I Am Phantom

by Sean Fletcher

  “Sykes did this to you?” he asked. It took me a moment to remember I had taken the camera out. They hadn’t seen Sykes. They hadn’t seen Carlyle. Cody bent down to look at the cut. “The suit should have deflected the hit better than this. He must have had perfect form to run it through like that.”

  “He’s like me, Cody. Better than me, actually. Of course he has perfect form.”

  Cody nodded. “Right…right.”

  “Let me do it, Matt,” Melanie said. She peeled back the costume and finished cleaning.

  “Woman’s touch.” I winked sluggardly at Matt. Geez, I sounded like an idiot. I blamed it on the blood loss. Cody fished through the kit and came up with a few pills.

  “You’re going to need these,” he said. “And you’re lucky you have the premium costume insurance package. It’ll take ages to get these stains out.”

  “We need to get you to a hospital,” Melanie said. “It just hit muscle but you need a professional in case there’s any internal trauma.”

  “And how will you explain how I got hurt?”

  “Easy, you’ll think of something—”

  “I come into the hospital with mysterious bruises and wounds right after the police saw Phantom injured and fleeing the scene of a crime. They’ll link the two.”

  “They can’t possibly think you—”

  “Melanie, Carlyle was down there.”

  All three of them froze. It took a second for Melanie to resume cleaning. The sterile stench of antiseptic clogged my nose.

  “You must have seen wrong. Carlyle is director of the Lab, not some guy for Project Midnight.”

  “It was him, Melanie. He told me I was their design. He offered me answers.”

  “You must have seen wrong, Drake, you must have.” Her voice was tinged with disbelief. “I’ve worked with Carlyle a couple times. He’s strict, yes, but he would never run something like that. Something that hurts and kidnaps and—”

  “Kills. They had a man down there who looked like he had just been grabbed off the street. They were testing a serum on him and it killed him.”

  “What was the serum?” Matt said. Both he and Cody looked in shock. I guess I would too if I had found out the Lab I was working for was led by a sadist.

  “They were trying to isolate the physical attributes given to me. It didn’t work. The man died.”

  “Interesting…” Matt said, tapping his chin. Interesting? He really needed to learn a little tact. “So what is it that made you able to withstand not dying?”

  I tried to shrug, but Melanie pushed me down and continued dabbing the wound. “Beats me.”

  “Drake,” Cody was rubbing his hand on his forehead. “Are you sure, completely sure, it was Carlyle down there? You only saw the guy once. You could have been wrong.”

  “It was him, Cody,” I said. “I’m sorry.” Cody swore and started pacing the room.

  “Does that mean this whole Lab thing is them? Are we really working for them?”

  Melanie finished up the last bit on the wound. “No, Cody. I’ve been here for three years and I’ve known exactly where all my projects go. The Lab is overseen by the Department of Defense. Project Midnight isn’t.”

  “Still…” Cody saw that she was done. “You feeling better?” I propped myself up on one elbow.

  “A bit. I…I just don’t know if I’m doing the right thing. All this Project Midnight stuff. They had a whole operation down there, and who knows how many more like it still exist.”

  I waited for Cody to pipe up with words of encouragement. I glanced up. His face was masked in shadows. “You think I’m doing good, Cody?”

  Cody moved into the light. “Yeah…I think you are. But—” He ran his hand over his mouth. “You’re in bad shape, and you just started. Who knows how long you can keep this up before something really bad happens to you.”

  Huh. That wasn’t what I expected.

  “I don’t know, Drake buddy,” Cody continued. “Maybe I’m just being cynical. Maybe this will all look better in the morning.”

  He gripped my arm and helped me stand. The ground looked too far below me and my stomach tumbled. Cody made me drink some more water. “I’m still behind you all the way, you know, if you still want to,” Cody said.

  I sighed and took a step forward. The pain had lessened greatly in my side, almost as if it was healing itself right then. “I have to. I have to know more.”

  “And Sykes?” Matt said quietly.

  Sykes…Sykes. A man that scared me to no end, yet was the best chance for answers beyond Carlyle. But how many people would get hurt? How many innocents would he tear through for his twisted revenge while I sat and waited patiently to get answers?

  “I…don’t know,” I said.

  “Ah, well,” Cody said, gently patting me on the back. “We’ll be with you whatever you decide to do.”

  I wanted to tell them they were fantastic. Having them there to support me meant so much. I wanted to tell them they were why I would keep trying my best as Phantom. I wanted to say all of that but my tongue turned to rubble in my mouth and finally my brain tripped and I went black.

  Chapter Ten

  The Date

  Finals distracted me from Project Midnight, if only for a bit. With all the studying I had to do, there was only enough worrying I could get done and stay sane.

  “You need to get your mind off all this Project Midnight stuff, Drake buddy. It’s almost Christmas break. Be merry!”

  My glowering look was enough to shut off that faucet of enthusiasm. “It’s my life, Cody. I have to find out more about them. To find out more about me.”

  We took another left. The gym I sparred at was just ahead. It wasn’t that I needed to train for fighting, obviously, but it was nice to fight someone without the potential of death hanging over me. “Not like I want to worry about it, but I kind of have to.”

  Cody nodded, as though making his mind up about something.

  “Did you mean it when you said you wanted to ask Liz out?”

  “This is not a good way to make me less stressed,” I said.

  “But did you mean it?”

  What was he implying? “Of course I meant it.” Cody bobbed his head down the sidewalk. “Great, ‘cause she’s right there.”

  Sure enough, Liz had just left the gym, her bag slung over her shoulder, and turned towards us down the sidewalk.

  “I didn’t mean I wanted to ask her right now!” I hissed, panicking.

  “When, then?”

  I must have mumbled something along the lines of ‘a year from now’ because suddenly Cody was waving his hands and calling Liz over.

  She looked up, saw us and broke out in a broad smile. The butterflies soared.

  “You guys hitting the gym?” She said when we met her. “Darian isn’t there today. I’d spar but I want your pride to be in tact.” She grinned again and pulled the bag farther up her shoulder.

  “Yeah…” I said stupidly.

  “I’ll meet you inside, Drake,” Cody said before abandoning me. “See you, Liz.” She waved at him and then turned back to me. Cody didn’t go inside, but hung behind her just a bit, moving his hands in a ‘go on’ gesture.

  “You joining him? Don’t tell me he’s your sparring partner. That’d just be mean—“

  “Hey, Liz…I was wondering…”

  Cody waggled his eyebrows and winked. I wondered in what universe he thought that was considered helping.

  The pause hung there until Liz said, “Yea…wondering’s good.”

  Apparently I was floundering because Cody came back over. “Liz, Drake would like to—”

  I gently shoved him away. Or, maybe not so gently because he tumbled into a wall. I was nervous. Sue me.

  “Would you want to go to Fairway Plaza for dinner tonight?” I said quickly before she could look back where Cody lay crumpled and cursing. “My treat.”

  Liz didn’t miss a beat. “Sure. What time are you picking me up?” I let out an in
ternal sigh of relief.

  “If by pick you up you mean walk by and escort you since I don’t have a car, then seven,” I said, ignoring the sound of Cody smacking his forehead behind her.

  “Great! See you then. Bye, Cody.” She continued walking towards campus. I could have sworn I saw her grinning. When she had turned the corner I did a celebratory fist pump.

  “Charmed her like a pro, Romeo,” Cody groaned. “Now help me hobble to the nearest hospital. I think you broke my back.”

  I was in another wardrobe crisis. Except this time, instead of a monk’s robe, I went with my nicest jeans and a collared shirt. Not that it mattered. Since the restaurants in Fairway Plaza were outside we would be layered up the whole time anyway. It was the thought that counted, though.

  Satisfied that I looked as nice as I was going to get, I hurried across Mcminn Hall’s courtyard and outside the doorway that led to Liz’s hallway. She was already waiting outside, bundled up in a jacket and scarf.

  She waved, a little shyly, when she saw me. Maybe, just maybe, she was as nervous as I was.

  “You look great,” I said.

  “It’s jeans and a jacket, Drake. Nothing fancy.”

  “You look fantastic.”

  She eyed me. “Slow down there or you’ll run out of adjectives before we eat.” She glanced at something on my forearm. “What’s that?”

  “What?” I looked at where she pointed. A large gash from my run in with Project Midnight was showing. I quickly pulled my sleeve down. “I tripped. Come on.”

  Fairway Plaza was on the other side of campus, nestled between high-rise apartments and a bank office. Stalls filled with all kind of food fanned around the center fountain.

  The entire walk there I made horrible small talk and weighed the risk of having my arm broken off if I tried to take her hand. Should I? Maybe not…

  “Drake?”

  “Yeah?” We had arrived. A lot of students used the Plaza as a study hangout. Fortunately there weren’t too many here tonight. The sun was gone and lights flooded the white stone sidewalks.

  “I was asking what kind of food you wanted. They have Italian,” she pointed at one stall and moved her finger down the line. “Mexican, Tex-mex, I don’t know what the difference is, burgers, French. French?”

  “I was thinking we could do a little bit of everything,” I said. “Mexican appetizers, Italian entree, and then desert somewhere.”

  “That sounds…good, actually,” Liz said.

  I congratulated myself the entire time we were getting food. What a brilliant idea. Next time I would just not plan anything and make it up as I went. If there was a next time.

  “Here,” I said, motioning to a vacant table on the outside of the plaza with my elbow, my hands full of food.

  We sat and started eating. I couldn’t help shooting glances at Liz. She seemed content to sit in relative silence, watching people strolling between the booths. It was nice to see someone seemingly so at home with who they were. That made me happy, and very sad. She knew exactly who she was, what she wanted to be and what she had done. I knew those things too and yet they had never really been my decisions, had they? Someone, even before I had been born, had taken that choice away from me.

  But for now, if she was content, then so was I. Any attempt to force conversation could potentially end in disaster. I swirled a nacho in some sauerkraut and took a bite.

  “So what do you do for fun, besides beating up people?”

  I choked and managed to swallow the rest of the sauerkraut.

  “So-sorry. Beating up people?” Liz twirled spaghetti on her fork and dunked it in some salsa.

  “At the gym. We spar a lot but you’ve got to have another hobby.”

  Whew. “Right, that kind of beating people up. I hang out with my friends a lot.” Mostly doing illegal things. “And help Cody with some of his crazier inventions.” One of which is a costume for a vigilante you may have heard of. “You?”

  “Outdoor Pursuits Club. I came here for Social work but I love the outdoors. Kind of felt it was pulling me.” She looked back at the plaza. “It’s hard to describe, but you know what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Kind of like you had no choice.”

  Liz paused with some fries halfway to her mouth. “I wouldn’t say that. You always have a choice. Nobody ever decides what you do and why you do it.”

  “What if they forced you to come here? What if they had picked out the school before you had even been born?”

  Liz’s eyebrows furrowed. “Uh-huh…I don’t see where this is going, but I would still question it. The person they want you to be isn’t the person you have to become.”

  By now I had lost my appetite. I put the rest of my hamburger down.

  “I wish we all had that choice.” Liz seemed to sense we had tapped into something deeper. She stopped eating.

  “What do you mean?” I hadn’t meant to crowd the date with all this negativity. The run in with the remnants of Project Midnight had put a damper in my week. Go figure. Despite all that they had put me through, whether I knew it or not, they were still around, maybe doing the same thing to more people.

  Even now Project Midnight was affecting everything that I thought was safe. Where once they could only touch my persona of Phantom, the thing they unwittingly created, now they had moved past that and were attacking who I was.

  “It’s nothing. How’s your sauerkraut and humus?” Liz didn’t look like she wanted to drop the conversation.

  “Fine. What do you mean some people don’t have a choice?”

  I couldn’t look at her. Instead I watched a man who had just ordered something from a nearby food booth. He walked past us and down a small road leading to the other side of the apartment complex.

  “For some, life doesn’t leave many options. So what do you do when there’s nothing you can do?”

  “Drake, what do you do at the gym?”

  “At the gym? I fight.”

  “Exactly. You fight. You don’t lay down and die. You fight.” She angrily dunked her chips again. “Don’t be such a big baby.”

  I felt the tug of a smile. I glanced back at the lone man. Just as three men jumped him. The first punched him in the stomach and the other two started dragging him away.

  Really? Now? And yet, it was time to end this pity party. Time to fight.

  “Be right back,” I said, leaping up. I managed to keep my speed normal until I was sure I was out of sight, then I let loose. The three men had managed to pull the struggling guy farther down a quiet street, punctuated only by his sporadic yells that were quickly hushed.

  The men were Project Midnight. The black uniforms with the sliver of the moon on them. What Sykes had said was true. They were still kidnapping people, still ruining lives.

  I waited until they paused beneath a streetlamp before I grabbed one of them and knocked him out cold. The other two stopped when they realized one of their comrades had seemingly vanished. The guy between them had stopped struggling, his lip swollen and dripping blood on the pavement.

  “Who’s there?” One yelled. He squinted to try to see past the light and into the darkness. He couldn’t see me in the shadows. I stalked behind them and grabbed another one. He yelped and I tossed him into a dumpster. The last man dropped the guy they were kidnapping and grabbed for a gun.

  “Don’t,” I advised. “You wouldn’t be able to hit me anyways.”

  “Not worried about that,” he said, pulling the gun out and pressing it to the guy’s head who had just started to rise. He slowly put his hands up.

  “Let me see you or I’m plastering the pavement with him.” I wasn’t scared. I was angry. It was one thing to threaten me, someone who was involved—I was a part of their game now. I always had been—but it was another to threaten innocents.

  I made sure to stay out of the light just enough that he wouldn’t see my face. The man immediately pointed the gun at me.

  “You’re just a kid. But…” He su
ddenly shoved the guy away. “We need to come back with somebody. Wanna-be hero would be better.”

  “Go,” I said to the guy on the ground. He looked between both of us, then scampered away.

  “If you think he’s going to bring back help you’re wrong. We’ll be long gone by the time he comes back.”

  “I didn’t want him to see this.” I felt my hand breaking his arm before I realized I was doing it. The man tried to scream but I head butted his face and all that came out was a dry wheeze. The gun clattered to the ground and I kicked it aside.

  “The police will find you,” I said. One loss for Project Midnight.” The man shuddered and tried to look up at me. I shoved his head down.

  “How—did—you?”

  I let him collapse. I pulled the other two unconscious men to him and made sure they were well visible.

  “Drake?”

  Where had Liz come from? She stood just outside the light, eyes wide and focused on the men in a heap in front of me.

  Without thinking, I latched on to her arm and practically dragged her back to the plaza. She made no resistance. Maybe she was in shock. After seeing that I could imagine she was. All I could think about was how much of an idiot I was.

  We walked behind the booths as a few police ran by, back to where I’d come from.

  “Could you let go of my arm, Drake?”

  I released it. “Sorry,” I mumbled. I couldn’t look at her. We kept walking away from the plaza and back towards school. I guess that had officially ended our date.

  “You saved that man,” Liz finally said. She had slowed down so that she hung a little behind me. I’d expected there to be fear in her tone, but there was none.

  She kept talking when I couldn’t thinking of anything to say, “I saw him run right past me after I followed you.”

  “Why did you follow me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because my date had just ditched me to go run into a backstreet. I don’t know about you, but the date wasn’t going that bad.”

  I could tell she was trying to make me smile. I couldn’t bring myself to.

  “You saw what I did to those men?”