Vanguard: The Complete Second Season: A Superhero Serial (Vanguard: The Collected Seasons Book 2) (23 page)

Thorne leaned against the door for the elevator shaft, aiming his gun down at the robot body. Thorne stared down into the cold, emotionless face. He saw Lucent lying on the roof of the elevator as well, his body back in its human state. Both appeared to be finished.

A voice crackled over the speakers. “Colonel? Can you hear me down there?”

Thorne scrunched his eyebrows together. “Lee? Is that you?”

“Yeah,” came Lee’s response over the speakers. “I managed to convince Atlas to kick the Omega out of the system. I was monitoring the battle through the security cameras. Did Zen take care of him?”

Thorne sighed and shook his head. “It wasn’t Zenith. Lucent took back control.”

“What?”

“But it looks like it’s over now.” Thorne turned his back to the elevator doors and limped further inside the training room. “Both Lucent and the Omega are down—”

Thorne was hit from behind. He didn’t see what happened, but his back felt like it was on fire and his face hit the floor. Thorne rolled over on his back and struggled to sit up. He saw Lucent rising up in the elevator shaft and hovering in front of the opening to the training room.
 

“You didn’t really think it’d be that easy, did you?” asked Lucent. “Think I’d just let you get away with what you did to me?”

CHAPTER 11

Lee watched impotently as Lucent attacked Thorne. He rested his hands on the keyboard and spoke directly to the Atlas’ computer. “Come on, we can’t leave the Colonel alone in there! Wake up the droids!”

An error warning flashed over the monitor. Lee could ‘hear’ an explanation from the computer. “They’re all inoperable? How long would it take to repair them?” The response wasn’t what Lee wanted to hear. “Dammit, no! Thorne doesn’t have that much time!”

The computer said it had an alternative but stressed that Lee wouldn’t like it. “Well come on, tell me and I’ll let you know if it’ll work!” Lee ‘listened’ as the computer told it what it was capable of doing.

“Are you nuts?” asked Lee. “No, I’m sorry. But…that’s suicide! We just tried to take that thing out and now you want to wake it back up?”

The computer justified its strategy. Lee took a deep breath. He closed his eyes again so he could see through the surveillance cameras. Lucent was moments away from vaporizing Thorne. Even if Lee could get down there in time, his own armor was still drained.

Lee rubbed the bridge of his nose, his eyes still clenched tightly as he tried to consider the best option. “Okay, do it. But if you’re wrong about this…”

***

“Months,” said Lucent, standing over Thorne’s body. “For months I’ve been a prisoner in my own body. And it was because you allowed it to happen. I know how you told Zenith you should just keep things as is, prevent me from
ever
having my body again.”

“Can you blame me?” asked Thorne. “I’m starting to think Proximo was right to keep you locked up as a lab rat. You’re a monster. If Vanguard didn’t stop you, who knows how much more damage you would’ve caused once you killed Miriam Rowe.”

“And now I’ll kill you, too,” said Lucent, power arcing from between the tips of his thumb and the rest of his fingers. “Melt the flesh from your bones, Leonard. Then I think I’ll find that little wifey of yours. Tell her all about how I fried you before I do the same to her.”

“Don’t you
dare
touch her!” spat Thorne, his grip tightening around the butt of the teleforce blaster.

Lucent laughed. “Oh yes, Colonel! Shoot me,
please
! I could use another recharge.”

Thorne grabbed the blaster but instead of firing, he threw it at Lucent. The special just blasted the gun in mid-air and it clattered uselessly to the ground. He smiled.

“Really, Thorne? That was your big attempt to fight back?”

“No,” said Thorne. “This is.”

Lucent looked back at Thorne and saw one of the Colonel’s pant-legs was rolled up and he had an empty holster strapped to his ankle. In Thorne’s hand was a small pistol and he fired several times, unloading the tiny gun.

Lucent felt the bullets punch through his chest. The first two went into his flesh, but he transmuted his body to energy and the remaining rounds just passed through him harmlessly. He was hurt, but not dead. And he was very angry.

“Enough games. Now you die!”

“I don’t think so.”

Lucent turned at the sound of a familiar, hollow voice. The robot body that the Omega had inhabited hovered in the elevator shaft, staring inside at the energy being.
 

“I should thank you, Terry,” said the robot. “If not for you, I might not have been able to return to my own body.”

“Zenith?” asked Lucent.

Zenith gave a nod. “I’m not sure what you did, but whatever it was, you placed me back where I belong.”

“Good,” said Lucent. “Now I can finish what I started in Vegas, kill you for real this time!”

Lucent unleashed a flurry of energy blasts. Zenith countered them, striking the blasts with energy from his cannons. He dodged the strikes, moving above with practiced ease. For Zenith, it was like coming back home. He felt more comfortable than he had in months. No more uncertainty about his powers, no more worries about someone else rising up to control him. Now he was back in command.

***

With Zenith now awake and back in control of his own body, Lee barely had a moment to take a breath of relief. Even with the new resistances he built into Zenith’s body, Lee knew that his friend would need more help than that to defeat Lucent. And Lee had something that would turn the tide of the battle, except with the elevator destroyed, he had no way of reaching the laboratory.

Lee backed away from the console and removed his belt. He opened a panel in the buckle, examining the components inside. The power had been drained and it needed a boost.
 

“Okay, you can help me with this, right?” he asked, looking at the computer. Lee had a slot built into the buckle for recharging. Lee plugged the belt into the computer and kept his hand on the buckle. Through his eyes, he could see the belt’s power level increasing. At least enough for what he needed.

Lee unplugged the belt and ran from the ready room and down the tunnel connected to the main Atlas silo. He fastened the belt around his waist as he ran and activated the power. The hard-light armor generated only around his hands but that’s all he needed.

When he reached the open elevator door, Lee jumped and caught the hanging cables with his hands, the armor guarding his flesh. Lee climbed down until he reached the open door for the lab and swung. He released the cables and one foot
 
hit solid ground. The other foot slipped though and Lee fell.
 

He reached up, taking hold of the ledge and hung there. Lee strained to pull himself up, reaching his other hand to the ledge and using both. He climbed onto the ledge and took a breath.
 

***

Lucent felt the hard impact on his chin and he hit the ground. He had trouble maintaining a purely energy form. He’d used up a good deal of his energy reserves battling the Omega. That plus the shots from Thorne left the special weakened.
 

Zenith wasn’t about to give Lucent any additional fuel, either. He limited the use of his cannons to defensive purposes only, deflecting any energy blasts Lucent hurled his way. For anything offensive, the robot was relying on his own impressive strength.
 

Lucent stood and screamed, launching at Zenith. From what he remembered when Zenith was in control of his body and battling the Omega, Lee had apparently installed some sort of failsafe in this new Zenith 2.0. Lucent didn’t know what it was, but it apparently prevented the absorption of the robot’s energy. Some kind of special shielding.
 

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” said Zenith. “You said you would help me stop the Omega. Now he’s gone and it’s just the two of us.”

“You brought this on yourself. You took control of my body and then you refused my very generous offer,” said Lucent. “Now you’re going to pay the consequences for your stupidity.”

“As a matter of fact, this can all be traced to your actions, Gibson,” said Zenith. “You were the one who absorbed me in the first place. And it proved fortunate for you. You couldn’t break free of the Analyst’s control.”

“I could—and
would—
have. Eventually. But what’s past is past,” said Lucent. “I’m going to kill you. And the old man. And the kid. And then I’ll kill everyone else who has crossed me. Rowe, the Analyst, the Khagan. Maybe even go after the rest of your team.”

Zenith shook his head. “You truly are a petty, pathetic creature.”

“SHUT UP!” Lucent flew at Zenith, which is actually exactly what the robot hoped to goad the special into doing. Zenith had spent so much time inhabiting Lucent’s body that he knew how the man’s powers worked and how he fought. Zenith could practically predict where Lucent’s every blow would come and he was there to counter it.
 

Zenith dropped from the air and shot back up behind Lucent, grabbing the special from behind. He wrapped his arms around Lucent’s neck and chest, holding him tight and the special struggled against him.
 

The effort was wasted. Lucent was too weakened to escape his captor’s grip. All he could do was try and use up the last of his reserves.

“This really how you want it to end, huh?” asked Lucent. “You wanna die here, Zenith?”

“I’ve already died once, thanks to you,” said Zenith. “I think I’ve had my fill.”

“Not your choice!”

Lucent channeled the last of his power reserves into one, final attack. His body glowed even brighter than ever and on the ground below, Thorne had to cover his eyes to avoid being blinded.
 

Zenith’s sensors went wild with the energy readings. With the type of output Lucent was generating, it was possible he could destroy all of Atlas. There was only one opportunity to save Thorne and Lee.
 

Zenith activated his thrusters and barreled through the ceiling, taking Lucent with him. They flew through every single level, even causing Lee to jump back in surprise in the lab.

Finally, the pair crashed through the floor of the hangar. Thanks to a command Zenith sent to Atlas’ computer system, the hangar doors above them had already opened and they flew out into the night sky. Zenith used all his strength to hurl Lucent up even higher and deactivated his thrusters.
 

As the robot fell, Lucent unleashed his built-up reserves. A wave of energy exploded out from him. Zenith rocketed back towards the hangar, but the force of the explosion hit him and threw him down even faster, sending him crashing into the hangar’s floor.
 

Zenith looked up and his eyes zoomed in on the falling form of Lucent. He hit his thrusters and shot up into the sky to catch the special in mid-air. After taking hold of his enemy, Zenith looked down at Lucent. He was back in his human form and completely unconscious.

The robot carried him down, lowering himself through the holes he’d made in the floors and ceilings of Atlas. As he hovered down to the lab, he saw Lee standing there holding something in his hand.
 

“Hey,” he said.

Zenith took note of the object and nodded, moving inside the lab. He laid Lucent’s form on the gurney that once housed his body. Lee affixed the device—the same type of inhibitor collar he’d developed when he was forced to work for the Red Fist—around Lucent’s neck. The lights on the collar flashed, indicating it was now operational.

“When—if he wakes up, that’ll keep him docile,” said Lee.

“Good,” said Zenith.

Lee looked at his friend, smiling at the work he’d done on the robot body. “Y’know, I was starting to regret rebuilding this thing. But now that you’re back in the driver’s seat, I’m glad I did it.”

“As am I.” Zenith laid a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Still think it would’ve been better to keep you in Lucent’s body. Maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

Zenith shook his head. “Lucent would have regained control eventually. It was inevitable. Now he won’t cause us anymore trouble.”

“Hey!”
 

The two men looked down through the holes and saw Thorne staring up at them, still in the training room.

“Someone gonna get me out of here?”

EPILOGUE

The next few weeks were spent cleaning up the damage the Omega and Lucent caused to Atlas. Zenith’s first priority was getting the elevator fixed and repairing the holes in the base, while Lee worked on increasing the defenses of Atlas’ computer systems. Thorne kept a watchful eye on Lucent, making sure the special was kept under constant sedation. Even powerless, the Colonel didn’t want to take any chances with a man that dangerous.

It wasn’t long after they finished the repairs that the three were sitting in the ready room when the proximity alarm went off. Lee ran to the console to check, but Zenith stopped him.

“I’ve already scanned the incoming helicopter, Lee. I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Lee, standing in front of the console. “Zen, we’ve gotta turn off the power and hide.” An image flashed on the monitor—a helicopter with the Cerberus logo on the side. Lee pointed at the footage. “You see?”

Thorne studied Zenith’s face and he had a feeling that if the robot still had a mouth, he would be smiling. Thorne couldn’t help a grin of his own as he held up a hand in Lee’s direction.

“It’s okay, kid. I think Zenith knows what he’s talking about.”

Zenith nodded in Thorne’s direction, a sign of appreciation for his support. He turned to the elevator entrance from the ground level and stood at attention. Thorne came up by Zenith’s side, hands clasped behind his back. Lee was suspicious, but he still sidled up beside his friends, his hand hovering over the belt buckle and the switch that would activate his hard-light armor.

The elevator doors opened and a man stepped out, clad in crimson armor with a yellow scanner over his left eye. His hair was short and blond and he flashed a warm smile at the three men he saw. He immediately approached Thorne and stood at attention, saluting.