Spy Guy: This is a broadcast from the somewhat timely update system. This an update. I repeat, this is an update. Grab your chairs, your beverages, and your computers/cellphones, because this is not a drill.

lol. Sorry guys, I'm a tad bit bored. XD

I've just moved into an apartment closer to my college...and by closer, I mean right across the street. For those of you who know what city I'm in right now, wish me luck. For those of you who don't...it's better off that way. XD

Anyways, this is another chapter where the POV is not Jacob's. Jake's actually not in here at all. You get a shiny new character to read about. He's canon though. xD I have to keep the OC's to a minimum, donchaknow? I've decided to go back and call these kinds of chapters "interruptions" because they are. I almost have the chapter after this completed, and then there will most likely be another short "interruption", but I really think you'll like it.

My writing style's on the move again, so, this is a little different than usual. I hope ya'll enjoy, and please review!

Interruptions: Fallen Hero

Kwan remembered how happy he had been to finally get a job.

The position at the governmental GIW facility was a once in a lifetime opportunity, with a hefty paycheck, and a chance to learn more about the creatures plaguing his hometown. It was a good job, one that was guaranteed for the future. It hadn't taken him long to put down roots and start a family.

And then, he was trapped.

The GIW facility was like a living, breathing creature...a monster that he had come to depend on for money. He clung to his job desperately, knowing that he wouldn't find another like it...not one that could support his family. Others tried to run...only to be met with either death or ruin.

It didn't take Kwan long to hate his job.

Maybe that was why he had answered the anonymous plea that had been left on his doorstep. Maybe that was why he found himself wandering deeper and deeper into the city in the dark, chasing after an invisible phantom. He was fed up with the company that had ensnared him and was quickly taking his son. Despite knowing the dangers, despite knowing that he was already on thin ice with his superiors, Kwan approached the dark warehouse hidden within the bowels of the city, all too aware of the cold winter air cutting into his lungs.

At first glance, the warehouse was empty, filled with old decrepit boxes and crates, rotted from neglect. Kwan flinched as he heard the scurrying of rats, and saw their red eyes in the darkness. If the letter had been left by who he thought...he could be anywhere, lurking in the darkness, even standing right beside him, and he would never know. Kwan didn't want to speak...didn't want to give himself away if the area wasn't safe...but he was beginning to get nervous, and the chill in the air wasn't helping at all.

Frozen vapor puffed from his lips, hanging heavily before him. It was then that he heard the soft padding of boots on concrete, followed by a cold hand gripping his arm. Before Kwan could even react, he was being pulled through the floor, forced invisible by a phantom touch. He was roughly ghosted through a few basement levels, then a series of decrepit tunnels, impossible for humans to maneuver alone. There was no time for questions...no time for Kwan to struggle away. He followed his ghostly messenger through a cracked stone door, and into a long forgotten room...

And that was when his old friend appeared.

"Danny?" The scientist asked, fixing his crooked glasses. It had been a long time since he had seen his classmate...and he had hoped not to ever again. The man had changed; no longer as gaunt and malnourished as he had been before. His hair was shorter, an odd color of auburn, but his eyes were still blue...

"I was trying to disguise myself." He said, as if reading Kwan's thoughts. "I didn't trust it though...so I've just been hiding here."

"They can track your signal." Kwan said. "You shouldn't be using your powers."

"But they can't get down here, and besides...Tearle knows I'm going to come to her eventually. She has what I want."

"Your son?"

Danny paused, turning away, quickly gathering a fire together in an ancient hearth. He lit it himself, the flames momentarily glowing green, before fading to orange. The threw off his ragged coat, and slumped down on an old cot, burying his head in his hands.

"Have you seen him?" He asked, his voice too soft for the superhero Kwan had once respected. "He's okay, isn't he?"

"I haven't seen him in months." The scientist answered truthfully. "My own son has...but he won't tell me anything."

"Your son?"

Kwan nodded ruefully.

"He's a few years older than Jake...did I ever tell you about him before?"

Danny scoffed.

"There really wasn't a lot of time for talk."

Kwan sighed, moving to sit by his former classmate's side.

"I'll tell you what I do know." He continued. Danny turned to him, his worn face showing in the firelight. The man before him was old...older than he...if only in appearance.

"Jacob is a leech, which means he needs human emotion to survive."

"I know that." Danny replied. "Ever since he was little."

"I've heard that he eats their fear."

"It's his nature." The other man said, fingers carding through his oddly short hair. "We're ghosts Kwan. There's some things that we can't help."

Kwan nodded.

"In my department, we synthesized your son's blood to use in weapons. His ectoplasm count was much lower than yours, so Tearle gave him injections for a few months-"

"That witch!" Danny snarled, his hands curling into fists, eyes flaring green in the dim light. His quiet demeanor was suddenly gone, replaced by a creature consumed by rage...still not the hero Kwan knew...and much more frightening than he should have been.

"Before all this, he didn't know about me, or his powers, or anything to do with that place! He knew that we were running...but I never told him why. That bitch needs to keep her hands off my son..."

And then, as quickly as his anger had spiked, it was gone...and the once powerful halfa was crying.

Kwan was at a loss as what to do. He had never really known Danny in the first place...Dash had always picked on him, thinking that he was scrawny and weak. But, when Kwan first seen Phantom at the facility and saw that it was none other than his classmate, he knew that he had to do something. Danny didn't deserve to suffer there.

No one did.

"You need to get him out soon, Danny." The scientist said.

"Don't you think I know that?" The halfa demanded, his eyes flaring again. "I've been trying, researching, slinking around in the city's underbelly for months trying to find a way in! I don't know how I'm supposed to do this! I could barely get out myself."

"There's really nothing I can-"

"What if it was your own son?" Danny demanded. "What if it was him that Tearle was torturing, and experimenting on. Wouldn't you do something to get him out of there?"

"If I do anything and I get caught, it will be him" The scientist snarled. "I have a family too, and I need to take care of them. There's nothing I can do!"

"Then why did you come?"

Kwan paused, taken aback by the phantom's demand. Why did he come? Was he hoping that a miracle would happen, and the GIW would disappear? Was he hoping that he and his family would be free again, to go where they wanted, and live how they wanted?

"I don't know..." He murmured, shaking his head sadly. "Maybe I was hoping that you were the hero I remembered."

The halfa scoffed, turning away, before pulling himself to his feet. He gazed into the fire, wiping away the stray tears on his cheeks

"I haven't been that person for a long time." Danny whispered. "I don't think I have it in me anymore."

"For your son's sake...you better hope you do."

Kwan left the warehouse in despair, wondering why he had taken such a risk for so little information. Danny wasn't going to do anything. He was too hopeless...too scared of Tearle and the GIW to pose any threat to them at all. All the risks he had taken had done nothing to bring back the hero he remembered.

Nothing.

Hands thrust into his pockets, Kwan made his way home, once again traversing the winding roads and alleyways that had become so familiar to him. Sometimes he would walk out there, all alone, somewhat hoping that a ghost would come to carry him off. He knew that his work was hurting people, but he plodded along anyway, because it was the only thing he knew how to do.

It was the only thing he could do.

The GIW were taking his son from him...slowly and surely, drawing him in as well. The problem was, he didn't see it yet. He had been raised in a world where ghosts were no better than vermin, and anything touched by them was tainted. There was nothing Kwan could do to erase the seed of evil planted in his child's heart. Such intolerance was taught...and he had been too busy with his job to intervene and stop it.

Ghosts weren't heartless creatures. Danny himself had taught him that. They were driven by obsession, their minds concentrated on a single goal that they had in life. Sometimes, their obsession led them to do horrible things. But ghosts, just like people, could not be all lumped together. There were ghosts with good hearts, and tragic pasts, ghosts that Kwan had communicated with before their untimely demise at his hands. He had taken everything from them-their blood, their minds...

All because he was too afraid.

Letting Danny free had been the bravest thing he had ever done. He still couldn't believe that he had gotten off as clean as he had. There was always a voice echoing in the back of his mind, telling him that Tearle knew what he had done...but was biding her time. He had lived his life in endless fear, ever since he had snuck a key from his superior's pocket, and allowed Daniel to wear his body to escape. What if the cameras hadn't been properly disabled? It would be his face they had seen...his face incriminated forever...

Tearle had to know.

Tearle had to know.

Suddenly, there were dark shapes materializing from the shadows, falling upon him, familiar weapons drawn...

They held the new blasters, the ones infused with synthetic halfa blood. That meant that the past had finally chosen to catch up with him, on the night that he had met with the person responsible for all of his fears. There was no way he could fight them. No way that he could ever hope to stand up to the weapons and the training that he had never received. The end of the blasters were warm even through his coat, and the hands of his attackers pulled at his arms, trying to force him into handcuffs. Kwan let them, not knowing what else he could do. Even if he escaped, they would find him. He could take his family and run...but that was what Danny had done...and that hadn't worked at all. In the end, the GIW would find him...In the end, it all would have been for nothing.

Then, there was green in the air, bright against the night sky. Kwan could hear screams, and the firing of weapons. He strained to see, his eyes searching for the specter he could feel in the air.

And for a moment, he saw him...The hero he remembered from so long ago.

Danny Phantom.

And then, stars sprang across his vision...and the world went dark...