Editing 2484: H-alpha

[[Black Hat]] has acquired an {{w|H-alpha}} filter. As he explains to [[Cueball]], these are optical filters used to look at the Sun during scientific observations, as looking at the Sun bare-eyed will do damage to one's eyes; a camera using such a filter was seen in [[1828: ISS Solar Transit]], and the consequences of not using such a filter were explored in [[2227: Transit of Mercury]].  

Upon returning, he shares with Cueball three seemingly unrelated observations which suggest what he was up to in the meantime: that most modern {{w|blimps}} use helium to keep them aloft, that their household is out of fireworks, and that an advertising company (or several, going by the title text) is upset. Early in the 20th century, most {{w|airships}} such as blimps and {{w|zeppelins}} used hydrogen as the lifting gas, which resulted in several catastrophic accidents, such as the {{w|Hindenburg disaster|''Hindenburg'' disaster}}, when the highly flammable gas caught fire. Apparently, Black Hat was not aware that modern airships use helium instead, and tried to set someone's advertising blimp alight using fireworks; he could then have used his H-alpha filter to look at the burning hydrogen. Several companies use blimps for advertising, as they are an unusual and hence attention-getting sight in the sky, offer a large surface area that can be used to show a slogan or logo, and can stay aloft for a long time at comparatively little cost. While modern blimps do use helium, an inert gas, Black Hat also could have failed because advertising blimps typically fly higher than firework range. However, it's possible that Black Hat had a way to make fireworks go higher/farther, especially considering Black Hat's penchant to change things creatively to meet his goals; perhaps he was in a small plane. The joke is that Black Hat would do something as destructive as destroying a flying blimp, probably killing people aboard, merely to have the opportunity to use his H-alpha filter.

The title text references the insurance company MetLife, which until 2016 used the cartoon character {{w|Snoopy}} as an advertising mascot. In the ''{{w|Peanuts}}'' comics, Snoopy would frequently imagine himself as a fighter pilot in {{w|World War I}} in an aerial battle with the {{w|Red Baron}}, a battle he would frequently lose.

:[In a broad frame-less panel Black Hat, holding the device down in his left hand, is standing behind Cueball sitting in an armchair reading on his tablet.]

:[Another two slim panels follows. In the first Black Hat turns around and leaves, his head partly out side the panel already, and he no longer holds the device in his hands. And then follows and empty beat panel.]

:[In a broad panel Black Hat re-enters walking towards Cueball in his armchair. The black hat is somewhat out of shape. Cueball is still reading but is now hunched further forward, with his face closer to his tablet.]