Triple Threat

Chapter 3

Anya had gotten up to microwave a plate of pizza bites when her phone started to ring. It was Benji calling, undoubtedly checking in on her since she had "called out sick."

She picked the phone up off the counter. "Hey Benji."

"Jesus An, you sound awful."

"Wow, thanks."

"No- I mean that's expected if you're sick. What symptoms are you having?"

She racked her brain for a plausible, yet not too serious illness. "I've just got a low fever and a scratchy throat."

Benji sighed. "Gross, I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Not like it's your fault. At least, it better not be."

"I've been feeling just fine. Maybe you caught something on the bus."

"I hope that's all it is," she said.

"Want me to bring you anything?" he asked.

On one hand, she was trying to come up with something convincing enough to solidify that she was sick. On the other, she felt guilty getting him to come all the way over to her apartment just to bring her food.

"You know what, yeah. Belatti's?"

"Sure, I'll be there in a bit."

He hung up, and Anya put the pizza bites back in the freezer. She flopped down on the couch and opened her laptop, as the cat jumped up and laid on her lap.

As was expected, there were articles pasted all over her explore page featuring low-quality pictures of her web-swinging through downtown L.A. She unmuted a video of a blonde reporter gesturing to a green-screened in video of Anarchid.

"Vigilante Anarchid assisted in the arrest of an armed vehicle thief earlier this morning, once again showing up the LAPD at their own job."

The video cut to a shot of a tall brunette man.

"Some have called Anarchid's methods reckless or even unethical considering she isn't with official law enforcement. Others revere our spidey as a hero, catching criminals and making our city a safer place."

"What would you say Anarchid is, John? A hero or a menace?" The blonde woman asked.

"The jury's still out, Anna."

The broadcast switched over to the weather forecast and Anya continued scrolling. The same reports of her earlier bust were circulating the internet, and she was growing tired of hearing the same information, and the same wild guesses about her every time she clicked on a news report.

She sighed and stood up, grabbing her guitar off the wall. She pulled up the tab she had written on her computer and began to aimlessly pluck along. After a few minutes of this, Benji showed up at her door with two milkshakes in hand.

She forced a tired smile and made herself look disheveled before letting him in.

"Hey An- oh god."

"Yeahhhh..."

He handed her a chocolate shake. "You definitely undersold this on the phone."

"It's gotten a little worse in the last couple hours." She sipped her shake. If she had to lie to her best friend, at least she got dessert out of it.

He flopped down on the couch next to her, glancing at her open computer on the coffee table. "Whatcha watching?"

The computer showed a map of her patrol route, which he would recognize almost instantly since he followed Anarchid's adventures closely. Before he could get a good look at it, she hastily shut it. "It's nothing- don't worry about it."

He shrugged. "Kay."

They sat drinking their milkshakes in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before he spoke up again.

"Soooo, you saw all the stuff about Anarchid earlier?"

"Yeah, she did good. I heard she left a ton of webbing behind though."

Benji chuckled. "The city cleaners needed a reason to get out anyways."

"Blech. Wouldn't want to be them," she made a face. "That stuff looks nasty."

They talked for a couple of hours. By the time they had finished their drinks, the sun had set and another wave of exhaustion hit Anya like a truck. She politely pushed Benji out the door, waved at him until he was down the hallway, and locked her front door. Conveniently, she was already in her pajamas, so she tossed out the milkshake cup and grabbed Butternut's food bag.

Unsurprisingly, the picky feline had left most of her morning food in her dish, so she topped off the pile with half of a scoop and returned the dry food to the cupboard. She brushed her teeth and undid her short ponytail, turned over the covers of her bed, and crossed the room to close her bedroom blinds.

She did so, and climbed out onto the fire escape. She inhaled the foggy night air, which was helping to clear away the smell of city smog as it rolled through the streets. Anya leaned on the cold metal railing, gazing out at the street below.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an almost blinding purple light piercing through the fog.

"What the-"

Anya ran back into her room to grab her suit and climbed out the window again, shutting it behind her. She shot a web at the railing of the next-door complex's fire escape and descended slowly into the alleyway. She walked out onto the main sidewalk, streetlights and headlights blinding her.

She pulled her hood close around her face. She wove her way around pedestrians, dumpsters, and other street obstacles, making her way towards the strange light.

"How is no one else seeing this? Are they blind?"

Checking her back pocket, she realized she had forgotten her phone.

"Awesome. Better hope the creeps stay away tonight."

Her walk took her to the edge of a canal. A bridge spanned across it, and on the other side a gravel path led to an ominous looking warehouse. The weird purple light shone through the windows and out of cracks in the roof, and as she got closer she felt the ground rumbling slightly.

She crossed the bridge and headed towards the light. Gravel crunched under her shoes. A seven-foot chain link fence surrounded the old building, do not enter and condemned signs were posted all over, but she ignored them. She smirked at the lack of barbed wire atop the fence.

"Amateurs."

She grabbed the fence and scaled it in a few seconds, jumping down on the other side to land on more gravel. Ordinarily a jump like that would essentially shatter her ankles, but she had grown accustomed to heights and landing properly as she patrolled more often.

Ancient, rotting wooden steps lead up to the warehouse, which looked even more decrepit up close. She hesitated for a moment before pulling open the heavy metal door.

The light engulfed her, and for a moment she couldn't see anything. She was completely disoriented, and frantically felt around for any walls or things to hold onto, floor shaking wildly under her feet. She didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly, the shaking stopped. The light dissipated into a single, oblong shape in the middle of the open room.

She squinted at the portal for a good minute before something- or rather, someone, came out of it. Anarchid stood in shock, staring at the blue suited figure. The portal closed behind them, and the only light in the room now came from a singular exposed light bulb.

The figure said nothing, standing perfectly still in the middle of the room. 

"Who the hell are you?"

*****

Author's Note:

Shorter chapter again, but we're back! I've been in a slump writing fanfics lately but I'm glad I finally came back to this. Art for chapters 2 and 3 are coming soon! -Raevynn