Joe gets kidnapped by a VW Vanagon right in front of Bill's eyes.
In trying to find out what happened to Joe, Bill stumbles across
Rachael "Tree" Stowe, who smells the
involvement of her arch-nemesis organization, T.H.E.M.. They team up to find
out what's going on.
They trace 'em to the warehouse district in Downtown Los Angeles. Inside,
Joe and six others are seated in front of a mass mind control device.
Bill runs in to rescue Joe, but he runs into the device's area of effect
just as it turns on. Instinctively, his hands shield his face. Since his mind
wasn't prepared ahead of time for the procedure (like the subjects behind him
were), the neural onslaught causes far deeper effects than mind control. He
becomes aware, both inwardly and outwardly, of things more than he'd ever been
before. For an instant, everything is profoundly simple. And then, that instant
is gone; T.H.E.M.'s device has been pointed away from him.
But it leaves a residual awareness, a tiny sliver of that total oneness,
with one thing: water. The compound most basic to organic life. He is in
complete communion with every instance of water — liquid, frozen, or
gaseous — in his surroundings. When he removes his hands from his face,
he is covered from head to heel with a thin layer of ice.
Meanwhile, Tree is also caught in the beam. Her wooden braincase protects
her from the full onslaught that befell Bill, and she becomes T.H.E.M.'s
unwilling puppet.
Bill starts using his newfound powers to free Joe. Surprised by the new
ice-covered superhero, the T.H.E.M. operatives order Tree to stop him. The mind
control interferes with Tree's normal accuracy with punches, and she misses
Bill with swing after swing. Finally, Bill taunts her into throwing something
heavy at him — while he's standing in front of the mind control
generator. The generator is smashed, and Tree and the other victims faint. Tree
regains consciousness first. All the T.H.E.M. operatives can do is flee.
Joe regains his senses a few minutes later and finds himself on an ice
slide frozen from the water in the air, with some new ice-armored super hero
holding on to him.