***
Once the Analyst and Erin arrived in the war room, Koji was already waiting for them. He sat in a chair, arms crossed and feet propped up on the table with the V engraved into the surface. Erin sat down beside him, but Koji just kept his stare fixed on the Analyst.
The old psychic moved to the opposite end of the table. He took a deep breath before he began. “I understand you’re both suspicious.”
“One way of puttin’ it,” said Koji.
“When you joined us, it was because we believed you’d changed. That you were willing to put aside old feuds in order to stop Cerberus and the Kotharians,” said Erin. “But you’re keeping secrets from us. Your source, we were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. But after Proximo, after it looks like we’ve been betrayed, we need to know what’s going on here.”
“I understand,” said the Analyst. “But I still need your trust. What I’m about to tell you, it can’t go beyond this room. I don’t want you letting the rest of the team know, not even Vicky.”
“You’re asking for a lot based on very little,” said Koji. “Why should we keep our team in the dark about this?”
“Because of who my source is,” said the Analyst. “It’s someone you know. Someone you once trusted.”
Koji took his feet off the table and leaned forward. “Well?”
“If I tell you, you need to meet him alone,” said the Analyst. “Just the two of you. Should an entire Vanguard team turn up, it would certainly alert Cerberus that he’s our mole. But two of you? You can move about easily.”
Erin considered the proposal then gave a nod. She looked at her husband, who also indicated his agreement. Her eyes met the Analyst’s. “Okay, we’re in.”
“Good.” The Analyst sighed. “My source is Jim Ellis.”
Koji and Erin froze, their mouths hanging open. The Analyst gave them a few moments, allowing the information to sink in. For years, they’d believed Jim Ellis, the original Gunsmith, to be dead. Killed shortly before the Kotharian invasion.
It was Koji who finally broke the silence with a single word: “Bullshit.”
“No, it’s the truth,” said the Analyst.
“How did he survive?” asked Erin. “He was on Olympus when it blew up.”
“That I do not know.”
Erin rose angrily. “How could you not know?”
The Analyst calmly looked up to meet her angry, yellow eyes. “He never told me and I never asked. The past is what it is. I had no reason to dwell on it, not when we had more important things to do.”
Koji grumbled under his breath. The Analyst could sense the anger, resentment, and betrayal that both these two shared. Even if he didn’t have psychic powers, it would be impossible to miss.
“You kept this from us,” said Koji. “This is huge. Of the original team, it’s just me and Erin. We lost everyone else. Dom, Zen, Lee, Thorne.” He looked down, his mood going from anger to a bit of sadness as he added in the final name: “Anita.”
“You should’ve told us Jim was still alive,” said Erin. “Dammit, you had no right!”
“It was his request,” said the Analyst. “Ellis knew that to be most effective inside Cerberus, no one but me could know he was working with us.”
“How long?” asked Erin. “How long have you been lying to us?”
The Analyst took a deep breath. “Since Lee’s death.”
“A year?” Erin’s voice quivered. “You’ve been lying to us for a whole year?”
Koji stood and wrapped his arm around Erin. He glared down at the Analyst. “Where is he?”
“New York,” said the Analyst. “Heavy security, as you’re no doubt aware. He has an apartment there. There are gene scanners all over the city. You’ll need dampeners to hide your signatures. Go talk to him, but go as friends. We still don’t have all the facts.”
“What if we don’t buy what he’s selling?” asked Koji. “You should scan him.”
“You know I can’t do that from here. And in my current situation, I would draw too much unwanted attention.”
“We should bring him somewhere you can meet us, then. A safehouse.”
“What’s it matter?” asked Erin, staring daggers at the Analyst. “He might just lie to us anyway.”
“Erin…” The Analyst’s voice dipped and he avoided her eyes.
“Come on,” she said to Koji. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”
CHAPTER 7
Following the war, the Kotharian occupation and Cerberus concentrated the majority of the population into large, urban centers. New buildings were constructed, stretching higher than before, with units inside them providing as little space as possible.
New York was one such city. Although Times Square was more or less a quarantined area after being destroyed in the war, other parts of the city were still very active. Transportation between cities for any purpose other than work was heavily regulated.
Which meant for Erin and Koji that they had to go incognito. Counterfeit bio-chips inserted into their hands provided a cover story for them, that they were working in one of the agricultural centers, complete with fake identities.
The power dampeners inserted into their bodies were invisible to scanners, one of Lee’s final inventions before his death. They could suppress any scans of the special gene. It was a particular strain on Erin, as she had to assume a form and hold it before the dampener went active. A slight miscalculation on her part and she could be revealed.
A jump-ship left them on the outskirts of an agricultural center. These fields existed all over the world, places where workers would go for a contract period of six months to a year tending to crops. From there, Erin and Koji boarded a high-speed train taking them to the city.
The train itself was crammed. No seats, everyone stood for the entire journey. Erin and Koji exchanged a few glances on the trip, but they remained silent. Everyone did.
When the train arrived in New York, they disembarked in an orderly fashion with the rest of the passengers. Scanners were set up near the exits and Gunsmith units stood guard, their teleforce rifles held at the ready. The helmets they wore always unnerved Erin. The technology was the same as Jim had used, but his face was always visible. It gave him a human quality that these foot soldiers simply lacked.
Erin stepped into the scanner and held up her arms. She tried to disguise any nervous feelings that plagued her. She waited for the all-clear signal, terrified that the process was taking far too long. A Gunsmith stood in front of the scanner, watching her through the inhuman lenses of his helmet. She was fixated on his hands, worried that he might be tightening his grip on the rifle in order to use it.
An alert sounded and the Gunsmith waved for her to come through. Erin took a breath and did so. She turned and watched Koji, waiting for him to finish his scan. Was he just as nervous? She could never tell. Even after twenty years, she was still amazed at his ability to hide what he was feeling. He had a poker face to beat them all.
The same alert and the Gunsmith waved him through. Koji joined her and gave her a wink. They ascended the steps from the subway and onto the street. Buildings towered over them, all of them looking pristine and new. Crime had all but been eradicated thanks to the strict security laws the Kotharians enacted and Cerberus enforced. There were many humans who actually felt the Kotharian War had been a good thing for the planet.
Koji looked down at his smartwatch. He touched a command on the tiny screen and it projected a holographic map. It showed their current location and their destination, just a few blocks away.
“That’s it,” he said. “You ready for this?”
Erin sighed. “I don’t know.”
Koji deactivated the map. He reached inside his jacket and took out a pair of glasses, sliding them over his eyes. They were linked to the watch and the route was projected as a HUD for him to follow.
They walked the distance from the station to the tenement building. After passing through the doors, Erin check
ed the display to find the apartment they were looking for. She shook her head.
“No Jim Ellis listed.”
“Maybe he’s using an alias.” Koji walked up to the door. There was a scanner to prevent unauthorized entrance. He looked at Erin. “You ready?”
She nodded and stepped up to the scanner. Erin activated her own watch, using the commands to disable the dampener. She changed her form from there, transforming into Jim Ellis. She placed her hand on the scanner and the automatic doors parted for them. Erin then did the same for the elevator to take them up to his floor.
They didn’t even bother knocking on the door when they reached Jim’s unit. Erin once more used her powers to get them past the biometric lock. They walked inside, the unit being very small. A tiny bathroom to their left once they stepped inside. Past the bathroom was the main area of the apartment. Not very large, as with most.
The modern apartments were modular in design. Different fixtures were implanted in the walls that could be reconfigured to achieve a bedroom, sitting room, or kitchen, depending on the needs.
When they entered that area, they saw Jim sleeping on the bed. Koji deactivated his dampener and changed into his Sharkskin form. Then he grabbed Jim by the throat and hefted him off the bed, slamming him against the wall. Jim’s eyes instantly shot open.
“K-Koji?” he asked.
“Hi Jim. Sorry we haven’t been by before, but we were busy thinking you were dead!”
Erin assumed her default green form and stood beside Koji, staring into Jim’s remaining good eye. “We’d like to have a word with you, Jim. About how you survived, why you never told us you were alive, and why you betrayed us.”
“Calm down.” Jim struggled to speak with Koji’s hand around his neck. “I’ll…I’ll tell you. Just let me go!”
Koji released and Jim slumped to the floor. He rubbed his neck and breathed in a few times before standing up. He activated a touchscreen panel on the wall and entered a command. The bed slid down into the floor and from the wall, a couch emerged in its place. Jim gestured to it.
“Have a seat. Care for a drink?”
“We’re not here for a pleasant chat, we’re here for answers,” said Erin.
“Fine, but I need some water after that rude awakening. And thought I’d try being a good host.” A compartment on the wall beside the touch panel opened, revealing a hidden refrigerator. Jim took a bottle of water from there and took a few slow sips from it. He leaned against the wall across from the couch where Koji and Erin now sat.
“So go ahead. Explain,” said Koji.
“Truth be told, I don’t remember a whole lot,” said Jim. “I remember fighting M’Lak on Olympus. I remember changing into that…thing Bradshaw turned me into. And then everything went black. Next thing I knew, I was in a facility of some kind, being nursed back to health, I guess.
“Cerberus had found me somehow. But I was out of it for some time. Because once I awoke, ten years had apparently gone by in the blink of an eye. And it looked like whatever Bradshaw had done to me was gone. I was forced to work for Cerberus. Eventually, I broke free of their conditioning. I knew the Analyst had joined Vanguard, so I got in touch with him through some old CIA back-channels.”
“And didn’t think to tell us,” said Erin.
Jim took another sip. “I was trying to protect my cover. Most of those raids you’ve heard about, that Vanguard has stopped? It’s because I’ve been feeding the Analyst intel for the past year.”
“Fine, so why don’t you tell us what happened at Proximo?” asked Koji.
“Proximo? What do you mean?” asked Jim. “Didn’t you get the tachyon generator?”
“It was a set-up,” said Erin. “Lucent was waiting for us instead.”
“Lucent?”
“Oh come on, Ellis.” Koji stood, moving aggressively towards Jim. “Don’t act like you don’t know what we’re talking about.”
“Koji, I swear to you, I have no idea what’s going on here. I thought Lucent was dead.”
Koji took a step back, but still remained close. He folded his arms and made no effort to revert back to his human form. “Go on.”
“Cerberus made sure I knew what had transpired during the ten years I was in that coma,” said Jim. “I read all the files on the war, on the battles that were fought, on all the major players. Once the Kotharians took control of the Island, they assessed each special imprisoned there, seeing if they held any strategic value, either for research or combat purposes. Based on his history and his power, they felt the risk Lucent posed far outweighed any potential benefit he could provide. He was the first special scheduled for execution.”
“The records must have been falsified then,” said Erin. “Because he’s definitely alive. Put one of our men in the infirmary.”
“They knew we were coming. The only one outside of our group who knew we were going after the tachyon generator was you.” Koji jammed a finger into Jim’s chest, the force pushing him back against the wall. “Care to explain that?”
“I swear, I have no idea what’s going on here,” said Jim. “But if they knew you were coming, that can only mean you have a leak somewhere.”
Erin scoffed and rose from the couch. “You’re unbelievable. You really think we can trust you? After everything we’ve just learned? You said it yourself, Cerberus forced you to work for them. How do you know that conditioning is no longer in place?”
“Because the Analyst ran several scans to be sure. He found nothing,” said Jim. “Don’t believe me? Take me to him.”
“Oh, we plan on it,” said Koji. “We’ve got a safehouse outside the city. And you’re coming with us.”
CHAPTER 8
When the trio emerged from the front entrance of Jim’s tenement, they blended in quickly with the crowd. Jim donned a pair of sunglasses to conceal his cybernetic eye and both Erin and Koji reactivated their power dampeners to make them invisible to any scanners.
Before they’d managed to walk a few blocks, they heard the sound of sirens. In the skies above, there appeared a number of police officers mounted on hoverbikes. They shined spotlights right on the three of them.
“Halt! By order of the Kotharian Empire!”
Koji grabbed Jim by his collar. “You sonnuva bitch! You set us up!”
“When?” asked Jim. “You were with me the whole time! When did I have a chance to make a call or send an alert?”
Jim grabbed Koji and pulled him out of the way just as one of the cops opened fire with an energy weapon. Jim removed his sunglasses then threw off his overcoat to reveal the Gunsmith armor beneath. His hand instantly went to the compartments on his thighs, drawing the familiar teleforce blasters. He opened fire on the officer who shot first, targeting his bike and sending it careening out of control, flying into a second officer.
Shift deactivated her dampener and coiled her legs. She sprung into the air, the third cop trying to blast her but unable to get a bead. Shift landed on his bike and pummeled him a few times before kicking him off and onto the street.
Bystanders screamed and ran for cover. Traffic continued, but cars now swerved to get out of the way of the fallen cop. One car in trying to avoid the officer turned too sharply and flipped over. It was headed right for a group of people standing on the sidewalk.
Koji sprung into action. He deactivated the dampener as he ran and changed into his Sharkskin form just before pouncing. Sharkskin slammed into the vehicle with all his might, forcing its momentum back in the other direction so it landed harmlessly on the street.
Another car crashed into the back of the overturned one, and the force threw Sharkskin onto the pavement. He got to his feet quickly and moved to the side, waving the cars to continue on. Returning to the rest of the team, he changed back into his human form.
“We need to get out of here now,” said Gunsmith. “There will be more.”
They took off in a run down the street, the people making a path for them as they watched in fear. A few
took out their phones and began making calls, which Gunsmith could only assume were to the authorities.
“So where to now?” asked Sharkskin.
Gunsmith’s cybernetic eye provided the answer. He pointed ahead to an alley. “There.”
The three of them arrived at the alley and turned the corner. Gunsmith took a small, flat device from his belt and held it upright. A blue light emerged from the device, scanning the alley. Gunsmith then set the device on the ground and pushed a button on his gauntlet. Again a blue light emitted upwards.
“That will provide a holographic illusion, making it seem like the alley’s empty.”
“Guess you still got some tricks up your sleeve,” said Sharkskin.
Gunsmith walked over to the large dumpster and grabbed the ends. He pulled, his armor adding to his human strength, and the dumpster moved slowly from its spot. Gunsmith pulled harder, moving it completely away from its resting spot.
Beneath the dumpster was an access panel to the sewers below. He knelt down and grabbed the metal ring, easily tearing it free from the frame. Gunsmith’s eye emitted a flashlight and he used that to illuminate the dark hole. There was a single ladder and a stone walkway beneath.
He was the first down with Shift and Sharkskin following. They moved into the tunnel, having to crouch a bit in some places as they walked about. It wasn’t long before they came to a large junction and a crisscrossing section of tunnels, wires, and pipes.
“We’re above the subway,” said Jim. “These maintenance tunnels are used to service the train lines.”
“How’d you find this?” asked Shift.
“When I signed up with the Analyst, I knew there might come a day when I’d be exposed. So I prepared escape plans,” said Gunsmith. “Although usually, I wasn’t being pursued when those plans were set into motion. Makes things a bit more difficult.”
Vanguard: Season Four: A Superhero Adventure Page 4