It has been about three weeks since I joined the Loonatics. I still love my new threads I got. I can't get over just how awesome these uniforms are. I very much resemble a ninja in this mostly black garb. There's the silver upside-down triangle on the chest that's pretty much the Loonatics emblem. It is silver on my uniform. Also tinted silver are my tail and lower muzzle and cheeks along with the inside of my ears. There's also the silver on the soles of the combat boots that come standard with this baby. My younger bro Tech really outdid himself when he designed these uniforms. Right not ole Tech-E is beside me on his green, floating disc he uses for meditation. I'm on one as well, a silver one of course. I'm glad I took up this meditation stuff from him. Most of the credit has to go to Ace since he's the one that showed Tech how to do it. It's supposed to help clear one's mind. It doesn't really help me too much in that department though. It does help relax me and all but…there's just so much on my mind these days. I don't think anything could help completely clear my mind. For now, I'm just at peace. The breakfast Slam made was exceptional. I don't think I've ever had waffles that good in a long time. It's much easier to bring about a state of total relaxation when one is digesting such a satisfying meal. Too bad that the moment couldn't last and a particularly annoying ring tone snapped me back to reality…and all its stresses.
"Augh…Duck!" Tech whined. "Why do you still have that annoying ringtone?"
"What…what…I can't get rid of this ringtone. It's so…so…me," Duck said not bothering to look Tech in the eye to answer his complaint.
"I'll say it is," Lexi interjected. "It's loud and obnoxious to the point of making one's hair stand on end."
"Oh ha…ha…ha," Duck added sarcastically. "Besides, seeing those two look like they've stuck their ears in an electrical outlet makes it worth it."
Tech responded to that with a low growl as he got down from his hover disc.
"Oh lighten up," Duck commanded. "I thought you were at a level in that meditation thingy that allowed you to block out my ringtone."
"It's not so much for me I'm concerned about Duck," Tech answered very annoyed at this point. "It's my brother Cobalt over here. Meditation may be a tool he can use to help better fight his cancer. I don't need him to be…"
"Tech," I interrupt. "It's ok bro. My little trip to inner peace was nice while it lasted. Still…one has to come back to the real world at some time. Besides, my path was a little cluttered with a mess of thoughts."
"Cobalt…how many times must I tell you to try and clear your mind completely when meditating?" Ace scolded. "You scientific types are the toughest to train in the art of meditation. It took me the better part of a year to get Tech here to understand the simple concept of just not thinking. He still let's his thoughts cloud his path at times. Well…at least I can say I tried."
"You really get passionate about this stuff don't ya," I ask as I begin to get down off my hover disc.
"Well it is something that helps him unwind a lot and since it benefits him so he would like all of us to reap those benefits even if our stubbornness to hold onto a thought processes may get in our way and…"
"Now here's a good example of someone who needs to slow down and meditate some," Rip said with a wry smile as he grasped his older brother's beak.
Rev responded by lightly poking his brother Rip in the ribs, tickling him in the process.
"Hey!" Rip exclaimed through snorts and giggles. "No fair…cut it out…stop already!"
"Hmphhmphhmphmmhomhohmmhohmh," Rev mumbled through his clinched beak.
"Groan grunt mutter beak," Slam added.
"I think you're right Slam," Duck said as he began translate what Slam just said. "He'll probably stop if you let go of his beak."
"Fine…Ok," Rip manages to spit out as he let's go of Rev's beak and falls to the ground while getting all the giggles out of his system.
"Thank you," Rev says with a chipper tone as he raises his tone slightly on the you.
"Whatever," Rip says as Duck helps him to his feet.
"I know I should try to put my thoughts aside while meditating Ace but…it's hard to do at this time…especially since it's been two years to the day that I last saw Vivian…after her ship was destroyed. I wander what she's up to at this point?"
"Vivian…who the heck is…oh right…you mean Black Velvet," Duck responded with a little chill in his attitude as he spoke.
"No duck…I mean Vivian!" I exclaim as I felt I was about to loose my temper right then and there. I managed to gather myself though and prevent myself from becoming violent with him. "You know Duck…I've always been a big fan of Chinese food for as long as I can remember. My favorite dish of all time is by far duck in orange sauce. It's been awhile since I had that and who knows when the craving will be just so great that I have no choice but to act on it," I remark with what I'm sure was a particularly evil grin on my face.
I think I made my point real well judging by the face Duck made. Just as he got a kick out of seeing me and Tech's hair stand on end, I got a kick out of seeing his pupils dilate and some of the color drain from his bill. He started to shake and stutter a little bit but then answered back with more courage than I thought he could muster.
"Yeah…like you could really harm me," he said. These guys wouldn't let you lay a finger on me. After all, we can't have teammates maiming each other no can we."
"I hate to admit it," Ace answered. "Duck is right. I can't have you make such threats to your fellow team members Cobalt…even if I know you would never act on them. Still I can understand why you would want to act on that threat. The temptation to let you pummel Duck can be undeniable at times."
"You could always make it look like an accident bro," Tech added with an evil grin of his own. "Make it seem like he perished during a mission. Who knows? The insurance pay out could be huge. Even if it is for someone like Duck," he laughs long and hard at that. I have to say it's nice to see my usually serious younger brother laugh.
"Oh ha…ha…ha…stop….oh stop," Duck responds with sarcastic laughter and pretends to double over in pain. "Please stop…you're making me laugh so hard I think I'll explode. You guys are despicable…just despicable."
The groups collective laughter at Duck's over-the-top theatrics was put on hold as Ace's wrist computer sprang to life with the news that their morning social hour was over. It was time to get to Acmetropolis. They had some work to do.
"Oh man," Ace said as he turned to address his teammates. "It's funny you should mention Vivian a.k.a. Black Velvet Cobalt. This situation may very well involve her."
"Why…what's happened?! Is she ok?!" I ask Ace while becoming more than a little apprehensive.
"There's really no mention of her Cobalt. This involves her colleague and former Acme Tech instructor Dr. Joel Raines. It seems he's gone missing," Ace added as he placed his wrist computer back in stand-by mode.
"A missing person's case!" Duck exclaimed. "Isn't that beneath our duties as defenders of the universe?"
"Normally I would agree with that Duck," Ace added. "However his disappearance may be a part of a bigger plot. Preliminary word is that he might be used to try and reacquire the light wave eliminator."
"Oh so ole velvety one is behind this," Duck declared.
Before he continued, I interrupted him with my own thoughts. Truthfully I did it more to stop Duck from saying anything else in order to keep my own anger from mounting. "We don't know that for sure Duck. You can't jump to the conclusion that…"
"Oh will you stop defending her already," Duck interjected with a hint of hostility in his voice I didn't think he possessed. "If you would have come forward with her back when we destroyed her ship, we could have had her safely locked away from the rest of society. But nooooo. You just had to save her. You had to take her to that Dr. Raines guy and get her all fixed up. Now she's on the loose and look how she's repaid the good doctor, by kidnapping him and reacquiring the light wave eliminator to plunge the city into eternal darkness."
The whole time Duck was on his tirade, he was jabbing his finger in the center of the inverted silver triangle on the chest of my uniform. After my next action, he probably wishes he never got that close to me. I took the opportunity to rear back and punch him hard in his condescending mouth. I was hoping that alone would alleviate the rage I had. It did not though and I ended up lunging at him ready to choke him. Heck…I might have even reverted back to my primal urges and bite him in the neck if it wasn't for the Ace, Tech, Rev, and Rip who immediately pulled me away from Duck. It took all four of them to restrain me as I was so focused with my anger that not much else in my brain was going on. I did finally start to calm down once I was forced down onto the couch.
"Cobalt! Calm down now!" Ace demanded. "If you can't control that temper of yours, then I'm gonna have to ask ya to sit this mission out."
"Wha…no! You can't do that!" I protest. "I need to be on this one. I have to try and save my old friend Dr. Raines. If Vivian is involved, I need to help bring her in so I can make amends for not turning her into authorities sooner. Still I'm certain she can't be involved with this. The guy gave her back her precious site. Why in the world would she ever want to harm him? Please Ace…I beg of you. I've wanted an opportunity to finally do some field work. You promised you would let me at some point. Well let this be the point. I need to be involved in this. Please Ace…I apologize for my little outburst just then…"
"Little!" Duck exclaimed. "You call that a little outburst. I'd sure hate to see what you consider a big outburst. You tried to kill me you psycho!"
I felt the rage building up again but I managed to push it back. After all, he had every right to make that statement. Who knows…I might have killed him if it weren't for the others. "You're right Duck. It wasn't a little outburst. I let my temper get the best of me and in the process I assaulted you, a fellow teammate. I'm sorry and I know it's no justification but…you really need to avoid jumping to conclusions before all the facts are known."
"Fine…apology accepted but I still think you need to stay here and cool your jets bub," Duck comments.
"I want him to go," Tech added. "We did promise him some time in the field before his condition grows bad enough to prevent that. Besides I can help keep his temper in control."
"Well…" Ace thought. "I do kinda want everyone for this assignment. If this kidnapping does lead to the theft of the light wave eliminator, then Acmetropolis is gonna need all the help it can get. Rip…Do a systems check on our security protocols. I need to make sure that this base is well secure with all of us gone."
"No problem Ace. I may go on and add extra layers of encryption just to insure the system is not hacked."
"Thanks Rip…Tech…you, Cobalt, and Rev will follow behind the rest of us with Rip once he's done. Lexi, Duck, Slam…you're with me. Ok Loonatics…let's jet.
As it turned out, we didn't leave too long after Ace and the others left. Rip took no time at all to double…even triple check the security protocols. His skills in digital security is quite impressive. I guess the fact that since he doesn't talk the same speed as his parents and brother, all that speed went to his thought processes and typing skills. Dudes gotta have WPM (work per minute) rating of at least 120. I'm lucky to output 40 WPM. Well I wish I could say that I enjoyed arriving back at Acmetropolis. The fact that Vivian may well be involved in the abduction of my friend and her colleague is unsettling. I still stick to my guns when it comes to her innocence. Unfortunately doubt still has a way of creeping in and clouding the issue. There's no darker cloud that can overshadow the mind quite like doubt can. It is the ultimate darkness. That doubt was added to once we arrived at Vision Specialists of Acmetropolis building or VSA for short. Ace was already radioing in to us urgently for assistance inside. They had shadowmen to contend with.
"Oh no," Tech said looking up from the video screen on his wrist computer. "Those are the shadowmen that Black Velvet used. I'm sorry Cobalt but…"
"But nothing Tech," I snapped. "It may look like the same shadowmen you spoke of but it doesn't mean they're working for Bla…Vivian."
"Well Cobalt it's kind of hard to take that point of view since the only time we've ever seen these guys was when we were battling Black Velvet but then again they are nothing more than advanced holograms but made up of some kind of dark matter instead of light so…"
"Thanks for the input Rev," I said as I unclenched his beak. "The point you made about dark matter holograms. I'm starting to wander if that light wave eliminator may be the source of those shadowmen. It may have even been the source of Vivian's advanced cloak of darkness.
"Could be," Rip added. "There's only one way to find out. Let's get in their. Rev, I suspect they will need your GPS capabili…Rev? Hey…where'd he go?!"
Look at the screen Rip," I said in unison with Tech.
All that could be seen was Slam…in the form of a cyclone… pushing his way threw a slew of shadowmen at Rev's direction. I was starting to wander why in the world they were not using their night vision capabilities. My question was soon answered when the lights inside the building…which were deactivated…were not shining with all their might. The bright light instantly ridding the Loonatics of the annoying pest problem that was the shadowmen.
"How in the world did that happen?" I question. "I thought for sure they would have thought ahead enough to shut down the main power to the building."
"They did," Rip answered. "Unfortunately they only disabled the power via the building's central control computer that's constantly running off its own supplied power. A central control computer like that is usually the toughest systems to hack for most, and I emphasize, most hacker can break into."
"But not you obviously," I added half-giggling.
"You bet. Now let's get in there and make sure everyone is ok."
"Agreed," Tech added as he used his electromagnetic powers to lift up a length of chain-link fencing in front of them.
"You know, we would simply climb over that like my brother did," Rip said. "No need to…"
Rip was interrupted by my brother's painful cries. He had ruptured a near by high pressure steam line with part of the fence. The steam badly burned his face. I freaked out big time till he began to regenerate his eyes and the skin and fur on his muzzle. I keep forgetting that he can do that.
"Well…that's what you get for showing off bro," I told him, still a little agitated from witnessing his accident.
"Sorry you had to see that bro. I was hoping to get a chance to illustrate my electromagnetic powers here in the field. Didn't really want to demonstrate my molecular regeneration to you as well. Not only was the burns themselves painful, but the regeneration process itself can be excruciating."
"Let's just meet with the others," I said as I head for the door.
Once inside, we all converged onto Dr. Raines office. Despite the presence of the shadowmen in the lobby, Dr. Raines office showed no signs of a struggle. Dr. Raines is the C.E.O. and head researcher here at VSA. He started out teaching courses and the Acme Technical Institute where me and Vivian both met him. He decided to leave his career as an instructor and pursue his passion for identifying, treating, and reversing major vision defects. There was no doubt in my mind that he could help heal the damage done to Vivian's eyes by the meteor strike. He was successful but…Vivian disappeared…or so I thought. As we searched through Dr. Raines office for any clues, we came across several files and photos that showed Dr. Raines and Vivian working side-by-side on possible blindness reversal procedures. At first I thought that maybe these were documents referring to her studies with Dr. Raines before the meteor. That wasn't the case after all since the documents clearly point to Dr. Raines' head executive office here and the few photos revealed Vivian's prosthetic right arm. All this did help to lessen the likelihood in the other Loonatics' minds that Vivian could be involved in Dr. Raines abduction. Still since there's no sign of her here and those shadowmen…I just don't know what to think at this point. Seemingly sensing this, Ace took the others out to make a search of the perimeter to give me some time here to sit, think, reminisce, etc. As I sit at Dr. Raines' desk and stare down at an open notebook with probably the latest picture anyone has seen of her, I'm taking off guard by a little memory card that lands on the notebook under my nose and the "Hey baby" that followed. I turned to see here, right their in the flesh. She still looked as gorgeous as ever to me, even with the prosthetic arm. I couldn't really notice that. All I noticed was her black, shoulder length hair, her mocha skin and her beautiful brown eyes, no longer clouded over.
"Vivian," I stuttered as I try to speak. "Is it really you? What's going on here? You don't have anything to do with Dr. Raines disappearance do you? Surely you couldn't? I know you better than that."
"Relax honey, it's me and of course I have nothing to do with this. I'm afraid I might know who is responsible though."
"Well tell me then Vivian! Who is responsible for all this?"
"I don't want to get into that until I'm absolutely sure. I sure hope I'm wrong but…you deserve answers Cobalt, especially since you still believe I'm innocent despite the mounting circumstantial evidence. Take that memory card and view the contents. It will shed a light on a dark part of my history that must be considered. In learning more about the past events that helped shape my life, you should be able to solve this mystery. That's just assuming my hunch is right but I have a feeling it is. You can follow up on this lead if you think it is truly the right one. Now I must go Cobalt. You're team will be returning here shortly. I think it's best that our paths' not cross just yet. Goodbye for now Cobalt. I'll be thinking of you."
She blew me kiss and left before I could muster much of a response. I didn't even hear loudmouth Rev enter.
"Come on Cobalt we have to go now. Not much else we can do down here. You, Tech, Rip, and me can process what little evidence we gathered here and…hey what are you looking at?"
I snapped out of my little stupor and turned away from I saw her depart. "Nothing Rev…I'm just not feeling too good right now. I guess this took more out of me than I thought it would. I didn't even get to karate-chop anything or anyone."
"Well if it would make you feel a little better I could let you do some karate moves on me but just watch the legs cause I use them a lot and watch my torso as I'm exceptionally ticklish and watch my head…"
"Relax Rev," I interrupted. "You don't have to be my personal punching bag. I'm just really worn out Rev. I'm afraid I might need to go straight to bed when we get back to HQ. You, Tech, and Rip will have to take care of the evidence processing for the night. I'm real sorry…"
"Hey don't be buddy. We understand that you would help us if you could but you shouldn't right now because you need to get some rest I mean we wouldn't want to unwittingly shorten your lifespan more than it already has been…oh man that was so insensitive of me and I…"
"Rev," I said with a slight chuckle. "Just relax bud. Now let's go home.
I enter my sleeping quarters back at HQ with more exhaustion than I thought one person could feel. I should expect this with the cancer but…it's still a bit much to take in. I also have a thousand thoughts running through my head. You know, I really like this room. Sure it's about the same size as my apartment back at Acmetropolis but you have to understand that apartment was where I ate, slept, lounged, lived, etc. At least I only sleep/lounge in this room. I do have my own little bathroom adjoining this room so it's all good. The bed is much more comfortable. I'm very comfortable right now. My sleepwear would be considered a little racy compared to the conservative manner of the other Loonatics' sleepwear. I don't wear a shirt…just a pair of flannel pants with a red and (of course) cobalt blue checkered pattern over a pair of (of course) silver silk boxers. I withdraw my feet from my (of course) cobalt blue, size 9 medium slippers and sit cross-legged on top of my soft bed. I feel I must reiterate at this point that yes…I'm the older brother, not Tech. I may be shorter, have smaller feet, and even a shorter tail but I am one year older than Tech. Tech just happened to get the long and lanky genes swimming around on mom's side of the gene pool. I got the short and stocky genes from my dad's side of the family. As I sit here atop my warm, comfy bed, I can't help but think how good sleep would be right now. I also know that if I don't view this file Vivian gave me back at Dr. Raines office, I won't be able to get to sleep. So I take the small palm-sized computer from the nightstand and place the memory card in its appropriate slot on the device. The file on the card was simply an audio recording made by Vivian herself. Most folks don't sound too good on recordings; I'm no exception to this. I swear though, her voice seems sexier somehow in this digital recording. I never really realized what an eloquent speaker she was. As she tells me of a particular even in her past, I can actually picture the scene in my mind as if I am there witnessing it as it unfolds.
"Excuse me Ms. Summers," a slightly younger Dr. Joel Raines said as he approached the slightly younger Vivian Summers, by far becoming one of his best students. "Could you do me a huge favor?"
"Oh hey Dr. Raines," she replies. "I don't see why I couldn't. My next class doesn't start for another half-hour. What is it you need sir?"
"I would like you to talk to someone for me if it's not too much trouble. It's my TA (teacher's assistant) Harold Sykes…I'm concerned about his behavior as of late."
"What do you mean Dr. Raines? I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary with him. Then again he's a mysterious character that boy is. Half the time I'm not sure what he's thinking about."
"That's what concerns Ms. Summers. He's been so withdrawn. I've gotten complaints from other students that he appears to be getting aggressive. I have some suspicions as to why he's behaving this way…one involves you as a matter of fact."
"Me...Why would he be acting this way because of me? I've never done anything to him. I've never said anything disrespectful…"
"I think he feels threatened by you," Dr. Raines interrupted. "You've shown such potential in the science of vision correction and restoration…much more than he did his freshman year. As silly as it sounds, he might be afraid that you're taking away his title as my favorite student."
"But…that's ridiculous Dr. Raines. That and very childish of him if it's true. So…you would like me to find out what is bothering him?"
"You've always had a gift for figuring people out. If anyone can find out what's going on with him, it's you. Just talk to him…perhaps he'll open up to you. You can find him in my lab. He said he had something important he wanted to check on in their."
"I'll go their right now. I just hope whatever's going on with him isn't something serious."
"I hope that's the case as well. Thanks Ms. Summers. I feel a lot better now knowing you'll get to the bottom of this."
"Anytime Dr. Raines…anytime."
I paused the recording and took some time to absorb all the information I was given. The name Harold Sykes rings a bell. I never met him in person though. This was obviously just before Vivian and I began dating. It seems I recall Harold being involved in some kind of lab accident. It was in Dr. Raines lab come to think of it. I never heard what became of Harold. Some say he died from the accident while others claimed he simply vanished. Acme Tech was real hush-hush over the whole thing so I never knew the full details. I wander now…did Vivian witness the accident? Time to return to the recording and find out more.
Vivian entered Dr. Raines lab a little concerned by the fact the lights were off. Thanks to the faint afternoon sunlight, she noticed that the main power breaker was shut off. She thought about turning back on then and their but she didn't want to surprise Harold. Whatever he was up to couldn't be good so she wanted to approach the situation calmly. She saw the long and lanky student messing with the light wave eliminator, a device that Dr. Raines and his team accidently stumbled on when searching for safe methods to simulate blindness. Though its darkening effects were supposedly just temporary, Dr. Raines feared his creation and wanted it destroyed. Too bad for him that Acme Tech already acquired the rights to the device. It wasn't going to be destroyed anytime soon…unless that's what Harold is doing now.
"Harold!" Vivian exclaimed. "What in the world are you doing? Get away from that machine. It could conceivably cast a shroud of darkness over the entire city."
He just looked up at her with cold, aqua eyes that seemed to look through her. He brushed his shaggy light brown hair from his forehead and stood.
"Vivian…I'm so glad you could join me. I'm just about to find out if this could really plunge this city into total darkness. Wouldn't that be something Vivian? Just imagine the chaos…the panic. I can almost hear the screaming…can't you?!"
"Why would you want to bring about such panic Harold? What possible motive could you have for wanting that?!"
"The so-called people of this city are so blind yet they don't even on it. They take for granted all they've been blessed with and turn a blind eye to true suffering. Why would you or Dr. Raines ever want to help people like them? They will never learn until they've lost it all…till they embrace the horrible darkness of the cruelty and hatred that still exists in this world, even here in the 28th century. I will show them the error of their ways. It's my destiny to pass judgment on this city…on this world. No longer will there evil deeds be hidden in the dark for all will be trapped in the dark, praying that the light would shine on their misdeeds if only to relieve them of the curse.
"You're insane Harold," Vivian gasped as she continued to back slowly to the main breaker. "The whole world is not one big mass of evil. Oh sure…there are some folks who need to have their dark deeds exposed in the light. Just like you do," she said as she threw the main breaker back in the on position.
What happened next sent her scrambling for cover. The sudden influx of power to the partially opened light wave eliminator caused a violent explosion that covered the entire half of the lab that the opened portion of the machine faced…in total darkness. The site was unbelievable. The darkness was quickly banished with a bright spotlight that was brought in by Dr. Raines. After making sure Vivian was alright, the two of them went over to the machine to survey the damage. They saw no sign of Harold anywhere. What seemed to concern Dr. Raines just as much as Harold missing was the fact that something else was missing.
"Oh my…the Black Diamond Crystal Engine (BDCE) is gone. That engine is the key component of the light wave eliminator. It by itself could be used to bring some very dark days for Acmetropolis."
Well talk about a cliffhanger. The recording ended with the mention of this BDCE thingy. What became of it and what became of Harold Sykes? Did he somehow survive that explosion and in the subsequent confusion managed to steal it? Also…how did Vivian, as Black Velvet, use the light wave eliminator if its key component was missing? At least she left me with a clue at the very end of the recording. She felt confident at some point that we would be dispatched to Acme Tech. She was going to leave another memory card for me to find there, in one of our favorite little places we liked to get away to when we wanted some alone time. I have a feeling we'll be responding to yet another theft of the device. Well her recording does give me a plausible suspect now for the kidnapping of Dr. Raines. Seems that Harold is still alive and she knows this to be true. For how long she knew, that's hard to say. Hopefully the next recording sheds some light on that. Just as I finished these thoughts, there was a knock at the door and the one Loonatic I leased expected to come visit me this evening stuck his head in the door.
"Hey Cobalt," Duck said a little nervous. "May I come in? I need to talk to you."
"Sure Duck…come on in," I reply. "I promise I won't bite…hard," I have a good laugh after I say this. "Seriously Duck…I'm glad you dropped by. I want to apologize for what I did earlier…"
He took me by surprise when he raised his had to interrupt me and said "look Cobalt…you don't need to apologize. I'm the one that needs to apologize. I was way out of line."
"Uh…Duck. My short-term memory may not be the best in the world but I'm fairly certain that I'm the one that just about killed you."
"I really wouldn't blame you if you did. Don't think you really would have but at any rate…I'm sorry for pushing you a little too far. I really want to try and be friends. I also don't want to stay on your bad side with a temper like that…sheesh!
"You're ok Duck," I manage to say through my laughter. "Don't ever change."
"Don't plan to. They broke the mold when they made this duck. Goodnight Cobalt."
"Good night Duck and you're forgiven. See you in the morning."
Author's note: Yeah…as you can see I decided to forgo the usually short intro I usually do and try just jumping right into this one. I hope it captures a lot of reader's attention right out of the gate. This was fun to put together. Already got the next chapter in the works. Doubt it'll be as long as the first one but…then again I thought this was not gonna be that long of a chapter. Please let me know what you think of this first chapter. I look forward to any input y'all as readers might have. Take care.