Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:

Squirrelman and the Crimefighters' League battled and failed to capture a group of powered criminals calling themselves the Revolutionists, who later successfully orchestrated the biggest prison break in history, freeing every inmate of not only Bendis Correctional, but of the Kane Sanitarium as well.

Searching for information on the whereabouts of the Revolutionists led the Crimefighters' League to the dismembered corpse of one of Squirrelman's informants, Seven Year, who had been the one who tipped Squirrelman off about the prison break in the first place.

Mayor Elizabeth Ross-Carter invited the Crimefighters' League to become officially affiliated with the Action City Police Department. When the League unanimously agreed to decline the invitation, the Mayor's office proudly announced, in conjunction with the ACPD, the formation of their own group of powered officers, calling themselves the Action City Guardians.

When Advance Stealth Scouts of an alien invasion were found in the Sterling Spire, Squirrelman combat-oriented precognition utterly failed him. Doc Sterling performed an autopsy on the creature, discovering the reason the alien was able to circumvent Squirrelman's precognition, but when they tried to artificially recreate the circumstances, Squirrelman suffered an unfortunate side-effect...



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


"In the summer of 1999 there was... a reality flux. A time warp. Something. Whatever it was, and I never found out, the entire world was ... shifted... into an alternate timeline. For three months."

"Temporal restructuring anomaly," Max says. "Sounds pretty major."

"It was."

"What was the defining aspect of this timeline?" Reed asks.

"I... there was... You see, there was this group, called the DNAgents. A corporation, but it was more than that. It... governments consulted it, hired it, owed everything to the DNAgency. It was started in the early sixties by a man I only knew as the Genegineer. He effectively ruled the world, although puppet governments were still in place. The DNAgency's motto was "A Better World Today" and its corporate structure relied on the 'efficient and judicious use of the genetically advantaged toward the betterment of society.' See, people we call metahumans, they called genetically advantaged. By the time I was born, the DNAgency had already adopted an aggressive recruitment policy for anyone with powers, then would put those powers to good use, all over the world. By the time I was in high school, the DNAgency had all but eradicated poverty, hunger, disease... and crime was becoming a thing of the past. People called it a New Golden Age, and owed everything to the Genegineer. By the time I had the accident that gave me my powers, there was only one thing to do - I became a DNAgent."

I pause for a second, lost in the memories of my predecessor. I can see it all, so clear... but it never really happened, I have to tell myself. It all got reset.

"In the summer of '99 I had just been promoted from Squad Leader to Resource Allocator. See, my powers had been designated as security-oriented, so I'd been assigned to DNAgency Security. My promotion, in modern armed forces terms, was essentially the same as be promoted from lieutenant to colonel. It opened up doors for me that otherwise had been closed. I was on the fast track, enjoyed privileges I'd only imagined previously. Being a Resource Allocator entitled me to an entire suite of rooms, and my new salary would allow me to begin looking for a non-designated mate."

"A what?" Kimmy asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm getting to that. See, my genemate had just given birth to our first child, a daughter. Her genetic advantages hadn't expressed themselves at birth, but there was tremendous potential there, and we were hopeful her advantages would express either in childhood or once puberty began. You see, it was decided in the late eighties that, for the good of the DNAgency and for society as a whole, that DNAgents would breed according to their genetic profile. They... we weren't allowed to mate with non-designated individuals. Sex, sure, but not children."

"So who was this genemate?" Kimmy asks, trying to sound casual and not really succeeding.

"No idea," I answered. "We weren't ever told. Artificial insemination. Never met her. I just received a memo saying that my genetic donation had successfully created a daughter, and she would be raised in the DNAgency Nursery with the other children of DNAgents. By DNAgents whose powers made them ideal for the raising of children."

"It sounds frecking awful," Missy says.

"We didn't know any different," I explain. "Anyhow, as a Resource Allocator I was given the responsibility of deciding where, when, and how the genetically advantaged were to be utilized. I successfully orchestrated the re-forestation of Ethiopia. There was a party. I got a medal. Anyhow, at the party, I was approached by... someone. What I didn't know then was she was an infiltrator. A spy. Sent to try to recruit me. She was very good, didn't tip her hand until the end. I didn't give her anything, but... anyhow. She made me aware of some things. That night she asked me questions, mainly about the conditions in the Asteroid Belt Mining Facilities, the Mars Colony, the undersea farms. The most hazardous jobs, essentially. I told her I had no idea, they were outside my sphere of influence. But she got me thinking, and the next time I went into the office I made some discreet inquiries. Conditions in those jobs were... appalling.

"See, anyone whose advantages made them strong and tough, like Physique or Dragon, were pretty much limited to what kind of jobs the DNAgency made available to them. The most hazardous jobs had the best pay, sure, but also the highest death rates, the most illnesses, the most appalling living conditions. It wasn't considered slave labour because they were being paid, but... it was pretty awful. And the public had no idea. I tried to shrug it off - I was a Resource Allocator, the new guy, not a Policy Maker. But it nagged at me and nagged at me.

"I ran into the recruiter again in a bar. By a funny coincidence, she said. Anyhow, one thing led to another, and soon I was seeing her pretty regularly. Then one day she told me about this group, who basically thought that the public had a right to know about the lives of the people who supplied the food and supplied the raw materials and were turning Mars into a New Eden. I agreed to meet with them.

"They called themselves the Legion of Liberty, and they believed more than that - they believed that not only were the DNAgents a negative influence on the world, but that the Genegineer, the saviour of humanity, was an evil despot who needed to be dethroned.

"I reported them to my superiors the next day. Led the Security Assault Team. Killed my recruiter, a few others, but like any good insurgency, they operated in cells. That same night, the Legion of Liberty launched an all-out assault on the Genegineer's home in Athens. And then... something happened. Reality reset itself, went back to normal. I woke up in my bed with no memory of what had happened the previous three months, just like everyone else on the planet."

"Holy socks," Doc says. "That's... that's incredible."

"I know. Reed... you're right."

"I frequently am, but about what in specific this time?"

"You've been saying, all this time, that there has to be a coordinating mind behind all the problems we've been having this past month."

"I have."

"Reed... Kosmos Konstantinopoulos was the Genegineer."

"Holy socks!"

"What?!"

"Ohmigod!"

"I only met him the one time. During my training as a DNAgent. I was in a training room, I'd just defeated four opponents, this voice came over the intercom. 'Your technique is sloppy, Matt.' I didn't recognize the voice - or at least, I didn't recognize it over the intercom. I exited the training room and met him. The Genegineer himself. He shook my hand, told me to concentrate on keeping my opponents in front of me. I explained about my ability to sense immediate danger, how it would twitch me around, keep me safe. He told me that relying on my instincts was one thing, but would never replace the rational prioritization of your opponents. I told him I'd work on it."

I rub my temples. Now I have three lifetimes of memories in my head - mine from before I switched places with my predecessor, my predecessor's, and now these memories of my predecessor's of a timeline that no longer exists. Now I know why Alternity Al and Continuity Ken are practically insane.

"Okay, so, Konstantinopoulos ruled the world with an iron fist for three months six years ago, and now no one remembers it. So?" Max asks.

"So if the memory erasure which occurred when history realigned itself is responsible for the synaptic cascading overload your father just experienced, and Kosmos was the trigger to that overload, then it stands to reason that the synaptic overload your father experienced at the Citadel may somehow have something to do with Kosmos as well."

"Why?" Missy asks, before I can.

"The mnemonic blocks were disrupted by the mathematically improbable re-creation of nearly the exact events contained within the repressed memories. In the most recent case, a figure of some authority spoke the exact words spoken by Kosmos, who in this case was the ultimate figure of authority in the alternate timeline within the mnemonic blockage. In the original synaptic event, a figure of some authority spoke a phrase that served as the trigger to the event. There's no reason to assume that the mnemonic blockage wasn't the work of a similar figure of authority."

"What Ulysses said to you, Matt, did you ever hear the Genegineer say it?" Kimmy asks.

"No."

"I'm afraid we might have no other alternative but to conduct a psychic surgery on the mnemonic block," Reed says.

"Christ," I say. Kimmy doesn't look any happier about it than I am. I tell her, "It might be the only way to know what's going on in my head." She just nods, not happy one bit.

"I still don't see how Konstantinopoulos is implicated in the original synaptic event," Max says.

"Well, frankly," Reed says with a little self-deprecating smile, "I don't trust Kosmos, and repressing someone's memories is definitely something he'd be more than capable of."

"So now what, Doc?" I ask.

"I'd like you to stay overnight, if you don't mind. For observation."

"Probably a good idea."

"In the morning, there are several talented psychic surgeons I can contact, we can meet with them to discuss your options."

"No, look, if someone's going to be poking around my brain, I'd rather it was someone from my team. Someone I trust. Get Hannah in here first thing tomorrow."

That last bit was to Kimmy. She nods.

"Okay, I'm going to have to ask that you try and get some rest now. Kimmy, if you and the kids want to stay for supper, you're perfectly welcome."

"Actually Momma, um, some of the others want to go out tonight, first for supper and then, you know, patrolling?"

"Some of the others?"

"Ultraboy," Max teases.

"Shudduuuuup!" Missy tells him.

"He is way too old for you, young lady," Kimmy says.

"Mommaaaaa!"

"Who else, Max?" I ask.

"Ultragirl, Superia, Physique, Cricket, some of the kids from TeenSupreme," he answers.

"You?"

"Yeah, I was thinking."

"Okay by me, but your Mom gets the final word."

Kimmy looks at me, looks at our kids. "Back by midnight," she says.

"Momma, it's Saturday."

"You want to make it eleven?"

"No no, midnight is fine."

"I thought you'd say that."

"Wow, you guys already have this whole thing down," Max grins. "Nice to know some things don't change."

I share a smile with Kimmy. Missy gives me a hug before she and Max take off. Reed leaves me alone with my fiancee.

"So who was she, Matt?"

"Who was who?"

"The recruiter."

"You. She was you."

"You... you killed me?"

"I... I didn't pull the trigger... but I gave the order, yeah."

"Good thing for us, my side won, I guess, right?"

"Yeah."

"Matt." She takes my hand, holds it to her chest. I can feel her heart beating under my hand, feel her take a breath, in, out, in, out.

"I'm not dead," she says, leaning in. "You didn't kill me."

"I know," I say, "but-"

"Shut up." She kisses me, hard. Leans back, says, "I'm just glad I'm the one who seduced you in that timeline. Nice to know I have that effect on you, no matter what alternity we're in."

That makes me laugh. "Yeah."

"Get some rest."

"Okay."

I hold it together long enough for her to leave, then the tears come. I can't get the sight of Kimmy, dead, out of my mind.

I stay the night. Nothing happens. My headache even goes away. The guilt doesn't go anywhere.

I head back to the mansion next day. Most of the team is out, doing what we do. There's a few folks in the main lounge.

"Hey team," I say. "What's up?"

"You hear about the kids?" Rob asks me.

"No, what about them?"

"They stopped a robbery at the Museum of Modern Art last night," Hank says. "Poodle and the Master Planner."

"No shit?!"

"No sir."

"That's incredible!"

"Seriously," Melody says.

"It'll be good publicity for the League, too," Kimmy says, coming in and giving me a quick hug.

"Where were you this morning?" I ask her quietly.

"Church."

"Really."

"Yeah."

"So who was in charge?" I ask the team. "Lisa? Katie?"

"Your son," Rob says.

"Max?!"

"None other."

Nothing like a double dose of good news to make you forget about a bleak alternate timeline where you killed the woman you love.

"Ace calling Squirrelman," my nanobead transmits.

"Squirrelman here, what's up Ace?"

"A bunch of city officials have gone missing, including her honour the Mayor," he says.

"What? When?"

"This morning, during her morning run."

"Okay, I'll get everyone on this. Squirrelman calling all Crimefighters, meet at Hitch Plaza. This is big, folks."

We get changed and head out.

"What's the problem, Squirrelly?" Physique asks.

"Okay, first thing, good job last night, everyone," I say. The kids all grin and look proud, and they deserve it. "So, Ace?"

"A contact I have on the ACPD told me that almost a dozen city officials - assistant D.A.s, city councillors, and now the Mayor. The ACPD are on high alert, and word has it that the Revolutionists are responsible."

"We have got to get those assholes," Dragon says.

"Seriously," Physique says, squeezing her fist until her knuckles crack.

"Okay, any ideas?" I ask.

"Seven Year," Moonbow says.

"Right, one of the witnesses said something, didn't they?"

"Something about getting back 'under the big guy' - but we know it wasn't the Captain Action Memorial."

"And, strictly speaking, we don't know that the Revolutionists are responsible for Seven Year's death," Troubleshooter says.

"Oh, come on, who else could it be?" Phenom asks.

"I'm sure an informant like Seven Year accumulated a number of enemies," Troubleshooter says.

"Okay, any ideas on which 'big guy' they meant?"

"Johnny Swift?"

"Airman and Flyboy."

"Wonderman's statue, under the Shooter Skyway."

"Dawn and Midnight."

"Alpha Centurion."

"Prince Power."

"Atlas, he's pretty big."

"That's true."

"Great. This town has too many statues."

"Unless..."

"Troub?"

"Well, assuming the witness didn't hear the murderer very clearly, he might not have said 'big guy' at all."

"That's not encouraging."

"No. But what if he said, 'big I'?"

"As in Infantino Tower?" I ask. It's a huge glass and steel seventies functional skyscraper shaped like a capital letter I.

"Or the killer could have said, 'big eye,'" Midnight Avenger says.

"As in, Sentinel's Watchtower?" Red Bolt asks.

The Watchtower is a historical landmark, one of the first public crimefighter headquarters, home to Sentinel's Guard for a quarter century. The top three storeys are shaped like Sentinel's eye-shaped S-logo, rotating to always keep an 'eye' on the city he loved. Sentinel retired ten, fifteen years ago, but the Watchtower is still there all the same.

"Okay. Avenger, take Dragon, Phenom, Ultraman, Ultragirl, Max Hero, Rapunzel, Psifire, Redeemer, Speed Queen, Superia, Decibelle, Naiad, Diamond, Lightbringer, and Nightwoman. You check out the Watchtower. Ace, Ragdoll, Squirrelgrrl, Darklight, Physique, Showdown, Blue Jay, Troubleshooter, Moonbow, Cricket, Ultrawoman and Ultraboy, Red Bolt and Powerband. You're with me. We're going to check out Infantino Tower."

"You'd think something like this would be all over the news," Red Bolt says.

"We very soon will be, if we don't get a move on," Powerband says. He's right. We're attracting an audience. Thirty masks in the middle of a park is something worth stopping to watch, even in a city as full of masks and metas as Action City.

"Okay," I say. "Let's go. Keep in touch."

"Good luck," Midnight Avenger says to me.

"You too," I answer.

We head out. I'm seriously considering asking Reed to loan us some Sterlingcars, because transporting this many masks and metas is getting to be a pain. Diamond's able to make a floating platform for the other team, Powerband wraps ours in a big yellow bubble, but there's got to be a way of getting use from place to place without turning a member of our team into a taxi.

The Infantino Tower is hard to miss - just under a hundred storeys of glass and steel, ugly, purely functional, utterly lacking any aesthetic appeal. The seventies have more to answer for than disco and bad clothes. We're there in maybe ten minutes, land on the roof.

"Under the big I, they said, right?"

"Right," I say. We head for the entrance from the roof to the top floor. Troubleshooter's got the door open in a couple seconds, we enter. Ace pushes the call button.

After a couple more seconds, waiting in silence, Red Bolt says, "I hate waiting for elevators."

We all laugh, breaking the tension. The elevator arrives with a 'ding' - we pile in, glad that I sent Dragon on the other team. We barely fit in, but we squeeze.

"Nobody breathe," Showdown jokes.

We get a lot of funny looks, whenever the doors open on the way down.

We get to the basement.

"Last stop, everybody out," Powerband says. We pile out, suddenly glad for elbow room.

"Red, find the stairs to the sub-basement," I tell Red Bolt. He's gone and back before I finish my sentence.

"Found it, follow me."

We follow him to a metal door. Troubleshooter's got the lock popped even faster than the rooftop door.

"We'll need to speak to the Tower security after this," he says. "They're really lax."

I nod to him, then hold my nanobead up to my mouth and quietly call up Midnight Avenger.

"No news," he tells me.

"We're about to head down under the Tower," I tell him.

"Roger that. Good luck."

"You too."

We go down the stairs, Showdown on point. Nothing happens to us on the way down. We search the whole sub basement. Nothing. No sign of anything. Elevator maintenance, janitor supplies, emergency generator, the parking garage. Nothing. I'm about to contact Midnight Avenger on my nanobead when Darklight calls us over to one corner of the garage.

"What is it, Anna?" I ask.

"Here," she says, running a hand over the wall. "There's... something. Behind this wall."

"Rosie, give me a hand?" Physique asks, then punches the wall before I can say anything. Not a good idea. She's not as strong as she used to be, gives out a "Ah fucking hell!," holding her hand. I hope she hasn't broken it. Troubleshooter takes a look at her hand while Ultrawoman and Ultraboy step up, punch the wall a few times. There's a tunnel behind it, heading down.

"Good work," I say. "Red, scope it out."

He's gone in a blur of red and yellow. Back before we're all through the hole.

"Good news kids," he says. "They're down there. The Revolutionists and the missing officials."

"Squirrelman to Midnight Avenger," I say into my nanobead, "head here as fast as you can."

"On our way."

"Let's go," I tell my team.

"We're not going to wait for the others?" Blue Jay asks.

"Reinforcements, in case we need them, but I doubt we will."

We follow Red down through the tunnel. It curls under the sub basement to a pretty big cavern. I tell the team to wait, crawl along the ceiling of the tunnel to get a better look. Pop my head around the corner. The officials are tied up along one side of the cave. The Revolutionists are sitting around what looks like a garage sale kitchen table with mismatching chairs. Lights hang from the ceiling of the cave. I head back to the team, whisper my orders.

"Showdown, you take out Plex. Red, Mister Twister. Anna, Ghostfire - Troubleshooter, you back her up. Ultrawoman, Ultraboy, and Physique, you take on Slugfest. Blue Jay, Squirrelgrrl, Ragdoll, you're on Crimson Shadow. Who'd I miss? Cobra - okay, I'll take Cobra. Maidstone and the Aztech... Ace, Moonbow, you take Maidstone. Actually, Ultraboy, you take on Aztech, keep it busy until somebody can give you a hand."

"No problem," he says, grinning.

We charge through the entrance to the cavern, taking them completely by surprise. It's not a fun fight, it's a messy one. They're cornered and they know it, fight like it. Cobra keeps me a hell of a lot busier than I thought he would, I don't see Slugfest knock out Physique, but Crimson Shadow goes down quicker than I expected, and I can almost feel it when the fight starts to turn.

Then everything goes to hell.

The roof caves in, for one. I've got just enough time to yell the "Get" part of "Get out!" before chunks of concrete start falling on us, followed quickly by the Action City Guardians right on top of us.

The Guardians start off by fighting anything standing, so it's a rough bit while I try and get the Crimefighters clear - from the rubble, from attacks by the Revolutionists (taking advantage of the confusion to try and escape) and from attacks by the powered cops unit. I manage to get us mostly clear, but in the confusion, Crimson Shadow wakes up long enough to activate his team teleporter, and the Revolutionists escape. Again.

But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is, some of the rubble from the Guardians' dramatic and incredibly stupid entrance fell on the tied-up city officials.

The worst part is, a lot of the rubble fell on the Mayor.

The worst part is, Mayor Elizabeth Ross-Carter, once known as Maiden America, is dead.