Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:


After discovering a secret lab Downtown housing a cloning facility dedicated to cloning the metahuman serial killer and mass murder Harvest, Squirrelman and the Crimefighters' League, as well as the Sterling Squad, TeenSupreme, the Weirdsville Nine, and others, spent a long wearying week fighting the escapees of the Kane Sanitarium and Bendis Correctional, as well as dealing with the ramifications of having the Claremont Protected Registry hacked into and its data, thousands of secret identities, being compromised.

With their secret identities compromised, Squirrelman and Ragdoll found their apartments trashed by their enemies, and wound up rooming at the Sterling Spire.

Mayor Elizabeth Ross-Carter offered the Crimefighters' League official sanction and positions on the Action City police force as official powered officers, reporting directly to the Chief of Police, the Commissioner, and herself.

Upon returning to the secret lab with reinforcements, the Crimefighters' League, the Sterling Squad, TeenSupreme and Team Title fought off a Gardner Violation from the Negaverse, as Dirk Sterling tried to use the Gauntlet Sinister to rip his way through alternities. During the fight, Squirrelman displayed an incredible ability to manage metahuman resources.

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
Steven Rand ............... as Showdown




"Face flont, tloo beereevahs!"

There's an old Chinese guy in a red smock kimono thing and huge dark glasses standing in the restaurant that Steve's just brought us to.

"It's okay, Mr. Lee," Steve says, rolling his eyes at us, smirking. "It's me. I've brought some friends. You can drop the tourist act."

"Ah, Steve," the old guy says, walking up to us. He's not looking at us, more of in our direction, and I can tell, he's blind. "Glad you came back, my boy."

"Where else can I get real zong zi?" Steve answers.

"Nowhere in Indiana, that's for sure!" Mr. Lee laughs, and leads us to a table.

Kimmy and I, Rick and Anna, Lisa, Steve and Stephanie decided to go out for dinner after the vote. Steve suggested this place, The House of Ideas.

"Ask him what you asked me, Steph," Steve says.

"Why is it called the House of Ideas, Mr. Lee?" she asks.

"When I came to the U.S., all the Chinese restaurants were serving egg rolls and chow mein," he laughs. "Not real Chinese food. So every morning, I wake up, I think, what can I cook today? Then I get an idea."

"So, House of Ideas," Rick says.

"Exactly," he answers. "But not everyone was ready to eat whatever I came up with. They wanted a more traditional Chinese restaurant experience. So I give them a bit of the Ol' Hop Sing. Yes, me so solly, stereotypical crap. Folks seem to enjoy the show. Thirty, forty years ago it flew a lot better than now, thanks very much political correctness. So what can I get you folks?"

Steve orders for us, since he knows the most about Chinese food. Lisa makes sure he orders triple helpings of anything that sounds good. Mr. Lee smiles and walks blind back to the kitchen.

"You're awful quiet," Kimmy says to me.

"Just surprised at how the vote went," I say.

"What did you expect?" Rick asks.

"I dunno. Something less... unanimous, I guess."

"Matt, we all joined the League for a reason," Lisa says.

"I know that, Lisa, but still."

"What's so surprising, Matt?" Anna asks.

"I suppose you knew how the vote was going to turn out," I say to her.

"Not... completely."

"What does that mean?"

"I explained it to you before, Matt. I don't always know everything. I get glimpses of how things will be. But not everything, and often I don't know the context until it's on top of me."

"That's not particularly useful precognition, Anna."

"I never said it was, Matt."

"And you haven't answered my question."

"Perceptive as always."

"What did you expect from the vote, Matt?" Lisa asks, putting an end to my verbal sparring with Anna.

"We all joined the League for a reason, right?" I answer. "Facilities, resources, comradeship, whatever. Toss in a paycheck. Sounds like a good deal to me."

"We didn't join the League for any of those reasons," Lisa says. "All of us, except maybe Cricket, got into the life for different reasons but have been in the life without those things for a long time. How many years have you been fighting the good fight without a base or a team? Ten? Near enough? Rick's got seven, Anna nearly six, Steph, what? Eight? Rags has been doing this since before I got started, and I spent seventeen years in a coma. We didn't join the League to have any of that. That's why we voted the way we did."

"I don't get you."

The waiter comes by with our drinks.

"Look," Lisa says. "We pitched the League as a loose-knit group of mutually-minded individuals, right? Key words here are loose-knit and individuals. We didn't get into the life to punch a clock and collect a paycheck. We got into the life because we didn't have much choice."

"What do you mean?" Steph asks.

"How can I explain?" Lisa answers, taking a swig of beer. "It's like this - out of the entire League, how many of us could walk away from the life?"

"We all have the choice-" Steph starts to say, but Lisa interrupts.

"Ah, no, sorry, wrong. Out of everyone in the League?" she says, ticking off on her fingers, "Rick, Kyle and maybe Jackson could walk away from the life. For the rest of us, the choice is boiled down to fight crime or rob banks."

"Because we don't have powers?" Rick asks.

"I don't have powers," Steve says.

"Not true," Lisa answers. "You've developed your senses to the point where you can sense a person's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, right? That's a borderline power. That's why I say maybe Jackson, because his archery is that zen stuff - not just a skill, that's a power."

"So because we don't have powers, we can just turn our backs on crime and injustice? Only the powered are compelled to right wrongs?" Rick says, and I can see he's angry now. Anna puts a hand on his arm.

"That's not what I meant, Rick," Lisa says. "I don't know the reason you first put on the mask and decided playing cards meant more than Crazy Eights and Gin Rummy. But having powers... it limits your options."

"I don't think so," I say. "There's plenty of people out there with powers living normal lives."

"No, they're not," Lisa says. "They're living what society says is a normal life, but denying themselves the opportunity for something greater by hiding behind a facade of normality."

"You've been hanging around Doc Sterling too long," Steve laughs. "All them big words hurt my head."

"Har har," Lisa says. "Okay, sure. I could quit the life. Go find a job as a... a... I dunno. A secretary. Or finish my architecture degree. Whatever. Point is, I would be denying the fact that I can lift trucks and bullets bounce off my boobs. Or, I could use those abilities for the greater good. Or for personal profit."

"Bulletproof boobs," Steph laughs. "I wouldn't mind having that power."

"Hell, I wouldn't mind having that power," Rick laughs. He got shot in the arm, in the fight Downtown. Anna magicked him better, but it still must have hurt like a bitch.

"And if you had that power, what would you do?" Lisa asks.

"Same thing I do every day," he answers. "Only, you know, I'd probably need a different costume."

"And a different girlfriend, right Anna?" Steve jokes. "Unless you're bi?"

"Very amusing, Steve," she smiles, not very amused. "And, no, I'm not." She gives Rick a look. "You would have to find a new girlfriend."

And there, it's out in the open, someone used the word, and something changes between them. He puts an arm around her, gives her a peck on the cheek, the rest of us try not to smile too much. The waiter starts bringing our food.

"But we've been sidetracked," Lisa says. "Why did you expect the vote to go differently?"

"I dunno," I say around a mouthful of food. Whatever it is I'm eating, it tastes amazing. I'm probably better off not knowing. I look at Kimmy. "This is going to make it hard to order from that place on the corner," I tell her. She nods, mouth full.

"I guess I thought a regular paycheck to do what we're going to do anyway and better facilities than we'll ever be able to afford would be a better significant deciding factor," I say when I've finished chewing. "I know I was looking forward to it."

"But you voted the same as we all did," Kimmy says.

"When you voted against it, hon, that decided it for me," I answer. "I can't do this without you, you know that."

"No one wanted to be under the Mayor's thumb, is all," Steve says. "This way we do what we want, when we want, how we want. That's what it's all about, isn't it?"

"Exactly," Lisa says. "We see a need in society and we fill it. The cops can't handle everything, so we take on the jobs that need doing. And we do it the way we want, no rules or regulations."

"Within the law," Steph says.

"Right, of course... to a point. The Costumed Samaritan Act lets us break the law if breaking the law serves the cause of justice."

"So, what do we want to do now?" Steve asks.

"I was thinking about that," I answer. "We've got to get a priority list going."

"Hang on," Rick says, pulling out one of his data-cards. "Okay, shoot."

"Set up a new HQ," I say. "We can't effectively co-ordinate without one. Find out who's responsible for Project Solstice. Track down the escapees." I look around the table. "Not just me. Everybody."

"Find the clone of Harvest."

"Find out if Lord Hades is behind all the shit going down, Downtown."

"To find him, we need to find Doc Steele."

"Find out if Annie O'Day's death is related to the sorceress who trapped us in the Kane."

"Deal with the UnSeelie Downtown."

"What do the Revolutionists want?"

"Why did you pass out at the Kents?" Kimmy asks me, which prompts my telling everyone what happened at the barbeque a couple weeks ago.

"Jesus, Matt," Rick says.

"It was nothing, okay? Probably fatigue with stress and malnutrition all ganging up on me."

"Still, you should take it easy," Steph says.

"Easier said than done, Steph."

"Uh, since we're putting some personal stuff on the table," Rick says, "Why was Pandy waiting for us - for me - when we first went Downtown, the four of us?"

"For that matter, how did the Implacable Foes know where to find us?"

"Blackheart said it was revealed to him in a dream, by a woman," Anna says. "Is she the same woman as our chronomantic sorceress?"

"Who hacked the Claremont Registry?"

"Why did Derrick Wolfe break into my apartment to tell me he didn't do it?"

"What if they use Boost on the clone of Harvest?" Kimmy asks.

"Christ."

I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath.

"Anything else?" I say, looking up at Lisa. Reed's concerned about her for some reason. I'm hoping she'll share, but she doesn't, just holds my look for a couple of seconds before putting more food on her plate without a word.

"Hey, let's not get too down, here," Steve says. "I brought you here because the food is good and it's supposed to be a relaxing evening. After the week we had..."

"You got everything?" I ask Rick.

"I got everything."

"So, yeah, we've got a lot on our plates, already. And we should probably have a meeting with everyone else, tomorrow, maybe. Lunch or something. With any luck my lawyers will have unfrozen my assets and we can rent a boardroom in a hotel somewhere."

"I can set that up, if you like," Steph says.

"Thanks."

We sort of bandy around ideas but nothing comes of it. When we finished eating, Lisa leans back and says, "Man... after a meal that good, I want a cigarette."

We laugh but Steph asks, "You smoke?"

"Used to," Lisa says. "Like they say, once a smoker, you're a smoker for life."

"When did you quit?" Steve asks.

"When I got sick. Spending seventeen years in cryosleep sort of leeches it out of your system, I guess."

"I guess."

"You gotta understand, back in the day, everyone smoked. Right, Rags? Smoking was the 'In' thing, and we were the In Crowd, y'know? Everyone smoked and everyone drank. The parties we had! Not like today, with everyone eating macrobiotic organically grown vegan meals and doing Pilates and Tai-Bo."

I think about the yoga Kimmy and I do and nod.

"Back then," Lisa says, "You'd stop a crime and celebrate with a steak dinner and a couple of bottles of wine. The world was a different place back then. Sure, people were complaining and the Claremont Act was being legislated, but we fought hard so we played hard. I mean, a lot of the Claremont Act is a result of the fights we used to fight, y'know? So much collateral damages and innocent bystanders getting hurt... it was terrible. But we didn't know any different. Not like today, little surgical strikes and liability insurance and whateverthefuck. Back then it was crash through the wall and take down the whole building if you have to."

"Different times, huh?" Steve asks.

"Yeah. Man, we wrecked so much stuff... homes and offices and stores. People got hurt... that's what caused the Claremont Act. Too many innocent bystanders because we thought we were above stuff like that. We were fighting for truth and justice and all that. We were the In Crowd, y'know? Nobody could tell us what to do, because we knew best how to deal with our enemies. And most of the people let us! They wanted us to, y'know? They wanted to read about how we wrecked an entire shopping mall stopping the Bay City Bombers or whoever and then went out to a disco until five ayem. We lived life huge. And the money we made! I made so much money from posters and magazine covers and television appearances, it's embarrassing. I'm still living off the money, thanks to my agent." Lisa looks over at me with a smirk and says, "You had one, right? One of my posters?"

"Uh..." I say, a little embarrassed. Kimmy must have told her. "Yeah."

"Which one?"

"The pool one."

"Ahhh, a connoiseur!" Lisa laughs. "Not my most popular poster, but something about it..."

"Your smile was more real," I said. "Plus, you were soaking wet. Very hot."

Kimmy's raising her eyebrow at me and kind of smirking.

"Thanks, Matt."

"Sure."

"But now - I mean, how many people at this table have poster deals or magazine covers? None of us. None of us even have agents, not any more. Sure, there are masks who make some coin doing ads and whatever, but not like it used to be. Superstar had magazines, posters, tv ads - she made so much money and was hugely popular in the day. She was part owner of three discos, had her own line of perfume-"

"And killed seventeen thousand people when she went nova in Greenwich Village," Rick says.

Lisa takes a deep breath.

"Sorry, look, I know she was closing a rift in space-time-"

"No, you don't," she says, cutting him off as hard as a slap. "I knew Cheryl. I partied with Cheryl. A lot. We drank more booze and screwed more guys than I can even remember." She looks at us. "I know how that sounds. But back in the day, that's the way things were. This was before AIDS and STMS... Anyhow, Cheryl loved life. I've never met anyone as alive as she was. She loved the life, stopping crime, foiling schemes, all of it. Proving she was smarter and more powerful than the bad guys. And taking - no, embracing every perk that the life gave her. The accident that metahumanized her made her gorgeous. Changed her physically from a mousey crippled science bookworm to a superstar. Why shouldn't she tackle life as hard as she could? So when she realized she had to go nova to close that rift... how terrified, how fucking awful must she have felt? How brave of her was it that she did it anyway? No one was with her so no one can say how she felt, but, my God... You have to die and you have to kill seventeen thousand people to save the world. It's the only way available to you. You've got maybe a couple seconds to decide. What do you do? Cheryl didn't want to die any more than anyone at this table does. But she did what she had to do... what we all would do."

That makes us think. She's right. If the only choice to save seven billion people is to commit suicide and kill seventeen thousand... I don't believe in suicide. I can't condone mass murder. but... sometimes you don't get to choose right and wrong. Just wrong... and less wrong.

This is the most I've ever heard Lisa say about her times back before she got sick and Reed put her in cryo. I was getting the impression she didn't like talking about it.

"Anyhow," she says.

"Sorry, Lisa," Rick says.

"Sure."

"So now what?" Steve asks.

"I could sleep for a week," I say.

"Yeah," Rick agrees.

"What did you have in mind?" Lisa asks Steve.

"Well, that partying you were talking about sounds good," Steve grins. "Wanna hit some clubs?"

"Sounds like fun," she grins. "Anyone else want to come with?"

Anna shakes her head and Kimmy gives me a look that says she's not going to let me sleep the weekend away, so Lisa looks at Steph and asks, "How about it, Steph?"

"I dunno, I'm not much of a club-goer," she says.

"Time you were, then," Lisa laughs.

Steph agrees and we pay Mr. Lee, giving lots of promises to go back. We say our goodbyes to everyone and Kimmy and I walk with Rick and Anna, chatting and laughing about normal things, Rick and I talking about the Actionauts, Anna asking Kimmy for details about the wedding, like two normal couples walking down the street on a late summer evening. We come to a crosswalk and Rick and Anna turn down the street, holding hands. Kimmy slips her hand into the crook of my arm and we head up toward the Sterling Spire, in what I figure is companionable silence.

"What a week," I say when we get to our rooms.

"Seriously."

Kimmy comes over to me where I'm sitting on the bed, sits in my lap and kisses me, long and slow and sweet.

"I love you, Matt," she says.

"I love you too."

"You know I'll support you, no matter what, right?"

"Yeah," I say, wondering what this is about.

She looks me in the eye and says, "I have to quit the team."