Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past

Investigating a lead about a Boost lab in Downtown, Squirrelman, Ace and Ragdoll were defeated by a huge metahuman named Junkernaut, a humanoid made up of scraps of junk, and woke up to discover they had been captured by a man calling himself Dr. Hi-Q.

The Boost lab turned out to be more than just a normal drug lab. It was a huge underground complex filled with Praxis technology, that drained metahumans of their adrenalin and converted it to the powerful drug Boost.

In the ensuing battle, Dr. Hi-Q activated the Boost injectors on his metahuman cyber-zombie creation, a behemoth that subsequently mutated and went on a rampage that killed Dr. Hi-Q.

The battle raged throughout the complex as the still mutating behemoth chased Squirrelman, Ragdoll, Ace, and their allies the Mole and Cricket, out of the facility and into the enraged arms of the Junkernaut. Junkernaut and the behemoth attacked each other, destroying the facility.

Upon forming the Crimefighters' League, Phenom informed them that he had recently tangled with a man calling himself Dr. Hi-Q and matching the dead criminal scientist's description.

Doc Sterling, always suspicious of anything to do with Praxis technology, asked Squirrelman and his team to show him the drug lab complex.



Starring!

Matt Mattheson ......... as Squirrelman
Kimmy Sinclair ................ as Ragdoll
Rick Duncan ........................... as Ace
Lisa Dumont ................... as Physique
Mike Washington ............. as Dragon
Trevor Andrews ............... as Phenom

Guest starring

Reed Sterling ........................ as Doc
Molly O'Malley ............. as Glory Gal





I grab Ragdoll and hug her close and jump for the ceiling, claws in my fingers and toes sinking into the ceiling.

Bullets are flying but most of them, thankfully, aren't getting past Physique or Dragon, who both jumped to the elevator doors when I yelled for everyone to get down. Phenom's got Molly and the Doc in the corner, protecting them with his own body. Ace is in the other corner. He tosses a smoke card out past Physique and soon the gunfire stops.

"Go go go!" I yell. Physique and Dragon rush out, Dragon letting loose a blast of flames. Phenom goes next, leaping clear the second he's out. Ace and Molly are next. I drop down, Ragdoll lands beside me, we leap out of the smoke.

"All clear!"

"Clear!"

"Clear here too!"

"Anyone hurt?"

"Nope."

"No."

"We're fine."

We're in a bit of a cave formed by some old building having been gutted and half falling to pieces against the cavern's wall. There are bare girders and bare brick walls and the doors and windows have been boarded up. The floor is rotting through.

And guns hanging from every available space, all set up to fire at the elevator doors.

"A trap," Molly says.

"Looks like someone didn't want you coming around any more, Doc," I say.

"Holy socks," he says. "But how did they-?" He turns around and looks up over the elevator, where it looks like some kind of crude tech has been bolted to the elevator, wires snaking into the elevator's exposed circuitry. He gives it a glance and says, "Oh, I see."

"What is it, Doc?" Ragdoll asks.

"Well, I installed a proximity alarm to keep me apprised of potential threats," he explains, standing under the device to get a look at it. He pulls a flashlight from his belt and shines onto the thing. "Phenom, give me a boost?"

"Sure thing, Doc."

Phenom boosts him up and he gets a good long look at it, pulling a wire cutter from his belt and snipping a couple of the wires.

"Somehow, someone hacked into my proximity alarm - quite literally," he says as Phenom lets him down again. "It looks like they used an axe to break through the wall. Set up that device to fool the alarm into thinking no one was around, then set up all these guns. Fascinating, really. I wonder..."

He heads over to one of the guns Ace is checking out.

"Radio receiver on the trigger," Ace says, handing the shotgun to Reed.

"I suspected as much," Doc says. "The anti-alarm has a short range transmitter."

"High-tech version of the 'cord running from the doorknob to the shotgun' trick," Dragon rumbles.

"Exactly."

"Okay, we need to focus," I say. "No one's hurt so I think we can investigate this later, if that's alright by you, Doc?"

"Naturally," he agrees, nodding. "I'll send the elevator back up. We'll call for it later."

"Right."

"One thing, Squirrelly," Ace says.

"Shoot."

"Those guns made a helluva racket."

"He's got a point," Phenom says. "Whoever set these guns up has got to know that his trap got sprung. We wait around here, we're liable to find out who it is."

"Yeah, but I don't want to get dragged into a turf war or grudge match or whatever this is," I say. "We came down here to check out the Boost lab, we should stick to the game plan."

"I could stay," Molly says. "That way, anyone comes, we'll know who did it."

"You're sure?" Reed asks her.

"Sure as starshine," she grins. "Besides, the possibility of holding off waves of attackers hellbent on my destruction sounds like a lot more fun than digging around some ruined underground complex."

"Since you put it that way," Phenom says, grinning, "Maybe I'll stay too."

"Phenom?"

"She's got a point, boss. You guys go ahead. You run into any trouble, give a shout," he says, tapping his ear where he's wearing the nanobead as an earplug.

"Same goes for you guys," Ace says to them.

"Okay," I say. "Keep out of sight. If you see anything, holler. We're going to check in with the Mole."

"We are?" Doc says, surprised.

"Sure," I say, kicking a couple of boards loose from one of the windows. "His turf."

"I don't understand," Doc says, frowning.

"The Mole's the only law down here," Ragdoll explains as we climb a pile of rubble on the way toward the Mole's Underground Lair. "Any masks come Downtown, they check in with him."

"As fascinated as I am by the fluctuating nuances of costumed crimefighter etiquette, I'm not sure I understand why you would report to a man who has, for all intents and purposes, eschewed society."

"It's a courtesy," Ace adds. "And it gives him street cred."

"Ah yes, street cred. That makes some sense. Still, who appointed him the only law in Downtown? Don't the police patrol... I see by your faces they obviously don't, so I won't finish that sentence."

"Maybe back when you were coming down here regularly, Doc," Dragon rumbles. "The cops felt they had to do likewise. But now... Downtown's a war zone on a good day, so the cops don't come down here if they don't have to."

"That's outrageous," Doc says angrily. "Downtown is still part of Action City, still deserving of protection and support."

"Tell that to the cops," I say.

"See if I don't."

We're just about to the Mole's Lair when Dragon grabs my shoulder.

"He's not in," he says.

"How do you know?"

"Says so on the sign," he says, pointing. The Mole's Underground Lair sign is probably a couple hundred yards away, half obscured by rubble and junk, and Dragon not only picked it out but can read it from here. I mean, I have good eyes, but I have to squint to make it that it reads "The Mole is Out - Call Back Later."

"I guess we don't check in with him," Ragdoll says, not exactly disappointed.

"I guess not."

So we make our way through more ruined streets, avoiding people where we can, crossing over old rooftops that don't serve much purpose now they're underground. Pretty soon we're at a big pile of rubble that used to be the brownstone over the Boost lab before Junkernaut and that huge-ass Boosted cyberzombie pulled it in after them.

"I guess we just start digging?" Ace asks.

"I guess so," I say, and we do. Physique and Dragon being there helps quite a bit, though, and pretty soon we've uncovered the staircase we climbed to escape the complex. It's filled with rubble too but a hell of a lot less, and our climb down is a lot faster.

It's dark pretty fast but Ace pulls out his light-card and Reed pulls a light out of his belt, so at least we can see. A couple flights of stairs down and it's not so much rubble as broken support beams and fallen chunks of masonry every few feet. Doc pulls out some scanner computer thing from his belt and starts scanning the corridors.

"Yeah, this is Praxis alright," he mutters. "Every inch of it. And we want to be careful - some of these wires are still reading as live."

"There's still electric power down here?" Ace asks. "After the damage that cyberzombie caused?"

"It's been what, nearly a month?" Ragdoll adds.

"Praxis builds to last," Doc admits, reluctantly. "There's probably a generator on one of the lower levels, if the design of the complex runs true."

"What are you saying, Doc?" Physique asks. "This is a pre-fab underground drug lab and hidden lair?"

"Praxis' range of products is pretty extensive. Their architecture and construction subsidiaries are top-notch, providing a wide variety of services. But manufacturing this complex on site would require a massive outlay of manpower and resources, and there is no way that kind of construction job would go unnoticed."

"Okay, so," Dragon says, lifting a girder to let us climb through under it. "What, they bought the complex wholesale and had it shipped here? It's not like something this big could just suddenly appear, right?"

Doc stops walking. One look at his face says he's thinking, hard and fast.

"Right, Doc?" I ask.

"It's not inconceivable that what Dragon just suggested is, in fact, exactly what happened," he says, frowning.

"You're talking teleportation," Ragdoll says.

"Whoa, whoa, waitaminute," I say. "Someone teleported the entire complex here? How?"

"Mass teleportation," Ace says. "Like the one on Praxis Orbital."

Now everyone stops walking.

"Pause the vid," I say. "Doc, can Praxis Orbital mass teleport something as big as this complex?"

"Easily, with the proper expenditure of energy and resources."

"And get rid of the rock and dirt and shit that was down her before the complex was put in?" Dragon asks.

"It would require split-second timing and a massive allocation of resources and energy, but Praxis Orbital is, conceivably, capable of both. But the cost of such a project would be staggering. Unthinkable that an outside party would devote the funds necessary to setting up a project like this. The cost would be something only major corporations or minor countries could afford."

"Major corporations like Praxis," Ace says.

"You're saying Praxis wasn't just behind the construction of the complex, but the delivery of it here? Basically, we're saying that the Boost lab was a Praxis project?"

"It's a working hypothesis," Reed says.

"But why? Running up a Boost lab in Downtown is chump change for Praxis," I say.

"Perhaps the Boost lab was a smoke screen, or a sideline project. Maybe the purpose of this complex is something entirely different."

"You must keep track of Praxis Orbital, right Doc?" Physique asks.

Reed gives a bitter smile. "Of course. I learned through harsh experience that keeping track of Kosmos and his corporation is to the advantage of all humanity."

"You've really got it out for him," I say.

"If you knew the atrocities that haven't been made public, you would too," Reed says.

"Which reminds me," Ragdoll says. "Doc, when we get back topside, we need you to check where Praxis Orbital was during the Flying Horde Gardner Violation. Just before, actually."

"Of course, but why?"

"Because if Konstantinopoulos had access to the mass teleport system onboard Praxis Orbital during the whole thing with that bomb that Johnny Giggles set up at the Cosmos Lounge, I think we might have some interesting questions for Praxis' CEO."

"Holy socks..." Reed says, shaking his head in disbelief. "Frankly I wouldn't put it past Kosmos to have engineered the entire thing just so that he could ingratiate himself with Action Citizens."

"Set up a bomb and then defuse it himself to get good press?" Ace asks. "Pretty risky, don't you think?"

"How do we know it was a real bomb?" Physique asks.

"We should have a look at it when we get topside," Doc says. "Because we've got a lot of interesting questions right here."

"I got an interesting question for you," Dragon rumbles. "What happened to the bodies?"

"What bodies?"

"Junkernaut and this Boosted cyberzombie."

"Yeah, that is a good question," I say to Ace.

"I haven't seen any sign of either of them since we got down here," Dragon adds.

"Think it through," Reed says. "Option A: Junkernaut wins the battle. The cyberzombie is destroyed. Junkernaut, possibly too weak to dig his way back up through the rubble, stays down here. Or finds another way out. Or was strong enough to escape. We can discount this one since we've seen no evidence that would support it. Option Two, The cyberzombie wins, destroying Junkernaut. Deprived of orders from its cybernetic master, it falls into a slumbering state, or possibly, continues to rampage until the Boost wears off. Regardless, this can also be discounted due to lack of evidence. The third option is that they both died in the battle and remain here, somewhere."

"Or, they both somehow survived and are still down here," I say.

"Or, they both died and something else happened to the bodies," Ragdoll says.

We pause at that, and despite myself I look over my shoulder to make sure nothing is standing there, waiting for us to notice it, because that's how these things work and I wouldn't have been surprised at all. There isn't, but I'm not the only one who looked, so I don't feel too bad about it.

"I think you'd better show me the drug lab," Doc says.

"Yeah."

"It's this way," Ace says, leading the way down a corridor.

"How can you be sure?" Physique asks. Ace points out a couple of titanium razor cards sticking in the wall.

"I thought you never missed," Dragon says.

"I didn't," Ace answers, pulling the cards out of the wall. "I was aiming for the circuit that controlled this door. Cyberzombie was too quick, though. Doc, wanna give me a hand with this?"

Doc and Ace have the circuit repaired in no time. The door opens with a grinding noise they can probably hear Uptown.

"Great," Dragon says as we step through and head down the corridor. "If there is something down here that carries off bodies of dead metahumans, it sure knows where we are now."

"Look on the bright side," I say.

"What bright side?"

"If it only carries off dead metas, we're in luck."

"How do you figure?"

"We're not dead."

We get to a T-junction I'm not sure I remember. Ace thinks we came from the right, Ragdoll from the left.

"I refuse to split us up any more," I say before anyone can suggest it. "Splitting up the team never works the way it's supposed to. We head left."

No one argues. We head down the left hall and find a couple more of Ace's cards, so we're on the right track. We come to the ruined door the cyberzombie destroyed as it was chasing us.

Inside the door, the lab is a wreck. And it looks like something tore out the back wall, leading to a much larger chamber. There's electric power in the larger chamber, lights flickering from computer monitors.

"Explosion?" I ask Ace.

"Too regular," Physique answers instead. "Look, see where the opening's been shored up?"

"Where's the bodies?" Ragdoll asks.

The trapped metas, the dead cyberzombies, Dr. Hi-Q - no sign of them.

"This can not be good," Dragon rumbles.

"I'm inclined to agree," Doc says.

The larger chamber is a jumble of computers and wires and monitors and other equipment, all piled up all along the walls, right to the ceiling.

"I don't like the looks of this," Ace says.

"Physique, guard the door," I say, jerking a thumb over my shoulder, not taking my eyes off the larger chamber. "Make sure it doesn't close, trapping us."

"I'm on it."

"Dragon, you stay here in the opening, make sure it doesn't collapse, trapping us."

"You got it."

"Paranoid much?" Ragdoll smirks.

"Think I'm wrong?"

"Not for a second."

Ace, Ragdoll, me, and the Doc step into the larger chamber.

The computer monitors all turn on, showing nothing but static.

"Well, that was unexpected," Ace says sarcastically.

A voice comes from everywhere. Computer speakers, intercoms, vidphones. Full of static, a mechanical emotionless echoing voice.

"Welcome."