“Or even worse, mix together,” said Anita. “And I think that’s happening. The memories he actually experienced, those are pretty clear. His time in the camps, being liberated by the resistance, coming back in time. But the other stuff, like the history of the original timeline and the history of the changed timeline, those are less clear.”
“That could potentially put his sanity at risk the more he travels through time,” said Zenith.
“Did you figure out why he came here?” asked Jim.
“He said he needs to kill someone to stop the invasion. And I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to figure out who he means.”
“J’Karra,” said Dom. “So why don’t we give him back his suit and let him at her?”
“Because he’s going to kill her,” said Anita.
Dom shrugged. “And? Listen, I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention or not, but we’re talking about an alien invasion. I know killing isn’t something we do a whole lot of, but don’t you think we should make an exception in this case?” He gestured to Jim and Thorne. “Back me up here, guys.”
“He’s got a point,” said Jim. “If killing J’Karra means we can prevent this invasion, then I say we do it.”
“We don’t even know if it would work,” said Anita.
“Clearly, we do,” said Dom. “You saw his memories, didn’t you? What did the future look like? Was it one where aliens hadn’t enslaved mankind?”
“Yes, but I also saw a time period when specials didn’t exist and the invasion still happened, albeit much later,” said Anita.
“So what, it’s inevitable? It’s our destiny to be enslaved?” asked Koji.
“I don’t believe in fate,” said Thorne. “But I also don’t know if we can trust Chronos’ memories. He attacked us, he’s got technology centuries more advanced than anything we have.”
“More than that. You’re talking about futuristic Kotharian tech,” said Lee. “This is like, thousands of years beyond what we have access to.”
“Right, and who knows what else he could be hiding,” said Thorne.
“So we’re just gonna let J’Karra summon an alien invasion?” Dom scoffed and glared at Anita. “Why are you trying to protect her anyway? She got you under some kind of mind control spell?”
“Excuse me?”
“Not the first time someone manipulated your mind.”
Anita clenched her hands and stepped closer to Dom. Erin saw what was happening and she stretched her arms to hold the two of them back.
“Let’s all calm down for a second,” she said.
“Vaughn, go cool off,” said Thorne.
“What? But—”
“I said get out, don’t make me repeat myself.”
Dom scoffed but vanished in a portal. Thorne stood over the table and looked down at the armor. “It’s getting late. Everyone should get some rest, we’ll have another look at this in the morning.”
“You sure that’s the best course of action?” asked Jim. “Given everything we’ve learned tonight—”
“Just go.”
Jim sighed but nodded. One by one, Vanguard filed from the workshop but Thorne tossed Anita a look and said, “Just a minute.”
Anita stopped, exchanging some quick glances with her teammates as they left. Once they were gone and the doors closed, Thorne turned to face her.
“Vaughn’s not known for his tact. His accusation was out of line.”
“Thank you. It means a lot—”
“But his concern was a legitimate one,” said Thorne. “J’Karra’s definitely been a major influence on you, you’ve spent a lot of time with her, and after Chronos’ story, it makes me more than a little nervous.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” said Anita. “I’m not under anyone’s control.”
“How can I believe that?”
“The same way you believed me when I told you about the Khagan during our first encounter. You were the only one that had faith in me. I’m asking for you to show me that same faith again.”
“You misunderstand, Anita. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I don’t trust J’Karra.”
“But you trust Chronos? A man whose very sanity is in question?”
Thorne sighed. “No, I don’t trust him, either. But I can’t deny what Zenith and Lee have turned up in their investigation. I can’t deny the alien warrior being held by Cerberus.”
CHAPTER 8
Normally, one might find it difficult to sleep while armed sentries stood watch over you. But that was exactly how Chronos grew up, so for him it felt normal. And the cot was far more comfortable than the bedding he slept on as a child. While he slumbered, his mind was awash in half-forgotten memories and dreams.
But a single voice cut through the white noise. Again, it was the voice of the old man with the glowing eyes. In his mind, Chronos could see the man, encased in the mobile life-support equipment.
“If this message has been triggered, then you have accomplished the first part of your mission and gained entrance into Atlas. Now it’s time for you to move on to the second part.”
Chronos’ memory of this event came into clear view. And he remembered the man’s name—the Analyst. He remembered standing in the Icarus in the future, speaking alone with the Analyst after the rest of the team had left them.
“Remember…"
***
“There is more to this mission than even the rest of the team can know,” said the Analyst.
“What are you talking about? The plan is your guys help me repair the chronal emitter and then I travel back in time and kill this J’Karra. What’s not to understand?”
The Analyst closed his eyes. Through cybernetic control via his life-support equipment, he had full command of the Icarus’ facilities. A holographic projection of a man in Gunsmith armor appeared before them. Chronos reacted instinctively, his gauntlet releasing his baton into his hand.
“It’s okay,” said the Analyst. “General Ellis is a friend. Our contact inside the Kotharian’s human conspirators.”
“I’ll be able to lower the defense shield when your team approaches,” said Ellis. “You’ll face resistance from Gunsmiths, but the Kotharian scouts will be off investigating a disturbance at one of the camps, which I’ve also arranged. You should have a straight shot into the tachyon testing chamber.”
“And from there, you can repair your equipment and then travel to the past,” said the Analyst.
“So why didn’t you want the rest of the team to know this?” asked Chronos.
“Oh, that part we do,” said the Analyst. “It’s what you have to do in the past that they cannot know of. Particularly Shift.”
“Twenty years ago, the invasion was made possible by the betrayal of one of our own,” said Ellis. “J’Karra turned a Vanguardian against the rest of us and that enabled the Kotharians to invade. So you’ll have two targets when you arrive in the past—one is J’Karra and once you arrive in the past, you can find her location from the Atlas database.”
“I will implant access codes and instructions into your subconscious,” said the Analyst.
“But before you leave Atlas, there’s another target,” said Ellis. “Vanguard will of course try to stop you—do whatever you have to in order to complete the mission and escape, but don’t harm anyone other than the target.”
“I still don’t see why you don’t want Shift to know about this,” said Chronos. “She knows your teammate betrayed you, right? So why wouldn’t she be all for this?”
“We aren’t sure when it happened, all we know is that it did,” said Ellis.
“Shift believes if you simply kill J’Karra, it will end her control,” said the Analyst. “I believe differently. Subconscious triggers are very powerful. So as much as it pains us to do this, there is only one way to guarantee this betrayal never comes to pass.”
***
Chronos opened his eyes and sat up on the cot. He now knew his mission in Atlas wa
s two-fold. Find the location of J’Karra and kill her underling. But his first step was getting out of this place.
He slid his legs over the edge of the cot and gently rested his feet on the ground. The sentries turned and watched him carefully, raising their arms with teleforce blasters on the ends.
“Do you know the great thing about my armor?” he asked. “It’s symbiotic. Cybernetic chips have been implanted into my brain that give me full control over it as if it were an extension of my own nervous system. And that means I can trigger the tachyon particles that power it, even from a distance.”
Chronos closed his eyes and concentrated. The sentries readied their blasters but didn’t fire. A bright, flash of light appeared between them and the prisoner and when the light subsided, the armor stood there, transported by the tachyon energy.
Chronos stood from the cot and held his arms out to his sides. The armor responded to his cybernetic command and flew from the spot where it stood. The components separated and wrapped around his body, quickly encasing him in his weapon.
The sentries opened fire and Chronos held up his hand, generating an energy shield for protection. The visor snapped into place and his free hand released his baton into his palm. Chronos dropped the shield and spun the baton, extending it into a staff.
The spinning weapon deflected the teleforce blasts, ricocheting them back at the sentries and quickly reducing them to scrap. Chronos retracted the staff and it returned to his gauntlet.
He went to the door to the training room. But instead of trying to find a way to break through it, he just concentrated. The suit’s tachyons activated and transported him to the other side of the door.
On the other side of the door he had two options. One was to take the elevator up and the other the emergency staircase. Though it was late and everyone was likely asleep, he wanted to avoid any potential conflict if possible. Ellis and the Analyst didn’t want him to hurt anyone unless he had to and his first task would be to download the information he needed from the Atlas mainframe.
Chronos teleported past the elevator doors and found himself in the shaft. The components on his leg slid down to form the glider beneath his feet and he hovered up the length of the tube.
Just above him was the elevator and it remained stationary. Chronos teleported past it and continued up the shaft. When he arrived at the top, he teleported past the doors and was now in a small corridor. He faced the entrance to the hangar and behind him was the elevator, the stairwell entrance, and another door.
On approach, the door opened to a connecting hall with a curved ceiling, leading to the other section of Atlas. Chronos flew down the tube and entered the monitor room.
From what he’d been told by Ellis, Zenith practically lived in this room, so Chronos was prepared with his staff extended. Fortunately, he found it empty. Zenith must have had other things to concern himself with.
Chronos approached the computer terminals and held out his hand. Wires snaked from housings in his gauntlets, connecting to ports in the terminals. Chronos’ visor displayed a message that read DOWNLOAD IN PROGRESS. The data flowed across his retina at rapid speed, far too quick for the human eye to process.
After a few moments, the data flow stopped and a new message flashed: DOWNLOAD COMPLETE. Chronos needed to be sure, so he cybernetically commanded his armor to show him the location.
A map of the world flashed over his visor and zoomed in to a location in the south Pacific Ocean. A small location blip appeared and the description read THE ISLAND with the exact coordinates listed underneath.
Chronos smiled and disconnected his armor from the mainframe. Now he had only one more task to complete. He left the monitor room and raced back down the corridor.
CHAPTER 9
Anita tossed and turned in her bed. Her dreams were plagued with images of J’Karra and the coming invasion. But now she was also seeing the fractured memories she witnessed inside Chronos’ mind. The flow of different timelines, different memories, different planets was almost too much for her to keep straight.
She awoke and pulled the sheets off her body, rubbing her eyes. Anita reached for the glass of water on her nightstand and sighed. She flipped the switch above the bed and the lights slowly came on to give her a moment to adjust.
Anita went into the small bathroom and turned on the sink, splashing cool water on her face. She examined her features in the mirror as she wiped her face with a towel. Strangely enough, her face somehow appeared alien to her.
Leaving the bathroom, she walked back to her bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. Anita took another drink of water, still trying to piece together what these visions meant.
A sound like an explosion drew her away and she instantly stood. The smoke cleared and she saw a fully armored Chronos standing in her doorway, his staff pointed right at her.
Anita didn’t give him a chance to fire another blast. She flew right at him as fast as she could, her fists slamming into him and driving him across the corridor and into the wall.
She wrapped her fingers around his throat and pummeled his face with her fist. Chronos’ armor responded by releasing an electric charge through her body, just as he had done to Sharkskin earlier.
Anita released him and fell back. Chronos drove his staff into her abdomen, then raised it and brought it down on her neck, then a final time against her back and she struck the ground. He placed a foot on her back to keep her pinned and the end of the staff crackled with energy as he positioned it right above her head.
“Sorry about this,” he said. “But for the future to survive, you can’t.”
Something wrapped around the staff and held it back. Chronos turned and saw Erin standing behind him, her arm extended and her hand holding his staff. She leapt at him, her arm pulling her towards Chronos.
Chronos released his staff and held out his hand, generating an shield around his body, a shield that Erin slammed right into. Once she hit the ground, the staff flew right back to his hand.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he told her. “But your friend has to die.”
He turned around to finish off Anita, but she was gone. Chronos used his armor to scan for her. And the scan picked her up, circling around the level to try and sneak up on him from behind. But unfortunately, he was ready.
Anita came around the bend and Chronos stood there with his back to her, a smile forming on his face. His armor told him exactly where she was. She flew closer, raising her fist in preparation of her strike.
A compartment opened on Chronos’ back and an energy net burst out. It wrapped around Anita, throwing off her flight and Chronos ducked, allowing her to fly over him and strike the ground. She struggled against the net, but it did no good.
The Atlas schematics said there were three rooms per floor in the living quarters block. Anita and Erin shared this floor and the third room was unoccupied, so fortunately the battle hadn’t alerted anyone else. But Chronos knew that wouldn’t last long and he would have to finish this and get out of here before the rest of the team came at him. He couldn’t afford another battle against all of them.
Chronos stood over Anita and she looked up at him with pleading, brown eyes. He had a moment of hesitation. From what Shift and Sharkskin told him in the future, Anita was a good person. Someone who always had their back. But she was also destined to be J’Karra’s pawn and both the Analyst and Ellis told him the only way to prevent the invasion was to kill them both.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
And then Chronos discovered that Anita wasn’t staring up at him to plead for her life. But instead concentrating. He screamed and fell to his knees as Anita unleashed a psychic attack on him.
Chronos grabbed his head, trying to fight back. Anita triggered the pain centers in his mind, making it feel like his entire body was under attack. Chronos held up his hand and squeezed. With that motion, the energy net trapping Anita contracted. The energy, previously harmless, now pained her as it pressed agai
nst her body.
Chronos was struck on the back and hit the ground. He shook his head and got to his feet to see Erin standing there. But her body was significantly taller, her head just below the ceiling. Every muscle in her body had also increased in mass. She linked her hands together and brought them down on Chronos.
He vanished an instant before her fists struck the spot where he stood and reappeared behind her. Chronos heard noise coming from the stairwell and turned just in time to see the rest of the team arrive on the scene.
Jim and Thorne opened fire on him with teleforce guns, with Zenith using his cannons. Koji changed into his shark form, ready to move on him next, and Dom’s eyes crackled with the ebon energies he commanded.
Chronos engaged the shield around his body to fend off the attacks. He didn’t have much chance against all of them, not again, and he didn’t have the time to deal with another capture. Or worse, in case they decided capturing him was no longer worth the trouble.
He teleported through the elevator doors and the glider activated, raising him up the tunnel. Once he reached the top, he teleported through the doors again and then up through the ceiling and into the early morning sky.
Paragon was still a threat and he’d deal with her soon enough. But he’d have to wait before taking her out. And that meant he had a new priority.
CHAPTER 10
Once Chronos’ armor was out of range, the energy net he used to trap Anita dissipated. Zenith was on his knees beside her, running scans over her body to ensure she was okay. The results of the scans—and her insistence—proved she was and he helped her to her feet.
“So much for dealing with this in the morning,” muttered Dom.
“How did he even get out?” asked Erin.
“Very good question,” said Thorne. “Lee, Zen, can you guys check out the training room down below? Figure out what happened here?”
“Sure thing, chief.” Lee gave a nod to Zenith and hit the call button for the elevator. While they waited, Zenith felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look into Jim’s face.
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 73
