Vanguard: Season Four: A Superhero Adventure

by Percival Constantine

  But that was before the Kotharians arrived. Now, Atlas was home to their experiments, and the source of their greatest achievement to date. Captured Cerberus fighters, which had been rebranded with the symbols of the Red Fist, descended upon the base. They opened fire on it, drawing the attention of the soldiers stationed there. Several of them hopped into fighters of their own to take the battle directly to the Red Fist planes. Teleforce anti-aircraft guns on the ground provided additional support.

  But while the battle raged above, none realized the distraction it provided. Below the base, in what was once the ready room, a bright, blue flash appeared. When it faded, Lucent stood there. Right by his side was Pulse, his eyes glowing with electromagnetic power and his concentration focused on controlling the energy-based special.

  Also with them was the Khagan and his right-hand woman, Zephyr. Ink, Talon, and Chronos completed the contingent. The Khagan drew his sword with his free hand, the other busy holding the tachyon generator.

  With the distraction provided by the Red Fist fighters, most of the security had gone to battle. That made their descent into Atlas all the easier. There was little more than a skeleton crew left behind to care for the base, but whenever the group came upon them, the Khagan quickly dispatched them in short order.

  No one spoke. Ink, Talon, and Chronos exchanged a few glances between them, but offered nothing else. All three of them shared the same thought—they hoped Vanguard had received their message and would know just exactly whether or not the Khagan was on the level.

  Discovering that the Khagan actually planned to use the tachyon generator for his own purposes stuck with Chronos. The Khagan had promised it to him and he hoped he would live up to that promise. But that hope was growing less and less likely.

  They arrived at Atlas’ lowest level. The Khagan was the first out of the stairwell and he saw two guards standing there. He moved with incredible speed, quickly impaling the pair of them with his sword, one at a time. The rest of the group barely had an opportunity to blink. The Khagan examined the door and looked at Pulse.

  “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  Pulse nodded and fixed his gaze on Lucent. With a few manipulations of Pulse’s hands, he willed Lucent to do his bidding. Lucent raised his hands and released an energy blast that blew the doors open.

  A few technicians were inside the laboratory. Pulse forced Lucent to kill all of them and within a flash, the deed was done. The Khagan approached the pod standing upright in the center of the room. Pulse and Lucent followed. The Khagan sheathed his blade and held the tachyon generator out to Lucent.

  Under Pulse’s control, Lucent reached his hands for the device. Lights activated all along its surface as he held it. Lucent focused on the power within, trying to reach past the containment casing and draw it into his body.

  There was another burst of light, one that drew all attention towards the door. The Khagan stepped in front of his group. There was a scowl on his face as he spoke the name, “Vanguard!”

  “Hey Khagey, long time, no see,” said Sharkskin, transformed and cracking his knuckles. “Boy, I sure missed punching you in the face.”

  “What are you doing here?” The Khagan knew the answer before he finished asking the question. He glanced over his shoulder at Chronos, Talon, and Ink, who were already in the midst of preparing for battle. “You betrayed me?”

  “Just covering our bases, making sure you’re not up to your old tricks,” said Talon.

  The Khagan turned his attention back to Vanguard, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “You don’t understand. This thing, the Kotharians will use it to kill us all.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” said Shift, stepping forward. “Your plan won’t just destroy the Codex, it’ll damn the rest of us. Cause a temporal disturbance that no one will survive.”

  “That doesn’t sound like what you said would happen,” said Pulse.

  “They’re lying,” said the Khagan. “I know what I’m doing! This is necessary to preserve the world!”

  “You’ll destroy the world if you’re not careful,” said Gunsmith.

  “I’ve heard enough!” barked the Khagan, drawing his sword.

  “Yeah, so have I!” Talon lunged at the Khagan, her claws tearing into his back and shredding his cape. His armor protected him from the worst of the assault, though.

  The Khagan spun on her but before he could swing his sword, a powerful hand grabbed his arm and pulled it back. Khagan was spun around and came face-to-face with Sharkskin’s giant maw.

  Sharkskin drove his fist into the Khagan’s face. “Yup, definitely missed that.”

  He threw another punch, but the Khagan caught his fist. Sharkskin struggled against it, amazed at the Khagan’s strength. He felt the Khagan’s hand grow larger until it enveloped his hand. Sharkskin looked at the Khagan in the face and saw his eyes glowing red as his face became more monstrous.

  The Khagan forcefully pulled Sharkskin’s fist down. There was a loud crack and Sharkskin gritted his teeth as he felt his arm break. The Khagan swung his fist and batted Sharkskin away.

  ***

  Before Zephyr could attempt anything with her winds, Shift’s arms transformed into tentacles and wrapped around her. Shift pulled herself at the special, slamming into her with all her might and the two women went flying across the chamber. Shift sprung off, flipping in the air and landing in a crouch.

  Zephyr rose up, creating solid air projectiles that she flung at Shift. The metamorph couldn’t see them and they cut at her skin, tearing into her body.

  “Mom!” Talon’s wings carried her towards the fight. Zephyr waved in Talon’s direction without even looking at her, an updraft throwing off Talon’s flight and sending her crashing into the ceiling.

  ***

  Pulse moved into cover, focusing his powers on controlling Lucent. The special hurled energy blasts across the room. Chronos activated his glider, trying hard to avoid them. Ink willed her tattoo creations to come to her defense, taking the hits for her.

  Cache stood his ground, absorbing the blasts as they came. He redirected the energy into his muscles, his frame growing larger. He charged at Lucent, tackling him to the ground and pounding on him. Lucent phased through Cache, hovering up higher and trying another volley of blasts.

  As the two of them fought, Gunsmith checked the stasis pod, checking to make sure that the Codex stayed inactive. He rigged it up with teleport nodes so the jump-ship could lock onto the location.

  ***

  The Khagan approached Sharkskin, prepared to finish him off. But the ground quaked beneath him. The Khagan looked at Tuwa, channeling her energy into the ground. He barreled towards her like a freight train.

  Atlas’ foundation was too strong to enable her to use her powers to their full extent, so Tuwa was forced to rely on something else. She turned the power from the earth and aimed her open hands at the Khagan. Waves of green energy emanated from her fingertips, the force of the vibrations rocking through the Khagan’s body and shaking him to his very core. He struggled against the onslaught, but still continued to press forward.

  ***

  Zephyr left Shift lying bleeding and broken. She hovered on her winds over to her enemy’s daughter. Talon lay on the ground, her wings damaged—perhaps broken—and looked up.

  “This is a good day for me,” she said. “First I kill your bitch of a mother, and now I can kill you.”

  What Zephyr didn’t realize was that Shift wasn’t dead. Her form altered on the floor, becoming a viscous substance and flowing towards her. The thing that was Shift pounced from the ground and attached itself to Zephyr. It spread around her entire body and Zephyr screamed, trying to get it off.

  “What is this? What’s happening?”

  Shift’s body formed a cocoon of sorts around Zephyr, cutting off her air supply just long enough until she felt the special pass out. Once that was done, Shift’s body flowed off her and settled on the floor. And there, it slowly rose up, refor
ming into Shift’s default form. She went over to her daughter and helped her to her feet.

  “Too bad she didn’t realize that I’ve learned a thing or two about my powers in the past twenty years,” said Shift.

  ***

  While Cache and Chronos tried to hold off Lucent, Ink had other ideas. A few creatures emerged from her tattoos—an eagle and a wolf—and they moved across the room. It didn’t take long for the eagle to spot where Pulse had taken cover, trying to concentrate on the battle. The eagle let out a cry and dove towards him.

  Pulse pulled his attention away from his control over Lucent to generate a blast that caused the eagle to dissipate. But then the wolf came at him from behind, pouncing on him. Pulse attempted to deal with the new threat, but the strain of trying to fend off Ink’s constructs and maintain his hold on Lucent was too much.

  He cried out and fell to his knees. The aura surrounding his hands and the glow of his eyes dissipated and Pulse collapsed, unconscious.

  Ink turned her attention to the fight with Lucent. Without Pulse pulling his strings, Lucent’s body stiffened from the sudden release. Before he could realize what was happening, Chronos and Cache hit him with everything they had until he was taken out of the fight.

  CHAPTER 10

  The Khagan pushed forward, growing in size and durability against the force of Tuwa’s power. Tuwa struggled to force him back, but he was too strong. He reached a massive hand out and grabbed both of hers in it, raising her off the ground where she dangled like that. Tuwa screamed as she felt the bones beginning to break.

  A smile spread on the Khagan’s face. He hadn’t allowed himself to transform this fully in years. But now that he had, he was remembering just how much he enjoyed it.

  But then he felt something else. The Khagan released his grip on Tuwa. He looked around and saw that she was gone. So was the rest of Vanguard and his followers. Now, the Khagan stood in an empty void. Alone.

  No, not alone—there was one other person in here with him. The Khagan faced him and saw the man walk towards him, dressed in a white suit with his hands clasped behind his back. His hair was slicked back and he had a thin mustache and glowing eyes.

  “Hello, Khagan,” said the Analyst. “I think it’s time we had a little chat.”

  The Khagan stared at the Analyst. He looked at his own body and saw that he was back in his human form, dressed in his robes as opposed to his battle armor. The Analyst walked towards him and the Khagan now realized this was all in his mind.

  “Where are you?”

  The Analyst looked up. “Above. In a jump-ship. I decided I’d use my abilities to try and talk some sense into you.”

  “You have no idea what you’re doing,” said the Khagan. “We have an opportunity to deal a massive blow to the Kotharians.”

  “Destroying the space-time continuum would be a pyrrhic victory,” said the Analyst. “We can’t risk a timequake just to stop the Kotharians. We have to be smarter than that.”

  The Khagan scoffed. “What, your Chronos? Do you really believe he’ll be able to change the past? How do you know it will work, that he’ll succeed? How do you know he won’t simply create an alternate timeline? Or make things even worse than they already are?”

  “That’s a risk we have to take,” said the Analyst. “We’ll still fight here. Still work to overthrow the Kotharians.”

  The Khagan studied his former ally. “You’ve changed. At one time, you would have stood by my side. Another traitor to our cause.”

  “No, not a traitor—I’ve just learned that creating a new world sometimes requires compromise,” said the Analyst. “The Kotharians have changed the rules of the game. For now, my goals and Vanguard’s are aligned.”

  “And once the Kotharians are gone?”

  The Analyst smirked. “Well, then we’ll have to see what shape the new world will take. But what you want to do? It’s suicide. I’ve always been more interested in self-preservation myself. You, though, you go to manic lengths. Perhaps you should have stayed in that coma all those years ago.”

  The Khagan crossed his arms across his chest. “So what do we do now?”

  “Now we see about putting you to good use.” The Analyst’s eyes flashed bright and the entire backdrop changed, becoming a swirling mass of shapes and colors.

  The Khagan felt a profound sense of vertigo. He couldn’t tell which way was up and everything kept spinning. The only thing he could see consistently were the Analyst’s eyes, spiraling with imagery. The Khagan felt like he was descending into a void, something of complete and total darkness.

  And then, there was nothing.

  ***

  The Khagan blinked and he was back in Atlas. He shrunk down to his human form as Vanguard all moved towards him, ready to attack. The Khagan held up his hands and gave them all a smile.

  “It’s all right, it’s me.”

  The psychic voice of the Analyst rung through all their heads. The team exchanged looks of confusion. Sharkskin was the one who finally spoke up.

  “Analyst…?”

  The Analyst, now in possession of the Khagan’s body, gave a nod. “It was the only way to see to it he’d be stopped. And to make sure he can finally do some good with his power.” He flexed his arms and swung his legs, testing the movement of his limbs. It felt good to be able to move again under his own power and not be trapped in that hoverchair.

  “What about your body?” asked Shift.

  “Useless now, but we should keep it in stasis, just in case,” said the Analyst. “For now, I think this will serve us much better.”

  Chronos approached the tachyon generator and held it in his hands. “We’ve finally got it. I can use this to repair the chronal emitter.”

  “And we’ve got the Codex,” said Ink, gesturing to the pod. “All in all, seems like a pretty good win for us, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, definitely.” The Analyst looked at the unconscious forms of Zephyr, Lucent, and Pulse. “We’ll bring them as well. No sense leaving them to the mercies of Cerberus. Prep for teleportation, we need to get back to the Icarus and start figuring out our next move.”

  “We should get moving right now,” said Gunsmith. “The Red Fist and Cerberus fighters are going to be done up there soon and whoever survives is going to want to know just what the hell happened down here.”

  “Agreed,” said the Analyst. He sent out a psychic call to the jump-ship, piloted by Cassie, informing her that they were ready to move. Once she was able to lock onto their signatures, blue energy surrounded them, their prisoners, and the Codex. It grew brighter until it transported them away, then faded without any sign that Vanguard has been there.

  EPILOGUE

  Joseph Ramsey tapped his smartwatch. The glasses he wore projected the data from his watch—reports of the attacks on both the Garden and Atlas. As well as the recent events surrounding the betrayal of General James Ellis.

  He entered a dark, round room. Closing and locking the door behind him, Ramsey stepped onto the glowing pad in the center. A holographic image flickered into view in front of him, a creature with reddish-orange skin, pointed ears, and his long hair worn in yellow braids. He was adorned in black armor with gold trim and he regarded Ramsey with gold, catlike eyes.

  “General M’Lak,” said Ramsey as he delivered the Kotharian salute.

  M’Lak returned the salute. “I’ve heard disturbing reports, Governor.”

  Ramsey sighed. “We’ve suffered some great losses. Azarov, Rowe, the Garden, and now the Codex and the tachyon generator.”

  M’Lak had a strange smile on his lips, something that unnerved Ramsey greatly. “Sir…?”

  “Calm yourself, Governor. Vanguard has proven quite resourceful as of late. But we have a source on the inside, one who can help us take things to the next level. It is a shame we’ve had to suffer such losses, yet now we are in a place to destroy them from within.”

  “Your source…” said Ramsey. “Would they have access to the Codex on Ica
rus?”

  “Oh yes. In fact, I’ve already given her the order to activate it."

  19 - THE CODEX

  CHAPTER 1

  Erin Asano stared at the body lying on the ground. A man with chin-length, dark hair, splayed out under his head. A black mask covered the lower portion of his face and he was dressed in a black and silver uniform with a cape.

  No, this was years ago. Before she married Koji, when she was still Erin Hastings. She knelt down by his side, her hand covering her open mouth. With her other hand, she very carefully reached out for his neck, trying to feel for a pulse.

  There wasn’t one.

  The man was Dominic Vaughn. Wraith. Her teammate. And now he was dead, his neck broken. Erin looked and saw another body lying behind the desk. Dr. Howard McCabe, another friend.

  But she wasn’t alone. Erin looked up. Standing just a few feet away was a brown-skinned woman dressed in a red and white uniform, matching cape hanging from her shoulders. She had short, black hair and stared right at Erin with a twisted smile.

  “Anita…” Erin looked back at Dom’s body. “What did you do?”

  Anita Jordan, the woman called Paragon, grabbed Erin by her throat and forcefully pulled her away from the body. She slammed Erin against the wall. Erin struggled, but Anita’s telekinetically fueled strength made her far stronger than the teenage metamorph.

  Anita stared into Erin’s eyes and they flashed with golden energy. Erin tried as best she could to fight back.

  “This isn’t what you think,” said Anita.

  “Y-you just killed our friends!” barked Erin. “What else could it possibly be?”

  “Nothing here is what it seems, Erin. You know that. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  Erin’s arms fell to her sides. The molecules that made them up shifted, morphing. Changing into tendrils that snaked down along the floor and began wrapping around Anita’s legs. With a powerful tug, Erin freed herself from Anita’s grasp, her tendrils dangling Anita in the air.