“I’m not requiring anything else. As long as you don’t start attacking until they’ve nearly got Harbinger under control, I don’t care what you do,” Johnson assured Pyroclasm with a small smile. “I just want you to screw up their response time. If you can deal with Black Comet or Sky Defender, so much the better.”
“In that case, sure! If I can blow those jerks up and get paid for it, I’m all in,” Pyroclasm replied with a laugh, cracking his knuckles. “I can use a vacation, anyway.”
“I’ll transfer the funds to your usual account, then,” Doctor Johnson agreed, nodding in satisfaction. “I assume that I can use the usual contact method?”
“Yeah, same method as always,” Pyroclasm grunted, his smile broadening.
“Excellent. Everyone else, you know your jobs. Don’t forget that they caught Blue Impulse yesterday, so they might have a clue that something is going on. Be wary,” Doctor Johnson cautioned the other teams. Looking them over, he smiled and continued. “Good hunting to all of you. Do try not to get captured. Let’s go.”
With that, Doctor Johnson headed out with his own team. He had a different goal than most of the others today.
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco
Sitting back, Hypergizmo had his eyes half-closed as he watched the screens of Ocean Shield’s command center. Nothing big was on the screens at the moment, and both Crimson Bull and Galvanic Action were out on patrol. While there were a few robberies and the like, as well as a couple of reports of assault, the smaller teams and the police seemed to have them taken care of. It actually worried Hyper a little. Whenever it got quiet, it seemed like that was the calm before something went to hell.
Almost as if his worries had summoned it, an alert suddenly went off. On one of the screens a message popped up from one of the smaller neighborhood teams, a group of three low-end heroes called the Karate Brothers. The group was situated in downtown San Francisco, which made them one of his better sources, and their message was chilling.
‘Harbinger & Minions in Chinatown!’
The simple message made Hypergizmo’s eyes go wide, and before his mind had even caught up, his hand hit the alarm that sent alerts to every team member. A moment later he snapped out a message, keying the two in the field. “Guys, Black Harbinger and his mooks in Chinatown, San Fran!”
“Oh, shit! I’m on my way!” Galvanic Action replied in seconds, cursing under his breath. “I’m north of the bridge, but I’ll be there as fast as I can!”
“I’m in San Mateo, and on my way!” Crimson Bull replied, a couple of seconds after the first man.
“Roger that, be careful, both of you,” Hypergizmo acknowledged, chewing his lip as he waited for the others to respond. He was also praying that the villain wouldn’t cause too much damage before they stopped him.
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Lilith’s Condo, San Francisco
The sudden beep of her phone jarred Rachel awake almost instantly. She’d almost been conditioned to wake and react to that particular alert, since it meant something disastrous was happening in the region. Before Rachel even remembered where she was, she’d grabbed her nearby phone and hit the number to call the team HQ.
“What’s the problem?” Rachel asked the moment the phone connected, her voice crisp despite waking so suddenly. It took a few moments for her to realize where she was, but after a moment she remembered, seeing the bags scattered across the floor.
“Harbinger’s in Chinatown,” Hypergizmo replied succinctly. “CB and GA are inbound, ETA five to ten minutes. Spirit’s fifteen minutes out, Orchid forty, Sky Defender twenty, and Black Comet ten.”
“Well, shit. I’m downtown right now, I’ll suit up and be there in less than five,” Rachel told him, hanging up suddenly. She knew he’d understand why she did. She had to wonder what the hell he was doing, being on shift for more than twelve hours straight, but didn’t have time to think about it.
Standing, Rachel took a moment to strip most of the way, mostly to reduce the power she was about to expend. Reaching out mentally, she sought out her outfit from a distance. While it was in the trunk of her car, she’d infused magic into it that allowed her to summon it directly onto her body if she was close enough. The distance from the parking garage was almost too far, but after a moment she could feel the outfit resonating with her extended tendrils of magic. Entwining her senses with the distant outfit, she took hold of it and pulled. With a sudden flash of purple light, the clothing appeared over her body, and suddenly she was Morgan Le Fay, heroine of Ocean Shield.
As she stepped out of the bedroom, Morgan admitted to herself that she was almost grateful that she’d fallen asleep at Lilith’s. If she hadn’t, she would have been behind almost all the others, though that also fueled worry as well, as she admitted something else. Being this close also meant that she’d likely be taking on Black Harbinger alone, at least at first. That… scared her. Even so, she was a heroine, and if it was to protect others, she would put her life on the line.
While she wondered where the other two were, Morgan shook her head and cleared the curiosity from her mind. She’d be in a battle soon enough, and that would be dangerous enough without more distractions. She left the condo and headed up the stairs and onto the roof of the building, taking a deep breath as she let her magic flood her outfit, allowing her to defy the laws of gravity. The term had always amused her, for with the introduction of magic and superpowers to the world, humanity had found that the ‘law of gravity’ was closer to a recommendation than anything else. With that thought in mind, she shot off toward Chinatown, moving as quickly as she could.
As she approached the neighborhood, Morgan could hear the sounds of chaos from ahead of her. Explosions and energy blasts echoed with the sound of breaking glass, and several cars were wrecked in a nearby intersection. Turning the corner, Morgan swore under her breath.
In the middle of the street were three minor heroes called the Karate Brothers, each of them battered and abused. The three of them each had general boosts to strength, speed, and toughness, but none of them were much beyond class D heroes, though together she knew they could handle a class B villain most of the time. They were each bleeding from minor wounds, while their leader, Karate Red, had several burns along his arms. Facing them was Black Harbinger and nearly thirty of his minions, and Morgan’s blood ran cold at the sight, wondering what the hell the Karate Brothers had been thinking, taking them on without backup.
Black Harbinger was an immensely powerful villain, generally viewed as class S, and if she had any choice, Morgan would never take him on alone, and she was considered class A herself. The villain stood nearly nine feet tall and seven across his shoulders, and was sheathed in glistening black armor that almost looked like the shell of some titanic beetle. One arm ended in a massive energy cannon that fired entropic black blasts of energy. In his other hand, he held a handle that projected a similar blade of black energy that could cut through most substances not made or enhanced by superpowers. That much she knew from experience. Even worse was that each of his minions was equipped with black armor and a backpack-powered energy gun similar to his own. Taking them on would be… unpleasant, but someone had to try to get the Karate Brothers out alive.
Taking a deep breath, Morgan tried to steady herself. Still, she couldn’t help but swear internally when she saw police arriving, which caused her worries to spike, hard. They wouldn’t be much help against Harbinger, and would simply add to the numbers she had to protect. Even so, there was no way she could stop the villain until backup arrived, so her only choice was to try to delay him.
Flying around one of the buildings to mask her presence from the fighting men and women, Morgan began to shape her magic as quickly as she could by pushing it through some of her jewelry. The spells wove together a dozen illusionary copies of herself before she emerged from behind the building, almost directly above Black Harbinger and his men, her copies scatte
ring around her as decoys. As brilliant purple power gathered in her hands, she cast it out toward a concentration of the henchmen, her decoys copying her actions.
One of the men spotted her, diving aside as he yelled a frantic warning, but the ball of purple fire detonated in a resounding blast of violet flames before many could respond. A dozen henchmen went flying as magic infused her voice and Morgan thundered, “Black Harbinger, surrender and answer for your crimes!”
Almost before the echoes of her voice died, an ebon blast of energy flashed through the sky and caused one of Morgan’s copies to evaporate. The villain turned, his voice ringing out with a metallic hint to it. “Or what, little heroine? You cannot stop me, nor can you hold me. You are a pathetic shadow of your namesake, and you should run, if you value your life.”
“I’m no coward, and I will stop you!” Morgan retorted, dodging and weaving with her copies as the villain and his henchmen scattered, opening fire on her.
As she wove her spells, Morgan began to throw bolts of raw kinetic energy at the henchmen, not bothering to target Harbinger at all. She couldn’t possibly punch through his armor without concentrating most of her power, which she couldn’t do without leaving herself wide open to attacks. Instead she was trying to take out most of his support for when her allies showed up. She did vary the attacks, though, with a handful of the bolts stunning those that were hit, and another turning into magical webs that tied up three henchmen.
Even as she took five of the villain’s men out of the fight, though, the flurry of return fire destroyed six more of her decoys. Even worse, the Karate Brothers took the opportunity to charge forward instead of retreating. Morgan swore under her breath as she saw them, hissing, “Idiots! Back the hell—”
The distraction was costly, as she dodged just a little too slowly. A blast of energy clipped her right arm, ripping right through the enchantments in her sleeve as it seared into her arm with white-hot pain. Spiraling off to the side, Morgan tried to hide the injury, but Harbinger’s laughter boomed down the street as he took aim at her. “There’s the witch! Focus fire on her!”
“Oh, shit!” Morgan spat, hissing in agony as she let her decoys vanish and focused every bit of power she could spare into a shield around her.
While Morgan wasn’t as powerful as Warden when it came to shields, that didn’t mean she couldn’t defend herself. It just meant that she didn’t have the same knack that made them far more powerful than they should be. Her power condensed into a glowing purple barrier around her as Morgan’s flight slowed. She couldn’t spare much power for flight with the hail of black bolts raining down on her.
Morgan grunted as blast after blast hammered her shield, weaving as best she could to throw off the aim of her attackers and reduce the strain on her magic. And straining she was, as the shield began to buckle as pulse after pulse of energy exploded against her spell in displays of flickering black lightning. The worst were Black Harbinger’s attacks, which had nearly ten times the power that his minions could throw at her.
“No! Karate Brothers, get out of here!” Morgan yelled, seeing the trio attempt to take down a group of henchmen, only to have a large contingent of other henchmen turn on them. There was nothing she could do to help at this point, not when she was under so much fire.
At that moment, Galvanic Action screeched around the corner, his motorcycle skidding as he threw out a hand. As her fellow hero used his powers, she could see the weapons of two of the minions abruptly stop working as rust and corrosion rapidly spread across their triggers and barrels.
Crimson Bull charged in from the other side, shouldering aside a burning truck and ignoring several blasts of energy as he slammed into the lines of Harbinger’s minions like the linebacker he’d once aspired to be. As her reinforcements arrived, Morgan’s heart soared, only to stare in horror as Black Harbinger laughed loudly and still more of his minions popped out of a nearby building, a dozen strong and fully organized.
“That’s it, come for me, you so-called heroes! Come to me so I can destroy you like you deserve!” Black Harbinger’s voice echoed through the city as his energy cannon boomed, nearly shattering Morgan’s shield with the blast. With his other hand he lashed out at Crimson Bull, and her fellow hero fell backward, grabbing at the charred line that had cut through his suit.
“Morgan, take out his servants! We’ll keep him occupied!” Galvanic Action called out, abandoning his motorcycle and taking cover behind a car as he continued sabotaging the weapons of Harbinger’s minions. A blur of black and silver came out of nowhere, and as Black Comet hit Harbinger with dozens of blows in mere moments, the villain roared in anger, his aim completely thrown off by the attacks.
“Right!” Morgan called out, relief flooding her at their timely arrival. If the others hadn’t shown up when they had, she didn’t want to know how things would have ended.
That was when the echo of a massive explosion washed over the city, and Morgan’s head turned toward the Oakland Bridge in horror. Black Harbinger’s renewed laughter was terrifying as she realized that this was a distraction.
Chapter 28
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Downtown San Francisco
“What’s going on?” Lilith asked, steadying herself against a railing as an explosion rocked the streets, looking in the direction of one of the big bridges in worry. “You said there was an alert, but this is a bit more than I was expecting. Between the combat and the bridge, I’m starting to get worried.”
“I’m not sure. I could’ve called, but I thought it best not to,” Gina replied, her face pale as she looked around. They were in one of the stores downtown, and Lilith’s worry grew stronger as she looked at her friend, who ventured after a moment, “It was an alert for all hands, but unless I can break the curse… it might just be safest to evacuate.”
Lilith considered the explanation for a moment, frowning heavily as she looked around the indoor mall. After a moment, she took a breath and asked, “You said it was close to breaking, right? The curse?”
“Yes, I did. I’m just not sure if I can break it, and I’ve been a bit afraid to try,” Gina admitted, shrugging nervously. “I just… while it feels like it can’t knot up again, what if it does?”
“Can’t you just push a little and see if it gives way? If it starts resisting, just stop,” Lilith replied. “We could quickly find a changing room and give it a try, anyway.”
Gina’s eyes lit up with hope, and she paused before slowly nodding, then faster as she smiled and headed toward the nearest department store. “You’re right. Let’s just give this a try. Come with me, please? You help me keep calm.”
“Of course, Gina,” Lilith replied, smiling as she followed.
They quickly slipped past the distracted employees and worried shoppers, many of whom were trying to look out the windows. The largest changing room was empty, and they quickly slipped inside, closing the door behind them.
Clearing her throat, Lilith asked gently, “Gina, what would you like me to do?”
“Just… just put your hands on my shoulders from behind? Maybe rub them a little? I think it’d… help, somehow,” Gina replied, blushing, but took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Lilith nodded, stepping behind Gina and doing as she had asked, laying her hands on her friend’s shoulders and slowly beginning to rub them. As she did so, she felt a faint tension to the other woman’s muscles ease slightly.
All Lilith could do was wait, hoping Gina would be successful. She kept her own worry for Rachel’s safety to herself. She didn’t want to sabotage Gina’s attempt to break the curse.
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
UC Berkeley, Berkeley
Dreamer was waiting for Doctor Johnson as he walked into the laboratory of the Biological Sciences building, Eve a few steps behind him. The staff around the room were all asleep, many of them toppled over in mid-action, and he smiled as he saw the man he was looking for in a chair.
“Eve, I wa
nt you to copy all the data, then destroy the originals and the backups,” Doctor Johnson told his android, glancing at her as he added, “Don’t miss any, and if you can’t get to any of them, tell me.”
“Yes, Doctor,” Eve acknowledged, walking over to the computer and extending a finger toward it. Her finger slowly extended a series of wires that hooked into the computer, and Johnson nodded in satisfaction as her eyes went vacant.
“So, where’s the prototype, Dreamer?” Doctor Johnson asked the other villainess, raising an eyebrow.
“Right here, Doctor,” Dreamer replied happily, giving a deadly smile as she turned to gesture at the large, complex machine on the center table. “The good doctor had just been setting up a few experiments. I do hope that it can do what you’ve said it can. That would make me… quite pleased.”
“As do I, Dreamer. If his claims were false, I’ll be annoyed,” Johnson agreed, looking up at the machine, then nodding. “Please make certain that he won’t wake up again, Dreamer. I need to pack this up.”
“With pleasure,” the woman purred, turning to the sleeping doctor. Johnson knew that Doctor Harold Andrews didn’t deserve what was about to happen, but he was taking no chances of the man reproducing his work.
Taking out his tools, Johnson began to disassemble the genetic resequencer. It was complex, but he’d dealt with worse. If it did what he thought it would, it would be the perfect addition to his other tools. Even so, he couldn’t help a twitch as an unpleasant groan came from behind him.
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 25