After sunset, the Enigma looked out over Lawndale
from her roof. The normal appearance of the suburbia belied the tensions and
changes that were happening. She looked at some of the brighter stars that
managed to peak through the cloud cover. ‘Lawndale is continuing to change,’
she thought. The downfall of Lynn Anders was only part of it. She then grabbed
her yearbook, which she had brought up with her. “Lara Edgars on Friday night,
after that fake interview,” she said to herself. “Next is Therese Edwards.”
She grabbed the energy drink and downed it. “Findu
mann hem heiter: Therese Edwards!”
She found Therese at the Historia, having dinner.
At the same time, Ninja Talon and SpiderGirl met at
their spot below the Jefferson Bridge and unmasked.
“You did it?” Brittany asked.
Quinn nodded. “Yes, I did it. It’s up to Mrs.
Jericho now. It might be in tomorrow’s paper. Or Tuesday’s.”
“You sound like it went well.”
“More, that I’m relieved.”
“But there’s still who’s behind the robo-dactyl,”
Brittany said.
“I hope Andrea found something.”
“I’ll be at her place around midnight.”
“Then we can meet back here towards sunrise,” Quinn
said with a yawn.
“Or maybe before school?”
“It will be fine. It’s that these last two weeks
have been more busy than usual.”
Before she got into bed, Fields opened her closet
and looked at the fake SpiderGirl suit she had brought home. ‘I could use it,’
she thought. ‘Not as SpiderGirl, of course, but as a new vigilante, countering
Oscorp, after I dye and make changes to it.’
She thought about it some more. ‘But that will take
time, which I’ll use to train myself.’
It was after midnight when Ninja Talon arrived at
Andrea’s. She didn’t get there any earlier, as she was sure that Ashley-Amber
was suspecting something after the hospital admission the previous week. ‘But
my leg is feeling better,’ she thought as she opened the Hecuba’s back door.
Andrea turned and saw Brittany enter her room and
close the door before unmasking.
“Hey Andy.”
‘Still with the nickname,’ she thought. But
Brittany was unlikely to stop using it. “Hi, Brit.”
“So, did you find something?” she asked as she sat
on the bed.
“Yes,” Andrea answered as she brought up a collage
of screenshots from the footage she had put together.
Brittany looked. “There is a controller there, but
it’s otherwise blurry.”
“I agree, there weren’t cameras very close to her
position, but it does prove that someone was controlling it.”
Brittany looked through the footage. “All I can say
is that she’s as white as we are.”
“That’s not much to go on at all.”
“Still, maybe Spidey would make more of it.”
“I’ll burn you a copy,” Andrea said.
It didn’t take long for Andrea to burn another CD.
Brittany was patient, and listened to her radio through an earbud as she
waited.
“Here,” Andrea said.
“Thanks.”
“I hope it helps.”
“We’ll get something out of it,” Brittany said, as
she fidgeted with her mask. She then put it back on. “Later, Andy.”
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Monday March 5, 2001
What Really Happened to Lynn
Anders?
Melinda Parris
SpiderGirl in Her Own Words
Penelope Jericho
Quinn finished re-reading her interview as Brittany
arrived where she had been waiting beneath the Bridge.
“Hey Quinn. Is your interview there?” Brittany
asked.
“Yes, right here,” Quinn answered as she showed
Brittany.
“Andrea did find something,” Brittany said as she
looked at the interview.
Quinn could tell it wasn’t entirely good news. “But
it wasn’t much?”
“No,” Brittany answered as she handed over the
disk. “We could see that there was a controller, but we couldn’t see the lady’s
face.”
Quinn thought about it as Brittany read the
interview. They were nowhere near solving that mystery. Was it Oscorp, or was
it something unrelated. And there was still the question of why someone would
try to draw her out in that manner.
“You did very well,” Brittany said.
“Thanks.”
“But we still don’t know.”
“No, but what is happening in Lawndale may have
drawn the attention of others,” Quinn said. She looked out where the dawn was
appearing.
Brittany nodded.
“Anyway, I need to get back before breakfast.”
“Same here.”
Quinn entered the kitchen early to see her mother
reading the interview article.
“Quinn! You’re up early.”
“Couldn’t get back to sleep,” she said truthfully.
She was wondering if Ted had managed to come up with the retraction article in
a satisfactory manner.
“That seems to be the problem lately. Sometimes I
dream that he’s still here…”
“I have similar dreams. Where Lawndale is the same
as it was.”
“If I knew the town was going to change so much, I
would got a place in Oakwood,” her mother said.
“That would have been different,” Quinn said,
quietly. “But what do you think about that interview?”
“It makes sense that SpiderGirl would want to put
her own story out there in a way that she could control, especially after what
happened with Lynn Anders.”
“I agree.”
“But there is something I’m missing,” her mother
said in a pondering tone.
“What’s that?”
“I’m not sure. It’s like the phrasing of the
questions is reminding me of something.”
‘Oops!’ Quinn thought. “It’s probably nothing.”
“You may be right,” her mother said as she turned
the page and took a bite from her toast.
Lawndale Lowdown
March 5, 2001
Retraction of Previous Article
Quinn isn’t Into Kevin
Most of the students of Lawndale High were talking
about the fake interview and the fall of Lynn Anders as they arrived at school.
In homeroom, Quinn read through the retraction
article. Ted had done a rather good job, effectively refuting what Jamie had
written. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“You think Kevin is going to get it?” Aleecia
Nibblet asked.
“I hope so,” Quinn answered, “but I’m sure he
will.”
“Or maybe that kidnapping has affected him,”
Aleecia suggested.
“I’m sure it did in some way.”
Quinn met Ted on the way to her first class.
“Morning Quinn.”
“You did well with the article.”
“Thanks, but I hope that it got through to Kevin,”
Ted said.
Quinn giggled a little. “I hope so too. But if he
doesn’t, it’s not a failure on your part.”
“But would Ms. Li see it that way?”
“I’m sure she’s read it by now.”
It wasn’t until lunch time when Quinn crossed paths
with Kevin, after getting her food.
“Hey, Quinn!” Kevin said in a tone that was
contrite for him.
“You read the Lowdown?”
Quinn asked rhetorically.
Kevin nodded. “Yes. It seems Jamie was lying.”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“He misunderstood something. He thought I liked you
when I didn’t,” Quinn answered. “Do you understand?”
“A little.”
“Good.”
“But now I realise that I was kind of, what is it?”
Kevin started.
“Rebounding.”
“Yeah, rebounding from Brittany. I wasn’t, still
not sure what to do.”
“Take time, Kevin,” Quinn said, although she knew
that he would ignore that advice.
“Maybe, but SpiderGirl! She’s cool.”
‘Oh great!’ Quinn thought. “She is cool, but she’s
busy.”
“I know what they say, that her secret identity is
here at the school.”
“She could be anybody.”
“I mean, she’s really cool!” Kevin clarified.
“You’re not just saying that because she rescued
you on the weekend?”
Kevin was then in thought. “Probably,” he admitted.
“But I have to say, she’s cute.”
“I’m not going to repeat that,” Quinn responded.
“The fourth vigilante, not that cool. The Violet
Fierce wasn’t either.”
‘The Violet Force,’
Quinn corrected mentally. “I guess not,” she said with a giggle.
Then someone called out for Kevin at the end of the
cafeteria.
“Oops, gottta go!”
“Weird,” Quinn said when she had sat with Stacy,
Tori and Tiffany.
“That Kevin is now crushing on SpiderGirl?” Tori
asked. “Not that much.”
“But at least Ted got through to him with the
article,” Stacy said.
“Totally,” Quinn said.
“So, that’s the end of that,” Sandi said to Daria
and Harry as she reread the article.
“Yes, Kevin knows Quinn doesn’t like him in that
way,” Daria said. “Which is a relief, but it seems that he now has a crush on
SpiderGirl.”
“Well, he was rescued by her,” Sandi said.
“But it doesn’t seem that he also has a crush on
the fourth vigilante,” Harry added.
‘Thank goodness,’ Sandi thought.
“Probably because she doesn’t give her hero name,”
Daria responded.
“And probably her attitude turned him off,” Sandi
added.
“That too,” Daria said with a slight smirk.
Tania then joined them. “Talking about Kevin?” she
asked.
“A little,” Daria said. “More the weekend.”
“I lost track of how many phone calls after that
interview,” Tania said. “Was it worth it to destroy Lynn Anders’ career?”
Daria considered Tania’s question. “She didn’t
deserve it, even if she might have been manipulated into giving the interview
and kidnapping Kevin.”
“I agree. Something happened,” Tania said.
“I have my suspicions,” Daria said.
“My father?” Harry asked quietly.
Daria nodded. “No proof, just a hunch. I’m sorry.”
“True, and he’s out of the hospital tomorrow. It
appears that he has completely recovered,” Harry said.
“That is good news at least,” Sandi said as she
took a bite.
“But the question is; what does he have planned for
Lawndale?” Daria posited.
“That he hasn’t said,” Harry said.
“And he’s unlikely to say,” Daria added.
