Loonatics: United

Episode 9: Birth

"Don't worry, she´ll be fine, Lexi is a very strong woman." Tech said reassuringly, he was next to Ace in front of the infirmary's window.

Ace shook his head. "Two days in bed say quite the opposite for me."

Tech put a hand on his shoulder. "Believe me, just give her time." He left Ace alone outside the infirmary.

Ace sighed and entered to see Lexi more closely, he pulled a metallic bench that was next to the door and sat down next to her. He took her hand and began to stroke it gently while looking at her. His gaze was locked into her closed eyes, ideas of losing her came into his mind, which made him to feel lost and hopeless, he tried to forget about those unwanted thoughts by kissing her hand, which he held tightly.

"How is she?" Rev asked Tech, who walked through the automatic door that led from the infirmary to the lab.

"I'm sure she is going to be alright soon, the one who worries me is Ace." Tech said while taking some notes on his digital notepad.

Rev sighed. "I know, this thing affected him more than the hijackers did back on its time."

"Well Ace won't be calmed until she gets better, we should give him some space." Tech said as he walked towards the lab's principal door that led to the living room. Slam and Duck were just sitting there, on the couches, without saying a word.

Slam noticed Tech arriving, then he growled with worry and doubt.

"She'll be fine Slam, I promise." Tech said as he sat down in front of them.

"What's the point of this? Waiting for things to be better just to discover they have gotten worse." Duck said with his gaze on the windows' view.

"Oh come on, Duck! We have faced worse situations than this." Tech argued.

Rev quickly joined them, he was standing behind the couches. "Hi, what did I miss?"

"As long as we try to keep the city safe, we won't do the same with ourselves." Duck answered. "That's pretty much it."

Rev looked at him. "Well is a small price to pay if it is for maintaining peace in our land."

"Oh!" Duck stood up. "Lexi got terribly hurt, but hey, is a small price to pay! Is that what you are saying?"

"Don't put words in my mouth you…" Rev was interrupted.

"Guys calm down! This ain't solve anything!" Tech stood up as he scolded them. Slam, who had also stood up by the brief discussion, growled at them, as he seemed to agree with Tech.

Duck crossed his arms and then shook his head. "Okay." He sighed. "Sorry man."

Rev nodded. "No problem."

In the afternoon, Quentin and his men were traveling on the van through the city's most marginated area, Hank was driving as always and Quentin was on the copilot seat. "What exactly are we going to do in this junkyard?" Hank asked.

Quentin was looking at the poor people and the deteriorated houses through the open window. "We are helping someone."

"You mean test your little project." Nate said from the back side of the vehicle, then Quentin just turned to look at him with a straight face.

"Not my business, got it." Nate gestured like if he had closed his snout with a zip lock.

Quentin turned his gaze back to the scene he was looking at. "You learn fast."

"Just tell me where, boss." Hank said.

Quentin tilted his head gently and searched with his gaze, then he spotted a small building from where a few people with old clothes were coming in and out. He pointed at the place with his hand partially outside of the window. "Right there."

Hank nodded and turned right, then he parked the van in front of the building. He got off the vehicle along with his boss and his three comrades, then they went inside the building carefully. The floor they where in was almost completely dark, people were sleeping on the dirty ground, some of them had noticed their presence, but just ignored it and went back to sleep. Quentin encountered with a pair of glass bottles in one of his steps, then he grabbed them and hit them with each other repeatedly to wake up the sleeping people and to get the attention of everyone. "Good afternoon everybody!" Quentin yelled. "Sorry to interrupt your…activities, but today is your day!"

An old, male dog, one of the people who were sleeping before Quentin came in stood up with hostility. "We are not buying anything, go away and let us die here."

"Don't be afraid brother! We are not sellers, we will change your entire life! For free!" Quentin said.

"I said get out!" The dog took a brick from the floor menacingly.

Hank took a step forward towards the elder, but Quentin stopped him by putting a hand over his chest. "I got this Hank, thanks." Quentin murmured, then he began to walk slowly around the room. "Sickness, the greatest threat we have ever faced, why is it so difficult to eradicate?, why have we been forced to live with such unmerciful weakness? I feel bad to say that I don't know, brothers and sisters, but the great news are that I got a way to cure all of you from your doom! Just stand up and come with us, because this is the day you will rise from the ashes." Quentin raised his hands up, waiting for any volunteer to accept his offer, but no one did so for a couple of minutes, until a black cat stood up in a corner, facing at the wall. "Can you make me see again?"

Quentin smirked. "You'll see the blue skies and the light of the sun stabbing the clouds once again, just come with us, my brave friend." He looked at Kyle and Nate. "Help him come."

They nodded and went to the corner where the blind cat was standing, then they helped him to walk towards where they were. The old dog, still uneasy at them, put a hand on the cat's shoulder. "This must be some kind of trick, Ismael, don't leave us, we watch our backs here."

Ismael tried to move his head to where he thought the dog´s voice had came from. "I won't wait for death here, like you said." He looked back at the front and kept walking with the wolves' help.

"Be happy, for your friend's success, something all of you could have had." Quentin walked towards the entrance along his men and Ismael, they got outside of the building and got inside the van, then they left the area.

On the Loonatics HQ, inside of the infirmary, Lexi began to slowly open her eyes, Ace was at her side, he smiled by seeing her finally waking up. "Lexi?" Ace said.

Lexi blinked briefly, then she looked at him. "Hi."

Ace chuckled with joy. "Hi." He took her hand.

Lexi yawned. "For how much time did I…"

"Two days." Ace interrupted her.

Lexi's eyes widened, her voice's tone got a little higher. "Two days! What happened with the guy, did you manage to help him?"

Ace shook his head. "Maybe it's too soon to say this, but, we wondered if you could help us find him, you know, with your super hearing?"

Lexi nodded. "Okay, I'll just take a shower, get ready and then I´ll help you with that."

Tech opened the room's door and then gasped at seeing Lexi awake. "Oh! Lexi! You woke up! Hi, uhm, how do you feel?"

"I'm great, Tech, thanks, I was in good hands." Lexi said.

Tech smirked. "Wonderful news, do you feel well enough to get back into action?"

Lexi got her feet outside of the bed, then she began to get completely out of it slowly, after moving her hands off the bed sheets, she got to stand in front of them perfectly. "Yeah, I mean I'm not feeling dizzy or something like that, is that a good signal?"

Tech laughed. "It's a great signal."

The night had come, the four red armored wolves were moving a mobile bed through a hallway in Quentin's apartment, where the white, male cat they had kidnapped was laying over, unconscious, wearing now a gray bodysuit with red details, they entered the room where Quentin had the computer. Quentin turned the lights on and took the mobile bed, he moved it next to the computer. "Tonight, we'll change history." He took a wire from under the computer's table, which had a needled end, and connected it to the cat's wrist carefully. "This miracle of technology was not cheap, but thanks to all of you that wasn't a problem."

"You spent all the money we stole in this garbage?" Hank raised an eyebrow.

"Well, this garbage is going to redefine our future, Hank, but I guess you don't understand it." Quentin put his hand over the cat's forehead. "Look, he is waking up already." He said as he managed to notice the cat's eyelids opening slowly.

"Where am I? Who are you?" The cat said.

Quentin looked at Hank. "Initiate the program."

"Let me go…" The cat said as he tried to move, but he had been cuffed to the mobile bed. "Please…please!" He began to yell. "What are you going to do?! Police! Anyone! Help!"

"Now!" Quentin commanded, then Hank nodded and pressed enter on the computer's keyboard. The command line on the monitor began to show various logs, then the wire that was attached to the cat's hand began to glow.

"Ah! This hurts! Stop it! Please!" The cat screamed with pain, while moving violently over the bed. "Why me! Why me! Mercy! Please stop!" He cried out loud.

Lexi was on her bedroom, sitting over her bed with her legs crossed, already wearing her classic black suit, trying to focus on her hearing, her ears twitched a little bit after she managed to hear something. "Screams?" She took a deep breath and tried to focus more. "They are…not too far away." She stood up from her bed rapidly and exited her room, then she walked towards the door that led to Tech's room and knocked it several times. "Tech, it's me, Lexi, I think I've found something."

Tech opened the door, his face looked like if he had been woken up from a deep nap. "Oh are you sure?" He said in a somnolent tone.

"Yes, but I need your help to discover the exact location of the sound's source." Lexi said. "Can you help me with that?"

Tech thought for a moment, then he nodded. "I might have something in the lab that could help."

Quentin's machines had finished with the process, the white furred cat had his eyes fully opened, but they were glowing green, he was just sitting over the mobile bed, Quentin had removed the handcuffs from his hands. "Tell me, who am I?" Quentin asked him.

The cat blinked, then his eyes went to normal. "You are my father."

Quentin smiled at him. "Yes I am, but more importantly, who are you?"

The cat then lifted his hands a little bit, he lowered his gaze at them, looking with curiosity and fascination. He lowered them and looked back at Quentin. "I'm Adam."

Quentin gasped, then he hugged him. "Yes you are." Adam tried to mimic Quentin's action.

"What is this, father?" Adam asked.

Quentin chuckled and broke the hug. "There is so much for you to learn, my son." He looked at Troy who was standing next to Ismael. "Bring him here."

"Uhm, maybe I have reconsidered it." Ismael said with uncertainty.

"Don't be ridiculous." Quentin walked towards him and helped him to get right next to Adam. He took a syringe from a metallic desk that was behind the computer and grabbed Adam's left arm, he lifted the sleeve of his suit, then he used the syringe to obtain some blood from him.

"Is this my mission, my quest, father?" Adam said.

Quentin looked at him while holding the syringe with blood upwards. "Yes, my son." He then grabbed Ismael's arm and injected him with Adam's blood. Ismael gasped, then Quentin removed the syringe's needle from his arm. "Wait for it, my friend, wait for the miracle." Quentin said, expectant at Ismael's reaction.

Ismael lifted his hands slowly and started to touch Quentin's face gently with his fingers. "I remember these blurry colors, orange fur, the white in your snout, I am seeing clearer, I…" Tears went down from his eyes. "I see." He quit his hands from the fox's face and started to look around him. "Oh my…" He covered his mouth with excitement, then he started to jump joyfully. "I can see again! It's a miracle! You really make mi…" He suddenly lost equilibrium and fell down. "What?" He put both hands over his head. "What happened? No! Everything is…black again!" He looked upwards and blinked several times. "No! I want more! I…" He began to cough blood and to cry with desperation."

"Boss! What's happening!" Hank said and walked next to Quentin.

"I don't know! Maybe is a…" Quentin gasped after watching Ismael close his eyes and collapse completely to the thick floor all of a sudden.

Hank knelt by the black cat and put his fingers over his neck, he sighed and looked at his boss." He is gone."

"…mistake" Quentin said.

Adam was looking at the body, horrified and with guilt. "I failed?" He looked at Quentin.

Quentin's gaze was lost on Ismael's corpse. "No, son." He looked at Adam. "I failed."

"My only, unique mission, my purpose, and I failed." Adam said. "I don't deserve to be here!"

"Don't say those things, son!" Quentin put his hand over his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Stop!" Adam screamed, which made Quentin to step back rapidly. "I don't want to be here." He began to fade.

"What the…" Quentin got next to him again. "Just breathe, son, don't think, don't speak just close you eyes again for me."

"I said I don't want to be here!" A shine of light surrounded Adam in a split of second, then it disappeared along with him.

"What the hell just happened?!" Troy exclaimed.

Quentin growled and kicked the now empty mobile bed. "I don't freaking know okay! Why me! Why me!"

Suddenly, a wall broke in a dozen of pieces, Quentin and his men covered their heads and looked at the figures behind the dust, which quickly dissipated and revealed the Loonatics standing in front of them. "Did somebody order six heroes?" Ace said as Slam thundered his fingers.