Ch 22 Sem 2 Wk 4

Lola returned to the warehouse a few days later, bringing Patricia new reading materials and fresh take-out. There was no one guarding the door, and as soon as she entered the building she knew she would not find Patricia there.

The open space was eerily silent, Lola’s steps echoing though a room void of people and holding only boxes. The door to the office where they had kept Patricia stood open, but it was empty of all of the things Lola had brought her, and there was only Spider, sitting slumped in one of the chairs, wearing a pair of dark glasses.

She set her bags down on the floor. “Why don’t you just tell me where she is and get this over with,” Lola said to him.

“I don’t know where she is,” Spider said. “For some reason the Lothario wouldn’t tell me--he hasn’t told anyone because of you.” He stood up. “I don’t like you.”

“Few people do,” Lola agreed. “It’s one of my many gifts.” She couldn’t see his eyes, and she didn’t like that, unable to see exactly where his eyes were resting. He slipped off his jacket and stepped forward. Even though she was a few yards away Lola stepped backwards on instinct. Lola glanced down and noticed he had a slight limp and a wincing expression in his face.

“You’re the one he can’t control,” Spider said stepping closer. “And I’m the one who suffers for it.” He unbuttoned his shirt and Lola could see the bruises on his torso, purple and ugly. “He’s not just a freakshow you know,” he told her. “The Lothario means business, if you try to cross him. Or betray him.”

Lola’s gaze settled on the bruises across his skin. Did Dark Lothario beat on Spider because he betrayed him, or did he do it to prove a point to her? Perhaps he meant her to see what he was willing to do to someone who wouldn’t cooperate with him. “Bad luck for you,” she offered.

“Or you. Do you know why they call me Trapdoor Spider? I like to set a trap…and pounce on my prey.” His lips curled up into a smile that she did not like. “That’s you, in case you were wondering.”

Lola spun around to run away, but even injured Spider was faster, not having the deterrent of spike heeled boots. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back, her scalp stinging as she stumbled backwards into him. They both crashed to the floor in a heap. Spider was used to unwilling victims, but Lola had never been a victim to anyone, giving him the advantage. She struggled to free herself from his grasp but with his fingers still wrapped in the curls of her hair he slammed the side of her face hard into the concrete floor.

Pain shattered across her cheek and jaw, disorienting her. “Stop it,” she tried to say even as her mouth filled with blood, clawing in vain at his forearm. A second blow came to the back of her head, and the pain reverberated through her skull for only seconds before the world blinked out around her, a light bulb going dead.

*****

Glory sighed, laying her head on KP’s bare shoulder, slightly sweaty and naked except for her red mask, her hair a tangled blond mane around her. KP was wearing only his mask too, and she traced the edges of it with her finger. “I like the mask,” she said. “Gives you an air of mystery.”

“Mystery?” KP said. “There’s not much mystery here,” he joked, lifting the blanket.

They had his dorm room to themselves for a few precious hours while Torch spent the evening taking extra lessons to control his fire powers. It was the seventh time they had had sex--Glory was counting--and she was really starting to enjoy herself. She sat up and let the blanket fall away. “We don’t know each other that well,” she said. “There’s plenty of mystery left.”

She didn’t worry about it the way she used to. She had learned to be content with what they had. She felt a sense of calm after being with him, and it made the rest of the world--school, Dark Lothario--bearable. “I wonder what it will be like, years down the line.”

“Years?”

“Yeah. Once we’re settled in the League--full time heroes. You can be a nerdy professor by day, and a dark warrior by night.” Dark warrior--she liked the sound of that, though admittedly it did not bring her images of KP in his Kevlar lined tweed. “I will do something no one would ever suspect--work with kids maybe--but secretly I will be crime fighter extraordinaire.”

He sat up too. “I can’t imagine do this forever. I was pretty useless when we went out into the field. ”

“You were just nervous,” Glory said, explaining away the sudden dull feeling in her stomach. “You’ll fall into this in no time, I‘m sure of it.. We’ll be the perfect crime fighting team. And our kids will be amazing--”

“Kids, huh?” he said. “Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves?”

“It’s just a fantasy,” she said. “Two I think--one with your powers and one with mine. Of course we’ll start training little Kinetic Junior early so he isn’t so far behind when he joins the league--”

“America--”

“We’ll name the girl Liberty, after the Statue of Liberty--she’ll need a strong role model to look up to--”

“America, stop.”

“What?”

“Stop planning my future. It makes me uncomfortable.“ He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back down beside him. “We only have an hour until Torch comes back from his training, and I have one condom left. Let’s make use of it. No talk of kids right now.”

She leaned over to kiss him. “Definitely not. My mother would kill me.”

“Yours and mine both,” he said, and grasped for the foil wrapped packet.

*****

Pain shot through Lola’s head with every pulse of blood rushing through it. At first she didn’t want to open her eyes, but she felt a tugging on the laces of her corset, and her situation rushed back into her aching brain. “Goddamn laces,” she heard Spider mutter, and she was grateful she had such a complicated costume.

Afraid to move, she lay still to assess her situation. She tasted blood in her mouth, felt something wet and warm on her face that was most likely more blood. All of the pain was localized to her head, which was unfortunate because that was the only part of her body that was any good in a fight. She didn’t think she had been unconscious for more than a few moments. She felt him stand up, mumbling something about a box cutter. You are so dead, she thought, the room spinning as she sat up. Guns. I think I will change my stance on guns.

She saw Spider with his back to her, digging around in the drawers of the desk. Lola eased herself to her feet and managed to disappear into the stacks of boxes. The pain in her head did not lessen, but her mind seemed to clear. They were the only people in the building--it would be easy enough to simply slip out the door, but she wasn’t looking to escape. She was looking for revenge.

Lola bent down carefully, the blood rushing though her head making her want to throw up, but she managed to unzip her boots and pull them off. On flat feet she would have the advantage over the limping Spider.

Spider turned back to the empty spot on the floor where she had lain. “Aw shit,” he exclaimed. His body language shifted into an alert mode, and he glanced around the room. “Where are you little girl?” he called, holding the box cutter tight in his hand. “Why don’t you come out and let’s finish this like men.”

Lola tensed from her hiding place. She needed some sort of weapon, some way to get the drop on him. She searched the room. Boxes were stacked high in front of her and around her a wall behind her. “Do you really think a girl like you has a chance against a guy like me?” Spider called out. “You’re not a villain. You don’t know how to be. You’re just a spoiled little brat that needs put in her place.”

Lola’s eyes came to rest on a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. She would have to run past a large gap in the boxes, but she was sure she could get there first. Lola dashed past the opening, and sure enough Spider shouted in recognition. She wrenched the extinguisher off the wall, surprised at its heft. A large, awkward weapon, but the best she could do under the circumstances.

Suddenly inspired, Lola pulled the pin and aimed the hose, turning around just as Spider reached her. The extinguisher jerked in her hand when she squeezed the trigger and a cloud of chemicals erupted from the end, aimed directly at Spider’s face. He wasn’t expecting a chemical attack and yelled as it hit his eyes. Lola lurched forward and slammed the extinguisher as hard as she could into his face.

Spider crumpled immediately, his body falling forward with a soft thud at her bare feet. Lola stared down at his still chemical covered form. She couldn’t manipulate the mind of an unconscious person.

*****

America had fallen asleep on Lawrence’s shoulder, and he couldn’t help but reach out and stroke her shining blond hair. Here was a super model naked next to him, and yet he couldn’t be completely happy with the situation. It wasn’t her fault--but he had a sinking feeling that he could never be what she wanted him to be. All he could do was hold on to her while he could, and be gracious when it was time to let her go.

*****

Spider moaned and rolled his head as he came to. Lola hadn’t had much time and after a quick search of the premise all she had was a roll of masking tape to her disposal (shouldn’t a lair of super villains be better equipped?), but was good enough. He was taped (mostly) upright in a chair. His unconscious body had been heavy and hard to maneuver, so he slumped a little and probably wasn’t very comfortable. Most importantly she had taped his head to the smooth glass wall of the office behind him so he could not look away from her. “Hello, Spider,” she said, looking him in the eye. She sat down in a chair opposite him so that they were eye level.

“Wha?” He attempted to stand up and found himself effectively bound. “Oh, no, no.”

Lola couldn’t help but smile through the pain in her head and the uncomfortable revulsion she felt towards him. “You’re all mine now,” she said.

“Let me go you freaky girl!” Spider struggled against the tape, but she had used quite a bit of it, and he was much more thoroughly injured than she was. She had not considered it bad form to put her boots back on and kick him a few times while he was out, circumstances being what they were.

“What shall I make you do to yourself?” She mused aloud.

“I hate you,” Spider said again. He attempted to spit at her but failed, drool running down his chin.

“That’s disgusting,” she said. “First of all, you’re going to turn yourself in to a hero in training named America the Beautiful. You can find her in Memorial Hall on campus. Tuesday evening. You will bring no one with you and tell no one where you are going. You will throw yourself to her feet and beg her to take you to the police, and cooperate with her fully. At the police station you will confess to everything bad you have ever done, except you will make no mention of anything or anyone in relation to me or Dark Lothario.” She stared hard at him. There was no guarantee that he would stay in jail once he was there, especially if Dark Lothario’s lawyers got involved. She had to do more. “Once in jail you will discover a fascination with the neuter subculture. Are you familiar with that?”

Spider shook his head. “No, not that.”

“Yes that. You’ll become obsessed with the idea, until you finally decide you have to cut them off. I’m sure some of your prison buddies will help with the procedure. And you’ll hate yourself the entire time, because you know everything you’ve ever done in your life was disgusting and depraved. You know you deserve it. You know you’re slime.”

“I hate you, I hate you,” Spider repeated, crying. “I’m going to kill you--”

“You are not going to kill me. You’re not going to hurt anyone ever again. In prison, when they’re beating on you, having their way with you--you’re not going to fight back. You’re just going to let them.”

“I hate you,” he said one more time, little more than a whisper.

Lola stood up. She saw his jacket still on the floor where he had dropped it earlier. She scooped it up and pulled it on. It fit just right. A trophy. She took his box cutter and sliced though the layers of tape holding him down. “I don’t care if you hate me,” Lola said. “You can’t do anything about it any more.”

*****

Lola moved slowly as she got out of the Lotus and climbed the stairs to her lair, feeling heavy, her head aching. She had narrowly avoided a terrible fate--that was bad enough. But now she had just taken Dark Lothario’s right hand man away from him.

Lola stripped out of her costume, fingers clumsy as she worked the laces and hooks holding her into the leather cat suit. She was glad she had a lair with a bathroom. Looking in the mirror she saw the ugly bruise forming across her cheek. Dried blood crusted around what was actually a very small cut, and the cut in the inside of her mouth when her face hit the floor was swollen and painful.
She looked pretty bad.

Lola got into the shower, the hot water soothing her even as it stung her face. She felt the lump on the back of her head and was grateful her hair covered it, because it was large and very tender. She was going to have a hard enough time explaining away her face.

Lola stood under the water for a long time before getting out and dressing in her street clothes. She stared at Spider’s jacket tossed aside on the couch. She had a strong urge to put it on and wear it home, but she resisted. Glory might recognize the jacket. Glory. She didn’t want to go home to her, but knew it would be even worse if she didn’t.

When she got home the apartment was dark, and she was relieved. She climbed into bed, exhausted, and slept.

*****

The next morning Glory was eating breakfast when Lola stumbled into the room. Her spoon dropped with a splash into her cereal and she somehow managed not to scream. “What happened to your face?”

“Ice on the stairs,” Lola mumbled through a swollen mouth. “I slipped. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine,” Glory said, getting up and rushing over to Lola. “Did you go to the hospital?”

“No, it’s not a big deal.”

“Your face looks like it’s been hit by a wrecking ball!”

“Does it?” Glory stared, aghast, as Lola picked up their tea kettle and looked at her metallic reflection. “Hm. It didn’t look so bad last night.”

Glory went to the freezer and got out some ice, dumping it into a dish towel and handing it over to her friend. “Here.” Lola winced as she applied the ice to her broken face. “You fell down the stairs you said?”

“Yeah. On campus.”

“But they’re really good about salting everything,” Glory said, her voice getting smaller. Was Lola still seeing that boy from last semester?

“It was a lesser used staircase,” Lola insisted. “I’m fine Glory, I promise.” She sighed. “I think I’m going to skip class today.”

“Good idea,” Glory said, still suspicious. But Lola wasn’t the type of girl that would end up in the kind of relationships that ended in the mess across her face. Of course it had just been an accident. Bad luck--that was all.

*****

A/N: Ugh. I hate writing action, and I'm glad this chapter is over. I'll try to post another part on friday/sat if I can. Thanks everyone for the patience and support.