He looked down at the mass of twisted metal. It wouldn’t be enough to destroy the Omega, but it would slow him down. Lee pulled himself up, forcing the hands of his armor between the elevator doors. He struggled, forcing them open and collapsed into the tunnel connecting the main part of Atlas to the command control center.
Lee scrambled to his feet and ran down the tunnel. He was exhausted but he had no time to waste. He had to get to the ready room in order to see if he could undo the damage the Omega had done.
CHAPTER 9
The drones that spoke to Thorne and Zenith in the training room had now moved to attack. Thorne was injured and tried his best to contribute to the fight, but mostly Zenith had to protect him. The energy blasts Zenith fired could destroy a fair number of them and their own teleforce blasts only gave him more power to use against them.
But the overwhelming numbers were what worried Zenith the most. Especially as he had to divide his efforts between taking offensive action against the robots and defending Thorne from their attacks.
“We’re running out of time!” said Thorne. “Zenith, I won’t last much longer. You have to get to the source and stop the Omega!”
Zenith’s mouth fell open in surprise. “I can’t leave you here to face these things alone!”
“You can travel through Atlas’ entire complex with a thought and if the Omega gets out of here, there’s no telling what kind of damage he’ll do.” Thorne cringed as he raised his arm and fired at an oncoming droid. “Go!”
Zenith threw out a wave of energy with his arms to knock down an incoming assault of robots. He looked over his shoulder at Thorne, defiance in his eyes. “No.”
“You’re out of your damn mind!”
“I will not leave you to die, Leonard. Either we go together, or we don’t go at all.”
At the same moment, they heard the sound of the elevator crashing down in the shaft. There were two levels below the training room, one for storage and one housing the Atlas’ utilities. The robots all paused momentarily and Zenith flew to the elevator doors. He blasted them with his optic rays, blowing them open and looked down the shaft.
The elevator wreck sat at the bottom. He glanced up and saw Lee climb into the tunnel at the top. Zenith turned to Thorne, holding out his hand. “Come on, now’s our cha—”
The Omega burst through the wreckage, rocketing up the shaft. Zenith acted quickly, firing a blast with both hands that struck the Omega and caused him to hit the wall and tumble back down.
When he rose again, though his eyes were incapable of conveying emotion, Zenith got the distinct impression that the Omega was pretty angry. He activated his thrusters and shot into Zenith, throwing them both into the training room and striking the far wall. As they flew, the Omega pummeled Zenith with his fists, raining blows of unbelievable strength upon him.
“This is what you should’ve done to Lucent!” said the Omega. “You are weak, Zenith! I’ll do what you were never able to! I’ll make the world a better place! I’ll succeed where you failed!”
With each blow, Zenith felt himself slipping away. Even with the power provided by Lucent’s body, it was still human and he was beginning to feel the weakness of that flesh. He had difficulty staying conscious and then the Omega threw Zenith into the wall. Zenith fell to the ground, lying motionless.
He struggled to move, but every inch of his body ached. The azure glow of his body faded and Zenith laid his head back. His eyelids grew heavy and though he tried to fight it, the draw of unconsciousness was too strong. It only took another moment or two before the darkness finally overcame him.
With Zenith down, the Omega turned his attention to Thorne. He hovered closer, remaining above the Colonel, who impotently raised his gun. The Omega just scoffed at the act.
“Do you really believe you can stand up to me, Colonel?” he asked. “You’ve tried and failed at everything you’ve attempted. Vanguard, gone. Zenith, replaced. Why do you bother trying to stand when you know I’ll kill you?”
“Because I’m a stubborn old bastard,” said Thorne, then pulled the trigger.
The blasts struck the Omega, but caused him no cause for alarm. The robot raised his cannon and fired a simple blast that blew the gun from Thorne’s grasp.
Thorne cringed at the pain in his hand. The Omega came closer to him, ready to strike a final, definitive blow. He held up his cannon, aiming it square at Thorne’s head. Thorne just spat on the ground, staring defiantly at the Omega.
“Go on, then. What’re you waiting for?”
The Omega was struck from behind by a powerful energy blast, one strong enough that it threw him back into the elevator shaft. Thorne turned in surprise, his mouth agape and he saw Zenith rise up from the ground, his body seemingly more filled with power and purpose than ever. He flew towards Thorne’s side and maintained a hover.
“Glad to see you’re not dead, Zenith.”
He looked angrily at Thorne, his eyes burning with an azure brightness. “I’m not Zenith.”
Thorne jerked his head back. “Oh…”
Once Zenith fell unconscious, it must have given Lucent the opportunity he needed to retake his body. Just as Zenith had managed to rise up when Lucent was kept unconscious by the Analyst, now Lucent had been able to do the same.
“Let’s get something straight,” said Lucent. “First, I’m going to destroy this tin soldier. Then, I’m going to kill you, the kid, and after that I’ll finish what I began before your team got in my way.”
The Omega shot back into the training room, slamming his shoulder into Lucent. The force threw the villain back and the Omega charged at him again. The two battled like that, with Lucent trying to get some distance away so he could use his powers. But the Omega knew that his energy weapons were useless against his foe and so he attempted to keep up the physical assault. To keep him locked in close-quarters combat so Lucent couldn’t have enough space to fire off any energy attacks.
Thorne could do nothing more than watch. He retreated into the control booth and took cover. Lucent and the Omega battled each other with a ferocity Thorne wasn’t used to seeing. Both were going for the killing blows.
The Colonel didn’t know who he wanted to see come out on top. Zenith’s consciousness was still present inside Lucent and with any luck, would resurface again. But there was no guarantee it would happen before Lucent had the opportunity to make good on his threats. On the other hand, the Omega planned a global assault on the specials and if they couldn’t stop him here or warn anyone about his plans, there was no guarantee someone else could pick up the fight later.
It all came down to Lee. He was their last hope. Thorne only prayed the young man could find a way to stop them both before any more damage could be done.
CHAPTER 10
When Lee reached the ready room, the doors were sealed shut. He pounded on them with his holographic armor. Each blow sent a flicker through the light-based construct he wore. The prototype’s power was fading and he wouldn’t have a whole lot of time left before things went completely south.
Lee moved his hand to the belt, altering the settings and directing all the remaining power into the arms. The rest of the armor faded from around his body, all except for the holographic gauntlets. Lee coiled his arms and delivered a double-fisted punch to the doors, bursting through the metal. He tore them open just as the armor’s power faded completely and the gauntlets vanished.
He ignored that and went straight to the console. Lee laid his hands over the keyboard and closed his eyes, speaking with the Atlas’ computer system.
“I know you’ve been alone here for a long time. But that thing isn’t Zenith. It’s not part of you. It’s something perverse and it’s making you do things you never would’ve done before.”
Binary codes flashed across Lee’s mind’s eye. The computer’s way of responding to him. To anyone else, it wouldn’t have meant much. But for Lee, his technopathy translated each and every number, forming it into a kind of language t
hat only he and the computer could understand.
“Unless you help me, Zenith will be gone forever. I need you to help me lock out Omega. If he stays in your system, Zenith will never be able to join you again. Yes, of course you’re scared. I know what it’s like to be alone. But Omega will just make you his slave. Make you do things you don’t want to do. I’m asking you to trust me.”
Lee opened his eyes, but he was no longer staring at the console’s monitor screen. Instead, now he could see through the eyes of the Atlas’ various security cameras and attack droids. But it was an information overload. Too much to process and he couldn’t concentrate. Was this how Zenith interpreted the world when he was in his former body and connected to Atlas? After just a few brief seconds, Lee was already overwhelmed by it.
“No.” He clamped his eyes shut. “Just…show me where they are.”
He opened his eyes cautiously and now he could just see through a camera in the training room. He watched as Lucent and the Omega battled each other.
“What’s that? What did you say?”
Lee ‘listened’ as the computer responded and a smile started to spread over his bearded face.
“You’re right, he’s distracted, isn’t he? I noticed it before back in the lab. It was the same problem I had when you showed me the whole base. The Omega can’t divide his consciousness between so many operations. He’s struggling to hold on and now that he’s distracted…”
The one chance to lock him out of the system. Lee knew he had to act fast. He spoke with the computer in its own language. Reams of numbers flowed through his mind, but somehow he was able to translate them almost instantaneously thanks to his technopathy.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “Have to close off all the entry points. Start with the training room, remove the droids from his control. Then move on to the other levels.”
The computer responded with something Lee interpreted as fear. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here with you the whole time. You won’t be alone again, I can promise you that.”
The response was more favorable this time and the computer did as Lee instructed, pushing the Omega out from the last of the system and locking him out completely.
***
In the training room, the Omega pulled back from Lucent in shock. “What? No, it can’t be!”
He activated his thrusters and flew from the training room and into the elevator shaft. Lucent’s body hummed with his power. “Oh no, you’re not getting away that easily!”
Lucent flew after the Omega into the elevator shaft. His blasts struck the Omega, knocking it to the side. Lucent barreled into him, rocketing the Omega up towards the roof and slamming him into it with all the force he could muster.
The Omega could barely process what was happening. He’d been shut out from the Atlas’ system and the next thing he knew after being slammed into the ceiling was the sensation of falling. Something struck him hard in his chest and he fell faster, his back hitting with a great impact.
His visual receptors were damaged, but they flickered back into view just to see a bright, blue light streaking towards him. The Omega raised his arms and his cannons erupted with the teleforce energy. As he was firing, the Omega realized his mistake and who he was fighting.
Lucent smiled as his body absorbed the energy from the weapons. “Know what the definition of insanity is? Attempting the same act over and over and expecting a different result.”
Lucent shot down and slammed his fists into the Omega’s head. He slapped his hands together and placed them on the Omega’s chest. As Lucent concentrated, his hands moved inside the armor plating.
“N-no, what are you do—ARGH!”
The Omega screamed and his robot body convulsed. Lucent smiled, but unlike with Zenith, he wasn’t drawing energy from his foe. Instead, he was pushing energy into him. And the overload was too much for the Omega. There was a power feedback and it blew the two apart. The Omega’s body lay motionless on the roof of the ruined elevator, the LED lights along his body flickering before fading.
Thorne leaned against the door for the elevator shaft, aiming his gun down at the robot body. Thorne stared down into the cold, emotionless face. He saw Lucent lying on the roof of the elevator as well, his body back in its human state. Both appeared to be finished.
A voice crackled over the speakers. “Colonel? Can you hear me down there?”
Thorne scrunched his eyebrows together. “Lee? Is that you?”
“Yeah,” came Lee’s response over the speakers. “I managed to convince Atlas to kick the Omega out of the system. I was monitoring the battle through the security cameras. Did Zen take care of him?”
Thorne sighed and shook his head. “It wasn’t Zenith. Lucent took back control.”
“What?”
“But it looks like it’s over now.” Thorne turned his back to the elevator doors and limped further inside the training room. “Both Lucent and the Omega are down—”
Thorne was hit from behind. He didn’t see what happened, but his back felt like it was on fire and his face hit the floor. Thorne rolled over on his back and struggled to sit up. He saw Lucent rising up in the elevator shaft and hovering in front of the opening to the training room.
“You didn’t really think it’d be that easy, did you?” asked Lucent. “Think I’d just let you get away with what you did to me?”
CHAPTER 11
Lee watched impotently as Lucent attacked Thorne. He rested his hands on the keyboard and spoke directly to the Atlas’ computer. “Come on, we can’t leave the Colonel alone in there! Wake up the droids!”
An error warning flashed over the monitor. Lee could ‘hear’ an explanation from the computer. “They’re all inoperable? How long would it take to repair them?” The response wasn’t what Lee wanted to hear. “Dammit, no! Thorne doesn’t have that much time!”
The computer said it had an alternative but stressed that Lee wouldn’t like it. “Well come on, tell me and I’ll let you know if it’ll work!” Lee ‘listened’ as the computer told it what it was capable of doing.
“Are you nuts?” asked Lee. “No, I’m sorry. But…that’s suicide! We just tried to take that thing out and now you want to wake it back up?”
The computer justified its strategy. Lee took a deep breath. He closed his eyes again so he could see through the surveillance cameras. Lucent was moments away from vaporizing Thorne. Even if Lee could get down there in time, his own armor was still drained.
Lee rubbed the bridge of his nose, his eyes still clenched tightly as he tried to consider the best option. “Okay, do it. But if you’re wrong about this…”
***
“Months,” said Lucent, standing over Thorne’s body. “For months I’ve been a prisoner in my own body. And it was because you allowed it to happen. I know how you told Zenith you should just keep things as is, prevent me from ever having my body again.”
“Can you blame me?” asked Thorne. “I’m starting to think Proximo was right to keep you locked up as a lab rat. You’re a monster. If Vanguard didn’t stop you, who knows how much more damage you would’ve caused once you killed Miriam Rowe.”
“And now I’ll kill you, too,” said Lucent, power arcing from between the tips of his thumb and the rest of his fingers. “Melt the flesh from your bones, Leonard. Then I think I’ll find that little wifey of yours. Tell her all about how I fried you before I do the same to her.”
“Don’t you dare touch her!” spat Thorne, his grip tightening around the butt of the teleforce blaster.
Lucent laughed. “Oh yes, Colonel! Shoot me, please! I could use another recharge.”
Thorne grabbed the blaster but instead of firing, he threw it at Lucent. The special just blasted the gun in mid-air and it clattered uselessly to the ground. He smiled.
“Really, Thorne? That was your big attempt to fight back?”
“No,” said Thorne. “This is.”
Lucent looked back at Thorne and saw
one of the Colonel’s pant-legs was rolled up and he had an empty holster strapped to his ankle. In Thorne’s hand was a small pistol and he fired several times, unloading the tiny gun.
Lucent felt the bullets punch through his chest. The first two went into his flesh, but he transmuted his body to energy and the remaining rounds just passed through him harmlessly. He was hurt, but not dead. And he was very angry.
“Enough games. Now you die!”
“I don’t think so.”
Lucent turned at the sound of a familiar, hollow voice. The robot body that the Omega had inhabited hovered in the elevator shaft, staring inside at the energy being.
“I should thank you, Terry,” said the robot. “If not for you, I might not have been able to return to my own body.”
“Zenith?” asked Lucent.
Zenith gave a nod. “I’m not sure what you did, but whatever it was, you placed me back where I belong.”
“Good,” said Lucent. “Now I can finish what I started in Vegas, kill you for real this time!”
Lucent unleashed a flurry of energy blasts. Zenith countered them, striking the blasts with energy from his cannons. He dodged the strikes, moving above with practiced ease. For Zenith, it was like coming back home. He felt more comfortable than he had in months. No more uncertainty about his powers, no more worries about someone else rising up to control him. Now he was back in command.
***
With Zenith now awake and back in control of his own body, Lee barely had a moment to take a breath of relief. Even with the new resistances he built into Zenith’s body, Lee knew that his friend would need more help than that to defeat Lucent. And Lee had something that would turn the tide of the battle, except with the elevator destroyed, he had no way of reaching the laboratory.
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 49