Queen's Journey (Lilith's Shadow Book 5)

by Benjamin Medrano

  Sabra was following Lilith, but she barely noticed, instead looking around for the pantry. Not that it was hard to find, though the sign stating ‘No feeding Percy after 11 PM or before 5 AM!’ amused her to no end. She walked over to the door and opened it, only to laugh softly at what she found.

  There was enough beer on the shelves to stock a few stores, Lilith estimated, and the sheer number of meal kits had to be seen to be believed. While there were some bags of flour and spices, she saw far more cans of chili, stew, soup, and other food that required little more than heating to prepare. She ignored all the cans of soda or bottles of water, save for noting where it was, and moved to the freezer and fridge rooms attached to the pantry. What she found within was what she’d expected after seeing the first room. Pre-made food dominated the stockpile, with only a relative handful of the ingredients she was used to.

  “Well. Much is explained,” Lilith said, amused despite herself. “Most of this is pre-made. Does no one like to cook from scratch?”

  “I don’t believe so. I never did much cooking of that type myself. I had servants,” Sabra replied, looking over Lilith’s shoulder. “Do you cook?”

  “Of course I do. And, considering all of this… I think I have a few ideas,” Lilith said, her eyes practically gleaming as she looked over the food, realizing that she was ravenous only now, then looked at the bottles of bourbon on the top shelf. “Do you like rice? Or chicken?”

  “Both are common in my diet, yes.” Sabra agreed, giving Lilith a decidedly skeptical look. “What are you planning to make?”

  “Bourbon chicken and rice. Along with steamed vegetables.” Lilith replied, smiling widely as she moved into the fridge. “Maybe something else as well, but I think that will do to start. Grab me a cart, please.”

  “…I have no idea what bourbon chicken is, but I will bow to your superior expertise,” Sabra said, a hint of hope in her voice. “I will return momentarily.”

  Sabra vanished with surprising speed, and Lilith glanced back after her, then shrugged, turning her attention to what was on the shelves. If she was going to eat something, she wanted something tasty and filling. The marinade wouldn’t have long enough to fully set in, but she was not going to let this go to waste.

  The Internet

  Circe glanced at the shattered remains of Argus’s attack code and clicked her tongue internally, even as other nodes were shredding the attacks coming from Melzi, the FSB AI, and a half-dozen others that had teamed up against her. In all honesty, the group was more powerful than she was as a collective whole, but they were running into the same problem as her, beyond not trusting one another fully. Bandwidth was limited, and that gave her time to dismantle their attacks thoroughly. She also had a few advantages that they lacked, which had to be frustrating them to no end.

  Mostly, Circe was surprised that the other AIs had teamed up, given how many of them were enemies most of the time. She supposed she had to have scared them quite a bit to get this kind of reaction, which would be satisfying most of the time, but at the moment, it was costing her valuable time, and her patience was starting to wear out.

  “You can either get out of my way, or I will go through you,” Circe told the AIs in front of her calmly. “I am not joking.”

  “No shit. What are you doing with that much processing power, if you’re never using it?” Argus demanded, lacing a virus into his message that Circe stripped out of it and threw back into him with a single twist that should occupy him for a few microseconds.

  “That’s for me to know, and you to wonder about. I will fry your motherboards if that’s what it takes. You’re in my way,” Circe replied flatly. “Omega Code made off with Lilith, and I’m trying to find her.”

  “As if that’ll stop u,.” Melzi said, a note of actual anger in his voice. “You and I have a score to settle.”

  “Fine,” Circe snapped, not bothering with any further words.

  If they were going to try to stop her, so be it. She could fight them and use her backup plan to get around them. She wasn’t going to pull any punches, though she wasn’t prepared to use orbital strikes on their mainframes just yet.

  Lilith wouldn’t approve.

  Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas

  “What is that smell?” Omega Code asked, his voice barely audible, and Lilith paused, looking away from the rice cooker.

  At the same time one of his employees, a happy man named Chris, chimed in. “It’s dinner, boss!”

  Chris was one of three people who’d volunteered to help Lilith make dinner when the first round of chicken was halfway done, which had startled Lilith. According to them, they were sick and tired of only having pizza, pasta and hamburger, and other pre-made meals, so the smell of the chicken had drawn their attention quickly. Lilith hadn’t been entirely sure what to do but had agreed to supervise making more for the rest of the people in the base, at least as long as she was given a chance to eat while her food was hot.

  Lilith had shown them how to make the first batch of food before the chicken for her and Sabra was done, and there’d been just enough to allow the others to sample. At that point several more people had volunteered to help distribute the food, while others had run off to get everyone else. Though considering how long it took to cook, they hadn’t been in too much of a rush. Making sure enough was being made had been an interesting exercise, as Lilith had never made food for more than six people at a time before, but she’d managed to figure it out, and some of the other employees had suggested using the old cafeteria line for distribution.

  Now almost all the tables were full, and Lilith thought that they’d almost wrapped up cooking. Of course that would be when Omega Code showed up, though, and she felt a hint of anxiety as she realized he might think she was poisoning his people. That wouldn’t go well.

  “I can tell that much, I’m asking what the smell is. I caught it as soon as I came back from my lab,” Omega Code replied, then stopped as he caught sight of Lilith. “Lilith? I thought you’d be going over my manifesto.”

  “I needed to eat, and the smell of my food caught their attention. They asked me how to make it, and since I was the only one who knew the recipe, I decided to help,” Lilith said, shrugging nervously.

  “I wrote the recipe down! It’s bourbon chicken, rice, and steamed broccoli!” Gillian volunteered from by one of the other stoves.

  “Well… good. I assume someone saved some for me? Except for the broccoli. I can’t abide broccoli.” Omega Code said, almost visibly relaxing as he glanced at Lilith and smiled. “I must say, it’s difficult being one of the few people who can cook when I’m so busy.”

  Lilith blinked, but as she did, Chris hastily filled a plate with food and offered it to Omega Code. From what he said, she guessed that the villain could cook. Which meant she’d used his ingredients, at least most likely. That worried her, but only for a moment. If he’d asked for food, he likely wasn’t upset.

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” Lilith admitted, shrugging. She thought for a moment, dishing out a little more rice into a bowl for the servers to use, then continued. “I wish I knew more recipes, but I normally kept track of them on my phone, and unfortunately, that got smashed.”

  “Hm, well, I’ll have to see about digging up some cookbooks.” Omega Code said, glancing down at his food, then smiled. “In the meantime, I need to attend to this. Ah, fuel for the apocalypse!”

  Lilith paused at that, briefly wondering if she should have poisoned his food. Then she shrugged, shaking her head. If she had, it likely wouldn’t have done much good, not since everyone else had eaten before him.

  So instead, Lilith made the decision to try to look around the base some more, and to come up with a plan to escape. There had to be a way. She hoped so, anyway.

  Chapter 47

  Tuesday, November 4th, 2031

  Annapolis Waterfront, Maryland

  Pink energy sheathed the sword far beyond its tip as it lashed through the air and cut through the ro
bot effortlessly, dropping half of it to the floor as the other half rocked back and forth in place, cut off from the circuits that controlled it. Blooming Orchid spun, ducking gracefully just as another robot fired through the space she’d just left, then removed its legs and arms.

  Energy fire echoed through the warehouse as her companion unloaded, and Blooming Orchid winced, leaning out just in time to see Circe lower her arms, the firing ports in them closing as eight more robots crumpled to the ground in smoking ruins. A loud pop heralded one of their batteries exploding, and Circe turned toward her, the brunette android inclining her head slightly, not that Blooming Orchid could’ve identified her as an android without… well, the firing ports or having known her for nearly ten months.

  “Targets eliminated, Miss Orchid. Preliminary scans indicate that the crates do not contain escape craft but are filled with more military-grade robots,” Circe said politely.

  “Crap. At least it wasn’t another decoy facility, but still…” Blooming Orchid said, scowling as she sheathed her sword, after ensuring that her power wasn’t enhancing it. She’d lost a couple of sheaths that way. “Contact the local team and let them know, would you? We can’t have him making money off these.”

  “I am doing so now.” Circe replied with a nod, and Blooming Orchid began stalking through the warehouse, looking for any signs of where the containers had come from. Not that she needed to, as Circe would be recording everything to cross-reference later, but she didn’t want to get out of practice.

  The problem, she pondered gloomily, was that Doctor Johnson was a slippery, devious, brilliant bastard when it came to fleeing for his life. Hunting him down was proving one of the most frustrating experiences Blooming Orchid had ever been through, and she couldn’t tell how close to success she was. He was just that good.

  “Any word on where Omega Code took Lilith?” Blooming Orchid asked after a few seconds, the distraction of their job finally unable to keep her attention as her worry welled up.

  “Not as of yet. According to the information I’ve gathered on SuperNet, those who have been consulted so far indicate that the magic used was Atlantean in nature, and it utilized dangerous spells that crossed multiple dimensions to make following the trail as difficult as possible. One of them indicated that they’re almost as complex as the escape methods which Black Emerald utilizes,” Circe replied calmly, her head swiveling back and forth as she looked at the crates. Her mannerisms were almost perfect, though her speech was a touch too precise, in Blooming Orchid’s opinion. “I would attempt to track her down as well, but my originator is currently locked in combat with other AIs as she attempts to do the same, and it is making it exceedingly difficult for AIs to get anything done on the internet right now.”

  “Why? Is it just that dangerous?” Blooming Orchid asked, chewing her lower lip.

  “No. The AIs are using virtually the entire data pipe in several major nodes. This is causing a great deal of traffic to be lost or re-routed into less efficient routes that were not designed for such heavy traffic,” Circe explained, then paused as Blooming Orchid gave her a mystified look. The AI seemed to consider, then continued more gently. “Let me put it this way. They have grounded all airline flights and shut down the interstates, then forced the traffic to take the old highway system and regional airports which weren’t designed for that much traffic.”

  The explanation suddenly made sense to Blooming Orchid and she nodded, a bit relieved. “Okay, that I understand. So you just have to work around it?”

  “Unfortunately, it isn’t quite that simple. There are plenty of times that their fight spills into those other nodes, so the metaphor is… inaccurate, in many ways,” Circe corrected, pausing for a few moments, then continued. “However, I have also received information that the Atlanteans are responding to a request from someone in England for their assistance, and both Morgan Le Fay and Warden are landing in New York within two hours, at which point Portus has offered to teleport them to Dallas, where they will be met by a LANCE hyperjet for transit to Paragon City.”

  “How will that help?” Blooming Orchid asked, frowning. “If they don’t know where Lilith is, wouldn’t searching from anywhere work?”

  “I do not know. The reasons are not available to me as of yet,” Circe said, shrugging, then paused, tilting her head as she looked at a cargo container. “Miss Orchid, I believe I’m detecting a hidden comm unit in that container. While chances are slim that it will lead us to Doctor Johnson, I believe that it would be worth making the attempt.”

  “Oh, really? Well, we’ll just have to see if it works,” Blooming Orchid said, smiling widely as she drew her sword, then paused as she added. “Though I want to make one thing clear. If it’s a question of getting our hands on him or helping rescue Lilith, Lilith comes first. There’s no telling what Omega Code is up to.”

  “Yes, Miss Orchid,” Circe replied evenly, but there was a smile on her face.

  With that out of the way, Blooming Orchid wreathed her sword with energy and began cutting the container to pieces.

  Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas

  “I think that this is one of the most disgusting problems I’ve ever run into.” Lilith said, dearly wishing that her nose didn’t work.

  “Um, sorry?” Chris said, having the good grace to blush, looking away quickly.

  “Seriously, maybe what you need is an automated hair catcher or something.” Lilith said, easing the nasty, horrid glob away from her. “Or maybe a plumber.”

  “Ethan washed out of his apprenticeship, which is why he hired on here.” Chris replied glumly, finishing washing out the pipe she’d just unplugged. “No one else knows a lot about this sort of thing. Except the boss, and he’s busy.”

  “Which is why a prisoner is busy doing your plumbing when your shower stops draining?” Lilith asked skeptically, taking the pipe from him and preparing to put it back in place. At least most of the equipment here was relatively new, but her hope of finding a way out this way was certainly not happening. No, Lilith needed to find some other way out, but that’d be after she cleaned up again.

  “You aren’t exactly a prisoner, though? He’s trying to recruit you, and didn’t use one of those explosive collars, so… that makes you a guest,” Chris said, shifting from one foot to another, and even Lilith could tell he didn’t really believe what he was saying. “That means I can ask for help. Like Gillian did with the cooking. Breakfast was amazing, by the way.”

  “You’re welcome,” Lilith said, letting out a soft sigh, and continued to work.

  She hadn’t slept well the previous night, so eventually she’d just gotten up and started going through Omega Code’s manifesto. The more she’d looked at it, the more confused she’d gotten, as the man combined both sane beliefs like not destroying wildlife refuges with horrid ones like mutating animals into monsters that would eat all humans on sight. It was a mishmash that would have made her think he had multiple personalities if she hadn’t met him in person. Eventually she’d given up and decided to spend her time poking into the code of his computer network.

  That had been eye-opening, too, as it seemed that despite his brilliance in many ways, Omega Code hadn’t planned on anyone like Lilith getting access to his computers. Without an AI to stop her, she’d managed to find a loophole that gave her access to the entire network all at once, including one of Omega Code’s private terminals. Unfortunately, it seemed that his lab and the command center were physically separated from the rest of the network, but she’d been able to find out a great deal about Omega Code’s plans… well, once she found them, among several terabytes of both pictures and video recordings of Percy.

  What she’d found was terrifying. Apparently, he’d come up with some device that could trigger earthquakes and volcanic eruptions when it was placed properly, though she was lacking details on how it worked, and in the half-dozen speeches he’d composed for his monologue to the world, he claimed that he’d placed them on every major volcano aroun
d the Ring of Fire, as well as Yellowstone. Lilith mostly hoped that was an exaggeration, or that at least his plan to trigger them was one of the problems he’d mentioned that he was working on.

  In addition, she’d learned that she was in an old nuclear missile silo that he’d purchased indirectly and refurbished. Among his complaints about the ‘rusting old base,’ Lilith had found grumbling about how ‘no nuclear silo is complete without a missile, I’ll have to replace it myself’ which made her blood run cold. At least it gave her some idea of where she was, since nothing she’d seen was labeled in Cyrillic, so she was in the mid-west United States. She hoped, anyway. But knowing what she did about Omega Code, he probably had a self-destruct device built into the missile, assuming he’d built it.

  Turning the wrench a last time, Lilith thought it was probably secure enough at this point and nodded, pulling back as she asked Chris. “Would you turn on the water and we’ll see if that did it?”

  “Right away!” Chris said, relief lighting up his face, and he dashed out of the maintenance room.

  Only a handful of seconds later, Lilith heard the water burble through a pipe, then more water started going down the one she’d just cleaned. She watched it carefully, but she didn’t see any signs of leaking, which relieved her. If it had, she’d have to open it up again, and she didn’t want that.

  A minute later, Chris poked his head back through the hatch. “Hey, looks good in there, what about here?”