Tolly: Ah, yes, a disclaimer…I own Vampira, that's it.

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The next day, the headline of the Daily Bugle read: GIANT BAT TERRORIZES CITY. Below was Julia's picture of the being. Then, Who or What is Vampira? Interviews with witnesses inside. All the witnesses' descriptions were the same. A young woman, dressed in black, who could change into a colossal bat. But their claims of what she did were varied. There were reports of her hanging upside down from street lights, sighting of her sucking the blood of innocent victims and even one report of her having a few drinks in a local bar, then flying out the door.

Peter put the newspaper down and sighed. I can't believe I lost her, he thought angrily to himself. Who knew how many of those reports were actually true? He was especially worried about the blood-sucking parts. What if she really did kill people?

Peter got up, left the coffee shop and started walking down the street, still thinking about the bat-creature. So, of course he wasn't looking were he was going and ran straight into Julia Borden, who was absorbed in the Daily Bugle.

"Oh," she said, looking up. "Hi, Peter."

"Hey, looks like you got a job." said Peter, pointing to the cover.

"Well, not really. I decided to take a desk job instead. According to Mr. Jamison, I should leave the picture-taking to what's-his-name. I assume he meant you."

"Guess so." Peter said."Speaking of pictures, what do you think about Vampira?"

"In my opinion, these witnesses are a bunch of crock-pots trying to vilify anything new that disturbs their day-to-day lives." said Julia, as though she had been thinking about this for a while. "I've seen it happen before. They did that to that guy, um, what was he called…?"

"Spiderman?" suggested Peter.

"Yeah, that's it. They made him out to be a villain, when he seemed to be pretty helpful." said Julia reasonably. "What do you think?"

"I haven't made up my mind about this one yet." said Peter after a thought.

"And what do you think of Spiderman? You take his pictures, don't you?"

"Well, yeah, unofficially." said Peter. The conversation had turned a little too risky for him to say more. "Listen, I have to get going. I'll, er, I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye."

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Julia Borden returned to her apartment deep in thought. There was something oddly familiar about Peter Parker, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shrugged. No matter, she thought, changing her clothes. She smiled. Besides, I've got a date tonight.

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Vampira soared on bat-like wings above New York City. Clutched in her clawed feet were a few issues of the Daily Bugle. She had a bone to pick with Spiderman. So where was he? She emitted a series of high-pitched squeaks, above the average human scale. The echoes bounced back to her ears. One of Spiderman's leftover webs was hanging from a building, but there was no sign of the web-slinger himself.

She landed on a flagpole that was sticking out horizontally from the side of a building and hung there for a minute. Then, with a slight hop, Vampira was hanging by her knees in human form. After a quick sound scan, she took off her mask and began rereading the Daily Bugle.

In an earlier edition, from before she had arrived in the city, the press described Spiderman as a menace, a criminal, etc. And now they described her the same way. That was what she wanted to talk to Spiderman about tonight. Were they on the same side or not?

Suddenly, Vampira heard the tell-tale sound of Spiderman shooting out webs. Quickly, she put her mask back on, threw the rolled-up newspapers into the air, and dropped from the flagpole. She was in her bat form fast enough to catch the papers. And look Mom, no eyes, she thought to herself with a smirk. She did a midair flip. Gotta love echolocation.

Vampira sent a sound wave behind her. Spiderman was right on her tail. She caught a slight updraft from a subway vent and flew up to the top of a skyscraper. She circled it a couple times while Spiderman landed, then dropped the papers at his feet. She jumped down to the roof sans wings.

"So," said Vampira. "How've you been?"

"I'm not here for small talk." Spiderman answered.

Vampira shrugged. "Neither am I."

"What do you want then?"

"I've noticed something, Spiderman. Look at those newspapers. See anything interesting?"

He glanced at them. "Yeah, that they say you're a murderer. Is that true?" He didn't sound like he expected an answer in the negative.

"Not so fast." said Vampira. "It's funny, because they seem to say the same thing about you."

That seemed to get his attention. "What do you mean?" he said slowly.

"According to the Daily Bugle, we're a lot alike."

"I'm not like you." Spiderman's voice was venomous. He held his hands ready to fire a web at any moment.

"You don't even know who I am!" said Vampira, exasperated. "I…" Suddenly she froze. A noise drifted to her sensitive ears. She listened closely, trying to figure out what it was.

"What is it?" Vampira winced as Spiderman spoke. He sounded so loud compared to what she was trying to hear. She held up a finger to shush him. She thought she recognized the sound, and tried echolocation to confirm it. Sure enough, far away and coming fast was a helicopter.

Spiderman was alert as well. The helicopter swooped towards the skyscraper and Vampira heard a faint whistling as a dart shot past her. Without waiting for another hint, she leapt off the building. Spiderman followed a split second later.

Another dart sped through the night as Vampira tried to shake the helicopter off amid the city buildings. Her radar was going crazy, having to deal with the sounds of the chopper blades, Spiderman's webs, and her own echolocation. Her ears ached, but she kept flying.

Then, without warning, the chopper pulled away, firing one last shot in her direction. Vampira just barely dodged it. A grunt from ahead told her that Spiderman wasn't so lucky. He had been hit and was falling fast. Vampira bent her wings and dropped towards him.

The last thing Spiderman saw before he blacked out was Vampira's huge claws reaching for him.

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Tolly: Let's see what was I going to say?...Oh yeah, you see that little button that says "Go"? please use it!