Spider Quinn 22 Attractions of Lawndale - Part 12

 

Brittany considered patrolling as she left the Historia, but she knew Ashley-Amber would get more suspicious if she was late for another night in a row. ‘I can catch up with Quinn in the early hours,’ she thought.

 

 

SpiderGirl headed out not long after midnight when she found that she couldn’t get to sleep. The thoughts about Kevin and Oscorp together were keeping her awake. After a short time listening to the town on the roof, she headed towards the Jefferson Bridge.

 

 

Brittany saw Quinn arrive as SpiderGirl and then unmask.

 

“You think something is off too?” Quinn asked.

 

“Yes. Something to do with Osborn may have been doing last night,” Brittany responded.

 

“I agree. But where? We can’t just assume it’s the Country Club.”

 

Brittany nodded. “We could patrol, but miss what he might be up to.”

 

“And the Country Club can’t be seen from the Historia or the Giant Strawberry.”

 

“Nor from school.”

 

“But we can check on it,” Quinn decided.

 

Brittany nodded in agreement before pulling her mask on.

 

 

They headed southeast from the Bridge, through the more well to do subdivisions of Lawndale, and skirting Crewe Necke to the southwest.

 

They were getting closed when SpiderGirl paused. “It’s not the glider, it’s something else. Multiple other machines,” she said.

 

“That’s not good,” Ninja Talon responded. “What do they sound like?”

 

“Not sure. We have to get closer.”

 

 

They swung over the last line of trees to find a line of snow machines working at full pelt in an attempt to cover the fairways with snow.

 

They both paused and swung back amongst foliage. “This is unexpected,” SpiderGirl commented.

 

“Maybe Osborn is using this to disrupt the Country Club.”

 

“That makes sense, but we can’t just leap in and stop it.”

 

Ninja Talon nodded. “We need to talk to some of the operators first.”

 

“I agree.”

 

 

However, as they came closer, they saw that one of the operators was Sam Elders. “I suppose that’s one reason he was bailed,” SpiderGirl mused.

 

“We’ll have to ask him,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“We’ll do that right now.”

 

 

Sam Elders was surprised when he heard the thwip of SpiderGirl’s webbing over the din of the snow machine. He turned in the direction. “SpiderGirl!”

 

“What is going on here?” SpiderGirl asked.

 

“Nothing illegal,” he answered.

 

“It is if the Country Club doesn’t agree,” Ninja Talon said after creeping up.

 

“All I know is, this is a job,” Sam responded.

 

“Then you don’t know who it is for?” SpiderGirl asked.

 

“No.”

 

“You really should be asking questions,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“It’s likely Norman Osborn at the top,” Ninja Talon added.

 

“That doesn’t change anything!” Sam objected.

 

“What if we told you that he may be responsible for Groundhog Day,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“I would be skeptical,” Sam said. “Let me get on with this.”

 

“No.” SpiderGirl said. “We need to get to the bottom of this.”

 

“There isn’t much time,” Ninja Talon said. “Our contact may be asleep.”

 

“We may need to wake them,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“A contact?” Sam asked.

 

“No comment!” Ninja Talon responded.

 

“So…” SpiderGirl prompted.

 

“We’ll wake them,” Ninja Talon responded.

 

 

Andrea hadn’t been sleeping anyway, with the thoughts of what was going on in Lawndale, along with O’Neill’s assignment and the passing fad being heavily on her mind. She was about to dial up, when the phone rang. She picked it up without hesitation. “Hello? Talon?” she asked, she asked as she was sure that Brittany was being her heroine alter ego.

 

“Yes, Andrea. Spidey and I need you to check something.”

 

“Why am I not surprised?” she asked rhetorically. “Fill me in.”

 

 

SpiderGirl waited as Ninja Talon filled Andrea in. As she did so, she stood just outside the phone booth, listening. Although the din of the snow machines was still quite close, she could listen to the town northwards. There wasn’t much happening. Dogs barking in the distance, owls hooting along the Creek. She couldn’t hear the gilder. That was certain. ‘Osborn is changing up his tactics. Burying the Country Club in snow would be temporary disruption at best. What would he get out of it?’

 

 

“So, that’s it?” Andrea asked when Brittany had finished.

 

“Yes. Find out what may be happening here. Spidey and I will try to stop it without too much damage or hurting the operators.”

 

“SpiderGirl’s webbing doesn’t seem to hurt anyone it restrains,” Andrea pointed out.

 

“That’s true, but sometimes they struggle, and she’s not experienced with equipment like this.”

 

“Got it. But this would probably take till breakfast time. Either way, we will catch up at school.”

 

“Sure.”

 

 

“I will need to web up Sam, but maybe the other operators will be more reasonable,” SpiderGirl said in a hopeful tone as Ninja Talon hung up.

 

“Hopefully.”

 

 

Sam wasn’t that surprised when he heard a thwip! and found himself restrained. “SpiderGirl! Decided to interfere anyway?”

 

“Exactly,” SpiderGirl said as

 

Ninja Talon turned the snow machine off. “On to the next one.”

 

“You can’t just leave me here!” Sam said.

 

“You’ll be safe,” SpiderGirl said. “Gotta go!”

 

 

“It did sound suspicious, but I was desperate,” One of the others said.

 

“That’s what we have been hearing,” SpiderGirl said.

 

“But if you’re sure that the Country Club didn’t ask themselves…” the worker paused and then switched off the machine himself.

 

“Five down,” Ninja Talon said.

 

“However many more to go,” SpiderGIrl added.

 

 

Norman Osborn was awake. He was waiting for a report on the burial of the Country Club. When the phone rang he picked it before second ring.

 

“Mr. Osborn! Vigilantes have interfered as you suspected they would.”

 

“Which ones?” he asked.

 

“SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon, sir.”

 

“Of course,” Norman groused.

 

“They’ve turned them all off.”

 

“Of course they did. Withdraw.”

 

“Aye, sir,” the supervisor said before hanging up.

 

“SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon…. But that leaves the Griffins, the Shadow and Dafoanairi. They could be anywhere.”

 

 

SpiderGirl and Ninja Talon finished shutting down the snow machines. “Done,” the former said.

 

“But what else?” Ninja Talon asked.

 

“It could be anywhere,” SpiderGirl said as she looked back towards the center of Lawndale. “Or maybe he wants us paranoid and running about in a panic.”

 

“We could look over the town from the Historia and the Strawberry. If he’s up to something, we may find it.”

 

“Even with those vantage points we can’t see the entire town, but it’s a good starting point. I’ll head to the Strawberry.”

 

“I’ll take the Historia,” Ninja Talon agreed. “Then we can catch up at the Bridge or at school.”

 

SpiderGirl yawned. “Probably school.”

 

 

Ninja Talon arrived at the Historia first, to find the Shadow there, sketching the skyline.

 

“Ninja Talon?” the latter asked.

 

“Hi, Shadow. have you seen anything?”

 

“Not much, although there was a low rumble to the south a short while ago.”

 

“That was something Spidey and I dealt with,” Ninja Talon responded.

 

“What was it?”

 

 

Ninja Talon then told the Shadow about the snow machines that Oscorp might have been behind them, but not about Sam.

 

 

SpiderGirl arrived at the Giant Strawberry and found it deserted. It wasn’t that she had expected anyone to be there, but that it was possible that either Kevin or the Enigma could have been present.

 

First, she looked out over the town, which seemed calm. ‘Resting,’ she thought.

 

She then looked through the telescopes. She saw two figures on the Historia rooftop in the distance. ‘Talon and someone else talking,’ she considered. She looked elsewhere, but there was no suspicious activity other than the occasional Oscorp agent on a rooftop. ‘They’re doing what they have usually been doing.’

 

She then heard sirens to the northeast near the Interstate. “Responsibility calls,” she said as she swung away.

 

 

The Shadow thought about what Ninja Talon had revealed. A plot by Norman Osborn to destroy the Country Club? It seemed rather petty. ‘It does line up with the rumors about that meeting at Grace, Sloane and Page.’

 

“What do you think?”

 

“That you’re right. Osborn is up to something. But it seems that it is just one plan among many.”

 

“That’s obvious,” Ninja Talon said seriously.

 

“But it seems you two can’t do much more tonight.”

 

“I have got in touch with a person I know who can hack.”

 

“I think SpiderGirl mentioned that before,” the Shadow said.

 

“When was that?”

 

“Just after the robodactyl attack.”

 

 

SpiderGirl arrived at the location and found Officer Peterson and her partner having pulled over a drunk driver. “Oh!” she said.

 

“Not much here,” Peterson said.

 

“I know.”

 

“But did you want to talk about something.”

 

“Yes,” SpiderGirl said before filling Peterson in on both Kevin’s obsession and the incident at the Country Club.