Down with the Queen

by Benjamin Medrano

  “FUBAR?” Rachel asked, her voice disbelieving, but at the word the door clicked unlocked and opened in front of them.

  The hallway behind the door was a sharp contrast to the exterior, the walls and ceiling gleaming metal tiles, save for the light strips along the edge of the ceiling, and the black floor material Amber had favored. A door at the end of the hall opened to the left, and a half-dozen laser turrets protruded from the walls, pointing at them. A moment later a feminine voice replied, and Lilith relaxed ever so slightly at Circe’s voice.

  “Mistress Lilith, the situation appears to have deteriorated, and contact with your residence has been lost. Situation FUBAR acknowledged; please proceed to the teleportation chamber for immediate exfiltration.”

  “One moment; we’re waiting for Gina,” Lilith said.

  Rachel nodded, poking her head back and yelling. “Warden, now! Oh, crap!”

  Lilith looked up and her eyes went wide as she saw Gina being driven back toward them at high speed by Sky Defender, his thrusters blasting loudly as he slammed into her barrier. Lilith quickly dodged forward into the room, dragging Rachel with her just before Gina hit the back wall of the stairwell.

  “Gina!” Lilith cried out, alarmed.

  “It’s fine… I just… was getting a ride!” Gina grunted, shoving her hands out and driving Sky Defender back. “Back off, jackass!”

  “You have no idea what you’re doing, you traitor!” Sky Defender growled in return, slowly being pushed back by the barrier. “I won’t allow Shadowmind to rise again!”

  Gina slowly edged her way through the door, but as she did she retorted, “You’re delusional. Shadowmind is imprisoned!”

  “Seal access!” Lilith said as Gina backed into the room enough, and the door slammed shut again, locking into place a moment before a loud clang rang out. Taking a deep breath, she spoke again. “It’ll hold him for a couple of minutes. We’d better go.”

  “Mistress Lilith, both of your guests have multiple tracking beacons in their suits. Allowing them to transit the network would be considered an unacceptable risk to you,” Circe interjected.

  “I’m well aware. Can you two excise the beacons, or do we have to abandon the suits?” Lilith asked, looking at the two as Sky Defender began to pound on the door.

  “Abandon them. There’s no telling whether or not more were put into place than we’re aware of, after what happened to Gina,” Rachel said, glancing at Gina. “Agreed?”

  “Yeah, though I’m going to want to rip all of my magic out of it. I don’t want anyone getting a sample again,” Gina said, frowning. “Clothing won’t be fun, though.”

  “Circe, begin fabricating a few basic outfits for the two of them,” Lilith said, hobbling down the hallway, frowning as she added, “As soon as we’re gone, slag the facility here. I don’t want Sky Defender to get anything out of it if possible. Don’t damage the rest of the building, though.”

  “Yes, Mistress Lilith. Teleportation matrix is powered up and ready for you and your guests,” Circe replied, pausing for a moment before adding, “I must reiterate that they are considered a security risk at present.”

  Lilith opened the next door and looked around the room, shaking her head. The room had a simple teleportation platform built into the floor, one of the pylons required above it, and the other inset deep in the floor. Amber obviously hadn’t spent a lot of effort on the room, as there wasn’t much else save for the door labeled ‘maintenance room’.

  “Gee, I would’ve thought that saving Lilith’s life would count for something,” Gina said sarcastically, looking at the ceiling.

  “Gina, she’s just doing what she was programmed to do. You’re still considered a hero, and she was programmed by Shadowmind,” Lilith replied, glancing back and wincing at a much louder clang against the door. “She’s just a computer, and not a sentient one. She doesn’t know any better. Anyway, we have to go, don’t we?”

  “Yes. Because that sounded an awful lot like Crimson Bull’s roar,” Rachel agreed, hesitating a moment and blushing as she turned away, murmuring, “I hate to do it like this, but…”

  She began stripping, and Lilith looked away, conscious of Rachel’s embarrassment, even if she didn’t quite understand it. She wasn’t terribly self-conscious about her own body, though other people staring at her was a bit uncomfortable at times.

  Gina quickly followed suit, her own voice a little amused. “Well, at least it isn’t anything Lilith hasn’t seen before. For me.”

  “Not helping, Gina,” Rachel said shortly, shivering as she dropped the last of her outfit to the floor, reaching down and pressing a hand against it, and Lilith could see purple light being pulled from the fabric and cloak in a rapid wave. She didn’t abandon her jewelry, though, which Lilith found interesting. After a moment, Rachel nodded. “There we go. Do you detect a beacon from me anymore, Circe?”

  “Yes. There’s a beacon in a ring on your left pinkie finger,” Circe said promptly, and Rachel cursed.

  “Dammit, Spirit! That’s just rude!” she said, slipping the ring off and tossing it into the pile of clothing.

  Meanwhile, Gina had been doing about the same, though she didn’t have all the jewelry Rachel had, shaking her head and muttering as she stepped away from her pile, asking, “What about me?”

  Circe didn’t reply, and Lilith sighed, adding, “Circe, does Gina have a beacon?”

  “No, she does not,” the AI replied. “Warning, the door will last no more than one minute under the current attacks.”

  “We’d best go,” Lilith said grimly, hobbling over to the platform. Her two friends followed along, shivering in the cool air. Once in position, she spoke. “Circe, evacuate us.”

  “Acknowledged,” Circe replied, and the air flashed as they vanished and appeared in a larger, warmer room, without the sounds of the attacks. The platform here was upraised, and Circe added, “This is Utah Lair Alpha-Three. Welcome back, Mistress Lilith.”

  “That… was an unusually easy teleportation,” Gina said, shivering and blinking. “Lilith, do you have any idea why Sky Defender was ranting about not letting Shadowmind rise again?”

  “No, but that does remind me of something,” Lilith said, wincing and slowly sitting on the edge of the platform. “Circe, I’m injured. Two laser wounds: one on my side, one on the calf. Please send a remote to treat them.”

  “What does it remind you of?” Rachel asked, shivering. “Also, could we get that clothing?”

  “Remote deployed. Clothing fabrication for your guests will take an additional ten point three minutes,” Circe replied calmly. “Your spare clothing will be too large, Mistress Lilith, but would mitigate the effect of the base temperature without requiring full thermal adjustments.”

  “Please retrieve a set of clothing for each of them, Circe,” Lilith said, shrugging helplessly as she looked at the others, licking her lips before she explained. “It’s actually about Amber. Tell me, do you think if Sky Defender was aiming at the back of my head, he’d really miss?”

  “No, but you said you ducked, didn’t you?” Gina replied, frowning.

  “That’s right. But how do you think that I knew to duck?” Lilith asked, but didn’t wait for them to reply, her voice growing sober. “The instant before he would’ve killed me, Amber warned me to duck. I don’t think she’s nearly as imprisoned as you think she is. Circe, what does override gamma delta six-nine-five do?”

  “The override increases your authority over the lair network from its current limited state to three steps below root access,” Circe replied promptly. “It does not give full access, as that’s not allowed for any individuals save for Mistress Amber herself, but it allows the highest degree of access she has ever conceived of allowing others to possess. Do you wish to activate this override?”

  “Please do so,” Lilith replied, closing her eyes and sighing as a medical remote rolled into the room, the other two looking stunned. “That is… worrying, I think.”

  “J
ust a lot, yeah,” Gina said, her eyes wide as saucers. “What has she been doing, then?”

  “I have no idea,” Lilith said, thinking back and frowning. “She said something about an invasion that she was holding off. That if she couldn’t rule the world, no one else would get to conquer it either. She also said that things came at a bad time.”

  Another remote rolled into the room with a couple of outfits a few moments later, approaching Rachel first.

  “Great. Just great,” Rachel said, shaking her head as she went to get dressed again. Considering her recent brush with death, Lilith found herself tempted to head to bed, but extended her leg obediently for the medical remote to start treating her leg.

  Chapter 17

  Friday, January 4th, 2031

  Dr. Johnson’s Lair

  “Doctor, you may wish to look at the news,” Eve said, and Doctor Johnson looked up from the microscope in surprise.

  “Why would I want to do that? Is Omega Code trying to end the world again?” Doctor Johnson asked, frowning. “I’m trying to see if the cells are degrading or not, and it’s hard to tell if my changes had any effect.”

  “Omega Code is most likely attempting to do so, however that isn’t the reason I suggested you look at the news,” Eve explained, her hands behind her back as she continued. “Ocean Shield appears to be in the process of splintering, and it appears that Shadowmind is implicated in the split, or at least her final creation.”

  “They—wait, Shadowmind? She was caught last year!” Doctor Johnson protested, sitting up straight. He’d only met the other villain a single time, and that encounter had been quite enough for him. The woman had been a condescending, insulting bitch. “I don’t want to try to glean what’s going on from the news; summarize!”

  “As you wish. This morning, Ocean Shield had Black Comet, Morgan Le Fay, and Warden depart for distant locations. Exact destinations are uncertain, but Black Comet went east, and the other two departed together to the northeast. Two hours later, downtown San Francisco was subject to what I believe was a teleportation jammer from the signal interference, and Sky Defender attacked the upper penthouse of an apartment building with enough force that an elevator’s supports were destroyed,” Eve began, her voice calm as could be. “About this time, it appears that a lawyer in Morgan Le Fay’s employ sent a number of documents to a large number of media outlets. These documents revealed that Lilith Carpenter, the same woman who apparently defeated Blue Impulse, was the one who Shadowmind created before being captured. The documents portray her in a way that indicates she didn’t want to be involved in the hero community at all, as the Reinfield Act demands her summary destruction.

  “Sky Defender then confronted Warden in Oakland but the fugitives escaped. Public opinion is currently split, with some believing that Lilith mind-controlled the two heroines, but the damage that Sky Defender caused is making some wonder if he might not be a greater threat.” Eve’s voice was exacting, and Doctor Johnson just listened in absolute disbelief. “The pictures taken of Lilith during the escape have been passed around widely, and coupled with a large number of public pictures, the identities of Morgan Le Fay and Warden have been discovered. Morgan Le Fay is Rachel Moore, a professor of Metaphysics at Berkley University, and Warden is Gina Fairmont, a freelance artist.”

  “Dear God, what a disaster,” Doctor Johnson said, feeling shaken as he sat back in his chair, paling slightly. “I’m glad they’re targeting each other, but this is… not a pleasant revelation!”

  “Doctor? I believed you might be pleased that this was happening, not upset,” Eve said, a slight frown on her face. “May I ask why?”

  “Because this will probably increase the odds of our infiltrator being unmasked. If they start looking closely at their teammates, it’s going to make things more dangerous,” Doctor Johnson told her, his mind racing. “That isn’t too likely, but possible. Also, if this Lilith has access to Shadowmind’s resources, we could be in danger of discovery. Her resources are enormously more extensive than my own, and considering that Blue Impulse was working for me, I would not put it out of the question that she might be able to find us. I don’t like it when things get this chaotic; it makes it hard to take appropriate precautions.”

  “I see. I understand your concerns, Doctor. Should I make preparations to move to another location?” Eve asked, sparking relief in the doctor, who smiled at her response. It was good to have a competent assistant. Even more, one who was properly obedient.

  “No, not yet. Do make certain that another location is ready, but I don’t want Dreamer or Ebon Dragon to know where we’re going,” he said, shaking his head firmly. “We’re almost to the point that I can start using the genetic manipulator to carry out my part of the bargain with them, so we won’t be working together for much longer.”

  “As you wish, Doctor. How are the experiments coming?” Eve asked, tilting her head curiously.

  “They’re going well. The attempts to control the age of her cells and reverse the effects of age appear to be functioning well, though I’m uncertain if I can completely mitigate the tendency to age. Changing other aspects of her body appears to be working quite well, from what you’ve said.”

  “Yes. I have noticed that the various adjustments to her nerves appear to be working as intended each time you change them. You will be largely returning her senses to normal once done with the tests?” Eve asked.

  “Yes. I’m intrigued that her physical boosts are actually based as a percentage based on her ‘normal’ strength. I’ll be reducing her possible muscle mass and the like until we’ve brainwashed her. That will be your task, Eve. I’ll alter the specifications of her body, but you’re the one who knows what I like in a servant,” Doctor Johnson said, frowning slightly as he shook his head. “I don’t have time to deal with that too.”

  “Of course, Doctor. Let me know when to begin,” Eve replied, nodding slightly. “I will monitor the situation with the heroes and inform you if anything of import changes.”

  “Excellent,” Doctor Johnson said, still unhappy, but mollified at least. As she left, he turned back to his work, feeling more anxious than he had been.

  Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco

  “I don’t care if you think you’re right, Defender. I agreed with you in that we needed to bring her in, and if you had followed the plan we might have avoided this entire mess,” Ocean Spirit said flatly, shaking her head. “I think the backlash wouldn’t be a tenth as bad if you hadn’t nearly killed an elevator full of people! One of them is going to be hospitalized for nearly a week as it is, and that’s being conservative.”

  “It was a mistake to fire as powerful of a blast as I did,” Sky Defender admitted, his voice slightly defensive and his arms crossed in front of him. “I still don’t think I was wrong to do so. They escaped through one of Shadowmind’s teleportation hubs. That tells me quite enough about her.”

  “Oh really? If you were going to be, oh… dissected and killed the moment someone caught you, wouldn’t you take any available option to escape?” Galvanic Action replied sarcastically, trying to suppress his own anger. “I’m not sure about her, but I don’t think that her taking a risk like that to escape is out of line.”

  “Then why didn’t they tell us anything, if they already knew?” Crimson Bull demanded, leaning forward onto the table and scowling. “Shadowmind is nasty as hell, and I can totally see her having done what Defender has suggested.”

  “Possibly for the exact same reason they sent me off on a wild goose chase and didn’t tell you before starting all of this. The more people who know, the more likely someone will leak it,” Black Comet said angrily, leaning back in his chair and resting his feet on the table. “I’m not happy being played for a fool by the rest of you. I volunteer as a hero to do good, and because the government and sponsors are willing to chip in enough to make a decent living. I’ve risked my life to protect you, and you chose to lie to me about something like this? You couldn’t even have tol
d me that there was something more dangerous going on, and that you needed to draw attention away from what you were doing?”

  “I find it funny that despite everything villains have done to us over the year, all it took was two small lies to bring everyone to each other’s throats like this,” Galvanic Action said quietly, his tone cutting much of the tension throughout the room. He understood their reasons, but that didn’t help much. “I understand why Morgan and Warden made the decision they did. They’d gotten to know Lilith, and even if they weren’t influenced, do any of you honestly believe that they would have said anything to us if they thought it could get a good friend of theirs killed? Can any of you honestly say that?”

  “I… I think they would have. I mean—” Crimson Bull began, but Ocean Spirit snorted.

  “If you knew what my weakness was, would you tell the rest of the team if they didn’t know?” the team leader asked, her voice calmer than it had been.

  “N-no… no, I wouldn’t. That’s too damned dangerous for people to know about,” Crimson Bull admitted, shaking his head.

  “Exactly,” Galvanic Action said, glancing at Hypergizmo and nodding. “The only person I think who’s been relatively calm through all of this has been Hyper. He’s tried to support the team, regardless of who might be at fault. That being said, I also understand why Defender and Spirit didn’t tell the rest of us. They’re the only ones with high resistance to mental powers, and all of us ran into Lilith at close range after the fight with Black Harbinger. I was far more suspect than most of you because she was conscious when I was there. Considering Defender’s worries about Lilith being Shadowmind, I really can’t blame him at all.”

  “Uh, Spirit? We have an incoming call. We’re going to want to take it,” Hypergizmo said, swallowing as he looked down at the table display.

  “What kind of call can’t wait? Is it the mayor or governor?” Ocean Spirit asked, and Galvanic Action could see the annoyance in her expression, even if she kept it mostly hidden.