Chapter One: The Birth of the Shadow Phantom Part One:

June 20th 2015:

Harry Potter felt he was getting way too old to play the hero, not that it mattered in these people. Up until three years ago, he had a very lucrative career as a professional Quidditch career. He had a lot of fun but sadly it was cut short due to a multitude of injuries. Both Harry and his wife Ginny had agreed that it would be a good idea if Harry quit before he got a really serious injury that he would not be able to get back from as easily. He instead got a job as the magical liaison to the Muggle United States Government. Sure his boss was an utter jerk, but his daughter, Grace, had an ailment that required expensive potions to be made regularly to treat it. So it was worth it, even though he had to regularly deal with an enemy from the past.

"Mr. Potter, I do apologize for the short notice, but time for warning is not a luxury we have," said a shady looking figure wearing a long black coat and sunglasses. "This is a matter of national security."

"What is it, Agent Bishop?" asked Harry as he looked at the man, who Harry always felt uneasy around. Perhaps it was the time that he had captured Harry and his brothers, before Bishop attempted to dissect Harry's brothers, or perhaps it was the time he faked an alien invasion to lead to a plague that infected the entire city of New York, including his second oldest brother, Donatello. Whatever it was, the fact was that Harry would never turn his back on Bishop when he was in his presence.

"A top secret government shipment has been stolen, the only item on board was a sonic drill, that could level an entire city block into dust," said Bishop casually, as if this was of no concern. The look behind his sunglasses told a different story.

"An interesting toy, Bishop," muttered Harry, who questioned the wisdom of inventing such an item and the disaster that it could cause once it fell into the wrong hands.

"It was intended to be used on any alien invasions, you know the latest invasion of two years ago devastated us all and if we had such a weapon, we would have had no need to lose so many men on either side," said Bishop calmly and Harry nodded, the alien invasions were getting out of hand. While he had hoped Bishop had abandoned his super solider program, there was circumstantial evidence that stated that his old enemy had resumed his old activities. Still, Harry had not pressed the issue, as he had stopped cleaning up everyone's messes once he was finished with Voldemort all those years ago.

For the most part that was. There were times where he kept getting pulled in against his will, like today for instance.

"What do you want with me?" asked Harry.

"I want you to assist us in recovering the drill, your skills have matched my own in the past and I feel these thieves would have no chance against you," said Bishop calmly and Harry shook his head.

"No, Bishop, I've given up this game once Voldemort was reduced to dust, the world existed without my help for millennia in the past, it will exist without me now," said Harry firmly and besides, his body might not hold up in combat after all of these years.

"Mr. Potter, I understand your conviction, but the point is, the world may end if you do not help, especially if the mastermind behind this is who I think it was," said Bishop coolly, but there were only the slightest hints of worry underneath his sunglasses. "It was a mistake to even try, but we have the perfect chance to correct this mistake before it's too late."

Harry paused and looked at Bishop with an incredulous look appearing in his eyes.

"What did you do this time?" demanded Harry, as last time Bishop messed up, the entire city was put in peril, with the outbreak plague.

"I'll explain to you later, on the off chance that I'm wrong and for the world's sake I hope I am," said Bishop evasively and Harry knew that he would not get any answers, but he had to help. Reluctantly, it had been several years since he had truthfully done something like this, but if it was that important, he had to help.

"Very well, Bishop, but I hope for your sake, the situation is not as grave as you made it out to be for your sake," said Harry as he held his wand steady and Bishop nodded.

"That makes two of us, Mr. Potter," said Bishop, as he turned around, before he checked his wrist communicator. "Doctor Stockman has already transmitted the security specifications of where we believe the thieves are headed. My men are in position to move in as well."

"It's just as well Agent Bishop, because I've brought back up as well," said Harry as he moved back, to reveal his brothers, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo to step out of the shadows. They were your average run of the mill family, except for the fact that they were ninjas and they were giant mutant Turtles. Other than that small detail, they were perfectly normal.

"Gentlemen it appears that we find ourselves on the same side against a great threat," replied Bishop.

"What makes you think that these thieves aren't your common everyday street gang?" asked Leo.

"Because, the methods they used to hijack the train were very sophisticated, a mixture of attacks that were both magical and non-magical," said Bishop smoothly. "We are dealing with a dangerous threat, we must recover the sonic drill before he puts it to a destructive use."

"Just show me who to hit and I'm game for anything," said Raph as he held his Sais at the ready, before they moved down the street. Bishop and his commandos appeared to lead Harry and the Turtles towards an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. They were very close to the gravesite where Master Splinter was buried. Harry tried to shake his head of those horrid memories of the night that Voldemort struck down his adoptive father in battle and he could see that his brothers were relieving similar memories. Still they had a task that they had to accomplish, the past could not get in the way.

"Let's move forward, the security precautions are not going to be easily to get around and time is not a luxury we have," said Bishop quietly, as he stared at the building behind his sunglasses, as his men awaited their orders.

"I think I can see it, you can almost feel some odd vibrations coming from on the other side of the door and I'm barely touching it," said Don. "It's very strange; I've never seen something like that before in my life."

"It's the bad kind of strange, right," chimed in Mikey and Don nodded. "Though so, we better step back and let a professional take a crack at this one."

"Stand back, if I'm reading this correctly, there are a multitude of magical defenses around this place, intermingled with Muggle technology," said Harry as he raised his eyebrow. Such a combination was rare and odd, even beyond some of the things that he had faced. "Advanced beyond anything I've ever seen but not that difficult to shut down."

"How much time do you think it will take to disable it all?" inquired Agent Bishop.

"Actually, if we time this right, no time at all, just a simple disabling charm to get us through the front door and then be ready to blast at anyone or anything that comes through," said Harry before he paused with a thoughtful look, before he motioned for everyone to stand back. "In case I'm wrong, everyone get far back, I'm the only one of us that can do a shield charm and the blast might be painful. "

Everyone obeyed as Harry raised his wand before he jabbed it towards the door. It clicked open and much to their surprise, there were no traps, at least visible ones. At the moment, Harry moved forward, with everyone else following him. The others took cautious steps instead, before they all reached inside.

"There it is Agent Bishop, the sonic drill," said one of the commandos, as the group moved forward.

"I don't like this, it seems way too easy," said Mikey in a worried voice as he looked around from side to side.

"He's right, stay alert, this could be a well constructed trap, they might not even want the drill," said Bishop, who knew he had his fair share of enemies and at that moment, a set of silvery grenades were thrown into the warehouse. Everyone scattered, as the grenades exploded and a cloud of smoke rose up. From the rafters, an army of cloaked individuals dropped down with wands at the ready.

"Everyone surrender and you may live long enough to see our master's grand triumph," said one of the cloaked figures, as it could be seen once the smoke cleared that their faces "Drop the weapons or we'll make you drop them."

"Pick your shots wisely men, aim for their wands," said Agent Bishop, as his commandos did as they were told and aimed their weapons towards the mysterious cloaked figures. However, much to their astonishment, the commandos found themselves disarmed in a matter of moments when the sides of the wand were pressed and thick metal cables shot out, to wrap around the weapons. They were quickly pulled from the hands of Bishop's commandos but by this time, the Turtles and Harry had already snuck around on the other side.

Quickly, one of the figures spun around and erected a shield with his wand, which blocked Leo's katanas. Another blast had caused Mikey's nunchucks to spin out of control when he attempted to whack them at him. Raph had taken the direct approach, as he leapt at his attacker and managed to knock him off of his feet, but he rebounded to blast a pair of metal shackles towards his feet. Don moved forward and busted the shackles with his Bo staff before it was split it half by a blast. Harry meanwhile had just avoided what appeared to be a stunning spell directed towards him. He could not figure out what exactly these wands were, he had never seen anything like them in his life. He briefly wondered if they were really advanced technology to simulate magic, but doubted that anything of this Earthly origin would be able to properly mimic such a thing like magic. Still given all of the alien technology lying around after the many invasions, he did wonder.

"Be careful, these things pack a punch!" shouted Leo, as one of his blades had been blown off by an expert shot from one of the faux wands. Quickly, Raph threw his Sais upwards and cut a net from above to trap several of the cloaked figures. Bishop and his commandos had reclaimed their weapons and had sent stun blasts to subdue them before they could recover. Bishop rushed in and punched a fighter that had dropped his wand in the battle.

"Their numbers are dwindling, be on the look out, this is too easy," said Bishop as Harry managed to disarm one of his attackers and flip him over onto his back. Harry just barely avoided a stunning spell, before he disarmed another attacker and then the arms and legs snapped together.

"Easy, you call this easy!" shouted Raph as he threw his Sai at an attacker to distract him while Mikey came from behind and whacked the figure in the back of the head with a pair of nunchucks.

"Yes, these guys don't go down easily," grunted Mikey, as his nunchucks were blasted to bits with a Reducto spell but quickly, Harry jabbed his wand at the legs of the attacker. A loud crack echoed throughout the building as both of the enemies legs cracked together.

"Right, this could be just the preliminary attacks," said Don as he dodged an attack, before he knocked a set of crates onto two of the attackers. One blasted the assault away but the other was not quite lucky. Quickly, Harry managed to bind the attacker's legs and arms together with thick ropes, as the other attackers had already been taken out.

"Leave this one awake, let's see what he knows," commanded Agent Bishop, as he pulled back the hood, to reveal a young brown haired man who was in his late teens or maybe early twenties. Harry looked at him with contempt, it was sickening one someone had once again thrown away his life for a little bit of power. "You can do this the easy way or the hard way, tell me who you are working for or we'll find more painful ways of making you talk."

"You'll never get me to squeal on the master, he is more powerful, he has an entire army of followers that will die for him, I'd rather die than betray him, he's worked too hard," said the thug in a smug voice as he spat at Bishop. Bishop just calmly wiped the fluid off of his cheek, but Harry stepped forward and grabbed the thug by the throat, before he threw him across the room. The thug crashed through a table and rolled around, wincing in agony.

"Talk! Who is your boss?" demanded Harry, as the thug winced, at his broken ribs. The thug had opened his mouth for some smart retort, but Harry had silenced him with a mere glare. "Now I can injure and heal you as many times as I wish, you better talk."

"Fine, I don't know his name, I just know he's powerful, I've heard him called "X", that's all I know, really, he has people all over the city and in most of New Jersey," said the young man as he cringed at the intense look in Harry's eyes, but he had removed a knife from beneath his sleeve. "The sonic drill, it was a bigger part of a grander scheme, it's just the beginning, I don't know of anything else but it's not the only thing "X" is after."

"He's telling the truth Agent Bishop," confirmed Harry, after he looked into the eyes and quickly looked away.

"Very well, the Sonic Drill has been at least kept out of the hands of this dangerous threat," said Bishop in an absent minded voice, but at that point, the captured attacker had managed to cut himself free. His ribs might have been injured, but he removed a remote control device from his pocket and pressed a giant red square button in the center. At that point, the walls of the warehouse vibrated.

"EVERYONE MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Harry urgently, but several lasers began to shoot out of the wands at random intervals, as everyone had to duck and dodge. Bishop looked on as one of the lasers had shot off of the side of the table where the sonic drill was held.

"If that laser hits the drill, the backlash will vaporize at least this entire building, if not the next three blocks," said Bishop, as he motioned for his men to move in. From the other side, Harry and the Turtles dodged around the attacks. Several laser blasts impacted the ground and quickly Harry just managed to launch himself up. He saw a spot in the wall where the laser had fired up and it was aimed right at the drill.

"Don and Raph, catch!" shouted Harry, as he threw the box with the sonic drill just before the laser had hit the table. He just barely leapt off but the table had tipped over and Harry was sent onto his back. He looked up as the laser had sliced a chain that held a large platinum weight from above. In the past, Harry would have been quick enough to block it but right now he could not avoid the weight as it smashed down right onto his legs. He could feel them snap down underneath the weight.

"HARRY!" shouted all four of his brothers in unison, as Bishop motioned for his commandos to take the drill.

"You four get that thing off of him, I will try to find the control panel to shut off the laser grid," said Bishop firmly as he moved over, expertly dodging the laser.

"Can't you levitate it off with your wand or something Harry?" asked Mikey anxiously.

"Mikey, it's platinum, magic has no effect on it!" snapped Don slightly.

"Whoa, Don easy, he obviously forgot," said Leo.

"Just like you forgot to be in position to help Harry be out of the way when he fell?" asked Raph, as he grabbed the platinum weight.

"What, Don was closer?" argued Leo in a tense voice, but nevertheless he grabbed the weight.

"Don't look at me, I was helping Raph catch the drill, Mikey should have gotten him," said Don in an agitated voice, as they continued to struggle to grip the weight but their attention was diverted.

"Yeah, I had to pick up that slack after you nearly dropped it," said Raph in a snippy voice.

"Look won't all of you just please shut up and help me lift it, would it kill you all to pull your weight on this team?" demanded Leo.

"Look, I don't know what's gotten under your shell, but you better knock it off, Leo," said Mikey in an agitated voice, as they had just managed to grab the weight.

"Oh, I see for once you're finally taking things seriously Michelangelo?" challenged Leo, as all four of the brothers had now managed to slide the huge weight off of Harry's legs.

"Gentlemen and given the way you act, I use the term utmost loosely, I have deactivated the grid and I believe that it would be prudent to get your brother some medical attention immediately," said Bishop.

"Back off Bishop, this doesn't concern you!" shouted Raph. "If Leo wasn't being such a jackass, we wouldn't be in the position we were in right now. If that weight had landed on Harry's head, he would have just ended up like Master Splinter."

"Oh, and I suppose that's my fault too!" yelled Leo in a defensive voice as he stared down Raph, as it was fortunate they had been disarmed of their weapons in the battle, it could have been a lot more uglier. Don and Mikey also looked agitated, as Harry laid on the floor in pain. Bishop pointed his wrist blaster and shot it on the floor, to get the attention of the four reptiles.

"Gentlemen, enough," said Bishop in a dangerous voice. "I have already called for medical attention, a message has also been sent to the relevant parties to inform them of Mr. Potter's condition."

"Right, we have to worry about Harry right now, instead of who's fault it is," said Mikey in a logical voice and the other three nodded grudgingly, as they cast dirty looks at each other but the serious injury that Harry had just kept them together as a family, but by the absolute barest of threads.

-

Ginny rushed inside the hospital, when her husband told her he got a message from Agent Bishop earlier today, she thought he would be coerced into doing something that he would regret later by the government agent. True, enough, when she had received a message that said Harry had been wounded in a battle, her fears had come true. She had always been uncomfortable with Harry's work with Agent Bishop, but it was more than sufficient to pay for the expensive treatments their daughter Grace had required for her condition. He had already spent every knut of his share of the Potter Family fortune and everything he earned from his Professional Quidditch Career, but they were no closer to finding a permanent solution for Grace's ailment.

At that point, Ginny's mother-in-law, Lily poked her head out the door, her auburn hair with the slightest hints of grey, and she motioned for Ginny to come inside.

"Hi, Lily, how's Harry doing?" asked Ginny in a concerned voice.

"Better than I would expect, had that thing came out at a different angle or it was heavier, he would have lost the ability to walk," said Lily as Ginny sighed in relief, at least it could have been worse. With a sick daughter, she had more than enough to worry about without Harry being seriously injured but it appeared Lily was not done giving her the latest on Harry's condition. "While I did manage to patch up most of the damage and Harry will be able to walk again, he'll still feel pain in certain circumstances. Other than that, he'll make a full recovery."

"May I see him?" asked Ginny and Lily nodded, before she stepped back and allowed Ginny to enter the room. She walked inside, she had seen Harry go down so many times in the past, but it's been a long time since she had, many years in fact. She moved in and saw Harry, who looked pleased to see her. "Hi, Harry."

"Hello, Ginny, how are you holding up?" asked Harry as his wife sat down next to him on the edge of the bed and she bent down, giving him a quick kiss, as he was incapacitated from his injuries, before she withdrew the gesture.

"Considering you're the one that just had a weight dropped on your legs, I should be the one asking you how you're doing," said Ginny with a grin, who realized that no matter what, Harry would put everyone before himself. "I got the message and tried to get here as soon as I can. I had to take Grace over to Neville and Hailey's. While, she seems to be reacting well to that new potion, it's stabilizing her magic really well, I don't want to take any chances."

"It's for the best, after her last outburst, that was painful to get under control," replied Harry as Ginny nodded. "You do realize that this does have a chance to turn her into a squib."

"Yes, I realize that, but I don't care," said Ginny firmly. "She's our daughter, anything that we can do to save her life we have to do, even if it sacrifices her magic."

"We're on the same wavelength there, as always," answered Harry with a slightly strained smile, as he thought about the childhood or lack there of his daughter had, do to spending most of it sick. This potion could be the one to cure her ailment, at least temporarily. He had gotten a lot of snide comments from the Chief Executer Officer of the American Wizarding Government, Alistair Montague, who said it must be a disgrace for such an old pureblood family to have such an ill child and suggested they should have Grace locked up, where she was not a threat. He could not believe that someone could be so callous towards an innocent child, but then again, given what he had seen and experienced in the past, he would be a fool to be surprised. "I should be back on my feet, not in my same capacity, but at least one thing good comes out of this."

"What Harry?" asked Ginny in confusion.

"I know never to bother with anything ever again; I stuck my neck out again and paid for it, would Bishop do the same for me? I doubt it very much," said Harry, who also thought of the tension between his brothers, that had caused them to go their separate ways, perhaps for good and he blamed Bishop for putting him in this situation. Everything was just barely held together after the death of Master Splinter but now it just cracked apart at the seems. "This just proved that I was right after Voldemort, I should have never played the hero again. Hell, I'm not even sure if this world deserves heroes anymore."

Ginny just sat their, holding her husband's hand. While instinctively she wanted to agree, the fact was that she had to admit that Harry was right. Once Wizarding Britain was rebuilt, everyone had just fallen right back into their old habits, having learned nothing from Voldemort. Those who had lived through Voldemort and saw everything that lead up to his uprising happening again had wisely fled to other countries, namely the United States and Canada. Sadly, those countries were not without their problems, as while there were flaws before, it seemed they had amplified with time.

-

September 8th 2020:

"Grace!" shouted Ginny up the stairs as Harry sat at the table. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming Mum!" called Grace from down the stairs. "I'll be ready in a couple of minutes."

"In other words, she'll be down in about ten or fifteen minutes," said Harry, who knew his daughter's ability to procrastinate for the littlest thing all too well. Sure enough, a bit of time later, more than a couple of minutes, Grace made way down the stairs. She was a miniature version of her mother, with flaming red hair and freckles. The only difference was that she had her father's vivid emerald green eyes. "Ah yes, within ten minutes, right on schedule for you, Grace."

"Daddy, I'm not that bad," said Grace incredulously, as the fifteen year old girl looked at her father, but she had a smile on her face nevertheless. "I had to get my hair right, but I don't know if it is."

"Ah, the Potter hair, it never straightens properly," said Harry as while his daughter's hair was nowhere near as unruly as his was, it still stuck up slightly in places, unless she tied it back in a ponytail to keep it tamed enough.

"Yes, but that's the one thing I like about you, Harry," said Ginny as she flicked her fingers through Harry's hair.

"Could you two wait until I get to school before you do that?" asked Grace in a slightly irritated voice, while she was pleased that her parents loved each other very much, the fact remained that she did not have to see that.

"Now, Grace, just wait until you get married and have children," said Harry but Grace just shrugged. After the break up she had with her last boyfriend, she was not too thrilled about the prospect of every dating again, it was a bad experience for her. He was way too clingy and jealous, every time he had even seen her look in the direction of another boy, he flew off the handle. She was blinded because he was an older, hot guy, but after a while, she saw him as he truthfully was, a hot headed pumped up jock with a short fuse.

Grace sat down with her parents and reflected on her life. The early part of her childhood had been spent in sickness, with one magical treatment after another, as a mysterious illness that had overcharged her magic had plagued her. Both of her parents were there for her every step of the way, her father especially. While had had to be out of town for his Quidditch Games, he Portkeyed home straight away to be by her side when she had one of her episodes and they were often. Far too often her liking.

Then everything changed five years ago, where a new potion was developed. It would suppress her magic and reduce her to a squib, but the fits of chaotic accidental magic would cease. Despite the fact that all her cousins got a magical education but she felt it was a fair trade off. Her body was racked with pain for days afterward and it seemed to get worse every time. Given what she learned about magic, they would only get worse with time. So, her parents enrolled her in a Muggle High School, mostly to keep her mind off of everything. Grace did not really mind, while she had no real close friends, she got along with everyone with a few notable exceptions. Still, it was not all too bad and her cousin Rosaline Longbottom, had kept her updated regularly on all the latest in the Wizarding World that she heard during her studies at the Liberty School of Magic.

She looked at her father. He had sacrificed his entire family fortune to save her life and had only just recently began to rebuild it through a respectable level through a series of businesses that had had partial ownership in with her Uncles Fred and George. In fact, he had been severely injured doing a job to earn gold to pay for a treatment for her, one of the last before this new potion was invented.

Grace knew her father had done so much in his life and no one had ever repaid him. She saw his face when he heard of crime in the cities, frustrated that he was physically unable to do anything, as one more serious injury could his end. It was thanks to both of her parents that she lived a relatively normal life after so many years of being sick and if everything had gone right, she would do something to make up for everything.

-

Grace made her way to school, ignoring the sound of a car alarm that went off. As much as she hated to admit it, she was used to the various alarms that went off, it was as common as the birds chirping in the morning. It was not even like the cops did anything, many of them were on the take or that's at least what her father said. She was trained in ninjitsu when she began to get a little better and while she was nowhere near her father's level, she could defend herself. It was almost like a requirement in this city, but she wanted to do more to herself. She hoped that the project that she worked on with her cousin on and off over the summer would be completed today as scheduled.

"Let's get while the getting is good, man!" shouted a loud rough voice and Grace looked up, to see a pair of thugs, one with a green Mohawk and another bald, as they moved down the street, with bags of money in their hand and a stressed out looking shopkeeper chasing after them. Barely anyone paid them any mind; it was business as usual for the citizens of New York City. After the thieves had disappeared from view, a police car moved down the street, too little too late.

-

The first day of school for this year was business as usual. It was said that it was much less stressful to go into politics, than to attend high school and Grace would be hard pressed to disagree. She made her way to the school and winced as she saw a very unfamiliar face. A dark haired girl with hazel eyes and her nose turned up in arrogance sat outside the school. Most schools had their resident bitch that thought she was something special and well they all paled in comparison with Andrea Radcliffe. Even most of the normal "in-crowd" had steered away from her, she seemed too arrogant by their standards. The fact that she was one of the smartest girls in the school, just barely below Grace, did little to help deflate her ego.

"Well Potter, I see you've gone through the first day without collapsing," said Andrea with a smug expression on her face as she looked at Grace. She was referring the incident where Grace had collapsed last year, the potion she had to take had a very bad reaction with strawberry ice cream.

"No thanks for your concern, but I wasn't feeling ill, Andrea, that was until I caught sight of your smug face," replied Grace.

"Mind yourself, Potter, I'm better than you'd ever think of being and soon enough, you're be exposed as the fraud that you are," answered Andrea, as she flipped her long hair over, with a smug look on her face. "I have better things to do than to stand around and talk to someone as lowly as you, I have a date."

"Wow, someone must be desperate or you lowered your asking price," said Grace with a smile and Andrea's posture stiffened. The Potter girl knew she had achieved a moral victory, even if it was slightly underhanded. Andrea obviously was not going to do anything, she might be afraid that she would break a nail. Yet, it was intriguing how every time Andrea had a date, she seemed to go out of her way to tell Grace about it.

Still, while other people lived in their own little social status influenced worlds, Grace had more pressing matters to attend to.

-

"I think I've put every protective charm I can think of on this armor that won't interfere with it's computer processing," said Rosaline Longbottom as she had brought it out, at one of Grace's father's less populated factories on the edge of town. Rosaline was a couple of months older than Grace, with light brown hair and the same vivid emerald green eyes that Grace, her father, Rosaline's mother, and their grandmother had. "Now, it will cover your own body, including your face, but nothing is fool proof. I don't know if it's a good idea for you to do this given…"

"I know, my condition was a concern, but the potions that I take offset that and I'm actually at my strongest, now's the perfect time to do this, no one else will," answered Grace. "The world needs heroes, no matter how much they don't appreciate them."

"If you say so, but after what happened to Uncle Harry, do you really think it's a good idea to take the risk?" asked Rosaline in a skeptical voice.

"This is exactly the reason I'm doing this, for him," answered Grace firmly. "You agreed to help me with this, don't tell me you're having second thoughts."

"No just a few concerns, the crime rate is highest it's been in years," answered Rosaline. "Still if you feel like you have to do this…"

"I have to do this," said Grace firmly.

"Then, I'm with you one hundred percent," said Rosaline. "You're going to need an alias obviously because I think you can see why it won't be a good idea to go under your real name."

"Yes, Mum and Dad have enough enemies as it is without me gaining them through anything I do," said Grace as she looked on, with a thoughtful expression etched on her face. "The Shadow Phantom will be the guardian of New York."

"The Shadow Phantom?" asked Rosaline in an amused tone of voice. "What possessed you to come up with that?"

"We all have our inspirations," answered Grace as she had gotten the Shadow part from her father's codename when he had gathered information on the criminal underworld and the Phantom part from the Black Phantom, a mysterious vigilante that had worked in New York City in the mid 1990s that Grace had considered somewhat of a hero to her. She had gotten her hands on whatever old newspaper clippings she could that detailed the exploits of her idol.

Grace had decided to suit up to give the armor a test run. As long as she was home by seven for dinner, her parents had never asked too many questions of what she was up to, as they had trusted her completely.

-

A couple of thugs moved towards the back of a jewelry store. In this city, it was easy to pull a job in broad daylight. As long as a cut of the profits went to the mysterious underworld figure known as "X", he would pull enough strings to get the law enforcement to look the other way. Of course, if the thugs were inept enough to get themselves caught, then they were on their own.

"This is going to be like taking candy from a baby," remarked one of the thugs in a self assured voice.

"Yes, diamond candy," cackled the second thug, as he pulled out a crowbar before he began to pry the door open. Sometime's the tried and tested methods were the best. As they entered the jewelry store, a young lady sat behind the glass case.

"May I help you?" asked the lady in a bored voice but she found herself on the business end of a gun.

"Yeah, toots, just let us pick out the selection of our choosing and we won't blow your brains out," said the thug with the gun, as his partner had began to shove a large quantity of diamonds in a blue duffel bag. "That's it, keep your hands where we can see them, don't trip an alarm or anything."

"You won't get away with this!" shouted the clerk but she was terrified beyond all belief especially when the thugs laughed.

"Yeah, who's going to stop us," said the thug with the gun. "And whoever says crime doesn't pay obviously hasn't been to New York City."

Both of the thugs laughed as they boldly left the jewelry store through the front door. The moment they passed, the clerk had activated the alarm, not that it mattered. The thugs rushed down the street.

From above, Grace sat perched. It was getting late and she thought she would have to give this up as the one night that the criminals decided to take off. At that moment, she saw that two thieves rushed from a jewelry store, as an alarm rang.

"Showtime," said Grace in a triumphant voice as she dropped down right in front of the thieves, who were caught off guard.

"Out of the way, can't you see we're on a job!" yelled one of the thieves.

"Yeah, I can see that, not to mention that you boys obvious took something that wasn't yours," said Grace as the thieves looked at her.

"Move it now, you foolish meddlesome brat," said one of the thieves as all they saw was petite figure with green and black full body armor, with a black helmet pulled over her head to obscure her identity.

"Let's just waste her," answered the second thief as he removed his gun.

"And add attempted murder to the list of crimes you've done tonight, well done, you just did nothing to help your case," said Grace, as she waited for the thieves to make the first move.

"There won't be any attempt, bitch," said the first thief as they began to blast Grace with a steady stream of bullets, but each and every one of them had bounced off her armor. In an instant, she somersaulted in mid air and came from behind the thieves. They turned around and two amplified punches cracked them in the jaws. They dropped to the ground and their guns were kicked to the side. Quickly, Grace lifted her arm and a net shot from it, to wrap around the thieves. The material was so tight that they only had enough room to breath and seconds later, they were strung up to the light post.

"You better let us down from here," demanded the second thief but he could only make threats.

"Just who do you think you are anyway?" inquired the first thief.

"Tell all your little criminal friends that the Shadow Phantom is always watching, so they better toe the line of the line of the law," proclaimed Grace and seconds later, the thieves looked perplexed, as she disappeared from view. She loved the cloaking feature on this armor. It was one of her better ideas.

In the shop the clerk waited in fear, shaken from her encounter with the thieves but suddenly, the duffel bag of diamonds dropped. She looked up but saw nothing.

"I believe these are yours," said a voice from above as the clerk looked around wildly for the source of the voice. "I'd invest better locks or maybe a couple of Dobermans, if I were you. I think it's safe to say that it's a necessary security precaution."

Without a word, the source of the voice had disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.

-

In the middle part of October, a man in his early twenties with brown hair and a goatee stepped forward. He was the head of scientific research and development, along with being basically the second in command, for one of the time crime lords in New York City but even he was nervous at this. The man's name was Michael Jammerhead, a brilliant scientist who specialized in robotics. He bowed down before his boss, who stood in the shadows.

"Speak," said "X" from the shadows in a cold voice, as only his right hand was visible, with a slight glint of silver.

"Master, I've got bad news, profits are down and so is the crime in the city, more of our thugs are getting caught and brought to justice," said Jammerhead in a fretful voice.

"So they've gotten sloppy, I fail to see where this has any relevance," said "X" softly.

"It's not mere sloppiness, many are getting captured and quite a few others have taken a step back, thanks to this Shadow Phantom that's plaguing the criminal underworld," said Jammerhead. "My Lord, I feel she might be a threat to what you hope to accomplish, she's bound to trace everything back to you."

"Yes, I can see it, I've heard the rumors and given time to tackle this problem, she is getting dangerously close to my operations," answered "X" coolly from the shadows.

"I've been working on a project, a super powerful robot, a cyberdroid rather, that may be powerful enough to stop this Shadow Phantom," offered Jammerhead.

"We must save that trump card for when it matters, not for some vigilante hero. Right now I will summon my Techo-Mages. They will eradicate this Shadow Phantom, her broken body will be thrown at my feet," thundered "X" wickedly as he lifted his hand and pointed a wand in the distance. A loud bang echoed and a figure with wild hair entered, with a pet gecko in hand. Despite his unruly appearance, he was rather capable of what he did, one of the top Techo-Mages that "X" employed.

"Master, you like summoned me," said the figure.

"I did, Mondo, I want you to round up any available Techo-Mages and eliminate a thorn in my side," said "X". "I trust you've heard the rumors of the Shadow Phantom."

"I did, she has everyone afraid to commit crimes and no one is sure where she'll turn up to take them out," answered Mondo.

"She cannot continue to interfere in my plans, I want the Shadow Phantom annihilated no matter what!" ordered "X" firmly and Mondo nodded, before he turned and walked out to gather a few able bodies. With the Techo-Mages on the case, the Shadow Phantom did not stand a chance. Their combination of magic and technology had made them a ruthless force that not even Harry Potter at the height of his magical power would even be able to defeat them.

This Shadow Phantom would be at his feet by nightfall and that was certain.