“I haven’t known who to trust the last few months,” Dr. Sterling said wearily. “Starfish has had me running in circles. He’d been on my short list for a while, but I didn’t know for sure until Seawolf called tonight. I’ve known Midnight since before she was born - she’s Awesome’s daughter - and she vouches for the rest of them. I know your feelings on vigilantes, but you’re going to have to trust me on this.”
“But how do you know he’s coming here?” Cosmic Kid waved his hand at the now-darkened computer monitors. “If Starfish really wants to destroy the team, he’s going to be at his house to finish the job!”
“I said that Starfish wants to destroy West Pacific Supers. The team may be at his house, but West Pacific Supers is right here.” She tapped at her forehead and then turned as the door opened and Midnight entered, followed by four others: one person in full kendo body armor, another in a hockey goalie’s outfit, complete with inline skates and a hockey stick, a midget in a toga with a bow and quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder, and a guy in an overly large black trenchcoat carrying a briefcase. They all looked around the room with wide eyes and the guy in the trenchcoat said in admiration, “Oh wow, the Daedalus Deluxe Command Suite - and they’ve been upgraded!” He looked enviously at the banks of computers. “You’ve got to be a certified Super League team to buy these.”
Cosmic Kid stared in disbelief. Sterling might be insane, but this lot was certifiable. He briefly wondered if the real bad guy here was Dr. Sterling, who might be in cahoots with Starfish and out to destroy the city in one fell swoop. Then again, there had always been a reason for the apparent madness of Sterling’s methods. Blue Star might argue with her, but Cosmic Kid knew that he trusted her. Her insane plans had saved him many times this Season. He had no reason not to trust her now.
Dr. Sterling stood and addressed them. “Thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me to know that in our time of crisis, the vigilantes of West Pacific are willing to fight side by side with the West Pacific Supers.”
“Your words are kind,” said a whispery voice from a patch of deeper shadows near the door, “but time is fleeting. Even now, our enemies close in upon us. We must be swift like thunder in the night.”
Cosmic Kid rolled his eyes. That guy’s secret identity was probably soap opera dialogue writer, but then again Cosmic Kid hadn’t noticed him enter the room or that he was in the corner. That meant he was a mutant and with some useful skills.
“The Whisperer is prescient as always,” said Dr. Sterling. She grabbed several tubes from a shelf and emptied them to reveal blueprints of HQ that she spread out on one of the desks. Everyone crowded around to get a better view. “Judging by my HoloBerry wireless signals being jammed, I suspect there is an ECM device in the vicinity,” she said. Cosmic Kid checked his HoloBerry and kicked himself for not noticing earlier that it had lost its connection. “They have also hit our connection to the city power grid here, and I suspect they will be moving to our primary backup generators here. No doubt Starfish and friends are moving into the building to eliminate me, and anyone else who gets in the way.”
“So Starfish has been a supervillain all along?” asked the hockey goalie, who was apparently a woman.
“For quite some time now it appears,” Dr. Sterling confirmed as she moved over to another computer and brought up a holographic map of HQ where several red flashing lights marking locations on the lower levels could be seen. “I suspect that Starfish’s attack on the team at the Boardwalk wasn’t to kill Awesome but Meltdown. His radioactive powers were toxic to Starfish’s regeneration and the same probably applies to the mutated homeless he calls his children. It’s not feasible to produce radioactive weapons for all of you, but I did manage to get something for Midnight, so she’s our best bet to get close to Starfish.”
“Well, that’s great for Midnight, but what are the rest of us supposed to do if we encounter him?” asked the goalie.
“Run,” said Dr. Sterling. “In addition to Starfish and possibly his pets, we are likely facing at least two other mutant enforcers of the Infinite Circle, whom I’ve identified as Fade Out and Fortina Knox. Fade Out can change between intangible and solid forms at will, which makes him a particularly challenging opponent. Fortina Knox is an invulnerable, so she’s not going to be easy either; you can recognize her due to her gold skin. No matter which group you encounter, your goal is to distract and confuse, not overcome. You slow them down and we’ll take care of the rest. However, there are likely lesser minions also in play and I am confident you all can handle them as needed.”
Several of the vigilantes shifted anxiously and Cosmic Kid didn’t blame them. He wasn’t sure what Dr. Sterling’s grand plan was, but he hoped it didn’t entirely depend on Midnight and her kill weapon. He’d seen Starfish in the field and didn’t think he was going to be taken out by a couple shots, depleted uranium or not.
“So this is a glove’s off operation?” asked the midget.
“Confirmed,” said Dr. Sterling. “Don’t worry about minimizing collateral damage - few of you have the powers or equipment to do much anyway. Make no mistake that Starfish is here to kill as many people as possible.”
“Objectives?” asked the man in the kendo suit, who was swinging a wooden sword nervously.
“Truthfinder and Whisperer, you need to find the ECM device and bring it down to restore communications. I suspect it is probably housed in a van parked near HQ; I suggest you start your search with the public parking garage. I want the Trio to head to the Museum; I see a lot of alarms triggered in that area so they may be entering the building from that location. Emergency protocols are in place, which means you’ll have to use the stairs just like our enemies have to. Midnight and Cosmic Kid will shadow me as I draw out Starfish for the cataclysmic finale.” Dr. Sterling finished issuing her orders and turned back to her computers. The vigilantes nodded grimly and headed off leaving Dr. Sterling, Midnight, and Cosmic Kid in the empty operations center.
“Annie, why don’t I try to find Starfish before he reaches here?” said Midnight.
“Yeah, a super brawl here would cost the team millions,” said Cosmic Kid, looking around at all the computers and hardware.
“One moment… I have him,” said Dr. Sterling triumphantly. She typed in a few commands and looked up at a monitor. Cosmic Kid and Midnight followed her gaze and waited. The monitor showed a webcam view of Starfish typing at a computer. Standing behind him was a gold-skinned woman in a black jumpsuit: Fortina Knox.
“Hello, Dr. Keller,” said Dr. Sterling.
Fortina Knox jumped, as did Starfish, but he quickly recovered and laughed. “Annie, on top of things as always, but I’m afraid that this time you’ve met your match.”
“How so?” asked Dr. Sterling.
“I’ve taken out the team and I’m minutes from taking you out.”
“So your grand plan is to kill me?” asked Dr. Sterling.
“That’s up to you,” said Starfish.
“What do you want?” asked Dr. Sterling, who was doing a good job at sounding nonplussed.
“Just three things. First, you admit I am the superior intellect. Second, you give me access to the Black Vault and the Kill Safe. Third, you transfer all West Pacific Supers financial accounts to an offshore account of mine.”
“How about we compromise,” said Dr. Sterling. “I’ll admit you aren’t mentally impaired. I’ll let you clear out your desk. I’ll even let you collect your last paycheck. However, after all that I’m going to kick your ass and put what’s left of you into an ashtray and make it into a paperweight.”
“How are you going to do that with your vaunted team wiped out?” asked Starfish with his sickening smile of white teeth.
“I’m not alone, I have Cosmic Kid,” said Dr. Sterling confidently. Cosmic Kid shook his head. He knew one thing for certain - he wasn’t a match for Starfish. Though maybe he and Midnight together could defeat him, if they could get him alone.
Starfish laug
hed. “Excellent, well, I’ll be in operations in no time and look forward to facing off against our #1 Draft pick.” Starfish stood up and then reached for the webcam and crushed it. The screen went black.
Midnight looked around operations. “So what’s the plan? Where do you want me?”
“Not here.” Dr. Sterling typed a few last commands before leaving her chair. “We’re heading to legal.”
“Legal?” asked Cosmic Kid.
“Yes, I’ve wanted to remodel the 18th floor for years, but Matteo keeps refusing to move his department. So if we’re going to have a super brawl anywhere it’ll be in legal on the 18th floor.”
Cosmic Kid looked at Midnight who whispered back, “vigilantes don’t have operations directors.”
“I’m beginning to see the appeal,” replied Cosmic Kid as he followed Dr. Sterling and Midnight out of the room.
Chapter 40
1:32 a.m., Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
West Coast Superheroes Museum, WPS HQ
West Pacific, CA
“Well, so much for a stealthy entrance,” said Samurai disapprovingly as he waited for Goalie and Cupid to catch up. With the elevators out of commission, they’d had to take the stairs down, which meant wheel covers for Goalie and a lot of complaining from Cupid; anyone within earshot of the stairwell would have heard them coming. Admittedly it was a long descent to do quietly; even Samurai was feeling tired by the time they reached the third floor, where the museum started.
“I haven’t been here since my fourth grade field trip!” exclaimed Goalie as she reached the last step and stowed the wheel covers in her satchel.
“Really?” said Cupid. “Wow, I come every year on National Supers Day, when the museum is free to the public and the movies are half-cost.”
“It must be mobbed then,” commented Goalie.
“Yeah, but it’s worth it. Do you know that regular tickets are like $20 a head?”
Samurai frowned. “Focus you two! This is serious business.”
“Lighten up,” said Goalie. “You heard Dr. Sterling - we don’t have to hold back here. It’s time to break out the good stuff.”
“Metal-tipped arrows coming up,” said Cupid, enthusiastically digging through his quiver.
Samurai glared at him. “You told me that you’d gotten rid of those after White Knight smoothed things over with Major Dagan.”
Cupid looked embarrassed. “Well it seemed like a waste to just throw them away…”
“Can you believe we’re really here?” Goalie let loose a war whoop. “In just a couple years we go from Shakespeare Court to defending the WPS HQ. Who would’ve thought!”
“Quiet!” snapped Samurai. “Now come on, we’re facing professionals here - this is no time to play around!”
“Party pooper,” retorted Goalie, who was rocking back and forth on her inline skates, a mass of pent-up energy ready to explode.
Samurai shook his head and turned to Cupid. “I haven’t been here since the 2010 martial arts exhibit so you know the layout best. Thoughts?”
“The main entrance is on the first floor, which is primarily devoted to the history of West Pacific Supers. You’re supposed to see that first, then take one of the elevators up to the third floor, where we are now, to learn about the other West Coast teams. Then you take one of the escalators down to the second floor, which has the special exhibits, like the martial arts one you’re talking about, and the museum cafe. You end up exiting back down on the first floor through the museum shop.”
Samurai nodded. “Alright, then I guess we might as well enter here on the third floor. We can go in a side door since we don’t need to worry about setting off security alarms. We’ll take it floor by floor, dealing with any bad guys we find as we go.”
“Let’s go!” yelled Goalie, who pushed open the stairwell door and rocketed down the hallway, her two team members running to keep up.
The nearest side door entered into an exhibit on the Aloha Team. “You know, I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii,” Cupid commented as he finally ran through the door that Samurai was patiently holding for him.
“Me too!” said Goalie, who sped by blading backwards while looking up at a life-size model of one of the Aloha Team supers, Darkwing. “Isn’t he dreamy?” sighed Goalie. “His skin is supposedly as soft as black velvet.”
“You need to stop hanging out on fan sites,” snapped Samurai. “Now pay attention!”
“There’s no one here,” Goalie announced, sounding bored. “I already checked out the rest of the exhibit while I was waiting for you all to catch up. Though there is a really cool bit one room over about famous supers who’ve used surfboards in heroics.”
“If I were a supervillain,” Cupid said thoughtfully, “I don’t think I’d be interested in Aloha Team memorabilia.”
“Are you kidding?” said Goalie. “Did you know that they’ve got the actual jet ski that Darkwing used to chase down Rip Tide?”
“Darkwing can fly,” grumbled Samurai. “What’s he doing on a jet ski?”
“It’s not all about powers,” said Goalie loyally. “You have to be able to use technology too.”
“Ssh,” said Cupid suddenly. “I hear something.” They all fell silent and heard the distant sound of breaking glass.
“And we’re off!” Goalie cried. Before they could stop her, she had bladed off again.
“She’s going to get herself killed,” muttered Samurai as he gathered the skirts of his kendo suit and began again to run.
By the time they caught up, there was a battle royale taking place in the Golden Gate Heroes exhibit. Two guys with guns were cowering behind a life-size statue of Faust in wizard’s robes, while Goalie swooped around lobbing hockey pucks at anything that moved. One shot had apparently gone too high and hit a cable holding up a miniature version of the Golden Gate bridge which was suspended over the entire room. It was wobbling crazily now and looked like it might fall.
Cupid drew his bow and fired twice at the goons, but only succeeded in lodging two arrows in Faust’s wax torso. One of the men broke cover enough to shoot at Goalie, but she was moving too fast and the bullet instead shattered the glass of a display case.
“You can’t hide forever!” Goalie whooped as she hit another puck, which again went too high, sailing over the statue of Faust and impacting near the ceiling. “Shit, I missed,” she said.
“By a long shot,” commented Samurai, who was surprised; Goalie was rarely this inaccurate. “They’re over there you know,” he said as she whizzed by.
“I’m not trying to hit them!” she said, dropping another puck and taking careful aim. “I’m trying…” the hockey stick connected with a resounding ring, sending the puck flying through the air and into the remaining cable holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. “…to hit that,” she concluded triumphantly as the bridge fell with a crash, impacted on two display cases, shattering both of them, and then toppled the statue of Faust, crushing the leg of one of the goons. The other dropped his gun and fled the exhibit.
“Yeah, you’d better run!” Goalie yelled after him as she zoomed around the room, retrieving pucks.
“ARE YOU INSANE?” yelled Samurai. She had really gone too far this time.
“What?” said Goalie, sounding wounded and stopping short. “Dr. Sterling said we didn’t need to hold back.”
“Yeah, but I don’t think she intended for us to destroy the museum! We’re here to stop the bad guys, not help them wreak havoc!”
“I hate to say it, but he’s right,” said Cupid, as he handcuffed the goon with the crushed leg. “Plus I think we’ve really lost the element of surprise.”
“So it’s two against one, then?” pouted Goalie. “Fine, have it your way. Hey, did you know that Savant wrote the opening music for the 2008 Olympics?”
“Well, he is a genius,” said Samurai. He pointed his shinai at the handcuffed goon, who was whimpering in pain. “How many people are with you?”
“About, about 20.” He
cringed as if expecting Samurai to behead him.
“And what are you after?”
“De…destruction and looting,” said the man. “We’re supposed to take any… anything of value and then torch the place.”
“Torch the place!” cried Goalie. “You hear that? And you’re worried about me doing too much collateral damage!”
Samurai frowned. “Okay, we may need to speed up then. How many of you are on this floor?”
“Just…just five,” the man whimpered. “Bob and I - we were supposed to get some chess set or something.”
“You mean the chess set used by Savant in 2006 at the 37th Chess Olympiad when he defeated Cognito and was named International Grandmaster?” asked Goalie, who was peering into a shattered display case.
“Yeah, I guess - something like that.”
“Well you can’t have it because the West Pacific Trio has thwarted you!” she said exultantly. “Though apparently we’ve also broken the board. Anyway, aren’t we supposed to be moving on now?”
“Yeah, definitely,” said Samurai.
“Onward!” yelled Goalie, who once again bladed forward out of sight.
“Hey Samurai,” called Cupid as he jogged to keep up. “Do you think anyone would miss a Captain Seattle 1999 commemorative trading card? It’s the last one I need for my West Coast collection and if I remember correctly, it’s just down that hall…”
Samurai turned and fixed him with a disapproving stare through the metal grille of his kendo helmet.
“Right, sorry, keep to the straight and narrow - we’re the good guys,” panted Cupid. “That’s why you’re in charge!”
“I knew there was a reason,” Samurai muttered.
Chapter 41
1:45 a.m., Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Parking Garage A, WPS HQ
West Pacific, CA
Loren had a lot of time to think as he and the Whisperer descended the seemingly endless flights of stairs down to the public parking garage. The Whisperer was a quiet companion, so quiet in fact that Loren frequently glanced over at him in order to assure himself that he wasn’t alone. Even walking side by side, Loren never got a good look at the Whisperer’s features; he seemed to be perpetually wreathed in shadows.
West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide Page 40