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The Shadow 2000: Gang Activity |
"Nat," he whispered, "Intergang's over there."
"Go," Natalie whispered back.
The two of them walked farther down the street. Vic then kissed Natalie on the cheek and dipped into an alley. Half a minute later, Natalie walked in the alley to pick up his stuff.
"What the--?!" he shouted. Looking up, he saw no one. "Aw, cripes. It's the Shadow."
"Hello, Juke," The Shadow said. "Having some fun?"
"Hey, man! Ain't there some superhero's rule that you can't bust the same guy twice in a row?"
The Shadow laughed. "Juke, you are as stupid as you look."
One of the other guys shouted, "Get him!" Three more people rushed at him.
"Don't hurt him!" Juke shouted. "The boss wants him to join!"
'Join?' The Shadow thought. 'After all I've supposedly done to them?'
The Shadow was able to toss the three wannabe gangsters down with ease. They lay in a pile on top of Juke.
"Get off me!" Juke shouted.
The Shadow walked over and picked Juke up from under the pile. He held him up in the air. "You seem to dish out orders pretty well, Juke. Well, let's see how well you fight." The Shadow threw the gangster across the alley, slamming him into a brick wall. Juke rolled over and groaned, unable to get up.
"Tell your boss that he should get some better help, but I'm not interested."
"I took care of it for now, but I definitely have to patrol tonight," Victor whispered.
"Oh . . . "
Victor heard someone shouting behind him. "Yo, Cranston!"
Vic turned around and saw Jason Todd walking up.
"Vic, m'man," he said. "You free tonight? Some of the guys are gonna hang out at The Crib."
"Oh, I can't," Vic said. "I have a lot of, uh, homework and, uh, other stuff to do tonight. How about sometime this weekend?"
Jason nodded. "That's cool. Catch ya later, Vic. Bye, Natalie."
As Jason ran off, Victor shook his head. 'And once more, my social life loses out . . . '
"What's up?" Victor asked.
"Hi, Vic. I'm just reading this special Election 2000 insert. It came with today's paper," Lamont replied.
"No kidding? I might read it later, use it for government. What's in it?"
"Mostly just bios of the candidates, and some insight on where they stand on the issues."
"Does it show any favorites?"
"What do you mean?"
"Who do they think has the best chance at winning?"
"Oh! I think it's going to be a close race between this Senator Cray and Alan Scott."
"Who are you voting for?" Victor asked.
Lamont smiled. "I'm not sure yet. Although, I do know Alan Scott."
"Well, I wish I had time to keep talking, but I have to hurry and finish my homework. I have to patrol tonight."
"Really?" Lamont asked, lowering the paper.
Victor nodded. "Intergang is still around, and I ran into them today. I might be able to find some stuff out tonight, especially about a rather cryptic remark one of them made."
"What'd they say?"
"I'd rather not repeat it."
Lamont nodded. "I understand. Good luck on your homework."
The Shadow walked the streets of the city, looking for something. He had never really had a case before, since he was just starting the superhero business. However, due to recent events in the past few weeks, he was hot on the trail of Intergang.
Intergang was complex. They basically ruled the New York underworld. Nearly all street crime had some connection to Intergang. However, there were various levels of this gang. The Shadow only knew part of this strange hierarchy.
At the bottom level were the common gangs. Intergang had rounded them up years ago. It was their training ground. There, they could watch the young people, and someday, possibly promote them to the higher ranks. The minor Intergang, as some of the higher-ups call it, had already caused a lot of trouble recently, letting the public know of their existence.*
*(
That night, Victor Cranston put on his hat and cloak as he walked out. No one could see him leave, because he had turned invisible, shifting into his alter ego, The Shadow!
The Shadow wasn't sure of the higher ranks. He knew that there were at least two more levels in the hierarchy above street gangs. At the top was the "big boss" that controlled everything. Somewhere in there, there were middlemen that communicated between the big boss and the street gangs. Obviously, only two or three gangs worked for one of these middlemen. It was nearly impossible to tell which ones worked for the same person though. Some middlemen liked to let his gangs compete against each other. It gave him more power. The Shadow also knew that there were some more, big time members. They weren't merely gangsters, but cold-hearted criminals. He also believed that there were some super powered criminals somewhere in the organization, possibly even pulling the strings.
With the help of Spider-Man, The Shadow had already opened the lid. But now, he was trying to take it off and see inside this strange can of worms he had opened.
I can sense them. These aren't the petty street gangs that I've encountered. No, these are the "big boys."
The Shadow walked down the docks, toward the warehouse district.
Coming closer, I sense something different. Not only the big boys. The street gangs are there. It's a freakin' Intergang meeting! This I have to see.
The Shadow crept over to the nearest warehouse. It was the only one with a light on. He peeked in and saw a lot of people standing - and sitting - around the warehouse.
The meeting seemed to be centered around a makeshift podium. Standing on this podium was a man dressed in black pants and a tan vest. However, he had an interesting feature which stood out to The Shadow. His skin was jet black, the color of a shadow.
The Shadow was silent as the man began speaking.
"For a long time, Intergang has controlled nearly everything in this city, without anyone knowing it. Well, that all changed recently when some of our longer members screwed up. Many of us have been saying that controlling all gang activity was not a good idea, especially in the name of Intergang. They are young and inexperienced. Had those gangs not been directly affiliated with our fine organization, we would not have to worry about covering our tracks now. And we would not have The Shadow on our trail."
"Here, here!" several men shouted.
"Something needs to be done! Since the city knows we exist now, we might as well make our presence known! Nobody messes with Intergang!"
The room cheered as the man walked off the podium. He came over to the window, just in front of where The Shadow was looking in. Shortly after another man took the podium, the black man turned around. The Shadow stayed calm. Being invisible, no one could see him. The black man walked away, and The Shadow could once more see in.
As he concentrated on observing the meeting, he did not notice the shadow growing larger behind him. Suddenly, the shadow grew and engulfed The Shadow.
"What in the world!!" The Shadow exclaimed as he was covered in black.
When he was able to see again, he found himself landing on a hard floor. Looking around, he could tell that he was in some sort of underground lair.
"Where am I? Who are you? What do you want?"
The darkness reformed into the shape of a man.
"I am Ebon . . . "
"Ebon? You're the guy who was in the meeting. You're part of Intergang."
"And proud of it. I'm from the real Intergang, not like those cheesy morons you've already beat up on," Ebon replied.
"I guessed that. What do you want with me?"
"Naturally, you would assume a fight," Ebon answered as he walked to his chair in front of The Shadow.
The Shadow stood up and faced Ebon. "But you don't want a fight?"
Ebon nodded. "Exactly. No, I have better plans for you. Intergang has a better use for you."
"Use?"
"Yes. We want you."
"Dead or alive?"
"As a member of Intergang . . . "
"After trying to kill me?"
"We weren't trying to kill you. We were trying to persuade you."
"What made you think I would want to join?"
"Oh, we knew. If you didn't come willingly, we'd force you."
"Didn't you get the message from the people that I beat up today?"
"I was hoping you'd changed your mind," Ebon replied. "But it doesn't look that way . . . "
Ebon's voice faded away as The Shadow found himself back in the streets, far from where Ebon had ambushed him. He stood up, looking around. The fog was too heavy for him to be able to ascertain his location, so he just started walking in a certain direction, hoping it was the right way.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, The Shadow felt something hit him in the back. It tingled and his back felt numb. The Shadow turned around but he couldn't see anything. He could hear the screaming in his head: Whoever was attacking him was nervous and telegraphing their moves. The Shadow was able to jump out of the way before he was attacked again. He could see the blue light pierce the fog around him.
For a moment everything was silent. The Shadow thought he saw a flash of light reflecting off of metal. He moved around in a wide arc, hoping that he wouldn't bump into anything. The smell of ozone permeated his nostrils. He could feel his hair beginning to stand up. Then, out of nowhere, he felt a large electrical charge slam into him, running through his body, sending him flying. He crashed through a window before landing.
"Wha' in de world?" a man asked, looking over The Shadow. He was a big man, with cauliflowered ears, stubble covering his face, and beer breath. "Who crashed into Bibbo's bar?"
The Shadow groaned.
"Who's dat?"
"Don't worry," The Shadow replied, standing up. "I am The Shadow. Someone sent me through your window."
"Dat's okay," Bibbo replied. "I got lots of money to replace dis here window. You go out and beat dat guy."
"You aren't even wondering why you can't see me?"
"Nah. I'se heard of youse. You're de Shadow, and no one can sees ya!"
'Got that right,' The Shadow thought as he leapt back through the broken window. "Call the cops." He quickly glanced up at the sign above the door. It read Ace of Clubs. The Shadow knew he was in Suicide Slum.
Just then, The Shadow could smell ozone once more, and his head was standing up again. He had enough warning to jump out of the way. The blast of electricity fired, and ricocheted down the street.
At that moment, the attacker stepped into the light, and The Shadow was able to get a clear shot of him. He was wearing an all black suit with metal bands around his ankles and wrists. He had a semi-helmet covering the back of his head and sides of his face made from the same metal -- The Shadow assumed it was chrome. He also wore a belt of metal and he had some strange triangular contraptions on the tops of his hands. The Shadow guessed that the electrical shocks came from those. The only other noticeable feature was his eyes. The Shadow could see the white energy coming out of it.
"What do they call you?" The Shadow asked. "Shocker?"
The attacker nodded.
'Well, what do you know!' The Shadow thought to himself. Aloud he said, "Intergang sent you, right?"
Shocker nodded once more.
"They want me alive, correct? They want to recruit me?"
Shocker nodded yet again, aiming at The Shadow's head.
'How can he see me? He must have some sort of heat vision. Or maybe he can see energy?'
Shocker fired and The Shadow jumped, but almost got hit.
"This is an excellent fight," Ebon said. "I couldn't ask for a better one even on Pay-Per-View."
"So, do you still think The Shadow will join?" a woman asked.
"Not a chance," Ebon replied. "Yet, I don't want to see him hurt . . . yet. I still have a few more surprises for our young friend."
"Where's Victor?" she asked.
"He said that he spotted Intergang today and had to find them tonight," Lamont replied.
"I wish he didn't have to do this."
"He's seventeen. In a year, he'll be off at college. I think he's old enough to handle the responsibility."
"Yes, but . . . "
"He has special talents. It is his duty to use them for good. If taking down Intergang is the way he must use his powers, then so be it."
"But Intergang is so dangerous."
"No more dangerous than any other criminal he might face."
"Why couldn't he just work on simple robberies or murders or something?" Mrs. Cranston asked.
"Even if he worked on those simple cases, he could still be dealing with dangerous people. You know that."
"You're right. I'm just worried because I'm his mother, I guess . . . "
*(Special Crimes Unit)
Captain Maggie Sawyer stood up from her desk, saving the file on her computer. "What's up?"
"Some guy spraying electricity is attacking Suicide Slum," Turpin replied.
"Anything else?" Sawyer asked.
"We'll brief ya on the way. But you should know that a superhero is involved."
"Who?"
"Well, the guy said that The Shadow was out there!"
The Shadow stood in front of Shocker, waiting. He could see his eyes growing brighter. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that Shocker's hands were glowing as well. Suddenly, Shocker let loose a large burst that lit up the entire neighborhood of Suicide Slum with a charge as powerful as ten lighting bolts!
"You did say this guy was spraying electricity, Dan," Maggie Sawyer replied.
"Sure, but I didn't know he could do something like that!"
"Wut 'appened?" one of the regular drinkers asked from the counter.
"Dunno, High Pockets," Bibbo replied. "But I thinks our friend is in trouble. Big trouble."
"You gonna call the cops?" another asked.
Bibbo shook his head. "Already did, Lamar. They're comin' now." The bartender looked at the front of his bar. "Now I'se got to fix ALL my winders, not jus' de one."
"Okay, Shocker," he shouted. "Show yourself!"
The Shadow stood there, waiting for his attacker to show, but he didn't.
"No, sir. I thought he was over there," the man replied, pointing to the corner of the screen.
"This is great," Ebon muttered. "Now this isn't as fun anymore."
"Bibbo!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Turpin! Glads to see ya! First, The Shadow gets thrown in through de winder here. Then, that shocker guy blows up the whole street, knockin' out de rest o' my winders."
"Uh huh," Turpin said. "You see where either of them went?"
"No, sir," Bibbo replied.
"Hmm. Well, I'll be back to get an official statement. You wait here. The SCU'll find them!"
"Hi," he said.
Sawyer wasn't shocked. "The Shadow, right?"
"Correct."
"Where's the guy you were fighting?"
"Shocker got away somehow."
"How convenient."
"Exactly. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things to take care of."
"No problem. The SCU can handle this kinda stuff."
As The Shadow ran off, he pressed the stone on his ring, sending a mental message to Spider-Man. Come to the Ace o' Clubs in Suicide Slum. The roof.
"What's up?" he asked.
"I just encountered one of the heavy hitters in Intergang."
"How heavy?"
"Not a boss, but not the street gangs."
"Meta?"
"Yes. Called Shocker. As you can guess, he shoots electrical energy."
"Go figure," Spidey replied. "Is that the SCU?"
"Have you had dealing with them?"
Spidey shook his head. "Not yet, but I've heard a lot about them."
"What in the world?" The Shadow exclaimed as several grappling hooks thudded against the roof. He looked down and saw five people climbing the side of the building.
Spidey turned to The Shadow. "You stall them. I'll clear the bar below!"
"Sure thing," The Shadow replied. He bent down to unhook the ropes, but received an electrical shock. "Maybe they aren't as stupid as we thought," he said as he heard everyone vacate the building below him.
Spider-Man came back up at that moment. He activated his camera, so he could get some awesome shots for the Daily Planet.
"Shadow!" he cried. "What happened?"
"The ropes . . . They're electric!"
"Maybe, but these guys don't realize that they are dealing with someone who knows how to swing from a building better than they do!"
Spidey jumped off the building, touching it and standing off of the side, somewhere between the first and second stories.
"Hey, guys," he said to the two climbing the building. One was wearing all black. The other was a female in a white bodysuit. Her hands appeared to be on fire. The man in black raised his left arm and fired an electrical blast.
"Watch it, Shocker!" the female said, the flames in her hands growing. "Get out of our way, Spider. We want The Shadow."
"Just out of curiosity, who are you?" Spidey asked. "I know you're part of Intergang, but . . . "
"Call me . . . Torcher," she replied, sending a blast of flame into Spider-Man's chest. The wallcrawler fell off the building. By this time, the SCU had come over.
"Spider-Man?!" Turpin shouted.
Spidey stood up. "Yes. The Shadow is up there as well. The other two are members of Intergang -- Torcher and Shocker."
"Shocker was the one who brought us here," Captain Sawyer noted.
Up top, The Shadow was thinking. He figured that the way he turned invisible was by creating an invisible field around himself. He wondered if he could use that to his advantage. He grabbed the end of the building, and imagined it disappearing.
"What the--?!" Torcher yelled. "My rope's gone!"
The Shadow noted it was odd that Shocker said nothing. He knew that both realized that their ropes were 'gone.' For some reason, their brains told them to let go.
"Oh, dear!" Spidey said, watching the gang members fall. "I'll be back," he told the SCU, webslinging over to save the Intergang members. "Time to test out that impact webbing."
Spider-Man fired several rounds of 'impact webbing.' The impact webbing landed on the ground before Intergang, and created a somewhat soft cushion for them to land on. 'Good thing it's night, otherwise, it would do hell for traffic. Oh, cripes,' he thought as he saw his web cushion empty. 'They're gone!'
"What happened?" Turpin asked as Spider-Man and The Shadow walked over.
"I turned the ropes invisible so Intergang would let go, and fall to the ground," The Shadow said.
"Good thinking," Turpin replied. "But where did they go?"
Spidey sighed. "I don't know."
"You still want The Shadow alive?" one of his minions asked.
Ebon sighed. "I don't know. It's fun toying with him like this, but after that embarassment, it's clear that he is a danger. Spider-Man is as well."
"Should we worry about him?"
Ebon shook his head. "Not at this time. The Shadow is our main concern. Spider-Man only interferes when The Shadow calls him. We shall wait until we eliminate The Shadow until we attack Spider-Man."
"It's kinda funny actually," Vic was saying. "I made the ropes invisible, and by instinct, they let go."
"You should have made them visible right after they let go," Peter joked. "Then they really would have known how dumb they were."
The two laughed for a moment.
"Well," Peter said. "Looks like I have some good shots for the Planet. I'll take them over tomorrow morning, and see if someone will write up the story."
"Lois?"
"Maybe. Although Ben Urich has been doing some investigating on Intergang."
"The Shadow might want to talk with him," Victor replied as the two came up on his residence. "See ya later."
"Bye," Peter said, waving as he walked off.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Victor!" the voice on the other end exclaimed.
"Natalie," Vic said.
"Why do you sound so . . . tired?"
"You woke me up."
"It's after noon!"
Victor looked at the clock. Sure enough, it read 12:37. "I had a long night last night," he said.
"Chasing shadows?"
"I guess you could say that."
Natalie paused. "Look, you better get out of bed. I'm coming over, and I should be there in about fifteen minutes."
"Okay," Vic said. "See you then. I love you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Natalie replied. "Now get out of bed!"
"So what was this weird incident last night?" she asked.
Vic moved one of the beanbag chairs that he kept in his room, putting it in front of his girlfriend. "Maybe you better sit down," he said. She sat, and then he sat down in another beanbag chair.
"Last night started out kinda normal," Victor began. "But I ran into some strange people last night. "
"Intergang?" Natalie asked.
Victor shook his head slowly. "Not quite . . . "
The girl was screaming bloody murder. Just as the guy raised the knife, I decided that it would be a good time to start laughing and scare the man.
What I didn't notice was the strange little chimpanzee walking by . . . *
*(See Detective Chimp #1 for the rest of the story)
"Who laughed?" the asked. Then, he saw the only other living being in the alley. "It was you, you freak!"
He rushed over to the chimpanzee, but was stopped by some invisible force.
A deep voice said, "YOU WILL NOT HARM HIM!"
"Thanks, Mr. Invisible Man," the chimpanzee said.
"I am The Shadow . . . "
"I'm Bobo T. Chimpanzee, Private Investigator."
"Glad to meet you."
The Shadow turned back to the man he was holding up. "Leave. Don't ever come back here again, and never even think of coming near this lady ever again in your life."
"What are ya gonna do if I do?"
The Shadow leaned something and whispered into the man's ear.
He couldn' t run fast enough after I set him down. The monkey looked at me.
"Thanks, again, dude," he said, pulling out a business card. "Here's my card. Call me if you ever need help."
"A monkey?" she asked.
Victor smiled. "Hey, it happens!"
When Victor was done with his story, Natalie was laughing.
"Ebon," the boss said, "you have failed to capture The Shadow. It is taking a considerable amount of our resources to go after him."
"I'm sorry, boss," Ebon replied. "I thought I had him with Shocker, but I hadn't expected him to call Spider-Man."
"A most unfortunate occurrence. That is why I am not holding you as accountable as I should."
Ebon lowered his head.
The boss continued. "Therefore, I am bringing in an outside agent to help you out. He has a history with the Shadow dynasty. One of his predecessors played a big role in the later part of the original Shadow's career."
Ebon's interest was piqued. "Tell me more, please . . . "
"What's the official word on Spider-Man?" he asked. "Do we take him now, or do we wait?"
The boss leaned back in his chair. "If he interferes with our operation to get The Shadow, then yes. Until then, he stays alive."
"But he's taken out a good number of our members* on his own," Ebon replied.
*(as briefly seen in Avengers League #1)
"Only the cannon fodder; those from the bottom of the barrel," said the boss. "He poses no real threat on his own."
"Whatever you say, boss . . . "
Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms come around his shoulders and embrace him in a giant hug. Vic could smell the vague scent of his girlfriend's perfume. He looked up.
"I didn't hear you come in," he said.
"Probably because you were busy with your paper," Natalie replied.
"You have yours done?" Vic asked.
Natalie nodded. "A bunch of us were talking about it after school, and I just took some random thoughts from that discussion."
"You're lucky," Victor said. "You can do this literary analysis really well. Me, I read these stories as stories. I don't try to get into the deep meanings of why the author wrote it. Heck, most of these stories were written for either money, the desire to write it, or both."
"C'mon, Vic," Natalie said. "Aren't you being a little harsh?"
"I'm being harsh when the teacher wants a two page paper on a character that only showed up for two paragraphs? And then try to tie it into real life somehow?"
"I see your point. I guess you just have to know how to think like the teacher."
"That's the thing," Vic replied. "I can't think like the teacher. I'm not obsessed with the English language."
Natalie laughed. "You need some help?"
Victor looked at the clock. "Maybe in a little bit. Right now, I have to do one of my duties as The Shadow, and watch the news."
"Ah, yes, to make sure everything is okay."
"Well, if there's anything I have to deal with."
"I wonder if Spider-Man has to do this every night," Natalie commented.
"Are you kidding? He works at a newspaper! He gets the news before it hits the airwaves!"
"What are ya doing?" he asked.
Lamont Cranston looked up. "I was just looking through my old Shadow stuff. Hard to believe it's been sixty years since I first put this stuff on. Come to think of it, it was probably sixty years ago this month that I faced one of my first real cases."
"Which one?" Natalie asked.
"One I like to call avenging an avenger. It was a murder mystery. I believe I wrote it down somewhere.*"
*(This adventure chronicled in The Shadow #3)
"I'd like to read it," Victor said.
"So would I," Natalie added.
"I'll look for the book tonight, and get it to you two," Lamont said, looking back in the box. He picked up a smaller box. Opening it, he found a set of rings. They looked just like the ones he had given Victor to use as The Shadow. He handed it to Victor.
"Well, no sense letting these just sit in here," he said.
"Thanks," Victor said. "Hopefully, I can get an underground of agents going soon."
"That reminds me," Natalie said, "what is the password? Something like 'The sun is shining . . . '"
" . . . but the ice is slippery," Victor and Lamont said in unison.
Lamont had already met his friends, and was walking down the produce aisle when he saw a Chinese boy, about Victor's age, walk past him. The boy smiled, and Lamont smiled back, remembering the time he had spent in China so long ago.
Lamont walked past, and continued with his shopping. As he picked up an apple, his vision began to go blurry. He looked around. The store seemed darker. He could see black rings around everything, and his head began pounding. That feeling . . . he thought. Haven't felt it since . . .
Suddenly, Lamont collapsed to the floor.
The Chinese boy ran over. "Mister! Mister! Are you okay?" he shouted with a thick Chinese accent.
"Nnnnhh . . . "
Lamont could sense the gathering crowd as he fell farther unconscious.
"Actually, he didn't. He's still looking. He said it shouldn't be too long," Victor replied.
"So are you going to write about your adventures as a superhero?"
Victor shrugged. "Depends. If the urge hits me, then I guess I will. But right now, I have to have those adventures."
"However dangerous they may be," Natalie whispered.
"They haven't been that bad," Vic replied. "I've gone up against a bad lawyer, a gang, and Shocker. Plus, Spider-Man had my back most of the time."
"Still, it is kinda nerve racking when you're out there."
Victor took Natalie's hands and placed his over them. "Don't worry, Natalie. There are plenty more heroes fighting even more dangerous people than I am."
Just then, one of Victor's teachers came up. "Victor," she said. "I hate to interrupt, but there is a very urgent phone call for you in the office. I think it's about your grandfather."
"Natalie, will you watch my stuff?" Victor asked as he stood up. He went to the office as quickly as he could. He walked up to the counter. "I'm Victor Cranston," he said. "I was told that there was a call for me?"
The secretary picked up the phone in front of her and pressed a button. "It's your mother."
Victor took the phone. "Mom?"
"Vic, come to the hospital."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"It's your grandfather. He passed out in the grocery store."
"I'll be right there."
Victor hung up the phone and ran back to the senior lunch area. He grabbed his backpack. "Gotta run, Nat," he said. "My grandfather's in the hospital."
Natalie stood up and walked around the table, next to Victor. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"All I know is that he passed out in the grocery store. I have to go to the hospital now." He gently kissed Natalie on the forehead. "Come over when you can."
"I should come now."
Victor shook his head. "No sense you missing school too. Besides, I'm going to need you to get my makeup work. Just come on over after school."
"Okay."
The lady standing behind the desk looked up briefly, and then typed something into the computer terminal in front of her. "He's in room 435," she said, handing him a visitor's pass. "Visiting hours are over at 7."
"That's okay," Victor said as he began walking away. "I'm family."
"What's the deal?" Victor asked.
"They brought him in a couple of hours ago. Since then, he's been asleep. He's woken up a few times, but not for very long. The doctors think something happened to his mind," his mother replied.
Victor saw Lamont's eyes open slightly. He walked to the side of the bed. He could hear Lamont whispering something.
"K . . . Kh-Khan . . . " he whispered.
"What's he saying?" Mrs. Cranston asked.
"It sounds like 'con.' I'm going to read his mind if I can."
Victor closed his eyes and let his mind enter his grandfather's. It seemed a clutter. Something was wrong, and Victor couldn't figure out what.
But all around him, he could see the word KHAN.
The boy sensed that someone was beside him, but it could not be. No one else was in the room with him.
The pain in his head caused him to bend over, and then fall off of his bed. He screamed and his appearance began to change.
Just like that, the pain was gone. He stood up. Now, he was wearing furs, like a Chinese nomad would wear.
If anyone else had been there to see him, they would also notice that his eyes had turned white.
"What about your schoolwork?"
"Natalie's going to get it for me. Don't worry about me."
He opened the program. It prompted him to enter a keyword to search for. He typed in "KHAN."
A file came up. It was about a villain named Shiwan Khan, the archenemy of The Shadow. Lamont had first encountered him in China, before he became The Shadow, and then encountered him several times since.
Victor read on, and learned about the dangers he would be encountering. It was about two hours before he was done with the file. He was interrupted from his thoughts by the telephone. He picked it up. It was his mother.
"Any luck?" she asked.
"Not really. Basically, I know all about this Khan person, but that's about it. I can't really tell what he may have done, but I have some ideas."
"Are you going to try to find him?"
"I don't know where to start looking." He paused for a moment. "You want me to come over?"
"If you want. I guess we'll just eat dinner here."
"I'll be there soon," Victor said. "Bye."
"See you then. Bye."
Come to me, Shadow . . .
Victor saw an image in his head. It was a museum. Victor immediately knew where to go. He had been on a field trip there a few years ago in school.
He pulled up in front. Everything was dark, and the building seemed empty of people. Victor grabbed his Shadow gear from the back seat and put it on. He turned invisible and stepped out of the car.
Walking up to the front entrance, The Shadow could see that the front door was slightly ajar. He carefully opened the door enough to where he could slip in.
Alarms must be off, he thought. Either that, or they're all silent.
He moved closer to the center of the large foyer. He looked up, briefly admiring the ornate decoration on the ceiling. Suddenly, he felt a fist come down very hard on his back.
The wind knocked out of him, The Shadow fell down. He twisted around, and was able to regain his footing. Standing in front of him was a person that looked very similar to Shiwan Khan! Although, this person was younger.
"Shadow. I know you are here. You think you can hide from me, but I can read your mind!" the Khan lookalike said. His voice was deeper than it should have been.
"Who are you?" The Shadow asked.
The person smiled. "I am Shiwan Khan. Or rather, his heir."
The Shadow began circling his foe. "What gives? He should be really old by now."
"He passed his brainwaves to his apprentice. Passing the brainwaves a few more times, and they reached this body."
"Scary. So why did you come here? Just to kill me?"
"That was part of the reason."
"What was the other part?"
Khan smiled. "I was paid to do this." With that, he lifted his hand, and The Shadow felt himself rising in the air.
Not good! he thought. He doesn't really care about who hired him. He's getting paid to do what he was already planning on doing. But who hired him?
The answer suddenly struck him. Intergang.
As fast as the answer hit him, Khan slammed The Shadow to the ground. The Shadow stood up and took a running jump at Khan, who was able to grab his foot and block it. He slammed The Shadow to the ground once more, and went for this throat.
"Blast it!" the boss said. "He's trying to kill The Shadow! Abort this mission!"
The Shadow was struggling under Khan's grip. Khan just looked at him, gloating and smiling. The Shadow gathered all the strength he could, and put it in his knee, connecting with Khan's groin.
Khan fell back. The Shadow stood up, grabbed Khan's shirt, and punched him in the face. Khan landed by the front entrance. He stood up and ran out as fast as he could.
"You did it, Victor," he said.
"So, you now have to worry about your grandfather's mortal enemy?" Natalie asked. "That sucks."
"Tell me about it," Vic replied.
Just then, a Chinese boy, about Victor's age came up to him.
"Hi," he said in broken English. "I am an exchange student from China. Today is my first day. Can you tell me where room 134 is?"
Victor pointed to the end of the hall. "It's down there, next to last on the right."
"Thank you," the exchange student said. As he walked away, Victor noticed something about how his eyes flashed. He dismissed it and walked to homeroom.
Victor Cranston sat in front of his computer, staring at the word processing program on his screen. He glanced over at the paper he had taped to the side of the computer tower. It was his English assignment. Looking back at the nearly blank screen, and watching the blinking cursor, he sighed.
Victor walked downstairs. He saw his grandfather looking through an old chest.
The next day, Lamont was in the grocery store, doing the shopping. It was one of the chores he actually liked doing. It gave him a chance to get out and occasionally talk to some of his friends. It was sort of a ritual. Plus, he knew that if he didn't do the shopping, there would be a few things that he wouldn't ever get.
"Did your grandfather ever get that book to you?" Natalie asked Victor as he sat down at the lunch table.
Victor arrived at the hospital in record time. He ran up to the desk. "What room is Lamont Cranston in?" he asked.
It took Victor about five minutes to get up to the fourth floor using the elevator. Finding the room wasn't very difficult since the elevator was only a couple of rooms down. He walked in. His mother was sitting in the chair beside the bed in which his grandfather was lying. Lamont's eyes were closed, and he was hooked up to an oxygen tank.
The boy sat in his room. The headache had grown tremendously since he left the grocery store. It seemed to have started shortly after he helped the man who had collapsed.
Victor turned back to his mother. "I have to go back home. I need to do some checking up on this Khan person. He's connected to this somehow."
When Victor got back home, he headed straight for the study. Lamont kept tons of information in there. Recently, he had been putting it into a computer database for Victor. Naturally, that was the first place Victor went for information.
As Victor was driving to the hospital, he heard a strange voice in his head.
Elsewhere, Ebon and the big boss of Intergang were watching the fight.
Khan hear a buzz in his ear. It must have been the earpiece that he was given. He paid no attention to it.
Victor arrived at the hospital ten minutes later. As he entered his grandfather's room, he could see his eyes opening. He rushed over to the side of the bed.
The next day at school, Victor was telling Natalie what had happened the night before as they walked in.
VICTOR CRANSTON - THE SHADOW III
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11
Weight: 140 pounds
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
First appearance: Detective Comics #1
Victor Cranston was born into the wealthy Cranston family. However, his grandfather and parents were sensible people, and chose not to spoil Victor. They chose instead to allow him to have a fairly normal life. Vic never knew his father, because of some mysterious event that occurred when he was just a baby. His father is now at a "special home", and is never really talked about.
When Vic was 13, he discovered that he had special powers. He could turn invisible and read minds. It was then that his grandfather told him of the Shadow legacy. After several years of training in his powers and detective skills, Victor finally assumed the mantle of the Shadow shortly before he began his senior year of high school.
Victor goes to Midtown High School, the same school as Peter Parker and Jimmy Olsen.
LAMONT CRANSTON - THE SHADOW
Age: 85
Gender: Male
Height: 5'10
Weight: 150 pounds
Eyes: Brown
Hair: White, formerly black
First appearance: (as Lamont - grandfather of Victor) Detective Comics #1, (as Shadow) The Shadow #1
Lamont Cranston learned how to read men's minds and hypnotize them so they couldn't see them while in the Orient. He used these powers as the 1940's hero The Shadow.
In the early 1950's, after seeing crime getting tougher, the JSA disbanding, and the other heroes of the day retiring, Lamont decided to settle down with his female companion Margo Lane and begin a family. Currently, Lamont lives with his daughter-in-law and grandson in a mansion, just outside New York City.
NATALIE CASSWELL
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6
Weight: classified
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Brown
First appearance: Detective Comics #1
Natalie has known the Cranstons since she was a little girl. She has gone to school with Victor since elementary school, and has been friends with him for the better part of a decade. She began dating Victor only a couple of years ago.
Natalie is the only person outside of the Cranston family that knows Victor's secret. She is scared sometimes, but knows that Vic can take care of himself.
LAMONT CRANSTON, JR. - THE SHADOW II
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Unknown
Hair: Unknown
First appearance: (mentioned) Detective Comics #1
Little is know of Lamont Jr. He was born only a few years after The Shadow retired. He took up the mantle of The Shadow in the 1970's. However, some accident (which is never mentioned) caused him to be put into a special home. That accident occurred shortly after Victor was born.