Vanguard: The Complete Second Season: A Superhero Serial (Vanguard: The Collected Seasons Book 2)

by Percival Constantine

  Paragon saw Lucent race past Gunsmith and Sharkskin, coming straight for her. She clenched her fists and charged at the energy-manipulating special, delivering a powerful uppercut as she came within range of him. Lucent went flying, his body moving in an arc and falling hard on his back.

  Gunsmith drew his weapons, firing the teleforce blasts at Wraith, but the special formed an array of portals in front of his body. When a blast went into one portal, it emerged from another Wraith opened behind his opponent. Gunsmith was hit in the back by his own attack.

  Sharkskin towered over Shift, smiling a toothy grin as he looked down at her. Shift’s arms elongated into tentacles, wrapping around Sharkskin’s legs and she pulled hard, bringing him down with a crashing boom!

  “Hey, no fair!” he protested.

  Shift jumped over him and Gunsmith caught sight of her running across the room as he recovered from the shame of being struck by his own weapon. The yellow display over his right eye targeted her and he raised one of his teleforce guns, but when he fired, Shift vanished into a portal created by Wraith. Gunsmith huffed and looked at his opponent, who he was certain had a large grin beneath the mask that covered his jaw.

  Shift emerged from the portal behind Paragon, who still scanned the battlefield looking for the next threat. The metamorph’s arms transformed into tentacles, slowly inching across the ground and trying to reach the metal ball that stood on a pike behind Paragon.

  Paragon spun and grabbed Shift’s tentacles, yanking them and with them, the girl they belonged to. “Sorry about this, Erin,” said Paragon, hurling the teenage girl across the room where she fell into the waiting arms of Sharkskin.

  “Remember me?” he said with a smile.

  Shift gave a mischievous smirk of her own. “Oh, just wait.”

  “Huh?” Sharkskin blinked a few times in confusion.

  A flash of energy appeared behind Paragon. Lucent materialized, taking hold of the orb. Sharkskin noticed his appearance and shouted. “Anita, behind you!”

  Paragon spun, just in time to experience an optic blast directly in the face from Lucent. He tossed the orb in the air and seemingly vanished, moving too fast to be glimpsed.

  Shift’s body slimmed down, becoming almost like a snake as she moved out of Sharkskin’s grasp. He tried to grab hold of her, but she slithered up to his shoulders and jumped from them. Her hand stretched out to grab the orb when Gunsmith’s energy blast hit her in the chest before she could reach and she fell to the ground.

  Paragon flew after the orb, but it vanished in a shadow portal just as she was about to grab it. The orb reappeared in Wraith’s hand who transported himself in a portal to the other side of the room. Sharkskin pounced on him, wrapping his burly arms around Wraith’s torso.

  Wraith tossed the orb into the air and Lucent appeared in a sudden flash right where the orb fell, taking hold of it and moving across the finish line.

  A klaxon blared in the large training room of the Atlas base. The team relaxed and two men approached from the observation booth. One was older with a gray beard and glasses—Dr. Howard McCabe, formerly of the Human Genome Project and advisor to Vanguard. The other man was young with a handsome brown face—Lee Parker, a special in his own right who had been forced into working for the Khagan.

  “No fair!” said Sharkskin, his bulk decreasing and his skin changing from gray to beige. He now took his human form of Koji Asano and pointed an accusatory finger at the opposite team. “A teleporter and an energy being on one team is cheating!”

  “Could say the same about two bruisers on one team.” Wraith pulled the mask away from his jaw and ran his fingers through his chin-length dark hair.

  “He’s got a point,” said Gunsmith, holstering his weapons.

  Koji looked between Wraith and Gunsmith, a dumbfounded expression on his face. “Jim Ellis agreeing with Dominic Vaughn? We got another mind-control situation on our hands?”

  McCabe approached Lucent, who powered down and now stood as a human man with a bald head. “How are you doing in there, Zenith?”

  “Still somewhat disconcerting, but I’m becoming more comfortable with Lucent’s abilities.” Though he was in the body of Lucent, Zenith was an artificial intelligence who once inhabited his own robotic body. That is, until Lucent absorbed his energy. At first, Zenith was believed dead, but as a side-effect of the Khagan’s manipulations, Zenith was able to assert control over Lucent’s body.

  “How’s it coming with his body?” asked Erin, looking at Lee.

  “Still working on it,” said Lee. “But with the future of the team up in the air, kind of working with slim parts. And there’s also figuring out just how we’re going to transfer Zenith back into the body.”

  McCabe nodded. “That’s definitely a concern. Without knowing exactly how the transfer happened in the first place, reversing it will be difficult.”

  “They can’t really shut us down though, right?” asked Koji. “I mean, we saved the world and all.”

  “Bit more complicated than that, buddy,” said Jim.

  The door to the training room opened and Colonel Thorne stepped inside, still wearing his military dress uniform. “Unfortunately Jim’s correct.”

  “Do we have a verdict, Leo?” asked McCabe.

  Thorne examined the faces of the team, the people who had become like family to him in the short time they’d been together. He took a deep breath and looked down at the floor.

  “Why don’t you all hit the showers first and change. Meet in the monitor room in twenty minutes. There’s a lot we have to discuss.”

  “Doesn’t sound too good, does it?” asked Erin as she walked beside Koji towards the exit.

  “We don’t know that,” said Koji.

  Jim, McCabe, and Lee stayed behind with Thorne after the rest of the team left the training room. Thorne looked at Lee first. “Go on ahead of us, we’ll be there soon.”

  Lee hesitantly nodded and left the room. Thorne sighed and faced McCabe and Jim. He made eye contact with each man and shook his head.

  Jim groaned. “Figured as much.”

  “You and I have some other things to talk about,” said Thorne.

  Jim raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

  “Twenty minutes,” said Thorne.

  ***

  After showering, the team met in the Atlas’ monitor room, surrounded by various displays and computers used to monitor events from around the globe. The group all gathered around the round table, dressed in comfortable clothes as opposed to the uniforms they wore in the field and during the training session. Once everyone was seated at the round table in the center of the room, Thorne rose from his seat and rested his palms on the table, leaning over it.

  “It’s not good,” he said. “The President’s made good on his promise to discontinue his support for our little project here. The government will no longer fund Vanguard.”

  A brief silence fell over the group. Thorne first told them of this possibility after they returned from Olympus last month, but nothing had been decided upon yet and most hoped Lawson would change his mind after seeing how Vanguard defeated the Khagan. But now, they were without words. Or almost all of them.

  “So screw ‘em,” said Erin. “Lawson says he won’t support us, we go at it alone.”

  “You think this kinda operation comes cheap?” asked Dom, holding a hand out to gesture to their surroundings. “How are you gonna keep the lights on?”

  “Unfortunately, Vaughn’s right, but the ongoing funds are only one problem,” said Thorne. “All the equipment here—the computers, the training room, the Icarus, the damn base itself—that’s all government property.”

  “But Zen created the Icarus,” said Erin, pointing at Zenith.

  “And the government footed the bill,” said Thorne. “If we even wanted to try to keep going without government support, we’d be operating on a shoestring budget. We wouldn’t have a fraction of the resources we’d become accustomed to.”

  “Wh
y would they decide to shut us down?” asked Anita. “After everything we’ve done? After we stopped the Red Fist?”

  Thorne sat back down and rested his chin on a closed fist. “I tried playing that card, but this all comes down to politics. Lawson wants international cooperation to deal with the specials and that means a treaty banning the use of specials for military purposes. He’s worried about consequences if the US violates that treaty by keeping an off-the-books operation.”

  “So what’s his solution?” asked Jim. “If we’re not going to deal with the specials, then who is?”

  “The UN Security Council is overseeing the formation of an international organization that will deal with rogue specials. And based on the work I’ve done here with Vanguard, they want me in charge,” said Thorne.

  “So that’s the answer then,” said Koji with a smile. “We work for this organization, right? That still gets us the backing we need.” The look on Thorne’s face caused Koji’s smile to fade instantly. “Or not…”

  “I thought about that, too, but the Security Council is nervous about having specials active in this service.” Thorne turned his head in Jim’s direction. “Which is what I wanted to talk to you about. You’re not a special and because of your work, they feel you’d be well-suited to serve in this organization, too.”

  Jim blinked and looked around the table. Dom scoffed. “So keep the humans, get rid of the freaks, is that what this is about?”

  “Calm down,” said Anita.

  Dom threw his hands up. “Whatever. Never cared much for this three-ring circus any way.”

  “Dom’s right,” said Erin. “What happens if someone like Zephyr gets loose again? Or what if Lucent takes back his body? How is this organization going to stand up to them?”

  Thorne sighed. “I really don’t know.”

  “What about Zenith?” asked Lee. “He’s still trapped in that body, how are we gonna get him out?”

  “That’s something I still plan to continue if I take this position,” said Thorne.

  “‘If’?” asked Jim. “You’re having second thoughts?”

  “With Vanguard, I had autonomy. But this new organization will have to answer to the Security Council and they can’t even agree on the weather.” Thorne gave a shake of his head. “I’m afraid the position will become mired in politics and bureaucracy.”

  “On the other hand, if you turn down the position, who will they choose in your stead?” asked Zenith.

  “And that right there is the biggest problem,” said Thorne. “I’ve got no idea who else they’d go with, and there’s always the very real chance they could pick someone who’s not exactly sympathetic to specials.”

  Thorne stood up. “Whatever my decision, we’ve got a week before the government officially takes back control of the Atlas. That means you’ve got some packing to do and arrangements to make. I really wish things could’ve been different, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. It’s been a true honor to work alongside you all these past few months.”

  CHAPTER 4

  General Nathan Callus walked down the halls of the underground facility, the guards saluting him as he passed by. He ignored them, continued on towards his goal. The two guards who stood at attention on either side saluted and then one opened the door for him.

  The cell was small and chains ran from the ceiling and the floor, hooked to a woman in the center of the room whose arms were crossed over her chest and chained down, leaving her unable to move. She stared up at Callus with blue eyes that burned with anger—Callus couldn’t help thinking she would be cute if not for her anti-social tendencies.

  “Ms. Grant,” said Callus with a smile. He removed his hat, revealing the short, brown hair that had begun to turn silver.

  “My father’s lawyers are gonna have a field day with this,” said Chloe Grant.

  “Somehow I doubt that,” said Callus. “Maybe your initial attacks as Zephyr could be attributed to an overzealous streak of activism. But then you escaped federal custody and joined a terrorist organization responsible for the death of the President of the United States. No lawyer’s gonna take that case, regardless of how much money your rich daddy coughs up. And of course, that’s operating under the assumption you even have rights any more.”

  “I know my rights,” said Chloe.

  “You’re an intelligent young woman. No doubt well-versed on what the government can and can’t do in regards to terrorists.” Callus stepped closer, bringing his face within inches of hers and then he lowered his voice to a whisper. “As far as anyone outside this cell is concerned, Chloe Grant doesn’t exist. Your fate belongs to me.”

  Callus slapped her hard across the face and Chloe grunted. He stood upright and folded his hands behind his back.

  “We apprehended a number of the Red Fist’s numbers, including your fellow specials, Nina Murillo and Clarence Black. But you and I both know there were others working for the Khagan.”

  Chloe looked up and spat, the spittle landing on Callus’ jacket. He sighed and took a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe his coat. He back-handed her so hard that she felt like her head might snap off her neck.

  “Maybe I’m being too vague. There are two men we’re especially interested in locating. One is a Russian, name of Erik Azarov. And the other is an American, thin hair, mustache. Calls himself the Analyst.” Callus grabbed her chin and turned her head so he could look into her eyes. She struggled in his grip. “Your powers aren’t much use without your arms. You’re at my mercy, so I suggest you cooperate with me.”

  “And if I don’t?” asked Chloe.

  “Then what happens next will make you nostalgic for those little love-taps I gave you.”

  A series of knocks drew Callus’ attention. He glanced over his shoulder to the door before turning his head back to Chloe, his eyes narrowed. “We’ll continue this later. For your sake, I hope you’ll be more talkative.”

  Callus approached the door and banged his palm a few times in rhythm on the surface. The guards opened the door and Callus stepped out, allowing them to close it again behind him. Standing in the corridor was Joseph Ramsey.

  “Mr. Secretary.” Callus crossed his arms over his chest. “I assume there’s a reason you’re interrupting my interrogation of a dangerous prisoner?”

  Ramsey eyed the two guards as he addressed the General. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”

  “As you wish,” said Callus, leading Ramsey away from the cell and down the corridors. “If you’re here, I hope it’s because you’ve got some good news for me.”

  “I’m afraid it’s the opposite,” said Ramsey. “Lawson is pushing to appoint Thorne as the Director.”

  Callus stopped and Ramsey followed his lead. The two men faced each other, with Callus standing a full foot over the Secretary. “We both know what a disaster that’d be. The Red Fist destroyed the White House with the help of specials—specials that Thorne’s team was supposed to be handling. He’s a modern-day Chamberlain, he’d bend over backwards to appease these freaks.”

  Ramsey nodded. “I couldn’t agree more, General. I’ve told the President that you’re the best choice for the position, but he’s convinced that Thorne is the man who truly understands how to deal with the specials. It’s unfortunately out of my hands. I’m trying to find a way around it, but…”

  Callus sighed and placed his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet. After a moment, he looked into Ramsey’s face. “I think I might have a solution. Follow me.”

  They moved down a few more corridors and down a flight of stairs, coming to another cell with guards stationed out front. Callus had them open the door for them and inside the cell was a stasis tube filled with liquid. Inside the liquid was a man floating naked, a breathing apparatus around his mouth and nose and monitors nearby monitored his temperature.

  “Clarence Black, one of the specials who was working with the Red Fist,” said Callus. “Called himself Pyre.”

  Ramsey knew all-
too well. It was because of him that the Analyst was able to take control of Pyre, manipulating the special into working for the Red Fist. Ramsey was the one who provided the Red Fist with its superhuman agents after they were apprehended by Vanguard.

  “What is this?” asked Ramsey, examining the glass tube and the liquid inside.

  “Flame-retardant chemicals, keeps him from using his powers,” said Callus. “But we keep him sedated just to be on the safe side.”

  “I take it you have a plan in mind?” asked Ramsey.

  Callus nodded. “If Thorne is out of the picture, then Lawson has no further reason to object to your recommendation. And what better way get rid of him than by the hand of one of many specials he failed to properly contain?”

  “I thought you hated the specials?”

  “I do, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their uses.” Callus stared at Pyre. “Nuclear weapons are a threat to our security, but they also helped us end World War II. These specials are no different. Every weapon just needs someone who knows how to use it properly.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Lee, McCabe, and Zenith looked down at the metal body that lay on the gurney between them in McCabe’s laboratory. The geneticist was the one to ask the question that the young special didn’t want to answer.

  “You think this will work?”

  Lee scratched the back of his neck. “Hope, yes. But that’s about all I can guarantee. Without the backing of the government, all I could do was cobble together this from the remains of Zenith’s old body. Not even sure if it’ll function right.”

  “So long as I can transfer my consciousness from Lucent’s body, then it will be a success,” said Zenith.

  Lee and McCabe both exchanged glances and Zenith caught notice of them. “What is it?”

  “It’s just…” Lee sighed.

  “Please, tell me,” said Zenith.

  “If you’re able to successfully…evacuate Lucent’s body, that would put his consciousness in control once more,” said McCabe.