It was a late night in December 1946; the city was covered in a thin sheet of snow and Christmas décor was on every building. On 37th street was a billionaire that sat in his fine leather chair in his 14th floor penthouse. But if one were to observe closer at this scene, he would find that billionaire would never see Christmas. The billionaire sat dead in his chair, stabbed repeatedly with a knife. As the billionaire sat dead, a man wearing black detective gear and a black and white mask walked towards the scene of the crime. As he entered the deceased billionaire's apartment, he pulled out his notepad and began to inspect the scene of the crime. The mysterious detective noted the symbol etched on the billionaire's chest, a bonfire scar filled with melted silver. The detective finished his work and exited the crime scene. He got in his car and drove off to his home, noting the beat up car following him. A thug in the beat up car pulled out a shotgun, and opened fire at the detective's vehicle. The detective pushes a button on his dashboard, causing it to spill an oil like substance out from a hidden nozzle from his car, causing the beat up car to skid out and crash into a nearby warehouse. The detective pulls over, gets out of his car, and goes to confront the thugs. As the detective walked towards the warehouse, the four thugs get out of the beat up car to face the detective. A burly thug, wielding a lead pipe, runs up to the detective with the intent to cause him harm. Like lightning, the detective quickly counters the attack and punches the thug square in the jaw, taking the thug out of the fight. Another thug pulls out a flip knife and slices at the detective. As the detective dodges each knife slice gracefully, he noted a similar bonfire symbol etched on the thug's vests. The detective breaks the knife wielding thug's leg, catches the knife and throws it at the one of the thugs, the knife hits the thug head dead on, killing the thug instantly. The last thug pulls out a shotgun and begins to take aim at the detective. The detective disarms the thug and elbows him in the face, knocking the thug to the floor. The detective tosses the shotgun aside, picks up the thug, and holds him against a wall.
"Who are you?" The thug asks with a terrified tone.
"I am Phantom, Your worst nightmare for tonight." The detective replies.
The thug is now horrified at this point and begins to pant heavily.
"I want to know a few things about you and your former friends. Firstly, Who is your boss?" Phantom says while still holding the thug against the wall.
"His name is Saint Nick. And he has a sidekick that goes by the name, Kiss my ass!" The thug sarcastically retorts. Phantom sighs an annoyed sigh.
"One…" Phantom says. Phantom then breaks the thug's left pinky finger, causing the thug to scream out in pain.
"Want your hand broken or do you want to tell the truth?" Phantom asks in a smug manner. The thug glared menacingly at him.
"I don't know… All I got was some instructions in a manila envelope. If you want to know, check with a guy named Howard Yung, he's our boss." The thug answered.
"Where is he now?" Phantom asked.
"The docks. He's at the docks overseeing the next shipment of our stash." The thug responded, knowing there was no point in lying.
"Thank you…" Phantom says as he knocks the thug out with a single punch. He then gets in his car and drives to the docks. It was a long drive from the central city to his home. It was also snowing lightly so it was also a rather cold drive. Phantom decides to turn on the radio to the classical station to clear his head and contemplate about the current events of the case. He knew that a bigger hand played in the part of the billionaire's demise. He noted the name of the mysterious benefactor that aided the thugs. Howard Yung was a successful scientist that helped in research of countless inventions. He was rumored to have built a fully functioning cryogenic chamber until he vanished under mysterious circumstances. Soon enough, the vigilante arrived at the docks. Phantom parked his car a slight distance away to ensure that these odd thugs would not see it. Phantom then silently makes his way to the foreman's office where Howard Yung resided over paperwork. With blinding speed and silence, Phantom puts Yung in a chokehold.
"Who-? Who are you?" Howard Yung asked whilst being in a chokehold.
"I'm the guy who's going to start breaking bones if I don't get the answers I want." Phantom responded to the doctor. "Now, who is your boss?"
"H-His name is White. Dr. Reginald White. He wanted me to research Cryogenic technology for him. I wanted to decline, but he has my wife hostage!" Yung replied in a panic. Suddenly, a beeping noise could be heard from inside the building. With lightning speed, Phantom grabs Yung and crashes through the window before the office exploded and engulfed in flames. The two landed on an awning and got away safely before the police arrived. Phantom dropped off Yung at a small inn and drove off to his home to revaluate his clues, unaware that a mysterious probe on one of the rooftops was already watching him closely. When Phantom arrived home, He sat at his desk and conducted research on this Dr. White, surrounded by memorabilia of his past cases. During this research, He found out that the corrupt doctor owned a medical sciences company known as Silverfire Industries. He also discovered that Silverfire industries' main office was only a few blocks away from his location. He was about to leave when a swift blow to the head immediately knocks him out by a club held by a Silverfire thug. The Goons carried the unconscious detective to their car and took him to their headquarters. Phantom awoke rather groggily being dragged by two Silverfire goons dragging him across the carpet. As he was being dragged, He noted that he was on the top floor of a large corporate skyscraper. He is then dropped in front of a large desk in what seemed to be the same office. A middle aged man dressed in a white suit drinking a martini stood in front of a large window overlooking the sleeping city.
"Ah, You must be the meddler that Yung informed me of. You must know I am Dr. White by now; you seemed to be looking me up in your files when my men knocked you out. I'm quite impressed that you figured out I was the boss so swiftly, the last one who figured it out was some billionaire on 37th street. But you already know that my men took care of him. " Dr. White said with a smug grin as he drank the last sip of his martini. "I could dispatch you like that billionaire, but I feel that wouldn't suit you. How about I use something that suits your cold yet inquisitive demeanor." A rather burley thug entered the room pulling in a large, high tech, cylinder container which looked large enough to hold an average sized man. Following the thug was Dr. Yung carrying a clipboard.
"Dr. Yung can create wonders with our resources. For Months we have had this in storage, trying to find someone willing to test it. I now believe we have our willing test applicant." Dr. White said to Phantom sinisterly, he then motions for Phantom to be put inside the cylinder. Phantom struggles with great valor, but is soon put inside the cylinder. Yung taps a few buttons and the machine hums to life. After a few minutes, Phantom is frozen solid inside the cylinder, trapping him inside.
"Take him to the old storage, 21st and north. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon." Dr. White said while looking at the frozen detective.
"Indeed he won't, Doctor. I set it so he won't wake up for ten thousand years. I also locked it so nobody can shorten his sentence early." Dr. Yung said while examining his notes.
"Good… Thank you doctor. Your services are no longer required…" Dr. White says as he pulls out a revolver and shoots Dr. Yung in the head. Meanwhile, two goons transport Phantom's frozen prison to the outskirts of town. As they put him down in the secret storage room in the basement of 21st and north, a probe waited in the corner for the two goons to leave. Once the two goons left, the probe approached the cryogenic pod, pulled out an unknown tool, and inserted it into the pod's console. A few short beeps could be heard as the release time was shortened from ten thousand years to 470 years. After finishing it's work it then flew back into the corner and deactivated transmitting a signal to its unknown master.