Author's Notes: This is the beginning of the three-episode finale for this series. It's been a fun run, however I think that will be it for Cougaress unless I get some new inspiration about her I can't resist. Enjoy.
EPISODE SIX: Our Heroine Gets Severely Bugged By Some Thing
After you've had time to reflect on it, the incident with Thermo puts you off the idea of hooking up with villains for the time being. It's true you're still unsatisfied (both physically and emotionally) by your lack of a reliable partner, but after your bad experience with Paragon you definitely are not ready to jump into yet another long-term relationship with a guy you don't know all that well.
This isn't supposed to be a problem with heroine-villain encounters, which was one reason why you were interested in having them. But the way Thermo got all needy so quickly reminds you that a lot of villains don't exactly have stable personalities or much emotional resilience. Furthermore, having one of the bad guys become completely obsessed with a heroine when all she wanted out of the relationship was a little happy-fun-time isn't exactly an unknown phenomenon, so you're taking Thermo's reaction to you as a warning signal.
There's also the matter of the Watchman, who you're now convinced was the black-costumed guy who interrupted Thermo's proposal. In retrospect you're kind of relieved he did that, but on the other hand it means you've got an unknown quantity following you around. Maybe you've already got an obsessive super-something (since you still don't know if he's a villain, a hero, or what) who's fixated on you, one who is too shy to approach you directly? Whatever he is, the idea that he might follow you while you're going on a "date night" (which after all is what you thought you were doing when you went to meet Thermo) puts a damper on your enthusiasm about future trysts in abandoned locations.
There's a third reason as well, which is that Paragon is now being a son of a bitch about the divorce, and the constant simmering rage this makes you feel is suppressing your sex drive. Mostly, anyway.
* * * * * *
Initially the separation was amicable. The house was in your (secret identity) name and Paragon really had no interest in retaining any part of it anyway. Hell, he's got that giant secret lair in Antarctica, what would he need half a modest townhouse for? You suggested splitting the rest of the joint property down the middle and his lawyer agreed. But then Paragon blind-sides you by demanding full custody of Ryan!
Naturally you take him to court over this. His attorney argues that since Ryan's birth certificate was issued just about six years ago he is clearly still a minor child and therefore needs parental custody. Paragon, being Paragon, is clearly the superior custodian, QED.
Your lawyer counters with medical and dental records and testimony that show Ryan is not biologically five-to-six at this point. And while you don't like dragging your baby into this, your lawyer points out that having him testify in court will be more effective than any number of affidavits, so Ryan takes the stand to tell the judge about the dimension he grew up in and how long he spent there.
To drive the knife in, your lawyer next establishes that in taking Ryan to the new dimension and leaving him there, Paragon had without his spouse's permission or consent removed his underage son from home and transported him out of the country (way, way out of the country) to leave him in the care of unrelated persons. Furthermore, your lawyer presents recent media interviews showing how Paragon himself publically stated that he had done this to make sure that when he brought Ryan back the boy would be old enough to defend himself. Taken together, this demonstrates a) that Paragon had committed parental abduction, making him an unfit father in any event, also that b) Paragon himself has admitted his son is no longer a juvenile.
The judge doesn't want to make a ruling on Ryan's actual age, which would possibly open up a huge can of worms by setting a case law precedent involving travel to other dimensions. So he decides to just ask Ryan what he wants, and Ryan says he'd rather stay with his Mom. Which almost makes you cry right there in the courtroom.
Paragon's attorney makes some noises about joint custody at this point but the judge slaps him down, suggesting that any further exploration of the subject could only take place after an investigation of the parental abduction accusation.
And that's pretty much that. The papers won't be final for some time, but it's clear you've won in every way that matters. On the way out you hug Ryan tight and he turns all red and mutters, "Jeez, Mom, cut it out." You just laugh.
* * * * * *
You took time off patrolling due to the stress of the court case, but now that it's over you're eager to resume your duties after the long weeks of worry. As it turns out there's a particular mystery that recently came up which has caused the cops to ask for any available heroes to help.
There have been a significant number of unexplained disappearances at night over the past few weeks, all of them happening within about a five-block radius of Founder's Park. Logical conclusion, whatever's causing the disappearances is based in or at least comes out of the park. So you're roaming around outside the park, hoping to catch the perp(s) on their way out or back.
Your patrol isn't a solo effort. Several other local heroes are also searching the park tonight, but it's so large you agree to split up to cover more area. And of course none of you was willing to admit any doubts about being able to handle whatever you find by yourself. (Another one of the occupations hazards of being a superhero is that you have a hard time confessing you might need help with such things.)
You volunteered to check out the streets along the western edge of the park, partly so that you don't have to go into the park itself. Despite having feline powers and naming yourself after a big cat, you're not an outdoorsy sort of person. You stick to urban areas for your patrols and never take missions that would send you out into the boonies if you can help it. But Founder's Park is the largest in the city, close to three thousand acres of lawns, woods, streams, picnic grounds, bandstands, etc. All of it managed to some extent, but with large areas left in a "wild-ish" state and certain parts (for instance the old, closed-down aquarium) pretty much abandoned. It's about as close to nature as you can get inside the city, and you feel much more comfortable stalking the streets and alleys beside the park instead of traipsing through the bushes inside.
It's your second night on this mission. The neighborhoods to the west of Founder's Park are pretty run-down, and except for the occasional insomniac, druggie, or homeless camper you run across, you're alone. Well, theoretically alone. You once again have the feeling that this "Watchman" person may be dogging your footsteps, though you never quite catch him at it. But it's past two AM and you're considering calling it a night when you hear the faint scream. As soon as it reaches your ears you're bounding in that direction.
About a block away and down a dark alley you find them. One is a scrawny young woman with hair that hasn't been washed or combed in weeks, probably a homeless meth user. The other is a freaking giant spider.
Or not exactly a spider, you assess as you charge in. It's got ten legs, for one thing, and the forward four appear to have hands of some sort. The head is held upright, unlike a spider's, and has big dish-like ears or maybe radar antennas on both sides. And the eyes look almost human, except that there are four of them and they sit on long, flexible stalks.
That's as much as you can analyze before you take a final leap right onto the thing's back, driving your feet down as you land and causing it to do a belly-flop to the street. You jump off in the next motion and reach the woman. She's not screaming now because she's got something that looks like webbing over her mouth, as well as binding her arms and legs. You extend your claws and slash through the stuff, which is tougher than nylon rope.
Rapidly freeing the woman you push her toward the alley entrance and yell, "Go, get out of here!" She does, with a jittery speed and energy that makes you assume she's taken something illegal and powerful recently. Meanwhile you face the spider-thing in a fighting crouch, ready to intercept if it chases her.
It doesn't try. Instead it seems far more interested in you. It's gotten back up on six of its ten legs, but then doesn't move except for the eye-stalks which wave around a bit as if sizing you up.
The spider-thing isn't as huge as you first thought. The fact that it's mostly a dull black causes it to blend with the shadows and obscure the real proportions. The legs also make it look bigger as the longest ones are a good nine feet long when they're not bent, but the main body is only the size of a Shetland pony's. The spherical head is more human in dimensions, though certainly not in looks.
"Okay, you're not attacking, that's good," you tell it. "What if we talk about this? Assuming that you talk."
