6 Chapter 5: Its ALIVE!!!!!!
In the quiet of the Manhattan night, a lone woman in a trench coat moved through the streets of the Lower East Side.
The area was still alive with the activities of the night, but she paid no mind to the drunken men, women or late-night wanderers.
As she walked, an eerie quiet surrounded her. People seemed to unconsciously steer clear, hardly glancing her way, as if she blended seamlessly with the surroundings.
Almost as if she was...Invisible.
Her heels clicked rhythmically on the pavement, leading her to a graffiti-covered, rundown flat.
The building, once full of life, now stood as a relic of better times. She continued inside, making her way to a door marked with the number 5.
After a brief pause, she unlocked the door and stepped in.
The interior was starkly different from the outside - clean, and tidy, but almost barren. It was a clear reflection of the life of its inhabitant.
As the door closed behind her, she lowered her hood, revealing her identity. It was Valerie, her expression sombre yet composed, a far cry from the distraught figure of two weeks before.
It had been half a month since Grim's death, and today was the day of his funeral. Valerie had come to his apartment to find something personal, something that belonged to Grim, to place in his open casket.
As she moved through the apartment, she noticed traces of blood in various places - a silent sign of the struggles Grim had endured.
From her investigation into his life, she had pieced together a picture, not complete, but enough to understand a significant part of his story.
Her search led her to his desk, where she found a few items tucked away in a drawer: wadded-up bills, torn MMA gloves, a diary, and a pocket knife.
She picked up the diary, feeling its worn cover. Slipping it into her waistcoat pocket, she decided to take the gloves and the knife as well.
Standing in the middle of the room, Valerie took one last look around the apartment, a silent goodbye to the boy who had saved her life.
Then, pulling her hood up, she stepped back into the night, the door creaking shut behind her, leaving the apartment to its memories.
....
The East Side Cemetery was a place of solemnity and silence. A coffin was lowered into the earth, followed by the soft thud of dirt compacting on top.
A tombstone was placed carefully, its inscription reading: "Here lies the boy Grim Mortimer, R.I.P, The Star that extinguished too early..."
Valerie, standing alone by the grave, had spared no expense for Grim's funeral. She had chosen a luxurious coffin worth $50,000, a price that would have had Grim slap the back of her head, but yet undeniably he would then have used it for his new bed.
As she gazed at the tombstone, her heart heavy with a mix of gratitude and sadness, she was acutely aware of her solitude in mourning.
Grim had lived a life largely disconnected from others, and those he had known were not the kind to honour his memory.
Placing lilies in a flower pot beside the grave, Valerie whispered softly,
"Thank you for saving me... I wasn't able to tell you back then but I'm grateful to have met you too. I'll see you around, Grim."
Her words were a bittersweet farewell to a soul that had touched her life fleetingly yet profoundly.
Turning away, Valerie walked towards a waiting black limousine, which soon drove off, leaving the cemetery to its eternal peace.
.....
Time quickly passed, days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into a full year. The world outside continued its relentless march, marked by changing seasons and events that stirred the globe.
Yet, in the cemetery, time stood still.
.
.
.
.
One night, a year after the burial, an aged groundskeeper was making his rounds through the cemetery.
His steps were slow, his ears straining against the silence of the night. Suddenly, he paused, thinking he heard a faint, unusual sound. It was almost like banging, but that seemed impossible.
"Must have been my imagination, looks like old age is finally starting to catch up to you Stan." The man chided himself.
Shaking his head, he attributed the noise to his advancing years. Casting one last glance around to ensure all was as it should be, he moved on, leaving the quiet of the cemetery undisturbed.
However, if he had lingered just a moment longer, he might have witnessed something extraordinary.
The earth over one grave began to stir, the soil cracking and shifting. For five minutes, this disturbance continued until it abruptly ceased.
Then, in a moment as sudden as lightning, a hand burst through the earth, clawing its way out with desperate strength.
Coinciding with this eerie emergence, thunder rumbled in the distance, as if nature itself was reacting to the impossible.
...
( New York City - Midtown East...)
In a high-rise apartment building, a girl with flowing strawberry blonde hair and striking blue eyes was engrossed in her work.
Valerie, now 17, wore blue shorts and a cream top tied at the front as she soldered a piece of intricate equipment.
The girl had grown even more beautiful in the last year, some even saying she would surpass her mother when she got older.
With a satisfied smile, she looked at her latest creation.
"Haha, and with that, this baby should be complete," she exclaimed with a mix of pride and excitement.
She stood back from her workbench, observing her latest creation.
This wasn't just any invention; it was a breakthrough in nanotechnology and AI integration – a Nanotech AI Assistant, or NAIAS for short. This compact, sleek device could analyze and manipulate matter at a molecular level, offering possibilities from complex medical diagnoses to real-time environmental reconstruction.
As she prepared to test her new invention, a rumble of thunder caught her attention. She glanced outside the window, puzzled by the clear skies.
Turning to her watch, she asked, "What's the weather looking like for the next week?" Unlike a year ago, when a robotic voice would have responded, a more lively and posh voice answered, "Clear skies for the most part, Miss Richards, though it might get a bit chilly on Friday."
Nodding, Valerie turned back to her workbench. But out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a glass case showcasing a pair of MMA boxing gloves.
A soft smile crossed her lips as she thought to herself, "It's been a while since I last visited. The flowers must be dead by now. I'll go after the showcase next week."
Refocusing her attention on her invention, Valerie immersed herself in the world of science and innovation, her mind buzzing with ideas.
....
(New York City - Queens...)
Meanwhile, in the bustling streets of the city, chaos erupted as a group of bank robbers fled from pursuing police.
"Hahaha, we're ruch Boys!!!!"
From the shadows, a figure watched, then sprung into action. She gracefully leapt from building to building.
"Time to wrap this up," Spider-Girl said, launching a web at the lead robber. With a swift tug and spin movements, she entangled each robber in webbing.
"You guys really should have picked a faster getaway car. Or, you know, not robbed a bank in the first place!"
As she handed the neatly webbed-up criminals to the authorities, she flashed a triumphant smile under the mask. "Just another day's work for your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Girl," she said, swinging away into the night, her silhouette outlined against the city lights.
...
(New York - Queens - Flushing...)
Elsewhere, a woman in a sleek catsuit that accentuated her boxum figure, eyed a dazzling diamond in a museum. With a purr of delight, she whispered to herself,
"Oh, you will be mine soon, my precious little shiny thing." Her excitement was evident, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
