Corpies (Super Powereds Spinoff Book 1) (43 page)

“Hi there. I’m Lorikeet. Korman Graduate and second year intern. My question was for Aether. Are there many teams out there like Transcendental Justice, or did you found yours because there was no other fit for you?”

Given Lorikeet’s odd name and stranger costume, Owen had a hunch that the question was more personal than academic. While many Supers fell into easily classifiable categories where they could be lumped together, the fact that no two were ever completely alike could lead to some strange powers. Lorikeet was either very smart or very strong; she’d have never made it out of the HCP without one of those traits. That didn’t necessarily mean her power would easily fit into an existing team’s dynamic, though.

As Aether talked about founding her team cooperatively with the rest of her group, being chosen as leader by a vote she had no hand in, Owen’s thoughts drifted back to the founding of the Gentle Hammers. Unlike those with odd powers, any of the Hammers could have easily been worked in to any other team’s arsenal; there was never a shortage of need for those who could lift trucks and shrug off bullets. Still, they’d decided to band together anyway, opting to go out and try and run things their way rather than being relegated to the role of mindless muscle, a stereotype thrust on strongmen since the earliest days of Hero work.

The sound of applause jerked Owen out of his stupor, and he realized that Aether had finished her response. He joined in the clapping, better late than never, as Lorikeet headed back to her seat and a young man wearing a black and gold color scheme stepped forward. There was something a bit archaic about the design woven into his costume, though Owen didn’t have the historical sense to place where it was from. When the man reached the front, he scanned the panel, eyes narrowing a touch when he saw Titan, then continuing on until he was staring Jeremiah dead on.

“My name is Hop-Frog, and yes, it’s after the Poe story. First year intern, graduated from West Private University. My question is for Jeremiah. As a fellow Subtlety Hero and a proud gay man, did you find the Hero world a welcoming place once you were out of your intern years?”

“Hell no,” Jeremiah replied immediately. “And it started long before I got out of my internship. But if I’m being honest here, the Subtlety thing has been far more a roadblock for me than being gay. Lots of Hero teams out there understand what it is we do and bring to the table, so they’ll let us join up, but it’s always with that attitude. ‘Letting us,’ like we’re being done a favor by getting the chance to come on board and help save lives while keeping our team safe. I’m not going to paint with a wide brush and say every team is this way; in fact, I know firsthand that the Subtlety Hero on Transcendental Justice considers herself a valued member of the group. That said, it’s still the way of thinking in a lot of the older, more established teams. Your options are either to put up with it, find a group that treats you right, or start your own damn team. In case you couldn’t tell, I opted for the latter.”

Hop-Frog started to head back to his seat, but Jeremiah held up a hand to stop him. “Now, as for how being gay has impacted my career, I won’t sugarcoat that either. There have been times when I could have signed on to teams with clout and prestige, and all I would have had to do is put up with some other member who had very firm thoughts about people’s sexuality. Luckily, I had enough pull to tell them to go fuck themselves, but that’s not the case for everyone. And this has gotten much better as time passed and the older opinions died out. Were I trying to make it as an openly gay Hero even a few decades back, it probably would have been a whole different story. Back then, even admitting a simple truth about yourself cost people their entire life’s work. It forced a lot of good people to live lies, all so they could keep doing what they loved: keeping innocent people safe.”

His speech over, Jeremiah lowered his hand and let the intern hustle back to his seat. The worker called another up another Hero, who scrambled down the aisle. Up on stage, Owen looked down to Jeremiah, who made no effort to meet his eyes. Though Titan hadn’t been mentioned once in the discussion, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind what Jeremiah had been really talking about. It was a kind, unexpected show of unity.

And a nice reminder to Owen that not everyone wearing a mask thought the worst of him.

82.

 After the panel wrapped, there was a quick flurry of goodbyes as the others had to hurry off to their teams or next events. Unlike Owen, they were still immersed in the life, and that meant downtime was a rare commodity. It was an aspect of being a full-time Hero he remembered fondly, yet wasn’t particularly burning to recapture. Perhaps it was age, or more likely the perspective that came with living through the years, but Owen was content to spend a portion of his time outside the field. At least, so long as he had his team to spend it with.

He flipped through his schedule to see what was next on the agenda. Lunch with Hexcellent wouldn’t be for another hour, unless she managed to slip out early, which seemed like at least a fifty percent shot. After that he just had some minor personal appearance work until things wound down. Galvanize hadn’t been lying; the first day really was set up to be light and let everyone get comfortable. Lacking anything pressing, Owen decided to make good on his word and go check on Bubble Bubble. The guards Mordent had paid for were no doubt top notch, but that wasn’t really why he needed to be there. Owen was meant to be a comforting presence for her more than a deterrent for someone with a lot of lip and little wit.

Weaving his way through the myriad of tents and booths that were still springing up like weeds, it took Owen a good fifteen minutes to find Bubble Bubble’s booth. Once he did, however, there was no mistaking it for any other. The fact that she was standing in front of it certainly helped, but not as much as the half-dozen reporters holding cameras and swarming around her. She was inexpressive, face well-controlled as she talked to a handsome man wearing clothes that probably cost more than Owen’s first car.

Whatever they were saying was lost as Owen moved closer. The other reporters caught sight of the massive man’s approach and hurried over; Bubble Bubble and her debate partner were half-dragged along with them. Cameras were raised and small microphones thrust upward as they tried to surround him.

“Titan! Any comment on Corbin Calhoun’s claims that your teammate has fabricated her telling of the events?”

“Do you know Bubble Bubble to be a habitual liar, or is this her first time?”

“Have you seen her use powers to manipulate other men?”

Owen nearly took a step back, bowled over by the wave of questions and accusations, especially since it was the first time he could remember that they weren’t all barbs aimed at him. To his great surprise, he wished they were. At least he was used to this sort of scrutiny; he’d far rather handle it than let it fall on Bubble Bubble’s shoulders. His eyes swept the small crowd once more, and this time they locked on the handsome man with the wide, clearly artificial smile. This no doubt was Corbin Calhoun, the one who made so much trouble for Bubble Bubble, who had apparently shown up to ambush her and undermine her efforts at fixing her image. It was a bold move; Owen had to give him that. Ordinarily, he respected bold moves. Today, he was feeling less charitable.

“Whoa now. Getting in to ‘he said, she said’ arguments is no good for anyone,” Owen replied, raising his hands and gently parting the crowd. He stepped through them, getting between Bubble Bubble and Corbin then laying a hand on each of their shoulders. “I know Bubble Bubble to be an honest, capable young woman who has never given me any reason to doubt her.”

Corbin opened his mouth, and Owen squeezed ever-so-slightly, using all the self-control he had to keep from snapping this man’s bones beneath his fingers. “But I also want to take this chance to pay my respects to Mr. Calhoun, who is showing the Hero community so much faith and respect with his recent accusations.”

“Excuse me, he’s
what
?” Bubble Bubble snapped, whipping her head up to stare at Owen, who merely smiled knowingly at her before returning his gaze to Corbin.

“Corbin Calhoun is a brave man, one who clearly believes in the Heroes and what they stand for. Most people would be too afraid to make such bold, viral accusations about Supers keeping their ‘secret powers’ hidden from the world. Insinuating that a woman who uses her clearly-documented abilities to help save lives is also concealing powers of mental manipulation is, to be frank, illogical and unfounded. Mr. Calhoun, however, has chosen to exercise his freedom of speech, even though doing it like this is likely to draw the ire of every one of the pro-Super organizations and syndicates out there, legal and otherwise. Mr. Calhoun is trusting in us, in the Hero system, to keep him safe from all those people, even as he slanders our very species, and I want to thank him for that. It shows that he completely trusts in the Heroes of this great country, and believes that we will be able to keep him safe.”

The blood from Corbin’s face had begun to drain halfway through Owen’s speech, and as he stared up at the seemingly genuine smile plastered on Titan’s face, his legs wobbled the slightest bit. It was only Owen’s powerful hands that kept the man from fainting outright. Titan held him up through the dizzy spell until the world famous director had partially recovered.

“Anyway, if you’ll excuse us, I just came to get my teammate for a quick briefing. Duty always calls, you know how it is.” Owen released Corbin, who was swarmed by reporters as Owen carefully led Bubble Bubble away from the booth. Her guards tried to follow, but he waved them off. She needed some space, and he aimed to give it to her.

“Titan. . . was that a threat?” Bubble Bubble glanced over her shoulder to where the small crowd of reporters had turned on the man who brought them, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“It was simply the truth. There are groups out there who take umbrage with Supers being slandered, and not all of them are the type to handle things legally. I doubt any would really have the balls to go after that high profile of a target, but you never know. He’s certainly not helping himself,” Owen explained.

“Yeah, but it still really felt like you were threatening him. I can’t point to a word you used, or anything you did, I just know if I’d been in his shoes I think I might have pissed myself.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Owen told her. “You’d have held up far better than he did. Now, let’s go duck into the private parking area, then I’ll grab Hexcellent and we’ll all go get cheese fries.”

Bubble Bubble laughed softly and patted Owen on the arm. “You are nothing like the Titan I first expected.”

Owen grinned, nothing like the fake smile he’d shown Corbin and the reporters, and gave her a quick side-armed hug. “That might be the nicest thing anyone on this team has said to me.”

83.

Lunch was a longer affair than Owen expected, though he really should have been prepared for such: Hexcellent had every intention of eating her way through the fair under the guise of team building. By the time she was finally done, a small stack of greasy paper plates had been collected in her hands like trophies: trophies she quickly dumped into a trash can as she hurried to her next event. Bubble Bubble, having taken the opportunity to down a funnel cake and corn dog herself, also returned to her booth once she got word the reporters had cleared out.

Owen, once again with time on his hands, took the chance to actually stroll through the event and check out some of the various attractions. He was getting accustomed to the stares and whispers, so much so that there were times he didn’t even notice them. Instead, he focused on the bevy of booths and tents spread across the landscape, gazing in wonderment at the well-organized attractions meant to wring as much money as possible for charity.

Autograph booths were by far the most popular and frequent attractions, spread carefully across the fairgrounds so that the sprawling lines didn’t cause a complete bottleneck. Just as in the morning, the vast majority of these were manned by Supers from various sports teams, mostly younger players of whom Owen was only cursorily aware.

As he walked by an area devoid of people but roped off in preparation for what would be a massive, snaking line, Owen caught sight of a very familiar name emblazoned across the banner stretched above the lone table at the end of the line. The Comet, Jade Norris, was going to be present on the final day for an autograph session. Now retired, she was still a legend in her own right, and Owen found himself flipping through his schedule to see if he had any free time that day. Maybe if he could get here early enough, he could snag the former football star’s autograph. One look at the heavily-inked block of activities made it clear that he’d be lucky to squeeze in time to piss; standing in a massive line was way out of the question. Pity. Owen had a feeling that would have been quite the thrill.

Just past the area blocked off for Jade’s signing Owen spotted a familiar figure slipping into a white tent with a red cross on it. He contemplated pretending not to have noticed, but then headed toward it anyway. If someone was hurt, he felt like he should acknowledge it, even if that person was Zone.

Owen pulled back the medical tent’s flap to reveal a wide space filled with air-conditioning units and cots. Most were empty, though a couple hosted people who looked as though they’d had too much sun, fun, or rum and were trying to sleep it off. In the corner, resting a large bag of ice against his left knee, was Zone, who balked as soon as he saw Owen’s massive silhouette in the entrance. Zone didn’t bother trying to run or flee; he merely tried to look as sullen as possible while Owen carefully made his way through the tent.