Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

”The weather is very good these few days, how did you catch a cold?”

Mathison sneezed several times in quick succession, his nose still red.

Barbara said helplessly.

”Maybe it’s… because I took a cold shower yesterday and went to bed at night without a blanket.”

Mathison found himself an excuse. After swimming in the cold seawater for over an hour last night, how could he not catch a cold? He would be lucky if he didn’t get a fever.

After all, the magic charm only allowed him to breathe like a fish, not make him as resistant to freezing as a fish.

”I mean, don’t look for a lame excuse, okay? I’ve known you for over ten years and I’ve never seen you take a cold shower.”

Barbara leaned in close to Mathison and stared into his eyes, “You didn’t go swimming in the middle of the night, did you?”

At that, Mathison’s thoughts stuttered. Did Barbara know something?

He maintained his calm and said with a confused look: “What are you talking about, who will go swimming in the middle of the night, and even if one goes to the swimming pool, it is not guaranteed for them to catch a cold, you fool.”

”Who are you calling a fool?” Barbara said angrily.

”Well, anyway, I’ll be fine tomorrow, so don’t worry about me.”, said Mathison in a soothing tone.

”No one is worried about you, you bastard”, Barbara’s face blushed for a moment, as she said angrily.

At this, Mathison hemmed, “Whoever just blushed now.”

”Tsk, the relationship between you two is good, but can you stop flirting in the classroom? There are still plenty of single people here, like me.”

At that moment, a dissatisfied voice interrupted the conversation between the two.

Mathison turned around to see a pretty, wavy-looking girl sitting behind the two.

”Daisy?” Barbara said in surprise.

”What are you doing in school?”

”Actually, I was the first one into class today, but you guys ignored me.” Daisy expressed how hurt she was.

”Weren’t you planning on graduating early and going to work as an intern for the female astronomer programme?”

”Wow, you guys won’t believe me when I tell you, Jane… oh that’s my current internship tutor, she likes to study some weird things, like Norse mythology, she seems to think those are true!”

”It’s all those rainbow bridges, thunder gods, evil gods and such, I’m sure you all know that.”

Daisy sighed, she was already beginning to wonder if her tutor’s PhD was fake.

Yes, she was Daisy Lewis, an intern with Thor’s girlfriend, Jane Foster. Daisy had just followed Jane’s internship a few months ago.

Mathison and Barbara had met Daisy when they first started college, and the three were considered close friends.

Like Barbara, Daisy was not well-liked, for similar reasons. Barbara was a top computer genius, Daisy was a superb student, almost always ahead of her time in any course she took, getting scholarships every year, and even graduating early from Gotham University after only two years.

At this time, Mathison was far more popular than either of them and was extremely popular at the school.

He was handsome, a magician, a good sportsman, funny, and thoughtful.

At first, Mathison didn’t know who Daisy was until she mentioned Jane’s internship, only then Mathison remembered who she was.

”The other day, Jane told me that she seemed to have picked up some unusual waves and was going on a trip to New Mexico…”

Hearing this, Mathison’s eyes twitched. Thor, the God of Thunder, was going to be exiled to Earth soon?

Then the Great War in New York should not be far away.

Although he was in Gotham, near New York, the Chitauri army should not be able to reach it, which did not lightly concern him.

He just didn’t know exactly when Thor would be dropped down to Earth; after all, it was normal for a researcher like Jane’s to be delayed for months or even half a year at a whim.

”That’s why you didn’t get along with her?”, Mathison asked.

”Oh, never mind, Jane said she had to go to her tutor, an old man called Killwig or something like that, and it would take about ten days, so I was given the time off in the meantime, and I didn’t have anything to do, so I came to school to have some fun.”

That should be Erik Selvig,… Mathison’s mouth twitched, that was how Daisy was, despite her superior intelligence, she occasionally revealed her natural nerd nature.

The three chatted for a while until the class began.

”What do you think of that beach on the south coast of Downtown Island, what do you think of the view?”, Barbara asked abruptly.

Mathison was instantly alerted to the fact that, as far as he could remember, he had never been there with Barbara, so why would she suddenly ask such a question?

Barbara was already suspicious. Had he revealed something yesterday?

But he had never been in Barbara’s presence awake, she was always asleep when he was around.

Even after extensive thinking, Mathison couldn’t think of what had made Barbara suspicious.

Is it because he had a cold? Simply because of that?

”Downtown Island Beach, it’s always been a tourist destination, and; from the promotional map, the scenery there is very beautiful… speaking of which, we haven’t been there yet.”

Mathison pretended not to hear Barbara’s implication and said, “What? Do you want to go and have some fun? Let’s go together some time.”

Barbara was speechless for a moment and was wondering if she had really suspected the wrong person. Mathison didn’t look like he was acting, and she had already tested him several times today, without success.

She imagined Mathison’s as a heartless criminal, but he didn’t look like the smart and witty Kid …

Hmmm.. wrong!

Kid was so good at disguise that even the people who knew him best couldn’t see through him, so who knew if he was putting on this look on purpose!

Barbara sized up Mathison suspiciously.

Hmmm …

She still feels that something is wrong with him!

”Whoa! You guys are going to Downtown Island Beach? Are you going on a date?”

Daisy intervened once again into the conversation between the two, “Trust me, it’s a couple’s holiday paradise, especially if you sunbathe there, it’s so comfortable, I tried it once.”

She had a point, it was indeed a cosy place. Mathison agreed, having experienced it just yesterday.

Daisy turned to Barbara and winked at her, teasing, “Barbara, are you finally brave enough to take that step, or did Mathison come at you first… Hmmm!”

Barbara covered Daisy’s mouth.

This display of excitement made Mathison look astonished, even as the eyes of the entire classroom turned to them.

”Miss Gordon, what are you doing?”

From the podium, the professor looked at Barbara with a “kind look”.