Down with the Queen

by Benjamin Medrano

  “How many bounties on my head are there, Circe?” Lilith asked, looking at the other two and feeling distinctly uneasy.

  “Two thousand, one hundred, and seventy-seven that I am currently aware of, Mistress Lilith,” Circe said. “This number includes governments, hero groups, and private parties of all types.”

  “Oh my…” Gina breathed out, her eyes wide. “That’s…”

  “It’s to be expected,” Lilith replied, sighing and sitting in a nearby chair. “How much is the largest bounty, Circe?”

  “SMOKE’s, Mistress Lilith. You may recall that they are offering fifty-million dollars for you to be delivered to them alive, Mistress Lilith. This is up from their offer of five million one month ago,” Circe answered. “This is the highest bounty by a factor of five.”

  “No doubt they want to brainwash me into another of their cultists,” Lilith murmured, shuddering. “Even Amber was wary of them, wasn’t she?”

  “Indeed. The Sisterhood was one of the groups that she considered most deadly, as they often wield psychic powers which could match her own when in groups. She attempted to avoid them as a result,” Circe confirmed. “Rachel, please brace yourself for a cool sensation. The synthetic flesh should have properly melded by morning.”

  “Alright—ah!” Rachel gasped, then shivered as she continued. “That was… never mind. I can’t believe that we had Destruction Corps, Ocean Shield, and Ebon Dragon on us all at once.”

  “Don’t forget Megawatt. Or Courageous Max,” Gina pointed out, sounding slightly amused. “Though I really can’t blame you for not wanting to count Max.”

  “Very funny. I hope he didn’t die, but since his power is pure resilience, I’m sure he’ll manage that much,” Rachel said, shaking her head and sighing as the remote pulled away. “Thank you, Circe.”

  “You’re welcome, Rachel,” Circe replied.

  “Did we at least get any information out of it, Lilith? You went underground with Megawatt, and the next I knew, you told us that you were recalling here and suggested we do the same,” Gina asked curiously.

  “Yes. He gave me the location that Doctor Johnson is supposed to be located at, and I gave it to Circe upon returning,” Lilith said, standing and helping Rachel to her feet. “Circe? Does the information check out?”

  “Insufficient information to make a full judgement is on hand, but based on preliminary data, there is a seventy-three percent chance that the information is accurate,” Circe told her, pausing for a moment before continuing. “Further data collection is presently underway, and a more accurate analysis will be available at some point in the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Where did he say it is?” Rachel asked curiously, following Lilith as she led the way into the main living room.

  “Supposedly the location is in Santa Cruz, under a dental office run by a Doctor Erwin Johnson. I suspect that Circe is being overly cautious about confirming it, considering the dentist’s name,” Lilith replied dryly. “Still, it’s much better to ensure we’re not going to the wrong place. At least it isn’t a warehouse.”

  “That really bugs you, doesn’t it?” Gina asked, looking amused as she looked up and said, “Circe? Could you please fix us dinner? I’d like pork chops of some type, please.”

  “It does, though I couldn’t tell you exactly why,” Lilith admitted, adding, “I’d like the same, Circe, if you wouldn’t mind.”

  “May as well make it three,” Rachel said, glancing over as she asked, “Circe, what date is Lilith’s birthday registered as?”

  “Preparing pork chops with a ginger glaze,” Circe replied, then paused before adding, “Mistress Lilith’s birthday is considered to be January 11th, 2030. In forged documentation, due to her physical age, she was listed as being born in 2003.”

  Lilith took a seat at the bar, raising her eyebrows as she asked, “Planning a birthday party after all?”

  “But of course,” Rachel said, shifting in her seat as she winced slightly, then continued. “I don’t see anything wrong with a celebration before going out and kicking Johnson’s ass. It gives Circe a chance to nail down where he is and gives us a chance to unwind.”

  “In which case we’re going to have to get a decent amount of rest tonight,” Gina pointed out. “It’s getting late.”

  “I don’t have any real objections. Why is my birthday so important to you, anyway?” Lilith asked curiously.

  “It just is,” Gina replied, shrugging.

  It wasn’t much of an answer, in Lilith’s opinion. But at least she didn’t feel like she had earlier, where she’d been so… so worried about Gina and Rachel. So she reached out and gave Gina’s hand a gentle squeeze.

  Dr. Johnson’s Lair, Santa Cruz

  “…when I arrived. There was no sign of Megawatt save for remnants of his armor, and Destruction Corps was battling Morgan and Warden, who were in new armor. I attempted to ascertain Megawatt’s whereabouts but saw no sign of him during the fight, save for some blood on the floor near what must have been an escape hatch,” Ebon Dragon explained, sitting in his chair and pausing to take a sip from his tumbler before finishing. “I did consider attempting to take down one of the former heroines, but chose to leave upon Ocean Shield’s arrival.”

  Doctor Johnson sat back, stunned by what he’d just been told. He’d caught some news about the fight in Tracy, which had caused some minor worry, but he’d no idea about the extent of the fight. After a moment, he rubbed his eyes.

  “That’s utterly insane! You were just going to send him on his way, not to have everyone descend on him—and you—at once!” Doctor Johnson exclaimed, shaking his head. “What were they doing there?”

  “I do not know,” Ebon Dragon replied, smiling thinly as he added, “However, I did engage in combat.”

  “Yes, of course. I’ll make certain you get paid. I’m just glad they didn’t get Megawatt. If they had, it would be all over the news,” Doctor Johnson said, rubbing his chin and grimacing at the stubble there. He ought to go to bed. “Still, I have to wonder about what was going on. Maureen might be able to help me find out.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I plan to leave within a week, Doctor. My things are packed and I have simply to decide where I wish to go,” Ebon Dragon replied calmly.

  “As you like. I wish Dreamer would go, but she’s been too busy trying to ensure that we got everything,” Doctor Johnson replied, sighing heavily. “I’m getting nervous with her around.”

  “In that case, I would advise you to work on your own contingencies,” Ebon Dragon said, his voice grave. “She is unreliable. I doubt she will deliberately betray you at this stage, but neither will she aid you when in desperate straits.”

  “You have a point. I’ll go get the funds transferred, then get some sleep,” Doctor Johnson replied, nodding and grimacing as he stood. “I thought being younger would fix all of this.”

  “Habits are far more difficult to fix than even age,” Ebon Dragon replied, taking his tumbler and heading back for his room.

  “True,” Doctor Johnson murmured, heading back to pay the man like he’d promised. Pissing off Ebon Dragon would be a poor idea.

  Ocean Shield HQ, San Francisco

  Looking out at the bay as the storm began blowing in, Ocean Spirit let out a deep sigh, her eyebrows furrowed. The weather certainly suited her mood.

  “Don’t be like that. We did some good today, and people seem to be coming around to the idea that what Defender did was just a big mistake,” Galvanic Action said, his voice soft. “It happens, and we can’t get everything perfectly right.”

  “I know. You’re right, Andre, but… but even so, it wears on me,” Ocean Spirit replied, letting out a soft sigh. “Morgan and Warden didn’t even stop to listen to us.”

  “I know, Malana,” he replied, sighing and shaking his head. “I can’t really blame them, though. The way Defender attacked Lilith was shocking. He didn’t consider how it might appear. Sure, we’re trusting someone else right now, but Dracula has
never chosen to side with villains before.”

  “You have a point, I suppose,” Ocean Spirit said, shaking her head as she turned away from the window to look at him. “I just… I have trouble with it.”

  “You’re so powerful, at least compared to most of us, that you aren’t used to failing,” Galvanic Action said, stepping closer and pulling her into a hug. “Look, it was a mistake. We will work it out. It’s just a matter of figuring out how.”

  Hugging him back, Ocean Spirit sighed and nodded, trying to shake off her malaise as she agreed. “You’re right. This entire thing did something else, too.”

  “Oh?” Galvanic Action asked, pulling away again.

  “It showed me the cracks in the team. If we’d kept going as we were before Dracula called… I think the team would’ve shattered completely,” Ocean Spirit said, stepping over to the table and looking at it, resting her hands against its surface. “Remember the conversation about trust with Morgan and Warden when Lilith’s powers came up? We’ve lost their trust, at least for now. We likely would have lost Crimson and Defender, too. Comet might have left after that, and we’d be in a horrible situation. We’ve been complacent, Andre. We need to fix the problems with the team and rebuild trust. I’m glad that we’re going to have the chance to do it.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that, but I can’t argue the point,” Galvanic Action replied, smiling. “So, how do you intend to do it?”

  “First we need to try to fix things with Morgan and Warden. They may not come back, but we have to make things right, if we can. Then we’ll just have to sit down and have some frank conversations among ourselves,” Ocean Spirit replied soberly. “We need to trust each other more than we have. It’ll be hard, but my goal is for the team to come out of this better than it was.”

  “It’s a good goal,” Galvanic Action agreed.

  Ocean Spirit obviously hadn’t noticed that she’d hit the key on the table to activate the comm, Hypergizmo noted. Her words had been welcome, but he killed the comm without listening to anything more. It wasn’t his business, not really.

  Instead, he went back to the computer system, trying to figure out how to adjust the external comms to be more efficient. There was a slight amount of lag and he wasn’t happy with the transmission speed, but he was having trouble figuring out what was slowing things down. He thought it was something with the network traffic, so he pulled up the data log.

  As he did, he paused, looking at the traffic, which was taking up far more of the pipeline than it should. It was mirroring traffic to an external source, which was more than just odd. Softly he murmured, “What in the… where’d this come from? I don’t think I put this here…”

  Distracted, he began digging into the problem, trying to figure out what was going on.

  Chapter 27

  Friday, January 11th, 2031

  Shadowmind Lair Alpha-Three

  Gina woke up and was slightly confused for a few moments. She didn’t remember where she was for a second, but that was normal lately. First, she’d moved out of her home to Lilith’s condo, and then they’d had to go into hiding. To some extent, she was getting used to moving, but this wasn’t the room she’d been staying in the last few days.

  It was the soft, faint scent of Lilith that reminded her of where she’d gone to sleep the night before, and Gina couldn’t help the blush rising in her cheeks, rolling over to face Lilith… only to find that she wasn’t there. The spot where Lilith had been sleeping was rumpled and had obviously been slept in, but the blanket had been pulled up and the space was cool to the touch.

  Blinking at the spot, Gina hesitated, then grumbled as she pulled herself out of bed. A tiny part of her was embarrassed, but a far more prominent part of Gina was more concerned with two things: First, coffee. Second, she wondered where Lilith had gotten off to.

  Slipping into a bathrobe, she shuffled over to the door, which slid open almost silently. Gina paused, blinking in surprise as a solid wave of delectable smells hit her. Cooking bacon, the smell of pancake or waffle batter, eggs… Gina took a deep breath as her stomach suddenly gurgled at her, making her quite aware of how empty it felt. Stepping out of the room, Gina followed the hallway to the dining room, only to pause, blinking in surprise that she knew she shouldn’t really feel.

  Rachel was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in front of her, her friend looking like she’d showered from the way her hair glistened, but wearing simple exercise clothes. As she sat there, Lilith slid a plate in front of Rachel, loaded with bacon, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and waffles.

  “Thank you, Lilith,” Rachel said, turning her head up to give the other woman a brief kiss.

  “You’re welcome,” Lilith replied, stepping away and looking at Gina with a slight smile, looking like she’d been up for ages and wearing her more usual comfortable clothing. “Good morning, Gina. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yes, eventually,” Gina said, blushing slightly as she looked at the food cooking on the stove. “I was surprised when you were gone. You didn’t get me up.”

  “You looked like you were so content that I didn’t want to wake you,” Lilith replied, turning back to the waffle iron as it beeped to rescue the new waffle. “What would you like? Rachel said you’d prefer coffee?”

  “Yes, please,” Gina replied, letting out a breath of relief as she approached the table. “What’s available?”

  “Apple and orange slices, waffles, toast, eggs, hash browns, and bacon,” Rachel replied, holding up a small chunk of waffle as evidence, syrup dripping off it.

  “There’s also apple and orange juice, Rachel,” Lilith added, pausing a moment before continuing. “And a variety of jams, should you want it with the toast.”

  “That’s a lot of food,” Gina replied, blinking and sliding into a chair as Lilith poured a mug of coffee and brought it over. “Um, some creamer, please? You haven’t made breakfast before.”

  “You said today was special, so I thought I would give it a try. The first practice runs went… poorly,” Lilith said, grimacing. “I mistook sugar for salt the first time.”

  “That would be bad,” Rachel said, pausing and looking at her eggs. “Still, this is good.”

  “At least I feel like I’m doing something good, here. I felt nearly useless yesterday,” Lilith murmured, almost too softly to be heard as she brought the creamer over as well. “Here you are.”

  “Lil, that was an exceptionally bad situation,” Gina scolded, shaking her head firmly as she mixed some creamer into her coffee. “If I’d known what was going to happen, I probably wouldn’t have wanted you to come along at all!”

  “I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to walk into that if I’d had a choice,” Rachel added, shaking her head. “I was startled that Ocean Shield managed to get to us that fast. They must have picked up Destruction Corps and scrambled everyone.”

  “While that may be true, you still haven’t told me what food you want, Gina,” Lilith said, smiling. “If I’m going to eat, I have to finish up with yours first.”

  “Oh, um, a waffle, some eggs, and apple slices, I think,” Gina said, sipping the coffee as her mind switched gears. They’d been getting sidetracked a lot lately, she realized.

  “Coming right up,” Lilith said, quickly sliding the waffle onto a plate, then adding the requested food as she spoke. “I’m so glad we don’t have to worry about food down here. Even if Circe doesn’t have that expansive of a menu, there’s enough ingredients to make almost anything I might want.”

  “Very true. This would be a lot more uncomfortable if we were making do with emergency rations or something similar,” Rachel agreed, shaking her head slightly.

  Lilith put the plate in front of Gina, and she smiled, looking up at Lilith as she murmured, “Thank you.”

  “You’re quite welcome. Now, as we’re waiting for Circe to nail things down and repair armor… what do we have in mind for the day?” Lilith asked, going back to start loading yet another plate with fo
od. “I have no idea what you’d consider normal for a birthday, and the internet was less than informative. It varied wildly, in fact.”

  “That’s because not everyone is all that interested in a birthday party,” Rachel replied, shaking her head. “Gina loves them, though. I don’t know what she has planned, but I intend to make a cake. Assuming that all of the ingredients I want are in storage, it’ll be rather decadent, as well.”

  “Oh?” Gina asked, her eyes gleaming at the implication, starting on her food. “What are you thinking?”

  “It’s a surprise,” Rachel retorted primly, smiling broadly as she added. “I suspect Circe will help me keep it secret, too.”

  “Unless Mistress Amber or Mistress Lilith specifically request to know, I have no reason to deny this request,” Circe chimed in politely.

  “Fine, well, I don’t have anything specific planned. I haven’t had time to come up with a present, and even if I had, we wouldn’t be able to go shopping for it,” Gina admitted, then brightened as she continued. “Still, I can think of a few things. Some games, maybe a movie or something… really, it’s just an excuse to hang out and have fun together.”

  “We do that anyway,” Lilith pointed out, frowning slightly as she came over to the table, some of just about everything she’d made on her plate. None of them were full portions, but it was still a sizable amount of food.

  “Very true,” Rachel agreed, smiling more broadly as she glanced at Gina and added, “I think she just likes the excuse to relax and have fun.”

  Gina stuck her tongue out at Rachel and turned back to her food, enjoying her morning, even if it’d started a fair bit later than that of her two friends. No, not just friends, she reminded herself, smiling.

  “Mistress Lilith?” Circe spoke quietly, and Lilith paused, blinking in surprise. It was relatively rare that Circe spoke without prompting.

  “Yes, Circe?” Lilith asked, tilting her head curiously. “Is something the matter?”