“That’s ridiculous, you heard what the judge told us,” said Lee.
Erin shrugged. “That’s just what they said on TV.”
“It’s total crap,” muttered Lee.
“Yeah, but they’ve got at least two rogue specials on the loose, one of whom was in the middle of a really public trial.” A thought came to Koji’s mind and he leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Hey, you guys know how you were able to detect Chronos’ energy? Could you do the same with the Ferryman? Use that to find out where he might have taken Dom and King?”
“We’ve already attempted that,” said Zenith. “Unfortunately, his energy signature didn’t linger long enough to properly analyze. The only thing we have to go on is Dominic’s GPS.”
“Yeah, and that’s pretty much useless.” Koji sighed. “So what do we do now?”
“Now might be a good time to panic.”
Everyone’s attention was commanded by the deep voice of Colonel Leonard Thorne, who emerged from the stairwell that led down to his office. He walked over to the table, his hands clasped behind his back. Once he reached the group, he took his seat and rubbed his face.
“I’ve just spoken with the President.”
“The President?” asked Anita. “I thought with this new arrangement we’re supposed to go through Zukov?”
“We are, except neither he nor Jim nor anyone else on Olympus can be reached. And now we know why.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” said Koji.
“Olympus has fallen,” said Thorne. “It’s been blown out of orbit.”
A beat of silence filled the air. No one knew how to respond to that statement. So Thorne continued.
“The last anyone heard from Olympus was Jim’s final transmission from his shuttle, saying he was making his approach. Some time after that, an explosion was reported by one of our satellites.”
“What about Jim?” asked Anita.
Thorne closed his eyes, paused for a second, and then shook his head.
Erin’s hands went to her open mouth. Her eyes began to water. “Oh my god…”
Lee looked down at his feet, shaking his head. “No, it’s gotta be a mistake…”
“I’m afraid not, son,” said Thorne. “Even if Jim hadn’t docked at the station, his shuttle would have been within range of the explosion.”
“Olympus was Cerberus’ central base of operations,” said Zenith. “More than that, Director Zukov was presumably present when the explosion occurred.”
“It’s the last place he was seen, yes,” said Thorne. “There’s a…protocol in place. For just such an event. With the director and the central base gone, all control over Cerberus now rests with the Security Council. Until this matter can be settled, each Cerberus base and the agents stationed there are now under the command of their host nations.”
“What’s that mean?” asked Koji.
“It means that if a Cerberus base is in America, that base is now under American control,” said Thorne. “Specifically, under the control of the Department of Defense.”
“Ramsey,” said Zenith. “He is now in control of the Cerberus presence in the United States.”
“And he’s been in talks with our closest allies, getting them to coordinate with him,” said Thorne. “Not only does he control Cerberus in America, but he has influence over the agency in at least a dozen other countries.”
“Jesus…” muttered Koji.
“We can’t let this happen,” said Anita. “We have to do something. We all know what Ramsey really is, what he’s capable of.”
Thorne sighed. “I know. The destruction of Olympus is believed to be the work of specials. And because of that, Ramsey’s first act has been to dispatch Cerberus operatives to break up pro-special demonstrations and arrest any and all participants as terrorist sympathizers.”
“Can he really do that?” asked Lee.
Thorne’s tone was somber. “The order went out right before the President took my call.”
Zenith’s eyes flashed. “I’ve done a scan of the major news networks. There are no reports of any demonstrations being broken up.”
“Maybe there’s a media blackout on it,” said Anita.
“What about us?” asked Erin. “What are we going to do?”
“The President has instructed us to report to the nearest Cerberus base. Agents are currently en route to Atlas right now. To ‘escort’ us.” Thorne scoffed.
“We’re not gonna let them do that, are we?” asked Lee.
“I’ve got a feeling things are about to get very bad. You all have a choice to make. I don’t trust the timing of this. The attack on the Exemplar’s trial, the destruction of Olympus, and now Ramsey taking control of Cerberus. It’s far too coincidental for my tastes.”
Thorne stood from his seat. He looked over the members of his team. “I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to get to the bottom of this. I won’t lie, though—I could use your help. But this is also something I can’t order you to do. It’s barely something I can ask of you. You should all know that anyone who joins me in disobeying Ramsey’s orders will be a fugitive. Ramsey has access to information about each of you. He knows your identities, he knows your families. He could use them for leverage if he wants.
“Anyone who wants an out, you just sit tight, wait for the escort to arrive, and go with them peacefully. I won’t hold it against you, I won’t think anything less of you.” Thorne paused, then finished. “But if you’re with me, you need agree to see this thing out to the end, whatever that may be. Could be victory, could be defeat, could even be death.”
“It’s not much of a choice, really. Following Ramsey’s orders will just mean we become his prisoners,” said Erin. She stood. “You’ve got at least one person by your side.”
“Two.” Koji stood and folded his arms across his chest. “This whole thing stinks and I’m not about to roll over for this bastard.”
“I’m in, too,” said Lee. “Ramsey is basically the Red Fist all over again. I was controlled by those bastards before. Not about to let it happen again.”
Anita sighed. “After what Chronos said, I know everyone’s worried about me. I’m worried, too. So I’ll understand it if you want me to stay behind.” She stood. “But if you’ll have me, I’d be honored to fight alongside you.”
Thorne opened his mouth to respond, but Zenith cut him off.
“The honor would be ours, Anita,” he said. “We do this together.”
Thorne smiled and nodded. “They’ll be here soon. So we’d better get our asses in gear."
EPILOGUE
Upon M’Lak’s return to the mothership, he proceeded immediately to the bridge. The other Kotharian soldiers awaited him and saluted by touching their fists to their breasts and bowing. M’Lak didn’t return the salute, just proceeded past them to the command deck.
“All the preparations have been made. The humans are busy combatting their own and their resolve is weakened,” he said. “Send word throughout the fleet. Weapons armed, set a course for Earth. Our advance begins within the next twenty-four hours.”
“Aye, sir!” cried the soldiers on the bridge.
“Man your stations,” said M’Lak.
They followed the command, issuing orders to the rest of the fleet and preparing the warships for departure. M’Lak turned from the bridge and held his arm out in front of him. He activated his armor’s communications link and a holographic screen was projected from his gauntlet, showing Ramsey’s face.
“For your sake, Secretary, I hope you are prepared,” said M’Lak.
“Vanguard will be dealt with shortly, General,” said Ramsey. “The Earth is ready for your arrival.”
“Excellent. You’ve made a wise decision, Secretary.” M’Lak paused and smiled. “Or perhaps I should call you Warlord.”
Ramsey smirked. “Warlord Ramsey. I’ve gotta tell you, General. I like the sound of that.”
“Remain in a secure area. When the time is
right, I will contact you again.” M’Lak ended the transmission and turned his attention back to the bridge. He proceeded across the deck and sat in the captain’s chair.
“General.”
M’Lak looked up at Q’Rynn, one of his trusted lieutenants. The soldier saluted and M’Lak gestured for him to proceed.
“What of Captain J’Karra?” he asked.
“All we know is she is a prisoner of the humans. When we reach Earth, if she survives, we will liberate her.” M’Lak turned his head towards the front of the ship and leaned back in his chair. “And if she is dead, then we shall avenge her.”
Q’Rynn saluted a final time and then left. M’Lak rubbed his chin and a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. He knew where J’Karra was, he knew she was alive. But he would see to it that she didn’t survive the invasion. The Matriarch may have thought her worthy enough to act on behalf of the Kotharian people, but M’Lak had his own reasons to despise the woman.
With a martyr, M’Lak would have the authority to bring the full force of the Kotharian might crashing down on the heads of the humans. And there were other things he was interested in, especially given what he’d discovered in Abram Zukov’s memories.
“We are ready to proceed, sir. On your order,” said the pilot.
“The order is given,” said M’Lak.
The crew went to work and issued the order to the rest of the fleet. One by one, the ships activated their warp drives, traveling across the far reaches of space and approaching the blue orb circling a yellow sun.
The invasion had begun.
To be continued…
#15 - INVASION, PART II
CHAPTER 1
Cerberus crafts descended on a clearing in the Adirondacks. Their target: a former ICBM silo, converted into an underground, state-of-the-art facility called Atlas. It served as the base of operations for Vanguard, a team of semi-autonomous superheroes. By order of Secretary of Defense Joseph Ramsey, currently the acting head of Cerberus, Vanguard was to voluntarily enter custody “for their own safety.”
But Ramsey didn’t expect cooperation. Hence the show of strength.
Several of the transports touched down on the ground, and Cerberus troops clad in Gunsmith exoskeleton suits emerged from the vehicles, heading into the small, above-ground station that served as the entrance to the Atlas facility. The agents had override codes to gain entrance and they piled into the large elevator.
The doors opened on a spacious room lined with computer terminals and large monitors. In the center of the room was an oval-shaped table, the image of a V engraved into its surface, and chairs positioned around it.
The leader of the squad stepped forward, a woman clad in an exoskeleton that was unique from the others—white in color as opposed to their red and with a helmet that covered her entire face. She looked around the room.
“Floor-by-floor search. I want every rock in this place turned over,” she ordered.
The troops nodded and went about their mission. April Roque stayed behind, examining the computer terminals. There were no doubt secrets locked away in these computers and she’d make sure to discover them.
“They couldn’t have gotten far,” she muttered to herself.
She was right. Cerberus had been monitoring the airspace over the Adirondacks as well as Atlas itself. The hangar doors had never opened, nothing appeared in the skies over the mountains, so just where did Vanguard run off to?
***
A contingent of soldiers moved into the hangar. They held teleforce rifles in their hands as they examined the large, empty room. The scanners built into the headgear of their armor detected no signals in the area other than each other.
A loud noise came from above. They all aimed their weapons and saw that the hangar doors were opening. But there was no reason for it.
“What the hell is going on?” one of them asked.
A new sound drew their attention, the sound of engines powering up. They turned their rifles towards the center of the room, the source of the sound, but saw nothing.
The sound grew louder and there was a gust of wind, as if a craft were lifting off from the ground. Light flickered and the image of a large plane shimmered into view, a plane that was using its VTOL jets to depart.
“It’s the Icarus! They’re still here!”
The soldiers opened fire on the hi-tech craft. But the shielding was strong enough to easily shrug off the teleforce blasts of the Cerberus rifles. The soldiers could see the robotic form of Zenith through the cockpit window.
Turrets emerged from different points on the ship as it rose up, firing teleforce blasts at the soldiers and quickly incapacitating most of them. The plane rose ever higher into the air, hovering above the Adirondacks.
The Cerberus troops who remained on the surface rushed to their vehicles, quickly activating the power cycles so they could try and stop the jet. But by the time they had powered up and were rising off the ground, the Icarus’ rear thrusters were activated and it shot off into the night, fading away until nothing more could be seen of them.
***
Roque took a deep breath and prepared herself as the elevator doors opened. Standing before a small contingent of Cerberus agents was a man in Cerberus uniform himself. His hair was short and brown, going gray at the temples, and he looked like he hadn’t had a shave in a few days.
The agent saluted her commanding officer. “General Callus.”
General Nathan Callus returned the salute. “Agent Roque. Where are my prisoners?”
Roque swallowed hard. “They…escaped.”
Callus arched an eyebrow. “I’m not amused, Blindside,” he said, using the call-sign Roque adopted when she led a black ops unit called the Hellhounds. They were Callus’ personal hit squad during his tenure as Cerberus Director.
“They were in the Icarus, it took us by surprise,” said Roque.
“How does a damn ship take you by surprise in a hangar?”
“Sir, there was some sort of advanced cloaking technology used on it. Powerful enough to not only hide the Icarus from sight, but even from our scanning equipment. Far superior to even the invisibility tech used in my armor.”
Callus scoffed. “Do we know where they went?”
Roque shook her head. “They went into stealth mode as soon as they got clear of the mountains. We weren’t able to follow them.”
“Leads?”
“We’ve been trying to break into their computer files, but the encryption is very sophisticated. No telling how long it will take us to gain acce—”
The monitors suddenly came to life all around the room. Callus looked into one of them, finding himself staring into the face of a grizzled veteran with a silver mustache and short hair.
“Leonard Thorne.” Callus almost hissed as he said the name.
“Nathan Callus,” said the silver-haired man. “I thought you were wanted for crimes against humanity. How’d you get back in a Cerberus uniform?”
Callus narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t you come on back, we’ll light up some cigars and I’ll tell you the whole story.”
Thorne shook his head. “I’ll have to pass. I gave up smoking a while back.”
“Drinks, then.”
“Wouldn’t want a general like you to sully himself by drinking with a lowly old colonel like me.”
“You can’t run, Thorne. Cerberus’ reach is global. We’ll find you, sooner or later.”
Thorne scoffed. “You couldn’t find me when I was hiding out in that very base you’re standing in, right under your nose.”
“This is the only chance you’re going to get,” said Callus. “Ramsey’s giving you an out here. Report to the nearest Cerberus base quietly and surrender yourselves with no trouble. You have my word you’ll be treated fairly.”
Thorne laughed at that. “Oh come on, Nate. You tried to have me killed. You think I’m gonna believe anything you say?” Thorne’s face darkened. “I don’t know who shot down Cerberus, but I’
m positive Ramsey had something to do with it. And I’ll die before I let him tarnish everything we’ve worked so hard to build.”
The screen went black due to Thorne’s termination of the connection. Callus fumed, turning from the monitor and staring down at Roque.
“Pull all the drives from these computers. Scour the place for anything we can use. Then place charges on every single level.”
“Charges, sir?” asked Roque.
“That’s right.” Callus marched back to the elevator. “I want you to blow this cursed place to hell."
CHAPTER 2
Dominic Vaughn awoke to a blinding light shining in his eyes. He raised his hand to block out the light coming from the sun. That’s when he realized he was lying on sand. And his full-body costume now felt extremely hot. He struggled to pull himself to a sitting position, still somewhat groggy.
“You’re awake. Finally.”
A few feet away from Dom sat a man in a prison uniform. He had short, black hair and a clean-shaven face with bright blue eyes. Callum King knelt in front of a makeshift campfire, although there was no fire. He sighed and looked in Dom’s direction.
“Usually, I’d make these fires with my hands. But can’t do that as long as this damn inhibitor’s active.” Callum turned his head slightly to show Dom the device attached to the back of his neck, with a solid red light.
“What happened?”
“I tried to stop Michael from sending you to god-knows-where, so I tackled him. Unfortunately, I just ended up taking us with you.”
Dom noticed Callum had full movement of his arms. “If your powers are blocked, how come you’re not chained?”
Callum held up his hands and Dom could see the cuffs were still around his wrists. But the chain was broken. “Amazing what you can accomplish when you have a rock and a lot of time to kill.”
“And the Ferryman?”
Vanguard: Seasons 1-3: A Superhero Adventure Page 80
