***
Sharkskin came to the peak of a small mountain when he heard the summons from Gunsmith. He touched the comm-link attached to his ear, looking up to the sky to see Paragon hovering overhead as he did. While signaling to her with a wave, he spoke to Gunsmith on the other end of the comms.
“We’ve got something over here. Looks like he’s heading towards some sort of town in the middle of a valley. But it doesn’t look very active. Don’t even see any roads leading up to it.”
Paragon lowered from the air, touching down gently beside her teammate. She listened in on the conversation through her own comms, staring at the town below. “Seems like a strange place for a town, way out here in the middle of nowhere. And cut off from everything. Maybe it’s abandoned?”
There was a pause on the other end of the conversation. After a moment, they heard Zenith’s voice over the comms. “Are you certain it’s a town?”
Sharkskin blinked at this. “Well…yeah. What else would it be?”
“I’ve tracked your location using the GPS signals in your comm units. And according to the map, there is not a town for miles. Iskander is the closest.”
“Then my eyes must be playin’ tricks on me, Tin Man,” said Sharkskin.
***
“There were a number of cities kept off all but the most classified maps during the Cold War,” said Zukov. “These closed cities were where sensitive research was conducted.”
“It would be the ideal location for Azarov to conduct his experiments,” said Zenith.
“What should we do, Gunsmith?” asked Paragon over the comm-link.
“Can you get a sense of how many creatures are there? Is it just one or are there more?”
“We’d have to go in closer,” said Paragon.
“If I may, these beings seem somewhat territorial. If Sharkskin and Paragon get too close, that could pose a danger to them,” said Zenith.
“We have to do something, we can’t just leave these things to run around unchecked,” said Gunsmith.
“Agreed, but we do need some sort of information before charging into battle,” said Zenith.
“I can do it,” said Shift. “I can make myself look like them. It’ll make it easier for me to get in there.”
“Not an option,” said Gunsmith.
Shift crossed her arms. “Didn’t I already prove myself in Chicago?”
Gunsmith sighed. “This is different.”
“I’m afraid Gunsmith is correct,” said Zenith. “We do not know what sort of sensory perceptions these creatures are equipped with. There is a high likelihood that they are capable of recognizing an intruder in their midst.”
Wraith hopped off the trunk of the car. “So she doesn’t go alone. If anything goes south, I can teleport us both out of there in the blink of an eye.”
“Why only two?” asked Zukov. “If you can teleport, why not bring your full force?”
“Teleporting myself, no problem. Two people, it’s a strain, but I can do it,” said Wraith. “Anything more and my body probably can’t handle it. Besides, it’s easier for one person to hide than a bunch.”
“Shift, this is a recon mission only,” said Gunsmith. “You go in, you find out what their numbers are, and whether Azarov is still alive. Then you get out of there and report back.”
Shift nodded and turned to Wraith. “We ready to go?”
“Brace yourself, this might be a bit disorienting.” Wraith laid his hand on Shift’s shoulder. His eyes hummed with the ebon energy he commanded and they both vanished in a sudden burst of darkness.
***
Wraith and Shift appeared out of a portal beside Sharkskin and Paragon. Having overheard the conversation through their earpieces, they were already aware of the plan. And both had their misgivings.
“This is stupid,” said Sharkskin. “We should all just go in together.”
“Ellis says we need to know what’s going on in there,” said Wraith.
“Then I should go,” said Paragon. “Out of all of us, I’m the one most resistant to harm. And I can fly us both out of there.”
Shift closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Right before the eyes of her teammates, her body underwent changes. She elongated her limbs, the skin growing taut over her expanding bones and the hue altering to a pale yellow. Shift hunched over as the change continued, her fingers extending into pointed claws and her teeth becoming the razor-sharp fangs that matched that of the beasts they had battled.
“How do I look?”
Sharkskin folded his arms. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look ugly as hell.”
“Agreed. You should fit right in with those bastards,” said Wraith. “Sure you’re ready to do this?”
Shift was uncertain as she said, “Dunno. But we gotta get it done, don’t we?”
Wraith gestured to the town and Shift began her descent down the hill. As Wraith started to follow, his attention was drawn by Paragon’s voice.
“Dom, keep an eye on her. If things get too hairy, get both her and yourself out of there immediately.”
“No worries, I got this covered,” said Wraith.
There was an eerie silence as the pair reached the valley. The town was just a short walk up ahead, surrounded by concrete walls topped with barbed wire. The remnants of a security checkpoint served as the only visible entrance to the town. Wraith halted Shift by touching her wrist. He pointed to the checkpoint and nodded. Shift nodded her understanding of his non-verbal cues. Wraith then vanished and Shift continued ahead alone to the checkpoint.
No guard was present. In fact, it seemed as if no guard had been there in quite some time. The gate behind the checkpoint had several bars missing from its black frame, easily allowing for the creatures to pass through. From the corner of her eye, Shift noticed Wraith huddled against the wall. He caught her gaze and gave a nod.
Shift pushed her misshapen body through the gate and entered the main square of the town. It looked very similar to the town of Iskander, with homes and storefronts lining the streets. What was different, though, was they looked long-abandoned. Assuming they ever were inhabited, and Shift found herself even doubting that.
A high-pitched wail drew her attention. One of the beasts approached her, looking over her carefully. It turned its head from side to side, letting out screeches with each movement. More creatures appeared from the dilapidated buildings, cautiously approaching the creature in their midst. It was a calling of some kind.
Shift backed away, but the monsters followed her. There were now about a dozen or so, easily. And she wasn’t sure if that was all of them. As they came closer, she started to realize just how stupid this plan was. In an attempt to try and appeal to them, she gave off a cry of her own, mimicking their sounds. But they seemed more surprised by this than anything. She was left with the sense that whatever it was she said, it was definitely not the right thing.
Before they could advance on her, one of them was knocked back by a burst of dark energy. The creatures turned from Shift and now focused on the new, more obvious threat.
“Shift, get outta here!” shouted Wraith.
There was a cry from the beasts and they advanced on him. Wraith prepared himself for their assault, grinning behind his mask and firing bolts of ebony power from his fists. The creatures were thrown one by one, but they kept coming.
Shift pounced on one of the beasts, tearing into its back with the claws she’d mimicked. Somewhat to her surprise, she found they actually worked quite effectively. Now the creatures knew there were two threats in their midst, and they came upon her as well.
“I said get out!” Wraith fired another black bolt, but this was aimed at Shift and she vanished once it struck her. Before he could teleport himself, one of the creatures cut into his back, and the paralytic toxin quickly took effect.
“Sonnuva…not again…”
Wraith collapsed on his back, staring up at the night sky. He sighed and waited for the monsters to begin tearing him a
part.
Except they didn’t. A Russian command caused them to back away, forming a circle around the special. Wraith couldn’t quite see what was going on, and although he kept trying, he couldn’t raise his head to get a better look. Couldn’t even access his powers to get him out of there.
The snarling dropped until it was no more. Then the only sound was that of the night. And footsteps. Two monsters took one of Wraith’s arms and hoisted him up. That’s when he saw the bald man with the scarred face and glass eye approach.
“American, yes?” He spoke English flawlessly, with just the faintest touch of a Russian accent.
“Let me guess, Erik Azarov,” said Wraith.
Azarov smiled. “My reputation precedes me. And you are one of these so-called superheroes. What brings you to my sleepy little hamlet?”
“The door was open. Figured I could just walk right in,” said Wraith.
Azarov took a gander at the gate and nodded. “Yes, indeed. And thank you for coming. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Wraith felt his stomach sink. “What?”
CHAPTER 5
Shift re-materialized several hundred yards from the town. Her first instinct was to run back into the fray, but she knew that would be suicide. She changed back into her normal form and returned up the hill. When she arrived, she found Sharkskin and Paragon waiting, and they’d been rejoined by the rest of the team. One look at her panicked face and Paragon knew something had gone wrong.
“What happened?”
“Wraith…” said Shift, catching her breath. “They…they got him. He teleported me out, but when I appeared, he didn’t follow. He must still be there.”
“How many are there?” asked Gunsmith.
Shift shook her head. “At least a dozen, probably more.”
“Azarov?” asked Zukov.
“Didn’t see anyone other than those things.” She looked back at Gunsmith. “It’s a decent-sized town. Lots of abandoned buildings. That’s where the creatures came from.”
“Okay, we go in hard and fast,” said Gunsmith.
“It’s suicide,” said Zukov. “More than twelve, how can you hope to fight them?”
“We don’t really have a choice,” said Gunsmith. “We’ve seen how they move, we know how they fight and what they can do. Show no mercy, and watch each other’s backs.”
***
Even though Wraith was paralyzed, Azarov still wasted no time strapping him down to a gurney in a laboratory beneath the town. The laboratory was a surprisingly sterile environment, or at least far more than Wraith would have imagined. A single light hung over the gurney in the center of the room. Up against the wall was a metal cart with several surgical instruments. And in one corner sat a row of small monitors displaying footage from the town’s closed circuit cameras.
Azarov pulled on a pair of black, latex gloves and donned a surgical mask and apron. He stepped close to Wraith’s head and looked down at his patient. “Are you comfortable, my friend?”
“Not exactly the word I’d use.”
“You and your friends are quite impressive, you know. It may surprise you, but this town of Virey is not cut off from the outside world. I keep up with the news outside the city walls. I have been following the reports of these specials through various media outlets. And I watched with rapt interest the battle between your team and the man called Exemplar.”
“So what, you a fan? If you untie me, I’ll give you an autograph.”
“My boy, I have been a fan of your kind since before you existed,” said Azarov. “My research was dedicated to the prospect of evolving humanity beyond its current confines. And of course, it was little surprise that this would draw the attention of Stalin. While the Americans built bigger and better bombs, I was busy trying to produce a new kind of soldier.”
“Didn’t work out, huh?” asked Wraith.
“On the contrary. The Dreks as they have been called are quite an effective fighting force. Once they were people, before my work transformed them into something greater.”
Azarov walked over to the table with the instruments on it. He touched each one as he continued speaking. “But though I love my children, they are far from perfect. The treatments caused their minds to revert to a far more primal state. They are strong, ferocious, but little more than animals. For this reason, the Soviets ordered the project to be closed down and we were locked away in Virey. Still, my research was considered valuable and I was permitted to continue to work here in secret. But I was unable to make any breakthroughs. Then came the specials. And my research can now begin anew.”
“So what, you want me to pee in a cup?”
Azarov picked up a surgical saw, holding it up to the light. “We will need to go quite a bit deeper than that, I’m afraid.”
He pulled a wheeled stool out from under the table and sat on it, pushing it over to the gurney. “I really must thank you for accepting my invitation.”
“Invitation? What are you talking about?”
“Once I became aware of your existence, I set loose a few of my Dreks. I knew if there were a case that appeared strange enough, it would bring your organization. Once something happened, it was a simple matter of leaking it to the contacts I retain within the intelligence community. But I hadn’t counted on the strength of your team. You took eliminated several of my children and for that, I will see to it this procedure is as painful as possible.”
Azarov stood up from the stool, running the tips of his fingers along the dull edge of the saw. “Now, as you Americans say, we can figure out what makes you tick, yes?”
Just as Azarov was about to cut into Wraith’s body, an alarm went off. Azarov’s gaze shot to the monitors. The cameras recorded a commotion within the heart of Virey, the Vanguard team having turned up. The Dreks had attacked and Vanguard was in the process of tearing through them with extreme prejudice.
“No! My children!”
***
Gunsmith’s proximity explosive drew first blood from the Dreks. From there, the team wasted no time jumping into the fray. Gunsmith shouted orders over the roar of the battle when he saw it necessary. His armor put his speed about on par with the Dreks, and he’d changed the setting on his teleforce guns from stun to lethal.
Paragon seemed to have no problem with the lethal force. She somewhat relished the opportunity to cut loose with her full strength, showing the beasts no quarter. Sharkskin as well had a ferocity more in line with his appearance. Claws and teeth shredded the Dreks to ribbons.
Gunsmith ended up back-to-back with Zukov in the firefight, both of them striking any Dreks that came too close. He’d lent the Russian spy one of his spare weapons, and Zukov grew accustomed to it quickly and seemed to have more of a personal investment in shutting down Azarov’s operation than any of them. Even Zenith, usually loathe to engage in violence, didn’t hold back, at least not as far as Gunsmith had witnessed.
But what worried the commander most of all was Shift’s actions. She’d managed to mimic the claws of the Dreks and used them in much the same way as they did. Her body had even bulked up and she seemed stronger. Her potential for pushing her abilities beyond just changing her appearance was quickly becoming apparent. That didn’t bother Gunsmith, though. It was her ferocity. She might be powerful, but she was still a teenage girl. Gunsmith worried—and not for the first time—that Colonel Thorne was ruining her life by throwing her into the midst of all this. He knew first-hand how difficult it was to be forced to grow up fast, and the last thing he wanted to see was another child go through that.
“I thought you said there were only about a dozen of these,” said Sharkskin, bending backwards to evade a claw swipe.
Shift hopped over a charging Drek. “I said I only saw a dozen, but there could be more!” Now behind the Drek, she held out her arm and the claws her fingers had changed into extended, impaling the beast.
Paragon found herself surrounded. She shot into the sky, and after reaching a good distance, rockete
d back down to earth. When her fists slammed against the ground, the result was a tremor that threw back the Dreks closest to it, as well as having the unintended consequence of knocking her teammates from their feet.
“Warn us before you do something like that!” said Gunsmith, firing a blast through a Drek’s face.
“Sorry.” Paragon was grabbed from behind by one of the Dreks. She head-butted it, and its grip loosened. Paragon took it by the arm and threw it into one of its fellow beasts.
The remaining Dreks scattered, retreating into the various buildings that made up the ghost town of Virey. Vanguard was left in a state of confusion, trying to figure out what had just happened.
“Did we win?” asked Sharkskin.
“They seemed frightened by something,” said Zenith. He scanned the area and realized what it was. “Or rather, someone.”
Azarov stepped onto the field of battle, emerging from a building dead ahead of the group. His hands were clasped behind his back, and he didn’t give a single indication of fear or even anger. The scientist’s demeanor was deathly calm.
“You have caused quite a ruckus today,” he said.
Gunsmith raised his weapon. “We’re shutting you down, Azarov. You can either come along peacefully or we’ll go with Option B.”
Sharkskin gave a low growl and added, “Please choose Option B.”
“What jurisdiction do you have?” asked Azarov. “You are not law enforcement, correct? And you certainly have no authority within Russian borders.”
“But the FSB does,” said Zukov, holding up his badge. “And I will see to it you are punished to the full extent of the law.”
Azarov chuckled. “Agent Zukov, I believe it is? I heard your name from Agent Levitan. He screamed it as my children tore out his still-beating heart.”
Zukov dropped his badge and in anger, then began firing the teleforce gun. But Azarov quickly evaded the blasts, moving far faster than seemed possible. Zukov ceased firing and stared in shock.
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 15
