Blue Impulse blanched at the mention of two of the most powerful teams in the country as well as the military wing dedicated to combatting supervillains, and swallowed hard as Johnson continued relentlessly. “If any of those possibilities came about, it would have a severe impact on my plans. That would make me unhappy, Impulse. On the other hand… heroes occasionally fail and are out of commission for a few weeks or months. If you can pull that off, I’d be willing to allow it.”
“Ah, what do you mean, Doctor? After your warning, I don’t want to screw up. That doesn’t sound like a good time,” Impulse asked after a moment, swallowing again.
“What I’m saying is that while you aren’t allowed to kill or cripple her, you can humiliate her or disable her for a time. Something that would leave her unable to help her team for a few weeks or months would be ideal, as her absence would make my plans easier to carry out,” Johnson explained pleasantly, much like he’d normally discuss the weather. “However, you’re to leave her family and friends alone, and don’t unmask her. Something like that would garner a disproportionate response. If you wish to do so, I’d say that four months from now would be perfect for my plans. If you manage to take her off the playing field at that point for even two weeks, I’ll pay up to eighty thousand for the job. That’s split between anyone you get the assistance of as well, I’ll add, not each.”
“Wait, are you serious?” Blue Impulse asked, sitting upright suddenly. At Doctor Johnson’s nod, he grinned broadly. “Hell, even if I wasn’t pissed off at her I’d take that deal! Sure, I need to see if anyone else will help, but if they will, I’ll take her out!”
“Excellent. I’ll draw up the contract shortly, but you’re the one who needs to bargain with the others. While I’m happy to pay for it, it’s your job,” the older villain replied with another slight smile. “I’d suggest working up a plan with the help of the others. In the meantime, I have work to do.”
“Alright, thanks again, boss! I’ll do my best, I promise,” Impulse replied with a broad smile. His mood had obviously improved as he stood and gave a polite nod, then briskly left the room.
“He’s somewhat of a vindictive brute, isn’t he? Still, he’s useful for now,” Johnson murmured after the door had closed, looking at his fish. “I suspect he’s going to do something quite unpleasant to Warden. Still, the responsibility will be his, and there are always more villains where he came from. If I have to discard him to make room for a better tool, so be it. Now then, where was I…?”
Finding Ebon Dragon’s room in the base took a little longer than Blue Impulse had expected. Still, it wasn’t too surprising, since he’d never visited before. While he’d worked with Ebon Dragon on several occasions, the older villain made Impulse’s skin crawl, and something about how the man stared at him made the young villain uncomfortable. Due to that, he hesitated on finding the door, debating if the man’s assistance was worth the trouble. Finally, he knocked firmly, shaking his head to dispel his worries.
“Yes?” Ebon Dragon asked, his voice surprisingly clear through the door.
“It’s me, you know, Blue Impulse? I just got a job from the Doctor, and it’ll combine both business and pleasure for me. Problem is, I need some help, and you’re the best one I can think of. Mind listening?” Impulse asked, trying to suppress his discomfort. He knew that Ebon Dragon was far more skilled than he was, which was always an unpleasant thought. That it took the other man a good thirty seconds to reply just made it worse.
Finally the door slid open and Ebon Dragon spoke, the Chinese man’s face impassive as he stepped to the side. “Come in.”
Whistling softly as he looked around the room, Blue Impulse stopped just inside the door, stunned. “Wow, you’ve got a nice place here. And all the things you have… geez, I don’t know what even half of it’s used for!”
The ornate furnishings throughout the room looked like they were either imported from Ebon Dragon’s homeland or were flawless replicas, and the elaborate carpets on the floor and walls glittered with magic woven into their patterns. A screen concealed the back half of the room, the wooden stand carved to look like rampant dragons. Several bookcases lined the walls, filled to the brim with books in several languages that Blue Impulse couldn’t understand. The table in the center of the room was covered with incense, beakers, jade bottles, gemstones, and still other herbs and ingredients that he didn’t recognize.
Ebon Dragon himself was an intimidating man, despite being of average height. He had an ageless look that made Impulse think he was anywhere between thirty and fifty years old, and he had a carefully trimmed goatee with close-cut black hair. The man wore a black martial arts uniform that was trimmed in gray, and he was frowning at Blue Impulse.
“You had a request. Explain yourself,” Ebon Dragon demanded flatly.
Deciding to ignore most of the gloating he wanted to do, Impulse cut to the chase. He could always talk about it with Megawatt over a few beers later on. So he quickly explained. “Warden’s been pissing me off for ages, and apparently she’s in the way of a few of the Doctor’s plans too. He’s offering me a good chunk of cash if I can shut her down for at least two weeks, four months down the road. I’ll offer you a third of the total, about twenty-five kay, if you help out. I think a curse would do the job, but I’ve no idea where to even start on one.”
“That would be exceedingly difficult. Warden’s shields are so strong she can easily block virtually all curses,” the other villain retorted, shaking his head slightly. “I dislike admitting it, but I have rarely seen such powerful shields before.”
“Oh, I fully agree on her shields. That’s a nut that I don’t think we could crack if we took her head on, but I’ve got another idea. See, I got lucky and managed to capture a fragment of her magic. It’s tough to keep stable, but here it is,” Impulse admitted readily, conjuring the spark of gold again as he smiled. “I think that if you could use this as an anchor or something, we could do a lot. I’m pretty certain that me and Megawatt could knock her out, all I need is a curse. And so you know, the Doctor said no crippling or killing her, but I’ve got other things in mind. Hell, if you’ve got the right curses, I’ll pay out of my own pocket for them.”
“Hmm… with her magic, it’s possible,” Ebon Dragon admitted, his eyes narrowing as he studied the shard. It took a minute before he nodded firmly. “Very well. I’m willing to craft and prepare the curse, so long as it is within my ability to create. I will not be responsible for disabling her, however. So long as this has the Doctor’s approval, I will aid you for the offered amount. Anything beyond disabling her is… negotiable.”
“He’s definitely behind it. When I left, he said he’d be working up a contract shortly,” Impulse assured him. “And I’d be perfectly willing to negotiate on the extras!”
“Very well. What ideas did you have for the curse?” Ebon Dragon asked, his voice thawing ever so slightly as he gestured to a chair nearby. “Please, sit.”
“Well, I hate that she’s always so prim and proper in combat, and want to put her in her place. I’d like to shut down her magic, and adjust her attitude a little,” Impulse replied, grinning and starting his explanation. “See, with this as a seed I think…”
Chapter 6
Tuesday, November 12th, 2030
Lilith’s Condo, San Francisco
Looking down at the bay through the window, Lilith took a sip of her water, contemplating her life. The condo was high enough that she had a decent view of both the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. Though other buildings blocked some of it, the privacy was well worth it. Even so, when she’d come to San Francisco, Lilith had never expected to be so incredibly bored inside six months.
In the ten months since she’d awakened in Amber’s laboratory, things had changed immensely, yet in some ways she felt like they hadn’t changed at all. She’d spent six months going through a grueling training regimen to be ready to enter society, during which Lilith had pushed her mind and body to their limits. It
was incredible how much she’d exceeded Amber’s expectations by, even if she’d only manifested a single, near-useless power. At first she’d thought that the attention she was garnering was merely due to her beauty, considering how many people flirted with her, but then she’d realized that something was drawing their attention. Even when she was behind tinted glass walls, others seemed to look toward her almost instinctively.
It had taken a little adjustment, but in the end Lilith had learned to deal with the power, mostly by ignoring the attention. She’d also taken a decent amount of funds from some of Amber’s investments to see what she could do for herself. She didn’t entirely like owing so much to Amber, but there were almost no other options open to her. Even so, Lilith had been startled by how quickly she’d been able to multiply her money, becoming almost disgustingly wealthy. The speed with which it’d occurred also raised worries that the government might take an interest, but fortunately they seemed to have largely ignored her. With the money her first investments had brought in, Lilith had purchased several small tech firms and merged them, creating Carpenter Microsystems. Unwilling and unable to properly manage the company, Lilith hired a CEO and stepped back to watch in fascination as the new business began to spin up.
It was incredible how anticlimactic her success was in the end. With the knowledge she’d received from Amber, an education from Circe, and a bit of work looking at different businesses, it had ended up far too easy to turn a small fortune into a much larger one. That same fortune was what had allowed her to purchase not just a single luxury condo atop her high rise, but the entire top floor. Yet despite her success, Lilith didn’t feel like it was important, not with all the other funds Amber had left. While it had seemed like a challenge at first, she didn’t see any real effort being needed to maintain it. Now she was bored, and she didn’t know what to do.
The thought prompted another sigh from Lilith, and she took a sip of water. A flicker of white at the edge of her vision caught her attention, though, and Lilith turned her head to look. Normally one might expect it to be a bird, but in this case it was Warden, the heroine flying along a floor or two below Lilith’s condo.
From what Lilith could tell, the heroine must be out on patrol, and she’d seen the woman a handful of times since she moved in, as well as in the weeks before that. Initially Lilith had been biased against Warden, but after the last few months, that had changed more into ambivalence. While Warden had put Amber into prison and slowed down Lilith’s development in the process, she couldn’t decide if that was a bad thing or not. Amber had almost certainly deserved what had happened to her, which was what led to Lilith’s mixed feelings where Warden was concerned.
A flash of blue light drew her attention from the heroine to the roof of a neighboring building, just ahead of Warden’s route. Instead of an empty roof, there were two people she recognized as villains, ones which had been on the news shortly after she came to the city, and their presence made Lilith frown. Based on the black and blue bodysuit, the first man was Blue Impulse, and the other one in black power armor was likely Megawatt. What they were doing there was a question for only a moment, before Lilith saw Blue Impulse gesture toward the edge where Warden was flying, just as he pulled out an arm-length rod of some type.
With neither of the villains nor the heroine able to see her, Lilith wasn’t certain what to do. She didn’t really want the villains to ambush Warden, but there was no way she could directly interfere. So, after a moment’s thought, she pulled out her phone and texted the emergency number for the police department, murmuring under her breath, “Well, at least this will be interesting, for once.”
Warden felt exhausted after weeks of heavy patrols through the city. No matter how much everyone disliked it, there hadn’t been any other choice over the last few weeks, not once they’d found signs of one of Omega Code’s doomsday devices in the container ship that had been damaged. The majority of the device had been destroyed, for which Warden and the others were thankful, but it had also raised warning signs. The nihilist villain was often considered one of the most dangerous people on the planet, since he was not only willing but capable of ending the world. The only thing that had saved the planet on three separate occasions was that Omega Code was unable to work without grandstanding, and each time all of the heroes and villains in the area had united to stop him.
That had made the increased patrols a necessity, and two weeks before they’d run into Black Harbinger, one of Omega Code’s most powerful servants. The battle had been devastating, ending with the villain self-detonating and both destroying the factory he’d been raiding and hospitalizing Galvanic Action for most of a week. Warden had been just a little too far away to protect her ally, which made her feel that much worse.
If there were any true justice in the world, that would’ve been the end of Black Harbinger, but somehow the villain was able to revive after an unknown period, so she was certain that the shadowy villain would be back again. Hopefully they’d be able to deal with him better the next time.
Despite knowing that the patrols were necessary, they were starting to overload Warden, as she was the only one who could withstand the villain’s entropic attacks easily. She was burning out, and starting to jump at relatively minor surprises. It was fortunate that she hadn’t had to deal with anything but a few robbers in the last couple of weeks, and they’d been easy to trap for the police to take into custody.
Warden couldn’t say what it was that made her look up at the luxury apartments ahead of her, though. The gleaming, modern tower with its mirrored windows made the building she was next to seem short and squat, even though it was only a few floors taller. Warden couldn’t help but wonder what it’d be like to live someplace like that. She’d never trade her home for it, though. It was too busy downtown, too expensive, and above all, too prone to getting pulverized by villains. No, she liked her cozy, out of the way house. But a sudden flicker of movement from above startled the heroine.
“What the hell?” Warden blurted out, staring at the black suit of power armor. Unlike Sky Defender’s sleek suit, this one was burly, heavily armored, and covered with energy cannons. Her eyes instantly focused on her main worry, a cannon nearly the size of a minigun which was pointed directly at her. Even though she was exhausted, Warden instantly threw out her hands toward the villain and put almost everything into a shield, calling out into her comm. “Crimson, I’ve got Megawatt on top of me!”
The heroine didn’t have time to process the hiss of static that came in response, not when the barrel of the cannon was pointing directly at her face. She hoped her barrier would hold, concentrating the spell to be even more dense.
“Augh!” As the brilliant light of dozens of suns suddenly hit her in the eyes, Warden screamed and clutched at her face. Her vision went red-white, then abruptly cut off as it went black, and intense pain seared her skull like an awl. She couldn’t maintain her concentration through the pain, her magic slipping through her fingers as she began falling. Panic surged through her, but it still took a moment for Warden to start slowing her fall, when a blast of displaced air thumped behind her.
“Did ya miss me, bitch?” Blue Impulse’s voice was filled with malevolence, and Warden only had a moment to try to raise her shields before he acted, but the pain slowed her down too much. An object hit her in the back hard, and her muscles began to spasm under an electrical assault. Losing consciousness was almost a relief compared to the pain.
“I have to say, that was a lot easier than I expected,” Megawatt rumbled, his voice heavily distorted by the alteration software he used. The villain flew alongside Blue Impulse, but stowed the big cannon as they moved.
“You’re damn right about it being easy! Since she has to see, I figured light would go right through her shields!” Blue Impulse replied, grinning broadly as he headed for the top of the big apartment building where Ebon Dragon was waiting. Holding both the unconscious heroine and the supercharged stun gun was difficult, but he man
aged, grinning the entire way. What was coming filled him with anticipation, and a part of Impulse resented Doctor Johnson for delaying this for so long. Shaking the thought from his head, he complimented Megawatt. “You’re awesome, Mega, that was a hell of a distraction, too. If you hadn’t taken her shields down, there’s no way I could’ve gotten her like that.”
“It’s no problem. This thing was just a glorified flashlight, after all. A lot easier than a laser cannon,” Impulse’s friend replied, but he seemed pleased.
Reaching the rooftop Ebon Dragon had chosen, Blue Impulse looked around in surprise. It was extremely nice, with clear, inward-angled barriers around the edge of the roof, an area of artificial grass, a covered electric grill, and a picnic table. The stair and elevator access looked like it was next to a maintenance room, but fortunately no one but Ebon Dragon himself was present. The villain had an impassive look on his face, but smiled on seeing Warden.
“There was only one camera watching the roof, which I disabled. Assuming your preparations worked,” Ebon Dragon told them, nodding at the table. “Set her there. I must see what precautions she has taken. Even with my preparations, it’s possible she has something which can render this futile. Unlikely, but possible.”
“Right, you mentioned that. I do feel some magic in her clothing…” Blue Impulse paused uncertainly, trying to sense the magic, but his grasp of what her enchantments might be was too weak. If it weren’t for his ability to fly and teleport, other villains probably wouldn’t bother hiring him. Still, he shrugged and laid the pretty heroine on the table, glancing at Megawatt. “Mega? Do you think the decoy and jammer worked right?”
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 6
