Phantom of the Night - Part 1

 The subway, one of the major modes of transportation in NYC; also, the regular stomping ground for Tyler as of late.  Over the last few weeks, several maintenance workers reported seeing people in the tunnels and stuff going missing.  Of course, Tyler knew that The Order uses the subway as a means of getting between bases so he used the reports to better improve his search.  It was in the second week that he, finally, started having luck.  Unfortunately, someone seemed to be just ahead of him.

Twice he found groups of Order agents that were knocked out and put safely to the side of the tunnel.  Finally, he came across a group of agents pushing a cart with three metal boxes.  Tyler threw a stone to distract them and then fired an NRG blast at one.  He fell to the ground as one took off, leaving the cart, and the other pulled out a blaster.  He fired in his direction, in a wide sweep, but Tyler dodged it and moved in close to the agent.

He kicked the agent to the ground but, before he could reveal himself, they said “You’re that phantom character, aren’t you?  I’m not telling you anything.”

Revealing himself, gauntlet pointed at them, Tyler said “I don’t know about this phantom you’re talking about but I still need you to talk.”

“Mirage, I’m almost relieved it’s just you.” The agent said, a woman not much older than him.  She raised her hands and said “We’re cleaning house.  Too much heat and the bosses want us to get all this stuff out.  This is not what I signed up for.”

Tyler turned to look at the cart again and said “Soothsayer, contact Detective Lin and have it arranged for our two new friends to be picked up along with their luggage.”  Looking back at the woman he said “You thought I was some sort of phantom character.  What’s that about?”

The woman stood up, put her weapon on the cart, and dusted herself off.  She took a deep breath and said “I don’t know much myself but they’re supposed to be this new guy on the scene.  I just know they’re hitting us hard.”

He thought about that for a moment but didn’t have a chance to ask her anything more.  A flashlight hit them and three shapes were walking toward them.  One of them called out “Mirage, ECU agents are on the scene; we’ll take it from here.”

He nodded but could tell the woman wanted to tell him more.  Not wanting to step on the ECU's toes said “Thanks officer.  This one here seems like she won’t be a problem.”  Before leaving he asked one of the officers “So do you know anything about this phantom character?”

The officer, a middle-aged man, shook his head and said “Officially, the ECU has nothing to say about that matter.”  he dropped his voice to a whisper and continued with "Unofficially, there’s an open file for such a person though there isn’t much in it.”

Tyler again thanked them, became invisible, and left.  The woman would, likely, give up the location of the base she was coming from and the ECTU would raid it.  As he was leaving the subway, his sister asked “Think there’s anything to this phantom?”

“They’re going after Oder agents so it’s at least worth looking into.  Maybe we found an ally after all.” he said as he exited an empty subway station.

The Order seemed to take the hint that there was another target on their back and didn’t have any activity for a short while.  Tyler didn’t stop looking for them but he spent more time trying to locate this other vigilante, assuming they existed.  There wasn’t much he could dig up in the usual stomping ground so he went further north each night.  Finally, one Tuesday in the high school library, his sister handed him some papers.

She sat across from him and said “I have a friend who fancies herself a reporter so I asked her about this phantom of ours.  Long story short, she found a bunch of people talking about someone matching that discretion online.”

He glanced through the papers, collections of screenshots from social media websites, and a news story called ‘New Vigilantes in New York and New Jersey?’, as his sister continued saying “Shorter version still, evidence points to this person working out of West Bronx.  If we stake out the area, we’re bound to find them.”

Tyler quickly stuffed the papers into his bag and said “Sounds good.  Just keep an eye on that friend of yours; don’t need them looking into us.”

Susie stood up and said “She doesn’t seem too interested in the Mirage, though she was sad to hear you were no longer single.”  He gave her a look, not helped by Jenifer walking into the library. 

That night he headed out straight for West Bronx, determined to find out if there was any truth to the pilling evidence.  For the first hour, he didn’t come across the figure but did stop a carjacking and an attempted break-in; that latter also thought he was this phantom.  After a while, he started just checking rooftops when he caught sight of something.  He saw a person perched on the ledge of a building scanning the immediate area.  When they didn’t spot any trouble, they took off running to another building.

Tyler followed them, using his boosters, until they disappeared.  It only made sense that they landed on the next building.  Landing, he switched to his inferred scanner.  He just landed on the building, and looked for the person, when he was hit on the back.  Ducking, anticipating his head would be the next target, and fired a shot behind him.  He saw the blast land its mark but his scanner barely picked up the other person's presence.

Tyler became invisible himself, while also throwing a smock bomb, as his sister said “Whoever they are, they found a way became invisible and hide their heat signature.”

“Serene, scan other light spectrums.  There must be some way to see them while they’re invisible.” Tyler said and saw his helmet scan through dozens of methods until the ultraviolet scanner picked them up.

It was good timing too; the person was not even a foot away and closing.  He quickly sidestepped them and shot his grappling hook at them.  It caught their leg and they fell onto the ground.  Tyler made himself visible as the other person became visible.  It was a woman with a slender build and dressed up in a costume.  They had on blue knee-high boots, navy pants with a blue stripe in them, a white belt, blue gloves, and a blue and navy jacket.  She also had on a white hooded shawl, a blue face mask, and a navy eye mask.  What little identifiable features he could make out were black hair and brown skin.

She backed away from him as she said “I figured The Order would send one of their advanced goons after me.  I know of at least two so are you Ace or The Agent?”

Tyler released the grapple and said “I’m not with those guys; I’m the Mirage.  I heard about you from a low-level agent and thought you were worth tracking down.”

“Wait you’re the Mirage.” the woman said.  She, enthusiastically, reached out and shook his hand.  Taking a deep breath, and pulling her face mask down, she went on to say “I’m a fan and you inspired me to start using my abilities to do good.”

“Abilities? You’re saying you can naturally turn yourself invisible?” Tyler asked.

“I can also see other wavelengths of light, namely inferred.  That’s how I spotted you, though the smoke.”  The woman said and turned to walk away from him.  She picked up a silver and navy staff, collapsed the navy ends into the silver handle, and put it on the belt.  Walking toward him, she said “You can call me Phantom by the way.”

“You got The Order taking you seriously so I thought I would see what has them so concerned.  If that scrap was anything to go by then I would hate to be at the receiving end of a losing battle.” Tyler said feeling his sister paying close attention to Phantom.

“Hay, I don’t mean to sound rude but I had plans tonight.  Is there a place we can meet tomorrow and have a more in-depth conversation?” she asked.

Serene had already pulled up a list of suggestions that were a range of locations between West Bronx and his home.  Taking a quick look at the list he said “How does Each One Teach One Playground sound.  It’s by Third Avenue.”

Phantom pulled up her mask and said “That sounds like a mouthful but I can make it.  I’ll be there by ten.”

With that she gave him a small salute and jumped, running off to the next building.  He stood there a moment trying to formulate a plan for when they met tomorrow.  Susie broke his train of thought with “Serene’s already working on trying to figure out her real name using facial recognition.  Until she does there’s still some good, we can be doing.”

“Right the more we can know about her before tomorrow the better.  Do you think the ECU found out anything they’re willing to share?” Tyler said as he took off from the roof.

A short conversation with Detective Lin indicated that there was new information but she wasn’t at liberty to say at that moment.  The next day the Smith children used their home computer to go over the possible identities of Phantom; Sam was out of the city so they didn’t go to The Lab.  Serene went through a couple people based on facial recognition and aspects of each of their pasts.  None seemed quite right until Maria Gomez showed up on the monitor.

She was a twenty-one programmer who worked at a company called Illustration Software, a company that makes websites for other people.  The face seemed like a perfect match to Phantoms and her past made sense.  She had a younger brother who worked as a police officer who was held hostage by an ‘unknown’ group in a North Bronx warehouse last September.

Tyler looked at his sister and said “Of course, I’m directly related to this person in some way.”

The report didn’t go into much more detail and they assumed it was protected under medical, as well as other, restrictions.   They were confident they found who was behind Phantom so now they had to figure out how to get some kind of confirmation from her.  However, that would be later tonight and Tyler had a date with Jennifer first.  The early May weather didn’t let them get the spot he wanted, an outdoor venue, so they agreed to a small dinner.

Tyler arrived a little early, still mulling over the details regarding Maria Gomez.  He was only taken out of his train of thought when Jennifer sat across from him.  She looked at him and said “Is everything okay?  You have a look on your face.”

“What look?”

“It’s that look you have when you’re trying to puzzle something out.  You kind of narrow your eyes and scrunch your nose.” She said, mimicking the look.

He leaned forward and said “I don’t look like that.”

“You do, next time I’ll take a picture before pointing it out.” Jennifer said and picked up a menu.  Looking through it she said “My dad had a meeting here recently and suggested their roast beef sandwich.”

He only pretended to be paying attention to the story about her father.  He’s already decided he’d have a chicken plate and thought about what a team member could mean.  Obviously, they would do their own thing, but working together, they could get more done to capture The Matriarch.  After that, it would just be all cleanup.

His menu was pulled down and he saw Jennifer staring at him.  He must’ve been making that face again because she was just staring at him.  She leaned forward, bopped his nose, and said “Hay, whatever’s on your mind can wait.  Unless it’s important.”

“No, you’re right, it can wait.” Tyler said and cupped her hands.  They both blushed after a moment of that, bashfully sat back, and he asked “So, your dad had a meeting here?  Did it go well?”

She described his meeting and they had a normal date from there.  That night, Tyler headed out and went straight to the playground he and Phantom agreed to meet.  He sat, invisibly, on a bench waiting for her to show up.  After a little while of sitting around, Susie said “I’m starting to think she isn’t coming.”

As if on cue, someone tapped his shoulder and he looked around.  Phantom stood there, visible, holding two cans of soda.  She held one out to him and said “I figure you need to drink at some point.  I know I need to anyway.”

He became visible as he said “Thanks but you can have it; I'll leave my helmet on for now.”

She sat across from him, pulled her mask down, and started to drink her soda.  She looked closely at him and said “I don’t have anything I’m all that worried about hiding from you.  I’ll start with a proper introduction; you can call me Phantom but my real name is Maria.”

She extended her hand and Tyler shook it.  While withdrawing it he said “Nice to make your acquaintance Maria; I’ll only call you Phantom while in the field though.  I’m the Mirage and, not saying I don’t trust you but, I’ll refrain from telling you my identity.”

“Completely understandable, now do you want to hear my story.” Maria said and started to tell her story.  She was born outside of New York but moved so her family could get better opportunities.  Not long after moving her little brother was born.  It was around age eleven she discovered abilities and tried her best to live a normal life; her brother never developed abilities.  She got into coding while her brother got into police work.

While working one night, he was kidnapped by some Order agents, broke his legs beyond recovery, and set up as a hostage in a North Bronx.  That stopped his progression in law enforcement and seriously impaired his life.  It was that that made Maria take up the Phantom identity and take on The Order for what they did.  It also let her do the sort of work her brother couldn’t do.

Tyler and Susie both sat in silence for a moment after the woman was done telling her story.  Another moment later, Susie said “Well, I certainly feel like we have a few things in common.”

“Listen, I have sympathy for you and your family are in; let’s just say I can understand why you’re doing this.” Tyler said, taking a long pause.  He glanced around and continued with “I unofficially work with the ECU; the sort of stuff they can’t, clearly, handle.  If you know of any Order activity, we could set up something and then we take the charge.”

“I think I heard of something going down at the docks in a few days.  I’ll double-check that and meet you here tomorrow with the details.” Maria started to get up to leave when she looked back at him and said “I’m not saying I don’t trust the ECU but you realize that you go in first so they have less paperwork right?  That, if something went wrong, they could blame you?”

He wanted to fight the, unspoken, accusation but knew there was some truth to it.  He simply stood up and said “That’s the nature of our relationship.  I get around the legal red tape and my presence is politely tolerated.  Besides, I know Detective Lin would have my back if it came to it.”

“I’m just saying as the person with a cop in their family I would remember you’re not her co-worker.  You’re a convenient ally with similar goals.”  With that, she disappeared and Tyler heard her run off.

The two of them didn’t have much time to question that last part of the conversation when Serene informed them that Detective Lin was attempting to be patched through.  After being put through she said “Mirage, I got some news for you.  The short version is that the woman you helped bring in did a lot of talking and said there would be something going down at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.  If you want the long version, I’ll be at East 61^st and 3^rd Avenue for the next ten minutes.”

“I’ll meet you there detective.” Tyler said and headed for the lower part of Central Park.  Once there, he found that the longer version wasn’t too much longer; just more details about a number of people and references to mysterious packages.  She also handed him a file with the transcript of the woman’s interrogation.  Detective Lin only said that, if asked, he didn’t get that file from her.

The following night, Maria confirmed that she had the details right about some activity at the docks, specifically at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  They agreed to meet at the scene on the top of a building along the waterfront.  He also mentioned that the ECU would be at the scene, waiting to handle the cleanup of the situation.  She seemed a little petered by them being there but didn’t say anything about it.

In his personal life, Tyler had become more and more focused on his upcoming operation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; a fact that hadn’t escaped Jennifer.  The two were having lunch, at school, as he was mulling over the various details to consider.

Jennifer got his attention and said “You’ve been awfully distracted lately.  I know you like to keep things to yourself but I would prefer you tell me what’s on your mind.”

Tyler, quickly, tried to think of something to say.  He knew she wouldn’t let this go until he talked about something.  He said “There’s a new co-worker at The Lab, named Maria.  She’s been working on getting something off the ground.  It involves me and you know how I get when I’m involved with work.”

“I know science is your thing but what’s it about?” Jennifer asked, clearly fishing for more information.

“It has to do with implementing invisible tech using ultraviolet wavelengths.  Such a technique would reduce a heat signature to near zero.  Of course, we’re only talking about adding such technology to small objects.”

“Sounds interesting.  Do you think the Mirage uses similar tech on his suit?”

“Don’t know, wish I did though.” Tyler said and moved the conversation to another topic.  “So, have you decided if you’re going to college after graduation yet?  Not a whole lot of time to decide.”

“You know I’d like to.  I’m still trying to convince my father to let me go for a music degree at NYU.”  She looked down at her food for a moment and said “I’m sure he’ll come around.  How about you?”

“I know I should but, honestly, it’s not in my immediate plan.  My grandfather seems to have no problems letting me work at The Lab after graduating as an actual paid employee.” Tyler answered and thought for a moment.  After a moment, he said “I wonder if the same applies to Brenda.”

Jennifer sipped her drink and said “You’ve got nepotism on your side.  I seriously doubt your family wouldn’t keep you on but she only has her father working there.”

“I’ll have to talk with her and find out what she plans to do.  I’m sure I could vouch for her if I had to.”

The school day ended and Tyler made his way directly to The Lab.  He resolved to make Maria an earpiece communicator so they wouldn’t have to meet every night if they needed to talk.  Sam still wasn’t back so he had to set everything up himself with the Fabricator.  He wouldn’t need it till tomorrow night and he wasn’t going to go out as the Mirage that night anyway.  While the communicator was being made, he continued working on a report titled “Practical Uses of NRG in the Face of Growing Concerns”.  It was a companion piece to research Brenda was doing while waiting for her computer models to be mapped out on her personal project.

A full night of rest was what Tyler needed to be ready for an, early, final exam he had in a computer science class.  Passing the exam would give him a free period during the day which he could spend at the school computer lab and have no one bother him.  He wouldn’t find out if he passed till Monday but he was confident he passed with flying colors.  That night was also the night The Order was set to get some sort of shipment in at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and he would be ready.

He headed out early to meet with Detective Lin outside their headquarters.  They talked for a few minutes about when she would bring in agents ECU after they cleared the area of any major threats.  Afterward, he headed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard and took up a spot where he could see most of the waterfront.  By dock 72, he could see a medium-sized boat with people pulling boxes off it.  He also saw that a few large trucks were waiting and at least two vans.

“There isn’t much in the way of surveillance coverage in the area but what coverage there is suggests that Order activity only started recently.  Surveillance regarding Detective Lin shows her getting ready to leave for our location.” Serene said.

He heard something hit the roof behind him and started walking toward him.  Before he even had a chance to turn around, he heard Maria say “Don’t worry, just me.”  He became visible as she knelt next to him.  Getting a lay of the land she said “Three trucks and two vans, not exactly small business tonight.  Is your detective friend here yet?”

He decided to ignore the tone behind the remark and said “She’ll be on her way soon.  Our role in this situation is to look ahead and see if there’s anything we’re only capable of handling.”  He reached into a suit compartment and pulled out the communicator; handing it to her, he said “This is so we don’t have to keep physically meeting to talk.  Anytime I’m not actively out I’ll get whatever you said like a voicemail.”

While she fit it in her ear, he continued to say “If you press and hold it’ll act like a walkie-talky but if you double press it’s more like a phone call.”

“Thanks, I’ll go ahead and look around the place.  Someone must have a manifest of what’s in those boxes.” Maria said and disappeared.

Tyler also turned invisible and started for the ship.  While flying over the area Susie said “I noticed you didn’t mention that the communicator had a tracker in it.”

“She might trust me but I don’t fully trust her.  Besides, I have the feeling she wouldn’t mind given how open she’s been with us.” Tyler said as he landed on the ship.  There was an Order agent who must’ve heard him land because they turned around sharply.  Switching his external mic off, he said “I’m going to need all my eyes and ears here.  Has Phantom found anything useful yet?”

“Doesn’t seem so; her tracker’s been on the move since she left you.  Looks like she’s rounding some shipping containers.” His sister said as he maneuvered around the suspicious agent.

There were only two boxes left on the ship, one of which was currently being pushed off, as Tyler noticed they weren’t loaded onto the trucks yet.  They were being set off to one side or another and looked like they were to be inspected.  While observing all that, he noticed one person looking at a tablet like the one he took once before.  He also saw the person take a hit to the head, and then the knees, before being dragged off without anyone noticing.

Only a couple seconds later Maria said “There was a guy with a tablet.  Let’s just say I got it off him.”

He was about to ask her about the tablet's contents when he saw Ace appear suddenly.  He was looking in the direction she dragged the guy and started walking in that direction.  Putting his hand on his helmet he said “Stash that tablet somewhere and don’t be in your present location.  You’ve got Ace coming your way.”

A couple moments of silence passed before she said “Alright, both myself and the tablet are hidden.”

Tyler could hear his sister starting to relay the situation to Detective Lin at the same time as some other agents hurried toward Ace.  They must’ve found the unconscious guy because other agents spread out, clearly in a searching pattern. Watching the small group of Order agents' pattern gave him an idea.

Maria must’ve had the same idea because she said “Looks like they all split up into single search parties.  Can’t imagine it’ll be too hard to take them on.”

“Avoid Ace.  I can’t say for sure but he must be a top agent.  You got one advantage over me; I doubt they know how to find you.” Tyler said and started for the ground, running down the ramp of the ship.

An agent must’ve been close enough to hear him running because they turned in his direction and started firing blaster shots at him.  He hit the agent with his own blaster but the noise drew other agents their way.  Two of them appeared behind a corner and fired in his direction.  They got lucky shots and managed to disrupt his invisibility, making him an easier target.  Tyler got his own lucky shots and stunned the agents; however, more footsteps were already coming his way.

He turned to see Ace running toward him and firing a grappling line.  It wrapped around his legs and he fell to the floor.  Ace aimed to follow up with a punch to the face but Tyler rolled out of the way at the last moment.  He broke his leg bindings and stood up, only to get kicked into a shipping container.  He was slumped on the ground as his opponent stood over him, raising his right gauntlet.

“That was easier than I expected.  I’m surprised really, considering how The Agent made you out like a big tough guy.” Ace gloated.

This close Tyler could see that whoever was under that suit was obviously bigger than him.  He also saw that Maria was just in front of him, so he said “You might be bigger than me but I’ve got something you currently don’t.  Someone watching my back.”

She must have taken the hint because Ace suddenly fell to his knees.  He wasn’t down long but it was long enough for Tyler to stand up.  Ace turned around and fired in a sweeping motion behind him.  One of the shots must have hit Maria because was suddenly visible and stumbled backward.

Not wasting a moment, Tyler electrified his suit and punched Ace twice in the chest.  He backed up but it was the moment of recovery Maria needed to get back into the action.  She jabbed him in the back and followed it with a kick to the same spot.  Ace quickly swirled around and grabbed her by the arm when she went for a punch.  He tossed her to the side but Tyler caught her mid-air.  Ace looked at the two of them, as Tyler put her down, and must have decided the fight wasn’t worth it anymore.

He became invisible and flew off; that’s when Tyler noticed a stream of cops starting to file past them.  Maria took one look around and became invisible, her tracker going in the direction of where she left the tablet.  ECU officers started pulling Order agents to their feet and dragging them away.  Tyler finally took full stock of his surroundings and noticed that several boxes were taken away sometime during the whole ordeal.

He turned around and saw Detective Lin walking up toward him.  She stopped to look around and said “Looks like an expensive operation.  Soothsayer mentioned you were working with someone.”

“Yeah, but she seems to have already gone.  It’s that mysterious Phantom some of your criminals here are going to talk about.  I didn’t get a chance to see what’s in the boxes so if you find out I would like to know.” Tyler said and waited a moment.

The detective patted his shoulder and said “If it’s anything interesting I’ll let you know.”

He nodded, turned invisible, and boosted away from the scene.  He landed a few blocks away to take a breather.  Susie was monitoring the police scanner so he checked in on Maria asking “You still at the scene or did you get around the ECU?”

“Made it out with the tablet.  Is there a place I can get this to you?” she asked.

He smiled to himself and said “Let’s meet at the usual spot tomorrow.  We had an intense night; you should get some sleep.”

“See you tomorrow.” She said and didn’t say anything more the rest of the night.

Tyler took his own advice and went home to sleep.  He knew he had to stop something big if Ace was there to oversee the operation.  He was also happy with the way their teamwork went and looked forward to working with her again.  Serene would also be tracking her movements so they could get a better idea of what sort of character she had.  All in all, a good night.