Chapter 5: Pain

As soon as he had put his arm about her, Lexi had felt her energy drain away. That was why she had warned Tech to stay back: Pierce had long ago created a jacket that rendered superhuman powers useless. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, her surroundings were different.

She was in some sort of lab, inside an older building. One probably could've passed it along the sidewalk and not even given it any notice, other than the funky way it had been built. Most likely, she had done the same thing more than once. She never would've imagined that something as sinister as he was in a place like this.

"Dear Lexi, do you like what you see?" She looked up through narrowed eyes at Pierce. He looked down at her with a kind of smug satisfaction, as if he had been trying to do something for ages, and had finally accomplished.

"No, not really," she said flatly. He chuckled, "Ahh, sweetheart, don't be like that. We shall have good times together. Once we rid you completely of your powers, we'll make the perfect couple, just as our classmates predicted."

"Yeah, except you're a bad guy," she muttered, turning away. He jerked her head up so she faced him, and leaned down close to her. She attempted to struggle away, but he had gained muscle over the years, and he overpowered her. "You will do as I say now, my love," he maliciously whispered, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

He dragged her along to a strange machine. It was cylindrical, with wires coming out every which way. On the inside were cuffs and links, like there would be if someone were to be held prisoner in there…

She realized suddenly what the machine did, and what he was going to do to her. She desperately tried to fight back, but he just picked up a wrench and hit her over the head with it, causing her to lose consciousness.

Ace and the rest of the team – aside from a glaring exception – had come back to HQ, trying to hurriedly come up with a plan. Rev and Tech were on the task of locating Pierce and Lexi via satellite, Duck and Slam were now out on the streets searching, and Ace did his best not to get in anyone's way. He had been dismissed by Tech as "not an asset, in the state you're in".

"Ace!-Ace!-come-here-and-look-what-Tech-found!" Rev rushed in to inform him, and then returned to what he was doing. Ace came into the lab and Tech motioned for the leader to join him.

"Check this out, Ace," he said, "Pierce Rabbit and Lexi Bunny go way back…although he was formerly known as Pierce Rockstead. They used to go to high school together, and were voted the cutest couple."—Ace burned inside at that comment— "They went to the same college too, at that. Then, as you recall, the meteor hit. Shortly after, if you'll read the clip, there's a newspaper article about a scene occurring at a small bistro. It said that Pierce had proposed to our Lexi, but she turned him down…atta girl, Lex," Tech muttered under his breath. "Anyways, then after she said no, he apparently trashed the place. According to these old police records, Lexi filed a restraining order against him, because he had started stalking her.

"After that, I don't have much on him. He seems to have 'disappeared' till now."

"Till now," Ace echoed. Tech made a sound of exclamation, because another screen had popped up. It was a video from, guess who, Pierce himself.

"Hey guys," Pierce said, once Tech had pressed 'play' on the video, "just wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing. Lexi's fine, she's just about to undergo a series of…improvements. You see, she was perfect before that blasted radiation messed her up inside. She forgot she loved me, and turned down a happy life together. Now, I've finally got my calculations right, and my new machine will rid her of any power she has. She will be right as rain once I'm done, and you will never be able to steal her away from me again." He laughed maniacally. "Dear Lexi, say hello to your so-called friends," he added, and swung the camera to face her.

Ace almost dropped to the ground in horror. She was so pale, and she was chained into a vile-looking contraption. She was just hanging, obviously having lost the strength to try to free herself. She looked up when she heard her name, and glared weakly at him. "Oh, sweetheart, don't give me that look, you know where it gets you…" a shuffling of footsteps could be heard in the background, and then there was an electric shock going through her. This time, Ace did collapse to his knees. He watched, feeling utterly helpless, as she just gritted her teeth and endured the pain, clearly having been through it before. When it was over, she dangled limply from her cuffs, visibly on the brink of losing consciousness yet again.

The video cut out, and Tech and his leader stared at it before coming to their senses. "Rev!" Tech called out, "I know where they are! I remember there being a house with strange architecture out on 31st and Rochester Avenue!" Rev nodded, then called up Duck and Slam to let them know. They were to rendezvous there at the building.

Hang on, Lex. I'm on my way, Ace thought as he and his teammates jetted off into the night sky.