Chapter 14: The Trap

While Duck and Rev's teams headed back into city centre, the team led by Lexi on the south side was running into a real tricky problem and they were being kept too busy to solve it quickly.

Tech, Tweetums and Lexi had dispatched a great number of B-Dog Annihilators, who had broken into the Acmetropolis First National Bank. Unfortunately, they kept reassembling themselves as soon as they had been dispatched thanks to Mastermind, Tech's former university colleague who used her powers to put androids back together as soon as the Loonatics took them apart wearing the team down quickly.

"We've got to do something to stop her or we'll drop from exhaustion." Lexi warned as went into a somersault to avoid a laser beam fired by one of the androids.

"Maybe we should just even the odds a bit and teach that mean old lady a lesson, guys… back off and let me try something!" Tweetums ordered them and then began to grow to an enormous size. Very quickly he was tall enough to touch the ceiling. Wasting no time, he began to stomp on the androids like they were ants and kicked their pieces everywhere making putting them together more difficult.

Mastermind was so stunned by this turn of events she failed to reassemble her army she until he nearly destroyed them all. Shaking off her shock, she concentrated and assembled most of the androids into one as big as Tweetums. The android proceeded to punch out Tweetums. Not to be outdone, the ruler of Blanc gave as good as he got.

"Thought you were so smart… well I'm smarter… try to defeat that Loonatics!" Mastermind laughed as her android pounded Tweetums.

"I think it's time you started picking on someone your own size, Mastermind!" Lexi snarled at the criminal then gave a quick order to the giant bird. "Tweetums, get down!" As soon as he shrunk back to normal size she used her Ballistic Bunny Blast on the huge android blasting it to pieces breaking Mastermind's control.

Tech who had slipped up close to her, attempted to use a new gadget to trap her. Unfortunately, despite her being busy reassembling parts to throw at Lexi and Tweetums, Mastermind had caught sight of Tech and made one of her androids fire everything it had at the coyote.

Tech was vaporized but before she could gloat over her success, he regenerated before her shocked eyes.

"Sorry, Mallory, but you can't kill me that easily." Tech told her as he used his magnetic powers to send bits of androids at her to cause a distraction while his team mates snuck up on her.

"Is that the best you can do... you dog?" She smirked cruelly as she had her few remaining androids destroy the debris before it reached her.

"No, but my luck is about to change." He said grinning at her coldly.Before she could make sense of what he meant, Lexi slipped up behind Mastermind, shot a leg to her back, sending her flying where Tweetums used his levitation power to keep her suspended in the air, startling her so badly that she lost her concentration. In those precious seconds, Tech was finally able to fire his new device.

It was actually a portable and stronger version of the confinement crystal he had created to contain Mastermind in her jail cell. The Glassix-Prison Bubble surrounded her in a crystal orb, effectively neutralizing her powers. With her abilities cut off, the androids fell to pieces

"See? I was right, I told you that my luck was about to change and one more thing, Mallory, for the last time, I'm not a dog, I am a coyote!!!" Tech snapped angrily, has he pushed a few buttons on the control device for his latest creation. "I set a few codes so that the only ones able to free you are us or the police. Have a nice day, Mallory." He said with a smirk.

With Mastermind out of commission, Tech and the others went back outside to see if they could do anything else in that part of town. The police arrived to take Mastermind into custody and reported no more criminals in the area. Climbing on her Zoomatrix, Lexi tried to call Zadavia to find out where they were needed next only to be met with silence. This wasn't good but before they could discuss what this might mean and take some action there was a sudden loud explosion a few miles away. Fearing criminals were destroying something they set off at high speed for the source of the noise.

What they were about to find out was the explosion had been caused by their leader, Ace. He, Sylth, and Slam had run into Weathervane who was using her powers to make buildings explode from a build up of static electricity within its structure.

They managed to put her out of commission by using Slam's icy breath to freeze her. But before they could arrest her, the Ringmaster and Otto the Odd appeared holding a frightened young woman captive. The Ringmaster threw her on the ground and before she could scramble away, Otto pulled something from his pocket and fired it at her.

That something was a smaller version of the "DNA Fusing Machine". When the beam struck the poor young woman it altered her DNA and fused it with several different creatures. She was transformed into a three hundred and thirty foot monster. She now possessed the head of a shark, the body of a lion, the paws and feet of a tiger, and the tail of a dolphin.

The three Loonatics gaped at the incredible looking creature in shock. Of all the things they had encountered as a super hero team, they had never seen anything like this before."So, tell me, Loonatics… what do you think of my futuristic version of the Chimera? Don't you think it's my greatest masterpiece so far?" Otto said evilly, a look of triumph on his face.

"Honestly? I think you're nuts just like your henchman, there. In fact, people shouldn't be calling you Otto the Odd but Otto the Crazy, doc!" Ace said making fun of the crazy scientist.

"Heh heh heh... very funny, rabbit, but let's see if you and your friends continue to laugh when my Chimera starts to rip you apart... limb by limb. Attack!" He ordered his creature.

At the sound of Otto's voice, the monstrous beast lumbered toward Ace and the others. The ground beneath its huge paws shook like an earthquake with every step it took.

Terrified people began running for their lives as the three Loonatics prepared for the battle of their lives. They ducked out of the way of those massive feet before they could end up as pancakes.

"Blalaghgrhaghag… What do we do now?" Slam asked worriedly."Beats me, Slam! I've fought against angry Gossamerians, reptile centurions, even killing androids, not to mention, facing almost every kind of trap to grab Tweetums, when I was a hitman, but I've never faced an opponent this big and, personally, I don't know how we can stop him… Sufferin' succotash! Watch where you put your feet!" Sylth said anxiously as he narrowly avoided being crushed.

"When we faced the Ringmaster's monstrous form he was four times smaller than this beastie and we had the whole team when we tackled him. We've got to return that poor girl back to normal and since I don't know if Tech thought to bring his DNA De-Scrambler along on this trip were going to have to do what we did the last time with the Ringmaster." Ace said grimly. "So listen up guys… Slam, you know what to do… Sylth, you get ready with some Retrofire Master Blasters. Once Slam has that thing captured in a tornado, you shoot at it continuously. Got it?" He asked. Both Slam and Sylth nodded and got ready to go on Ace's command.

They quickly got into position. "Go Slam!" Ace shouted.

Slam started to spin madly forming a tornado around the beast, trying to create a vortex in the centre so his team mates could execute their strategy. In a matter of seconds, the beast was surrounded by a huge purple tornado and Ace gave Sylth the signal to start shooting.

Ace divided himself into six then used their laser vision to strike the beast hoping to make it reverse its form. The plan seemed to be working until Slam was thrown out of his tornado causing it to dissipate in a massive sonic boom that knocked them all off their feet.

Ace returned himself to normal as he got to his feet. Apparently, the plan wasn't going to work this time.

"Dang, the creature is just too big for that to work like it did against the Ringmaster." He said in dismay. "We really need Rev and Swift to add their abilities to Slams to be able to make this work. Let me try and reach Zadavia and have her send them to us." Ace said activating his comm. but there was no response. "Okay, that isn't good! What could have happened to Zadavia?" He said aloud.

A loud roar grabbed their attention. The Chimera had forgotten them and was now destroying everything in its path. They really needed their team mates.

"Well if we can't get Zadavia then I'll try and raise my team myself," Ace muttered.

Just as he began to engage his comm., Rev and Swift arrived on the scene racing toward them like twin lightning bolts. Not far behind, Lexi and her team arrived and on their heels the rest of the Loonatics appeared. Lexi drove up beside Ace and stared at the wild looking creature.

"Please, tell me that isn't what I think it is, Ace." She said gaping.

"If you're thinking that thing isn't a giant mutant beast who had been a normal person until Otto scrambled her DNA then I'm afraid that it really is what you're thinking it is, Lexi." Ace said sarcastically.

"God, sometimes I hate it when I'm right about something." Lexi groaned.

"What do we do to stop that monstro, Ace?" Swift asked.

"Since we don't have a DNA De-Scrambler, the only way I can think of, is to do what we did last time to revert the Ringmaster back to normal. We tried it once but this thing is bigger so it will take all of us to try and change it back. So… Slam get ready to make a tornado again but this time, Rev… you and Swift are going to spin around Slam as soon as he's got the tornado going. Go at your top speed. The rest of you with energy abilities prepare to shoot at that thing and those that don't… grab some Retrofire Master Blasters and fire with everything you got." Ace said, laying out his battle plan.

"Everybody got that?" He asked and received quick yeas and nods. "Then let's do this Loonatics. Slam... go to it!" Ace shouted his command.

Slam raced to the Chimera and began to make his tornado again. Rev and Swift waited till Slam had it going really fast then began to match him and raced around making the tornado spin even faster. Rev went into his 'Phoenix mode' and turned the tornado into a fiery column. The rest of the Loonatics took up firing stances around their whirling team mates. Ace split into six again with the rest of his team spread in a circle. "Fire!" Ace commanded as he shot off his laser beams. Lexi fired her Ballistic Brain Blasts, Duck sent his Morph Orbs at it, Tech used his Magnetic Power, Pinkster altered his arm into some kind of blue plasma and fired with it, and Patricia used her Sonic Scream. Sylth, Tweetums and Mimi used two Retrofire Master Blasters a piece and fired steadily at the beast.

Inside the tornado, the Chimera slowly started to revert back to a normal girl again. As soon as the transformation was finished everyone ceased firing and Slam, Rev, and Swift slowly let the whirling tornado die down.

Fortunately for the Loonatics, Otto and the Ringmaster were too stunned by this raw display of power to do anything but watch in disbelief."How dare those infernal animals stop my beautiful creature?" Otto shrieked in anger not noticing that Rev and Swift had moved faster than the eye could follow, to stand behind him and the Ringmaster. He blinked in shock when he turned to escape and was met by the mouse and roadrunner. "What...How did you get here so fast?!" He blurted in surprise.

"Aw! Now that would be telling! If we stayed here talking about it, I would have to explain it to you in slow motion, and since we don't have the time, or the disposition, don't ask us." Rev smirked as he and Swift used their Gluco-Gel devices to encase the criminals before they could get away. The police, who witnessed the battle, quickly took them off their hands.

"Looks like this is the end of the show for you two!" Tech said as the police hauled them away.

"Well, now that they are in custody, what's next, Ace?" Patricia asked Ace who was trying to contact Zadavia again and again failing to make contact.

"Mmm… I don't like this. I've tried to reach Zadavia four times now and still nothing." Ace said in concern.

"I tried to reach her too, before we came here." Lexi said, now even more concerned than before.

"Maybe your communicators are broken." Sylth suggested cautiously.

"I don't think so… but let's do a test and see if anyone else is having trouble reaching her. Everyone try and contact Zadavia with your communicators." Ace ordered.

All of the members of the Loonatics tried to contact Zadavia, and one by one, received no response. They were beginning to feel this wasn't a coincidence. Zadavia was probably in danger.

"I don't like this one bit! Zadavia's in trouble...I know it!" Tweetums said what they were all thinking. "I'm afraid that that mean old evil ex-queen of my planet is behind all this…"

But before Tweetums could finish his sentence, an electric harpoon passed right in the middle of them, almost hitting Duck. Duck became hysterical, looking frantically around for the culprit.

From around the corner of a building across from them, Electro J. Fudd stepped out, scowling at them as he reloaded the weapon that had shot at them. Behind him was Ophiucus Sam mounted on his mechanical mule. He shot a couple of bullets into the air and yelled like a banshee. "Yihaaaaaaaaaa! Now that was a nice shot, partner!" He cheered.

"What awe you talking about? I missed… I wanted to shoot that lousy duck." Fudd snarled at his companion. "But I never miss twice and this time, I'm going to shoot that wascally wabbit!"

Once he got his ammunition in his weapon, he fired another harpoon aiming for Ace. Fortunately, the Loonatics had spread out after the first attack making it difficult for Fudd or Sam to get them as easily as they nearly did by surprise.

Duck was the first to react as he shot a few morph orbs at the pair but missed them both.

Now that the battle had been actively engaged, Sam ordered his mechanical mule to run for it and Fudd activated his rocket boots to get out of the reach of the approaching Loonatics. Ace knew they had to capture the pair before they could regroup and get a better chance at trying to take the super team again.They all hopped on their Zoomatrixes and raced after the fleeing pair. As they got closer to Sam he began to fire on them forcing them to duck and jet out of the way, slowing them down. Ace signalled Lexi, Rev, and Mimi to take a different route on the right of them then he signalled Tweetums, Sylth, and Duck to do the same on the left. They planned to catch the pair in a pincher movement. Sam and Fudd failed to realize the group behind them had dwindled from twelve to six and that the others were paralleling them on other streets.

When they entered in a tunnel, Ace and his team increased their speed to nearly catch up to the criminals. Sam continued to fire at them haphazardly trying to take out some of the Loonatics. It was Fudd, however, that had finally realized they were in trouble and quickly devised another plan as he and Sam continued to run.

He pulled out a different weapon that fired what looked like some kind of plasma net. Ace had been watching for an attack from Electro so was ready with his Guardian Strike Sword. He cut the net to pieces as it nearly settled on them.

Angry at his failure, Fudd sped up and Sam did the same so that they were racing at a very high speed when they shot out of the tunnel. Coming at them from two different directions were the rest of the Loonatics. At the rate of speed Fudd and Sam were doing, they nearly crashed into the super heroes who nearly smashed into each other when the criminals shot past them, but they managed to brake in time before an ugly mess could have occurred. "Hey, why don't you be more careful? You almost crashed into us!" Mimi shouted, a bit shaken by the near miss.

"You were the ones who were speeding as if you had a monster after you!" Sylth growled angrily.

"Guys, guys… If you want to argue then you better do it later, because we still have to grab those two!" Ace snapped at them. "Now come on, they're getting away!"

Ace tore off speeding after the crooks with the rest of the Loonatics spread out behind him. The two villains thought they had lost them, but quickly heard the roar of the Zoomatrix. Cursing they tried to out run them.

"Those damn Looneytics are starting to get on my nerves! Faster, you bloody mule!" Sam snarled at his mount which tried to go a little faster.

"We have to stick to the pwan, wemember? Follow me! That wascally wabbit and his fwiends are going to be in for a sueprise." Electro snickered grimly as he closed his helmet.

Fudd turned left with Sam following him as fast as he could. Soon, they found themselves racing toward an abandoned factory. The place was falling apart and it seemed it wouldn't take more than one small punch to bring the whole thing down like a house of cards.

As he got close, Sam blasted one of the doors open and raced inside with Fudd, the Loonatics close on their tails. Inside it was dim and gloomy with barely any light coming in the filthy windows. It was a maze of crates and other heavy equipment. The Loonatics turned on the Zoomatrixes lights. Swift led the way using his night vision abilities to guide them through the maze that the pair of criminals had somehow disappeared into."Stay close to me, mi amigos… they went that way!" Swift said as he signalled them to go to the right.

After being in the maze for about ten minutes they finally caught up to Sam and Electro, who seemed to have trapped themselves. The Loonatics stopped their vehicles about 25 metres from where the two criminals huddled, scowling at them.

Ace climbed off his bike followed by his team mates. They approached the pair warily. Stopping some fifteen meters from the pair, Ace gave them an ultimatum.

"Looks like the end of the race for you too! Now here's your options and I'm only going to say this once... choose the easy way and tell us where we can find Queen Granicus and the rest of her crew or... take the hard way and we'll force you to tell us what we want to know!" He told them bluntly. "So, which is it going to be?

"Hah! No way are you going to arrest me, you pests. I'm gonna blast you into the other side of the Universe, or my name's not Ophi… iccy… whatever! The point is that you're all dead meat, rabbit!" Sam snarled coldly pointing his weapons at them.

"You're out your mind, if you think the universe's greatest hunter is suwendering himself to you wascally wabbit! As far as I'm concerned...it's now wabbit season!" Fudd said cooly, firing his weapon at Ace causing him to leap out of the way.
"Why do these guys never choose the easy way? It's like if they have a part of their brain that refuses to accept that they are a bunch of losers and that the good guys always win in the end. Duck snorted, sarcastically.

"Never mind that, Duck, we got bigger problems!" Lexi shouted as Sam joined Fudd in firing at the Loonatics.

"Don't worry, I'll stop them… Just stay here," Sylth said as he engaged his invisibility powers and ducked and dodged his way to the pair firing at them. Any shot that did reach him bounced off his nearly invulnerable hide. Just as he was about to lay his paws on them, he was hit by a strange purple lightning bolt.

The rest of the Loonatics paused in their hiding places in shock.

'Now where the heck did that come from?' Ace thought, searching everywhere for the weapon that had fired on them.

Before Ace had a chance to come up with a plan, the purple lightning bolt struck down all his team mates in quick succession. Nearly everyone was struck down in a matter of seconds except for Duck and Ace who were hidden too well.

"Where the heck is that purple lightning coming from?" Duck whispered, asking the same question Ace was thinking.

"Don't know, Duck but I think we better keep moving and see if we can find out. Right now we're the only two left." Ace hissed tightly, getting ready to move to a new location but before he could move he noticed something. "Hey! Where'd Fudd and Sam go to?" He asked uneasily."Maybe they thought those lightning thingies would hurt them... oh!" Duck yelped then lost consciousness when he was struck from behind.

"Duck!" Ace exclaimed as he made a move to check his companion then gasped as he too was struck causing him to fall onto Duck.

Once all of the Loonatics were down and out, Sam and Electro reappeared from behind a tower of crates. Behind them came General Vector, General Melvin and his faithful canine companion, Sgt Sirius. The mechanical dog barked at the Loonatics lying on the floor. From around another set of crates came what was left of the B-Dog Annihilators. They came close and stopped, awaiting orders.

"That was way too easy!" General Vector smirked, pleased the plan had succeeded.

"Indeed it was. I have to admit for such hotshot opponents they were still ridiculously easy to defeat. We were just too superior for them." Melvin admitted, as he looked down on Duck and Rev.

"Yes, you're absolutely right, Melvin. We were always superior to all of them." A figure said triumphantly as it walked out of the shadows near them. Queen Granicus had a smile of pure evil satisfaction on her face and held the Dark Scepter in her hands. It was this that had taken down the Loonatics with ease. "Vector, order your androids to pick up the Loonatics and bring them along. I've got a little surprise for them before we finish this party. Believe me, when I say, this surprise will be a blast, not only for those miserable Loonatics, but for all the people on this insignificant planet!" She gloated as she led the way out of the warehouse.