Vol. 21 Recovery

In the aftermath of the F.A.L.C.O.N. Down event, the city starts to recover, and our heroes need to come to grips with what has happened. Emotions and teenage drama are at an all time high.

### Players

James Malloy as Puck
Elsbeth Denman as Arcana
Elsbeth Denman as Sage
Rob Harvey as Frequency

## Summary

***Note: Here there be spoilers. Read at your own risk.***

The issue opens up with panels showing the rickety lighthouse, two weeks after the fall of F.A.L.C.O.N. We get a tour of the inside, and then see Holly's\* body. A rehabilitation montage happens of the last two weeks. We see John, dressed in casual preppy-Jock clothes.It is noted that The Butler starting to act weird, and Holly acknowledges the progress she's made in her memory exercises. Puck explains his history and origin story with Holly, and how that might affect her. She gets a little worried, and Puck explains he has a plan to save himself and her.Now in costume, Puck leads the way to Dr. Amari. He finds her packing up her lab, and explains the Holly Situation, which instantly grabs her attention. After some confusion, Puck explains both the source of his powers and his plan: To use Dr. Amari's time bending and slowing technology to dampen the energy around Holly to keep her safe from The Trickster. Amari reveals that it would work, but would put Holly in stasis. Amari agrees to help.To get a moment to breathe, Puck goes off to wander around Campus, immersing himself in "competent adults who have figured it out."\*\* He runs into Jack Chance at the college radio station. Jack is preaching his anti-hero and superpower agenda. Puck joins the show as Puck.They get into a heated argument, with Jack Chance making attacks on Puck while Puck reminds of the importance of heroes to Halcyon, and his role in the F.A.L.C.O.N. down events. Puck tries to get Jack Chance to leave, then the power cuts and Jack tries to take Puck's mask off. Puck breaks free and escapes, leaving as John Hobb.
\*Holly's incomplete memories in the body of one of her clones.
\*\*College Students.

Alina has been doing grunt-work community service post F.A.L.C.O.N. to help set up converted spaces for the Holly Clones. Alina gets praise for how grounded her work is, which she responds to by using telekinesis to finish the job.Puck approaches Alina's base and asks her to talk. She lets him in remotely and says she'll be there soon. He chats with Ramon for a bit about Time Travel and ways to help Ramon, which end in Ramon storming out.Puck tries to figure out where he stands with Alina, and Alina says she can't work with him without his full honesty. He explains the Holly Situation, which leaves Alina a little shocked, but is interrupted by The Asset arriving. The Asset is bleeding, and the kids remove a bullet from him. The Asset reveals that The Appointed are continuing through their work, now alongside the Steam Society.The Asset gets up to go interview Mindshot for information. Alina tries to stop him, and he tells her she needs to grow up and start acting. Puck tries to intervene and gets shot down by the Asset. Alina breaks down, revealing how she truly feels; about their relationship, about her turning into Evan Lee, and about being scared about everything. The Asset calms down, re-assures her, and they share a warm moment and a hug. Puck awkwardly stands around, unsure what to do or if he should be privy to this scene.Afterwards, Alina approaches Puck, and they share another calm moment. Alina forgives Puck and then kisses him on the cheek. Puck reassures her that The Asset is more a father than Evan ever was, that she's good like him, and that the team won't abandon her. Puck acts on his emotions and they share a long kiss.Mindshot, confused, interrupts the scene and asks if she's being tortured. The two teens, now very awkward, head over to interrogate her. They offer her freedom in exchange for information. She agrees, but while being transported, she demands to keep a loaded gun to Puck's head. They agree.

It opens with a Panel showing "homecoming." No longer running his Mutant Liberation Group since F.A.L.C.O.N. fell, Frequency is now in his room in P.C.O.Y. working on some essays. Puck appears in the scene, fills in Ben on all the boring information, then shares that he and Alina had a moment. Ben is confused, until Puck says they kissed.They share an excited moment, then Ben snaps to reality registering that Puck said that Holly is alive. Ben gets a little angry at John and they have a mini-fight about the situation and Puck not telling anyone, only to find Terry, a little furry mutant child, had overheard everything. They both run out to chase after Terry.Sage is in her room when she hears this outside, and runs out to see what's happening. She has been out of it ever since they recovered Lunar Lens. She rushes out to see the scene at hand, and then notices the doom in Puck's eyes, causing her to overreact and rush at him. She knocks him down, the fear subsides, and she tries to figure out what's going on.Terry fills Sage in on everything he knows about Holly, little kid style, and Sage looks down on Puck, whom she's sitting on and keeping pinned to the ground. She eventually lets him up, and they go into a side room to talk about it. Ben and Sage point out the issue with violating the clone's agency, memory, and maybe even killing them, and Puck tries to get them to work past it.As Puck allows himself to be emotionally vulnerable, his powers start seeping out around him, and he realizes he's vulnerable in more than one way. He flees the scene, and Sage and Ben are left unsure what to do. They realize someone needs to tell Kalino, who hasn't been seen in days, but are not able to do it themselves. They are concerned about how Puck acted alone without telling anyone.The next Panel shows Puck running away. Just running, all the way to his mom's home. The Butler assistant shows up, even though they should not be this far from the lighthouse. They felt the power of the trickster searching. Puck eventually calls Sage, asking for her help. She says the team will never leave him behind, but he just needs to open up for them. She offers him a place to stay, and he agrees.

The first panel show the original Dr. Demoniaco fighting a werewolf, saying "Feliz navidad" as he spikes them into the ground. We find out this is the P.C.O.Y. kids watching their favourite Christmas Special. Ben, Penance, and John are hanging around in the background, chatting. Sage breaks away from the group and goes to her room to double down on her studying, in an attempt to get her powers back and help John. Hexwyrm offers to help, and reveals that it is dying in a human body. Sage refuses its help, or to find it another body, and it starts to leak out.Ramon calls the group and invites them to a New Year's hangout. Sage leaves an "older"\* orphan, Penny in charge of the younger kids for the night. The group arrives at a foreclosed building, and once they find their way to the roof, find a 50's formal Ramon with Christmas lights. They find out that this was Ramon's bookstore in his time. The kids catch up and start the party. Ben notices electronics acting weird around Sage and begins to figure it out. He starts to unplug all the electronics around the area to provoke the Hexwyrm, and it gets angry.John charges his Puck powers. Sage asks Ramon to keep her under control, then enters a meditative state to confront the Hexwyrm. In physical space, the Hexwyrm reaches out further and further. In Sage's mind, the Hexwyrm has broken out of its crystal prison. Sage confronts it in her mind, figuring out its plan to escape through the Satellite. Outside, Puck protects people from the flying lights that Hexwyrm throws at them. Ben tries to understand the Hexwyrm, and sees it, before getting thrown off a building.Insider her head, Sage is facing off against the Hexwyrm, no longer hearing its noise in her head since they're separate entities. She tries to charge her powers; The Hexwyrm tries to talk her into surrender, but she focuses on all the pain and destruction the Hexwyrm has caused, and all the people she couldn't save because her powers were gone. Her eyes open purple, and she speaks up against the Hexwyrm. She stands up, unleashing her full powers, obliterating the Hexwyrm in a blaze of purple fire. She returns to the physical space with her powers back, saving Ben from falling off a building, and claiming the name Night Owl for herself. She shares a moment of vulnerability with Ramon. The group all sit together at the edge of the building, celebrating together. The countdown happens, and Ben projects a version of the view from Ramon's time. The comic ends with Puck calling the Miscreants for help.

## Characters

* Puck
* Alina
* Frequency
* Sage
* Hexwyrm
* Holly
* Dr. Amari
* Jack Chance
* Kidshear
* The Asset
* Terry
* Verminister of Fear

## Locations

* The Lighthouse
* PCOY
* Alina's Hideout
* Calloway Corp