Penelope hung up the phone and looked at the
incomplete article on her computer screen. She had gathered what information
she could from various people who had been on the scene and she would just tell
the facts. ‘It’s up to the people to decide whether Ninja Talon responding
despite her injury was good or not,’ she thought. She also thought about
Dafoanairi’s determination. ‘Both of them were determined, in their own ways.’
As far as the robotic pterodactyl went, she wasn’t going to speculate.
At the Historia, the rehearsal was going well. In the
old projection room, Dani Moreno and Jane watched as Brittany went onto the
stage again as Ariel.
“What would my potent master? Here I am,” Brittany
said as Ariel.
“You and your companions performed admirably before,
now I ask another favor…” Tom began as Prospero.
“Like, I think, someone is being theatrical with that
robot pterodactyl,” Dani said as she subtly adjusted some of the lighting.”
“I agree,” Jane said. “And so does Daria. She thinks
someone was trying to gain SpiderGirl’s attention for a purpose.”
“Could it be Quentin Beck?” Dani asked.
“I hope not!” Jane said. “Besides, it was the fourth
vigilante who confronted him directly, not SpiderGirl.”
“Another mystery,” Dani murmured as she kept an eye on
the stage. “No hero name widely known, and those who do know it are keeping it
close to their chests.”
Jane shrugged. “Maybe she figures that if she keeps anonymous,
her secret identity would be safer.”
“That sounds plausible.”
Daria met Brittany outside the dressing room shortly
after the rehearsal ended. “You did very well,” she said.
“Thanks, Daria.”
“Tomorrow night will be like last week, just without
Quentin’s actions hanging over it.”
“And that means I was less anxious, despite my
injury,” Brittany said.
“That’s good too.”
“I should be better by next week.”
After talking to Daria, Brittany went up to the roof,
where Quinn was waiting. ‘Maybe the Historia should have an elevator or chair
lift,’ she thought as she stumbled out the door.
“How did the rehearsal go?” Quinn asked.
“Very well. I don’t have to move around the stage as
much.”
“That’s good.”
There was a slight pause. “There isn’t much I can say
about that robot pterodactyl,” Brittany said.
“There isn’t?”
“No, Dafoanairi and I were focused on stopping it and
then tried to look for the person controlling it. Peterson then took it.”
“I’m more concerned about what it might represent,”
Quinn said. “People trying to draw me out for something.”
“Or they want you dealing with one thing, while they
do something somewhere else?”
“That is quite likely,” Quinn said with a sigh, as she
looked out at the western half of the town. “And that they now know that you’re
temporarily out of action probably doesn’t help things.”
“The doctors said that I should be better by next
week.”
“That’s good news.”
“But there is also Lynn Anders,” Brittany said.
“Yes. She may prove to be difficult to handle, at
least I can talk to Jamie about what his intentions are.”
“That’s true. But she’s going to keep on insisting.”
“I know!” Quinn said. “I’m going to need to find out
what she said earlier tonight.”
“I’m sure many people watched her show, Ashley-Amber
included.”
“But I can’t exactly ask Ashley-Amber without raising
suspicion.”
Brittany nodded. ‘And she would wonder why I’m so
interested, when I haven’t really watched her before.”
“I guess I would have to talk to Tiffany in the
morning, or maybe Anna, if I can find her.”
“I see if Angie or Donna had watched.”
“A good plan,” Quinn said.
Brittany could tell that Quinn was still pensive.
“We’ll figure this out.”
Quinn gave a small smile as she acknowledged the
encouragement. “Definitely. But it’s the weight of it all. Being responsible
for Lawndale.”
But Brittany knew that it was more than that, that it
was her grief for her father that was continuing to drive Quinn. ‘I wouldn’t
want to share that in an interview.’
Quinn changed to SpiderGirl after Brittany went back
down. As she swung away she decided to head to the Blum-Decklers. ‘But what if
Tiffany didn’t watch it?’ There was only one way to find out.
Tiffany was in her room, looking at the most recent
copy of Waif when she heard her mother knock on the door. “Coming
Mommy,” she said.
“Quinn is here,” her mother said.
“Quinn? I’ll come down.”
“Quinn? You haven’t been here for a while,” Tiffany
said when she entered the lounge room.
“I thought I would come over tonight. I haven’t talked
to you much recently,” Quinn admitted.
“That’s true, but I know you’re dealing with things
and are busy.”
“That’s true, but after my party, I realized that you
don’t find it easy to talk to people. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize that.”
“Thanks, Quinn,” Tiffany said.
“I was at the Historia earlier.”
“How is Brittany?”
“Brittany’s getting better, slowly, and Daria was able
to modify the play for her,” Quinn answered. “Anyway, I didn’t see Lynn Anders
earlier, as I was watching the rehearsal.”
“Oh, I didn’t see it either, I was trying to do
homework.”
“That’s fine. How is that going, anyway.”
“My grades have improved since the Fashion Club ended.
It was a big distraction,” Tiffany answered.
Quinn talked with Tiffany for a while, before heading
home. She saw that Daria’s light was on. She listened from the roof and found
that Sandi wasn’t there as she had been the previous night.
Daria was writing something when Quinn entered the
room. “Evening, Quinn,” she said.
“An interesting day, wasn’t it, Daria?”
“I agree. The media and a robot pterodactyl
both stirring things up in Lawndale. The only thing I’m certain of is that Ted
is sure to have written that retraction by now.”
“I wouldn’t expect him to procrastinate on it,” Quinn
said as she sat on the bed.
“Of course not, but It’s Lynn Anders I’m more
concerned about.”
“That she wants to interview SpiderGirl?”
“Not just SpiderGirl,” Daria said. “All five
vigilantes. She told Sandi that earlier.”
“She did?”
Daria nodded. “That’s not the way I want to find out
about them,” she said as she glanced at her wall.
Quinn looked at Daria’s wall. The various newspaper
clippings and notes took up half of the available surface. It reminded her of
her wall down in the hidden area of the basement. ‘We’re not that different.
Another reason she could be Dafoanairi,’ she thought as she looked at an
article on Anders’ response when Ninja Talon first appeared.
“Finding something?” Daria asked.
“Maybe, but I have my own notes on what’s happening,
especially since last week,” Quinn answered. She shook her head slightly, she
didn’t want to think about Quentin Beck and the possibility of his return.
“That makes sense, especially as Jane is struggling
more with what happened to her.”
“I hope she would get help if she is,” Quinn said. But
then she still hadn’t gone to grief counselling.
“She seems to think that talking to Trent and I is
enough.”
Quinn yawned. She needed to get to sleep. ‘I know I
will be up to listen to Lawndale at the usual time.’ “I’ll see you in the
morning. Good night.”
“Night Quinn.”
Daria reflected that Quinn was saying ‘good night’
more often since Groundhog Day and then turned back to her homework.
It was after midnight, when the Enigma arrived at the
Morgendorffers and found Dafoanairi waiting on the roof rather than in her
room. She could tell that she was thinking about things. “What’s up?” she
asked.
“A little concerned about events. Facing off against
that robo-dactyl thing, was difficult, even with Ninja Talon there.”
“As well as Anders.”
“There’s no telling what she’ll do now that she’s
wanting to get interviews with the heroes,” Dafoanairi said.
“She, like, laid down the gauntlet tonight.”
“How?”
“She, like, asked leading questions about why Ninja
Talon had to respond in her condition and you responded despite your
inexperience,” the Enigma answered.
“I responded because I was there, and the same would
be true of Ninja Talon.”
“But she also said that Lawndale wanted to know why
SpiderGirl let Ninja Talon respond in her state.”
“That’s not good,” Dafoanairi said. “It’s obvious that
SpiderGIrl was busy, either elsewhere or being her secret identity. But there
would still be many people who were busy at that time this afternoon. We just
need to keep an eye on her.”
“And, like, how the public responds to her attempts at
trying to get an interview.”
“Of course.”
They then sat there for a short while, listening to
the town before going on patrol in different directions.
Quinn awoke at the usual early time, but she found
herself inspired by something. ‘Or maybe it was just a dream. Instead of going
up to through the hatch into the attic, once she was in her closet, she went
down to the basement through the chute.
In the hidden room, she grabbed one of her maps. She
wrote up what she knew so far about the robot pterodactyl incident.
“That doesn’t tell me much,” she thought as she looked
at the disorganized maps on the walls and table. She looked at one that
indicated how much Oscorp owned. ‘I know Osborn is awake, but does he actually
have anything to do with this? Maybe it is something he would do!’ She looked
at where the Lawndale Mall was marked on one of the other maps. ‘That’s it!
I’ll investigate the Mall before sunrise! Maybe there’s some clue about the
robo-dactyl that’s still there!’
Half a minute later, she exited the basement through
the backyard hatch and swung away in the direction of the mall.
She arrived at the mall five minutes later. When she
swung onto the roof, she saw that she wasn’t alone, that another figure that
she recognized as the Shadow was ready there, examining the roof with her
equipment. “Hey, Shadow.”
“Yo, SpiderGirl! I see that I’m not the only one
curious about that robot pterodactyl.”
“Obviously.”
“I was busy at home when it happened and only heard
about it from my offsider later,” the Shadow explained.
“I was busy too.”
“Anders is annoying, making it seem that she assumes
that we have nothing else to do.”
“I saw her show last night, but not tonight,”
SpiderGirl said.
“She asked a question about Ninja Talon responding in
her condition and Dafoanairi responding despite inexperience.”
“That’s not fair!”
“I know, and then she implied that Lawndale’s public
want to know why you allowed them to respond like that,” the Shadow added.
“That’s not good! She’s riling some people up so they
will demand the such an interview will happen!”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I’m still not giving an interview,” SpiderGirl
responded. “I don’t want to inadvertently say anything that will point to my
secret identity! Either to Anders or to the school journalist.”
“I’m not either.”
“Anyway, let’s see what we can find.”
“Right behind you, Spidey.”
Down in the food court, evidence of the battle between
Ninja Talon and Dafoanairi vs the robo-dactyl could be seen. Some of the kiosks
were damaged and some of the support poles had dings in them.
The Shadow took out a UV blacklight. “There should be
something here,” she said.
“Your mentor must be very resourceful,” SpiderGirl
commented.
“She is,” the Shadow responded. “But I’m not saying
anything about how she obtained this stuff.”
“That’s some information, right there.”
“Crap.”
“I won’t press for more, but the Enigma is sure to
press for it,” SpiderGirl said as she looked at one of the support poles.
“Relax, I haven’t seen her often.”
“Right. Anyway, as far as I can tell, these support
poles haven’t been damaged too much.”
“That’s good, but there’s not much else I can see
here,” the Shadow said. “The police and their forensic unit must have found all
the pieces.”
“Everything except the controller.”
“True, but maybe you can reach Officer Peterson
tomorrow.”
“I’ll try. She’s not always available,” SpiderGirl
said, keeping the uncertainty about her possibly knowing her secret identity
out of her voice.
“But in the meantime, we can go dumpster diving.”
“Eww! I doubt it was thrown away like that, but you
have a good point.”
“I’ll take the dumpsters on the west, and you the
east,” the Shadow said.
“Sure, but I’m sure there’s a better way.”
“I can’t hack into the security cameras. If I could I
would have.”
“Ninja Talon knows someone,” SpiderGirl said.
“But that will take time, right?”
“Of course.”
SpiderGirl still didn’t like the idea, but she still
went about it, as she didn’t want to rule out the possibility. ‘Maybe the
Shadow is onto something,’ she thought as she webbed a dumpster open. “PU!”
Even so, there wasn’t much trash in there.
An hour later, they met back in the food court.
SpiderGirl yawned. “That was a wild goose chase,” she said.
“But you admit that we needed to do such a search?”
the Shadow asked.
“Of course. But now I must pursue other leads, or at
least look after the rest of Lawndale.”
SpiderGirl listened to Lawndale from the roof the Mall
for about ten minutes before heading home to sleep.
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Friday, March 2, 2001
Robot Pterodactyl Attacks Lawndale Mall
The Shadow had continued to investigate the Mall after
SpiderGirl had left, but she hadn’t found any further clues as to the origin of
the robot. She read the article and found that Penelope Jericho had stuck to
the facts and didn’t try to speculate. She paid for the paper, and then left
the gas station to head home. ‘Maybe Trent will be back,’ she thought.
