Daria then made her play. “I have compiled
newspaper reports of SpiderGirl’s activities from November, through to just
before Groundhog Day. There are also excerpts from interviews I have conducted
with some of Lawndale High’s seniors over the past few weeks. They paint a
picture of a rather confident young lady who isn’t afraid to talk to people.
What I saw when I watched last night’s interview was not that.” She handed a
binder over to Leonard. “These are copies of many of those articles, including
of the report covering the time she and Ninja Talon responded to a thief in the
Mall.”
“Thanks, Ms. Morgendorffer,” Leonard said as he
leafed through the binder.
“And that’s my mother’s impression,” Tori added.
“Jericho. You’re Penelope’s daughter, aren’t you?”
Leonard asked.
“That’s right,” Tori said. “And I will tell her
everything.”
‘That’s what I expected,’ Helen thought.
Leonard took the binder from Daria, and skimmed it.
“I see.”
“So, you see that this is not the hysterical
outburst of a few teens who only thought that they saw something wrong,” Helen
said.
Twenty minutes went by, as Leonard looked through
the evidence the Morgendorffers and the others had brought. Anders was
stressing the entire time. ‘Anders’ didn’t expect something like this to
occur,’ Daria thought.
“I see from the Mall incident that SpiderGirl was
confident when she said that she and Ninja Talon were colleagues rather than
rivals,” Leonard said. “That can easily be corroborated.”
“I would think so,” Brittany commented.
“But that will take time,” Leonard said.
“I expect that it will,” her mother said.
“I have examined enough,” Leonard said.
“Meaning?” Helen asked.
“That I’m convinced that this needs to be
investigated,” Leonard said. He turned to Anders. “Pending investigation, you
are suspended from your duties until further notice.”
“What?” Anders asked.
“You heard me, and Mrs. Morgendorffer. These
accusations are serious. Go to your office and clear out any personal items.”
“Yes, sir,” Anders said in a contrite tone.
Anders stormed out of the small meeting room. ‘I
shouldn’t have listened to Osborn! It’s his fault!’ She thought as she held
back tears. ‘What will he do when he finds out?’
Daria watched as Anders stormed out. “I have a
feeling that we haven’t seen the last of her.”
“Well, this is just the beginning,” her mother
said.
“Of course,” Daria responded.
Her mother turned back to the executive. “Thanks
for your time, Mr. Leonard.”
“Your welcome. And now I must begin the
investigation.”
“Then we won’t keep you.”
The group emerged from the studio.
“We did it!” Brittany said, as she hugged both
Quinn and Daria.
“We certainly did,” Quinn said.
“But as Mom said, it’s just the beginning,” Daria
said.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the Historia.
“I’ll see you later,” Helen said. “But be prepared if
whoever put Anders up to it reacts.”
“I have some ideas,” Daria said.
“I know, but there is no proof. If Oscorp, for
example, wants to sue for defamation, I wouldn’t be able to get you off.”
“I’ll find proof,” Daria said. “Although I know it
will take time.”
“You have a lot on your plate,” Helen said.
Daria nodded as she got out of the car.
Daria found Sandi in the bookstore looking through
books on journalism.
“Like, a good collection here,” Sandi said.
“Thanks. I wanted a broad selection.”
“How did it go?”
“Anders has been suspended,” Daria answered.
“Pending further investigation.”
“That’s good news.”
“But the investigation will take time. Who knows
what might happen in the meantime.”
Sandi shrugged. “Anything. But at least she won’t
be trying to interview the vigilantes while she’s under investigation.”
“There’s that at least.”
“Now, like, we go back to the other concerns.”
“Like who was controlling that robo-dactyl,” Daria
mused.
“Maybe we could look at the Mall later.”
“You can. I’ll look into the reports.”
“Are you sure it’s because you don’t like
shopping?” Sandi asked playfully.
“Not when there’s something better to do.”
Quinn and Brittany went up to the roof.
Quinn breathed a sigh of relief as she looked
towards the studio. “It might not be over, but at least people know it was a
fake. Like it was the last thing I thought I needed.”
“But we did it, didn’t we?” Brittany asked.
Quinn brightened up. “We did. Daria was meticulous
in the presentation of her research.”
“As she usually is.”
“But.”
“But?” Brittany asked.
“The robot pterodactyl. Who was responsible for
it?”
“And was it even Oscorp?”
“That is one thing we need to know,” Quinn said.
Jane found Trent and Jesse waiting in a corner of
the café.
“How did it go?” Trent asked.
“Anders was suspended,” Jane answered quietly as
she sat.
“Sounds like good news,” Jesse responded.
“It does, but Mrs. Morgendorffer said that it was
just the beginning.”
“I guess so, but at least it’s a start,” Trent
said.
“But what if Osborn had put her up to it?” Jane
asked.
“Then he might have succeeded at something.
Removing Anders from her job,” Trent answered.
“But what would he get out of that?” Jane wondered.
“No idea. But it does give me inspiration,” Trent
said.
Quinn changed to SpiderGirl and went on patrol, and
to think about what might be next. Brittany went down to the theater, where
Andrea was waiting inside.
“I heard about the fake interview from a few
people,” Andrea said.
“We exposed Anders’ role in it,” Brittany said.
“But?”
“But she wasn’t alone, and I’m sure the studio’s
internal investigation will focus on what happened there.”
“Are you saying someone, like possibly a certain
tycoon, put her up to it?” Andrea asked.
Brittany nodded. “But no proof.”
“There wouldn’t be. But the investigation might
reveal it.”
“Might. But, back to the robo-dactyl.”
“Certainly,” Andrea said. “I haven’t been able to
get a hold of Tania Ashworth.”
“She was at the Morgendorffers last night after the
play.”
“And she wasn’t at home this morning.”
“She wasn’t?” Brittany asked.
“She was probably doing something.”
“But there are others that have siblings at
Lawndale State.”
“I sent out a message to the Programming Club
mailing list,” Andrea said, as she took out her PDA. “Some of them may come
here this morning.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
It was late morning when Fields arrived back in
Osborn’s hospital room.
“I suppose you have heard?” he asked.
“Heard what? About Anders being suspended? I
thought that is unconfirmed.”
“It isn’t,” Osborn said. He clicked something on
his laptop.
“It has been confirmed that Lynn
Anders has been suspended from her duties at WSBC pending an investigation into
the interview with SpiderGirl that has allegedly been faked.”
“I knew it wasn’t a good idea, asking me to do it.”
“You didn’t project the confidence that the real
SpiderGirl has.”
“I couldn’t have!” Fields projected.
“I know. But it has been exposed rather quickly.”
“It must have been the real SpiderGirl.”
“She may have set things in motion,” Osborn said.
“But, according to my sources it was Helen Morgendorffer who contacted the
studio.”
“Isn’t she the one who drew up the agreement with
the Historia?”
“The very same. She must have seen the broadcast,
or obtained a taped copy.”
Fields was then quiet. She had interacted with
Helen briefly when the Morgendorffers and the other two teens had approached
Osborn with the business proposal for the Historia. The impression was that she
was very capable. ‘If she thinks she has a case, I’m sure that Anders will be
let go. But will she find out my involvement?’
Osborn watched Fields. He knew what she was
thinking; that Helen Morgendorffer would likely find out that she was involved
in the fake interview. ‘That’s a risk I’m willing to take,’ he thought.
Fields breathed heavily. “But were you expecting
something else?”
“I knew that Helen would get involved at some
point, but not so quickly.”
“I should have guessed.”
“Besides, I know who the fourth vigilante and her
mentor are,” Osborn said with a hardness in his voice. “That is an angle I can
use.”
“And the alias she uses?”
“Naturally, Ms. Fields, but I’m not revealing that
to you yet.”
As the morning passed, Brittany remained at the
Historia to wait for the Programming Club members to reply to Andrea’s message.
She walked through the bookstore looking at various items.
“Are you looking for something in particular, or
are you just killing time?” Daria asked as she came up.
“Maybe the latter,” Brittany admitted as she
twirled a pigtail.
“You may as well find something you would like.”
“I guess I was also thinking about recent events.”
“It does seem that events in Lawndale are
spiralling,” Daria said. “But we need to remind ourselves that it could be
worse, that our town isn’t absolutely riven in crime, and that there haven’t
been attacks like Groundhog Day again.”
“That’s true, but the robo-dacytl could have caused
a lot more damage than it did.”
“True, but Dafoanairi and Ninja Talon showing up
when they did, rather than SpiderGirl a while later stopped that situation
escalating.”
‘If you knew….’ Brittany shook her head. It was
enough that Quinn and Andrea knew that she was Talon. She smiled. “I agree. I
was just wondering something.”
“I have started to investigate that, but the
interview took precedence.”
Daria could tell Brittany was after something, but
she wasn’t sure what. “Maybe a book would help?” she asked.
“Something on this kind of situation?”
“There are superhero novels here, some even in
towns similar to Lawndale.”
“Really?” Brittany asked. “I haven’t read any. And
I was more interested in games than comics when I was younger.”
“Never too late to start.”
“That’s true. What do you recommend?”
Daria lead her to the shelf with the superhero
novels. “There is a wide selection. You would just have to pick whichever
piques your interest.”
Quinn arrived back at the Historia shortly after
noon. She looked at a clock as she walked down the stairs. “A little early for
lunch,” she considered. “But I’ll catch up with Brit first.”
She found Brittany reading one of the superhero
novels in the café while drinking a tea. “Daria recommended it, didn’t she?”
she asked.
“Yes. I wanted to see if our reality is stranger
than fiction,” Brittany answered quietly.
“I also read one of those books a while ago,
shortly after Groundhog Day,” Quinn said, in a reassuring tone.
“What did you think of it?”
“It was a good story, but there were only a few
similarities.”
“Right,” Brittany said she put the book aside.
“Anyway, Andrea is looking for others who may allow her to search for the Mall
security footage.”
“That’s good,” Quinn said. But then there was an
interruption.
“Quinn!”
Brittany winced at Kevin’s voice. She didn’t expect
that he would be in the Historia that day. She glared at him.
“Kevin, I told you. I’m not interested,” Quinn
said.
“I know what you said,” Kevin said.
“Like, how Anders didn’t actually interview
SpiderGirl, Jamie mostly made up what he wrote,” Quinn said with annoyance.
“Oh!” Kevin said. “So, you are saying that Jamie
lied?”
“More like exaggerated,” Quinn clarified.
“So, he did lie, or not?” Kevin asked.
“Unlike Anders, he did think he was telling the
truth, but he embellished it.”
“Got it,” Kevin said as he went.
“I don’t think he got it,” Brittany said with
annoyance when Quinn had sat down again.
“Clearly not,” Quinn groused. “But he has to think
about it more.”
“It will take him a while.”
Lynn Anders arrived back at her apartment on the
southern edge of the downtown. She slammed the door closed. “I shouldn’t have
listened to Osborn!” she groused to herself loudly, scaring her cat. ‘If I’m
fired, I won’t be able to afford this place!’
She went to the living room and switched on the
radio.
“What do you think of the Lynn
Anders, fake SpiderGirl situation?”
‘Ugh! Of course Z93 would be talking about that!’
She thought as she turned the tuning nob. She soon found WLND. But they were
also talking about it. ‘Fine! Oakwood, or Middlebury, or even Cumberland!’
WOKW.
“…Lawndale is again in the middle
of controversy with an airing of a fake interview last night.’
‘Not Oakwood!’
WMBY.
With music playing, Lynn tried to relax, despite
the spiral of self-recrimination and guilt occupying her mind.
Back at the Historia, Andrea found Brittany and
Quinn, along with Stacy and Angie, having lunch. “Brit?” she asked.
“Andy, did someone get back to you?” Brittany
asked.
“Yes,” Andrea said.
“I’ll be right back,” Brittany said.
They entered the stairwell. “Dewey Rogers’ sister
is a sophomore. He said that she might allow me to use her account,” Andrea
said.
“Dewey Rogers,” Brittany said as she twirled a
pigtail. “He moved to Lawndale the year before, the same time as the
Morgendorffers, right?”
“He did,” Andrea said. “I might be able to do it
tonight while the play is on.”
“That would be great.”
“If Dewey is able to get hold of her.”
“I hope so,” Brittany said.
It was mid afternoon when Fields knocked on Lynn
Anders’ door. Osborn had sent her to ask her to meet him in the hospital again.
He wouldn’t say what for. ‘He’s keeping it close to his chest,’ she thought
again.
Anders answered it and Fields could see that she
had been crying, and also drinking. The latter was going to make things
difficult. She doubted that the hospital would admit her if she was in an
inebriated state (and that Osborn wouldn’t be able to pull strings to allow her
to be admitted anyway). “Have you been drinking?” she asked.
