West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (7 page)

She smiled but apparently
couldn’t let him have the last word. “One last question: who do you think is
going to get the top three spots of the Super Draft?”

“I think that the
Bayou Brigade will use their #1 pick to get a heavy hitter to replace Cauldron
who is retiring at the end of this Season. Among the heavy hitters in the
Draft, I would suspect them to take Sandbar, Longhorn, or
Ursa
Minor. My bet is on
Ursa
Minor. Manhattan Supers are
a large team so they specialize more than most teams and I think
Quillow
is a good fit. She’s probably the smartest person
in the Draft as she has two PhDs and is also one of the best brawlers. Finally,
Tampa Bay is looking for a franchise super to take the place of Corsair when he
retires in 2015. For franchise supers they might be looking at Wonder Boy,
Flash Freeze, or they might take a chance on someone like Paradigm Shift or
myself.”

Robin looked at him
incredulously. “So you are predicting…
Ursa
Minor,
Quillow
, and maybe yourself as the #1, #2, and #3 picks?
Besides you at #3 I don’t think I have heard anyone mentioning
Ursa
Minor and
Quillow
in the top
of the Draft.”

“Yes, it’s a shame
the so-called experts don’t know the super teens as well as they should, but
what can you do?” said Cosmic Kid with a smile. His predictions were pretty much
garbage, but if he were selecting super teens for a team he would take his
friends
Ursa
Minor and
Quillow
over Paradigm Shift and Wonder Boy, who were projected to go #1 and #2. It
wasn’t all about the powers.

“Well, we’ll see how
your picks hold up in a few days,” said Robin Traverse with a hint of a smirk.
“Good luck on the Super Draft, Cosmic Kid.”

“Nice talking to
you, Robin,” he replied.

Cosmic
Kid moved quickly towards the doors that led backstage and to the private rooms
for the super teens. His dad and Stephen caught up with him; he could tell that
Stephen was not happy.

“Sorry, Stephen,”
said Cosmic Kid.

“Don’t apologize,
but that didn’t go well – she was out to get you.”

“I… yeah, well, what
do we do?” asked Cosmic Kid. Stephen had warned him about dating Elle Solstice
who, like most witches, was a tease. Stephen had also told him not to mention
his atheism publicly or criticize vigilantes. Stephen wanted him to do the
Cosmic Blast and put it up on YouTube. Cosmic Kid had ignored all of the advice
and was definitely paying the price for it.

“You know if you
started actually dating Danny Chase, the two of you would be on every magazine
and online publication in the cosmos,” said Stephen.

“I thought you did
fine,” said his dad loyally. “Robin Traverse is always like that so it’s not a
big deal, right?”

“I don’t know,” said
Cosmic Kid, ignoring Stephen’s comment about him dating Danny.

“Traverse is
old-school,” said Stephen. “You don’t have flashy powers. You can’t fly, lift
cars with your mind, or melt skyscrapers. You need to have top powers to be a
top pick in her world.”

“But Patrick can
lift a car, hell, he can outrun a car,” said John.

“Yes, but Flash
Freeze is faster and he can cover a city block in snow with but a thought,”
said Stephen.

“Then why am I going
at #3?” asked Cosmic Kid with a sigh.

“Because it’s not
just about the powers!” said Stephen. “In the last three years, the #1 picks
were Dynamo Kid, World Mover, and Ms.
Majestica
. All
of them had powers off the charts, but how did they do? Dynamo Kid got crippled
in the first month of his rookie Season. World Mover killed himself when he
lost control of his powers. Ms.
Majestica
is
currently serving 18 months in prison after hurling a superazzi who pissed her
off through a Macy’s storefront.”

“I guess, but if the
talk is all about Elle and the Sun Coast Saviors, then what if Tampa Bay gets
second thoughts?” asked Cosmic Kid.

“That’s why we need
to remind everyone that you are the most experienced super teen in this Draft,”
said Stephen. “You were made leader of Teen Ultimate at 16. You’ve faced off
against real supervillains like Seneschal X; regardless of the outcome you
stared him down and survived – that means something. You are the best in this
Draft and we need to make sure everyone knows that.”

“I agree, but how do
we do that?” said John. “I’m happy to talk to reporters if that would help.”

“It might,” said
Stephen. “We talk to anyone and everyone and get the word out. Robin Traverse
may have
Supers Weekly
,
but she isn’t the only game in town. In fact, there are some advantages of
Traverse going after us, we can paint her as
out-dated
and we’re the new order. But the most important thing is we need you dating.”

“What, so I don’t
look gay?”

“No, so you don’t
look pathetic that Elle Solstice dumped you,” said Stephen. “Also you need to
relax more when people talk about your mom; you look traumatized whenever
someone asks you about her.”

“I’m not traumatized
about my mom dying, that was ten years ago.”

“Patrick, I’m still
traumatized by it,” said John quietly. “But Stephen’s right, you need to loosen
up when people talk about mom. Also you should date more, just don’t date
witches.”

“I guess, but I
don’t think it’s right for me to date someone just for publicity reasons,” said
Cosmic Kid uncomfortably.

“Are you traumatized
by your mother’s death?” asked Stephen in a worried tone. “Also if you’re gay,
that’s okay, we can work with that.”

“I’m not traumatized
or gay,” said Cosmic Kid testily.

“Good, then find a
girlfriend in 24 hours,” said Stephen.

“You know, flipping
burgers sounds better and better,” said Cosmic Kid with a sigh.

As the
day of the team competition approached, the situation wasn’t getting any
better. The Super Draft itself was not the problem. He had done well at the
speed and strength trials. Sure he wasn’t as fast as Flash Freeze or as strong
as Mega-Jock, but Flash was a glass cannon and Mega-Jock was an idiot. No one
in the Draft was physically a match for him, but he hadn’t really gotten a
chance yet to showcase his superior senses or intellect. Even if he did it
probably wouldn’t matter. Tampa Bay was getting cold feet.

Robin Traverse
hadn’t created the problem, but she definitely had helped fuel it since their
interview. She was gunning for him and the rest of the superazzi drones were
following her as usual. They were all pointing out his lack of ‘potent’ super
powers, his arrogance, and his problems with the Tampa Bay community. There was
an online poll with 251,678 signatures as of an hour ago that called for Tampa
Bay to not hire the atheist and vigilante-hating Cosmic Kid. There probably
weren’t even 25,000 people in the Tampa Bay area that would care enough about
the issue to sign the petition, but a number of national advocacy groups were
rallying the troops.

Yesterday, things
had gotten worse when Joshua, a.k.a. Aureoles, gave an interview about his time
on Teen Ultimate under Cosmic Kid’s leadership. Joshua accused him of being
arrogant, condescending, and a poor team leader. Even more damning was the
accusation that he had stolen the spotlight in heroics. The sad truth was that
there was some truth in the complaints; he had been 16 when he was named leader
of Teen Ultimate and at times he had acted his age. However, the last few years
had been different – he had grown up, unlike Joshua who was apparently still
bitter he had been passed over for teen team leader. Aureoles had been drafted
by Birmingham two years ago and Birmingham was still near the bottom of the
Southern Conference. This was probably just a publicity stunt to have Joshua
get a little bump by attacking Cosmic Kid, but it was depressing to have a
former teammate, albeit one he didn’t get along with, come after him like this.

Added to all of this
was the image of him being the jilted lover of Elle Solstice who left him for
#1 pick Paradigm Shift. The public opinion was that Elle was a self-absorbed
bitch and Paradigm was an ass, more or less correct, but it put Cosmic Kid in
the Sympathy Box. People felt bad for him. That was never good for a superhero.
Pity from the public was the quickest route to a low-tier charter team. Things
went from bad to worse when he tried to ask Meteor Girl out for a date and was
shot down instantly. News of that hadn’t swept the Internet… yet. His personal
life was getting discussed a lot more than it should, especially considering
how little of a personal life he had.

He had tried talking
to Corsair, team leader for Tampa Bay Supers, but he seemed to always have an
excuse as to why it wasn’t a good time to meet. That wasn’t good. If #3 Tampa
Bay passed on him then the next possibility was #7 Tucson and they couldn’t
afford him so it meant the League of Steel at #11 was probably it. They were a
good team, actually higher ranked than Tampa Bay, but there wasn’t much of a
future there for him. He would never be the franchise super for Pittsburgh and
they would probably trade him in a few years. Worse, the League of Steel might
pass on him – then it was anyone’s guess who would pick him. Regardless, he
would definitely go in the first half of the first round, but he would be
making a lot less money at that point.

Tonight was his best
chance for turning things around. It was the team challenge and his group was
scheduled for primetime coverage. If he gave an overwhelming performance then
everything else would be forgotten. That was the nature of the Industry, you
could be a horrible person, but if you could deliver results then you would be
more than tolerated, you might even be revered. The problem was that he wasn’t
sure he could deliver an overwhelming performance. The group included Paradigm
Shift, Wonder Boy, Neo-Mermaid, Epiphany,
Plastique
,
and himself – no doubt, they would put him and Paradigm Shift on opposite teams
and it would be all about their rivalry. The truth was that this was going to
be a very ugly team challenge.

The six
of them were in the Cape Room, which was the goofy name given by the Super
Draft handlers to what in theater would be called the Green Room. The room was
barely large enough for their egos.

“I’m jealous you’re
getting all the press,” said Danny Chase who was sprawled out on the couch next
to him with her legs over his lap.

“There is no such
thing as bad press,” replied Cosmic Kid.

“Yes, there is,”
said
Plastique
who was sitting nearby. Her skin had a
whitish-gray plastic look and her hair seemed fake, but it was her natural
appearance. Cosmic Kid realized her situation was probably worse than his as
her father, Captain Pliable, had been caught last week reaching into
neighboring stalls in a men’s restroom. Either he was reaching over for toilet
paper or he was propositioning people. No doubt about it – that was bad press.

“No one really cares
about all that stuff, both of you need to focus on the positive,” said Danny.

Plastique
gave a bemused
look. “Which is?”

“I’m getting drafted
by West Pacific, of course!” said Danny cheerfully.

“You’re horrible,”
said Cosmic Kid, hitting her with a pillow from the couch.
Plastique
stretched across and grabbed another pillow from a nearby chair and also tossed
it at Danny.

From across the
room, Paradigm Shift called out, “I think for
stonings
you’re supposed to use rocks or something.” Wonder Boy who was sitting next to
him laughed; Epiphany, sitting away from both groups, just seemed to be
ignoring everyone.

“At least I don’t
have to worry about you, Shifty,” said Danny. “I hear that Elle has all your
stones.” At this Wonder Boy laughed even louder.

“I have God on my
side, unlike Kid,” said Paradigm Shift.

“Please, when was the
last time you went to church?” retorted Danny. “Everyone here is a heathen
except for me… and maybe Epiphany.”

“Don’t drag me into
your juvenile attempts at one-upmanship,” said Epiphany, picking up a
Superlative
magazine to
read. Paradigm Shift shrugged and turned back to checking his HoloBerry. Wonder
Boy headed to the bathroom for the hundredth time.

“We need to party
tonight!” said Danny. “I could invite Seawolf; we could do one of our wild
Pictionary parties!”
Plastique
rolled her eyes,
literally.

“Your perkiness is
starting to grate.” Cosmic Kid tried to suppress a smile.

“It’s my super
power,” said Danny. “I’m also invulnerable to negativity and depressing
attitudes.”

“I hear
Lifeguard Princess 2
is
going straight to DVD,” said Cosmic Kid.

“The pain!” yelled
Danny in mock misery. Then she kicked Cosmic Kid in the side. “Yes, my sequel
is going straight to DVD, but that’s okay, because I’m no longer an Orlando
Sparkle actor, but… wait for it… I’m a West Pacific Super!”

Cosmic Kid was happy
to see Danny in a good mood. She definitely had her problems, especially with
her dysfunctional family, but Danny always tried to stay upbeat. However, right
now she was genuinely happy. He adored Danny. He couldn’t help it. It wasn’t
fair that she was a lesbian, but he kept telling himself that there was no use
pining away after Danny hoping that she would one day decide to be bisexual. He
suddenly remembered that Epiphany was in the room and psychic; he looked
towards her wondering if she was reading his mind about his thoughts on Danny.
She glanced up from her magazine and met his eyes with a bored look. He gave a
weak smile, but she shook her head and went back to her magazine.