Army of Darkness

Static Shock episode
"Army of Darkness"
Airdate:	February 14th, 2004
Production Number:	44
Airdate Order:	44
Animation Services by:	Dong Woo Animation Co., LTD.
Written by:	John Semper, Jr.
Directed by:	Mark J. Howard

"Army of Darkness" is the fifth episode of season 4 of Static Shock. It first aired on February 14, 2004.

Plot

One night in Dakota, a newspaper blows by in the wind. Static, who is on patrol, catches the paper. "Late night robberies sweep Dakota. Police unable to catch mystery thieves", the headlines say. He crumbles up the paper and tosses it in a trash can, noting his similar failures to catch them. Static spots a young girl wearing sunglasses and asks her why she's not home. He offers to take her back when she says she wants to go home, but she replies "it's not that simple". The doors outside the Jewelry store she was by burst open to reveal two teenagers also wearing shades. One of them tells Brickhouse to run when Static readies to attack and they both split up. He chases one of them, but hits a brick wall while the one being pursued passes right through it. The former attempts to capture Brickhouse after she tries to grab him, but she easily throws back the street post Static used to bind her after gaining strength. Knocked off his feet, he captures the two, but the leader of the heist tells Nightingale to get them out of their mess. The teenaged woman from earlier does so by binding him with an odd shadow energy.

Trapped in darkness, Static tries to get out, but the vision fades after he bumps into a post. Recovering, he finds the trio gone. After jumping out of the way of a oncoming truck, he leaves.

Underground in the Subway Station, Nightingale gets a talking to by Fade about why she didn't join in. Her reply concerning Static's safety angers Fade, and Brickhouse steps in proposing a fight. Ebon appears and breaks up the argument. Both reveal that they stole supplies (Diamonds and Microchips) and go deeper into the station to put them to use. Nightingale thanks Brickhouse for bailing her out, but she tells her not to press her luck. Light streams into the subway, and Nightingale shields her eyes in pain and runs to catch up to the group.

In a makeshift laboratory, an inventor is busy working on an engine. He asks for the diamonds, and Brickhouse hands him their stash. Relying only on touch, he feels for the right diamond, and picks one that refracts light. A black, gaseous substance is released from the refracted light. Ebon asks Tech if that's what they need. He replies "yes", and explains about Dark Matter's properties of blocking light. Nightingale shows that she can create Dark Matter as well, but she has a limit to how much she makes, as revealed by Tech. Ebon says they need one more component to put their plan into action, but they need to watch for Static now that he knows about them.

On the ledge of a building, Gear wakes a sleeping Static, who replies that the night patrols have been taking a toll on him. After some banter in which Gear deduces that Static knows Batman's identity, Backpack's tracker goes off. Metahumans are detected in Dakota Nuclear Reactor. It's the same Metahumans that were in the Jewelry Store, this time accompanied by Tech. Before they can get away with a canister of Nuclear waste, Static and Gear stop them. The distraction of a thrown car throws them off, and Ebon takes them away to the core of a nuclear reactor, with them hanging over the edge.

Nightingale attacks Ebon and the distraction allows Static and Gear to escape. All five get out of the area with the canister and Static convinces Gear not to go after them. Nightingale again gets a talking to by Fade and Ebon. She rebels and escapes with the remaining four in pursuit. Ebon captures her and puts her near bright light as punishment for rebelling. This causes her extreme pain and she tries to cover her eyes. Staic takes on Ebon, while Gear gets Nightingale to safety. Ebon and the rest of the Night-breed attack them, leaving the three outnumbered, Brickhouse's attack turns one of the lit lights to them and they retreat.

Nightingale explains that the Bang Baby incident rendered their eyes extremely sensitive to light and too much of it will kill them. She and her gang, along with many others, have been living in the abandoned subway station ever since. They stole at night to get what they wanted and lost trust in normal people because they feared them. During one of their plunders, they met Ebon. Calling them his "Army of Darkness", he asked that they join him in his plan to block out the sun.

Static, Gear, and Nightingale infiltrate the station meet up with Ebon. Ebon springs a trap by make the station cave in with bombs planted on the tracks. Thanks to Brickhouse, the three escape. Brickhouse reveals that she bailed them out because they are close friends and never trusted Ebon in the first place. This attack confirmed their suspicions. Nightingale convinces her not to attack Ebon after the plan succeeds. Brickhouse and Gear determine the location of the bomb: by the Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude.

Outside the headquarters; Ebon, Tech, and Fade plant the bomb. The four stop them from going any further and a stray shot from a blind Tech knocks Ebon out. Fade attacks Static and Gear before Gear can disable the bomb. The bomb goes off and the city is covered in darkness. Static attacks Ebon and Nightingale goes to absorb the Dark Matter. Gear stops the machine before anymore Dark Matter is released. The skies are cleared and the sun come up. Static takes everyone underground.

The two offer to work with the people above to cure their condition, but the Night-breed must solve their own problems, as Fade says. Tech goes to work on a cure and the Night-breed leave. Static and Gear also leave to aboveground.

Continuity

• Gear guesses that Batman was "a rich guy who gets to sleep all day", and nags Static for protecting the Caped Crusader's secret. Static learned Batman's identity in "Hard as Nails".

Background information

Trivia

• "Virgil" and "Richie" do not appear in this episode. Static and Gear remain in costume throughout the episode.
• The origin of the Night-breed, along with its members Brickhouse and Fade, resembles the Blood Syndicate.
• Static wraps a street pole around Brickhouse with the names "Swinton Street" and "Cowan Street", named after producer Swinton O. Scott III and Static creator/director Denys Cowan. Cowan Street had previously appeared in "The Breed".

Cast

Actor	Role
Phil LaMarr	Static
Jason Marsden	Gear
Freddy Rodriguez	Fade Tech
Dawnn Lewis	Brickhouse
Colleen O'Shaughnessey	Nightingale/Gale
Gary Sturgis	Ebon

Uncredited appearances

• Hotstreak

Quotes

Static: Either your friends are part cockroach, or they really don't like light. Nightingale: That's because to us, light is poison.

Static: Here, Nightingale. (hands her a can of ginger ale) Nightingale: Thanks. Just call me Gail - that's my real name.

Tech: How did you manage to reverse it? Gear: You're not the only one with Bang Baby smarts.

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