I know this took forever, but I hope it was worth it. Hopefully, the last chapter didn't scare you all away. I promise that everything will make sense. Also, please read the notice at the end of my Author's Note. It's labeled quite clearly.And about Skylar, shereally has nothing to do with the story. She is an insert character from an RP and was put in for the amusement of my RP partner. But don't you dare steal her!
Trekkie in a TruckerHat – Actually, you won't understand until much later. But this chapter does add a little twist to that incident…
giveGodtheglory – Well, of all the things I was expecting to get accused of, Cyclops being out of character is the last one. Lol. Oh well. I hoped some one would like the Bruce mention. Thank you!
jjonahjameson – Hey, your review was nice. I was a little concerned about being beaten over the head for last chapter, but you didn't do that. Thanks! Hey, update your stories again soon, k?
Griselda Banks – Where do I begin? Lol. Yes, I think it's horrible how bad grammar has gotten. Most of my success is due to my beta, Tokoyo. I have gone over the first three chaps, but it takes a LONG time to reread and proof everything. I hoped it would be like a movie, because that's how I see it: watching this whole thing happen in my imagination and just writing it down for everyone. The "cellar door" thing made me laugh. It's kinda funny, but I like it. I'm pretty sure that Thorn originally was inspired by someone else, but she's changed so much that I can't remember who anymore. About swearing, I don't know if you ever read the replies I make to other people's reviews, but giveGodtheglory had also commented on that. I'll say it again: there will be NO swearing or sex in this story! My judge for how clean a story should be is to ask myself the question "How would I feel reading it to a kid? Would I get uncomfortable having to explain things?" I think more people should ask themselves that. Thank you so much and I eagerly look forward to working with you!
Moonjava – Hey, I'd say that the Spider-Man category is one of your usual haunts, huh? Nice to see that you enjoy my story. Thanks so much!
Muchas gracias toTokoyo, who, though a little late ( :D ), is an awesome beta!
PLEASE READ THIS! The first section here is a sort of a sub-chapter. It isn't really long enough to be a chapter in itself, but I wanted it in anyway. The much longer section is the actual "chapter" that took so long! Please review!
Groak
Gerald Anderby shuffled nervously down the murky corridor. He walked with the gait of one who had vicious beasts at his heels and a dragon before him. His unfriendly escort, four faceless masked gunmen, shoved him along silently. The only sounds were the sharp clicks of the gunmen's boots and the unsteady rhythm of the frightened man's teeth chattering slightly.
Only a few years before, Gerald Anderby had fancied himself quite special. Now he felt nothing but small and miserably lost in this dank maze of catacombs - small and trapped.
At long last, the small party was ushered into an immense chamber, dimly lit, filled with great looming shadows. The small lamps that were placed sparsely around the room gave off only an oily glow that added to its gloomy and almost ethereal feel.
An old man sat slouched in a stone chair far at the end of the chamber. His laborious breathing sounded like it came from a throat long gone dry and never again to be soothed.
"You return, Anderby?" he rasped out.
Gerald Anderby was given a sudden push forward, landing ungracefully on one knee before him. He ducked his head quickly. "Yes, sir."
The aged man did not waste energy on any other formalities. He had not gained his wealth and fame from spending anything recklessly.
His name was Groak, given to him by one of his followers for his enormous, voracious black eyes. Groak had liked the sound of it and kept it, his true name long since faded from memory.
"Anderby," Groak croaked at the quaking man, "you know you have failed your task. I ought to do away with you."
The man could feel his body convulsing in spasmodic shivers of pure terror, the awareness of how near he stood before death. He did not dare speak.
Groak glared at Gerald Anderby, leaning his frail old head on one hand. "But I know you, Anderby. Even now, you have devised some way to save your hide and wish to tell it to me." He said this last part with a bit of a tired sigh, as though the whole situation was routine.
Gerald Anderby bobbed his head frantically. "Yes, sir. Yes, of course I have, sir."
The ancient man on his ancient throne gave a weary nod and slouched back even more into his seat, if that was possible. "Proceed."
"Well, sir, if I could just get some mutants…"
Groak jerked involuntarily at the word. "What?" he hissed, his voice dangerously low, his great black eyes narrowed to slits.
"Mutants, sir. Just think of what they could do." Anderby peeked upward, desperately trying to read the effect his proposal.
The old man sank back down again, looking tired and more prehistoric than ever. Encouraged by the fact that Groak hadn't ordered any of the guards to blast his brains out and be rid of him once and for all, Gerald Anderby continued more confidently.
"I know where to get them too, sir. In fact, I already have acquired the service of two young men and there's always more abandoned youngsters who'll do anything for a home and food."
He had conveniently failed to mention that one of his enlistments was no more than eight years old. He could only pray that Groak couldn't read minds.
For a long time, long enough to make him nervously shift his position several times, Groak said nothing. Finally: "Done."
A young woman moved fluidly backward and tried to become one with the wall, invisible and silent. She had watched the entire scene unfold from her place in the hallway.
No one had seen her; she would be dead if they had. Maybe she was just overly paranoid, but she was sure one of the guards had been glancing in her direction more than was natural.
When the she decided that she had heard enough, the woman turned and vanished into the darkness of the tunnels.
Neither Groak nor Gerald Anderby would ever know their secret plans had just found their way into the hands of a government spy.
One Thousand and Fifty Feet
Nikki shuffled along through the swarming school hallways, eyes glued to the floor. Without looking up, she stopped suddenly, leaned to the right to narrowly evade a swinging backpack, and lurched forward again to avoid a pileup behind her.
Her first day at the high school had been mostly uneventful, an improvement on last year. Last year, Nikki had made the fatal error of trying to be friendly to the boy who had the locker next to hers. This was highly unfortunate, as he had just had his football hopes crushed that morning when the coach caught him vandalizing school property.
Between standing up beneath locker doors that had been mysteriously opened and picking glue out of her lock, their relationship hadn't improved much that year.
But that was back when she was normal. Things were different now.
Nikki slunk into chemistry class, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and slid into the nearest desk. A moment later: "What do you think you're doin'?"
"I'm sitting down," she mumbled, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.
The bulky boy who stood beside the desk, glowering at her, scoffed stupidly. He had scruffy blonde hair that he brushed out of his eyes every several seconds in what he obviously considered a very smooth manner. His gaze revealed that he was plainly used to being obeyed without question. Something about him stirred a faded memory in the back of her mind. Had she seen him before?
The boy clearly didn't recognize her. "Yeah, right. This is my desk!" He pointed to a carving in the dirty wood. "Can't you read?"
Nikki stared at the name, then straight back up at Warren, which was what the roughly hewn letters read.
"Yes, I can. Thank you very much. It's a pity you can't, though. Looks like you wandered into the wrong class. Special Needs is at the other end of the building." She had to wait a few seconds for her insult to sink in.
The swifter members of Warren's posse smelled a fight and moved in closer, hooting excitedly.
Warren growled as it finally dawned on him that he had just been insulted. "Move it, loser. I ain't got time for this."
"Judging by the fact that you're taking this class again, I'd say you probably do."
Allie ducked in between them. "Chill, Warren," she told the seething junior.
He pushed her aside roughly. "No way. I'm gonna teach this smart mouth what we do to kids like her." He eyed Nikki nastily. She glared bravely back up at him.
"Oh, come on." Allie rolled her eyes and gave Nikki's arm a tug. "Just forget about it. This is stupid."
"Warren, what's going on?"
Nikki saw Warren groan inwardly as the teacher's voice met their ears. He nudged his comrades and the group dispersed to their seats.
A minute later, the teacher slowly walked out of the storage room trying to balance an armful of beakers, completely oblivious to recent events.
Jake caught Nikki's eye and winked, an expression on his face that clearly said: Not bad, huh?
Yanking a notebook out of her backpack, she folded it open to the first page and fumbled around for a pencil. Maybe her sophomore year wouldn't be that bad after all.
The three sophomores walked back to the hideout together. It was a beautiful day and the sun was shining warmly. Nikki thought the weather outside couldn't have been any finer for a nice long stroll through the city.
As they approached a coffee shop, Jake, already a hopeless addict, grabbed an arm on either side of him and pulled Allie and Nikki inside. The two girls laughed uproariously.
"Ooh," giggled Allie, doing her best zombie imitation. "Jake feels strangely drawn."
The trio chirped merrily about their first day while Jake paid for two coffees and one hot chocolate.
"Nikki," said Jake, taking a sip as they stepped out of the shop. "You work for Odrade. You're gonna have to start drinking this stuff sooner or later."
"Sue me," she said with pretend defiance and took a big gulp of her cocoa.
After a few minutes of walking along the crowded sidewalks, Nikki lagged behind Jake and Allie. She felt a bit left out as she watched the couple laughing and holding hands. Gradually her thoughts began to drift.
Something had been bothering her for a while now. That night three months ago was still as clear in her mind as if it had been yesterday. Besides the obvious, certain events had haunted her ruthlessly ever since.
The incident in the hallway was one of them. Flipping her hand over, Nikki studied that still very prominent half-moon scar.
Why hadn't she been able to ghost through the wall when Jake was about to find her? She had, so far, attributed this to sheer panic and lack of practice. But her spider-like abilities had worked just fine. Could there have been another reason?
Nikki remembered clobbering Jake and grinned. When she had returned later that evening, he was no longer lying in a heap in the hallway. And neither of them said anything about it the next morning. In fact, now that she thought about it, they had never discussed it all.
Odrade was thrilled when she announced her decision. Almost instantly he began scurrying busily around the kitchen, gathering up multiple files and going on about the technicalities: how much she would be paid (no small sum, to be sure), school registration, deleting her from government and state records (Jake said the man had almost inhuman hacking skills), and how long it would probably be before she had any real field experience.
He said nothing about Thorn or her mission.
"Hey, Nikki!"
"Huh?" she gasped, snapping out of her reverie.
Jake clucked his tongue sagely. "Needs more caffeine."
Rolling her eyes, Nikki feigned throwing her empty cup at him. He ducked, chuckling a bit like C-Cat. Except that C-Cat didn't chuckle. He giggled; an insane sort of giggle.
"What?" she demanded with her hands on her hips.
"I said, for the thousandth time, do you want to come to my soccer game tonight?" He enunciated the question clearly and mockingly. Allie laughed.
"All right, I will come to your soccer game tonight," Nikki carefully pronounced back to him.
"Good. Now that we've got that bit of rocket science figured out, let's go home." And Allie led the way, dragging Jake by the arm, her nose in the air, while he followed meekly behind with a sheepish grin on his face.
"WE'RE HOME!" Nikki called out loudly, stepping easily through the closed door as Allie and Jake ambled down the wooden steps behind her. She had become quite talented of late; doors were none existent as far as she was concerned, at least when there weren't any normal people around.
"Good," grunted Odrade from behind a newspaper. He didn't look up.
They heard a dull thunk as someone ran into the door. Nikki spun around, a bit taken aback.
The door opened and Jake stumbled in, looking a little dazed and extremely annoyed. It wasn't the first time he had done this. He was taller than Nikki, and, consequently, the sort of glowing residue she always left behind was never quite high enough for him to walk through behind her without stooping slightly, and of course, he never remembered.
Allie was hunched over in muffled laughter. "Smooth, Jake, real smooth," she sniggered.
As Nikki headed to her room to ditch her backpack and freshen up, she couldn't help thinking how much different this day would have been with her family.
Here, there was no Mary-Jane greeting them warmly as they walked in the door. She always had a batch of freshly baked cookies and the favorite parental question: "How was your day today?" followed by a chorus of "Fine."
Since Allie had undoubtedly sealed herself up inside the bathroom for at least two hours while she completely redid her hair and makeup, Nikki decided to take up one of her favorite pastimes again: baking.
About twenty minutes later, the sounds of the never-before-used mixer quickly drew admirers.
"Ooh, what are you making, Nikki?" Allie asked as she swept in, automatically dodging C-Cat as he appeared in front of her.
"A cake for after the game," Nikki said rather proudly. She rooted around through the refrigerator, shoving aside mounds of pop cans and some doggie bags from the nearby Chinese restaurant. "Don't you guys have any milk?"
Allie gave C-Cat a light smack as he made to stick his finger in the bowl. "Raw eggs," she warned him in her best stern motherly voice. He gave her a nasty grin, which was his way of scowling, and vanished. Allie rolled her eyes and inspected the batter. "Chocolate! Nikki, you're gonna be the death of us!"
"Yeah, Nik. It'll ruin my perfect figure," said Jake in a flawless mimicry of Allie as he meandered in.
"Oh shut it, Jake."
"Hey, you sure that thing works?" He pointed dubiously at the oven.
Nikki brought her head back out of the fridge and looked at the stove top, noting how sparklingly clean it was. "I think so. Why wouldn't it?"
Jake shrugged and Allie answered for him. "Because the last time it was used was for frozen pizza and that was about four months ago."
C-Cat began giggling hysterically from the other side of the kitchen.
"What?" said Nikki, eyeing the boy suspiciously, suspecting sabotage of her masterpiece.
"Oh," said Jake, reminiscing. "It's probably 'cause we burned that pizza."
Nikki stared at him in amazement. "You burned frozen pizza?"
"Don't look at me," he said, throwing up his hands defensively. "She did it."
"Who's surprised?" Allie cried in protest. "I burn macaroni and cheese for crying out loud!"
Down to the right side of the field. Now to the left. Oh, back to the right again.
"Come on, guys!" Allie shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. "You can do it!" She gave Nikki a patronizing glare. "Why aren't you being supportive? This is your team too."
"Uh, right." Nikki let out a couple of halfhearted cheers and yawned. It was already third quarter and the opposing team was crushing them: 14 to 2. Ignoring the dirty sidelong looks Allie kept throwing her, she glanced boredly around the soccer field.
C-Cat was standing next to Allie. He had been enthusiastic through the first five goals. But after halftime, a sort of glazed look had come over his permanent smile.
The real interest of the game had been Thorn.
To Nikki's utter amazement, Thorn had not only shown up for Jake's game, but she had brought some one along with her. The two women were sitting in cloth fold-up chairs on the opposite side of the grassy field and chatting together amiably like old friends. Nikki had never seen Thorn chat.
Nikki had spent most of the game watching them. Not surprisingly, Thorn hadn't bothered to introduce her friend to anyone. But the trench coat-wearing, brunette girl seemed to have quite a bubbly attitude. She laughed and laughed every time Thorn made a joke, but wasn't ridiculously silly; she seemed to have a pretty level head on her shoulders.
Just then, an outraged howl from the crowd and an indignant cry from Allie yanked Nikki's attention back to the game.
The home team had surrounded someone who was lying on the ground in a heap. Squinting to try to make out a face between the moving legs, Nikki slowly rose to her feet.
The coach called them away and carefully helped the fallen player to his feet. It was Jake.
Jake slowly limped off the field, leaning heavily on his coach until he could be deposited onto the bench. Nikki turned to ask Allie what had happened but realized that she was gone.
Allie had practically flown to her boyfriend and was already crouched before him on the ground, conversing anxiously with another adult who was examining his leg. Nikki decided that the wound wasn't life-threatening and sank back down into her chair again, only the lightest bit of acridity biting at her thoughts.
A voice behind her made the girl jump. "Nikki, where's C-Cat?"
"Huh?" Nikki spun around and was clearly stunned to behold Thorn and her friend walking up. "He's right…" She trailed off. The grinning nine-year-old was nowhere to be seen.
Without a word, Thorn marched away.
"Heh, she gets a bit protective sometimes. Don't know why, though. That kid is weird," said Thorn's friend, not noticing the stare she was getting from Nikki. "Oh, by the way, my name's Skylar. Nice to meet you." Skylar held out a hand and smiled.
Nikki took it awkwardly. "I'm Nikki…How do you know Thorn?" she finally burst out.
Skylar laughed. She had a nice laugh, Nikki noted, friendly and jovial, the complete antithesis of Thorn.
"Well," Skylar began. "It's kind of a long story…" She suddenly froze, staring past Nikki to the soccer field. Nikki turned around and groaned.
C-Cat had appeared near the opposing team's goalie and was creeping up behind him, face shining with glee at his unsuspecting victim's misfortune.
The goalie was too concerned with the herd of soccer players thundering toward him. The little black and white ball looked to be pulling the swarm by a magnetic force, always keeping them close, but bouncing away again every time some one got close enough to touch it.
No one noticed the little boy by the goal post.
As he crept ever nearer, the awareness that some kid who was clearly not supposed to be on the field and was about to attack the goalie could be seen almost palpably as the audience finally began to point and shout.
Hayden, the goalie, knew his time had come. He had been waiting all season for a chance to make a dramatic save, a way to recover the miserable reputation he'd earned earlier by missing a horribly easy shot. The ball was flying toward him…he was going to do it…he was going…
Nikki watched helplessly from the sidelines as Hayden lunged determinedly for the ball and C-Cat dove after him. "No," she breathed.
A shred of silver sprouted out of the ground and wrapped itself like a rope around C-Cat's leg, yanking him downward and away from the triumphant, yet still oblivious, Hayden.
The boy's smile never vanished, but C-Cat did.
As soon as the thin shining thread found itself holding nothing, it went taut and slid back down the way it came.
Across the field, Nikki saw a glimmer of silver connecting the bottom of Thorn's boot to the ground as the spike was quickly reabsorbed. Then Thorn began to shove her way through the frantic crowd back to them. Chaos reigned.
"Let's go, you three," she said in a very final, don't-argue sort of way.
Slowly, Nikki and Allie started home, Jake suspended between them. Before they were lost to sight, Nikki strained her head around to see Thorn and Skylar one last time.
She was almost sure the flicker of movement on Skylar's face was a wink before a babbling crowd separated them and Nikki returned her attention to the difficult task of getting Jake home.
"I'm fine!" Jake growled dangerously from the couch, looking ready to punch a hole in the wall – if he could have walked over to it.
"No, you aren't," said Odrade quite calmly. He handed Allie another ice pack and watched as she hesitantly replaced the one on Jake's leg. "And you're not going anywhere for at least a month. In which case," he gave Nikki a pointed look, "you will be taking his place. It's time you got out and started making it worth my while to pay you."
Nikki tried to return the amused grin he gave her, but couldn't ignore the plummeting feeling in her stomach. She wanted to scream: I'd rather be at home than working for you if you offered me a million bucks! But she didn't. She had learned the very trying task of holding her tongue.
Instead she said innocently, disguising her disgust, "But I thought you guys hadn't been out on any missions for months." This was a lie. Nikki was well aware of the many comings and goings of the group that occurred regularly; she had been since the first night she arrived.
Odrade guffawed heartily and Allie gave a nervous sort of giggle. Or maybe that was C-Cat from behind her. It was hard to tell sometimes.
"You think that I'm paying them just to sit around all summer? No, I'm afraid they've been quite busy."
Allie's eyes traveled to Jake's, unbidden. Nikki could see something inquiring in her gaze. His look said simply: no.
Odrade didn't seem to notice, or care, Nikki thought. He proceeded to explain that next Tuesday, Thorn and Allie would take her out for a test run. "To see how well you handle dangerous situations-"
"We're going to the Empire State Building for a history class field trip on Wednesday," Allie cut in.
"So?" said Nikki.
"So we'll have to leave right afterward to get to where we need to go," Allie retorted.
Odrade rubbed his forehead jadedly. "Just bring your costumes along then. You can change."
"HEY!" Nikki leaped to her feet as a steaming bowl of soup was tipped off a tray into her lap.
The tiny red-head who had dropped it gasped and started snatching up napkins, apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" She looked almost frightened.
"Don't worry about it," Nikki muttered miserably, trying to reassure the poor little thing. She recognized the girl as being a part of a group of juniors from another school that were apparently on a similar field trip. "I've got another change of clothes in my backpack."
The girl bent down to wipe up the mess, waving Nikki away. "You go change. I'll clean up."
Nikki grabbed her backpack up off the floor, carrying it at arm's length, and slopped through the busy restaurant. People gave the soup-soaked girl a wide berth. Feeling extremely self-conscious, she hurried into the bathroom and locked herself in a stall.
"What a day," Nikki moaned as she struggled clumsily out of her dripping clothes. "It was supposed to be a fun field trip to the Empire State Building. And now I don't have anything to wear – ouch!" She rubbed the side of her head, giving the door a dirty look, while hopping unsteadily on one foot as she got her shoe off.
She pulled out her costume and wrinkled her nose. It was that or nothing. With a resigned sigh, Nikki got into it and put her heavy coat on over it, slipping her mask into her pocket.
By the time she caught up with her class, they were waiting impatiently for her by the door to the lobby of the Empire State Building. Allie shot her a funny look as they squeezed inside the elevator to the observatory. "Nice outfit," she whispered.
Nikki blushed. "Thanks," she said and pulled her coat tighter around herself. "Too bad Jake couldn't come."
Allie shook her head. "He hates heights. I think that sudden pain in his leg might have been a little convenient." The two girls grinned
"Um…Hey," said a timid voice. Turning around with some difficulty due to the cramped quarters, Nikki looked down to see the petite little red-head.
Twisting a strand of tomato-red hair nervously around one finger, the girl said, "My name's Claire. I'm so sorry about the soup. Good thing you had some more clothes, huh?"
"Yeah." She looked around awkwardly. "I'm Nikki."
Something akin to icy nails pierced everyone's ears at that moment and Nikki watched her classmates wince in pain as their ears popped. Oddly enough - but she was used to odd things by now - her ears seemed to adjust to the new pressure painlessly.
The elevator doors finally opened. The group quickly exited and dissolved, some pointing excitedly while others strolled around with disinterest. Nikki was about to follow Allie and her friends but noticed Claire wandering quietly off by herself outside.
She grabbed Allie's arm. "Let's go with her."
"Huh?" Allie motioned for their group of friends to wait and turned to see what Nikki was pointing at. Her expression turned sour. "Are you kidding? C'mon." She started in the opposite direction.
Nikki sprang in front of her, eyes blazing. "Why not?"
Allie stopped wrinkled her nose royally. "Because hanging around with her would be the perfect way to ruin your reputation." She threw Claire's back a haughty glance before sidestepping Nikki and following her friends. Nikki felt caught in the middle. Her gaze jumped between the two several times until at last she gave a definitive nod.
"Claire, wait up!" she shouted, breaking into a jog.
Claire stopped and greeted her with a delighted look. "Hi," she said happily.
"Hey. Do you want to go outside?"
"Sure." She smiled, revealing a full set of braces.
That day marked the end of Nikki and Allie's blossoming friendship. The two girls became more of acquaintances than true friends and rarely spoke to each other in school. As Nikki turned away and marched determinedly outside with Claire, she walked away from her chance at popularity and status.
But somehow, it felt like the right thing to do.
"So how old are you?" asked Claire to break the silence as they stood on the balcony, staring mesmerized over the edge. The city looked so beautiful from their skyscraping vantage point.
"Sixteen," said Nikki, unable to hide the note of pride in her voice. "How 'bout you?"
Claire wrinkled her nose. "Fifteen and a half."
"Then why are you in-"
"Eleventh grade?" finished Claire. "Because they think I'm smart enough." She didn't appear the slightest bit cocky or pleased about it. She sounded annoyed.
"Oh," was all Nikki could think to say back.
"But in a couple of months, my boyfriend and I can be official. I'm allowed to group date when I'm sixteen." She showed off her braces again in another wide grin.
"That's cool," said Nikki. "So, uh, what's he like?"
Claire beamed. "Perfect, of course," she raved. Then, laughing, she added, "His name's Luke and he's seventeen. He's really nice."
"Is he cute?" Nikki asked, not in the least bit regretting her decision to ditch Allie's group.
Something of a shadow darted across Claire's cheery countenance. "Yeah. Yeah, he's cute," she said quickly and became jovial once again. "So where do you go to school?"
Nikki decided to let the abrupt change of subject pass. Before long, the two girls were absorbed in discussing actors, school, hobbies, and had exchanged enough information to keep in contact.
The Claire's teacher called her away suddenly and Nikki found herself standing alone. She turned her stare from the miniature cars and buses zooming around below to Warren and his gang. They were pushing each other around and laughing obnoxiously.
She was about to go back inside and see if Claire was done talking with the teacher when the boys' noise level increased suddenly. The crowd on the balcony had backed away from a fierce looking fight as security guards were alerted.
"You moron," Nikki murmured. "How dumb can ya be?" Feeling highly annoyed, she turned back to the street below.
I wonder what it would be like to just hang there, hundreds of feet in the air. This thought was inspired largely by the renowned antics of a certain masked hero, but Nikki would never have admitted that.
She slipped out of her coat, holding it up behind her and taking meticulous care to make sure that none of her exposed costume was visible to anyone. Her flexible arms carefully maneuvered the coat upward slightly to cover what she was doing from any onlookers.
Checking both sides twice, just to be absolutely sure no one was watching, Nikki clamped her hands tightly around two of the sturdy vertical bars that arced up in the air above her and pointed back toward the building. Then she eased herself gradually forward through the guard rails, until she was half suspended over Manhattan, still holding up the coat on the other side of the fence to conceal the glow.
It was the most stunning sight she'd ever seen – not the first time she'd ever looked down at the city – but the first time from 1,050 feet.
A gust of wind made her catch her breath as she felt her feet, which were still pressed very securely to the balcony, shift ever so slightly to the left. Gripping the poles more tightly, she made to ghost back through them.
At that moment, a terrific hoot rang out and Warren came staggering violently backwards toward the wall. Nikki's head whipped around in alarm. Her danger sense was screaming like siren.
Warren hurtled toward her, completely out of control. Even in slow motion, during those few pathetic moments, Nikki felt a sickening cloud of dread and helplessness descend on her as it had during the soccer game. She was trapped.
In one swift movement, she had let go of the pole on her left, relying entirely on her strength and sticking abilities to keep her up, and ripped her mask out of her coat pocket. As she struggled to jerk the pre-tied mask over her billowing hair with one hand, her spider powers suddenly gave out.
It was as though some one had turned them off with the flick of a switch. The singing buzz in her neck died instantly and Nikki felt her feet slip. Instinctively, she tried to swing around and cling to the pole on her right with both hands.
But her hands groped empty space. She stared in horror as a single pulse of brilliant blue light encased her body, ghosting her fingers through the rails. At the same time that the light vanished, the two-hundred pound football player backed through the glowing guard rails, colliding with her full force.
Fingers moist with sweat, Nikki lost her grip and pitched forward. Warren's screams, three octaves too high, echoed dimly somewhere in the distance as he tumbled downward too. Everything was in a haze as the ground sprang toward her like a leopard after its prey.
Nikki was only partially aware of her own cries as she fell. Perhaps she ought to have been thinking of her family; what she'd done to them; rethinking all her choices and despicable decisions. Maybe her mind should have been dwelling on the person she wished she could have seen one more time, just like those romantic heroines in fanciful tales.
But, in reality, her brain had frozen into a worthless block of ice. She was not thinking at all, only falling.
She hadn't expected to die this way. At her age, she still thought of herself as being somewhat immortal, unable to be killed until she was old and weak. But the sensation of falling flattened that foolish notion as completely as the ground was about to do to her body.
Warren, his arms flailing about like a giant octopus (Nikki supposed that she probably was too), came into view as the two doomed teenagers neared the crushing finality of the earth. His blonde hair was swept back from his face by the roaring wind and Nikki suddenly choked. There was no mistaking him.
He was the boy from the alley.