Loonatics: United

Episode 8: Sorrow

The red armored wolves were standing in front of Quentin outside of the building where his apartment was. "Everything seems to be in order." Quentin nodded at the bags of money he was revising, then he approached each one of them to give them their payment. "You've proven to be effective, albeit a little, reckless." The wolves felt somewhat offended by that comment, which could be seen in their now uncovered faces.

"No more incidents, I promise." Hank said as he held the money with his hand.

Quentin looked at him with confidence. "And I believe that, Hank, I must, because you are my only option for me to get what I seek."

"And what is that?" Troy took a step at the front, curious to know what Quentin was talking about.

Quentin smirked. "Answers, solutions, and thanks to the resources you have gotten for me, I am already close to my objective."

"I guess you need something else." Hank added.

"Correct, Hank, and fortunately for you, the task won't be harder than the last one." Quentin said. "I just need you to get me someone."

"Who? Like a kidnapping?" Troy asked.

"Exactly." Quentin nodded. "But, the easy part is that I'm not asking for a specific individual, just bring me a young and healthy one, that's all."

"For what, may I ask?" Hank said.

"I'll use him or her to finish the research I started a long time ago." Quentin answered.

"A science experiment?" Troy crossed his arms, confused and unsettled.

Quentin chuckled. "A life experiment, something beyond every hope and idea our kind has pursued." He approached Hank and extended his hand. "Will you help me in my quest, once again?"

Hank looked at him with a subtle look of fear and uncertainty, then he sighed and shook his hand. "We have a deal, boss."

Quentin smiled at him. "Excellent, the sooner you bring me what I have asked you for, the better your reward will be."

Hank nodded and let go off Quentin's hand. "Come on boys, we have work to do." He commanded and left, followed by the other three.

Quentin stood there for a moment, watching them leave. He got inside of the building and called the elevator, he entered it and pressed a button which led to one of the last floors, where his personal apartment was. He entered his place and closed the door, then he locked it. He headed to a dark room, where the door was open and glanced at a glowing blue monitor that was in the middle of the room, which was part of a huge computer that was being cooled by a few fans that surrounded the machine.

Quentin walked towards the monitor and read the words it was displaying. "Father, when shall I began my quest for life itself?" Quentin smiled with hope at the words he had just read on the command line interface, then he caressed the sides of the monitor. "Patience, my son, everything will be clear when your birth comes."

In the early morning, Ace woke up on his bedroom, he yawned and stretched, then he got his feet out of the bed sheets and looked at the curtains of the window for a moment, blinking occasionally while trying to get enough courage to stand up and start his day. He finally stood up from the bed and reached for the doors of his closet, he opened them and glanced at the clothes that were hanging in there, there were normal clothes like the ones he had wore the day before, and at their side there was his old, everyday suit. He pretended doubt on choosing his attire, but he knew it was time to go back to the routine, even if he didn't want to, not after the magical day he had spent with Lexi, who was on her room stuck in the exact same situation as Ace, they stood like that for about a minute, then they both came back to reality and suited up with their classic, black attires.

They both got out of their respective rooms almost at the same time, then they shared gazes of thankfulness. "Good morning." Lexi said.

"Morning." Ace replied, then they went to the kitchen. Ace grabbed a box of cereal from a shelf, then he took a bottle of milk out of the fridge. He poured the milk on a glass bowl, then he served the cereal over it, Ace walked towards the table that faced the window with a great view of the city and sat down, starting to eat his breakfast almost immediately.

Lexi sat down in front of him, she had picked an energy bar. "Who puts the milk before the cereal?" She bit the bar she was holding. "That's not normal."

Ace chuckled and looked at her. "None of us is." He kept eating his cereal.

Lexi thought briefly, then she nodded. "Good point." She bit another piece of her bar.

The kitchen's door opened fast and remained moving several times as a great breeze entered the room, then Ace and Lexi noticed Rev already sitting along them, eating a sandwich. "Morning guys, sup? What's the mission for today, Ace?" Rev asked.

"Morning Rev, there have been reports of incidents and stuff like that, we'll go to the downtown and patrol the area just to keep an eye on things." Ace answered.

"Piece of cake I guess." Duck said as he entered the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too, Duck." Lexi said jokingly.

"Oh hi." Duck responded carelessly while searching with half of his body inside of the fridge. "Come on, why do we never have good things like roast beef or fried chicken."

"Because you never want to go for supplies with us and prefer to stay here watching TV?" Rev said.

Duck nodded with his head still inside of the fridge. "Fair enough." He finally picked a plastic container which seemed to have leftovers. "The one who seeks, shall find." He closed the fridge's door and exited the kitchen, heading to the living room.

Ace, Lexi and Rev had finished eating their breakfast after a couple of minutes, they cleaned up the kitchen and went to the living room, where Tech and Slam where watching TV along with Duck. "Everyone ready?" Ace asked.

"Ready boss." Tech stood up from the couch he was sitting on, Slam growled affirmatively.

Ace nodded. "Alright then, the city still needs our help."

"Come on! Isn't The Eye taking care of the city already? You know, our last friends." Duck complained, refusing to move from his spot.

"Duck, as long as we breathe, the city will be on our sight." Ace said.

Duck chuckled. "Well, in that case I'll just hold my breath."

Ace growled. "Duck…"

"Alright, alright I'm kidding man, calm down." Duck stood up and headed to the elevator.

Ace rolled his eyes and followed him along with the others.

The team was grouped in the downtown's commercial area. "Tech, Rev, you two will surveil the east zone, you'll go with them Slam, Lexi, Duck and I will cover this area."

Tech nodded. "Okay, we'll contact you if we see something off." He, along with Rev and Slam left to where Ace had told them to go.

"Duck, I want you to patrol these stores, I'll check on the alleys with Lexi." Ace commanded.

"Okay, I'll report any suspiciously high discount on sport gear if I have to!" Duck said sarcastically and walked away from them.

Ace sighed. "I don't know why I am never accustomed to his attitude."

"He is just Duck being Duck, at least he didn't stay at home this time." Lexi said.

"Yeah, maybe you are right." Ace said. "Let´s do this."

Ace and Lexi were resting over a wall inside the alley, each one looking at opposite sides. "The Eye have really done a good job keeping the city safe." Ace said.

"Well, they have Slam's super strength, no one would have any trouble with that gift." Lexi replied.

Ace chuckled. "True, I didn't remember that, but seriously, despite some little problems, I hadn't seen the city in such good shape in years."

Lexi sighed. "I just hope it stays that way."

At the side of the alley that Ace was watching over, a van parked hurriedly on the street, then he saw two, red armored wolves forcing a white, male cat to get on the vehicle which had the doors open. "Hey!" Ace yelled and ran fast towards them followed by Lexi.

"And I had to talk, brilliant." Lexi thought.

Hank was sitting on the driver's seat. "Come on! Get him in!"

After struggling with getting the cat inside, Nate punched him in the face and left him knocked out. "It's done!"

"These clowns! Deal with them, Troy and I will go with the boss." Hank said as he saw Ace and Lexi approaching the van. Nate and Kyle got off the vehicle, then the van left the downtown in a hurry.

"Where are you taking him!" Ace said as he approached them.

"Tell us, or face the consequences." Lexi said.

"I have a better idea." Kyle moved fast towards Ace and punched him on the belly, sending him to the nearest wall and making him to hit it so hard that it got completely destroyed by the impact. Ace ended on the floor surrounded by bricks inside of a coffee shop. The people who where there didn't hesitate to run for their lives.

Kyle walked towards the coffee shop to finish the fight, Lexi tried to approach him but someone had taken her hand. "Where are you going? It is our turn to dance!" Nate threw her towards a lamp post, she gasped and hit it with the back of her head, then she fell to the ground, groaning and struggling to get up. "Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were that fragile!" Nate said mockingly and grasped Lexi's ears with his clenched fist, making her to scream by the pain, he lifted her head and hit her face with his knee several times, then he dropped her and left her laying unconscious next to the bent lamppost.

Ace was laying over the shop's floor, with Kyle's grasp on the cloth of his suit under the neck, ready to throw the last punch. "Now it´s our turn to be the mighty and powerful, bunny."

"Kyle, leave him! We must go!" Nate yelled.

"How fortunate." Kyle let go off the cloth of Ace's suit and ran away with Nate.

Ace began to stand up, groaning and rubbing his arm. He walked quickly towards Lexi and knelt next to her, who was still unconscious. "Lexi!" He placed the side of his head over her chest and sighed with relief by knowing she was still alive. He carried her carefully in his arms and walked into the alley.

Lexi was now laying on a bed on the HQ's infirmary, a place Tech had designed for emergencies of that type. She was covered with a white blanket and wore a hospital gown, her eyes were closed and she breathed weakly. Ace was looking at her from behind the window that faced the room, then Rev suddenly appeared next to him by using his speed. "The one who did this will pay Ace you can be sure about that."

"Can you locate them?" Ace asked.

"Sorry man I didn't see them so right now I can't do anything." Rev answered.

Ace lowered his head. "It's okay Rev, don't worry."

"Maybe when she gets better she could try to hear something that leads us to them." Rev suggested.

Ace nodded with his gaze still on the floor. "You are right, but now the best we can do is to wait her to wake up."