JMJ
CHAPTER EIGHT: WITH GREAT POWER
"Well, I don't know about that," Austin sighed still looking steadily on Miss Brancale. Closing his eyes a moment then, he then addressed her. "So, in working for Dr. Trainer what do you plan to do exactly?"
Miss Brancale shifted uncomfortably and drank her coffee before speaking again. "I have planned to give you a chance to run home."
"Would they even do that now?" asked Austin lightly. "Even if I wanted to go home?"
Lowering her head this time Miss Brancale's pause lasted too long to leave doubt about whether or not she had an answer. With a final sigh, Austin again stood up. He had been put into a frame of mind in which he was stalemated, and after staring a little longer at the downcast eyes of his host, he pushed in his chair and left money for his meal.
Miss Brancale looked up like a dog left at the pound.
"Thank you," said Austin gently.
Spidergirl glanced at him curiously, but Miss Brancale did not move.
"For trying to protect me," said Austin.
"Will you tell your father about this?" asked Miss Brancale after shifting a little in her seat.
"I don't think it's my job to tell him about you, Miss Brancale," said Austin. "If you have something to say to him you can tell him yourself. As for me, thank you for the warning, but I won't let fear get in the way of this. Good bye."
And with that he took his leave with his coat under his arm. Spidergirl caught up as he paused at the door to put on his coat, and as they exited out into the street now with an overcast of clouds just in the right spot to cover the sun, they left Miss Brancale to herself still seated at the table.
"So what are you going to do now?" asked Spidergirl.
"Stay," said Austin with a shrug and still walking.
"Are you sure? I mean you have cured the main old villains left to be cured," said Spidergirl. "My—I mean. Spiderman would be very surprised, I think, and very impressed." She paused thoughtfully, and Austin did as well, though he was looking downwards and she upwards. "Maybe you should go home. I mean your northern wilderness home." She said the last phrase with a smirk to show her tease.
"I can't …" said Austin seriously though his small smile. "Not until I'm sure there's nothing left to do."
"There's always something left to do in New York City."
"I know, but—"
"Hm," Spidergirl said. "With great power comes great responsibility?"
Austin thought a moment, his eyes now raised up to the patches of blue between the clouds. "Yeah. Something like that." He paused a little longer then and then turned behind him. "You know—" He smiled and shook his head.
Spidergirl was nowhere to be seen, and he shoved his hands in his pockets with sober but not hardly forlorn or discouraged in spirit down the street and hailed a cab. Although he did not quite see her he felt the eyes of Spidergirl from the rooftops before he climbed into the vehicle.
#
I know it's silly, Spidergirl thought to herself as she pulled off her spider-mask upon coming in through the window to her college apartment.
Her movements were quick and silent so as not to risk arousing her housemates. She had managed to get the single room whereas the other two girls shared the other bedroom. After pretending to be one of the worst snorers this side of Manhattan they might have preferred if she slept in the living room with a muffler over her face.
Carefully closing the window behind her, she left loose her ruffled red hair and sat upon her bed leaning against the wall where she had emerged as May Parker, the girl behind the mask.
I know it's silly, May thought with a queer smile, but I think I have a crush on that funny little guy.
She shrugged. "I can't help it," she whispered to the shadow of her reflection in the long narrow mirror hanging on her bedroom door.
But if she wanted to make it more than a crush how would she go about it? She would have to tell him. That was the truth of it. Sure she trusted Austin, but there were so many complications to revealing to someone one's secret identity. It would be a wasted knowledge for instance and a burden that Austin did not need should he not like Spidergirl in return. It would be even if he did decide he loved her back, perhaps even more so.
Spidergirl sighed. "With great power comes great responsibility," she reminded herself, repeating what her father told her for as long as she could remember. Only when he found out she had spider powers too did it come to mean something more.
But when it comes to risking others with secret identities, Spidergirl also recalled her mother saying, "In the end you have to let the ones that care about you most decide if they want to share that danger with you."
Trouble was May had no idea whether Austin liked her back. How could he know himself? He did not truly know her. As Miss Brancale had said, Spidergirl's alter ego could go home safe at night to bed. Everyone knew that Austin Octavius was the son of a former criminal mastermind, but no one knew May Parker was the daughter of Spiderman.
And speaking of Miss Brancale and criminal masterminds, May thought, there are more important things to worry about right now like whether or not someone's gunna dig their claws into poor Austin.
#
The first thing Austin noticed were the claws.
Christmas had come and gone. He had not gone home for it for fear of being held from coming back. He talked for hours with his mother and Ellen his sister, and held the phone with his father who spoke barely a word in the hour and a half that the receiver was open between them and Austin had said not much more. He received a present from Spidergirl marked with the spider symbol and inside a card signed "Your friendly neighborhood Spidergirl to my good friend Dr. Austin Octavius". Peppermint candies and a few cookies were inside along with a gift card to I-tunes.
These gifts (minus the cookies which had already been consumed) were on the kitchen table as an honored centerpiece now and Austin had been dazing off with eyes just above it with his cup of tea before the doorbell rang to his apartment.
And as he opened the door he jumped back in alarm to see the claws in front of his face, sharp angry claws, and a teen girl's voice cracking, "Please …" Sobs choked her and tears fell from her bowing head and onto the thin carpeted floor. "… Help me."
Before even getting a good look at the girl, he flung wide the door and pulled her inside the apartment before anyone could see.
She was wearing an immense coat that went down to the ankles with a wide fluffy hood with which she had previously hidden her facial features before reaching Austin's door, but it did not hide her bare feet too wide now certainly to fit in most anyone's shoes much less into the shoes of a teenage girl. However, although the mountainous parka made her appear smaller inside it, she was taller than he was by almost a foot or more. Her full height was only ascertained by guessing; as hunched and knee-bent as she was her head level was about on par with Austin's. Not that that was saying much as Austin was a very small man even if a tad taller than his father. But there was a bulk to the poor girl which perhaps matched the rest of what could be seen of her very hairy body and rather squashed snout in the middle of her otherwise attractive features if not for the short thick fur growing on it. Her large brown eyes were the only thing that were still truly human as far as he could tell, but her snout was seen only briefly before she brought her huge furry paws to her face to catch her tears.
"Help me," she begged as Austin closed the door behind her with eyes upon her all the while with care.
"Please …" the girl sobbed again. "I heard you could help anyone …"
"Just a moment, just a moment," said Austin bringing her gently to the sofa. "There, there. You must calm down. Please calm down, and tell me all about it. I promise to help in any way I can."
Behind her sobs the wind howled like a pack of wolves at the windows, but it was not a wolf pack she had been invited to join. Judging by the thick rough quality of her brown fur and the shape of her paws she had been intended to fight like a bear. She hardly seemed ready to fight the likes of Spidergirl, though she could easily have ripped off Austin's head right then and there, for she seemed unsteady on her limbs. Besides if a man turned part cat could not keep up with Spiderman a girl turned bear could not hope to keep up with Spidergirl.
Anger began to stoke inside Austin, but he buried it now. It would not help at present. He never heard of this girl. Likely the event had just happened, but where were her masters? What was her intended purpose? Would they be looking for her?
He brought her a glass of water to drink, and even this she had a little trouble holding. No complaint came from her however as she drank silently aside from a few more sobs.
Did she have a tracker of some kind?
Austin shook his head.
One thing at a time, he told himself.
"Do you like tea?" he asked. "I can get you some? Or some coffee. I have a little of that."
With head bent over her knees towards the floor she only shook her head, eyes heavy with grief and weariness.
"Where are your parents?"
"Don't have parents," replied the girl darkly, and she closed her eyes with a slow shaky breath.
"Well, then please, please," said Austin quickly. "Tell me what happened. Who are you?"
"Delilah," said the girl. "I'm called Delilah. I live at some stupid orphanage, and me and a couple other kids snuck off for fun during a sort of field trip thing. We planned to come back, but we lost them, but when we were looking up cabs to get back some guy offered us money if we did some work for him. Wes told us it wasn't a good idea but we outvoted him! I was the only one who escaped before they finished what—what—what they were DOING!" And she began to sob and to cry louder than before.
"Oh, please, Delilah, please," said Austin caught up in the emotion of this event and at a loss as to how to comfort her properly. "I promise to do what I can. Please. Take off your coat and relax as best you can."
Delilah nodded, but she was still choking and seemed unable to stop. Quivering she huddled into herself, disappearing into her coat like a furry snail into its shell.
Austin then hurried off to call a colleague under Dr. McKean to be ready for tomorrow, but since the Electro incident Austin also had a few things at home to begin. Granted it would not have been possible to draw Electro's blood had he had such equipment at the time anyway. He also got some ramen out to heat up for her after he was done with the needle work.
Funny thing was that all the while he had not been aware of the girl's movements. Austin had gone to his room to get his phone to call the colleague, and while away Delilah with a puckered brow rose to her feet and crept into the kitchen. She glanced at the refrigerator and spotted the ramen on the counter, but her eyes rested upon the laptop still open on the kitchen table. Well, it must be admitted that it was not so much the laptop that drew her attention as the coffee thermos beside it.
With wide wary eyes the girl crept further into the kitchen and stopped just before the thermos. Glancing out the hallways it seemed that Austin was still speaking on the phone. Quickly she unscrewed the top, but not necessarily frantically. She appeared calm enough and perhaps a little cold in the face now. Reaching into the coat pocket she then poured something inside of it from a very small vial.
At that very moment of its pouring Austin could be heard giving a "Goodbye".
With a cringe, Delilah screwed the thermos' top back on and shoved the vial back into her coat pocket. Hurrying back to the living room she was just in position again when he returned. Like a good patient she then allowed the good doctor to clean a spot between the fur on her arm so that he could draw a bit of blood. She wiped a tear from her eye but otherwise said nothing.
When Austin offered her the ramen after to procedure, the girl only shook her head and said how tired she was.
Austin nodded. "Alright, but if you change your mind my kitchen is at your disposal."
After scanning the blood so that it could be studied on his laptop he then proceeded to seat himself at his kitchen table. First he glanced around the corner of the open doorway at Delilah who was apparently asleep, and he sighed sadly before situating himself.
Grabbing his thermos then he was happy to find that the tea was still warm enough; though it had a slight metallic taste that must have been from sitting in the thermos too long. He made a face briefly as he stared at it a moment, but whatever it was he did not think about it long with a mind too occupied on the screen. He drank rather thirstily for tea, actually, in his anxiousness, but instead of feeling the caffeine, a heavy grog fell quickly upon him.
In a matter of minutes his vision began to blur and the words and numerical figures on the screen began to become nothing more than grey lines dotting along like choo choo trains. He could almost hear the chugging of a Christmas train running round the tree or running around his head, as it were. A buzzing could be felt in his fingers and toes from their vibration, and then he felt rather dizzy and fuzzy as though blowing away on the engine smoke. At last he could no longer keep up his head.
Folding his arms upon the table pretzel-style he laid his head as upon a glorious pillow and soft snoring erupted soon afterwards.
For a few moments Austin remained there undisturbed. Then a rustling of blankets sounded from the living room and Delilah's head appeared as she peaked like a curious and cautious kitten.
"Dr. Octavius?" she whispered politely.
The heap over the table did not respond. His elbow held the spacebar on his laptop, and the girl smiled with humor, but it was by no means an unsullied amusement.
"Poor sleeping baby," she murmured in a cold dry manner. "Don't you know not sleep in the presence of Delilah waiting to cut off your hair?"
But Delilah no longer sounded the same. Her voice had become deep and thick with a strong accent but confidently proficient in the language nonetheless. Reaching a hand up to her face she pealed at the edge beneath the chin to reveal a very strange face white and pale with an unusual sheen, but it was male. He quickly shed also the coat and fur and revealed the true reason why Delilah was so tall and big. Why Delilah had to be half bear to convincingly be a girl at all! The person was quite a man despite the strangeness of his face. He was a well known figure too in the shadows of New York even if his face was not so much for he wore a million of them.
He was Chameleon, and he had been around a long time. Older, gruffer, and colder, but otherwise not much changed for him in thirty years times since the old day of Spiderman.
He touched a ring on his finger now which was soon revealed to be a communicator into which he spoke thus, "I got him down. A guppy to a lure. Now for step two. He's putty in your hands. I'll be waiting for my pay."
