The Phantom Oracle
On-board The Eidolon… (Spidey's POV)…
As the team arrived in the Chicago area, Phantom searched the city layout for a landing spot to land the craft. He opted to keep the craft close by in-case they needed to bail out quickly and since War Machine wasn't in the area this time around, it would be wiser to keep it close by. The rest of the team readied up for embarking out into the city.
Phantom already knew the address of Reyes' dojo, so it was just a matter of locating it. Since they didn't have to necessarily blend this time around, he felt safe letting Ava and Peter go through this mission in their costumes. That and there was a heightened awareness of being attacked at any time by Magneto's lackeys… or worse.
He found a flat rooftop within the city big enough to land The Eidolon on, so he placed the craft in stealth mode and softly landed it on the rooftop to avoid gathering attention. He kept it in stealth mode as they disembarked.
"Ah, the windy city… pretty as a painting!" Spidey stated as he breathed in the air, staring out into the vast city space.
"It smells… strange." The hooded Wolfe took a sniff of the air. "There is the constant smell of food and smoke in the air…"
Of course it does, if it's not the smell of a dying animal or the smell of oak wood, then it smells strange to Wolfe.
"Aw man, this should be fun." Firewalker smacked his hands together and rubbed them together to make a small flame. "I heard this city is full of some bad-ass stuff!"
"It's definitely no NYC, that's for sure." Tiger added.
You can't beat good ol' New York City, definitely the best place to web-swing in… I mean, come on, anywhere else and I'd have to jump around to get anywhere! Just imagine if I was stuck in the middle of nowhere, like in the middle of the desert or something!
"This isn't a vacation, friends." Phantom walked towards them. "Reyes' location is nearby, so we'll head on over there."
Wait, wait, wait, just a darn minute…
"You expect us to just go waltzing there in costumes? Isn't this some sort of professional dojo?" Spidey curiously asked.
"I thought so too but it's actually a private dojo for what I would assume is a private group of fighters." Phantom calmly replied. "I looked it up recently; they're apparently big into fight competitions with other groups around the city and nationwide."
"Ah, so they're like a crew, and instead of dance-offs they just make their best fighters fight each other." Firewalker understood the concept.
"Exactly." Phantom nodded. "Apparently, Reyes' leads this group, the 'House of Fox'."
That would explain it. But wait, the "House of Fox" ? Oh boy, this is definitely going to be an interesting specter to meet!
"Fox?" Spidey scratched his head. "What does that mean?"
Phantom shrugged. "Let's go find out."
Phantom handed the GPS address to Spidey and Tiger so that they could get there through jumping off the rooftops or web-swinging there quickly while Phantom, Wolfe, and Firewalker walked through the streets with Phantom being invisible the entire time.
As the others left into the street level, Spidey glanced at Tiger, who quickly took off running off the rooftop onto the next one, jumping with her acrobatic skills to get to the address quickly.
You've got to be kidding me….
"Oh, c'mon, Tiger!" Spidey shot a web and swung after her. "Are you seriously going to ignore me the rest of the trip?!"
He landed next to her but she quickly took a sharp turn on the roof and jumped to a higher roof. "You already know why, web-head!"
Spidey followed after her, jumping to keep up, roof-after-roof.
"I said I was sorry!"
"You never think before you say things!" Tiger shouted back as she slid down a fire escape to another rooftop, taking a quick glance at her communicator to make sure she was still on track to the location.
She's going to hold that over my head forever, I can already tell!
"I didn't mean to say it!" Spidey kept shouting at her as he had to web swing off another rooftop to catch up with her fast pace.
"You know what?" Tiger jumped onto a clothesline and slid across a street to the other side. "I'm going to start taking deadly risks and see if you like it!"
"You're overreacting, Tiger!"
Like MAJOR overreaction, I mean come on, it's almost like she forgot that she's a superhero too! I'm not the only one!
"Am I?!"
"You know what?" Spidey jumped down onto a blackened rooftop and shot webs at her, wrapping it around her and pulling her back to me. "We're going to talk about this!"
Tiger slashed through the webbing and stared back at him. "No, I'm done talking about it!"
If it's bothering you this badly to the point you're giving me the most major silent treatment of all time, you wouldn't be "done" talking about it just yet!
"Jeez, I don't even give you the silent treatment for this long!" Spidey held up his hands in spite. "Here I am, trying to make it up to you!"
"If you don't think I should be here, then why try so hard, Spider?"
Do I really need to answer that?!
"Because I love you, duh?!" Spidey shook his head. "Look, I get it, I messed up big time, but this is honestly something we shouldn't be arguing over!"
"We shouldn't be?!" Tiger slowly approached him. "You think it was easy holding back the tears after watching that warehouse crash down on you!?"
Here we go again, first the stabbing of my heart, now the fact a warehouse fell on top of me… Next thing you know she'll start yelling at me for doing my actual superhero job!
"Tiger, I was fine, I told you I'd be!" Spidey took a deep sigh. "I don't take risks if I know I can get through them fine!"
"Oh, like that stunt with Taskmaster on the helicarrier? You sure thought that one through."
(Sighs)…
"It was either that or let him get away! I tried to stop him!" Spidey defended himself.
"You had your team at your back!" Tiger got really close to him now, a few feet away with her arms crossed. "You didn't think it through!"
"Well… that's why I have you."
"You have me around to think for you?" Tiger didn't take the cute compliment nicely.
Jeez, she's really not going to let me off easy this time…
Spidey just shook his head and walked away to the ledge of the rooftop to stare out into the city space again. "No, Tiger… You think I stopped caring but I haven't. That moment we shared near the river, before we went after Taskmaster, it meant everything to me. And for you to just cut us at 'a break' so soon after one argument… I mean, give me some slack!"
"It meant everything to me too."
"I didn't mean to hurt you with what I said." Spidey looked back at her.
"You still said it."
"What will it take to show you that I'm really sorry?" Spidey walked closer to her and reached for her hands.
She reluctantly held his hands. "I still need space to think about it."
Ooooh, she held my hands! That's something, right?!
"Fair enough."
Heh, I know just the memory to bring up to change her mind.
He looked at her and caressed her masked cheek. "You still want a 'break' after that moment we had in the cave in the Yukon?"
"Oh, don't push your luck!" Tiger let go of his hands and walked towards the edge of the rooftop. "Hey, we're here."
Well, it was worth a shot.
"What do you mean?"
Tiger glanced at the GPS on her communicator. "The House of Fox."
They slid down the nearby fire escape that led into a small alley where the entrance to the building was located. There was a black wooden frame around a black door as an entrance. Two sculptures of foxes lined the top right and top left edges of the frame and the building's number was imprinted on the front of the door.
"It sure does look like a dojo." Spidey awed at the sight of it.
A really private dojo for sure, I wouldn't have noticed this place if I wasn't trying to find it.
In the streets of Chicago… (Phantom's POV)…
The almost-complete Specter Haven team stalked through the fairly crowded streets of Chicago as they reached closer to the address that was specified for the House of Fox. Phantom walked invisible through the crowds to avoid drawing attention to himself but that didn't help Wolfe's case. His rifle was sticking out like a sore thumb in broad daylight and the citizens couldn't help but stare at him, his hooded fur coat, and his sharp serrated blade at his hip. Nevertheless, Wolfe was able to know where Phantom was because he could see his heat signature in front of him.
"You'd think these people have never seen a rifle before in their lives." Wolfe grunted as he walked past a group of elderly women who gawked at him.
I think we've talked about this before back in LA… Not everyone is comfortable being around people with rifles. Jeez, if he thinks that's a problem, I'd hate to see him be a part of a gun control debate.
"Not that many people do." Firewalker sincerely told him. "I mean, most people like to live comfortably without it, you know?"
"Pfft… bunch of soft people, if you ask me."
"Not everyone has a want or need to own a gun, Wolfe." Phantom whispered his way as they walked on.
"No need? It's a natural right we should have a means to defend ourselves!" Wolfe grunted.
People defend themselves in different ways. We don't live in a nation where we have to worry about getting shot at… well, most people shouldn't worry… well… maybe we might have to.
"It'd be better if we took the alleyways across streets, Phantom. There might be cops who'll stop Wolfe for having his gun out in public." Firewalker suggested.
"Good idea."
The address was a few streets down, so they began cutting corners by walking into alleys to the other streets. Firewalker convinced Wolfe to conceal the rifle into his coat as best he could, even though he reluctantly did so.
"So what's this 'House of Fox' deal anyway?" Wolfe curiously asked Phantom.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
"A lot of crews like to name themselves house-of-something, it makes them sound like they got money or something." Firewalker informed Wolfe. "Maybe they the same way."
"Well what makes her so special than the rest of us?" Wolfe stubbornly asked.
"Project Chronos stated that the subject could 'copy' your fighting-style just by seeing you fight once, like Taskmaster. They've also seemed to imbue some sort of power to be able to see into the future." Phantom calmly answered Wolfe. "I can see a million reasons as to why she would be an asset."
"Sounds like you admire her." Wolfe suggested with a grin.
I mean, yeah, a combat chameleon with powers to see into the future really is a step up from the ability to read people's minds and enter dreams…
"Please, I haven't even met the woman. Her powers are of great interest though."
"I'm just glad we're getting a woman in the team, I can't be stuck in an all bro-team… It… it gets weird, you know?" Firewalker told them with a laugh in the end.
I'd agree with him. I'm glad S.H.I.E.L.D. has the guts to put women in the field with us. They like that they're better at figuring out situations in a more discrete way than men… according to them anyways.
"Bah, she'll slow us down." Wolfe snorted.
"Jeez, you are quite the sexist, huh?" Firewalker shook his head as he asked.
"In my experience, women are emotional, they to twirl with your emotions." Wolfe shrugged.
Yeah, he's quite the sexist.
"You think that of White Tiger?" Phantom looked back and asked.
"She's still a youngling, but she's using the Spider as a ball of yarn right now, even I noticed that they're having problems. It's going to affect his performance."
Perhaps, I advised against him bringing her along for that same reason… but I have hopes for them.
"I think they're cute together." Firewalker commented. "I mean, the guy is obviously crazy about her, and even though she mad, she is obviously pretty crazy about him too. It's all in the chemistry, Wolfe."
"Chemistry, my ass."
Stubborn… just stubborn.
Phantom stopped as they reached an alley lined by two brick buildings, reappearing out of thin air as they walked in it, meeting back up with Spidey and Tiger.
"It's about time you three showed up." Spidey smugly told them with his arms crossed.
"We just showed up a minute ago, web-head." Tiger nudged him. "This is it, the House of Fox."
That didn't take too long. I'm glad we landed The Eidolon in a close by area, otherwise we'd have to take public transportation and walk a lot more than we had to.
Phantom looked up at the black framed doorway, obviously meant for discreet people to enter through if it was located in a small alley as that one.
"Let's go see what Carmen Reyes is all about." Phantom knocked on the door.
A slit opened and two eyes looked through the door.
"State your business." A raspy and accented voice accompanied whoever was looking through the door.
This reminds me of those shady back-end deals I'd have to do with people to get information from them. It's always a pair of eyes through a slit in a door.
"I'm here to speak to Carmen Reyes." Phantom calmly told the person.
"White Fox won't speak to just anyone looking for her." The voice spat back. "Are you looking for a duel?"
White Fox, eh? White Tiger, White Fox… What's next?
"Uhm…" Phantom looked at his teammates then back at the pair of eyes. "Yes, I'm here to duel."
This should be interesting… a duel with the last mutant.
"Why didn't they call ahead?" A stern sounding male voice was heard behind the man looking through the slit. "Ask them who they represent."
"Who do you fight for?"
"My name is Phantom and I represent a team called Specter Haven." Phantom confidently told him. "I'm here to recruit Carmen Reyes to our cause."
"We've never heard of you." The man answered in a rude tone. "Take your group of freaks and get out of here, if you know what's good for you."
The slit closed, leaving the group confused.
Well then, that didn't work out as well as I thought it would.
"Wait, let them in." A soft female voice was heard echoing behind the door.
"You sure?" The other male voice asked in a confused tone.
"Yes."
"Jeez, talk about how hollow this door is. I can hear everything." Firewalker shook his head.
"It sounds like they're going to let us in." Spidey commented.
The slit opened back up with the same man. "I guess White Fox will see you now."
"Much obliged." Phantom nodded at him as the black door slowly opened.
That was strange… If that female voice was Reyes… then why was she willing to see me? A complete stranger?
Phantom walked in first followed by the rest of them into this huge indoor dojo with white walls and a ceiling with an intricate Japanese art design painted on it. The walls were lined with pictures of what appeared to be the dojo masters that owned the place before given their black and white pictures and wooden pillars lined up throughout the edges of the room. A great scent of incense was abundant within the dojo.
The man who opened the door was short and wore a black kimono with his black hair in a top knot. He looked fairly older than Firewalker but a tad younger than Phantom for sure. His eyes were really dark in the dim light.
The other male voice that spoke wasn't to be seen but at the far end of the room sat a brown-haired woman, not wearing a kimono like the doorkeeper, but what appeared to be wearing a snow-white training suit that was quite form-fitting around her body. At her side were two tied sheathed katanas which seemed to be able to be strapped onto the body.
She sat in a small white mat in the middle of the dojo, seemingly appearing to be meditating, with her back to the group.
"You." The short doorkeeper sternly pointed at Phantom. "You can go speak to her. The rest will stay here. Take off your boots too."
Phantom looked back at the group, who were as well curious about the mutant they were about to meet. He obeyed the doorkeeper and knelt to take off his black boots, placing them aside as he stepped onto the dojo floor.
As he slowly approached her, he noticed that she had the tattoo of a white fox on her left arm. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and she seemed to be really into her thoughts, but Phantom couldn't see her face.
"I once had a vision of someone named Phantom." Reyes softly spoke out loud. "Someone who would pay me a visit one day… and who would offer me a place in something called 'Specter Haven'."
That would explain why she was so willing to see me.
She slowly got up and placed her bare feet off the white mat, taking her first look at the masked Phantom. Her eyes were glowing a soft white before they reverted back into normal-looking light-brown eyes, a power which seemed similar to Phantom's when his eyes turned a glowing white.
"Are you Carmen Reyes?" Phantom calmly asked.
"I am." Reyes politely bowed to him and looked back up to him. "And you are the Phantom."
At the outskirts of Chicago…
Mystique swiftly followed the Phantom's tracks through the night and into the morning, arriving in Chicago. Reaper had found a way to compromise S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tracking database from their fortress and was able to key the locations of White Tiger and Spider-Man through their communicators, as well as monitor the locations of all the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers in the air.
She arrived into the city flying on another one of the black jets that was at the disposal of the brotherhood, similar to the ones Reaper had flown into the Yukon and Los Angeles. She scouted out the area, receiving reports from her computer as to where the two superheroes were.
As she was flying, she saw a red tinted glow show up at the side of her jet. She turned to see the Nova kid flying next to her, motioning her to open up the rear ramp of the craft.
"What the hell?" Mystique shook her head at Nova, but he didn't take no for an answer.
He flew around to the back and blasted a hole into the ramp, prompting Mystique to get off the pilot's chair and ready herself to fight Nova.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" She angrily asked him as he flew through the destroyed rear ramp and landed in front of her.
"My master has ordered me to assist you in finding the Phantom."
"Are you serious?!" Mystique shook her head. "That bastard sent you to help?!"
"He wants one of the superheroes dead."
"Which one?"
"White Tiger, Spider-Man's beloved." Nova told her, sounding as though he was only repeating what Reaper had told him to do.
"Ah." Mystique sat back down at the pilot's chair. "I could've handled that."
"He wanted me to do it."
"Whatever." Mystique sighed. "You better not double-cross me kid, I'll tear you a new one."
On-board the Aven-Jet…
"I'm telling you, Danny, he's here." Powerman argued as they looked at the database computer. "Nova's in Chicago… I mean, what the hell would he be doing here?"
"Magneto might have some sort of office or base located near here." Iron Fist speculated. "That is my best guess."
"That wouldn't make sense… there's a helicarrier in the sky not too far from here. There's no way he'd be hiding here in the area."
"They said the same about Taskmaster in Manhattan." Iron Fist reminded him. "If only Peter and Ava were here as well."
"Well, they're not." Powerman told him in a rather spiteful tone. "We have to save our friend ourselves."
"You are not honestly blaming them for not being here, are you?"
"They're too busy 'recruiting' mutants with Phantom." Powerman coldly told him. "Too busy wrapped up in their lovey dovey relationship to even take notice of us."
"What happened to Nova is not their fault."
"Do you see them here helping us?" Powerman glared at him. "I don't, so I'd say part of it is their fault."
"You should not act this way."
"Yeah, well I am." Powerman shut him out.
"(Sighs) Okay, so we shall follow him to Chicago, then. We shall see what answers lie for us in store there."
On-board the Tri-Carrier…
As morning grew into day on-board S.H.I.E.L.D's Tri-Carrier over Manhattan, Director Hill began to notice strange reports coming in from S.H.I.E.L.D HQ, and none of it was good. After S.H.I.E.L.D. let Phantom escape Los Angeles, the higher command was becoming impatient on his immediate capture. Special Agent Sitwell was sending encrypted messages back and forth to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ regarding operations on Manhattan's Tri-Carrier, which placed Director Hill in a difficult position, because Sitwell wasn't notifying her of what was being said.
She stood at the terminal at the bridge trying to decipher what the hell Sitwell was saying when Coulson walked in.
"Specialists, bring up a thirty mile radius of the island from an aerial move." Coulson quickly ordered. "Exclude any commercial flight targets."
"On it, sir." One specialist responded.
"What are you doing, Coulson?" Hill questioned him, but he simply ignored her, seeming to be anxious to see the results.
Within moments, a holographic 3D view of the island displayed near the command terminal. Hill's heart dropped as she saw it, two helicarriers were closing in on their location.
"What the hell are two helicarriers incoming for?" Hill asked as she saw the image.
"HQ sent them." Coulson shook his head as he turned to Hill. "They're coming to de-commission the Tri-Carrier, Sitwell's with them."
"What are you talking about?"
"I de-encrypted the messages between Sitwell and HQ. The Triskelion asked for our immediate arrest for aiding a wanted fugitive!" Coulson hastily explained to Hill.
"How the hell…? They have no proof that we've helped him!" Hill tried to keep her voice down so the other specialists wouldn't hear.
"Sitwell must've pushed a bunch of 'evidence' towards them until they finally gave-in and gave him the authority to go after us."
"Ugh… Damn it!" Hill took a deep sigh.
"I don't know about you, but I'm not going to hand over myself so easily to the likes of Sitwell." Coulson crossed his arms.
Hill took a long moment to think on it. "We're not going to."
Author's Note: So this was a smaller chapter for this week. Not much to really say about it but I'm hoping I'm easing White Fox's introduction as best as I can while keeping the suspense high within the group! Please do let me know what you think so far! :D
As always feedback is appreciated:)
Reviews:
Maelstrom J: I do believe I answered your review through PM, but thanks again for the review! :D
Burke23: Ha, it's not all Nova's fault though, he's just doing what he's being told, you know? Thanks! :D
