Down with the Queen

by Benjamin Medrano

  “Scanning… target is not detected, Doctor. Residual heat traces inconclusive. No other exits detected,” the computer replied, then paused and spoke. “Warning, power surge from room detected!”

  Jumping backward, Sky Defender snapped up his arm again, ready to fire on any target that might appear. If Lilith was invisible, the falling water from the sprinklers would reveal her, and he wasn’t going to let her get away.

  Instead of her appearing, the walls of the room began to collapse like a sand castle under a wave, and Sky Defender demanded, “Analyze that! What’s happening?”

  “Scanning… it appears that the inertial sump deliberately distributed its contents into the safe room structure, destroying it and its contents,” his computer replied. “No sign of target. Power source depleted.”

  “Shit,” Sky Defender hissed and flicked on his comm again, opening his mouth to speak, but he paused as he heard the angry comments.

  “—you don’t understand; this is a huge problem!” Galvanic Action exclaimed. “If the station is right, Morgan sent the files to every media station in the western US!”

  “Yes, and with Sky Defender making an apparently unprovoked attack that injured civilians, we’re going to catch hell as it is,” Ocean Spirit replied grimly. “You’re saying that it appears that Gina managed to teleport, Hyper?”

  “That’s right. I just shut down the teleport jammer because their tracking beacons vanished from near Vallejo, and I got a brief flicker of them from this area before they vanished again,” Hypergizmo said shortly. “I should pick them up again soon, but localizing them is difficult.”

  “What are you talking about, injuring civilians, and Morgan sending files?” Sky Defender demanded, confused and angry about the absence of Lilith, staring at the gaping hole where a room had been and the chalk-gray ash it had left on the ground.

  “Oh, you’ve finally deigned to listen to us again? Took you long enough,” Galvanic Action spat out. “When you attacked, you put a hole through the central elevator shaft of the building, Defender! You snapped the cables of the elevator and nearly killed all the people in it! You’re damned lucky the safeties worked and it stopped before hitting the bottom. Saying that people are pissed at us would be putting it mildly!”

  Sky Defender couldn’t say anything to that, blanching as he realized what he’d done. That he’d nearly killed a group of innocents was like cold water on his anger and fear, but he suppressed it as he spoke. “I… allowed my fear to get the best of me. I didn’t realize what I’d done, and I’m sorry it happened, but I still feel that Lilith is too dangerous to allow to go free. What else happened, then? Obviously, she’s gone for the moment.”

  Instead of replying, Galvanic Action obviously flicked over to another channel, and suddenly the scratchy sound of one of the local radio stations came through the comm system. “—Carpenter, who founded a local company, Carpenter Microsystems. We’re still trying to sort through the data files, but we have confirmed that she owns a penthouse in the upper floor of an apartment building in downtown San Francisco. Even more confusing and troubling, Sky Defender attacked the building only a few minutes ago, and the police have responded in shock. A few contacts claim that he’s gone off the rails, and there are reports of civilian injuries coming in.”

  “That’s the first message about everything so far. Morgan sent files about Lilith to every media station on this coast, Defender,” Ocean Spirit said grimly, cutting off the radio. “We have to assume that she framed things as sympathetically as she could manage. This is going to be a firestorm of epic proportions.”

  “Then we just need to deal with it. I’ve suffered at Shadowmind’s hands before, and I’m not going to sit back and let her manipulations allow her to go free!” Sky Defender retorted. “Where did Warden and Morgan go, anyway? They have to have taken her somewhere.”

  “I’m not telling you, not when you might go on another shooting spree in the middle of a freaking subdivision or something!” Hypergizmo retorted hotly. “Bad enough that Crimson began overreacting, but we’ve probably permanently lost two members who I respect if you’re wrong!”

  “I’m not overreacting!” Crimson Bull protested, the sound of traffic around him. “I faced Shadowmind myself, and I think Sky Defender’s doing the right thing!”

  “Fine, if you won’t help, I’ll do it myself!” Sky Defender growled, deactivating the general comm and messaging Crimson Bull directly. “Crimson, I’ll keep you informed. Do you have any idea what Black Comet thinks of all of this?”

  “He’s pissed that people sent him off on a wild goose chase, but I think he’s starting to think this was stupid due to the publicity,” Crimson Bull replied quickly. “I don’t think his mind is made up yet, though.”

  “Fine. I’m going to hack the locator beacons for Morgan and Warden to track them down,” Sky Defender replied, taking flight as he scowled in the direction of the Seajet. “This went badly fast.”

  Gina’s Home, Oakland

  Lilith blinked, looking around the dusty living room in surprise, still barely recovering from believing she’d been about to die. She pulled mostly free of Gina and Rachel and asked, “Your house, Gina? Why here?”

  “It was the only place I could visualize other than the team HQ well enough to have a chance of teleporting to,” Gina replied, her breathing heavy as she gulped loudly. “Hell, it’s not easy to teleport, though. How did that jerk manage to do it so easily?”

  “He probably has or had an instinctive understanding of locations and distances,” Rachel said, reaching up and taking off her mask, scowling. “It probably won’t take them long to figure out where we’ve gone, so what do we do now? I sent out some documents to different media stations to start trying to turn the tide of public opinion in our favor, but I have no idea how much good it’ll do in the end. We have to survive long enough to give it a chance to work, in fact.”

  “Oh. Maybe that’ll help… I’m just a little stunned. I thought I was going to die in there. They were jamming teleportation, otherwise I would’ve been able to escape,” Lilith replied, shuddering slightly, everything feeling slightly distant as her hands shook. “The r-room should have self-destructed, so they won’t be able to track the teleportation coordinates…”

  “Lilith! Are you alright?” Gina exclaimed, straightening abruptly and stepping closer, grabbing Lilith’s shoulders. “You… you were hurt? I know Sky Defender attacked you, but neither of us had a clue it was coming. They’d sent us to Vallejo, supposedly to look for Destruction Corps.”

  “I… I’m a little burned, but I’ll be okay. I’m…” Lilith paused, taking stock of herself, and a strange sense of calm began to sweep over her thoughts. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and breathing in and out. “I… I think I was starting to go into shock, somewhat. Maybe… I wonder if Amber fixed that too? I was just working on the computer, looking at the books of my company, when he attacked. If I hadn’t ducked… there was a large hole in my computer screen, the painting of Morgan, and the wall behind it. I wouldn’t have even realized what had happened, and I barely… barely got to the safe room in time.”

  “God, that’s…” Rachel’s eyes were wide, looking somewhat ill as she swallowed, dropping her mask to the floor. “I didn’t realize it was that close.”

  “It was. I thought I could… could deal with hatred, but this was so cold,” Lilith murmured, shaking her head. Trying to overcome her nerves, she shakily pulled out her phone, murmuring. “I should—no, they’ll monitor my phone. If I call Circe, they’ll try to track her down. We have to get to one of the transit hubs.”

  As Lilith began to slowly open the phone to pull out the battery, Gina swallowed as tears began trickling down her face and asked, “I’m so… so relieved you’re okay, Lilith. What do you mean by a transit hub, though? One of Shadowmind’s?”

  “Yes. She built them in most major cities to be able to move quickly,” Lilith said, nodding firmly as she took a deep breath, rec
alling where the one in the San Francisco region was. Fortunately, if she was right, it wasn’t too far away. “It’s near Grand Avenue, by the interstate. Or is it a highway? I’m sorry, I just… I don’t really know.”

  “That’s not far away,” Rachel replied, looking thoughtful instead of worried now. “In fact, I might be able to keep us invisible for that far, if we fly Lilith there. If we can get to where no one can hunt us down, at least we’ll have some chance to try to plan things out.”

  “That seems like a good idea to me. It’s good you can turn us invisible, because there’s no way in hell I can manage it. I have enough trouble concealing myself, and I used a lot of energy teleporting,” Gina said, looking at Lilith in concern. “Will you be alright, Lilith?”

  “I don’t know. But if anyone sees me, it’s going to be obvious something’s wrong,” Lilith warned, looking down at her damaged clothing.

  “I’m not taking the time to get changed, so if they see us it’s going to be obvious to everyone that something’s up,” Rachel replied, shaking her head. “This is going to be a right mess. We’d better go, though.”

  “Yeah,” Gina agreed, darting into the next room to grab a key. “Come on; let’s go out the back door. I set it up so that it wasn’t in direct line of sight of any of the neighbors, so I could come and go easily.”

  “That’s an advantage to going to your house. I’m amused that you’re relatively close to the hub… I think Amber put it there because it was close to San Francisco without being too close,” Lilith replied, smiling as she felt like she was finally regaining her equilibrium. “Thank you, both of you. That you’d come for me is… incredible.”

  Gina smiled and darted in to give Lilith a quick kiss, then paused, and Lilith blinked in surprise as Gina kissed Rachel. The shorter heroine’s eyes went wide with surprise, seeming to stiffen with shock for a moment, but then Gina pulled away, grinning as she said, “Your turn, Rachel!”

  “We don’t have time for this!” Rachel retorted, offering an arm to Lilith. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “Spoilsport,” Gina muttered, turning and heading for the back door.

  As they followed after her, Lilith glanced at Rachel, who bit her lip for a moment before turning her head to give a quick, gentle kiss before pulling away, blushing as she murmured, “I love you too, Lilith. I just didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.”

  “That’s fine, Rachel. We are in something of an emergency at the moment,” Lilith told her, smiling as she felt the other woman’s warmth lingering on her lips. “Let’s try to survive for the moment, hmm? I think… think I love both of you as well.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Rachel agreed, her cheeks a deeper red as they stepped out the back door in Gina’s wake. Rachel began speaking soft words, and a purple mist flowed from one of her rings to surround them slowly.

  Downtown, Oakland

  “They’re heading for downtown Oakland, Crimson,” Sky Defender told the other hero flatly, racing in the direction of the beacons indicating Morgan and Warden’s locations. “It looks like they’re moving more slowly. They probably can’t teleport again.”

  “I’m on my way! I’m still crossing the bridge, so I’ll be a while; the reconstruction is a beast,” Crimson Bull replied, even as Sky Defender continued homing in on the beacons.

  Sky Defender could hear the hostess on the radio reporting, and his irritation grew as he listened. “This story is still developing, but on the subject of Lilith Carpenter, supposedly created by Shadowmind, we have some new information to share. We’ve reached out to Ms. Carpenter’s company, but they’ve had no comment as of yet. The documents we were sent claim that she hid her origin largely out of fear that she’d be killed out of hand due to her designation as a bioweapon. The Reinfield Act requires the destruction of bioweapons created by villains, and, according to the information we have, there’s no avenue of appeal for the designation. I have an expert on the line to discuss whether or not that’s true. Mr. Andrews, is the claim accurate?”

  “I want to preface this with the addendum that I haven’t had a chance to look over the particulars of this specific situation, but the summation of what would happen if someone designated a bioweapon were to be captured is quite accurate,” a man replied seriously. “There would be no consequences from the government if they were to be killed out of hand, and the Reinfield Act is designed to ensure the disposal of bioweapons as quickly as possible, so there isn’t time or precedent for appeal. That’s the entire point of the act.”

  “Indeed, but that, coupled with Ocean Shield’s attack on Ms. Carpenter’s penthouse indicates that her fears were likely somewhat accur—” the hostess began, but Sky Defender cut off the channel with a growl, annoyed. He wasn’t sure why he was listening to it to begin with, but he could tell that a sliver of doubt was growing. He had to deal with this soon; he couldn’t afford to have others doubt him, or to doubt himself.

  He had to frown as he drew closer to the renegade heroines, wondering why they were going deeper into the city. It was an odd choice. Either way, he was almost there.

  “It should be down that alley over there. There’s a stairwell with a basement; that’s where the hub is,” Lilith was explaining, feeling just a little uncomfortable as the two heroines carried her.

  They weren’t too high off the ground, just a bit above the level of power lines, but that was too far for her own comfort. Unlike them, she couldn’t fly, and the thought of what might happen if they did drop her was somewhat unpalatable. It still would be far more survivable than a laser to the back of the head, she reminded herself, but the lack of control was disconcerting and nerve-wracking.

  Still, they had only traveled a few miles and were almost to where Circe had told her the hub was. The town was lower profile than some of the others, and the buildings were shorter than she’d thought they’d be for a location for the transportation hub. The streets were fairly busy, too.

  “Gina, ten o’clock!” Rachel suddenly snapped out, and Lilith quickly looked up.

  “I see him,” Gina said quietly, swearing as she added, “I hoped we’d get out before he caught us. I’m dropping Lilith to block him.”

  Lilith saw just the faintest outline of a suit of white armor in the distance when Gina let go, yelping in near-panic before Rachel caught her.

  “I’ve got you. Come on,” Rachel said, hoisting Lilith closer as she added, “We need to find that building. Gina can hold him off, but Defender’s too powerful for her to stop for long.”

  “How did he even find us?” Lilith asked, glancing back as the hero rocketed closer. The sudden honking and other noise from below, accompanied by Rachel suddenly moving faster, made her realize that they were visible now, and a glittering barrier of golden light flickered into existence around them as Gina used her magic.

  “There are tracking beacons in our outfits. We were going to ditch them as soon as we thought it was safe but didn’t want to stick around Gina’s house to change,” Rachel replied shortly, and Lilith could see the unhappiness on her face as she added, “I’d hoped Hypergizmo wouldn’t let Defender track us since he warned us what was going on.”

  “Sky Defender has power armor. There’s no way to say he couldn’t have access to the trackers separately,” Lilith offered, somewhat relieved that someone on the team hadn’t approved of what had happened. She wasn’t certain what was going on, if she was being honest.

  “Warden! Get out of my way and hand over the bioweapon!” Sky Defender’s voice was loud, and Lilith winced as she glanced back at the hero.

  “Trying to sound righteous now, you jerk?” Rachel muttered, darting toward the alley in question.

  “I didn’t become a hero to allow people to murder innocents!” Gina’s voice echoed as she hovered between Sky Defender and Lilith, a barrier between them. “Lilith has never done anything to deserve this, and I’m not handing her over just to let you kill her!”

  “Then it’s as I thought. She’s
mentally controlled you and Morgan both!” Sky Defender declared, and Lilith’s eyes went wide.

  “What?” she blurted out, glancing behind them as they set down in the alley entrance. “How would I do that?”

  Sky Defender didn’t give a chance for Rachel to reply, instead unloading into Warden’s barrier with four separate lasers, and the barrier was shoved backward hard as he declared, “I’ll just have to defeat you and free you from her influence later!”

  “Well, that’s one way to try to spin things,” Rachel said grimly. “Lilith, the hub, please?”

  Gina fell back, and Lilith only spared her a single glance before turning back to look down the alley. There were two separate stairwells, which explained why Rachel hadn’t gone toward one. Lilith began to run toward the one on the right and yelped as the injury she’d almost forgotten nearly sent her to the concrete. Rachel caught her instead, murmuring, “Alright, that one. What do we need to do?”

  “There’s a hidden fingerprint reader, and I have to give the right commands,” Lilith said, hobbling forward with Rachel’s help. “I’m glad you’re registered as guests; these have defense systems.”

  “What about after we leave? He’s not going to give up,” Rachel asked, her voice taut as she glanced over her shoulder. The sound of energy fire was loud, but it didn’t sound like anything had been damaged yet. They climbed down the dirty stairs toward the rusted metal door at the bottom, the paint on it peeling.

  “It’ll slag itself behind us rather than be captured,” Lilith said, shaking her head. “It’ll mean coming back somewhere else if we want to return, but we have to do it.”

  “Right. I hope this is the place,” Rachel said dubiously.

  “Oh, it’s the right place,” Lilith said, pressing her thumb against the doorjamb a couple of inches above the knob, speaking clearly. “Lilith Carpenter and guests. Escape plan FUBAR.”