Curse of Arachnaman (24 page)

Okay, this was getting way complicated. Why was I worrying about what the heroes knew, anyway? They had their own method of tackling stuff.

Another crashing sound broke through my thoughts. I fumbled for my keys and went inside. I didn't know where the trouble was, but I hoped that it wasn't in the same general area as Dad and Mom's work. Oh, and Liz's, too, I supposed.

Even inside the house, I could hear the same sounds, but muffled. So I hurried up the stairs and nearly fell on my face when I ran into my attic room and tripped on the old rug just inside my door. I figured that I could probably spot what was happening from my bedroom window, considering where it was, and if that didn't work, I could always climb up to the roof and get a bird's eye view of the area.

"Damn,” I sighed when I threw my window open and got pelted by raindrops. It wasn't a downpour, but it had gotten a little stronger. I had to shield my eyes with both hands and squint through the rain and gray air to see what was going on.

Nothing.

I guess common sense would've told me to just quit while I was ahead, and not risk my health and safety by climbing up to the roof in acid rain, but I'd never really listened to common sense. Just ask my parents. I went to my bathroom, climbed out of the window there, and used the rusty, rickety fire escape to get to the roof.

I stood there for a while, eagerly searching the area for signs of trouble. The crashing and gunshots came from somewhere to the left of my house, and when I looked in that direction, my jaw dropped.

Something moved from building to building. I had to blink a dozen times before I could be sure of what it was...or, rather, before my brain could finally accept what I was looking at.

I was right. It was the same thing that I'd seen creeping from one warehouse rooftop to another. This time, I could see it more clearly. When before I thought I'd seen a giant mutant spider, I realized now that I was wrong. Sort of.

It was a giant spider-like thing. No, not a spider-spider, but a spider-like thing because the robot had a pilot. It looked more like it had eight gigantic legs sprouting from a small body, and that body was like a little capsule that encased a person. From where I stood, I couldn't really tell what that person looked like, but I did see that his upper-body poked out of the robot spider-thing's thorax, completely protected inside a clear bubble, and with the legs being so long and large, my view of the pilot continued to be blocked. All I could enjoy were split-second glimpses. The spider-robot's mouth, or fangs, snapped open and shut. Then from the space between them, something came out. It was a cloud of greenish smoke getting blown out and at the heroes.

Miss Pyro yelled something, and everyone flew up in a second. Freddie—I guessed it was Freddie behind the
Terminator
-like cyborg mask—narrowly missed getting hit with green gas. I was amazed that even as a robot, he moved like a human, and he could punch, kick, and use his weapons. It looked like the only thing he couldn't do was fly, so I guessed that he depended on the transportation ability that came with his masks to help him move from place to place.

Someone else yelled. I think it was Magnifiman. He swooped down and gave the spider's thorax a massive blow with his fist, making it rock and nearly tip over. Its legs stiffened, though, as though they were digging into the rooftop to keep the rest of the mechanical body from tumbling.

Then it was Calais’ turn. He vanished or went into hyper speed, delivering another massive blow against the spider's thorax. I didn't even see him do it. I just watched him disappear where he was hovering, then the spider's body snapped to the side as though something just hit it, but it stabilized itself. Within seconds, Calais reappeared at another spot, well beyond reach of the spider's legs, while Miss Pyro took her turn trying to take the monster down with her arsenal. BAM! BAM! BAM! One after another, like a fireworks display, white and red fire shot out of her glowing fists, hitting the spider at different parts of its body. The mechanical body shuddered, a couple of its legs raising themselves up and waving, like, reaching out to get her, but Miss Pyro flew off to another point without letting up on her attack. Before long I spotted trails of steam rising up, most likely because of the showers mixing it up with her fire balls.

"Get him!” I yelled, balling my fists and pounding on the ledge I leaned against. “Get the bastard!"

Terminator
-like-Freddie turned one arm into a machine gun type of thing. I couldn't tell for sure how futuristic it was because of the distance, but I sure as hell saw the lower arm reshape itself and then a spray of bullets come pouring out of it. Smoke rose from different points of the transformed arm. Magnifiman had to swoop down and pluck him off the ledge where he stood before one of Arachnaman's swinging legs knocked him off and sent him falling to the street.

He set Freddie down on another rooftop, where Freddie immediately transformed into an army soldier, complete with fatigues. He was also heavily armed, judging from the pretty crazy stuff hanging off his belt and draped down his back. I wouldn't be surprised if he had some huge hunting knife or two hidden in his combat boots. He raised something that I thought was a massive, massive gun that looked bigger than his arms, and aimed. He didn't shoot yet. Maybe he was waiting for the green light from someone. It was Magnifiman's turn to pummel Arachnaman, whose robotic body was beginning to show signs of damage and fatigue.

Its black thorax shuddered and jerked. Arachnaman frantically turned knobs and pulled levers around him. The clear bubble that protected him from the attacks looked pretty stable, but the rest of the body was slowly losing control. On occasion, it would hoist itself up on its four rear legs, its four front ones flailing and stabbing at whichever hero hovered nearby.

Magnifiman, Miss Pyro, and Calais flew around the thing like little flies, taking turns attacking it. But the giant spider's legs would try to bat them away whenever they got too close, and I saw Calais get knocked away at one point. It looked like it just swatted a bug.

"Oh, crap,” I breathed. “Peter!"

Calais vanished in the rain, but he was back in seconds, this time keeping his distance while Miss Pyro took full advantage of her range weapons, and Magnifiman tried to grab hold of a leg and tear it off. Well, at least from where I stood, it seemed that he was doing that.

Someone yelled again. I guessed it was Calais, who swooped down and got as close as he could. I realized that he was trying to distract Arachnaman by placing himself within shooting distance of the spider's mouth. Another green cloud exploded, nearly enveloping him. Magnifiman managed to wrap both arms around one of the spider's legs at that moment and held on even while the leg waved crazily around to dislodge him. Calais yelled again and then vanished as he went into hyper speed.

The spider rocked violently from what I figured was Calais’ kick or punch against its thorax. That gave Magnifiman the leverage he needed. As the spider moved from side to side, Magnifiman gave the leg he held a massive pull, breaking it at one of its joints in an explosion of colorful sparks.

Calais appeared at another area, completely safe.

I didn't know till then that spiders screamed, but this one did. It was horrible. Like an eagle's cry, but more shrill and hollow. With one leg amputated at the joint, Arachnaman's spider tried to retreat, but it was obviously too damaged to manage more than a jump to another rooftop, one that was only about two rooftops away from my home. I instinctively fell back and ran for safety toward the unused chimney, where Peter and I had tangled recently. Shaking from the cold and excitement, I hid behind the chimney and peered out. With the fight so close now, it was easy for me to catch details from where I stood. Or crouched.

The spider landed on the roof with a loud crash, damaging the weathered ledge were some of its hind legs attached themselves. A little smoke rose from where it landed. Several broken bits of cement also flew up. The body shook, and Arachnaman continued to work his control panel. Around him the heroes hovered. The downside to manning such a big and clumsy (but powerful) machine was that it was pretty damned awkward to control it once it was damaged. The “injured” leg just hung limp, with sparks shooting out of its joint. The rest of the legs moved jerkily now. They still waved and tried to attack any hero who came too close, though, but they sure made for a pretty difficult escape.

The screaming sound that came from the monster had turned into a long wail that was like a creepy mixture of an eagle's cry and creaking steel. From above, Miss Pyro let loose a volley of small but super-fast fire blades. From where I was, they looked like boomerangs on fire. One after another, they hit the spider at random points, but a few struck another leg, and they finally found their target. One of the joints burst into flames, with sparks flying all over. The leg didn't lose its movement, though, but it shook pretty badly every few seconds.

Freddie, who had to be carried by Calais in order to follow Arachnaman, had scrambled over to a pile of crates, and from there, he started shooting at the robot. Many bullets hit the thorax in a bizarre light display where they made contact, but it was soon clear to me that he was aiming for another leg, trying to incapacitate it.

A sudden flash of light from my right broke through the rain, and I turned to find Spirit Wire flying down and landing on another rooftop. She stood there, rigid. One would have thought that she wasn't alive at all.

Then something weird happened. The spider froze in mid-action. For a few seconds, it did nothing, while Arachnaman began pounding the control panel with his fists. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was yelling and cursing the whole time. Then he visibly jumped, waving his hands like they just got burned.

"What the hell...” I blinked several times and squinted, even with my hands shielding my eyes.

Something glowed. It was his control panel. Buttons, knobs, levers—whatever thingamajigs made up his machine, they all lit up real brightly. Then the spider's remaining legs started moving again, but instead of reaching out for the heroes, they curled back, contortionist-like, and started clawing at the pilot's protective bubble. It was insane. Like something from a nightmare or a really freaky sci-fi movie. The spider collapsed on its belly, while six legs twisted and snapped, their pointed ends pounding and scraping at the bubble till I could hear it break. The leg that Miss Pyro damaged had finally gone limp, and there it lay, useless, twitching and on fire.

I stood there, horrified, wondering if the legs would continue their attack even after the bubble broke. If so, they'd be tearing the pilot to pieces. Magnifiman and Calais had stopped their power punches and waited. Miss Pyro had a massive fire blade in her hand, ready to let it loose. Freddie kept his humungous gun aimed.

It was surreal. All I could hear were the rhythmic bashing of some super strong material, the small sounds of cracking glass or plastic or whatever it was, the rain, and traffic below. Police sirens wailed here and there. I stood and watched, completely immobilized.

"Finish it!” someone yelled. I think it was Magnifiman.

Two of the spider's legs whipped back and came back down on the bubble, and it exploded in a million bits, shards of the material flying all over. When the legs pulled out, the protective bubble was gone, and Arachnaman was curled up in his cockpit, his head bowed, his arms covering it defensively. He was screaming, but not in fear or anything. Even from where I stood, I knew that it was anger. Possibly pure hate. It made my skin crawl.

Around him, the battered spider collapsed, its legs spread out, lifeless, pillars of smoke rising from all over. The heroes just waited for a moment, and then the control panels turned dark. It was over. The thorax sagged for the last time, resting at a bit of an angle.

"Way to go, Althea,” I breathed, my heart pounding. Just as I spoke, Spirit Wire staggered back and collapsed. I thought she was hurt, but she waved a hand and yelled something. Calais yelled back and turned his attention to Arachnaman. I figured then that Spirit Wire was just totally spent. Eventually she stumbled back to her feet.

Magnifiman made the first move. He flew down, grabbed Arachnaman under his arms, and yanked him up. I was glad that he wasn't strapped in, or Magnifiman would've torn him, literally, into two pieces. Vintage City's main hero flew off, followed by Calais and Spirit Wire. Arachnaman continued to scream. I shivered from the noise he was making. Yeah, he was screaming in rage and pure hate. I could tell. He sounded worse than an animal.

Miss Pyro and Freddie stayed behind, no doubt waiting for cops to get there. I heard a whirring sound from somewhere growing louder, and I turned to see a helicopter fly toward them. Miss Pyro signaled with her arms, guiding the helicopter pilot. Meanwhile, what was left of Arachnaman's robot lay in a nightmarish pile of smoldering metal, plastic, and whatever else was used. The rooftops where the battle took place were a mess. I hoped that the people who lived in those buildings had been able to get the hell out when the signs of trouble first came.

I had to get out of there. Soaked to the bone, I ran back to the fire escape, praying to every cosmic force out there to keep the heroes safe in whatever else they needed to do still. Before long I was back in my bathroom, securing the window and peeling off my wet clothes. I turned on the shower and jumped in for a quick cleaning, my mind still on the fight I saw.

When I got out, I ran back to my bedroom window to see if I could spot something. The rooftop where the action took place was now crawling with cops. Other buildings across the street from that area also had police officers moving around. Below, traffic was snarled as a couple of blocks, or maybe three, were shut off from the public. Lights from police cars and fire trucks broke up the drabness of the scene. I finally closed my window and went downstairs to recover from the shock of watching the heroes take Arachnaman down. I pulled out a mug and made myself some tea, which helped, but I knew it wouldn't be as effective if I didn't have a few slices of toast spread with Mrs. Horace's jam. For the next half hour, I sat alone in the dining room, eating, while listening to the rain and the occasional police siren outside.