THE OTHER BASEMENT FILES: "THE CELLIST," pt. II (2024)

ATTENTION.

Due to an unforseen (and, granted, TOO GOSHDANG LONG) delay, this post is unable to be published with the accompanying illustration and must be delivered without.

However, rest assured we will be returning to our regular scheduled illustrated posts very soon, and you can expect a full overhaul of the SnoSeal Substack page in the future.

We apologize for the delay. Believe us, it was as annoying for us as it must have been for you.

And now, to continue with the Other Basement series, and the “CELLIST” saga….

(If you’ve forgotten what happened in the last episode within the last few months, then we strongly suggest you go back and catch up, because it’s been a while)

OTHER BASEMENT’S “THE CELLIST,” CONTINUED

Sno-Seal, Rover, and their fictional relocation target, codename “Stray Shadow,” raced along the rooftops, desperately trying to avoid being shot—which wasn’t easy when you had a federal helicopter chasing you.

“Man,” Sno commented, slightly out-of-breath, “I hate this part of the job.”

Rover flew alongside, panting like a dog despite his seal-like appearance. “What, getting shot at?”

“Of course getting shot at!” Sno snapped. She pointed in front of them as they came in sight of the hospital roof and helipad—and on the helipad, a white-&-blue rotorless helicopter. “There’s our ride!”

Sno-Seal was the first to jump to the roof. She grabbed onto the edge, then hauled herself up. Rover, with his hover capabilities cleared the gap easily. Then they both looked back at the fictional character, who was still on the other side. Sno swallowed hard as she noted the approaching federal helo. “Come on!!” she called to the character. “Jump!!”

The character looked back at the attack chopper. It was approaching fast, with intent to kill. He focused back on the roof ahead & took a few steps back, then went into a running start and leapt—and crossed the gap between the buildings, barely landing on the hospital roof and going into a somersault.

Sno & Rover stared at him as he crouched on the roof. He quickly got to his feet as the attack chopper approached, and glared at them with his keen eyes. “Well?” he told them. “Come on!!”

He raced to the Snowbird and Rover followed. Sno followed after them—slightly starstruck. She had been surprised by how deep Stray Shadow’s voice was, especially for how young he looked, and now had kind of a crush. But she shook off the stars in her eyes, and, remembering the attack helo, ran up to her chopper. Get it together, girl!

She climbed into the Snowbird just as a hail of bullets rained down on them. The Snowbird was bulletproof, but only up to a certain point, so she quickly initiated the startup sequence.

Stray Shadow was in the passenger seat, and had his helmet on. Rover had planted himself in the back seat. The plasma rotors ignited, and started whirling. Once they were up to speed, Sno pulled back on the collective—and they were off!

The Snowbird flew off at top speed, desperate to escape that attack chopper. However, Rover, who was plugged into the computer, exclaimed, “He’s still on us, Sno!”

“I know, I know!” Sno responded. “We gotta lose him fast, or we’ll never get back to Other Basement alive!”

“‘Other--’” The character started to ask about it, then shook his head and shut his mouth. Instead, he looked out the window. He could see the swerving motions of the other chopper as it struggled to follow them. More bullets struck the fuselage then, and he focused back on the sky ahead. “Can’t this thing go any faster?”

“Well, this ain’t no Harrier jet,” Sno replied, “but yeah, it can go pretty fast.” She looked back at Rover. “Ro, is the turbo boost warmed up yet?”

“Up and running, Sno!” Rover barked.

“Awesome,” said Sno. “Then hit it!”

Rover did so—and soon, the Snowbird was off like a rocket, leaving the FBI chopper in its dust.

The attack helicopter’s pilot stared as the white-&-blue chopper bolted off, and he slowed his airspeed. “Holy….

“Wa-HOO!” exclaimed Sno-Seal. “We made it!”

“Nice flying, Sno-Seal!” Rover complimented.

Even Stray Shadow had something to say. “Yeah, that wasn’t too shabby,” he remarked.

As he glanced at her, for the first time, Sno caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were a stark blue, and almost hawk-like. She shivered and focused on the horizon, eyes wide.

Rover noticed—and his robot face had the appearance of a cheeky grin. “Op, I detect your heart rate accelerating, Sno!” he said. He leaned forward. “Do you have a crush on our target here?”

“What?!”

Both Sno & Stray Shadow exclaimed in unison, and Sno pushed Rover’s nose back. “No! No way! What—No!” She glanced at Shadow, then shook her head. “Nuh-uh.”

Shadow raised his eyebrows, then shrugged and looked forward again. “You know,” he pointed out, “you still haven’t told me who you are or where you’re taking me.”

Sno slapped her forehead. “Duh!!” She shook her head. “Knew I was forgetting something!” She looked over at Shadow and grinned. “I’m Snow-White Lincoln, but everybody calls me Sno-Seal.” But, well aware of her fluffy fur, she added for clarification, “I am a seal, in case that doesn’t ID my species.”

She pointed in back. “And that there’s my sidekick, Rover.”

Rover yapped. “Wassup, dude?”

“And you, sir, according to my files,” Sno continued, “are -[THIS PORTION CONTAINS CLASSIFIED CONTENT.]-.”

The character was about to reply, but Sno wasn’t quite finished. “O’ course, boss says we can’t use that name, since if the whole world knew who you were they would freak OUT, so she gave you the codename ‘Stray Shadow.’”

“Huh.” Shadow thought a moment about how that sounded. “I kind of like it.” He turned back to Sno. “And who is this boss of yours?”

Sno grinned. “You’re about to find out, Stray Shadow.”

The Snowbird soared over the Bonneville Salt Flats, then dove through what appeared to be a massive “hole” in the salty surface—actually a VorTunnel, one of the gateways between the surface world and Other Basement. As they flew, the cockpit of the Snowbird lit up with the VorTunnel’s rainbow vortex, washing color over everything inside the chopper.

Stray Shadow, as he had come to be known, didn’t surprise easily. However, the franchise he had come from wasn’t nearly as far-fetched as a rainbow tunnel, and he had to rise a little out of his seat to stare at it in awe.

Sno saw his green eyes widen. His expression, as usual, was veiled, but she was sure she could see the astonishment on his face. She smiled. “Pretty cool, innit?” she asked him.

Shadow looked back. He sat back down. “Yeah,” he breathed.

“Well, that ain’t the coolest part.” Sno tightened her grip on the sticks. “Hold on to your helmet, Stray!”

They were approaching a swirling gate of white light. As the light intensified, Shadow had to throw up a hand to shield his eyes—when they crashed through the gate and were flying in normal air again.

When Shadow opened his eyes, he was still equally astonished. They had come through the VorTunnel into some kind of massive cave—but it was so huge that he couldn’t see the ends of it, and he could barely see the bottom, which looked like a great ocean with many islands. The surrounding air between the ocean and the cave ceiling was dark, with clouds passing just below the ceiling and what looked like artificial stars projected all around. On the horizon, Shadow thought he saw a glimmer of light, like the sunrise.

Sno smiled at him. “You like it?” she asked.

Shadow looked out as they approached the ocean. “This is incredible,” he answered. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever imagined.”

“Welcome to Other Basement, man.”

The Snowbird soared down, then pulled up above the water’s surface and flew off towards a great island on the horizon. The island had several great mountains and a forest, but that was all they could see for now. It looked like it was attached to cables, and being laid there by massive airships, perhaps a mile long! There were water-based machines laying giant bridges to connect this island to others, and as they approached, more machines were visible in the forest.

“We picked this place up not too long ago,” Sno explained about the island. “My boss calls it ‘Eagle Island.’ The cabin was in shambles, but she’s been working on fixing it up and making it more homey, but with some of her own improvements.” She smiled at him. “Whaddaya think?” she asked. “Look nice?”

Shadow was speechless—though, Sno assumed he was just overwhelmed. “Yeah,” he said finally. “It looks like home.”

The cabin in question was in the center of the island, by a large lake and in the shadow of a large mountain. Surrounded by forest and large pine trees, with a sandy turf and a modernized dock jutting out to the lake, near which was also being constructed a helipad, it was quaint & quiet, the perfect hideaway.

As Sno had said, the cabin was under reconstruction, with lots of large, yellow machines surrounding it. Some were lifting logs, some were lifting other things. It was all overseen by a woman in navy blue & silver, with a space helmet over her head. The Overwatcher.

The Snowbird landed on the half-built helipad, and Sno-Seal, Rover, & Stray Shadow all climbed out and went up to Sno’s boss, Overwatcher, to meet with her.

Overwatcher turned to them. “Welcome back, Snow-White Lincoln,” she said to Sno. Looking to the character, she added, “I gather that Operation: Stray Shadow was a success?”

“You got it!” Sno replied. She turned to Shadow. “This is my boss, Overwatcher. She runs the place.”

Shadow & Overwatcher shook hands. Then, Overwatcher began again. “Allow me to brief you,” she said. “Approximately ten years ago, an unprecedented phenomenon occurred which involved bringing fictional characters, places, and relics to the real world. You are one of those characters. We specialize in relocating those people, places, and things down here to Other Basement, a self-contained planet within the planet itself and out of reach of the political powers’ greedy clutches.” She paused to see how Shadow was taking it. Since he made no move to make any objections or pose any questions of the sort, she continued. “From time to time, we will call on your unique abilities to perform operations on the surface, to help people in secret when people like us cannot without being seen, questioned, and identified. Therefore, you will be provided with a cover identity that you will be referred to on the surface, while during operations you will be operating under your codename, ‘Stray Shadow.’ Your real name will be kept under wraps until the occasion calls for it. Secrecy is of the utmost importance.”

“It always is,” Shadow muttered. “What’s my cover?”

Overwatcher clasped her hands behind her back and started to pace. “After much research,” she said, “it was decided that your cover identity should be vague. Simple, yet cryptic, and familiar to your talents.”

She produced a wallet from her coat, and handed it to Stray Shadow, who took it and started to flip through it. All the necessary identification was there for a convincing cover, from the occupation to a very unique name— “Vance S. Arceneaux.”

He read the name aloud, eliciting an immediate fascinated reaction from Sno. “Ooh!” she exclaimed. “Cool!” She leaned up close and tried to look over his shoulder. “What’s your cover?”

Shadow hid it from her, and after receiving a glare from his blue eyes, she stopped trying to peek. Then, he told them, “Lucky for me, it’s something I’m already familiar with.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Vance Arceneaux” smiled. “Cellist.”

*****

Director Sloane of the FBI sat behind her desk, thinking. She was thinking about the agents who now sat in the medical center, complaining of bruises, bloody noses, and electrical jolts. She was thinking about the helicopter pilot who swore he was due for a long vacation after going after a bullet-proof Bell chopper with glowing rotor blades and a turbo booster. And she was also thinking about the FBI’s reputation going slowly down the drain.

The President himself had hired them to round up these fictional characters and keep them out of his sight. He trusted Director Sloane’s perfect record—as a senator, as former Vice President & Secretary of Defense, as a field agent, and now as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And with this newest event of Subject SH-7 slipping right out of their fingers—in a helicopter, no less!—it looked like Sloane’s career was over.

But she wasn’t about to roll over just yet.

She still had an ace up her sleeve.

There was a knock on her office door. “Come in,” she called.

A grey-haired man wearing white entered the room, followed by two FBI agents with guns—his guards. The man walked with a slight limp, had a grey mustache, and glasses & an eyepatch over one eye. He was Subject AB14, a recent capture—and Sloane’s secret weapon.

Director Sloane leaned over her desk. “Subject AB14,” she said. “Welcome.”

She looked to her guards. “Leave us.”

The agents nodded, and left the room, and Director Sloane & AB14 were left alone. She smiled at him. “Well, AB14,” she said to him, “we’re alone now.”

“I had noticed that,” responded AB14 in a clipped tone. “If there’s something you want, can you get right to the point? Otherwise, I’d like to go back to my cell. I was just watching the paint peel off the wall when your agents rather rudely interrupted me.”

“We’re well aware of your practice in sarcasm, AB14.” Director Sloane rose to her feet. “I have a job for you. And it requires your certain… expertise.”

AB14 was intrigued—but not yet enough to accept whatever it was that was being offered. “What kind of a job?”

Director Sloane walked over to a computer screen in her office, and with a wave of her hand, it woke up and displayed an image of the man they were hunting. “Subject SH7,” she said. “I know you’ve heard of him. You’ve worked with him many times in the past. I need your help in capturing him.”

AB14 did, indeed, recognize SH7. He shook his head in disbelief. “I’m sorry, ‘capturing?’” he echoed. He chuckled to himself. “You don’t just capture a man like… What did you call him? SH7?”

He walked over and pointed to the image. “I’ve known this man for years. He’s cunning, slippery, and dangerous. If you were smart, Director, you’d stay out of his way before you lose one of your best teams trying to take him out.”

Director Sloane just smiled and shook her head. “I thought you might say that.”

She walked back around to her desk and sat down. “AB14, I know exactly how dangerous SH7 is. I don’t need you to tell me. However, I will need your knowledge of how this man operates.”

She pressed a button on her desk, and the two agents returned. “You’ve been made Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. This means that the FBI & the CIA are working together—for once. You’ll be given anything you need to track down and capture any fictional character running amok—on one condition.”

AB14 knew where this was going. “That condition being I capture SH7 for you,” he assumed.

Sloane nodded. “Correct.”

She looked to the agents. “Show him to his new office,” she ordered. “And I want him given a brand-new suit, and give him anything else he asks for.”

The first agent nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

They turned to leave, and as they did, Sloane smiled at AB14. AB14 just shook his head. “You know,” he said, “there’s a reason why the FBI & the CIA don’t work together.”

“I’m sure we can work something out,” replied Sloane. “Good luck, Deputy Director Briggs.”

The two agents & Subject AB14 left Director Sloane’s office then, and she was left alone. She leaned back in her chair and uttered a sigh of relief. She’d made the right move. The President wasn’t going to fire her just yet.

NEXT: SnoSeal & Vance Arceneaux face off against the FBI for the first time—and encounter a familiar classic character.