Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure

by Percival Constantine

  “Anita—” Zenith reached his hand out, but didn’t make any further movement, simply allowing her to leave the monitor room. Zenith lowered his arm and looked back to the monitors. Despite decades of study, he still had no clear understanding of the complex and illogical nature of human emotions. If he said nothing, he would be respecting the trust Anita had placed in him by confirming his suspicions about her headaches. But by doing that, wouldn’t he also be betraying that same trust placed in him by the rest of the team? Either way, Zenith would have to betray someone, and he had no way of determining which was the greater offense.

  He returned to the algorithm. The numbers were something he could understand, something he could make sense of. Zenith wished he could reduce human emotions to simple numbers that he could then compute and analyze.

  CHAPTER 5

  A throng of reporters gathered in Manhattan’s Central Park under the midday sun. The press release distributed by Vanguard informed the major media outlets that the mysterious new organization would arrive here to issue statements and answer questions. They said they wanted to set the public at ease, let them feel comfortable about these strange men and women operating out in the open.

  The Icarus’ VTOL jets were heard above, and cameras pointed skywards. The craft hovered in place above the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, in front of which a stage had been set up. A hatch opened on the Icarus and the members of the team descended. Paragon held Gunsmith by his hands, her power of flight lowering the two of them, while Zenith hovered with both Shift and Sharkskin hanging from him. Once the group arrived at the stage, a portal opened in the small shadow it cast over the grass and Wraith stepped out, climbing up beside his teammates.

  Camera flashes went off and Gunsmith stepped up to the podium that had been arranged on the stage with a microphone present. Questions came from every direction at once, but Gunsmith calmly held out his hands to try and silence the crowd.

  “On behalf of my team, I’d like to thank you all for coming today, as well as extend my gratitude to Mayor Collins for agreeing to host us here in Central Park. Before we’d begin, I’d like to introduce my team. My name is Gunsmith, and I’m the leader.” He gestured to each member of Vanguard as he said their names. “Paragon, Shift, Zenith, Sharkskin, and Wraith.” With the introductions finished, Gunsmith focused on the crowd. “We will take questions from you, although please note that to protect our loved ones, we will not answer any questions that could compromise our identities.”

  The reporters clamored for attention and Gunsmith began choosing them at random. “What is your purpose?”

  “Since specials began appearing in greater frequency, so too existed the possibility that they could cause problems. We all saw this in Chicago with the actions of the Exemplar, and then more recently by Zephyr. Vanguard acts as a volunteer team designed solely to deal with these threats.”

  “Do you have any official recognition from law enforcement?”

  “No, we are independent,” said Gunsmith.

  “So you’re vigilantes?”

  “I wouldn’t put it exactly like that…”

  Paragon stepped beside Gunsmith and spoke into the microphone. “We’re more than willing to work with law enforcement agencies. We don’t want to undermine anyone.”

  “Interesting statement coming from you.”

  Paragon’s face went sour. “Excuse me?”

  A man in his forties with perfectly-coifed brown hair and a smile like a used car salesman was the one who made the comment. “Eric Fox, National Interest Daily. You deliberately interfered with police officers in Arkansas, did you not?”

  Paragon tried to prevent her anger from showing. “I was protecting lives, pure and simple. I saw the situation escalating and I acted.”

  “And how can we be certain that your ‘protection’ won’t further undermine the actions of our brave men and women in uniform in the future?” asked Fox.

  Gunsmith took back the microphone before she could answer. “Our primary concern is the defense of the people and to prevent violence.”

  “I believe we heard similar statements from Exemplar before he went on his rampage,” said Fox. “And this Zephyr woman also claims to have our ‘best interests’ in mind. But who are you to make those decisions for us? You think just because you freaks have gotten some advantages that it makes you gods? There’s only one god whose authority I put my faith in.”

  “We are not interested in making decisions for you, nor lording over you,” said Zenith, his body capable of amplifying his voice. “Simply put, we are here to help and we will cooperate with official authorities in any way we can.”

  Sharkskin heard rustling and looked up at the trees. The wind had shifted direction and now seemed stronger. He took a few sniffs, but the wind kept him from detecting anything out of the ordinary. “Gettin’ windy,” he said to Wraith.

  Wraith looked around as well and he too could feel the wind getting stronger. “Be ready.”

  Gunsmith heard the murmurs from the two and looked at them. Sharkskin gestured up to the trees and the stronger winds. He was about to issue a warning through the microphone, but the winds flipped the stage, throwing it into the water, with most of the team following. Only Zenith and Paragon, by virtue of their flight, were able to avoid the fall into the reservoir.

  Zephyr appeared over the trees, her long, white coat billowing in the winds she generated, her helmet completely obscuring her features. She spoke directly to the cameras that now focused on her. “You heard them, America. They’re willing to cooperate. They have power to make this world a better place, but instead they simply want to bow down before the oligarchs! They—”

  “Lady…”

  Zephyr turned. Paragon had crossed the distance between them in seconds, and now drove her fist against Zephyr’s helmet. “I’m getting real sick of your voice.”

  The punch shattered the helmet’s visor and the impact threw Zephyr towards the ground. She was able to cushion her fall with her powers, landing softly and getting to her feet. She looked up at Paragon. “So you’re the powerhouse, huh? But I bet you still need to breathe, don’t you?”

  Zephyr extended her hands, closing her eyes in concentration. Paragon found the oxygen growing thin. She gasped for breath, trying hard to retain what she could. Zephyr’s wind abilities apparently extended to atmospheric manipulation as well. Paragon tried to fly to get to another area, but the effect was apparently localized entirely around her body, making it impossible for her to get any air.

  “She needs oxygen, I do not.” A teleforce blast from Zenith’s arm cannon threw Zephyr to the ground. He quickly flew up to his teammate, who now inhaled deeply at the sudden infusion of oxygen. Zephyr stood and held her hands out, slowly bringing them together. As her hands grew closer together, so did the air pressure around Zenith and Paragon, crushing them.

  While she tried to crush those two, she glanced to the reservoir and saw the rest of the team climbing from the water. She pursed her lips and blew, a powerful gust striking them head-on. Sharkskin fought the hardest against the gale, using his strength to push closer. Zephyr was trying to keep the pressure on Paragon and Zenith, but at the same time couldn’t hold back Sharkskin. Soon, one of them would break.

  Sharkskin rolled from the path of the wind, jumping back to his feet and quickly charged her. He rammed his shoulder against Zephyr’s chest. She was thrown, her back striking a tree, and fell to the ground.

  Gunsmith stood with Wraith and Shift, looking around the park. Several of the reporters and news crews were still present, recording the battle as it transpired. He pointed at the groups of civilians. “Get them out of here. Wraith, teleport as many of the people in more immediate danger to a safe distance and Shift, take care of the others, lead them away from the battle. If anyone’s injured, take them to Mt. Sinai Hospital on 5th.”

  “What about you?” asked Shift.

  “Sharkskin’s got her on the ropes, but who knows what cou
ld happen.” Gunsmith tapped the side of his headset. “Zenith, are you and Paragon okay?”

  “I am undamaged, but Paragon—”

  “I’m fine, just a little winded,” said Paragon.

  “Good, I need you two to watch the park’s perimeter,” said Gunsmith. “Wraith and Shift are taking care of civilians, help them if you need to. Make sure no one else gets in and take out Zephyr if she looks like she’s about to rabbit.”

  The team went to complete their tasks and Gunsmith drew his weapons, running towards the battle between Zephyr and Sharkskin.

  ***

  Shift moved to a group of reporters who were still speaking into their microphones as their camera operators kept the focus on the fight. Her arm morphed into a partition that obscured their shots. Complaints came all at once and Shift just spat back in anger.

  “Are you idiots blind or something? That crazy bitch wants to kill you all and broadcast it to the world! We have to get you out of here!”

  “We don’t take orders from freaks,” said Eric Fox. “Don’t think we’re going to leave just so you can help your little girlfriend escape. Anyone can see you’re working together and have only staged this for the cameras!”

  Wraith appeared by Shift’s side. “Hey asshole, she’s trying to save your life. Why don’t you—”

  “I’ve got this.” The crowd parted for Shift as she stepped closer to Fox. He was clearly uncomfortable in the presence of her pale green form and bright yellow eyes, but tried his hardest to maintain his composure. Even though Shift was almost a foot shorter than him, her intensity seemed to elevate her above him. “If you stay here, you will die.”

  “That a threat?” asked Fox. “You all heard it, it threatened me!”

  Shift took a deep breath and glanced at Wraith. He gave her a nod. She looked up at Fox. “No, it’s not a threat, it’s a warning—if you stay here, you could die. A threat would be more like this.” Shift’s hand turned into a tentacle that wrapped around Fox’s throat and lifted him slightly off the ground, much to the shock and surprise of the other reporters. Shift’s legs grew in length, elevating her so her eyes were level with his. “Get the hell out of here before you piss me off.”

  She dropped him and stared down. “Understand the difference?”

  Fox quickly nodded.

  “Good, now get out of my sight.”

  Wraith smiled beneath his mask and took control. “Okay, let’s get people out of here. Only a few at a time, can’t move many more than that.” He opened a portal within the shadow of several trees, ushering several civilians into them. As Fox tried to enter, Wraith held up his hand. “Sorry, you take the long way out.”

  “Are you serious?”

  Wraith’s eyes crackled with ebon energy and Fox backed off, running towards the 97th Street Transverse.

  ***

  Through her aerokinesis, Zephyr uprooted a tree and slammed it into Sharkskin’s back. She threw him off and stood just as Gunsmith opened fire. Zephyr held up her hands, increasing the density of the air to act as an invisible shield that deflected his blasts. Zephyr dropped the shield and slowly rotated her hands and fingers, compressing air into a series of projectiles.

  “Can you dodge bullets if you can’t see them coming?”

  She threw her arms out in a large, sweeping gesture. The invisible air bullets flew at Gunsmith and all he could do was stand his ground and guard his face, hoping his exoskeleton could provide enough protection. The onslaught of the bullets caused “ARMOR INTEGRITY COMPROMISED” warnings to flash over his retina through the eyepiece he wore.

  Zephyr moved closer, increasing the air pressure around her fist and delivering a powerful uppercut to Gunsmith. She spun and met Sharkskin’s return approach, her aerokinesis now causing her fists to hit with strength that was greater than his. One of the strikes knocked him through the fence around the tennis courts, bouncing as he struck the ground.

  Zephyr hovered towards him when the teleforce blasts from Gunsmith drew her attention. She turned back to him and drained the oxygen from around him, leaving him gasping and falling to his knees. Zephyr’s attention was now back on Sharkskin, but he was gone from where she had left him.

  Sharkskin crept along the tennis center’s roof, and pounced. He landed on Zephyr, gripping her tightly. She had trouble holding the two of them up, especially because Sharkskin’s presence made it more difficult to concentrate.

  It also caused her to release the hold on Gunsmith and he moved into position, holding up one of his weapons. The targeting system in his eyepiece tried to lock onto her, but the winds kept them constantly shifting and he had trouble getting a hard bead on them. He wasn’t sure if he could hit her without also striking Sharkskin.

  Sharkskin saw the struggle and released his grip on Zephyr. The second he did, Gunsmith opened fire repeatedly and Zephyr fell to the ground. Gunsmith approached her, keeping the weapon trained on her. Sharkskin walked up to his side.

  “You okay?”

  Sharkskin nodded. “Not like I haven’t taken a fall before.” He knelt down and pulled the helmet off Zephyr’s head. She unconscious and looked to be in her early twenties, with auburn hair cropped close to her head.

  “Gunsmith to all points: we’ve got her. It’s over.”

  ***

  “So much for that algorithm of yours, eh Zen?” said Erin.

  The team had returned to the Atlas and were now gathered together around the meeting table in the monitor room, after they were given the opportunity to shower and change to recover from the battle. Zenith acknowledged Erin’s comment with a slight nod.

  “I was close to locating her as well. Perhaps if only the algorithm had acted faster, we could have reached her before she caused any further damage.”

  “We know what we need to about her now,” said Thorne. “Her name’s Chloe Grant. She’s apparently been arrested at a number of protests over the years and had something of a penchant for getting into fights with the arresting officers.”

  “Big surprise there,” said Koji.

  “She also comes from a pretty wealthy family. Daddy’s money made it so she never stayed in prison more than a day, and his lawyers were able to successfully plea-bargain her charges down to misdemeanors.”

  “How’s that gonna work now?” asked Jim.

  “It’s going to be a lot harder, that’s for sure,” said Thorne. “His lawyers have been screaming bloody murder, but the government’s got a very strong case of domestic terrorism against her. They’re not going to be able to do a whole lot.”

  “And where is she being held?” asked Anita.

  “Classified location, same as the Exemplar,” said Thorne. “I don’t even know.”

  Dom scoffed. “So even after all this, the President still doesn’t trust us enough to know where the people we bring in are locked up.”

  Thorne sat down in his seat and leaned back. “Don’t have much choice there, I’m afraid. Like I said, they won’t even tell me.”

  A throat-clearing from McCabe caught Thorne’s notice. He took a deep breath, knowing that it was important to be straight with these people if they were to trust him. “Look, you all deserve to know the truth. When I was summoned to the White House for a briefing on the incident in Russia, the President also told me he wanted Vanguard to look into Zephyr.”

  A brief silence hung in the air after those words. Thorne looked at McCabe, who offered a slim smile in appreciation. When Thorne’s gaze fell on Jim, what he got in return was a look that seemed to say, “I hope you know what you're doing.”

  The silence was finally broken by Koji. “So Hayworth gave us an order.”

  Thorne gave a nod in confirmation. “After Russia, I thought it best not to tell you. But I’m beginning to realize that I was wrong about that.”

  Anita sighed. “Maybe it’s time we had a discussion about all this secrecy.” She glanced around the table to get a sense of where her teammates stood on the issue. “I don’t want to cause any w
aves, but we all came to this with the understanding that the government would allow us to operate independently and would provide us with the resources we need. Then we’re being asked to invade a foreign country and to go after someone because she’s targeted the President’s golf buddies.”

  “She was killing people, Anita,” said Dom.

  “I’m not saying we shouldn’t have taken her down,” said Anita. “What I mean is we were told we’d have autonomy. But these last two missions we went on have come as orders we’re expected to follow. I can’t be the only one that doesn’t sit well with, can I?”

  “You are not,” said Zenith, turning his gaze to Thorne. “Colonel, you know our arrangement. I agreed to join Vanguard as a means to protect people, not to serve as a weapon. And I am beginning to fear the President sees us as just that.”

  “Not for nothing, but maybe we need some guidance on these missions,” said Koji. “We do count on the government for our intel, don’t we?”

  “Yeah, but where do we draw the line?” asked Dom. “I was all for taking down Grant, but this is starting to get a bit fishy. Especially with Congress now pushing for investigations. Things aren’t gonna be pretty if that goes through. If Hayworth’s gonna keep us as his secret little police force, then the least he could do is have a public stance of support for specials.”

  “We still haven’t heard from everyone here.” Thorne looked at Erin.

  “Don’t look at me. This is all way over my head, I’m just a kid—”

  “No you’re not,” said Dom. “I think you’ve proven that by now. You get a voice in this as much as the rest of us.”

  Erin felt a tinge of pride at those words. Pride that was only amplified when she saw nods of agreement from the rest of the team. She sighed. “I really don’t know. Yeah, it sucks, but at least we’re still taking down the bad guys, right? I mean, Azarov and Zephyr, they had to be stopped.”

  “She’s right,” said Jim. “Unlike the rest of you, I’m here on orders. But I know there’s also a job that needs to be done and we’re really the only ones who can do it. All of this—Atlas, Icarus, my suit—that came from government funding. If not for the President putting together this initiative, we would have never been brought together. That’s gotta be worth something, right?”