Andrea arrived at the Historia for breakfast.
“I’m still not sure why you wanted to be here this
early,” her mother complained.
“I’m meeting someone, but I wasn’t sure when she’d
be here.”
“So you’re going to wait all day? Is it SpiderGirl
or Ninja Talon?”
“Could be the latter,” Andrea said.
Her mother turned towards her. “Don’t think that
their visits have gone unnoticed, Andrea,” she said quietly.
“I thought you and Dad were asleep.”
“Only one time, but I heard you talking to both of
them in your room. I didn’t hear what you were talking about though.”
“Good.”
Andrea ordered her breakfast and read the paper.
She found that it was Melinda Parris who had wrote the article on Anders’ fall.
‘I suppose Penelope Jericho is taking her time with her more detailed version.’
It wasn’t until she had started drinking her coffee
that Brittany arrived. “I didn’t think you would be awake this early.”
“Practice,” Brittany said with a yawn.
“So, you have been going without enough sleep?”
“Most nights.”
“That’s not good,” Andrea said with concern.
“But I need to do it. Lawndale and Spidey rely on
me, as their second superhero and her friend.”
“But you don’t have powers.”
Brittany shook her head. “No, but I have trained.”
“I know. SpiderGirl might be more obvious, but your
exploits are also recorded.”
It wasn’t until after 9:00 that Mina arrived at the
café. She saw Andrea and a blonde girl with pigtails in a corner of the cafe.
‘Wait, is she the one playing Ariel?’ She ordered something and then went over
to them.
“Hi, Mina,” Andrea said.
Mina sat next to Andrea. “This is?”
“Brittany,” the blonde said. “I’m also looking into
what’s happening in Lawndale.”
There was something about the way she said that.
‘Brittany sounds like she’s deep into it,’ Mina thought. “I suppose you know
about what Andrea asked me about.”
Brittany nodded.
“And your answer is?” Andrea asked as she raised
one of her eyebrows.
Mina sighed. “I’ll let you use my account for
trying to find out about the robot pterodactyl. But it will be a one-time
thing. Once is risky enough!” she said quietly.
“Looks you you’ll need broadband,” Brittany said to
Andrea.
Andrea nodded. “I have been asking Mom about it.”
Brittany twirled a pigtail. “I suppose you could
use mine, but Ashley-Amber is a light sleeper.”
“You didn’t say that before,” Andrea said.
“You didn’t ask, and I didn’t think of it,”
Brittany said.
“You can do it after lunch,” Mina added. “But will
you be there?” she asked Brittany.
“No. I’ll be doing something else.”
Ninja Talon met SpiderGirl on the roof shortly
afterwards. “Hey, Spidey.”
“Hey, Talon,” SpiderGirl said she looked out over
the town.
“Mina allowed Andrea to use her account. They will
look through the Mall’s footage this afternoon.”
“That’s good. I hope they find something.”
Ninja Talon noticed that her friend was slightly
pensive. “Something on your mind? Besides the robo-dactyl and Anders?”
“About Anders, in a way. I was thinking, after last
night, that we have been reacting to things since Anders and Jamie had decided
to interview me.”
“Not entirely true.”
“That was Daria and most of the teens of Lawndale
calling each other,” SpiderGirl said. “But that was a good thing.”
“So, what is your idea.”
“I put together some questions earlier that Mrs.
Jericho can interview me with.”
“Mrs. Jericho?” Ninja Talon asked. “What about
Jamie?”
“I know Jamie would want to ask further questions.”
“Wouldn’t Mrs. Jericho?”
“She’ll respect my intentions a lot more than
Jamie,” SpiderGirl responded.
“That’s a good point. It’s still risky, but I agree
that we have to do something.”
SpiderGirl nodded. “I’ll try to talk to her this
afternoon.”
“You want me to come with you?”
“But then she’ll want to interview you too.”
“That’s a good point,” Ninja Talon said. “I’ll
patrol around here and wait for what Andrea may find.”
It was after 1:00 when Andrea arrived at the same
computer lab she had used with Scott Ashworth over a week early and found Mina
waiting outside. “Let’s do this,” she said.
“Quickly,” Mina said as she swiped the door open
with her Student ID.
“This can’t be rushed,” Andrea responded as she
entered. “It took me hours last time.”
Mina sighed. “Just as well I brought my laptop.”
“Something due this week?”
“Later in the week, and midterms are before
Easter.”
At the same time, Tori answered the doorbell. She
didn’t quite believe her eyes. “SpiderGirl?”
“Hi, Tori,” SpiderGirl said. “Is your mother in?”
“You want to see her?” Tori asked, surprised.
“Yes. It’s like I want to tell my own story. Not
the one Anders, and whoever put her up to interviewing a fake, wanted to tell.”
“I can understand that.”
Penelope was as surprised as her daughter. Seeing
Lawndale’s first superhero in her living room was nearly a shock. “I suppose
you found me through the phone book?” she asked.
“Of course. Jericho. P. Not hard to find,”
SpiderGirl said.
‘Or she already knew as her secret identity, but
Tori knows most of the students at that school,’ she thought. “So, you have
written out something then?”
“Of course,” SpiderGirl answered as she handed over
a piece of paper.
Penelope read through the questions twice. She
could tell that SpiderGirl wanted her side of the story told, but in a way that
protected her secret identity. ‘I’ll help her do that then,’ she decided. “I’ll
do it,” she said.
“You will?” SpiderGirl asked.
“Yes.” Penelope said.
“We can do it this afternoon?”
“I was planning to relax before the new week, but
yes, we can. And we can do it here in the living room or the home office if you
prefer.”
“The Living Room seems more natural,” SpiderGirl
responded.
“I suppose it is. I just want to prepare first.”
Tori sat across from SpiderGirl as her mother went
to prepare. “So, what do you think of Anders’ fall?”
“She made a deal with someone, and she paid the
price.”
“That makes sense, but what about the one who
actually impersonated you?”
“I met her, and she apologised,” SpiderGirl
answered. “And I forgave her.”
“That must have been awkward,” Tori commented.
SpiderGirl shrugged. “She found me on top of the
Historia.”
“I have heard that you’re there often.”
“That’s right. It’s provides a very good vantage
point of Lawndale’s downtown area.”
“It’s like you appeared out of nowhere back in
November, and Lawndale suddenly started getting crazy,” Tori said.
SpiderGirl thought about that. “More like, it
wasn’t until later, after New Year. More like Groundhog Day was the trigger
point, if that makes sense.”
“I guess so, but there are rumors of strange things
from before then.”
“That’s true.”
It didn’t take long for Penelope to prepare. She
read through SpiderGirl’s questions again before boiling some tea. As she
entered the lounge room, she saw SpiderGirl drink a cup of water quickly before
covering the lower part of her face again. ‘White, but that’s all I got,’ she
thought. Then again, Lawndale was majority white.
SpiderGirl turned. “You didn’t see that, did you?”
“Relax. It was no where near enough for me to guess
your secret identity.”
“Good. Only one other knows it.”
Penelope raised an eyebrow. “Ninja Talon?”
“Off the record?”
“Yes. I promise.”
“Yes and I know hers,” SpiderGirl answered. “But
that won’t be an official answer. She turned to Tori, who had just come back
into the room. “You’ll keep it secret too, right?”
“Of course,” Tori answered.
“Are you ready?” Penelope asked.
SpiderGirl nodded.
“First question: Your motto is ‘With Great Power
Comes Great Responsibility.’ Can you tell us why this is so?
The interview proceeded well.
“Finally, has Lawndale become more weird since
Groundhog Day?” Penelope asked.
“Yes. It’s not just the brownouts, what Quentin
Beck was doing or Oscorp’s plans. It’s something Talon and I are looking into.”
“Thanks for your time.”
“And now I need to be going,” SpiderGirl said.
Tori watched SpiderGirl swing away from her yard.
“Go get them, Spidey.”
At the same time, Andrea found something.
“What is it?” Mina asked.
“Someone was standing still, observing as Ninja
Talon and Dafoanairi fought it,” Andrea answered.
Mina looked closer. “I can’t make them out. They’re
in the shadows.”
Andrea nodded. “I need to find another angle. There
isn’t much to tell Ninja Talon about here.”
“Would there be a camera in the right spot, though”
“Only one way to find out.”
Ten minutes later, Andrea had loaded an image of
the same spot from a different angle. “They are more visible here.”
“Looks like a young woman.”
“That it does, but her face is hidden.”
“So, you’ll need to find a third angle?” Mina
asked.
“Possibly. We know it was five minutes between when
Dafoanairi responded to the robo-dactyl appearing, to when she and Ninja Talon
had put it out of commission. She may have moved around during that time.”
Andrea fast forwarded and rewound the footage. She
got a clearer shot at the young woman’s face, and the fact that she was holding
a large controller “it’s still not enough. The resolution isn’t clear enough.”
“It is quite pixilated.”
“But it is what Ninja Talon asked me to find. What
she and SpiderGirl will make of it, I’m not sure, but I’ll try to find another
camera that’s closer.”
Half an hour later, Andrea had found more footage,
but with a similar result. “Thanks for allowing me to use your account.”
“I just hope we weren’t caught,” Mina said.
“I made sure that we weren’t traced.”
Mina breathed a sigh of relief.”
Andrea logged off.
“I guess you’re going to meet Ninja Talon
somewhere?”
“She’ll probably just show up tonight at home.”
“She does that?” Mina asked in surprise.
“Both her and SpiderGirl, but not that often.”
“You know who she is, don’t you?”
“I’m not answering that,” Andrea responded.
“Relax, I don’t want to know.”
“I know, but I’m still not answering.”
