The Gray Champion: Freedom's Apparition

This story will be a superhero adaptation of the original tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first envisioned in 2001.

Absolute corruption in Boston
The setting that opens is a museum of colonial history in Massachusetts in 2012. Korean-American curator and museum director Dae Pang rejoices to see that the museum's getting large numbers on that particular morning. She even volunteers for a called-in-sick tour guide, proud to show off some of the new exhibits. Meanwhile, her daughter Hea Pang sneaks off to study her history notes with her boyfriend, Kyle Medsor. The two of them discuss the nature of their relationship as well, with Hea saying it's best not to push it. Kyle wonders if she means that as in a matter of principle, or as in to avoid incurring Dae's wrath. Hea asks him playfully why it matters what reason is given. Kyle receives a call to come in to speak with Darius Philippine, who is contemplating giving Kyle a special ops position when he is of age. Hea starts heading back home, when she witnesses a fight break out near her school's grounds. She eavesdrops on the conversation, preparing to call the police if it gets ugly.

The topic appears to be a critic of Marl-Q Industries, which is planning to lobby with the state legislature to make vaccines of the controversial "Dwayne Strain" mandatory for all schoolchildren - a barely tested and unconfirmed vaccine for a very rare yet horrible mutated strain of STD believed to have originated from a select group of victims of the notorious serial rapist Dwayne Lloyd. The protestor, Jared Richen, tells the bullies surrounding him that the vaccine will yield nothing good. The bullies, who appear to be dressed in drag, tell him to "get with the program."

Right as Hea is about to call the police, officer Eric Andro arrives on the scene. However, he sides with the Crooked Rainbow bullies and arrests Jared for daring to "say things that make them uncomfortable." That they were about to kill Jared appears to be of no consequence. Andro apologizes to the bullies that boys like Jared exist, then tells them to go home before someone gets the "wrong" idea about them. However, they notice Hea trying to flee the scene after Andro leaves. They have been stalking her, and know she is the girl who won't bend on her positions no matter how much trouble she gets in when in class. They also know she goes to the one church in town that won't bend to their violent agenda. They give pursuit of her, screaming "get the bitch!" However, Hea is able to use her knowledge of the alleyways to lose them. They scream at the top of their lungs that it's "not over," and that they will "teach her a lesson" one day.

Hea knows at that point that with corrupt police like Andro in charge of the city, going to the police for help will be a wasted effort. Guilty are rewarded and innocent are punished. Perversion is pandered to, and decency is deplored. She prays that something, anything, can turn around her wicked city - or give her hope for an eventual life outside of it. However, she arrives at the museum in time to rendezvous with her mom. Dae scolds Hea for not going straight home; but Hea counters that being ambushed on the way home negated that. She reports what she has witnessed, and Dae expresses concern that Hea could end up in a lot of trouble. Hea argues for taking a stand, and that they both agreed to protest Marl-Q Industries and the Dwayne Strain mandate at the capitol in a few days. Dae tells Hea to be careful whom she speaks to about the matter, as the situation of perverted justice in Boston has gotten out-of-hand.

Dereck's hobbies and agenda
That evening, a woman awakes to find a horse-headed assailant on top of her. The assailant injects her with a toxin, causing his appearance with the horse mask on to become truly terrifying. The attacker identifies himself as "Eqquibus" and proceeds to rape her. The rapist escapes with little trouble, taking off the mask once in safety and proving to be none other than Dereck Johnson, the billionaire owner of Marl-Q Industries. Officer Eric Andro meets with Dereck in his office, and the two discuss the big experiment coming up in a few days involving a Marlquaanite ruby and Marlquaan storm experimentation. Andro also asks if he can borrow an Eqquibus mask to terrorize the neighbor's son. Dereck urges Andro to exercise patience, as that plan would destroy both their reputations if carried out too soon.

Bringing John Domeck into the year 2012
The following afternoon, Hea sneaks in to the demonstration at Marl-Q Industries. She tries not to go noticed, knowing that Johnson knows Dae to be a huge critic of Marl-Q's government contract work. Dereck argues during the demo that he not only can use his Marlquaanite ruby to create a controlled Marlquaan storm; but he can even peer into the past. He has effectively invented time travel. He asks the crowd what could go wrong with bringing a visitor into the present day, and Hea raises her hand to suggest that forcefully exposing someone to a world with contrary values could be harmful to both the visitor and the land he visits. Dereck laughs off the concern, before Andro escorts her out. He threatens to arrest her unless she leave the area immediately. She leaves the building, only to have to run from the same gay mob that chased her a day earlier.

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. A cat lunges at him, but he finds he can somehow make himself intangible and dodge disaster.

John suddenly witnesses the gay mob having caught up with Hea. They begin pinning her to the ground in preparation for gang-rape, as she screams and demands they get off her. They taunt her with blasphemies, as well as bragging that the police are on their side. Before they can proceed any further, and invisible John runs his sword right through their leader. John suddenly becomes visible in his 17th-century clothing, calling the mob "vermin." They charge at him, but are quickly defeated as they are no match for his swordsmanship and phantom mimicry powers. John soon learns he can levitate, and then makes himself semitransparent as he flies up to a church tower. He soon gets a glimpse of the world beneath him - complete awe that the world he is in is completely alien to the one he left behind.

A friendship forged
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.

A genuine Eqquibus
Meanwhile, Dereck pulls himself from the wreckage of his lab. He finds himself with wings, and he flies away from the scene to his apartment in town. He notices his feet becoming more like horse hooves, and that even his face is taking on more of an equine appearance. He immediately realizes that he has become Eqquibus. Meanwhile, Andro informs him of the fact that the protestors of the Dwayne Strain are determined to protest anyway. The two agree to a plan to launch weaponized Dwayne Strain from helicopters on the protestors to punish them for their ideological opposition. What they don't notice is John Domeck spying on Eric Andro 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, and states that the two of them need to educate John on the passage of time - and FAST! John reveals that he doesn't know if returning to his own time is possible. However, he has new Marlquaanite powers and intends to use them to punish the new evil that has employed Marlquaanite rubies for its purposes.

Dae closes the museum the following morning, while Hea invites Kyle over in spite Dae's discomfort with the thought of Hea dating. Kyle, Hea, and John discuss topics of religion and duty while Dae prepares to give John a day-long education on everything important that has happened - particularly as relates to the present day. John returns home that evening vowing he will do whatever it takes to become a symbol that will help right the wrongs of Boston in that day. Even as he is ready to attempt some rest, Hea remembers reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Gray Champion." She offers to read it to him.

Meanwhile, Eqquibus prepares with his company to load up the helicopters with weaponized Dwayne Strain. He also raids a nearby apartment with the cover of darkness, seeking to rape whatever woman he finds. He targets a married couple, using his newfound powers to easily dispose of the husband and terrorize the wife. His success in the rape and murder, along with his successful escape while Andro keeps the police from doing anything, puts him on a power trip of feeling he can do whatever he wants with his newfound power. He boasts that Boston effectively now belongs to him.

A new Gray Champion
John takes tremendous inspiration from the story that Hea read, and states to her his intentions of bringing down the corrupt Eric Andro as a new Gray Champion. Hea instructs him to first gain mastery of his abilities. They head to a park in town, and look for a spot with some privacy. Kyle joins them, alerting them that Darius Philippine is very curious about John's condition. Just then, a three black teens attack a woman with her baby in a stroller. They shoot the baby in the head at point blank range, then shoot the mother dead before running. Gray takes a black winter full-head mask that he stole from Hea's closet, slits a whole for his beard through it, then goes after the teens using his abilities to quickly catch up with them. They act confused by his speech, and mock him for bringing a sword to a gunfight. However, their bullets phase right through him with no effect while his sword slices off the gunman's hand. They try to take him on in a physical brawl, but discover that he is quite a skilled and disciplined fighter. After he beats all three of them to the ground, they demand to know who he is. He answers that he is "but a spirit of another time, an apparition of a freedom that once was." He tells them that with all the handouts they have been given in life, they should be ashamed of themselves for having not made something more decent of themselves. After reminding them that they have only themselves to blame for what they've become, he then vanishes through a nearby phone pole. Andro arrives at the scene with other police, and is forced to let the other police arrest the youths only because dozens of witnesses of the double homicide identify the three youths as being the shooters.

Andro sees Kyle and Hea standing in the distance, gazing at him defiantly. He demands that the kids explain what's going on. Hea explains that she knows what he's up to, without stating what that is. She also proclaims that like Edumnd Andros of old, Andro's abuses have caught the attention of the Gray Champion. Andro tells Hea that she'd better head home, before he arrests her also.

First conflict
As John begins monitoring Hea in search for any information on the Society of the Icy Finger to determine if they're still around or not, Dae alerts them that the day has come to appear downtown for protesting. However, Hea suggests that the Gray Champion should make an appearance just in case Andro and Johnson attempt to use weaponized Dwayne Strain. Hea quickly assembles John a better mask, then pieces together a suit for him from various backroom displays from Dae's museum. A gray Puritan hat is combined with blue gloves and boots, as well as a cape that is black on the outside and blue on the inside. A gray Confederate soldier uniform is put on John's body. John asks if it is appropriate, and Hea reminds him that the Champion need only look obsolete to the current time period. He doesn't have to be the original model.

Gray and Hea's theory is quickly put to the test, as Gray ends up throwing a canister of Dwayne Strain right back at the helicopter that launched it. The canister goes off, terrifying the pilot and causing him to crash into other helicopters. As chaos erupts in the sky above the protest, Andro begins taking aim at random protestors to shoot them dead. However, Gray confronts Andro on the ground and prevents such disaster. 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.