#mostly loop

“Seems like a waste of your powers.”

“In comparison to the rips and tears across time, this doesn’t even register.”

Clockwork just loved to be infuriating, didn’t he? Why couldn’t he just get a hint and go away? Show off. It wasn’t like the time powers were that impressive anyway. More painful and disorienting.

Waiting out a literal master of time did seem pretty impossible though. He only had so much patience for this. “Okay! Fine! What do you want?”

Clockwork’s smirk was so smug that it made Phantom want to punch it right off his face. “I have a job you are well suited for. Before you start yelling, it is a paid sort of job. I am not expecting your help for nothing in return.”

Phantom let out a mutter, he was going to instantly say no to being a free time monkey. So of course Clockwork wouldn’t even let him do that. Future looking cheater of a ghost. “Like you’d pay in anything useful.”

“I could move time more swiftly on that new human body of yours. I’ve heard you are not pleased about being sixteen again?”

The perfect sort of bribe. So this job had to be super unfair, or impossible, or some trick to get him disposed of yet again. “So what if I’m not? If you actually cared you’d just help instead of taunting me.”

“I can only use my powers so sparingly. However, if you solved a problem I was unable to resolve, I can easily justify why you should be able to make use of the time I did not use.”

Or age him into being totally dead. That seemed like a Clockwork thing to do. Meddler. “If you need some hero, why aren’t you bothering Danny?”

“Danny wouldn’t have the right skills for this.”

Ah. “So you want someone dead? Need some temporal attack dog?”

The look wasn’t disgust. Yet Clockwork dared to look concerned about his completely reasonable assumption. “No. I would not ask that of you.”

“Like I have skills Danny doesn’t that aren’t murder related?” He rolled his eyes as his scowl deepened. Half of his abilities didn’t work quite right after getting this new body. He felt as weak as he looked lately, and having some time ghost mock him about it was not appreciated.

“You might think you don’t, but you do. You’ve experienced more.”

“Experienced a lot of revenge, sure. But you aren’t looking for those skills, apparently.”

“What it’s like to lose everything. What can happen if you choose to lash out just to feel something. What does not help fill a void.”

If Clockwork was trying to play therapist he was going to throw something. “Knowing how that feels doesn’t actually do anything!”

“Would you recommend desperately fleeing your feelings and drowning them in the blood of a world you feel abandoned you?”

Phantom wished he could scowl even deeper. “Well no. It didn’t work.”

“Then your experience has given you a perspective not many will have.” Clockwork’s tone was strangely warm, and it made his skin itch. “All I am asking is for you to talk to someone. Even if they do not listen to you, your part of the deal will be done.”

That sounded way too generous. Maybe Clockwork figured out he was the worst at this convincing thing. “Still sounds like a pipsqueak job.”

“You have more in common with them than Danny does. He wouldn’t understand like you might.”

Clockwork better not be on some redeeming time criminals kick. Or you know what? Sure! Whatever! The weird ghost could have a hobby so long as he didn’t get dragged into it. “That’s it? No extra gotcha at the end?”

“Yes. Their temporal prison is giving me quite the migraine, if you talked them into getting out of it I’ll be quite grateful.”

A prisoner? Clockwork wanted to get someone out of a time prison? Well that explained things, he was practically an expert at that now. So why dress it up like talking is the important part? “One jailbreak for one ticket to twenty years old? That’s your deal?”

“You get your ‘ticket’ even if you cannot do the jailbreak part. I just need you to try to get them to think about leaving.” Clockwork stated again, a hint of exhaustion escaping as if repeating himself was difficult.

Which sounded like a lie. Better to just assume it was. “Fine. Deal. But you better not think I’ll just be your gopher again!”

“This way, then.” Clockwork’s arm swept out from his cloak as a slowly swirling portal appeared, a strange grey tint making it hard to tell it was meant to be blue.

“So how do I make a portal back when I’m done?” He scowled, the time master knew he couldn’t rip his own way back anymore.

“I will when you ask. Or when it sounds like you require one.”

“Anyone tell you that you’re a creepy stalker, Clockwork?”

The non committal shrug he got in return didn’t tell him much, but he didn’t want to admit he was afraid. If this was a trap, and it reeked of one, he didn’t have any real ability to get out of it. Sure he could curse Clockwork about it, but that wouldn’t free him if he was walking into a new prison.