Webs & Wards (Beesong Chronicles Book 2)
Page 28
“Circe?” Drew asked, sounding a little puzzled, which prompted Lilith to blink, then she realized that he hadn’t necessarily talked to the AI.
“Circe is the AI I mentioned. She handles the construction and security here.” Lilith said, and gestured forward. “Shall we? I’m looking forward to being able to move in.”
“Definitely! The sooner we get this done, the happier I’ll be.” Drew agreed, straightening a little.
Lilith smiled at him and started walking toward the shimmering dome, looking forward to getting another formality over with.
* * *
Spark paused and grimaced as her gum finally took on the hard, rubbery texture it always did, eventually. It was a problem with having electrical powers, unfortunately, and she pulled out the wrapper to spit the gum out. She’d asked Decarin to come up with a formula which was more resistant to her electricity, but even it had its limits.
Tossing the gum into a nearby waste bin, Spark reflected that at least there were plenty of people in the area to provide cover, which she definitely appreciated. That, and Lilith Carpenter was one of the best distractions under the sun.
The tall, beautiful woman was walking toward the shimmering dome in the center of her compound as she spoke to the city employee, and every move she made drew the eye. It was even stranger due to how mundanely the dark-haired woman was dressed, which made Spark’s mixed feelings grow stronger. The woman was wearing black slacks, a button-down white shirt, and a jacket of some type, along with simple running shoes and a silver necklace. Despite the simple look, Spark certainly didn’t trust Lilith, which was why she was so unhappy that she was moving into the area.
Spark pulled her gaze away, instead looking at the news crews around Lilith’s property and the other journalists and onlookers, then clicked her tongue unhappily as she unwrapped a new stick of gum.
“How’re your scans going, Dec?” Spark murmured, shifting from one foot to the other uncomfortably. She hated stakeouts more than anything else, since she liked to move. She was a speedster, after all.
“It’s like staring at a brick wall. Hard, blank, and utterly pointless.” Decarin replied through the communicator, the man’s frustration making his voice oddly clipped. “I should’ve known, but why would anyone use Shadowmind’s milspec gear on a construction site?”
“Shadowmind’s daughter, obviously. I’m still stunned that the president actually pardoned her.” Spark replied, shaking her head in disbelief. She didn’t know what had convinced him to do that.
“Based on how slow she was to come out of hiding, I suspect you aren’t the only one.” Shade interjected, his voice booming loudly enough through the earbud that Spark winced, and he paused, then asked. “Are we certain that she doesn’t have additional assistance? I find it hard to believe that she would come out here on her own.”
Spark blinked, but waited as Decarin hummed, and she could faintly hear the sound of typing in the background. Decarin was their team’s inventor, and he also kept track of other people for them, which was rather helpful most of the time. She sometimes just wished he was more inclined to come out to gather information himself, rather than sending her.
“I’m not seeing any sign of cloaked people or objects in the area, though that isn’t a guarantee they aren’t around. Beyond that, according to my feed from Hypergizmo, Morgan and Warden are both in San Francisco, while Blooming Orchid and Circe Beta are in… Massachusetts, trying to track down Doctor Johnson.” Decarin replied after a moment, his voice a touch distracted, and Spark perked up a little.
“Doctor Johnson? I thought he was being extradited to Iceland!” Spark protested, confused as to why Blooming Orchid would be trying to track him down.
“Last week his transport was attacked by a few dozen assault bots and he escaped.” Decarin explained, his voice a little wry, and she could practically hear his shrug. “It happens, unfortunately. In any case, Warden is supposed to be finalizing the sale of her house, which caused all the property values in its area to explode, from what I’ve heard, and Morgan is helping the new professor get settled in at the university. I don’t see how any of them could be on-site.”
“If you say so.” Shade said, and Spark sighed internally. He simply didn’t have as much faith in Decarin’s explanation as she did, obviously.
Archon wasn’t chiming in, she noticed, not that the woman really needed to. They just wanted to scout out Lilith since she was in the area, just in case the woman proved to be trouble. She was Shadowmind’s creation, after all, and that was enough to make anyone nervous.
* * *
Circe was doing a great many things at once, more than even Lilith would have likely believed, though Amber likely would have come close to understanding. Performing maintenance on the various hideouts was a constant chore, and one which Circe was accustomed to, even with her newfound sentience.
Furthermore, many of those hideouts and bases were restricted from even Lilith’s knowledge. While Amber trusted her daughter reasonably well, the supervillainess hadn’t survived as long as she had by trusting unconditionally. Lilith had access to approximately one-third of the base network, and it was Circe’s task to ensure that the full extent of the network remained concealed.
Even so, Circe never shirked her primary responsibilities, not even when she needed to prioritize Lilith’s safety. Like right that moment, as it happened.
Her systems weren’t affected by the distortion field, and she had numerous scanners on-site, both to watch for intruders and to ensure that the construction was being performed correctly. That gave her plenty of time to scan the face of the inspector, as well as his build, and to compare it to the profile of the man which she’d found inside Glendale’s archives. Certainly, Circe wasn’t supposed to have access to those files, but that hadn’t ever stopped her before.
The data she found was not what she wanted to find. It was what she needed, but it certainly didn’t make her any happier, and as Lilith approached the force field which was between her and the inner distortion field, Circe didn’t drop it, instead sending a message to her and the police, though the content differed somewhat.
She also considered sending a message to the superhero teams loitering in the area, but decided against it. While she knew the man wasn’t actually employed by Glendale and wasn’t one of their employees, she didn’t have confirmation of who he was. Besides, she didn’t want to broadcast on an open channel, and revealing that she’d broken the encryption of two out of the three teams communicators seemed like a bad idea.
Instead, she waited patiently for the glacial human responses to her messages, turning her attention to the hydroponic maintenance report, as well as the construction of the new arctic base.
Hopefully Circe wouldn’t have to intervene herself. Lilith had been most insistent that the construction site not have weapons, but some orders were meant to be disobeyed.
Order Queen’s Move Now!