Spider Quinn 12 Rise of the Green Goblin - Part 4

 In the bathroom, Daria looked in the mirror. She saw herself and Quinn, two sisters who were more alike than she would have expected before her father passed. One with auburn hair that was longer than it had ever been and round spectacles. The other with shoulder length dyed brown hair caught up in high pigtails, as it had been most of the time since the funeral (and it was obvious to her that Quinn was continuing to dye her hair, as her roots weren’t visible).

 

 

“OK, so, I’ll just trim it at the bottom, where there are split ends,” Quinn said. “But what about your bangs?”

 

Daria moved a hand through her bangs where they hung over the top of her glasses. “I’ll grow those out too. I guess I’ll need a couple of clips soon.”

 

“I guess you’ll be looking for plain ones,” Quinn said with a giggle.

 

“Of course.”

 

As she began, Quinn considered that Daria definitely wouldn’t have trusted her to trim her hair before she became SpiderGirl. ‘But she can’t know. She wouldn’t understand, and I don’t want her to be in danger as a result. That’s the main reason why I’ll be making these modifications slowly.’

 

 

Daria was also thinking as Quinn was trimming her hair. ‘I don’t know what the future will hold, but I know that we’ll survive High School in Lawndale.’

 

 

Quinn took her time, as she usually did when she did someone’s hair. She felt the trust that Daria had given her, trust that didn’t come easily. “I have done the bottom,” she said.

 

Daria took off her glasses and closed her eyes, ready for her sister to trim her bangs. “Alright.”

 

Quinn carefully snipped at the split ends she found in the bangs and saw her sister’s eyelids twitch as she waited. She didn’t take long.

 

 

“Done,” Quinn said. Daria opened her eyes and put on her glasses. She saw that her hair looked better than it did before. “Thanks, Quinn,” she said with a rare smile.

 

 

Trent answered the phone. “Hey, Daria. Janie is out on a run.”

 

“I see. I just wanted to tell Jane something.”

 

“What about.”

 

“Oh, Quinn and my hair.”

 

“What about Quinn and your hair?”

 

“I’d like to tell her first.”

 

“Sure, I’ll let her know you called when she gets back.”

 

“Thanks, Trent.”

 

 

The Shadow was downtown, near the Historia. She was watching as Stacy and Joey finished their evening shift. She didn’t want anything to happen that would jeopardise the vision of the Historia as Daria laid out during the opening. After five minutes Stacy and Joey drove off, leaving the Shadow relieved. She then continued her patrol of that stretch of Main Street.

 

 

At the same time, Sandi had her yearbook from the previous year open, along with an energy drink. She was ready to start to try to locate the secret identity of the heroes, especially SpiderGirl. ‘But one at a time,’ she had decided, as in one per evening. That would take time, possibly months, but that would be better than her overextending her ability every night. She located the first female freshman (now sophomore) in the yearbook. “Elly Aitkin,” she considered, looking at the short haired blonde on the page.

 

She barely knew her, but that was fine.

 

Sandi downed the energy drink. She then closed her eyes and chanted; “Finndu mann sem heitir: Elly Aitkin!”

At first she perceived herself and her room, as she usually did when she used her locate ability. Then her perception expanded out into the streetscape of Lawndale.

 

At first, the perception close to her house was colorful, as she perceived the inside of her neighbors’ houses along with the yards and the streets. But as it extended outwards it grew more vague as more information flooded into her mind. Then her perception narrowed in as Elly Aitkin was located halfway across town, in a house not far from the High School. It appeared that she was doing her homework while watching some animated show on her TV.

 

Sandi then returned her perception to normal and opened her eyes. She marked a small ‘x’ next to Elly Aitkin’s picture. “One down,” she said, with fatigue in her voice.

 

 

At the same time, as she was cleaning up the small amount of Daria’s hair in the bathroom, Quinn felt something. Her Spider Sense tingled briefly, at a low volume. ‘What was that?’ she asked herself. She finished cleaning up the hair and then went into her room and looked out the windows. ‘Nothing,’ she thought. Yet there was something, or someone, in Lawndale that was searching for something to do with her secret, she was sure of it. ‘What else is new,’ she thought as she put away the copy of the blueprints and took out her homework.

 

 

After recovering from searching for Elly Aiken, Sandi decided to do something else, practice using her other powers.

 

 

Linda went out into the backyard and saw Sandi taking shots at old tin cans using her powers. “What are you doing?” she asked.

 

“Practicing, trying to improve my aim.”

 

“I noticed you searched for someone earlier.”

 

“So?” Sandi asked as she took another shot and hit one of the tin cans.

 

“So, what are you up to, Cassandra?”

 

“SpiderGirl, she confronted me in my room.”

 

“When was this?”

 

“Just after the Fashion Club ended, not recently,” Sandi answered as she took another shot.

 

“I see. You want to know who she is, then confront her. What then?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Meaning, are you just going to keep fighting her?” Linda asked. “You know that our powers can have a deleterious affect on people.”

 

“Because you told me. I haven’t actually seen it.”

 

“I have, it’s not good.”

 

“So, tell me!” Sandi said. “All you have said is that it’s deleterious.”

 

Linda shot at one of the cans herself, knocking it down. “They disrupt neural pathways, causing temporary paralysis and/or vocal slurring.”

 

“Doesn’t sound so bad.”

 

“That takes until the next day to recover from!” Linda added. “I don’t know what repeated exposure would cause. I don’t want SpiderGirl to experience that! I don’t want to find out her secret identity by finding out that you’ve injured her permanently. I don’t want that to happen, Sandi!”

 

“I’ll be careful,” Sandi said. She deactivated the purple glow and walked to where the cans were. “That’s not all I can do.” She reached out and drew one of the cans into her hand.

 

“I know,” Linda said as she did the same. “But using this power to restrain her wouldn’t be any better. I don’t want you confronting Lawndale’s superhero out of jealousy. She’s bringing hope to this town.”

 

“Not jealousy!”

 

“Resentment then. Think about what you’re doing, that is what I’m asking of you. Both as your mother and as your mentor.”

 

“Mentor,” Sandi considered.

 

 “I taught you how to use your powers so that you would use them responsibly.” She then went back inside, knowing that she would have many more such conversations with Sandi in future.

 

 

Sandi looked at where her mother had gone inside. She considered what she had said. But she knew that she would continue what she had started and confront SpiderGirl. ‘But not as myself.’

 

 

After an hour and a half of homework, Quinn headed out as SpiderGirl, leaving the house by the hall window, as she had been usually doing. ‘But leaving via the attic would be better,’ she thought as she swung away.

 

 

Jane entered the kitchen after her patrol as the Shadow.

 

“Daria called,” Trent said. “Something about her sister and her hair.”

 

“Her sister’s hair, or her own hair?” Jane asked, wondering what her friend was going to tell her.

 

“Her own hair,” Trent clarified.

 

“I’ll call.”

 

 

“What’s this about your hair?” Jane asked.

 

“I let Quinn trim it. It is a little hard to explain how it felt, but I now trust her more than I ever have.”

 

“How much did she take off.”

 

“That’s the thing. I asked her to just deal with the split ends. I have decided to grow it out, including the bangs,” Daria answered.

 

“I have noticed it getting longer.”

 

“Changes happen.”

 

“It goes back to your father, doesn’t it?” Jane asked.

 

“Yes. The changes due to him not being here anymore.”

 

 

Out in the night, SpiderGirl rescued a squirrel from a truck on the Interstate, before meeting Ninja Talon nearby.

 

“I have visited Sarah Robyn,” the latter said. “Twice. Once, like this. The other as the cheerleader.”

 

“That’s good,” SpiderGirl said in encouraging tone.

 

“There were some muggings I prevented earlier.”

 

“I was bonding with Daria.”

 

“That’s good. I don’t think I could do so with Brian.”

 

‘There’s something there,’ SpiderGirl thought.

 

“Anyway, Sarah Robyn will be released tomorrow, even though she still can’t speak.”

 

“Then I’ll see her early in the morning.”

 

 

Lawndale Sun-Herald

Tuesday January 30, 2001

Historia Proving Popular

 

SpiderGirl arrived at the Hospital as the sun rose. She wanted to spend time with Sarah Robyn and get to school with time to spare.

 

 

Sarah Robyn saw SpiderGirl enter. She wrote Thanks for coming and handed the note to her.

 

“You’re welcome,” SpiderGirl said. “I couldn’t stay away today without saying goodbye. It’s not likely I’ll be in Oakwood any time soon. I’ll be focusing on Lawndale.”

 

Of course.

 

“But it may be that I may be there, just not very often.”

 

That’s OK

 

They spent a while in silence before they parted ways.

 

 

I’ll keep an eye on the news from Lawndale and keep thinking of you and the other two.

 

“Thanks, Sarah Robyn. That means a lot,” SpiderGirl responded. “Although most of what we do is small and doesn’t make the news.”

 

That’s fine.

 

SpiderGirl left, although not before saying goodbye and getting a signed farewell in return.

 

 

As the business day began, so did a tumultuous session of the Lawndale City Council. Especially when Mayor Lawson brought up Norman Osborn’s request to access the municipal CCTV, albeit without naming him.

 

He suspected that Osborn had continued to work behind the scenes, as several of the councillors he had expected to reject the proposal supported it. ‘Of course he would!’ he groused to himself. “Lets call a vote.”

 

The motion succeeded by one vote.

 

‘Now I have to delay Osborn some other way!’ Lawson thought.

 

 

Osborn entered Lawson’s office at midday. “I heard the motion passed,” he said.

 

“Yes, it did. You’ll have access later this week.”

 

“Very good. My technicians will liaise with yours about the details.”

 

 

Quinn met with Angie after school in the library. “When are you next at the Historia?” Angie asked.

 

“Tomorrow,” Quinn answered.

 

“Right, I’ll drop by before work.”

 

“That would be great.”

 

“Now, where are we up to?” Angie asked.

 

“History, specifically, the Gilded Age.”

 

Angie opened her textbook. “Got it.”

 

 

After school, Sandi headed to Cranberry Commons. She didn’t want to go to the other Mall, as that was where she usually shopped. She didn’t want any classmates to see her shop for clothes that would make her inconspicuous. She found a small out of the way shop and started looking.

 

 

At the same time, Daria entered Lawndale Mall, hoping to be in and out as quickly as possible. After her decision to grow out her hair and the trim Quinn gave her, she decided to get the clips as soon as possible. She soon found what she was looking for in a small shop.

 

“Are you sure you want something that plain?” the saleswoman asked.

 

“Look at what I’m wearing already,” Daria responded. “Do I look like someone who wants something fancy?”

 

“You could change up your style a bit.”

 

“I may be growing my hair, but my style isn’t changing.”

 

“OK, I won’t press.”

 

“Good.”

 

“That will be four dollars.”

 

Daria handed over the exact change.

 

 

Sandi found several outfits that matched what she was looking for. All purple ensembles that matched the glow of her energy projection powers. ‘Now I need to find a mask,’ she thought as she paid for the clothes.

 

 

After tutoring Angie, SpiderGirl headed out from the school roof. After an uneventful patrol around the downtown, she headed home.

 

 

She entered the basement through the backyard hatch and changed back to her usual self. She took out the blueprints again. She looked again at something she had noticed. That the basement on the blueprints seemed to take up the same floor space as the stories above, but Quinn was sure that it looked smaller. ‘The laundry area is below the dining room and the kitchen and Daria’s room. This table and the dresser are below the garage and my room.’

She went over to the chute and looked at the blueprints again. ‘It looks like there is more empty space than the chute beneath my closet.’ She looked at the wall ahead of her. It didn’t look as far away as the end of the living room did from the front door. ‘I’ll probably need to measure it.’

 

She found the measuring tape in the tools she had bought the day before. She measured along the wall from where she was sure the front door was, to the wall, which was of plasterboard, rather than the other three walls which were of the same red brick as the walls above. “Fourteen feet.”

 

Up on the ground floor, she checked that her mother and Daria weren’t home before measuring from the side of the front door to the corner window. “Twenty one feet. That’s a whole seven feet.” Was there a hidden area of the basement six and half feet wide?

 

 

Back down in the basement, she looked at the wall. The plasterboard was held in place by screws. ‘So, I can get in there at some point and look.’ But first she needed to make the other modifications before considering what to use the hidden space for. ‘I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.’

 

She went back to the desk and continued designing the locking mechanisms for the chute.

 

 

Sandi found some purple fabric she could make a mask out of. ‘Perfect,’ she thought.

 

 

Daria saw Quinn enter the kitchen from the basement door. “I got the clips today,” she said.

 

“That’s good. Are you going to wear them soon.”

 

“Probably tomorrow.”

 

 

After dinner, Sandi was ready again. “Robyn Allen,” she considered, looking at a long haired brunette. She didn’t really know her either. She downed the energy drink. “Finndu mann sem heitir: Robyn Allen!”

 

Robyn Allen wasn’t quite as far as Elly Aitkin, but her house was in the opposite direction, near Newridge, the southwestern-most of Lawndale’s subdivisions. Sandi saw that she was having desert with her large family.

 

“Two down.”

 

 

Again, Quinn felt her Spider Sense tingle at a low volume. This time as she did some homework. “Again?” she commented. ‘Is it going to happen every night?’ She took out the journal she had been using since she had started being SpiderGirl. “Low intensity tingle again. Someone is still searching for my secret.”

 

 

Linda watched as Sandi again practiced against tin cans in the back yard. “I hope she took our discussion last night to heart,” she murmured. She looked around, and saw that she was alone. She then generated a forcefield around her. “Sandi isn’t here yet, but she will be soon.”

 

 

Later, after her parents had gone to sleep. Sandi slipped out of the house wearing one of the purple ensembles, the mask she had made earlier in the evening and her hair tied back into a high ponytail. She looked down Grandstaff Drive towards the downtown. She was already the fourth of Lawndale’s vigilante heroes, or in her case an antihero. “Watch out SpiderGirl, the Enigma is on your case!” she said as she ran off down the street.