A/N: I wrote this in a dentist's waiting room. Exam is tomorrow. Thanks for wishing me luck, I really appreciate it.
Chapter Seven
I was hoping for some kind of event of enormous significance to occur that would somehow explain everything. Hoping for over a week, because from that Tuesday to the next, absolutely nothing happened. No sightings of Ladyhawk, no reports of a vanishing furry German boy with a tail, nothing at all. Harry had even gone out on his glider to look around, but hadn't seen anything unusual. He had accidentally terrifying a group of Swedish sightseers and nearly gotten himself shot by police who didn't know that he wasn't about to toss a grenade.
Nothing out of the ordinary at all, except for one thing.
I never tried to tell anyone about the fear again. It was as if the need to tell had been sapped from me. No one knew, not Dad, not Mom, not Harry. My parents and I had agreed a long time ago not to tell Benny everything that went on.
Dad hadn't been able to shed much light on the whole Nachtgleiskette situation, either. I had explained what had happened, and asked if he might know who, or what, Nacht was. Dad had responded that he had no idea, but it had only strengthened his opinion that I needed to be more careful.
Dad was patrolling again as Spider-Man , too, even though there had been nothing out of the ordinary happening. Patrolling without me. Mom had said, a few days later, "Peter, don't do anything too crazy, okay? Remember, you're not as young as you used to be."
Dad had been about to leave for the Daily Bugle, and had been standing at the top of the stairs fiddling with a camera. He hadn't responded to Mom, only leaped into the air and performed a spectacular triple back handspring down the stairs, ending up on his feet right next to Mom. Without a word he had kissed her goodbye and walked out the door.
Spider-Girl was on involuntary leave, without a decent explanation. Dad had simply told me to take a break for awhile. I had no idea why, whether it was because of Nacht, Ladyhawk, or one of Dad's hunches. I had put up a furious argument, but was cut short because of Andrea Watson's untimely entrance. By the time I was able to talk freely again, Dad had gone out and Mom had steered me to the couch to watch a movie.
And all I had really been able to do was go to play practice. Either way, the next week was the last week of June and I felt like my precious days of freedom were slipping irrevocably down a drain of curtain calls and complete frustrated boredom.
Seven days later, I was fed up.
I headed downstairs the following at six o'clock Tuesday morning after tiptoeing past a peacefully snoozing Andrea. My costume was under my clothes, as always, even though Dad had evoked a sour and angry promise from me not to go patrolling.
It was already shaping up to be a gray, muggy morning, and distant thunder growled from the east. Benny was already up, reading a book on the den sofa with a huge tarantula perched on his shoulder and bubble gum in his mouth.
"Guten Tag," Benny said, without looking up from his book.
"Since when do you speak German? Have you been in my room again?" I crossed my arms. "And where'd that spider come from?"
"His name's Troglodyte. Jim left him with me while they're in Florida." The tarantula tentatively stepped down his arm to pause on the back of his hand. It stared around curiously.
"Since when do you hide German books under your bed?" Benny turned the page, blowing a large pink bubble. He held up the book I had checked out from the school library the day before, Pimsleur's German One.
I threw up my hands. "That's not the point. Stop going through my things!"
"Do you have fifteen dollars I could borrow?" Benny interrupted, pointing at the tarantula, which was bigger than his hand. "I'm going to try and buy Trog off Jim once he gets back from vacation. Did you know tarantulas are the smartest spiders in the world?"
"I spent all of my money buying spandex and a ton of sequins so Marnie could make me a new fairy costume, and stay out of my stuff," I said bitterly. I thought about Felder's subsequent explosion when I had displayed the sad remains of Cobweb the fairy. It was the first of what people in the Midtown Players were starting to call Felder's "Krakatoa Moments".
Another thought occurred to me. "Benny! You're not going to put him on Andrea's pillow again, are you?"
Benny's face formed a mask of wide-eyed puzzlement. "Put Troglodyte Deathmonger the Third on my dearest cousin's pillow? What makes you think I would do such a thing?"
"It's not Andrea I'm worried about. She might swat him."
"Yeah, good point," Benny muttered. "It was funny though."
I snorted. All right, maybe it was mean to laugh, but Benny had perpetrated his crime the night after Andrea had met Benny's new tarantula and launched into a rant about how much she hated spiders and how much better the world would be without them. That midnight, her banshee scream could have been heard six blocks away.
I headed for the door munching a breakfast bar, calling over my shoulder, "I'm going for a walk, okay? I'll be back in a while. Not patrolling."
"Not patrolling. 'Mmkay," said Benny, returning to the stolen book.
I shut the door behind me, took a deep breath, and burst into a flurry of coughing as I inhaled a lungfull of car exhaust. Finally, out of the house on my own! I didn't know what it was, but it was nice to be outside and alone again. I felt a little twinge of guilt. It wasn't that I minded Dad or Harry going with me, it was just something about being by myself that I missed.
It wasn't like I was going patrolling, anyway.
I took the bus to the island and got off at the stop in front of the United Nations about thirty minutes later. All of the brightly colored flags were waving in the breeze. I sat on the metal bench at the corner for a few minutes, just watching people walk by. It was only six thirty-five on a summer morning, and the sidewalks were already jammed with people. There were a lot of tourists crossing the street, snapping pictures of obscure office buildings and buying overpriced Statue of Liberty models from a street vendor. I sat on the bench, just enjoying being on my own for once. At least no one was worrying about what I was doing or whether I was in trouble.
Speaking of trouble, where was Ladyhawk? Why hadn't she shown herself? Had she given up on being a vigilante? A flag snapped in the wind, making me look up. I picked out the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Britain, Germany...
Not to mention Nacht. I didn't have any idea of what to make of that whole situation.
Taxis and buses and cars trundled past. I swung my feet, looking up at the skyscrapers that loomed overhead like canyon walls. The group of tourists came down the sidewalk, lead by a raucous tour guide with three-inch painted nails. They came to a stop right in front of me. Cameras went off as she pointed out the United Nations and went on about diplomats and momentous decisions that altered the fate of nations.
"And, more recently, in March of this year an international crisis was averted by New York City's resident crime-fighter, known locally as Spider-Girl. During critical negotiations, the Finnish ambassador-"
"Um...excuse me...can I say something?" I said quietly.
The tour guide turned around and gave me a look of utter distaste. "Can I help you with something?"
"No thanks. I just thought you should know it was the Polish ambassador."
She sneered and said, "During critical negotiations, the Finnish ambassador was nearly killed at the hands of eight assassins believed to have been sent by the Russian mafia. If not for the quick action of Spider-Girl, who was reported to have been in the area at the time, Europe might have..."
She went on in that vein for awhile, casting me a nasty look once or twice, as if daring me to correct her again. I looked as innocent as I knew how.
"Nice going." A young man at the back of the group said. "She needs someone to rattle her up. You from around here?"
"Queens."
"Oh. That Spider-Girl is really awesome. Wish we had someone like that in Tuscon. She fought off eight Russian mafia guys, huh?"
I shrugged. "Actually it was more like twelve."
"Now, if you'll follow me..." The tour guide said, and the group scurried off. The young man cast a confused glance at me and jogged after his companions.
Six forty-five. Seven. I got up and started walking. It was a nice day for webswinging; no glare from the sun. Thunder rumbled. Well, maybe not that nice, but not too hot and nicely breezy. Just going webswinging didn't really count as patrolling, right? As long as I just ran the length of Manhattan without stopping, right?
Right?
In the spirit of the thing?
A few minutes later I had left my outer clothes and shoes in a nearby alley and was scaling the wall of the Empire State University as Spider-Girl, technically not on patrol. I had to get webswinging again or I was going to explode with boredom. I reached the top of the building and jumped, throwing myself into a twirling dive and swinging back up into the air. In a moment of inspiration, I shot a webline and swung down the street to land on a lamp post above the same tour group.
People gasped and cameras went off. I waved. People were going, "Holy...! She's real!" "I thought it was a joke!" "Did you really save the Finnish ambassador?"
"Finnish?" I called. "He was Polish!"
The tour guide opened and closed her mouth soundlessly as I leaped and swung, speeding down the avenue as fast as I could swing.
I spent the next hour in a haphazard race through Manhattan, zigzagging
wildly around buildings and swinging so closely that my feet almost brushed the rooftops. I dropped from time to time to bound from building to building and ski down guard rails and fire escapes. It was wonderful just to be out again, free and almost flying.
The clouds were getting murkier as I hopped off a rooftop and landed on the steep gable of a boarded-up building the side of a townhouse, next to a smoke-fogged skylight. I was a little out of breath, and I looked around as I took a quick break. I didn't want to stick around. This was a rough area on the edges of Hell's Kitchen. People lounged against sooty walls covered in vulgar graffiti and garbage was strewn throughout the streets. Ancient cars with broken windshields lined the curbs, and a filthy, vicious-looking dog sat against a building and snarled.
New York City, as not seen in the travel brochures. Not a place to be if I wasn't supposed to be looking for trouble.
"Heck, man, you crazy? I ain't goin' in there. What's wrong with you?"
I frowned and peered over the edge of the roof.
"Nothin'. I just wanted to look around."
Two men were standing in front of the building, their hands in their pockets, one with a ratty Yankees baseball cap. They didn't look particularly clean or amiable. Your average street-corner thugs.
I looked down again. One of them was prying at the rotten two-by-four that barred the door. A sign hung there, but it was so faded it was impossible to make out. The two-by-four crumbled, and the first man kicked the door open and stepped in, out of sight.
Just going into an old abandoned building, but nothing serious. I flexed my fingers, ready to webswing again, when-
"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!"
"Geht ihr hinaus!"
The man came scrambling out, eyes wide. His friend was already tearing off down the street. The voice bellowed again.
"Geht ihr hinaus! Get out! Get out!"
A voice I'd heard before.
The man ran, tripped, and ran off after his comrade. People watched them wordlessly.
"There's somethin' in there!"
"No, really?"
I turned around and pressed my fingertips against the skylight window. I tugged and the square of glass came out, clinging to my fingers. I set it aside gently and peered into the space below. Darkness. I took a step forward and fell feet first into the building.
I landed silently fifteen feet below, in dimness dampened even more by the ominous storm clouds roiling overhead. I looked around. It was a deserted flat, with ancient paint peeling in twisted strips from the walls. Dust particles floated in the shaft of light from the empty skylight. A broken table leaned crookedly against a moth-eaten armchair with springs and stuffing poking through holes in its cushions.
"Get out!"
I spun around, peering into the shadows.
"Geh hinaus! Geh weg!"
I whirled again. Now the voice was coming from the opposite side of the house.
"Geh..." The voice trailed off in midsentence.
I crossed my arms. "Shouldn't you know by now that that kind of thing doesn't scare me?"
One of the shadows in the corner shifted.
"Hallo," I said.
"Sp-Spider-Girl?" The shadow said. "You...here? Why?"
I blinked. Was his English improving? I said, "I was in the neighborhood, and I heard you shouting."
The shadow fidgeted, and as my eyes adjusted, I saw him crouching just beside a wooden chair, watching me nervously. His fur made him blend almost seamlessly into the dimness. I could see was wearing the same trench coat as he had a week ago.
"Well, uh...how've you been?" I said lamely, wondering what I was doing here at all. I should have just webswung away, and not interfered. Nacht, whoever he was, probably wanted to be left alone. It seemed that anyone who would scream "get out" at an interloper didn't want company.
Nacht frowned, seemed to concentrate, and said, "I...okay."
"Oh...well...all right," I said, glancing up to get in line with the skylight before I jumped. "Well...I'll, uh, see you, then."
"My English," he said suddenly. "Better, ja?"
"Yeah, it is," I agreed. "How? Do you talk to anyone?"
He blinked, uncomprehending. I said, "You talk? To people?"
"People?" Nacht shook his head violently. He raised an arm to point at the leaning table, and I took a closer look. It was piled with books, mostly paperbacks, tattered and waterstained. Many had pages torn out and covers ripped off, as if he had scrounged them somewhere. They were all in English, travel guides, cheap pulp novels, a telephone book. I saw a large book with German on the cover, maybe a Bible.
"You've been reading books in English?"
Nacht hesitated, mentally translating, and nodded. "And..." He pointed again, and I noticed a small radio sitting on the armrest of a chair.
"I...need learn English...if I here stay," Nacht said quietly.
"It's much better," I said. I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether it would be rude to ask...
"Are you from Germany...or Austria...?"
"Deutschland," Nacht answered. He straightened up. He seemed to always be crouching, even when standing. His shoulders were hunched, and he glanced around shyly. "Bayern."
"How...how did you get here?" I asked, avoiding the question that was really on my mind, which was Who and what are you?
"I...go on...p-plane," he said. "Hide. No one see. One see, think I with...circus."
I had lost my book at the circus...at a German circus. "Are you with them? The one at Spencer Field?" Was he part of an act?
"No. That Hamburg circus. I...Munich circus. Different."
"Were you in a sideshow?" I asked.
That was the wrong thing to say.
"Nein!" Nacht's head snapped up, his yellow eyes blazing in the dimness. His strange hands were clenched, and his tail thrashed behind him. "I not in sideshow! Ich...performer! A-a-acrobat! Flying t-trapeze! Not sideshow! Sideshow for...ungewöhnlichen! Only ungewöhnlichen! Freak! I not like others, but I not freak!"
He stared at me angrily. I said softly, "I'm sorry. No one likes to be called a freak."
Nacht looked down and sighed heavily, his anger seeming to melt away into weariness. "I...wrong...get angry. Not your fault. I sorry. Tut mir leid."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "I know exactly how you feel."
"Sie...you...not like others...also," Nacht said, very quietly, as if ashamed of his outburst.
"No, I'm not." I smiled crookedly under my mask. "Not like others, but not a freak."
Nacht looked up timidly. "I follow you...after you fight...in circus. I travel here...with them, but...they know not. I watch. Thought you...different too."
Thunder roared overhead. I flinched a little, and shrugged. "It's inherited. My...Nacht? Have you-"
Thunder cut me off again, and rain began sheeting down, pouring through the skylight. Nacht didn't seem to mind, only looked surprised. "Ah...I tell you...my name...Nachtkriecher, oder? Not real name. Name for...performance. Mean...it mean..."
Nacht's brow furrowed. "It mean...night...cr-crawler. Nightcrawler."
"Nightcrawler," I repeated. Well, everyone had to have a stage name to be safe. I wondered why he had picked that name, which made me think of worms, but maybe it meant something different in Germany.
"Real name not Nightcrawler. I really called-aaaaaaahh!"
Nacht screamed, clapping his hands over his ears just as a horrible, familiar siren-like scream rent the air. I reeled backwards, clutching the sides of my head, my head pounding as if nails were being driven into my skull.
Ladyhawk!
Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped, leaving the air ringing with dying sound. I stumbled to my feet. Nacht was crouched down, his head in his hands, tears of agony leaking from the corners of his eyes. I rushed over.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded weakly. "Was...what..."
"Stay here! I'll be back!"
My head still spinning, I shot web from both wrists and bounded straight up through the skylight, into the driving rain. I stared around, the rain plastering my mask against my face, half-blind.
Bamf!
I jumped in shock as Nacht materialized out of thin air a few feet away. There was no time to ask how he had done it. "Stay here!" I yelled over the storm. "It's Ladyhawk!"
"I come with!"
"No! Nein! It's dangerous! Stay here!" I shouted. I ran to the edge of the roof, about to webswing.
"Aaaaaah!"
I froze, whipping my head around. Another scream, high-pitched, but not ear-splitting. I took off to the left, swinging from the building. The rain battered me off course, and I almost missed my landing.
"No! No, no, noooo!"
Right behind me! I squinted through the downpour. Lightning sizzled through the clouds.
"Who's there?" I called.
A shape scrambled into view, tripping and stumbling and indistinct. It collapsed, and I saw the shadow of two huge wings.
I watched, stunned, as Ladyhawk fell, her hands clutching the sides of her head. "No...no, no, no..." It wasn't her usual arrogant sneer, it was a fearful, terrified whimper.
Fearful.
"No...I don't want to be terminated...was I bad? I'm sorry, Dr. Stromm...I'll be good, I promise...tell him not to terminate me...please..."
Ladyhawk grabbed the edge of a heating vent and hauled herself to her feet. Water streamed from her feathers. She staggered backwards, her face etched with horror, trapped in an unspeakable nightmare...backing towards the edge of the roof...
Ladyhawk overbalanced. Her wings flapped weakly; they didn't seem to be working...and she fell backwards.
I dashed forward, hurling myself over the edge of the building and catching hold of the gutter with one hand, firing a webline. It splattered against Ladyhawk's back, jerking her to a stop. Pulling myself back onto the roof, I hauled at the webline, pulling her back onto the rooftop.
"Whoa!" I ducked just as a swipe sent her talons whizzing an inch over my head. I backflipped out of the way, furious. I had just saved her, and she tried to rip my face open?
"Is it you?" Ladyhawk gasped. "Are you the one?"
"The one who just saved your life?" I shouted angrily.
Ladyhawk snarled, tottering unsteadily on her feet. "Are you doing this? Putting pictures in my head, trying to scare me?"
"What are you..." I started, when my voice died away. "Fear! Are you talking about fear? All of a sudden, for no reason?"
"So it is you? You just-"
"For once, will you shut up and listen?" I yelled. "I'm not doing it! The same thing's happened to me!"
Bamf!
Nacht appeared next to me, soaking wet and bedraggled. Ladyhawk's gaze switched targets. "Or you?" She yelled at him. "Is it you?"
"What?" Nacht asked, bewildered. The storm raged around us.
Ladyhawk looked between us, and then her wings suddenly snapped open and she flapped upwards, vanishing into the rain without another word.
"What happen?" Nacht asked.
"I don't know," I said. Something was nagging at me, something that she'd said, some name...Dr. Stromm.
Dr. Stromm. I'd heard that name before, somewhere...
I snapped my fingers, remembering all at once. I turned to Nacht. "Are you up for some traveling?"
"As long no one see me. Why? What happen?"
"There's someone you need to meet, and someone who needs to know about this. We're going to see Harry."
