The short, short version

[telerib]

The group went to Detroit. The big, big boat from Greece was floating in Lake Huron.

Dr. Olsson picked up a radio transmission that consisted of Reg's name and a hotel name and room number. Reg and Phineas went and found Marie Deschamps waiting for them. Apparently, her group was none too pleased with Dr. Krause's little show and had developed countermeasures to take out the zepplins that had the nerve gas onboard. Could Reg's team safely rescue the President? (She also dropped a comment which seemed to imply that the Spider, in San Francisco, had been in touch with her group and was taking anti-zepplin measures in California).

Adam, monitoring the radio, wrote down assorted conversations in German that Dr. Olsson later translated. The President was indeed being held on the big boat.

The Scorpion, down at the docks, learned that smaller vessels ran between the big one and the docks.

So, coordinating with Marie, the group disabled the crew of one of these small vessels and got onboard the big ship. Using the Scorpion and a ham sandwich as props, they got into the room where the President was being held. Dr. Olsson protected him while Reg and Adam took care of the guards; Phineas made sure there was a clear exit. The Scorpion tangled with Dr. Krause, an older gentleman who had augmented himself with clockwork bits. Mechanically enhanced, he was every bit as tough and strong as the Scorpion, but lacked fighting skills. That's what counted in the end.

Stealing the communications equipment that had allowed the ship to coordinate with all the zepplins, and carrying the unconscious Dr. Krause, the group blew a hole in the side of the ship and made good their escape.

I tried to tack on a little subplot about bombs in Detroit that had to be attended to by Dr. Krause every six hours, or things would blow up and Lake Huron would flood the streets. But it was very lame and poorly thought-out.

Much pomp and circumstance later, the heroes were celebrated in a grand ceremony in Washington, D.C., awarded Congressional Medals of Freedom, and generally lauded and fed good food.