The Paragons

Prologue, Part 5: A Second Chance

Back in Mercury Heights, Mitchell's mother was sitting at the dining room table in her apartment, gazing longingly at a family photo which depicted her, her husband, her brother, and Mitchell himself. 

With the untimely passing of both her husband and son within days of each other about two years ago, she had mostly spent her time alone in her apartment, usually only going out to go to work or buy groceries. Pretty much her only company were her long-distance friends on social media, as well as her brother---Mitchell's uncle---who would drop by for infrequent visits. Unbeknownst to her, however, Mitchell's uncle had secretly contracted a mysterious, superpowered ninja known as the "Black Phantom" to constantly attack The Viper in revenge for his nephew's death. The assassin-for-hire had previously attempted to kill the heroine during her vacation to Honolulu, but had been bested and hung by the neck off the bow of a ship.....as far as The Viper knew. In truth, he had survived, managing to free himself from the rope and escape after she had left the scene. 

And he was all too eager for round two. 

The assassin met up with his employer at his penthouse, which was located in a different building from Mitchell's apartment complex. 

".....And that is how the Little Snake managed to best me," the Black Phantom said, taking a knee before Mitchell's uncle, who sat reclined and on a white, leather chair on wheels. "Apologies, master.....I will not let it happen again." 

"Take your time, Black Phantom.....there is no rush," Mitchell's uncle replied, taking the ninja's failure in stride. "As long as she's active.....she's there for the taking. Perhaps you'd like some time to rest? Grab yourself a soda or two from the fridge there." 

The man had not yet been made aware that his nephew had been resurrected by Malcorchus. As such, he intended on sending the Black Phantom after The Viper time and time again until one of them fell.....and the assassin was not one to give up on his targets easily. He was not aware of it, but his asset was only one of the many villains who were currently out for the heroine's blood, all of whom wished to take her down for their own reasons. 

As the Black Phantom returned to his contractor's desk and popped open the can of Coca-Cola, an idea came to his mind. "Master.....a suggestion, if I may?" 

"What is it?" 

"What if you were to fake an emergency?" the ninja proposed. "You'll lure The Viper right to us.....and we'll both get to take her down together. Wouldn't you want to get revenge for your nephew personally, rather than sending me to have all the fun?" 

Mitchell's uncle thought about it for a few moments. The idea of killing The Viper at his own hands---just like how The Viper had killed Mitchell with her own---was incredibly tempting. On the other hand, there was some risk involved. 

"We'll save that for a later time. Even if we use her app, there's no guarantee she'll respond fast enough; the police might arrive first. And once they realize we've staged the whole thing.....the jig would be up." 

"Understood." 

"There is some good news, though.....if you want to try again, you won't have to travel too far this time. I can only imagine getting from New York to Hawaii completely undetected must've been quite a chore, no?" 

"Yes.....it was quite complicated....." 

"The Viper's back now, though, and it's unlikely she'll be leaving the city again anytime soon. Then again, I could be wrong. Go ahead and get your bearings, then dispatch her as quickly as possible. I don't care how you do it; I just want her dead. A life for a life, Phantom.....a life for a life." 

The assassin nodded. "You're really taking this all very hard.....how long has it been since the tragedy, exactly? About 2.5 years?" 

"It's unlikely that this wound will ever heal, my friend," Mitchell's uncle replied, opening up to his employee despite their relationship being strictly professional. "You'd understand, too, if you lost a loved one." 

".....In a way, I have." 

"Really? What do you mean?" 

"Prior to becoming an assassin-for-hire.....I was a member of the Cloaked Path, an order of ninjas who specialized in hunting down and eliminating interdimensional threats. A man named 'Walter' was our leader, and 'Clara' was one of his brightest students. However.....I found the concept of 'foreign beings hailing from another dimension' rather silly and childish; such fantasies never really existed, anyway. I wanted to focus my time on more grounded, practical purposes, but they didn't support my views. As such, I left the Cloaked Path and struck out on my own, adopting the way of life you see now. I still miss them to this day.....but I also know I can never go back. But enough about that. As long as money is involved.....I pledge to take on any job, big or small," the Black Phantom explained. 

"And I promise to pay you well for your services.....provided that you gift me with proof of The Viper's demise," Mitchell's uncle responded. "Anything will suffice; her mask, one of her pistols, her Toxin Blade...." 

"You told me Mitchell met his end after being thrown off the balcony of the Mercury Heights Space Needle and getting torn apart by a vicious mob, correct?" 

"I try not to think about it that much, but yes." 

"If I were to bring you a piece of her as evidence.....oh.....how fitting would that be?" 

Mitchell's uncle grinned. "Brilliant. See to it, Phantom. Scour the city until you find her, then pluck her from the sky." 

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Meanwhile, at the U.S. branch of the Global Defense Council---located in New York, the same state as Mercury Heights---Giorgio Carlisle anxiously checked his phone for what seemed like the twentieth time that night. Upon seeing that there were no responses to his calls, he sighed, slumped forward, buried his face in his hands, and shook his head. Perhaps his subordinates had been wrong; maybe enhanced individuals were a myth after all, and he had wasted several hours of his time trying to contact them for nothing. 

One of his attendants walked in. "Still nothing, hmmm?" 

"Nope," he replied, an air of disappointment detectable in his tone. "You know what.....? I'm gonna try one more thing. If they don't respond to this, then maybe they really didn't exist." 

"Well, to be fair.....you did suddenly contact all of them out of the blue and quickly showed that you knew a lot more about them than you were supposed to....." his aide pointed out. "You probably scared them off or something. And besides.....we at least know that The Viper exists. There's no one in this city---no, this country---who hasn't heard of her." 

"My team and I tracked them down because I believed they could help us," Carlisle defended. "I never meant any ill will towards them, and I still don't." He breathed heavily. "Look.....all I'm saying is this: first responders can't always be present at absolutely every emergency, no matter how hard they try or how numerous they might be. As soon as I got wind of possible enhanced individuals running around, I immediately set about trying to round them up, in the hopes of putting together a combined force capable of assisting us all out; to be there when we can't, and to succeed where we fail. I don't know.....perhaps I was too optimistic. But I'm not giving up hope.....not yet." 

He took out his laptop, opened it up, logged in, and launched a recording software before ordering his assistant to exit the room and making a video message. 

And he knew exactly which of the heroes to send it to.