by Jack Parker
The Phantom raised the handle slightly, and a pleasant surge of electricity coursed through my body. All of my nerves came alive, and my senses heightened.
The Phantom smirked. "Does that feel good?" He asked. "Don't get used to it. If you are disobedient, expect a world of pain from this." He pointed at the device to enforce his point.
He raised the handle higher, and immediately the pleasant hum of electricity turned to a sharp shock.
I gritted my teeth to prevent a yelp from escaping my mouth.
Thankfully the Phantom agent lowered the handle all the way down, and I gasped in relief.
The Phantom stood up, and glanced down at me. "You don't have to go through this, Agent Moore." He repeated. "Just follow our instructions, and nothing will happen to you."
For the next few minutes, the only sound in the small room was my hard breathing.
I coughed until my throat went hoarse, and immediately the Phantom pulled a small water bottle from inside his cloak.
He opened the lid, and carefully pressed the bottle to my lips.
I drank gratefully from the bottle, though I didn't take into consideration of what was in it. All I cared about was getting my thirst quenched.
After a couple of swallows, I finished the entire bottle.
The Phantom agent placed the empty bottle back inside his cloak.
A couple of more minutes passed before I finally spoke. "What happened?" I asked, though my voice croaked.
The Phantom agent grinned. "I'm glad you asked." He said. "You see, after your plane landed in New York, we had our people come and greet you personally. Unfortunately, your team didn't have manners, and we were forced to take drastic action. Luckily, I was there to save you and I brought you here for treatment. Our doctors are truly amazing." He smiled, though the glint in his eyes gave it a more malicious appearance.
I fought the urge to shiver. "What about the others?" I asked.
The Phantom agent dismissed the question with a movement from his right hand. "Forget about them. We were only after you." He said as he stared at me intensely.
I didn't bother hiding the shiver that ran through my body. "Why?" I asked once I had gathered the courage. "Why are you after me?"
The Phantom smiled once more. "Because you would make a valuable asset to our organization. The Seekers have been putting your talent to useless work, which greatly lowers your standards and abilities. We are simply doing this for your own benefit."
I huffed in disagreement. "You think that I'll join you right off the bat? Don't think that I have forgotten what your organization has done to me in the past."
The Phantom agent gave me a look of disapproval. "The past is the past; times have changed, whether you like it or not." He then leaned closer. "You will join us, one way or another."
My teeth shivered, not from fear, but from exhaustion.
The Phantom noticed my current state, and stood up. "You're in an awful state right now." He said. "I'll be back later to start your 'treatment.'" He commented.
I shivered once more as I imagined what his 'treatment' may have included.
The Phantom agent turned around, and made his way to the door.
Just as he opened it, he turned around and looked at me. "By the way, you're a horrible dancer." He then smirked.
My eyes widened at his statement.
I eventually found my voice again and spoke. "Who are you?" I asked weakly.
The Phantom agent cocked his head to the side. "My name is Shadow," he started, "and if you think that this has a happy ending, then you really haven't been paying close attention."
With that, the Phantom laughed which echoed in the small room and seemed louder than reality. He smirked at me once more, and closed the door, which enveloped me in the thick darkness.
Chapter 29: Real Intentions
I dozed off some time after the Phantom agent known as Shadow left.
My dreams, unfortunately, consisted of memories of the day I found the bodies of my family, and of my first Scout mission. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.
I was woken up by the sound of the door creaking as it opened, and revealed the all too familiar sight of my captor.
I chose to ignore him in hopes of being left alone, however, his plans clearly involved my participation. "Morning, sleeping beauty. It's time for your first round of treatment." The Phantom said humorously as he kicked me in the gut.
I groaned at the sharp pain, and curled into a fetal position.
My eyes winced as they opened and were met by the sight of the glaring light from outside my cell.
The Phantom stepped out of the room, and in his place came two buff looking figures who cut the bounds which held my feet together, and lifted me up.
I lost my balance, and would have fallen down if it weren't for the other two Phantom agents who held onto both of my arms.
Shadow came back into my view. "Bring her to the interrogation room." He instructed.
The Phantom agents obeyed his order, and pushed me forward.
I wobbled a bit as my legs were half asleep due to being tied up for so long. An ache spread through them as the blood finally returned to give me sensation.
Despite the discomfort, I limped down the brightly lit hallways with the two Phantom agents by my side.
At the same time, I did my best to memorize the route from my cell to wherever the interrogation room was in hopes of finding a possible way out.
My eyes bothered me the entire time as the incredibly bright lights were too much for my sensitive eyes. I couldn't make out any specific detail about the area.
Finally, we stopped in front of a barred door.
Shadow placed his eye in the retina scanner and the door opened.
He proceeded inside, and my "escorts" pushed me in as well.
They brought me to the middle of the dimly lit room, and sat me down in the chair. They freed my sore hands only to press both of my arms down, and pin them with a metal slit, along with my legs.
I mentally sighed. Great, I've gone from one form of bounds to another.
The two companion Phantoms stepped aside, and looked at their superior in expectation.
"Leave us." He said simply.
As obedient as ever, the two Phantom agents left the room without saying a word, and closed the door behind them.
Shadow stood in front of me, allowing me the view of black discoloration that covered both of his eyes.
He looked like the undead.
"We're going to play a game." The Phantom said as he grinned.
I stared at him blankly, though I was slightly shaking. Whatever this guy had in mind, it wouldn't be good for me.
He leaned his face so close to mine that our noses were barely touching. "Here are the rules," he started. "If you properly guess why you are here, then I'll let you go. If you don't have the correct answer, then you'll be begging me to cut off your finger, and you'll be forced to stay."
Not at all the one to bluff, the Phantom took out a Swiss Army knife, and trailed it lightly over my right pinky.
I self-consciously gulped, but retained my strong demeanor.
The Phantom removed his knife from my pinky, and took a step back. "Round one." He said.
I glanced at his knife then at his face.
His chilling eyes stared back at me with an intense focus that I had to fight the urge to shiver subconsciously.
I shuddered out a breath. "You brought me here so that you could kill me." I said.
For a moment, the Phantom was quiet as he took in my answer, but then he regained his concentration. "Wrong." He said simply.
He came towards me, grabbed my hand roughly, and began to carve his knife into the flesh of my pinky.
I yelped at the sudden pain, and bit my tongue as I tried to not scream.
Mercifully, he stopped once he reached the growth of my nail, and stepped back. "Try again," he said and waved the bloody knife in the air.
I shuddered violen
tly, and found my voice. "You brought me here to interrogate me about the Seekers." I said warily.
The Phantom agent shook his head and sighed. "Wrong again." He said.
He brought the knife forward, and stepped towards me.
I shuffled in my seat as I desperately tried to get away, but the hold on me was too strong.
The Phantom agent once again grabbed my hand and carved the knife through the other side of my pinky.
This time I was not able to hold back as I screamed loudly from the intense pain.
I continued to thrash about, but that only made the knife jiggle inside my flesh which caused even more pain. I kept on screaming, and eventually tears poured down my face.
The Phantom agent looked like he wouldn't stop any time soon. "Oh come on, Agent Moore!" He exclaimed. "I just gave you the answer yesterday. Why did I kidnap you?"
I gasped out in pain. "Because you view me as a valuable asset to your organization!" I cried out.
I had finally guessed correctly for he removed the knife from my finger and took a couple of steps back.
When I finally had regained my breath, I looked up and saw that the Phantom agent was looking at me in blankly. "You win." He said quietly.
He then turned around, and walked slowly towards the wall. He leaned against it, and crossed his arms.
I stared at him as I breathed heavily. My pinky throbbed like mad, and blood droplets poured onto the grey floor.
After a few minutes of silence, the Phantom finally looked up at me with an unreadable expression. "You win," he repeated, "but I forgot to tell you something."
He got off the wall, and walked back towards me. My body convulsed violently and my heart began to race. What was he going to do?
He stopped in front of me and leaned his weight on one hip. "You should know something about me: a trait that is very common in humanity."
He knelt down to my level and took my hand in his gloved one, and I stared at him widely.
He smirked. "I like to cheat." He said.
He then pressed the knife in between the fresh openings in my pinky and cut through it as if it were barbeque waiting to be eaten.
I leaned my head back and thrashed about as I screamed so loud that my throat felt raw. I was pretty sure that the other side of the world could have heard it.
Eventually, all I could do was sob as the Phantom agent sliced through my pinky and lifted the flesh up.
Blood sprayed in the air and I cried out once more. "Stop!" I screamed. "Please, stop!"
"I'm sorry what? What did you say?" The Phantom teased.
I gritted my teeth together, in both pain and anger. "AGGH, just cut off my finger!" I finally shouted out.
Apparently satisfied, the Phantom did as I asked and swiftly cut the remains of the finger off.
I shrieked out incredibly loud, and lowered my head as I felt nauseous.
The Phantom placed his knife away, and held two fingers under my chin, forcing me to look at him. "I win." He smirked.
My teeth clattered together as I breathed in rapidly and stared at him through tear stained eyes.
The Phantom agent looked down and let go of my chin. He stood up, and wiped the blood from his knife with a handkerchief he pulled from his cloak.
Once that was done, he placed both items back into his cloak and turned his back towards me.
"Why?" I sobbed as I panted heavily.
"Hmm?" The Phantom replied as he looked back at me.
I stared at him with as much hatred as I could muster as I was shaking. "Why are you doing this?" I repeated my question.
The Phantom agent merely cocked his head. "I think the better question is 'why not?'"
I narrowed my eyes and snarled at him. "Go to hell." I said venomously.
The Phantom agent chuckled. "My dear, we're already in hell." He replied. "Besides," he continued, "I'd worry more about your friends. Perhaps in time, with their continued suffering, you will be able to see our point of view more clearly."
My eyes widened in panic. "What did you do to them? Where are they?!" I demanded.
The Phantom agent chuckled. "After some persuasion, your friend Gizmo was so helpful in giving up vital Shroud and HQ codes as well as electronic security measures. We really owe him a lot." He then smirked. "The others, well, let's just say they've seen better days."
My eyes narrowed once more. "What happened to them?"
The Phantom stared at me in disinterest. "The lady with nice legs died in the initial raiding of your plane. As for your Demolitions Expert, I was told that his clone wanted to settle a score with him."
I stared at the Phantom in horror. "What… what do you mean by that?" I asked as I sincerely prayed that Predator was safe.
A look of amusement passed over the Phantom's face as he winked. "Let's just say he went out with a bang."
I gasped out loud, before I gritted my teeth together. "You bastard!" I yelled.
Unaffected by my reaction, the Phantom merely shrugged. "He was useless to us. Besides, we have his clone who is much more manageable." He smirked once more.
I gritted my teeth together once more as I stared at the Phantom with pure hatred. He was a monster.
"How could you do such horrible things and not feel any remorse?" I then huffed. "Do you even have any emotions?" I asked skeptically.
The Phantom grinned. "Of course I have emotions. I use a knife." He replied as he laughed, and held the deadly tool out in front of me.
I shivered as I remembered all too well the excruciating pain that the item had put me through.
Thankfully, the Phantom put it away, and then stared at me carefully. "Do you really want to know why I'm doing this?" He asked, his tone took on a serious tone for once.
I merely stared at his eyes wordlessly as the man leaned forward. "I'm doing this to spread a message to you and the rest of your little friends: you and your organization full of wannabes are not as powerful or as influential as you think. People will always follow the ones with the most money, the most popularity, or in our case, the ones who know how to manipulate information. The majority of the population are idiots. 'No intelligent idea can gain general acceptance unless some stupidity is mixed in with it' is what I've concluded." A look of disgust passed over his face. "Why do you think we do transactions with regular folks? They are the ones willing to follow the social hierarchy that our organizations have imposed on society due to our 'differences.' They are the ones that the idiots look up to. In turn, they follow what we impose." He paused to look at my reaction.
When I didn't react, he continued. "Humanity has always been submissive to those who are smart and resourceful enough to seize that opportunity. We're merely doing what nature has intended: to put humanity in its rightful place."
I gasped in disbelief. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! This is why we're so different: the Seekers are trying to protect humanity's freedom while you and the rest of the Phantoms are trying to enslave them."
Shadow stared at me with an unreadable expression as his face was hidden by the darkness. "Indeed we are different," he started, "because you Seekers fail to realize just how much humanity has fallen. Because of the war that your organization started, humanity has metaphorically degraded back to the barbarian ages. Crime and suicide rates have gone up, depression and anxiety have become more common in the average Joe, and ethnic tensions are at a record high. Do you really think that by defying us you're helping humanity? You're actually doing the complete opposite!"
His statement was like a blow to my ego, however, I didn't allow myself to be visibly phased by it.
Agent Shadow leaned forward once more. "What is your biggest fear?" He asked.
I didn't answer for a couple of minutes as I stared at the Phantom's covered face.
Yet again, I felt myself drawn to his glowing eyes that seemed to have molted into plasma that flowed through the iris. My eyes narrowed as something inside me was trying to tell me something abou
t this particular agent, yet I couldn't figure out what.
"My biggest fear is becoming the same thing that hurt me in the first place." I finally said carefully. "If I become like you, than I am no better than you, and all of my work and dedication would have been for nothing." My eyes narrowed. "I'll die before I ever work for you. Remember that."
For a moment, the Phantom was quiet as he reflected over what I said.
He sighed dramatically. "That's such a shame." He replied almost genuinely. "After all the trouble I went through to keep you alive, this is how you repay me?"
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Keeping me alive? Hell, you just tortured me!"
Shadow chuckled. "No I didn't 'torture' you; that is simply part of your treatment." He then paced around the room. "Do you remember all those months ago when you were sent to Madison Square Garden? It blew up with your partner still inside. He died, yet you lived."
"My partner was a Phantom agent." I replied coldly.
Shadow hummed in acknowledgment. "Indeed he was." He stopped his pacing, and turned to face me. "Have you ever wondered how you survived? It was almost as if someone wanted to keep you alive."
My eyes widened as I felt a flashback from my first meeting with the Directors.
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I was in the small room with all of the Directors looking at me.
I took a deep breath before I answered. "I find all of this to be very strange. If the Phantoms wanted to kill me, as you believe, why bother killing their own agent? I wasn't even near him to say that they took a calculated risk by blowing up Madison Square Garden with both of us inside. Someone led me outside, as if to save me from the blast. That doesn't exactly fit the MO of the Phantoms. It's either the Phantoms had a change of heart and no longer desire to kill Seeker agents, or there is a separate party involved."
________________________________________
I stared at Shadow in amazement. "So I was right. Your organization did purposely save me that day. So then why did I almost get killed by a team of Assassins afterwards?!"
The Phantom agent regarded me with a calculating look. "That was a misunderstanding. Their order was to capture you. Don't you understand by now, Agent Moore? We have no desire to kill you."
