Finale

Dante Greer woke up when he found it difficult to breathe, the smell of smoke hanging heavily in the air. “Yo, Mom! Dad!,” he called out as he got out of bed, “We got a fire!” When he rounded the corner, he pounded loudly on his sister’s room, “Hey Sis, ya gotta get up. Fire!” His family groggily got out of their rooms and when they realized the situation, scrambled to get all they could and race outside. As Dante raced down the hall of his apartment building, he began knocking furiously on all the doors, “Fire! Everybody get out! Fire!”, then followed his family down the stairs. Once he exited the building, he was surprised to see his family and all neighbors already gathered on the grass.

This isn’t right. People didn’t make it outside this fast.

They calmly stood in one bug crowd, looking straight at him with curiously wide smiles. He also noticed that the firefighters were already present somehow; like the rest of the crowd, they too were looking at him with wide grins.

Why are they just standing there? Why aren’t they putting out the fire?

Then the crowd started to clap. Dante looked back and forth between his family, neighbors and firefighters for any sort of explanation. Since they were still looking at him while smiling and clapping, he was able to understand it was in his honor but that did little to explain the situation. He stared at them curiously and it was then that he noticed Ryan Bennings and Craig Levison in the crowd, also clapping and smiling.

No, this isn’t right. They weren’t there. This isn’t how I remember it.

It was then that he heard the familiar voice of Da Mutt, “Yo, that’s my boy, Dante! He saved everyone, ya’ll.”

No, not this again. Please, not again.

Dante began to turn in the direction of the voice.

No, don’t turn around. Please do anything but turn around.

It was then that he saw four decomposing bodies smiling and clapping for him. Despite their rotting and torn flesh, he recognized Mutt, Kyle, Kaley and Alexis.

No. No no no no no. Please.

“You’re a hero, Dante,” Kyle said happily.

I can’t do this no more.

“Thank you, Dante,” Alexis called out proudly.

Wake up!

Kaley rushed toward him happily.

WAKE UP!

She raised her arms, ready for an embrace, “We love you so much, Dante.”

When he sat up in bed, he was back in his home in Baltimore where he had been for the past several days. He had trouble sleeping enough as it was but the nightmares didn’t help. They were usually concerning his deceased teammates and when it wasn’t about that, it was K’lgotha showing up to finish him off despite him being equally dead.

After The Resurgence, he was brought home to his parents who had trouble understanding his needs and it didn’t help that he didn’t know what those beeds were any better than they did. The government paid for a few sessions with Dr Ansari in New York, a psychologist who specialized in metahumans and those adjacent to them. He met her online as usual, he in his room and her in her office.

“How are you sleeping, Dante?,” she asked.

“I’m not,” he said plainly, “I honestly don’t care at this point. When I sleep, all I have is nightmares anyway.”

“You need sleep and more importantly, you deserve sleep.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged and began looking around his room, avoiding eye contact.

“Dante?,” she leaned toward her camera, “You deserve it. You deserve everything anyone else has. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Remember, when we suffer from Survivor’s Guilt, we often feel a lack of self-worth. You need to be aware of what you are entitled to. Have you been doing your self-affirmation exercises every morning?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you forget or do you sometimes not feel like it?”

“Both.”

“That’s alright. Do you mind if I go through some affirmations with you?”

“I guess.”

“I think you’re smart, kind, a good friend, a good son and a good big brother. As a hero, you and your friends took down a ship and saved the president. As a hero, you stopped the enemy who attacked Upstart Manor. As a hero, you saved your family and neighbors from a fire before you ever got powers.”

“I still don’t feel like that… I killed the guy who attacked our mansion. I used a move that Ryan Bennings taught me but by the time I did, everyone else was dead. What if I thought to do it earlier in the fight?”

“In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to think straight, especially for a young person. There’s also no point in asking what could have been. If you did things differently, the outcome could have been the same or even worse for all you know. There’s no healing in that.”

“I know but I can’t help it.”

“When intrusive thoughts occur, it’s never easy to get rid of them. Confrontation can help that… Have you thought more about going to the Memorial Service?”

“Yeah, I’ll go. I missed all the funerals but I should go to this one.”

“I think it’ll be beneficial for you to do so, Dante.”

The Upstart Memorial Service was held in LA, not far from the destroyed mansion. Dante was flown out along with his parents and sister and they were all seated in the front row. Behind them, Mutt’s foster parents, Kyle’s family, Kaley’s mother and Alexis’ parents and siblings were also seated, not that they said much to one another. Craig Levison was nearby and Dante noticed he had a distant look in his eyes and wondered what he was going through. On the stage, a publicity shot of the Upstarts hung neatly, showcasing the entire team. Below it, Kyle’s father was at the podium. Dante had trouble paying attention but he caught the central message; Senator Jackson’s voice cracked as he pontificated on the dangers of metahumans and he was “resolved to address the situation”. Dante could tell that, whatever lesson he learned from the past few months, it wasn’t the right one.

“Dante, they want you to go next,” his mother whispered, “Remember, you don’t have to do this is if you don’t want to.”

Dante took the stage, slowly approached the podium and looked out at the crowd where he could clearly see the faces of the parents and Levison. They were distraught, as expected, but he wondered if they felt guilty. They pushed their children into the situation, one way or another. Some wanted fame and others wanted political advantages but the outcome was the same. He grasped the podium and after he croaked out a barely audible, “I…,” he choked. Words were lost in his throat. Did these adults truly not understand what they did? He wanted to call them out but he also knew any outburst would be attributed to emotion and the result would be disrespectful sympathy. His body began to tense up as his anger grew. None of the people responsible apologized for what happened to them, nor were there any consequences for their actions it seemed. The assassin who killed his teammates was dead and that satisfied them enough that no self-reflection was warranted. His body began to vibrate with kinetic energy and he could feel his fingers digging into the podium. He could see the people in the audience looking concerned as the podium began to crumble in his hands and the stage shook violently. Above, the photo of five happy teenagers smiled at him mockingly. The entire building shook and bits of the ceiling began to fall as people sprang from their seats. Dante grit his teeth and the podium finally gave way and kinetic energy enveloped his body. He let out a rage-fueled roar, raised his fist and brought it to the floor which emitted a bright light and…

“Dante?”

He snapped to attention and looked up at his mother.

“It’s your turn to speak… if you want to.”

He sighed to himself, “I don’t think I’m feeling up to it.”

He stood up and quietly left, the audience watching him closely as he exited the building. When he came out to the parking lot, he saw a familiar face: Ryan Bennings.

“Ryan?,” Dante approached curiously, “What are you doing here?”

“Levison’s people wouldn’t let me in,” Ryan sounded tired and his usual bravado was gone, “But I still wanted to come out here and say that I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? You were like the only adult who tried to stop all this,” he put his hands in his pocket, “If anything, some of those people need to say sorry to you.”

“Maybe but it’s doubtful I’ll be getting that apology any time soon,” he crossed his arms, “Anyway… I’m sorry that I didn’t do enough to protect all of you.”

“You did what you could. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“It’s what I’m good at,” a bittersweet smile spread across his face, “You should know I’m putting a team together. Hopefully, it will dissuade any future TV producers from having bad ideas. If all goes well, it will also halt any future alien invasions before they happen.”

“Who- Who’s gonna be in it?”

“Not you in case you were afraid I was gonna ask. No, everyone’s of age. I put some feelers out. Some people I know will join and some I know will refuse. The rest? I guess we’ll see. I’m inviting everyone out next week. We’ll have a big get together and a membership drive, then we’ll see who bites.”

“Can I come?”

Ryan cocked his head curiously, “Sure but… may I ask why?”

“I dunno. I just wanna see that there’s something better out there. It’ll help me confront some things if I come to the first meeting, I think.”

“Do what ya gotta do,” he raised his hand to shake, “Believe it or not, things will get better.”

“Yeah,” Dante looked him in the eyes, “Things have to get better eventually.”

Coming Soon – The Commission