Courtney was running through the streets when she heard Jumper's call. If he was calling for her, he was probably in trouble.
She sped up, fighting the dizziness. Jumper needed her. And Achilles probably did too.
Phantasma.
Courtney remembered the first time she'd met Phantasma. That strange incident with Achilles was still fresh in her mind, even if it had been - had it really been two months? Last time Jumper had tangled with her, Phantasma had burnt his hands pretty badly. He probably didn't realize that Lightning was one of the officers who'd given him first aid.
She spun around a corner. Phantasma glared at her. At least, it was probably Phantasma. Achilles was slumped on the ground, hopefully just unconscious. Jumper was holding his head with his eyes closed a short distance away. He was probably stuck in some crazy illusion. She could see tape poking out from the bottom of each of their masks. How nice of Phantasma to not remove them.
Courtney ran for Jumper and lifted his mask to rip the tape off his face. She shook him a few times, making sure her Miracle was safely turned off.
"Jumper! Hey! Snap out of it. Can you hear me? It's Lightning."
Crap.
In trying to get Jumper out of the illusion, she'd left herself wide open. Phantasma slapped her, forcing Courtney to tangle with the villain.
Ha.
Weird how they were being split into heroes and villains. Like some kind of comic book.
"Why are you here?" Phantasma asked darkly, anger seething through every syllable. "Stop messing things up for me!"
Courtney couldn't move. Why not? Ah. Her muscles were cramping. Or stiffening? Either way, they weren't responding. Phantasma wrapped her hand around Courtney's throat, and that hand felt like a stovetop.
Ha.
Now she was gonna get burned. But Jumper was back. He leaped on Phantasma's back, pulling her away from Courtney. The heat disappeared with Phantasma's hand.
"Can you move?" Jumper asked, trying to hold Phantasma down.
Courtney couldn't nod, nor could she open her mouth to speak. Phantasma had her completely tied down. Surprisingly, Jumper seemed to be doing half-decent. He had an arm wrapped around Phantasma's neck, and was probably trying to knock her out from oxygen loss.
"You..." Phantasma collapsed onto her rear, which would have shaken off any normal person. But Jumper didn't feel impacts. He just adjusted his grip, maybe strengthening it.
Then Lightning was weightless. Stars blinked around her, like white sprinkles across a black canvas as far as the eye could see.
And there was no air.
Shit.
"Let me go now or she dies," Phantasma growled. Joey held on, though, gritting his teeth.
She tried smacking him with her elbow again, driving it into his side. Then she hit him with the back of her head. This stuff was supposed to hurt, wasn't it? It only felt like a friendly slap on the back or something.
"She'll die of oxygen deprivation if you don't let go now!" Joey glanced at Lightning. Her face didn't look good. So Phantasma was delivering on the threat. It took a second for him to weigh his options.
Keep squeezing this woman's neck until she lost consciousness, and maybe the illusion faded. But who knows how long that'd take? Lightning might not make it.
Or he could let go now and trust that Phantasma would keep her word. She might not. He had no way of knowing. If she didn't keep her word, Lightning was done for anyway.
But Phantasma's real target was Achilles. As long as they didn't interfere, would she leave them be? Even if she did, they couldn't leave her be. The last thing Joey wanted was someone's death on his conscience.
Right now, maybe his best bet was to let go. If she didn't release Lightning, he could just grab her again.
Phantasma spent a second catching her breath when Joey slid off her back and Lightning fell to the ground, hacking as if she'd been holding her breath too long.
Then Phantasma spun around to look at Joey and a rope spun around his neck. He tried to fight it, but it was too slippery for his hands to grab. It coiled once, twice, thrice around his neck, never stopping. Where was it coming from?
Oh.
Another illusion. Then...
Joey aimed a punch at Phantasma's gut, the way Lightning had done to him so many times. It was easier to take one than to give one, though. The rope hindered him and Phantasma slipped out of the way, barely dodging. She had a hand to her neck, so he'd managed some damage. Probably.
He tried to cough, but the air wasn't moving. The rope was wrapping around him again, each time tighter and tighter.
Then Lightning came at Phantasma from behind, like a blur, and the rope disappeared as Phantasma crumpled like a ragdoll. Joey fell to the ground, gasping for air.
"You okay?" Lightning asked, heaving for air.
"Yeah," Joey coughed. "You?"
"Alive." She leaned down by Phantasma and checked her pulse. "So's she. Good." Next, Lightning moved to look over Achilles. She pulled the tape off his mouth and rolled him onto his back, lowering her head to his nose and mouth.
"Did we make it?" Joey asked. Lightning held up a finger to silence him for a moment, then sat up and nodded.
"He's breathing and his heart's beating. Hopefully he wakes up soon. Let's check out Phantasma's kit." She headed to the discarded bag on the ground and started rummaging through it.
She pulled out a half-empty bottle of chemicals. The puddle around Achilles was probably the rest of it. Lightning read the label and snorted in disgust. Next was a small knife, and a needle. Her roll of duct tape had rolled to one wall, so Joey grabbed it and tossed it to Lightning. She caught it and glanced over it before setting it down with the rest of the stuff.
"The chemicals won't cause too many problems as long as you don't get them in your face. Which...appears to be exactly where Phantasma put them on Achilles." Joey winced as he noticed that Achilles' face was, indeed, wet. At least his Miracle had kept him safe.
"What was she even trying to do?" Joey asked.
"Kill him. Probably trying to make it painful too." Joey shuddered at Lightning's detached explanation.
"That girl did say brutally..."
"And we don't know what kind of illusion she put on him. She stuck me in outer space. How about you?"
"Falling to the earth, then getting a rope wrapped around my neck."
"Holy shit, what? How far was it?"
"I dunno. A while. But I'm kind of used to falling. The ground looked weird though." Lightning let out a puff of air as she digested the information.
"I don't get it though. She had me. Why'd she let me go?"
"Because I was choking her?"
"Yeah, but...wait." Lightning stood and started pacing.
"What?"
"What do you know about her Miracle?"
"She can cause illusions that affect reality to some extent. Not sure to what extent, but she burnt my hands and probably almost killed Achilles and you with it. I doubt she can affect many people at once, since she only targeted me and Achilles that first time, and made a point of confronting him alone this time."
"It's probably one," Lightning replied.
"Ah. Right. Otherwise she woulda left Achilles and gotten both of us. Probably. I mean, I was choking her and you're the biggest threat we have."
"Exactly."
"But...there has to be some condition to activate it. She didn't get at me right away. First she convinced me to let go by threatening to kill you if I didn't."
"And you agreed?"
"I figured it was my best course of action. I didn't think I could knock her out in time to make a difference, and I didn't want to chance knocking her out and leaving the illusion going." Lightning winced at his assessment.
"Shit. I guess if she could set one and let it run without being conscious you'd be pretty screwed, huh?"
"I think you made the right call, though. We didn't have a lot of other options. Otherwise she woulda just kept playing switcharoo with us and keeping us at bay by threatening the other."
"Yeah. At least hindsight isn't making us out to be morons just yet. You were saying she needed a condition?"
"Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered to get me off of her. She'd just mess with me as is. Getting me to let go probably wouldn't have been hard."
Lightning wandered over to Phantasma and pulled her into a sitting position. "So what allowed her to get you?"
Joey sat in thought as Lightning pulled Phantasma's arms behind her back.
"You have a way to restrain her?"
"Nope. But this'll be good enough for now."
"Should I get the military?" Lightning thought for a minute.
"Nah. I'll do it. Hang onto her for me, will ya?" Joey nodded anxiously as he grabbed onto Phantasma's slender limbs.
"What if she wakes up and starts fighting?"
"Hold her down if you can. If you can't, scream."
Joey felt his confidence sink even lower.
"Maybe if you hold her by the back, she won't be able to get you. I didn't notice anything until she was staring at me. Maybe she needs to see your face or something. In which case..." Lightning grabbed the bag and dumped it on Phantasma's head.
"If you're wrong about this..." Joey mumbled.
"Relax. I'll be back in a few minutes with backup. If Achilles wakes up, explain the situation as best you can. And keep Phantasma held down. I really don't want to have to hunt her again. Not even the military could track her." Lightning gave Joey a quick wave before she sped away, leaving him holding the time bomb.
He really hoped she didn't wake up. Or if she did, that Lightning's bag idea worked.
