Spider Quinn 21 A View of Oakwood and Ruins - Part 6

 

“Waiting can be difficult,” SpiderGirl said.

 

Ninja Talon knew that SpiderGirl wasn’t talking about the current situation, although that would have made sense, but more about the ongoing situation between her and the Enigma. “You think a confrontation is inevitable?’”

 

SpiderGirl sighed. “As inevitable as the situation in Lawndale getting worse before it gets better. But I think I know how to handle it when it does come. But to the situation on hand. We also have the advantage against Oscorp.”

 

“We improvise,” Ninja Talon confirmed.

 

“Exactly. And Osborn may think he understands us in some way, but he doesn’t,” SpiderGirl added with determination.

 

Then there was a sound. They turned and saw that it was the silent vigilante approaching from the forest.

 

“I see you wanted to know what was happening here,” SpiderGirl said.

 

I felt that I needed to be here, even though I’m getting tired.

 

“Welcome to our world,” SpiderGirl said with a yawn. She turned to Ninja Talon. “She said that she wanted to be here despite being tired.”

 

“Lack of sleep is a given,” Ninja Talon added.

 

 

It wasn’t long before something happened. An Oscorp vehicle pulled up nearby and Norman Osborn himself stepped out, along with some security personnel. “Fan out,” Osborn said. “SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon are almost certain to be here, or nearby. Remember, they are very skilled and adaptable.”

 

“Yes, sir,” one said as the team spread out.

 

Osborn looked at the mound. He wasn’t sure that the oral histories were accurate, but the energy readings that his satellites had picked up were real. He had to move before his competitors or SHIELD did.

 

 

The Enigma noticed the agents first.

 

“They’re here?” Dafoanairi asked rhetorically when she saw her friend tense up.

 

“Yes. Two coming towards us.”

 

 

The agents came closer.

 

“Let’s be careful about this,” Dafoanairi said. “We don’t know what they’re packing.”

 

“Good point, but we do need to know what they know,” the Enigma responded. She then sent a small projection to the side.

 

The agents responded immediately. “Fourth vigilante, we won’t allow you to interfere!”

 

“Oh, I’m, like, interfering,” the Enigma said as she stepped out.

 

 

One of the agents grabbed his radio.

 

“I’ll take that!” the Enigma said as she pulled it out of his hand and crushed it telekinetically.

 

But the other agent was quick. “Osborn. Fourth Vigilante!”

 

“Crap,” the Enigma said as she destroyed his radio too.

 

“It was bound to happen,” Dafoanairi said.

 

“He may be here.”

 

“You may be right, but let’s not rush into danger.”

 

“Of course not,” the Enigma responded.

 

 

Osborn heard the report. “Ms. Griffin!” he grumbled. “And probably Dafoanairi, whoever she is.”

 

One of the guards turned to him. “Orders, sir.”

 

“Stay here. She’s still declaring herself SpiderGirl’s rival. I can use that to my advantage.”

 

 

SpiderGirl, Ninja Talon and the Silent vigilante had crept around and heard what Osborn was saying from a tree nearby.

 

“We’re not that easily manipulated,” SpiderGirl groused.

 

Are we just waiting for him to make a move? The silent vigilante asked.

 

“The agents are just looking for us at the moment,” SpiderGirl answered. “There hasn’t been any activity at the mound yet.”

 

“But that is likely to change,” Ninja Talon pointed out.

 

“Definitely,” SpiderGirl said.

 

So, you’re just going to be annoying Osborn? The silent vigilante asked.

 

“Maybe, but he does want something buried here. That’s the thing,” SpiderGirl answered.

 

 

‘Another ten minutes,’ Osborn decided.

 

He listened. Although the Goblin formula hadn’t conferred any physical changes, the experience had increased his situational awareness. SpiderGirl, Ninja Talon and the Enigma all had rhythms to their movements, even if they changed things up.

 

 

From her vantage point in the tree, Ninja Talon looked over the mound site. Her tactical mind was working out how to prevent Osborn and his agents from getting what he wanted without exposing herself and the other four to too much risk.

 

 

“There he is!” the Enigma said when she had sighted Osborn. “Even dressed for the occasion. I guess Harry is asleep and unaware that his father isn’t home,” she added quietly.”

 

“Probably,” Dafoanairi said, “But we’ll catch up with him at school.”

 

“Yes,” the Enigma responded, her eyes on Osborn.

 

 

Osborn didn’t wait ten minutes. He only waited nine before signalling the agents to move into the archaeological site.

 

Immediately, the hero vigilantes moved into action, including the silent one. She watched as SpiderGirl webbed up one of the agents and pulled him up into a tree and Ninja Talon fought another before tying him up in a zip line. She then went up Osborn himself.

 

“You’re the one from Oakwood, aren’t you?” Osborn asked.

 

The silent vigilante didn’t make a response, but tried to spar with Osborn, but found that he was quite skilled and found herself mostly dodging.

 

“Interesting style. I’d say you’re a cheerleader who decided to fight crime after some traumatic event. Am I getting warm?”

 

Osborn was indeed warm, but the silent vigilante didn’t respond, but kept up sparring.

 

 

Meanwhile, the Enigma knocked out one vigilante with projections. She remembered her mother’s warnings about deleterious effects but considered it worth it if the paralysis caused was temporary.

 

Dafoanairi knocked out another with her quarterstaff. “He’ll be up sooner, but with a possible concussion,” she said. “Possible incentive to rethink his allegiance to Osborn.”

 

“One would hope so,” the Enigma responded, as she looked in the direction where the silent vigilante was distracting Osborn.

 

“But we may need to do more to stop Osborn.”

 

 

SpiderGirl and Talon took out another two agents.

 

“You’re running out of agents,” SpiderGirl taunted as she hung upside down from a branch.

 

That didn’t distract Osborn from his sparring with the silent vigilante. “More are on their way from Lawndale. How long before you’re exhausted. Can you keep it up until sunrise?”

 

 

SpiderGirl swung up into the tree where Ninja Talon was waiting. “Sunrise,” she said. “He specifically said that.”

 

“I doubt there would be something time dependent,” Ninja Talon mused.

 

“Or something that the sun would hit as it rises. Like, Anna was telling me about stone circles in Britain. They may be pre Celtic, but she’s interested in those too,” SpiderGirl said, referring to a fellow Lawndale High student she was mentoring.

 

“Like Stonehenge?” Ninja Talon asked.

 

“Exactly,” SpiderGirl said.

 

 

Dafoanairi heard SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon as she crept from tree to tree in Osborn’s direction. She didn’t hear SpiderGirl mention Anna but caught Ninja Talon bring up Stonehenge.

‘Stonehenge?’ she asked herself. ‘I doubt the mound is that old,’ she thought. ‘Or is there something else? Some calendar thing that Osborn may be after? Or thinks he’s after.’

 

 

“Someone’s there,” Ninja Talon said, as she looked. “Dafoanairi.”

 

“I guess she and the Enigma took out a couple of agents already,” SpiderGirl surmised.

 

“She’s approaching Osborn.”

 

“Then we’ll back them up.”

 

Ninja Talon then lowered herself from the tree with her grappling hook as SpiderGirl swung down.

 

 

“This is enough,” Osborn said to the silent vigilante.

 

He heard SpiderGirl swing down.

 

“Predictable.”

 

“Really?” SpiderGirl quipped as she signalled.

 

Osborn leapt aside as one of the Enigma’s energy projections shot past.

 

“That was a warning,” Dafoanairi said.

 

“We’re at an impasse,” Osborn responded. “But this is temporary.”

 

 

“I know that,” SpiderGirl said. “But you said something about Sunrise earlier.”

 

“No comment,” Osborn responded.

 

“Then we’ll continue this impasse and make sure that whatever is there won’t be exposed to the sunlight,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“As I said…” Osborn started.

 

“Yes, more agents coming from Lawndale,” Dafoanairi interrupted. “But enough to overwhelm us?”

 

Osborn didn’t answer, but remained impassively staring at the vigilantes.

 

 

“The five of us may be enough,” Dafoanairi said to the Enigma a few minutes later. “But I still have no idea who the Shadow is, nor how to contact her.”

 

“And attempting to locate her would require me to be back in Lawndale, probably as far as the Giant Strawberry if she happens to be in on the eastern side of Lawndale Flats.”

 

“Probably not that far,” Dafoanairi said. “It’s only slightly less than two miles between the Historia and the Giant Strawberry.”

 

“But, still, I’d need to be at least be on the western edge,” the Enigma asked.

 

“What about your mentor?” Dafoanairi asked quietly, knowing that SpiderGirl, at least, was listening in.

 

“She’d likely be asleep,” the Enigma answered.

 

 

“We’re on our own,” SpiderGirl said. “Besides which other vigilantes Oakwood might have.”

 

“It’s up to us five,” Ninja Talon said. “We can handle it.”

 

I’m the only one in Oakwood as far as I know the silent vigilante signed.

 

“What was that?” Ninja Talon asked.

 

“That she’s the only one in Oakwood as far as she knows.”

 

“But there could be one other you haven’t met or heard about,” Ninja Talon responded, looking at the silent vigilante.

 

The silent vigilante shrugged.

 

 

It wasn’t long before another Oscorp vehicle approached. The Enigma shot at it’s engine compartment with projections, causing the engine to stall before telekinetically letting the air out of the tyres. “That will slow things down,” she said to Dafoanairi.

 

“A little,” Dafoanairi admitted. “But not by much,” she added as five more agents emerged from the stalled vehicle. “And I’m sure there’s more equipment and weapons in there.”

 

“Now that they’re out, I can crush it.”

 

“It may be reinforced.”

 

The Enigma focused and the vehicle began to crumple around the door handles.

 

 

Osborn heard the vehicle crumble. Then there was an explosion.