73

Shock is ignoring her alarm

Bear leaves an excited message - "meet me at the university cafeteria"

Shock's mother is cooking

And shows no sign of remembering anything odd

Bear calls me to set up the meeting too

Mars is funding a Stormer Research Centre

I let Xo know about the meeting with Bear

Xo's mom is .... tense.  And weird.

That's really not Love in an Elevator

Xo gets a chauffeur.  Fancy

The readers meet Molly

Apparently she's an intergalactic carny

Meanwhile, I "assist" Shock in going to the LBTQ stand at Uni

Oh look it's Robyn.  Awwwwwkward.

Molly meets some of the other Theatre students (Betty Watson, former punk starlet)

Molly gets invited on a campus tour

6 foot blonde woman (Katina) bails up Kris

Her father works with Kris's dad

Robyn and I agree to hang out some time

Xo meets the US ambassador's son, Danny

He invites Xo to join him on the same tour as Molly

Diplokid bonding

We all do the tour thing

There's a protest at the Stormer building

Dean Baxter (female) - head of Metahuman Studies

Oh look, evil clowns

 

 

74

We fight evil clowns

People exhibit all kinds of new powers

Bang Bang Baby gets away

Trent from the Uni newspaper wants an interview

Megastar obliges

Shock pouts

Xo doesn't remember her shadowy new powers

Progress on the Renegade front

"Naughty clowns have to sleep in the airlock"

 

 

75

After class, we go meet Bear

Bear wants us to relocate the meeting due to detecting an ET

Kris handles this poorly

Bear has a "pitch" for us

He's set up Pacific Vision - a non-profit philanthropic research lab

Part B of the plan is his very own superteam

We agree to give this a trial

Gabe is head of security at the lab

Bear introduces us to Angie Tyler, his legal/business rep

We have a moving montage

Bear suggests Megastar's parents come to tea

They agree: tomorrow night

Gabe is Gabeish

 

 

76

Kris is taking Japanese

Katina comes to see her after class

She wants Kris to meet 'the interesting people'

The rest of us have less eventful classes

I am first home and find Angie pacing

Bear hasn't been taking breaks and he needs to

We remind him of this via hacking

We then drink coffee without incident

Xo finds a coe in the lab foyer

We dub her Moo-vel Girl

Molly's parents come to tea

Richard and Sandra Starr

Shock is Shocky.  Even moreso than usual

No, even more than that

"If you're testing us I am going to be super-cranky.  But I will be super-cranky after the test.  I don't fail tests."

We are attacked by I Tyrant

He gets pie-faced by Shock

The thing about fighting us is that you don't get beaten so much as humiliated

Alien bounty hunters are after Molly's parents, which is why they want to leave her on Earth

"Should" be safe here.

 

 

77

There's a busted UFO on our lawn

Molly turns it off and on again

Media show up.  Shock "fixes" their cameras in the worst way

Cross and Wright arrive

Moo-vel Girl too

I'm sure she is totally just an ordinary bovine, though

Shock is not allowed to be our spokesperson

Except Bear said she could

It is now officially all his fault

Xo's new powers get mentioned

She is not keen on learning more about them

There's a big press junket to launch SMAX

Shock actually does a good job

Moo-vel Girl crashes the conference

And so does Robot Blackhawk

 

 

78

Moo-vel Girl does not have laser teats

Yet

"Nobody can stop a robot who can fly."

He gets crashed to desktop in short order

Minions are kind of way more effective than him - and than they should be

Shock gives an interview

Could have been worse

I put off overly inquisitive reporter guy

Blackhawk is in jail so who is behind this?

Robot would need specialist parts

Talk to the black market = hello Molly Midnight!

 

 

79

It's a bank robbery by supervillains

Rant and Rave

We are there to open an account for Molly

Xo tapes up Rant's head

Rave is much more trouble than Rant

AEGIS and Metaswat arrive afterward for a squabble about custody

AEGIS want to debrief us at "The Dome"

We agree to meet them at 4

I also need to see Rampage at 8

Danny is in Xo's lab c;ass

They have a date tomorrow night

(though Xo might not know that)

Shock runs into Katina - they agree to go to a party

Megastar runs into Betty Watson again

I am accosted by a short blonde - Liz.  Bear's ex girlfriend

She says Kate is back with her parents

This is news to me

We go see AEGIS

Commander Marissa Templeton

Yeah so it is all "give US the prisoners, hero dudes"

Xo gets in touch with Eldritch about her new powers

 

 

80

Shock wants someone to go to the party with her

Xo is foolish enough to not say no

Xo talks to Eldritch but her dialogue was written by Shock

Eldritch suggests Xo talk to me

I talk to cross about the AEGIS thing

I also mention Kate being back with her folks

It's as much news to him as it was to me

He will check with her folks

Cross suggests I talk to Black about it but doesn't know where Black is.  Helpful.

I talk to Rampage

He'd like help finding a job and staying on the straight and narrow

I promise to see what I can do

The others arrive and we question Blackhawk

He suggests the robots were made by his brother

He also suggests his brother is basically a good kid

The walls explode

Villains!

Lightbulb Lass, Big Drip, Broody McRooftop and Rapunzel

Fighty fight fight

It is a bad day to be Shock

But we win

We should find out what that was all about

 

 

81

There's a press conference

Reporter - Sadie Jasper

FEAR mercs tried to break out an 'unknown prisoner'

Shock and Megastar are attending.  Xo and I are not

Sadie Jasper tries to verbally take them down

Somehow, Shock and Megastar manage to bamboozle her

Afterward, Megastar watches TV with Moovel Girl

I talk to Eldritch

Xo has dinner plans with Danny

So she can't go to Shock's party after all

Professor Elizabeth Sykes wants to know what Xo is working on at Pacific Vision

Xo arranges for Sykes to discuss it with Bear

Oh look supervillains

 

 

82

Megastar flies us to the battle in the UFO

Student reporter guy follows us

It's the Minnesota Homewrecking Crew

They're in the embassy district

And have taken out the Vanguard

Megastar's disco ball attack works wonders

The GM is a liar.  His pants: on fire

Megastar: pew pew pew

Shock restores the Vanguard

Just in time for them to watch us win.  Best timing ever

We hand the MnHWC to Metaswat on the understanding they will pass them on to AEGIS

We check for signs this is a diversion

Nope

Bear & Angie

Bear geeks out about the fight

I speak to Bear about Rampage

Should have a job in security

I'll intro Rampage to Gabe

Bear doesn't know how to end things with Liz

I'll see what I can do

Shock = party

Xo = date

Molly = pimping the UFO

I talk to Cross and Wright

Now we have Tripli-Kate

Not Good

I get the address of Blackhawk's kid brother

Shock meets the DJ at the party: her cousin Imogen

 

 

83

Shock: "Hello."

Imogen wants to "catch up"

Imogen is not a lesbian

Molly and Moo-vel Girl are soldering.

Angie brings Molly a request for a 1:1 interview from the uni reporter

Xo and Danny go for coffee - not at Java Hut

Danny pays "as thanks for the awesome class notes".  Uh huh

The next morning, Shock, Xo and Molly go for pancakes

This is a mistake on Xo and Molly's part

I organise the Rampage thing with Gabe

He also gives me a tour of the security system

Megastar has her interview

The rest of us go to the training room

But listen in electronically

It goes very, very badly

And Shock makes it worse

Bear wants something

Mars is having a charity gala and Bear wants us to go

 

 

84

Day trip for Megastar to cheer her up

She is unimpressed by the Opera House

But the Blue Mountains are nice, albeit the wrong colour

There is mild consternation that Moo-vel Girl is missing

But we find her fairly easily

Shock manages to get pooped on

And to reveal that we wiped the interview

Molly storms off to a desert island

Where she pouts

And is interrupted by "moooo".

Moo-vel Girl is a great listener

There is an ominous click

Megastar exits the island of death traps

Shock gets a new look

We go to the island to check it out

But it is not there ...

We make plans to come back

Shock goes clothes shopping

Xo rips Molly for her attitude

Molly remembers some of the things she said

And admits they were bad

We go to the Mars Gala

Shock runs into Jenny Rocket.  It goes poorly

Mars is a bad word.

Shock's dad comes to see me.  That's not awkward

Xo bumps into Danny

Ninjas!

 

 

85

Ninjas

Megastar puts on a light show

No ninjas

They are self-cleaning

I am approached by Ford Maddox / Lockdown

We agree to be polite

I talk to Jenny: "Try to stay alive to prove us wrong."

Jenny doesn't like Xo

Xo is cool with that as long as it doesn't put people in danger

The Gala ends (yay)

I go on patrol. The others go home

The head ninja sneaks into Shock's room

She wakes up as he is about to stab her

And zaps him

He is also self-cleaning

There is a ninja clan for hire led by the Kabuki Shogun

There was also an open call for mercs a few weeks ago

"Robot Master" was behind it

The ladies (including Moo-vel Girl) make a sheet fort and sleep in the lounge

 

 

86

Shock is telling "ghost stories"

Everyone else is asleep

We all get up and go to uni

Xo and Danny are "lab" partners

Oh hey Liz comes to see me

She mentions Kate again

I suggest not bringing me up as a subject but OK to talk about it if Kate does

Molly's class references the Flying Graissons - whom she remembers working with her parents

The dates don't add up though

Plot point or bad writing?  Time will tell!

Kris bumps into Katina.  Kris is weird

After school, I head to the address we have for Blackhawk's brother

A child matching his description is there

Of course, it could be a robot

Megastar researches the Graissons

Every 2-3 decades her parents use them in their act

Molly sends them an email

Gabe tells Shock off about letting me patrol alone

Megastar wants to see uni reporter guy for another interview

Yeah, Blackhawk's "brother" is a robot

And everything goes horribly wrong

 

 

87

No cattle prods!

The Not Sentinels mash us to squishy bits

But we finally win

Call Bear to arrange a response to the devastation

Go to tend the wounded

Megastar talks to the UFO

It is quite pleasant

We find the robot boy shut down

Bear can help us track the signal that was controlling the robots

Megastar checks into the UFO with Shock

One day she will learn

 

 

88

Danny is missing from Xo's classes

Just embassy stuff apparently

Kris is looking for lesbian love in all the wrong places

I go on patrol

Around 11, Bear sources the robot signal

We all get the call and agree to meet at the source

I call Lockdown and let him know what we are up to

We (eventually) get inside Robot Master's lair

I try to talk him down

It actually has some impact

We nag him into surrendering

No sapphic smoochies for Shock