AN: Yeah, next chapter! A lot more of this was taken from my rough draft I had written a couple months back, so I'm wondering if that was a good thing or not. ^^
Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers(Even the one that doesn't want to be thanked, though I shall not list them!), thanks to you this story ahs the most hits, favorites, and follows of all my stories. BUT, not the most reveiws. XP Still, thanks to: 1eragon33, Turkeyhead987, syd004, BadKristy13, and the three Guests! You keep me motivated.
Disclaimer: No. Sorry.
Chapter 4
Assistance Needed
Danny had known today was not going to be a normal day when he had passed by Clockwork that morning. The very fact Clockwork was even in the human world proved his point. Not to mention the fact Clockwork hadn't paused time, had sent him away, and had also been in a human disguise, all of which had added up to make the halfa really confused the whole way home.
So, Danny wasn't sure why he was so shocked when he got a phone call from a weird number and it was- surprise, surprise- Clockwork.
"Hello?" He asked quickly, glancing across the kitchen table at his parents.
"Daniel, I think we could use your assistance now."
It took Danny a minute, but the voice coupled with the nonexistent greeting eventually let his brain click. "Clockwork?" He hissed into the phone, pressing the device closer to his face.
"I will explain later but-"
"You never explain anything unless it's in incomprehensible riddles, so that's a moot point," Danny butted in, and he could practically hear Clockwork's annoyed frown. He realised he couldn't have this conversation in front of his parents, and quietly stood up and exited the kitchen. He didn't really need an excuse, since his parents were tinkering very loudly with the appliances in the kitchen. Looked like ecto-infused weenies were in his future again. He didn't even have to ask the future-seer he had on the phone.
"Yes, well, I need you to get your parents out of the house, and away from the area, and go to the Nasty Burger-"
"Nasty burger- why would someone name a restaurant the 'Nasty Burger'?" Another voice echoed in the background, interrupting with a distinctly British accent.
Clockwork's voice momentarily faded, and Danny heard him hiss "Shut up, Doctor!" before he came back.
"Who was that?"
"You'll meet him later, so I'll tell you then." Of course he wouldn't give the boy a straight answer. Danny felt the headache starting already.
Danny sighed, glancing into the kitchen as the toaster sparked with green electricity under his mom's tools.
"It'll take a minute." He muttered, glancing at the full plate of fudge in front of Jack. "Why? What kind of distracted?"
"The kind of distracted that doesn't need you with them, or them in the lab." Oh. He probably needed the portal. "Just get them out of the house, away from the Nasty Burger, and get there quickly." The Nasty Burger? Okay, now came the confusing part. Might as well stop trying to figure his plan out now, since this was one of Clockwork's plans. Resigning himself to ignorance, Danny nodded before he realised the other end wouldn't be able to see the motion.
"Uh, right. Whatever you say, Clockwork."
"Don't wear yourself out, but please, hurry."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, distracting my expert ghost-hunting parents is like a walk in the park." Danny remarked sarcastically. Technically it was, but if he couldn't use sarcasm and witty banter to handle the time ghost, it'd kill him. "Bye."
The other end hung up, and Danny sighed as he walked back into the kitchen. What had he just gotten dragged into?
The Doctor quietly shut the door of the Skulk and Lurk's back entrance, jogging to catch up to the hooded ghost at the end of the alley. He just followed along for a moment before he opened his mouth to talk. He paused as he heard the ghost in front of him sigh.
"What is it?" Clockwork asked, not even turning to look at him.
"What do you mean?" The Doctor replied innocently, digging his hands into his pockets.
Clockwork paused to turn and gave him an unimpressed look before muttering, "You are such a child." The Doctor only smiled. "What were you going to ask me?"
"What?" He said, keeping up the innocent act. "Nothing, nothing, it's not important." Clockwork raised and eyebrow, but turned and continued walking. "Well-" Clockwork only sighed again. "I was wondering about Danny- that's his name? Danny Phantom?"
"Yes."
He nodded, turning the information in his head. "Okay then, why did you refer to the Fenton's as his parents? He's a ghost, isn't he? The irony not-withstanding, how and why would a child of two apparently-dangerous ghost hunters become a ghost?"
"Doctor, it's complicated, and not really the most important thing to discuss right now."
"Uh-huh." Clockwork rolled his eyes as he realised the Time Lord wouldn't let this go.
"How old are you? You're as stubborn as a child." Clockwork complained.
"Actually, I'm 906, for your information." The Doctor mentioned casually, waving the number away. "But you were saying?"
"I wasn't… But alright." Letting the Doctor catch up alongside him, he paused before actually explaining. "The Fenton's have a son, who is still alive, named Danny Fenton. About two years ago, there was an accident with the stable Ghost Portal they built, with Danny turning it on by accident from the inside. He was electrocuted by ectoplasmic energy, and came out of the ordeal half-ghost." Clockwork explained quickly. "His ghost-half is Danny Phantom, and only three full humans know he's half ghost."
The Doctor stopped in the middle of the sidewalk in shock. His eyebrows were screwed up and his mouth was hanging open as his mind tried to scientifically explain the phenomenon.
"What?!" He burst, giving up as he ran after the ghost. Catching up, he grabbed Clockwork's shoulder, making him slow down. "What? How- But-" Clockwork just cocked an eyebrow, continuing on his way with the Doctor trailing after in thought.
"Don't hurt yourself, Doctor."
The Doctor snapped out of it and glared at him. "Oi, I could probably figure it out if I knew more about how ectoplasm worked in this universe- not to mention I've never even heard about a Ghost Portal before coming here, so I don't know how it works!" His demeanor quickly changed as he looked down in curious thought. "Oh, but I would love to have a look at the blueprints, they must be genius! And the studies needed for the project would be interesting, too-"
"The Fenton's are scientists first, ghost hunters second, you know." Clockwork added lazily.
"Really? Oh, I've got to see their work! I wonder what they know- although, I'm guessing it'd be more profitable to try and ask you." The Doctor remarked with a smirk.
Clockwork chuckled, shaking his head. "Danny could probably tell you more than his parents could. They're very intelligent, and the most formally educated in their field, but that isn't much." Clockwork got something the Doctor would call a mischievous grin on his face. "I won't lie and say I haven't done anything to keep hunters from figuring ghosts out." He chuckled darkly. "Especially the government's ghost hunters."
The Doctor gave him a sideways glance, slightly unnerved. "Ah, what exactly does that mean?"
"Let's just say the GiW's record keepers have a healthy fear of watches." He murmured, his dark smile widening just a bit. The Doctor was tempted to ask, but his second thoughts kept him from delving down that road.
"O-kaay, remind me to stay on your good side." The Doctor muttered.
"Just be thankful you've got a friendly personality and that I didn't have my powers when we first met." Clockwork's dark grin dimmed to a playful smirk. The ghost couldn't help but chuckle again at the Doctor's reaction, but he calmed down when he realised they were coming up on the corner where the Nasty Burger sat.
He wondered vaguely why he'd made that sound so dark, the whole meddling with the GiW incident. Either he had wanted to get a reaction from the Doctor, or he had enjoyed the memory of scaring the living daylights out of those government officials a bit too much.
"You never did answer me, why do they call it 'the Nasty Burger'? Isn't that a bit counter-productive for a fast-food chain?" The Doctor was studying the establishment as they entered the doors. It being the start of summer, the place was fairly busy with an assortment of teens hanging around and chatting their spare time away.
"Does it matter, Doctor?" Clockwork muttered, looking for a certain ebony-haired teen. Taking half a moment to think, Clockwork huffed, frowning. He moved for the back of the store, muttering under his breath along the way. "He should be here by now, the Fenton's aren't that hard to distract."
The Doctor glanced out the windows as he followed, looking for Danny. Well, he didn't actually know what Danny looked like, but he felt like it would be one of those 'you'll know him when you see him' ordeals. What did the boy look like anyway?
"Do you have a quarter?" He was knocked out of his musings by Clockwork's annoyed question. He seemed to have been trying to jimmy the pay phone into calling without pay, but it hadn't worked. Smirking, the Doctor reached inside his inner jacket pocket.
"I've got something better than a quarter," He joked, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the machine with a buzz. The phone quickly clicked, and the receiver in Clockwork's hand sounded the dial tone.
Clockwork raised an eyebrow at him, watching him return the silver and blue device to his pocket. "A sonic device? Really? Oh, I get it, you just don't pay for anything," Clockwork ranted quietly, rolling his eyes as he entered the number.
The Doctor frowned. "It's not that, it's just easier to use my sonic! What you have against my sonic screwdriver, anyway? It's a perfectly harmless."
Clockwork just huffed. "Never mind, it's only a quarter. And I have no problem with your sonic…screwdriver- really, a screwdriver?" He paused to ask, giving the most disbelieving look.
"What, you've never been bored?" The Doctor shot back before the ghost continued.
"I've nothing against it except for the fact it's only the twenty-first century! Don't you dare lose that thing; if someone finds that kind of device now, the normal advancement of human technology would be destroyed. It's already twisted enough with the Fenton's scientific advancements."
"Oi! I'm smart enough to keep track of my sonic! Besides, I would get it back before anyone could do anything with it."
"Yes, yes, and then they'd still have the idea of using sonic technology-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something? No? Then I'll just go back to distracting my ghost hunting parents. I mean, it's not like they'd be any trouble if I brought a ghost right through the kitchen." Danny's voice called out loudly from the speaker, stopping the duo in their rant. They apparently hadn't noticed when Danny had picked up the phone and started listening in.
Clockwork frowned but quickly got back to reality. "Danny, don't. Now is not the time for jokes. Are your parents still at the house?"
"No, I went ghost and they ran after me. I'm on my way there, but they're scoping the town now."
Clockwork scowled and muttered some curses under his breath. The Doctor frowned at him, translating the other language easily.
"Hey! It's not in English, but still, language!" He chastised, giving the ghost a disappointed look.
"I apologize, but they might pick up my ectosigniture on their scans. Just get here quickly, Danny."
There was a pause on the other side. Clockwork was about to ask what was wrong before the ghost boy came back with a question.
"Were you just cursing in Latin?"His disbelief echoed through the phone. "Latin? I can't understand it, but really?"
Clockwork sighed. "Get over here."
There was a laugh from the other side. "Don't worry, Clockwork, nothing's gong to happen."
"Oh great, now we're all going to die," Clockwork said sarcastically, for the boy's benefit. He was rewarded with another laugh from Danny, and he smiled to himself. "Just hurry."
"On my way, just don't kill each other, whoever that guy is. Bye." Danny hung up, and Clockwork turned to find the Doctor looking at him strangely.
"What?" He cocked an eyebrow. The Doctor shook his head.
"Oh nothing…just, what Danny said." He looked at Clockwork worriedly. "Were we really fighting that bad?"
Clockwork had to stop and think about that. "I…Honestly, I'm not sure. Possibly. I could see what we were talking about turning into an argument about rules of time travel." He told the Time Lord as he walked past him and sat at a booth next to the front window of the building. The Doctor slowly followed, standing next to the table for a second before he spoke.
"Really? I think-" He stopped when Clockwork shot a glare at him.
"I'm going to stop you there. For now, let's not talk about all that. Especially not in public." Clockwork motioned to the seat across the table. "Sit down. Danny could be here quickly and quietly, but then he wouldn't have the energy to take us to the portal. It will be a few minutes" Clockwork had to stop himself from spouting exactly how long it would take Danny when it popped in his head. Knowing exactly how long something should take only made it seem like time passed slower.
A few seconds passed in silence between them. "So," The Doctor started, proving the fact he apparently couldn't go without talking for any amount of time. "What's this about those ghost scanners? If Danny's a half ghost, does it only work when he's in this ghost form? And, not to add insult to injury, but even if I ah…you know, messed up your time stream, wouldn't you still have, I dunno, generic ghostly powers? I mean, can't ghosts fly and such, or am I off?"
Clockwork frowned at him. "Sometimes I wonder if you ask too many questions. Yes, there are 'generic ghostly powers', as you put it, that do include flight, intangibility, and invisibility, and usually even the weakest ghosts have that. And no, the Fenton's scanners are sensitive enough that they lock onto Danny even when he's in his human form, it's just a stronger reading in his ghost form. As for myself, yes I have the normal abilities, but the Observants locked everything away from me so I can't do anything."
"If you don't have any power, then why can the scanners pick you up?
"Remember what I said before? I am very powerful, and the Observants, or even you and your TARDIS, can't completely block all my powers. Even when I can't use them, my powers are still there and still make me read high on any scanner." He paused in thought. "If I was without this disguise, I would actually overload a sensitive ghost detector."
The Doctor blinked and gave a low whistle. "And here I thought you were just a cranky old timekeeper," He said with a chuckle. "What can you do, exactly?"
"Well, manipulate and travel time for one. Also enhanced 'generic ghost abilities', and a few other tricks I don't wish to discuss," He said calmly.
"Oh, and you nag me about using my TARDIS when you have your own way of time travel. Bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?" The Doctor was trying to smirk, to not make this a real argument. It didn't really work well.
"You practically crash landed through my time stream. You tore everything up, so I think I have a perfectly good reason to not like your ship," Clockwork growled back. He should probably try to calm down. "Besides, I didn't mention, but it feels like a jackhammer is going off in my head when you turn that blasted thing on!"
Well, there went calming down. Maybe Danny was onto something with that warning…
"How do you know? Maybe that was just when I was trying to come or go. I could probably travel about and you wouldn't feel a thing. I bet I could get us to this tower of yours easily." They were starting to talk a little louder, but no-one was really paying attention.
"I might not be able to see everything clearly, but I can see well enough to know it will cause me pain every single time you turn that contraption on!"
"Oh, yes, because you know absolutely everything!" The Doctor was matching him in volume now, or it was the other way round. Either way, they were still getting louder.
"Actually, in fact, I do! Or I did, at least, before you came crash-landing down into the middle of everything!"
By now they were standing up, hands on the table. They were lucky they didn't say anything that outright told people they weren't human. To be honest, most of the people paying any attention actually thought they were squabbling brothers.
"Oi, I could fix it! All I'd have to do is go find whoever's keeping me here and talk to them, and then I'd be on my merry way and out of your hair, if that's what you want!
"Oh, you've got everything already thought out, don't you? You don't even belong here, what makes you think you could know? Things work differentially here! I don't want to take a chance and everything turn out infinitely worse!"
"Ghost! We know you are in there! Come out quickly and quietly, no funny business, and your destruction will be swift and painless!"
Both of their heads snapped to the window, eyes wide. There, right in front of the Nasty Burger, the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle was parked, blow horn on the top and Maddie Fenton yelling into a speaker from the passenger seat.
Everyone inside froze, or looked around in fright. No one saw a ghost, did that mean someone was overshadowed? Was it hiding? None of them knew. The Fenton's scowled at each other as nothing happened before Maddie used the speaker again.
"Nobody leaves the building until the ghost is caught or in the open! We are coming in!"
They got out of the RV, heading to the Nasty Burger armed to the teeth in ghost weapons. Sticking to their orders, nobody tried to leave, most people looking around in fright. Sill, Clockwork and the Doctor hadn't moved. It wasn't until the Fenton's barged in and people were starting to look at the frozen duo that either of them did anything more than blink or breathe.
"We leave this argument until we get into the Ghost Zone, agreed?" The Doctor whispered, quickly looking into Clockwork's eyes.
"Agreed," Clockwork whispered, hoarse.
They both sat down, keeping their eyes on the Fenton's. Apparently, they didn't want to startle anyone. At least, Maddie was trying not to scare the crowd. Jack looked like he was inch away from interrogating everyone until he found the ghost.
"This!" Mrs. Fenton called, trying to keep the crowd calm. "Is a ghost detector! It shows us where the ghost is and its power level! It does not harm or react to humans!"
"Except for Danny," Mr. Fenton muttered to himself.
The Doctor glanced at Clockwork. His already pale skin had, incredibly, gotten paler; he was almost transparent. And he was actually not breathing, shocked out of the habit for the moment. He was so worried about his frozen friend, the Doctor almost missed Maddie turning on the ghost detector.
"Whoa!" She exclaimed as the device beeped urgently, making everyone jump, especially Clockwork. "These levels are off the scale!"
The Doctor's eyes flashed about the room as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Hiding it under the table, he pointed it toward the ghost detector and hit the button. Nobody noticed the small whine of the sonic device. After a second, the ghost detector sparked and fizzled, now an unusable bit of metal in the woman's hands.
"The ghost knows we're here, it's trying to stall us." She told her husband, looking around the room. "He might be overshadowing someone…We need to get everyone out of here, this one's tricky." She turned to the crowd. "Line up in front of the main entrance, one of you may be overshadowed. Please, don't panic!"
The crowd, despite the orders, was quite keyed up. As everyone moved to the doors, it wasn't that hard for them to sneak towards the back.
"H-hey, what are you doing?" They turned to see a boy looking at them with panic. Poor kid looked about ready to scream bloody murder.
"I feel about sick." They said together. All three of them paused as Clockwork and the Doctor looked at each other. The two of them quickly just went with it.
"I'm about to puke," The Doctor murmured, dodging away.
"Me too," Clockwork added, on his heels.
They rushed off towards the bathroom, where the Doctor quickly used his sonic on the door to unlock and then lock it again. Inside the singular bathroom, the two of them slid down the door and sat, their heads against the hard wood as their panic became verbal in frantic panting.
"Wow…we think alike," The Doctor mumbled.
"What gave you the first clue?" Clockwork snapped. "The way we acted in unison, or the fact we're both older than everyone in the building combined?" He sighed and put his head in his hands. "I knew Danny jinxed us," He muttered with a light scowl. The Doctor laughed, knowing he was only joking.
"Well, he's going to be here soon. He has to be, or we're both dead. Well, you are already, but I'm not, and I'm hoping to keep it that way."
Just as he finished there were footsteps outside and knocking on the door. Apparently someone had left the rest of the restaurant to check out their quick exit.
"Are you two alright in there? Someone said two people ran in here?" Maddie's voice came through the door, causing both of them to pale and look at each other. The suspicion was obvious in her voice, and she probably wouldn't just leave them be.
They heard her try to open the door, and then to unlock it. Thank God the sonic screwdriver was now the only thing that could unlock it without breaking the whole lock.
"I'm beginning to love that sonic of yours," Clockwork whispered to the Doctor. The man gave a weak smile and nodded thanks before jumping to action. Winking at Clockwork, the Doctor groaned a little in pain.
"Please…don't come in, we just need a minute," He said in as pathetic a voice as he could manage. He wasn't the best actor, but it could pass as a sick man's griping.
Clockwork blinked and smiled. It would buy them time at least. Clockwork gave a pretend weak groan as his brain raced to fill in blanks.
"I told you we shouldn't have eaten at that disgusting road-side restaurant," Clockwork groaned with a smile on his face at the Doctor. The man quickly caught on, nodding again.
"A mate of mine told me their burgers were good! It was your fault, you dropped our fries on that filthy floor!
"You're the one that picked them back up! You could have told me that before I'd eaten half!"
They both groaned again, smiles on their faces. Clockwork couldn't deny it, they sounded a bit like brothers. It was a pretty good cover, and since they were just waiting for Danny, he couldn't help but just feel like they were a couple of kids pulling a prank.
"You need to stop shouting, you're giving me a headache!' The Doctor shot at Clockwork, who smiled and rolled his eyes before getting back in character.
"Same to you, you unbearable twit! I've had a migraine growing since you opened your mouth!"
They groaned again, both going silent. The Doctor gave a small smile before frowning. He looked over at Clockwork and whispered "How long have you been talking with an accent?"
"Just since I realised everyone could hear us," Clockwork admitted. "Spur of the moment knack for details, I suppose." The Doctor just nodded a little.
"You two okay in there? Can you unlock the door so we could help?"
"Stop shouting!" They called back at the same, time slapping themselves mentally when they realized it.
"We have to stop that." Clockwork muttered angrily.
"What's going on?" That was Jack.
The Doctor took the initiative. "I think we caught food poisoning! I've got a splitting headache."
"I do too, so would you both kindly shut it?" Clockwork faked, letting some of his real annoyance seem into his voice. He was getting just the slightest bit annoyed by this whole ruse now. Where the hell was Danny?
"Get away from the door, we have to break the lock!" Maddie told them. They didn't have to fake the groans that time.
"And I thought I told you two not to fight," Danny smirked as he phased through the door above their heads.
He got a glare from the other ghost. "How long have you been here?" Clockwork questioned.
"Got here right about when you started yelling in front of the whole restaurant. You guys were so noisy, I couldn't just get you out or it would seem suspicious…And why are you talking with a British accent?" Danny asked, pointing a finger at the steaming Time Ghost.
Clockwork jerked his thumb at the Doctor, putting his other hand on his head to nurse the headache he had actually acquired. "Subconscious adding of details, it seems. Now, can we move before your father-"
BOOM! The room shook, and the Doctor and Clockwork were given real headaches from the impact on the door, which they had rested their heads on.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there!" Jack Fenton's voice came clearly through the wall. They all flinched and the two adults quickly stood up, away from the door.
"So this is the halfa? Danny, right?" The Doctor mused as he looked at Danny and his white hair and green eyes. Those green eyes widened when the boy remembered he didn't know this guy, but Clockwork cut him off.
"He knows, now start flying before your parents kill us all." He was quietly glaring straight ahead, and the other two were wary of him. An angry Clockwork was not a good Clockwork, for anyone involved.
Danny quickly got over it and grabbed them both, shooting into the air. The Doctor gave a yelp of surprise as he was yanked through the ceiling, but they stopped for a second about ten feet from the roof.
"Yeah, I'm Danny."
"Nice to meet you Danny, I'm the Doctor." He introduced himself with his patented beaming smile. Danny nodded and grinned in return, speeding off like a bullet towards his house before Clockwork could nag at them again.
The Doctor laughed, enjoying the feeling of flight as Danny laughed with him and went a little faster, darting around buildings. Clockwork smirked at the two children as they laughed; Danny was only 15, but no matter how old the Doctor was, he was still such a child.