Chapter 24: Chapter 24: The Phantoms

It was evening by the time everyone gathered for the mission. We were just a block away from the factory, hidden from sight behind an old apartment complex. The air around us felt heavy, heavy with the weight of knowing just how important this mission was, of the necessity of us succeeding. 

The Phantoms needed to be defeated today. The city needs to be free from the threat of the villains and their Spirits. 

"Is everyone ready?" Rachel asked. Once everyone nodded she continued. "Infiltration team will go in from the side, there are a few doors around the side of the building you can use. The rest of us will charge straight in and blow the front door open. Simple as that. Any last questions?"

She waited a few moments but no one spoke up. "Okay, then let's go do our best. Good luck everyone."

I stopped Skye and Eve before they could leave with Starlight. 

"Stay safe in there, okay? We still have our communicators so if anything goes wrong just give me a call and I'll come running." I gulped, feeling a little nervous about what was to come. "I'm serious. I don't want to lose either of you, so if there's even a slight hiccup then tell me."

Skye came up and embraced me as they both smiled. "We promise to call if things go south. If anything we're more worried about you, you're the one whos going to be fighting the villains head-on."

"We don't want to lose you either, you know?" Eve said. "Why don't we all promise each other to make it home safe?"

I nodded. "I prom-"

"Mimi! Guardian says we don't have all day! Hurry it up a bit!" Volti called out as the heroes sat on the side waiting for us.

"Seems we better get going, but here," Skye leaned her head in and we shared a brief kiss. "For good luck."

She broke the embrace and backed away, only for Eve to walk up and hug me instead. Twice in one day? She's not a hugger, at least not to me, is she just nervous?

"Stay safe." She whispered as she broke away with a blush. Wait what, why was she blushing?

Before I could even begin to wonder why I was interrupted by Volti throwing her arm around my shoulder and dragging me away. "C'mon Mimi, you can flirt later."

By the time she dragged me back to the heroes, I managed to sneak a glance behind me, only to see that my friends and Starlight had already left down the alleyway.

"Volti?" Rachel smiled, then nodded her head down the street towards the factory. "Go have fun."

The grin that grew on the lightning girl's face had made me happy to be on the hero's good side for once. Whatever instincts I had left from being a villain are practically screaming at me to flee just from that crazed smile.

She rushed down the street as her lightning boosted her speed, the rest of us following from behind. As soon as she got within range of the factory she let loose a gigantic thunderbolt against the main entranceway, blowing it into smithereens and filling the area with a large cloud of dust.

Silver was the second person to reach the factory, he quickly stood in front of Volti as he scanned the dust-covered entryway. By the time me and Rachel arrived the first few minions appeared out of the smoke with more following behind them.

"I'm only going to offer this once," Silver started as he looked over the villains. "Give up now and surrender peacefully, and no harm will-"

He was interrupted as one of the minions, wearing a large black hoodie, blinked in front of him and swung at him with a crowbar. He caught it out of the air and went to kick at the villain only for them to appear behind him. A teleport power maybe?

What was more surprising was that as the other minions joined in they started using all sorts of powers against us. 

I copied Voltis powers before a minion with scales on his arms tried to attack me with his claws, I dodged and then hit him with a bolt of lightning. Shocking him until he fell unconscious.

But, when did the Phantoms get all these powered minions? Wasn't it only the higher-ups who had powers in their little group? How did-

I gasped as my eyes widened. I glanced at the heroes and called out a warning to them.

"They've used blue spirits! They're all powered!" 

The heroes expressions turned nervous and worried. We had only planned on them having a few powered individuals, not for nearly all of them to have powers. The only saving grace was that it was obvious they were new to these powers so they were far weaker than a normal villain. 

But that didn't mean they weren't a threat.

I dodged underneath a metal pipe that nearly took my head, before stepping forward and pushing my palm into the minion's gut and giving him a shock, causing him to fall to the ground.

I guess Rachel was right. They've been cornered and now are using drastic measures such as these. I know the spirits have a high chance to be fatal, so just how many of their minions did they sacrifice to get this many powered ones?

I spared a brief worried look at my temporary allies to see how the fight was progressing. The first person I noticed was Volti, who looked like she was having the time of her life as she zipped around the fight while leaving plenty of unconscious minions in her wake.

Once again, glad to be on this side for once.

Rachel was wrapping ring-shaped barriers around the villains then quickly incapacitating them as they were tied up.

I nearly skipped over Silver because of the way he's been treating me today, but I'm glad I didn't. Because what I almost missed was the fact that Silver's shadow was growing, and coming out of that shadow was a hooded minion with a long knife in his hands.

Silver was too distracted with blocking and countering the other minions to notice the threat.

I knew deep down that he would have been fine, that the blade likely wouldn't have pierced his skin, but nevertheless, I found myself throwing a lightning bolt at the shadowy figure before I even realized it.

The lightning bolt hit its mark, flinging the minion away from Silver. He stopped to look from the minion to me as his expression turned conflicted.

"Thanks," Was all he said before turning back to the fight.

That was also when I realized I hadn't been paying attention to my own well-being, as I noticed a large wolf-like man descend upon me. 

Right before he reached me he was blocked by a barrier appearing out of nowhere, before it moved to shrink around him. I snapped out of my momentary shock and quickly gave him some lightning as payback. One of the minions cried out to the wolfman as I zapped him.

"Dave no!"

I mentally thanked Rachel for saving me from getting a nasty blow, before refocusing on the fight and the next few minions in front of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~

As the last of the minions were dealt with I spared a glance over my allies. Thankfully, no one was badly injured. We were a little tired, some of us a little bruised, but we were all still capable of continuing on.

The sound of clapping from inside the factory caused everyone to snap their heads toward the entrance. After a moment, a figure wearing a black and red villain outfit appeared out of the collapsed entrance. 

"I must say, I'm quite impressed. To think that the four of you would survive my little army." The Phantoms boss chuckled. "But then again, it would have taken more than that to bring Specton's best to its knees. Honestly, I would be disappointed if you had failed here, it certainly would have made things less entertaining."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked with a deep frown. Something felt wrong, was this a trap? Were we playing into their hands?

"Ah, the copycat villain. I was wondering when we'd meet face to face." He looked at me and I swear I could see him smirk through the mask. "Allow me to introduce myself, you may call me Shade. Though I do have to wonder, what brings a villain like yourself to be in the company of heroes? Think you can just wipe away your crimes with a little community service? You and I both know what's going to happen after today is over."

I glared at him. "What are you getting at?"

Was he assuming that I'm only here as a way to clear my name?

"That no matter the outcome of this fight, at the end of the day they'll turn on you. They'll betray you and lock you away. Any promises of redemption are just lies so that they can use you to get at me." Shade threw his arms out in a welcoming gesture. "But I? I offer you true freedom. One last opportunity to come to the winning side. Join me, and we'll show this city what true villains are. We'll use the spirits to wipe away the heroes powers, while simultaneously building our own super army! The city won't stand a chance against us! We'll rule the underworld as kings!"

"Screw. You." No way in hell I'd ever join up with the likes of him. Not even in my villain's days would I even consider it. Plus, my friends would never forgive me if I ever even thought of joining, and that's something I'd never want.

He shook his head disappointedly. "A shame, you'll come to regret this later. Now, the time has-"

"Now Volti!" Rachel exclaimed, causing both me and the super villain to glance over and-

That…that was a lot of lightning that Volti was holding. Did she plan on flattening the entire city block!?

Before I even had a chance to think about taking cover, she launched the mass of lightning out. It flew towards Shade at breakneck speeds, exploding into a blinding white light as it landed.

By the time the light dissipated and I could see again, Shade was gone. Where he was standing was a large chunk of scorched ground, but not a single shred of evidence he had stood there. Was he dead? Was it over?

I started to look all around me in case he managed to duck away somehow, but my attention was brought back to my allies as I heard a sickening, crunching noise. My stomach dropped at the sight my eyes had landed upon.

Rachel was bent over clutching her stomach in pain as Silver pulled back his fist. What, what the hell!? He hit her!? Did he switch sides!?

She collapsed on one knee and coughed up blood onto the concrete, before falling over onto the ground.

"No!" She…she can't be…not Rachel, not my best friend…I…I…

Silver turned to glance at me with an evil grin, but the thing that surprised me most was his eyes.

He had no irises, his eyes were a solid glowing dark purple.

"I was hoping to take the number one hero's powers for a spin, but that pesky mental barrier ended up keeping me out. A shame, but I still have plenty of other options to choose from."

"Shade!" My anger was nearly uncontrollable. How dare he hurt her! I rushed towards him, lightning crackling in my hands, as I prepared to hit him with as much lightning I could muster. I raised my hands back as I ran, and as I was reaching him I shot my hands out to-

I was stopped short as one of his hands went around my neck at a speed I could just barely register. How was he so fast!? Was Silver holding back all this time!?

The lightning faded in my hands as my attention quickly shifted to try and pry myself out of his grip as I found it harder and harder to breathe.

My strength started to wane as my lungs burned and begged for air, while my vision started to darken around the edges. I tried desperately to activate my copy powers to take Silvers strength and break free, but with how hard it was to concentrate I couldn't focus on copying.

Was this it? Did we come all this way to lose now?

Was I going to die?

And then, just as quickly as he grabbed my throat, I felt myself get flung back onto the ground as air started to fill my lungs once again.

I glanced up to see a very pissed-off Volti standing where Shade had stood. The lightning around her was whipping around like crazy, her face was contorted in rage as she glared off to the side. While still trying to get my breathing under control, I followed her line of sight to see Shade, still in Silver's body, getting back up off the ground.

"Heh, little lady packs a punch," He said as he wiped some blood off his mouth. "But it matters not how hard you can hit. Because at the end of the day the only way you'll free your friend from my control is to kill him! If you want to be rid of me then take your comrade's life with your own hands!"

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He launched forward and kicked her away, she flew across the concrete but managed to barely stay on her feet. 

"But you heroes are too good for that! Murder isn't in your playbook, especially when it comes to murdering a fellow hero!" He chuckled as he turned towards her. "Face it, the two of you have met your match. Guardian has been defeated, Silver is under my control, and your lightning powers barely even scratch his body. It's my win, so just give up."

Volti was glaring at him as she grinded her teeth. Her hair was starting to float above her head as her whole body started to charge up with an obscene amount of energy. 

"Let. Him. Go." She held her palm up as a large blinding ball of concentrated lightning was forming. "Get out of my friend!"

"You'll have to kill him for that!" He exclaimed with an evil wild grin. "Just like Snapsion had to do all those years ago!"

As Volti was preparing her attack I was desperately searching for someone I had seen earlier as a plan was forming in my head. A plan to deal with Shade. I was worried he'd find a way to dodge Volti's next big attack she was charging up, especially since he dodged the last one. If we wanted to take him down we'd have to use every bit of energy we had, missing wasn't an option.

Then I spotted him, the key to my incredibly foolish plan. 

Laying amongst his fellow unconscious minions was one man wearing a black hoodie. The man who had teleported to attack Silver when this whole thing started. I copied his powers, then mentally apologized to Skye and Eve. 

I could only hope they forgive me for being a bit reckless.

As soon as his powers were copied I started to feel my mind fog over, but it was quickly stopped when I tried out that trick from earlier. I pushed down Voltis copied powers to make room for the ability to teleport. Now that I had two powers in me I could tell that Volti's power started to feel weaker. I could still use it but it was like it was running on battery-saving mode. 

I glanced back up to see Shade readying himself to dodge Volti's attack. I couldn’t let that happen. I had no idea how much energy she'll have left after this so I had to make sure she lands this.

I quickly used my new powers to teleport behind Shade, before dropping the newly obtained ability in favor of Silver's super strength. Shade noticed I appeared behind him, but he was too late to react as I locked my arms around him and held him in place.

"Why you-"

"Volti! Now!" I exclaimed as I fought against Shades' attempts to escape. I glanced up to see Volti with a conflicted expression on her face.

"Do it!" I yelled at her. She hesitated, but with saddened guilt-filled eyes she threw the mass of concentrated lightning at us.

The world went white. 

A blinding bright white.

Then there was pain.

Agonizing, shocking pain.

I should have been screaming, but there was dead silence. 

It was as if the entire world had gone mute.

I couldn’t even tell if I was still holding onto Shade anymore.

Then, just as quickly as the blinding white came, it faded away into darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"...rah…" Someone was weakly whispering nearby, a familiar voice by the sounds of it. "....ake up…..Sarah…."

I was struggling to hear everything they said, but I was still glad to know my hearing wasn't completely gone. My body seemed to slowly wake up, my senses returning to me bit by bit.

"Sarah!" The voice was much easier to understand now, and finally I could tell it who was.

I struggled to open my eyes, but eventually, I managed to lay my eyes upon Rachel who was laying down next to me. She looked terrible, but I was glad she was still breathing after what happened.

"Hey…" God everything hurts. Note to self, don't stand at ground zero next time a mass of lightning gets thrown at me.

"Oh thank god…you had me…worried there…" She was out of breath, whatever damage Shade did when he hit her was clearly still affecting her. "Can you…still fight…?"

I struggled to sit up, but I did eventually manage to do so. While I was definitely hurting everywhere, at least I had the energy to move. Having Silver's powers copied when I took the hit probably helped me from getting too hurt.

I glanced around to see that Volti and Shade were still fighting, but their fight had taken them farther down the street. They both looked incredibly exhausted, but they both stood standing. Volti was slumping forward a bit as she struggled to keep her breathing steady, and the two of them were covered in bruises and cuts all along their body. I wondered why Shade wasn't knocked out like I was, perhaps his power boosts the body he's possessing?

Wait, figure that out later. Right now I need to go help Volti before she gets hurt even more. I started to stand to go help, but Rachel grabbed my arm.

"Wait…I have a plan…" Rachel turned her head towards the fight. "I can still use my powers…I've been helping Volti where I can…but I know how to end this…"

"What can I do to help?" I asked as the fight continued. How could a girl younger than me have that much energy to keep going? Was she fighting the whole time I was knocked out? 

"We need to capture him…but we need to separate them first…Get Shade out of Silver's body…He's clearly running out of energy…he'll probably try to possess someone else…when he gets the chance…" She winced and sucked in air as she held her side. "Find a way to get him out…coerce him into trying to steal your body instead…it might work…"

"That sounds…"

"Horrifying?" She finished, and I tentatively nodded. "Don't worry, I won't let him succeed…the second he's out I'll take care of him…"

I was hesitant, but after a moment I nodded. I trusted Rachel with my life, and if she says that I'll be fine then I know everything will be alright. 

"Let’s finish this…"

I stood up and stumbled a bit, but eventually found myself making my way towards the fight. I thought I would be in a much worse shape than I actually was, but I guess I got lucky. Everything hurt and was aching and sore, but I still had some fight left in me.

I'm not stopping until this mission is over.

As I neared Shade and Volti, I re-copied her lightning powers and threw out a small yellow bolt into Shades back. He quickly turned around and glared at me.

Time to put on a show.

"Hey Shade. Sorry if you missed me, but I can see you had your hands full anyway," I taunted as I started to slip back into my old cocky villain persona. "I'm a little surprised that you're struggling this much against a teenager, but I guess even Silver's super strength has its limits huh?"

"Why you!" He dashed for me as he raised his fist back. I dodged to the side as he tried to punch me and he stumbled forward a bit. Now that he's all tired out from fighting Volti he was slow, well, slow compared to earlier. At least I could dodge him now.

I zapped him in the back again as I continued my taunts. "Oops, almost got me that time. You're a little slow on your feet today, sure you don't need a break? You've been a villain for quite a while, maybe it's age getting to you? Think it's about time to retire gramps?"

"Mimi…? I heard an exhausted and confused Volti mutter. I glanced back at her and gave a smile and a wink. 

"Keep your taunts to yourself… you sorry excuse of a villain," Shade was out of breath as he glared at me. I chuckled to continue to get a rise out of him.

"Seriously, I still can't believe you. Out of the four of us, you steal Silver's body? Are you new to this whole supervillain thing?" I smirked at him. "You could've had lightning powers! Or better yet, any power! I was standing right there you know? Did you forget I can copy both Silver and Volti? Heck, even Guardians as well."

I shook my head. "Disappointing man, you need to think things through more."

He looked like a vein was about to pop as he snarled at me. "Fine! Let's see how you'll feel when I take control of your body with my bare hands!"

Silver's body slumped as his eyes stopped glowing, just as a disturbing purple mist in the shape of a vaguely humanoid figure burst out of his body, flying towards me at a speed I never had a chance at dodging.

I hope Rachel was right…

Right before he reached me a barrier formed in mid-air and he slammed into it. It quickly shifted to wrap all around him, closing any possible escape as it trapped him inside a bubble.

I let out a sigh of relief while mentally thanking Rachel for what felt like the tenth time today. 

Shade was trying to break through the barrier, but it was pointless. I had never seen one of them break before, and honestly? I'm not sure if they could. 

There's a reason she's called the number one hero.

Volti stumbled up to me, her power deactivated, as she wrapped me up in her arms.

"Mimiii! I'm sorrryyy!" She cried as tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. "I-I didn’t want to h-hurt youuu!"

I hugged her back. "I know, and I'm sorry for making you have to do something like that." I glanced at the imprisoned villain and smiled. "But it's okay now, it's over, we won." 

She sniffled and nodded. "Y-yeah, we did it."

"God…everything hurts…" I heard Silver mutter as he picked himself off the ground. Me and Volti glanced at him for a moment, before the lightning girl stumbled over and hugged him too.

"Silviiii, I'm sorryyy!" 

Silver brought his hand up and patted the young girl's back. "It's okay, I know you didn't have a choice."

He glanced at me and we locked eyes for a moment, before he looked away and sighed. "Thank you, for freeing me. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't convinced him to leave."

I shrugged with a forced smile. "That's what a team is for, we look out for each other." 

"Yeah, but…I've been acting awful to you lately. I'm surprised you still went to free me even after everything."

"Consider it water under the bridge," I still didn’t trust or like him, but for today alone I can at least pretend that I do. I turned towards the factory as I spoke again. "I'm going to go check on Guardian, you two stay here and rest up."

I started walking over to Rachel with Shade following behind in his bubble. By the time I reached her my communicator had clicked online and I could hear Skye’s worried voice on the other end.

"Mimica, we need you inside. Alone."