Chapter 4- High School Reunion

"I got it!" Tech shouted, basked in the glow of his many computer screens. After loosing track of Aphrodite and their lovelorn teammates he and Lexi had retreated to headquarters and for the last hour he had been evaluating the situation they had experienced, along with security footage and residue of Aphrodite's pink mist from Lexi's uniform.

Lexi looked up from her staring into nothing to acknowledge him. With only Tech and herself at HQ the silence was really starting to get to her. It really wasn't until the others were gone that she realized just how much she appreciated their presence. Even when they weren't all in the same room, her super hearing could pick up Slam sneaking a snack in the kitchen, or Rev rushing about the base, Duck yelling to someone on the phone, Ace training with his sword. The thoughts of them being gone so quickly and easily were unsettling, but Tech's sudden cries of "eureka" filled her empty void with a flash of hope.

"She's using pheromones." The coyote explained. Lexi twitched her nose with curiosity. Catching this gesture, he expounded further. "It's a naturally secreted chemical that most animals use to attract potential mates. Although from what I observed, Aphrodite is producing amounts beyond normal human standards." He rubbed his chin, pondering the many reasons this could be.

"So, she's sweating love potion number nine?" Lexi asked with a hint of disbelief.

"That's just about it, despite your laymen's terminology." Tech typed some keys on his computer consol. The surveillance footage from earlier was brought up to the screen. "She must store the excess sweat in that scarf she wears. Any male that is exposed to it becomes psychologically dependant on its presence. Without it the victim suffers from overwhelming feelings of despair and longing."

Lexi got it now. This wasn't any ordinary mind control. It was simulated love.

"So that's how she's controlling them." She concluded. "They're hooked on her pheromones."

Tech folded his arms across his chest with a sigh.

"We might as well face it. They're addicted to love."

Lexi played along with his lyrical paraphrasing.

"Any way we can help them break the habit?"

Tech resumed typing position.

"As a matter of fact, I can whip up a counter- agent that can neutralize the effect of the pheromone." His optimistic expression then faded. "But I'm going to need a sample of Aphrodite's sweat to make it."

Lexi scratched behind her ear in thought. The forming idea was not pleasing her.

"Which means we'll have to get up close and personal will little miss pretty."

"Tech, Lexi," Zadavia's voice sparked over the intercom as if cued by an unseen director. "I've located Aphrodite's whereabouts."

The figurehead's visage appeared on the holophone projector with a concerned mask holding her features. It gained the two anthros' attention.

"What's the news Zadavia?" Lexi inquired.

A set of visuals provided by city security cameras began to play as Zadavia narrated.

"After another shopping spree, Aphrodite's M.O. has suddenly changed as she's now getting her followers to abduct female residents of Acmetropolis. These women seem to be chosen at random. They range from lawyers and doctors to housewives and meter maids.

"It can't be random." Tech shook his head, his internal logic alarm buzzing. He reviewed the footage. Women being snatched from their homes and places of business, even right off the streets, in the most abrupt manners. Many by his own teammates. He finally picked up on something.

"All those women appear to be around the same age." He turned back to the holoscreen. "Zadavia, can you give me a list of their names? Maybe I can run a search to find a link between them all."

"You might not have time for that Tech." The informer frowned. "Aphrodite is having them all taken to the Acmetropolis West Sector High School. I suggest you stop whatever she has planned for these poor women first, before finding out what they have in common."

"She's right." Lexi agreed. She punched her fist into her paw for emphasis. "Whatever she's planning, Aphrodite has to be stopped." She paused a moment recognizing the fact that she only had Tech for backup. "But how do we stop her from using her love voodoo on you?"

Tech smiled, he had been waiting for her to ask that.

"I already have just the thing." He reached into his desk and pulled out a mask- like device adorned with small vents and thin tubes. He snapped it over his muzzle, covering his nose and mouth. His eyes peered through the tinted lenses as he attached the straps to the back of his head. The entire ensemble made him look like a reject Storm Trooper.

"Well, you won't be winning any fashion awards for it." She observed.

"I won't be inhaling any of Aphrodite's pheromone either." He defended his work. "The filters should prevent any impure oxygen from getting through."

"As long as it keeps pretty girl from getting another boy toy, it works for me." Lexi turned back to the holophone image. "We're on it Zadavia."

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The main doors to the West Sector High School groaned under their weight as they slowly swung open. Lexi and Tech scanned the entrance. The darkened halls were admittedly spooky without the gossiping voices, squeaking sneakers and all around presence of teens filling them.

"It's pretty quiet." Tech verbally noted.

"It's summer Tech," Lexi reminded him. "Students don't tend to hang around after the school's closed." She caught the embarrassed shift in his eyes, realizing her faux pas she amended, "Well, most students anyway." She smiled awkwardly and decided to refrain from expanding on the subject further.

They spent several moments wandering the halls for signs of life. Occasionally glancing at the trophy cases and posters adorning the walls. Lexi suddenly stopped in her tracks, signaling for Tech to stop as well. Her ears twitched, a soft pink energy sparkling around them.

"You hear something?" Tech inquired.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "Something I haven't heard in a long time."

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"Go A, C! Go M, E! ACME! ACME! ACME!!!"

Aphrodite waved her pom-poms wildly in the air, performing splits and back flips to the raving crowd. The male audience burst with applause and ecstatic cheers, the stands nearly filled to their maximum capacity.

She blew them all kisses, swirling about in her tight cheerleader uniform, smiling like a pop-diva in a music video. Around her, the Loonitics, wearing male cheer squad uniforms, hoisted her onto the top of a pyramid routine.

"Listen up, it's peachy keen! Aphrodite is your queen!" They chanted, answered back by another round of hoots and hollers from the crowd.

"Thank you!" She grinned, leaping off the apex and landing with a bow. "So nice you could all come out to support your local school. And of course, me!"

Another deafening cheer, accompanied with random proclamations of love and adoration. The only silence came from the confused and frightened women stuffed away on a set of bleachers nearest their quirky captor. They huddled together, afraid to make a move with so many of Aphrodite's followers so close at hand. Aphrodite approached them with a wiggle in her hips and a wicked curl on her lips.

"Now, now, no need to be fearful in the presence of greatness." She smiled, drinking in the way they whispered among themselves and watched her submissively.

"Why did you bring us here?" One woman got the nerve to ask.

"What's the matter?" Aphrodite pouted falsely. "Got no school spirit? They do!" She pointed at the field of cheering men. The Loonitics joined them with acrobatic tumbles and flourishes.

"Here she is, she's high and mighty! All bow down to Aphrodite!" Duck danced with flailing pom-poms.

"See?" Aphrodite smiled, "They love me!" She sauntered up to Milo and Ace, placing an arm over each of their shoulders. "Isn't that right boys?"

"We love you Aphrodite." They both replied dreamily. She smiled her eggshell white teeth at the female crowd.

Above the field another set of voyeurs were taking in the scene.

"Just look at her," Lexi fumed, "parading them around like trophies. Could she be a bigger show off?"

"Question is, how do we stop the show without the audience getting rowdy?" Tech surveyed the area through his high-powered binoculars.

"Well, attacking directly is out of the question. Those men snap into attack mode even if there's a chance she could break a nail.

"A pack mentality… fascinating."

"This isn't a nature documentary, Tech." Lexi scolded. "We have to snap them out of it. Then we can focus on Aphrodite." She squeezed her fists together. "She's going to pay for what she did to Ace."

"And the others." The coyote added with a knowing grin.

Lexi flushed catching her Freudian slip.

"And the others." She amended speedily. Tech simply remained smug. He knew about her feelings for Ace. One male, heroic, healthy, good-looking rabbit, plus one athletic, attractive, intelligent, female rabbit… well, one didn't have to be a super genius to figure out that kind of math. But he said nothing regarding Lexi's blunder. There was a job to be done.

"If we can sneak up on her and get a piece of her scarf, I can use the sweat stored on it to whip up that counter agent." He looked back up to Lexi. "Got a plan?"

"Plan?"

Lexi stared blankly. She had been too busy seething to really come up with a plan. Plans were normally Ace's forte.

"You are the acting leader whenever Ace isn't around." Tech reminded her.

"Right!" She knew that. She scanned her mind quickly to assess the information they had gathered on the situation. Just because Ace got first dibs on the plans, it didn't mean she never came up with her own. She took another look down on the field. "Okay. Here's what we do."

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