Queen's Gambit (Lilith's Shadow Book 6)

by Benjamin Medrano

  “Well, that doesn’t sound good. Her having to deal with another speedster, I mean,” Lilith said, climbing to her feet as she smiled. “Food sounds good, though. Where will it be?”

  “Well, I’m not sure if you’ve been to the team dining room, since we didn’t use it during any of the other visits…” Decarin replied, pausing for a few seconds, then asked. “Um, do you mind if I just show you? I think I might get confused trying to give you directions.”

  “Sure, just give me a minute?” Lilith asked, smiling a little more. Part of her thought his explanation felt odd, since he had to give directions to the team in the field often enough, but she supposed that he probably didn’t have to direct anyone around their base often.

  “I can do that! Take your time,” Decarin replied cheerfully.

  Lilith paused, taking a few seconds to look in the mirror and brush out her hair a bit, as well as untangling her necklace again, laying down hadn’t done it any favors, and it’d gotten caught in her hair. Aside from that she didn’t look too bad, she thought. A little dust on the hem of her shirt and some marks on her pants from when she’d knelt, but she didn’t look like she’d been working that hard, so she nodded in satisfaction, then headed for the door.

  When she opened it, Lilith found Decarin on the other side, looking at his phone while his fingers swiped across its surface quickly, but he paused, hitting a button as he glanced up at her, smiling sheepishly. The man wasn’t in the best shape, though Lilith was pretty sure he’d lost some weight over the past couple of months, and he was wearing a pair of jeans along with a shirt with a math problem on it that Lilith didn’t quite understand. Part of her suspected it was supposed to be humorous, but she still didn’t understand a lot of jokes.

  “Sorry, I just had a thought on how to improve the efficiency of the jet’s shields,” Decarin apologized, putting his phone away as he turned to her. “They took a beating during the last fight, and I’m trying to figure out how to make them work better. I wish it was easier to shield something that size.”

  “Not a worry,” Lilith assured him, closing the door behind her. “I was wondering, though… do you do a globe style shield, or one that follows the contours of the plane?”

  “A globe, which increases the energy consumption,” Decarin admitted, shrugging and gesturing for her to follow him toward the elevator. “The problem is that I haven’t found a way of making the shield fit the plane in a way that I like. It always seems to leave weak points.”

  “You’d also be leaving yourself open to teleportation letting someone get inside… not a worry when you’re going full speed, but in close range, that would concern me,” Lilith mused, thinking about the issue carefully.

  “Hm. That’s a point I hadn’t considered…” Decarin said, stopping in the elevator and pressing the button for the ground floor. Lilith knew there was a basement and a third floor, but she’d never been to either of them. “I’ll have to think about how to do it. You have any suggestions?”

  “I know Amber has a control chip that adjusts the output of form-fitting shields to optimize the power utilization, but it isn’t something I know much about. I don’t have access to those files anymore, I’m afraid,” Lilith told him regretfully, wishing she was able to help. Maybe if she’d designed shielding for the power armor she and Whispering Darkness had collaborated on things would be different, since she had been able to access Amber’s files at the time, and could have figured it out. It was a bit late for regrets, though.

  “Ah, well. At least I know there’s a non-supertech solution… I’ll have to tinker with it,” Decarin said, grinning back at her as the elevator door opened. He led the way down the hall, then through a side corridor to a room near the kitchen, though it was one Lilith hadn’t been into before. Not surprising, since most of the time when she’d visited, Lilith had either been in Decarin’s lab, or on the second floor.

  The room she stepped into surprised her, as the floor looked like it was polished wooden panels, a warm brown that had a hint of red to it, and there was a nice table in the middle of the room, one large enough to comfortably seat six, maybe as many as eight. Around it were chairs, and several places had been set… but what amused Lilith the most was seeing Archon next to the table, setting down a plate of bacon next to what looked like toast, lettuce, and sliced tomatoes. Archon was wearing an apron with the caption ‘Char the Villains, Not the Food’, and had her flame-like hair done up in a bun, though some of it had managed to work itself free already. Her wings were tightly folded behind her, and she looked up at them and smiled.

  “Ah, I see you convinced Lilith to join us. I’m afraid that today we’re having relatively simple fare. BLTs, and I should have the fries out momentarily,” Archon said, giving Lilith a subdued smile, which Lilith considered to be her version of Emily’s usual broad smile. The angelic heroine was far more subdued than any of Lilith’s other… she quickly cut off the thought before it could go any further than that.

  “It didn’t take much convincing, as it’s been a long day. I will say this smells lovely,” Lilith said, and her stomach gurgled in agreement.

  “Yep!” Decarin said, circling to a chair, then he sat down.

  “Thank you. Do you want anything to drink?” Archon asked, pausing on her way to the door.

  “Um… I think just water this time. I don’t want to overdo things, and I’m not sure I hydrated enough today,” Lilith said, smiling at her. “Thank you, though.”

  “You’re most welcome,” Archon said, heading into the kitchen, and as she did so, Lilith was reminded of how much wider the doors in the building were, likely just to make it more comfortable for the heroine.

  Lilith paused, then took the seat closest to Archon’s chair. It was obvious, as her wings required significantly different support than all of the other chairs. She was barely settling into the chair when Archon pushed the door open with a wing, as her hands were full. She was carrying a tray with three glasses and a pitcher of water in one hand, while her other was occupied by a bowl full of fries.

  “Oh, I should’ve—” Lilith began, starting to stand, but Archon quickly shook her head, flashing another slight smile as she interrupted.

  “I’ve got it, Lilith, no need to worry,” Archon said, finishing entering the room and folding her wing behind her again, then approached the table to set the fries down. “I’ve gotten used to using my wings for things like that. They can survive most automatic weapons fire unscathed, so a door isn’t going to give them much trouble.”

  “Yeah,” Decarin agreed as Archon started filling the glasses. “And if you’re wondering why I’m not helping, it’s because I’m the point of contact for the command center right now. We’ve got a policy, whoever is on-duty doesn’t do anything that has them risking having to drop it and run. If Archon was in charge at the moment, I’d be the one cooking.”

  “Yes, though with you in charge, I suspect you’d have grabbed a few frozen pizzas and thrown them in the oven,” Archon said, prompting the man to blush, but he didn’t argue. That amused Lilith enough that she smiled again.

  “Is that so? Well, I’ll have to help out with meals, then,” Lilith said, taking a sip of the water as she relaxed, then nodded, speaking softly. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Archon said, taking a seat at last. Without further ado, both of the heroes started taking bread and building their sandwiches, and Lilith followed their example.

  “You really don’t need to do cooking, though. If we really wanted to, we’ve got a staff who can make meals for us. It’s what we pay them for, and you aren’t part of the team,” Decarin said, spreading mayonnaise on his bread with careful precision that amused Lilith.

  “No, but there are two reasons for me to do it,” Lilith replied, taking the bread and hesitating, then shrugged, putting a couple of leaves of lettuce in place, then the tomatoes. “You’re letting me stay here for free for the time being, and that’s incredibly kind of you, so I want to do s
omething to repay you. For another, I like cooking, and it’s incredibly hard for me to cook for just one or two people. Four or five is an entirely different story.”

  Decarin laughed, looking at Archon, who looked a little amused, before replying. “Well, if you feel that way, I’m certainly not going to stop you! I’m not much of a cook myself… I can do some of the simpler stuff, but that’s about it. Though I have a really nice smoker.”

  Lilith laughed, continuing to put her sandwich together, and debated on how many fries to take. There was more than enough food for five people, she guessed, which made perfect sense if Emily might show up. Speedsters always needed more calories, as far as Lilith knew.

  “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Archon asked just as Lilith added some fries to her plate.

  “Hm? What do you mean?” Lilith asked, setting the tongs back in the bowl, which Decarin promptly stole to serve himself. She wasn’t sure what Archon meant, though she suspected it was probably related to her moving in.

  “Moving into the compound. I know you commented about being concerned about the image of you joining the team on Halloween, but now you’ve moved in.” Archon said calmly, confirming Lilith’s suspicions, but then she continued. “That also does not take into account the return of Morgan and Warden. This is incredibly complicated, and you just barely escaped Omega Code. Are you sure you should be moving so quickly?”

  “After you decided to pick me up, that essentially ended any chance of me not being tied to the team, especially after you crossed what… two states to rescue me?” Lilith replied dryly, her lips quirking into a smile, and she took a bite of her sandwich, enjoying the medley of flavors for a few seconds as she chewed, then swallowed. “That said, the issue is that I needed to get out of the manor quickly. Considering everything that’s happened, I think that I need to make certain Amber can’t spy on me, and that meant changing my residence. Mind you, if you’re uncomfortable with me staying here, I’ll see if I can’t find somewhere else soon. I know Shade isn’t entirely comfortable around me.”

  “Hey, he agreed to letting you move in! He even said that if it’s going to be a long-term thing, we can swap his stuff to one of the guest rooms instead of putting you there!” Decarin protested quickly, looking up from his food. “He barely uses the room, anyway, but… I mean, right, Archon?”

  “That’s right,” Archon agreed, smiling a little more as she hesitated, looking at Decarin, then admitted. “I am happy to have you nearby. You’ve been targeted enough that it makes me less concerned.”

  “Well, thank you,” Lilith replied, heat rising in her cheeks as she cleared her throat, then asked. “So… how many requests for information about the attack on Omega Code did you get?”

  Decarin just let out a groan and shook his head, mumbling. “Oh, don’t even ask… at a certain point, I just offload all of it on our media manager to deal with. We gave him all the information we think we can share, and he’s dealing with it. I’d guess that there’ve been hundreds of requests, though.”

  “I believe you. Between that and my kidnapping, I’ve had a lot of my own,” Lilith said, grinning in response. “Anyway… thank you. I appreciate this, a lot.”

  “You’re welcome, Lilith. And just so you know, you can stay for as long as you like,” Archon replied, and Lilith almost missed the blush that rose in the woman’s cheeks, with how her bronze skin tone concealed it.

  Even if she hadn’t, Decarin’s snicker probably would’ve drawn her attention to it, and Lilith smiled, relaxing a little as she turned her attention back to her food. It really was quite good.

  Chapter 3

  Monday, November 10th, 2031

  SuperNet HQ, Paragon City

  “Okay… so that’s off the list,” Gina said, dragging her stylus across the surface of her tablet to mark off another apartment building. “Sheesh, the rates they charge for heroes are insane.”

  “Not without reason,” Rachel replied, letting out an aggravated sigh of her own. “I forgot how much I hated renting, and that was when we were incognito. Now they know who we are.”

  “You said it,” Gina agreed, sitting back and scowling at the tablet. “We’re starting to get down to options that I really don’t like… and I’m sure not buying a house. Maybe I should focus on art for a few weeks, since I make so much more money off it now…”

  “A possibility,” Rachel agreed, toying with her own stylus as she thought.

  They were at SuperNet, in one of the private rooms that heroes could use for work, but the last couple of hours had been fruitless so far. Rachel appreciated that her parents were willing to let them stay over, but she’d quickly been reminded of just why she’d wanted to strike out on her own to begin with. The house was too crowded, and it seemed like her mother sometimes forgot that she wasn’t a teenager anymore. If they could move back into Eden Manor that would be ideal, but Rachel had to admit that wasn’t a good idea, not with what Shadowmind had done to them once. She didn’t want to risk that again.

  The problem was that as they were powerful heroes, most apartment complexes either didn’t want them to stay there, or increased the rates a lot, so they were running out of options. It made Rachel impatient, as the only reasonably priced places they’d found were too far from Paragon City to really work there most of the time… and more importantly, they were far away from the Guardian Compound. It made her incredibly frustrated.

  That was the moment that someone knocked on the door, and Rachel looked up sharply, then glanced at Gina, who shrugged, her eyebrows furrowed. Since she didn’t know what was going on, Rachel asked. “Yes? Who is it?”

  “Hello, it’s Director Esparza!” Osmar replied in response, his voice cheerful, though his presence also surprised Rachel. “Do you have a minute to talk?”

  Rachel looked at Gina again, tilting her head curiously. Her lover smiled wryly and shrugged, speaking softly.

  “Why not?” Gina asked, glancing at the tablet as she added. “It isn’t like this is doing us much good, so a break might help me calm down.”

  “True enough,” Rachel said, and pushed back her chair to stand, stretching for a second, then stepped over to the door, unlocking it and opening it, a wry smile playing across her lips as she did so.

  On the other side of the door was Osmar, the man smiling broadly as it opened. He’d shaved off his thin mustache, Rachel noticed, but otherwise he was the same as the last time she’d seen him, with dark hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. Well, and an attitude that was so enthusiastic that it sometimes made her uncomfortable.

  “Hello, ladies! It’s good to see you again! I hope your trip to England went well for you?” Osmar asked, stepping inside once Rachel beckoned him in.

  Rachel chuckled softly, moving a bit more slowly as she returned to her chair. She nodded, but it was Gina who spoke first.

  “Yeah, we managed to clear the swamp left by Shadowmind. Or, more accurately, we leaned on Madison’s kindness to get it thoroughly dredged,” Gina said sourly. “Not my idea of fun, since it caused all sorts of mood swings, but it worked out in the end. Of course, no sooner had we managed to get that resolved than Lilith got kidnapped. It’s been a hell of a week.”

  “I believe it, if that’s what you were dealing with,” Osmar said, a smile playing across his lips. “Still, based on what I’ve heard, I thought that you could use some more help.”

  “What you heard?” Rachel asked, her eyebrows rising. “I didn’t realize that we’d said anything.”

  “You may not have, but you requested a list of super-friendly lodging in the region via SuperNet’s network and didn’t log it as private, so I was notified. Couple that with the news keeping track of Lilith’s move to the Sentinel’s HQ, and it makes me think that you’re looking for someplace to stay here in Paragon City. Am I wrong?” Osmar asked, his eyebrows rising as he looked between them, grinning broadly.

  Rachel looked at Gina accusingly, and Gina quickly threw up her hands in surrender.
“Hey, I didn’t realize there was an option to anonymize the request! I just found a list and hit the button to export it.”

  “Well… I can’t say I have much of a place to blame you. I’m the one who usually does the research, but I was busy dealing with my sister spying on us,” Rachel said, letting out a faint sigh. “Not that it’s that important to keep quiet, I suppose. People will find out soon enough.”

  “They usually do,” Osmar agreed, leaning against the wall easily. “Even the heroes who try to keep their identities secret usually make a mistake pretty quickly and get unmasked. I’m pretty sure that the two of you didn’t fool everyone when you were undercover.”

  “You very well could be right,” Rachel admitted, pausing for a few seconds, then let out a sigh as she asked. “So, how do you think you can help? We’ve been contacting a bunch of different places, but almost all of them are too far away or too expensive.”

  “Insurance for housing heroes is unpleasant, I’m afraid, which is part of why the costs go up,” Osmar said, shrugging. “However, there are other options, and if you’d scrolled down a bit, you’d have seen them. Not that I’m surprised you missed them, I keep telling our housing people they need to change the layout of that page.”

  “Oh? What sort of options?” Gina asked, sitting up straight, and started tapping on her tablet’s surface curiously.

  “SuperNet has funded the construction of several condo complexes around Paragon City, as well as numerous other cities,” Osmar said, his voice turning brisk as he settled down to business. “We’ve subsidized them for several reasons, one of which is what you’ve run into, that it’s hard for some heroes to find lodging. Beyond that, we also focus on making sure some are set up so that they can be used by heroes who end up permanently much larger or smaller than most people, or who have a much higher mass than standard. Unfortunately, most apartment complexes aren’t designed for someone who stands ten feet tall and weighs a ton or two.”