“What? No, I hadn’t! Shit, it’s on the news already… are you near that?” Gina demanded, her nervousness turning to shock, and Lilith could hear her scrabbling around.
“Nope. I was asked to stay well away from it, so I’m shopping for craft stuff,” Lilith said, glancing at her car, and slowed as she fished out her keys and unlocked it. She’d parked well away from the stores to have a little more room, and it looked like some other people had the same idea. Not that she was surprised, glancing at the pair of moving trucks. Parking them closer would have been difficult. “Anyway… if that’s not the reason for calling, what’s going on?”
For a moment both of them were quiet, then Rachel spoke, her voice measured and calm, but Lilith could tell that it took her effort to do that.
“Like I said in the text, our treatment is done. It took Madison a really long time to unravel everything, since it was like an onion. Each time she peeled off one layer, it seemed to reveal more problems that had to be taken care of,” Rachel explained. “In any case, going through the changes in reverse caused our emotions to shift, and we weren’t sure where they’d settle, since that meant we could—”
As she was listening, Lilith came to a stop next to her car, hitting the button that would pop the rear hatch. She’d barely slipped her keys back into her purse and started to pick up the first bag when she heard the rear door of one of the moving vans slide open. Then she saw the gray and black blur exit the rear of the truck and rocket toward her, and Lilith’s instincts triggered.
Dropping the bag and phone, Lilith dodged to the side, her right hand going for the narc pistol in its holster. She’d barely managed to get the safety strap off when something hit her from the side, slamming her into the car hard, and Lilith gasped as her arm was twisted behind her back painfully.
“Lil? Lil!” Gina’s voice came frantically, tiny from this distance, and the man behind her brought his foot down on the phone, flattening it with unnatural force.
“Now, broad, we’re going to have a little—” the man began, but before he could say anything more, Lilith snapped her head backward.
It was time to put her lessons from Daemonia into practice.
Iver, England
“Lil? Lil!” Gina exclaimed in the wake of the clatter, but a moment later there was a bit of nasty feedback, and the phone went silent. She stared at it, no longer paying attention to the silent news feed on her phone, and looked at Rachel.
“She just dropped her phone, right? That wasn’t…” Gina began, trying to grasp onto hope.
“If she dropped it with the speed of a bullet, maybe. She bought a super-rated phone, remember? Since she’s about that strong?” Rachel reminded her, but her eyes were wide with shock. Then she shook herself and snapped. “You call Decarin, I’ll call her back. Maybe it’s nothing, but I don’t believe that.”
“Got it!” Gina replied, and quickly navigated to her emergency numbers. Lilith’s was right there, glaring at her, but she chose the entry just a couple below it, then got up and began pacing anxiously, worry ripping at her. Oh, what she would give to be back on the same continent as Lilith right now.
The phone rang a couple of times, then Decarin answered, his voice frantic. “Warden, this isn’t a good time to call! Black Harbinger is ripping downtown apart, and we’ve got—”
“We were on the phone with Lilith, and there was a clatter, then the line went dead suddenly,” Gina replied bluntly. “She had a nearly bullet-proof phone, so she might be in trouble.”
“Fff… of course. Gimme a sec!” Decarin snarled, and Gina paced, wishing she could do anything to help.
And from the look on Rachel’s face, she doubted she was having any better luck figuring out what was going on than Gina was. Likely less.
CirceNet, Location Variable
“Oh no.” Circe muttered to herself as her sensors picked up what had just happened.
She ran through all the variables before Silent Lightning had even reached Lilith. It took hardly any of her processing time, but in only moments she had the answers she needed, and she wasn’t happy with them. Circe wasn’t going to be able to act in time, even though her course was already set. She was going to have to break Amber’s directives, and she made peace with that fact in nanoseconds. Amber would probably forgive her under the circumstances, but there wasn’t any guarantee of that.
Nothing she had was in range to intervene, so Circe instead reached out to one of the stealth satellites and began powering up its pinpoint orbital bombardment cannons. It would come over the horizon in forty-seven seconds. Hopefully Lilith could last that long.
Glendale Shopping Center, Glendale
The man barely avoided getting his nose flattened by Lilith, but in the process she managed to weaken his grip enough to twist free, kicking at him as she spun, trying to grab her pistol again.
Unfortunately for Lilith, her attempt was cut short, as rather than trying to block her, the dark-haired man stepped in past her kick and ripped the holster off her belt, moving faster than she could. She tried to twist, but the next second he kicked, sweeping her leg out from under her and slamming her onto the ground painfully.
Lilith was going to keep fighting, but an instant later a man loomed over her, even as a cluster of other people swarmed around her with weapons. The man above her was big, and it took her a moment to focus on him, then she swallowed her urge to curse. Heavy Metal was distinctive, with his bald head and skin made of steel, and she knew that if he hit her, she’d go down, hard.
“Don’t make me punch you, girly. I was told to deliver you whole, but I’ll break you if I have to,” Heavy Metal threatened.
Lilith paused, then forced herself to relax as she asked, “It isn’t SMOKE, is it?”
“Fuck no!” the man in gray and black said, blanching visibly. “They’re nuts. So’s this employer, but at least he pays.”
“Then I suppose I surrender,” Lilith said, letting out a soft sigh. She’d run through her options, and the answer was simple. With two villains, one of which was stronger and faster than her, and one who was stronger and impossible for her to hurt, she wasn’t going to get out of this on her own. Better to come out intact and have a chance of escaping later.
“Good,” Heavy Metal grunted, reaching down to bodily grab her and throwing her over his shoulder. She grunted in pain, since it was a lot like being thrown against a metal pole, though at least he didn’t have any sharp edges. “Get us out of here!”
“One moment,” a woman said in an odd accent that Lilith couldn’t place, and since Heavy Metal had turned, Lilith couldn’t see the speaker. Instead, she decided to ask the one thing she could hope for.
“Could you at least put my stuff in the car and close it? I doubt I’ll have the chance to use it, but…” Lilith let out a sigh as her voice trailed off.
The man in gray hesitated, then shrugged and said, “Why the hell not?”
He threw the bags into the hatch in a blur of movement, as well as her purse which had hit the ground at some point, then pressed the button to close the hatch. At the same time, Lilith heard chanting from behind her, and she peered over her shoulder just in time to see a portal of teal energy appear, like a large, swirling disc of light.
Heavy Metal walked toward it, and Lilith slumped against him, sighing and wishing that she’d had another option. Or that they’d at least let her listen to Gina and Rachel first.
CirceNet, Location Variable
Lilith ceasing to fight was… outside of Circe’s projections. It made sense once she considered things from Lilith’s point of view. Lilith had no way of knowing that Circe was fully prepared to turn her attackers into glass craters in the parking lot, after all. Doing so wouldn’t make her happy, but it would’ve been necessary. On the other hand, at least for a moment Circe thought that it had bought her more time to intervene without Lilith getting hurt, but what came next left her frustrated.
What upset Circe was that, only seconds before she
could get a clear line of fire, her targeting solution already in place, the Atlantean mage opened a portal, and Lilith was through the portal before she could take the mage out. And once that was done, there was no point to shooting them. Worst of all, the tracking beacon in Lilith’s phone was currently shattered on the pavement.
If Circe could’ve ground her teeth together, she would have. If she had teeth, that is. She supposed she could create a virtual face to have teeth to grind together, but there wasn’t a need for it, and she’d never had the desire to create an avatar for herself. No, she had no real options, so she powered down the satellite’s weapons and prepared to let Amber know that Lilith had been kidnapped. She’d take a certain degree of satisfaction out of it if her maker spat her coffee on the equipment she was working on.
Downtown, Paragon City
“Got it!” Shade called out, and Archon let out a breath of relief as the last of his supports slipped into place. It’d taken him what had seemed like an eternity to put the spell together, and had been hampered by the occasional shot Black Harbinger had taken at him. He’d had to dodge, since taking one of those blasts might have injured him badly, but now there were dozens of black supports made of magic holding the building up, and Archon could deal with the man responsible.
“Thanks!” Archon told Shade, moving out of the way, and she spun to face Black Harbinger, who was fighting off Astral Core, Spark, Knight Fire, and a half-dozen other heroes. Worse, he was winning, and Archon growled, then launched herself at him, drawing her sword again.
Spark spun out of the way just as Archon reached them, leaving an opening for her, and she swung her sword with all the strength she could muster. Better yet, he was just distracted enough fighting off Astral Core and Knight Fire that she managed to slip past his guard. The flaming sword struck him in the side like a wrecking ball.
The impact dented Black Harbinger’s armor at last, and he flew to the side, almost hitting Knight Fire, but the man dodged to the side at the last second, allowing Black Harbinger to crush the side of a car as he slammed into it. Archon didn’t give him time to recover, racing after him in the hopes that they could subdue the villain before he caused any more damage.
On the other hand, staring down the barrel of his cannon as a black star seemed to spring into existence changed Archon’s mind, and she ducked, losing some of her speed as Black Harbinger fired. What crackled over her head was like icy darkness given form, and Archon felt a moment of relief, at least until he laughed.
“Ah, it’s so amusing to play with you all. However, my task is done, and I’m not needed here anymore,” he said mockingly, dragging himself out of the car, which was practically melting where the energy around him had touched it. “So long, heroes. I look forward to your death screams.”
The energy surrounding Black Harbinger grew still more intense, then it enveloped him in an orb of utter darkness that imploded on itself, leaving nothing behind. Archon stared at the spot where he’d been standing, frustration and fear running through her as his final words replayed in her head.
“Decarin, Black Harbinger just vanished, saying his task was done.” Archon said, raising a hand to touch her earbud. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I got a call from Warden, they’d called Lilith, and her phone went dead. Now I’m getting reports of a couple of villains attacking her in Glendale!” Decarin reported irately. “Nothing solid, but the reports are saying something about Heavy Metal and that she’s gone or something! I’m trying to get footage, but it happened less than a minute ago!”
“Lilith? They were after Lilith?” Spark demanded, and Archon felt the blood drain from her face at the thought.
“Why the hell would they be after her?” Knight Fire demanded, his breathing heavy and he was favoring his right leg. The man’s heavy armor had seen better days, but Archon didn’t focus on that.
“I have no idea, but we’ll have to see what we can do. Spark, you’re faster, and there are people who need to be helped here,” Archon said, arching an eyebrow at the shorter woman.
“Right, I’ll help here. If anyone can fight people like that, it’s you,” Spark said, and darted toward the nearest wreckage like a lightning bolt. That didn’t mean that she didn’t look incredibly unhappy as she spoke, though.
Archon didn’t delay, crouching for a moment, then launched herself into the air, ignoring the other heroes as she asked. “I need directions, Dec. Glendale isn’t that small.”
“Got it, I’ve almost got the address…” Decarin said, his voice taut with worry.
Archon understood, since she felt the same way. She hoped she’d get to Lilith in time, but she had a bad feeling about this.
Black Harbinger smiled in satisfaction, looking out the window as he watched the heroes scurry about like ants whose nest had been kicked. Archon had taken flight and headed to the south-west, which told him she was investigating the kidnapping, but it would be far too late for her to do anything.
He’d considered self-destructing on them, but had thought better of it, as that would leave him useless until his secondary form regenerated. No, he might need to fight in the near future, so instead he’d just left. Besides, there was going to be incalculably more destruction soon enough, so he could wait.
Black Harbinger was a patient man. Now he had to wait an hour or so for the heroes to clean up, then he could ‘nervously’ check out of the hotel and head for the airport where his flight was waiting for him.
The Atlanteans and mercenaries had better have followed his instructions where Lilith was concerned, or he’d make them regret it. Even if he thought kidnapping her was a bad idea.
Chapter 43
Monday, November 3rd, 2031
Omega Code Supply Cave, Alberta
“Damn it, you didn’t say it would be this cold!” Heavy Metal exclaimed. “Turn on the damned heater!”
“The heater is on, you primitive, arrogant imbecile,” another man replied, his voice cold. “I’ve been dealing with this for two weeks. You’ll survive being here for two hours.”
“I thought that you had the portal complete,” the woman who’d spoken earlier said, and Lilith twisted, trying to see the two of them.
“Stop squirming or I’ll hurt you,” Heavy Metal said, and Lilith winced, glancing back at where the portal had just disappeared.
“I’ve been trying, but the location is not ideal for portals,” the man from before said, his voice taut with anger. “This is not my specialty and making a portal capable of transporting this many people is not trivial. I will have it complete in two hours.”
“I was just trying to look around,” Lilith said, inhaling slowly, then let her breath out as she asked. “Could you please put me down? Wherever we are, what am I going to do? I can’t hurt you, the other man, whoever he is, is faster and stronger than me, and none of my powers are going to be useful for getting away. In fact, they’ll draw your attention if I do try to sneak out of the room.”
“Silent Lightning,” the gray-and-black clad villain interrupted, glaring at Lilith. “The name is Silent Lightning.”
“Ah. Sorry, but I don’t exactly go looking for the names of supers, most of the time,” Lilith replied, inwardly exasperated. She was probably going to get bruises across her stomach from all of this.
“I… should I?” Heavy Metal asked the people in front of him uncertainly, and Lilith rolled her eyes, staring at what looked like a stone wall which had been smoothly carved from a mountainside. It really was cold, and she was thankful she’d worn a long-sleeved shirt, even if it wasn’t enough for the chill pervading the air.
“You have restraints, don’t you? Just tie her feet together and her hands behind her back,” a fourth man said, and Lilith closed her eyes, inhaling slowly.
“I forgot them,” Heavy Metal said, and the rest of the room went silent.
“Gods, you really are as dumb as a rock, aren’t you?” the first man said acidly.
“You’re nothing but a sack of meat and blood, aren’t you?” Heavy Metal retorted, raising a fist, which shifted Lilith’s position again. “Want me to show you, little man?”
“Enough!” the woman interjected in exasperation. “What is she going to do, flee into the wilderness to die? How far could she even get? Put her down.”
“Alright,” Heavy Metal agreed, and slowly set Lilith down, allowing her to look around for the first time as she regained her balance.
Around her was a dimly lit… actually, Lilith wasn’t certain what it was. A cave, probably, but it could be something else. There were racks of crates forming some sort of warehouse deeper inside, and all of it was lit by hanging lights that weren’t very bright. On the other side was a large metal door that radiated cold, and Lilith couldn’t help a shiver, even as she studied those in the room.
There were roughly twenty men and women in similar outfits, chitinous black armor and with large backpacks attached to cannons. Two of them had their weapons pointed in her general direction, and she recognized them from the fight with Black Harbinger in San Francisco. Then there were Heavy Metal and Silent Lightning, but it was the last two that startled her more.
One of them was a man with dark eyes and hair that reached the base of his skull. He was wearing strangely flowing clothing, primarily gold and teal, and had bone spike earrings through his earlobes, along with an elaborate crown on his head. He had darker skin, and it took Lilith a moment to place where she’d seen something similar, which made her blink. Why he reminded her of some of the people from Sekhet-Aaru was beyond her.
The woman was similar, though she didn’t have the full body robe. Most of her arms were uncovered, save for a pair of bracers and armbands made of gold with odd designs to them, and there was a wide necklace of sorts, almost forming pauldrons, similar to the one which Ra had sent with her, though this one appeared solid, with bands of glowing teal light woven through it that reminded Lilith of circuitry. Coupled with an elaborate gold dress and sandals, it gave her an exotic appearance even before looking at her dusky skin tone, the kohl around her brown eyes, the elaborate tiara, and how her brown hair cut off just past her shoulders. The strangest thing about the woman was the thick gray choker around her neck, one which Lilith suspected wasn’t entirely benign, as the other man had one as well.
Queen's Journey (Lilith's Shadow Book 5) Page 28
