Loonatics: United

Episode 21: A Conglomerate Of Echoes

Tech had come back to the HQ along the rest of the team; he was in the lab working with Susan to try finding a solution; they were sitting in front of the touch table which they divided in two separate workstations for each one to work with. "How are your skills in botany?" Susan asked while she underlined some text in the screen with her index finger.

"They could be better." Tech replied.

"Enough to understand that those things that attacked you didn't act by themselves?" Susan sent Tech her work from her workstation to his with a slide.

Tech read the text that had appeared on his side of the screen. "So, plants are alive, yeah I actually knew that before learning to walk."

"Not only that, Tech, there are some studies that state that some plants have developed advanced sensorial capacities to adapt and survive in their environment." Susan now sent him a diagram with drawings of plants and waves surrounding them.

Tech raised an eyebrow as he studied the images. "Are you telling me they can speak and see?"

Susan sighed. "It is much more complicated than that and open to interpretation but yes."

Tech nodded. "And how is this helpful?"

"I always have to do all the work for you." Susan joked. "This means Magnus can actually see and feel through them, the branches."

Tech looked at her. "That is why he is so difficult to attack."

"And the reason why the branches he generated attacked you so precisely back in the building." Susan added.

"We just have to find a way to block those things senses." Tech proposed.

Susan smirked. "I wanted you to say that." She slid an image with a design towards Tech's workstation. "You like it?"

"Wow." Tech zoomed in the image. "Electric pulses, magnetic waves, micro-engines, you want to…"

"Unstabilize their sensorial system." Susan completed the sentence.

Tech nodded and grinned at the screen. "This could work, Susan." He stood up from his seat and headed to the lab's main computer and started to type in the keyboard. "A particular color you may want to choose for these devices of yours? Except blue, I forgot to put that on the shopping list."

Meanwhile, Ace and Lexi were standing in front of the lounge's large window, glancing at the huge trunk Magnus had formed where the Chroma Tower used to be. "This is just another challenge, we have faced worse things." Lexi said.

Ace shook his head. "Maybe, but I still think we aren't the heroes this city deserves."

Lexi gazed him. "Again with that?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "We've talked about this before; you are just tired, that's all, we'll solve this, we always do."

"I know, Lexi, but there will be a new one after this." Ace argued.

Lexi sighed. "I thought you had already learned that."

"What?" Ace inquired.

"Everyone seeks a life without hassles, but that is impossible, Ace, there will be more problems to get through and new challenges to come, it hurts to accept it but there are things we can't control." Lexi responded.

Ace looked at her. "Maybe you are right, but…" He sighed. "I can't help but feel guilty."

Lexi raised an eyebrow. "I don't understand."

"This gift was given to me, and I am like, ignoring it." Ace answered.

"Having powers is something we all have faced together, in our way." Lexi said.

Ace glanced back at the window." Not that gift, I mean, being the leader, what kind of leader acts like this, like me?"

"No one is asking you to be fearless." Lexi placed both hands on his face and looked him in the eyes, she leaned forward then gave him a brief kiss. "Better?"

Ace lowered his gaze, then grinned slightly. "More less."

Lexi chuckled. "That's all I need to hear."

Ace stood there and Lexi started to walk away from him. "Lexi." He said then she looked at him over her shoulder.

Ace smiled at her. "Thanks." She returned the gesture and left the lounge. When he was alone again, he put his focus back on the trunk and clenched his fists while observing it.

The HQ's training room had equipment specially designed for the abilities of each member of the team. Slam was on his correspondent zone punching one of the blocks that were attached to the wall, which faded their black color to red with every punch, function that helped Slam to measure the strength of his punches.

He angrily growled every time he hit the block, each time the red tone covered more space of the black surface, his fists hitting the equipment one after the other. The rhythm of his punches began to become faster, and the black of the block started to be a minimal part of its surface as the strength of Slam had made the red to take over.

His snarls passed from angry ones to desperate ones, his fists were still hitting the block with no mercy, he didn't stop until he broke the block in half and it stopped working. He was gasping in front of the destroyed piece of equipment, looking at its two broken parts with desire to divide them even more, he sighed and sat down on a wooden bench next to his training zone.

"Tech was so happy when he thought he had discover a Slam-proof material." Duck said as he arrived to the training room and saw the broken blocks. "I'll enjoy telling him he was wrong so much."

Slam growled with indifference.

"What's up with you, big guy?" Duck asked while he started to do stretching exercises on his zone which was next to Slam's. He noticed Slam practically ignoring his question. "Hey, is this about, Magnus?"

Slam sighed and nodded then let out an upset growl.

"Weak? You? Come on, maybe we aren't the best friends in the world but one thing I do know about you is that you aren't weak." Duck stepped on the pad over the floor of the zone designed for him and started to practice his aim by throwing orbs towards a group of targets that were floating a few meters ahead of him.

Slam shook his head and stood up; he rested his back on the wall and lowered his gaze to the floor then crossed his arms.

Duck looked back for a moment and saw Slam's position of hopelessness. "Man, even I with my undoubtedly awesome and superior powers fail sometimes, can you believe it?" He threw an orb towards one of the targets and failed to hit it. "See?" He looked at him again. "I didn't make a drama out of this."

Slam had been thoughtful, but he got what Duck was trying to tell him, he smirked and glanced at him, then nodded and walked towards the exit.

"The devices shall be ready in a couple of minutes." Tech said then sat down next to Susan.

"We still have to find a way to implement them without Magnus noticing." Susan replied.

Tech sighed. "That's true, we must come up with something."

Susan grinned. "I think there's plenty of time to do that." She looked at him and placed a hand on his cheek and made him to look her back.

"Oh, now I remember." Tech caressed her face gently. "We were in the middle of something, weren't we?"

Susan chuckled. "Should we start when we left off?"

"You've just read my mind." Tech responded, and they both began to lean towards the other.

"Tech!" Rev was suddenly next to them ahead of a brief, red blur. "I have a great idea to fight the bad guy, but I'll need lots of…"

Tech growled and stared at him with anger. "Really?!"

"What? Did I interrupt something important like a revolutionary scientific discovery that could change the course of life as we know it but it won't happen because I…"

"No! Rev." Tech shook his head. "We have found a solution, but we don't know how to execute it."

Susan raised an eyebrow and pointed at Rev. "Wait; you are the fast one?"

Rev nodded. "Absolutely I can even run all day through the city without breaking a sweat and also I have practiced juggling but it is much harder than it looks."

Susan looked at Tech. "Maybe he could do it."

Tech gazed her with question. "Juggling?"

Susan rolled her eyes. "The devices! He can put them around the branches and maybe Magnus won't see him."

Tech snapped his fingers. "You are right!"

"And that surprises you?" Susan joked.

"Rev, are you helping us with this?" Tech asked.

"Let me think about it for a second yeah I will do it." Rev answered.