Shadow

Saved by a Cardboard Cutout of Miley Cyrus

    Most people would hate having to wake up at seven in the morning to go have their brain and genetics tested on to warp them into something that would hopefully be more powerful than the last, but only if we were lucky and didn't die first.

    I was no different than "most people".

    The last time I had laid on a hospital stretcher, I had my foot amputated. As I stared up at the halogens above me, I tried to calm my breathing and convince myself I was safe this time, but I was just lying to myself. If anything, I was in more danger now than I was at the Agency. These experiments could kill me if the serums were given to me in too large of quantities.

    The door to my room opened, and I assumed it was Cole. "Did you bring me food? That would be amazing."

    "I did not. Get your own food. We gave you a foot for a reason."

    I sat up in the bed and met eyes with Phantom giving me an annoyed look. "I thought you were Cole."

    "Obviously." He pulled a chair up beside my bed and sat down, laying his arms across the back of it. Why do guys always sit like that? "Are you ready? Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

    I crossed my legs under me. "Not really."

    "For being ready or knowing?"

    "Both."

    He chuckled, then trailed off and stared at the monitors. "I was once with the Agency as well."

    I turned to him in surprise. "What? Really?"

    "Yes. I'm a Super too, you know." He smirked a little. "How else do you think I got that car all the way from Germany to here?"

    "You can teleport?" Why did I not know this? Or better yet, why hadn't I even thought of Phantom having powers?

    Phantom nodded. "In fact, my powers are much like yours. Our names aren't far off from each other, you know. I considered the name Shadow when I was young. Decided I liked the air of mystery that came with . . . Phantom." He chuckled a little. "When I was young and stupid. Naming myself must have been the only good thing I did at the Agency."

    "Why did you leave?"

    "I fell in love."

    Silence. That was not what I was expecting. "With someone at the Agency?"

    Another nod. "About twenty years ago. I was in my early twenties. About Riptide's age. There was a girl named Rose. She was an Agent, but in training. She was three years younger than me, and she was supposed to teach me how to program. A genius, the only word to really describe her." A small smile lit up his face. He must have really loved her. "After we talked for months, we got very close. We fell in love. Rose told me things about the Agency she wasn't quite supposed to know. She definitely wasn't supposed to tell me. But she told me some things that made me suspicious of how the Agency was being run. I decided to investigate." He stood, twisted his chair around, and sat in it normally. "I discovered more secrets the Agency was keeping. I knew I had to leave, and I wanted to take Rose with me. I went to her the next day, but I was too late."

    I watched Phantom's face drop in sadness. His shoulders fell and his hands slumped lifelessly in his lap.

    "The Agency found out of her telling me things. They took her away and no one else knew what happened to her. No one had heard from her at all that day. I demanded to know where she was, but they wouldn't tell me anything."