Merry Christmas (Or any other holidays you might celebrate) everyone. I know it's been awhile, sorry for the wait; midterms mutilated me this year (I hate having eight classes). My art final, alone, took four days to complete, but c'est la vie (French was hard as well) I hope the long wait hasn't tortured you all obvious sarcasm nudge
I feel bad…Slam's character is so hard to do and I feel like I'm making him do all the grunt work. And I think I'm making Tech sound like such a mother hen. He has to take care of everyone… jeez sigh.
To answer some questions, yes this will be an AcexLexi paired fic….
Oh and SpaceJam's the movie with Michael Jordan and the Loony Toons. Where they play basketball. I was hoping that by watching it I'd get some inspiration.
I don't own Loonatics Unleashed.
Lexi knocked on the metal door and waited for Ace's voice to allow her entry. She stood in the hallway, carrying the large tray of food that Slam had graciously prepared. Lexi tapped her foot, waiting just a little longer before she finally decided to barge in.
While balancing the tray in one hand she pressed the keypad and opened up the med lab door with the other. She looked into the room, and noticed that Ace was spread across the bed, asleep. Most of the bed covers were shed, and strewn along the floor; the rest were haphazardly placed below his waist. Lexi smiled at the sight and watched his chest rise and fall evenly, alerting her that he really was resting like Tech had instructed.
She placed the tray of food gently on the night table that stood next to the bed, and took a seat in a nearby chair. The coyote had suggested taking shifts to make sure their stubborn leader was getting plenty of rest, instead of training like he would have been had they not locked the door at night or kept him under constant surveillance during the day. Lexi's eyes rose from his chest to his face, looking sadly at the bandages that covered the handsome features.
Tech had informed them not to worry; that Ace's injuries were not as bad as they had thought; the gash had not been too deep, and that it should heal completely in about two weeks. Ace's energy had returned the day after he regained consciousness, but Tech kept insisting he stay in bed for at least three days.
'Meaning he'll be up and about by five tomorrow morning…He can be so stubborn sometimes. I just hope Tech finds that cure he's been working on before it's too late.'
Ace woke to the strong smell of iodine and the sweet sight of four starch white walls. Using these clues Ace deduced he was in a hospital.
'Great,' He thought sarcastically, 'I love hospitals.'
The door to his left creaked open loudly, and a small head popped through.
"You can come in Emily." Ace rubbed his sore eyes, glaring at the IV that had been stabbed into his hand, and greeted his girlfriend. The purple rabbit sat down, a frightened looked crossed her face.
"Oh my god…Ace, you're black and yellow!" Ace blinked and looked at his hand again, rubbing the black fur that covered it. "Ace, do you have any idea how worried I've been?" She asked, her tone changing from worried to furious.
"As worried as someone can be when a giant comet crashes in a city?" His jab only angered her more. Ace laughed nervously and rubbed his aching neck. "Well I'm okay, right?" He asked. Emily looked at her own hands, her face drained in color at the simple question.
"They don't know. Your current DNA doesn't match any of your previous records. Ace, the back wavefrom the comet somehow mutated your genes. The doctor's heard from other hospitals that say a few others have the same case as you, but you're the first to wake up so far," Ace twisted the fabric of his hospital shirt, picking at the fuzz with his fingers. Emily was silent for a while until she bravely decided to speak again. "Ace, we need to talk." Ace grinned sadly, knowing full well what this was about and had, frankly, seen it was coming.
"Well this can't be good." Emily glared at him again for his all-knowing tone.
"I met some one last month…I've known him since high school and we dated for a bit a while back. I saw him at the coffee shop downtown and we really hit it off again," She paused, waiting to see what Ace would say. When he said nothing she continued. "His name's Conner." Ace snorted, he knew that name quite well.
"Well I hope you two are happy together." Ace didn't even wince from the harsh sting in his words…but neither did Emily.
"I've been meaning to do this for a long time Ace. Maybe if you weren't always hiding in you work our relationship could have continued," Ace snorted and continued to glare out of the frosted hospital window. "I'll come to pick up my things later. The doctor said you could leave whenever you wanted. Nothing's broken or in need of stitches, but they'd like you to come back in a week. Here." She handed him her apartment key and stood up.
Ace tried to stand as well, but leaned against his pillow when his sore back cracked under the strain. Ace stared at the key, gripping it loosely between his fingers.
They both jumped when the door swung open, slamming against the wall and making an obvious dent. A large red fox walked through the frame, finally knocking the lopsided door off its loose hinges.
"Ems, you dump the rabbit yet? I wanna get out of this town before they decide to evacuate the damn place," The fox, who was apparently Conner, glared at Ace before extending his hand. "Sorry, buddy. Looks like you've been dumped." Ace glared back but took the hand, giving his own snide remark.
"Oh well, at least I know she didn't choose anyone better looking than me," Ace squinted his sore eyes. "How old are you anyway, doc? Fifty?" Emily winced when she heard a slam against the opposite wall. She knew Conner was self conscious about his age and that he could also sometimes be violent; bad combinations for someone like Ace.
"Ass hole. You should be grateful you're in a hospital cause you're gonna need it after I'm done with you." Ace slapped his head and groaned, his oblivious lack of fear showing.
"Jeez, you'd think that with that big head of yours you could come up with better threats. That one's ancient." Ace's sarcasm only fuelled Conner's anger, and earned him another slam against the thick white wall.
"Ems told me you were a stunt double not a damn comedian," He looked back at his new shocked girlfriend and said, "Maybe that's why you dumped him, you never did have a good sense of humor."
Ace's eyes began to burn in anger, and all the while Conner's thick fingers tightened around his throat; the panic he felt before was growing stronger. A flash of light and a loud crash echoed through the quiet hallways of the large hospital. Ace fell to the floor, the small panic attack taking his breath away and drawing his eyes down to the tiled floor.
"CONNER!" Ace's eyes remained on the floor. The strongest scent of copper he'd ever encountered filled his senses, making his thought process clumsy. His eyes burned again, this time tears threatened to spill from the eyes that lifted, meeting the sight that he had, somehow, created.
"Oh my God…" His voice strained, barely heard above Emily's hysteric sobs. Conner lie, prone, in the middle of the tainted red room. Blood covered his still body, and Ace knew the fox was dead.
"What did you do?" Ace watched her scream, his enhanced eyes taking in every detail of her distraught features. Tears coated Emily's sad face, and her small fingers clung to Conner's bloodied shirt, as if it was the only thing keeping her up right.
"What the hell did you do, Ace?" She screamed again, burying her face in Conner's hair. Doctor's began to pour in, the blasts that, in Ace's mind seemed to have sounded hours ago, alerted them to the murder he had mistakenly caused. The burning only increased with the added stress the doctors brought, and Ace felt another wave of panic rising.
His quick feet rushed him towards the window, and flung him off the fire escape. His breath caught when he hit the ground, but he pushed the fear away until two blocks later it consumed him. He stopped in an alleyway, and emptied the contents of his starved stomach behind a foul smelling dumpster. After nothing came up, and he was only left with dry heaves he tried to stand; his legs, however, seemed in no mood to cooperate; having just run a fair distance, and began to shake with pain.
Ace's knees hit the ground hard; the cuts that he hadn't noticed before stung upon the harsh contact, making his teeth snap together, and his breath come out in a painful hiss. He rolled up his pant's leg, ignoring the fact that the blood from the fabric clung to his newly darkened fur, and examined his injuries. Two twin cuts lined the top of his knees. Ace sighed, and rolled the hospital pants back down, staining his shirt when he rubbed the blood off his fingers on to the thin article.
He willed the erratic breathing back down, pinching the bridge of his nose to, hopefully, stop the pounding that continued to assault his eyes. He brought hisarm back down to stare at the fur covered limb, the blood from Conner's wound seemed to pour down from between his black fingers.
He shot up, his legs obviously forgetting their earlier protests, and flung his already sore body against the opposite alley wall.
The breathing Ace had tried so hard to stifle came back full force as another panic attack hit him. Pain seared across his eyes, and he could feel his blue orbs spinning, almost loosing consciousness as they rolled into the back of his head.
In a desperate attempt to keep the pain away from his eyes he focused it to his skull, slamming his head against the thick brick wall behind him. The part of his mind, that wasn't screaming in pain, told Ace that he had to remain calm and just tell the police it had been an accident. He wasn't even sure what had happened, but seeing the big brute's lifeless body on the cold hospital floor was something Ace had never wanted to witness.
His breath hitched again, his long ears barely picking up the faint sound of an Acmetropolis's patrol car siren. Ace staggered over to the alley's opening and down the street, looking for any signs of the cop car. It wasn't long before several pulled up and surrounded him, their blaring lights nearly blinding his sensitive eyes.
"Freeze and put your hands in the air!" A man yelled, holding a stun blaster in his hands. Ace's arms flew above his head immediately. The more he cooperated the less they could blame him for later on. One of the cops walked towards him, slowly pulling out a pair of handcuffs to bind him with from her back pocket.
As she approached Ace he tried to sort things out, still keeping his hands in the air as a sign of peaceful obedience.
"I didn't mean to; I swear. I don't even know what happened. I didn't mean to do anything!" The woman didn't look all that convinced as she pulled his arms down and placed the cuffs tight around Ace's thin wrists.
"Ace Bunny, you are charged with the murder of Conner Anthony William. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an…" Her voice drifted away, drowned out by deep breathing that would count as the third panic attack he'd had that day.
They wouldn't listen. Ace would be going to jail and he still couldn't figure out how he had managed to kill someone twice his size and stronger than he would ever be. The sirens and bright lights continued to violently assault his senses, until the searing pain beneath his eyes returned. The flash of light blinded his vision, but didn't deafen his ears. Ace could hear a loud explosion; one that was so close he could feel the shock against his fur, but it got rid of the cops; that, Ace was thankful for.
Ace ran back down into the alley; speeding through the twists and turns that made up the slums of Acmetropolis.
"Ace, wake up." Ace opened his eye; the dull lights of the med lab formed a sort of silhouette around a thin figure. Once his eye adjusted he saw that said thin figure was his only female teammate: Lexi Bunny.
Ace sat up, careful not to stretch anything that would unintentionally undo all the work Tech had done for his wounds. Ace tilted his slightly throbbing head down to stare at the food Lexi had brought; a hungry look placed itself on his face, only matched by the loud protests his stomach gave off. His companion smiled and set the filled tray on the bed, giving a warning that it may be a bit hot.
Ace paused in his consumption, and looked around the medical lab. It looked the same as it had been every time he woke up; the only difference being the fuzzy edge was gone that had, earlier, surrounded his eye. The rest of the tower sounded quiet, though he couldn't tell since he was without Lexi's amazing hearing ability. Ace swallowed the mouthful of bread, and risked a glance at his friend. Lexi sat in silence, her chin rested in her hand, and her eyes diverted outside; past the window on the far wall.
"So, where is everyone?" Ace questioned, drawing her from the slight daze she had lapsed into. Lexi grabbed the glass of water from the bed stand, and handed it to Ace.
"Tech and Rev are in the lab… I'm not really sure what they're up to, though," She lied, "Duck and Slam went downtown to pick up supper, and I'm in here with you." Ace nodded, taking the answer to be acceptable, and continued to drink his warm soup.
After ten minutes of drinking and coughing, more drinking and more coughing, Ace finally decided his throat could take no more and he place the bowl down with a slight air of finality. He sighed, feeling the small breath scratch his sensitive throat.
"Lexi…" Lexi looked back up from her magazine, and at Ace with acurious glance.
"What is it Ace? Do you want some more water?" Ace shook his head and leaned forward, away from the support of the metal headboard, and leaned his weight on his bent arms. Ace chose his next words carefully, and said them slowly, trying his best to sound innocent.
"I…I could get it myself Lex."
"No." Lexi said, immediately looking back down at her magazine. Ace let his head loll to the side, groaning while his long ears flopped in his face.
"Lexi, come on. Don't make me beg. I'll do anything!" Lexi tried to ignore her friend's pleas, but soon found it hard when Ace snatched away her magazine.
"ACE, give that back darn it!" Ace laughed and tutted, waving a finger in her face.
"Let me out, please. I promise I wont even go near the training room and I'll take it easy if I feel even the least bit woozy." Lexi thought about it for a moment, weighing her options. Tech had told the team three days, and that would be tomorrow, technically, but Ace seemed fine now; and had been since yesterday morning; except for the slight dizzy spells.
"Fine, but I'm going to be watching you . all. day. long." She put extra emphasis on the last three words as she helped his from the bed.
"I'd hoped you would say that." Ace gave her a small wink, his usual grin set on his bandaged face. Lexi just rolled her eyes at Ace's flirtatious display, having grown accustomed to it a long time ago. She staggered next to Ace, moving slowly so he could get his lost equilibrium back. His legs were shaky, having already hurt them in the fight; then not walking on them for a few days only made it worse. But Ace's legs became used to the pressure soon, and Lexi let him walk by himself, knowing it already embarrassed him to require her assistance.
The two rabbits walked down the hallway, waiting silently as they stopped for the door leading into the main room to open fully. Ace smiled upon entering that familiar room, laughing when he laid eyes on the sight of Slam and Duck fighting for food.
"Hey docs, what's up?" His question brought up surprised looks from his other teammates, causing Duck to stop in mid punch, his fist barley missing Slam's ear. Slam called out something seemingly unintelligible, but Lexi understood and smiled.
"He says he's fine. You try arguing with him. I just hope Tech's not mad."
"I don't care, really. I just don't want to hear him complain later of headaches," The group turned around, looking at the door where Tech's voice originated. Rev stood next to the scientist, a rarely placed, subdued look on his tired features. Tech also looked a bit worn, but he was used to working around the clock; Rev wasn't. Tech smirked and walked into the room, taking his normal seat at the messy table. He looked back at his leader, his eyes scrutinizing Ace's somewhat pale features.
"I noticed you coughing this morning, you up to eating noodles and pot stickers?" He asked, waving one around in the air. Ace smiled back, and nearly jumped to his seat.
"Hey, anything's better than soup."