Lilith's Shadow Omnibus: Volume 2, page 10
“Autographs.” Both women spoke in tandem, then paused to look at one another before they laughed.
Morgan spoke a moment later. “Do you have a pen and marker? At least one, I mean. If not, you might want to pick them up at the convention. I’m sure they’ll have some, and I guarantee that someone will ask you for an autograph. Even most of the more feared villains have a few people that ask them for autographs… collectors can be fearless.”
“Ah, of course. And I do, after I ran into James a few months back,” Lilith said, thinking back to the young man with a hint of fondness. He’d sent her an email a little while back with a video of one of the robots he’d built with her robotics kit. The four-legged robot hadn’t been terribly steady, but it’d moved across the room fairly quickly. She was just happy he was making good use of her gift. “I just didn’t realize I might need multiples.”
“It’ll depend on how many people want signatures, really,” Morgan said, shrugging as she started down the hallway. “I was never as popular as Warden, but I went through two markers last time we came here. How many did you go through?”
“Only two, but the third gave up the ghost not long after,” Warden said, smiling slightly more as she added, “I probably would’ve gone through more, but a lot of fans also bring their own markers, just in case.”
“Hmm… I suppose I’ll have to buy another, then,” Lilith murmured, thinking about her marker, a little embarrassed. She could only think of three autographs she’d given total, so it was practically brand-new. They came around the corner to see a crowd around the elevator, and Lilith let out a soft sigh. “Hopefully this time it’ll go better.”
“I seriously doubt that anyone’s going to attack you again, Lil. Not with this many heroes around,” Morgan replied, unerringly putting her finger on why Lilith was worried. “Yesterday, there were much better odds of success. Today… well, I told you about Black Harbinger.”
“Possibly. I just worry,” Lilith said, slowly relaxing now that the others were treating her more like they normally did. While she was speaking, someone approached them.
“Hello, Warden! Could I get an autograph?” a bespectacled young man said, looking up at her hopefully, a notebook clutched in his hands. The hero worship in his eyes was startling, and Lilith blinked, as she’d never seen anyone look at her that way.
Warden laughed and nodded to the man, grinning as she reached down and pulled out a marker, popping off the cap with an adroit flick of her thumb. Suddenly Lilith realized why the markers she’d chosen had the caps attached, since otherwise, the cap would have gone flying across the hallway.
“Of course. What’s your name?” Warden asked, her voice as friendly as Lilith had ever heard it.
“Bryan!” he replied, grinning even more widely, and Lilith saw Warden write a short message in the notebook before signing it with a flourish. The heroine’s signature was smooth and practiced, Lilith noticed, making her even more embarrassed.
“There you go! I hope you have a great stay at the convention!” Warden told him, offering the notebook back, which he took happily.
“Thank you! I think it’s going to be the best trip ever!” he replied enthusiastically, and Lilith couldn’t help a smile.
The elevator sounded at that moment, and one of the doors opened, then another. The elevators heading down were already mostly full, Lilith noticed, and she was about to settle in for a long wait when a man close to the door gestured at them.
“Go on, you’re the ones with actual events,” the man said, nodding past Lilith to Morgan and Warden, though his gaze lingered on Lilith. “I’m looking forward to seeing them!”
“Thank you,” Morgan said, smiling broadly, and she quickly led the way into the elevator, where people shuffled around to make a little more room.
Lilith nodded to the man as well, before they were in the elevator. It was rather crowded with all of them inside, and she bumped into the door a couple of times as she shifted on the way down, trying to ignore the smell. There were several perfumes and deodorants that she could smell, and they didn’t mix well, so she tried to ignore almost everything. Fortunately, the elevator didn’t take long to reach the ground floor, even with two more stops along the way, and it opened to give her a welcome breath of somewhat fresh air.
They quickly debarked, and Lilith’s eyes widened as she saw still more people scattered in front of her, most of them in costume, and she paused for the others to catch up before asking, “Ah… how many people are coming to this convention, anyway?”
“Over a hundred thousand people,” Morgan replied promptly, grinning at her in amusement. “I’ve heard it’s hit a hundred and fifty before, but there’s only so much space in the convention center, and the fire marshal refuses to let them sell too many tickets.”
“That… is impressive,” Lilith murmured, just as Warden passed her.
“It is! Come on, Lilith, we don’t want to be late!” Warden said, grinning back at her. “Sorry, but I set us a bit behind.”
“It’s fine,” Lilith assured her, quickening her pace again as they filtered through the crowd on their way toward the convention center. Lilith did wonder how the other two knew where they were going so easily, but she supposed they probably figured it out the previous night. Either way, it really didn’t matter.
She just tried to relax, though it was really, really hard, with this many people around her, staring at her.
Chapter 13
Thursday, August 14th, 2031
Astrodome Convention Center, Las Vegas
“Welcome to the convention!” a young man said cheerfully, and Lilith couldn’t help a smile as he looked at them in obvious pleasure. She wondered what had the brown-haired man in such a good mood, but she wasn’t going to object. “I’m Dave, and I’m supposed to give you a quick rundown of the layout in the back halls. As you can see, it’s rather busy here.”
As he spoke, a woman cleared her throat pointedly, and without batting an eye Dave stepped to the side, allowing her to push her cart past. Her cart was loaded with trays of soda cans, water bottles, energy drinks, and more, Lilith noticed.
The hallways in the back weren’t as nice as Lilith had expected, though when she thought about it, that figured. Staff hallways weren’t kept as nice as the public areas of buildings, generally speaking, and the ceiling was mostly exposed, showing wiring, ductwork, and the light mounts, while the walls didn’t have more than a basic coat of paint. The most care had been put into the floor, which was textured stone, likely a type of concrete, but smooth enough that a cart could easily roll.
There were plenty of people moving through the hall, and Lilith noticed a freight elevator off to the side, and the woman had come out of what she assumed was a storeroom, which meant they’d likely have a lot of traffic coming out of there, assuming it was supplying a large number of stalls. With a hundred thousand people, she could hardly imagine how much food was going to be consumed. Suddenly the number of vendors made more sense to her.
“Definitely. Since we’d like to get out of the way, how about you explain things?” Lilith suggested, keeping a wary eye on the storeroom door.
“Of course! Most of its pretty self-explanatory, as the hallways move behind each of the conference rooms on this side and provide access out into the main thoroughfares as well. There are a few other sets of halls behind some of the rooms toward the outer section of the convention center, but they aren’t directly linked to these ones,” Dave explained. “This portion is roughly a large T shape, and the doorways have signs to tell you where they lead. If you follow it all the way to the junction, you’ll find a door that leads to the main lobby.
“There are elevators, but they’re primarily for freight, so please don’t use them unless you truly need to. There are stairwells at several points, and those are the preferred method of going through the building. Additionally, the staff prefer that we not go into the basement, so those are roped off,” Dave continued, gesturing toward a door a short distance down the hall. “The upper floors work much the same way, though their layout is different. Particularly the second floor, as it has the largest auditoriums. That’s where we’re heading for the opening ceremonies, but we have a little time. Do you have any questions?”
“I don’t,” Lilith said, shaking her head. Warden cleared her throat after a moment and spoke up.
“Actually… we were told there was a room for special guests to rest and relax. Where would that be?” the heroine asked curiously. “I didn’t see it on my map.”
“Ah, it wouldn’t be, of course,” Dave said, relaxing slightly as he nodded in understanding. “There’s a hall on the south side of the building, third floor, which leads to a door labeled the Southern Cross room. That’s where special guests can take some time to relax.”
“Good to know,” Warden said, smiling broadly as she glanced at Lilith and Morgan. “I just wanted to make sure we had someplace to hide if we needed to.”
“Fair point,” Morgan murmured, nodding slightly. “Well, we’d best get moving. We don’t want to be late, and we’re going to draw enough attention as it is.”
Heat rose in Lilith’s cheeks involuntarily as she swallowed, a hint of embarrassment washing over her, and she spoke after a moment. “It isn’t like I have any control over that.”
“Sure you do! You can make certain that one person in specific can’t not pay attention to you!” Warden retorted almost instantly, her broad grin taking some of the sting out of her words. “It’s just too bad you can’t turn it off.”
“That I definitely agree about,” Lilith said, clearing her throat and nodding to Dave, who was watching them in amusement. “Shall we? As Morgan said, we don’t want to be late.”
“Yes, ma’am. Right this way!” Dave replied, and quickly led the way toward the nearest stairwell, and just in time to block another person with a cart of drinks. Lilith flashed the man pushing the cart an apologetic look as she followed Dave, hoping that this wouldn’t prove to be typical for the day.
The stairs were about as utilitarian as the rest of the building, though they were sturdily built, and she noted the orange rope with a NO ENTRY sign in front of the stairs leading downward in amusement. Not that she wanted to check the basement, but it did make her a little curious.
Instead, they headed upward, and the majority of people Lilith saw going through the hallways looked like staff. She did catch a couple of glimpses of other supers, but she didn’t recognize any of them, not with how far away they were.
Once on the second floor, they started down the hall, which was much busier than the first floor had been, and most of the doors were propped open. Through the doors, Lilith could see just why it was so busy, though. Dozens of booths could be seen to either side, with temporary walls set up to provide still more booths in the center of what she had to assume was a wide-open area, like a massive ballroom or something. The riot of colors she caught a glimpse of through the first was enough to make her wince, and it took a moment before she realized that the shop had probably been selling replicas of suits belonging to different heroes.
She also saw a lot of other things as they quickly passed, from robots to someone with a full-size hang glider hanging from the ceiling. Why that was at the convention was beyond Lilith’s understanding, and after a few seconds she gave up even trying when she saw what looked like a golf cart emblazoned with a hero’s colors and symbols.
“How many types of vendors are there? Setting up booths, I mean,” Lilith asked after a moment, gesturing at a door as they passed what looked like a machine shop to her. “I knew there would be a lot, but this looks more extensive than I expected.”
“If you can sell it, they’re probably here,” Morgan replied, glancing through the door as they passed. “I’ve got a few distribution agreements through SuperNet, for instance. They handle the rights, but I’ve got contracts for replica jewelry, costumes, and even a few clothing and makeup lines. Not much for the last, since I’m not that popular, but not many people have replica jewelry lines.”
“Instead, some of us license out our symbols or the like to be worked into jewelry,” Warden said dryly. “People like Crimson Bull, on the other hand, tend to get sports deals and are pretty popular in sports goods. So all the people who sell that sort of thing come to this. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Doctor Therian has a booth somewhere!”
“He does. With more warning signs than you’d believe around it, to ensure people know what they’re getting into,” Dave interjected, glancing back at them with a grin. “From what I heard, there was a lot of discussion about banning him and his vendors from conventions for good, but they decided against it.”
“He did make his original pills look like they were prank items,” Morgan pointed out, shrugging slightly. “And set them up to be delayed activation, so he could dose as many people as possible.”
“True. He’s lucky he’s not still in prison,” Warden muttered, shaking her head. “One of our friends took one of the wolf ones because a friend gave her a bottle as a joke. She was really annoyed, especially since she was stuck with it for almost a year before he started putting out the pills to reverse the process. It was an expensive wardrobe change, from what I heard, and people liked pulling her tail. Students can be jerks.”
“Oof, yeah, that doesn’t sound like fun,” Dave said, wincing as he led the way. “I’ve had a few friends take them deliberately. One did as a Halloween costume, of all things, which I think is insanely expensive for a single day, but it was his money… most of them have enjoyed it, but they knew what they were getting into.”
Lilith nodded, briefly wondering if the pills would even work on her. Not that she was interested in trying them, but with all the modifications to her genome Amber had made, she wasn’t sure that it would have good results. It’d probably be best to avoid the stall, she decided after a few moments. She didn’t want to be turned into something icky.
“Alright, here we are!” Dave said, coming to a door and opening it with a grin. “We’re behind the stage, so you shouldn’t have to deal with the crowd just yet. I expect it’s going to be absolutely packed, though, so brace yourself.”
The door opened to the backside of a stage, one which was raised about four feet, and a ramp ran from one end of the room to about the halfway point, allowing easy access, while a couple of staircases led to the top as well. To their immediate right was a table with a water cooler on it, a stack of cups, and what Lilith thought were some snacks. A little more concerning to her was the dull roar of an audience from the other side of the stage, but she couldn’t see them with the curtains in the way. There were quite a few people present, though, and Lilith blinked at the sight of them.
The only person that Lilith had met was Carolyn Ritter, who was in the middle of an animated discussion with a pair of heroes. She recognized both of them, and their presence caused her eyebrows to rise slightly.
The first was a man in a silver and gold outfit, his dark brown hair closely cropped, but his blue eyes were vivid with how dark his skin was. He was a little taller than Lilith was, and his suit had strange patterns across its surface that distracted Lilith slightly. He was Flicker, one of the most popular members of the New York Champions, despite him being only of middling power. The man was capable of rapid, short-range teleportation, if Lilith remembered right, which made him a headache for villains when combined with his martial arts.
The other hero was a woman, and the sight of Botania caused Lilith’s eyebrows to rise since she was even more striking in person than she’d been in Warden’s paintings. An independent heroine from Seattle, if Lilith remembered right, the woman’s eyes were bright green, while her hair was the green of vibrant new shoots that matched her fingernails, though her skin was relatively normally colored. The woman was pretty, but the most eye-catching thing about her was her outfit. It was a bright red that would be visible in almost any lighting, Lilith thought, and it sheathed her from foot to neck in a body-hugging display that left few of her curves to the imagination. Fortunately, the woman was wearing a jacket that made the outfit a little more modest, but it still prompted Lilith to blush slightly. Unsurprisingly, Botania was known for her ability to control plants and encourage fresh growth, and she was also involved in several reforestation initiatives.
“Hey, Warden! Wow, you look different, more than I thought you did on TV!” Flicker exclaimed, looking up and grinning at them, his gaze drifting over Lilith before settling on Warden. “How ya doing, girl? Gatekeeper told me to tell you hello!”
“I’m doing pretty good! If you’d tell her hello as well, I’d appreciate it. I had fun the last time we saw one another,” Warden replied with a smile of her own. “How’re you doing? Is anyone else on the team here?”
“Nope! Arcanist didn’t want to deal with the staring and said someone had to hold down the fort, while Silverstrike said he wanted to have a chance to shine when I wasn’t stealing the spotlight.” Flicker replied, chuckling as he shook his head. “Poor guy always gets the short end of the stick, so who am I to say no? Gatekeeper thought that one of us would be more than enough and wanted to work on some other things. Besides, I sponsored a couple of the kids who’ve been doing good in our Outreach program to come here and am trying to keep an eye on them. When I’m not in the back, anyway!”
“You’ve always been good at that sort of thing,” Morgan said, smiling warmly as she nodded. She opened her mouth to continue, but before she could speak Carolyn slipped into the gap in conversation.
“That he is! However, I think it’s best to introduce those of you who haven’t met,” Carolyn said smoothly, smiling as she nodded to Morgan and Warden. “Of course the two of you know Morgan and Warden, but I don’t think you’ve met Lilith Carpenter. Lilith, this is Botania, a heroine and nature activist from the Seattle region, and Flicker, the current leader of the New York Champions.”
