Appearing in "The Candidate"
Featured Characters:
- D.P.7
- Antibody (Randall O'Brien) (Main story and flashback)
- Mastodon (David Landers) (Main story and flashback)
- Sponge (Merriam Sorenson)
- Friction (Charlotte Beck)
- Glitter (Stephanie Lindquist)
- Chrome (Jennifer Swensen)
Supporting Characters:
- Chuck Harrington
- Ben Harrington
- Jill Harrington
- Emily Harrington
Antagonists:
- Overshadow / Philip Nolan Voigt (Main story and flashback)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth-148611
- United States of America
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- The Pitt (Main story and flashback)
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Voigt's campaign headquarters
- Manhattan
- New York City
- United States of America
Synopsis for "The Candidate"
In North Carolina, Steph has tracked her husband Chuck and their kids who he's kidnapped to a motel. She breaks down the door to their room and finds the kids, but Chuck has climbed out of the bathroom window and escaped in a car. Leaving the kids with Charly and Sponge, she leaps after his car with superhuman speed. She jumps onto the car and tears through the roof as Chuck speeds up to try and kill them both. Steph manages to pull him out of the car before they crash, but accidentally knocks him out as they land. Looking at him, she realizes she no longer even feels anger toward him, just pity.
In the remains of the Pitt, Dave finally climbs out of the huge crater carrying Randy after days of non-stop climbing. Dave realizes they're now free of the Army, who he doubts will come looking for them. Randy is starting to get some feeling back in his extremities after his paralysis, but says he fears he'll be stuck inside his antibody for good after being hit by a geyser of "Pitt juice" after seeing what it did to the Famileech.
Dave and Randy awake after a few hours' sleep and find Randy is getting more mobility back. They head off, wondering where they can go.
After leaving Chuck at a hospital, Steph, Charly and Sponge are met by Jenny, who tells them the C.I.A. has a new mission for them. Steph and Charly are hostile toward the idea after their experience in Brazil, but after hearing the new assignment is in New York City, Charly perks up at the thought of Broadway and the chance to realize her dancing ambitions. Steph says she'll only go if hr kids can come with her, but becomes more interested when she hears they'll be monitoring the former head of the Clinic for Paranormal Research, Philip Nolan Voigt, who is running for President.
Dave and Randy sneak into the back of a truck to get a ride, but when it stops at a truck stop, they see a news headline about Voigt's Presidential campaign. They decide they have to find and expose Voigt for what he is.
Steph, Charly, Jenny and Sponge have set up shop in an apartment opposite Voigt's campaign headquarters and have Steph's kids with them. They hear a popping sound and Voigt appears in the room behind them while they are busy watching the headquarters. Hearing Steph's son Ben's shock, they turn and find Voigt, who has teleported in. He tells the women he knows what they're doing and he won't permit it - using his mind control powers, he tells them they now work for him, and that they should vote for him before teleporting away again. The women resolve to keep up the pretense of surveillance, even though they work for Voigt now.
Randy and Dave arrive in New York City, and Randy sends an antibody in to spy on Voigt, but finds he can now only produce antibodies a foot tall. Voigt emerges, having taken control of the antibody, and tells the two men he faked his own death before to maneuver them into staying on and working at the Clinic. He says once he's President, he'll reopen the Clinic with Federal funding. Randy points out that Voigt won't necessarily get elected, but Voigt says there won't be any doubt about that and tries to use his mind control power on the two men, but it doesn't work - Dave is protected from it thanks to the mental block given to him by the ESPeople, and Randy because he's now surrounded by his antibody. Dave and Randy asks if Voigt wil try to kill them, but he says, no - Steph, Charly, Jenny and Sponge, who he has summoned, will.
The women attack Dave and Randy, who are shocked to see them. Randy and Dave are each targeted by the women who are romantically linked with them - Randy by Charly and Jenny, and Dave by Steph and Sponge. The men are reluctant to go all-out against the women for fear of hurting them, but the women have no such compunctions, and fight brutally. Randy temporarily snaps Charly out of it by transferring memories to her by touch, but the fight spills out into the street. Randy unsuccessfully tries to take off, and to distract Jenny with his miniature antibodies, to no avail. Just as the women have the two men on the ropes, Voigt returns and tells them to stop. He says he's proved his point, that Dave and Randy are ineffectual against him. He says that if they try to stop or expose him again, he'll make the women turn their aggression against themselves and commit suicide. Dvae and Randy realize they have no choice, and Voigt walks away, advising them to leave the scene too, before breezily reminding them to vote in the election.