Spider-Man, and the others, are owned by Marvel and Stan Lee.
Loonatics Unleashed, and the others, are owned by WB.
Chapter 5:
Darkness is not my friend!
It was around midday, one week after the fuz-z incident, and the wall-crawler was in deep thought as he swung through the city. No, he wasn't thinking of Spider-lad, he was thinking of Armored Spider-Man. 'What did he mean by that asset comment?' Peter pondered but came up bone dry, 'Well no one seems to be in trouble, and so I better head home.' He added after another half hour of web-slinging. On his way back he drastically realized one major difference between New York and Acmetropolis. 'Aside from super villains this place has nothing to worry about.' He thought with a grin under that mask, but as soon as he fired off another web-line his old trusty Spider Sense went active. "I just had to jinx it." He muttered aloud but just like last time there was nothing wrong. "Am I losing my mind?" He almost yelled out but held his voice down. He ignored it and went straight home unaware of the ominous cloud that appeared out of nowhere.
"Go have some fun boys, but remember the hour of darkness has arrived." A woman in a solid black cloak said in a supped up blimp to several red hooded soldiers; who left by a hanger door. Their attack had begun: the red hooded raiders ran over the complex that they were at. The woman drifted down from their vessel and saw what they came after, "The Acmetropolis series five radar, boys, and now it's mine." The raiders armed with archaic weapons were able to chop the base and then they floated it back to their base. Their leader however was far from done; as she floated into the complex that controlled the stolen radar. Her appearance already struck fear into their hearts, but one of them asked her in a quivering voice.
"Who are you?" At first he received a cold laugh as a response but after she took off her hood and some form of goggles she answered the scared little man's question.
"I'm Black Velvet, darling, and I'll be taking over now." After she said that she joined the others in their floating fortress. Once the blimp vanished so did the strange cloud formation.
"What is wrong with my Spider Sense lately?" Peter thought aloud as he returned from his web-slinging. He entered the lounge area and nothing out of the ordinary. 'Slam gulping down watermelons, Ace and Lexi were talking, Tech meditating, and Duck talking on his cell.' Peter thought as he got a good look around.
"Hello Super Hero Costume Discount Warehouse, I've been trying to place an order. Hello?" Duck spoke into his phone but only heard Slam happily eating his watermelons. "Please Slam I am trying to hear." He said to his fellow teammate before he heard someone on the other end. "Oh there you are. I like to order the perforated suave in Robin's Egg Blue." He said to the operator who answered back.
"I'll check on your order sir, please hold." Once she said that he flipped from his position on the couch and landed beside the devil who was still eating.
"Just trying to Jazz things up a bit; add a bit more color to the costume. Stand out more in front of the boss lady." Duck said confidently to the hero which Slam answered with a mouthful of melon.
"Un-huh." With that he presented a mock smile. Duck knew that he was being ridiculed.
"Like you care." Duck said to the Tasmanian in a dry tone.
'I should have known that someone would be jealous of my magnificent fashion sense.' Peter thought as he strolled in even deeper into the lounge area.
"He's so into the mediating thing." Lexi said as she pointed to the brainiac of the team. Ace had to admit that he really was good at it.
"Ever since I showed him how to do it; nothin` disturbs him." He said to her and they both watched him continue.
"I tried mediating once myself." Peter said to them and the two had to have him go into details.
"So, how'd it go?" Ace asked and at first only received a shrug and then a standard web-head answer.
"I'm not quite sure, I think I fell asleep." That comment earned him a stare of confusion. Duck, who was not paying attention to the spider, was too busy messing with his cell phone.
"Hello…Hello…" Duck spoke into his phone and only received a busy signal and then he turned to complain to his partners. "This is ridicules: It's the 28th century. We have jetpacks, hovercrafts, computer synchronized latte makers, but I can't get a good cell signal on the 134th floor." As soon as he said that out of spite a really irritating sound came from his cell. This sound was enough to knock Tech out of his meditation.
"Duck shut that ringer off." He stated casually and Parker had to annoy the mallard his own way.
"Come on; don't tell me, you aren't a big fan of 'the out of tune bagpipe players and yodelers out of tune'." Peter said and Duck answered both of them.
"At least the ringer works the rest of its junk." The genius simply answered in a calm tone.
"Have some respect; I'm clearing my mind here." That made himself open from a verbal attack from Duck.
"Oh, please, you'd need a hazmat team to clear the junk in your head, Tech." Normally that would have ticked anyone off in New York, but the coyote simply ignored it. Duck's phone rang about that time again.
"Hello…Hello." Out of frustration he hung up and announced to the others, "I've had it! From now on I do things the old fashioned way." That earned Duck even more mocking from the others starting with Lexi.
"Yeah right Duck, no phone, no MP3 music blaster 5000." Ace was next one to criticize.
"And no high tech weapons?" The water fowl shooed their insults and replied while holding two of his eggs.
"Who needs them by bare hands are lethal weapons." That is when they heard some chuckling from the arachnid. "What's so funny?" He asked irritated, but then again Peter had a way to bother everyone.
"It's nothing, really." He knew that that wasn't the answer they were looking for. "The truth is most of my friends could live by what you said, Duck." That is when it occurred to them that no one knew who his friends are.
"So, what are your friends like?" Lexi asked and they were all expecting another short and sweet answer.
"Where do I start? I guess a good summery would be that they understand what its like to be a freak behind a mask. How it feels to have all this power and knowing full well of the burden it comes with; always being an outsider looking in, never being accepted for what you are, and always being ridiculed and scorned just for helping." They weren't expecting something that deep from a man that can only speak in insults. Tech finally spoke to the mallard.
"Anyways Duck, you couldn't go one low tech week without high tech stuff." His statement was not right to silence the fowl; as he had a comment of his own for the canine once he was done laughing.
"Well I'm not you Mr. Techno geek." That statement would have made any other man mad but the coyote calmly stood up with his finger tips touching.
"Make you a bet: if you can go one week then I'll pay for that cape, and if not you buy it for me." He said calmly as he stated the stakes of this competition; Duck only had one thing to add to that.
"I want the matching knee high boots." The coyote simply smiled.
"No problem." Those were his only words before they shook on it.
"You're on, mister." Duck said as they shook to make it a legit bet. Tech just had one last thing to add.
"By the way I'm a 13…wide." That only angered him and as soon as that was done Rev came in.
"Guys Zadavia wants to give us a mission and she sent me here to get you; so here I am and I think she wants you guys in there in about three minutes.
"Does he ever get his tongue tied?" Parker asked as they walked past the speedy talker.
"If he does then he must untie as soon as he gets it." Tech answered wondering of how many devices he could make to make Rev be silent. After a few moments the roadrunner realized that the others were already gone and he raced to the meeting room; only to find them already sitting down. He joined them and waited for Zadavia.
"Gather round Loonatics, we have a major crisis besides Duck's costume request begin the holographic imaging feed." The blonde said once she appeared to the team. Tech accessed a panel in front of him and the three monitors above them showed them a heist. "Moments ago, someone calling herself: Black Velvet stole the Acmetropolis series five radar system." As soon as she said that a realized thought occurred to the wall-crawler.
'So that is what my Spider Sense was reacting to. I should have followed it instead of heading back.' Then he heard Tech go into detail of what that radar did.
"That satellite directs all air and space traffic in and out of Acmetropolis." That news did not sit well with Lexi as she said disappointedly.
"So much for my weekend getaway to: Acmepulco." Naturally Zadavia had even worse news.
"I'm afraid it gets worse they also took the Acme super computer." Once again Tech went into detail on that object as well.
"That is one of the most advanced systems on the planet. I should know: I built it." Slam was impressed to hear such a thing but Duck wasn't; he had his mind on the bet that they made.
"See what happens when you rely on technology: utter chaos. I am so going to win this bet." That was one thing Zadavia didn't feel necessary or needed so she gave the duck a simple order.
"Duck…pay attention!" Hearing the hostility in her voice he decided it best to obey.
"Yes'm." He replied and they returned to the briefing.
"I'm uploading security footage now." Zadavia said and the monitors showed off the heist that happened when Spider-Man took a break. Ace needed better details on their opponents so he gave Tech a request.
"Get us a closer shot of those raiders Tech." After a few key strokes they could see the faces of the red hooded raiders.
"Done…" Tech said and saw what seemed to be wraith-raiders. "Most fascinating." Just then they all saw who they suspected as Black Velvet brush past the screen.
"Hubba-hubba! Hoo-Hoo-ba!" Slam said happily once he saw the villainess float by. Having a feeling of jealousy Lexi said to the others.
"She's not that pretty." Then it showed her taking off her hood and shades and that is when Ace had to disagree.
"No he's rights, she's hot." Now, glaring at her leader angrily she gave him an order that actually worried him.
"Keep your eyeballs in your head." Zadavia had to ruin the yellow rabbit's happy mood even further.
"Attractive or not: she's bad to the bone. You have to figure out what she's up to. Good luck Loonatics, Zadavia, out."
"Alrighty gang, let's jet." Ace said to the others, but when the transmission was terminated and while they were leaving Parker decided to take to the defensive.
"I don't know what you're talking about Ace. To me, we're working with two hotties that are hotter than Black Velvet." He placed his right hand on Lexi's left shoulder and added, "At least that's what I think." The one thing unseen was some of Lexi's fur becoming darker.
'At least one of them weren't roped in by Black Velvet's form.' The pink bunny thought and added when she found herself still blushing, 'I better stay focused, after all he was just being nice…right?' Once they reached the hanger all of them saw a new jet.
"I needed an excuse to try out my new jet." Tech said and they all boarded into the vehicle. Each of them took a monitor chair except for the seventh one which was simply there.
'I guess I'll take that one.' Parker thought; a bit hurt but he really wasn't too broken up about it. The thing took off pretty easy but there was something odd about Ace's direction.
"Uh…Ace? Aren't we going the wrong way." Lexi said, noticing the same as the spider that he was going the wrong way then she added, "The space port is east."
"Yeah but we're going where the action is." He replied telling that she was right and then he added why they were going in that direction. "Check out the skyline just like before the first attack." Tech knew what that place is where that evil cloud was stationed.
"That's right over the Acme tech university." Duck needed to say an insult knowing that both Tech and Peter could turn him into pressed duck.
"Which is the ancestral home for: geeks, dweeb, and brainiac nerds." The green member said, still in a relaxed tone.
"I went to school there." Being the second or third member to use sarcasm Duck replied.
"There's a shocker." Beginning to feel annoyed by the mallards talking and wanting to get to the fight Ace asked to no one in particular.
"Does this puppy have a hyper drive?" He then pushed forward on the wheel and it accelerated. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." He said once they went faster to get to their dark opponent.
'Knowing Tech this is only first gear.' Parker thought as the vehicle went faster he then thought of something else, 'Nicky would want Tech to build 100 of these jets or at least Tony would want the specs.' Once they finally landed at the base of the building under a thundering cloud they were assaulted by darkness.
"Mommy!" Duck said and the ghost like raiders stepped forward and the fowl had to add, "Somebody turned out the light!" Thinking back to his crappy phone he added, "Failed again by technology."
"Tech, any thoughts, any suggestions?" Ace asked, as he himself could not see anything, so he hoped that his friend's brain could bail them out of this mess.
"Right now Rev's got to be our eyes." He answered knowing that his GPS ability will come good at a time like this. Naturally he was up to the challenge.
"No problem, with my GPS I got a lock on them." He began scanning and picked up a lot of them around Lexi's position. "Careful Lexi; you're surrounded." With that learned she beat them up with ease.
"Back off, boys." She stated as she dodged their attacks, threw them away, and kicked them out of her face.
"Contact coming 46 degrees, 47 degrees, 48 degrees." Rev informed and he watched as after a flurry of punches Lexi's opponents were down. Rev then aided the others starting with Spider-Man. "Watch out web-head you're…" He stopped as the web-head defeated his share of raiders without the roadrunners help so he moved to the next one: Slam. "Slam, they're right in front of you spin straight ahead." The devil smiled about that order and did so successfully knocking a few down. Parker was right in the line along with Tech. Rev noticed them a scotch too late as he said to Slam, "N-no Slam watch out." The crimson member already sensed it and leaped up.
'Damn I love having this Spider Sense.' He thought and watched as two of his teammates met head to head. 'Those guys are going to feel that one in the morning.' Once he landed his old trusty Spider Sense was telling him something worse was happening above them. 'Great she's here but we have to deal with her wraith-raiders.' He thought as he dodged an attack from behind. Indeed she was there and just like at the port she floated down to the right area of the university and blew a whole.
"The light wave illuminator; my plan is nearly complete." While she floated there a lot of her raiders were already there. "Take it away, boys." They did as she instructed and removed this device from its current owner so it could help their mistress. Back on the battlefield almost all of them were having a difficult problem fighting this opponent except for Rev and Spider-Man.
"I can't see them but I can smell them." Duck said as he backed up in hopes of attacking one and once his back touched his target he did so. "Hyah." He swung his arm but missed then he felt something grab his arms and heard a ticked off leader.
"Hyah, somewhere else, Duck." Ace said to the Duck that almost got him in the face.
"Sorry." He said looking down and then they all heard a voice that no one was familiar with.
"We got what we came for; crush them." It was Black Velvet looking down at the seemingly defenseless heroes. As she floated back to her base she added, "I see dark days ahead, Loonatics." In terms of her troops crushing them they took that order seriously; several of them chiseled away at the base of a building. After all of them left the Loonatics were baffled, but it didn't last long as they building they were working on began to topple. Slam yelled out something that sounded like: 'look out.'
"Loonatics, let's jet." Ace said and all of them ran off except for Spider-Man who made a slingshot and launched himself and then used a streetlight as a landing pad. He looked over his shoulder just in time to see Duck quack out but the others didn't as he heard Ace yell out, "Duck." The others thought of him trapped as well.
"Oh no." Lexi commented as most of them went to that area and Ace gave them the order that the others already knew.
"Dig him out." As soon as they started Duck appeared beside the debris unharmed.
"Woo-hoo missed me." He said casually as his friends were shooting him some angry looks, but their 'get back at Duck' moment was cut short when they heard Black Velvet's voice from above.
"Catch me if you can, Loonatics." That challenge given Ace gave the team a new order.
"Come on we can't lose her now." All of them raced to the jet and once inside they took flight and went after her. "Time to pop this balloon." The leader said as he flew them into that woman's cloud, but soon discovered that that might have been a bad move. He then tried to ask Tech who was using the scanner, "Picking up anything, Tech." He only had a pretty bad theory.
"They must have deployed some sort of cloaking device." That theory presented Ace tried to use their GPS system.
"Anything Rev?" The bird in question looked out the window and using his powers reported what he saw.
"No trace, no mark, no sign, no trail, no heat, no lick, no speck, no particle, no nothin`." As he said that Peter looked up and thought to himself.
'I wonder if I should tell them that they are right above us.' He then saw Tech take who still had on the monitor. 'I'll wait.' As soon as he thought that the soldiers in sphere form consumed the cockpit and as they did so he heard Ace make a joke.
"I hate being left in the dark." When they themselves were consumed by darkness Duck had a question to ask.
"Who turned out the lights?" Once he said that Parker could have sworn he heard one of them scream. Once the creatures headed back and the cockpit had light in it they realized that they were short one canine genius.
"Where did Tech go?" Ace asked as he saw that his station was empty. Lexi only looked up and after a slight gasp she told the others his location.
"Up there." The others watched as their friend was in one of the spheres floating into the ship with the rest of the warriors.
"I wonder if she charges for the mile or for the person." Peter asked making one of his usual jokes. Ace on the other hand decided to get his friend back.
"All right, Loonatics…she's got something to learn. You take one…you take us all." He said in a heroic tone and flew at the zeppelin. The speed creature finally had a lock on them and told the others.
"Ace, I'm picking something up; straight ahead." The leader acknowledged his friend's discovery.
"I see'im." They flew at them, but something wrong.
'That's weird why would she leave that cloud cover.' Peter thought as they continued on their way. They went into another cloud bank and as soon as they did three air crafts that you would see off of Star Wars came at them: lasers firing. 'This attack goes under the column known as: predictable.' Pete thought as Ace told the others of what to do.
"Three boogies at 12o'clock. Take evasive action." The three of them did not collide with the Loonatics, but instead scraped their ride.
"Watch it; I just gave this thing a base paint job." Spider yelled at them, the others knew that what he said was one of wisecracks, but they couldn't believe that he would try to make one at a time like this. Unfortunately, while the others were having a dogfight Tech had his own problems. He woke up to find himself in a darkened room; he was also strapped down to some sort of table. As he was examining his surroundings he heard a voice, a female voice.
"Welcome to my city in the sky. Isn't it gorgeous?" The woman was the one the Loonatics were after: Black Velvet. The odd thing was she seemed to be floating to the helpless scientist. She then explained the purpose of this mobile complex. "I built it for me and my shadow raiders. So we can live high in the sky." Tech decided to be a smart mouth himself.
"Beats the rock you crawled out from under." This villainess actually took offense to that comment and replied to the creature was supposed to me a genius.
"In case you haven't noticed I'm no common thief." She exposed a device that seemed to be a combination of a claw and cannon. She then went deeper into reason as she took off her hood "I'm not like everyone else thanks to the meteor that hit earth." She then took off her eye-ware and told the rest, "My eyes have been permanently scarred." The word 'scarred' echoed once after she said it. She was right; there was no color or anything of where her eyes should be. For a few moments Tech was caught off guard for a few moments before he found his tongue even though it was nothing like Peter's he did make another comment.
"And your brain has been permanently scrambled." That comment did not seem to faze her at all.
"I can no longer tolerate any light." She said as she turned her back to the scientist. "I have been forced to live here for far too long." She added which brought to remember of why her raiders brought him to her. "Which is why I need a scientist of your genius to help me." The last statement did not go over very well.
"Never going to happen, I know what you're doing." He said to her defiantly. Feeling smug Velvet asked him to go on while testing her canon.
"Oh, really; enlighten me." Not wanting to disappoint Tech explained her plan even though he had a feeling that she knew that he would figure it out.
"You'll use the Doppler radar to produce a curtain of darkness powered by pulses from the light wave eliminator blocking our sun and plunging Acmetropolis into permanently darkness." In the beginning he seemed angry but as he saw her with a devilish smile he knew that he was right and grew frightened. Velvet told him her reason for doing something this evil.
"I call it the shroud caster and soon everyone will suffer as I have." After that small rant she used a seductive side as she leaned against the table restraining the coyote and said to him. "But you forgotten the part where the industrious coyote builds it for me." Still angered that someone use tech to fill vengeful purposes he said to her.
"Keep dreaming hot stuff." This comment did not even matter to her as she playfully grabs his muzzle for a moment and told him.
"Not too many dogs can resist my charms Tech." She releases his muzzle and took a few steps back before adding, "'specially an overworked inventor that doesn't get out much." She aimed her cannon at the inventor but instead of harming him it did something far, far worse.
"WH—Wha—Wh. Not the face." He yelled out as he felt something wrong as he began to lose himself he heard Velvet's voice.
"Don't resist my shadow force, baby, as it enters your mind giving me complete control." As the vessel let the last word echo and the villainess felt his for a few seconds and when the scientist opened his eyes they looked just like hers. He let out a small groan as the table leveled off and the shackles were unlocked; instead of fighting he followed. "Now…how about you get to work? All right, baby?" She asked soothingly and she received a monotone response from her new friend.
"As you wish." The two of them left and as that went on the others were still in that dogfight.
"I just like to go on record and say that this flight stinks." Spider commented since it felt like hours since those creatures launched their attack. As Ace continued to evade them Lexi tried telling that this wasn't working.
"We can't shake these things." The oh-so optimistic mallard had to say to the others his opinion.
"We're doomed. Doomed!" Having enough cat and mouse routine Ace told the Tasmanian what to do.
"All right Slam, they leave us no choice. Prepare for maneuver 180." With a nice and easy evasive maneuver they were behind the enemy crafts. "Now Slam! Fire!" The devil creature smiled greatly as he pressed a big blue button launching three missiles at the opponents. There was one flaw to the plan.
"The attack fighters are heading back to the zeppelin." Lexi said which caused great fear to the others.
"Now the zeppelin is the target." Ace commented to no one in particular.
"But Tech's up there." Lexi stated out of concern for her friends. Feeling that it is his fault all Slam could say was.
"Oops." With confidence Ace said to them.
"Then we've got to stop those missiles…now." The jet was a few feet away from the projectiles and then they went into action. "We got to stop those missiles before they blow the zeppelin and Tech out of the sky." Ace said to the rest of his team. He first thought of a long range attack. "Can you Brain-Blast 'em Lex?"
"Not from here." She said in a dishearten tone. The leader then went with his second option. "Foist ones yours, Rev?!" Ace stated while opening the top and with great pleasure the speedy foul took flight.
"I am on it Ace." He flew straight at the closest one he could see. As they neared the second one Duck said with a touch of anger in his throat.
"Here's my chance to rip on technology. The next one's mine." Allowing the mallard to try his luck Ace said to him.
"You got it, Duck." The rabbit flew so close to the rocket that Peter could count how many bolts were on the base. Duck looked through the windshield and began to estimate on when to make his move.
"Little bit closer, little bit more." He said as he tried to find the best place to start and then quacked to the surface. He ripped off a panel and tried to cross its wires. He began to mutter to himself as he did that. "Alright let's see. No, that's not it. Maybe this one? No, this isn't either. Maybe this one? That's not it either. Uh…" As he tried that tactic Rev was still flying over to his he said to a fast paced announcer style his moves.
"He's unflappable, unstoppable, unbelievable. He shoots…" He waited a while until after he kicked the rocket forcing its explosion prematurely to complete his statement. "He scores! Back to you, Charlie"
"Nice, Rev; hit the showers." Ace said while still going skyward feeling proud of what the speedster had done. As the neared the highest levels of the atmosphere he nervously chuckled and said to his fellow rabbit. "Hey-uh…looks like we're running out of sky, here, Lex." Taking that as her cue as she charged up a Brain Blast.
"On the count of three. 1…2…2 and a half…3!" She yelled out shooting a potent blast destroying yet another missile there was only one left: Duck's. As soon as it blew up the wall-crawler thought.
'Damn, I wanted to do that. Maybe then…No, you must stop thinking like that.' That thought was about come back but luckily he heard Ace praised her and then ask a question.
"Bull's eye, Lex." When the thing did blow it sent plenty of shockwaves in which knocked out Black Velvet's cloaking device. "All right, Lexi. You knocked out their cloaking." He said to her once he stabilized, he then asked a very important question, "Now where's Duck?" He looked to the left and then to the right, but when he looked up and saw the last missile he saw the mallard still messing with the wires.
"Insert tab B into flap C then cut wire D…" Duck said to himself not noticing the jet beneath him. Ace decided to get the foul out of there himself.
"Grab the wheel, Lex!" He ordered and then stood ready for the windshield, ready to leave. Lexi grabbed a hold of the wheel and strapped in. Once the shield was open he fore-flipped onto the tip of the ship while duck was still at work.
"Insert tab B into-oh where is the manual." About that time when he looked over his shoulder he saw Ace pull him away from the soon to be no more missile. "Hey I was figuring out how to fly that thing a few more seconds and…" He stopped because of two things: 1) Ace was smiling and that often meant something bad for him. 2) The missile he was working on exploded.
"Roasted Duck?" Ace said as he walked back inside while duck only groaned as he imagined of his innards raining down from the heavens. When the two of them went inside Ace walked over to the wheel. "Check the compartments. I'm sure Tech packed something just in case." He said and Lexi gave him something that looked like a box, but still asked him a question.
"In case of what?" Ace answered her while pressing a button on the device.
"The usual: mutant Vikings, giant fuzzballs." The box converted to a bazooka form. "The Ninjizer 500 and night vision goggles too." He said with a smile once Lexi had the craft directly underneath the zeppelin she opened the windshield. "Slam, time to do your thing." Ace directed and the purple devil leapt from their craft and ripped off a piece of the armor of the blimp; soon after they all leapt inside and were in complete darkness.
"Whoa, we're not in Kansas anymore." Lexi said as she looked around in awe at the floating city. Peter felt it was time for one of his jokes.
"Just remember guys that once we find her machine the shut off will be a big red button. Trust me it's always a big red button." The others didn't know if he was kidding or not so they went on with their game-plan.
"Activate night vision opticals." Ace ordered and four of them answered him in unison.
"Activated." Unlike the rest Spider's optics were slip-ons. As in they fit over his while lenses making them red…for the moment. The field leader was not done quit yet.
"Let's go crush some velvet." He said in a calm fashion. Unknown to them was that the brainwashed Tech along with Black Velvet were activating the Shroud Caster, but luckily Ace had a plan he just hoped that it worked. The team divided three ways: two to a group: Lexi and Spider, Slam and Rev, Duck and Ace.
"Piece of cake." Lexi commented as she saw her target: the light wave eliminator, but it was guarded by raider. Spider-Man who was clinging to the wall that Lexi was hiding behind.
"All we have to do is get pass them and reverse the polarity of that device while Ace is going up against Velvet. That seems fair." He said below his breath stating the later part with sarcasm. Unfortunately he forgot that this lady had sonic hearing.
"Quit complaining, or are you still miffed that I took care of the missile and not you." She did not receive an answer so she added, "Don't worry the next time we have to blow up a missile that one is all yours."
"Can it be a red and blue one?" He questioned and he actually he got a nod from the very attractive creature even though he had a feeling that she was probably fooling around with him. He then added to her, "Then let's go kick some raider ass…if they have them." The two of them went into fighting them while the devil was seen skulking over to the dish with the speed creature following him.
"Right behind you, Slam." Rev said as he stopped right behind his muscular friend. Just as the two were about to get to work several shadow raiders appeared around them. The rabbit and the mallard on the other hand went to the control room by cutting a whole through the glass with laser vision. The two of them saw the genius of the team typing away at a console.
"Hey, uh, Tech old pal. Let's make like an atom and split." Ace said the canine trying to make scientist humor but he saw that he did not stop typing so he tried again, "Tech?"
"He's not answering." Duck said after realizing that something was amiss and that is when they heard and saw their enemy: Black Velvet floating behind them.
"Tech only answers to me now. You boys are just in time to watch as we usher in the dark ages." She then opened her cloak unleashing several streams of dark energy which Ace countered with his optic blast. Once the energy clashed and the two attacks vanished Black Velvet said in a confident tone, "Ah-ah, not tonight, Loonatics." She unleashed a rapid shot function from her cannon luckily the two of them dodged it. After several dodges Ace counters with a barrage from his ninjizer, but she defended with her cloak. She fired a containment option but was only able to get the duck while Ace tried to attack with her defenses down, but she caught him off guard by shooting off a few beams from her cloak. He fell down beside Duck who was in some sort of sphere.
"Duck, maybe you can deal with her friends." He said to the mallard before going back into the fray. The mallard turned and saw a few shadow raiders heading straight for him.
"Righty-o, Ace." The water fowl said to his leader and began to run in place before charging at them while still in that sphere. "Strike!" He said proudly after knocking the invaders down like bowling pins. While he fought the bunny thought it best to check on his teams, progress: by com link.
"Guy's tell me you're ready." He said through the communicator on his arm hoping that they were. For a while he did not get a response but after a few seconds one of them responded: Lexi.
"I need another minute." She said while kicking some of the raiders away from her while her partner was webbing them up or giving them a swinging kick. She even gave one of them a devastating punch that he fell to his knees. "Take two aspirins and call me in the morning." She saw that a few of them were charging at her, but she picked up the goon that was having hard time breathing and threw him at her friend. Back at the command station Duck used one of his eggs and fired it which burst the bubble that held him.
"Miss Velvet your Shroud-Caster is ready." Tech said in his hypnotic tone which pleased the villainess greatly.
"Why thank you, baby." Velvet commented and continued to attack her slave's friends while Ace tried to get through the coyote.
"Tech, no!" He then dodged a barrage of green orbs from her cannon and after those failed attempts to blast the rabbit he seemed pretty confident. "Ha ha." He said in a confident tone thinking that her cannon was all out of trick, but she simply took off her hood and fired a green and black cord which made contact and slammed him into the wall. While he was down Velvet decided to give the coyote one last order.
"Activate the Shroud-Caster…now." That command given he slowly reached for the button that will put the woman's insane plane into action. Ace tried his luck again.
"Tech! Come on, Buddy boy! Wake up!" That attempt was still in vain and his finger continued to go for the button. After blaster a few more raiders away with his orbs Duck saw that the genius was still under that woman's spell.
"Wait. I can wake him." He said and pulled out his phone, forgetting all about the bet, and turned on its ringer; which had the usual effect on the canine.
"UGH! That annoying phone!" Tech said angrily finally snapping out of his trance; Ace grateful that his buddy is back on their side so he said aloud to his comrade.
"I could use a little help here, Tech." Hearing his friends plight, Tech helped out in the usual way.
"Activating night vision." He said and by using his powers pulled the gun that Ace dropped some time ago. He activated a different feature and fired a beam that seemed to have throwing stars in it at the rabbit: freeing him from his bondage. Not wanting to admit that she has basically lost she said to the others.
"Ha! Too little too late." While floating over to the console that Tech was just at. She then added, "Darkness was my curse now it will be yours Loonatics." She then pressed the button and watched as the machine powered up. As the mechanical devices followed with her plan and the radar fired the beam that was blanketing their city Rev and Slam could only gasp: not wanting to believe that this was how it was going to end. Down below there were a couple of civilians surprised at the sudden darkness.
"What happened to the light?" An elderly man asked a woman who looked to be in her 20's could only tell the elder of what she knew.
"I don't know. There've been power outs all over the city." While the blanket continued to expand the Loonatics continued to fight against the woman of darkness.
"Lexi, have you reversed the polarity?" He questioned who was still fighting against the raiders. Their primary objective was working keeping the arachnid and the rabbit away from the switch.
"Not yet, Ace." She answered after kicking a few more raiders and the only a few guarding it, but there was a lot more from behind her. The web-slinger landed beside her and faced the group of raiders.
"I'll handle them, you throw the switch." She nodded and ran over to the machine while Spider shot two web-lines on the ground and pulled back once he was ready he said to them, "Hey, guys at the sound of the thud it will be time…" He paused of what he was about to say as he released his foothold and launched himself at the cluster of thugs thus knocking them down before he continued, "For another line of work." He stood behind the collapsed goons and saw that his teammate was able to pull down the leaver.
"Got it." She said triumphantly to her leader. Once Slam saw that the beam has changed he turned the radar toward the zeppelin causing a chain reaction.
"My city of Darkness. No!" Velvet yelled out as she tried to conceal herself from the light with her cloak while her entire complex was being sucked into the light.
"I think it's time for us to get out of Dodge." Ace said to the team as he ran off followed by the others they boarded their ride and was able to escape the blast at the last second. When the others returned to the spire they relaxed in their own way. Rev was playing his seventh or eighth game of one man air hockey with Slam watching, Tech was in his lab working on some guns that will come in handy if someone invaded the tower, Lexi and Ace were playing pool, Duck was impatiently waiting for his delivery, and Spider-Man he was swinging around.
'Zadavia can sure handle returning a device pretty fast.' Peter thought as he checked out where Velvet acquired her tools and saw that they stood there as if they never were stolen. 'I guess I won't see any action this late.' He thought and headed off for the spire, but once he was there he saw a delivery truck standing there by the door. "Oh man, please tell me that we didn't get one of those 'you might have won a million dollars' envelop; if so keep it." The wall crawler said to the man in the red uniform after he landed on the roof of his truck.
"Nothing like that." The man said as he turned toward the arachnid holding a big brown box. "This package is from the Super Hero Costume Discount Warehouse." He stated and then gave Spider a clipboard, "Sign here, please." He waited as the web-spinner wrote down his name.
"This must be the cape and boots one of my friends ordered." Parker said to the man and handed the clipboard back. "Thanks." He added after landing beside the man who nodded and drove away. After watching the man drive off he thought aloud of what to do next, "I better give this to Du—wait a minute I know what to do with this." He then walked inside and began to climb through the vent system.
"These guns are right up Slam's alley." The coyote said with a grin as he looked at his completed guns for the tornado user. He was reveling in his genius until he heard the vent cover in his lab began to open and there was one person that was dumb enough to use the vents for transport. What's up, Pete?" The canine genius said and then turned around to see that he was dropping a packing through the whole by his webbing. "What's this?" He questioned before seeing the address and smirked; he looked up and saw Spider's head in the hole.
"Ace told the rest of us how you stopped listening to the queen of darkness, so I think that this belongs to you." The wall-crawler explained and crawled away having a feeling that Tech was going to enjoy his gloating moment. After he was done crawling around the vents he found himself just outside the lounging room. He entered that his friends were doing the usual.
"Rev Runner fights for the saucer, but Rev beats him to it. He lays it into the corner…but picked up by Rev Runner. Another tricky shot…but not quite tricky enough. Rev shoots. Saved by Rev Runner. Looks like rev really came to play. He shoots, he scores! And the crowd goes wild." Rev yelled out as he played another game of air hockey, at least that's what Peter that is was, and Slam cheered for his friend. The mallard was a man on a mission as he walked over to Ace who broke into another pool game with Lexi.
"Has anybody seen Tech? I think he has something he wants to say to me." He asked the rabbits and if on cue they heard a cape fluttering and saw the person wearing it.
"Thanks. I went ahead and ordered them. Nice, huh? Their sending you the bill." He stated smugly as he pulled the cape inward. The fowl did not understand as he decided to protest with him.
"But—but those are mine! You were supposed to buy those for me!" The rabbits had to disagree with him, and the best one to do that was Ace.
"You used your phone duck, we all saw ya." The water fowl tried to come out the winner of the bet.
"But I—I only used it to save him. If not for me he would still be 'what ever you say oh velvety one.'" That protest was in vain as Lexi walked over to him and calmly said.
"A bets a bet." Before anymore was said Zadavia decided to congratulate the heroes.
"Good work, Loonatics." She started in an enthusiastic tone and continued. "Despite Black Velvet's disappearing act. The Shroud-Caster has been dismantled and all the parts have been returned." She then turned to the green member and saw his upgrade. "Oh my Tech, don't you look heroic."
"Why, thank you, Zadavia." Tech said, feeling proud that he received some praise from their boss.
"Very impressive, indeed." She added and heard the mallard create a rebuttal.
"But—but…" Nothing came out after that and so she took her leave.
"Zadavia, out." Duck walked over to where the hologram once was after finding his tongue.
"Wait, come back. I picked out the cape and the matching boots. Im the heroic one; be impressed with me." He cried out the last part, but he received no sympathy from his team.
"Maybe you can call her back on your cell phone." Lexi said and put her hand to her head in phone fashion and the other rabbit added a sad but true fact.
"If you can get a signal." The fowl had it he turned around and said a phrase that has been in his family for generations.
"You know you're all despicable." Once he said that Peter decided to say something so the night won't be a total waste.
"Speaking of that cell phone let me see it for a moment." He said and without receiving an answer he grabbed the phone and went ahead with his plan.
"`Scuse me." Duck said but Peter ignored him and continued working. Luckily his belt had the tools that he needed, since he often carried the tools that he checked his shooters with.
"Just give me a second." He said without turning around after a few moments he turned around and said to the others, "There; that should take care of the ring tone problem." He handed the mallard his phone, but Danger was a little skeptical of whether to press it or not, luckily his friends chose for him.
"Go ahead and start it up, Duck." Ace demanded, the orange member pressed for his ringer and boy were they in for a surprise as the ringer was a song:
'Spider-Man, Spider-Man does what ever a spider can. Spins a web any size; catch a thief just like flies. Look out; here come the Spider-Man! Is he strong, listen bud he's got radioactive blood. Can he swing from a thread, take a look over head. Hey man, there goes the Spider-Man. In the chill of night at the scene of a crime like a streak of light he arrives just in time. Spider-Man, Spider-Man friendly neighborhood Spider-Man welcome fame he's ignored action is his reward. To him life is a great big bang up where there's a hang up you'll find the Spider-Man!'
"Well, what do you guys think?" Spider questioned hoping for a good response, but he only received blank stares. Duck was the first one to speak.
"Man that was—`` His rant was cut short as Ace interrupted him as did the others.
"Incredible!" Tech was the next one to compliment.
"Sure was, an excellent way of summing up of your powers and why thugs should be afraid of you." He nodded and then he said to all of them in a stunned speech.
"Do you really mean it?" He received five head nods which surprised him greatly. "That's amazing not a lot of people praise my work." The others seemed rather surprised by that since he really has proven quit useful in battle. "Johnny is going to love knowing that others…" He stopped soon after he said one of his old friend's names. The others did not know why he did so. "If you guys don't mind I think I'll need to use the washer tomorrow because this suit hasn't seen water since last time I fell into the Hudson." Another comment that confused his team, but Rev quickly recovered.
"I'll take care of that right now." It a spin cycle of red his costume was taken off faster than his Spider Sense could tell. When the runner left the room the only thing that he had were his boxers, his web-shooters, and his belt. Embarrassment, genuine embarrassment was the first thing that Peter felt as he stood there.
"You know I think I should go to bed, bye." Peter said and ran off into his room as the others just watched him run. As he ran off Ace said aloud to the others…
"What was that about?" The others did not know the answer themselves, but Tech had an idea of what it was.
"I think it has to deal with the fact that that person 'Johnny' and that place 'Hudson' are in his world and he...well misses them." That definitely sounded logical, but they would have to ask him what his deal was in the morning. Peter on the other hand was in his room putting on his pajama pants, put his shooters and belt away, and went to bed.
"I seriously hope Lexi doesn't have a photographic memory." He muttered aloud as he drifted off to sleep. As he dreamt he found himself in New York again; another quiet night to boot. He looked around for another Spider-Man but for a few moments saw nothing for a few moments.
"I see that I was expected." A voice said to him from out of no where. After a few moments the figure revealed himself to Peter. "The name is Dusk and as you have guessed my main ability is stealth." Peter just stared at the solid black suit which that is what it was: solid black. "Just like the armor I to will be used for battle rather than leisure." The shadows enveloped Dusk again and the wall-crawler was left alone on a roof in a city that hates him and thought he left behind.