West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (45 page)

“Shit,” said
Camille. Before she could process the situation, another creature, this one
covered in sea anemones, surfaced by the dock where she was standing and
grabbed a hold of her legs. As she prepared to blast it, the thing used its
pinchers to rip through her reinforced ultimesh suit and start injecting a
paralyzing poison. Camille shrieked and took to flight with her last conscious
thought. She didn’t even feel the impact of her head slamming into the hillside
when the poison took over and she plummeted to the ground.

12:20 a.m.,
Saturday, August 3rd, 2013

Ops, WPS
Headquarters

West
Pacific, CA

“Why
doesn’t White Knight ever have to sit out?” asked Cosmic Kid as he paced around
the crisis center at HQ, watching Dr. Sterling slide around in a rolling chair
as she managed a suite of computers and video monitors numerous enough to rival
most space command centers. She had a massive operations staff, but none of
them were stationed in this inner room, which was bound by glass walls through
which she could see them executing the orders that she called out over the many
intercom and phone channels that linked to her headset.

“Yes on
Truthfinder
but no on
Nightprowler
,”
Dr. Sterling said, apparently talking to someone else. Cosmic Kid wasn’t going
to be deterred.

“My regenerative
immune system means that I need almost no sleep, so I’m hardly ever tired, even
in the middle of the night like now,” he continued. He knew he was whining, but
he didn’t care. Everyone else was about to storm Starfish’s house and here he
was sitting out, like some minor cabinet Secretary stuck in the White House on
State of the Union day.

“Someone has to sit
out,” said Dr. Sterling, “and today you’re the lucky one.” She usually sounded
bored when defending her orders, but tonight she was almost giddy. “That is
confirmed, 8643 Coastline Drive,” she said into her headset. “Remember,
Starfish is not to be engaged. Consider yourself lucky, Cosmic - tonight you’re
in the cat bird seat.”

“What’s that
supposed to mean?” He stared at her incredulously. “I know the protocol - if a
team member goes rogue, it’s the responsibility of the rest of the team to
bring him in. And I’m a full member of the team! You can’t bench me like some
rookie when I’m needed in the field.”

“Bitterness doesn’t
suit you,” observed Dr. Sterling, tapping on the communications panel that
controlled which feeds were routing through her headset. “Which is why everyone
is going to be suiting up in full tactical gear with air tanks, bomb sensors,
and reinforced armor,” she said. “The van is fully loaded, so use it. Yes, we
will need medical teams standing by. Everything should function fine.”

She was obviously
able to carry on multiple conversations at once, which was impressive; however,
Cosmic Kid knew that he shouldn’t be bothering her at a time like this. Dr.
Sterling never changed her mind and it was too late now anyway; the team was
about to engage and needed her full attention. He stopped pacing and watched
the main holographic map, which was displaying the area around Starfish’s
house. The interior floor plan was limited to only the rooms that Seawolf had
been able to describe. They were going in blind.

“Three is what
you’ve got,” Dr. Sterling was saying. “This is why we practice multiple numbers
for deployments. A team leader should be able to work with whatever he’s
handed.”

Cosmic Kid figured
she was talking to Blue Star who obviously wanted him in the field. Cosmic Kid
felt touched. He and the old guy really had forged a bond this Season. He was
relieved that his disastrous first day on the team hadn’t meant anything in the
long run.

Dr. Sterling pushed
a button on the communications panel and said, “let her in”, apparently to one
of the staff members on the other side of the glass wall who quickly got up and
left the room. Then she continued with Blue Star. “And if this is an ambush or
distraction? We’d have the whole team committed and no spare. One super always
sits out. Tonight it’s Cosmic Kid. WPPD is gathering up a tactical team for
support and should be with you all in 20 minutes. You’re wasting time.”

Cosmic Kid frowned.
Rules like having a spare sitting out shouldn’t be religiously followed in a
case in which the team was already perilously short-handed. Having him sit out
could mean the difference between life and death for the three members of the
team preparing to enter Starfish’s house of horrors.

“I got here as fast
as I could Annie,” said a female voice. Cosmic Kid turned to see a woman entering
the room, wearing a jet black suit, definitely ultimesh, and a full face mask
that just showed her eyes. Judging by her voice, she was probably in her early
20s.

“Excellent, right on
time,” said Dr. Sterling to her with a smile. “Everything is coming together,
hopefully it’ll be enough.” She glanced up at the holographic map and rolled
her chair over to another panel, where she pushed several more buttons. “You’re
wasting time. I’m linked into White Knight’s sensors, so he leads. Blue Star,
you haven’t activated your NCB sensor pod properly.”

A moment later, a
monitor next to the holographic map began to display live feed of someone
climbing the steps into Starfish’s house. “That would be me,” Dr. Sterling
said. “I originally designed it for DSA, but ours is the upgraded version that
was too expensive for widespread deployment. You still probably won’t have time
to get out when you trigger a bomb, but at least we’ll know what it was that
killed you.”

The young woman in
the black suit broke in eagerly. “Have you really figured it out?”

“I think I finally
have,” said Dr. Sterling with a satisfied smile, continuing to push buttons on
the communications panel. “Starfish - right under my nose the whole time.”

“Starfish!” the
young woman exclaimed. “Annie, that’s disastrous!”

“True,” agreed Dr.
Sterling, “but I always have a few surprises that are only known to yours
truly.” She pushed another button. “Starfish has a motor yacht that was built
by Blue Moon Shipyards to his specifications a few years ago. It’s called the
Relentless Dreamer
. Any
sign of it?”

Cosmic Kid tried to
focus; he was having trouble following everything that was going on. He walked
over to the young woman, “Hi, I’m Cosmic Kid.”

“Midnight,” she
said, shaking his hand.

“Ah yes, I forgot you
two haven’t worked together before,” Dr. Sterling said. “We should be close
now. Negative, it could be a hostage. It must be a thin wall though, so don’t
use the door, go through the wall. Blue Star, make a hole.”

Cosmic Kid spun
around and saw on the monitor that White Knight had detected a heat signature
on the opposite side of the kitchen wall. The picture went fuzzy for a moment
as snow and ice filled the screen. White Knight jumped through the hole and the
monitor was filled with a man-sized creature that looked like a walking
starfish covered in writhing seaweed.

“What the hell is
that?” exclaimed Cosmic Kid.

“One of my
children,” boomed a male voice from another monitor in the room. “Welcome to my
house warming party, Gabrielle and Jacob!”

The first monitor
flashed white with an explosion and the sound of ice shards and then the camera
appeared to be falling. The monitor streaked green and white, and went dark.

“We have contact,”
Dr. Sterling announced. “A mutated creature has been encountered in the house
and Starfish has announced his presence in voice at least, but White Knight and
Blue Star have fallen down into the cliff. You need to find the escape route.
Confirm status of medics en route,” she added, pressing another button.

“He’s not there, is
he?” said Midnight, with a growing excitement in her voice.

“Nope,” said Dr.
Sterling with a grin. “I don’t think he is. He’s got a hell of a lot of pets
though,” she added, her smile fading a little. Another monitor came on now,
showing a group of misshapen aquatic creatures lumbering out of the water onto
a dock bathed in moonlight. They were horrific creatures that had faces like
eels and kelp-like bodies with massive crab pinchers and Cosmic Kid saw Camille
unleash a barrage of energy at one; the injuries quickly regenerated.

“It looks like 12
total,” said Dr. Sterling. “According to Seawolf, their regeneration ability
consumes their own body mass. So if you hit them enough, they will keep getting
smaller and weaker. Blue Star, can you confirm your status? White Knight’s suit
sensors went dead on impact with the water - it looked like an electrical
surge.”

“If Starfish isn’t
there, where is he?” demanded Cosmic Kid. He was getting pissed that Dr.
Sterling and this Midnight girl seemed so pleased when the team was getting
demolished.

“The WPPD are almost
there, but do what you can to slow these things down. We don’t want them to get
loose and breed,” responded Dr. Sterling. “At the very least… ” The lights and
monitors in the room flickered, and then the room went dark.

“What the hell?”
yelled Cosmic Kid.

“Switching to
emergency generators,” said Dr. Sterling, calmly sliding across the room in the
dark and flipping a red handle underneath a table. She swung around in her seat
and looked at the two of them in the blue glow of emergency lighting as a few
of the monitors came back on. “Welcome to Operation Checkmate,” she said with
another truly twisted smile.

“What
the hell is happening?” demanded Cosmic Kid again. “The team is getting run
over and we’ve just lost power!”

“Very observant,”
said Dr. Sterling dryly. “Midnight, I’ve got a gift for you.” She swung her
chair over to the side and used her thumbprint to unlock a metal drawer, from
which she pulled a heavy pistol that she tossed at the young woman.

“It’s from the Kill
Safe,” she told Midnight. “Depleted uranium bullets.”

Cosmic Kid looked
back and forth between both women as if they’d gone insane. “What’s a Kill
Safe?” he asked.

“A special vault
that only Annie and Dr. Hodges have access to,” answered Midnight, examining
the gun appreciatively. “It has specialized weapons in it, each designed to
target the greatest weaknesses of each team member, in case one of you goes
rogue. Like now.”

“In which case you
hand it out to a vigilante?” Cosmic Kid was stunned. “Does Blue Star know about
this?”

Dr. Sterling glanced
at her HoloBerry, which was blinking red for a lack of wireless signal. “No, he
does not. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Starfish blew up the
Bayside Boardwalk, killing Mr. Awesome and Meltdown. Starfish is Mr. Darwin.
Starfish is trying to destroy West Pacific Supers. And the three of us are
going to stop him.”

“Starfish blew up
the Boardwalk and controls the Infinite Circle?” Cosmic Kid felt like his head
was about to explode. “When did you figure all of this out?”

“About three hours
ago,” Dr. Sterling said calmly. “Midnight, the Whisperer is outside. Go let him
in.”

Midnight nodded and
walked out. Flashing red lights in the adjoining rooms were signaling staff to
go to emergency locations and Cosmic Kid could see people running out to safe
rooms.

“Now listen to me,”
said Dr. Sterling, turning to Cosmic Kid. “We’re only going to have one clear
shot at this and we have to get it right. So you do what I say when I say it
and no hesitation, understood? I’ve got everything covered.”

“Oh, that makes me
feel so much better,” said Cosmic Kid. “Can you at least explain why you trust
vigilantes more than the team?”

“I haven’t known who
to trust the last few months,” Dr. Sterling said wearily. “Starfish has had me
running in circles. He’d been on my short list for a while, but I didn’t know
for sure until Seawolf called tonight. I’ve known Midnight since before she was
born - she’s
Awesome’s
daughter - and she vouches for
the rest of them. I know your feelings on vigilantes, but you’re going to have
to trust me on this.”

“But how do you know
he’s coming here?” Cosmic Kid waved his hand at the now-darkened computer
monitors. “If Starfish really wants to destroy the team, he’s going to be at his
house to finish the job!”

“I said that
Starfish wants to destroy West Pacific Supers. The team may be at his house,
but West Pacific Supers is right here.” She tapped at her forehead and then
turned as the door opened and Midnight entered, followed by four others: one
person in full kendo body armor, another in a hockey goalie’s outfit, complete
with inline skates and a hockey stick, a midget in a toga with a bow and quiver
of arrows slung over his shoulder, and a guy in an overly large black
trenchcoat
carrying a briefcase. They all looked around the
room with wide eyes and the guy in the
trenchcoat
said in admiration, “Oh wow, the Daedalus Deluxe Command Suite - and they’ve
been upgraded!” He looked enviously at the banks of computers. “You’ve got to
be a certified Super League team to buy these.”

Cosmic Kid stared in
disbelief. Sterling might be insane, but this lot was certifiable. He briefly
wondered if the real bad guy here was Dr. Sterling, who might be in cahoots
with Starfish and out to destroy the city in one fell swoop. Then again, there
had always been a reason for the apparent madness of Sterling’s methods. Blue
Star might argue with her, but Cosmic Kid knew that he trusted her. Her insane
plans had saved him many times this Season. He had no reason not to trust her
now.

Dr. Sterling stood
and addressed them. “Thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me to know
that in our time of crisis, the vigilantes of West Pacific are willing to fight
side by side with the West Pacific Supers.”