Viper's Bite

Chapter 23: A Ruthless Roundup

Meanwhile, in the apartment complex on the second floor of Jaden's convenience store, Mitchell and another Crimson Skull squad were quickly advancing down the unguarded hallway. "We've got our eye on you, sir," one of the masked figures warned. "Duncan already let us know that you're way too aggressive for your own good." 

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "It's not her I'm after, anyway," he said, referring to their current target. "I'm only doing this because it will help lure The Viper to our location when the time comes." 

Eventually, they reached Jaden's apartment, with one of the agents picking the lock and the rest of the crew moving into position. Once Mitchell managed to get in close, he swiftly stabbed a still-sleeping Jaden in the neck with a syringe of the same tranquilizer that Duncan himself had used on The Viper several nights ago. "There. Now she'll have trouble waking up for the next several hours," the boy commented. 

"Get her to the car outside, then drive her to the Mercury Heights Space Needle," he instructed. "And leave this place as clean as possible; we don't want anyone coming after us." 

"Yes, sir," the agents replied before exiting the apartment with her. 

Mitchell initially stayed behind to make sure the rest of his unit had successfully escaped the building, then contacted Duncan by walkie-talkie. 

"Sir, my mission was a success; the hostage is on their way to your location now," he informed. 

"Perfect. And The Crawler has just informed me that his objective went smoothly as well," Duncan said on the other end. "There's just one more person left....." 

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The next day, Herman was in the locker room gathering his books when a panicked Hailey  rushed into the area. "Herman!" 

"Yeah, what's going on?" Herman asked tiredly. 

"My parents have disappeared!" she cried. "What?! Did you call the police to file a report?" the boy suggested. "I did. The lack of evidence is going to make it hard for them, though....." Her breathing quickened. "I don't know what happened; everything was perfect last night! My dad and I were having a conversation on the roof, and then I swung away for the night to patrol the city, then when I came back home in the morning, neither of them were there anymore!" 

Herman paused for a moment. ".....You 'swung away' right after the conversation with your father?" His eyes widened. "Did you tell him that you're The Viper?" 

"I told both of them, yes. They took it really well, actually, which I didn't think they would. But that's not the point!" Hailey exclaimed, waving her hands frantically. After scanning the locker room for a few seconds, she noticed something else that was suspicious. "And shouldn't Jaden have also been here by now?!" 

"Okay, first off, nice, girl!" Herman complimented, referring to Hailey's act of revealing The Viper's identity to her parents. "Second, I did notice that Jaden was also missing when I came to the locker room this morning. I just figured she was probably sick or something, but now that I know your parents also disappeared, that makes me think something else is going on." 

Just then, the two of them came to the same realization at the same time, and blurted out the name almost in unison. 

".....Duncan Drevis!" 

"Ugh, I should have known! I told you that him hacking into your supercomputer was going to go bad quickly!" Herman cried. "Wait.....what if I'm next?! He knows everything about you now; he might be abducting the people you know to try and get your attention!"