Once inside the Overseer's command center, Kyle McAllister turns on Clayton and tried to shoot him, but Clayton gets the draw and takes Kyle down, first. Then Ewing tries to goad Blue Fox, whom he knows to be Marshall McAllister, his god son, into lashing out and killing Ewing so that Blue Fox will be seduced into the same cycle of lawful evil as Clayton had fallen into. But Kyle, barely alive, manages to draw strength enough to put a fatal bullet in Ewing, and spare his brother from any rash decision.

The Adventurers actions are seen to have been necessary in light of the extent of the Overseer's corruption, and they are lauded as heroes. But there remains the threat of a vacuum to be filled...

After the fight, Mr. X is revealed to be Steven Roundy, who worked for Compass Labs - owned by Ewing - reveals that he had access to Ewing's inner circle, and knows that Ewing has a compendium of all of his crimes, arrangements, and holdings. This compendium would prove crucial in prosecuting members of Ewing's criminal organization, all the way up to Ewing himself.

The sudden turn of the Adventurers to crime momentarily puts Clayton Ewing in a PR stalemate, having recently praised the team for saving his rally from an attack by supervillains - just as Webcrawler predicted. But it also puts the team in the law's crosshairs, as Duane Steel had warned.

The team also meets with Duane Steel and advise him of a plan some members have concocted to attack the S&H Bank, which is connected to Clayton Ewing, the Overseer. The daring plan would both leave Overseer without capital, but also, would force Federal investigators to look into their books. the team is not united on the plan, however, with a number of heroes refusing to stoop to criminality to defeat crime. Steel agrees, urging the team to do the plan under the auspices of a prosecutorial-led sting, or else take their chances with being absolved after the fact if they go ahead with it alone.

King Kestrel meets with the team and offers his services. He believes Ewing has a list of enemies, which if found, could prove to be vital to Ewing's arrest and prosecution as hard evidence. The team agrees; there is a sense that Kestrel has changed, though the Adventurers remain wary.

The Adventurers cooperate to try to take the Bakers by surprise, and obtain the state-of-the-art plasma weaponry in crates around the site.

The team takes a few injuries. The purpose of the Overseer revealing this site to Blue Fox appears to be in hopes that Marshall will take Baker's Dozen's life to avenge the attack on his father and home, but Blue Fox resists that temptation with the aid of his team mates.

Overseer reveals the supposed hideout of Baker's Dozen, a criminal biker with replication technology who recently torched the McAllister home and tried to kill Marshall's father, Marcus. Overseer’s intentions for doing so remain unspoken.

Later that night, a breakout occurs at the municipal prison! The crime-fighter Osprey is seen violently disabling a number of prison guards and breaks into the maximum security prison to release King Kestrel and his dangerous associate, Cuckoo. Osprey is last seen by witnesses and CCTV escaping the scene with the escaped inmates in tow.

MCPD and PRIMUS are both placing pressure on the Adventurers for the whereabouts of Osprey.

When Webcrawler arrives and joins the battle, the fear toxin triggers the spider monster transformation, adding another complication to the battle - though the creature does manage to drive off Blue Scorpion.

Ewing, for his part, cleverly plays up his meaningless shooting toward the armored Blue Scorpion as a heroic deed, while his agents capture unflattering footage of the Adventurers and pump that out to media outlets who portray the team with denigrating narratives. Skyline is shown to be trigger-happy; Blue Fox is shown destroying a police cruiser; Tungstan is shown accidentally injuring a civilian during the stampede as he ran toward the danger; Stinger is shown 'recklessly' attacking Blue Scorpion in a barrage when civilians were seemingly close by; Mantle is shown to clumsily stumble into panicked civilians, when in truth, the fear toxin caused the civilians to attack him; and Webcrawler is shockingly shown to turn into a mutant monster spider, becoming widely known to do this for the very first time.

Elsewhere, Webcrawler, Mantle, Azure Hawk, and non-Adventurer Mr. Obvious respond to an attack by the Baker's Dozen at the apartment block of Marcus McAllister - Blue Fox's father. Dozen, an Irish bike gangster who can duplicate himself, is an old foe of Marcus's from his MARS days. The attempt at a very personal strike toward Blue Fox is disrupted by the team's timely intervention, preventing Marcus and other residents' deaths. The apartment block is destroyed in a fire.

While Blue Fox draws Darkweb out of hiding and captures him, Osprey goes undercover to infiltrate Overseer's operation which is vanishing homeless people and destroys it - driving off Creature, to whom homeless were being fed. Sombra, Replica, and Courser enacted a plan to capture Kyle McAllister, Blue Fox's brother and advisor to Overseer, and temporarily replace him with Replica so that they could hold and question the real one.

Replica learns that Ewing plans to have supervillains attack an upcoming rally of his own supporters to stifle Olivia Ellison's gains and try to gain the same sympathy.

The team confronts Ewing in numbers at his office, and is escorted in by none other than Marshall's (Blue Fox) brother Kyle, who is in service to Ewing. After a brief, tense exchange, Ewing freely admits that he is the Overseer, and also reveals that he knows Blue Fox and Sombra's secret identities. He also knows that Olivia Ellison, his rival for election, is the alter ego of former Adventurer Blue Bird. The team variously reacts to the Overseer with promises of justice, and even some threats, but leaves peaceably. The Overseer gives them 24 hours to agree to work with him on achieving his vision for true order... or face his wrath as his enemy. With recording devices interfered with preventing hard evidence of Ewing's 'confession,' the team scrambles to figure out how to respond to Overseer's offer.

Featuring: Blue Fox, Sombra, Firewalker, Courser, Scatha 5, Osprey, Azure Hawk and Webcrawler.

The team agrees to be subtle, but when rocket fire and wide-area smoke bombs disrupt the rally, the team swoops into action to face the perpetrators: a billiard ball-styled gang called the Ballers! Each Baller seems to have a different skill set and themed costume. The team captures some, and forces others to retreat. But the stage collapse caused during Osprey's battle with 4-Ball, and the various rocket-blasted areas, leave Bluebird rattled. Was it the Overseer again, or someone else with an agenda to eliminate Ellison - or just her chances at high office?

Featuring: Blue Fox, Firewalker, Scatha 5, Osprey, Sombra

Devastator is discovered to be hiding out in a remote part of eastern Nevada.

As before, Mr. X can answer few of their questions in full or direct ways, for fear that the compartmentalization of information in the cabal will make it easy to trace back to him. But he does profess to be an ally to the Adventurers and opposed to the illegal activity he sees.

More: Skyline: Sins of the Past, Sins of the Present

The enigmatic Mr. X tells the team a month later that Liddell's arrest seems to have changed nothing for the mysterious cabal he previously warned the Adventurers about. Blue Fox is selected to lead in Red Spider's stead, and he announces he is determined to probe the identities and true intentions of who framed Liddell.

The team has a frank discussion about it, with members like Tungstan, Stinger, and Sombra showing disappointment in how the casino battle unfolded, ones like Blue Fox and Vortex feeling things could be better but they acted as best they could, and ones like Catfight feeling that the ends justified the means.

Red Spider remains unconscious and recovering under the care of the team's surgical droid.

Later, Red Spider goes missing! On a hunch that Cosmo Liddell has captured her, the team arranges for ally Replica to sneak into Liddell's Horizon Casino, disguised as a Liddell gangster. Inside, she finds Red Spider badly beaten in one of Liddell's casino holding rooms. With danger closing in and Sombra's powers suddenly inactive, the team springs into action.

A pitched battle sees the casino wrecked. Much collateral damage is caused by the Liddell gang and their weapons, but the Adventurers are wanton in their destruction. Catfight in particular drives her car into the slots floor, with potentially lethal consequences.

Afterward, the team confronts and arrests Cosmo Liddell. Liddell protests that it's all a frame, accusing the team of having manufactured the crisis. The police investigation begins, with Detective Sheffield helping the team realize that Red Spider probably wasn't beaten in the holding room where she was found, but brought there after. Blue Fox tracks the scent of her to the loading dock. Verifying that Red Spider was injured, the Detective is willing to conclude that the Adventurers had probable cause to enter the casino - but warns that destructive vigilante behavior will not be tolerated any further.

The team has a frank discussion about it, with members like Tungstan, Stinger and Sombra showing disappointment in how the casino battle unfolded, ones like Blue Fox and Vortex feeling things could be better but they acted as best they could, and ones like Catfight feeling that the ends fully justified the means.

Red Spider remains unconscious and recovering under the care of the team's surgical droid.

The team track down the gunman who escaped from the Ellison penthouse. He gives up under questioning that someone else recruited him for the hit and the money came by dead drop, but he was under the impression it was a Liddell operation. The team keeps the gunman in protective custody for fear that Liddell will try to eliminate him.

A full force of Catfight, Blue Fox, Red Spider, Stinger, Sombra, and Vortex go to Liddell's casino. Though security tries to tell them to leave initially, Cosmo Liddell relents and has them escorted to his office. There the team tries to extract a confession out of him. Liddell remains cagey and trades barbs with the team. The crime boss contends he had no involvement in the death of Sarah Ellison - though he'd congratulate whoever did it. He's not troubled by the hearsay the team has gathered, saying he's constantly the target of hearsay for things he both did and did not do, and it hasn't sunk him yet. Liddell warns the team if they keep trying to weaken his organization and the control it exerts over his territory, it will give rise to more violent crime - a risk some team members seem willing to accept.

Later in hospital, Sarah succumbs to her wounds. Dr. Erin Bailey surgically removes a data device from Night Star and gives it to Cassandra Olsen's (Red Spider) safe keeping. Rubber Bullette, Sombra, Blue Fox, Stinger, and Catfight are all present out of costume at the hospital to join Olivia and Rayna Ellison, and they begin to discuss responses to Liddell.

The Surgical Droid captured in Adventurers #284 is brought in to stabilize Aurum and attempt to fashion a makeshift repair to his life support suit. The team orders the droid to awaken Aurum, then they ask if he can save Spyder. Aurum indicates that he probably can, but that he would need to return home to consult his texts to find the way. He bargains for his release, promising he will fulfill his end, and help both Spyder and Abaza Menderes return to life. The team is reluctant, but agrees that letting Aurum go is their best chance to save Spyder.

Two weeks later...

Spyder wakes up at the Olsen suite, surrounded by Blue Fox, Catfight, and Firewalker. She needs a few days to recover.

Future Adrynne visits Spyder late at night to let her know that she has fulfilled her purpose for being in the past, and she will soon be brought home to her proper time. Spyder takes time to say goodbye to the younger version of her father, whom she got to know during her stay in 2021, and farewells her team mates with a party. As she waits for the portal to open to return home, she says goodbye to everyone over team comms - and they respond by showing up in person to see her off. Sombra sends a cake with her to share with whoever greets her on the other side.

Shortly after Spyder enters the portal and it closes, the express private elevator of Cassandra Olsen's suite dings with a new arrival: Cassandra, returned from the future, holding baby Jessa.

Blue Fox accesses a climate satellite to find a heat spike in the city corresponding with Firewalker's forging of the Stone, and locates it at the former address of the Order of Osiris [see Adventurers #249], which is being built over by a new construction site. But there must have been a sub-structure no one knew about, deep below.

The team arrives en masse to find Aurum's Golden Men boarding an air transport on exposed top floor of the building construction. Aurum, now encrusted in organic golden armor, and bearing the Philosopher's Stone on his chest, appears by hologram projected by a Golden Man to parley with the team. But the team will not accept Lord Aurum's word about the future calamity, nor his sole proprietorship of the Stone. The Golden Men go to attack mode.

For the first phase of the battle, the Adventurers are seriously overwhelmed by the Golden Men. Spyder went into her camouflage at the start of the encounter and is not seen, while Sombra also goes invisible and tries - without success - to pry the Stone away from Aurum once she sneaks onto the transport. Aurum has Sombra carried out, and has his robots hold position, but prepare for death strikes on those Adventurers who have been knocked down. Unable to get their acknowledgement of his claim to the Stone, Aurum seems about to order their deaths.

Then an invisible hand is revealed as the fingers, hand, and arm start to turn gold against Aurum's chest. Spyder, in camouflage, grabs the Stone and tugs it free, then dives to the ground, and buries it under her. Just as happened to the Turkish girl in 1908, Spyder - undisciplined in the mastery of the Stone - starts to turn into a solid gold statue bit by bit. Her sacrifice puts Aurum in alarm, and he thoughtlessly orders all of his Golden Men to immediately converge on Spyder and wrest the Stone from her before it is too late.

The Adventurers take advantage of the situation and dispense with most of the Golden Men when they turn their backs. Firewalker rockets through a great many.

Sombra gets close to Spyder and tries to take the Stone, but Spyder rolls and indicates she intends to see her sacrifice through. The sweep moves over her body, and Spyder is rendered unliving gold. The Philosopher's Stone expends its energy in her grasp, and crumbles to dust under Spyder.

Firewalker learns that Future Aurum is trying to stop a great, world-ending calamity that is doomed to happen in the near future, which he has sensed with his foresight power. To do avoid this fate, Aurum believes the Philosopher's Stone must be constructed so that a human mind can attain the wisdom necessary to determine how the calamity begins in the first place. Everything he has done for nearly a century has been, in some way or other, about gaining the Stone, and averting disaster.

While Firewalker considers the value of a potential alliance, Lord Aurum of the Present joins them, and makes clear that they have a hostage to ensure his obedience: Silver Hare. Firewalker tries to destroy Lord Aurum of the Future, but finds his future armor, outfitted with dragon scale, is enough to shield him. They douse him with water from an aqueduct high above. As the villains leave to make preparations, Firewalker asks the two Aurums if they considered which one of them gets to keep the Stone.

Later, Lord Aurum of the Future explains the situation to a frightened Silver Hare, and then brings her to see Firewalker. Just before it comes time for Firewalker to forge the stone, the Aurum of the Present has his Golden Men seize Future Aurum, and force a poison through his visor, into the liquid oxygen medium around his head. Future Aurum dies, and is dragged away. Later, Present Aurum - now in his future counterpart's armor - presides over the forging of the Stone. Firewalker bargains for a sign of good faith from Aurum that he won't misuse the Stone, asking that Aurum release Silver Hare. Aurum uses his golden dust to sedate Hare without warning, and orders his Golden Men to drop her off safely on a rooftop.

Firewalker uses his powers to forge the metallic core Aurum has prepared into the Philsopher's Stone, in a forge lined with dragonscale in order to protect the building from the intense hellfire. Firewalker achieves the Stone's formation... and tries to go a step further and eradicate it. The Stone, however, remains resilient to the additional heat. Golden Men, standing guard, strike from multiple angles with electrical attacks to subdue Firewalker. Aurum remarks that he anticipated betrayal, but still finds it disappointing. He does try to share with Firewalker something of the Stone's power, asking if Firewalker can sense any new insight or inspiration.

Firewalker also removed to wake up safely somewhere else.

Walsingham recounts in flashback how the Classic Adventurers attempted to investigate the case of a girl named Abaza Menderes in the Anatolya region of Turkey in 1908, who had apparently been turned to stone. Discounting other explanations such as a hoax, the team met Dr. Altun, supposedly a professor in Ankara, who had also come out to investigate. In time the team learned that Altun was not all that he appeared, and after Altun knocked the team out and captured them in his home, they woke up in a dungeon. Altun admitted he had been with Abaza, and had even hired her to help him, when he came to explore an old temple that he suspected was in the area near her village. When they discovered a glowing orb set in the floor, he instructed Abaza to pick it up for him - but upon holding it in her hands, it began to turn her to gold. Altun left the statuefied Abaza and went back to Ankara to get the tools he needed to handle the orb safely, but when he got back, not only had the Adventurers shown up to investigate, but the orb had apparently crumbled to dust. Altun suspected that Abaza lacked the mental discipline to bear the orb.

The Classic Adventurers managed to escape Altun's dungeon. They had to flee Turkey immediately when Altun leveraged his pull with the authorities to make the Adventurers out to be vile warlocks and plunderers.

The team learns that Dr. Altun / Lord Aurum's aim as an alchemist would be to craft the fabled Philosopher's Stone. That may be what Altun and poor Abaza found in that ancient, forgotten temple. The Stone legendarily would have the power to turn base material to gold, but also to provide wisdom, insight, and inspiration to those near it. It might also prolong life.

Night Star tracks down the statue of Abaza, which still exists and is presently owned by one of those commercial museums of oddities, and pays over $30 Million to buy it and have it shipped to her.

Spyder convinces the team to go. Night Star, who was going to journey to nearby Cretoa in the Aegean Sea anyway, arranges transportation for the team to visit the tiny island upon which Lord Aurum's mansion sits. There, the team discovers a swarm of Aurum's golden men repairing the house, which had been extensively damaged a year prior when dozens of Golden Men burst forth to pursue Red Spider and Blue Fox when they stole something from Aurum's lab.

At the door, a Golden Man wearing an ornate shirt greets the team and hospitably takes them to a sitting room, affording them every comfort a guest might expect. The team learns little by little that Aurum is not present, but he did hope to bury his conflict with them - and avoid the Adventurers interfering in his efforts in future. The servant reveals that Present-day Aurum and Future Aurum are working together, and that Aurum's purpose is to save the world from some future calamity he knew was coming due to his power of foresight, but the servant had no specifics.

While most of the team peppers their host-bot with questions, Oni (a new alter ego of Fox) ostensibly leaves to use the washroom, but in truth, uses a laundry chute to access the laboratory in the mansion's basement. He takes samples from some kind of recent experiment.

Upstairs, the Adventurers take advantage of the servant bot leaving the room to fetch a water pitcher, to examine Aurum's library and adjoining scrying chamber. Rubber Bullette finds various occult tracts, with many being books on alchemy. Sombra found a book on a book case that opened a tiny, secret office behind it, wherein she discovered that Aurum may have links both to Sir Thomas Walsingham, and the Order of Osiris. Terratonic (and others) entered the scrying chamber, which was a bare room with black walls, a table, a mirror upon it, and a chair; it was quite foreboding, sending a chill down their spines just to be in it, but they did not 'see the future' as the servant had said was Aurum's purpose for being there.

The servant persuaded the team to stay for dinner. At the dinner table, when Sombra inquired further about how they could trust Aurum, the servant projected a live hologram of Future Aurum, who spoke with them. He indicated that he had been patiently waiting for the team to come to his abode so that he could enact a plot to kidnap Firewalker, whose hellfire he needed for a purpose he would only disclose in riddles. Firewalker had recently absorbed a great deal of hellfire in his challenge to the devil. Lord Aurum said that he had done all he could to delay the team at his home to buy time for whatever his plot was.

Some of the drones escape with their haul, but not as much as they might have thanks to Adventurers and non-Adventurer heroes like Delta and Terratonic. Afterward, Terratonic reveals she is known to Red Spider, and the team extends an offer for Terratonic to join full-time.

Spyder gains more control of her sticking power in the fight to capture Sombra.

(More to come...?)

Sombra challenges the devil to a culinary duel, prompting the devil to pick a jury of the damned to select the winner. While in hell's kitchen Sombra finds everything she needs, though the screams that eminate from the appliances every time she opens them unnerves her. She manages to exceed the devil's baking skills in the end.

Frustrated, the devil demands an impossible thing: he wants all of the Adventurers, even the ones not present, to give him a challenge, saying that was implied in his contract with the team, and threatens to claim victory if the team doesn't give him one challenge from every team member - impossible, as in some cases, team members simply cannot be there. Sombra counters that as leader, she can change the roster, so she declares those Adventurers not present to be kicked off the team. The devil is down 1 - 3 in the score, and appreciating Sombra's bending of the rules, concedes victory to the Adventurers.

Fox and Adrynne are subjected to profound levels of pain as they are resurrected and set free, and the team is bidden to leave hell immediately.

The Adventurers are still exhausted from their battle with Xagrim when Adrynne informs them of Fox's plight, and her suggestion of a way to get him back: give the devil some good sport. If the Adventurers can think up entertainments for which the devil, or his appointed servant, can go head-to-head, and beat him in them, then perhaps in winning they can win Fox and Adrynne's souls. But if the team fails, Fox and Adrynne must endure hell until the endtimes.

While some Adventurers are willing, more than a few are quite skeptical of the plan. Inside of a day, hellmouths open before each Adventurer individual, providing a way for them to reach the underworld...

As fashion show goers flee for their lives, and the convention hall is destroyed by Xagrim as he pursues Sombra, the Adventurers face him down and do battle against the extra-dimensional terror. After a long, pitched battle, which at one point sees Rubber Bullette used as a sort of flail against the Adventurers, the team succeeds at weakening Xagrim enough that he flees this dimension. Cosmo Liddell emerges from the ruination of his convention hall and has no memory of being under Xagrim's control.

The beleaguered Adventurers take some time off to recover. Meanwhile, in the great beyond, Adrynne - impatient for company as she painstakingly reconstitutes her mortal form - seeks the spirit of Fox, the Adventurer who had given his life to defend another some months before. Finding him, to her surprise, in hell, pursued relentlessly by demons, Adrynne vows to rally Fox's teammates and secure his release from this grim fate.

But suspicions arise when Emily (Rubber Bullette) encounters a bland, seemingly albino shoe maker and strange haircut from Millennium City named Dex Seaton who fits the bill of 'someone who hasn't quite got the human form down.' AJ asks around with fashion world observers who point out that Dex really does stand out in an odd way. As the team surveils Seaton, Sarah demands an audience with Cosmo Liddell. In their tense meeting, Sarah threatens to topple Cosmo's organization for what happened to her sister, but Liddel dismisses her out of hand - he's heard that threat before from people he estimates had better resources, obviously unaware of her dual identity.

Not long after Sarah is bounced from the event, Dex Seaton takes an audience with Cosmo Liddell...

Later, Spyder alerts the team after a newspaper article reminds her of a very important happening in their history that she read about in the future: they can capture Xagrim at the upcoming North American Fashion Expo. In the original timeline Spyder knows, it was her mother, Red Spider, who identified Xagrim's alter ego; now that task must fall to another. The team rapidly makes preparations to infiltrate the event, which is being held at the Horizon Casino and Conference Centre - a property owned by gangster Cosmo Liddell. The team contends with elevated security and a lack of available passes to enter the event.

The Adventurers Blue Fox and Night Star confront Cosmo Liddell at his casino penthouse for answers about the contagion affecting Bluebird and Cardinal. Night Star tosses Liddell around his home rather violently, but Liddell remains cagey. He then promises to make a phone call to get the info they demand... and as they wait and watch him do so, Blue Fox starts to fall ill. Realizing Liddell has some connection to the virus, and even an unquantified ability to control it, the team retreats.

Samantha Olsen shares inside info from a CDC briefing she attended indicating that almost the entire city are carriers for the virus, and it is spreading beyond. Yet the only symptomatic cases seem to be costumed heroes. This defies epidemiological sense. The CDC must soon announce the presence of the virus, but fears a panic, especially since they lack the means to treat it.

The team learns that the source of the virus is a being called Blight, whose meta-human powers allow him to create viruses and control their actions like they were extensions of himself. Though the Adventurers cannot prove it, it seems Cosmo Liddell learned of Blight's powers and offered him a small fortune if he could use his viral powers to eliminate very specific targets: costumed crime-fighters. Blight's skin shows lesions and solid, fluid-filled structures that, if breached, release deadly disease. He attempts to hold the city ransom in a confrontation with the Adventurers, making several team members incredibly ill just being near him, and threatening to unleash his illness on the city at large. Night Star, apparently immune because of nanites, shoots him in the head. ...it was only a stun shot, though.

With Blight in custody, the CDC is able to rapidly discover antigens in one of his fluid-filled growths that prove critical in vaccinating the public against Blight's virus. Blight is kept at Stronghold prison in a carefully quarantined environment.

When Bullette finds out that she's on a list of 'enemies' of Ridderton Developments, she shortly finds herself on a collision course to confront Ridderton, his hired guns, and a doppelganger he hired to try to sully RB's reputation. It's help from friends that gets RB through some very close calls. Ridderton's agents help cover his escape once his complicity in crimes is revealed, and he flees the country.

King Zotholky bids the Adventurers relate to the Cretoan crown that the Nereids desire no further contact with the surface for 10 years - except that the Adventurers will be welcome in the Undersea. The Nereids withdraw from the battlefield and go below.

Fantasma has, in the meantime, captured Myron Gaios. Twilight seems to have escaped the battlefield. Kyros Kallikrates is believed to have been swarmed and killed by Nereids in his battle mech just before the battle ended. The Adventurers depart a grateful Cretoa.

Stinger leads a group of Cretoan reservists into battle. Fox, who has been missing in the caverns for days, turns up and, not realizing the Nereids are helping Aurum reluctantly, gains control of a bombing craft and turns it against the Nereids - causing Sombra to intercede. Catfight helps break up a fight between King Zotholky and a Taur captain, knowing that the king will be needed alive if the team is to succeeded. Hasizet focuses on setting up a field hospital for the great number of wounded coming in. Night Star helps fight against the powerful Golden Men.

As fighting rages on, Red Spider starts to fear that the digitized Adventurers are taking too long, and they may have failed their mission. Her resolve shakes as she fears her friends could die. Just then, a light is seen from across the distant battlefield: Lord Aurum's armor begins to emit a bright light unexpectedly.

The tide turns.

...exactly what the Adventurers want. Using a special safeguard Blue Fox programmed after viewing the plans for the prototype digitizer, the trio awakens inside a digital construct and strive to sabotage Lord Aurum's control over the Nereid collars, and attempt to free Aurum's digitized prisoners, including Princess Grissh. They must interact with processes, and battle the anthropomorphized antivirus programs.

On the surface, Golden Men enter the Zappatos Palace dungeons from below, and set the prisoners loose. Notables include Twilight, Kyros Kallikrates, and Myron Gaios!

Down in the Cretoan caverns, Joule and Stinger narrowly escape a cavern collapse! They encounter one of the Taurs, and are led back to a Taur encampment. The Taurs are aligned to preserve Cretoan for humans against ancient threats like the Nereids. They are no friends to the Nereids, but they are aware of the treachery of Lord Aurum, and despise him more. Stinger and Joule get the Taurs to agree to a compact to ensure the safety of Cretoa against Aurum.

A team of Sombra, Rubber Bullette, Meltdowner, and Stinger try to enter the Nereid realm. The Nereids are inclined to reject the Adventurers, but Sombra shows a Nereid medallion she received from the Aviator from his mission to the island a century before. The Nereids recognize the symbol, and promise the Adventurers safe conduct to and from the great city of the Undersea.

The team enters the vast abyss, an ocean hidden under Cretoa whose bottom is in the unfathomable deeps. Following an array of organic beacons, they reach the city, which hugs a massive pillar of rock. They have an audience with King Zotholky - who has a Golden Man advising him, and trying to paint the Adventurers as liars. The King is willing to hear the Adventurers evidence. They present what they have learned from their interactions with Twilight and Aurum. The King is inclined to believe... but then, the Golden Man reveals that the special collars Lord Aurum gifted to every person in the Undersea have received a command to lock onto their wearer - and can kill every one of them with a unique gas mixture if they do not accede to Aurum's wishes. The King is forced to agree to go to war with the surface, or face the near extermination of his people. The Adventurers are permitted to leave, and told to warn the surface that they must evacuate the island, or die.

Blue Fox, Sombra, Joule, and Azure Hawk's battle armor go to the demolition site where Catfight and Princess Grissh had fought before, hoping to find the Princess and negotiate. There, they find the entire Nereid demolition team freshly slain - at the hand of Lord Aurum! Aurum demonstrates that he has control over other demo sites by setting one off, and causing another earthquake. He also has Princess Grissh as his hostage, digitized and stored as data in his power armor.

Aurum's goal: to gain all of the ancient secrets of Cretoa. He never intended to help Cretoa. And he intends to exterminate the Nereids. The team cannot touch him, for now. He walks off.

Blue Fox, Red Spider, Stinger, Rubber Bullette, and Hasizet manage to defeat Twilight and march her up to the surface. Twilight shares a bit of insight about the situation: she doesn't know who hired her, but in four days she is supposed to withdraw. She is also supposed to kill Princess Taina, Lord Aurum, and as many Nereids as she can.

Catfight is grounded at the headquarters while the team discusses what happened. Catfight maintains she did what was necessary. Others aren't so sure; they wonder who or what caused Catfight's rage attack - some thinking maybe it was Twilight.

When Princess Grissh awakens, Sombra hands her baton to the princess for her defense, and then leaves for the surface.

The next day, Catfight resolves to visit the palace and ask to be treated with vitanium to remove her powers, ending the risk of another rage state.

Arakhne reveals herself to be Princess Taina. She says that she entered the caverns with her ally, Lord Aurum, a local hero hired by Cretoa to help manage the Nereid situation. But when they were attacked by Nereids, only Arakhne escaped. She has been trying to find Aurum since then, but fears he may be dead.

Red Spider, Stinger, Rubber Bullette, Blue Fox, and Hasizet form a group to use data from Stinger's recon drones to track down Twilight. After a long trek deep into the caverns, they encounter Twilight's battle armor.

Meanwhile, Catfight, Fantasma, and Sombra try to follow clues from a battle site between a Nereid and a mysterious warrior from the Brotherhood of the Taur. They end up being captured by Nereids led by Princess Grissh! Fantasma and Sombra are immured in Nereid resin to a batch of plant-based explosive they are laying to demolish a great cavern as they pave the way for the ancient kraken, held prisoner beneath the Zappatos Palace for eons, to swim free.

Catfight is hit by a golden dust by an unknown assailant, and she goes on a rampage! She fights numerous Nereids, but attracts the attention of Princess Grissh herself. The two duel fiercely, but Catfight wins - and then prepares to deal a death blow. Fantasma breaks free with her devices, and Sombra uses her teleport power to intercede. Sombra peppersprays Catfight, and then makes off with the ailing princess.

Hasizet and Stinger find the corpse of a Nereid while diving off Cretoa's coast. The bring it up and find its wounds are consistent with the Twilight drone's kind of slicers. Stinger deploys his own drones to try to map the caverns.

The team interrupts a duel between Arakhne, a spider-themed hero, and Princess Grissh, a Nereid royal, just as the latter is getting the upper hand. Grissh escapes, and Arakhne agrees to go back to the surface with the team.

The Adventurers make preparations, including building pressure suits for the potential Undersea depths. Sombra learns from Professor Walsingham that the Classic Adventurers once fought a live minotaur on the island in 1912, and were awarded ancient Nereid pendants by the locals in thanks for removing the threat; Sombra manages to get El Sombra's pendant from his descendants.

The team rendezvous with Sarah Ellison's yacht in the Mediterranean to reach Cretoa. Immediately upon arrival late one evening, Red Spider goes on a mission to locate Fantasma. The next morning, as the team awakens to breakfast, a major tremor strikes...

Featuring: Night Star, Blue Fox, Rubber Bullette, Joule, Meltdowner, Fox, Red Spider, Stinger, Catfight, Doormaker Guest: Fantasma

Night Star soon arrives on the scene and helps the other Adventurers with their tear gas effects. A reporter and her cameraman bust on the scene, having seen Azure Hawk escaping, immediately go start to go with the story that he caused all the problems. The Adventurers attempt to vouch for Hawk, saying he would never do something so horrible. They stall long enough for her to miss her live report slot, forced to make a report for the nightly news. While not saying it was Hawk in the report, or not denying it, the security footage of him attacking the civilians and fighting the other Adventurers is shown, paired with the headline "The Next Hero Gone Bad?"

Featuring: Blue Fox, Night Star, Sombra, and Rubber Bullette

Featuring: Red Spider, Catfight, Sombra, Night Star, Azure Hawk.

Featuring: Red Spider, Sombra, Catfight, Night Star, Blue Fox, Doormaker.

Featuring: Red Spider, Sombra, Catfight, Rubber Bullette, Blue Fox, Night Star.

Today: The team hold their ground against tremendous odds. Rubber Bullette saves some Osirians from falling to their deaths, and uses her body to shield Adrynne from Osiarian archers on the nearby rooftops. Other heroes have to battle up close and keep the well-trained Osirians from getting through to Adrynne. Adrynne forms the portal, and the two classic heroes to escape.

In the aftermath, those Osirians who cannot escape the Adventurers use their memory-wiping gas on themselves, leaving them with no recollection of who they are, or anything about the order they served. Adrynne curiously checks her phone, and announces that she has won an eBay auction; she asks Night Star to accept it, since she plans to leave this plane of existance for a while. Blue Fox and Sombra are heartened to find that their attempt to change history worked, somewhat: El Sombra (Carlos Batres) lived a longer life and went on to own a resort in Mexico, but the Aviator (Randy Waverly) still died at the same time, and in the same way. This auction turns out to be a gift for the team: the Aviator's challenge coin, obtained from a collector in Belgium. The team passes it around in the HQ, but when Sombra holds it, and also touches the one El Sombra gave her, it causes the sudden, inexplicable materialization of the Aviator from the coin itself - badly injured, as if he had just been pulled from the moment of his death in an aerial battle in 1918.

Featuring: Rubber Bullette, Sombra, Blue Fox, Azure Hawk, Night Star, Catfight

Today: Night Star officially returns to the team. After weeks entertaining these time-traveling guests, Adrynne's astral form instructs the team to choose a place open to the sky to that she can send the two home, using a re-powered Shard of Peyasaskew. Red Spider has to bow out due to another pressing investigation but trusts the team to stand guard during Adrynne's ritual.

On a causeway between towers in the city's downtown, the team keeps the public away while Adrynne makes preparations. Adrynne puts a charm onto the Aviator's challenge coin for good luck. As the ritual begins, the team has to fend off Osirian guardsmen who employ ninja-like tactics with grapplers and archery to get in close.

Featuring: Rubber Bullette, Sombra, Blue Fox, Azure Hawk, Night Star, Catfight, Stinger (flashback)

Special Guest: Night Star

Featuring: Red Spider, Sombra, Fox, Azure Hawk

Introducing: Joule

Special Guest: Shalara

Featuring: Red Spider, Sombra

Featuring: Catfight, Azure Hawk, Sombra, Rubber Bullette, Blue Fox, Scarlet Shield, Stinger, Doormaker

Special Guest: Night Star

Featuring: Rubber Bullette, Red Spider, Sombra, Blue Fox, Mnemon, Stinger, Doormaker, Azure Hawk

Special Guest: Night Star

Featuring: Rubber Bullette, Red Spider, Sombra, Blue Fox, Mnemon, Stinger

Special Guest: Night Star

Featuring: Red Spider, Sombra, Rubber Bullette, Blue Fox, Stinger

Special Guest: Night Star & Challenger

Featuring Blue Fox, Red Spider, Rubber Bullette (as Helica), Sparrow Hawk, Stinger, Azure Hawk, Sombra, and Doormaker

During the battle with Helica, a group of drone droids fly into the university's Subatomic Research Lab, and minutes later flying out with some machine. The team is knocked around by Helica, but nearly get the better of her - for a moment seeming to break Proto's hold over her mind - before hundreds of Proto drones swarm the battleground in flight, 'rescue' Helica, and make a failed attempt to capture additional Adventurers, before flying away toward downtown and dissipating in multiple directions.

Featuring Blue Fox, Red Spider, Rubber Bullette, Sparrow Hawk

Catfight, Sombra, and RB check at the loft cybernetics lab, but find it deserted and picked over. It's empty, except for a stealth-class droid using a cloaking field left on watch by Proto, in case the doctors returned. It finds Catfight alone and quickly drugs her. When RB and Sombra respond to Catfight hitting the floor, RB gets drugged, too. Sombra tries a few things to overcome the droid, but is nearly captured herself, before teleporting with it to street level and letting it take the worst of a car collision. Drone droids summoned by the stealth droid move in to try to secure RB and Catfight; Catfight wakes long enough to prevent her capture, and with Sombra's help, escapes. Rubber Bullette is taken away by drones to parts unknown.

Later, Proto and a mysterious female figure tell an anesthetized RB their plans for her, just before a Surgery Droid begins the process of installing cybernetic components on her...

Featuring Catfight, Rubber Bullette, and Sombra.

When the shadows are vanquished, there are more questions than answers.

Featuring Blue Fox, Catfight, Doormaker, Mnemon, Rubber Bullette, Red Spider, Scarlet Shield, and Sombra.

Featuring Catfight, Rubber Bullette, and Red Spider, and Sombra.

Featuring Blue Fox, Sombra, Catfight, Rubber Bullette, and Red Spider.

Sparrow manages to catch sight of a bulky figure swinging away in the distance, and the duo rush to catch up, finding the villainous mercenary Black Tarantula, a Sombra-sized sack clutched to her back by her robotic spider legs! Blue Fox is able to confirm that Sombra is in there by scent, but there is no longer any heartbeat or breath....

After a brief two-on-one battle, Tarantula is overcome, and Sparrow Hawk opens the sack, only to discover a mannequin wearing parts of Sombra's costume! Tarantula, too, was a decoy, taking the rescuers on a wild goose chase while her partner, the shadowy Shrike, absconded with Sombra on a small aerial vehicle before they'd even arrived! The two interrogate the villain, but she has little to offer other than revealing that Sombra had a bounty on her head; besides her association with the infamous Adventurers, she also has extremely desirable powers with her invisibility and teleportation. Unfortunately, Tarantula was intentionally left in the dark to who they were selling to, knowing that she'd likely be captured, while the Shrike took care of the actual transaction. Tarantula is taken away to prison, and The heroes inform the team of the kidnapping, immediately beginning their investigation.

The team learns that Yuri Zarkov is in the end stages of his disease and may only survive a week. Time is of the essence to discover what was done with Cassandra to turn her into Nadia. Nadia accepts that she is in someone else's body.

Blue Fox investigates people in Zarkov's organization he can target to 'turn' on Zarkov and inherit his company - but the person he selects, Nadia points out, is a decoy chosen by Zarkov to appear outwardly as a disaffected, under-utilized employee, who would attract threats to him so that Zarkov could deal with them. Nadia makes a different recommendation of a junior executive who was never part of her father's old KGB group, Jaromir Dominin, who would lead the company in a better way.

The team comes around to the idea of helping to save Yuri Zarkov's life, and give him his daughter back in a new body of her own - in exchange for helping to return Cass. They enlist the help of convicted genetic engineer Dr. Vanessa Simmons, and the royalty of Cretoa in securing some vitanium to help treat Zarkov, to enact their plan. They travel to Russia to confront Yuri, along with Nadia.

A physically frail Yuri Zarkov explains everything: Twilight wasn't always his daughter, but he borrowed some of that agent's memories to help flesh out that side of Nadia, as Cassandra's body is the body of a hero - his daughter needed an outlet to express that. The original Twilight is out there, somewhere. The real Nadia died two years prior of the same genetic condition from which he is now dying - a Sword of Damocles which has hung over him his entire life. Nadia's body was put on ice, and reanimated just long enough to obtain a mind scan for her placement into Cassandra's body. He finds, hidden in his book case, the data storage device containing Cassandra's quantum state mind scan and gives it to the team.

The team, especially Screech Owl, gets Zarkov to agree to their proposal: help get a new body for Nadia, and arrange Yuri to be treated with vitanium, in exchange for Yuri agreeing to retire, sell his company to the junior executive, Dominin, and cease hostilities toward the team. He agrees.

Two weeks later, Cassandra Olsen returns home, exhausted by her ordeal, and mind in a bit of a haze as it sorts itself out, but back in her body. She will recover, in time.

The team tries their ruse, letting Nadia remotely pilot her armor to the execution at the kraken pit. But the fish king, Zotholky, steps forward and decides to rip the helmet off, probably to stare down the architect of the massacre against his people in the eye... but there is nothing in the helmet. He takes a spear, runs the armor suit through, and the deception is utterly revealed before the assembled Cretoan dignitaries and fish people. The fish people exit, enraged. The prince and princess give serious side-eye to Catfight.

Summoned to account for why Twilight was not in the armor after the Adventurers visited her for some time, Catfight tells the princess and prince that she is just as surprised as the royals - but they don't entirely buy it, and Catfight lights off on a tirade against them for their lack of trust. Catfight is dismissed. Sombra hides Nadia in the watch tower set aside for the team. Blue Fox and Catfight speak about their best approach; Catfight is done trying explain herself to the royals, and gives Blue Fox leave to try speaking the truth to them. Blue Fox gets in just ahead of the palace security head; clearly, the royals are contemplating a palace-wide search for Twilight. But Blue Fox clearly and honestly tells them what really happened, and who 'Nadia' appears to be. The royals relent, and ease off their hard stance toward the team - but express concern that war with the fish people may be inevitable.

The team convinces 'Nadia' to come back to America with them. Having saved her life, Nadia puts her trust in the Adventurers.

Upon arrival, Catfight and Blue Fox go immediately to visit Twilight in the dungeons. Their status as captains of the guard allows them access. There, they speak to Twilight, who is still encased in her armor, but extensively chained and kept in a cage. Twilights reports that she was damaged in battle with the Cretoans when she attempted to steal vitanium. She reveals that she is Nadia Zarkov, daughter of the team's enemy, and that her father's genetic disease has been triggered. Only vitanium might save her father's life. Twilight debates their view of her as a villain, saying that in her native Russia, apart from working for her father, she fights street crime just as the Adventurers do. Sometimes, she serves the state's intelligence interests through her father, which she defends as being her patriotic duty.

The team negotiates with Twilight to help her escape, and in return, they need her help to locate Red Spider. Twilight agrees to do so. Blue Fox picks the locks on the shackles, and Sombra helps teleport Twilight out of the cage. Catfight advises a plan of Twilight remotely piloting her nanite-based armor suit in a ruse where it will appear that Twilight has been fed to the kraken. But jaws drop when 'Nadia' steps out of the armor suit to do her part: Nadia has the face of Cassandra Olsen, the missing Red Spider.

The team takes Jeremy to their HQ to protect him from reprisal by the police. Newspapers excoriate the Adventurers for the indignities they visited upon the 'innocent' parole officer. (They held up him upside down from a rooftop in his undies!).

Prince Alexandros of Cretoa appears at Club Caprice, looking for the team. He informs them: Twilight, Yuri Zarkov's henchperson, has been captured. Twilight is to be put to death to seal a new peace treaty with the fish people who live in the subterranean sea below the island (see Adventurers #264). Adventurers are requested to attend Twilight's ritual execution in Cretoa. Some team members find the idea of Twilight's execution reprehensible, and further, she could be a source of info on Red Spider's whereabouts. But the prince warns them that those condemned to die will say anything they think you want to hear, if it means sparing their life.

The team takes the skull given to them by Zarkov for examination at an organization chosen by Rubber Bullette, that specializes in helping superhumans with scientific analysis. Blue Fox considers ways to hurt Zarkov's organization through sowing dissent; he identifies a likely candidate in Pavel Tredyakovsky, a ZQU executive who was relegated to less important roles once Zarkov took over.

Blue Fox tracks down the note-leaver: he's an ex-con, living in a halfway house in the city.

The skull analysis reveals: it is not Red Spider's, and furthermore, a great deal of work was done to fashion it to appear to be a Red Spider skull. The DNA in the skull does not match a sample of Cassandra's, either. This renews hope for the team of finding Cassandra alive.

Sparrow Hawk defeats a sniper just before he can take out Catfight from the roof of the mansion. Rubber Bullette takes out a boat patrol. Stinger arrives, and helps take down the northern frontier of defenses. Red Condor and Azure Hawk continue to eliminate the automated defenses and guard towers. Soon, the security guards are in retreat, overwhelmed by the superheroes.

At this time, Yuri Zarkov's voice is heard over a P.A., where he entreats the team to agree to cease fire, and enter his home to parley terms for an end to hostilities. He refuses to give up Cassandra, suggesting that his revenge upon her is final - but if the team chooses to leave now and never trouble him again, the captured Sombra, Blue Fox, and Doormaker in the basement will be released unharmed to them. Pressure is put on the team when Zarkov shows a video feed with the medical pod, where he introduces a poisonous gas with Blue Fox. The team outside of the parley come up with an electrical disturbance that gives the basement heroes a chance to overcome their captors, and release a harmless gas into the medical pod that reduces the glue on the floor to an inert sludge so that Blue Fox can walk out. Zarkov, defeated, presents the team a horrifying token: a skull, he purports is Red Spider's. He considers himself avenged for their raid on his home in 2018, and keeps needling them despite being seriously outnumbered. Screech Owl recognizes that he may be seeking 'death by cape', and bids the team not to give in. Different team members variously toss, hit, or visit indignities upon Zarkov, but ultimately, they take the skull and go.

It is not a happy trip home.

Red Condor and Catfight join Azure Hawk in strafing the house's defenses, but each of them finds their vehicles being chewed up by the ground turrets, forcing them to bail. Azure Hawk deploys his power armor on the ground from his dying aircraft. Red Condor continues to blast turrets and guard towers on the perimeter of the compound. Catfight's vehicle takes a hit, and it seems she is a goner.

Inside the house, Doormaker discovers Cassandra's location in the basement using clairvoyance; she creates a 'door' for Sombra and Blue Fox to the location, where they quickly dispatch the guards and begin examining the walk-in medical capsule in which Cass is kept. Blue Fox decides to go in to retrieve Cass... and finds shortly after that his feet are glued to the floor, and 'Cass' was just a mannequin covered in medical accessories. Guards pour into the basement to capture them.

Catfight begins planning the team's strategy on a direct assault at the Zarkov compound. Sombra obtains information from UNTIL captain Chris Suzuki about Zarkov, during a secretive meeting in a parkade; Suzuki points out that while UNTIL has no beef with Zarkov because he's technically a legitimate security contractor, if he has abducted Red Spider - an agent of UNTIL - then UNTIL will backstop the Adventurers against Zarkov. The UNTIL dossier sheds light on Zarkov's past as a KGB and then FSB spymaster; on a personal level, it indicates Zarkov is a widower with a daughter who lives in St. Petersburg, and that he is suffering from a rare genetic defect that may eventually, and suddenly, kill him.

Blue Fox tracks down info on Twilight's movements across Europe, as well as some info about Zarkov's company.

Adventurers begin separately making their way to Russia for the rescue.

Against the backdrop of these troubles, Olivia Ellison clinches the Democratic nomination for the Congressional Special Election.

Azure Hawk questions Simmons in jail, and after some convincing, she reveals that she is certain that it was former Russian spymaster Yuri Zarkov who arranged Cassandra's abduction from the Triad. Zarkov is an enemy the team has encountered before, whom Simmons warns wields far too much shadow power to be opposed.

Blue Fox suspects the Russian operative Twilight, whom the team encountered in Cretoa, may be the one who took Cassandra from the Triad.

Azure Hawk and Rubber Bullette apprehend Dr. Simmons as she attempts to escape to Canada. She does seem strangely concerned with Cassandra's safety, and shares some info. The team lets Simmons get away, for now, though she is a fugitive with international warrants issued against her.

The team are rejoined by the Cretoan group of Catfight, Blue Fox, Sombra, and Sparrow Hawk. They attempt to track down and rescue Cassandra, but are too late: the Chinese Triad members who abducted her are all found, dead or dying, in the warehouse where they were keeping her. There are signs of a struggle, and Blue Fox's heightened senses detect that Cassandra was dragged out alive after the battle. The mystery of who has Cassandra Olsen deepens.

A group of sea people swarm the band, and escort them to a tense parley with King Zotholky. Taina alone can treat with him, for they each know dialects of Greek. Zotholky will accept peace, but demands blood for blood. Taina prepares to surrender herself to the king's judgement, and die for the sake of peace, but Catfight makes an impassioned plea. Zotholky, done kindness by Sombra, relents - but says he still demands blood. He wants Cretoa to apprehend Twilight and turn her over to them. The heroes agree to these terms, and depart - though the Adventurers have misgivings about turning over an enemy for a certain execution.

Azure Hawk ruminates on this confession, and decides to look into a connection between candidate Brownlee and Cosmo Liddell. He finds a genealogy website which confirms the two are actually cousins.

At a swanky evening fundraiser for Lester Brownlee, Azure Hawk arrives and manages to embarrass the candidate with audio recordings and details of his investigation into the framing of Olivia Ellison, and drops the bombshell that Lester is cousins with a known gangster. All of this is caught on camera and broadcast live by Action News, and Brownlee's bodyguards try to remove the candidate from the party - but he doesn't get past the lobby before police apprehend him. By morning, Brownlee's campaign is over when his mugshot appears in the media.

Twilight frees her Russian sailors and says she is fleeing immediately, suggesting the Adventurers do so, too, before the fish people mount a counter-attack with greater numbers.

Sombra takes pity on wounded fish people desperately crawling back to the pools, and helps some reach safety; they name her, Kápoios, or 'Kind One,' and they do not retaliate against her. Catfight follows Sombra's example and helps, thinking it may be a small gesture that could avert war.

Topside, Catfight, Sombra, and Fantasma report on the happenings in the tunnels to Princess Taina, who rebukes them for not having found a peaceable solution. The princess dismisses a strangely thorny Fantasma, who maintains that she did what she thought was best, and seems to accuse the princess of ignorance regarding the pact. Sombra and Catfight deduce that the fish people are upset over the lack of feeding of the kraken; this guides the Princess to read an ancient transcription of a scroll which confirms a pact between Cretoans and the fish people, wherein the fish people would help trap the kraken - which was a menace to all peoples - in the tunnels beneath Cretoa, in exchange for the Cretoans standing guard and feeding it and its issue for as long as they lived below Cretoa, as the fish people still regarded the kraken ("the Overbeast") as holy.

Catfight suggested that, with Fantasma gone, only Princess Taina could go below and negotiate a peace. The princess agrees.

Elsewhere, Catfight battles the kraken, buying time for Blue Fox, Sombra, and Fantasma to escape. Catfight is caught and nearly devoured, but a trick shot from her wrist-mounted bolt projector pierces its radulla and gives her a chance to escape.

Blue Fox, Sombra, and Fantasma carry on down a tunnel. They locate a great chamber where the many missing fishers are bound to stalagmites using resin that the fish people generate from their hands. The fish people soon become aware of the heroes, and encircle them.

Catfight, going alone through the tunnels, is soon attacked by a drone, but destroys it. A Russian agent named Twilight decloaks near Catfight and says that the drone was merely a test. Twilight, who is familiar with Catfight by reputation, says that they should work together, as Twilight has come to rescue Russian sailors who were seized by fish people. Catfight agrees, but seems wary of Twilight.

Catfight, Sombra, Blue Fox, and Sparrow Hawk travel in Catfight's jet, and land in the palace at Zappatos, Cretoa. There, they meet with the princess, who outlines three grave issues that seem to have the same source: the theft of her crown, the sinking of fishing boats and the total disappearance of their crews, and the sabotage of their vitanium extractor. In all three instances, the mark of a many-handed sea beast is seen etched at crime scenes. The princess warns that her people - superstitious as they are and upset with the fast pace of change since a democratic government took over - will not brook this continue, and the loss of her ceremonial crown will be seen as an ill omen that could foment a counter-revolution.

Also, the princess indicates that her agent, Fantasma, had already been dispatched down into the extractor to investigate the sabotage, but has been missing for some time.

The team starts at the extractor, descending deep underground to where raw vitanium is harvested, and follow subterranean caverns until they reach a wide-open one with a pool at its bottom. There, Fantasma is bound up over the pool by a strange resin... and shortly after the team's arrival, the great and terrible kraken emerges from the pool and attacks!

Blue Fox is troubled when his 'uncle', long-time friend of his father Clayton Ewing, survives an apparent assassination attempt by quick-drawing and non-fatally shooting his attacker. Blue Fox warns Red Spider about the blue code, prompting Red Spider to visit the gunman, Michael Barton, in hospital. Sneaking past an assembly of police guards via air vents (who are soon dispersed by Blue Fox's father, retired police vet Mark McAllister), Red Spider speaks to a weakened Barton, and explains the precariousness of his situation to make him cooperative. Barton implicates T-Dog, alias of Terence Jameson, as the person who paid him to shoot at a car. Barton had no idea who his target was.

Despite Red's efforts to arrange better protection for Barton, he dies from a medication conflict later that night.

Ms. Direction implicates Bruce Strom as the person who hired her; Strom is the husband of candidate Savannah Strom, and together they own a transportation company which is a subsidiary of ARGENT. Ms. Direction says that ARGENT wants Olivia Ellison's campaign to fail so that Strom has a better chance to win the election, giving ARGENT a puppet in Congress. Ms. Direction pleads to be let go, noting she will die a snitch's death in prison if the team turns her in, to which the team seems to agree - but Azure Hawk plants a tracker on her.

The next morning, a live bluebird is found nailed to Olivia Ellison's campaign office door by its wing.