The Amazing Adventures of the Sensational Squirrelman

Mind Bending Issue Ten!

They call me… the Sentinel! I alone am privy to the secrets of the multiverse, as I witness all that is, was, and might be! But there are others with powers similar to mine! One who knows all that has happened, and one who can speak with his alterself counterparts! And it is to them that Squirrelman and the Sterling Squad must turn to seek answers! What will they discover? Can the walls between alternities, once breached, be sealed? Will they be able to find out what is happening with our hero the Sensational Squirrelman, or will they be just as lost, as they suffer a…

Crisis of Infinite Identities!

Memory flashes filled Matt’s mind. His predecessor had never been here before.

Team Title was a group of international superheroes, each of whom had been invited to join the group and given a title to represent their duties in the group, titles that related to ancient land-titles, like Duke or Baron. Majestic and his wife, Lady Majestic, were King and Queen. Almost a hundred costumed crimefighters were part of Team Title, each with their own area of responsibility and tasks to perform.

Doc Sterling piloted the Sterling Flying platform into a landing bay inside one of the glittering spires and set it down gently. The Sterling Squad, Ragdoll and Squirrelman disembarked and made their way into the interior of the Citadel. Jeannie led the way, as she had been here the most often, to visit her friend, Majestic’s daughter Princess. They got into an elevator and rode it several storeys into the heart of the Citadel.

They emerged from the floor into a huge chamber, filled with hundred of seats on tiered dais, surrounding a central table. Virtually the entire Team Title had gathered, almost a hundred costumed crimefighters, dozens of internationally famous … there was no other words for the, heroes, all in one place. Squirrelman felt a little in awe, and a little overwhelmed.

Princess, young and bouncy and beautiful, flew over to her friend Jeannie Sterling and gave a her a big hug.

“Oh my god, Jeannie, this is like so totally exciting!” Princess grinned. Then she saw the other guests beyond her friend and her eyes went wide when she saw the grey clad guardian of Lower Uptown.

“Oh, my, GOD,” she said breathlessly. “You’re SQUIRRELMAN!!” She gave a little shriek of delight and teleported right next to him. “Oh my god oh my god oh my god I’m like TOTALLY your biggest fan!”

“Really?” Squirrelman laughed. “Uh… thanks.” He felt Ragdoll stiffen next to him, giving a little proprietary sniff.

“Oh my god oh my god,” Princess gushed, oblivious to Ragdoll’s frown, a ball of golden white sparkling energy forming around her hands which condensed and resolved into a pad of paper and pen. The pen was pink and wrote with sparkle ink, the pad of paper covered with little hearts and fuzzy grey kittens.

“Can I have your autograph?” Princess asked Squirrelman, handing him the pen and paper. “Make it out to Cassandra- No, no! To My Friend Cassandra, hugs and kisses, Squirrelman.”

The Sterling Squad watched with amusement as Squirrelman wrote out what Princess asked him to write. He handed her the pad and pen and she read it, hugged it, and dissolved it into energy once more. This little event more than anything silenced Squirrelman’s fears about facing the entire Team Title. If someone as famous as Princess looked up to him, then he was allowed to be here, with these internationally famous heroes.

Most of whom were looking up. Matt looked up with the rest of them, staring at the pair clad in gold and white lowering themselves to the main level of the huge chamber.

Majestic and his wife, the Lady Majestic, sank gracefully to the floor, dressed in similar uniforms of gold and white. Memory flashes filled Matt’s mind, several in particular about posters his predecessor had owned of the Lady Majestic back in his early adolescence, when she was still Ms. Majestic, and really something of a sex symbol in her youth. Now here she was, live and in the flesh, older now but still incredibly attractive, a sex kitten grown into a mature beauty. Only Ragdoll’s elbow in his side shook him out of it as the Majestics made their way over to great their guests.

“Squirrelman, welcome to our home,” Lady Majestic said simply, her voice sweet and cultured. She took his hands in hers. He nodded simply. She turned to Ragdoll.

“Darling,” the Queen of Team Title smiled warmly, taking Ragdoll into her arms.

“Aunt Athena,” Ragdoll grinned back, hugging their hostess.

“We haven’t heard from you in ages, dear,” Athena Kent, also known as Lady Majestic, said, taking Ragdoll by the arm and leading her and the rest of their guests into the main central area of the meeting chamber.

“I know, Aunt Athena, I’ve been busy,” Ragdoll answered, blushing.

Lady Majestic showed them to their seats and went to join her husband where he was discussing something with Doc Sterling.

“Lady Majestic is your aunt?” Squirrelman asked Ragdoll.

“My godmother,” Ragdoll answered. “Now what’s this about your predecessor?”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Majestic said, immediately gaining everyone’s attention. Something about the room’s acoustics meant everyone could hear him easily. “As we all know, we’ve been experiencing odd instances of… chaotic alternity flux energy. Reed?”

Doc Sterling looked at the assembled group of costumed crimefighters.

“We believe the alternity fluxes are part of a greater problem,” the former Boy Genius explained. “Someone or something is causing cross-alternity corruption, probably in an attempt to shatter the Keys.”

“The Keys?” someone – a man in red and white Matt’s memory flashes produced no information on - asked.

Doc Sterling’s fingers flew over a control panel, and a huge hologram filled the air over the central table. The hologram looked like a glittering jewel with hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of facets.

“As near as we have been able to determine,” Doc Sterling explained, “this is the shape of the multiverse. Each fact is an alternity – a universe complete and entire.”

He pressed a button and several of the facets glowing blue, connected by a blue web within the crystal.

“Now, there are several alternities that are integral to the multiverse… including our own. These alternities are called the Keys – both because they are key to the continued existence of the multiverse, and because they are separated from each other the way musical tones are separated from each other, in keys. The vibration produced by these Keys keeps the whole of the multiverse connected but separate.”

Doc Sterling looked up and saw several blank stares looking back at him.

“It’s okay,” he smiled at them. “Alternity physics is an exercise in counter-intuition. You have to hold to opposing ideas in your mind and have them be equally true.”

Majestic cleared his throat.

“Right,” Doc Sterling answered. “The Keys are certain alternities that are integral to the multiverse. That much is really all we need to consider at the moment. My readings indicate that the Keys are coming together.”

The holographic crystal began to change shape, the blue dots growing closer to each other in the Centre. As they came together, the surface of the crystal began to become dimpled,

“Once they have merged in the middle, by destroying the centre, the entirety of the multiverse will shatter completely,” the Sterling Squad’s leader explained. “At least, that’s the theory we’re working under at the moment.”

“But who would do such a thing?” asked a pretty brunette woman with deep blue feathers growing from her arms that a memory flash told Matt was called Blue Jay.

“The Omegans,” came a voice from high above them. A man in a long red coat worn over a deep blue skin tight jumpsuit was lowering himself to the chamber floor, carrying two men in normal clothes, one overweight, one thin. Both men wore thick glasses, the fatter man holding his head as though afraid it would fly apart, his eyes squinted closed. A memory flash told Matt the flying man was Survivor – the last of a race of human looking aliens, an astronaut of his people who had survived the destruction of his planet by being in space at the time. No memory flash explained the two normal looking men, so Matt had to assume he had never met them.

“Survivor,” Majestic greeted his friend.

“Sorry I’m late,” the alien man said, releasing his two passengers, who sat down, and shaking Majestic’s hand.

“This is Alternity Al and Continuity Ken,” Survivor introduced his passengers. “Al can contact his alterselves telepathically, and Ken… well, Ken knows what’s going on.”

The thin man looked up at the assembled Team Title and swallowed nervously. Closer now, Matt could see the thin bespectacled man wore a sandy brown goatee.

“Hi,” Continuity Ken said to the assembled costumed crimefighters. “You don’t remember me, but I always remember you. I know your histories because that’s my power – I know what’s come before. This has happened before, the merging of alternities. It was called the Cross-Alternity Calamity, and resulted in a … merging of several alternities into this one. It’s what made this alternity a Key. But no one remembers because alternity merging always happens throughout time, so from the beginning of time this has always been a Key.”

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!!” Alternity Al suddenly yelled. Then he looked up, apologetically. “Sorry, my alterselves are… getting louder,” he explained. “That’s always the first sign that there’s a Gardner Violation in the works.”

Doc Sterling looked at Squirrelman but said nothing.

“I realized that the Omegans were up to something when I got a call from Ken and knew who he was,” Survivor continued.

“Who are the Omegans?” Squirrelman asked.

“A race of beings that exist in Nullspace,” Doc Sterling explained. “The spaces between alternities. They hate the alternities and want to destroy them to … well, let me give you a short cosmological history lesson.”

His fingers flew over the controls and the hologram changed.

“In the beginning of the Multiverse, all that is, all that was, and all that could be existed at the same time, one eternal moment that vibrated to its own Key. For billions of years this moment existed, and within this moment, a race of being I’ve called for simplicity’s sake the Harmonics arose. They were an intelligent, vastly powerful race that existed in tune with the harmonic Key of the singular Multiverse.

“After billions more years, which is of course a gross oversimplification that I’m loath to leave unexplained, however-“

“Reed,” Majestic interrupted.

“Right, sorry. After billions of years, there arose a being, or several beings, that found the harmony…” He paused, looking for the right word. “… Boring. They wanted something other that universal chronological oneness. I call this race the Discordants, because they altered their own harmony and changed Chords, creating, yes, Discord. Chaos. The result of the Discordant Revolt was the singular eternal moment was shattered into the Multiverse of alternities and the creation of linear time.”

Squirrelman raised his hand and said, “Uh… the Timekeeper says time isn’t linear.”

Reed snorted and laughed a little.

“Yes, I’ve had that argument with him several times,” Doc Sterling smiled ruefully. “His closemindedness is a source of some amusement to me. You see, what he doesn’t realize is that Time IS linear… it’s just highly subjective.

“At any rate the Discordants were thrilled with their result and the rise of organic life and the resulting multiverse and all that glorious nature entails. However they rapidly became bored with what they had created and sought to destroy it once more. However, the Harmonics, horrified at what had happened to their glorious perfect single eternal moment, and unable to return what had been shattered to its original perfection, set the multiverse apart but connected by vibrational wavelengths of varying amplitudes, and set in place the Keys to keep it all… ordered. Organized.”

“What about the Omegans?” a huge man standing in the corner called down.

“The Omegans are devoted disciples of the Discordants,” Survivor explained. “They seek to destroy all that exists in order to hopefully gain a place to live in reality – in the reality that will exist after the Discordants shatter the multiverse again.”

Squirrelman raised his hand again.

“So, uh… how do we stop them?” he asked.

Doc Sterling looked at Majestic, who shook his head.

“No idea, I’m afraid,” the leader of the Sterling Squad said simply, perplexed.

The assembled crimefighters looked at each other.

“Hang on, waitaminute,” Squirrelman said, getting to his feet. “You’re Reed Sterling! How can you not know?”

“I don’t know everything, Squirrelman,” Doc Sterling said, shaking his head. “I don’t have enough data to formulate a plan of action.”

“What about you?” Squirrelman said, turning to face Majestic. “You’re Ulysses Kent, Majestic! The King of Team Title!”

“Very true,” Majestic agreed. “But until I know the nature of the problem-“

“OH GOD HERE IT IS!” Alternity Al suddenly yelled, clutching his head suddenly and falling to the floor, heaving his heavy frame back and forth as he fell into fits.

An alarm suddenly sounded and Team Title sprang to their feet. Doc Sterling’s fingers flew over the console and he yelled, “Hang on to something!”

The entire Citadel suddenly shook and tilted, sending everyone not able to fly hurtling to the floor.

“Red alert!” Majestic ordered, and Team Title sprang into action.

“We’re reading a Gardner Violation on a massive scale!” Doc Sterling exclaimed. “One hundred forty three Keys incoming! HANG ON!”

The Citadel shook once more.

“Oh God oh god oh god,” Alternity Al was screaming without end.

“This is what happened last time!” Continuity Ken warned Reed. “Only that was five normal alternities merging! One hundred forty three Keys? There’s no telling what could happen!”

Squirrelman jumped into the air just as another shuddering crash rocked the Citadel. He caught Ragdoll in mid air and they landed hard as the floor rushed up to meet them.

“Seismic events across the globe!” reported a large man made of rocks.

“Thousands of criminal reports coming in!” said a black woman standing near one of the consoles.

“Dad!” Princess yelled. “We’ve got Nullspace breeches all over the place!”

Majestic began yelling orders to everyone and Team Title dispersed themselves across the globe.

“Sterlings? Squirrelman, Ragdoll?” Majestic said, looking to his guests. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

Reed and the other members of the Sterling Squad only nodded.

Squirrelman looked at his girlfriend, who nodded as well.

“What do we do?” Squirrelman asked.

“Reed, we’ll need you here,” Majestic answered. “The rest of you, go with my wife. Action City is in need.”

“There’s a riot going on in Lower Uptown, Dad!” Princess reported.

Squirrelman looked at Majestic.

“That’s my turf,” Squirrelman said simply. Majestic nodded, understanding at once. Squirrelman looked at Ragdoll. “Come with?” he asked her. She nodded simply.

“They’re going to need help, Dad,” Princess said to her father. He nodded. She squealed with delight and joined the pair. Jerry and Joe Sterling looked at their father and he nodded. The Supertwins joined the group.

Princess flew down a corridor, the Supertwins, Squirrelman and Ragdoll following.

“What’s this about a predecessor?” Ragdoll asked quietly.

“I’m not the Matt Mattheson you knew,” he answered simply. “I’m one of his alterselves. Near as we can figure we probably switched minds.”

She looked at him with an odd look on her face.

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” she answered his inquiring look. “We’ll deal with this later.”

Princess set the co-ordinates for the teleportation pad to send them into the heart of Lower Uptown. Squirrelman and the others got ready to be teleported. Princess threw the switch and teleported next to the Supertwins on the teleportation pad and the next thing Matt knew was swirling energy all around him, a cold sensation, and then nothingness.