Spider Quinn 12 Rise of the Green Goblin - Part 5

 

Half an hour after leaving home, the Enigma arrived in the vicinity of the Historia. She remembered her conversation with Daria after the opening. ‘Is Jane SpiderGirl?’ she wondered. ‘Or she could be one of the other two?’ She wasn’t sure. ‘I’ll continue as I have been with the Sophomores. I’ll find her eventually.

 

Suddenly, there was a sound nearby. She turned, her hands aglow with her powers. A stray cat came out of an allyway. ‘But there was something else,’ she thought. She looked down the street and saw that a window had been smashed in. ‘On it!’ she thought as she ran as quietly as she could.

 

 

“Quickly, before SpiderGirl comes!” one of the thieves said.

 

The other two thieves came over to the window with their misbegotten wares. “She’s just one person.”

 

They exited through the window they have smashed. “Stop right there!” came a voice.

 

They looked and saw a dark figure against the glare of the street lights. Suddenly, their misbegotten wares were yanked out their hands by a strong invisible force and returned into the store through the window.

 

“Who are you,” one of the thieves asked in fear.

 

“I am the Enigma,” the feminine voice said quietly. “Now, like, make yourselves scarce. You don’t want to face my other power and what it might do to you.”

 

The thieves with their hearts pounding then ran off down the street.

 

 

The Enigma looked at the broken window of the store. There was no way she would be able to piece it back together. She made herself scarce as a police siren made itself known in the distance.

 

 

Officer Xanthe Peterson looked at the scene. The window had been broken and merchandise strewn all over the place. “It looks like the thieves were interrupted in action,” she said.

 

“By SpiderGirl?” one of her colleagues asked.

 

“I don’t think so. There are no webs and she usually leaves the suspects webbed up for capture,” Peterson answered.

 

“Oh.”

 

“It could have been Ninja Talon or the other one.”

 

 

The Enigma continued down the street, looking for things that indicated that something would go down. It was deserted. She heard something down one of the side streets and looked. She saw that there was a store alight there. ‘Not much I can do,’ she thought. ‘But I’ll see if people need rescuing or if SpiderGirl will respond.’

 

 

The Enigma saw that the Fire Brigade had already responded. ‘Of course. I’ll head home. I stopped some thieves, that’s good enough for a first night.’

 

 

She arrived back at 512 Grandstaff Drive half an hour later. ‘It was a good first night,’ she thought, thinking of how she had thwarted the thieves.

 

 

At the same time, Ninja Talon arrived at the scene of the fire. The Fire Brigade had done their job. She saw Officer Peterson nearby.

 

“Ninja Talon,” the officer acknowledged.

 

“Any idea what happened here?

 

“Arson,” Peterson answered. “Any evidence of who it was lost in the blaze. Whoever it was made themselves scarce before the fire brigade arrived.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Did you intervene at a shop break and enter earlier tonight?”

 

“I didn’t,” Ninja Talon answered. “It wasn’t SpiderGirl?”

 

“No webs and she leaves suspects webbed up.”

 

“Oh, of course. The Shadow then.”

 

“I haven’t met her yet,” Peterson confessed.

 

“She helped SpiderGirl and I a lot last week when we infiltrated that compound and rescued Sarah Robyn.”

 

“That’s good. But if it’s not you, not SpiderGirl and if it’s not the Shadow as you say, that would mean there’s a fourth.”

 

“There’s no proof of that,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“No, there isn’t.”

 

“If nothing else. I’ll keep an eye out tonight and other nights.”

 

“That would be good.”

 

 

Ninja Talon looked into the store briefly before leaving silently. She wondered if there was another vigilante hero out there.

 

 

SpiderGirl awoke at the now usual early hour. She climbed out onto the roof and listened to Lawndale. ‘Something’s a little… discordant,’ she thought. It was as if something had changed. “But what and where is it?” she murmured. She listened a while longer, trying to narrow it down. ‘Downtown? Or is it Lawndale in general?’ She then swung away, eyes closed, using her intuition to guide her.

 

 

She landed at the spot and opened her eyes. She saw a store that had been broken into and police tape around it. ‘I missed this, tonight,’ she thought. But how was it responsible for the discord? She wasn’t sure. She looked around and saw that it wasn’t far from the Historia. She went up to the old theatre and saw that the Art Deco building was untouched. ‘I’ll find Ninja Talon.’ She headed to the bridge where they found out each other’s secret identities.

 

 

Ninja Talon saw SpiderGirl arrive. “I was talking to Peterson earlier,” she said.

 

“About that shop that was broken into?” SpiderGirl asked.

 

“Yes, she said someone interfered in the robbery, and she knows it’s not me and it’s not you.”

 

“But that would leave the Shadow.”

 

“She thinks there’s a fourth, and I do to,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“A fourth vigilante hero. That would explain the discord.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You know I spend time listening to Lawndale at night,” SpiderGirl answered. “Tonight there was a discord. And in the evening and last evening my Spider Sense tingled briefly at a low volume. I know there’s someone out there trying to find out who I am.”

 

“I’m here with you.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

 

They sat there for a while in silence, contemplating the changes in Lawndale over the past few months. It seemed to SpiderGirl that the real changes were yet to come.

 

 

Norman Osborn awoke. It was that dream again. The one where a presence whispered terrible things to him. It was getting worse, despite his many secret visits to a counsellor he had hired. He got out of bed and went over to where he had placed the glider blueprints. ‘I won’t use it for what the whispers say!’ he thought, not entirely convinced. He tried to get back to sleep.

 

 

Lawndale Sun-Herald

Wednesday, January 31, 2001

Council Divided Over Controversial Proposal

A contentious vote on allowing an unnamed organisation access to Lawndale’s Municipal CCTV footage passed with one vote yesterday after a tumultuous session of the City Council.

 

‘Unnamed?’ SpiderGirl asked herself. ‘It’s likely to be Oscorp!’ Was Osborn the one seeking her identity? ‘No, it’s someone else,’ she concluded. She looked through the rest of the newspaper, but she knew that the interrupted robbery had occurred after it had gone to press. She then placed it back on the stand and continued towards the school.

 

 

Sandi awoke and looked at the time. “Oops!” she said as she leapt out of bed. She had forgotten to set her alarm after she had come back from her first foray as the Enigma. She looked around the room, making sure that she had packed away the purple clothes she had worn. She then got dressed and raced out.

 

 

“Sandi, you need breakfast!” Linda said. She suspected that her daughter had snuck out in the middle of the night, whether to confront SpiderGirl or not, but she didn’t have proof. ‘I’ll talk to her tonight as she practices.’

 

 

Jane arrived at school to see Daria waiting. She had gone by the store that had been broken into, as Max had called Trent about it when he had seen it. She knew that she hadn’t interfered, and she knew of SpiderGirl’s habit of leaving suspects webbed up. ‘So, it has to be Ninja Talon, right?’ she asked herself again. A fourth vigilante in Lawndale seemed a bit much to her. ‘But I can’t rule it out.’

 

“Jane?” Daria asked.

 

“Just thinking about my project,” she responded. She then noticed something different about Daria. Her bangs were held to the sides by plain hairclips. “You’re a little different. I didn’t expect that.”

 

“I figured that I better get the clips as soon as possible,” Daria responded.

 

“You mentioned Quinn trimming it, but not clips.”

 

“I guess I didn’t.”

 

 

Sandi got to school just in time for the bell to ring for Homeroom. ‘I’ll have to make sure I set my alarm.’

 

 

“Changes,” Jane murmured as she and Daria sat on the roof during study hall.

 

“What was that?” Daria asked.

 

“Changes. Lawndale is changing. Now you’re changing,” Jane clarified.

 

“I may be growing my hair, but I’m still the same Daria. Still sarcastic and cynical of the world around me, including of whether SpiderGirl is actually making a difference.”

 

“What about last week?”

 

“SHIELD would still have done something,” Daria answered.

 

“Probably. It’s the Historia that will make a difference.”

 

“But that will take time.”

 

“I know.”

 

 

Quinn entered the Library to find Anna and Ben already there. ‘I don’t think either of them are the new vigilante,’ she thought.

 

“Quinn!” Anna said as she came up to the duo. “I have found out more about the standing stones.”

 

“That’s great.”

 

“Including the specific Irish stonemasons who worked on them,” Anna added enthusiastically.

 

“What’s this about stonemasons?” Gerald asked as he came up.

 

“The people who put the standing stones in place,” Anna answered.

 

“Oh, of course,” Gerald responded.

 

Anna took out a book. “This was in the town library.”

 

“A History of Irish Immigration to Carter County,” Quinn read. “Carter County?”

 

“Yeah, Lawndale County was renamed from Carter County over a decade ago,” Anna answered. “It is still sometimes referred to that way.”

 

“Oh,” Quinn said.

 

“Because Lawndale is the largest town in the county?” Ben asked.

 

“Probably,” Anna said.

 

“Anyway. Let’s, look at the original idea,” Quinn suggested.

 

“Sure,” Anna said as she turned to table of contents.

 

 

And so, for the next half hour they took turns reading from the book, including Gerald, who still had issues with projecting his voice.

 

 

“I could look for someone to help you,” Quinn said to Gerald after the other two had left.

 

“You don’t have to.”

 

“It would be part of what Ms. Li asked me to do.”

 

“And you’re going above and beyond,” Gerald said.

 

“I know. Maybe I’ll ask Mr. O’Neill about it tomorrow.”

 

 

She then left the school as SpiderGirl, patrolling for an hour and a half before arriving at the Historia for her first shift.

 

 

“Quinn!” Elizabeth Rowe said, as the younger Morgendorffer girl appeared in the café.

 

“Hi, Mrs. Rowe.”

 

“How’s your mother? I haven’t heard from her since before the holidays.”

 

“Oh, she’s busy, but I’ll tell her you asked when I get home.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

 

While Quinn was talking to Stacy’s mother, Daria arrived home. She went up to her room and looked in the mirror in her closet. ‘I am changing,’ she thought as she glanced at the hairclips. It wasn’t just that, or the decision to grow out her hair. It was indeed the absence of her father, affecting her more than she thought. It wasn’t only Quinn who was changing due to grief, she was as well. She took a deep breath and closed the closet. ‘I’ll take it each day as it comes,’ she thought. She also decided to talk to Jane about it the next day.

 

 

The Griffin’s dinner was awkward as the five of them ate, with only Sam and Chris talking about their day at school. “And the teacher said that my design was impractical!” Sam said.

 

“What design was this again?” Linda asked.

 

“For a slide in the playground,” Sam answered.

 

“That takes up most of the playground?” Sandi guessed quietly.

 

“That’s the whole idea of it!” Sam said.

 

“Sam, try to start small,” Linda said.

 

“I did start small. Having a slide cover all of Lawndale is too much,” Sam said.

 

“Was that your first idea?” Chris asked.

 

“Yes,” Sam answered.

 

“Sounds good,” Chris said.

 

Linda and Sandi both sighed.

 

 

As Sandi turned to go up to her room after her father and brothers had made themselves scarce, her mother called out to her. “Sandi! We need to talk.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I know you sneaked out last night and I don’t have proof. But there are rumors of a fourth vigilante.”

 

“I am using my powers responsibly,” Sandi countered quietly.

 

“So, you did!” Linda said.

 

“Maybe.”

 

“But, there is still the fact that you want to confront SpiderGirl!”

 

“And maybe Lawndale needs a new hero,” Sandi said.

 

“And you think I haven’t been tempted to go out and use my abilities to fight crime? Especially after SpiderGirl appeared? And now this Ninja Talon and the shadowy one? I don’t want to bring danger to this family. Think about that, Sandi, please.”

 

“I don’t think SpiderGirl will trace me here.”

 

“She might when you find her identity and I know you will,” Linda said.

 

“I will be ready and I’m sure you will be too.”

 

Linda sighed, knowing that she wasn’t getting anywhere with her daughter. She saw her grab an energy drink from the fridge. “That may give you a boost, but it’s not exactly healthy.”

 

“What do you use?”

 

“Potato salad.”

 

 

Sandi entered her room and opened the yearbook again. Next after Robyn Allen was Erin Archer, another short haired blonde, although hers was slightly longer and curlier than Elly Aitkins’.

 

She looked at the energy drink. ‘Potato Salad would take longer to eat!’ she thought. She then downed it. “Finndu mann sem heitir: Erin Archer!”

 

Her perception again spread out across Lawndale. Erin Archer was found close to the Historia, heading towards it.

 

“Three down.”

 

 

“Quinn?” Mrs. Rowe asked.

 

“Something,” Quinn said, noting the third low tingle of her Spider Sense.

 

“Are you OK?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Good, you just looked out of it for a second,” Mrs. Rowe said with concern.

 

“Stress: school, social life, here and I miss Daddy.”

 

“Of course. You can talk to me about that at some time, if you want to.”

 

“That would be great!” Quinn responded.

 

 

Sandi practiced again and noticed that she was getting better at aiming her shots.