After
talking to Quinn, Brittany decided to seek out Andrea before lunch ended. ‘It’s
barely a week since the last time she helped,’ she thought as she left the
library and looked around the courtyard. ‘But is she in the cafeteria?’ she
wondered.
Brittany
entered the cafeteria and saw Daria, Sandi and Jane in a discussion about the
robo-dactyl. ‘They’re just speculating,’ she thought as she looked around. She
then saw Andrea with Jennifer Burns and Dewey Rodgers.
Andrea
saw Brittany come over. “Hi Brit,” she said with a low voice. “You want to talk
about something?”
“Yes,
by yourself,” Brittany answered in a serious tone.
“Is
it to do with yesterday afternoon?” Andrea asked carefully.
Brittany
nodded.
“I’ll
head to the Historia as soon as school lets out.”
“I’ll
see you there.”
“What
was that about?” Jennifer asked quietly after Brittany had gone.
“Something,”
Andrea answered. ‘But I can guess. Something to do with the security footage of
the robo-dactyl no doubt.’
“She
wants you to find something?” Dewey asked.
“Maybe,
but I wouldn’t spread that around,” Andrea said.
“Of
course not,” Jennifer said.
The
rest of the school day passed without incident. Quinn emerged onto the roof and
saw that Daria and Sandi were up there. “Oh, Jane isn’t here?” she asked.
“She
wanted to talk to Ms. Dafoe about something,” Daria answered.
“Right.”
“Did
you want to talk about something?”
“I
did have some curiosity about her streetscape project, but that can wait,”
Quinn answered. That wasn’t a lie. She did have some curiosity about it. But it
wasn’t her focus.
“You
want to talk about the robo-dacyl?” Daria asked.
“Like,
do you think more such robots would appear?”
“If
one did, more might follow.”
Sandi
listened as Daria and Quinn talked about possible events. ‘But what is Quinn
doing anyway?’ she wondered. She shook her head, she didn’t want to know! She
knew Quinn was heavily involved in the Historia and tutoring and occasionally
investigating. “Don’t you have Anna and the others?” she asked.
“I
do, but I’m meeting them at the Historia in half an hour,” Quinn answered. “I
better be going,” she added to Daria.
“I’ll
see you later.”
Daria
waited until she was sure that Quinn had gone down to the ground floor. “You
said at lunch that you had some ideas about keeping an eye on Anders.”
“Given
that Mother is the director of marketing for the station, she could do some
digging.”
“But
is that the right thing to do?”
“Probably
not, but you know me, antihero,” Sandi responded.
“That’s
true, but I still have reservations,” Daria said as she looked towards the main
Oscorp building in the distance. “Even if Osborn is somehow involved.”
“All
the more reason. Harry says that even though he’s supposed to be resting, his
father has been talking to a lot of people,” Sandi responded.
“Go
ahead,” Daria said in a resigned tone. She spun around and grabbed a staff from
where she had stashed it next to the water tank shack. “I’ll be patrolling for
an hour or so.”
Sandi
tied her hair up. “So will I.”
Brittany
entered the Historia café and saw Andrea talking to Stacy at the counter. She
sat at a nearby table and waited by reading the café’s copy of the Sun-Herald.
It
wasn’t long before Andrea joined her. “I can guess what you and SpiderGirl want
this time. Something to do with the robot pterodactyl, right?”
“Yes,
to find the person controlling it using the Mall’s security footage,” Brittany
answered quietly.
“I
still have similar difficulties to last week,” Andrea responded. “I doubt Scott
Ashworth is going to let me use his college account again.”
“That’s
a good point.”
“But
there are still the others who have siblings at Lawndale State, if you want me
to try. It may be more difficult if they are elusive this weekend.”
“They
could be at the play tonight or tomorrow,” Brittany pointed out.
“But
I only want to watch it once. I guess I’ll watch it tonight.”
“That
will be good.”
“But
how are you coping?” Andrea asked.
“Daria
modified the script.”
“That
makes sense.”
Dafoanairi
arrived on the top of the Historia and took out her binoculars. She had found
that relying on just her usual glasses corrected vision wasn’t enough when it
came to spotting something that shouldn’t happen on the streets below. She soon
saw something. A young man was trying to throw a rope between two rooftops two
streets to the north. ‘That’s definitely something I need to investigate.’
It
took Dafoanairi less than five minutes to arrive on the scene. “Let’s see here,
someone doing what they shouldn’t?” she asked rhetorically.
“It
isn’t what it looks like, whoever you are!”
“Dafoanairi.
The Snarky Fifth Vigilante Hero. I’d say it is what it looks like, trying to
evade the police and hoping that Lawndale’s heroes will not notice?”
“You’re
not SpiderGirl, but I’m not doing anything wrong,” the man said as he managed
to lasso an antenna on the other side.
“Oh
no?”
“I’m
not breaking and entering if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You
expect me to take your word for that?” Dafaonairi asked.
“I’m
trying to do something Lynn Anders did a while ago.”
“You
mean she walked on a tight rope between buildings? But her stunts are obviously
staged.”
“No
they’re not!” the young man argued.
“Yes,
they are. But I don’t want to be arguing while something else might be going
on, like, I don’t know, robotic reptiles running amuck.”
“You’re
trying to distract me while another vigilante comes along.”
“No,”
Dafoanairi said. “I often patrol alone, and you don’t want to be with the
fourth vigilante instead of me.”
The
man then stepped on the rope.
“No!”
Dafoanairi said. She steeled herself to follow him.
It
started out well at first, but there was a gust of wind and the he started
tumbling. ‘Uh oh!’
Dafoanairi
then grabbed him with one hand while she used the quarterstaff for balance in
the other. “See!” she said.
“I
see your point,” he said he tottered.
“Crap!”
Dafoanairi said as she leaned back towards the roof. “Now, carefully walk
back.”
“I
guess you don’t have powers.”
“You
guess correctly. I’m doing this through pure guile! But someone has to do it.”
The
man then made a misstep and fell, but Dafoanairi fell back on the roof.
It
was precarious and Dafoanairi’s arm was aching. “Right, climb up.”
“There’s
an eave!”
Dafoanairi
still had a hold of the quarterstaff. She swung it so that it also hung down.
“Grab a hold of the staff!”
He complied.
Less than a minute later, they were both standing on the
rooftop. “Thanks, Dafoanairi. I was stupid.”
“Par for the course in Lawndale.”
“You’re not from here are you?”
“I live here now, but I didn’t grow up here,” Dafoanairi
answered. “Have you learned your lesson?”
The guy was sheepish. “Don’t copy Lynn Anders.”
“Exactly.”
Dafoanairi waited for the man to climb down and rubbed her
arms. “I’m lucky I didn’t fall down as well. I won’t tell the Engima.” She
looked at the time. Still less than half an hour after she had left the school.
‘I can observe downtown Lawndale from here.’
At the same time the Enigma was down near the creek, near
the dock when she heard a cry for help. “Where?” she asked herself as she ran
in the direction the call was coming from.
She found a fellow Lawndale High student stuck high up in
the tree. ‘It looks like Sally Anne Garfield,’ she thought. She didn’t really
know her, just that she looked sad most of the time. “I’m here,” she said as
she came alongside the trunk.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“The fourth vigilante.”
“Oh! I thought it was the Shadow or Dafoanairi.”
“Dafoanairi doesn’t have powers, and I don’t think the
Shadow does either. But I do,” the Enigma said. “I’m coming up there.”
It took her a couple of minutes to climb up to where Sally
Anne was.
Sally Anne looked at the purple clad superhero. “But you do
have a moniker, right?”
“Yes, I just like letting my actions speak for me, rather
than overhype myself like SpiderGirl. Call me the Enigma.”
“The Enigma,” Sally Anne considered. “One who’s figuring
herself out.”
“Yes. Now, how to get you down?”
“You have no idea?”
“There are a few ways I can do it, but my powers can be
tricky. I still need to develop the fine control I know my mentor has,” the
Enigma admitted.
Sally Anne tried to take her mind off the precarious
situation she was in. “A mentor?” she asked.
“They’re a retired hero, that’s all I’ll say.”
“Right.”
The Enigma closed her eyes to focus on the branch that Sally
Anne was sitting on.
“You’re closing your eyes, up here?”
“Part of my powers is an enhanced perception. Closing my
eyes helps me focus on it,” she said. She didn’t want to explain the
synesthetic aspect of it, that involved colors and ribbons in her vision.
“Oh right.”
‘The branch will hold for a short while longer,’ the Enigma
thought. She opened her eyes and looked at Sally Anne in hers. “Right. I like,
have ropes, I can tie it around the trunk here and lower you down that way.”
“Give it a try.”
“Or I can use my telekinesis to lift you off the branch and
down to where I am.”
“Telekinesis?” Sally Anne asked incredulously.
“Yes,” the Enigma said as she snapped a twig near Sally Anne
with that power.
“That’s
impressive.”
The
Enigma nodded.
“Let’s
try the ropes first,” Sally Anne said.
“Sure.”
The
Enigma tied two ropes around the branch on either side of the Sally Anne.
“Done.
Try to climb down. I’ll be ready to grab you if you slip.”
Sally
Anne looked at the rope in front of her and grabbed onto it with one hand.
“Now,
try to move down slowly.”
Sally
Anne wasn’t sure. She gripped the rope tightly and closed her eyes.
“It’s
better to look,” the Enigma admonished.
“Alright!”
Sally Anne said as she opened her eyes with tears.
“Sorry,
I can be blunt. Now try to move so that you swing down and move your legs
around the rope.”
“Really?”
“I’m
ready to catch you, remember,” the Enigma said.
“OK!”
Sally
Anne then did as the Enigma suggested. She swung and slipped on the rope but
she managed to grab the rope with her legs and found herself next to the
Enigma. She looked into her green eyes and saw determination. ‘One has to be
determined to be a superhero,’ she thought. She knew that her own eyes wouldn’t
show anything similar.
“See,
that was easy.”
“You
call that easy?”
“Compared
to other things I had to do, yes,” the Enigma answered.
“I
guess so,” Sally Anne said as she looked down. The rest of the way didn’t seem
that difficult, but she looked in the Enigma’s eyes again. “Watch me climb down
further.”
“I
shall.”
A
few minutes later, both of them were back on the ground.
Sally
Anne breathed deeply. “Thanks.”
“You’re
OK?” the Enigma asked.
“As
well as I usually am. I just chose the wrong tree to climb.”
“You
usually climb trees?”
“It’s
a way to escape,” Sally Anne admitted. “I wanted to get away from the situation
in Lawndale for a few moments.”
“The
town’s certainly troubled. But there’s hope.”
“But
Lynn Anders?”
The
Enigma sighed. “She wants to unmask us, I’m sure of it.”
“I
hope she doesn’t succeed.”
At
the Historia, Quinn could tell that Gerald was slowly improving. “You’re doing
well,” she praised after he had read out information on Titan.
“Thanks,”
Gerald responded. “But it can be difficult.”
“No
doubt about that.”
She
then turned to Anna, but the she saw Brittany enter the bookstore and wave.
“Wait a moment,” Quinn said.
“Sure,”
Anna said.
Quinn
and Brittany slipped over to the staircase upwards. “Is there something else
happening? Another robo-dactyl?” Quinn asked.
“No,
I was having a coffee in the café, when an ad for Lynn Anders’ show for tonight
came on,” Brittany answered. “It said that there may be a special interview.”
“There’s
no way she’ll interview SpiderGirl, as I’ll be here helping with the play.”
“But
she’s certainly planning something,” Brittany said as she twirled a pigtail.
“More
pressuring of the public? Or maybe interviewing Osborn! He could reveal the
Enigma’s identity!”
“I
don’t think that’s it.”
“No,
I was just going to an extreme there,” Quinn said. “But there’s a lot she or
Osborn could do to make life more difficult for us.”
“I
agree.”
“But
we’ll have see what Anders will say.”
Brittany
nodded.
Quinn
returned to the bookstore. “Something up?” Anna asked, after she had closed the
door.
“Brittany
wanted to talk about something,” Quinn answered.
“Important?”
Anna asked.
“You
could say that,” Quinn answered enigmatically.
‘There’s
something there,’ Anna thought.
“OK,
you can tell us about the shamrock,” Quinn said.
“I’d
like to know more,” Ben said.
“I
know you do,” Anna said as she picked up her notes. “As you know, St. Patricks
Day is two weeks away…”
Fields
arrived at the studio with trepidation. She had gone over the script that
Osborn had given her a few times. It seemed to be on the level. There didn’t
appear to be anything that would incite anyone to think it had been faked.
‘Only SpiderGirl and possibly the other vigilantes,’ she thought, repeating
what he had told Anders that morning. ‘But I am doing this under protest. I’m
not sure it’s good for Lawndale, as much as Oscorp overall isn’t.’
