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doing.
    “And that there is what died when Ultimate flew away from us, didn’t it? When we gave him all those powers and he flew away. And I know this funeral here—it’s about him. And don’t you worry, I’m getting to him, if in a roundabout way. But this place, this mourning here, it’s about more than that, ain’t it? I mean, that empty box behind me we’re all pretending’s holding our friend is about more than just him, ain’t it?
    “And the only reason I’m saying that’s because he was about more than that, I think. He stood for something, and I’m thinking if he were here, he’d deny that, but we all’d know it was true. He stood for what was good and just, stood for us helping one another like we did. Whenever you were out there—and I know y’all understand this—you knew no matter how bad it got, no matter how hard you was being pushed by just the worst types, he had your back.
    “I remember this one time, I was with Doc Speed—who I can see out there in the third row—and we were fighting this villain, Deadly Sinner or some such. And he’d kidnapped Doc’s wife. You remember that, Doc? When he had Penelope? Don’t seem so long ago.
    “Anyway, this Mr. Sinner had us pinned down, dangling out of the federal building. I mean, I was holding a ledge with one hand and Penelope with the other. You remember, right? And Sin throws some sort of bomb and blows the ledge, and we both start to fall. And I’m thinking, well, that’s it; had a good run, fought in some wars, stopped some badguys—and this was it. But sure enough, out of just nowhere, Ultimate comes swooping in.
    “I seen him there in my six, that big metal skin just glaring. With, of course, that little kid PenUltimate attached behind him by a string, riding his little surfboard through the sky and making that silly yell: ‘Time to feel our metal!’ Goddamn. Most soothing music I think I ever heard. I swear.
    “First I was falling, I was losing. And there he was: The Man With The Metal Face.
    “He picked me up, managed to grab Penelope there too. And I . . . I consider myself to be somewhat of a tough guy. So I’m just brushing it off, pretending it was nothing, another day. So I says to him—and, Penelope, you shout if this ain’t true—I says, ‘Well, thank you, partner, but if you don’t mind dropping me, I was right about to learn to fly, and you’re in my way.’ I hear some laughter, but I don’t hear shouting, so y’all know that’s true now.
    “And this man, this robot whose own creator died in making him, this metal man who ain’t never had a mother or a father, and this I swear is true, this man here, without missing a single second, well, he turns to me—and you got to imagine he’s holding me in one hand and Penelope in the other, and we must’ve been three hundred feet over that hard pavement of Arcadia—he says back to me, in that computer voice of his, he says, ‘I know, Soldier. I was just coming by to see if, when you figured it out, you could provide me with a lesson.’
    “Ha. Hot dog. ‘Provide me with a lesson.’ Cool as anything.
    “That’s a true story, and I know y’all know it’s true because y’all have been involved in stuff like it probably even more times than I have. That man . . . he was always collected, always raring to go. I don’t know if he was programmed without it, but I don’t think he ever felt doubt in his whole life. Not one moment. He always knew what was right, the right way to fight, right way to win.
    “I can’t hardly believe it’s been six months since he went. Like all y’all I thought he might come right back. We all come back. That’s why we waited so long to have this. But he didn’t. Like always, he did something none of us could do. He died.
    “I was there. With him at the end. At The Blue. It was me and Star-Knight and him. Before this, we’d fought the worst villains out there.Together we’d gone up against them all, and we’d fought