Ahhhhhhhh!
I'm so sorry for the late update this time around! I was a little busy with certain things then my computer freaking CRASHED! I couldn't believe it! It was perfectly fine one night and the next it nearly literally exploded! I am now using a new computer, so obviously I had to do the basic set up and stuff. So pleeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssssssse eeeeeeeeeee forgive me for being late this time! I'll try to keep up with the regular update schedule so please don't kill me! Thanks. And by the way, just so you know, the story is basically in between episode 23 and 24, in other words between season 2 episode 13 and 14, a while before they ran into that music guy who I have forgotten the name of. So now, answering reviews:
Guest: Well thanks for saying it isn't too sappy, but it is. Despite my apologizes in the last chapter, I meant for it to be sappy. By the way, are you zaylo267? Your name isn't in the review.
Loonaticslover13: Always nice to hear from you. But you don't have to freak out, since you didn't exactly guess correctly. Have you forgotten the collapsing buildings? They play quite a major role in the storyline. Although…you were right about one thing in your review, but I am going to be a bit of a troll right here and say I'm not telling you what it is. I am not giving spoilers! But I am thanking you for reviewing once again!
starskulls: I so appreciate your reviews too! And thank you for the favorite and the follow! You had no idea how glad I am! And haha, thanks for the cupcake, I'll give you something too! *hands over a huge cake with chocolate icing and sugar roses* XD
That's all for reviews this time. Please continue to support [The Chaos Crystal]! I just love my story too! Oh one last thing, this chapter will have a little Acexi for fans of the pairing like me, but don't expect much more than this okay?
PART FOUR: DANGER ZONE
A few days had passed since the incident with the collapsing buildings, and all had been fortunately uneventful. It was a good thing for the team, since it gave them a chance to just sit back and relax, something they haven't done in a while. Ace had no more panic attacks, not that he remembered any of them. Tech had managed to perform some scans on him but found nothing wrong, much to his and Ace's bewilderment, but they decided that it wasn't much to worry about, though Tech had been lying on his part.
Still, it was nice to be able to take a break from fighting crime. It was as if fate was making up for the terrible scare they had those few days before. Rev had chosen to take the more peaceful day-off, and went off to his family's house to help his brother Rip Runner with a new toy design for their father's company. The last time didn't work out too well between the two, seeing as Rip's envy got the better of him and he got possessed by an alien parasite, but the experience did bring the two closer as brothers so it wasn't all bad.
Zadavia on the other hand had gone on an intergalactic mission of her own. She only told Tech about it while the others only knew of it as a private mission. The intention was to try and find out more about the crystal, to find out where it came from and what it was truly capable of. Zadavia figured if she could learn more, she could confirm whether Ace's condition was a threat to his life or not. Tech encouraged her, as he wanted to find out more himself. He hated the fact that something was going on with Ace but he could do nothing to help. It almost felt like he was failing his leader and friend. It wasn't a good feeling. So Zadavia went on her mission and left Tech in charge of monitoring the city and to give the equipment at her base the necessary check-ups in case she took a while. She promised she would try and return quickly, though the coyote expected otherwise due to the very nature of the mission she was taking on.
"It's been a while since we had such a chance ta relax huh guys?" Ace asked at the dinner table as he took a bite of his pizza. Lexi grinned as she snagged up a new slice of her own.
"No kidding. I can't remember the last time it was peaceful for five days in a row." She agreed as Slam took ahold of a huge turkey and started gobbling it up contently. Duck gave him his usual disgusted glare then jerked his head towards the female bunny.
"Speak for yourself!" He exclaimed, "I need my screen time! My adoring fans out there must be dying for some action!"
Everyone simultaneously rolled their eyes at him. Tech was the only one who was not eating. Instead he was fiddling with one of his new 'toys', a small-scale device which appeared to look like a mini-dome of some sort. Ace couldn't help being curious. "Eh, what'cha woiking on d'ere Tech?"
"I'm not telling you what it is yet," the genius coyote replied, "but I will tell you its something that may prove pretty useful in the future."
"I'm lookin' foiward to it." Ace said approvingly. Tech smiled, but he was honestly hoping that what he was building would never need to be used. It was a containment dome specially designed by Zadavia to trap Ace if he really absorbed the crystal's energy and proved dangerous. When she handed Tech the blueprint for it before leaving for her mission, written in a specific code with the index given to him separately so that the rest don't find out, the coyote had been 100% against the idea of using such a machine. Zadavia didn't like it either as she described her personal feelings of betrayal towards the team leader, but it had to be prepared if the worst case scenario happened. In the end, Tech accepted it on the grounds that their hypothesis was highly likely to be the truth. Despite that, it was the first project he had done, willingly, unlike the Black Velvet encounter, that he absolutely hated. And he himself never saw such a project coming.
"Whatever, dog-boy can play with his toy all he wants. This duck doesn't need new gadgets to be awesome!" Duck self-complimented and Tech gave him a strange look.
"'Dog-boy'?! You're starting to sound like Mallory." The coyote said with a shudder. Duck, of course, went into his diva mode again.
"Are you comparing me to that fat-head ex-girlfriend of yours?! How utterly despicable!" He protested with irritation.
"She was never my girlfriend! She was someone I had to show the ropes to!" Tech argued back with a disturbed look on his face, disturbed at the thought of Mastermind as his girlfriend. Lexi laughed.
"Well, no matter what she was to you Tech you're both right about something." The female bunny said with a teasing smile, "Duck was right about her being a fat-head and you were right about Duck being a bit like her. They both have oversized heads full of hot air don't they?"
Ace and Slam busted out laughing as Duck stood there with a shocked expression directed at Lexi, mouth agape and frozen. Even Tech had to suppress a laugh.
"Why you...you...hmph!' Duck stammered, then gave up and stomped to his room. He was done with dinner anyway. Once he was out of sight Lexi joined the guys in laughing.
"Lex tat was a really good one!" Ace complimented between laughs and Lexi just smirked proudly. That was good. The tense atmosphere that had lingered in the HQ previously was gone and everything was going back to normal, and the only physical reminder of the mission at the research facility was Ace's broken leg. Lexi caught herself unconsciously staring at it when Ace spoke a second ago. Ace had to literally knock her head back into reality.
"Lex dun worry 'bout it already," he said to her, clearing seeing what was causing her distress, "Tech said it'd heal before long right? I'll be fine."
"I know, sorry, but I really wish that thing will come off soon so o don't have to remember something so pai-...er...troublesome." Lexi blushed lightly as she finished her sentence and led to Ace raising an eyebrow. Slam growled something softly to himself, sounding a little like he was laughing. Lexi caught it and blushed harder. She was lucky her uniform made her fur pinkish, hiding the blush quite effectively. Slam was the only one who had noticed.
"Well I agree with Lexi chief." Tech said seriously, though his attention was back in his project. "I don't like seeing you in a cast any more than the others. I would really prefer it if what had happened, never happened."
Slam growled in agreement and Ace smiled. "Aw t'anks guys. Nice ta know I'm loved around here."
Then Slam laughed and glances at Lexi with a mischievous smile. She caught it and immediately became flustered. Ace raised an eyebrow, not understanding the situation while Tech smirked. It was an amusing scene.
"Oh well," Ace said before Lexi could try and pound the Tasmanian with the remains of her dinner, "fer some reason I'm a little tired. Mind if I hit da hay a little earlier ta'day?"
"No problem Ace," Tech approved, "but remember you have a meeting with me in the morning."
"Dun worry, I'll be d'ere at the lab fer da check-up." Ace confirmed and then he stood up unsteadily on his crutches. He limped carefully to the hallway and through the automatic door. It closed behind him and so it was Tech, Lexi and Slam left in the main room. Lexi finally got her chance to punch Slam in the arm. It was both a friendly and an irritated type of punch, but Slam laughed like it was only the former and grumbled something.
"Well Slam is right." Tech added, "You are worrying a little too much Lexi. I know you and Ace are close but you really don't have to freak out. His leg should be fine in a week, according to my calculations."
"I know I know," Lexi groaned, "I just wish I could brain blast that memory outta my head. It wasn't exactly something I would want to remember."
"We've been through, this none of us liked it but we have to accept that it happened. At least the chief is fine."
"I guess so..." Lexi conceded, laying her head on her folded arms on the dinner table, "Anyway its my turn to wash up right?"
Slam growled in confirmation. Lexi shrugged and picked up the plates and headed to the kitchen area. Slam helped her carry those she had no more room for in her arms. The dishes were tossed into the dishwasher and Lexi told Slam to relax and let her do the waiting. He obliged and became the third person to leave after dinner, which was a surprisingly common sight.
"Hey when'll Rev be back again?" Lexi asked, disliking the silence in the room. Tech told her the roadrunner said he would be back a little after dinner. At that, Lexi suggested that Tech head to he lab to finish his 'toy' while she waited for the dishwasher to finish up the dishes and for their missing member.
"You sure?" The coyote asked and the female bunny nodded. Tech shrugged, thanked her then left for the lab. He was actually quite glad. The lab provided more privacy and it would be easier for him to work at a faster pace.
Meanwhile, in Ace's room, the Loonatics leader was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He had been feeling strange since the day of the mission that nearly killed him, but he was puzzled over the fact that Tech had found nothing wrong with him, even after the entire leg-in-extreme-pain fiasco. To Ace, it made no sense at all. But he wasn't the tech genius. That was, well, Tech, and Ace doubted the coyote could make a mistake with his machines several times in a row, especially since Tech seemed to upgrade and check his inventions thoroughly on a daily basis. As he thought that, Ace silently agreed with one of Duck's statements of "Tech needs to get out more".
There was also the deal with the panic attacks everyone else was talking about. The truth was Ace believed them, but he was telling the truth as well when he told them he couldn't recall any of them. It was weird that he remembered absolutely everything before and after the apparent moments the panic attacks took place, but he simply could not recall freaking out. It was scaring him slightly, but after how his teammates told him how worried they had been for him, he just couldn't bring himself to tell then his predicament.
Ace shook his head and tried to clear his mind of such thoughts. It was useless. At the dinner table he said he was tired. He really was, but once he reached his bed sleep was impossible. He guessed it was due to him not being used to resting so early. So, he decided to meditate, something he didn't get to do for the past few days. However, he quickly realized the cast on his leg was restricting him from getting on the meditation pedestal comfortably. He would have to settle for the bed.
"Okay, not too good with t'is but..." Ace said to himself. He sat up and adjusted his position to suit meditation. His usual lotus position was out of the question, since the cast increased the space taken up by that leg, so he had to sit in a sort of half-lotus position, the broken leg hanging over the edge of the bed just above the ground, and the good leg in its usual position. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it felt our of place at first. Ace didn't like it much, but felt that it was better than nothing and closed his eyes.
Seconds into the meditation, Ace started to hear a strange cracking sound. It sounded familiar but he couldn't place his finger on it. He opened his eyes to inspect his room and see if anything was breaking, but when he did, the cracking stopped. Ace blinked and looked around in confusion but saw nothing out of the ordinary, even after using his enhanced optical abilities. He then shook it off as his imagination and attempted to continue with his meditation. The cracking started again, louder that time. Ace reopened his eyes and once again the cracking sound was silenced. The bunny tried it a third time. The result was exactly the same. Ace was starting to get uneasy. He shuddered then changed his mind and decided to meditate in the morning and go to sleep.
However, Ace never got to touch his pillow. Without warning, an intense pain overwhelmed him, starting from his chest. It was so sudden he fell off his bed and collapsed into the floor. The pain spread to the rest of his body and he yelled in pain, but the thing was, no sound came from his throat. His voice was silenced as well. Panic filled his heart and he struggled to keep it under control but with no avail. He was terrified, and he knew it whatever was happening to him was dangerous. Then, a huge surge of pain flooded his system, and Ace blacked out after one final silent scream of pure agony.
Rev and Rip had just finished dinner with their parents and went to continue their project in the yard while their parents went out to buy some materials and groceries.
The project was Rip's idea, the younger roadrunner had found a liking to making toys for kids and so their father had given him the job of manager the toy manufacture section of the family gadget business. The toy was based of the Loonatics, a superhero toy action-figure. The original prototype looked human, since most of Acmetropolis was human, though Rev and Rip did consider an anthro design as well. The toy was initially supposed to have at least one superpower of each Loonatic, but experiments in the day proved that it could he a bad idea. After all, what parent would want to let their kid play with a toy that could blast a hole in the wall with laser vision? Or create a huge mess with tornado powers? In the end, the only acceptable powers in the toy were flight, a minor teleportation ability, and minor super strength. There were also magnetic palms, but that was simply due to strong electro-magnets being attached to the hands of the toy.
"It's-turning-out-pretty-well-don't-you-think-Rip-I-mean-look-at-that-design-you-are-gonna-do-great-for-this-now-if-only-we-can-get-those-annoying-glitches-out-we'd-be-able-to-have-a-good-working-prototype-ready-for-the-actual-manufacturing-then-it-will-be-off-to-the-market-with-this-baby-I-just-know-it-and-I'm-sure-the-guys-would-love-the-idea-of-a-superhero-toy-seriously-I-feel-really-honored-that-you-wanted-to-have-something-based-off-us-as-your-first-official-project-as-toy-manager-in-the-family..." Rev blabbed until Rip picked up a cushion from the sofa and tossed it right at his brother's face to shut him up.
"Jeez quit with the fast talk I haven't reached that age yet!" Rio complained in a joking manner. Rev caught his tone and smiled.
"Sorry-Rip-but-I-can't-exactly-help-it-since-the-meteor-hit-Acmetropolis-and-gave-me-these-superpowers-which-made-my-molecules-and-stuff-speed-up-considerably-and-I-was-supposed-to-reach-maturity-next-year-so-I-guess-the-superpowers-just-made-that-happen-a-little-quicker-I-mean-if-you-take-away-my-powers-like-during-that-one-time-with-this-superpowered-creep-called-Sypher-you-would-see-or-more-accurately-hear-that-my-speech-would-be-normal-like-yours-right-now." Rev explained at roughly 10 words per second. Rip stared at him exasperated.
"You did again, and I feel like you've just insulted me." The younger roadrunner complained, but Rev smiled in response as Rip's face held a slight smile hinting the joking nature of his words. The Loonatics member was glad. It had been quite a while since he could spend time with Rip like that. They continued to work on the toy, which wasn't an easy feat, and time flew as they worked. Sooner than they realized, an hour had passed. Their parents hadn't returned yet, but Rip had something else on his mind.
"Hey Rev didn't you say you'd be back at your HQ by the time dinner was finished?" He asked his older brother. Rev looked up from the toy part he had been working on and zoomed inside the house for a quick look at the clock. He rushed back out, flustered.
"Oh-my-god-I-can't-believe-I-forgot-the-time-man-that-almost-never-happens-though-normally-I-don't-even-have-to-worry-about-time-since-I'm-super-fast-and-all-but-the-guys-aren't-gonna-be-happy-with-me-going-back-so-late-maybe-I-should-head-back-already-it-is-getting-late-and-we-could-always-work-on-the-toy-together-some-other-time..."
Rev's stream of words were interrupted by a huge crashing sound and a violent shaking sensation in the ground, which made the cliff the Runners house rested on wobble a little with the strong vibrations. Rev looked in the direction the crashing sound came from and was horrified to see the cliff nearby breaking at its base and crumbling to pieces. It happened again with another cliff, one that was closer to the Runners' home. Immediately the two panicked.
"What's going on?!" Rip exclaimed, and as he did the second cliff broke into rubble. Rev paled and felt his throat dry up. It was happening again. Three incidents in a row that involved falling debris, and not long from the last one either. Only five days apart from the last. It was then Rev realized that something really strange was going on. Then, one of the cliff edges shattered like glass and something unbelievable happened. The broken pieces hovered in the air for a while, then flew straight at Rev and Rip like hungry, frenzied sharks. In his shock Rev grabbed his brother by the arms and took to the skies just as the first boulder, which was way larger close up, hit the ground they had been standing on only moments ago. The other rocks, big and small, attacked the two roadrunners mercilessly, flying at them fiercely and wildly. It was extremely difficult for Rev to maintain his control, speed and balance dodging those while keeping Rip safe as well. Speaking of Rip, the younger roadrunner had become as white as chalk.
"Er Rev, sorry to be ungrateful but take it easy! I'm still shook up from the last time you carried me!" He shouted in a panic as he looked down at the canyon below. Being a bird many would think that he would be fine with heights but Rip couldn't fly like Rev could and his last flight experience did not exactly allow him to enjoy it. Hey, who would want to plunge down towards a solid cement road at who-knows-how-many-hundred-miles-per-hour without knowing whether survival was guaranteed anyway? Basically, it had been a lousy flight. And Rev knew it as well.
"Sorry-lil'-bro-but-you-know-I'm-trying-my-best-not-to-make-you-barf-or-anything-and-instead-trying-to-make-sure-you're-safe-after-all-Ma-and-Pa-will-no-only-kill-me-if-they-find-that-I-let-you-die-I-wouldn't-be-able-to-live-with-myself-if-something-happened-to-you-you-are-my-little-brother-after-all-and-WOAH-" Rev shouted as he dodged a massive boulder, "that-was-a-close-one+;-if-that-hit-us-we'd-be-squashed-by-now-and-not-to-mention-the..."
"REV!" Rip yelled in horror and Rev's left wing was struck by a medium-sized rock. He yelped and lost his focus just long enough for a much larger boulder to hit him and Rip directly. The hit caused Rev to lose his flight ability with his left arm badly damaged, possibly fractured like Ace's leg. It also hit his head hard, but he made sure Rip was barely hit at all, using himself as a shield the whole time. However, there was nothing else he could do after being hit by that. His vision was blurring and he was in so much pain he hardly heard Rip's screams of fear as they plummeted to the ground far, far below. As they did, Rev noticed two last things before he lost consciousness. One was the fact that the cliff his house on was collapsing. The second was the blurry, vanishing figure he saw floating above them.
Back at HQ, Lexi was still waiting for Rev and wondering why he was late when the screams started to echo devastatingly throughout the building. It was Ace screaming. In absolute, pure terror. At once Lexi knew he was having another panic attack and dashed straight for the leader's room. On the way she found Tech and Slam rushing there as well, and a second later Duck appeared behind her.
"Tech what's going on?!" Duck demanded in a tone that sounded both worried and annoyed somehow. Tech told him that he didn't know and that they should save the chit-chat for later. They did and soon arrived at Ace's door. Tech opened it and hurriedly entered. The four Loonatics were met with a devastating sight. Ace was on the floor, clutching his head, screaming in immense pain. Lexi rushed to his side at once. However when he saw her he freaked and grabbed her arm, his grip shaking but extremely tight, so tight Lexi winced in pain.
"Guys y-y-ya gotta..." Ace sputtered with fear and high level of anxiety in his voice, "gotta save Rev...ya gotta save Rev now!"
"What?! Ace what's gotten into you?!" Lexi asked, freaking out as well but managing to control it slightly. Ace shook his head violently and refused to answer her. Instead he kept begging that she would just listen to him and help Rev. "Ya gotta help him! Ya gotta help him! Hurry, hurry or Rev'll DIE!"
Those words seemed to stop time itself. The other Loonatics froze, horrified expressions on their faces. Ace didn't stop his begging, but it was clear he was serious, and Ace had been right the last time. There was truly no real reason to doubt his claim. But the claim was something everyone wanted to doubt more than anything.
"What'cha waitin' for?! GO!" Ace shouted. Tech gave in.
"Alright chief. Slam, Duck and I will go. Lexi, keep am eye on him." The coyote declared. Lexi nodded and no arguments followed, not even from Duck although he looked ready to say something. The three guys took off towards their ship and left the two bunnies alone. Ace was still scared and he was shivering so violently, one hand still cutting off Lexi's blood circulation, he looked like he had completely broken, a mere shadow of his usual self. It made Lexi want to cry, but she knew that would agitate Ace further, and she didn't want or need that. So instead, she hugged the Loonatics leader hoping it would calm him down.
"Ace...Ace please relax. Rev will be fine I promise." Lexi said soothingly, as if speaking to a frightened child. Ace's grip loosened slightly, so she continued with the gentle tone and words. A while later, Ace stopped shaking and looked up at Lexi, but he was still freaking out.
"Lex I gotta tell ya somethin' I..." He said at a speed that almost rivaled the roadrunner's.
"Ace you have to take it easy or..." Lexi interjected, but then Ace cut her off, a sense of rising urgency in his blue eyes.
"NO! Lex ya dun understand I hafta tell ya before...UGH!" Ace suddenly brought both his hands to his chest, and recoiled from Lexi's embrace. He immediately collapsed and started gasping for air. He curled into a foetal position in his torment and the female bunny lost it, starting to yell words he could not clearly hear. His vision was fading already, and he knew he had to tell Lexi that one thing before he lost consciousness, but he never got the chance as a wave of exhaustion hit him and he fell asleep.
Lexi was shaking Ace as she yelled his name and pleaded that he wake up. It was in vain. She didn't know what to do and the others were out so she could ask them for help. She wished Tech was there to explain things, she wished Duck and Rev were there to lighten the mood somehow and she wished Slam was there just to directly comfort her. But they weren't there and they could not just pop in and start saying encouraging things. Lexi doubted even Duck could manage that.
"Okay first of all calm down Lexi, calm down," she told herself, "get Ace on the bed and wait for the others. Yeah that's what you should do..."
With that in mind Lexi pulled herself together and helped Ace onto the bed. She made sure he was in a comfortable position. When she confirmed that, she headed for the door. She glanced at the unconscious Loonatics leader once more, then left and ran to the main room to contact the others. Ace wasn't the only teammate she cared about. Rev was important too.
"Guys how's everything?" Lexi asked.
"Jeez you could have waited a little longer," Duck complained, "We're not even there yet."
"Well sorry for being worried!" Lexi snapped back. Tech told them both to cool it.
"We'll be there soon. Anyway, how's Ace?" Tech asked after giving her the update. Lexi looked away for a second to glance at the hallway that led to their rooms. She then turned back to Tech to give him the full report. However she only managed to get to the part where Ace fell asleep when the coyote looked surprised.
"Fell asleep? Are you sure?" He questioned. The female bunny told him how Ace was trying to tell her something, something really urgent, then he started to feel extreme pain and collapse, but looking like he calmed down, or maybe gave in, before he lost consciousness. Tech went silent and looked disturbingly thoughtful, and somehow guilty at the same time. At that moment, Lexi realized.
"Tech...did you...know something about Ace's condition this whole time?" She asked with dread. Slam and Duck gasped in harmony when the question was asked. Tech avoided Lexi's piercing gaze and said nothing. The female bunny began to protest, so Tech muttered an apology and shut the communicator off. Slam grumbled something with disappointment and disbelief. Duck openly shouted at the coyote for not trusting them. Tech remained silent and took their insults and scoldings. He knew he would have to tell them at some point, but he wished he could have had more time to mentally prepare himself.
Not long after, when the tasmanian devil and the mallard have both calmed down, but were still annoyed, the ship arrived at the Runners' home area. Tech, the only one who had been there aside from Rev, was shocked to see the collapsed structures of rock. Among them, he saw the roof of the Runners' house. Slam and Duck had not been there before, but even they knew that it wasn't supposed to look like that. They too were unable to conceal their shock. At once they landed the ship and rushed out. Duck caught sight of Rev's parents searching around frantically for something, most likely Rev and Rip. He called out to them and they sped over.
"My-goodness-thank-the-stars-you're-here-do-any-of-know-what-happened-and-where-on-Acmetropolis-are-my-two-babies-I'm-worried-sick-just-look-at-the-damage-it-isn't-normal-why-I..." Harriet Runner exclaimed at the same high speed as the youngest Loonatics member, which wasn't surprising as Rev is her son. Tech was the one who asked her to calm down and explain what they knew. Ralph told them, at his usual high speed as well, about how they had been running a few errands in town only to return to the mess they saw in front of them. According to him, the two had only just arrived in the area about fifteen minutes prior to the Loonatics' own arrival.
"Alright, in any case we have to find your sons, it's the only way to confirm that they're okay and what happened." Tech said and no argument was necessary. The five anthros all started searching liked crazy. Slam cleared rocks, Duck teleported here and there, the two roadrunners sped around, and Tech used his scanners to try and locate any living things in the area. About ten minutes later, he picked up something. He quickly zeroed in on the signal and discovered one of the missing roadrunners. It was Rip Runner, and he was in pretty bad shape. He was bleeding here and there, and he was coughing pretty violently. It wasn't as bad as Ace during the latest panic attack, but it was still not good at all. Tech called the rest and they rushed over to Rip, his parents of course getting there first.
"Oh-dear-Rip-honey-are-you-okay-please-tell-me-you're-okay-I-don't-know-what-I'd-do-if-you-weren't-okay." Harriet exclaimed and Ralph immediately added on, "Your-mother-is-right-son-we-were-both-really-worried-I-mean-look-around-you-the-damage-is-so-huge-that-nothing-could-have-survived-let-alone-you-and-your-brother-wait-hang-on-Rip-where-is-your-brother?!"
"Rev he's…you gotta help him…he's over there…under the rocks over there…" Rip answered, pointing towards a pile of boulders. Slam knew what to do at once and set to work clearing the boulders. Duck and Tech helped with some other smaller rocks and such and soon they found Rev. Luckily, there were two uneven boulders supporting a slightly flat boulder just above Rev's head, creating a form of shelter for him and preventing him from getting crushed. He was extremely fortunate to have escaped with roughly the same amount of injury Rip had suffered, with the exception of a badly bleeding arm, the one which had been hit with one of those floating homing boulders. It wasn't broken, but it was the part of him which was in the worst shape. Slam carefully lifted him out and took him to the ship along with Rip, who they found was unable to stand without help. Ralph and Harriet followed them and Tech set the coordinates for Zadavia's base, since they didn't have a medical room in the Loonatics HQ.
"Ace was right about Rev, but how did he know about this?" Duck wondered aloud when he and Tech were in the control room piloting the ship while Slam and the Runner parents were keeping an eye on the two younger roadrunners. He then turned to the coyote, "I don't suppose you know what's going on?"
"Look Duck I'm sorry for hiding it but I didn't want to worry any of you," Tech tried to explain, "Zadavia didn't either, so we both decided we would tell you only after things were confirmed."
"So the boss lady knew too?! Where did she go anyway I wanna give her a piece of my mind!" Duck shouted, but Tech told him that he didn't know where she was. It wasn't a lie, he knew what the mission was, but the location was unknown to him as well. Duck grumbled but accepted the answer, though he did make a minor comment about something Tech couldn't make out. The coyote didn't even try to learn what he said, and like before, stayed silent for the remainder of the trip.
Once they got to Zadavia's base, Slam and the Runners were shoved into the medical room, Tech followed to treat the two injured, and Duck was asked to call Lexi to give her the update. Duck made a comment about Tech being too cowardly to face her after keeping secrets, which was ignored. The mallard was muttering insults and curses the whole time he spent waiting for Lexi to pick up the call.
"Duck? Why are you guys at Zadavia's?" Lexi asked when she saw Duck's face in the communication screen.
"Well, Ace was right, Rev could've died if not for some incredible stroke of luck. We were also lucky we got there in time. The whole place was in shambles." Duck told her. She looked shocked.
"Hey Duck have you noticed something strange about Ace's panic attacks?" she asked him. Duck thought about it but apparently came up blank. Lexi groaned.
"Tech pretty much admitted he was hiding something from us." Lexi brought up, her face becoming a little sour, "and Ace hasn't exactly been completely okay. But did you notice that he seemed to know what was going to happen before it really happened?"
"Um, I'm not following." Duck answered and was gifted with another groan from the female bunny.
"Don't you get it? During his panic attacks, there was no way he could've known what was happening to us the second time and this time with Rev! He knew something bad was gonna happen to us!"
"If that's the case why didn't he know what was going to happen next the first time?"
"I don't know, but maybe Tech does. Has he told you guys anything yet?"
"Not yet sister, but apparently the boss lady's in on it too."
"Zadavia?! She knew too!? Argh! Why didn't they tell us?! Fine, but we'll get it out of Tech after Rev recovers so he can hear it too okay?"
"Got it." Duck replied, agreeing that Rev should know as well. Then he squinted at the screen. "Uh Lex? There's someone there behind you at the hallway door!"
Lexi turned around at once and caught sight of something dashing away from the door that led to the hallway just like Duck said. Without bothering to switch the communicator off, she quickly gave chase, but as soon as she reached the hall, no one was there. Using her super hearing, she confirmed the sound of an automatic door being closed on the same floor and set out to find the source. She searched every room but found nothing. The only other person she could find in the HQ tower was Ace and he was still unconscious, so who was that? Was he or she possibly the culprit to everything?
Whee~!
And this chapter is done. Hope you liked it, and YES! Finally a chapter with over 5000 words! New achievement! Next I will aim for 6000! See you next time and pray that I won't be late again though a should give a fair warning that I may be late as I still have a few bugs to work out in my new computer, which is a laptop by the way. Bye.