Welcome to another chapter of the story. Ready for some more of the story? Well, you're in for a treat. I have doubled the length of this chapter for your viewing pleasure. So this chapter is longer then my pants. Isn't that great?

I may have to edit it later to give it more substance. Give some constructive reviews to better help with the story.

Also note that some information that'll be put in the story is not all true, had to be modified to better fit the story and timeline explanation.

Chapter 8

"The roots of the past run deep, ever growing over time. From the roots, the substance that the roots pick up carry on to the branches of the future. Blocking off the roots will lead to the demise of it's own being. Blocking off little strands of bad roots will leave the plant unprepared for the upcoming disease." – Mimic12455

The lights still red, the tower still in lockdown, and Lexi captured, it was grave situation for Ace. After Nix took Lexi away, he blamed himself for not acting quick enough. Rev came a few moments later after finding him kneeling on the ground. After being told that Nix took Lexi, Rev tried to reassure Ace that it'll be alright.

"Don't-worry-Ace,-we'll-find-them-before-you-know-it. He-couldn't-have-gotten-far-since-this-place-is-under-lockdown-and-all. Plus-I-could-find-him-in-no-time-with-my," As Rev continued talking, something ran through Ace's mind. He felt that he had forgotten something important. The question is what could be…

Ace suddenly realized something while Rev was talking. "Wait… Tech and Duck was supposed to restart the… oh no, I got to stop Tech and Duck!" He turns on his communicator, hoping that he isn't too late.

- - - -

Down in the basement, Tech is almost finished with the circuit breaker. Danger recovers from his exhaustion and had been helping Tech. Tech told him to wait by the lever till he was finished. His left hand is on the lever.

"Ok, ready to restart." Tech stated, closing the lid on a transformer.

"About time, I was getting tired of waiting." Danger said. Just as he was about to pull it down, Tech receives the call from Ace, though a bit jumbled due to the distance and interference.

"Te-h! D--- restart th- power! I r-pe-t! ---- Resta-t power!"

Tech looks over to Danger. "You heard him Duck, restart the power!"

"Alright alright," He pulled the lever. The entire tower went black for a moment, then the power went on. This time the regular lights came back on and the shutters were now lifting. Lockdown is now over, if only those two knew what Ace was actually saying.

- - - - - - -

Ace and Rev heard the shutters returning to their original places and saw the lights going back to normal. Ace was dumbstruck. The first thing he did was curse, damning Danger for restarting the power. Pushing the thought of throttling Danger, he acted quickly and turned his attention back to Rev.

"Quick, Rev! Find where Nix and Lexi are before it's too late!" Rev nodded as his eyes began to glow crimson. He shot out of the room and then the building as fast as he could. The streets became a blur to him, ignoring the small surroundings and only the target. His mind searching for Lexi since he doesn't have any clue how to pickup Nix's trail, the upshot wasn't what he had expected.

"Wait-a-minute,-this-doesn't-seem-right." He activated his comm. and contacted Ace. "My-internal-radar-is-saying-that-he's-on-the-outskirts-of-the-city,-but-that's-impossible. I-mean-he-would-have-to-be-as-fast-as-me-to-cover-that-much-distance-in-such-a-short-amount-of-time-unless-he-really-does-have-my-powers-for-some-reason-or-maybe-he-has-teleportation-like-Duck. Anyhow,- he's-at-the-abandoned-acme-church." Rev said. Just as he finished, Ace and Rev get an incoming call from Zadavia. Rev stopped about a mile away from the church, standing on the sidewalk.

"Loonatics, what is happening?" She asked. "A few minutes ago, the base was under lockdown." She was visibly worried that something terrible might have happened.

Ace sighed. "Someone by the name of Nix broke into the base, attacked Duck, and kidnapped Lexi."

"Oh dear. This is a rather dreadful situation. Gather the other Loonatics and find Nix as soon as possible. I'll search for any information on this new villain. Do you have any data available concerning Nix?"

"His real name is Dabble Duck. Duck's brother…"

"Danger Duck's brother?" She asked, a bit perplexed about this information. "Interesting… thank you Ace, I'll contact you as soon as I retrieve any information. Zadavia out." She disconnects the transmission.

- - - - - -

Tech and Danger were in the elevator, going to the 129th floor to meet up with the others.

They were standing there, almost happy. It went like that until they were halfway there.

Danger glanced over to Tech and asked, "You think the others are doing fine?"

Tech shrugged. "Maybe."

It got quiet again.

"Say Duck.."

"No."

"But I didn't tell you what I wanted to say!"

"Does it involve my past?"

Tech rubs the back of his head with his right hand. "Um… yes?"

Danger sighed, knowing Tech is going to keep pestering him until he gives him some answers. "Fine… shoot."

"I was wondering… did you have a sister?"

Danger turned his head slowly toward the green coyote, his face grim. Tech could see the expression in his eyes that he touched a sensitive subject. Tech smiled sheepishly, giving a nervous chuckle. In the back of Tech's mind, he thought of an old saying that could fit this situation; "Curiosity killed the cat". Surprisingly enough, Danger answered in a somewhat regular tone.

"Yeah… Why the sudden interest?"

Tech sighs inwardly, relieved that Danger hadn't gone postal… yet. He continued, "Well, I remembered that a few years before I went to college that I met a female duck at high school which now reminds me of you... if you were a girl."

The heroic duck looked at Tech with a look of confusion and what appeared to be nausea.

"If you're going to ask me to dress up and be your girlfriend for the day, you can forget it. I don't do that anymore."

"Wha-NO! Nononononono, this has nothing to," Tech did a double-take, recalling the last part the black mallard said. "Wait, did you say "Anymore"? As in, you…"

An awkward moment of silence came as the information began to sink in. Danger broke the calm.

"… this conversation never happened."

"Right." Tech said numbly with a nod, his mind trying to comprehend this new information.

It was quiet the rest of the way, Tech took small sidesteps away from the duck next to him. Danger, however, thought about the others. He wanted to know if they were ok, that Nix didn't cause them any bodily harm. Of course, this is just wishful thinking. If he wanted to, he'd grab Nix by the throat and throw him out the window.

'Knowing Ace, he probably has this whole thing taken care of.' Duck thought. For some odd reason, he felt doubt about that. The elevator door opened and they walked down the corridor to the lounge room where the others are supposed to be. When they opened the doors, they could feel the heavy atmosphere of the room. Rev and Slam were standing in the middle of the room.

"Guys, what happened?" Tech asked. Danger noticed that Lexi wasn't in the room, something is definitely wrong here. When they didn't answer, Danger asked.

"Where's Lexi?" Just as he finished those words, he got tackled by Ace. He began twisting his arms, which is rather uncharacteristic of Ace. "Ow! Ow! What the heck! Ouch! Those are my arms!"

"That's 'cause I can't reach your neck!" Replied the agitated rabbit. Tech and Slam grabbed Ace by the arms and pulled him off of Danger before Ace could rip him apart. The abused mallard stood up. It's just one of those days where everyone seems to be out to get you.

"Ok," Danger said, obviously had enough of this as he rotated his arm to get rid of the pain in them. "I'm getting really sick of being a pain magnet! Ace…" He walks toward the long-eared bunny and gives him a quick slap across his face. "Stop being angry and think like a leader you always seem to show every day since I came here! Then tell me, very calmly, what in the blue HELL is going on!"

Everyone looked at Danger as if he transformed into someone else. Once again, showing uncharacteristic attitude toward the situation and acting serious. His eyes seemingly turning cold and attentive. Ace blinked, unable to believe that Danger just came up to him and slapped him in the face. Thankfully, that was just what Ace needed to calm down. Tech and Slam released Ace after seeing him relax, he regains his composer.

Ace spoke, "Nix took Lexi. He wants me and you to go find him. Rev saw him at the abandoned church..." He said in a serious tone. This struck a cord in Danger. He suddenly saw an image of Nix shattering his sister's spine against a rock. Then that image was replaced, seeing Lexi suffering the same fate. His blood started to boil. His expression turning serious once again. Rev noticed this, he didn't say anything though.

"Ace," Tech said, get their attention. "Meet us up on the roof. Duck and I have to get something from the lab."

Danger looked at him questioningly. "We do?" he asked.

"Just teleport us there and I'll explain the details."

Danger put a hand on Tech's shoulder, "Alright, if you say so."

Ace raised a brow, "… Ok, be there in 10 minutes."

With a nod, Danger and Tech disappeared in a flash of light. Ace turned his attention to the others.

"There's no time to waste guys, get what you need and meet up on the roof. Let move out!" Slam and Rev nodded, leaving the room to get everything they need or just to head to the roof. Ace looks out the window, his expression softens for a moment. "Hang in there Lex, we're on our way."

- - - - - - -

(9 minutes later)

Ace and the others waited on the roof for Danger. Tech came five minutes ago, telling them that he gave Danger a device that would help. Then he said that Danger said he needed to get something from his room. So they waited… and while they waited, Tech told them how the device worked.

"-so by combining concentrated protons and pure quartz from split atoms, I was able to create a device that can, much like Duck, transport anything anywhere at a quantum level."

When he was finished, he saw that Ace looked clueless, Rev lost interest and was playing with an imaginary basket ball, and Slam was asleep on his feet. Tech sighed, "True genius is never appreciated…"

Just as he said that, a flash of light appeared. Stand there is Danger Duck… only it didn't look like the Danger they usually saw. He was out of uniform and is wearing baggy pants, sneakers, and his jet pack (yes girls, he has no shirt on). His body has black and orange feathers, the orange making random stripes patterns while the black is more dominate. The device Tech attached to Danger was modified to a gauntlet on his left arm. In the current lighting of the sun and his arms folded, he looks like a badass. Everyone began gawking, not sure what to say. Ace, however, knew exactly what to say.

"Uh… Duck? Is that you?"

Danger smirked, but for some reason it wasn't his usual smirk. "Of course, who else would it be?"

Ace gave a meaningful smile. Perhaps there's more to Danger then meets the eyes.

"So you ready Duck?"

"Yeah… and call me Danny. I'm not wearing my Loonatics© suit, you know."

"Sure thing… Danny." Ace said. With a blast from their jetpacks (except Rev, of course), they took off to save Lexi before it he does who-knows-what to her.

- - - - - - -

(10 minutes ago)

In the outskirts of the city, an old abandoned church stood. It was once called "Acme Church". It was founded by a priest called Reverend Dolie and had been supported by, who else, the acme cooperation; boosting its public rating. It had a school for teaching, a prayer room, a beautiful garden, kitchen, the priest (of course), and other stuff. It had a good history till some unexplained event caused it to have a bad reputation of having "a Demon curse", having acme cutting the funds to it in order to prevent a backlash to them and for some reason the disappearance of the priest.

The church now, after a few years, isn't what it used to be. The size of it is that of a mansion, but age taken its toll on it. The garden that once green and lush is now barren and full of weeds. Vines surrounded the outside walls and some of the rooms. The stained glass windows were either broken or covered in dust. The varnished wooden seats in the church were covered in dust, the rate of decay slowed to a snail's crawl due to the polish that covers it. The bell tower where the bell would ring is filled with the creatures of the night and covered in cobwebs. All and all, very devoid of activity… or is it?

Inside the church, tied to the cross hanging on the balcony of the second floor by the arms and in the back of the room is the unconscious Lexi. She had on some type of headband device strapped to her head. Behind her was a stained glass window, it had a picture of an angel and two swords. Surprisingly, the window was clean and free of any dust. As she hung there like a rag doll, Nix had been leaning on the podium in a seemingly statue-like state. A few moments of silence, Lexi began to stir.

"Uhhg…" She moaned. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times to focus them. She didn't notice Nix at first glance, mistaking him as a statue with his lack of movement, back toward her, and lack of vibrant colors. Looking around, she had a hard time figuring out where she is. She also noticed that her arms and hands were tied along with her legs.

She smirked. "Like these are going to hold me. I'll just brain blast them and…" She activates her powers… only to have it fizzle out. Her smirk quickly turns into a frown as she tried again. Same result. "Huh? Why can't I use my brain blast?" She said to herself in a worried tone.

"You can thank that device on your head for you lack of bizarre energy projectiles." Came the ever-so-slow voice of Nix.

Lexi did a double-take, finally seeing Nix leaning on the podium. He turns around and "looks" up. His face is neutral and looks like it had been chiseled in stone. The atmosphere changed from low confusion to heated seriousness. Lexi glare having no effect, she asks, "Why did you kidnap me and tied to a cross?"

His face forms into an evil sneer, giving Lexi chills down her spine. "You prefer that I nailed your hand in the cross and sewn your mouth shut with a rusty needle instead?" He asked in a slightly curious tone. The look on Lexi's face was that of terror and shock. Nix chuckled. "As tempting as that is, that isn't my way of vengeance and you're not my target. You're just the bait to lure the problems here."

"Problems?" Lexi asked. He nodded, his face returning to a neutral status.

"The ones you know as Ace and Danger…"

"Why here?"

"It was here that I first tested out my skills… killing the priest and all that."

"Whoa, time out. You killed the priest!" She asked in shock.

He nodded.

She shook her head in disgust and asked, "Why do you want them? What did they ever do to you?"

"My brother, Daniel, is the one who gave me this scar on my beak and arms," he said, running his fingers on the scar. "… and stopping me from fixing the problem before."

"What about Ace?"

Silence.

"Well?"

"… he and his forefathers were the cause of our family's grief."

"What do you mean "the cause of your family's grief"? He didn't-"

"Not yet, but he will in due time. Time that won't be given to him, not on my watch."

"What are you talking about?"

"I see you're curious." He stated.

"Wow, you certainly perceptive." She said sarcastically. The duck grinned.

"Very well, I'll tell you." He started walking around the large room with one hand in his pocket and the other with the staff while his cape flapped behind him, his voice echoing off the walls and could be heard loud and clear. "It started when I was young, about seven years old. I was climbing a tree and Daniel had been under it. Our sister was sewing an apple that was in half shut, never knew why though. Anyways, Daniel told me to go to the next branch. Being young and naïve, I did that. The branch broke and I fell, blacking out and not knowing what fate had for me. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. My body ached and my head throbbed. Doctors said I would recover in a few weeks. I won't bore you with the details, so here's what happened. I was in my bed recovering, bored out of my skull. My uncle was babysitting. He came in to check up on me. I told him I was bored and did everything a seven year old stuck in bed could think of. He had an idea and left the room to get something. He came back with a book. It was old, originally written 400 years ago and held many key events. He told me there were more books in the attic just like it and he found it when he was looking for something. Didn't say what it was exactly."

He paused for a second, still walking and now at the other end of the room. "I read that book from beginning to end and back again. The author of the journal told of how there was an ever lasting feud between them and a certain part of the rabbit community. It started about 300 years before the book was written. After healing from the injuries, I looked into it with the book in the attic. I found out that it wasn't some family feud, it was a secret war…" This information caught Lexi's attention, she heard rumors of a war when she took history class. Of course no one took it seriously since there wasn't any proof of it actually happening and was announced 300 years ago that it was just political propaganda made by a bunch of people who wanted to see the nation go into chaos. The war wasn't real, was it? Nix had to be bluffing… right? He stopped at the podium, looking up at the blonde haired bunny.

He continued, "A war that lasted 300 years without the government or authorities knowing of it. No one knew how it started, but no one particularly cared. There was an old vow they agreed upon just as the war was declared. It stated that no one in either family would reveal the battle going on between the two families to anyone. Any who does would have the dishonor of having to be removed from the family and seen as the "black sheep"; a term similar to Benedict Arnold. There were times when someone did turned traitor and ended up as either dead or at the bottom of the social ladder; most were deaths. The deaths during the war were often seen as accidents. There were times when they were seen as crimes, thus were arrested. As I learned more about the war, my family was getting worried. I always was in the attic and only came down to go to the bathroom, go somewhere I have to, or get something to eat. I became obsess with the history. Often my bother or sister would ask what I was doing, I told them I was interested in reading and they would say that it was boring and would leave. " He wave his hand as he said that last sentence.

"Jeez, you had less of a life then Misty Breeze did." Before she knew it, she felt a wave of pain pass through her entire body. She screamed in agony as arches of electricity slithers down her body. She is having the experience of feeling pain that seems like an eternity only that it had been done for only 30 seconds. When it stopped, her body went limp. Breathing heavily, trying to get some oxygen into her system after having been shocked with high voltage, she looks over to Nix. He had that seemingly plastered sneer on his face. He took his hand out of his pocket, revealing something that was inside. In his hand was a remote with a red button.

"Did forget to mention the shock feature that the headband has… doll?"

If looks could kill, Nix would have been dead fifty times over. Her eyes are glowing with the rage only a women pissed off beyond belief would have. As said before, someone whose rage reaches a high level rarely has anything original to say. (due to the amount of profanity in the dialogue, the cuss words will be beeped.)

"YOU SON OF A (beep)! MOTHER (beep)! (beep) (beep)ING (beep)! (beep) (beep) WADE OF (beep)! YOU PILE OF (beep)ING (beep)! DAMN (beep) EATING (beep) BAG! WHEN I GET MY (beep)ING HANDS ON YOU, I'LL RIP YOUR (beep) EYES OUT AND I'LL KILL YOU SO (beep) SLOWLY THAT (beep) OBLIVION WILL BE (beep) SURPRISED!" She screamed. The response given is another electric shock, 45 seconds this time. She went limp again, stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn't say anything after that.

"Now that it had been driven out of your system, I'll continue. I finished reading all the books, I found out the war stopped due to some catastrophic event that involved a huge battle royal. Someone tipped the cops and they arrested everyone there. The public knew it as the biggest gang arrest ever known, but it was also spelled the end of the war. Due to having so many arrested at once, the families agreed to stop the war under special conditions. One is that no one would speak of the war ever again, so the future generations would have a peaceful future. The other condition is that if a family kills the other, the war would start again in an event that would signal the apocalypse of a single city. Now you're wondering what all this has to do with me, correct?"

Silence…

"Well, after I turned 12. My family found out that my dad died after trying a role to a movie. Here's how it went: He was trying with all his talent to get the role, but some dumb bunny, which I later found out was Ace's grandfather, manage to get the part. In a last ditch effort and desperate act to get the role, he did the old "drinking explosive liquids and eat a match" trick he learned from his grandfather. He would have had the part if it wasn't for one dilemma. He could only do it once because it cost him his life. He literally killed himself to get that role, giving it his all, while an old rabbit got it with little effort."

"You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"Sometimes the truth is less believable then a lie. The family took it hard as did I. Life went on as did we, though with some negative changes. Mother began drinking, hanging out in bars and would come later to fall sleep on the couch. My sister left when she turned 18, never saw her again. She did send postcards on occasions to assure us that's she's alive and well. Daniel was the least effected, he went on as if it didn't happen. Though it makes sense since he never saw his father. I, on the other hand, started to think. Thinking about the war the books told. Thinking about how the rabbit pushed father to his limit. I began to think about how the descendents of the other family like Ace had gotten better jobs while our family gotten the shorter end of the stick. I'm sure you remember Daniel's previous job…"

'Man, this guy likes to talk…' Lexi thought as she continued to listen to this duck's rambling.

"Ah yes, Danger's previous job. After graduating high school, he went out to look for a job. With a little hard work and job searching, he managed to get a job as a pool cleaner. It was a start. He believed that if he started as a pool cleaner, he would work his way up and be a life guard. Maybe in a few years. I almost felt sorry for him, but since he gave me this scar and stopped my previous plans… I don't give a damn about him. He would have been stuck in that job for the rest of his life, but fate had other plans for him. The meteor came and everything changed: Knocking earth off it's axis, releasing supernatural forces, and so forth."

"Other plans? What other plans?"

"During high school and after, I had been taking martial arts and a weapon training course known as Bojutsu. My plan was to kill off most of the rabbit family that were descendents of the war. When my sister and brother found out, they tried to stop me. I was in the wasteland, perfecting my skills, when it happened. I killed my sister by shattering her spine… and Daniel sent me off the cliff to my supposed death. Luckily, he didn't check if I was dead and I escaped death without him knowing."

"You killed your sister!"

"Of course."

Lexi couldn't believe what she just heard. Nix killed his sister and acts as if it was no big deal. Yet knowing that Danger actually tried to kill his brother was totally surreal to her. However, she would probably do it as well if she had a sister and she was killed by her brother. This was all too much to take in. Something was bothering her though. She lifted her head and asks him, "Then why are you blindfolded and what's with these strange powers you have?"

"I use the blindfold to block out my sight and sharpen my other senses. Taking it off only when necessary."

The realization hit her like a freight train. "So that means… you're not blind?"

"Yes Lexi…" He pocketed the remote and used his free hand to take off the blindfold, dropping it on the ground. His closed eyes started to open, revealing something that will forever be imprinted in Lexi's mind.

"Those eyes…" she trailed off, her mind and body beginning to feel numb from shock. The irises were dark purple and looked reptilian, seemingly digging into her very soul. The way he looked at her with those ominous eyes, struck her like a lightning bolt. She afraid, seemingly like a small child would be if he/she was seeing the boogieman.

"Yes, these eyes came with the powers. The powers given to me when the meteor crashed was, and still is, both a blessing and a curse. I call this ability "Darkside Enhancement". It gives me speed and power necessary to defeat any foe. All I have to do is activate it… and I'll be unstoppable… The only downside is that it takes a bit of my life energy. The more I use Darkside, the more life energy is used. I'm expected to die if I use too much at once…"

He looked down on the floor, much to the relief of Lexi. However, that relief was short lived as she heard him starting to chuckle. Then that chuckle began to increase in volume, turning into a loud, evil laugh.

He stopped laughing and gazed into the eyes of Lexi, "but who cares! As long as I kill both Ace and Daniel, my death will be worth it!"

"Hate to spoil your little speech," came a rough voice from the door, "but the heroes are coming."

The man at the door looks like he could chisel stone with his face. He has jet-black messy hair, blue eyes, block chin, tan skin, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt that says "Die when I kill you!". He had big muscles and hanging on him were guns…. Lots of guns. Nix gave a smirk to the man. This man is Ram Servo, expert mercenary. He has been hired by Nix to make sure only Ace and Danger goes through those doors and to keep the others away. Luckily, Ram has powers as well. He has power to make copies of himself, only problem is that it take a bit of energy to create a clone.

"Ahh…" Nix said with a greeting. "Ram, right on time. Be sure to greet our guests accordingly."

Ram grinned. "Sure thing… boss."

Man, my brain feels like mush. Stay tuned to find out what happens next.