West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (39 page)

“It’s a solid plan,
but with hostile supers possibly on sight it’d be better if we go in first and
your people form a tighter net around the grounds to catch those that try to
bolt. Camille will come in by air and Starfish and I will insert here,” said
Cosmic Kid, pointing to a place along the wall where a tree was growing inside
on the grounds. “We’ll then move to this building, access the roof, run along
here, and jump to the second story here, which will give us the high ground.
From this point outside to this point on the second floor, we’ll be in position
within a minute.”

“A minute?” said the
Commissioner. Both Camille and Starfish were also looking at him a little
questioningly.

“Yes, give us three
minutes and we can have the entire place secured, Drake Holm in custody, and
your tactical teams just get to come in and clean up the riff-raff,” said
Cosmic Kid. “If I’m wrong, I’ll work the WPPD’s annual kids’ fair next month –
even going in the dunk tank.”

“Alright, but if you
do it?” asked the Commissioner with the barest of a smile.

“You have to admit
I’m a badass field leader – despite being barely past puberty.”

The Commissioner
laughed. “Alright, because there are hostile supers on the ground you guys can
have the first go. I’ll give you all ten minutes to get into position and three
minutes once you’re at the insertion point. We’re two miles from the Academy
now and our teams are just waiting for my go-ahead. We’ll move in to surround
the place when your three minutes begin, but after that we’re coming in.”

Cosmic Kid looked
over the map of Crescent Academy memorizing the details. This would actually
make a great place for a teen team facility. He would have to bring that up
with Blue Star.

“I’m not
super fast
like you and Camille,” said Starfish.

“It’s not speed,
it’s
parkour
,” said Cosmic Kid. “The van will get us
to the insertion point and then I’ll lead the way. You just have to follow – in
fact, this is a pretty easy layout for the approach.”

“Fair enough,” said
Starfish, though his eyes were narrowed competitively. “I’m not about to be
shown up by a super teen.”

Soon the
three supers were alongside an old apartment building across from the Crescent
Academy wall. Dr. Sterling was coordinating between the supers and the WPPD. It
was time for action. Camille took to flight and Cosmic Kid started running,
though not his top speed, which was in excess of 250 mph and really best for
straight lines in great conditions. The wall was seven feet high and easily
reached in a jump, after which he pulled himself up quickly, tossed his legs
over the wall, and vaulted down to the other side. He wouldn’t worry about
Starfish or anything except his destination and the quickest route, which was a
straight line, more or less. He ran across the field, stepping on a stone bench
and springing over it. As he approached the building, he adjusted for the old
air conditioning unit and sprung atop it, then leapt for the edge of the tile
roof, pulling himself up. The tile was loose, but it held and he was on the
roof running down the point of the ridge. He built up speed and with no fear
leapt and managed to clear the railing and land on the outside hallway on the
second floor. He was in complete harmony with the obstacles and making
excellent time.

He glanced back and
saw Starfish pounding along the same route, obviously giving everything he had
to stay in sight. Up above, Camille whistled low and appreciatively.
“Impressive moves,” she called down, “but we’ve been spotted.” Cosmic Kid
continued moving down the second floor outside hallway. He heard a door on the
first floor beneath the walkway open and people were coming out in a rush. He
grabbed the railing and swung over and down. He crashed on top of a guy in
jeans and t-shirt flattening him, but there were four others still standing. He
moved quickly to grab one and kick another in the head. The one he grabbed he
threw into the third one, and for the fourth one he hit his face breaking his
nose. Cosmic Kid then moved into the building through the opened door.

He was grabbed from
the side by green clawed hands that were attached to a stocky man with green
mottled skin, sharp teeth, and a forehead dotted with small horns. Green
twisted Cosmic Kid’s arm around in an attempt to likely remove it from his
body.

“Okay, I’ll admit
that hurts,” said Cosmic Kid, who with his free hand punched Green in the face
as hard as he could. The punch caused Green to recoil back and release his
grip. There was the sound of gunfire outside as either Camille or Starfish had
come under fire. Green though was not done and tackled Cosmic Kid and was
wildly trying to bite and claw him.

“You’re like a green
pitbull
.” Cosmic Kid kicked Green off of him and into
a nearby wall. Green was already charging back. Cosmic Kid pulled a canister
out of his utility belt and sprayed Green in the face. It worked; Green started
screaming and dropped to the ground trying to get the mace out of his eyes.
Cosmic Kid heard a door open from farther inside the building and reacted
immediately, pulling out a chakra, spinning around, and tossing it.
Fortunately, it wasn’t Camille or Starfish but just another goon with a gun who
was hit hard and hurled out of the room.

“Annie, what’s the
situation?” asked Cosmic Kid.

“Camille is mowing
through the gunmen outside and Starfish is heading to a staircase north of your
position to come down to your level,” said Dr. Sterling over the headset.

Cosmic Kid nodded
and headed north out the door where the most recent goon had been. Starfish was
coming down the steps as Cosmic Kid reached the staircase. There was a roar
from behind Cosmic Kid as Green charged them. Cosmic Kid shook his head, “this
guy does not give up.”

Starfish sprang
forward and grabbed Green’s arm, smiling broadly as Green drove claws into his
torso. Starfish
headbutted
Green, crashing his
forehead against the small horns, and then tossed him towards the far wall.
Green flew across the expanse and hit the wall with a crack.

“Good job, but we
have more visitors,” yelled Cosmic Kid, who had spotted three people carrying
submachine guns in front of a woman in red who was wielding a sword. “Inside!”
he yelled and slammed through a door into the bathrooms. Starfish paused for a
moment as bullets sprayed across the area and then caught up with Cosmic Kid,
who could see the holes riddling his team member’s uniform and the wounds
healing almost immediately underneath.

Cosmic Kid threw one
of his flash-bangs outside. “So who do you want: the psycho girl with the sword
or the gunmen?”

Starfish grinned. “I
have a thing for psycho girls.”

“Fair enough,” said
Cosmic Kid. “She’s probably a mutant and a quick healer or else she couldn’t
get away with using a sword in the age of guns.”

“Good point,” said
Starfish when they heard the
Ode
to Joy
as the flash bang went off. Cosmic Kid rushed out of the
bathroom, but the three gunmen opened fire on him. He just managed to dive
behind a wall; the flash-bang had disorientated them enough to not be able to
accurately target him. Starfish meanwhile had charged through the gunmen,
ignoring their attacks, and stopped in front of Red. She smiled and said
something in Chinese that was probably witty if he could have understood it.

Cosmic Kid was
worried about Starfish; he definitely healed quickly, but he was being reckless
in his disregard for the attacks against him. Cosmic Kid heard the guns stop,
which by his calculation meant they were reloading. He sprang up, turned the
corner, and ran for them; sure enough, they were reloading.

Starfish was dancing
around Red’s sword attacks and being backed towards a wall in the process, but
he didn’t seem to be concerned by his situation. Several of the attacks cut
across his torso and Starfish laughed when one went so deep that the blade got
stuck in his chest. Red was strong, mutant strong, but she had to brace herself
to pull the sword out. Starfish ignored the sword and decked her across the
jaw. She let go of the sword, spun around, kicked him twice, and punched him
three times, and sent him flying down the hallway.

Cosmic Kid did a
jump kick against one of the goons, flattening him, and grabbed another when he
landed and hurled him towards the third one. It was quick and all three were
down on the ground in various states of injury. Three was his favorite number
and this was a maneuver he used all the time. He moved quickly to help Starfish
with Red.

Red ran up and
kicked Starfish again, but he was ready for her this time and caught her leg
with one arm. With the other, he took the sword he had pulled from his chest
and slashed her across the throat. She gasped in pain and smashed into the floor,
clutching her neck. She was bleeding, probably fatally. Cosmic Kid quickly
kneeled beside her to see if there was anything he could do to save her but the
cut was too deep.

“She’s done for,”
said Starfish. “Let’s move on.”

There was more
gunfire from the courtyard and Starfish and Cosmic Kid shared a look and rushed
back there. There were eight gunmen lying in heaps around Camille, who looked
winded, but had a triumphant smile on her face. She was also holding Drake Holm
who was squirming against her grip.

“Not bad,” said
Cosmic Kid admiringly.

“From what I saw,
you two also did pretty well,” said Camille.

At this, the WPPD
stormed the courtyard with the officers in heavy tactical suits and armed to
the teeth.

“There are three
more gunmen in there and a dead mutant,” said Cosmic Kid. He wished they’d been
able to take her alive. Killing was sloppy and put a shadow over the success of
the mission.

“You know, that was
almost fun,” said Starfish.

Cosmic Kid forced
himself to smile. “Good work, guys.”

It took
about two hours to sort things out. Drake wouldn’t talk, but he did let slip
that it was Mr. Darwin who planned the Boardwalk attack, although it seemed
clear that it was Drake who pushed the button that killed the team. He might
even have been able to do it without any inside help. There had also been
illegal drugs, weapons, and even pirated DVDs on the premises. Everyone
arrested was going down, none of the team had been hurt, and the WPPD never
were in any danger.

“Okay, you are a
pretty badass field leader,” admitted Commissioner Ling.

“Thanks, and I’m
already scheduled by PR for the kids’ fair,” said Cosmic Kid.

“I’ll see you then,”
said the Commissioner who finally waved for the supers to leave. “Clear out
before the groupies and superazzi arrive.”

“I think this has
been a productive evening – but let’s get something to eat!” said Cosmic Kid.

“I have to pass. You
two enjoy the victory,” said Starfish whose driver had arrived with his car to
take him home.

“I don’t know,” said
Camille. “I have a training session in the morning.”

“Come on – you can
tell me all about your time on the Infinity Team!” said Cosmic Kid.

“It was hell.”

“Supposedly Blue
Star has been in Hell, so we might have to get him for reference,” said Cosmic
Kid as the two of them headed for a nearby diner.

10:42 a.m.,
Saturday, July 6th, 2013

Chaucer
Court Community Center

West
Pacific, CA

The
important thing was to act confident, Camille kept reminding herself. It was something
she had learned back when she was a teen at the Institute. No matter how badly
you were cramping, or how upset you were that the cute guy at the pizza place
had brushed you off again because you went to the school for juvenile freaks,
or how much you wished that your mom would sober up and make visitation just
this once - none of that mattered so long as you acted like it didn’t. You just
had to go out into the world with your back straight and your smile bright and
people would assume that you were fine. In fact, people would like you more for
it.

That was her secret,
what Seawolf and all the other negative personalities just didn’t get. It was
like when people asked how you were doing, they really wanted you to say
“great!” Everyone had their own set of problems they were dealing with, which
is why people naturally gravitated towards the self-assured. Dr. Hodges had
told her this great quote once, it was famous actually, something some old
Greek had said: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”
Camille had altered it somewhat to make her own motto: “Be confident, for
everyone you meet wants to be reassured.” That was how she had turned her life
around and become a success. No matter what happened to her, or around her, she
was a positive person. She was a winner.

Only, she didn’t
feel positive anymore. She sat in the community center kitchen, fighting back
tears. Jules was gone. Meghan was gone. She wasn’t a winner - she was a loser!
She had worked so hard the last 10 years to be successful, to be everything her
own mother hadn’t been, to give her daughter the perfect family she had always
wanted - and yet she was losing everything that mattered to her. Did Meghan
think of her the same way she used to think of her mom: unreliable,
untrustworthy? Absent?

The door open, and
Camille jerked up, planting a smile on her face that faded a bit when she saw
who it was. “Oh, hi Blue Star,” she said. “Have trouble finding the place?”

“No, but sorry I’m
late. I had an interview this morning with
Superlatives
magazine and it went over a little.”

“You weren’t
flirting with the reporter were you?” Camille asked.

“God no, he was,
well, a he,” said Blue Star with a disappointed tone. “Gabrielle has me on this
new PR regime. I have to count to 10 before I answer any questions. It really
slows things down, but it does stop me from making off-the-cuff remarks that I
regret later.”

“Sounds like a good
policy. You’d better not go making off-the-cuff remarks in front of the kids -
it could give the wrong impression.”

“True,” he said,
taking a seat on a stool next to her. “I imagine this place is going to be
crawling with reporters waiting to see the two of us together. Where are the
kids anyway?”

“The first group
should be arriving in about 20 minutes, but Mrs.
Parkins
wanted us to wait in here until she got things set up. Otherwise, the kids
would see us and it would be total chaos - even more than there will be
already. You missed the tour, but it wasn’t anything too earth-shattering.
Basically, just be prepared to deal with lots and lots of kids. And you’re
probably right about the reporters. There are already a couple wandering around
the place.” As if she didn’t feel bad enough without having some freak with a
camera following her around; if some superazzi lit into her in her current
mindset, she’d probably end up killing him.

“Great, kids and
reporters,” said Blue Star, who looked almost as tired as she felt. “Fantastic
combination. I haven’t dealt with little kids in a long time – even my
grandkids are past that stage. At least you’ve got recent field experience.
Where is your daughter anyway? Weren’t you going to bring her?”

His innocent comment
was too much to bear. The tears that she had been holding back ever since Jules
told her he needed to take a break, flooded out. Blue Star looked stunned.
“What’s wrong? Is Meghan okay?”

“She’s…she’s fine,
sorry…” Camille tried to give a reassuring smile, but there was no
reassurement
left in her anymore and the attempt failed
miserably.

“What’s going on?
Actually - hold on.” Blue Star jumped up to grab a roll of paper towels that
was sitting on the counter. He tore one off and thrust it at her. She took it
with a grateful nod and blew her nose.

“I’m sorry, I just
don’t think I can…I can’t do this right now,” she told him. She felt like she
just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and die.

“Can’t do what - the
carnival? What’s happened, Camille?”

“Meghan’s fine,”
Camille repeated, her tears starting up again. “She’s with her dad… he’s taking
her to her grandparents for a while - they… ” She blew her nose again. “They
have a place on Lake Michigan.”

“That sounds great,”
said Blue Star, clearly unsure where to go with that bit of information. “But
it’s not, is it?” he said, looking at her closely. “This was - oh hell, it’s
the press thing, isn’t it?”

She nodded, her eyes
welling up with tears. “Jules…” she couldn’t say it.

“He left you? Son of
a bitch!” Blue Star ran his hand through his hair. “This whole situation is my
fault; if I had listened to Gabrielle in the first place and controlled my
temper, or maybe if I’d talked to Jules…Damn, I don’t know what to say.”

She nodded and
shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing to say. It’s not your fault, Blue Star. It’s
just the way it is. I shouldn’t be…it’s just that they only left this morning…I
don’t… I’m sorry.”

“No!” he yelled.
“Don’t apologize – believe me, I know what you’re going through. Have things
been bad for a while between you?”

Camille shrugged. “I
guess so - there’s been so many little things…” She dabbed her eyes with the
paper towel. “Actually, I guess they were all kind of big things, really. The
hours, the danger, leaving West Pacific, me almost dying in Chicago, moving to
Canada, coming back to West Pacific - our whole marriage has been drama…And I’m
always the one causing it.” She put her head in her hands.

“Well, you’re a
superhero, damn it,” said Blue Star. “Drama sort of comes with the territory.
He knew what he was getting into when he married you.”

She gave him a
stricken look.

“Oh shit, Camille - you
didn’t tell him?”

“Not until we were
already engaged,” she sobbed. “I was afraid that…if he knew I was a mutant… ”
She couldn’t finish the sentence. Blue Star took the opportunity to tear off
another paper towel, then seemed to reconsider and simply handed her the whole
roll.

“Okay, let’s really
look at this thing,” he said to her. “Has he filed for divorce?”

She shook her head.

“Good. Did he leave
any clothes in the closet when he left?”

She nodded.

Blue Star smiled
knowingly. “He’s coming back. He’s just taking a little time to sort things out
- he’s not leaving you.”

“Yet,” she said
quietly.

“Maybe, but that
gives you time,” he said. “You don’t give up when you’re battling
supervillains, and this is even more important to you than that, right?”

“What if he doesn’t
want to come back?” she cried, finally voicing the question that had been
eating away at her.

“Of course he wants
to come back,” Blue Star said dismissively. “He’s just freaked out right now.
The superazzi can do that to people.”

She nodded. It had
been far worse than even Gabrielle had suggested. The day after the story
broke, she went with Jules to pick up Meghan from school and the superazzi had
staked out the parking lot. They yelled the most horrible things:
Camille, how long have you been
dating Blue Star? Have you had any other super affairs? Hey buddy, do you
forgive her? Is it true that the kid is really Meltdown’s?
That one
had stung and she shuddered to remember it. The team had sent people after that
- a bodyguard and a driver with a car - but the damage had been done. The real
low point was trying to explain to Meghan what was going on.

“Look,” Blue Star
was saying. “Maybe you didn’t tell him you were a mutant right away, but you
did tell him. And he still married you. And had a child with you. And you’ve
been together for what, seven, eight years?”

“Almost ten,” she
said.

“Ten years now.
You’ve made it an entire decade – that’s an accomplishment. This is not a man
who’s looking for the easy way out, Camille. He’s in it for the long haul.”

“Yeah, I know he
loves me but… .” She had started crying again. “He said he doesn’t know if he
can trust me!” She couldn’t believe how much that still hurt. She also couldn’t
believe she was sitting in a community center kitchen spilling her guts to Blue
Star of all people. The man had more failed relationships than anyone on the
team. Maybe that made it easier.

“Yeah, that’s a big
one,” agreed Blue Star. “But this is…” He was interrupted by a knock at the
door. Camille’s heart sank. Mrs.
Parkins
- the
carnival…She gave Blue Star a pleading look.

“Relax, I can handle
this,” he said with a forced smile, standing up and sliding out the door, which
he quickly closed behind him. “You must be Mrs.
Parkins
,”
she could hear him saying. “Yes, I am Blue Star, WPS team leader. No, Camille
will not be joining us - unfortunately I need her to coordinate an operation
for me this morning. No, I can’t tell you
any more
but don’t worry, we won’t be shorthanded. I’m calling in White Knight - yes,
that’s right - the famous robot vigilante. Actually, he’s a power armor pilot
and a full team member now, but you’ve got the concept. Now if you could just
give me a minute to make sure that Camille has everything she needs… Actually,
I’m afraid that we’ve had to commandeer the kitchen; it is officially
off-limits for the duration of the current crisis…No, the center is in no
danger at all. Yes, just one minute and I’ll be back.”

He slipped back into
the kitchen and smiled at Camille.

“My hero,” she said
with a weak smile. “I am so sorry - I’ve never ducked out of a publicity event
before.”

“I’ve ducked out of
plenty, plus I owe you. This is why we have teams, remember? Just a minute –
I’ve got to get White Knight down here.” Blue Star pulled out his HoloBerry and
clenched his teeth as if in anticipation of an argument. Camille was surprised
at how good it felt to let him take care of all this.

Blue Star pressed
one of the pre-set numbers and waited. “Gabrielle, it’s Blue Star. Listen, I
need you to get White Knight down here ASAP. Yes, I’m at the carnival. Camille
isn’t feeling well and I need backup.” He paused to listen and frowned at
Gabrielle’s response. “No, I don’t want Cosmic Kid. I already told the people
here that White Knight is coming…Listen, I don’t give a damn what you’re doing!
Reschedule whatever meeting you’re in, strap on the suit, and get down here
now!” He slammed the HoloBerry off and grimaced at Camille. “I thought I’d
known workaholics before, and then I met Gabrielle.”

He sat back down on
the stool and faced her. “Listen, you need to make a decision about what you
want, never mind Jules or Meghan, or anyone else. When things get complicated
like this, when people start feeling hurt and angry, it’s always easiest to
just walk away. Fighting that, sticking with the relationship and making things
work – that’s the hard part. Believe me, I know. I’m a pro at walking away.”

“But I don’t want to
walk away!” Camille cried. “I just want things to be the way they were!”

Blue Star shook his
head. “Things change – in life, in marriage, on teams. You can’t have things
the way they were. Plus the way things were wasn’t working, or you wouldn’t be
sitting here while he’s in Michigan.”

“Then what do I do?”

Blue Star shrugged.
“I’m not the one you need to be asking. Look, when was the last time you and
Jules talked something out and you let him make the final decision – about
something big, something that affected both of you?”

Camille frowned as
she considered the question. She’d made the decision to come back to West Pacific
without even asking him, but that was because it all happened so quickly. Then
again, the move to Chicago had been the same way…The decision to have Meghan
had been a joint one - though come to think of it, he had been a little worried
about starting a family so soon and she’d sort of talked him into it. The
houses they had lived in she had always picked, but that was because she was
the one with the higher salary, though of course he spent far more time at home
than she ever did… She looked up guiltily. “I guess I’m kind of controlling,”
she admitted.

“Of course you are,”
said Blue Star. “You’re a superhero. You’ve led teams responsible for defeating
supervillains that could destroy a city – and you’ve won. Do that enough and
the decision-making part gets easy. Control is what keeps you alive in the
field. But it’ll kill relationships like you wouldn’t believe.” He frowned.
“The press stuff, the rumors, that’s hard, but you don’t start really worrying
that someone’s cheating on you unless you think they don’t need you anymore.
Relationships are give and take. You probably think you’re making things easier
on Jules by taking care of everything, but take it from me, you’ve got to give
up some of that control for him to trust you again.”