The Watchwomen

Chapter 2 (Act I): At Her Mercy

We last read Chapter 1, in which Hailey, a.k.a. The Viper, has clearly been keeping busy. Since the Paragons ran into legal trouble after the Battle of Cairo, their founder Giorgio Carlisle has temporarily banned them from crime-fighting pending their investigation, leaving them no choice but to do other things in the meantime. The Viper ventures to the mountains of Lima, Peru to stage a burglary at the Temple of the Golden Monkey, with the ultimate goal of stealing its treasure---the titular namesake figurine---all for herself. She, of course, succeeds, being the stunner that she is, and victoriously returns to her home city, Mercury Heights, with her new prize secured.

This time, we see what Dr. Duncan Drevis and Carla Rosenblood a.k.a. Nightclaw---two more members of the Paragons---have been up to since their last outing together.....

***********************************************************************************************

-Dr. Duncan Drevis's Apartment Complex, Mercury Heights, New York, United States-

The city of Mercury Heights, New York was not only The Viper's hometown, but it was also the location of a massive innovation company known as Lifeline Industries, whose C.E.O. was none other than Dr. Duncan Drevis, The Viper's former archenemy. Duncan had originally been the head of a notorious terrorist organization known as the Crimson Skulls, who wreaked havoc all over Mercury Heights undercover for a remarkably long time before the heroine finally put a stop to the mad doctor's plans to infect humanity with a compound he called the "Herculean Serum". However, she did not kill him, and merely turned him in to the Mercury Heights Police Department, where he proceeded to serve a 2.5 year-long sentence as punishment for his crimes on the city.

At the end of those 2.5 years, he was released, and teamed up with his reptilian lizard partner The Crawler, who had also formerly headed the Crimson Skulls alongside him, to officially build and found Lifeline Industries as a form of redemption. Lifeline Industries specialized in a variety of fields such as prosthetics design, robotics, and genetic modification to various animal species, and with the Paragons' crime-fighting activities having been put on hold for the time being, Dr. Duncan Drevis and The Crawler suddenly had significantly more time to dedicate to their job.....not that they necessarily liked it.

Today, though, was a Saturday---a weekend---and as such, Lifeline Industries was not in operation. Rather, Dr. Duncan Drevis and The Crawler were both at the former's apartment complex.....though at the moment, they were in different places.

The Crawler was in the room that he shared with Duncan, sitting in the living room with headphones in his ear holes, a video game controller in his hands, several open bags of chips laying at his sides, and Fortnite clearly visible on the flatscreen TV directly in front of him. Despite being a huge, hulking humanoid lizard with rough scales, yellow eyes with dark slit pupils, a thick tail, and sharp teeth, he did wear clothes; his typical outfit was a pair of brown slacks and a trench coat that left his scaly chest open.

"Come on, come on, come on.....YES! #1 Victory Royale, baby!" The Crawler cheered as he threw down his controller, rose to his feet, and did a ridiculous dance to celebrate his triumph. "Take THAT, DemonStar87! That'll teach you to mouth off on the forums!"

The in-game chat was equally as shocked.

"DemonStar87: hey anyone find this XxCrawlerxX dude suspicious? dude landed every single shot

FRANK: aimbotting for sure my guy

DwarfGrandpa: Yeah, he sus AF fr fr

LeakingHotDog: we're sure this guy is a human, right"