Talyesin's Tales

Previously in Troubleshooter:

Working with the Crimefighters' League, Troubleshooter fought off a Gardener Violation from the Negaverse. In the battle with his Negaversian duplicate, Troublemaker, Troubleshooter made a startling discovery about himself.

Further examination of the Living Complex' database showed that the artificial intelligence had been tampered with, making the exact time of the Harvest clone's disappearance difficult, if not impossible, to determine. Troubleshooter promised Doc Sterling and his daughter Jeannie that he would assist them to rebuild the tampered files.

At Squirrelman's request, Troubleshooter agreed to join his teammates Red Bolt, Powerband and Showdown on a trip to the Colorado Rockies to locate Doc Steele.





STARRING

Kyle 'Troubleshooter' Drake

Guest Starring

Jay 'Red Bolt' Allen
Hank 'Powerband' Scott
Steve 'Showdown' Rand



I salvaged what little I could from my hidden basement lair. While we were Downtown fighting of the Negaversians, Firestarter had tracked down my address. Now, my quiet suburban house was a smoldering pile of charred timbers and lost memories. Thank God I had registered myself a year ago and gotten fire insurance, although with things as they stood, I wasn't sure I was going to get a chance to collect. People were angry with the Claremont Registry, and I wasn't sure what was going to come of it.

Powerband was waiting for me.

"You okay?" he asked, as I gave the ruin of my house one last look.

"Yeah," I answered, not okay at all. Firestarter would pay, I swore to myself. But right then, I needed to focus on the task at hand.

I checked my things one last time. Forensics kit, utility belt, extra climbing gear, bag of tricks. I had the same feeling I always feel, that I was forgetting something. I shrugged.

"Red Bolt's going to meet us?" I asked.

Powerband nodded, then raised his arms and encased me in a globe of glowing golden energy.

"He should have left about an hour ago," he answered as we took to the early morning air.

"He's running all the way to Denver?" I asked, amazed. Even after three years on the job, I was constantly astounded at the abilities of my peers and colleagues.

"Yeah, crazy, huh," Powerband said. "Said he wanted to go all out, and only could when going cross-country. Besides, it's only 1500 kilometres from Action City to Denver."

Denver. I couldn't believe we were going to Denver. The place was, for lack of a better word, a ghost town. Since the Defenders of Justice destroyed the city and nearly 100,000 people died in the battle that defeated Harvest, a lot of folks left the city, relocating to Boulder, Aurora, other cities. The federal government declared Denver a National Disaster Zone and allocated funds to the rebuilding, but people didn't want to rebuild. It wasn't like the Disaster of 1947 and turning the ashes of Indianapolis into the gleaming twentieth-century Action City. Metas had caused the Denver Disaster. Metas had to pay. And at the time it seemed like every big city had their own metas, so people were moving out of big cities. Like Denver.

Now, Denver was all boarded-up storefronts and run-down buildings. Some folks tried to keep the city running but in '92 they moved the state capital "for the duration of the rebuilding process" to Boulder and that had sounded the death knell for the city. Now, it was a no-man's land. Gangs ran the show. And criminals used it as a haven of sorts, knowing the few remaining cops were easily scared, on the take, or both. Same as the municipal government. And so cleaning up Denver had become too big a job, even if anyone had bothered to try. What had happened in Denver was too painful for the people of Colorado. They just wanted to forget Denver ever existed.

But the city still had a Telepad, kept in working order by city hall, which was how Showdown, Powerband and I were getting to Denver. Powerband landed us outside the Action City Telepad. Showdown was waiting for us outside.

"Hey guys," Showdown said, waving.

"Ready to go, kid?" Powerband asked him.

"Yeah, but quit it with the 'kid,' okay?" Showdown grinned.

"You got it, kid."

I rolled my eyes at what was rapidly becoming a running gag between them.

"Let's go," I said. "Red Bolt's probably already waiting for us."

We headed inside and when I told the Telepad operator, "Denver," she looked at us like we had just asked to be sent to the Moon colony, or the Mars Expedition. She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, but, after looking up the coordinates, she punched them in and we were in Denver.

"Jay say where he was going to meet us?" Showdown asked as we left the Denver Telepad Centre.

After the gleaming twenty-first century metropolis that Action City was such a perfect representation of, Denver came as a shock. A time warp to the late twentieth century, with the unfortunate trappings of near-total economic collapse and virtual abandonment by the inhabitants. Boarded-up storefronts. Rusted-out cars on blocks. Weeds were growing in cracks in the sidewalks and streets. An old newspaper fluttered down the street, completing the utterly forlorn atmosphere. There wasn't a person in sight.

"City Hall," Powerband said, wrapping Showdown and I in his golden force field. We took to the air, heading for what was left of downtown Denver.

The view of Denver from the air was even more depressing than the view from street level. We could almost see the path the battle took, in the ruins and craters that still stood behind rusted chain link fences.

It only took a few seconds to reach City Hall, but it was enough to make me very grateful for all that we had in Action City. We landed on the steps of City Hall and Showdown said, "Check it out. On this step here, we're exactly one mile from sea level." He looked up at us and said, "So what's a mile?"

"Kids today, I tellya," Powerband laughed.

"It's about 1.2 kilometres," I answered.

"This is noteworthy... how?" Showdown laughed.

"Denver was called the Mile High City," I explained. "Back in the day."

"So where's Red Bolt?" Powerband asked, looking around.

"Maybe he got stuck at the Mississippi," Showdown grinned.

"No, he can run across water," I answered.

"He should be here by now," Powerband said. He glanced down at his wristband and then tapped at it. "Yeah, at his flat-out speed, he should have been sitting here waiting for us, with plenty of time to spare."

"I don't get it," Showdown said.

"Hey hero!" a woman yelled from across the street. "Get this!"

I'd just spotted her when I saw the red-and-yellow form of Jay, unconscious, flying toward us.

"Band," I said.

"Got him," Powerband answered, a golden force field forming to catch Red Bolt before he wound up street pizza.

"Who is she?" Showdown asked.

"Working on it," I said, already scanning her with my binoculars. The readout scrolled across my field of view, the analysis feeding me with information. After a second, the database pulled up her dossier.

"Puncherella," I said, relaying the information my earpiece was feeding me. She jumped from the building and landed on the street in front of City Hall, forming small twin craters around her feet. She was dressed in her hard-core sado-masochist outfit, black leather and silver buckles, open zippers across her mouth and eyes.

"At your service, shitbag," she laughed.

Showdown launched himself at her while Powerband saw to Red Bolt.

"She absorbs kinetic energy!" I yelled to Showdown. "Don't hit her!"

The scenario formed itself complete in my imagination. Red Bolt showed up here, winded from his run. Puncherella spotted him, goaded him into attacking her. He let loose with a flurry of punches. Her power turned kinetic energy into strength. Red Bolt's punches only made her super-strong.

"Oh come on, you know you want to," she purred, then swung at Showdown. He grabbed her wrist, twisted and flipped her past him and into the City Hall steps, where she landed face-first with a sickening crunch. She got back up with a grin, wiped some blood from her face, then grinned, licking the bright red blood from her lips.

"Oh baby, do it again," she moaned, then swung a punch so fast I could barely see it.

Showdown, though, saw it coming a mile away, and ducked almost before she had swung.

"Come on, come on," I muttered to myself, punching the hidden controls on my belt to get the earpiece feed to past her criminal history - numerous aggravated assaults, attempted murders, and actual homicides - and found the information I was looking for.

Powerband was still checking out Red Bolt - he needed some first aid, maybe had a few broken bones, from first glance - and Showdown was still dancing with Puncherella. The harder she swung, the faster Showdown dodged her. It was amazing to watch. Showdown was actually smiling as he ducked and dodged and weaved every punch.

Puncherella, though, looked increasingly annoyed.

"Come on, hit me!" she practically begged. "Hit me, you fucking pansy!"

Showdown laughed at her.

"Please!" she cried.

"Showdown!" I yelled. Showdown jumped to the side.

I tossed two gas pellets at Puncherella, catching her right in the face. She caught a deep breath of sleep gas.

Showdown jumped her, wrapping his arm around her throat, putting his knee against her back to exert even more pressure.

"Yessss," she gasped, just before she passed out.

"How is he?" I asked Powerband, then began checking Jay out.

"Knocked out," he answered.

"Obviously," I said, checking for broken bones. Both his wrists were probably sprained, guessing from the swelling. Maybe a broken rib. And he had a hell of a shiner forming.

I pulled a smelling salts tab from my belt and broke it open, then I held it under Jay's nose. He woke up, groggy.

"Red Bolt," I said, to reinforce where he was and what he was doing here, "It's me, Troubleshooter. Are you allergic to anything?"

"No," he mumbled. Good, I thought.

I gave him something for the pain and then I gave him something else to wake him up a little better. I had some other stuff in my Bag of Tricks that would fix him right up, but it had some interesting and unfortunate euphoric side effects I wasn't sure we wanted to deal with just then.

By then, people were starting to come out of City Hall, to see what the ruckus was. Still no sign of the cops, though. A powered battle on the steps of City Hall would have had an All Units Response in seconds back home.

We waited around for the cops and Jay did something, shuddered, concentrating, just a blur really, then said, "I've got to get something to eat." I noticed his shiner was completely gone. "Be right back."

Red Bolt zipped off. By the time he got back, carrying a plastic bag filled with high-calorie snacks, the cops had arrived.

We sorted things out with the police, who were especially argumentative and bellicose with us. It took us ten minutes just to convince them to put Puncherella in the car. I knew she would be out for another hour, with the dosage I had given her.

Finally we managed to leave Denver, more or less intact, with several empty threats and warnings from the Denver police that 'our kind' weren't all that welcome in the area. We headed into the mountains, Showdown giving us directions, as Powerband carried us in his golden force fields.

Photos of the Rockies quite simply don't ever do them justice, and flying over them at an altitude of a few hundred feet is definitely the way to get the greatest impact. Glorious was the word that kept occurring to me.

"So Hank says you've got a new girlfriend," Jay joked to Steve while we soared through the mountain air.

"Huh?" Steve asked.

"Puncherella," Jay explained. "Heard you had her begging for it."

"Oh, har har," Steve replied. "I guess if you'd been able to give it to her the way she wanted, she wouldn't have come begging to me."

"Oh, damn!" Powerband laughed. "Got you there, Jay!"

"Damn, you're quick, kid," Jay laughed.

"Quit it with the 'kid' shit," Showdown laughed back.

I rolled my eyes while the three of them yucked it up, trading barbs instead of focussing on the task at hand.

Finally, two hours into the mountains, Steve said, "There, fly us between those two boulders."

Two large boulders atop a high mountain. It seemed unlikely that there was anything beyond them, much less a monastery.

"You sure, Steve?" I asked him.

"Trust me," he said with a rueful smile. "I was half-starving, faint from blood loss from the bear I had to fight, and blinded by a snowstorm, but I'll never forget those boulders."

"Between them, not over?" Jay asked.

"Not over. We've got to go between them," Steve answered.

Powerband flew us down to pass between the boulders. We definitely passed through some sort of veiling spell, because just as we're get through to the other side, a huge Chinese style monastery appears directly before us.

"Interesting," I remarked, mostly to myself. Powerband landed us in front of the gates. Beyond, we could see an elegant Zen garden, tended by monks in white robes, their heads shaven. One of them came to greet us.

Steve greeted her with a bow and something said in Chinese. They exchanged a few words while I scrolled through my instant translator settings, finally discovering the dialect they were speaking.

"I will take you to the Master," the young woman said in flawless Mandarin. I noticed she was of European descent, possibly Irish, due to the emerald colouring of her eyes, her bright red eyebrows, and the scattering of freckles on her fair skin. Interesting.

"My thanks, Irene," he answered her.

"Oh Steven," she smiled, leading us into the compund. "You never learned, did you? We have no names, here."

"I never accepted that lesson, if that's what you mean," Showdown countered.

"We are but students," she replied serenely.

"I know the rhetoric, Student," he said, using the title derisively. "Surrender your identity to understand the fullness of enlightenment. I just never accepted it."

A small frown appeared on her otherwise serene features, as out of place as a motor oil stain on a linen table cloth. She calmed herself with a visible effort.

"The Master is within, Visitor Steven," she said, then switched to English. "You may wait here. Contemplate upon the serenity of this place. Perhaps enlightenment will find you, whether you seek it or not." She gave us a small bow and left us on the porch of the main building. As she left, she gave Showdown a final look.

"History with her?" I asked him when she had gone.

"Yeah, ancient," he said. There might have been a hint of regret in his voice, but I didn't press the issue.

"Nice place," Jay observed, admiring the gardens.

"Nice enough," Steve answered.

"Why'd you leave?" Powerband asked him.

"He had learned all he came to learn," said a voice behind us.

We turned to see a small Oriental man of indeterminate age, wearing robes of red.

"Sensei," Showdown said, bowing low, his fist in his hand.

"Steven," the Master said, bowing his head in reply.

"Congratulations, Malcolm," Steve said, stepping forward with a grin. "I didn't know you'd been made Sensei."

"Of course not, Steven. After all, you left," the Master said calmly. There was a world of meaning in his words. No reproach, but definitely a sense of history.

"So where's the Old Man?" Steve asked, deftly avoiding the subject. The Master merely raised a tranquil eyebrow.

"He left as well," the Master answered. "Not long after you and he had your... confrontation."

"Really?" Steve remarked.

"Really," the Master replied.

"Excuse me," I interjected. "The Old Man is Augustus Octavian 'Doc' Steele? Just so we're completely clear here?"

"That is his name," the Master answered.

"And when did he leave?" I asked, pulling out a datapad to record the facts.

"He left the Monastery eighteen moons ago," he replied. "Said it was time to see what trouble the world had gotten itself into now."

"Did he say where he was going, by any chance?" Red Bolt asked.

"As a matter of fact, he did," the Master answered. "He said he was going to check out Action City."