Okay, I know it was a bit of a longer wait, but I am satisfied with this chapter! Mind you, it was extremely hard to write. I know it's kind of unrealistic that it was a week before this took place, but I don't care, I'm making it that way. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Cat and the Canary
Phantom sat on his hospital bed, staring intently at the clock. His eyes narrowed a fraction, his pupils following the second hand as it slowly ticked.
The minute hand moved.
"Uuuugh!" Phantom groaned, flopping onto the bed. He was so bored! It had only been a week since he had gotten here, and he had already run out of things to draw. He wanted to quit drawing so much of what had happened and start drawing what was happening. There was also this new style he wanted to try. Just one problem-nothing was happening! He glanced at the clock again.
7:33 pm.
"Come on Phantom, think outside the box." He muttered. There must be something he could draw. Or...maybe he didn't need to draw. Grinning, he formed an ice crystal in his hand and began shaping it. He had gotten much more finesse since discovering them, and he easily wove the delicate strands to his will. He carefully shaped it into a person he had come to know well. He painstakingly scratched texture into the figurine, adding tiny details that only skilled crafters would have picked out. He added the eyes last, putting as much feeling and depth into them as he could manage. He looked at the finished piece with pride. Standing in his palm, looking very regal, was a mini Frostbite. Phantom was pleasantly surprised that it had turned out so well. He glanced at the clock once more.
7:37 pm.
"Seriously!?" He muttered, setting the figure on his nightstand. He sighed, standing up. He was shocked that it had only taken him four minutes to make the mini Frostbite. It had felt like forever. He glared at the little figure. Just sitting there. Mocking him.
He crossed the room, stopping to stare at the closed door for a minute. There were probably some pretty interesting rooms out there...
"Now Phantom." He scolded himself. "You really shouldn't leave." Superman had told him that it would be a good idea if only a few people saw him at a time, and waltzing out in the open was a pretty good way to attract attention. "I really shouldn't disobey him..."
Phantom turned his back to the door and tried to forget about it. But then he slowly turned his head. He phased through the door, staying invisible as he began to float down the hallway. "Just for a minute." He assured himself. "Then I'll go right back."
-Time skip-
Phantom had flown around the ship about three times now. He would look in a room if he heard something interesting, but so far nothing had caught his attention.
"I am talking about sparring." A woman's voice said as he passed the room.
"That'd be nice too." Curious, Phantom poked his head in, staying invisible.
There were two people inside what looked like a training room. A woman with long, thick blond hair was in what looked to Phantom like a black swimsuit. Was that all female superheroes wore here? Swimsuits? There was also a blonde man with a mustache and goatee, wearing jeans and a white tank top. They were both walking toward a ring on the floor, and right then, Phantom knew he was in for some major flirting. Ordinarily, he would have just ignored them and gone on, but this was way more interesting than anything else he'd found. Even if it was gonna be really mushy.
The two faced each other, slowly circling. Phantom watched them with equal intensity.
The woman struck first, stepping forward to throw a punch. Phantom knew then that something was up. By the looks of her, she fought often and fought hard. She was just begging for a beating.
The man stepped to the side, easily avoiding the attack. As she fell forward from her own momentum, he grabbed her arm and pulled her close.
"You're telegraphing." He informed her. "You need to center yourself."
'Actually, she wants something and is fighting like a rank amateur to get it.' Phantom thought.
"Center myself. Got it." He let her go, and they were once again a fair distance apart. Phantom shook his head. Flirting was a complicated game, but from the looks of it, they both knew how to play.
The woman aimed a kick at the man, but he easily caught her foot. Not surprising, seeing as how purposefully slow it had been. He flipped her over, then pinned her arms behind her back. She flipped her head, her mane of hair flying out of her face as she did. "You're good." 'Okay,' Phantom thought, 'that was hot.'
"You should see me when I'm trying." The man answered.
"I'd like that. In fact, I could really use your help on something. But the league can't know. I'll explain once we're on the surface."
Phantom was instantly curious, but also suspicious. He quirked an eyebrow, even though no one could see. What kind of secret did this lady have?
"I don't know. It sounds fishy." Good, this guy wasn't a total idiot.
"I promise, it's for a good cause." She persisted. He continued to look at her. Finally she said,"How about a wager? If I can get out of this hold, you help me."
The man tightened his grip, causing the woman to wince. "Deal."
The man went flying across the room and slammed into the wall, causing a towel to fall onto his head. Correction, he was a total idiot.
The woman walked over to him, holding out her hand. "I'll drive."
After they left, Phantom made himself visible and sat on a bench to think. Should he follow them, or just go back to his room?
He snorted to himself. Like he would ever go back to his room after overhearing a conversation like that.
-Line break-
Phantom flew invisibly alongside the speeding motorcycle, straining slightly to keep up. He really needed to start working again, he was way more out of shape than he had thought. He focused his hearing, shutting out the din of traffic to catch their conversation.
"You can hold onto me if you want." The woman said in a slightly teasing voice. The man, looking slightly uncomfortable, wrapped his arms around her waist. "So tell me about Wildcat. What's so secret you couldn't talk about it in the Watch tower?"
"He's doing Metabrawl- illegal no holds bar cage fighting." She responded. "Mostly super powered criminals or guys with chemical enhancements. Only rule-they fight till one guy stays down."
"Why's he doing it?" The man asked. 'Good question.' Phantom thought.
"He loves to fight. Before he joined the league he was the worlds heavy weight boxing champ."
"I remember. But doesn't he get enough fighting in the league?"
"I think the league is part of the problem. It's like he's going through some sort of midlife crisis. I'm worried something's gonna happen to him."
The mans face sank slightly. "Oh." He said, before unwrapping his arms from her waist. Phantom rolled his eyes. Did this guy seriously think that this lady felt that way about Wildcat? He was so clueless.
Just like Danny.
Phantom felt a little twinge in his chest. Danny had never gotten to tell Sam how much he cared about her, and he had regretted it every moment that they had been in prison.
Phantom shoved those thoughts away. There was nothing to be done about it now. No point dwelling on things he couldn't change.
-Line break-
"Actually, that was just for one ticket. If you're both going, it's two."
Phantom mentally growled. What a swindler. Good thing he was invisible, or Green Arrow might have popped a blood vessel. He was glad he was no longer mentally referring Green Arrow and Black Canary as "the man" and "the woman".
After Green Arrow had paid the insane price for tickets and the two had walked away towards the secret arena, Phantom paused. 'I really shouldn't do this.' He thought. 'It's petty, and arrogant, and completely immature, but I just decided that I don't care.' Still invisible, stuffed the man head first in the nearest trash can.
When he found Green Arrow and Black Canary, they were headed toward a secluded room at the back of the arena. They entered the room to find Wildcat shadow boxing the air.
"Yeah?" Wildcat said, before looking up to see who it was. He obviously didn't like what he found. "What is this?" He scowled as Black Canary walked up to him. Phantom winced. She and Green Arrow were gonna have a hard time convincing this guy.
"We wanna help you, Ted. We wanna get you out of here."
"Why, does it look like I have a problem?" Wildcat growled, pulling off his mask as he did.
"You do if you don't see what you've become here." She gestured with her hand to emphasize her point. "You're entertainment for these people- the rooster in a cock fight."
"Fighting is what I do, alright? It's all I was ever good at and I'm still good at it- I'm Wildcat! The guy who fights." Phantom thought he detected a hint of sadness as he finished, "That's what I am."
The woman reached up and placed her hand on Wildcats face. "You're so much more than that." She said softly. Green Arrow folded his arms and looked away. Phantom rolled his eyes at him, then turned his attention back to the conversation. Wildcat pulled away, saying, "Anyway, I can leave anytime I want, I don't need help." He stressed the last two words as he turned his back on Black Canary and walked across the room.
"Then leave." She insisted. "Right now."
"Agh." Wildcat brushed her off as he continued shadow boxing. "Fighting Atomic Skull tonight and you know he deserves a beating."
"Ted, come on!" Black Canary said.
Wildcat punched a nearby locker, crumpling the metal. "Hey, I was the greatest, alright, I fought am all and I beat am all." He turned back toward Black Canary, eyes burning. "And now look at me! Most of the time they keep me up in that stupid spaceship babysitting! They call me to do real work less and less. Don't you think I see where this is going? I mean- I don't shoot beams from my eyes, I can't turn myself invisible, I don't even have a supersonic bird call." Phantom bit his lip. He could feel tensions in the room rising, and what Wildcat had said had clearly struck a nerve with Black Canary.
"So that's it?" She hissed. "You're angry at people with powers and down here you get to beat on them?" Wildcat turned away, pulling his mask back over his head. Black Canary grabbed his shoulder. "Am I getting too close now?"
Wildcat struck out at her, slapping her hard across the face. Phantom recoiled as if he was the one Wildcat was aiming at as Green Arrow immediately got between the two. "Hey, settle down!"
Wildcat grabbed his shirt. "How's this your business, huh?"
Black Canary pushed the two apart. "Stay out of it, Ollie." She snapped.
Green Arrow held up his hands. "That's it. I'm done." Phantom didn't hesitate to follow as he stormed out. Crime fighting he could handle, but emotional confrontation? Forget about it! It reminded him too much of Jazz's failed attempts to help Danny. The only difference here was that Danny had never tried to hit Jazz.
"What did you put me in the middle of this for?" Green Arrow growled. "You guys obviously have your own stuff to work out."
"What stuff?" Black Canary half yelled. "I'm trying to help a friend."
Green Arrow turned to face her. "That sure looked like you were more than friends."
Black Canary's face turned into one of shock. "Did you think- Ted is like a father to me! He trained me, trained a lot of us in the league and kept an eye on us when we were starting out. I owe him." She glanced sullenly back at the door. "Now I guess training isn't enough anymore."
"So you wanna get him out of this quietly cause you don't want him thrown out of the league." Green Arrow said.
"Or worse." Black Canary had a grim look on her face as she focused on the floor. Help her! Phantom wanted to scream.
"Alright." Green Arrow said. "But I saw the look in his eye. He's not gonna budge." 'No, really?'Phantom thought.
"Then I hope I can count on you for plan B."
Green Arrow looked around, seeming slightly uncomfortable. "Uh. There's no place to change."
"Right here'll do." They both turned away from each other and began taking off outer layers. Phantom turned away from them both as his cheeks turned a toxic shade of green.
-Line break-
"Shows over, folks. Forever." Phantom turned his attention from the two swinging heroes. A group of guards was heading toward them. Phantom floated over and discretely froze the ground. He watched in satisfaction as they all toppled over. He then flew toward the door the guards had come through and froze it shut. He knew he was only buying them time, but right now, time was all they needed.
"Hold it!" A powerful voice Phantom recognized as Wildcat echoed through the stands. "Just what do you think your doin?"
Phantom flew over toward the voice, and looked around. The group of guards had been farther from the center than he thought, and as he flew, he realized he was lost. He continued flying, phasing through several walls as he tried to find the center as the voices continued to talk. But the next words made him freeze- literally.
"How would you like to see two league members fight each other? Me and Wildcat, in the cage, right now. That make you some money?"
Phantom couldn't move, couldn't think. All he could do was listen.
"Oh, definitely." A silky voice replied, and Phantom felt an instant dislike toward the owner.
"Then here's the deal." Black Canary continued. "If I win, you ban Wildcat from cage fighting forever." Phantom didn't catch the rest of what she said, but he wasn't registering much at the moment anyway.
"Forget it!" Wildcat yelled.
"Can't do that, Cat. It's much too good an idea. Everything's okay folks, in fact, it's fabulous! Because after a brief intermission, Wildcat is going to fight Black Canary! That's right. Two good guys, fighting each other. And one of them's her!" Loud cheering rose up. "So place your bets."
Phantom raced down the hallway. He wasn't sure what the plan was, but he did know that Green Arrow and Black Canary were going to need all the help they could get. He dropped his invisibility, flying as fast as he could toward the sound of cheering.
He only had time to raise his arms when the door opened.
-Line break-
Atomic Skull was furious. Not only had the fight been interrupted, but it had been interrupted while it looked like he was losing! Now the other guys were teasing him nonstop, and he'd probably never be able to show his face in a cage fight again! He threw the door open and stormed out. He didn't notice that the door slammed shut behind him, barely missing his fingers.
One of the other criminals, a few minutes later, decided to go out to watch the fight between two heroes. When he opened the door, however, there seemed to be something in the way. He gave the door a good shove, and it opened with only some resistance. He glanced down to see a crumpled figure behind the door. He snorted to himself as he walked down the hallway. Some guy probably got drunk and passed out in front of the door.
-Line break-
Phantom moaned as a bright light shone on his face. There was a lot of noise coming from far off, and he rolled over to try and block out the sounds and light. His forearms ached like they had been bruised, but not as much as the shooting pains in his face, especially his nose. The pain made it impossible to go back to sleep, so he eventually he sat up with a groan.
He looked around, confusion clearing the cobwebs from his mind. Why wasn't he in the hospital at the watchtower? He rewound his memory, trying to recall how he'd come to be there. Let's see- bored beyond comprehension, eavesdropping, a fight-
"Dee fide!" He cried out suddenly, regretting it as his nose began to throb again. With the pain came the memories of what had happened. He began once again to fly down the hall, albeit slow enough to stop if another door suddenly opened. As he flew, Phantom began to check himself for injuries. As he rolled up his sleeves, he found that his arms had begun to turn a greenish purple color. He grimaced and rolled them back down. He felt his face, and flakes of dried ectoplasm stuck to his fingers. A bit of fresh ectoplasm was dripping down his face, and he pinched the bridge of his nose to try and stem the flow. But all thoughts of his own injuries were forgotten when he felt it. An familiar pricking in his hands and back. He knew what it was all too well.
His Death sense.
~"Clockwork?" Phantom said. Clockwork turned, face passive as ever. "Right before Danny's family died, I-well, Danny and I, got this pins and needles feeling in my-our back and hands. I-we felt the same feeling the morning before Danny was killed. Does it mean anything?"
"Aah. I see." Clockwork said. "That, my boy, was your Death sense."
Phantom stared. "My...Death sense?"
"Every ghost has one. You feel it when a nearby soul prepares to crossover into the next life. Because even if you know you are not about to die, your soul believes otherwise."
"So whenever I get this feeling, someone nearby going to die?"
Clockwork began winding his staff. "Not necessarily. It simply means there is a fair possibility of death. It is not limited to one person. You can feel if a group of people are about to die, or in extreme cases, where a great deal of death has occurred in the past."
"So...if I get this feeling, I should try to keep everyone safe?" Phantom asked.
"You should be careful, and prepare for loss if your efforts should fail."
"A ghosts Death sense is a mysterious thing, Phantom. Each one is different, and no ghost I have ever known completely understands it. All one can do is be careful and hope for the best."~
Phantom tore down the hall, throwing caution to the wind. He had to find that fight and stop the imminent death he was sure was going to happen. Or maybe someone was going to have a near death experience. Whatever the reason, he knew he had to get there. It went off again, stronger this time. He burst through the last wall, remembering to turn invisible at the last second. What he saw in the ring made him sick.
Green Arrow was on the floor, repeated punches being thrown at his face. Phantom winced as the blows rained down. DO SOMETHING! His mind screamed, but he couldn't think, couldn't move! It didn't help that he could hear Green Arrows teeth as they were forcefully brought together.
Wildcat lifted Green Arrow by his shirt. After a pause, he punched Green Arrow through the air. The instant he landed, Phantom knew this was what his Death sense had been warning him about. The body was too stiff, too still as it lay on the floor. Phantoms vision blurred, and suddenly he was on his hands and knees. It was his fault, again. He'd frozen, and another person had paid for his mistake.
'Don't be stupid.' Phantom suddenly saw Spectra's face in his minds eye. 'I won't let you go blaming yourself for every death that you witness.'
'But I-' He had tried to respond.
'No buts about it, young man. You are not responsible, so stop acting like it.'
Phantom took a deep breath. Spectra had been right then, just like she was now. There was still one death he blamed himself for, but it wasn't this one. He opened his eyes and then frowned. When had the arena gotten so empty? Had he lost consciousness-again? He flew invisibly to the center, and nearly blew his top when he saw Green Arrow.
The dude was sitting up, talking like nothing had happened! Okay, he kind of sounded like he'd been hit by a train, but still, seriously?! He'd been ready to hang himself over a guy who was faking!?
"What's that?" Green Arrows scratchy voice asked. Phantom realized that during his internal rant, he'd dropped his invisibility. He managed to put it back up just as Black Canary and Wildcat turned.
"What's what?" Black Canary asked.
Green Arrow frowned, then said,"Must have been my imagination."
Phantom felt an uncomfortable cold growing inside him. He imagined that a living person would feel a great deal of heat, but he was a ghost, so it was cold. Just his imagination!? He was no freakin-he'd tried to-he was just-ugh! Phantom flew through the roof and back toward the watchtower. A small part of him knew that he shouldn't be getting mad, but he'd been looking for a reason to rant for a while.
-Line break-
Green Arrow watched as Black Canary left the hospital room, leaving him to his bandages and thoughts. He knew that Black Canary was right-even though it had been needed, it had been a pretty stupid thing to do.
"After all that, I'm not sure I have the heart to yell at you." A voice from behind the curtain muttered. Frowning, Green Arrow called,"Who's there?"
There was a pause, then "Pay no attention to that voice behind the curtain!" Green Arrow reached over and pulled it aside, looking for who had spoken.
There was a boy laying in the bed. He looked maybe fourteen or fifteen, and there was a reddish brown book on his lap. He had snow white hair and really green eyes, and his nose was taped with light bruising around his forehead and cheeks. For some reason, Green Arrow felt like he'd seen him before. "Didn't I just say not to pay attention?" The kid said in a grumpy tone. He rolled his eyes, then opened the book and began drawing in it.
"Do I know you?" Green Arrow asked.
The kids eyes widened, and he snapped the book shut with a nervous laugh. "No. Why would I know you? Er, um, you know me? Or, whatever?"
Green Arrow raised an eyebrow. "I just feel like I've seen you before."
"You have never seen me before in your life! I mean, I've never seen you in my life! Er, afterlife." The teen flew across the room and got in Green Arrows face. "We don't know each other, you got that!?"
"Okay!" Green Arrow held up his hands, a little freaked out by the kids behavior.
Green Arrows words seemed to nullify the teen, and he landed on the floor beside his bed. "Well, now that we've established that we don't know each other, my names Phantom."
"Green Arrow."
"Well, nice to meet you."
Green Arrow, still a little put off by Phantoms behavior, asked "What happened to your face?"
"Oh, that." Phantom felt his nose and winced. "I ran into a door at terminal velocity. No big."
"Uh huh." Green Arrow said.
Just then the door opened and Flash zipped in. "Hey Phantom, guess what? Bats says that things have calmed down enough for you to walk around in public! And J'onn says your healed enough to send on missions! Come on, I'll show you around!" Flash grabbed Phantom and was out the door faster than a bullet.
Green Arrow stared for a moment. He glanced at the bed and saw that Phantom had left his sketchbook. With a quick glance around to ensure that he was alone, Green Arrow got up and hobbled over. He opened the sketchbook, and his eyes bugged out when he saw the drawing.
There were chibi versions of him, Black Canary, Wildcat and Phantom. Wildcat and Black Canary looked like they were screaming at each other, while a tearful Green Arrow was jumping farther off with his arms reaching up. Phantoms chibi was floating in the air, a look of amusement on his face as he dangled Green Arrows hat just out of his reach.
"My hat is not that important." Green Arrow grumbled as he checked that his hat was on. He turned the page and found chibi Phantom screaming in Green Arrow chibi's face as he was grabbing his shirt.'I thought you were dead, you # :$&!' His eyes narrowed. He and "Phantom" were gonna have a very interesting friendship.
And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading! Also, should Phantom like anyone and should anyone like Phantom? Let me know in the reviews. And please review, I need to know you guys are there.