Mwahahahahahahahahaha!
I'm really really REALLY HYPED UP RIGHT NOW(even though it's midnight for me and I have school later)! But as for why, I can't really tell you guys. Sorry, it's kinda a secret, so I apologize for my craziness today. I think I've mentioned it somewhere before, probably somewhere in this story's prequel, but I tend to write what I feel or else things will become just weird for me. I'm still suspecting that I have weird mental problems…maybe I should see a doctor soon. Either that or it's my nutsy ADHD. Okay, so to prevent any of you awesome people reading this from thinking that I am a complete psycho, I'll pretty much keep the author's note short and move on to review replies…
starskulls: Hehe, sorry about the spoilers issue Star! Yeah I made Zadavia a little harsh but honestly I think it still fit her original personality fine. She was badly scarred by Ace's death too you know. As for Duck, well I really dislike that arrogant personality of his, makes me wanna punch him all the time, but he's a good guy, talking about both ways here. And I surprisingly like Duck-teammate bonding. Even if I'm making him a little OCC, I like it a lot. ^^ I don't mind needles, I tend to laugh when I need shots, but one of my elder brothers is scared to death by it it seems! XD And by the way, you said "Who doesn't like needles!" So you say everyone likes them huh? (I am such a troll.) Oh and sorry Star, but you're wrong! I said the entire name "Lyra Sun" was the riddle. The answer is below, but don't worry too much! You would've been right if I did only ask for the "Lyra" part. Say "hi" to your brainbox friend for me!
YIPrincess: Yay! Pun name approved! I'm happy now! I won't be going in about the OCs more than necessary, but I do have some interesting plans for them. I'm really hoping things work out fine with them. I quite like Lyra as a character. She's actually based off my senior who left last year. She helped me a lot and was so understanding and friendly! Like the elder sister I never had! So I had to do it! I agree with you on the villains, and awesome! You're a Batman fan! I never particularly liked the live-action movies but I adored all the animated series like crazy! However Joker scares me, since I have a fear of clowns, but I do agree that he is one excellent villain! Actually a lot of people say I write romance pretty well, but it just isn't me to write about serious relationships since I don't think they're important at all in my current point in life. Maybe I'll like it more in the future but now it's just pointless to me. I still love the pairing though so I'll be dropping plenty of hints. And you are correct! It's Apollo alright, though the instrument is called the lyre. I change one letter to make it sound more like a name. :P Thanks for the favourite and follows too Yi-senpai!
iwolf208: I'm so happy you reviewed! I love reviews and I am so grateful! ^^Hoho, you enjoy this story? That's so great! I do have quite a lot of ideas, so many I'll never be able to use them all, but about 80% is lame so it's fine. I really like the group name, and I thought it'd be fun for there to be a blue theme since none of the Loonatics are blue. That was the main idea. Hahaha, unfortunately I am disallowed to provide spoilers or will punish me again because he detests spoilers. XD But you have some interesting theories, so read on and find out what will happen! I improved? AWESOME NEWS! I was afraid I'd be stuck at amateur level forever! I'm making progess! WOO! Of course I won't let OCs take over, if I wanted that I'd write an original(I'm working on a short one thought). I just hope I'm using them right. Hehe, don't worry about reviewing too much. As much as I love reviews I don't want to force you guys into reviewing. I don't mind not seeing reviews sometimes, but if you're willing to review at least once I'll already be a very happy girl!
Happy-Red-Rabbit: AWESOME NAME! I laughed when I saw this, not because it's funny, but because it just wants to make me laugh! XD Thanks for the story favourite and please enjoy the rest! If you haven't read the prequel though, you should go read that first so you'd understand the plot better!
PART THREE: VUNERABLE
Jack raised an eyebrow, his electric blue eyes full of confusion, yet there was also a hint of childish curiosity in them. Tech could see none of the familial concern Ace would normally express when a team member was distressed. And the coyote knew that Ace wasn't the type to hide his true emotions unless it was absolutely necessary. He had always been a pretty lousy actor despite being a stunt double before becoming the leader of their superhero team. So if he had been faking that confused curiosity, Tech should have been able to tell.
"Uh hullo?" Jack said, waving his hand in front of Tech's face, interrupting his train of thought. He blinked as his muddled mind sorted itself out and started functioning normally again. "Are ya okay d'ere? Ya look like ya just seen a ghost or somethin'?"
"Ah, no. Sorry." Tech replied, feeling slightly embarrassed, "You just look a lot like someone I used to know. I guess the resemblance startled me quite a bit."
What he said wasn't a lie, though for some reason Tech felt bad about hiding the more important bits and pieces of the truth. Fortunately for him, the rabbit anthro seemed to buy the explanation, as he nodded.
"Awright d'en. Now if ya'll excuse me..." Jack said, then tried to discreetly sneak out through the door, something Tech almost missed somehow. Sylene, however, caught on at once and in one swift movement, her hand shot out and grabbed the collar of the rabbit's hospital shirt. Jack struggled a bit, but gave up after a few seconds.
"Man, ya may be shy Sylene but yer really a lot stronga d'an ya look." He commented with an impressed expression, but the tone he used was so thickly laced with arrogance it was hard to tell if he was complimenting her or just trying to mess with her. It didn't really sound sarcastic, just arrogant. Tech felt a sharp throb in his chest at that, but this one didn't cause him pain like the one he experienced with the rest of the team. No, that particular throb was one he was actually familiar with. It happened whenever he felt a rush of anger or hate.
Tech normally never felt too strongly about anything, but he was actually the one who hated Ace's evil copy, Chaos Ace the most. They all resented the possessed bunny, but Tech's hate for the cruel, sadistic version of Ace was a lot more intense than all of the others' combined. Tech himself had no idea why he felt like that. He had tried to control it, but every time he thought of Chaos Ace, he wanted to punch a hole into something. He didn't do anything of the sort yet, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before he did. What happened with Rev earlier was an example. He had been too harsh on the roadrunner when he almost mentioned Ace's death out loud. That had been the result of the reminder of Chaos Ace. And Jack's arrogant tone and Ace's face reminded him of the possessed bunny yet again. For a second, all Tech could see was red, but he managed to control himself before he did something he knew he would regret. It helped that Lyra tapped him on the shoulder to get him to snap out of the trance he had apparently been in.
"Are you alright Mr Coyote?" Lyra asked, and Tech let out a sigh and allowed his muscles to relax.
"Yeah I'm sorry. I've just been a little stressed." He replied, again choosing to simply hide the truth instead of lying. Lyra looked skeptical but she didn't say anything more on the subject, other than a quick "alright". Jack suddenly yelped, as Sylene gave him the shot. He seemed close to whimpering as he rubbed the spot where the needle penetrated his skin, covered up nicely with a medical patch. He was muttering something to himself, but Tech couldn't really hear his exact words. Suddenly the coyote didn't want to he near him at all. It was a strange feeling, but he felt like Jack Rabbit was definitely not the Ace the team had lost two months ago. He probably seemed like Ace to Rev because the roadrunner could have been too shocked to see such a similar face he got confused. The real Ace would never act so childish, he would never have the kind of arrogance and apparent selfishness Jack had. Tech wanted to get out of that room as soon as he possibly could. He didn't want to even bother confirming things anymore, there was no way Jack Rabbit was Ace Bunny.
"Please excuse me, I have other things to attend to." Tech said, and turned to leave. But before he reached the door, Jack yelled something at him.
"Hey Tech, leavin' so soon?" He asked, a little louder than necessary. However, Tech immediately felt what Rev had felt earlier when Jack said his name. There was something about the way he said that one word that was more familiar than anything. The coyote spun around and gripped Jack by the shoulders. The rabbit anthro jumped, he did not expect that at all.
"What was that?!" He demanded with an unusual tone, a mixture of shock, disbelief and a little bit of hope. Jack blinked, looking shocked himself. Lyra and Sylene were also taken aback, but then again, who would expect a superhero coyote to react that way to a simple question asked by someone who was hospitalized?
"Er...Did, did I say somethin' wrong?" Jack managed to asked, slight fear in his electric blue eyes, "Is it cuz ya dun like me sayin' yer names? Re...Y-Yer other team memba was pretty shell-shocked when I said his..."
"What?!" Tech exclaimed, and Jack freaked for a second, "Ah...? N-No...you didn't say anything wrong. I'm sorry, I'm just really on edge these days...I don't know why I acted like that..."
"I really should go. I apologize for the trouble I caused." The coyote concluded, then he turned back towards the door, releasing his grip on Jack's shoulders, and ran out, simply wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. He got to the roof in record time, a time that would've made Rev proud. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against it. He sank to the floor a few minutes later.
The headache returned, and the sharp throbbing in his chest did too. Tech clutched his head tight with one hand, the other clutching his chest. He collapsed, his entire body shaking with the pain as if he was on fire or maybe being electrocuted. What was going on, what was going on?! Not only did he feel a powerful surge of emotion by meeting Jack, but the two pains that had recently been tormenting him interchangeably both decided to ambush him together?! That wasn't natural. Something or someone was doing it to him, and it was highly likely that the rest of the team were being targeted too.
The muffled, blurry voice came again without being any easier to listen to, but Tech was suffering so much he could barely hear anything anyway. His head hurt very badly, and his chest tightened with each second. He wanted to scream but his throat felt too dry. At that moment, he felt helpless, vulnerable to anything the world would throw at him. It was a horrible feeling.
As usual, the pain subsided as soon as it came. Tech lay there panting and trying to regain his composure. Then, the door to the staircase opened and Lyra stepped onto the rooftop. She was startled to see the coyote on the floor and instantly helped him sit up. She asked him if he was okay and he just sighed. He didn't want to lie to anyone, even if Lyra was someone who he only just met a while ago.
"Why'd you follow me?" He asked her, and she shrugged.
"You were interested in my patient. And while you said you wouldn't give details I would like to know why. Besides..." Lyra trailed off for an moment then continued.
"I want to apologize if Jack upset you in any way. He may be acting childish for his age, but I assure you there's a good reason for that." She told him. Tech raised an eyebrow and asked what she meant. She had a bit of a guilty look on her face, but she chose to explain.
"The truth is, Jack has complete amnesia." She said, and Tech's eyes widened significantly.
"Am...Amnesia?" He repeated, saying the word slowly and carefully as if it were a nuclear bomb about to explode in his face. Lyra nodded.
" He was in an unconscious state when he was brought in, as I mentioned earlier, and when he finally woke up, he couldn't remember anything. Not even his real name. The name 'Jack Rabbit' was actually given to him by me, after Sylene and I were assigned to take care of him." She tile the dumbfounded coyote, "He was really scared and traumatized by something even he couldn't identify, so he wasn't very trusting at first. We managed to reach an understanding and he recently developed his childish, mischievous personality. However, he still occasionally has these...episodes, when he screams and yells about things that made no sense to us, only to pass out and not recall anything afterwards."
Tech's jaw dropped as a strange feeling of amazement, fear and once again, disbelief, filled him. He gulped, wondering what to make of the things Jack was going through. The scenarios seemed to match with what Ace had suffered during the first stages of his possession before, when Chaos Ace locked his memories of how he got possessed and such, when he would start having bizarre panic attacks when his friends were in danger, only to forget everything when he regained his senses after losing consciousness for a short period of time. Tech was bewildered. What could all of that mean? Tech was sure that Jack wasn't Ace minutes ago, but after hearing what his nurse told him, he wasn't sure anymore. The strange personality could possibly the result of the memory loss brought on by the trauma of almost dying, then the fact that he was suffering from something similar to Ace before, there could be some traces of the crystal's energy lingering inside his body and causing him to feel what he was feeling. Why didn't Tech even think of the possibility of Ace losing his memory anyway? He had probably been too anxious to know if Ace was alive or not. He decided to confirm it after all. However, he was actually still uncomfortable about meeting Jack again, so he decided to ask Lyra instead. But first...
"...I...I see." He said, and Lyra asked him if he was okay as he had apparently gotten really pale. He told her he was alright, then made his request. Lyra didn't look too happy about him asking for a blood sample from Jack, but for some reason she agreed after a few seconds. Tech had to say he was surprised, he had expected a little more reluctance from her. But since she didn't argue, he didn't want to start a potential argument, so he just thanked her and asked if she could send it over to the Loonatics HQ tower by that night. She agreed to that as well.
"I'm sure I've figured out why you're so interested in him, yet so distressed." Lyra commented as she and Tech both stood up, "Your team leader who died a while ago, Jack reminds you of him doesn't he? I've heard him speak on TV before, they do sound similar. And their eye colours match too. I suppose that was why your other team member was so shocked upon seeing him."
"You're pretty observant. And I guess you may be right. I'm sorry, we're all still trying to cope, and with Jack, someone who looks a little similar, appearing, I guess we just wanna make sure our leader is gone or not." Tech admitted. He turned away from her, so he didn't see the understanding smile on her face, but he didn't need to.
"Don't worry too much." Lyra said, "I don't think Jack is your leader, but sometimes it's nice to have a distraction. I'll send over the blood sample later, but if charges are pressed against me you'll have to answer to them. I'm not joking."
Tech managed to chuckle. He thanks Lyra again, then picked up his jetpack and got ready to fly. He waved to the nurse before he took off, then headed back to the tower, hoping the nurse would keep her word about bringing the blood sample. Tech wondered what the results would be. He sighed. He couldn't remember the last time he felt uncomfortable with having to do an experiment of any kind.
Lexi decided to get away from the tower for a little while. She had no idea Tech had gone to the hospital. She definitely had been thinking of going herself though, to see this Jack Rabbit for herself, but something was stopping her. What if Zadavia was right and that Jack Rabbit really was no more than just a lookalike, and that her best friend was without a doubt, gone forever. She still did not want to accept any of it, wishing and wishing terribly that she could go back in time and change things. She could, with Dr Chroniker maybe, but she knew that the old time expert would probably have a problem about that. After all, he said that time should not be altered unless the situation was dire, and as much as Lexi wished it was, she knew it wasn't really that important. She hated herself for thinking so, as she felt like she was letting Ace die. She hated that, and wanted nothing more than to cry again, but she had dried out her tears for the week in Ace's room earlier.
Lexi honestly thought that she was bring ridiculous, acting like a spoiled brat who couldn't let go of the past. She was able to move on with a lot of things in life before, having faced a harsh life in school before she became a member of the Loonatics. But she just couldn't seem to move on with the current situation. She felt empty, depressed, pathetic. She felt like there was no reason to even live anymore.
Lexi slapped herself. That was a stupid thought. She was being selfish, the team and Acmetropolis needed her. If she died as well the team would probably be devastated beyond repair in the worse case scenario and disband, leaving the city vulnerable to the villains and other external threats. She couldn't let that happen, not after Ace sacrificed himself for both. She had to move on. She had to stop being so selfish. As she thought about all this, she didn't realize exactly how much time she was wasting and hours passed as she wandered around Acmetropolis.
"Are you alright?" A familiar sounding voice asked, and she turned to see Lyra Sun next to her. She jumped, not at all expecting the nurse.
"Y-Yes. I'm fine." She answered, her eyes looking down as she felt a little nervous for some reason. Lyra looked like she wanted to ask something more on the subject, but she dropped it in the end, something Lexi felt secretly grateful for. Instead, she asked if Lexi could lead her to the Loonatics HQ tower. Of course, Lexi, knowing nothing about Tech's visit, didn't know why and had to ask. Lyra looked surprised, but before ten seconds was up she sighed.
"Has your teammate not told you?" She asked, "Earlier, when he, the roadrunner called Rev, helped us find our patient, he seems to have forgotten to bring something back. I thought I would return it to him."
"Oh, really? I could give it back to him if you'd like." Lexi offered, but Lyra calmly shook her head, though she did seem like she was hiding something somehow.
"No, that's fine. I would rather give it to him myself, and I would also like to thank him personally for helping us." She reasoned. Lexi didn't feel too comfortable, but she didn't argue with the nurse. She didn't have the strength to do so after being depressed for a few hours. Since she finally realized how late it was, she decided that she needed to head back anyway, so she took Lyra with her.
While they walked the two chatted a little, so as to ease any awkwardness between them. Lexi had actually strayed pretty close to the hospital, so the walk back would take about an hour. The current Loonatics leader personally felt really stupid for not knowing where she was going the entire four hours she had been out. Fortunately nothing happened, but had the Blue Guardians of any other threat appeared, she'd have some some pretty serious problems.
Maybe she shouldn't have jinxed that.
Suddenly a spear longer and heavier than she was struck the ground next to her and Lyra. The two jumped back, horrified expressions on their faces. Other civilians nearby started screaming and panicking, running away before they were struck. A lone figure was standing not too far from them, dressed in light metallic blue armor. That figure had a mask on, blue like Veneficus's. Lexi could tell at once that he was one of the Blue Guardians at once, even if he did look like something out of a child's medieval-themed coloring book.
"Hobo, I missed." He said, his voice deep and intimidating as he took several steps towards the two. Lexi pulled Lyra back, not wanting the nurse to get involved, as the figure approached them. Up close, he looked huge, with a sturdy muscular build which probably rivaled Slam's. That alone was scary enough.
Lexi backed away with Lyra, who was shaking, but managed to keep a relatively calm look on her face, as the armored man yanked his spear out of the ground with astonishing swiftness.
"I am Bellator of the Blue Guardians, and the queen has sent orders to annihilate you pesky Loonatics. Prepare for your death!" The armored man announced, then rushed towards Lexi with his oversized spear. The female bunny pushed Lyra out of the way and jumped as high as she could, dodging the first strike. However, the small victory wasn't to last. Bellator jumped and attacked again with speed that should have been impossible even for Rev. He hit her with the butt end of the spear and she hit the ground extremely hard. She wasn't too high so it wasn't a lethal fall, but all at once several jolts of severe pain shot though her body and she wanted to scream as if she was being torn apart. However, she didn't even have the time to do that as Bellator attacked again, and she only just managed to roll out of the range of this spear head. She somehow got to her feet, but even though she wasn't bleeding by some miracle, she was experiencing physical pain beyond what she initially thought would have killed her.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She yelled at him, gasping after those words left her throat.
"I repeat: the queen has ordered it." He said, and got ready to attack yet again.
"What for?! What do you want?!" Lexi exclaimed, "And who is this "queen" of yours?!"
"That isn't for you to know. Just die before me and allow me to finish my mission." Bellator said calmly, speaking like he jumped out of some medieval story himself. He rushed at her, slower than before, but still fast enough to catch her off guard. He managed to hit her again, but she moved enough so that she wasn't knocked down a second time and released a powerful brain blast at him. He obviously hadn't expected it for some reason and it hit him square in the chest, and though it did little more than faze him, it was enough of a distraction for Lexi to run away. Fortunately there were a lot of buildings in the area and she easily found an alley to hide in. At once she called for help, but to her dismay and horror she found that her communicator had been smashed. She couldn't call her teammates and she knew she wouldn't be able to take on such an opponent on her own. All she could do was run away and hope she would be able to get back to the tower.
However, the sound of huge footsteps not too far away was getting closer and closer, and before long the spear was thrust near her feet. The metal gleaned dangerously, and Lexi caught a glimpse of one word printed on the blade of the spearhead. But it was pulled away before she could fully register the word. Only one thought really filled her head right then, the crazy armored guy had found her and there was nowhere to run.
"You've surprised me, but don't think I'll be stopped." Bellator said, looking angry and much more menacing, probably due to being distracted by her. Lexi got up to run, but suddenly her legs both cramped and she fell. She cursed internally looked up, her fear increasing by the second as Bellator held the spear directly above her, then brought it down.
Hey!
So sorry for the really, really awful cliffhanger! But I really couldn't resist! I got so into writing it got way more intense than I planned and I really didn't want to change it! I originally intended for the chapter to be more emo as well, but I was thinking that I'll make you people depressed if I carried on, so I added some action, though not much because it's hard to work with a distress female bunny who's unarmed against an armored thug with nothing but her brain blast and gymnastic skills. I'm not saying they're lame, but my OC has armor. His name means "warrior" in Latin, so I wanted to call him "knight", but I preferred the sound of "Bellator" instead of "Equitem". These are only from Google Translate tell me if I'm wrong please. I wanted to use Japanese but Loonatics Unleashed is a western show so I thought it'd be just a little unfitting. So ta-da to Latin names! WHEE! Now I must leave and get some sleep. See you!
