Uwaah…
I only get two reviews this time?! Aw…! …ah well. Just means I gotta work harder to get people to like my story. I've got two things to apologize for though, one is that I'm sorry I'm late for about two weeks maybe? I've been unfortunately busy with schoolwork as the first semester exams are coming up. Not a good thing. I just know I'm gonna fail a whole bunch of subjects and everyone I know will yell at me. -.-" The second apology is for the fact that I may have over-used my OC Lyra in this chapter. As previously mentioned, she is based off a senior whom I admire a lot so I can't help but like her considerably. She isn't gonna play too big a part in the main plot, but still…well, to make up for it(sort of), I've added something exciting at the last part of this chapter!^^
Review reply time:
starskulls: I apologize so much for being busy enough to almost neglect your emails on top of being late for the chapter update. I told you before, I both love and hate cliffhangers. Pretty much all chapters will end with them unless they aren't necessary. Although I think that's probably what keeps my chapters limited to 5000+ words. It's little in my opinion. I'll ask you about the needle tale next time. Jack'll have to wait because he's kinda useless in this part of the story, but you'll get your answers soon. Hahaha yes Bellator is a good fighter. I actually checked up a lot on his style of spear-fighting before I posted as I wanted to do something more traditional in contrast to the always-futuristic aspect of the show. I was aiming for irony, heheh. Obviously Lexi won't die I'm keeping this story as close to the real thing as possible while still fitting my own stuff. Enjoy reading this one, I worked pretty hard on it! Hoho, think you've found a clue? Good luck! ^^
YiPrincess: Thanks for the review Yi-senpai! Yep yep, Bellator is a good name to me, I liked it at once! I actually used Latin(courtesy of Google Translate) for all the names of the Blue Guardian members. You'll have to read on to find out what they are! Well here's her character. Lyra's more fun to write about than I thought. I was planning to use Sylene at first but then Lyra just seemed to fit more. I love cartoons and anime so much! I just can't resist them! But Joker scared me so much…I had nightmares for a week. T^T I enjoy jumpscares but nothing gory for me please! I don't like overly insane villains, but I have to say the voice actors, writers and other people involved in their creations are geniuses. So true about Acexi. I like mild romance. Anything more than that is just too much for me. Oh well. Time for you to get reading!
PART FOUR: NARROW ESCAPE
Just before Bellator managed to skewer her, something hit him and prevented him from striking Lexi. The female bunny was surprised and looked up to see Zadavia standing over her, rage filling her emerald eyes.
"You lay another finger on Lexi and I swear you will regret it!" The Loonatics boss yelled ferociously, charging up another powerful energy blast in her hands before firing it at the Blue Guardians member. The armored man's eyes widened beneath his mask, and held up his spear to block, but to his shock the energy actually curved and struck him from the side. He grunted loudly in pain and found that Zadavia's energy beam had actually singed his armor pretty badly, and the metal was burning against his bare skin underneath. However, his endurance was impressive, as he did not even bother to remove the offending piece of armor, getting up to charge at the Loonatics boss instead. She flew up, shooting another beam of energy downwards. This sent him to the ground, the same thing he had done with Lexi, who couldn't help but feel glad he went through it too. Still, he rose quickly and threw his spear at Zadavia, who was still in the air.
"Oh no you don't!" Lexi exclaimed, firing a brain blast at the space just barely in the way of the flying spear. She was fatigued, so she missed the actual target, but hit it just enough that its course was interrupted and it swerved a little before losing its momentum and plummeted to the ground. Zadavia could have easily dodged that, but she was grateful for the female bunny's help. She flew down a little lower then Bellator saw his chance to attack. He swiftly reached out and grabbed Zadavia's leg and swung her around before he finally threw her into the side of a nearby building. She yelled out in pain and dropped to the ground.
"Zadavia!" Lexi shouted, and she forced herself up to help her boss. She rushed to the Freeling ruler's side and was mortified to see that she had been struck right where she had been badly injured two months earlier. It was a wound caused by Chaos Ace, and until he died, with the real Ace, there was no way for the wound to heal completely. That had been the proof of both theirs deaths back then. Still, the sound did take some time to fully heal, Zadavia only recovered from it less than a month ago, so the area near her waist was still quite weak. With Bellator's attack and her impact against the wall, it became a huge blue-black bruise with many tiny cuts surrounding it, so blood leaked out in drops.
"Zadavia! Zadavia hang on!" Lexi yelled, but then Bellator appeared behind her and grabbed her by the neck and held her up. She struggled to breathe, and black spots were clouding her vision.
"Let...Let go of her!" Zadavia shouted, shooting a concentrated beam of energy at the Blue Guardian member, knocking him off his feet. He gasped and released Lexi, but at that, Zadavia lost consciousness with a strangled gasp. She had used up all her remaining energy in that. Bellator was getting up again, and Lexi was in a serious dilemma. She knew she had to get her boss out of there, but Zadavia wasn't the only one injured. Lexi had plenty of harsh injuries and they were wrecking turmoil on her body. She could barely stand, and after Bellator tried to crush her windpipe, she couldn't even breathe easily. Worst of all, she couldn't call for help. And Bellator had gotten to his feet.
"I'm impressed. Not many survive me for long even with help." He told her, sounding sincere with what he said, "But time is running out. I must complete my mission."
He ripped his spear out of the ground for the second time that day. He got ready to strike her, and for the second time Lexi prepared for the worse. She silently apologized to the team and Zadavia for being so useless, and she apologized to Ace for failing to do her job as the new leader.
What happened next was completely unexpected.
The sound of a car horn interrupted the Blue Guardians member's swing just as a police vehicle rammed into his side. The sudden assault itself shocked him more than the fact that someone hit him with a police car and that he could've sustained serious injuries despite his armor, which was actually lighter and thinner than it looked. Once he was down the driver's door opened and Lyra stuck her head out.
"Ms Bunny!" She called loudly, "Hurry and bring your friend in! I'll take us to your tower!"
Lexi got over her amazed shock when she spoke, and reacted immediately, ignoring any pain she felt as she dragged Zadavia into the police car's backseat and got in herself as she was afraid rushing to get to the front seat next to Lyra would waste precious seconds. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and Lyra floored the gas pedal, speeding off without any care for the other vehicles on the road. Fortunately there was barely any traffic.
"Lyra how did you...?!" Lexi asked, but a sharp pain in her chest prevented her from saying anything further. The pain didn't come from the fight earlier, it was familiar, the same pain she felt when she was heading to the hospital even earlier in the day, to be felt by her teammates as well. But Lyra didn't know that.
"Don't speak, you're badly wounded." She said, "As for the car, well, I'm not too bad a driver but I left my own car at the hospital, so I had to grab the nearest one. I'd probably go to jail for this though..."
Lexi almost laughed and cried at once. Laughed because the way Lyra said it, it was as if it were a joke and a good one at that, and cried because she felt touched that the nurse would risk going to jail on top of putting herself in danger by going into the fight for someone she barely knew. But she didn't have time for either. She knew how fast Bellator could move. It was only a matter of time before he caught up even though the police car had a speed of 15 kilometers per hours, which was way more than the speed of a normal human. It was even too much for most anthros, and it seemed possible Bellator was one.
"Ms Bunny please tell me if I'm going the right way!" Lyra exclaimed suddenly, breaking Lexi's chain of thought. She looked outside and saw that the nurse seemed to had gotten lost, as she couldn't see the Loonatics HQ tower anywhere. She couldn't see Lyra's face, but she could tell the nurse was nervous.
"It's fine. Head back towards the hospital then I'll tell you where to go from there." Lexi suggested. Lyra was mortified, but somehow managed not to look back at the female bunny, and considering their insanely reckless speed, that was fortunate.
"But that monster is...!" She protested, but Lexi cut her off.
"I know, but it's better than getting lost here!" She reasoned. Lyra sighed and gave in, turning the car sharply, nearly running into truck. Suddenly they heard the sound of sirens and Lyra groaned.
"Oh no, looks like the police caught up with me..." She complained as if that was the main problem. Of course, the police were a dangerous obstacle. If they stopped her and questioned her, no matter where they were in the city, Bellator would probably find them. Lexi felt weird acting like a criminal, but there wasn't much of a choice, they couldn't get caught. It was too much of a risk.
"Never mind them! Just go!" Lexi exclaimed and Lyra scoffed a little.
"I had no intention of minding them. I stole their car for a reason and until I'm done with it they aren't getting it back." she joked, giving Lexi a smile through the rearview mirror. The female bunny smiled back, though she still couldn't shake the panicked feeling she had. Next to her, Zadavia groaned, and she slipped from her upright position a little. Lexi caught her before she could fall and laid her boss's head on her lap. She scolded herself mentally. She should've done that in the first place, considering the speed they were moving at. Zadavia could've gotten more injured than necessary. Why had she been so stupid?
"Lexi!" Lyra suddenly shouted her name, snapping the current Loonatics leader back into reality. Apparently, Lyra had been trying to get her attention for a few minutes already. How the heck did her worry for Zadavia last that long even though she felt as if it had only been a short second?
"I apologize for using your first name but I really need some directions!" Lyra exclaimed with panic rising in her tone. Lexi was confused as to why she seemed so panicked all of a sudden, but then a glace at the rearview mirror gave her the answer. Bellator was right behind them, and he was gaining.
"What?! How?!" The female bunny exclaimed in utter disbelief. She felt her own heart beating like an out-of-control metronome, and suddenly that strange pain shot through her chest again, that same, mysterious pain. This time, she yelled out. Lyra was so shocked she nearly stopped the car, but she was fortunate that she was level-headed enough to not do so. Bellator was getting even closer, and the police car couldn't move any faster.
"Ms Bunny?! Lexi?! What's wrong?!" Lyra yelled, trying her best to ignore Bellator and focus on the road, but hearing the current Loonatics leader yelling out due to some unnatural pain scared her. She wanted more than anything to help her herself, but the only way she could do that was to successfully get them all to safety first. But with Lexi unable to tell her which direction the tower was, due to the many overly tall buildings in the area, it would be an extremely difficult task. Then, Lyra saw something in the sky. It was Slam, flying on his jetpack.
With much thought or hesitation Lyra threw her hand down on the car horn, hoping to catch the Tasmanian devil's attention before he got too far. She couldn't see through the roof of the police car, so she had no real way of knowing if it worked. She repeated the action a few more times, then, without warning, a huge weight landed on the car roof. At first, Lyra was sure it was Slam, but to her horrified dismay, a spear head shot right through the metal. It was Bellator.
"Lexi hold on!" Lyra screamed as she slammed her high-heeled foot down on the brake pedal and the car came to such and abrupt stop the Blue Guardian member was thrown right off, giving a yelp of surprise, though his spear remained in place. However, both Lexi and Zadavia were thrown against the backseats and the impact seemed to knock them both out completely. Lyra desperately hit the car horn again, praying to every god she knew of, even if she didn't believe in them, that Slam would hear and that they would all be okay. As she watched, Bellator got to his feet, and Lyra was forced to make a run for it. She couldn't worry about whether Lexi and Zadavia were alright even though she really wanted to. Getting away was much more important.
However, Bellator was quicker this time. He caught up to the car at a breakneck speed and was once again on its roof. The spear was removed and through the hole Lyra could see that he was going to strike again, and he wasn't intent on missing a second time. She stopped her car again, but Bellator wasn't stupid and somehow hung on. He clearly wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. Lyra felt her panic and fear rising. There was no way to escape now.
Suddenly another crash in the roof sent Bellator flying right off. Lyra jumped, as she had forgotten Slam was in the area. The Tasmanian devil bent down to look her her through the windscreen and the nurse gestured to her two unconscious passengers behind her with a sharp tilt of her head. Slam's eyes widened for a second, then he nodded. He took off just as the Blue Guardian member was getting up, and he slammed right into him. Bellator grunted with shock, but Slam wasted no time and turned on him, spinning like a mini-tornado with full force. He growled something at the armored man, who looked greatly offended.
"How dare you mock me! You shall pay for your insolence!" Bellator shouted and charged at him with the spear, but fortunately for Slam, that turned out to be the stupidest move he made all day. The straightforward attack was one without tactic or hesitation. All Slam had to do was step to the side just a little then he actually managed to grab the weapon and, to Bellator's shock, he was able to snap the shaft of the spear in half, tossing the spear head away, then rushing in with a powerful punch right in Bellator's face. The Blue Guardian member was so overcome with the shock of seeing his prized weapon destroyed, he stood no chance. He was thrown harshly to the ground, and he had a look of utter defeat on his face. He turned to look at Slam in the eye.
"You have bested me this time. I shall retreat," he said, "but know that next time I will spare nothing to defeat you all and fulfil my mission." With that said, he disappeared in a burst of light, momentarily blinding Slam.
That being handled, even if it did confuse him, Slam turned his attention back to where Lyra was, and found the Acmetropolis police questioning her fiercely. They were just about to handcuff her when Slam called out and, in a series of growls and grunts, demanded that she be let go at once. He pointed to the inside of the police car, seeing the confused faces of the officers, who clearly didn't understand a word of his language and didn't look inside the car. He felt frustrated. He never particularly liked being around the city on his own as he always had trouble communicating with the humans in the city. Most anthros understood him enough to make out what he was saying, but the anthro population wasn't too large anyways. Only the team understood him really well though, and even they took some time to get used to his speech patterns.
Still, the police apparently didn't even look inside the vehicle and somehow decided that the gaping hole in the roof was the doing of an unarmed female nurse who wasn't exactly large in size. Sure she was the one who stole it, but that was just being too ridiculous in accusations. Slam tried his best to tell then what happened, but most of the time the police just looked confused or acted as if they knew everything that happened and tried to convince him that they were the ones who were right. It was infuriating. Then, a groan alerted him that Lexi was awake. The current Loonatics leader sat up and rubbed her hand with her hand. The first thing she noticed was Zadavia and she hurriedly helped her boss up. The Freeling ruler was still unconscious, a sign that the damage done was probably worse than Lexi initially thought. It was only after all that did she realize what was going on when she finally took a look around outside the car, but without getting out yet.
"What the...? What happened?" She asked the nearest police officer, who told her only of how Lyra stole the car and somehow created a giant hole in it. For a second, Lexi was sure she heard wrong. Who in the right mind would think Lyra would do it? And how could she have done it anyway?
"I did not!" Lyra protested, struggling as the officer near her still tried to handcuff her, "Sure I stole the car but how do you expect me to do that kind of damage?! Ms Bunny please explain!"
"Let her go. She's with me." Lexi said sternly, remembering what had occurred before she blacked out. Slam came up to her with a few growls of complaint. She apologized to him a little then got out of the car herself, though she wobbled and nearly fell when she did. Fortunately Slam caught her. When he did, she had a quick flashback of Ace catching her in a similar manner, but she quickly shook the feeling off. It simply wasn't the time for that kind of stuff.
The police reluctantly obeyed her instruction, and Lyra couldn't help but give them a disapproving look. Lexi wondered if she was the kind to take false accusations bitterly. It certainly seemed so.
"Lyra stole the car to help me. I was being attacked. If it wasn't for her I'd be dead now." Lexi explained vaguely, not feeling up to retelling everything. "In any case, the Loonatics will pay for the car, but you have to let her off. And she wasn't the cause of the car's damaged roof. An enemy calling himself 'Bellator' was the culprit. So you cannot blame her for that."
"But she did commit an offence by stealing one of our vehicles..." One officer started to say.
"I'll take my punishment!" Lyra snapped, interrupting the officer's sentence, "Do whatever, I stole the car ans I was speeding, I was wrong, so I don't mind getting punished for it, but like I said earlier, how on Acmetropolis so you expect me to do that while speeding?!"
"..." The officer was lost for words. Slam couldn't resist a small laugh, which was pretty much unnoticed. Lexi rolled her eyes with a smile. She was starting to like the reckless nurse, and her saving her life was only a minor reason.
"Alright, but you're coming with me to the tower first. You still need to return Rev that...whatever it is right?" Lexi stated. Lyra however, had forgotten her excuse as to why she was even heading to the Loonatics tower in the first place.
"Huh what you do mean...oh that! Hahaha...right..." Lyra said with a nervous laugh. Something was up, definitely. But considering the nurse had had a good hand in saving her and Zadavia's lives, Lexi decided to overlook it. She turned to Slam.
"So big guy, think you can take us back?" She asked. Slam grinned and growled out an enthusiastic 'Yes'. But before they could take off Lyra objected at once.
"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed, making the two members of the Loonatics jump, along with about five of the police officers near them, "Your friend is badly injured and unconscious, and you aren't in good shape either. No offence Mr Tasmanian but you wouldn't be able to safely carry all three of us to your HQ. So..."-She turned to the officers-"would you mind if I borrow the car for just a little longer? I'll return it directly and you can press charges on me then."
The officers stared at her in disbelief. She was something alright. He wasn't sure at all what to say, so he just allowed it. It could've been the intimidating glares from Lexi and Slam behind Lyra that pushed him to make the decision. Lyra, however, didn't seem to notice and instead smiled at him and got Lexi into the car. It was a little small for Slam, so he chose to fly back on the jetpack, but following the broken, yet functional, police car carefully, being slightly paranoid that another random attacker may appear out of nowhere. His paranoia wasn't too far from the truth actually. Veneficus was watching them on the roof of a building not too far from where Slam had fought with Bellator. His face was expressionless as he continued to watch them all until they disappeared down the road at normal speed. Then, he vanished, but little did he know he had been watched himself by a hazy figure on the next roof. Once he disappeared, the figure headed down as well.
"What happened?!" Tech demanded when Slam and Lexi entered the main room with an unconscious Zadavia on Slam's back, the nurse from the Acmetropolis General Hospital and Lexi being covered in wounds and limping slightly. Lexi shrugged a little, the sadness she felt earlier temporarily erased from her mind during her unfair, one-sided fight with the Blue Guardian member and the horrifically dangerous car ride which saved her life.
"We ran into one of the Blue Guardians." She said bluntly.
"WHAT?!" Tech, Duck and Rev all exclaimed at a volume that would've killed Lexi's ears if she left her super hearing ability on. Fortunately she learned how to temporarily shut down that ability. Still, it was a pretty loud exclamation and Lyra had covered her ears. Slam however, had carried Zadavia to the medical room already so he didn't have to suffer through the synchronized exclamation.
"You-fought-one-of-those-blue-guys-and-ended-up-wi th-injuries-like-these-oh-man-how-strong-was-this- guy-was-it-the-same-guy-as-the-one-in-the-hospital -who-kidnapped-that-professor-we-were-supposed-to- question-and-why-is-Zadavia-in-such-bad-shape?!" Rev ranted suddenly. Lexi felt a little happy at that though. Him speaking at his normal speed, well, maybe it was still a little slower, but it meant that he was feeling a lot better.
"Nice to hear you're talking like yourself again." Lexi commented with a light smile before she answered his speedy stream of questions, her smile disappeared as she started.
"Well this guy was definitely strong. He was huge and yet he moved almost as fast as you Rev. He took me out pretty quickly since my brain blasts weren't much against him. Zadavia lasted just a little longer than I did, but Bellator threw her into the wall, right where the wound she got from...back then...and the pain took over her."
"As fast as Rev huh..." Tech said thoughtfully while Rev seemed to have a bit of a minor mental breakdown at the news. Then Duck broke the silence.
"Okay first, you go rest," he said, gesturing towards Lexi, "and second, why is she here?"
His question was directed more at Slam than Lexi, which indicated that he really wanted her to lie down and recover, a hidden way of showing his concern but was still seen through by the rest. Despite that, though she felt grateful, she felt that she needed to stay and explain the situation properly, since it was her life Lyra saved. Slam started to say something, but Lexi stopped him and asked if she could explain instead.
"It's alright Ms Bunny. You really should rest. Explanations and such can come later. Would you like me to help with your injuries?" Lyra asked. Lexi winced.
"Lexi." She said, surprising the nurse a little, "Call me Lexi. You saved my life. And besides, you called me that earlier."
Lyra blushed slightly. "Sorry, I got worried when you didn't reply when I called you what I usually did."
"Don't worry about it." Lexi replied and turned to her teammates, but a sharp pain in her leg make her lose her balance. She was startled as she began to fall forward. Duck managed to catch her before she did though, so she was safe.
"I told you to go rest already sheesh you never listen do you?" The mallard said with an annoyed tone. The current Loonatics leader just shrugged. The pain in her leg was pretty bad, that was for sure, but the truth was she was actually relieved it wasn't the same pain she felt in her chest over and over. That one was different. It felt more than just painful. There was something else to it. Definitely.
"Maybe-you-should-just-get-her-on-the-couch-I'll-g o-get-her-some-water-to-cool-down." Rev suggested. It was a good idea, so they went with it. As the roadrunner when to get water Lyra also requested that he bring her some medical supplies so she could tend to Lexi's wounds. Some of them seemed more serious than what they initially thought.
As Lyra wrapped the cuts and bruises on the female bunny she explained all that occurred. They felt very worried when they heard exactly what their current leader and boss had to go through, but Tech's jaw dropped comically when Lexi got to the part of Lyra stealing the police car while Rev and Duck burst out laughing, though that quickly died down when Lexi told them the rest.
"This guy means business alright..." Duck said solemnly, folding his arms across his chest and fidgeting slightly. Rev didn't look to comfortable either. Tech just looked like he was trying to work something out. There was definitely something going on and the Blue Guardians probably had something to do with it. It was strange though. Their motives were extremely unclear. First they committed several robberies involving money, then suddenly they moved to nuclear technology and kidnapped the leading scientist of a huge project that could change Acmetropolis for the better. Then, they sent someone to attack Lexi, to kill her, and somehow, they knew she was alone as well. How?
"Mr Coyote!" Lyra's voice shouted, right in his ear. Tech jumped and fell off the couch in his shock. Rev and Duck had to hold back laughs, but Slam, who can come back to the main room to report Zadavia's condition busted out laughing as Tech hoisted himself back onto the seat, evidently embarrassed. Even Lexi was smiling with amusement, a genuinely amused smile. When Tech saw that, he felt glad that his embarrassment did some good.
"Oh dear I'm sorry! I needed to get your attention." Lyra exclaimed apologetically. Then she gestured over to the hallway, telling him she wanted to tell him something important. He immediately caught on and followed her to the hall.
"Okay, thanks for helping Lexi. I'm sorry about you having put through the danger though." Tech told her once the doors to the main room closed behind them.
"It's fine, but the truth is the real reason I came here was kind of destroyed…" The nurse said with a disappointed tone, as she slipped her hand into her handbag, which was mostly intact, before bringing out a shattered medical test-tube, her fingers stained red with Jack's blood.
"The blood sample got smashed huh?" Tech asked to confirm, unable to mask his own disappointment. Of course, he could still extract the DNA from the blood, but it seemed to have thinned out and dried quite a bit already, so it would be harder to get the accurate results, even with the advanced technology he had at his disposal.
"I'm really sorry. If I had known this would happen I would've brought it in a mini-safe to protect it." Lyra said. For a second Tech thought she was joking, but from the look on her face, it was clear that she was being serious about that even though she made it sounds as if she didn't.
"It should be fine. I can still use it, it'll just take a few days longer to get the results. I have to thank you for this." Tech said as gratefully as he could, but Lyra told him he didn't need to, as the sample wasn't delivered properly. Instead, she madeit clear that she would be content with helping them treat Lexi and Zadavia before she headed back to the hospital. Tech smiled and agreed to her suggestion. Tech then headed to the lab to try and get as much as he could from the blood-stained belongings of the nurse. Lyra on the other hand decided to head back to help Lexi with her injuries.
Tech approached the lab and while he felt a little weird with having to extract DNA from partially dried blood staining a woman's belongings, such as her purse, compact and a few painkiller bottles(so typical of a nurse working in a major hospital), but he wasn't too hung up on it and got to work, however, he never made it to the machine before the sharp pain in his head and chest returned, striking him much harder than last time once again. Why did it always increase in terms of pain each time? That time, Tech couldn't even scream anymore. He dropped Lyra's bag and crashed to the floor with one hand clutching his head and the other clawing at his own chest, as if he was trying to rip the fabric of his suit up. Black patches filled his vision and the voice came again, but it was getting clearer. He could hear something, something unbelievably familiar…what? What was it?!
"….h…..! …ch!" the voice called, sounding desperate. What was that? Who was that? The coyote couldn't figure it out, especially not with the pain tormenting him. Seconds later, he gave in and blacked out, but not before finally hearing the voice, suddenly loud and clear as his consciousness slipped away from him.
"…Tech!"
It was Ace's voice.
Sorry!
Maybe the cliffhanger is just a little worse than I thought. I like it though. Heheh. But anyways moving on…I realize I barely use Slam since he isn't that easy to use due to his limited speech patterns and due to the fact that for some reason I don't really get his powers…(yes I sound like an idiot…) so I chose to change some of the original plot and replace Rev and Duck with Slam during the 'vs. Bellator' scene. I think I prefer the change though, after re-reading my original draft the combination I thought for them seemed no less than horrifying. By the way, the last part with Tech and Ace's voice, let's just say it's a warning that something pretty big is about to happen. I hope you'll enjoy it, I'm looking forward to writing all those chapters.