Danny flies through the GiW headquarters as silent as a mouse. The hallways are stark white, just like the standard issue suits they wear. The halls are uniform in design and labelled by basement level and sector. Danny doesn't know what the sector numbers mean, but he knows he's looking for the 'T' section.
Clockwork had sent him here in an attempt to thwart the GiW's plans to rip apart time and space. Of course, they don't know that's what they're going to do. But it's what is going to happen if their plans succeed.
The Father of Time had sent him because the machine the GiW were building messes with Clockworks' vision. He can't see clearly. He can barely think clearly when trying to look at it.
And since Danny had only gotten closer to Clockwork over the years, he'd been more than willing to help the Time Keeper stop the GiW from dismantling all of time and space.
Willing. Not glad.
After his last venture here, he holds a lot of contempt for the GiW and all that they stand for. Back when he was a teenager, they'd been nothing more than a hindrance and a pain in his ass. Now that he's twenty four and the GiW have only gotten more desperate to eradicate all ghosts, Danny has realized just how despicable and horrifying the entire organization was.
Danny shakes his head as he passes through the 'S' wing in a vain attempt to brush his bad memories from his head. Try as he might, he can't get the memory of the GiW standing above him as he's strapped to a dissection table out of his head.
It sends chills down his spine, and not the cold chills that he's become accustomed to. It's more akin to a chill of terror and not a ghostly chill.
He shakes his head, brushing off the feeling, and focuses on finding the device Clockwork sent him after. He enters the 'T' section and starts looking in all of the rooms.
He pops into one room and the medallion around his neck burns, letting off a bright light. Danny looks around, trying to find what's making the medallion go off. He knows it's the time travel device, but he doesn't know what it looks like so he can't grab it and flee before the alarm goes off.
"Don't move Ghost Child!"
Or maybe the alarm already went off and it was just silent.
Danny turns around to see two GiW agents standing in the doorway. He hadn't even heard it open.
"Or what?"
"Or we'll shoot. Why are you here?"
Danny rolls his eyes, "I'm here to stop you from ripping apart time and space. I don't suppose you want to tell me which one of these things is your time machine prototype."
Instead of answering, one of the Agents fires at him.
Danny sighs as he easily dodges their weapons.
"Look, guys, I don't want to have to do this," He really doesn't. He tries his hardest to keep things civilized, despite his hatred for the GiW, "Let's put the guns down."
One of the agents talks into his communicator, "Lock the building down! Phantom is here!"
An alarm blares, shocking Danny and the lights blow out.
Danny turns himself invisible, knowing that he's a neon bullseye in his ghost form, and moves out of the way. The two agents keep firing. Danny is glad he moved, because they're firing erratically and hitting everything in front of them.
The door slides open with a loud screech and more agents run into the room. Danny goes to flee out of the room, but something catches his eye.
"You idiots! What have you done?!" One of the newer agents hisses.
There's a small...thing on one of the desks. It almost looks like the proto portal his parents built with Vlad back in college, except the ring doesn't go all the way around. It might have, at one point, but it's broken and sparks are flying off of it.
The sparks collide in the center of the broken device and a small black ball forms, slowly expanding.
Danny has enough time to think that it looks vaguely like a black hole before a gale force wind starts drawing everything towards it. Including Danny.
Danny tries to hold onto something, but the hole is getting bigger and the wind is only getting stronger. He watches as one of the agents flies past him and gets pulled into the small black distortion.
"Control! Initiate failsafe Talo-Alpha-6-3-9!" Danny hears one of the other agents command.
Danny feels fear chill him to his core as the counter he'd been holding on to stars sliding forward.
But it doesn't really matter when the black hole expands rapidly.
He gasps and closes his eyes as it spreads past him. It feels like lightning is striking him and like something punched all of the air out of him all at the same time. He doesn't dare open his eyes as it feels like he gets ripped apart from the inside. Lights are flashing too brightly already and his eyes are closed.
It feels like dying.
It feels like stepping into the portal for the first time all over again.
He's simultaneously grateful that he doesn't have to breathe in his ghost form and terrified that he needs that ability.
Suddenly, he's thrown forward, like he's been shot out of a canon and all his body feels is relief.
His eyes snap open and he finds himself falling through the air. There's still lights dancing in front of his eyes, but he can tell that he's a few thousand feet above the ground.
He pulls in an unneeded breath and turns himself in the air. Above him, he can see a growing hole. It's spewing out debris and chunks of building.
Danny watches as it quickly expands again before retracting and collapsing in on itself with a loud CRACK, sending out a shockwave in all directions. It slams into Danny, making him fall faster.
His core sears him as it releases cold energy as he falls. He screams, barely able to turn himself intangible.
He passes through debris as he falls and he clenches his eyes shut. He can feel when he 'collides' with the ground and sinks through it. Once he's far enough underground, he releases his core's energy in an attempt to rid himself of the excess and not hurt anyone at the same time.
When he's done, he floats underground for a few seconds before turning and flying back into the sky.
He's shocked and a bit embarrassed to see the forest around him is covered in permafrost and there are spikes of ice shooting up from where he released his energy. They spear through trees and debris alike.
Something metal crashes into the ground next to Danny. He instinctively turns intangible as a barrage of debris starts colliding with the ground in rapid succession. Once he's sure nothing else is going to hit, he lands on the frost he'd made and looks around.
He doesn't know where he is, but if he had to guess, he'd guess that he's somewhere up north. It's a little colder than he's used to, though he's not really complaining. Cold is never a problem. At least…not for him and his ice core. Or maybe that's all the ice he'd made.
Danny stands on the top of his ice…disaster and looks around. He can see frost for a mile in every direction and he can see forest until the horizon.
Something feels wrong to Danny, but he brushes it off and takes flight, trying to figure out where he is. He has to be flying for a few miles before he notices siren in the distance. They sound a bit weird but Danny brushes that thought off.
He watches them while intangible and squints. They look weird too. Older. Less…modern. Where is he?
Danny remembers what he'd been trying to find in the GiW facility and panics. Was he sent back in time?
His heart races and he takes off at top speed to find civilization of some sort.
Before he can get far, something blinks into existence a couple feet in front of him. Danny recognizes it as one of Clockwork's portals. Danny races forward and through the portal before it can close on him.
Going through one of Clockwork's portals is both comforting and confusing all at once. It's familiar and it gives Danny a bit of comfort.
But the other side of the portal isn't Clockwork's lair. Not like he remembers it being. Not like it was just a few hours ago.
Everything is moving and Danny can see multiples everywhere. Danny looks around, watching as the tower shutters.
"Clockwork!" Danny calls, afraid when he doesn't see the Time Keeper, "Hey! Clockwork!"
Danny carefully floats through the tower, room by room, until he finds the main room.
'Why did he send me to a random room of his tower?' Danny worries.
The main room of the Clocktower is in shambles. It looks like something went on a rampage. Gears are sticking out of walls, other walls are missing where there should be walls, the floor curves upwards on one side, and there are two of Clockwork's portals sitting where the original used to sit.
Clockwork is sitting on the floor in front of both screens with his staff across his lap.
"Clockwork?" Danny flies over and gently lands on the floor besides the Master of Time, "What's going on? Are you alright?"
Clockwork looks up as Danny sits next to him and the Halfa notices that the Time Keeper is shaking. Violently.
"I will be fine, Daniel." Clockwork straightens up from his hunched over state, "but there is a very large problem."
Danny hesitates, and glances around the tower, "What's wrong?"
"The device I sent you to get…it went off. It sucked you in. It ripped a hole in time and space and sent you back in time."
"Shit." Danny sags, "I'm so sorry, Clockwork, I tried -"
Clockwork shakes his head, "You should not be apologizing to me, Daniel. It should be the other way around."
Danny hesitates, "I don't understand."
Clockwork looks at him, his red eyes full of despair, "You are trapped in a timeline that is not your own."