With Great Power

By Jessie G. AKA Dory

Author Note: Let me just say thank you for those who understood and apologized. I indeed did very well on my finals - and I should have posted that chapter sooner, but I hadn't gotten around to it (in fact it turned out better this way as I added more detail to it before I sent it in). I'd like to personally respond to a few of you.

halfdemon-gurl15 - I understand where you're coming from - but I do not appreciate you telling me to 'chill out' just because it wasn't as simple as me being irritated by any sort of over-analyzing my reviews. Look at those reviews (since I don't think you did ..) - twice by one reviewer I was pretty much run over with the word "UPDATE". If it was simply a case of people nicely wanting me to update - which for the most case it has been - then I don't think I would have been as irritated. It'd be nice to get more of a comment than "that was great - update now" once in a while though - you know what I mean? So nothing against your comment - I don't think you looked at all the reviews, is all - as you are right, most of them were very nice and I know people just want me to update, which I am.

AvrilsLittleSis - I forgive you ) I actually am rather honored that people want me to update so badly - but it is a tad of an annoyance when it's sorta thrown on me like that. Thank you for the reviews though - either way.

The CheezHead - Thank you so much! I live for these reviews, lol - if you really like the plot-development so far (which I personally thought I could do better in) - than you'll be excited to see all the foreshadowing and irony I've got planned for upcoming chapters! ;)

tigereye99 - Actually, no - not from the DC comic world - I've never actually heard of her, but that was a great guess even so! She actually is just a fan character of mine - but as a hint, you've really gotta take her advice from the last chapter to figure out who she really is. That should be answered in this or upcoming chapters. )

pokey - That's good to hear! I was hoping it would stay mysterious, and I'm glad it has. More mystery coming up!

Phew - that was long. I believe that's about everything I wanted to say. Much thanks to all of you who reviewed - I always appreciate that stuff - even if sometimes it annoys me, lol. Anyways, I started this chapter tonight and finished it after I think about 2 and a half hours (really should had gone to sleep after half an hour), but I simply couldn't stop writing. I hope you all enjoy, I enjoyed writing it, though I'm sure in the morning (or later today at the moment) I won't be too happy about it.


Chapter 5: Two Concealed Identities

Slowly forcing her eyes open, all she could see was a bright darkness surrounding her. A quick intake of breath zipped into her mouth as she sat up to look around at her surroundings - or more correctly, lack of. Where was she? She touched her face with her icy cold hands and realized her mask was still on. Why was she in her costume?

In a flash of an instant it all came back to her, "Phantasm," she held her neck and made a painful face as her throat ached deeply. One of those pains one might get that came when surrounded by too much dust while sleeping. Then everything sort of seeped into your lungs, and caused your throat to feel sour and scratch when you awoke.

She looked around, attempting to adjust her eyes to the harsh darkness around her and could make out a figure right next to her. She slowly crawled over to him, feeling a sudden weakness of sorts in her body.

Cocking her head sideways, she touched the limp figure on what she supposed was his or her arm - an icy and slightly slimy feeling resulted in the simple touch and Cindy shuddered in an instant.

"Jimmy?" She whispered, trying to keep from hurting her voice any further. The body stirred slightly and she edged a little closer, realizing the figure was certainly a boy, but his head wasn't as oddly shaped as Jimmy's.

Squinting her eyes, she peered at the boy, touching him cautiously again and turning his unconscious body over so she could see him more clearly. She gasped and put her hand to her mouth - it all came back to her.

"You're the boy who ," she touched Dash's pale and cold cheek"Saved ... me."

She ran through her thoughts - did she remember his name? It started with.. some.. letter. That's all she clearly remembered. It came back to her that Jimmy had foolishly said her name, and this boy had thought her name was pretty. She smiled at that thought and touched the edge of his mask.

For a moment she sat back and thought about that black mask - not really the best thing for concealing someone's identity - but it was generally good enough. It did seem weird though - she recalled his sister, her long black and slightly violet/blue hair - she was almost certain that if she saw the back of that girl's head in a large crowd, she would know who it was. Come on - really, what did the mask really hide? Any idiot could find you unless you really looked - well, just like everyone else. But this boy's mask was even still rather small. If she were to remove it - would he be mad at her? Probably. Then he wouldn't trust her. She would have to wait for him to reveal his identity on his own. Technically, it wouldn't be fair for her to just find out on her own. It was sort of confusing - thinking about it, it was only a mask that covered a limited bit of his face.

'It's not like he's Spider-man - where I would be pulling off a full head mask,' she thought to herself as an argument, 'Then again - your identity is an important thing, right? I would be stealing that from him. And who ever had us captured would find out who he is, and that would just make things even worse.'

She sighed and slumped back a little, she had just mentally argued with herself, and technically - she lost. However that worked out was beyond her rather extensive knowledge.

His face winced in pain briefly, as if he were having a nightmare. Her lips scrunched to the side of her face indecisively as she extended her hand to touch his hair. At her finger tips it was fairly soft, slightly gelled, but it didn't feel sticky. She casually ran her fingers through it as if to comfort him a bit. Though she doubted it would help - he seemed more experienced than her in the whole super hero thing - he was probably used to being captured.

She thought about that for a second, perhaps he was fairly new at this - he was rather foolish in his attempts to rescue her. Very sweet intention, but never-the-less even Jimmy knew better. Then again Jimmy only knew better because his powers happened to be very limited - where as the boy seemed to be capable of vast speed - the ability to .. well, Dash.

"Oh" she whispered and smiled, looking at his face, "That's it," she said to no one in particular "Your name is Dash - I remember now," she sort of giggled, "Your name fits perfectly."

Taking her fingers out of his hair, she clasped her own together and put them in her lap. Looking down at her hands she sighed and wondered where they were. The floor felt cold, and slimy, so she assumed they were stuck in some sort of cage.

"Yeah - that's what my parents say all the time," a weak but smiling voice replied to her last comment.

Her eyes went wide and her body spun around to look at Dash, still on the ground, but his arms crossed and a little grin on his face. Her own face lit up instantly and she embraced him with a hug.

"Oh thank goodness!" She shrieked, "Man - you were out like a light," she pulled back from a slightly red Dash who had been shocked by the hug, "That was REALLY stupid of you, yanno. I mean Neutron on his own has done a lot of stupid things" she thought about that for a second off to the side and nodded in confirmation, "But that was really stupid, Dash."

He pushed himself up with his arms, a slight narrow in his eyes, "Would you prefer to be sitting in here alone?"

Cindy opened her mouth as if to respond, but she closed her mouth and looked off to the ground, wrapping her arms around her nervously. She didn't even really have to respond at all.

"I rest my case," He nodded, closing his eyes and making as if he knew best. We already have confirmed that he doesn't.

She rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly, "Where do you suppose we are?" She turned a little cocky and crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Or do you already know the answer to that too, Sherlock?"

He nervously gave a, "Heh - well," and gulped, looking at their surroundings.

"I rest my case," She replied, mockingly.

He ignored her for a moment and looked carefully around, "I see bars over there - and some blue rays - guessing that they'll electrocute or shock us if we try to escape," he turned back to Cindy, "So I guess we're in a cage."

"Obviously," she muttered sadly, she looked up, "I'm sorry - I didn't intend that to be, well, ok it did come off as sarcastic," she laughed at his slight scowl, "But I didn't really mean it - I guess it's just pretty obvious that we're trapped."

He nodded and sighed, "Do you remember anything after I passed out?"

Putting a finger to her chin she thought briefly, "Eh - Phantasm was arguing back and forth with Jimmy, Sheen, and your sister - and then there was this sort of rippling effect like the whole world was ," she stopped with a blank stare.

"Was? " Dash stared back at her, waving a hand in front of her face. She caught his hand without as much as a flinch, "What?" He turned around and gave a horrified gasp to see a recognizable figure in the distance on the opposite side of the bars and rays.

"Boo." the figure responded with a smug smile on her barely visible face.

"Hey guys!" An out of breath Libby yelled, followed shortly behind her was Carl, who looked rather pained and even more exhausted, "What did we miss?" She put her hands on her knees as she stopped next to Sheen who had just finished giving the stupid comment of 'bummer' and had received serious glares from both Jimmy and Violet.

Sheen shrugged, "Not much really - when I came in there was this big butted roll-y machine," extending his arms out as if it really were that size, "it had more legs than the Spider-Monster in that Ultra Lord episode 'Attack of the 8 Foot 8 Legged Freakazoids', and it captured Cindy. Then this blonde dude ran up to save her - which was reallly stupid of him, I mean he has my exact powers, but even I wouldn't have been as foolish as that," Violet, who was now next to Jimmy scowled once again with her arms crossed as Sheen continued, "We had some exchange in conversation with this Phantasm chick in all black, she suggested I look in the thesaurus, I guess that's like a dinosaur or something, then she pulled a Houdini," he wiggled his fingers magically in the air as if he were to cast a spell, "In other words - now Cindy and - what's his name? Rash?"

"DASH!" Violet hissed, nearly in tears since the disappearance of her brother.

Sheen nodded carelessly "Yeah - Dash, whatever. Point is - Phantasm lady and the many-legged machine kidnapped them, and then disappeared," he shrugged and then looked excited as Carl sat on the ground," SO - on more exciting news, what happened with the zipper and the fire department and Sam's cat? That must have been 11 minute cartoon worthy!"

"Not in my opinion," Carl replied weakly with a finger in the air as he sighed deeply.

Libby nodded in agreement, "Ok - so what's the plan Jimmy?"

He looked down at his twiddling fingers "I'm really not too sure - I mean, she just vanished without any truly logical way of it occurring. It was kind of like a mirage or something, I don't know - that technically is the definition of 'phantasm' after all."

Violet's face lit up, "Say - would any of you happen to have a thesaurus? I think I would like to take up that lady's advice," she put her hand to her chin and thought for a moment.

Jimmy shrugged, "I carry one in my backpack, but it isn't with me."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, wordless.

"WHAT? I'm a genius - isn't that what you'd expect from me?" He raised his hands up in the air like it was a big deal.

"Really?" Violet asked with severe interest.

Jimmy shyly put his hands behind him, "Well it's nothing to be embarrassed of - I mean, I'm sure a lot of people have dictionaries in their backpack as well - actually, I do have one too, " but Violet cut him off.

"No, no - I mean - are you really a genius?" She waved her arms briefly and then looked at him expectantly.

"Welll - I don't like to brag, " Jimmy sort of blushed at this.

"Psh," Sheen responded.

Carl snorted as well, "Are you kiddin' Jim? You LOVE to brag - especially to Cindy," he paused, "I guess you're right Libby - that whole Love/Hate thing does sorta make sense. He LOVES to brag - he LOVES to brag to CINDY -."

"ENOUGH!" Jimmy shouted back sourly, turning to Violet with a smile, "Yeah, in pretty much most countries I'm pretty much officially a genius," he thought briefly, "Though some of the Eastern countries aren't really willing to care about making it official - but I guess that doesn't matter too much."

"Hmm - fascinating," Violet pondered for a moment, "Ok - well back on topic, do you have a thesaurus? Or anyone - yanno - near you."

Libby suddenly perked up, "We could check one online or something, right? That should work."

"TO THE INTERNET!" Sheen screamed victoriously, there was absolute silence.

"Yeah - I guess for the first time I'll agree with you eyebrow-less wonder," Violet smiled.

Jimmy smiled, "Fortunately - with a quick call from Goddard, we can have a wireless internet with us in an instant."

Violet raised an eyebrow, "Isn't Goddard - I don't really recall exactly, but some sort of scientist?"

"Nah," Sheen replied, as they all came closer together, "Goddard's a dog! Where the heck did you get the idea that he was a scientist?" He stared at her as if she were lower than his own IQ.

While Jimmy click on his watch and waited from a response from his dog, he looked up at Sheen, "Actually, Sheen - I named Goddard after the famous scientist who," two barks interrupted his response on his watch, he looked at the video down on his watch and smiled, "Hey boy! Could you lock my coordinates and fly over here quickly? We're in need of your internet services."

"Bark, bark!" The mechanical pooch replied happily and the screen went black as Jimmy smiled, satisfied completely.

Within a few moments, Goddard appeared in the distance, his ears acting like a helicopter.

"Amazing!" Violet gasped, "Syndrome would have envied you," she thought briefly, "Probably would have tried to kill you for that dog, for that matter."

"Who is this Syndrome any," Jimmy was about to ask as Goddard landed, Jimmy smiled and pat his loyal mutt on the head, "Good boy - ok, buddy - go onto the internet thesaurus, please."

A screen popped open on Goddard's stomach and a loading sign appeared, Violet gasped, completely impressed. The website came up and a keyboard came out right below the screen.

Jimmy was about to type but Sheen popped up in front of him and typed 'incompetent' on the keyboard.

"Sheen!" Jimmy whined, but Sheen ignored his annoyance.

"What? Phantasm TOLD me to look it up - I'm just doing what she said," He looked at the screen and nodded "amateur, amateurish, awkward, bungling, bush ... bush? As in ?" but he was cut off by Libby.

"Please, Sheen! No political jokes right now," Libby sighed, putting a hand to her forehead.

Sheen shrugged, "But it says that! Honest! It can't be talking about, you know - a regular old green bush, right?"

Jimmy pushed Sheen out of the way and held his arm out so that Violet could type. She quickly typed in 'phantasm' and scanned the results.

"There's quite a number of results her," she mumbled, "But it's got to be here - AHA" She shrieked, scaring most of them to fall a little backwards from her burst of out-of-character shriek. She pointed to the second entry.

Sheen squinted, "apparition, blunder, casuistry, chicanery, daydream, deception, deception, deceptiveness, dream, eidolon, error, fallacy, false impression, fancy, fantasy, figment, fool's paradise, ghost, hallucination, head trip, ignis fatuus, illusion, lapse, mirage, misapprehension, misbelief, mistake, oversight, phantasm, phantom, pipe dream, self-deception, shade, speciousness, spuriousness, trickery, trip, vision - so what?"

She pointed to a specific word, "You guys wouldn't understand - but I do," her finger lay just under the word 'mirage', "She was hinting to us before - saying to look in the thesaurus - she meant truly under her own name. Mirage - that's our friend, she at first was working for Syndrome. She tricked my dad, but ended up becoming our friend. Perhaps - could it be ..?" Violet scratched her head.

"What does that all mean?" Jimmy asked, slightly confused.

"It means," Violet turned to the rest of them"Two things - Phantasm is either actually Mirage, or someone related to Mirage."

To Be Continued ..