Prologue
While most of Titan City slept, Earl Harrison, the fifty-year-old night watchman at Alvin’s Jewelry, was wide awake and paralyzed with fear. The evening had started off fairly typically. For the first few hours of his shift, Earl read from a beat up paperback western. At midnight, he had his regular dinner: ham, swiss, and pickle on wheat bread, and a bottle of iced tea. After dinner was his usual two hours of playing Solitaire. However, it was into his second hour that he was startled by a noise outside. What began as a quiet, far away whining noise, almost like the sound of a hair dryer, began to gradually get louder and closer. The hair dryer sound was starting to sound like a small jet engine. It wasn’t loud enough to wake up anyone in the neighborhood, but it was certainly loud enough to break Earl’s concentration on his game.
Earl went to the front window of the store to see if he could see the source of the noise. He saw nothing in the street but realized the sound was coming from above. Unfortunately, Earl couldn’t get a good view of the sky from his vantage point due to the towering skyscrapers that made up most of Titan City. The only way for one to see the sky while in the city was to look straight up. But Earl didn’t need to see the sky to spot the source of the mystery sound. It soon became visible to him as it, they, dropped from the sky. Earl stepped back and gasped as four people touched down on the ground, their descent slowed by jets being fired from the bottom of their boots.
The four wore matching outfits. Each one’s body was covered in a black body stocking. Over that, they bore pieces of advanced armor. On their heads were polished gray helmets with black visors, only their noses and mouths visible. On their torsos, they had body armor resembling football padding, only more flexible and reaching down to their stomachs. The armor was complete with large, rounded shoulder pads. Their upper arms were bare but they wore gray, armored gauntlets that covered their hands and forearms. Around their waists were black utility belts covered in leather pouches. On their hips, they each had a holster with a futuristic-looking pistol in it. Their upper legs were also bare, but below their knees, they wore large, armored boots. The same boots that had transported them to this location.
The sight of these four is what had paralyzed Earl with fear because he knew exactly who they were. They were the Phantoms, one of the most infamous burglar teams in Titan City. They were three men known as Ghost, Wraith, and Specter, and one woman, Spirit. Their targets ran the gamut from banks to warehouses, to computer stores, but recently they had been making their rounds amongst Titan City’s biggest jewelry stores and had been putting their guards into the hospital. Naturally, Earl had been warned about them and briefed on them, but after years of little happening on the job, Earl had assumed that they would pass over his store. After all, Alvin’s wasn’t a very impressive target. They didn’t even sell their own diamonds. They were a jewelry consignment shop. But as the four Phantoms approached the front to Alvin’s Jewelry, Earl realized they weren’t concerned about the size of the store.
Earl quickly ducked away from the window, hoping they hadn’t spotted him in the darkened building. As the Phantoms began cutting into the steel gate that covered the front of the store with lasers from their gauntlets, Earl drew his revolver out of the holster at his hip and crawled along the floor to get to the silent alarm behind the counter. As Earl pressed the button, he realized he’d been holding his breath for a while and he let out a relaxed sigh. No sooner than he did that, the gate outside came crashing down. Earl closed his eyes and said a silent prayer as the four criminals quickly broke through the lock on the front door.
As the four walked in, Earl strode into the middle of the store, his gun drawn. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and held his gun in front of him, aimed at the Phantoms. They stopped advancing, but said nothing, and betrayed no emotion. “Stop right there,” Earl said in the most authoritative voice he could muster. “The police have been notified and will be here shortly.” The Phantoms still said nothing. Earl continued, “If you leave now, you may be able to get out of here safely. But if you won’t leave, I will consider you armed and dangerous and am authorized to use deadly force.” To emphasize this, he pulled back and locked the hammer on his revolver.
Without saying anything, Spirit raised her arm and pointed her closed fist at Earl. From out of her gauntlet fired a taser which, upon hitting Earl, sent electricity into him, jolting his body and quickly knocking him unconscious. Standing next to her, Wraith pulled his pistol out of its holster and said, “Let me finish this,” aiming it at Earl’s unconscious body.
Spirit pushed the barrel of his gun down to the floor and said, “Don’t even think about it. We’ve got a job to do. Get to work, everyone.” Immediately, the four thieves spread out and attacked different areas of the store, smashing the display cases and quickly emptying them of their contents, filling them into the pouches of their utility belts. As they worked, the sound of police sirens slowly became louder and closer, but none of the crooks seemed to care. They continued working methodically and silently.
Soon the police sirens were outside the building as several police cars pulled up, their red and blue lights illuminating the inside of the store. Over a megaphone, a police officer announced, “This is the police. We are surrounding the building. Come out with your hands up.” The four were finishing up their work and only looked at each other to smile, smugly.
Once finished, they gathered in the middle of the store and walked slowly towards the entrance, their hands raised. The four thieves exited the building, standing in front of four police cars and twice as many officers with their guns drawn. More sirens could be heard arriving down the street. One of the officers shouted, “Continue walking slowly towards us, with your hands in the air.”
Wraith shook his head, “Tsk tsk tsk. Is this all you brought? That’s offensive.” Then, looking at his associates, he said, “Phantoms, let’s disappear.” And with that, the four burglars ignited their boot jets and shot straight up in the air. A few of the officers tried firing on them, their shots either missing or glancing off their body armor. Once the Phantoms got into the air above the skyscrapers, they took off like shots, speeding through the night sky.
Assuming they were home free, they didn’t pay heed to the bright shape ahead of them, quickly growing closer. It wasn’t until they realized what they were seeing, that it was too late. Before they could alter course, the form was upon them and pulled Specter out of the sky, dragging him to the ground.
The other Phantoms stopped midair, and looked at each other. Ghost asked, “What do we do? Do we leave him?”
Spirit slapped him on the side of his helmet. “No, you idiot,” she said. “We go after him.” With that, the three remaining Phantoms sped towards the ground where their companion had been taken.
When they reached the street below, they found Specter lying in the street, unconscious. Standing over him was what had brought him down. It was another man in a specialized, protective suit. But, unlike the dull black gray of the Phantoms’ outfits, he wore a bright costume that covered him from head to toe, like a second skin. On his head, he wore a white cowl that exposed only his nose, mouth, and chin. Over his eyes were opaque, blue goggles. The white from his hood extended to his shoulders and down his chest, making a V-shape. His arms and the rest of his torso were bright blue. On his hands, he wore red gloves that went up to his forearms. Around his waist, he wore a white utility belt. The legs of his outfit were white and went down to red boots that rose to his knees. The Phantoms knew who this man was. Any citizen of Titan City would recognize the Titan City Guardian.
Aside from his costume, the first thing the Phantoms noticed about the Guardian was his stature. He stood tall and firm, full of confidence, despite being outnumbered three to one. “I’ve been meaning to have a chat with you, Phantoms,” he said, his voice deep and calm. “If I’m not mistaken, I just relieved you of Specter.”
The three criminals looked at each other, impressed. Spirit said, “That’s right.”
The Guardian pointed at her, “Obviously you’re Spirit.” Pointing at her companions, he continued, “And you must be Wraith and Ghost.” The two nodded.
Spirit said, “So you’ve done your homework, Guardian. Real impressive.” Guardian nodded. “Too bad for you there’s three of us and only one of you. Now, I don’t want to have to humiliate a living legend, heck, my childhood hero, but if you don’t back off of our associate there, we’ll have to paint the street with you.”
The Guardian made no movement, save breaking a smile. “And here I was going to give you a chance to surrender.”
Wraith quickly pulled the pistol from the holster at his side but, just as quickly, the Guardian grabbed Ghost, pulling the Phantom in front of him. Wraith fired his shot too late, hitting his own partner in the chest with a low-level laser blast. Ghost shouted in pain as the blast burned through his armor. With super-human strength, the Guardian then threw his human shield at Wraith, sending them both hurtling through the air.
Spirit raised her gauntlet and prepared to fire a weapon from it. Before she could, however, the Guardian grabbed her gauntlet and raised it in the air, over his head. Then, with a vise-like grip, he crushed the gauntlet in his hand. Spirit screamed from the pain of having the metal device crushed around her forearm.
Still holding her arm in the air, the Guardian raised his other fist. “What are you gonna do?” asked Spirit. “Punch a lady?”
The Guardian smiled and shook his head. Relief came over Spirit and she relaxed. “Believe me, Spirit,” said the Guardian, “you’re no lady.” Then he punched her in the face, cracking her visor and knocking her unconscious.
Twenty feet away, Wraith slowly struggled to his feet. “Looks like it’s down to the two of us, Wraith,” said the Guardian.
Wraith laughed, coughing. “Not this time, amigo.” With that, he shot into the sky on his boot jets. Hearing police sirens nearing, the Guardian knew the other three Phantoms wouldn’t be going anywhere, so he, too, took to the sky.
Soaring above the city skyline, the Guardian scanned the sky for Wraith, but the evening sky was quickly growing cloudy and he couldn’t find a trace of him. Pressing a concealed button on the side of his cowl, he switched the imaging in his goggles to infrared. Doing this, he immediately saw the residual heat trail left by Wraith’s boot jets and sped, following it. As he neared the solo Phantom, Wraith spotted him following and drew his pistol again. He fired several shots at the Guardian. They were easily evaded by the hero, as his source of flight was much more advanced than the Phantoms’, allowing him greater maneuverability in the air. As the Guardian dodged the shots, he continued advancing on Wraith, quickly catching up to him and grabbing him by the hand he held his pistol in. The Guardian simultaneously threw Wraith through the sky and wrenched the pistol from his hand, tossing it away.
Wraith flew hundreds of feet away. No longer content with escaping, once he got his flight back under control, he flew straight at the Guardian like an arrow, his fists in front of his face. The Guardian metaphorically stood his ground, hovering in place, as Wraith flew at him. Once Wraith was upon him, the Guardian grabbed both of Wraith’s fists, allowing him to propel them both through the air. As Wraith pushed the Guardian backward, the Guardian brought his knee up into Wraith’s face, shattering his visor and knocking him backward.
Seeing Wraith spinning out of control back towards the earth, the Guardian knew the thief had been knocked unconscious and flew after him. His assumption was confirmed when he caught Wraith, whose body was limp as a ragdoll’s. The Guardian flew him back to where the other Phantoms had been left, who were now being loaded into a specialized ultra-threat-containment paddy wagon, or UTC, as the Titan City populace had come to coin them. The officers on the site were hurrying about their jobs and looked panicked.
“Here’s the last one, officers,” the Guardian announced as he touched down, laying Wraith on the ground.
One of the officers rushed over to him and, his voice cracking, asked, “What are you doing wasting your time on these losers?”
The Guardian looked around, perplexed. “What do you mean? They were robbing Alvin’s Jewelry.”
The officer shook his head. “While you were playing around with these punks, the Dragon has been terrorizing the Eastside. It’s an inferno over there.”
The Guardian gasped, a lump in his throat. Without a word, he shot into the air. Rising, again, above the city skyline he realized he hadn’t noticed the blaze the officer spoke of due to the now blinding cloud cover, but this time he noticed the smell of smoke in the air. It had been there before, but he had assumed it was from the Phantoms’ boot jets. Cursing at himself, he realized this wasn’t the smell of rocket fuel, at all. He blasted, due east, at full speed, nearly two hundred miles an hour.
Arriving seconds later, he realized he was already far too late. Several buildings, some of them condos, were ablaze. Fire trucks and panicking citizens choked the streets below. The sounds of the raging fires, along with the sirens, and the screaming people were deafening. The Dragon was nowhere to be seen.
Not wanting to cause any more of a disturbance, the Guardian descended to street level in the shadows of an alleyway. Slowly emerging from it, he spotted a young, female news reporter speaking into a camera, the conflagration forming a hideous backdrop behind her. Unable to hear what she was saying, he turned up the receiver on his cowl’s audio receptor.
“With the numbers still coming in,” she said into her handheld microphone, tears in her eyes, “so far it is unknown how many are dead and how many are wounded in this, the latest and most egregious, attack by the super-criminal known as the Dragon.” The Guardian shook his head, aghast. The reporter continued, “While hundreds mourn the losses of their homes and their loved ones, many are asking ‘where was the Titan City Guardian this evening? Why didn’t he save us?’”
His jaw hung open as tears rolled from under his goggles, down his cheeks. “I can’t do this alone, anymore.” He whispered to himself.
