Jason used his tremendous sight to identify the identity of the man talking. It was Seth Maddox.
“We will see you again soon,” Seth said. With a bright blinding flash, Seth and the guards vanished.
“I’m getting really sick of that!” Jackson shouted.
“Bianca this is Connors do you copy?”
“Yes sir, the mission was a success, we're on our way back to the jet now.”
Mr. Connors was glad to hear that. “Change of plans, I’ve uploaded a set of coordinates on the Star Foxx computer system. We have a serious situation on our hands. Meet me there immediately!”
30
Blueranium
The room was silent. Jason Shaw and the rest of the League of Protectors sat quietly in the dark room inside one of the many G.U.A.R.D facilities located around the world. Everyone in the group was curious as to why they were being summoned. There was some concern that they were in trouble, that for some reason they were the ones being rounded up and thrown into the prison on the island.
No one from the League knew why they were summoned to this particular location. Mr. Connors was very brief with his transmission and the agents on site offered up nothing but an occasional defensive glance. The agents in the room with were dressed in field attire and had their hands on their weapons. Jason and Noah gave each other a look. A non verbal agreement of sorts to be ready for anything.
Garrett paced around the room anxiously while the others did their best to remain calm. Jason and Noah had their best poker face showing. With Jason’s military background and Noah’s assassin training, the two men knew how to remain calm in what they both feared was a bad situation.
Neither men shared their suspicions with the rest of the group, but the thought was clearly on both of their minds. Jessica and Bianca sat on wooden chairs in the back of the room. Both women were running scenario after scenario as to what they were doing in this room.
Jackson and Shayne were both on their cell phones. Jackson angrily cursed as he tried to beat the last level of some racing game, while Shayne logged on to check his school email. Jackson teased his best friend for being so concerned about school. Here they were in some secret government facility and Shayne's focus was on school.
As the group continued waiting impatiently for some sort of explanation, Mr. Connors, Commander Sullivan and his senior agents engaged in intense discussions. On the table inside Commander Sullivan’s briefing room were several laptops and dozens of manilla folders spread out.
Agent Hardine walked in side by side with the Commander. He gave Garrett a respectful wave as he passed by. The time on the island together was enough time spent for Garrett to earn the agent's respect. Agent Hardine skimmed through important documents while Commander Sullivan and Mr. Connors studied files on the laptops.
“How did this happen?” I assumed your headquarters was one of the most secure places in the world.” Mr. Connors said.
Commander Sullivan had a very disturbed look on his face. He had thought the same thing, but unfortunately he was wrong. Commander Sullivan stood up and began pacing around the room. He was filled with much anger and looked as if he was ready to explode.
“We're going to figure that out now. Rewind the footage just moments before the alarm sounded and play it back,” Commander Sullivan ordered one of his many agents. Agent Mercedes Hilton nodded and did as commanded.
Agent Hilton, a woman in her late twenties and of Hispanic descent played back the tape and watched the footage along with everyone else in the group intensely.
“There, stop the footage right there!” Commander Sullivan shouted pointing emphatically at the screen.
“Mercedes, who is that?” Agent Hilton studied the figure on the screen carefully.
“That’s Agent Houston Sir,” she replied.
Immediately all eyes fell on Agent Houston who was in the room with them sitting next to Agent Hardine. No sooner than everyone focused their attention on him, the G.U.A.R.D agents in the room pointed their weapons on him.
“What’s going on here?” Agent Houston asked. The man was very confused and feared for his life.
“Fast forward to the end of the footage,” Commander Sullivan ordered Agent Hilton. Agent Hilton did as instructed, but just as the footage was about to reveal what happened next, the feed cut. “Convenient!” Commander Sullivan exclaimed with a disapproving tone.
“What’s going on? Why are you pointing weapons at me?” Agent Houston asked.
“The footage clearly shows you breaking into the vault. Do you deny that being you?” Commander Sullivan asked. His voice was hard and unsympathetic.
“Yeah I deny it! I was on the other end of the facility getting in some target practice,” Agent Houston said, he was trying his best not to sound afraid.
“Open up the camera feed in the target room and play it side by side with the feed of Agent Houston approaching the vault,” Commander Sullivan instructed.
Agent Hilton pressed the corresponding command codes to do what Commander Sullivan ordered. Everyone watched the footage side by side and was surprised by the results. The camera feed indeed showed Agent Houston getting in target practice and at the same time it showed Agent Houston breaking into the vault.
“Any tampering with the time stamps?” the Commander asked.
“No sir, I checked the stamps several times. There was no tampering done,” Agent Hilton replied.
“So then how's this situation to be explained?”
“The footage of Agent Houston being at two locations at once along with the trail of dead bodies suggest one explanation,” Noah said.
“What's that?” the Commander asked.
“The shape shifter, Kyle Stanton,” Jason replied catching on to where Noah was going.
Commander Sullivan looked over to Noah for confirmation. Noah nodded agreeing with Jason's assumption. Commander Sullivan was visibly upset. Agent Houston however was extremely relieved that the video proved his innocence. “So can you please put your weapons down?” Agent Houston asked.
“All this video proves is that there is or was a shape shifter inside the facility. For all we know, you could be the shape shifter,” the Commander stated. All eyes remained glued on Agent Houston.
“Commander Sullivan, if the man standing before us is a shape shifter then there will be some residue on him that Ms. Morgan will be able to detect,” Mr. Connors said.
Commander Sullivan thought about it and nodded his head. He called for Stephanie Morgan to come in and get a reading on Agent Houston. Stephanie entered the room and studied Agent Houston intensely. Sweat poured from the man’s face, he was extremely nervous.
“How long is this going to take Mr. Connors?” Commander Sullivan asked.
“As long as it takes Commander,” Mr. Connors replied sharply.
Commander Sullivan gave Mr. Connors a hard look. He wasn't used to someone speaking to him with that tone. The rest of the agents had Agent Houston surrounded. If he was indeed Kyle Stanton, they weren't about to let him get away.
“This man is not the shape shifter,” Stephanie said after minutes of intense sensing.
“Ms. Morgan, are you sure?” Agent Hardine asked.
She was. The room waited for Commander Sullivan’s approval. He gave Agent Houston a hard look, as if he was trying to read the man’s thoughts and then nodded to the rest of the room. Agent Hardine slid his weapon back into his holster and everyone else followed suit.
“If this is Agent Houston, then where is the shape shifter?” Agent Hardine asked.
“Gone,” Agent Hilton replied. Everyone inside the room turned their heads to look at Agent Hilton. “I’ve studied that footage again and I caught something I didn’t see before.”
“What did you see Agent Hilton?” Agent Hardine asked.
Agent Hilton replayed the video of the shape shifter breaking into the vault. For a split second before the feed cut, a shadow other than the shape shifter could be seen. In addition, a b
right light flashed right before the feed cut.
“Seth Maddox,” Jason said recognizing the blinding flash.
“Man that dude is everywhere!” Jackson said.
“Remind me again, what all can this Seth Maddox do?” Commander Sullivan asked Mr. Connors.
“Seth Maddox is capable of creating massive portals that transports a vast number of people and objects to a desired location instantaneously. In addition, Seth is capable of absorbing kinetic energy.”
Commander Sullivan frowned and gave that intimidating look that so many of his agents had grown accustom to seeing. Even at 6 feet tall, Mr. Connors looked small standing next to Commander Sullivan. Commander Sullivan was in a sleeveless shirt flaunting off his massive biceps. Biceps that were actually quite a bit bigger than Jason Shaw's. Mr. Connors couldn’t help but feel slightly inadequate physically standing next to him.
“I thought he looked big on that hologram image the other day, this Commander Sullivan guy is a beast!” Jackson whispered to Shayne.
“Yeah he is.” Shayne whispered back.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are dealing with an enemy who has outsmarted us every step of the way. With every encounter our enemy learns more and more about us and the tactics we use and yet we learn very little about them. Just like the altercation you had with Joe Dorgan, every battle seems to be nothing more than a test or a distraction,” Commander Sullivan said to everyone in the room.
“A distraction for what?” Jackson asked. Jason gave Jackson a look, a similar look the commander gave any of his agents when they spoke out of turn.
“Do not interrupt me young man when I’m speaking,” Commander Sullivan said in a stern voice. Jackson apologized. His face turned a shade of red from the embarrassment he felt for being reprimanded like he was a small child.
“A few months ago one of our science teams discovered a material unlike any we have ever seen before. After countless tests the team concluded that the material was some sort of power source.”
Jason had a surprised look on his face but kept his mouth closed. He knew Commander Sullivan wasn’t telling the whole truth. The power source the commander spoke of was discovered by a group known as the F.C.U and it wasn't found on Earth!
The F.C.U stood for First Contact Unit. This unit’s purpose was to explore the galaxy and bring back resources and technology vital to Earth's technological growth.
“Our science team has named this power source Blueranium and we have seen some interesting results.” Commander Sullivan paused and looked towards Bianca who had her hand raised.
“Seriously? You're raising your hand? This isn't school you know,” Jackson said in a teasing voice.
“Its called respect Jackson, maybe you should look it up,” Bianca replied.
“Stop talking!” the Commander shouted, his anger directed at both Jackson and Bianca. “We began experimenting a few weeks ago on the Blueranium. We discovered that the material could enhance humans.”
“Enhance?” Mr. Connors echoed. The League looked around the room.
“What exactly are you saying?” Noah asked with a bothered tone. He had a feeling where the Commander was going with this but he wanted to be sure.
“I’m saying we discovered how to turn regular humans into Advanced Humans,” Commander Sullivan revealed.
The members of the League looked around each other. They all seemed genuinely surprised by Commander Sullivan’s revelation. As if that wasn’t enough of a bombshell, Commander Sullivan went on to tell them that they experimented on Post Humans as well.
“Let me guess, it made them stronger than they already were didn’t it?” Noah asked.
Commander Sullivan hesitated and then acknowledge Noah’s question as being correct.
“So anyone looking to raise an army would have great reason to get their hands on this material,” Jason said somberly.
“Easy Noah,” Bianca whispered as she noticed the deadly stare he had focused on the Commander. Agent Hardine noticed the stare as well. Swiftly and quietly his left hand slowly inched its way towards his sidearm.
“Why would you create such a thing?” Shayne asked.
Commander Sullivan sidestepped the question.
“In case the time came that G.U.A.R.D needed to battle us. G.U.A.R.D has never fully trusted us and in the event they needed to apprehend us, they wanted to make sure they had their own team of enhanced agents to get the job done,” Noah stated.
Bianca placed her hand on his shoulder quietly pleading for him to remain calm. By now, the rest of the agents had their eyes set on Noah, preparing themselves in case he made a move.
Commander Sullivan was not apologetic, “Government Units Against Radical Danger, you know that is our name. Our job is to protect against any and all threats. So far you have all proven yourself to be trustworthy, but we have to take every precaution. So yes, we were working on a way to defend this nation in case any or all of you ever became a threat. Deal with it.”
“These attacks as of late were all an elaborate plan to steal the Blueranium that was locked away in that vault,” Shayne said getting the focus back on the immediate problem. He was sure the League would have a meeting on the Commander's revelation but now wasn't the time.
“What was Kyle able to get his hands on?” Jason asked. Knowing all the weapons and technology Shaw Enterprises had developed for G.U.A.R.D, there were a number of dangerous items Kyle could've gotten a hold of.
“Kyle Stanton was able to acquire a hefty portion of the Blueranium. Luckily for us, we didn’t have all of it in one location,” Commander Sullivan said.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. Whoever Kyle was working for was creating an army to combat the human command. Now with the Blueranium at their disposal, they could make dangerous Post Humans even more dangerous. Not to mention they could turn any Post Human sympathizers into Advanced Humans. Things were starting to add up, the plan was becoming much clearer now.
Commander Sullivan heavily expressed the importance of retrieving the Blueranium before whoever controlled it could tap into its power.
“What are you doing?” Bianca whispered to Garrett after noticing he was staring very intensely at his laptop.
“Research,” Garret replied.
Bianca rolled her eyes at Garrett's non descriptive reply, “What sort of research?” she asked, basically forcing him to give her more of a reply.
“I’m doing research on the Blueranium. Now quiet down before you get me caught.”
Curious as to what was on his laptop, Bianca scooted over to get a closer look. Her mouth dropped when she saw confidential files that Garrett shouldn’t have access to on his screen.
“Seriously? You’re hacking into their secure files?”
“I hacked in rather easy; these files aren’t all that secure.”
Bianca demanded that Garrett close the files before they got caught, but he ignored her demands. Jason raised his eyebrow at the two. They were trying to be inconspicuous, but they were failing miserably at all.
“Mr. Blake,” Commander Sullivan called out. Garrett shifted his eyes to meet Commander Sullivan’s. “Did you get all the information you were looking for on the Blueranium?”
Garrett froze, “I…”
Commander Sullivan threw a hand up in the air signaling Garrett to be quiet. “Retrieving the Blueranium that was stolen is our top priority. Agent Hardine and his team will be working with you until it’s been retrieved. Get to work people!”
Commander Sullivan left the room leaving the fate of the world in the hands of his agents and the League of Protectors. The League looked around at one another still in disbelief over the revelations. If this Post Human army successfully harness any of the power the Blueranium had, things were going to be even more challenging.
31
That Defining Moment
One month passed since the Blueranium was stolen from the vault. Since then things had been relatively quiet. Whic
h wasn't necessarily a good thing. The League and G.U.A.R.D were slowly rounding up some of the escaped criminals but so far Joe Dorgan and company had eluded them.
Agent Hardine and his unit were becoming quite acquainted with The League of Protectors. The two sides were beginning to have some trust and familiarity with one another. Something that years ago seemed impossible. Both Mr. Connors and Commander Sullivan believed that if they were going to have any chance of defeating this inevitable threat, they needed to work together. Vice President Martin and some of the other high ranking officials were still adamantly against the level of cooperation that was taking place, but the President would not hear their complaints.
Since successfully aiding in the rescue attempt that saw the League of Protectors freed, Bianca slowly become more comfortable in the field. She was starting to feel as if she belonged and that she could provide more than just healing the wounded. It didn’t hurt having a good instructor guiding her. Agent Hardine was extremely patient and put in a great deal of effort working with her.
While some things improved, other things stayed the same. The dislike between Jason and Noah continued growing with each passing day. There was such a philosophical difference between the two.
Shayne and Jackson were becoming quite the formidable duo. Shayne's dedication to excellence and Jackson's drive not to be out done drove the two men to push each other harder than before. Garrett Blake still wanted nothing to do with field missions. He was forced to train just like the others, but he didn’t like it one bit.
There was a knock on Commander Sullivan’s door. The Commander was on the phone so he ignored it. Sitting up straight and tall at his desk, Commander Sullivan listened intensely to the other person on the line. Again someone knocked on his door. Commander Sullivan tried to ignore it but the continuous noise forced him to answer.
New Age of Heroes 1: The League of Protectors - Dawn of a New Age Page 23