A/N: Hooray for sick days! (Sort of…) Never would have finished this in time without them, though. I thought that my teachers were trying to kill me before; now I'm convinced all of nature is working to kill me. (Note to self: flu shots are not a hundred percent effective…)

Anywho, I really like how this chapter turned out. It was a very pro-writing day. A little bit of elbow grease, and I got this gem out! So, the first half is more humor than anything else (I couldn't write it with a straight face,) but there's only a little bit of real plot. The second half is another serious brotherly Runner moment leading to an important but already well-guessed development! So, lots of fun stuff. This one was fun to write, hope you all enjoy it!

Thanks to Molly Grace 16, Halloween Witch, Candlestic, Angelus Draco, and the anonymous Guest for your kind words on the last chapter! You guys are the reason I keep doing this!

Note: This chapter contains one minor, vague-as-can-be, blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to adult acts. I checked FFn's rating guide; it does fall under the T-rating, but I thought I would put an extra warning up anyway. Now carry on.

Upon arriving back at the tower, it quickly became clear to the other Loonatics that Ace had absolutely no memory of anything that had happened regarding the two thieving mice, even going so far as unwittingly poking the frayed nerves of his teammates by asking where Rev was. All but Tech were with the brainwashed bunny on in the living room, trying to fill him in on what he'd forgotten, and seeming to fail when he couldn't be bothered by it, not even batting an eyelash when they told him that Rev had quit. The aforementioned coyote was anxiously pacing around in the kitchen, trying to figure out a potential solution to this new development.

Ace was sitting comfortably in an armchair, watching TV and only half-heartedly listening to Lexi, who was sitting next to him on the arm of the chair as she tried to get him back up to speed with all that had happened. Since they weren't yet sure how to snap him out of the trance, still having no idea on how they'd done it the first time with the men at the recording studio a few days earlier, she figured that so long as he knew about everything that had happened, it would be like he was just fine; he wasn't hurt or anything, just an amnesiac.

"…we only figured out that there were two of them after they'd seemed to have caught Sive, but really didn't, and so- are you even listening to me?!" Lexi asked angrily, noting how Ace's eerily yellowed eyes were glued to the TV and he wasn't acknowledging her at all.

Ace snapped to, but only because he'd been in a relationship long enough to know that when she used that tone, it mean that he was in trouble. "Uh? Oh- of course I am, Lex! I heard every word of what you just said," he replied unconvincingly. Lexi groaned and facepalmed, too concerned to be angry with him. There were echoing sounds of exasperation from the others in the room.

"It's no good, Lexi," Sive stated, shaking her head. "He's like the recording men; they just didn't care about the issue at all until they snapped out of it."

Lexi sighed in reluctant agreement. "I know, but until we figure out how to fix him, I have to try something."

"Who needs fixin'?" Ace scoffed, dismissively waving a hand as he turned his attention back to the television. "I feel fine; da rest of you look fine ta me; Tech seems agitated, but alright; and Rev- hey, where is Rev, anyway?"

Lexi groaned and reintroduced her palm to her forehead, and the crowd on the couch once again echoed the sentiment.

"Hey," Duck began after a moment, a realization only just dawning on him. "If Ace has gone bonkers-"

"I'm fine, Duck."

"-then does this mean I get to be acting team leader?" the mallard finished excitedly. Lexi rolled her eyes and huffed, annoyed that that was what Duck was thinking about at that time. Slam and Sive, on the other hand, were sitting right next to him; the perfect distance to simultaneously smack the egotistical mallard upside the head.

Duck flinched, hands flying up to immediately cover his head in case of any further blows. "What?! It was an honest question!"

"I don't think we'll need to come to replacing him, Duck," Tech interjected as he walked in, giving Ace a critical eye for a moment. Observing no change since he'd last seen the bunny, he turned back to the others. "Could I see you all in the kitchen? Not you, Ace; just stay here."

Ace, halfway out of his chair, shrugged and settled back in as the others followed Tech out of the room. The coyote made sure that Ace's attention really wasn't on them before fully entering the room; he did leave the door open, however, fearing that Ace would wander off again if left unsupervised for too long.

"Please tell me you figured something out," Lexi practically begged as Tech walked in. "Nothing I've tried is working, and I'm out of ideas."

"I might have something," Tech replied, putting major emphasis on the 'might' that seemed to have been lost on Lexi judging by her sudden look of excitement. "I've been thinking about what happened with the recording guys; I don't think this is what we think it is."

"What else could it possibly be?" Duck asked as he settled on a countertop. "That fast mouse brainwashed Ace; what more is there to it?"

"Actually, it was the slow mouse," Sive deadpanned, earning a displeased look from Duck.

"Irrelevant," Tech interrupted sharply, now pacing in a small circle as he tried to peace out his train of thought himself. "It's the 'brainwashed' thing I'm not sure about. I don't think Slo-Mo wipes memories at all; I think it's more like suggestion."

"Huh?" Slam grunted.

"You mean like hypnosis?" Lexi confirmed.

Tech shrugged, continuing his pacing. "More or less, depending on if you're looking at the psychological version or the supernatural side. Either way, while I'm not very familiar with memory wiping, suggestion I know about. The one who, for lack of a better word, 'casts' the suggestion has a way of snapping the other out of it, but there are other ways to do it, namely a sudden shock to one's system, and I think that's what we did with the recording guys."

"So, all we need to do is play Duck's sorry excuse for music again-"

"Hey!"

"-and he'll be back to normal?" Sive concluded, giving Tech a skeptical look. It couldn't really be that simple…could it?

"Not necessarily," Tech stated. "There are a number of 'shocks' we could give him that could work. Loud noise would fall under the 'physical surprise' category, as would other things like scaring him, sudden pain-"

"No," Lexi interrupted, shaking her head, immediately dismissing that one. No one argued with her.

"-and so forth. However, none of that would work on Ace."

Duck raised an eyebrow. "Why's that? Couldn't we just poke him with a knitting needle or something?"

"No!" Lexi interjected again, glaring at the mallard.

"Aside from the fact that no one really likes going around and hurting their friends," Tech began, giving Duck an unhappy look as he explained, "there are two reasons that wouldn't work. One: If we went the pain route- which we won't," he added, stopping Lexi from interrupting again, "we'd have to break his arm or something; in case you haven't noticed, Ace has a pretty high tolerance for pain. Two: It would need to some as a bit of a surprise, meaning he wouldn't be able to see it coming. If you think someone can pull that off, you obviously haven't tried to sneak up on Ace before."

Sive raised an eyebrow. "And you have?"

"Long story," Tech quickly dismissed with a shake of his head. "Anyway, since that option's out, that leaves 'psychological surprises,' meaning things that don't directly affect him but would come across as shocking enough to have the same effect, such as doing or saying something believable enough that he wouldn't immediately dismiss it as a joke but shocking enough that it'll have the desired effect. Which is also why we're in here; he still can't see it coming."

"So, we've just got to come up with something stupid yet believable enough to do or say that it'll snap him out of it?" Duck deadpanned.

"Shocking, not stupid, but yes, that's the gist of it," Tech replied.

The kitchen was silent for a moment as they all thought of things to do or say that could potentially have the desired effect. It took a surprisingly long amount of time; even though it would all be a lie, it was still difficult to think of something to purposely try to shock someone like Ace. Once they had one idea, though, they started coming quicker and quicker. It actually turned out to be pretty fun. Ace had no idea what was going on; some he immediately dismissed as jokes, some he took as mildly shocking yet not as much as it needed to be, and others he wondered if his friends had lost their minds, and though he didn't snap out of it, his reactions were priceless. It was the first fun, relatively team-building thing they'd done since Rev had left; it felt great.

However, after almost two hours and increasing threats to contact the local loony bin, they still had nothing to show for it. They'd done just about everything they could think of; Lexi had told him that they were all out of ice-cream; Tech had warned him that something had gone horrifically wrong in the lab and they only had about thirty seconds until the entire city went up in smoke; Sive had told him that Lexi had told her that she was thinking about breaking up; Slam, not being one for many words, had done a traditional Tasmanian dance, which got laughs from everyone, Ace included; Duck, however, came closest to shocking Ace out of it by suddenly professing his well-hidden, passionate love for the bunny. It was just a little too unbelievable, though, and he'd come back to the kitchen only to be met by hushed, yet boisterous laughter and a shrewd suggestion from Sive that kissing him may have done the trick. (If looks could've killed, Duck would've murdered her a few times over.)

During a lull, when they were trying to come up with more ideas, Lexi was pacing around while the others rested, all having just done 'doing' shockers that hadn't quite done the job. They were all conversing quietly while she walked, but when he suddenly pulled to a halt, all eyes turned to her. The developing smirk that would've made the Grinch jealous clued them in that she had come up with something really good as she walked out of the room. Not wanting to miss a moment of what was to come, the other four took up their established positions on either side of the doorframe, Sive and Tech on one side and Duck and Slam on the other, and intently listened to what was going on.

Lexi, calmly walking up behind Ace, stopped a moment to get her face back under control as she tried to adopt a nervous expression. Once she had succeeded, she slowly walked up to Ace, carrying herself with as much apprehension as she could muster. If this didn't work, she was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

"Uh, Ace?" she squeaked, getting his attention. The yellow bunny was about to roll his eyes in preparation for something else ridiculous coming his way, but stopped when he saw just how panicked Lexi looked. "C-can I talk to you about something?"

He nodded, muting the TV as Lexi took a seat on the arm of the couch next to him. "What's wrong, Lex?"

She inwardly smirked; while he still couldn't be bothered about anything relating to the thieves (or Rev), he still responded to some things. Outwardly, though, she was able to increase her worry. She remained silent for a moment, building the tension for what was to come. "…Okay," she began quietly after a moment, gradually giving her voice more gusto as though she was building her determination. "I have something really important to tell you, but I'm not sure how, so I'm just going to be blunt, okay?"

Ace nodded in agreement, now also looking worried. She went silent for a short while again, letting the anticipation rise once more before taking a deep breath, looking Ace in the eyes, and saying as calmly as possible, "Ace, I'm pregnant."

You could hear a pin drop in both the living room and the kitchen at that point. Ace looked like a fish, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to say something, thought better of it, then restarted; Lexi was desperately trying not to laugh. The crowd in the kitchen were still getting over the shock, mouths and eyes wide open, but eventually joined Lexi in desperately trying not to laugh out loud.

Their valiant efforts ceased, however, when they heard a loud, ringing, "WHAT?!" from the living room followed by exuberant laughter from Lexi, clueing them in that it had either worked, or that their cover was blown, anyway. While Ace, eyes now back to their original hue, was still trying to process what he'd just heard, more laughter joined in with his now-laughing girlfriend. Lexi was obviously trying to get control of herself again to explain everything to him, judging by her vague hand gestures, but wasn't really getting everywhere. The group from the kitchen slowly filtered in; Duck quacked onto the couch, holding his stomach and kicking his legs; Slam stumbled in, doubled over in his laughter; Tech, though more composed than the others, was pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to stop tears; Sive just fell through the wall, landing on the floor and also holding her stomach while tears escaped her eyes.

Ace had no idea what to make of any of it.

"Am I…missin' somethin'?" he asked after a moment, though his team was no more composed than before.

"Yes!" Duck replied in a quick gasp.

Tech was, naturally, the first to compose himself and explain themselves. "Well, chief, you got hit by Slo-Mo's suggestion, remember?"

Ace thought for a moment, some things still seeming vague before clearing up. "Oh, yeah, dat. I take it dat da plan didn't work, den. But…what does any of dis have ta do with it? And does dis somehow explain da past couple of hours?"

"Yes, it does," Sive replied, picking herself up off the floor and, though still giggling a bit, joining the others. "Tech concluded that the only way to snap you out of it was to give you a shock."

"Sneaking up on you was out," Duck added, laughter finally subsiding.

"N' pain," Slam wheezed.

"So we had to get creative," Lexi concluded, straightening up. "None of that was actually true, Ace."

The bunny let out a relieved sigh, holding his hand to his chest dramatically. "Thank God!" he exclaimed, wisely choosing to avoid the topic of having children before continuing. "For a minute dere, I thought Duck was in love with me!"

This sparked an all new round of laughter (this time, Duck not included,) which didn't subside for a while, once it did, though, they were left with one issue still standing.

"So, what do we do about the thieves now?" Lexi asked. "We've tried everything, haven't we?"

"Not really," Tech replied, shaking his head. "What we've been doing is setting one trap; maybe we should start thinking about two."

All but Ace seemed lost; like the leader they were used to, he was right on top of things. "You mean start thinkin' about them like two separates instead of one, right?"

Tech nodded. "We need to separate them. Jet's impulsive, and Slo-Mo is slow; they balance each other out. Separate them…"

"Easy targets," Sive concluded.

xoxoxoxox

His parents had thought long and hard about actually buying their home when they'd first found it. They were planning on having kids, after all, and most parents would agree that having a cliff in the backyard didn't make for a safe, child-friendly environment. They were flightless birds, after all. Despite what common sense dictated, though, they'd bought the house, and hadn't really had an issue with the sudden drop off until Rev had brought Tech over the first time- not that the Runner parents found any issue with it then. Their children had been absolutely terrified of the long drop when they were growing up, proving that it had been a good choice in home despite the potential danger in the yard.

Now, however, Rev couldn't find himself bothered by the potential of the few-hundred-some-odd foot drop just below him as he sat on the edge of the cliff, legs dangling as he stared at the full moon high above and the cascading shadows from the rock formations far below. After all, he wasn't so flightless anymore.

"I was wondering when you would come back." Rev didn't even flinch as his brother's voice rang out from just behind him; he had heard the back door open and close as quietly as the younger Runner could manage.

"Shouldn't-you-be-asleep-it's-like-2-AM," Rev asked, still not taking his eyes away from what most would have considered a breathtaking nature scene. He couldn't find it in himself to be moved.

"Actually, it's closer to 4, and I could be asking you the same thing," Rip deadpanned, joining his brother on the edge of the precipice.

"Hey-what-are-you-doing-you-could-fall!" Rev exclaimed, full attention now on his younger brother.

"As could you," he deadpanned, smirking at his now mildly agitated older sibling.

"You-can't-fly," Rev shot back.

"You'd catch me if I fell." Rev couldn't honestly deny that, and he saw no merit in lying like that just to win a petty argument, so he didn't say anything and turned his attention back on the sky.

"…Nice night," Rip said after a moment, trying to keep the conversation going.

"I-didn't-notice," Rev replied honestly.

Silence settled over them, but they both knew it was only a matter of time until it was broken. Many things needed to be said between them; Rev knew Rip wouldn't leave it unsaid, and Rip knew Rev needed someone to drill it into his head if he wouldn't accept it himself.

A gust of wind blew over the house, slightly ruffling their feathers and reminding Rip that he didn't run as warm as his sometimes literally-flaming brother; another reason to stop putting this off. He was more used to being spoken to by the voice of reason, not playing the part himself; he had no idea what he was doing. However, he did know that his brother needed him, and he wasn't just going to leave him behind on his own. Rev had come after him; he'd do the same.

"Rev," he began, sounding uncertain of himself, "you're not happy here. I'm not the most perceptive person, but if I can see it, it's obvious. I don't know why Ma and Pa can't; they've changed over the past couple of months. About a week before they went to Acmetropolis to get you, they suddenly changed; I didn't exist again, and you were the focus. I don't know why it happened, but all I know is that between us, you definitely got the short- well, shorter end of the stick, and I'm done watching it go on. You need to go your own way, Rev, before they suffocate you."

"But-Rip-they're-our-parents," Rev reiterated unsurely, the same weak arguments as before. "I-can't-just-pretend-they-don't-exist-ignore-what-they-want-"

"Yes you can," Rip interrupted. "People do it all the time. That argument's not going to work Rev; you think that they're just trying to do what's best for you, and for whatever reason, they can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that what they want for you is killing you inside!" Rip shook his head. "Rev, you shouldn't-can't, do this anymore."

"Rip…"

"Rev, you know I'm planning on taking my own advice?" Rip asked, effectively silencing his brother. "I've only stuck around this long to make sure I knock some sense into you and get you to go back to your friends in Acmetropolis. As soon as you're free, I'm shipping out."

"W-where?" Rev stuttered incredulously, shocked that his brother was already planning this far.

"Hell if I know," Rip replied with a shrug. "Maybe to Detroit; I have a whole bunch of college buddies who live out there. I could room with one of them for a while, get a job as a project manager for one of the car companies real quick. I'm not sure yet. All I know is, the second I'm sure that you're out, I'll be hot on your heels."

Rev didn't speak for a long while. This put an entirely new spin on things; by staying, he wasn't only hurting himself and the team he'd left behind, he was hurting Rip, too. By leaving, though, he'd hurt his parents. It was a two-sided sword.

"…One-thing-that-really-bothers-me," Rev said after a bit, startling his brother out of the extended silence, "is-that-as-a-kid-you're-always-taught-that-family-comes-before-friends-and-everything-else-so-how-could-I-ignore-my-family-just-to-go-back-to-my-friends?"

"Don't I count as family?" Rip deadpanned sarcastically before moving on to the real issue. "Rev, family doesn't always have to come first, especially when your family is the one causing the problem. They may say that they care, but it's the ones who really, honestly care about you that you should pay attention to."

Rev chuckled with no real humor. "Funny," he said quietly, mostly to himself, "Tech-said-almost-the-exact-same-thing-to-me…"

Rev thought it over a little more. Rip didn't move from his spot as silence descended upon them once more, wanting to give his brother a chance to say anything else he wanted to before seeking warmth inside the house.

"…I-think-I-just-need-to-think-over-that-statement-a-bit-more-before-I-decide-anything," Rev concluded. Despite the fact that there was no resolution, Rip was pleased; this showed promise.

Mentally patting himself on the back, the younger Runner stood up. "I'll leave you to it, then; it's freezing out here."

He turned and started walking back to the house, but was stopped when Rev called him back.

"Rip-I-know-that-this-isn't-really-relevant-to-this-conversation-but-I-noticed-this-earlier-and-it's-been-bugging-me-for-a-while-and-I-think-you're-the-only-one-who-can-clear-it-up-for-me."

Rev wasn't facing him, so Rip could get away with rolling his eyes at the return of his brother's long-winded rambles. He wouldn't complain at the return of something normal, though. "Sure, what's up?"

Rev turned to face him. "Has-Pa-been-drinking-by-any-chance?"

The younger Runner looked perplexed. Well, he thought, that came out of left field. "Not more than he usually does, meaning once in a blue moon. That would explain his behavior somewhat, though, wouldn't it?"

Rev smiled a little. "Yeah-I-guess-it-would-but-then-what's-Ma's-excuse?"

"They're in it together!" Rip mock-declared, being overly dramatic and degenerating into laughter afterwards. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh-no-reason-really-it's-just-something-I-noticed-while-we-were-arguing-earlier," Rev replied dismissively, turning back to the scenery. "His-eyes-just-seemed-a-little-yellow."

A/N: I don't know what my schedule will be like in the future, but it will definitely be almost if not exactly two weeks from now at the latest. (President's Day weekend road trip, and I now have a phone with 3G! Don't know if I get a connection in the middle of nowhere, though…) Anyway, there's only 3 chapters max. left! …Shockingly short, for me. The next chapter will either be mostly action with a Runner family interlude, or the Runners will be in the one after the next chapter and the upcoming one will be all action. Lots of fun to be had either way!

Please review!