Author's Note: This is something new. And I feel a little out of my depth. But this is something I wanted to try. And a little inspiration from a Discord MHA Server got me to write this. If you enjoy, please follow, hit it up and review!

Prologue: Change of Plans

"To save the future, Danny Phantom must perish."

The words sickly repeated in Clockword's mind over and over again like an infinite loop, destroying and ramming any other passing thoughts like a runaway train.

The ghost time master suspected the all-seeing Observants to have some hand in that. They wanted this done fast after all. And they wanted Clockwork focused on it.

And, to their credit, focused on it he was. Not for any kind of sake for the Observants. Mainly because what he had been tasked to do had piqued his curiosity to no end.

"Fascinating," Clockwork stated again, currently present in his adult form. His palm twisted the glowing power it held once again, shifting the image of the seeing rift in front of him. "One skew of fate, and this world's greatest hero falls to become the world's greatest villain. A destructive power unlike anyone has ever seen. And nobody in this world can stop him." As he placed his hand to his chin in thought, his form shimmered as his body began to change.

In a second, he went from a glowing hooded blue figure to a small toddler, his cheeks puffed out and his chin now drooped in baby fat. But his pure red eyes never lost their luster or curiosity. They, in fact, glowed as he reached over with his held staff and shifted the rift once more.

The previous vision in the rift had been one of a burning city, suffering and screaming as countless civilians fled in terror from a shadow that seemed to loom over all of them. With one blast of power from the sky above, another tall skyscraper fell to the firescape below, washing the already chaotic scene with fresh smoke and soot. A wave of rubble crashed through houses like they were made of toothpick, enveloping and crushing cars with a shower of broken glass and overtaking civilians who weren't fast enough.

All while the figure above laughed. Uncaring, unchallenged and merciless beyond comparison.

Clockwork had been given a gateway to that moment by his superiors in order to provide him with the means to hastily make his decision and put an end to the Fenton boy's life. But Clockwork didn't like to concentrate on the bad aspects of a person's life. Rather, he was a person who would rather look at an individual's contributions as a whole and work from there.

And from his point of view, Danny Phantom was someone worth keeping around.

He was intriguing to Clockwork. Any other young mind given this much power at such an early age would have likely used it for their own gains and toppled a good chunk of society along the way. But not Danny. He decided to use the otherworldly abilities he gained to help people and stop those with sinister intent towards his planet and home. He was selfless most of the time, courageous, headstrong, noble.

He was truly a hero at his peak. That is, before the scene that Clockwork's rift displayed currently.

The image showed a young Danny Fenton, out of his ghost form, kneeling on the ground, his hands splayed out on the cement and incoherent mumbling escaping from his lips.

His eyes were not the sharp intelligent ones they had been. Instead, in their place were eyes that darted around wildly, almost ferally in search of other things to look at then what was in front of him. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks and his very body trembled in what seemed to be shock and grief.

Everything about him screamed that he was one push away from the edge, emotionally broken by what was seen in front of him. And Clockwork could see why. In front of the boy was what was left of the burning remains of The Nasty Burger. Somewhere within the wreckage itself lay the bodies of his family, friends and teacher. All of whom Danny felt he didn't do enough to save. His guilt was at its absolute peak in this moment. And it would only fester into something much darker.

This was the catalyst. This was the moment in time that Danny Phantom was stuck on the path to becoming the ultimate evil. And this was why the Observants wanted him killed before this moment could happen. Erased from existence so the world may be spared.

"But killing the boy is not the answer," Clockwork said aloud as his form shifted once more, putting him in a whitened aged state. "He only requires guidance."

But who? Clockwork knew the Observants would probably be asking that already. He was sure no one in this world would be able to help him. They would only be strangers to Danny. And strangers who didn't know the burden that came with wielding power. If anything, they would only make the situation worse.

For that problem, Clockwork has already put in motion a plan of his own. One that drew lines from both his machinations and those of the Observants.

He agreed that Danny shouldn't be left as he was in the current timeline and that he couldn't be left in his current state. Rather, he needed people who could help him as readily as he helped them. Danny needed to be around other heroes.

There were no heroes besides him in his world. But….

"There are in others," Clockwork said with a smile as he reached a hand out to shift the power circling him to a fine point in his palm. He opened the connection to a world he had his eye on for a while. "Others that are selfless…"

"It's YOURS! Your Quirk! Not his!"

"Courageous…"

"COME ON!"

"Headstrong…."

"GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY, DEKU!"

"And noble…."

"Young man, you too can become a hero…"

Clockwork smiled. "They will do perfectly."

Danny wasn't able to conjure a single thought in his grief stricken mind. His very body trembled as he looked on at the burning wreckage of The Nasty Burger in front of him, his tears coming in full mass as he choked on his own stumbling breaths.

His whole world was gone. His family. His friends. Dad. Mom. Jazz. Sam. Tucker.

They were gone. And he couldn't save them. He was weak and now they were gone.

All his fault.

A fresh painful fist of guilt slammed into his heart once more, bringing on another onset of shock and labored breathing. How could he call himself a hero? At all? He had failed to save the people that had mattered to him most. In one move, he had lost everything.

What could he do from here? Why do anything from here? What was left for him to fight for? Why wasn't he faster?

He didn't even register himself falling to the cement floor. All he knew was pain in that moment. And the impact couldn't provide more on what was already overwhelming. The ghost boy felt hollow inside. And it was only deepened when he heard the sirens of the Amity Park fire department closing in on the disaster site. They would question him, comfort him, try to make things better.

Danny already knew they couldn't do that. He didn't know if anyone could do that. Not anymore. He was alone. And he didn't know who he would turn to next.

The sirens closed in around him amongst the still crackling remains of the burning building, stopping entirely as they were no doubt preparing hoses to combat the flames and rushing to talk to Danny.

He waited, expecting the fire fighters to pull him away from the wreckage at any moment. But those thoughts were halted when Danny took notice of the noise around him. There wasn't any. There wasn't any crackle of flames, shifting of falling wreckage or the run of car engines.

In confusion, the halfa sat up from his fallen position and felt his eyes widen. All around him, the world had frozen. The long line stretching smoke line was now halted, alongside the firefighters who were all in mid-run, looks of determination locked like stone. People who were gawking at the disaster site didn't move, their expressions vacant and unmoving as everything else.

Danny took in the sight in shock. What was happening?

No sooner had he thought that, he felt a chill course through him as his Ghost Sense activated. A sense of anger coursed through him at the same time. Not today.

"Whoever you are, don't do this! Not today!" Danny yelled out, fists clenched. "I... I just lost everything! Everyone! Even you know what it's like to lose someone! I just lost every person I care about in this world! SO LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"That is precisely why I have come, boy."

Danny whirled around at the sound of the utterly calm voice behind him and saw a floating figure only a few feet from the remains of The Nasty Burger. He was obviously the ghost that triggered Danny's senses, as his skin was a ghastly pale blue and his bottom half was a swirling whisp. He had glowing red eyes that seemingly peered through Danny's very soul, peering from just beyond a purple hooded cape that obscured only some of his facial features. The hood stretched down and covered the top half of the being, outfitting him in a purple shade that brought focus onto his chest, which held an odd amount of clock gears and ticks. And he held a sleek metal staff that curved up at the top and centered around a glowing clock.

It was definitely a ghost he didn't recognize, but he wasn't what Danny was concerned with. What he was concerned with was the quickly expanding rift that was beside the ghost in question. Not only was it expanding, it seemed to be building ghostly tendrils off it's sides. Long black whipping squid like shadows that were beginning to stretch towards him.

But even that concern was limited. Danny didn't want to deal with the ghost at the moment. All he wanted to do was mourn.

"Look!" Danny exclaimed. "I really don't know who you are or what you have against me, but today is not a day I want to deal with you! Leave now and tell all the other ghosts that I'm done!"

The ghost narrowed his eyes as the rift seemed to expand further. "But you are not done, Danny Fenton. Far from it, in fact. You are only beginning on the path fate has laid out for you. And I am here to prevent that."

Danny regarded him for a moment before getting into his fighting stance. "What do you mean? And who exactly are you?"

"I am Clockwork," He calmly replied with a hand to his chest. "Guardian of the Time Stream. And you are a danger to this very world and it's future. So much so, I have been tasked to eliminate you."

At that, the Fenton clenched his fists. "I'm not a danger. And I'm not being eliminated. I'm staying here to bury my family and friends."

Clockwork sighed and all at once his form shifted, a long white beard appearing on his chin and his stance becoming more slouched as his now bagged eyes regarded Danny in sadness.

"There is nothing left for you here, boy. Only pain and fury."

"I told you, I'm not leaving!" Danny gathered his power. "But you definitely are! I'M GOING GHOST!"

The boy flexed his arms to his side and tried to summon his peak ghost powers. But, to his shock, his abilities refused to surface. He looked to his hands.

"What?" He questioned. "My powers. What-?"

"They are being nullified," Clockwork replied with a slight smile as he raised his staff. "And not by any means of mine."

"What?! How? Why?" Danny was incomprehensible. How were his powers gone? What was happening?

"As I have foreseen," Clockwork shifted again, this time taking the form of a toddler. "You will not win this fight, Danny. And you will not prevent what will happen next."

At that, the sides of the ever expanding rift exploded, sending the dark tentacles lashing forward. Before Danny could react, two each slammed into his left and right arm, pulling him towards the rift at a breakneck speed. Danny slammed his feet against the ground to slow the pull. His shoes skidded on the cement, burning against the road with ferocious heat and speed. But it did nothing to slow the process down.

"Stop! Don't do this!" Danny cried out in between breaths and struggle. "You have to know this is wrong! You can't kill me for something I didn't even do!"

"I agree," Clockwork said, stopping Danny's train of thought. "I feel it's a waste to kill you for something that has not occured, especially with all you've done. But you still pose a danger to the timeline. So this is my solution to the problem at hand. An act of mercy for you." He smiled again, although this one was filled with genuine comfort (the best one that could be conjured by a ghost toddler). "Go forth, Danny Fenton. Rise above. And become the hero you were made to be."

With that, without a second to process what Clockwork had said to him, the rest of the whipping darkness surged forward and bounded him. With one last yell, Danny Phantom was pulled through the conjured rift and thrown towards a world beyond imagination.

Clockwork quickly sealed the rift shortly after the boy was transported, ensuring he would not be able to return easily. After which, a silence fell upon the frozen world. One that Clockwork found himself relishing in. The future that had been destined for this world had been thwarted.

And the destiny of a young hero was no longer so bleakly certain. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. And Clockwork had completed his job. Not the way the Observants had wanted him too, but Danny Phantom was no longer a problem in this timeline.

It was a success, regardless of execution style. At least, to Clockwork it was.

"Your mission was to eliminate Daniel Fenton, not to transport him away to become a later problem."

Clockwork didn't need to turn to recognize that the Observants now stood behind him. It was their preferred way of talking to him after all.

"Danny will not become a later problem," Clockwork reassured as he shifted into his adult form. "The rift I had used has been properly sealed, ensuring no way back to this timeline from where I sent him. And, with his transportation, he has been severed and cut from this timeline's fate while still retaining his potential to become a great force for good as opposed to one of destruction."

"Reckless, Clockwork," One of the Observants said. "You have no way of knowing that this new timeline will do anything to assist the ghost boy. There's a chance he could fall just as destructively as he had in this timeline."

"Yes," The second agreed. "And what will you do then? What will you do when Daniel Fenton kills every inhabitant on this other Earth and strikes his way back here with possibly even more power at his fingertips?"

Clockwork almost laughed aloud. "I doubt this world will let Danny fall so easily back to the darkness. Not with the people they have there. And, even if he does fall," He looked up at the center clock at the top of his staff, which displayed a messy green haired boy in a light blue jumpsuit, mid-air and what seemed to be mid-punch with his arm stooped in power. "This world will be far more suited to deal with him then we were."

Mustafu, Japan

Seven months before the UA Entrance Exams…

It was supposed to be the end of the shift for Medical Nurse Daichi Seicho and the beginning of a long trek back home through the darkened Mustafu. Supposed to be, until the alleyway literally exploded beside him.

It wasn't any fault of his. He was halfway home and had been far and away from any kind of contact with the gap between the two sandwiched buildings. And his Quirk definitly wasn't one that could produce explosive energy like that.

But, nevertheless, he found himself in this situation. He had only been walking by, head stooped low to his phone to once again re-read the provisional medical rules when it came to the use of Quirks in the hospital when the night was instantly lit by the sudden and torrent flash of green light that threw him side-first to the street below, painfully popping something in his side.

Seicho's phone shattered as it slammed hard against the concrete, spraying small particles of glass through the night air as a number of civilians around the area exclaimed in shock at the repulse of energy around them.

He was in some serious pain, but he also knew that this definitely wasn't caused by a pipe bursting or some other mechanical failure. This was power. Power meant a Quirk. And a Quirk…

"Means possible injuries of or from the user," Seicho grunted to himself as he came to a shaky stand. "Which means there's no time to waste." He turned and waved away the approaching onlookers. "Go! Call for a hero! I have to check for injuries!"

Without waiting for a response, Seicho tore off his backpack, snatched the small medical bag attached to it and took off running into the alley at a breakneck speed.

A small part of his mind told him there was the lingering threat that it could very well be a group of villains. And they could very easily kill him. But there was no evidence he saw that pointed to that. No after-blows, no running individuals, nothing. Until he saw otherwise, he would treat this as a civilian situation. That's what any pro hero would do. And that's what he intended to do here.

It only took him a moment to find the center point of the explosion, but infinitely more to try and process what exactly was in front of him.

For one, there was only minor surface burn damage to the surrounding structures, which shocked him a bit. How was there only small surface damage from an explosion like that?

For another, there was the fact that the still burning patches of trashcans and trash items were on fire, but not in any kind of fire that Seicho could recognize. The fire was glowing green and gave off a very cold sense, almost as if it was a fire that only radiated the purest of cold. Yet it still ate through items like regular fire.

What kind of Quirk can do something like this? Seicho wondered in his mind before a fit of coughing tore his attention away from the strange flames.

A small section of the thrown away trash was shifting from side-to-side, as if something was moving under it. Another cough echoed through the alley and that was all it took for Seicho to race over.

He ripped away the trash lingering on the moving body and came face-to-face with a bruised and battered black haired boy, decked out in a torn white shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. His face was tattered in small bleeding scars, as well as his back. Seicho was not surprised. By the looks of things, the boy was thrown very strongly back first into two trashcans and an assortment of discarded pallets and metal objects before coming to a stop here.

What exactly did this to him? Himself? Or did someone fight him?

Seicho couldn't spend time wondering. Either way, it was better to get the boy out of here and to a hospital. He quickly disinfected the most visible and fresh wounds, which earned a groan from the boy, but nothing worrying. After that, he quickly and carefully picked him up and retreated from the alley, praying that the area had been cleared to make way for the paramedics and/or heroes.

"You're going to be okay," Seicho said to the young kid as he ran. "You're going to be okay. The heroes are on their way as well. We'll get you to safety and get you help."

To his surprise, the kid started mumbling in what seemed to be English, both quietly and loudly exclaiming in short bursts. He never was one to The only words Seicho was able to pick up were names and the occasional phrase. "...Sorry…. Dad….Mom….fault...never….please….. Ghost."

Seicho got a shiver as he neared the awaiting flashing lights of the paramedics and the arriving heroes. At that point in time, he had no idea why. That wouldn't remain the case. Not for him. And not for the heroes of this world.