Araña - Heart of the Spider #2
A Tangled Web
At the offices of Webcorps, Miguel Legar, and Ted Mankowski brief Araña on the information they gathered from judge Thomas Bander. They have learned that the Sister of the Wasp has recently found a new recruit. When Araña points out that they foiled the Wasp’s summoning ceremony and that they can’t conduct another one for a full year, Miguel explains that they have found someone to fill that void until the next ceremony.[1] This new recruit is a young man who operates under the code name Amun — which means mystery in Egyptian — and despite his young age he comes from a long line of trained assassins. They have also learned that the Sisterhood of the Wasp are planning to meet with Anum at midnight tonight. When Anya returns home, her father, Gil Corazon, is just finishing an exposé on Judge Bander. When he gets a call from Dan, his co-worker, Anya tries to get a look at the article to see if she can learn anything else about the crooked judge that might be linked to the Sisterhood. When her father catches her reading his work, she tells him that she is checking his grammar.
Later that evening, Vincent of the Sisterhood of Wasps arrives at the meeting place and is confronted by Miguel, who tries to get Vincent to tell him more information about Amun. Unfortunately, Vincent isn’t willing to divulge anything. Back at Webcorps, Ted realizes that Anya is late for the meeting and tries to call her, but is getting no answer from her cell. This is because Anya is still going over her father’s work and has become engrossed in all the information her father has gathered on Bander. That’s when she notices her phone has been ringing. Answering it, Ted tells her that Miguel has gone off to the meeting between Vincent and Amun prompting her to quickly rush there as Araña.
At the scene of the meeting, Miguel and Vincent are trading threats when suddenly a throwing knife is tossed at Miguel. Luckily, he hears the approach and casts a spell of protection to deflect the weapon. This allows Vincent to attack Miguel from behind, but he quickly recovers. He then has to cast spells to defend himself from both Vincent as well as Amun who is lurking in the shadows. As Miguel and Vincent lock in mystical combat, Amun prepares to throw another dagger charged with mystical energy. However, before he can throw it, Araña arrives and smashes the weapon with her spider-bolo. The two look at each other face-to-face until Vincent blasts Araña from behind, allowing Amun to return to the shadows. Annoyed at being attacked from behind, Araña summons her carapace and helps drive Vincent away, who decides that Amun has passed his interview and wishes Miguel and Araña luck in combating his powers. After Vincent disappears, Miguel shields Araña from a barrage of daggers being thrown at them by Amun. As they flee the scene, Miguel realizes that Araña has seen his face and he will not rest until she is killed.
This is a concern from another day, as the following morning Anya arrives for classes at Milton Summers High School, where her friend Lynn that they have a quiz that morning, one Anya has not prepared for. After their first class together, Anya realizes how ill-prepared she is and asks Lynn for advice. She tells her to quit her internship at Webcorps so she can focus on her studies, but this is something that Anya is not willing to do. Changing the subject, Lynn gives Anya a present, a photo of her crush — Paul Townsend — which she managed to get through her work on the yearbook committee. When Lynn has Anya promise to never take the picture down, it makes her think how Miguel scanned the school the night before and determined there was no danger and had him promise to contact her every day after school. She thinks her mentor was overreacting until her next class when the teacher introduces her students to a new student, Jon Kasiya, a new student from Egypt. Anya instantly recognizes him as Amun and wonders if he recognizes her as well. Worse, Jon is told to take the empty seat next to her, Lynn — who has an instant crush on Jon — passes a note to him asking Jon to come to her if she ever needs anything. Watching Jon crumple the letter, Anya realizes Miguel was right, that things are going to get a lot worse from here.
Recurring Characters
Araña, Miguel Legar, Nina Smith, Ted Mankowski, Gil Corazon, Sisterhood of the Wasp (Vincent, Amun), Thomas Bander
Continuity Notes
The Sisterhood of the Wasp attempted the mystical ceremony to summon their new recruit in Amazing Fantasy (vol. 2) #6.
Topical References
Miguel is seen getting a CD of data from Thomas Bander. This should be considered topical because such data storage is not considered a standard for data storage anymore.
Anya’s father is depicted using a computer that has a CRT monitor. These types of displays are now obsolete.
