The Watchwomen

Chapter 24 (Act II): Allie's Abduction

We last read Chapter 23, in which the Watchwomen meet former Diamond Legion assassin Sonya Pillsbury at her isolated ranch house, located in an undisclosed location away from the rest of typical civilization. There, Sonya details everything about the Diamond Legion in its entirety, from its leadership to its armies to its philosophy and mission. She confirms Gill's report that the red dust vials recovered by The Viper are indeed the key to lifting the brainwashing which the Diamond Legion's leader, Allie Bannister, has forcibly induced upon her assassins.....all of which have been abducted straight from their homes—much to their families' heartbreak—and forced into the Legion's service. In particular, Sonya also confirms that she, Ivan, and Gill worked on the antidotes together even while the latter two were in prison, and that both of her parents died of a broken heart while she was away serving the Legion. After Voltara connects Ivan's false sexual assault allegation to her younger brother Duncan's—both of which were filed by Allie Bannister herself—she immediately excuses herself from the round table booth within Sonya Pillsbury's ranch house to go and contact her younger brother and see if he's okay.

After she leaves, though, the sound of a massive explosion occurs in the distance, which confuses the remaining heroines. The Viper then leaves to investigate, leaving Nightclaw, Coldsnap, and Sonya to hold down the fort.

This time, The Viper goes to check what caused the explosion, only to realize that she's been had.....

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The Viper headed in the direction of the explosion, slightly complaining to herself on the inside about how there were practically no trees or tall objects currently around to use her grappling hook on. As a result, she could only dart forward on her feet, unable to use said grappling hook to move faster.

Of course, her wish wasn't self-centered; though she herself wanted to move quicker, her heart pounded at the thought of the victims of said explosion, and whether or not they were still alive. If her grappling hook was usable, she likely would've already been there by now and would've saved anyone there was to save. Her need for objects to grapple onto in order to increase her movement speed was also the reason why she mainly operated in a populous, bustling, city-like setting—specifically, the city of Mercury Heights in New York—and usually only ventured out if the threat in question was bigger than said city. She needed the sides of buildings, street lamps, steel beams, and the like in order to swing off of.....but there was nothing like that here.

Soon, with Sonya Pillsbury's ranch house appearing to become smaller and smaller with increasing distance, The Viper found herself in a distant area far away from the property, surrounded by dead trees and a low blanket of fog spanning the ground.

No matter how much she looked around, though, there was absolutely no sign that any explosion had happened there, and there wasn't a single plume of smoke or flickering ember to speak of. There were also no other people around besides her, no spilled gasoline tanks, no overturned vehicles, no burning building husks, and no smoldering cinders.

Huh? The Viper thought to herself, utterly bewildered at the lack of danger in the surrounding scene. I thought for sure an explosion had happened here.....

"Well, well, well....." another female voice said, causing the serpentine heroine to go on alert again and rapidly turn her head in the direction of the sound. "If it isn't the fabled Viper herself."

The Viper then spotted a young woman walking out from the fog; she had smooth, spotless, fair skin and straight, upper back-length brown hair. Her eyes were brown, and she was somewhat short, as if she were still a kid.....though her convoluted schemes and plans would certainly suggest otherwise. She had on an off-white, slightly-frilled business shirt with very short puffed sleeves, a dark green above-the-knee skirt that looked perfect for business or office work, and a pair of off-white, low-block heels on her feet.