Post by lawrenceliberty on Jul 30, 2020 20:25:34 GMT
Shade the Changing Man
By lawrenceliberty
Sept. 1982
1
Rac Shade the Changing Man still thought of himself as a law enforcement agent. It is true that in his native dimension of Meta, the red haired man was currently considered a fugitive with charges brought against him by the Ruling Council for treason and murder; however, he was certain that the man he was accused of killing (Captain Majan) was in fact guilty of numerous crimes himself including working for the worst “crimester” in Meta the mysterious Sude a.k.a the Supreme Decider! Shade was almost certain that there was also a link between the deto-bombing that crippled the Loron family and the plot against him. He knew President Olon had confided in him before his own problems started that there was something crooked in the Ruling Council and Senator Mira Loron was not only a victim of the bombing but she was the mother of his fiancé the lovely blonde N-Agent Mellu Loron!
“I trained Mellu and in her parents I had valuable allies. Captain Majan and Lt. Emp were my superiors and neither of them were honest. It makes sense that two corrupt cops as they are called in the Earth Zone would conspire to remove my friends and frame me for murder and treason! Mellu blamed me for the bombing and she hated me so much she vowed to kill me when she learned I had escaped from prison! That hurt me more than losing my freedom and my reputation. I can still hear the hatred in her voice and see the pain in her eyes!” he thought.
He shook his head and determined to focus on his current mission! Having saved Mellu from the dangerous zone between Meta and Earth known as the Area of madness, he had regained her love and he had gained the support of powerful men like President Olon, Doctor Sagan, and his old friend Colonel Kross!
“President Olon said he will start a new trial to look into my case. Mellu was determined to clear my name too. All I have to do is complete this mission on the Earth zone! With the transportation centers destroyed by Dr. Z.Z., I am the only Metan capable of traveling between realms! On earth I can see just how bad things have become at our various Metan bases. Dr. Z.Z. has his own gang trained to infiltrate earth society and await his orders to take over the world. With Metan science at his disposal he just might do it!”
Shade was in transit from the weird Zero Zone to Earth! His journey had been a harrowing one and he had narrowly escaped enslavement at the hands of one tyrant who claimed the dimension for himself!
“Even after I helped him overthrow Zekie, that madman Xexlo tried to end my life! I had no doubt that living in limbo near the Area of madness drove them both insane over time! Thank goodness I’ve managed to survive two trips into that bizarre region and I helped Mellu recover from her own time trapped there!”
He materialized on Earth near his desired destination the oddly designed building that housed ORC- the occult Research Center. This group whose allegedly purpose was to offer proof to the general public that supernatural events were real was in fact a secret Metan base headed by the powerful Wizor.
“Wizor’s tactic is sound. He seems like a crazy man and because no one on Earth believes the stories he circulates about ghosts and other dimensions, the media and the authorizes dismiss any such real sighting of a Metan fugitive as a fake ghost story told by someone with little judgment and less credibility!”
He looked up at the odd building with its massive and ornate glass skylight that was carved with eldritch symbols that in fact had no true meaning except in the eyes of the gullible.
He wore a bright red vest and red trunks that left his arms and legs bare. He knew that the amazing M vest was the only way a Metan could now bridge the dimensions; barriers from his home dimension and the Earth zone since Dr. Z.Z.’s followers had destroyed all working transport units. He was alone but he was not afraid. His will was strong as was his keen mind and his determination to clear his name!
He concentrated and the M vest allowed him to levitate until he could look down through the skylight. He grimaced at what he saw within the building. Wizor, a fat bearded man was a prisoner along with his loyal aides while the sinister Dr. Z.Z. and his followers had total control of the building.
Shade pulled out a small device and adjusted it until the sensor allowed him to listen in to the conversations within the complex. After listening to various internal communications within the ORC HQ, he came to a conclusion.
“I was delayed too long by my battle against Xexlo while I was trapped between dimensions! Not only has Z.Z. taken over the ORC HQ but he has agents within the other Metan bases around the globe! I can’t be in all those locations at once! My Metan science will allow me to find the allies I need among Earth’s colorful heroes! I can only hope they won’t treat me as either a madman or a criminal when they hear my story! I better head for shelter and make plans!”
Later, as he paced back and forth within his Earth apartment (and did so by levitation that enabled him to literally pace all the way around the room including up and down the walls and across the roof) , he frowned in dismay.
“The Justice League of America is not available and my efforts to tap into their communication devices have failed to produce any response. They must be on a mission or else they have been incapacitated.
He stopped in mid thought as an apparition appeared before him! He saw regal looking black man with strangely sad eyes.
“You are not truly here. What manner of communication is this?” he thought as he briefly wondered if he too had strayed too long in the Area of Madness!
“I am Dr. Mist. I defend this world and your alien science attracted my attention! I did not think the Meta Zone was a problem that merited my attention until now. An occasional refuge coming here posed little threat since those inclined toward evil were easily dealt with by other super beings. A full invasion using stealth and infiltration cannot stand!” he said in a stentorian tone of voice! I have already contacted allies around the globe and sent them to take over the various ORC facilities! You must do your part Rac Shade. Only you can stop the true threat posed by Dr.Z.Z. at the main ORC base!”
Shade said, “I appreciate your help! Are you certain even Earth champions may oppose Metan science in the hands of ruthless crimesters!”
Dr. Mist said, “You must rely on my agents as I shall rely on you. You are a good man and a hero in your own right! Now, prove it once more to your people and most of all to yourself!
Shade clinched his fist and said, “I will do it! I will reclaim ORC HQ and stop Z.Z. and then I will return to Meta and redeem myself in the eyes of my colleagues and friends!”
Meanwhile, at an ORC facility in the heart of Metropolis, a striking woman with auburn hair and brief green costume slipped inside the building and moved silently through the long hallways.
The Thorn (Rose Forrest) was a troubled woman who existed only to punish criminals in memory of her own late father who had perished at the hands of evil men. This was not a idle reflection on her motivation or her determination. It was the literal truth since the aggressive and sultry Thorn persona only surfaced when demure Rose was not in control of her own mind and body.
“Dr. Mist is always right although I don’t know why a being of his power doesn’t just kill every common thug on the streets of cities like Metropolis!” she thought.
She saw an approaching group of uniformed soldiers and screamed as she charged directly into them!
She lashed out with kicks and punches that left them stunned at her feet. Before newcomers could do more than draw their own odd looking alien weapons, she had flipped across the room with three acrobatic bounds and knocked them cold.
She smiled coldly and continued on her way through the complex. She didn’t stop to ask questions. She didn’t make value judgment.
She merely physically dominated all those she met and satisfied her own need for revenge on all evil men and women. She was not alone in the building either. On an upper floor, a weird inhuman being with ghastly yellow skin and red eyes that gleamed above a mouth full of jagged fangs had devastated the invaders who had take control of the Metan facility. The Demon Etrigan laughed as he battered his foes and somewhere within him his more human alter ego Jason Blood exerted as much control as he could. A this point that was considerable but that was not always the case and the Metans were very lucky that this Etrigan was being persuaded to show some restraint.
He raised his twisted hands and eldritch flames erupted to destroy an array of weapons stored in an arsenal. It felt good to be so very bad at times!
At a similar facility disguised as an ordinary office building that housed lawyers, publishers, and media experts the Metan infiltrators were easily dispatched by Gotham City’s own protectors who had been summoned by Dr. Mist’s astral projection!
Robin the Teen Wonder, home of a break from Hudson University, leaped over an attacker and kicked him flat.
“I knew lawyers were worse than most super villains but you guys don’t have to work so hard to prove it!” he quipped. He dodged a blast of weapons fire from a long rifle and started to use a rope to snag the weapon out of its owner’s hands when a blinding blur of red and gold knocked the Metan flat and continued to speed up and down the halls with super human speed!
Kid Flash (Wally West) grinned as he approached his friend. “I’ve secured the facility, Fearless Leader!”
Robin smiled back at his friend. “Thanks, now don’t sound like such an overachiever, huh? Seriously, though, I’m glad you were able to visit me this weekend! With Batgirl in D.C. and Batman with the JLA, I was going to have a dull time!”
Kid Flash shrugged, “So, having shut down an alien invasion at the command of a supernatural African Prince, what’s next? Pizza?”
The super speedster didn’t mean to make light of what they had accomplished but such actions were almost routine even for the disbanded Teen Titans.
In New Orleans, a man in a tattered green costume hurled a heavy table into Metans in another hidden base. The Ragman (Rory Reagan) had arrived in Louisiana with his photographer fiend Bette Berg who was there on an assignment. He had eagerly joined the blonde out of a desire to get away from the sometimes dull work at his small shop. Still, being contacted by a powerful being like Dr. Mist was enough to shake up the normally confident hero.
As the table crashed into the Metans, he leaped upward and swung across the room to drop down on more of them as they entered the room. He yelped as one hit with him a strange metallic band that wrapped around the other being’s palm.
“The Earther doesn’t like the sting of my electro blaster!” laughed the alien.
Ragman took a deep breath and then connected with a punch that knocked the alien cold. He continued fighting throughout the building and decided as vacations went this one left something to be designed.
The Metan base in London was disguised as a skyscraper in the financial district. The blonde heroine called Godiva was using her remarkable hair to hold off aliens while her allies raced forward to help her. Godiva (Dorcas Leigh) could control the shape, density, and length of her hair and she used it as a large blonde colored bludgeon to knock aliens flat before they could target her with their ray guns.
“Cor! You lot are nearly as bad as a case of the frizzies!” she joked in the deliberately assumed Cockney diction she used when in her heroic identity.
The Secret Service Agent known as Britannia grinned but said nothing as she brought down several aliens with her expert shooting. While licensed to kill she didn’t do so if she had a choice. She was dark haired beauty in a black jacket, matching boots and a pleated skirt. She loved her work and enjoyed a life of romance and danger. She smiled and said, “I don’t know how Dr. Mist knew who I was but he was right about this place being a hive of aliens in three piece suits!”
The two women fought onward and eventually took control of the facility. They had considerable help from a masked man in green and purple who carried a glowing lantern. Jack O’Lantern (Daniel Cormack) was a kind hearted man who owed his supernatural lantern to a favor he had once done for one of the magical Fairy Folk. He now used it to protect the helpless and he didn’t mind crossing borders to do so. He was selfless and good natured. Jack concentrated and the elevator shaft became a hastily blocked holding cell in which he casually deposited one alien after another.
In Paris, France the swashbuckling Musketeer received cheers as he prevented a Metan from replacing the Prime Minster with a double whose features had been altered by Metan science. He bowed low and doffed his feathered hat as he smiled broadly and then returned to action.
Back at the main ORC HQ, two brothers were doing what they did best: arguing. Hank Hal said, “This isn’t how I wanted to spend my Navy leave!” He was costumed in red and white as the former Teen Titan Hawk while his milder brother Don was dressed in blue and white as the agile Dove.
“I thought you’d love a chance to fight actual aliens! I mean you get excited enough at just slugging shoplifters!” he said.
Hawk shrugged and said, “Yeah, so sue me if I like my work!”
They actually worked well together and slipped through the halls of the ORC building and dispatched one foe after another While Hawk used brute force and Dove used more acrobatic skill, they got the job done.
Shade himself had wasted no time after talking with Dr. Mist, he entered the ORC facility and allowed the unique properties of the M Vest to work in his behalf. His foes saw him not as he was but as a massive giant who hovered above them with grotesque features.
“You won’t get away with this! This invasion ends right now!” he shouted.
They fired at him but each energy bolt was deflected by his wildly expanding force field.
“I feel each one although they don’t really hurt me!” he mused.
He knocked down one soldier after another and then he confronted the deadly Dr. Z.Z. himself.
Dr. Z.Z. wore an unusual face mask that allowed him to generate concussive bolts from his eyes. He had used them to batter his hapless captive Wizor when he first took over the ORC facility and now he used them to torture the bearded man.
Shade flew across the room and blocked the evil genius from his victim.
“I think you have done enough. You are a man of science but you have degraded yourself by using your genius for criminal gain! You work for Sude don’t you?”
Z.Z. said, “Sude financed my experiments. I return the favor at time but Sude is no concern of yours! Surviving the next few minutes will be more than enough for you!”
He looked at the hero with his crackling energy beams and as they targeted Rac Shade, he dived forward and one hand caught hold of a computer monitor and hurled it at Z.Z. The bolts shattered the monitor but Shade used the delay to free Wizor.
“Wizor, it’s Shade. Can you free your men? I’ll take care of Z.Z.!” he declared.
Wizor nodded and said, “Yes1 I shall. Thank you Rac Shade!”
He hurried off as Shade tacked more troops and kept one eye on Z.Z.!
Elsewhere, in the building Hawk and Dove had corned a dark haired man with course features and the demeanor of an Earth gangster. The former Lt. Emp now called himself Kempo on earth and he was not allied with Z.Z. He was out for himself and just as he sold out to help frame Shade back on Meta, now he was eagerly using the raid on ORC base as cover for an attempt to enrich himself by stealing some of the advanced technology Z.Z. and his pupils had stolen from their home dimension!
Hawk said, “This guy looks more like one of Rat Pack than he does a B.E.M.!”
He gasped as Dove knocked him aside seconds before Kempo fired a wrist mounted energizer!
“Thanks, pal!” he whispered.
Dove grinned and said, “Well, I’d hate to have the whole room to myself when we’re both visiting home!”
He dodged another energy beam as Kempo changed tactics and aimed above them to bring the roof down in his wake.
Hawk grabbed Dove and they leaped away from the falling rubble to tackle Kempo!
A few swift punches and they had defeated the crooked ex-cop.
Dove frowned as he pulled small devices out of the Metan’s coat.
“They look like data receptors. I think they use them to store files and information!’ he said.
Hawk said, “My brother the Egghead’
Little did the brothers know that this discovery would enable Shade to clear his name if he returned it to Meta. It was evidence of all the dirty dealings Kempo’s boss back on Meta the late Captain Majan had committed. The ever-self-serving Kempo had carried it as insurance in case he ever needed to turn evidence against his former boss.
Elsewhere in the same building, Shade loomed up over the defiant Z.Z. in another part of the building. He heard the sound of laser fire and assumed Wizor had managed to free his own men since Shade himself had beaten so many of the other enemy agents on his way to confront their leader.
“It’s over! You’re coming back to Meta with me. I can use the transporter unit you have here to haul all of you back to face trial. The Ruling Council will Negate all of you and I’ll be right there to watch it!” he said as he moved closer to the villain.
Z.Z. shook his head and said, “No, You are wrong. This is not the end. I have a weapon you never imagined. I can channel the energies of the Area of Madness directly ino Earth’s atmosphere. I can eventually saturate this zone with the mind altering insanity caused by the properties of the Area of Madness “
He activated a strange machine and the air around them began to shimmer as phantasms appeared and threatened to crush them and mocking laughter rang out although in truth nothing was three. It was all a terribly vivid illusion.
Shade shuddered as he realized exactly what was happening. After all, he had been trapped in the Area of madness on two occasions.
He knew the hallucinations of that terrible zone left victims shrieking with insane delusions that left them shells instead of thinking and functioning beings.
Apparently Z.Z. himself had overestimated his own immunity to his device since seconds later he was rolling on the ground and crying like a baby!
Shade fell to his knees and fought the madness around him as it threatened to usurp his own keen mind’s rational thought processes.
“I can’t let this happen! I have too much to do! Got t clear my name! Got to get back to Mellu!” he stammered.
A newcomer crashed directly through the ornate glass skylight above them and laughed in a mad manner all his own.
He wore a yellow and red costume with a fur mane and his features were wildly contorted beneath shaggy green hair! He grinned madly and said, “This is my kinda of place. Still, evil men like you have good reason to beware the Creeper!”
He capered madly around the room and then brought a chair down across the machine that had generated the insane energy.
The Creeper (Jack Ryder) was in town checking the security of a nearby convention center where some of the WCOS-TV’s top on- air personalities were going to stay. He had responded to Dr. Mist’s summons and now he found that his own slightly altered mental processes gave him extra immunity to the mind warping.
As the Creeper relentlessly destroyed the machines around him Shade regained his feet and spotted Wizor and his loyal men rushing into the room.
“You did it, Shade! You freed us all! I shall speak in your behalf on Meta!” he vowed.
The Creeper seemed to instinctively know Shade was a hero and he leaped away laughing madly. This insanity was mainly an act but sometimes he didn’t know where the illusion ended and where the true Jack Ryder began.
Shade watched him go for a minute and then smiled broadly as he nodded and slowly joined Wizor in taking stock of the situation.
Hours later, having determined that all of the Metans had been defeated around the world and their infiltrators had been discovered, he held the evidence taken from Kempo and prepared to return to Meta with his captives in tow.
“Mellu, I’m coming home! At long last, I’m coming back to clear my name!” he mused.
Rac Shade was true to his word in the weeks that followed his amazing return to Meta as a national hero. He was able to give President Olon all the evidence he needed along with Lt. Emp’s reluctant testimony to clear his name of the charges of murder and treason. Mellu threw herself into his arms and kissed him passionately.
“Rac, mother has come out of her coma. She even found evidence of her own that showed Senator Coru
was behind the attempt on her life. Now, the only remaining major threat to peace is the crime boss Sude!” she said.
Rac Shade smiled and held the woman he loved as saw the smiling faces of Colonel Kross and Sgt. Barak and knew that those who believed in im had also ben vindicated.
“I’ll return to active duty after our wedding and then we’ll capture Sude and restore order to Meta! After all, the M vest won’t work for anyone else now and the authorities have agreed to reinstate me and let me keep the vest.” he said.
Little did the hero know that his future mother in law Mira Loron was secretly the mysterious Sude the Supreme Decider. Still, that was a challenge for another day and for a hero named Shade the future looked bright.
The End
