Cosmic Kid headed up to Robin Traverse. He knew she was in her sixties and unlike some women she wasn’t afraid to show it. He remembered in one episode of Supers Weekly, where she said that she had earned every grey hair and wrinkle. That was Robin Traverse. She was a legend. Before she started Supers Weekly in the 90s, she had been Skyfire and team leader of the Infinity Team out of Chicago. She had saved the world a number of times and spoke her mind on any and all issues. She wasn’t conservative, she wasn’t liberal, she was Robin Traverse and America loved her.
“Cosmic Kid, great to get a chance to talk with you, so how is Milwaukee treating you?” asked Robin Traverse with the smile that had sunk a thousand careers.
“It’s my honor to talk to you, Ms. Traverse. The people of Milwaukee have been great, everyone has been very welcoming,” said Cosmic Kid. It was the obligatory soft ball at the beginning of the interview, but he decided boring with a dash of reverence was the best way to get through this unscathed.
“Call me Robin,” said Robin Traverse with less of a smile. “Now, Cosmic Kid, you have said that you got your name from Cosmic Burger, where your father works. That’s a very sweet story, but now that you are moving from super teen to professional super what will be your new name after the Super Draft?”
“I’m happy with Cosmic Kid right now, but I do intend to drop the ‘Kid’ in a few years, probably when I turn 21. Plus I’m a big fan of Cosmic Burger; they’re one of my sponsors and I love the food.” It was true. Cosmic Burger was his biggest endorsement and he lived off the stuff growing up, though it was probably the reason that taste was the only sense of his that wasn’t super.
“Cosmic has a fairly traditional meaning within the Industry of someone who has powers that evoke the cosmos. My old teammate Cosmica, who died last year, could fly and generate powerful bursts of gamma radiation. She was ‘cosmic’ and you, on the other hand, are not.”
It wasn’t a question, but Cosmic Kid got the point. “Robin, I’m quite strong, fast, and have some of the best perceptions of any super teen in the Draft. Yes, I can’t fly, but I do have a cosmic-level power, the aptly named Cosmic Blast.”
“Which has never been caught on film.”
Another non-question, this was a bad sign. Robin Traverse was after him. “I’ve only used it four times as it’s actually very destructive and I don’t see the need to broadcast all of my abilities for supervillains to exploit.”
“So why didn’t you use it against Seneschal X?”
“It… it would have been too destructive and… complicated,” said Cosmic Kid guiltily as he still wondered if he should have taken the risk and used it.
“Three people died, including a fellow member of Teen Ultimate – that must be a heavy burden.”
“All superheroes carry burdens. I did my best, it might not have been enough, but I tried and so did all of us involved, including Sean, who died saving the life of an innocent civilian.” Cosmic Kid knew for a fact that all four of the Teen Ultimate members present for the fight had tried their best but never found their footing against Seneschal X; he had them beat at the gate.
“Do you think it was a mistake for the Ultimate League to deploy its super teens in such a dangerous crisis?”
“We didn’t capture Seneschal X but we did thwart him. There were too many targets in Cosmopolis for the Ultimate League to cover, if we hadn’t been there then no one would have been there and dozens more could have been killed.”
“I see. I guess we aren’t going to see the fabled Cosmic Blast at the Super Draft then either?”
“No, but fortunately I have a lot of other abilities to keep everyone entertained.” He sure as hell wasn’t going to do the Cosmic Blast on primetime television, that would be a disaster beyond disasters, and he was quite happy that no videos of it had emerged. Though if he could do it over, he might use the Blast against Seneschal X. Then again, it could have killed a lot more people – and worse, it might not have worked against him.
“That’s good,” said Robin Traverse dryly. “The general consensus is that you are going to be the #3 pick with Tampa Bay. You even visited Tampa Bay a few weeks ago, but there is a campaign in Florida against you being picked. Have you heard about this?”
“No, are they bothered about me using Cosmic in my name?” It was a snarky answer, and he did know all about the campaign against him. In an interview last December, he admitted he was an atheist and that he thought vigilantes were a problem. Florida, in fact, the entire South, loved its vigilantes, and were more leery of government-licensed and supervised public teams.
“Well, it appears that you have angered some citizens of Tampa Bay by criticizing vigilantes and declaring yourself an atheist. The Sun Coast Saviors are the largest vigilante organization in the nation and they work closely with Tampa Bay Supers, but your statements have been taken to mean you don’t respect that group’s work.”
“I do respect the work of vigilantes. However, with the Super League and professional teams in most major urban centers and charter teams available across the nation, there really isn’t a need for vigilantes. We don’t need people taking the law into their own hands.”
“So are you saying that you won’t work with vigilantes, especially Christian vigilantes?”
“Let me be clear, I don’t react to people based on any creed or belief. I have only respect for the Christian faith and many of my closest friends are Christian,” said Cosmic Kid who hated that answer; it was so cliché and not necessarily true. “Robin, I’m just a super teen trying to convince someone to give me a chance; if the team that picks me wants me to work with vigilantes than I will.” In truth, he thought the Sun Coast Saviors were religious nuts and were more dangerous to Tampa Bay than most supervillains, but he would keep that to himself.
“But if it was your choice then you wouldn’t?”
“It all depends. I really can’t answer that question.”
“Alright, let’s switch gears – so who are you dating right now?” asked Robin with an even more sinister smile.
“Actually, I’m between relationships at the moment.”
“You were dating Elle Solstice, but now she’s dating Paradigm Shift. He’s projected to be the #1 Draft pick and he has your girlfriend. That has to hurt.”
“Elle and I weren’t right for one another. I’m happy she found someone else, and I wish Paradigm Shift the best of luck in the Super Draft,” lied Cosmic Kid. Elle had dumped him because he was ‘boring’ which was even worse than the common opinion that she had cheated on him with Paradigm Shift.
“Sources say that you broke up because you were gay.”
Cosmic Kid was getting frustrated. He knew that Paradigm Shift was the one who had started that rumor. “No.”
“That’s fine, so then why aren’t you and Neo-Mermaid, a.k.a. Danny Chase, dating?”
“We’re just friends. We met in 2010 when we co-chaired the Super Teen Committee on Poverty and have been friends ever since, but nothing more,” said Cosmic Kid, who hoped Robin would switch to something else, like his charity work. He was also nervous talking about Danny as she was gay and that was sort of secret. Sure Teen Orlando knew, but they didn’t want to broadcast it. Not that it really mattered being gay or straight, but supposedly it did affect revenue generation.
“In December the two of you went to the Bahamas together?”
“We were with a group of friends. Seriously, Robin, I would know if I was dating Danny and we’re not dating.” Cosmic Kid hoped to deflect the conversation as one of their friends on the trip had actually been Danny’s girlfriend. No doubt it made sense to the media that if he wasn’t dating Danny Chase, the All-American Girl, then it probably meant he was gay or a eunuch after some fight with a supervillain. But what did any of that really matter? Robin should be asking about his charity work or heroics rather than harping on his dating life.
She paused and Cosmic Kid hoped the interview was over. It wasn’t going well; in fact, it was going ve
ry poorly. He saw that Paradigm Shift was already done with Soft Ball Becky and heading backstage. However, he wasn’t going to get off that easily it appeared.
“So Cosmic Kid, your mother died nine years ago when you were ten. How do you think she would feel about you being at the Super Draft?”
“I don’t know. I suspect she would be proud of me and also quite sad because she’s dead and couldn’t be here. Anyway, I need to get moving along so I don’t hold up the schedule.” He was done with this crap.
She smiled but apparently couldn’t let him have the last word. “One last question: who do you think is going to get the top three spots of the Super Draft?”
“I think that the Bayou Brigade will use their #1 pick to get a heavy hitter to replace Cauldron who is retiring at the end of this Season. Among the heavy hitters in the Draft, I would suspect them to take Sandbar, Longhorn, or Ursa Minor. My bet is on Ursa Minor. Manhattan Supers are a large team so they specialize more than most teams and I think Quillow is a good fit. She’s probably the smartest person in the Draft as she has two PhDs and is also one of the best brawlers. Finally, Tampa Bay is looking for a franchise super to take the place of Corsair when he retires in 2015. For franchise supers they might be looking at Wonder Boy, Flash Freeze, or they might take a chance on someone like Paradigm Shift or myself.”
Robin looked at him incredulously. “So you are predicting… Ursa Minor, Quillow, and maybe yourself as the #1, #2, and #3 picks? Besides you at #3 I don’t think I have heard anyone mentioning Ursa Minor and Quillow in the top of the Draft.”
“Yes, it’s a shame the so-called experts don’t know the super teens as well as they should, but what can you do?” said Cosmic Kid with a smile. His predictions were pretty much garbage, but if he were selecting super teens for a team he would take his friends Ursa Minor and Quillow over Paradigm Shift and Wonder Boy, who were projected to go #1 and #2. It wasn’t all about the powers.
“Well, we’ll see how your picks hold up in a few days,” said Robin Traverse with a hint of a smirk. “Good luck on the Super Draft, Cosmic Kid.”
“Nice talking to you, Robin,” he replied.
Cosmic Kid moved quickly towards the doors that led backstage and to the private rooms for the super teens. His dad and Stephen caught up with him; he could tell that Stephen was not happy.
“Sorry, Stephen,” said Cosmic Kid.
“Don’t apologize, but that didn’t go well – she was out to get you.”
“I… yeah, well, what do we do?” asked Cosmic Kid. Stephen had warned him about dating Elle Solstice who, like most witches, was a tease. Stephen had also told him not to mention his atheism publicly or criticize vigilantes. Stephen wanted him to do the Cosmic Blast and put it up on YouTube. Cosmic Kid had ignored all of the advice and was definitely paying the price for it.
“You know if you started actually dating Danny Chase, the two of you would be on every magazine and online publication in the cosmos,” said Stephen.
“I thought you did fine,” said his dad loyally. “Robin Traverse is always like that so it’s not a big deal, right?”
“I don’t know,” said Cosmic Kid, ignoring Stephen’s comment about him dating Danny.
“Traverse is old-school,” said Stephen. “You don’t have flashy powers. You can’t fly, lift cars with your mind, or melt skyscrapers. You need to have top powers to be a top pick in her world.”
“But Patrick can lift a car, hell, he can outrun a car,” said John.
“Yes, but Flash Freeze is faster and he can cover a city block in snow with but a thought,” said Stephen.
“Then why am I going at #3?” asked Cosmic Kid with a sigh.
“Because it’s not just about the powers!” said Stephen. “In the last three years, the #1 picks were Dynamo Kid, World Mover, and Ms. Majestica. All of them had powers off the charts, but how did they do? Dynamo Kid got crippled in the first month of his rookie Season. World Mover killed himself when he lost control of his powers. Ms. Majestica is currently serving 18 months in prison after hurling a superazzi who pissed her off through a Macy’s storefront.”
“I guess, but if the talk is all about Elle and the Sun Coast Saviors, then what if Tampa Bay gets second thoughts?” asked Cosmic Kid.
“That’s why we need to remind everyone that you are the most experienced super teen in this Draft,” said Stephen. “You were made leader of Teen Ultimate at 16. You’ve faced off against real supervillains like Seneschal X; regardless of the outcome you stared him down and survived – that means something. You are the best in this Draft and we need to make sure everyone knows that.”
“I agree, but how do we do that?” said John. “I’m happy to talk to reporters if that would help.”
“It might,” said Stephen. “We talk to anyone and everyone and get the word out. Robin Traverse may have Supers Weekly, but she isn’t the only game in town. In fact, there are some advantages of Traverse going after us, we can paint her as out-dated and we’re the new order. But the most important thing is we need you dating.”
“What, so I don’t look gay?”
“No, so you don’t look pathetic that Elle Solstice dumped you,” said Stephen. “Also you need to relax more when people talk about your mom; you look traumatized whenever someone asks you about her.”
“I’m not traumatized about my mom dying, that was ten years ago.”
“Patrick, I’m still traumatized by it,” said John quietly. “But Stephen’s right, you need to loosen up when people talk about mom. Also you should date more, just don’t date witches.”
“I guess, but I don’t think it’s right for me to date someone just for publicity reasons,” said Cosmic Kid uncomfortably.
“Are you traumatized by your mother’s death?” asked Stephen in a worried tone. “Also if you’re gay, that’s okay, we can work with that.”
“I’m not traumatized or gay,” said Cosmic Kid testily.
“Good, then find a girlfriend in 24 hours,” said Stephen.
“You know, flipping burgers sounds better and better,” said Cosmic Kid with a sigh.
As the day of the team competition approached, the situation wasn’t getting any better. The Super Draft itself was not the problem. He had done well at the speed and strength trials. Sure he wasn’t as fast as Flash Freeze or as strong as Mega-Jock, but Flash was a glass cannon and Mega-Jock was an idiot. No one in the Draft was physically a match for him, but he hadn’t really gotten a chance yet to showcase his superior senses or intellect. Even if he did it probably wouldn’t matter. Tampa Bay was getting cold feet.
Robin Traverse hadn’t created the problem, but she definitely had helped fuel it since their interview. She was gunning for him and the rest of the superazzi drones were following her as usual. They were all pointing out his lack of ‘potent’ super powers, his arrogance, and his problems with the Tampa Bay community. There was an online poll with 251,678 signatures as of an hour ago that called for Tampa Bay to not hire the atheist and vigilante-hating Cosmic Kid. There probably weren’t even 25,000 people in the Tampa Bay area that would care enough about the issue to sign the petition, but a number of national advocacy groups were rallying the troops.
Yesterday, things had gotten worse when Joshua, a.k.a. Aureoles, gave an interview about his time on Teen Ultimate under Cosmic Kid’s leadership. Joshua accused him of being arrogant, condescending, and a poor team leader. Even more damning was the accusation that he had stolen the spotlight in heroics. The sad truth was that there was some truth in the complaints; he had been 16 when he was named leader of Teen Ultimate and at times he had acted his age. However, the last few years had been different – he had grown up, unlike Joshua who was apparently still bitter he had been passed over for teen team leader. Aureoles had been drafted by Birmingham two years ago and Birmingham was still near the bottom of the Southern Conference. This was probably just a publicity stunt to have Joshua get a little bump by attacking Cosmic Kid, but it was depressing to have a fo
rmer teammate, albeit one he didn’t get along with, come after him like this.
Added to all of this was the image of him being the jilted lover of Elle Solstice who left him for #1 pick Paradigm Shift. The public opinion was that Elle was a self-absorbed bitch and Paradigm was an ass, more or less correct, but it put Cosmic Kid in the Sympathy Box. People felt bad for him. That was never good for a superhero. Pity from the public was the quickest route to a low-tier charter team. Things went from bad to worse when he tried to ask Meteor Girl out for a date and was shot down instantly. News of that hadn’t swept the Internet… yet. His personal life was getting discussed a lot more than it should, especially considering how little of a personal life he had.
He had tried talking to Corsair, team leader for Tampa Bay Supers, but he seemed to always have an excuse as to why it wasn’t a good time to meet. That wasn’t good. If #3 Tampa Bay passed on him then the next possibility was #7 Tucson and they couldn’t afford him so it meant the League of Steel at #11 was probably it. They were a good team, actually higher ranked than Tampa Bay, but there wasn’t much of a future there for him. He would never be the franchise super for Pittsburgh and they would probably trade him in a few years. Worse, the League of Steel might pass on him – then it was anyone’s guess who would pick him. Regardless, he would definitely go in the first half of the first round, but he would be making a lot less money at that point.
Tonight was his best chance for turning things around. It was the team challenge and his group was scheduled for primetime coverage. If he gave an overwhelming performance then everything else would be forgotten. That was the nature of the Industry, you could be a horrible person, but if you could deliver results then you would be more than tolerated, you might even be revered. The problem was that he wasn’t sure he could deliver an overwhelming performance. The group included Paradigm Shift, Wonder Boy, Neo-Mermaid, Epiphany, Plastique, and himself – no doubt, they would put him and Paradigm Shift on opposite teams and it would be all about their rivalry. The truth was that this was going to be a very ugly team challenge.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide Page 6