friend." Maddie said slowly, trying to keep her tone even.
"No, no!" He amended hastily. "It's just…Maddie, when Valerie was in trouble here, you looked worried, but I know I was far more concerned than you. She's my daughter; it makes sense." He sighed. "But when you heard about these converters, you…you seemed much more afraid." He still hadn't turned to look at her, but Mrs. Fenton thought she heard faint accusation in his voice.
"I suppose…I didn't think Valerie was in as much danger. Hostages are only good alive, Damon. You know that. And Smith couldn't hurt her while he was up here with us." The security director nodded slightly, resigned.
"I suppose so. But still, you must really care about him. How well do you know Phantom, anyway?" Maddie smiled slightly.
"He's like family."
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"Agents!" A lookout shouted. "There! At the walls! Phantom is trying to break out!"
All agents returned to their vehicles, preparing to rush the walls.
"Sir!" One last straggler ran up, panting. "We found S, sir! He's back at that ballroom, out cold! And there's some civilian with him!"
The up-jumped assistant agent forced down his uncertainty and turned to regard the man sternly. "Go back and give them medical attention. We will proceed to the walls. Move out!" Saluting, the straggler watched the trucks turn away. Both of his charges had seemed stable, but he'd have to hurry back to make sure they stayed that way. S had obviously followed one of the ghosts into the ruined mansion and been knocked out.
But why was that other man there?
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"Hah!" Danny shouted, punching his ecto-charged fist against the shield barrier with as much strength as he could. Nothing. "Haaaaaaa-oooooooooooooooooooooooo!" He shrieked, turning his own devastating Ghostly Wail on the barrier as Dani continued her own barrage. Exhausted both by the Wail and his proximity to the life-sucking wall, Danny sank to his knees on the ground, gasping for breath.
"Of course." He complained between gasps. "Vlad…knew…I could do…that. Did the fruitloop…think…of everything?"
A moment later Dani was gasping beside him. "Well…last I checked…Vlad was losing." She wheezed. "And apparently…we're saving…him. Why was that again?"
Frowning, Danny braced himself and floated back up to try the wall again.
"Dani, I know you hate Vlad. I hate Vlad. But if we let him die when we could have helped, we won't be any better than he is." He gulped. "He's evil, but we can't kill him." After a while, Dani nodded.
The two were about to try joint attacks when the Guys in White arrived again.
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Clockwork gulped as he floated, unseen, near the center of the giant blue dome. His plan had gone well, thus far. And now he was only one step away from stopping the council's fear-induced manipulations of time once and for all. But there were a few risks with this one. Last check, things stood at 86 to 14 in his favor, but he wasn't near his viewing window now, and he wouldn't be able to see if the right future was currently lined up. He was reaching blind.
After visibly bracing himself, Clockwork opened the gate.
"That wall needs to come down." He said to himself. "I'm not strong enough. But I know someone who is. I just hope that's who I got."
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"Attack the ghosts!"
Danny and Dani's heads whipped around to take in the army of Guys in White agents, all armed with very large guns.
"They've trapped themselves against the shield! There's no escape! Take! Them! DOWN!"
The air filled with blue fire. Screaming in pain at over twenty burns in half a second, both half ghosts flew apart and then up, following the curve of the barrier to try and pass over the army. Fire concentrated in front of them, forcing them to turn.
"Grab on to me!" Danny screamed, reaching out to Danielle as he cart wheeled in midair to head back the way he came. "I'll get us out!" Maybe he couldn't leave the city, but he could still teleport to somewhere else inside!"
Choking back a cry of pain, Dani thrust her bleeding hand into Danny's and he focused with every fiber of his being. A blast took him in the side of the head.
"Danny!" Screaming, Dani dived down to catch the knocked out ghost boy before he fell into the clutches of the dozens upon dozens of agents below. Burns covered her from head to toe, but she couldn't bother dodging now.
Gritting her teeth, Danielle scooped Danny up in midair and flipped over onto her back, flying upside down back towards the wall. She managed to throw in a swerve or two as she went, but these were pathetic efforts at best to deflect fire. But what else could she do? Drop him?
Groaning, Danny managed to open one eye.
"You're alive!" Dani screamed, flipping back to her side and letting him take to the air again on his own. Wincing, Danny put on a hesitant smile and gave his rescuer a shaky thumbs up as they continued dodging fire.
"G-ghost, remember?" He joked.
"Less joking! More escaping!" Dani shouted as another blast missed them by inches.
"I can't!" He shouted back, gesturing towards the barrier. "I've lost too much energy! This thing's impossible; we can't even touch it without getting drained dry!"
"Then what's the plan?" She shouted as they began following the wall back down. They both knew they were being herded towards the ground, where they'd be unable to escape the earth-bound troops. But both knew that if they went back up, they'd be blasted midair, fall to the earth below, form a small crater, and then get rushed by the troops.
"I don't know!" He shouted back, desperate and feeling a bit ripped off.
Clockwork said he could do this. Why would he lie?
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Tucker and Sam watched the lone agent take care of S and Vlad.
"Do you think he's okay?" Sam asked quietly. Tucker shrugged.
"I don't know. One second, we're talking to the dude, and the next, Danny's flying off and he keels over." His brow furrowed as he watched the guy. "I know he was going to expose Danny, but he was still a decent guy. Sort of." Sam nodded, biting her lip.
"But what will we do when the whole world finds out?" She asked, voice shaking.
"The same thing we did last time." Tucker answered. "Stand with Danny. And this time, at least there are more of us who know, so we can help him out." Sam nodded.
"Yeah." A moment later, her eyes shot up and locked onto a floating purple speck in the sky.
"Hey! Look!" She said, tugging on Tucker's shirt. "Clockwork!" The boy's eyes widened as he saw the Time Ghost standing next to a floating blue portal.
"Yeah, but what's he…now who's that?" He asked, as a second, black dot, appeared next to the Time Ghost. The two held still for a few moments, doing who knows what. Talking, he supposed. The black figure seemed to turn and look straight up at the dome.
Then, the air itself seemed to shake apart under the pressure of a deafening roar.
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Alarms blared behind all the GIW agents. The current, still baffled leader froze and turned around. "A proximity alert?" He cried, staring the map. "How? Nothing can get through the shield." Despite his objections, the ghost-shaped icon continued to blink.
"What's the threat? Give me a class!" Obeying, the computer began its read. A few seconds later, it blew up. He thought he was going to faint. Trembling, he climbed back out of the back and picked up his radio.
"Stand down and secure the vehicles! Invading ghost of unreadable magnitude! Get inside! NOW!"
"What's going on, Sir?" Came a voice over the radio.
And the earth shook.
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All across Amity Park, glass cracked, or in several cases, shattered. The water all along the coastline for several feet out froze solid, and people inside or out clapped their hands over their ears.
As their systems tried to absorb and counter the powerful waves of energy, vehicle after vehicle fried, their GIW weapons and systems rendered useless as every internal circuit was overwhelmed and burnt to cinders.
Val started as the shockwave blasted through the air, seconds after she had safely landed her passengers. "See, Jazz!" She said, rounding on the stunned older girl. "That's why hurrying is good!"
And in Tower 22, Damon stared at the screen in shock as the computer exploded in a surge of energy too great for the several rerouting generators installed in every single perimeter tower to bleed away.
One by one, the perimeter towers exploded in a shower of sparks, until eventually they proved insufficient to maintain the gigantic shield. And the bubble burst, leaving behind deafening silence.
Shaking, Sam looked back up towards the speck in the air. But Clockwork was alone. A second later, he vanished as well.
"What the heck was that?" Tucker shook his head, pale.
"I don't know. But…I don't think it was aimed at us."
"Good thing." Sam breathed, staring at empty sky.
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Time stopped. Danny blinked, looking around at the frayed remains of the shield, at Dani, sagging with exhaustion, at the now-powerless GIW, and at Clockwork, floating in front of him.
"What…what…" He wheezed, knocked down by the pulse of ectoplasmic energy. Smiling, Clockwork settled down and helped his young friend to his feet.
"I told you. In time." Danny coughed, then froze, staring at the Time Ghost as comprehension dawned.
"Oh boy." He moaned, sinking back to the ground.
Clockwork waited patiently as Danny sat, trying to mentally digest what had just happened.
"I really don't want that." He said at last, looking back up. The Ghost of Time smiled.
"If you ever get it, that's probably the best reason that you deserve it." He answered simply. A portal back to the Master of Time's lair appeared before the two.
"If?" Danny asked, looking up. Clockwork shrugged.
"I don't know, Danny. That was only one potential future out of an infinite number. And contrary to popular belief, I don't know everything."