Generation Next: A Superhero Adventure (The Pantheon Saga Book 3) Read online

  Those genuine emotions pulled Quinn’s thoughts to Annie, who’d always looked out for her. And vice versa. If Annie was in a bad place, Quinn had to help her. She pushed that turmoil aside as Jamie detailed creating the first Extreme Teens roster seven years ago.

  “The first team was built around her.” Jamie sailed in with a vicious overhead swat.

  Quinn ducked, nearly getting smacked in the forehead.

  “POINT!” Jamie cried.

  Quinn stared back at the executive, who looked slightly demented. She tossed the ping-pong ball back to Jamie without protest. “Care to explain?”

  Jamie served the ball so forcefully that Quinn almost shied away from a return serve. “We made sure Katie liked each teammate and had chemistry with them.” She braced herself and returned Quinn’s serve with a backhand paddle. “Then we discovered Luke Shinoda.”

  Quinn rolled her eyes, serving back. “Blur.”

  “Yup!” Jamie nodded, dialed into the ping-pong game she was winning. “Those two’s chemistry was unreal! So, we built the team around #BLISSY.”

  Quinn sent back the ball. Jamie swung her paddle with savage force. “POINT!”

  The ball rocketed past Quinn. She walked over and grabbed the ball from the floor as Jamie dove into the Blur/Missy saga. Missy Magnificent’s story wasn’t complete without covering her near four-year relationship to the speedster Blur. Even after their split two years ago, gossip blogs and magazines held out hope for a reunion. Quinn couldn’t handle the absurdity her research had unearthed. Some crazypants fans, aka Extreme Teamsters, thought Missy and Blur were secretly together with kids.

  “Who created the Missy Magnificent persona?” Quinn asked, now ten points behind Jamie.

  The programming exec considered this while casually slapping away Quinn’s serves. “The creative team behind the Extreme Teens concept. They wanted an All-American girl next door who could kick ass. Kinda like Lady Liberty and American Maiden.”

  Another overhand swing, forcing Quinn to duck or lose her head.

  “POINT!” Jamie was bouncing like some prizefighter, twirling her paddle. “Wanna another game? Let’s play another!” She reached for a new ping-pong ball.

  Quinn, huffing and wheezing, placed her paddle on the table. She needed breath to interview. “How about...walking and talking?”

  Jamie warmed to that idea.

  As they prepared to leave, Quinn scowled at Colin choking back laughs. “That was amazing!”

  “Thought I was gonna lose an eye,” Quinn murmured, watching her volume with Jamie nearby. They found a vacant upper floor and strolled about while Quinn and Jamie talked. According to the programming executive, Missy’s first two and a half years on the Extreme Teens were her best. Quinn agreed. After the team had debuted, Missy soon became America’s sweetheart.

  “But the cracks started forming.” When asked for the cause, Jamie replied instantly. “Katie’s moneygrubbing redneck parents.” She didn’t mask her hatred for Mr. and Mrs. Epperson. “Katie became the sole breadwinner at thirteen. Her family exploited that poor girl, letting OWE work her to death.” Jamie hugged herself, unable to face the camera. “Katie did everything without complaint because she loved them and loved being a hero. Eventually she had to get emancipated at fifteen.”

  Jamie’s openness surprised Quinn. “Without her parents, the fame got to Katie’s head. Then the partying…” The programming exec paled. “The wrong people entered Katie’s life to leech off her.”

  Quinn found Jamie’s abdication of responsibility cowardly and gross. She kept that judgment from her tone, but not her question. “Shouldn’t OWE have protected Missy?”

  Jamie bristled. “OWE protected her as best we could. You think we’d have let her within fifty yards of that super-zero she just married?” She sucked her teeth in disgust, referring to Missy’s husband, Montgomery Major. “We forced Katie into rehab twice. Then Luke ended things with her.” Jamie’s shoulders sagged from the sad memories. “That broke Katie.”

  Quinn softened, fleeting guilt churning inside her. “Then what?”

  Jamie’s sigh was ragged with pain. “Katie got swallowed by Missy Magnificent. She started hating being on the Extreme Teens with Luke still there and was acting out. Season One of Extreme Dreams was our highest rated because of her antics. Behind the scenes was a nightmare.” Jamie rolled her eyes. “Missy’s teammates got sick of her behavior, which got their parents involved. Katie’s declining mission performances from either being drunk or high were putting them in jeopardy.” Her voice trailed off.

  Quinn gave her no breathing room. “How bad was her partying?” She wanted to make Jamie squirm for her neglect of Missy Magnificent.

  The executive exhaled loudly. “She OD’d at some party a few years back.”

  Quinn went cold all over. Yet she had to dig deeper. “How did the team and OWE respond?” Distress tremored through her question.

  “We staged an intervention.” Jamie's sad smile humanized her in Quinn’s eyes. She looked exhausted speaking on this. “Missy responded by getting out of her contract. Felt she could be a bigger star without the Extreme Teens.” Jamie straightened in posture as her features hardened. “But now, our crisis team won’t be there to edit out her stupidity and self-destructiveness.”

  Following that, Jamie was done with this interview.

  Quinn couldn’t blame her, feeling dirty herself. Would all this dirt make a better profile? She’d figure that out in editing. Getting details from Missy’s former teammates might work better.

  “I can get Roadblock and Cyberpunk,” Jamie said after they returned to her office. “Maybe Safeguard. The others are fighting weredragons in Seattle.”

  “Weredragons,” Quinn repeated in bald shock.

  Jamie shrugged. “Weredragons are a thing now. And come in harems.”

  An hour later, Quinn sat in a conference room with the Extreme Teen members J.R. McAllister, aka Roadblock, and Joven Santos, aka Cyberpunk. Roadblock was hulking rocky muscle, like some statue with a moving mouth and human eyes. Creepy. Now eighteen, Roadblock was two years from aging out of the Extreme Teens.

  Cyberpunk, short and skinny, had a shock of black hair. His lower body was sheathed in gold metals patterned in dark circuity veins. More machine than boy. Quinn fought down interest to ask about Cyberpunk, refocusing on Missy Magnificent.

  “We loved Missy on the team.” Roadblock's voice was like stones colliding.

  Cyberpunk nodded, golden eyes glittering. “She threw me this huge surprise party in NYC for my thirteenth birthday.” He smiled recalling that. Quinn instinctively smiled back, tickled by his nostalgia.

  Roadblock nodded, rubbing his massive hands. “She was like a big sister. But fame broke her brain.” His chipper mood sobered. “I’m glad she’s gone.”

  Hearing this surprised Quinn. “Really?”

  “Oh yeah.” Cyberpunk shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable speaking ill about Missy. “Katie wasn't happy on the team anymore. Was no longer reliable on field missions.”

  Quinn shivered. Besides seeing the Extreme Teens in action during her Vanguard interviews, she’d watched YouTube clips of them fighting D.A.R.K., Power Posse, or Warcry. A pack of adolescents battling such dangerous threats, supers or not, had never sat well with Quinn. It was a miracle none of them had been killed. “How was working with Missy on non-superhero projects?”

  Roadblock grinned at his friend. “Collaborating on her pop album was fun. She loved that.”

  “Not a good singer, though,” Cyberpunk remarked frankly.

  The next interview was Safeguard, who’d won a reality contest to replace Missy on the Extreme Teens. Born Bethany Sabins, Safeguard was slim and sunkissed with bleach-blonde hair and cover girl good looks. After greeting Quinn, she charmed the reporter into taking a selfie, one of Extreme Teams habits during battles or public appearances. “#SuperheroSelfie!” Safeguard declared, snapping a photo with her big smile.

  “She i
nspired me to be a hero,” Safeguard said when asked about Missy. “Missy was amazing.”

  Though she spouted bland platitudes, Quinn liked the girl’s laid-back, hippie vibe. Missy Magnificent’s polar opposite. “Missy has called you a pathetic, bootleg imitation of her. How’d that make you feel?” Yes, the question was meant to trigger, but Quinn wouldn’t sugarcoat Missy’s disdain.

  Safeguard’s smile dimmed for a half-second. “It hurt my feelings,” she explained, measuring her words. “I also know it came from a place of pain. I wish Missy well on her new journey.”

  Safeguard’s media training impressed Quinn. That reply made the teen superhero look empathetic while highlighting Missy’s demons. The reporter felt good wrapping these interviews on that note.

  “Bethany.”

  Quinn turned and flinched at the new arrival.

  Safeguard beamed. “Luke! Thought you were in Seattle with the others.”

  Blur stepped into the conference room like he owned it. His violet aerodynamic suit was covered in various endorsements like some NASCAR suit on steroids. His spiky black hair was windblown from running. Blur graced his teammate with a smirk. “We kicked ass, took them down. When I heard Quinn Bauer was here, I ran as fast as I could. Which is, you know, very fast.” Blur turned to Quinn with a strange expression. “Can we chat a minute?”

  Quinn never got a chance to decline before a whirlwind enveloped her, hallways streaking by superfast. The next moment she knew, Quinn found herself on the OWE Tower rooftop.

  Just like at Carmelo’s a few months ago, Quinn’s knees buckled under a gush of nausea. “Holy rolly moly!” She struggled to recover her scrambled wits.

  Blur stood over her, unsympathetic. “You ruined everything!”

  Quinn looked up, momentarily lost. Then, she remembered. “This again?”

  Blur ranted on like she hadn’t spoken. “Mikaela and I would be together if she didn’t listen to you!”

  Quinn climbed upright. It was bad enough that this arrogant little brat had snatched her away without permission. But while she was working? “Luke…” Quinn barely suppressed her budding rage. “I’m not doing this. Take me back downstairs.”

  Blur folded his arms defiantly, a scowl on his handsome features. “Maybe I leave you up here?”

  Quinn gulped at the threat. Yet she wouldn’t cave to him. “Real mature. What will Mikaela think?”

  “Make her give me another chance!” Blur exploded.

  “Tell her yourself,” Quinn threw back. Did he think Seraph was her puppet that she controlled?

  Blur dropped his hands and sighed. “She won’t return my calls or texts.”

  Quinn was ecstatic hearing that. Good! But Blur wouldn’t like her celebrating. She groaned at what she was about to do. “Do you love her, Luke?”

  Blur’s petulance bled away, revealing sincere yearning. “More than anything,” he admitted quietly.

  That reached Quinn. “Then give Mikaela space.” She spoke from a sympathetic place. De-escalate and conversate, as her Uncle Alonzo always said. “If you love someone, set them free.”

  Blur looked insulted. “That’s stupid. How can I love them If they’re gone?”

  Quinn rolled her eyes. Not a Rhodes scholar, this one… “It shows you care more about their needs instead of just your own.”

  Blur pondered this, wind tousling his spiky black hair further. “Fine,” he grunted, one abrupt word to end the discussion.

  Another whoosh of motion, and Quinn found herself back where she’d been minutes earlier. Now her stomach was so queasy she nearly painted the conference room walls with her breakfast.

  Colin jumped back in shock, then studied Quinn across the conference room with worried eyes, which she waved off.

  Blur shooed Safeguard off despite Quinn not being done with her interview. On a positive note, he decided to give an interview. “Jamie will handle any release forms if it’s a problem.” A Blur cameo for this profile would be HUGE, as the early parts of Missy’s and Blur’s careers were inextricably linked.

  “We dated a few years,” Blur answered, nonchalant while manspreading in his seat. “It was our first relationship. Despite what haters might say, we loved each other. Just like me and L.U.N.A.”

  Bull caca, Quinn fumed, knowing his relationship with the Korean popstar was a showmance to boost her music career. “When did you decide to end things with Missy?”

  “Her OD’ing...” Blur looked haunted. “Scared the shit outta me.” He cringed at the slipup. “Sorry.”

  Quinn had to smile at his boyish reaction. “You're fine."

  Blur continued, elbows resting on his knees. “When I first met Katie”—his expression turned affectionate— “she was the happiest person in the world and came from nothing. After becoming Missy Magnificent, getting millions of fans and crazy rich.” Blur’s affection evaporated. “She was miserable, no matter how hard I tried.”

  Quinn’s heart ached hearing this. She supposed a devastating celebrity breakup was like a plane crash while the entire world watched. “Have you and Missy been in contact since her departure?”

  Blur shook his head. “The day Missy quit was the last time we spoke,” he answered. "No marriage or secret babies."

  Jamie Goldstein reappeared from the side, mouthing animatedly to wrap things up. Quinn got in one last question. “What would you say to her if you could talk today?”

  Blur looked directly at Colin’s camera, sadness dominating that pretty face. “I’m sorry if I’ve caused you pain.” The longing in his words was more tidal wave than undercurrent. “I wish you the best with all my heart. I'll always treasure the time we shared and hope you did also.”

  Quinn would’ve found those words incredibly sweet…if intended for Missy Magnificent. “Thanks for your time, Blur.” She rose.

  Blur returned her handshake, avoiding Quinn’s accusing glare.

  “So,” Colin prodded as they exited OWE Tower later. “What did you and Blur discuss in private?”

  Quinn knew she had to say something, just not the truth. “How much I hate speedsters.”

  Chapter 18

  “Why are we here?” Hugo grumbled.

  “Enjoying your days off,” Simon replied, so bright and shiny he was begging to get slapped. “With school activities.” The pair sat in the nosebleed seats of Paso High’s football stadium, packed with rowdy students despite today’s overcast weather.

  Hugo adjusted his short-sleeve Henley idly, already over this. “I could be training at the junkyard.”

  “Or…” Simon gestured at the football field. “Enjoy powderpuff action with your boys!”

  On the field were two female teams about to play flag football. Cheers (regular cheerleaders), tennis and volleyball versus Songs (dancing cheerleaders), softball and basketball. Ticket sales went to Paso High Cheer Groups.

  Hugo reclined back, considering his situation. “I paid five dollars. Guess I’ll stay,” he decided. “Especially since everyone’s mad at me.” Things remained awkward between Hugo and the other Fab Phenoms. He’d boycotted dance practice in protest to getting booted form their next performance, causing more hurt feelings all around.

  “Not everyone.” Simon popped jellybeans in his mouth. “Okay, Wale’s always mad. Everyone else misses you. They just feel you’re unreliable.”

  Hugo exhaled heatedly. “Because of my internship…which they don’t know about.” Three days had passed since Lady Liberty making him take time off. Hugo’s injuries had healed soon after his disastrous mission. But his pride remained wounded.

  “My internship,” Hugo continued, “is going to be my career.” Time off reinforced his desire to be a superhero. “But not as an…assistant.” He shook his stubbly head.

  “Tell your boss,” Simon pressed.

  “How, after everything she’s done for me? What if she forces me to stay in that role?”

  Simon processed this, elbows on knees. “A wise man on the Interwebs once said, there aren’
t rewards for settling on what you don’t want.”

  “You’re right.” Hugo smiled, showing teeth. “But my boss is really intimidating.”

  Simon made a face. “Little bit!”

  Hugo then spotted Raphael and Brent marching up the bleachers. He gave Simon a warning look to table any superhero talk.

  “We’ve got snacks,” Raphael announced, carrying bags of candies. Greetings were exchanged. Hugo stood, giving Brent a handshake/side hug. At least they were back on good terms.

  On the field, a coin toss from Jonah Clark, the school mascot was about to happen. Captains from both teams approached center field. From one side came McKenna Phillips from Cheers and Brie from tennis.

  On the other side, Chandra Jones and Jordana from softball approached.

  Hugo’s insides curdled. Thankfully Taylor from Songs wasn’t playing, or she’d be on Jodie’s team. Sometimes Hugo missed being a dateless wonder.

  Simon clapped his hands. “This looks exciting!” Hugo glared at him.

  The four girls stood inches apart. Brie and McKenna wore Bearcats football home jerseys, sporting high ponytails. Jordana and Chandra wore Bearcats football away jerseys. While Chandra wore smaller braids, Jodie’s longer cornrows spilled down her back. The softball duo sported red paint on their cheeks, ready for battle.

  Hugo couldn’t help dialing up his hearing to eavesdrop. McKenna, bronzed and buxom with lazy coppery curls, bantered playfully with Chandra.

  Jordana gave Brie a smug half-smirk. “What’s popping?” Her greeting sounded like a challenge.

  Brie folded her arms with a scornful eyeroll. “Is someone talking, Mac? I just see a blowup doll beside Chandra.” She and McKenna cackled.

  “Why so mad, Breezy?” Jodie taunted, arms spread.

  Brie’s nostrils flared. “You know the reason.”

  “What’s the reason?” Jodie prodded.