West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (31 page)

“Because of me?”

“Yeah, she said she
thought you were a great super, but a crappy dad to her mom. She then said I
was a lot like you and a great super.”

“Ouch. Listen,
Patrick, you’re twice the super I was at your age and ten times a better person
than I ever was. If Emily can’t see that, then it’s for the best for you two to
go your separate ways.”

“Wow, that was
really sentimental! But you’re supposed to side with your granddaughter on
these sorts of things,” said Cosmic Kid with a smile.

“My granddaughter’s
right. I was, and remain, a horrible father and an even worse husband. I asked
Linda about that once and she said she realized long ago that I’ve never
cheated on my family, as my family is the supers on my team and not the people
I am related to by blood or marriage. It’s a twisted analogy, but it’s true. I
love Emily, but I’ll always side with you, Camille, Seawolf, or even Dr.
Sterling over everyone else.”

“I appreciate the
sentiment, but it did cost me my girlfriend,” said Cosmic Kid mournfully.

“It happens, Kid,
trust me there are plenty of girls out there.”

“I don’t want
plenty, I just want one.”

“That’s a lot harder,
but I hope you find her,” said Blue Star with a sigh. “Listen, don’t give up on
Emily, I can have a talk with her and sort things out.”

Cosmic Kid laughed.
“I think that would be the opposite of helpful.” Blue Star snorted and went
quiet, but Cosmic Kid was probably right - his talking to Emily would likely
only make things worse.

“We’re here.” Cosmic
Kid pulled the car up to the gate outside 242 Oceanside Avenue, a mansion on
the coast that looked a bit like a fortress due to the substantial outer wall
and guarded gatehouse. Blue Star got out quickly and was immediately relieved
to be outside; he always felt that cars were death traps. The two of them
walked towards the gatehouse, where a guard was wearing a dark suit and talking
animatedly into a walkie-talkie.

“What can I do for
you gentlemen?” asked the guard as he put down the walkie-talkie.

“We’re here to talk
to Mr.
Roache
,” said Blue Star.

“Sorry, but he’s out
of town.”

“It’s important and
he’s expecting us,” said Cosmic Kid.

“Sorry, but I have
my orders and unless you have a warrant you’re not getting in,” said the guard
who tried to give a determined look.

“Cosmic, show him
the warrant,” said Blue Star. Cosmic Kid decked the guard, following up with a
round kick that sent him back into the gatehouse with a thud.

“Up and over,” said
Blue Star, flying over the gate and towards the house. He looked back briefly
and saw Cosmic Kid climb and jump over the gate, trying quickly to catch up to
him.

It was a beautiful
house, though far more than a single man really needed. The grounds were
expansive with gardens, scattered fountains and gazebos, a nice pool, and a
large parking area filled with cars and vans, mostly caterers for tonight’s
event. There were a lot of civilians about and Blue Star suspected the two of
them should have tried to disguise themselves to get as close to Ian
Roache
as possible. But that would have taken a lot more
planning and he hated disguises anyway.

He noted the helipad
with a black helicopter and the beginning of stairs that likely went down the
cliff to the ocean and probably docks below. There were a lot of escape routes.
Roache
could flee by boat, helicopter, or car from
the premises. Fortunately, Blue Star could fly faster than any typical vehicle,
so Ian
Roache
could run, but he wouldn’t be able to
get away.

Blue Star landed at
the front door just as it was opening and two men in suits, with handguns
drawn, were coming out. They weren’t expecting him to have gotten to the front
door so quickly and their surprise gave him enough time to focus and blast them
with a freezing cold wind and blinding ice flurries. They retreated back into
the house and he charged forward and brought them both down with what Cosmic
Kid had been calling his Brutal Fu style. One thing experience had taught him:
you end a fight as quickly as possible and that meant destroying your
opponents.

“Sorry it took me so
long - had to sign a few autographs,” quipped Cosmic Kid as he came up to the
front door.

“They have a no solicitation
rule it appears,” said Blue Star, leading the way into the house
past
the two frosted and broken men on the ground by the
door.

“Great house,” said
Cosmic Kid. “You know I’ve been looking for a place; this would do nicely.”

“Kid, the electricity
bills for this place are probably outrageous!”

“I’d just invite you
over to cool the place down. Though I would have to replace the carpets with
hardwood floors and definitely change the paint colors.”

“We’re here to
arrest
Roache
, not redecorate his house,” said Blue
Star, who paused at a massive staircase. “Though be warned: supervillains don’t
take good care of their homes.”

The two of them
walked past the staircase and into an expansive open room. It touched upon a
sitting room, a formal dining room, and a solarium towards the ocean. The house
seemed to stretch out from here considerably and there was also an upstairs
that was likely to be just as large.

“You guys need to
cover more ground. Split up and find
Roache
,” said
Dr. Sterling over their headsets.

“Right, because
splitting up always works so well,” said Blue Star. Unfortunately, he had to
agree.
Roache
could be emailing orders to destroy the
world and time was of the essence.

“Okay, you take the
upstairs and I’ll check out the kitchen to see if he has gas stoves,” said
Cosmic Kid.

“Fine, keep in
contact over the headsets, but be careful,” said Blue Star, shaking his head
and flying back towards the stairs. Once on the second floor he heard the sound
of vacuuming down the hall coming from a room with an open door. On the way
there, Blue Star saw a door with a sign that said ‘Do Not Disturb’. That was
too tempting to pass up and he tried the door, but it was locked. He braced
himself to knock the door in, and then the door exploded and lightning erupted
into the hallway.

Blue Star was thrown
into the wall across from the door. Exiting the room through the broken door
was a man wearing a green suit whose hands were covered in sparks. “I be Kill
O’Watts
and today I’m going to kill you, Blue Star,” said
the man in an idiotic Irish accent. Blue Star was in pain and while his costume
was insulated against electricity, it didn’t provide complete protection. He
was pretty confident if he had been a normal person he would already be dead.

Kill
O’Watts
threw a quick blast of electricity into Blue Star,
not enough to kill him but enough to continue his disorientation. Blue Star
reacted as best he could and flew into Watts, carrying him back into the room
he had just exited. They crashed into a desk and computer, knocking everything
into a heap on the ground. Blue Star tried to roll away, but his arm rang out
with pain when he put pressure on it. It was probably broken. When he saw Watts
pulling himself up, his own adrenalin took over and he forced himself up too.
It was then that he noticed another man standing in the corner of the room - a
younger Hispanic guy, who was just staring intently at Blue Star. Blue Star
felt everything become distorted as dizziness overwhelmed him. It wasn’t the
pain from his broken arm - it was a psychic attack.

“So you got him?”
asked Watts to the psychic who just nodded. “That’ll make this easy.” Watts
came over and smiled as he punched Blue Star across the jaw and then in the
chest sending him crashing into a wall covered in security monitors. Blue Star
could taste blood in his mouth; this wasn’t going well. Despite his best
efforts, he couldn’t resist the psychic’s attacks on his mind. He knew some
tricks against psychics, but if they got the jump on you then there wasn’t much
you could do against them.

“Blue Star, what is
your status?” asked Dr. Sterling in his earpiece. “Cosmic Kid is coming
upstairs to assist.”

“Ostrich…,” muttered
Blue Star as Watts hurled him against a file cabinet. It was the best he could
muster, an old code phrase for trouble from his days with the Paragons. He had
to warn Cosmic Kid about the psychic, but he wasn’t able to do more at the
moment than be pummeled by Watts.

“Hey, why wasn’t I
invited to this private party?” asked Cosmic Kid, coming in and hurling a
chakra at Watts, which sliced through his suit and drew blood from his arm.

“Tis the end for
both of you today,” said Watts grabbing his bleeding arm angrily.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve
heard that enough -,” said Cosmic Kid whose hand went to his head as he staggered
back from a psychic attack.

It was the moment
Blue Star had needed. The psychic wasn’t that powerful - he seemed limited to
one target at a time. As the psychic focused on Cosmic Kid, he dropped his hold
on Blue Star’s mind, but it was a smart call as Blue Star’s body was mangled.
There wasn’t much he could do, but there were hardwood floors in this office.
Blue Star focused.

“Jorge, hold him and
I’ll blast the brat,” said Watts. But then all three of them slipped. Cosmic
Kid skidded on the iced hardwood floors and fell into the hall. Watts slipped
but caught himself on the file cabinet. Jorge fell to the ground, which broke
his hold on Cosmic Kid.

“That’s enough from
you,” said Watts, flaring electricity at Blue Star. The pain was unbearable,
but it ended when a desk crashed into Watts smashing him into the wall. Jorge
was up though and staring at Cosmic Kid who managed to leap out of sight,
breaking Jorge’s control.

It was all going
black.

“Blue Star, stay
alert – medical is on the way,” said Dr. Sterling in his headset. “I’ve lost
Cosmic Kid’s signal. I need you to describe what’s happening so I know what’s
going on, so I can assist.”

Blue Star tried to
focus. “Ah…the Kid threw a couch…Leprechaun down, but getting up…psychic going
after him…” Everything started going dark again and he just wanted to sleep.

“Wake up! Old guy!
Cosmic’s
bio-signs are faltering - I need to know what’s
happening!” yelled Dr. Sterling.

“What? Right,”
mumbled Blue Star trying to focus. “Psychic leaving room, probably to find…
Cosmic.”

Blue Star’s senses
sharpened and he yelled, “Kid – he’s a psychic!” He nearly passed out from
pain, and the yell caused the psychic to turn and angrily stare at him, which
only made the pain worse. He was dimly aware of Cosmic Kid charging into the
room and Jorge, and the psychic being tossed through the windows of the office.

“He needed some
fresh air,” said Cosmic Kid, heading to the window to check out Jorge’s
landing. “Ouch, I think he took out an azalea bush.”

“Kid…Leprechaun!” yelled
Blue Star weakly as he noticed that Kill
O’Watts
was
pushing away the desk that had pinned him to the wall.

Cosmic Kid ran
forward, grabbing Watts. He tried to lift and flip Watts across the room, but
electricity flared out from Watts’ body causing Cosmic Kid to stagger back.
Watts shoved aside the desk, but was limping and looked mangled.

Blue Star was fading
again - everything was blurring. “Jacob, I have decided we shouldn’t date,”
declared Dr. Sterling. “You’re really not my type, plus older men have
endurance problems.”

“What the hell are
you talking about?” snapped Blue Star with a flash of anger that brought him to
consciousness in time to see Cosmic Kid throw a heavy crystal paperweight that
hit Watts in the head. It made a loud cracking sound and Watts fell backwards.

“I think he’s
grounded now,” said Cosmic Kid.

“He got him,” said
Blue Star weakly.

“Plus it’s all about
sex with you,” said Dr. Sterling.

“You’re insane!”
yelled Blue Star.

Cosmic Kid knelt
beside Blue Star, pulling the first aid pouch off his utility belt and
activating his headset. “Annie, we need an ambulance here. Blue Star is in bad
shape.”

“Already on the way,
but he’s close to going into shock,” said Dr. Sterling.

“Yes, if you keep
hitting on me,” coughed Blue Star, who swore he could hear sirens approaching.

“I think he is in
shock,” said Cosmic Kid, giving him a shot in the arm.

“What was that,
Kid?” Blue Star asked in alarm.

“It should boost
your immune system and help with the pain.” Cosmic Kid checked gingerly to see
which bones were broken.

“Don’t worry about
me – you need to find
Roache
,” said Blue Star. He had
enough clarity to realize he was badly injured and that even if he survived,
which wasn’t guaranteed, he might be done for the Season.

“Nope, I’m getting
you to the hospital,” said Cosmic Kid. “Supposedly, that will get me bonus
points. I’m saving up for a toaster.”