Chapter 21: The Phantom’s Shadow

The Phantom Spider stood with both hands in fists, glaring at the two Underground minions with his shining cobalt eyes. Though they were covered by his lenses, which shone brightly light two white suns.

Clenching his fists, the Phantom Spider spoke to the ones who fired their weapons at him with the voice of a vengeful spirit. "So y'all like shooting people, huh?" The hero said maliciously as his voice vibrated due to how transformation interacted with his body. His two victims looked at him in fear, dropping their weapons and putting their hands high above their heads, surrendering to him. "Please! Don't kill us!" The guards whined, having heard the rumors about the Phantom Spider going out at night and killing anyone who committed a crime.

This evidently wasn't true in the slightest.

Slowly, the Phantom Spider pointed both of his pointer fingers forward at the two Underground members as if he were mimicking a gun. The tips of his fingers began to shine brightly with small, blue orbs of Godspeed energy, reflecting blue light off of their fearful eyes. "I won't kill you, but I'd be lying if I said this wouldn't hurt." The hero, with his celestial aura, told them with his ever-vibrating voice.

*ZAP*

The Phantom Spider released the Godspeed energy from his fingertips, sending two powerful discharges to the two goons' chests. Immediately, they slammed into the wall behind them and fell unconscious. The only sound that came from them was the thud of their bodies smacking the wall and the ground.

Moments later, the sound of an alarm blaring could be heard, followed by the sounds of heavy footsteps stomping outside of the room. Dozens of Underground thugs, all armed with various Programmable Matter and Nuform weapons, lay in wait behind the door with their weapons aimed. The ones that weren't standing were lined up on the spiral staircase above, pointing their weapons downward into the dark abyss.

The hideout was silent, the only thing that the Underground members could hear were the sounds of their own anxious breaths and heartbeats. For what felt like an eternity, each member waited in anticipation behind the door.

Fear.

Uncertainty.

Anxiety.

These emotions filled the air like an airborne virus as the silence was finally broken.

*TOOM*

The sound of a beast punching steel could be heard through the darkness, only being illuminated by the flashlights on the riflemen's guns. A single fist-shaped dent was seen in the metal door, showing just a fraction of the phantom's strength.

*TOOM*

Again, a fist-shaped dent was seen protruding from the other side of the door, this time the door itself moved forward, loosening itself from its hinges. A few of the Underground members ran, pushing past their comrades to the side as they fled up the stairs while the others stood still in either fear or false confidence.

*BANG*

The door was then removed from its hinges, slamming into a group of gunmen who stood in front of the door. Frozen with fear, the gunmen on the spiraling staircase could do nothing but watch as a glowing figure emerged from the darkness.

His shining eyes, suddenly shifting upwards and glaring at them, awakened a few of the gunmen from their trance, triggering them to begin firing at the ghost. Soon enough, all of the gang members began firing their Nuform blasters at the hero, holding down their triggers until their rifles were out of energy.

*click click click*

They tried to keep firing, though their Nuform weapons were empty. Still standing in the same spot, seemingly having taken virtually no damage, the glowing phantom dashed up the stairs, punching and kicking each member with speedy attacks that were practically unseeable to the human eye. The ones at the top of the staircase tried to escape, but their speed was no match for the shining phantom.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"Help! Help us! Please!" The voices of the Underground warriors were heard as they slammed on the door at the top of the staircase that led into the main area of the hideout. The people on the other side, standing at their posts, looked on with horrified expressions as their comrades continued to bang their fists on the metal door and scream for help.

Soon, their cries for help turned into screams of anguish until eventually, the other side of the door was silent. "Holy fuck, dude." One of the gunmen whispered to another beside him. "We're all gonna fucking die..."

"Stand your ground! He can't fight all of us!" One of the gunmen proclaimed falsely, truly underestimating the strength of the Phantom Spider in his ultimate form.

*TOOM*

Just as he did before, the phantom punched the metal door with a Godspeed punch, driving the gang members to ready themselves. They were terrified, scared to death, but they were determined to fight. That determination, however, would prove to be nothing but a facade once the ghoul on the other side of the door showed his masked face.

*TOOM*

"Here he comes!" One of the members shouted, triggering them all to point their rifles from their nests at the door with their fingers on their triggers.

*BANG*

Immediately after the door was removed from its hinges, a hellfire of bullets rained down on the hero, though this time, he did not wait. Outrunning them, the hero sprinted forward toward the group of melee fighters, delivering a mighty electrified punch to a bat-wielding thug, knocking him out immediately.

The others, holding a variety of melee weapons that included bats, whips, and swords, surrounded the hero as he stood over their comrade, all while Nuform energy blasts rained down on him. "What the hell..." One of the gunmen whispered, ceasing his fire along with the other gunmen as they watched the hero's glowing, unmoving body standing as if their blasts were nothing more than delicate snowflakes grazing his body.

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"RAAAH!" One of the swordsmen shouted, swinging the hilt of a Programmable Matter sword that expanded into a katana at the hero.

As if the world was in slow motion, the hero looked over at the swordsman, staring into his soul with his cobalt eyes as he slowly stepped forward. To the hero, he was simply strolling forward as if he was on a walk in the park, but in truth, he was truly moving at a speed that was nearly unseeable.

The swordsman's swing whiffed as the hero barely leaned to the side, watching the sword slowly slice the air beside him before he kicked the swordsman in the chest. As the swordsman flew back, his sword flung upward into the air, losing its form and becoming nothing more than a clump of cubes.

This was the true form of Programmable Matter, only taking the shape of a weapon when the user willed it while imbuing it with Nuform. Leaping into the air, the Phantom Spider grabbed the floating cubes, transforming them into a reverse-bladed katana, one where the blade was pointing away from the enemy so as to not kill them.

As soon as he landed, the hero swung his reverse blade in a circle around him, immediately decommissioning all ten melee fighters around him in an instant. Seeing this, every single other Underground member dropped their weapons and began to flee in fear of the spider.

Since most of them were just teens who were caught up in the wrong crowd, the hero let them flee, though he had a farewell message to them. "Don't let me catch any of you kids doing anything like this again. I will find you!" His mechanical, electrified voice shouted, instilling the fear of the Phantom Spider within most of them.

"Phew." The hero sighed, releasing himself from his form which was taking a massive toll on his body. It felt similar to that of a person who stayed in a sauna or hot shower for too long, but at the same time, it was sore as if he had been lifting at the gym for hours on end.

'I guess I'll call Yuri and tell her-' Before he could finish his thought, one final Underground member emerged from the top of her tower.

*CLONK*

The hero could hear the sound of metal slamming into the ground beside him. He looked over, noticing the Underground leader, the Tinkerer, kneeling on the ground with an embiggened Programmable Matter fist on the ground. The room was dark, however, the moonlight from the nearby massive window illuminated both the hero and the Underground leader. She was staring directly at him, and though her face was covered, he could sense nothing but pure hatred resonating from her.

"You!" She shouted with pure malice in her voice. "You took everything from me!" She bellowed at the hero, standing back up on her feet, showing off of chrome-looking Programmable Matter armor that covered most of her body.

"The Underground needed to end tonight, you nearly killed countless innocent people with your Nuform antics." The hero told her. He was still in his base form, but he was prepared to transform once again. He wasn't sure how, but his transformation had become innate and he was certain that he could do it again if he so willed it.

"I don't care about the Underground. I just used them so I could become powerful enough to face you." The Tinkerer said coldly, clenching her massive metal fists to her side.

"Why? What, you thought it'd be fun to fight me?" The hero asked.

"Because..." As the Tinkerer spoke she decreased the size of her metal fists to that of a normal hand. She then removed her mask, showing her face to the Phantom Spider. She didn't care about her identity at that point, she wanted to make sure that he knew exactly who she was.

"No..." Eren whispered, immediately recognizing the face of the woman in front of him. Her broken expression, mirroring his on the night of his mother's death, shook him to his core. Her jet black hair had been cut into a short bob and her eyes had no light in them as they once did. She had aged since his original image of her, but he was certain that it was exactly who he was thinking. If there were any doubt, the Tinkerer's words soon would eliminate any of it.

"You killed my father." Her voice was quivering as she muttered those words, sending Eren into a mental spiral.

The girl who haunted his dreams almost every night.

The girl whose father he murdered in cold blood.

The girl who he saw in that picture during that one faithful night was right in front of him, all grown up.

She was standing right before him, glaring at him with hate-filled eyes, just as he did to her father, Wilson Fisk, before ending his life.

Those feelings that were beginning to fade away after Eren convinced himself that he had changed, that he was not that same killer he was on that night, were all rushing back into his mind.

Guilt.

Fear.

Grief.

Self-hatred.

It was all coming back to him.

His shadow.

His phantom.

The ghost of his past.

She was standing before him, reminding him of his greatest mistake.

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