The Amazing Adventures of the Sensational Squirrelman

World’s Greatest Issue Five!

To the world I am… The Sentinel! I see all that is, was, and might be! The Sensational Squirrelman survived the horrors of Weirdsville, and has sought a safe harbour with Doctor Reed Sterling, the World's Smartest Human, whose inventions changed the world! Son of World War Two hero Sergeant Buck Sterling and the heiress of one of the last great explorer adventurers, Reed and his Sterling Squad have saved the world time and again, using Sterling super science to save the day! But even the brilliant mind of the super scientist adventurer will be pushed to its limits in order to help our hero, Squirrelman, in…

Sterling Silver Squirrel!

Squirrelman said goodbye to the ghostly guardian of Weirdsville and set off toward the Uptown spire of Sterling Plaza. He had to ride three elevated trains to get there, and when he finally did, he had to wait in a comfortable waiting room with about a half dozen other costumed crimefighters, all with various problems only the super scientist and adventurer Reed Sterling could help them with. Squirrelman passed the time by reading the articles clipped from newspapers that had been framed and hung on the waiting room walls. Sterling Squad Stops Subterrans. Sterling Squad Space Send-off. Sterling Squad Saves City!

Then Matt realized – Sterling products were everywhere. He had a Sterling autowash, and Farrah his PSYFERRET was a Sterling design. He rode a Sterling electrobus to work, and his computer terminal ran Sterlingsoft software. In fact, a memory-flash told him, the simplified form for personal taxes that had forced Mr. Accountant to solely concentrate on commercial and corporate accounts was designed by Reed Sterling. Memory-flash after memory-flash filled him with the details of the super scientist adventurer’s life, from his first adventures as Reed Sterling, Boy Genius in the late forties and early fifties, to his forming the Sterling Squad in the early sixties, to his marriage in 1971 to Julia, an Avalonian Princess, and their children that had followed, the adventures of Doc Sterling and his Sterling Squad had changed the face of the world, saving it from cosmic disasters and alien invaders time and again, while Reed’s inventions changed everyday society for the better on even the most basic levels. Electric and later flying cars, hybrid, stronger, lighter, cheaper, building materials, economic renewal, renewable energy sources, more than anyone in the history of mankind, Reed Sterling had changed the world.

Matt sat down and waited his turn. Slowly the other costumed crimefighters were ushered out of the waiting room. Matt began to feel the night’s activities catch up to him. Fighting six of his arch-nemeses at once, being chased out of Lower Uptown and into Weirdsville, his encounter with the Blue Ghost and the fight with the demon the charming witches had banished, and now it was past one in the morning… all Matt wanted to do was wake up from this dream and find himself in a warm hospital bed…

Someone was shaking him awake.

Matt opened his eyes. A man in a lab coat was smiling down at him.

“Sorry to wake you, I know you’ve had a rough evening,” the man smiled. “Are you alright, Squirrelman?”

A memory-flash hit him then – the man was Dr. Reed ‘Doc’ Sterling, one time Boy Genius and head of the Sterling Squad. Athletically muscular, still in prime, fit for a forty year old though he had just turned sixty, his former bright orange hair dimmed to a brandished copper hue, thinner on top and whitening at the sides, bright curious blue eyes alight with keen interest and fierce intellect, heavy smile lines etched at the corners of his eyes, dressed in a white lab coat over the navy and silver jumpsuit all members of the Sterling Squad wore, a silver utility belt loaded with interesting gadgets and tools at his waist.

Squirrelman and the Sterling Squad had teamed up on numerous occasions, and they all came flooding back to Matt now. He winced and grabbed the edge of the chair to steady himself.

“Yeah… Doc,” Matt answered. “Just a little tired of it all, y’know?”

Doc Sterling nodded and smiled.

“Tell me about it. Come on upstairs to the Main Lab – it’s getting late, I don’t think we’ll have any more visitors tonight.”

Squirrelman followed the former Boy Genius through the door to the antechamber of Doc Sterling’s offices and Laboratories. The redheaded super genius led his late night visitor through the antechamber and into a circular room beyond. There was a circular railing set about four feet high, about four feet from the room’s round walls. Doc Sterling went to a control panel and said, “Hang on.”

The floor inside the circular railing lifted and separated itself, flying straight up into the waiting air above, straight up into the heart of the Sterling Spire. Storeys flew past them as they shot two hundred levels into the air, to the very pinnacle of the Spire itself – Doc Sterling’s lab.

“I can only assume you’re here about the Kane break out,” Reed said.

“Although to judge from your costume I’d say you’d already had a run in with one or more of your nemeses. Jungle King?” he said, pointing to a four-fingered slash down Squirrelman’s thigh. “Although you’re not injured… I suspect some sort of healing took place after the battle. It’s okay, Matt, the Lab’s a secure sector, you can take off your mask.”

Another memory-flash of Squirrelman revealing his identity to Doc Sterling after a particularly intense alien invasion hit Matt hard, and he grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling over. He reached up and pulled off his mask.

“Yeah,” he said tiredly. “And he made a version of his serum for Arachnid.”

“Holy socks!” Doc Sterling exclaimed. “You don’t mean to tell me she’s turned herself into some sort of human spider? How monstrous!”

“Yeah, she’s pretty awful… Look, Blue Ghost told me to come here. Can you tell me why I’m here so I can go to the next place this dream is taking me?”

“Excuse me?” Doc Sterling said, pressing a hidden button on his belt and opening the sliding doors to his Main Lab. Inside, gleaming pristine white ceiling and floor encapsulated bank after bank of strange devices, unusual technology – a doorway that hung in the middle of the air, a giant tuning fork, a stationary bicycle hooked up to a huge supercomputer, a strange looking dead tree potted in a corner, weird super scientific technology beyond normal mortal understanding, a nine foot by four foot by one foot gleaming black monolith, and more things beyond Matt’s ability to understand.

“Sorry, I know it’s bad form or whatever to tell a dream person it’s all just a dream.”

“Just a dream?” Doc Sterling turned to a bank of strange apparatus and checked a few dials. “Nope, this is really reality. What are you talking about Matt?”

“I’m dreaming,” Matt’s shoulders slumped. “It all started fine but it’s been days now and I’m getting tired of being run around chasing down leads to get out of this dream world.”

Doc Sterling clipped a sensory device from his belt and held it up to Matt.

“Hold still,” he smiled at Matt. He checked the read out on the device. “Have you been experiencing any headaches lately?"

“No, not really… I keep having these odd memory-flashes, explaining things to me a bit at a time. I had one downstairs. Sometimes they come so fast they’re a little dizzying. But disorientation and sudden inexplicable understanding are part of dreams, right?”

“Not these, no…” Doc Sterling went to another bank of computers and plugged his sensory device into it. The computer bank lit up and bells and whistles and lights began to flash and chirp and ding. Doc Sterling nodded.

“You’re not from these parts, are you?” he smiled at Matt, holding out his hand. “Reed Sterling. You came to the right place.”

Matt shook the former Boy Genius’ hand. “So why am I here and how do I get out of this dream?”

“I have some disquieting news for you… may I call you Matt? That is your real name I assume?”

“Yeah… though no one calls me Matt when I’m awake.”

“Okay, first thing? This isn’t a dream. You’re really here, in Action City. Only in Action City, Matt Mattheson is Squirrelman.”

“I don’t get you.”

“The entirety of the multiverse is divided, facet-like, into alternate realities, or alternities. These alternities are removed from one another, and yet all part of a greater whole. With me so far?” Seeing Matt sort of shrug, he continued. “Each alternity has within it an alternate you – a you who grew up to be an accountant, a you who grew up to be Squirrelman, a you who never grew up at all, a you who evolved from a bipedal furry animal – possibly a squirrel of some sort.” He smiled at his own joke. Matt didn’t get it. Doc Sterling continued. “These alternities are usually kept separate and for good reason – uniting them would shatter the multiverse. Or at least I assume, it’s never been tried. Travelling from one alternity to another is difficult at best and nearly impossible at worst. I should know – I discovered alternity physics in 1963, when I was sixteen, and spent a couple of years trying with limited success to explore the nearby alternities. Nearness being completely relative and ultimately false assumption, a convenient metaphor-"

“Doc."

“Sorry. Back to you. Do you know how the human brain works? Memories are stored along neural synaptic pathways that form chemical bonds within the brain. These bonds are memories. Long term memories are ‘burned’ into the synaptic pathways. That’s your biological brain, which I’ll call your brain for simplicity’s sake.

“Beyond that is what we call the mind – the capacity for rational thought, emotions, deductive reasoning, gut hunches, intuition if you will, personality, learned behaviour, experience, extra sensory perception, and for what for lack of a better term we’ll call the soul. The mind is different from the brain. It can’t be quantified because it is greater than the some of a few billions synaptic relays forever locked into a set chemical combination.

“Your mind is riding around in Squirrelman’s brain.

“The memory-flashes, as you call them, are the brain fighting to re-imprint the chemical pathways into the biological matter that it is made of. Your mind, having never experienced these pathways, finds them disorienting, and vaguely upsetting – hence your insistence on the dream-like nature of the world in which you find yourself.

“You’re not dreaming, Matt. In this alternity, you are Squirrelman, the grey guardian of Lower Uptown.”

Matt nodded, a blank look on his face. He looked around and found a cylindrical object he was looking for – the trash can – and threw up rather noisily into it.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TELLING ME?!” he yelled at Reed when he was done. “That I’ve almost been killed – almost killed myself, jumping off buildings like a maniac – over a dozen times in the past week?!”

“Well… yes,” Reed answered. “Matt… where you come from, they don’t have costumed crimefighters, do they? I’ve heard of such alternities, but I’ve never dared travel there – their physics may not allow my devices to work, after all.”

“Oh we have them alright – in comic books! Jesus…”

“Comic books - illustrated serialized stories for children?”

“Yeah.”

“Fascinating.”

“God… how did this happen? How do I get back?”

“The first question I can’t even begin to guess at the moment… as for the second…”

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a cloud of blueish grey smoke from the air vents near the ceiling. The smoke drifted quickly on unseen and unfelt currents, of its own volition, and coalesced into an athletically slender young woman in the summer version of the Sterling Squad jump suit – navy shorts and tank top with silver trim and the distinctive Sterling lightning S logo, sneakers and short gloves. She had a spattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose, bright blue eyes and long strawberry blonde hair held back by a navy alice band.

“Dad I – Oh my god!” she exclaimed. She rushed over to Matt. “You’re Squirrelman! Oh my god! I got to see your face! Don’t worry, Dad knows I’m cool, it’s okay! Oh my god, Princess will be SO jealous!”

“Jeannie…” Doc Sterling smiled warningly. “Squirrelman is a guest here.”

“Oh my god Dad, don’t go Blackdog on me…” the young woman rolled her eyes. “This is totally cool! Oh my god, wait until I tell Princess!”

A memory-flash told Matt Princess was Cassandra Kent, Majestic’s daughter. She and Jeannie Sterling had been bestest friends since their days in TeenSupreme together.

“Jeanie where is everyone? I think we may have a Gardner violation in our friend here.”

“Cross-alternity intrusion? Keeners!” Jeannie drifted over to a computer monitor. “And Dad, how many times to I have to ask you to call me Zephyr?”

“Kids today…” Doc Sterling smiled at Squirrelman. “They all have to have code names.”

“Dad, you want to know who’s in the Spire?”

“Please, honey.”

“Mom’s in the Residence… Uncle Carmine and the twins are in the Atomiverse… Molly is training in the Simulator… Curt is in the System… and Ironwood is-“

“Awake,” came a huge hollow voice from the corner. Matt turned and saw the huge dead tree step out of the pot it had been planted in and slowly morph into a vaguely human shape, which resembled a man carved by someone who had heard of men once, and had tried to carve one out of wood with only a little skill.
(* Ironwood- last surviving member of a dying alien race of sentient plant life, brought to Earth in the fifties by a mad scientist, seeking to be a part of the mammalian society that dominates this planet, he is doomed to remain forever apart. But he has, at least, found a home with the Sterling Squad! *)

The Wooden Warrior strode forth on long rough hewn legs and stood beside Doc Sterling.

“The plight of a friend, seeking to return home, cannot be discounted, Reed Sterling,” the man tree said.

“I know that, Ironwood,” Doc Sterling smiled up at the rough hewn humanoid.

“Jeannie, get everyone here would you?”

Jeannie pressed a button on a console and two things immediately happened. The ceiling and floor dimmed in intensity – it was then that Matt realized they had been the sources of ambient light – and lightning arced out of what looked like a hanging empty light socket, crackling silver white light that coalesces into a fairly good looking man in his late thirties, wearing the Sterling jumpsuit and a pair of wrap around sunglasses.
(* Curt Connor was a minor rock star in the mid eighties when an onstage accident with an over charged microphone while on tour in Europe left him discorporated… and composed of Living Lightning! No producer would touch him after he’d died, though, so he turned to costumed crimefighting to pay the bills… until Doc Sterling offered him a place with the Sterling Squad! *)

From the corner where a pedestal stood suddenly came a humming noise – a small gold marble began to glow, dull yellow at first, then suddenly brilliant white. When his eyes had readjusted, matt could see three men – two young, and one much older. The two younger men wore short sleeved versions of the Sterling jumpsuit, the distinctive lightning S logo worn proudly in the Centre of their chests. They were dark-haired and passed a family resemblance to Reed. The older man wore the standard jumpsuit and an old leather jacket over top. His white hair was virtually missing on top, and he was clearly the oldest in the group.
(* Carmine DaCosta had been one of the first to volunteer for the Super Soldier treatment and had fought fascists, crime, and injustice for almost two decades as Forerunner, the First To Arrive! Years later, an accidental encounter with the Thief of Time had left him much younger, with not much else to do but join the Sterling Squad! *)

(* Joe and Jerry Sterling were the middle kids of the Sterling Clan – identical twins whose powers manifested themselves slowly – strength, speed, flight, resistance to injury – all amplified by proximity to each other! As the Super Twins, they make up a vital part of the Sterling Squad! *)

From a hidden panel beside one of the many computer consoles, two women emerged – one a statuesque muscular redhead, the other a dark haired mature beauty.
(* A Princess of Avalon has many duties, but smiling serene raven haired Julia loved none more than serving her family’s needs as Druidess – and when her duties led her to heal the young handsome stranger, she never believed it would lead to her marrying him... and becoming Mrs. Reed Sterling! *)
(* In the forty second century, in one of infinite possible futures, humanity has conquered the stars and science has explained the meaning of life, the universe and everything… but such an idyllic life was far too boring for the distant descendant of the once famous Sterling clan… so Molly O’Malley stole a time sled and returned to the twenty first century seeking fame, adventure and glory as Glory Gal, to join her famous ancestors in Sterling Squad! *)

Glory Gal was a couple inches taller than Matt, with a muscular, acrobatic build and fire red hair she kept tied into twin braids. She eyed Matt appraisingly and rested her gloved hands on the twin chrome plated ray guns she had holstered at her belt. She wore the shorts version of the Sterling suit, with a short sleeved top instead of the sleeveless tank top Jeannie was wearing.

Julia Sterling was a dark haired mature beauty in her late forties. Unlike everyone else assembled here, she was not wearing a navy and silver Sterling jumpsuit. Instead she was wearing an elegant floor length almost medieval gown. She smiled proudly at her children.

“What’s the rumpus, kiddo?” Uncle Carmine asked Doc Sterling.

“Seems our friend here is the Centre of a Gardner violation… an unusual one at that,” Reed replied, and proceeded to explain that Squirrelman’s body currently was being occupied by one of his alterselves.

“Cool,” Jerry said, nodding to Squirrelman.

“Awesome,” Joe added, giving his the thumbs up.

“You want to use the Thomas Tuner?” Carmine asked, zipping over to the control panel on the giant tuning fork.

“Not until I’ve had a chance to dissipate the Discordant Radiation,” Doc Sterling said regretfully. “After our encounter with the Dissonance in Null Space I’m not sure it would work properly.”

Jerry and Joe flew over to the stationary bicycle and began running diagnostics on it.

“Crosstime Cycle might be workable in a couple of days,” Jerry said.

“We just need to isolate the chronomatrix,” Joe explained.

“I don’t think so boys,” Doc Sterling answered.

“You know the only thing left,” Glory Gal said ominously, the first words she had spoken since entering the lab, glancing over to a huge metal block in the far corner of the lab. Everyone turned and looked at the block with mixed expressions of apprehension and dread. Julia Sterling in particular looked extremely upset. Reed just frowned. It was the first frown Matt had ever seen on the world famous scientist adventurer, he realized.

“What?” Matt asked. “What’s the only thing left?”

“The Kirby Gauntlet,” Doc Sterling said grimly.

“Reed, surely there’s some other way?” Julia said with concern heavy in her voice.

“Darling I wish there was,” Reed said, taking her in his arms. “You know I don’t like using that thing.”

Julia shook off his arms and went to stand in the corner, clearly upset. Reed went over to console and persuade her.

“What’s the Kirby Gauntlet? Even my brain has never heard of it,” Matt explained.

“Yacob Kirby was an insane genius,” Uncle Carmine explained. “But unlike other insane geniuses he never tried to conquer the world or make everyone recognize his genius by turning them all into his unwilling slaves or anything normal like that.”

“Yeah,” Jerry continued. “Back in the sixties, Kirby wanted to devise a substance that would respond to the thoughts and needs of the user, so after twenty years of trial and error he finally developed unstable molecules.”

“The unstable molecules weren’t the problem, not really,” Jeannie took up the tale. “I mean, they were basically a harmless goo that changed shape with the thoughts and whims of the user. The real problem was when he developed a thought receiver to link the unstable molecules to, so that they could be used from a distance.”

“Unfortunately the thought receiver was too sensitive,” Joe continued, “and the unstable molecules began to pick up the subconscious thoughts of the user, turning into the users worst fears and hidden unspoken desires. Kirby wanted something that would change the world – for the better. And make him the most famous scientist since … well, since Dad.”

“See, Doc Sterling was making a lot of press at the time,” Curt added. “Teen Genius and all that – just developed alternity physics. Big time fame was coming his way on a daily basis. This punk kid was more famous than Kirby ever would be.”

“The unstable molecules picked up on that jealousy and began to turn into something that would make Kirby more famous than Dad ever would be,” Jeannie explained.

“At the time Kirby was also working on a sustainable energy source,” Glory Gal said. “He was working on a device that could tap into cosmic radiation – the energy that is produced by the entirety of the universe’s vibrations.”

“The unstable molecules tapped into Kirby’s desire for the cosmic radiation battery to become a reality and went one step further, tying into the multi-cosmic radiation that all alternities everywhere produce,” Curt continued, lightning sparking along his body in agitation.

“So what Kirby finally devised,” Reed interrupted, leading Julia over to the group, “was a device capable of doing anything, fuelled with the power of everything.”

“Crap,” Squirrelman said.

“Indeed,” Reed smiled. “I’ve only used it four times, and every time, something awful happens. It’s insanely powerful. I keep it locked in that block of Mobius particles to make sure it can’t tap into anyone subconscious desires.” His eyes flickered toward his wife, who was hugging herself, still upset.

“We’d better coat ourselves if we’re going to use that thing,” Carmine said, zipping over to a device that looked a bit like a flame thrower hanging over on the other wall. Reed nodded and Carmine slung the rifle-like device over one shoulder and zipped back to the group.

He pointed it at Doc Sterling and said, “Jump.”

Reed jumped into the air as Carmine pulled the trigger. With a whoosh and a blast of silver white light, Reed landed on the ground, coated from head to toe in a thin translucent silverish substance.

“Mobius particles are atomically inert,” Reed explained, taking the Mobius particle launcher from Carmine. “They form a protective barrier between us and the Kirby Gauntlet.”

One by one each of the Sterling Squad was coated in the Mobius particles.

When it was her turn, Reed looked at Julia.

“You don’t have to do this,” he said. She took a deep breath and smiled determinedly at her husband.

“I’ll always stand by your side, beloved,” she said. “But first… you know what I have to do.”

He nodded and looked away from her as she began quietly chanting something in some language Matt didn’t understand. Her hands moved in odd gestures and in a bright flash of white light, Julia was clad in navy and silver medieval looking armour, hair braided back, silver diadem at her brow, a sword strapped to one hip, a spear in her hand. She looked very formidable, a warrior princess.

“Dad doesn’t like it when Mom does magic,” Jerry explained in a quiet mutter to Matt.

“He finds it… distasteful,” Joe added with a smirk. “Doesn’t appeal to the scientific rational mind.”

Doc Sterling fired the Mobius particle launcher at his wife, who was instantaneously coated in silver. He turned and aimed it at Matt.

“Hang on,” Matt said. He slipped his Squirrelman mask back over his head. “If I’m going to face some weird incredibly dangerous device, I’m going to face it as Squirrelman.”

Doc Sterling smiled and nodded, saying, “Jump,” and firing at Squirrelman. Squirrelman jumped into the air and in a flash of light and wave of cold, he was coated in silver. He amused himself for a moment, staring at the reflection of himself in his hand. Then he saw the reflection of his hand in his face, and the reflection of his face in his hand in his face in his hand….

“Whoa,” the silver Squirrel said.

“Yeah, it’s trippy all right,” Lightning said, smiling.

Doc Sterling stood the Mobius particle launcher in a corner and led the group over to the huge block of Mobius particles that contained the Kirby Gauntlet.

“Alright, everyone,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Concentrate on an ordinary normal gauntlet.”

“Hey, why is it a gauntlet?” Squirrelman asked.

“Sorry?” Uncle Carmine said.

“Why does the device of ultimate power take the shape of a gauntlet?”

“Because the Kirby Boot doesn’t have the same flair to it,” Jerry smirked.

“No, I mean, why not a crown, or a wand, or something like that?”

“Because it’s called the Kirby Gauntlet,” Doc Sterling said with finality, closing the discussion. “Can we focus, people?”

Everyone stood close, tensions high, concentrating on the Mobius block and the device locked inside. Reed Sterling pulled a device from his belt and punched a code into the buttons, his eyes never leaving the Mobius block. When the code was finally punched in, he depressed the enable button, and the block began to hum. A line appeared running vertically along the Centre of the block, and with a hiss and sudden flare of golden light, the block slide apart, revealing something in the Centre of bright glowing golden light.
Doc Sterling reached his right hand into the golden light and pulled. Reality around his hand seemed to stretch and bend and with a slight pop, the Kirby Gauntlet was freed from the Mobius block. It was a huge golden metallic gauntlet, with deep red art-deco circuitry running from knuckles to the blood red knobs on the sides of the forearm protection. Reed seemed to be fighting it, pulling it away from the Mobius block with difficulty.

“Wild,” Jeannie said.

“Concentrate, everyone,” Doc Sterling said harshly through gritted teeth.

“Now… to fully activate it, I need to spread the fingers wide…”

Sweat poured down his face as he slowly forced the fingers apart – first the thumb, then each of the other fingers in turn. Reality warped and stretched and pulled in odd waves around the Kirby Gauntlet, the low hum rising in intensity and volume as he did so. Small black dots of anti-light began to pop and form around the Gauntlet, crackling in the rippling waves of bent reality.

“Matt – concentrate on your home alternity,” Reed managed to say through gritted teeth.

Matt concentrated on home. No heroes. No psychotic serial killing women wanting to eat his heart. No flying cars. No Squirrelman. No Sterling Squad.

The ripples in reality began to glow with a bright golden light in the Centre, black anti-light dots crackling and forming a circle of powerful reality altering energy. The pinpoint of light spread wider and wider in rippling waves, which began to ripple faster and faster until finally the golden ripple split a tear in reality, a hole edged in black anti-light dots, into another alternity.

Beyond the golden brilliant tear in reality, Squirrelman could see the dim outlines of people, ten or so, gathered in a room that looked like a laboratory.

“Holy sweet mother of God,” Uncle Carmine swore.

“Reed, they’ve got the Gauntlet Sinister!” Julia screamed.

The people in the alternate reality beyond the tear in reality were standing in roughly the same positions as were Squirrelman and the Sterling Squad. Time seemed to slow as both teams leapt to attack the other, and Matt had memory-flashes bursting in his mind.

The bald man in the hover chair, a cruel scar etched along one cheek from temple of the corner of his mouth, was Dirk Sterling, Reed’s Negaverse alterself, and he was wearing a left handed gauntlet that looked like the photo negative of the gauntlet Reed was wearing on his right. Though Squirrelman had never faced them, Matt’s brain provided him with the memory-flash details. This was the Sterling Syndicate, evil versions of the Sterling Squad from the Negaverse, an alternity where evil was a virtue and good was a punishable crime. The Sterling Syndicate was made up of:

Sindella Sterling, Julia’s half fae half sister from the same Avalon Julia herself came from, an insane sorceress who had gone to the Negaverse to be with Reed’s alterself when she couldn’t have Reed.

Duo – their twin sons, who Dirk had forcibly conjoined at forearm and calf when their powers had begun to manifest.

Speed Freak – Forerunner’s alterself, an insane speedster obsessed with being the fastest, killing all other speedsters he came across.

Sirocco – Jeanne Sterling, hot and wicked, whipping the air around her into a frenzy.

Deadwood – alien tree man who had hunted down and killed all his race, a mass murdering vicious plant who hated all forms of life.

Cyberdoll – traveller from the distant future, a relentless killing machine with built in weapons of mass destruction and a terrible temper to match.

Electrius – crackling with yellow lightning and an urge to kill.

And last but not least, standing in the mirror image of where Squirrelman was standing, a half human, half rat – the head of a rat, nervous half human eyes, twitching worm-like tail and clawed hands and feet – an actual wererat… cowering where Squirrelman was standing defiantly. The Rat, Squirrelman’s Negaverse alterself.

Lightning and Electrius began blasting bolts of lightning at each other, as Jeannie dematerialized, the air around her swirling cool breezes to counter Sirocco’s baking heat. Speed Freak immediately leapt at Uncle Carmine, who ran to the control panel that would lock down the Lab and seal everyone inside. He barely managed to touch the button and Speed Freak had him in an arm lock. The two teams sudden explosion of movement sent ripples of Kirby dots in opposite directions, forcing both Reed and Dirk away from their gauntlets, which hung suspended in midair, rippling in intensity, black anti-light dots crackling and popping in this alternity, white pro-light energy dots popping and crackling on the other side of the tear in realities.

“Die, Reed, die!!” Dirk screamed, his hands flying across the control panels of his hover chair. A laser mounted in the chair blasted at Doc Sterling, who narrowly avoided the blast.

Molly and Cyberdoll were shooting at each other, acrobatically flipping and dodging each other’s twin ray guns’ blasts. Julia and Sindella were locked in a sword fight, each lost in bloodlust and betrayal, each given over to her sibling hatred. Carmine and Speed Freak were racing around the Lab, Deadwood and Ironwood smashing at each other, Dirk laughing maniacally at the destruction, Doc Sterling trying to figure out a way to stop the Gardner Violation the Kirby Gauntlet had caused, Jeannie smothering the fires Sirocco’s heat was starting, Curt and Electrius had both gone fully energetic now, sparking across the Lab, trying to blast each other, Duo and the Super Twins duking it out, smashing into things, through things. Squirrelman stood in the Centre of it all, not sure who to help first, paralysed by indecision, just as his evil alterself was paralysed with fear. Then he saw it – the Kirby Gauntlet and the Gauntlet Sinister were slowly, inexorably, moving toward each other.

“Reed!” Squirrelman cried. “The Gauntlets!”

“No!” Doc Sterling yelled in terror. “They mustn’t touch!”

Squirrelman leapt to grab the Kirby Gauntlet, just as Dirk ordered the Rat to grab the Gauntlet Sinister.

Too late.

The Gauntlets touched, and everything went completely still as time and space stopped suddenly. Hanging in mid air for an eternal moment, Squirrelman saw a wave of anti-reality, anti-energy explode from the two gauntlets, and suddenly he was riding the wave, alone in a realm of anti-reality, a wave of cosmic radiation to ride, the silver Mobius particles he wore reflecting anti-light Kirby dots as he surfed the wave, a silver Squirrelman surfing the cosmic radiation wave into nothingness, and then nothing.