It was quick, but my muse demanded it...

Thank you everyone for the reviews.

Apparitions
Chapter 3: Masks pt1

11 months later...

"You do realise that this isn't going to work, right?"

"Then why are you helping, Phantom?" Robin didn't look up from his work with a soldering iron, putting the finishing touches on the device.

"Because it'll be fun to watch you fail." That earned him a glare, "That and you'd have killed yourself five times over without my help."

"I doubt that I'd actually have killed myself, but yes, your help is much appreciated. I had no idea this stuff could even be stabilised this much without losing power." The last part mostly spoken to himself.

"Yeah, that stuff is rather tricky, but it has its uses. Just remember to dump the core if it hits the red. I doubt you'll put it under enough stress to get it that high, but if it does then you'll be nothing but a sticky mess on the walls... and I'd hate to waste another eight thousand years waiting for someone else to see me." Phantom replied, slipping into the easy banter they had built up over the past few months.

"Oh shut up..." he waved dismissively, he stood and pulled on the newly completed mask, running a last minute check. "Everything looks good so far. I think it's ready for a test run."

"Already? Heh. You may be hopelessly obsessive, but at least you get the job done. Go on then get the rest of it on."

He could feel Robin's smirk as he bustled off to get changed into his new costume.

As he waited he turned his thoughts towards the massive Convergence he felt when he first arrived in Jump City. It was bigger than he thought it was, which was why he could feel it from so far away on the timeline, hells it was still two years away. But at least now he knew what it was. His looked upwards, his eyes easily piercing the walls and floors of the tower as his sight focused on one individual, Raven, sleeping soundly in her room. She was the focal point of the Convergence, or more accurately her powers were.

'The gem was born of evil's fire...'

The words of the so-called prophesy filtered through his head yet again. It was a load of crock; he'd personally seen mightier demons die far more petty deaths than the one Trigon was headed for. But it was annoying; he hadn't found a way out of it yet. Despite his general policy of non-interference in the timeline (which is why he hadn't just told Robin everything about Mr Slade Wilson), he felt compelled to assist Raven in overcoming her curse, someone so like him; doomed to live a cursed existence. Perhaps if she could be saved, there was also hope for him. But still, as he watched her chest rise and fall in the steady rhythm of sleep, he couldn't help but envy her. She had friends, admirers even, she could talk and scream and eat and sleep. She could mess around if she wanted to; she could read books, watch TV (which she hardly ever does) and even drink tea.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts, they weren't helping. He went through a cycle of 'resenting the living for living' every couple of decades, finding someone so much like himself just made it a little worse.

He sensed Robin's return and drew his vision back to the here and now, eyes now taking in the sight of a tattered black cape, body armour and a white skull-like mask, all decorated with crimson crosses.

"So... how do I look?" despite the synthetic voice scrambler, or perhaps because of it, the voice sounded slightly dangerous, in an almost flirty, debonair tone. It was the type of voice that made men's fists itch and made young women thoughtful.

Phantom couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he viewed the freshly dubbed Red X.

"Villainous..."

End chapter 3

Short and sweet.
First part of the Red X arc.

Later all.

-DS