The Paragons

Chapter 10: Electric Engagement

The Viper instantly unsheathed one of her pistols and aimed it at Monica. "How are you here?!" she asked incredulously. "Duncan and I killed you at the Mercury Heights power grid about two weeks ago!"

"Yeah, and I bet you thought you 'killed' me, too," a second unidentified voice suddenly said from behind them. The heroine's eyes widened as she recognized both the sound of the voice, as well as the noise of a revving motorcycle engine filling the air and a heat visor starting up.

She turned around and saw an all-too-familiar boy sitting on a dark motorcycle, wearing a bulletproof vest, a heat visor, and wielding a .30 Carbine with a black paint job. Remarkably, the bullet holes from his first 'death'—when The Viper had shot him three times in the back with one of her pistols—were still present through the vest.

She gulped. "Herman.....?"

"Are you the one who shot us down when we first tried to enter the city?!" Duncan asked his sister.

"Hahahaha! Indeed, I am. Surprised?" Monica taunted. "You didn't really think we'd go down that easily, did you?"

"Well, yeah," The Viper snarked. "Getting overcharged with electricity and shot in the back three times, puncturing an important vein on contact, and having you bleed out within seconds? It usually kills someone."

She smiled slightly, hoping to push their buttons by reminding them of their previous 'deaths'.

"Not us," Herman replied. "We've been given a second chance. And this time.....you won't get away."

"Herman, I thought you gave up trying to kill Duncan!" The Viper protested. "How'd you turn back around so quickly? ....Is someone else involved with this, by chance?!"

Herman gave Monica a look that seemed to be silently asking her what to do; he was wondering about whether or not he should reveal Malcorchus's involvement, and by proxy, give away his much bigger plan in the process. But the electric girl shook her head subtly; he was to remain silent on it.

"That's none of your business," Herman asserted. His gaze then drifted over to Carla Rosenblood, the newest team member. Her alter-ego, Nightclaw, had also started to make a name for herself recently, though she was still nowhere near as famous as The Viper, but Herman was unaware that Carla and Nightclaw were one and the same.

"And what might you be doing with a random normal citizen from Los Angeles?" Herman inquired. "Abducting her from the city, I assume?"

"No, we.....uhhh....." Duncan began, but he soon came to a pause. There was no way he would be able to explain all of this without revealing Carla's secret identity. Whether luckily or unluckily, though, Monica managed to put two and two together right away.

"Hold on....." she mused. "Random teenage girl.....hanging out with three superheroes.....in the city of Los Angeles......Nightclaw isn't currently on her way to save you, for some reason, despite her seemingly having enhanced hearing......" She snapped her fingers. "The girl with you......she's Nightclaw, isn't she?"

Darn it! Duncan thought to himself. She was always quite the crafty one.....

Carla sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, yes.....yes, I am!" she said.

A concerned expression crossed Herman's face once he learned this information, and he glanced at Monica tentatively. They weren't fighting at a power grid this time, so there wouldn't be a way to defeat Monica quickly. Additionally, Herman could use the wide, open space of the landing site to his advantage, swiftly swerving around the environment and peppering their foes with a hail of gunfire from his weapon. However, the two of them would be near-useless against a werewolf; Herman's .30 Carbine could only hold normal bullets, and they were also both painfully aware of Nightclaw's.....less-than-humane methods when dealing with aggressors. Monica could keep her down with her lightning blasts, but she could only inflict pain at most; she wasn't capable of killing Nightclaw. Herman could have been.....if he had silver bullets on him, which he currently didn't.