Re: Anansi-The-Spider

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Episode Two

In front of a Science Laboratory on a University Campus,
Three men who were clothed in all black were facing the science laboratory holding bottles of strong alcohol with pieces of torn cloth in them.
“Remember this day guys”, one of them said, “This is the day where we get rid of crazy Marvin’s research and save our jobs once and for all. Another one of them, the shortest and fattest, said, “Yea Dave; after we terminate this maniac’s bee-hive-laboratory-farm, the school would do the rest… Hahaha”.
The three men crept to one of the windows where they saw a middle-age scientist standing writing some results down from a test he just performed. “He’s occupied, let’s go”, one of the men in black whispered then the three of them crept forward. They walked around the laboratory to the back where there was one high window.
When they reached under it, one of them climbed the shoulder of the shortest one and the third one held on to the bottles of alcohol. The one who had climbed said, “Light ‘em up Anthony”. The one who held the bottles put two of them on the ground, then took out a lighter from his pocket and lit the cloth at the mouth of the first bottle then handed it over to the one who was on top saying, “There you go, Frank”.
After looking inside the room that contained many beehives, Frank looked down to his friends and said, “Crazy Marvin says he had to travel very far to find the legendary Mmboro; Queen of all queen bees and he would be putting her on exhibition tomorrow. According to him, that creature is magical. Let’s see how her magic works against this!!!”
Immediately, he threw the first flaming bottle into the room. In one moment, the glass bottle broke, the alcohol spilled on the floor and the fire began to lick it the alcohol bit by bit. The next two bottles followed and hit different parts of the room.
In a few seconds, the man who was in the other laboratory rushed into the room where the beehives were. “What in heaven’s name is going on here?” He exclaimed. He looked around and saw the flames building in the room. He quickly rushed for a fire extinguisher on one side of the room and began to blow away at the mounting fire.
“NO! My bees, I’ll save all of you”, the scientist said as he continued to shoot the extinguisher at the fire. He was too weak to fend off that strong fire but he kept fighting.
Outside the laboratory, the three men who had attacked the laboratory were teasing the scientist with mimicry of whatever he said. After a short while, they sped away from the burning laboratory, leaving the scientist alone. The one called Frank shouted, “So long doctor Marvin Essuman!”
Back in the laboratory, Dr. Essuman dropped the fire extinguisher and rushed back to the room he was previously in. There, there was a very big beehive hanging over his front desk. He sped to it and knelt down on the floor beside it and said, “Save us Mmboro. Your subordinate queen bees and their hives are in trouble. All the hives are burning. I never believed in magic till I met you. Please save us all.”
He immediately snatched another fire extinguisher beside him and rushed back to where the flames were still growing. When he reached there, the flames were very strong now and the smoke was all over the place. He tried to remove the hives and throw them outside to save the bees but he didn’t notice the huge plank that was falling behind him. It hit his back and drove him down into some wild flames. Satisfied with nothing, the flames ate up the skin of the poor doctor down to his inside flesh. He kept calling, “Mmboro!” while he was slowly perishing in the flames.
That was when things changed for the better for his sake. Out of the huge hive on his desk came a very big bee; as big as a human’s fist. It flew majestically with many drones behind it; more than the hive could naturally contain. More and more drones flew out and escorted the Queen Bee toward the place where the flames were.
They charged inside and wherever they were, the flames and smoke scattered around them. The sound of the beating of their wings was very loud and it attracted all the other bees that hadn’t perished in the flames around it. Every bee that hadn’t perished flew and joined the croon of beating wings. As their number increased, the flames in the whole area abated and they saw Dr. Essuman lying close to death on the floor.
“Thank you for saving your fold Mmboro”, the dying man said to the wonderfully huge flock of bees and their ultimate queen bee.
All the bees retreated a short distance, then charged unto the man on the floor and when they reached him, stung him, then dropped dead, leaving their stings in his skin. He screamed out in agony as each sting poked his bare flesh and stayed there.
Finally, the queen bee added her sting to Dr. Essuman, at the exact location of his heart, and then dropped dead. After seeing this odd sight, Dr. Essuman also collapsed.
 
Jo and Dr. Powell had been in the nation’s capital, Nkran, for only 24 hours and they already knew that everything was wrong. The streets were ruled by gangs; gangs and cops had no issues; but somehow, there was always a gang war going on.
Those on the top were very corrupt and mostly preferred to focus on how they gained from the nation’s economy. A hero was needed and fast. If not controlled, the situation might end up making everyone a criminal; a City of Criminals.
The two were now in a huge house that belonged to Dr. Powell’s father while he was still alive. Looking down from a high window into the bright lights on the far off streets of Nkran, Jo said, “This place is horrible. I cannot stand for all this injustice. Those responsible must be punished. Everyone must know that Anansi-the-Spider is here in Nkran and he wouldn’t rest until every criminal scumbag is lying where they belong; behind bars.”
“That’s a very big step Jo; and despite the great power you possess and all that, you’ll still need more preparations.” Dr. Powell said. “Say that for yourself Dr. Lecturer. You quit your job. How’ll you fend?” Jo replied. Dr. Powell said, “Come on man, there isn’t just one university in Ghana. I already took a transfer to the University of Ghana, Legon (UGL).”
“That said, I already made preparations for the place we’ll operate from”, Dr. Powell added.
Jo said, “Speaking of which… What did you say your dad did when he was here?”
“He dealt in electronics. He was one of the first private agents in Ghana to import electronic gadgets into the nation.” Dr. Powell replied. “Nice”, Jo replied. “So, the preparations for me, what are they?” Jo asked after a short while.
“Follow me”, Dr. Powell said.
While escorting Jo up a flight of stairs, Dr. Powell explained, “When my dad was here, he had a place that he personally used to spy on everything related to him.” Jo asked, “To spy? Why?”
“Well, a white man in Ghana after the independence wasn’t so easy so my dad had to watch his back, and ours.” Dr. Powell replied, and then continued his explanation, “It is well hidden and according to everyone, it doesn’t exist.” Dr. Powell led Jo up a ladder and past two curves till and they reached a big hall that from the outside would be seen as the roof of the house. While they cut a final curve, Jo said, “Wow, this place is full of cobwebs.”
“That’s the name”, Dr. Powell said, turning around. Before Jo would ask, he continued, “The Cob-Web”. Jo was confused and wanted to ask what Dr. Powell asked but he was more amazed with what he saw next.
“Anansi-the-Spider, welcome to your Cob-Web”, Dr. Powell said.
“Good God!” Jo exclaimed when he saw the huge hall in front of him. “Which one amazes you the most; is it the hall itself or the content?” Dr. Powell asked
The hall was filled with 20th Century technologies and gadgets that were interconnected in many ways to different other electronic gadgets. “Both man, both!” Jo replied as his eyes scouted the whole room with his mouth open in awe.
“Your dad had a hideout in your house?” Jo asked. Dr. Powell replied, “This was where we all moved to hide whenever gunshots reached this neighborhood. Well, no one could successfully cross my dad’s electronic security at the time”.
“Did anyone try?” Jo asked. “Armed men of many types, even some hired military attempted to break into our home but not once did the security fail. My dad controlled it all from here.” Dr. Powell replied. “Must’ve been an ugly experience back then”, Jo said. Dr. Powell answered, “Yes it was. The nation has changed much since I left here as a child… but there’s still more work to be done. This is the time of the spider; this is the time for Anansi-the-Spider.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Dr. Powell pulled down a big switch that powered the whole hall bit by bit and all the electronic gadgets too.
Many monitors were in the room and systems of different sorts were in also arranged everywhere. On one of the huge screens, the television news was being played live.
“And in current news, the mysterious hero Anansi-the-Spider; he hero that wore a red hooded jacket is still a mystery to the nation. According to stories, he managed to single-handedly stop an illegal mutation program known as the Underground Village of Red Ants; the UVRA for short; which was going behind the scenes of the late Emma Hanson’s Sports Organization; Gideon Boots Sports Complex. The Kumasi Police Department were able to arrest the scientist who invented the serum that caused the mutation. With him were other men who referred to themselves ‘Guardians’ of the UVRA. On the bright side, a hero scientist from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Anoki Annan was able to find a cure for the victimized Red Ants.”
“With Anansi-the-Spider, the public has nothing but praise and gratitude for him for bringing their sons back to them. Here is what some of the mothers have to say”. The screen changed to one old woman who had recently reunited with her three sons.
They were standing beside her in a crowded market place while she spoke her gratitude to the camera. Jo and Dr. Powell listened as more and more women expressed their feelings; some, more touching than others.
After listening for a while, Dr. Powell said, “Wow, the people love you.” Smiling back, Jo said, “You can’t say”.
Back in the University laboratory…
Dr. Marvin Essuman woke up with a heavy plank on him. The whole area was full of strong black smoke and it was difficult to see. The scientist remembered getting burned to the flesh with fire and he had to die but somehow, he had woken up again with fresh new hands and body.
He tried to push off the plank on him but he found that his body passed through the plank by turning into many bees that disorganized and reorganized.
“Mmboro and her bees have sacrificed themselves to save me. This is unbelievable. Your sacrifice shall not be in vain; those evildoers who attacked you and the rest of us. Yes, the humans shall pay for attempting to obliterate our race. This is genocide. I am Mboro, and your stings have made me into the vengeance of all bees that have perished in this fire”.

Back in the Cob-Web…
While one of the mothers on the TV News was expressing her gratitude, the screen switched back to the telecast office where the News Presenter said, “Breaking news, there has been a fire outbreak in one of the science laboratories on the University of Ghana Campus. Here is a live feed with our journalist Catherine Kuomah. Good Evening Catherine; tell us what is happening there in UGL”.
The screen switched to the campus of the University where many people had gathered around a building that was in fumes. Catherine Kuomah said, “I’m fine thank you Marcus. This is the science research laboratory that was apportioned to lecturer Dr. Marvin Essuman to research on bees. No one has an idea how the fire started but when we reached here, the fire service already had the situation under control. Some of our sources however tell us that the flames mysteriously died by themselves and left the building blowing out this thick black smoke into the air. The place also smells like burning flesh… and honey. We also know that Dr. Essuman was the only one in the laboratory before the fire but no one has yet ventured into the fire to bring him out; that is if he is still alive. This is Catherine Kuomah, KTV News…” Before the presenter would end her closing remarks she heard the voices of the public growing loud and everyone was pointing at the black smoke.
Out of it came a swarm of bees; many of them. There were many of them, and they flew together in a defined pattern. They kept together and flew up out of the smoke. Moving together, they formed a coil that mounted straight upward.
The bees formed into a huge head figure with the face of Dr. Essuman. “Humans!” the bodiless head shouted out to the public, “My name is Mboro; and your vengeance is Now!!!”
Immediately, the swarm of bees flew into the mounting crowd around the science laboratory. The bees violently stung everyone with their golden stings that didn’t stay in the skin. The bees survived every sting they gave and continued stinging more and more people.
Back in the Cob-Web,
Without wasting a further minute, the two stepped out of the house; Jo taking his red hooded jacket with him.
Moments later, they were in Dr. Powell’s jeep and were driving toward the University Campus that wasn’t so far away. Dr. Powell drove very fast and soon they were curving to the University Campus. When their car pulled over near the scene, they saw that everyone in that area was lying on the floor. Swells were on everyone and they helplessly panting, crying and wailing on the floor.
Jo, with the red hood on walked to the scene. He looked around for some time and just when he thought it was safe, out of the black smoke came the swarm of bees, charging wildly at him.

Watch out for part 2