13
Aftermath and Investigations
At
the Historia, various Lawndale High students were talking about what the
previous night’s events meant.
Stacy
Rowe was thankful that she was working, otherwise she would have been worrying
about the possibility of another attack.
She
came up to Jodie Landon and Mack Mackenzie, where they were conversing in a
corner.
“…Like,
it’s not likely to happen again, right?” Mack asked.
“The
person wasn’t caught, so it is likely to happen again,” Jodie said. “I don’t
like to admit this, but it seems that SpiderGirl did good. Her powers allowed
her to evacuate a lot of people before she got distracted.”
“But
how soon?” Stacy asked in her usual worried tone.
“That
is the question,” Jodie said.
“And
SpiderGirl is one person,” Stacy said.
“But
Ninja Talon and the Shadow were there too,” Mack pointed out.
“True,”
Stacy said. She took a deep breath. “May I take your order?”
“White
tea,” Mack said.
“Black
Coffee,” Jodie added.
“Sure.
It will be a while.”
“But
it was luck that all three of them were there,” Jodie added once she was sure
that Stacy was out of earshot.
“That’s
true,” Mack considered. “Thus, SpiderGirl might be on her own next time.”
As
she worked the tables, Quinn overheard the various teens talk about the
previous night. Most of them were nervous, wondering what the future lay in
store for Lawndale. ‘That pilot needs to be caught,’ she thought.
It
was two in the afternoon when SpiderGirl joined Ninja Talon on the Historia’s
roof. “What’s the talk?” the latter asked.
“They’re
still taking it in,” SpiderGirl said. “But they’re resilient. Stacy is holding
up better than I expected.”
“That’s
good. Ashley-Amber and Dad didn’t say much about it this morning.”
“Nor
did Daria, but I know she’s thinking about it.”
“That’s
obvious,” Ninja Talon said.
“Sometimes
I think that I’m not doing enough, or that Lawndale is changing despite what
I’m doing, or what we’re doing.”
“But
we are making a difference.”
“We
definitely made a difference last night,” SpiderGirl said. “It’s another thing.
Like, sometimes I feel that many of the things that have happened in the past
several months have happened because I got bit by that spider.”
“I
don’t think that’s true.”
“I
know it isn’t, like those cheerleaders would have been kidnapped anyway and
they, including Sarah Robyn, would still be in a worse predicament.”
“Maybe
you should get in touch with her,” Ninja Talon said.
“I’m
not sure how. But I remember that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility,”
SpiderGirl said, with determination. “Like I am SpiderGirl,” she lowered her
voice; “and Quinn Morgendorffer both and I can handle my double life despite
not getting enough sleep.”
“I
don’t get enough sleep either as Ninja Talon and Brittany Taylor. Last night
was exhausting and Ms. Li asked me directly where the cheerleader was, but I
did what I could for Lawndale.”
“She
did?”
Ninja
Talon nodded.
“I
haven’t been asked where I am yet, other than by Gerald, but I’m sure it will
happen at some point.”
They
sat in silence for a while before agreeing to meet again that night and
patrolling in opposite directions.
Daria
Morgendorffer arrived at Casa Lane at the same time.
“Hey,
Daria,” Trent Lane said. “Janie’s out for a run. She’ll be back soon.”
“That’s
fine,” Daria said as she entered. “How are you holding up, given last night’s
events?”
“I’m
fine, mostly, other than being worried for others I know. Lawndale doesn’t seem
to be as safe anymore.”
“I
know how you feel.”
It
wasn’t long before Jane Lane returned. She found Daria reading in the kitchen.
“Sorry I wasn’t here earlier,” she said.
“That’s
OK. What was this thing you wanted to show me?”
“Come
on up.”
Daria
looked around. More of Jane’s room was taken up by her project. More maps of
Lawndale were scattered about, and she saw more sketches of various places
around town. “Wait, some of these are from rooftops.”
“Some
rooftops are easy to get to if you know how,” Jane said.
But
Daria remembered what Sandi had told her the weekend before. ‘What is she
hiding? She’s not SpiderGirl, Ninja Talon or the fourth vigilante!’ she
thought. “Maybe you could show me,” she said.
“Sometime,”
Jane said enigmatically. She took a couple of sketches out of a folder. “One is
one I did earlier today.”
Daria
saw that it was of the devastated Lawndale Center Hall. “I see that it’s
totally destroyed.”
“Yeah,
it will need to be demolished before any rebuilding can start,” Jane said.
“And
the City Council would be significantly out of pocket.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“And
that would make things worse,” Daria considered, “if the Council can’t maintain
the roads or other infrastructure due to this.”
“I
agree,” Jane said.
Daria
looked at the other. It was of her house, but she noticed there was a figure on
the roof. “You didn’t get a good look?”
“No,”
Jane admitted. “You see that it’s on the rear of the roof. It could have been
SpiderGirl, or Ninja Talon, or one of the other two, keeping an eye on the
neighborhood from there.”
“When
was this?”
“A
few days ago.”
‘The
house is one of the largest in the neighborhood, so it offers a good vantage
point,’ Daria considered. “Doesn’t mean that anything untoward is happening.”
“True,”
Jane responded.
Jane
waited as Daria looked at more of the sketches. She knew Daria was going to
investigate the vigilante that she had seen on the top of Schloss
Morgendorffer. ‘I’m still not sure which one it was.’
“There’s
still no pattern,” Daria said to herself.
“Or
one that is obvious,” Jane said. She handed over one of the maps. “I have even
made one with dates on it. SpiderGirl is red, Ninja Talon is black and the
fourth is purple.”
“What
about the Shadow?” Daria asked as she looked at the time picture.
“She’s
too elusive. I haven’t put together anything,” Jane answered. ‘Sorry, Daria,
I’m not making it easy for you there.’
‘She’s
still hiding something,’ Daria thought. ‘It might be that the Shadow truly is
elusive, though.’ She looked at the purple markers. Only three places, one of
which was the Historia and one of the others, the Lawndale Center. ‘Have rumors
placed her there too? But what about the Historia? I better go check to see if
anything is amiss there.’
“What
do you think?”
“The
fourth at the Historia. I think I need to check something there.”
“I
don’t think anything happened there,” Jane said.
“I
would still like to have a look.”
Fifteen
minutes later, Trent dropped Daria off at the Historia. “I’m not sure what
you’re looking for, the building looks OK to me.”
“It’s
more that I don’t want anything to happen to it.”
“Now,
last night has you paranoid.”
“Not
just that. Everything that has been going on recently,” Daria said, as she
glanced at her hairclips in the side mirror.
“You
think you’re changing too much? I have noticed your hair is longer, I just
didn’t say anything.”
“Mom
and Quinn have also said something similar and I have decided to grow it.”
“No
matter how much you change, you’re still Daria Morgendorffer.”
“That’s
true,” Daria said as she got out of the car.
Sandi
Griffin saw Daria get out of Trent’s car and enter the Historia. ‘Did she find
out what I told her about?’ she wondered. She followed her in.
Daria
found that many of the Lawndale High students in the café were talking about
the previous night’s events.
“Daria?”
It was Mrs. Rowe.
“I’m
just checking something.”
“Or
everything?”
“Maybe,”
Daria considered.
“You’re
not the only one who’s jittery due to what happened last night.”
“How
is Stacy holding up?”
“Surprisingly,
she’s not the one I’m talking about,” Mrs. Rowe said.
“Quinn?”
“No,
not her either. It was Andrea.”
“I
don’t know her, really,” Daria said. “She couldn’t have been the only one.”
“No,
just the most noticeable. What specifically are you worried about?”
“Just
that the rumored fourth vigilante has been sighted here.”
“None
of them have been here,” Mrs. Rowe said. “If they have been, it’s as their
secret identities.”
Daria
looked around. ‘Any of these teens? But what else is new?’ “I’ll not hold you
up for longer.”
Elisabeth
watched Daria look around. ‘Better let her check.’ Helen had told her how
stubborn she could be.
Sandi
had overheard the conversation. ‘Somehow, someone witnessed my encounter with
the Shadow,’ she thought. She had thought they were alone. ‘I don’t think Daria
is her.’
“May
I help you, Sandi?” Mrs. Rowe asked.
“I’m
fine. I’ll have several energy drinks.”
“Not
healthy to have so many.”
“That’s
what Mother said,” Sandi said in annoyance.
“You
should listen to her. How are you holding up, given last night?”
“I’m
fine,” Sandi said. She walked off looking for Daria.
Daria
wasn’t sure what she was looking for exactly. Every room in the old theatre
looked as it should. ‘Maybe the outside,’ she thought, as she went to the main
stairs.
She
emerged onto the roof. She quickly found that there wasn’t anything out of
place. ‘Then why did I come here?’ she asked herself as she looked out over
Lawndale. ‘I may have only been here for 16 months, but it feels more like home
than Highland ever did,’ she thought. ‘What is happening here is what is
happening in many other places across the country, but last night was an
aberration, something unusual.’ She looked around at the town, towards the
School, then over the sprawl northwest, towards the Giant Strawberry.
‘One
place I haven’t been to yet,’ she considered. She continued looking at the
town, circling around to the court house clock tower, and then the Creek,
looking at the bridges and some of the apartment complexes in Lawndale Flats.
‘I did hear Jodie tell Quinn that most of the Black population lives there,’
Daria considered. That was another thing. ‘I’d like to know the demographic
data, but it’s probably out of date.’ She looked around at the Strawberry again.
‘But maybe there’s something there?’
As
unlikely as that seemed, she couldn’t rule out a connection to the vigilante
heroes. ‘There has to be someone here who would be willing to drive me there,’
she thought as she turned back to the roof door.
Daria
found Sandi waiting on the stairs. “What do you want?” she asked.
“Did
you ask Jane about what we talked about?” Sandi asked.
“Yes!
She’s not one of the vigilantes.”
Sandi
considered Daria’s response. ‘I can draw suspicion away from myself,’ she
thought. “What about the fourth?” she asked.
Daria’s
eyes narrowed. “She isn’t. All she’s doing is putting together an art project
that involves Lawndale’s streetscape!”
“I
doubt that.”
“You
can doubt it as much as you want. It’s the truth.”
“But
not the whole truth,” Sandi insisted.
“I
still think you’re trying to drive a rift between Jane and I. I’m having none
of it,” Daria said before pushing past the other girl.
“Haven’t
there been times when she has been unavailable?”
“So?
The same is true of Quinn and I know why she is so.”
“I
thought I knew her,” Sandi said sadly. “But I didn’t.”
“She’s
changing due to grief, and so am I,” Daria explained as she continued down the
stairs.
“Wait!”
Daria
dashed into the café, hoping to lose Sandi. She looked around and found Kevin
Thompson. ‘Kevin? Why him? I have no assurance that his jeep would run well or
that he wouldn’t be distracted.’
“Daria!”
Kevin called out.
“Oh
no! What is it? I don’t want to talk about last night with you.”
“Really?”
“No!
Find Jodie, or something,” Daria said.
“Mrs.
Rowe says she and Mack Daddy were here earlier.”
“You
know he hates that, right?”
“No,
he doesn’t,” Kevin denied.
Daria
sighed. “Is Brittany here?”
“She
isn’t. Like, I called earlier, and Ashley-Amber said she was out. She has been
out a lot lately.”
‘Maybe
she’s taking last night hard. Maybe I’ll find her at the Strawberry. But still,
who to hitch a ride with other than Kevin or Sandi?’
Sandi
entered the café. She saw Daria talking to that idiot of a Quarterback and
overheard him say that Brittany had been out a lot. ‘That’s interesting,’ she
thought, although she wasn’t sure how. “Daria!”
Daria
turned from Kevin. “Sandi! I told you!”
“At
least look more into it!” Sandi said.
“Look
more into what?” Kevin asked.
“Jane
is up to something and Daria doesn’t know about it,” Sandi said.
“Really?”
Kevin asked.
“No,”
Daria answered. “It’s like when the Fashion Club ended. She’s just stirring up
trouble.”
“Yeah,
Quinn and Tori said that you didn’t like how Quinn changed, or something,”
Kevin said.
“I
never knew Quinn!” Sandi said.
“Or
you had a warped view of her,” Daria said. “And Stacy and Tiffany didn’t.”
“That’s
not it!” Sandi said.
“What’s
going on here?” Mrs. Rowe asked as she came over.
Daria
looked around. She saw that the conversation had drawn attention.
“Sandi
is stirring up trouble, again. But she can stay, I was heading out.”
“Oh.
But did you find anything out of order?” Mrs. Rowe asked.
“Nothing.”
“What
did you think was out of order?” Sandi asked.
“Jane
said the fourth vigilante was here,” Daria answered.
“There’s
no fourth vigilante,” Kevin said. “There were only SpiderGirl, the ninja and
the Shadow last night.”
“Maybe
you could take this into the lobby?” Mrs. Rowe asked.
“I’m
finished,” Daria said. “I was looking for a ride to the Giant Strawberry.”
“Something
there too?” Mrs. Rowe asked.
“Probably.”
“I
can take you,” Sandi said.
“Great!”
Daria groused.
Sandi
and Daria drove away from the Historia. Daria was silent.
“So,
what is Quinn up to?” Sandi asked.
“None
of your business, other than trimming my hair and designing things.”
“I
see those clips. They suit you.”
“I
didn’t wear them to impress you,” Daria said. “Or anyone else. Merely
practicality, given my growing hair.”
“You’re
growing it?”
“Yes.
One of many changes.”
Sandi
then turned into a less busy street. “Want to get to the Strawberry in less
than five minutes?” she asked in a mischievous tone.
“Not
without breaking the speed limit,” Daria responded. “But you’re going to do it
anyway, aren’t you?”
“Yes.
I’m a rebel now.”
“You
still look like the Queen Bee you’ve always been.”
“My
style is the same,” Sandi said as she flicked a switch on the dashboard and
accelerated.
“Don’t
tell me that’s nitrous! Why would your mother have that?”
Sandi
just chuckled as she burned rubber.
