Chapter Nine: Adrenaline Part Two:
Grace's eyes widened in shock and awe, with Adrenaline having a grin on her face, as the realization of what she said had slowly dawned on the young Potter girl. Her mind worked furiously to attempt some form of damage control, but naturally the question was how in the hell did she fight out and what would she do.
"I don't know what you are talking about, the Shadow Phantom...doesn't live here, what happened to you anyway?" asked Grace, trying to play innocent but her nervousness had given away. Adrenaline looked at her, laughing, with a crazed look in her brown eyes, as she looked at Grace.
"Please, Grace, don't play coy with me, I know you're the Shadow Phantom, only an attention whore like yourself would have decided to do something like that, that would get the entire city talking about your every move," said Adrenaline as she stepped forward. "It isn't bad enough you stole attention away from me as yourself, you had to create this alter ego, but you know what, after what happened to me, after you pushed me into that vat to get rid of your competition, I am better than you ever could be in your life. Every cell of my body is saturated with the super enhancer, I have super speed, super strength, super reflexes, super beauty, and super intelligence. Everything that a true heroine should have and I don't need a tacky tin body suit to prove my greatness. I will prove that this town only has the room for one heroine."
Adrenaline looked at Grace, with a smug smile on her face, as Grace prepared herself for the inevitable fight.
"And I'm afraid that won't be you, babe," responded Adrenaline, before she hoisted Grace up by the shirt and flung her out onto the lawn. Grace bounced off the ground and Adrenaline launched herself right at Grace, but Grace just barely avoided the attack, to turn around with another punch. She dropped to the ground, in pain, with a bit of swelling underneath her eye. Adrenaline dropped down and kicked Grace directly in the chest, causing her to drop to the ground. "I guess clothes really do make some people. That's pathetic, the least you could do was fight back."
Grace sprung up and caught Adrenaline with a kick as hard as she could muster. Adrenaline stepped back, before she smirked at Grace.
"That almost hurt," said Adrenaline with a giggle, before she grabbed Grace by the hair and flung her right to the ground. She crashed down, just narrowly missing hitting the side walk. Adrenaline hoisted Grace up by the shirt and sprung up into the air, with the girl in her clutches. Grace squirmed as a couple of good leaps had sent them into the alleyway. She was thrown right into a dumpster. Grace squirmed, as she laid in filth, with Adrenaline standing right over her. "Right in the trash, where you belong. Now I've got a city to protect, the city is going to get someone worth worshipping and I better not catch you befouling it with your tacky Shadow Phantom get up."
Adrenaline left, as Grace tried to get out of the dumpster. She winced, she had never been so humiliated in her life. While she was not the great master of ninjitsu her father was or even her mother, she felt she was competent and this super powered freak made short work out of her. What was worse, she stunk like hell. She would not give up, no matter what that egomaniac Andrea said. Gaining super powers had just served to increase her ego to an insane level and she appeared to be quite unstable. Grace staggered out of the dumpster, realizing that she had to fight off against a dangerous foe, that knew that the Shadow Phantom and Grace Potter were one in the same. It was not going to be easy, but Grace had to stop her, before she hurt someone. It was the honorable thing to do.
-
"Part of this is my fault, I could have saved her from getting knocked into that vat," said Grace, as Rosaline was helping her made some modifications to the Shadow Phantom armor, in a desperate attempt to increase its power capabilities, every little bit was needed to beat Adrenaline. Even though they had stretched the suit to its capabilities, some spell work might have been able to do the trick to increase its durability.
"You were fighting the Techno-Mages, she was the one who tried to run away and thus put herself in the position to get thrown into the vat, none of this is your fault," responded Rosaline firmly as she looked at Grace. "The fact that she knows her identity and would be likely to spill it if she feels threatened and loses her temper is what worries me. How are you going to deal with that? The entire reason you created the Shadow Phantom was not to put any of your friends or family in danger. Now, if she throws everything out in the open…"
"I know, I don't want to do this but I have to beat her, she's only in it for the glory and the fame, which is fading, against a real threat, super powers or not, she might just fall on her face or in her fury, put countless lives in peril," responded Grace as she looked at her cousin. "Now these protective charms…"
"They won't last for more than a few hours but they should withhold Adrenaline's assault," responded Rosaline, answering the unasked question. "I just hope that is all you need, because I've stretched the capabilities of the armor to the limit, any more, and it will short circuit, taking out both you and a good city block."
"Well that won't happen, I have to find a way to beat her, without her spilling my identity to the world," said Grace with a sigh. This was not going to be easy, but few things in life really were. It was something that she had to do, no matter what the costs were and they were high.
-
Adrenaline sat perched, a wild smile appearing on her face, as she looked down, looking for some crime to fight. An alarm going off at piqued her interest and she leapt down immediately, seeing news vans nearby. It would be the perfect time to get her face known. Adrenaline dropped down, with a smug expression on her face, as she stared down the two thieves.
"Adrenaline?" asked one of the thieves in surprise. "I thought…she was finished…they said…"
"I'm never finished you foul fiends," said Adrenaline as she played for the camera, giving a wide smile, as the two thieves looked at her, unable to determine whether or not the girl was serious but they decided to open fire on Adrenaline with their laser blasters. She evaded each and every shot, with expert precision and speed, before she rushed over, knocking the laser blasters into the crowd, causing several people to run in terror as they went off. Adrenaline could care less, as she quickly grabbed one of the thieves, flipping him over, before posing for the camera. The second thief attempted to make a run for it but Adrenaline gracefully somersaulted over him, before grabbing him. The thief was flung over to the side, where he smashed crudely through a glass window. He gave a pained grunt as glass sliced into his neck. Adrenaline stepped back, posing as while many of the news people showed the grisly carnage, the crowd at large was disturbed of the brutality and disregard for the people around here. "That's right, make sure to get my good side, the heroine is here and I'm here to stay. The Shadow Phantom couldn't cut the mustard and now she's being replaced by me, as I put another pair of villains down for the count."
Several of the members of the media snapped photos, but the police stepped forward.
"Sorry, no autographs on the job, it shows a disturbing lack of professionalism," responded Adrenaline but the police had their nightsticks out and handcuffs.
"Come along quietly, we're afraid we have to put you under arrest, no matter how noble your attentions were and the fact your actions killed this man," responded one of the officers as they stepped forward.
"Killed him? Come on, what do you expect me to do? Just let him walk into your pathetic jails so he could walk out again and put more people in danger," remarked Adrenaline with a slight roll of her eyes. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? I saved you, I want my applause. I'm a hero, I should be worshipped as such, for putting two dangerous felons out of commission."
"Dangerous, they robbed a gas station, it wasn't like they were knocking off banks," responded one of the officers. "Now come along quietly or we will be forced to use lethal force."
"Step away and let me save my city or I will put you down just like that scum on the ground," answered Adrenaline with a smug look and the officers stepped forward, to secure her, but her strength had thrown them to the ground. The two officers crashed to the ground and Adrenaline sprung up. A vicious somersault kick and one of the officers crashed. A nightstick bounced off of her head but she spun around, barely feeling the blow and knocking the officer for a loop with a punch. She somersaulted, striking a pose for the cameras. "You fools, I can't be touched."
"Restrain yourself peacefully, or we will open fire," remarked one of the officers, but this was not a step he wanted to take. Adrenaline rolled her eyes, and a loud bang echoed. She was shot in the leg. She staggered back, only momentarily inconvenienced, before she removed the bullet from her leg. The bloodied bullet was dropped to the ground as Adrenaline launched herself forward. Her fist impacted the jaw of the officer she fought and he crashed to the ground. Another officer was grabbed around the throat and his head snapped backwards. Adrenaline turned to the watching ground, along several downed police officers.
"Now, your hero, your savior, has proven she is the only one worthy of protecting you, these goons go done faster than anything else," remarked Adrenaline smugly. "Naturally, as your heroine, I deserve some credit and some reward for your protection. A yearly fee of a million dollars should be enough for my presence. It is more than fair. I'm sure many of you will say you can do with out me that you don't need my protection. However, no one else in the city has proven themselves to be untouchable, unstoppable, and unbeatable. I dare anyone to prove me wrong."
"I accept that challenge," said the Shadow Phantom as she charged forward, before an uppercut was aimed right into the jaw of Adrenaline. The crowd watched eagerly as a sonic vibration echoed throughout the entire city block from the impact, causing people to scatter, as the Shadow Phantom stood over Adrenaline, who looked up, an enraged look in her eyes.
-
"Our contact in the media has given us a bit of news, Master," remarked Jammerhead, as "X" stood in the shadows, rather threateningly looking at him. "Adrenaline survived the explosion at the warehouse and her powers have increased tenfold. She is basically untouchable; she put down two punks and several cops with ease. Now she's brawling with the Shadow Phantom on the downtown area."
"Excellent, those two annoyances can destroy each other and we'll send the Techno-Mages to pick up the scraps," responded "X" as he looked at Jammerhead. "Make the necessary arrangements to get our forces in play and make sure the battle goes off without a hitch."
"At once, Master," replied Jammerhead eagerly, as he walked off.
"And just a word of warning, if you fail me this time, I will be most displeased," remarked "X" coldly to Jammerhead's retreating back, causing the scientist to wince. The lasted Cyberdroid failure and the loss of the super enhancer had caused his boss to be most displeased with him. Another failure or two and it could be his head.
-
"I'm surprised you decided to come after me, after the fact I utterly humiliated you," responded Adrenaline as she aimed a kick right at the Shadow Phantom but the Shadow Phantom dodged, before she expertly somersaulted into the air and landed on her feet. "I warned you, I can tell them at any time I can blow your little secret identity…"
"Why don't you then?" challenged the Shadow Phantom as she just narrowly evaded a punch before she spun around. Both fighters circled each other and her kick was blocked, before Adrenaline hoisted her up with surprising strength and slammed her down onto the ring. Adrenaline dodged up, head ducked in a somersault, before she slammed her fists down, with the Shadow Phantom dodging out of the way. Both fists struck the pavement but Adrenaline appeared to be none of the worse for wear. "You could do it right now, I doubt I could stop you."
"For once, you're right, you could never stop me, but it should have been obvious from the beginning, it took the super enhancer to increase my intelligence, but figure out that you were the Shadow Phantom," remarked Adrenaline as she grabbed her enemy by the arm, nearly ripping the arm out of the socket but the Shadow Phantom dropped, rolling and throwing Adrenaline. She nimbly landed on her feet. "Then I do realize that if I beat you like a drum her, to prove who the better heroine is, and unmask you for the entire world to see, then I will prove my superiority to you. It is only a matte of time before that little tin suit of yours runs out of power. Don't think I haven't calculated that you need to beat me within thirty five more minutes or you're done."
"Talk is cheap, especially coming from your mouth, Radcliffe," muttered the Shadow Phantom as she blasted up into the air, but Adrenaline dodged around. She landed hard and turned right into a kick that sent her flying backwards into a building. She smashed into the side of the building, battered, busted but still alive. Adrenaline hoisted her up by the helmet and threw her to the side.
"Now, it won't take long to crack open that little suit and reveal what's inside, Potter," muttered Adrenaline as she reached forward, before she aimed a punch. It impacted the suit. Another punch and the Shadow Phantom could feel her armor starting to rattle. Another punch, before Adrenaline slammed a kick right into the chest of the Shadow Phantom. She buckled, trying to get her hands on Adrenaline. "Give it up, you can't beat me. Anything you can do, I can do better and I can do everything you can't do, perfectly."
A blinding light from the Shadow Phantom's armor had caught Adrenaline off guard. The Shadow Phantom leapt up in the air and crashed a kick right into the face of Adrenaline. Another kick and Adrenaline was knocked off guard, before the Shadow Phantom removed a shuriken, trying to draw Adrenaline away from civilization, before someone could get hurt. The shuriken was deflected by Adrenaline but it was a chance for the Shadow Phantom to move behind. A net shot out of the arm. It wrapped around Adrenaline. To metallic rings were nets and they hooked around the arms and legs of Adrenaline. She struggled, thrashing around in the net but she was trapped.
"You won't beat me!" shrieked Adrenaline like a trapped howler monkey as she used her strength to break out, but she got kicked right in the face. She dropped to the ground and The Shadow Phantom gripped her by the hair, before yanking her forward and punching her right in the face. They were now in an abandoned ghetto area and The Shadow Phantom jumped up, before she sent Adrenaline crashing into trash cans. They dropped to the ground, but Adrenaline pulled herself up and grabbed the Shadow Phantom around the neck, before throwing her down to the ground. "It's over, you lost, you can't beat me."
With each word came a punch, as the armor crunched. The Shadow Phantom winced as the chest plate of her armor was severely dented and Adrenaline grabbed her helmet to remove it, but quickly worked her way to the back.
"Once I get these wires disconnected, I'll show your face to the world," said Adrenaline but The Shadow Phantom activated an added function, shooting chains from her arms that wrapped around Adrenaline. Adrenaline was caught off guard and the Shadow Phantom shifted her weight. Sliding through the legs, a tug of the chain caused Adrenaline to flip right onto her back. Adrenaline landed hard and the Shadow Phantom shot another net, which snaked around Adrenaline.
The Shadow Phantom collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, hoping that would be enough to put down her persistent foe. Adrenaline struggled, the net was ripping, the chains snapped and she stood, breathing heavily.
"You have got to be kidding me," demanded the Shadow Phantom as she dodged the attack. Another attack was dodged and the Shadow Phantom aimed a punch but was blocked and Adrenaline twisted around. A pop signaled that her elbow was dislocated as she was slammed to the ground.
"Suit's running a bit sluggish, surely you can't be out of power right now," said Adrenaline with a wide grin, as she continue to punch the suit. There was a heavy amount of damage and the Shadow Phantom attempted to access a number of functions, many of them had been completely damaged by the pounding she suffered on the suit. Including the fail safe function that prevented people from removing the helmet and exposing her face to the world. Grace prayed that somehow, Adrenaline did not figure that little fact out. "Come on, Potter, why are you keeping this sad attempt to fight me up? It's obvious you can't beat me, you shouldn't even try. I will rip apart that costume one piece at a time, then exposing you to the world."
The Shadow Phantom struggled to her feet, her helmet protected her face from a vicious punch. Several more punches caused a slight dent but she twisted her positioning before she did a backflip, landing right behind Adrenaline, grabbing her enemy around the neck but she was flipped to her feet. The gauntlets hooked to the armor broke away, right into the hands of Adrenaline. Adrenaline held up the gauntlets but the Shadow Phantom gave a slight smile from underneath her helmet, an idea forming in her head.
"Rosaline, activate the gauntlet overload mechanism," muttered Grace underneath the mask. "Yes, I'm sure."
The gauntlets began to vibrate in Adrenaline's hands and her eyes widened in horror when she realized what was happen. The loud sonic vibrations had reacted very negatively with her mind, overstimulating it. The Shadow Phantom pulled herself to a standing position, as the sonic vibrations from the gauntlets continued to vibrate and Adrenaline shrieked in agony, her mind being pummeled by too many thoughts at once, that element of the super enhancer causing her mind to be founded.
"NO, STOP THIS, I CAN'T CONTROL THESE THOUGHTS!" shouted Adrenaline as the gauntlets exploded in her hands, the vibrations throwing her hard into a building. The building crumbled, burying Adrenaline in a stack of bricks. The Shadow Phantom looked at the hand of Adrenaline sticking out from underneath the bricks, before she dropped down, breathing heavily. The hand twitched briefly and there was a groan, but Adrenaline remained lifeless, buried under bricks.
Suddenly, a group of Techno-Mages dropped down. Grace looked up, her head was throbbing, these goons were the last thing that she needed to fight. The simulated wands were pointed at her but the Shadow Phantom dodged the attacks, despite the beating she suffered against Adrenaline, she ducked and dodged the attacks, before tucking her head and launching herself over her attackers with a somersault. She dropped to the ground and the Shadow Phantom threw several shuriken to the ground. They connected with the ground, causing massive explosions, taking the Techno-Mages down. She staggered back, as they kept coming but a helicopter came above, before several commandos dropped down to the ground, pointing their laser blasters.
"Take them out, back them off," ordered Agent Bishop as he dropped down, grabbing one of the Techno-Mages around the arm, before throwing him down to the ground. A kick staggered one of the Techno-Mages before the Shadow Phantom dodged an attack, before a nice backhand strike took her enemy down.
"Nice of you to show up, Agent Bishop," muttered Grace in a slightly sarcastic voice, but she disarmed one of the Techno-Mages with a kick, as Bishop's men backed them off with more laser blaster shows.
"Retreat!" shouted the leader of the Techno-Mages and the Shadow Phantom made a step to follow but Bishop grabbed her by the arm.
"Allow them to leave, we have more pressing matters to attend to, involving this Adrenaline fiasco," responded Bishop calmly as the commandos pulled the comatose body of Adrenaline out of the rubble. "Your parents have yet to return, so I can take you straight to the nearest Earth Protection Force base."
"How do you know they aren't home yet?" asked the Shadow Phantom in confusion as she looked at Bishop. "Have you been watching our house?"
"Yes, but that's not important, let us go," said Bishop coolly, as she was steered towards the helicopter. She was too beaten and battered to argue, and as Adrenaline was strapped to a stretcher, she was loaded onto the helicopter, that rose into the air and disappeared from sight a moment later.
-
"Intriguing, despite the fact she has been rendered catatonic because of her brain being over stimulated, she is uninjured, despite having a building fall on her and being struck with a full impact sonic blast," remarked Stockman as he looked over the battered for of Adrenaline, analyzing her from behind the force field. "The super enhancer has healed her body at a remarkable rate and if it had not been for ever brain being over stimulated at an accelerated rate, she would not have been captured and would have still been on a rampage. The super enhancer was causing her mind to be warped at an accelerated rate."
"Is there a cure?" asked the Shadow Phantom who could not help but feel just a little guilty at what happened to the girl who antagonized her so many years and had become a so called heroine just to hog the spotlight, along with showing Grace up.
"Perhaps one day, but I'm intrigued by the actual super enhancer," responded Bishop. "Someone who has access to such a potent and powerful chemical could be a dangerous threat."
The Shadow Phantom turned to Bishop, something told her that Bishop had other uses in mind than just trying to figure out who was behind this but she held her tongue. This battle with Adrenaline had taxed her both physically and mentally, to the point where she just wanted to get home and crawl into bed, to forget about the events of the past few days.
"There could be, after some tests, but this super enhancer, I've never seen anything like that or perhaps ever again, especially considering the batch she was knocked into as super charged by electricity, like you said, Miss Potter," stated Stockman in a calm tone of voice, as the Shadow Phantom nodded, taking her broken armor to be repaired before she headed home. Hopefully her parents had not beaten her there but if they did, she could tell them that she had gotten better and had gone out for a walk. It was remarkable how much her parents trusted her, if they bought her rather flimsy and often times paper thin excuses.
"I best be getting going now, it's starting to get late in the day," said the Shadow Phantom and Bishop gave her a nod, which Grace took it as her cue to leave. She walked out and once Bishop was certain she had left, he had turned right towards his lead scientist with a calculating expression on his face.
"Continue with the tests on young Miss Radcliffe and find a way to contain her, but the truth must never be revealed to Miss Potter of what she exactly is or any Potter for that matter, it is something that must be covered up at all costs, no matter what it takes," ordered Bishop and Stockman looked at him. "Do you hear me Stockman? Conclude any tests, put her in a containment cell, but not one word, alter anything on her DNA."
"It may have been altered in the transformation, Agent Bishop," said Stockman but Bishop shook his head.
"No, the super enhancer was based on my early work and while slight alterations of the DNA may be made, anyone who does enough digging could piece together the truth, I want that part of the official results altered and buried," said Bishop and Stockman turned, before the holographic image of his head nodded, they knew what was at stake. Keeping something for this extent from Harry and Ginny Potter had not been easy, but it was necessary. They had to keep it away from Grace, because if she knew the truth, who knew what would happen. It was essentially they kept everything involving Andrea Radcliffe/Adrenaline, under wraps.
-
"So the Shadow Phantom escaped yet again and now Bishop has Adrenaline," responded "X" in a cold voice, with Jammerhead cowering in the shadows, fearful at his punishment.
"Please master, I didn't mean to…" stated Jammerhead but "X" held up his wand and blew a hole through the wall, causing debris to fly in every which direction.
"Now that he has access to Adrenaline, he could have gotten the super enhancer from her blood stream and formulated a counter for it, so that plan is a bust, just like all of your little experiences, the mutants, the Cyberdroids, and my Techno-Mages are unsuccessful once again, all a dismal failure" stated "X" in a crude voice. "All I see is failure in every direction Jammerhead and our next plan better breed success, for your sake and the sake of everyone else."
"It will Master, it will, I swear," said Jammerhead but "X" waved a hand from the shadows, still obscured and Jammerhead took it as a cue to leave. He turned his back, to walk and kept walking, never turning his back, before "X" changed his mind about punishing Jammerhead.
"X" sat back, in the shadows, a frown appearing on his face. He was beginning to tire of the failures of Jammerhead, but his attacks had kept the Shadow Phantom occupied on several occasions, stealing many vital components for his ultimate plan and it would be carried out after a few more items had been secured. He was getting closer each day.
-
Grace arrived at school on Monday morning and the atmosphere looked rather cheerful and upbeat.
"Did you here what happened to Radcliffe?" asked one of the voices.
"Yeah, she took an experimental drug and got stoned out of her mind, thinking she was a super hero," remarked a boy with a smug look.
"The Shadow Phantom put her down though, she's now in a rehab facility, where she can get the help she needs," said another voice.
"Good riddance to her, never did like her anyway," said a girl, rolling her eyes, who just a few days ago, had been basically licking Andrea's shoes, when it was revealed she was Adrenaline and the papers put her across as a beloved heroine.
"Now the Shadow Phantom, that's a true hero, she put that phony in her place," said another voice and once again, Grace just gritted her teeth. People were so fickle, but she did not be the Shadow Phantom because it was easy. She did not do it for the fame, the accolades, and the adoration of the public. In fact, there were some days where she wondered why she even bothered, the days where she wanted to throw her armor into a scrap metal cruncher, and not look back. Yet, she continued to go out, fight the forces of evil, because it was just the right thing to do. It her head, it sounded like an overly sugary lecture about right or wrong, but somehow it appeared to be right, at least to her. She listened to her father's stories and realized that there were times where he did things that no one should have expected to do, but he did it everywhere.
Grace spotted Steven right by the side of the school and approached him, a smile on her face, as she walked over to her friend who might be slowly her boyfriend. Only time would tell exactly how that relationship evolved in time.
-
Andrea's eyes flickered open. She was fastened to the wall by thick metal shackles. She had been stripped of her Adrenaline costume and had been placed in ragged black clothes. All around her, there was a swirling white force field, which appeared to cancel out her strength and negate most of her powers. The visions of her defeat at the hands of the Shadow Phantom taunted her, but she knew was under the mask. However, she refused to loosen her tongue and spill the secret, to reveal to the world that Grace Potter and the Shadow Phantom were one and the same. Why should some other person learn the secret and steal her glory by using that knowledge to defeat the Shadow Phantom? Only one person was good enough to defeat her and that was Andrea Radcliffe, also known as Adrenaline.
No, as her mind had completed healing itself, Adrenaline would rise again and strike down the Shadow Phantom, proving who the true heroine was and her victory would be decisive. Luck had caused Adrenaline to lose, but next time, she would succeed.
Andrea Radcliffe was far from finished with Grace Potter and on that note, Adrenaline was far from finished with the Shadow Phantom. She was obsessed with her enemy and was the only one worthy to bring her down to her knees. It was not over.
Not by a long shot.
