Our story opens now in present day Megatropolis, at the Secret Security Headquarters building. It had been over twenty years since the Shadow broke out of prison. The Shadow just seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. For the first few years after the murder of the former chief, Big D had been on the lookout for him. He refused to let his guard down. But, as time passed, things happened. Big D was faced with a new threat, a group of gangsters known as The Syndicate, headed by the notorious mob boss, Antonio "Big Tony" Manikatti. Big D had spent most of his career as chief of the SSHQ trying to bring Big Tony to justice.
In between hunting Manikatti and waiting for the Shadow to return, Big D had also seen the birth of his son, Jackson Davis (before they married, Big D's wife was named Georgianne Jackson). Sixteen years later, Big D welcomed a new edition to his family, his daughter, Phyllis Marie (named after Big D's middle name; her middle name was chosen because it sounded good). Though questions were raised as to the sixteen year age difference between Jack and Phyllis, Big D never answered them.
Things ended up changing in Big D's life after the birth of his daughter. Big D was becoming more involved with the Syndicate, and less involved with The Shadow. His son, Jack, joined the SSHQ at age eighteen. The year after that, Big D lost his wife, thanks to the Syndicate. They were engaged in a gun fight with a rival mob, and several innocent bystanders (including Georgianne Dawson) had been killed. Two years after that, the Syndicate had gunned down Jack in cold blood. Big D was furious and focused his attention on bringing the Syndicate to justice. And to make sure he didn't lose his darling daughter to the mob boss, he sent her to a boarding school in Switzerland, until she was sixteen. Upon returning to Megatropolis, she enrolled in the public high school, graduated, and became Big D's secretary. In time, Big D forgot about the Shadow completely, even after the Syndicate folded, due to a recent struggle, which left Big Tony Manikatti pushing up daisies.
(And we also don't need to go into great detail over what eventually happened to Big Tony Manikatti. Just go and read my story "Family Secrets" for a refresher course)
On this particular afternoon, Big D was sitting in his office, going over some files. As he was doing this, a fly flew in from the open window, and buzzed around the chief's head a bit. Big D merely waved it away, not turning his attention away from the files. The fly then planted itself on Big D's wall, and stayed there for the time being. Big D put away all the files, except one, and pushed a button on his intercom.
"Phyllis, are the Impossibles in today?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," Phyllis said. She was very careful never to call Big D "Dad" at the agency. "Do you need to see them?"
"Not all of them. Send Agent Fluid in here."
"Yes, sir."
Big D then stood up from his desk, and closed the window. He didn't notice that fly was still on the wall, as he sat back down behind his desk. A few minutes later, Fluey came into the office.
"Hiya, boss," he said. "What's happening?"
"Have a seat, Fluid," Big D said.
"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Fluey asked, sitting down on the couch in his superior's office.
"No. I just need to have a talk with you."
"About what?"
"Your family history."
"Oh. Well . . . . . what about it? You don't think someone other than Phyllis, Multi, and Coiley found out you're my grandfather, do you?"
"No. Not at all. But I do need to speak with you over the issue of your guardianship."
"Well, you know, I go back and forth between your place and my Aunt Tillie's. But I mostly still live with Aunt Tillie. I only stay with you and Phyllis when I know I can get over there without arousing suspicion. Like you've said before, chief, if anyone found out Phyllis is your daughter, and I'm your grandson, it could spell potential disaster."
"Yes, I know. I'm aware of that. I just wanted to make sure you still had an arrangement with Ms. Templeton. Just in case something should happen to either me, or, heaven forbid, Phyllis."
"In other words, you want to make sure I'll have someone to fall back on just in case you or Phyllis should . . . . ."
"Exactly. I know you don't like to be referred to as a child, Fluid, but technically, until you turn eighteen, you are still one. I know you're very capable of taking care of yourself, and you know I wouldn't have you, or Coil or Multi go into a situation where I didn't think you could handle it."
"Just out of curiosity, chief, are you expecting something to happen?"
"No, not at all. I just wanted to make sure, that's all. I was thinking about what happened to your father, and I certainly don't want the same thing to happen to you, or Phyllis. Believe me, Fluid, there is nothing worse for a parent than losing a child. Or a grandchild, for that matter."
"Yeah. And for a kid to lose a parent, or a grandparent, is pretty rough, too."
Big D nodded, knowing Fluey was thinking about his adopted parents, who had been killed in a car accident when he was only three years old. He didn't discover the true identity of his birth parents until recently, and ended up getting the shock of his life when he found out his birth father was Big D's son. Though he wasn't sure if that was the bigger shocker, or if finding out his birth mother was Big Tony Manikatti's daughter.
Fluey then stood up and left Big D's office. Big D went back to work. That fly on the wall flew out the office door, and out of the agency all together. After leaving the agency, it flew down toward the busy streets of Megatropolis, and straight into a dark, shadowy alley, where it landed on the awaiting palm of a shadowy figure. The fly wasn't a real insect at all. It was a tiny spy camera that happened to look like a common, every day housefly. It was so realistic looking, no one would guess it was a video camera in disguise. All anyone had to do was turn it on, give it the location they wanted it to go, and wait for it to gather it's information and come back. The shadowy figure then took his fly camera to the docks, and ducked underneath them, where he had a video apparatus set up to view what he caught on his fly camera.
Late that night, at a maximum security prison, sat the criminal mastermind, the Infamous Mr. Instant, was being held, after he had tried to steal the Radium Radar Pellet, only to end up captured by the Impossibles. The authorities had also confiscated his Instant Item Gun, so he would be unable to make his escape. So he was stuck just sitting there in his cell, thinking about making an escape. But without his Instant Item Gun, he was useless.
As Mr. Instant sat there, he heard something tapping underneath the cell. He got up, and began investigating the source of the tapping, and it started to get louder and louder, until the concrete floor in the cell cracked, and the crack turned into a small hole. Out from the hole came a package wrapped in brown paper and string. There was also an envelope attached. Mr. Instant unwrapped the package, and found his Instant Item Gun in a box. Then he opened the envelope, which contained a single note reading,
The time has come. Meet me at the docks at midnight.
And that was all. It wasn't signed. Mr. Instant merely shrugged, dialed something onto his Instant Item Gun, and fired at the wall. A door appeared, and he merely walked out of his cell.
Elsewhere, in another maximum security prison, another villain the Impossibles had once tangled with (twice, in fact), the Spinner, was sitting around, doing nothing in his cell. He wished he had his spiderweb gun so he could use it to tie up the prison guard, swipe his keys, and make an escape. But the authorities had taken it from him, when he was arrested. However, he heard something underneath the floor. After several minutes of chipping, a hole appeared, and a box and envelope came up out of the hole. Inside the box was the Spinner's spiderweb gun. He took it, and then opened the envelope. It was the same message that Mr. Instant had received. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Spinner snickered, took his spiderweb gun, aimed at him, and fired. The guard suddenly found himself cocooned in spiderwebbing. The Spinner dragged the web cocoon over to his cell, took the guard's keys, unlocked the cell, locked the cocoon in, and raced out of the prison as fast as he could.
At another prison, located just outside of Megatropolis, was Televisitron, another foe the Impossibles had captured. As he sat in his cell, he heard a strange chiseling noise coming from the floor, until a hole opened up, and an envelope came out of it. Televisitron opened the note, which said the same thing as the ones delivered to Mr. Instant and the Spinner. The hole became bigger, and another note was delivered:
Use this tunnel to escape. I didn't have time to find your remote control.
That was all Televisitron needed to know, and he dove into the hole in his cell floor.
Finally, at a local Megatropolis animal shelter, another one of the Impossibles old foes, Cronella Critch, the Tricky Witch, sat. She had been taken to an animal shelter because she had been turned into a cat. She was fuming at the Impossibles. She had a real grudge against Fluey, considering her daughter, Danalleah, had fallen head over heels in love with him. Cronella wanted to get out of the cage she was in, and scratch his eyes out with her cat claws. As she sat there, contemplating her seven year sentence as a cat, the lights suddenly went out, and the door to her cage opened. Cronella immediately jumped out. She wasn't about to let this golden opportunity pass by! But the minute she jumped out of her cage, a paper airplane flew in through a nearby window, and landed at her paws. Cronella picked it up, and read it. It had the same message as the other notes sent to the other three criminals. Immediately, Cronella jumped out of the open window, and raced down the street toward the docks. It was almost midnight.
At the docks, the four escapees from the prisons met, all a little shocked to see each other.
"What are the three of you doing here?" Cronella asked. "I thought those Impossibles locked you up and threw away the keys!"
"They did, but we got out, what's it look like?" the Spinner said. "What I want to know is who sent those notes!"
"I did," a voice said from the shadows. The four crooks turned to look toward the shadow, and saw a shadowy figure approach them.
"Welcome, my friends," he said. "I am the Shadow. I was the one who retrieved your weapons and broke you out of your prisons."
"If you retrieved their weapons," Televisitron said, "then how come you weren't able to recover my remote control?!"
"Those imbeciles at the Secret Security Headquarters laboratory must have taken it apart and used it in some gadget or another," the Shadow said. "I suppose you four are wondering what you're doing here."
"The thought had crossed my mind," Mr. Instant said.
"It's simple, really," the Shadow said. "I want to see the Secret Security Headquarters fold. I'm sure their chief has forgotten all about me by now. After all, it's been twenty years since we last met. I've been hiding out abroad since then, waiting to come back when I was sure Big D had let his guard down. I have a plan that will destroy the Secret Security Headquarters for good."
"And how do we fit into this?" the Spinner asked.
"I need you to help me," the Shadow said. "I've been reading up on the SSHQ for awhile. Here's what I want you to do."
The Shadow got the four crooks into a huddle and whispered his plan to them. The crooks agreed to it. After all, they had a lot to gain. If the Secret Security Headquarters fell, that meant no more Impossibles. And no more Impossibles meant they could go on the wildest crime spree imaginable. The Shadow snickered and rubbed his hands together, gleefully.
"Oh yes, Dawson," he said. "The time has come!"
