The Badges vs The Commission part 2

Ryan Bennings strolled down the cylindrical metal hallway inside Hyperion’s Light. Once he came to the ship’s meeting room, he was greeted by his team, The Commission. There was the Cavalier, Alysa Saraki, Astra Machina, Shujai, and Dafne Mansoor, aka Intrepid. Mansoor joined the Commission some time previously as a spy for the IMD, a fact that was unsettling her more and more, the longer she was on the team. She had previously overheard a conversation between Ryan and the Cavalier and knew what the meeting was going to be about. She hated spying on them, but she hoped to change their minds about what they would do next.

“Thanks for getting everyone together, Cav,” Ryan began. “I know we just completed a mission and you’re all itching to go home, but Dante Greer is in trouble.”

“What’s wrong?” Alysa Saraki asked, “What happened?”

“He’s getting drafted as a super soldier. It’s a loophole from the old Upstarts Program.”

“I believe there are channels to go through to get out of the Draft,” Intrepid spoke up.

“There are, but that’s gonna take time. This situation is being pushed by Senator Jackson. They wanted an entire team of super soldiers, but with Dante being the only one left alive after the Resurgence, I get the feeling he’s doing everything in his power to get what he wants.”

“How do we help?” Astra asked.

Ryan adjusted his glasses, “For now, I hope to hide him from the military and then see what we can do to get him out of involuntary servitude.”

“It goes without saying,” the Cavalier chimed in, “Going up against a senator and the US military is gonna bring the heat on us, so if we act on this, we should put it to a vote. Me and Ryan are already on board.”

“Count me in too,” Alysa answered. “That’s some bullshit.”

“I like Dante,” Astra Machina began, “I don’t want him to be forced to do something he doesn’t want to do.”

“Great,” Ryan turned to the large U’ntari warrior seated nearby, “Shujai?”

“I’ll go along with the team’s wishes.”

“Okay, and that leaves Intrepid.”

“I think this decision is a bit too brash. It’s based more on emotion than pragmatism,” she explained. “Like Cavalier said, it’ll create legal trouble, which might make things worse for us… and Dante. I’ll have to respectfully decline this mission.”

“That’s fine,” Ryan brought his hand down, imitating a striking gabble, “We’re gonna go to Dante’s house and pick him up. We’ll let him hang out on the ship for a while and see if we can’t find some way out of this.”

“Is it possible to drop me off before you set off?” Intrepid asked. “I’d like to go home if it’s all the same to you.”

Ryan gave her a curious look, but agreed. “Sure. Wherever you like.”

“I just need to grab a few things.”

Not long after the meeting, Intrepid returned to the sleeping quarters, making sure her teammates weren’t around. She took a secured phone from her bag and quickly made an encrypted call.

In Lyon, Director Pierce of the IMD sat behind his desk in Interpol headquarters, looking over paperwork. His phone rang in a certain chime, cluing him in on who the call was from. He knew he had to be covert.

“How’s my favorite niece,” Pierce answered happily. “Having fun at school?”

“Not really, uncle.”

“Is it the principal?”

“Yes. Can we go over my homework?”

“Sure. I have a copy of the assignment here, so tell me your answers.”

“23-A. 45- C. 87-B…”. This went on for a few minutes before Intrepid quickly said her goodbyes and hung up.

Once Pierce received Intrepid’s coded message, he sprang into action. First, he spoke to Kisi Yeboah, the telepathic surveillance agent at the IMD: “Kisi, I need you to send Bronson and Alam in the Cloudburst to Dante Greer’s home. They need to escort him to the nearest safe house. I’m opening my thoughts fully. You know the address and the details of the mission, correct?”

“Yes, sir. Anything else?”

“I’d like for you to send Jones to my office as well. I’ll need her to teleport me to Washington DC.”

“Do you have an appointment, sir?”

“No. I’ll need to drop in on Senator Jackson… whether he likes it or not.”

Intrepid, meanwhile, placed her phone back in her bag and let out a sigh. She knew the score. She knew this would be her final act as a member of the Commission. Her actions were going to come to light, sooner rather than later, and they would all know what she had been up to. With her enhanced senses, she knew Ryan Bennings was standing behind her.

“We’re en route to London,” the way Ryan spoke, she could tell he was lying. “There’s one more thing I forgot to discuss. Mind coming back to the Meeting Room?”

“Sure,” she said quietly before putting on the coat she had resting on a bunk.

When she reentered the room, the team was once again seated around the table, looking confused. “So what’s this all about?” Alysa asked, “I thought we were done.”

Ryan turned to Intrepid with a stern look that wasn’t common for him, “Wanna tell `em or should I?”

She played dumb for the moment, “Maybe you should start. I’m not sure what this is about, either.”

“Fine,” Ryan turned to the team, “I caught her sending a coded message.”

“Were you spying on Intrepid?” Astra asked defensively.

“I had my reasons,” Ryan began.

“We need more than that,” Cavalier responded. “You can’t just listen in on private calls.”

“Maybe it was something important,” Astra added.

“I’ll explain,” Ryan continued. “I think she’s been reporting our actions to the IMD. I think the entire reason she joined the team was so Sean Pierce could have a spy.”

“Are you sure about this?” Shujai asked.

“To be honest, I’ve never been 100% onboard with Intrepid. You’ve all probably gathered that much with how much we went back and forth”

“You go back and forth with many people,” Astra responded quickly.

“Touché. In this case, I suspected, and so far it seems I was correct, she’s been keeping tabs on us on Pierce’s orders. When she refused to come along on this mission and briefly sent us in the opposite direction, I had a suspicion she might call Pierce so I did some sleuthing of my own.”

Astra shook her head, “I’m not sure we should jump to conclusions. It was your idea to bring one of the Badges onto the team, remember?”

“I knew Pierce wouldn’t be able to help himself,” Ryan placed his hands in his pockets, “I knew he’d be poking around, so I controlled the situation as much as possible and asked him to place one of his agents on the team, knowing they’d be used as a double agent. Keep your enemies closer and all that. I hope the rest of you understand I needed to play this close to the chest.”

“I still don’t get what’s going on,” Astra said sadly.

“You all deserve transparency,” Intrepid finally told the team, “I didn’t want to go with you to Baltimore because I knew Director Pierce would be interested in the legality of this mission,” she grew quieter, “I had you send me to London to give the IMD time to act.”

“Why’d you do that?” Alysa asked angrily.

“Bennings is right. I’ve been working for Pierce since I joined,” Intrepid admitted.

“Okay, but there’s a good reason you don’t want us in Baltimore,” Astra’s voice rose, “Right?”

“There is,” she explained, “I think it’s best to give this to the Badges in order to avoid major problems for you and Dante. The IMD care about Dante. I was in Colombia when the Upstarts crossed paths with the cartels. You were there too, Bennings.”

“I remember Colombia,” he told her.

“The IMD will help Dante, I’m sure. And we’ll do it in a way that’s legal and avoids trouble with the US military. Trust us. If you guys just back off and let us do our job, Dante will be safe.”

“We’re supposed to trust you now?” Alysa sneered.

“I really am sorry for what I’m putting you through, but I hope you’ll understand I have a duty.”

“That’s the problem with the IMD,” Ryan told her. “You’ll say you’ll do what’s right, but at the end of the day, your loyalty is with the authorities… no questions asked.”

“It’s complicated.”

“I understand your dilemma perhaps more than the others,” Shujai told her. “I know all about doing one’s duty and being conflicted. But when I cut ties with my people, there were logical consequences that I understood. You can’t expect the team to accept this.”

“I know the consequences of my actions,” she explained, “And I know I’ve broken trust.”

“Do you really?” Astra shouted, her mechanical voice cracking.

“Yes,” she answered sadly, “And I was hoping, perhaps naively, as I resign from the Commission, I might convince you not to go to Baltimore.”

“What other conclusions did you come to?” Ryan asked derisively.

Intrepid’s voice was saddened, but she had a determined gleam in her eye. “That you would try to capture me to stop me from regrouping with the Badges.”

Intrepid flew in reverse, disappearing within the halls of the ship. “Let’s go,” Ryan ordered, and the team quickly rushed after her.

Thirty seconds.

Thirty seconds was the time Intrepid had to escape. There was an open vent nearby that she had secretly unlocked for such an occasion. During her time in the Commission, she studied the layout of the ship, measuring how much time it would take to get to each escape route from any point. Her flight, enhanced senses, and physical build allowed her to navigate the exhaust ports well enough to leave the ship and the closest vent was near the Meeting Room, which would only take thirty seconds to get to – provided she didn’t get captured first.

As she flew, she understood that Astra Machina and Shujai were the most likely to catch up to her due to their flight speed. Astra, to her credit, would be reluctant to give chase and would even try to stop her friend Alysa from pursuing, if only for a few seconds. Her enhanced hearing proved this theory correct, and she knew those two would not be a problem for much of the thirty second-window. She also heard the wind picking up, showing Shujai was quickly approaching. He was far too strong for her to engage, but as she had twenty five seconds left to evade him and they were in the cramped quarters of the ship’s hallways, the conditions were optimal.

She dropped and rolled to the floor, allowing him to pass overhead for a moment. She sacrificed one second of time to press her feet against his abdomen and push. His own momentum redirected him to the farthest wall with his own strength used against him. He smashed through the metal and plasticine, falling into the next room. It would only take him five seconds to return to her location and she hoped she’d be gone by then.

While still on the floor, she rolled to the side, knowing Ryan Bennings used the jets in his shoes to fly ahead of the others. As there was an open vent leading to the exhaust system, he knew to fire his stun gun in that direction to cut off her escape – she rolled in the opposite direction to avoid getting hit. Once on her back, she produced her own stun gun from her coat and fired. The shots deflected off a forcefield, but it gave her the time she needed to move closer to the vent. She had ten seconds.

The Cavalier made his way to her next and out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Astra and Alysa were now rushing down the corridor. Meanwhile, Shujai was reemerging through the hole in the wall. She flew away from Cavalier’s electric arrow and flipped in the air, knowing Shujai would likely fire a mild bio-blast, which he did. Three seconds left. They were closing in and if any mistakes were made, she’d be captured.

She once again reached into her coat and dropped a smoke grenade on the floor. As expected, the cramped quarters worked to her advantage. The hallway filled with smoke immediately, masking her. Shujai, Ryan, and Cavalier stepped back and Alysa began a spell to blow the smoke away. Astra, still unsure of the situation, called out for everyone to stop fighting. As the smoke dissipated, the team readied themselves – there was no sign of Intrepid. She had disappeared down the exhaust port and navigated in the dark to escape outside. No second left to spare.

****

There was a knock on the door at a suburban house in Baltimore. Reggie Greer answered, “Uh, may I help you?”

Dave Bronson, the IMD agent known as Brick, smiled warmly. Next to him was Nadeem Alam, the agent known as Shift. Reggie stared at the two men curiously until he noticed the Cloudburst hovering over their house. “Good afternoon, I’m Agent Brick and this is Agent Shift,” they displayed their badges as Bronson continued, “We’re with the Interpol Metahuman Division.”

Reggie continued to look at the aircraft hovering above, “What brings you here?”

“We’d like to speak to Dante and the rest of the family if that’s okay,” Shift answered.

From inside the house, Dante Greer called out, “Dad, those are Badges.” The teen rushed to the door and immediately recognized Shift, “I met that guy in Colombia.”

“It’s good to see you again, Dante,” Shift greeted.

“So what do you want with my son?” Reggie asked.

“We’ve reason to believe a group of metahumans are en route to remove Dante from these premises,” Brick explained, “We’ve been instructed to take Dante to a safe house until further notice.”

“No! Nu-uh!” Dante closed the door, but an invulnerable hand reached out and stopped it.

“We’re here to help, Dante,” Brick assured him.

As Dante pushed against the door, he felt kinetic energy begin to build, increasing his strength, “You better take your hand away.”

His father grew increasingly concerned, “Son, let’s just talk about this.”

“No, Dad!” he protested. “They’re working for Senator Jackson.”

“We work for Interpol,” Brick corrected him. “We’re hoping to find a compromise with the senator.”

Just then, the wind kicked up and Hyperion’s Light appeared over the house, dwarfing the Cloudburst. “We’re too late,” Shift muttered as he gazed at the ship. Brick let go of the door, allowing Dante to slam it shut. The two agents stepped onto the lawn to wait for the Commission to make a move.

“Should we call it in?” Shift asked.

“Pierce knew they’d show up,” Brick told him as he cracked invulnerable knuckles. “That’s what Mansoor warned us about. We try to deescalate for now, then report back to Pierce after.”

****

In Washington DC, an aide escorted Senator Tom Jackson to his office after giving him news of two visitors inside. “Security just let them in?” Tom grumbled.

“I, uh, think they got past security,” the aide told him nervously.

“Got past security!” he repeated angrily, “Are we in a goddamn Mission Impossible movie all of a sudden? How’d that even happen?”

“I think they teleported inside the building, Tom.”

He shook his head in exasperation, “Good to know they’re allowed to get away with that.”

Senator Jackson opened the door to his office and saw Director Pierce waiting patiently. Next to him was the IMD agent, Lowana Jones, otherwise known as Warp. The senator straightened his tie and turned to his aide, “I got this.” The aide quietly left the room and closed the door behind him. Senator Jackson walked past the two agents and approached his desk, “Director Pierce. It’s nice to meet you, although I’d have rather you called and set up an appointment.”

“Bit of an emergency, I’m afraid.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was told. Something about Dante Greer?”

“We have reason to believe Ryan Bennings has contacted Dante Greer and will likely make an attempt to hide him in order to keep him from being drafted. There’s a very good chance the entire Commission will come along with him.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’m afraid that’s classified. Currently, I have two agents at the Greer household, but if you don’t want our help, I’ll order them to return to our headquarters and leave it to you.”

“What exactly are you planning to do with your agents?”

“They’ve been ordered to relocate Dante to a safe house for the time being. I think, once he’s safely tucked away, we can sort this out.”

“I see,” Senator Jackson leaned forward on his desk with one palm, “Now, I have it on good authority, Director Pierce, that you didn’t much care for the Upstarts Program. In fact, Craig Levison once claimed you had some pretty nasty things to say to him. I’m curious to know why you’re going along with this.”

“Levison was a self-serving moron and you’re much smarter than he was, so you’ll understand what I’m about to say. It’s true that I was concerned about the Upstarts Program, but I’m currently more concerned about the Commission, namely Ryan Bennings. I know for a fact you share that concern. Bennings has had a lifetime of getting his way, so he doesn’t like hearing the word ‘no’. I knew it was only a matter of time before he and his team of trouble-makers crossed a line.”

“You really think they’re gonna start trouble?”

“Bennings and his team have a fondness for Dante due to him being the surviving Upstart. They’re more than willing to whisk him away, which would be a felony in the US. It’s enabling draft-dodging,” Pierce paced over to the office window and gazed outside, “It would also make Dante a felon and that’s what I ultimately wish to avoid. He’s young and impressionable, likely to make bad choices and potentially ruin his life in the process. The lad’s been through enough. To say that the Commission would be poor role models is an understatement.”

Tom furrowed his brow, “So you’re here to help me, huh?”

“I’m here to protect Dante Greer,” he corrected. “The Commission knows the risk they’re taking. Dante’s too young to understand that fully.”

“Let’s say you get Dante to your safe house. I wanna know what happens next. You just got through telling me you don’t like the Upstarts Program.”

“I don’t like child soldiers, no.”

He cleared his throat angrily, “He’s eighteen…”. He dropped the matter and get to the point, “At any rate, if you get the kid out of the area, how do I know you won’t try the same bullshit Ryan Bennings is pulling?”

“Because Senator, unlike Ryan Bennings, I choose my battles wi

Continued…