Loonatics: United

Episode 59: Attendance

Tech and the rest of the Loonatics were reunited at the lounge, having already put on their suits. Tech was trying to calm himself down before telling them the situation, breathing in and out slowly. He finally looked at his team. "Alright…" He sighed. "Some time ago, I put a tracker on Susan, just to b…"

Some of them raised their eyebrows and expressed concern. "Man that's like…very weird." Duck opined.

Tech rolled up his eyes and looked at them with a subtle frown. "…with her permission." He clarified and they now expressed understanding. He sighed and kept explaining. "The tracker's alarm activated." He looked at them with a pleading face. "That means she is in danger."

"Don't worry, Doc." Ace approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll save her."

Tech nodded with thankfulness at him then at the others. "Then we have no more time to lose."

Susan was just walking in the hallway, glaring down. Her ear twitched when hearing explosion noises at the distance, she then looked through the window and let out a sigh. "Please…hurry."

"Yeah! Tear them apart!" Dan exclaimed while shooting acid at the huge, bent copper pipelines that covered one of the many energy stations of another industrial area they had sneaked in.

Darcy was shooting at the several security guards that tried to approach her and her group, they easily defeated them with their powers as the guards had no gear or weapons to confront them, the several acid attacks burned them and killed them instantly. Darcy laughed mockingly while attacking them along with the other workers. "Really!?" She aimed both hands at a guard that tried to approach her, a panther, she killed him with a brief shot of acid and the guard fell down lifeless among the other victims. Darcy laughed again while seeing the dead guard, pointing at his corpse. "Oh, did you really think you could fight me?!" She pointed at herself with her thumb then raised her gaze and saw more guards coming from afar. She let out another laugh. "Bring it on!" She hurried towards the horde of guards followed by her group.

"Tear them apart!" Dan exclaimed, still shooting at the pipelines of the energy stations, which were already showing signs of damage. "Come on!" He insisted with struggle in his voice, the group kept shooting acid at it and without warning, it exploded, but not visibly, the expansive wave hit Dan and his group, some of them died by the strength of the hit. Dan coughed and slowly started to stand up, glaring at the destroyed pipeline. The light on the upper part of the station, which was practically a small, blue building, started to fade out then it went off completely, he smirked while fully getting into his feet, seeing how the other stations were shutting down, having been affected by the explosion, row by row. He chuckled with success and got in front of the remaining members of his group. "Don't you just stand there!" Dan made his hands glow and shot acid at the sky. "Embrace this! Enjoy it!"

Tech was leading the team as they all flew with their jetpacks, constantly hearing the sound of the tracker on his suit, the beeps started to get more constant when reaching the first factories of the industrial zone, so he just maintained the same direction. "We are close!" Tech informed, instinctively looking down while hearing the beeps, which rhythm briefly went faster and then slower again, that's how Tech knew they had passed right above the place so he turned a bit and when hearing the faster beeping again he flew down towards the facilities below them. The rest just followed him. He focused his gaze on the large window of the building he spotted, he kept advancing with his jetpack with a frown of conviction. Tech finally approached the window and rapidly got his feet against it, the impact broke the glass easily and that way he got in the hallway, landing over the floor and deactivating his jetpack. He had heard a scream so he glared at his left, gasping when seeing his girlfriend, who was standing just a couple of meters ahead.

"Tech!" Susan said with relief and ran towards him.

Tech gasped and went to meet her. They hugged each other with tears on their eyes. "Susan. What happened?" Tech said with a broken voice.

Susan was crying deeply. "I helped them." She sobbed, resting her head on his shoulder. "I helped them…" She kept crying.

"Hey…" Tech slowly broke the hug and cleaned the tears on her face. "I'm here…" He briefly looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of the team arriving through the broken window, then they approached him and Susan. He looked back at her, stroking her face with both hands. "We are here, hon." He hugged her again and let her cry a bit more. "Okay." He undid the hug and looked into her eyes, still stroking her face. "Just tell us." He glared at his friends.

Susan sobbed. "Thos…" She breathed in. "Those hyenas have powers and…they wanted to make more like them." She shook her head. "And…" An explosion at the distance interrupted her, Tech and the team looked sidewards for a moment by the noise. Tech returned his glare to her and she kept explaining. "They forced me."

Tech stroked her cheek. "What did they do to you?" He said with noticeable anger.

"They…" Susan sighed with frustration. "I'm not so sure, but it…" She sobbed. "It hurt so much."

Tech clenched his fist. "Then I'll be the first one to put them in place."

Susan kept sobbing, a bit softer. "I made a serum, with blood of one of them." She looked at the team with hopeful eyes. "There should be lots of them already." She sighed. "But there's something I didn't tell them."

"What is that, hon?" Tech inquired.

"I poured an inhibitor on the serum." Susan explained. "The effect will only last a couple of hours."

Tech let out a very subtle chuckle of relief. He hugged her. "Smart move, hon." He kissed her cheek and looked at her proudly. "Then we just have to keep them occupied."

"The problem is…the hyenas." Susan added. "Their powers are permanent."

"Well…" Tech looked at the rest of the Loonatics. "Pretty much like the previous ones."

Susan exhaled with relief and hugged his boyfriend once again. "Just be careful. These guys throw acid or something."

"Acid?!" Duck looked frightened, but then he made a gesture of disinterest. "Meh, we've dealt with worst."

Tech chuckled. "Don't worry, hon. We'll be alright." He caressed her face. "Stay here and don't come out, okay?" Susan just nodded at him, he gave her a brief kiss and looked at Ace. "Boss?"

"Loonatics…" Ace looked briefly at his comrades then glared though the broken window, seeing the clouds of smoke that could be seen from the distance. "Let's jet!"

The Loonatics rapidly flew out of the building with their jetpacks, heading to the smoke clouds, they went through them, strong smelling and opaque, and when they exited from them, they spotted the workers destroying the chemical sector of the area they were messing up with, shooting at containers and destroying warehouses from the inside. "How in the world will we find these gu…" Duck glared a bit to the left and saw Dan and Darcy standing over the rooftop of a warehouse.

"Don't leave a single building standing!" Dan had his hands raised. "Show them your fury!"

"Well…I would bet that's them." Duck looked at Ace.

Ace nodded at his comrade and started to descend. "Alright, team. Split. Tech, Rev and I will deal with the hyenas. The rest of you, keep the others distracted."

Duck chuckled cockingly and thundered his fingers. "Distraction is my second name." He smirked at the scene.

Rev raised an eyebrow and looked at Duck. "Oh, really? Because I remember one day you told me it wa…"

"Shut it, Rev!" Duck warned. "It is a secret!"

"Oh, sorry man I didn't want to reveal that your second name is…" Rev was interrupted by Ace.

"Are you ready? Let's ruin this party!" Ace stated as they arrived at the situation.