Talyesin's Tales

Previously on Squirrelman - Sins of the Past:

When several city officials mysteriously go missing, the Crimefighters' League decides to investigate, but when the ACPD-sponsored Action City Guardians show up, everything goes horribly awry...



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
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



We're questioned for hours.

Not 'for what seems like hours,' actual hours. Over and over again. First by the officers on the scene. Then by detectives. Then back at ACPD HQ. By the detectives. By the lieutenants. By the captains. By the assistant D.A. By the D.A. himself. By the Police Commissioner.

Same story. Over and over again.

We heard about the missing officials. Heard the Revolutionists were implicated. Investigated, based on clues we'd gathered prior to the kidnappings. No, we have no clue where the Revolutionists escaped to. Yes, we were aware they had a team teleporter. Yes, when we attacked I had that in mind. No, I don't know who gave us the tip. No, I won't tell them the name of my teammate who got us the tip.

Eventually it becomes very clear that I'm - that the team - is going to need a lawyer. I ask if I can make a phone call. I get the runaround. I get stalled. I get everything, except my phone call.

I get angry. Use my nanobead. Tell the team to stop co-operating.

Probably not the smartest thing I've ever done.

The ACPD starts talking about obstructing justice. Confiscate my nanobead.

I stop talking. The only thing I say is, "I want to talk to my lawyer."

Eventually they let me talk to a lawyer. The Mayor's dead and they're looking for someone to blame. And they can't blame their brand new powered police unit, now can they?

Fifteen hours. Fifteen hours after the Mayor's killed by the Guardians' stupidity, it's declared an 'unfortunate accident.'

And the Crimefighters' League are 'cleared of all responsibility in the tragic death of the Mayor.'

"Cleared of all responsibility?!" I yell at my lawyer. "That makes it sound like there was some question at some point!"

"City has the best spin doctors available, Mr. Mattheson," she says to me. "It was everything I could do to get the obstruction charge dropped. We got off light on this one."

"Yeah," I say. "Yeah, sure. Okay. Can we go now?"

I collect my nanobead, head outside. Every single cop in the place gives me a dirty look on my way out.

"Squirrelman calling all Crimefighters," I say into the nanobead once I'm outside. "Where is everyone?"

"Look up, then left and down the street," Ace says over the nanobead. I spot him on top of a building.

Run across the street, up the fire escape, along the rooftops. Most of the team is waiting.

"This is bad," Midnight Avenger says to me.

"It's not good," I answer.

"What do we do?" Blue Jay asks.

"Nothing, for now," I say. "We didn't do anything wrong. I'm the only one implicated in the obstruction charge, but that got dropped, so I'm told." I look at Midnight Avenger and say, "Your lawyer, she's pretty good."

"That she is."

"So, now what?"

"Everyone head back to the mansion, take your own routes. Make sure we're not tailed." I take a good long look at ACPD HQ. It used to seem like a big, strong ally. Now... it stares down at me. Angry. Unfriendly. Just my imagination. "We didn't make any friends today, team. Things are going to be tough for the next little while. Might be good for us to lay low for a bit."

"Hide?" Moonbow asks, surprised.

"No, not hide, just... out of the public eye," I say. "Like we used to do. Muggers, rapists, B'n'Es, robberies, that stuff. And... for now, leave the collars. I know. But... ACPD aren't going to be grateful to us, to members of the League. And a few unclaimed collars, more or less... anyhow, look. Let's talk about this back at the mansion."

The team is not happy. Not one bit. But nobody says anything, everyone heads off their own directions. I watch them go, until it's just me and Ragdoll.

"What do you think?" Ragdoll asks me.

"I think it's going to get worse before it gets better."

"No shit."

"Look, Kimmy, what do want me to say?" I close my eyes, pinch the bridge of my nose. Take a deep breath. "Sorry."

"Yeah."

"We got fucked today."

"Yeah."

I start to run across the rooftops, trying to sweat out some of this anger. Kimmy's right at my side.

"D'you think... do you think folks will... want to leave the League? Disassociate themselves?" I ask her.

"What? What makes you think that?"

"Like, the Ultras? They've never had this kind of bad publicity - a family of metas, promoting family values, truth, justice, the whole thing. This sort of thing... it's going to hurt them more than say, Moonbow. He's always running up against ACPD, got bad press. Me, when Squirrelman first hit the streets... cops were always out to get me. Bad times."

"You think they're coming back?"

"The Claremont Act's repealed. The Mayor, an outspoken and fierce advocate of crimefighter registration and accountability, gets killed in a metahuman fight. The cops think the League's somehow responsible, despite the fact that it was their powered unit who fucked everything up by coming in, hot and heavy."

"Yeah, did you catch who was on that team? I didn't recognize them at first, out of their normal outfits."

"Who?"

"Clown and Harlequin."

"No shit."

"You betcha."

"Hmmph. Didn't expect that."

"No? I did. Those chickenshits."

"Well, whatever."

"But to answer your question, I don't know. Some of the League I'd expect to stay on, thick or thin, heat or heroes, but... some of them, maybe, yeah."

I take a deep breath, think about that for a bit. We hop the el train. I want to take the long route, think this through.

"Which ones?" I say, eventually.

"Which ones- oh. Like you said, the Ultras. Maybe some of the new ones, Speed Queen, Redeemer, them - you know, the ones who came to us? Some others, too. Psifire, Naiad? I dunno..."

"Anyone from the Kane?"

"What? No. They're... that's different."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Jesus," she says, shaking her head. "I never saw this coming."

"Who could have?"

"I expected someone from within."

"I know you did."

"You didn't."

"No, I didn't. In this job, all we've got is trust. I trust you, you trust me. We trust the others. Or we can't do the job. We can't go into an abandoned warehouse we know has three four dozen goons if we don't trust the people at our back. We're not the cops, we can't call in reinforcements, wait for backup. We don't have health insurance, so we've got to be extra careful not to get hurt, but our job pretty much guarantees we're going to get hurt, unless the team is there to cover our asses. If we can't trust the team, we can't do it. I can't do it."

She doesn't say anything about that.

"But there's folks on the team, they didn't sign on for this kind of heat. Everyone thought they were joining the League for the benefits of being on a team - doing good on a bigger scale, health insurance, a headquarters. We can't provide those benefits now, not with the Registry hacked and the Claremont Act repealed so now we can't get insurance and now, now we've got the Mayor's death hanging around our necks, as if getting bogged down in the whole alien invasion power outage blame game wasn't bad enough. The Crimefighters' League is getting a bad name. You know better than I do how hard it is to clear a bad name, change the public's perceptions. This is going to stain us, stain everyone associated with us. Fuck!"

I punch the roof of the el train, actually making a dent, hurting my hand.

She doesn't say anything about that, either.

By the time we get back to the mansion, we're the last ones to arrive.

"Okay," I say as we walk in. "What happened?"

"They came through the roof, collapsed everything in-"

"That much we know. Did anyone see what happened to the Mayor?"

No one did. Too busy dodging rubble ourselves. Fucking hell.

"Okay... okay. Here's the thing. Some of you... hell, none of us. None of us signed on for this kind of heat. None of us. This isn't... What I'm trying to say is, if anyone wants to... if anyone wants out, wants to dissociate themselves with the League, I'll understand."

No one says anything. No one has to.

I'd like to say there's some kind of protest, a vocal expression of support and unity, but there isn't.

People are thinking. Some folks aren't meeting my eyes.

"Okay. Like I said before, we need to lay low for a bit. Not be quite so visible. If you need to work out some frustration, patrol Downtown. We'll get this cleared. Few weeks, a month. I can't say 'things will go back to normal' - we all know what normal means in this town."

That gets some smiles, even a few chuckles.

"Gardner Violations."

"Madmen bent on world domination."

"Aliens invading to steal our cats."

"Giant Mimes from outer space."

"Talking gorilla Nazi mad scientists."

"In giant ape robots, don't forget."

"Right, how could I?"

"Anybody up for hitting Downtown?" Dragon asks.

Maybe a dozen folks are up for it. Some of the kids want to go too, but us parents put a stop to that. It's nearly two in the morning, and tomorrow they have school. Cricket's the only one under eighteen heading out tonight.

I hit the sack. Part of me wants to stay up, brainstorm possible solutions to this, but part of me just wants to shut it out. I'll deal with it in the morning, when I can think straight again.

The morning doesn't give me a chance.

Deputy Mayor Joel Bendis, the grandson of the man Bendis Correctional and Bendis Avenue are named after, is sworn in as Mayor of Action City.

He calls Mayor Ross-Carter's death, and the injuries incurred by the other officials, a "tragic, but avoidable, accident." Avoidable, he says, because the City has grown "far too tolerant" of civilians "interfering in police matters." He says that the Samaritan Act has been "perverted beyond its original spirit," becoming an "open invitation to anyone in a mask to enact their own brand of dangerous vigilante justice."

Dangerous.

He claims that the system of issuing credit for any arrests made, otherwise called 'getting a collar,' encourages glory-seekers and other, unqualified, people to "charge headlong into situations they are ill-prepared and incompetent to adequately handle, resulting in preventable disasters, like the unfortunate death of Mayor Ross-Carter."

Incompetant.

He declares the Action City Costumed Crimefighter Identification system "officially terminated, effective immediately." He calls on "all law-abiding servants of the city, be they powered or otherwise," to return their ID cards and to "cease and desist these unnecessary acts of vigilantism."

Unnecessary.

Furthermore, he asks that any individuals wishing to continue their crimefighting activities report to the Action City Guardians for training in the ACPD and for assignments.

He says that any individuals continuing to fight crime without ACPD training or without having reported to the Guardians will "be considered acting contrary to the best interests of the citizens of Action City, and subjected to the fullest extent of the law."

He doesn't specify what that means.

We spend the morning sort of discussing things, kind of in shock. Around eleven, Rob gets a call from Rory's middle school.

There was an incident.

She was in a fight with some of the other girls. They cornered her in the locker room before gym. Started pushing her around, calling her "killer" and "murderer." She wasn't even there when the Guardians crashed through the ceiling and the rubble crushed the Mayor, but the girls didn't care.

Rory had been forced to turn into Ultragirl just to protect herself.

Three girls wound up in the hospital.

Rob and Rosie head out to the school to pick up Rory. I get Ryan on the nanobead, tell him to go meet them. Tell Missy to come back to the mansion.

In one speech, we've gone from heroes to useless, incompetant, dangerous vigilantes.

I want to believe that there's some criminal mastermind behind all this, orchestrating this from behind the scenes.

I want to believe that the people of Action City aren't so stupid that they'll be swayed by this kind of blatant scapegoating. That our past actions will speak louder than his present words. That they'll still have faith in us.

I know better than that.