West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (47 page)

1:45 a.m., Saturday, August 3rd, 2013

Parking Garage A, WPS HQ

West Pacific, CA

Loren
had a lot of time to think as he and the Whisperer descended the seemingly
endless flights of stairs down to the public parking garage. The Whisperer was
a quiet companion, so quiet in fact that Loren frequently glanced over at him
in order to assure himself that he wasn’t alone. Even walking side by side,
Loren never got a good look at the Whisperer’s features; he seemed to be
perpetually wreathed in shadows.

Loren was determined
to get this operation done right. This was his big chance to prove himself, not
just as a vigilante, but as a real superhero. He knew that his work with the
Trio down at the Harbor that resulted in the discovery of the location of
Avalon One
had earned him
Midnight’s respect, but he was concerned he may have lost some of that when the
mansion he was helping her buy got demolished by the tsunami. The place was
still standing, but the damage was severe, and Midnight had decided she didn’t
want to go through with that or any other house. Loren had also gotten the
impression that she was buying the place with, or for, someone else - a
relative perhaps - and that person had nixed the idea. Maybe her husband hadn’t
liked the place. It was depressing to think of Midnight as married, but then
again, why wouldn’t she be? More and more of the eligible girls his age seemed
to be in long-term relationships, a fact his mother liked to point out whenever
she was pestering him to ask out Mrs.
Fiorentino’s
daughter.

On the whole,
however, life was looking up. He’d made some hefty commissions selling
beachfront houses, and if some of the properties had sustained serious damage in
the tsunami, well, that was what property insurance was for. The house that
he’d picked out for himself and his mother had thankfully weathered the storm
with only a few trees down and they would soon be moving in. He’d even asked
Frannie
out for drinks next Tuesday night; she seemed giddy
with excitement when she’d accepted.

With the money he’d
been making, he’d been able to not only repair his car but also splurge a bit
at the Daedalus Consulting End-of-Season Special Clearance Event. Some of the
equipment he’d bought he didn’t even know when he’d get a chance to use, but
the allure of owning it was too much to pass up. Plus, it was always better to
be prepared. Though right now he was wishing he hadn’t brought quite so much
equipment with him; his arm was killing him from carrying his briefcase crammed
full of tools.

When they finally
reached the highest floor of the public parking garage, Loren realized that
they still faced the daunting task of finding the van with the jamming device.
The parking garage spanned four levels, two of them underground, and even
though it was the middle of the night, which meant very few cars, there was a
lot of ground to cover. No sooner had Loren caught his breath, however, than
the Whisperer whispered, “There are unusual sounds coming from the northwest
corner of this level. We will find our quarry there.”

Loren nodded,
impressed. They approached stealthily under a cloud of shadowy silence that the
Whisperer seemed to conjure out of thin air. When they rounded the support
pillar that had been blocking their view, they saw a white van parked in the
corner of the garage, protected by five guards with semiautomatic rifles, one
of whom was lighting a cigarette.

“This is a mission,
not a smoke break,” snapped a voice as an immaterial form emerged through the
side of the van, became solid long enough to knock the cigarette from the
guard’s mouth, and then went translucent again and disappeared back inside the
vehicle. All of the guards looked more alert now; it was not going to be easy
to sneak up on them.

“Fade Out is with
them,” said the Whisperer.

Loren nodded
excitedly. He was developing a plan. He had purchased a DC-700 Sonic
Immobilizer just a few weeks ago and now it might save their lives. Ducking
around behind the support pillar, he popped open his briefcase and dug out two
sets of earplugs and the main device, which was about the size and shape of a
TV remote control.

“Put these in,” he
said, holding out a set of earplugs.

The Whisperer
reached out a shadowy hand and took them. “With your technological expertise
and my determination, we will surely be victorious.”

“That’s the plan,”
said Loren a little nervously. He patted the ultimesh vest that he had earned
by helping out on the Avalon investigation; if this turned into a real super
brawl, or even just a gun fight, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Then again,
Daedalus Consulting had never let him down yet.

Once they’d both
inserted the earplugs, Loren gestured towards the van. The closer they got
before he activated the device, the better it should work. The Whisperer moved
his hands and the shadows around them thickened. They walked forward again.

They were within 30
feet of the van when Loren decided the risk of advancing any further was too
great. He pressed the button on the sonic immobilizer. Immediately, a
high-pitched frequency emitted from the device, causing the guards to drop to
their knees, clutching their ears in pain. Loren dashed forward, wincing from
the noise that made it through the ear plugs, and flung open the van door.
Inside, he saw a thin man with black hair writhing in pain on the floor. Loren
quickly drew his Taser gun and shot; the mutant convulsed from the electricity
and then went still. Apparently it wasn’t that hard to deal with an intangible
if you had the right tech.

By the time the
Whisperer had finished tying up the guards, Loren had disabled the jammer.
“Most impressive,” said the Whisperer as Loren sent a successful test message
on his HoloBerry to Dr. Sterling.

“Thanks,” said Loren
in relief. Daedalus Consulting had, once again, saved the day.

1:48 a.m., Saturday, August 3rd, 2013

8643 Coastline Drive

West Pacific, CA

Camille
came to with a WPPD medic kneeling beside her, wrapping up a syringe that had
apparently just been emptied into her body somewhere. The sound of automatic
weapons rang out and she twisted to see a raging gun battle taking place on the
docks at the bottom of the hill, where a police tactical team was engaging the
sea mutants. It didn’t look like it was going well for the police. She had to
help. She struggled to stand up and was surprised when her legs didn’t respond.

“Ma’am, I’m going to
have to ask you to stay put,” said the medic, placing a firm hand against her
arm. “You’ve been partially paralyzed and we’re taking you to a hospital.”

Camille peered at
her legs and saw that her uniform had been cut off and the exposed flesh was
splotched purple. Her chest felt tight; she was having trouble breathing.

“Situation?” yelled
an officer as he ran up to them.

“I’m not feeling
well,” said Camille, the words stumbling over her thick tongue.

“We need to get her
to the ER sir,” said the medic. “I need a stretcher!”

Another officer,
this one in full tactical gear, ran up the hill. “There are regenerative
mutants down there – freaky as hell and powerful. Three men down so far. WPS HQ
said that Blue Star and White Knight are in the house, but we’ve been unable to
make contact with them.”

The first officer
nodded. “We lost contact with Dr. Sterling en route. She did say that Starfish
is to be considered extremely dangerous and not to be engaged except by
supers.”

“No sign of him so
far,” said the second officer. “Thank God for that, we’re taking enough of a
beating as is.”

“Understood,” said
the first officer. “Major Dagan and the strike team will be here soon. Call a
fighting retreat.”

The second officer
dashed back down the hill. Camille felt herself lifted into the air as another
medic joined the first and they placed her onto a stretcher.

“Thanks,” she
managed to say before she lost consciousness again.

The
descent into the pit below the house was so rapid and so unexpected that Blue
Star didn’t even have time to fly free before he hit the water. There were
creatures down here – kelp monsters and human-like man-eels whose bodies
flashed with electrical energy, illuminating the darkness briefly with each
jolt. He jerked as the water conducted the electrical charges into his body.
One of the creatures rammed into his body and was literally trying to rip his
arms off. The suckers were tearing through his reinforced ultimesh and Blue
Star saw a shimmer in the water as other creatures swam towards them. Another
jolt of electricity set his teeth on edge; he was beginning to think that
electricity was the supervillain power of choice for West Pacific. He froze the
water around the lower half of the one attacking him, encasing it in a block of
ice that floated up towards the surface, and then concentrated on dropping the
temperature of the surrounding water by thirty degrees. Thankfully, the
creatures didn’t seem to like the cold. Those that could swam quickly away from
him, giving him enough time to unhook a flashlight from his utility belt and
see that there was a landing of sorts along one wall. He flew quickly in that
direction and landed on a rock ledge. He couldn’t see White Knight and Dr.
Sterling wasn’t responding over the headset.

Blue Star struggled
to assess the situation, which was rapidly turning into a disaster. HQ was
probably under attack and he had potentially lost his entire team in this
operation. He needed to be in five different places at once, but right now he
had to find White Knight, who had probably sunk to the bottom of this water pit
like a concrete block. He no longer had any doubts that Starfish was trying to
take out the entire team. The psychotic bastard was probably behind the
Boardwalk explosion. There was no telling what was down here. “White Knight?”
he called, his voice echoing off the rock walls.

“Ah, the mighty team
leader finally arrives,” said Starfish’s voice over the intercom system.
“Welcome Jacob to my little house of horrors. You may have noticed that your
friend Annie is having some problems of her own right now. Without her
legendary operations skills to help you, we’ll finally see how good of a team
leader you really are, Blue Star. Not that you have much of a team to lead
right now. In fact, it’s rather disappointing how quickly they’re all
dropping.”

Blue Star didn’t
have time for witty banter. “Where is White Knight?” he yelled.

“Ah yes, the lovely
Gabrielle,” smirked Starfish’s voice. “It was, once again, far too easy - she
literally fell right into my trap. Now it’s up to you to rescue the damsel in
distress. Provided you can make it past my children of course; I must tell you
that Camille didn’t last long at all against them.”

“What the fuck do
you want, Starfish?” Blue Star yelled. He had no way to reach Camille, who
could be dead by this point. If Gabrielle was trapped in some sort of
underwater prison, the question was how long the suit could supply oxygen to
her - and how long it could withstand coordinated attack. Unfortunately, he
didn’t know that information and Ops wasn’t there to tell him. The tracking
devices would still be working though; at least he could find out where she
was. He fumbled with the waterproof case containing his HoloBerry.

“Respect, of
course,” said Starfish over the intercom. “Isn’t that what we all want? Isn’t
that why you’re here, Blue Star, instead of spending your retirement spoiling
your grandchildren?”

“Respect? That’s
what you think you’ll get by turning homeless people into fish food?” Blue Star
had almost gotten the tracking program up; just a few more seconds and he’d
know where Gabrielle was.

“Enough with the
homeless!” snapped Starfish. “I’ve spent the last two years bringing the entire
West Pacific criminal organization under my sway and all you can talk about is
the god-dammed homeless?”

“Two years… so
you’re Mr. Darwin then?” said Blue Star, pausing as he saw several kelp
creatures swimming slowly in his direction.

“Yes!” screamed the
voice over the intercom. “Yes! I am Mr. Darwin! I am the genius behind the
Boardwalk attack! I am the greatest mastermind in the West Coast! I am… ” There
was static as the intercom feed apparently went dead at the source.

“About damn time,”
said Blue Star, who had finally gotten a lock. White Knight was underneath him,
about 40 feet down at an angle. He unleashed a barrage of ice shards at the
incoming kelp monsters, driving them farther back into the pool. Then he
strapped on his air mask and dropped like a torpedo into the pool below,
freezing the water as he went.

It was
dark down below and Blue Star activated the forward light on the tactical suit,
which illuminated the icy forms of man-eels convulsing in the water. It was a
blessing that cold affected them, though he knew by now that it would take more
than a good icing to really kill them. He pushed downward and finally spotted
what he was looking for: a tunnel leading towards the ocean. According to his tracking
device, White Knight was somewhere in this direction.

He swam cautiously,
wary of more surprises. But his hesitation vanished as soon as he saw her. The
suit was flat-lined, lying motionless on the floor of the tunnel with sea
mutants crawling all over it. There were cracks in the armor where one
crab-like creature was attacking with pinchers. Another kelp-like mutant was
squeezing the head in an apparent attempt to twist the helmet off. A third
man-eel discharged arcs of electricity into the legs, which convulsed with each
shock. There was almost no way she could still be alive.

Blue Star moved in
with a whirlwind of icy blades and cold fury, ripping two of the creatures to
shreds and punching his fist through the third. He grabbed the suit with both hands,
continuing to lower the temperature of the surrounding water until the point
where he felt himself pushing through ice as he swam. There were more creatures
coming from the pool area, but he wasn’t going back into the house. He
channeled his anger into flight and rocketed both himself and White Knight
through the tunnel and up onto the docks where the tunnel ended. Thankfully the
mutated sea creatures had left the area and were swarming up the cliff to
battle the WPPD.

It was the work of a
moment to pry the helmet off; the seam was practically perforated. Rivulets of
water poured out and then he saw her: pale as death and bruised almost beyond
recognition. Her eyes flickered open and met his gaze. “Jacob,” she whispered.
“I’m glad it’s you.”

He gave her a
twisted smile. Early on in his career, he had made the mistake of denying death
when he saw its shadow cast over a teammate, but time had taught him that the
kinder approach was to accept the inevitable and be fully present when it came.
This was her moment, not his. He would have time enough for grief later. “I’m
here,” he told her, propping her up a bit in the hopes of making her more
comfortable.

“The suit…” she
gasped, “It’s keeping me going for a little…while longer.”

He nodded. “You did
great. We got Starfish.” It was a bald-faced lie, but if it brought her some
peace it was worth it. He knew he wouldn’t be able to let go if the battle was
still ongoing. Plus, there was no way that Starfish was walking out of this one
alive.

“The suit…” she
repeated. “The suit never lies - promise me…”

“Anything,” he
assured her.

“The suit…when it
was given to me…it’s from the future…it needs to be in West Pacific, it’s very
important.” Her features contorted with the effort of speaking.

“Why?” asked Blue
Star who noticed that the cracks in the armor were starting to disappear.

“I don’t know, but
the suit doesn’t lie – that’s important too, please, promise me… ” Her eyes
closed for a moment and he was afraid that she had already passed.

“I’ll make sure the
suit stays in West Pacific,” he said in case she could still hear him.

Her eyes went wide
and she grabbed him. “Promise me as a fellow superhero – the Code,” she said
with desperation in her voice.

Blue Star grimaced
but nodded. “I promise, Gabrielle. You’ve taken care of everything. You can
relax now.”

“The next White
Knight…” she whispered, and he had to lean in closer to hear. “I want the next
one to be a girl also…” Her eyes started to glaze over. “And tell Stacey - for
the press conference…make sure…make sure…” She went silent.

Blue Star stared at
her and then reattached her helmet to her armor, not bothering to wipe away the
tears filling his eyes. “If when one falls another takes his place, there will
always be someone to stand up for the innocent, but if one falls and many take
his place, the innocent will be protected forever. Yes, I know the Code,
Gabrielle, and I’ll do what you asked.”