Grieving his husband's untimely death, Alec Archer doesn't feel up to donning the Whirlwind's skintight turquoise costume to defend Centerport against yet another supervillain. But the evil genius who calls himself the Zookeeper doesn't care about Alec's feelings. The Zookeeper has chosen Centerport as the perfect place to demonstrate his latest creation, a genetic process that converts harmless house-pets into lethal bio-weapons. Whether he's battling giant spiders, rescuing the city from a vicious army of mutated puppies and kittens, saving a child from an angry Grizzly bear, or simply babysitting a pair of awkward newbie superheros who are more trouble than they're worth, Alec dutifully does his best, even though his heart isn't in it. Unfortunately, the Whirlwind's unique biology proves irresistible to the Zookeeper. Captured, and horribly tortured to unlock the secrets of his superhuman genetics, Alec's despair and grief threaten to overcome him, and the outcome of the Whirlwind's final confrontation with the Zookeeper is far from certain.