Chapter 9: Race Against Time

The machines were going crazy. Ace looked around wildly and spotted her heart monitor. Where there had once had been a steady beat, there was now a flat, unyielding line. He panicked, and was thankful when Tech ran in, having set an alarm in his room if anything happened.

The genius coyote deftly took two of the shocker thingies (Ace couldn't remember for the life of him what they were called), flicked some switches, and zapped her. Her heart line stayed the same, and Tech tried again. He got the same results.

Ace could only back up and watch as his second-in-command slipped away from him, feeling a rush of horror and unimaginable sadness as tears welled in his eyes.

She glided to the light, where her father was standing beside golden gates. He had on his kind smile, no trace of the fatal damage that had been caused by the explosion that had killed him. She ran up to him and tried to embrace him, but fell short.

His smile turned sad, and he said in a warm, loving voice, "My daughter, it's not your time. You must return." She could feel tears running down her face. "Why?" she asked, "Don't you love me?" He replied, "Of course I love you, my dear, but there is someone down there who loves you more…" And he drifted away, ignoring her efforts to try and catch him.

"Don't leave me!" she cried, but she could feel herself slipping away…

Ace could see through blurry eyes that Tech's attempts to save her weren't working. He had to give credit to his friend for trying, though, no matter how fruitless it was. Ace was just going to have to learn to cope with the grief that consumed him, and make Tech the new second-in-command.

Then, suddenly, Lexi gasped, opening her eyes and coming back to life with a jolt. She started gagging on her breathing tube, so Tech quickly put up the shockers, and injected her with a sedative so he could get it out from her throat. "Atta girl, Lex," he murmured as he watched her relax and her eyelids droop, sliding the needle out of her.

Relief overwhelmed Ace, and his tears became that of joy. She had fought back, and lived. Tech busied himself making her more comfortable for when she woke up from whatever he gave her, and his leader fell into a chair, unable to hold himself up anymore.

When Tech finished, he gave Ace a look that said, "No one needs to know about this," before he left the room. Ace nodded, and slid his chair closer to Lexi, wiping his tears from his face. When her eyes opened again, he would tell her everything.

Lexi had a massive headache, but she wanted to know where she was. This hard mattress didn't feel anything like her bed in her room, and she hurt everywhere. Her rib felt like Ace had kicked her a bit too hard at practice.

She cracked her eyes open and blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the light. When she was as focused as she could get, she looked over to her right and saw Ace. Her heart fluttered in her chest, and a strange beeping mimicked it, beat for beat. He looked up, worried about something, then returned his gaze back to her.

Her chest seemed to constrict when she saw him, like, really saw him. He had dark circles under his eyes, and they were bloodshot. She tried to reach up and touch him, but something was tugging at her arm. She looked down, and saw a needle protruding from her wrist. She had to repress a scream, because she hated needles with a passion.

She attempted to pull it out, but Ace made a tsk, tsk noise, and grabbed her hand away. She turned her head back to face him, and he grinned.

"Welcome back," he whispered, winking at her. She smiled, but her heart dropped, figuratively speaking. She was hoping maybe that Ace was the one her dad said loved her more than he. Guess not.

She let her gaze wander, recognizing she was in Tech's lab, on a gurney of some sort. It was rather uncomfortable, and she wanted out of it as soon as possible. She could feel a throbbing sort of pain in her midsection; what had happened?

Just as she was about to ask, it all came rushing back: the video, Pierce, the trade, the fight, and the escape. She didn't remember anything after seeing Ace run over to meet her, so she must've passed out.

Then the scene with her father. She bemusedly realized that she had to have been dead, for at least a while. She was alive now, though. Tech would've made a great doctor, she reflected, since he had miraculously brought her back to life.

Also, she came to terms with what she knew had to be done. She had to tell everyone about her past. For now, she would just start with Ace, as he was the most understanding. She knew that he was intrigued about her, but he didn't push it, so she kept quiet.

She had to fill him in on the life of Lexi Bunny, pre-Loonatic.