Lily King—or Marsh, since the divorce had been finalized—stood looking around Chicago’s Navy Pier. As usual, the place was quite crowded, and that was a cause for concern as she waited for Callum to make his appearance. It was definitely a risk, having him come here, and the leader of the team who approached Lily expressed concern at such a public meeting place. But Lily said it would make sense—it was where she and Callum first met, and it was perhaps the best way to convince him that it wasn’t a trap.
But any hope she had of Callum not drawing attention to himself was instantly dashed once she heard the voice above her. She slowly looked up—as did most of the other people surrounding her—and descending from high in full-costume was the Exemplar.
He gently touched down on the surface and the surrounding people backed away. Since the fight the other night with Vanguard, suspicions had started to rise about Chicago’s new superhuman defender. But Exemplar ignored the stares and approached his ex-wife. Lily turned away slightly, not meeting his gaze.
“Why are you making a scene?” Her voice was a hushed whisper.
“You said you wanted to see me, and this,” he motioned to his costume, “is who I am now.”
“Can we go…I don’t know…somewhere else?”
Exemplar looked around the area and held his hands out. “What’s wrong with here?”
Lily crossed one arm across her chest, rubbing her shoulder. “Please?”
Exemplar breathed deeply through his nostrils and then quickly exhaled. “Okay.” He scooped up Lily in his arms and she let out a quick yelp in response. Her entire body tightened and Exemplar gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
He crouched slightly and pushed off, his power of flight taking the couple up into the sky. Lily tightened her arms around his neck, her eyes clamped shut and her face buried in his chest. Exemplar watched her do this, smiling. This was how it was supposed to be—the two of them together like this.
They rose higher, with the air growing crisper and the wind picking up. When she realized they’d found a perch, the whipping breeze kept her too frightened to open her eyes.
“Go on.” His voice had a gentleness in it. Not the boastful tone he used when he was giving interviews as the Exemplar, but rather a much softer one. She carefully opened her eyes and looked down. She gasped and clung even more tightly to him.
They stood close to fifteen hundred feet above the streets of Chicago, atop the roof of the Willis Tower. Exemplar set Lily down on her feet, but she still kept her arms locked around him, and he laid a soft hand on her back.
“It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you. Not up here, not anywhere. Not as long as I’ve got these powers.”
She stared at the world below her, mouth agape in shock. “This is…it’s a bit much.”
Exemplar glanced down at the street himself. “This is how I see the world. Everything’s so small now. All the people down there, running around like ants.”
Lily lightly touched his cheek and turned his head towards her. “Can’t you hear yourself? Can’t you hear how…how scary that is?”
He snickered as if she’d made a joke. “Of course not. There’s nothing scary about this, babe. Don’t you see? Nothing can hurt me. No one can stop me. I always told you I’d be great, and now I am! I mean, look at me!” Exemplar took a step back, holding his arms out so she could see his costume. “I’m a superhero! I can do things that the police never could!”
“But they’re held accountable,” said Lily. “You’re not.”
Exemplar huffed. “I don’t need to be held accountable, because I’m better than they’ll ever be.”
Lily glanced over Exemplar’s shoulder, and she saw a silhouette now on the roof. Exemplar saw her eyes go to the side and was about to turn his head, but Lily stopped him by rubbing his chin, keeping his head turned towards her.
“What are you—?”
“Maybe you’re right.” She pulled herself closer and brought her lips to his. Exemplar fell into the kiss at first, but then as quickly as she initiated it, he broke it.
“You’re not—”
It was just a temporary distraction, but it was just the distraction Wraith needed as he jumped onto Exemplar’s back, holding the would-be hero’s head tightly in his hands. His hands crackled with ebon energy, channeling it directly into Exemplar’s skull. An extreme feeling of loss and hopelessness filled Exemplar, caused by the dark energies wielded by Wraith.
“How do you like that, jackass!”
Exemplar shouted and thrashed. One of the erratic movements struck Lily and then the wind took her from there, pulling her from the top of the building. She screamed as she fell from the roof of the Willis Tower.
“No!” Wraith climbed over Exemplar and jumped after her, arms held out in front, body kept absolutely straight. He shot down, reaching out for her, but she was falling too fast and he couldn’t project his portals.
Lily’s eyes shifted to a bright yellow and her skin took on a pale green tone. She held out her hand and it started to extend up to Wraith until it came close enough for him to grab hold. Shift’s disguise dropped completely and she changed back to her normal appearance, retracting her arm and in the process, pulling herself up to Wraith. The roof of one of the lower matrices quickly approached below them and Wraith concentrated on his powers. Instead of striking the roof, they vanished into the shadows.
The Exemplar was crouched on the roof in the fetal position. His eyes were moist and the feelings that overcame him when he discovered his abilities, back when he was just Callum King, were bubbling up inside of him. He could hardly cope with it, but he knew who was to blame.
Them.
They humiliated him. Made him think his wife was coming back. And now, he would have to make them pay. Exemplar jumped from the roof, soaring from the Willis Tower. He would find the little cockroaches, wherever they skipped off to, no matter how long it took.
“DO YOU HEAR ME? I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU! COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!”
A blow struck his back, falling from above and hitting him like a pile-driver. Exemplar plummeted a bit before he could halt his descent. And then he heard a voice from above, a voice that sounded all too familiar.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I won’t be fighting like a man.” Paragon hovered above him, hands resting on her hips. “But that won’t stop me from kicking your ass.”
“Last time we did this dance, you were lucky to walk away.”
“I was being nice.” Paragon flew at him, balled fists extended out in front. “Won’t make that mistake twice!”
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Exemplar met her assault and the pair collided with enough force to send a shockwave through the air. Paragon learned from their last exchange, and she now knew to be mindful of his ability to generate intense heat. Wraith’s attack had left Exemplar off-balance, and that allowed her to quickly gain the upper hand. But the longer the battle went on, the better the chance of Exemplar’s superior strength getting the better of her. Especially since his limits were physical and he seemed virtually impervious. But for Paragon, each blow that struck the invisible forcefield surrounding her body was like a blow directly to her brain.
One advantage this time was that she wasn’t fighting alone. A point reiterated by the voice that crackled in her ear. The night sky was illuminated by the bright, blue lights that signaled the arrival of Zenith, dropping from the Icarus high above the clouds. Both arms were already in their cannon form, and Zenith fired the pair of weapons on his target the second Paragon left his line of fire.
Exemplar couldn’t concentrate on both threats at once, trying hard to focus enough to unleash the microwave plasma his hands were capable of generating. But his mind was still clouded from the encounter with Wraith, he couldn’t quite get a grip on the situation and found his inner critic berating him at every turn.
“You’ll never amount to anything,” said his father.
“You’re nothing more than a loser,” said his wife.
“No more…” he muttered. “No! More!”
Gunsmith’s voice came in over the transmitters worn by the team. “Wraith’s attack shook him. Paragon and Zenith, get him out over the lake. We need him away from a populated area.”
“Roger that.” Paragon rocketed by Exemplar, a glancing blow striking him as she passed.
Zenith was right behind her, using strafing fire as he zigzagged across the skyline. His thrusters kept him moving at a rapid pace, delivering strikes to Exemplar from almost every angle.
Paragon curved up and circled back around, flying at Exemplar again. But instead of punching once more, this time she grabbed him as she barreled right into him. She pushed herself forward, further from the coastline. In her ear, Zenith told her he was keeping chase, following their every movement.
She knew she was getting closer to the lake, but she wanted to go further, put him at some distance from the shore. That, however, wasn’t in the cards. As she continued pushing herself to her limits, her headache exploded into a full-blown migraine. It felt like her skull was a pressure-cooker for her brain. Paragon’s focus slipped, and her speed began dropping until she was met with resistance.
Exemplar exerted his own strength over her, pushing back against her flight. They slowed until they came to a hovering stop, with Paragon’s arms wrapped around Exemplar’s torso, shoulder pushing against his chest. Exemplar raised one arm up and brought his elbow crashing down on her back. Her grip loosened and he pulled her from him by her cape. Holding her at arm’s length, Exemplar began spinning in a circle, increasing his speed with each rotation.
Zenith held both cannons trained on them, but even with his sensors, it was hard to get a bead beyond the flashing blur of red, white and blue. “Gunsmith, we have a problem. Exemplar has managed to stop the push to the water, over Navy Pier.”
“Copy that. Wraith and Shift, get as many civilians away from there as you can. Zenith, press on.”
Before Zenith could fire his cannons, Exemplar released Paragon and the momentum carried her off. Zenith’s cannons shifted back to his arms and he flew after her, but she was moving too fast for him. Paragon kept whipping through the air until she struck the Ferris wheel. The impact of the blow caused it to creak and tilt, with screams of people still on it causing her to quickly shake off the pain.
Zenith flew around to the other side of the wheel and held out his arms, bracing against it, attempting to hold it in place. He looked at his teammate with the LED lights that were his eyes. “Get these people down as fast as you can, I’ll try to hold it.”
Paragon nodded and flew up, starting with the highest car. She pulled open the gates and smiled at the young couple inside. “Come on, hurry up.” They were hesitant at first, but then each took one of her outstretched hands. Paragon flew them down to ground-level, where a police officer ran up to them.
“I’ll take it from here, ma’am,” he said and gave her a wink. Before Paragon returned to the Ferris wheel, she noticed the cop’s eyes briefly shifted to a bright yellow and she smiled, then took off again, just as the cop escorted the couple to the shadows where Wraith was waiting with a portal to transport them away.
Above, Zenith struggled with keeping the wheel stationary, his servos fighting against the weight of the ride. He saw Exemplar flying at him, and his scanners picked up something else. “Gunsmith, Exemplar is approaching and I have no defense while Paragon continues her rescue efforts. It appears he has recovered from Wraith’s attack, as I am reading an increased heat signature from his hands.”
“Help’s on the way, Zenith.”
Exemplar hovered closer, his hands now beginning to glow brightly. He grinned as he saw the robot’s exertion. Once he got within range, Exemplar clamped both hands on Zenith’s forearms, the energy generated beginning to heat the robot’s outer shell.
“Where are your little cannons now, you inhuman piece of garbage?” His voice was a hiss. “Not so tough when you can’t sucker-punch a guy, are you?”
“Exemplar!”
The superhuman looked up and saw someone streaking down from the sky. A man in red armor who broke his fall by grabbing hold of Exemplar’s cape, the momentum pulling him away from Zenith and the Ferris wheel.
Gunsmith pulled himself up, wrapping one arm around Exemplar’s neck. His free hand brought a blaster to his foe’s head. “You talk too damn much.” He pulled the trigger a few times, firing at point-blank range.
Exemplar was shaken, but then quickly recovered and took the gun in hand, crushing it in his grip. He halted their descent and reached for Gunsmith.
“Was that it?” He laughed. “Those things didn’t slow me down before, what did you think they’d do now?”
Gunsmith smiled. “The gun was just a distraction. Look down.”
Exemplar did and saw a round device affixed there, with three flashing red lights. The surprise made him loosen his grip just enough for Gunsmith to push off him. As Vanguard’s leader went into free-fall, he activated a switch on his gauntlet. The red lights on the device increased the frequency of their flashing until the bomb exploded, hurling Exemplar off into the lake.
“Coming your way, Sharkskin,” said Gunsmith. “And if it’s not too much trouble, can somebody grab me before I hit the ground? That’s one durability test this suit can do without.”
He kept on falling, until suddenly he hit the ground. A little bit of pain, but nothing he couldn’t handle. Quickly, the realization came that he shouldn’t have hit the ground that fast. As he began to get up, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Wraith standing over him.
“What kind of idiot jumps out of a plane without a parachute?”
Gunsmith brushed himself off and offered a smirk. “Never expected you to save me.”
Wraith shrugged and turned his back. “Don’t get cute. I just didn’t want to clean up the mess.”
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Exemplar crashed into the lake water. He poked his head above the surface, looking around. Just as he was about to fly back into action, he heard a voice humming the theme music from Jaws. When Exemplar spun, he saw the toothy grin and black eyes of Sharkskin.
“Hi, remember me?”
Sharkskin dove, pulling Exemplar down with him. He thrashed, but it was no use, Sharkskin’s grip was strong and he kept pushing deeper and further out into the lake. Sharkskin wrapped his arms around Exemplar and held him firmly in place, and Exemplar’s thrashings grew weaker and weaker.
It doesn’t matter how strong a body is, or how durable—when all is said and done, it still needs oxygen to survive. And that was one thing Sharkskin deprived Exemplar of, holding him as long as possible until he passed out.
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He could hear the sound of electronic locks being opened. In the darkness, there was a rectangle of light, and a silhouette stood against it, walking inside the room. Slowly, the lights in the cell came on as well, but he could only see through the tiny slot for his eyes.
The man who entered the room had silver hair slicked back and a thin mustache. He wore a black turtleneck under a white blazer, but what Callum found most interesting when the man approached him and stared through the eye slot were his metallic-colored eyes.
“Good morning, Mr. King. I would ask you if you’re feeling comfortable, but my understanding is that you are being fed a steady supply of drugs that keep you more or less paralyzed, correct?”
Callum wanted to nod, but he couldn’t. The man was right—that was what the tubes stuck up his nose were for. And as an added precautionary measure, he was kept locked inside this chamber, standing upright, unable to interact at all with the outside world. His only connection was this slot.
“I believe we can do something about all this, perhaps even open that coffin of yours, give you a chance to stretch your legs. I imagine you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
If he could speak, he would say yes.
The man with the metallic eyes smiled. “Of course you would. If you cooperate with me, then I will see to it you are treated humanely. Do we have an understanding?”
Those metallic eyes peered into Callum’s own blue ones. Callum couldn’t verbalize his response, but the man’s smile showed that he somehow understood it nonetheless.
“Very good, Mr. King. Very good indeed.”
Who are you?
“My name is unimportant, Mr. King.” An answer to an unspoken question. “But you may call me the Analyst.”
He clasped his hands behind his back and took a deep breath.
“Now, I would like you to tell me everything you know about this…team that brought you down. The ones who call themselves Vanguard.”