“No matter, I’ll look her over,” Morgan interjected grimly, moving past Lilith in a flash. Focusing firmly, Morgan murmured words in Latin as she let her magic flow outward in a deep purple stream to caress Warden’s face and envelop her body. The magic seeped into Warden’s body, seeking out what had been done to her, and as answers began to appear in her mind, Morgan couldn’t help but scowl in anger at the foul magic she sensed.
Her magic slowly swept through Warden’s entire body, examining every organ, every vein, and her entire nervous system in detail. Save for some damage to her eyes, Warden’s body seemed almost perfectly fine. The problem was the magic Morgan sensed, and a part of her was actually happy that some of the spells were keeping Warden unconscious, considering the rest of the magic. Twisted serpents of black magic were woven into her friend’s golden energy, impeding it and choking it, almost like weeds might choke the life from other plants.
Changing her incantation, Morgan focused her spells on one of the invasive tendrils of magic. It didn’t seem to work at first, so she scowled and increased the power she’d focused on the stubborn black magic. It took a little while, but finally it began to shift under her spell, prompting a surge of elation, followed quickly by horror. Instead of prying the invasive magic away from Warden’s, it was ripping out Warden’s magic too! Quickly stopping, Morgan watched as the power settled back into place, trying to figure out what had just happened.
“Damn it… is it attuned to her magic somehow? How could they possibly weave it into her that closely? Unless they had a lot of time, I don’t see how…?” Morgan murmured, pulling her magic back for the moment. While the damage to Warden’s eyes was annoying, it was easily fixed, even without magic. Far more worrying was the curse embedded in Warden, so Morgan reached down and picked up one of the pinheads, examining it closely. Faint magical residue was within the colorful head, residue which was quite familiar, and realization flooded through Morgan as she hissed, “Shit!”
“Morgan? What’s wrong?” Hypergizmo asked, his voice betraying worry.
“Somehow, they managed to get a sample of her magic, Hyper. They used it to create the curse to merge with her magic, and it’s… nasty,” Morgan replied, making certain that Lilith couldn’t overhear as she explained. “It’s sealed her magic, and this is really, really insidious. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to work through this, but she’s going to be without her magic for at least a few days, and possibly a lot longer than that. It all depends on how easy this curse is to break.”
For Lilith, watching Morgan work was utterly fascinating. It was almost like she could feel what Morgan was doing and what had happened to Warden, though there were no details. It was all just feelings and approximations, though it seemed to be improving the longer she was in their presence. That both worried and intrigued her, though why she was having a reaction to Morgan confused her. As far as she knew, she’d never come close to having contact with either woman, and that they felt slightly familiar to her was odd, to say the least.
At least in Warden’s case Lilith knew that the heroine had captured Amber, which gave them a faint connection of sorts, but Morgan hadn’t participated in that raid. It confused her, but Lilith supposed it might be in part because she found both women attractive, or that they were heroines. She’d never had contact with superheroes before this, so she lacked the experience to know for certain. The other possibility was that it was a reaction born of how she was created, since her genome had been generated from heroes that included Morgan and Warden both. Lilith had other theories as well, including the faint possibility that Amber might have implanted attractions to particular heroes in her mind. She’d have to ask Circe about that possibility.
Morgan was an attractive woman in her own right, with straight black hair to the middle of her back, olive skin, and almond-shaped eyes that were a deep blue. Relatively petite on the whole, the woman made up for it with a posture fit for a queen, in Lilith’s opinion. The only thing that bothered Lilith was the woman’s outfit. Morgan wore a close-fitting, metallic purple dress and a raven-feathered cloak, while she masked her identity with an elaborate purple and black mask. With the ornate silver jewelry the heroine wore, it made Lilith think the outfit was rather ridiculous. Part of her wanted to adjust the outfits of both women, but it wasn’t as if she’d ever have that opportunity.
“Is something wrong with her? I hope she’ll be alright… I tried to be gentle, but didn’t want her out in the cold,” Lilith asked, honestly concerned despite her own surprise at the emotion. While she might have been conflicted about Warden’s role in her own past, she didn’t want the heroine injured or dead, and she hadn’t felt like Warden was in any danger before this.
“It’s… complicated,” Morgan replied, hesitating, and from the way she shifted, Lilith was certain the woman was about to lie to her. “Her eyes were seriously damaged somehow, which is most unpleasant, but we can deal with that. I’m able to heal wounds of the sort, and our medic can if she has the time. The problem is that they laid an extremely nasty curse on her through those needles, and I’m going to have to take her back to the HQ to fix it. I’m glad she’s unconscious for this, it’s so bad.”
“Ah, well, I see why you were unhappy. I hope Warden recovers soon, then. Do you need any help getting her to your headquarters?” Lilith asked, trying to seem helpful, but not pushing. While she was unhappy about being lied to, she could deal with that. She could argue that the team owed her something for helping Warden, but it wasn’t as if they’d asked her for a favor. In the end it was their decision, and considering Morgan’s occasional pauses and a few cues she’d seen, she suspected that the heroine was communicating with someone else via an earbud. It likely wasn’t her own decision at all.
“Thank you, but no. Can you tell me how this happened?” Morgan asked, glancing up as she went through the gestures of a spell, murmuring softly and covering Warden’s eyes with a purple sheen.
“Yes, at least in part. I’ll admit that I saw the ambush mostly by happenstance, though. I was watching the bay through the window when Warden came flying down the street, a few floors below us,” Lilith explained, gesturing in the direction of the front room. “As she did, a pair of people appeared the next roof over. One was a man with spiked blue hair and a black and blue outfit, while the other was a figure in black power armor with lots of guns. The man in the armor had what looked like a huge cannon, so I texted the police’s tip line. I only got an automated response, I’m afraid.”
Morgan visibly winced. “Blue Impulse and Megawatt. Even with surprise, I’m shocked they managed to defeat her, and as quickly as they must have. She’s blocked anything they’ve thrown at her before.”
“Well, at a guess, they’d planned on exploiting a weakness, and I think I know what it was, based on her injury,” Lilith continued. “She put up a shield when Megawatt pointed the big gun at her. I remember her face looking like he’d shone a spotlight on it, and she grabbed at her eyes and started falling without her shield. I’ll add that I think you should get her some flare protection. She was just stabilizing her fall when Impulse appeared behind her, with what looked like a blunt rod. He hit her with it, and she went limp. He grabbed her, and flew up onto my roof.” Lilith nodded upward, frowning and crossing her arms. “I hadn’t gotten a response from the police, so I went up the stairs and listened at the door, and heard a little, just enough to know there was a curse involved. The wind drowned most of it out. Once they were gone, I went outside and found Warden lying on the picnic table with the pins all over her. I brought her downstairs and called your hotline, which took a little work to get through to contact all of you. That’s it, really.”
“I see… thank you very much,” Morgan replied, nodding and smiling at Lilith. The heroine’s eyes seemed to linger on Lilith for a few moments longer than necessary, which was probably Lilith’s captivation field. In fact, she dearly hoped that was the reason, because if Morgan was suspicious, it could end bad
ly for Lilith. “While I can’t fault your willingness to help, in the future please try not to move someone who’s been injured unless necessary. If she had been injured, you could have made it worse. I’ll talk to the others about both the flare protection and the difficulty in getting through the hotline. Additionally, I’m certain the police will want to speak with you. Is it alright if I put them in contact with you?”
“Of course it is. I’ll be here if they need me, most days,” Lilith replied softly. “And I promise, I’ll try not to hurt anyone else who shows up on the roof.”
“Wonderful. Thank you again, Ms. Lilith,” Morgan replied, gesturing with a hand, and a deep purple mist shrouded Warden and the pinheads. The pinheads darted into a pouch at the heroine’s waist, while Warden levitated off the bed. With a last polite nod, Morgan headed for the front door, with Lilith showing her out.
Once the two women had left her alone, Lilith let out a soft sigh. Taking a seat, she stared out the window at the rain pouring down on the city. A flicker of light caught her eye, and she saw the two heroines ascending through the air, a shield deflecting the rain away from them. After passing her floor, a flash of illumination from above briefly revealed an aircraft some fifty feet above the building, the side hatch open. As the door shut, the aircraft vanished almost as suddenly as it had appeared, the rain masking its presence.
Not even ten minutes passed before Lilith let out another sigh, looking on the weather that so perfectly matched her mood, murmuring. “Bored already… well, I should have expected that.”
Chapter 8
Tuesday, November 12th, 2030
Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco
“Ugh… what… what happened? I feel like I got hit by a bus…” Warden groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. It took a few moments for her to focus on, then recognize Ocean Shield’s medical bay, which helped ease her mind a little. Her tension relaxed still more as she looked at Morgan sitting in a chair next to her bed, Hypergizmo fiddling on a console nearby. Even with their reassuring presence, she knew that something was horribly wrong.
Something inside Warden’s body felt wrong, like her intestines were tied in knots. Reaching inside, Warden touched her magic and recoiled in horrified shock. If a mad weaver had taken hold of her magic and turned it into a horrific Gordian knot, she imagined it would feel like this. She could touch her magic, but with the way it was tangled and warped she was unable to use it, and even touching it caused pain to spike through her body. As the pain washed through Warden, Morgan laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and looked at Hypergizmo, who spoke first.
“Based on what we know so far, it sounds like you were ambushed by Blue Impulse and Megawatt. The woman who found you claimed as much, and several reports we’ve gotten since then agree with her. I’m afraid we don’t have video footage yet, and we may not get any, either,” Hypergizmo replied briskly, concern in his voice as he added, “The villains seem to have disabled the security cameras in the area. Do you remember anything?”
“N-not much. I remember Megawatt, though. He suddenly appeared above me, pointing a huge cannon at me, so I put up a shield before it fired. It was like I’d been staring into the sun, but so much worse… and then something hit me, and everything went black,” Warden replied slowly, reaching up with trembling fingers to rub her eyes gently. “What happened? My magic is… it’s like it’s in knots. It’s painful to even touch. What happened, Morgan?”
“They managed to embed a curse, Gina,” Morgan explained, reaching down to hold Warden’s hand. “I’m not sure how they managed it, not exactly, but somehow it was woven into your magic, and I can’t remove it without risking your own power. When I tried, it masked itself closely enough that my spells couldn’t differentiate between the curse and your own magic. If I knew how it was made, I might be able to do more, but I’m afraid that I don’t.”
“What? But… but you can get rid of it, can’t you?” Warden asked, trying to suppress bubbling panic as she tried hard not to touch her power.
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve been talking to a few specialists, but none of them have heard of anything quite like this before. I’ve got a few leads, but…” Morgan paused and shook her head, admitting softly, “I don’t know. I just don’t know if I can do anything about it.”
“But… but what about my powers? I can’t face villains like this, not without my magic! It isn’t permanent, is it?” Warden asked, her grip on her emotions weakening as she began to panic. A curse that Morgan couldn’t break had to be hideously complex, and Warden had never studied them heavily, not more than she needed to if she wanted to block them, at least. Either way, she was trembling.
“No, no! It’s bad, I fully agree with that, but it’s nowhere near that bad, Gina. Unless they could somehow maintain it every day, it’ll eventually unravel. Your body doesn’t like the curse, and will eventually reject it. Think of it as a sort of barrier blocking your magic,” Morgan explained quickly. “It’ll hold back your power for a while, but eventually it’ll collapse. Just don’t try to force it, as that could cause your magic to backfire, or even permanently damage your gift.”
“Oh, okay, it’s not… not quite as bad as I feared. How… how long will it take for the curse to break naturally?” Her voice was trembling, but Warden tried to steady herself. She knew that the answer wasn’t one that she’d like, otherwise it would’ve been the first thing that Morgan told her. Even so, the news that the effect wasn’t permanent was a relief.
“I wish I knew, Gina. At a guess…” Morgan’s voice trailed off as she thought, then she sighed heavily as she shook her head. “It could be as little as a month, or up to six months or more in the worst case. The curse is extremely well-made, and from the elements I’ve been able to identify I’m guessing it was designed using a fragment of your magic. The problem is that the more you try to use your magic, the deeper you’ll embed the curse. That could actually extend the duration of it enormously, with no upper limit that I’ve been able to identify. I hate to say it, but unless one of the other magi can help us break the enchantment, your best bet is to not touch your magic at all until it dissipates.”
“Dammit… damn that jerk to hell,” Warden hissed, trying to control her anger as hot tears began to spill down her cheeks. To her it seemed like it’d been only a few minutes since she’d been out on patrol, and now… now she was going to be disabled for months. It was horrifying, but she took a moment to try to regain something of a sense of poise before speaking again, her voice trembling despite herself. “So, what do I do now? Do I just sit around the HQ twiddling my thumbs and feeling useless?”
“No, of course not!” Hypergizmo exclaimed, his eyes jerking away from the console, actually setting it aside as he looked at her. “You’ve been run ragged for the last few months, and you know we’ve been talking about giving everyone a few weeks of vacation recently. This isn’t how we’d choose to give it out, I’ll admit, but it’s a lot better than the alternative. For now, Spirit has been thinking that you take some time off, letting your mundane life take priority while your magic works itself out. If you feel like you need to help out, you’ll still have access to all the files, so you can help me work through our tips or clues, too. It isn’t going to be the end of the world, you’ll just be on a break. Alright?”
“I… thank you, Hyper, I just… this is horrible. Why did this happen?” Warden protested plaintively, her tears starting to flow again as she began to break down.
“I don’t know, Gina. I wish I did, but I don’t,” Morgan replied softly, pulling Warden into a gentle embrace. Morgan simply held Warden as she cried, and for a long minute they just sat there.
“I… I don’t think I can stay here, not without… without breaking down even more,” Warden murmured, her voice breaking as she swallowed hard, then asked, “Rachel? Please take me home?”
“Right away, Gina. I promise, I’ll get you there as soon as I can,” Morgan replied, giving Warden another gentle hug. As the other
sorceress used her magic to pick Warden up, the heroine felt another pang of anguish as she realized she couldn’t touch her own. It wasn’t Morgan’s fault, of course, but it still made her feel even more miserable.
Tuesday, November 12th, 2030
Warden’s Home, Oakland
Circling Warden’s house one last time to be safe, Morgan couldn’t help but frown in worry. The only reason she was willing to reveal even that much was because she was cloaked by an invisibility spell. Though she didn’t think that either of the villains would dare to attack Warden in her civilian identity, she’d rather be careful than regret a mistake. She was using every sense and spell of detection she could think of, and she wasn’t seeing anything out of place. More specifically, she didn’t see anything that might pose a threat to her friend, and that was far more important to her.
Getting Warden home had been easy enough, but no one had dared assume that they wouldn’t be ambushed. Morgan couldn’t help her sense of relief that the trip had been uneventful in the end. Fortunately for Morgan’s peace of mind, Warden had built defensive wards into her home a few years earlier, anchoring them solidly and powering them with ambient magic. While Morgan would have to come by about once a month to maintain them, that meant that her friend would still be fairly safe until she recovered. Even so, it was a cold comfort.
That Warden had been defeated had shocked everyone, not just her. While it had been by ambush, that Blue Impulse had dared attack and sideline her friend the way he had was frightening, and it was obvious that they could have killed her. While there was an unwritten agreement not to do things like that, something about the situation felt off to Morgan this time. It didn’t feel like the sort of plan Blue Impulse could put together on his own, with how organized the attack had been. Someone had to be pulling the strings, and she doubted that she was the only one who wanted to know who was behind the attack.
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 8
