Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

Chapter 22: The Gift of a Lifetime?

A strand of hair floated down from Serena’s head, and she froze in place, dumbfounded, unable to believe what she had just seen.

Phantom Kid is actually able to use a gun!

Ugh… it didn’t seem like anything extraordinary.

But the problem was that the bullet he used was special, still, with the gun he was shooting playing cards out of!

And not just any playing card, he shot. Just a second before, Serena and Mathison had fired at the same time. She hadn’t expected Kid to be such a good marksman! With a miraculously accurate calculation, the playing card collided with the bullet Serena had fired, and the inexplicably sharp playing cards had sliced the bullet into half!

After slicing through the bullet, the poker’s momentum continued unabated, brushing past Serena’s face and cutting off a chunk of her hair.

”Miss Kyle, it looks like you’ve lost to me once again.”

Taking advantage of Serena’s loss of focus, Mathison quickly closed the distance between them and snatched her weapon.

”Yes, you win, so what are you going to do with me?”

Serena said helplessly, spreading her hands.

She was Catwoman, a thief, not a hero. In fact, she was much less a thief than some bullshit chivalrous man. To think that she would have such a response, to embrace death, to act generously, was insane.

If you come as a winner, you have beaten your opponent; if you come as a loser, you surrender or run away; that’s what a wise person would do.

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Yes, we agree that she had accepted Daggett’s offer and promised to protect the jewel, but she isn’t willing to put her life on the line to do so, not even for the “Purge Program”.

”Well, you know what, Miss Kyle, sometimes it’s hard to be too wise, I thought you were going to jump at me without thinking.”

It was a relief for Mathison too, something like bullet poker cards belong to the world of fantasy, and if he hadn’t practised them in simulation before, he wouldn’t have dared to use them.

As soon as Mathison’s body stepped through the hidden door and entered the chamber completely, the door closed automatically, the mechanism was activated and the two doors into the corridor were automatically unlocked.

Meanwhile, in the collection chamber, Gordon was about to have his men blast open the lock, yet the door suddenly opened by itself.

”Be careful everyone, two different gunshots sounded from inside, it’s likely that Phantom Kid is in a fight with someone. The enemies are armed, so be careful not to get hurt!”

Alarming his team, Gordon took the lead, maintaining a ready stance to shoot, as he slowly made his way into the corridor.

Bit by bit, he moved forward, and by the time he reached the dark door, he happened to meet with the team from the other collection room, neither side having spotted Kid’s whereabouts.

”What is this?! Has Kid disappeared out of thin air?”

Some of the officers exclaimed.

”No way, there must be some kind of hidden door or something here. Spread out and look for any mechanism that could trigger it, and be careful to act within the boundaries of law!”

Aaron said dismissively, he didn’t believe that people would somehow disappear.

”Phantom Kid, the police are already outside. It will only take a few minutes before they find out about this place, and when they do …”

Serena tried to make the smile on her face look more natural and friendly.

”Well, then?”

Mathison hummed and tied her last knot, he looked at it carefully for a few moments and was pleased with his craft. He confirmed that even an escape master would need quite a bit of work to get out of this tie.

”I mean, you could have done without tying me up, we could have joined hands. After all, we are peers, aren’t we? You even said I was your senior last time, do you remember that? And I know where the secret passage is here where you can just escape.”

Serena was helpless, wondering how she could get Phantom Kid to change his mind.

”This is the Cat’s Eye Emerald from Daggett’s collection, nice, it’s beautiful.”

Mathison ignored Catwoman’s plea and instead searched in the chamber, quickly finding her target.

Catwoman screamed in her mind.

   What kind of knot was this guy tying, and why was it so hard to undo? She had been tied numerous times, but no matter how firm a knot was, she could free herself from it in less than three seconds.

It was only the knot that Mathison had tied that gave her a feeling of helplessness.

There is a saying that the treasures in this secret chamber just are not of the same quality as the dozen or so hidden in the rooms outside. And, in addition to the Cat’s Eye Emerald, there was a lot of hard currency stored, mostly gold, with some antique relics.

There were also a few gems worth more than gold and the Cat’s Eye Emerald, not as nice as the Cat’s Eye, but all of them were of the finest quality.

”Unfortunately, Phantom never does anything other than what he writes in his teaser letters… I will come back for another visit when I’m interested in something else.”

Listening to Mathison talking to himself on the side, Serena couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Saying that he will come back whenever he wishes to, Mathison is talking as if Daggett’s private collection wasn’t so hard to be infiltrated, but, again, this is Phantom Kid we are talking about.

”Miss Kyle, what do you seem to have something against me?”

”No, no, why would I oppose you, I think you’re right.”

Serena was startled and obeyed her inner thoughts.

Strangely enough, despite being tied up by Kid, she couldn’t hate him. Even the shot she had just fired had settled her feud with him over the Adam’s Star incident.

She accepted that she was not as good as him, this time. So, after this deal, she decided that she will just avoid him if she happens to encounter him in the future.

Whoever wanted the title of Gotham’s number one thief could have it!

She knows how good he is, he did not initiate these crimes to play around.

”It’s a pity, isn’t it? The jewels are beautiful, but they don’t quite match this necklace. They’re both beautiful separately, but they have to be combined together.

Mathison removed the Cat’s Eye Emerald from the necklace and only then nodded in satisfaction.

”Oh! By the way, didn’t you say you would give the person who found you first, a ‘gift of a lifetime?’ I don’t suppose anyone guessed your identity before I did.”

Suddenly, Serena remembered Mathison’s declaration from earlier, she didn’t ask for any precious gift, she just wanted him to untie her before the police arrive and arrest her.

”Well… Miss Kyle, you’ve reminded me that I did say that.”

Mathison mused, seemingly embarrassed.

”Unfortunately, I didn’t think anyone would actually be able to spot me. I don’t have anything on me but this Cat’s Eye Emerald, I’m sorry, I can’t give it to you.”

”There are quite a few treasures in this room, but unfortunately they belong to Mr Daggett and I have no right to give you one of them.”

The corners of Serena’s mouth twitched, were these human words?

So the Cat’s Eye Emerald already belonged to your family?

”That’s okay, I don’t need any treasures, I just need you to help me …”

The words stopped abruptly because Mathison suddenly reached up to lift Serena’s chin, while the other hand removed her mask, revealing Serena’s facial features.

From Catwoman’s perspective, Phantom Kid smiled wickedly as his face pressed even closer.

”What does he want? Kiss me forcibly? What kind of gift is this?”

Serena’s heart beat faster as she remembered that Kid had snatched Adam’s Star from her chest… will he do the same to me now…

”Mmm!”

She felt Kid’s hand on her shoulder and couldn’t help but blush and close her eyes.

It wasn’t so much because of the kiss he was leaning into, but the fact that her hands and feet were still tied has given her the impression that her situation resembled to bondage…

Who can stand such a thing!

After a while, the imaginary rough kiss did not happen, even Mathison’s hand left her shoulder, Serena opened her eyes in confusion.

Phantom Kid had disappeared and the secret passage had been opened.

At the same time, the secret door was also opened by the police and Gordon and the others rushed in, catching a glimpse of Serena with her hands and feet bound – and the necklace around her neck.

Precisely, a necklace with a card on it…