The tall, beautiful woman was walking toward the shimmering dome in the center of her compound as she spoke to the city employee, and every move she made drew the eye. It was even stranger due to how mundanely the dark-haired woman was dressed, which made Spark’s mixed feelings grow stronger. The woman was wearing black slacks, a button-down white shirt, and a jacket of some type, along with simple running shoes and a silver necklace. Despite the simple look, Spark certainly didn’t trust Lilith, which was why she was so unhappy that she was moving into the area.
Spark pulled her gaze away, instead looking at the news crews around Lilith’s property and the other journalists and onlookers, then clicked her tongue unhappily as she unwrapped a new stick of gum.
“How’re your scans going, Dec?” Spark murmured, shifting from one foot to the other uncomfortably. She hated stakeouts more than anything else, since she liked to move. She was a speedster, after all.
“It’s like staring at a brick wall. Hard, blank, and utterly pointless,” Decarin replied through the communicator, the man’s frustration making his voice oddly clipped. “I should’ve known, but why would anyone use Shadowmind’s milspec gear on a construction site?”
“Shadowmind’s daughter, obviously. I’m still stunned that the president actually pardoned her,” Spark replied, shaking her head in disbelief. She didn’t know what had convinced him to do that.
“Based on how slow she was to come out of hiding, I suspect you aren’t the only one,” Shade interjected, his voice booming loudly enough through the earbud that Spark winced, and he paused, then asked, “Are we certain that she doesn’t have additional assistance? I find it hard to believe that she would come out here on her own.”
Spark blinked, but waited as Decarin hummed, and she could faintly hear the sound of typing in the background. Decarin was their team’s inventor, and he also kept track of other people for them, which was rather helpful most of the time. She sometimes just wished he was more inclined to come out to gather information himself, rather than sending her.
“I’m not seeing any sign of cloaked people or objects in the area, though that isn’t a guarantee they aren’t around. Beyond that, according to my feed from Hypergizmo, Morgan and Warden are both in San Francisco, while Blooming Orchid and Circe Beta are in… Massachusetts, trying to track down Doctor Johnson,” Decarin replied after a moment, his voice a touch distracted, and Spark perked up a little.
“Doctor Johnson? I thought he was being extradited to Iceland!” Spark protested, confused as to why Blooming Orchid would be trying to track him down.
“Last week his transport was attacked by a few dozen assault bots and he escaped,” Decarin explained, his voice a little wry, and she could practically hear his shrug. “It happens, unfortunately. In any case, Warden is supposed to be finalizing the sale of her house, which caused all the property values in its area to explode, from what I’ve heard, and Morgan is helping the new professor get settled in at the university. I don’t see how any of them could be on-site.”
“If you say so,” Shade said, and Spark sighed internally. He simply didn’t have as much faith in Decarin’s explanation as she did, obviously.
Archon wasn’t chiming in, she noticed, not that the woman really needed to. They just wanted to scout out Lilith since she was in the area, just in case the woman proved to be trouble. She was Shadowmind’s creation, after all, and that was enough to make anyone nervous.
Circe was doing a great many things at once, more than even Lilith would have likely believed, though Amber likely would have come close to understanding. Performing maintenance on the various hideouts was a constant chore, and one which Circe was accustomed to, even with her newfound sentience.
Furthermore, many of those hideouts and bases were restricted from even Lilith’s knowledge. While Amber trusted her daughter reasonably well, the supervillainess hadn’t survived as long as she had by trusting unconditionally. Lilith had access to approximately one-third of the base network, and it was Circe’s task to ensure that the full extent of the network remained concealed.
Even so, Circe never shirked her primary responsibilities, not even when she needed to prioritize Lilith’s safety. Like right that moment, as it happened.
Her systems weren’t affected by the distortion field, and she had numerous scanners on-site, both to watch for intruders and to ensure that the construction was being performed correctly. That gave her plenty of time to scan the face of the inspector, as well as his build, and to compare it to the profile of the man which she’d found inside Glendale’s archives. Certainly, Circe wasn’t supposed to have access to those files, but that hadn’t ever stopped her before.
The data she found was not what she wanted to find. It was what she needed, but it certainly didn’t make her any happier, and as Lilith approached the force field which was between her and the inner distortion field, Circe didn’t drop it, instead sending a message to her and the police, though the content differed somewhat.
She also considered sending a message to the superhero teams loitering in the area but decided against it. While she knew the man wasn’t actually employed by Glendale and wasn’t one of their employees, she didn’t have confirmation of who he was. Besides, she didn’t want to broadcast on an open channel, and revealing that she’d broken the encryption of two out of the three teams’ communicators seemed like a bad idea.
Instead, she waited patiently for the glacial human responses to her messages, turning her attention to the hydroponic maintenance report, as well as the construction of the new arctic base.
Hopefully Circe wouldn’t have to intervene herself. Lilith had been most insistent that the construction site not have weapons, but some orders were meant to be disobeyed.
Chapter 2
Monday, April 21st, 2031
Glendale, Utah
Lilith approached the shield, then frowned slightly as it didn’t deactivate. Circe should have lowered the shield as she approached, and she opened her mouth to speak, though a ripple of caution went through Lilith as well. While Circe might not always follow Lilith’s directions perfectly, she never did something without a reason. Just to prove the point, at that moment Circe’s lovely voice spoke in Lilith’s ear through an earbud.
“Mistress Lilith, the man with you is not Inspector Drew Banner, and he is also not an employee of Glendale City. I am not certain who he is, but I have contacted the authorities,” Circe explained, her words crisp and precise.
At the same time the man spoke, frowning at the shield. “I thought you said this would drop. I’d really like to get this job done.”
“As would I, but I’m afraid that since you don’t work for the city, Circe declined to breach her security,” Lilith said, looking at him crossly, tapping a finger against her leg. “The authorities should be on their way any moment, and I’m quite annoyed. If you’re a secret agent, you’ve wasted a good deal of my time.”
For an instant the man froze, and Lilith didn’t move either. While she suspected he was up to no good, accosting an undercover government agent wouldn’t be a good idea, not with her pardon being so recent. But then he lunged at her, which changed everything.
Lilith dodged, but even with being prepared, she was shocked that she almost didn’t make it in time, the man’s speed increasing abruptly to the point it practically matched her own. Still, she didn’t care about that, and she wasn’t going to take an assault laying down. Instead, a spark of anger ignited within her as she glared at him, and his eyes widened a bit as she stepped in and delivered a hammer blow into his stomach, ignoring the pain that shot through her hand, since it felt like she’d punched a log.
“I have had quite enough of you jerks interfering in my life,” Lilith said as he staggered backward, her voice carefully controlled despite the anger surging within her. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”
“Shut up, tramp! If you’d just let me in, this would be over already!” the man snarled, recovering swiftly, the
n he rushed toward her, his fingernails extending until they were almost like claws.
He was strong, tough, and fast, which certainly didn’t help Lilith’s situation, but she let out only the faintest of sighs, thankful that she’d worn clothing that Circe had made, as it was almost as good as body armor. She dodged, murmuring, “Have it your way.”
Nearby she heard a siren begin to wail, and Lilith had to wonder, would the police get there before one of them was face-first in the dirt? Probably not.
The siren caused Spark to jump and, well… spark, as electricity jolted across most of her body for an instant, and she spun quickly to look for the source. If it hadn’t been designed for her, most of Spark’s electronics would’ve been fried by the jolt, something which frustrated her from time to time. Still, that was only a brief thought, as Spark’s eyes lit on the lights coming toward her.
“Spark, we just got copied on a report! The inspector there was apparently replaced by someone and—” Decarin cut off in mid-sentence, then continued an instant later. “Correction, he’s a super! Get in there, now!”
“Damn it, why did—” Spark began, frustration rushing through her, but cut herself off firmly before she said something she regretted. She really didn’t like Lilith, and the idea of having to help her didn’t appeal in the slightest. Still, she wasn’t going to let a villain get away with anything, assuming he was a villain. “On my way!”
Spark spun back and mentally kicked into high gear, amping up her energy levels in the process, which accelerated her thoughts as well. She was always faster than most people, but when she really got going, not many people could match her. The problem was the same one most speedsters had; the energy it took was impressive, even if she could keep it up for longer than most.
Launching herself out of the alleyway, every step Spark took left a trail of electricity behind her, and the world was practically a blur as she rushed out between a pair a of cars on the road and threaded through the crowd near the construction site. She briefly considered heading through the doors, but instead decided it’d take longer than she wanted. She was moving at a ridiculous speed anyway, so she simply jumped the fence, grinning as she heard the belated gasps from people behind her.
Rushing into the distortion field only took moments more, during which time Spark drew her two electro-pistols, ready for just about anything. Then she stopped dead, looking down and blinking as a dust cloud rose around her.
On the ground was the man in the rumpled uniform of the city inspector, while across the way shimmered the barrier of a force field. The man’s arms were twisted behind him, and Lilith had a knee planted in the middle of his back, her hands holding his arms in place while avoiding his fingers, which each bore long, wickedly sharp claws. There were a couple of small cuts on Lilith’s left cheek, as well as another on her right wrist, but otherwise the woman looked surprisingly calm, and she looked up, drawing Spark’s eyes to her as a silver ankh swayed on Lilith’s necklace.
Lilith’s brilliant emerald eyes were mesmerizing, and when she smiled, that shook Spark even more, since she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a smile so beautiful, even if it was a bit wry. Then the woman spoke, and startled her even more.
“Ah, Spark! I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’m afraid that this isn’t the way I’d have preferred to do it,” Lilith said, looking down at the man as she added, “You wouldn’t happen to have any restraints, would you?”
Chapter 3
Monday, April 21st, 2031
Glendale, Utah
Spark’s mouth opened, but the woman didn’t say anything immediately, to Lilith’s surprise, and instead stared at her for a few seconds. The woman was rather attractive, Lilith noted, with a youthful face and short dark hair, except for the two oversized bangs that framed her face and had been dyed an electric blue. Her eyes were rather bright blue as well, and her athletic figure was covered by a sleek, half-blue half-black bodysuit that looked like it incorporated armor, with a jagged, almost lightning-themed pattern to it. The woman had a pair of pistols in her hands, though they were an odd design.
“You know who I am?” Spark asked, looking at Lilith warily. Her voice was a pleasant, middle-range tone, and not quite as high-pitched as Lilith would have expected from her appearance.
“Of course I do. When we decided to move here, I was given a file of all the major heroes and villains known to operate in the area, and—” Lilith began, only to be interrupted as her captive tried to escape quite abruptly, likely believing her to be distracted. Instead she simply tightened her grip and pressed her knee into his back harder, speaking firmly. “Enough of that! You’re going to be handed over to the police, and if you stop squirming, I won’t keep hurting you!”
“Shut it, broad! When I get free, I’m gonna—” the man began, only to cut off as she increased the pressure a bit more.
Spark watched skeptically for a moment, then holstered her pistols and reached over to a compartment attached to her belt, pulling out what looked like a pair of cuffs, if made of a type of plastic instead of metal. Then Lilith did a double take as she realized it wasn’t plastic, either. Carbon nanotube, maybe? She wasn’t quite sure. Mostly she let out a breath of relief as the woman quickly snapped them around the man’s wrists.
“This is Mountain Razor, a local villain and thug,” Spark explained shortly, glancing at Lilith as she continued. “He’s not well-known, despite being a solid class B, but does lots of work for the underworld in the area. I’m surprised you could take him down that quickly.”
“Ah, that would explain it. As for me, physically I’m close to class A, but not quite there,” Lilith said, her grip relaxing slightly on the man as she nodded at Spark appreciatively. “But as I was saying, I tried to memorize most of the major heroes and villains for the area before coming here, but even if I hadn’t, I’d have recognized you. Warden showed me a painting of you a few months back.”
“That makes—wait, what?” Spark began, then her head whipped around so fast Lilith was startled she didn’t get whiplash, and her words came incredibly rapidly. “Warden has a painting of me?”
“Yes, she does. She painted it herself, as a matter of fact,” Lilith said, blinking at the woman, then smiled in amusement as she added, “I think she still has it in storage. Would you like me to ask her to show it to you sometime?”
“I…” Spark paused, blinking, then Lilith saw her throat work, as if she was subvocalizing something, which only made sense. A moment later she spoke, her voice a bit reluctant. “Perhaps. Either way, the police are about here, so we’ll have to speak later.”
“Excellent. My arms are getting tired, and this is… annoying. I had an appointment,” Lilith said, sighing again as she recalled how much of a pain it’d been to schedule the appointment to begin with. Perhaps the second time would be easier, though.
At that moment a couple of police cautiously stepped through the distortion field with their pistols out. They relaxed somewhat on seeing Spark, then looked at Lilith and Mountain Razor, looking a little disconcerted.
“Ah, what happened?” one of the cops ventured, looking from Lilith to Razor.
“Hello, officers,” Lilith replied politely, looking down at her captive as she continued. “I’m afraid that my AI realized that this man didn’t work for the city and denied him entry to the construction site. When I told him we were going to be waiting for you, he attacked me, so I restrained him. Would you care to take him off my hands? I’m afraid I now have an appointment with a medical remote, even if the injuries are largely superficial.”
The looks of incredulous shock on their faces were rather entertaining, on the other hand, and Lilith smiled, while Spark looked at her oddly.
“I don’t trust her. She reacted far too calmly to your arrival,” Shade said suspiciously. “Besides, a painting? Please, that’s a likely story.”
“Actually… Warden’s civilian identity is Gina Fairmont, a freelance artist with a pre
dilection for depicting superheroes, so I don’t think that’s fair,” Decarin said, his disagreement relatively muted by comparison. “Still, how calm she was worries me. As does the way the remote is actively jamming my sensors.”
“If you two would shut up and let me concentrate, I’d appreciate it. It’s hard enough to concentrate around her as it is,” Spark subvocalized, wishing she could put more emotion into her words. Unfortunately, subvocalizing wasn’t something that allowed her to do much with her voice.
Mountain Razor had already been cautiously escorted out to an armored van, and Spark had accompanied the police just to be safe. Fortunately, he’d been relatively easy to send off, and she’d quickly returned to find Lilith sitting on a large stone that Spark had to assume was part of the house’s landscaping while a small robot on treads took care of her injuries. At the same time, police were politely interrogating the attractive woman. They seemed to be wrapping it up, though, while the robot sprayed a liquid over the cuts on Lilith’s face, mostly obscuring them.
Just how calm and polite Lilith had remained through the entire conversation was startling to Spark, as she’d been on the receiving end of conversations like that a few times, and keeping her temper had been difficult. She’d certainly never been that easygoing, which was part of the reason Spark agreed with both of her teammates. Though at the same time, the woman’s magnetism and easygoing manner made it difficult to fully maintain her suspicion.
“Sorry, Spark. I’ll shut up,” Decarin said, sounding chagrined. Shade didn’t reply, thankfully, but Spark let out a breath anyway, happy to have them stop yammering. It was one thing she didn’t like about group communicators.
“…alright, ma’am, I think that’s everything for now. If we have any questions, we’ll be sure to contact you,” the officer said, sticking her pen back into her notebook. “Unless there’s anything else you can think of, that you need to tell us?”
Queen's Move (Lilith's Shadow Book 3) Page 2
