Star of my Heart Chapter 3: Leave it for when it matters, a loonatics unleashed fanfic

I'm getting really into this story! Even though it's my own this is something I've been wanting to do for 4 years now and it's finally happening, and I gotta say it feels amazing! So far the story has 3 reviewers which is AWESOME! because I never thought I'd have any in the first place. So I thank all of them for their enthusiasm and support on this story, like I said, your opinion really helps me improve and motivate me! So the more reviews I get, the more chapters you get! :)

-inuwaterbender: I can assure you that more is coming! Thanks for being my first review! X3

-starskulls: Thank you! I hope you enjoy the rest of it! :)

-loonaticslover13: You might be right you know! LOL! And about why he stormed out on the other girl... I may never tell what exactly did happen with her, I will say that she proved to him that she was not his type, a bit too easy going for his taste! ;P Duck really messed up there, but it had to happen, so as much as I hate myself for doing so, you just never know with Duck! And about Ace and Lexi... You'll see what happens! ;)

I also wanted to clear some things! First with Duck's little boy crush on Jake... I hope no one is confusing it with something else, because that's not the point. He just admires him a lot, and more than anything wants to be as successful as him, not as an actor but with the ladies. And about Ace's sudden mechanic abilities... I blame my sudden obsession with Motorcity! LOL! That I take the blame! But I just wanted to give him something a little extra besides his martial arts talents which will be essential in the future of the storyline, besides he is a boy, and what boy doesn't like bikes!? I don't know for some reason he seems like the kind of guy that would have a bike and work on it from time to time, not obsessively but as a slight part time hobby. ^^

Also, I'm not writing Ace's accent as most LU fic writers do, why? because quite frankly I find that it can get a bit hard to read sometimes, and I don't mean to offend anyone who does it, I respect it and still read fics that do have it, which is most, and they do an excellent job on it! But there are some that it's a bit hard and I find myself double reading certain lines... So for now imagine his accent as you read his lines! Or if it means so much... Let me know what you think, and if you guys don't agree with me please say so. I'd be more than happy to add an accent to his lines. :)

Well I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Please review after reading! :D

Ace parked the ship next to a neatly line of jet planes, Jake's personal jets, the team just wondered why one guy would need so many planes? for all they knew the guy lived by himself. The mini airport that Jake had in his backyard was quite deceiving, from a far it looked like a simple small road, it looked like it could only manage smaller planes. In fact Ace was quite worried that it was too small for their ship, he still took the risk and it ended up being just perfect for their ship.

Despite their tense mood the team whore a very relieved expression on their faces. It wasn't that they were worried that they wouldn't land safely, no, besides their rough flight and landing they trusted their pilot, it was because of what they just went trough. Because now they get to worry about the disappearance of Jake and not about Ace's secret life and Lexi's disappointment with him. The team cares way too much for their bunny friends, so seeing them as they are right now, broken, it hurt them as well, as much as they would love to help them get trough this, right now it's best if they just let it go and focus on their team and their task. They finally get to do what they do best, help people. And, besides the unforgettable moment they had a few minutes ago, they were all ready to put it aside and focus as a team.

As they unstrapped themselves from their seat belts, Tech stood and grabbed the bag he brought in from HQ, he put it on top of of his seat and pulled out some sort of goggles, he only had 5 in his hand. Naturally as the rest of the team took notice they turned to face him knowing that he had some "Toys" for them, which seemed weird since the place didn't looked threatening at all, but they all followed on without questions or complain.

Thankfully the coyote decided to break the tense silence that haunted the team. He cleared his throat before he spoke. "Ahem… I have some equipment you guys might find useful." He paused and nervously glanced at the rest of the team. They were ready, and most of all to leave all this drama behind, but it still lingered in the air which made him tense a bit. He then straighten himself as if to compose himself and mentally slapped himself to get over it and get back to reality. "These are specially enhanced infrared goggles, this house… well more like mansion is very big, and we don't know of any hidden places, it also detects heartbeats, pulse, and pretty much any living soul, and by doing so it also identifies it's owner." He tossed a pair to Ace, the bunny caught them in an intact, and with that the coyote smirked at his leader admiring his reflexes.

Ace stared at the goggles curious of their ability then glanced at Tech as he cocked an eyebrow at the black and green coyote. "Uh… Should I…?"

"Yes, be my guest Ace" and with that he signaled Ace to give them a try with any member of the team. The bunny pulled them on, adjusting the position around his eyes. "Now close your eyes, wait 5 seconds, then open them again." Ace nodded and did as the coyote instructed, at first he saw everything normally, like he had nothing on, then he gazed over at Rev, the roadrunner turned orange like as if he was catching fire, he noticed a red blur within the roadrunner's chest that thumped lightly, his heart beat, next to the flaming figure appeared a small box with Rev's picture and full name (Rev Runner), the bird's current body temperature and pressure, also indicating that the roadrunner was in complete health. It was like a medical body scanner, but with the concept of an infrared detector. He then did the same with the rest of the team and the same thing happened, flaming figures, identification and body info next to their designated forms. He decided that was enough for the testing as he pulled the goggles out, he had to blink a few times before he adjusted his sight to normal view. Weird, not even his laser vision made him queasy like that after use, but he just shrugged still impressed with Tech's newest invention.

He glanced over at the coyote and gave him an approving stare, the coyote nodded and started handing out the goggles to the rest of the team except to Rev.

"What-about-me?-huh?-how-come-I-don't-get-one?" Asked a very displeased roadrunner to his best friend, his tone kind of resembled the one of a whining child. Tech simply smiled somehow already knowing that this would happen once it came to the point of handing out his invention. He softly shook his head but didn't mind explaining his dear friend.

"Rev these goggles will interfere with your internal GPS, I think we could really make use of that power on this mission" He happily replied as he extended an arm to the roadrunner's shoulders, which in returned he smiled and nodded in understanding.

The rest of the team now glanced over at their leader waiting for orders, which of course gave the leader a hint that it was his turn to speak now and do so.

"Ok guys, first thing's first, let's get out there and get completely filled in with the APD(Acmetropolis Police Department), I want to know what they've found by now any clues, finger prints, dirt, anything suspicious, so let's jet!" The team nodded, and started for the exit, but he stood behind. He watched one by one of this teammates leave the ship. Lexi was last, you could tell she was still pretty upset, though she tried to her best to hide it, for the sake of the mission. And there was no doubt that her leader didn't notice, he wanted to really leave all this aside for now, but his conscience was eating him inside, it hurt him, like a disease that's slowly rotting him on the inside and killing him. But most of all it sickened him to see his best friend the way she was, hurt, disappointed and angry at him, because of him. So it was no surprise that when the rest of the guys left he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside before her departure. I guess she was expecting it, because she didn't flinch or act surprised after it, instead she surrendered. She gave him a cold stare that killed him, a stare that screamed "Murderer" all over. Not that he did such a thing.

"Wait!" He called out to her as he grabbed her arm. He really wanted to apologize, even though he strictly said that their talk would have to wait. She defeatedly stared at him, he could tell she was at the verge of breaking down, and that ached his heart, he felt guilty.

She forced her head out of his gaze and deeply sighed as she stared blankly at the floor. Lexi is a very strong girl, she's dealt with worse betrayals, heck! her own flesh and blood, her sister, she used to bully her and try to break her at a daily basis as if it was hobby, but she grew out of it, and learned how to deal with it. She got constantly pestered by Duck by degrading her, but she knew that it was because of his own insecurities, and that deep inside he truly cared for the girl. She's dealt with a lot of disrespecting and discriminating people and villains, and she never really let them get to her. If it was someone who could truly break her, it was Ace, just the thought of him being gone brought goosebumps to her fur, so it isn't a surprise that the recent events scared her of losing him as a friend, though not completely, but mostly their trust. That's what she really cared about, and he broke that just by one simple mistake. Not that she will never forgive him, but it will take time to heal this wound, it's easier when it's kind of expected, but when you never imagined to see it coming, it makes it harder.

She slightly shuffled her feet as a signal of insecurity of what she should respond. He extended both of his hands to her shoulders as he tighten his grip a bit in an attempt to bring her back to his focus. He succeeded as she looked up to him, she still carried the same cold expression, but that quickly changed to a frown as she looked into his sapphire blue eyes, she usually loved them, but now she just saw a liar's pit as memories of moments ago past trough her mind. She jerked herself from his grip, and he didn't fight back, how could he?

But it was now or never, if he wanted to say something he had to do it now, at least an apology or something. So he tried again, even though this was consuming his time, not to mention that this was really unusual of him to try and make things work in the middle of a mission, wasn't he the one demanding her not to bring such subjects before or during a mission? Yet here he is, doing the same thing he specifically told his teammates not to do. What he specifically told her. I guess there are certain things you just can't control, certain things that no matter what, it breaks you. And now she was heading for the exit.

"Lexi Please!" Pleaded Ace.

"Don't!" She simply replied not facing him. "Not now… Please." And she walked out.

Ace nodded to himself, he didn't want to put more pressure on her than she had, so he decided not to press the subject farther. Instead he took a deep breath composed himself and followed her to the front of the mansion, after all he had a team to lead.

Sooner than expected both bunnies caught up with the rest of the team, it was getting dark and a bit cool now, not that it bothered the team since their suits were designed to handle most types of temperatures. As the team took in their surroundings they noticed that they were actually in a nicely well kept garden. The mansion had a modern futuristic look to it, and it mostly consisted of large windows leaving out a clear view of most of the inside, it looked like it was 3 stories, yet it was difficult to tell because of it's architectural design. As the team's leader took notice of the mansion's front door, he noticed that there was police and investigators scattered everywhere inside and out, they had searching dogs, detectives and other specialists working on the case. Not to mention that the front gate of the mansion was fully secured with high tech security system and staff. He then took noticed of dozens and dozens of people outside of the gates holding something bright in their hands, candles! It took him a second before he realized that the people outside were Jake's fans. All of them not really forcing their way in, or making a scene, no. Instead they were hoping and praying that their beloved idol was found safe and sound.

Ace turned his gaze back to the investigators in front of the house and signaled the team to follow him, non of them hesitated and followed suit. As they reached the front door, the investigators recognized them, but one of them, a tall and slender man in a navy suit with dark brown hair and brown eyes, approached them, indicating that he was the one in charge and the one with the information they needed to proceed with their own investigation.

"Loonatics! We've been expecting you! I suppose Zadavia called you and filled you in on the terrible news. I'm agent Walker, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Greeted Walker to the team.

Ace extended his hand in an attempt to personally greet him. "Nice to meet you too Doc, I'm Ace." Walker returned the gesture while giving him a slight smile.

"We better get inside, as you know we've searched inside and out for signs of kidnap, but found none. The house and security system hasn't been tampered with, non of his personal and valuable belongings are missing, not even his passports and identifications, all vehicles are here, and we have footage of him being in the house reading in his kitchen, he then walks out of the kitchen and into his entertainment room, Bitterman, his butler walks in carrying a tray with what looked like cocktails, and they never came out. Yet he was not in it, a day passed until Gretchen, his personal assistant contacted and notified us about the disappearance." Walker informed as they went up a few steps that led them to the front door, he pushed it open and gestured them to come in. Once inside the team forced themselves not to take a moment to take it all in. It was a dream come true, marbled floors, a staircase that looked as if it was floating in mid air, a mini indoor pond with fish in it with the attempt to have a mini indoor habitat, hallways of all sizes surrounded them making them feel like they were trapped inside a wonderful maze, modern art hung in some of the walls, not making them too cluttered but simply perfect to appreciate every single piece. It truly was a bachelor's dream house.

Duck gasped in amazement "This. Is. A. Dream." mumbled the mallard as he fantasized about his perfect dream house. For some reason it appeared as if the mallard was house shopping instead of working on a real life missing person case. Ace elbowed him to bring him back to reality and remind him to keep his priorities straight. He complied by shaking his head and responding "Right!" to no one in particular.

The group was interrupted as the sound of heels echoed around them, getting closer to their location… *Click, click, click, click*

Once they found the source of the sound, they found themselves with a beautiful young red haired girl walking towards them. Freckles covered her rosy cheeks, she had pure emerald green eyes, her lips freshly stained with red lipstick, and she wore a worried expression on her face. She hurriedly walked towards the team as her black heels rhythms the floor. *Click, click, click, click, click* Slam and Duck eyed the girl from head to toe admiring her beauty, the girl sure was pretty and her outfit only favored her slim figure. She wore a dark charcoal pencil skirt with a white half sleeved turtle neck, black pantyhose adorning her lovely black pointy stilettos.

"Loonatics! Oh thank goodness you guys got here! You gotta help up find Jake and Bitterman! He's been MIA for 3 days now! I don't know what to tell the press! His director's are on the verge of breaking most of his contracts! Everyone is literally attacking me with questions I don't know the answers to, and quite frankly I just miss my boss as hell!" whimpered the red haired girl to the team in desperation.

Walker turned to the team when the red haired girl was finally by his side. "Loonatics, this is Gretchen, Jake's personal assistant." He gestured to the red haired girl.

Gretchen gave them an apologetic smile before she continued. "Yeah I guess I kinda forgot to introduce myself… But you have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" Her green eyes filled with hope, never has anyone seen someone so eager of finding their own boss, but her job depended on it, and truth was that everyone was attacking her for information when truly she had none, it was driving herself a bit crazy.

Ace walked over to Gretchen and tried giving her a reassuring smile. "We'll try our best, I can't promise anything. We can help you as long as you cooperate with us too." Gretchen gave the bunny a nervous glare "Cooperate?", she's not a suspect, but she did know Jake more than anyone else in the world, she was his right hand, and sometimes his left too! So if the team needed the essential information from him, she would be their best target.

"Alright… I will try my best" She sighed and fell back to her mini panic mode. "Please! We just gotta find him! I don't think I can take more of this tension!" And everyone knew how horrible living in tension can be sometimes, specially the team.

"Ok, why don't you come with me and give us a mini tour of the house and tell me everything that might be helpful for us." Suggested the leader, Gretchen nodded and started to walk next to him towards the kitchen.

"Well for starters, Bitterman also disappeared with him… Everyone thinks he did it. Quite frankly I don't believe it! The man has been working for his family for years, Jake brought Bitterman with him to Acmetropolis when he got this house. And I know you're not buying it, but Bitterman would take a bullet for Jake! He would never hurt him!" Her eyes pleaded for the bunny to trust her on her word, it was just so hard for him though, he's been through a lot, he's seen the least expected do the unexpected, and recently he learned that he can't even trust himself on not hurting those he love.

Ace cleared his throat, not wanting to offend her for her statement. "Are you 100% sure? Because no offense but why would someone want to kidnap a butler? Jake, I understand completely! But Bitterman? Not so much…" Gretchen nodded, and Ace decided to continue with his slight but not directly interrogation. "What about the video Walker told us about? They both entered a room and never came out? Yet the outside cameras didn't pick 'em up either… So no escape through the windows… Maybe…"

"I just checked the videos Chief, they have not been tampered with either." Said Tech as he walked in on Ace and Gretchen in the kitchen. They both turned to the Coyote, and gave him a more concerned and confused look. "Which means…"

Ace thought at what the coyote was getting, but caught on as he realized. "They never left the house!" Concluded Ace as he brought his left arm close to his mouth. "Loonatics meet us in the kitchen now! We might have something here" He then glanced at Gretchen, who was just curious about their sudden assumption of Jake and Bitterman never leaving the house, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Gretchen do you have any blueprints of the house? anything that has the actual design of the house? A map? Print? Planner? Anything?" She fumbled her eyebrows in curiosity, where was this going at? She nodded and exited the kitchen. As the rest of the team barged in to the kitchen ready for orders.

Slam was the first to appreciate the kitchen's beauty! It had granite counter tops, all appliances in stainless steel and every bit of equipment any chef can dream of needing. Jake usually had personal chefs cook for him, but cooking was something he actually enjoyed doing, so most of this equipment he bought for himself. The rest of the team gave Slam a very worried look, worried that his inner monster would react and destroy this beautiful kitchen in seconds devouring all it's edible and non edible contents. But he got the message and gave his teammates a light chuckle and reassuring smile letting them know that he wasn't going to react the way they though, the way he usually was. Good, because if he did it would cost the loonatics a LOT to restore this kitchen.

Gretchen came back with with a couple of what looked like tablets in her hand. She placed one in the middle of an island type countertop and pressed a button, a hologram immediately appeared and the rest of the team circled around the countertop to analyze the hologram. "Exactly what are you guys looking for?" Asked a worried Gretchen.

Ace pondered at the holographic prints of the house that appeared before him, he didn't respond, instead he watched intently… But a disappointed look took over as he didn't find what he was hoping for. "I was looking to see if by any chance any secret rooms were designed along with the house" Gretchen shook her head as if to differ him of his conclusion.

"No, at least not that I know of, and if there was, why would he disappear on it?" Asked a curious Gretchen. Ace gave her a slight smirk.

"That's where Bitterman comes in…" He stated.

"But I told you he couldn't have! Trust me when I say this! He trusts Bitterman with his life!" Gretchen attacked back, they could tell she was getting annoyed with all of the Bitterman assumptions the team had against him. She didn't look like she was hiding something, instead she was hurt! The girl also trusted Bitterman. She felt like they were insulting her mother, so she had to defend her loved ones somehow.

"All I know is that they never left the house! This is the hypothesis I'm currently trusting on. So any secrets or details that you might know of would help a lot! Now is not the time to keep things, I'm not assuming anything but if we want to find this guy we need to know!" Ace was starting to get a bit annoyed with Gretchen's denial, but he couldn't blame her, he didn't see any bad in her, just that she was defending those close to her. So she sighed and pondered for a moment.

"Hmmm… I do remember him saying something about wanting to build a doomsday bunker somewhere here… But he never got to it… Not that I knew of at least…" Gretchen spoke to them, yet to no one in particular as well.

And with her response, Ace's eyes widened! And sooner than you know it he was ready for action!

"Ok! Duck! you and Slam cover the entire first floor of the mansion, try finding any trapped doors, trough the air vents, closets, under furniture anything!" They both nodded without protest and took off.

Ace then pointed at Rev and Lexi "You too are our most important essentials here! You're our eyes and ears of this search, go to the Entertainment room where Jake and Bitterman were last seen and start looking and hearing! Anything suspicious give us a beep!" Lexi seemed kind of relieved that she wasn't paired with Ace or Duck, so she gave him a grateful look before she turned away, it still felt awkward in general to work with any of her teammates though, but she prefers Rev than any of the rest right now.

Ace then glanced at Tech, as Tech just waited for orders. "You and I are gonna work outside, we have to let Walker and his men know about this, we have to try, if there is such bunker room I can bet anything that he's in there." Tech nodded, and they both started to head out the kitchen when Gretchen took hold of Ace's arm.

"Wait! I said he wanted to build it! He never really did got anyone to build it!" She gave the bunny a confused look. You see Bunker rooms got pretty popular a year after the meteor hit Acmetropolis, certain security companies came up with the idea of building "Doomsday" bunker rooms with the purpose of protecting people in case of another disaster similar to the meteor hitting the city planet again. They were a hit for the first few years, but the idea decayed, mostly because of how expensive it was, and people grew out of the idea. Though most people who had bunker rooms kept them a secret, in order to protect their safety, their loved one's, and their personal essential belongings that it carried inside in case of a real emergency, panic can take the best of someone, so to divulge the purpose and location was a bit out of line. Therefor it is no surprise that Gretchen didn't know if Jake had a bunker room or not, the question is, why does Bitterman?

The bunny gently brushed her off and responded. "Or so you think!" And with that he walked out and left a dumbfounded Gretchen in the Kitchen.

END OF CHAPTER 3

155

Love. This is getting harder,
And I can't seem to pick you out of the crowd.
But you, my dear, have been discoverd a liar.
And I'm afraid that this is building up for far too long.

And this is not the time and place for us to speak like this.
If I had the thought, I'd never dream of it.
So dry your hollow eyes, and let's go down to the water.

In a different time and place the words could make more sense.
In a perfect world, the future wouldn't make a dent.
So dry your hollow eyes, and let's go down to the water,
Even though it's the last time.

Love. This is getting the best of me.
And truth be told, you were the start of it all.
Now you, my dear, might end up lonely.
Before you go, there's something you should know.

And this is not the time and place for us to speak like this.
If I had the thought, I'd never dream of it.
So dry your hollow eyes, and let's go down to the water.

In a different time and place the words could make more sense.
In a perfect world, the future wouldn't make a dent.
So dry your hollow eyes, and let's go down to the water,

Please let's not speak.
Don't breathe a word,
Even though it's the last time.
Please let's not speak.
Don't breathe a word,
Even though it's the last time.

Song by +44

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Hopefully Jake will make his grand entrance soon! ^_^