“She’s tired, confused, and can hardly believe what we learned. I could hardly believe it myself, and I helped drag it out of Shadowmind.” Morgan Le Fay opened her eyes and gave Warden a comforting smile. Warden’s friend was a dark-haired, beautiful sorceress whose powers partially relied on the elaborate silver jewelry she wore along with an ornate purple dress. The heroine continued evenly, the same smile on her face. “I suppose it makes a certain sort of sense, though. She was trying to create a new body for herself.”
“She was what?” Hypergizmo asked, sitting bolt upright. “Is that even possible? How, and why, would she do that?”
“If she was right, and I think she was, it was difficult but possible for her in particular,” Warden confirmed. “As to why, by this point you should all know that she was paralyzed below her chest. While she had a few theories on how to fix the problem, she eventually decided that simply fixing a broken body wasn’t good enough. Initially she was just going to acquire samples of a handful of heroes and merge their genomes for a new body, but then she got ambitious. She used the samples she acquired to create a vast gene map from heroes, then created what she considered the perfect genome for herself and started cloning a new body.”
“Shadowmind believed that if she had a body without a mind, she could use her powers to transfer her consciousness into the new body permanently,” Morgan continued as Warden paused to catch her breath. “While she was uncertain whether or not her powers would survive the transfer, she hoped that using other heroes as a baseline would increase the odds of retaining them. If she didn’t, she planned to fake her own death, which would have been easy with her old body available. We’re quite fortunate she has no better idea than anyone else where superpowers come from.”
“Thank God she doesn’t know where they come from! That crazy… I mean, she’s bad enough as it stands. If you don’t remember, I was visiting London when she tried to assassinate the Prime Minister, and the aftermath was horrific,” Black Comet spoke up, looking worried. Due to his super speed and flight, the African-American man tended to be the team’s first responder and one of their primary combatants. “Still, how’s this supposed to be good news? Is it because she didn’t succeed, because I think it’s all frightening.”
“It’s good news because she changed her mind about her plans,” Blooming Orchid spoke calmly, startling most of the others. The Chinese woman was the team’s doctor and a skilled martial artist, and she was wearing a soft green dress decorated with orchids, a sheathed jian in her lap. She smiled and explained. “I overheard some of Morgan and Warden’s conversation, and felt I could contribute a little. From what I heard, you said that Shadowmind started wondering what the woman she was creating would be like with a mind of her own. Is that correct?”
“Wait, wait, wait… are you serious?” Galvanic asked, sitting up straight and looking between them, his voice growing nervous. “So, what are you saying? Did she decide she wanted to create another villain? Because wouldn’t that make everyone happy as clams.”
“No, she didn’t. The thing that’s so strange is that Shadowmind somehow seems to have started regarding the… the girl as her daughter. She felt enough affection that when the choice was between her own freedom and that of the girl, she chose to teleport out the girl herself. This is different, Galvanic,” Warden spoke flatly, shaking her head. “In fact, we’re lucky to have even gotten this bit of information on the girl at all. Shadowmind attempted to erase all the information regarding her from her own mind, but she cared too deeply and that kept her from fully succeeding.”
“Dammit, are you saying the entire raid was pointless? We could’ve left her alone and dealt with the other villains and it would’ve had the same result?” Crimson Bull demanded, one fist clenched tightly over the table. Warden watched him warily, ready to raise a shield if the man hit the table again. The last time he’d hit it, shrapnel had flown everywhere and it’d taken Hypergizmo the better part of a week to put together a new one.
“I’d hardly call what you’ve managed pointless,” Sky Defender spoke at last, and everyone looked at him in surprise. The hero wore white power armor with red trim, and along with Ocean Spirit, he was one of the two most powerful members of their team. He didn’t speak often, so when he did, they all tended to listen.
The hero’s voice echoed through the room as he turned his head to regard each of them in turn, his words sober. “More than fifty heroes have confronted Shadowmind since she first began her campaign of terror. Of those heroes, four have lost their lives and two are still in comas. Her attempts to manipulate, blackmail, or overthrow governments have harmed the livelihoods of uncounted thousands, and over two hundred people have died in her misguided pursuit of power. This time, nearly a hundred teams of heroes and the UN cooperated to hunt her down, and we managed to capture her. Due to prior verdicts and her powers, she’s already being transferred to SuperMax by LANCE, under the effect of neural inhibitors. What you’ve done is worthy of pride, and you’ll have the thanks of countless people who can sleep easier now.”
“He’s right. What we’ve done, and especially you two, has brought a great deal of relief across the world,” Ocean Spirit agreed, smiling at Crimson Bull and Warden. “Good job, both of you. Now then, is there anything else about Shadowmind you think we need to know right now?”
“Not that I can think of. Morgan and I wrote up a lengthy report on what we learned for LANCE, and it’s on-file if anyone wants to look at it. While she wasn’t quite as bad in some ways as I expected, in other ways she was far worse,” Warden replied, smiling. “We also gave her armor to Hyper for analysis. That’s everything that I know of.”
“Excellent job. Thank you, all of you. If it hadn’t been for you, we might still be wondering what Shadowmind was up to. However, as much as I’d like to say that we have a break ahead of us, a variety of other supervillains have been acting up while we were distracted. In particular, I’ve received reports of some of Omega Code’s servants in the city, so I’d like to get some additional patrols going.” Ocean Spirit spoke briskly, moving the meeting along as Warden sat back and thought longingly about her bed.
Friday, January 11th, 2030
Warden’s Home, San Francisco
While invisibility was a type of ward, it was one of the powers that Warden found more difficult to pull off. Her magic was naturally aligned with more defensive uses, which made it difficult for the heroine to defeat many villains on her own. Where she could really shine was in a team with other heavy-hitters that she could defend, which was a large part of why she was so comfortable in Ocean Shield. Plenty of teams would probably welcome her, but that didn’t much help for getting home without being seen.
The heroine let her spell lapse with a gasp of relief, closing the door of her small house behind her. Settling onto the floor, Warden let out a soft groan and stretched, trying to pop her complaining back, which refused to cooperate. Grumbling to herself, the heroine headed for her bedroom, intent on a bath, then bed. While Hypergizmo’s latest polymer was lightweight and could stop the vast majority of bullets, especially once she’d enchanted it, it didn’t breathe very well. She always felt grimy after spending a few hours in the suit, and this time had been worse than most, since it’d taken days to punch through Shadowmind’s mental shields, followed by wading through the woman’s mind.
Warden stripped out of her costume, and in moments she was no longer a heroine, but was instead Gina Fairmont, freelance artist. Slipping into a bathrobe, she began filling the tub, contemplating the last few days as she measured out some epsom salt and slowly stirred it into the water.
“The woman’s mind was like a sewer. No, that’s not quite fair…” Gina chided herself, shaking her head as she thought back on what she’d learned. Yes, Shadowmind was a twisted, evil woman, but she wasn’t completely the villain. The villain’s alter-ego, Amber, had been a brilliant, skilled teacher in her own right, and she’d had a handful of redeeming qualities, especial
ly in regard to her supposed daughter. Those facets of good were all too rare, though, and as a whole, Gina didn’t feel a hint of regret about imprisoning the villain. Her opinion was emphasized by what she’d learned of the villain’s desires when regarding herself or other women. In many ways, it was quite fortunate that the villain had been disabled, because otherwise a large number of women would likely have suffered under her… excesses.
What had surprised Gina was that Shadowmind didn’t actually seem to be guilty of all the crimes she was believed to be behind. While it was possible that the villain had erased her memories of some of the crimes, Gina doubted that she had. In most cases the villain had almost been proud of what she’d done, not wanting to hide her actions. Besides which, Gina and Morgan had been able to discover the gaps in Shadowmind’s memories where information had been erased with relative ease. That the villain was willing to turn her own powers on herself had been a shock to both of them, and Gina felt that they’d dealt with the most dangerous of possibilities where Shadowmind was concerned.
With the tub finally full, Gina gasped as she slipped into the blissful heat, helping to relax her aching muscles. Sitting back, she murmured softly to herself, her mind turning back to their discovery. “I just have to wonder what Amber’s ‘daughter’ will choose to do? Who, or what, will she choose to be?”
Chapter 2
Saturday, January 12th, 2030
Shadowmind Utah Lair Alpha-Three
Lilith took a moment to rest her eyes, reaching up to gently massage her temples. Her mind was throbbing with the sheer volume of information at her fingertips, and it was worsened by knowing how much she didn’t truly know. While Amber had implanted a vast amount of general information in Lilith’s mind, anticipating that she wouldn’t have the knowledge that most people took for granted, even the villain had underestimated the true breadth of knowledge Lilith would need. With everything she didn’t know, Lilith found herself getting lost in her research, even forgetting to eat unless prompted by Circe. In some ways, it was almost worse when Lilith found that she felt emotionally distant from everything that had happened, likely in part because she’d never met anyone else.
Circe was doing her best to help Lilith, but given the limits of her programming, there was only so much the AI could do. The AI tried to anticipate questions and provide the information that Lilith wanted or needed, but Circe simply didn’t have the spark of intuition necessary to be able to do so, and even if she had, the computer likely would have been overwhelmed. As it was, Lilith actually felt somewhat bad for the computer, seeing some odd parallels between herself and the AI. Amber had physically limited Circe from ever reaching full consciousness with the hardware configuration she’d used, keeping software capable of so much from ever reaching its potential. Conversely, Lilith was effectively imperfect software trying to run on vastly complicated biological hardware. At least, that was what Lilith thought after examining the file on her own creation.
“What are the current odds of Amber either escaping from prison or someone breaking her out, Circe?” Lilith asked abruptly, opening her eyes and rolling her chair away from the computer terminal.
The hideout Lilith had woken in was furnished with surprisingly plush furniture, giving her a comfortable environment in which to adapt. Part of her suspected that Amber had intended to bring her to the site all along, but there was no way to know for certain. It was fortunate that Amber had built an impressive degree of automation into the lair, allowing Circe to serve her easily. Otherwise, Lilith likely would be in some trouble since she didn’t know how to cook or do many other things. She stood after a moment, circling the couch to take the glass of orange juice from breakfast and to relax away from the temptation of the internet.
“Odds approach zero, Miss Lilith. Mistress possessed few allies to begin with, and the majority of her allies were captured in the international search for her and have been imprisoned as well,” the AI explained. Lilith took a sip as Circe spoke, then grimaced at the flavor. It obviously had been out for even longer than she’d thought, so Lilith set the glass aside to listen. “Additionally, according to surveillance, the authorities were worried about the potency of her psychic abilities, and have authorized use of neural inhibitors on the Mistress. When combined with her physical disability, this will leave Mistress Amber as, in her words, ‘little more than a drooling idiot.’”
“I see,” Lilith murmured, shaking her head and leaning back into the soft couch to think. She wasn’t entirely happy with how things were going, but it was best to take things a step at a time. She didn’t know enough about the world to make decisions haphazardly, and as tempting as it was to try to rescue Amber, it would likely end in a horrible failure. While the villain would probably be able to help Lilith adapt and learn dozens of times faster than she could on her own, it seemed that was a lost opportunity. Lilith did wonder if a good relationship could have developed between them if things had gone as planned, though. After a few moments she shook her head and muttered, “It probably would have gone badly. She was more than a bit mad.”
“Miss Lilith? Were you speaking to me?” Circe asked, her voice seeming ever so slightly curious, in a way that caused another pang of pity to wash through Lilith. It was so terribly obvious to her that Circe was on the cusp of full sentience, yet her hardware was preventing her from taking that last step. Still, Lilith had more important things to worry about. If she ever could build hardware to upgrade the AI, then she’d consider what could be done for Circe.
“No, it was a rhetorical question, Circe,” Lilith replied quietly, bracing herself as she picked up the glass and downed the remainder of the orange juice as quickly as possible. Setting the glass aside, she nodded firmly. “I’m going with Training Plan G, Circe. Assuming I perform 50% better than Amber’s estimates for the program, how long would it take to finish?”
Circe paused only a moment before replying. “Seven months and twelve days, Miss Lilith. I must warn that attempting to carry out such an aggressive schedule will put you under significant physical and mental strain, and it is not advised that you do so.”
“I fully understand, but the risk is acceptable, Circe. I wish to find my limits in a controlled environment,” Lilith explained, taking a breath before heading toward the gymnasium, her course now charted. While she appreciated the comfort of the hideout, it was little more than a plush prison and she didn’t wish to be trapped inside it for any longer than necessary. Even the idea of seven months inside it chafed.
Lilith thought she could do better than that, and she quickened her pace slightly at the thought.
Saturday, January 12th, 2030
Nevada SuperMax
Some days Martin Thompson wondered how he’d gotten himself imprisoned in a SuperMax. Other days he admitted that teaming up with Burt was one of the stupidest ideas he’d ever had. The truth hurt, but he’d lied to himself often enough getting into prison, and he wanted to change.
Martin had grown up in a bad neighborhood, and he’d learned to defend himself early on. After seeing some of the things that had gone down, joining a gang had just made sense. When his dad had died, he’d dropped out of high school, lying to his mother and telling her that he’d joined a construction crew to help make ends meet. She’d been desperate enough to look the other way, and he suspected she’d known the truth all along.
Instead Martin had helped the gang make money by pawning things they found. Still, his share hadn’t been enough to actually make a difference, even if the cops hadn’t ever caught them. Things probably would’ve continued like that if Burt hadn’t manifested his powers and been able to control fire—an ability far more impressive than Martin’s own. Burt had quickly hatched a few plans and dubbed himself Bomber, ignoring the dozens of other villains with the name, and Martin and some others had helped.
Looking out of his cell, Martin wistfully remembered how well the first bank robbery had gone. For a little while he’d thought that his money troubles w
ere behind him. The second bank, though—that had gone badly. Arcane Avenger had reflected Burt’s flames right back at him, at which point everyone had learned that while Burt could control fire, he wasn’t fireproof. The new villain had ended up in the hospital, and Martin and his cohort had been sent to the SuperMax.
After three years, his parole hearing was only a year away, and Martin was determined not to blow it. The stories from the other minions of villains had seen to that. He’d been learning to weld in shop classes and hadn’t caused problems. He was sick of being in prison, and didn’t want to return, unlike some of the others.
“Hey beautiful! Look over here!”
“Did ya bring us something to pass the time?”
The catcalls and whistles startled Martin, drawing his attention to what was down the hall. Most of the guards disapproved of the behavior, and not many of the inmates were willing to risk yelling at them anymore, which meant the others almost had to be talking about a new inmate or a civvie, which was unusual.
Shifting to the other end of his cell, Martin craned his neck to try and see what was going on. He was just barely able to see a pair of guards coming down the hall, and neither was the type to provoke the behavior of the other inmates. No, it had to be pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. She was slumped over and her hair had been reduced to a thin blond fuzz, but she had a pretty good figure. It was odd that she was ignoring the taunts of the other inmates, but her uniform made her another prisoner.
A few seconds later, the woman’s head rolled back slightly, revealing the line of drool trailing from her mouth and her vacant blue eyes. She looked utterly harmless, but the sight of her eyes sent a blast of pure, undiluted terror through Martin, sending him stumbling back against the wall of his cell, panting. “Jesus! Holy shit on a pogo stick!”
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 3
