The third
of the previous applicants entered the bookstore.
“Let’s
see. Dani Moreno, a sophomore at Lawndale State,” Quinn said.
“That’s
right,” Dani said.
“I
looked over your CV again. You said that you study visual arts and also are
experienced with sound equipment.”
“Yes.
But I may ask.”
“You
can,” Quinn said.
“Is
the person you actually hired responsible for Jane Lane’s disappearance.”
“Possibility.”
“I
see,” Dani said with a frown.
“Do
you know Jane?”
“Yes,
my brother is in Mystik Spiral.”
“I
guess that’s some of your experience in sound equipment comes from,” Quinn
guessed.
Dani
nodded.
“Right.
I need to talk to more people, but I think you might be in.”
“I’ll
wait in the café.”
“Thanks.”
Dani
entered the café and saw that Scott Ashworth was there. ‘I didn’t think he was
interested in Shakespeare,’ she thought. She then went up to the counter.
“How
may I help you,” the pigtailed waitress asked.
“A
white tea, thanks.”
“Coming
right up.”
Scott
Ashworth listened to the gothic girl, Andrea, as she explained what the
vigilante, Ninja Talon, had asked for her. Despite the busyness of college
life, he had followed the news since SpiderGirl had appeared, especially after
Groundhog Day. It seemed that the situation in Lawndale was escalating. “So,
you want to try to find Jane Lane, or the critics, through the video
surveillance system?”
“Yes.
At least use Oscorp’s tentacles for good.”
Andrea
had told him about the large property footprint of Oscorp in Lawndale too. “I
could get in trouble if you’re caught,” he said.
“I
know. I will be careful,” Andrea responded.
“That’s
what I wanted to hear.”
“Huh?”
“I
will do it,” Scott said. “I mean I’ll let you.”
“Right
now?”
“Before
the play starts. I have a ticket for tomorrow night, but.”
“I
wasn’t seeing it tonight either,” Andrea responded. “Ninja Talon’s here,
somewhere, as her secret identity. I’ll let her know.”
“I’ll
wait.”
Andrea
found Brittany in an isolated area backstage. “It’s going ahead,” she said.
“I’ll
let Spidey know,” Brittany responded. “But when?”
“Right
now.”
“Right,
but we won’t be able to respond until after the play.”
“Is
SpiderGirl in the play?” Andrea asked.
“I’m
not answering that.”
Andrea
chuckled. “I know. And somehow, I’m sure Jane wouldn’t mind waiting a few hours.
But I know I won’t find something straight way. It will take time, such that
the play would likely be over first.”
As
Andrea left out the front with Scott, Quinn and Brittany emerged onto the roof.
“I still have a couple more interviews to conduct,” Quinn said.
“How
many is that?” Brittany asked.
“Seven,
Beck was the eighth.”
“Anyway,
Andrea has left with Tania’s brother.”
“So,
It’s going ahead?” Quinn asked.
“Yes,
but she said that it would take time.”
“I
knew that.”
“There’s
still an hour before the play,” Brittany said. “I’m going to patrol.”
Quinn
nodded. “With all that’s going on, the rest of Lawndale hasn’t been getting the
same attention this week.”
Dafoanairi
returned to the Historia after a quick patrol herself, and saw Ninja Talon
leave the roof. ‘Not surprising,’ she thought as she paused before re-entering.
One the ninja had gone out of sight, she re-entered the building.
Daria
entered the café and saw a large group of fellow Lawndale High students having
an early dinner. “I guess this takes their mind off things,” she commented to
Peterson.
“It
does.”
“Any
further news?”
“None,”
Peterson answered.
“It’s
still early yet.”
“Exactly.
It isn’t always dramatic rescue missions. Far from it. It’s a lot of legwork.”
“I
knew that,” Daria commented. “Intellectually. Now I’m getting a better
understanding.”
“Jane
will be found soon. I promise that.”
Twenty
minutes later, Quinn had made her decision. She went up to Dani. “Dani, you’re
hired.”
“Thanks,
Quinn,” Dani said.
“You
do realise that you have to start right away, right?”
“Of
course. The play starts in half an hour.”
“And
you may need to clean up any mess Beck left behind,” Quinn pointed out.
“Of
course.”
At
Lawndale State, Scott and Andrea entered one of the computer labs. “Thanks for
letting me do this,” Andrea said.
“Again,
I want whoever is abducting people to be caught.”
“Of
course, but there is a risk to you.”
“I will
deal with it,” Scott said as he lead Andrea to the back. “We should go
unnoticed. But there will be logs.”
“I’ll
deal with it.”
Scott
logged in. “There. As you can see, they’re still running Windows NT 4.0 on
these systems.”
“What
about the server?” Andrea asked.
“That
is Unix, but I’m not sure of the specifics.”
“That
is fine,” Andrea said as she sat.
Brittany
returned to the Historia to find that there was a line up. ‘Not surprising,’
she thought as she headed to the backstage area.
Dani
came up to Quinn and Daria.
“What’s
the situation?” Daria asked.
“The
effects seem to be normal projected effects,” Dani said. “Mostly the storm at
the beginning and some of Prospero’s magic.”
“That’s
what I expected,” Daria said.
“But
there might be unexpected ‘bugs’ that Beck left in,” Dani added. “It might
cause some hiccups.”
“I
knew that might happen,” Quinn said.
“But
I’m sure that it will go well,” Dani said. “Even if people have been comparing
it to another of the Bard’s plays.”
“I
can guess which one,” Daria grumbled.
“Huh?”
Quinn asked.
“One
of Shakespeare’s other plays is referred to as the ‘Scottish Play’ because it
involves a power struggle in Scotland and is rumored to include real magic, and
thus was cursed,” Daria explained.
“Got
it,” Quinn said.
“And
it involves swordplay, and therefore accidents can happen, including broken
legs,” Dani added.
“There’s
not much action in this one,” Quinn said.
Soon,
everyone was in their seats and the lights went down, and the curtain went up.
Agent
Leung joined Peterson out in the lobby. “The play has started?” he asked.
“Yes,”
Peterson answered. “There are plainclothes officers all around the building,
including in the café.”
“That’s
good planning.”
“But
it took last night to happen.”
“I’m
here and so is my partner,” Leung said.
“And
SpiderGIrl, as her secret identity.”
“You
sound uncertain.”
“That’s
because I’m not entirely sure, and I promised myself that I would protect her,”
Peterson said with annoyance.
“Then
keep it to yourself,” Leung said. “Between you and I, my wife has been ordered
by SHIELD to find out the identities of the vigilantes, but she has ignored
them so far.”
“Is
that wise?”
Leung
shrugged. “It’s up to her.” He looked at Peterson again. She seemed guarded.
‘Maybe SpiderGirl isn’t only one she suspects the identity of.’
Sandi
had overheard the two talking from inside the café. ‘So, Peterson suspects
someone is SpiderGIrl,’ she thought as she took a bite from her dinner.
“A
thought?” Harry asked.
“I
overheard something out there.”
“That
they’re going to find Jane?”
“More
about SpiderGirl,” Sandi answered. “The officer thinks she’s here but isn’t
sure.”
“I
see.”
“The
fourth vigilante and Dafoanairi might be here too.’
“How
do you figure that?” Harry asked.
“They
were here last night.”
Harry
thought about what Sandi said. ‘SpiderGirl didn’t show up, but Ninja Talon did.
The fourth vigilante and Dafoanairi did, but there was no mention of the
Shadow.
Tania
entered the stage as Ceres. “Hail, many colored messenger, that never disobeys
the wife of Jupiter.
Who
with your saffron wings upon my flowers diffuse honeydrops, refreshing showers.
And
with each end of the thy blue bow does crown my busy acres and my unshrubbed
down.
Rich
scarf to my proud Earth. Why has my queen summoned me hither to this
short-grassed green?”
“A
contract of true love to celebrate,
And
some donation freely to estate
On
the blessed lovers,” Nadia said as Iris.
There
was a flicker, as of something.
“Uh
oh!” Dani said. “I’m on it. It seems minor.”
“It
doesn’t seem minor,” Quinn said.
“A
little more major,” Dani said as she changed to another screen. “He has left
some scripts running. But I can manage it. There.”
Quinn
saw that the flickering was over.
Neither
Tania, nor Nadia were flustered and thus continued their lines through the
disturbance.
“Honor,
riches, marriage blessing,” Cindy sang.
‘What
other surprises are waiting for us?’ Daria wondered.
However,
the rest of the play went by smoothly and when the curtain went down there was
a standing ovation.
At
Lawndale State, Andrea was slowly making progress. Scott asked for progress
when he came back from a vending machine.
“Slowly,”
Andrea answered. “There are a number of cameras along Main Street. It’s taking
time to locate the ones near the Historia. I’m sure the play is over now.”
“9:00,
I’,m sure it is.”
Daria,
Quinn, Joey, Robert, Brittany, Jennifer, Dani, Peterson and Leung met in the
café ten minutes after the play had ended.
“The
play went off a minimum of hitches,” Quinn said.
“True,”
Dani said. “But there is no telling what else Beck may have put into the
system.”
“And
it is lucky that Tania and Nadia stayed composed,” Brittany said. She twirled a
pigtail. “They are usually that way, but others may not have reacted that way.”
“I
agree,” Daria said. “We got lucky.” She turned to Leung. “Any thing you can say
about your investigation?”
“We
were still scouring the area within a mile downstream of the Jefferson Bridge
as of nightfall,” Leung said. “The search will resume as of first light.”
“I
see,” Quinn said.
“I
can also report that LDPD didn’t see any suspicious activity around the theater
during the play,” Peterson said.
“Like
it’s quiet,” Jennifer said.
They
all looked at the usually quiet blonde.
“Like
maybe this Quentin Beck is waiting for something,” Jennifer added.
“That
is likely,” Daria said. “But how to guard against someone who seems to use the
stormwater system with impunity.”
“We
can’t guard all the manholes around the theater,” Peterson said.
“We
need to stick to guarding the theater itself,” Joey said.
“That’s
obvious,” Daria said.
“We’ll
do what we do tonight,” Peterson said.
“But
what’s next?” Dani asked.
“Not
sure,” Quinn said. “We’ll meet here again tomorrow morning.”
“Good
idea,” Robert said.
Shortly
afterwards, Quinn and Brittany changed to SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon
respectively on the roof.
“I
haven’t heard back from Andrea yet,” the latter said. “But she did say that it
would take time. We can go to her place later, though.”
“I
knew it would take time.”
“I’m
happy the first performance went well, other than that hiccup.”
“You
did very well as Ariel, and Dani really was trying her best with the limited
time she had to prepare,” SpiderGirl said. “I’m sure she’ll be a great addition
to the Historia’s team.”
“Thanks.
Why pass her over the first time?”
“Because
she didn’t have much experience. I was looking for that last time. But this
time, after interviewing her again, I found that she had what I was looking
for. The willingness to learn and to just jump in.”
“That
makes sense.”
They
then heard sirens somewhere to the west.
“I’ll
go,” SpiderGirl said. “Responsibility calls.”
“Sure,”
Ninja Talon said, having decided to wait for Andrea a little while longer.
Andrea
glanced at the clock on the right side of the screen as she started downloading
more video. 9:23. She felt something, she knew it was time for a bathroom
break. “Mind it,” she said to Scott as she headed out.
Daria
got home at the same time and found that Sandi was waiting in her room.
“Sandi?” she asked.
“How
did the play go?” Sandi asked.
“Quite
well. There was only one hiccup, but Beck may have left more.”
“That’s
good. But I have a plan.”
“Going
to the Lake and trying to locate Jane again?” Daria asked.
“Exactly,
but we’ll take your car.”
“I
doubt Mom would let us.”
“Probably
not,” Sandi said. “Then we’ll take another one.”
Daria
sighed. “Dafoanairi isn’t as much as an antihero as the Enigma, but we’ll wait
until the usual time.”
“Sure,”
Sandi said with a smirk.
Andrea
returned refreshed. She looked at the video. “Yes!”
“Found
something?” Scott asked.
“It
covers the Historia, at least. But now to find the right time.”
Daria
shook her head as she watched Sandi walk to the laneway. ‘What am I getting
into?’ she wondered to herself yet again. ‘But it’s one way that Jane could be
rescued quickly. I have seen what she can do.’ She then went down to tell her
mother about the evening.
Helen
took in what Daria and Quinn said. “So, the night went well?” she asked. “And
the search for Jane continues?”
“Yes,”
Quinn answered.
“That’s
good news. But I hope Jane will be found soon,” Helen said.
“She
will, Mom,” Quinn said.
Helen
saw the determination in her daughter’s eyes. ‘That’s another way she has
changed,’ she thought. “But what happens now?”
“The
play goes on and we’ll talk again with the authorities tomorrow,” Daria said.
“I
think it’s wonderful that you’ve taken on so much responsibility, but you can
ask for help if you want,” Helen said.
“I’ll
keep that in mind,” Quinn said. “Besides, you already helped with the legal
stuff.”
“That’s
true,” Helen said. “But otherwise.”
“I
know,’ Quinn said.
At
Lawndale State, Andrea had found something. “Drat!”
“Drat?”
Scott asked.
“The
footage is blurry, but I can make out some figure leaving the Historia carrying
another one and then going down a manhole.”
“That’s
what the vigilantes found, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,
but it’s proof.”
“But
how does that show where they went?” Scott asked.
“It
doesn’t,” Andrea said. She changed the screen. “The map shows that the
municipal CCTV is focused around the downtown area and the various other
commercial zones in Lawndale. The School has their own. The Malls both have
their own and Oscorp has their own.” She took out a copy of the Oscorp map
SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon had given her and gave it to Scott.
“That
large a presence?” he asked after a moment.
“Yes,
which is why I helped them with the blueprints of the vehicle used on Groundhog
Day. Ninja Talon said that they destroyed it.”
“It
was a prototype?”
“Yes,”
Andrea answered “But anyway, I’m almost done. Sorry if you had plans this
evening.”
“No
big deal. I would have been gaming anyway.”
“What
sort of games?”
“Mostly
real time strategy, like Age of Empires. The second game is awesome.”
It
was 10:00 before Andrea had found more footage and burned it to a CD. “Done.”
“What
about your parents?” Scott asked.
“They
know I’m out and about. Usually I would be at the Zon or Zen on Fridays. I will
be home early for once. Ninja Talon will show up at some point in the night.”
It
was well after midnight, when Sandi returned to the Morgendorffers. Daria’s
light was on as usual. She saw that Quinn’s was off. ‘Hopefully she’s asleep,’
she thought as she climbed up the trellis.
Daria
was ready. “Let’s do this,” she said as she cloaked up as Dafoanairi.
“You’re
leaving that way?” Sandi said as she tied her hair back.
“This
house isn’t observed much,” Dafoanairi responded. “Tania was a one off.”
“I
guess so,” the Enigma said as she threw off her jacket, showing the purple
ensemble beneath.
“You’re
going to leave that here?”
“I’ll
be back.”
“That’s
true,” Dafoanairi said. “Let’s go.”
After
Dafoanairi and the Enigma had left, SpiderGirl left via the backyard hatch and
swung away to the east, heading towards the Hecuba-Crofts.
