A/N: Huzzah! Early chapter! I figured I'd get this out on labor day rather than the weekend, so happy labor day to everyone! (I wanted to get this one out before tomorrow, seeing as it's my birthday and my sister keeps taunting me saying that whatever gift I'm getting, I'm not going to have time for much else. *curious look*) So, like I said, this chapter is where the action starts! Can anybody say, bank heist? XD However, the next chapter is where the real conflict begins, and it's going to end up being a long one, so sorry if I get it out a little late. (It was another one of those, 'Now how do I go about dividing this?' scenes, and it was either one ridiculously short part followed by a long part or one longer part, and I'm not a fan of ridiculously short chapters…) So, I'm trying for two weeks on the next one, but no promises.

To make up for the potential late chapter, I have earth-shattering, ridiculously good news! So, lucky me got one of 8 select teachers at my school who's part of the experimental i-Pad program! That's right- I'm getting an i-Pad as part of school. (Have to give it back at the end of the year, though…) So, by now you're wondering why this is good news for anyone but myself. The good news is that I'll be able to use it during free periods (and in select classes) and have in-school internet access. Guess who is undoubtedly going to spend most of her time typing up fanfiction rather than doing any work? XD It's like they're asking me to get nothing done…

So, without further ado, enjoy the story!

They got the call not long after lunch on a Saturday, when the majority of the Loonatics were out around town; the thief had made an appearance at another branch of Acmetropolis First. All of them got Zadavia's alert through their comm. systems and immediately left their respective locations. Ace and Lexi, quickly joined by Duck, made it there first.

It appeared as though the thief hadn't been there long, seeing as he was still zipping around, stealing everything in sight while trying to subdue the guards. Random laser blasts flew all around, miraculously avoiding the civilians scattered about the room, ducking on the floor. The Loonatics weren't immediately noticed upon their arrival, and they used that to their advantage.

"Alright, here's da plan," Ace said quieter than he needed to, seeing as they were still waiting outside the bank, peering at the spectacle through the glass doors. "I'm just gonna storm da place, see what I can do ta stop him from hurtin' anyone. Odds are, I'm not gonna be able to beat him on my own, but I can distract him pretty well. Duck, you're gonna pop in near da ceiling, and try ta get him dat way; we'll team up on him. Use your quackin' ta drive him up da walls. Lex, I want you ta came in through da back. Don't let him see ya. When ya have an openin', give him one good hit. Both of you, avoid his slow-motion ability if ya can, and if ya see that yellow light, look away. Don't know if it'll work, but it's somethin'."

"Whatever you say, chief," Duck said, readying himself for quick quacking.

"Be careful, Ace," Lexi urged, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up. "You too, Duck," she quickly added out of courtesy before running towards the back of the building.

"What, don't I get a kiss?" Duck asked sarcastically towards Lexi's retreating form, though not loud enough to draw attention. While Lexi didn't bother giving him any form of reply, though she undoubtedly heard him, Ace did spare a moment to give the mallard a smack upside the head accompanied by a displeased look before charging in the doors, announcing himself with a well-aimed laser blast in front of the thief. It was hard to tell whether he ducked or jumped to avoid it, seeing as he was little more than a short, dark colored blur at the speeds he was moving, but Ace only just missed him either way.

"Hey!" the thief shouted indignantly in a fast-paced Mexican lilt, not breaking stride though changing his path to keep moving while well out of the way of Ace and the remaining guards. "Hasn't-anyone-ever-told-you-that-it's-rude-to-just-barge-in?"

"I could say da same ta you," Ace retorted, readying himself to move.

"Maybe I should teach you some manners," the Hispanic voice drawled, but this one was different. Instead of being fast paced, this one was slow, monotone, and sounded...different, like it was from someone else, much to Ace's confusion. He didn't have long to dwell on it, though; the thief started firing his own laser-based weapon at him, and the bunny was forced to quickly dart off to the side, diving behind an overturned desk for cover.

"Oh, so dat's how were gonna play it, eh?" Ace asked, mostly to himself as he quickly gathered himself. Drawing the Guardian Strike Sword, he stood up from behind the desk, using the blade to deflect the laser shots back at the thief, using his laser vision for added support. The criminal was overwhelmed, but not to the point of making mistakes or losing his sense; he simply stopped firing his own shots and turned his full attention to dodging Ace's, giving him less to dodge and freeing himself up.

"You've-got-to-do-better-than-that-conejo*!" the faster persona shouted, diverting from his previous path to put civilians in his way, forcing Ace to quickly avert his gaze and stop shooting lest he hit an unintended target.

The thief took advantage of this momentary distraction, making a quick 180-degree turn and giving Ace a high-speed kick in the chest. The thief zipped away and took cover behind a downed desk in a corner where he couldn't be seen before the downed bunny could retaliate, but Ace was far from down for the count; the hit wouldn't have hurt at all if it hadn't been so fast, revealing that the mystery thief was neither very heavy nor strong. Not surprising, considering how one of his powers was speed, but still good to know.

"Not so tough when ya don't have da upper hand, are ya?" Ace taunted, before quickly dodging back behind the desk as the thief stood up from his hiding spot. Ace saw his gun before his face, and decided he'd rather avoid getting shot than figure out who he was dealing with. Fortunately for him, the thief didn't get a chance to get a single shot off; Duck chose that moment to make his presence known, throwing an egg from his perch atop a hanging light fixture. It exploded in front of the desk, showering the area in tar, but the thief had already moved to a new spot.

"What-kind-of-tonto**-throws-tar-around?" fast shouted, sounding more mocking than aggravated. Duck certainly took notice of it.

"I don't know what you just called me, but you're not getting away with insulting Danger Duck!" he declared, lobbing another egg at the thief's new hiding place. Zipping out again before Duck could land his hit, he started firing off his own weapon at the mallard. The tables were turned as Duck avoided the shots with ease, quacking away only to reappear on top of a desk near the fast-paced Mexican's path and surprise attack him with a few more eggs. Duck's quick quacks proved to be a match for the thief's speed; he just barely avoided that and the subsequent attacks. Duck quickly pushed the thief back around the room, herding the so-far oblivious Mexican back towards Ace.

Their unknown assailant had almost forgotten about the bunny, being too busy with Duck, and didn't remember until Ace had jumped out of hiding, wielding his sword with obvious intent. The obvious move would have been to use his speed to get out of Ace's way, and both Ace and Duck were prepared to follow up with another attack when that happened- it turned out that this guy wasn't the predictable type.

Suddenly pivoting on one foot (which turned into a skid at the speed he was moving at,) the thief flipped around to where Duck had just quacked to and fired off one shot at the mallard. With a surprised yelp, he quacked away again, narrowly avoiding having his beak blown off. Pivoting back around, the Mexican burglar faced Ace again, speeding back up to avoid the bunny's oncoming attack. It didn't look like he would make it, until Duck suddenly reappeared right in his teammate's path, forcing Ace to twist slightly in the air, putting one shoulder forward and his sword behind him to avoid killing the oblivious mallard. This resulted in a spectacular tackle that would have made any NFL star proud, the two Loonatics ending up in a painful heap on the floor as the thief passed them by, laughing mockingly.

"If-I-had-known-you-guys-were-going-to-stop-yourselves-for-me-I'd-have-started-doing-this-a-long-time-ago!"

"Si. You are making this muy facil***," the slower persona agreed...with himself?

"Oh, great," Duck grumbled as he and Ace gingerly picked themselves up off the floor. "Not only does he really know what he's doing, he's crazy, too."

"Who-you-calling-crazy?" the thief shouted indignantly as he turned to make another pass, Ace and Duck scurrying to get out of the way. Fortunately for them, Lexi made herself known at that point, aiming one precise brain blast at the thief. He didn't notice her nor her attack until it hit him square in the back, propelling him into a small table and overturning it, landing somewhere on the other side.

"His speed is a double-edged sword," Lexi observed as Duck and Ace joined her. "He's hard to hit, but once you do, he can't stop himself until he hits something."

"Kinda like Rev," Ace agreed, waiting another few moments as civilians began to file out the back exit, escorted by the remaining conscious guards. "Well, looks like ya got him, Lex. I think he's out."

"Let's see who this guy is," Duck said with dark intent, strutting forward with a purpose. "And remind me to ask Sive what a 'tonto' is."

Lexi shot Ace a confused look, having arrived after Duck's pride had been wounded. Ace shrugged and gave her a 'Tell you later' expression before they, too, started after Duck, curious as to the identity of the mystery thief. They weren't used to not knowing who they were dealing with; usually their enemies showed up, made an announcement as to who they were and what they wanted, then started blowing things up. This was a new one on them.

They didn't even make it half way across the room.

Suddenly someone stood up from behind the overturned table, a very short someone by what they could see before being blinded by a sudden flash of green light. The next thing they knew, the three were all but trapped in their positions, barely able to move no matter how much effort they put into it while the thief, now back on his feet, ran circles around them and laughed maniacally.

"Forgot I could do that, didn't you?" slow drawled.

"Too-bad-for-you!" fast taunted before suddenly heading for the front door. "And-as-much-as-I-would-love-to-stay-and-chat-I-have-things-to-do-and-places-to-go. Don't-bother-following."

With that, he burst through the doors, leaving the three Loonatics still struggling within their formless prison. At first, they were absolutely terrified that they'd be stuck like that, and sincerely hoped that someone- most likely Tech- would know how to get them out of it. Then the light suddenly faded, allowing them to move freely. All of their previous effort put into moving resulted in them suddenly diving in random directions, once again ending up in a painful heap on the floor.

"I hate this guy already…" Duck grumbled.

xoxoxoxox

If the thief had thought he was home free, he would have realized that he was dead wrong the second he got outside and got charged by a very angry Tasmanian devil the size of a small car. With an undignified and quite literal squeak, he zipped out of the way of the charging Loonatic, only to be chased across the empty street- no doubt blockaded further down by police. A little peeved that that he could practically keep up with him in his tornado mode, the speedster suddenly made a sharp u-turn that Slam couldn't follow, forcing him to stop for a moment to re-orient himself and continue the chase in the right direction.

"You-like-spinning?" the thief called as he made another tight turn to head back at his opponent. "Then-try-this!"

Before Slam could start forming his tornado, the thief reached him and grabbed onto one of his arms. The massive Loonatic wondered what he planned on doing, seeing as his hands felt about as big as those of a toddler and suggested no significant strength, but it became clear when the thief didn't stop running and continued in a circle, dragging the devil along with him in an inadvertent spin. He continued around a few more times before rocketing off again, leaving the poor Tasmanian devil to slow to a stop before collapsing from dizziness resulting from the inadvertent tornado.

"This guy's good," Sive said, sounding both impressed and wary as she and Tech arrived on their jetpacks just in time to continue the chase.

"We'll have to be careful," Tech agreed. "You have the best chance of hitting him, though; lightning travels at the speed of light."

"I'm well aware," Sive smirked. "I'm going to have to fly low, so cover me."

Sive flew off without waiting for a reply, branching off slightly from Tech before diving down to barely twenty feet off the ground. Electricity was a tricky thing to control, though, so she wanted to make sure she'd hit what she was aiming for. Collecting the energy for a small bolt, trying to avoid killing the thief, she launched a few quick, smaller attacks. The mini-Mexican countered with his own slow-motion, launching the green light at her shots without turning or breaking stride. Much to her shock, rather than exploding on impact, the light enveloped her lightning bolts, slowing them until the thief was well out of the way before releasing them where they exploded harmlessly on the sidewalk.

Sive flew back upwards to be level with Tech. "Something's telling me this isn't going to work. Got any other ideas?"

Tech thought for a moment before replying. "Yeah. Try herding him back to the bank, that way he'll have us, Slam, Lexi, Ace, and Duck to contend with." This time Tech was the one to fly off before a reply, going low and using his magnetism to cause strategic streetlamps to fall, blocking streets and forcing the thief to run in one direction. Tech continued this as Sive kept back, using larger bolts of lightning to keep the thief from straying too far off course. This time, however, the thief knew he was being herded in a certain direction. However, he was at a loss, seeing as his foes were in the sky.

They made it close to the bank again before the thief figured out a way to ditch the Loonatics. Speeding up as much as he could, he stopped trying to get away and focused on overtaking the lead coyote. Seeing this, the one in back sped up as well, drawing even with her companion, and that was when he struck. Using his slowing ability, he fired off two short, concise blasts that hit their targets perfectly- not the coyotes, but their jetpacks. The sudden slow to their 'vehicles' but not themselves resulted in the worst physics mishap to ever befall them; while their packs slowed, they didn't, slipping out of the straps and continuing forward- and downward.

Both crying out in fear and alarm, they fell towards the ground at different speeds and angles. Tech, traveling much faster than Sive at the time, fell faster and at less of an angle, resulting in him landing somewhere across the street. He could have cared less about himself, though; he could regenerate, Sive couldn't. While they hadn't been traveling spectacularly high, they were moving fast enough for a fall to potentially cause some serious damage.

Upon realizing her predicament, Sive only shut her eyes, preparing for the worst. Her surprise at a sudden but relatively soft landing was understandable, as well as the secondary surprise jolt before settling.

"You…okay?" someone asked hesitantly, and Sive snapped her eyes open to reveal a very worried Slam. He was sitting on the ground- having overbalanced after catching her, and opting to land on his rear rather than on top of her- still cradling her in his arms, and regarded her with obvious fear for her well being.

"Slam!" she chirped happily, her relief obvious as she leapt up and hugged the Tasmanian devil, who returned it with equal, if not more fervor. "Boy am I happy to see you! And good catch!"

Slam said something unintelligible, though happy and relieved sounding, before releasing her and picking themselves up off the ground. Before long, though, the speedster zipped past them not a yard out of reach, cackling all the while.

"Somebody certainly thinks very highly of himself," Sive murmured, both she and Slam tensing, readying themselves to give chase, no matter how pointless the action would have been- had they had to follow through with it.

"Don't-worry-guys-I've-got-him!" Rev shouted to them as he rocketed past, breaking every speed limit in existence as he took off after the thief. He'd been just outside of town, so it had taken him a while to get there, and now that he had arrived, he was going to put a stop to this guy once and for all.

Sive and Slam watched them go, turning to each other as they went out of sight. "I think we'd better find Tech and the others, make sure they're all right."

Slam nodded in agreement, and they split up, Sive crossing the street to look for Tech and Slam going in the bank to check on the others.

xoxoxoxox

In a contest of speed, the mystery thief wouldn't have stood a chance against Rev. Slam could keep up with him in tornado mode, and Rev could easily outpace the Tasmanian devil. It seemed as though the thief knew this based off of the path he took. Rev had to travel at high speeds to make up the ground he'd already lost, using his GPS to quickly catch up to his opponent. Finding that the roadrunner could easily dodge his slowing ability while in the ground or in the air, the Mexican opted to take paths that required many sharp turns. He was going just slow enough to make them. Rev wasn't, and had to fly up over the buildings and then track down the other again before repeating the process. The thief knew he wasn't shaking him that way, so took other measures, turning onto one long, straight, dead-end street and barreling down it for all he was worth, the roadrunner hot on his heels.

"You-should-just-stop-now-because-you-know-I'm-going-to-catch-you!" Rev shouted, quickly gaining ground on his opponent.

"That's-what-you-think!" the thief taunted in return.

"Well-look-there's-nowhere-left-to-run-to-so-you'll-just-be-caught-tired!"

"That's what you think," the slower persona replied, throwing Rev off for a moment before he dismissed it for later thought. "You may want to watch where you're going."

Now mildly alarmed, Rev shifted focus from the thief to the street- and panicked. The street ended in a high bridge that only had a three-foot gap at the bottom for running water, seeing as it was a downhill street, and it was solid concrete for about thirty feet up. Knowing there was no way he'd stop in time, nor would he be able to make that gap, he began a sharp incline up, hoping to make it over the bridge as the short thief ducked under the gap and made his escape. It looked as though he'd make it until he reached the very top. His feet clipped the guardrail, resulting in an extreme loss of control caused by the high speed. He tumbled down onto the pavement, and everything went black.

A/N: Whew, that was long. I expected it, but still… I'm just now finishing this fairly late at night where I'm at, so I'm going to keep this one short and go to bed…

I wouldn't mind some reviews as a birthday present… *puppy dog face*

*rabbit
**idiot
***very easy