"No…please…not again…gahhhhhh," Rip screamed over what sounded like the buzz of high voltage electricity. At least I think it's Rip. It sounded like him. I was still in a fog at that particular moment. I was very certain of what the next voice was, even still being just semi-conscious.
"Again with the passing out!" exclaimed Dark Matter. "This bird can't take any torture for a long period of time. This is really trying my…oh well look who's starting to stir. Hey there Cobalt. I'm so glad to see you waking up. I'm not getting anywhere with your friend here. Unfortunately I've exhausted my supply of Smelling salts on him so I want be getting the information I seek anytime soon. Well at least I can use this time to get to know you better, find out your thresholds of pain, heck you might even let me in on what making love to Vivian was like. How I often fantasized about that. "
That last line of his really struck a nerve and I wanted so badly to leap at his throat and sink my teeth into his trachea. That wasn't gonna happen though as the bonds holding me spread-eagle to this table was very strong. My wrist and ankles were already sore despite the uniform. Rip is on a similar platform from what I can see by tilting my head to the right. The platforms were angled at about 50 degrees or so and they were obviously wired. Thanks to my cancer and the brutal treatments I've endured for it, I had a fairly high tolerance to pain. Like my brother Tech though, I couldn't stand having electricity surge through me. The idea of having no control whatsoever of you muscles, while conscious, was just so unnerving. It was obvious that this was not gonna be a fun little social.
"Boy…you're really one scary supervillain let me tell you," I responded smugly. "I mean here you've done captured the only two Loonatics with no superpowers whatsoever. "Ooohh…big, bad Dark Matter I…"
At that point he grasped my muzzle with such force that it felt as if he was gonna rip it clean off my face. He forced my face to look into his eyes as he spoke.
"You'd be wise to keep your smart snout shout you mangy mutt," he snarled while placing his thumb over my nostrils, cutting off my breathing. "You were not part of my plan you meddling fool. All I wanted to do was grab Rip and his brother Rev. Torture them to gain the access code to your Acmetropolis HQ as well as access its central computer. Rip would then decrypt a file I got off of Dr. Raines computer that would help me effectively use the BDCE to blanket the world in darkness, something my little puppet, your precious Vivian, failed to do."
I gasped for breath once he finished his little monologue and removed his thumb from my nostrils. While I was catching my breath, I looked around as best I could to get an idea as to where we were. It appeared to be some old maintenance room located nearby the subway lines, when there used to be subway lines here. Then, even in the dim light, it hits me. I've been in this room before. It has an entrance directly to the lower floor of HQ. This entrance was recently protected with an alphanumeric and color-coded keypad entry that was tough to break. I know…I helped Rip install it not too long ago on a maintenance trip back here and I also tested it. Rip got a good laugh from that while I discovered that I really didn't like thousands of volts of electricity coursing through me. Only Rip knew the code which I'm sure Dark Matter had figured out.
"So…she was innocent the whole time. You…you were controlling her…"
"Now…now Cobalt, don't think she was completely innocent in all that. It is true that I helped influence her through my shadow curse but…her mind was already cloudy enough so that it didn't take much effort on my part. I ended up actually giving her a share of my power so that she herself could use it…and she did…on your brother Tech remember. She was so bitter…bitter about losing her sight…bitter about losing her right arm…bitter about losing Luther…and bitter about losing you. Yes she was sure you were dead and gone and that everything she cared for was completely wiped-out. She even one-upped me by stealing all of my shadow curse power, that's how powerful who anger and grief made her. This is why I can't simply use the shadow curse to get Rip to do what I ask. It's also why I've been dormant for so long. I've been trying my best to regain that power but I never could. So now…"
"So now you're bitter and want revenge on everyone, especially Vivian for making you less of a supervillain and yada…yada…yada. I swear these lengthy monologues of yours are torture enough. Maybe you should take up a career in poli…YEOW!"
Before I could finish my taunt, he had grabbed hold of my left ear, violently stretching it upward. He then took a dull knife and started to hack off the tip of my ear. The pain was intense enough to bring tears to my eyes and I let out a sharp yelp and whimper. I managed to compose myself some to ask a question that had been weighing on my mind.
"Why…why do you need Rip to decrypt Dr. Raines' files? You…have Dr. Raines."
"Ahh but you see I really don't have the good doctor with me. I had planned to abduct him as well but he went missing before I could. I have a hunch that Vivian, with the remnants of her shadow powers, detected me and they both fled to who knows where before I could arrive at the VSA building. What is it with her and coyotes like you always meddling in people's plans? Oh…looks like your little buddy Rip is starting to wake up. Good morning sunshine (laughs maniacally). So glad you could join us in the land of the living once more. I got your friend Cobalt here all nice and conscious. Now…since you'd probably pass out at something as mundane as tickling, I'm not going to waste anymore time on you. Instead…I will torture Cobalt here for as long as it takes. You will help me before too long. I don't think you could stand to hear your friend suffer. You know…it's too bad you're not like your brother Tech," he muses as he looks in my direction. "Then I could zap you to ashes, watch you regenerate, and do it all again. As it stands right now, I have to be careful. I can't have you passing out."
"Cobalt…" Rip manages to say as he slightly turns his head to the left to view me.
"Look Rip, no matter how much I scream…no matter how much I beg…no matter how much I cry…you are not to help this maniac succeed. You have to put my well-being aside and consider the millions of innocent people who would be effected if this guy blacks out the world and causes mass panic."
"Oh goody," Dark Matter cackled. "I so love it when my victims get so defiant. Now my friends, the real fun can truly begin. I assure you it will be a scream." he closes, laughing sadistically.
The rest of the Loonatics were still back at Acme Tech, trying desperately to find some clues as to where Dark Matter was going with there two newest team members. Tech was still verbally beating himself up for not installing some sort of undetectable tracking device within the uniforms. The wrist computers were already disabled since he couldn't make contact with them, even on the emergency frequencies.
"Uh Tech," Ace spoke in order to break the tense silence. "I don't get why he needed to take two of us. If he has the same powers that Vivian did, then why not just take Rip only and put him under his control?"
As if on cue, Ace's wrist computer came to life with an incoming hologram message alert. He ordered all the other Loonatics to focus their projectors. This was a huge transmission coming in. They were all thinking that it might be Zadavia making one of her routine calls to check on everyone. They were thoroughly shocked when the holographic figure turned out not to be Zadavia but Dr. Joel Raines himself.
"Loonatics…thank heavens I finally got a hold of you," the tall, 50 year old white male said. He had black hair with a hint of gray beginning to creep in and his glasses framed a pair of stunning aqua eyes. "I suspect that you have quite a few questions for…"
"Where's my brother?! Is he alright?!" Tech and Rev both blurted out at the same time, not even giving Dr. Raines a chance to finish his statement.
"I wish that was a question I could answer. You see, I'm not in the clutches of Harold, or Dark Matter as he calls himself now, as you first suspected. I managed to avoid capture thanks to Ms. Vivian Summers."
"So the two of you fled from your office before Dark Matter showed up," Ace stated. "How did Vivian know that he was planning to snatch you?"
"Ever since Cobalt rescued her from the wreckage of her cloud city, the times she wasn't helping my in my research she spent tracking down and monitoring Dark Matter. It's a good thing she did. Not only did she save me from his clutches but the two of us have a pretty good idea about what he's up to."
"And what would that be exactly?" Lexi asked.
"Well I have a theory and it's just a theory mind you but this guy Dark Matter probably wants to do with Vivian failed to do and blanket the world in total darkness and…"
Rev was rudely interrupted by one of Tech's latest little gadgets that he had designed for just such an occasion as this. The object was like a little robotic spider designed to skitter its way around Rev's torso and back. As expected, the action started tickling the poor road runner senseless and left him rolling on the floor laughing his head off. 'That'll teach him to cut in front of one of my brilliant deductions again.' Tech thought to himself.
"So Dark Matter took the B.D.C.E. from the light wave eliminator but he needs to run some kind of special stabilization software in order for the B.D.C.E. to work as a stand alone unit. That file he probably has but it needs to be decrypted. That's what he wants Rip for," Tech concluded and then shut down the Rev Runner Silencer Apparatus as he called it.
"That…was…so wrong Tech," Rev panted as Duck and Slam helped him back to his feet. "You just wait pal…karma is so…ho…ho…gonna kick you in the hind-quarters for that."
"Maybe…but for now, I'm just glad it worked," Tech smirked. He then turns back to the hologram of Dr. Raines and asks "so why not just use his shadow curse ability to get Rip to do what he wants? Why kidnap and torture another one of us?"
"It's quite simple baby," came the familiar, sultry voice of Vivian in the background. "Dark Matter would much rather torture his victims than use his powers to get them to do what he wants. He's sadistic like that. It also doesn't help that he doesn't have that particular power at his disposal anymore. I kinda stole it from him."
"Huh," Tech grunted. "And how did you manage to pull that one off hot stuff?"
"There's really not much time to go into the details. Perhaps I'll share that with you some other time in some other way. For now, I'll simply say that he let his guard and completely underestimated what I was capable of doing with what he gave me."
"What exactly does that mean?" Tech demanded.
"I'm sorry Loonatics but Vivian is right, said Dr. Raines, rejoining the conversation. You have to get to your HQ in Acmetropolis and fast. I believe it is there that he plans to use the B.D.C.E. That high tower would give him the most coverage. Please hurry. Who knows how bad off your colleagues Cobalt and Rip are right now?! Good luck Loonatics."
With that last statement he closed and the team immediately set out for their old HQ. While en route, they got the idea to enter HQ from the abandoned maintenance room just below the first level. It was fortunate that Rev remembered that Cobalt and Rip had installed a special lock on that door not too long ago.
The scene back in said maintenance room was not a pretty sight. Dark Matter had hit me with so much electricity that I swear I was breathing smoke. He had also cut off the tip of my right ear. He threatened Rip with the prospect of cutting off my fingers and my toes slowly and methodically if he didn't comply soon. As much as I hate to admit, I was at a point where I couldn't take much more of this.
"Please…don't do that. Rip…give him what he wants, "I pleaded turning my head to face my feathered friend. "No matter how hard we try…we want be able to convince this guy that the light will cure him. He'll have to learn that lesson the hard way," I said as I took a quick glance up at the bank of high-powered lights on the ceiling.
I couldn't have been more grateful for the fact that this room was being converted into a personal tanning sauna than now. To think me and Rip thought Duck had gone off the deep end with that crazy idea and that the others were equally nutty for supporting it. Now it might just be our saving grace. He was about to cut off the little finger of my right hand when Rip spoke up.
"Alright…I'll help you. Just stop hurting my friend."
"Ahhh…and I was starting to have some fun," Dark Matter complained. "Oh well…let's start with the door code. If that works, then I will unbind you and you'll help me set up the B.D.C.E. I wouldn't try anything funny at that point. I have a remote here that will activate Cobalt's restraints to painfully shock him with just enough voltage to make his death a slow and painful ordeal."
"Fine," Rip sighed. "The code to unlock the door is 1-6-4-9-blue-silver-red-yellow-pink-3-7-green-purple."
"Thank you Rip. Now…let's see if you've been straight with me."
Once Dark Matter entered the code, the powerful lights activated, bathing the room in intense visible light as well as with a little ultraviolet and infrared radiation, much like natural sunlight. Dark Matter screamed in pain as the bright light subdued him and began to chase away his shadow powers. Unfortunately, what Cobalt and Rip didn't count on was Dark Matter being able to activate both their restraints before his power drain completely knocked him out. Fortunately for them though, the other Loonatics had arrived as announced by Slam ripping the outer door of the room off its hinges.
"Good job Slam," Ace commented. "Loonatics…activate your shades. It looks like our little sauna room works."
"See…I told you it was a good idea," Duck quaked.
Oh no…there's Cobalt and Rip," cried Tech. "It looks like…they're being electrocuted. I have an idea. Rev…you and Slam get ready to get those things off their wrists and ankles. I'll handle the juice."
Tech then ran over to the torture tables and grabbed hold of the main electrical lines running to each table. He melted through the insulation with a concentrated dose of electromagnetic energy and made contact with the conductors. By doing this, he successfully shorted the power through him and into the ground, making the restraints safe for Rev and Slam to remove. Slam then took his now freed and unconscious pals over his shoulders, entered the proper unlock code for the door leading up to HQ, and took them up to the main living area. Duck noticed Dark Matter unconscious as well on the floor. He managed to quake him up to the main living area where it was quickly observed that he no longer had the black cloak or the all-black look. Tech's actions finally overtaxed the power system and the entire room went back to its prior darkness, the only light being the faint green glow of Tech regenerating his ashes. Harold Sykes was passed off to the police for swift while I and Rip's health was checked. I was considerably worse off considering all the torture was focused on me. The doctors were surprised that I survived the whole ordeal considering my worsening pancreatic cancer. All in all, aside from the tips of my ears being no more, I was well enough to leave the hospital the next morning. After all that has gone on down here in Acmetropolis, I was welcoming the prospect of returning to Planet Blanc. There are still some loose ends to tie up though and there are still questions I have for Vivian. For now though, I'm satisfied with just resting.
Author's Note: Yeah…I know I said that this would be the last chapter. Well…it's not. You see I had planned to make this a long final chapter just like the previous two chapters were longer than I usually write them. Well as is always the case, work gets in the way and I wouldn't be able to finish this before the end of the day. So…I decided to split this into a moderate-length chapter and I will follow it up next week with a brief epilogue. In the epilogue, Cobalt will meet with Vivian for what will be his last time seeing her in person. As I stated, he still has some questions that she will answer. This is an opportunity for you, my readers, to offer up any questions of your own, things you would like Cobalt to ask Vivian pertaining to her time after the meteor strike and before the destruction of her cloud city by the Loonatics. I have a good idea what I'm gonna have Cobalt ask her but I'm curious to see what, if you were Cobalt, would ask her. Just submit them with your review and I will see if I can work em in. It's not required but your participation would be appreciated. This has been fun to write and I hope enjoyable for y'all to read. I will answer one question that might be on everyone's minds. Regarding Tech…as Rev put it…karma is so…ho…ho gonna get him, trust me. Have a great weekend. Later.