Spider Quinn 10: The New Heroes - Part 5
Later that evening there was a surprise on the news. “Breaking news. A third vigilante has been sighted in Lawndale. The description does not match neither SpiderGirl nor Ninja Talon.”
‘How many more are there going to be?’ Quinn wondered. ‘At least this time I’m not on a date.’
SpiderGirl was soon on the scene, but the new vigilante was nowhere to be seen. ‘of course not!’ she groused. But she saw that Ninja Talon was also curious.
“I see that you heard too,” the latter said.
“Yes,” SpiderGirl admitted. “But we can’t talk here.”
“At one of the bridges?”
“Yes.”
Ninja Talon wondered whether SpiderGirl knew anything. Whoever this new person was had appeared out of nowhere, as much as she had. She paused as she came to the middle of the Jefferson Bridge. “What do we know so far?” she asked SpiderGirl who had got there first.
“Not much,” SpiderGirl admitted. “That they don’t look like either of us.”
“That’s what I heard too. So, what now?”
“We do what I did when you appeared.”
“So, try to talk while chasing them down?” Ninja Talon asked.
“Yes, and try to determine if they might be people we know.”
“You did that?”
“Yes. I only ruled out Stacy and Anna before I found out,” SpiderGirl said.
“Might this one be one of them?” Ninja Talon asked. ‘Not that likely. But she didn’t suspect my identity, either.’
“We can’t rule it out,” SpiderGirl said as she swung to the top of a light pole and hung upside down.
“How are you doing that?”
“I think it’s an instinct.”
“Oh,” Ninja Talon responded.
“Anyway. We need to come up with a plan.”
“True.”
“Tomorrow night I’ll do the chasing. Then you on the next night,” SpiderGirl said.
“And the night after that?”
“Then we’ll both do it and meet here again if we don’t succeed.”
“I agree,” Ninja Talon decided.
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Friday January 19, 2001
New Vigilante sighted
‘Doesn’t look like SpiderGirl nor Ninja Talon’
SpiderGirl read the article a few times. It was just speculation. ‘May as well focus on the presentations and Angie,’ she thought as she headed towards the school to finish her speech.
Brittany arrived at the school at the same time as Angie. “Brittany!” the other called out.
“Yes?”
“Quinn is starting the tutoring this afternoon.”
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?” Brittany asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ll do fine,” Brittany said as she hugged her friend.
“Thanks, Britttany.”
Quinn entered the Library. She found that Ben and Anna were already there. “Where’s Gerald?” she asked.
“Not sure,” Anna said.
“We can’t wait too long,” Quinn said.
“Because you’re starting with Angie?” Ben asked.
“Yes, so we’ll wait another five minutes before starting without him,” Quinn said.
Ben and Anna both nodded.
Gerald ran into the Library to see that Anna had already started. “Sorry I’m late,” he said after Anna paused.
“That’s OK,” Anna said.
“You did show up,” Quinn said.
“True,” Gerald said.
“Now I know Ben will groan, but now I’ll review Darby O’Gill and the Little People…” Anna continued.
Anna finished her speech.
“That was quite good,” Quinn praised.
“Thanks,” Anna said.
“Ben.”
Ben jumped up as Anna sat down. “It’s know it’s not a surprise that my hypochondria led me to be interested in medicine. But this is why I’m interested in forensic medicine in particular…”
Quinn found that Ben did as well as his friend. “That was good, Ben.”
“Thanks,” Ben said as he sat down.
She turned to Gerald. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Gerald found that his stage fright got the best of him, with him not projecting his voice well. However, he kept going. “As you heard, I’m not good at public speaking,” he said as he finished.
“It was difficult to hear in parts but I got it,” Anna said.
“Same here,” Quinn said. “Maybe someone can help you with your projection.”
“Maybe,” Gerald said. “But they haven’t really taught me how.”
“Right,” Quinn considered. “But I think there’s a technique. Anyway, my turn.”
“I thought I was interested in fashion. But now I think I’m more interested in design. I have always had an eye for detail, often noticing things others have missed,” Quinn began.
“Thanks, Quinn.” Anna said when Quinn had finished.
“You’re welcome,” Anna said.
“And I notice that Gerald is disappointed as usual,” Quinn said.
“Yes,” Gerald said.
“But I also pointed out where you can improve,” Quinn said.
“But I’ll probably need to go to a speech pathologist or something,” Gerald said.
“Maybe one of the teachers,” Quinn said.
“But not O’Neill.”
Angie entered the Library and saw that the other three were leaving. ‘Good,’ she thought. All three of them except the hypochondriac ignored her.
“Angie,” Ben said as he came up.
“Hi Ben,” she said quietly.
“I heard about what happened,” Ben said.
“From Quinn?”
“No, from others.”
“Great!” Angie groused. “rumourmongering.”
“It was more that they were concerned,” Ben said. He then ran to catch up with Anna.
“So, where would you like to start?” Quinn asked.
“I’m not sure,” Angie admitted.
“I wasn’t sure before what happened, happened. But now I know that I want to do something to do with design.”
“So, a crisis has to happen, right?”
“Didn’t you just have a crisis?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. But I still don’t know what I want to do.”
“I believe Daria once said that she didn’t want to be waking up in her forties doing something she hates because she was forced to choose something her teens.”
“So, I don’t have to choose,” Angie said.
“No.”
“Good. Let’s do everything.”
“But we still have to start somewhere,” Quinn pointed out.
“True.”
“Or I could choose.”
“You don’t have to,” Angie said. “I’ll do it.”
“Take your time,” Quinn said.
Quinn looked around the library as Angie looked about the Non Fiction section.
“What I find most interesting,” Angie mused. “But that has to do with sport,” she added as she grabbed a book on cheerleading. “But I want to something else as well.”
“What other sports are you interested in?” Quinn asked.
“Water Polo, but I couldn’t make the team.”
“Right.”
“I will find something,” Angie said.
“Here we are. History. DeMartino is the one who gets through the most,” Angie said.
“If only he didn’t focus on Kevin so much?” Quinn asked.
“That sounded like Daria.”
“True.”
“Sometimes I think that Kevin brings down the IQ of the whole school!” Angie groused.
“Lets’ focus shall we.”
“Of course. We’re doing the Interwar era at present.”
“A good start,” Quinn said. “973.”
“Huh?”
“973. That’s the number for American History.”
“Oh,” Angie said.
“Here it is; Causes of the Great Depression. I’m sure that was what Daria called it.”
“Thanks.”
Half an hour later, Angie left the library, satisfied that Quinn would be able to help her.
SpiderGirl watched Angie as she left the school. ‘I doubt she’s the new vigilante,’ she thought. But she wanted to rule it out. So, she followed Angie home and watched the vicinity of the house for a while. But then she heard sirens back downtown. ‘Responsibility calls,’ she thought as she swung away.
Peterson knew SpiderGirl would appear. “What’s the situation?” the superheroine asked.
“Armed hold up in the convenience store,” Peterson explained as she pointed to the store in question.
“I’m on it!”
The person holding up the store suddenly found himself unarmed as a web pulled his gun upwards. SpiderGirl had crawled above him on the ceiling! “It’s that freak!” he said.
“I’m a superhero!” the girl exclaimed as she webbed him up.
“You’re just acting like one,” the guy complained.
“Quiet!” SpiderGirl said as she shot a web over his mouth.
“He is secured,” SpiderGirl said to Peterson once outside again.
“Thanks for the help. I don’t know how it would have went down if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Quite badly I would think,” SpiderGirl said before swinging away.
She headed home. It wasn’t until late at night that a report of the new vigilante came on the radio.
“The new vigilante has again been seen in downtown Lawndale, on Main Street.”
“Main Street,” Quinn murmured.
SpiderGirl arrived on Main Street and saw a shadowy figure on a rooftop. ‘There you are!’ she thought. She then chased after her.
It went much like the previous time, except this time the person generated some sort of fog and disappeared into it.
“Huh?” SpiderGirl asked. ‘She must have used dry ice or something,’ she thought.
She looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere. ‘It’s like she’s slipped into the shadows,’ she thought.
SpiderGirl returned home after hours of fruitless searching.
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Saturday January 20, 2001
New Vigilante sighted again
Brittany put the paper aside. It was obvious that SpiderGirl had failed to contact that new vigilante. ‘I will try tonight,’ she thought.
But first, she wanted to improve her costume, a little. She went back to her room and went into her closet. She looked at it where she had stored it near the back. ‘It seems good for what I have been doing, but I don’t know what this new vigilante is capable of. She could have powers that are different to SpiderGirl’s.’ Did she need more offense. More than being a ninja who used talons. She twirled a pigtail as she thought about it. ‘Maybe some sort of special effect?’ she concluded. She then left the closet and grabbed a piece of paper from a drawer.
“So, flames? How to do that without setting myself alight? Should I ask Ms. Barch on Monday?” She shook her head. She would have to do some research, either that or ask SpiderGirl to ask Daria discretely. ‘No, she will figure it out eventually. I will do that research.’ She quickly drew a figure of herself in the costume. The she wrote ‘flames?’
By mid morning she had come up with something although she wasn’t sure whether it would work. “I’ll try it later.”
Brittany met Kevin, Angie and Robert at the Theatre. “Hi, Babe!” Kevin said as she walked up.
“Hi, Kevy,” she said. She wasn’t sure about it, the ongoing relationship. She was sure she was in it because it was expected. She sighed.
“What’s wrong, Babe?”
“Nothing.”
“Anyway, the refurbishments have started,” Robert said as he opened the door.
“That’s good,” Brittany responded. She followed him in and saw that the repainting was ongoing, well on it’s way to restoring the lobby to its original glory.
“And Mr. Osborn has been overseeing the process from time to time,” Angie said.
“So, you’re joining in?” Brittany asked.
“Yes. I will be training to be a barista as well as Quinn and Stacy.”
Norman Osborn than appeared. “Welcome everyone.”
“I’m the only one of the four business partners here,” Robert said.
“Mr. Green and the Morgendorffer girls are on their way,” Osborn said.
“Right,” Robert said.
‘How many more are there going to be?’ Quinn wondered. ‘At least this time I’m not on a date.’
SpiderGirl was soon on the scene, but the new vigilante was nowhere to be seen. ‘of course not!’ she groused. But she saw that Ninja Talon was also curious.
“I see that you heard too,” the latter said.
“Yes,” SpiderGirl admitted. “But we can’t talk here.”
“At one of the bridges?”
“Yes.”
Ninja Talon wondered whether SpiderGirl knew anything. Whoever this new person was had appeared out of nowhere, as much as she had. She paused as she came to the middle of the Jefferson Bridge. “What do we know so far?” she asked SpiderGirl who had got there first.
“Not much,” SpiderGirl admitted. “That they don’t look like either of us.”
“That’s what I heard too. So, what now?”
“We do what I did when you appeared.”
“So, try to talk while chasing them down?” Ninja Talon asked.
“Yes, and try to determine if they might be people we know.”
“You did that?”
“Yes. I only ruled out Stacy and Anna before I found out,” SpiderGirl said.
“Might this one be one of them?” Ninja Talon asked. ‘Not that likely. But she didn’t suspect my identity, either.’
“We can’t rule it out,” SpiderGirl said as she swung to the top of a light pole and hung upside down.
“How are you doing that?”
“I think it’s an instinct.”
“Oh,” Ninja Talon responded.
“Anyway. We need to come up with a plan.”
“True.”
“Tomorrow night I’ll do the chasing. Then you on the next night,” SpiderGirl said.
“And the night after that?”
“Then we’ll both do it and meet here again if we don’t succeed.”
“I agree,” Ninja Talon decided.
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Friday January 19, 2001
New Vigilante sighted
‘Doesn’t look like SpiderGirl nor Ninja Talon’
SpiderGirl read the article a few times. It was just speculation. ‘May as well focus on the presentations and Angie,’ she thought as she headed towards the school to finish her speech.
Brittany arrived at the school at the same time as Angie. “Brittany!” the other called out.
“Yes?”
“Quinn is starting the tutoring this afternoon.”
“You’re nervous, aren’t you?” Brittany asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ll do fine,” Brittany said as she hugged her friend.
“Thanks, Britttany.”
Quinn entered the Library. She found that Ben and Anna were already there. “Where’s Gerald?” she asked.
“Not sure,” Anna said.
“We can’t wait too long,” Quinn said.
“Because you’re starting with Angie?” Ben asked.
“Yes, so we’ll wait another five minutes before starting without him,” Quinn said.
Ben and Anna both nodded.
Gerald ran into the Library to see that Anna had already started. “Sorry I’m late,” he said after Anna paused.
“That’s OK,” Anna said.
“You did show up,” Quinn said.
“True,” Gerald said.
“Now I know Ben will groan, but now I’ll review Darby O’Gill and the Little People…” Anna continued.
Anna finished her speech.
“That was quite good,” Quinn praised.
“Thanks,” Anna said.
“Ben.”
Ben jumped up as Anna sat down. “It’s know it’s not a surprise that my hypochondria led me to be interested in medicine. But this is why I’m interested in forensic medicine in particular…”
Quinn found that Ben did as well as his friend. “That was good, Ben.”
“Thanks,” Ben said as he sat down.
She turned to Gerald. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Gerald found that his stage fright got the best of him, with him not projecting his voice well. However, he kept going. “As you heard, I’m not good at public speaking,” he said as he finished.
“It was difficult to hear in parts but I got it,” Anna said.
“Same here,” Quinn said. “Maybe someone can help you with your projection.”
“Maybe,” Gerald said. “But they haven’t really taught me how.”
“Right,” Quinn considered. “But I think there’s a technique. Anyway, my turn.”
“I thought I was interested in fashion. But now I think I’m more interested in design. I have always had an eye for detail, often noticing things others have missed,” Quinn began.
“Thanks, Quinn.” Anna said when Quinn had finished.
“You’re welcome,” Anna said.
“And I notice that Gerald is disappointed as usual,” Quinn said.
“Yes,” Gerald said.
“But I also pointed out where you can improve,” Quinn said.
“But I’ll probably need to go to a speech pathologist or something,” Gerald said.
“Maybe one of the teachers,” Quinn said.
“But not O’Neill.”
Angie entered the Library and saw that the other three were leaving. ‘Good,’ she thought. All three of them except the hypochondriac ignored her.
“Angie,” Ben said as he came up.
“Hi Ben,” she said quietly.
“I heard about what happened,” Ben said.
“From Quinn?”
“No, from others.”
“Great!” Angie groused. “rumourmongering.”
“It was more that they were concerned,” Ben said. He then ran to catch up with Anna.
“So, where would you like to start?” Quinn asked.
“I’m not sure,” Angie admitted.
“I wasn’t sure before what happened, happened. But now I know that I want to do something to do with design.”
“So, a crisis has to happen, right?”
“Didn’t you just have a crisis?” Quinn asked.
“Yes. But I still don’t know what I want to do.”
“I believe Daria once said that she didn’t want to be waking up in her forties doing something she hates because she was forced to choose something her teens.”
“So, I don’t have to choose,” Angie said.
“No.”
“Good. Let’s do everything.”
“But we still have to start somewhere,” Quinn pointed out.
“True.”
“Or I could choose.”
“You don’t have to,” Angie said. “I’ll do it.”
“Take your time,” Quinn said.
Quinn looked around the library as Angie looked about the Non Fiction section.
“What I find most interesting,” Angie mused. “But that has to do with sport,” she added as she grabbed a book on cheerleading. “But I want to something else as well.”
“What other sports are you interested in?” Quinn asked.
“Water Polo, but I couldn’t make the team.”
“Right.”
“I will find something,” Angie said.
“Here we are. History. DeMartino is the one who gets through the most,” Angie said.
“If only he didn’t focus on Kevin so much?” Quinn asked.
“That sounded like Daria.”
“True.”
“Sometimes I think that Kevin brings down the IQ of the whole school!” Angie groused.
“Lets’ focus shall we.”
“Of course. We’re doing the Interwar era at present.”
“A good start,” Quinn said. “973.”
“Huh?”
“973. That’s the number for American History.”
“Oh,” Angie said.
“Here it is; Causes of the Great Depression. I’m sure that was what Daria called it.”
“Thanks.”
Half an hour later, Angie left the library, satisfied that Quinn would be able to help her.
SpiderGirl watched Angie as she left the school. ‘I doubt she’s the new vigilante,’ she thought. But she wanted to rule it out. So, she followed Angie home and watched the vicinity of the house for a while. But then she heard sirens back downtown. ‘Responsibility calls,’ she thought as she swung away.
Peterson knew SpiderGirl would appear. “What’s the situation?” the superheroine asked.
“Armed hold up in the convenience store,” Peterson explained as she pointed to the store in question.
“I’m on it!”
The person holding up the store suddenly found himself unarmed as a web pulled his gun upwards. SpiderGirl had crawled above him on the ceiling! “It’s that freak!” he said.
“I’m a superhero!” the girl exclaimed as she webbed him up.
“You’re just acting like one,” the guy complained.
“Quiet!” SpiderGirl said as she shot a web over his mouth.
“He is secured,” SpiderGirl said to Peterson once outside again.
“Thanks for the help. I don’t know how it would have went down if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Quite badly I would think,” SpiderGirl said before swinging away.
She headed home. It wasn’t until late at night that a report of the new vigilante came on the radio.
“The new vigilante has again been seen in downtown Lawndale, on Main Street.”
“Main Street,” Quinn murmured.
SpiderGirl arrived on Main Street and saw a shadowy figure on a rooftop. ‘There you are!’ she thought. She then chased after her.
It went much like the previous time, except this time the person generated some sort of fog and disappeared into it.
“Huh?” SpiderGirl asked. ‘She must have used dry ice or something,’ she thought.
She looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere. ‘It’s like she’s slipped into the shadows,’ she thought.
SpiderGirl returned home after hours of fruitless searching.
Lawndale Sun-Herald
Saturday January 20, 2001
New Vigilante sighted again
Brittany put the paper aside. It was obvious that SpiderGirl had failed to contact that new vigilante. ‘I will try tonight,’ she thought.
But first, she wanted to improve her costume, a little. She went back to her room and went into her closet. She looked at it where she had stored it near the back. ‘It seems good for what I have been doing, but I don’t know what this new vigilante is capable of. She could have powers that are different to SpiderGirl’s.’ Did she need more offense. More than being a ninja who used talons. She twirled a pigtail as she thought about it. ‘Maybe some sort of special effect?’ she concluded. She then left the closet and grabbed a piece of paper from a drawer.
“So, flames? How to do that without setting myself alight? Should I ask Ms. Barch on Monday?” She shook her head. She would have to do some research, either that or ask SpiderGirl to ask Daria discretely. ‘No, she will figure it out eventually. I will do that research.’ She quickly drew a figure of herself in the costume. The she wrote ‘flames?’
By mid morning she had come up with something although she wasn’t sure whether it would work. “I’ll try it later.”
Brittany met Kevin, Angie and Robert at the Theatre. “Hi, Babe!” Kevin said as she walked up.
“Hi, Kevy,” she said. She wasn’t sure about it, the ongoing relationship. She was sure she was in it because it was expected. She sighed.
“What’s wrong, Babe?”
“Nothing.”
“Anyway, the refurbishments have started,” Robert said as he opened the door.
“That’s good,” Brittany responded. She followed him in and saw that the repainting was ongoing, well on it’s way to restoring the lobby to its original glory.
“And Mr. Osborn has been overseeing the process from time to time,” Angie said.
“So, you’re joining in?” Brittany asked.
“Yes. I will be training to be a barista as well as Quinn and Stacy.”
Norman Osborn than appeared. “Welcome everyone.”
“I’m the only one of the four business partners here,” Robert said.
“Mr. Green and the Morgendorffer girls are on their way,” Osborn said.
“Right,” Robert said.