Lexi yawned as she ambled out of her bedroom. She squinted at the morning sun hitting her face and reacted with a groan. The wiping her eyes with the pink sleeve of her dressing gown, she thought to herself how it was strange for her to be the first one up. She was never the first one to get up naturally but she knew she was never the last. Lexi shuffled her feet towards the kitchen until a splashing sound snapped her out of her drowsiness. The rabbit cursed as she looked down onto the floor. Suddenly, her eyes grew wider at the red puddle she stepped in. Her eyes followed it to a large body lying on the floor. Without hesitation, she let out a scream loud enough to ring throughout the headquarters, bringing the rest of the Loonatics out of their bedrooms like an alarm.
"It's Slam!" Lexi cried as Ace ran to her. "He…"
As the others found the reason of Lexi's sudden fear stricken scream, their faces expressed shock. No-one said a word as Ace checked over the Tasmanian devil in hopes of there being some sign he could be saved. After his quick inspection, the male rabbit looked up at his team mates with a bereaved expression on his face.
"He's gone hasn't he?" Tech said monotonously.
"I'm afraid so Tech." Ace nodded.
It was a hard decision whether or not to call the police but after much discussion, they decided to call them after ten minutes. After making the call, the police arrived within five minutes. The forensic scientists, in their white overalls, snapped the crime scene with their cameras whilst others gathered as much evidence around the body as possible. Away from the body, the remaining Loonatics nervously sat on the purple sofas watching a Dalmatian anthro-being, in a green coloured suit, paced up and down the length of the sofas scribbling into his sandy brown notebook.
"And was Slam someone who had a lot of enemies?" He inquired.
"Excluding the villains we fought against, not that we know." Tech answered.
"Unless you count some of wrestlers that he used to tango with." Duck muttered with his arms crossed.
"Wrestlers?" The Dalmatian raised an eyebrow at the mallard.
"He used to be a professional wrestler before he became a superhero, detective." Ace explained.
"I see," The dog noted down this in the notebook. "It's strange though. Normally it's ordinary folk who need the help from you guys. However this time, it seems to be the other way round. But I suppose even superheroes aren't invincible despite the image they've been painted with."
He slipped the pen and notepad into his pocket in a casual manner before facing the Loonatics again.
"For now, I want you to stay here while we make arrangements for accommodations outside of this place for you to stay in until we've assessed the scene. It may be hard but I don't want any nasty surprises to pop up while the current's still rough understand? Oh, and don't go near the crime scene obviously. We don't want anyone to tamper with the evidence."
The Loonatics nodded their heads acknowledging what the detective said. The Dalmatian pulled his dark green, thick framed glasses off his muzzle and dropped them in his suit pocket.
"Well we'll be taking Slam to the forensics lab for a once over and we'll give you the autopsy report when we're done." He said in a cool tone. "Until then, stay out of trouble."
As the dog departed from the group, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"Who does this Blotz guy think he is?" Duck spat in frustration.
"Jackson Blotz, if you haven't have noticed, is the homicide detective from the Acmetropolis police precinct." Tech glared at him. "He's solved more murder cases than anyone can count."
"Which means he's sure to catch the criminal in no time right?" Rev gave a weak smile before it disappeared once more.
"But still lost someone we've known for a long time; a fellow team member and a good friend." Ace said flatly.
Rev stood up to go somewhere from the others until he stopped after two steps.
"What if it isn't just Slam this killer is after?" He stammered whilst he turned to the others. "What if this killer wants to get us back for putting them away in jail?"
"A prisoner is not going to be able to escape Rev." Tech reassured him. "The prisons here are too secure for anyone to make their escape."
"But they may have superpowers like us!" The roadrunner started to hyperventilate. "They could have used them to break in and attacked him when he was most vulnerable!"
"Rev! Calm down!"
"What if they do the same thing to the rest of us?" The bird pressed his hands on the temples of his head. "What if they have more horrific ways off killing us off!? They'll be picking us out one by one! I don't want any more of us to die!"
"Snap out of it Rev!" Lexi jumped to her feet as she swung her right hand towards the roadrunner's cheek.
SLAP!
Rev's hand floated up to the burning mark on his cheek. Silence hung in the room with everyone but Lexi's face frozen in a state of shock. The forensic scientists stared at the group for a moment before slowly getting back to work. Ace finally stood up to place himself between the two Loonatics.
"Fighting isn't going get us anywhere nor is it going to make things any better." He calmly stated to his team mates. "Once we get to this safe house accommodation Detective Blotz spoke about, nothing else should happen and things will turn out okay."
"Oh and how do you know that 'things will turn out okay'?" Duck confronted the rabbit.
"Because it's the only thing I can say at the moment!" Ace snapped back. "Lets just do as the good detective says and stay calm."
Tech stood from the sofa and decided to escort the whimpering roadrunner into the coyote's laboratory. The rest of the group decided to take their lead as Duck slipped back into his bedroom. As Lexi grabbed the door handle to go into her quarters, a hand grabbed her wrist.
"What made you do that? That's not like you Lexi."
The female rabbit spun around to face Ace with a sincere look on his face. She bit her bottom lip as her green eyes looked down onto the floor.
"I don't know," She mumbled. "I guess I just snapped and... someone had to snap him out of it."
"I appreciate you shutting him up but I don't think that slapping him was necessary." The male rabbit rubbed his forehead. "Maybe you should apologize to him."
Lexi hesitated for a moment before she sighed.
"I suppose I should."
"There's a good girl." Ace said before he pecked her on the cheek.
Lexi raised a smile before heading off to Tech's lab. Still perched on the door frame, Ace watched her disappear through the doors as they hissed shut behind her. He scratched the back of his head until Duck poked his head out of his bedroom.
"This is obviously a bad time but…"
"Yeah," Ace turned around and looked at him with intrigue. "What is it Duck?"
There was a brief pause before the mallard shook his head.
"Never mind," He murmured. "Just forget it."
He retreated back into his room while Ace rubbed his forehead disheartened about the stress vented out by each one of his colleagues.
END OF CHAPTER 2.