Spider-Man, and the others, are owned by Marvel and Stan Lee.
Loonatics Unleashed, and the others, are owned by WB.
Music groups mentioned belong to themselves
Chapter 13:
Sypher
"No way! How did you guys get these kind of seats?" Demanded Spider-Man when he spotted the sweet tickets that Rev Runner and Ace Bunny just received. The tickets were for a Basherball game, but the seats were in one of the prime spots in the whole place.
"Well…when you were getting your spiffy set of threads made our favorite radio station, the grizzly, was givin` away free tickets and Rev and I were the first to call." Ace explained with a big grin. Before the web-head could do anything the hare took the tickets and headed out leaving a baffled hero.
'Rabbits are actually pretty fast.' Peter thought before getting back to eating his Lunch. The bird and the bunny took flight through their usual dock and headed for their destination. The both of them were excited, like most men are, when it comes to a sporting event, but they decided to rely on hero entrance so when they got there they went in through the roof stairway while Ace leaving his pack behind.
'Another day, another team to find out why the Rangers is the best team in the league.' Trick thought as he was preparing himself in their locker room. Behind him was one person that was not in a sport for the love of the game, but for the perks of the game itself.
'There he is. That arrogant…if he thinks he's getting the praise and the girls for this one: he is dead wrong.' Thought the jealous member of the team and walked over to the team captain. "Trick, yo, Trick." He said to the man with his left fist in his right palm before continuing, "Drake Sypher, your new back up." Number 12 said to the leader who seemed a little confused. "Just wanting to say its awesome to be playing with you man. Just awesome." He said with enthusiasm.
"Um, your who again." Daily said to him while rubbing his chin. 'Something BIG must have happened to my old friend to miss this game either that or the coach is going senile to put in a new guy in this fight.' He thought: not really trusting this guy at all.
"Sypher. High five, man." The spiky haired man offered with an outstretched arm. Trick still didn't trust him, but his family didn't just teach on sports, but also on manners and fair play. He new that it wouldn't be proper if he didn't accept, so he did. The moment their hands met he felt drained somehow, and even with their hands apart he still felt winded. "Game time." Drake said with genuine mock enthusiasm to the leader.
"As we start the fourth quarter the Acme Rangers are in the lead. Mr. Leghorn is ready to grab-zooka the ball out for the ultimate battle against man and machine." A new sports caster said to the crowd, which they were going nuts.
'Got to stay focused.' Trick thought as he tried to keep his mind in the game while his body was still feeling sluggish. The game against the Razoroids was just like their last team, minus Massive's interference, but something was not quit right. After some minor bashing number seven was able to shoot it which Trick was able to catch, but his head started to spin again. 'What's wrong with me?' He thought before slamming into his own men. Even though he couldn't focus he could still feel, and he knew what happens when you hit your team: you lose possession of the ball.
"Razor-Renaldo: shoots." The sportsman said after the tin-men grabbed the loose ball and added, "It's going, going, and he scores! The games all tied up." The crowd did not like how this was going. He went on about explaining the MVP's performance and of the coach giving into a substitution.
"Well, Trick certainly hasn't been on top of his game so far. Has he, Ace? I mean he's been missing every shot, and crashing into other players. I mean I love this guy, but he stinks tonight." The speed creature complained to the leader who was simply eating a Hot Dog.
"I don't know what going on out there, coach. It's like; I forgot how to play." Trick said while taking off his helmet. One thing he knew of his coach was that he didn't dismiss any possibility whatsoever.
'I have no other choice.' He thought and then looked at the new guy and said, "Sypher, your in." He said the happy expression on the boy's face, but he knew there was a different reason for that smile. The game went back into session with Sypher as their boss. They watched the game and listened to the man as the game went on, and the new guy using Trick Daily's moves.
"He shoots using the boomerang ricochet shot!" The news man yelled with excitement. Followed by statements of the Rangers winning and Trick better step down for the new arrival. The game ends with the score 110 to 100 and Sypher was signing autographs for his new fans.
"Hey, I know you guys." He said while pointing with a fan's pen to two Acme heroes. 'This really is my lucky day.' He thought while remembering a fortune cookie he had earlier today.
"We just want to tell you how cool it was when you blasted those goals and snagged those interceptions. And I want to join your fan-club. And tell me do you get dizzy up there sometimes the way you spin round and round and round in that bike of yours because I mean your colossal, fantastic, tremendous, stupendous." Rev said to the new star.
"In other words you're very good." Ace said to simplify the fan-boy who had his hands clasped together. The man did like the praise, but he wanted their powers more.
"Well, I'm stoked your fans, but I wish I could do what you do. I mean your real super heroes. It's great to meet you." He said to them with fake happiness and then shook Ace's hand. Just like with Trick the bunny also didn't feel like himself when after they parted, but not missing a beat he gave Rev a handshake which ended the same way: draining the speed creature. "Later." He said in a sing-song voice when he left since his business with those two are done.
"Um, Ace, I'm not feeling too good." Rev said with his left hand holding his stomach and his right hand on his head.
"Yeah. Me neither. I think that last Acme-dog did me in." Ace agreed with him while holding his stomach too. The two of them then headed for the roof of the place and got ready to leave. Ace prepped his pack for take off, thinking he'll only see Rev's tail feathers as soon as his feet left the building. The problem was that as soon as the Runner leapt into the air he hit the ground right after that.
"Ace, I…I can't fly." He explained to the field leader since he didn't feel the usual joy when he started to fly. He stood up all the way and added, "And listen to my voice it…it sounds so-." He could not bring himself of finishing that word.
"Normal." Ace finished for him. Not really thinking that trying two people on one pack would do they took the long way to the downstairs and was able to get into Taxi. The driver sent them all the way to the spire with no charge. After taking the elevator to the center room the captain decided to tell them why they took the long way home. "After shaking hands with the new guy we lost our powers." Ace said flatly.
"Better make sure that it wasn't just the food you ate." Coyote said to the two and they all headed to the gym of the spire. Tech tried a test for Ace, but since he had been staring at a stone for twenty minutes he moved onto Rev.
"Okay, Rev, start sprinting." Tech said when he got the bird situated on the treadmill. Loonatic Red did as he was told and started to sprint as hard as he could. "This machine will measure your steps per hour." He explained while the fowl was moving.
"That's as fast as I can go." Rev said after a few short minutes and added, "Cramping now. Burning…" He then flew off of the mill and onto the floor. Loonatic green looked at the number and jotted it on his clipboard.
"Hmm, well, the good news is: the machine is working. The bad news is that your not." The long eared one explained to the panting speed warrior.
"36 miles per hour?" Ace questioned after reading the gauge. He looked to the one doing the tests for an answer.
"Actually: 18. I doubled it to be nice." He said and then wheeled over the same wall as before to test Ace's abilities again, and as he brought it into view he hummed a small tune. "Shoot your power peepers at these, Ace." He offered after positioning them just right. The bunny stood before the structure he wanted to taken down.
"Come on, Tech, I've tried this." He said to him, not wanting the embarrassment again, but then added, "Aw, ok, here goes." The rabbit then tried to activate his optics, but nothing happened. He stared at the structure a little while longer, feeling some pain in his brain, but that all stopped when it turned to pebbles. "Thanks, Slam. I was starting to get a headache." He complimented the brute of the team while holding his head.
"I'm afraid there's no denying it, Ace. Both you and Rev are no longer in possession of your super powers." Tech said while waving the end of his pencil from Ace to Rev. About this time Spider would have said something stupid, but his mind was a little worried over what that guy is planning.
"Yeah, but check this out." He said and then preformed some of his usual footwork. "You can take away my powers, but you can't take away my moves." He said when he was done giving them a show.
"Exactly! You still got the moves that you had BEFORE you got your powers, and Rev can still run like a normal roadrunner. Whatever did this must not have affected your natural abilities." The canine said to them, trying to lift their spirits.
"Oh, um, well that's…uh, that's…" Ace began and saw that the former speed member of the team was as down as he was so he added, "Who needs superpowers anyways, right Rev?" He had a feeling that a statement like that coming from their acting leader would lift his spirits up a bit easier.
"You know the last time I checked: superheroes NEED superpowers." Duck said in a know-it-all tone of voice. Peter decided to save them as best as he could.
"Actually back home there are a few that have no superpowers, just guts and guns. There's: Punisher, Tony Stark, David Xanatos, Casey Jones, April, and the turtles." He said knowing that they had guns, money for bots or armor, and mutated, but not powers like theirs.
"You guys WERE the best of us, but until your better I think it's time for a new leader." Danger said to them, ignoring Spider's words as if he didn't say them at all. The team stood there in an awkward silence, but thankfully their founder was the one who cleared the air.
"That's an excellent idea, Duck." She began which confused all including Danger Duck himself.
"It is?" He questioned with a happy tone in his question.
"Ace, until we can figure out what happened to your enhanced abilities." She began while ignoring Duck's question at the same time, but she was interrupted by the same member.
"You see, even the boss lady agrees with me." He said proudly to the other six.
"You shouldn't be out in the field, and neither should Rev." She said to the two while doing a superb job in masking her fear for Ace's safety. "Your replacement will have to be: smart, courageous, cool under pressure, and have excellent leadership skills, not to mention a dazzling smile." She said, changing the subject to a second in command. Zadavia made it a point to speak of leadership skill to give Spider-Man a hint that he was not the one, and she threw in the last comment for the web-head to compliment someone. "There is only one clear choice: Lexi, I'm counting on you." She said and with hidden amusement watch the duck's ego take a nosedive.
"All over it, boss." She said and gave the fellow female a thumbs-up, a sign of thanks for picking her over the other choices.
"And you'll have to be fast. I just received this report that the dam for Central Acmetropolis reservoir is about to burst. Billions of gallons of water will rush down the river and flood this campground FULL of tourists. There's no time to evacuate. Lexi take Slam and Duck; good luck. Zadavia, out." The blond woman said while giving them images of the dam, and the tourists.
"You heard her. Let's jet!" Lexi said to the others, and they were all off. As two of them rushed out Duck just walked away - still miffed of the second in command role.
"I have a dazzling smile." He said grumpily. This time Peter did speak, but more to himself.
"Yeah, compared to a bullfrog." He then saw the other two and swung over them before landing in front of them. The loner stood in their path to get to the main path of their launch-pad. "I'm coming too." He said sternly to the stand-in.
"Pete, no." She said flatly. She didn't want to waste time, but she didn't want to anger the web-head either.
"Why not? My powers my help here." He said to her in an annoyed tone. Not believing that she didn't want help from him.
"Your big-brain is best useful here." She said in a stern tone while pointing at their home. She saw that he was going to saw something, but stopped him, "Please, Pete." She whispered to him.
"All right, you win. I'll stay here." He said to her and side-stepped from the door. He just didn't feel right for them to leave without his spider muscle, but he had to. "Just be safe, cottontail." He whispered so only she heard him. The three of them put on their packs and headed out.
"Check it out!" Lexi exclaimed when their target was within eyesight. The wall of the dam was breaking faster than their informant told them about.
"Hey! I thought she said this dam was ABOUT to burst." Duck said, angry that they got bum info from their founder. He turned to the fellow dude and could tell that the devil was in agreement he even babbled out a statement that sounded like.
"It just busted…" Lexi kept her head in the game instead of wondering how the time accelerated. The woman just had to rally the troops and she knew exactly what to say.
"Whatever guys, let's bust a move." She said to them with a some order in her words. The three of them saw the water rushing and the people screaming, but they landed in the campground and got ready to deal with this surge. The first try came to the mallard of the team.
"Watch and learn, Lexi." He said to the stand-in leader before creating four eggs and then added, "The boulder express to the rescue." The eggs that he shot turned into boulder-like objects and were stuck in the chasm: preventing the water to pass any further or at least he hoped so which it did, but not long enough.
"Looks like the Boulder Express took a dive." Lexi commented as she and the others watched as the water rolled OVER the barrier. Duck then tried to lighten the mood just like Peter would do about this time.
"Oh, well, at least ducks can swim." He said to the others praying to get a chuckle, bur received nothing, but another command from the female bunny.
"Time to get Slamin`." She said and that was when Loonatic Purple took the hint and got to work. He created a cyclone and headed toward the disturbance with a smile.
'Sometimes its scary being this good at what you do.' He thought as he headed to the river. His plan was simple: set the tornado to suction to handle it. His plan was cut short when he heard the one thing a hero could never turn down: a cry for help.
"Help! Help! Someone help me!" The voice said an average Joe before they sunk beneath the waves, and that was when the devil headed for him not knowing that it was a one-man ambush for him. The instant Slam was under the element he felt something grab onto him. "Gotcha!" He said with evil glee before rising to the surface in twister form.
'Can't see Slam, so I guess I'll create a barrier just like Duck tried to.' Loonatic Pink thought before applying brain blasts to the cliffs that surrounded them. The debris that fell DID make a blockade, but it was destroyed in an instant. As for the 'civilian' and Slam, the guy buzzed past the two while they were handling the water, so he could dump the excess baggage.
'This is where you get off: HAS-BEEN!' He thought with pride before going after the flood by himself. "Stand down, Super dudes. There's a new hero in town." He said to the two future meals. As he spun past them, thankful that Slam's power could restore hair, used Ace optic blast on the cliffs just as Lexi did, but this time it worked.
"Who is this guy?" Lexi questioned aloud with a surprised look on her face. She was impressed that he handled that situation in no time at all.
"I don't know." Slam said as he walked to the others despite the fact that his body didn't feel up to full power. After he was done with the dam the drainer decided this was the best time to get two more different powers for himself.
"The name's: Sypher." He informed her after deactivated a Tasmanian Tornado, and added, "And I've always wanted to meet the HOTTEST super hero in Acmetropolis." He said the last part while shaking her hand, and the moment she felt his hand Lexi knew it was bad news. As he felt her powers go into himself he decided to gain another fan by saying under a whisper, "By the way I'd double think about that bug since you need someone better looking."
'That was weird.' She thought after the handshake was over. The rabbit took a few steps back while holding her offended hand.
"You too, duck." Sypher added, not caring about her anymore.
"Well, finally, I never refuse an adoring fan when he's adoring me." Duck said while putting his egg away. He was so caught up in his gloating that he didn't see the fear in the other members eyes. Before the suck-up sucker could pilfer any more powers a crowd of admirers plowed over duck, picked up Sypher, and left the three in their dust. The group of civilians were saying praising statement that raised his unneeded ego, but there was one that he added onto.
"He saved us. He's a hero." One of the people said and that was when he said with an evil expression.
"Make that super hero." He pointed out and then lost himself in their admiring words. The three true heroes just stared as the crowd left them behind.
"Don't we at least get a 'C' for trying." The agile of the trio said since that is what she got at school when she started out, and those were just fine for her parents, but apparently not enough for fans who turned on you at the drop of a hat.
"Fans? I'm back here?" Duck said after getting his head out of the sand for a moment before flopping it back down due to the pain. "Available for autographs." He added through the sand, but the other two were concerned over what this guy wanted with their special abilities. Feeling that there was nothing else they could do the three animal heroes flew back home to give the others their insight of what happened.
"Then he touched us and our powers were gone." Lexi said to three of the four other heroes. She saw spider punch his right fist into his left palm out of anger.
"If I was there that jerk wouldn't even gotten into breathing room to you." He said to her with plenty of anger in his voice. The three heard and knew that when it came to the safety of friends the web-head often went for extremes.
"It's okay, Pete, I'm still alive." She said to him in an attempt to calm him down. He eased a little bit after realizing that fact at least. The ex-speeder tried his luck of lightening the mood as well.
"Well, If he did steal our super powers…at least he's using them to save people." His words did not go over very well for those in the room; especially Lexi Bunny.
"Sorry, but stealing is stealing. Time to take this guy down; I want my powers back." She said in anger. Peter felt sorry for her since there was a time he lost his powers and he couldn't do anything right without them.
"We'll get `im back, I promise." He said to her after placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked at the blue face and smiled. If there was one thing she could count on aside her powers it was Peter Parker himself: able to make her feel better. Her joy ended early when one of the few ones that had power spoke out to her.
"Calm down, your already on one big power trip." Duck said to her with an accusing finger. He walked over to the canine and added, "No. Tech, Pete, and I are the only ones left with super powers, and seeing as those two couldn't lead a parade: I should be making the decisions." The bunnies saw that the statement got to Tech they looked over and also saw that the arachnid just shrugged it off.
"All right then, Duck. What do you think we should do?" Ace questioned, wanting to see if the descendent of his families rival was up to this heavy of a task. The male bunny mainly guessed that Danger had a 50/50 chance of coming up with the right answer.
"Well, we should…uh." He started with his left index finger to the heavens and added, "Well, we should, uh, hunt down this Sypher guy and find a way to get all of our powers back." The other six were a little surprised that he came up with the right game plan.
"Whoa. He got it on the first guess." She said with some sarcasm in her voice. As soon as they had come up with a game plan the founder of the Loonatics made a broadcast through their television ready to give them a location.
"Sypher shouldn't be too hard to hard to find as we speak he is acting as the Grand Marshal at a parade thrown in his honor." Zadavia began and then showed them the parade she was speaking about which only made Peter think back to how he thought his powers were only to give him a quick buck.
"Yeesh. Talk about over exposure." Ace said to the team after he saw the whole thing, but he, and Spider-Man, knew there had to be more than that.
"Don't be too impressed. Sypher is NOT as heroic as he pretends to be. Watch these images recorded at the dam by one of my own satellites." She began and waited for them to watch him look around and then attacked the stone wall with a familiar weapon.
"That faker: He used my powers to crack the dam." Ace said, getting ticked off that his special ability was being used in such a minor, and neither could the others.
"Further proof why my powers are best. Oh yeah." Danger said boastfully even though he didn't like that image either. The others all sat down on their crescent couch while watching the images.
"That glory hog set us up to steal our powers just so he could be famous." Lexi said to the others in disbelief. Peter was getting angrier after hearing and seeing this before him.
'Just another reason to kick his ass.' Spider thought while glaring at the screen. The blonde woman decided to continue her point of showing these images even though she had a feeling that her team already knew it.
"Precisely, and he needs to be stopped before he does something that not even super powers can't fix." Thanks to Spider-Man the team knew what she meant by that, and they did not plan to let that happen.
"Right." Ace said to the boss and then added, "Now that we know where he is…" He said dramatically, but was stopped by the former pool cleaner, who decided to clear his throat and glared at him. "Oh, right, Duck. Take it away." He told him after remembering that he wasn't the team leader at the moment. The mallard stood up and decided to rally the troops.
"Yes. Now saddle up, and let's…uh, uh, you know…um…uh…" He tried but couldn't think of anything cool to say at this time. The leading bunny saw his plight, so he got up and whispered something in his hidden ear before sitting back down. "Rain on his parade!" He said with a left fist raised high.
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Ace said while looking at his nails. The team got up and were about to head out, but a thought came to the seventh Loonatic.
'That might just work.' He thought after he was done. "Hey, guys, mind going over there without me." He said to his team in an: out of the blue tone. "Don't worry. I'm still all for kicking his tail, but I have a different idea." They didn't know of his plan since they were stronger as a team, and they had a feeling it was a solo thing. "Just stall him for a bit, okay." He said to them, and waited for a clear answer.
"We'll do what we can." Duck said in a serious tone, and they were off to take him on. He headed for his arsenal of costumes and knew which one could help him out.
"Spider-Man Unlimited, time to go to work." He said after getting into the room and opening the case to that costume. He deactivated the nano-tech that made the suit, put on the watch, and turned the nano-tech suit back on. "This one will do just fine, but where am I going to go." He said after the suit had consumed him.
"I may have the answer." Zadavia said as her face appeared on the inside of the lenses. She saw from his eyes that her arrival spooked him, but she moved on. "These are the coordinates of Sypher's new home, and I have a feeling your plan involves where he calls home." She said with a smirk, and she knew that she was right.
"Maybe." He answered back and decided to get there as fast as possible, so the others didn't have to be in the line of fire. The other Loonatic members on the other hand had arrived in the crowd of admirers, listening to the praise of this false hero.
"Chill, everyone. There's plenty of Sypher to go around." The now red and yellow 'hero' said from inside his new convertible. Duck who also liked to be the source of a crowd decided to speak out to this guy.
"Is that so?" Duck said to him, making everyone look at their old hero team the: Loonatics. "Save the celebrations for the REAL superheroes because there's no super in Sypher because the real Sypher is a super-Sypherless, uh…Sypher-head." Duck said proudly with his fists to his waist. The confusing statement just made the crowd go silent and the second bunny slap her head for his idiocy.
"Dude, that makes no sense." Sypher said what everyone else was thinking. Danger then decided to save himself by explaining his statement in plain ape.
"It means you stole my friends powers okay?! It mean you're a big fraud!" Duck said in anger, an anger of knowing that he was the one that damaged his team.
'Shit. They know.' The drainer thought before hearing a group gasp from the crowd. That is when he used their surprise to his advantage.
"And we're here to take our powers back." Lexi added to Danger's comment with her left fist going into right palm. While the guys were stalling Peter got to the place he was aiming for.
"So, the city gave that dork his own mansion; that's a little unfair." He said and then scouted around and saw his usual way in. "I really wish the bad guys houses wouldn't have an air duct on the outside. It makes it too easy for arachnids and insects to come inside." He said and swung up to the spot, opened the cover, and crawled inside. After a few short minutes he found what he was hoping for: a station for the stereo for the whole place. As he was looking for the right input spot he thought of only one thing, 'These guys are ALMOST as fast as Tech in terms of building…I hope he's okay.' As for the parade Sypher spoke out to Lexi's statement.
"Stole YOUR power?! Look, they're buggin` because I can do everything they can do, but WAY better. Their just tryin` to smear me." He said to the crowd while pointing at the team and then at himself. He then added something that would have made Spider-Man cross a certain line if he heard it himself, "I say they go back to the petting zoo where they came from." The crowd began agreeing with him and booing their old heroes. "But we at least give it up to their pet spider, at least he had the guts to stay home and praise a true hero." He added, mainly just to see the anger in the team's face from his comment of their seventh friend. "Besides, Sypher is willing to forgive and forget." He said to the crowd before using Rev's powers to get close to the only brainiac there. "Will you be my bud?" He questioned while touching the shoulder, and draining his powers.
"I'm sure he's fine." Peter said, not knowing how wrong he was.
"Tech! Get away from him!" Ace said to the sucker after seeing the weary expression on the canine's face. He then got over there and pushed him out of the way, not knowing he was too late; Sypher absorbed all his powers.
"See? I just want to be buds, but the hero HAS-BEENS won't let me." He said to the crowd and got jeering as a response in his favor. The six knew that they could not count on the will of the people, but they still had a job to do.
"All right! I've had enough of this super-clown!" Danger yelled out and added in a whisper to his team, "Maybe if we all rush him at once he won't be able to defend himself." He looked for the true leader for the nod.
"Good thinkin` Duck. Ooh, your starting to scare me." Ace said which was pretty true since the mallard came up with that one on his own. They did just that, but were denied when the faker countered with a stationary twister which forced them into a dog-pile: Danger, Tech, Ace, Rev, Slam, Lexi.
"Anymore thoughts?" Duck questioned to the team since that was his best one.
"Man, they are totally out for me." He said to the crowd and then used Ace's powers for offense. He blasted the buildings around him, causing the pieces to fall. He then watched as the creatures that were trying to ruin his happiness were on the defensive. While the team was dodging, Peter found what he was looking for.
"An input for an MP3 player." He said and pulled the said music tool from his new suit, and attached it. 'This thing is loaded to the max with Nickleback, Megadeth, Metallica, and Aerosmith.' He thought with a smile. After putting the device in play he then touched the console and used the nanobots for another purpose, investigation. 'So the biggest stereos are in his 'thorn room.' He thought after pulling up the building schematics, and added, 'This will work out better than I hoped.' He then went out the same way he came in. "Hope Lexi…I mean the team is doing okay?" He muttered while in the vent, and decided to contact one of his team members when he was closer to the city. 'If he hurt any of them in any way I'll show that bastard a whole new world of pain.' He thought darkly.
"You see, I got to defend myself." He said to them, knowing that the crowd believed they believed his lies. "HA! Look at the little rabbits run!" He said in malevolent glee before attacking another building. The pieces this time forced Tech and Slam to dodge them. He smiled that soon the heroes would get the message and obey him.
"All right, Captain Suck-up, and I mean that literally." Duck said after quacking on top of some debris and then added, "Let me ask you something…can you do this?!" In his statement he formed two eggs: one in each hand.
"No, but it sure looks cool." Sypher answered back in a calm fashion with a thumb-s up. Danger then leapt into the air and then threw, but Sypher used Rev's speed to dodge the attack, and went back after the attack landed. "Sweet." He said when he realized that the creator of that attack could change the effects and added, "But can you do this." He used Rev's powers to speed and charged right at him. Duck saw it and used his power of quaking, but somehow made a smokescreen in the process. "Gotcha." Sypher said in a sinister tone, but realized that he only grabbed air, and he soon heard him reappear.
"Ha! Top that!" Duck said as he stood on top of the parade balloon. While he was up there he heard a voice from his com link.
"Duck, it's me." Peter said. The Spider-Man Unlimited suit was designed with a com link in the mask, so he was free to use his hands for swinging. "How's the fight coming?" He questioned out of concern and curiosity.
"Could be better." The water fowl answered back, and watched as Sypher ran on the side of a building and stood there for a while before jumping at him. Duck quaked at the last moment causing the 'hero' to only land on another form of hot-air.
"Where are you, Duck Dud?!" Sypher said in an angered tone. Ever since he got those powers he vowed that NO ONE would ever make him look like a fool especially heroes. His anger did not go unnoticed: the other Loonatics saw it too.
"Hey, look, Duck's actually gettin` to `im." Ace said in praise to the others. The others saw this but only the other bunny had something to say about that.
"He's elevated: annoying to a superpower." Her comment made the other bunny speak of one that hasn't really been on the front lines for this fight.
"And here I thought that was Spider-Man's job." None of them realized that he was still on Duck's com link.
"What do you mean: 'could be better'?" He questioned before landing on the roof of a building and added, "Hang on, I'm gonna borrow your eyes for a minute; just keep fighting." Loonatic Orange did as asked from Loonatic Blue.
"Head's up." He shouted and threw an egg at him. Sypher saw the projectile and used a defensive twister.
"Back at ya." He said when he felt it hit his tornado and rounded back at him.
'Big deal, I'll just…' Duck thought, but was interrupted by Peter. On Peter's end his suit's eyes became orange: a symbol of who's suit he was looking through.
"Let it hit." He said in a serious fashion. "Trust me, when I face him…well let's just say he'll be happy he has Tech healing power." He said back to the duck. Following another request Danger let the jam egg hit. Duck stumbled a bit and then fell where he was caught by the evil flying hero.
"Gotcha, duck." He said after the rescue, but still in the air. "How does it feel to be quacking with fear?" He questioned while feeling the power going into him.
"Despicable." Duck said in defeat. Sypher came closer to the ground and just dropped him.
"Maybe this'll show you that I'M the only hero this city needs: NOT YOU, AND DEFINETLY NOT SPIDER-MAN; ME!" He shouted at them and then quacked to his new home. The team then decided to just got home.
"Well, that's six out of seven." Ace said knowing that he had almost all of their powers. The only one left was that of Spider-Man, and the bunny knew that he was not happy.
"What are we going to do? Now that he's got my powers he's practically invincible. We're doom! DOOMED!" Duck said in his overly dramatic fashion which got on to Ace's nerves quite easily so he walked away. As he left the water fowl he brushed past one of the two geniuses who also didn't like this fight either.
"Duck's right. Without powers…we're useless against him." Tech told the leader in defeat. Ace had his back to the team, thinking of a way to rally them to deal with him again.
"That bloated fame hound won't get the best of us." Ace said in an encouraged fashion while slamming his left fist into his right palm. "We can take him with what we have left: our skills." He added while slamming both fists onto the conference table. That last sentence already gave Tech an idea.
"You know, I could fashion some kind of body armor. Yes! I may have just the thing! Leave it to me." Tech informed with them with happiness and then rushed over to his lab. Even hearing Ace and Tech, Duck was still out of it.
"Did I mention we're doomed. Doomed I say." He said again, a little calmer, but still freaked out. The super genius began to work on the items he thought of and in almost no time at all the items were ready for a field test.
"Here they are: ready for combat. Designed and calibrated to your individual brain patterns." Tech said to them after handing them the armor for them to put on.
"Now that's what I'm talkin` about!" Duck said enthusiastically after putting on his chest plate. The canine then went on to tell them of what the armor was for.
"Nano powered bionic suits; so his magnetic powers won't effect us. Each suit has been designed mimic and deflect our individual super powers." He said and then went down the row from his left to his right. "Ace: yours is specially designed with Laser Goggles." A sheet of metal was lowered and the lead bunny tried it and melted the metal; which he gave a thumbs-up for good work. "Rev: has speed accelerated legs and wings." Rev ran on the same treadmill as before, which came thanks to Tech using a button configuration, and the scale went beyond - 8000. "And Lexi:." He began to get her attention and when she did he added, "An ultrasonic siren to blast Sypher's super hearing." She made a short range scream, not enough to damage, but just enough to test it. "Slam: circular jets which will allow you to make a Tasmo-Tornado." The brain added, and the big guy made a brief try since he did not want to damage the lab. "Duck:…yours…" The canine was hesitant since he was embarrassed.
"Yeah, I found it. Doomed!" Duck said after jettisons a nickel worth gumball from his armor and looking at the object with worry.
"Hey, give me a break. I only had five minutes to come up with all of this." The coyote said in a hurt tone. When they were looking at the armor the seventh one's voice came at them.
"I guess you left me out." Peter said and came in wearing the silver/black armor. The others saw that the silver was where the red was and the black was where the blue should have been. "No worries, this suit has plenty to offer me." He said to them and then added, "Come on let's get going, so I can show him that no one messes with my friends." The team headed over there: six by hover-bike and one by jets.
"Zadavia, pinpointed Sypher's HQ straight ahead. Look alive, gang. I'm picking up security sensors." Ace said as they came and landed in front of a big building one that Spider already knew about. This time he decided to try using the front door; or at least he wanted to.
"Aw, great, there's no doorbell." Duck said after they dismounted and Peter turned off his jets. The comment made the web-head smile under his helmet.
"No problem." He told them and activated two dual rocket launchers on his shoulders: two pack on each shoulder, and one missile launcher on both forearms. "I got that one covered." He informed them and took aim. Normally he would have used stealth, but since he damaged his friends that was a totally different thing.
"Don't have to got with those sort of extremes." Tech said while placing a hand on one of the forearms. "After all did I forget to mention that my suit has electro magnetic palms." He added and attacked the doors. As soon as the power consumed them they bent to his will; Peter put away his arms after seeing that.
'Guess you could do it that way, but it's not that fun.' He thought as he followed the rest of the team inside the den of deceit. In the main room was the pain in the shell sitting on a hovering throne.
"Hola, EX-super dudes. Check out my new crib. Pretty nice, huh?" He chided to the seven warriors. When they were a bit closer he added with sarcasm, "By the way: nice threads." This made the field leader go with a line that only his family could come up with.
"So, what are you: the fashion police." He question and that got Sypher's attention.
"Bring it on, bunny." He said back before leaping up and tried to use Ace's power's twice: one for Ace and the other for Tech - both failed. When he landed the leech knew what the suits were thanks to Tech's borrowed mind.
"Hah! Nano bionic armor? Nice one, Tech, but I don't think it'll help you against this." He said and then fired a brain blast from the top of his crazy hair style. The blast missed the team, but nailed the a support beam.
"Back at ya, doc." Loonatic yellow said when he saw the beam coming down. Sypher saw it and leapt out of the way. As soon as he landed Ace tried his Laser Goggles a try, but he dodged all of the attacks with ease.
"Wow, bogus powers too. Very cool. Wait, not cool, sad." Sypher said back to the leader, still feeling confident that he was going to win. He then used Lexi's hearing to hear one of them laughing at him. "Which of you dudes has the death wish." He growled.
"That would be me." Spider-Man said while walking into view. He saw that he was a little annoyed by his happy laugh, so he decided to throw fuel to the fire. "I find your: bogus powers, line funny because you're the one with bogus powers. I mean come on - skill drainer, get real. At least the others relied on their OWN abilities, while you have to steal others to get your way just like you did to Trick." He said and he saw that he was distracted with grumbles of saying he was better than Trick, so he used this to his advantage. 'I really hope these work.' He thought and fired a stun rocket at Sypher's right arm which hit, but there was no damage.
"If you are gonna cry then let me dry your tears." Ace said and rushed him alone. The bunny hoped that Tech's healing factor didn't go to that fool. Sypher cleared his head and got ready to fight, but felt no response to his right arm.
'That pain I felt MUST have come from the bug.' He thought and saw Ace coming at him, and was grateful that he was able to dodge the first strike. "Bring it on! Even with one arm, I can still use your moves." He boasted as the two of them faced off. He tried a ground smash punch, but with only one arm it didn't have enough power, and the bunny was able to dodge it. Ace wall sprinted a column, back flipped and then grabbed onto him from behind. "Hands off, me!" Sypher pleaded when he felt the power of Loonatic yellow go into the owner, or at least some of it.
"Hey…something's happin` in`." Ace said when he also felt some of his powers come back to him. Sypher not only felt the power lose, but also Tech's healing factor fix his numb arm; with it, he broke free from the grasp and threw the field leader of the team into a wall. "Hey!" He said in surprise after taking off his helmet. Spider then decided to use another one of his suits tools.
"Since your obviously going to win, your going to need some victory music, and I'm just the right guy to give it." He said and walked over to the right side of the room.
"Okay: one - how did you know I had a stereo, and two - I don't have any music." Sypher commented as he watched the silver Loonatic walk over to the wall, and stopped.
"I stopped by here when you were at your parade, and I gave you some of mine." He answered back while using the eyes of his armor to find the main power juncture of the room. "Not to mention I think Lexi has a message for you." He added, and found what he was looking for. He rose his left arm to form half of a football goal and a sliver of the back of his hand opened allowing a spike to come out.
"He's right. I do have a message for the new hero of Acmetropolis and it goes…like…" She said to the power monger with swaying steps to him which she saw made him a bit nervous, but she focused on Loonatic Blue's moves. Peter had forced the spiked fist through the wall: forcing several speakers to appear so she finished her statement, "THIS!" She screamed and Spider-Man used the first Nickleback song at full volume.
"MY EARS!" He said in pure pain. Trying to deal with the song and her close range screech is something he couldn't handle, so he fell to his knees. Lexi stopped her screeching and got some distance, but the music still played. Sypher blasted his speakers and then fired on Lexi: herself.
"NO!" Spider-Man said in anger. He sheathed the spike and charged at him. Before Drake could do anything a silver fist SLAMMED him in the stomach followed by a knee to his chin. "You steal my friends powers!" He shouted and gave him an uppercut. "Mocked them in front of a parade crowd based on what they looked like." He added with a foot stomp to his ribs grateful that they told him of that. "And you risked the safety of civilians - JUST TO BE FAMOUS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and punched him at max strength to Sypher's left face cheek: which sent him spinning a little bit and then fell. "Slam, finish this." He said darkly before walking over to the female bunnies side.
"Right." Slam said back, even though he was terrified over what he saw. The devil shrugged it off and went for his synthetic Tasmo-Tornado. As he was charging Sypher was almost done recovering from that beat-down, but saw the Tasmanian's attack.
"Tasmanian Tornado, HA!" He shouted feeling confident of dealing with the brute of the Loonatics. As the light purple and the red/yellow tornado clashed causing it to rain INSIDE a building the leader decided to talk to the coyote for a different plan of attack.
"Tech, I know how to beat `im!" He started as he and the others hid behind a fallen column. "When I touched Sypher I felt my powers comin` back." He added while thumbing to himself. After hearing the canine fully understood Sypher's strategy.
"No wonder he won't let any of us get near him. He absorbs the abilities through touch, but we can get them back the same way." The coyote said in praise since he kind of missed his healing factor. The team then watched the twisters final dance, but saw that it was Slam that lost.
"And that's a wrap!" He shouted after winning that one tussle. Ace was angered that he was throwing them around so easily, but he wasn't going down without a fight.
"Time for a little squeeze play." He said while looking Drake straight in the face. He looked to his team and said, "Come on guys: all together now." The seven of them ran straight at him. They all tried their luck but they were defeated: Ace by elbow, Duck thrown, Tech muzzle grab, Lexi kick in stomach, Slam a straight punch, but as for Spider, he took the web-head's wrists: spun and threw. Rev put his suits flight to use and charged at him, but he ported away.
"Oh-no." Rev said and slammed into a stone beam. Tech got back up and decided to do a trick that caused great pain to his family.
"Why don't you take a seat, Sypher." The canine commanded and used his gloves on the thrown. The copycat watched as the seat was right above him and coming down.
"That's okay, Tech. I'd rather stand." He said and used the stolen Magnetic powers on the chair and threw it at him. After the collision of coyote and chair he began laughing about his 'victory.'
"He's never going to let us get near him, chief." Tech said to the leader. Ace, just like every other rabbit always came up with a new plan; like right now.
"Unless he doesn't see us comin`." He said back to him. The yellow hare made sure his volume was enough for the blowhard to hear even without Lexi's ears.
"Aww, the poor wittle Loser-tics all fall down." Sypher said after a boastful laugh. 'Maybe I should ask them to surrender that way I'd get a fuzzy feather-girl.' He thought and imagined Lexi moving a big feather to fan him: and liking it, but his dream was cut short when the leader spoke out to him.
"Yeah! Well, come closer and say that to my face." Ace said back to him. Sypher heard what the bunny said earlier, so he knew that it was going to be a trap, but he just had to point out that fact to them.
"HA! I have super hearing, remember?" He commented while cupping his left and added, "I know what your up to. I've been where you are, and I am NOT going back. When I take you guys down, I'll be the only one this city will need." He took a deep breath and said, "You are so over."
"Duck, egg him." Ace commanded while pointing at their angered target. Danger got ready to launch, but Spider stood up in the line of fire. "Web-head, what are you doin`?" Ace questioned after seeing him stand in the path of the would be attack.
"Just trust me." He said and walked over to him. "You said with the Loonatic Powers you'll be the only hero." He questioned, and that was when Sypher glared at the one that caused some serious injury, but he nodded just the same. "The truth is you only have six powers and there are seven members." He said calmly and added, "That's why…" He stalled as he accessed a mental command to have the armor of his right arm to separate. He slid the piece off and simply dropped it on the ground. "Here." He said and presented a handshake with the unprotected arm.
"Spider-Man, what are you doing?" Lexi demanded to the seventh member. She couldn't believe that he was willingly giving up his powers.
"Since you guys don't have your powers, I might as well join the party." He said back to her and then looked back at the Mighty Morphin Power Monger. "Well, you suddenly afraid of germs or something: shake my hand and take my powers." Sypher happily took his hand and shook it.
"It'll be a pleasure returning the favor of what you did to me." The drainer said and took his hand. Peter felt his powers being lost, but he also felt his memories being copied: mainly the bad ones. When the drain was over Sypher praised himself for what he just did. "Now I can take you all down with ALL of your powers, that is unless you want to…" He stopped as all of these unknown images began to flood his mind. 'What are all of these?' He thought as he saw images of blood, gore, destruction on a global scale, and death.
"It's a packaged deal: you get our strengths, and our weaknesses." He said calmly and added, "My weakness is a constant loop over everything I couldn't save." Sypher by now was backing away and then blasted at random with their powers, but Peter rushed at all of the attacks and used his armor to shield the others.
"Get out of my head!" He shouted as a loop of Peter's home going boom was on right now. As much fun as it was of Sypher destroying his home they needed their powers back.
"Now, Duck, egg him." Peter said while taking a kneeling pose for some reason or another.
"Order up, Sypher." Danger said while throwing one of his fake eggs at the enemies eyes, but Peter launched some sort of strange light green substance from his left arm. The egg covered the eyes and the green goop held his legs in place.
"Now, rush `im." Ace commanded to the others. All of them grabbed a hold of the opponent and all of them felt their powers coming back home.
"No." Sypher said through the mental trauma.
"Oh, Yeah!" Rev said after feeling his powers return along with his fast speech.
"No, Don't!" He shouted when he felt Lexi's and Ace's powers going home. "No." He shouted when he felt his porting powers going away.
"YES!" Duck said after feeling up to full. He then felt Slam, Tech, and Spider-Man's powers leave him as well.
"Would the real superheroes stand up, and the phonies fall down." Ace said after all of them got the right powers. Before they headed out Spider got his MP3 player and his arm back, and Tech secured Sypher with his gel gun for the proper authorities. The team flew back home, ready to hear the latest from Zadavia.
"Congratulation, team. Now that word's out on Sypher, his popularity has plummeted. He won't be touching our lives any time soon." She informed the seven with Peter still in his red and blue suit. "Nice work, all of you. Zadavia, out." She said to them and faded the transmission.
"All righty then. I want your reports on this Sypher mission on my desk first thing in the morning: BEFORE group calisthenics." Danger said to the other six as soon as she was gone. The commands confused them, and it was the blunt bunny who wanted answers.
"Reports? Since when do we right reports?" She questioned the duck over what he was babbling about while sitting on the lounge room table. He was about to answer, but another question came up.
"Or exercise?" Tech, who was on the couch to Ace's right, was the one that asked that, and added a shrug.
"As team leader I decided to make a few changes around here." He answered before anymore questions could be asked, and then added, "I'm gonna be running a tighter ship."
"Did he siphon your brain, duck? Ace is still our leader." Lexi said with a hint of anger in her statement. The mallard got close to her and gave her his reason of still being in charge.
"Excuse me, missy. I didn't hear the boss-lady mention ANYTHING about Ace being back in charge. Did you, Slam?" He answered and then questioned to the one that wasn't really paying attention. The devil has cleaning his left ear before realizing that everyone was looking at him. After pulling out his target he mumbled.
"I didn't hear anything." This allowed the duck to continue with his babbling to the feminine bunny.
"There ya have it." He started with both hand gestured to his supporter and added, "Clearly, she wants me to remain in charge. Numero Uno." For that statement: both hands were on his chest, and then stuck his right index finger into the air.
"Duck?" Zadavia said after reappearing. "Get over yourself. Ace is back in charge. Now is that understood?" She said and saw that the fellow female moved her arms across her chest and added a, 'told you so.' expression which changed into a shrug.
"Yes'm." He answered back her and Lexi had a big smile on her face.
"M-hmm. Zadavia out." She said and disappeared again.
"Ah, it's good to be back." Ace said to the team after standing up and placing a hand on Duck's shoulder. "Come on, everyone, let's give Numero Uno sometime alone-o." He said to the others which they all happily left the room.
"You know I didn't quite hear WHEN she wanted back in charge. Tomorrow or maybe next week? She wasn't specific! Everyone get back here and listen to me." Duck complained to the others were already on the elevator and left.
'So his weakness is fear.' Lexi thought while in the elevator. 'Is that why he hasn't said anything personal to me since that night?' Lexi thought, but moved that thought away and tried to concentrate on her free-time.
'I have to be calmer of dealing with these latest freaks.' Peter thought since he knew for Massive and Sypher he had let his get the better of him, and he can't afford that.
"I'm just happy your safe." Zadavia said, meaning for Ace's well being while looking at a blank screen.