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The Irresistible Arachnia – Prologue: A New Life
By
Celgress
Waldo Florida late August 2015, night
"Mary Jane Watson please turn down that dreadful noise." Anna Watson said.
The matronly grey haired woman stood in the doorway her ears covered by her hands. She wore a simple white blouse with low rise black shoes. Her grey hair done up in a tight bun.
"Sorry Aunt Anna. Guess I got carried away." Mary Jane said flipping off her stereo a birthday gift from her exasperated Aunt. She plucked her mp3 player out of its cradle and put the device away in a drawer. Mary Jane then flopped stomach first back onto her double bed. Mary Jane was dressed in modest pajamas made up of grey draw string sweat pants and a forest green short sleeved top.
"No need for apologizes dear." Anna Watson said her formerly stern demeanor softening. "Just keep it down from now on, alright?"
"Sure thing Aunt Anna." Mary Jane said smiling up at her aunt. Anna smiled back warmly.
Anna Watson was painfully aware of what her wayward niece had been through in recent years. Anna's worthless excuse for a brother and after he'd gotten himself killed her neglectful sister-in-law had made the poor child's teenage years a mess. Not that Mary Jane's or her older sister's lives had ever been what Anna would call rosy, far from it in fact. Deeply disappointed, not to mention disgusted, by their behavior Anna felt she little choice but to clear up the mess her relatives had caused by sheltering Mary Jane when Mary Jane had contacted her late last year.
"Maybe I should message Peter? Tell him how I'm doing." Mary Jane said powering up her tablet.
Anna Watson cleared her throat loudly. "Mary Jane we've already discussed this. Peter Parker is part of your past. You must concentrate on your future. Make a clear break dear, it's for the best."
"But I miss him." Mary Jane said casting a sorrowful gaze at her aunt.
"I know," Anna Watson said. "Think Mary Jane. If he'd cared about you as much as you care about him than wild horses wouldn't have kept him away. When was the last time he sent you a message, texted or called?"
"Months ago, however in all fairness I…" Mary Jane admitted then hastily began to add.
Anna Watson continued before her niece could speak further. "Precisely, he's moved on. I recommend you do the same. Focus on September, which will be here very soon I might add, when you'll start studying journalism at the university of Florida in Gainesville. I' couldn't be more proud. I'm sure you'll be the next great national or dare I say international reporter." Anna gushed.
"I hope so." Mary Jane said with far less certainty in her possible future than her aunt held.
"Of course you will dear." Anna Watson said. "Now get some sleep. It is late." Anna left the room closing the brown wooden door behind her.
Mary Jane got up off her bed. She opened her mahogany dresser drawers, the only other piece of furniture in her medium sized room. Inside, hidden carefully under her neatly folded clothing she kept a framed eight by ten photograph of herself and a grinning Peter taken last summer. She held the picture in her left hand while running the fingers of her right hand around the edges longingly.
"Sorry tiger Aunt Anna along with the therapist she has me seeing agree. I should make a clean break with my past."
Mary Jane was carefully replacing the photograph when something else caught her eye. It was a locked magenta colored box of which only she knew the contents. Inside was her almost forgotten Arachnia uniform including the custom web shooters, complete with a web fluid cartridge each, Peter had crafted for her. Why hadn't she tossed it aside the minute she'd arrived in Florida, or better yet when she'd left New York State? She'd often asked herself that very question. Truth was she had no idea. Rather than correct the mistake she once again ignored it shutting her secret away by closing the drawer.
"I can deal with them later." She whispered to herself. She lay back down on her bed. A minute later her problems were briefly forgotten as she indulged on her tablet in a series of mindless funny Internet videos.
A motel across town
"Sure about this Gayle?" A spikey haired blond boy dressed in a motley outfit made up of faded ripped blue jeans, work boots and a chain laden back leather vest over a navy blue hoodie asked.
"Of course I'm sure Rodney." Gayle Watson said sweetly her arms draped over Rodney's neck Rodney held her close his hands at the small of her back. Gayle was clad in a whine red sundress with matching pumps and a straw hand. "Here we can score an important blow against discrimination of super beings everywhere. Once I've made contact with the Central Florida cell operating we'll be all set."
"Whatever," Rodney said. "Long as we're together I'll follow wherever these people lead." He pulled her into a long deep kiss then added when they came up for air. "I owe you everything darling."
Gayle bit her lip in an unconscious display of guilt, although her companion failed to recognize the gesture for what it was. "I did what anyone would have." She said after a brief hesitation.
"Nonsense," Rodney said. "You found me and nursed me back to health. I have no idea who I am. I could have been a criminal. Yet you love me."
"You could never be a criminal. You're a good man Rodney." Gayle said with more conviction than strictly necessary "Together we'll do great things. I know we will." Her lips once more met his.
Warehouse in Gainesville
Madame Masque a senior member of the infamous Maggia Syndicate stood in front of the gathering of heavily armed thugs. She tapped her right foot impatiently. Her outfit comprised of her usual white and blue bodysuit. On her face a golden mask, similar in appearance to that wore by Dr. Doom, covered her badly marred countenance with the notable exception of her dark eyes. Her curly black hair flowed around her shoulders. Twin high caliber semi-automatic pistols strapped to her shapely hips.
The rowdy group suddenly fell silent. Thugs moved aside parting like the Red Sea before Mosses. A hulking figure covered in an exosuit comprised of emerald and steel colored metals which shimmered even in the dim light silently moved his way forward. The hulking figure knelt on one knee before Madame Masque once he reached her position.
"Hello Façade," Madame Masque said a hint of annoyance in her cultured voice.
"Greetings mistress," Façade said in his booming clearly mechanically enhanced voice. "What is your bidding?"
"I'm disappointed," Madame Masque stated not mincing her words. "Dusk hasn't achieved total penetration of Florida yet, why?"
"There have been unforeseen, complications." Façade declared haltingly.
"Rectify these complications forthwith." Madame Masque said a hard edge creeping into her voice. "My father is most displeased. Our organization has expended a great deal of resources creating and marketing Dusk. It proved an exceedingly expensive designer drug to perfect. Dusk shall only prove worth our investment if a large enough consumer base can be secured. I will not tolerate failure Façade, understand?"
"Yes Mistress," Façade said bowing his head submissively.
"Tell me is do these complications have a root cause?" Madame Masque asked.
Façade's head rose. His purple visor hidden gaze met Madame Masque's own determined glare. "Yes mistress. A certain state Senator named Aubrey Pascal who refused to be bribed."
"Ah I see." Madame Masque said clasping her white gloved hands behind her back. "Our course of action is clear. Senator Pascal must die."
"Thy will be done mistress." Façade said ominously.
To Be Continued