Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:

During a quiet evening at the Sterling Spire, some of the Crimefighters' League were attacked by advance stealth scouts of the Xerxians, an alien race bent on Earth's destruction. In the midst of battle, Ragdoll was wounded.

Immediately prior to the attack, Squirrelman and Ragdoll met their children Missy 'Squirrelgrrl' and Max 'Hero' Mattheson, who had travelled back from a possible future.

While fighting off the alien invasion forces, the Crimefighters' League discovered a plot that had the Technocracy, the Krieg, and WOLFEN joining forces to attack the hydro-electric plant underneath the Captain Action Memorial Statue in the middle of Crater Lake, and the Xerxians heading right for them...



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
Wayne Masters ... as Midnight Avenger
Jill Suzuki ........................... as Naiad
Steven Rand ............... as Showdown
Hannah Cohen ................... as Psifire
Kyle Drake ........... as Troubleshooter
Jackson Archer ............ as Moonbow

with

Max Mattheson ..................... as Hero
Missy Mattheson ........ as Squirrelgrrl

and

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


The Krieg are a bunch of neo-Nazis, been around since the early 1970s. Typical Euro-Caucasian racial supremacy stuff. But they go one step beyond the Nazis, believing that 96% of the human race needs to be exterminated, which is why they attract so many clockrockers - synthetics, androids, and robots who've become obsolete and can't be junked or recycled because of the Asimov Act, and can't afford to upgrade themselves because they can't get jobs because they're obsolete. Hauptmann Hassen, "Captain Hate," is a mid-level player on the Eastern Seaboard. Anyway, despite their fanaticism, they're the least of my worries at the moment.

WOLFEN, though, began as a cult of religious fanatics, worshipping the Norse Wolf God Fenris, started in the mid-sixties. Early 80s, their own paramilitary branch waged a coup and took over, became big time terrorists with a series of attacks all over the world. WOLFEN agents make SS Officers look like slackers when it comes to fanaticism. Colonel Fenris down there, 'blessed' with the name of their 'god,' is one of the big players in the group.

The Technocracy takes fanaticism to a new level, only they're obsessed with the notion of technology being the next stage in human evolution. They showed up on the scene as a minor cult in the mid-80s, and as cybernetic augmentation became cheaper and better, they grew into a world-wide movement. Every last one of them is some sort of cyborg. Going up in their ranks means getting more cybernetics, mandatory. Word is their leaders are AIs, or at least humans who have downloaded their minds into computers. The Cybernaut down there is one of their big guns, a full-conversion cyborg. Him and Nikki Tesla, who's one of their top five scientists - and by scientist, I definitely mean 'mad scientist' - means something big is up.

Three fanatical terrorist groups working together? We should have done something before now, but we've been busy the last little while. And now there's an alien invasion to contend with.

Then again, I've got about twenty experienced costumed crimefighters on my side, and the bad guys are squabbling amongst themselves. The Xerxians showing up was probably the last thing the triumverate of terrorists was expecting.

My ears are still ringing from the explosions that knocked out the power across the city, but that doesn't stop me from getting to my feet to check on my team. Ace is saying something but I can't hear him over the ringing. Phenom is helping Dragon to his feet. Darklight, Midnight Avenger, and Moonbow are down, groggy, but shaking it off. Max is fine, got some cover from the blast. Superia is getting the wounded terrorists all together, glowing that healing white light of hers. Red Bolt is rounding up prisoners. Troubleshooter's got those plastic riot restraints I keep meaning to pick up, making sure the captured terrorists aren't going to try and escape. Powerband's fiddling with the controls on one of his wristbands.

"-said, what's the plan, son?" Ace is yelling in my ear when I can finally hear him again.

"We've got maybe a ten seconds before they put whatever their plan is into motion," I say. "Maybe more if the leftover aliens make a bigger pain in the ass of themselves, which I hope they do."

"So what do we do?"

"Max, get back to Doc Sterling. Tell him what's happened here and help him co-ordinate the defence against the Xerxians."

"Sir," he says, then runs to the downed Sterlingcar and takes off.

"What about us?" Blue Jay asks.

"We make sure they don't get those ten seconds," I say, then yell, "All Crimefighters, on me, now!" and jump into the hole the terrorists dug leading to the hydro plant under Captain Action.

Inside the hydro plant, it's a mess. Forget the terrorists all fighting the aliens, from what I can see by the emergency lights and a few sparks of electricity here and there, the main generators are completely offline and water's pouring into the plant through cracks in the foundation. I can feel my team crowd in behind me, around me. From somewhere inside, I can hear the Xerxian laser rifles and the sounds of gunfire. There's a few explosions, too - grenades, probably.

"Looks like they started the party without us," Dragon says.

"I'm not sure we're invited," Blue Jay adds.

"Well, crashing parties is always more fun," Showdown jokes.

"So long as someone brought a keg," Phenom adds.

"Okay folks, listen up," I say. "I hate to interrupt the banter but I've got a plan."

"Shoot, boss," Red Bolt says.

"Red, Showdown and Rapunzel, take out all the Krieg you can find. Phenom, Dragon, and Superia, you three take on the Xerxians. There shouldn't be that many left, so when you're done focus on the Technocracy, which Psifire, Darklight, Ace and Moonbow will be working on. Blue Jay, Avenger, you're with me. We're hunting WOLFEN." Into my nanobead, I say, "Naiad, you coming?"

"On my way."

"When you get here, find Showdown and Rapunzel, take on the Krieg."

"No problem."

"What about me?" Troubleshooter asks.

"You find out what their master plan is, and, y'know."

"Thwart it?"

"Yeah."

"I'm on it."

"Kyle, I'm sensing some rather unusual thaumaturgical energies," Darklight warns him. "Be on your guard."

"I'm sure I've got something in my bag of tricks," he replies. "Thanks, Anna."

Troubleshooter disappears around a corner, and the team rearranges themselves, grouping themselves according to my plan as we run down the hall toward the gunfire.

"Sane people run away from gunfire," Ace says to me.

"Who ever said we're sane?" Showdown laughs as we burst into the main turbine room.

The terrorists are all clustered together at one end of the huge vaulted chamber, surrounding a giant turbine. Some of the Technocracy technauts are attaching things to it, directed by Nikki Tesla.

Blue Jay, Midnight Avenger and I wade into a group of WOLFEN gunning down a couple-three Xerxians. Kicks and punches, claw swipes from me and Steph, Wayne's got smoke bombs and flash bangs and throwing knives, three of us against a dozen or more of them. Gunshots. A grenade goes off. More slashing and flipping and dodging, then Avenger and I are standing over a pile of unconscious terrorists, Steph flying up to get a better view, she points, we go.

Jumping over a forklift I see a bunch of technauts trapped in bands of magical energy, clutching their heads wrapped in green fire. Nikki Tesla's got a couple arrows in her, sticking out of her cyber-bits. The Cybernaut is bearing down on Darklight and Psifire, then Ace is there, the air fills with razor-sharp cards and the Cybernaut suddenly starts convulsing. I catch Superia and Phenom tossing Xerxians around the room, into each other. There's a red blur forcing the Krieg into a corner where they're being lifted up and smashed into the walls and each other by tendrils of blonde hair and solidified water, so Naiad must have shown up when I was busy.

"Squirrelly!" Blue Jay yells, getting my attention again. Captain Hate is rallying his fanatics.

I jump over the group that's got Midnight Avenger surrounded and he and I proceed to kick their asses, Blue Jay swooping in every once in a while to pick up some goon and drop him on his buddies. I've got Captain Hate by the collar, removing some of his teeth with my fist, when the power surges back on.

The turbine Nikki Tesla was working on kicks back into life.

"Now our plan at last comes to fruition!" she screams from where Moonbow's got her tied up.

Nothing happens.

"But... but... no!" she yells, then starts swearing in some other language.

We clean up in here, call in the cops. It takes a little longer than normal for the ACPD to respond. Guess they're still busy with the Xerxian invasion clean–up. While we're waiting, Troubleshooter shows up, carrying some kind of device.

"Some kind of plan to turn the Captain Action statue into a giant robot thing to attack the city with," he explains. "Naturally it couldn't work through normal science - or even abnormal science - so WOLFEN was adding a little occult help."

"A giant Captain Action statue to destroy Action City," I laugh. "Real smart."

"Brilliant, actually," Troubleshooter says, examining the device he's carrying. "I'm guessing they needed the power surge from the backups finally kicking in to activate this device."

By the time the cops show up and we get back outside, the 101st Armoured Airborne Infantry have shown up, and they're mopping up the last of the Xerxians, so there's not much left for us to do. We head back to the Sterling Spire, for lack of anywhere else to regroup.

Back at the Spire, I can hear Missy and Kimmy arguing even before I walk into the med lab.

"Momma, no! Daddy said-"

"I know what he said, just do as I say!"

"Undermining my authority already? She's not even born yet," I joke. Kimmy's trying to get up, Missy's trying to not let her.

"Daddy, she won't-"

"Matt, tell her-"

"Both of you, chill out," I say. "Crisis averted, everything's fine. Missy, good job. Can you go find the others, tell them I'll be here a while?" She nods, gives me that big gorgeous smile I see so seldom on her mother's face, and leaves. I turn to Kimmy. "Kimmy, you're staying put until Doc gives you the green light."

"Matt, I'm fine."

"Really. Because I saw you struggling to fight a sixteen year old girl to get out of bed."

"Dammit Matt-"

"Kimmy, you got hurt, okay? Deal." I'm angry she got hurt and I'm taking it out on her. Great. I sit on the bed, take her hand, take a deep breath and say, "Kimmy, look. I know you want to be out there with us. I want you with us. But you're nowhere near ready to get back in the game."

"I've been hurt worse. Anna's spell has got me up and walking. In a little while I'll be fine."

"A little while, when? We talking a couple hours here, or tomorrow?"

"At least let me-"

"Kimmy, I can't deal with having you hurt and needing to watch out for you in a fight when I've got a job to do leading the team!"

She looks like I slapped her.

"Kimmy, I'm sor-"

"No, Matt, I am. You're right. I hate that I got hurt and I hate that I have to sit here while you go into harm's way."

"Kimmy, I want you beside me in a fight more than anybody I know. But you'd hate it if I kept you safe in a fight because you aren't a hundred percent, and you know I would do that. Right now I need to know you're safe and healing. Okay?"

"Okay."

I lean in and give her a kiss, one she returns, hard.

"Knock knock," Ace says from the door. The whole team's there, come up to see Kimmy. They crowd around the bed, everyone talking at once, telling Kimmy about the fight with the Xerxians mid-air, turning into a huge collar for the League - busting the Technocracy, the Krieg and WOLFEN in one blow. Kimmy manages to not look too jealous, and really looks proud when I tell everyone about Max's flying skills.

"So then Mike's got this Tinman in a headlock, right? So I come up-" Phenom's saying when suddenly all our nanobeads start beeping.

"What the hell?" I say, lifting my fist up to my mouth and activating the nanobead. "Hello?"

"Ah Matt," Doc Sterling's voice comes over the 'bead. "Excellent. Sorry to cut into your nanobead signal. Is the rest of the League nearby?"

"Most of us, yeah."

"Good. And where are you?"

"Med lab, the Spire."

"Really? Holy socks. Well, then, you'll want to get outside, fast. Um, probably Kimmy, too. Just in case."

"Just in case what, Doc?"

"Just to be on the safe side."

"Doc!"

"Matt, get everyone outside right now."

I turn to the League, picking Kimmy up. "Go!"

Superia, Phenom and Dragon break down one of the exterior walls and we jump out of the Spire. Powerband whips up a platform for us to land on.

"Dad," Max says.

"Yeah Max."

"We have a situation here."

"No kidding, kid," Dragon says.

"No, I mean," Max says, and points straight up.

Directly over the Sterling Spire is a huge hexagonal spaceship.

And then something really unexpected happens. A dozen teenage girls in colour-coordinated skimpy outfits suddenly appears out of nowhere, hanging in midair, and my daughter loses her mind.

"Ohmigawdohmigawdohmigawd!" is, I think, what she's shrieking once her voice lowers to the point where normal humans can hear her, and not just dogs and folks with enhanced hearing.

"Missy, you have something to share?" I ask.

"Daddy Daddy! It's it's it's-"

"Calm down honey," Kimmy says. "You know those girls?"

"Uh-huh! They're the Magical Girl Zodiac! That's Aries, she's the leader, and that's Aquarius, and Virgo, and Leo - oh wow, oh man, oh wow- that's Pisces, she's my favourite, but oh wow-"

"Anybody heard of these chicks?" Dragon asks.

"Nope."

"No."

"Never did."

"Nuh-uh."

"What?!" Missy shrieks. "They're like Japan's number one supergroup!"

"I thought those robots, the Mitimechs, were Japan's number one team," Powerband says.

"Are they robots? I thought they were people riding in all kinds of vehicles that transform and become a giant robot."

"No, you're thinking the Mega Warriors. The Mitimechs are robots who can join together as a giant robot."

"What is it with the Japanese and giant robots?"

"Hard to train the giant radioactive bugs and lizards, I guess."

"Ohmigawd!" Missy shrieks again. "This must be their first adventure! They were fighting crime in Tokyo, when these aliens attacked - which they later found out were Xerxians - and they followed the hiveship when it disappeared, but no one knew what happened - they must have shown up here in Action City, where the other wave of the attack struck!"

"So the Magical Girl Zodiac is somehow integral to her sense of self?" Kimmy asks me.

"Oh sure, they were my inspiration for becoming a crimefighter," Missy answers. "And you never told me you met them!"

"We don't get up there, we won't," Ace says.

He's right. The Magical Girl Zodiac is flying up toward the Xerxian hiveship.

I have to admit, those girls are a bit rough around the edges, but they've got the stuff. They blow a hole in the side of the ship and launch themselves inside without any hesitation. We follow them in a second or two later, and they're already taking on Xerxian warriors.

We follow them in, Missy - Squirrelgrrl - is yelling something in sounds like Japanese, the one she called Aries turns and sees us, smiles and nods, goes back to the fight.

We rush in to help out. I'm yelling orders, Squirrelgrrl's translating, the Crimefighters' League teams up with the Magical Girl Zodiac and we start kicking ass.

"Put me down, Matt, I can walk," Kimmy says to me. I had almost forgotten I was carrying her. I put her down. She can stand okay, but that's about it.

"Don't go far," I tell her.

"Don't worry about me."

"Missy!" I yell over the sounds of battle.

"Yeah, Daddy?"

"Tell Aries we need to take out their main power supply," I tell her. She translates. Aries nods, says something to her team. They all nod and say, "Hai!"

One of them points and twirls and yells something, then a blast of energy shoots out from her hands and blows a hole clear through six or seven levels of the ship.

"I like these kids," Dragon grins. "They fight to win."

"Yeah," Showdown grins up at him. "Not bad on the eyes, neither."

"Ah, c'mon, they're kids. Give me a woman with meat on her bones any day."

"You hungry?"

"Har har, smartass."

"Amazing," Darklight mutters to Superia, close enough that I can hear her. "Their powers are based on the gestures they make and the words they yell."

"Like magical spells," Superia adds. Anna nods.

"Come on!" I yell. The Magical Girl Zodiac are already ahead of us into the hole, down toward the Xerxian engines. Powerband puts a force bubble around Kimmy and floats her down with us.

Fighting down in the engine room is a lot harder, but we're over thirty powered or otherwise enhanced crimefighters against wave after wave of alien warrior. It's a bit of a mess, too chaotic to try to control. For a rough bit we're nearly overwhelmed, but the MGZ grab hands and suddenly flare a bright blue light, a weird not-quite explosion that sends the Xerxians flying but leaves us standing. After that, though, the MGZ are out of it for a bit, recovering. We keep the Xerxians off them best we can, but there's a hell of a lot of them.

I get separated from the rest of the group during a Xerxian frontal assault. I can hear Kimmy yelling my name, I'm about to jump to the ceiling to find her, when I see a Xerxian launch some kind of missile at me.

Funny how slow it was flying toward me. Slow enough for me to watch it fly right at me. Slow enough for Physique to drop in between me and it. It blows up in slo-mo right on her back, she comes flying at me, just as slow, I'm grabbing her midair and we're twisting and turning through the air. No sound. Funny.

I land on top of her, she grins and says something flirty, I think, from the look on her face, because I still can't hear anything. She sits up as I try and get up off her, but nothing's working right.

"Where were you?" I finally ask her when I can work my brain properly.

"Tied up with something needed taking care of," she answers. It looks like she's yelling but I can barely hear her. "Looks like I came just in time."

"Yeah," I say. "Take out the ship's engines, okay?"

She just grins and cracks her knuckles and jumps into the fray, and then Kimmy and Squirrelgrrl are by my side, helping me up.

"Matt, are you okay?" Kimmy asks me.

"I'll be fine," I manage to say, and that's when I pass out.