The Empty Shell

"The Empty Shell" was originally published in Kurt Busiek's Astro City Vol.2 No.18.

Synopsis

Things have not gone well, Mock Turtle is dead and Carl is back to square one, Keifer Square is giving him the funny eye and he's broke at the same time. Utterly depressed, Donewicz goes to Ferguson to ask for a job hoping that he can somehow get some information inside of whats going on, but he knows that it probably won't happen. Donny gets snappy when he enquires about the Mock Turtle and Steeljack goes to the job, he's picked up by two flying robots and is transported to the big boss, The Conquistador.

The Conquistador lays out his big plan: half of his group will be committing robberies around Astro City, whilst much the much bigger names wil be creating distraction so that Honor Guard, E.A.G.L.E and other groups will be distracted. The final words of the Conquistador piques Carl's interest "Nobody dies."

Transported away by the robots, Carl starts thinking about the Conquistador's identity. Unable to find Hildago, Carl tries interviewing associates of Hildago, which goes better than expected... in a sense. Maria states that Hildago seemed haunted the last time he saw him and contacting the Irregulars themselves goes nowhere, but being frisked by a police officer, he notes that the officer, Detective Ruiz, is fact Bravo, based on his ethniticy and age and mentioning Hildago causes Ruiz to snap briefly and Carl internally notes that Ruiz is just as "screwed up as the rest of us" but he had moved past it. Carl notes that in his mind he's just a weak, pathetic coward, nothing more, nothing less.

Going back to Keifer Square, Yolanda's mother runs up to him in a hurry, telling him that Yolanda took her fathers gloves and took up a job, and she begs him to stop her from ruining her life. Finding Yolanda in a art collectors house, Carl saves Goldenglove's life, who then leaves him when the building collapses around him. Captured by the police, he finally confronts Ferguson and gets him to admit that all the black masks in Keifer Square is working for the Conquistador and that they both know who he is. Ferguson doesn't want to admit that he's leading them all into a deathtrap to save his own skin. Carl realizes that the only person who stop the Conquistador and save Keifer Square... is him.