:P

He even sees himself accidentally pressing the button that turned on the machine- a fault in the design by his father, no doubt- and as he is screaming while his body is electrocuted, the camera zooms into him. Suddenly, they see his DNA floating in place until a mush of green goo wraps itself around the strands, shifting them until the goo becomes part of the genetic makeup.

Danny's jaw dropped even as Frostbite let out a hum of intrigue.

"Fascinating. This type of genetic editing has never been seen before. It's seamless, with no trace of anyone making alterations." The yeti points to a few parts of his DNA, where the added green rests comfortably. "I can even see how the Martian part enhanced your basic three."

"Basic three?" Danny repeats in a daze.

"Intangibility, Invisability and flight," Frostbite explains, waving one large claw towards a poster on the other side of the room. On it is information about the Basic Three, along with drawn examples, facts, and cautionary symptoms that something may be wrong if a ghost experiences them while performing the Basic Three.

"Every aspiration can do these three, but usually they can't do two of them at the same time, much less three, unlike you. There are a few exceptions, but they can only do it for a little while before exhaustion forces them to stop. Flight is the most common and the least energy-wasting, but every ghost has a preferred ability they call upon. Think of it like this: every human has the ability to sing, but not the skill to be a good singer. You are a triple threat, so to speak. I always assumed it was because you are still alive, and thus power your abilities with living energy instead of pure ectoplasm, but it seems it's because of your martian dna."

Danny's head is spinning. "So what you're saying is, my ghost powers aren't strong because I'm a Halfa, but because I'm part martian?"

"Not exactly." Clockwork cuts in again, now as an old man. He points one trembling finger towards the chart in Danny's slack hold. "Your basic three are boosted, but everything else? That's because you're a Halfa. And by the looks of it, you didn't get too much from your third parent-"

"Third parent!?" Danny yips, springs up from the table. He starts pacing in place, forcing Frostbite to scramble towards the room's final wall to avoid colliding with him. This places him in the perfect place to catch the clipboard that goes flying out of Danny's hold as the boy starts waving his arms around like a manic. "I have three parents!?"

"Biologically speaking, yes." Frostbite flips through a few pages, eyes moving rapidly along the report. "You're what is scientifically known as a Core Chimera."

"Core chimera?"

"It's someone whose biological parents are more than two people, usually caused by the cores expanding and pulsing during a mating, especially when-"

Danny holds up a hand. "Stop, I don't want to know how a Core Chimera is made."

"Why? It's perfectly natural."

"He's at a special age," Clockworks chuckles, now a middle-aged man. It makes him fold his arms and smirk at Danny, far more embarrassing than it needs to be. "Anything to do with mating makes him burst into giggles or makes him so embarrassed he has to curl up into a ball for a few minutes."

Frostbite smiles, shaking his horns fondly. "Youth."

"Indeed."

"Can we, please, focus on the matter at hand?" Danny grumbles, checks aflame. "So I have a third biological parent-"

"A father"

"Right, a second biological dad who I accidentally made into my biological dad when I was half killed between the living world and the dead world. This second dad is a Martian from Mars who, during a mass extinction on his planet, had his Martian DNA boost my basic ghost abilities, but nothing else that makes Phantom into such a powerhouse. "

Frostbite hums, clicking his tongue a bit as he flips through the last pages of the lab reports. "Yes. That's a good summary. The only other noteworthy thing I see here is the concerning amount of sugar in your diet. Does your family have a history of diabetes?"

"I normally answer no, but apparently there is a third option that might be yes. I can't ask him, though, because he's dead!" Danny snaps, pacing more aggressively now. "Is there something else I should know about this third parent?!"

"He's not dead." Clockwork twirls his staff again, like he was about to throw it into the air for a showy catch. He floats over the examination table, just slightly before the pocket watch, still displaying Danny's altered DNA. "He only nearly died. Well, legally speaking, he was dead for maybe four minutes before his wife managed to resuscitate him. They attempted to escape the planet together, but she succumbed to her own injuries just as they were entering Earth's atmosphere-"

"He's on Earth!?" Danny pounced on that workding like a lion on a wounded gizelle. "I can find him!?"

"He's on a Earth...." Clockworks starts hesitantly, his face melting into a child. It makes the time lord's uncertainty a little more poignant, and the urge to find his other father rises up a notch or two. Danny gives the floating child a stern frown, which only causes the great Clockwork to raise his hackles. "There is more than one Earth. There are multiple realities, infinite timelines, worlds far beyond-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know about the other dimensions. I visited a few." Danny cuts in, crossing his arms. "The real question is, are you going to help me met my other dad on this other Earth?"

"It's not recommended.....this Earth is out of my jurisdiction." Clockwork began, but Frostbite raised a hand, waiting to be called on. There was a weird dynamic between the two. Clockwork acted like the yeti was a normal healer who would be treating his self-proclaimed ward, while Frostbite saw the always changing time lord as an all-powerful ancient that needed complete respect or bad things would befall his people. Almost like a living (sort of speak) god.

It was odd because Danny once saw Clockwork try to eat cereal with his foot and ended up in feudal Japan when he lost his balance and fell through his time portals.

"If the timeline is outside your jurisdiction, could you not petition a visitor's pass under the Youth Protection Truce? I could write a healer's note stating that Danny must seek out his other father for biological-related worries." Frostbite offers. His head is dipped, as if he were unworthy of speaking directly to Clockwork. This means he misses the way Clockwork's jaw slacks, likely never thought of the option. He often forgets that Clockwork only seems all-knowing because he can peek into the living world's flow of time, witnessing everything that was, is, and will be.

That did not mean he could peek into the flow of time for the dead world. There he was, just as helpless to time as any other ghost was, but he at least had monitors that played everything in the living world that he watched endlessly.

It was so hard not to see Clockwork as a disaster shut in after living with him for the summer. His parents thought he was at space camp when, in reality, he was watching Clockwork smack himself with his own staff and trip over air. While floating in said air.

"I could....." Clockwork starts, his ghost glow brightening up with glee, "I could meet Speed Force."

Danny knows that Clockwork had some kind of celebrity crush on Speed Force, since the being was the current most famous time ghost and was all the rage with time-inclined individuals in the Realms. "Yeah, and I could meet my other father-"

"Shush, Danny. I have to draft a letter. A petition for traveling to Speed Force's timeline." Clockwork gushes while snapping his fingers, causing a quill and parchment to appear from thin air. "Do you think he'll let me shake his hand?"

"Clockwork, I'm having a crisis."

"Danny, I'm having a moment." Clockwork dips his quill into the ink. The sound of the tip scratching against the parchment is nearly drowned by the time lord's words, "Don't ruin this for me, or I'm going to make you look stupid in front of Damian. He'll always think of you as the Hotdog Cart guy and not in a good way."

Used to his guardian randomly using references from his future, Danny rolls his eyes. He mentally slots the name away, assuming this Damian is going to be someone that Danny wants to impress as he turns to Frostbite. "What biological-related worries do you mean?"

"Nothing too serious, but if you are part martian, there is a chance that you may have some biological aspects that you may be unaware of. For example, I heard that Martians are weak to fire and can't even stand near it, which could explain why you developed an ice core. Now this is just a rumor, but if fire can cause such a reaction in living beings, I fear being around a flame, even something as harmless as a campfire, it may cause your core to melt." Frostbite shakes his head at Danny's horrified round eyes. "I am exaggerating, of course, but it's a good enough excuse to have you enter the other timeline, no?"

"Yeah, okay. I say we do this." Danny sighs. "I want to meet my other Father. What's his name?"

Clockwork glances up from his letter, his red eyes sparkling. "J'onn J'onzz. He believes he is the last of his kind, but a few survivors managed to hide on Mars, including his sister and her children. We can say you were born during J'onn's grief-driven binge of alcohol and human women that he drowned himself in when he first got to Earth. You were a normal boy in the foster system who wanted to send a message to Mars for a science project, and one of your "cousins" picked up the signal, starting a penpal system that eventually led to a conversation about biological differences, making you think you might be a Martian yourself. I'll ask Speed Force to make the proper paper trails and make our lie solid enough that no one will know it's false."

"Why do we need to lie about that?"

"That world is not ready to learn about different timelines. Not yet." Clockwork waves a hand. "It plays a big part in your love story with Damian."

"Who the hell is Damian!?"

"Watch your tone. You don't want to lose him. He's rich."

Frostbite looks between the two nervously as Danny throws his hands into the air with a huff. "Does he often speak of the future?"

"All the time. He thinks spoilers are funny when they really ruin all the excitement!"

Clockwork's eyes gleam. "Oh, there will be excitement, alright. And a lot of innocent hot dogs will forever be ruined."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we need to pay for this healer visit, then stop by the Truce center to get our visitors' passes processed. We're going on a life-changing adventure, baby!" Clockwork cheered, shifting into a teenager- he rarely used this form, but when he did, Danny knew he was going to have to work as the voice of reason for an annoying amount of time. "We're going to pose as runaway orphans on a quest for you to find your dad and for me to shake the hand of the most attractive time lord! Frostbite!"

The Yeti startles at the use of his name, twisting into a deep bow before Clockwork. "Yes, my lord?"

"Do you accept credit?"

"I do."

"Excellent, for I have forgotten my wallet." Clockwork reaches inside his chest, pulling out a plastic card and waving it around. "This is why we have the emergency credit card!"