Welcome to another chapter of the story, sorry for the delay. I had a bit of a writer's block in my mind; odd since every March I have this same problem. I've been working on this on and off, so there maybe spelling and grammar errors.

Anyways, I saw the recent episodes and I know that the Loonatic's skin color didn't actually change… and Danger doesn't have orange stripes. However, for the sake of time and the story I'll keep it just as it is. Again, sorry for the wait.

I'll try to update more often.

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

"Emotions can do many things. It gives a person strength and takes it away. It pushes us to greatness and drags us down. It gives us passion and sorrow. It does so many things. If there is emotion, what makes it? Why do we feel like this? We can't choose the emotion we want, but we can choose what we want in life. Though it's never that easy." –Mimic12455

The night slowly rises over the horizon. Outside the church, Ram waits near the front door. He leans on the door, arms crossed, looking down on the ground as he waits for the Loonatics. He had a handgun clenched in his left hand. Everything was quiet around the area. Too quiet for his taste. He is the kind of guy who enjoys lots of action and guns. Waiting in one spot for the guests to arrive isn't really one of his ideas of entertainment. However, just because he's impatient doesn't mean that he's unprepared. He's ready for their arrival, ready to spring out a special surprise just for them. He looks up, seeing a group of birds fly by.

"Well," He mumbled. "Whatever's going on, it should be hella better being worth it. I don't care what's gonna happen, I'm getting the pay with no problems." He hears the rustling of the bushes. He sighs, knowing he needs more training after this.

Ram's past wasn't really a glorious one. He was born in poverty with a father who is always drunk and a mother who always works. Not get much attention when he turned 6, he hang out with the wrong crowd and started skipping school. He only gained an 8th grade education, choosing to go down the road as a hitman-for-hire at the age of 18. Needless to say, he became quite good at it. After the meteor hit, it made things a whole lot easier for him. There were times when he was almost caught by the local law enforcement, but he always managed to slip out of their clutches thanks to his recently acquired abilities. He received many offers from mobsters, random people, even the military. This offer, however, takes the cake. Having to fight Loonatics is something he didn't want to do, but seeing that he was paid half of a huge amount of money he is to receive from Nix. After all, he does this for the money and nothing else.

Looking up in the sky, he hears the faded roaring of jetpacks. Most likely the Loonatics coming this way, Ram estimates they will be here in less then 2 minutes. He made on final check of his surroundings to see if everything is in place. Seeing everything in order, he stood his ground. Soon, the Loonatics will come and the fun will begin.

The Loonatics landed outside the old church. The air was eerily calm as they slowly approach the front doors. There were crows perched on many parts of the area, cawing at random intervals. The group starts walking into the churchyard.

"Ok gang, be ready for anything." Ace said to his teammates. They nodded in agreement. They saw a man waiting near the front door, leaning against it with a bored expression on his face. He didn't seem to notice the Loonatics… yet. Danny raised a questionable brow.

"Who's that guy?" He asked.

"It-looks-like-he's-packing-enough-heat-to-level-an-entire-block." Rev exclaimed.

Tech looked at the man for a second before responding, "It appears to he's carrying pulse rifles, pistols, many different kinds of grenades, and, this is an educated guess, he has more under his coat."

"You know I can hear you, right?" The man said unexpectedly. He had gotten their attention.

"Who are you?" Ace asked.

"Heh," he smirked. "I'm the guy who's guarding the door. The name's Ram, I'm afraid I can't let ya'll pass."

"Oh yeah," Danny responded. "It's five against one, how are you going to stop us?"

"Well, you know what the best part is about being me?" Ram asked, raising both his eyebrows.

"No…" Then Danny thought of what he said. "You're not going to rip off some quote from the Matrix are you?"

"Yes… yes I will. Got a problem?"

"Rather cliché, don't you think?"

"Who cares, I've always wanted to say it. Now as I was saying, the best part about being me…" Suddenly, sounds of multiple clicks and revving of plasma guns could be heard on all sides. The Loonatics look around to find themselves surrounded by men that look exactly like Ram, all pointing at them with enough firepower to sink the Titanic ten times over. When they look back at Ram, they saw him smirking.

"… is that there are so many 'me's."

"Loonatics, scatter!" Ace shouted, just before everyone jumped out of the way of the barrage of gunfire.

And thus, the battle begins….

Ace blasts the first bunch clones with his heat vision, ducking out of the way of an incoming missile from his left side. The clone with the rocket launcher smirked, only to get hit in the face by a fist from Slam. He took the Rocket Launcher in his massive hands and ate it, belching in satisfaction. A few nearby clones started shooting at him, some managing to get a few hits. Slam's eyes glow an angry purple. He advances at them, using a tornado for an extra boost of speed, and plowing through the legions of clones like bowling pins.

Dodging and dashing around the genetic copies, Rev was having a blast. He began narrating what he was doing.

"Rev-Runner-rushes-past-the-24th-clone, kicking-him-in-the-head. He-rushes-past-5-more-clones, punching-them-in-the-chest-with-immense-force. Narrowly-dodging-the-shot, Rev-Runner-zips-over-to-the-shooter-and-bashes-him-repeatedly-with-his-own-rifle. He'll-be-feeling-that-in-the-morning. Rev-spins-around-like-a-top, creating-a-tornado-and-sucking-up-all-the-nearby-clones-like-a-slurpy! He-stops, sending-the-fakes-flying-through-the-air. They're-going, going, gone!" Rev said with enthusiasm. He is in his own little world now. Too bad as he said that last sentence, a clone came up from behind and kicked him in the back, knocking him on the ground. He pointed his gun at him, ready to fire.

He didn't have a chance when an egg-shaped projectile hits him on the side of the head, covering him in a tar-like substance. Followed by a flying kick to the head from a webbed foot. Daniel went over to Rev and helped him up. Rev looked up with an unreadable look on his face.

"Rev," Daniel said. "I'm sorry about-" Rev waved it off.

"It's-ok, you-were-just-going-through-an-emotional-trip. I-probably-would-have-done-something-like-that, but-next-time…" He grabs Daniel by the collar and pulls him very close to his face and starts talking at a slow pace (well, slow for him). "If you ever do that again, I'll send you on a one-way ticket to the moon." He smirks. "Clear?"

"Crystal," Daniel said as a smile formed on his face. They go back to the battle. Daniel and Ace soon meet up after a few minutes. Ace scissor-kicked two clones and chopped one in the neck.

"Danny," getting his attention, Ace continued. "We need to get to the church and stop Nix. The others will handle these guys."

"You got it, Ace." They both ran toward the church. Making it to the front doors little difficulty, they went inside. It was a little odd that they didn't receive as much resistance as they originally thought. However, they didn't have time to stop and think about it, as Lexi needed their help. As they went in, the original Ram watched with a smirk on his face. He took out his radio.

"Boss, the two targets have entered the building."

"Excellent, just as I planned. Continue with the battle and keep the others from interfering."

"Roger that."

- - - - - - -

For as long as there were Loonatics, the two members known as Ace Bunny and Danger Duck were always considered polar-opposites in almost everything ranging from fighting style to personality. Never managing to see each other eye-to-eye, people thought that they could never co-exist with each other. Even their teammates thought the two would end up tearing each other apart in less then a month. On one hand, you have a determined gray rabbit whose charm makes him a good person to be around. The other hand, you have an egotistical black duck that would do anything to get the recognition a celebrity would have on movies. Despite their differences, they fought together and lived together with four other anthomorphic people for two years.

It's fitting to see if this bond will last long enough to stop me…

The two nearly opposite duo, Danger and Ace, traveled deeper into the large church as the others kept the mercenary occupied. Not easy considering that the mercenary can replicate himself. They both had one thing on their minds: save Lexi and stop Nix. As they enter the room where the podium and seats were, Nix and Lexi were nowhere in sight. Odd…

"Where are they?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know," Ace looks around for some clues. "But I'm going to find out." They look around the room, opening doors and going upstairs for any signs of recent use. Daniel opens a door downstairs; it appears to be an office. There's nothing odd about that if you did not notice the room appears to be devoid of dust and cobwebs. The office had been cleaned and appears to have been used recently. There is a bookshelf on the right side of the room, a desk in the back with papers scattered around the top. The left side has a painting of a tower; it has the title "Tower of Lost Souls" at the bottom of the golden frame. The room seems to scream out "Nix was here!" in bold letters.

Daniel activates his communicator. "Ace, I found something that might give us a clue where Lexi and a certain emo maniac might be located."

"I'll be right there!" The communications cut from there. Ace runs in a minute later. They begin searching the office. While Ace looks through the papers, Daniel walks over to the bookshelf. He began to wonder.

'… He wouldn't actually…' he thought, as he pulls a book titled "War and Peace" from the shelf. Just as he did, however, the bookcase begins to move. Sliding all the way to the left, it reveals a passageway that leads down to a possible basement.

"I don't believe this," Daniel mumbled, shaking his head. "He actually made this? This is got to be the biggest cliché I have ever seen in my life."

"Gripe about it later," Ace responded. "We don't have much time, Nix might be doing who-knows-what to Lexi."

Daniel nodded and followed Ace into the passageway.

A few moments later, the lights in the room flicker. When the lighting comes back on, Nix is sitting behind the desk; His feet propped up on the desk and leaning back with his grin still plastered on his face. His staff is leaning against the wall behind him. He no longer has his blindfold on, his eyes gleaming with a dark aura that seems to swallow up the light surrounding him.

"Continue the pursue you two," he said with malice in his voice and madness in his eyes.

Without changing his position, he grabs his staff. He flips over the desk and lands on the other side. He walks over to the light switch and turns off the lights.

"It's only a matter of time till I see you… ehehhaHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAA!"

That's all for now, sorry for the shortness. I'll try to increase the length next chapter. R&R