West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (30 page)

“Good work José,”
muttered Samurai.

Goalie swooped back
towards the three of them. “It looks like the
Lucky Fisher
is the name of the boat, but
I’ll need to get closer.
Truthfinder
, give me the
tracker.”

Loren carefully took
out the Daedalus Consulting CT-32 magnetic radio tracker with the extreme
weather upgrade.

Samurai frowned.
“This is a dangerous situation. If they see you, there’s no way out. We can’t fight
them all.”

Goalie chuckled.
“Then I don’t get seen, right? Relax, this is a no-brainer. You guys chill,
I’ll be right back.” She observed the area for a moment more, then glided
forward in the shadow of the warehouse.

As they stood
watching her go, Loren felt his own tension magnified a dozen times over in
Samurai, who was standing next to him. Cupid reached around and patted
Samurai’s arm. “She’ll be fine,” he said reassuringly. Samurai didn’t say
anything. Loren quickly turned back to watching Goalie, who had now reached the
end of the warehouse.

She waited there for
a few minutes, then made an insane dash across an open area towards a shipping
container. The three of them collectively gasped and didn’t let out their breaths
until she made it safely to the container. “She’s going to get herself killed!”
said Samurai, turning around. “I can’t watch. I’m going to get the van ready to
go in case we need to make a quick get-away.” To Loren’s shock, he started
walking back towards the gate.

Cupid didn’t seem
fazed. “He plays the tough guy,” he told Loren in an undertone, “but he’s
really a big softy. The two of them are crazy about each other.”

Loren nodded
noncommittally, watching Goalie sidle along the shipping container to get
closer to the boat.

“I actually set them
up,” Cupid continued, “but they’ve been together and broken up like a dozen
times over the last couple of years.”

“How did you all
meet?” Loren asked. He had always been curious on that point.

“It’s really quite a
good story,” Cupid said with a grin. “Samurai was being mugged and Goalie and I
rescued him. We just happened to be walking by and it seemed like the right
thing to do. We were all living in Shakespeare Court at the time - that sort of
thing happens a lot there.”

Loren nodded;
Shakespeare Court was a really crappy section of town. Goalie was now crouched
behind a dumpster; she was not more than 30 feet away from the boat and a group
of men, who hadn’t seen her – at least not yet. She really was cutting it close
he thought.

“So, one thing led
to another - you know how it goes,” said Cupid, who was still reminiscing. “We
talked all night long and the next night we got together and walked the streets
as a group - like a neighborhood watch.”

“So that was the
beginning of the Trio?” asked Loren, wishing Goalie would hurry up and come
back already. She was at the boat now; he could see her activating the tracker.

“Not quite,” Cupid
laughed. “That first night we got beat up by a gang so we gave up on it for a while.
But then Samurai and Goalie started dating and eventually I convinced them to
try it again, this time with each of us dressing up and using our hobbies to
fight crime, like real vigilantes. The first time we stopped a real crime was a
liquor store robbery. The guy had a gun but we brought him down. That was the
beginning. And the rest, as they say - oh gods!”

Loren couldn’t even
speak. One of the men had spotted Goalie and was yelling something. She turned
and took off like a bat out of hell in their direction - which was when several
of the guys opened fire.

“Holy Aphrodite,
run!” yelled Cupid.

Loren didn’t have to
be told twice. He started running flat out, then realized that he was leaving
Cupid in the dust due to his short legs. He slowed down but Cupid yelled at him
again, “Run, run, just get to the van!” and he kept on going.

Samurai had the van
already started and the side door open; he was drumming his hands on the
steering wheel and cursing when Loren jumped inside. “Thank the gods, here they
come,” said Samurai, and Loren turned to see that Goalie had picked up Cupid
and was carrying him towards the van, while men ran in the distance behind her.
She was far faster on her inline skates than they were on foot, even though she
was weighted down with Cupid. Loren waited impatiently, his heart racing, then
ducked back as Goalie threw Cupid into the van and launched herself in. Loren
managed to slide the door shut as gun shots rang out and Samurai pulled away
with a squeal of tires.

“That was too close!”
he yelled from the driver’s seat. “We are not doing this ever again!”

Goalie pulled off
her mask, her face sweaty again but her expression triumphant. “We got them,”
she said with a grin. “We finally did something big. Midnight is going to be
proud.”

6:09 p.m.,
Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

Operations,
WPS HQ

West
Pacific, CA

“Why
wasn’t I informed of these vigilante operations?” asked Blue Star though he
knew the answer to his question: the good doctors hadn’t trusted him.

“Deniability,” said
Dr. Sterling. “You could always fire me and honestly claim you knew nothing
about the investigation.”

“I’m sure this was
all for my benefit,” said Blue Star sarcastically.

“This isn’t the time
for a quarrel,” said Dr. Hodges, looking between them with a worried
expression. “We have a real situation that must be dealt with.”

“I agree, but can we
trust these vigilantes?” Blue Star didn’t have a problem with vigilantes per
se, but considering how just last year the team had been manipulated by Mr.
Darwin through vigilante intelligence it was wise to be cautious if not
paranoid.

“The vigilantes have
only added to the large pile of evidence we’ve gathered from many sources about
Avalon One
, the
PGZ, and those involved, such as Ian
Roache
,” said
Dr. Sterling.

“Fine, but you
should have informed me about how much you were working with the vigilantes,”
said Blue Star. It wasn’t that unusual for a team to use vigilantes for grunt
work, but it appeared that Dr. Sterling’s impressive intelligence network was
founded on vigilantes engaging in illegal activities. He wasn’t bothered by the
illegality per se but the team’s connection to vigilantes was a dangerous
Achilles heel.

“We’re informing you
now,” said Dr. Sterling.

“I’m team leader and
you need to treat me as such!” Blue Star said angrily. “I have to be kept
informed of things like this!”

“As I said, I’m
informing you now,” repeated Dr. Sterling, who, as usual, looked completely
unperturbed by the conversation.

“Annie, Blue Star is
right - you should have informed us about these unofficial investigations,”
said Dr. Hodges. “However, be that as it may, we need to focus on the here and
now, so please explain the situation.” Apparently Dr. Hodges was as out of the
loop as he was; that was deeply troubling. Dr. Sterling really was a one-woman
show when it came to running the team.

Dr. Sterling smiled.
“Very well, at the beginning of the year, WPL was robbed in a well-planned and
executed operation that stole the formula of PGZ and the company’s first run of
the prototype explosive.”

“We have good
security at WPL, but the group exploited our weaknesses,” added Dr. Hodges. “We
suspected an inside job, but couldn’t get a lead, except that whoever stole the
PGZ sold the formula to China, which we were informed of by the CIA as part of
their investigation.”

“Our first real lead
was an anonymous tip, later discovered to have come from Brian Vargas, that a
group was creating PGZ explosives at an abandoned factory on Industrial
Island,” said Dr. Sterling. “That led to Mr.
Awesome’s
investigation and discovery of the PGZ and Erica
Wilkie
.
They set fire to the building, but we secured enough evidence to learn they
were building charges perhaps intended for underwater demolitions. We also were
able to trace a lot of the equipment to various dummy corporations that had
purchased them.”

“How did we ID Brian
Vargas as the informant?” asked Blue Star.

“A rather tedious
investigative process using stoplight cameras, Internet research, a missing
person report by his girlfriend, and a hunch putting two and two together,”
said Dr. Sterling.

“And where is he
now?”

“In police custody
in Salt Lake City.”

“What have we got
from Vargas?” asked Blue Star.

“He confirmed that
Dr. Wraith and Dr. B were in charge of the PGZ operation and that besides the
factory they had another base called
Avalon
One
,” said Dr. Sterling. “He also confirmed that the charges were
being built for deep sea demolitions work on a large scale.”

“Very good
investigating, Annie,” said Dr. Hodges.

Blue Star frowned;
the last thing that Dr. Sterling needed was encouragement. “Yes, great, but how
does that implicate Ian
Roache
?” he asked. “I did a
publicity event with him for the Samurais a few weeks ago. He didn’t seem the maniacal
supervillain type.”

“Ian is on the board
of WPL,” said Dr. Hodges. “I had my people take a closer look at all the
members of the board. They discovered that last year Ian arranged for some
people of his choice to be hired in our security and chemical engineering
divisions. They all quit in the last few months and we are tracking them down,
but we suspect they gave him the information he needed to pull off the PGZ
heist. He’s also on the board of Dynamic Solutions, in fact, he’s the chairman
of that board so he probably did the same there in connection with the QHRA
heist.”

“Do we have any
positive connection between those involved with the PGZ and the QHRA heists?”
asked Blue Star.

“Yes, Nebula
identified Erica
Wilkie
as one of those involved in
the QHRA heist,” said Dr. Sterling. “With both groups involving a ‘Dr. Wraith’
I suspected there might be a connection and contacted the Ultimate League. We
coordinated our investigations and are confident we are dealing with one group
that was behind both heists.”

“This sounds like a
lot of supposition, especially the part about Ian
Roache
being involved,” said Blue Star.

“There’s also the
fact that we have confirmed with satellite imagery that
Avalon One
, which we have
finally located, is in fact a deep sea exploratory rig sold at auction by
Dynamic Solutions two years ago,” said Dr. Sterling. “It was a private auction
and the rig was bought by one of the dummy corporations involved in PGZ
production.”

“Okay,” said Blue
Star, who had to admit that Dr. Sterling seemed to be on to something. “What do
we know about
Roache
?”

“Well, I’ve
know
him for years; we used to play golf regularly a few
years back,” said Dr. Hodges. “Ian does have a shady background. He was
involved in the black market of Vanghel artifacts where he made his fortune
from unauthorized salvage operations. He’s always skirted the law in his
business dealings and then about five years ago his wife and 13-year-old son
died in a car accident.”

“So you think he had
them killed?” asked Blue Star.

“No, I think that
might have made him snap,” said Dr. Hodges. “He was quite fond of his wife and
especially his son; losses like that can break a mind.”

“True, but snapped
to do what?” asked Blue Star. “I mean we have PGZ explosives for underwater demolitions,
the QHRA, and an off-kilter businessman. What do they all add up to?”

“I’m not 100-percent
sure,” said Dr. Sterling. “However,
Avalon
One
is located over a fault line under the Pacific Ocean. With the
explosions and the QHRA he may be attempting to catalyst tectonic activity of
some sort.”

“Why?”

“It could be
something as mundane as collecting insurance money or a real estate scam,” said
Dr. Sterling. “Ian owns a controlling share in a real estate conglomerate
that’s been selling off beachfront property at fire sale prices and using the
proceeds to purchase undeveloped property farther inland. Personally, the
amount of effort, money, and risk involved in this operation makes me suspect
there are other motivations. Regardless, the QHRA is a weapon of tremendous
power.”

“I remember the
Vanghel orbital strikes during the Invasion so I have a good idea what we’re
facing,” said Blue Star grimly. “But who’s this Dr. B? Their Dr. Wraith was an
imposter, but this Dr. B is probably the brains behind this entire operation.
If we figure out who he is, we’ll have an idea what they’re up to.”

“He’s probably on
Avalon One
, but we have
more than reasonable suspicion to take action against them now,” said Dr.
Sterling. “So first you and Cosmic Kid go take
Roache
into custody - he’s here in West Pacific at his house. Once you bring him back
to HQ, we’ll begin interrogating him while you lead the entire team out to
Avalon One
, which is
about 400 miles from West Pacific. The Coast Guard, WPPD, and anyone else we
can mobilize will move to support. If we’re lucky, we can stop them before they
do whatever it is they’re planning.”

“Are you sure he’s
at his house?” Blue Star asked. “Once we move on him, he’ll try to flee.”

“He’s hosting a
campaign fundraiser for Governor Fields tonight so he should be at home
handling last-minute preparations,” said Dr. Sterling.

“Governor Fields?”
Blue Star was getting alarmed. “Is there a connection between the Governor and
whatever it is that
Roache
is doing?”

“Maybe, but we don’t
have any evidence of such a connection so our focus is on
Roache
,
not the Governor,” said Dr. Sterling. “I’m hopeful though that once we have
Roache
in custody we’ll get a more complete picture of the
situation.”

“And what kind of
security are we expecting at the house?”

“They have an army
of hired muscle,” said Dr. Sterling, “but we suspect that they’ve been shipping
most of it out to
Avalon
One
.
Roache
himself doesn’t have any
superpowers, but he probably employs a few mutant bodyguards, so you and Cosmic
Kid need to be prepared for opposition at the house. The rest of the team will
be here preparing for the offshore operation, but they can deploy to support
you if you need them.”

Blue Star nodded.
They were going after a well-connected and very wealthy individual, with
influence even with the Governor. This could end up going very poorly if Dr.
Sterling’s hunches were wrong or her vigilantes were playing them. Regardless,
there was nothing to do but go along with the plan.

“So this
Ian guy doesn’t have any super powers, right?” asked Cosmic Kid as he drove the
team car towards Ian
Roache’s
house. Blue Star, like
most fliers, was a poor driver and hated cars, but they needed one in case Ian
decided to come in peacefully.

“Unless he’s taking
metagenic
vitamins in the mornings or has a power armor
suit, he’s as mundane as they come,” said Blue Star. “The problem is that he
probably has security and they might be quite dangerous.”

“You think he might
come in willingly?”

“Maybe, it’s
possible – it would be the smart thing to do, but I think he’s going to try to
run,” said Blue Star.

“Do we have a plan?”

“Nope, we make it up
as we go like in any good crisis.”

“You know how they
write ‘crisis’ in Chinese?” asked Cosmic Kid. “It’s a combination of the
characters for ‘opportunity’ and ‘you’re fucked’.”

“Good one, Kid,”
said Blue Star smiling. He had to admit that Cosmic Kid was growing on him. The
kid was arrogant, cocky, and too smart for his own good, but he was
good-natured and had the skills to be a great super. He was also dating Emily
so Blue Star figured he might as well start accepting Cosmic Kid now. Truth be
told, he knew Cosmic Kid was far more together than Blue Star was back at 40,
let alone 19. Though there were some things about Cosmic Kid that still drove him
insane.

“I should have
driven,” said Blue Star. “Kid, the speed limit is 45 which means you can go
like 60.”

“Dr. Sterling was
very clear that if I get a speeding ticket driving a team vehicle, I’ll have to
do all the ribbon-cutting ceremonies for a month,” said Cosmic Kid.

“I’ll split them
with you if you go at least 50!” said Blue Star, though admittedly
ribbon-cutting ceremonies were one of the worst assignments for a super.

“Listen, I’m not
taking any chances with you in the car,” said Cosmic Kid.

“What? You’re
worried about me getting hurt in an accident?”

“God, no, but if we
died in a car accident the headline would read
Blue Star and Rookie Dead in Car Accident
. I
wouldn’t even get my name mentioned.”

“So you only go fast
when Emily’s in the car?”

Cosmic Kid’s face
soured. “Since Emily is breaking up with me, it’s a moot question.”

“What?” Blue Star
wondered why Emily hadn’t told him this. He was truly out of the loop on
everything.

“It was because of
you.”

“You’ve got to be
kidding!” Blue Star tried to think what he might have done wrong. “Seriously,
Kid, I haven’t said anything to her about the two of you. It’s none of my
business what two pseudo-adults do between themselves.”

“She said that she
only wants a causal relationship for the rest of the summer. When I asked her
what that meant, she said that you can’t have serious relationships with
supers,” said Cosmic Kid bitterly.