West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (13 page)

Nightprowler
laughed. “Meltdown
was investigating car break-ins? That’s
freakin
’
hilarious! That’s like mall security work! Who has time for that when there are
real criminals on the streets?”

Midnight scowled.
“Meltdown had a good heart. Sometimes he would agree to take on small side
cases on a time-available basis.”

“He must’ve been a
pushover if he got roped into doing mall work,”
Nightprowler
said.

Goalie threw a
disgusted look at
Nightprowler
and said, “I’ll take
the mall case.”

“Thank you,” said
White Knight to Goalie. He then turned his cold red eyes on
Nightprowler
,
who blew him a kiss. Loren sank down lower in his chair. That was a fight he
did not want to be part of.

White Knight turned
his attention back to the rest of the room. “There are also a few ghost
sightings that Meltdown was looking into. If there is a mutant involved, we
would appreciate being notified.”

“Consider it done,”
breathed the Whisperer from the shadows.

White Knight nodded
in his direction. “And lastly, Mr. Awesome was looking into reports of missing
homeless in the Harbor District, one of the ‘rotted-out neighborhoods’ that
apparently you love to operate in.”

Nightprowler
laughed. “Fine,
I’ll take that one.
Gotta
do something to earn my
ultimesh.”

Loren suddenly
realized that he was about to miss out on all of the operations. He raised his
hand, feeling foolish.

“Yes,
Truthfinder
?” asked Midnight.

“Um, I - I’ll help
with the PGZ case. My scientific background could help with the forensics.”

“Excellent,” she
said, “You’ll be working with me then.” She smiled at him in a way that sent a
shiver down his spine.

“We will each go to
our strengths,” said the Whisperer, his voice like a breezy night sky. “The
Trio will discover what is known by the downtown gangs about the missing
factory workers and the robbed mall cars. Midnight and
Truthfinder
will go where Mr. Awesome went, see what he saw, and learn what he learned.
Nightprowler
will stalk the missing homeless. I will
uncover the secrets of the ghostly apparitions. And in two weeks’ time we will
rendezvous again in order to share that which we know.”

Everyone nodded. It
was a solid plan, but simple enough to succeed. Loren wished he could toss out
some brilliant addition that would impress everyone, but all things considered
it was probably smarter to stay quiet and just look thoughtful.

“All right then, you
have your assignments,” said Midnight. “Class dismissed.”

Cupid laughed and
held out his hand to Goalie, who shook her head and dug a five-dollar bill from
out of her goal pants. “What’s that for?” asked Loren, curious.

“Oh, just an
internal bet,” said Cupid mysteriously, pocketing the cash. “Hey, want to head
back to town with us and catch the two a.m. laser light show?”

Loren hesitated; it
was a tempting offer, but then again he had to show a house in the
morning…“Nah, sorry, got an investigation to finish up,” he said loftily as
Midnight passed by on her way out with White Knight. “Better get back to the
lab and get a head start on it.”

“Maybe next time,”
said Cupid with a wave. “Okay, you two, come on, we can all walk together like
grownups, can’t we?”

Loren ducked out before
he could hear Samurai and Goalie respond. There were some damned good reasons
for secret identities when you came right down to it, he thought.

4:24 p.m.,
Saturday, March 30th, 2013

Mt. Hood
National Park

Portland,
OR

Blue
Star was brooding as he flew over the forest. He had once battled Vanghel shock
troopers during the Invasion, sure that was forty years ago, but it was the
biggest conflict in Earth’s history.
You
would think there would be more respect for a veteran of that war
,
he thought,
but America is
a youth-obsessed culture
. He’d also been a member of both the
Infinity Team and the Paragons during the 80s and 90s, the golden age of
superheroes, back before merchandising and rankings took over. He had faced off
against the real legends of evil, like Lord
Morte
,
Madame Misery, and the Four Horsemen. He saved the eastern seaboard from total
annihilation twice; three times if you counted when he went back in time to
save John Adams from a deranged supervillain. There were two elementary schools
in New York and a high school in Chicago named after him. Hell, he had been
inducted into the Superhero Hall of Fame four times. It all made him wonder
what the hell he was doing in Portland looking for some kid who got lost in Mt.
Hood National Forest probably because he was playing some damn portable game
system instead of watching where he was walking.

Blue Star sighed as
he admitted the truth – he was old. Chronologically he was only 61, but
Graviton calculated up his relative age to 72 when you counted time travel and
the other bizarre situations he had found himself in during his career. He was
in good shape due to his rigorous training regimen, but sometimes he wondered
if it just wasn’t worth the effort and he should just let his body go to hell
like most of the rest of Portland Legends. He hovered over a tree and pulled
out his goggles; he hated wearing them, but they were prescription and with
them he might have a chance of seeing this kid before he starved to death or
was eaten by a bear.

“So any sign of the
kid?” squeaked the walkie-talkie. It was Hugh, Henry, something, the team’s new
operations director. The team had a problem keeping operations directors,
probably not surprising since Portland Legends was where legends came to die.
There was an average age of 67 on the team and some of the true legends of the
Industry: Graviton, Calamity Jane, Grey Wolf, Mobius, and Blue Star who was the
youngest, chronologically, of the group; it was little wonder that they drove
off operations directors.

“No,” said Blue Star
bluntly. In reality it would be Grey Wolf who would find the kid; he would
change into a wolf and sniff the kid out. Blue Star had stupidly bet him $50 he
would find the kid first, but there wasn’t much chance of winning it. He wasn’t
going to give up, but he didn’t have any real equipment. Sure the team had
Graviton, a true genius, but he didn’t build gear for the team so they were all
stuck with garbage from Army surplus stores. Blue Star had no other option but
to keep flying; the kid couldn’t have gotten that far from the campsite. In
fact, it was odd the kid disappeared; it wasn’t like this was that dense of a
forest. Blue Star decided that as team leader for the off-Season he should at
least be methodical. “Hey, Hugh, have there been any other missing persons
reports in the State the last six months?”

“Ah, it’s Jeremy,
sir, yes, ah, let me bring that up,” sighed Jeremy, who started typing with no
apparent results after nearly a minute.

Blue Star rolled his
eyes. “Jeremy, go to the Crisis Reports icon and put in your password, which is
‘clueless’.” Blue Star had to smile, it was one of Graviton’s jokes, but sadly
accurate. “Alright, now go to ‘database’ and click it to bring up ‘choices’ and
click on ‘configure request’. Ignore most of the stuff, but on location, type
‘Oregon’ and in profile type ‘missing persons’ and check ‘last six months’.”

“Hold on, I’m a
little behind… Oregon,” said Jeremy as Blue Star heard him typing. Blue Star
was happy his granddaughter Emily was returning from Berkeley next week to
continue her externship with the team; she could run things for a couple of
months. Maybe he could fire Jeremy, but that would require a team vote and
Mobius was in one of his moods.

“Okay, Blue Star, I
have four missing persons,” said Jeremy.

Blue Star was hoping
for a higher number; he was hoping for a man-devouring mutant animal or maybe a
serial killer. Stuff like that never happened in Portland; no one wanted to
tangle with a bunch of geriatric supers. Worse, because nothing happened in
Portland, the team was near the bottom of the West Coast Conference rankings.
Well, actually, going into the Season they were #8 out of 14 teams, not a bad
ranking though it was probably mainly as a sign of respect.

“Okay, one is a man
who was mentally ill and disappeared. Another is an eight-year-old and her
mother who disappeared from their home with a lot of their belongings, and the
final one is a married man who disappeared on a trip to Los Angeles,” said
Jeremy. “Are you thinking we have some serial killer or something?”

Blue Star ignored
Jeremy’s question. He suspected the mentally ill man probably died or was now
homeless, the mother and daughter probably fled an abusive husband, and the
married man probably embezzled from his business and settled down with his new
young girlfriend out of town.

“Blue, you owe me
$50. I found the kid,” squeaked the walkie-talkie.

Blue Star sighed.
“Good job, Grey, I’ll have that $50 when we get back to base.” He flew a lazy
turn in the sky and then headed back to HQ, which was a converted church,
almost sacrilege, but one of the founders of the team, Augur, would only have
his base on hallowed ground. Wizards were just messed up.

Before long, Blue
Star arrived at HQ and there was Susan, the reporter from the
Oregonian
who was
assigned to cover the team. “Hey, Susan, Grey Wolf found the kid and I lost a
$50 bet for it, so that’s your headline,” said Blue Star bitterly.

“It’s a good thing
that the kid was found,” chided Susan. “So are we on for dinner tonight?”

“Yeah,” said Blue
Star. He felt a little guilty having Susan as a lover, first she was a reporter
and second she was young, about the same age as Emily. He was going through a
mid-life crisis, though it was actually like his fourth one. Monogamy just
didn’t work for supers, too much pressure on the relationship, though of course
Graviton had been married fifty years to Eileen, but the rest of Portland were
a bunch of old supers who had saved the world, but couldn’t save a marriage for
the life of them. Two wives, three divorces, not a good track record, but he
didn’t have any delusions – he was the reason the marriages failed. His kids
mostly hated him, though his grandkids mostly liked him; the only advantage of getting
old was a second chance with the next generation.

“Anyway, I’m here on
a tip, and one about you,” said Susan.

“Really? Please tell
me I’m on the short list for the President’s Team,” said Blue Star with a
smile.

“You haven’t been on
the President’s Team for like 15 years, right?” asked Susan sympathetically.

“Nine years
actually, but what’s the tip?” he asked testily. Being on the President’s Team,
the 12 supers who advise and serve POTUS, had been the biggest honor of his
career. He was on the first team under President Sharpe in 1985 and served most
years till 2004 when President
Cardile
, a moron who
created a demographically balanced team, felt “legendary super” didn’t fall
into a significant voting demographic. If he had just announced he was gay he
would have gotten a spot on the damn team. Now with
Carlington
as President the odds were even worse, but that was for personal reasons.

“You’re being
traded,” Susan told him.

“What?” Blue Star
looked at her incredulously.

“Doctors Matthew
Hodges and Annie Sterling of West Pacific Supers are in town and stopped by HQ
an hour ago while you were sightseeing. They’re waiting up in your office for
your triumphant return. Jane told me,” said Susan. “So what’s up?”

“I don’t know, but
you probably need to keep this quiet. West Pacific got mauled this week and
they might be here to get one of us to join the team to reassure the
community,” said Blue Star, who was wondering which member of the team he
should loan to West Pacific. He would love to go, but as team leader he was
needed in Portland – theoretically at least.

“I can sit on the
story, but you’ll need to bribe me tonight for my compliance,” whispered Susan
as she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. She walked past him. “Call me once
you know, and remember - I get the exclusive on this!”

“Absolutely,” said
Blue Star, watching Susan go. He had to admit she was nice, but she was no
Linda. Blue Star turned and headed into HQ and walked up the stairs. He entered
his office to find Dr. Matthew Hodges, the mind behind WPL and the Hodges
Institute, a non-mutant who probably had done more for mutants than any dozen
mutants. He was with the infamous Dr. Annie Sterling, who looked younger than
he expected, but who was not a pretty woman. Her hair was too short, her glasses
out of style, and her suit was from the 90s. If she cared more about her looks
she wouldn’t be half bad, but then again maybe that was the point.

“Matthew, good to
see you again,” said Blue Star, shaking his hand.

Dr. Hodges smiled.
“Jacob, I don’t think you’ve met Dr. Annie Sterling, our operations director.”

“Dr. Sterling, a
pleasure,” said Blue Star, shaking her hand briefly. He knew Dr. Sterling by
reputation. Her penchant for unorthodox training methods was well known, including
one instance where she hung a secretarial assistant off a building for a
simulated rescue drill. She was probably most known in the Industry for
managing the 2007 West Coast Conference’s team in the All-Star Super Challenge
and sidelining Captain Seattle, Roulette, and Savant for skipping practices.
Needless to say, the West Coast Conference lost and that was the last time she
managed the Conference’s team, though most of the Industry agreed that those
three definitely needed a lesson in humility.

“Jacob, let me cut
to the chase; we need you. We want to hire you as team leader for the next two
Seasons,” said Dr. Hodges.

“Really?” said Blue
Star. He had been trying to get a real team leader position on a top-tier team
for years, but he had repeatedly lost out – he was too old-school in a
new-school world, whatever the hell that meant.

“The team was
ambushed and we think we’re going to have a rough Season because of it, and
that means we need a sure hand at the wheel,” said Dr. Hodges.

“If I may ask – why
me?” asked Blue Star.

“You’re good,
perhaps the best team leader in the Industry,” said Dr. Sterling. “We need
someone with experience because we run a very sophisticated operation in a
complicated city. You’re a four-time Hall of Famer and a proven performer who
can handle the pressures of the job. We need the best, because we are the
best.”

“And Ms. Omega was
busy,” said Dr. Hodges.

Blue Star smiled.
“Well, I’m under contract with Portland, and that means it takes a team vote to
approve such a decision.”

“Mobius has faxed me
his support for the plan and wishes you good luck,” said Dr. Hodges.

“Oh. Alright then,
what’s the deal?” asked Blue Star.

“Two years, $10.6
million per year, and all the typical stuff,” said Dr. Sterling. “We’ve faxed
everything to your agent and lawyer to review but it’s a good contract – we
want this done today. And yes, your salary is the highest as tradition
dictates.”

“Okay, well, who’s
the team?” asked Blue Star, who appreciated that last point. He wasn’t worth as
much as some new hot shot super but as team leader he had to be paid the most
or it would undermine his authority.

“We’ve locked in
Seawolf, White Knight, Cosmic Kid, and Starfish, who’s expected to be back in
the field in a few weeks,” said Dr. Sterling. “We hope to conclude contract
renegotiations with Keystone soon and we’re also signing Nova Woman, a former
team member.”

“It’s a decent
team,” said Blue Star warily. “Cosmic Kid is a lot like a young Mr. Awesome. I
knew Ben, not well, but we hung out at a few conferences - a great guy.”

“Yes, he was. I know
he would be proud that we had to go to a four-time Hall of Famer to replace him
as team leader,” said Dr. Hodges.

“He never was
inducted in the Hall of Fame, was he?” asked Blue Star, who felt a pang of
guilt. Not all legends got respect, some just disappeared.

“No,” admitted Dr.
Hodges. “I’ve been working for years to get the 2002 West Pacific Team
inducted, but it’s been an uphill battle.”

“Right now we’re
focusing on the future,” said Dr. Sterling briskly. “West Pacific is poised to
dominate the West Coast Conference again and you can help make it happen.
Cosmic Kid is the future of the franchise and we want you to help mentor him
and get him ready to take over the reins in a few years.”

“So he’s my
replacement,” said Blue Star.

“Yes, but you need
to get him ready for that,” said Dr. Sterling. “Our legacy is not what we do
but what we leave behind.”