Loonatics: United
Episode 68: Unforeseen Chatter
A medium sized ship was parked on the rooftop next to the team's jet, it was black colored and had a 'C' and a 'W' inside a circle painted with red spray paint on its sides. Ray was standing in front of it, his hands trembled, he was sweating inside of the suit.
The Loonatics were hiding behind the jet's propellers, poking their heads out to watch over the scene. Duck had his eyebrow raised, trying to figure out what was exactly going on. "What you think they could be, aliens? Robots?" Duck inquired.
"Alien robots?" Rev added.
"Silence." Ace ordered. "I think we're about to find out." He looked at Slam, he gave away himself a bit more by his height. "Hey, crouch a bit more, big guy." Slam grunted and just obeyed his boss.
The ship's ramp finally started to open, going all the way down until reaching the ground, making a silent noise. No one came out for a long moment, until the silhouette of the snow leopard started to show up on the ship's dark inside, slowly revealing himself. He walked down the ramp with slow steps, having his hands behind his back, walking towards Ray with a subtle smile on his face. Duck noticed the rustic designs of his bodysuit. "And the prize for worst costume goes to…" Lexi hit his side with her elbow, making him to gasp. "Hey, chill!" He murmured.
The snow leopard approached Ray, he studied the looks of the suit while walking around him, nodding occasionally, then he stood right in front of Ray, waiting a bit to speak. "Mr. Robson." He chuckled. "I thought you had obtained the shield."
Ray gulped. "Uhm, I did, but…" He looked away from his eyes, even if he couldn't notice it by the face shield. "…the Loonatics."
The snow leopard sighed then nodded. "I feared you would deal with those freaks."
"Freaks!" Duck murmured not so silently now, getting hit by Lexi again. "Ouch! What have I done to you, girl?"
Ray lowered down his gaze. "They destroyed it." He then looked at the snow leopard again. "But the suit is intact." He turned a bit to show him the jetpack. "As well as this."
The snow leopard had a straight face, he narrowed his eyes while studying the looks of the suit again, letting out a sigh of acceptance. "Accidents happen, I guess." He smirked subtly, Ray felt relieved with his statement. "Alright, Mr. Robson. Let me try it on."
Ray nodded. "Sure, just…" He pressed the 'on' button at the arm and the suit began to open, its parts moved slowly until letting Ray get out with a pair of steps backwards.
"Impressive." The snow leopard said and walked around the suit, stopping behind it, ready to get in. "So, I just…"
"Walk in." Ray answered. "The suit will do the rest."
The snow leopard did as Ray said, the suit then began to adapt to his body until it sealed completely. "Hmm." The snow leopard noticed the face shield's cursor, finding out it moved with his eyes. "This is what I would call…" He pressed both of his index fingers and with that the jetpack activated, making him to hover. "…intuitive." The snow leopard lowered himself down and deactivated the jetpack.
Ray was rubbing his arm anxiously. "So…"
The snow leopard cooked an electric orb and lifted his open hand to observe the blue projectile that was permanently surrounded by lightning. "This is the key." He spoke to himself. "We got everything we need now."
Ray could only think about Alumia and the treatments he would get there. "Uhm, mister...about Alumia, well…"
The snow leopard was still gazing at the electric orb's composition attentively. "Oh…yeah, about that…" He turned and backed his arm. "I lied!" The snow leopard threw the electric orb at Ray, who could only let out a brief gasp before the orb hit him and started to electrocute him, he screamed strongly by the great pain while laying over the ground, shaking and yelling. The snow leopard laughed at him for a moment then turned and ran into the ship, rapidly hurrying over the ramp, which closed fast, then the ship hovered briefly over the rooftop and accelerated towards the sky, getting out of sight rapidly.
Ace gestured at Ray while looking at his comrades. "Come on, we gotta help him!" He commanded and ran towards Ray, who was still getting shocked by the electricity, even if it was starting to fade out. He approached him and crouched a bit, unsure of what to do.
"You can carry him, boss! Remember that our suits are coated!" Tech intuited what Ace wanted to do. "I'll ready the jet, I'll attend him in the HQ!"
Ace carried Ray rather hesitantly, not being affected by the electricity that surrounded him. The lemur was now only letting out brief, weak groans and gasps. He turned and gave a quick glare at the rest of his team. "You heard him." He and the others headed to the jet, which was ready to go. They entered the vehicle and sat down on their respective seats, except for Ace, who sat down over the floor at the bottom of the backside, resting Ray gently against the wall. "We're good to go, Tech!" Ace commanded.
"Roger that, boss!" Tech replied and closed the doors with the press of a button then activated the jet's engine and made it to hover. The Loonatics then finally left the building.
Ray was laying over the infirmary's bed, he was slowly opening his eyes, the sight was blurry at first but then it went clearer, he raised an eyebrow as he didn't recognize the place where he was, looking at the white ceiling and walls, the advanced medical equipment and the lab that could be seen from the large window. He noticed he was still wearing his regular clothes as he had easily figured out he was indeed at a infirmary. He lifted his back while rubbing his face, resting one hand on the bed's side, sighing with tiredness. His ear twitched when hearing a door opening, he gasped slightly and looked at his left, seeing Tech approaching him, offering him a glass of water. Ray looked at him with confusion, refusing the offer at first. "It's just water." Tech said coldly. "Don't worry."
Ray was still cautious, but he was feeling thirsty so he finally took the glass and drank the water with hesitation, maintaining his glare on Tech's. He put the empty glass on the small table that was next to the bed. "Thanks." He said with the same cold tone.
Tech looked at him for a moment then grabbed the metallic bench that was on a corner next to the door, getting it in front of the bed and sitting down with his arms crossed. "Alright, first things first. What's your name?"
Ray wanted to give him a fake one at first, but he knew it was useless at that point. "Ray."
Tech nodded and offered him his hand. "I'm Tech, Tech E. Coyote." Ray shook his hand shyly. "Okay, Ray. Start where you want." He got himself comfortable over the chair.
"Uhm, sorry?" Ray inquired.
Tech sighed. "Why did you steal the suit, the shield? Etcetera, etcetera." He replied. "That snow leopard, the one who attacked you, who is he? What does he want?"
Ray took about a minute to think on the questions, deciding to just start from the very beginning of it all. "About a year ago, I was diagnosed with terminal lung spastism." It was hard for him to talk about the matter, but he continued anyway. He let out a brief, unexpected chuckle. "I'm young, you know? I didn't want it to end there. I did some research, well, a lot of research. I found out there were advanced treatments for my disease out there, but…" Ray sighed. "Not here, not in Acmetropolis." His gaze was on the floor. "Alumia, that's the place I needed to go. I could've gone there right away if I had the…" He mimicked like if he was moving cash with his hand. "…means." Ray stood silent for a moment. "I thought there was no way in the world I could get there, I just had a little job at a call center, not as an assistant, I was the guy who fixed the wiring, the phones and all of that stuff, kinda prehistoric technology, so, it was an easy job." He looked at Tech. "But I quit, because it made no sense for a dead man like me to wake up early every day just to earn a few credits, credits that had a slight chance of ever being spent." Tech thought Ray was deviating a bit from his questions, but he let him go on with his story. "So, for many days, or weeks, I don't remember, my day was pretty much just laying over my bed, coughing, staining it with blood." Ray chuckled a bit. "This illness sucks, man." He kept explaining. "I…I thought every hope was gone for good, until he contacted me."
"Who?" Tech was getting impatient to knowing the point.
"The snow leopard. He never told me his name but I didn't care that much about it, he caught me when he said they could help me…if I helped them." Ray explained.
"Them?" Tech inquired.
Ray nodded. "They call themselves the 'Chaos Warriors', I think he is the leader or something." Ray answered. "They told me they could give me what I was looking for, I'm pretty sure they hacked my network or, maybe they were spying on me…" He sighed. "I don't know, but, I was too desperate to reject their offer." Ray glared away again. "A full treatment in Alumia, a cure for my disease. It was the only chance I had, so I took it." He lowered his gaze. "It was simple, they wanted to steal Obelus Technologies exosuit, and they needed someone with my abilities to steal it successfully…not only that, but some upgrades too."
"They knew you were good with technology." Tech assumed.
Ray chuckled a bit. "Of course I'm good. But not exactly, well, yes, they counted on that." He sighed. "But I got a dark past, you know? When I was just thirteen, I learned how to hack every security system on the city, from a simple door to a high security chamber." He explained. "Bad people…and good people looked for my services." Ray let out another silent chuckle. "I promoted myself with encrypted messages all over the net, so, it was just a matter of time to have a good customer portfolio willing to pay the necessary to get what they needed. Almost all of my jobs were for industrial espionage, I didn't know that thing even existed." Ray looked again into Tech's eyes. "The thing is, that these guys knew that past of mine, even if I did everything I could to wipe it out." He said. "I accepted their offer, I went for the suit, the upgrades, well, you already know that." He lowered his head and sighed with great disappointment. "And it was all a lie." Ray was clenching his fists, thing that Tech noticed. "They lied to me. He lied to me." Ray was slowly cracking his teeth by the impotence he felt. "He used me."
Tech stood silent for a moment, scratching his chin while looking at Ray, thoughtful, reflecting on the answers he now had. Ray could be lying, but he believed in his words. "Ray." He said, getting the lemur's attention. "The suit, why did he want it?"
Ray sighed while rubbing his forehead. "I'm not sure, nothing good, of course. Something about, uhm, revolution, destruction, those are the words he said back when he contacted me." Ray covered his face with both hands and let out a long sigh. "That's all I know."
Tech looked away for a moment, knowing he had to tell Ace all of what he just heard, at least just the snow leopard's ambiguous yet definitely evil intentions. But there was something else he could do. "Wait here." He stood up and started to press his comm while walking out from the infirmary.
"Where are you going?" Ray asked rather confused.
Tech looked at him through the window. "I need to make a call."
