Green Heroine


Green Heroine is an adventure story arc of the Philippine comic strip series Pugad Baboy, created by Pol Medina Jr. This particular story arc lasts 87 strips long and was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer from November 2011 to March 2012. In June 2012, the story arc was reprinted in the 24th compilation of the comic strip series, named PB24. For the first time in the series, Cristina "Tiny" Sungcal and her gay friend Pao Tang appear as main characters.

Synopsis

One day, Tiny seeks Mang Dagul's help in a field trip to the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong as part of a school field trip. Bab drops her off instead. After the trip, Tiny tells her experiences to Pao in a series of flashbacks that break the fourth wall.
In the asylum, Tiny interviews a deranged patient named Dr Arnibal Necter, who calls her Agent CS of the Fat Bitch Ingenue agency. Over the course of the interview, Dr Necter makes a series of cryptic predictions. Tiny and Pao connect two predictions on recent events: the sabotage of a biodiesel-producing liposuction clinic that botched an operation on US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas and the destruction of a local jatropha farm using swarms of the Pennsylvania marmorated stink bug and the California scutellarid bug - insects only found in the US. The duo's research identifies a piggery in Cavite and a hydrogen processing plant as possible targets. Tiny visits the plant and talks to the supervisor, averting an explosion that could be traced to hydrogen vapors. As Tiny calls Pao to report on the latest development, Pao himself crashes from the sky in front of her.
Pao explains that she visited the piggery and met a Korean man named Mr Shin. He says the piggery's waste is processed at a co-located methane research facility for alternative fuel in passenger cars. However, the facility explodes when a door Shin opens triggers a whole set of matches attached to one door, thereby lighting the methane gas and sending the two into the air. Tiny and Pao head to an ethanol production plant in Tarlac that could be another target. A man in shades, jeans, and jacket named the "Tsimaymenator" kidnaps the plant's consultant, Ciara Connor, and escapes despite the FBI agents shooting him and his goons with special nonlethal darts. The kidnapping fumes Connor's husband, Christian Bale Connor.
Reflecting on two more of Dr Necter's predictions, Tiny matches them to a purported leak of sulfuric acid from a battery plant in Sta Rosa, Laguna and a potential terrorist threat at an international bio-energy conference held in the Manila Hotel. While scoping out the security at the hotel, Tiny chances upon Ciara at the women's restroom and tries to get her out of the hotel - only to run into several bodyguards. Polgas appears to bring Ciara to safety while Tiny and Pao fight off their pursuers. Tiny turns into another alter-ego named Obesa Vanidosa and sends some agents into a long chase. Obesa rejoins Pao, and so does Mr Shin, who has finally crashed back to the ground after the plant explosion in time to squash the Tsimaymenator from killing the two.
The group heads to the safehouse - a nipa hut - in San Pablo, Laguna, but Pao gets a hunch about being followed. It is proven true as their Toyota Prius and the safehouse is blown up apparently by Predator drones. Fortunately, the entire safehouse is specially armored underneath the thatching, and Obesa uses a special rod to fire explosive anti-vehicle rounds at two black Ford E-150 vans carrying the agents from the hotel. When the vans are destroyed, Ciara identifies the drone that attacked them as an Avenger, which repositions for another attack until Mr Shin flies into the air to forcibly crash it. Obesa, Pao, and Mr Shin finally mop up the remaining agents. Obesa reverts to Tiny and introduces herself to Mr Shin - who recognizes Ciara as Dr Alecx dela Cruz, a senior consultant in his methane plant.
Now angered at the subterfuge, Tiny and Pao crosscheck and learn that Connor/dela Cruz is actually Dr Cristina Torres, who worked at the hydrogen plant Tiny visited earlier. Tiny deduces that the consultancy job was a cover for the sabotage operations. She forces Torres to come clean and make sense of all the evidence compiled against her.
Torres explains that the Tsimaymenator was actually in Tarlac to rescue her now that her cover was blown and reveals that a Detroit-based syndicate of American muscle car enthusiasts plotted the sabotage to stifle research on alternative fuels. To Tiny and Pao's surprise, she admits that Dr Necter was the group's chief saboteur, whose handiwork in tampering the Prius' brake and acceleration systems resulted in its recall. However, he went soft after refusing to participate in the murder of Gerry Ortega and returned to the US to announce his exit from the group.
Tiny returns to the NCMH and confronts Dr Necter about the revelations. He states that the beauty of Palawan made him appreciate the environment more and changed his goal to promote clean energy. As Mr Shin distracts the NCMH staff with a photo shoot, Tiny and Torres blast open Dr Necter's cell and spring him. Dr Necter and Dr Torres fly back to the US to settle their scores with the group.

Epilogue

Tiny laments that despite the best efforts of current researchers, she would never see the widespread use of sustainable energy for cars in her lifetime. She and Pao get wind of a news report about a sinkhole that apparently formed underneath a car engine factory in Detroit and presume that Dr Necter did it. Pao is stunned to see that Mr Shin - whom he desires as a sugar daddy - is actually gay. Due to more fourth wall-breaking actions, the creator, Pol Medina Jr., then has the Tsimaymenator close the story arc with "Diz story iz terminated!"

Real-life references