Lilith's Shadow Omnibus: Volume 2, page 11
“It’s a rotating post, changing every three months to keep us on our toes,” Flicker said, smiling at Lilith as he offered a hand to her. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Carpenter. Sorry to say I don’t quite trust you, but Morgan and Warden are points in your favor, as have been your recent work. Nice job with the alien.”
“That’s a fair approach. I appreciate you being honest about it… and given Amber’s, Shadowmind’s, reputation, I can’t say that I blame you,” Lilith said, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. “I’ve heard of both you and Botania, though I can’t say that I know much. I have years of catching up to do.”
That prompted a laugh from Flicker, and he let go of her hand, which Lilith belatedly realized hadn’t been an overpowering handshake, something she was used to from most heroes she’d met. Botania spoke a moment later, possessing an accent that Lilith couldn’t quite place. A European one, she knew that much, but beyond that she wasn’t quite sure.
“Ah, the things we take for granted growing up. You have, what… a year and a half of time awake?” Botania asked, tilting her head curiously as she stared at Lilith.
“I woke on January 11th, 2030, so right around that,” Lilith agreed, and paused, considering for a moment before she added, “Though I’m not sure that really gives a good idea of how much I know. Amber implanted certain basic knowledge while I was unconscious… math, a general overview of history, geography, language, and things like that.”
“Hm, intriguing,” Botania said, offering her own hand as she smiled, studying Lilith even more closely. “Did any of it have to do with environmental conservation?”
Lilith blinked, opening her mouth, then shut it, a little confused by the question, as well as why Morgan was giggling. Then she spoke, a touch hesitantly as she shook the woman’s warm hand. “I… not specifically? I mean, her systems are designed to recycle everything she possibly can, but I’m not sure that has anything to do with environmental issues.”
“Mm, well, that’s better than nothing, I suppose,” Botania said, shrugging and letting out a sigh. “I should have known better than to hope she might be focused on saving the environment.”
Warden laughed, shaking her head. “Well, considering how she’s tried to conquer a few countries before, I somehow doubt that’s what she’s up to. If she really wanted to save the environment, she has the tech to make the world a much better place insanely fast. She just hasn’t.”
“A definite point,” Lilith conceded, looking around the back of the stage again. “Now, then… are we all of the special guests? It doesn’t seem like many of us.”
“Oh no, of course not, though there are only four others,” Carolyn chimed in, shaking her head quickly. “I’m sure they’ll be along soon. They’d better since Ruby is about ready to start.”
Carolyn nodded toward the back of the stage, where Lilith saw a woman standing, practically bouncing on her toes as she waited impatiently. The heroine had a tight bodysuit that reminded Lilith of some outfits she’d seen rock stars wearing, complete with sequins and multiple stars sewn across its surface, but it was her eyes and hair that drew the eye most. Her hair was done up in an elaborate hairstyle that Lilith couldn’t begin to describe, save that it was very poofy, and her hair was a rainbow of colors. If that weren’t enough, when the woman glanced toward them, Lilith saw that her irises were a similar rainbow, and the woman grinned before hopping off the edge of the platform, landing perfectly despite her heels, and walked over quickly.
“Hi, Lil! You don’t mind me calling you Lil, do you? I’m Ruby Cacophony!” the woman spoke rapidly, ignoring everyone else as she grinned broadly. “So, mind coming out with me here in a minute? With you by me, we’ll get everyone’s attention, especially once I start lighting off the fireworks!”
“Fireworks? Inside?” Lilith asked, taken aback by the cheerful woman since this was quite possibly the first time someone had approached her that way. “That seems rather dangerous to me.”
Carolyn spoke before Ruby could reply, though the woman certainly started speaking. The committee president was looking at Ruby with slightly narrowed eyes, an edge to her voice. “Ruby is capable of creating… let’s call them light displays. She can create an absolute riot of color and sound, which is why I thought we’d agreed that she’d keep it to an absolute minimum. Some of our attendees do have epilepsy, and I’m not going to protect you if you trigger that.”
“No, no, I’m not doing tons of colors, promise! Just lights like rockets had launched up by the stage, with white explosions. Nothing big, just enough to catch everyone’s attention!” Ruby assured Carolyn, grinning broadly. “Getting a crowd to quiet down is tough, so I like to start things off with a bang! It does wonders for getting their attention.”
“I… see. Well, while I can’t say I have your experience with crowds, I’d rather not come onstage that way. I think it might give the wrong impression of what I’m here for,” Lilith replied, relaxing a little at the explanation, and glanced over at Carolyn. “What is the procedure for this going to be, anyway?”
“Drat,” Ruby said, looking disappointed, and Carolyn gave Lilith a relieved smile.
“Thank you, Lilith. As to that, Ruby is going to be opening the ceremony, and after a minute she’ll invite all the special guests out. You’ll all file out to introduce yourselves, then take seats on chairs on the right side of the stage. I’ll be next to the seats to point them out, so don’t worry about that,” Carolyn said, smiling broadly. “After that we’re going to go over several…”
As the woman continued, Lilith listened closely, not wanting to mess things up. This was going to be her first experience in front of a crowd, so she really didn’t want to screw it up.
Chapter 14
Thursday, August 14th, 2031
Astrodome Convention Center, Las Vegas
Carolyn was having a hard time keeping her temper under control, which was normal for when she was at the convention. The sheer disorganized chaos of the convention always frustrated her, since nothing ever went as planned, and heroes were largely independent, annoying individuals. Not to mention how much they interfered with her plans… but that was half the point of her being there, to get the heroes out of the way.
She was mostly disappointed that Daemonia had canceled. She’d hoped that the class S heroine would come and take herself off the playing field, but unfortunately it sounded like the heroine had thrown a fit and was refusing to leave her rooms in LA. That wasn’t ideal, but it was better than the woman deciding to go patrolling. On the other hand, it would also make the situation here more difficult for the heroes to deal with, which was a distinct advantage.
All of that made sense, and yet… something had her on edge, which was part of why her temper was so short. If there weren’t so many heroes around, she’d have found some poor schmuck to beat up, but she didn’t even have that opportunity.
Ignoring the droning of yet another member of the committee, Carolyn glanced over at the person who had her the most on edge, even though she wasn’t sure why. Lilith Carpenter wasn’t that exceptional, not among the crowd that filled the auditorium. A couple thousand people were in the audience, with a large proportion of heroes among them, and Carolyn knew there were plenty of class A heroes there that could take Lilith apart easily. Hell, she even knew that some people were starting to discuss whether Warden’s improved powers put her in the class S range, which was far beyond Lilith’s abilities.
Was it how calm and poised the woman was? The possibility flitted through Carolyn’s head for a moment before she discarded it. She’d met plenty of heroes and even civilians that were calm and poised, and none of them had ever caused her to react like this. It might be that Lilith was one of Shadowmind’s creations, but that didn’t make much sense to her either. Carolyn hated the villain, but Destruction Corps had rarely come into conflict with Shadowmind directly. No, it was something else that had her instincts on edge, and that worried her even more.
Carolyn’s instincts were rarely wrong, and that meant she was going to have to keep a close eye on Lilith. That would be annoying, especially since she hated waiting. She wanted to activate the trap now, not later.
Still, she forced herself to be patient. Rushing would be a good way to ruin her own plans, after all.
The opening ceremonies turned out to be less stressful than Lilith had been afraid of, considering Ruby Cacophony’s attitude. If anything, it’d been a bit boring, as they mentioned a bunch of the convention’s sponsors, thanked people for coming, and other things like that. She’d been asked to introduce herself, to a bit less applause than most of the other special guests, but she hadn’t expected even that warm of a welcome so she supposed it was a win.
In the end, the ceremonies had taken about forty-five minutes, giving everyone about fifteen minutes to get to the first panels, and she let out a soft breath of relief as she stood, only to pause as one of the other guests circled Morgan to look at her.
Adam Armor was a stocky man, and true to his name, the man was wearing a suit of powered armor that made him much wider than she suspected he was normally, and she could hear the servos whirring with every movement he made. The armor didn’t cover his head, and the sandy-haired man looked up at her, his blue eyes slightly enlarged through his goggles.
“Lilith, eh? I’m Adam Armor. I’ve been hoping to chat with you, and figured now was a good time,” the man said, offering a hand to Lilith. She looked at his gauntlet dubiously, then took it anyway, hoping her hand wasn’t about to be crushed. And her wrist, for that matter.
“Hello, Adam. And yes, I am Lilith,” she replied, and glanced at Morgan and Warden, asking, “As to that… what do you two think? What were you planning?”
Adam shook Lilith’s hand, and to her relief the pressure from the gauntlet was carefully measured, though he did shake her hand rather vigorously. He must have some settings designed for more delicate work, which made sense. From what she understood, he wasn’t really a hero, per se, but rather a renowned craftsman who built armor for heroes.
“You could always go around behind the stage to chat,” Morgan suggested, and shrugged as she added, “As to that, I think we’ve got a couple of hours before the art gallery opens, which is what Warden wanted to go to first.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Lilith murmured, glancing at the auditorium before nodding toward the back of the stage. “What do you think, Adam?”
“Sure!” Adam said, and quickly began to move toward the back, belatedly letting go of her hand. “We’re on the panel about armor together, so I wanted to meet you beforehand. I also heard a few rumors, and—no, that can wait.”
Lilith’s eyebrows rose slightly, then she nodded in understanding, internally kicking herself for not thinking of that. It made complete sense for someone who was on the same panel to want to meet her beforehand.
She followed quickly, while Morgan and Warden lingered behind her, chatting casually, and were joined by Ruby a few seconds later, which slowed them down still more. That… irritated Lilith slightly, mostly that they weren’t moving as quickly, but she stepped on the annoyance. If there was a lot of time until what they wanted to go to next, she couldn’t blame them for taking their time.
It was amazing how much sound the two curtains muffled, though, and Lilith let out a breath of relief, relaxing as they reached the back of the stage. Adam didn’t bother going down the stairs or ramp, instead turning around to face her, glancing over her suit carefully. It was a little intrusive, but it looked more like he was studying the materials rather than her, so she didn’t say anything.
“Right, so… hell, this is hard to ask,” Adam cursed, reaching up to rub his head, and almost visibly grumpy. Finally, he continued. “I have to ask, are the rumors of you visiting Whispering Darkness true?”
That prompted Lilith to raise her eyebrows and she studied the man before nodding. “Yes, I did. I wasn’t aware that many people knew about that.”
“I keep a close eye on my competitors, and with him trying to go legit, he’s definitely good enough to make me curious,” Adam said, his gaze focused on her. “Anyway, the reason I ask is that I also heard rumors that the two of you are working on power armor. Some of my contacts in the government said something about light power armor for the police.”
At that, Lilith let out a sigh and reached up to rub her eyes, only a little dismayed. It took a few moments before she spoke, and when she did, her tone was a bit wry. “Why am I not surprised that the news leaked? Well, I’m sure he’s been making a few inquiries… that’s probably how you heard about it.”
“So it’s true? You’re really able to build power armor for the police?” Adam asked enthusiastically, straightening a little more as his eyes lit up. “How can you make the tech something they can deal with? The super-tech involved—”
“Please, hold on a moment, Adam,” Lilith interrupted, growing more amused than anything else. “Let me try to keep this simple. Whispering Darkness is in charge of manufacturing and distributing the suits, while I’m the one who designed them. Right now we’re still in the final prototyping stage as he tries to figure out the best ways to keep the costs down while maintaining high quality. However, the suits are not going to be incredible. He’s estimating them as equaling a low-end class C hero with the gear we can build into them, and they certainly aren’t going to be capable of flight or anything like that.”
Adam nodded, almost visibly calming down as he tilted his head, focusing on her still more, and a few seconds later he murmured, “I see. That would make it a good deal easier, I suppose, and keep the required super-tech to a minimum. I’ll bet he’s having to train legions of technicians to maintain it, too. That’d make a pretty penny.”
“I certainly hope not,” Lilith said, a slight grin beginning to take form on her face. “See, there’s no super-tech in the suits. That’s part of why it’s as limited as it is, and why he’s having to do so much prototyping.”
“What? But… but how? The power requirements alone are absolutely—” Adam began, then stopped suddenly as he paled. “Wait… I seem to remember hearing something about super-high capacity capacitors that Shadowmind used. Did you…?”
“No, I didn’t. However, I did get my hands on the designs of one Doctor Johnson used in his android assistant, and with a little work I was able to make it function at about twenty-five percent of capacity without being super-tech,” Lilith said, laughing softly as she smiled at him. “That was enough to give several hours of power for the suit alone if I put a couple in. Not if they want to use energy weapons, but you can’t have everything.”
“Oh. That… well. I hope you patented them,” Adam said, looking completely nonplussed. “Who’re you even planning to sell to?”
“Yes, I patented the things which I designed myself, though some things belong to Whispering Darkness. He made a few suggestions that should improve them a lot,” Lilith said, and shrugged. “As for who we’re selling to… we agreed to keep them exclusive to law enforcement in the United States for the moment. We might expand to other countries in time, but we’re going to try to keep them out of the hands of villains for as long as we can. He said he gave it two months after release.”
That prompted a snorting laugh from Adam, who chuckled as he shook his head. After a few seconds he calmed down. “Hell, I wish that wasn’t true. Depending on how many he’s thinking to sell, I think he’s being overly optimistic. I’ve seen some things I’ve built end up on the black market inside a week, let alone a couple of months.”
“You’re likely right, but we’re going to try. If I’d thought of it beforehand, I might’ve seen if we couldn’t get one of the prototypes here for display or a test run, but it’s too late now,” Lilith said, shrugging and glancing over at her friends, who were meandering along slowly. “Was there a reason you were asking about the armor?”
“Well… I’ll be honest; now I’m even more interested than I was before. If you’re not using super-tech, that opens up all sorts of possibilities. My thought was that since all my power armor is one-offs, I can’t mass produce it at all, I might be able to buy a suit and customize it for some heroes who need a boost,” Adam said, reaching up to rub his hair again, then sighed. “But if you’re restricting it to law enforcement, I suppose that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Drat.”
“I could talk to Whisper again, but… I don’t think we’re likely to change our minds. Making one exception is likely to open us to all sorts of other groups trying to get us to help them, too. I don’t really want to deal with that,” Lilith replied with a shrug. “Sorry.”
“Well, that’s that, I guess. Do you mind if I mention it during our panel?” Adam asked, then clarified. “That you’re teaming up to build armor for the cops, I mean. It’s something people might find interesting.”
“I don’t see why not. It might annoy some of the lower-ranking heroes, but I doubt most cities will be able to afford more than a handful of suits,” Lilith said, smiling at him in amusement. “Even with Whisper trying to bring down the costs, they are not going to be cheap. Enormously cheaper than the ones LANCE uses, from what I’ve heard, but still quite expensive even if they don’t take damage.”
“A good point. Two of them, even,” Adam said, nodding slowly as he grinned. “I’ll definitely keep it in mind for when people ask me about them. Anyway, I’ll let you go. I’ve got a booth to get to, and several potential clients lined up.”
“I hope you have an excellent day,” Lilith replied graciously, bowing her head marginally as he turned to leave. Then she glanced back again, a little concerned.
