“Well, duh? This is an experiment, not a suicide pact,” Rachel said dryly. “I also think it’s far more sane than the one before Christmas.”
“Damn Blue Impulse anyway,” Gina muttered, prompting a laugh from Lilith.
“He is in rather unpleasant condition, I’ll point out. And even if he ever wakes up, he’s going to be less dangerous than before,” Lilith said, smirking as she added, “Circe told me that they’ve determined he lost about a quarter of his magical potential, and that the, um… well, I may as well have castrated him. Unless someone uses some form of regeneration on him, anyway.”
“Oof, a quarter of his magic? That would sting,” Rachel murmured, and Lilith felt like she could practically see her lover wince. “Not that he doesn’t deserve it. Sadly, there are plenty of ways to get regeneration of some form, but that requires him to wake up and get out of lockup.”
“I… think I’ll refrain from comment. Anything I say would be far meaner than I’d like,” Gina said after a moment of silence, a slight edge to her voice. “Anyway, I also don’t think I’ll ever forgive Defender for what he did. Sure, Lilith’s fine, but my painting was mortally wounded!”
“A definite tragedy,” Lilith said, her eyes and mood darkening a little at the memory. Sure, Gina had done a high-quality scan of the painting of Morgan in a elven dress, so it wasn’t completely lost, but the laser cannon had punched a hole right through the center of the painting, and residual heat, combined with the fire suppression system, had pretty much finished it off. On the other hand, thinking about it brought her mind back to Spark, which brightened her mood a little, and Lilith grinned. “Actually, speaking of paintings… I think Spark wants to see your painting of her.”
“What?” Gina yelped, obviously startled. “Lilith, you told her about that?”
“Of course I did. When she showed up, I greeted her, and she seemed surprised that I knew who she was. I mentioned that we looked at the heroes in the area, but that I’d found out about her because of your painting,” Lilith explained, examining the fingernails on her free hand, then frowned. They were slightly more ragged than she’d like, so she’d have to trim them later. “While Spark didn’t say anything about it, despite my offer to ask you to bring it with, she seemed quite intrigued.”
“That… well, I suppose it could be worse. I’m glad I took down my online listings when I did, because now it seems like every collector under the sun is coming out of the woodwork to try to buy my paintings,” Gina said, letting out a sigh. “I’ll definitely think about it, though. I’ve only met Spark… three times?”
“Something like that. I know she visited Ocean Shield once, and you were at a conference with her another time,” Rachel agreed, and a faint bit of road noise came through the speaker before she asked, “So, what’d you think of her, Lilith? And what did she seem to think of you?”
“She was watching me with obvious suspicion, but wasn’t openly hostile, which was a nice change of pace,” Lilith said, shrugging helplessly as she continued. “Beyond that? I don’t know, really. She’s… a heroine, and I don’t know her. On the other hand, she was pretty good at masking her opinion, though she seemed to have relaxed by the end of the tour. Probably because she didn’t see any superweapons in the manor.”
“As if I would have allowed them in a public venue, Mistress Lilith. Even if you wanted them, which you did not,” Circe interjected primly, prompting laughter from the other two.
“A definite point. Well, we’re going to have to figure something out. We can’t have the heroes eyeing us in suspicion for forever,” Gina said, to Lilith’s amusement. In the background Lilith thought she could hear road noise as well, prompting her eyes to narrow slightly.
“Sure we can. I just would prefer to have them accept us,” Lilith said, and shrugged. “For now, though… we shall see what comes. Are the two of you out?”
“We’re heading for dinner, yes. Going back to the Chinese place where we met, in fact,” Rachel confirmed, sounding a bit guilty as she added, “I wish you could be with us.”
“I wish I could be there,” Lilith said, letting out a somewhat wistful sigh. “Though I suspect that would just garner unwelcome attention.”
“Actually, that’s what I’m doing, right now. I’m not hiding my lip color, remember?” Gina countered, her tone bright, but somewhat forced as well. “We’ll see you this Friday!”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lilith murmured, and hung up.
For a minute she just laid there on the couch, trying to ignore the loneliness she was feeling. Then she shook herself, swinging her legs off the couch to stand. Rachel had moved into Lilith’s room some time before, and with her had come a host of manicuring tools she’d taught Lilith to use, so that was her first destination, at least for the moment.
“Circe, what was on the menu for tonight?” Lilith asked as she walked.
“Chicken pot pie, fresh biscuits, and a tossed green salad,” Circe replied promptly. “It can be ready fifteen minutes after you request it.”
“In that case, please have it ready in… half an hour,” Lilith said, considering her fingernails for a moment more, then opened the door to her room and smiled. It was rather crowded now, even with the enormous closet, but the sight of all of Rachel’s jewelry practically spilling out of the jewelry boxes on the vanity, and the numerous texts regarding magic on the shelves were comforting for her. She continued a moment later. “I’d also like another round of training with my power armor this evening.”
“Of course, Mistress Lilith. Dinner will be ready in just under thirty minutes, and I’m prepping your power armor in the proving grounds,” Circe agreed promptly, and Lilith smiled.
“Thank you, Circe. What would I do without you?” Lilith said, glancing up at the speaker on the ceiling fondly.
“I’m certain that you would manage, Mistress Lilith. I’ve done what I can to make certain that you’re an independent woman,” Circe replied, the AI’s tone softening as she spoke with just a hint of affection. “I may not be human, but I do care for you. It isn’t solely my programming that influences me to take care of you.”
Lilith paused just as she was pulling out the tools she needed, blinking in surprise, then warmth rushed through her as she smiled, even more at ease than she’d been before. Then she nodded, murmuring softly, “Thank you, Circe. That… means a lot to me. I care about you, too.”
“I know, Mistress Lilith. I’ll leave you to your work,” Circe replied, now sounding brisk. “I hope you have a pleasant evening.”
Lilith laughed at that, and settled down to get to work. She was looking forward to getting out of the lair more permanently.
Chapter 5
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2031
Paragon City, Utah
The facility was relatively quiet, as late at night as it was and with the moon hiding its face. The only people in the area were a handful of security guards, along with some late-night workers traveling home, though the silence was broken frequently by the sound of airplanes taking off and landing at the neighboring airport.
Donald Thornhill didn’t think much of the planes, not after several years on the job. Instead, he yawned and reached for his coffee mug, keeping an eye on the monitors idly. He really didn’t see the point of keeping so much security on-site, but he also wasn’t going to argue, not when the company paid rather well to have him there most nights. He just wished that one of the other guards hadn’t brought in a laptop to play games and prompted his bosses to crack down on guards bringing in books or other things to distract themselves from the boredom. Now he had a camera watching him from behind, which was rather irritating.
He took a sip of the coffee, then set his mug aside with a sigh as a flicker of movement drew his gaze to the north side of the building. Donald frowned, tapping a couple of buttons to change his controls to that camera, then panned the camera toward the movement.
At first he didn’t see anything, and Donald had to wonder if he’
d just seen a bat or something. Then he saw more shadows and panned further, only to swear under his breath as he saw a group of young men and women. He couldn’t make out details, but he didn’t need to since it looked like one of the younger gangs that liked tagging buildings.
“Damn it, that’s the last thing we need to piss off the brass,” Donald said, grabbing his radio, then suddenly swayed drunkenly in his chair.
The world was swaying around him, and Donald felt his thoughts growing fuzzy, which struck him as strange. Then he looked at the monitor again, and saw a slim figure in the front, staring directly at the camera.
A woman with pale white skin and hair was standing there, her skin smooth despite the cold, and she wore a white dress. However, it was her eyes that drew his attention, as they were pitch-black orbs, and black veins extended from them outward, marring the beauty of her face. Fear rippled through Donald, but he couldn’t look away from her, no matter how much he tried. Instead, he felt as though he was falling into those eyes, like they were an abyss that was consuming him.
His awareness of everything else slowly faded, then Donald’s knees weakened, his hand spasmed, then it dropped from his radio. And as all awareness faded, his head fell forward onto his desk, and the only thing he could remember were those immense black eyes.
A fourth security guard crumbled to the ground, his eyes rolled back in his head, and Dreamer smiled sadistically, licking her lips and shivering as energy flowed into her. The last few months had been unpleasant indeed, as she’d constantly felt as though her entire being was a massive void. That was the cost of her escape, though, and her hatred of Morgan was so intense that it startled even Dreamer. On the other hand, it gave her a goal, too.
While Dreamer could physically travel through the realm of dreams and emerge elsewhere intact, such an ability had a price that she’d been reluctant to pay. No matter how much energy she’d stolen from the dreams of others, using the power cost her everything. Over a decade of accumulation, of stealing the sweet and horrid dreams of others… all of it had vanished, including the power of Dreamer’s greatest prize, Sir Gareth. Worse, that meant that in the coming months those that she’d incapacitated would wake once more, which worried even her. That was why she didn’t dare take her time regaining her full power.
“Tha’s four of ’em, boss-lady. Shoul’ jus’ be one more, in the room wi’ the ‘ameras,” Morle said, his tongue piercing clicking against his teeth. Dreamer was fairly sure that wasn’t the man’s real name, but she didn’t care enough to find out more. He was scared to death of her, though, which was the main reason she kept him around, along with the fact he wasn’t powerful enough to be worth draining.
“I already dealt with the little man, Morle. So you and your friends can go drag the guards into the building now,” Dreamer said, smiling nastily at him as she looked around. “They should have keys on them.”
“Yessm!” Morle acknowledged quickly, swallowing hard and jerking his head at the others, his mohawk bobbing as he did so. They quickly surged out of the bushes, and Dreamer chuckled, following them at a more sedate pace.
“I’m not as weak as I was… and soon, soon I will be stronger still,” Dreamer murmured, flicking a stray moth away as she luxuriated in the cold air of the night. Most people wouldn’t enjoy it, but she wasn’t most people, and after years suppressing the variety of ills trying to kill her, even in her weakened state she was stronger than most people would have believed. Before she couldn’t have drained the guard through a camera feed, for example.
But that didn’t matter. Instead she watched her nervous minions unlock the door for her, dragging the security guards inside quickly, and she entered the room like she was a queen, smiling all the way.
The interior of the warehouse was nondescript, which she’d expected. It was also deceiving, as no warehouse that was truly normal would have as many guards on staff as there were, and Dreamer looked around, then nodded decisively.
“Good, just as I expected. Which of you can use a forklift?” Dreamer asked, looking at her minions again. She honestly couldn’t remember which of them had said they could and didn’t really care to try remembering.
“Me, Lady Dreamer!” a woman said, adjusting her jacket nervously.
“Good, then go get one,” Dreamer said shortly, walking deeper into the room as she pointed at a quartet of pallets on the top levels of the racks. “Those are the pallets we’re after. One of you’d best get the driver over here as well. The pallets in the truck should be placed in each corner of the building.”
“Right away!” the woman said hastily, her dark hair waving in the air as she ran toward the forklifts, to Dreamer’s approval.
At the same time one of the others ran for the door, while Morle earned a slight improvement in her estimations when he headed toward the truck bay without her instructions. Most of the gangers were dimwitted, in Dreamer’s opinion.
Instead she started walking through the warehouse, looking around idly at each of the pallets she passed, hoping some would catch her interest. The executive she’d caught alone had had so many intriguing secrets to share with her, and this warehouse had been one of them. The problem was…
Dreamer paused as her gaze settled on a pallet, and she slowly grinned, looking at it.
“Oh, this will be useful,” Dreamer murmured, stepping closer to the pallet with the multiple containers of well-cushioned canisters on it. The gas inside the canisters was normally used for some types of manufacturing, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be used for other things. Particularly for dealing with annoying heroes.
“Girl! Grab this one, too,” Dreamer called out, ignoring the other minions as she perused the contents of the warehouse further.
Anything which could be used to her benefit was worth grabbing, after all. As for the rest, well… even if it wasn’t valuable, she didn’t see the point of leaving it for others.
It wasn’t long before the truck left again, followed by a scattered handful of people, and the warehouse was dark and peaceful again, though anyone who knew what had happened there would have been quite concerned. Still, the men and women who’d been attacked at least had a chance of recovery.
Then four fireballs ripped through the warehouse, extinguishing that hope in an instant. The explosions were far bigger than they needed to be, ripping each corner of the building to shreds and sending shrapnel flying in every direction, hitting cars and other buildings as the structure began to collapse. The pallet racks held for a short time, but then they crumpled under the roof’s weight as fires burned hot and bright.
Sirens had just begun to wail when secondary explosions ripped through the wreckage, these fireballs white-hot as what seemed like ammunition, explosives, and even gas canisters detonated.
By the time the explosions finished, the warehouse was barely recognizable as having been a building.
Chapter 6
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2031
Guardian Compound, Paragon City
“What the hell happened?” Spark asked, looking at the images of the smoking wreckage in disbelief. “That looks like a war zone!”
The meeting room for the Paragon City Sentinels wasn’t that large, in part because they only had four members. It had a modest sized table with control boards on each side of it at the center, while the walls were a soothing shade of blue where they weren’t covered by large screens to share information, and the chairs were almost sinfully comfortable, in Spark’s opinion. Personally, Spark thought that they could use a few more members of the team, but she’d learned not to press the issue. For whatever reason, Shade got really prickly about the subject.
Thinking about Shade, Spark glanced toward her teammate and resisted the urge to shake her head. The mage was of middling height, but that was about everything someone could see about him, except for his dark eyes. He wore black robes with a hood that shrouded his head, along with a mask that covered the lower half of his face and which modulated his voice to
be deep and booming. The robes had blue, silver, and gold runes stitched into it, supposedly defensive spells, but Spark knew he also wore body armor beneath the robes. Shade might glory in his appearance and fame, but he wasn’t stupid.
Decarin was a sharp contrast to Shade, on the other hand. Decarin was in his mid-thirties, and his lack of exercise had led to him starting to lose shape. Add to that thinning brown hair, stained overalls, and a relatively mundane appearance, and one might mistake him for a farmer, at least if they didn’t notice how pale the man was. Looks could be deceiving, though, as Decarin was a brilliant tech specialist, in Spark’s opinion, and his eyes were bright with intelligence.
“I haven’t gotten solid information yet, as Ethan Security is being extremely close-mouthed, but all indications are that the warehouse held a fair number of the products and supplies they sell to other security companies. They’ve kept it under the radar for years, but… well, some security footage from the area indicates that Dreamer caught wind of it,” Decarin said, flicking a finger, and a blurry image of a woman in white and a whole bunch of punks on a sidewalk came up. Before anyone could speak, he added, “This is the best image I could find, so don’t ask if I’ve got a better one. I’m not certain that’s Dreamer, but I give pretty good odds that it is.”
“Do we have any idea what was taken? I heard a truck left it before the building exploded,” Shade said, his voice oddly booming due to his modulator, though at least he turned the volume down in their headquarters.
“Nope, not a clue. The truck was found abandoned down in West Jordon a few hours later, so we’re not sure where it went, exactly. Maybe it’ll show up in camera footage, but that’s going to take time to go through,” Decarin said, shaking his head firmly, then smiled. “On the other hand, the gangers weren’t nearly as careful as they should’ve been. I’m told that the police got a pile of fingerprints and already have matches for some of them. They’re mostly for small-time gang members from the suburbs, but it gives some leads.”
Queen's Move (Lilith's Shadow Book 3) Page 4