Phantom of the Night - Part 2

Tyler and Susie stood in front of the wall-mounted monitor in Lab 3, waiting for Serene to show her report on the tablet they recovered a few days ago.  Maria Gomez, also known as Phantom, gave the tablet to him after she had a look through it.  She told him it had a list of machine parts, their serial numbers, and some GPS information.  To be safe they had Serene scrub through the tablet and make a digital copy of it to share with Detective Lin.

Serene generated her report using data from the tablet, a report that had to be paired down.  Tyler locked the door as Susie asked “Is Sam still out of town?”

“Only for another day or two.  Some sort of family emergency upstate.” He said and pulled two chairs to the monitor.  Pressing the corner of the monitor he said “Serene, start report on information found in the Order tablet.”

“Of course, sir.” The A.I. said and the screen started to show 3D renderings of machine parts.  She continued her explanation with “The tablet recovered from Brooklyn Navy Yard had much more information than the previous tablet obtained some months ago.  Primarily, it contains information for machine parts, battery cells, and GPS data.  These lists, however, seem incomplete; I suspect there must have been a second tablet that would have given a fuller picture as to what these parts would be used for.

“Several pieces have obviously corresponding parts that build parts like an arm joint or articulated knee cap, to name a few.  Each part has its own serial number but they do not correspond to known data banks; therefore this serial number system must be how The Order lists their inventory.  When it comes to GPS data, there are seven locations marked as frequently visited since the device last had a data wipe.  All this to say, there are machine components that paint only part of the picture as their use and GPS data has seven locations marked in the last two weeks.”

The two siblings sat there for a moment and didn’t say anything.  Susie looked to her brother and said “Remember, VDN-016 wasn’t found after The Agent helped you capture Mercy Jones.  Maybe The Order found a way to reverse engineer it and is trying to make their own.”

“That a very reasonable idea given what we know.” Tyler said and paused.  Looking at the monitor, he said “Serene, prepare a data packet of the digital copy of the tablet to send to Detective Lin.  Also, try and get her on the line.”

After a moment, Detective Lin answered and said “Well if it isn’t my favorite person to hear from.”

“If you don’t mean that now you will soon.  I’m going to be sending you a digital copy of a tablet I recovered from the Navy Ward.  I apologize for not telling you about it sooner but I knew you would’ve had me hand it over.”

“This, right here, is the reason I can’t sleep well at night.” Detective Lin said and sighed deeply.  Now more frustrated she said “You know I’m going to ask you to hand in the actual device, right?”

“Don’t worry, I already planned on handing it over.  I’ll drop it off at your headquarters tonight.  In the meantime, you’ll find the digital version has GPS data that you can use to set up more raids.” Tyler said sending the digital copy now.

They could hear her writing something down and say “Once again, the ECU thanks you for your continued cooperation.  Any information is useful and I’ll have our tech team look over what you sent.”

“Just trying to help.” Tyler said and hung up.  He looked to his sister and said “All in all, that went well.”

The two of them knew from experience that The Order was likely to start clearing out any location they knew the tablet had data for.  The ECU would be setting raids on two buildings in the East Village if he knew how they worked.  He contacted Maria and worked out a plan to meet in Hell’s Kitchen and check out Peir 88.  The night came and he headed out to meet with his new partner to see what was going on.

Reaching the agreed address, Tyler found Maria leaning against a service staircase entrance.  She turned to him and said “I don’t have access to the city security cameras like you have but I noticed a couple small boats get nice and cozy with our destination.”

He looked out toward the piers and saw three boats, one catamaran and two deck boats, docked at the pier.  One person was watching them but he couldn’t be sure there weren’t more in the catamaran.  He looked to Maria, also hoping his sister was listening, and asked “Did you see anyone leave them?”

“They were already there when I got here.  Before leaving for here, I tried to find out if there were any boats allowed to dock here tonight.  Everything I found said the only boats with permits aren’t expected till two in the morning.”

“That all seems right as far as I can tell.  The thing is, the footage shows the boats coming in twenty minutes ago but everyone that left them was all plain clothed.  Either way, approach with caution.” Susie said, clearly still typing.

Tyler nodded, looked to his new partner, and said “Soothsayer says the only people to leave those boats weren’t obviously Order.  However, this wouldn’t be the first time they used plain-clothed agents to look less suspicious.”

“I got it, be cautious.  Observe before engaging and all that.” She said and started off the building.  Tyler flew over to the pier and landed in the parking lot, invisibly, directly in front of the boats.  A minute or two later Maria was next to him, also invisible, and said “How come I’ve never talked to this Soothsayer person?”

“It’s just one-to-one communication for now. In an emergency she would talk to you.” Tyler said, hoping that would be a good enough answer for now.  They continued watching the boat guard for a few more minutes, he looked nervous until getting a message on an earpiece.  Tyler looked over at Maria and said “You go down and see if anything is interesting on the deck boats.  I’ll keep watch up here.”

“Sounds good.” Maria said and headed down to ground level.  After a moment, he saw her sneaking around the person and getting on one of the deck boats.  She looked around for a minute and got right off it.  She moved to the next second deck boat as Tyler heard something from inside the building.  The watchman pressed his earpiece and said something he couldn’t hear.  It must have been some sort of confirmation because he heard a lot more movement from inside.

Tyler double-checked Marias' position and saw she put herself in the corner of the deck boat.  He gently landed on the ground level as a storage door rolled open; out came four men each holding two boxes.  They were making a b-line for the catamaran boat.

Tyler revealed himself, pointing his gauntlets at them, and exclaimed “Stop and tell me who you are and what’s in the boxes.”

The first man didn’t even take a chance and ran straight for the first deck boat Maria checked.  The second man simply dropped his boxes and ran from the scene.  The third man tried to run to the catamaran while the fourth ran to the second deck boat.  While the last two ran toward their boats, several Order agents stepped onto the decks of the catamaran and started firing at him.  He realized there wasn’t much he could do in this situation but it, at least, confirmed it was an Order operation.

The cover the agents pervaded was enough for the two men to get to their boats and pull away from the pier.  The catamaran sped away when the deck boat suddenly stopped and then turned back to the pier.  Tyler could see Maria holding her staff to the back of the man driving the boat, clearly pressing it into their shoulder blades.  The boat pulled into the pier and she dragged the man out from the boat.

Before Tyler could get a word in, Maria had her staff pointed at the man’s chest and said “What was in the boxes?  I don’t know if you noticed but all your friends left you.”

“We were just hired to move those boxes.  Honest, I don’t know who those guys were or what’s in the boxes” he said, keeping his hands clear in the air.

Tyler, gently, lowered the staff and offered a hand to the man.  Serene was able to identify him as George Marks, a construction worker with no criminal history, so he felt he could trust Mr. Marks.  As he stood up, Tyler said “Mr. Marks, if you didn’t know those guys were on that larger boat what were your instructions?”

He looked over them once again and said “There was an ad out for moving people who could piolet a small boat.  Me and my buddies have some experience in that field so I got us the gig.”

“There weren’t any red flags in that operation?” Maria said, still on edge.

“Listen, lady, when someone’s offering two thousand dollars for three hours of night work you don’t turn it down.  Especially when you have a family to put food on the table for.” Mr. Marks said, pointing a finger at her.

She seemed to soften at his explanation and shuffled her feet a little.  Tyler looked to the man and said “If you were paid upfront, I would make sure you and your buddies check your payment is clean.  You guys got yourselves working for The Order, a situation I recommend getting yourselves out of.”

Mr. Marks rubbed the back of his head and looked around.  Susie was already explaining the situation to Detective Lin so Tyler decided to look through the boxes left behind.  The two Mr. Marks had in the boat were full of power cells while the two dropped onto the pier were assorted mechanical parts.

“More parts, I wonder if The Order is moving all of their different storage locations to just the one?” Maria asked, looking over the contents again.

“That’s an exhalant question Phantom; one I’m sure we’ll find the answer to one day soon. “Detective Lin said, apparently standing right behind them.  Maria let out a startled shriek, turned invisible, and moved behind Tyler. The detective looked at him and said “Didn’t mean to frighten you but the noise is still loud at this time of night, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is detective.” Tyler said, realizing that Mr. Marks wasn’t in sight.

“If you’re looking for George Marks, he willingly went with my accompanying officer back to headquarters.” Detective Lin said and bent down to look over the boxes.  Tyler felt Maria shift to right behind him as the detective surveyed the area.  Looking back at him, she said “I’m guessing you two tampered with the scene of the crime by moving two of these boxes from that boat.”

“That is a very unfun way to put it but yes.  I’m guessing you’ll take it from here.” Tyler said.

She smirked, and said “You two are welcome to hang around and watch but you’re no longer needed at the scene.”

He heard someone running away from the scene and realized that he no longer felt Maria behind him.  He looked in the direction of the noise and bid the detective farewell, then turned invisible.  He followed Maria to an alley a few blocks away and asked what happened.

She looked at him, a little sheepishly, and said “Honestly, she just surprised me.  I don’t mean to keep taking off when she’s around but I don’t know if she’ll recognize me.”

“I could be mistaken but I don’t think your brother worked for the ECU.  I’m pretty sure the detective won’t know who you are under there.” Tyler said, keeping an eye out for people passing by.

She took a deep breath and said “You’re probably right.  It’s just hard to, properly, explain what I’m feeling.”

He put a hand on her shoulder and said “I’m not sure what has you stressed out suddenly but maybe turn it in for the night.  There’s plenty for us to do in the upcoming nights.”

“Not a bad idea, thanks.” Maria said and became invisible again.  He could hear her climbing up a fire escape and then watched her tracker move across the city.

He made some of his normal rounds but didn’t stay out past midnight that night.  The next day, being a weekend, he had a lunch planned with Susie, Jennifer, and Brenda.  Much like Sam, Brenda had been out of the city for a week but didn’t say why.  She wanted to have lunch with all of them to see what’s been going on in their personal lives and catch up on school stuff.  They all agreed on The Roost for lunch and met up for one.

They sat outside despite the less-than-ideal weather; fortunately, there was a table under a permanent canopy.  They all had their food, sat down, and started to catch up.  Brenda regulated them with her family exploit about leaving the state to attend an important business meeting her mother had.  Apparently, she was receiving an award for her work and the whole family was asked to attend the function.

Afterward, they caught her up on school stuff she missed and warned her that one teacher had a bunch of work for her to do.  In turn, Tyler said he was almost done writing the report for the “NRG Proposal”; assuring her he would have it done in no time.

Taking a sip of her drink, Brenda said “I heard someone is working with The Mirage while I was away.  Does anyone know anything about that?”

Tyler and Susie stayed quiet while Jennifer said “I have.  It seems like he started working with a woman who goes by Phantom.  She has a bit of a reputation un in the Bronx for hitting hard and getting the job done.”

“Really, is there more to this story?” Brenda asked, leaning forward.

Jennifer pulled something up on her phone and said “I know some people online who watch out for stuff like this and they noticed the two of them going together lately.  Someone even got a picture of them talking in an alley last night.”

She showed the group her phone and it showed Tyler talking to Maria; it looked like it was taken a few stories up at an angel he didn’t see last night.  Tyler and Susie shared a look while Jennifer continued “They couldn’t hear what they were talking about but Phantom turned invisible and used the fire escape.  She went right past his window.”

Brenda looked at the picture again and asked if she could send it to her.  Tyler and Susie, abruptly, left the table but left money for their lunch.  With just the two of them there Brenda asked “Is everything alright with them?”

“As far as I know.  I don’t know if anything’s going on with Susie but I know Tyler’s been helping someone at The Lab with research in invisibility using ultraviolet wavelengths.” Jennifer explained.

“Invisibility using the ultraviolet spectrum.  If that could be achieved, it would mask the object's heat signature significantly.  Who’s doing that research?” Brenda asked.

“Someone named Maria.  Do you know her?”

“Not personally.  There are a lot of people there I don’t really know but I would like to meet her if she’s getting somewhere with that research.  Especially since she would’ve convinced Dr. Smith about it.”

Jennifer had a strange feeling and asked “Why, would that be weird?”

“Not weird, just not useful in non-military situations.  As far as I know, Tyler isn’t allowed to work on stuff like that.  So, he’s working on it under the table or he lied to you.  Either way, he’s avoiding something.” Brenda said, clearly not comfortable with her suggestion.

Jennifer shifted in her chair and looked toward his empty one.  She shook her head, confident he wouldn’t lie to her, but couldn’t help the feeling.  She needed more to go on first, people don’t react the best when you only have flimsy evidence at best.  Besides, maybe Brenda was wrong.  Dr. Smith was his father; Tyler, likely, could work on any kind of project he wanted to.  She would trust him, for now, but still wanted to be wasn’t lying.

The next day, Sam returned from her family emergency.  She went back to The Lab to find Susie and Tyler hard at work doing something on computers.  She told them that their grandfather had a minor accident but he would be fine at this point.  When she asked what happened while she was gone, they explained everything.  After they were done, she said “You got a new partner then.  That doesn’t explain why you’re on forums about the Mirage.”

“The two of them haven’t been as careful as they thought.  One person has been very diligent in following them around.” Susie said.

“Right, I think I see what you’re getting at.  So, you’re just making sure they haven’t been found out then.” Sam said looking over her shoulder.

“We set Serene up to watch for new posts from the forum user to be sure we know what they post.  I told Maria to stay off the streets for a night or two till we knew more about all this.” Tyler said, shutting his laptop.

Sam took Susie’s seat and said “Let me take over this for you guys.  I’ll dig into your whole situation and let you know if there’s anything you don’t already know.”  They thanked her and headed out for a late lunch.  She put in her headphones and said “Serene, get me up to speed on who Maria Gomez is and any other relevant information.”

“Of course, Ma’am.  Pulling up her profile now.” Serene said and started going over the file.

That night, Tyler decided he wasn’t going to go out as the Mirage but Maria insisted on hitting the streets.  He could feel that something was bothering Jennifer so he thought he would take her out for dinner.  They arrived at a, slightly, nice place and had a table on the outskirts of the dining area.  He wasn’t sure what could be bothering her but he was determined to make sure she had a good night.

While they waited for their food, he said “I’m no mind reader but I can tell something’s been bothering you.”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”  She said and took his hand.  She looked around again and said “This is a very nice surprise dinner you’ve taken me to.”

“I’ve had my eye on this place for a while now actually.  They had an opening and I thought you needed some sort of distraction.” Tyler said.

“Like I already said, this is a nice place.  Thank you for noticing something was bothering me.” She said and their food arrived.

They ate their food and were starting to decide what they should have for dessert when he saw a notification on his phone from Serene.  It was a message that read ‘Sir, Detective Lin is requesting to hear from you’.  He made an excuse to get up, saying Susie needed to talk to him a minute and left for the bathroom.  After making sure it was empty, he told the A.I. to put him through to the detective.

She picked up the phone and asked “Mirage, is everything okay you weren’t available right away?”

“I’m fine detective, was just busy when you tried to get me the first time.  Can I help you with something?” Tyler said, keeping a close eye on the door.

“I know you and your partner have been taking on Order locations based on data from the tablet you recovered.  You sound like you’re still busy but would your partner be available to talk about something Order related?”

He thought about how to respond to that for a minute.  He settled on “I’ll be honest; she seems a little unsure of our arrangement.  However, I know she’ll do anything to help take down The Order.”

“Any idea where she might be?”

He looked at her communicator's position and found she was already stalking out an old Order warehouse in North Bronx.  Returning to the phone call, he said “Looks like she’s checking out the Order warehouse where I found those hostages.  Some advice, if you’re sending people to pick her up make sure they identify themselves the moment they see her.”

“Thanks, you sure you’re not available?  I was going to go over details of a raid I was hoping you two would be a part of.” The detective said.

“Her presence will be good enough for the two of us.  Just give me the details later.  Talk to you later detective.” Tyler said and hung up the phone.

He returned to the table and found Jennifer still looking through the dessert menu.  It seemed like something might be wrong but she didn’t let on anything was.  They ordered, and ate dessert and started to get ready.  As they were heading out, he noticed that he got another notification from Serene.  If it was urgent, she would get Susie to take care of whatever was going on.

After dropping her off back at her apartment building, he asked “Alright, Serene, what going on?”

“Miss Gomez was attempting to get a hold of you.  She still seems to be out for the night so I can patch her through now.” Seren explained.

He glanced around and said “Yeah, get a hold of her.”

There was a moment where, after she picked up the call, he could hear her still breathing.  She said “I think I might’ve made a big mistake.”

With that, she explained.  She was heading out of the warehouse and noticed two figures approaching her.  One called out “Phantom, please follow us, we’re….”  That was all they were able to get out before she knocked one to the ground, knocking them out, and striking the other in his knees.  They fell, an audible crunch as he did, and pinned him to the ground.  She demanded he explain who he was when she saw his ECU badge.  Just as she started to back away from him, she heard Detective Lin ask a question over their walkie-talkie.

“Alright, listen, it’s going to be fine.  I’m sure Detective Lin will understand what happened and I’m sure they’ll be okay.  Let me talk to her and you get off the streets.” Tyler said, quickening his pace to get home.

When he got home, he rushed right to his room, downed the ‘Hero Suit’, and headed to ECU headquarters.  The flight to Mott Haven wasn’t long and he found that Detective Lin had left her office window open.  Looking in, he saw her sitting at her desk looking toward the window.  He took a deep breath and let himself in.

Appearing next to the desk, he said “I guess you were expecting me.”

“Yes, I have.  I’m guessing you heard about what happened.” She said, clearly unhappy.

“Listen, I know it wasn’t good what she did.  If it helps, she’s really freaked about what happened.” Tyler said, pacing the floor.

“Sit, you’re making me nervous.” She said pointing to a chair.  Once he sat down, she continued to say “My boss isn’t happy about any of this and is less willing to look the other way in the matter.  I’m still willing to make this situation work but this incident puts some kinks in the works.”

“I understand.  Is there anything you need me to do?” Tyler asked, wishing his sister was at her computer.

“Just trust me and the two of you stay out of our way for the immediate future.  I’ll contact you when I have something else to tell you.” Detective Lin said and stood up.  Tyler did the same but must not hide his nervousness because she said “Relax, I’m working my end here.  I have your back.”

“I trust you.  Just let me know how things are going from your end.” Tyler said and left out the window.

He thought about dropping in on Maria but decided against it and went right back home.  The next day he didn’t see much of Jennifer.  He noticed she spent the lunch talking to people she knew from clubs so he had lunch with his sister.  They talked about what happened the previous night and decided they should go right to The Lab after school.  While there they caught Sam up with what happened while she worked out models for their official work.

The wall monitor came to life and Serene said “Sir, Detective Lin is contacting you.  Should I put her through?”

“Yes, put her through.” Tyler said as he sat by the monitor.  After a moment he asked “Can I help you with something detective?”

“Just updating you on the condition of the two officers.  One is perfectly fine while the other needs minor surgery to repair their leg.” Detective Lin said.

Both women perked up at the mention of what kind of injury the officer sustained.  Tyler made a note of it and said “Thank you detective; I’ll be in touch.”

Susie looked between the three and said “I’m glad I’m not the one to tell her what sort of injury she gave him.”

He was about to say something when he saw Jennifer was calling him.  Answering, he said “Hello dear, what’s up?”

She sounds like she was walking somewhere as she said “I was hoping to talk to you about something.  Are you home or at The Lab?”

He thought about asking if it could wait but decided against it.  Instead, he answered with “I’m at The Lab.  Susie also happens to be here so she’ll meet you at the lobby.”

“Okay, be there soon.” She said and hung up.

He turned around to tell Susie about meeting her in the lobby but she was already gone.  Sam pointed to the door and said “She put two and two together.  Does it sound like a fun conversation?”

“Not really.” Tyler answered plainly.

He didn’t have to wait long for them to be at the door.  Susie had a look on her face he didn’t like but he had to pretend he didn’t notice it.  As they walked into Lab 3, he introduced Sam to Jennifer and made pleasantries.  She looked at the two women and asked them to leave so they could have a private conversation.  Once alone, she set her bag down and looked at the space.

After what felt like forever, she looked at him and said “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to have this talk with you.”  There was another long pause but she said “You’ve been lying to me and I want to know why.”

He thought about denying that it didn’t sound like a good idea.  He looked at her and said “Yes, I have lied to you recently but it’s for a good reason.”

“Are you seeing someone behind my back?  You know when you said you had to call your sister at dinner?  You know who called me, your sister.” Jennifer said, obviously upset.

He was lost for words but realized that was an obvious conclusion of his recent behavior.  He had to figure out what he could tell her without giving the actual reason.  Still thinking, he said “I’m not seeing someone behind your back.  I can’t tell you the reason, you just have to trust me.”

She stood up and exclaimed “I would like to but I’m not sure I can.  What is it if you’re not seeing someone behind my back?”

He was getting frustrated but had to keep it down.  Taking a breath, he said “I’m protecting you by not telling you.  Please you must believe me.”

“I’m sorry but that isn’t good enough right now.  Even if I don’t like it I need to hear it.” Jennifer said, stepping closer to him.

He realized there was only one answer he could give to satisfy everything she brought up.  He steadied his resolve and exclaimed “I’m the Mirage and I’m dealing with a lot at the moment.”a lot at the moment.”