Fantom

James Greenwood, known by his handle Fantom is an American neohuman bounty hunter, professional basketball player and ex-Maverick. He is one of Volt's best friends and is currently engaged to Mika Kānekaii. His cousin is Diesel.

James has recently been employed by Gyzmo's company as her main body guard and head of security.

### **History**

Born in Harlem in New York in 1985, James virtually grew up on his own, while his mother always worked, his father Errol had left by the time he was 7 as their marriage deteriorated.

James never gave up, striving for his father’s attention on the few times he had the chance to see him. Errol worked as both an electrician and plumber in the day  but at night he often became a runabout for a group of local gangsters, but most of the time Errol had no idea what he was running or why. Life was hard, but life was life, and James grew up hoping to become a basketball player, as he grew in to his teens he gained the lanky height required to play the sport, and James focused only on that, pushing himself continuously. Come his 14th birthday Errol had not been seen for over 2 months and James’s grew angry, wondering why and where he had gone. One night James went to his work place, his father was known for working late on the weekends and James hoped he would see him, unfortunately James walked in on a business deal between his Father and a group of local gangsters, cronies for the man known as Lorenzo; a powerful property magnate and member of the Cosa Nostra in New York. Facing the men, brave James tried to talk to his father, but he would not listen, and in his rage James ran, his superhuman strength manifested, breaking a wall in an alleyway and moments later, the arm of a mugger as he tried to defend himself. At first James wasn't too sure what happened, and assumed his acts of strength were due to adrenaline.

The next night James' and his mother were visited by Lorenzo's men where they threatened to slit his mother's throat if they let the word out on their meeting, James, in fear of his mother's life agreed.

When James later tried to go to the police he found dead-ends and unhelpful cops, most of which corrupt and already under Lorenzo's influence.

Realising his strength might be some form of sign that he was supposed to take down Lorenzo, he began to talk to people about the crime lord, eventually finding his lavish house in upstate New York, however the place was covered by cameras and lasers.

After helping Mika recover Fantom recently started bounty hunting work again and has met Volt on a few occasions where he has warned to stay privet and not trust the government.

After being kicked out of the NBA during a massive backlash involving superhuman sportsman in normal human sports in 2017, Gyzmo had successfully initiated her business making electronics and vehicle parts, after making a deal with Tentech, Fantom was made head of security and Mika's personal bodyguard.

TBA

### **Personality**

Fantom was known for his calm and cool nature, thinking things through, unlike Volt who always tended to fly off the hook. After the Mavericks, Fantom became something of a recluse with Mika’s hospitalisation, blaming himself for her paralysis. When he began to practice basketball again, taking a step down from dealing with crime, James took to a relatively normal bachelor life, although never once did he stray from Mika’s side, and is both loyal and true to his word. Never the less Fantom’s smooth surface is not to be underestimated, and his aggression in battle is something to be both admired and respected. The only forces on the planet capable of truly upsetting him are matters of the family (and his consequential link to gangsters) or matters of the heart. Strong-willed and proud of his devotion to Mika pushed him to eventually get his life on track, becoming a bounty hunter to serve his need to help others. Fantom is still as he was in the Mavericks in many ways, and misses the old days, but since Mika’s recovery has been becoming a stronger and happier man.

### **Powers and Abilities**

#### **Powers**

James is a neohuman whose unique n-genes or ‘neones’ grant him superhuman powers and has the following abilities as such:

**Enhanced Strength:** Fantom possess superhuman strength levels, these levels have steadily increased since his neones were first active, from the age of 14. His strength first allowed him to lift up to 6 tonnes. By the time he was 18 years old about 16 tonnes seemed to be his maximum limit. By the time the Mavericks were fully formed, could lift almost 21 tonnes. It is thought that currently Fantom can lift up to 30 tonnes with extreme effort. He has also demonstrated that he has enough leg strength to jump up to 15 meters with full effort. Fantom’s neones kept his muscles at superhuman strengths continuously, but he could still gain weight like any normal person and had to exercise to keep the weight off. James learned to finitely control his strength allowing him to play basketball professionally after numerous tests, and despite protests, was the first neo to play in a normal human basketball squad, unfortunately he was also the least.

**Enhanced Durability:**Although not completely bulletproof, Fantom’s muscles and tissue were a lot denser and tougher than any normal human, making him hard to damage or kill, he could survive great falls and can take bullets in ways normal humans cannot, although they still penetrate his skin do not cause major damage and rarely hit any organs, and even those organs possess a superhuman density that themselves help protect against damage through shockwaves or explosive blasts. He has demonstrated that he can at least survive a 5-storey drop, landing on his knee and fist, although this was said to strain his tendons.

* ***Enhanced Endurance:*** Fantom’s endurance levels were phenomenal and perhaps the most powerful of all of his abilities. His endurance allowed him to also withstand tremendous amounts of pain, starvation, blood loss, serious damage and low oxygen levels for a longer period than any normal human ever could. This allowed him to perform physical exercises for several hours on end with no severe tiring at all.

**Invisibility/Stealth:** Fantom also has the ability to render himself and any small object he touches invisible for up to 15-20 minutes by bending light around his skin, clothes and any small object he touches. This ability seemed to be a form of tactile wavelength dampening working mostly on his own body and clothes, as it also dampened any sound he made. His stealth powers seemed to take a lot out of his stamina even today.

#### **Abilities**

**Martial Arts**: Fantom is skilled in various martial arts techniques including kickboxing, jeet kune and some judo and karate.

**Firearms Expert**: He is also skilled in the use of firearms, especially hand guns, sub-machine guns and pistols.

**Musician:** Fantom is also a talented drummer and was known for his rapping skills that he sometimes used during the Mavericks’ gigs in the Gene Pool.

**Basketball Professional:** He could teach and play basketball at a professional level and for a while was a promotional part of the NBA, but because of his superhuman strength was ousted from playing professionally for his group Quakestars, that he helped rise to professional levels. The use of Fantom in the NBA sparked a bigger debate at the use of neos and other superhumans in sporting events,

### **Limitations and Weaknesses**

Despite having much tougher skin and tissues, Fantom could still be seriously injured at point-blank range, especially a head-shot, although his survival rates would-be increased due to his endurance levels, the denseness of his body and perhaps even vital organs themselves.

Fantom’s invisibility seems to be heavily linked to his endurance, and oddly it is use of this ability that seems to have the greatest impact on his endurance levels, tiring him out much more than physical exercise ever would. After 20 minutes of continuous invisibility, Fantom would seem to become too tired to sustain the field, although like his strength, this has steadily increased as he grew, from 5 minutes when he was 16.

While he is invisible on many wavelengths, including from thermal sensors, he can still be detected by specialised mass-based sensory equipment and ion detection, although such equipment at a small scale doesn’t seem to exist yet.