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There had been a neon green post-it note stuck to Danny’s forehead when he woke up that morning, signed with a drawing of a clock — Clockwork was meddling again. And for once, Danny had been expecting it. Or at least, he had been expecting something to happen after he accepted Clockworks offer to mentor him. Goodness knows he needed to talk to someone who actually knew what they were doing, and if anyone knew anything, it was Clockwork. The note read:
Daniel— Pay a visit to the Clocktower at 2:00PM. Don’t be late; let’s not keep the Observants waiting. —CW
Short and to the point. But also rather worrying, to say the least. The Observants only intervened when something super terrible had happened, after all. Something that they couldn’t just watch pass by. Danny really hoped that it wasn’t anything to do with Dan, or that the Observants were trying murder him yet again.
Sam shook him out of his thoughts as she slid his tray across the table to him before sitting down next to Tucker. “Danny, just calm down,” she told him with a sigh. “Isn’t Clockwork working for those guys? They probably just want to know that mentoring you won’t get in the way of him doing his job.”
“Well, maybe, but then why do they want me there if I’m not in trouble?” Danny said, unwrapping his burger. “I feel like in that case, they would just talk to Clockwork and they wouldn’t call me there as well. Like, I dunno guys, I’m probably just worried for no good reason.”
“Exactly! That’s the thought I’ve been waiting for you to have.” Tucker took a huge bite of his hamburger and chewed for an inordinately long time, making Sam and Danny cringe in unison. “You’re definitely worried for no good reason, because nothing should reasonably make you worried this much! Just stop thinking about it so much and show up at two, dude. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Besides, CW will be there with you anyways. You know he’s protected you from the Observants before, so he’d probably do it again if they were just being major jerk-heads like they were before.” Sam chewed on a fry thoughtfully, resting her face in one hand. “What are you so worried that you’ll be in trouble for anyway?”
“I mean, I don’t think I’ve done anything? But maybe I will, soon?” Danny frowned. “Tucker’s probably right, I just think—” he gasped, and a wisp of pale blue air escaped from his mouth. “Ah shit, ghost.”
Tucker rolled his eyes. “Try to lead it away from the Nasty Burger this time, will you? I want to finish this burger, and last time you destroyed this place it took Three Months before it was open again.”
“And call someone if you need help, okay?” Sam reminded him. “Whoever’s in the area, even if it’s just Skulker with a new toy you aren’t sure how to handle yet.” I’ll drag Tucker along once he’s done, because goodness knows it’s not going to happen before then.”
Danny snickered. “Yeah, I know. See you soon, guys.”
-=-=-=-
His worry kicked back in about the time that Danny was actually following Clockwork as they flew to the Observants’ council building. He was dressed in his “Time’s Apprentice” get-up — dark clothing and a black cloak with an hourglass clasp, hood over his head to match his mentor. Unlike Clockwork’s however, Danny’s cloak hid his eyes as well.
The high council’s actual building was larger than the citadel, looming white and imposing on the edges of the Ghost Zone, with a huge green eye looking down on them. There were guards at the entrance, dressed in silver armor and armed with spears, which crossed said spears over the door as soon as they saw Danny approaching.
“Clockwork. And who is this?” Asked the one on the right.
“My apprentice, Hourglass. We were both requested to appear before the council at the next meeting.”
“Hourglass, huh?” The one on the left checked a list. “You’re both in. Don’t cause any trouble.”
“I would never,” Clockwork said, and the doors swung open to let them both in. Danny followed after silently, not sure what to make of the place.
Even though the floors of the hallways were made of perfectly serviceable marble, the auditorium that Clockwork immediately led them into had no floor — and frankly seemed more like a stadium than anything. The walls were lined with stands, all filled with Observants dressed in identical white and red robes with tall black collars. Suspended from the ceiling via dark red, vein-like supports were circular screens that were definitely intended to look like eyeballs, each with an Observant’s face in it. There was nowhere to stand, and Danny switched over to his ghostly tail in an effort to blend in.
“Clockwork, Ghost of Time, and his apprentice, Danny Fenton, called Phantom, called Hourglass,” an Observant announced as they entered. So, you know, way to out him to all of these people (never mind that they certainly already knew).
Danny nodded to the Observant they passed before following Clockwork into the center of the auditorium. He wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt before locking his hands behind his back as they approached who was, presumably, one of the head Observants. Presumably because he was standing with them in the center, since they literally all looked identical and there were no visual or auditory cues to tell them apart. Danny hadn’t spent enough time with any of them to tell if there were personality differences between the Observants, and frankly he didn’t think he wanted to.
“Clockwork, when we told you that the boy was your responsibility, this was not what we meant,” the Observant told them. How could the Observants even talk? As far as Danny could tell, they had no mouths.
“You’re Observants, aren’t you? You could have seen how I chose to interpret it at the time. Hourglass is my ward now — my responsibility, as you requested,” Clockwork answered.
“Yes, but this is meddling to the highest degree! This is completely against our oath!”
“No oath that I ever took,” Clockwork said, turning to look around at the audience. “Besides, teaching Hourglass is no more ‘meddling’ than when you ask me to take care of your problems for you. What Phantom chooses to do on his own time is none of the council’s business.”
“If you teach Phantom to manipulate time, he will certainly alter the time stream more than we can afford! Phantom is a teenage boy, reckless and irresponsible. You are forbidden from teaching him.”
“ Forbidden. Forbidden. ” The watching crowd chanted in creepy unison, and Danny suppressed a shiver.
“I won’t teach Phantom how to do anything,” Clockwork said, calm as ever. “I will teach Hourglass. Phantom will not manipulate time, nor will Fenton — I can promise you that. You will find that the boy is quite multi-faceted.”
“What In The World ?!” The Observant nearly screamed. “They are the same boy! What is different between them — a costume change!? Absolutely not!”
“Ah ah,” Clockwork said. He shifted slowly — old man, middle aged, young boy. “You forget that I am not under your jurisdiction. And Daniel is my responsibility . Even if I did not take him in as an apprentice, he would still not be under your control. Choose what you say next rather carefully — I am the one who does your meddling for you, and if you prevent me from meddling altogether, then I’m afraid I would no longer be under your employment.”
“Bribery!” The council cried.
“Not quite,” Clockwork said, now smiling.
“Blackmail.” Danny said, quietly.
“Very good, Hourglass. Come, let us take our leave while the council deliberates.” He drifted toward the door as the Observants began to stand up, arguing loudly with one another. Danny followed hesitantly, but the guards at both sets of doors let them leave without any prompting.
As they flew away, back towards the Clocktower, Danny turned to Clockwork with raised eyebrows (though they couldn’t be seen through the cloak). “Uh, does that happen often?” He asked.
“More often than you would think, but, I believe, less often than I would like.”