The comic opens with Aster driving her car into the back of the truck, shattering all the cylinders.. sending a cloud of red vapor across the whole scene.
Through the red haze, Bon Chance calls to the other supervillains, “It’s all gone. Nothing we can do. Break off”.
When the haze is gone, the supervillains are gone, most of the crowd are fleeing, there’s the sound of approaching police sirens – and two young men are struggling with powers out of control. One is on fire, most of his clothes burned away as his skin burts into flames. Another is melting into the sidewalk, as if drowning in quicksand. Sundog is holding Red Blade’s sword, taken from him in battle.
The team struggle to help the two young men control their powers, while breaking open a fire hydrant to clear the red substance from the street. Then they all move to Aster’s penthouse apartment to figure out what to do next.
In the apartment, the Mallrats talk with the two young men. Jakob is the one who is one fire – normally his power won’t let him do more than light a cigarette with his fingertip. Petr, the other who is constantly melting into the floor unless he keeps moving, can sometimes move through a wall if he takes five minutes to do it slowly. Both of their powers are in overdrive.
Aster calls the only person she knows who might understand what’s happening. Dr Rodd, who provided her with the superdrug in the first place. Dr Rodd has never heard of anything like the red liquid before – but he might know of an antidote. He’d imported a Russian drug that can be used to suppress superpowers, but.. it’d been intercepted by Joseph Manchetti, second in command of The Outfit, Storm City’s organised crime group. “Manchetti won’t give it to me”, Dr Rodd explained, “But maybe he could be persuaded to part with some of it by someone else?” Dr Rodd also explained that the Outfit doesn’t use powered people, and doesn’t much like them, so maybe thats an angle?
Dr Rodd offers to drive Aster and Izzy to see Manchetti, Sputnik wants to go too, but Izzy strongly opposes that. Aster and Izzy ride up the coastal freeway in Dr Rodd’s customised pick-up truck, and he drops them round the corner from the Italian restaurant, Manchetti’s.
The restaurant had a Closed sign on the door, but there were people eating inside. Everyone was we
aring expensive suits, even the women. A tall, lean man met them, and told them it was a private function. Aster explained she wanted to do some business with Mr. Marchetti – and the tall man seemed to find that amusing. He took them through the kitchen, into a backroom, where an older man sat behind a desk along with two men whose hands move to guns as soon as the door opens.
They sit down, and Aster explains that she has a neighbour with superpowers who is causing noise probems – and she’d heard that Mr Marchetti might have a fix for that.
Meanwhile, Sputnik had left Aster’s apartment, claiming he had to get home. But instead, he dropped his Sputnik costume off at home, and jumped on the L train north to go to Manchetti’s. When Benji arrived, he noticed that there was a “Help Wanted” advert in the window, and walked in, saying he was looking for a kitchen job. The same thin man, Frank, met him and took him back to the kitchen, where he was given a trial shift helping the chef. A job conveniently within earshot of the kitchen.
Back in the apartment, Sundog is trying to manage two out of control mutant teenagers. A heat sensor in the bathroom triggers as Jakob flares into flame again – and Sundog ends up putting the sensor in a plastic bag full of ice. Then the doorbell rings, and the nosy neighbour from downstairs tries to find out who is in the apartment – and get Aster to attend her potluck. Put off by Sundog, she returns with the building superintendant, who Sundog keeps out of the bathroom by claiming shes in the shower.
Back in the restaurant, Izzy and Aster negotiate with Mr Manchetti. He offers to let them try the supressant he has, if they bring someone with powers to him, so he can see it work. Izzy and Aster leave, determined not to do that.
Not long after they leave, Benji (who has overheard where the drug is stored), sneaks into the freezer and steals three vials. He works till the end of his shift – and earns a $300 bonus from a grateful Frank, as well as an offer to come back and work again.
Later, Benji hurriedly puts on his Sputnik costume as he arrives at Aster’s apartment. Sputnik delivers the three vials of supressant, and the team successfully use two of them to calm down the powers of Petr and Jakob.
The next day… After a run of bad luck, Sundog ends up delivering a package to Bon Chance, and escapes dispite bike malfunctions. Benji, working in the restaurant, overhears Frank talking to Mr Manchetti about the stolen suppressant – the Outfit have Izzy and Aster’s faces on camera, and Manchetti is sending Frank to Asters house to check if their story is legit. Aster phones Izzy, who is seen packing boxes, as if leaving town. And in the very last panel, when Sundog arrives home – Cupid is watching from a rooftop across the street.
