At one point, when the automatic doors of a below-ground ICBM site flipped open, that meant a missile was preparing for launch. But since its conversion to the Atlas base, the top floor beneath those doors was the hangar for the Icarus, and the opened now to welcome home the members of Vanguard.
Inside the hangar, Thorne and McCabe stood off to the side, allowing for plenty of room. The force of the air as the VTOL system gently lowered the Icarus blew back their hair, their eyes clamped shut to shield them from any loose debris.
Once the craft powered down and the hatch opened, Wraith was the first one off, removing the mask from the lower part of his face as he disembarked. A loud, clearly angry voice followed him off.
“Get back here, you son of a bitch!” Gunsmith stormed down the ramp. The speed his armor granted him enabled him to easily catch up to Wraith and grab his shoulder. Wraith’s first instinct was to pivot and throw a punch.
It was an instinct he followed.
Gunsmith was more stunned by the blow than actually harmed, and he had to restrain himself from reaching for his weapon. Thorne and McCabe ran towards them, but it was Paragon who flew between the two men and kept them apart with her powerful arms.
“That’s enough!”
“What the hell is the meaning of this?” asked Thorne.
Gunsmith pointed past Paragon’s head. “Maybe you should ask him!”
Thorne’s gaze turned onto the dark-haired special. “Well?”
“He disobeyed a direct or—”
Thorne’s head snapped at Gunsmith. “Stand down, soldier!” He looked back at Wraith. “I asked him.”
Wraith folded his arms. “I saw an opening, I took it.”
Thorne shook his head. “Judging from those bruises on your face, would seem that wasn’t the smartest course of action.”
“You’re not alone out there anymore, Vaughn,” said Gunsmith. “You’d better start acting like you’re part of a team.”
“You mean like you did?” Shift stood beside Sharkskin, who was now in his human form and leaning on Zenith for support. The young shapeshifter quickened her pace, walking right up to Gunsmith, ignoring any concern for his personal space. “If we’re supposed to be a team, then how come you had me sitting on the sidelines?”
“Exemplar had already taken down one of our biggest guns and your power-set isn’t suited for combat,” said Gunsmith.
“In other words, you think I’m useless, don’t you.” It was a statement. “To hell with you, Ellis.”
“Okay, everyone just relax,” said Paragon, but Shift had already stormed out of the hangar.
“You’re certainly off to a good start, leader-boy,” said Wraith with a smug grin.
“Stow it, Wraith. Go hit the showers and cool off.” Thorne waited for Wraith to follow his command, and for a moment it seemed as if Wraith was more content with staying put and fighting not only Gunsmith, but also Thorne if it came to that. But after a few breaths of tense silence and hard stares, Wraith did an about-face and left the hangar. Thorne then turned to the rest of the team. “Zenith, take Sharkskin to the infirmary so Dr. McCabe can have a look at his injuries. Paragon, you go, too.”
McCabe hesitated for a moment, despite hearing his name in Thorne’s order. “You sure you don’t need me here, Colonel?”
Thorne stared at Gunsmith when he responded with, “No. Lt. Ellis and I need a moment.”
McCabe gave a reluctant nod and walked to Paragon, Zenith, and Sharkskin. “Let’s go.”
Once the hangar emptied, Thorne stepped past Jim, staring up at the Icarus with his hands clasped behind his back. “Tell me what happened out there.”
Jim stepped next to Thorne. “We did it Anita’s way. She approached Exemplar when he was over the lake and tried to talk with him. Seems criticism is his kryptonite, because as soon as she told him to be more cautious about his actions, he attacked her. Anita defended herself and then he had her on the ropes. Because he’d pulled her below water, I felt Koji was the best choice to send in next with the rest of us on standby. He did manage to get Exemplar back on dry land, but he was injured as a result. Wraith teleported me down to the ground with him, and the purpose was for me to distract Exemplar while Wraith transported our injured back to the Icarus. Instead, Wraith decided to confront him head-on. Zenith came down for back-up and that’s when Exemplar flew off, leaving us licking our wounds.”
“What about Erin?”
“Shapeshifting is by no means a useless skill, it can be incredibly effective in covert operations. But this wasn’t that type of mission. The rest of the team either has some degree of combat training or experience—or in Koji’s case, powers that can offset the lack thereof. Erin’s a different story, though.”
Thorne rubbed his chin with a thoughtful, “Hmm.”
Jim stepped in front of his commanding officer. He now felt his own authority being questioned and with that came a need to defend himself. “What should I have done? Sent an unarmed teenage girl directly in the path of a literal superman?”
Thorne began shaking his head and he held up a hand. “Now, I never said that. But this is your team, Lieutenant.” He pointed at Jim for emphasis. “A good leader doesn’t only know his team’s strengths and weaknesses, but he also knows how to devise strategies that incorporate the team as a whole, make them work together. It’s not just about raw power. If it were, I wouldn’t have put a non-special on this team, let alone in charge of it—power-suit or not.”
Jim lowered his head. “I apologize, sir. Maybe I’m not right for this job.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Thorne responded with a shove against Jim’s chest. The young soldier looked up in surprise. “What was that for?”
“Because self-pitying bullshit is not what I want to hear and that’s not the James Ellis I recruited to lead this team! You’re better than this.” Thorne sighed. “Maybe it was too soon. Most of the training has been on an individual basis, so you haven’t had enough of a chance to train them as a team. But we don’t have the luxury of more time. This encounter shows that Exemplar is at the very least unstable, and it’s only a matter of time before someone else pisses him off. We need to be ready.”
----------------------------------------
Koji lay flat on his back, watching as McCabe applied a balm on the hand-shaped burn over his chest. “Well, the good news is that thanks to your shark-form and your suit, the damage isn’t as bad as it could have been. Had you taken that blow in your human form, it’d be a different story.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
McCabe gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder. “You’ll be up in no time. How’s the pain?”
“Feels worse than it looks,” said Koji.
“I’ll give you something for it, don’t worry.” McCabe stepped away from Koji, and approached Anita, who sat on an adjacent cot. “How are you feeling? Seems you took some damage as well.”
“Oh no, I’m fine.” She gestured to Koji with her head. “I was just worried about him. That was pretty brave of you to dive in like that to save me.”
Koji smiled at her. “So you think I’m brave, huh?”
She smirked back. “Don’t get carried away, hero. I’ve never been much of the damsel type.”
McCabe was the only one who didn’t appear amused by their conversation and instead focused on his job. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
Anita brushed off his concern with a wave of her hand. “I’m fine, Doctor. That forcefield of mine is evidently capable of taking quite the beating.”
McCabe gave a slight nod, although his eyes still showed some skepticism. “Well, I suppose if you aren’t feeling any ill-effects. Forgive me, it may take some time for me to adjust to the new standards you’re all operating at.”
“No problem.” Anita slid off the cot. “If it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll go take a shower and maybe lie down for a bit.”
Once she stepped outside the infirmary and into the hall, Anita’s hands instantly went to her head, slowly rubbing her temples. There was no physical damage, that much was true. But the throbbing in her head was so great, she was amazed she could hold it together as long as she did in there. There were some painkillers in her room, she hoped a few of those would, at the very least, lessen her migraine to the point where she could function.
----------------------------------------
Erin lay on her stomach, a small laptop open in front of her on the bed in the room that had been set up for her. She hadn’t planned on living here at Atlas, so the room was still fairly bare with her bags stacked in the corner of the room. She was basically living out of them and hadn’t bothered unpacking. As she scanned her social media newsfeed, she wanted to put something up about what had just happened. But she knew that was impossible and would put not only herself, but the entire team and even her family and friends at risk.
Erin was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Ellis, if that’s you, just keep on walking. So not in the mood.”
“It’s Dom.”
She closed the laptop and hopped off the bed. As she walked past the mirror in her room, she noticed that she’d subconsciously changed back into the blond-haired teenage girl she had been before her powers manifested. Although parts of her seemed a little older than they’d been before. Erin shrugged and went to the door, opening it just a crack to see the tall, dark-haired man smiling down at her.
“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks. And to let you know that Ellis was completely outta line keeping you on the bench.”
She opened the door and leaned against it. “So let me get this straight: you think because I’m pissed at Ellis, that means I’m gonna back you?”
“No, I—”
“Stop.” Erin put a finger against his lips. “He may have been a jerk, but that doesn’t mean you were right to charge into action and almost get the rest of us killed.”
“C’mon, Erin, I was just—”
“Save it.” She slipped back inside and slammed the door.
Out in the hall, Dominic stared at the door and sighed. The sound of servos whirring and metal feet striking the ground drew his attention and he saw Zenith approaching. “What’s up, Tin Man?”
Zenith stopped, tilting his head slightly as he examined Dominic’s face. “You appear to be injured. Perhaps you should see Dr. McCabe?”
“Nah, just a few bruises, I’ll be fine.” Dominic took one last glance at the closed door before continuing down the hall. “I’ve got some things to take care of.”
Zenith’s glowing blue eyes followed the former thief. He paid the man no further concern and also approached Erin’s door, giving a slight knock.
“Go away, Dom.”
“Dominic has departed. This is Zenith.”
Erin opened the door, her form having changed back to the pale green appearance. “Hi.”
“Are you well, Erin? On approach, I detected an elevated level of volume in your voice.”
“Forget about it. What’s up?”
“The facial recognition scan of the Exemplar has been completed, we have a match for his identity. If we were to analyze his records, perhaps we might discover something of use. But as I am not yet well-versed in human behavior, I thought perhaps you might be able to assist me.”
Erin bit her lower lip as she thought on it. “Guess it’d make me feel a bit less useless around here.”
“Then come.” Zenith stepped to the side, allowing Erin free passage into the hall. She shut her door behind her and the two walked around the circular corridor to the elevator. Once the doors shut, Zenith pressed the button for the second floor, which not only connected to the recreation room, but also a tunnel leading to the three levels that were once the silo’s command control center, the second level of which housed the monitor room.
“What did you mean by ‘useless’?”
Erin shook her head with a sigh. “Forget it. It’s nothing.”
“As you wish.”
The doors parted and Zenith stepped out first with Erin trailing behind. When they reached the monitor room, they found Thorne in there, sitting at a terminal. Once he realized he wasn’t alone, he stood and welcomed them.
“What brings you up here, Erin?”
“Zenith thought I could help him make sense of what he found out. How about you?”
Thorne glanced back at the screen. “I was reviewing the data from the battle and also trying to keep track of Exemplar’s other movements. Media has picked up the scuffle, and accounts show Exemplar as striking first, so he’s started to experience a turn in publicity. So far he’s remained quiet, but I imagine that’s just a matter of time.” Looking up once more, he asked Zenith, “What did you uncover?”
With a gesture, the large monitor brought up a split-screen image—on one side was the shot of Exemplar from the talk show. The other held an Illinois-issued driver’s license. “Facial recognition registered a 99% match with this man—Callum King of Chicago. I’ve taken the liberty of searching for other records on him.”
The images shifted and a list describing some of the other official documents Zenith discovered appeared on the screen. Thorne stood from the terminal and approached the monitor, standing beside Erin. “What’s he do for a living?”
“Currently unemployed,” said Zenith. “Company downsizing about eighteen months ago. Bank statements show direct deposits from a few temporary positions—all part-time.”
Erin pointed at the screen. “Divorce records?”
Zenith nodded and another license appeared, this one of a woman with long, dark hair. “Lilian King, née Marsh. The divorce was finalized almost two months ago.”
“That’s not long before Exemplar’s first appearance,” said Thorne.
“Maybe the divorce made him unstable?”
“Think so?”
Erin shrugged. “I mean, it’s possible, right? I know my dad went a bit nuts when my parents divorced. Six months later, he was married to one of his former students.” She scoffed. “She used to babysit me.”
“Research has shown that men have a difficult time transitioning from a divorce,” said Zenith.
Erin stared at the image of Lily King on the screen, reading over the information on the license. An idea started to take shape in her head, a way that would allow them to possibly get the drop on Exemplar. “What if we sprung a trap for him?”
Thorne folded his arms. “I take it you’ve got something in mind?”
She nodded, still staring at Lily’s photo. “Actually…I think I just might…”