The Boy-Band Superfan Interrogation - Recap

Wendy, Lacey, and Noser are trying to get a pirated satellite signal and end up picking up Varsity Fanclub, the most popular boy band in the world. Lacey is a closet fan, much to Wendy and Noser’s astonishment. Pip comes in and invites them to his gallery showing at The Gate, one of the major art shows in town. After he leaves, they bring up the gallery promotion on the Internet and discover that Pip is displaying Wendy’s newest paintings.



The next morning, Ida calls in Wendy to deal with a rip in the fabric of space. As Wendy leaves, she confronts Pip in the hallway, but he denies everything and points out she has no proof. Pip warns her that if she pushes the matter or attacks him, he’ll get them kicked out of his father’s sublet. Wendy meets with the Middleman and they go to Club Cairo where they find a duck stuck in the warp hole. The Middleman breaks up the crowd by pretending to be a street magician with Wendy as his assistant. They quickly close up the “show” and have the crowd move along. They put down a red emergency cone to keep the onlookers away.



Back at Middleman HQ, the Middleman has Ida run a HEYDAR scan for the energy necessary to open a warp hole. The Middleman then reveals two pieces of new equipment: a concussive field generator and a truth bomb. Wendy is too depressed to banter, and the Middleman is concerned it might affect her performance. She explains that she’s been plagiarized and the Middleman threatens to clean Pip’s clock. Wendy insists on dealing with it herself, and Ida gets a fix. Someone “pings” her, someone using another HEYDAR. The intruder scans her circuits and she collapses: the Middleman revives Ida who reveals she has an address. They head to the Henry Jones University to investigate Dr. Elliot Marshall. Lacey calls Wendy en route to tell her that they’re making up protest t-shirts. Wendy tells them to let her handle it on her own.



The duo goes to Marshall’s house and asks to look around the place for an energy source. He invites them in to his laboratory where they spot a HEYDAR, and the Middleman spots a black box. Marshall doesn’t recognize either piece of equipment. Marshall’s daughter Cindy calls him upstairs. Once he’s gone, the Middleman notices the black box is missing a power source and the lab tables are child-sized. They hear the sounds of a struggle and run out to see Cindy standing over her father. She fires bolts of lightning from her hands and escapes on a bike at superspeed.



The Middleman and Wendy interrogate Marshall, who reveals that Cindy isn’t really his daughter and arrived with fake adoption pages. She promised that she’d get Marshall tenure in return for him stealing the lab equipment, then blackmailed him for stealing it. He reveals she had one other unusual trait: she was a fan of Varsity Fanclub. Ida calls with the results of another HEYDAR scan: she’s found five previous warp holes and each one is incrementally larger then the last. Wendy sees a map Cindy has made of the band’s tour route and recognizes each warp hole location as a place on the map.

The duo head for the club in town where the band is performing. En route, Lacey calls to reveal they’ve called Joe 90, another subletter who makes creepy phallic sculptures. He assures them they have a case against Pip but Wendy talks to Lacey privately and tells her to drop the matter and let Wendy handle it. The band is rehearsing when they arrive and identify themselves as a celebrity security firm offering free protection services. The band says that they’ve had plenty of other psychotic fans they’ve dealt with and they don’t need help. Ida calls and cheerfully says she’s buying Wilderness Girl cookies. The Middleman realizes Ida’s trying to send a SOS but so does Cindy, dressed as a Wilderness Girl. Cindy electrifies Ida and hauls her out of the lobby, then cuts out her battery.



The Middleman and Wendy arrive and search the place. They find the inert Ida and realize her battery’s gone. The Middleman spots Cindy hiding on the roof and uses the concussive stun bomb to knock her out… along with Wendy.

Later, Wendy recovers consciousness as the Interrodroid 4000 helps clean up. The Middleman determines that the black box is a reverse switch for a warp hole generator. If it’s activated then Ida’s battery will be depleted. The Middleman interrogates Cindy but she only gives her alien name, rank, and serial number. He runs a check on Cindy’s serial number and determines she’s a rebel soldier from the Clothar galaxy, who battled the Pentharcs. They’re interrupted when High Aldwin of the rebel fleet contacts them and orders them to release Cindy. The Middleman demands an explanation under intergalactic law and High Aldwin reveals that the Pentharcs were defeated and exiled to Earth, where they formed Varsity Fanclub. They then amassed a fortune and built a device of warping themselves back to Clothar. The black box will seal the warp hole and destroy the Pentharcs, and if the Middleman interferes then the rebel fleet will destroy Earth. Despite Wendy’s objections, the Middleman has no choice but to use the box and discharge Ida’s battery.



Wendy returns home to find that Lacey has assembled her paintings and insists that they want Wendy to obtain justice for them. Wendy finally reveals that Pip will evict everyone if she doesn’t play along. She’s ready to give in but Lacey doesn’t believe Wendy can do it.

Wendy returns to the agency where the Middleman is running the business without Ida. Wendy suggests that they go to the concert, but the Middleman is already one step ahead of her with better tickets. At the concert they look for Cindy, unaware that she has knocked out a security guard and snuck backstage. Up front. Wendy notices the band’s applause meter and the Middleman realizes it’s a scream harvester that will power the warp hole generator that is built into the stage. A warp hole starts to form above the stage and they head backstage where they hear screams and gunshots. They find dead security guards… and a mortally wounded Cindy. She warns that the warp hole generator can’t be destroyed any other way and then dies and dissolves in a burst of energy.



The Middleman takes the black box and prepares to activate it. Wendy wonders about Ida, but there’s nothing they can do. The warp hole implodes, destroying the Pentarchs, and the crowd goes wild at the supposed show.

Later at The Gate, Pip is giving interviews and promoting his work, while Wendy, Lacey, and Noser look around. Wendy tells him to enjoy his cheap victory, while Lacey says her eyes will move Pip to renounce his sins. The Middleman arrives to settle a score, and warns Wendy to step away. He then drops the truth bomb into the food tray. Pip gets a whiff of the gas and starts blurting out the truth, that he stole Wendy’s paintings and has no talent. He runs off screaming into the night while the Middleman notes that sometimes there’s personal problems they need to use Middlegear to solve. Wendy realizes he’s under the influence of the truth bomb and asks him his name, but he simply says his name is the same as his father’s and departs. The other patrons start blurting out the truth while Lacey is happy that she got through to Pip. They head out for drinks but Wendy goes to see Ida. The Middleman and Interrodroid 4000 are putting her away in a crate and Wendy admits she’ll miss her. Wendy and the Interrodroid leave the Middleman to blow “Taps,” but find a crate outside. They examine it… and a new Ida slams through, bashing in the Interrodroid’s head. She leaps out and goes back to work saving the world.



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