The Badges vs The Commission Part 3

In a quiet Baltimore suburb, two massive aircraft hovered above a quaint, two-story home, an odd site to be sure. The larger craft was the Commission’s ship, Hyperion’s Light. The smaller vessel belonged to the Interpol Metahuman Division (IMD). A middle-aged woman walked her dog along the opposite street, slowing down to gawk for a few seconds before deciding to carry on.

In Hyperion’s Light, Ryan Bennings and the Cavalier viewed a screen displaying two IMD agents, Brick and Shift, who likewise stared up at them from the front lawn. “I was afraid the Badges would get here ahead of us,” Ryan told the knight.

The Cavalier turned to Ryan Bennings curiously, “What’s the plan for now? There’s only two of them down there.”

“For now, we chat.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

Alysa Saraki and Astra Machina entered the room next. “The Tractor Beam is ready,” Astra told them sadly.

“How ya holding up?” Cavalier asked her.

“I still can’t believe Intrepid betrayed us like this,” she hung her head.

“I told her it was something we all go through at some point,” Alysa explained. “This kinda shit happened to me more than once.”

“Right now, the focus should be on Dante,” Ryan reminded the team. “He needs our help and hopefully, we can manage that without having to fight anybody.”

Inside the house, Reggie and Carla Greer peeked out a window, gawking at the two ships above. “This is so stupid,” Dante Greer stood behind them. “Interpol needs to know they can’t get me out the house that easily.”

Reggie motioned toward the larger, saucer-shaped ship. “That’s the one Ryan Bennings got, right? What’s he doing here?”

“I called `im,” Dante answered sheepishly.

Carla turned away from the window. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I knew he could help!” he snapped back.

“Don’t talk to your mom like that,” Reggie scolded him, never taking his eyes off the situation outside.

Carla returned to the window. “What’re they gonna do out there?”

“I don’t care so long as people leave me alone,” Dante shook his head in disappointment and quickly left the room.

Moments later, the ship’s tractor beam sent the Commission to the well-maintained lawn. Brick and Shift waited patiently, neither of them taking battle stances, yet still readied.

“Commissioners,” Brick greeted them, “I’m sure you’re wondering why we’re here.”

“Not much to ponder, really,” Ryan retorted.

“Look Bennings, you know Director Pierce never signed off on this Upstart nonsense. And you remember when Shift and Intrepid saved the Upstarts in Colombia. You were there.”

“Yes, I was,” Ryan answered. “Intrepid gave me the same speech, by the way.”

Undaunted, he continued, “We have orders to take Dante to a safe house. We can’t let a metahuman go AWOL.”

“He’s not going AWOL. He’s coming with us.”

“You don’t have authorization.”

“We don’t need authorization to take him on a ride on our ship. He’s a legal adult.”

“We know what you’re doing,” Shift warned him.

The Cavalier spoke next. “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but I also know we’ve done a lot of good together. There’s no reason we can’t come to a compromise.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Brick responded. “If you’ll just return to your ship, we can have this sorted out.”

“We have Dante’s best interest in mind,” Shift explained.

Alysa marched toward the house, “How `bout we let him decide what his best interest is?”

“Sorry, luv,” Brick said apologetically took a step in her path, cutting her off from the front door. Alysa stopped to glare and everyone froze for a moment except for Astra, who stepped up behind her friend.

“Are we gonna have to do this?” Alysa’s tone was a warning.

“I hope not,” Brick was firm but reluctant, “Getting into a fight with a young woman isn’t something I’d be proud of.”

“I can make it easier for ya.”

Cavalier lifted an armored gauntlet, anticipating her next move. “Alysa, wait!” A concussive blast of mystic energy blew off Brick’s shirt and sent him through the air before hitting the side of the house.

Inside, Carla turned toward the sound of the impact. “They’re gonna bring down the whole house!”

Nikki Greer, Dante’s younger sister, entered the room, “Mom? Dad?”

“Not now, baby,” Carla waved her off as she tried to get a better look outside.

“Mom!” Nikki shouted.

Carla spun around with a look of impatience. “What?”

She stamped her foot, equally impatiently, “Dante’s gone!”

“What do you mean?” Reggie stood to his feet and looked at his daughter.

“I mean, he’s gone!” she reiterated in frustration.

On the lawn, Shift’s hands ignited with telekinetic energy, and Alysa turned to face him. He didn’t restrain her, however. Instead, he turned to Astra Machina, anticipating she’d be the most willing to fight alongside her friend. Astra’s limbs stretched out several feet before being telekinetically caught by Shift. He cupped his hands together and Astra quickly curled up in a coiled ball, resembling a giant rubber band that had been wadded up.

“Can we talk about this?” Cavalier called out as the two Badges engaged Alysa and Astra.

“Not sure they wanna listen anymore, Cav,” Ryan told him.

Brick stood up and flicked the gold bracelet on his wrist. A stun gun emerged from hammer-space and rested in his palm. Thinking fast, Alysa used her magic to heat the gun. It turned red hot in a second, but Brick smirked at her, his invulnerable skin saving him from any pain. “Turn up the heat all you like,” he told her as he took aim, “Doesn’t bother me.” Stun bolts were fired but were stopped just as quickly by a mystic shield.

A small cannon popped out of Astra’s mid-section and sent a blast of energy under Shift’s feet. He was thrown into the air before landing on his backside, his concentration broken. Astra uncoiled herself and ran to Alysa’s aid. Likewise, Brick raced across the lawn to defend his partner. His invulnerable knuckles flew across Astra’s face, making her spin around. In retaliation, she created a wrecking ball out of her arm and slammed him hard enough to send him into a tree across the yard.

Alysa began another spell, but the Cavalier stepped in her path. “I know how you feel,” he told her, “But we can’t do this right now.” Nearby, Shift and Brick faced off against Astra, who now had several small canons emerging along her limbs. “I’m not in the mood,” she growled, her chipper demeanor quickly fading. Shujai flew in and landed between them, stopping the battle.

“I agree with Cavalier,” he said to Astra, “This is not our fight.”

“I’d listen to `im,” Brick said.

“It’s the smart thing to do,” Shift continued, “We’re all on the same side.”

Alysa scoffed, “Okay, we can stand down, but ya’ll can let us go inside and talk to Dante, right?”

“No funny business,” Ryan promised, “Scout’s honor.”

“Were you ever even a scout?” Brick asked.

“Nah.”

Just then, the front door flew open. Reggie and Carla Greer came out alongside their daughter. Everyone froze once more. “Dante’s gone!” Reggie announced angrily.

“What was that?” Ryan approached worriedly.

“He took off while you people were busy tearing up our front yard,” Carla Greer crossed her arms in frustration and Nikki mirrored her stance.

“We were watching to see what you people were up to…,” Reggie told them. “Next thing we know, our daughter comes in to tell us Dante was gone. We went to the kitchen and sure enough, the backdoor was wide open.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan told the Greers, “Any idea where he could’ve gone?”

“I imagine he’s not gonna go to any friends’ houses or anything. Not with all the mess he’s had to deal with for the past 24 hours.”

Nikki poked her head out from between her parents, “I saw him leave out the back. I asked him where he was going, but he just said this whole thing was bullshit and left.”

Carla’s eyes widened when she heard her young daughter curse, “Nikki!”

“Well, that’s what he said!”

“Don’t worry,” Shift assured them, “He couldn’t have gone far. We’ll convince him to come back.”

Brick glanced at the Commission as they made their way to the Cloudburst, “Best to sit this one out. You don’t wanna make this any worse.”

Shift raised a hand, then telekinetic energy enveloped them and it brought them up to the Cloudburst in a few seconds. Once the Badges left, Ryan turned to the Greer family. “We’re gonna find Dante before they do. We have a few tricks up our sleeves.”

“Have you people thought about actually talking to Dante next time?” Carla snapped. “Might work better than fighting each other.”

“Duly noted,” Ryan admitted as they returned to Hyperion’s Light.

In Washington DC, Director Sean Pierce sat in Senator Jackson’s office, speaking quietly on the phone. Agent Warp stood nearby, awaiting orders. Meanwhile, Senator Jackson was growing frustrated because of the presence of the uninvited guests and his inability to control the situation.

“… I’ll send Warp right away,” Pierce hung up and slid his phone into his blazer pocket, then turned to Warp. “Get the team ready in Lyon,” he told her. “Brick and Shift will send the coordinates of the Cloudburst. Rendezvous there and wait for further orders.” “Yes, sir,” she nodded to the director, then teleported out of the city.

“What’s going on?” Senator Jackson asked.

“Two of my agents went to pick up Dante and, as expected, the Commission showed up. There was a bit of a row, and Dante left the house. His whereabouts are currently unknown.”

The Senator threw his arms angrily, “Are you serious? You like to act like you’re on top of things. Did you expect that to happen?”

“Not quite, but don’t worry, Senator… I’m bloody brilliant at adapting.”

In Baltimore, Hyperion’s Light zipped across the horizon. The Commission sat in the Meeting Room while the aircraft ran on auto-pilot.

“So here’s the skinny…,” Ryan began, “The US military wants to force Dante into a career as a super soldier. The IMD apparently wants to protect him their way, which, and I think I speak for everyone in this room, isn’t very agreeable. Now Dante is in parts unknown, and it seems we’re on a race to find him before the Badges do.”

“And where’s Intrepid?” Astra Machina folded her hands on the meeting table. “I can’t believe she just told Pierce what we were doing and then left.”

“I imagine we’ll see her soon enough,” the Cavalier told her sincerely. “At the moment, we need to be concerned about the possibility of a fight with the Badges. We’ve had a couple of conflicts with them already and it was only one or two agents. Next time we have a fight, I expect the entire team is gonna be ready for us.”

Alysa exclaimed, “That can’t be a good thing!”

“It’s not,” Astra shook her head sadly.

“So what do we do if the Badges want the smoke?”

“We’ll have to plan for the next attack,” Shujai explained.

“Exactly,” Ryan inhaled. “I’ll admit, I’ve thought about this scenario because I’m just that kinda guy. The thing of it is, is that the IMD have the authorities on their side, and they outnumber us, and they’re better trained than us on average, and they have more experience as a team.”

Cavalier curiously turned to him. “Was that supposed to be a pep talk?”

“If it was…,” Alysa responded dryly, “… it was the worst ever.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Ryan said defensively. “What I was gonna say was that we still pack more firepower than them, pound-for-pound. What’s more… we have me,” he pointed to himself happily.

“As always, you’re kinda sure of yourself,” Alysa said.

“I have reason to be.”

“I faced the Badges during the Resurgence,” Shujai said. “I’m familiar enough with them and I believe that, with Bennings planning, we have a shot at fighting them off if we need to.”

“Good point,” Cavalier responded.

“And Astra fought some Badges like a day after she was born,” Alysa pointed to her, “I bet you know what to do too, huh?”

“Yes,” Astra said in a worried tone, “But what do we do about Intrepid?”

“If she shows up, we’ll have to whoop her ass, too.”

“I don’t want to do that to a friend.”

Alysa put an arm around her, “Sorry, but she ain’t our friend no more.”

Just then, a holographic screen materialized above the table, displaying a now-familiar number. Ryan answered, “Dante? You there?”

Dante stood in a clearing in the woods. He had used his kinetic powers to make large leaps out of Baltimore, eventually landing in a Maryland forest. He looked around for any signs of the IMD before speaking, “Yeah, I’m in the woods. I just had leave because everything was getting kinda overwhelming. Now, I don’t know where I am or anything now.”

“Is he on a cell phone?” the Cavalier asked in a worried tone.

“Yes,” Ryan muttered with disappointment and then returned to the conversation, “Okay Dante, good news and bad news. Good news is that we can easily trace this call and come pick you up.”

“Oh, good!”

“Yeah, so the bad news is that I can almost guarantee the IMD has also tracked down your phone’s signal. They likely know where you are as well.”

“Oh,… Oh, shit.”

“Don’t worry about it. Just stay put. We’ll take care of the rest.” Ryan hung up and addressed the team. “So about those battle plans…”

A fee miles away, Lowana Jones teleported inside the Cloudburst while it hovered over the Patapsco River. She brought Agent Adrian Klausman with her as the last team member to be collected; they both sat in the cabin after the teleportation, alongside Brick and Shift. In front of them, Jill Frakes stood ready to give them a debriefing. “We picked up a signal belonging to Dante Greer’s cell phone,” she told her teammates. “We’re on our way now and we expect the Commission to be there as well.

“Where’s Mansoor?” Klausman asked.

“Bronson contacted her, and she’s en route.”

Elsewhere, a lone figure flew through the sky. Intrepid had escaped Hyperion’s Light shortly before they arrived in Baltimore, and she had been trying to regroup ever since. It flooded her mind with regret as she sailed above the clouds. As a rookie Mossad agent, she witnessed her entire squad getting killed and since that time, camaraderie was of the utmost importance. Pierce told her it made her a good field leader in the IMD. More recently, she was instructed to join the Commission as a spy, a job she accepted. She tried to distance herself from the Commission when she went on missions with them, but it weighed on her conscience after a while, particularly in her relationship with Astra Machina. She knew a bridge had been burned. Meanwhile, her original teammates were calling for her help. She rushed to aid the Badges, but she wondered if she wanted to remain with the IMD.

Continued in Badges #25…