THEY BULLIED GIRL AND SOLD HER TO MAFIA, UNAWARE HER MOM IS TOP AGENT MADE ALL KNEEL!
“It has been days already. Are you sure your daughter is still alive?”
My chest tightened.
“She has to be alive. What if you get there too late? Then I will make the Sterling family vanish from this earth.”
I arrived at the estate under the cover of a massive thunderstorm. The rain masked my footsteps. I disabled the outer security cameras, slipped over the wrought iron gates, and took out the perimeter guards silently, leaving them unconscious in the wet grass.
I found the basement ventilation duct just as the blueprints promised. I crawled through the narrow metal tunnel, the sound of my own harsh breathing deafening in my ears. I dropped down into a dimly lit storage corridor.
“Keep a close watch. Do not let anyone mess with the bosses business,” a voice echoed down the hall.
I peeked around the corner. Two guards armed with automatic rifles stood in front of a heavy reinforced steel door.
I stepped out of the shadows.
“Stop right there. You are not supposed to be here. Get lost,” one of them barked.
I did not say a word. I threw a heavy metal wrench straight at his face, closing the distance before the second guard could raise his weapon. I swept his legs out from under him and knocked him out cold with a swift kick to the temple.
I ripped the access card from his belt and swiped it. The heavy doors hissed open.
Inside, it looked like a high tech operating room. And there, strapped to a table, was my little girl.
“Mom!” Chloe cried out, her eyes wide with terror.
“Chloe, mom is here.”
Suddenly, a slow sarcastic clap echoed from the shadows. Richard Sterling stepped forward, surrounded by a dozen heavily armed men.
“Welcome to the Sterling family, Miss Phantom,” Richard smiled smugly.
“You knew I would come.”
“You raided our clinic. Did you really think you would get away with it? I just never figured that back then, the one who made the whole underworld tremble, Phantom, would be content to settle for a convenience store as a single mom.”
“Cut the crap. Where is my daughter?” I stepped forward, but stopped as I heard a faint hissing sound.
“Richard Sterling, give me back Chloe. If even a single hair on her head is harmed, I will make the whole Sterling family pay with their lives.”
“As expected of the Phantom. Badass. Too bad though. This is Sterling family turf. Once you step through my door, even you got to play by my rules. Give it up, Phantom. I know your skills inside and out. You think I would come unprepared?”
The air grew thick and heavy. Smoke began pouring from the vents.
“Damp. And this smoke is poison,” I muttered, my vision instantly blurring. My knees buckled.
“Neurotoxin. Feeling weak?” Richard laughed.
“What are you waiting for? Go.”
His men rushed me. I fought back, my fists flying, but my movements were sluggish. The world tilted sideways. I managed to knock down three of them before a heavy blow to the back of my head sent me crashing to the floor.
“Boss, you are amazing,” a henchman laughed.
“Back then, the Phantom made the whole underworld tremble in fear. But now she is in the palm of your hand.”
“A has been agent from years ago dares to cross me. Pathetic. Make sure they are careful. Do not hurt her. Phantoms body is worth a fortune. Got it.” Richard walked over to the operating table.
“All right, time for surgery. Prep for surgery.”
“Mom! Stop yelling!” Chloe screamed.
“Let me finish the surgery first and then I will have your mom join you.”
“No! No! Stop struggling. Just die already. Do not touch my daughter!” I screamed, tearing at the restraints they had slapped on my wrists.
“Damn bunch of losers. But so what if the gas did not work? You still cannot beat my men. Damn it. I do not want her body anymore. Kill her,” Richard ordered, realizing I was fighting through the neurotoxin. My adrenaline was burning it out of my system.
With a roar that tore my throat, I snapped the plastic zip ties on my wrists. I grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray and drove it into the thigh of the closest guard. I ripped a heavy oxygen tank from the wall and hurled it at the glass window of the observation deck.
The glass shattered in a spectacular explosion of shards. The distraction was all I needed. I moved like a blur, the old instincts taking over completely. I disarmed the guards, using their own weapons against them, clearing the room in a storm of calculated violence.
“What is going on? Where did that explosion come from?” Richard panicked, backing away.
I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the sterile white tiles.
“Who gave you permission to touch my daughter?”
“You! What are you doing here? Take her out! You! No, it is not my fault!”
I checked on Chloe. She was sedated but unharmed. I turned back to Richard, my eyes filled with pure murder.
“Phantom, you have got guts. You actually made it here. But do not forget this is Sterling territory. Send backup ASAP!” he yelled into his radio.
Static answered him.
“No can do. All the passages are collapsed. We cannot get in.”
“Bastard. What have you done?” Richard stammered, his face pale.
“Richard Sterling, it is time for you to pay.”
“You dare. I am a key figure in the Genesis Society. If you lay a finger on me, the Genesis Society will hunt you to the ends of the Earth. You and your daughter will not survive.”
“Genesis Society. Do not be in such a hurry. After I bring down the Sterling family next, it is their turn.”
“Phantom, let us make a deal. Your daughters illness was never curable. She was going to die anyway. Better to save my daughter. I can give you one hundred million dollars. Set you up for life.”
“Shut up. Your money is so dirty. It makes me sick.”
That night, the Sterling empire in Chicago crumbled. I left nothing standing.
I took Chloe back to the Whisper Inn. The Broker looked at me with wide eyes.
“How is the Sterling family in this world?”
“There is no more Sterling family.”
“You wiped out the Sterling family completely. Phantom, you are way too reckless. This is a direct slap in the face to Genesis Society. They are not going to let this slide.”
“Let this slide? Even if I let the Sterling family go today or even kneel and apologize to them, given Genesis Societys way of doing things, would they let me go?”
“You are right. Genesis Society never lets anything slide. You have had no way out for a long time. Wiping out the Sterling family at least cripples their power. So, what is your next move?”
“Genesis Society will definitely come for me. Instead of waiting for them to make a move, better to strike first. Please keep an eye on their movements. Any news? Let me know immediately.”
The vacuum left by the Sterling family was quickly filled by the Black family, led by Marcus Black.
They were just as ruthless, if not worse. I needed a specific new experimental drug to stabilize Chloes condition before she could even qualify for a real transplant. The company that developed it had just been swallowed by Marcus Black.
While tracking down the drug, I stumbled upon a man named Arthur Brooks at a local hospital. He was desperately begging the doctors to save his dying wife. The loan sharks working for the Black family were hounding him, trying to force him to sign away his wifes organs to settle a two million dollar debt.
“Arthur Brooks, you owe two million dollars. According to the rules of our business, I could have you taken back and chop off an arm or a leg as payment, leaving you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life,” the loan shark threatened in the hospital hallway.
“But you are in luck. Now, if you just sign this donation consent form, your debt is gone. Such a great deal. And you still want to haggle with me? Come on, sign it.”
“No way. I cannot sign it. I will find a way to pay it back. I can get a job, sell the house, even if it takes my whole life to pay it off. Please leave my wife out of this. Leave her alone.”
I stepped in. I beat the loan sharks until they could not walk, tossed them their two million dollars in cold cash from the Sterling vault, and burned the debt contract right in front of Arthur.
“Why did you do that?” Arthur asked, staring at the ashes falling to the hospital floor.
“You knew I would not agree to donate her heart to your daughter. You helped me like this. What is in it for you?”
“You want to protect your wife. I just want to do everything I can to keep my daughter alive. But everyone has got a choice. I am not forcing anyone. I hope your wife recovers soon.”
I walked away. The next morning, Arthur found me. His wife had passed away peacefully in the night. He had thought about what his wife truly wanted.
“My wife actually said before that if she is gone, she hopes to help others. I was stuck in a rut. Now that I think about it, I respect her. Take out the donation consent form. I will sign.”
I had a donor. Now I needed the experimental drug from Marcus Black to ensure the surgery was a success.
Marcus was hosting a lavish birthday banquet at his downtown penthouse overlooking the Chicago river. The elite of the criminal underworld were presenting him with absurdly expensive gifts just to stay in his good graces. I walked right through the front door, wearing a stunning black evening gown, leaving a trail of unconscious security guards in my wake.
“Miss, you look unfamiliar,” Marcus smiled, sipping champagne.
“So, I wonder what birthday gift have you prepared for me?”
“Mr Black, I have some news that might be worth more than any gift. I happen to know where Phantom is.”
He cleared the room immediately. Once we were alone, I dropped the act.
“You dare to barge into the Black familys home to die?” he snarled, backing away as I drew a blade.
“Hand over the new drug your company developed, then I will let you go.”
Marcus laughed, a deep booming sound.
“You really think I am just a greedy good for nothing? I see. Your sick daughter desperately needs this new drug to survive. I will make you a deal. Join the Black family. Become my personal bodyguard. This medicine, I will give it to you right now. I swear to you, as long as you join the Black family, Genesis Society will not come after you or your daughter.”
“If saving my daughter means aiding a villain and harming innocent people, then what is the difference between me and Richard Sterling? I will never agree.”
“You asked for it,” Marcus spat.
“Since you do not know what is good for you, then this medicine is useless now.”
He snapped his fingers. Hidden panels in the walls slid open. Armed men poured in. But before I could move, a sharp stinging pain hit my neck. A tiny dart.
“Poisoned,” I gasped, stumbling backward.
“Looks familiar, right? This is the enhancement serum from your super agent training program that you used back then. The Genesis Society improved it and removed the side effects,” a new voice echoed from the doorway.
A tall figure stepped into the light. My blood turned to ice.
“The Director,” I whispered. It was my old mentor, the man who trained me, the man I thought died in a base explosion years ago.
“Phantom. Long time no see. Meet Master.”
“Didn’t you die in the base explosion back then?”
“If I had not died, how could I have escaped the organization? That fire was just a funeral I staged for myself. We have been injected with the first generation enhancement serum. The strongest humans. Why should we let those defenseless weaklings control us? Phantom, come back. Genesis Society is now restarting the Serum Project. If you join us, we can mass produce superhumans.”
“No, I refuse. Genesis Society does anything for profit, hurting tons of innocent people. An organization like that, I will destroy it.”
My vision swam. The poison was acting fast. The Director captured me. When I woke up, I was chained to a steel wall in a subterranean laboratory. The Broker from the Whisper Inn was chained next to me, beaten to a bloody pulp.
“Where is my daughter?” I roared, pulling at the heavy chains.
The Director smiled calmly.
“Relax. I have been taking good care of your daughter. She is the one I am using to push you to take that final step. My trump card.”
He revealed the truth.
Chloes heart condition was not natural. She had inherited my enhanced blood, but her normal body could not handle the immense power coursing through her veins. The only way to save her was not a transplant, but to undergo the same torturous enhancement surgery I did, turning her into a monster.
He brought Chloe out. She was wearing a metallic collar.
“That collar around her neck is not just any collar. It is my custom remote explosive collar. If you try anything, I will blow it up,” the Director sneered.
“Now we are at the final step. Kill your daughter. Cut off all weaknesses completely. Become the strongest super agent. Or let her kill you.”
He triggered the serum in Chloe. Her eyes went blank. She lunged at me with terrifying speed and strength, punching me hard enough to crack my ribs.
“Chloe, I am your mom,” I sobbed, refusing to strike back. I just dodged and blocked, taking brutal hits.
Suddenly, a loud crash distracted the guards. The Broker had slipped his chains using a hidden lockpick. He tackled the Director, wrestling the remote control from his hand.
“Manager!” I yelled.
“Do not worry about me! Kill him!” the Broker shouted as the Directors men opened fire, gunning the brave man down in a hail of bullets.
Seeing the Broker fall, seeing my daughter turned into a weapon, something inside me snapped. It was not the chemical serum. It was something older, something deeper. It was a mothers absolute refusal to let her child be destroyed.
The heavy steel chains holding me shattered. I moved faster than the eye could track. I grabbed the Director by the throat, hoisting his massive frame into the air.
“No. Impossible. The serum in your body was already at maximum concentration,” he choked out in disbelief.
“What made me stronger was never enhancement serum. It was a mothers determination to protect her daughter. This kind of strength you will never understand.”
I crushed his throat and dropped him to the floor. The remaining guards fled in terror.
I rushed to Chloe, disarming the collar with shaking hands. The dark veins on her neck faded. She collapsed into my arms, coughing.
“Annie, you okay? Any discomfort?”
“Mom, I am fine. What about the bad guy?”
“I took down the bad guy. No one can hurt us ever again.”
Her pulse was strong and steady. The violent activation of the serum had forced her body to adapt permanently. Her illness was gone completely.
“Mom, now that I am better, you promised me once I got better, you would grant me one wish. Remember?” she smiled, her eyes bright and clear.
“Of course, sweetie. Not just one, even ten or a hundred, I will say yes. What do you want?”
“Awesome, Mom. I want to be an agent as strong as you. I want to work with you to protect more kids like me who get bullied by bad guys.”
I looked down at my beautiful strong girl. I wiped the tears from my eyes and smiled.
“Okay, I promise. We will start by eliminating the remnants of the Genesis Society.”
Disclaimer: This story is based on true events, shared for the purpose of reflection and inspiration. Names, locations, and certain details have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.