“Not a bad idea. I’ll do the same.” Rachel agreed, and the creak of the other door indicated that she’d closed the door as well.
Gina quickly unpacked, which didn’t take long. Oh, there were a few surprises as she did so, mostly when opening drawers. She found a spool of thread in one, and what looked to her like a magical charm of some type in the wardrobe, a jade carving of a cat with one paw raised. It was odd, but she just set each of them on the end table and made a note to worry about them later as she went about unpacking her clothing. The rest of her things could wait.
Getting out of her suit was a bit of a relief, in many ways. Even if it was newly made, it was a little too tight in a couple of places, and Gina simply wasn’t used to wearing the form-fitting garment anymore. It didn’t take long to slip into another outfit, this one a simple long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and Gina let out a sigh as she paused, staring at the wall. It was going to take some time to get used to being here… and despite everything, she found the idea of letting Madison into her mind disturbing. She didn’t feel any different, which was entirely the problem with this sort of thing. You rarely felt like you needed help.
“Gina? You done in there?” Rachel asked, interrupting Gina’s moment of self-reflection.
“Oh, of course. Give me a moment,” Gina said, tossing her suit on the bed, then opened the door.
Rachel looked good, Gina thought, pausing to study her friend and lover. She’d put on a purple shirt and pair of slacks, and if it weren’t for the faint circles under her eyes, one would never have known she was stressed. On the other hand, the moment that Gina emerged, Rachel gave her a tired smile and stepped forward, pulling Gina into a tight hug.
“I’m so worried,” Rachel murmured, her voice almost inaudible, despite how close she was. “What if this doesn’t work? If she can’t help us, what are we going to—”
“Shh. Don’t borrow trouble, Rach,” Gina interrupted, smiling as she returned the hug… only to have Rachel hit her gently as she pulled away.
“Don’t call me that!” Rachel said, glowering at her in annoyance. “Can’t you see I’m trying to be serious?”
“Of course. But we don’t know whether it can be fixed or not yet. We’ll find out soon, and you said it yourself, if anyone can help us, it’s Madison,” Gina replied, grinning in triumph. At least she’d managed to drag Rachel out of her funk, if only briefly. “Speaking of which, we do need to tell her what happened.”
“True, true… and we’ve put that off long enough,” Rachel agreed, taking a deep breath, then nodded firmly. “Right. Let’s go downstairs.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Gina teased, and barely dodged before Rachel could hit her. It was a bit difficult in the narrow hallway, but she’d had enough practice that she managed.
“Stop it!” Rachel scolded, scowling, but Gina could tell that her heart wasn’t into it, and simply grinned in return.
Rachel glowered at the lack of response, then murmured. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”
“I don’t, either,” Gina agreed cheerfully, following her down the stairs.
Rachel led the way into a small dining room, one which had an open doorway into a compact kitchen, where Madison was pulling out some food, which smelled quite good to Gina, and her eyebrows rose at the sight of six small pie tins, about the size of an individual pot pie. The table was set with simple dishes, and Gina hesitated for a moment, looking at Rachel.
“Should we sit, Maddy?” Rachel asked.
“Oh, go right ahead! I’ll have all of this out in a bit!” the retired heroine replied cheerfully. “Take whichever seat you want!”
“Thank you,” Gina replied, and shrugged, taking the nearest of the wooden chairs. The odd thing about the house to her was how it was a mixture of old and new elements, and she couldn’t quite decide which some of the items were.
“You’re quite welcome!” Madison replied, even as Rachel took a seat to her left. That let both of them see Madison easily, as she placed three of the pies on a tray, then added a bowl of what looked like mashed potatoes and a salad to the tray. “Now, why don’t you tell me just what happened to you?”
“We can do that,” Rachel said, hesitating as she looked at Gina. “Where to begin?”
“Why don’t we just give the super-short version, and she can ask questions?” Gina suggested, settling into her chair as best she could.
“Fair point,” Rachel agreed, inhaling deeply, then spoke again. “When we captured Shadowmind a year and a half ago, somehow she managed to plant a link into our minds and to force us to forget to cleanse ourselves afterward. As far as we can tell, she might have manipulated us into meeting Lilith, as well as our emotions where she’s concerned. We can’t tell for sure, since her power is all over our emotions regarding Lilith, as well as other portions of our minds. We figured out something was wrong when our emotions where Lilith was concerned abruptly faded over the weekend, and her power was fresh.”
“You figured it out. Either she did a better job on me, or I’m just not observant enough,” Gina interjected, frowning slightly. “I spotted it when you pointed it out, but it wasn’t easy. My thoughts kept trying to slide off the changes.”
Rachel inclined her head, acknowledging the point, but continued. “Anyway, that coupled with the changes that were made to Gina when she was captured by Blue Impulse had me really worried. How much could she have done to us? What choices were ours, and what isn’t? Is anything I’ve done my own choice over the past couple of years? I just—”
“Gobshite,” Madison interrupted, picking up the tray and bringing it into the room. “Care for tea? Or maybe a beer?”
“Ah, what?” Gina asked, blinking at the woman in confusion.
“Gobshite. In other words, Rachel is being an overly dramatic idiot. You’d expect better from someone who teaches metaphysics, but panic makes a fool of everyone,” Madison explained as she smiled at Gina, setting the bowls of potatoes and salad in the middle of the table. “Now, would you like water, tea, or a beer with dinner?”
“Ah… water, I think. I’m tired enough that I don’t think alcohol will agree with me,” Gina said, looking at Madison in confusion, then at Rachel.
“Why am I being an idiot?” Rachel asked, frowning. “I thought it was a legitimate concern. And I’ll take water as well.”
“You’re forgetting the consequences of mind control on that level,” Madison replied, placing a pie on each of the plates with a bit of levitation. Then she took each of their cups and went into the kitchen, her voice rising as she did so. “If someone was making all your decisions for you, or making so bloody many changes, you’d end up a passive doll the moment you cut them off. You did cut her off?”
“Of course!” Gina said quickly, flushing a little at the implication. “I didn’t want Shadowmind having any more access to my head than I had to.”
In the other room they could hear the pouring of water as Madison spoke, satisfaction in her voice. “Good. Shadowmind is a fucking cunt.”
Gina choked at that, and Rachel’s eyes went a little wide. Madison came into the room a moment later, holding the tray with the glasses, one of them filled with tea, and looked between them before laughing softly.
“Right, Americans. I stand by it, though. She is,” Madison said, a hint of steel in her gaze as she set down the glasses. “Did Lilith know?”
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a clue.” Rachel began, then paused and sighed, shaking her head. “Damn it. I meant to email her once we landed, but I forgot, again. This is getting really, really old.”
Gina grimaced, even as Rachel pulled out her phone. Rachel had a point, as she hadn’t even thought about emailing Lilith. She’d sent a text to her father, and she knew that Rachel had let her parents know that they’d landed safely, but that was all. Neither of them had let Lilith know, which was definitely an oversight. It made Gina grimly certain that keeping in contact with her wouldn’t be easy.
�
�Ah, shit,” Rachel whispered, staring at her phone, and a feeling of dread washed over Gina. Madison sat up straighter as well, frowning at her.
“What is it? Did something happen to your sister or parents?” Gina asked, frowning as she considered other possibilities. While it was possible that something had happened to Lilith, it didn’t strike her as likely. Not with the Sentinels keeping an eye on her.
“No, that’s not it at all. I… well, check your email. You got copied on it,” Rachel said grimly, taking a deep breath, then offered her phone to Madison, continuing softly. “We’ve got confirmation, Maddy.”
Gina took in the strained look on Rachel’s face as Madison took the phone curiously, inhaled slowly, then pulled out her own phone. The notification light was blinking, and when she lit the screen, she saw that she had several emails and a response from her father. But her eyes settled on the one from Lilith, which only had the subject line. A line stating ‘You’re Right’.
She hesitated, then unlocked it, almost afraid to see what it said. Gina was tempted to check the other messages first, but she forced the impulse down, and instead read the email, and as she did so, it was almost like a gut punch.
Dear Gina and Rachel,
I’m sorry about everything. I’m sorry that I doubted you, and that I felt abandoned when you left. I simply didn’t understand why you were doing what you were. It’s part of why I didn’t tell you that I had a meeting with Amber today. Now that it is past, I understand at last, and I apologize for doubting you.
She confirmed your suspicions when I met her. Worse was how she talked about you. She spoke like you were objects, tools, or toys, to be used and discarded at a whim. She told me that she pushed us together because she didn’t want to babysit me, and that she forced you away to make me find out what it was like to be betrayed. It was… horrible, hearing it like that. But it confirmed everything that you suspected, and that’s important. Hopefully it helps you with your treatment.
I should add, I refused to do what she demanded. She wanted me to become what she wanted, and I told her no. I have been cut off from her resources, but I should be able to live my life adequately, so please, don’t force yourselves to worry about me. You have enough things to be concerned about, and you should focus on healing, not on contacting me when it could hurt your recovery.
As that’s the case, I believe that I should bid you farewell. I care about you even now, but you should not have been hurt, violated, the way that she did. Goodbye to both of you. I enjoyed our time together.
Sincerely,
Lilith Carpenter
“That…” Gina whispered, staring at the email in shock. She couldn’t continue, as she felt her emotions roiling inside her.
Gina’s emotions weren’t behaving the way she would have expected. The raw emotion in the email was obvious, and even if she didn’t feel the way she once had where Lilith was concerned, she could practically see her grief. They’d been together for long enough for her to know that much. The confirmation of what had been done to her sent a solid spike of anxiety into Gina’s hindbrain, as did the confirmation that Shadowmind was alive. Yet there was an odd confusion to her emotions, like something was missing, and it was driving Gina to distraction.
“At least she has a degree of integrity, unlike that—” Madison began, then stopped, glancing at Gina and Rachel for a moment before handing the phone back to Rachel. She continued after a few seconds. “It will help, yes. Though I do feel sorry for her. If she’s correct, she had nothing to do with any of this, and she’s been injured as well. Nothing good in any of this.”
“Yeah,” Rachel said, rubbing her forehead as she sighed, then nodded. “I’ll have to reply in a bit. After dinner.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Gina agreed, though she found she’d lost some of her appetite. Not that she was going to make that obvious, so she picked up her fork.
It was time to see why this was something Rachel liked so much… and it would give her time to compose her thoughts where Lilith was concerned.
Chapter 12
Friday, August 22nd, 2031
Guardian Compound, Paragon City
The door slid open with a hiss, and Lilith ignored the way lights flashed behind her. The reporters were annoying, but she’d long-since learned that getting annoyed at them didn’t help at all, so she did the next best thing and ignored them. It was so much easier than adding to the pile of anxiety and depression she was trying to fight off. She didn’t know how she was supposed to deal with the loss of even Circe, since she hadn’t realized how much she’d relied on the constant presence of the AI. That was part of why she’d gone out, and had carefully ensured that she didn’t have anything which Amber could monitor her through. She hoped not, anyway.
“Hey, Lilith!” Decarin said cheerfully, standing on the other side of the door, and he looked her over, then glanced at the reporters wryly before he gestured. “Why don’t you come in? I’m not used to having this much attention when we have a visitor.”
“Yes, but the media considers me to be an important subject right now,” Lilith replied dryly, stepping inside and waiting until the door had closed before continuing. “I suspect it would be bad enough if it were just the events from the convention, but when Gina and Rachel left and were seen in London within days, it threw them into a feeding frenzy. At least, that’s how I’ve seen it referred to online.”
“I believe it. When Morgan came over and talked to us, we were in enough shock afterward ourselves. And that’s with us knowing at least most of the story. I can’t imagine how it looks to outsiders,” Decarin replied, shaking his head slowly. “You have my sympathies, Lilith. It must be a really hard time for you, and here I am, asking for your help.”
“No, I can use the distraction. It isn’t like you’re going to have an easy time of things, with what’s coming next week,” Lilith replied, smiling back at him as warmly as she could manage.
The news that Ivanova Cheresk was coming to the city hadn’t really registered with Lilith at first, or at least it didn’t really mean anything to her. As far as she was concerned, it was just another famous woman, but that was mostly because she hadn’t initially connected the name with Dracula’s wife. Dracula’s Bride was quite possibly the single most powerful healer on the planet, able to regenerate a person as long as pretty much any single cell of their body was still alive, which was beyond simply impressive. Yet it wasn’t until she saw the reactions of everyone else that Lilith had realized there was more to her visit than she’d expected.
First Emily had been forced to beg off on a dinner, to her obvious frustration, as she was doing additional patrols of the city. Then Lilith had seen the news reports indicating that a host of heroes had arrived in the city, along with more villain activity, and that LANCE was stationing a full reaction team in the city for the duration of Ivanova’s visit. That was what had made Lilith realize just how big of a deal this was, especially when the news anchors began speculating on who might try to kidnap Ivanova this time, and had gone over several disasters that’d occurred during her previous visits. No matter how badly they’d failed, some villains never ceased trying to get their hands on her.
That was part of why Decarin had called Lilith, asking if she’d be willing to help him put together more secure comm sets, so that the various super teams that were willing to coordinate with the Sentinels could all be on the same network. While she’d love to help more directly, there was no way for Whispering Darkness to get her a suit of power armor in time. He’d been rather apologetic, especially since he’d pointed out that her physical abilities exceeded the armor she’d designed by a good margin. He’d offered her a suit of light armor, which Lilith had accepted, but it was still in transit.
“Fair enough! If you want to come this way? I think Shade and the others are still hashing out schedules with a couple of other reps,” Decarin said, gesturing down the hall, and the man ambled down it at a sedate pace. “I’m glad I’m not
part of that discussion.”
“Why do you say that?” Lilith asked, her curiosity roused.
Decarin laughed, glancing over his shoulder at her as he grinned. “I don’t know if you know, but there are a lot of high-powered supers visiting, and I really don’t want to get involved with some of them. I’ve heard that Daemonia is as prone to getting trouble as you, and some of the others… look, we’ve even got Portus here! If he’s here, that means we’re one portal away from getting Destiny and Frostfire on the field, which would give us four class S heroes at a minimum. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to get caught up in that sort of fight.”
Lilith winced, thinking about the sheer devastation a single class S hero or villain could wreak, then considered what four of them could do. Still, the sheer number of supers in the city made her hesitate for a moment, and a question occurred to her.
“If that’s the case, I’d think there would be plenty of other inventors or gadgeteers who would be willing to help you. Why me? I’m a mundane engineer at best, and I don’t even have a certification, degree, or anything of the sort,” Lilith said, frowning as they reached a door labeled ‘Tech Lab’.
“You’re not an inventor, which is a major qualification. Also, while I don’t have confirmation on your skill level, I saw you adjusting the settings on your armor, and I also heard about your comments regarding the power armor for the police that Whispering Darkness is building. He shared specs shortly after your video went live, since tons of people were making inquiries, and if you managed to design that, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders,” Decarin replied, opening the door to reveal a large laboratory with machinery all around the edges, but which primarily had a pile of parts sitting in bins on a central table. “The thing about inventors is that they’ll try to improve the designs, and I don’t have the time to argue with them about the comm units. I need about two hundred of them, and I don’t trust pre-built ones. They have too many opportunities for a villain to screw with them.”
Queen's Journey (Lilith's Shadow Book 5) Page 8
