Phantom

— Turnabout for Tomorrow

### Hates

Athena Cykes, Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice, Bobby Fulbright, Dick Gumshoe, Jake Marshall, Miles Edgeworth

## Appearances

### Debut

Dual Destinies

Phantom is an international spy for an unknown organization who experiences 'limited emotional fluctuation' and a 'unique psychological profile'. They are the true culprit of the UR-1 incident, and also the 'cause' of the Dark Age of Law. They are also one of the worst spies in their organization's history.

## Personality

Phantom's personality is very hard to pin down, as they are convinced they do not have one. For the 'most' part, this is true, as they cannot function outside of using someone else's identity or convincing themselves they are acting within the confines of said identity.

Phantom is an extremely reserved individual with an extraordinary amount of emotional constipation, so much so that they have a unique psychological profile because of it. They are very aloof and straightforward, stating facts and asking blunt questions without care for how uncomfortable it may make someone. They don't think this is a trait, as it's simply just stating facts or asking simple questions, but their outwardly cold, cruel, and 'calculating' appearance can unnerve even the most stalwart of people.

Phantom does not experience emotions on the same level as other people, as their emotions can often become 'stuck' and not fluxtuate whatsoever. Apathy is the 'default' they've been stuck in for a number of years, which they think they're satisfied with. They regularly can do death-defying stunts and go through high-pressure action-oriented situations without breaking a sweat like this. They believe their apathy makes them a better spy.

However, all of that gets flushed down the drain when it comes to death. The Phantom is intensely fearful of dying, though they cannot place why, as they reason they're not a person so clearly they cannot die. However, no matter how much they reason against it, it remains. This fear of death causes them to be impulsive and make stupid decisions, then scramble to save themselves. Though they always manage to survive and escape, this impulsiveness makes others in their line of work look down on them.

As they believe trust and understanding is beneath them, they actively make no attempts to have friends or any meaningful relationships. They have a shaky grasp of what 'friendship' means, and they do not seek it out because they believe it's not worth their time to pursue due to their occupation. With their inability to have a 'self', they also feel as though all connections are inauthentic when they make them in disguise.

Due to their limited number of interactions with the concept of trust when they think they're shown it, they are **very** easily manipulated. For example, Phantom is willing to believe Simon Blackquill actually did have faith in them, in spite of the fact they knew he was a psychological manipulator since day one.

## History

### Early Life

For as long as Phantom can remember, they have always been an identity-less, personality-less abyss. To them, they simply spawned into existence fully grown, with no childhood, no family, nothing before the life they have inside the organization.

Their time inside the organization is clouded with general mystery, but it's known they've repeatedly failed at tasks given to them, and have killed more than ten people, making them a spy with one of the highest kill counts. This also got them the title of the worst living spy in the organization, as their repeat murders drew attention to them.

Ghoul saw this as an opportunity to control Phantom, as no one else wanted to associate with them, and took it. Ghoul would repeatedly bargain with higher ups to allow Phantom to have more lax punishments, or would outright save their life. In exchange, Phantom was forced to pick up Ghoul's slack under threat of Ghoul snitching.

Though Phantom eventually started to develop platonic feelings for Ghoul because of their willingness to 'save' them, and to see them as the 'abyss' they are rather than the masks they wear, Ghoul would never end up returning those feelings. Phantom turned a blind eye to having their trust manipulated for the sake of companionship, though they would never admit that Ghoul was considered a 'friend'.

Some time in their life, they were caught by Luke Atmey, who blackmailed them with their identity as a spy. Though he was a lot less effective at blackmailing Phantom than Ghoul was, due to Phantom working in Japanifornia frequently, he was able to keep a small hold on them. Though they managed to dodge him mostly, eventually his threats made them cave.

When he followed through on a threat he'd made he caused Phantom's existence to leak into the news, and giving them the name 'Phantom' within the organization.

Phantom continued to work under threat by Atmey and Ghoul, as well as complete organization missions without much issue for multiple years.

### Trilogy

After Atmey was put in jail, Phantom's life returned to relative 'normalcy', as they dropped connection with him entirely.

At some point during the trilogy, their voice was recorded by something and shipped off to Metis Cykes. Phantom had to destroy the recording (and any subsequent findings) about their identity at any cost.

### Post-Trilogy

UR-1 happened. Phantom was lucky enough to have Atmey be on security detail at the Cosmos Space Center during it, and was able to ask for Atmey's help in covering up their crime. They knew doing so would give Atmey untold power over them and their fate, but they felt like if they didn't, worse would be waiting for them back in the organization.

Atmey's cover-up went well, and he had effectively saved them from death or worse. Due to this, Phantom immediately began to develop the same one-sided platonic affection for him as they did with Ghoul. Atmey noticed this and unlike Ghoul, tried multiple times to shut it down, much to Phantom's unwillingness.

Phantom remained in the shadows for a number of years until they had to retrieve the moon rock they'd left their blood on, as well as the psychological profile Metis had made on them. In order to get to both, they got clearance from the organization to kidnap and take the place of Bobby Fulbright. While they killed him instead, they still took his place.

As Fulbright, Phantom experienced a life of general domesticity for an elongated period of time. They developed 'strange' relationships with Dick Gumshoe and Jake Marshall through their time as Fulbright. These relationships would also be one-sided, as Phantom would never reveal their true identity to them.

Dual Destinies happened. Phantom was shot and taken away by police, being placed under the current chief prosecutor's care. They were whisked away to a compound, where government officials (and Gumshoe) try to get them to open up about their various secrets.

## Trivia

* We decided to think that Phantom was a rather nervous, fear-controlled individual because of their actions during UR-1 being incredibly messy and stupid for someone who's supposed to be a 'mastermind'. Same thing with Turnabout for Tomorrow.
* After getting their hand slashed by Athena Cykes during UR-1, they received a crescent moon-like scar.
* Phantom has intense nerve damage, inhibiting their ability to feel pain. This means the only pain they can feel is emotional or mental.

## Gallery

Phantom being shown as a parallel to Mr. Bones.Phantom's VTuber model created by Killer (@clocki99) being 'gaybaited'.