Spider Quinn 13 Aftermath and Investigations - Part 7

 

Verity had held sessions with various clients over the phone (although one had taken the trouble to drive to and from Lawndale) as she waited for Osborn to be ready for another session. She thought about Harry’s worries. ‘Is he sharing them with at least one friend?’ she wondered. Norman had told her that he had made at least one. She knocked on the mansion door, and Bernard opened it.

 

“He is waiting for you.”

 

 

“It happened again,” Norman said. “The glider is out of commission again, mostly due to Ninja Talon, although SpiderGirl and some metahuman with telekinetic powers were there too.”

 

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say that you probably need more help than I can give. I wasn’t able to help you last night! And I lied to Harry!” Verity said.

 

“Then stay here, in Lawndale! I need to be here!”

 

“Tell me why? Is it New York? Or some Oscorp project?”

 

“Both, besides, Harry has made a friend. I can’t take him away from her,” Norman said.

 

“But I insist that you need more than what I can provide.”

 

“Oscorp has developed something that may help.”

 

“Oh no! I don’t approve of you taking any medication that hasn’t been approved by the FDA!” Verity exclaimed.

 

“It’s in the process now.”

 

 

Elena finished telling Daria what she thought about Ninja Talon appearing in the Mall alongside SpiderGirl. “…I mean it’s good that they’re not competing against each other, but SpiderGirl clearly handled the situation by herself.”

 

“Yes, but what else did you see?” Daria asked. “Was anyone acting unusually before or afterwards?”

 

“I didn’t see anyone act strangely, but then the Mall was quite busy that afternoon…”

 

“I see.”

 

 

After the tutoring session, SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon headed to the usual spot. “So, how do we investigate Oscorp?” the latter asked.

 

“We’ll need to find out the locations of their facilities in Lawndale, for a start,” SpiderGirl answered. “Then figure out which would be the easiest to investigate first.”

 

“That’s true.”

 

“So, we’ll look it up online and then talk later.”

 

Ninja Talon nodded.

 

 

“…As for Friday night, I wasn’t there, as I didn’t want to go. Why did Lawndale decide to have it’s own Groundhog Day festival anyway?” Elena concluded.

 

“I have asked the same question,” Daria said. “Thanks for your time.”

 

“It was wasted in my opinion,” Elena said. “Others may be more helpful though.” As she had finished her pizza, she then left.

 

“What do you think?” Jane asked.

 

“There isn’t much here, but it is just one perspective,” Daria responded.

 

 

“The Police Commissioner is here, sir.”

 

“Send him in,” Lawson said.

 

Oliver Roberts, the Police Commissioner of Lawndale, entered. “William, I’m afraid that my officers are still stumped. There are some clues, but they lead in the direction of Oscorp.”

 

“Oscorp? What do you mean?”

 

“That someone in Oscorp may be involved. This is off the record of course.”

 

“Thanks for letting me know. And to think I have had enough of talking to Osborn for a while!” Lawson groused.

 

“It is certain that he might know something.”

 

 

Jane arrived home to find Trent waiting. “So, what happened?” she asked, after she had poured herself some coffee.

 

Trent filled her in on what Jesse had said, including that one of the other vigilantes may have been there.

 

“…So, the street was damaged by some kind of fight?” Jane surmised. “I will have a look after dinner, as well as on the way to school tomorrow.”

 

 

Upon getting home, Quinn looked up Oscorp. One of the pages on their site did show the locations of their facilities in Lawndale. There were more than she thought. ‘Is Osborn looking to control the town financially?’ she wondered. That was another thing she didn’t like. ‘That’s something SpiderGirl can’t fight, but maybe Quinn Morgendorffer can.’ She plugged the printer in.

 

 

Daria looked at the page Quinn had printed out. “This is a large presence,” she said.

 

“But what can we do about it?”

 

“Nothing at the moment. But we can look into Osborn’s business practices. Maybe there’s something we can use against him.”

 

“I was thinking of that,” Quinn said. “But that will take time.”

 

“I know, and this on top of what else is happening. I will look at the business pages as well as those talking about the vigilantes and crime.”

 

“And I’ll look at them too, when I have the time.”

 

“When were you going to tell me?” Daria asked.

 

“Tell you what?”

 

“That you’re in the Lowdown?”

 

“Oh, I guess I just forgot to say,” Quinn said apologetically.

 

“Apology accepted.”

 

 

Quinn returned to her room. ‘I thought the secret was out for a moment,’ she thought. ‘Sorry, Daria, this isn’t something I’m forgetting to say. It’s not only myself I have to look out for, it’s Brittany as well. All of Lawndale is depending on us.’ She went over to the closet. “Wait!” she said. She had figured it out, she then started removing the false ceiling.

 

 

Sandi was ready to search again. After Laura Bildhouse was Nadia Blackwood. But she then realised that Tiffany was the one after Nadia. ‘I will deal with that tomorrow!’ she thought as she calmed herself. She didn’t want to search with her heart rate up. Her mother had warned her that strong emotions made their powers unpredictable. “Nadia Blackwood, not Tiffany Blum-Deckler,” she murmured. She calmed, a bit. “Belinda Berridge, Laura Bildhouse, Nadia Blackwood…” She then downed the energy drink. “Findu mann sem heiter: Nadia Blackwood!”

 

 

Linda noticed that Sandi was slightly overwrought as she searched. ‘But not by much.’

 

 

Sandi found Nadia at her house, close to Cranberry Commons.

 

“Nine down.”

 

After that she looked up Oscorp, and found the same information Quinn had. ‘So, where to start?’ she wondered. She printed the map out. ‘Another thing to talk to Daria about.’

 

 

Daria emerged onto the roof at the same time she had the previous two nights. She saw that the Enigma was there. “Of course,” she said.

 

“Hi, Daria,” the Enigma said. “Something happened last night.”

 

“What was this?”

 

The Enigma then told Daria of what happened from when she saw the glider from the Strawberry until the pilot had retreated.

 

 

“Interesting,” Daria commented when the Enigma had finished. “But did you have to steal a car?”

 

“I’m sure their insurance will cover it. Besides, using my mentor’s car would be a bad idea. A clear sign pointing to my secret identity.”

 

“That’s a good point. But that the glider could be fixed so quicky. And more evidence that SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon are working together.”

 

“Exactly. When I confront her, I’ll have to make sure the Ninja is somewhere else. My mentor is right about that!” the Enigma said.

 

“So, you’re in touch with them currently.”

 

“Yes, we’re quite close.”

 

“Like, family?” Daria asked.

 

“I’m not giving you any further clues about myself; you’ll deduce it soon enough.”

 

“That’s not my focus. At the moment, I’m more concerned about how powerful Oscorp is in Lawndale.”

 

“Oh?” the Enigma asked.

 

Daria took out a piece of paper. “This was printed out earlier tonight.”

 

The Enigma looked at the map again. She could see that Oscorp’s presence in Lawndale was significant. “Like, I was thinking of infiltrating a facility.”

 

“We wouldn’t know what to look for.”

 

“Maybe the closest to where I battled the glider.”

 

“That could work. It could be being repaired there. Or it may have been moved and any evidence also taken,” Daria said.

 

“We won’t know if we don’t try.”

 

“Good point. Let’s go then.”

 

 

As the Enigma and Daria headed along the laneways from the Morgendorffers’ towards the Oscorp facility they had decided on, Ninja Talon left Crewe Neck on her patrol of the southern area of town.

 

 

Daria looked at the facility. It just looked like any other warehouse she had seen in Lawndale, other than the Oscorp logos at the entrances. “I’m sure there’s surveillance,” she pointed out.

 

“Security cameras are usually visible,” the Enigma pointed out. “And therefore easy for me to take out.”

 

“You’re just going to rip them off the wall or ceiling?”

 

“As tempting as that is, I’ll just disrupt them with my projections. It worked on the gilder, after all.”

 

“Of course,” Daria said.

 

 

They approached a door and the Enigma took out the camera watching it with a projection.

 

“It’s sure to be locked,” Daria said.

 

“True,” the Enigma said. She raised her hands and the door got pushed in telekinetically, causing the door jamb to be broken.

 

“Or you could have just picked it.”

 

“Look at it this way: the more they spend on repairs, the less they have to try to take over Lawndale.”

 

“I doubt minor damage like that would make any difference,” Daria responded as she followed the Enigma inside.

 

 

Meanwhile, Linda was awake. She remembered Sandi’s picture of Daria. ‘Is Daria working with her? Is that why the picture is there?’ Was that a way to figure out what Sandi was doing at that moment as the fourth vigilante? ‘Is it even a good idea? Like, she will know I searched for Daria if Daria’s there.’ She then made her decision, she would do it. She went down to the kitchen.

 

 

She ate the potato salad quickly. ‘Findu mann sem heiter: Daria Morgendorffer!’

 

Linda’s perception spread out across Lawndale more quickly than Sandi’s usually did. It was less than ten seconds before she found Sandi and Daria infiltrating the Oscorp facility. ‘Oscorp?’

 

 

“Enigma?” Daria asked, as she noticed the antihero look a little distant.

 

“My mentor just searched for you and knows we’re here.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s an ESP thing. We most often use it to locate people. But it requires us to know the person’s identity. They don’t know I’m calling myself the Enigma. I’m in this persona, not as they know me as their protégé.”

 

‘That’s something,’ Daria thought. ‘I can worry about it later, after we’re out of here.’ “So, they know we’re here?”

 

“Yes, because you’re considering yourself Daria Morgendorffer at present.”

 

“I’m not becoming a vigilante.”

 

“You’re already kinda are,” the Enigma said.

 

“True, I’m an accomplice to your trespassing. But let’s keep looking.”

 

 

Linda thought on the matter. ‘Sandi and Daria infiltrating Oscorp? Why?’ She had infiltrated many places in Boston when she was the Purple Avenger, but that didn’t mean she wanted Sandi to do the same. She paced. ‘I will ask her for her reasons. Maybe Osborn is up to something I could expose.’

 

 

Daria and the Enigma entered a large room. It looked like it had been cleaned out. “Looks like we’re too late,” Daria said.

 

“True, but there should be something here.”

 

Daria looked around and found some documents, but they all seemed unrelated. “It’s clear they left in a hurry, but I think it was hours ago.”

 

“I agree. Let’s keep looking.”

 

 

After half an hour they left the building by crawling onto the roof. “Just in case there’s security,” the Enigma said.

 

Daria looked around. “We’re close to other buildings here.”

 

“Yes, we can go some distance on the roofs.”

 

“I’m not good at going on roofs.”

 

“Just as before,” the Enigma said.

 

 

At the same time, back at the Morgendorffers, SpiderGirl climbed out onto the roof and swung off, intending to meet Ninja Talon at the Historia.

 

 

The Enigma and Daria made their way across the rooftops and trees. “There!” the Enigma said. “SpiderGirl!”

 

“You want to confront her now?”

 

“Why not, I’ll put you back on the ground.”

 

“Good, but I probably won’t wait,” Daria groused.

 

 

SpiderGirl’s spider sense blared, and she avoided the projection that had been aimed in her direction. ‘The Enigma!’ She swung into a tree and looked. She found the Enigma on a nearby rooftop. ‘Great! Now is not the time! With everything that’s going on, I haven’t really planned this out.’ She decided to try to go around.

 

 

‘Look’s like she’s trying avoid me,’ the Enigma thought. She shot a barrage of projections in the direction she had seen her.

 

 

Daria looked at what the two metahumans were doing. ‘SpiderGirl is trying to avoid the confrontation, probably because she doesn’t know what those projections can do. But the Enigma is persistent.’

 

 

SpiderGirl swung down to the ground and saw someone in the distance. ‘Daria? Great! I don’t want her to see me as SpiderGirl!’ She swung in the opposite direction and around a corner. She then swung up on the roof and looked to see where the Enigma was. Nowhere.

 

 

The Enigma returned to Daria. “She retreated,” she said.

 

“Looks like she doesn’t want a confrontation. Probably because she doesn’t know what your powers can do.”

 

“Well, my mentor says that they are deleterious to others, causing temporary paralysis.”

 

“You haven’t seen it?” Daria asked.

 

“No.”

 

“Then why risk it with SpiderGirl?”

 

“I just need to do it!” the Enigma said.

 

“Right. Maybe you need to think on it more.”

 

“That’s what my mentor said.”

 

“You should listen to them in that case,” Daria said

 

“I will think about it.”

 

“Maybe there’s another way.”

 

 

Ninja Talon arrived on top of the Historia to find SpiderGirl looking pensive. “Something up?” she asked.

 

“Two things,” SpiderGirl said. “First, Oscorp’s presence here is larger than we thought.”

 

“And the other?”

 

“I just had a near miss with the Enigma, and she had Daria with her.”

 

“Daria did say that the Enigma is helping with the investigation,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“True, but I didn’t expect to cross paths with my sister and my rival at the same time. Like how would you feel?”

 

Ninja Talon shuddered. “I’m afraid that Brian is more likely to be a villain than a hero.”

 

“You haven’t said much about your brother,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“It’s that he does things to animals I don’t want to think about. I’m sure that you remember what happened to that lab mouse?”

 

“Daria told me at the time. I don’t want to think about it either.”

 

“Anyway, you haven’t prepared?” Ninja Talon asked.

 

“No, what with the attack and all,” SpiderGirl answered. She took out a copy of the map of Oscorp’s presence in Lawndale.

 

“That is a lot of buildings.”

 

“Yes. It seems to list the Historia, but as something separate.”

 

Ninja Talon looked closer at the map. “You’re right. There are several office spaces along the street.”

 

“We could look at the closest one.”

 

“I agree.”

 

 

At the same time, Daria was thinking about the ESP capability of the Enigma and her mentor. ‘It allows them to locate people across town…’ “Wait?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“What’s the limit of your location ability?”

 

“Several miles. Effectively just Lawndale, Oakwood is too far,” the Enigma answered.

 

“Got it. So, you can locate anyone in Lawndale, if you know who they are, except if they’re undercover.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And if they are undercover or not undercover as the case might be?” Daria asked.

 

“Sensory overload by perceiving all of Lawndale and the surrounding area at once.”

 

“That, probably wouldn’t be pleasant.”

 

“No, and it’s tiring if someone is located,” the Enigma added.