“I… must admit to some shock. Your powers match those I anticipated, but you feel awfully weak compared to our prior encounters. Did Dawning Bolt actually manage to hurt you? Last I’d heard, he just thought he’d mangled your armor,” Warden said, floating a few feet closer, then hesitating and looking at her companion. “Crimson, would you step closer to keep her from doing anything? I don’t trust her not to try anything untoward.”
“That’s easy enough to deal with!” Crimson Bull replied savagely, and before either woman could react, he stepped forward and ripped a wheel off Amber’s chair with enough force to send it spinning across the floor to slam into a workbench near her broken armor. The painful jolt nearly threw the villain from her chair, and she gasped.
“Ow! That hurt, you jackass! I wasn’t doing anything, so that was entirely uncalled for,” Amber exclaimed, wincing as she tried to adjust her position in the lopsided, halfway toppled chair. “Not that I expect either of you give a damn about anything but your precious reputations. As for you, I’ll have you know that I’ve been crippled since I was eight, Warden. Dawning Bolt managed to give a good accounting of himself, but he isn’t that good.”
“She’s right, Crimson, you shouldn’t have done that,” Warden agreed, scowling at him and shaking her head. “I don’t care how frustrated you’ve been, that was overdoing it.”
“Sorry, she was just pissing me off,” Crimson Bull apologized, ignoring Amber save to step closer, his muscular figure looming over her.
“Why am I not surprised by your attitude? Anyway, my armor allowed me to walk. You can see the servos right there, the charred ones,” Amber told the heroine, poking one of the objects in question, then hissing as Crimson Bull gave her chair a painful warning kick. “Asshole. If she wasn’t here, I’d have convinced you to walk out an airlock. Instead, the two of you have managed what everyone else in the world hasn’t. Congratulations, you caught Shadowmind. Too bad you’re going to get pretty much nothing out of me, and you’ve successfully destroyed my entire base. I give it no more than an hour before it implodes.”
“You’ve got to be joking. I recognize the teleporter right there, so if the base is in that bad of shape, why’re you even here?” Warden asked, looking both stunned and suspicious as she looked at the armor and the empty spot where the growth capsule had been. “You’ve escaped every other time someone found one of your bases. Why would this time be any different?”
“It’s mostly due to dumb luck on your part, with an emphasis on dumb. Bull Genius here managed to flail his way through the primary and secondary power plant links without frying himself, as well as smashing five capacitor banks before I got here. That left me enough power for a single teleport, which is far less than I’d prefer. In fact, I’m rather hoping that the two of you were counting on the teleporter for your escape, it’d make my death a lot more satisfying,” Amber replied with bared teeth, ignoring the growl of anger from the hero over her. “Though if that’s going to happen, I do hope you’ll satisfy a bit of my curiosity, Warden. I’ve always wondered what you looked like under that suit of yours.”
“Then what did you send out that’s more important than your own life?” Warden asked, floating closer, golden light coalescing around her hands, unfazed by Amber’s taunts. “You’ve spent several years collecting genetic samples from heroes and villains alike. If you sent something out instead of yourself, what could possibly be that important?”
“Wouldn’t you just like to know? I’m certainly not answering your question, and you don’t have the power to compel an answer from me,” Amber retorted smugly, laughing softly at the woman’s scowl. “What, you didn’t think I’d spill every secret I had at a minor threat, did you? You might be able to drag an answer out of me in the end, but I know I can put up a fight for long enough that the base will collapse. So go on, try me.”
“I think we should just leave her here,” Crimson Bull rumbled, looking around angrily, then spitting on the floor, adding, “Let her die with her lair. It’s in a stupid spot anyway.”
“Imbecile,” Amber muttered derisively, shaking her head in disgust.
“We can’t do that, Crimson. We have to find out what she’s been up to,” Warden disagreed quickly, glowering at Amber. “I don’t like her any more than you do. Just knock her out and carry her. Morgan and I will figure out what she’s been up to, then we’ll hand her over to the courts. I hope you’re looking forward to a life in prison, Shadowmind.”
Crimson Bull growled angrily, shaking his head and taking a step closer as he spoke, raising a hand. “Fine, then.”
“At least one of you has a few brain cells to rub together. I—” Amber began, only to have her words cut off at the sharp impact of the big man’s fist, and the world quickly went dark.
Floating over to the villain’s active control panel, Warden quickly looked over the display, relieved that Shadowmind hadn’t locked her out of it. She tried to ignore the villain as best she could, her emotions confused. While she knew that Shadowmind was an insane, dangerous person, the woman in pajamas under a bathing robe looked uncomfortably vulnerable in her broken wheelchair.
“I really hope you didn’t cause any brain damage, Crimson. We might need her brain intact, since it looks like she already wiped the computer core,” Warden told her companion absently, her worry growing more pronounced as she looked at the listed power levels. “It looks like she was telling the truth about the power levels, though. There’s no way we’re going to teleport out of here. Would you mind grabbing what we can of her armor, too? Maybe Hyper can do something with it.”
“Fine, I’ll carry her. Damned bitch,” the hero grumbled, slinging the villain over his shoulder like a rag doll, then hastily added in an apologetic tone, “Her, I mean! Sorry about that, Warden. I didn’t mean…”
“I did rather guess from the context. She’s a nasty one, isn’t she? Still, at least we know she isn’t going to do anything from lockup,” Warden replied, glancing over the controls a last time and shaking her head. “That’s something, at least.”
“What if that’s what she had planned, though?” Crimson Bull asked uncertainly, grabbing pieces of armor and shoving them into a convenient crate. “She could mind control the other inmates, right? That could be a lot worse than just letting her die.”
At the questions Warden paused, growing a little more worried. It took a moment before she sighed and shrugged, answering helplessly. “We’ve no way of knowing for certain, but I’m confident that Morgan and I can break her defenses. We’ll figure out what she was up to, and deal with it. But if it helps, I’ve heard that they’ve come up with a method for dealing with psychics like her, so we should be safe there.”
“Good enough for me,” Crimson Bull grunted, hefting the crate. “Let’s get out of here.”
Well after the stealthy submarine bearing the two heroes and their captive departed, the undersea base slowly imploded under the immense water pressure. The only thing remaining of it was a pile of wreckage and the three distant geothermal plants. For a time, everything grew calm on the sea floor once more.
Several hours later, a hidden hatch opened near one of the geothermal plants and a tiny, unmanned submarine slipped out. The vessel quickly departed, humming along on a course significantly different from the one the heroes had taken.
Friday, January 11th, 2030
Shadowmind Utah Lair Alpha-Three
She woke up.
Waking up was a strange sensation, especially when she’d never been awake before. While she knew enough to realize what being awake was, it was… confusing, in its own way. The knowledge was simply there, like the knowledge that the ceiling above her was white. It was strange and confusing.
The strangeness of her situation made her ask another question, one that felt vitally important under the circumstances. She wondered who she was, and to her relief, the knowledge simply came to mind just as easily as the other information had.
Her name was Lilith Ca
rpenter, and her creator was the supervillain Shadowmind. Shadowmind’s real name was Amber Meadow, a surprisingly mundane name to Lilith, and the information about her creator… confused her. Based on what Lilith knew about supervillains, it was confusing that Amber had hoped to have Lilith view her as a mother.
The villain posed as a university professor for her civilian identity, preferring to teach via online courses. She was unable to walk due to the actions of an arrogant, long-dead hero during Amber’s childhood. The odd woman confused Lilith, and she nearly lost herself in musing when a voice interrupted.
“Excuse me, Miss Lilith. Are you awake?” The AI’s gentle voice broke the silence of the room almost like thunder, causing Lilith to start. She shook off the strange, oddly clinical recollection of Amber’s past and focused on the AI, Circe. Circe was Amber’s assistant and ran each of the villain’s hidden strongholds, which explained her presence. The problem was that Circe was only a class seven AI, not capable of intuition or dealing with problems outside the scope of her admittedly extensive programming. That meant that the AI would likely keep inquiring until Lilith responded.
“I a-am.” Lilith’s voice caught mid-word, and she paused, swallowing at the strange rasp to her voice. She cleared her throat, sitting up to look around as she waited for the uncomfortable itch in her throat to subside. Once she thought that the sensation had mostly passed, she spoke again, her voice feeling more stable at a lower volume. “What’s wrong with my voice?”
The room intrigued Lilith, and not just because it was the first place she could remember looking at. It must be a small medical lab of some variety, considering the equipment along the walls, most of which was automated. Lilith had been lying in a large, clear tube nearly eight feet long, and she was completely naked. While it didn’t bother her much, her skin was damp and the cool air was raising goosebumps. What the tube was, and why she’d been in it, was a mystery, one which irritated her.
Pulling herself from the tube, Lilith carefully settled onto the floor, holding tightly to the edge since she wasn’t sure if she could walk. Fortunately, her feet didn’t betray her as she slowly stood, and she found herself standing firmly on a floor that gave slightly beneath her feet. She looked at the floor curiously, and after a moment shrugged. It must be a type of rubber or polymer of some form. If it was important, she could figure it out later.
“You’ve just been decanted from your growth capsule, Miss Lilith. While in the capsule, tubes to allow breathing and feeding were placed in your throat, which I believe are the source of your discomfort. If this is the case, the abrasion should heal within a few hours,” Circe replied promptly, the AI’s voice almost seeming relieved. “The Mistress is presumed captured or slain, and it has been left to me to assist you. How may I be of assistance?”
“First I would like something to wear,” Lilith told the AI, folding her arms and shivering slightly at the cool air. “I’d also like an explanation as to what happened to Amber. I find myself confused.”
“Certainly, Miss Lilith. Please exit the room and follow the lighted line on the floor to your chambers,” Circe replied, and paused while Lilith followed the directions, the door silently sliding open at her approach. The hallway was lined with soft green wallpaper and warm yellow lights, helping Lilith to relax a bit more. As the center of the floor lit up with a glowing white line, the AI began her explanation. “As your growth cycle entered its final stages last week, the Mistress’ Arctic Base was attacked by heroes. The attackers were identified as two members of the San Francisco superhero team Ocean Shield, Crimson Bull and Warden. Both are powerful individuals, and they successfully managed to cut off all primary power sources for the base and dealt critical damage to the structure. With only enough power for a single teleportation, the Mistress teleported you to this location and initiated a data wipe of the base. News feeds indicate she was captured and the base was destroyed. Due to prior convictions in absentia, the Mistress has been sentenced to the Nevada SuperMax under neural inhibitors. Programming indicates even odds of her suffering a fatal accident.”
As the AI explained what had happened before Lilith’s awakening, the woman followed the path, listening carefully. A door opened as she approached it, revealing a plain, barely furnished room before her. She knew the room could be personalized, but that was currently unimportant. Instead Lilith opened the closet and paused. Dozens of outfits hung on hangers, but what drew her attention was the mirror on the back of the door. With only a moment of hesitation, Lilith stepped in front of the mirror and looked at herself.
She was gorgeous, Lilith realized in faint surprise. Her pale skin glistened with the remnants of the liquid in the growth capsule, and she had long arms and legs, with an hourglass figure and large, full breasts. Her face was heart-shaped, with brilliant emerald eyes and full crimson lips. Her hair was black with faint crimson highlights, and she thought that when dry and untangled it would be slightly wavy. Maybe she should have been uncomfortable with her appearance, but Lilith found that she liked it. She just felt… right.
Shaking herself to break her trance, Lilith turned away from the mirror and took a simple white bathrobe. Slipping it on and tying the sash in place, she closed the closet and sat on the edge of the bed, her voice calm as she looked up, asking, “Circe, what am I?”
Chapter 1
Friday, January 11th, 2030
Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco
“So, what did you end up getting out of Shadowmind? I have to assume it was difficult, considering how long it took you and Morgan to finish with her,” Galvanic Action asked, a hint of concern in the slender Hispanic man’s voice as he watched Warden. The low-profile man wore a subdued copper and brown outfit that suited him well, and he continued after a pause. “Are you doing alright? It has been three days since you got back.”
“Thank you, Galvanic, but I’m fine. I’ll admit that it was difficult, but we managed it in the end,” Warden replied warmly, smiling in return as she glanced around the table at the others and asked, “So, would you like the good news or bad news first?”
Warden sat at a table with the rest of her team, a full eight other heroes. It was relatively rare for all of them to meet at once, as someone was usually patrolling the city. Part of her was worried that some villain might take the chance to attack the base or the outskirts of San Francisco, but it was likely just her paranoia at work. After the things she’d found in Shadowmind’s head, Warden couldn’t help but worry about what might be coming.
Ocean Spirit let out a soft sigh and shook her head, asking gently, “Warden, if you’d please just tell us? While I know you’ve had a difficult time, none of us have any idea what you’ve learned.”
Their leader was a native of Hawaii, and the attractive brunette was one of the two most powerful members of Ocean Shield. While only modestly powerful on land, in water, Ocean Spirit could turn into a pure water form that was nearly invulnerable to attacks, and through which she could control the ocean like it was a part of her body. The heroine’s hair was pulled back in dozens of small braids and she wore a bodysuit of blue and silver.
“Alright, fine… just don’t blame me if I ramble a little. I’ll have you know that I’m a bit tired,” Warden replied, her smile fading as she leaned back in her seat, not entirely believing what she was about to say. “I have to add that breaking into Shadowmind’s head was hard. I don’t think even she realized how tough of a nut her mind was to crack, since she thought it’d take us a couple of hours, not three days! The good news is that our worst fears about her plans were entirely unfounded, and all the genetic samples were destroyed well before we raided that undersea fortress of hers.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense… why would she have spent a year collecting gene samples of every A and S rank hero in the States, then destroy them?” Crimson Bull protested. “The last I’d heard, people thought she was trying to create targeted viruses or something like that.” He leaned forward as he frowned. “Are y
ou sure?”
“We’re certain. Her plans were… weird,” Warden admitted with a shrug.
“Hmm… I’d heard several other theories, though the viral agent was one of the more popular ones. I never put it high on the list, though,” Hypergizmo interjected from the other end of the table, the thin, sandy-haired man adjusting his custom glasses as he continued. “Diseases and viruses are more the style of Black Emerald or a few other villains. Shadowmind usually tends, tended to make more focused plans. One of the worst-case scenarios I heard was that she might create clones of heroes to use as distractions, or even to infiltrate places she couldn’t normally get near.”
“Well, fortunately she considered both of those ideas and decided they weren’t worth the time, effort, or resources they’d consume,” Warden explained, trying to marshal her thoughts again. They were wandering far more than she liked, probably because of how tired she was. “In fact, we’d been underestimating her anyway. Shadowmind hadn’t been collecting samples for a year, she’d been working on her collection for close to two years across the globe, whether heroes or villains alike. I’m just happy even she didn’t dare go near Dracula. She finished up about six months ago, about the time we found out that she was up to something. What surprises me is that she actually changed her mind about her original plans and ended up with a far more benign result. I’m startled she had the humanity left to make a decision like that.”
Galvanic leaned forward, frowning thoughtfully as he spoke. “Warden, you’re not just rambling, you’re avoiding the subject. You’re usually forthright about things like this… why’re you dancing around the point?”
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 2