In a small loft, Peter Parker was slipping on his costume in preparation of going out on patrol. As always it was a grim undertaking, an effort to make up for the original mistake of pride and arrogance that had cost him so much.
It was impossible to put on the mask without remembering how the fact that the Spider-Man's first appearance had let a man escape who would later kill his Uncle Ben.
His roommate was out, so we was able to take a little more care than usual, but he didn't use much in the way of equipment so it was still a quick process. There was pretty much just the camera and the belt that he used, all the rest of his equipment was essentially built in.
And then he was out into the night.
****
Kodachi took a deep breath as she kneeled among the pieces of her costume and gear in the manner of a samurai preparing for battle.
She kept her face still as she checked the darts, each with the blue and red rose and web motif of her costume, and carefully loaded them into the arm-guards, making sure to have a full load.
Like the black roses that supplied their paralytic, she had created the darts on whim. The idea of playing superhero had come to her and she had armed herself according to how she knew to fight.
Drugs and tools.
Besides, a spider needed a sting, she thought with a bitter smile in mirror of when she had first created the weapon.
Originally it had been a game, something to amuse herself with and to take her mind off the reasons behind her hunt for the scientists that had been responsible, if accidentally, for her change. But then...
Well, that had been settled, best not to dwell on past mistakes. She would not sit idly by again, family or no family. Samurai had their duty, and she was samurai.
She had a duty to attend to.
****
"So you took these last night," Jameson said.
"That's right, Mr. Jameson," Peter said shrugging as to what the point of the question was.
"So did you get pictures of the other spider-sighting?" Jameson asked.
"Well, I can't follow him that well," Peter said. "He swings through the buildings, all I can do is get a cab."
"It was about the same time on the otherside of the city," Jameson said.
"But that would mean," Peter said.
"That's right," Jameson said. "There's another of these jokers around. This one uses poison darts apparently, probably some doped-up lunatic. Now, Parker, you get Spider-Man pictures so regularly, why don't bring me pictures of the second one?"
****
Kodachi was walking to the school for her classes and paused along the way as she caught sight of the paper on the stacks she was passing. She paused to look glance at the photo and the headline. This was new to her, having mostly confined herself to Nerima in the past, even her own deadly brawl had been mostly overlooked. And now, a simple night of learning a new city with only a minor skirmish and she was front page?
"Spider-Man continues vigilante regime," Kodachi thought to herself, frowning as she read the paper. "Man? They think I'm a..." She paused as her rolled to the picture that went with the article. "That's not me. Continues, hmm? Perhaps I should have read the papers a bit more before coming here."
She picked up the paper and paid the man at the newstand, walking along further as her eyes found another headline on a smaller article.
"Are they breeding?" she laughed bitterly and rolled her eyes.
****
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Sun, 21 Dec 2003 19:33)
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