The intern from the museum is the new Brian! Romeo Roberts is learning the ropes. Everyone’s back in the office and things seem to be feeling good.

The team finds that their work is being re-assigned, leaving them suddenly free. Maliq is suspicious, but Jessica and Mordecai welcome the chance to recuperate. After some arguing, the group resigns themselves to their forced vacation.

Malik calls Brian back, who says that after everything the team has done to screw him over, the least they can do is help him move. Brian’s going to move his stuff to his parents’ in Maryland and take a trip to Machu Picchu.

At the former CISRA office Mordecai finds a secret door panel, goes through, lights are out. As he goes through, the panel clicks again and the door seals shut, with glowing wards to indicate that the door is now hidden.

Briefing time. Lots of animal mutilations (sacrifices?) found in the forests around Chicago. Malik goes into too much detail about how long this has been going on, but the numbers have increased recently, with reports that people have been sighted on the preserves, most recently in Oak Glen Park. Local law enforcement hasn’t pieced things together enough to launch an active investigation, but CISRA thinks it’s worth looking into.

Malik has been sending the team on a number of missions, and everyone’s starting to suspect that these aren’t official missions. Lots of abandoned buildings, locals with no memory of strange happenings, cold cases.

Malik and Mordecai are recovering from injuries sustained in the last mission. Malik is suspicious that Jessica knows more than she’s sharing, shares with the others that she did in fact offer the spider doctor lady a job in CISRA. After a comment about how it’s not right to give “monsters the keys to the city,” Stasia takes it personally and storms out.

Introducing…Pancake Special! Everyone’s called into Jean McCleud’s office to meet the new addition to our team. Maroon plaid suit, short red hair, sparkly fingernails, carrying a holstered frying pan. McCleud says that PS was on a covert ops team but all the other members are on a long quarantine from their last mission, so has been assigned to us.

The camera pans in from an aerial view to Jessica’s home in the suburbs. We zoom into her dreams: she’s Spiderman in San Francisco. A raspy voice whispers “All this and more can be yours…” Jessica awakes!

Malik comes bearing donuts, which means the case isn’t one we’re going to like. But it’s right in DC.