Episode 9

Trouble at Homestead

Gumshoe and Feral Cat make a late night grocery run before picking up Dementia at the emergecy room of the MCU Medical Center Emergency Room for a dislocated shoulder sustained in a battle with the Outlaws earlier in the evening. Gumshoe is monitoring his police radio and learns that a robbery has taken place at the ruins of Homestead.

Missing Armor

The Replacements, except for Cypher, who is still working at her lab analyzing the sample of vegetable matter found at the site of the robot attack.

At the bunker established by PRIMUS at the ruins of the Homestead mansion, they find Victor Bashang, Doctor Silverback, and Presto. They learn that a Champion's priority alert alarm was set off this evening and that the Homestead vault has been robbed.

The team learns from Bashang that surveillance at the site recorded a flash of blue-white light twenty feet above what used to be the conference room. Two PRIMUS agents responded and found an egg-shaped capsule made of some strange metal. It dissolved and the men were attacked by an unarmed assailant wearing something like tights or a wetsuit. The assailant then headed to the basement and accessed the vault. The other two agents stationed in the bunker responded and were also incapacitated by blows to nerveclusters in the neck and knees. Before backup arrived, the assailant had escaped.

Examining the scene, they discover that an experimental suit of Defender's armor, the Mark II Sentinal armor, has been taken. Dr. Silverback informs them that the suit is a stealth suit invisible to radar, sight, sound, and even smell--making Feral Cat's tracking abilities all but useless. Silverback, however, helped to design the suit and installed a tracking device inside of it. The team proceeds to his lab with Presto to recover a device that will home in on the signal.

The device leads the team to Dr. Bartman's (aka Cypher) condominium.

"There is no Doctor Bartman, only Cypher."

Fifteen minutes earlier, Cypher had returned home to find Adam Dai (aka Sentry, see also Multitude) in her unit in the Sentry armor, seated on her couch eating a microwave dinner. He explains that he has been sent from the Age of Destroyer by Cypher AD and Apeiron to aid in the struggle against Doctor Destroyer in this tangent universe. He states that, in approximately 80 percent of tangent universes in which Destroyer is defeated, Cypher plays a decisive role. He delivers a metal orb that he was asked to take back with him.

The orb turns out to be an "upgrade" that transforms Cypher into her present form (see Cypher) and, simulating the consciousness of Cypher AD, provides her with information regarding her true nature as a nanite android.

The rest of The Replacements arrive with Presto and Doctor Silverback. Sentry explains his mission and the truth behind the abduction of the Champions by Apeiron to fight against Destroyer in the Age of Destroyer. Sentry reveals that he cannot make duplicates of himself; Presto suggests he may be a duplicate himself, rather than the actual Multidude. This enrages Sentry and Silverback must break up the argument. Silverback and some of the Replacements escort Sentry to Silverback's lab so that the doctor can run tests to confirm his identity.

Silverback offers his scientific knowledge about time travel and Sentry shares his limited practical knowledge and information gleened from his conversations with Apeiron. The team learns most of the information contained in the background section Multiverse.

The Welcoming Committee

When the team regroups the next morning, they learn from Cypher that the piece of vegetable matter is from a tree that is only found in the local area in a state park forty or so miles away. The Replacements conduct a fly-over of a suspicious cabin that is drawing an inordinate amount of power from the grid. They are intercepted and shot down by five Destroids. The episode ends as the Destroids surround the crash site and power-up their plasma generators.