Chapter 3
Dr. Wilde raised a shooter weapon at them and immediately fired an electrical net. It landed over Lexi, Slam and Duck. Dr. Wilde fired another net toward Tech, Ace and Rev, but Ace fired a slicing laser blast that cut the incoming net in half. Tech and Rev raced to help their trapped comrades in the net. Duck quacked himself out of the net and conjured up a power orb.
"Have a taste of the power eggs of Danger Duck!" he boasted as he tossed his power orb toward Dr. Wilde's net shooter, knocking it out of his grasp.
Tech had used his electromagnetic powers to nullify the net's electric charge and Rev was pulling it off Lexi and Slam.
"Presumably you all came here wanting to know what I've been doing with my animals…" Dr. Wilde began disconcertingly.
Before any of the Loonatics could react, the zoological scientist suddenly reached for another shooting weapon on a table next to him. He grabbed it quick as lightning and aimed it at the group.
"…well you're all about to find out!"
Dr. Wilde pulled the trigger and a dart shot out. It was on a path straight for Rev! Tech instinctually reacted and pushed the road runner out of the line of fire, but instead, the dart struck the flesh of Tech's upper right arm. The coyote let out a cry of pain.
"Agh!"
Ace rolled forward and shot the weapon out of Dr. Wilde's hands with a laser blast. A disarmed Dr. Wilde then turned and fled the scene. Rev was about to pursue him but Ace stopped him.
"Forget him for now Rev! We've got a friend that needs our help."
Ace and Rev turned their heads to a painfully gritting Tech, who was pulling out the dart embedded in his arm. He then collapsed onto the floor and passed out, the dart rolling out of his grasp. The others gathered around him in concern.
"Tech!-Tech!" Rev called in panic.
"He's blacked out! C'mon, we need to get him back to Zadavia. She has better medical technology at her boise." Ace informed urgently.
Ace picked up the dart on the floor. Slam lifted the unconscious Tech up and hauled him over his broad shoulder.
"Careful-with-him-there-Slam!-Don't-drop-him!" Rev reminded Slam. He half feared that the bulky Tasmanian devil would clumsily loose his grip on Tech at some point. He decided he'd follow close behind Slam on their way back to Zadavia's base, just in case.
Later at Zadavia's underwater base, five concerned Loonatics, minus a coyote, waited anxiously in the main control room. Zadavia entered through sliding doors. The Loonatics immediately looked to her expectantly.
"Well the good news is that he's regained consciousness." Zadavia informed without delay.
"And the bad news?" Ace asked apprehensively.
Zadavia reflected Ace's worry as she answered him. "The bad news is he seems to be suffering bouts of great discomfort which are increasing in frequency and severity. He's in considerable pain. The dart that made contact with him injected some kind of chemical into his body. And far as my diagnostics can tell, it appears to be…altering him on a cellular basis."
"Altering him?" Lexi asked puzzled.
"He's physically changing Lexi…but I don't know into what, or whether he'll even…survive." Zadavia's face fell sadly as she said this, as did the Loonatics'.
Alone in a medical room, Tech uncomfortably turned from side to side in his bed. Without warning, he was gripped by an excruciating spasm of pain throughout his whole body. He gritted his teeth and clutched his aching sides, but they did little to make the pain any more bearable. In the grip of this terrible pain, Tech thought he could feel his body being stretched out somehow, his bones felt like they were rapidly growing and bending out of proportion, and he experienced a crushing 'flattening' throbbing in his face. What was happening to him? Was he slowly and painfully dying? He finally let out a pained howl repressed too long. It reverberated around the underwater base like the haunting music of an organ in a cathedral, reaching the ears of Zadavia and the other Loonatics in the main control room. They looked up, alert.
"Tech!" they all cried in unison.
There was a scrambling of rushing footsteps as Zadavia and the other Loonatics ran to the medical room that Tech rested in. The automatic door slid open for them and they tumbled into the room, but were halted in their tracks as a sight from out of an impossible dream confronted their eyes. A strange man sitting on the bed raised confused lime-green eyes up to them. There was a stunned silence.
"Zadavia, what's happened to me?" murmured the strange man.