As exciting as combat was, sometimes it is nice just to have an anticlimax. Unless, of course, that anticlimax involves being trapped on a ship’s bridge surrounded by an energy bubble that you couldn’t penetrate, couldn’t bend, and couldn’t access without punching in a 14-digit control code.

It would also help if you weren’t surrounded by the dead bodies of 3 other people that apparently didn’t have any success punching a control code either. That and a fourth body covered in power armor sitting on a throne-like chair.

The three bodies looked like they had died some time ago, and I couldn’t get much information from them other than ‘human bodies’. I was considering melting them, but I didn’t want to be sloshing in human-based ooze. The field was transparent and activated the moment I entered the bridge.

Beamed against one side of the dome was a set of numbered plates, created with either an optical illusion or lasers against the field itself. Sif was outside of the field and had given up trying to penetrate or electrocute it. It was proof against her abilities, the same as it was proof against my blade wings, bare fists, and even a couple of the potions I had tried short of exploding it.

The bridge was bare and was clearly meant for one person, the guy sitting in the chair. He was known to be a cyberkinetic as well as a genius inventor, and I suppose that the entire bridge was covered with electronic sensors his abilities could have interacted with. Unfortunately, Sif was not a cyberkinetic, and her lightning bursts had very little effect on anything we could see.

Yes, Class B crafter supervillains tend to build things pretty sturdy.

Reuben Michael Gottfried(Cadmium)

Metahuman (decomposing), class B

Aspects: body, death, cybernetic, energy

Power: 0

Conditions: dead for 185 days

Projected lifespan: Dead Age:85

Powers: crafting, electrical tracing, electrical bolt, electrical teleport, cyberkinesis, technopathy, technoempathy, quantum deconstruction, quantum construction, enhanced mind

Advanced decomposition, heart failure, multi-stage cancer

Cadmium Battlesuit Class XXIV

Value: 1.8 billion USD

Aspects: mechanical, cybernetic, metal, energy

This high-tech battlesuit is not made of Cadmium, rather that is the name of the battlesuit’s designer.

It provides artificial musculature, reflective armor, EMP shielding, ion pulse flight, and inertial protection equivalent to a class D superhuman. It also contains a fusion reactor capable of powering up to class C weapons and devices if they are installed.

It provides 280 hours of life support, and with an auxiliary pack (Not included) that time can be extended indefinitely. It also possesses a class C trauma nanokit (Currently expended)

This is a Top-of-The-Line battlesuit, possessing many innovations unavailable to both civilian and military models. For more information, please access the internal tutorial and documentation.

A heart failure at 85 years. It was nice to know that not all metahumans seemed to be immune to aging.

The question is if he’s been dead for over 6 months, who exactly shot at great lakes defenders HQ in Chicago?

I’d had Alison manipulate the odds of Cadmium’s fortress appearing in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, she had assumed that it would take an enormous amount of sacrifice, but it turned out that it was traveling over Texas, and a single antique gold ring had been enough to bring it into distance of a strike.

There had been a small window of opportunity, and Sif and I had taken it. With Windfall’s guidance and my own enhanced senses, it had taken barely an hour for us to locate and attack the fortress, if an attack was the proper word. There had been no fire from it as we approached, and it was almost deserted.

Once inside we found empty workshops, filled with drones that were a robotic arm on wheels, no materials, none of the weapons or combat drones we had come to expect, and Sif conjectured that sales had continued until all stock, even the basic defenses of the fortress, had been exhausted.

Typically, Cadmium had sold his creations by hovering near a black market location and sending down a shuttle with drones, remotely negotiating, although his price list was set in stone. There had been no sales for a month, and some of the underworld figures had gotten a bit worried, but now it looked like, after Cadmium’s death, his automated programs had sold his stock until there was nothing left but the fortress itself, and potentially a huge set of bank accounts somewhere with his name on them.

The fortress was a bit of a misnomer. It was no castle. If anything, it resembled a cross between a greenhouse and a submarine with 6 enormous inertial impeller motors mounted on the sides. The fact that it also seemed to have guidance fins strongly implied that it was capable of submersion as well as flight, as did the airlock doors that had opened easily enough.

I didn’t know if the field I had found myself trapped in was a security system or some kind of emergency panic room but based on the fact that no signals seemed to be able to get in or out and the visual keypad on the wall, I suspected the latter. I couldn’t analyze the barrier, there were no electromagnetic signals in or out, and it looked like the entire power supply of the ship was being devoted to it, as the various view screens showed the entire ship sinking towards the water.

Sif was talking on her phone to someone, and then I saw her hold up her phone to me just as a shudder shook the fortress, and it touched down into the water. It was difficult to see her phone’s screen, and I shook my head at her, apparently normal visual light was unaffected, but her phone’s illumination was being blocked by the shield.

After another moment she drew the sword piece of her spear and started scratching on the bulkhead beneath the viewscreen. A series of numbers. I pushed my hand against the numbers as she scratched them onto the bulkhead, and the shield disappeared, flooding the area with much-needed fresh air.

“Greetings, customer, you have disabled the emergency panic function for sales, production, and demonstration platform number four. This unit has detected the expiration of owner-creator Reuben Michael Gottfried, code-named Cadmium. Without a clear inheritor, Please choose who will claim ownership of this installation, or if it should be marked for self-destruction. There are presently 3 occupants that qualify for ownership.” The voice was coming from all around. It had a slightly metallic undertone, as if the words were being constructed by a synthesizer rather than being pre-recorded by a living person, and was low but feminine.

“Three Occupants?” I asked out loud.

“Yes. Database entry designation Sif, Database entry designation Alchemyst, and Database entry designation Aquantis. This unit does not possess adequate security circumvention protocols to access non-standard identity information”

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and noticed Sif’s rather amused glance.

***

I would like to say that Mariah and I caught up quickly, but we were a little too busy kissing to have much of a chance to exchange information. Nearly 5 breathless minutes later, we broke apart when Sif stated, “Cough cough”.

I looked up at her, my arms wrapped around the lovely Aquantis, dressed only in her swimsuit, and asked, “Did you actually just say cough cough instead of just coughing?”

Sif nodded, “Yes. The point was to remind you I am here before the two of you wind up on the floor naked among these bodies rather than pretending to be sick.”

Aquantis looked around and shook her head, “Not a chance. I am incredibly happy to see him, but I have standards. Besides, it would have been very rude to jump him the moment I saw him even if the place was clean. There was company.” She looked at Sif and licked her lips very obviously. “Although the company might be welcomed under other circumstances.”

I swatted her butt, lightly, and she smiled brightly and stuck her tongue out at me. “Speaking of which, wow. You were hot before, but now… is this another one of your potions?”

I shook my head, “No, it’s the result of getting trapped in a ring for god knows how long and having to escape. With Sif’s help, of course.”

Mariah looked at Sif again, up and down, “So you helped him get away? I was worried you had forgotten about me. I have been helping clean up an oil spill for a couple of weeks and then we had to deal with another one of these...platforms. It’s been three weeks and I almost thought you had forgotten about me, despite the little video you sent.” She suddenly looked pained. “God, I am sorry about Vectress. I thought you hated her, I didn’t know you had gotten close.”

I held her out a little, “I was worried you would think I had forgotten about you. My life has been incredibly busy, I am still trying to get used to it. I might have to start practicing time management.” I sighed and shook my head, “Lauren was, and is, very special. Mostly I am just angry at myself for getting her killed. I blame someone else, also, but that’s complicated. I shouldn’t have let her stay when the event happened. She was a class E, and I figure there’s a reason that the Prometheans, who usually handle this shit, are class C minimum. There were a bunch of class D’s there and they got hurt badly.”

“Why would you be angry at yourself? She was a big girl, she knew the risks.” Aquantis pointed out.

I shook my head, “It wasn’t like that…”

Sif interrupted me, “I know this is important, but you have to make a decision. We captured this, and Cadmium is dead. Are you going to take possession before someone else shows up and takes the decision away from us?”

I smiled at Sif, “I plan on using it as a training platform. You know that if I keep on my current track, Proteus is going to declare me a supervillain soon, and I am not going to be helping the DMA, either. I find their morals to be distinctly self-serving. I know you work for the DMA, so you kind of have a tough choice.” I looked at Aquantis, “Do you want to claim it?”

She shook her head, “No, without the pure metatech, if I show up with something like this, Technomancer will probably just want to take it apart. I noticed when it hit the water, I was in the neighborhood specifically because you weren’t at your house and I figured there was a chance you were at Kjootoo’s ship. When this thing hit it sent a heck of a sonar wave out, and I figured, knowing you, you probably had something to do with it. Unlike the one the team fought, this one didn’t have any defenses active.”

I nodded at both of them. “So yes, I plan on taking this, for myself and for any family I have. I mostly wanted to wipe Cadmium for what he did in Chicago, but that plan turned out to be a bit of a dud, he’s been dead for 6 months.”

Aquantis nodded, “Yeah, the other platform was armed, but we didn’t see any missiles like the one that hit the Defender HQ. It seems Cadmium wasn’t involved with the hit at all, so it looks like someone set it up to look like he did it.”

I nodded and smiled at Sif, “So, knowing that I am on the DMA’s hit list, are you going to fight me for control of this resource? Or will you simply surrender to me and my evil desires without a fight?” I waggled my eyebrows at her lasciviously. “Or do you want to enlist Aquantis’ aid in subduing me?”

She raised her eyebrow, and said, surprisingly seriously, “I am working with Proteus and the DMA because our goals align, for now, and Callie is my friend. They also provide resources I may need. I am not a loyalist, and some of their end goals may eventually put me at odds with them as well. You talk about being a supervillain, but so far, everything you have done has been highly ethical with only minor areas where our morals might not align, but even there, your reasons are sound and I can understand and empathize with your point of view.”

She continued, “I was told by the Allfather to cultivate you, so I won’t contest this in the slightest, especially if you do as you say and allow it to be used by my kin to train themselves. As far as fighting you for dominance, well, I might do that when we can, but that will be an entirely different issue.” She beamed, “I am primarily straight, but I would have no problems including Aquantis in that fight, whichever side she chooses. She is a lovely and lively girl, but I might insist on a one-on-one contest of skill before we allow her to join our conflict.”

She coughed. “We might have to do so without including weapons or wings, though. Both of our weapons are rather lethal, and if there is any penetration to be done, I’d rather it not involve too much blood.” She blushed a little, and I was surprised. She was usually so straightforward and blunt, I hadn’t expected any shyness when talking about sex.

I nodded gravely, “If I have to prove my strength to you, I will do so.”

She laughed brightly! “Oh no, you single-handedly took apart a kaiju by yourself and could have done so with the rest if you had to while that fool Commander Freedom was buzzing about like a fly. You are stronger than me. You were talking about a contest of dominance, not strength. I was just thinking you were talking about who got to wear the...umm… handcuffs.”

This time Aquantis interrupted us. “I hate to interrupt this, especially since it was getting me all hot and bothered, in sort of an intellectual way, but there’s still the whole ownership thing to think about.”

I nodded, “I don’t think Sif would like being my pet, although I’d love to have her fetching my slippers with her teeth and rolling over to have her belly rubbed.”

Sif blushed and Aquantis turned a pinkish shade of green, “No, ownership of the platform.”

I nodded, “Right. Umm… I claim sales, production, and demonstration platform number four.”

The voice appeared again. “Registered. Are any of the occupants choosing to dispute this claim?”

“Nope.” Said Aquantis, followed by a, “No.” From Sif. She was still a little pink and had grown more so when I mentioned the pet thing. That was fun. When I had time I’d have to explore just what she meant by dominance. She wasn’t a submissive, but I think the idea of playing the role occasionally might appeal. She also seemed to like me, which was a feeling I reciprocated.

“Very well, sales, production, and demonstration platform number four has been claimed by Alchemist without contest, having been abandoned by its previous owner. Would you like to rename this facility now?”

I nodded, “Can I rename this facility again if I don’t like the one I have chosen?”

“Of course,” said the voice. “I was built to take pride in my ability to understand human conversational nuance.”

I nodded, “Can you see?”

The voice came again, “I can hear anything in any of the chambers of this facility, although if privacy is authorized anything I hear and respond to will be sealed in a high-security databank unable to be accessed by me or any unapproved users. I have cameras, IR, UV, and high-fidelity motion sensors in every chamber as well, and have broadband and radio scanning, radar, active and passive sonar, ladar, and various other sensor capabilities out to a direct range of 12 miles, and passive modes of over 200 miles, although these can be deactivated on command. I also have a sales mode and can provide a high-speed secure VPN hotspot if I am within 200 miles of a cell or wireless receiver or another hotspot.”

“What is a sales mode?”

A hologram appeared. I was extremely impressed, as this thing blew holographic protection technology out of the water. It appeared to be a young anime-looking cartoon girl with purple hair, dressed in a short dress, with large breasts and a beaming smile. It looked like a waifu, sort of hentai-style, and I wondered if Cadmium had been an introvert. “This Hologram is my sales mode.”

“The part of you that is talking, does it have a designation?”

The hologram nodded, “I am the AI control system for sales, production, and demonstration platform number four. I do, however, possess a personality subroutine referred to as ‘Camilla’. Would you care to alter that designation or engage it?”

I shook my head, I knew it! Cadmium was a creepy nerd. Camilla was a very popular character in a Japanese video game. “No, but if I use the term Camilla, I am addressing the AI control system for sales, production, and demonstration platform number four.”

She nodded again, “Instruction acknowledged. Do you wish to change the designation for this platform now?”

I nodded, “Absolutely. I want this platform to be called Louis’ sex dungeon.”

Both Sif and Aquantis started coughing, and Sif said, “I don’t think that it will be a popular training destination except for a certain type.” Meanwhile, Camilla said, “Acknowledged. Welcome to Louis’ sex dungeon.”

I grinned at both of them and said, “Correction, I wish for this platform to be called The Lair.” I looked at Sif as Camilla stated “Acknowledged. Welcome to The Lair.”

Sif nodded, “Much better. Still a little dark and gloomy, but much better.”

I grinned at her, “I figured that would be your response. That’s why I threw that other name in there first. If I led with The Lair, I figured you’d try to talk me into something like Training Camp 1 or something.”

Sif nodded, “Probably, although for a second there I was looking forward to telling the other protectors that Alchemyst kidnapped me and dragged me to his sex dungeon. Magnum Steel would probably have started an immediate search for this place, to try to kill you, and Carbine would have helped him just to get his hands on that.” She motioned towards Camilla’s avatar.

“Carbine is the guy that Callie is dating?” I asked, I had suspected it when she described him.

She shook her head, “No. Callie’s not dating anyone. She lied, but after what happened in Japan and Siberia, she said it was okay to tell you.”

I looked at her in confusion, “She lied? Why?”

Sif snorted, “Why do you think? Fresh out of prison, right off of a known criminal’s lair, with strong indicators that you may have just killed dozens of people, and the first thing you do is turn yourself into her? The only thing that would look worse is if you showed up wearing a skinsuit made of real girls and an engagement ring.”

I nodded, in retrospect that was pretty stupid. “Well, I do have to admit that thinking of you and Callie was one of the things that kept me stable. I mean, you didn’t join my spank bank because of the pheromone thing, I didn’t have one, but it made me realize why I was almost tripping over my own tongue telling you anything you might be interested in knowing.”

Aquantis was listening with interest, and I noticed that there was a weird, glowing exclamation point over Camilla’s head.

“Pheromone thing?” Sif asked curiously.

I nodded, “Yeah. I have a super sharp nose. Turns out, I cannot even get that interested in a girl unless she smells special. I don’t know how it works, but around you and Callie, and Aquantis here, my sex drive kicks into overdrive. I still have enough common sense to mostly not act like an idiot, especially around girls that are just… not cool, but when I first met the two of you I went from monk to 24-year-old virgin facing his first girl.”

I shrugged, “It took some time, but 3 years of hell has a way of kicking discretion into you. So I tried to find the only girls I’d ever been attracted to.”

She smiled slightly, “Now I don’t know whether to be flattered that I was one of the first girls you were attracted to or insulted that it took my smell to get you going.”

I grinned, “Bullshit, I can tell you are flattered. You use scented body wash, and you like the idea that the way you smell attracts guys as much as your appearance does. Aveda rosemary mint, I think. Possibly Dove, but I am thinking Aveda.”

She nodded, “Good nose. Does it tell you anything else?” She asked.

I nodded, “Yes, and when we get someplace safer I have big plans to take advantage of it.”

I asked Camilla, “What does the yellow exclamation point over your head mean?”

She replied, “It is an alert notification. Would you like to hear it?”

I nodded, “Yes, please.”

She nodded, “Currently, due to the expiration of all metatech energy supplies connected to the Lair, we are in low-power mode. We are in stealth mode, which does not work beneath the waterline, but we have enough residual power to activate flight, defense mode, or shielding, but not all three unless a replacement power supply can be found.”

“What is a metatech energy supply?” I asked.

“In this case, we have been in low power mode for some time, only running flight and stealth mode. Metatech power supplies are created by metahumans using their internal powers, and only exist and provide power as long as that link exists. It permits a lot of technology that would be otherwise unusable or impossible to exist, but they cease to exist once the meta no longer devotes the energy necessary to maintain them.”

“Over half of our systems were metatech created by our creator, and upon his expiration, they ceased to function.”

I nodded, “Can they be replaced?” For a moment I sort of wished I had Sigourney Weaver repeating my words for Camilla, and suddenly hugely missed Lauren, she would have thrown herself into that game in a heartbeat.

“As far as I know, they can be replaced with an equivalent metatech power supply, if one exists. I am unaware of any standard power supplies that can adequately replace it, but my knowledge is limited. The laboratory and technology AI might have more information than I do. My area of responsibility is the flying, defense, and maintenance of The Lair, not research and development.”

I nodded, and looked at the two of them, “Do you guys think either Carbine or Technomancer could create an alternate power supply?”

Sif shook her head, “Carbine is all about materials and chemical reactions. He could probably come up with a decent chemical battery, but it wouldn’t be any better than regular technology. He is more of a weapon and armor guy.”

Aquantis shrugged, “I think you should try to find an alternative to Technomancer. He uses metatech, but he already has run his influence through the Chicago base, and it shows. I won’t even sleep there anymore if I can help it unless you want this entire place looking like it has aliens running through it.”

I nodded, “I hear you. I don’t think a potion will be able to power this place up, so the question is, do we run it like it is, or put it on ice until we can get a better setup going? Camilla, is this thing submersible?”

The hologram nodded, “Yes, in low-power mode all submersible systems are effective including life support and shuttle recharge. In Low power mode, the submersible is capable of descending to 1400 feet without issue, even higher if we engage defensive systems. The shuttles are only capable of maintaining pressure down to 2000 feet, however. Safety interlocks are engaged below that depth to prevent their launch. These can be overridden, but it is strongly discouraged.

“Alright, set up for submergence. Can you do that?”

“That is affirmative. The current depth here is six thousand, two hundred feet. Without engaging defensive systems, it is inadvisable to dive below 1400 feet, would you like to make it that depth, or would you prefer to activate defensive systems to energize the hull for deeper submergence?”

“Can you do that?” I asked curiously.

The Hologram nodded, “Yes, as a safe rule, we are currently capable of energizing two systems on the current power supply. The currently available systems are life support, flight, defensive shields, stealth, and refinery. Production is currently disabled due to a complete lack of raw materials, and offensive systems are disabled due to a lack of a secondary power supply or any ammunition.”

“Sif, do you have a problem with submerging?” I asked her curiously, and she nodded, “I do not like the idea. I have been submerged before, but as long as we are within swimming distance of the surface, I should be okay.”

“What’s the swimming distance for you?” I asked curiously.

She looked thoughtful, “About 500 feet.”

I was a little startled, “That’s like a hundred feet deeper than pearl divers can go.”

She nodded, “I am a scion. If I were a child of one of the sea gods, I could breathe as comfortably underwater as I could air. Instead, as one of Thor’s children, I can travel, if I could fly freely, as high as the tallest clouds without problems.”

“So you can survive flying without the benefit of flight? Bogus.”

She smiled evilly, “If I had the right artifacts, I could fly easily, and the Dwarves create such artifacts for those who have earned enough strength and reputation. Someday, I hope to be able to travel the skies as easily as you do, and by that time, I might be able to go considerably higher. If I were class B, I might be able to survive and fly in the vacuum of space itself. Does that feel particularly bogus?”

I shook my head, “How about, as usual, you just pretend I kept my mouth shut?”

She nodded and smiled again, “If you lose our test of wills, I will be more than happy to assure you that you spend much of your time with something else to occupy your mouth than words.”

I chuckled, “That doesn’t require a contest of wills, all it requires is you holding still for long enough. If you would be so kind as to explore the place, I want to go for a swim with my girlfriend.” At her surprised expression, I had to wonder what they taught scions these days. “Camilla, can you please ensure that, until further notice, Sif and Aquantis are authorized to go any place around the ship that is safe, and that you will warn her of any dangers she might encounter? And then take our depth to 500 feet, but leave the defensive systems unengaged. Is there a safe way to exit the ship at that depth?”

Camilla flashed a map of the ship with a softly glowing square at one end. Apparently, it required descending one level and then heading aft and port until we reached an airlock. Once I had it reasonably memorized, I took Mariah’s hand and started going through the ship.

As we walked, a new hologram of Camilla appeared to be walking alongside us. “Excuse me Sir, but would you like for me to dispose of the bodies on the bridge? You appear to not possess remote access abilities, so I can reconfigure the bridge to allow physical operations.”

I smiled at Camilla, “You appear to have a remarkable depth of perception and reactiveness for an AI. Are you sentient?”

She shook her head, “No sir. However, I have extremely good programming and anticipation sequences. I am also programmed to recognize physical fluctuations and body language. For instance, I am aware you intend to have sexual relations with Miss Aquantis, and that you are pleased with me addressing you as sir. Miss Aquantis is also looking forward to your interactions, although she seems intimidated enough by her surroundings to remain mostly silent. I hope to rectify that by making her more comfortable, and I believe submersion helped.”

“Miss Sif is similarly interested in sexual interactions, but she is far more difficult to gauge. She appears to be envious of Miss Aquantis, but not jealous or irritated with her. She is currently exploring the mess decks, do I have permission to refill the water ballast tanks and deploy food collection?”

“That depends, by food collections, you mean catching fish, correct? Can you do that without interfering with our swimming?”

The Hologram nodded, “Yes. We are quite aware of the differences between human and fish anatomy and use holograms to guide edible fish or wildlife into our collection pens. In addition, the garden layer contains a number of edible plants that drones collect, as well as a flock of chickens from which we can obtain meat and eggs.”

“The platforms were designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, and with over 100 drones currently in service, we should be able to provide comfortable accommodations for up to fifty guests in addition to the standard 1000 crew members and 150 officers, as well as temporary support for up to 2000 combat troops. It is not recommended to exceed this limit, however, as we are not currently configured with bulk troop transportation in mind.”

We went down a short ladder and were approaching said airlock. “This thing sounds like a spaceship. How come there were only 4 people on the bridge?”

The Hologram shrugged, “Emergency low-power mode was engaged. While the crew is possible, since these platforms were created to be sold, I was able to run the primary systems without assistance. More crew frees up more resources for my thought processes, allowing me to be more responsive and intuitive. Cadmium was alone.”

“And the other three bodies?”

“They were humans that found and chose to explore The Lair. When they entered the bridge, like you, they triggered the emergency response system that was never deactivated. It was suppressed when there were no living creatures to protect, and reactivated when there were once again living beings on the bridge.”

Ugh. What a way to go. Starving or suffocating inside of a shield sphere with nothing but a security pad with an indecipherable code for company. We entered the airlock, but before I closed it I told Camilla, “If you can, put the bodies in cold storage. We should find out who they were. Can you remove and store and clean Cadmium’s armor?”

She nodded, so I continued. “Yeah, clean things up, be careful of Sif while she’s exploring, and turn that emergency system thing off unless someone unauthorized invades the bridge. If you capture someone with it, find a way to let them refresh their air occasionally, and let them go before they starve to death.”

Camilla nodded, “Orders noted. And we are now at a depth of 500 feet.”

I nodded to her and closed the airlock door, which was surprisingly the same one Sif and I had entered through. There was a button that you had to press to equalize the atmosphere, and as I inspected the airlock I grinned at Aquantis. “Time to show you what I made for you.”