CHAPTER 5: MAKING HER PRESENCE KNOWN
After hearing about the cases of crimes being solved and that it was two boys looking for food and money to get back to their home, the town relaxed afterwards. The Serpents and Spiders also breathed a collective sigh of relief that a new version of the Lizard Ladies wasn't forming. Lucy was surprised that it was Charlie Brown and his father who discovered the culprits. Frieda, of course, congratulated her boyfriend for solving the case and treated him to a day out the following Saturday. Tyrone was relieved that the situation with that was resolved, and now he could continue helping out Hendrix and the feds.
Speaking of, she had made plans with Black Widow and Python for the Serpents to meet at the Spiders' hideout. Python wouldn't reveal herself immediately, letting Hendrix and Widow take the reins. While the Serpents knew about Gertie, they didn't know about Python's being alive, as they all thought she was deceased still, aside from Anaconda, who was the only one in on her hiding. As the girls approached the abandoned apartment building where the Spiders made headquarters at, they were surprised by the appearance of the newcomer in Hendrix. Komodo Dragon and Gertie was also in attendance. Black Widow walked up to the girls.
"Girls, I know you have a ton of questions about the mystery person," Widow began. "And all will be answered. This mystery person was a girl in one of our gangs. Sometime before our confrontation with the Lizard Ladies, this girl witnessed a body being dumped in a makeshift grave in, of all places, Sam's Auto Salvage Yard."
"That must be why Sam turned up dead in front of his place," said Lucy. Gertie just sniffled a little at the memory of seeing her father alive for the last time just before the Scorpion had him killed.
"Close, but we're getting ahead of ourselves, Mamba," said Widow. "Anyway, this took place after Tarantula and I left your warehouse when we were trying to find out about who had toilet papered our area. Of course this was before we knew it was Tarantula leading the Lizards. Anaconda, you already knew about that, of course." Anaconda looked down, seemingly ashamed of her past sins. "But it was during our confrontation with the Lizards that this girl would disappear and not return until recently. She had gone into Witness Protection, as it turns out."
"Which is where I come in," Hendrix chimed in. "Mara Hendrix, FBI."
"You're the fuzz?!" asked a bewildered Rattler.
"Relax, Holly, I'm not here to arrest you," said Hendrix.
"You know our names?" asked Cobra.
"I do, Sylvia," said Hendrix. "The girl I've been protecting knows you, as well. Real well. You see, when this girl left, it was not too long after Amanda here left Sparkyville that the girl's mother had left town, as well. But the girl returned after the Scorpion's men had killed her mother."
"Wait, this girl's mother got killed by the Scorpion?!" asked a shocked Lucy.
"She did, Lucy," Hendrix replied. "This is the same girl who visited you and left that message at your door. I will explain why it happened. It turned out one of my men was feeding information about the girl to the Scorpion, and trust me, we will deal with him at the right time. But we need to let him think he's still getting away with his crimes."
"Now, remember when I said a moment ago that this girl was part of one of our gangs?" Widow chimed in. "Well, she wasn't a Spider, nor was she a Lizard."
"She couldn't be a Serpent!" said Cobra. "Anaconda's the only one who's come back, plus all the Serpent Prime girls are here. Python would be the only one, and she's dead!"
"Not really, Cobra." At that moment, Python revealed herself to her friends, who looked like they had just seen a ghost.
"Is this real?!" said a flabbergasted Rattler.
"As a heart attack, girls," said Komodo Dragon. "Python is alive and well."
Lucy was beside herself. She couldn't believe the one Serpent she was closest to and had seemingly sacrificed her life to save hers, was standing before her, alive and well.
"Margaux was the girl who was placed into witness protection, girls," said Hendrix. "She couldn't say anything to anyone, lest she blow her cover and exposed herself to the Scorpion. She was the one who saw the Scorpion's men dump that body in Sam's place. They called her house, making threats to her."
"So we came up with a plan for me to disappear," Python chimed in. "If I faked my own death, the Scorpion would think I was dead, as well. That's where the confrontation with the Lizards came into play. I was the one who came up with the idea for Anaconda to seemingly defect to the Lizards."
"But what about the bullet that hit you, Python?!" asked Cobra, still processing everything.
"You know how in the movies they use fake exploding cartridges to simulate bullet strikes?" said Python. "I had one on me that night. And Anaconda's gun was filled with blanks. We had to make it look real so that we could throw the Scorpion off my trail."
"So you really didn't join up with the Lizards, huh?" said Rattler to Anaconda, who shook her head no, and smiled.
"You were helping Python get away from the Scorpion all this time," added Cobra.
"And that nutjob Tarantula was none the wiser, either," Python replied.
"Neitha wuz I," said Gertie. "I didn't even know 'bout th' bodies in my pop's yard until he was arrested."
"But the reason I came back to Sparkyville was to get revenge on the Scorpion for killing my mother!" said Python, with some anger in her voice. "I am his main target, but my mother saved me by taking the bullet that was meant for me. It was after the Lizards tore up the town and Anaconda left that my mother joined me in Witness Protection. And one of Hendrix's men was working with the Scorpion to kill me, but got my mother instead. Now I want to stop the Scorpion and that guy who double-crossed Hendrix and me."
"I suspect he wuz th' one who told th' Scoipion's men where we wuz, too," added Gertie.
"You're not mad at me for deceiving you and going into hiding, are you?" asked Python. The girls looked at their fellow Serpent Sister. It was obvious that her life was threatened and there was a reason she did what she did. Finally, after taking in what she had to say, Lucy spoke.
"Python," she began, "none of this is your fault. Someone targeted you to be killed and you did what you had to do to escape. There's nothing to forgive. You are still our friend. I'm just glad you are alive. I missed you so much!" And the two girls hugged each other. Cobra, Rattler, and Anaconda followed suit.
"Welcome back, Python," said Cobra. "We missed you, darling."
"I missed you guys, too," said a tearful Python.
"So, Hendrix, is it?" said Cobra to Hendrix, who nodded. "What's the big plan?"
"Well, Margaux told me you girls were good at planning elaborate schemes," Hendrix responded. "First things first. We deal with my double-crossing agent, who goes by Hanks. I'll get in touch with my other agent Boyd, and we will start planning the demise of the Scorpion." And Hendrix, Gertie, the Spiders, Komodo Dragon, and the reunited Serpent Sisters got to work on stopping the Scorpion, once and for all.
MORE TO COME
Next time, another return in the form of Melanie, Franklin's former girlfriend, and how will she react to him and Marcie being a couple? The first in a trilogy of episodes dealing with this!
