Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Returning to the headquarters took longer than normal, since Morgan made sure she took a roundabout course from Warden’s home before she let the invisibility spell lapse. Shivering at the night chill, made worse by the rain, Morgan murmured a couple of words and warmed herself from within. She really didn’t enjoy fall, though it was generally better than winter. Still, the lights of the city on the bay were beautiful, and she took a moment to admire the serene scene on her flight. Morgan hoped that the city would stay peaceful until Warden was back on the job, but she didn’t have much faith in that happening.

  Settling down on the sleek landing pad of the HQ, Morgan used the biometric scanner to gain access before heading downstairs at a brisk pace. As she walked she wove another spell to dry her clothing, relaxing slowly. Hypergizmo had built their base, and the man had made a point of designing it to be as relaxing and comfortable as possible, not just making it a nightmare for attacking villains.

  On entering the meeting room, Morgan found that all the others were waiting for her, leaving just two chairs empty. The sight of Warden’s empty seat sent a pang through her, but Morgan quickly took her seat, nodding at the others politely.

  “I got Warden home safely, and did a couple of sweeps to make sure there wasn’t anything nasty in the area. I don’t think she’s going to be in a very good state for the next few days, but I’m sure she’ll be fine in the end. She’s too tough to let this get her down,” Morgan told them, sitting down. “I’ll go see her tomorrow, and I suspect that’s going to be an unpleasant visit. It might be a bit better if I have news, though, so… any word on Blue Impulse or anything else?”

  “Nada. It’s beginning to look like the ambush wasn’t a distraction. There haven’t been any major heists that’ve come up, and believe me, the cops are looking. Hell, they’re almost jumping at shadows, waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Galvanic Action replied, rubbing his eyes. “I did catch a couple of robbers who were trying to break into an ATM in broad daylight, but there’s no way they were deliberately taking advantage of the attack. An ATM just doesn’t have enough money to make it worth trying to take down Warden.”

  “Based on that, we have to assume they were actually targeting Warden for a reason,” Ocean Spirit spoke up grimly, tapping the table with an expression like ice. “With what they did, we almost have to assume that it’s in preparation for something happening in the next month. There’s no way they could guarantee taking her out for longer than that, and I can’t imagine someone doing all of this and not taking advantage of the opening.”

  “What about the lady who found her? Couldn’t she have something to do with it?” Black Comet interjected. The speedster was in a foul mood due to having been out of town, feeling that he might’ve been able to do something that would’ve made a difference. Morgan thought he was being unfair to himself, since no one had known anything until it was too late, but she wasn’t going to argue with him. He continued, looking at Morgan. “What did you mean, Morgan? Giz said that you thought she was strange.”

  “Ms. Carpenter was definitely strange. She was calm, far too calm for most civilians I’ve run into before. Most of them are excitable, after all, while she was almost relaxed. Beyond that, she did have a power, something she called a captivation field,” Morgan replied, opening her mouth to continue, only to have Crimson Bull interrupt.

  “That sounds like a nasty power. What does it do?” the big man rumbled, a hand clenched around his armrest. The chair creaked ominously under the pressure, and Morgan couldn’t help but wonder if Warden had ever realized that Crimson Bull had a crush on her. Based on what Morgan knew of her friend, she doubted that the man had a chance with her, which suited Morgan fine. He was an excellent co-worker, if prone to using brute force more than she’d prefer, but she didn’t like him on a personal level.

  “I don’t know. Hyper was looking it up, and I asked him to look into her background while he was at it,” Morgan replied, and at the man’s angry glare she shrugged and added, “I was a bit busy with Warden, and I can only be in one place at a time. What she said was that it was a constantly active power that draws attention to her, one which she can’t turn off. I don’t think she was lying, but I didn’t exactly have a lot of time to talk to her about it.”

  Blooming Orchid turned to look at Hypergizmo, her arched eyebrow causing the man to flush as she asked, “Oh? What did you find?”

  “Um, yes, I looked up what I could on the power, and on Ms. Carpenter herself. To be safe I also have a drone keeping an eye on her condo and the surroundings,” the tech replied, running a hand through his hair nervously. “Her power is interesting. I did a basic search from the jet, and like I told Morgan then, the term isn’t used much. ‘Captivation field’ is generally used by researchers, scientists, and mostly by SuperNet’s R&D division for their documentation. The power they refer to is the ability to draw the attention of people in a broad area, whether they can see the user or not. The more powerful the user, the larger the range of the effect, and it has the unusual side effect of penetrating virtually any mental defense. It’s a very uncommon power, and is considered to be useless on its own, save for if someone relies on speaking or performance for a living. Like a politician or comedian, I suppose.”

  “Hmm… I thought it was more powerful than that, but if it penetrates mental shields it explains why I was affected so strongly,” Morgan murmured. At a questioning look from Ocean Spirit, she explained. “I almost couldn’t help myself from staring at her. She seemed to dislike her power, though, saying that it was a large part of why she had the entire floor to herself.”

  “Well, if she can’t turn it off, I can see it causing minor difficulties, like traffic accidents. Not that I imagine that she could go unnoticed anyway, with her appearance. Even as well-known as most of us are, if we really try we can generally go out anonymously, even when near our most enthusiastic fans. Her power would make something like that almost impossible,” Hypergizmo agreed, shaking his head. “I don’t envy her there. My main concern is how little information I can find on her overall.”

  “What did you find, then?” Sky Defender asked calmly, his arms crossed.

  Hypergizmo hit a couple of buttons, and a moment later a hologram appeared in the middle of the table, depicting Lilith, while a profile of her appeared in text on the table in front of each of them. Morgan scanned the information, frowning as the tech began speaking.

  “Her name is Lilith Carpenter, age twenty-seven, and she’s the owner of Carpenter Microsystem Solutions. The company was founded through the merger of three tech startups a little over a month ago, and on a cursory inspection appears to have promising products in the pipeline for civilians, in my opinion. Her birthplace has been redacted, and she appears to have been homeschooled, with excellent scores across the board. Parents, redacted. Former address redacted. You’ll notice a trend here, I hope? She got her driver’s license a month ago, but has no registered vehicles yet. Her primary funds were disbursed from an Advent Bank trust fund.” Hypergizmo rattled off the information comfortably, seeming to relax as he spoke. “That’s pretty much everything I found, too. She has no arrest record, and a few online courses for college that she’s been passing with flying colors, along with playing the stock market hard. I can’t find any social media profiles for her, and while there are dozens of photos of her since she came to San Francisco, all of them are taken by other civilians, often when she goes out to dinner. She mostly stays in her condo these days.”

  “Shit. I wish I knew how she did all of that, but with the redactions and being twenty-seven…” Black Comet looked up, his face growing more serious. “That means she was born just three years after the Advent. Do you think she’s the daughter of a couple of early heroes?”

  Morgan frowned thoughtfully at the suggestion, considering the possibility. While heroes and villains had existed before the dawn of the twenty-first century, they’d been few and far between. On the dawn of the year 2000, the heavens h
ad ripped open and humanity had learned that Earth had been existing in a tiny pocket universe almost devoid of magic and powers, and they had rejoined the cosmos in the event now termed the Advent. It was fortunate that most of the alien races ignored them, but the last thirty years had caused many changes in the world. Atlantis had risen from the sea, Excalibur had been found in England, and the heights of Mount Olympus had vanished in a crown of clouds that shrouded temperamental Greek gods. Considering the timing, Morgan had to admit that the other hero had a point.

  “Considering that Advent Bank only deals with heroes, that seems fairly likely. It was founded before that, and it’d fit the timeline,” Hypergizmo agreed, shrugging. “Personally, I think we should leave her be. Unless she keeps coming up in investigations, anyway. There isn’t anything bad to her history, and there are lots of heroes who hide their families.”

  “Fair enough,” Ocean Spirit agreed, glancing around the table. “Does anyone object?”

  “There’s another possibility I think we need to consider,” Sky Defender spoke after a moment, his voice measured. Morgan blinked, looking at him in surprise, but understanding washed through her as he explained. “I just want to remind you that heroes aren’t the only ones who hide their families. She could be the child of a villain, though I think it’s unlikely. Advent Bank does a good job of weeding out villains, which makes it difficult to manage, but it is possible.”

  “That’s a very nasty thought,” Morgan murmured, scowling as she mentally replayed her interactions with Lilith. As she thought, her frown deepened and she shook her head slowly. “I can’t see it, personally. She didn’t feel nearly self-centered enough to be a villain. If she is, it’s possible that she chose to leave behind the lifestyle, though.”

  “That’s a definite possibility. I’m not saying that it’s likely that she’s the child of a villain, I just want to make certain we’re keeping in mind all the possibilities we can,” Sky Defender acknowledged with a nod. “I’d like to keep her under surveillance for at least a few days, preferably more. If she doesn’t seem to be trying to take advantage of her actions, I think we’re safe, and it also helps us have any forewarning if the villains decide to go after her.”

  Ocean Spirit nodded, speaking firmly. “A very good suggestion. People would be hesitant to help us if they thought the villains might retaliate, and preventing that is an important thing. Now, as much as I know we could keep going on this subject for hours, we’re all tired and we need to move on. We need to step up our patrols for the next month or two, and we need to ensure that we work in pairs from now on. So, let’s work out a schedule that won’t exhaust us all to the point of uselessness.”

  “What if we coordinated with a few other teams in the city?” Orchid suggested, banishing her copy of Lilith’s profile with a flick of her fingers. “They might not have our power, but a lot of teams keep a close eye on their neighborhoods, like the Bay Patrol.”

  Morgan nodded at the suggestion, touching a couple of keys to save her own copy of the profile to look at later before banishing it. She was curious about the woman she’d met, and it was part of the job for the moment. Setting it aside, she focused on the discussion.

  “An excellent idea, Orchid. They’d be able to call for backup if they get in over their heads, and it gives us far more coverage than we could manage on our own,” Ocean Spirit replied, smiling. “Now then, here’s what I was thinking…”

  Wednesday, November 13th, 2030

  Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco

  Tapping a couple of keys, Sky Defender changed the angle of the drone’s camera as it looked into Ms. Carpenter’s condo. He couldn’t help but frown as he studied the video stream, glad that no one could see inside his armor. He couldn’t explain quite what the problem was, but something about Lilith Carpenter bothered him, leaving him tense where she was concerned. Unlike most of the others, though, he wasn’t going to let down his guard until he was certain what the problem was.

  Changing the camera wavelength to allow them to see through the windows had taken some work, and even now the color was somewhat washed out. Sky Defender fully expected a blistering lecture from Ocean Spirit if she realized that he’d found the frequency right when the civilian had been changing, though. It’d been an embarrassing moment, but he’d quickly circled the building instead, trying to study the woman’s condo, and what he’d found puzzled him.

  While Lilith’s condo took up the entire upper floor of the tower, half of the rooms were clean and completely empty. At first he’d thought maybe they’d been made to look empty, but eventually he realized that they were exactly what they looked like, empty rooms that had been set up to receive furniture, but which had never been used. Of the rooms that were actually used, there was a library, an elaborate bathroom, three bedrooms, a kitchen, and the large living room where the subject of his surveillance spent most of her time. The rest of the floor that he could see was left alone, and even the furnished areas were sparsely decorated.

  The past hours of surveillance hadn’t shed any light on his questions, either. Lilith had been working on what looked like her company books for a while, then she’d searched through a drawer to find a measuring tape before looking at furniture online. Of all the possibilities for what he might have seen her doing, such a boring series of events hadn’t been anywhere near the top of the list.

  Even with her innocuous actions, Sky Defender couldn’t shake his suspicions. At this point Lilith was doing basic research about the members of Ocean Shield, though it looked like she was focusing on the two that she’d encountered, Morgan and Warden.

  “Why do you bother me so much, Ms. Carpenter? Are you really just a normal person?” Sky Defender asked himself softly, then shook his head as he changed the display. Keeping an eye on the police channels was a much better use of his time. He could always watch the recordings in fast forward later, instead of watching a woman sit cross-legged on the floor, making notes as she went through a fan site dedicated to his team.

  Chapter 9

  Friday, November 15th, 2030

  Warden’s Home, Oakland

  After three days, Blue Impulse’s patience had all but run out. He wanted to get on with his plans, and waiting even this long had been near-agony. Yet now he was waiting on a damned cop to get out of the way. It was a couple of hours after midnight, with the waning gibbous moon peeking out from behind the cloud cover. The object of his impatience was a police car slowly winding its way through the neighborhood, not moving nearly fast enough for the villain. Finally, the vehicle pulled out of the neighborhood and Blue Impulse let out a frustrated sigh of relief, teleporting into the middle of the subdivision.

  The small copse of trees concealed most of the light of his teleportation from anyone who might still be awake, but the villain knew better than to count on that. Stepping back into the trees, Blue Impulse almost vanished into the shadows as he fished around his pocket. The tiny crystal he pulled out was on a gold chain, and the sight of it sparked another bit of jealousy in the villain. He hated having to rely on someone else for this. Letting the crystal dangle, the villain cleared his head and waited as a tiny shard of golden magic sparked inside the crystal, slowly turning to point in a particular direction.

  Blue Impulse smiled, relieved that he was finally close enough to get a precise direction for Warden. His voice was soft as he murmured, “Gotcha. Time to start your lessons… I want you ready when things finally go down.”

  The villain circled the block, quickly narrowing down the building that his target was in. He kept a wary eye out for anyone who might report him, but it didn’t look like anyone was up at this time. It still took longer than he liked to figure out which house she was in, but finally he managed it. Looking at the humble house, Blue Impulse sneered and shook his head, putting the gemstone away carefully. Opening a satchel, he pulled out five railroad spikes, each carved with dozens of glyphs that were inset with jade and other stones that he didn’t recognize.

/>   “Now then… which of these goes to the south? Damn it, I wish Ebon’s devices were easier to understand,” Blue Impulse complained under his breath, pausing as he thought, then shaking his head. “Or… maybe not. If they were, this might not have a chance to work, and they might’ve had a clue what we were doing. Maybe I should finally take lessons, though… Ebon’s spells are pretty amazing, even if he’s an uptight old fart.”

  When he finally figured out which spike went in each position, the villain carefully infused each with a fragment of magic, then examined the house grounds. In order to set things up right, he’d have to go into some of the neighboring yards. It was good that he wouldn’t have to put any of the spikes in other buildings, though, that would’ve been an unpleasant surprise. Finally satisfied with his preparations, Impulse took the first spike and focused on exactly where he wanted to put it. Without a good head for locations, he never could’ve developed his teleportation powers, so by comparison this was easy.

  With a flash the spike vanished, and a clod of dirt the size of the spike appeared in Impulse’s hand, crumbling quickly. Dropping the dirt in the ditch in annoyance, the man took the next spike and repeated the process, placing each of them around the house in turn. It didn’t take long, and when he was done the spikes were all six inches below the surface, forming a pentacle that pointed south. The trickiest part of it had been making sure that none of the ‘lines’ of the formation touched the house itself, as that might have set off the wards built into the structure. Impulse knew that it’d taken Ebon Dragon quite some time to meld the traditions necessary to do everything without being detected, but he’d managed it in the end.