TRANSITIONING FROM A HERO TO A VILLAIN
Chapter 6: The Ghost of Manhattan
Night had fallen over Metropolis.
The city was quiet.
Inside his apartment, Derek Davidson was asleep.
But something was moving through the darkness.
A strange figure appeared outside Derek's building.
He was transparent.
A ghost.
His name was Manhattan.
Manhattan had once been a human being, but after his death, he became a powerful spirit. He could pass through walls, disappear from sight, and move freely between the physical world and the spirit world.
But tonight, he wasn't there to haunt random people.
He wanted revenge.
Several government officials that Derek had killed had been his children.
Manhattan wanted Derek to suffer for what he had done.
He floated directly through the wall of Derek's apartment.
He looked at Derek sleeping.
Manhattan: "So you're Transition."
He slowly approached Derek.
Manhattan: "You killed my children."
His expression became angry.
Manhattan: "Tonight, you're going to understand what it feels like to have everything taken away."
Manhattan prepared to attack.
But suddenly—
Derek opened his eyes.
He hadn't seen Manhattan.
He couldn't even see the ghost.
Yet something felt wrong.
Derek immediately sensed that something had changed around him.
He sat up.
Transition: "Something's here."
Manhattan froze.
Manhattan: "How?"
Derek looked around the room.
Transition: "I don't know what you are…"
He stood up.
Transition: "…but you're in the wrong place."
Manhattan laughed.
Manhattan: "You can't transition something you can't even see!"
Derek smiled.
Transition: "Who said I need to see you?"
He raised his hand.
Transition.
Everything suddenly changed.
Manhattan disappeared from Derek's apartment.
He found himself somewhere completely different.
The spirit world.
He looked around.
Chains suddenly appeared around him, binding him in place.
Manhattan struggled.
Manhattan: "What the f***?!"
He tried to phase through the chains.
Nothing happened.
He tried teleporting.
Nothing.
He tried returning to the physical world.
Nothing.
He was completely trapped.
Manhattan: "How did you do this?!"
Then another spirit appeared nearby.
The spirit looked at Manhattan in confusion.
Spirit: "You died again."
Manhattan stared at him.
Manhattan: "What?"
The spirit pointed toward him.
Spirit: "Look at yourself."
Manhattan looked down.
He realized something terrifying.
Derek hadn't simply transported his body.
He had somehow transitioned Manhattan's existence into a state where even his existence as a ghost had been defeated.
Manhattan's eyes widened.
Manhattan: "What the f***?!"
The spirit shook his head.
Spirit: "It's like somebody transitioned death itself into you."
Manhattan couldn't understand it.
He had already died once.
He had returned as a ghost.
And somehow, Derek had defeated him again without even seeing him.
Back in Metropolis, Derek returned to his bed.
He didn't even know exactly what had happened to Manhattan.
He simply knew that the strange presence was gone.
Derek closed his eyes.
Transition: "Whatever you were…"
He went back to sleep.
Transition: "…you should've stayed away."
Meanwhile, in the spirit world, Manhattan remained trapped.
For the first time since becoming a ghost, he realized something:
Even death wasn't necessarily outside Transition's reach.