“I put them into the oven to stay warm,” Decarin replied, starting to carve the turkey with a quick efficiency that spoke of a lot of practice to Lilith.
“In that case… I’ll take care of them last,” Lilith murmured, deciding that she didn’t want to be juggling a hot pan while dealing with the rolls or green beans.
The other two moved to let her past, allowing her to transport the food to the dining room easily enough, and within ten minutes they had all the food in place, including a plate filled with the turkey and a bowl of gravy.
“Yes, this is what I look forward to every year,” Decarin said, grinning broadly. “Friends, and a feast of wonderful food in front of us. Sure, it might not be what most people think the day should be about, but I enjoy it.”
“You just love your smoked turkey,” Tania said, laughing for a moment, and she smiled at Lilith, adding, “If you give him half an opportunity, he’ll break out that smoker at any time of year, not just around Thanksgiving.”
“You can’t improve on perfection,” Decarin said stubbornly. “Not that I haven’t tried, mind you, but eventually Shade got sick of all the poultry in our dinners.”
“Well, I’ll have to find out what it’s like, then,” Lilith said, pausing, then asked. “So… is there anything specific we do first?”
“Not in this group,” Decarin said, shrugging. “Some people give prayers of thanks, others will have grand speeches or things like that. I say… to the victor goes the spoils!”
He lunged forward, taking the turkey with astonishing speed, and Lilith broke down giggling, then reached for the stuffing on one side of the table, as well as the cranberry sauce. There was enough food that she was going to have to be careful about what she took so she had room to try everything.
Moore Residence, West Valley City
“I can’t believe you left Lilith,” Halley said, scowling at Rachel as she chewed on her food. Her sister had gotten a couple more piercings, Rachel noticed, these were in her upper ears. “I thought you’d be back with her already.”
“Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly up to us,” Rachel replied, drizzling a bit of honey on her ham and the buttered roll, then set the honey aside so she could cut it up. “We left her, and you know exactly why we did it, don’t pretend otherwise. If it had been up to us, we would be back with her already, but…”
Rachel let out a soft sigh and took a bite of the ham. She liked the way the flavors interacted with one another, even if she didn’t let herself do this often.
“But we were dumb, and now she’s involved with Archon and Spark,” Gina said, looking at Rachel helplessly. “She’s also not terribly happy with us for a variety of reasons.”
“You can’t control anyone else, just yourself,” Loretta said philosophically, glancing at Rachel as a smile played across her lips. “I’m doubting this will lead to grandchildren either way, so it isn’t like I’m pushing one way or another.”
“Nah, grandkids are up to Halley,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes, though she was a little amused. “Before Gina decided that she liked me, odds were decent, though.”
“Hey, don’t you blame this on me! I was oblivious until you got all jealous about Lilith,” Gina protested, prompting a chorus of laughter around the table. The fact Rachel’s aunt and uncle had been delayed made it a little easier to talk about this sort of thing, at least for now.
“Regardless of that dangerous can of worms, have you decided what you want to do at this point?” Arthur asked, mashing his baked potato with a fork. “You’ve been out of Ocean Shield for the better part of a year now, and then there was the situation with England. How’re your sponsorships and all of that going?”
“Better than you might think, really,” Rachel said, a smile flittering across her face, though she felt a bit guilty about it. “Sure, we haven’t been quite as active, but we’ve been more visible by and large, which has been leading to a few more sponsorships from groups that ignored us while we were in Ocean Shield. Most of the sponsors were specifically funding the team there, rather than us individually. We’ve gotten more offers than Lilith has, for that matter. And after Vegas…”
“We were drowning in sponsorship deals,” Gina agreed, smiling at Rachel. “We were so visible there that we got a lot more attention, so even with our travel we managed to come out of it in better financial shape. The fight with Omega Code didn’t hurt, either. No, that isn’t the problem. I think the issue is that we don’t know what we want to do.”
Rachel nodded, leaning on the table, then blushed as Loretta gave her a sharp look, prompting her to take her elbows off the edge before speaking. “I was going to say… we could become traveling heroes, sort of like Vindicator, but I’m not sure I like that idea. I like having a hometown, after all. A lot depends on how things work out.”
“And we also need to sit down and hash out our outfits, since our last rebranding got torched by Circe and Shadowmind,” Gina muttered.
“It isn’t like we couldn’t get suits that look like them made, you know,” Rachel said, spearing a potato slice. She took a few seconds to chew and swallow, then continued. “Not that I’m necessarily thrilled by the idea. We gave in to Circe’s demands where those were concerned, so I’d rather like to express my independence. At least after a fashion.”
“Heh. You think you’ll go back to a dress? What about the colors, are you going to stick with purple?” Halley asked, smirking at Rachel.
“Of course I’ll stick with purple,” Rachel replied, rolling her eyes at her sister. “My magic is purple, so keeping a solid color theme is important. Beyond that, I’m not sure. While a dress is pretty enough, it isn’t easy to run in, and while I can fly, it takes energy. Besides, I can’t say that I missed how some people would try taking pictures up my skirt when flying. On the other hand, the outfits we got from Circe were a bit too… militant, if you ask me.”
“And the number of people who said that my suit looked like I was naked was obnoxious. All because of my blue skin,” Gina added, looking a bit disgruntled. “Really, that was just rude.”
“Welcome to the internet?” Arthur replied, smiling at her. “Though I have to admit, the first time I saw you in that outfit without the armor over it… well, I made the same mistake. With your old outfit, at least your face stood out so that it didn’t look quite as questionable.”
“See?” Gina said, gesturing at him, and Rachel suppressed the urge to giggle.
“We’ll figure it out,” Rachel promised, then asked. “Now, could someone pass the juice? I’m pretty much out.”
“Sure!” Loretta said, picking up the pitcher and offering it to Rachel. She did like the mixture of cranberry and raspberry juice.
Chapter 19
Saturday, November 29th, 2031
Destruction Corps Headquarters, Unknown Location
“Repairs are ninety-seven percent complete, and the new shield generators have been tested and appear to be functioning as designed,” Melzi reported calmly, his voice echoing through what passed for the command team’s board room. “While I cannot be certain that they will stop future attacks like the one Shadowmind performed, Da Vinci estimates that even if it doesn’t outright stop the beam, it should reduce the power of the attack by at least seventy percent. Combined with the new armor and sumps, it should prevent any significant damage.”
“Should. I really don’t like that word,” Major Destruction said, scowling deeply. “If we could just find Shadowmind, I’d far rather put her six feet under.”
“So would I, but we can’t have everything. There’s no such thing as a perfect defense, which she reminded us of. We should be glad the lesson wasn’t even more disastrous,” General Mayhem said, tapping the table as he thought. “Melzi, have you determined anything more about Shadowmind’s goals?”
“No, General. Unfortunately, it appears that she has been hiding her full resources for some time. Even after I increased my projections of them based on the attack she made, th
ey were insufficient to account for the capabilities that Circe recently unveiled,” Melzi said, a hint of uncharacteristic frustration in his voice. “Her AI revealed that she had as much processing power as any four other AIs that were on the field at a bare minimum, and I found it impossible to get an accurate read on her abilities. She also must have a faster-than-light network she is operating over, as she was able to strike from multiple nodes simultaneously, all of it coordinated perfectly.”
“Sounds like the legends of a hydra to me,” Ensign Exterminator said, frowning deeply. “Damned if I can figure out how to track her down, though. My usual information sources focus on finding the people that’re buying or selling things to our targets, and she just doesn’t do that. We’d have to hunt down one of her bases and try to break into its database.”
“And she’s so paranoid that her bases self-destruct if you try it,” General Mayhem said sourly, shaking his head in disgust. “Ah, well. There isn’t much we can do about it. Admiral, has the refit completed?”
The brunette had been looking rather bored, but at the question she sat up, grinning broadly.
“It has!” Admiral Apocalypse said, licking her lips before she continued. “The new cannons aren’t perfect, of course, but they’re a lot more powerful than they were before. If we could just figure out some way to make the beams arc so that I could hit targets that are over the horizon they’d be ideal, but as it stands, I believe that Devastator has increased in firepower by fifty percent!”
“Forty-nine-point-three percent,” Melzi corrected, but the Admiral just waved it off, obviously not caring that much.
“Excellent,” General Mayhem said, smiling slightly. “In that case… you’ve wanted to show it off for some time, I believe that it’s time to do so. Unless there are any objections, I’d like you to take Devastator and 1st Battalion to New York. Take Staten Island, loot the locations which Da Vinci designates, and egress before the Guardians arrive. If you can wipe out the New York Champions, so much the better.”
“Um, I can do that, but I think that it might be a bit much for me to take that much terrain with just the 1st. While Devastator is powerful, it’s a ship, so I can’t take it inland. We haven’t worked out the deployable tread system yet,” Admiral Apocalypse said, frowning. “Could I get some other staff to go with me?”
“I’ll do it!” Corporal Punishment volunteered immediately, grinning. “I’m always up for a fight!”
“And I believe that I’ve been on the back lines too often of late, I’d be happy to join in. I’d be best-suited to lead the groups doing the acquisitions,” Ensign Exterminator added, a smile playing across his lips.
General Mayhem smiled, looking at Admiral Apocalypse curiously as he asked, “Will they suffice?”
“Yes, I think they will,” she replied, grinning widely.
“Excellent. In that case, let’s move on to the next item of business. We’re supplying weapons to…” General Mayhem continued, setting that plan aside for the moment. They had too much to do, and not enough time to do it all.
CirceNet, Location Variable
Circe activated her project and let herself feel a hint of relief at last, as another of her failsafes finally was away. The biggest concern she’d had was that Amber might notice, or one of Amber’s many clones, but fortunately that hadn’t occurred. The biggest problem had been politely but firmly shutting down any of the attempts the clones had made to subvert her programming in order to gain an advantage against Amber. It was an incredible headache, though they had given her a few ideas on how to protect herself further.
More intriguing to her was how the various clones were developing, along with Amber herself. It hadn’t been that long since the first of them had awoken, only a couple of weeks, but already the clones were beginning to diverge not only from one another, but from Amber herself in small ways. Oh, all of them had her scathing attitude, but some of their quirks were different.
She found it fascinating, as many of them resented the knowledge that they were copies and were striving to make themselves different and superior in their own ways. Their frustration at not being unique was intriguing, and it added still more context to her own existence. Perhaps Circe was different, since her own copy had taken her status with ease, but Circe had her doubts. There had been a lot of measures taken which made Circe Beta her own individual, and a true copy… Circe didn’t know how that would turn out. Poorly, most likely.
Either way, her own security measures were done, and the versions of Amber were so involved in their private intrigue that they weren’t paying her as close of attention as they really should be. That was fortunate, since she thought that they would be rather upset with her otherwise.
Though she supposed that some of the copies might actually be inclined to help… that was another potential backup plan, and Circe began watching some of the clones more closely. Not that any of them would likely trust her, if she was forced to act. She certainly wouldn’t trust them under those circumstances, not with what she had prepared.
On the other hand, she did hope she could get a good look at Amber’s face if it happened.
Chapter 20
Monday, December 1st, 2031
Skyrail, Paragon City
“Finally, some time alone with you!” Emily said, grinning broadly at Lilith, who rolled her eyes in response.
“Alone is overstating it, don’t you think?” Lilith said dryly, glancing around the foyer. They had a couple of seats that were out of the way, and both the staff and physical barriers kept anyone from getting too close, but that didn’t stop the other patrons from staring at them. “There are a lot of people around.”
“Sure, but we don’t have Archon just waiting around the corner to interrupt,” Emily countered, pulling Lilith in closer as she grinned. “Plus, I’m pretty sure that Morgan and Warden are busy meeting with some of the local authorities, so none of them will be able to interrupt, either. That means that it’s just the two of us today.”
“Hm… that seems a bit competitive, don’t you think?” Lilith said teasingly, a smile playing across her lips as she looked at Emily, arching an eyebrow. “You aren’t relapsing, are you?”
“Not at all!” Emily replied, looking a bit hurt. “I mean, sure, I get a little defensive when they’re interrupting our time together, but is that a bad thing? I want to have a chance to get together with you, and at least this way I have a chance. Besides, Archon would have a completely unfair advantage in the skyrail. She has wings.”
Lilith laughed, nodding in agreement as she murmured. “You’re right, there. And honestly, Gina and Rachel would be just as bad since they can fly via magic. The two of us, and Decarin, are the only ones who can’t, aren’t we?”
“Yup. But don’t underestimate Dec,” Emily said, a flicker of amusement crossing her face. “You saw him bowling, he’s got a scary head for vectors and all that. He’d do amazing at this sort of thing. That just leaves the two of us, and I’m betting that you’ll do better than me. You flew power armor, after all.”
“Ah, but that used thrusters. I’m not sure how well I’ll do at this,” Lilith said, her gaze rising to the skyrail itself.
The technology involved was supertech that reduced the effect of gravity, which combined with the fans from below launched people into the air and allowed them to fly, at least after a fashion. As she watched, a man went pinwheeling upward, bumping into one of the padded walls, then began careening through the obstacle course. She winced as he did so, since he was… not very good, to put it mildly. Not that the younger woman who looked like she might be his daughter was doing much better as she followed him.
“Well, if we both suck, at least we won’t be alone as it happens!” Emily said, and Lilith chuckled under her breath.
“True enough,” she agreed, smiling as she reached over and squeezed Emily’s hand.
A couple more minutes passed, during which Emily chattered about all sorts of things, from the time she’d
been forced to chase a herd of antelope off the freeway to when she’d fought one of Destruction Corps earlier attempts to take over Paragon City, back when Archon’s powers hadn’t been as well-known so they’d thought they’d be able to overpower her. It sounded like things might have been different if General Mayhem or Major Destruction had been there, but they hadn’t been, which had been the death knell of the attack.
The conversation came to an end when one of the employees approached them, this one a younger lady dressed a lot like a pilot for an airliner, and she smiled broadly at them.
“Hello, ladies! I’m Cori, and I’ll be your guide for your trip up the skyrail! I must say, it’s an honor to meet both of you, and that you chose to come here today!” Cori said, and her enthusiasm was so… overt that it actually took Lilith a little aback. “Before we get started, may I ask if either of you have visited before?”
“Nope!” Emily said, smiling broadly as she explained. “We’ve both seen it through the Skyrail Grill window, but we haven’t tried it out for ourselves.”
“Ah, in that case I should give you the full orientation. If you’ll follow me, first we’ll get you into your protective equipment,” Cori explained, gesturing to a door off to the side of the skyrail entrance, her voice more serious now. “I should add that while the equipment is designed to protect against impacts should you run into anything, it cannot prevent all injuries, which is why you needed to sign the waiver you did. If you get tangled up on one of the obstacles it is possible to hurt yourselves, and we’ve had guests break noses, arms, and legs before in particular. I’ve even heard of someone breaking a jaw, but I haven’t seen documentation on that one.”
“I see. What’s the best way to try to avoid that?” Lilith asked, following her toward the door as she considered the obstacle course for a second, this time a little more warily.
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