The Silent Partners.Billy Quizboy has begun work at a hospital under the name Dr. Phil Donahue where he is lauded as a skilled surgeon, but he lacks the credentials he claims he had. In a worry, he enters a patient's room to find the ailing King Gorilla seemingly killed by the mysterious benefactors who had previously given Conjectural Technologies a substantial payment. Billy returns home worried and saying they need to return the money, but Pete White reassures him until these mysterious benefactors come and kidnap Billy. Pete goes to SPHINX for help, when SPHINX realizes that they were contacted by the Investors, a mysterious group who has killed everyone else they have come in contact with. Brock and Shore Leave track down the Investors' location to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and get help from the former pirate Captain in his boat to get them to the location, as J.J. has used parts from the X-2 to build Gargantua 2. Billy finds himself with Monstroso, who has also made a deal with the Investors, and Billy is to become immortal as a result of his own deal. Billy believes he is going to become a vampire, and later that night is seduced by a group of who he believes to be vampires, while Shore Leave locks onto Billy's location and they all discover Monstroso is related to the Investors as well. The following day, Billy is informed that he simply slept with prostitutes, and Monstroso says that his immortality will be becoming a world-renowned surgeon for performing a life-saving heart transplant on Monstroso using King Gorilla's heart while also receiving the necessary credentials to work as an actual surgeon. Brock and Shore Leave find Monstroso's boat and the Investors, but their individual attacks just phase right through the men. Brock then tracks down Monstroso to find Billy operating, keeping Brock from killing his patient. Later, Monstroso is in recovery, but has been brought to SPHINX headquarters, where Brock asks if he is ready to be killed yet.