Vanguard: The Complete Second Season: A Superhero Serial (Vanguard: The Collected Seasons Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

worse is that I’m the only one who cares that this team is being shut down.”
    Anita shook her head. “That’s bull.”
    Erin groaned. “Oh come on!” She turned around. “You were just saying how you never planned on staying here! You’re probably psyched to put this freak show behind you!”
    “Hey!” Anita snapped. “Don’t twist my words, okay? I just meant I wanted my own place. And I’m sorry, but I went through a lot since these powers manifested. So yeah, maybe I’m ready to relax a little bit and try living a normal life. Is there something wrong with that?”
    Erin lowered her gaze. “No…”
    “I do like what we’ve done since coming here, I like everyone I’ve gotten to meet.”
    A tiny smirk creeped on Erin’s face. “Even Dom?”
    Anita snickered. “Yeah, when he’s not being a dick.”
    “Which is only like two per cent of the time.”
    Anita started laughing and the sound caused Erin’s smirk to spread into a laugh of her own. After the laughter subsided, Erin’s face became slightly more serious. “Do you think you’ll ever be Paragon again?”
    “It’s not really our choice.”
    “Being here isn’t our choice, I’m talking about solo,” said Erin. “Doing what the Exemplar did. Only…y’know, without the breakdown.”
    “Well…” Anita rubbed her lips, looking away. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to say no, but if I saw a situation that I could help with…”
    “Yeah, kinda where I’m standing, too.” Erin sighed. “You really think we can go back to being normal after all of this?”
    Anita shrugged. “Only one way to be sure.”
    ***
    Koji swam laps in the olympic-sized swimming pool located on the lower levels of the Atlas. His Sharkskin form enabled him to breathe underwater, so he had no need to ever break the surface of the water, moving like a large gray blur across the pool.
    When Koji finally did rise above the surface, he saw Dom sitting off to the side on one of the metal benches. Koji pulled himself from the pool, his form changing back to his human appearance as he moved.  
    “Feel like I should be humming the Jaws theme,” said Dom, taking a sip from a bottle of beer.  
    “You’re a dick,” said Koji, picking up a towel and drying himself off as he sat beside Dom.
    “What’d I do this time?”
    Koji patted his face with the towel. “Only brought a beer for yourself. Bad form, dude.”
    Dom chuckled. “Guess I was just sort of wandering around the old place.”
    “How’s this whole leaving thing work for you?” asked Koji. “With your pardon agreement and all.”
    “Wondered about that myself, but I talked to Thorne already,” said Dom. “He said Lawson’s gonna honor the agreement and give me my pardon.”
    “Even though it hasn’t been a full year?”
    Dom nodded. “Seems like.”  
    “Nice.” Koji draped the towel over his neck. “Bet you’re glad to be outta here.”
    “Yeah…” Dom took a swig from the bottle. “Y’know, I talk a lot of crap, but I actually liked this gig.”
    “Kinda figured,” said Koji. “What’re you gonna do after this?”
    Dom shrugged. “Hell if I know. Part of me thinks I might go back to thieving if I get bored.”
    Koji wrinkled his brow. “But you just got a pardon?”
    Dom grinned. “Exactly.”
    Koji snickered. “Dominic Vaughn, always the badass.”
    “Got a rep to maintain.” Dom sipped his beer. “What about you?”
    “Guess I’ll go back to working as a surfing instructor,” said Koji. “It was a pretty cool job, get to spend all day out in the water. Plus, it’ll be nice to be in the ocean instead of settling for a pool.”
    “Think that’ll be enough for you?”
    Koji shook his head. “Hell no. But what else we gonna do?”
    Dom nodded and passed the bottle. Koji took a sip from it and the two remained in silence.
    ***
    Thorne removed a Cohiba from the wooden box and brought it up to his nose. He inhaled the scent of the tobacco leaves and looked down at