~ Issue #2: Kraneea ~ (Part 4)

By the time it was almost 3 AM in the morning, she was finally there. The shipment in question was being prepared to be loaded onto the boat with the Dominican Republic flag raised up. There were a lot of hooded men patrolling the area. Each one of them was armed with a gun. 

It would be suicide to jump right in the middle of them... Stealth is the key. she thought and then using her back legs, she lifted her body off the ground and then carefully moved through the shadows without making a single sound. 

Each step was as light as a feather, but when she got close to her target, she waited until they walked within her reach and then grabbed them by launching herself at them and then pulling herself back. The powerful shock from the movement coupled with a fast spider bite, rendered them unconscious before they had the chance to do anything. Just one bullet shot from their guns or even a tiny yell would have been enough to place everyone on the dock on high alert. 

Once Kraneea took care of the patrols, she lurked around in the shadows and analyzed the guards who were on the docks, their weapons, their armors, and how strong they looked like. Among them, there was only one individual who caught her attention, it was the man who was guarding the gangway that connected the Dominican boat to the docks. Despite being rather cold outside, he was wearing a sleeveless jacket, showing off his big muscles and soft tan. He didn’t appear to be carrying a gun on his person at all. Among all of these gangsters, he was the only one who was unarmed. 

The problem Kraneea had to face right now was the fact that all of the guards were surrounding the shipping container which four men were preparing to load onto the ship. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t use her stealth anymore to hunt down the men. The moment she pulled in the first group into the shadows would also be the moment when the others entered on high alert. 

I have to make sure to pull someone from this side and then attack the rest from the other... she thought as she was already formulating her strategy in her mind. 

Moving to the left side of the dock, she targeted the first group of guards and then knocked on the shipping container next to her. 

“Huh? Who’s there?” one of the men asked. 

“Go and check it out.” 

Taking off the safety on his gun, the guard approached the source of the suspicious sound. Kraneea was hiding on top of the shipment, her back legs supporting her whole body. 

“Bro, there’s nothing here!” he told them as he turned around. 

That was the moment when she pounced on him. The man dropped his weapon on the ground with loud clank which caught the attention of the others. 

“Yo, Brad! You alright over there?” one of them asked. 

Seeing that no reply came from their friend, the three guards decided to investigate. They took off the safety and approached the location. 

Kraneea didn’t want to face them head on, so she waited patiently until the group moved a bit farther from the lights, then she pounced on the one at the back. With her powerful back legs, she pulled herself up and dragged the body of her victim with her. The others did not even notice their friend was gone. 

“Where the hell is he?” the guy at the front asked as he looked around, but when he didn’t hear any reply from his team, he turned around. “What the...” 

What he saw was Kraneea, right before she pounced on him. 

The first group of guards was gone just like that. But she wasn’t sure that the same trick would work again, but it didn’t hurt to try. What she had to do was to lure them in, make them wonder what was going on or... 

I should use their own fear of the unknown against them... Spiders are scarier when they aren’t seen, and that’s also the whole purpose of a trap, isn’t it? she thought as a smile curved up on her lips. 

The others were beginning to notice that there was something wrong with the patrols and the guards who went to check it out didn’t come back either. 

Carefully slipping through the shadows, Kraneea moved from that point to the one on the other side of the docks. There, just like before, she knocked on the metal side of a shipment and caught the attention of the guards closest to her. With a powerful silent jump, she then landed at about ten or so meters away from that point. Thanks to the cover of night, they didn’t see her shadowy shape at all. If it would have been morning, maybe she would not have even dared to try it. 

Here, she popped out her chelicerae and slowly scratched the metal side of the shipment on her right. 

 SCREEECH! 

 The piercing sound shattered the silence of the night and caught the attention of everyone on the dock. The scratch itself was deep enough to leave the impression that it wasn’t a human who did this. 

“Now then... Let’s see the cockroaches skitter.” she said as she used her back legs to pull herself on top of the shipment behind her and then run across them until she was on the others side of the dock again. 

“What the heck was that?!” one of the guards asked. 

“Whatever it was it came from over there. You guys, go and check it out.” said another. 

“Why should we? You go!” he retorted. 

“No way man, don’t you know that the black guy always gets the drop on him when its like this in those horror movies?” 

“The heck are you talking about, man? You have a gun, and it’s not like I told you to go there alone. Don’t be an idiot, take your squad. Besides, most of us here are black! But if you’re that much of a chicken, you can go grab some white boys from Jack’s squad.” he retorted. 

“Ah, man, this just ain’t feeling right! I’m telling ya.” he complained as he made a hand sign for everyone to move out. 

Meanwhile, Kraneea was watching them from afar. Her second pair of eyes showed no difficulty in being able to spot all those tiny details, and the vibration of their voice could be heard by her from the other side of the docks. She didn’t rely on her eardrums for this, the tiny hairs on her legs did all the job, and if she focused well enough, she could even hear the sounds of their beating hearts. 

The squad didn’t separate from each other and always had someone watching their back. It was a tight group, but not unbreakable. 

They should have two-way radios, right? she wondered and then moved to one of the patrols she knocked out earlier. 

After a quick search, she found what she needed. 

With a mischievous smile on her lips, Kraneea opened the channel and then whispered “Who are you searching for, boys?” with a final alluring giggle, she turned off the radio. 

“What the?” the guards stopped in their tracks when they heard the sweet whisper of the woman who was hunting them down. 

The unexpected part was the way she said it, the tone of her voice was absolutely erotic, but the person in question wasn’t yet aware of the natural power of her allure. 

“Who the hell is on this channel?” one of them retorted in the radio, but no reply was given. 

Kraneea used this moment to start toying with the group of guards. Letting out a giggle in the darkest of shadows, she caught their attention, then she moved from there and scratched the metal surface of the shipment. To one of them, she even showed him one of her spider legs before moving it out of sight. 

In the span of just two minutes, the group of five people was confused as to who or what was lurking in the shadows with them. 

“Report.” came the voice from the radio. 

“Man, there’s something here, but I don’t know what. It’s toying with us, man.” he replied. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” 

Before he could reply, Kraneea picked up a stone off the ground and tossed it at him. The hit made him drop the radio on the ground. 

“Behind us!” he shouted, but she was already gone. 

Staying close to the darkness, while everyone was focused in one direction, she moved behind them. 

“That thing is there, I know it!” he declared with absolute certainty, but she was actually standing on her back legs, ready to pounce at him, who was the very last one in the group.  

“Mmph!” he tried to shout to call for help, but it was already too late. 

The others kept moving forward unaware of the predator hiding in the darkness of the night. 

Once her prey fell unconscious, she went for another grab. Two more from the group vanished like that until the others felt like something was wrong. 

“No way in hell, man! I’m outta here!” one of the last two said as he ran away, leaving his friend behind and granting her the perfect opportunity to strike. 

Before the man could return to his comrades, when he was just one step away from the light, Kraneea’s arms grabbed hold of him and then pulled him back into the darkness. 

“W-What was that?” asked the only one out of all of them who caught a glimpse of that something that grabbed his teammate. 

The group that went in didn’t return, and now the people in charge were starting to get agitated by all of this. They couldn’t delay the departure of the ship any longer, so they called out for them to get the last shipment ready. Kraneea heard them, and with this, she now knew that her playtime was up. Even if she would have wanted to continue luring the groups into the darkness, she feared that it would not be just as easy as before. 

It was too bad, however, that she could not loot the body armor from one of them. It could have come in handy, but if she played this out properly, maybe she would not need to. 

This was going to be her first battle out in the open. There were no shadows there that could keep her hidden from sight, no den where she could retreat to. Above all, they were all fully armed, and she had no idea how to wield a gun. After tonight though, if she managed to live, she thought about arming herself with a stun gun at the very least, but in the next moment, she realized something rather ridiculous. 

Don’t I already have a stun gun? she thought and then looked at her own hand as she discharged a small lightning of bioelectricity from her fingertips. 

With a smile curving up on her lips, she now knew how to attack them. A single touch was all she needed to stun them. 

“Now then, I wonder how strong I am?” she said as she looked to her right at a small forklift that was most likely used to load goods into the shipment crates. 

With her body strengthened far beyond normal limits, Kraneea was itching to find out how powerful she had become. 

She jumped down next to the forklift and then grabbed hold of it. When she felt like she had a good hold, she flexed her muscles and lifted it up. 

“I’m... I’m strong.” she remarked surprised. 

This forklift felt as heavy as a light dinner table did before her transformation. At this point, however, she had no idea that what she was holding weighed close to 4.5 tons, almost triple the weight of an average car. 

As she took a step forward, she could feel the pressure of the forklift on her body, but surprisingly enough she was holding out, nothing was cracking or tearing, which was a good sign. Still, she didn’t see how she was going to throw this thing at them when she could barely hold it up, so she placed her back legs down and tried to lift herself up like she did when she attacked the guards. 

“What the...” Kraneea said in astonishment as she found the weight of the forklift to have vanished completely. 

Rather than a big hunk of metal, she felt more like she was carrying just a simple shopping bag. Her giant spider legs were certainly formidable, and she was barely beginning to understand their potential. 

Putting a bit of strength into them, she hopped on top of a container and used only her back legs to move around. 

It’s doable like this. she thought as she approached the light. 

The guards had taken a step back from their original position and were aiming their guns at the shadows. They did not know what was lurking there, but it was clear that several of their men had gone missing. That was why she had to do something about them before they loaded the last container on the boat and sailed away, far from her reach or that of anyone else’s. 

Now then... let’s see if I can aim well. Kraneea thought and prayed at the same time that she wasn’t just going to crush those criminals with the forklift. 

Pulling back her legs for a jump, she aimed her body at the crane that was preparing to lift the container and then jumped forward. She became the spring that was meant to launch the weight into the air, and at the last moment, she let go of the forklift, pushing it forward, while she her body lost momentum and fell on the ground. 

What the men there witnessed was a forklift suddenly appearing from the top of a container and then shooting off towards them. They jumped out of the way, screaming, thinking that it was going to land on top of them, but the hunk of metal slammed right into the crane’s hoisting motors. Sparks flew off as the motors came to a halt and the forklift fell back on the ground, right on top of an empty truck. 

A moment later, the leaking cooling liquid from the forklift’s battery was ignited and exploded, setting the two vehicles on fire. 

Kraneea needed a distraction, but she was not expecting something like this to happened. She had no idea that the hunk of metal she tossed was so volatile, but instead of getting distracted by the fireworks, as soon as she touched the ground with her back legs, she moved towards the closest group of men and attacked them. 

Taken by surprise, the four missed out on the opportunity to defend themselves and ended up punched and kicked by Kraneea. She did not need to know martial arts, her punches alone were powerful enough to break bones, and her instincts prevented her from landing fatal hits, but these four would definitely need a bunch of stitches and splints after she was done with them. 

Hearing the cries of pain of their friends, the other guards there took notice of Kraneea, but they didn’t even know how to react when they saw her. She looked like a beautiful woman from the shape of her body, but she had a second pair of eyes, a blade at the end of each arm and four giant spider legs on her back. 

“M-Monster!” was the first thing one of them shouted at her. 

“How rude!” Kraneea scoffed and then pounced towards him. 

He managed to press the trigger only once, but he missed completely. The next thing he saw was the ground moving above him. Kraneea struck him with one of her back legs and sent him flying several meters away. With a bit of luck, he wouldn’t die from the fall alone, but he wouldn’t get away without a broken bone or two either. 

Now that the initial shock was over, the man who was guarding the gangway shouted at them “GET HER!” 

Of course, the men reacted by aiming their weapons at her and pulling the trigger, but Kraneea was not foolish enough to let them do that. She immediately jumped to the side, avoiding their shots. With a twist in the air, she spread her legs up and grabbed hold of the dock crane’s metal frame. She then pulled herself up and skittered across it. With a powerful jump, she tossed herself on board of the Dominican ship, where the sailor, equally surprised as the guards on the ground, knew not how to react. 

Sailors can swim, right? she thought and then wasted no spare moment as she started tossing all those she encountered off the ship. 

Using the containers on the top deck as hiding spots or jumping pads, she was able to clear up most of the sailors there before the first of the ground guards set their foot on the ship. That was her time to go. Thanks to the tiny claws at the tip of the tarsus of her spider legs, she stuck herself to the side of the ship and hid herself from their sight. Keeping a low profile, she skittered across the hull until she was on the other side, where she moved over on the dock. 

No one caught sight of her as she did this, so she once again found herself in the position where she could pick them off one by one. There were several of them who moved way in the back, closer to the shadows in the hopes of being farther from her, but they underestimated Kraneea’s stealth ability. 

Ten guards vanished in the shadows after they were pounced on from behind. A single bite and one drop of venom was more than enough to paralyze them. 

“What the hell is going on?!” the man who guard the gangway asked. 

“Mister Ultox, sir, we don’t know. That woman... she vanished.” someone from the deck replied to him. 

“What? How?!” he demanded to know. 

It appeared as though Ultox was at least one rank higher than them, which meant that he was the one to most likely know where the kidnapped women were. 

There aren’t that many guards left. Should I start taking out the ones on the deck? she wondered as she skittered across the shipment containers in the shadows. 

Kraneea moved towards the damaged crane, where several workers were trying to get the hoisting motors running again. She jumped right on top of the crane without being seen, and from there she jumped on top of the bridge. There were several sailors there who were looking towards the sea with their binoculars. 

“This is bad, the Coast Guard is heading this way! They must have seen the explosion!” said one of them. 

“The cops shouldn’t be far behind either, we have to get a move on.” said the other. 

In the next second, both of them were suddenly tapped on their shoulders by someone standing behind them. The two looked back and saw Kraneea who was now waving at them. Before they got a chance to say anything, they were smacked right off the ship and into the cold waters below. There were a few other sailors there who were swimming for the shore. If those two happened to have lost consciousness, they would have been rescued by their friends, or so Kraneea believed. 

From on top of the bridge, she made her way towards the back, where several land guards were moving in after hearing the sailors scream. She was moving on top of the shipment containers, from where she could easily pounce on them and then stun them with her bioelectricity. In no time at all, she managed to incapacitate everyone there, then she moved to the front, where she applied the same tactic. 

“Report! What’s happening up there?!” Ultox asked. 

“Nothing, your friends are just sleeping.” Kraneea replied as she climbed down the side of the crane just like a spider would. 

Her steps were slow, but her chelicerae were out in the open, and she was ready to jump in for an attack or to dodge one herself. 

“Who are you?” he asked narrowing his eyes at her. 

He could not believe what he was seeing and couldn’t even tell if she was still human or not. 

“Little ol’ me? I’m Kraneea, sweetie.” she winked at him and then blew him a kiss, but with all of her four eyes opened, she looked more terrifying than seductive. 

“So, you are just like me then?” Ultox scoffed. 

“Boss, should we shoot her?” one of the guards asked. 

“No. Don’t bother stand back and make sure the cops don’t get here.” he ordered him. 

“Yes, sir!” the man replied and everyone there headed off towards the entrance to the docks. 

Why isn’t he using them to stop me? Is he afraid that they might hit him instead? Quite likely. Kraneea thought as she watched them go, but she wasn’t inclined to believe that only the two of them were left behind, criminals weren’t that trustworthy. 

Using her senses, she could tell there were quite a few more armed sailors on the boat, and several of the containers around her carried within them the faint sounds of beating human hearts. 

Her initial thought was to grab this man and make him tell her where he hid the women, but now that she remembered she had such fine senses, she didn’t need him anymore. 

I guess I still have some getting used to with these powers of mine. she thought as she stepped down from the crane. 

“What did you mean like you?” she asked him, as these were the only words that piqued her interest. 

“Like this!” he said as he walked up to the flaming forklift and grabbed hold of it. 

He wasn’t afraid of the fire or rather, it wasn’t hurting him at all. 

“What are you doing?” she asked furrowing her brow, but she could feel something was wrong. 

“How about we play some catch?” he asked as he pulled the forklift out of the truck’s wreckage and then tossed it at her. 

Kraneea immediately jumped out of the way of the burning heap of metal. 

“Who told you to do dodge!” Ultox shouted as he charged at her. 

She had only a moment to jump up and avoid him slamming into her. Instead, he went head first into the shipping container. The whole thing moved from the force of the impact, and the metal bent inwards. 

“I have a hard head, you know?” he smirked as he pulled himself out of it and then looked back at her. 

“Empty, I bet.” she scoffed. 

“But I’m unbeatable, lady! Indestructible!” he shouted as he punched himself in the chest like a gorilla asserting his dominance. 

“Obnoxious and a virgin too, I bet.” she smirked and then giggled. 

The man’s left eye twitched and with roar he started running towards her, hoping to grab hold of her. 

If she was a man, maybe she would have wanted to test out her power against him, but what if he truly was stronger than her? Why put herself at a disadvantage? What was to gain from something a foolish action like that? 

Kraneea jumped over him and then using her bioelectricity, she sent a full jolt through his body. 

“AAARGH!” he screamed in pain, but it wasn’t enough to bring him down. 

He twisted his body and struck Kraneea in with his arm in her left side. The hit tossed her several meters away from him, but she was able to land on her back legs without her human body touching the ground. 

That hurt! she thought as she held her side. 

The throbbing pain didn’t last long, and she felt her body already healing whatever damage she had suffered. Whether it was a simple bruise or internal damage, she didn’t have to suffer like a normal human anymore. Kraneea could heal faster than anyone, but she wasn’t yet willing to test out to which extent her rapid recovery worked. 

“You are a nimble one, aren’t you? I didn’t even see you pull out that stun gun.” Ultox said as he shook his head. 

Stun gun? He didn’t realize that I was the one who released the electricity? That’s good. she thought as she removed her hand from her side and lowered herself on the ground. 

Back on her feet, she was now looking around for a way to defeat this tank of a man. When he picked up the forklift earlier, it was clear that his skin was thicker than it looked. He feared neither fire nor electricity, but it didn’t mean these two elements didn’t work on him. He was also quite strong, but whether she was more powerful than her remained to be seen. 

“Hey, you know? Why did you even attack us in the first place? Are you a cop or something?” he questioned her after he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“Cop? No, my dear, I’m what you call a vigilante. I just saw a bunch of ugly men kidnapping some lovely ladies, and I thought it would be good to help them out. Mind telling me where they are, sweetie?” she asked and winked at him. 

Like a spider weaving a web to trap her prey, she too used her sweet words and body language to lure in her unsuspecting victims, but it didn’t seem to be of much use in this situation. The big hairy spider legs sticking out of her back were not exactly alluring to Ultox. 

“We capture broads every now and then. Can you be a bit more specific?” he smirked. 

“Oh? Why bother when it’s quite so clear to me that you do indeed know about whom I’m talking about?” she giggled. 

The tone of her voice was sweet but also tempting, holding a hint of an elegance that was quite different from the image of Claire she once portrayed. It was as if the image of this heroine had completely shattered the fake wall she built up over the years around her true self. 

“How did you figure that out?” 

“Who knows?” she smiled and then jumped towards him. 

When Kraneea attacked, Ultox immediately moved into a combat stance and tried to punch her. The fist flew right under her, and after turning around once in the air, she slashed at his back with her chelicerae blades. They barely scratched his skin, but it was enough to make him release a cry of pain. 

“YAAARGH! You whore!” he shouted and turned around to punch her. 

“Ah! Language please, you’re in front of a lady!” she avoided the hit and then slapped him as hard as she could. 

The force behind that hit was not one to joke around. Her palm turned red, but Ultox flew straight into a shipping container at a distance of at least ten meters away from her. The metals contorted around him, but the man was not one to be trapped by something like that. 

“Ugh!” he groaned as he got up, twisting the metals with his bare hands. 

“You aren’t a normal human, are you?” Kraneea asked. 

“You’re the one to talk! Spider legs, seriously?” he scoffed as he prepared to charge at her again. 

“Don’t underestimate the cuteness of arachnids!” she told him. 

“What cuteness? You’re a living walking horror show!” he retorted and then dashed towards her. 

“Maybe, but...” she didn’t dodge this time. 

Instead of using her own legs to stop him, she used her lower spider legs to secure a good hold on the ground and then pushed her upper spider legs toward him. They hit him straight in the shoulders, but instead of stopping him in his tracks, Kraneea lifted him up while at the same time stretched her lower legs. When Ultox was right above her, both her lower and her upper back legs were fully stretched, reaching a span of a little over 19 meters in length. 

“Now, let’s see how tough you really ARE!” she shouted and then twisted her body, and pulled Ultox towards the ground. 

From a height of 19 meters in the air, he was slammed into the ground with all the power her legs were capable off. The impact with the ground caused the docks to shake and an impact crater to form in the cement. Because everything happened so fast, he didn’t understand what was going on and wasn’t able to protect himself from the fall. 

The battle ended with Kraneea’s win as it was lights out for Ultox. To her surprise though, the man wasn’t dead even after receiving an impact like that. When he said that he was tough, he wasn’t kidding, but without the power of her back legs, Kraneea didn’t think she would have been able to win against him. Fighting against a monster like that was impossible without using one or two tricks. 

The police can’t hold down someone like that... she thought and then walked up to him. 

With her fangs popped out, she tried to bite him, but his skin was really too tough to pierce him. Cursing his luck, she opened his mouth and let a few drops trickle on the tip of his tongue, without kissing him, of course. His sense of taste would be numb for a while, but he wouldn’t pose such a great threat for the police now. 

As she moved away from him, she looked around to see if there were any other threats lurking around on that dock. She just went through a rather difficult battle, and it wouldn’t have been that strange if someone tried to take her down, thinking that she was weak and easy to kill. 

There wasn’t anyone there that had either the capability or courage to try to face her off. If they happened to have witnessed Ultox’ ridiculous defeat, then they certainly wouldn’t have dared to try to mess around with her. That man was scary as it was with his superhuman strength and endurance that turned him into a walking tank but facing off against a lady with four giant spider legs on her back was on a whole other level of creepy and scary. 

Humans had a natural tendency to fear spiders, they triggered the feeling of danger in them. Overcoming this tendency was not easy even for those who bred and raised spiders as pets. Even Claire had her own moments when she feared opening her pet spider’s cage. She was a Giant Huntsman Spider, after all, a creature that could very easily be classified as one of the biggest arachnids out there, toppled only by the Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula. 

Knowing this, Kraneea took up a more relaxed posture and proceeded to tie up all the villains she managed to capture tonight. The big Ultox had a couple of metal bars wrapped around him and several good layers of rope just in case. She also thought about writing down a small note, but then remembered that the Police could track her down through her handwriting. The serious ones weren’t as dumb as the movies made them out to be. It was a good thing that there was no way to track down her spider venom, otherwise she might have hesitated to envenom Ultox. 

From there, she went over to the shipping container that was about to be loaded onto the boat and tried to open the door, but the lock was stuck. The bars of the locking mechanism had been bent inwards, which prevented ordinary people from opening it. 

Ultox must have done this while I was taking out the guards. He must have thought that if I was working with someone else, they wouldn’t be able to free the prisoners while I was distracting him. Hm... He’s not just a big idiot brute, after all. Kraneea thought before she straightened the bars using her own superhuman strength. 

Placing her hands on the locks, she closed her second pair of eyes and prepared to open the doors. 

Father Light’s gang probably wasn’t expecting to be hit by someone like her, a human with the superhuman powers of a spider. Then again what were the odds of a superhero and a super villain encountering each other tonight and having a showdown? 

Although it was just a small thought at the back of her mind, Kraneea did feel as though this world was starting to change, and little by little, things the like of super-powered individuals would become a common thing, but whether or not this would end up being a good thing remained to be seen. 

What Kraneea knew for now was the fact that by defeating Father Light’s gang tonight and putting a stop to their operation, she was able to safely rescue the kidnapped women. 

When she opened the doors of the container and the light of the reflectors behind her shined upon those inside, she could read their fear and worry on their faces and body language. Trembling and shivering from the cold, they huddled up together and as far away from the doors as possible. The thought that the one standing before them was their savior didn’t even cross their minds. To them, she was just another captor. 

These poor women... Kraneea thought as she slowly gazed upon them. 

Taking a step back, she then told them “I’m here to help you. I’ve defeated the bastards who locked you up inside. You are free.” 

For a moment, these words didn’t seem to have reached to them. They looked at each other and murmured a few words, but it was hard for them to believe this, or rather, the vast majority of them was like that. 

In the end, there was one of the younger ones who stepped forward and asked “What do you mean?” 

She was only 18 years old, maybe younger. 

“It means what it means. I can’t be blunter than that.” Kraneea replied and shook her head. 

Hearing this, the women began to catch a bit more courage and slowly moved closer to the doors. 

Kraneea stepped to the side and let them come out. She was quite surprised to see how timid they behaved, how frightened they were of going out of their cage, and she couldn’t have imagined what they must have went through in order to push them into this state of mind. 

“Father Light will come after us...” one of them said as she tried to take a step out, but she refused. 

“Then I will beat him up just like I did everyone here.” she said and pointed at the wrapped up Ultox. 

“H-How did you?” one of them asked, but when she took a better look at her savior, she finally saw the spider legs on her back. 

The initial shock was indeed that of fear, but the fact that she saved her was not for nothing. Several of the women there were certainly terrified of her, but at the same time, the others knew now that they could trust her. Kraneea wasn’t like them, a victim, she was something else, something different. 

“Who are you?” someone asked. 

“Me? You can call me Kraneea. That’s my superhero name!” she replied with a smile. 

“Kraneea? A-And those things?” she asked pointing at her spider legs. 

“These? Are part of me. They are my limbs, but don’t be afraid, they are just a tad bit creepy to look at, that’s all. I’m not going to harm you with them or anything like that.” she replied with a wry smile, but she did keep her distance from them. 

Some of them noticed this and appreciated the kind thought, although at the same time, they felt a bit bad for acting like that towards the one who got them out of that container. 

“Can one of you use this phone and call the cops? That brute, Ultox, needs to be kept tranquillized with horse sedatives. He’s powerful enough to bend metal with his bare hands, and I don’t think those bars I wrapped up around him will hold him for too long.” she explained as she offered them the phone, she grabbed from one of the guards. 

“I will!” the woman who was the first to step out of the container volunteered. 

“Here you go.” Kraneea tossed her the phone, and she immediately formed the number using the Emergency Call function. 

As part of her explanation, she told them that they were the women who were recently kidnapped from their homes by Father Light’s gang and that they had been saved by a heroine called Kraneea. While the last part sprung up a few questions from the operator, she did manage in the end to have several squads be sent here to take care of those tied up criminals. 

“I’ll be going now. Make sure to mention that I was just doing my civil work and lending a hand when I saw someone in trouble. I would also appreciate it if the cops won’t think of me as their enemy the moment they spot me next time. Oh, and don’t forget to tell them that there might be more containers like yours on that ship over there.” Kraneea told them and then got up on her back legs. 

The women watched her with big eyes as she moved away from them. 

“What will you do now?” one of them asked. 

“I don’t know... Maybe I’ll just lurk around and lend a helping hand whenever possible.” Kraneea replied honestly. 

It was these types of words and feeling of uncertainty that made the women understand that the one who saved her, at heart, was no different from them, although seeing her skitter away on her spider legs did send a chill down their spines. 

Just as she promised, Kraneea, remained lurking in the shadows until several police squads arrived. The gang members who were at the entrance and tried to stall for time were captured quickly when the policemen received word through their stations that the kidnapped women were on that dock. 

Soon enough, the police were everywhere on the docks and easily captured the knocked out, paralyzed, or freezing criminals. Ultox gave rise to quite a few questions seeing as the only method of getting him out of those made-up restraints was by actually cutting them out with a buzz-saw. The words of the women weren’t too convincing in regard to how strong he was, however, when one of them asked what other being can bend steel like that, they didn’t really have a reply. The dock was littered with pieces of proof of the superhuman battle that took place there. 

Kraneea moved away from that place once she saw that all the women were taken under the police protection. With a step as light as a feather, she hid herself away in the shadows and then skittered across the rooftops until she reached her apartment building. By morning, the boy’s mother was supposed to come home, she did saw her among the captives she freed earlier, and there was no need to worry about the ones on the Dominican ship. When she was leaving the docks, she saw the police opening the containers and looking for the kidnapped people. 

After returning to her apartment, Kraneea resumed her identity as Claire. With her legs retracted, she changed into her pajamas and slumped down in her bed. She felt very tired after tonight’s superhero mission, and her body needed a good rest, but before she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, she did wonder about one thing in particular. 

Would a comic book hero have went and searched through all of those containers? Should I have waited for the police with them there? Ah... but I’m not a comic book hero... I’m just a simple woman who dons the mask of a hero... she thought. 

The following day, she woke up at a loud knock at her door. For a second, she thought it was the police looking for her, and her back legs nearly burst out, but she managed to stop herself from causing an unnecessary accident. 

When she opened the door, she saw the little boy from next door. He was smiling brightly at her and in his palm was a small piece of wrapped candy. 

“Big sister, you said that Kraneea was going to save mommy! You didn’t lie! Kraneea saved mommy! So here, give this to Kraneea! My thank you gift!” he told her. 

“I’m sorry but was it you who took care of my boy while I was gone?” the mother then walked up to them; she had a gentle smile on her face. 

“Yes.” Claire nodded. 

“Thank you very much for watching out over him.” she bowed her head to her. 

“No problem, but are you alright? Did Kraneea really save you?” she asked. 

“Erm, yes. Although, how do you know about her?” 

“How do I know about her? Well, I’ve just heard from a friend who heard from a friend that she might be just the type of lady to spring in to help you in your time of need.” Claire replied with a wry smile. 

“Is that so? Well, she did all of us a great favor. If not for her, I fear that we might have ended up somewhere in the Dominican Republic at the mercy of some no-good scum. The authorities over there might be looking into uncovering this human trafficking ring on their side as well.” she said. 

“Well, that’s good. What about Father Light?” 

“I don’t know, and I honestly don’t care. I’m just happy that I was able to return to my family.” she replied and looked down at the boy, who was still adamant about giving her that piece of candy. 

With a wry smile, Claire took the candy and then asked the woman “Will you be alright?” 

“Probably.” she replied, but there was uncertainty in the tone of her voice. 

“It might not be much, but if you’re ever in trouble again, just drop by my place. It’s better if you have a friend to rely on when you are in need.” she told her as she then looked down at the boy. 

The old Claire would have never made a suggestion like this one, but this wasn’t about what that person would have done, but rather what the new Claire wanted to do. The new her wanted to change her life more than she ever thought to have been possible. 

“Really? Well... in that case... Sure!” the woman replied with a more cheerful smile and the boy looked happy as well. 

“Have a good day.” Claire wished them. 

“You, erm...” 

“Claire.” 

“You too, miss Claire! This is Jeremy, and I am Sonja.” 

“A pleasure to meet you two.” Claire said with a warm smile. 

“Goodbye, big sister!” said Jeremy and then two went back to their apartment. 

As she closed the door, Claire wondered for a moment what would have happened if that night she would not have went to check up on the boy. 

“I probably would have stayed at home and then read about this whole thing in the paper... Those smiles of their, I would never have seen them...” she said and then let out a sigh. 

A moment later, her alarm went off, telling her that it was time to go to work. 

With a wry smile, she walked over to her desk and turned it off. She let out a sigh and then looked out the window at the bustling New York City. 

“Ultox might not be the only one out there, so that means... there could be other heroes like me out there.” she said and then looked down at her hands. 

At the tips of her fingers, bioelectricity formed a lightning arc that was just as deadly as it was beautiful. The type she used against Ultox and the others wasn’t as powerful, but Claire was beginning to have the feeling that she had barely even scratched the surface of what her powers could really do. 

The question remained though: If New York City would ever find itself in peril, could it rely on Kraneea?