The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition

The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition is a superhero tale concerning the titular character, adapted from the original short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne as mentioned in his book Twice-Told Tales. The adaptation was first envisioned in the year 2001, when the Dozerfleet founder was in an American literature class for his senior year in high school.

It has since become a part of The Gerosha Chronicles of Dozerfleet Comics. It's predecessor, The Gray Champion: Modern Legend, became the first Gerosha continuity tale in existence, in the Earth-G0-designated "Hyper-Uber-Proto-Gerosha" that would lay the groundwork for all Gerosha multiverse continuity to come after. It was left out of Uber-Proto Gerosha (Earth G-1,) which first defined the world of 90 Has No Secant. It was also ignored in Proto Gerosha (Earth-G2, first attempt at Stan and Shalia) and Test Gerosha (Earth-G3.0.) It was considered for inclusion in Gerosha Prime (Earth-G3.1,) which first defined The Battle for Gerosha. It was even considered for Despair Gerosha (Earth-G4,) but was eventually cut out. It was incorporated back in, if only in spirit, for Classic Gerosha (Earth-G5,)when it was to be worked into the side next to the Ciem webcomic and its sequels. The story about the Gray Champion was eventually renamed Freedom's Apparition, and was included in Comprehensive Gerosha (Earth-G6) as a Legacies of the Marlquaan entry. Its production was shelved to make time for the writing of Ciem: Vigilante Centipede. Parts of the narrative for Freedom's Apparition were later revised for inclusion in Cataclysmic Gerosha (Earth-G7) and the Gerosha Gaming Universe (Earth-G7.2.) It was shelved yet again to pursue the development of Sorbet and a novelization of Blood Over Water.

Freedom's Apparition is also the first of two issues in a volume dubbed The Gray Champion: Modern Legends. It begins the super pack of Gerosha volumes known as the Gerosha Legends pack, taking the continuity in a modern direction away from the Origins and Fallout volume. Its time travel events directly correspond with the ending of A So-Called Heretic, and the fallout of events in Freedom's Apparition affect everything from Extirpon to Pilltar.

Plot
Main article: Plot synopsis to The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition

The setting that opens is a museum of colonial history in Massachusetts in 2012. Korean-American curator and museum director Dae Pang offers tours at her museum to flaunt her new exhibits pertaining to the legend of Kicked Deer. Meanwhile, her daughter Hea Pang is dating Kyle Medsor at school behind her back. Kyle is eager to join SCALLOP and work for Darius Philippine, though he is expected not to share too much information with Hea.

Hea discovers evidence that Boston police are corrupt, and that the police captain Eric Andro is in the back pockets of militant homosexual lobbies. A band of goons chases her for seeing too much when she sees them beating up a protestor named Jared Richen. Richen was under fire for claiming that Marl-Q Industries' intentions of lobbying with the state legislature to mandate "Dwayne Strain" vaccine for all schoolchildren was akin to genocide. Hea manages to escape from her attackers, only to be told by her mother that she should lay low for a while. Meanwhile, the corrupt owner of Marl-Q Industries, Dereck Johnson, is revealed to be using his company's resources to develop a fear toxin that he uses in conjunction with fake wings and a horse-head mask to terrorize his rape victims. He is also revealed to be in league with Andro; and the two plot to unleash weaponized Dwayne Strain on a group of protestors that has promised to meet outside the state capitol. Andro wants to push the homosexual agenda via Dwayne Strain, though Johnson urges Andro to be patient. He claims that his big demonstration of Marlquaan control and possession of a coveted Marlquaanite Ruby must come first.

Hea decides to sneak in to the demonstration at Marl-Q Industries, convinced that even an evil man like Johnson might be on to revealing something dangerous. However, she is thrown out for insinuating that inventing time travel would be unethical. She ends up being chased by the same gay mob that was after her before. Dereck continues with the experiment, but quickly loses control. His containment field bursts, exposing him to the Marlquaan beams. Before he knows what to do next, an explosion takes out the top floor of Marl-Q and sends a surge of read beams and pulsating red waves broadcasting from ground zero to the entire United States and part of Greenland. In the 17th century, Marge Domeck and her father John Domeck are about to be murdered by the Society of the Icy Finger. A Marlquaan storm erupts, and what appears like a red lightning bolt strikes both John and Marge. A representative of Marl-Q ends up on the beaches in the 17th century, where he is immediately killed by the locals. John awakes to find himself in an alleyway, readily discovering his new Marlquaanite abilities of phantom mimicry. John suddenly witnesses the gay mob having caught up with Hea, and engages them in battle before they can succeed at raping and killing her as they intended to do. They charge at him with all their demonic fury; but underestimate his years of experienced swordsmanship. He quickly learns how to transport himself and others through wires, utilizing the feature to dispose of the bodies of his defeated foes. Hea warns him to avoid excessive exposure to their blood, as it may be tainted. John returns to the ground, and begs of Hea to explain to him what is going on. She asks him if he's heard of the Marlquaan, and is shocked to learn that he has. She starts taking him back to Dae's house, in order to explain to him their present situation. However, police begin chasing them immediately when they see how strange John's clothing is. The city goes on lockdown following the explosion at Marl-Q. John is able to grab Hea and transmit them through power lines a safe distance away from the police and downtown chaos. Hea leads John to her home, where Dae is immediately suspicious of where Hea has been. Hea explains she was chased, but leaves out the part about John rescuing her while John makes himself invisible.

Dereck pulls himself from the wreckage of his lab. He finds his transformation into a real Eqquibus is complete, as he contemplates the consequences. Andro informs him of the fact that the protestors of the Dwayne Strain are determined to protest in spite measures designed to make such protest as risky as possible. John spies on Eric Andro and Eqquibus to verify Hea's claims that the police captain is corrupt. John goes back to Hea's place, and reveals himself to Dae. Dae is in doubt at first, and confused that John doesn't know what a vaccine is. Hea comes clean to her mother about who John is, and about the need to keep him a secret. Dae closes the museum the following morning, allowing Hea and Kyle to use the museum and entire day to educate John Domeck on the important events that have happened in the passage of time. Of particular interest to John is Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Gray Champion," which Hea reads to him. He immediately becomes inspired to help out his new friends with their common current predicament, deciding is the new Gray Champion and must assume the Champion's responsibility for himself. Eqquibus seizes the moment to prepare his company to load up the helicopters with weaponized Dwayne Strain. He also raids a nearby apartment to test out what kinds of crime he can get away with while employing his new powers. Hea offers to give John an opportunity to train in his newfound powers at the city park, where the two uncover a small mob attacking a woman with her baby. Gray foils the killers' escape plans, only to police decide that the Gray Champion is an even bigger menace than the three murderers he caught. Andro even threatens to arrest Kyle and Hea if they don't leave the area. As Hea and Gray do some research on the Society of the Icy Finger, Dae alerts them that the day has come to appear downtown for protesting. Hea helps Gray assemble a costume from spare parts in the museum's storage that Dae personally owns. It is not long before the protestors find themselves harassed by Andro's forces and Eqquibus' helicopters. However, Gray throws a vial of toxin right back at the helicopter. This causes the pilot to lose control, and he careens uncontrollably into other helicopters. Andro begins ordering other officers to take aim at the scattering protestors fleeing from all the explosions. However, Gray confronts Andro and prevents him from being the first officer to actually shoot. Other offers defy the order. The National Guard arrives with the help of Darius Philippine and the FBI to haul Andro away. Incensed that his plans are foiled and his Dwayne Strain set ablaze, Eqquibus attacks the National Guard troops and starts causing as much mayhem as possible in the streets while the remaining protestors scatter in terror. Gray battles Eqquibus for the first time, a lengthy battle in the streets proving the two evenly matched. The fight ends when Gray manages to break off a part of the tip of Eqquibus' right wing, uttering that "a fool is partial to the left anyway." Eqquibus clumsily flies away, vowing revenge.

The mayor becomes aware of how out-of-control the situation becomes, and defies public sentiment by declaring the Gray Champion an outlaw in order to protect the LGBT militants' causes - out of nothing more than unfounded fear that a popular Gray Champion would interfere with the agenda's spread. In order to avoid a mutiny, he also declares Eqquibus an outlaw. However, he calls the Feds' arrest of Eric Andro a "travesty." The city becomes torn between those who are mindless slaves of political drivel, and those who correctly see that the Gray Champion has come to give the city a fighting chance of restoring a healthy understanding of justice to its halls. News outlets take sides on the debate, some praising Gray and others seeking to diminish his role. Hea tries to help John make sense of the madness; but he lets her know that it is not that different from the spin of his own day. Criminals all over the city begin seeing their efforts frustrated by Gray's interference, particularly home invaders. Public sentiment begins to sway in the Champion's favor, and the mayor doubles down on his defiance of public will. This leads to the city threatening a recall election. Gray begins expanding his operations to outside of Boston, managing to foil a drug cartel in Mexico and save a family of Coptic Egyptians from being killed and eaten by al-Queada forces dressed as Syrian rebels. Darius contacts Hea to alert Gray to go easy on the international work; as he fears a crackdown on the Philippine family's operations by the Obama regime if Gray becomes too popular in too many places. Hea relays the message to a very confused John that they need to scale back.

Meanwhile, Eqquibus and his followers discuss where they're going to go from there. They have some Dwayne Strain left, but no way to deliver it to the whole city. They also have to worry about the Gray Champion eventually finding out where they are. Eqquibus informs them that they may have to resort to using something so dangerous, the he kept it in storage for fear it posed a danger to himself: a Marlquaanite suspended animation prison container. They decide that he will follow around Gray and look for a way to make him vulnerable. Gray discovers a situation below one evening that doesn't quite look right. He sees a young girl being roughed up and brought into her home by her mother, who appears to be drunk. Once inside the drunk mother begins beating her daughter. However, Gray decides to intervene and save the girl's life. Eqquibus charges through the living room window and kills the little girl his way, then kills the mother. He taunts Gray about not being able to see them coming, boasting that he will forever be the city's nightmare come true. Gray attempts to engage him in a fight, but fails to notice the Marlquaanite prison containers are activated right outside the house. Gray and Eqquibus both end up trapped in their respective containers, with Eqquibus' henchmen then freeing him from his. The frozen Gray, studied up close, results in Eqquibus realizing that the only place a Puritan ghost could have come into possession of Confederate soldier attire is at Dae Pang's museum. He and his henchmen immediately make their way there to capture the Pangs. Hea manages to escape, fleeing to Kyle's house while Eqquibus holds Dae hostage.

Hea arrives at Kyle's to give him the bad news, but he states that he already knows. Eqquibus has taken out the tower with which Darius can be contacted, leading to the Medsors fleeing to Maine. Kyle states that he told his family not to wait for him; that he'd get Hea and leave with her. Hea objects to the idea of running, insisting that the two of them need to free the Gray Champion themselves. Kyle is touched by her convictions, as well as her overhearing a henchman mention the seaport. The two begin making out, as they offer each other assurance they can fulfill their mission. They soon find themselves retreating to Kyle's bedroom. A half-hour later, they head towards the seaport. They try not to be noticed, as Kyle has both of them heavily armed. Kyle's expertise in combat allows him and Hea to get past the front guard and to the docks. They find a warehouse with Gray and Dae both being held captive. Eqquibus begins giving orders to his men to get a ship ready. Marl-Q Industries is moving operations out of Boston, given that Johnson's condition makes it unfavorable for him to stay in town. Hea sneaks around, looking for a way to get to her mother. Meanwhile, Kyle creates a distraction to lure the henchmen out. He then makes it inside right as Hea is freeing Dae, and deactivates the Marlquaanite prison quickly. He is suddenly grabbed from behind, and his ribs are crushed as Eqquibus hovers him in the air. Eqquibus makes the coup de grace move by breaking his neck, right as Hea and Dae watch. Eqquibus begins taunting Hea about the futility of her and Kyle's plan, but then notices that Hea refuses to show signs of having lost all hope. He turns around to hear the last of his army being transported via wire to Canada. He looks at the Marlquaanite prison and discovers it is empty. Enraged, he charges at Dae and Hea. However, Gray catches up to him and shallowly slices his neck. A fight soon breaks out in the sky, as Eqquibus demonstrates himself to be very efficient at killing pedestrians downtown. The two trade blows until Eqquibus manages to fake Gray out and knock him into a gas truck. Eqquibus moves to blow it up, but Gray gets out of the way in the nick of time. A startled Gray gets caught off guard, and Eqquibus kicks him around. Eqquibus finally rips his hat off and steals his mask, crushing the eyepieces in his hand and grabbing Gray's beard to knock him around.

Gray quickly recovers his senses, realizing that his sword is missing. Eqquibus argues that for all Gray's matter phasing, he still can't figure out a way to actually kill off Eqquibus. Gray realizes that even Eqquibus has internal organs, then feigns feeling weak while an arrogant Eqquibus lunges himself at his foe. Gray then phases his hand through Eqquibus' chest, grabbing his heart and ripping it out as he phases the matter around Eqquibus. The monster collapses, as John beholds the incredible path of violence and destruction left in the wake of their battle. He tosses Eqquibus' heart to the ground in disgust, before fleeing the scene right as the fire Eqquibus started spreads to the building where they had their final showdown. As Hea and Dae try to put together their lives and deal with Eqquibus' damages to the museum, Darius Philippine launches an unsuccessful bid for the Justice Department to investigate the mayor of Boston. The state investigation is interrupted by Eric Holder at the federal level, for purely political reasons. Even so, the Medsors agree to work with Hea to set up a mission control for John Domeck. The Gray Champion continues to hover over the city from atop a church belfry, patiently waiting for the city to need him again even as the mayor vows to destroy him in defiance of public sentiment.

Heroes

 * John Domeck / Gray Champion:


 * Marge Domeck:


 * Hea Pang:


 * Dae Pang:


 * Kyle Medsor: A young, ambitious man yearning to join SCALLOP. He is also Hea's boyfriend, and a skilled fighter.  He is, perhaps, a little too ambitious for he and Hea to get on with their lives.  When he discovers that Hea is hiding the Gray Champion in her mother's museum, he immediately realizes that the implications of this are serious.


 * Darius Philippine: Frequently alluded to but not seen, Darius is in charge of a special operation between Phaelites and the US military called the Security-Centric Alliance Lending and Learning Of Phaelites, or "SCALLOP" for short. He is frowned upon by the Obama regime, which seeks to have him removed from his position yet lacks a justification.  In addition to monitoring the potentially scandalous Phexo experiments in the country and the unethical science which created them, he also takes an interest in Marlquaanite creation and in monitoring the activities of a terroristic secret society known as the Icy Finger.  News of Marl-Q Industries having created a new Gray Champion particularly draws his interest.

Villains

 * Dereck Johnson / Eqquibus: An ideological ally of Eric Andro and the Crooked Rainbow. Dereck is a sophisticated billionaire, building on the fortune of his father Raynold Johnson.  They built Marl-Q Industries hoping to capitalize on Dereck's discovery of a Marlquaanite ruby.  This also led to him being monitored by the Society of the Icy Finger, which has long been out to reclaim all the rubies for themselves.  He at one point enters into a business deal with Seth Lambrelli to give Seth an additional ruby, making Seth also a target of the Icy Finger.  Aside from making billions in research, he is also politically active.  He plans to have the Dwayne Strain vaccine, even though it is unsafe and poorly-tested, become mandated on all schoolchildren in Massachusetts.  He and the Crooked Rainbow begin lobbying aggressively to get the governor to sign legislation or an executive order to get the mandate rammed through, in spite massive protest.  He also plans to weaponize Dwayne Strain, and use it to infect and kill all dissidents.  His corrupt friends, such as Eric Andro, shield him from criminal investigation.

As a college student, Dereck began dating a non-committal woman named Darla Jennings. She took a huge fascination to horses; but Dereck found himself being twisted by fascination with one specific painting she had. The painting was a variation of "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli. Dereck's obsession with power, the symbolism of incubi, and the Fuseli painting compelled him to envision himself as a horse-headed demon with power over women. Frustrated with Darla's mixed signals, he finally decided to kidnap her one evening. He used a fear toxin he developed to keep her unable to fight back, then raped and killed her while wearing a horse mask. His immediate terror led to him going to great lengths to cover up his crime.

Upon ascension to the ownership of Marl-Q, he had grown powerful and connected. He used those connections with the most corrupt of individuals to grant himself immunity from prosecution, and became a serial rapist utilizing the same method on new victims as used to kill Darla. However, he became more sophisticated about not leaving behind large amounts of DNA evidence of his crimes. It is his arrogant ambition to use his Marlquaanite ruby to master time travel, however, that ends up being his downfall. It transforms him into the monster known as Eqquibus, while also bringing the Gray Champion into the 21st century. Gray immediately sets to work foiling all of Eqquibus' plans, leading the two of them to an epic rivalry that holds the entire city's fate in the balance.


 * Officer Eric Andro: A corrupt police captain who is in league with the Crooked Rainbow activists and also with Eqquibus. He has turned the justice system in Boston upside-down, leading to the arrests of victims of the activists' assaults rather than arrests of the activists for assault.  He also plans to punish Tea Party and other activists in town for opposing the Crooked Rainbow's overreach, as well as punishing the Dwayne Strain mandate's opposition by letting Dereck Johnson weaponize it and use it on them.  He has a name similar to that of Edmund Andros, the Virginia governor who was defeated by the first Gray Champion.


 * Stacey Midgers, Brian Slupen, Eugene Steegs, Matt Ridgeway, and Mike Chorus: Crooked Rainbow activists bent on raping and killing Hea Pang for witnessing them and Andro engaging in an act of perversion of justice by having their beating victim arrested instead of themselves. They eventually take their antics too far when they begin stalking Hea mercilessly, and end up at the wrong end of the Gray Champion's sword.


 * Travis Menaiaco: The Democratic mayor of Boston, who has forged an alliance with the terrorist Crooked Rainbow and with Eric Andro. He believes that the Gray Champion's conservative origins make him an immediate threat to the special interests the mayor has aligned himself with, as Gray's symbol can inspire a renewed fervor for Biblical faith and American patriotism.  As such, he defies public will by declaring Gray to be an outlaw.


 * Jared Richen: A whistleblower former FDA employee, who has fallen on hard times for lobbying against the vaccine for Dwayne Strain. He argues both that it is unethical and prone to backfire to force a sexual behavior vaccine on children, and that it Dwayne Strain is particularly lethal.  Only two women raped by Dwayne Lloyd managed to escape infection with the deadly disease, one of them being Marissa Hood.  The Crooked Rainbow, which is outright forcing deviant sexual lifestyles on a public not interested in forced participation in it, has determined that Richen needs to die for his convictions and for opposing a cause they have elected to support.  Also unfortunate for Richen, the corrupt police captain Eric Andro in league with the gay militants.  When Hea witnesses his arrest for being a victim of Crooked Rainbow violence, they catch her witnessing the blatant act of police corruption.  This leads to a bounty within the militants' ranks on Hea's head.