Queen’s Move
Benjamin Medrano
Contents
Character List
Foreword
The Story So Far
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
Queen’s Move by Benjamin Medrano
© 2020 Benjamin Medrano. All rights reserved.
Contact the author at [email protected]
Visit the author’s website at benjaminmedrano.com
Sign up for the author’s mailing list at http://eepurl.com/cGPT-b
Editing by Picky Cat Proofreading
Cover Art by Alinery
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For my wife, who loves these sort of stories the most.
Character List
The following characters are major figures from Lilith’s Shadow and are listed to make keeping track of them easier. If a character has a superhero or supervillain identity, it is listed in parentheses, unless this is the only identity known at the start of this story. Minor characters are not listed.
Amber Meadow (Shadowmind) – Supervillain and ‘mother’ of Lilith, Amber is a feared supervillain with advanced technology and psychic powers.
Blooming Orchid – Of Chinese descent, Blooming Orchid was a member of Ocean Shield and functioned as the team’s doctor.
Blue Impulse – A villain, Blue Impulse is in custody, but was a mage with teleportation and other movement-based powers. Cocky, arrogant, and short-tempered.
Circe Prime – An AI created by Shadowmind which controls her various strongholds. She recently became fully sentient.
Circe Beta – When Circe split off a shard of her personality to pilot a prototype Eve body, Circe Beta was created. Circe Beta has chosen to assist Blooming Orchid and travel with her.
Doctor Johnson – An elderly villain, Doctor Johnson makes careful plans and has an android assistant in the form of a woman named Eve. He’s a specialist in technology.
Dreamer – An attractive albino woman, Dreamer is a deadly, sadistic villain with the power to lull others to sleep and to deal damage to their psyche in the process.
Ebon Dragon – An elderly villain of Chinese descent, Ebon Dragon is a villain and mercenary who appears to know Doctor Johnson well. He’s known to be an incredibly skilled spellcaster.
Eve – An android AI created by Doctor Johnson as an assistant.
Galvanic Action – A Hispanic hero, Galvanic Action is a member of Ocean Shield and often functions as their field commander. His powers allow him to rapidly cause corrosion on most nonliving substances, though it requires close proximity to work quickly.
Gina Fairmont (Warden) – An artist in mundane life, Gina was a member of Ocean Shield and possesses powerful magic that focuses on allowing her to create magical shields.
Hypergizmo – Building and maintaining most of Ocean Shield’s technology, Hypergizmo is weaker than most superhumans, but is an intelligent, efficient man who does his best to support his allies and friends.
Lilith Carpenter – Created by Shadowmind, Lilith is an artificial human with abilities far beyond what is natural for normal people. The method of her creation resulted in being declared a bioweapon that was to be destroyed if she’s discovered, though this has been rescinded. Her powers draw the notice of everyone in the area, and she is capable of healing or giving a broad boost to the power of those she trusts.
Ocean Spirit – Leader of Ocean Shield, Ocean Spirit is a native Hawaiian and she has the power to control water and take on an elemental form that makes her nigh-invulnerable in water. She is one of the two most powerful members of the team.
Rachel Moore (Morgan Le Fay) – Rachel is a magic teacher at UC Berkeley and was a member of Ocean Shield. Her magic is far more expansive than most other spellcasters but requires her jewelry, and it is slightly slower to respond to her command.
Sky Defender – Using highly advanced power armor, Sky Defender is one of the two most powerful members of Ocean Shield. He is very secretive about his identity.
Foreword
Lilith has returned at last! I’ve been asked a bunch of times if I was going to continue Lilith’s Shadow, and my answer has always been about the same. As soon as I had the time and energy to continue the series. I can only write so many books at a time, and I have to prioritize somewhere.
That said, some of you may notice that I skipped a few events between Down with the Queen and Queen’s Move, specifically regarding Blooming Orchid. This is because the events wouldn’t have fit well into either book, and would have felt somewhat disjointed. I have written a short story about what happened, though, and you can find it for free on my website, BenjaminMedrano.com, listed as Lilith’s Shadow Interlude 1. Nothing in the story is necessary to enjoy Queen’s Move, but it’s there if you want to read it!
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Queen’s Move. I have a bunch more stories planned!
The Story So Far
Lilith Carpenter was created by the supervillain Shadowmind, an insane psychic who was attempting to create a new body for herself. None could possibly be as surprised as the villainess herself when she chose to see what sort of person she was creating rather than taking the body herself, and her devotion was so great that she allowed herself to be captured rather than allowing the heroes to capture Lilith’s still-unconscious body.
When she woke at last, Lilith was without biases for or against heroes or villains, and she found herself being educated by Circe, the AI Shadowmind had created to manage her lairs. Lilith took half a year training before venturing out into the world at last, moving to San Francisco despite knowing that there was an enormous bounty for her death.
There she met two heroines of the superhero team Ocean Shield, the same team which had captured Shadowmind. Morgan Le Fay and Warden met Lilith and began growing close to her in their civilian identities. Due to the machinations of Blue Impulse and Ebon Dragon, with the background influence of Doctor Johnson, Warden was magically altered and almost enslaved, only to be rescued by Lilith, while Morgan was nearly killed. These events helped draw the three together, and they began exploring a hesitant, three-way relationship.
Doctor Johnson didn’t give up his plans, and the villain kidnapped Blooming Orchid with the intent to use her as a test subject for some of his technology, replacing her with a villain infiltrator, while he intended to eventually brainwash her into a servant. At the same ti
me, Sky Defender learned that Lilith was Shadowmind’s creation, and the man panicked. When he attempted to kill Lilith, she barely escaped and Morgan and Warden went into hiding with her.
The intervention of Dracula kept Ocean Shield from shattering, as he warned them that they had made a mistake. They chose to change their plans, but the damage was done as a massive manhunt for Lilith was underway. At almost the same time, Shadowmind apparently died in custody by her own design.
Determined to show that she wasn’t like Shadowmind, Lilith decided to hunt down Megawatt, a mercenary in Doctor Johnson’s employ, and ended up in a three-way battle with Destruction Corps, Ebon Dragon, and Ocean Shield before fleeing, having learned where the villain’s base was located. It was only after infiltrating the base that they learned that Doctor Johnson had kidnapped Blooming Orchid, and it changed into a rescue operation as well.
The villain had used a device to alter Blooming Orchid’s body, almost crippling her and changing her appearance, but its primary purpose had been to reverse his aging, and he’d used it to heal Dreamer of a chronic disease, as well as granting youth to Ebon Dragon. A violent battle ensued, with Morgan barely defeating Dreamer, whose powers were greater than anyone had known, Warden defeating Ebon Dragon, and Lilith defeating Eve, Doctor Johnson’s android assistant. Circe activated a spare body for Eve, creating Circe Beta, who captured Doctor Johnson with Blooming Orchid’s assistance.
Ocean Shield showed up as the battle concluded, and took the villains into custody, all but Dreamer, who had vanished almost without a trace. After clearing up the misunderstandings, Lilith went back into hiding, waiting for a pardon or legal changes to come about, something which occurred soon thereafter due to Dracula’s political pressure.
While in hiding, Blooming Orchid accepted an offer from Lilith and used some of Shadowmind’s technology to return almost perfectly to her normal body, while Circe became fully sentient.
And now our story continues.
Prologue
Thursday, April 17th, 2031
Earth Orbit, Sol
The satellite wasn’t anything special as far as satellites went. A simple communications satellite, its primary use was retransmitting television signals, though there were enough other functions to keep it constantly in use. It was expected to last another three years, unless its owner paid for a refit. Unfortunately for the owner, it lasted only about ten more seconds.
The mass of metal that hit the satellite took it offline instantly, likely causing a great deal of consternation among the technicians, and the debris also created a much larger blip on the military sensors than the escape pod had generated so far.
As it hit the atmosphere, the escape pod’s sides shuddered and it split into five separate sections, each going a different direction as they plunged into Earth’s gravity well at an angle that would incinerate most human craft.
Before anyone had a chance to react, the five objects landed across the southwestern United States, each of them slowing extremely rapidly before impact, yet still plowing craters into the countryside.
No movement came from four of the pods, and while they opened to give the appearance that someone might have left, it was the fifth one that held an occupant. It took several moments before the figure moved, and then only slowly dragging itself free of the crash webbing. The figure was sheathed in chitinous orange plates that faded toward a dull red at the edges, and it was approximately humanoid in form, with long, cable-like braids extending from the back of its head.
The figure paused, looking around the pod before gathering several pieces of equipment, along with a large crate in one hand before inputting a combination into the console on the wall. Only then did the figure take flight, flickering into near-invisibility as light bent around it as it flew to the north.
Less than a minute after the figure’s departure, the pod and all the copies surged with power, then detonated in a hail of metal that destroyed everything inside them, including two other figures like the one which departed in each of them.
By the time the first reconnaissance plane passed overhead, there was nothing for the military to find but a deep crater in the ground and shattered metal and biological remnants over the countryside.
Chapter 1
Monday, April 21st, 2031
Glendale, Utah
“Hello, inspector,” Lilith said, calmly offering her hand to the man as she studiously ignored the cameras she could see from the roadside. She was unfortunately used to the attention at this point, even if this was more pronounced than it had been before she’d gone into hiding.
Her guest was a man of middling height, with a close-trimmed brown beard and immaculate uniform, which she suspected was unusual for someone coming to inspect a construction site. His brown eyes were fixed on Lilith, and he seemed frozen for a moment before shaking himself and taking her hand. The tag he was wearing said Drew, which she suspected was his first name. She also had to wonder if he was an undercover police officer, with as calm as he seemed to be.
“You must be Lilith Carpenter, based on the pictures I’ve seen,” Drew said, smiling at her as he nodded politely. “I’d say it’s a pleasure, but who knows? As long as this is nice and quiet, I’ll be happy.”
“Quiet seems to be a relative term. I barely got here before the news crews showed up, and I’ve spotted at least three heroes in the vicinity as well. It’s almost like they don’t trust me,” Lilith replied, glancing toward the street sardonically, then admitted, “Though it could be that they’re watching for villains to attack me. That would be nice.”
“I certainly wouldn’t object to that! Now, I’m here to perform an inspection of your house. All the non-disclosure agreements have been signed,” Drew said, straightening as he looked past her. “That said, when someone requests permission to visually obscure their construction site, we’re used to them using tarps or the like. Not something like… that.”
Lilith smiled in private satisfaction, turning around as she murmured, “Yes, well, my AI insisted on proper security. She believes that allowing others to see the building while it’s under construction is a security breach.”
The area was quite different from San Francisco, Lilith had to admit, though there was still a faint scent of saltwater in the air. The Great Salt Lake wasn’t that close, but it was near enough that most days she could smell it, and mountains ringed the horizon. On the other hand, she was more focused on her new property, which she’d had ringed with a simple brick and mortar wall that was just over four feet tall. At the moment the ground was barren as well, but her property was two hundred feet on a side, giving a good fifty feet of clearance around what was to be her new home.
Not that anyone could make out the building under construction. The shimmering dome at the center of her property was a hundred feet across, and it completely distorted the view of what was inside, though some movement could be seen. The distortion generator was something only the military normally used, or a few superheroes and villains who could make them, yet Circe had added one to the construction unit without hesitation when Lilith asked her how to build a secure new home.
“Have you had many problems with that?” Drew asked, slowly starting toward the dome, looking a little hesitant. “It’s safe to approach, right?”
“Yes, it’s safe. As for problems…” Lilith paused, considering what to tell the man, then shrugged. “Three minor villains and one major one had made attempts at inserting surveillance devices inside the perimeter, while nine others have jumped the fence to intrude as well. Once the police stationed an officer nearby, the intrusions trailed off, but they’ve been unfortunately common. That’s why there’s a shield that prevents anyone from moving far into the outer shell, then another distortion field just inside that. Getting inside the outer shell doesn’t help at all, and if they do, Circe simply contacts the authorities.”
“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.
Queen's Move (Lilith's Shadow Book 3) Page 1