Clockwork floated in his cell, in the exact middle of the room, farthest away from all the ecto-sucking walls. He was doing what is best described as meditating. His spectral tail was folded up underneath him, much like crossed legs, his gloved hands in the middle of his body squished together like someone praying. There was barely any sound in the room, even all his watches were near silent, the big clock in his chest swayed to and fro like the beat of a heart.
His eyes were closed, he breathed deeply through his nose. His body rose and fell like he was on a boat, rising and falling at the mercy of the waves. This calmed the ghost, for the ocean was like him, never ending and unexplored. On good days he was calm and charitable, giving a random person a helping hand at the most opertune times. On the worst days he could sink a thousand ships with a wave of his hand, letting karma do its dirty work.
Clockwork wished karma would visit a certain organization that for some reason really liked the color white.
But he was not the master of karma, or even the sea, he was the master of Time. Time can not be contained, it is universal, to stop time would be to rip open the fabric of the universe. When Clockwork used his time bubbles it was for a few seconds only, and only a certain area. He could not, for example, freeze time all around the world, for that would mean stoping its rotation. To stop the earths rotation would be to stop the sun and all its planets, then the whole galaxy, then all the other galaxy's and their suns. Clockwork was not that powerful.
But to trap time, and force it to stay still, is another matter. Time cannot be bottled, it cannot be stoped, it is always moving and changing, as did Clockwork. But force it into a straight line, a stream out of a faucet, would be to control time, making it fixed and unchangeable. Time was not meant to be controlled, Clockwork did not control time, he was more of a keeper, he protected time.
Time was having a very bad day.
Beginning with a simple conversation.
"Hey ghost scum, I heard you came here willingly, the future must be bright if you chose to give up so easily." An agent sneered, soon after he had phased through the wall. After all, humans are the ghosts in the ghost zone, the ecto-ranium walls would not harm them.
Clockwork, in his meditating position, regarded him cooly, not opening his eyes or acknowledging the agent.
"It is not that I gave up, it is that I saw what would happen if I did not agree to come here."
"Our sources say you're the ghost of time, you can see the future can't you?" The agent walked around Clockwork like a prowling cat, playing with its food. "What does it see for the future of the GIW?" The agent asked stoping in front of Clockwork and folding his arms in front of him in a business like manor.
Clockwork wanted to strangle him, this flesh bag thought just because he was stuck meant that he would tell him what ever he wanted to hear. He was not a genie, he did not spout answers on command.
"If you wish to know your future you should ask Daniel, he is the key. But you know that..." Clockwork's face frowned as he talked but he schooled it into blankness once more, trying not to add venom to his words. It was a small victory to anger the GIW, the agent was trying to get a reaction from him and the ghost refused to give it, instead he wanted a reaction from the agent.
"Ah yes the young halfa, he did our company proud by letting himself be our guinea pig." The agent said with a sick smile, knowing he would hit a chord with the ghost.
Clockwork's face contorted in anger, his mind literally went blank with rage. His blazing red eyes opened and he glared at the agent so hard that the agent took a few steps back.
Clockwork rose to his full height, and making himself larger just for the sheer joy of seeing the agent cower. His hooded face only let his blood red eyes be seen, glowing fiercely in his anger. He leaned over the now small agent, who was intimidated by the ghosts raw power. Dampeners or not, this was a powerful ghost.
"It would be wise, Agent A, to not fill your words with lies. For it will only make you weaker." Clockwork said just a above a whisper, practically hissing. The air radiated with dark power, the room might have been shaking but it could have been Clockworks fists at his side.
Agent A's pants became a startling yellow.
"I suddgest you find a different tactic for getting me to answer your questions," Clockwork resisted the urge to smirk, he took a small float backwards, but never diminished his height. "But I will tell you this; Fear is unpredictable and unstable, and frankly, unreliable." Clockwork shrunk to a more comfortable size, but still much larger than the soiled agent. He folded his arms behind his back and in a position that any student knew promised a long lecture.
"You use fear like it's the most powerful thing in the universe, and I will tell you that you are right." Clockwork started off slowly.
"Fear is what causes good people to become great, and bad people to become worse. Fear, like time, is universal, it's in everything. The antelope feeds in a pack for fear of the lion who hunts it. The lion fears for his own survival when he stalks his prey. People become defensive or angry when provoked, fear of subjegation. People become meek in fear of anger and retaliation. You should know this one quite well." Clockwork looked to the agent who had stoped cowering and now realized his pants were ruined.
Clockwork turned so Agent A wouldn't see the evil smirk crawling across his face. "Pity, you would think that something so pure on the outside would not be rotten on the inside, but as was the Gilded Age."
Clockwork turned back around allowing the agent to see his smile as he talked about things worse than death."Fear, pointed in the right direction, can be a great motivator. Pointed in the wrong direction and you end up destroying yourself and everyone around you."
Clockwork was walking blind so to speak, he could not see the future, his powers were stuck. But that did not mean he could not improvise, he was beyond mad at the agent but needed to remain cool as to figure out a way to escape.
"I-I..." Agent A had to clear his throat before continuing. "Ahem... I received your message about Specimime G01, why would you warn us?"
Clockwork wanted to laugh, so he did.
"Hah, why not? You will only ignore me until my information is useful and or relavent. In my experience it has always been the most excruciating death when you know exactly how you will be killed, months in advance. It is a technique often used to get convicted criminals to confess, tell them they are on death row and they suddenly become your new best friend."
"Are you my best friend Agent A?" Clockwork asked an innocent smile in his face. He glared and continued, "No, agent A, you are not even an aquantince." Clockwork was beginning to have fun in this conversation, something he would pay for dearly later.
"I would put a lid on it scum, you talk fancy and know a whole bunch about fear." Agent A became more confadent as he talked, walking forward as to intimidate the ghost again. "But have you ever REALLY felt fear? Have you breathed it? Lived in it? You know nothing of fear until you are on the verge of a mental break down, hanging over the abyss of disaster, waiting for your muscles to fail you and let you fall." The agent smirked as if he stuck a blow to the mighty ghost. Clockwork just rolled his eyes.
"I am the Ghost of Time, I am in constant fear, time is not for the faint of heart. How do you think I got this scar? That is just randomly appeared?" Clockwork gestured to his eye, the one marked in a long jagged scar. "I got this scar saving Time. I took a shortcut where I wasn't supposed to, I made a wrong decision, it cost billions of lives."
"I think the young halfa would know quite a bit about fear, considering where he was kept and how he was treated..." Clockwork prompted, he wanted to get the agent talking about Danny, he wanted to know how much they really knew about the boy.
"Specimime G01 was treated like all lab rats,-"
"Careful Andrew, your fellow angents wouldn't want to drag away your carcass now would they?" Clockworks voice became deadly, the agent's throat had closed up in fear. He shook his head, he did not want to die today. "But please," the ghost waved his hand on, "continue your rousing story of Danny's death and decay."
"Well... we know it's a halfa, and that most of the weapons we use work on both humans and ghosts. It opened the path for humans getting a leg up on ghosts, being both is undoubtedly helpful." He sounded like a text book, a practiced answer. "Seeing it broken is just an added benefit." He would have continued but Clockworks gloved hand was wrapped around his windpipe.
"Yet you hold onto this delusion that ghosts can't feel? Guess what I'm feeling right now." Clockwork demanded more than asked, voice gravely and deep, a voice promising death.
Clockwork smashed the agent on the wall, his hand touched the wall for a second before he hissed and retracted his hand, but still holding the agent aloft.
The agent gasped for breath, arms flailing about like a drunken pelican before grabbing onto the arm that held his throat. His bald head became purple with the lack of air, Clockwork glowered at him, nearly wanting to see the light die from his eyes.
The door opened.
Clockwork saw his chance, he released Agent a and flew as fast as he could out the door. The agents in the doorway had no time to get out of the way before Clockwork phased through them. He was a blur, going so fast he nearly got lost, he shot upwards and created a time bubble around him.
"That.. went... well..." the ghost said between breaths, reclaiming air as to return energy he sorely needed. Being in that room was taxing, then exerting his power he had collected while meditating was harder to do. But the goal was reached, he was free, for now.
His staff was still gone, without it he could not teleport or do anything requiring major power. Clockwork thought quickly, he duplicated himself a few times before all the Clockworks were sent out in different directions, all of them with different missions. The real Clockwork stayed in his bubble, keeping track of multiple conversations would be difficult but he needed to get a warning out to Danny.
He pooled a large amount of his power into his palms, it would be loads easier with his staff but that would not be happening any time soon. He made a circle with his hands, creating a large face of a clock, with another wave of his hands he disappeared behind the clock.
-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-
Clockwork looked around his new surroundings, he was in one of Danny's dreams, er, nightmares.
A swirling green mist surrounded Danny, the halfa stood unharmed and confused. The wind shoved his white hair around, he could clearly see the green swirls, purple hazes were also in the mix. He frowned at the void of green and purple, when he heard someone shouting.
"Danny!" Clockwork said, his voice failed him, it was hoarse and low, sounding urgent but faint, almost like a harsh whisper.
Danny's head swiveled around to the source of the voice, but saw nothing but green mist. He was suddenly cold, he shivered, so cold his breath fogged in the air. He wrapped his arms around himself and squinted into the distance.
There. A shadow of a person, at least, it looked like a person, its legs were all wonky. The shouting grew louder.
"DANNY!" Clockwork yelled, trying to get the halfa's attention, but he was sucked out of his dream.
-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-
Clockwork sighed, he was back in his time bubble, only a few seconds had passed, he broke the bubble and sped through the Ghost Zone to arrive at his tower.
His gears were turning, figuratively and literally. That was a dream from the past, he had gone to Danny's past, he needed to get to the present Danny, or the future Danny. Either one would work, hopefully.
Time was of the essence, he could not lead the GIW to his chamber of time, an enemy who knew the future was near impossible to defeat. Of course it didn't work for Clockwork until he got past the blocked parts, time was not so picky at who knew the future, that was Clockwork's job.
Clockwork looked into the future, he scanned over the proceedings as he had done millions of times before, he needed things to happen. If these things did not happen, the world as he knew, as everyone knew, would be utterly destroyed. Clockwork winced in pain, one of his duplicates had been killed.
The Ghost of Time sighed, he could see what the other Clockworks were doing in his mind's eye, it was difficult to have multiple conversations at once but he made it work. He had sent out those duplicates to do one thing; distract the GIW. Except for one, that one he sent out to find an old friend of his, someone who could keep an eye on Danny.
His new plan was afoot, new goals floated in his head. They were never set in stone, for he could always go back and change them if needed as new information came forth. Clockwork knew he had exactly 26 seconds before the GIW came knocking at his door, not necessarily politely though.
He looked over the screen once more, seeing what would befall him in the next hour or so, it didn't look pretty. 18 seconds. He gave one last glance, wanting to stay a few seconds longer.
Clockwork exited the chamber and sealed it, it became nonexistent, 10 seconds.
He rushed over to his door, waiting, knowing what would happen next would be painful, but for the greater good of the world he would not complain. Sacrifices were part of saving the world.
5 seconds.
BOOOOOOOM
Clockwork raised an arm to shield his face, his door had been blown off, out of the dust thrown in the air by the explosion green lasers fired into the room. Clockwork ducked and dodged, he knew where they were aiming, but he also knew he could not dodge the next weapon.
Clink, BANG!
Sparks exploded into the room, glowing green and sharp as glass. Little shards of ecto-ranium filled the air making it impossible for Clockwork to move without being hit by the ghost proof rock. They flew towards him like a magnet, Clockwork raised his arms to shield his face again, he grunted as the rocks cut him and embedded themselves into his skin.
He felt himself being slowly drained of power, he was already weak, they just needed to finish the job. The agents had stopped firing on him and watched as the ghost of time faltered and fell to the ground.
Clockworks sight was blocked once more.
-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-
Clockwork woke in chains, his hands were spread out to the sides in a forced Y position, it was the only thing keeping him from the poisonous ground. His whole body stung, he still had pieces of ecto-ranium in his body. A new agent walked in, who Clockwork remembered as Agent T.
"My, my, well aren't you troublesome. And rather impressive, escaping within a few hours of your capture is a new record. One that will be untouchable now." The agent sneered and held his hands behind his back.
"Records are made to be broken." Clockwork grumbled without lifting his head, his voice was gravely, there was a speck of ecto-ranium lodged in his neck.
"Be that as it may, you will never have a chance to even think about escaping. You will be far too occupied..." He trailed off menacingly.
"I may be..." A weak cough rattled his body "...occupied, but that means more agents dealing with me are not looking for the halfa." Clockwork said, knowing the agent will take the new subject.
"I'm glad you brought that up, you see, we know where it is, we just are looking for the right opportunity to take it. And we want you to tell us when that opportunity arrives."
"You are afraid." Clockwork said bluntly, ignoring the previous comment, the agent frowned at him. "After all, there are only so many letters in the alphabet." Clockwork smirked tiredly.
"Who said we are the only ones looking for him?" Agent T asked with a sly smile, he obviously knowing something Clockwork didn't. Clockwork was more than happy to burst his bubble.
"Plasmius will not do your bidding, he is too far gone to be used anymore."
"As useful as Plasmius was in getting the whole ghost zones attention he is not one for stealth or apprehending, we have someone else for that. Your information fails you, I'm afraid you're running out of time scum, we've already got the halfa right where we want him." Agent T began to leave, when Clockwork said something after him.
"Wonderful, in that case, I would start running if I were you." The agent stopped and looked over his shoulder to look at the defeated ghost.
Clockwork drew a strangled breath. "Because you created your worst enemy, you gave him a reason to hate you, to destroy you, and there is nothing you can do but watch as your comrades fall to his inescapable wrath." Clockwork hissed. With his energy depleted and his piece said Clockwork closed his eyes and hung his head, ready for the consequences of his words.
Agent T phased out of the room, silently promising the Ghost of Time a world of pain that he would not soon forget.