Tolly: note to undisciplined-self: WRITE FASTER!
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A young woman sat in her apartment, a black mask in her hands. The mask was shaped like the wings of a bat, and although it looked opaque, it could be seen through as easily as dark sunglasses. But the woman wasn't looking at the mask. Instead, she stared at a picture, which was framed and hung on her wall. In it, she stood between a young man and a much older man. The three of them combined held five ancient stone jars, taken from a Mayan temple.
She smiled, as though remembering days gone by, and looked down at the mask in her hands. Suddenly, she started, looked towards the door and quickly hid the mask in a closet. Seconds later, someone knocked on the door. It was her landlady, Mrs. Terwilliger.
"Miss Borden," said Mrs. Terwilliger. "Your rent--"
"Yes, I know. It's overdue. But, I swear, I'll have the money by tomorrow."
Mrs. Terwilliger looked at her half-skeptically, half-sympathetically. "I'll give you till the end of this week."
Julia sighed with relief. "Thank you, Mrs. Terwilliger. I won't let you down."
"I know you won't," Mrs. Terwilliger smiled, and then her expression grew stern. "You should really try getting more sleep, Miss Borden. You look about ready to drop."
"I'll try."
Once Mrs. Terwilliger had left, Julia slumped against the door. She looked towards the picture on her wall. "I wish you were here, Papa. You'd know what to do."
She took a deep breath, gathered up her papers, opened the door and headed out into the world.
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Peter looked at the latest issue of the Daily Bugle, a slight smile on his face. Apparently, someone had seen Vampira catching him last night and had taken a picture. Wait a second, thought Peter, now frowning. She caught me because I got hit by a dart from that helicopter. Who was shooting at us?
His musings were interrupted as Julia Borden sat down at the table next to his.
"Hi," said Peter cordially.
Julia looked up, startled, and then smirked at him. "I'm running into you all over the city, aren't I? Is this, like, the café you always stop at before work?"
"Well, before school." Peter admitted. "I go to the University up the street."
Julia nodded absently. She glanced at the newspaper on his table. "Is that one of your pictures?"
"Nope. It's pretty good though, don't you think?"
"I bet Mr. Jameson loved it." Julia rolled her eyes. "Anything that he could possibly use to degrade his so-called 'masked menaces'." She looked at the picture again. "Hey, look. There's a helicopter in the background."
Peter looked closer. Sure enough, the helicopter that was shooting at Vampira the night before was in the picture as well.
"Can you read what it says on the side, Peter?" said Julia quietly, almost hopefully. "I don't exactly have the best eyesight."
Peter, ever since acquiring his spider powers, had extremely good eyesight, and could indeed read the side of the helicopter. Or, at least, he could see it. "It looks like it's written in Spanish. What could a Mexican helicopter be doing in New York?"
Julia didn't come up with any answer, and Peter looked at her, curious of her silence. Julia's expression was one of fear, shock, and despair. But before Peter could question her, she leapt to her feet.
"I really need to get work," she said, rather shakily. Without any further farewell, she strode quickly toward the door.
"Julia, wait!" Peter called after her, getting up. She barely glanced back, but as she hurried out into the street, she stumbled. And only Peter's keen spider-senses could have discovered the source of her temporary clumsiness. Her feet, for one second, weren't feet at all, but claws.
And, while Peter stood in shock at this development, Vampira got away.
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Julia raced to her apartment, collapsing once she reached it. She fought back panic and tears as she took a box out of her closet. Before she opened it, however, she slapped herself forcefully.
"Get a grip, Julia," she told herself, taking deep breaths. "They're not coming yet."
Now calm, she slowly opened the box. Inside were four stone jars, identical to the ones in the picture on her wall. There were also the shards of the fifth jar.
"What am I going to do?" Julia whispered.
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Later that night, Spiderman was crouched on the top of the Daily Bugle building, waiting for Vampira, and hoping she'd come. He had to find out who, or what, she was running from.
As a far-off clock tower tolled ten o'clock, he could see a dark shape making its way to the building. When she landed, and transformed, she didn't immediately turn to him. Instead, she scanned the city, as though looking for the helicopter.
"Who was in that helicopter, Julia?" he asked.
Vampira spun around. "Peter—no…" She trailed off, and then smiled faintly. "I thought there was something familiar about you. The spidey-suit might fool people, but your voice is--"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Oh," Vampira sighed, and walked to the edge of the building. "Come with me." She leapt off, and for a second, contemplated not opening her wings, to just fall. But she shifted to her bat shape and led Spiderman to her home.
Once there, she perched silently on the windowsill, listening. "There's someone in there," she whispered fearfully.
Spiderman strained his ears, but could hear nothing.
"Wait a second," Vampira continued. "It's alright. It's only Charlie."
Just as Spiderman was about to ask who Charlie was, Vampira flung open the window and darted inside. He followed her, and saw a startled-looking man standing there.
"Don't do that!" cried the man. "Where were you? I've been worried sick about you. And who's that?" the man paused, looking closely at Vampira's guest. "Is that Spiderman?"
"Charlie, calm down," said Vampira. "Yes, it's Spiderman. I think he can help us. Are they safe?"
Charlie indicated a box on the table. "Yeah, they're safe. I came here to check on you after I saw that helicopter in the paper, and I found out that you're off flying around with some guy wearing Spandex! No offense, Spiderman." he added.
"None taken," said Spiderman. "Could someone explain to me what's going on here?"
"Okay," said Vampira, with a deep breath. "The people in the helicopter, the ones who shot you with that tranquilizer dart? They're after these." She opened the box, revealing the four intact jars, and the broken one.
"Why? What's so special about them?" Spidey asked.
Vampira exchanged a look with Charlie and began telling her story.
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Tolly: Yes, you must read the next chapter, which will be a flashback to before Julia became Vampira. Chapter six (when I write it, which may take a while) will continue the actual story. And, by the way, please review!