Chronos nodded and looked at the scientists. “Now you’re going to tell us where the tachyon generator is.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” said one of the scientists. The badge clipped to his jacket identified him as Walsh.
Chronos fired a warning shot at his feet. “Don’t test my patience. I’m really in no mood.”
“Okay, just take it easy,” said the other scientist, his badge naming him Perkins. He slowly pointed towards the center of the room. “It’s over there.”
Shift, now having caught her breath, moved to the large device in the center of the room. There was a glass orb suspended by cables attached to the ceiling and floor with flashing lights moving around inside. Shift stared at the device, watching the lights flicker past her eyes.
“I think this is what we’re looking for,” she said.
“So let’s get it and go,” said Chronos.
“No, you don’t understand,” said Walsh. “The tachyon generator is just a prototype. Right now, we’re able to measure its output. But if you disconnect it, there’s no telling what might happen.”
“You don’t understand, I need this thing,” said Chronos. “Without it, the entire world is screwed.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you can’t just remove the tachyon generator,” said Walsh.
“What do you need it for?” asked Perkins.
“To keep you from asking questions,” said Shift, still focused on the orb. “This is…familiar.”
“What do you mean familiar?” asked Chronos. “Familiar how?”
Shift couldn’t quite explain it, but a memory from the past. Something about the energy signature was making her remember the last time she was here. And then she realized far too late that this was all a trap.
“Chronos, we have to get out of here!” she shouted.
“Huh?” Chronos turned around just as the orb exploded, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.
Shift ducked, her skin hardening to protect her from the projectiles. Chronos stood in front of Walsh and Perkins, his armor protecting him from the shards and blasting any others that came towards him with his batons. But Chronos’ visor showed him that there was a massive increase in energy, all channeling into a large, blue sphere where the glass orb once was. The sphere changed its form, becoming almost humanoid. A being whose entire body crackled with azure energy, his head completely bald and his eyes burning with raw power.
“What the hell is that?” asked Chronos.
The figure looked around the room. He remembered being here before. This was where he was born, for all intents and purposes. This was where he’d taken his first breaths as a special.
His eyes examined the people in the room. The man with the armor looked strange. Something somewhat familiar about the technology he used, but couldn’t place it beyond that. But then the woman…he recognized her. The green and gold costume she wore was familiar, as was her unique appearance. That and the badge she wore on her uniform—a V breaking out of an oval. He’d seen that image many times, it was burned into his memory.
Memories of a time when he was a prisoner in his own body. And the people who proudly wore that symbol made it that way. They were supposed to be protectors of his kind, but instead they served only their own interests.
“You, I remember you,” he said, his voice accompanied by a slight echo.
“Dammit,” cursed Shift.
“What is he?” asked Chronos.
“He’s—”
Before Shift could finish her sentence, the blue man moved faster than lightning, his fist connecting with her jaw. The blow was powerful enough that Shift’s head was nearly torn from her neck. She flew back, hitting the ground hard. She tried to get up, but her attacker was on her again. He pinned her to the ground with his foot and held out his hand. Energy arced from his fingertips and coursed into Shift’s body.
The pain was intense. She opened her mouth, wanting to scream, but no sound came out. If he couldn’t have the metal one, he’d settle for his student.
“Get away from her!” Chronos combined his batons together into a staff and activated his glider. He flew at the pair and channeled energy through his staff, the tip firing blasts at his enemy.
The blue man turned, the energy harmlessly striking him in the chest. He hovered above the ground and smiled at Chronos. In a flash of light, he was gone. Chronos tried to keep track of the signature and he received a warning on his HUD that it appeared behind him. Chronos spun, but just in time to see the strange special right behind him. He stared into the blue man’s eyes, which erupted with energy and hit him in the face at point-blank range.
Chronos fell to the ground. His armor protected him from the worst of it, but this was definitely not a good situation. He looked up and saw the blue man moving closer to him.
“The name is Lucent,” he said. “And if you’re with Vanguard, that means I’m going to tear you apart!”
CHAPTER 5
Sharkskin couldn’t believe what he’d just heard through his comm-link. He tapped it and asked Shift to repeat her last transmission. But before the message could come through, the ground rumbled. Sharkskin looked in Tuwa’s direction, but she seemed just as confused as he was.
The ground cracked and energy shot through the ground, forming a large hole. Rising up from the hole was a man surrounded by a glowing, blue aura, energy crackling all around his form.
“I said it’s Lucent!” Shift’s voice came through on his comm-link.
“Yeah…I know,” said Sharkskin, his black eyes bulging at the sight of Vanguard’s old enemy hovering before them.
Lucent looked down at the gathered team. The only one he recognized was Sharkskin. Still no sign of Zenith, the one he really wanted to kill. He’d have to settle for these guys, maybe keep one or two of them alive so he could torture the information he needed out of them.
He held out his hands and power burst forth from his fingertips. Sharkskin moved fast to avoid the blasts, flipping and dodging past them. But his concern was more on his daughter. He looked up towards the sky and saw Talon easily maneuvering out of range of the blasts.
Ink took the initiative, commanding her ethereal dragon to attack Lucent. It flew around him, breathing fire on his body. Lucent was drawn to the creature, watching it carefully. But whenever it tried to attack, Lucent just absorbed the energy it threw at him.
Lucent flew at the dragon, gripping hold of its head. The dragon screeched as its essence flowed inside Lucent’s body, adding to his already incredible storage of power.
A scream from the ground drew Lucent’s attention and he saw the tattooed Vanguardian watching in horror. She pointed at Lucent and her other creations moved in for the attack. Lucent tangled with the hawk first, quickly drawing it into his form as well. The lion roared from the ground and Lucent dove at it, barreling into the ground. When Lucent rose, the lion was gone and his aura fluctuated, briefly flashing the green colors of Ink’s power signature.
“That the best you got? The old Vanguard put up more of a fight,” he said.
“Oh, we’re gonna show you what we got,” said Cache, stepping up to him. “Lucent, huh? Yeah, I read about you.”
Lucent watched the man clad in red walk in front of him and gave a grin. “And what can you do?”
“See for yourself.” Cache held out his hands and fired crimson energy blasts. Lucent simply stood there and absorbed the attack. Once it passed, he looked up at Cache and began to chuckle.
“So you read up on me, huh? Did you happen to read the part where energy’s kind of my thing?”
Lucent flew at Cache, hands wrapping around his target’s neck. He channeled his power into Cache’s body, but something odd was happening. Cache’s aura grew stronger and his eyes surged with power. Cache took hold of Lucent’s wrists and squeezed, easily pulling his hands off his neck.
“What are you doing?” asked Lucent.
“This is what I do,” sa
id Cache. “You’re energy? Guess what? I absorb energy!”
But it wasn’t as simple as that. Lucent was generating a large amount of power and Cache wasn’t sure how much he could safely absorb. The limits of his powers had never been tested and if he took in more than his body could process, what would happen to him? Already, Cache felt his body being pushed to its limits. He quickly tried to convert the energy into his muscles, and they grew larger and stronger.
Cache grabbed Lucent by the wrists and swung him, throwing him through the wall of the Proximo facility. The power was still burning through him, though. Cache screamed as he looked up to the sky and released it, energy discharging from his eyes and hands.
When it passed, he fell to the ground. Talon dropped down beside him, but he was unconscious. “Cache? Cache?”
“How is he?” asked Ink, moving over to her friend’s side.
“He’s breathing, but looks like he’s down for the count,” said Talon. “At least he was able to take down that freak.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Tuwa.
Sure enough, Lucent emerged from Proximo, now full of anger. He located Cache and fired a massive optic blast. Tuwa raised a chunk of earth to shield her teammates from Lucent’s attack. With the shield in place, it gave Talon a chance to grab hold of both Ink and Cache and fly from the spot.
“Talon, get Cache back to the ship!” ordered Sharkskin.
“But what about Lucent?” she asked.
“You’re the only flyer we got right now, so it’s up to you!”
Talon set Ink down and looked at her. “You okay down here?”
Ink nodded. “Just go. Get back here quick.”
Talon took hold of Cache and flew up towards the invisible jump-ship. Lucent saw her ascension and moved to intercept. But Sharkskin pounced on his back, wrapping his arm around Lucent’s throat. Sharkskin bit down into Lucent’s shoulder and the villain screamed. He expelled energy from the pores on his body, knocking Sharkskin free.
Lucent was about to return towards the ship when a chunk of rock staggered him. He shook it off, then turned and found himself facing off against three rock-like humanoids. Lucent blasted one of them at point-blank range and it fell apart. The other two moved in to batter him with their fists as the one that Lucent struck reformed into three smaller creatures.
Tuwa stood near Ink, moving her hands in manipulation of her rock-like creations. Ink felt helpless, unable to do anything more than watch as they battled Lucent. She saw something move down below and looked into the hole.
Chronos emerged from below on his glider, Shift holding to his back. They emerged from the same hole Lucent created and flew in his direction. Tuwa’s soldiers were still doing their best to fight him off as Sharkskin tackled him again from behind.
Shift stepped off the glider and caught the edge with her hands. Her arms stretched out like rubber bands and snapped back. She flew over Chronos’ head and after reaching an apex, rapidly dove towards Lucent. Shift stretched her arms out in front of her and linked her hands together. Her fingers merged, her arms becoming a large battering ram.
Sharkskin saw what his wife was doing and delivered one final punch to Lucent before leaping to safety. Shift crashed down into the energy being, burying him in a crater.
An azure glow appeared at the bottom of the crater, quickly growing in intensity. Shift jumped just as Lucent unleashed another burst of power, rising up and hovering before the team.
Chronos flew towards their enemy, his glider retracting back into his legs. He drew his staff and telescoped it to its full length and drove the point into Lucent’s chest. Chronos flipped back from the attack and twirled the staff in his hands, bringing it to bear.
Lucent stood, observing the group that surrounded him. His powers began building up again, moving with greater intensity. But then he was struck with a sudden burst of pain slicing through his back. Lucent spun just to see a mass of feathers strike him in the face and throw him back. He landed on the ground and before he could get back up, the ground beneath him opened up wide.
With his powers of flight, Lucent was able to remain in place as the earth threatened to swallow him whole. So instead, Tuwa caused the ground to rise up around him and slam right down on his head, driving him deep below the surface.
Tuwa channeled her energies into the earth, her teeth gritted and strain evident on her face. She looked up at her teammates, grunting. “N-not sure how long I can hold him down there.”
“You don’t have to, it’s time for us to get the hell out of here,” said Sharkskin. He looked at Shift. “The tachyon generator?”
Shift shook her head. “It was a decoy. Instead of the generator, we found Lucent waiting for us.”
“What?” asked Sharkskin.
“It was a set-up,” said Chronos. “And we’ve gotta figure out just who the hell’s responsible for it.”
“The Analyst’s convenient inside man?” asked Tuwa. “Seems he’s the likely suspect.”
“So what, is the tachyon generator even real?” asked Ink. “Maybe this whole thing’s a fake-out?”
“It has to be real, there’s no way they could have known about Chronos,” said Shift. “But once the Analyst spoke with his source, the source must have alerted Cerberus. Had them turn Lucent on us.”
“So we should get out of here, right?” asked Talon. “Tuwa said that won’t hold Lucent forever.”
“She’s right, let’s move,” said Shift. “We’ll figure out the rest of this once we return to the Icarus.”
CHAPTER 6
The Analyst waited in the hangar for the jump-ship to return. It set down inside the hangar and once the doors closed on Icarus and the jump-ship’s hatch opened, the Analyst picked up a mixture of fear and anger from his team.
He maneuvered his mobile unit towards the open hatch. Sharkskin emerged first, still in his transformed state, cradling the unconscious Cache in his arms. The Analyst looked down at the injured man then up at Koji.
“What happened?”
“We were ambushed,” said Koji. “I gotta take Alex to the infirmary.”
“Ambushed?” The Analyst turned to face the rest of the team.
“Lucent,” said Erin. “There was no tachyon generator. Instead, Lucent was being held there I guess. And as soon as Chronos and I tried to take the thing, he came out.”
“We were lucky to get out of there alive,” said Ink. “That guy was intense.”
“Yeah. I remember you telling me stories about him,” said Vicky. “But nothing could’ve prepared me for that.”
“And Alex?” asked the Analyst.
“Tried to absorb Lucent’s power. It was too much for his system,” said Tuwa.
Chronos took a menacing step towards the Analyst. “I want to know who this source of yours is and I want to know where I can find him.”
“You think my source betrayed us?”
Tuwa crossed her arms. “Stands to reason. How else could they have known we were coming?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said the Analyst.
“We have to be sure,” said Erin. “Tell us who he is so we can bring him in and get the story out of him.”
“I need to scan each of you, make sure you haven’t been compromised,” said the Analyst.
“Excuse me?” asked Ink. “Scan us? You don’t trust us but you trust your buddy inside Cerberus?”
“It’s not like that, Reina,” said the Analyst. “I just need to be sure. Of course I’m going to investigate our mole as well. But you’re all here now and it’s easier to eliminate you as a possibility before going after him.”
“Do it,” said Erin. “Make it quick.”
The Analyst closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, the color shifted. He explored the minds of each member of his team. Searched through their memories to see if they’d encountered anyone capable of manipulation. Scanned for any signs of tampering or coercion. He tried his best to maintain their privacy as he sca
nned through, but he also had to be careful to perform a deep enough scan.
He couldn’t find anything that implicated any of them. The Analyst closed his eyes and when they opened, they returned to their gray color. “Nothing. I’ll still need to scan both Koji and Alex to be sure, but I don’t believe any of you are the threat here.”
“And we have to check your source,” said Erin. “Give us his name so we can get moving.”
“Not quite so simple,” said the Analyst. “Erin, I would like you and Koji to meet me in the war room. I would like the two of you to go alone.”
“Why them?” asked Reina. “We almost got killed out there and you’re benching us? Keeping us in the dark?”
“I understand your reservations, but this is the way it must be,” said the Analyst. “Trust me, I have my reasons. Erin, follow me. I’ve already sent a summons to Koji and asked him to meet us there.”
Erin sighed and looked at her teammates. “It will be okay, I promise. I’ll just go see what this is all about.”
“It’s bullshit is what it is,” said Reina.
“She’s right,” said Tuwa.
“Just…please,” said Erin. “Take a breather, okay? Go relax. We’ll figure this out later.”
Once Erin left the hangar, Reina clucked her tongue. “She’s so full of it, her eyes are turning brown.”
“Hey!” Vicky grabbed Reina’s shoulder. “Watch your mouth, that’s my mother.”
“Yeah, and she nearly got us killed,” said Reina. “Some leader, huh? Guess she couldn’t live up to Gunsmith or Zenith.”
Vicky took a step closer, her fingers growing into talons as she tensed them by her side. “Watch. Your. Mouth. I won’t say it again.”
Reina chuckled, the tattoos on her body beginning to glow brightly. “You wanna go, sister?”
Tuwa pushed them apart and moved between them. “Step back, both of you. We have enough to worry about without you two killing each other.”
“What about you, future boy?” asked Reina, looking at Chronos. “What do you make of all this?”
Chronos shook his head. “To be honest, I don’t know what to think. I wish I could trust you all know what you’re talking about, but truth is I haven’t the first clue what’s going on. All I know for sure is someone betrayed us back there. And something tells me it’s not as simple as the Analyst’s source being the one behind it.”
Vanguard: Season Four: A Superhero Adventure Page 3