I honestly didn't expect this many reviews when I posted this story. I'm not sure why, I just didn't. But to those who have read and reviewed (or emailed, or IMed), I appreciate it very much! Thanks a lot you guys! I'm glad to know that there are people who don't mind taking the time to read my story.
Anyway, I hope this chapter is good enough. I did my best on this one. Now, to answer some stuff from reviews:
fanfictiongoddess - Tech fan! Thanks for the review! If you'd like to mst my story, I guess you can. I don't mind too much.
I think that's all the comments I had. Anyway, here's the second chapter.
The mechanical whirl of the door opening and closing gained the attention of the four already there as their two other members came in, locked in some kind of discussion.
"But-are-you-sure-you're-okay?-I-mean-you-were-under-that-for-a-really-long-time-even-before-I-saw-it-weren't-you-so-maybe-you-should-take-a-rest-and-make-sure-that-everything-is-really-okay-y'know-just-to-be-sure.-Can't-take-too-many-chances," Rev said as he followed behind the coyote.
"Rev," Tech said, sounding slightly annoyed, "for the last time, I'm fine. Really."
This odd exchange, of course, brought in the curiosity of their other teammates.
"Eh…what's up guys?" Ace asked as the two approached the table.
"Where have you two been?" Lexi asked.
"Just the movies," the coyote replied. "There was also a little robbery at the bank, but the suspect got away."
"A bank robber?" Duck asked incredulously. "The two of you couldn't manage to catch a bank robber?"
"Well-it-wasn't-really-our-fault," the roadrunner replied defensively, "but-I-guess-maybe-it-could-have-been.-But-anyway-he-wasn't-just-a-bank-robber-he-had-all-these-weird-gadgets-and-it's-just-a-long-story-but-to-put-it-bluntly-he-managed-to-get-away-by-using-a-smokescreen.-But-he-didn't-get-the-money-Tech-made-sure-of-that-and-I-guess-I-could-have-tracked-him-down-but-then-Tech-got-zapped-with-some-weird-electric-energy-and-"
It was at this point that the scientist grabbed the other's beak to keep it shut. But it wasn't fast enough for the others to catch what Rev said, even with his quick tongue.
"You okay, Tech?" the leader asked, looking at the one he was addressing with concern in his sapphire eyes.
The coyote sighed softly, releasing the quickster's beak. "I'm fine," he replied. "Besides the shock and some dizziness afterwards, nothing really happened."
Ace frowned slightly. He wasn't sure if he believed the scientist, but he decided not to bother him any further about the matter. "Okay, it's your call. Anyway, why don't you guys get some food before Slam eats it all?"
"Oh-yeah!-Finally-I'm-starving!" Rev said, zipping to the other side of the table to stand by the Tasmanian devil.
Grinning slightly, the rabbit then turned to the other Loonatic. "Tech?" he asked softly.
The scientist stood silently, staring blankly at the table. The leader wouldn't have thought much of it had it not been for the strange darkness in Tech's normally gold eyes.
Frowning again, he placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "Yo…Tech?"
He watched the other blink rapidly a few times before looking up at him, golden eyes back to normal. "Huh?" the coyote asked.
"You sure you're okay?"
The scientist nodded, brushing the rabbit's concern off. "Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "I guess I'm just more tired than I initially thought."
Ace motioned towards the table. "You wanna get somethin' to eat?"
"No…I'm not really hungry. I think I'm just going to go lie down or something."
"Okay…" He watched as the other headed off before turning back to the table.
Rev watched as Tech left, the mechanical door closing behind him. Then he glanced at the rabbit who met his curiosity with just a small shrug.
Of course they knew something was wrong. They just needed to find out what.
It had only been two days after the bank robbery and the incident with Tech. It didn't need to be any longer for the rest of the Loonatics to notice even the subtle changes in the scientist's behavior.
In that short amount of time, the coyote managed to withdraw into himself, even when he wasn't working on something. He just seemed to walk in and out of rooms, roaming as he drifted in his own world.
He didn't really say much during those couple of days. He mostly just worked on devices or stared off into nothingness, lost in deep thought. The only time he ever said anything was if someone spoke to him first.
There was also an odd restlessness that accompanied him with whatever he did. He would be working on something for a moment, get up and walk from room to room, stare at the wall or floor, and leave before doing it all again. It seemed that he couldn't stay put for more than a few minutes. Odd considering he usually was able to sit and work on projects for hours on end.
The Loonatics also noted that Tech still had yet to eat something. When confronted about it, the coyote would claim to hunger, but then would stare out into space before shaking his head and walking away.
Not to mention – although Ace wasn't sure if the others knew about it – the odd darkness that covered the golden depths of the scientist's eyes. He had seen the strange phenomenon on several occasions following the first, when Tech and Rev had returned from the robbery. He was hesitant to ask about it, though, wondering if it could possibly be his imagination. Doubtful, but he still wondered.
It was late afternoon by the time Ace found Tech again, what with his constant wanderings and the large space of their lodgings. The leader had found Duck watching the weather again and Tech standing in the back of the room with his arms folded across his torso. At first glance, it appeared as though the scientist was watching the weather woman on television as well, but Ace could see the distant, shadow-covering look in the other's eyes.
Slowly approaching, the leader said softly, "Hey Tech?"
The one he was addressing was silent at first, continuing to stare at the television screen. Then he blinked rapidly, his eyes returning to their normal hue as he looked up at the rabbit. "Huh?" he asked.
"You feelin' okay Tech? You seem kinda out of it."
"I guess, I just…" The coyote sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I'm a little tired. I've been having trouble sleeping."
"Oh yeah? Maybe you haven't been eating enough?" Ace suggested, determined to lead the other back into that particular discussion. He was going to figure out what was wrong. "Y'know, being hungry enough can keep ya awake."
"Maybe," Tech replied. "I really should…" He stopped speaking then as a small groan made its way up. He closed his eyes tightly.
Noticing this, the leader frowned. "Tech…?"
Duck suddenly sighed loudly, sitting up from his position on the couch and turning to look at the two in the back. "Do you mind?" he asked, obviously annoyed. "I can't hear the TV with all your incessant chattering."
Tech suddenly looked up at the mallard, seeming to glare at the other. He growled deeply, causing Duck to jump in surprise and even Ace took a step back and away from the coyote. And the leader could see the strange darkness clouding the other's eyes again.
The scientist took a small step towards the duck, his tall ears folding back against his head as he looked ready to pounce. Reaching out, Ace grabbed the other's shoulder and pulled him back. "Tech…!"
Shutting his eyes, the coyote shook his head slightly, his ears returning to their normal position. When he had opened his eyes again, they were also back to their normal golden hue. "Sorry…what?" he said, looking up at the rabbit.
Ace's brow furrowed slightly, surprised by the other's behavior. This was getting too weird.
"Uh, hello?" Duck said, jumping over the couch and walking towards the two. "What was that all about?"
Tech looked at the other curiously. "What was what about?" he asked.
"You're not serious, are you? You totally just – Hey!" the duck said as Ace gently pushed him out of the way.
"I think Duck's been watching a little too much television," the leader said, quickly cutting off whatever the show-off was going to say. "Anyway, why don't you check to see if there's anything you can eat?"
Looking a little more than puzzled, the coyote scratched the top of his head. "Actually, I think I'm going to see if I can get some work done."
Ace nodded slightly. "Yeah, okay, you go ahead and do that."
"But…!" Duck started as Tech began walking away, but was silenced quickly as the leader held up his hand. He frowned, watching the door close after the scientist. When it did, the rabbit sighed softly.
"Mind telling me what that was about?" Duck lisped, turning his own cerulean eyes to the other.
"I just don't wanna worry Tech about something that he might not even be responsible for," Ace replied. "Especially since he probably doesn't even remember."
"Are you kidding me? He just growled at me. I expect that kinda thing from Slam, and on a bad day at least."
"Exactly," the leader replied, looking at the shorter Loonatic. "That's not the kind of thing you expect from Tech. Whining, maybe, but not growling. Especially not like that."
"So what makes you think he doesn't remember it? He could be fakin' it."
Ace said nothing for a moment, the image of the coyote's eyes swirled in darkness returning to his thoughts. "I'm not sure," he finally replied. "Just a feelin'."
Duck scoffed. "A feeling? Yeah, that's great. That 'feeling' of yours could probably get us all in serious trouble."
"Well, until we know for sure what's going on with Tech, I don't wanna do anything we could regret."
The mallard folded his arms across his front. "So what do we do about this?"
"We'll all keep a close eye on Tech. We'll watch him and see what happens. Sooner or later we're bound to figure out what's wrong."
Duck scoffed again. "Yeah? I just hope it's sooner rather than later…"
He sighed softly as he walked slowly down the busy street, his old and worn jet blades slung over his shoulder. His eyes were kept downcast, avoiding the cheerful and talkative people around him who seemed to contradict how he was feeling.
Another paycheck was being withheld from him that week because he had yet again missed the 30-minute deadline for delivery. He was doing the best that he could, especially with the blades he was forced to borrow (and he was convinced that they were broken). But apparently his best wasn't good enough.
It was a vicious cycle he was trapped in. With the broken blades, he couldn't make the deliveries on time which resulted in the lack of payment. But without the money, he'd never be able to buy new jet blades.
In a nutshell, his life sucked.
The sound of a shop bell reached his ears and he glanced up just in time to see a familiar coyote in a black coat walking out of the shop, carrying a brown paper bag in his arms and a blue duffle bag hanging from his shoulder.
The roadrunner perked up a little when he saw the coyote, and he sped up a little to catch up as the other began walking away. "Hey…!" he said.
The coyote jumped slightly, turning to the other and sighing when he saw who it was. "Please don't do that," he muttered.
Grinning sheepishly, the roadrunner replied, "Sorry. So what's up?"
"Nothing really. I just needed to pick up some things for a project I'm working on." The coyote looked up at the other. "What about you?"
"Oh…well, y'know…I just got off of work…"
"Ah. You still working in fast food?"
"Not like I have much choice. Not everyone is a genius like you."
The would-be scientist grinned, chuckling softly. "Yeah, I know," he replied. But his smile faded when he noticed the roadrunner's suddenly gloomy disposition. Clearing his throat, he said, "Why don't we do something? Maybe walk around?"
The quickster looked up at the other. "But I thought you had to work on a project?"
"Well, I'm almost done with it, and it's not due for a few weeks. I got some time to spare."
"Oh…" He looked down at the ground, wondering if the other was willing to listen to the problem that was on his mind.
Watching the other for a moment, the scientist frowned deeper. Motioning for the other to follow, he said, "Come on. I've got just the place."
Blinking, the roadrunner followed as his friend led him to the Acmetropolis park. He watched as the other headed to the nearest bench, sitting down on it and placing the brown paper bag to his side and the blue duffle on his lap. Hesitating for a moment, the roadrunner then went to sit beside his friend on the bench.
The two sat in silence for a while, and he glanced up at the sky, sunlight fading over the horizon, through the thick branches of the trees. He had to admit that the area was relaxing, and he knew that the would-be scientist came to the park often to think.
"So, um…" he heard the other say suddenly, "I…saw you…by the Institute today."
He winced a little as the memory returned to him. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I was working on an experiment when I happened to look out the window and saw you making a delivery. I figure that was about ten seconds before my experiment exploded."
"Oh, I heard that explosion. That was yours?"
The coyote shrugged slightly. "Yeah, but I'd get worried if there wasn't some kind of explosion everyday." He looked at the roadrunner. "But before it exploded, was I right to guess that you didn't make the delivery on time?"
He frowned a little, ruffling the blue and purple feathers on his head, looking away and not answering.
But the scientist didn't need his friend to respond in order to know. "I see…You know, even with your speed, there are going to be limits."
"Yeah, I know…But I know that I can do this if they just give me a fair chance."
"The whole world isn't going to be fair."
"But that doesn't mean they should make me deliver across town in ten minutes. I can't help it if I don't make it on time."
"And if you don't make it on time, they take it out of your pay…" the coyote said softly as though he had heard the story before, beginning to unzip the bag on his lap.
"Right." He sighed softly. "And these stupid jet blades that I had to use aren't helping much either. But if I don't make the deliveries, I don't get paid."
"That's a really tough predicament." At that point, the scientist was rummaging through his bag.
He frowned slightly as he watched the other before looking up at the darkening sky. If the other wasn't going to listen, then there was no point to continue.
"Maybe you should get new blades," the coyote said suddenly, still rummaging through his bag.
"Hmm…" he replied, pretending to think. "That's a good idea…Except, if you recall, I really don't have the money to because I don't get paid since I don't make the deliveries on time."
"You're not listening to me," the scientist said, looking up at him and grinning slightly. "I never said you had to buy new ones."
And he watched as his friend pulled a pair of new jet blades from the blue duffle bag. He gasped. "Where did you get those?"
"Let me first clear your mind and assure you that I didn't steal these. I made these when I had some free time today. I'm confident that you'll find these better and faster than your old blades."
"Wait…those are for me?"
The coyote placed the blades on the other's lap. "Well, I'm not going to use them," he replied, zipping up his bag. "Besides, I thought they could help, and it really looked like you could use them. No offense."
But the quickster was too excited to care. "These are so awesome! I can't believe you made these!"
The coyote pouted a little. "It shouldn't be that surprising," he muttered.
Putting the blades on, he got to his feet. "I gotta try these out."
"Just be careful. I haven't had a chance to test them."
"As long as they don't explode, I think I'll be good."
"Hah…and hah." Getting to his feet, the coyote said, "Well, I better get going anyway."
"All right. Thanks for the blades."
"Yeah, well I hope they help," the scientist replied, picking up his paper bag. "Good luck," he added as he headed off.
Rev blinked, stopping in his tracks as he thought of the memory that had just played in his head and wondered where it had come from.
He allowed a small smile to appear on his face when he thought of those faster blades that Tech had made for him when he was still delivering fast food. They helped for a while, at least until his boss found out about the quicker jets. Then he seemed to get even less time to deliver the food.
Not that Tech ever found out. He didn't have the heart to tell the other that the jet blades he had made caused him slightly more trouble. Besides, that was history. But the roadrunner still questioned what had caused him to recall that event.
He began to wonder if it had anything to do with Tech's strange behavior as of late. Probably. The scientist never talked about what was going on. In fact, he hardly said anything at all. It saddened Rev a little that his friend wasn't speaking to him about the matter. What made it worse was the idea that something could be really wrong and they couldn't do anything about it.
Ace had told them to "keep an eye" on Tech. He said that something was really strange about the other, but Rev really wanted to know what that was.
It obviously bothered the normally calm leader, as they all had noticed by the look in his sapphire eyes whenever Tech was mentioned. So if Ace was this concerned about it, then it was definitely a troubling matter. Hopefully, they could fix whatever was wrong.
But at any rate, the had all been told to keep a close watch over Tech, just in case. So that was where he was heading. Rev finally managed to locate the other in the lab after he finally decided to stay in one place for more than five minutes. Wasn't Rev supposed to be the hyper one?
Finally reaching the lab, the roadrunner was about to head in when a strange sound reached his ears. Frowning, he stood and listened carefully by the door. On the other side was a painful groan followed by a small clatter.
Frowning deeper, he waited for the mechanical door to open. When it did, he was greeted with the sight of Tech standing bent heavily over a table, his breathing harsh and ragged while his body trembled and he appeared as though he would collapse at any moment.
Gasping, Rev sped over to the other's side. "Hey-Tech," he said, "are-you-okay?-What's-wrong?-Why-are-you-?"
He was cut off by the startling appearance in the coyote's eyes as the other seemed to glare at him. Instead of the familiar gold hue, Rev found himself staring into wild black.
Before he could react, the quickster was tackled by the coyote and pinned to the ground. He gasped, his body tense and his heart pounding as he looked up at the other who stared back at him with those feral onyx eyes. Despite everything he had been through as a Loonatic, this was the most frightening situation he had ever found himself in. He knew something was really, seriously wrong with his friend.
Tech suddenly snarled, exposing sharp canine teeth. Emerald eyes widening, Rev found himself kicking the other hard, sending him flying into the nearest wall. As he got to his feet, he watched as the scientist slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. Groaning, the other shook his head, placing his hand to his forehead. The roadrunner hesitated for a moment before speeding over and kneeling beside him.
"Hey-Tech-are-you-okay?" he asked softly.
"I feel like I got hit in the head with an anvil…" the genius replied, glancing up at the other. To Rev's relief, the other's eyes were back to normal. "What happened?"
The quickster hesitated, wondering what to tell his friend. The truth, no doubt, would frighten Tech almost as much as it had frightened him. "I-don't-know," he finally replied, "I-just-found-you-like-this.-Are-you-feeling-all-right?-Do-you-remember-what-happened?"
"Not…really…The last thing I remember is working on…something. I'm not sure what it is now."
Rev blinked, staring at the other in disbelief. How could he not know what he had been working on? Tech always put his heart and soul into his work, concentrating on it to make it as perfect as he possibly could. The scientist always placed all his attention on his latest gadget until he was finished before proudly showing it off. Wasn't it only a few days ago when Tech was trying to explain to him about putting special time and care into his work? To not know what he was working on…Something was very wrong with the other.
"Maybe-you've-been-working-too-hard-a-little-rest-would-probably-be-good-for-you-right-now-don't-ya-think?"
The coyote shook his head as he slowly got to his feet. "No," he replied, "I think I'll keep working a little more…"
Rev frowned, but answered, "Well-okay-if-you're-sure.-I'll-just-leave-you-to-that-then.-Okay?-Later." Before the other could answer, he ran out of the room, the mechanical door closing behind him.
Sighing, he closed his eyes, beginning to locate where Ace was to tell him about what had happened. But then he stopped, opening his emerald eyes again.
What would Ace say if he found out that Tech had attacked him? What would the others say? More importantly, what would they do? If they knew that Tech had attacked him, regardless of the reason, they might lose faith in the scientist as a Loonatic. What if they stopped trusting him?
Rev though deeply about the situation. He knew that Ace should know something was very wrong with Tech. But he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't his friend's fault. He was afraid, though, that the leader might not agree with him. If he didn't, there was no telling what might happen.
He finally came to a conclusion. He'd figure out a way to help Tech. Even if he'd have to do it on his own.
TBC
Yes, I had Ace say "What's up (insertnounhere)". I couldn't help it, I was forced to write it. Well, not really, but for those of you who write stories out there, do you know how it is when it seems that your stories are really writing themselves? Yeah, that's what happened with that.
Looking back on it and reading it, it seems kind of weird. But whatever.
What's happening to Tech, you wonder? Well, you'll just have to keep wondering, because that won't be revealed for a little while longer. If you already know...Sorry.
Little explanation about the flashback scene: When I was watching the episode that revealed the bits of their pasts, I wasn't sure if the six of them had known each other prior to the meteor crash. It didn't really seem like they did, but that doesn't mean that they didn't, either.
Then I thought how interesting it was that they portrayed Rev as a delivery boy who appeared to not make a lot of money (because his horrible boss took advantage of him, big meanie butt). But if that were the case, where did he get those jet blades that he was using the day that the meteor crashed?
So I made a guess. Hopefully it's not too farfetched. What do you think?
Anyway, this little author's note has been long enough, so I'll shut up once again and let you finish up. Namely...please review. Thank you!