West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (16 page)

“Well, that was
taken when you were asked about… your mother,” said Emily awkwardly.

“Right,” said Cosmic
Kid coolly. “Let’s see what’s wrong with the elevator.” He moved to activate
the intercom to call maintenance, but there was no response. Something wasn’t
right.

“I’m sorry, but I
was asked to point out all the problems with the team I could find, really, you
did better than some of the team – it’s really just little stuff you know,
fine-
tun
-,” said Emily and then she staggered. “I
feel bad.”

Her eyes rolled in
the back of her head and she started to fall. Cosmic Kid quickly caught her and
lowered her down; she was breathing shallowly, but at least she was still
breathing. It had to be something in the air. He didn’t smell anything so it
was probably odorless. He didn’t see anything so it was well dispersed. Maybe
it was something else, some low-frequency weapon or maybe a delta wave generator.
He couldn’t waste time, regardless.

He jumped up to
knock down some of the paneling on the ceiling and found the upper hatch of the
elevator. With his super strength he was able to knock it up and off, clearing
a way to the roof of the elevator, at least until a robotic arm dropped down,
grasped his arm, and began pulling him up. It had a tight grip and was ripping
his ultimesh costume and likely going to dislocate his shoulder. Cosmic Kid
grabbed at his utility belt with his left arm and found the small EMP cylinder
he carried. He pulled it off his belt, hit the activation button, and tossed it
up to the roof of the elevator. There was a tingling in the air from the
electromagnetic pulse and the robotic arm stopped moving but it still held him.
It took him precious seconds to pry open the robotic fingers.

He was feeling dizzy
so no doubt there was something affecting him; he was running out of time. He
jumped up and pulled himself to the roof of the elevator. The robotic arm was
rebooting, but it wasn’t quick enough as Cosmic Kid ripped it clean off its
housing. He saw that the elevator had stopped right below a floor and he
reached over and pulled open the doors. He breathed in the fresh air right as
his headset, which he had completely forgotten about, went off. It was Dr.
Sterling on the team channel. “Team, we have a jumper on the northeast face of
the roof. There are also gunmen in the main cafeteria with hostages!”

“Dr. Sterling, I
have an injured civilian,” said Cosmic Kid, quickly returning to the elevator
to drop down and pick up Emily.

“Relax, all
employees sign release waivers for injuries from training exercises, and you
have bigger fish to fry,” said Dr. Sterling.

“Nova Woman, go up
and get the jumper,” said
Seawolf’s
voice. “Everyone
else move on the cafeteria. Remember that they probably have Annie’s patented
high-caliber paint pellet guns and are also probably from some high school
football team so don’t be too rough with them,” she added.

“It’s Camille, not
Nova Woman,” said Camille over the headset.

“You know who I’m
talking about,” snapped Seawolf.

“And you know that I
don’t use that name anymore.”

“I’ll go with
Camille to make sure we get the jumper down safely,” said Blue Star. “Seawolf,
you take everyone else to the cafeteria.”

“Come on people,
move!” said White Knight.

“I’m going to take
the civilian to the clinic,” said Cosmic Kid tersely, finally managing to lift
her out of the hatch and then climbing up to help her onto the seventh floor.

“Your choice, Cosmic,”
said Dr. Sterling quietly.

“Yes it is,” said
Cosmic Kid as he picked up Emily and made his way to the clinic. He had changed
his mind; this was really not the type of training he wanted to do.

Dr.
Sterling was sitting in her office reviewing tapes of the training session,
when Cosmic Kid entered. He was not happy, in fact, he was actually angry,
which was a rarity for him, but the reckless endangerment of civilians for a
‘training’ exercise was insanity.

“Are you stark
raving mad?” shouted Cosmic Kid as he entered the room.

“Perhaps, but not in
regards to what you wish to complain about,” said Dr. Sterling dryly. “However,
could you hold your rant for a minute or two more so that the team leader can
arrive and deliver his tirade as well? I would rather deal with you both at
once instead of having two separate meetings to cover the same points.”

“You recklessly
endangered a civilian today - she could have been killed!” yelled Cosmic Kid as
Blue Star barged into the office as well.

“The Kid is right.
I’m strongly considering firing you, Dr. Sterling!” roared Blue Star, his face
flushed red.

“Futile threats are
unbecoming, Blue Star, but the incident today was neither reckless nor
endangering towards a civilian,” said Dr. Sterling, continuing to review the footage.

“A young woman
passed out due to an airborne toxin and was in close proximity to a robotic arm
with evil intent – I call that reckless endangerment!” snapped Cosmic Kid.

“Yes, we have many
employees in this building and only the team has supers capable of handling
such challenges. You can’t expose the employees to that sort of danger,” said
Blue Star hotly.

“Yes, I can. The
young woman signed a waiver regarding injuries related to training sessions and
crises, and all employees were informed of the training session today and
advised to remain in their offices for the two-hour period scheduled for the
training program. If anyone was reckless, it was the girl.”

“I don’t think it’s
safe to assume she knew how dangerous it would be for her to leave her office,”
said Blue Star. “She’s an intern!”

“Yes, she is new,
but the email was quite clear that training sessions posed all manner of
dangers and that employees were best to stay in their offices. I have a copy of
the email here,” said Dr. Sterling, handing it over.

“Email or not, this
is unacceptable!” yelled Blue Star. “You can’t do training that endangers
civilians.”

“Emily could have
been killed,” said Cosmic Kid. Blue Star paled at the idea.

“Very unlikely, but
admittedly not impossible, though highly improbable,” said Dr. Sterling, as she
typed away on her computer.

“I would prefer it
that you look at me when I am talking to you,” said Blue Star menacingly.
Cosmic Kid nodded in agreement and shivered; the room seemed to have gotten
colder while they were talking and he suspected that it was due to Blue Star.

Dr. Sterling stopped
typing, turned to look at the two of them, and raised an eyebrow. “Certainly,
when you are both willing to listen, as opposed to all this sound and fury.”

“This is serious,
Dr. Sterling,” snapped Blue Star.

“Yes, training is
serious. Training is what makes the difference between success and failure and
life and death. To paraphrase General MacArthur: ‘in no other profession are
the penalties for employing untrained personnel so appalling or so irrevocable
as in the superhero Industry.’ I understand why you are upset, but neither of
you is looking at this clearly,” said Dr. Sterling.

“Why don’t you try
explaining it then?” Blue Star snapped.

“My training regime
serves several purposes. Of course, the sharpening of the skills and abilities
of the team is critical, but there are other purposes equally as important.
Training is to remind everyone that what we do is real and that lives are on
the line; you both should know that there are some supers who see this all as a
game. I don’t accept that. Also the training serves to remind those who work in
this building that we are in a dangerous business. Just a few weeks ago this
team was attacked and people died, including staff members. However, right
after that attack, when all the supers were sidelined, it was the staff at the
scene who performed first aid, coordinated with first responders, and took
charge of the situation. This team and even this building have been attacked many
times over the years and it could happen again tomorrow and the staff needs to
know the rules and what to do. I run training sessions just for the staff and
yes, the new girl was new, but she didn’t take an email from me seriously –
fortunately, I suspect that will be the last time she does that.”

“You’re mad,” said
Cosmic Kid.

“I prefer genius,
but whatever, the fact is that this team is one of the best simply because they
are better trained than anyone else in the Industry. I will also say that you lucked
out today, Cosmic Kid, because of the girl. She was your canary in the coal
mine,” said Dr. Sterling.

“People aren’t
canaries,” Blue Star glowered.

“Obviously it was an
analogy, but there was no serious harm done, the girl is recovering fine and
was in no real danger.”

“What if she had
opened the hatch to the elevator?” asked Cosmic Kid.

“She would have been
fine, the robotic arm responded to the transponder in your costume,” said Dr.
Sterling with a bored sigh.

“I don’t think we
should have training sessions in the building where staff are,” said Blue Star.

“Certainly, we can
go to the training room and pretend really hard it is a realistic situation,
that’s what most teams do, but in that case why don’t I just have the team
watch the Super Channel for their training,” said Dr. Sterling with a note of
annoyance.

“It might be safer
for the civilians,” said Cosmic Kid.

“Life isn’t about
safety, it’s about living. The training sessions will continue as I design and
plan them; if you wish to change that then get Dr. Hodges to order me to do
so,” said Dr. Sterling, returning to her computer.

“I’m the team
leader, I should have a say in this,” snapped Blue Star.

“Yes, however, I am
the operations director and my salary is actually higher than either of yours,
and in the United States that means the two of you can just stuff it. I will be
reviewing the training session in two hours with the team. I expect both of you
to be present for the discussion.”

“I’m going to talk
to Dr. Hodges about this,” Blue Star said as he left the room.

Cosmic Kid stood
there a second shaking his head. “Genius and madness often get blurred.”

“That’s because they
are one and the same, but I will say you got bonus points for taking the girl
to the infirmary,” said Dr. Sterling. “Protecting the innocent is always the
first priority.”

Cosmic Kid was
silent. He didn’t know what to say about that; what the hell did bonus points
really matter. Maybe that was the point. He turned and left and decided to go
check on Emily; there was nothing else to say to Dr. Sterling.

“So how
was your first day?” asked John Minor, who was spreading out Chinese takeout on
the table in the hotel suite.

“Horrific,” said
Cosmic Kid, dropping down into his chair. “How about property shopping?”

“We found a few
locations that might work for the restaurant but I think you need to take the
lead on the house,” said John. “I just stood around slack-jawed in the two big
houses we looked at.”

“How’s the realtor?”

“Good enough, I
guess.”

“Good enough… then
we try a different one; seriously, Dad for what we’re willing to spend you
should have a realtor you actually like.”

“Yeah, but if you
were fired today the realtor will probably drop us first.”

“No, I wasn’t fired
but I made an ass of myself and I think Dr. Sterling, the Operations Director,
hates me.”

“No one hates you,
Patrick, though she may dislike you.”

“That makes me feel
better.”

“If you want
everyone to like you then you’ll have a life of disappointment, but from my experience
proximity breeds tolerance. I’ve worked with people I’ve really disliked but
after a few months you come to tolerate them and sometimes even like them.”

“I guess so. But
Blue Star also doesn’t like me and I think most of the team feels the same way.”

“Maybe, you’re the
young hot shot – there’s bound to be some jealousy.”

“You’re making me
feel even worse. I think you’re supposed to tell me I’m imagining things.”

“You rarely imagine
things, Patrick, but first impressions are usually mistaken impressions. I bet
you also don’t like Dr. Sterling or Blue Star.”

“Well, they both
were riding me a lot today it seemed.”

“Of course, you’re
the least experienced and the one with the biggest ego, I would be riding you
hard as well. They’re trying to help you in their own way.”

“I guess you’re
right. I think Starfish has an even bigger ego than me.”

“Big egos are always
covers, Patrick, for you, for Starfish, and probably Dr. Sterling and Blue
Star. Though in the case of Stephen, I think his ego is genuine, and he’s
flying out next week to check on everything.”

“Good… I’m glad
you’re here, Dad, because I do feel sort of isolated.”

“You probably are.
So, any cute girls with the team?”