The Final Meeting

The Final Meeting

Written by Ernest M. Whiteman III
Concept co-creator is Christian Cuba

The din of the coffee shop rose and fell silent every seven to ten minutes and Matt enjoyed timing the lulls in everyone’s conversation and would smile, eyes closed as the din rose again as if the world just now thought of something else to say. Matt liked sitting alone and watching the world go by. Usually. Today, he is waiting for someone specifically. He sips his coffee and is pleased at the right balance of cream and sugar that rolls over his tongue. He is so happy the coffee shop began serving light-roasted coffee. Matt hates the burnt-tasting coffee they usually serve.

He is not nervous about this meeting but as the prearranged time approaches, he finds himself becoming more anxious. Today was a long-time coming. Because, today the final meeting with his most dreaded enemy takes place.

Matt is the superhero known as Savior, the Man of Supreme Power and this is to be the final meeting with Doctor Baron Von Bad Guy, Arch-villain of Man.

Matt adjusts his eyeglasses, which hides his identity and ponders the concept of tied-on masks. His uniform is bulky beneath the three-piece suit and is sure the good citizens will notice the lumpy, unkempt shoulders that is his cape.

Suddenly, like a laser fired, The Doctor suddenly appears and walks into the coffee shop, his own bulky three-piece covering his latex tunic, armor and piping and jackboots. He wore his hair differently today. He walks up to Matt, looking perplexed, “Excuse me, I’m looking for a friend of mine….”

Matt considers lowering his eyeglasses to reveal his identity when he suddenly realizes that The Doctor is teasing him. He smiles as The Doctor curtsies. He then stands and they shake hands like old friends. Matt shows The Doctor a seat then waits patiently as The Doctor goes and orders the most elaborate, complicated coffee drink ever just because he is a villain. Once The Doctor takes a seat across from him, they sit in silence for a while, taking four quiet drinks each, before Matt asks, “So what brings you here, Herr Doctor?”

His voice is overly heroic and he inexplicably over-German-ed “DAHK-tor”. There is a moment of silence as the din falls again. Then.

“I am done, sir,” The Doctor says, “It’s over. You win. I’m moving on.”

The Doctor turns his coffee cup in his hands, eyes staring intensely at the cup, never looking up at Matt’s surprised gaze. This announcement strikes Matt like that meteor over Io. Then, he feels something completely unexpected, sadness.

“Wait. What?” is Matt’s only reply.

Suddenly, the world felt large, too large. He feels tiny. Like the time The Doctor caught him in the Electro-shrink Ray. His equilibrium swam as the world outside his mind expanded and grew larger. He is the Man of Supreme Power. He can fly into space, hurl comets and touch the sun. But he cannot control this. It is happening and he cannot stop it. Matt suddenly feels so weak.

So, this is how humans must feel.

“Why?”

“Look,” says The Doctor, “You’ve beaten me every time. I can’t go back Rorschach Asylum again. I just can’t… I can’t keep going. I’m cashing in and moving on…”

“But, you can’t. Everything we’ve been through…” Matt feels like he is begging. He hates the feeling.

“Look,” The Doctor begins again, “I’m done. You know how, in the mornings, you cannot wait to get out there and do your job? I cannot even bring myself to sit up in bed anymore. It’ll just be the same old thing, over and over. That joy of a job done, a plan executed? When that’s gone…. What else is there? To rule the world? To conquer the nation? What happens when you don’t want that anymore? You don’t want? When that goes… what’s left?”

The din of the coffee shop rises again as if everyone in there was listening to The Doctor’s words and decided that either they didn’t want to be caught being nosy or that they just did not care and brought the focus back to themselves. Then, Matt feels anger, wishing he had a ceramic mug to crush instead of this stupid post-comp, eco-friendly, bullshit cup. He can only grumble, “How can you do this to me?”

“Look, it’s not you. It’s me,” says The Doctor. Matt hates that. Then, something else rises in his chest that he did not expect: desperation.

“But, I- I can change.”

“Look, please don’t get mad,” Matt hated his big, ugly face suddenly, but he always had, right? “It’s just one of those things.”

“Well, I am mad,” Matt shift in his chair, the screech of the legs on the tile loud and everyone turns. The Doctor raises a hand.

“Please, don’t make a scene,” The Doctor seems suddenly sympathetic. To Matt, how could this master of evil suddenly become a being of sympathy? What is going on? Matt feels like the bad guy suddenly. Now, he is really mad.

“Oh, oh, now I’m making a scene? Is that why you wanted to meet here? So, I wouldn’t make a scene?”

“Well, yeah,” The Doctor sips his stupid, overly sugared drink, “the scenes we’ve made in the past usually crumbles skyscrapers, opens dimensional portals….”

Matt smiles at the memories. But the memories brought the hurt back because those days are over now. He will never do battle with Doctor Baron Von Bad Guy for the fate of Temple City again. He can only put his face in the palms of his hands. He feels like crying but he is supposed to be the Man of Supreme Power and now he suddenly cannot keep it together because his arch-villain is leaving him, “You’re- you’re just evil.”

The Doctor leans back in his chair. Matt cannot see the sadness on his own face. His face is buried in his hands. The man has fifty types of vision and he cannot see beyond his own pain, that The Doctor, Scourge of Mankind, is sad about this too. But he can only say, “Well, yeah.”

* * *

They hug it out by the coffee shop entrance. Maybe a little to long, but finally they let go. Matt feels like crying and a bit angry that The Doctor seems pretty cool in all of this.

“So, what now?” Matt resigned to the situation, “What will you do?”

“Well, my alter ego Stefan Creer has an offer in New York with an investment firm. I’ll still be a bad guy, I guess,” they both chuckle at the idea, “Or maybe I’ll teach. I have a doctorate after all.”

Matt offers his hand and The Doctor shakes it. Before he lets go, Matt says “Or, I can finally bring you in for good.”

“I thought that you might not be able to let me go. So, as a going away gift,” The Doctor smiles sadly, stands up straight, then assumes his German accent, “I hef fired a missile at the San Andreas Fault. You can stop it or capture me.”

Matt puts his hand on The Doctor’s shoulder, “Thank you. And, goodbye.”

“Goodbye Matt Redshade.”

Matt swoops into the air, pulls off the three-piece to let his royal red cape flow in the wind. He stretches out his arms and angles his body toward the west and sees the smoke trail of the missile. He will catch it and throw it into space, a goodbye gift from the only person on this planet who ever really knew him. Not Mox Mox the Winged Guardian or Isabel Leaf News Reporter, no one but Doctor Baron Von Bad Guy and he was quitting the game with a missile ploy as his goodbye.

Matt suddenly remembers that The Doctor used this same ploy the very first time they battled and his eyes fill with tears because he knows that while he will get the missile, by the time he returns to Temple City, The Doctor, or rather Stefan Creer will be gone. So, will be this chapter of his life.

The Doctor had finally beaten him.

THE END.

2012 Ernest M. Whiteman III