West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (35 page)

“Get your ass up in
the sky!” snapped Camille.

Blue Star nodded and
sprang up and took to flight. What the hell had he been thinking? He attacked a
superazzi! Then again, he hadn’t done anything wrong and that punk just got in
his face and started insulting Camille. Blue Star was tempted to go back and
truly deck the guy; if he was going to get in trouble it might as well be for
something real.

“What was I
thinking?” muttered Blue Star as he climbed up higher and the cooling wind brought
him to his senses. He decided to head back to HQ. Why the hell had he ever
decided to take this job? In Portland no one cared about him, but just a few
hundred miles away in West Pacific the superazzi were after him and this
incident would bring more of them. They were like piranhas, except with worse
manners.

Gabrielle was going
to kill him.

11:15 a.m.,
Wednesday, June 12th, 2013

Sarah
Minoli
Conference Room, WPS HQ

West
Pacific, CA

Gabrielle
was so mad that Cosmic Kid thought she might actually spit. PR, legal, plus all
the team members were sitting around the massive oak table in the conference
room, with Gabrielle at one end partially obscured by a massive pile of
newspapers and internet printouts. Even Seawolf was here, though she walked
with a limp and apparently was having trouble hearing out of one ear. Gabrielle
kept grabbing randomly from the pile and reading out headlines and quotes in an
increasingly hostile voice.

“Oh this is
priceless:
Blue Star dumped
President’s daughter; President still holds grudge!
The new team
leader of the West Pacific Supers has admitted that 27 years ago, while married
to his second wife, he seduced Joyce
Carlington
, the
daughter of then-Representative Roland
Carlington
,
who was only 18 years old at the time…”

“That sentence
doesn’t even make sense,” Cosmic Kid pointed out. “It makes it sound like
Representative
Carlington
was 18 years old at the
time - which would mean that Joyce would have been like…” Blue Star and
Gabrielle both fixed him with stares like laser beams and he quickly shut up.
Matteo
chuckled.

“Or how about this
one, then?” snapped Gabrielle, pulling a print-off from the stack. “
WPST Facing New Crisis.
According to a conversation captured between Camille (formerly Nova Woman) and
team leader Blue Star, Keystone was the key factor in the team’s recent victory
over the villainous
Avalon
One
project. With Keystone now a member of the High Rollers of Las
Vegas and the aging Seawolf still recovering from an unknown assailant, Blue
Star worries whether the team is prepared to handle whatever next crisis faces
the city. Adding to the team’s burden, Camille herself admitted that she is
injury-prone and concerned about making it through the Season intact. As if
that were not enough to give the team leader heartburn, Camille also told him
that operations director Dr. Annie Sterling’s heart just isn’t into the new
training regime…”

“That is not what I
said!” exclaimed Camille angrily. “I said…”

“You said?!”
screeched Gabrielle. “Do you want me to tell you exactly what you said?!
Because I have a verbatim transcript right here!!!” She grabbed a folder at the
bottom of the stack, sending a cascade of papers across the table and floor.

“Stop it,” said Blue
Star in a low voice, looking up for the first time. “This isn’t helping.”

“Oh,” said Gabrielle
sarcastically. “This isn’t helping. What phenomenal advice coming from the man
who apparently is intent on screwing anything that moves - no, not my words,”
she added as he started to jump out of his chair. “Ah yes, here it is, my
personal favorite:

“
Senior Super Still
Gots
It Going On.
Blue Star, the 61-year-old
superhero and father of 3, proves that age doesn’t slow down his love train.
Kudos should be given to whoever handles Blue Star’s scheduling, because it’s
got to be hard to keep track of this grandfather twice-over who apparently is
still intent on screwing anything that moves. In between lunches with Camille
(formerly Nova Girl and now supposedly settled down with husband and baby - we
know how boring the suburban life must get) and closed-door meetings with
Gabrielle Fox, the team’s
smokin
’ hot Latina public
affairs director, Blue Star also finds time to check out good-looking fans and
keep tabs on a list of broken-hearted exes that some say is over 50 names
long…”

“I said stop it,”
repeated Blue Star. Cosmic Kid shivered involuntarily; the temperature in the
room had plummeted as Gabrielle read out the last piece. He threw a worried
look at Blue Star, whose hands were clenched so tightly together that each vein
stood out.
Matteo
and Starfish seemed to have found
the last article particularly amusing, but their mirth was not improving the
mood of the room.

“Gabrielle, we get
the point,” said Camille somewhat testily. “Can we just move on?”

“No, this is the
point!” yelled Gabrielle. “We don’t get to just move on! The press had finally
beaten the Boardwalk explosion into the ground. They were ready to move on to
the next story and we gave it to them: a team victory out at
Avalon One
. Do you know
how much work I put into spinning that story? We barely pulled a thwart out of
that mess! Between the island rising from the deep and the resulting tsunami
devastating the harbor, most people’s gut reaction was that we arrived late and
botched everything. Not to mention that Keystone subsequently defected and
we’ve had at least two members on Injured Reserve all Season. Hell, I spent the
last three weeks trying to salvage the situation so that we wouldn’t actually
hit bottom in the rankings. Even so the Cool Kids are ranked higher than us
right now! Let me remind you all that being #8 doesn’t win you endorsements.
And in one 15-minute lunch, the two of you manage to give enough salacious
details to carry the superazzi through the rest of the Season! Can we move on?!
Jesus Christ, people. It’s not like the two of you are new, either. How many
ways can I say you should have known better? Cosmic - what’s the first rule of
public behavior?”

Cosmic Kid shifted
uncomfortably. “Don’t do or say anything in public unless you’re okay with it
being recorded and broadcast to the world.”

“Thank you! And what
do you do if a superazzi insults you or someone close to you?”

“Ignore, deep
breath, disengage,” he said quickly, remembering the phrase she had drilled
into his head in one of their many practice sessions early on.

“Yes! Now, tell me
how it is that the fresh-faced super teen who can’t even drink beer yet knows
more about handling the superazzi than the two of you do? Christ, between the
two of you, you’ve got nearly 60 years of experience!”

Starfish raised a
hand.

“What is it
Starfish?” asked Gabrielle.

He smiled at her.
“Can the good little boys and girls who haven’t caused any problems get back to
saving the world now?”

Gabrielle sighed.
“In a minute. Listen people, this isn’t a Blue Star and Camille problem; this
is a West Pacific Supers problem. We can expect every news conference from now
until the next crisis to be dominated with questions about Blue Star’s sex
life. We can expect every patrol to be monitored to see what the pairings are.
We can expect everyone on the team to be pressed for comments about whether the
team is injury-prone and who’s dating whom. Camille, they will be staking out
your house and watching to see whether you and Jules hold hands when you pick
up Meghan from school.”

“They can’t do
that!” exclaimed Camille.

Gabrielle gave her a
pitying look. “Oh yes they can. You decided against a secret identity and lost
all the legal protections that go along with one. Blue Star - I suggest you
move your granddaughter to a new and more secure apartment complex, or she can
expect to be accosted about your love life every time she goes out for
groceries.”

The temperature in
the room dropped a few more degrees.

“Hey, it could be
worse,” said Cosmic Kid jauntily. “Over-sexed is better than washed up. At
least the team’s getting publicity. And like you say, when the next crisis
comes, this will all be behind us.”

Gabrielle shook her
head. “That’s only if we nail the next crisis. If we slip up at all - AT ALL -
the coverage will go right back to the mess we’re in now: WPS team leader too
involved in his sex life to effectively lead the team, Camille holding back
because she’s a glass cannon, Dr. Sterling out of touch and probably hunting for
other employment, and Seawolf so old that she’s planning her retirement party.”

“I am not old,”
muttered Seawolf bitterly.

“Well, you’re not
young either,” retorted Gabrielle. “It certainly doesn’t help that you keep
getting injured in fights that no one else sees. We need to counteract the
perception that you’re not healing as quickly as you should be. Maybe we should
consider bringing in an occult healer…”

“No!” snapped
Seawolf. “I’m not risking my soul over a stiff leg. Besides, I’m ready to get
back in the field now. I feel fine!”

“Liar,” said Dr.
Sterling, who had been tapping on her HoloBerry and generally ignoring the
conversation. “Dr.
Gavriel
says that you need a few
more weeks.”

“Weeks!” screeched
Seawolf. “You’ve got to be kidding! I…” Dr. Sterling raised an eyebrow at her
and Seawolf fell silent.

“Whatever,” said
Gabrielle. “The point is that the things that came up in Camille and Blue
Star’s little chat are going to haunt us for the rest of the Season. We cannot
have anything like this happen again.”

“It won’t,” said
Camille shortly.

“All the more
reason,” said Starfish, “that we get back to saving the world. If the press has
to choose between us matching wits with the Infinite Circle or covering some
ridiculous personal issue…”

“…they will chose
the ridiculous personal issue every time,” finished Gabrielle. “There’s a
reason the tabloids are in every supermarket aisle.”

“You know,”
suggested Cosmic Kid, “I use
soundwave
scramblers
when I talk in public, but you still have to watch out for lip readers.”

“Good point,” agreed
Gabrielle. “Tech can help avoid some of these issues.”

“Or you can just not
say anything stupid in public,” observed Seawolf.

Starfish chuckled as
Camille glared. Gabrielle cleared her throat. “Onto damage control,” she said.
“Blue Star, you need a solid relationship and you need one NOW.”

“What?” the team
leader said. “I don’t see how…”

“And you don’t have
to,” Gabrielle snapped. “I’ll do the spin, you just follow instructions. First
priority for you - above training, patrol, or meetings with the Governing Board
- is a steady girlfriend. And someone respectable, please - not Nancy in
accounts who’s 22 and actually not a natural blonde - yes, I’ve seen you
checking her out.”

Blue Star paled
slightly and Cosmic Kid shook his head in disbelief. The old man had a mutant
hormone system or something going on. It was really amazing how far he seemed
to get on reputation or war stories or whatever it was that women saw in him.

“Camille,” continued
Gabrielle. “You don’t exactly have a great history with the West Pacific press,
so we can write off them giving you the benefit of the doubt. We have two
issues to deal with here - one, your marriage and two, your physical fitness.
It would be great if you, Jules, and Meghan could be seen in public doing
normal family things - go shopping, take her to a playground on the weekend,
that sort of thing. I’ll also schedule you for the City Parks Carnival in a
couple of weeks - a good wholesome activity. Actually, Keystone used to run
that, so I’ll schedule Blue Star for it as well. Better to have full coverage.”

“I thought you were
trying to keep us apart!” protested Blue Star.

“If the two of you
are never together, it’ll look like you have something to hide,” replied
Gabrielle immediately. “The second issue though is more critical to the team.
We need to quash the idea that you are weak.”

“Not really,” said
Blue Star.

“What?” snapped
Gabrielle.

“He’s right,” said
Cosmic Kid quickly. “It can actually work to our advantage. It’s more important
that she doesn’t over-extend herself to prove the rumors wrong and in the
process get injured.”

Gabrielle frowned.
“Maybe - I’ll leave that up to Dr. Sterling and Dr.
Gavriel
.
So focus on the relationships, Camille.”

“I don’t use my
family for publicity purposes,” Camille said flatly.

“You can’t have it
both ways,” Gabrielle said. “You can’t be the fully public super with nothing
to hide and then try to hide your family as soon as the going gets rough. Once
you’re out, you’re out.”

“Spoken like someone
who knows the difference, I guess,” said Camille. “Are you really going to keep
up the farce of your secret identity now that we all know who you are?”

Gabrielle looked at
her incredulously. “Just because you couldn’t handle a secret identity, don’t
try threatening mine. No one except the people in this room know who White
Knight is, which means I know who to track down if word gets out.”

“Not to mention that
it’s a Federal offense to reveal a secret identity,” commented Dr. Sterling,
looking up again from her HoloBerry. “Though I’m sure no one was implying
that.”

Camille flushed
angrily.

Blue Star cleared
his throat. “No one is threatening anyone, though if this meeting goes on much
longer, I might start.
Matteo
, we might not have
secret identities, but we still have some privacy rights, correct?”