Chapter Nine

"What?" Ace questioned dangerously, his eyes narrowed once again.

Rev and Danger glared as well, baring their teeth and looking like predators ready to pounce.

It was easy enough to guess who Twin was referring to with his little pink friend comment. And none of the remaining Loonatics were even remotely pleased.

"Oh, you didn't know about my little run in with girlie girl?" Twin remarked. "Guess she didn't want anyone knowing about such a humiliating defeat then." He taunted.

The next thing he knew, he found himself on the receiving end of one optic blast after another, as well as a stream of rapid fire power orbs.

The attack took Twin off his feet, sending him crashing through the support he had been leaning against only moments ago and pining him against the wall behind it. The barrage continued till the balcony above collapsed, crumbling down on top of him.

A silence fell over the area as the dust settled. It was then that the lights inside the house suddenly started to flicker, just before coming back online full strength.

Something screwy was definitely going on here. However, the Loonatics had little time to think about it.

A stirring sound from beneath the destroyed balcony, quickly reminded them that Twin wasn't finished just yet.

"That, is, it." Twin rumbled as he dug himself from the rubble. "Time for all you Loonatics to go on ice, permanently." He uttered darkly as he shoved aside the last of the rubble in his path.

"You're not about to take all three of us, even as Slam!" Ace challenged.

"Of course not. I haven't had time to adjust to using his powers." Twin said. "But then, no one ever said I would be the only one fighting you." He added as he pressed a button on his belt.

Seconds later, a strange looking figure shot high into the air from the opposite side of the house, landing midpoint between Twin and the Loonatics, shaking the ground upon impact.

From up close, it was easy to see that the lanky nine foot figure was made of metal. Its hands were abnormally large, big enough to wrap around the torso of your average adult human.

Its fingers were pointed at the tips. Its forearms and the lower part of its legs were similar in shape to the matching pieces of the Loonatics' armor, but were considerably larger. The upper part of its arms and legs appeared to be capable of extending and retracting. Its head was distinctly human shaped, with long metallic tendrils for hair. Its colors were varying shades of metallic gray.

"I'd like you all to meat my associate, Valerie. Also known as Valve. She is the one who freed me, in addition to installing the generator which is now powering the cryopods in my basement. She is also the one who will help me place you in those pods." Twin explained.

"Yeah? Well she doesn't look all that tough. We've dealt with robots and monsters nearly twice her size before." Danger remarked.

At that, Valve's hand abruptly shot out, pining him to the ground.

"Not a robot... Cyborg. My brain is human." Valve corrected as she held Danger down at the end of her currently extended left arm.

"Got it." Danger croaked, his tone restricted by the weight upon his chest.

He quacked away as quickly as possible, leaving the now empty hand embedded in the ground as Valve attempted to anticipate his new location. Exploiting the distraction, Ace moved in to strike the extended part of her arm with his sword, but was noticed. She caught the sword with her other hand, countering with beams from her eyes which sent Ace flying.

A bolder sized power orb suddenly impacted Valve's back, knocking her to ground. She quickly rolled to her back and fired a large needle from her wrist, striking Danger in his left shoulder.

Rev joined the fray and began running circles around Valve, causing a small whirlwind to surround her. She rooted herself to ground with one hand, then placed the other in Rev's path, snatching him up. She raised him as high as her arm could extend, preparing to slam him to the ground, but was knocked off balance by one of Ace's optic blast before she could. Ace fired again, but she was ready the second time and kept her balance. She then retaliated by hurling the roadrunner towards his leader. Ace attempted to catch him, but was merely bowled over by the impact.

"Yo Stella!" Danger called from his perch on the roof. Valve's head immediately turned all the way around to face him. She was greeted by a face full of binding yolk. She instinctively attempted to remove it with her right hand, only to get it stuck, leaving her all the more open to attack.

"Your move guys!" Danger called down to Ace and Rev.

Ace grinned, but also took a moment to think. None of their attacks had managed to do any damage so far, so what was it going to take to bring down this Valve character he asked himself. He quickly devised a plan, but he would need someone to clear the area and provide a distraction.

"Rev, I want you to get Slam outta there. Then go give our friend some dancin' lessons. Berlin style. I'll take care of the rest." Ace said.

Rev nodded, realizing what Ace was getting at. He then got back to his feet and went to work.

As instructed, he scooped up Slam and deposited him a safe distance away from the house. He then returned and charged into Valve's legs, tripping her up and sending her crashing to the ground.

"Do something Gwyneth! I can't see!" Valve exclaimed on the verge of panic.

"Just use your flame thrower to burn it off!" Twin replied, annoyed with her stupidity. At that, Rev appeared.

"Wait a sec, did she just call you Gwyneth? Cause that would technically make you a girl. Which would be totally weird since you look just like a guy right now. Of course, you could just as well be a guy who's name happens to be Gwyneth. Which would also be pretty weird in itself. I mean, who in their right mind would name their son Gwyneth? Unless of course they wanted him to get beat up and develop some kinda mental problem later in life." Rev remarked rapidly.

"Rev! Clear out!" Ace called from the jet's pilot seat. Rev promptly obeyed, just before a hail of weapons fire erupted from all manner of energy weapons that were currently deployed from various parts of the jet. Twin managed to escape the attack, but Valve was hit head on.

Ace ceased fire after roughly a minute, then waited for the smoke to clear. Before it could fully dissipate however, Valve's hand suddenly shot out, puncturing the front of the jet.

"Uh-oh." Ace muttered to himself, knowing that no good could possibly come of this development.

At that, Valve's arm started to retract, jerking the jet forward roughly. Things quickly took a turn for the worst after that.

Minutes later, back at the Loonatics' home base, an urgent call from Ace's wrist-com came in. Tech answered it immediately.

"Tech, we're gonna need some serious backup over here!" Ace said. "Slam's down, Danger's been injured, the jet's been disabled, and none of our attacks are doing any damage!"

"What are you up against?" Tech asked, attempting to determine what kind of equipment he should bring.

"A cyborg and a shape shifter." Ace said as he continued fighting mid conversation. "I'm thinkin' your powers might come in handy on the first one." He added.

"I'll bring my new electro magnetic pulse cannon just in case. It should take care of the cyborg if my powers alone aren't enough to do the job." Tech said.

"Just get here as fast as you can. And bring a med-kit!" Ace said.

"I'm on my way!" Tech replied, closing the com channel and dashing out of the room.

(A.N) I was able to complete this chapter sooner than expected. Guess that means I write faster without the medication.

On a separate note, I've made a slight revision to chapter eight. It's right towards the end of the conversation between Ace and Danger. I intended to change it even before originally posting the chapter. But it sort of slipped my mind.

And one more thing, if any of you happen to be willing artist, I'd love to see some illustrations for this story. If you have time.