Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure

by Percival Constantine

  When he opened his crystal-blue eyes, he looked down, watching through the treetops as the boar moved on the ground below. The man who had once been the Exemplar dove head-first towards his prey.

  His eyes flashed and beams of energy erupted from his pupils. But he missed and the boar scampered off in fear. Callum followed the creature, firing again. This time, the beams struck and the boar fell over onto its side.

  He easily lifted the dead animal with one hand and flew into the air again. Soaring across the island, Callum returned to the cave that had become his home since he first arrived here. There, he used his heat blasts to create a fire and began the work of preparing the boar for breakfast.

  “So this is what you’ve resorted to now?”

  Callum ignored the taunts from his subconscious. He bit into the boar’s roasted flesh. When the Hellhounds attacked Arcadia, the Ferryman opened a portal that enabled the Exemplar to escape. And he’d been here, on this remote island in the Pacific, ever since.

  “You listening to me, boy?”

  Callum groaned. “Shut up.”

  “Run and hide, like always.”

  It was just his mind playing tricks on him. Months of isolation. But still, Callum felt like he could hear the voice of his father. Like he could see the old man sitting on the other side of the fire, his judgmental eyes fixed on his son.

  “You’re weak, Cal,” his father said. “God gave you all this power and still you’re nothing more than a coward. Just like when you were a kid. You couldn’t stand up to the bullies then and you sure as hell can’t do it now.”

  “I said…” Callum held out his arm and a blast of energy rocketed from his palm. “Shut up!”

  The blast caused the hallucination to vanish and struck the cave wall, singing the rock. Callum went back to his food.

  “Pathetic.”

  Callum’s head dropped. He sighed and looked up, seeing his father now sitting beside him.

  “You were never man enough to stand up to me. Never man enough to stand up to those bullies,” said his father. “What was that name you called yourself? The Exemplar? Thought you’d be like one of those spandex-wearin’ sissies you always read about in those comics, didn’t you? And how’d that work out for you?”

  “I helped people,” said Callum. “Which is more than I can say for you, old man.”

  “Yeah, helped. You helped so much that Vanguard had to shut you down. Then you were used by that Khagan guy. Now that was a real man.”

  “What do you expect, Henry?”

  A new voice came, more feminine. Callum shook his head. “No, not you, Lily. Not you, too…”

  He believed he saw a woman standing in front of him with long, dark hair. She folded her arms over her chest. “You were never man enough for me, Cal. I only ever dated you out of pity. Stayed with you out of obligation. Until finally, I realized I couldn’t stay with such a loser any longer. Not without killing myself.”

  Callum dropped the food on the ground, his head sinking. He brought his hands up to his face, bringing them to rest on the side of his head. “What do you want me to do?”

  “We want you to be a man for once,” said Henry, appearing in front of Callum. “They took everything from you and you let them.”

  Lily sat by his side, draping her arm around his shoulders. “You’re powerful, Cal. More powerful than anyone. This world could be yours. You could finally have everything you deserve.”

  “All you gotta do is stop makin’ excuses for yourself,” said Henry. “All you gotta do is stand up and take what you want.”

  “I tried that once, it didn’t work. Tried to find a new way, tried to give people a home.”

  “And that failed, too,” said Lily. “These humans, they’re never going to let you just sit back and relax. They’re too afraid of you—all of you. Afraid of what you can do. So they try and keep you down. They force other specials to turn on their own kind.”

  Callum raised his head and looked at Lily. “What do you mean?”

  “Think about it,” she said. “Months you were at Arcadia and nothing happened. Everything was peaceful. But then those two Vanguardians show up and next thing you know, Cerberus is tearing the island apart. Do you think that’s a coincidence?”

  “They wouldn’t…” said Callum. “Shift and Sharkskin…they’re good people. Just kids, really. They wouldn’t turn on us like that.”

  “And yet, facts is facts,” said Henry. “C’mon, son. You can’t be that stupid, can you?”

  “There are no coincidences,” said Lily. “I bet they probably traded Arcadia for their own freedom.”

  “So what do you want me to do?” asked Callum.

  Lily and Henry stood and they both pointed off into the darkness. Callum rose from his seat and stepped into the dark, where their fingers pointed. The deeper he went into the cave, the darker it got. He held up a fist, and the energy he generated around it provided him with a makeshift torch.

  As he approached the spot, he saw his ex-wife and his father appear again. Between them was a small, rock pedestal. Resting on that was the blue and white costume he wore as the Exemplar.

  “Take what’s yours, son.”

  “Be the man we always hoped you could be.”

  Callum knelt down and reached for the white cape with one hand, the other still providing illumination. He felt the fabric beneath his fingers and thought about everything Cerberus had taken from him. And what if Vanguard was involved? What if they were responsible for the fall of Arcadia?

  He owed it to his people. He would have his vengeance.

  CHAPTER 3

  A round, metal table with a giant V engraved into its surface now sat in the monitor room of Vanguard’s Atlas base. The entire team sat gathered around the table, and in the center of it was a holographic projection of a man dressed in a black uniform, a red circle with the silhouette of a three-headed hound emblazoned on his left pectoral and shoulders.

  “We’ve finally managed to reach an agreement with the Security Council,” said the hologram. It was Abram Zukov, the director of the international agency called Cerberus. “From this point on, Vanguard will act in consultation with Cerberus.”

  “So basically, we trade the White House for you?” asked Dominic Vaughn, who leaned back in his chair.

  “Not quite.” Colonel Leonard Thorne rested his elbows on the table, his fingers steepled together. “Despite the autonomy we were given, we were still working for the Hayworth administration. That’s no longer the case. Vanguard is completely autonomous, we just share intelligence with Cerberus.”

  “And vice versa,” said Zukov. He gestured to Jim Ellis, the man at the table in a black bodysuit. “As Jim is still a member of Cerberus, he will serve as the official liaison between us both.”

  Anita Jordan had her eyes fixed on the metal table. “What about J’Karra?”

  “You’re welcome to return to the Island and question her again, if you like,” said Zukov. “But I doubt you’ll fare much better than you have.”

  “Have to try,” said Anita. “She said something about retaliation. Whatever caused the Event also powers her people and apparently, they’re not big on the sharing. And once they find out that we’ve also been holding one of their scouting ships for decades…”

  “Zen, any progress on that front?” asked Thorne, turning to the artificially intelligent robot on the team.

  Zenith shook his head. “I’ve detected no transmissions made with J’Karra’s ship. I have been analyzing the technology in it, though. I believe we may be able to incorporate some aspects of it into the Icarus’ design.”

  “Like what?” Erin Hastings was the youngest member of the team, but since joining, she felt like she’d had to grow up fast. Everyone regarded the teenager as an adult in their midst now.

  “The cloaking device for one thing,” said Lee Parker, the team’s latest member and resident technology expert. “Kotharian stealth technology is unlike anything we’ve ever seen befor
e. And the autopilot is so advanced, it borders on AI.”

  “The teleportation technology is another matter, I’m afraid,” said Zenith. “It will take some time to reverse-engineer that.”

  “No big, I like a challenge,” said Lee.

  “I will leave you all to talk,” said Zukov. “Paragon, when you wish to return to the Island, let me know and I’ll provide you with its current coordinates.”

  Anita gave a nod and the projection of Zukov vanished from the table.

  Koji Asano leaned forward, looking at Thorne. “Okay, so tell me the truth—are we cool with this whole arrangement or is it bad?”

  “Abram’s a good man, we can trust him,” said Jim.

  “And we need some sort of oversight,” said Thorne. “I don’t like having to answer to anyone, but the government knows where this base is. If we tried to go rogue, we’d have some difficulty in that area. It’s only Zenith’s quick-thinking that allowed us to claim the Icarus and Atlas as our own.”

  “How’d that work anyway?” asked Koji.

  “I knew President Lawson would need time to verify my claim that the Icarus and Atlas were indeed my own property,” said Zenith. “And in that time, I was able to falsify a paper trail as evidence.”

  “So you basically stole it from the government without them even knowing?” asked Dominic with a smirk. “I must be rubbing off on you.”

  “Let’s move on from Cerberus. We’ll keep an eye on them, but right now our biggest concern is J’Karra,” said Thorne. “She may be imprisoned and the fact that she didn’t send out a transmission is good news.”

  “Or so we think,” said Anita. “She’s got psychic powers. Maybe she was able to send out some sort of telepathic SOS. In which case, there’d be no real way to detect it.”

  “You’re right,” said Thorne. “See what you can get out of her when you go to the Island. Hopefully she’ll be a bit more accommodating.”

  “Will do.”

  “We still have other threats to worry about,” said Jim. “Chief among them being Joseph Ramsey.”

  “Unfortunately, the Secretary’s been very quiet lately,” said Zenith.

  “Probably figures we know he’s up to something,” said Dom.

  “Zen and I are monitoring every call and email he sends or receives,” said Lee. “If he does something, we’ll know about it. But so far, zip.”

  “I’m more worried about this invasion thing Anita mentioned,” said Erin. “Shouldn’t we be preparing for something like this?”

  “The Security Council knows about it and Cerberus and the world’s space agencies are sending out probes to monitor the solar system. But unless we know something more, there’s not a whole lot we can do,” said Jim.

  “Does seem like the number of threats we have to worry about is increasing exponentially…” muttered Thorne.

  “At least now we have back-up,” said Jim. “With Cerberus on our side, we’re not alone in this anymore.”

  “Assuming they can be trusted.”

  “Anita…”

  Anita held up her hand. “Now look, I know you think they’re above-board. But I have to be honest, they still make me nervous. I haven’t forgotten what they did to me when Callus was running the show. Who knows how many anti-special sympathizers are still infesting that organization?”

  “What do you expect us to do, fire everyone and start over?” asked Jim.

  “Sounds like a good start to me,” said Dom.

  “It’s not realistic,” said Jim.

  “Zukov is still only the interim director. That limits his power, and Ramsey will likely do everything in his power to drag out that confirmation process,” said Thorne. “But an internal review doesn’t seem like it’d be beyond his scope.”

  Jim sighed. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? But just as long as you remember that Cerberus is not the same organization it was under Callus. The Hellhounds unit has been completely decommissioned and they’ve been imprisoned for their crimes.”

  “So we’re told…” muttered Dom.

  “Let’s hit pause on this conversation,” said Thorne, holding up his hand. “I think we’re all under a lot of stress after everything that’s happened. Until we know more, there’s nothing we can really do except keep up our daily routine. So those of you with assignments, keep at ‘em.”

  He pointed at Lee and Zenith. “That means incorporating this Kotharian tech into our arsenal.” His finger moved to Anita. “Find out what J’Karra knows.” Then to Jim. “Talk to Zukov about looking at his people.”

  Thorne looked at Dom, Koji, and Erin. “As for you three, I want you to keep up with your training. It’s when things are quiet that we should be worried.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Hawaii was Callum’s first stop on his return to America. He would need to find a place to stay, get cleaned up, and figure out his next move. But to do that, he needed money.

  It was late at night and he stood on a building opposite a bank, staring down at the ATM machine located outside. He looked around to ensure there were no bystanders and fixed his gaze on the machine.

  Beams fired from his pupils, slamming into the machine and destroying it. An alarm went off and the ATM’s cash reserves were left open for the taking. Callum jumped from the building and swooped down, gathering as many of the bills into a bag as he could.

  “Hey!”

  Callum looked over his shoulder to see a security guard standing over him, aiming a gun at his head. The special took the gun from the young guard and bent the barrel upwards. The guard just stared at the gun in shock and slowly began to back away.

  “Run,” said Callum, his eyes flashing with energy.

  The guard dropped the gun and immediately ran off. Callum finished taking as much as he needed and flew away. It would be enough to get him a hotel room, a place where he could finally have a nice, long shower. Sleep in a real bed instead of lying atop a pile of leaves. Order some decent food he didn’t have to catch himself.

  Callum flew to another of the islands where he checked into a hotel under a false name. The concierge who asked him for ID quickly went silent after Callum handed her a hundred dollar bill.

  He went up to the room and took a long shower. He’d bathed on the island, but it wasn’t the same as this. Being able to control the temperature of the water was like heaven after that and he forgot how much he’d missed soap.

  After the shower, Callum settled his naked body between the sheets. The mattress may have been the most comfortable thing he’d ever laid on and with the window open, he got the feeling of a nice sea breeze blowing in. Sleep came quickly to him.

  When he woke the next day, he was surprised to see that he’d slept for almost twelve hours. Callum sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He laid back against the headboard and reached for the remote control on the nightstand. Navigating from the hotel menu, he began flipping through the channels. He stopped on a political pundit show.

  The middle-aged man had a smile like a used car salesman and perfectly coifed, brown hair. In the corner of the screen was an image of two logos—the one for Cerberus and the one for Vanguard.

  “Cerberus,” said Eric Fox, the show’s host. “This is an organization supposedly founded to protect humanity from the threat posed by these so-called specials. And yet, now they’ve just announced an alliance with Vanguard, a team of vigilantes with powers.”

  Fox sighed and rubbed his chin. “Folks, it’s bad enough that we’ve entrusted our security to the United Nations, but now we find that this organization—which is already on its second director after less than a year of operation—is working with the freaks they’re supposed to protect us from? Does anyone else see a conflict of interest here or is it just me?”

  Callum narrowed his eyes. Vanguard was working with Cerberus now?

  “So much for your trusted friends.”

  Callum looked over to the window and saw his father standing there with his arms folded. “I’m sure
they have their reasons.”

  “That whole theory about them selling you out is starting to look more and more likely, kid,” said Henry.

  “You can’t count on Vanguard anymore,” said Lily, who appeared beside him in bed. “Now you can only rely on yourself. Are you willing to do what’s necessary? To get justice for your people?”

  Callum shook his head. “Quiet. Just let me watch.” He pointed the remote at the TV and turned up the volume.

  “The United States needs their own version of Cerberus,” said Fox. “We need to register these specials, monitor them. If my neighbor blows things up when he gets angry, that’s something I deserve to know!”

  “He’s a bigot,” said Callum. “People like that are why I founded Arcadia in the first place.”

  “Arcadia’s gone, thanks to Cerberus,” said Lily. “The question is what are you going to do about it?”

  Callum turned off the TV and rose from the bed. He walked over to his bag and fished through the stacks of money until he found the folded blue and white costume.

  “You’re right,” he said. “I have to be a symbol for my people. Show them that we can’t let the humans keep us down.”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like a real man,” said Henry. “The kind of man I’d be proud to call my son.”

  “The kind of man I always wanted you to be,” said Lily.

  Callum pulled the blue and white costume over his body. He stood in front of the full-length mirror, placing his hands on his hips and admiring the pose he struck.

  “There’s a problem,” he said, looking at his father and ex-wife. “Cerberus’ headquarters is above the planet. I can’t fly out into space.”

  “No, but they have other locations all throughout the world, don’t they?” asked Lily. “You can attack one of those, let them know you mean business.”

  “And if Vanguard intervenes?”