Starfish grinned again. “So that’s the secret to their domination of the Mid West Conference - pizza parties! I bet they have sleepovers and movie marathons too.”
Cosmic Kid sighed. “No, our success was due to everyone reading the reports.”
“I think we might need to look at our briefing system and policies and fine tune them to better reflect the abilities of the current team,” said Blue Star.
“Annie, who attacked the team and killed Awesome and Jason?” asked Camille.
Everyone went silent. It was the question everyone wanted to ask but Cosmic Kid for one didn’t expect a definitive answer for a few more weeks at the earliest. As far as he knew, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
“It was a simple operation and thus professional,” said Dr. Sterling. “It was a 2012 WPS kid’s backpack; only about 9,000 have been sold, mostly to students in the West Pacific school system. It held a C4 explosive with a remote-activated detonator, or so we believe; there wasn’t much left for a positive identification of the detonator but a timed explosive would have likely missed the team’s passage through the corridor. Probably as the team approached the backpack, someone triggered the explosive.”
“Mr. Awesome did notice something right before the backpack exploded,” said Starfish. “Though he didn’t have a chance to do more than call out a warning, and by then it was too late.”
“But if no one but the team was in the hallway,” Seawolf asked, “how did they know when to set it off?”
“There are three possibilities,” said Dr. Sterling. “First, they did have some surveillance device in the hallway that was destroyed in the explosion. Second, they had someone with the staff inside who saw when the team left for the stage. Third, they had a mutant who triggered the device, a mutant who might have had clairvoyance or x-ray vision and was waiting in the crowd for the team’s approach.”
“There was video footage of the event and area, right?” asked Camille. “Someone’s going through that?”
“Yes, but most telling is that the Infinite Circle is claiming responsibility among the criminal elements of the city,” said Dr. Sterling. “Last year was a good year for us against the various criminal syndicates operating in the city, but that was because we were being fed tips and leads by the Infinite Circle to clear out their competition.”
Blue Star leaned over towards Cosmic Kid. “The Infinite Circle is an international organization that dominates the Pacific Rim drug and smuggling trades.”
Cosmic Kid nodded, annoyed that Blue Star was again assuming that he didn’t know anything. “They’re rumored to have connections to the Celestial Republic of China and other mutant-dominated regimes in Asia and South America,” he said. “Page 32 of the report. They’re moving into West Pacific to establish a foothold for expanding their operations into the United States.”
Blue Star grunted, whether in grudging respect or annoyance it was hard to tell. Cosmic Kid ignored him. “How were they feeding the team false tips? We have to focus on securing that angle immediately. The moment you have to question your sources is the moment you’ve lost the ability to respond quickly and confidently to crises.”
“Wow, what’s that from – the Ultimate Teen leadership manual?” Starfish asked innocently.
Cosmic Kid flushed and Dr. Sterling threw an annoyed glare at Starfish before answering the question. “They used a number of techniques, including the team’s hotline, anonymous informants, and even a vigilante named Codex who was just a fictitious persona for funneling information to us.”
“They’d even infiltrated the WPPD,” said Gabrielle.
“We got lucky that White Knight and a few vigilantes were able to figure out what the Infinite Circle was doing,” said Starfish. “If it wasn’t for that, the Infinite Circle might have had us running around for months; they’re quite cunning. That’s what got White Knight on the team - with his help we were able to apprehend several members of the Infinite Circle in a large raid, but the senior leadership escaped, including the mysterious Mr. Darwin. Though apparently White Knight can’t make it to team meetings. Where is he anyway?”
“Tracking down leads,” said Dr. Sterling, though Cosmic Kid doubted this explanation. Most likely White Knight was covering for his secret identity. Secret identities were a lot of work to maintain; living a double life was no way to live.
“Nice work if you can get it,” mused Starfish. “God knows I’d rather be out there than in here.”
“That will do for this morning,” Dr. Sterling snapped. “I will tell our Federal liaison to send you all a thorough report on coordination with DSA, as well as various Federal programs that may be of interest to the team, such as the Mutant Dating Service.”
Camille laughed. “I don’t think that any of us need to use the Mutant Dating Service.”
Cosmic Kid noticed Seawolf narrow her eyes at Camille as Starfish laughed. “Speak for yourself. From what I’ve heard, our new team leader goes through relationships like DSA goes through mutant agents. He could probably use some dating advice.”
Blue Star started to say something, but Dr. Sterling waved him down. “We have a training session this afternoon. Some of you may want to use the intervening hours to brush up on the team operations manual. I am sure some of the old-timers will find it fascinating reading.”
“No doubt,” said Starfish. “I don’t have anything better to do. I presume I’m off the hook for training?”
“You’re in physical therapy, which counts as training,” Dr. Sterling told him. “Work hard. We want you back on the team as soon as possible.”
“It’s so nice to be wanted,” Starfish mused. “Oh, and I’m afraid that they let the cat out of the bag while you were out of the room, Annie. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to the welcome-back party that Dr. Hodges and Camille are organizing for me.”
Camille started to sputter in disbelief, while Seawolf grinned wolfishly. If Dr. Sterling was surprised, she didn’t give any indication of it. “I’m sure we’re all looking forward to it just as much as you are,” she said. “Okay, everyone knows what to do – have at it!”
Cosmic Kid was pacing his office on the balls of his feet. His first team training session with West Pacific Supers was only minutes away. He had done a lot of training sessions when he was on Teen Ultimate and even worked with the Ultimate League over the last year, but this was his first real session as a professional super. He loved training sessions, especially good ones and the word was that Dr. Annie Sterling ran the best training program in the West Coast Conference. He tried to remember the words of Seawolf after the awkward team meeting: Dr. Sterling was “sadistic and more interested in tormenting the team than training it”. Cosmic Kid loved that; it was exactly what he wanted in training. He also needed to put in a strong performance after his crash and burn this morning.
Isaac knocked on the door and entered the office. “Cosmic, Dr. Sterling called and said it’s ten minutes until the team training session begins and she wants the team to meet in the parking garage. Also the rankings just came in for the week; we’re #6.”
“Fantastic! Six isn’t a bad place to start, but you would think we would have been higher given our roster. I wonder if we’re going to do some sort of combat driving drill or maybe we’re deploying to somewhere in the city. Exciting stuff, Isaac, exciting stuff,” said Cosmic Kid with a smile as he fastened his utility belt, put on his jacket over his uniform, and grabbed his backpack.
“Ah, good luck,” said Isaac.
“If you’re the good guy, you don’t need luck,” said Cosmic Kid, leaving his office and jogging down to the elevator. He waited impatiently for it to arrive and when the doors opened he popped in. There was a young woman in a grey suit already inside, carrying a stack of folders and papers. She gave him a polite smile.
“Hi, so you work for the team?” asked Cosmic Kid as he mentally went over some of his favorite katas in case there was fighting in the mix
for the day.
“Yes, I’m a summer intern with Blue Star’s staff. I’m Emily,” she said, awkwardly shifting the papers so she could hold out her hand.
“Great,” said Cosmic Kid, shaking her hand. “Blue Star is awesome, a true living legend.”
“Isn’t living legend just another way of saying he’s really old?” asked Emily with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe,” said Cosmic Kid with a smile as he practiced a punch.
“You lead with your right too much,” said Emily.
“What?” said Cosmic Kid.
“You always lead with a right cross and follow it up with a round kick with your right foot,” said Emily.
“Well, I am right-handed so I’m a little quicker on the right side. Speed is everything,” said Cosmic Kid defensively. The truth was it was a regular criticism by his various trainers over the years that he mostly fought with his right side.
“Hmm, well, I disagree, speed really isn’t everything. A lot of times it’s better to do things right rather than just do them quickly,” said Emily with a mischievous smile.
“Right… so what do you do here?” asked Cosmic Kid, taking a moment to get a better look at her. Curly brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a perky little nose – she was cute.
“I’m an ‘intern’, which translates into enslaved lackey, and… sorry, but I really think East Coast Style is not a good fit for you,” said Emily, clearly bracing herself.
“Really?” said Cosmic Kid. “Now why do you say that?” As he spoke he noticed that the elevator had stopped moving and the door wasn’t opening.
“Well, East Coast Style is all about power in brawling. You’re strong, certainly, but you’re also smart – you could leverage those two strengths with a Southern Style approach. With East Coast Style, you’re merely focused on bludgeoning people, but Southern Style incorporates more of the terrain, using throws, trips, and more jujitsu as opposed to East Coast, which is like boxing, effective, certainly, but really ugly on film,” said Emily who riffled through her papers, pulling out a folder that she handed to Cosmic Kid who was pushing the buttons on the elevator control panel.
“The elevator stopped,” said Cosmic Kid as he took the folder. “What’s this?”
“It’s some recommendations for you. I did them up for each member of the team after watching footage of you in heroics and at media events,” said Emily.
“Oh,” said Cosmic Kid, flipping through the folder. “What does ‘eerie smile’ mean?”
“Well, when you get asked questions you don’t want to answer the ends of your mouth sort of twitch and your eyes narrow; it’s subtle, but kind of freaky,” said Emily.
“Huh, really?” asked Cosmic Kid who peered at a magnified picture of himself in the folder. “You’re right, that is a weird look. What was the question I was answering?”
“Well, that was taken when you were asked about… your mother,” said Emily awkwardly.
“Right,” said Cosmic Kid coolly. “Let’s see what’s wrong with the elevator.” He moved to activate the intercom to call maintenance, but there was no response. Something wasn’t right.
“I’m sorry, but I was asked to point out all the problems with the team I could find, really, you did better than some of the team – it’s really just little stuff you know, fine-tun-,” said Emily and then she staggered. “I feel bad.”
Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she started to fall. Cosmic Kid quickly caught her and lowered her down; she was breathing shallowly, but at least she was still breathing. It had to be something in the air. He didn’t smell anything so it was probably odorless. He didn’t see anything so it was well dispersed. Maybe it was something else, some low-frequency weapon or maybe a delta wave generator. He couldn’t waste time, regardless.
He jumped up to knock down some of the paneling on the ceiling and found the upper hatch of the elevator. With his super strength he was able to knock it up and off, clearing a way to the roof of the elevator, at least until a robotic arm dropped down, grasped his arm, and began pulling him up. It had a tight grip and was ripping his ultimesh costume and likely going to dislocate his shoulder. Cosmic Kid grabbed at his utility belt with his left arm and found the small EMP cylinder he carried. He pulled it off his belt, hit the activation button, and tossed it up to the roof of the elevator. There was a tingling in the air from the electromagnetic pulse and the robotic arm stopped moving but it still held him. It took him precious seconds to pry open the robotic fingers.
He was feeling dizzy so no doubt there was something affecting him; he was running out of time. He jumped up and pulled himself to the roof of the elevator. The robotic arm was rebooting, but it wasn’t quick enough as Cosmic Kid ripped it clean off its housing. He saw that the elevator had stopped right below a floor and he reached over and pulled open the doors. He breathed in the fresh air right as his headset, which he had completely forgotten about, went off. It was Dr. Sterling on the team channel. “Team, we have a jumper on the northeast face of the roof. There are also gunmen in the main cafeteria with hostages!”
“Dr. Sterling, I have an injured civilian,” said Cosmic Kid, quickly returning to the elevator to drop down and pick up Emily.
“Relax, all employees sign release waivers for injuries from training exercises, and you have bigger fish to fry,” said Dr. Sterling.
“Nova Woman, go up and get the jumper,” said Seawolf’s voice. “Everyone else move on the cafeteria. Remember that they probably have Annie’s patented high-caliber paint pellet guns and are also probably from some high school football team so don’t be too rough with them,” she added.
“It’s Camille, not Nova Woman,” said Camille over the headset.
“You know who I’m talking about,” snapped Seawolf.
“And you know that I don’t use that name anymore.”
“I’ll go with Camille to make sure we get the jumper down safely,” said Blue Star. “Seawolf, you take everyone else to the cafeteria.”
“Come on people, move!” said White Knight.
“I’m going to take the civilian to the clinic,” said Cosmic Kid tersely, finally managing to lift her out of the hatch and then climbing up to help her onto the seventh floor.
“Your choice, Cosmic,” said Dr. Sterling quietly.
“Yes it is,” said Cosmic Kid as he picked up Emily and made his way to the clinic. He had changed his mind; this was really not the type of training he wanted to do.
Dr. Sterling was sitting in her office reviewing tapes of the training session, when Cosmic Kid entered. He was not happy, in fact, he was actually angry, which was a rarity for him, but the reckless endangerment of civilians for a ‘training’ exercise was insanity.
“Are you stark raving mad?” shouted Cosmic Kid as he entered the room.
“Perhaps, but not in regards to what you wish to complain about,” said Dr. Sterling dryly. “However, could you hold your rant for a minute or two more so that the team leader can arrive and deliver his tirade as well? I would rather deal with you both at once instead of having two separate meetings to cover the same points.”
“You recklessly endangered a civilian today - she could have been killed!” yelled Cosmic Kid as Blue Star barged into the office as well.
“The Kid is right. I’m strongly considering firing you, Dr. Sterling!” roared Blue Star, his face flushed red.
“Futile threats are unbecoming, Blue Star, but the incident today was neither reckless nor endangering towards a civilian,” said Dr. Sterling, continuing to review the footage.
“A young woman passed out due to an airborne toxin and was in close proximity to a robotic arm with evil intent – I call that reckless endangerment!” snapped Cosmic Kid.
“Yes, we have many employees in this building and only the team has supers capable of handling such challenges. You can’t expose the employees to that sort of danger,” said Blue Star hotly.
“Yes, I can. The young woman signed a waiver regarding inj
uries related to training sessions and crises, and all employees were informed of the training session today and advised to remain in their offices for the two-hour period scheduled for the training program. If anyone was reckless, it was the girl.”
“I don’t think it’s safe to assume she knew how dangerous it would be for her to leave her office,” said Blue Star. “She’s an intern!”
“Yes, she is new, but the email was quite clear that training sessions posed all manner of dangers and that employees were best to stay in their offices. I have a copy of the email here,” said Dr. Sterling, handing it over.
“Email or not, this is unacceptable!” yelled Blue Star. “You can’t do training that endangers civilians.”
“Emily could have been killed,” said Cosmic Kid. Blue Star paled at the idea.
“Very unlikely, but admittedly not impossible, though highly improbable,” said Dr. Sterling, as she typed away on her computer.
“I would prefer it that you look at me when I am talking to you,” said Blue Star menacingly. Cosmic Kid nodded in agreement and shivered; the room seemed to have gotten colder while they were talking and he suspected that it was due to Blue Star.
Dr. Sterling stopped typing, turned to look at the two of them, and raised an eyebrow. “Certainly, when you are both willing to listen, as opposed to all this sound and fury.”
“This is serious, Dr. Sterling,” snapped Blue Star.
“Yes, training is serious. Training is what makes the difference between success and failure and life and death. To paraphrase General MacArthur: ‘in no other profession are the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling or so irrevocable as in the superhero Industry.’ I understand why you are upset, but neither of you is looking at this clearly,” said Dr. Sterling.
“Why don’t you try explaining it then?” Blue Star snapped.
“My training regime serves several purposes. Of course, the sharpening of the skills and abilities of the team is critical, but there are other purposes equally as important. Training is to remind everyone that what we do is real and that lives are on the line; you both should know that there are some supers who see this all as a game. I don’t accept that. Also the training serves to remind those who work in this building that we are in a dangerous business. Just a few weeks ago this team was attacked and people died, including staff members. However, right after that attack, when all the supers were sidelined, it was the staff at the scene who performed first aid, coordinated with first responders, and took charge of the situation. This team and even this building have been attacked many times over the years and it could happen again tomorrow and the staff needs to know the rules and what to do. I run training sessions just for the staff and yes, the new girl was new, but she didn’t take an email from me seriously – fortunately, I suspect that will be the last time she does that.”
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide Page 13