“My god…” said Roche. “She looks just like them.”
“Where is it? Where are they?” asked J’Karra.
“We’ll show you. Just…please, lower your weapon,” said Beck. We’re unarmed, we couldn’t hurt you even if we wanted.”
J’Karra performed a surface scan of their thoughts. It was difficult without physical contact, but she could at the very least act as a sort of lie detector. And she got the sense they were being truthful.
“Very well.” Her bow collapsed and she affixed it to the housing beneath her cape. “Show me.”
Beck breathed a sigh of relief and looked at his companions. “Come on, let’s show her.”
The three scientists led her from the computers to another door. Ambrose entered in his security clearance and the door opened for him. The adjoining room was a large hangar. A ship was on the ground in the center of the room, with a ramp leading up to it. Panels were removed from the outer hull, with the wires and technology inside exposed. And the hatch was open.
“This is it,” said J’Karra.
“It crashed here on Earth about seventy years ago,” said Ambrose. “We’ve been studying it ever since.”
“It was a research vessel,” said J’Karra. “Sent to explore other worlds. On a mission of peace.” She angrily spun on the scientists. “And you shot it down!”
“What? No!” said Roche. “We didn’t shoot anything down!”
“Listen to me, we’re not sure what caused the crash,” said Beck. “The flight recorder has remained a total mystery to us. Linguists have spent decades trying to decipher the language with no success.”
J’Karra narrowed her eyes. “The crew. What happened to them?”
Beck looked down at his feet. J’Karra’s eyes took stock of Roche and Ambrose, who were also looking away. She sensed hesitation from them mixed with fear. They were keeping something from her. J’Karra grabbed Beck by his neck and lifted him off the ground.
“St-stop!”
“Where are they?” she asked again.
“We’ll show you, just put him down!” pleaded Roche. J’Karra looked at the woman. The fear had grown in all of them. They were terrified J’Karra would kill them once she found what she was looking for.
“Do as I say when I say it and you shall be unharmed.” J’Karra dropped Beck and turned her back to him as he coughed. Ambrose helped him to his feet while J’Karra approached Roche.
“Just…follow me,” said Roche. She moved away from the ship, down to another door across the room from the one they entered in. Another security checkpoint to pass and then they entered. This was a long corridor leading to a medical laboratory of some sort. J’Karra looked around the room. There were gurneys lined up, and surgical tools. Bright lights and illuminators.
“This way,” said Roche, leading J’Karra to another door. Yet another checkpoint and J’Karra stared at Roche as she entered in her clearance.
“Your people are quite distrustful of one another.”
“It’s for security reasons,” said Roche. “If this got out…”
The door opened with a hiss and J’Karra felt the air grow cooler as mist coalesced out from the chamber. Roche entered, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering a bit. J’Karra’s armor adjusted to the elements, allowing her body to remain at a comfortable temperature regardless of the environment.
But when J’Karra saw what was in this chamber, she felt a chill go down her spine.
Glass tubes lined the walls. Most were empty but three contained bodies. They were mostly frozen with their eyes shut, but J’Karra could tell their skin tone matched hers. Pointed ears and long, yellow braids. Just like hers. If J’Karra could examine their eyes, she knew they would be identical to her own.
“What have you done?” she asked.
“They all died in the crash,” said Roche.
J’Karra’s eyes ran over the naked flesh of the Kotharian corpses. She noticed cuts on the bodies and angrily glared at Roche. “You opened them up?”
Roche gulped and then gave a hesitant nod. “W-we performed autopsies, yes. We wanted to try and understand their anatomy and where they came from.”
J’Karra took a menacing step towards Roche, her yellow eyes flashing with anger. “You cut. Them. Up!”
Roche backed away from J’Karra, stepping out of the chamber and into the medical room. She backed into a gurney and stumbled, falling to the ground. “No, please don’t hurt me!”
“They were in this galaxy on a research mission and you butchered them! For what?” J’Karra raised her bow, ready to fire a deadly psionic arrow. But before she could release the string, a powerful red and white streak barreled into her, slamming her against the metal cabinet. The glass shattered and there was a massive dent in the wall. J’Karra looked into the eyes of her attacker.
“I’ve had just about enough of your shit!” said Paragon.
CHAPTER 10
J’Karra launched a psychic attack that caused Paragon to loosen her grip. With her movement no longer restricted, J’Karra drew her bowstring and fired a psionic arrow right in Paragon’s face.
The pain in the special’s brain was searing and it was followed by more and more attacks. J’Karra was no longer playing nice. If Paragon still tried to stand in her way, she would tear right through her.
An energy blast struck J’Karra in the face. Zenith flew into the room, grabbing J’Karra by her throat and hurling her across the medical lab. Before she hit anything, Zenith rocketed at her, grabbing her in mid-air and taking her down the corridor into the hangar. He fired his cannon at point-blank range, blasting her against the hull of the ship.
J’Karra strained to get up, but before she could recover, Sharkskin pounced on her. His balled fists flew at her. She twisted her head from side to side, his fists pounding into the ship’s hull instead. J’Karra stared at his black eyes and he screamed as she launched an attack at his mind.
Shift tried to sneak up behind J’Karra, her arms stretching out as tentacles and wrapping around the warrior’s bow. J’Karra spun, holding tightly to her weapon and bracing her feet against the hull. She pulled back and the two women were locked in a tug-of-war. J’Karra took one of her hands off the bow and instead grabbed the string, drawing it back until a psionic arrow appeared. She released the string and the arrow struck Shift dead center in her chest.
Sentinel unleashed volleys of energy blasts at J’Karra from above while Gunsmith fired from the ground below. J’Karra hopped around the ship, nimbly avoiding the attacks. She launched arrows at the two, missing the mark but keeping them on their toes as well.
Wraith appeared from a portal behind her and unleashed his ebon blasts on the warrior. J’Karra screamed as she fell, struggling with the emotions that overwhelmed her. But she wasn’t as affected as strongly as most and just as Wraith came within range, her leg swept out and knocked him onto his back.
Paragon came charging back in like a rocket. She flew right at J’Karra, one hand wrapped around her neck, the other keeping a firm grip on her hair. Paragon flew J’Karra into the ceiling, slamming her hard against the surface. She pulled her away and released her grip just long enough to deliver a punch that knocked J’Karra down into the ground.
With her arms stretched out in front of her, Paragon barreled down at J’Karra. But as she came closer, J’Karra looked into Paragon’s eyes. There was a flash and suddenly Paragon found herself in a cavern. She looked around and she started to remember where she was.
“No…Not this…not again…”
She saw guards posted at the exits of the chamber. The ceiling and walls were rock, but fitted with lights and metal. She saw banners hanging around the room. All of them black with a red fist rising up. She saw a man. Silver hair, thin mustache, with a grim smile on his face.
And then another. Seated on a throne of power. His head bald, his western features a stark contrast to the eastern clothing he wore and the Fu Manchu mustache he sported. He rose from his throne, brush
ing his crimson cape behind him as he locked his hands behind his back. Slowly, he descended the steps to his throne and approached Anita, who sat on her knees, arms shackled behind her back. Still in her costume.
The Khagan reached a hand out and gripped her chin, his cold blue eyes staring right into her brown ones. He scoffed and smiled. “Did you really think you could get away from me that easily, Anita?”
“This isn’t real,” said Anita.
“Oh but yes, it is. It is very real,” said the Khagan. “What, you thought you were able to escape? That you and your little team could stop my ascension? My dear, you have always been under my thumb. We only let you believe you had succeeded, a fantasy in order to better assert control.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?” The Khagan stepped back and looked to the Analyst. “Show her.”
“Yes, my lord.” The Analyst stepped forward, hands clasped behind his back. When he reached Anita, he stared into her eyes while his own seemed to change and shift. Swirls of color that she became lost in, like falling down a deep, dark hole. “Look, Anita. Look at what you’ve wrought.”
Anita gasped as she saw herself standing over the bodies of her fallen friends. Shift’s body had been stretched to its limit. Zenith’s head torn from his body. Gunsmith lay in the ruins of his shattered armor. Wraith’s eyes were open, black as usual but completely empty. Sharkskin’s head was turned completely the wrong way around. And Sentinel had a massive hole in his chest.
As Paragon stood over them, she glanced down at her hands. They were dripping with the blood of her teammates. Completely soaked in them. She dropped to her knees as the Khagan came up behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re one of us, Anita. My loyal servant.”
“It’s not real.” She grabbed the Khagan’s hand and squeezed, shattering the bones within. Paragon sprung to her feet and delivered a powerful punch right to the Khagan’s face and he simply vanished into nothing. She then turned to the Analyst, who smiled and clapped.
“Very good, Anita.” The Analyst’s form melted away, shifting into J’Karra. “You may have been able to see through the illusion, but you can’t fight me here. The mindscape is my domain.”
J’Karra threw a powerful blow that knocked Paragon amongst the dead bodies of her friends. The alien jumped in the air and came down on Paragon like a pile-driver.
“You’ve already proven susceptible to this Analyst, what makes you think you can stand up to someone like me? While you were growing up in Brooklyn reading books, my mind was being developed as a weapon.”
J’Karra grabbed Paragon by her neck and raised her up, coiling her fist for another strike.
“Your playground was a park across the street from your house. Mine was the mindscape. I know it better than I know myself. How do you expect to fight me here?”
Paragon felt weak. Like she’d just completed a marathon. But then she realized something—this was the mindscape. Here, it wasn’t physical strength that mattered. All of this was just a manifestation of their mental powers. And Anita Jordan wasn’t about to let her mind be dominated ever again.
Paragon caught J’Karra’s fist in her own, much to the alien’s surprise. She twisted and J’Karra screamed as she heard a crack. Paragon then took hold of the hand that was around her throat, pulling it loose and breaking it as well. She hovered there, her eyes now beginning to pulsate with psionic energy.
“You thought you could break me, J’Karra? Stronger people than you have tried. And failed. This time isn’t any different.”
Paragon delivered a series of blows, and J’Karra tried to fight back against them to no avail. She was battered around until finally, the mindscape melted around them and they were back in the real world. And just as J’Karra was ready to try and defend herself, she was jumped from behind. Something snapped around her neck and when she tried to use her powers again, an electric current ran through her body until she dropped to the ground, unconscious.
CHAPTER 11
Paragon flew over the water, relishing the feel of droplets of the ocean on her face and the smell of the sea air. She could see her destination off in the distance and she pulled up to avoid striking the massive ship that floated in the middle of the ocean. She landed on the surface of what appeared to be a massive aircraft carrier.
As she walked across the ship, she looked around at the agents who walked by her wearing uniforms marked with the Cerberus logo. A few gave her suspicious glances, but Paragon ignored them as she walked forward towards the man who waited for her. He gave her a friendly smile and approached, extending his hand.
“Paragon, it is good to see you.”
“Thank you for letting me come down here, Abram,” she said as she shook Zukov’s hand.
“Welcome to the Island,” he said, then gestured for her to follow as he turned towards the entrance. “Come, I will give you the tour.”
Paragon followed him to an elevator. “I’m a little surprised you decided to keep using this thing after what Callus did.”
“We need a place to keep renegade specials, and this seemed like the ideal location,” said Zukov. “Olympus remains in constant contact at all times and should anyone try to escape, they are surrounded by miles of ocean. We also stay mobile so we are never in a fixed location should any accomplices decide to strike.”
“And the prisoners?”
“Fitted with inhibitor collars and constantly monitored.”
The elevator stopped and they emerged into a long corridor. “This level is reserved for the most dangerous criminals. They are kept in solitary confinement and not permitted to interact with the other prisoners.”
Paragon looked around and saw all the cells were empty except for two. She gestured to one of them. “Who’s the other one down here?”
“Your old friend, Lucent,” said Zukov. “He was actually our first prisoner. Now he has company, though.”
Paragon stopped and reached a hand for Zukov. “Listen…I want to thank you for letting me do this. I know it probably wasn’t easy to get that kind of clearance.”
Zukov gave her a smile. “Nonsense. The President owes you a debt, it seems. He’s already pressuring the United Nations Security Council to allow for increased cooperation between Vanguard and Cerberus.”
“So I guess that means we’ll be working together a lot more closely,” said Paragon.
“Indeed, but that discussion should be tabled until more information comes to light. Who knows how the Security Council will react.” Zukov paused before he changed the subject. “I have to ask…are you sure this is what you want to do?”
Paragon held a pause as well before nodding. “Yes, I’m sure. We ignored the warnings of the Red Fist and the Khagan for too long last year and it ended in tragedy. I can’t let that happen again.”
“I understand.”
They approached another cell one with opaque glass. Each cell had a small console by it and Zukov entered a command into the keypad. The glass turned from opaque to translucent and revealed the prisoner standing in the cell. Zukov looked at Paragon and said, “I shall give you a few minutes alone.”
Paragon stepped up to the glass, as did the prisoner on the other side. J’Karra glared at the woman who had defeated her with her fiery, yellow eyes, whereas Paragon’s disposition remained calm and collected.
“Are you ready to be straight with me for once?” asked Paragon.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Paragon tapped her forehead. “In North Korea, you and I were connected on the mindscape. And then afterwards, I started seeing visions. I know about the Matriarch, I know she sent you to Earth. What I don’t know is why.”
J’Karra turned her back on Paragon and folded her arms, moving deeper into her cell. Paragon pounded on the glass. “Hey, I’m talking to you! What is your problem, anyway?”
The Kotharian warrior spun on her heel. “My problem is your people shot down a Kotharian research ship
, butchered our dead, and then stripped it for parts! You exploited a tragedy! And now, I see with these abilities that you continue to exploit it!”
Paragon balked at the accusation. “Our powers? What does that have to do with anything?”
“Where do you think those abilities come from, Anita Jordan? Why do you think I register as one of your specials?” asked J’Karra. “It’s because the source of your abilities is Kotharian.”
“That’s why you came here,” said Paragon. “To investigate the specials. See how it is we came about in the first place.”
“There is more,” said J’Karra. “I knew I was taking a risk when I went into Area 51. So my last act before departing my ship was to transmit the logs I’d been keeping to the Kotharian Empire. Soon, they will know all about Roswell, the Collective, and you. They will know that you have abused our technology for your own purposes. And they will come.”
“Why are you doing this?” asked Paragon, her eyes growing wide. “I thought you were a good person…I sensed that you were a woman of honor.”
“I am,” said J’Karra. “That is why I went easy on you in Washington. But after seeing what your people have done to mine and our sacred traditions, I could stand by no longer. My loyalty is to the Kotharian Empire and the Matriarch. And soon, they will come for you, Anita Jordan. They will come for this planet.”
Paragon sighed. “So my vision…it was real, wasn’t it? There’s going to be an invasion?”
J’Karra gave a simple nod.
Paragon lunged for the glass, banging on the surface. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing? This could mean the destruction of my world, my people! You’re talking about the deaths of billions!”
J’Karra tried to keep her face like stone, but Paragon could see some cracks in her visage. “This isn’t what you want, is it? It can’t be.”
“It is not my decision to make,” said J’Karra. “I hate you for what you’ve done to my people and my traditions. But that does not mean I want to see you eradicated.”
Vanguard: The Complete Second Season: A Superhero Serial (Vanguard: The Collected Seasons Book 2) Page 28
