CHAPTER 12: SERPENT SISTERS PRIME

"You mean Ace's is completely gone, Linus?!" asked a shocked Charlie Brown on the phone. Frieda, Sally, Michael, and Snoopy were listening in.

"Destroyed by the fire, Charlie Brown," said Linus. "Joe's was one of the lucky ones that didn't suffer that much, but enough to close it for repairs. Your father's barber shop came out of it unscathed, though."

"Oh my gosh, Charlie Brown," said a sad Frieda. "Ace's was where we had our first date. I'm really going to miss it."

"Any word on who did this?" asked Sally.

"Well, you remember Tarantula, the girl behind the Lizard Ladies that caused that fight at Sam's last year?" said Linus.

"Yeah, where it ended up costing Python her life," said Charlie Brown.

"Well after you guys left, we found out that she had escaped the mental hospital she was staying at," said Linus. "Plus a lot of rowdy girls have been causing trouble around town before the fires broke out. So we think the Lizard Ladies are on the rise again, and possibly looking to settle the score with Lucy and the Serpent Sisters."

"Good grief!" exclaimed Charlie Brown. "I hope Lucy and the others stay safe."

"You guys are the lucky ones, Charlie Brown," sighed Linus. "You got away at the right time."

"But don't forget, Linus, we are coming back to that mess, eventually," stated Michael.

"Yeah, but for now try to enjoy your trip," said Linus. "And Charlie Brown, Sally, I can look in on young Wyatt to see if he's okay if you want me to."

"We'd appreciate that, Linus," said Sally.

"Okay, I better go," Linus finished. "I'll call if anything else happens. See you later." And Charlie Brown hung up the speaker phone. Frieda was crying a bit.

"What are we going to go home to, baby?" she tearfully asked Charlie Brown.

"I don't know, Frieda," said a sad Charlie Brown. "We just have to pray that things will work out."

"No more Joe Burgers for a while?" thought a worried Snoopy. The kids pondered Sparkyville's future and what was going to happen.

Meanwhile, the Serpent Sisters were in a rough part of town. Lucy had never ventured in such a rough area, even when visiting the Spiders five months ago. Cobra had told them she knew where they could get some help.

"So who is this help we're getting, Cobra?" asked Lucy.

"The original Serpents, Mamba," Cobra responded. "They were the Serpent Sisters when we were still in preschool. They are older teens now, but I do know them personally. I told the original leader we were coming and she had gathered all of the original Serpents together to meet with us." And the girls came upon a depilated house with the porch coming apart with loose boards and warped boards all over. One of the windows was boarded up, and the awning over the porch was sagging. Cobra knocked on the door. They saw some eyes looking over the door window.

"Serpent or salesperson?" the figure asked.

"Serpents," Cobra replied.

"Okay, come in." And the door opened. There were five teenaged girls sitting around. One with black hair and blonde streaks stood up.

"How've you been, Cobra?" she asked.

"Okay, I guess," Cobra responded.

"I understand," said the girl. "With Tarantula doing who knows what to Sparkyville something needs to be done to stop her reign of terror. And we are ready to work with you girls. Have you reached out to Black Widow at all?"

"She knows," Cobra said, "but we haven't heard from her in a while."

"She may be planning something of her own with the Spiders," the girl said. "So who are your girls, Cobra?"

"This is Mamba, Rattler, and Anaconda," said Cobra. "Girls, these are the original Serpent Sisters."

The girl with the blonde streaks said, "My name is Sidewinder. The skinny girl is Viper, the one with the cool afro is Puff Adder, the redhead is Diamondback, and the big girl who answered the door is Boa."

"Nice to meet you girls," said Lucy.

"Wow!" said Rattler in awe. "The original Serpent Sisters! How awesome is this!"

"Well we have a lot of work and planning to do, girls," said Sidewinder. "We better get to it." And both the Serpents and the Serpents Prime got to work on planning how to end Tarantula's chaos campaign.

NEXT CHAPTER: THE BATTLE BEGINS