Corpies (Super Powereds Spinoff Book 1) (47 page)

Polite applause filled the room and their first question asker took a seat. The microphone was passed down several rows down to a short girl with mousy brown hair. She reached out slowly, as if she were afraid the staff member was going to smack her with the microphone, before finally starting to speak.

“Hi. Um, my name is Hillary, and I was just wondering if you have to be really outgoing to do this kind of work. My power is solid, but I’m not so good at talking in front of people.” Given that she was half-whispering in the microphone, the part about her shyness was already evident. Before she’d really finished getting her question out, Hexcellent was leaning forward and gripping her own microphone like it owed her money.

“Yeah, I got this one.” She shot some glares up and down the table, lest anyone dare to object, which no one did. Even Owen, the newest member of the team, knew not to try and stand in the way when Hexcellent got her mind set on something.

“Look, Hillary you said it was, here’s the thing no one explained to me until I’d gotten been stuffed into a pink costume and had my fucking roots dyed blonde: there’s a brand to fit every personality type out there, and a good company will find it for you. When I came to work for Mordent, one of the first things they did was get a sense of who I was; me, the real person. Upon finding out that I liked heavy metal, dark makeup, and strong language, they paired me with the kind of people who were proud to have that sort of person repping them. If you’ve got what it takes to do the hard work—saving people—then any manager worth their shit will pair you with people that want you to be the shy gal you clearly are and love you for it.”

The applause for Hexcellent was rowdier than it had been for Galvanize, which only seemed fitting given the nature of her reply. As the microphone moved once again, Owen found himself a bit relieved. Despite what everyone on the team had expected, the questions so far were about being PEERS. No one had even mentioned Titan, let alone tried to make the panel about him. Owen wasn’t sure if this was based on the folks who had vetted the questions or if they team had all underestimated genuine interest in the field.

All he knew was that he hoped it held out.

90.

“Yeah, I have a question for Titan.” The young man standing up near the back wore a yellow shirt that was stained with sweat, no doubt a byproduct of standing directly in the sunlight.

Around him, Owen felt his team stiffen slightly. While he’d fielded a few questions that were tossed up so far, this was the first one directed at him. Showing no fear of his own, Owen nodded for the sweaty man to continue.

“I want to know why these teams need Heroes on them at all. All they’re doing is rescuing people, why does a Hero need to get involved?”

“Titan, I can address this one,” Galvanize began, but Owen shook his head.

“No, I think I’ve been on the job long enough to give a good answer.” Owen turned back to the one who’d asked the question. “The simple truth of it is that they don’t have to have a Hero Liaison if they don’t want to. Instead, a PEERS team is welcome to pair up with local law enforcement agencies. They can rent space in the police station and act as a support unit for rescues and emergency services. But I think you were probably asking why they need supervision at all, not necessarily just from Heroes, am I right?”

“Yeah.” It was more grunt than word, but Owen accepted it.

“That’s because as dedicated and powerful as any given PEERS team is, they aren’t trained for engaging with Supers who are hostile.” Owen leaned slightly back, taking his microphone with him, and allowed his eyes to scan the crowd. “It’s an unfortunate but real truth that in many of the cases where emergency services are needed, Supers or Powereds are involved. Sometimes it’s unintentional, an incident involving a young kid still learning to deal with their abilities. Other times it’s less innocent. I’m not saying every fire or busted building is the result of our kind, mind you, only that the risk is constantly present. That’s why we pair teams of PEERS with Heroes or law enforcement: to make sure they’re properly protected should such a situation arise.”

A light applause swept through the crowd, nothing like Hexcellent had managed to garner during her answers, but enough to signify they liked his reply. The staff member with the microphone tried to move on to the next guest; however, the man in the yellow shirt kept hold of it, clearly not happy with the answer he’d received.

“That’s bullshit and you know it. This is just another way for so-called ‘Heroes’ to get more influence and control over the lives of real human-” The remainder of his rant was cut off as a burly staff member physically separated the yellow-shirted man from the microphone. Already, two others working security were heading over, no doubt to toss him from the pavilion, if not the fairgrounds as a whole.

Owen tried to think of something to settle the crowd, who were visibly unnerved by the unexpected verbal attack, but he wasn’t nearly as quick-witted as another member of his team, who grabbed hold of her own mic and addressed the crowd.

“Whoa there, asshole, I’m not exactly a big fan of Heroes either, but that doesn’t change the fact that we see some dangerous shit out there.” The security guards, troublemaker firmly in hand, slowed down slightly to let Hexcellent say her piece. “Titan here has kept us safe from fires, collapsing bridges, and even a bunch of dickhead gang members. Before him, Mirror Fog made sure we never went into situations too dangerous to handle. There are a lot of Heroes out there with god complexes and enough ego to choke a donkey, but the ones who come aboard to help us usually aren’t in that lot. And even if some are, Titan damn sure isn’t among them.”

Hexcellent, ever the crowd favorite, was treated to enthusiastic applause. Owen was a bit taken aback at how quick she’d been, not only getting things back on track but turning what had actually been an attack on Heroes in general into something personal she could defend. If this was what she was like when she actually tried, it was no wonder Mordent let her get away with so much. Hexcellent could deliver when the chips were down and she felt the need.

“Oh, and as for that ‘real human’ talk you started to spout, I’ve been around enough to know Purist bullshit when I hear it. Security, throw him out of here. Something tells me he’s got a cow to fuck and a cross-burning to start.”

The crowd cheered loudly, while across the table Galvanize stuck his head in his hands. Regardless of the amount of leash Hexcellent had, that part might have been a bit over the line in terms of what Mordent would forgive, especially given how many people were recording the panel. If Hexcellent noticed or cared, she didn’t show it; instead she threw her arms in the air and encouraged the crowd to get even louder.

For his part, Owen kept an eye on the man they were escorting out of the pavilion. Human-Purists might be the largest and best organized of Super hate groups, but they were far from the most radical. Usually they limited themselves to picketing outside events featuring Heroes, spreading the message that people with powers weren’t true humans, and of course trying to pass legislation to strip Supers and Powereds of their basic rights. That was as a group, though; the actions of an individual could never be completely predicted, which was why Owen didn’t completely relax until the aggressor was completely out of sight. Given how many celebrity athletes and Heroes were present, security had been top-notch, but Owen had seen too many sure things go sideways to ever trust precautions completely.

“All right, now that the dickhead is gone, let’s move on to a fun question. Clipboard guy, pick us a good one,” Hexcellent demanded.

The staff member, caught off guard by the request, quickly skimmed through the list of remaining questions and selected one, hurrying over to a woman in a blue cap. She jumped up from her seat and took the mic, grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Aside from Bubble Bubble and that fuckwad director, I wanted to ask: who else among you has gotten to bang a celebrity?”

Around her the crowd began to hoot, and Hexcellent’s laughter could be heard ringing through the speakers as she immediately turned to Zone and began trying to extract stories from him. Galvanize did his best to reassert control, but it was a largely futile effort.

The crowd had chosen their own leader, and it was a woman decked out in goth makeup.

91.

“The old ghost of the battlefield let you do a little recruiting, huh? Good for him, I always liked that curmudgeon.”

Lenny poured the cold beer from his fridge into two chilled pint glasses while Owen waited in the living room. As a rule, Lenny made it a point to check in with his clients regularly, and this whole charity event had provided a rare moment of predictability in Titan’s schedule. Thus, with the panels done for the day, the agent and Hero were having a sit-down to address any problems or opportunities that might have arisen. Lenny found the more often he did this, the less frequently he had drunken people banging on his door at two in the morning.

When Lenny turned around, beers in hand, he found Owen staring at him with an unexpected look of amusement. “You aren’t supposed to know that’s his nickname. Technically, you’re not even supposed to know what his power is or Hero name was.”

“Just try doing recruiting in all these schools and not picking up a little information here and there.” Lenny walked over, cold beers in hand, and set them down on coasters that were resting on his coffee table. “No one ever worries about an agent betraying HCP secrets. For one thing, we make our livelihood off our talent for discretion, and for another, just getting in the doors of those places means I’ve signed so many nondisclosures that the government could hurl me into a windowless cell for the rest of my life. Which I am not game for; you think they carry my damn orthopedic insoles in prison? Hell no.”

“We’ve got people who can melt buildings with a glance or punch through skulls like tissue, and that’s the thing that scares you.” Owen snickered as he reached for his beer, taking a tentative taste. It was good, but not great. Interesting. Lenny saved the great stuff for when he had bad news to take the edge off. Things must be looking up.

“What can I say, you get to my age and the body becomes a lemon in need of constant upkeep.” Lenny looked up and down at the giant muscle-bound man who refused to show more than cursory aging. “Okay, maybe not when
you
get to my age. . .”

They shared a laugh at this and sank into light conversation as they worked through their beers. Both knew business would come later, but Lenny enjoyed reinforcing the personal relationship with his clients when the opportunity arose. It helped them to trust him when things got rough and they needed careful steering, plus it made them less likely to jump ship for some schmuk offering false promises and a lower percentage.

Eventually, however, the chitchat came to an end as Lenny set down his half-drunk beer and looked Owen in the eye.

“I think it’s time we got down to brass tacks. Namely, how you want to start moving from here.”

Owen looked at his agent uncertainly, motioning for the small man to go on.

“I’m saying you need to make a plan, chart a path, start figuring out where you want to go. The public is responding well to you, and your stock is once again on the rise. Hell, didn’t you wonder why Dean Jackson was so willing to let you wave the Sizemore flag? After the fight with Elemental Fury, people are starting to remember why the name Titan was a household one even before the scandal.”

“It’s been nice, sure, but I’m not certain what you’re getting at here,” Owen replied, nursing the remainder of his drink.

“I’m getting at the fact that you’re beginning to have options. Hero teams have started sniffing around, seeing how mobile you’re willing to be. Now I’m not saying you need to jump right now; there’s still a lot of groundwork to be laid. But if you’ve got some top picks we can work in that direction and make you as appealing as possible.”

“But. . . I already have a team.”

Lenny stared at Owen for a long while, leaning back against his couch and taking his drink with him. “Yes, you do. A team of corpies that you didn’t want to join in the first place. Maybe we’re not on the same page here, Titan. I thought this would be a stepping stone to get you back out there. You get to rehab your reputation a bit, and a PEERS team gets training and protection from a world-class Hero. The long-term hope was that you’d eventually outgrow it and move on to a place where you could do more good.”

“I guess. . . I suppose that might have been in the back of my head when I first started this. But now, they’re my team. I don’t know that I’d feel right abandoning them,” Owen said.

“Who’s asking you to abandon anyone? There would be a transition time where you trained their new Hero Liaison, a job that plenty of people are interested in doing since you elevated their status. You could see them socially as well, if you wanted. Heroes change teams for various reasons all the time, you know that.”

With one swallow, Owen finished off the last of his beer and set down the glass. “Maybe so, but this isn’t a Hero team. It’s a PEERS one. I like being there, I like watching over them, and I like that a big chunk of my time gets dedicated to rescue work instead of having to get my hands bloody.”

“Look, Titan, this is your life, your career, your second chance,” Lenny said, his tone gentle as he scooted forward on the couch cushion. “You want to stay with the PEERS? That’s completely fine by me. I only brought this up because when you came to me, you said you wanted back in the life because you felt like you could take on the hard jobs, the ones that might get other people killed. As your agent, I took that to heart and have been trying to get you into a position where you can best fill that role. Which, we can both agree, is on a team of Heroes, who spend nearly all their time on the clock. Maybe I misunderstood what the end goal was; maybe things changed along the way. Point is, if we need to change directions, you just give me the new coordinates.”