Guy wandered into the Hamdons' kitchen, stretching as he let out a monstrous yawn. He let down his arms and blinked as he took in the breakfast table. It was half set, but there was no sign of food. Guy frowned and turned to his sister, who was sitting quietly in one of the chairs as she absentmindedly played with a fork.

"Did you eat my pancakes?"

"Shh!" Kelly glared at him.

"Seriously, the beast needs to be fed…" Guy patted his empty stomach.

"I'm trying to listen to Mom," Kelly said in a harsh whisper. "Will you just…"

"… well, you're doing something about it, right?" Their mother's raised voice made its way from the living room. Far from her usual happy chatter, it had that razor edge she got when someone pushed her too far. Something was wrong. Guy shut his mouth.

There was a pause as Droosha listened to the other end of the conversation. She was on the phone. "Don't 'there, there' me! If he was okay when that man was shot…. Yes, well that means there's no reason to think… I should hope you're investigating!"

At the next pause, Guy turned to Kelly. "What's…?" he whispered, and then shrugged, not wanting to miss hearing anything his mother was saying in the next room.

Kelly took a moment to answer. "It's Dad. He… he didn't come home last night."

"What?" Up until that moment Guy had completely forgotten his 'dream' last night. Now it came rushing back to him. "Oh, man…" he sunk into the nearest dining chair. Of course it had been his She.S.P! He'd been too groggy last night to think straight. And now… "Well, what happened? Is he okay?"

"Shh!"

Droosha was talking again. "No, I would not like a contact number for your counselling services! I would like you to do your collective jobs and find my husband! Or I'll come down there myself!" With a stomp she came around the corner into the kitchen, clicking off her mobile with perhaps a little bit too much force.

She drew to a halt as she saw both children staring at her with expectant faces. "How long have you two been there?"

"Long enough," Kelly admitted.

Droosha let out a sigh.

"What did the cops say?" Guy asked. "Did some monster attack Dad? Or was it…"

"Guy, calm down." Droosha slipped into the chair opposite her two children. "Nothing's attacked your father. He's…" She drew in a deep breath. "Your father has a job that can sometimes be dangerous. He disappeared on duty last night. None of the other officers know where he went. There's no indication that…" She stopped, and swallowed hard.

"Mom, I'm sorry, I could have…" Guy began.

"You could've done nothing, dear. But the police will find him. Something's probably just happened, like… maybe he's had to hide from something. Or he's chasing down a criminal, or he's got himself into a spot of trouble. He'll turn up, maybe a little worse for wear, but your father is tough. He'll be fine."

"How old does she think we are anyway?" Guy gripped the Shehicle's steering wheel. He had changed into SheZow and they were now tearing towards the warehouse where their father had last been seen. "I mean, she can't pretend something didn't go wrong. It's shediculous!"

From the passenger seat, Kelly fixed him with a glare. "Really, you're doing the she-puns now?"

"Force of habit…"

"And why are you angry at Mom? It's not like she tried to convince us nothing went wrong. She just said Dad can take care of himself. And she's probably worried sick."

Guy let out a sigh. He was being a jerk, and he knew it. "I'm not mad at Mom. I'm mad at myself."

Kelly frowned. "Just because you've got superpowers doesn't make you responsible for everything that happens in Megadale."

"I know! But… that's what my She.S.P is for! I think… I think it may have gone off last night."

Kelly glared at him again. "Guy! And you didn't do anything?!"

"I didn't mean to! I was half-asleep! I thought I was having a bad dream. I…" Guy turned away and swallowed hard. He expected a punch, which he'd deserve. Not that it'd hurt him as SheZow. "I guess I was just too lazy to get up and think it through."

His sister didn't resort to violence. "It's okay," she said. "If you'd been sure something was happening to Dad you would've gone and helped him. It can't be helped now. And SheZow will still be able to find him."

"Thanks…" Guy smiled faintly. "And I'm sure Mom's right. Dad'll take care of himself until we find him."

They pulled up at the warehouse. The earthen lot in front of it was cordoned off by police tape, and idling police vehicles were parked badly all over the lot. Guy growled in frustration. "So much for having a snoop before the cops got here. You think if I asked nicely they'd let us in?"

"You destroyed three police vehicles last week, SheZow. I doubt it." Sheila's voice came over the built in comms in the Shehicle's dash. "However, I am able to access the police database."

"That's handy… just out of curiosity… can you delete things from the police database?"

"Guy!"

"Sorry. What've they found - anything to tell us what might have happened to Dad?"

"There not much, I'm afraid," Sheila continued. "Your father and his partner were investigating a disturbance, when they split up. Your father made contact at 0115 via radio. That was the last they heard from him. When Officer Wackerman returned to his last known location he found a dead man, a stash of unidentifiable equipment, and no sign of Officer Hamdon."

"Wonderful. That's nothing," Guy grumbled.

"Nothing to indicate anything horrible's happened to Dad either," Kelly pointed out.

Guy frowned at his sister. "Yeah, except for the body…"

A tap on the side of the Shehicle startled both kids. "Hey, guys," Maz sidled up to the driver's side door. "I heard what happened on the news. Was it really your dad who went missing? They were a bit vague…"

"Yeah, but we're going to find him," Guy said determinedly. "We just need to figure out…" A sudden buzz filled his head. Guy twitched, let out a yelp, and grabbed onto the nearest thing in a death grip. He wasn't going to let his She.S.P slip one past him again.

Unfortunately, the nearest thing happened to be Maz's arm. "Ow, ow, ow! Dude, superpowers!"

"Sorry!" Guy released his friend's forearm.

"What is it? You know where Dad is?" Kelly asked hopefully.

Guy shook his head. "Not sure." His She.S.P was never specific. But he suddenly had a sinking, queasy feeling in his stomach. "I don't think it's good. But we're right where we need to be for whatever's…"

He got no further. Because the lot in front of the warehouse exploded in a shower of dirt and concrete. The police vehicles bounced, rocked and turned over, and one shot up in the air and came crashing towards them with a distorted whoop of its siren.

"Ahh!" Maz ducked down to the ground and threw his arms over his head.

Guy shot out of the Shehicle, caught the plummeting car on one hand, and tossed it away.

Maz squinted out from under his arm. "Oh… right… superpowered best friend."

The dust in the lot cleared to reveal a robotic giant. Forty feet tall, all glinting steel in the morning sunlight. Its head swivelled around, taking in its surroundings. And then its gaze settled on SheZow.

Boxter woke to a splitting headache and a bleary green-hued haze. He groaned, forcing his eyes to stay cracked open. "Jeesh, Droosha's gonna kills me…." He trailed off. No, he was not smashed. Nor had he been for more than twelve years. Amazing how having kids could knock the sense into you. But even taking those past few escapades into account, this still took first prize for the strangest place he'd ever woken up in.

He was in some sort of small room. Dim green lighting illuminated a conglomerate of panels, wires and hardware in front of him. A few red and yellow LEDs blinked across the surrounding surfaces. Directly in front of him hung a wide screen. For now, it simply contained a single line of green text, followed by a blinking cursor.

Calibrating. 99%...

"Where am I?" Boxter muttered. He roused himself and tried to move. His arms were pinned, spreadeagled out beside him. He was stuck upright, strapped into some sort of contraption that all but completely restricted his movement and forced him to face that screen in front of him.

Boxter didn't like being restrained one bit. With a snarl he gathered his strength and jerked forward, trying to rip himself free. All he succeeded in doing was sending a jolt of pain through his neck, like someone had decided to jackhammer his skull.

He drew in a gasp. "Okay, that didn't work…"

Organic control chamber, the screen read.

Boxter blinked. "What?"

You're inside the robot, genius.

"Hey…" Boxter scowled. And then the last few hours came rushing back upon him. The robot had dragged him towards it. For some reason, now he was inside it. And it seemed to be talking to him.

Calibration complete. Initiating start-up.

"Woah! Wait a minute…"

The chamber about him jerked suddenly and the feeling like an elevator rushing up far too fast took hold of his gut. The screen in front of him flickered completely to life. Briefly, it only showed smoke and dust. Then this cleared to reveal the lot outside the warehouse, several toppled police vehicles, and SheZow with her prissed-up supercar. She was balancing one police vehicle effortlessly in one hand.

"No, don't…" Boxter muttered. But she did. The police car was tossed to the side and landed on its head with one final, sick-sounding whoop.

Initiating final test protocols. In accompaniment to this message, the robot took a step towards SheZow that shook the whole chamber.

"No, wait, stop!" Boxter shouted. The robot had listened to his question, perhaps it would also take orders. "Don't attack SheZow," then he added in a low growl, "between the two of you you'll rip half of Megadale apart…"

The robot paused only briefly.

Unable to comply.

"Why not?!"

Systems must be tested before carrying out primary directive.

Boxter's head was spinning, and the splitting headache wasn't helping. But he didn't like the sound of that at all. He cleared his throat. "What's your primary directive?"

Text flashed across the screen once again. Boxter felt his blood run cold. "Shit."