Shades of Justice: Chapter 3

The kids and the Robot appeared in a well-lit cave. Dante was the first to speak up. “Whelp we’re dumb.” He stated as the robot walked down the stone hallway.

“How so?” the robot asked.

“Because we just teleported to god knows where with some robot alien who for all we know was working with those cannibal alien lizard things.” Sonya said with a sense of depression.

The robot stopped and turned around. “Ok A: my name is Technarius. B: you saved my arm, I saved your lives, so let’s be friends. C: those things don’t work for me.”

Warren called out after Technarius as he rounded the corner. “what were those things?”

“Not my friends, now get in here we’ve got a lot to cover!” His robotic voice echoed down the hallway. The group exchanged down the hall. None of them expected what they saw around the corner.

The rough cut natural stone hallway gave way to brushed metal curves that opened up into a huge open command center. There were rows and rows of computer stations and on the far wall was a dull crystal mosaic. Technarius was busy at the nearest computer console.

“Lumarion, I’mmmm Baaaaaack!” Technarius’ robotic voice auto tuned his statement and the dull crystal mosaic lit up in a flash.

“Who are the children Technarius?” The crystal wall flashed fields and stars of colors.

“These children are a direct result of you wanting me to go to the prismatic cluster when you could have just sent a beam of light.”

“You were attacked.” Lumarion blinked.

“I was shot out of the sky by a Cretacian patrol squad. I crashed into a high school library and almost killed myself and these five kids. Thanks for making it sound like I stubbed by toe.”

Sonya snapped “What the hell is going on?” Technarius turned his attention to the kids, Lumarion’s lights began to fluctuate.

“You have stumbled upon on ancient secret, and if you choose to, you will carry the burden of that secret for your generation.”

Gordon was looking at the consoles. “What’s the secret?”

Technarius pressed a button on his console and five chairs appeared out of thin air. “Have a seat.” The kids all sat as Lumarion’s lights sped up.

“I am one of the last of the Shimmeron, overseer and the guiding light of earth. Technarius is my loyal friend and trusted assistant.”

“I’m his partner, his right and left hands, and the enforcer of his will in all things.” Technarius gloated.

“We get it!” Kelly groaned. “Lumarion why would earth need a guiding light?” she asked.

“Before time was time, the Shimmeron traveled the universe and populated every corner of it with the light of creation. We had no rules, no boundaries, our only goal was to banish the eternal darkness of the void.” Lumarion shimmered as he explained.

Sonya asked “So how come we’ve never see any of the stuff you’ve created?” Lumarion’s lights paused as he considered the answer.

We discovered the void had no interest in being banished. It created Stygian and his void soldiers to destroy what we had made. Stygian is a creature of pure darkness, and his warriors follow his every command without question. We lost countless worlds to their fury. Stygian and his solders exterminated our light with ruthless efficiency. Those of us who had survived that first assault came up with a plan, we created the Machinate and sent them to every world we had populated. Our emissaries empowered countless races to defend their races from the void.

“Empowered?” Gordon asked.

Technarius produced a box, he lifted the lid and revealed five pairs of sunglasses, the box had an indent for a sixth pair as well. The glasses were red, black, blue, purple, and green. Lumarion’s lights began to pulsate again.

“As I said, if you choose, you will become the last line of defense between earth and the void. You will become the champions of light, you will become The Shades of Justice!” Lumarion’s voice echoed to the ceiling of the room. The kids looked unimpressed.

“What does that mean?” Kelly asked.

Technarious walked over to her and held the box out for her. “Pick a set of glasses and find out.”

Kelly looked at the glasses and picked the purple pair. Technarious moved down the line, Sonya took the black pair, Gordon took the red, Dante took the Blue, and Warren the green. One by one they tried the glasses on.

“Now, bond to your new armor by speaking your name and the command ‘Step into Shade’”

Sonya broke from her inspection of her glasses, everyone else was looking at her. “What?” She asked.

Kelly nodded at her glasses, “You’ve kinda been taking the boss roll so far. So, you first.”

Sonya thought it over and then put her glasses back on. “Sonya Cooper, Step into Shade!” There was a black flash and then Sonya was dressed head to toe in her shade suit. Her helmet had a solid black visor. Lumarion’s lights flashed.

“Sonya, you are Grayscale, able to harness many powers of the void but tempered by the application of light to reveal the truth and be a guiding light in your darkest hours.”

Dante put his glasses on. “Dante Wallace, Step into Shade!” A blue flash of light and Dante was wearing a blue suit and helmet similar in design to Sonya’s suit and helmet.

“Dante your mind is a tactical playground, your incredible talent for planning and execution make you a perfect example of Abyssal Blue.” Lumarion flashed.

Kelly stepped forward, her glasses already on. “Kelly Sullivan, Step into Shade!” When the purple flash of light faded she was wearing her own purple suit.

“Kelly, Your drive pushes you harder and further than many others. The time you spend alone gives you incredible insight into yourself and the world around you. You see what others cannot, you are Ultraviolet!”

Warren was next “Warren Reed, Step into shade!” A green flash and he two was in green armor.

“Warren green is the color of growth, the color of progress, the color of determination. You are Evergreen!” Lumarion flashed.

Gordon was staring into the lenses of his glasses. Lumarion waited a moment and then pressed forward.

“you fear that the heat of your barely controlled rage makes you a danger when the truth is without you the team has no heart.” Gordon put his glasses on.

“Gordon Andrews, Step into Shade!” The red flash of light cleared to reveal Gordon’s red suit.

“Gordon, Infrared light is not visible to the naked eye. But we use it to see the heat of the universe that’s inside all of us. What you think of as anger is misguided passion. What you have always seen as a weakness is 
your greatest strength. You are infrared! And together you are, The Shades of Justice!”