The Anti-Heroes

Epilogue

A uniformed four-star general presses a button to summon the elevator. He holds a file under his arm, labeled Top Secret . He’s taken down, deep, deep under a Colorado mountaintop. His ears pop as he descends, but he’s used to the feeling. It comes with the job.

The elevator opens into a bunker where life-and-death decisions are made in a split second. The walls are composed of massive computer monitors, each displaying a different feed from the world’s hot spots: Afghanistan, Syria, Taiwan, North Korea, Venezuela, Iraq, etc.

Somber and sober, the Joint Chiefs and heads of state sit at the oversized conference table in the center of the room. The general sets down the folder. It has an electric strawberry logo on its cover.

He says, “Ladies, gentlemen, we have a problem. If I can direct your attention to the monitors ...”

A technician pulls up Zeus’s Instagram account, blown up across all screens. He tabs through the identical selfies.

He says, “As you can see, he relayed his data regularly. Everything was unfolding according to plan, until ...”

He gets to the photo of Zeus, Emily, Liv, B-Money, Vishnu, Michael, and Miles posing in front of a fireplace.

Everyone in the room gasps.

The general says, “May God have mercy on us all.”