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The training room was still set up with the circus motif. The trapezes squeaked and whined as they swayed back and forth from the ceiling. Ace stood on the ground looking up watching the feathered performers doing their trick. Duck has complained enough for Ace to allow him to do the trust jump without a blindfold. After all, he had argued, trusting Rev's accuracy and grip at that altitude was blind faith enough.

After a few goes that ended without Duck becoming a pancake on the training room floor, he was feeling cocky enough to show off a little. And by "a little" meant putting on a real overconfident display, blindfold on, naturally.

"She was an Acrobat's daughter/ she swung by her teeth from a noose. But in one matinee/ her bridgework gave way/ and she flew through the air like a goose." Duck sang as he somersaulted into Rev's hands before quacking them both safely to the ground to end with a flourished bow exclaiming, "Tada!"

The other Loonatics applauded. Duck drank it all in like a sponge.

"You're too kind."

"Hey-I-did-half-the-work-too-you-know." Rev added.

"Good teamwoik you two." Ace complemented approaching them. Duck smiled, smug as ever. Rev smiled contentedly as well. The possibility of an argument defused, Ace then turned to Tech and Lexi. "Speaking of teamwoik, da both of ya displayed some real excellent teamwoik t'day."

If she hadn't already been pink, Lexi was sure Ace would have noticed her blushing. Tech too was grinning with pride.

"Ah, we just did what needed to be done. Wasn't too hard for Lexi's quick thinking and my genius." He accepted unpretentiously.

"Handlin' Aphrodite and all her boy toys couldn't have been easy wit it bein' just the two a ya." Ace continued. "Plus us bein' under her control musta made it all harder." He, Rev and Slam all lowered their eyes shamefully at these words. Ace lifted his head and looked Lexi right in the eyes. "If you hadn't gotten through ta me, things coulda taken a different toin. Thanks Lex."

"It was no biggie." Lexi shrugged, trying to sound as modest as possible. Truthfully she didn't want to think about what could have happened if her words had not reached Ace's better judgment.

Duck exhaled loudly and rolled his eyes.

"Please," he scoffed "So Lexi was immune to Aphrodite's love mist and Tech got lucky enough to avoid it doesn't mean they should get any special treatment. If it had been me, I for one would have performed just as admirably, if not better."

Tech crossed his arms skeptically "Oh really?"

"Of course." Duck replied confidently. "I'm level headed and cleaver enough to get by in tough situations. It takes more then just a pretty face to win one over on Danger Duck."

"Hey, isn't that Misty Breeze?" Lexi pointed in a random direction.

Duck's head swiveled sharply, his gaze darting about the room to find his object of desire.

"Misty Breeze? Where? How? When?"

After a few fruitless seconds of searching, the sound of muffled giggles let Duck know he had once again just fallen for the oldest joke in the book. He furrowed his brow in Lexi's direction.

"You're despicable." He spat.

"Sorry." She giggled. Unable to hold it back any longer, she let out a long peal of laughter. This made Duck even more irate. And when the others in the room joined her, he had enough. He called out above the roar of their laughter.

"Okay, you got me. We all got a nice laugh out of Duck. Now we can move on with our lives." They continued chuckling. "Honestly, you can all stop now." They gave no signs of stopping. He scowled at all of them, and then exclusively at Ace.

"And you expect us to form bonds of trust in this kind of environment?" He again rolled his eyes, "Sheesh."

[The End]