West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (33 page)

She got the signal
from the crew that they were within five miles of the target. She had to say
something. She had to assign the teams. She had to make the first in a series
of decisions that might decide who lived and who died tonight.

“Okay, we are going
to fly in low, land if possible, and hit them hard,” said Camille. “I will be
heading outside to ensure our safe arrival to the platform. There will be three
teams. I will be Team One. Starfish and White Knight will be Team Two. Keystone
and Cosmic Kid will be Team Three.”

“So you’re not just
team leader, you’re an entire team unto yourself,” said Starfish. “Most
impressive.”

“Camille, Cosmic Kid
is a spotlight hog. Can we trade partners?” asked Keystone.

“No, those are the
teams,” snapped Camille. “Team Two and Team Three will move to secure the
premises, while Team One secures the bridge and then provides support as
needed.”

“Do we have more
specific objectives or should I find a Ouija board to guide my team?” asked
Starfish.

“Our job is to
disrupt whatever is happening,” said Camille, who had already gone over the
limited information she had with everyone at least twice during the flight, but
Starfish kept harping on more specific objectives. The fact was that they still
didn’t know exactly what was going on here, so she couldn’t assign more
specific objectives. “Find the QHRA and any other threats and shut them down.
Mix it up and don’t hold back. Reinforcements from the Coast Guard and maybe
the Air Force will be coming, but our job is to make sure that all they have to
do is cleanup.”

Camille took a deep
breath and signaled for the doors to be opened. They slid open and fresh salt
air flooded the compartment. She turned towards the team. “I’m going out. When
I signal, disembark.”

She leapt and took
to flight, moving ahead of the helicopter. It was evening and the sea was
beautiful, and even the well-lit platform in the distance was pretty. Still if
she could see them then they might be able to see her, even though Pacific One
was flying low, silent, and dark. Her instinct was to fly in ahead of the team
to cause as much damage as possible as a distraction, but as team leader she
had to curb her impulsive streak. She felt raindrops. She doubted they had a
weather-controlling mutant on the platform kicking up a storm, because rain was
to their advantage to cover their arrival.

“Annie, I’m getting
some rainfall,” said Camille into her headset.

“Yes, there’s some
strong feeder bands moving in from the north,” confirmed Dr. Sterling. “Rain
will help on approach, but you’re going to lose track of everyone quick
enough.”

“True.” Camille
frowned. “How’s Blue Star?”

“He’s in stable
condition and all signs are good he will recover.”

“Understood
—
” said Camille and
then she saw it: a streaking flash in her direction - a missile, probably a
SAM. Camille flew forward and repeatedly blasted with her cosmic energy till
she finally hit; it detonated into a bright explosion. Back on the Infinity
Team, they had practiced intercepting missiles all the time, but it was never a
pleasant experience. “Team – get ready for action! Pacific One engage
countermeasures!” she hollered over the headset and rose to give herself a better
position.

Three more missiles
flew from the platform. She dived and fired at one, taking it out, and then
corrected her flight path to pursue the second and bring it down. The third
sailed past Pacific One as the helicopter’s countermeasures must have worked.

“More missiles
incoming,” said Dr. Sterling over the headset. “If it’s any comfort, they
appear to be handheld rockets rather than a missile emplacement.”

Camille nodded, that
was good news; if they could eliminate the guys firing the rockets, that threat
would be over. She hit the two missiles in quick succession. She glanced
towards the platform and saw the enemy mobilizing in the rain. It would be an
opposed landing and it would be ugly.

“Six more incoming!”
called Dr. Sterling.

Camille’s eyes widened
in alarm and she chased after them, hitting two. Pacific One raised up and was
engaging its flares and other countermeasures. She blasted another missile and
saw two more sail past Pacific One, but one hit, blowing a huge chunk out of
the tail end of the helicopter, which started spinning down.

“No!” screamed
Camille as she raced for the crashing helicopter. The team was all braced
inside, ready to get out, but they were still over the water.

“Everyone hold
tight!” said Camille who reached in the door to grab the helicopter and then
with all her strength started flying. She could hold up a falling helicopter
and soft land it, or at least she could ten years ago, but it was a hell of a
struggle now, especially in the driving rain.

“Helicopter crew,
bail out!” yelled Dr. Sterling over the team channel. “Await Coast Guard
rescue. White Knight, engage jet pack and get yourself and Keystone out of
there!” The two pilots hardly even hesitated before unclicking from their seats
and pulling the cords to fill their life jackets. Camille brought the
helicopter low over the water and they jumped out. She then hefted the
helicopter up and increased her flying speed towards the platform. White Knight
flew out of the helicopter, carrying Keystone, who was waving idiotically at
Pearcy
, leaning out of the helicopter to film the dramatic
departure. With the two of them gone, the helicopter was at least somewhat more
manageable, but if the enemy had more missiles they were all sitting ducks.
Fortunately, it seemed that they were either out of missiles or saving them for
a later threat. Camille’s arms felt like they were about to give way.

“Almost
there…everyone out!” she yelled. The team scrambled out, hitting the edge of
the platform as bullets flew all over the area at them. Camille struggled to
gain altitude and then threw the helicopter towards the platform. It quickly
dropped as it left her grip and smashed into
Avalon
One
and exploded.

“I do truly, deeply
love collateral damage,” said Camille with a smile, diving down to help cover
her teammates as they engaged the numerous hostiles on the platform.

9:41 p.m.,
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

Avalon One

Pacific
Ocean

“Gregory,
activate the QHRA,” said Dr. Brandeis, unable to keep the panic from his voice.
West Pacific Supers were approaching and Erica had just used all their
missiles. Dr. Brandeis wished that Ian had listened to Erica months ago when
she advised spending a few million to arm the platform with heavier munitions.
In many ways, Ian was cheap and that was probably the mistake that would cost
them success. Ian lived lavishly and spent a fortune on many aspects of the
Plan, but little stuff like a new copier, overtime, and fixed weapon
emplacements threw him for a loop.

“Dr. B, I am
initiating the activation sequence,” said Gregory over the radio. Gregory was
on the airship directly managing the QHRA. It was probably the most dangerous
location…well, except for the deck of the platform, which was quickly turning
into a battlefield.

“Detonate the charges!”
commanded Dr. Brandeis to a young man next to him who flipped the three
switches that would detonate the explosives on the seabed. The switches were
flipped and they waited…then it was confirmed by their underwater sensors that
the explosives had gone off.

“Gregory, what is
the status of the QHRA?” asked Dr. Brandeis. He was feeling a level of
excitement that he had never felt before. He was on the cusp of geological
history. He was about to remake the Earth. He was playing God. He was… his
reverie was broken by the sound of gunfire outside the bridge.

“Damn it, Gregory,
the supers are here, I’ll stall, you execute the Avalon Order,” said Dr.
Brandeis into the radio. He grabbed a bucket filled with salt water and started
dumping it on all the circuit panels that they had previously opened around the
control room. “Come on, everyone dump the water, dump the water!” Sparks were
flying and systems were going down. There would be no turning back at this
point.

Then the door
exploded and there was a ringing noise throughout the bridge. Camille burst
into the room, looking around like she was ready to blast anyone who moved. Dr.
Brandeis ran up. “Camille, thank God you’re here! They’ve activated the QHRA!”

“Do I know you?”
asked Camille.

“No, we haven’t met,
but I was with Patrick on a cruise recently,” said Dr. Brandeis. “I’m Dr. Noah
Brandeis – maybe he mentioned me? Candy and I had dinner with him and Emily.”

Camille looked at
him blankly for a minute. “Oh, the cruise with the mice, right? Cosmic Kid was
telling me about that…There was a photo of the four of you on the front page of
the paper.”

“Right!” said Dr.
Brandeis, happy that she was catching on. “They threatened my wife if I didn’t
help them.”

“The woman in the
picture - Candy?”

“No, Pam, Candy’s just
my girlfriend,” said Dr. Brandeis, feeling desperate again. His plan to weasel
out of everything had been so clever in his mind, but now that he was in the
midst of it he sounded like an idiot. If only Patrick were here instead of
Camille; she didn’t look like the type to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“You’re married, but
were on the cruise with your girlfriend?” asked Camille menacingly. “Wait - Dr.
Noah Brandeis…you must be Dr. B.!”

“Yes, yes, but
remember – they threatened my wife!” Dr. Brandeis repeated. It wasn’t helping
his concentration that his three assistants in the room looked like they were
just waiting to confess and probably paint him as the mastermind.

“Listen, Dr.
Brandeis, you’re in trouble but if you help us then you might avoid spending
your next three lives in prison,” said Camille. There was a sudden massive
flash of light in the distance and they all turned to see, hanging in the sky,
a brilliant ray of white light descending into the ocean.

“It’s too late!”
cried Dr. Brandeis. “I am Dr. Noah Brandeis and I have made geologic history!
Soon a new landmass will arise from the ocean and the shape of the world will
never be the same!” It was a little melodramatic, but the situation seemed to
call for it.

“You are totally
insane,” said Camille. “So how do we turn this thing off? And what do you mean
by a new landmass? I hope this is something a little more ambitious than a
beach
renourishment
project?”

“It can’t be stopped
and we’re probably only looking at a small island, but it’s an impressive leap
for science,” said Dr. Brandeis.

“I guess I have to
fly out there and turn it off, but I’ll need to take an expert to help me shut
it down,” said Camille, moving towards Dr. Brandeis.

“What? No, no, I
don’t like heights,” said Dr. Brandeis who didn’t like this idea one bit. The
QHRA was dangerous in so many ways; the last thing he wanted was to be near it
when it was running. It would either kill him or render him impotent.

“Then come up with
an alternative now!” snapped Camille.

“I can call Gregory
on the satellite phone,” lied Dr. Brandeis. “We didn’t sabotage it.” He headed
over to the inoperable satellite phone hoping to stall for a few more minutes.

“Ah, Dr. B.,” said
one of his assistants. “The laser is turning purple.”

Dr. Brandeis turned
and looked out the window. It was unmistakable - the QHRA was about to suffer a
cascade inversion. The absolute worst-case scenario. “Ah, that’s…that’s not
good, not good at all.”

9:55 p.m.,
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

Avalon One

Pacific Ocean

Cosmic
Kid shook his head as Keystone walked across the platform towards a group of
goons with guns and then proceeded to level them dramatically, even
occasionally turning back to smile in the direction of
Pearcy
,
who had gone pale from all the gunfire and fighting.

“You’re exposing
yourself too much!” yelled Cosmic Kid, who fired a few darts from his Taser
rifle to bring down two goons shooting at Keystone.

“I can expose myself
completely if you want, naked fighting is the best,” said Keystone with a laugh
as more bullets bounced off him and he picked up a goon and sent him flying off
the edge of the platform.

“No one needs to see
your privates,” said Cosmic Kid disgusted, sprinting forward and using a
roundhouse kick to take out a couple more goons who were hiding behind a
generator.

“Sorry, Kid, you may
have privates but my boys are colonels,” said Keystone, picking up a smoldering
piece of the crashed helicopter and tossing it at the arriving goons. “
Pearcy
, keep the camera on me!”

Cosmic Kid saw a
pillar of light form in the distance and his first thought was that Keystone
had booked a spotlight from orbit to illuminate his heroics so
Pearcy
could get a clearer shot. Then he realized it was
probably the QHRA, but he couldn’t decide which scenario was actually worse.
When the pillar of light turned purple he had a growing suspicion that it might
actually be a lot worse than an orbital spotlight.

His attention was
distracted by a big guy, wearing a flak vest, running towards Keystone. That
took guts, but it took being a mutant to actually knock Keystone off the ground
and back into a metal staircase that went up a communications tower. Cosmic Kid
threw two chakras at the big guy, both of which hit, but neither of which
caused him to pause.

Keystone yelled out,
“
Pearcy
, you better be getting this!” He then ran for
the big guy who dropped into a defensive stance in preparation for Keystone’s
arrival. Right before Keystone hit the guy and would likely be tossed again,
Keystone dropped and did a slide tackle into the guy. Cosmic Kid had to admit
he was the most nimble pile of bricks he had ever seen. The big guy was hit
hard and crashed to the ground, swearing in what sounded like Russian. Then
Keystone was up, grabbed the guy’s leg, spun around and tossed him into the
communication tower. The big Russian crashed to the ground and didn’t move,
either unconscious, dead, or just ready to give up the fight.

“Operations, I’m
worthless here,” said Cosmic Kid. “Keystone and
Pearcy
have this area sewn up, can I move to assist someone else?” Cosmic Kid silently
prayed he could be switched to another front, anyone would be a preferable
partner to Keystone, the One-Brick Show.

“Yes, Starfish has
separated from White Knight to secure engineering, move to the southeast and
down to the lower level to give him support,” said Dr. Sterling.

“Thank you, Annie,”
muttered Cosmic Kid as he moved quickly towards the southeast. The focus of the
fight had become Keystone on the top deck and probably Starfish on the lower
deck. Everyone was targeting the two most powerful of the team, who were
demolishing any and all that faced them. There was really no coordination by
the enemy and as the fight went on many of them were simply dropping their
weapons, putting their hands on their head, and lying down. There were a few
mutants, but none were that powerful. The whole group was simply outclassed by
the heavy hitters of West Pacific Supers.

He got to the
staircase and headed down to see White Knight firing his lasers at a group of goons
who had taken cover behind some heavy machinery. Cosmic Kid had the perfect
angle to hit them from the stairs and took a few shots with his Taser rifle. He
hit two of them and drove the rest from cover and either into White Knight’s
lasers or to retreat. He
reslung
the Taser rifle over
his shoulder and continued down the steps.

“Any idea what the
purple light means?” Cosmic Kid asked White Knight.

“Dr. Sterling told
me it might mean the QHRA is about to go pop.”

“Is pop a technical
term?”

“Yes, it means—”
started White Knight when bullets started hitting the area, including into
Cosmic Kid’s chest, arm, and leg. He dropped to the ground with massive pain.
White Knight jumped in front of him to block the bullets and returned laser and
missile fire at a gray-haired woman in a black jumpsuit who was running towards
them jumping over obstacles and evading White Knight’s attacks.

“Operations - we’ve
made contact…with Erica
Wilkie
,” said Cosmic Kid in
between gasps for breath. He glanced down and saw that his armored vest had
caught one bullet and his ultimesh kept his leg mostly unscathed, but he had a
wound in his right arm. It would heal in a few minutes, but right now the pain
was tremendous. She was apparently using high-caliber rounds.

White Knight ran for
Erica
Wilkie
, intoning “Erica
Wilkie
you are under arrest!” Erica just smiled and kept firing at White Knight,
mainly at his helmet, which Cosmic Kid thought must be damn distracting. He
dashed to what cover he could find next to a lifeboat and then started shooting
with his Taser rifle at Erica. White Knight disengaged to an angle that gave
both him and Cosmic Kid clear shots and a crossfire opportunity, a maneuver
they had practiced under Dr. Sterling’s watchful eye many times. Erica
retreated from the barrage into an open door that led to the interior of the
platform.

Cosmic Kid quickly
maneuvered over to White Knight. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, but I do have
some micro fissures in the armor. The suit can repair itself, but I’ve been
taking more fire tonight than I’d like.”

“Operations,” said
Cosmic Kid. “I don’t think we should go after Erica, White Knight has taken
some damage and my Cicada sense is guessing that Ms.
Wilkie
is trying to draw us further into the platform.”

“Very well, you two head
up to the top deck and I’ll send Keystone and Starfish after Erica,” said Dr.
Sterling.

White Knight nodded
and headed for the stairs, bounding quickly up towards the top deck. Cosmic Kid
followed, but kept his eyes on the door that Erica had entered in case she
decided to circle back once she figured out they weren’t giving pursuit. He
suspected Erica had an ambush prepared for them when they entered the interior,
but now she’d need a new plan.