"All is as it should be."
Yeah, that ended up being everything having been taken away from Danny yet again.
He wasn't in time to stop the Nasty Burger from exploding.
Nor was he fast enough to save everybody.
Sam, Tucker, his foster family, and so many others. Even his cute little clone he only just met.
They were all gone.
The explosion was horrific. He doesn't know how he survived. Maybe an instinctual shield, but he didn't feel like he deserved it. Even with how far the burger joint was removed from the city center, it still took half of it down. The surrounding buildings that did make it through looked like they were ready to collapse. The schools were gone. His house was gone. His family was gone.
Again.
If there was anything he would be grateful for, is that the explosion took Dan with it.
There was still chaos all around him as he regained consciousness somewhere in the night. He laid there lifelessly as he stared up at the stars. Not like he could move much anyway, he had a few too many broken bones for that.
All of this was his fault.
His older self.
His powers.
His decisions.
Had he not gone into that portal, not even bothered to try and fix it, then this wouldn't have happened.
He wondered if that cursed thing even survived. He knew the basement acted as a bunker as well so the chances it is still somewhat protected were high. Danny made a mental note to go check on it later. First he had to set his broken bones back before they healed wrong. If he had learned one thing over the few months he had his powers, it's that his new healing speed is not something to underestimate. Though he did have to be somewhat thankful for it. He honestly didn't know how he would have been able to hide all the bruises and injuries from the fighting without it.
He laid there until the sun had started to rise. He wasn't sure whether it was a curse or a blessing, but his bones had healed enough for him to move again. He tested out his stiff muscles by stretching out. Loud cracks and pops echoed between the crumbled buildings. Reluctantly he got up and groaned at the pain that shot through his entire body. He tried to force his transformation, but outside of a spark or two nothing happened. Focusing on his core, he could feel that the fight and the healing took more out of him than he thought. Cursing his luck, he set out to what remained of the building.
Most of it was gone. Pieces of it were scattered around and mixed in with the other buildings. The ops center that was on top of the building was nothing more than scrap metal. He sighed softly as he climbed through the rubble. Most of the family's stuff was either gone or out of sight. Though the loss was hurting him deeply, at least he didn't have to be confronted by family pictures and the smiling faces of the dead. Death that he had caused.
Danny found some of the outer traces of the basement's protective casing. He mustered up all the energy he could as he felt himself pass through the debris. He fell through the ceiling as he barely managed to break his fall with a roll. The lab had only taken slight damage as far as he could tell. The back up generators were still powering the portal, but cracks had formed in the supporting structure. Most of the emergency rations were still untouched. Danny made sure to force down a portion or two before he set to work. He really didn't want to eat. Had he not already taken more than enough from the family that had so graciously taken him in when nobody else wanted him? Had he not caused enough hurt?
Still, he knew he had to. Pushing through the guilt was better than continuing to let his body devour itself. Once he had finished a sizable amount of food, he started packing up the lab. He knew he couldn't let it be there unguarded. He put everything together in boxes or bags. Anything that would keep the vials and weapons together. He labeled them and started loading them all in the Specter Speeder. It had taken a few hours to load up everything. Between the packing, tedious real life Tetris and a few breakdowns, he had managed to get everything to fit. All the weapons, blueprints, chemicals and other equipment that had survived the shock wave.
After a final check of the emptied out lab, Danny started up the speeder and entered the Ghost Zone. He made his way to the Clocktower and prayed to Satan that the time master would be there. He didn't even bother to knock as he flew right through the door. Oh the sweet benefits of being human in the Ghost Zone, no need for powers when you are the ghost there. He put the speeder in park in the main clock hall. Already dreading the conversation, he got out and walked over to the time mirrors. The three main mirrors were all showing different time lines of the same thing.
The center one was identical to what the town looked like right now. A massive crater and damaged buildings were all that was left.
On the left one, it showed the Nasty Burger. While it did look like it had exploded, it was no where near the damage he experienced. Off to the side he could see that version of him and his friends hugging and crying. Guess in that one he managed to save them.
Danny quickly looked away from it as he felt tears well up in his eyes. Why wasn't he allowed to be happy? Why did his time line have to be so messy? He only needed a short glance at the right one to see it was Dan's original time. The town looked pretty much intact and nothing much had changed from when he got stuck there with his friends. He doubted that the citizens rebuild the old town back to what it used to be.
After such trauma, it's better to move on.
Right?
Could it be that whatever happened to him, actually changed Dan's past? Sure he did get that stupid new power, but was that really enough? Dan said he got it about 10 years too early, so what happened? Why did he have to get the worse end of the line?
"Come out, Stopwatch. I know you're here." Danny called out as he would rather leave as soon as possible. The longer he stayed here, the less he trusted his own mind. He was already not in the best spot right now. Seeing what could have been really did not help him one bit. He turned around as he felt the older ghost materialize behind him. "Daniel. Pleasure to see you here."
Danny glared at his mentor. "We both know it isn't. Look, I'm not here for small talk. And no, I'm not even going to try and ask you to fix things. Absolutely no need for your wise 'time and space' talk." He halfway growled. Really, he was extremely mad and hurt that the Master of time refused to help him. The faster he gets this done with, the faster he can leave. He tossed the keys to the speeder at the older, but it missed horribly as the time ghost shifted to his smaller, child form. He watched as the keys fell down again, facepalming as they hit the floor. He dragged his hand over his face as he felt whatever life was left in him drain out.
Clockwork raised a quizzing eyebrow at the half ghost. Danny weakly lifted his head as his shoulders slumped. "Aight, I'm only here to drop this stuff off. The least you can do for me is keep all of it safe. I know you'll be able to hide it somewhere or something so nobody will get to it and use it for the wrong stuff. After I'm done here, I'm shutting down the portal so there won't be any need for ghost hunter stuff to fall into the wrong hands. It's the least you could do for me." He didn't want to look his now ex-mentor in the eyes. He couldn't bring himself to. He trusted this man to help him and to keep him and his friends safe. That is the main reason he had begged the older ghost to help him with his training. He couldn't let his friends get hurt because he didn't have enough control.
Yet that is exactly what happened.
"Are you sure, Daniel? Wouldn't you prefer this to be in different hands?" The time keeper asked as he shifted to his young adult form. Danny didn't care though. It had long since stopped amazing him how the older shifted forms so easily. "I know what you're trying to do, old man. It's not gonna work."
Clockwork hummed amusedly, but even with a quick glance anybody would be able to tell he felt not a single ounce of the amusement he portrayed. "Oh? And what would that be then?" Danny sighed as he felt rage bubbling up. He knew being in the Ghost Zone would help him regain his energy faster, but that didn't help with staying calm. He felt his eyes burn with rage as he felt the familiar feeling of electricity race though him. That damn talking clock knew what he meant. He knew everything. He just wanted to hear Danny say it. Had he not ruined enough lives yet? Did he really need to go out of his way to get others involved in his mess? Yeah, because that worked out so well last time.
He had to quickly blink away the anger filled tears that had started to brim on his waterline. "I am not going to them. They have their own lives and don't need me to come fuck it up for them. They'll be better off without me, just like it has been for the past years! I don't care what you think, but leave them out of this. Keep the equipment safe and leave it be. That's all you have to do for now."
Not wanting to wait for a reply, Danny let the all too familiar crackling of energy pass over his body as he transformed. He took off flying and shot out random blasts around him. The less control he had over his emotions, the more energy the Zone would pump into him. At least he left safe enough to let all that extra energy go as well as the Zone would simply redisperse it. He kept going for a while, shooting of blasts and screaming his lungs out as he finally let himself feel everything he had been trying to bottle up.