Chapter Four: The Magic in Me.
It was a rare beautiful day in the latter part of the fall, with only the slightest hints of a cloud in the air. Grace took advantage of this opportunity to walk up to the school. She knew, having lived in New York your entire life, that the weather could turn from nice to bitterly cold in the blink of an eye. Overnight, several feet of snow could be dropped on the ground. As she walked up to the entrance of the high school, her mood quickly soured when she overheard Andrea scathingly launching into a rant to a group of students who were obviously either disinterested or humoring her for the sake of their own perverse entertainment.
"They talk about us teenagers being the cause of everything that goes wrong in this city, when it's that Shadow Phantom freak who is really the cause of it, all these nutcase mutants didn't show up until she showed her metallic face and now we have to live with the problems," ranted Andrea as Grace recalled two encounters that she had recently. One was with a mutant lion and another was with a large mutant gorilla. Both battles were taxing, but thanks to a few inventive modifications to her Shadow Phantom armor, she managed to weather the storm and defeat both mutants. There were also a rash of thefts that had the fingerprints of the Techno-Mages all over them, so Grace began to piece together these mutants were just a front to keep her busy. Still, she could not ignore the growing problem of mutated animals being let loose in New York. "Even Potter would have to agree; the Shadow Phantom should be locked up and never let out to mingle among us normal people ever again."
"Normal people and you as well, I think," responded Grace casually which caused Andrea to scowl at her and Grace to smirk as she walked into the school. This was going to a big day in science class today, as they would study a rare solar disturbance that happened once every seventy seven years. Of course, Grace knew exactly what the cause of this disturbance was, it was based on an inordinate amount of magic being in the air at a certain time period and it caused vast effects that caught the attention of even the most unobservant Muggle. She could not wait to see it, it sounded interesting, a real once in a lifetime event.
-
"As you can see, the movements in the sky lead to unique patterns of techno-color lights in a variety of different hues and frequencies," lectured Professor Rickman, their science instructor, as the class all looked in awe. Even if someone was not all that intrigued by science they would have to be impressed. "No one knows exactly why this has occurred, scientists have studied these patterns once they were first discovered back in the eighteenth century and even with more sophisticated equipment that we have these days, even the scientists are quite baffled. Still, we could get an idea of the strange frequencies that this cosmic mass puts off by using the spectrum analyzer that we have in this classroom."
Grace looked up as Rickman rose to his feet to use the device he intended and suddenly she blinked. In the swirling cloud of energy outside the school window, she could have sworn she had seen a disembodied face stuck in the middle of the vortex. Giving her head a little shake, the face was not there anymore, but it was a strange site, one that she hoped that she imagined.
"Just make a few adjustments to properly calibrate…" state the Professor as he twisted a knob, but the spectrum analyzer became to hum as Rickman backed off. Several members of the class craned their necks curiously to see what was off as the teacher looked very vague. "These readings, off the scale, these energies are too immense, almost as if they are being pulled into the spectrum analyzer, but how could it be…EVERYONE TO THE DOOR, NOW! STANDARD EVACUATION PROCEDURE LETS GO!"
Everyone got from their seats at once as the person nearest had pushed the door open but the spectrum analyzer illuminated a bright green before it melted down. A corporeal shape appeared, with a smug expression on its face. It rose up high, as papers blew in the classroom, almost with a cyclone of wind. The figure turned, to reveal the face that was very familiar to Grace from her father's recollections of his past adventures. It was Luther Malfoy, but he had become something even more dangerous towards the end, an entity of pure raw magic named Master Magic and the reports of his demise had been greatly exaggerated.
"Freedom, finally, this magical imbalance was the perfect thing to pull me back together! Master Magic cannot be destroyed!" crowed Master Magic triumphantly as several of the students looked at him, with confused and often terrified looks on their faces. Master Magic rose up to his full height as malevolent magical energy swirled around him. "You children should have gotten out of this classroom while you had the chance!"
Without warning, a blast of red light blasted towards several tables that caused them to be blasted. Grace quickly threw herself on the floor in the confusion, and made her way to the auxiliary room to the side. Something told her a change of clothes were in order, as she saw many students drop to the ground. Professor Rickman backed off as Master Magic stood in front of him.
"What matter of creation are you?" asked Rickman as he finally found his voice.
"I'm ultimate power personified!" cried Master Magic triumphantly as he raised his hands high into the air and suddenly, ropes appeared out of nowhere, that wrapped Rickman. Before Master Magic could finish him off, he was caught off guard by a set of metal rings that snacked around him. He struggled as a figure dressed in black and green battle armor, with a helmet obscuring their identity.
"Yes, well you're something else personified alright, I prefer the term madness personified myself," replied the Shadow Phantom calmly but at that point, Master Magic began spun around at a high speed, that kicked up gusts of wind that shattered all of the windows in the classroom and caused the walls to crumble, where the rings dissolved to dust. He contorted his body into a red light before he blasted forward, but the Shadow Phantom somersaulted out of the way. Master Magic put the breaks on and the Shadow Phantom shot a grappling hook at him. Master Magic laughed as it passed completely through him before he levitated a desk in the air and threw it at his enemy. She rolled out of the way and a magical energy blast met a stun laser blast, that caused a hole to be blown in the ceiling.
"Just who are you anyway?" demanded Master Magic as he shot a variety of spells from his hands, that the Shadow Phantom ducked and dodged, while she hoped they did not hit any innocent bystanders.
"The Shadow Phantom," responded the Shadow Phantom coolly and this newest piece of information appeared to enrage Master Magic.
"Not another blasted Phantom!" shouted Master Magic as a dangerous yellow light whirled towards her like a buzz saw. The Shadow Phantom blocked it by throwing a broken piece of desk in the way.
"Afraid so," responded the Shadow Phantom as she ran up the wall, using the suction cups on the bottom of her boots, as Master Magic blasted at her and she flipped off, but Master Magic put the breaks on. He turned around, it appeared he was corporeal again and this was the chance she needed. A net flew right towards the entity, to wrap him up tight. Master Magic struggled, but the material was so tight that it appeared that he could not even phase through. "I think that wraps up your comeback, Master Magic."
"On the contrary, things are about to get rocking," responded Master Magic and unfortunately, the floor began to vibrate. Grace's face contorted in fear underneath the helmet, as the floor crumbled, with the knocked out students still in the room, unable to get out of harm's way in time. She would never be able to save them all, in fact she could barely save herself as the floor completely caved in. A grappling hook shot down, to wrap around a stair railing nearby and allowed the Shadow Phantom to swing off to the side, but she saw several bodies, some crushed underneath the rumble and some with limbs bent at awkward angles. She moved over to see what she could to help, but the net had also torn on the way down and Master Magic flung a section of the roof at her, to knock her off balance. "No heroics for you today, child."
"Listen here, innocent people are injured, they could be dying, I need to get them out of here before they get worse," pleaded the Shadow Phantom, even though she knew she would have better luck talking to the brick wall around the school.
"Tell someone who gives a damn," said Master Magic coldly, as a blue blast of light struck the Shadow Phantom flush in the chest. She was knocked backwards, before all of the components in her battle suit began to go haywire, blasting laser blasts, nets, tranquilizer darts, shuriken, the entire lot in every which direction in random directions. Several screams were heard as the classroom doors were blasted open, as the legs twitched around on their own accord. Master Magic rose up into the air and contorted his form into a giant orange fist. It swung forward and smashed the Shadow Phantom right in the face. Another blast had caused her armor to even go more haywire and she could feel the magic seep into her armor. Something about her enemy's particular brand magic caused all of her senses to go numb. A slight stabbing pain manifested itself in her stomach in her stomach as she collapsed to the ground. She rolled inside the gymnasium, which was empty at the moment, but the walls rattled.
"Need to fight, Master Magic," rasped the Shadow Phantom weekly, as her suit was tainted by the same strange magical energy that hit her and it was causing her to become severely weak. It was almost like she went through one of those episodes again, the same that had plagued her childhood, without her really going through one. Her legs were so weak that they could not even support the weight of her body.
"Foolish child, as if you could ever think you could stand up to my power!" cackled Master Magic as the Shadow Phantom collapsed to the ground, as she desperately sent a distress single, hoping that Rosaline would pick it up. That was the last thing that went through her head, for the set of bleachers that Master Magic dropped on her did.
A swirl of magical energy appeared and Master Magic took on the corporeal form of Luther Malfoy.
"Now with that minor annoyance out of the way, it's time to gain my revenge on Harry Potter, the Black Phantom, and those accursed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!" boasted Master Magic boldly, but he was unable to hold this form together for too much longer and he felt a bit peakish. He needed to find the rest of his essence before the magical disturbance had subsided and then he would be at full power once more. For that, he needed more power and he knew exactly where he could obtain some.
-
An hour later in the gym, a trio of paramedics had began to remove the remaining rubble off of the weakened body of the Shadow Phantom who shuddered as a group of students watched from afar, that included one Andrea Radcliffe, a wide grin appearing on her face when she saw the Shadow Phantom in such a weak state. She stepped forward, nearly shoving the paramedics out of the way, with a look of pure bliss on her face. The only thing better would be if she finally beat Grace Potter to gain the top marks in their year.
"Serves the Shadow Phantom right, she caused all this, all those students injured, that Master Magic guy was just a victim like we all were," summarized Andrea haughtily as she bent down, her fingertips on the helmet of the Shadow Phantom. "Now we can finally see who's under this mask, probably some disfigured freak with warts and all kinds of nasty scars. I mean, why would a good looking person wear a mask?" Time to see what she's hiding under there."
The security fail safe devices had been disabled when Master Magic had fried the electronics with his magical energy blasts and Andrea came seconds from revealing the identity of Master Magic but a hand appeared to block of, of a young girl wearing a white blouse, a medium length black shirt, and thick glasses, with her brown hair tied up in a bun.
"Hold on right there, Miss, I represent the Shadow Phantom, I'm her agent," answered the girl in a business like tone of voice. "And I'm afraid it's very bad for business, if the Shadow Phantom unmasked, I'd lose the confidentiality of all of my other clients."
"Agent, she gets an agent, I'm an important person, I should have an agent!" shouted Andrea angrily. "She's a crook anyway and a murderer. She attacked all of those students without any reason whatsoever."
"That's for the police to decide, not you, but I'm sure the witnesses can verify that it was the strange figure that called himself Master Magic that was the one behind this," said the agent patiently. "Right now, I need to get my client away safely, she needs medical attention, don't worry, I have resources."
The paramedics nodded numbly, as the agent picked up the Shadow Phantom but stopped as there was a strange orange glow to the wall. A few students that got too close had immediately collapsed to shrieks from the watching crowd. One paramedic had taken a step, but suddenly felt rather weak as well as his knees began to buckle underneath him.
"Radiation, everyone away from this wall," gasped the paramedic weakly, as he could barely even stand for a moment, as he dropped down.
"We need to quarantine this school right away, everyone out through that far door," ordered another voice, as the students panicked to see others drop to the ground with no warning. It had obviously freaked them out immediately but the fact that someone had taken charge had caused them to take a few uncertain steps forwards the door.
-
In a warehouse, Rosaline removed her disguise as the Shadow Phantom's "agent" before she looked at her fallen cousin, who looked rather weak. Her Aunt Ginny would have learned by now of the attack on the high school or soon enough, by Master Magic and that would immediately cause her to get worried. It was lucky that Uncle Harry was out of town on business, otherwise once he heard; he would have tracked down Master Magic and done something that he would regret. Montague was looking for an excuse to throw Harry into prison and this would be just the thing he needed.
The electronics had been completely fried, but she was doing some creative rewiring to shrink the suit back into its locket form. It would be much easier to repair it that way. The locket and the helmet had removed, as her cousin's green eyes slowly opened, she appeared shaken but the suit had protected her body from the majority of the punishment, even though she still seemed weak for some reason.
"Rosaline, is that you?" asked Grace in a weak voice as she was just barely able to lift her head.
"Yes, Grace it's me, how are you feeling?" asked Rosaline.
"Like someone dropped an entire building on me when I had the flu," answered Grace, with a smile, as she felt flushed again and tried to lift herself up, but she could not. "Bombarded with too much magic at once, he must have caused the potion that I take to fail and triggered an accelerated episode…"
"Then you need rest and another potion," offered Rosaline, as she had placed the locket in her bag as Grace did not look all that good at all.
"Get me the potion but I can't rest…need to stop Master Magic…out there…innocent people," voiced Grace in an absolute weak voice as Rosaline walked off to get her cousin a potion.
"You can't defeat Master Magic in your condition," said Rosaline in a firm voice, who decided now would not be the best time to tell Grace that she might not be able to beat Master Magic at any condition. Another blast of that magnitude could trigger a fatal episode. She handed Grace the potion who downed it in a couple of good gulps.
"Just give me a few minutes to rest, and then I'll go and find him," said Grace, even though she still felt cold shivers. The potion had caused her some relief, but the damage that was done still produced aches and pains throughout her body. "Get the suit ready…"
"It will take me at least a day to get up running," interrupted Rosaline and Grace signed in frustration. "Best you get back home.."
"Yes, you're right, if Mum finds out what happened at the school, she'll worry herself sick, think of something to explain it to her what happened, so she doesn't have too many suspicions," said Grace, as her forehead felt slightly warm but she summoned the strength to get up, to follow her cousin, who had an emergency Portkey that would send Grace straight home, as an explanation had already been formed in Rosaline's head.
-
Outside of a government research facility outside of the city, Master Magic staggered forward, weakened, as he leaked power faster than he could manage to replenish it. It just proved that he had not completely pieced himself back together. Master Magic raised his hand into the air and one of his fingers magically contorted into a key that fit the lock perfectly. He twisted open the lock, which opened and Master Magic slid inside where a group of scientists stood, a various stages of working. Master Magic clapped his hands and a loud explosion reverberated throughout the lab.
"Now that I've got your attention, the solar suit, where is it?" demanded Master Magic angrily who doubted very much they had moved it. He had tried to steal it once as Luther Malfoy, but failed thanks to those miserable mutants and their human brother. "You better give it to me or I will destroy each and every one of you painfully!"
Master Magic placed the hand to his forehead as he felt the strain of holding himself together for so long in a minimum of magic, he needed to transmute more energy into magic soon, he was starting to come out, it was a miracle he managed to eliminate the Shadow Phantom when he did. One of the scientists pointed towards a safe fearfully and Master Magic rushed over, before his body contorted into shape of a drill that blasted right through the safe. The safe swung open and Master Magic blasted through, before he gripped his hands around the suit, the essence of it fusing to him. Now he could use the sun to create solar energy that he could transmute into magic. It should be able to hold up until he was able to find the rest of his essence scattered in the magical spectrum in the air. He left all of the scientists alive due to the fact he was in a good mood because of his triumph and the fact that he wanted to leave witnesses to his great power.
One of the shell shocked scientists managed to move over to activate the alarm to indicate the theft of the solar suit. It would lead to their secret benefactor, who would know what to do in this situation.
-
Ginny had just come down from upstairs, to check on her daughter, who had apparently come down with a bad case of the flu. She had got home from school, rested at a factory near the school for a couple of hours, before Rosaline helped her home. It was unfortunate that she would have to slowly get rid of her illness the Muggle way as the potions that gave her relief would not work well in tandem with the ones that were used to suppress her magic.
"Ginny!" shouted the voice of her sister-in-law, Hailey Potter-Longbottom and quickly Ginny picked up the two way mirror from the fireplace that was a bit dusty, but used for quick communication. She still had never quite gotten the hang of using the telephone, despite the fact that Harry had talked her through it several times.
"Yes, Hailey, what is it?" asked Ginny as she picked up the mirror.
"Turn on the television, there's a piece of disturbing news that I think you should be seen and be warned of," said Hailey who looked a bit tired and rather worried as well and Ginny quickly flicked on the television to see the high school that Grace had went to, that looked to be a chaotic sight, as students were moving everywhere. Her daughter had come down with the flu at the right time, there appeared to be some sort of chaotic scene at the school.
"Our top story of the hour, a dangerous figure that called himself Master Magic attacked the students and when the mysterious vigilante known as the Shadow Phantom showed up, she was handily defeated, leaving the students in grave danger, as many of them have dropped, weakened by radiation poison," said the newscaster.
"How?" asked Ginny in a shocked voice and her eyes widened.
"Exactly what I was thinking, this magical disturbance in the air might have inadvertently pulled Luther back together and now he's back, he has to be dealt with soon," said Hailey, as she looked at Ginny though the mirror. "He's going to come after me you know, I did play a part in defeating him, but I got the satellite dish from last time ready, I just need a bit more help in setting it up. I know Grace is sick but it won't take that long to get it up.
"I'll be right over," answered Ginny as she had a charm around her daughter's room to monitor whether or not she moved from her room or not, so if she was needed, she could pop straight back over.
-
Master Magic dropped down from the sky, his power growing, but at the same time, there was something lacking. Yet, he tracked the location of the Black Phantom, alias Hailey Potter, to this spot. Finally, he would get some old fashion revenge, by using her as bait to lure Harry Potter into a trap where he could destroy the nuisance that had been his greatest enemy. Then he would rule the world.
A loud explosion echoed from outside as Ginny and Hailey had completed hooking up the satellite dish.
"Here he comes," said Ginny as she saw the street lamps rattle outside and several tree limbs snap back and forth. The entire street rocked at the magic.
"Hailey Potter!" shouted the voice of Master Magic from below. "You're lucky when you defeated me on our last encounter. If you're any kind of real hero, you'd face me once more."
"I'm right here, Master Moron!" called Hailey as Luther turned, to ball up his fists his anger. He absolutely despised that insult. "Want me, come get me."
Sure enough, a bolt of solid but jagged magical energy shot up towards the window. Hailey turned on the satellite dish and blasted a full beam of platinum light right towards Master Magic. For the briefest of seconds, she was relieved, as she had thought it worked as it did last time, but Master Magic forced his magic through the platinum energy blast, causing the satellite dish to blow up. Hailey and Ginny were just barely able to put up shield charms to brace themselves from the explosion.
"Foolish girl!" shouted Master Magic as he rose up to his full height as more magic swirled around him, it was almost as if he was able to draw even more of his magical energy into him. "It may have succeeded in defeating me during our previous encounter, but now it's given me the means to piece all of my essence back together. My powers have evolved such that your little satellite is useless in defeating me!"
A large golden dome appeared around the house. It was a construct that kept both of the girls encased inside. They tried to blast out with every spell they could think of but found that no matter what they threw at the dome, it would not have budged. From the wall, the grinning face of Luther Malfoy appeared, taunting them. Throwing a spell at him would only serve to amplify the power that he has.
"You thought you have seen the last of me, but you should know that magic cannot be destroyed, it's everywhere, it was just the matter of the right opportunity to stage my comeback, Black Phantom," said Master Magic with glee, as his eyes focused on Ginny for the first time. "Ah, Ginny Weasley or I suppose it would be Potter by now, you're here as well, this is too good to be true, the perfect opportunity."
"So what are you going to do?" asked Hailey. "Use this little golden dome you've put around us to crush us to death."
"Nothing that crude, at least not right now," said Master Magic with a slight cackle. "You see, I have a score to settle with Harry Potter, he's the reason I was defeated all that time again."
"Harry wasn't the one who defeated you, I did, he wasn't even there at the time," argued Hailey but Master Magic rolled his eyes slightly.
"Yes, but he was the one who trained you in the art of ninjitsu, so it's his fault and will pay," responded Master Magic blandly. "You two will be perfect to bait the trap and the Boy-Who-Lived will live no longer at the hands of Master Magic. Now to get his attention."
"To the door right now, maybe we can sneak out," offered Hailey and Ginny nodded, before she followed her sister-in-law outside of the door, but large metal spikes erupted from the doorway.
"Now, that's really rude, trying to sneak out on your guest," responded Master Magic in a snide voice as Hailey was really glad that her children were at school right now and Neville had gone with Harry on his business trip to keep him out of trouble. Much less people to put in danger, even though Hailey had not had the slightest idea how her and Ginny was going to escape, as Malfoy had the entire house under complete lockdown.
-
Grace's eyes opened to the whirling of a helicopter outside. She had just vaguely remembered Rosaline getting her home after she had collapsed in exhaustion after that fight with Master Magic. She felt mostly refreshed, even though she was still slightly sore from getting knocked around by her enemy and then getting a set of bleachers dumped on her. Once the armor had been repaired, Grace vowed to take another crack at Malfoy, there was no way she was going to give up on this. She only hoped that by the time she was ready for their rematch, he had not injured too many innocent people.
At that moment, the window opened and a figure dressed all in black with a helmet entered the room which cause Grace to sit up abruptly with a start.
"You are to come with us," ordered the figure roughly but Grace quickly sprang off of her bed and knocked the figure backwards. A second one came to the window and swung a punch at her but she ducked and pulled the rug out from underneath him. He did a flip on the floor. She was so not ready for whoever these goons were without her armor and a third one tried to catch her from behind but she rolled underneath. A somersault positioned her up into the air and allowed her to grasp onto the light fixture, before she swung forward and whacked her attacker in the face. A fourth attacker had snuck in and threw a grenade at the grand, that released a knockout gas. Grace had attempted to shield her mouth and nose but it was too late, she had inhaled the gas. She felt dizzy and she dropped to the ground.
"Move in men and bring her," stated one of the shady figures, as they lifted up Grace, before they brought her to the helicopter.
-
Some time later, Grace opened her eyes, as she had sat in the middle of a chair in a darkened room.
"I must say Miss Potter, your father could have easily repelled that attack, but I suppose we can't all be Harry Potter," responded a calm voice that caused Grace who looked around for the source of the voice but found nothing.
"Who are you?" demanded Grace when she realized she was not restrained to the chair in any way.
"All will be explained shortly Grace Potter or would you prefer the Shadow Phantom?" asked the voice and Grace's eyes widened. "Please Miss Potter; it is my business to know these things I'm Agent…"
"Bishop!" gasped Grace as she saw the figure who walked out of the shadows.
"Ah, I'm pleased to see that Harry has indeed mentioned me to you, although I doubt most of his talk about me was all too pleasant," said Bishop coolly and Grace nodded, Bishop was a wildcard, sometimes you could trust him enough to work with him, but other times he had his own agenda. Grace vowed to keep an eye on this man and be very cautious around him. "And I trust you've also heard of my associate, Doctor Baxter Stockman."
"Yes, I'm sure your father has told you all those riveting tales of all the great times we've shared together," answered Stockman as he resembled a large metallic egg with spider legs, with a holographic version of his human head.
"The return of Luther Malfoy alias Master Magic, has presented a dangerous threat to the city, as you have already seen at your school," responded Agent Bishop. "More of the radioactive isotope that was used to create him was pulled back towards him, then Draco Malfoy's magical core. Granted, some of it was and it was fortunate, otherwise a nuclear blast would have occurred that would have vaporized most of the city. Still, he has stolen a project of mine, the solar suit and I don't doubt that he can reconfigure it to absorb sunlight rather than repel it. He can transmute that solar power into energy and thus become unstoppable."
"What do you want me to do about it?" asked Grace as she looked at the clock. "My Shadow Phantom armor won't be ready for another three hours at least."
"We don't have three hours, at the rate he's accumulating power," answered Bishop swiftly. "Unfortunately, thanks to recent economically mandated cutbacks, the Earth Protection Force has been sliced and my ability to create new lines of defense against the foes that threaten the security of Earth. We managed to piece together a few implements to use against Master Magic had he ever pieced himself back together and naturally, you will need a disguise so your identity would not be compromised."
Stockman carried out a black bodysuit with a mask.
"The Stealth Suit, can allow for invisibility and cloaking, based off of stolen technology during Doctor Stockman's employment with the Foot and also absorbs some magical attacks, although with Master Magic, it might be better off just not to get hit," explained Bishop. "These grenades will help stun him, dilute his power and perhaps get him in position to hit him with the Power Scrambler ray. Now you only have three grenades, so pick your shots wisely. Now once he's been weakened and in position, use this to contain him temporarily and then my men will grab him to take him to a secure holding facility."
When Grace spotted the apparatus that she was used to contain Master Magic and was a bit amused.
"This is supposed to contain a powerful being made of pure magical energy?" asked Grace.
"Yes, I realize it looks peculiar but it may cause him not to take it seriously, that is until it's too late, it has been configured only to draw in his unique magical signature, that we obtained when studying trace elements of magic and radioactivity from his first rampage nearly twenty years ago," responded Bishop coolly. "Now there is a room three doors down that you can use to make a change of outfit. After that, we will equip you with a tracking device that will allow you to locate him"
Grace nodded before she scurried off to do what she was asked. Time was in fact of the essence, the longer Master Magic was allowed to accumulate power, the more damage he could cause.
-
The golden dome still remained steady, as Master Magic managed to broadcast his message to Harry Potter over every television and radio station within broadcast distance. His face turned inside as Hailey and Ginny still attempted to find a way out, but failed.
"Potter has twenty four hours, or I'll level the entire city, starting with you two," said Luther Malfoy.
"That's if he heard you, considering Harry's halfway across the country," responded Ginny.
"Lies to cover up the fact he's a coward, to protect him from his inevitable doom, he won't work, either he comes or you two perish, that's a promise," said Master Magic coldly.
"Malfoy!" shouted a voice from below and Master Magic turned his face outwards, he had recognized that voice immediately. "I'm still not finished with you yet."
"Shadow Phantom," replied Master Magic snidely, as he detached himself from the golden dome that remained erect around the house. "If you wish to be crushed into oblivion, then who am I to deny you a request?"
Two jagged bolts of silver magical blasts shot towards the Shadow Phantom who ducked. After what happened last time, she could not get hit no matter what, another blast, especially when he appeared to accumulate even more power. His arm twisted into a sickle of sorts and he swung it at the Shadow Phantom. She pivoted around to dodge the attack, as the magic in the air sliced through a lamp post. She launched herself into the air, somersaulting to narrowly avoid the high impact blasts of magic that vaporized a couple of unfortunate birds that flew nearby. Master Magic contorted into a flat base of magical energy before he forced himself underneath the car. The car was lifted into the air and flung right at the Shadow Phantom who threw herself onto the ground and rolled out of the way to avoid the heavy hunk of metal being thrown at her.
"You can't keep up this game of cat and mouse forever, my dear," taunted Master Magic as he spat magically created fireballs at the Shadow Phantom who ducked and dodged, before she found herself in the perfect position to lob one of the grenades. The grenades spun into the air and landed right in the chest of Master Magic while he was corporeal. The sonic pulses given off by the grenade had caused Master Magic to be frozen in that state while his enemy pulled out the power scrambler ray.
"Let's see how your little powers hold up to something like this!" shouted The Shadow Phantom as she pulled a trigger and a spiral cyclone of platinum light blasted from the ray. It drilled itself right into the chest of Master Magic and caused him to pull apart in different directions. The solar suit as visible and another blast knocked Master Magic right out of the suit and caused his corporeal body to splatter against the wall, while the suit skidded to the feet of his attacker.
"NO!" shouted Master Magic as he reformed himself, severely weakened but the rest of him was inside that dome. He would sacrifice keeping his hostages in place for enough power to defeat the Shadow Phantom. The magical energies were pulled back into his essence as he stood up to his full height but the Shadow Phantom had appeared to have vanished. "Come out and fight me straight up, you meddlesome brat!"
Another grenade flew right at Master Magic and struck him right in the head. The sonic pulses had caused him to be frozen in a corporeal state once again and Grace was pleased of the stealth capabilities of this suit, even though she missed all of the other features on her armor. She pointed the Power Scrambler and pulled the trigger. Another corkscrew of platinum colored magical energy struck Master Magic right in the chest and knocked him backwards. Master Magic's arms shook before he managed to blast his power right into the ray. As a result of this attack, the Shadow Phantom became visible once again and was knocked on her back, absolutely rattled from the impact.
"The thing of my powers is that after a few times, the same attack doesn't really work," answered Master Magic as there were several breaks in his power. His hands turned into razor sharp spikes that he raised over his head "It's going to take a bit of time for my power to return but I have just enough, to finish you off like this."
Master Magic placed his foot on the chest of the Shadow Phantom that caused her to be unable to get up.
"Any last words," responded Master Magic, as if he was almost taunting that this was the end.
"Just that it's time for a little spring cleaning," said Grace, as she realized how stupid it sounded but she went on it, pulling the apparatus that Bishop had given her to contain Master Magic. He laughed, as it was for all intents and purposes, a portable vacuum cleaner.
"Do you really think that thing's going to help you now?" asked Master Magic as she switched on the vacuum cleaner. She found that his foot slid off of her chest, as a suction sound indicated that Master Magic was being pulled into the vacuum cleaner. "No, no, no, NO!!!"
The Shadow Phantom watched as inch by inch of Master Magic was sucked right into the vacuum cleaner, until he was gone, trapped inside the apparatus.
"Just wait, I'll get out of you and when I do, you'll pay," rambled Master Magic.
"I doubt he'll get out of there soon, that vacuum bag is lined with a solution made of liquefied platinum, it should hold him long enough to get him into a more permanent containment facility," answered Agent Bishop as he dropped down with several of his commandos. "Bag him and tag him boys, bring him into the helicopter."
Grace could hear a few veiled threats, as the vacuum cleaner rocked but it held Master Magic. She watched Bishop take him away but before she could ask him where to return the suit and power scrambler, he was gone into the night. The Shadow Phantom shrugged, it was not like she was going to say anything, unless Bishop did.
She stepped into the shadows, as she watched her mother leave, followed by her Aunt Hailey, who appeared to have spotted her in the shadows. As her mother left, Grace needed to quickly return home, if only she had the suit, it would be easier to get there. She stepped forward.
"Stay here for a second," said Hailey which caused Grace to stop suddenly and she turned around. "Just a bit of advice from one Phantom to another, no matter how much he deludes himself, Harry always does know in the end."
Grace was perplexed. Her aunt appeared to know who she was. She needed to do a better job in concealing her identity.
"Here's a Portkey, it should get you home before Ginny," said Hailey as she handed the Shadow Phantom a Portkey, who took it. "I know I'm not one to say anything, so I won't tell you not to do it, but do be careful at there. There are many people out there who are more dangerous than Master Magic."
"I will," said Grace as the Portkey took her home.
As she was in bed, it just hit her. Aunt Hailey and the Shadow Phantom were one and the same. She knew her hero her entire life and never even knew it. Grace thought that was kind of cool, but her aunt's warning echoed through Hailey's head. Did her father know she was the Shadow Phantom?