And now I'm officially rewriting chapters 5 and 6.
This was a really big chapter in the making of this story, so it just made since that it needed to be redone.
Thanks guys, hope you enjoy this!
-o-
"Ace… You cannot be thinking of going anywhere," a female behind him stated in a voice not to be argued with.
He turned and Lexi – obviously – was standing there.
My word.
"Lex, I'm fine," he said wiping his still bleeding face on his sleeve. Of course it was white. Well… now red… but that's not the point. He looked back at her but her hard glare didn't lighten. "Anyway, Lex. I didn't mean now, I meant eventually." His expression hardened as blood dripped into his eyes. "Soon though. I have no interest in being a sitting duck out here." Ace looked at Lexi, awaiting a response. She'd straightened as if she were trying hard to concentrate on something that was clearly not him. "What?" He asked, still feeling slightly irritable.
"Give me a second," she said heading outside. Everyone watched her until she was out of sight. Then, Kelsi walked over to Ace, her face overridden with fear.
"Your face…" She murmured quietly.
Ace shrugged and hoisted her up. "The bleeding will stop eventually," he said, not concerned in the slightest. Tech, however, had other plans.
"Chief, we'd better put ointment on that. Cleanse it or something of that sort." He turned away and beckoned Ace to follow him as he walked down a hallway. Ace was stunned on the inside though, by being called that title assumed that they'd forget their titles and just… bond all over again. But he guessed now that they were in danger again that they looked at him to take charge again. But how had whoever trying to hunt them down known that the team was going to be reconciling today? It was impossible unless someone was feeding them information, of course.
So, basically, impossible.
Obviously not…
When he caught up with Tech, the coyote already had gotten ready and handed Ace a damp cloth upon arrival. "Here, it's saturated with an ointment that should draw out any infection that's in the wound."
"Thanks, Tech," Ace said with a smile, taking the rag and pressing it to his face. At first it was cool and felt beautiful and then it felt as if all the fire in Hell was pressing against his face and he jerked it away with a small yelp.
"Yeah… it does burn a bit. Sorry about that, but it's the only thing that'll help." Ace nodded with a grimace, gingerly holding the cloth back up to his face.
"How'd you know this was here?" he asked the grimace slowly disappearing as the burning sensation slowly leached away.
Tech laughed. "We didn't really clean this place out much, did we? I left a load of items here just in case." He leaned against the counter and frowned. "So how about that cut, huh?" Ace laughed without humor.
"Yeah… how 'bout it."
"I'll bet someone's just trying to warn up they're coming. They probably weren't trying to kill you," he paused. "They've got remarkable aim."
"Tell me about it," the bunny too paused and glanced at the man across from him. Finally, he sighed and leaned back against the counter. "I'm sorry…"
Tech had never looked more surprised. "What on Acmetropolis do you have to feel sorry for, Chief?" Ace gave him a sad look.
"This." He indicated idly to the cloth pressed over his face. "This get-together was supposed to be perfect. If I was better I would've seen all this coming. I would've been more careful with emails and texts and phone calls." Ace paused again, looking at the floor. "This is all my fault, and I feel pretty darn rotten about it, Tech."
Tech shook his head and chuckled. "Ace I don't know what's going through that messed up mind of yours but this is not your fault. Stop beating yourself up; no one could've ever seen this coming."
Ace opened his mouth to say something else when a startled cry came from outside… Lexi. Ace raced out into the commons to see everybody up and moving toward the exit. "What happened?" he asked almost too quickly to no one in particular.
"How would we know?" Duck asked with an exasperated tone but that was so not the answer Ace wanted. He ran outside and the first thing he saw was Lexi standing to the side of the building pale faced and hyperventilating. Ace closed his eyes and his arms came around her waist, relieved she was okay and not injured. But when he opened his eyes he discovered she wasn't hurt but someone else was.
It was Slam.
And he was so much more than hurt… he was dead. Red blood saturated his brown fur the darkest being over the right hand side of his chest, above his heart.
Behind him, Ace heard Rev keeping all the kids inside although Tech's fourteen year old daughter argued that she could handle whatever was wrong but Rev must've just shaken his head because Ace heard no response. "What happened?" he whispered so low he could barely hear himself but he knew, with those super ears of hers, Lexi could hear him loud and clear.
She shook her head. "I-I don't know. I came out here and…" she fell silent. "It must've been the same person who attacked you," she said in a whisper. Her whole body was shaking badly.
Tech came up next to the two of them, his face pale. Ace faced him and said solemnly: "Not trying to kill us, huh?"
Tech just shook his head and this time he had no sophisticated words for him. All he said was, "This is not good."
-o-
Over the course of the two weeks Lexi had managed to convince everyone to stay for, the tension among them gradually subsided.
Ace and Duck were, of course, eager to get going and pound whatever S.O.B. was out there so their lives would go back to normal, though they agreed that the bright side was just being together again after more than a decade of being apart. They also enjoyed getting to know the new faces.
Ace noticed that Tech's 13 year old daughter was such a smart mouthed know-it-all. She never failed to make him laugh and never missed an opportunity to show Rev's eldest, Rade, up. If he said anything that made him sound good, Serena would automatically try to top it with an achievement true or otherwise they got into some pretty funny disputes and Ace couldn't help but find the two absolutely hilarious. Kelsi had always been the social butterfly of any group, so it didn't take her long to get to know everybody well. Ace could tell she was especially fond of Roi, Rev's youngest, probably due to the fact they were so close in age.
Also, Lexi had approached him and informed him in an even tone that she wasn't sure that she liked Tech's wife, Alex, at all. In her eyes, Alex talked far too much smack and, being a fox, she knew how to use it cleverly so that it got under your skin in a positive or negative way; it didn't seem to matter to her. Ace, though, just groaned the whole time she talked. He so didn't need the two women bickering the entire time they were together.
Lexi, however, though Ace was hardly one to talk. Not all of the tension in the slowly mending team was gone. If anything, the tension between Ace and Duck grew so dramatically that they couldn't look at each other without glaring and they hardly ever spoke to each other at all.
"You're being so childish!" Lexi eventually got sick of this behavior and approached her husband, determined that their fighting wouldn't rip the team to pieces again.
"It's his entire fault," Ace replied quietly, knowing Lexi would have no trouble hearing him.
"It's so not entirely Duck's fault, Ace!"
"Mostly!" Ace spluttered. "I made a mistake. A freaking misjudgment and Duck automatically turned the whole team against me! Is it my fault I trust people too quickly? If it is then yes, this is all my fault." Lexi had never seen Ace act so bitter.
"He didn't turn everyone against you," Lexi whispered, touching her hand to his face and forced him to look at her. He obliged for a moment before bringing his lips softly to hers. They stood there embraced for a moment before Ace broke away and thanked her almost noiselessly.
As he began to walk away she caught his arm, saying, "Can you two be interacting normally by this time tomorrow?" But she didn't even phrase it as a question. She could just have well said "Be interacting normally by tomorrow" and it would've had the same effect.
Ace opened his mouth to protest but she was already gone and no noise passed through his lips. Finally, after just remaining stationary a few seconds, he forced himself to find Duck and possibly have a civilized conversation.
-o-
"Hey, handsome." Tech looked over to see Alex sitting herself next to him. Silence. Noticing a lull in the conversation Alex continued. "So what's with Ace and Duckster?" For a moment her bright green eyes locked with his amber ones and he smiled before continuing to play with his hands.
Alex always acted like this. She was sassy and the picture of one of those girls on the cover of Playboy. Of course he loved her not just for these reasons (they were simply pluses) but more for the fact that she loved him for who he truly was.
After the team split; Tech, devastated, had gone into a bar. Without even stopping to think: He'd never drunk a sip of alcohol in his life and besides it was totally out of character. People. Would. Talk. But that was where he met Alex. True, he might've drunken too much when they first met but he was just so taken with her….
But this didn't really come on because Tech was super drunk. When they'd met neither of them had had much at all. They were both just the people alone in the back (although many of the other males were trying to get Alex to do otherwise.) Alex had liked him because he didn't go crazy over her when they met.
Tech certainly wasn't arguing though. He got the girl and his sense of belonging. His life was at a total up point… until Ace got attacked and the rabbit and Duck continued their hostility toward each other.
Realizing Alex was waiting for an answer he drew in breath and said, "On our last mission as a team we had an ally that turned on us in the end. Ace trusted him to the point that he almost assisted this guy in the destruction of the universe." Short. Sweet. No long words. A definite sign that Tech didn't want to talk about it. Alex just nodded and looked down at her hands.
"Thanks." Tech nodded and she realized she'd put him in a bad mood. I'm, uh – just gonna leave you alone now…" She started to get up to leave until she felt a strong hand grab her forearm roughly. Alex almost though he whispered 'Don't go' but she wasn't sure. Replacing herself next to him, she took his arm and laid her head softly on his shoulder.
-o-
Ace found Duck sitting at the table attempting to build a house of cards. Ace's first thought was 'Random' before he remembered that Duck would do this all the time when he was bored with the intention of something that Ace couldn't remember. "Can I sit here," he asked, indicating to the seat beside the mallard.
"Dunno," Duck sneered. "Are you capable?" Ace glowered.
"I need to talk to you." Duck slammed his fist on the table, making the whole tower collapse.
"Ace, there's nothing to talk about." Ace opened his mouth to speak anyway but Duck cut across him. "Ah! Hear me: I. Don't. Care! Okay?"
Disregarding this, Ace said, "We can't function as a team again if you and I keep fighting like this." His tone was cold, but Duck's tone was equally as harsh.
"I'll never forgive you for helping the enemy."
"Helping the enemy my furry white! Look, don't even go there. I'm just asking…"
"I'm not your friend! Don't even talk to me like I am!" Duck spat.
"I'm not asking for your friendship," Ace retorted. "I'm asking if we could just put it behind us, or just look like we've put it behind us, and just interact normally. We weren't friends before anyway." Duck considered.
"Agreed, I suppose."
Ace left, deciding it better to leave it at that. At least it was all sorted out. He couldn't imagine…
"Ace! Floor!" It'd been years since he'd been given that command. They'd switched out 'duck' with 'floor' because of Duck's name.
Without thinking, Ace dropped to the ground on Tech's command just as he heard a sharp zip of something moving above his head and the clunk as it hit the wall. He got up after it'd passed and picked it up. It was a circular disk with razor sharp blades all around the edges. It looked so familiar… he just couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen it before….
"Ace!" Lexi ran up to him but by that time Ace was glaring out the window. A lone figure dressed in black was on the roof a couple buildings over. Ace stared at the man until his eyes began drying out and he blinked.
When he opened his eyes, the attacker was gone.
-o-
AHA! Another rewrite complete. For those of you wondering why I haven't redone chapter 1 yet I have a perfectly good explanation: There is a LOT more to rewriting chapter 1 than there is to these later chapters. I actually have to WRITE a huge portion of it.
It's not just what goes on in Ace and Lexi's household anymore. It's what goes on in everybody's household. I have stuff on Tech and Rev 15 years after the split and a bit on the relationship Tech's daughter Serena and Rev's eldest son Rade seem to share. There both really unique characters I've brought into this story, they're the main "kids" this story has.
Since the main plot of this story revolves mainly around Ace and Lexi, it only made since that the main kids in here would belong to Tech and Rev. That will ALSO be up shortly after Black Friday.
Thank you all for helping me as I TRY to get all of this worked out.
~Spud13
