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

Grace ran the rooftops of New York City in good spirits in her Shadow Phantom armor. The last couple of months had been among the greatest and most productive in her life. She had stopped many crimes in progress and the rate of crime had slowed down. While it would never stop in a city like New York, if more than a few criminals thought twice about their chosen careers, it would take steps to achieving her long term goal. She did not do it because it was easy but rather because it was necessary. Still the fact that more than a handful was backing off proved to be well.

A loud alarm echoed from above, as a ski masked thug had loudly thrown a brick through the window.

"It seems like the only criminals left are the dumb ones," muttered Grace to herself as she shook her head before she dropped down. Little did she know that the ski masked thug had a cell phone in his hand.

"That should have gotten her attention, Mondo," said the thug into the phone.

"Excellent, dude, "X" will reward you handsomely for your part in this, just keep her busy for two minutes," said the pleased voice of the lead Techno-Mage over the phone.

"Two minutes, no problem, she landed me in jail before, I have a hash to settle with her anyway, maybe I'll soften her up a bit," said the thug but he turned around as the Shadow Phantom dropped in front of the thug.

"Now, perhaps you should take a deep breath and tell me what you did wrong?" asked the Shadow Phantom as she looked at the thug from behind the helmet who balled up his fist.

"The fact that you're still breathing seems to be a good start," said the thug gruffly as he swung at the Shadow Phantom but she dodged the attack, before she grabbed the thief and twisted his arm. The thief dropped to his knees, before he sprung up and threw a rock at her. The rock had bounced off her armor but the thief had already bolted in the other direction.

"Really, let's not make this too easy," said the Shadow Phantom as she bent her knees before she sprung up into the air. The propulsion feature of the armor allowed her good length as she landed right in front of the thug. She had just staggered slightly, the first time she tried it, she lost her balance completely. Quickly, the thug backed off and the Shadow Phantom grabbed him by the arm and flipped him over to the ground. Seconds later, a metal ring snapped the thug's arms to his side and a second blasted metal ring snapped around the legs. The thug struggled, before he fell to the ground. Another thug was taken down by the Shadow Phantom.

Little did she know that on the roof, Mondo watched her every movement through a pair of binoculars. The other three Techno-Mages were in position in strategic areas nearby, ready for their multi pronged attack that would cut the Shadow Phantom's career short.

"On my signal, she's distracted," muttered Mondo through the communication link to his other Techno-Mages as they were in position. Before he raised his fingers, to give the signal. "Now, eliminate her."

The Shadow Phantom completed wrapping up the thug. He was not going anywhere until the police had arrived. Before she could gain the attention of any police a loud crack echoed from behind her and something unexpectedly connected with the back of her leg. While she was protected from the attack, it still knocked her off balance. Right behind her, a man dressed in a blue cloak dropped down behind her. He held a wand that had a thick metal cable stuck to the end. Quickly, he pressed the side of the wand and the cable retracted into the wand. Seconds later, three more individuals dropped down on the other side of the Shadow Phantom. Right from the start, she could tell that these were not the average New York street thugs. They circled her, like sharks smelling blood. In an instant, she stood in a battle stance, ready to fight.

From either side, two red lights had been blasted towards her. Quickly, Grace did the splits, before she sprung up and avoided the attacks as they ricocheted off of each other. She sprung forward and tried to attack one of her foes, but he pressed the side of his wand. A wall made of solid energy appeared and Grace had to put the breaks on before she smashed into it. She adjusted the plasma blaster on the arm of her body armor but it had barely put a dent in the wall. One of the attackers moved forward and flicked a small metal bug towards her. The bug latched onto the leg of her armor but at first, it appeared to do nothing.

When she attempted to move into the attack, Grace was shocked that her legs were too heavy to make the jump. She just barely made it two inches in the air, something had happened to the propulsion features on the suit and she fell on her face. It took her an even shorter amount of time to realize that the armor was not as light as it could be, in fact it was just clunky, heavy metal that was not lightened. Whatever that bug was, it had disrupted both the technology and the magic. Grace had struggled to remove the bug from the leg but it remained latched on.

"She's incapacitated, crack the body armor open and see like who defies us, man" said Mondo as the other three Techno-Mages nodded, before they bowed and pulled their wands. Three simultaneous presses of the side of the wands and three cables shot out from each directly. In an instant, they wrapped around the legs, waist, and arms of the Shadow Phantom. She struggled as they pulled her high into the air. Abruptly, they retracted the cables back into their wand and the Shadow Phantom just barely managed to adjust her fall to lessen the brunt. It still was not pleasant, even with the armor that protected her.

Grace rolled around, her ears felt like they were ringing. It was a damn lucky thing she had the armor, even if it did not do her much good in actually fighting. She barely had the energy to lift the arms to defend herself as one of the attackers jumped up, a staff with a sharp spear in the end in hand. She caught the spear in her hands and attempted to push him back. Gingerly, she made her way up to his feet and one of her attackers aimed a solid energy blast from his wand. The simulated magic slammed against the armor and hoisted the girl off of her feet, before she was blasted right through a brick wall.

"I knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed today," slurred Grace, as she shook her head, dazed, as she struggled to push the rubble off of her legs so she could make an attempt to move them. "Of course, the communication feature, it wasn't hardwired into the technology the rest of the suit for emergency purposes."

Grace struggled to move her helmet, managing to twist her head slightly enough to speak into the mouth piece, hopefully Rosaline was in a place where she could help her easily.

"One more blast like that and she'll be done," said a triumphant voice from outside as Grace's anxiety increased as she attempted to get there.

"Rosaline, are you there, I have a big problem that I need resolved like in the next minute," said Grace through the mouth peace, as she tried to hide under the rubble to buy her some time, no matter how long that would be.

"Yes, I'm here, what is it?" asked her cousin's voice from under the wireless communicator.

"Some thugs attacked me, one of them attached something to my suit that's causing it to malfunction," said Grace.

"Just a second, yes I see it, it's on your leg, I'll see if I can't override it manually, this might take a couple of minutes," replied Rosaline over the communicator.

"A couple of minutes that I don't have mind you," replied Grace as she attempted ready herself for the attack, as the hiding place was levitated right off of her, as she saw her enemies stand above her, as she struggled to her feet to face them.

"I'll give you credit Phantom, after what we've done to you, you're still standing," commented Mondo in an arrogant voice. "It's because of that suit, but still commendable. It will make your defeat all that much more glorious for "X"."

"This "X" guy your boss or something?" asked Grace, who tried to use the time honored tradition of stalling the bad guys for time.

"No use stalling for time, that won't work with us," said one of the Techno-Mages as he held his wand out and pointed it towards the Shadow Phantom. "Shall I do the honors, Mr. Mondo?"

"Be my guest, man," said Mondo as he waved at the Shadow Phantom and the Techno-Mage pointed his wand towards her with a sadistic glint in his eyes. A green blast of light blasted from the wand and the Shadow Phantom just barely was able to lift her arms to block at first. Suddenly, they sprung up and a solid white shield appeared that blocked the deadly attack from hitting her.

"Cut it just a bit closer next time, won't you?" asked Grace in an irritated voice as the bug slipped off her legs and she stomped it. The Techno-Mages took a step back and one of them had pulled out a staff with a sharp spear on the end. He rushed Grace who just avoided the attack. While she would be feeling that brick wall in the morning, at least she was in much better shape than she was. She managed a picture perfect back flip and landed, behind her attacker, before she flipped him over to his back. Another one of her enemies held his wand and jammed it towards the ground. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to leap up before the sonic vibrations knocked her off balance. The attacker with the staff rushed forward and landed his feet, before he jabbed it at her. Grace crouched down to avoid it and spun her arm back.

A vicious enhanced uppercut punch knocked the Techno-Mage for a loop. A second Techno-Mage had dropped down and shot some kind of stick adhesive from his wand towards her legs. It wrapped around them and the Shadow Phantom struggled as they were struck together. As she struggled to pull herself free, her enemy sprung up and a vicious spinning leg attack knocked her right into a side of the truck with the words "Dunn Shipping Industries" written on the side. The first Techno-Mage had bounced up, staff in hand and attempted to stab it through her armor. However, Grace managed to throw herself out of the way. The sharp spear busted on the side of the truck. A third Techno-Mage dropped down as the Shadow Phantom continued to struggle with the adhesive. His wand shot a bright orange light towards the Shadow Phantom.

She felt the heat as it came but thankfully it was close enough to burn the adhesive off to allow her some more mobility. In an instant, she sprung up and gripped onto the light post and swung around, before she dropped down. Both of her feet slammed into the back of the head of her opponent. Quickly, she kicked the wand to the side and hoisted him up, before she threw him against the wall. Two metal rings shot out. They perfectly latched him to place against the wall. She had little time to celebrate as another one of the Techno-Mages rushed for the side. Two blasts from his wand were deflected, a third one had slightly dented the right arm of her body armor but Grace dodged a fourth attack. A net wrapped around the Techno-Mage and she quickly grabbed the wand before he could use it to free himself.

That left the third Techno-Mage who had picked up the broken staff that his partner used and inserted his wand into it. This created a sharp spear of pure magical energy. He rushed the Shadow Phantom who spun around to dodge the attack. The spear burned a hole through the car that it brushed against. Another attack was avoided and the Shadow Phantom sprung off the wall, before she ducked the attack, while adjusting the stun blaster. The attack spun around and was quickly blasted right off of his feet. He fell to the ground with a solid thud.

"And then there was one," remarked Grace as she turned her attention to Mondo who appeared to be putting on black gloves of some kind. "What's the matter, sweetheart? Afraid to get your hands dirty?"

In a blink of an eye, Mondo was right behind Grace and she turned to finish him off. His right fist impacted right into her stomach. Despite the fact that she was protected by the armor, it still knocked the wind out of her. It appeared that these gloves had amplified his punches as she felt two more of them that had knocked her off balance. Quickly, Mondo spun around and he flipped in the air with expert precision, before he brought both of his hands down on the top of her head. Grace spiraled down to the ground and Mondo gripped her by the throat with surprising strength. He could have not been more than a couple of inches and within five pounds of her weight.

"Who's laughing now?" asked Mondo as he threw her to the side. Grace landed on her hands and sprung back to her feet, but this appeared to be what Mondo wanted as another punch rocked her. She could fear the sonic pulses from inside her armor, as she dropped to the ground. The triumphant Techno-Mage stood over her and wrapped his gloved hands around her throat. She struggled, and gasped for air. "The end of your career Black Phantom, it's so over for you. Now I can remove the mask and see who is underneath."

Mondo grabbed the helmet firmly and expected his glory to be at hand. But the moment that he had tried to remove the helmet, he was knocked onto his back. Had it not been for the gloves, he hands might have been burned off. Unfortunately, it had managed to completely fry the electronics and magic within the gloves. The next thing he knew, the Shadow Phantom had wrapped it up in a net and had strung him up from a light post.

"I knew that fail safe to prevent anyone but myself from removing my helmet was a good idea," said Grace under her breath as she picked up the wand. "Better take one of these as well.

They were unlike any wand she had ever seen, as they appeared to use technology to simulate magic and she wondered who could have had the ability to make such advanced technology. It was even beyond any alien technology she had read about. She also wondered who this mysterious "X" was. There were many more questions and she vowed to get the answers.

From high above, Mondo remove a vial of a crystal blue substance from underneath his sleeve and dripped some on the net. The net dissolved and he dropped down without a word. He would not forget this, this Shadow Phantom embarrassing him and his Techno-Mages. Right now, he had to report to the boss the lack of success of eliminating the new thorn in their side. He would leave his fellow Techno-Mages hanging; it was not his fault that they were so inept that they did not think of a means of escape on the off chance that they had gotten captured.

-

"The Shadow Phantom did what?" thundered "X" from the shadows as Mondo cowered in the corner as Jammerhead stood with a smug look on his face, the Techno-Mages had failed which meant his Cyberdroids might have a better chance of being green lighted by the Master.

"Please Master, forgive me, she defeated my Techno-Mages, somehow she managed to bypass the inhibiter device that we planted on her armor, and by the time I got out, I was unable to slap a tracer on her, she caught us off guard, it won't happen again," pleaded Mondo.

"You're right, it won't happen again, my followers defeated by a mere girl with fancy armor, pathetic," said "X" snidely in the shadows. "Jammerhead?"

"Yes, Master?" asked Jammerhead hopefully.

"That Cyberdroid that you informed me of, how soon can you get it running?" demanded "X".

"Within three hours, with all the features, it is an indestructible machine that feels no pain, in fact, a missile would not even scratch the service," stated Jammerhead in an arrogant tone of voice. "It would crush the Shadow Phantom like a bug in no time."

"For your sake, you had better hope that it meets the hype you have given it," said "X" coldly. "I want a success, we must eliminate the Shadow Phantom, I do not need anyone meddling in my affairs when I am so close to achieving my goal."

-

In the warehouse, Grace helped Rosaline look over the battle armor.

"So far so good, it's only scratched slightly, it appears that the protective charms around them had worked in keeping the armor mostly in tact, even after the battering it suffered," commented Rosaline as she looked over the armor, nodding. It was truly a scientific marvel.

"Yes and not to mention it managed to protect me, even if I'll feel a few aches and pains in the morning," responded Grace as she looked over the battle armor. It was amazing how much it held up, she was knocked around more. "Now as for the wand…"

"That's the thing, isn't it?" asked Rosaline. "I've never seen anything like it in my life and judging by the look on your face, you haven't either. I've run some tests but something is locking us out to get a full scan on what is inside the wand. I can't exactly figure out how it works."

"Keep trying, because I'm curious, if we can figure out how these wands work, I can figure out a better way to fight against them the next time I have to deal with that gang," said Grace, who had an idea that that was not the last time she would come face to face with that lot. "The manual repairs are on schedule, it should be as good as new within the next two minutes."

"Good, let me try one more crack at trying to scan this wand while we're relating," said Rosaline as she placed the wand in the scanner. Both of the girls looked on as it attempted to scan but once again, despite everything they tried, they were blocked out. "Either some kind of high tech encryption or maybe a blocking charm of some sort."

"Or a combination of both," answered Grace with a nod of her head, of course the million galleon question would be exactly how someone so efficiently combined the two together. Turning over, she realized that her body armor had been completed. A few more tests and she would be a good to go.

A loud siren echoed from nearby the warehouse. Grace stiffened immediately when she had heard it.

"Please tell me that's not the alarm I think it is," said Grace in a mortified voice, her eyes darting from side to side, as more alarms went off and she heard an explosion in the background.

"Okay, I won't but I'd be a liar if I was," said Rosaline as she moved over to grab the remote control. "Let's flip on the news and see what's up."

They flipped on the news and on the street; there was what appeared to be a large robot. It was both tall and a thick. The police moved forward to contain it but the machine just casually flicked its hand to the ground, to knock the officers of the law to the ground without even flinching.

"No one appears to stop this strange machine, no one has come close to putting a dent in it and it bulldozed through both the national guard and our police force, now we understand it's take a bus load of children hostage," said the news caster in a frantic voice and Grace balled her fists up when she had heard it taking innocent children hostage. "What world did this strange thing come from? What does it want? Who could stop it?"

"Time to suit up and see if I can pull that thing's plug," answered Grace, who was going to really to test out the limits of the Shadow Phantom battle armor today. "Stand by if I need any help and I think given the size of that thing, that might be a given."

"Right, I will," said Rosaline as Grace moved into the other room, to quick suit up in her armor, hopefully she could find some way to defeat this large robotic monstrosity, considering that no one else had ever even put a dent in into it whatsoever.

-

"Jammerhead, I see no Shadow Phantom below my feet yet," said "X" coldly from the shadows.

"A moment, Master, I'm causing some chaos to draw her out," said Jammerhead as he operated the remote control device where he directed the Cyberdroid, the bus of screaming school children in the palm of its hand. "Any minute now, she will come out and then we'll have her."

"You best hope so, for your sake," said "X" crisply.

"Of course, an amateur is left to the job of a professional, dude, that's not cool," muttered Mondo.

"This is a sophisticated piece of technology Mondo, it will do the job where you and your boys have failed," replied Jammerhead crisply as he looked in the monitor and saw the Shadow Phantom drop down. "Now, take notes Mondo, and see how sophisticated my Cyberdroid is compared to your Techno-Mages."

"Don't get too cocky Jammerhead, finish her off first," warned "X" as Jammerhead began to prepare to control his Cyberdroid. It would be a great victory, machine would triumph where man had failed.

-

"Put down the children, whatever you are!" shouted the Shadow Phantom and the Cyberdroid paused, before it set the bus of school children down and turned its head right towards her and blasted a thick yellow laser from each of its eyes. Both of the lasers connected to the ground but she managed to move out of the way. The lasers created a large creator. Quickly, she propelled up and swung her foot. The Shadow Phantom sent both feet right into the Cyberdroid but did not even back it off an inch. Quickly, the Cyberdroid lifted its hand and back handed her right in the face, to cause her to land with a sickening thud on the ground.

The Shadow Phantom rolled over, as the police made a half hearted response to restrain the innocent bystanders. Her enemy's right arm had turned into a large drill and began to drill down towards her. Quickly, she rolled out of the way and the Cyberdroid drilled its arm straight into the ground. She leapt up, to activate the built in suction cups in her suit, before she climbed up to the top of the building. In a blink of an eye, she pried a large stone gargoyle loose and the Cyberdroid charged her.

"Take this!" shouted Grace, as she managed to kick the gargoyle right towards her opponent. The gargoyle bounced right into the Cyberdroid but it just smashed to the ground without even denting the Cyberdroid. Quickly, the Cyberdroid pulled itself up to the building where she stood. It was the perfect chance to lead this thing away from civilization. "Hey come on you big hunk of tin, catch me if you can."

She took a running start, as the Cyberdroid launched several rockets from its chest plate but she did a somersault and landed right on the next rooftop. The Cyberdroid moved over to charge her and she quickly switched on the cloaking control of her armor to buy her some time before she made her next move.

-

"Foolish girl," commented Jammerhead as he piloted the Cyberdroid. "As if I wouldn't put in infra-red sensors, you can run, but you can't hide. I'll have you and I'll rip you from that hunk of tin."

-

Grace took a deep breath but the Cyberdroid rocketed up into the air before it landed right in front of her. Its propulsion systems were even stronger than hers. The Cyberdroid smacked her down with just one punch. Its right arm turned into a huge axe and it swung but it was only thanks to her quick reflexes that she avoided being cleaved in half. Quickly, she twisted the amplifiers on her armor to maximum power, knowing that there was a good chance she would fry all of the suits power but it was a last ditch try that she had to do.

As the Cyberdroid swung its axe arm at her again, she sprung up and quickly extended both of her arms forward and planted them right into the Cyberdroid. The impact from the double amplified punch of the Shadow Phantom had caused loud vibrations to shake the city but as for the Cyberdroid, the paint was barely scratched. In seconds, the Cyberdroid had the Shadow Phantom in its clutches and lifted the axe up.

Grace closed her eyes, she had only one chance, she just hoped that she had enough power left to pull it off. Quickly she activated the built in grapple in her suit and sure enough a rope with a grappling hook on the end latched onto the axe. As the axe was swung down, the Cyberdroid inadvertently pulled the Shadow Phantom out of its hand. She spun around and caught the Cyberdroid with a glancing attack right to the back of the head. In a blink of an eye, she used the remaining power in the suit to jump down.

"Rosaline, more power please, I depleted it all without that stunt that I tried, not that it did much good" muttered Grace into the communication link as she saw the Cyberdroid drop down not to far across her.

"Just a second, I'm recharging the batteries now, it should take about forty seconds," answered Rosaline as the Cyberdroid opened its chest plate and blasted three missiles right towards the Shadow Phantom. It was only through complete luck that she avoided it, with the fence and the sidewalk behind her blown to bits. If she got out of this alive, she made a mental note to have the power capabilities of the suit increased by several times. A locked gate leading towards a construction sight had caught her interest and in an instant, Grace moved over, an idea formulating in her head.

"Hey, I'm over here, bet you can't hit me," taunted Grace, as she waved her hands, trying to lure her mechanical enemy over.

-

"Annoying child, I'll make sure there is not enough of you left to put in a matchbox," answered Jammerhead as he pushed a black button on the control console, incited by the Shadow Phantom's taunts. The scientist would make her eat them yet.

-

A large ball of fire had blasted towards the Shadow Phantom. It took every ounce of energy to leap up in time to dodge it. The fire burned the gate down and quickly she slipped in. She moved forward to climb into a machine that controlled a large wrecking ball. Pressing a level, the wrecking ball was swung right towards the Cyberdroid who plowed directly through it with the greatest of ease. It burst into dust and the Cyberdroid moved forward, to rip open the vehicle.

"Back online, just in time," muttered Grace, as she activated the propulsion thrusters before it got out of there. The Cyberdroid stopped immediately and had to turn its head. She saw a silvery whole on the top, it was obvious that there was some kind of camera mounted on top of the robot. That meant someone was controlling it via remote control which also meant that if she could block the camera, it would block the line of site from the controller.

Several more missiles blasted forward, that blew up the construction vehicles. A puddle of mud nearby had given the Shadow Phantom an idea.

"Is that the best you can do, surely you have something bigger in that thick shell that you can hit me with?" taunted the Shadow Phantom and the red eyes of the Cyberdroid illuminated to its fullest, before the chest plate opened, to reveal a solid metal orb that looked like it could do some damage. "Hit me with your best shot.

-

Jammerhead tweaked all sorts of knobs on the control panel as the taunts echoed through his ears. He would succeed, this one victory would make him for life.

"Oh you bet I will," said Jammerhead smugly, as he pressed more buttons and the orb launched. It would be able to vaporized anything it touched, armor or not, the only thing that was immune to it would be the Cyberdroid itself.

-

The orb was launched and quickly at the last possible second, the Shadow Phantom launched herself out of the way, before she activated the shield over her armor, hopefully it would be enough to absorb the blast. The orb landed in the mud and a loud explosion sent mud flying everywhere. The mud splashed right in the face of the Cyberdroid and it swung its arms around, in an attempt to peal it off. The Shadow Phantom made her way up to only vehicle that had not been blown to smithereens, a crane. She pushed the lever and it picked up a large steel beam. Steadily, she swung the crane so the beam was over the Cyberdroid and it smashed down onto it. The beam dented over its back but it was only slightly damaged, as it began to wipe the mud from its eyes, but for some reason it had difficulties. This gave the Shadow Phantom time to spot a full cement mixer that had been blown off the vehicle and a deep hole nearby. If she could only lure her enemy over, she could trap it.

She picked up several rocks and began to throw them one by one. They served no purpose other than taunting a blind monster. It had its axe in one hand and drill in the other and advanced on the Shadow Phantom. More rocks bounced off if it as she stood with her back towards the hole. The grappling hook blasted from the armor and she detached it, to create a trip wire. Another rock had bounced off the Cyberdroid. The Cyberdroid moved over and The Shadow Phantom jumped into the air. The Cyberdroid bounced over the trip wire.

-

"Finally," said Jammerhead, who managed to clean off the obstruction but saw his creation fall into the floor and he pounded on the console to try to maneuver it quickly out of the enclosed area. "No, no, get out of there, get out of there now…"

Cement was poured down into the hole and Jammerhead watched helplessly as his Cyberdroid was covered. The cement hardened as the connection from the control console had short circuited.

"Problem, Jammerhead," said "X" curtly as Mondo smirked at the defeat of Jammerhead.

"No, no, just a minor malfunction… it's just that I lost the ability to control the Cyberdroid, it went off line," said Jammerhead as he pounded on the console helplessly. "I think I lost it…it's buried in cement."

"Two failures, pathetic, but expected," responded "X" as he looked at Mondo and Jammerhead. "Don't expect that this is over, I will destroy this Shadow Phantom, no matter how many plans I have to go through or how many men. Is that clear?"

The two members of his organization nodded fearfully towards their faceless leader. He was not that one who had much patience.

-

Seconds after she saw her robotic enemy completely entombed in concrete, Grace collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. That was not an easy storm to weather.

"Are you okay?" asked Rosaline in a concerned voice.

"Fine," said Grace over the communication link towards her cousin. "Just get me a few minutes, I need to get home soon, Mum and Dad will be worried."

"Okay, if they call here, I'll tell them you're on their way," said Rosaline.

"Thanks," said Grace as she moved off to get to a safe location where she could get out to her armor and head back home. By now her parents had to have heard about the giant robot that went through a rampage through the city.

-

"Mum, Dad, I'm home!" called Grace as she entered the house, as she entered the house as her parents looked in surprise. "I would have called, but that robot that was rampaging the down town area and the phone lines were knocked out."

"Well, you're okay and that's the only thing that matters," said Ginny who had obviously heard the news. "You couldn't have known something like that would have happened in this city and you did get to a safe place, didn't you?"

"Yes, I managed the hide out until that thing was stopped," replied Grace.

"You have more sense than your father did at your age, at any rate," said Ginny as Harry just responded with a smile.

"I seem to have you having at least as much, if not less sense," said Harry with a smile as he looked over at the news bulletin . "Says here that the illusive Shadow Phantom was the person who managed to put down the robot."

"Well someone had to," said Grace with a shrug. "It's lucky that she managed to do it."

"Indeed," responded Harry in an absent minded voice as he looked at the television, as he watched it, it would take a technological genius to build such a robot. From what he saw, it was a combination of Utrom, Federation, and Triceraton technology, with a few other pieces of technology that he did not recognize. If his hunch was right, it was happening all over again but unfortunately this time there was not a damn thing he could do about it without sustaining further injury that he could not walk away from. He just hoped that someone would, for the sake of the world, no matter how little they deserved being save.

"Grace, Hermione called, she said she would have some time off from work and is going to stop by for a visit next weekend," said Ginny.

"Cool," replied Grace, who was looking forward to seeing her godmother again, it had been too long since she had seen her.

-

In her room, Grace sank down on her bed, when the two way mirror right next to her bed blinked to life. In an absent minded manner, she pulled it over before she looked into it, to see her cousin Rosaline's face on the other end.

"I managed to find out something about that wand, by going through the records in the main computer at Uncle Harry's office and found something that matched up exactly with the wand that was used…" said Rosaline as she trailed off. "You're not going to really like this but I suppose I'm going to have to tell you anyway."

"What is it?" asked Grace who wondered why her cousin had looked so distressed.

"The same type of wand that you captured was used in that incident where Uncle Harry was injured, that put him down for the last time, it's them, they were behind this," replied Rosaline slowly and Grace nearly dropped the mirror when she heard this. They was the reason why her father had trouble walking, this "X" person was behind this. "Grace, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to figure out who is behind this gang of Techno-Mages and shut them down for good, it's what Dad would do if he was able to," answered Grace firmly.

There's Chapter Two of Twenty Six, of the first book in a trilogy. There will be many new villains showing up and several old favorites as well. Including some characters that have appeared in Fast Forward and Back to the Sewers. Let the speculation begin. (Although I dropped some hints in a post on the Yahoo group a while back about some things to come).