Talyesin's Tales

Having been saved from clockrockers by Blue Jay, Squirrelman, in his civilian guise of Matt Mattheson, asked her to meet later than night. He returned home to find his teammates have found a place for the Crimefighters' League to call their headquarters. Now it was time to meet their potential recruits. But first...






I suit up, heading out to meet Blue Jay. I hop onto the el that'll take me into town, jump off at McCloud, running along the edge of the buildings heading for the Swan Building, when I hear a familiar voice.

"Need a lift?" It's Joe Sterling, the other Supertwin. He's flying alongside me, wearing his short-sleeved Sterlingsuit.

"Hey Joe," I answer. "Sure, thanks."

I flip. Joe grabs my wrists, I grab his, like we've done it a million times. It's probably only been a dozen or so, but who's counting?

"Where you headed?" Joe asks, soaring over most of the buildings around us.

"Swan Building," I tell him. He veers off to the left.

"Where're you going?" I ask. "Take Perez."

"Perez is blocked," he answers. "Still cleaning up from the Mongols. Gonna swing around through the financial district."

"Oh, okay." It's a little further that way but he's flying a lot faster than I can run. I ask, "So how's things with Princess?"

"Cass? Oh, alright I guess."

"You don't sound so sure."

"Ah, we had a fight," he admits.

"Well, that'll happen sometimes," I tell him. "Look at me and Ragdoll."

"Yeah, but that's part of your whole thing, you know? You fight, you make up, you fight again. Heightens the sexual tension," he says to me, and he's right. Conflict is our aphrodisiac.

"Cass is normally so sweet and kind, that when we fight it's usually my fault and I feel like shit for it afterwards," he continues.

"What did you do?"

"Ah, I was late for dinner with her folks."

This is normally a minor event in a young couple's life. You're late for dinner, your girl is trying to show you off to them but it doesn't go the way she planned, tensions mount, you make it up by bringing flowers the next time.

When the parents in question are the Majestics, however... and when you're the first boyfriend their precious only daughter has ever brought home... and when you're five years older than their just-out-of-her-teens daughter... yeah. Big trouble for Joe Sterling.

"Shit," I say.

"Yeah."

"So I'm in the black book with her Dad for the moment," he says, "which means I - hang on a sec."

He sort of tilts his head as we're flying along, slowing down.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Police radio report... Nightzone and his crew are attacking the Actionauts game."

"What?! They're going to totally wreck our chance at the pennant!"

"Seriously."

"You can hear the police radio?"

"Sure," he grins. "Can't everyone?"

"No."

"Well, that's why Jerry and me are the Supertwins."

"Yeah, okay." I roll my eyes a little, smiling under my mask.

"We should do something," Joe says.

"Yeah." I think for a second. "Listen, drop me off at the Swan Building. You go scope it out, I'll hook up with Blue Jay, we'll meet you at Eisner Stadium."

"You got it," Joe says. He floors it to the Swan Building, drops me off a little wind burned, and I climb down the face of the building to the observation deck. I hop of the side of the building, landing on the deck. There's a figure standing in the shadows near the main door. I turn.

Medium height, slender build, mid-length dark hair. Sky blue sweater-set, jeans, sneakers. She came in her civvies.

"Oh,"she says, giving a little embarrassed smile. She scoops her hair behind one ear.

"Sorry, I..." I apologize, though I'm not sure why.

"I'm... Stephanie Cooke," she says, holding out her hand.

I unmask. "Matt Mattheson," I say. We shake hands.

"This is... so awkward, isn't it?" she laughs.

"A little, yeah."

"I know how to fix it," she smiles, reaching for the pendant on her gold necklace.

There's a flash of light, a swirl of wind, wings grow from her arms, her clothes change into her costume.

"That's convenient," I say, pulling on my mask.

"I'll say," Blue Jay grins.

"Listen, I wanted to talk to you about this idea Ace, Ragdoll and I came up with, only there's this thing at Eisner Stadium? Nightzone and his creeps. You want to check it out?"

"Sure!" she agrees. "You can tell me your idea on the way."

"Can you carry me?"

"You'll have to grab my ankles, I need to keep my arms clear," she explains, leaping up and beating her wings to gain a little altitude. I jump up and grab her by the ankles, then she takes us both over the side in a dive that reminds me a lot of falling. At the last minute she pulls up, gaining a lot of speed.

"So what's your idea?" she asks.

"We're getting together a group of masks," I yell to her over the rushing wind and sound of her wings.

"A team?"

"Sort of," I say, outlining the basic idea.

"Sounds awesome!"

"Thanks," I say just as we get to Eisner Stadium. Joe's on the roof edge, talking to a mask dressed all in black except for the big yellow T on his chest. Troubleshooter. We've never met but I've heard good things.

"What's up, Joe?" I say after introductions.

"Nightzone and his crew are holding everyone hostage. They want fifty million dollars and the release of a whole slew of Kane inmates."

"Why bother?" I say. "Wait a week, the inmates will escape on their own." I have a few issues with the security over at the Kane Sanitarium.

"So what do we do?" Blue Jay asks.

I look over the edge of the stadium to get a look. Nightzone is hard to miss, he's a big guy all in black with dreadlocks, a white skull painted on his face. He's standing on the pitcher's mound with a bull horn, making demands and telling the crowd that they're going to pay, he'll have his revenge, all that. Patchwork is standing next to him. Siren's controlling dozens of gangbangers, all armed with automatic rifles, aimed at the crowd. I can't see Phantasm, big surprise, or Gremlynn, which worries me.

There's a rush of wind behind me and I twitch to one side, but it's only Red Bolt.

"What's the deal, kids?" he asks, taking a look over the side.

"Okay," I say, a plan coming together in my head. "Red, you work the crowd. Blue Jay, you get Siren's attention and try to keep it, don't let yourself listen to her. Can you set up that harmonics thing you did before?"

"It only works in enclosed spaces, and it would take too long anyway," she explains.

"Okay, well, improvise, I guess."

"Oh, I'm good at that," she grins.

"Joe, you take out Patchwork."

"You got it," Joe smiles and cracks his knuckles.

"Troubleshooter-" I start to say.

"I'll go after Nightzone," he says in a way that doesn't invite argument. "I have something in my bag of tricks that will work."

"What about you, Big Kahuna?" Joe asks.

"I'll find Gremlynn. Anyone sees Phantasm just holler."

Red Bolt is already gone, and a quick peek over the side shows me a red blur sort of erasing the crowd. One second, frightened bystanders in their seats, next second, red blur, next second, the seats are empty.

Joe and Blue Jay go over the side and Troubleshooter pulls out his wiregun, lets fly the grapnel, swings over and down to the stands. I climb over the edge.

Blue Jay's already swooping around Siren, distracting her from maintaining her sonic mind lock on the gangers. Joe's taken Patchwork out into center field, and they're slamming away at each other. I see Troubleshooter's running down the stairs to get to the field.

I suddenly twitch aside.

Too late. I feel claws rake my back. I flip away and hot squeeze out my own.

Gremlynn's this skeletally skinny chick with long oily blonde hair and a bad complexion. She dresses in shades of brown and has bare feet and hands, all the better for her claws. Her mouth is a slit in her face filled with needle-sharp fangs.

And she's wicked fast. She's on me in a blur, slashing and clawing. I keep backflipping away, into the Stadium, away from the civilians. I grab a trash can and heave it at her, but she climbs over it mid-air and lunges for me. I do a backwards somersault and kick her in the stomach, sending her flying into a concrete pillar. She's back on her feet and lunges for me, relentless, I dodge to one side, grab her wrist mid-air and slam her to the ground. I kick her in the face and she tries to bite my foot. I flip away and grab the pipes overhead and push off the ceiling with both feet, miss her completely and she slashes at my side. She's snarling and incoherent, while I'm not even trying for my usual witty banter. She jumps at me again, I grab her by the throat and twist, slamming her hard into the ground. She slashes for my throat and I punch her in the gut, grab her shoulders and slam her face into my knee. She bites my leg and I punch her face to make her let go, grab her and toss her into a concession stand, jump the counter and land hard on her leg. I hear it snap and she yowls in pain.

Great. Now she's cornered and hurt.

She's a whirl of claws and fangs and I do my best to stay out of her way, twitching, dodging, flipping away from her. Okay, the whole 'take her out on my own' thing wasn't a great idea. Time to find some backup.

I run for it, back out into the stands. Red Bolt's already cleared this section. I see that the outfield is pretty much a crater now, Joe and Patchwork still going at it, Troubleshooter is taking out the gangers, Blue Jay is standing over the unconscious body of Siren.

Behind me, Gremlynn slashes at me again, I have time to think, Even limping she's too fucking fast, and I dive for the infield.

"Little help!" I call out. Blue Jay takes off, swooping over. I stop running and turn, jumping at Gremlynn as Blue Jay kicks her hard in the face. I tackle her to the ground and follow up with two quick punches in her chest and a knee to her gut. She's gasping for air and I slam her face into home plate, knocking her out.

"You're out," I pant. Some things just have to be said, really.

I hear Nightzone start to chant something behind me and Troubleshooter reaches into his bag, tosses white powder at the voodoo priest. The powder forms a circle around the pitcher's mound.

"Now why you want be doin dat?" Nightzone says, pulling out a long knife. "Fightin for de mon, bra?"

"Don't call me brother, you sack of shit," Troubleshooter says, stepping into the circle.

The fight is all a swirl of Troubleshooter's cloak and Nightzone's long coat, but it's over fairly quick. Didn't quite see what Troubleshooter did, but Nightzone folds over and falls to the ground.

I look around. No civilians left. The gangers are suddenly tied up in a red blur. Red Bolt cleared out 12,000 civilians in about five minutes, and he's standing there, hands on his knees, panting a little. He nods to me.

I limp over to Troubleshooter. Patchwork's head lands next to us, blinking at us slowly. Joe flies in from the outfield, carrying Patchwork's hands. They're the parts that will reassemble him, so they're the problem, really. Smart kid. He's got a black eye and a swollen lip and his shirt's been ripped off.

"Way to go, everyone," I say.

Troubleshooter pulls out a first aid kit, bandaging my scratches. While we wait for the police I give them the pitch about the Crimefighters' League. Red Bolt and Blue Jay both seem very keen. Even Joe looks interested. Troubleshooter listens, says he'll think about it.

We split the collar. Nobody saw Phantasm, so he must have gotten away.

I head home. Kimmy's waiting up. She doesn't look happy.

"I thought you were just going to meet with Blue Jay and give her the pitch," she says.

"Something came up," I say, peeling off my costume. It's shredded. I put it in Farrah's autowash, hoping the machine will be able to fix it.

"Really."

"Can we please argue about this later? I'm in a lot of pain here."

"Good."

"Jesus, I didn't plan on it happening."

"You want to go out and get collars with other w- people, that's fine with me."

"Oh Christ," I sit down on the couch, the scratches on my back on fire. "Is that what this is about? You think, what, I'm cheating on you?"

She doesn't say anything.

"Kimmy, I love you, okay? Only you. Only ever you."

She looks down.

"Okay?"

"Yeah," she says. She takes a deep breath. "Look, I guess I'm just upset because I wanted to ask you something tonight, after everyone left. And then you were gone longer than you said you'd be, and I... Anyway."

"It's okay, hon. Really." She sits down next to me. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"So what did you want to ask me?" I ask.

She leans away from me, looks me in the eye.

She takes another deep breath and asks, "Do you want to marry me?"