The memorial service for James Woods was a joke. Hundreds of DAM suits, all pretending to mourn a hero. Thirteen-year-old Leon Woods knew better. Heroes didn't come home disgraced, broken, and reeking of cheap whiskey.

  Leon stood rigid in his too-tight suit, staring at the empty casket. No body to bury. Fitting, considering how little of himself James had left behind. "He died protecting the city," they said. Bullshit. He died trying to outrun his own failures.

  Three Years Earlier

  "Dad, check it out!" Ten-year-old Leon yelled, nding a clumsy kick near his father's feet.

  James didn't even look up from his bottle. "Get out of my sight, Leon."

  Leon's face burned. He tried so hard, always trying to get a shred of approval from his dad. Ever since the "incident," all he got were gres. "I just wanted to show you what I learned."

  James gred. "I said, get out! You think DAM is some kind of game? It's because of mistakes, stupid fuck-ups like you that people like me get ruined. I could've been the damn director."

  "It's not my fault!"

  "Isn't it, though? I was on my way to the top when I found out I had a freak for a son. I need my head checked. So just take that ball you call a head and get out of here!"

  Leon ran to his room, tears blurring his vision. Why couldn't he be normal? Why did he have to be this? He hated his eight-ball head, hated his dad, and he hated DAM. But most of all, he hated himself.

  Present Day

  The service ended, and DAM agents shook his hand, offering condolences he didn't want. His aunt Julie tried to hug him, but he pulled away.

  "I'm fine," he snapped.

  Standing alone by the casket, Leon sneered. His father's badge y on top, gleaming under the artificial lights. "Department of Anomaly Mitigation - Protecting Humanity's Future." More like ruining lives.

  Grabbing the badge, Leon pocketed it, a cold rage settling in his chest. His dad was a failure, kicked out of DAM in disgrace. A drunk who bmed his son for everything wrong in his life.

  "I'm not going to end up like you," he muttered, his voice shaking with anger. "I'm going to join DAM. I'm going to be everything you couldn't be. And I'm going to make you a distant memory of a failure."

  He walked away from the casket, from the lies, from everything his father represented. In three years, he'd be old enough. And when he walked through those academy doors, he'd bury James Woods once and for all. Not as a hero, but as a cautionary tale.