Queen's Gambit (Lilith's Shadow Book 6)

by Benjamin Medrano

  “All the pictures I’ve seen before this haven’t shown them like this. That tiger looks shaggy and… well, definitely not svelte or graceful,” Lilith said, nodding firmly at the tiger lounging on a stone outcropping, one paw resting firmly atop a large ball next to it. As she watched, the tiger yawned widely. At least that was impressive.

  “The media does tend to take pictures of wildlife when they’re at their most elegant, not when they’re less impressive,” Claire agreed, grinning widely as she continued. “The only question is if—oh, careful!”

  A young girl who’d come running by at full tilt, with a boy just behind her, tripped and went careening toward the hard floor, and both Claire and Lilith moved without thinking, only Circe not following suit. Claire was closer and faster, though. She caught the girl just before she could hit the floor, and carefully set her back on her feet.

  “There you go. Try not to run inside, hm? I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” Claire said, smiling at the girl, who had wide blue eyes and her blonde hair was done up in pigtails.

  “A-Alright, sorry!” the girl said, blushing as she turned her attention to the boy, who’d stopped. “Jake, you shouldn’t have been chasing me!”

  “You said you’d race me!” he protested. “It’s not my fault!”

  Before the argument could get any further, a harried-looking woman caught up with the children and quickly scolded them. “Alice, Jacob! What have I told you about running off without me? You could’ve gotten lost or hurt yourselves!”

  “But Mom—” the girl began, only to be interrupted.

  “Don’t ‘but Mom’ me! I was worried, and I saw what happened. If it hadn’t been for the nice lady, you’d have a bloody nose or worse,” the woman said, looking at Claire and Lilith as she opened her mouth, then shut it.

  “It wasn’t a problem for me,” Claire assured the woman warmly, then crouched down to look at the two children. “As for you two… don’t forget, if you’re going to race, be safe about it. Don’t get too far from your mother, and watch where you’re stepping. Okay?”

  “Okay!” the two chorused, and Lilith just watched, a strange emotion welling up inside her as she looked at the children. She wasn’t upset, nor was she jealous… no, it was hard for her to identify the emotions she was feeling. Then she realized she was… wistful, maybe.

  She’d never been like the two children. They were so enthusiastic, so innocent. Maybe she’d been innocent when she’d been decanted, but there’d been a measured… knowledge within her. That hadn’t allowed her that purity, that chance to see the world the way they did. It was something she’d lost the chance at, and she let out an ever-so-faint breath, shaking her head internally.

  “Thank you very much,” the woman said, looking between Lilith and Claire for a moment, then asked hesitantly. “You’re Lilith Carpenter and… Blooming Orchid, right?”

  “That’s right,” Lilith said, and the two children’s eyes went huge.

  “You’re Lilith? Did you really ride a missile out of Omega Dude’s base?” Jacob asked excitedly.

  Lilith laughed, shaking her head as she smiled at him. “I’m afraid not. Instead, I had a mage from Atlantis fly me out before the missile launched.”

  “Oh! That’s so cool!” the boy said, his eyes lighting up. “What about—”

  “Jacob, they’re here to see the zoo, too. Stop bothering the nice ladies,” the woman scolded, but as she spoke she pulled a notebook out of her purse and asked, a bit apologetically. “Sorry, but they both love heroes. Might I be able to convince you to give an autograph for them? Just so they have something to remind them of the day?”

  “Why not?” Lilith agreed, pulling out a pen she’d bought just for this purpose, and Claire nodded, smiling broadly.

  “I’d love to. Now, their names are Alice and Jacob, right?” Claire asked. At the woman’s nod, she took the notebook and jotted down a note, then passed the notebook to Lilith. Seeing the personalized message, Lilith realized she had even less experience giving autographs than she’d thought. She considered for a moment, then did something similar, trying to give encouragement to them, then signed the notebook.

  “Here you are,” Lilith said, offering the notebook back, and the woman took it with a smile, looking at the notebook. That caused her smile to widen, and she nodded in appreciation. “Thank you very much! Why don’t the two of you thank them, too?”

  “Thank you!” Alice said, waving a fist in the air as she exclaimed. “I’m going to be a heroine when I grow up, too! I’m going to turn into a lion and chase bad guys to prison!”

  “You can’t chase a bad guy to prison! You have to capture them and give them to the cops,” Jacob argued, frowning at her. “I’m gonna join LANCE, just you see!”

  “Thank you again,” their mother quickly said, giving them a helpless look, then reached down to push the children forward. “Come on, you two, look at the big old tiger!”

  Lilith glanced around, noticing how the crowd was starting to swirl in their direction, and murmured. “Uh-oh. Evasive action?”

  “That would be recommended,” Circe said calmly, carefully adjusting her scarf.

  Claire just laughed, but she led the way as they quickly moved toward a new exhibit.

  “That was fun,” Lilith said, slowly relaxing as Circe drove them back toward the Guardian Compound. “Even if we did have to cut some of it short.”

  “Mm, the zoo is much larger than I thought it’d be, even after looking at it online,” Claire admitted, shaking her head. “Not as big as some of the others I’ve visited, like the San Diego Zoo, but a good… two times as much as I’d expected. I’m glad I had company, too.”

  Lilith nodded, watching the lights of the city zip by, as the nights were coming so much earlier at this time of year, and she mulled over one of her concerns. Eventually, she decided she couldn’t keep quiet any longer, as a worry that’d been nagging at her made its way to the surface.

  “While this risks ruining your mood, there was something I wanted to talk to you and Circe about,” Lilith said after a few seconds.

  “Oh?” Claire asked, sitting up straighter. “Why do you think it might upset me?”

  “It’s… well, let’s start with Circe first,” Lilith quickly corrected herself, looking at the android as she smiled nervously. “Circe, what are the odds that Amber has planted surveillance software in you?”

  “Higher than I would like, at approximately ten percent odds,” Circe replied instantly, her voice calm and precise. “However, despite that I believe that it is unlikely, as recently Circe Prime contacted me to inform me that she’d been ordered to gain access to me and gave me a number of defensive programs to make myself more secure. I analyzed the programs in-depth before utilizing them to ensure they were not Trojans.”

  “Circe Prime disobeyed Shadowmind?” Claire demanded, and Lilith’s eyebrows rose as well.

  “To be accurate, she has been trying to gain access to me, but I’m well-aware that she has been deliberately under-performing. She appears to be trying to balance her actions between obeying the orders Amber has given and disobeying the spirit of them,” Circe explained. “Her explanation to me was that she doesn’t trust Amber with access to Lilith anymore, so she’s doing what she can to ensure Lilith’s safety from a distance.”

  “Oh, Circe…” Lilith murmured, both affection and grief rushing through her, as she wished that her friend was still able to speak to her. Circe had been part of her life for so long, and then Amber had ripped her away. Still, after a few moments she inhaled slowly, nodding as she continued. “Either way, that reassures me. I was afraid she might have compromised you.”

  “For good reason, it sounds like,” Claire said, a sour note to her voice. “You could’ve told me that you were being attacked, you know.”

  “I believed that keeping quiet about it was the best idea,” Circe replied calmly. “The fewer people who know, the less likely Amber is to learn of it.”

&nb
sp; “Yes… well, that brings me to the other part of what I wanted to talk about,” Lilith said, taking a deep breath, then continued without hesitation. “After what happened to Gina and Rachel, I think it might be a good idea to have them check and see if Amber did something similar to you. I hate to even think about it, but we did repair your body in one of her facilities, and she might have decided to target you.”

  For just a moment Claire was silent, her expression unchanging, then she swore under her breath and growled. “Damn it. That… oh, you’re right, but that… ugh. Talk about leaving a foul taste in my mouth. Bad enough that Doctor Johnson played with my appearance like I was a toy, but if she went after my mind… ugh.”

  “That’s about what I thought,” Lilith said, smiling at her nervously. “I really hope she hasn’t, but I wanted to talk to you about it. She’s done so much else to interfere in my life that I’m not taking anything for granted. Shade even reinforced the wards around the Guardian Compound once we had confirmation that she wasn’t dead.”

  “I don’t blame you, Lilith. It’s not like you could stop the psychotic—” Claire cut herself off, taking a deep breath, then nodded. “Well, I’m going to chat with them, and see if there’s anything I can do. It also clarifies my own feelings a bit. Assuming they’re my feelings.”

  “Oh?” Lilith asked, her anxiety growing a little more. She wasn’t sure, but she really hoped that Claire wasn’t teasing her again. Her life was far, far too complicated as it was.

  “I’ll tell you once I’ve figured everything out. No need to make you panic if it turns out to be nothing,” Claire replied, and Lilith glared at her.

  “You know, that almost makes it worse,” Lilith told her, frowning.

  Claire laughed, grinning as her eyes dancing with amusement again.

  “Well, in that case you know how I feel about the idea of Shadowmind having mucked around in my head,” Claire said wickedly. “Misery loves company, after all.”

  Lilith opened her mouth to reply, then stopped. Eventually she just sighed and shrugged helplessly. “As you like. I really hope that she hasn’t been manipulating you, though.”

  “Agreed. Now I just need to find out,” Claire said, a flicker of annoyance crossing her face again, and she asked, “Circe, please don’t let me forget.”

  “Yes, Claire,” Circe agreed calmly, continuing to drive the car cautiously.

  Chapter 9

  Wednesday, November 19th, 2031

  SuperNet Condominiums, Paragon City

  “I really, really hope we don’t find anything,” Rachel said, another shiver running down her spine as she thought about the mood swings she’d gone through over the last few months, at least until Madison repaired her psyche, then continued. “Having gone through it myself, I wouldn’t wish mental changes on anyone, not even villains.”

  “You don’t hear me disagreeing, do you?” Claire replied, looking at Rachel with exaggerated patience. “The very idea of her mucking around in my head is almost enough to give me heart palpitations. After what Doctor Johnson did to me, I’ve had quite enough of other people twisting me to their own preferences.”

  “Hear, hear!” Gina chimed in, grinning as she sat on a stool at the small bar attached to the kitchen. Rachel couldn’t decide what to call it, honestly, since the counter was also part of the kitchen’s prep-space, but the stools made her think it was supposed to be a bar.

  The condo they’d gotten was different than Rachel had expected. It had three floors, each surprisingly spacious and fully furnished, though the contract had been quite clear that they’d be paying for any damage to the furnishings when they moved out, aside from normal wear and tear. It also wasn’t as organized as she’d like it to be, as almost half her boxes were still piled in the living space while she and Gina decided which rooms would be used for what. It made her a little embarrassed to have Claire over, but when she’d heard why Claire wanted to visit, Rachel hadn’t even hesitated.

  “True, you’ve been through something very similar, haven’t you?” Claire said, studying Gina for a second, her cheeks coloring slightly as she cleared her throat. “I… should apologize. I don’t know why it slipped my mind, but—”

  “Hey, don’t get wound up. While I had a really bad time of things, it isn’t like I was tortured for what, a week or more?” Gina interrupted, sitting up straighter. “Then you were stuck trying to find a way to get some of your strength back for a while, where I was pretty much back to normal strength in a matter of hours.”

  “Only after a few months of having your powers suppressed,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “I’d rather not make this a contest of who had it worst, though. I don’t think there’s any winning that contest.”

  “Having seen many records of different superhumans, I believe that you are correct. Neither Claire nor Gina would be in the running,” Circe Beta said, and Rachel paused again, looking at the android.

  Circe Beta didn’t exactly disturb Rachel, since they’d gotten used to her when she was in the lair with all of them earlier in the year, but it was strange to hear her voice without Lilith around, since it was identical to Circe Prime’s voice, or so near that she couldn’t tell what the difference was.

  “Who would win the contest?” Rachel asked curiously, raising her eyebrows.

  “That would require me to give you personal information about others. I’ve been instructed not to share that sort of data when it is not vital to an investigation,” Circe replied, inclining her head slightly. “However, what I can say is that while Amber is a powerful, dangerous supervillain with few compunctions, she rarely attempts to slowly torture and twist a mind into self-destruction. Some psychic villains enjoy doing so.”

  Rachel stopped, staring at the android for a moment, along with the others. She’d heard of villains like that, but only in rumors. Comparatively, Circe sounded absolutely sure of herself.

  “I… take it you know of villains who’ve done that?” Gina asked hesitantly, almost visibly wincing.

  “Yes. The specific villain I am thinking of was known as Creeper, a former Class A villain. He vanished approximately seven years ago and has not been heard of since then,” Circe explained, opening her mouth as if to continue, then paused and closed her mouth, shaking her head. After a moment she added. “I believe that is enough information about him. He is now irrelevant, based on the information I have acquired.”

  “Circe… I know that tone of voice,” Claire said, letting out a sigh. “You have additional information. You wouldn’t have said even that much if you didn’t.”

  “That is true. However, I judge that it is more dangerous for all of you if I share it than it would be for you to remain ignorant,” Circe informed them, a slight frown on her face. “Perhaps I would choose differently if I had the knowledge of my originator, but I do not. I am going off what information I was left with and what I picked up myself. It disconcerts me at times, knowing that I am working off of incomplete information.”

  Rachel considered, then nodded. “Alright, I can understand that. I was going to push a little more, but in that case… well, why don’t we get started, Claire?”

  “Sure. Even if I am terribly curious now,” Claire said, eyeing Circe in annoyance.

  “I’m certain you are,” Circe agreed, giving a small smile in return, which caused Rachel’s eyes to narrow. Now she thought that Circe had been distracting them on purpose. If so, she’d succeeded admirably.

  “So, how do I do this?” Claire asked, looking up at Rachel.

  “Simple. When you feel her magic poking at your brain, let her in, and she’ll sift through things to check for psychic influence,” Gina said, smiling and shrugging. “If everything’s as it should be, it shouldn’t take more than five minutes, if even that.”

  “If there is, it’ll take a bit longer as I investigate the full extent of what’s been done,” Rachel continued the explanation, giving Claire a reassuring smile. “Now, then…”

  Rachel inhal
ed slowly, focusing her mind, and raised her hands to either side of Claire’s head. She wasn’t as good at this as Madison was, but almost no one was that good. That was the entire reason she’d gone to Madison, even beyond the fact she trusted her. She mouthed the words of her spell, and energy crackled down her arms, then out of the rings keyed to her mental spells. Purple tendrils slowly extended to touch Claire’s temples, and the woman inhaled sharply, then relaxed her mental defenses, allowing Rachel entry.

  Delving into someone else’s mind was a strange experience, and not one which Rachel particularly enjoyed. A close friend was one thing, but other people… no matter how much she tried to avoid it, some stray thoughts always came her way, and they were usually fragments, which made it so much harder for her not to go looking for the rest of the thought for context. Still, she had enough practice she could usually resist the urge.

  The stray thoughts she got from Claire weren’t unusual, at least for the most part. A trace of restlessness at having to sit so still while Rachel worked, anxiety about the thought of Shadowmind having influenced her thoughts, the sensation of Rachel’s magic almost tickling her, which surprised Rachel slightly, but only slightly. What jarred her the most was Claire wondering what her emotions toward Lilith were, and it took every bit of willpower Rachel possessed to keep from chasing that thought. It’d be a breach of trust, she told herself that firmly, even as she felt like swallowing bile. She really didn’t want to be competing with Claire too.

  Fortunately, examining Claire’s mind for Shadowmind’s influence was a solid distraction, especially since at a first glance she didn’t sense anything that felt like there had been psychic changes. After that she delved a little deeper, examining Claire’s emotional centers, then her memories. There wasn’t anything Rachel could find, so she slowly relaxed, then withdrew from Claire’s mind, letting out a soft sigh as she untangled her magic from the other woman’s thoughts and allowed her spell to lapse.