Spidersona Week 2k19, Day 5: Archenemy
AN: drug use, knives, general craziness, hospitals. Please tell me if I have to add anything else.
“Della, I got a hit! Alex Griffin’s Picogram and Chatsnap! And just your luck, he’s going for a date at the Sweet Cup Bakery & Beverages!” Cali whooped as she typed frantically on her laptop and phone.
“Wait the one you work at? How cool is that?” Della told her.
“Just the one. I wasn’t working this afternoon because of tutoring, but I can call to see if I can take a shift now. How’s Sam, by the way?”
Della growled. She still couldn’t believe that Cali had done an interview for the Chronicle as well as sold them a picture. “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”
Cali turned her attention to her phone and frowned. “Della, you gotta see this.”
It was Sam Jameson’s Chatsnap, and it showed her getting ready for a coffee date with her new friend Alex. The two girls turned to each other in shock.
Cali nodded firmly. They needed to help her and make sure she lived to produce her play.
Cali watched from behind the counter as Alex sauntered up to Sam. He’s not that bad-looking she thought. He was dressed up in a black button-down and lime green tie to go with black jeans. His black hair was effortlessly styled and made a sharp contrast with his weirdly pale skin. At least he opened the door for her.
“Welcome to Sweet Cup! What can I getcha?” she asked, perfectly ready to tell Della when it was time. All she had to say was “frog” because that was totally inconspicuous.
“Hey, aren’t you that girl who I interviewed about Spider-Star? Cali, yeah?”
She laughed and asked again for their orders. “And, yeah, that was me. So glad you remembered.”
Sam pulled out cash to pay for her plain mint tea, but Alex stepped in. “How about you choose a place to sit?” he said easily. Sam melted at his smile and wandered off.
“Okay, I’ll pay you fifty bucks of you slip this,” he said quietly, holding up a small baggie of powder, “in her drink.” He gave Cali that winning smile again, but if they were to take him down, she had to take it.
“What are you getting? Also, I want that fifty now.”
He slid it across the counter while ordering a huge coffee with four creams and five sugars. He then turned around and blew a kiss at his date, and she blushed.
“I’ll get your orders ready. Go sit. I’ll bring it over.” She told him nonchalantly.
He sauntered off to go flirt like he wasn’t a threat. Little bitch, she thought. Good luck hurting her, you idiot.
She quickly made the coffee first and dumped the powder and sugar in at the same time. She then made the tea like nothing had happened. Using her best “seductive waitress” walk, she plopped the drinks at the table and walked away.
“Frog.” She whispered to her Bluetooth headset, feeling the arm knives hidden under her long-sleeved shirt. She was prepared on her end.
“So, he’s actually drinking the coffee? And has no idea it’s drugged?” Della asked incredulously.
Cali smirked but didn’t say anything. “You’re smirking, I can tell.” The spider told her.
It took a while, but eventually they ran out of things to say. This was probably because Alex had been getting sluggish from the first sip.
“You wanna go someplace?” he asked her while rubbing his face. He was confused. Why wasn’t she asleep yet? The drug he had given her had to have been working by now. Alex could tell she was getting concerned.
“Um, yeah, sure… Where do you want to go?”
Sam was now visibly confused. “Why?”
He managed to give her that winning grin again. “Do you trust me?”
She remembered the way that Cali had spoke about Spider-Star, how she had asked for trust and was led to a better life. “Okay.”
He stumbled out of his chair and slung an arm around her shoulders. “This way.”
At the back door, there was an argument going on.
“You cannot be outside for this. Please, Cali. I can’t lose you.”
“I can hold my own, Spider-Star. Trust me. The only thing my deadbeat parents actually taught me was the use of a blade.”
“Then wait inside! He might try to escape that way, and you can help Sam!”
Suddenly, Cali stopped arguing. “That… is a good idea.”
Surprised, Della opened the door for her.
Blowing her a kiss, Cali said cheekily “Kick some ass, Spider-Star.”
Della gave her a peace sign salute.
Not five minutes later, Alex stumbled through the door with Sam. Della waited, and counted to eight.
Then she jumped, landing squarely on his back. There was a tinkle of broken glass, and fog began to rise from under his shirt.
“Listen- Sam, GO! I don’t know what this shit does, and you don’t want to breathe it in!” Spider-Star yelled. Sam turned and dashed away.
Alex laughed. “I was wondering when I would see the Spider-Menace.”
Della punched him across the face. (Peggy Carter would have been proud.)
She then webbed him to a wall, her hand on his throat. Hers was itching due to the fog, but he laughed on. “You think she is safe? Or that tricky barista? This gas is something special, Spider-Bitch. I only use it when forced to, because its punch is way better than any you could hit me with. You’re a much better victim than some tranny, anyways.” He sneered.
She went blind with rage. Slamming him into the sidewalk, she managed to tell Cali, “Stay inside! There’s a gas… makes you… slow… Can’t lose… you.” She slumped on the ground.
“What a wonderful thing trained immunity is! I bet you’re just mad because I spoke the truth, huh? You and that tranny jokester?”
But then, Spider-Star rose. Somehow, he got even paler. She gave him her best death stare, and he seemed to realize his mistake.
But Della had made mistakes too. While she was waiting, she had been swinging all over the alley, leaving webs everywhere. He grabbed one, wrapped it around his hands, and clambered the side of the building. Still fatigued after the effects of the weird gas, she didn’t pursue him. She stumbled inside, to find gas had slipped in, leaving Cali knocked out on the floor.
She grabbed Cali’s trench coat and called 911. “911, what’s your emergency?”
“M-my sister, there was this gas, an-and now she’s passed out- “
“I’m Della… Cali’s the passed out one… an’ we’re at the Sweet Cup Bakery on Queens Avenue.”
“An ambulance is headed your way. Are you okay?”
“There was a man in the alley, and he got a bit beat up, I was watching, and Spider-Star saw him try to mug a girl, so she jumped on him, and that released the gas.”
“Okay. The ambulance is outside. Please keep breathing. Your sister will be fine, I promise.”
She could hear the smile in the operator’s voice. “No problem.” The operator did like helping people, and she was a Spider-Star fan. Not a bad start to her shift.
Della sat in the white waiting room. The nurses and doctors were constantly going in and out of Cali’s room, and all she could do was wait.
I’m sorry, Cali. I’ll do better next time.
Della closed her eyes and slept.