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

by Benjamin Medrano

  The motion sensor wasn’t very good, but it was enough to activate a camera. Unfortunately, that camera wasn’t good enough to transmit images, and once again he wished that Omega Code had taken his concerns seriously, as at least then the base would have proper security cameras in more than a handful of locations. All the motion detector it told him was that it’d activated five times, the most recent only a few minutes earlier after a few hours of inactivity, and Black Harbinger scowled. It could be Lilith or the Atlantean mage going to the restroom, but he didn’t trust them, so he decided to go check.

  He wouldn’t underestimate one of Shadowmind’s creations. Never.

  Chapter 54

  Wednesday, November 5th, 2031

  Kansas Airspace

  “How’s the search coming?” Spark asked, fidgeting, and Warden could hardly keep her sigh in.

  “Same as the last dozen times you asked. We need to get closer before I can home in on Lilith,” Morgan replied, her gaze fixed on the map in her lap. “We’re getting closer, but there’s no way that I’m going to pin her down from this far away. There’re spells interfering with the search, unfortunately.”

  “Well, we’ll be getting closer pretty soon. I just hope Omega Code doesn’t have sensors above ground, or this could get interesting,” Decarin said, reaching over to flip a couple of buttons on the front console. “Rescues can always be dangerous.”

  “Yeah. Hopefully she’ll keep her head down long enough for us to get to her,” Warden said, fidgeting and staring out the nearest window. She didn’t like thinking about Lilith in the hands of someone else.

  Archon inclined her head slightly, and she spoke calmly. “It is possible that she will. It may even be likely. However, there is one thing that you are neglecting to consider.”

  “What’s that?” Morgan asked, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  “You have been gone for two and a half months. That is about a tenth of Lilith’s entire lifetime, and she has been trying to determine what it is she wants to do that entire time, rather than simply conforming to the desires of others,” Archon said, and she smiled slightly. “She has changed. She is not the woman that you left behind, and there is no telling what she will do.”

  “Right! She’s not going to just sit there, is she?” Spark said, a smile blossoming on her face as she rubbed her hands together eagerly. “I can’t wait to see what she does!”

  Warden opened her mouth, then shut it again as she thought about what Archon had said. She knew that Lilith wasn’t going to just sit there, but she thought she’d wait at least a few days before making an escape attempt.

  Warden wasn’t sure why, but suddenly she was even more worried than she had been.

  Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas

  The door to the command center was different than all the others that Lilith had seen so far. Instead of a hatch, it was a proper set of sliding doors, though from the look of it, Lilith suspected it could take an incredible beating. She made certain that Sabra was off to the side of the doors, out of range of the camera she could see, then she stepped over to press the call button on the keypad.

  There wasn’t a response for a moment, then the speaker activated, conveying a man’s words with startling clarity. “Ah, hello? Wait, is that you, Miss Lilith? What’re you doing? You aren’t allowed here.”

  “No, but I was up early, and I decided that it might be nice to bring those of you who were working some coffee and donuts,” Lilith replied, though internally she was somewhat ashamed. She didn’t like tricking people.

  “Well, that’s really nice of you! I can’t say that these shifts are fun. Hey Mike, go grab the food, would you?” the man on the other end of the line said, and Lilith smiled wryly.

  A couple of seconds later the doors slid open, and Lilith saw that there were two of Omega Code’s employees in the room, both of them men. The closer of the two was on the other side of the door, and the other was by a large console where she could see a large holographic display. On one wall she could see a radiation hazard symbol, and there was a set of doors directly opposite of them with another hazard symbol she didn’t recognize, though the warning signs were rather telling.

  “Thank you, this will make the rest of the morning much—” The man began, just as Sabra murmured a few words, and sent streams of bright teal energy flying from her fingers with a flick.

  The streamers hit both men before they could react, and the next moment they collapsed to the ground. Lilith quickly stepped through the doors, motioning Sabra through, then set the tray on the floor, pulling the nearby man fully inside.

  “Sorry about this.” Lilith murmured, moving him off to the side.

  “Shouldn’t you be more worried about escaping?” Sabra asked, looking at her and frowning. “I cannot use that… device.”

  “I’m certain you could. You just don’t know how,” Lilith corrected politely, standing up fully, then walked toward the console calmly. “Now to find out how difficult this is to crack.”

  To Lilith’s surprise, she quickly found that the console hadn’t been locked, at least not fully, and she pulled up a diagram of the base… well, what was in its memory, at least. She wasn’t sure how anyone would get to the bottom of the missile silo, as the spot that indicated an elevator was empty, as far as she could tell, but it wasn’t that much of a worry. No, it looked like the other door led to an access tunnel that allowed someone to perform maintenance on the missile’s warhead, or even to replace it. The door and launch codes were locked, unfortunately, but Lilith tried the ones she’d pulled out of Omega Code’s personal system and smiled as everything unlocked.

  Lilith smiled widely and hissed in triumph. “Yes! All I have to do is reprogram the flight plan of the missile, and—”

  Alarms suddenly blared, red lights flashed, and Lilith flinched, glancing up at the hologram, then swore. “Ah, hell. Couldn’t they have picked a better time?”

  On it she saw a warning that exclaimed heroes had been detected and were inbound.

  Omega Code swore, rolling out of bed and shaking himself awake. Percy let out a plaintive mrow of protest, and he paused to run a hand over his beloved feline reassuringly, then hit the button next to his bed to bring up a report on what was coming. He took it in in an instant, then swore and hit the comm button.

  “We’ve got heroes incoming, everyone! Looks like the Sentinels are inbound, no idea how they found us, but given news reports of late, they’re going to have company! Get armed for battle, the apocalypse is nigh!” Omega Code exclaimed, then changed the channel to contact Black Harbinger. “Harbinger, buddy! I need you to slow them down while I get the important stuff out of here.”

  “We have bigger problems. Lilith and the female Atlantean have left their room and aren’t in the barracks area, and the command center hasn’t responded yet. I believe we may have a breach,” Black Harbinger rumbled in response, his tone accusatory. “I warned you about her!”

  “If so, then deal with her! We don’t have time to argue about who was at fault for what.” Omega Code snapped, scowling. “I need to make sure Percy is out of here and—oh, dammit all, someone activated the jammers! Get those shut down so I can blow the volcanos!”

  Black Harbinger’s comm clicked off in reply, and Omega Code shook himself again, then scooped up Percy.

  “Sorry, little guy, but it looks like the end of the world may be delayed again, so time for another emergency evac.” Omega Code told Percy, who was looking up at him in sleepy confusion. “I’ll build you another playroom if things go wrong, promise. Now, let’s get you out of here.”

  With that he rushed for the cat-sized emergency teleporter he’d set aside just for Percy. The rest of his minions could just deal with whatever happened.

  Black Harbinger stomped up the corridor toward the command center, certain that he knew who was behind this. He didn’t know how Lilith had gotten out a message to the Sentinels, but she must have done so. There was no other explanation for what
had happened, and he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. No, he was going to murder her and the Atlantean witch and enjoy every second of watching them die.

  Approaching the doors, he keyed in his code and took aim, just waiting for them to open. The moment they did, he took in the scene before him, of Lilith working frantically at the holographic interface and the Atlantean behind her, and he didn’t even bother with a warning. He just fired.

  Chapter 55

  Wednesday, November 5th, 2031

  Kansas Airspace

  “What the… I just got a wave of jamming!” Decarin exclaimed abruptly. “Trying to localize it now!”

  “What? We’re not even—” Spark began, just as Morgan spoke at last.

  “Got her.” Morgan said quietly, her eyes narrowing. “Ten miles south, Dec!”

  “Really?” Warden asked, hope surging through her.

  “About that,” Morgan said, smiling tautly as the jet banked hard, pressing them downward in the process. “It took a lot of work to get through the wards, but unless there’s something nasty at work, it shouldn’t be a decoy, and—”

  “Not a decoy!” Decarin yelped as the jet suddenly began to move more rapidly. “We’ve got missiles and cannons!”

  “Ah, hell,” Warden said, swallowing hard, and she put up a shield around the jet. She hoped Lilith was in a safe place.

  Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas

  With a flick, Lilith activated the jamming, then hit another button to lock it on, even as she quickly programmed in the new flight plan for the missile. She was trying to find the controls for the automated defenses as well, but they weren’t immediately accessible. Then she didn’t have time to worry about it, as Sabra snapped out a word, and a teal barrier of light sprang into existence just in time to block a blast of entropic energy.

  “Lilith, we have no more time. We must leave,” Sabra said, her voice taut. “I cannot hold him for long.”

  “You have no time at all!” Black Harbinger boomed angrily. “Now you die!”

  Lilith glanced back to see the villain in the doorway, his cannon charging for a second shot, and Lilith swallowed hard, flipping a couple of last options, then hit the initiate button before jumping to the side, dragging Sabra with her, which prompted a quiet yelp.

  The next bolt of energy blasted straight through the fading shield and slammed into the console, which erupted in sparks, at the same time lights began flashing and the holographic display went dead. An instant later there was a popping sound, then water began raining from the fire suppression system, along with a foul, rusty stench that made Lilith gag internally, and rust-colored spots appeared on her shirt where it hit.

  “Time to go!” Lilith said, trying to ignore the smell as she raced for the door to the silo, which was opening in front of her, even as red warning lights flashed. “Let’s move!”

  “I believe that is what I was saying,” Sabra agreed, throwing up another shield just in time to block the next shot from the villain. “Did you open the hatch? Will we have time to disable your… bomb?”

  “Don’t need to disable it. What we need is to get out of here, quickly.” Lilith replied, hitting the flashing red button on the next door.

  She waited impatiently as layers of hardened steel to slide out of the way, revealing a wide, incredibly deep pit with a missile in it. About twenty feet above her, a hatch was slowly rising, and she heard warning sirens wailing in the pit, as well as the sounds of weapons firing above. A wire mesh ramp led out to the missile, and Lilith stepped onto it, looking back at Sabra as another shot of black energy splashed off her shield. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a ladder she could see.

  “What did you do?” Sabra demanded, backing out onto the ramp as well.

  “Flying would be good!” Lilith replied, looking up and frantically judging whether she could climb the wall. Maybe, she decided after an instant. It’d be close, but she might be able to climb the walls in time. Getting out of the blast radius would be difficult, though. “Not unless you want to die.”

  “I desire an explanation,” Sabra said, weaving another spell quickly, then Lilith found herself lifting off the walkway and floating upward at a remarkable speed. “You have not explained what you were doing.”

  “You think you can flee? Fools!” Black Harbinger bellowed, racing out onto the ramp, and Lilith winced.

  “Not as much as he is. Any second and—” Lilith muttered, then fell silent as the door slammed shut behind him, then the ramp dropped out from under his feet.

  Black Harbinger fell nearly a hundred feet to the ground, and Lilith saw him briefly illuminated as the engines on the missile flared, and she wondered if it was going to launch early.

  “What was that?” Sabra asked, her voice almost unnaturally calm.

  “I set the missile to launch.” Lilith said, glancing down as they emerged from the clamshell door to see empty fields around them, save for the weeds surrounding the hatch and concrete. “It’s going to go into orbit in, oh… a minute? I really don’t want to be close when it goes up, those engines burn hot.”

  “…That wasn’t part of the plan you explained!” Sabra exclaimed, darting to the side more quickly, dragging Lilith with her through the air. Lilith could also see the boxy shapes of turrets and missile launchers firing at something to the north all around the launch site, and she hoped that whoever it was wouldn’t get shot down.

  “We didn’t have time to dispose of it properly! Besides, what was I supposed to do with fissionable material? It isn’t like it’s safe to touch!” Lilith protested.

  “If you were speaking in Sumerian, I would understand more than I do now,” Sabra snapped, swooping in toward the ground. “Now, what are we going to do?”

  Lilith was about to reply, but that was when she heard a rumble from the silo, and instead she covered her ears and hoped that it’d be enough. Sabra hesitated, then followed her example.

  Black Harbinger swore loudly as he dragged himself to his feet, fuming but thankful he didn’t feel pain, even if his ears were ringing. The fall had been startling, and he looked up, noting that the two women were out of his sight, but he’d be able to deal with them soon. He looked for the door he knew was nearby, and stepped over to it… then realized it was brighter than he’d expected. His ears also hadn’t stopped ringing. Instead something was rumbling. A sense of foreboding washed over him, and he turned around.

  Behind him was the missile, and as he watched, the nozzles flared to full power, and his eyes widened.

  “Ah, fuck,” Black Harbinger muttered, right before the world erupted in fire.

  The Internet

  Everyone paused as data began rolling in, though a few of them didn’t notice quite as quickly. It was Argus who reacted first, even as Circe was processing data from her satellites.

  “What the hell, who launched a nuke? That site was decommissioned!” Argus protested, immediately abandoning the field of battle as the AI scrambled to alert… well everyone that he needed to. “This shouldn’t be happening!”

  Circe backed off, internally smiling to herself as she zoomed in on the footage of the area which she’d gotten from the last thirty seconds or so. It wasn’t high-resolution, but it didn’t need to be, not when it was enough to make out the woman wearing dark pants, a light shirt that might be button-down, and with dark hair who flew out of the silo along with a woman in gold. The latter looked a bit like the woman who’d helped abduct Lilith to begin with, and Circe smiled more, glancing north to where a jet was dodging and shooting down missiles, yet it’d also just disgorged a variety of heroes, one of which had wings.

  “Well, this should be interesting.” Circe murmured, and powered up the weapon systems on the satellite which would be in range for the longest. She had her orders, and she’d take pleasure in ruining Omega Code’s day. Almost as a side note, she retreated from the battlefield as well. It was no longer necessary.

  Kansas Airspace

  “Did he just launch a miss
ile? Please tell me Omega Code didn’t just launch a missile,” Spark asked plaintively.

  “Sure looks like it, and we’re not in position to intercept before it’s out of range,” Decarin replied grimly. “Now, could someone deal with those turrets? I’m running out of flares, the point defense systems are starting to overheat, and the shields have seen better days.”

  “Working on it!” Warden called out in response, growling under her breath. “There’s a lot of those things!”

  “I’d rather noticed,” Decarin retorted, and Shade sighed over the comms.

  Morgan was being quiet, Warden noticed, but that didn’t surprise her. Her friend was likely trying to home in on Lilith.

  Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas

  “Damn it, not my nuke!” Omega Code protested, watching the missile’s trajectory in anguished disbelief. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get my hands on the materials for that? The government tracks every gram of radioactive material in the country!”

  No one responded to his complaints, and once again Omega Code fumed about his lack of an audience. Black Harbinger wasn’t responding to his messages, the nuke got rid of his primary method of destroying the base, and the attackers were potent enough that his minions wouldn’t be able to do much more than annoy them. They’d probably just surrender. That being the case, it was all up to Omega Code to win the day, and he couldn’t even trigger the seismic inducers.