He was known to most as the Phantom.

No one knew who he was exactly, only that he struck at night. Criminals looked up to the rooftops in fear because of him. Police cursed him for doing their jobs better than they ever could.

Soul City needed its dark protector. A corrupt hive of scum and villainy, the rich prayed on the poor, using the police as their enforcers. Few stood against the tide alongside him. That was all he needed, however.

One such woman stood on the rooftop of the Soul City Police Department. Winter had begun to set in, so she pulled the collar of her beige double breasted trench coat up to give her some small bit of protection against the cold. The cigarette hung loosely in her mouth offered some more warmth, however small.

She held a folder between her bicep and chest, ready to hand it off.

Her short, brown hair blew gently in the wind, and her blazing read eyes looked over the city.

"Lieutenant."

Several years ago, the voice would have made her jump. That time has long passed.

Makoto Niijima took another drag of her cigarette before turning to face the shadows cast by the neighboring building and air conditioner units. She frowned, the already early wrinkles deepening around her eyes.

"You're getting rusty," she said. "I heard you coming twenty seconds ago."

From the shadows, the Phantom stepped out. Clad in a black, ankle-length tailcoat, the figure could easily hide in the darkness. The only two pieces of color that stood out were his pair of bright, blood-red gloves and the white domino mask adorning his face.

Stubble peppered his chin, with a distinctly salt and pepper coloration to it, not matching the black hair that fell out of his hat. It only added to his grim expression as white eyes met Niijima's red.

He asked, "Kamoshida?" His voice was gravelly and terse, preferring to stick to as few words as possible.

Niijima sniffed and threw her cigarette away. "Another one. This time a girl. Kasumi Yoshizawa. She's been missing for a few days and her father's putting pressure on us to find her."

She handed off the folder to the Phantom and shoved her hands in the pockets of the trench coat. He flipped it open and began pouring over the first page. Details on Suguru Kamoshida. It listed his current residence, his list of other misdemeanors and felonies, such as an assault charge and other acts of drunkenness.

Over the past few months, multiple missing child and teenager reports had begun appearing. All of them were children of high-ranking officials in Soul City's local government or people with deep pockets.

He turned the page to see a girl with auburn hair and a ribbon tying it into a ponytail. She had won some kind of competition in this photo, posing proudly with a first-place trophy.

The Phantom's eyes narrowed.

She pulled out another cigarette and lit it. "I can only do so much within the law. There's someone high up who doesn't want me getting close to him. But you're outside the law. You can go places I can't. Get in, take him down, bring him to me. Understand?"

The Phantom nodded and handed back the folder. He looked out over the city, the lights were almost blinding, hiding the truth enemy beneath.

Niijima followed his gaze. "He's out there somewhere. Hurting that girl. I'm counting on you, Joker."

When she turned to looked at him, the space he was stood was empty, the Phantom having disappeared without a trace.

"Hmph." She shook her head and started walking back towards the roof entrance. "One day I'll see how he does that."


The Phantom, Joker, slipped into the small, one-bedroom apartment form the balcony. Based on the reports he had gotten from Niijima, this is where Suguru Kamoshida was officially staying.

He pressed his earpiece and spoke aloud. "Oracle. I'm in."

"Reading you loud and clear, Joker!" a young and perky voice called over the earpiece. "The Lieutenant came through after all."

Joker reached into his coat and pulled out a flashlight. He scanned the sparsely decorated living space. There was a small box T.V. pressed against the wall, a coffee table in the center, along with a couch opposite of it. Scattered on the table were several letters and documents. "She has a good track record."

"God, you're still using the voice," Oracle groaned under her breath. "Hold on, I'm bringing up phone records right now."

He looked down at the coffee table. Not much from what he could see from here. Mostly bills, a few job applications, nothing that would seem out of the ordinary. He moved on from the desk.

"Well, this is interesting," Oracle mused.

"What is?" Joker asked, moving onto the kitchen area.

"Based on what I can tell from his cellphone's GPS, he's not here very often," she replied. "He turns it off when he's not here, so I don't know where he goes, but it looks like he's only here a few days a week, if that."

He began opening cupboards and drawers. Sure enough, there we very few dishes he could find, only a few pans, one plate, one bowl, one cup, and one set of utensils. Not impossible to live a life like that day in and day out, but even one person would typically want more than one bowl.

"That just begs the question," Joker mused, moving towards the bedroom door. He reached out and grabbed the door handle. The door squeaked as he opened it. "Where does he go?"

The things Joker saw in the bedroom made his skin crawl. There was a small bed in the center and a desk facing across from it. Along the wall were pictures tacked on, each showing a child. Some of them were reappeared more than once. All of them were crying.

The flashlight beam began to waver as Joker's hands shook. His breathing grew heavy as he looked at all of the frightened children. So far, he counted twelve unique individuals.

Twelve children… gone.

"My God…" Oracle breathed. Through his mask, she was getting a direct feed of what he saw.

He moved to the desk and grabbed the letter upon it.

Yoshizawa's girl.

8:00 PM

Warehouse 6

Take your time

"Does this mean anything to you?"

When Oracle didn't respond, Joker gave her another moment before repeating the question. "Oracle."

"Huh?"

"The letter."

"R-Right, yeah, the-the letter." She cleared her throat and began typing on her end. "Obviously Kasumi Yoshizawa, daughter of TV mogul _ Yoshizawa, has been missing for several days. There are a lot of warehouses, but of the ones that go up to six…"

Joker looked back up at the pictures. All these children taken from this world. For what? Money? Power? God forbid, an example to be made?

A presence stirred in the back of Joker's mind. He stomped it back into place.

"Try the south pier," Oracle said. "Of all the warehouses, I'd put my money on that one."

"Make sure to send an anonymous tip to the police. They'll want to see this."

"What's the plan now?"

He adjusted his gloves. "Justice."


Kasumi Yohsizawa was terrified.

It wasn't the kind of scared a kid would get when their parent caught them doing something wrong, or when they get told stories of a boogeyman. She wasn't being told a story right now. She was in the story.

It started on her way home from school a few days ago. Her sister, Sumire, had to get picked up early from being sick. Kasumi had told her father she could walk to the station alone, as she had done many times before.

She hoped off the first train transfer and was waiting for her next train when she was grabbed. A black bag shoved over her head, her hands tied behind her back, and then she was roughly thrown into a vehicle.

They gagged her, tied her to a chair, and let her to rot in the middle of a warehouse. Once a day – she assumed it was once a day, it was hard to tell – they would give her a cup of water and nothing else.

None of them would say anything. Only holding out the cup and then leaving.

It was so cold. She was so very very hungry. She hadn't eaten in days.

Her tears had long since dried up. Now she just waited.

A door opened. It was so loud, like a knife in the silence of the warehouse. It wasn't for her daily cup of water, that had happened only a few hours ago (was it hours? Had a full day actually passed?).

Footsteps echoed throughout the warehouse, coming closer to her. They seemed more ominous than usual, shaking Kasumi to her core. She tried scooting away, but she was tied so thoroughly and completely to her chair that escape was impossible.

They stopped directly in front of her. A deep voice purred. "Oh, now what do we have here?"

The bag on her head was ripped off. The sudden shift in brightness blinded her for a moment, causing her to flinch back. As her eyesight adjusted, she found herself seated in front of a table.

She looked to her left and up. A large, muscular man with messy hair and a lecherous grin stood above her. He licked his lips. "My my, I never knew Yoshizawa had such a babe for a daughter."

He tossed the bag over his shoulder. He didn't bother to hide that he was ogling her body. She didn't think she could feel even worse, but this man, this disgusting man, had found a way.

The mention of her father brought more tears she didn't know she had. Her shoulders shook as she let out a choked sob.

The man above her sneered down at her. "Little girls like you shouldn't cry. It ruins your good looks."

He reached down and started to unbutton her school jacket. "Aren't you a little hot in this, anyway? Let's take if off."

She started to try to scream, but the gag muffled her. This was it, she thought. No one was coming to save her. This awful, horrible excuse for a man would do what he pleased with her and then kill her.

Just as he undid the last of the buttons, the lights of the warehouse suddenly went out. The man let out a scream that was a little too high pitched for his size. "The fuck?! Someone gets those lights back on!"

The emergency lights flared to life, drowning them all in red. The man growled. "This is all wrong. I can't get in the mood like this."

"Suguru Kamoshida."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. It's resonance froze the man, Kamoshida, in place.

"The utter bastard of lust," the voice said. "Let the girl go. Turn yourself into the police. Do this and you won't be harmed. Refuse and I will break every bone in your body."

"Who the fuck does this guy think he is?" Kamoshida growled, reaching into his pants and pulling out a gun. He pointed it directly at Kasumi's head. She screamed again. "Come near me, and the bitch gets it! You want the death of a little girl on your hand?!"

Around them, a group of men in black surrounded both Kamoshida and Kasumi, assault rifles aimed towards the rafters and any high point.

She could hear one of them whisper, "Shit, it's him."

"It's not him, how could he had known?" another reassured him.

"Both of you, shut the fuck up!" Kamoshida yelled. "Last chance, mystery man! Leave now and the girl lives! For another day, at least!"

They all waited in anticipation. A bead of sweat trickled down Kamoshida's temple. He pulled back the hammer of his pistol.

Finally, a reply.

"Fine, then."

At first, Kasumi's eyes went wide. Was this man abandoning her? Did he arrive to threaten her captors only to grow cold feet at the last second?

A flash of silver, and Kamoshida's gun was knocked from his hand. He screamed and held up the knife that was embedded in his hand.

The rest of the men immediately opened fire. Gunfire roared around her, and she was unable to cover her ears.

After just a few seconds the bullets stopped flying and the warehouse was again silent. Behind her, Kamoshida was breathing heavily and trying to pull the knife from his hand.

"Did we get him?" one of the men asked.

He got his answer in the form of a shadow leaping out of the darkness. It tackled him to the ground, grabbed his rifle, and threw it directly into the guard's face next to them. The shadow grabbed the man by the hair and slammed his face into the ground, knocking both him out.

The rest of the group were frozen in fear as the shadow stood to its full height. Its pure white eyes scanned the room. There were only four men, not counting Kamoshida, left.

The shadow's eyes fell on Kasumi. Her breath stopped. It was him. The legendary Phantom of Soul City.

Joker.

He grabbed the table and threw it against the two men on the left before he immediately rushed the remaining two guards.

The man in front went to distract Joker, dropped his gun, and pulled out a knife, while the other ejected the clip in his rifle and fumbled for another.

Joker expertly avoided the swing, grabbed the arm, and broke it at the elbow. The guard screamed as Joker grabbed the knife and slammed the hilt into his face, knocking him out. He threw the knife into the remaining man's leg.

As he screamed in pain, Joker turned his attention towards the two guards he threw the table at. They got back to their feet and rushed him at the same time. He swatted the first swing out of the way before ducking under the next, following it up by kicking the legs out from under the first man.

He reached into his coat, pulled out a baton and smacked the other in the face. Kasumi was pretty sure a tooth flew out. He fell into a crumpled pile.

From what appeared to be instinct, Joker turned around and chucked the baton towards her. She flinched, expecting it to hit her, but instead heard Kamoshida yell in pain again. She twisted her head around and saw him on the ground, holding his nose. She thought she saw some blood pouring through his fingers, but it was hard to tell in the lighting.

Saving her cost Joker, however, as the last guard standing wrapped his forearm around his neck from behind and began squeezing. Joker snarled and tried to wrench the forearm free, but if the guard was one thing, it was strong. He twisted and pulled against Joker's struggle.

The guard with the knife in his leg pulled it out and began stumbling towards the struggle. Joker took stock of the situation, shifted his weight, and threw his weight forward. It sent the guard flying forward into his partner, laying them both out on the floor.

Joker took this opportunity to catch his breath and stretch out his neck. The guard with the knife was out, but the final guard was still struggling to get to his feet. Joker shook his head and made his way over to the guard.

He rolled him over with his foot and climbed on top of him. Joker raised a fist and sent it into the man's jaw. He raised it again and repeated the motion twice. Kasumi watched as he gave a light slap to the man's face and nod in satisfaction.

Now it was just her, him, and Kamoshida struggling behind them.

Joker zeroed in on Kasumi. She felt her heart pound in her chest. She couldn't see any emotion in those pale white eyes of his. His mouth was a thin line, not giving her anything. She flinched back as he stepped over to her. She tried to get away from the hand that was reaching down to her…

…to take off the gag on her mouth. She blinked several times before she looked up as Joker crouched down to her level. "Are you okay?" he asked.

His voice was rough and scratchy, but calm and even. It was the same voice that struck fear into her captors, but she found it soothing.

She nodded tearfully. The corner of his mouth ticked upwards into a small smile before he looked behind her. He pulled out a knife and cut the ropes tying her to the chair.

Her arms shot out and wrapped around his arms into a tight hug. The knife fell to the floor as he returned the embrace.

"Thank you," she cried, sobbing into his shoulder. "Thank you thank you thank you."

Joker gave her a pat on the back before pulling her away. He nodded and said, "I'm going to need you to close your eyes and cover your ears. Can you do that?"

Kasumi shook her head. "I don't—"

"Can you?" he asked again.

She looked over her shoulders at a fearful Kamoshida was still on the floor. She turned back to Joker, who seemed to now be focusing on the bastard.

"O-okay," she said. "I can."

"Thank you."

He got to his feet and walked past her as she did what he said.


Kamoshida didn't understand.

He was told he'd be protected. He could do whatever he wanted with the little girls they brought to him.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

He tried to crawl away as the Phantom stepped past the Yoshizawa bitch and moved towards him.

"Someone is putting a lot of effort into protecting you," the Phantom growled. "I want to know who."

Kamoshida fumbled around for the gun and yelp in triumph as he grabbed hold of it. He aimed it at the Phantom. "Fuck you!"

The gun was knocked from his hand again. He screamed at the knife now lodged in his good hand.

"W-What the fuck…" Kamoshida mumbled. "What the fuck are you?!"

The Phantom never broke stride.

"You can't harm me," he said. "Nothing can harm me."

He stomped on Kamoshida's forearm, pining him to the ground.

"But I know pain." His eyes narrowed. "I know pain."

He presented his red gloved right hand to him. It began to… change.

The glove turned black and began to stretch into claws. His sleeve slowly started to turn red, almost with a scaly texture.

Kamoshida couldn't even scream. He was frozen in place.

The Phantom's lip curled up into a sneer. "Sometimes I like to share it…"

He reached down towards Kamoshida.

"…with someone like you."


It was ten minutes before Joker placed a hand on Kasumi's shoulder.

She opened her eyes and looked at him crouched in front of her. There was some blood on his face that wasn't there before. She wasn't sure if it was his or not. She tried to look behind her, but Joker placed a hand on her cheek and forced to her look at him.

He just shook his head. She took his advice and didn't look back.

"The police are on their way," he said to her. "Your father is with them."

She nodded silently.

Joker got up to leave, but Kasumi reached out and grabbed him by the arm. "Can…"

She stopped. Joker would probably think she's silly.

He crouched back down. "What is it?"

"Can you…" She shifted in her seat. "Can you stay? Until they get here?"

Joker smiled at her. "Of course."

He walked over, grabbed one of the chairs from the floor and placed it right next to her. He took a seat and exhaled, tension washing out of his frame. He sounded tired, Kasumi noted, as she leaned into him.

An arm wrapped around her shoulder. She leaned in closer. Neither commented on her quiet sobs.


Makoto Niijima looked on as Yoshizawa embraced his daughter.

The police had arrived ten minutes after Joker sent in the call that Kamoshida had been taken down and that the girl was safe. Another separate tip was sent to investigate his apartment, which she would be doing as soon as possible.

The girl was safe… and the criminal was in custody.

He looked like he got mauled by a bear. Claw marks across his face, broken bones, missing teeth, it was unlikely the bastard would ever walk again. He was still unconscious when they arrived.

She would lie and say she felt sorry, nor that she would have done any different if she were in Joker's position, but it made things complicated.

They needed Kamoshida for questioning, and they needed it now. Not only would he get targeted in prison for his crimes (pedophiles had a low life expectancy in prison), whoever was bankrolling him would undoubtedly try to quiet him.

As usual, placed on his chest was a chard. It was a simple playing card, the joker, with a top hat and a flaming eye on the back. The symbol of the Phantom of Soul City. His calling card, he had called it once.

She walked into a nearby alleyway and lit up a cigarette. She blew out a puff of smoke and announced, "They aren't sure when he's going to wake up. Could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be next week. You did a number on him."

"He'll live," Joker's voice answered from the dark.

Niijima nodded. "Most likely. Still, it'll make protecting him harder. We need him awake and talking and he won't be doing that right now."

"He did give me something."

Her head snapped over to the heavy shadows as Joker stepped out. He adjusted his glove and gave her a hard stare.

"They're going to start expanding. They want the whole city."

"The whole…" Niijima shook her head. "This was blackmail. Someone got the girl and tried to use her as leverage against Yoshizawa. For what?"

"They were never going to give her back," Joker said grimly. "She was an example. She wasn't the first."

Niijima took out her cigarette and threw it to the ground. "Which of the crime families could be bankrolling him? Most of them are satisfied with their slice of Soul City, I don't see them trying a hostile takeover."

"It doesn't matter. They'll all go down."

Niijima chortled as she looked back towards the scene of Yoshizawa refusing to let his little girl go, ushering her towards the paramedics.

"Thanks again, Joker." She turned back to him. "For helping that—"

Once again, he was gone without a trace. She clicked her tongue and shook her head before heading back towards the gathering of police cars.