Authors: Percival Constantine
Tags: #superhero teams, #superhero, #action, #science fiction, #sci-fi, #superheroes, #adventure
“Abram, sorry to wake you,” said Jim. “But we’ve got a problem.”
“What’s this about?” asked Zukov.
“I’m sending something to your email. It looks like Pyre was right—Callus
is
using specials for his own purposes.”
“Where did you get this?”
“They wouldn’t tell me who they are. But I think it’s on the level. And more than that, they’ve got one of my former teammates.”
“Slow down, Jim. We don’t know anything about where you got this information. All we have to go on are some ramblings from a man whose mind has been toyed with and an anonymous informant. This could all be a trap.”
“If it is, then Paragon’s already in it. I don’t have a choice, I have to do something about this.”
“But we’re just two men. Even with your armor…”
“You’re not coming.”
“Believe me, I don’t
want
to. But I also can't let my partner do this alone.”
“If you want to help, then I need you to take this information and anything else you can dig up directly to the Security Council.”
“And you think they’ll believe me?” asked Zukov.
“That combined with what I’m going to discover on the ship will be more than enough proof.”
Zukov sighed. “But you’re still going in alone. Cerberus will treat you as an enemy combatant. Your armor’s impressive, but even you can’t fight an army.”
“I know, that’s why I’m not going alone,” said Jim.
***
Jim stood atop a building in New York City, clad in the Gunsmith armor. His eyepiece displayed the time and it showed that his contact was running late. Although he couldn’t really express any surprise at that. Jim opened the panel on his gauntlet to scan the location and the eyepiece flashed a notification.
When Jim turned around, he saw a man emerge from the shadows, dressed all in black. His dark hair hung down to his chin and he wore a mask that covered the lower portion of his face, and strips of leather hung from his shoulders to form a kind of cape. But the strangest thing about the man were his eyes, which were pitch-black.
“What’s with the cloak and dagger routine?” asked Dominic Vaughn, his eyes reverting to normal.
“Good to see you, too,” said Jim.
“We here to talk business or catch up?”
Dom—or Wraith as he’d been called in Vanguard—wasn’t one for smalltalk. Jim wasn’t too surprised. He’d asked him here on very little information for fear that Cerberus might be watching them. But with Zukov tasked with the Security Council, Jim would need back-up.
“Business,” said Jim. “I think Callus might be using Cerberus for his own purposes. Rounding up specials.”
“I’ll try to hide my surprise. Told you this whole thing was fishy.”
“Looks like you were right. From what Zukov and I have uncovered, he’s got a strike team armed with some pretty powerful technology.”
“Like you?” asked Dom.
“From the specs I’ve seen, their suits put mine to shame,” said Jim. “That’s why I need your help.”
Dom shook his head. “Look Ellis, I don’t hate you as much as I did when we first met. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to sign up for some kind of suicide mission.”
“Callus killed Thorne.”
That gave Dom pause. He sighed and lowered his gaze.
“I know you two didn’t exactly get along—”
Dom’s head snapped up. “Doesn’t mean I wanted him dead. But even still. I’d prefer to stay off anyone’s radar. Why don’t you ask the others to help?”
“Because you’re off the radar. Erin and Koji are being watched pretty closely by Cerberus and I don’t want to risk endangering their families. And Lee and Zenith have been MIA ever since Thorne’s death. You were reachable, off-the-radar, and you can get in places you’re not supposed to be.”
“What about Anita?”
Jim’s face was dour.
“What?” asked Dom.
“They’ve got her.”
Dom scoffed. “So it’s just the two of us against an army?”
“Cerberus has a ship in the Atlantic. Based on what I’ve heard from my informant, that’s where they’re keeping their prisoners. If we can get in there, free them and disable the inhibitors, we’ll have more than enough back-up.”
“Okay, I’m in. But how do you expect us to get out there?”
Jim smiled. “That’s something else I’ll need your help with.”
CHAPTER 8
When Anita awoke, she felt a strain on her neck. She reached her hand to her throat, looking down as best she could to see a collar around there. The same type of inhibitor collars the Red Fist used on her teammates when they were captured in Tora Bora.
She sat up, realizing she was on a cot. Looking around, she saw bars on all sides. It was a small cell with almost no privacy.
“Look who’s finally awake.”
Anita recognized the voice and she turned in anger to find Chloe Grant leaning against the bars of the cell beside her. With her aerokinesis, Chloe had taken the name Zephyr. A would-be revolutionary who willingly joined the Red Fist, and had clashed with Anita on more than one occasion.
“See what being a lapdog of the system gets you?” asked Chloe. “Eventually they turn on you. If you hadn’t betrayed the Khagan—”
Anita lunged at her enemy, her hands gripping the bars that separated them. “The Khagan
forced
me into serving him! Me and others, too! What does your little revolutionary handbook say about slavery?”
Chloe narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. “The ends justify the means.”
“Easy for you to say.” The voice belonged to another prisoner. Chloe and Anita turned to it and saw Nina Murillo—Fuerte—in another cell across from them. Clarence Black lay on the cot in his cell beside hers. Like Anita, these two specials had also been manipulated by the Analyst into working for the Red Fist.
“The Analyst just opened your mind, helped you overcome the brainwashing of modern society,” said Chloe.
“Bull,” said Nina.
“The Khagan’s a madman and thankfully, he’s no longer a threat to anyone,” said Anita.
“He would have liberated this world if not for your team!” spat Chloe.
“Just shut up already,” said Clarence, covering his face with his pillow and turning on his side.
Chloe grunted and sat on her cot, not saying anything more. Anita sighed and sat as well. She observed the room and saw in the cell beside her was a young woman with brown skin, her knees held close to her chest as she sat on her cot.
“Who are you?” asked Anita.
“Tuwa,” said the girl, glancing up at her cellmate. “I was on an island of specials. Most of us here were. Until Cerberus came.”
“Island?” asked Anita.
Tuwa nodded and focused on Anita, studying her features. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Vanguard?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I met your friends. Sharkskin and Shift.”
Anita perked up. “Where are they? Are they okay?”
Tuwa shrugged. “I haven’t seen them here. They were only in Arcadia for a short time. By the time Cerberus’ Hellhounds arrived, they’d already left.”
“What does Cerberus want with us?” asked Anita.
“You wanna know what they want?” Clarence sat up on his cot and stood, walking over to the bars and leaning against them. “I’ll tell you what they want—they want to do the same thing that Zephyr’s precious Khagan wanted. They want to use us to do their dirty work for them.”
“The Khagan is
nothing
like these—”
“Yeah, yeah, Dear Leader only enslaves us because he loves us,” said Clarence, cutting off Chloe. He looked at Anita. “But you, you’re the first Vanguardian they’ve nabbed. I’ve got a feeling they’ll have more than a few questions for you.”
“Why?” asked Anita.
“Because you’re the first. And they’ll want to know where to find the rest,” said Clarence. “Maybe even force you to do it for them.”
“And why would I do that?”
Clarence shrugged and returned to his cot. “They may not have an Analyst, but they’ve still got their ways. I’ve already killed for them once. Imagine I’ll be forced to do it again, soon.”
A door opened on a catwalk above the prisoner bay. Blindside entered, stepping up to the railing. On the ground, Anita could hear the sound of heavy footsteps. Then she heard Blindside’s commanding voice.
“Take the new one. She’s got a special visitor.”
***
Bruiser and Zero escorted Anita from her cell and into a small interrogation room. The manacles around her wrists and ankles normally wouldn’t pose a problem for her. But with the inhibitor collar in place, her powers were useless to her.
A chair waited in front of a metal interrogation table. Bruiser forced her to sit in the chair and Zero went about hooking her manacles to chains attached to the floor. The two Hellhounds left her alone, closing the door behind her and not giving another word.
Anita sighed and stared at the blank wall in front of her. She looked around the room and saw a small dome hanging from the ceiling, which must contain a surveillance camera. She tugged on the chains in futility and after a few tries, allowed her wrists to rest on her thighs.
The door opened and a man in a black uniform with the Cerberus logo entered. He sat across the table from Anita, folding his hands on its surface. He looked up at her with his blue eyes.
“Anita Jordan,” he said. “My name is Nathan Callus, Director of Cerberus.”
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing here, but you’re in violation of my Fourth Amendment rights.”
Callus gave a snicker. “Your rights. That’s funny.”
“I’m an American citizen, and—”
Callus cut her off, speaking while holding up his index and middle finger. “Two things, Ms. Jordan. First off, Cerberus is an international organization with broad, global reach. And second, we have intelligence suggesting that you worked for the Red Fist for a brief period. That makes you an enemy combatant.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Anita.
Callus reached inside the jacket of his uniform and pulled out a photograph. He tossed it on the table in front of Anita. She looked down at it and saw it was taken from the press conference Vanguard held in Central Park some time ago.
“The cape seems like a bit much, but otherwise the look suits you,” he said. “We know who you really are, Paragon.”
Anita looked up, incredulity remaining on her face. “Fine, you want the truth? The truth is that the Khagan was using a telepath to keep me and several other specials under his thumb. Ones you’re holding prisoner in that little gulag of yours.”
Callus leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “And I’m supposed to take you at your word?”
“We’ve
all
got the same story. Why don’t you try doing some research?”
“You know, you and I’ve met before,” said Callus. “Do you remember when you came back from Afghanistan? The review panel?”
Anita gave a nod.
“I was there. I saw what you could do. And on that day, I realized that the world had changed. Now, it no longer mattered how strong a nation’s army was, or how much money they had or how many nukes they’d managed to stockpile. Because now, any special with just the right mix of power and gumption could bend entire countries to their will.” Callus leaned forward. “I knew that there would come a day when these specials had to be put in their place and shown who’s really in charge.”
“So is this what Cerberus is really about? Rounding us up to be put in cages?”
“You’re not here to ask questions, Paragon—you’re here to
answer
them.” Callus’ voice dropped lower. “Tell me where Leonard Thorne is.”
Anita blinked in response. “Excuse me?”
“Colonel Leonard Thorne, he was your superior in Vanguard. Don’t tell me that fantasy about mind control erased your memory, too?”
“If you know about Thorne’s connection to my team, then you
also
know he died,” said Anita. “Killed in an explosion. Just before he was going to accept the offer to lead Cerberus. Funny coincidence, huh?”
Callus’ face remained as steeled as ever. “You and I both know that’s bull.”
“Which part?”
He slammed his fist on the table. “Stop playing games with me, Jordan!” He pointed at her. “Thorne’s alive. You know it and I know it.”
“Where’d you hear that?” asked Anita. “They found a body!”
Callus took a calming breath to recover his resolve. His silence spoke volumes. Anita raised her eyebrow.
“Or was a body
provided
?” she asked.
“Tell me where he is and I’ll go easy on you.”
Anita sighed. “One of us clearly knows more than the other, Callus.” She locked eyes with him. “But it’s not me.”
Callus hesitated for a moment, matching her gaze. Finally he stood and opened the door. Bruiser and Zero still waited outside and they entered the room. Callus gave her one final look.
“Take her back to her cell."
CHAPTER 9
In the time since Cerberus was created, they wasted no time in setting up numerous bases across the world. One of those bases was in upstate New York and it was this facility that Gunsmith told Wraith they needed to hit before going out to the ship that held their teammate.
Two guards flanked the road in front of the gate and others patrolled the grounds. In the shadow of one of the buildings, Gunsmith and Wraith appeared, emerging from one of Wraith’s portals.
“Couldn’t get us inside?” asked Gunsmith in a whisper.
“You wanna risk ending up in a wall?” asked Wraith. “Then shut up.”
Gunsmith drew his blasters and pushed up against the wall. The guard had his back to him and Gunsmith stepped out, firing a non-lethal charge. The Cerberus operative collapsed instantly.
Another guard turned the corner and once he saw his compatriot on the ground, he readied his weapon. Wraith silenced him by firing a blast of ebon energy. The man collapsed, his body quivering and thoughts of dread dominating his mind to the point where he could barely concentrate.
Gunsmith went to the door on the hangar. He entered a code into the console and the door beeped, sliding open. Wraith followed him inside. “Good thing they haven’t changed your codes yet. So what is it we’re here for any way?”