A/N: *in hiding* In my defense, I DID say that I felt as though my teachers were deceiving me. *peeks out, gets bricked*

I AM SO SORRY! I hated leaving this hanging for so long, but it had to be done! Words cannot express my guild at my unexpected absence. It's one thing to do this before starting a story, but while it's in progress and just after a big part?! ;_;

The good news is, this is a long, TechxSive-ey chapter. And, more good news, the bad guy is revealed sometime in the next chapter or two, depending on how long I make the next one. And: I found a cool icon pic to use as the story cover of a sad Rev! (Kind of a rare sight from the show.) *Note: I am artistically challenged, so the image is not mind. As it was, I only found it from a source that was 5 years old and had taken it from another source and said that the artist was unknown, so if it's yours and you don't want it here, please say so. (I'm pretty sure it's a screenshot, though, and if it isn't, by gosh, that person can draw!)

Thanks to Halloween Witch, Loonaticslover13, iwolf208, Luna246, and Angelus Draco for your kind words! I'm very sorry for making you all wait so long, but I still absolutely love hearing from you all! Your words are my inspiration!

The living room was a sight to behold only several days after Rev's departure, not because of the state of the room, but because of the atmosphere emanating from the people in it, radiating outward like a thick fog. The new speedy criminal had been driving them hard, practically carrying out two robberies every three-day period, and all they had to show for it were cases of acute lack of sleep and quite a few minor injuries. Whoever he was (as they had still been unable to reveal his identity, though not for lack of trying,) he knew exactly what to do to keep the Loonatics off his back; each time they met, he was always sure to keep Ace and Sive, the only ones with ranged powers that worked fast enough to hit him; Duck, who could trip him up nicely with his quantum quack; and Slam, who could practically keep up with him in tornado mode, busy enough so that they couldn't even come close to getting him. It seemed that without Rev, there was absolutely no hope of catching the slippery speedster.

Of course, this was the least of their problems concerning Rev, and they didn't put that lightly. It was as though the entire balance of the team had changed from perfectly in tune to more or less unaware that their other teammates existed. None of them had realized how much Rev had contributed to the team, speed powers aside, and there was no way to fill the hole he'd left. His undying optimism was one thing they all- even Duck- dearly missed, all feeling relatively despondent without it. Even Lexi couldn't fill it with a boost in her usual cheer.

The biggest and most noticeable change, however, came from Tech. No one could honestly say they were surprised, but no one could honestly say they weren't unnerved by it, either. They had predicted that he would lock himself up in his lab and refuse visitors more often than not; they had even predicted a decrease in performance, seeing as he hadn't come up with a workable plan to catch the thief, knowing Rev's departure would throw him off his game. His sudden irritability, however, was unprecedented. He tended to snap at everyone when they attempted to show concern or offer comfort, or even worse, tried to get him to regularly eat and sleep. The rest of the team had no idea what to do, unused to this level of reclusiveness from the coyote.

As with everything, this came to a forced and mildly violent end after the fourth day or so of this behavior. Late in the evening, Tech had left the lab for the first time in a long while, citing that his considerable store of coffee had run out (which wasn't that surprising, seeing as by that point they coyote had been running on caffeine and a prayer.) By the time he'd reached the kitchen, Sive had already caught up to him and was pestering him about taking a break; she had been far less affected than the others by Tech's behavior, and as such didn't let him off the hook so easily. The fact that she was painfully aware that she was the only one still constantly looking out for him (and now the only one brave enough to confront him) made her even harder to shake.

However, Tech wasn't about to back down, either. He started by brushing her off at first, trying to avoid being rude right away, and when that failed, he moved to blatantly ignoring her. A few signs of aggravation showed from the elder coyote as he grabbed four full canisters of coffee from the pantry, but Sive still continued, now digging into him for obviously trying to go another long stretch in the lab. Sive herself was becoming a little annoyed with the other, but was doing a better job of hiding it than he was.

One coyote's breaking point resulted in tripping the other's. Finally fed up, he snapped at her, essentially telling her to leave him alone (in much more colorful language) before attempting to storm off back to his lab, obviously not expecting any resistance. Her reaction, on the other hand, was still being used as a much needed source of humor for the other Loonatics.

Tech's hopes of an easy escape were shattered when Sive's arms suddenly phased through him, confiscating his coffee and setting it down on a counter. Immediately he spun around, a snarl on his face that was quickly wiped away when Sive grabbed him about the ears and began dragging him away.

If they hadn't been paying attention before, Tech's yelp that was more of surprise than anything else ensured that their other teammates were now paying rapt attention. Lexi had been floored, Slam confused, Duck amused, and Ace too pleased with where this was going to intervene as Sive pulled the taller coyote out of the kitchen. Tech could only follow in shocked silence, hunched over a bit to minimize the pull on his long ears as Sive tugged him along, giving him a chewing out any mother would have been proud of, essentially telling him that "If you're going to act like a child, then you'll be treated like one!"

The others only watched as Sive continued down the hall with her captive audience before phasing them both through a wall that led into Tech's room. Lexi had relayed the coyotes' following conversation to her eager listeners, all of them desperately trying to keep from laughing at their suddenly meek inventor and his newfound mother hen- mainly because said mother hen would probably zap them if she heard them call her that. This belief was proven only moments later when there was a loud static sound, and the keypad outside Tech's door for electronic lock system began smoking and sparking; they could only assume that Sive had shocked it from the inside. She then proceeded to exit through the door, saying to Tech that she'd fetch him in the morning before walking away. Considering how the only ones who could now get in (short of breaking down the door) were Duck and Sive, and seeing as Duck could get into the room but not bring Tech out of it, it was safe to assume that the elder coyote was stuck for the time being. The other Loonatics had a good laugh at their friend's expense.

True to her word, Sive brought him back out the next morning. He looked a lot better than he had before; sleep had done wonders for him. It had also done wonders for his mood; upon entering the living room, the coyote sheepishly apologized for his earlier behavior, promising that it wouldn't happen again before leaving for the kitchen to get something to eat. He even hung around with the others a bit before heading back down to his lab.

However, the team quickly found that Tech still wasn't back to his old self. While Sive was able to pull him out of his lab more often, and he was no longer agitated like he had been, he still seemed reluctant to express anything to his team. He was still more reserved than usual, and whenever he did spend some time outside of his lab, he always seemed troubled and distracted.

"I'm worried," Lexi said to Ace one morning over coffee, both idly standing in the kitchen.

"Me too, Lex," he agreed, knowing what she was referring to without having to ask.

Lexi shook her head. "And it's not just about that. Everything seems wrong without Rev here. Tech's not the only one affected, we're all off our game, and we can't even catch one thief."

"Ta be fair, dat guy really knows what he's doin'," Ace stated with a sheepish note, rubbing one shoulder where he had been grazed by laserfire just the other day.

"He's not the first we've ever faced who has," Lexi reminded him. "After all, there can only be so many Fudd's in the world."

"I think da Fudd's demselves make sure of dat," Ace commented wryly, thinking back on Fudd's wall of family hunting history before being serious again. "Even so, we've never had dis much trouble catchin' somebody before. We've been at it for weeks; even dealin' with Optimatus didn't take dis long, and I think he's da worst guy we've ever faced."

"Remind me to make sure to appreciate Tech more once all of this is over," Lexi said. "While our powers are helpful and all, we seem to be lost without the added support from his gadgets and plans."

"We're a team, Lexi," Sive said, making both bunnies jump as she suddenly phased into the room and walked to the coffee maker without a second glance at the other occupants. "We're lost without any part of us, and like you said, we're all off right now."

"Surprisin'ly deep for you," Ace speculated wryly over his coffee cup.

Sive merely shrugged. "I have my moments. Has Tech still not come up yet, or did I miss him?"

Ace shook his head. "Nah, he's still down dere. Hasn't locked da door yet, though, so dere's still hope."

"Someone should check on him," Lexi stated, not volunteering herself because she wasn't brave enough to see if he was still in a mood or not.

"Way ahead of you," Sive drawled as she slipped past the two bunnies. They hadn't paid her much notice before, but it didn't get past either of the rabbits' attentions that she held two very large mugs of coffee in hand as she quit the room.

xoxoxoxoxox

The lab seemed eerily quiet for that time of day. It wasn't necessarily because the rest of the team wouldn't dare enter, but because by that time, he'd usually have company. Rev had never woken up at the same time as him, but he'd usually join Tech in the lab before long. That was probably why Tech noticed the quiet so much; he had grown used to the chatter that was commonplace when hanging with the motor-mouthed roadrunner. The normally cluttered lab now just felt…empty.

Sighing with a shake of his head, Tech resolutely returned to what he was working on. It wasn't anything of any real importance; simply an updated communications system, and seeing as the old system still worked fine, it was a project that could've always waited. He wouldn't have even started it for a long while, but Rev had pushed him to during a period where he, oddly enough, had no other projects left to do. Since he still couldn't think of any way to catch their thief, he found himself with nothing better to do yet again, and right then, he wanted to stay occupied.

Finally satisfied with his work, Tech placed the top back onto the boxy component and activated an old comm. receiver to test it. Plugging the component into a spare battery, not wanting to plug it into the HQ's power in the event of an electrical failure in the device, he activated the sequence on the machine. It powered up, which was always a good sign, and seemed to be working. However, his receiver never received his test signal. Shutting everything down and reopening the box with a frustrated groan, it took him a while to finally see the problem; he had wired a key part coming from the battery incorrectly. While the machine still powered on, many important functions would get no power.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd made such a little mistake. Another perk of having Rev constantly looking over his shoulder while he worked was that while the Roadrunner typically took a while to create a finished product, he was great at spotting little flaws and errors that could end catastrophically. Tech, on the other hand, created his ingenious inventions very quickly, though at the cost of checking everything over. For example, nearly every major final in his Technology classes at Acme U went wrong because of this. In fact, just before the meteor hit, a machine he'd been testing failed explosively, and he was sure he would've been expelled for that had…other things, not taken up his time from that point on.

Further looking into the problem, he realized what was wrong. In this case, knowing the issue wasn't very helpful; he'd have to rewire everything, and to do so he'd practically have to take the whole thing apart. Hours of work, all for nothing. Tension still running high, the coyote snapped, loudly growling at the inanimate object as he used his magnetism to fling it across the room where it crashed against the wall, breaking into base components and scattering all about the floor. Giving the mess one last, disdainful look, as though it were the cause of all of his problems, he slumped down against his workbench, burying his face into his arms with a huff.

"Well, at least your temper isn't directed at us anymore."

Tech looked up sharply from his desk, quickly turning around to face the newcomer in his lab. Sive, still standing in front of the door, gave the pile of parts an- amused?- look before waltzing fully into the lab, two mugs of hot coffee still in hand.

"The door's still unlocked, you know," Tech said dumbly, wishing that Sive actually used doors from time to time to give him a heads up. He wasn't fond of anyone sneaking up on him while he was working.

"I'm aware," Sive replied matter-of-factly, handing him the bigger of the two coffee mugs. "I figured you'd need this, seeing as I didn't let you restock earlier."

"Thanks." Tech accepted the mug, but was furiously blushing and wouldn't meet her eyes. Not only was he warmed by the gesture, but he was also extremely embarrassed that she had witnessed his outburst. After taking one sip, he found he really missed the effects of caffeine, and practically chugged the rest.

Sive handed over her mug the second he put his down. At his questioning look, she shrugged. "You need it more. And unlike you, I'm not afraid to leave the lab to get a refill."

"I'm not afraid to leave…" he grumbled, though accepted the offered beverage.

"Then why don't you?" She waited a few moments, but ultimately wasn't surprised by his lack of response. "No one's going to hold it against you, you know. We all miss him, too; everyone's handling it differently."

He shook his head, setting down the mug and turning to face her. "I'm fine, Sive, really. I mean, sure, I miss him, but it's not affecting me any more than it's affecting anyone else." At that, Sive gave a purposeful look at the debris scattered across the lab before turning back to Tech with an expectant look. "…In my defense, I had to take that apart again, anyway."

Sive snorted. "So, you decided to do that by beating it do death?"

"It was a 'spur of the moment' kind of thing," Tech replied with a shrug, starting to straighten up his tools for lack of anything else to do. "I wired something wrong, and I would've had to have taken it apart to fix it. Rev usually caught stuff like that for me before I got too far along to fix it…"

"You're talking as if he's dead, Tech," Sive deadpanned. "He's not totally gone, and while we'll be seeing him a lot less than we're used to, it's not like we'll never see him again. Knowing him, he'll probably drop by within the next couple of days. It's not like you need to let go or anything; just adjust."

Tech mulled it over for a moment, walking around the lab as he put all of his tools back into their respective drawers and boxes. He hadn't really thought of it that way before; all he'd bothered to process was the fact that his friend was gone. It seemed as though he'd gotten too figurative with the word 'gone', though; Sive was right. Rev would come back at some point, and until then, it was just another change to get used to. If he could adapt to suddenly gaining superpowers and becoming a protector of the city, he could adapt to a friend moving out.

"I guess I am overreacting a little..." he admitted begrudgingly.

"No you're not. You're reacting as much as anybody else is, and if you stopped being such a recluse, you'd see it," Sive stated. "Slam hasn't been hungry, Lexi's been upset, Duck's been quiet, and...well, go see the state of the training room to see how Ace has been taking it. You're irritability isn't all that odd."

"And I suppose you're handling it by forcibly taking care of me more so than usual, huh?" Tech asked dryly, continuing to fiddle with little odds and ends in his lab.

Since his back was turned, he missed the barely there blush on Sive's face. She had much more experience than he did at successfully shielding her emotions, and was grateful that he had missed her momentary lapse. She didn't miss a beat in their conversation, though, snappily replying with, "Well, if you don't do it yourself, then short of calling your mother on you…"

"Oh, God, don't. She actually would fly out here for that," Tech groaned, almost shuddering at the thought.

"Then either you start watching out for yourself, or I'll just have to keep doing it," Sive stated with a smirk.

Tech sighed dramatically. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to get used to you hounding me all the time!"

"Oh, ha-ha, how long have you been waiting to use that one?" Sive asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at Tech's back while he snickered. "Here's a tip; stop taking points from Duck on humor."

Tech half-heartedly winced as he fiddled with a few of the many computers scattered about his lab. "Ouch. You cut deep, you know."

Sive shrugged. "It's a hazard of talking with me." Looking over the taller coyote's shoulder as he worked on the computers, she saw video footage from one of the recent bank heists playing back in a loop. Windows within the windows on the screen showed different zoomed views of the thief, teller windows, civilians, all having different levels of contrast and brightness on them in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the culprit's face. "Okay, if you're still working on this same footage from all those days ago, I'm revoking your computer privileges."

"It's not, it's from…I think that one's the most recent one. They're starting to blend together a bit." He could feel the look he received for that comment, but pointedly ignored it. "I'm still trying to find something useful from any of them, but time and again, all I see is this guy beating us around."

"Is knowing who he is really that important?" Sive asked skeptically. "I mean, sure, we could figure out where he lives and whatnot, but odds are he's based out somewhere undocumented. What's the use?"

"It's more the principal of the thing than anything else." He closed off all of the windows on the screens before finally shutting down the overtaxed systems, the hard drives deactivating with an audible whine before fading out. "…Anyway, I was also looking for any weakness that this guy has. Everyone has one, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't find his."

"Maybe it's not a physical weakness that can be seen," Sive suggested. "We already know he's not completely right in the head. It could be a mental weakness."

"If that's it, I have no idea what to do," Tech sighed, plopping down tiredly into a chair. "I have no experience in Psychology other than an AP high school course I took Sophomore year. And I don't think that anyone else has any experience in it… Unless you…?"

"Remember: I never even got to middle school, let alone high school or college," Sive deadpanned good humoredly.

"Right, right, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Sive replied dismissively. "So, how about doing something more old fashioned instead of psychological warfare?"

Tech shook his head. "Because of how fast he is, the only thing I can think of to stop him- short of killing and/or severely injuring him or us- is creating some sort of mechanical trap. However, his speed causes issues here as well. Due to the human element, we can't set up a remote or manual model, and he wouldn't be in the target zone for a long enough amount of time for a pre-set."

Sive gave him a look that suggested he'd just sprouted an extra head. "Okay, that sounded like English, but I can't make heads or tails of it."

Tech actually had to re-think about what he'd just said before he realized his mistake. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I'm more used to bouncing ideas off of Rev. He usually understands what I'm saying, so I didn't even think to simplify it."

"Well, in this area, I'm definitely a pale substitute for Rev, but so long as you give me the 'For Dummies' version, I'll help you out as best I can," Sive offered cheerily.

"Uh, thanks, Sive," Tech replied, unable to completely contain his surprise at the turn of events. Usually, unless one specific team member was a key part of the plan, he and Rev were on their own for thinking of everything. They worked fine without everyone else, it's just that no one had ever offered to help before.

"Sure thing! The sooner we deal with this guy, the better it will be for all of us." Sive settled herself on the edge of his desk, crossing her legs and leaning on one knee. "So, repeat what you said earlier, but give me the simple version."

Tech nodded. "Right. So, what I said was that a trap was pretty much our only option. It can't involve us too much to avoid any injuries, but we also need to account for his speed. A remotely operated trap- as in, set off by a switch on a remote control- won't work, and neither would a manually operated trap- one set off by someone with the device- because we all react too slowly to activate the trap and give it time to do its job. A pre-set trap is the kind where it is activated by some sort of trigger- lasers, pressure sensitive panels, motion sensors, and the like- but because of how quickly he would be in and out of the activation zone, it wouldn't sense him."

Sive thought for a moment, processing all of this and thinking of a potential new idea before replying. "What about a trap that doesn't need to be triggered? Like, something that he would just run into?"

"Hm… Well, aside from a hole in the ground or the world's largest piece of industrial strength flypaper, I can't think of anything like that."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a net."

Tech shook his head. "That would require some kind of mechanism to make it rise up and snag our guy inside."

"How about if it was horizontal?" Sive asked, before almost immediately shaking her head. "No, no, wait…our guy wouldn't be stupid enough to run right into that. He'd see it coming."

"…Unless he couldn't," Tech intoned, drawing a curious look from Sive. "Fishing line, for example, is really hard to see unless you have it in the right light."

"With how fast that guy goes, wouldn't it act kind of like cheese wire, though?" Sive asked.

"Well, it goes without saying that we'd have to use a stronger version, like for deep sea fishing," Tech explained, "but I do have something on hand that's like strong fishing wire, but I put some elastic into the mix, so it's a little springier and less likely to do any slicing and dicing. However, the usual design for nets, with rectangular or diamond gaps, wouldn't take enough force to hold this guy."

It was obvious that Tech was very lost in thought at that point, and Sive stayed quiet. She knew nothing about net designing, so she thought it best to leave it to him. He muttered to himself as he thought, coming up with different ideas and dismissing them almost immediately until…

"Can't do a pentagonal weave… What about a web?" he asked, loudly enough that Sive knew he was addressing her instead of talking to himself.

"Like a spider web?" she questioned. "I guess, but do you know how to weave that?"

"Yes, just don't ask how," Tech replied. "If I can synthesize some more of that string, and find a few places where we can set this up near a few potential robbery spots… Then we may have a plan."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hoping people are still keeping track of this… *flail*

The next chapter should be on time, seeing as within the next two weeks I have a ridiculous amount of time off and no major projects (that I know of, but my teachers *cough*Bio*cough* have been known to spontaneously assign big projects two days before they are due.) So, here's hoping that the next one will be on time, and long!

Anyone still reading this, review! …Please?