Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:

During the worst prison break in Action City's history, the contents of the Claremont Protected Registry - the names and so-called secret identities of thousands of powered individuals, masks, metas, and criminals - were posted on the popular datasite, Maskwatchers.

In the aftermath of the prison break and the data leak, Senator Mazzuchelli of New Jersey called the Claremont Act a "terrific failure," claiming that less than sixty percent of known metahumans had voluntarily or involuntarily registered with the Protected Registry, and called for its repeal.

Mayor Elizabeth Ross-Carter asked the Crimefighters' League to join the Action City Police Department as an officially sanctioned powered team. When the League unanimously declined, the city chose to sponsor another group, the Action City Guardians.

Upon returning from a successful day of tracking down and arresting all thirteen Phantasms, as well as a number of their associates, Squirrelman, Ragdoll, Ace and Darklight returned to Masters Mansion to discover that the Senator had succeeded.



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
Steven Rand ............... as Showdown
Hank Scott .................. as Powerband
Wayne Masters ... as Midnight Avenger
Jill Suzuki ........................... as Naiad
Hannah Cohen ................... as Psifire
Kyle Drake ........... as Troubleshooter
Jackson Archer ............ as Moonbow
Alistair Crombie ............. as the Mole
Cricket ............................... as herself
Max Mattheson ....... as Captain Hero
Missy Mattheson ........ as Squirrelgrrl
Elizabeth Walsingham .... as Diamond
Gareth King ................ as Lightbringer
Rob Ross ....................... as Ultraman
Rosie Ross ................as Ultrawoman
Ryan Ross .......................as Ultraboy
Rory Ross ....................... as Ultragirl
Melody Johnson .............. as Decibelle
Tony Juarez .................. as Redeemer
Samantha Timmons ... as Speed Queen
Kathryn Hardy.......... as Nightwoman

with

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

and

Augustus Steele ....... as Doc Steele




"What does it mean, really?"

"Immediate effects? Not much. Not with the Registry contents already leaked."

"What I'm more concerned with is, the repeal going through this fast? Means it was in motion even before the leak."

"Or else someone with a lot of money to spread around Washington made sure it went through."

"That's a cheery thought."

"That D.C. is rife with corruption?"

"No, that someone out there actually has that much money."

"I have that much money, but I wouldn't spend it in Washington."

"Prefer to get something for your money, Wayne?"

"Something like that."

"Okay, so, what? Is there anything we can do about this?"

"Does it affect any of us directly?"

"I don't think it does," I say. "Not immediately, anyway. So this is why you were trying to contact us?"

"Yes," Stephanie says.

"Anna?"

"It's possible that, in undertaking the... quest to take down Phantasm, we entered a side state, where we were unreachable by normal, technological means of communication."

"A side state?"

"A sub-reality, not separate from our own."

"That sounds like a headache to explain any more completely."

"For some, perhaps."

"Okay, sorry about winding up in a sub state all day. But there's nothing we can really do about it, right? Except write to our Congressman?"

"Side state."

"Right, side state."

"I suppose not," Wayne says. "Still, it's... troubling."

"Yeah," I agree. "Any other news?"

"Nothing Downtown. It's like Alistair just disappeared. No one knows anything about it."

"The day passed pretty normally for us - regular patrols are making sure the criminals lie low - or else they're getting better at hiding. Caught Squidface, by the way, Squirrelly."

"Thanks, Trevor."

"Sure."

"What about Johnny Giggles and April Fool? Any sign?"

Everybody gets a very sour look on their faces.

"The Action City Guardians got him."

"The new powered cop unit?"

"That's them."

"Well... good for them, I guess."

"Yeah."

"I guess."

"Come on, guys," Steph says, "we can't begrudge them a little of the glory, right? I mean, Johnny Giggles back behind bars, that's the important thing, right?"

"Sure."

"Yeah."

"Exactly."

"Okay, yeah, it sucks that we didn't get him," Steph admits. "That would have been a hell of a collar - Johnny Giggles, twice inside a month?"

"Sure!"

"Yeah!"

"Exactly!"

"Right," I say. "Anything else?"

"Don't think so."

"Oh, Reed wanted to talk to you, Matt."

"Thanks Lisa. I better go give him a call."

"Mm-hmm."

Kimmy heads upstairs to clean up and change, and I go into one of the studies to call Reed.

"Reed Sterling," he answers the vid. "Ah, Matt, excellent."

"What's up, Doc?"

"Holy socks, Matt, won't you ever get tired of that joke?"

"Not if I can help it, Doc. Seriously, though, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Indeed I did. I thought you might like to know why those Xerxian Advance Stealth Scouts were able to circumvent your presensory abilities."

"Huh? I mean, yeah, sure."

"I conducted an autopsy on one of them. It seems they're equipped with a gland that produces chronotrons."

"Really."

"Yes indeed. The chronotrons aren't enough to actually displace the individual in space/time, however I surmise that a sufficiently concentrated dose, should one of the Xerxians become somehow mutated, say by exposure to suprontium particles, or omega radiation, or perhaps the metagenetic gases of the-"

"Doc."

"Right, sorry. The chronotrons are only sufficient to affect the area adjacent to the individual Xerxian, so that anyone near the being has their internal chronometer confused."

"Okay, Reed, what's that mean in Captain Obvious English?"

"Heh. Well, the reason you couldn't foresee the alien's attacks was because to your senses, the Xerxian wasn't there."

"Doc, I could see him plan as day. I just couldn't anticipate his attacks. Really pissed me off."

"I'm sure. It's never very fun to be beaten."

"Depends on who's doing the beating. No, I meant, it pissed me off to realize how much I'd come to depend on my little twitches to tell me how to fight someone."

"Ah, yes. Dependancies are never a fun discovery."

"No, they're not. It's a weakness, and weaknesses can be exploited."

"They certainly... hmm."

"What?"

"Well, I suddenly thought... I could set up a... a training facility, for you, if you wanted. A room that would radiate a steady stream of chronotrons, just enough to distort your time sense, so that you'd be forced to rely on your own normal perceptions and reflexes, rather than the prescience you've become dependant upon."

"Huh."

"If you wanted, that is. It would be an interesting experiment, seeing how an individual with limited precognition reacts to becoming slightly disconnected from the timestream-"

"Uh, Doc? This isn't going to be dangerous, is it?"

"Well... no more than anything else we do on a regular basis."

"That's not exactly confidence-inspiring."

"It's your choice, Matt. Just a suggestion."

"Would it take a lot of time and effort?"

"Not a bit. We've already got a training facility here at the Spire, had it put in when the boys started developing their powers. It should be a simple matter to equip it with a chronotron emitter."

"Okay, sure. Why not?"

"Excellent. Oh, by the way, since I've got you on the phone, Julia's been in contact with the Ministry of Unexplained Phenomena, they've sent word to the Ambassador to the Seelie Court. Unless there's some kind of unusual or unforeseen temporal distortion, we should hear back from them before the end of the week."

"Great news, Doc. Thanks. And thank Julia for me."

"Of course. Our pleasure."

"Okay, so when can I come by to train?"

"Say, tomorrow afternoon? Barring any unforeseen crises, of course."

"Wow, okay. Sure. Thanks."

After that I give Stretch a call. It's weird talking to him after so long. We talk every day, normally. The last couple weeks have been anything but normal.

We decide that Mr. Accountant will have to downsize, or else I'll need to leave the company. Neither of us wants to downsize, it will mean losing some of our oldest and best clients, people who aren't just a steady source of income any more, people I consider friends, or at least people I'm friendly with... which means my resignation. Stretch offers to buy me out at an insane price, and I talk him down to something the company can actually afford. Ten years of hard work, sacrifice, trying to build something for ourselves. For nothing. Well, not nothing, eight figures spread over five years isn't nothing, but... it was about more than the money.

"End of an era," Stretch says.

"Yeah."

"How's things, otherwise?"

"Getting... complex."

"I'll bet."

"Listen, Stretch, you take care, okay? If you're going to be my Best Man, you're going to want to look good in a tux."

"This is how you ask me to be your Best Man?"

"You want I should send flowers, take you out to dinner?"

"Could have bought me a couple drinks, pal."

"Next time."

"Sure. You take care of yourself, too."

"I will."

"Tell Kimmy I said Hi."

"Will do."

He hangs up and I feel like shit. I've been so focussed on everything the Crimefighters' League has been going through that I've been ignoring everything Matt Mattheson is going through, including drifting away from his oldest friend and business partner. There aren't enough hours in the day.

I take a shower and hit the sack. Getting to bed by midnight, who knew? Kimmy comes in sometime later, curls up beside me. I wake up around dawn, starving, head downstairs for breakfast, tell the gang just coming in I'll be spending the day on personal stuff, head out.

First things first. I go to the building where we were going to set up the League's headquarters and settle things. We didn't have any insurance yet, so the repairs have to come out of the limited funds the League managed to acquire before the Implacable Foes attacked - meaning those funds are pretty much used up. Good thing Wayne's so generous, otherwise we'd be in serious trouble financially. Then I do the same at my apartment, but that has to come out of my pocket. All that somehow takes up all morning, so I grab some lunch with Stretch and we go over the specifics of my resignation and sale of my interest in Mr. Accountant. It's good to hang out with him like old times, even if the topic is pretty depressing, but there's... something between us. An uncomfortableness, I don't know. Anyhow, we finish lunch and I head for the Spire.

Doc Steele's still there, discussing something with Doc Sterling.

"Ah, Matt, come in," Reed says.

"Squirrelman," Steele nods to me.

"Gus and I were just talking about the various Atlantean and Subterranean technologies Lord Hades is likely to have in his arsenal," Reed says.

"That'll be good to know, assuming the Seelie Court sends in the cavalry," I say.

"The Wild Hunt is a little more than the cavalry," Steele says.

"Quite," Reed agrees.

"Whatever," I say, agreeing. "If they come, we'll go down the tunnel and find, what? Subterra?"

"Exactly," Steele says.

"My question is, do we really need to? Don't we have enough problems topside already?"

"How else do you propose to find out if Lord Hades is behind all the trouble Downtown?"

"I don't know. But invading a ... a what? A foreign country? Do we even have any jurisdiction down there?"

"Technically Subterra's never been recognized by the United Nations," Reed explains. "So from a legal standpoint, it doesn't exist. Meaning that our incursion onto their sovereign territory isn't technically an invasion."

"Which means we'll be within our rights as citizens of the United States to investigate, under the terms of the Samaritan Act," Steele adds.

"Okay, cool. I just wanted to get that clear in my own mind."

"Of course."

"So is your chronotraining room ready?" I ask Reed.

"Absolutely. Let me attach these sensors to you, and we'll be good to go."

So Reed attaches some sensor pads to my chest, and a couple to my temples, and we head to a level I haven't been on before. We enter a room that's mainly a computer bank set in front of a bunch of monitors and a window onto a darkened room. Reed flips a few switches and the lights go on in the room behind the window. It's a big empty room, white metal walls and floor and ceiling, otherwise completely featureless.

"Through there, Matt," Reed says, pointing to a door. I go through, down a hallway, into the white room.

"We'll try something simple to start with," Reed's voice comes over some hidden speakers. I can't even see the window, though I know it must be right about there. The floor lowers itself, or maybe the ceiling raises - hard to tell without any reference points.

"I'm turning on the chronotron emitter," Reed says. "You may feel... a little weird."

You know that feeling you get when you think it's Tuesday, even though it's actually Monday? I get that feeling, only I don't know what day it is. I mean, I know it's Saturday September 17, but I don't feel like it's any day in particular.

Four basically humanoid synthetics rise out of the floor. Like the room, they don't have any distinguishing features.

"Let's just try some simple self-defence exercises," Reed says.

"Simple. Four against one?" I hot-squeeze out my claws.

"Come now, Matt. You've faced worse odds. Now, these are mindless automatons, not fully sentient, so don't be shy about taking them out. I assure you, they won't be."

And that's when the first synth attacks. From behind me, naturally.

It's tough. Tougher than I thought it would be. Four against one, with my twitch telling me where to go, would be a cake walk. Jump twist flip turn slash punch kick kick flip. Without my twitch, it's more jump dodge get hit get kicked slash slash punch dodge block block flip twist spin get hit get grabbed get loose flip twist punch kick kick get grabbed again get mad twist flip slash slash slash smash toss leg sweep kick kick kick toss dodge dodge tackle spin slam.

I'm standing over the four wrecked synths, sweating, breathing hard.

"Your technique is sloppy, Matt," Doc Steele says, then everything goes bright white, my head explodes, and everything goes black.

When I come to, I'm in the Spire's med lab, on one of the beds. Kimmy and the kids are here, Reed's standing over me, running some kind of scanner thing over my head.

"What?" I say, trying to sit up. My head is killing me. Kimmy and the kids come over to the med bed.

"Easy, Matt," he says, holding me down. "You've had some kind of synaptic... event."

"How long was I out?"

"Three hours," Kimmy says.

"What happened?"

"I'm still not sure," Doc says. "I need to run some more tests, but... I think we can safely say you should avoid the chronotrainer for the time being."

"We're going to talk about that," Kimmy says in her 'I'm so gonna kick your ass' voice. "When you're better."

"So it did something to my brain?"

"It somehow caused a massive synaptic cascading current to override your neural pathways, creating a -"

"Doc."

"It did something to your brain."

"Thanks."

"Can you tell me what happened? Did you see anything, hear anything?"

"Nope," I say. "Doc Steele said something about my technique, right? Then everything went white, then black. I don't remember anything. Where is Steele, anyway?"

"He said he had something he needed to take care of, asked me to apologize for him."

"Yeah, okay."

"Sounds like what happened at the Kents' that time," Kimmy says to Reed.

"I was just thinking that myself. A vocal trigger causing a synaptic event. Interesting."

"Okay, so what's the trigger? Ulysses and Steele said different things."

"What did Ulysses say?"

"He said something like, 'I'm glad you're here,' didn't he?"

"'I'm very glad you came'," I tell them. "And Doc Steele said, 'Your technique is sloppy, Matt.'"

We all pause for a second, expecting me to black out again. Nothing happens.

"Okay, maybe if someone else says it?"

"I don't advise it," Reed says. "Or rather, not here. I suspect it has more to do with a combination of environmental factors."

"Such as?"

"Voice timbre, emotional associations with the speaker, psychological state, position relative in space and time, even room temperature," Reed explains.

"Waitaminute, go back," I say. "Position relative in space and time?"

"The chronotrons freed you from the constraints of linear time."

"Doesn't explain what happened at the Kents."

"No."

"But still."

"Yes." Reed pinches his chin, thinking hard.

"Do you remember anything, Daddy?"

"Not really, sweethea-" I stop, mid-word. Look up at Missy.

My daughter.

I look at Kimmy, my fiancee, my girlfriend, my lover, my friend.

My enemy.

I killed her.

"Doc, you remember the summer of '99?"

"Of course not, Matt. No one does, not even Alternity Al or Continuity Ken, and they, supposedly, know everything about everywhen. Why?"

"I do," I say. "I remember everything that happened that summer."