15 The New Challenges Part 1
Helen
Morgendorffer entered her kitchen to see an unusual sight. “Quinn? Why is Jamie
getting his hair cut in our kitchen?”
“Because
his usual barber has left Lawndale,” her daughter, Quinn, answered.
“That
doesn’t answer the question,” Helen said.
“And
Daria was in the bathroom,” Quinn added.
“You
could have waited.”
“I
didn’t want to wait, Mrs. Morgendorffer,” Jamie said.
“I see.”
“And he
really needed one,” Quinn added.
“At
least clean up when you’re done,” Helen said.
“I
always do,” Quinn said.
“You’re
taking a lot off,” Helen noted.
“That’s
what he wants,” Quinn said. “And he’ll thank me.”
Soon,
Quinn was done and Jamie White looked at himself in a hand mirror. “It’s great
Quinn,” Jamie said.
“Thanks!”
“And I
know you’re now cutting Daria’s hair too,” Helen said as Quinn cleaned up
Jamie’s hair.
“More
like just dusting off split ends,” Quinn added.
“After
all these years keeping it the same length… and now she’s changing.”
“I
know.”
Jamie
looked at himself in the mirror in the cramped downstairs bathroom. The haircut
looked good. Quinn had done a very good job.
He came
out into the kitchen. “Thanks, Quinn.”
“You’re
welcome.”
Jamie
soon left as night fell over Lawndale. As he drove home, he thought about the
recent events in the town, from Groundhog Day onwards.
Quinn
went up to her room and looked at her closet. The modifications she had made so
far were rudimentary. Just enough to hide her SpiderGirl gear in the chute and
gain access to the attic from her closet. She hadn’t done much with the hidden
area of the basement, just to store various maps of Lawndale and the
surrounding areas. ‘There’s more I can do,’ she thought as she took out her
sketchbook.
Meanwhile,
Sandi Griffin was ready to do another search. “Cindy Brolsma,” she considered.
She
downed the energy drink. “Finndu mann sem heitir: Cindy Brolsma!”
Cindy
was found at her place somewhere to the north.
The
Enigma approached the Morgendorffers’ place after midnight and saw that Daria’s
light was still on as usual. She climbed up to one of the windows and opened it
with her powers.
Daria
was waiting.
“So,
where are you investigating tonight?” the Enigma asked.
“Around
the Historia,” Daria answered.
“Sure.”
Twenty
minutes later, they were in the vicinity of the Historia. “What are we looking
for?” the Enigma asked.
“Anything
out of the ordinary,” Daria answered.
“Of
course.”
They
wandered around, looking for clues. They didn’t find much, other than some new
graffiti on some of the walls behind the Historia.
The
Enigma took photos of the tags. “I will cross reference them later.”
“I will
too,” Daria added. “Time to go.”
Lawndale
Sun-Herald
Wednesday,
February 14, 2001
More
on the Oscorp Expansion Plans by Penelope Jericho
As Jamie
arrived at school his new haircut drew attention.
“Is that
Jamie White?” Elly Aitkin asked herself. She looked again. ‘Is he cuter now?’
“Hello,
Elly!”
“That’s
a cool haircut, Jamie.”
“Thanks!”
“I’ll
see you later!”
Jamie
entered the library, passing Anna Coultard and Ben Harrod holding hands as they
walked out. He saw Quinn talking to Brittany Taylor in the distance. “Quinn!”
“…So,
Oscorp is still a concern,” Quinn concluded as she heard Jamie in the distance.
“We’ll
need to keep an eye on them,” Brittany agreed.
“Keep an
eye on who?” Jamie asked as he came up.
“Oscorp,”
Quinn answered.
“Right,”
Jamie commented. “What are you doing this afternoon, Quinn?”
“I’ll be
at the Historia.”
“Oh, of
course. It’s Wednesday.”
Jamie
turned to Brittany.
“Kevie
and I haven’t been having problems,” Brittany said.
“But he
says you’re hardly around.”
“No
other problems.”
SpiderGirl
headed southwards from the school, towards the Historia. ‘Lawndale is
resilient,’ she thought. The troubles of the past couple of weeks seemed to
have subsided. She patrolled the downtown for half an hour before she stopped
at the top of the Historia.
“Quinn!”
Elisabeth Rowe, said when she saw Quinn enter the café.
“What’s
wrong, Mrs. Rowe?”
“Something
is causing power fluctuations in this part of town.”
“That’s
not good,” Quinn commented.
“It
isn’t and the power company hasn’t been able to localize it.”
“We need
to get to the bottom of it.”
“That’s
true,” Elisabeth said. “We can’t exactly run the café on inconsistent power.”
“It’s
just been happening this afternoon?”
“Yes. It
started about lunchtime.”
“I guess
this could be something Daria can investigate this evening,” Quinn mused.
The
lights in the café dimmed.
“Or
maybe now,” Elisabeth said. “I’ll give her a call.”
Daria
was doing her homework when the phone rang. “Daria here.”
“Mrs.
Rowe here. The Historia has been having power outages all afternoon. But it’s
not just the Historia. The problem has been affecting most of the street also.”
“Oh.
I shall investigate shortly. I’ll just finish these homework questions.”
“I’ll
see you soon.”
Daria
entered the café a half hour later. As she went over to where Quinn was behind
the counter, the lights dimmed momentarily. “I can see the problem,” she said.
“Like,
it’s causing problems with the coffee machines and the fridges,” Quinn said.
“The coffees are lukewarm and the milk isn’t getting cold.”
“That
is a problem,” Daria said as she took it in.
“Mrs.
Rowe is in the office,” Quinn said.
“Thanks.”
“I already showed this to Quinn and Joey,” Mrs.
Rowe said.
“Right,”
Daria said as she looked at the map behind Mrs. Rowe. She could see that the
outages were mainly on Main Street between First and Fourth Streets. “So, what
is causing the problem has to be in that area.”
“Yes.”
“I
shall go and talk to the business managers there, although it’s already nearly
six.”
The
lights dimmed in the office. “I don’t think it’s a business hours issue,” Mrs.
Rowe pointed out.
Daria
went up to the roof and looked out over Lawndale. The sun was setting and the
street lights were coming on. ‘Is there a pattern in the brightness?’ she
wondered.
“You’re
here too, huh?” someone said nearby.
“Brittany?”
Daria asked.
“I
was looking into those problems too,” Brittany said.
“What
have you found so far?” Daria asked.
“Not
much, just that the Historia is far from the only place affected.”
“That’s
what Mrs. Rowe said, and she has a map.”
“I
have been to two of them,” Brittany said. “Zammits Boutique and a dojo.”
“A
dojo?”
“Yeah.
I go there twice a week, for Karate and Taekwondo.”
“Got
it,” Daria said. “And Zammits. That would be Angie’s mother’s shop, right?”
“That’s
right. It’s just across the street,” Brittany said, pointing down.
“Then
that’s our next stop.”
“Sure,
but Mrs. Zammit didn’t know much.”
Even
so, Daria and Brittany went down and crossed the street. Mrs. Zammit was
closing as they came up. “Back, Brittany?” she asked.
“Yes,
Daria is investigating the blackouts for the Historia.”
“Daria
Morgendorffer.”
“Quinn’s
sister, right?” Mrs. Zammit asked. “Angie has said that she’s been very helpful
the past month.”
“Yes,”
Daria answered.
“So,
what are you curious about?” Mrs. Zammit asked.
“When
did the outages start?” Daria asked.
“Shortly
after one. A customer couldn’t use her credit card and she didn’t have enough
cash on her,” Mrs. Zammit said with annoyance.
“I
can see how that can be a problem,” Daria said.
“And
they continued to cause problems all afternoon.”
“That
didn’t tell me much,” Daria said after they had crossed the street, back to the
Historia.
“We
can still go to the dojo,” Brittany suggested.
“How
far is it?”
“Only
one block,” Brittany answered as she pointed to the east.
Daria
looked at the various stores as they passed them. The flickering of the street
lights gave the street an earie look. Only some of the businesses were still
open. Brittany opened the door of the dojo. ‘I suppose there are evening
classes.’
“Ms.
Taylor, I didn’t expect you back this evening,” Sensei Takhata said when he saw
the blonde come in with an auburn-haired girl.
“This
is my friend, Daria,” Brittany said.
“Daria
Morgendorffer,” the girl said as introduction. “Brittany told me that you have
also been affected by brownouts this afternoon.”
“Yes,
Ms. Morgendorffer,” the sensei said after a little thought. “It can be
difficult when the lighting is inconsistent…”
Daria
listened as Sensei Takhata explained what had been happening. It was the same
as at the Historia and Zammits. It didn’t tell her much. ‘But maybe I could
salvage this in another way,’ she thought as she grabbed an information sheet.’
“Are
you interested in learning something, Ms. Morgendorffer?”
“Yes,
but I’m not certain which,’ Daria answered. “Anyway. I will need to gather more
information on the outages.”
“Take
your time. I advise you not to try to learn an art you don’t want to learn.”
‘But
which will help me most as Dafoanairi?’ Daria wondered as she put the sheet
away.
“Where
now?” Brittany asked Daria when they left Takhata’s Dojo.
“Back
to the Historia, so I can fill Mrs. Rowe and Quinn in on what I have and
haven’t found. And maybe then Dinner.”
“I’ll
come too. Kevie was meeting me for dinner.”
“He
told me that you’ve hardly been around,” Daria said.
“When
was that?”
“Just
after Groundhog Day.”
“We
have been on one date since then,” Brittany answered, although that date had
been interrupted.
Back
at the Historia, they saw that Kevin was already there. “There you are, Babe! I
was beginning to worry.”
“No
problem, Kevie. Daria and I were looking into something.”
“What
was that?” Kevin asked.
“Blackouts,”
Daria answered as she went towards the office.
“Oh,”
Kevin responded as Brittany looked at the menu.
“So,
Zammits and Takhata’s Dojo,” Elisabeth said. “They’re both on the map.”
“I’m
sorry, I haven’t been able to get more information,” Daria said as the lights
in the office went off for a few seconds.”
“That
you tried is enough.”
“I’ll
go up on the roof again and try to guess where the problem might be.”
Five
minutes later, Daria was up on roof with a flashlight and a photocopy of the
map. “Flickering streetlights…” she considered as she looked around. She could
see that most of the streetlights in the downtown area were flickering, but the
rest of Lawndale seemed unaffected. ‘But how long would that last if the
problem doesn’t go away?’ she wondered. She looked at the map again. The area
of flickering street lights was only slightly larger than the reported outages.
‘That doesn’t tell me much.’ She then went back down to have dinner herself.
“Power
problems in downtown Lawndale continue this evening…” Sandi switched off
the radio and took out her yearbook again. After Cindy Brolsma was Melinda
Brosnan, who had a brown pixie cut. ‘She still has that,’ Sandi thought as she
grabbed the energy drink.
“Findu
mann sem heiter: Melinda Brosnan!”
She
found that Melinda was at the Historia, and looked annoyed at the brownout that
was happening.
Quinn
noticed yet another tingle as she brought out some fries. “Here you are!” she
said to Melinda Brosnan. “At least the gas is unaffected.”
“Thanks,
Quinn,” Melinda said. “it’s one thing after another isn’t it?”
“Yes,”
Quinn said quietly.
“Like,
everything that’s been happening the past few months. Now these power
problems.”
“I’m
sure the problem will be found soon.”
“I
hope so.”
Daria
headed home after having dinner. She placed the map of the outages on her wall.
‘It is going to be overwhelmed, isn’t it?’ she wondered as she looked at the
articles on SpiderGirl from late November.
“You’re
staying here?” Kevin asked Brittany after he had finished desert.
“Yes.
I’m talking to Quinn and Joey about something when they finish.”
“OK.”
Later,
SpiderGirl joined Ninja Talon on the roof. “So, you were with Daria earlier?”
the former asked.
“Yes,”
Ninja Talon answered and explained about their trips to the boutique and the
dojo.
SpiderGirl
took that in. “It is still not much to go on.”
“But
maybe she can find something we can’t?”
“Probably,”
SpiderGirl considered. She then took out a copy of the map Mrs. Rowe had made.
“This doesn’t say much about where it’s coming from, other than it’s somewhere
in this area.”
“Maybe
look for a place that does have power, but isn’t blacking out?” Ninja Talon
suggested.
“I
can’t think of anything else at the moment.”
An
hour later, they returned to the rooftop. “There’s too many,” Ninja Talon said.
“True.
It will take hours, and we need to get home,” SpiderGirl agreed. “Maybe we can
meet back here in the early hours.”
Ninja
Talon agreed before climbing down the southern side of the Historia. SpiderGirl
then swung off to the west.
Quinn
emerged from her closet and clapped her hands, switching on her desk lamp.
‘Still needs work,’ she thought, referring to the hatch from the attic she had
just used. That and the pully mechanism in the chute was still making noise.
She went over to her desk and took out the map of the outages. ‘This is
probably something that SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon can’t solve, but we have to
try.’
Daria
was writing when Quinn knocked on the door. “No, I still have no idea about the
brownouts,” she said.
“I
was about to suggest that you and the fourth vigilante could investigate
tonight.”
Daria
thought about telling Quinn the name said fourth vigilante used, but thought
better of it. “I was out with her last night.”
“Oh,”
Quinn said, disappointed
“But
I’ll look into it in the morning before school. Or maybe it’ll be Sandi.”
“Or
Tania Ashworth?”
“I
doubt it,” Daria said. “She hasn’t said, or done anything since Friday night.”
“It
was a long shot,” Quinn said before heading back to her room.
‘Maybe,
either Sandi comes, or Dafoanairi goes to High Hills Park and implies she’s the
fourth vigilante rather than the fifth,’ Daria considered. She shook her head.
Tania already knew what the fourth vigilante and the Shadow looked like.
After
midnight, Dafoanairi climbed out the hall window and down the ivy covered
trellis. She then left the Morgendorffers place into the laneway behind and
headed towards High Hills Park that way. She was wearing dark clothes and a
cloak that effectively hid her long auburn hair which she had tied in a simple
ponytail and the fact that she was squinting without her glasses.
Sandi
arrived a few minutes later and saw that Daria’s light was out. “Oh. Looks like
she’s asleep,” she commented. She then changed to the Enigma and headed
downtown.
