Talyesin's Tales

Squirrelman received a tip from one of his informants that a new gang of criminals called the Revolutionists were planning a prison break.

Upon returning from Downtown where they discovered a secret lab dedicated to cloning the metahuman mass murderer Harvest, Squirrelman and his colleagues discovered that the Revolutionists had made good on their plan, breaking out prisoners not only from Bendis Correctional but from the Kane Sanitarium as well.

To make matters worse, someone had hacked the popular datasite Maskwatchers and replaced the normal datafeed with a list that revealed thousands of secret identities.

Acting upon this information, powered criminals began attacking their hated enemies in their homes and places of business, adding to the existing chaos breaking out all across Action City.



Starring!

Matt Mattheson ......... as Squirrelman
Kimmy Sinclair ................ as Ragdoll
Rick Duncan ........................... as Ace
Lisa Dumont ................... as Physique
Anna Kimble ................. as Darklight
Stephanie Cooke ............. as Blue Jay
Jay Allen ........................ as Red Bolt
Mike Washington ............. as Dragon
Trevor Andrews ............... as Phenom
Jessica Wagner .............. as Rapunzel
Katie McCormick ............ as Superia
Hank Scott .................. as Powerband

Reed Sterling ....................... as Doc
Julia Sterling ................... as herself
Joe Sterling ....... as SuperTwin Red
Jerry Sterling .... as SuperTwin Blue
Jeannie Sterling .............. as Zephyr
Carmine DaCosta ....... as Forerunner
Curt Connor ......... as Livin' Lightnin'
Molly O'Malley ........... as Glory Gal

Cassandra Kent .............. as Princess
Chrissy Fenton ................. as Fantasy
Alexandra Spelling ................ asHex
Courtney Anderson ........... as Glitter
Juan Juarez ........................ as Resize
Andrew Carson ............. as Go-Getter
Jane Smith ......................... as Quique
Ronnie Schuler .......... as Monkeysee
Donnie Schuler ........... as Monkeydo

Holly Weintraub ....... as Holly Ween



"Okay folks, listen up," I say.

All together, we're more masks than can fit in Doc's lab, so we've moved down to one of the larger conference rooms.

"Both Bendis Correctional and the Kane Sanitarium have had massive escapes. Doc's tracking the teleporter signals now to find out where they're all going, right Doc?"

"Sorry?" Doc asks.

Reed has been out of it since the news that the DMA database has been hacked and all our secret identities have been compromised.

"The teleport signals, Doc," Physique repeats for me. I'm not in a particularly generous mood right now, better she runs interference.

"Oh... yes," he says, turning to a display console and typing in a command. A map of the city appears on the console, red lights dotting the map.

"Theses dots indicate the teleport co-ordinates I've been tracking since the crisis began," Doc explains.

"That doesn't make sense," Red Bolt says. "That's the corner of Ross and Waid. It's a Burgerman restaurant."

"So's this one," Powerband says, pointing to another red dot.

"But I've been tracking the signals..." Reed says. He is seriously losing it.

"Doc," I say, and it sounds harsher than I intended it but I've got no time to baby him. "Can they mask the signal, trick anyone trying to track them?"

"What? I suppose it's possible... I mean, yes, it should be-"

"Great." I turn away from him because I can't deal with him right now. "So the tracking data is no good. Which means we have to go into this blind. Which means we hit the streets."

"Just us?" Blue Jay asks.

"I can call in TeenSupreme," Jeannie suggests.

"I was about to say, I'll give Cassie a call," Joe says as Jeannie goes to a communications panel.

"Do it," I tell them. "Anna, any luck finding your friends?"

"None," she says. "It's as though they don't want to be found."

"Okay, well, put that on hold," I say. "We need to focus on one impending crisis at a time."

"So which one first, son?"

"Harvest," I say, bringing the everyone up to date on what we found Downtown.

"Jesus save us," Powerband says.

"Yeah," I say. "So that's number one, and we need to find Hi-Q fast. Red Bolt, Forerunner, that's your job. And any speedsters out there you run into? Get them on it, too. We can't risk the clone waking up."

"Cassie says they're on their way," Jeannie says, closing the vidlink.

"Great," I say, thinking hard. "How long?"

"Now soon enough?" says a voice at the door. Princess is standing there, her team behind her. She goes to Joe and gives him a quick kiss as her team enters the conference room.

"Alexandra?" Darklight says as Hex enters.

"Oh, hi Anna," Hex says, pushing her glasses up on her nose. Goth girl, black hair, braided pigtails and perfect bangs...

"Now I know where I know you from!" I say, putting some clues together. "You're one of those sisters I ran into, in Weirdsville, couple years back."

"We've been looking all over Weirdsville for you and your sisters," Anna says.

"Oh, yeah... about that," Hex says with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "See, Alicia had a little trouble with a stalker demon? A few months ago? So we put a spell on the house to hide it? A little too well, since now we're the only ones who can find it. Try explaining that to the U.S. Postal Service. Hi, I'm Alexandra Spelling, can I have the mail for an address none of your carriers can find?"

"You might have told some of your friends," Anna says with a smirky smile.

"Ladies, as thrilling as this is, we need to get on the job at hand," I say, bringing TeenSupreme up to speed on the situation. Quique offers to help Red Bolt and Forerunner.

"Great," I say. "Go. Keep in touch."

"Next up, is you, Doc," I say, turning back to him. He's deep in thought, Julia's next to him, gives him a nudge.

"Sorry?"

"Doc, you need to get to Washington. Find out how someone could have hacked the database."

"Yes... yes, of course," he says, getting up and heading out.

"Ace, Powerband, you two go with him. Keep him focussed."

"Right," Powerband says, following him out.

Ace bops fists with me and gives me a grin. Not a happy grin. It's not a happy day.

"Uh oh," Jerry says.

"Now what?"

"Reports coming in from all over," Joe says. "Downtowners ... invading."

"Breaking up through the forgotten and sealed up access points, rioting, looting," Jerry adds.

"Wonderful," Ragdoll says.

"Yeah, that's just fucking fantastic," Dragon rumbles. "We don't have enough to worry about?"

"Any reports of UnSeelie?" Darklight asks.

"Not yet," Jerry says. "Just your basic Downtowner goons."

"Crap," I say. "Princess, any chance your parents can call in Team Title?"

"Mother and Dad will be on Proxima Prime until Thursday," she says, apologetic.

"Can't you call in Team Title?" Blue Jay asks.

"My title is, unfortunately, mostly ceremonial," Princess answers. "I'd have to contact the Duke or Duchess - Survivor or Isis," she checks the crystal on her wristband, "and anyway the team is in Egypt at the moment, fighting the Lost Gods."

"Okay... who else can we call in?"

"The Ultras?"

"Anyone got their number?"

"Sentries, maybe."

"They're out in L.A. for that Professor Peril trial."

"Might be able to get the Warpers."

"Philadelphia's got their own problems right now."

"Shouldn't we be getting out there?" Go-Getter asks.

"We need to have a plan of action," Ragdoll says.

"But the convicts are-"

"The smart ones will go to ground," I cut him off. Kid's got a lot of heart but he's not thinking this through. "And we don't know where they are to start looking. The dumb ones are making themselves more of a target the longer we give them."

"At least the truly dangerous ones are kept out at Atlantis," Phenom says.

"Except two or three waiting for transfers," Physique says.

"Shit. Yeah. Okay, anyone have any ideas about which big guns are waiting transfers?"

"I'm on it," Jeannie says, turning to the console to check the prison records.

Suddenly a girl appears, crosslegged on the conference table, dressed in orange silk and black lace, gothic lolita style. Makeup like a jack o'lantern instead of a mask. Black hair in ringlets pulled back in pigtails. Holly Ween, one of the Weirdsville Nine.

"There you are!" she says to Hex, hopping off the table into her arms. They kiss. Didn't know they were a couple.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, how exactly did she get past the force field?" Joe says, heading for the computer console.

"I've been looking all over for you!" Holly says to Hex. "Dr. Necro is hitting the Charlton Cemetary, raising revenants. And what force field?"

"Fuck, it's down!" Jerry says, looking at the console over his twin's shoulder.

"Jerry!"

"Sorry Mom."

"Jeannie, what about those prison records?"

"Big guns, we have Gargantius, Aurora Winterqueen, Overlord, Black Plague, and Gemstone."

"Okay, we know where Aurora is, right?" I ask. Anna nods.

"Overlord isn't likely to do anything overt just yet, and Gargantius and Black Plague aren't solos," Princess adds.

"Speaking of solos, he just was reported having escaped the STAR Force Containment Complex," Joe says.

"What?" I ask.

"Who?" Princess adds.

"Derrick Wolfe, Codename: Solo."

I look at Ragdoll. She raises an eyebrow. If the government is just now admitting their number one on the hit parade has escaped, that means he escaped a minimum of six hours ago. Plenty of time to get to a terminal and hack the Maskwatcher site to upload the data.

"I can't get the shields back online, some kind of virus is blocking my commands," Jerry says. Jeannie leans over to try and help her brother.

"Wonderful," Dragon rumbles. "Anything else gonna shit on us?"

"I wish you hadn't said that," Blue Jay says.

"Oh FUCK!" I yell as my twitchiness goes through the roof. "LOOK OUT!"

And that's when the roof comes flying off.