Dreamer was one of the most sadistic women Doctor Johnson knew, and no matter how attractive she was, he would never dream of getting too close to her. At least she didn’t dare betray or disobey him, not when he held the promise of her salvation. Afterward… well, he’d just have to make sure to keep a safe distance from her.
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Downtown San Francisco
As Gina reached out to her magic, the first twinges of hope shot through her. While the curse was trying to hold it away from her and keep it in check, it wasn’t nearly as effective as it had been just a few days earlier. It couldn’t knot up her magic more, and for once she was actually able to fight it. It wasn’t easy, but Gina could feel herself gaining ground as she began to push hard against the curse.
The touch of Lilith’s hands on her shoulders almost startled Gina, and she stopped, her progress slowing to a halt and receding. As Lilith began to rub her shoulders, though, Gina slowly relaxed, her mind clearing as she took a deep breath. Warmth was flowing into her from Lilith’s hands, and Gina felt her determination growing stronger. If she couldn’t use her magic, how could she protect anyone? Morgan had to be out there, fighting as hard as she could to defend the city and civilians from harm, but what about Gina? She couldn’t protect anyone, not the innocents or her friends, not while she was like this. As she strained, Gina admitted to herself something else.
Without her magic, Gina couldn’t protect Lilith, either. And Lilith was the one who had a death sentence hanging over her head. No one would listen to a powerless heroine, so Gina gathered everything she had, and pushed at the curse.
A sudden snapping sensation echoed through Gina, magic sizzling and welling up through her veins. There was no sound to it, nothing but a sudden, intense surge of pure power through Gina’s veins as her magic broke the chains that had bound it. Letting out a soft gasp of ecstasy at the return of her magic, Gina’s eyes slowly widened. Her magic hadn’t just returned, but had actually grown even more potent while it was dormant and trapped. Her power… Gina shivered, then shook her head, shaking off the thought. She could investigate what had changed later.
Lilith’s hands stopped moving, then pulled away as she spoke gently. “Go help your friends, Gina. You’re needed, after all. I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
Turning to face Lilith, Gina smiled at her and blushed as she nodded, murmuring, “Thank you, Lilith.”
Reaching out with her power, Gina was almost startled as she was able to summon her suit effortlessly and it displaced her clothing onto the floor. The suit didn’t quite fit right, seeming a little too tight in some areas, and a part of her wondered if perhaps Blue Impulse had made other changes to her that she hadn’t noticed. Still, she was Warden again, and she grinned, turning invisible and heading toward the echoes of battle.
Finding an open door took a little longer than she’d hoped it would, but as she spotted one, Warden activated her communicator and spoke up brightly. “I’m back! Curse snapped like a twig, so I’m good to go. Where do you need me?”
“Finally, some good news!” Black Comet replied breathlessly, obviously busy. “We’ve got Harbinger and fifty of his damned goons in Chinatown, and they set off a bomb near the Oakland Bridge! We could really use some help over here.”
“Yeah, we’ve almost got Harbinger, but he’s just—guh!” Morgan gasped and cut off for a moment, then continued. “He has too many henchmen!”
“On my way! ETA thirty, just hang on!” Warden told them, putting on all the speed she could manage. As she exceeded her previous top speed she realized that the sensation of additional power was definitely real, not just a figment of her imagination. Shoving the thought aside, she took advantage of the increased power to get to her friends faster.
“Right,” Galvanic Action managed, an explosion echoing near him in the background.
A few seconds later Warden turned the corner to find the street devastated, the battle having raged down most of two city blocks. Most of the store fronts were caved in, and fires raged around them. A number of civilians, police, and even the villain’s henchmen were scattered about the area, obviously injured.
Her friends weren’t an exception to that, either. Crimson Bull’s suit had several cuts through it, though his incredible toughness had reduced deadly injuries to minor ones. As she watched, the big man hefted the remains of a police car at Black Harbinger, who contemptuously blew it out of the air with his cannon. It looked like Galvanic Action had been hit twice by the villain’s minions, and he was hiding behind a car, trying to recover. Morgan had an obviously injured arm, and was putting most of her magic into defense as a pile of henchmen poured shots into her. The only one who was in decent shape was Black Comet, who was managing to keep Harbinger mostly busy, but with the amount of energy he was burning, Warden doubted her teammate could keep it up for much longer.
Projecting a shield of magic around herself, Warden darted in as she added another around Crimson Bull, speaking into her comm, “Crimson, hit him! I’ve got your back!”
“Awesome!” Crimson Bull rumbled, laughing loudly as he charged again, this time with a shimmering barrier of azure-streaked gold around him. The pavement cracked beneath his feet as the hero ran straight at one of the deadlier supervillains on the planet.
Black Harbinger responded with incredible speed, and as his energy blade lashed out in a blow that cut a lamp post in two, Warden braced herself for the blow, marveling at Crimson’s courage. The man had more trust in her magic than she did, and as the blade hit the shield, she strained to keep it intact under the blow. The shield sparked and bowed, but didn’t break, and then Crimson Bull was past the villain’s greater reach. With a yell, the hero delivered a devastating piledriver into the villain’s chest, and even from where she was, Warden could hear Harbinger’s armor crack as he was catapulted backward into a bus.
“Morgan hit him with a piercer! Take him down!” Galvanic Action ordered, corroding the guns of more of the henchmen as he popped up. Most of the villain’s men were panicking or focused on the police, which Warden knew would give her friend an opening.
Morgan didn’t reply, instead allowing her shield to weaken, focusing it in front of her even as she began to weave dense, barely contained magic between her hands, her jewelry sparking with power.
Warden quickly put up a barrier around a couple of police officers in danger of being caught in crossfire by the henchmen, and flew lower as she prepared to take out some of the other villains. As she descended, though, a sense of foreboding washed over her, and she instinctively glanced upward. As Morgan was weaving her spells, there was a flicker of bright orange and red in the window behind the heroine.
“Morgan, behind you!” Warden cried out desperately, trying to raise a new shield around her friend, time seeming to slow as she watched.
Behind Morgan a circular section of the office building had silently turned bright red and orange as it melted away. In the space behind the window was another man, this one wreathed in flames as he stood in his armored suit decorated with painted flames. Pyroclasm IV had a cruel smile on his face, the sight of which made Warden’s blood run cold, especially with the white-hot ball of flames in the palm of his hand. Warden’s magic was just too slow, and Morgan had barely started to react as the villain struck.
The ball of fire turned into an intense, white-hot blast directed straight into Morgan’s virtually unshielded back. Screaming in pain, Morgan began to fall as smoke and steam surrounded her, the violet magic dying unused in her hands as she fell from the sky. Warden couldn’t help but see where the fires had burnt straight through Morgan’s cloak and enchanted dress as if they hadn’t even existed, as well as the horrific damage they’d dealt to her friend’s back.
As Pyroclasm laughed maniacally, time sped up for Warden again. She tried to fly toward her friend, to catch her before she hit the ground, but she wasn’t fast enough, she wouldn’t make it in time. As badly injured as she was, Morgan m
ight die if that happened, and panic surged through Warden as she tried to go faster. As she desperately tried to move, her magic stirred and flared… For a moment, everything snapped into crystalline clarity, and Warden vanished in a flash of golden-blue light.
Almost at the same instant, Warden appeared below Morgan. She didn’t have time to wonder what had just happened, instead plucking her friend from the air and looking at her in horror. Warden didn’t know as much about injuries as Orchid, but even she knew that burns down to the bone were bad.
Chapter 29
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Military Research Center, San Mateo
The cannon snarled loudly as Megawatt discharged an artificial lightning bolt into the cyborg soldier from behind. The soldier, the last in the compound, fell to the ground with a grunt of pain. For a moment he reached for a grenade with his gleaming metal arm, only to have the limb short out moments later. The flesh joined to the metal was smoking, and Megawatt lowered his cannon as the man’s vitals flatlined.
Speaking flatly, Megawatt stomped around the corner. “All opposition accounted for. We should be good to go.”
“Great, that’s done,” Heavy Metal grunted, kicking the crumpled remains of a lab technician aside and tossing the corpse of another cyborg after him. “So, what’re we here for again?”
“The computer mainframe,” Ebon Dragon replied calmly, despite the arrogant look he gave the metallic villain. “I keep anyone from noticing we attacked until we’ve left, Megawatt gets it out, and you get to carry it. I think that’s perfect for your skill set.”
“Right, right. So, where is it, tin can?” Heavy Metal asked, causing Megawatt to snort derisively. He hated being teamed up with the dimwit, but the money was good.
“Behind the security door I just unlocked, metalhead,” Megawatt explained in annoyance, opening the door. “Gimme a minute and we can get out of here.”
“Right. I’ll just stand here, then,” Heavy Metal replied, frowning as he settled into place.
Rolling his eyes, Megawatt resisted the urge to be snarky, instead keeping his reply simple. “You do that.”
Thursday, December 19th, 2030
Downtown San Francisco
Walking toward the chaos, Lilith was surprised at just how many people were doing the same. While the majority were staying away, curiosity definitely seemed to be a human trait, which amused her. While the police in the area would fire the occasional shot, they were mostly dodging the blasts of ebon energy that lanced back toward them in return. She was privately thankful that the battle hadn’t left her condo in the line of fire so far, but it was a minor concern, with as much destruction as was occurring.
She’d come around the corner to view the destruction that had been wreaked on the city, and she’d seen Gina, no, Warden up above, using her powers to defend one of her allies, Crimson Bull. Black Harbinger looked intimidating, but it was satisfying to see him trying to pull himself out of the engine block of a bus. Even so, every trace of amusement that Lilith possessed vanished in the moment she heard Warden scream, and Lilith actually cursed her enhanced senses as she caught every detail of what happened to Morgan, and cursed that none of her abilities allowed her to help at all.
The last time she’d been this helpless had been when Warden had been ambushed, but that time she’d been different. She hadn’t wanted to interfere at the time, and she hadn’t cared about the heroine who’d been attacked. Now… now she cared, and that made all the difference in the world.
At the blast of fire and the sight of Morgan’s falling body, something inside Lilith wrenched, hard. She had difficulty breathing, and it hurt worse than anything had since she’d started to feel at all. She didn’t even realize when she started to move, whispering softly, “No… no, don’t do this…”
The air was a blur around Lilith, and she felt the unfamiliar stinging of tears beginning to flow down her cheeks as she ran toward where Morgan was falling. As fast as Lilith was, Warden was faster. Lilith could hear the gasps of shock from the onlookers as Warden lit up with blue and gold light and vanished, reappearing below Morgan to catch her and lower her to the ground.
At the same time, Black Harbinger broke free, and Lilith caught the flickers of movement as Black Comet rose to confront Pyroclasm. It took Lilith a moment to realize that the speed-based hero was the only one of them who could confront Pyroclasm without risking major injuries, at least as long as he could dodge in time. Crimson Bull was pounding on Harbinger to try to keep him down, but with his injuries there was only so long he could keep it up. No one was paying much attention to Morgan save for the mundanes, like the henchmen and police. The henchmen were firing at Warden, who was occupied shielding the two heroines.
Not many people were really watching Lilith, aside from those who were filming the entire disaster. It always startled her how often those people complained when they were caught in battles like this, but it didn’t really matter. She hopped over a shattered mailbox and darted around a car to where Warden was kneeling, tears streaming down her face. Looking down at Morgan, Lilith felt numb as she saw the horrible damage in an instant. Stepping through Warden’s shield, she swallowed hard.
“She… she doesn’t have much time, does she?” Lilith asked, slipping up to Warden and looking at the damage Morgan had sustained. It was a wonder the woman was alive at all, but heroes were incredibly tough, which sometimes just made an injury even worse.
“Morgan, she… oh, god…” Warden’s voice trembled as she held her friend, staring at her. “I don’t… I don’t think she’s…”
Kneeling next to her friend, Lilith saw that Morgan’s eyes were open and she was still breathing, but her eyes were massively dilated, almost vacant. Lilith let out a breath, then asked softly, “Morgan? Morgan, can you hear me? Rachel?”
Morgan didn’t respond to Lilith’s voice, and Warden let out a soft whimper as the energy fire bounced off her shield. Reaching out with trembling fingers, Lilith stroked Morgan’s cheek… no, Rachel’s cheek. Her beloved Rachel.
As the thought ran through her head while touching Rachel’s cheek, Lilith felt her faint connection to Rachel flare to life. It was as if somehow her thought had made the connection between them stronger, and through it she could feel the horrible damage that had been wreaked on Rachel’s body. She could feel the screaming agony through Rachel’s nerves, the missing flesh, and she wanted desperately to make it right, to fix it. But it was as if Rachel was just out of reach, as if she needed permission to touch her. At the thought, Lilith paused and dared hope.
Looking at Rachel, Lilith finally spoke, her voice trembling. “Warden, no… Gina. I’m going to try something. I think I can help her, but I don’t know if it’ll work. It… I just don’t know. May I, please?”
“Please! If you can help her… just…” Warden replied, flinching as the explosions between Black Comet and Pyroclasm increased in intensity. “Please try!”
“Alright, here it goes…” Lilith murmured, taking a deep breath, and focused her mind and will on Rachel, every bit of her concentration on that connection. Her power stirred, and Lilith grasped even her captivation field, focusing it down that connection as she spoke, her voice resonating through the battlefield. “Rachel, wake up and look at me.”
Morgan’s eyes suddenly snapped into focus and she gasped as her eyes met Lilith’s. Her voice came in a whisper, eliciting a gasp from Warden. “L-Lilith? Wh-what…?”
“Rachel, you’re dying,” Lilith spoke bluntly, her eyes not wavering from Morgan’s. Her voice was relentless, echoing in that tiny space where nothing else seemed to exist. “I can feel it, your body failing you. I can tell that I can heal you, Rachel, but I can’t. I need permission, and not just permission. Do you trust me, Rachel? If you let me in, if you trust me, I can help you. Otherwise… I can’t do anything.”
“Rach… you don’t have time. You’re too badly hurt…” Warden whispered, finally turning her attention to start defending
the other heroes again.
Morgan didn’t seem to notice her friend’s words, Lilith noticed, her eyes locked on Lilith’s. It took a few moments for the heroine to work through what Lilith had said, and slowly she nodded, ever so slightly. “Okay. I’ve been… trying not to. But okay. Please help me, Lilith?”
“Of course I will, Rachel,” Lilith replied, feeling as if a floodgate had opened and Rachel’s body opened itself to her. Feeling the connection surging to life, Lilith’s senses poured into Rachel’s body as she smiled and spoke in that same tone. “I won’t let you die, my dear Rachel. That’s not acceptable.”
Reaching deep into Rachel, Lilith found the injuries and didn’t even think about what she was doing. She simply willed them to be undone, and she felt a sudden drain on her own vitality as the muscles began to re-knit. Ignoring the drain on herself, Lilith expanded her search, and bones healed, tendons regenerated, and blood vessels re-formed in front of her eyes. As she worked, the drain grew greater and greater, until the weariness was eating at her consciousness and Lilith’s vision was wavering. As she reached Morgan’s skin, even the heroine seemed to have noticed what was happening.
“Lilith… that’s enough. I feel much better… don’t push too hard,” Morgan protested softly.
“No. I refuse… to leave this half-done,” Lilith growled, clenching her teeth as she strained, the edges of her vision blurring. It was like trying to squeeze water from a dry towel, but she persisted, gasping quietly. “Just… a bit more…”
Slowly, one inch at a time, the skin on Morgan’s back reformed, new and perfect as could be. If anything it was better, though Lilith wasn’t certain. Blinking slowly, Lilith smiled, looking at the two of them and whispering softly, “Kick their asses, would you?”
A little more energy slipped out of Lilith and into the two women at her request, and Lilith felt her grasp on consciousness slip. Everything went dark as she collapsed where she’d been kneeling.
Born a Queen (Lilith's Shadow Book 1) Page 26
