Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:

Squirrelman divided the Crimefighters' League into five teams:

Red Bolt, Powerband, Showdown and Troubleshooter went to search the last known whereabouts of Doc Steele.

Darklight, Superia and Psifire investigated the identity of the mysterious sorceress plaguing the League.

Ace, Ragdoll, Rapunzel, Blue Jay and Midnight Avenger gathered information about the Revolutionists, including where to find them.

Phenom, Physique, Naiad, Dragon, Cricket and the Mole travelled Downtown to determine the strength of the UnSeelie Seeming.

Squirrelman and Moonbow interrogated Johnny Giggles, who implicated Kosmos Konstantinopoulos in the attempted bombing of the Cosmos Lounge.

As he was returning home from cleaning up his office, Squirrelman caught a newsfeed informing the viewers that Senator Mazzuchelli of New Jersey was calling for the repeal of the Claremont Registration Act...





Starring!

Matt Mattheson ......... as Squirrelman
Kimmy Sinclair ................ as Ragdoll
Rick Duncan ........................... as Ace
Anna Kimble ................. as Darklight
Trevor Andrews ............... as Phenom
Steven Rand ............... as Showdown
Kyle Drake ........... as Troubleshooter

Guest Starring

Reed Sterling ........................ as Doc


"So what does it mean?"

We meet up at the Spire because Wayne's got a charity thing and the new keys and security codes aren't ready for everyone to meet at Masters Mansion. In any case, it's not all of us meeting up, so we don't exactly need a huge place to meet up in. Most folks have other things they need to do - personal lives, professional lives, other cases to work on, whatever. So we're using one of the Spire's lounges to hold our meeting. I wanted to use one of the board rooms but Kimmy gave me a look that said not likely.

"It means that metas and masks won't have to register any more, that's all," Trevor says.

"It means a lot more than that," Kyle says.

"Kyle's right," I say.

"Like what?" Rick asks.

"Senator Mazzuchelli called the Claremont Act a 'terrific failure,' right?" Kyle says. "Quoting figures that were pretty disturbing, you've got to admit. Less than sixty percent of known metas were registered? When you factor in all the meta criminals, that means something ridiculous like thirty five percent of known meta crimefighters have chosen to register."

"It is a voluntary registration," Kimmy says.

"Doesn't matter," I say. "The Claremont Act is about appearances. It gives the appearance that the government has a handle on all the metas and masks fighting crime, and it gives the appearance that the masks and metas are willing to submit to governmental authority. Mazzuchelli was perfectly within his right to say we're all flaunting the law."

"I don't get it, though," Steve says. "What's the big deal about being registered? I mean, when I found out you needed to be registered to be on a team, I figured, well, it might come up at some point, and it might make my recruitability - is that a word? - all the more attractive? If you follow?"

"It's like this," I explain. "You go to apply for a job. On the hiring form, there's a little line says 'Are you bondable,' and next to it, 'Are you insurable' - both of which usually have little boxes with yes or no next to them. If you're a meta and you aren't registered, but you check Yes on the insurable question, you're committing fraud. You're not insurable. Insurance companies won't insure a non-registered meta, it's that simple."

"So you're guilty of fraud," Kyle continues. "You go to the bank for a mortgage. You buy a house. You need insurance. You tell the insurance company you're not a meta. Big problem if they find out. The bank can seize your home and all your assets, the insurance company can press criminal charges, and you can go to jail."

"Matt, everyone at Mr. Accountant has full dental and medical," Kimmy says to me.

"Except me," I tell her.

"I thought the Act was supposed to protect metas," Trevor says.

"It does," Kyle answers. "The insurability question is an across-the-board question. Everyone has to answer it, metas and norms alike. It's a way of providing potential employers, insurance companies, financial institutions protection for their sake, and providing metas with a way of applying for jobs, insurance, and loans without giving up their secret identities."

"Now, if they repeal the Act, an employer can flat out ask, 'Are you a meta,' and if you refuse to answer the question, it could be grounds not to hire you. And if you answer no, but you are one, then you're guilty of fraud, criminal charges, yadda yadda."

"Jesus," Rick says.

"But we have to admit," Anna says, "if the figures are accurate, the vast majority of supposedly law-abiding metahumans were, in fact, in violation of the law."

That gives us all something to think about. I knew I hadn't broken any laws because my predecessor and I never use credit for anything personal and used the company card for everything business-related. All the Mr. Accountant stuff was under the corporation's name, and I never had medical, dental, home, or fire insurance. But I knew he and I had to be the exception to the rule.

"Anyhow," I say after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. "How did it go today?"

"We got a solid lead on Doc Steele," Troubleshooter tells us. "He was here, in Action City, up until about a year ago. I contacted a friend at Interpol and she tracked him for us. London for three months, then Paris a month, Zurich for a week - doing some banking - Milan, and Vienna. Finally lost him in Prague, which we know he was there until three months ago."

"That's great!" I say. "So, now what?"

"Red knows a guy at the New York Times, who knows a guy in Prague, apparently. We're waiting to hear from him."

"We ran into some trouble tracking down White Rabbit," Ace says. "We figured she was the link to finding Seven Year, who was the link to finding the Revolutionists, and we were right."

"So where was she?" I ask.

"Skritch, which Wayne is now part-owner of," Kimmy says.

"What?" Kyle asks before I can.

"Wayne made a deal with Fox," Ace explains. "Anyhow, we found White Rabbit, she told us where to find Seven Year. Too late, though. Seven Year was in seven pieces when we found him."

"We think," Kimmy adds. "Hard to tell with Seven Year."

"Jesus," I say. I'm going to miss Seven Year, I realize to my surprise. He was alright, for a stoolie. I take a deep breath, let it out slow, and say, "Did you get any leads on the Revolutionists?"

"Just one," Ace says. "After we found the body, we called in the cops, starting asking folks if they'd seen or heard anything. You know how it is, a guy gets ripped to pieces in a motel where the walls are so thin you can hear everything going on next door, and no one heard a thing. But one guy says he heard someone say something like 'when we get back under the big guy.'"

"Under the big guy?" Kyle asks. "You think it means under the Captain Action Memorial?"

"There's a lot of big statues in this city," I say.

"It can't be under Captain Action," Trevor says.

"Why not?" Kimmy asks.

"Ever ask yourself why there's no tours to the statue?" he asks. "Not like the Statue of Liberty in New York, or the Statue of Justice in Knight City. Or even that giant Jesus they've got in San Perdito. Underneath Captain Action is a huge hydro-electric facility. Security's tighter than a nun's knees."

I'm thinking he's never heard of the Holy Sluts of St. Daemonica, but they aren't really nuns.

"Okay, so probably not under Captain Action," I say. "Leaves us a few 'big guys' to check under. Anna."

"Katie, Hannah and I have determined that the sorceress from the future who drew us together in the Kane Sanitarium that night is the same sorceress who both killed Annie O'Day and set the Implacable Foes against us."

"Well, it's nothing we didn't already suspect, but it's good to have it confirmed."

"Something of interest, however, is what we learned about her. She feels she is a woman scorned, and that gives power to her hate. She also called us 'Steele's prodigies.'"

"What does that mean?" Trevor asks.

"Doc said he thought that Annie O'Day - a known former associate of Steele's - was used in a sacrifice trying to find Steele, right?" Kyle says. "And now we know the sorceress is the same as the one who cast the chronomantic spell that brought the League together in the first place."

"So that means eventually we do find Steele, if she thinks we're his prodigies," Rick says.

"Right, because she's working with future knowledge," I say.

"What did she mean by, a woman scorned?" Kimmy asks.

"She's trying to find Doc Steele, hates us because we're his prodigies," Trevor says. "When we find Steele, we gotta ask him about his ex-girlfriends."

"I dunno," Steve says. "When he was my sensei, I never got the impression he had all that many exes."

"Would he have confided in you, though?" Kyle asks.

"No," Steve admits, "but I've got the ability to sense weaknesses, right? What did this sorceress look like, Anna?"

"Rather like a valkyrie, I felt. Tall, blonde, beautiful, angry."

"Yeah, we had plenty of those types. If Sensei Steele had a fondness for tall beautiful blondes, I would have sensed it whenever he was around one of them."

"So what are you saying, men always fall for the same type of woman?" Kimmy asks.

"Well, yeah," Steve answers. "Just like women always fall for the same type of guy."

"Always."

Open mouth, insert foot. Sorry kid, you're on your own, I think. I can see Kimmy gearing up for verbal battle, and we don't really have time for this, so I interrupt.

"Okay, so he doesn't go for tall angry blondes. Maybe that's why he rejected her in the first place."

"No, see, my point is, he didn't go for anyone. Blondes, brunettes, redheads - men - young, old, fat, thin, you name it, we had it at the camp. And he didn't go for any of them."

"Well, let's face it, he's what, over a hundred years old," Trevor says.

"Really?" Steve says, amazed. "Man, he looked and moved like a well-kept sixty year old."

"Okay, so, we'll ask him about any exes he might have had when we find him," I say. "Trevor, how did it go, Downtown?"

"Not great," he says. "We ran into quite a bit of trouble from the locals, from random beasties, and the UnSeelie were organized and pretty much handed us our butts. If Mole hadn't stepped in and gotten the Prince involved, there was a pretty good chance we would have been burned at the stake or whatever it is they do to uninvited guests."

"Mole made a deal with the Prince of Thorns?" Kimmy asks.

"No, more like pissed him off to the point where we got thrown out instead of strung up. Anyway, we found proof that the Krieg and WOLFEN are working together, setting up some kind of staging ground Downtown."

"Great," Rick says.

"Yeah, swell," I say. "Okay, something's gotta be done about the UnSeelie. Anna, what kind of-"

"Red Bolt to Squirrelman," my nanobead interrupts.

"Yeah, Red, go," I say into the bead.

"You got a vid nearby? Check out Action One."

Rick turns on the vid set in the wall and tunes in the Action City newsfeed. We catch the tail end of Trish Trew's report. She's standing in front of a group of maybe a dozen or so costumed crimefighters I've never seen before, all wearing similar-looking uniforms with the ACPD shield on the left shoulder.

"-ayor Ross-Carter said she hoped the new team would prove to be a shining example of costumed crimefighters working hand-in-hand with local law enforcement. Trish Trew, Action City One News."

"So she found another team," I say into the nanobead.

"Awfully quick, don't you think?"

"She probably had them lined up in case we said no."

"Anybody recognize them?"

A chorus of nopes and nos.

"Anyhow, thought you'd like to know."

"Red Bolt, what are they called?" Anna asks, looking pale, loud enough for Red to hear.

"Hey, Anna. They're called the Action City Guardians. LssnIgttg."

"Sure, Red, thanks."

Anna gives me a significant look. I miss the significance.

"It's the name Anna vetoed, remember?" Kimmy says to me.

"Right," I say eventually, remembering. "Some headline you foresaw - Guardians Betrayed or something."

"Guardians Wiped Out by Traitor," Anna says. "We have to warn them."

"We will," I say.

"I thought it didn't matter what we did to avoid it, it would happen anyway," Rick says to Anna.

"And what if," Kyle says, "by warning them, we make them so paranoid it creates tension and friction and ultimately leads to their destruction by betrayal?"

"Hoo boy," Trevor says, pinching the bridge of his nose.

I look at Anna. "I don't envy you."

She just smiles a sad little smile. Rick puts an arm around her.

"Okay, we'll figure out what to do about this later," I say. We can't take care of everything. We're not the only crimefighting team in town. Things were easier when all I had to do was go on patrol and beat up muggers and rapists and the occasional powered psycho. But then, I remind myself, this is something we wanted. Big team means bigger problems.

A knock on the doorjamb and Reed pops his head into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt," he says.

"No, it's okay," I say. "I was just thinking we needed a break."

"Excellent. In that case, there's something I need to show you and Kimmy."

"Okay. Everyone, take five. We'll be back."

"What's up, Doc?" I ask as we head for the elevator.

"It's probably best if you wait and see," Doc answers. "We've had a rather unusual intrusion."

"Intruders? Here? In the Spire?"

"Yes, just a few minutes ago."

"But the alarms didn't go off," Kimmy says.

"Exactly," he answers. "Hence, unusual."

"How'd they get past the fields and the armour?" I ask.

"And what's it got to do with us?"

"Well, you see-" he starts to explain, but the elevator doors open and we're at the med level.

We step into the room. Julia and Jerry are checking out the intruders, a guy and a girl, teens from the look of them, unconscious on two of the med beds. The guy is dressed in a red, gold and white uniform, trimmed brown hair, slim build. The girl's got a grey and brown costume on, longish brown hair, with a fluffy squirrel tail poking out from under her. She's got a few freckles across her nose and cheeks, and looks familiar somehow.

"He looks like you, Matt," Kimmy says, examining the guy.

"I was just about to say she looks kind of like you," I say.

"There's a reason for that," Doc starts to explain, but the girl stirs and opens her eyes.

She looks up at me and smiles.

"Hi Daddy," she mumbles, before she passes out again.