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Fan Fiction: Crossovers
Identities and the 8th Wonder
by Matt Dennion
Part 2: The Shadow
After Challenger's stirring lecture, Lamont Cranston was directed
into the main theater to see the attraction of the night. Cranston was led
to his seat with the other VIP's. Cranston of course had purchased a seat
only a few rows back from the front of the stage dead center. He mused that
a man of Cranston's stature could do no less than buy the best and by doing
so he kept form to his Cranston persona. He stared at the curtain on stage
wondering what exactly would appear behind it when the "Show" or whatever
Denham had in mind would begin. A small but powerfully built man and his
family sat down next to Cranston and he immediately recognized him as the
famous adventure Dick Benson. As Benson sat down he extended his hand "Mr.
Cranston isn't it?" "I'm Dick Benson and these are my meaning for living:
my wife and daughter!" Cranston extended his hand "It's and honor to meet
your Mr. Benson its not everyday a person meets a famous adventurer such
as your self!" "I've done a thing or two in my time but nothing like what
Denham and his crew went through! I've met Denham a few times he's fearless
in his own right but from what he hinted at the first mate and girl are
the real story. I can't wait to hear what they have to say." Cranston smiled
politely as the remainder of the people were seated and the lights went
down throughout the theater.
The band played a rousing tune as Carl Denham approached the center of the stage. As he stopped off to the right of the stage the crowd went into a frenzy of applause. Cranston sat patiently while Denham played up his part telling how the beast he captured was a king and a god in his world but that now he was brought here for everyone's amusement. After his speech Denham dramatically waited a moment before shouting, "KONG THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD!"
Slowly the curtain went up at first all Cranston could see was four massive iron legs of a platform. As the curtain continued to rise two massive chained feet appeared and second by second the massive creature was reveled. Cranston had seen a great many things in his days, as the fighter pilot The Black Eagle and even more so as The Shadow, but what he now beheld caused even him to stare in awe. The beast was massive easily larger than the largest elephant in the world, more than that just by looking at it you could see the massive muscles under the shaggy skin. The raw physical power of the beast must be unrivaled, Cranston thought, it must be the strongest beast to ever walk the land. He mused that maybe some of the leviathan like the sperm whales in the ocean might rival its brute strength but surely no beast of the land stood a chance against it. He had heard the beast was able to crush dinosaurs with his bare hands and of that he had no doubt.
What struck Cranston the most though was the overall appearance of the beast. At first glance Kong did resemble a gorilla but as he looked closer Cranston could see he was more than that. Kong's head and facial expression looked almost human like in appearance. Furthermore, the beast looked pitiful; clearly Denham had tamed this massive creature and the beast was a shell of its former self.
Denham brought out a Ms. Ann Darrow and Jack Driscoll onto the stage. Darrow had reportedly been kidnapped by Kong while Driscoll dared Kong and the island's dinosaurs to save her. Cranston watched the expression on Kong's face change as Ann Darrow was brought onto the stage, he seemed to liven up some and lose some the pathetic look he had. Denham brought photographers out onto the stage and Cranston watched as with each flash of the camera bulbs Kong's anger grew and he trashed against his chains. Cranston slowly rose from his chair as his gut told him things were about to go bad. Denham could see the crowd getting restless he walked to the front of the stage and assured the crowd that Kong's chains were formed of Chrome steel and unbreakable. As the word unbreakable left Denham's mouth Kong's left arm tore free and he looked down at Ann Darrow bellowing his rage. Cranston was already at the back of the theater at this time, he quickly grabbed his driver and told him meet him at the car. Cranston could hear people scream and the sound of chairs being broken as Kong broke free from his chains and jumped down into the crowd.
In the alley next to the theater, Cranston and his driver quickly entered their car with tinted windows. Cranston was donning the cloak and hat of The Shadow as the driver asked "What's the plan boss? What's that thing going to do?" The Shadow responded from the back of the car, " The girl. He's going to go after Darrow and he won't stop until he finds her. We have to…." The Shadow stopped in mid sentence as the wall in front of the car exploded into the alley. As the bricks and girders rained into the street Kong sprung into the alley with astonishing agility. He beat his chest and roared into the night. The Shadow told his driver to get out of there as he sprung onto the street. He watched in horror as Kong grabbed parked cars and hurled them into the street crushing dozen's of people under the four wheeled boulders. The Shadow thought to himself that he was looking at the incarnation of rage itself as Kong smashed his fists into the building on the other side of the alley and beat his chest. Kong reached down to grab another car to hurl but this one held a family of four. As Kong reached down The Shadow emptied both of Colt .45's into Kong hoping to distract him from the car, but the bullets meant nothing more to Kong than gnats landing on his back Kong hurled the car out of the alley and into the main street. It crashed into the building across the street then stuck in the wall a moment before falling to the sidewalk The Shadow could see the panic on the faces of a man and woman in the car as it flew by, but he was thankful he could not see the kids in the back.
A mob of people began pouring out of the massive hole Kong had smashed out of the wall. As they ran out, Kong roared and stomped them under his gigantic feet. The Shadow heard the terrible sounds of people being crushed as bones, body parts and blood cascaded through the alley. Still more people poured out of the hole only to be crushed under Kong's feet. In their panicked state the crowd wasn't thinking about Kong, they were just reacting, and the missing wall was the quickest way out. They just felt they had to get away, and as result more and more of them were crushed. The Shadow realized he either had to move Kong or stop people from coming out of the hole. Knowing his guns were useless he quickly surveyed his surroundings. On the main road leading into the alley, he noticed an abandoned city bus that had been clipped by one of the cars Kong had tossed. The roof at the back of the bus had been damaged but otherwise the bus was in working order. The Shadow quickly ran to the bus. Hitting the ignition, he turned the bus into the alley and pushed it to full speed. He slammed the transport into Kong's knee and bounced off it like it was concrete wall. As the bus glided to a stop he pulled the wrecked vehicle parallel to the hole in the wall blocking it off from the alley way. The Shadow thought to himself that the three people he hit had a better chance of surviving being run over by a bus then they did under Kong's feet. He also had to reassure himself that he had saved dozens more from being trampled as well. He considered these thoughts as he dashed towards the back of the bus while Kong's fist smashed the front part of it into scrap metal.
The Shadow jumped back into the alley. With nothing else to throw and no more people to crush Kong turned and leapt onto the main road. As he hit more crowded streets the monster unleashed a deafening roar and beat his chest as if to challenge the entire city at once. Dozens of more people were crushed as Kong lumbered across the street. The Shadow stood in the middle of the road while a mob ran by him trying to think of what else he could do minimize the number of people dying around him. From the alley, he could hear the screams of the people who were unlucky enough to only be partially crushed under Kong's feet. The Shadow turned and glanced down the alley; eight people were lying there with different parts of their bodies mangled and bleeding. It only took The Shadow a moment to realize there was nothing he could do for them. He turned and tried to blank out their screams, vowing to save as many other people from their fate as he could.
He focused his attention back on Kong who was now scaling the
side of building. The Shadow saw him reach into a window pull, out a young
woman, sniff her and then hurl her to crowd 10 stories below. The poor girl
hit the ground so hard she actually bounced off the sidewalk like a rubber
ball, rising several feet into the air before hitting the street for a second
time. The Shadow briefly hoped she died on the first impact. He thought
to himself, He's looking for Darrow, and shuddered as he realized
that this scene would be enacted again and again until Kong found her. In
his mind The Shadow could see women raining from the sky as Kong went from
building to building and the hundreds of people he would crush along the
way. As The Shadow pondered these thoughts, another woman fell from the
night sky to the street in front of him; simultaneously a train shot by
on the elevated train tracks that ran through the middle of the street.
A plan formed in The Shadow's mind he quickly ran back into the now abandoned
theater thinking, He wants Darrow. I'll give him Darrow!
The Shadow ran through the rows of smashed chairs and up the stage. Ann Darrow had left her overcoat on the stage as she ran out with Driscoll. He grabbed the coat and sprinted back into the street. Traffic was a standstill as wrecked cars and bodies littered the street. The Shadow figured he had 10 minutes until the next train came by; it did not give him much time to put his plan into action. While The Shadow double checked the direction of the wind, another woman fell screaming to her death followed by an avalanche of rubble. After falling to find Ann, Kong became aggravated and began pounding on the building he had climbed. The Shadow ran into the building upwind of Kong and sprinted up the stairs to floor just above the train tracks. The Shadow ran to window facing the tracks and waited for what seemed like the longest minute of his life before he heard the next train coming. Above him Kong had reached the top of the building and was again roaring and beating his chest. As he heard the train The Shadow climbed onto the ledge outside the window and held up Ann Darrow's coat letting it wave in the breeze. He whispered to himself, " Smell it, come on smell it.!" Suddenly Kong stopped roaring and began sniffing the air. His head snapped as the looked down at the over coat The Shadow held on the window ledge. Kong turned and began to climb down the side of the building. From his ledge The Shadow saw him hit the street and began to walk toward the building he was standing on. The Shadow cursed as he heard the train whistle again "Damn IT, where is that train?!" Kong was only a few steps away as the train speed passed the monster. The Shadow watched Kong and the train calculating his move in his head he would have to time it perfectly. He counted 9 train cars that had rolled by as he saw the tenth one Kong was slowly, gently reaching for the coat The Shadow was holding. As the tenth passed the Shadow jumped, landing on top of the last train car as it sped away. Kong's roar shattered windows as he watched the giant snake creature carry his prize away.
From the back of the train, The Shadow watched as Kong dropped to all fours and began chasing the train. Once more The Shadow was awed by the speed the beast possessed. For his plan to work Kong would need to keep within a certain distance from the train in order for the aroma from the overcoat to entice Kong to continue the chase. The Shadow reviewed his flawed but best option plan in his head. He knew the train system in New York; luckily this particular train ran not only next to where Kong was but continued out of the city and into the marshes and wetlands leading to Jersey. The Shadow hoped that Kong would chase the train into marsh where he could discard the overcoat and hopefully as Kong trudged into the marsh after it his massive weight would get him stuck in muddy bogs of the marshes. With Kong slowed down perhaps the police could devise a way to stop Kong, maybe Denham had a few more of the gas bombs he used to capture the monster back on the island. Whatever was to happen, The Shadow felt that his plan would save a great many lives. As he looked back, Kong was still in pursuit of the train but at least he was being led out of the city and away from people, and while the street he raced down may be damaged at least he wasn't slowly working his way from building to building smashing structures, crushing people and dropping women to their deaths.
The Shadow checked the street sign as the train sped by; he thought it was just under a mile until the marshes they were almost there. It was at that point The Shadow saw a sight the caused even his heart to skip a beat. Kong had been easily staying a few hundred yards behind the train, in fact he might have caught it had it been for all of the abandoned cars slowing him down as he ran. As the train sped towards the marshes Kong suddenly jumped from the street and smashed into a building along the road. He hung onto the side for a brief second and than sprang off it across the street to another building several hundred feet further ahead. After a brief moment he sprang off across the street again and crashed into another building. The Shadow shook his head in disbelief as Kong bounced from building to building gaining on and even over taking the train. The speed, strength, agility and most shockingly intelligence of the creature astounded The Shadow.
He watched as Kong leaped past the train and eventually jumped onto the street several blocks ahead it. From the top of the last train car The Shadow watched as Kong smashed through the elevated tracks and stood directly in the train's path. The Shadow jumped off the train curled his body into a ball and rolled to a stop. He stood up and watched in disbelief as Kong effortlessly reached up and stopped the speeding train dead in tracks. The monster then lifted the first few cars off the tracks and hurled them to the street. He began pounding on the train as if it were some hated enemy. The Shadow could hear the screams of people dying inside, people he knew would still be alive had he not lured Kong into chasing the train. The Shadow quickly composed himself vowing he would save as many of the passengers as he could. He sprinted to the train tore the emergency exit off the last car and began directing people out of it. The passengers of all but the two front cars managed to escape out the back with their lives.
As Kong finished destroying the train, he picked turned and began to lumber down the street. Kong stopped by where The Shadow had left Ann Darrow's over coat. Kong slowly reached down and picked up the coat sniffed it and the quickly discarded it resuming his rampage through the city. The Shadow followed after him. He had one more idea to try but he would have to wait until the opportunity presented itself. The Shadow followed Kong for several blocks of carnage that he was powerless to stop before he reached a spot that had the proper set up for The Shadow to strike. Kong walked through and intersection with several phone lines and as the Shadow hoped he would right past a fire hydrant. As Kong neared the hydrant The Shadow fired on it sending water spraying into the air all over Kong and gushing onto the street around his feet. The Shadow climbed onto of a parked car well above the water on the street he the fired on the power box connecting the telephone wires. Sparks flew from it as two of the wires came loose and cascaded to the street. When they touched the water thousands of volts of electricity ran through the water and into Kong. In an instant, Kong's entire body went rigid, his fur stood up straight, and his body was bathed in an eerie blue light. Lights in all of the nearby buildings went dark and a terrible crackling sound could be heard combined with Kong's scream.
As the electricity went through Kong, The Shadow watched, believing he had finally stopped the monster. When Kong stopped glowing and the air ceased to crackle with electricity The Shadow refused to believe what his eyes were telling him. Kong was still standing. Not only was he standing but he was enraged! He began smashing everything in site tossing cars and pounding into the buildings along the road. Rubble rained down on The Shadow. He tried to jump out of the way but several large pieces struck him at various parts of his body until finally one landed on his head and everything went black.
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