West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (9 page)

Chapter
6

6:22 p.m., Thursday, March 28
th
, 2013

Bradley Arena

Milwaukee, WI

It was
2003 all over again, Seawolf thought, as she sat frozen in the same chair she’d
been in over 4 hours ago when everything went horribly wrong. Gabrielle had
configured the television in the team box for a video conference and Seawolf
could see what remained of the core leadership of West Pacific Supers
assembling at the secure meeting room at HQ. The assistant deputy PR director,
Stacey Noble, was having trouble getting sound to come through on their side
and Gabrielle was screaming directions at her over the phone, which clearly
wasn’t helping. Seawolf dimly realized that they were both shell-shocked; she
could barely feel anything herself. It was just like when Sarah had died. Back
then, Seawolf had felt as if she was surrounded by a deep fog whereas Circe had
been like Gabrielle was now – spewing outrage and angry revenge schemes, a
cover for the grief and hurt she wasn’t allowing herself to feel. Actually, Dr.
Hodges had taught Seawolf to recognize the stages of grief back at the Academy.
He had also taught her that grief was a perpetual ache. It’s always worse for
those left behind, he had once said. Whatever happens to us when we go, it’s
got to be worse for the survivors.

She saw Dr. Hodges
now, looking older and greyer than he had even last week, and decades older
than he had looked when she had first met him as a new student at the Academy.
Next to him was Dr. Annie Sterling, the team’s operations director, and across
the table was
Matteo
, the team’s legal counsel. This
was it then; this was what they had left. And all for a damn Costume Launch,
she couldn’t help thinking, even though she knew it was an unreasonable
connection. Why did people always feel compelled to change things just for
change’s sake? She supposed it was part and parcel of the Industry; at least
that’s what Mr. Awesome always said, ‘if you can’t make things better, at least
make a change.’ That was what he had told her back in 2003 when Sarah died and
they changed the whole look of the team. It seemed disrespectful to her, but
Awesome said it was necessary to prove that the team was still viable, that
West Pacific City was still protected.
Idiots
.
Like picking new costume colors was ever going to make up for the loss of
Supersonic Cat. And now Mr. Awesome – dead in blue and white swirls. She
shuddered and then the sound on the television suddenly came through, cutting
short Gabrielle’s tirade.

“Thank you Stacey,” said
Dr. Hodges in his quiet way, waiting for the young woman to take a seat before
he continued. Seawolf saw her brushing away tears as she sat. They all turned
to look at Dr. Hodges, their team president, the one who had founded West
Pacific Labs, the Hodges Institute and Academy, and West Pacific Supers itself,
the one who had seen them through so many storms. He was staring at the papers
in front of him as if he couldn’t understand what the words meant anymore;
there was a heavy silence and then he spoke.

“We have five
confirmed deaths,” he said softly. “We lost Mr. Awesome, Jason - I mean
Meltdown, and Matt
Ruhl
in the attack, as well as two
support staff: Tracy Morgan and Kevin Benson. We also suffered staff and
bystander causalities from the explosion … There are 22 injured, many of those
in critical condition, including Starfish.” He looked down again, his shoulders
sagging, and Seawolf thought of how each one of those numbers meant a life gone
or changed forever, a whole network of surviving lives disrupted - the pain and
loss stretched out like a spider’s web across the city, the State, probably the
world.

“Why isn’t Starfish
recovering quicker?” she asked, breaking into the mournful silence. Dr.
Sterling answered.

“When Meltdown
died,” she said briskly, “he released a burst of ionizing and infrared heat
radiation, which caused those in the immediate area to experience thermal
burns, acute radiation sickness, and deep gamma penetration. It was probably
this secondary explosion, if you will, that was responsible for the deaths of
Mr. Awesome and Matt. Starfish, whose regenerative abilities are usually able
to heal most damage, is suffering from severe radiation poisoning – vomiting,
bloody stools, and the like. The doctors, however, are mostly concerned with
the likely stochastic effects, such as cell-cycle gene mutation, tumor growth,
genetic damage… ”

Dr. Hodges, wincing,
patted Dr. Sterling’s arm to signal for her to stop and Seawolf let out the
breath that she hadn’t even been aware she was holding. Dr. Sterling’s
description of Starfish’s condition might have been accurate, but it didn’t
feel appropriate, especially given the image that was still burned in her mind:
the doors to the Boardwalk center blowing open and body parts flying out. That
was Annie all over though – incredibly intelligent yet emotionally insensitive.
Everyone else must have felt the same way because there was silence for a
moment until Dr. Hodges said, “The doctors will know more in a few days.”

Gabrielle cried out,
“Do we have any idea who the hell did this?”

“It’s too soon to
know yet,” said Dr. Sterling, “not to mention that we are too short on
resources at the moment to start an investigation.”

“What about White
Knight? Isn’t he looking into things?” Seawolf demanded.

Dr. Hodges looked at
her blankly for a moment before saying, “He is, of course. That’s why he’s not
here. We’ll get everyone involved as soon as we can. We’re all still
adjusting.”

Gabrielle broke in
angrily. “And Keystone? You can’t tell me that he’s still sitting out after
this happened!”

Dr. Hodges shook his
head. “We haven’t heard from him yet. I think he’s out of town.”

Silence fell again
over the group.

Dr. Hodges
absentmindedly shuffled through the papers in front of him; Stacey Noble was
continuing to cry quietly to the side. Next to Seawolf, Gabrielle stared dully
at the screen, her anger spent and a heavy misery blanketing her usual energy.
Matteo
looked up, curious at the pause in conversation.
“Well, I think what we’re here to figure out is the best course of action to
restore the team’s strength,” he prompted.

Gabrielle nodded.
“We’re going to get the top pick at the Draft,” she said. “I talked to Bayou
Brigade about an hour ago. Saint Charles himself called and we worked out a
deal. We get their #1 pick this year in exchange for our #5 pick this year and
our #12 pick next year. So that means we can get Paradigm Shift, Flash Freeze,
or Cosmic Kid, who are all highly rated. I think we take Flash Freeze or Cosmic
Kid. They’ve both got outstanding power sets and good reputations for being
solid performers. Paradigm Shift is interesting, but we don’t need interesting
right now.”

“We agreed on
Neo-Mermaid,” protested Seawolf, finally mustering the energy to speak.
Gabrielle had explained this whole matter of switching Draft picks to her but
she simply couldn’t believe that they were really going to pass on Danny Chase.
The girl had real potential, not to mention that she had her heart set on
joining the team. It would be terrible if they let their tragedy become her
disappointment.

“We already have two
water mutants on the team,” said Dr. Sterling, “or at least we will once
Starfish gets back in action. As Mr. A told the team when he voted against
picking her, we’re not the West Pacific Swimmers.” She smiled wistfully and
then shook her head and continued. “Plus we already have one power armor suit
in White Knight. As I’ve said before, Neo-Mermaid is redundant.”

Seawolf felt
desperate. “Dr. Hodges, you said that I could have her,” she said, not caring
that her voice was on the edge of breaking. “She’s supposed to be my
replacement.”

Dr. Hodges shook his
head slowly. “I know, Seawolf, I’m sorry. It’s just that – well, with Mr.
Awesome gone, the situation has changed.” He regarded her heavily. “We’re all
going to have to make sacrifices this year to keep the team functional. You can
pick a replacement next Draft.”

Seawolf sank back in
her chair, feeling utterly demoralized. Next year. There wouldn’t be Danny
Chase next year, and maybe no water-based supers at all. And if they could push
her off one year, they could push her off again. Her dream of hand-selecting
her own replacement had been shattered and Danny Chase would have to learn
early on that in the Super Industry, your career plans could change completely
in a matter of minutes.

“I know Mr. Awesome
wanted a flyer,” Dr. Sterling continued briskly, “but Gabrielle has convinced
me that there’s problems with all of the flyers in this year’s Draft.
Regardless, we need a speedster.”

Gabrielle nodded.
“Cosmic Kid is actually pretty fast – he clocked 262 miles per hour at the
speed trials – and he comes from Teen Ultimate, which has one of the best teen
programs out there. I’d be happy with either him or Flash Freeze because
they’re both ready to hit the Season running, or at least as ready as any teen
can be.” She paused for a moment, and then added, “Either one of them would
also give us something else we lost today – a young charismatic male. The young
adult male and middle-aged women demographics are huge when it comes to product
tie-ins.”

Seawolf scowled. She
hated the whole publicity side of being a professional superhero, but she
didn’t have the energy to argue with them. She knew the harsh reality that
Gabrielle was always harping on: the team depended on the revenue raised
through product sponsorships and appearances to afford the expensive equipment
and large staffs that made their jobs easier. Jason had been a media darling
;
he would pose anywhere
with anything and sponsors loved him, even if his power set was a bit gruesome.
Usually supers with radiation powers were considered, well, radioactive – not
just because of the inevitable comparisons to nuclear weapons, but also due to
Seneschal X, a major supervillain and right-hand man of Lord
Morte
of the Evolved Coalition, which wanted a global
revolution to install mutants as the dominant ruling class. Not a good set of
associations for a superhero. Nevertheless, people adored Jason; he just had
that kind of personal magnetism. And now he was gone. Seawolf shuddered to
think that he had been dead for only 4 hours and they were already discussing
how to make up for his lost publicity value.

“Personally, I vote
for picking Cosmic Kid,” said Dr. Sterling. “He reminds me a lot of Mr. Awesome
and he has the potential to be our franchise super.”

“They have a similar
power set,” Gabrielle agreed. “That’s fine with me.”

“Alright, that’s
decided then,” said Dr. Hodges. “But we lost a lot of depth today. Cosmic Kid
may have similar powers, but he’s only a teen and he’s going to need time to
even be able to fill in for Meltdown. And with Starfish injured and Keystone
sitting out, we need someone experienced.”

Matteo
spoke up quickly.
“That’s why I think we should hire a local vigilante. Someone who already knows
the city, and doesn’t need any lessons in heroics. Far less of a learning
curve.”

Seawolf shook her
head. “Vigilantes are trouble. Sure, White Knight has worked out, but that’s a
risk we can’t afford to take again. Vigilantes may know the city, but they
don’t know how to play well with others. We’ve worked too hard over the years
to build up a solid, respectable team to risk that at the hands of some creep
in a cape.”

Matteo
laughed. “I’m not
suggesting we pick up a kid in a dollar store costume,” he said. “There are
long-term experienced vigilantes in West Pacific - like Midnight… ”

“Not Midnight.” Dr.
Hodges said abruptly. “We can’t hire Midnight,” he repeated with a note of
finality. “It’s out of the question.”
Matteo
looked
confused, but Seawolf instantly understood. Not everyone here knew that
Midnight was Mr.
Awesome’s
daughter. Patricia had
just lost her husband; Dr. Hodges wasn’t about to put her daughter in danger
too.

“Okay, then,” said
Matteo
, looking curious but thankfully not pushing the point.
“What about
Nightprowler
then?”

Gabrielle snorted.
“You have got to be kidding me!
Nightprowler
is a
total slut. She’s the last thing we need from a PR perspective.”

“Someone sounds
jealous,” laughed
Matteo
.

Gabrielle glared at
him. “There are different classes of vigilantes. Seawolf has a point. We can’t
afford to hire someone who is going to threaten the integrity of the team’s
reputation. There are reasons some people hide behind masks,” she added darkly.

“I don’t know,” said
Matteo
, shrugging his shoulders. “Supersonic Cat
started out as a vigilante and so did Mr. Awesome and they both kept secret
identities.”

“I don’t think there
is anyone running around West Pacific today who is in the same league as those
two,” Seawolf retorted. She was annoyed because a solution had just occurred to
her that was perfect from a team perspective yet almost intolerable from a
personal one.

“Well, what would
you suggest?” asked Dr. Sterling.