The body lay motionless on a gurney. Zenith walked to its side, staring down at his former shell. It felt a bit surreal to look down at his own face like this. Lee sidled up next to him.
“You ready?”
Zenith gave a nod. “I hope so.”
“You sure you know what to do?”
Zenith placed his hand on the robot’s chest. “Originally, Lucent tore me from my body by draining the power source. Over the past few months, I’ve been practicing transferring energy from my body into electronics. I imagine the same principle would work here.”
Azure energy surrounded Zenith’s body, making his skin slightly translucent. Energy coursed through his body, channeled into his hand and directed right into the robotic body. Zenith pushed all the energy within his own body into the robot shell and one by one, the LED lights all over the metallic construct hummed with a blue glow.
Lee watched the body with a smile on his face. But then he saw the strained look on Zenith’s face. Was something wrong with the transfer? Little by little, the energy faded from Zenith’s body and the translucent glow turned to the normal skin tone of Terrence Gibson. He slumped to the ground and Lee ran to his side, looking down at him.
If the transfer was successful, it would stand to reason that the body would collapse. He looked down at the robot body, the LED lights on it still glowing brightly. But no further movement came.
“Zen? You in there?”
“Down here…” a voice weakly said.
Lee crouched down as Zenith struggled to pull himself up to a sitting position. He shook his head, dizzy from the energy drain. Lee watched his movements with a frown.
“Back to the drawing board, huh?”
Zenith gave a careful nod. “I’m afraid so.”
Lee took hold of Zenith’s arm, helping him to stand. Zenith stumbled a bit, bracing one hand on the gurney and Lee keeping a firm grip on his other arm.
“What happened?” asked Lee.
“I transferred all the energy I could muster into the body,” said Zenith. “Apparently all I’ve done is activate the power source. My consciousness still resides in Lucent.”
“We’ll try again once you’ve gotten your strength back up,” said Lee. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think this was a possibility.”
“What do you mean?”
Lee sighed. “There’s a lot we don’t know about you, Zen. How you were created or how Lucent was able to pull your consciousness out of your body in the first place. And if we can’t answer those questions, I’m not so sure we’ll be able to put you back where you belong.”
Zenith stared down at the lifeless body. “I had come to similar conclusions, I’m afraid. But I cannot live my life in another man’s body.”
“What are you saying?” asked Lee.
Zenith shook his head. “I’m not certain I know.”
Lee swung Zenith’s arm around his shoulders and wrapped his hand around his friend’s waist. “C’mon, let’s get you some food. You need to recharge somehow and I can’t think of a better way.”
Zenith weakly nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”
“Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll figure this out.”
The two men left the laboratory, climbing into the elevator in the hall and pressing the button for the kitchen on the third level. Once the door closed, silence hung in the laboratory and all the lights turned off.
Save for the lights on Zenith’s robot body. And then, without any force to explain it, the body’s hand twitched. The lights that served as its eyes took on an even stronger glow. Something stirred inside the robot shell and the body rose up, sliding its legs over the edge of the gurney. It held the hand up to its face, examining it as it moved, testing each of the fingers one by one.
“Well… this is an interesting development.”
CHAPTER 5
Leonard Thorne sat in his office, nursing a glass of bourbon on the rocks. He held a Cuban cigar in his other hand and brought it under his nose, inhaling the scent of the tobacco leaves. After another moment, he set the cigar back in the open box on his desk, right next to the framed photo of a woman with blond hair that had whitened with age.
His gaze lingered on the photograph, his hand hovering over the phone resting on his desk. His fingers lightly grazed the phone’s surface, but he wouldn’t allow himself to pick it up.
The knock on the door caused him to recoil his hand as if the phone were a hot pan. “Come in.” He leaned back in the chair, sipping his drink as Zenith entered the room.
Thorne stared at Zenith for a few moments as the man entered his office and sat in front of his desk. His movements were sluggish and unnatural. “You okay?”
Zenith gave a nod. “Yes, just a little weak.”
Thorne’s raised eyebrow was the gesture for Zenith to continue his explanation.
“With the repairs on my body complete, Lee and I attempted the transfer process. It…didn’t go well. All I managed to do was activate the robot’s power source and leave myself weakened.”
Thorne said nothing but set the glass on his desk. He rose and moved towards the liquor cabinet in the corner, taking an empty glass and filling it with ice and some bourbon as well. When he returned to the desk, he handed the glass to Zenith.
He held up his hand in protest. “Oh, no thank you—”
“Take it. Drink it.”
Zenith conceded and accepted the drink. Thorne sat back in his chair watching with an amused expression as his friend sniffed the bourbon. After a moment or two of that, Zenith took a cautious sip and his face instantly curled in disgust, prompting a hearty laugh from Thorne.
“That is truly awful.”
“Acquired taste, my friend,” said Thorne, sipping his own bourbon. “Besides, you’ve had a tough day. I know how much you’ve wanted to get back in your own body.”
Zenith took another cautious sip and the reaction was a bit less extreme the second time around. “I do have good news, though. Lee managed to contact Gunsmith and transferred the information to him.”
Thorne gave a nod, his sight being drawn back to the framed photo on his desk. “Good.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, Colonel, why not reach out to the rest of the team? I know you trust them and their support in defeating Callus could be very beneficial.”
“Mmm.”
“Colonel?”
Thorne finally snapped from his trance and turned his gaze to Zenith. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Zenith noticed the framed photograph and reached his hand towards it, casting a look at Thorne. “May I?’
Thorne gave a gesture for him to continue. Zenith picked up the photograph and stared at the woman in it. “Your wife, yes?”
“Yeah.”
“Perhaps you could reach out to her in some way, let her know that you’re still alive.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason we can’t reform the team yet.” Thorne held out his empty hand and Zenith handed the photo back. Thorne opened a drawer in his desk and placed the photo inside, then closed it shut. “It’s too dangerous.”
“There is strength in numbers, though.”
“Yeah, and it also makes you an easier target to spot.” Thorne took another sip of his bourbon. “Callus and Ramsey are very smart. They know Vanguard poses a threat to their plans, whatever those may be. Right now, they’re watching the others very carefully, just waiting for a slip-up.”
“But they’ve already targeted Paragon. How can we assume they aren’t moving to remove us completely?”
Thorne shrugged. “I’m not sure. We’ve provided Jim with the information he needs to do something about this. Have Lee monitor the situation and if needed, then we’ll provide additional back-up.”
“I sense a caveat.”
Thorne nodded. “Smart man. Callus already tried to kill me once. If he suspects I’m still alive, he’ll probably go after her.” He groaned and lean
ed back in his chair. “If only we knew what the hell Ramsey’s endgame is. I’m starting to get cabin fever staying locked up in this damn base all day long.”
“Could it be related to the Khagan?” asked Zenith.
“Possibly, or it could be something worse,” said Thorne. “We know at least three prominent figures in the Red Fist are still on the loose—Ramsey, the Analyst, and Azarov. And while we know where Ramsey is, we have no evidence linking him to the organization, meaning he’s still the Secretary of Defense.”
“Lee and I have attempted to scour information channels searching for any mention of the Red Fist, the Analyst, or Azarov. Unfortunately we’ve found nothing as of yet.”
“Dammit!” Thorne slammed his fist on the desk. “They’re up to something, I can just feel it.”
“We’ll find out,” said Zenith. “They cannot hide from us forever. We’ve been dealt a massive blow, but we’ll recover.”
Thorne took the glass and drained the remainder of the whiskey. “If anyone needs me, I’m going to be in the training room.” He stood and walked over to the door. “I really need to shoot something.”
***
The tenth level of Atlas housed a room with automated defenses where Vanguard had trained, both against the room and against each other. It had largely fallen into disuse since then, but Thorne had a desire to work off some steam. He selected a simple attack droid program, nothing too strenuous but enough to give him a workout. Near the console was a weapons locker and from there, Thorne took a pair of spare teleforce blasters, the kind wielded by Gunsmith. He hadn’t used these guns much himself and tested the weight in his hands with a few practice aims and draws.
Satisfied that the weapons would do, he left the control booth and entered the training room. A warning klaxon sounded to alert that the program was beginning. Thorne stood in the center of the room and waited.
A panel on the floor opened and a robot drone with teleforce cannons for arms rose up in the opening. It raised its weapons but before it could fire, Thorne shot a few blasts into its chest to take it out. The robot fell motionless on the ground. Another drone rose from a panel behind him. It fired a warning shot and Thorne spun, bringing the gun around with him and shooting it in the head.
The drones continued to rise slightly faster. Thorne kept his position in the center of the room, turning and firing as needed in order to strike the appropriate targets. Flying drones came from the ceiling, powered by propellers and housing small guns beneath their spherical bodies.
One of the blasts caught Thorne in his shoulder and he cringed in pain. The setting on the drone weapons shouldn’t have been at a level high enough to cause him that much harm. He returned fire at the flying drone, shooting it out of the sky.
They continued to come at him in greater numbers and Thorne discovered quickly that he needed to locate some cover. Some floor panels around the room rose up to a ninety-degree angle in order to provide obstacles as part of the simulation. Thorne ran for one of them, trying to dodge the drone fire as best he could.
He leapt behind the raised panel, crouching against it and peering over the edge. A shot from an infantry drone caused him to duck in response, the blast narrowly missing his head. He held his gun over the edge and fired blindly, hearing the sound of a drone taking a hit.
Thorne peeked out and raised his weapons to fire out some better shots. But the drones were now coming in increasing numbers, something that shouldn’t have happened in the current program.
“Computer, pause simulation!”
A digital voice boomed over the speakers. “Command not recognized.”
“Administrator Override: Thorne, Leonard!”
Again, the same response. “Command not recognized.”
Something was wrong with the system, although Thorne had no idea what it could possibly be. His only option was to fight his way through to the control booth on the other side of the room. But there were at least a dozen infantry drones and a few more aerial ones standing between him and that goal. And though Thorne could still fight pretty well, he wasn’t sure he could put up with that level of resistance.
CHAPTER 6
After getting some lunch with Zenith, Lee returned to the laboratory. The lights automatically flickered on once he stepped off the elevator. He walked past the gurney where Zenith’s robot body still remained, looking as lifeless as ever but the lights still remaining on. Lee gave a sigh when he saw it.
“We’ll figure it out.”
He walked over to a table where he’d set up a workbench. A belt lay on the surface and he sat down, examining the devices implanted around it. His technopathic abilities were helpful in a support role, but Lee was determined to make himself more useful. With Cerberus’ moves becoming more and more brash, Lee knew a confrontation was coming. And he wanted to be able to join the fight when that happened.
The belt was a combination of some schematics he’d manage to download from some technology Cerberus had in their possession, while making modifications of his own. He saw some improvements that could be made in order to suit his needs and he planned to implement them as soon as possible.
While Lee worked on the belt, he didn’t notice the twitching of the robot body. The LED lights that served as eyes flickered and the body started to move, raising its torso to a sitting position. It turned, setting its feet on the floor and rising to a standing position.
The robot looked down at itself, examining its movements carefully. It turned its head and saw Lee, still oblivious to all but his project, and took a first, cautious step. Satisfied with the result, the robot moved again. Each step brought him closer to Lee and it only took a few steps before the technopath noticed the sound of the metal feet striking the floor.
Lee turned on his stool and jumped, slipping off and falling to the ground. “What the hell!”
The robot stopped and recoiled, holding up its hands, palms facing Lee. “Please don’t be alarmed, Lee.”
“Wh-what?” asked Lee, staring dumbfounded at the robot.
The robot relaxed its posture to try and help Lee feel more comfortable in its presence. It slowly moved closer and reached a hand out. The young inventor stared at the hand in confusion.
“How can you be moving around? And talking?” he asked.
“I…don’t understand what you mean,” said the robot.
“You’re not real,” said Lee. “This has gotta be a dream or something. I must’ve dozed off while working again.”
“It is real—I am real.” The robot held out his hand again. This time, Lee reached out slowly and took hold. The robot pulled Lee to his feet and he immediately backed off.
“What do you mean you’re real? Who are you?” asked Lee.
“I…would think that would be obvious,” it said. “I am Zenith.”
Lee’s eyes bulged. “What?”
“The transfer was successful. You managed to place me back in my body.”
Lee shook his head. “No…Zenith was still in Lucent’s body. We even had lunch after.”
“Oh no… Lee, don’t you realize what’s happened?”
Lee narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
“If the transfer worked and I’m now back in my body, then what do you think that means about my previous host?”
Lee gasped. “No way…it can’t be. He was buried so deep, it would take him some time to regain consciousness.”
“Perhaps your projections were off. No one knew how it was possible for him to absorb me in the first place, after all.”
Lee shook his head. “This is insanity! No, I would’ve known if it were him.”
The robot’s head cocked to the side. “Are you certain of that?”
Lee didn’t have an answer for that. He himself admitted that there’s a lot they didn’t know about Zenith and as this robot had correctly pointed out, the reason Lucent was able to absorb him in the first place remained something of a mystery.
“Lucent is now in control
of his body and, by extension, his power. We have to stop him before he has an opportunity to recharge. It took all of Vanguard to stop him last time and now it’s just us.”
Lee gave a nod. He turned to the workbench and picked up the belt, strapping it around his waist. Once the clasp fastened, orange lights along its surface lit up. There was an arm-brace sitting on the bench as well. Lee held it and slid his right arm into it. At the end, a disc-shaped object rested against his palm. He moved his arm, testing the weight of the frame on it and his mobility while wearing the device. “I think this might help even the odds.”
***
Lucent swam through the waters of the olympic-sized swimming pool located on Atlas’ ninth level. He’d removed all his clothes, leaving them by the side of the pool and dove beneath the water, closing his eyes and using his feet to propel himself forward. When he reached the end and poked his head out of the water, he could see Lee standing at the edge, arms folded.
“Ah, Lee.” Lucent took hold of the ledge and pulled himself from the water.
“Enjoying yourself?” asked Lee.
Lucent nodded. “Indeed I am. Since inhabiting this body, from time to time I’ve enjoyed taking a swim. Although I wish to return to my true form, I cannot deny the sensational feeling of the cool water on my skin.”
Lee scowled. “Cut the crap, I already know what’s going on here?”
Lucent raised his eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Lee’s hand went to the belt buckle and activated a switch. Orange, holographic armor appeared around his body and Lee struck at Lucent with his fist with enough force that it threw Lucent right back into the pool.
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 47
