Spitfire and the Troubleshooters (1986 series) #5

At 2:44 a.m., Eduardo Giotti, Tim Ferris, Eric, and Detective Eric Chin break into the Boston Police Department's evidence warehouse. Giotti climbs into the damaged M.A.X. suit, which Chin confirmed is stored there, while the others bypass the alarm. Their plan: get Spitfire operational again without Jenny knowing, so she can use it to break free. Four days later, Jenny Swensen has been in the Massachusetts Commonwealth Women's Correctional Institute for thirty-eight days. Her ex-boyfriend and attorney Bernie Straczynski visits but fails at the pre-trial hearing — he attempts to request prosecution depositions in a criminal proceeding, a procedural error that costs them. Jenny fires him on the spot, concluding she needs a lawyer experienced in criminal defense.

Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Ken Connell — the Star Brand — reads about Jenny's arrest in a newspaper. He encountered her briefly in New Hampshire weeks earlier and believed she was a hothead, not a murderer. Troubled by a sense of responsibility, he decides to visit her. He fights off a group of muggers with minimal effort, reluctant to reveal the extent of his powers, then flies to Boston. On the same night, a Club emissary named Baker visits Steel Hawk at his rural safehouse, delivering the organization's new assignment: assassinate the British Prime Minister during her upcoming visit to Boston, framing radical groups for the act to boost international paranoia and arms sales. Steel Hawk demonstrates his recovered strength by snapping a metal hose, then agrees.

Ken Connell visits Jenny in prison. She recognizes him as the stranger who warned her in the woods. He tells her he doesn't think she killed Krotze and urges her to trust the system. Jenny, alone in her cell afterward, breaks down — she admits to herself that her arrogance and disregard for the law brought her here, even though the acts themselves were morally defensible. She is frightened in a way she has never been before, but falls asleep for the first time since her arrest with a clear conscience. Detective Sloan visits Teresa Roberts at the M.I.T. dorm, pressing her about the Troubleshooters' connection to Jenny. Teresa deflects but is unsettled.

That night, Giotti pilots the barely functional M.A.X. suit out of the evidence warehouse while Chin and the others distract the police. The power pack is critically damaged — it overheats as Giotti stumbles through downtown Boston, unable to fly. Ken Connell spots the M.A.X. lumbering down the street and intercepts it in midair, grabbing Giotti and pulling him clear just before the suit crashes. Furious, Connell tells the Troubleshooters their stunt could have leveled half of Boston if the power pack had gone critical. He flies the ruined suit to the M.I.T. rooftop and dresses down the group. A chastened Jenny, who has been contacted by Giotti via a note slipped to her in the prison transport, tells Andy via phone that she is less afraid of her trial than before — the rules exist for a reason, and she intends to face the process properly. The suit, however, is now completely destroyed.