Issue #3 opens with a repeat of the last panel from Issue #2
Scene 1:
Closing panel: the shocked look on Nightfox’ face as he could have left Maria in great danger…
Nightfox runs for the teleportal without explaining – his teammates still don’t know that he is Jesus Martinez. Red picks up her phone, and texts Maria, asking if everything is OK.
The next images are seen from two perspectives – Nightfox looking in the window, and photo’s on Reds phone. <<I didn’t expect this>> is the text on Red’s phone, along with a photo of her TV balanced on top of her fridge. Nightfox, watching from the window sees the young Alexi stacking furnature as if it weight nothing.
Scene 2:
The Angelus Gallery a bit North of downtown Storm City, in an area full of smaller theatres, and bars. Two women walking with a small dog are in the background of the scene, passing a window with a red neon “brunch served all day”, and a rainbow flag in the window.
Inside the gallery, we see the sign for the exhibition, “Difference and Similarity: works by young mutant artists”. The gallery manager, Jenny Yoo is showing some well-dressed people around exhibits, while at the back of the gallery, Alice (from the Depot) is setting up DJ equipment, with help from another young woman she has … some resemblance to.
Vignettes as members of the superteam arrive, in their normal identities. Sienna arrives with her ex-girlfriend, Sarah, the two of them moving to look at the artworks. Jesus, Maria, and Scarlett arrive together – there’s some tension between Jesus and Maria, and Scarlett moves over to make smalltalk with the pair at the DJ console. Alice has headphones on, so Scarlett ends up talking to the other woman – Alice’s sister, Jay.
Camera’s in the room track Alice, Scarlett and Sienna. Jay notices the camera attention. A cut-away scene shows a shadowy figure in front of CCTV monitors, watching the three of them. The shadowy figure picks up a walkie-talkie, and we see Jenny Yoo touch an earpiece.
Jenny gathers Scarlett and Sienna into a corner to chat. The panel reveals that Jay is close enough to overhear, and radiating lines show that Jesus is using his superhearing… and paying no attention to what Maria, next to him, is saying.
Jenny explains to Scarlett and Sienna that Rakshasa has been recalled to Union City. He has a DPP permit to operate there, and … she’s concerned that he was recalled as soon as he asked the DPP if they had any new information about Seraph. Jenny points out that the team have been using one of Seraph’s old bases, and that they can’t continue to do that without Rakshasa being there. She offers to help the team out occasionally if she can.
The conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Phineas Thrupp and a camera crew. Vignettes of his interviews show him taking a generally anti-vigilante perspective, although he’s positive about the art. He specifically mentions that “Nightfox is a vigilante menace, and must be stopped” when talking with Jenny. His presence seems to irritate Alice, which leaves Jay looking concerned. We see Jay touch her temple and concentrate for a moment – and suddenly Phineas Thrupp remembers he needs to be on the other side of town – and leaves, dragging a confused camera man with him.
Scene 3:
There’s good music playing, low key. A few people are dancing, but mostly looking at the art. Scarlett and Sienna are behind a larger piece of art. They hear gasps and shouts of alarm from the attendees, and look around the artwork to see that The Saint, most powerful and influential supervillain of Storm City, has arrived.
The Saint confronts Jenny Yoo. “I wanted you to know”, he states loudly, “that I have nothing to do with Seraph being missing. I am somewhat missing the challenge since she departed”.
Scene 4:
One panel of Jesus staring at Storm City TV and Phineas Thrupp talking. “That’s not what happened!”, he exclaims.
Scene 5:
Red, looking at a list, with several items crossed out. “I got this from Zuko’s pawnshop. He’s been getting that shadowy man to steal things for him – I can’t see a pattern, or why he’d go after Jacqueline, but… in two nights, he’ll be stealing a large ruby from a jewellers shop. We should be there to stop him.”
Scene 6:
The team walking through Jay’s occult bookstore – where Void (Jay in costume) opens a secret door at the back. “It’s a sanctuary, not a lair!”, they say, as the team look around at what looks.. rather like a supervillains lair. “I’m not a supervillain, so its not a lair!”.
The team use a teleportal (remarkably like Seraph’s teleportal) to get inside the shop. The shop is suspicious in a few ways – it has mostly cheap jewellery, but one tray of expensive antiques – and even though the shop is closed up, the jewelley is not put away at night.
Before long, a man made of shadows flows under the door, and then solidifies. The team intercept him as soon as he arrives. Capture, he seems desperate, and admits hes working for John Zuko, who has threatened his family. He claims that he will die soon, and that if he doesnt get back to his own body before that happens, he wont remember anything. The team ask him to come find them, and they will help protect his family – then let him go.
Then they decide to cut open the safe, and see what this ruby is. The ruby is about half the size of a hen’s egg, and has Russian authenticty paperwork that mentions Tunguska. Nightfox examines it, and thinks it is not a ruby – but something else. Possibly something from the Tunguska meteor strike.
Team take the ruby back to Void’s sanctuary to study it. Red christens it the “space ruby”, and is already planning how it fits into her costume.