The
Enigma arrived at the Strawberry and started using the telescopes. Soon, she
saw something. She recognised it straight away. ‘It’s the attacker, who
destroyed the Lawndale Center on Friday night!’ The glider craft was moving
slowly over the rooftops, looking for something. ‘Or someone, probably
SpiderGirl as he seemed to be focused on her.’
She
watched the glider move around for a while longer.
Ninja
Talon also saw the glider in the distance, as she looked westwards from the
Historia. ‘What can I do alone? I’d need SpiderGirl. But how to get to Glen
Oaks Lane without drawing its attention?’ She decided to try anyway.’
The
Enigma saw that it was closer to the downtown, rather than over a mainly
residential area. ‘But that’s not really helpful, and I can’t get there quickly
without a car.’ Was there one nearby? The parking lot had been empty, but that
didn’t matter. She quickly ran down the stairs.
Once
off the Historia, Ninja Talon quickly ran through the various alleyways that
ran through the downtown area.
The
Enigma broke into the first car she found parked on a street near the
Strawberry, hotwired it and sped off.
SpiderGirl
awoke. She found that it was a little early. ‘Does that matter?’ she wondered
before getting out of bed.
Up
on the roof, she heard something near the downtown. She also heard a racing car
somewhere to the northwest. ‘Street racing starting again?’ she wondered,
before refocusing downtown. Her eyes widened as she realised what it was; the
craft from Groundhog Day! She swung off in that direction.
The
Enigma pulled up in an older street, close to where she had seen the glider
craft. She leapt out of the car, leaving the engine running. She saw it down
the street. She reached out with her powers and tried to grab it….
The
pilot noticed something. The controls were sluggish suddenly. ‘What just
changed?’ he wondered. He then noticed someone on a street below. A purple clad
figure, clearly visible in the moonlight. ‘A telekinetic metahuman?’ he
wondered. He grabbed one of the new bombs and cackled as he turned towards
them.’
The
Enigma let go and dashed off the side as the craft came towards her. Then there
was an explosion. Some sort of orange bomb had been thrown. She then threw some
projections in response.
The
pilot evaded the purple shots as they came towards him and threw another bomb!
‘Protection!’
the Enigma thought, hoping that the progress she had made with the forcefield
aspect of her powers would be enough. The forcefield rose, stronger than it had
been during her practice sessions. It was the adrenaline, she realised,
reinforcing her reflexes and resolve. The bomb exploded, pushing her back, but
she was unharmed. ‘But how to do defence and offence at the same time?’ she
wondered. She looked around, and saw an alley nearby. She ducked into it.
SpiderGirl
heard the explosions in the distance as she swung in that direction. She also
had seen the purple shots. ‘Is it the Enigma fighting the attacker?’ she
wondered. She then saw Ninja Talon on a rooftop nearby.
“SpiderGirl.
I see you noticed it,” Ninja Talon said.
“Yes.
But the Enigma is there as well.”
“That’s
true, but I doubt she would confront you while we’re all fighting the
attacker.”
SpiderGirl
nodded. “It just makes it awkward and she probably won’t cooperate.”
“I
agree.”
“But
we go in anyway and try to minimise any damage.”
“Lead
the way,” Ninja Talon said.
The
Enigma ducked out of the alley and saw that the glider had moved. She ran to
the car she arrived in and got back in behind the wheel. She then shot a
projection at the gilder, put the car into gear and floored the accelerator.
SpiderGirl
saw the Enigma firing as she drove. ‘A bit dangerous,’ she thought. ‘But she
knows what she’s doing.’
She
and Ninja Talon approached the glider, as they swung across the street.
‘There’s
SpiderGirl!’ the pilot thought. ‘And she has Ninja Talon with her. Better and
better. Now we just need the Shadow.’
Ninja
Talon watched the movements of the glider craft. She was ready to act as she
did three days earlier.
“Right,
I’ll try to hold it with a web and try to web up the pilot, and draw it down
into an alley where it might crash,” SpiderGirl said.
“But
wouldn’t that cause damage?”
“Yes,
but we’ll try to make sure it hits the ground rather than a building.”
“But
it’s more likely to hit a building,” Ninja Talon pointed out.
“I
know that.”
The
Enigma pulled up inside an alley, then backed out quickly and shot a projection
through a side window before raising a forcefield to protect herself from the
shards of glass. She was getting better at it. She managed to avoid crashing
into the building behind and drifted in reverse, before reselecting first gear.
‘should have found an automatic,’ she thought as the clutch grinded. She peeled
off. ‘Maybe if I can lure it out of town.’ But that wasn’t likely.
“Here
it comes,” Ninja Talon said.
SpiderGirl
shot a web, which caught on a wingtip, and then jumped off the roof.
The
pilot fired a missile at the car.
The
Enigma saw and made a sharp turn left into a side street. The missile missed
and exploded, merely damaging the road surface.
‘How
many missiles left?’ he wondered. There weren’t many, but he still had plenty
of those bombs. He then noticed the craft shaking as SpiderGirl pulled on the
wingtip.
SpiderGirl
shot many webs to the side as the glider pulled her along.
The
craft slowed. The pilot threw a bomb at SpiderGirl!
As
her spider sense blared, SpiderGirl let go of the web that held her to the
glider and swung off to the side. The bomb exploded in mid-air. ‘Maybe we can
get him to exhaust his supply of those bombs?’ she considered. She then saw the
glider turn around. ‘Uh oh!’ She swung to the ground and ducked around a
corner, where Ninja Talon was waiting.
“We
need to do something else,” the latter said.
“If
I can get you close, maybe we can get a shuriken into an engine.”
“I
did that Friday; it didn’t cause it to crash.”
“But
it could put it out of commission again,” SpiderGirl pointed out.
The
Enigma returned to the scene. This time she fired projections through the windshield
at the glider. They hit home and the glider made an abrupt turn.
“Looks
like the Enigma just did something,” Ninja Talon said.
“This
is our chance,” SpiderGirl said.
“You’re
right.”
They
swung up to a rooftop as close as they could get and Ninja Talon threw a couple
of shuriken towards an air intake.
Indicator
lights lit up as the glider stuttered. “Uh oh!” the pilot said. It was just as
well there was an Oscorp facility close by. He withdrew, heading in that
direction.
The
Enigma pulled up as she saw the glider withdraw. ‘But where is it going? Is it
a good idea to follow?’ She wasn’t sure.
SpiderGirl
saw it withdraw. “I’d like to follow,” she said. “But I think that would be
poking a fire ant nest.”
“I
agree,” Ninja Talon said.
“It’s
probably going to be out of commission for a few days, during which time we can
investigate further.”
“You
mean, Oscorp?”
“Yes,”
SpiderGirl said. “But for now, a good night’s sleep would probably be a good
idea.”
Ninja
Talon agreed with a yawn. “But we still need to patrol on the way back.”
“True,
and if we run into Peterson, to fill her in, and to watch out for the Enigma.
We’ll talk after school again.”
Ninja
Talon nodded. “Good night, Spidey.”
“Night,
Talon.”
They
headed back to their homes, alert for anything that was amiss and for the
Enigma.
The
Enigma mounted a rooftop and looked for SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon. “They’re
probably on the ground,” she groused. She yawned and decided to head home
herself.
Lawndale
Sun-Herald
Tuesday,
February 6, 2001
Attacker
Still a Mystery. LDPD Still has no leads.
Of
the three involved in the previous night’s incident, Quinn awoke first. She
found that she was still tired. ‘What else is new?’ she thought as she leapt
out of bed. She looked at herself as she brushed her hair and tied it in the
now customary pigtails. ‘At least I don’t have bags under my eyes.’
Daria
noticed that Quinn was a little tired. “Couldn’t sleep?” she asked.
“Nightmare,”
Quinn answered. “I’ll be fine.”
“Want to talk about it?” Daria asked.
“Not
right now, but sometime.”
“Sure.”
Quinn
then made her breakfast.
Linda
entered the kitchen to see that Sandi looked tired as she made breakfast. “Out
again last night?” she asked.
“I
haven’t stopped and I’m not stopping,” Sandi said.
“But
you need your sleep.”
“I
know, but the attacker appeared again.”
“He
did?” Linda asked.
“I
managed to hit it again. He did try to attack me, but the forcefields worked. I
was unharmed.”
“You
should be more careful!”
“I
tried to be,” Sandi said. “SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon were there too, but they
made themselves scarce afterwards.”
“It
probably would go south for you if Ninja Talon is there beside her. Think about
that too. It’s not just SpiderGirl’s webs you would have to deal with, but
whatever weapons she would have.”
“Good
point.”
They
were then silent as Sandi’s brothers entered the kitchen.
Ashley-Amber
saw Brittany enter the kitchen. “Are you OK, sweetie? You look tired.”
“I’m
fine, just couldn’t sleep,” Brittany answered.
“You
have been tired more often lately.”
“Maybe,
but I’m growing up.”
“Nightmares?”
Ashley-Amber asked, “with what’s going on in town?”
“Sometimes.”
Ashley-Amber
hugged her stepdaughter. “If you want to talk about it, I’m here.”
“Thanks.”
Harry
found his father sleeping on the couch again. “What aren’t you saying? What
isn’t Ms. Beresfield saying? What’s going on with you?”
“I’m
asking the same things myself,” Bernard said as he entered the room.
Harry
thought about what he had told Sandi. ‘Is Beresfield leaving today, or staying
in Lawndale?’
Norman
awoke and saw his son and butler looking at him. “I’m fine. It was just a late
night.”
“Are
you sure?” Harry asked.
“Of
course I am. I’m just very busy. Running Oscorp from Lawndale is proving to be
more difficult than I thought, that’s all.”
“And
Ms. Beresfield’s visit?”
“What
did I say last night?”
Harry
looked away.
Harry
reflected on what just happened. He knew he would be talking Sandi’s ear off
more later that day.
At
the same time, Sandi was thinking things over as she got ready to head to
school. The events of the previous night were fresh in her mind, as well as the
phone conversations with Harry and Daria. ‘If the pilot is Osborn, then Harry’s
worries are confirmed and the counsellor might be in danger.’ She looked in the
mirror. ‘But what can I do about that?’ I don’t know where she is or who she
is. And how do I tell Daria about last night as myself without revealing my
secret identity? I guess she’s getting a visit from the Enigma tonight.’
In
the area close to the downtown of Lawndale where the fight had occurred,
Peterson looked at the damage. ‘It is clear something happened here. Would
SpiderGirl and/or Ninja Talon be able to tell me?’
Jesse
arrived at Casa Lane as Jane was leaving to go to school.
“Jesse?”
Jane asked.
“Something
happened last night.”
“What
happened?” Jane asked.
“There
were explosions reported on Hoopes Street. SpiderGirl was seen near there.”
“Janie
was having well deserved sleep.”
“Oh,”
Jesse said.
“Fill
Trent in when he gets up and I’ll find out after school.”
“Sure.”
The
atmosphere at the school was still tense following the events on the Friday
night.
Ted
found Daria and Jane at lunch.
“I
haven’t told Ms. Li about your project to interview all the seniors,” Ted said
to Daria.
“Good,”
Daria responded. “I’m sure she would have refused it.”
“But
I will help you with it. We’ll find the first one, Elena Anderson, this
afternoon,” Ted said.
“But
will she oblige?” Jane asked.
“No
idea,” Daria said.
At
the same time, Sandi caught up to Harry.
“Sandi.
He was on the couch again, this morning.”
“Was
he?”
“Yes,
he tried to reassure me last night, but I’m sure now that something is
happening to him!”
Sandi
wasn’t sure what to say. She also wasn’t much of a hugger, so she just took his
hand and gave it a rub.
“Um,
thanks, but I don’t know what is going to happen now.”
“Hope
that the counsellor can do her job?” Sandi asked quietly.
“There
is that,” Harry responded. “But it’s not much of one.”
‘Was
it him last night?’ she asked herself again.
At
Casa Lane, Jesse filled Trent in on what he had told Jane earlier.
“It’s
certainly something for Janie to check,” Trent remarked when Jesse had
finished. “I’ll tell her when she gets back from school.” He took out a
notebook and wrote it down.
He
added. ‘Was it SpiderGirl, Ninja Talon or the fourth?’
After
school, Angie and Brittany entered the library to find Quinn waiting. “What are
we working on today?” Angie asked.
“More
history,” Quinn answered.
“Sure.”
While
Quinn tutored Angie, Brittany wrote down her thoughts regarding the events of
the previous night.
At
the same time, Mayor Lawson looked at the Council engineers preliminary report
on the damage in Hoopes Street. “Days to fix!” he groused. “This on top of
Friday night!” he called his assistant. “Get in touch with the Police
Commissioner again, is there any progress on finding the person responsible for
Friday night?”
“Yes
sir!”
Elena
Anderson arrived at the Pizza place to find Ted waiting for her. “What does
this Daria want?” she asked him. “All I have heard about her is that she’s a
sarcastic recluse.”
“Not
that reclusive. She was willing to connect with me.”
“Not
everyone was homeschooled until they were 16, Ted.”
“That’s
true,” Ted said. “There she is, with Jane.”
“I’ll
order something first.”
Daria
looked at Elena. ‘White, as most people in Lawndale are, with brown hair in a
high ponytail and green eyes, wearing clothes that make her ‘fit in’.’
“So,
what did you want to know?” Elena said.
“What
do you know of SpiderGirl?” Daria asked.
“Not
much,” Elena said. “You may as well ask me about the fourth vigilante.”
“Just
SpiderGirl for now,” Daria said. “She appeared in the middle of November, three
weeks before Mr. DeMartino was mistakenly arrested for being an illegal
immigrant.”
“I
remember that. There were rumors of alien activity going around school too,”
Elena said.
“Yes,
I was in the middle of those,” Daria said. “The three weeks before then.”
“Just
that SpiderGirl was fighting crime, which had recently increased, in Lawndale.”
“Is
that all?” Jane asked.
“That’s
all,” Elena said. “This is a waste of time!”
“Wait!
It isn’t. What about afterwards, during December?” Daria asked.
