Later
Chapter 9 – Along Came a Spider
Sam, in a trendy olive dress and matching heels, entered the dark movie theater. Following closely behind was Arnold, dressed in his “best” ugly suit with bow-tie. He looked quite ridiculous, holding drinks in both hands and hugging a large tub of pop-corn, which was also stacked with several bags of different kinds of sugary candies. Trying to be a good date, he had refused to let Sam carry anything.
This was also the theater Britney and Mandy had entered seconds ago. Sam had used a spying technique she had perfected to keep the perfect distance and angle behind Mandy and Britney. She watched them buy tickets, wait in line, and enter this theater, all without being noticed by them. Finally, she watched the two girls sit in two seats in the middle row next to the center aisle. Arnold walked in another direction to sit some where else, but Sam motioned with her hand that she wanted to sit in the seats directly five rows behind Mandy and Britney. With the steep incline between the rows of seats in this gargantuan EYEMAX movie-theater, it was the perfect position to spy on the two from above.
Soon the previews started playing. All of them were predictably for remakes, including a new version of Citizen Bane starring Brock Williams and a “re-imagining” of the horror-movie Helloween by hack-director Bob Zombie. Soon the feature presentation, An Order of Love for Two II, started rolling. As the minutes passed by, Britney came to the conclusion that this film was as bad as the earlier previewed movies had sounded.
She watched up on the screen as the pivotal scene played out of the first meeting of the star-crossed lovers. In this case they were an over-worked waitress who had no time for love played by Jennifer Hopez and an office big-shot played by Lou Grant, a British immigrant who had appeared in seventy-seven different romantic comedies and was also famous for his public escapades with prostitutes. True to the theme of the movie it took place in the dingy café where the leading lady worked.
“And what would you like to order, sir?” she asked Lou’s character, a customer at the café.
The handsome actor gave her a charming smile. “I want you with a side-order of love.”
“Sorry, that’s not on our menu, sir,” the waitress said, rolling her eyes harshly. Also rolling her eyes was Britney. When she looked over for Mandy’s reaction, though, she could see she was completely enthralled, almost hypnotized. How any girl could fall for such sappiness was lost on Britney. She then decided she needed a short break from the film’s inane corniness.
“Mandy, I’m kinda thirsty. You want something to drink or a snack?”
“I could go for a latte.”
“Ok, one diet soda and one latte, coming up.” When Britney tried to get up from her seat, she was stopped by Mandy grabbing her hand.
“No, I’ll get it.”
“You sure?” This seemed completely out of character for the generally selfish girl.
“Of course,” Mandy answered. “Besides, you’re a poor person. The drinks here are probably too expensive for you.” She seemed completely unaware of how belittling that sounded.
“Thanks, Mandy.”
Sam saw Mandy climbing up the steep aisle towards her seat. She would surely see her, and Sam certainly didn’t want to be caught spying on the two. Sam thought about jumping behind her chair to the empty row in the back, but that would attract too much attention to herself from the theater’s other patrons. Quickly, she tried to think of another strategy. Normally one would come to her instantly, but some how the thought of being caught by Mandy had made her very nervous and her mind was running blank. She looked over at Arnold and saw him shoveling buttered popcorn into his mouth from the jumbo-sized tub he was holding. She grabbed it out of his hands, turned it upside down over her head, dumping all the pop-corn on herself, and placed the empty bucket on her head as a make-shift disguise.
Mandy stopped in front of them. “Yeah, I don’t blame her, Arnold,” she snorted. After cackling at him for a good while, she continued trudging up the steps and exited through the swinging doors.
Sam pulled the greasy paper bucket off her head. “You ok, Sam? Should I call your doctor?” Arnold asked, looking at her like she had just walked out of a UFO.
“I just really love this yummy pop-corn,” she said, picking up a few kernels from her shoulder and then throwing them into her mouth.
“No kidding.”
Mandy returned with the drinks a short time later and went right back to sit next to Britney, not bothering to look at Arnold and his bucket-headed date again. They both continued watching the movie together, as Sam continued to peer at them fixedly from above.
Time passed and the point in the movie’s plot reached the moment where Hopez’s character gave into the male lead’s ridiculous advances. The couples in the theater watched as the two actors shared their first kiss that was awkward at first and then deeply passionate. As Britney watched the two exchange saliva on the screen, she felt a sudden electric sensation of intoxicating pleasure shoot up through her body. Britney didn’t think the kissing scene was that good, though, and upon looking down she could see the pleasurable feeling had actually emanated from Mandy’s hand caressing her inner thigh from under her dress. Even though Mandy’s touch felt very good, her immediate reaction was to take her hand and remove it from her thigh.
Mandy folded her arms and looked away from her, scowling miserably. Despite the display of anger, Britney could see in Mandy’s eyes and her quivering lip that she was close to tears. She had been really hurt by Britney refusing her.
Britney had to think fast. She took her soda out of the cup holder on the arm-rest between her and Mandy. She then moved the arm-rest up and to between the backs of the seats, removing the divider between the two girls. She then put her arm over Mandy and pulled the girl into her, so they were scrunched up next to each other. Mandy seemed very pleased by this, and she nuzzled her head into Britney’s shoulder and neck affectionately like a little love-starved kitten.
“Is that better?” Britney whispered.
“Mmmm. Yes. Very comfy,” she said dreamily. Britney peered over at the dark-haired girl cuddled into her. She did indeed look very comfortable. Britney had always thought Mandy had seemed a little off in the time she had known her. It wasn’t only her arrogant, bratty, selfish behavior. She had also seemed almost uncomfortable in her own skin. Now, however, she looked truly happy, almost like she was content for the first time ever.
Sam, still spying on the two, had seen the undeniably loving embrace. She inadvertently crushed the paper cup of soda in her right hand, causing the syrupy liquid to spill all over her fingers and on to the floor. She had finally realized her suspicions, however seemingly paranoid they were at first, were in fact true. It was both infuriating and deeply painful.
Mean while, Arnold, completely oblivious to what was going on, stretched his arms up above his head and gave an over-the-top yawn, being a poor actor. When he brought his right arm down, he placed it over Sam’s shoulders. Sam turned her head and glared at him. She looked like a red-headed demon who was about to bite his head off and spit it back out at him. Arnold quickly pulled his arm off her, almost peeing in his pants.
Sam looked forward again, trying to focus on the movie, but all she could see were Mandy and her former friend cuddling together like a couple of love-birds.
“Arnold, I decided I don’t like this movie anymore. You want to go see something else?”
“The theater next to us is playing Star Truck II: The Wrath of Ron,” he said, excited at the prospect of seeing the film a sixth time.
“Ok, let’s go,” she agreed. They both got up to leave. Sam looked back one more time to make sure it wasn’t all a lie, but it was still true. She wiped out the thick tears building in the corners of her eyes and left the dark theater.
A few hours later, Mandy, with Britney in the passenger seat, stopped her Ferrari, putting it in park on the street half way between the drive-way to her mansion and the drive-way to the spies’ villa.
“You sure you don’t want to come in and spend the night?” Mandy asked her one more time. “Phoebe would probably have a problem with it, but she’s so high by now she probably wouldn’t even notice.”
“Who’s Phoebe?”
“My mother,” Mandy admitted begrudgingly.
Britney looked concerned. “You’re mother abuses drugs?”
“Well, only weed. She still likes to pretend she’s a hippie like she was a million years ago. It’s so disgustingly tacky.”
“You don’t smoke weed do you?”
“Are you kidding? I hate smoking, both my mom’s stupid weed and my dad’s nasty cigarettes. I can’t stand them, they’re so gross. I guess that’s why we’re rich, though, because of dad’s cancer sticks and him being dumb enough to not make Phoebe sign a pre-nup before he decided to screw around on her.” Mandy suddenly realized she had just divulged more information about her home-life than she was used to. She usually kept these truths much closer to her chest around everyone. “I don’t know why I’m telling you my parents are such losers. You don’t think I’m one now too do you?”
Britney was taken a back a bit. She really didn’t expect such a privileged girl to have such a mangled home-life. “No, of course not. What your parents do is not your fault. Believe me, Mandy, you’re no loser. I’m sure of that, and I’m proud of that fact you don’t smoke or do marijuana like your mom.”
Mandy’s face brightened up into a beaming smile. “Thank you, Britneykins.” Hearing that had seemed to make Mandy feel really happy. Her smile then changed into a sneakier smirk. “So what about coming in? I have a very nice hot tub,” she said, putting her hand on Britney’s shoulder and massaging it a little bit.
“Sorry, Mandy. I mean, the date was great. You showed me a very nice time. I couldn’t have asked for more… But, I think you’re moving kinda fast for me. I’m an old-fashioned kind of girl.”
“Squeee!” Mandy’s acidic voice reached a crescendo. “Oh my god, a poor girl who wants to be old-fashioned in Beverly Hills! Normally, I’d tell you how utterly lame that is, but with you its just adorable!”
“Thanks… I think.”
“I don’t usually do this, but don’t worry. However, long the wait is, I’m sure it will be totally worth it.”
“Well, ok. Good night, Mandy,” Britney said, quickly exiting the car-door, thinking she had averted a dangerous situation.
Just as Britney had stepped onto the pavement, Mandy exited her door and ran around to her side like a lightning bolt. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Mandy asked. “You’re not getting off that easy.”
Britney looked frightened. “What do you mean?”
“Well, this is the second date, and you know the rule.” Mandy’s expression was getting increasingly more devilish by the second.
“Ummm, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Britney lied sheepishly.
Mandy suddenly got very close to her. “Well, this is the second date, and the rules say on the second date you have to give me a good-bye kiss,” she said, putting some fingers in her beautiful blue hair and running them all the way down her back.
“Wellll.. I.. I… never…”
“What you never kissed a girl before?” Mandy blinked, looking at her incredulously, like not having done so would have been completely abnormal.
“Well… ummm… uh… no-ope,” Britney’s voice cracked. She had been less nervous in interrogations by the enemy when the threat of torture had been introduced. This had been one situation she had never thought to mentally prepare for.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m going to be your first!” Mandy squealed, thinking this must be what poor people feel like after winning the lottery. Britney gulped all the air in her throat hard, and several visible beads of sweat trailed down her smooth cheeks. This did not go un-noticed by Mandy and seemed to entice her even more. “Awwww, you’re nervous. That’s sooo cute,” Mandy said wrapping her arms tightly around the thin girl’s frame, pulling her close and pressing her forehead squarely against Britney’s so that their eyes and lips were fractions of an inch away from each other. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle... You do want to kiss me, right, Britneykins?” she asked, boring those incredibly deep purple eyes deep into Britney’s soul.
Britney’s heart pounded furiously as she searched for an answer. She had a strong inclination in one direction, but then she thought this was a mission and her decision should be based squarely on that. She thought her goals should be to keep her cover and to continue to investigate Mandy as a suspect. There was one clear way to do that now, and the answer became obvious.
“Ye..yeah,” she barely let out. That was all the go-ahead Mandy needed, and she pressed her lips against Britney’s. At first the kiss seemed one sided with Mandy rubbing her lips all over Britney’s. Soon, however, Britney reciprocated, and they were both mashing their lips together with equal enthusiasm. Britney then parted hers further to let Mandy go in deeper, and soon she felt Mandy’s tongue braze against her own as their mouths seemed to melt together pleasurably.
The kiss seemed to last forever, but it was really only a minute and change. Mandy finally removed her mouth from Britney, who just stood there blushing and gasping for air.
“So how was your first kiss with a girl?” Mandy asked.
“You’re very good,” Britney said, sounding astounded. She was both stunned at how pleasurable the kiss was and how carried away she got during it.
Mandy giggled. “You got that right. So, can we do this again next week-end?”
“Sure,” Britney said, seemingly still in an altered state of consciousness from the kiss.
“Can’t wait. You sleep tight, Britneykins. Good night,” she said before planting a short kiss on her cheek.
“Good night, Mandy,” Britney replied. Mandy then watched intently as she walked up the drive-way to the spies’ villa and entered through the front door.
More than a bit disappointed for some reason, Mandy got back in her Ferrari and drove it up her own drive-way to her mansion. She opened one of the doors of the four door garage with the remote and parked the Spider in between her mother’s new Rolls-Royce and vintage, restored Volkswagen van.
She then exited the garage and entered into her cavernous mansion, which in its darkened state, more closely resembled a large cave.
There was one flickering light source faintly illuminating the tall walls. It came from the room right of the sweeping stair-case, emanating from the Luxes’ near theater sized LCD television. As to be expected, Mandy could see her mother sitting on the couch. She was laughing like a total idiot at the cartoon she was watching, while she intermittently took puffs from the lit joint in her hand. Sitting there, she looked almost like Mandy’s dark-headed doppelganger. Only she looked much older with her wrinkled face and tired eyes that were so blood-shot that Mandy could make out the red in them, even while it was this dark. She had also been so high that she didn’t even notice her daughter coming home through the door not too far away
Mandy today seemed extra annoyed at her mother’s predictable behavior tonight, even though this had happened innumerous times before. She picked up a priceless Ming Dynasty vase, which was sitting on an equally expensive, hand-carved Napoleon era table standing next to the stair-case. Her mother had little interest in their historical value or elegant design, but had bought them purely as status symbols to prove her wealth. Mandy chucked the vase up into the room, and it sailed directly over Phoebe’s head and down to where it crashed into the floor behind the couch, smashing into a thousand pieces.
Phoebe shrieked and started looking around the room franticly, completely paranoid. Mandy didn’t give her a second glance and, instead, drudged up the sweeping marble stare-case, headed towards her bed-room, which was located on the left balcony.
She entered her spacious, elegantly decorated room. Mandy stopped and looked forlornly over at her large, frilly tall-post bed. She had really wished the night had ended with her and Britney in it, snuggled up together under the covers, but that didn’t happen. Suddenly the room felt incredibly empty. If there was one thing Mandy hated most, it was being alone. She even hated sleeping alone.
Mandy dug her cell-phone out of her purse and flipped it open with the thought of calling Dominique and Catlin over for a late-night romp. They were always her back-up plan for when a date didn’t end as planned. However, for some reason, she just didn’t feel like calling them tonight. She didn’t know why either. Both girls appeared to adore her, mimicked her in every way, and would literally do anything she asked of then. But some how, their mindless devotion felt more shallow now. She was beginning to feel differently about things for once in a long time, and she didn’t know the reason yet.
Suddenly, another thought flashed in her head. She was reminded of something she hadn’t been thinking of recently, and her mind quickly switched gears. She pressed with her thumb to toggle through the endless list of numbers of boys and girls in her phone. She stopped when she found the number labeled Arnold Jackson. She pressed with her thumb to dial it.
Instead of Arnold’s actual whimpering voice answering her in real time, she heard his recorded voice-mail message. She was infuriated and, after she heard the tone, she screamed so loud into the phone that it would surely leave him half-deaf when he received the message. “You stupid nerd! I thought I told you to leave your cell on at all times! When I find you, I’m gonna take your scrawny neck and snap it in two! You hear me!”
After closing the phone, Mandy slammed open the sliding door to her walk-in closet. The closet was actually larger than some apartments in poorer sections of L.A. She walked all the way to the back of it, past the parade of expensive clothes, to where one particular specially designed outfit hung. She ripped it off the hanger.
Back in the spies’ villa, Clover and Tara were currently sitting in the living room. Clover lounged on the couch, barely covered by her favorite skimpy, blue silk nighty. Tara sat across from her on the love-seat, dressed much less provocatively in cargo-pants and a sleeveless maroon top that matched her hair. She was diligently working on Clover’s history report, as well as a few other home-work assignments Clover had due the next Monday.
Also joining them on the couch was Britney, who had just returned from her “night out” with Mandy. After watching a little tv and chatting a bit with the two girls, she went up to Alex’s old room, which now served as her own. She slipped off her heels and then stripped out of the short dress she had worn on the date, leaving only her light-blue bra and matching panties. She then opened one of her drawers and took out some less expensive clothes. She pulled a pair of tight jeans up over her equally tight butt. Next, she dropped a blue and gray t-shirt over her head and pulled it down over her curvy chest. After putting on a pair of tennis shoes, she came back down stairs. She told the two girls she was going out again and gave Clover a wink to signal she was going to do more investigating on the case, although Clover could’ve interpreted it another way. Britney left.
Now with her gone, Clover used the remote-control to switch back on the movie she was watching on Skinamax before she was interrupted by Britney’s return. She stared at the steamy love-scene on the screen intently. Watching that channel in the living room was something Clover, occasionally joined by Alex and Sam, could get away with since after their parents had allowed them to live alone together in the villa.
As she watched the movie, she could also see Tara, from across the room, pause a number of times from scribbling on Clover’s homework assignment to glance over at Clover’s body. It was quite a sight indeed. While her blue nighty was normally short and revealing enough, it was currently hiked up so high that it not only revealed her long, silky legs, but also a very generous portion of her smooth, round thighs, as well. As Tara watched, Clover un-crossed her legs and then very slowly re-crossed them, showing Tara that the nighty was indeed the only thing she was wearing. “Almost done?” Clover asked in a seductive tone.
“All ma..most,” Tara was barely able to let out through shallow breaths. She then went back to scribbling furiously on Clover’s home work assignment, finishing it a few minutes later in record timing. She then shot up from her seat and brought the papers over to Clover for her approval.
She skimmed though them and appraised her work while Tara watched impatiently. “Hmmm, not as good as Arnold usually does it.” Tara scowled viciously and clenched her fists, her hatred of the scrawny nerd cementing even further. He would get his soon. That she was sure of. “I think this will do, though. Good job, Tara.” Tara smiled from ear to ear after hearing approval from the one she loved. “Soooo, you ready for your reward?” Tara bobbled her maroon head up and down franticly. Clover giggled. “Can you be my doggy again?”
“Ok!” Tara then dropped down on all fours, stood on her hands and knees, and stuck out her tongue, panting like a dog.
Clover giggled again, pleased with her obedience. “Can you bark for me?”
“Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!” Tara barked enthusiastically.
“Awww, what a cute puppy,” Clover said as she petted the girl’s head affectionately, much to Tara’s approval. “Does my wittle doggy want her juicy treat now?” Clover asked in a babyish voice.
Tara shook her head up and down. “Ruff! Ruff!”
Clover then un-crossed her legs and spread them far apart. “Ok, come and get it.” Tara dug her head in instantly.
At that very moment, Alex was still sitting on her tiny bed in her cramped prison cell, staring ahead at the lifeless white wall across from her. She had been in this position nearly all day.
The female guard making her rounds through the prison took a moment to stop and peek into her cell from the small plexiglass window on the thick titanium-alloy door. She thought Alex, sitting there, resembled a lifeless doll from some little girl’s bed-room. Even creepier, there was some sinister quality to the stare the dark skinned girl gave with her even darker eyes. It was as if she was waiting for something. Perhaps, it was the perfect moment to strike when people were least expecting it. This sent a shiver up the guard’s spine, and she continued on her patrol down the hall-way of the women’s wing of the WOOHP Prisoner Holding Facility.
Suddenly, all the electricity in the Holding Facility switched off. This not only left the in-mates in total darkness, but also virtually unsupervised due to WOOHP’s cameras being powerless. Alex, realizing what had happened, actually got up from her position on the bed and stood on the floor. She then took her mattress and moved it up off the bed’s frame. On the frame, she searched around with her hand, looking for the item she had managed to sneak into the prison and hide there. She felt it with her fingers, gripped it in her hand, and then held it out in front of her self in the dark.
It had been some time since Sam and Arnold had walked out of An Order of Love for Two II. They had indeed gone and watched Star Truck II instead. Surprising Arnold, Sam had said she liked the movie. Unbeknownst to him, Sam had been a closet Star Truck and science-fiction fan for years. Even though she would’ve enjoyed the movie under normal circumstances, she had been swept over by an immense sadness that had prevented her from doing so. Arnold had noticed this too.
After the movie, Arnold had invited Sam to her house and, to his amazement, she had accepted. Soon they were out on Arnold’s back-yard, gazing through his telescope at the stars, Arnold’s idea to cap off a romantic evening. Astronomy was also something that interested Sam. Although she had absolutely no romantic interest in him, she was thinking now perhaps they could become closer friends than they had been.
Sam looked through the telescope at the coordinates Arnold gave her for seeing Venus. When she looked through the lens, some how the planet reminded of her of Mandy’s pretty, pale face and the inky darkness around it her beautiful, deep black hair. Suddenly, the tears started pouring down her cheeks uncontrollably.
“Sam, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Sam pulled her eye away from the telescope and wiped the tears away from her eyes and cheeks with her palm. “It’s nothing. Really, I’m fine.” The tears however continued to pour out, contradicting her words.
From his left breast pocket, Arnold pulled out a handkerchief with his name embroidered on it, a gift from his mother, and handed it to Sam. “Is it something I did?”
“No. It’s not you, Arnold. I’m sorry. It’s just…” she trailed off.
“Just what, Sam?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can trust me. I won’t tell anyone else. You have my word.”
“Well… I guess when I asked you out tonight, it wasn’t really because I wanted to go on a date with you. No offense. I mean, I had a good time. You aren’t really as bad a date as people say, but… I guess I was really wishing I was with some one else tonight. Some one I’m not supposed to be with.”
“Well, I’m not stupid,” Arnold said, “I knew there had to be some catch with you wanting to go out with me.” Arnold’s annoyance at this disclosure though seemed to be over-taken by his curiosity and concern for Sam. “Do you mind telling me who this person is?”
“I don’t really want to say. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell anyone about it. I don’t know how it happened or why. It makes no sense at all. I used to think I hated this person, but now I feel like I really loved them the whole time and want to be with them. There’s just no way it could ever happen though.”
“Have you tried telling them yet?”
“Not really.”
“That doesn’t sound like you Sam. I’ve never seen you give up on anything before. Anytime I’ve seen you have a problem, you worked hard until you found a solution. That’s one of the best things I like about you.”
“Thanks, Arnold. That means a lot, but this is different I’m afraid.”
“I don’t see why it is. If you really do love this person, and those feelings are real, I think you should let them know. Maybe you can work something out, even if you’re not supposed to be together. It may be hard, but I think love is worth it. If you fail, at least you tried... That’s how I feel, anyways.”
Sam was surprised. She didn’t know Arnold was this deep, but then again she had never really spent any quality time with him before. Then she recalled the little candid camera incident she had seen in Jerry’s office, and Sam’s spy side got a little inspiration.
“Has this ever happened to you Arnold?”
“Well… yeah,” Arnold said.
“With who?” Sam asked, sounding a bit sneaky.
“Uh, Clover,” he said. He was getting a strange suspicion that Sam was on to him.
Sam laughed at the blatant fib, the first time she had laughed in a while. “Well you did ask her out about a hundred times. You don’t know when to quit.”
Arnold laughed too. “I guess you’re right, although I did finally get one last week.”
“Hmmm, I guess you’re right,” Sam said, “but what about Dean?” she asked forwardly, quirking an eye-brow, almost like a part of Mandy had rubbed off on her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said before laughing nervously.
Sam snickered a bit, but decided she had teased him enough. “I mean what do you think about Dean disappearing? Aren’t you worried about him?”
“Yeah, I am,” Arnold said. He then muttered under his breath, “Even though he’s a pushy jerk.”
“I’m worried too. Do you know what happened to him?”
“No, not really… but wait!” It looked as if a light bulb had suddenly switched on in Arnold’s head. “I know who did it! She must’ve have gotten David and Mr. Roberts too!”
“She?” Sam asked incredibly interested.
“Yeah, she gave me this stupid ring,” he said, digging the gold band with the large green gem on it out of his back-pocket. “She told me to wear it around school and gave me this phony story about buying it in China-Town to tell people. It started flashing this weird green light during the black-out when Dean disappeared. I later took it apart and found a radio transmitter that turned on the light. It must’ve been part of some kind of diversion. It’s all beginning to make sense now.”
“Who is she? Who kidnapped Dean and David?” Sam asked urgently.
“You know her. It’s…” Before Arnold could finish his sentence, a whizzing sound cut through the air, and suddenly, Arnold had a dart lodged in his neck. What ever substance was in the tip of that dart went directly into his blood stream, and he slumped over to the side unconscious.
Sam jumped to the left, landing in a crouching position. She looked in the direction from which she saw the dart fly into Arnold’s neck. A couple hundred feet away, on top of Arnold’s house, she could barely make out a dark figure standing on the roof looking through the scope of some kind of gun at her.
It was another second before she heard another whizzing sound, and she rolled to the right, just missing another dart before it stabbed into the ground inches away from her.
Sam then stood up and quickly sprinted behind a tall oak tree in Arnold’s yard. Now with some cover, she frantically dug through her purse looking for gadgets.
First she extracted her X-Powder. She pointed it at herself and pressed a button, which caused a laser like beam of light to shoot out and cover her from head to toe. The beam of light almost magically transformed her olive dress into her skin-tight, green WOOHP uniform. It was made from a cutting-edge micro-fiber, which would give her better agility, shield her from minor blows, and whether falls.
Digging for more gadgets, she saw the two cans of WOOHP Brand Corn Cluster-Bombs and Pea Grenades. She decided against using them though. Using explosives around civilian homes in a populated neighborhood, such as this one, would be too big of a risk.
Instead, she pulled out the Water-Resistant Air-Tight Night-Vision Goggles or WANG and put them over her head. She pressed the button on the goggles to extend their night-vision lenses, surrounding herself in a sea of bright green shapes she could better make out then the total blackness that had shrouded the neighborhood. This kind of darkness seemed unnatural. Even the street-lamps weren’t shining anymore, and all the lights in the near by houses were off. It seemed eerily similar to the black-outs that had occurred at school during the last disappearances.
Lastly from her purse, she yanked out the LAWN or Launching Aerial Whisk Net. She gripped the wire whisk in her hand, as she turned from the tree trunk to point it up at Arnold’s roof. However, the figure was no longer there, wise to what she was planning.
Sam pressed another button on the goggles to zoom in closer with the lenses. She examined the surrounding yards, roof-tops, and tree-tops for any sign of the attacker. She could see nothing. Suddenly, though, she saw some kind of light flash from behind her. She turned just in time to see a flying boot come down from the oak-tree and kick her in the face, sending her goggles flying off her head and Sam to the ground.
She looked up, and thanks to the moon-light, she could see her enemy. She wore what looked to be a modified spy-suit, similar to Sam’s, but colored dark black. The suit also had a large red hour-glass shape on the stomach, a silver spider as a belt-buckle, as opposed to the usual heart shape, and a featureless black mask that covered her entire head. The curves of her thighs and breasts also left no question to her gender. Arnold was right. The mystery female also held in her right hand a very large carving knife and in her left the pistol shaped dart gun with scope.
Sam, still gripping the LAWN, whipped it up at the masked girl. However, she swiped down with her knife and knocked the whisk in the opposite direction, causing the net to ensnare Arnold’s bird bath instead. Sam was then given a series of very harsh stomps in the stomach with a high-heeled boot. The masked girl then got on her knees, straddled Sam’s chest, pressed the sharp blade of the knife against her throat, and pointed the gun directly at her forehead.
Sam then heard that eerie, metallic disguised voice again. “Don’t move or I’ll kill you,” it warned. Obviously, the hand-held device she used to mask her voice from before had been altered to become part of the mask.
“Who are you?” Sam asked, even though moving her vocal cords had caused a minor cut on her throat that produced a few small trails of blood that flowed down her neck.
The masked girl cackled disturbingly. “Wouldn’t you like to know? For now though, don’t worry about my real name. You can just call me the Black Widow.”
“What do you want? Why are you kidnapping people?” Sam asked, again inflicting pain on her self.
“Like I’m stupid enough to tell you my plans. I thought you were smarter than that.”
Sam, constantly thinking, used the slight distraction of conversation to her advantage. She thrust up with her right foot over ninety degrees in an arc to send a strong kick to the back of the Black Widow’s skull, causing her to collapse forward off of her chest. Sam got off her feet and didn’t waste another second, sending another thunderous kick to the dark spy’s mid-section before she could get off the ground. It sent her reeling in the grass and the knife out of her hand.
Unfortunately, she still held the dart-gun and shot it at Sam, squeezing the trigger twice. Sam cart-wheeled to the left to get out of the path of the gun. As her body spun in the air, one dart grazed her cheek, and the other her leg. Yet, neither dart injected her with any of the liquid they contained. The Black Widow grabbed the knife from off the ground and then charged at Sam, the tip of the sharp blade pointed at her heart. Just as she lunged for her, Sam bent her back forty five degrees, just missing the blade. Sam then used her momentum to grab a hold of the dark spy and toss her up over her head.
The villain landed in the bottom branches of the oak-tree. Slightly disoriented, she began climbing higher into the leaves. Sam was planning to climb up after her, but then a bright blue flash erupted from with in the tree, partially blinding her. It was the same color flash she had seen from the top of the school after Dean had been thrown off the roof.
Still rubbing her eyes, she saw another flash of light, this time from behind her and accompanied with that deadly whizzing sound. She tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. She felt a sharp stab into her back. Suddenly her knees felt like jello, and she fell to the ground. Sam reached to her back and pulled out the dart. However, the liquid inside the tip had already made its way inside her body, and it was debilitating Sam’s ability to move fast.
She looked up from the ground, and watched with increasingly blurrier vision as the Black Widow nonchalantly walked in front of her.
“Nighty night, Sammy,” the metallic voice said. She then watched helplessly, unable to move, as the dark spy went over to Arnold’s body several feet away. It was becoming incredibly difficult to stay conscious, but Sam mustered all the strength with in her being to keep her eye-lids open and watch.
She saw the Black Widow take the knife. She moved the blade to the grass-covered ground. She then pressed some button on the handle, and the blade started emitting traces of that bright blue light from before. She started moving the knife upwards, and it looked almost like she was cutting the fabric of space as the knife left behind a blue streak of light in the air. She cut from the ground, to high above her head, and back down to the grass in an arc shaped like a door way. The door-way shaped light-streak then transformed into some kind of portal or worm-hole of twisting blue light.
The Widow then grabbed Arnold by his shoulders and threw him into the portal. He disappeared on the other side. To where, Sam had no idea. The dark spy then approached Sam, looking like she would do the same to her. However, the Widow suddenly looked to the right, seeing someone coming. Instead, she dove into the portal head first. Once she passed through it, there was a bight blue flash, and the door-way through space vanished.
“Sam! Sam!” she could hear from the ground. Who ever it was, though, was too late. Sam’s blurry vision had already faded, and a second later, so had her hearing, burying her in a dark, silent abyss.
To Be Continued