Ch. 10: Vengeance

Ace's heart seemed to dissolve in his chest. It couldn't be real, this was the effect of another dose of that fear serum, it had to be. But he saw the tears on Lexi's face, he heard the others' cries and anguish, he saw the gloating grins of satisfaction on the enemy's faces. He also felt the hate rise up inside him. He freed himself from Lexi's grip and doubled his hold on the sword that was still in his hand. He leapt forward, charging right at Sykes. Tears were not falling, but he was in danger of loosing control of his powers. His eyes were almost on fire as he released the sword's hidden powers and shot an electrical current through the man's body.

Slam quickly followed his lead; as did Tech and Lexi. Slam charged at Massive, Lexi aimed a huge brain blast at Weather Vein, and Tech advanced towards Mastermind. Massive was taken on the ride of his life, up to the ceiling, crashing down to the ground, being driven under it, through a tunnel, and back up to smash against the walls and then the ceiling again. The whole arena started shaking as the structure started losing support.

Lexi drilled Weather Vein into the opposite wall, where she stayed, unconscious or worse, Lexi didn't know, nor did she really want to. She looked over and saw Tech, barely standing, trying his best to aim a blast at Mastermind. Lexi's eyes, which were glowing the deepest shade of pink imaginable, aimed another attack, this time at the enlarged head of the woman about ready to finish off the feebly glowing coyote. Mastermind let out a terrible scream and collapsed to the cracked stone floor where she lay, unmoving, her body smoking slightly.

Ace stood there, staring down at the man he had just sliced with the edge of his blade. He had vowed that he would never in his life use his powers to kill, but he felt no guilt as he stared at Sykes's limp form. A life for life, what was there to feel guilty about?

Rev was watching the confusing scenes before him, unable to take in all of their meaning. He was slowly drifting under. He tried to reach the fallen figure in front of him, needing to hold on to him to prevent any more damage from coming to him. But he couldn't move more than a few inches and he was still too far away to reach out and grab the black arm. He closed his eyes in pain. He was finding it hard to breathe and knew he would never make it.

As the four members who were still standing, Tech being supported by Lexi, walked over to the other two, the arena began to shake and rumble. The whole underground arena was starting to collapse in on itself. A screen appeared in thin air as huge pieces of rock started falling from the ceiling and the face of Dr. Thaddeus Dare was leering at the Loonatics huddled together to try and protect one another from the raining debris. Tech had mustered up the last of his energy to pull up one final magnetic shield in a vain attempt to save himself and his team mates.

"I see they did fail." He said un enthusiastically. "Oh well, at least it wasn't all a waste. I get to live and see the Loonatics' demise after all." He cackled.

"Ya not even gonna try and save ya team mates?" Ace shouted at him through gritted teeth.

"They were just pawns, even Mastermind, although I must admit I'd never get this far without her incredible intelligence, so for that, I take my hat off to her. But now, not only do I rid myself of those incompetents, get to see you meet your overdue end, but also get to see Acmetropollis finally become the underground paradise I've always envisioned it to be." He let out another high pitched laugh before ending the transmission.

Ace looked down at Duck and tears finally came to his eyes as he wondered how anyone could be so cruel as to leave their team mates to their doom like that. It was beyond evil, it was unforgivable. Lexi put her hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. More tears were falling down her own cheeks and he pulled her tight to him. Slam lifted a huge slab of rock and replaced it for Tech's shield to give him a break.

"Thanks, Slam." Tech panted, breathing heavily. Rev strained to sit up so that he could wrap his arms around Tech but almost fell right back down again. Tech however, caught him and cradled him in his arms. As he did so his eyes landed on Duck's body. The mallard was annoying, idiotic, arrogant, more of headache than Rev's talking at times, but still, he couldn't help but feel a warmth come to his heart whenever he thought about him. He was like the guy no one wanted around until he was gone, then it was like someone had taken a special kind of shine from the world. He had been unconscious, a deep gash on the back of his head indicated that he had most likely suffered from a concussion, yet he still found the strength to move fast enough to block the final blow from the enemy, to save all of them. He had sacrificed himself, how bitterly ironic it was that it had all been for nothing. Tech buried his face into Rev's head as tears fell down his cheeks, weeping the loss of the duck who had been, secretly, one of his best friends.

Slam just concentrated on keeping the team covered, however, silent tears were also sliding down his face. How could it have ended like this? What had gone so wrong? Duck, he had given his life, but for what? Just to be buried in rock with the very people he had tried to protect? No, he wouldn't let that happen, not while he still could do something about it. But before he could make any movement, Lexi put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's over, Slam." She whispered. "We've lost, all we can do is go as honorably as possible." Silent tears still fell as she squeezed his hand. "It's okay."

For the second time that day, they all huddled close together, keeping Duck in the middle of them, all of them holding on to some part of him, bracing themselves for death to come and take them to where ever one goes when their life ended. But, once again, it never came.

A flash of orange light engulfed all of the Loonatics as the ceiling finally collapsed and the biggest piece was falling, ready to squash all of them. The next thing they knew, they were standing on a sandy beach, a soft breeze causing the palm trees to sway. The sound of the crashing waves was heard as they broke on the island. Ace looked up and saw the volcano in front of them.

"But? How?" Tech asked awed.

"Loonatics! How the hell did you survive this time?" a loud amazed voice called out from behind them. Dare stood there, disbelief marked all over his wrinkled face.

Ace turned to him, a look of pure hatred on his face as his eyes once again lit up. "We stick ta taget'er, stone head, unlike some evil bastards I could mention." He shot his lazier vision at Dare's staff and the green gem that was perched on top of it exploded into tiny pieces.

Dare snarled as he turned around to run, trying to flee to his helicopter before he could be caught but Lexi was already on it. She flipped in the air and landed right in front of him.

"You know something Dare," she hissed in a low, dangerous voice, "I hate guys who just use people to get what they want then leave them to rot when they no longer have any use. It really pisses the hell out of me." Her eyes flashed menacingly as she shot a full blown brain blast at him. He rose up in the air and landed, unconscious, at the others' feet.

"Nice one, Lex." Ace said with a small smile. "Come on gang, we better get ta da city." He looked at Rev and Tech with concern written all over his features. His eyes then landed on Duck. His heart seemed to break even more. Now that everything was over, the villains taken care of, vengeance seized, all he could do was wish that it had all ended differently.

"We should take him back with us." Lexi whispered. "He deserves a hero's goodbye."

"(Of course he does. He's the biggest hero out of all of us.)" Slam grumbled.

Ace could only nod. He turned to Tech and Rev. "Can ya two's walk?" he asked.

Tech looked up, tears sliding down his face. "Rev's out cold." He whispered. "He's fading fast, we need to hurry."

"Can you carry him? Have you managed to regenerate fully?" Ace asked.

Tech shook his head. "I can barely stand. My powers are on the blitz since I've had to use them almost beyond their limits. It won't be long before I pass out too." He said. He was breathing heavily and his face was slowly losing the dim green glow of his healing powers.

Ace looked around. "Where'd da boat go?"

"Uh, Ace. It's over here." Lexi said, tapping his shoulder and pointing in the opposite direction of where he had been looking. Ace nodded and bent down. He gently lifted Duck and Slam helped him get him on his back. Slam then bent down himself and carefully lifted Rev out of Tech's arms. Lexi took to supporting Tech while he did his best to walk to the ship that would take them to safety.

"GUYS!" Ace shouted as he turned his head to look at Duck's face which was poking over his shoulder.

"What?" asked Lexi, instinctively readying herself for battle again.

"N-nothing." Ace said, his face falling. He had thought, for the smallest moment that he had felt Duck's heart beat against his back, but he wasn't sure he felt it now. It's in your head. He told himself. You felt it because you want it to be true too badly. But he's gone, and you have to accept that. He's gone and he can't come back. He's gone. Ace kept running this thought over and over in his head. He had to, the shock of it all was finally hitting him square in the face and he had to keep telling himself that Duck was gone so as not to freak out and try to prove that he was dreaming. The team needed him to be in his right mind, he needed to make sure that they were all okay. They needed to get help, and fast or they could lose another member, maybe two if they weren't fast enough. That fear gripped at him so hard he almost couldn't breathe.

well...at least the bad guys got what was comm'n to 'em...right? just keep reading...yes there's more...