He tossed his tablet onto the chair beside him, relieved his facemask hid his disappointment.
They were good heroes. They talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk when it came down to it. His passionate pep-talks didn't carry the day. That only happens in the movies.
He thought about the skirmish last evening. Hundreds of heroes leapt at the chance to stop a small gang of villains from robbing a bank flush with funds from the influx of business brought to the region. They were ambitious villains, Starmaster had to give them credit for that, but severely dim-witted.
Who attacks a bank when there is a super-hero competition in town?
The so-called Bad-Ass Brigands put up their hands up the instant they poked their heads outside the gaping hole they created in the side of the bank. The videos of the surrender posted on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube hit viral within minutes, renaming the villains as the Epic-Fail Four.
If I could only get my team to have the same dedication to fight in the League War as they showed last night.
Across the hallway, a couple of kids dragged their parents toward a video display of B.A.D.G.E agents in action. A young boy pointed and gestured at one screen, intent to catch his father's undivided attention to something on the screen. So intent that he didn't notice that the balls of ice-cream falling from the cone in his other hand until it was too late. He began to cry out, but before Starmaster could telekinetically catch the descending dairy orbs, the frozen dessert disappeared and reappeared back where they belonged.
An unfamiliar costumed hero stepped over and knelt before the young boy. "You need to be more careful, kiddo. Never let good ice cream get away from you."
Starmaster marveled at the simplicity of her act and the stupidity of his concerns. Heroes should always be more dedicated, more interested in doing right than winning at some tournament. Being kind should be the standard by which a hero is measured, not how well they could knock another hero out.
It wasn't wrong for his teammates to be less engaged in the tournament than he was. That's their decision. Their ambition, or lack thereof, wasn't for him to control. It was up to them.
But it wasn't wrong for him to want to lead a league to victory either. Winning wasn't about being the top dog, but being a part of something bigger. He enjoyed the challenge, the measurable competition of equals. What he needed to do was find more people who felt as he did. Heroes who wanted to excel as he wanted to, against the Legion AND competitively.
If you build it, they will come...
He started The Star Force league, but he realized founding it and building it were two very different things. His work was just starting, and there would be hard choices ahead. Mistakes and failures. Two steps forward and one step back. Maybe even two or three steps back from time to time.
But given time, hard work, and even a bit of luck, he could do it. But if he was going to succeed, he couldn't waste energy carrying dead weight either. He sighed deeply, knowing there would be decisions that would need to be made that wouldn't be easy. Conflicts, both planned and unplanned to face.
Starmaster brought his fist to rest below his chin, deep in thought. Am I ready for this?
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