Yay! The next chapter is up! I got such a good response on the first chapter that I just had to continue right away.
Wow, I'm kinda amazed at how long this chapter turned out. And it also has a lot more to it than the prelude, so I hope ya enjoy it!
(I own nothing except for my six OCs. Let's see if you can guess who they are.)
Acmetropolis was once again in peril, as a giant mole monster stomped through the city. The citizens of Acmetropolis were desperately seeking safety from the beast, but there was nowhere to go. All seemed lost.
But then, a ray of hope appeared, as a noble figure flew through the sky.
"Look!" A police officer called. "Up in the sky! It's a bird!"
"No, it's a plane!" A woman corrected.
A wave of admiration swept over the people as they realized who it really was. "It's Danger Duck!"
"Yes, it is I," Duck called, as he flew through the air, his orange cape billowing in the wind. "Danger Duck, protector of truth, justice, and the Acmetropolis way!" Duck flew up to the giant mole and looked it straight in the eyes. "Alright Mr. Ugly, you gonna come along quietly, or do I have to get tough?"
The mole monster, knowing better than to tangle with Danger Duck, raised it's claws in defeat.
Danger took a small object out of his belt and threw it at the monster. It then grew into a large cage, trapping the beast.
"Just one of my many ingenious creations." Said Duck.
The crowd of people cheered as Duck landed on the ground in front of them.
"No need to thank me citizens," He said. "Your generous gifts of gold and jewels will be enough."
The crowd continued cheering, and began to chant "Duck! Duck! Duck! Duck! …"
But as Duck was basking in the glow of his fans' admiration, he felt himself being shaken.
The crowds chants faded into a single familiar, but unwelcome voice.
---
"Duck… Duck… Duck!"
"Wha-a-at!" Duck whined, slowly opening his eyes to see Ace shaking him slightly.
"You fell asleep on the couch again." Ace explained.
"Yeah, and I was having a good dream for your information." Duck glared at Ace as he sat up.
"Was it the one where you beat the giant clam beast?" Lexi asked, as she walked in.
"No." Duck replied quickly. "It was the one where I saved Acmetropolis from the mole monster."
"Amolemonster?" Rev said in his speedy way, as he zipped up to the others. "That'sreallyinterestingDuck,exceptI'veneverevenseenamolemonsterbefore,Idon'tthinktheyexist.ButiftheydidI'llbetwecouldbeat'emreallyeasy!I'djustrunaroundreally,really,fast!"
"Don't we have anything better to do than sit around making fun of my dreams?"
"Aw, we're not making fun of your dreams Duck." Said Ace. "We're just making fun of the way you dream about mole monsters."
Ace, Lexi, and Rev all laughed, but Duck was not amused.
Everyone's attention was suddenly turned to the alarm which signified that Zodavia had a mission for them.
Ace, Lexi, Duck, and Rev rushed to the conference table, where they were joined by Tech and Slam.
The image of Zodavia appeared and turned to them.
"What's up Zodavia?" Ace asked.
"Loonatics," She began. "The First National Bank of Acmetropolis is being robbed. Six men, armed with state of the art laser rifles stolen from the science institute are holding several people inside hostage and are trying to open the vault. You must get there right away and stop them. And you must be careful not to let any of the hostages get hurt."
"We're on it Zodavia." Said Ace. "Loonatics, let's move out!
---
With the help of their jetpacks, the Loonatics made it to the bank in record time. They landed on a nearby roof to assess the situation.
Ace looked down and noticed the police cars parked right outside, and several officers ready with their guns. But he knew none of them would have the opportunity to do anything until the hostages were safe. Not without some serious bloodshed.
"Alright, here's the plan:" Said Ace. "Duck, you quack in there without any of the robbers seeing you. Find out how many robbers there are and how many hostages, then come back. Once we figure that out, we should be able to formulate a strategy on how to get everyone out safely."
"I'm on my way!" Duck replied, striking a "noble" pose.
"Just watch out for mole monsters." Lexi joked, causing Ace and Rev to chuckle.
"Hardy har-har." Duck said sarcastically. "I'll be right back."
"Wait Duck," Said Tech. "Take this with you."
Tech handed a small microchip to Duck. "What is this?"
"It's an upgrade for your communicator. I programmed it earlier. With it, we can monitor your vital signs to make sure you're okay. And it automatically alerts us if you get in trouble."
"Spiffy." Duck said, as he put the chip into the communicator on his arm. "Not that I'll need it, but thanks for the concern Tech. Alright, I'm off. I'd ask you to wish me luck but when have I ever needed it?" with that, Duck quacked out of their sight.
"Guys…" Said Ace, sounding concerned. "Wish him luck… lot's of it."
---
Duck reappeared inside the bank, but was sure to reappear in someplace that was sure to be secluded. Namely, the Janitor's closet.
"Ouch!" Duck hissed as a mop handle fell over and hit him in the face. "Stupid mop. I shoulda quacked into the men's bathroom."
He slowly opened the door, careful not to let the hinges squeak. He scanned the hallway for any signs of life, and finding none, slowly crept over to the main room of the bank.
Hiding behind a large pillar, Duck surveyed the room. He saw the robbers, each dressed completely in black, and wearing several gun holsters and carrying the laser rifles Zodavia mentioned. Over their faces they wore black ski masks and most of them had special infrared goggles over their eyes, most likely for keeping an eye out for intruders.
Duck took a quick count of them. There were two working on the large vault, another two watched the door, three guarded the hostages who were now huddled in a corner, and one seemed to be overseeing the rest.
"Eight huh?" He said quietly to himself. "That's not so bad." He then counted the hostages. There were fifteen in all, including men, women and children. "Okay, now it's bad."
"You have no idea." Duck jumped slightly and turned to see another robber that he'd missed pointing his laser rifle at him. "One false move and you'll know what it's like to have that beak on the other side of your face.
Duck swallowed nervously. "You wouldn't believe how many times that's happened in my family."
---
Back on the nearby roof, Tech watched the bank through his binoculars, waiting for any sign of Duck.
"He should have been back by now…" Ace said, as he paced back and forth.
"I'm sure he's okay." Lexi reassured, though she herself was more than a little concerned.
"Maybehe'sjusttakinghistime," Rev suggested. "Maybehe'sjusttryingtobeextracarefulnottogetcaught."
"Maybe…" Ace replied, though still worried.
Slam noticed an odd beeping sound and looked at his communicator. He saw a little red light blinking and tapped Tech on the shoulder.
After mumbling a question Tech didn't understand, the coyote sighed. "With God as my witness, you will learn to speak." He grumbled. But when he turned to face the Tasmanian devil he noticed what Slam was wondering about. He looked at his communicator and noticed the same blinking light.
"Guys!" He shouted. "Look at your communicators!"
The others did so and noticed the blinking lights.
"What's this?" Ace asked.
"It's the alarm system. Duck's in trouble!"
"What! Tech, why didn't you make an alarm that we would actually notice!"
"I made them quiet for stealth's sake. Maybe I should install a vibrate mode…"
"How do we help Duck now? What if he's hurt, or worse?"
"Don't worry, there's also a two way radio mode. I'll activate it so we can hear what's going on at Duck's end."
Tech did so, and they all began listening.
---
After tying him up, the robbers threw Duck with the other hostages.
"Look here guys," Said the leader. "One of the Loonatics decided to pay us a visit."
"You do realize I can just quack out of these ropes, don't you?" Duck asked smugly, despite the fact that he himself had only just now thought of it.
"Maybe," The leader replied. "But if you or your friends try anything, the hostages die." To demonstrate his point, the robber pointed his rifle at a woman who sat holding her daughter.
"Alright! I get it!" Duck shouted.
"Good." The robber lowered his gun. "You're lucky I don't blast you here and now Loonatic, but you'd better hope your pals don't try anything, or you and the hostages are gonna be dead ducks!"
---
"What do we do now?" Lexi asked, after they had heard what the leader told Duck. "We've got to save him!"
"You heard what he said," Ace replied. "If we try anything he'll kill Duck and the hostages."
"Sowejustdonothing?" Rev asked.
"No way Rev. We're gonna do something." Ace replied. "…I just don't know what yet…"
---
The two robbers working on the vault finally got it open with their blowtorches and called to their leader. He walked over and opened the door, revealing the stacks of money stuffed into bags.
"Jackpot!" The robber said with a grin.
"What's next boss?" one of the robbers asked.
"We'll take a couple hostages with us to barter with the police outside. Once we make it to the helicopter we'll let 'em go. Might as well take the duck with us to get the Loonatics off our backs, but we'll have to keep him for awhile."
"What about the rest?"
"The guy who hired us told us not to leave many witnesses." The leader smiled evilly. "So we'll have to make sure we don't."
Suddenly, the entire room went dark.
The leader, after a moment of confusion, stormed over to Duck. "What's going on!"
"I don't know!" Duck replied, in a panicky voice. "I swear, I had nothing to do with it! Would I lie?"
"That's it!" The leader shouted, not believing Duck for a second. "I warned you! Now someone's gonna die!"
"I think not…" a voice said softly.
Both Duck and the robber looked around trying to find the voice.
"Who's there!" The robber called out.
Just then, the darkness in the room started flowing down the walls and gathered in front of the leader. It formed a figure, which knocked the robber out with a single punch.
The other robbers, now able to see since there was light in the room again, started shooting the figure. But the laser blasts simply passed harmlessly through the shadowy form and hit the wall behind it.
Suddenly, two of the robber's heads were knocked together by an unseen force, knocking them out.
As they fell to the ground, a female tiger appeared out of thin air. "Too easy." She said with a smile.
Another robber noticed her and was about to shoot her when a large alligator broke through the wall and crushed the laser rifle with his teeth, then threw the robber at the wall nearby.
The shadowy figure flew at another of the robbers and flew right into his body. The robber then turned towards one of his comrades, shot the rifle out of his hands and kicked him, knocking him out.
The shadowy figure then left the body of the robber, who fell unconscious to the floor. The figure then took a more solid shape, revealing itself to be a bat.
Now there were four left. 3 of them raised their rifles, but stopped when they had a thought.
There were nine of them to begin with, now six of them were unconscious. So… how were there four left?
But before they could ponder this any further, one of the "robbers" punched the robber next to him and kicked another. His appearance then changed revealing him to actually be a wolf.
After seeing all this, one of the robbers tried to run away, but his feet became frozen to the floor. Literally!
He looked down to find his feet encased in ice. Suddenly, a female fox fell down from a window high up above and landed gracefully on her feet. The robber felt a slight breeze as she landed but couldn't tell where it came from.
"Don't tell me you're leaving already." She said playfully.
The robber, obviously very freaked out, fainted out of fear.
The fox chuckled to herself and turned to look at Duck, who, along with the hostages, was staring at her and the other anthros.
"Oh, I almost forgot about you!" She said with a smile. She walked over to Duck and lifted her hand. A small flame appeared just above her finger and she used it to burn the ropes around Duck and helped him up.
"Uh…." Duck tried to talk but found it very hard for some reason.
"You must be Danger Duck!" The fox girl exclaimed. "It's such an honor to meet you!"
"You… you've heard of me?" Duck asked, amazed that someone actually heard of him. Usually the only ones people knew as anything other than one of the Loonatics were Ace or Lexi.
"Of course! I'm a big fan of yours!"
Duck was about to faint, when he heard jetpacks. He turned to see Ace and the others burst through the window.
"Duck! Are you okay?" Ace asked as he and the others landed next to him.
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Duck replied. "Where were you!"
"We heard what that robber said, and didn't want to do anything to endanger you or the hostages. But when we heard all this commotion we rushed over as fast as we could."
"Yeah," said Lexi. "What happened anyway? And who is this?" Lexi and the others turned to the fox who was about to speak when everyone was startled by a scream.
The anthros and the hostages all turned to see the leader, conscious again, holding a woman and pressing a handgun to her head.
"Nobody move!" He yelled. "If any of you freaks try anything I'll blow this woman's head off!"
"C'mon Doc…" Said Ace, as he and everyone else backed away slowly. "You don't wanna do this…"
"Oh yes I do. This is my ticket out of here, and I'm betting none of you are willing to risk her life." The robber, to drive his point home, pushed the gun harder against the poor crying woman's head.
"You sure about that Mac?" Said a dark voice. The robber turned to see a black and white rabbit step out of the shadows and walk slowly up to him.
"Stay back!" The robber shouted. "I'll kill her, I swear!"
"Go ahead then." The rabbit replied coldly. "Then what'll you do? You'll have lost your human shield, and I'll still take you down."
"I'm not freaking kidding!"
"Neither am I. So come one, show me what ya got." The robber began shaking. "Yeah, that's what I thought. You gutless coward!" The rabbit jumped up and punched the robber. The girl took the chance and ran away, just before the rabbit kicked his opponent to the ground.
Ace and the others were awestruck.
"Wow…" Said Ace. "Nice moves. And good bluff."
"Who said I was bluffing?" The rabbit asked darkly, as he turned to Ace.
Ace stared at the rabbit. There was something familiar about him.
His fur was black, except for his muzzle, his hands, and the inside of his ears, which were white. He wore a dark blue jacket, a white t-shirt, and faded jeans. His eyes were blue, like Ace's, and he resembled Ace in many other ways, except for his ears which flopped down instead of standing up.
"You look familiar…" Said Ace. "Have we met?"
"What?" The rabbit asked with a smile. "You don't recognize me? Your own brother?"
"Brother?" Lexi and the others exclaimed.
Ace just stared in shock. "…Jet? Is that you?"
Cliffhanger! Yes! Oh, wait, cliffhangers are annoying... sorry.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know I didn't describe any of the characters well, except Jet, (the rabbit) but I will in the next chapter. Sorry if this one didn't come out so well. I suck at actiony fight scenes.
Please review! Reviews make the world go 'round! Well, for me anywho.