Paragons: Rise of the Dark Scions

Chapter 15: Our Friend Needs Us

We last read Chapter 14, in which Duncan learned of The Viper's abduction and set out to "rescue" her and we watched The Viper escape the Dark Scions Refuge through a series of intense action-packed sequences, including an all-out brawl in the mess hall between her and six bouncers, as well as a lengthy vehicle chase that takes place both inside and outside the Refuge itself; eventually, she evades all of her pursuers and gets away. However, Duncan, not realizing that The Viper had already fled, ends up flying himself and his dropship straight into the Refuge.....right into the waiting hands of the Scions' cult leader, Damien Kraft, his subordinates Maya Masterson and Casey, and countless other cultists. Officially taking him hostage, Kraft forces Duncan to accompany the Dark Scions to Cairo, Egypt to locate Anubis's ushabti, while daring The Viper and the other Paragons to rescue their friend at the Egyptian capital. Not only that, but Kraft's cane—which the Paragons had worked so hard to steal the previous day—is now back in the cult leader's hands, ready to help the cult locate their objective. This time, as the sun rises on the Paragons compound once more and the remaining heroes gather for breakfast, it falls to the serpentine heroine to deliver the bad news.....

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-Global Defense Council Headquarters, New York-

The next morning, in the first floor breakfast nook of the Paragons compound, Giorgio Carlisle exasperatedly leaned back in his chair and placed his hands on his head, as if he couldn't believe what The Viper was currently telling him and the other gathered Paragons. "You.....can't.....be.....serious....." he muttered. "Really?!"

"Yes," The Viper confirmed. "It all happened last night; all of it. It's all my fault.....I shouldn't have trusted the officers who visited the compound last night. Because of me, we've lost the cane.....and Duncan....."

"Duncan's been abducted by the Dark Scions?!" Cassie cried. "What the fuck....." Already eager to go, she took out her scanner gun and transformed into her superhero alter-ego, Coldsnap, immediately. Her flexible, dark-purple bodysuit—along with her light-blue hair—was a perfect complement to the various other similarly-colored highlights of her costume; her snowflake-design pauldrons, her gloves, her boots, her utility belt, her domino mask, and her sleek cape. As usual, her ice longsword was sheathed on her back, and there was a big snowflake design emblazoned on the front of her costume with a dark-purple "C" squarely in the center of it. "What are we waiting for?! Let's go and get him!"

"They're not here anymore," The Viper corrected. "They're all already en route to Cairo right now."

Carlisle pulled himself back up to a proper sitting position, rather than slouching backward. "Wait, if Duncan took the dropship to rescue you, and he got kidnapped.....I take it that means we don't have the dropship anymore, either."

James, a.k.a. Powerhouse, shook his head. "I went up this morning to get some fresh air, and it wasn't on the helipad. I thought something was up, but now....." He sighed defeatedly. Duncan had been one of his longtime friends ever since the two of them formed an inseparable bond during their campaign against the Avian Wing brothel back in 2019. Despite the doctor having killed James's father in an attack on the Blue Moon Bouquet Club in Mercury Heights, James could clearly see that Duncan was genuinely trying to atone for his actions. And it had culminated in him risking his life to try and "save" The Viper—who had been his arch-nemesis once upon a time—and now, his fate was looking more and more uncertain by the second.

Carla growled in frustration, slamming the table with her fist in anger. "When I find this Damien Kraft, I'm gonna.....I'm gonna....."

The Viper scoffed. "Let me guess.....you're gonna kill him?"