The Gray Champion: Chillingworth's Revenge

This story will be a sequel to the superhero adaptation of the original tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Plot
Hea Pang narrates for her personal journal in the 21st century the account of what happened. In the 17th century, a friend of John Domeck's named Miles Wealthington visits Boston in search of a woman whom he feels can be trusted to keep the Beamer's Ruby out of the Icy Finger's reach. He had hidden it inside of a necklace pendant, with an A-shaped beam to guide it. Wealthington eventually found a woman in a small jail, named Hester Prynne. Hester is given the necklace for safekeeping, not being told what powers it contained. Her jailer assumes that the "A" adequately stand for "adultery," rather than being a beam guide. Hester is then punished by being required to wear the necklace in public. However, after a series of events recorded more-or-less by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the abominable Marlquaanite Roger Chillingworth threatened to use his powers of freezing flesh to murder the town's minister - Arthur Dimmesdale. An angry Hester, feeling helpless, accidentally activated the Beamer's Ruby inside her necklace.

Its beam reflects off the carving on Arthur's chest and hits Chillingworth right as he is about to freeze Arthur. It causes Chillingworth to immediately lose his powers and his blast to backfire, shattering him to a million pieces of frozen flesh. Soon after, Hester had to stitch an "A" in her dress and find someone else to hide the necklace that became known as "Hester's Locket." She feared that if the Icy Finger knew that she had been in possession of the locket this entire time, and that she had accidentally killed one of their own, that they would hunt her to the ends of Earth to seek revenge. A tradition began to pass the locket down from one bearer to another with each successive generation, until the locket's location became shrouded in myth and legend.

In the present, about a year and a half has passed since the events in Freedom's Apparition. Boston has been forever changed by the Tsarnaev Brothers and their attack. Less known is the other massacre that happened - one in the areas outside the city limits that were the result of a villain known as "Blackveil." Blackveil was eventually defeated by the Gray Champion - at the expense of him not being able to prevent the Boston Marathon Bombing. Gray was not at all amused that he had foiled one villain only to be unable to stop another. However, he sets to work foiling as many criminal enterprises and terrorist attacks as possible, always ensuring that there's something left for police to do. When John Domeck isn't busy with that, he is babysitting young Tabitha Pang while Hea receives training as a SCALLOP agent. The Medsor family decides to aid Gray and Hea in their plans, so as to honor their son Kyle's memory.

However, a bomb goes off at a daycare center while Hea is considering options for eventually sending Tabitha there. Hea and the desk clerk are the only survivors. She briefly looks up from the rubble to find a masked man standing there. The man utters "Chillingworth lives!" before flying away. Gray arrives through the phone wires and immediately helps Hea out of the rubble. He discovers that the masked man left a paper on the ground bearing a seal. Gray immediately recognizes the seal: the Society of the Icy Finger had left it.

Hea and Gray go to visit Dae at the museum, and she is unsure what to say to them given the falling out she had with them over Hea's pregnancy. They alert her to the Icy Finger's return, and tell her to beware of any suspicious behavior. Gray turns invisible, so that Dae isn't seen with him by anyone who could make trouble for her on account of it. Dae introduces an associate from a company calling itself "Cold Digit Relics, Inc." That associate dresses himself in a classy manner, and claims to go by the name of Miles Charleston. Hea immediately suspects that there is something not right with Miles, but pretends all is well. After Dae and Hea argue for a little bit about Dae's need to move on, they part ways. Miles tries to sooth Dae, but uses her emotionally vulnerable state to plant ideas in an effort to further poison the mother-daughter relationship.

Miles retreats to a hotel room, where he contacts Icy Finger personnel still in England and alerts them to the fact that Dae is interested in the business deal to add more exhibits to her museum. They pressure him to complete his special gloves, as he will need them to direct his beams. They also tell him to be vigilant for any sign of John Domeck. Rumors are that Dereck Johnson brought Domeck to the present by accident. They want the bounty on his head fulfilled. Miles promises to do what he can. That same evening, Hea receives a phone call from Darius Philippine that a certain superheroine from Miami known as Mapacha needs to talk to her about possibly discovering the secret location of Hester's Locket. Her adoptive parents have determined that since Hea is in training to become a SCALLOP agent, she is an ideal candidate to become a bearer of the locket. She responds back that she would like to know if Marge "Mapacha" Ramirez knows who her biological parents were. She claims in response that her surname at birth was Domeck. John immediately suspects that Marge is his long-lost daughter from the Marlquaan storm.

The two of them look outside the apartment door and see a Cold Digit truck and several suspicious-looking men getting out. Hea gets in contact with SCALLOP headquarters to see if they have any information about Cold Digit being a front for the Icy Finger. Meanwhile, Gray goes down to the scene to investigate upclose. He thwarts a bomb threat, easily defeating the agents. However, one of them presses a button and flees the scene. The same masked man in blue that Hea recalled seeing earlier suddenly attacks Gray from behind. A battle ensues, and the the man tries desperately to wield his ice attacks in order to freeze Gray solid. Gray tries to slice the man's arm off, only to discover the man can create ice shields to block Gray's sword. Gray tries going into phantom mode, but is stunned by the attacker's flashbang grenade. The attacker soon throws wads of ice at police and pedestrians who've gathered at the scene. Gray stops the attacker from claiming more than two lives in the crowd. The attacker then announces "Chillingworth lives!" before flying into the air and retreating. Police attempt to apprehend Gray, but he vanishes and hides in a church belfry. He tries to talk to Hea, but then realizes that his headset is missing. The masked man retreats to another Cold Digit van, where he listens to Hea on the other end asking if "John" is okay. He then uses some of his equipment in the van to triangulate where the signal is originating. He considers paying Hea a visit at her apartment; but then realizes that he would blow his cover. He takes his mask off, revealing himself to be Miles underneath. Miles soon looks in the mirror, noting that the anti-aging formula he was given is wearing off. His hair is turning whiter. With a few minor adjustments to his gloves, however, he discovers that he has perfected them. He notices that with the gloves, he can direct his freezing beams better.

Hea gets the Medsors to babysit Tabitha while she travels to the museum to meet up with Dae. However, Dae refuses to believe that anyone at Cold Digit could be involved in terrorism. Miles enters the room, and Hea immediately notices that Miles keeps staring at her in an odd way. She notices his build, and realizes it is identical to that of the man she saw when the daycare center was blown up. Asking for a moment of privacy, she accuses her mother of dating Miles. Dae dismisses the claim, insisting that her relationship with Miles is purely a business one. Dae then chases Hea out of the office. Dae confronts Miles after Hea is gone about the Cold Digit van that was involved in the recent attempted bombing that the Gray Champion foiled. Miles looks confused, then promises to leave and investigate the matter. Instead, he begins stalking Hea. She makes it halfway home, then Miles confronts her while wearing his new gloves. John meanwhile receives a phone call from SCALLOP agents informing him that Cold Digit is, in fact, a front for the Icy Finger. John rushes outside to find Hea before anything bad happens, forgetting to change back into his Gray Champion costume. Meanwhile, Miles freezes Hea's left arm after she tries to use a trash can lid as a shield while fighting him directly. His sadistic grin gives away that he means to kill her. John arrives in time and battles the menace a second time. However, Miles immediately suspects from John's beard that he is the same John Domeck that the Icy Finger put a hit on. Miles taunts John about being the Gray Champion, vowing to soon make him "the Gray Loser." He manages to disappear yet again, leaving John to break Hea's arm free of the ice bracelet and get her some medical attention. Miles eavesdrops on the conversation Hea has in the emergency room as her arm is treated for severe frostbite.