“What just happened?” asked Thorne. “What are you doing here, Zenith?”
Zenith had been an artificial intelligence with a robot body. But through a series of events, Zenith now inhabited the body of an energy-manipulating special who had fought Vanguard—a man by the name of Terrence Gibson, or Lucent.
“I was suspicious and felt it best to follow you here. It seems I was right.” Zenith turned to the door. “Wait here, I’ll go after Pyre.”
“No, don’t.”
Zenith looked over his shoulder, his brow raised questioningly. “Why?”
“Pyre said he’d been sent by someone,” said Thorne. “My guess is this has something to do with Ramsey.”
Of course it was Ramsey. The Khagan may be imprisoned, the Red Fist now nothing more than a few scattered operatives who had—so far at least—managed to escape the reach of the law. But Ramsey was still sitting comfortably in his position at the President’s side. Still playing his own little games. And whatever those games were, Thorne knew it had a lot to do with this new organization the UN was in the process of forming.
“Then shouldn’t we do something about it?” asked Zenith.
“What would we do?” asked Thorne. “Ramsey clearly sees me as a threat. If he didn’t kill me this time, he’ll try again. We can’t take that risk. For the moment, we let him think he’s won.”
Zenith folded his arms over his chest. “And Pyre? If he has information—”
“He’s a puppet, said as much himself. And he said he didn’t know who sent him, just that it was someone high up. Even if he did know something, it’d be his word against Ramsey’s. Pyre’s a known terrorist—he was working with the Red Fist. No one’s going to believe him over the Secretary of Defense.”
Zenith sighed and lowered his head. “So what happens next? What do we do?”
Thorne scratched his silver-haired head. “We go back to Atlas.”
“It’s been decommissioned. As we speak, representatives of the Pentagon are boxing up some of the most valuable equipment, such as the Icarus. How can we hope to reassemble the team?”
“Not the whole team, let’s keep it small,” said Thorne. “We’ll need someone to help us out with the technology and since you can’t do that in your present state, that means we bring Lee Parker in, too.”
“We can’t just leave the others out of this, Colonel,” said Zenith. “They’re our friends. They fought by our side. If Ramsey is responsible for this, then they’ll want to know about it. They deserve to know about it, especially after everything he’s been responsible for.”
Thorne sighed. “I don’t like it, but we have to leave them out of this. If we start Vanguard up right away, Ramsey’s going to know something’s up. We have to let him think he’s won and monitor him closely. He and whoever he’s chosen as his puppet Director will slip up sooner or later. And when they do, we’ll be ready to strike.”
CHAPTER 2
The Present
The black helicopter hovered over the Adirondacks. A large, red circle was painted on the surface with the silhouette of a three-headed hound inside the symbol. It descended, lowering into a clearing in the midst of several peaks.
It seemed a strange place for a small airfield, but that’s exactly what sat there. The helicopter landed on the tarmac in front of the hangar and the blades slowed to a stop. Uniformed agents of the Cerberus agency emerged from the helicopter, dressed in black uniforms that bore the same symbol on the side of their vehicle.
One of them held up a small palm device and reviewed the data that appeared on the screen. He shook his head. “No readings, as usual.”
A sigh of frustration drew his attention to one of the two men who accompanied him. “Why the hell are they still bothering with this place? It’s been empty for months.”
Munroe, the leader, shrugged and slid the palm into a pouch on his belt. “What are you whining about, Jackson? It’s a pretty cushy assignment. Take the chopper out for a spin, get some fresh mountain air, do a quick search and then we head back to base.”
“And with the travel time, we basically kill a whole day. There are worse assignments,” said Thompson, the third man.
Jackson shrugged. “I’m just sayin’ it’s a waste of time is all. You’d think Callus would give up on looking at this place. What the hell is so important here anyway?”
Munroe shrugged. “Hell if I know. I’m not paid to ask questions, just follow orders. Word around the water cooler is it used to be some kind of bunker for the top brass.”
The three men entered the small building that led into the underground base. Munroe entered in an override code on the keypad on the wall. There was a few moments of silence as they waited for the door to open. Finally, the wall lowered, revealing an elevator.
“Tech in here is such crap,” said Jackson. “Always takes forever for that damn door to open.”
“Would you shut up already?” asked Thompson. “You wanna be doing paperwork or standing guard over some prisoner facility?”
Jackson didn’t offer another word and the elevator descended in silence. The doors opened to a large room with monitors and computer consoles all around and a round table in the center. The three pulled on night-vision goggles to see in the darkened facility.
“You know the drill, boys. Floor-by-floor sweep, then we can start heading back,” said Munroe.
Thompson gave a nod and Jackson muttered something unintelligible under his breath. They both continued on to inspect the rest of the base. Munroe pulled out his palm device again and started another scan. He hummed to himself, walking around the darkened room and occasionally glancing back at the palm readings, but not really paying any attention to it.
The device suddenly beeped. Munroe looked down at it in surprise. The display read, SPECIAL DETECTED. Munroe reached for the gun holstered to his thigh and held it up. He moved slowly around the room, checking in every hiding spot he could find. He looked up at the roof but saw nothing there.
It beeped again. Munroe checked the screen instantly and now, it read, AREA CLEAR. He sighed and holstered his weapon. “Must be a glitch. Probably needs an update or something.”
Once the team completed their sweep, they met back in the ready room and stood at the elevator. Munroe regarded his two men. “Anything?”
“Whole big load of nothing,” said Jackson. “As per usual.”
Munroe rolled his eyes. “Stow the attitude already.” He looked at Thompson. “And you?”
Thompson shook his head. “Nothing. No signs anyone’s been here for a while. Wish we knew just what this place was for, though.”
“Above our pay-grade,” said Munroe. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”
They boarded the elevator and rode it back to the surface. Not long after the helicopter rose off the tarmac, the lights and monitors on the ready room suddenly powered on. A compartment in the floor slid open and three people climbed out.
Colonel Thorne was one of them and he reached a hand down to help the young man down there with him—Lee Parker. The third was Zenith, still stuck in the body of Lucent.
Lee went over to one of the consoles and sat there, laying his hands over the keyboard and just whispering. He possessed the ability of technopathy, which allowed him to communicate with any machine.
“Anything?” asked Thorne.
Lee shook his head, turning away from the console. “Everything’s clear. Just some grunts doing a check.”
“They’ve dropped to monthly sweeps now,” said Thorne.
“Perhaps Callus is giving up the search,” said Zenith.
Thorne sat at the round table, leaning back in the chair. “I doubt it. Nathan Callus doesn’t give up easily. If he thinks there’s some slight chance I’m still alive, he’ll be on the look-out. He can’t be happy that he still doesn’t know what happened with the two of you for that matter.” Thorne regarded Lee. “You might wanna ask yourself if you still want to stay, kid. You’ve got family out there a
nd Callus may decide to go after them to put pressure on you.”
Lee folded his arms. “I don’t scare easy, Colonel.”
Thorne smirked. “Good man.” He clapped his hands together and leaned forward. “Okay, so what have we got? Tell me there’s something we can use against Cerberus.”
“There might be,” said Lee, turning his attention to the computer. Images of people flashed over the array of monitors and Thorne had difficulty processing them all. As did Zenith, now that his perceptions were human and no longer robotic.
“Slow down,” said Thorne. “You’re making me dizzy.”
“Sorry.” Lee turned his chair away from the console. “These are photos of people who have been reported missing over the past few months. Most appear to have one thing in common.”
“Specials,” said Zenith.
Lee nodded. “Right. Medical records, incident reports, everything we’ve been able to find out about them seems to indicate that they’re specials. And it’s not just limited to the States.”
“But there could be any number of reasons why specials would go missing,” said Zenith. “Not everyone is very tolerant.”
“Could be, but when we’re looking at numbers like this, it starts to get pretty staggering,” said Lee.
Thorne rubbed his chin. “Cerberus is supposed to police specials. How do we know it’s not that?”
“There are some dangerous cases, yes, but a whole lot more that look innocent,” said Lee. “But recently, we got a break.”
Lee placed his hand on the keyboard and the monitors all displayed a login page for the Cerberus server. The login and password fields filled in seemingly of their own accord and then they were in. Thorne rose at the sight, slowly stepping closer to the console.
“How did you do this?”
“Took a lot of searching to find the right channels, then a lot of finessing to get in,” said Lee. “Their system’s a bit stubborn and anti-social.”
Thorne found himself pausing. Every time Lee would refer to machines as if they had personalities, it made Thorne do a double-take. He found it to be a very strange thing, referring to inanimate objects as people. But then he remembered how he met Zenith—an artificial man, but one who had more intelligence and personality than many flesh-and-blood humans Thorne had met in his life. That thought was what always stopped Thorne from making any comments about Lee’s speech.
“Cerberus’ own records confirm that they’ve got a pretty big prisoner list. They’ve definitely been going after specials, Thorne.”
“Anyone we know?” asked Zenith.
“Let’s have a look…” Lee turned back to the console and worked his magic. His jaw nearly dropped when the result came up. “Oh shit.”
“What is it?” asked Thorne.
Lee hit a key on the console and the monitors showed the image of a young woman with brown skin, short black hair, and large brown eyes. A woman Zenith and Thorne especially knew very well.
“Anita…” muttered Zenith.
“Callus is starting to go after our people,” said Thorne. “We have to get to work. Send it out.”
“Whoa, hold on a sec.” Lee stood and stepped closer to Thorne. “You sure we can trust him? I know he used to be your guy, but now he’s one of them.”
“James Ellis only joined Cerberus because I told him to,” said Thorne. “He can be trusted.”
“Yeah, I know you think that but a lot can happen in—”
“Parker.” Thorne’s voice became stern. “If I say Gunsmith can be trusted, then he can be trusted. Now send him the information.”
“You’re the boss…” muttered Lee as he returned to the console.
“Good man,” said Thorne. “I’ll be in my office. Let me know how it works."
CHAPTER 3
A small, one-man shuttle hovered over the surface of the Earth’s moon and moved into hover mode, slowly lowering. The craft was a sleek black, and the canopy vanished once it touched down on the surface.
The shuttle’s occupant climbed from the canopy, clad in a black suit with gold trim. The helmet she wore concealed her reddish-orange skin and yellow hair and she stepped onto the moon’s surface.
“Log entry, J’Karra of Kothar,” she said, the helmet recording her voice. “After a long journey, I have arrived at the coordinates provided by the Matriarch.”
J’Karra crossed an arm in front of her body and a holographic display projected from her gauntlet in front of her helmet’s visor. Symbols of the Kotharian language appeared in addition to scan results.
“Chaknaar energy signature is faint, which means it was here,” she said. Something unusual appeared on the scanner and J’Karra made some alterations to the scanner through her suit’s cybernetic interface. “Other signatures here as well. Including a…temporal disturbance?”
She paused and focused on the scanner, thinking on the implications of what she’d uncovered.
“A temporal disturbance could be cause for concern. I’ll need to contact the armada with this new information. Pause log.”
J’Karra climbed back into her shuttle and the canopy materialized above her. Once she was safely inside, she activated a control on the side of her black and gold-trimmed helmet and it vanished as the canopy had before.
The long, yellow locks rested behind pointed ears. Yellow catlike eyes focused on the canopy as she opened a communications channel. Instead of seeing through the canopy and seeing the stars above, now J’Karra looked upon the face of the Matriarch of her people. A woman of a refined elegance whose people would die if she gave the order.
“Captain,” she said. “It’s been some time.”
“Yes, My Lady. I apologize for the delay in communications.”
“Quite all right. I suspect you’ve found something of note?”
J’Karra nodded. “I’ve located what I believe to be the point where the Chaknaar was unleashed. However, I’m unable to follow any sort of trail to its point of origin.”
“How is that possible?” asked the Matriarch.
“Perhaps because of the other energy signature I discovered,” said J’Karra. “There are remnants of some temporal disturbances.”
“What does this mean?”
J’Karra paused for a moment. What she was about to say seemed too ridiculous to even mention, but it was the only explanation that fit.
“Captain?” asked the Matriarch.
“Whoever unleashed the Chaknaar may have been a time traveler.” The Matriarch was silent. J’Karra lowered her eyes. “I understand how that must sound, My Lady.”
“And it may be the truth.”
J’Karra’s eyes snapped back to attention. “You think it’s possible?”
“Captain, I’ve checked the Chaknaar reserves and the levels are correct. It wasn’t stolen from us. So either there is another source of the Chaknaar or it comes from another time.”
“And if that’s the case?” asked J’Karra.
“If the thief has retreated to their own era, we have no way of following. Instead, we must focus on the fallout. Discover the extent of the Chaknaar’s spread and provide counsel on an appropriate course of action.”
J’Karra nodded. “I understand, My Lady. I will continue the investigation.”
The Matriarch’s face vanished from the canopy. J’Karra reactivated her helmet and used her shuttle’s computer systems to run scans on the planet. But what she saw flash over her eyes was a source of great surprise for her.
“Gods…” she whispered under her breath. “Resume log.” The helmet began recording again. “The Matriarch supports my conclusion that the temporal energy suggests the intervention of a time traveler. I have begun Chaknaar scans to determine its usage and there are some massive readings coming from the planet this moon orbits. A place that the inhabitants refer to as Earth. The readings of the Chaknaar are off the charts. If they’re correct, this means that almost the entire population of the planet has been transformed by the energies. I must in
vestigate further.”
J’Karra entered commands into the shuttle and the thrusters activated, raising it above the moon. Once an appropriate altitude had been reached, the shuttle rocketed off towards the large, blue planet beneath her.
She would continue her investigation of the planet. Discover how the people could have possibly survived the fusion with the Chaknaar. And just what it had done to them.
CHAPTER 4
Lee finished the conversation with one final line. “Because I know all about you, Gunsmith. You and the rest of Vanguard.”
“Who is this?” asked the man on the other end of the call.
Lee hit a button on the keyboard and the call ended. He smiled as he sat back in the chair. He’d passed on the information to Gunsmith, just as Thorne had told him to, and with any luck Vanguard’s former leader would cause Callus some headaches. And Lee had to admit feeling a bit of satisfaction at playing the role of a secret informant. Made him feel like a real spy.
The sound of the door opening to the ready room brought the technopath out of his thoughts. He sat up straight and stood, meeting Zenith halfway.
“You said it’s ready?” asked Zenith.
Lee nodded. “But I have to ask again. Are you sure about this? You’ve gotten pretty used to Lucent’s powers, plus it must be nice being able to change into a regular, human body whenever you want. And transferring your consciousness into another robot means we run the risk of Lucent waking up and stirring up trouble.”
“We’ve been over this, my friend. Stripping Lucent of the ability to live his own life would be wrong. I cannot in good conscience stay in his body. I need to find one of my own.”
“And if he gets out?”
“We stopped him once, we’ll do it again,” said Zenith.
“Yeah, back when Vanguard was still together,” muttered Lee. “Okay c’mon, let’s see what we can do.”
Lee and Zenith left the ready room and journeyed through the connecting tunnel to the main area of the base, a converted ICBM silo. One of the floors housed a laboratory that had once belonged to Dr. Howard McCabe. Since Vanguard was disbanded, Lee had taken it over as his own personal workshop. His major project over the past several months was attempting to reconstruct Zenith’s robotic body, repair it from the damage caused in the battle with Lucent, and figure out just how to transfer the artificial intelligence into it.
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 46