In the past, Sylvia hears Carly inviting Vicki to a sleepover. Sylvia in turn invites a couple of classmates over but is rebuffed. She goes home by herself and plays video games until her father Simon arrives, but while he’s happy that she aced a test, he can’t spend time with her that weekend because of his business obligations and medical treatments. He tells her to invite some friends over, and when Sylvia says that people don’t like going to their big house, he advises her to play with her babysitter Cynthia. Sylvia objects vehemently but Simon insists that she give Cynthia a chance. Later, Sylvia gets upset after losing a multiplayer game that she’d previously done well on in single player; when she admits that she doesn’t practice with other people because she’s been burned by poor sports and kill stealers before, Simon advises her to give people chances and find true friends who will push her to be better.
In present-day Saint Louis, Sylvia takes a photo of the rest of the Kamen Corps alongside Carlys parents. They are interrupted by a robot attack and the three powered members of the Kamen Corps do battle while Sylvia, who again is without her power armor but at least has her visor, scans for more threats. Sylvia sees Zener Techno perched on a rooftop but cannot record her because she has technology which shields her from modern recording devices. The others use combos to destroy several small robots but are stymied by a massive one which attacks them and also threatens a child who is filming the fight. Techno manipulates the robot and successfully fends off attacks by the Kamen Corps. Fortunately, Chad, Darlene, and Henshy arrive in the nick of time and destroy the massive robot with their powers.
Carly’s mother photographs the scene with an analog camera, and Techno panics before assembling a jetpack from a destroyed robot with her powers and fleeing. Aragaki arrives moments later, saying he came from ha nearby Kagemitsu laboratory and wishes he could have arrived sooner. Carly notes that the robots are no longer disintegrating and Aragaki says his company figured out a way to block the robots from receiving their self-destruct signals. He lets slip that his company is working with Zener Techno, and Carly insists that the Zenerengers can’t be trusted because they’re working with the robots, but Aragaki says there’s no proof of that — the security camera footage from the Japan fight was just static — and he can’t dismiss the support of the Zenerengers without evidence. He then goes to help transport the wreckage to another lab in Detroit.
Chad flirts with Carly, annoying Siggy, and the two men bicker. Carly is then shouted at and hit with a beer can thrown by a mob; the crowd blames her (and the rest of the Corps) for standing idly by as the robots hit other countries and only going into action once America itself was threatened. People scream that the Kamen Corps should be working with the Zenerengers and the Kamen Corps, as well as Carly’s mother and her enraged father Charles, retreat.
Techno retreats to a helicopter and meets up with Hydro and Reeser. Hydro mocks Techno for almost being caught on an analog camera and Techno criticizes Hydro for being caught by the Kanekochan security cameras and needing her, Techno, to erase them. Marius tells them both to shut up and takes a call from Lansky, whom informs them they’re moving on to the next stage of their plan.
The heroes check into a hotel for the night and get up to hijinks; in particular, Misha again dresses in a provocative outfit and asks to have a drink with Siggy. Unfortunately for her, Siggy declines, saying he agreed to spend some time with Charles so that Carly and her mom can catch up. Charles tells Siggy he needs to confess his feelings to Carly or else he’ll hurt her, and he gives his blessing for the relationship. Siggy says, however, that he can’t confess because they keep being interrupted by Carly’s true love, implied to be heroics and doing good. Charles tells him to keep trying.
Siggy meets Carly outside and they look at the American flag, with Carly saying it’s a great flag and she aspires to the values it represents, then worrying she doesn’t quite measure up to its values. Siggy prepares to talk to her, but then Misha drags them inside to see a press conference put on by the Zenerengers.
At the conference, Lansky introduces Sylvia Prestige, who says her company has been funding the Zenerengers (who she claims beat the robots in St. Louis). She adds that the Zenerengers don’t have enough support because certain nations oppose them, and so she will be taking on the identity of Kamen Unity and fighting alongside them in her own suit of power armor. Sylvia gapes at the television and Carly notes how this armor looks very similar to Sylvia’s original suit; meanwhile, at the conference, Cynthia praises her own company’s efforts in calming conflict areas before introducing Aragaki and stating that the United Nations asked his company to investigate the robots. Aragaki in turn reiterates how Zener Techno allegedly found a way to block the robots’ self destruct systems, allowing them to capture a robot intact. He further says that Techno deciphered the robot’s programming language and found that they are an alien type of robot called ‘otomotons’.
Techno removes her helmet and has the captured robot state that they came to save their world from ‘photonic bombardment’ and to “fight the light.” Cynthia clarifies that, according to the robot, light pollution from the Earth is getting into space and destroying the planet that the otomotons call home. The otomotons are thus traveling the multi-million light year distance to Earth and trying to stop the excess light. Cynthia calls for global unity to reduce the levels of light pollution, pacify the robots, and restore the pristine night sky to what it was centuries ago. A reporter says this doesn’t make scientific sense since the alien planet is so far away and thus shouldn’t be affected by Earth’s light, but the crowd shouts her down. Aragaki says they’ll study the robot further in Kagemitsu’s Detroit lab, and the press conference ends.
Carly instructs the rest of the team to take her family home safely while she and Sylvia take the analog camera to Detroit so they can prove to Aragaki that the Zenerengers cannot be trusted. Sylvia is still stunned and admits that Cynthia is her stepmother. A flashback reveals a time when Sylvia kissed Simon goodnight but then went to bed without letting Cynthia help, and Simon and Cynthia try to reassure each other about Sylvia’s hostility towards Cynthia. Cynthia goes upstairs and pledges to continue taking care of Simon, at which point Sylvia finally calls her ‘mom.’ Cynthia looks at a photograph showing Sylvia and Simon along with a different woman, presumably Sylvia’s original mother.
In the present, Sylvia explains that Cynthia was Simon's caretaker for a while before he married her and made her Sylvia’s stepmother. They arrive at Aragaki’s lab but Sylvia wants to slow down so they don’t make things worse. Carly insists that the camera must have something incriminating on it or else Techno wouldn’t have fled, and Sylvia in turn insists that her mom would never knowingly work with villains and must have been fooled by the Zenerengers. They go inside and meet with Aragaki, who is with Techno and Reeser; the latter loudly objects to the Kamen Corps’ presence as Carly and Sylvia approach. The two bicker while Aragaki protests Techno’s increasingly aggressive attempts to (purportedly) figure out how to control the captured otomoton. Carly protests that Techno must be faking because they know the Zenerengers can already control the robots. Reeser dismisses this and stealthy blows up the analog camera with heat vision, then murmurs that the Corps could never prove their claims even if they were true.
Sylvia’s visor shows her that Techno is enhanced with chimeratons, and her armor provides her with the ability to drain other chimeraton powers, so she attempts to just drain Techno’s strength and win that way. Techno in turn hacks Sylvia’s suit and breaks it into shards, but as he taunts her, the large otomoton wakes up and goes berserk. Reeser demands Techno shut it down but Techno has been weakened from Sylvia’s attack and he can’t. Carly has Aragaki flee and tells Sylvia to do the same, but even though she no longer has her armor, Sylvia insists on staying and helping defeat the robot.
Carly and Reeser blast the robot but accomplish nothing, and Carly blames Reeser for making the robots invulnerable to her attacks. The robot launches a missile and Reeser appears genuinely distressed at the idea that Carly might be hurt or killed, but she dodges as the robot blasts through the wall of the lab and takes the fight outside. Sylvia winds up behind the robot and sees an open hatch, so she grabs some discarded missiles from her suit and manually throws them at the hatch while yelling for Carly to blast them. Carly does so just as the missiles hit the hatch and they wound the robot. Before they can destroy it, however, Cynthia arrives and slices it in two with her own suit of power armor.
A crowd cheers “Kamen Unity!” and “Fight the light!” As Cynthia claims she wants to unite the world. Carly calls the Zenerengers scammers, but Reeser threatens to release the footage of Sylvia’s struggle with Techno to make it look like it was the Kamen Corps who made the robot go berserk. Cynthia then asks Carly to publicly align with her and join the Zenerengers in protecting the world, but Carly refuses.
—Carly Vanders
The crowd denounces Carly as a lunatic conspiracy theorist while Cynthia publicly frets over Sylvia. Cynthia indicates she had no idea Sylvia was a Kamen Corps members and tells her to go home, blowing off her warnings about Lansky. Meanwhile, Reeser tells Techno not to bother messing with the security footage of the fight since nobody will believe the Kamen Corps anyways.
Millius and Grendel of Black Hops block off Carly’s home to ensure the mob doesn’t get in, but Millius warns the Kamen Corps and Carly’s family that Cynthia has powerful friends and has stalled the investigation into Lansky. He also advises Carly to give Sylvia some support. Sylvia insists that her mother is a good person and must have a reason for what she’s doing, revealing in the process that it was Cynthia who introduced Sylvia to Lansky and had her become Kamen UN. Carly says she respects this, but notes that Cynthia is working with Lansky, whom she has to know is evil. She references her past with Vicki and says that sometimes you don’t know people as well as you think.
In the past, Sylvia meets Simon in a medical ward and thanks him for helping her study enough that she was able to ace a math test. She also excelled in gymnastics practice and thinks she’ll make the school team. She’s worried, however, that she’s taking on so many activities that she won’t have time for friends; she also notes that Cynthia is increasingly covering for Simon at work and so she’s not around either. She’s so alone, Sylvia concludes, that none of her accomplishments feel like victory. Simon tries to cheer her up by giving her a holy medallion which once belonged to Sylvia’s original mother; he claims that she can use the medallion to remember that she’s never alone. Sylvia accepts the medallion and asks to play a video game with him; they finally beat the level Sylvia had been struggling with, but when she looks over, she sees that Simon has passed away.
Back in the present, Carly wakes early and goes downstairs to have breakfast with Charles. He says she’s proud of her for continuing to do good despite the public opposition to her. Carly says it’s hard but she knows it’s important. She then cites Matthew 5:46 by saying there’s no value in doing good only to those who do good to you, since even the wicked manage that. Before she can continue, though, Mr. Kaminski shows up and asks if she knows where Vicki is.
In an epilogue, Carly and Siggy run into a shark monster demanding a refund in a comic shop, but Carly recognizes the monster as being a star of her favorite cartoon and runs off to get some merchandise for him to sign.
This comic contains examples of the following tropes:
- Admiring the Abomination: Carly is awestruck by the shark monster she runs into in the epilogue.
- As the Good Book Says...: Carly quotes the Bible to justify her insistence on doing good even for those who hate her.
- The Casanova: Chad reveals this aspect of his personality.
- Evil Matriarch: Cynthia Prestige is revealed to both be the boss of the Zenerengers and also Cynthia’s mother.
- Multi National Team: The Zenerengers is this, as per their stated philosophy. Of the three members who have been unmasked so far Techno is Japanese and Hydro is a Filipina.
- No-Sell: Subverted; Techno appears to do this to Sylvia as he shreds her armor with a single gesture, but it turns out Sylvia hurt him enough that he can no longer control the Otomoton.
- Older Is Better: Carly’s mom’s analog camera can take pictures of Zener Techno, who is completely undetectable by digital devices.
- Politically Correct Villain: Cynthia Prestige claims to want unity (even using that as her superhero name) and to be fighting environmental problems like light pollution, but she’s leading the evil Zenerengers and helping them cause problems all over the world.
- Power-Up Food: Henshy demonstrates the ability to power up by ingesting certain substances such as soda.
- Shamed by a Mob: The mob tries to shame Carly, and later, the dissident reporter. However, the mob is clearly wrong.
- What You Are in the Dark: Carly and Charles discuss the importance of doing good even when nobody is watching.
