Lilith's Shadow Omnibus: Volume 2, page 66
“It should,” Morgan said, taking the maps with trembling fingers and quickly flipping through, looking for the one of Kansas, then set it down. “If I can envision the area, that’ll allow me to focus the spells more, rather than trying to cover the entire planet. If Lilith’s in that area…”
“Yeah, yeah, just cast the spell!” Warden said eagerly, sounding more awake and hopeful than Morgan had seen her friend look in days. Maybe weeks.
“Alright,” Morgan said, and slowly inhaled, focusing on the spell as she fixed an area within about fifty miles of Wichita in her mind. Then she began murmuring, channeling magic through her rings and the hairs she was holding, sending the magic in search of Lilith.
Purple magic swirled out of her hands, spreading across the map, and for a moment Morgan’s heart sank… then she felt the faintest tugging sensation, as it swirled around an area due south of the city. It was a large area that encompassed fields and several suburbs, but it was a reaction. It indicated that she’d found something.
“Rach, is that…?” Warden began, but let her voice trail off as she stared at the map.
“Yes. She’s somewhere in that area,” Morgan said, staring at the map as her heartbeat quickened. “As long as we can get into the right neighborhood, I should be able to narrow it down more, but we’ve got a lead!”
“In which case, I’ll get the others, and we can get the jet in the air,” Shade said quickly, grinning. “I think it’s time to kick Omega Code’s teeth in, don’t you?”
“Lets,” Morgan said, standing up quickly. She hadn’t slept properly yet, but that could wait.
Lilith needed rescuing, and she’d be damned if she sat around when Lilith was waiting for her.
Chapter 92
Wednesday, November 5th, 2031
Final Countdown Redoubt, Kansas
With a last, adroit twist of her wrist, Lilith popped the collar free and was able to breathe again, as the same twist had made it so the collar couldn’t explode. A vital part of its circuitry was part of that section, which made her tense nerves relax at last.
Sabra didn’t move for a moment, then reached up to touch her neck, almost as if not believing it had been done. When she touched her bare neck, the woman blinked, then visibly relaxed as she nodded.
“That… is a very welcome sensation,” Sabra said, inhaling deeply, then let her breath out again. “I did not realize just how welcome until now. I believe that I need to thank you.”
“Thank me after we escape,” Lilith said, looking around the room again.
She hadn’t slept much that night. It was awkward, resting in the same bed as Sabra, and the other woman hadn’t seemed to sleep easily either. Eventually it was time for their attempt, though, and Lilith and Sabra had gotten up. She was a bit amused that the woman had done her makeup and gotten dressed first, but she couldn’t blame her. She wondered about the bag she was carrying, but didn’t pry. Unfortunately for Lilith, she hadn’t even been allowed to keep her purse, it was with her car.
Sabra mostly seemed to be avoiding looking at Lilith, which made Lilith wonder if she disliked her or something. It made her a little uncomfortable, but there wasn’t much she could do.
“As you desire,” Sabra said, inclining her head slightly. “How shall we go about your plan? I can likely blow the door off the hinges of the command center.”
“Mm, yes, but that’ll probably set off alarms. Instead, maybe we can entice them into letting us in with something else. Like, say, coffee?” Lilith suggested, tilting her head curiously.
“That… seems like a possibility. Though I do not understand the obsession your people have with coffee. It tastes terrible to me,” Sabra said, wrinkling her nose.
“It does to me, too, but other people like it,” Lilith agreed, shrugging. “I figure that we might be able to even get them to stand down. I’d rather not hurt them if I don’t have to.”
“I believe that’s a foolish endeavor, but as you wish,” Sabra replied, taking a deep breath, then nodded, cautiously opening the hatch, at which point she relaxed slightly.
No one stood on the other side of the door, prompting Lilith to look around, then nod as she slipped the tools into her pockets. They were a bit heavy, but you never knew when you’d need a screwdriver or vise clamps. She hesitated for a moment, then slipped the explosive collar under her pillow. While it might be useful, she wasn’t going to chance it taking her hand off.
Then she stepped through the door and made her way down the hall toward the kitchen, Sabra just behind her. As she walked, Lilith found that her footsteps sounded particularly loud, and while the lights were on, there was something faintly… unnerving about the hallway. It took her a few seconds to place it, then she realized what was going on.
This reminded her, ever so slightly, of when she’d been moving through the basement of the convention center, just before she’d been attacked from behind, and at the thought she shivered, almost feeling the phantom sensation of the garotte around her neck. Lilith reached up to run a finger down the smooth, unblemished skin of her neck, but it didn’t help much.
“What are you doing?” Sabra asked softly.
“Remembering how I nearly died in halls not that unlike this, if more poorly lit,” Lilith replied, shaking her head. “I… wouldn’t think that I’d remember now, but it springs to mind for some reason. The way the wire pulled tight around my neck, then he stabbed me… if it weren’t for the gods, I would’ve died, most likely.”
“That does sound unpleasant, yes,” Sabra agreed, and they slipped into the dining room, which was also empty.
“I’ve been seeing a therapist about it. I thought I was over it, even if she said that there was no way of knowing what would trigger the memories. I suppose she was right,” Lilith replied, shrugging nervously, but headed for the nearest kitchen. They all had coffee makers, so it wasn’t like it mattered which she chose.
Sabra didn’t respond, and when Lilith looked back at the woman, she saw that Sabra was studying her thoughtfully. Lilith also didn’t think it was fair that the woman appeared to have slept better than she had, though it could just be that her complexion and the kohl hid any shadows under her eyes.
Lilith considered speaking for a moment, then shrugged and decided against it. Instead, she started getting a pot of coffee ready, thinking about the escape attempt. She didn’t know how many people were on-shift, so she’d just take the pot with her along with several mugs, she decided. And maybe something else…
“Would you go into the fridge and grab a package of donuts?” Lilith asked, pulling out a tray.
“I can do that. Those are the round pastries with holes in the center?” Sabra asked, pausing until Lilith nodded, then the other woman made her way into the back.
It took a couple of minutes for the other women to find the donuts, which amused Lilith. She hadn’t realized just how different than most people the Atlanteans were, but she supposed it only made sense. The tiny amounts of ancient mythology she’d managed to absorb certainly showed how much the world had changed over the millennia, and Atlantis had been gone for a long time. Of course it would develop differently.
They had coffee soon enough, though, and Lilith glanced at the nearest clock nervously, hoping that they hadn’t spent too much time. With that in mind, she put the donuts on the tray and headed for the exit.
“When we get to the door of the command center, I’d like you to stay out of sight, they might think I’m less dangerous on my own.” Lilith said softly, just to make sure no one would hear them. “I don’t suppose you have a spell to make them fall asleep? Unfortunately, the gun I had for that didn’t come with me.”
“I am able to do so, assuming they open the door.” Sabra agreed, glancing at Lilith curiously. “You are putting a great deal of effort into ensuring no one gets hurt.”
“I consider most of the people here to be…” Lilith paused, thinking for a couple of seconds, then shrugged. “misled, I suppose. I like some of them, and I’d rather not hurt them in my escape attempt. Black Harbinger and Omega Code are exceptions, but I’d rather not face them at all. I’d lose.”
“Sensible,” Sabra murmured, then fell silent as they moved down the hall again, this time moving toward the command center.
Lilith hoped that they could keep this quiet until the last possible minute. There wasn’t going to be anything subtle about the way she intended to dispose of the bomb, but she was willing to take that risk. Hopefully it would be enough to distract Omega Code too much to worry about her escape.
Black Harbinger stirred again, opening his eyes as he focused on Omega Code’s base once more. He was precisely where he’d left himself before, in an unlabeled room in the storage wing, and he looked down, sliding a section of armor to the side to check on the motion sensor he’d set earlier.
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 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 93
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 94
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.
