Interesting Encounters
Zina stepped into her apartment once again, locking the door behind her considering the slight security issues in her neighborhood. Her mind was automatically running over the new informational puzzle pieces she had gathered during the inferno in the dorms. She attempted to place them in an order that made sense, but the pattern eluded her. Maybe if she concentrated on something else a solution would present itself? Yes, that would help.
The girl tossed her backpack in a corner next to a flower pot containing blooming white lilies intending to do her homework after her thoughts had calmed. She then proceeded to her bedroom and changed into a looser set of clothing. Placing on a set of snow white biker gloves, Zina come back into the bare living room and pulled a mat out of the storage closet. The girl lie it down on the floor, opened the curtains to let in the sun, and sat down to stretch her muscles.
Afterwards she stood and began to test her control by going into the swift motion of attacking her hanging punching bag but stopping the action a moment before she touched the fabric. This practice had always done more for than any other exercise. Zina already knew how strong she was and didn't need to prove it to herself. Besides, her mind was extremely focused now. In fact, she was so intently absorbed in the exercising discipline that the girl completely failed to notice the click of her window being opened by the oddly shaped arachnid hanging upside-down outside of it. However, she did notice when he spoke.
"So, you're the new stalker of the week," said the Spider in a calm voice with a hint of playfulness and exasperation.
Ms. Lily froze with her leg almost a foot away from the punching bag and ceased breathing for approximately ten seconds as she reopened her mind from its focused consciousness. Then, lowering her appendage slowly in a non-aggressive manner, Zina replied.
"I'm a stalker? My, I haven't been accused of being that obsessive with pr-people for a long time now," the girl stated in a casual speech as she turned to face the superhero. She studied him for a moment and a small smile found its way to her lips.
"I think it should be accused of you more often. You seem to really like to find as much information as possible. That's bad for me since you're good at the task," the man replied.
"I suppose it is," Zina stated gently and gave him a deeper smile at the somewhat unintentional praise. "You could say I've had a lot of practice."
"Practice, Ms. Lily?"
"So Peter does know you then," the girl said with new assurance. "I had a feeling he wasn't lying to me. So, how well are you acquainted?"
"Oh, Parker and I go way back. He's my photographer, after all."
"I'd heard that, but I don't see all he can tell me when he says it."
"Really, just how did you learn that little trick?" Spider-man inquired with a slight hint of curiosity as he righted himself to sit poised on the windowsill.
"People can't hide emotions well in this day and age. Peter's not much of an exception except when he speaks of you. He closes off and hides things when you are mentioned, Spider. I would like to know why this is, exactly."
As she had spoken, Zina had advanced on the costumed man in a barely noticeable fashion and was now stretching her slim hand out towards his clothed face.
It was at this point that the college student realized he wasn't able to move. It seemed he had been hypnotized by this odd girl's eyes, a predator's eyes. He felt like a lamb before a gigantic jungle cat and he was soon to be devoured as Zina's fingertips brushed the deep crimson fabric of his costumed.
Luckily, fate seemed determined to intervene and keep Peter's secret for the time being when the strawberry-blonde tensed up. His spider-sense went off simultaneously and a tremendous explosion erupted through New York City.
"Duty calls, Ms. Lily," Spider-man saluted before swinging off to the site of the disturbance.
Zina swore under her breath. She had almost had him. No time to worry about it now, though. The girl found sunset coming on fast. It would be dark soon. Perfect.
Her form shifted, and Zina launched herself from the sill. White wings propelled the girl through the sky, unseen to the human eyes through her powers of illusion. She was hot on the arachnid's trail when a stray object suddenly grazed her wing and sent her off course. Zina sunk her razor-sharp nails into the wall of the closest building to keep from falling. The girl turned around to see what had smacked her; a capturing net was embedded in the wall beside her. Why nets?
She whipped around. Men outfitted in gray and white uniforms were firing off more of the nets at the current object of her interest. The leader was yelling out orders to capture but not kill. Spider-man was doing well in taking out as many as he was able to; however, Zina knew he would soon be overwhelmed. The girl was not happy. Noting that at least a fourth of the group remaining was next to alley she hung over, Zina acted. She swooped down like a hawk and knocked the group back into the darkness, releasing her illusion of the way.
It is the most dangerous thing in this world to be alone with one of Zina's kind when she is angry at you. These men were starting to learn this.
&
Peter saw the men fly back into the alley out of the corner of his eye as he barely missed the last few nets and webbed another five of them. That left three.
"Retreat!" the obvious leader shouted as he threw out a batch of silver spheres before the arachnid could get a line on him.
Smoke smothered the area. The trio was gone when it cleared. Peter soon found that the action was not quite over yet when two men where flung out of the alley they had disappeared into and landed on the hard concrete, unconscious.
He quickly swung to the other building in time to watch a third man crawling backwards out of the darkness. Sets of parallel gashes covered his face and body.
"Monster, it's a monster!" he shouted.
A heart-pounding roar answered this statement; the terrified man promptly passed out. Spider-man watched the events with wide eyes. Summoning up his trademark courage, the boy leaped to the ground at the mouth of the alleyway. In the dying light, Peter saw something that he would never expected.
Crimson cat eyes stared out at him from the figure of a white-haired woman. White triangular ears twitched slightly atop her head and two tails switched back and forth behind her.
Her attire consisted of pale peasant top and airy matching pants secured by white gold bangles at the ankles and wrists. The woman's feet were bare. They things that really caught the spider's eyes, however, were the tremendous snow white wings flared out behind the beautiful woman.
The tell-tale sirens of the New York Police suddenly came to life in the distance; she sighed.
"You had best leave, Arachnid," the woman advised in an accent whose origin would never be able to be traced.
And with that single sentence she faded into nothing.
AN: I am so, so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I really am, but I promise I will try to get better and update regularly. To all the fans that still haven't lost faith, I want to thank you. Thank you for you comments as well. A special heap of gratitude goes to
