Chapter 31

Lancer was quite pleased with how well his conversation with Daniel went. Some students merely ignored his advice whenever he tried to talk to them about their future and possible career choices. He was well aware of Daniel's aspirations to join the space program and become an astronaut, but with his grades, that option wasn't realistically available to the young man. Having a dream crushed like that could be a devastating blow to anyone, and Lancer knew the struggle of finding a new dream to replace the old one. He hoped by presenting Daniel with the opportunity to work at the publishing house for the summer internship that he would help Daniel find a new dream to strive toward.

"It's been a pleasure having you in class," Lancer said, truly meaning it as he took hold of the doorknob. For the briefest moments, there was that look on Daniel's face, that look that Lancer saw all too often, especially when it came to younger siblings of past students. Lancer saw that look from Kwan more often than he liked, and with Jing Long back within the school's halls, Lancer expected to see it even more, which made him rather angry. Kwan was a smart young man, but it was obvious that his brother's shadow kept him from seeing himself as anything but inferior.

Daniel lived under a similar shadow when it came to his sister. Jazz was quite the brilliant young woman, but the genius of her and her parents left people whispering about Daniel, wondering murmurs of how he could share the same genes as the rest of the Fentons when he didn't share in their brilliance. It was a point that filled Lancer with anger. He could see that Daniel was smart. His grades could have been outstanding if he applied himself to his schoolwork sooner.

When Daniel smiled, Lancer was relieved that no bitter words about not being as smart as his sister left the man's mouth. He would feel the need to sit Daniel down for another discussion if he started hearing his student mumble that he wasn't intelligent like the rest of his family. He twisted the knob to open the door as Daniel stepped forward.

That was when it happened. Daniel's whole body tensed up, freezing in mid step as a brief hint of terror passed in his bright blue eyes before the life cut out completely. It was like watching a movie in slow motion as the man's legs gave out under him and Daniel tilted back, falling to the ground. Lancer couldn't react, couldn't fathom what exactly happened. Daniel's body hit the floor of his office with a thud, remaining there unmoving.

He jerked into action, dropping to his knees beside his student. "Daniel!" Lancer shouted in alarm as he gripped the man's shoulders and gave him a shake. Daniel didn't move, didn't respond. His dead eyes stared up at the ceiling, and his lips were slightly parted. Bending over, Lancer held his ear near Daniel's mouth but felt no breath and saw no rise of the man's chest. Panic rushed through him as he tried to understand what happened o his student. People didn't simply pass out like that for no reason! Especially not young, healthy men like Daniel.

Lancer checked for a pulse, pressed his head to Daniel's chest in search of any sign of life, but he felt no gentle pulse beneath his fingers against his student's neck and heard no beat of a heart within the man's chest. He stared at the young man, his mind failing him on what to do in this situation. Daniel couldn't have-

No! Lancer refused to believe Daniel could simply drop dead in the blink of an eye. Something must have happened to cause Daniel to - He couldn't think of a word to describe it. Getting to his feet, he grabbed the phone from his desk. When he brought the receiver to his ear, he heard dead silence, not even a dial tone. Slamming the phone back into its cradle, Lancer tried his coat hanging off the chair at his desk. He dug into pocket for his cell phone. Dialing for the hospital, he frowned when realized the phone was dead too.

Lancer glanced toward Daniel's still form. He needed to make contact with someone that could help the young man. And quickly! He walked toward the door of his office, desperate to save Daniel. Until he opened the door, he didn't know about commotion that was taking place in the hall. Lancer frowned at the students milling about, murmuring among themselves. Several moments passed before he realized the overhead lights were out all along the hall.

"Sir," Kwan's brother said when he spotted Lancer and quickly approached the man.

"What's happening?" Lancer demanded in a strong, commanding voice as he kept his body blocking the man's sight of what lay in his office. He knew all too well about Jing's career choice to join the Guys in White, and that fact made the man's presence in the high school all the more suspicious. Perhaps it was only his own silly paranoia, but Lancer didn't feel comfortable speaking to Jing about Daniel's body virtually shutting down on itself.

"Everything just shut down suddenly," Jing explained, frowning as he glanced around at the students.

Lancer's green eyes narrowed a fraction at the term Jing used. Many others might have simply said it was a blackout or a power outage. The fact that Jing said it "shut down" unsettled Lancer. "Have the students and faculty gather in the gym," he instructed, thinking quickly of how to handle the situation, though his mind was still panicking over Daniel's condition. "Hopefully, this is just a small fluke and things will be up and running again in no time. But for the time being, I'd like to keep panic from spreading through the entire school. Let them know we're working on fixing the problem. We might have to release the students early today if we can't get power back within an hour." By that time, the school day would be mostly over anyway.

Jing nodded, his hand rising halfway to a salute before he remembered he was at a high school, not the Guys in White headquarters. Once Jing was on his way, directing students toward the gym as he went to tell the other teachers what to do, Lancer let a shudder run through his body. The GIW. He never did like them, and having one of their agents undercover in his school made him uneasy.

What did the GIW hope to find by lurking within the high school? Lancer supposed there was a larger outbreak of virus attacks recently at the high school. Perhaps it was a logical move for the GIW to station an agent at the high school to be on scene at the next attack. But he still didn't like it.

Now that he had that situation dealt with, Lancer's mind turned back to Daniel as he watched the students filing off toward the gym. He could try taking Daniel to the school's nurse, but he didn't think this was the sort of thing with which the woman would know how to deal. Students didn't generally collapse and appear almost like they were dead every day. He needed to find a phone that worked and contact the hospital. But what if this blackout extended over the whole town? Even if he got Daniel to the hospital, they might not be able to do anything to help him with their equipment shut down.

That term again! It seemed to keep cropping up, standing out like a sore thumb in his mind like its meaning was important. Lancer frowned as he turned back to Daniel. The young man's body literally shut down, and the whole school went into a blackout. They seemed like two random, completely unconnected events. Except that their timings were too close together to write them off as unrelated. But it didn't make any sense either way he looked at it. Why would the blackout make Daniel collapse? Why would Daniel collapsing cause the school's blackout?

"I can't believe those stupid Fentons," grumbled Calvin, his voice drifting in through the door that remained cracked open. "Did you see that stupid looking thing they brought in?"

"Yeah." One of the other jocks, Clark if Lancer remembered correctly, snorted. "And then they knock out the power? What geniuses!"

"Hey, maybe we'll get to go home early," Tony put in, trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

"Guess the Fentons are good for at least something," Calvin said with some cruelty in his voice. "I guess we should be lucky that thing didn't blow up the school instead."

Lancer closed the door to his office, feeling a bit shaky after hear that conversation. His eyes snapped toward Daniel. The man's parents brought in some device that caused the school to lose power? That sounded to him like some sort of EMP. But why would Daniel collapse after an EMP?

Slowly, almost scared of the thoughts twisting through his mind, Lancer approached his fallen student. He knelt down beside him again and stared into those empty blue eyes. An EMP would knock out anything electronic within a given range, but that still didn't explain Daniel collapsing. Unless - Lancer squinted his eyes, trying to imagine Daniel with different features. It was somewhat difficult trying to transpose glowing green eyes over blue and snow white hair over raven.

"Jekyll and Hyde," Lancer whispered, almost not wanting to believe it. But if he was right, taking Daniel to a hospital certainly wasn't going to help him. What did doctors know about programs or viruses? And with a GIW agent and Fenton's parents present at the school, no doubt in search of viruses and more importantly wanting their hands on that mysterious rogue program, Daniel was in a dangerous position.

Lancer grabbed hold of his student's shoulders and gave him a shake. "Daniel," he snapped urgently. "Daniel, if you can hear me, you've got to snap out of this." If Jing or the Fentons entered his office and started asking questions, Lancer didn't know how to explain Daniel laying there seeming, for no better term, dead. He needed Daniel to wake up to help keep him safe.

But Daniel remained unresponsive, like some soulless doll.

Lancer's jaw clenched painfully at that imagery in his head. His hands moved to take Daniel's face within them as he leaned closer, glaring into those dead blue eyes. "Listen to me, Daniel," he said in an eerily calm voice. "I may not fully understand everything that happened to you that made you this way. But there is something I do know. You aren't just some program. You're alive. You're human. You have a soul. You don't bow to the laws and restrictions of coding like a program or virus. You have the potential to become something amazing. So stop slacking! Wake up, Daniel!"

He panted, not even realizing the growing loudness in his voice until his office fell silent again beyond the sound of each heavy exhale. His eyes stared, unblinking, at his student, waiting for some sign of life within the young man. Prayers ran through his head, begging for Daniel to somehow hear his words, that they could give him the encouragement he needed to overcome the shut down from the EMP. The time ticked by slowly, and Lancer's heart sank as his hope started to falter and fade. He believed in his students. But what did it all mean when his student didn't believe in himself?

"Daniel, please," Lancer begged as he heard footsteps nearing his office. His breath stopped, catching in his throat and building up like a lump that choked him as he hoped that no one would enter his office.

A flicker. It almost made him laugh out loud with hope. A dim hint of life tried to break through those dead eyes. Bright green spots glowed through the blue.

"Yes! That's it, Daniel! You can do it!" Lancer gasped out, trying to keep quiet in case anyone outside his office should be listening.

When his student's eyes slipped shut, Lancer's panic returned. He thought - Lancer's hands dropped away from Daniel's face as they curled into fists. It looked like Daniel was starting to break through his body shutting down, and Lancer lowered his head as his remaining hope dwindled. This wasn't how he saw things going. Daniel was supposed to graduate. He was going to go to college. Lancer expected to one day walk into a bookstore and pick up a book written by his student. Daniel wasn't supposed to lay here inert within his office like a corpse because of a blasted EMP!

Light suddenly blared before him, and Lancer fell back, holding his arms before his eyes to shield them from the sudden brightness. Phantom Tollboth! What was going on? After the light faded, Lancer dared to lower his arms and glance about his office. Standing before him, the rogue program known as Phantom gazed down at his white gloved hands, green eyes wide with shock.

"I did it." Phantom laughed out shakily, fingers slowly curling and straightening again like he couldn't believe his body could move again. His head lifted suddenly, remembering something, and slowly his gaze turned onto his teacher. Fear flashed through his eyes as he backed up a step from the older man.

Lancer stared, his mouth hanging open. He thought it, the theory in his head when he urged Daniel to overcome the EMP, but some part of him still denied the truth that now so painfully obviously presented itself before him. All this time, ever since his first appearance, Daniel was Phantom. Lancer struggled with that knowledge, not understanding how Daniel could have come by that power. Except that it made perfect sense given who Daniel's parents were. It was only logical that if Phantom had a human identity that it would be Daniel.

"Lancer, Sir, um-" Phantom glanced anywhere around the office except at the man. He was clearly seeking some sort of lie to spin but fell short.

Lancer stood up and approached the young man. "I want to keep you safe," he said, placing his hands on Phantom's shoulders. "I won't ask questions. I'll keep your secrets."

A knock came from the door. "Mr. Lancer, Sir?" Jing questioned as the doorknob squeaked as it turned. "Are you all right? I thought I saw something flash under the door."

"But right now, you need to get out of here," Lancer said quickly in a whisper. "The Guys in White. Your parents. They're in the school at this very moment. I don't want them finding you." Unfortunately, with the power still out, Phantom wouldn't be able to jump back into the NetZone and escape.

"I-" Phantom hesitated, glancing toward the door as it inched open. He nodded sharply as he turned toward Lancer. "Thanks, Sir." Then he darted toward the window in Lancer's office. In seconds, Phantom had the window pried open and hopped out it before the door to Lancer's office could fully open.

"Sir?" Jing inquired as his brown eyes glanced around the room, no doubt seeking the source that caused the flash of light.

"Do you have some business with me, Jing?" Lancer demanded, placing his hands on his hips as he glared at the young man. "Didn't I tell you to go to the gym with everyone else until we can determine the cause of this blackout?"

Jing frowned, and Lancer didn't miss that hint of suspicion. "Then perhaps you'd like to know that the Fentons arrived on campus and used an EMP."

"Is there a time estimate for when we'll have power back?"

Jing shook his head. "The Fentons couldn't give an estimated time frame."

Lancer sighed. "Don't they know this is a school?" He ushered Jing out of his office as he closed the door behind him. "I suppose we'll have to go make an announcement to the students now." He didn't let Jing leave his sight for fear that the man would immediately go in search of Phantom. He wouldn't be surprised if Jing had some sort of alert to inform him when viruses, and especially Phantom, showed up. When he decided to become a teacher, he never imagined this was the sort of thing with which he would deal. Daniel was Phantom. The thought kept circling his mind, and he felt more exhausted than usual.

swaqdanny: D8 Poor Danny~ And now people seem to be learning his secret left and right. D:

DARKLOVEFORFANFICTION123: Cliffhangers can be fun to write. 8D

yuki100o: It really wouldn't be that surprising if Danny's body did give out sooner than Vlad since Danny got hit full body with a stronger blast in his accident.

Just Will: Jing just has a big ego. orz Everything was always about him growing up. Even reaching out to his brother is still about him. D8 *slaps Jing* Haha, yeah. XD Kwan and Danny have some nice little parallels here, huh? Calvin is, like, my generic bully who is actually worse than Dash in all departments. XD;;; He's a total dick and doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities to him. Unlike the canon A list, Calvin lacks any other layer beyond bully. orz Well, Tuck knows tech. XD;; That's gotta come in handy sometime. Danny as a writer is a bit of a head canon for me stemming from Teacher of the Year in which he actually goes to Lancer for help near the end to understand something this a poem or something. I can just see Lancer, Danny, and Ghost Writer having a nice little book club. XD;;; I'm so mean. Build Danny up to happy moment and then cut him down with some tragic event. XD;;;

midnight: It was Danny's doom! 8D Naw, it was just the EMP.

DB-KT: Mwahahaha! *does the whole evil laugh thing* Wait. Did I not tell you this part? XD;;; I've had it planned out basically since the beginning. I thought it was in my notes I posted.

Sammi: Danny literally shut down! D:

maltese: Poor Danny. He tends not to listen to advice. D: