175

AEGIS are swarming over the Canberra Crater

200 cryotubes and some erstwhile supers turn up

Xo's healing factor suddenly kicks in again

We've been away for 5 and a bit days.

Red gives a bad recap of the last three issues.

Then we realise Shift didn't come back with us.

I get Angie on the case of dealing with my parole officer

Red talks to Crazy MIck, which goes about as well as you could expect

Xo goes to see Danny - who hasn't eaten since we left since he's stuck in a cage.

He wants out.  Xo agrees.

My parole officer wants me to get a new job.

I am unable to convince him otherwise.

Meanwhile, Red recaps the last three issues again.

Then he and Bear recap THIS issue.

Xo and I ... and Danny (as "Wolf") ... go on patrol

We come across three of Blackhawk's goons

We catch them

Wright tells us about some kid in Old Town using his powers to fight crime

We smell a plot hook

Also, that Neo-Nazi pop star called out Xo in a press release

Things don't go that well with Steve (who may be an ex-con)

The Sabotellis are still following me

Gabe wants us to look into something hinky at his church

And Red makes Xo recap this issue, again.

 

 

176

Xo is checking out the church.  Red agrees to go with her.

I am in the neighborhood but not going inside

Xo's tentacles freak out

Xo's mother is there

Xo freaks out even more than her tentacles

Xo's mum is Xo's mum-like

The priest has a big "superheroes are the devil" head of steam worked up

Xo and her mum Xo and her mum

But Xo actually wins because her mum is scared of her powers

Xo and Red mingle with the god botherers

From my rooftop surveillance point, I see Steve's SUV pull up at a closed club - The Hound

It's the kind of bar where Flay would hang out

Xo and Red plan to bug the church and the priest's home

I ask Red to google The Hound

It's owned by a shonky looking spice importer from India

Xo and Red find a concealed, highly-powerful energy source in the belfry of the church

There's also some slick-looking guy blackmailing the priest

SLG's name is Ben Jackson.  He's the Sabotelli's lawyer

Xo talks to the priest

He has an illegitimate son from years before who is being used to blackmail him

He has to let some bad guys do bad stuff in the belfry

Son's name is Mitch O'Dowd

We get Bear to meet with Mitch O'Dowd

Ben Jackson brings him to the meeting

We decide to go ahead anyway

Robotic birds which we beat easily

And then big tentacles

 

 

177

Tentacles again?  Our villains watch way too much hentai

We make calamari

Someone has built a laboratory into the bell tower

This seems extremely inefficient as a design choice

Surrendering minion, who is terrified of his bosses

Red identifies that someone is spying on us and tries to track them.  He fails.

Blackhawk is colecitng money for something

We go see Molly Midnight to see if she knows what he's buying

Robot Master is buying all kinds of energy sources, AI interfaces and weapons tech

Been trading a lot with the local Viper chapter

Molly's happy to see Viper get smooshed

Xo talks to Wright.  Viper have been quiet, which is worrying

Wright's all good with us getting with the smooshing

We recon the place for a while - lots of tattooed guys with thick necks

I wrap them up like French Fries

Meanwhile, Ben Jackson is freaking out in his office

"I don't care what's happened.  You give him back!"

 

 

178

The priest's kid (Mitch) is Jackson's room mate

And is missing

Footage of them at the 'job interview' we set up shows them hugging

I've studied straight guys: they're not just "roomies"

We land on Jackson's balcony

The Drago's (Blackhawk and his brother) have Mitch

And are watching the place

We pretend we're just there to confiscate his illegal weapon

Blackhawk is dumb so this actually works

Blackhawk attempts to flee

It turns out the answer to "who can catch a man who can fly?" is "Xo"

Blackhawk is afraid of his brother

Robot Master is even kookier than before

3 hostages - Mitch, Petunia Clark (a real estate agent's wife) and Eliza Ramone

Eliza is related to someone from the Mexican Embassy

Blackhawk doesn't know where his brother is, but he tells us where the hostages are

They are in the very cool looking clock tower of old city hall

We alert the Vanguard and the cops about Robot Master's arms build-up

We go rescue the hostages

Mars calls Xo - it's giant robot time!

PS: I wanna buy a clock tower

 

 

179

Giant robot splash page

Red's AI is getting hacked so he splits

Xo does stuff to the robot

Well, that was anticlimactic

All radio signals are blocked

We take the Vanguard to Mars Tower

Mars takes us to a trauma ward for the Vanguard

Xo uses superspeed to determine the radius of the effect

We take Mars to a facility out of the region

Jens - big beardy guy - is in charge there

There are 6 signals in the city causing this

Xo triangulates them

After dropping off Mars, I update the cops

Xo arrives at the speed of plot

We go to deal with the signals.  #1: the hospital

Robot Master wants to banter via TV screen.  Nope.

He claims if we stop him, we're all doomed

We wreck this signal and the one at the jail

At 3rd one, Xo lets him explain

Alien Signals or something

Xo lets him finish what he is doing.  We will regret this

After 4 hours, he stops and I smash his system

Meanwhile, the Sabotellis are watching Steve

 

 

180

Bear is showing Xo and Red the mostly rebuilt lab

Bear will look into Robot Master's alien claims

I ask Angie to look into buying old town hall under my hero ID

Red goes to see Crazy Mick

Shocker: Crazy Mick knows nothing useful

Xo takes Danny to the beach

I am at Uni

There is an Alt Right protest and Counter Protest

I join the latter

The Sabotellis abduct me

They want to kill Steve for some "game" and I am the bait to draw him out

Angie lets Xo know she can't reach me

Xo and Red track my location

Red's a dirty speciesist about Danny

As soon as the Sabotellis take their eyes off me, I calzone them

Steve's dad is a Melbourne gangster - Molloy

The game is run by The Big Brain

Red hypothesises a link between BB and the Stormers

The cops report a rash of attacks on organised crime and capes

Xo goes to Molly MIdnight for intel

Australia used to be a supervillain vacation spot: since the storms, it is cape central

BB is using this 'game' to thin the herd

Bear calls: the neo-nazis are at Pacific Vision

 

 

181

We punch Nazis

Eventually, anyway

There's some stuff with bagpipes and then Steve and I breaking up first

Oh, and Eva Braun has electrically-based speed powers

 

 

182

A few days later ...

Red is doing nanite tests on Danny

It's not going well

Bear's studies are a little bit more promising

I suggest we call Mars

Mars is in isolation; he will call when free

Angie and I discuss a youth outreach centre at the old city hall

Anvil is a Youtube sensation

And is daring the Wrecking Crew to catch up with his points

We decide to lure out the Crew

We've just about won the day when Epiphany Jones teleports us to her team

 

 

183

It's Jones, Captain Oblivion and Bonesaw

Xo will be our damsel in distress this evening

There is fighting

I rescue Xo

There is more fighting

Red is more than willing to hit a woman.  In the throat.

We take out Cap Oblivion too

Bonesaw was whammied by Epiphany to be involved so we go gently on him

He doesn't remember anything in last 3 weeks

We encourage him to consider non-criminal employment options and offer to help if he does

Xo is still KO'd so we take her back to her lab for tests

I talk to Angie about whether we can help people like Bonesaw

Red heads back to his lab.  Gabe is waiting to train him

Gabe is in for security detail at my new place

 

 

184

Bear and Angie are doing final checks before we re-open

Everyone is very stressed

Gabe and I are checking out Old City Hall - "Opportunities"

Gabe is grumpy.  Shock!

There is an unidentified force intermittently affecting Xo

The fluctuations seem to be tied to the ties

Or so says NPC Scientist from 40 issues ago

Red has terrible theories

Vaughn is even crankier than Gabe

Press conference?  No chance a fight will happen then!

Xo's powers act up again

No fight.  Very weird

Vaughn wants my story to come out in association with "Opportunities"

I should probably tell the team first, eh?

Eldritch arrives to help Xo

Something has disrupted Xo's connection to magic

Surges are related to leylines, not tides

Eldritch plans a field trip

Someone is aggressively drawing on ley lines

Xo needs to learn how to shield herself from rhis

Red and I will look for the culprit

 

 

185

We go see Xander Black

Whoever is doing this is draining megapower

We arrange to meet at moonrise

Red talks to Bear about nanite research

It's not really going well

Angie wants to see me

There is grassroots opposition to Opportunities

This is an opportunity for me to lose an extended contest in the future, I am sure

Black does a ritual so we can see leylines

We follow them out to sea

To an intersection that shouldn't be there

Wrecked Soviet Sub!

I raise the Titanic

And beach it on a small island

No geiger counter readings

We search the gross interior

Mystic box - I head back to Black for advice

Terrible things are going to happen

Terrible things like Commie Zombies

 

 

186

Meanwhile in England, Xo gets Jedi trainng

Eldritch needs to go to Stonehenge

Eldritch reads the stars.  The news is bad.

They teleport

Red is being harassed by zombies

They are trying to get into the mystic crate

Xo, Eldritch and I show up

"Move the box, but don't touch it." Thanks Eldritch

We get the box out of there and take it to Black

He has somewhere to put it

Xo still needs mystical training

No-one sleeps well

Black learns that the US once had custody of the box.  Possibly also Doc Tarot

Red calls a Dr Huggins who might be able to ID the US code on the box

We contact Doc Tarot too

Huggins says the box contains an extraordinary weapon.  Yay!

Doc Tarot and the Funky Foursome turn up

Tarot thinks it is the Mask of Kalak

This is bad

I chuck it into space

Tarot: "The thing about Kalak is he always comes back."