PHANTOM : Cosmic Birth

Isaac Ornstein retreated to the confines of his opulent home after an exasperating day at "work."

His demure spouse had prepared him a sumptuous meal for dinner which he had gormandized with an insatiable appetite.

"How was work, today?" she inquired, her words laced with innocence.

"Exasperating," Isaac replied. "Too many controversial clients. They're trouble."

His wife, Lara, incognizant of the fact that her spouse had spent his entire evening battling with U.F.O.s.

Despite being credited handsomely for his "services" by the fastest rising Tech industry in Africa, as one of Viper's henchmen, the ominous nature of his risky line of profession did seem to have its fair share of sacrifices.

"I feel battered, Hon. Gimme a massage."

Lara freaked out, stroking the bizarre scars across her spouse's back.

"Did you wrestle a lion?" she panicked in anxiety.

"Nah, My screw-jack failed, had the full weight of a car pressed against my back," Ornstein, a pathological lair, kept his encounter with Phantom a secret.

After a brief conversation punctuated with more unapologetic lies, he retreated to bed while his spouse stayed up late, catching up on the news in the living room.

The evening temperatures were humidly chilly, a shivering downpour, splattering conspicuously like the footsteps of a thousand chariots.

All seemed serene, indeed, until the rumbling thunderclaps ruptured the peace of night.

As lightning flashed, a dark silhouette was revealed atop the pointy rooftops of V.A.P.O.R.'s minion.

Dark wings, glistening in the crackling surge, stretching like a cumulus cloud.

Raindrops trickled down his very essence, his steel wings, contracting with the fluidity of robotics.

His identity, obscured by a dark mask, infrared lenses, glaring emerald and his neon combative gear, glistened like onyx.

Abruptly, a second surge of lightning flashed across the heavens but the figure had mysteriously vanished, long before the accompanying thunderclaps rumbled.

Ornstein's slumber was interrupted by soft thudding as he awakened with a jerk.

Being a hitman, he could detect the slightest sounds, quite too certain there was human presence lurking in his room.

Finding no one, Isaac shut his eyes in a futile attempt to rekindle his slumber.

Suddenly, a razor sharp dagger impaled his hand, pinning it through the mattress, blood oozing like a leaky pipeline.

He let out an agonizing scream, in a futile attempt to break free but he was bound by an impeccable grip, stronger than a vice, reminiscent of a supernatural force.

Alas, it wasn't a dagger, it was a feather from Professor's Zeeman's steel wings, glossing in the dimly lit room like polished onyx.

"Let me go, please!" Ornstein wailed in excruciating pain.

"Name your price, no matter the cost!"

The winged predator chuckled at the fragility of the squealing minion.

"For a narcissist who enjoys inflicting pain on others, you do seem to awfully squeal a lot," the scientist elaborated.

"I've come to realize that sadism is built on the fear of sorrow," he added.

"Lara! Call 911! Call 91.. Ahh!" Isaac's screams crescendoed as Zack pinned his second hand to the mattress with another razor sharp steel feather, akin to a scythe.

Unfortunately, his muffled wails were inaudible amidst the heavy clattering of the rains, drowned out and muffled by the amplifiers of his home theatre.

"I have zero interests in your blood money, I much prefer to watch you become an amputee," Zack emphasized, a satisfactory grin, etched across his face.

"No hands, no grenades, am I right, Ornstein?"

The words of the winged predator rekindled an ember specter of Isaac's past, consuming him in guilt.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about," yet, he wailed in denial, unyielding, refusing to break.

"Perhaps this would reset your memory?" Zack sank his tendril of steel deeper, Isaac screaming atop his voice.

"I traced evidence from the crime scene to your home.

Assault rifles, atomic ammunition, such as nuclear powered grenades," the Professor accused the con man, his calm composure, bellied by his irregular, jagged, lacerating activities.

"Perhaps this might sound a lil' familiar in your ears. You know why?

Cause you've got three seconds, to gimme the name of your employer."

Forthwith, it dawned on Isaac, the realization of his assailant's identity.

"No way! It was you! You're the lecturer from the school," he panted in exasperation.

"Tried to play smart. Tried to be a hero.. how did that turn out?

With you as a villain.. a super villain!" the minion taunted at the Professor with a mocking chuckle, his injuries, numb with pain.

"I prefer to be addressed by the term, antihero," Zack's ominous aura seemed to darken, intoxicatingly.

"One.." the countdown began, against Ornstein's blatant whimpering.

"Three seconds.. that's all I need," the henchman croaked in mockery, recreating the tragic encounter that had occurred in Welkin College.

But this time, the tides had turned, the predator, now prey.

"To finally Rest In Peace."

"Two.."

Isaac bowed his head low, welcoming death with open arms.

"Three!"

Zack severed Ornstein in two unequal halves, dissecting his rear, through his torso and down to his skull.

His steel wings beat rhythmically, slicing through with an effortlessness, reminiscent of a hot knife through beef.

The fragrantly colorful sheets were drenched in a puddle of blood, akin to fine wine, sipping through the mattress and meandering through the tiles.

Isaac Ornstein, murdered in cold blood as vengeance for his negligent use of firearms in a sensitively constructed laboratory.

Professor Zack Zeeman inspected the deadman's phone, hacking through the biometric scanners by placing Isaac's lifeless thumb on the finger print sensors.

The scientist browsed through his encrypted files, uncovering a legion of skeletons in the closet.

He scrutinized the implicating documents, underwhelmed by the taboos and forbidden atrocities Ornstein had carried out, in the name of the voracious, company.

Child trafficking, environmental degradations, innumerable assassination attempts on the lives of rival C.E.O.s and their families.

"V.A.P.O.R! Interesting.."