Notes Taken by Samantha and Alastair Beadle.
Napalm stays in her cupboard and falls asleep.
Akula goes home from the library and composes a resignation letter, quoting unspecified "personal reasons" for wanting to leave.
Mirov spends the night as a big, red, shiny apple hanging in an oak tree. He does not actually sleep but spends the night "mulling things over".
General Winter informs the rest of the party of his 8 o'clock meeting with Dr Stregoi. He then spends the night in his mansion.
A cleaner opening her cupboard awakes napalm. "What are you ... oh, its you," she exclaims resignedly. It is very early in the morning, and the veteran's foundation is empty apart from the cleaners. And Napalm. Napalm goes up to the foundation's record office.
The door is locked so she enters by melting the lock. She searches the files, finding medical records for the two people she knew from the first canoe helmeted monster. Both were seriously traumatised from the Afghan war and suffered from drink and drug problems - not dissimilar to Napalm herself, in fact! Dr Stregoi discharged both with a note in their records saying they were cured, but with no notes on any details of the cure being recorded. Another twelve people that she knows have similar records. She pockets those records as well as her own (she does not read her own record yet!). In the staff records (she has to burn through an additional lock to get to them) she retrieves Dr Stregoi's file, pockets it and leaves (again, leaving the reading for later as dawn is breaking). As she leaves a cleaner approaches and enters the records office, without noticing the break-in yet.
Napalm leaves the veteran's foundation, finds a quite place in a little park and reads the files.
Mother Bear is awoken, as usual, by the 'normal morning riot' caused by her brood. She phones General Winter at about 7 o'clock in the morning and arranges to be nearby for the 8 o'clock meeting with Dr Stregoi, keeping a look out for any 'shadows'.
Mirov is woken from his mulling by a sharp stab of pain (he had nodded off) as a bird stabs its beak into his apple form. He retaliates and grabs hold of the bird's legs with two small arms that the apple grows. He flies through the Moscow sky, carried by the unwilling bird, steering it in the direction he requires. As he flies over the veteran's foundation he drops off the bird, turns into a fly, and enters Dr Stregoi's office.
Akula wakes and heads for the veteran's foundation, deciding to hand in his resignation letter after the 8 o'clock appointment, as there won't be anyone at the lab at this time of the morning anyway.
Napalm phones Mother Bear and tells her about the notes she has retrieved. She also admits to being in the cupboard at the time General Winter made his appointment. They agree to meet in the 'greasy spoon' cafe opposite the foundation later.
Napalm reads the files she has taken. Dr Stregoi's personal record consists of three things:
Napalm's own notes, which are all in Dr Borodinky's handwriting, boil down to: "Signs of severe mental disturbance from her history in Afghanistan; she is clearly hiding something; serious drinking problem; a pity she has no friends and family to help her; perhaps Dr Stregoi can help her..." Napalm is suitably unimpressed by this.
Mother Bear reaches the veteran's foundation and enters the café. She takes a window seat and observes the Foundation. She checks out the other customers - some are nursing their teas and coffees, and appear to be veterans.
Mirov replaces Dr Stregoi's real chair with himself, putting the real chair in a cupboard.
General Winter reads his morning paper and eats the breakfast brought to him by Adrik. He is driven to the foundation by Adrik, who drops him off nearby and drives away.
Akula enters the greasy spoon cafe, having seen Mother Bear there. He orders a coffee and sits at a different table, as Mother Bear does not know his secret identity.
At this point all our mobile phones ring. Mother Bear hears another phone in the café ring at exactly the same time, and is suspicious at Akula's civilian identity. It is Captain Ostranko - he has the information we asked him to get. Mother Bear is suspicious and questions Akula to check whom it is. He confirms his identity, she is satisfied and Captain Ostranko continues.
General Winter checks out Dr Stregoi's parking space in the basement car park under the veteran's foundation. It is currently empty.
Napalm enters the cafe and sits with Mother Bear.
Captain Ostranko gives us details of previous transplant crimes - all are the same as those previously discovered by Akula.
Apparently there are five groups that have similar costumes to those seen at the canoe-helmeted monster scene:
Viper seem the most likely candidates - or somebody completely new.
We cannot come up with a good reason why Viper would have started up here. They operate with a nest like centre in each area, each of which is run by a nest leader - some of who are super villains, some evil scientists, and some businessmen.
At about 7:45 General Winter leaves the basement car park but waits nearby to watch the doctor arrive.
Back in the greasy spoon cafe Mother Bear and Napalm discuss the information from Captain Ostranko. They ask Captain Ostranko where the transplant criminals are now. He checks and:
At five minutes to 8 o'clock a VW saloon car drives up to the veteran's foundation and enters the parking basement. Napalm expresses curiosity as to the plan of action. We don't have one, so she suggests she infiltrates the canoe-helmeted monster plot by letting herself be treated by Dr Stregoi and 'cured' by him!
At three minutes to eight Dr Stregoi enters his office and sits on Mirov - apparently he has bony buttocks! As 8 o'clock passes he looks at his watch and tuts.
Napalm is passed some money to 'get into character'.
General Winter arrives at the foundation for his appointment with Dr Stregoi. As the Doctor stands to great the General, Mirov moves slightly to the left. He shakes the General's hand and offers him some fine coffee. He sits back down glancing slightly at his chair as he does so - at this point a pair of rabbit ears appear above his head from his chair. General Winter (coughing as he notices the ears) asks his questions.
The doctor says he has noticed nothing unusual today. He is curious about the threat to his life.
The General states that several letters calling into question the doctor's work have been received, apparently from a crazed veteran. The letters are aggressive and at times threaten the Doctor's life. The letters have been passed to the police. The doctor is concerned that he had only just been informed, and claims that his methods are more 'cutting edge' than those of other doctors - hence they are faster and more effective. Mirov vibrates slightly at this. The General asks the doctor to outline his methods. After he promises to keep the details confidential the doctor tells him. The details are highly technical go completely over the General's head - he gets about one word in three! Mirov records the whole thing and the General pretends that he understands it. The doctor is impressed that the General appears to understand and asks him some more questions - the General palms him off.
The doctor explains that after his cure he keeps an eye on his patients for only a week or so and then offers them an 'open door policy'.
General Winter finishes by passing on a Moscow Super Heroes calling card with the request that the doctor calls us if he sees anything suspicious. He leaves, asking the secretary, Elena, her name as he passes, telling her that special vigilance is required. He also passes a calling card on to her. She asks what sort of 'strangeness' she should look for. General Winter tells her that we think the Doctors life may be under threat from an unknown individual.
Napalm goes off and buys some alcohol with the cash she has just been given. She then wanders off to beg in the local area. She gets some money but more curses.
Mirov becomes a piece of fluff (keeping the chair form under control as he does so) and enters the doctor's pocket.
General Winter is seen exiting the building.
In the office Dr Stregoi gets a call on his mobile phone. Mirov crawls up his back to listen in:
Dr Stregoi: "Hello, Stregoi here."
[Mirov misses part of the conversation as he crawls up the doctor's back]
Dr Stregoi: "Ah, I see. Yes, well I will step away now then."
Phone: "Very Good Doctor."
The voice on the phone is American accented, female, and speaking Russian.
Suddenly the Mirov-chair feels pain. Mirov drops communications with it, shedding it. The chair starts to glow red-hot, then melts and shrivels. The doctor opens a window, looking a bit concerned, but not just because his chair has caught fire! The chair cools off. The doctor is still on the phone to whoever it is.
The doctor asks his secretary for a replacement chair and carpet repair - he is going home. He cancels all his morning appointments - he will be back for lunch. He leaves, taking Mirov, still pocket fluff, with him.
Still on the phone, the doctor keeps talking:
Dr Stregoi: "Good work Solstice."
Phone: "My pleasure doctor. Who was that?"
Dr Stregoi: "I do not know, probably Mirov from the Moscow Super Heroes. I shall have myself checked for other bits of him - have Compound X prepared."
The doctor goes back to his VW in the basement car park and drives away. Mirov is still with him - he forms into a large lump of fluff that detaches itself and crawls under the seat. The large bit of fluff calls the rest of the party on its mobile phone.
Mirov explains all and describes where they are going. Captain Ostranko is contacted and asked about a character called Solstice. General Winter summons Adrik and he, Akula (still in his 'secret identity') and Mother Bear enter the car.
The Veteran's Foundation is in Pionerskaya, about 10 km outside the centre of Moscow, to the West. Doctor Stregoi is heading North. Napalm flies Northwards after him and Adrik follows in the car.
The doctor turns east after not very long, crosses over the Moscow River, heads towards the centre of Moscow, turns north again passing the Hippodrome and entering Dinamo Stadium, near Belarus Station. The stadium is a large 1930s style building in a park, exuding 'strength through joy'. Somehow. The VW saloon car drives towards a dark coloured van in a stadium car park shielded from the outside world by trees. The VW stops and the doctor gets out. Mirov sheds another part of himself that drops to the floor and scurries away. The doctor approaches the van. The back door of the van opens. A smartly dressed thug steps out, and more people can be seen inside the van.
"Have you prepared Compound X?" asks Dr Stregoi.
"Yes Doctor, it should do what you want," says the thug. A plump and flabby looking 40-year-old man in glasses steps to the van door.
Mirov sends another bit of himself off under the van in the form of a rivet.
Napalm arrives and lands on top of the stadium to get a good view.
The doctor takes Compound X and proceeds to spray himself with it. As the spray reaches the bit of Mirov still in the pocket it has no immediate effect. Mirov cannot identify the substance but it seems to be mostly water.
"Right, that should stop our shape shifting friend quite effectively. However he should be able to get to the cure in about an hour - the hour it will take before he starts to lose his powers, if I was him I would start leaving about now!" says Dr Stregoi loudly.
Mirov detaches himself from the bit of fluff in the Doctors pocket, but sneaks the rivet under the van inside.
Adrik arrives nearby. The party gets out and approaches the van and VW on foot. Akula takes on water form and enters a drain - he moves towards another drain about 10 metres from the van.
Mirov feels a tingling in all the bits of him simultaneously. From the rivet in the back of the van he can see eleven people:
Mirov phones the group. He tells them of the situation and asks if anyone knows about the stuff that he has been sprayed with. "The antidote is on top of the central tower of the university building, only Mirov can open the container," says the doctor loudly. Mirov jams the hand brake of the VW saloon and then scuttles off to get the antidote, with Napalm carrying him (as she goes so fast) and acting as escort. He leaves behind action figure facsimiles of the super villains he observed in the van
The Doctor gets into the van; the thug who got out of the van gets into the VW.
General Winter calls Ostranko and asks for details of the figures seen in the van.
As the van pulls away Akula heads towards it and the others go for Adrik's car.
The fat man in the van shows signs that he knows that Mirov is there, looking at the rivet, for example. Mirov fills the back of the van with foam. Suddenly something invades his mind (all bits of him again) so he breaks off contact with the rivet, and is free.
Akula grabs hold of the underside of the van as it drives off over a drain.
Napalm and Mirov arrive at the university. They head for the tower and eventually find a small metal canister. A bit of Mirov is dropped off by the canister while the rest, and Napalm, backs off to a safe distance. The bit of Mirov opens the canister and finds a piece of paper "You fool, there is no antidote - Ha Ha!" They decide to attack the van - Now!
They return. Mirov has decided that there is no poison - it is all in his head. Napalm reinforces conclusion this by giving him a drink.
The van is driving Southwards towards central Moscow.
Akula enters the engine cooling system, blocks it and starts to radioactively heat the water. Just as the van approaches Belarus Station it starts to emit smoke and slow down drastically. It turns into the forecourt of the station, which, while still in use, is also being rebuilt after taking a shell from the Nazi sleeper robot six months ago.
Napalm with Mirov has arrived back at this point. She makes a full power attack on the back of the van, and it is demolished by flame. Akula, in the engine, senses this and leaves the van entering the cab through the foot-well.
Mother Bear jumps out of Adrik's car and 'becomes bear'! General Winter forms a 20 ft diameter and 50 ft tall column of ice above the van - about 240 metric tonnes in mass, we estimate. But before it falls the back door of the van is kicked open and the angular black metal woman leaps out, followed by a Siberian Tiger, which was definitely not in the back of the van while Mirov was there. Mirov lets go of Napalm, turns into a rocket powered spiky thing and fires himself towards the tiger. Mother Bear also heads towards the tiger.
Akula blasts the driver, paralysing him, then notices the huge ice block descending towards him.
There is general confusion amongst the civilians outside the station and then the ice falls towards the van.
Black Metal Woman leaps up and punches the block of ice to one side just before it lands. It will now land next to the van and then fall onto it.
The tiger notices its attackers and growls at them. It ducks to one side as Mirov arrives and he smashes into the pavement. A civilian gets in the way of Mother Bear's attack. She dodges and the Tiger takes a swipe at her as she passes, raking her side with its claws.
General Winter encases the space where Black Metal Woman was in ice - but she is very fast and had dodged to one side before the ice could form.
Napalm keeps an eye on the situation to make sure none of the villains escape, and calls Captain Ostranko to tell him what is going on.
Akula, noticing the block of ice, boots open a door and leaves the van. The other occupant of the cab gets out as well but Napalm cuts off his escape with a bolt of fire. Akula leaps back to rescue his paralysed victim in the van from the crashing ice. He manages this just as Black Metal Woman kicks the entire van out from underneath it. She is then left under the falling column.
General Winter makes another ice blast attack on the Black Metal Woman, waiting under the falling ice column, apparently ready to catch it, and freezes her in a block of ice. He then focuses on the block and drops its temperature by even more.
Mirov attacks the Tiger again by becoming a long snake and wrapping it up.
General Winter is hit from behind by a very narrow beam of blue-white light. It penetrates his shoulder from some invisible source. He builds a wall of ice to protect him from that direction. Napalm notices the beam but cannot see its source.
Napalm flies around, surveying the scene but not intervening at the moment.
Mirov's attack on the tiger gets it by the leg. He begins to expand to cover the rest of the tiger. The animal bites back savagely. Mother Bear attacks the tiger with her claws, but the wounds heal up almost instantly.
Akula drops the paralysed thug he just rescued and heads off to rescue civilians from the falling ice. He does this by water cannoning them out of its path. Unsubtle, but effective!
The column of ice crashes down on top of the block of ice containing the Black Metal Women. The block is smashed, as is the column. The figure at the centre of the block is seen to move. Napalm blasts at her head as she is seen to leap out from the ice.
General Winter cools the area containing the Black Metal Women but is caught by another beam of light, this time through the abdomen, from a different direction.
Mirov continues to cover the Tiger, is fights back savagely but Mirov plugs its mouth and windpipe.
Mother Bear disengages from the Tiger and heads towards General Winter and his invisible attacker.
Napalm's blast hits the Black Metal Woman on the side of the head - she staggers but shows no sign of injury. Akula also blasts her with his paralysing blast - apparently to no effect either, but it does distract her. She picks up a large chunk of ice, about the size of a truck car, and throws it at General Winter, apparently judging him the most dangerous. The ice block hits him and smashes him to the ground, unconscious.
The energy bolts now also attack Mother Bear. She counter-battery attacks with a leap in the direction of the bolt, claws flailing. She senses no scent from that location and passes through that area of space, but it seems to be empty.
Akula and Napalm co-ordinate fire and water blasts attack at the Black Metal Woman trying to get her by way of thermal shock. She disappears into a cloud of steam.
Civilians flee in all directions. Mirov has the tiger covered and thoroughly wrapped up. He leaves a breathing space for it and detaches. He then launches towards the Black Metal Woman in the form of a magnet. But she turns out not to be magnetic. He clangs into her anyway, still engulfed in steam and takes advantage of her inability to see to start enwrapping her. He starts the same trick he played on the tiger.
Mother Bear sniffs around - she senses the Tiger, Metal Woman, Mirov, assorted other people but no scent from where she saw the beams appear. She hunts about a bit.
Akula starts a fan of water around the area to try to detect the invisible thing, but finds nothing. Mirov wraps around the metal woman. She tears him off; she seems much faster than he is. He goes up to her head and blocks her eyes, mouth, nose and ears. The woman starts to spark and Mirov starts to get hot. Akula starts to spray her. Mirov feels very hot - as if he were being microwaved - like the chair he was earlier, in fact.
Mother Bear goes over to the ice cube and breaks it up, freeing the unconscious General Winter. She then picks up a large lump and throws it at the van.
Mirov enters the woman's windpipe and blocks it and her mouth and nose. She is choking a bit. "Submit or die," he shouts down to her. The microwaving stops a little so Mirov frees a little gap. She seems to start to adapt to having the blockage, and makes for General Winter. Attacks from Akula have no effect. Mirov goes further into the woman's body down her throat.
Mother Bear makes to intercept the woman, and gets her in a bear hug. She holds the woman and Mirov assists in the tying up. Mirov finds that her lungs are small and not used for actually breathing. He starts oozing acids to try to burn through inside her.
Akula investigates the van. Inside it the fat man with glasses has a burnt arm and is unconscious. Akula senses someone behind him - the staring man in the suit is there. Akula attacks him with his energy beam and the man is paralysed. Akula then picks the man up and goes to throw him out of the van, but then the man turns to water and Akula reverts to human! The man blasts Akula, paralysing him with his own power - how embarrassing! Akula is relived he didn't hand in his resignation just yet...
The man who has stolen Akula's powers picks up the fat man and the doctor, then leaves the van and runs towards the station. Napalm follows. Napalm decides the man in water form is not the real Akula and blasts him and the people he is carrying. The Akula impostor has a large hole boiled through his chest and falls over. He begins to trickle away. The other two fall to the floor, burning.
All the bad guys are now unconscious except Black Metal Woman, who is bound. Napalm returns her victims to the scene. Apart from the fake Akula who is trickling away like a puddle. Silence falls.
General winter slowly comes around. He hurts a lot, and probably has broken bones. He considers his special healing powers, but then remembers that they consist of a private room booked at the best hospital in Moscow...
To his relief, Akula feels his powers coming back, and turns back into water form.
"You should let them go really," says a female voice speaking American-accented Russian from mid-air as an attractive young blonde woman in a gold and white costume appears, hovering in mid-air.
Napalm with no provocation other than that promptly blasts her two prisoners and dodges aside. A beam of blue white energy from Solstice's fingertip, like a laser, skewers Napalm through the shoulder. Ouch. Napalm turns her blast on Solstice but it passes right through her.
"You maniac!" she says to Napalm. Then, more deliberately, "You should let them all go. I know where all the other monsters are and I will let them go if you don't let these people go."
"And you are?" asks Napalm.
"You can call me Solstice," she says.
General Winter tries his block of ice trick, freezing where Solstice is. Solstice disappears as a result but then twelve of her appear, also floating in the air. Mother Bear can sense no smell from any of them (or indeed from the original Solstice).
Napalm bargains a little about what she is willing to do not to do this. "I will take Tungsten, December, The Operator and Echo (if he is still alive), and the Doctor." Solstice indicates the metal woman, the tiger, the plump man in glasses, the man Napalm blasted in the station and the doctor as she speaks, in that order.
Napalm bargains some more, complaining about the monster's collateral damage in their anti-mafioski attacks, and saying that if they didn't do that we might have been able to turn a blind eye. Solstice repeats the threat to release the rest of the monsters if her comrades are arrested. Some discussion about morals ensues.
Then the police arrive en-masse and point guns at Solstice...