West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (6 page)

The superazzi
suddenly disengaged, except for a few who remained taking pictures of his
interactions with the fans. Cosmic Kid glanced back and saw that Paradigm Shift
had exited his limousine early.

“Asshole,” said
Evelyn angrily. Cosmic Kid couldn’t help but smile. Yes, there was tension
between him and Paradigm Shift, but their fans had turned it into a feud,
almost a holy war.

“Isaac, hand out the
goodies! Evelyn, we’re doing the interview for the site tomorrow morning at 8,
right?” asked Cosmic Kid. Evelyn turned back to Cosmic Kid and nodded
nervously, mumbling an affirmative between giddy giggles and tears. Isaac
started handing out signed pictures, action figures, and some other endorsement
materials; Cosmic Kid wasn’t exactly sure what was in the goody bags. However,
this allowed him a graceful exit. “Alright, wish me luck! It’s show time!”

He waved to his
fans, pausing to pose for a few last pictures, and then moved quickly along the
line shaking hands, signing a few autographs, and giving hugs to more exuberant
fans. However, he wasn’t fast enough and Paradigm Shift caught up with him.

“Kid, come on let’s
give them some pictures of the #1 and #3 picks,” said Paradigm Shift grabbing
his arm and turning him towards the cameras. There was nothing to do. Cosmic
Kid smiled, though it was a forced smile, and posed with Paradigm Shift.

“So, Shifty, you
seem a little impatient tonight,” said Cosmic Kid.

“Hey, you rushed
Epiphany so I figured it was fair for me to rush you,” said Paradigm Shift.

“Right… so you
worried they’re going to start primetime coverage without you?”

“Hardly, I’m the #1
pick, the show doesn’t start till I arrive.”

“Then we shouldn’t
keep the world waiting.” Cosmic Kid gestured for Paradigm Shift to lead the way
into the building. The reporters and fans were watching the exchange closely as
this was the stuff everyone loved. Cameras were flashing and everything was
being recorded.

“Sounds like a plan,
Kid,” said Paradigm Shift, heading into the building with Cosmic Kid following
behind.

Once
inside, the Super Draft handlers pointed them in two different directions for
the detailed interviews by
Supers
Weekly
. The interviews were being held at two ends of the lobby
where the walls had been covered with the logos of the Super League teams.
Paradigm Shift was directed to where Girl Ninja was being questioned by Soft
Ball Becky Chou and Cosmic Kid was directed to where Epiphany was being
questioned by Robin Traverse, the host of
Supers
Weekly
and one of the most vicious interviewers in the Industry.
Cosmic Kid always wondered how a former superhero could be such a bitch to
other superheroes, but Robin Traverse was a legend, a household name, and a
nightmare for the superheroes that went on her show.

“Shit,” muttered
Stephen, catching up to him as they watched Robin Traverse ask Epiphany about
the rumors that she had been checked into a mental ward after the death of her
boyfriend.

“It’s okay, I’ve
been interviewed by Robin before,” said Cosmic Kid derisively. “Don’t worry. No
matter what Robin asks me, we’ll have Evelyn’s blog, which she’ll probably do
from that McDonald’s down the block in an hour. It’ll get 25,000 hits by
tomorrow noon and be posted across the Internet at all the major superhero
sites by six o’clock.”

“Yes, but that’s
among existing fans, you need to broaden your base and that means talking to
mainstream media, though I wish we had Soft Ball Becky,” said Stephen.

“Nothing’s more
mainstream than Robin Traverse. But a lot of my fans drove from
Cosmopolis
or farther just to see me before the Super
Draft; that sort of loyalty is worth a lot.”

“Fan bases for super
teens don’t necessarily convert over when you join a team,” said Stephen. “You
need to remember the big picture.”

“The reason they
don’t convert is that most supers abandon their old fans when they move up to
the big leagues. Did you know, Stephen, that if you have a positive personal
reaction with a fan once then that is a fan for life?”

“Perhaps, but you
don’t have time to hug a few hundred thousand people for an appropriately sized
fan base.”

“Touché, touché,”
said Cosmic Kid, followed by a sigh, as Epiphany moved past Robin Traverse a
little shaken, and now it was his turn.

Cosmic
Kid headed up to Robin Traverse. He knew she was in her sixties and unlike some
women she wasn’t afraid to show it. He remembered in one episode of
Supers Weekly
, where she said
that she had earned every grey hair and wrinkle. That was Robin Traverse. She
was a legend. Before she started
Supers
Weekly
in the 90s, she had been
Skyfire
and team leader of the Infinity Team out of Chicago. She had saved the world a
number of times and spoke her mind on any and all issues. She wasn’t
conservative, she wasn’t liberal, she was Robin Traverse and America loved her.

“Cosmic Kid, great
to get a chance to talk with you, so how is Milwaukee treating you?” asked
Robin Traverse with the smile that had sunk a thousand careers.

“It’s my honor to
talk to you, Ms. Traverse. The people of Milwaukee have been great, everyone
has been very welcoming,” said Cosmic Kid. It was the obligatory soft ball at
the beginning of the interview, but he decided boring with a dash of reverence
was the best way to get through this unscathed.

“Call me Robin,”
said Robin Traverse with less of a smile. “Now, Cosmic Kid, you have said that
you got your name from Cosmic Burger, where your father works. That’s a very
sweet story, but now that you are moving from super teen to professional super
what will be your new name after the Super Draft?”

“I’m happy with
Cosmic Kid right now, but I do intend to drop the ‘Kid’ in a few years,
probably when I turn 21. Plus I’m a big fan of Cosmic Burger; they’re one of my
sponsors and I love the food.” It was true. Cosmic Burger was his biggest
endorsement and he lived off the stuff growing up, though it was probably the
reason that taste was the only sense of his that wasn’t super.

“Cosmic has a fairly
traditional meaning within the Industry of someone who has powers that evoke
the cosmos. My old teammate
Cosmica
, who died last
year, could fly and generate powerful bursts of gamma radiation. She was
‘cosmic’ and you, on the other hand, are not.”

It wasn’t a
question, but Cosmic Kid got the point. “Robin, I’m quite strong, fast, and
have some of the best perceptions of any super teen in the Draft. Yes, I can’t
fly, but I do have a cosmic-level power, the aptly named Cosmic Blast.”

“Which has never
been caught on film.”

Another
non-question, this was a bad sign. Robin Traverse was after him. “I’ve only
used it four times as it’s actually very destructive and I don’t see the need
to broadcast all of my abilities for supervillains to exploit.”

“So why didn’t you
use it against Seneschal X?”

“It… it would have
been too destructive and… complicated,” said Cosmic Kid guiltily as he still
wondered if he should have taken the risk and used it.

“Three people died,
including a fellow member of Teen Ultimate – that must be a heavy burden.”

“All superheroes
carry burdens. I did my best, it might not have been enough, but I tried and so
did all of us involved, including Sean, who died saving the life of an innocent
civilian.” Cosmic Kid knew for a fact that all four of the Teen Ultimate
members present for the fight had tried their best but never found their
footing against Seneschal X; he had them beat at the gate.

“Do you think it was
a mistake for the Ultimate League to deploy its super teens in such a dangerous
crisis?”

“We didn’t capture
Seneschal X but we did thwart him. There were too many targets in
Cosmopolis
for the Ultimate League to cover, if we hadn’t
been there then no one would have been there and dozens more could have been
killed.”

“I see. I guess we
aren’t going to see the fabled Cosmic Blast at the Super Draft then either?”

“No, but fortunately
I have a lot of other abilities to keep everyone entertained.” He sure as hell
wasn’t going to do the Cosmic Blast on primetime television, that would be a
disaster beyond disasters, and he was quite happy that no videos of it had
emerged. Though if he could do it over, he might use the Blast against
Seneschal X. Then again, it could have killed a lot more people – and worse, it
might not have worked against him.

“That’s good,” said
Robin Traverse dryly. “The general consensus is that you are going to be the #3
pick with Tampa Bay. You even visited Tampa Bay a few weeks ago, but there is a
campaign in Florida against you being picked. Have you heard about this?”

“No, are they
bothered about me using Cosmic in my name?” It was a snarky answer, and he did
know all about the campaign against him. In an interview last December, he
admitted he was an atheist and that he thought vigilantes were a problem.
Florida, in fact, the entire South, loved its vigilantes, and were more leery
of government-licensed and supervised public teams.

“Well, it appears
that you have angered some citizens of Tampa Bay by criticizing vigilantes and
declaring yourself an atheist. The Sun Coast Saviors are the largest vigilante
organization in the nation and they work closely with Tampa Bay Supers, but
your statements have been taken to mean you don’t respect that group’s work.”

“I do respect the
work of vigilantes. However, with the Super League and professional teams in
most major urban centers and charter teams available across the nation, there
really isn’t a need for vigilantes. We don’t need people taking the law into
their own hands.”

“So are you saying
that you won’t work with vigilantes, especially Christian vigilantes?”

“Let me be clear, I
don’t react to people based on any creed or belief. I have only respect for the
Christian faith and many of my closest friends are Christian,” said Cosmic Kid
who hated that answer; it was so cliché and not necessarily true. “Robin, I’m
just a super teen trying to convince someone to give me a chance; if the team
that picks me wants me to work with vigilantes than I will.” In truth, he
thought the Sun Coast Saviors were religious nuts and were more dangerous to
Tampa Bay than most supervillains, but he would keep that to himself.

“But if it was your
choice then you wouldn’t?”

“It all depends. I
really can’t answer that question.”

“Alright, let’s switch
gears – so who are you dating right now?” asked Robin with an even more
sinister smile.

“Actually, I’m
between relationships at the moment.”

“You were dating
Elle Solstice, but now she’s dating Paradigm Shift. He’s projected to be the #1
Draft pick and he has your girlfriend. That has to hurt.”

“Elle and I weren’t
right for one another. I’m happy she found someone else, and I wish Paradigm
Shift the best of luck in the Super Draft,” lied Cosmic Kid. Elle had dumped
him because he was ‘boring’ which was even worse than the common opinion that
she had cheated on him with Paradigm Shift.

“Sources say that
you broke up because you were gay.”

Cosmic Kid was
getting frustrated. He knew that Paradigm Shift was the one who had started
that rumor. “No.”

“That’s fine, so
then why aren’t you and Neo-Mermaid, a.k.a. Danny Chase, dating?”

“We’re just friends.
We met in 2010 when we co-chaired the Super Teen Committee on Poverty and have
been friends ever since, but nothing more,” said Cosmic Kid, who hoped Robin
would switch to something else, like his charity work. He was also nervous
talking about Danny as she
was
gay and that was sort of secret. Sure Teen Orlando knew, but they didn’t want
to broadcast it. Not that it really mattered being gay or straight, but
supposedly it did affect revenue generation.

“In December the two
of you went to the Bahamas together?”

“We were with a
group of friends. Seriously, Robin, I would know if I was dating Danny and
we’re not dating.” Cosmic Kid hoped to deflect the conversation as one of their
friends on the trip had actually been Danny’s girlfriend. No doubt it made
sense to the media that if he wasn’t dating Danny Chase, the All-American Girl,
then it probably meant he was gay or a eunuch after some fight with a supervillain.
But what did any of that really matter? Robin should be asking about his
charity work or heroics rather than harping on his dating life.

She paused and
Cosmic Kid hoped the interview was over. It wasn’t going well; in fact, it was
going very poorly. He saw that Paradigm Shift was already done with Soft Ball
Becky and heading backstage. However, he wasn’t going to get off that easily it
appeared.

“So Cosmic Kid, your
mother died nine years ago when you were ten. How do you think she would feel
about you being at the Super Draft?”

“I don’t know. I
suspect she would be proud of me and also quite sad because she’s dead and
couldn’t be here. Anyway, I need to get moving along so I don’t hold up the
schedule.” He was done with this crap.