Loonatics: United
Episode 24: Pacts And Pathways
The final brawl was taking place on Acmetropolis' downtown with the sunset as its witness, Magnus threw large, spiked branches through the arm of his armor and almost hit Duck but Tech had shot his weapon towards the attack and dehydrated the branch just before it could hurt him. "Focus, Duck." Tech dodged a branch as he crouched and aimed at Magnus' armor feet.
"It's hard with so many of them coming from everywhere!" Duck replied while Magnus threw rays to the ground with his other fist and made branches to grow violently towards them. "By the way, weren't we going just to do the gardening stuff?"
Tech fired at Magnus' feet and managed to destroy the armor's branch-made legs, making him to lose balance and fall to the ground. "That was the plan but this guy is just too unpredictable, we better keep him busy while Ace and Lexi try to reach the dome."
Rev ran fast towards a lamppost while Magnus was trying to stand up, then got in the top of it and jumped. "You messed with the wrong city and the wrong heroes with the weirdest of master plans that is not too relevant right now but you shall get what you deserve!" Rev said while he was right over his head and shot the weapon's beam at the armor's chest, making it to vanish in particles.
Magnus growled as what was left of his armor collapsed completely along with him, his face had hit the concrete once again. "Loonatics." He coughed and got into his feet slowly. Armorless, he tried to generate more rays with his gloves but Slam ran towards him and punched him in the face, Magnus groaned but managed to take the hit. He struck back at Slam with a kick on his belly, Slam pretended as if it didn't hurt, then he threw his Zeo-Shot to the side-walk.
"Slam! What the heck are you doing?!" Tech exclaimed while he and the rest destroyed some growing branches that were about to surround a building.
Slam growled cockily, then he placed his hand over Magnus' chest.
"No, you need it! Big brain!" Duck replied.
Slam ignored him and started to crush the container that Magnus' had over his chest.
Magnus couldn't free himself from Slam's grasp. "Get off me! Colossal beast!" Slam didn't let go off Magnus' arm and kept crushing the container's glass until it crashed and exploded into several tiny pieces, the fragment of hyperseed was caught by Slam with his hand while it was still on the air, Slam didn't hesitate to crush the seed as well.
Magnus laid on the ground, angry and upset, he stood up aggressively and looked at the remains of the fragment on the concrete. "What have you done?!" He ran enraged towards Slam.
Slam prepared a punch as he moved his arm backwards and then punched Magnus' so hard he sent him several streets away from the place.
Tech, Duck and Rev walked towards Slam with amazement. "I must say this, Slam, that was awesome." Duck stated.
"So, it's over?" Rev asked, then they noticed Magnus flying with propellers he had under his boots towards the dome from the distance.
"This could be obviousness, but I guess you talked too fast, Rev." Tech replied.
Ace and Lexi were flying towards the dome with their jetpacks and their weapons loaded and ready. "I'll drop the bomb just as we arrive, hope Magnus is still busy dealing with them." Ace said.
"Don't worry Ace; I'll cover you." Lexi replied while they entered the dome through one of the holes it had on its top.
Magnus was already expecting them, standing in front of the hole, guarding it. "Stand back! No one will pass until the growth is complete!" He exclaimed then the planet trembled slightly.
Ace noticed the container that had been on his chest was gone along with the hyperseed fragment. "Lost something?"
Magnus growled. "I don't need my power to rip your head out of your body."
"Wow, that was a little, extreme." Lexi mocked. "I'll take care of him, Ace." She pointed at Magnus with her weapon.
Ace nodded and took the Zeo-Boom from a belt of his suit, then he lowered his weapon and left it on the ground.
"What is that?!" Magnus tried to take a step towards him, but Lexi stopped him by shooting her weapon's beam in front of his feet, making a hole on the ground as the branched surface dehydrated.
"Stay still, Magnus." Lexi aimed her weapon directly at him again. Ace kneeled down in front of the hole and activated the Zeo-Boom by pressing a red button on it, the bomb started to beep, announcing it was about to explode.
"No!" Magnus exclaimed and hurried towards Ace, Lexi tried to shoot him with the Zeo-Shot but failed to hit him as she struggled to encounter non-lethal points. Magnus tackled Ace just before he could even try to drop the bomb, which had flew out of his grasp at Magnus' attack.
Ace gasped as they both fell down and groaned when Magnus hit his face with his knee. Ace growled and impacted his chest with his elbow then searched with his hand for the bomb by patting the ground, he managed to take it. "Lexi!" He threw the bomb and Lexi caught it. "Do it!"
Lexi threw the bomb towards the hole but Magnus jumped towards it and caught it, falling on the other side with the bomb in his hand. Lexi sighed and went towards him and crouched then she started to squeeze his neck with her leg. "Drop it, or we'll all die over here."
Magnus coughed and tried to free himself with his other hand. "Do you think I care?!"
Ace stood up with struggle and prepared his laser vision. "Lexi! Don't move." He shot right at Magnus' hand and made him to scream and undo his grasp instantly, the bomb rolled across the branch covered ground as its beeps became less intermittent each second, it rolled onto the hole and began to fall towards the bottom, where the hyperseed was, it collided over the blue lighted surface and exploded instantly, sending a thick beam upwards and destroying the dome along with the trunk's middle.
"No!" Magnus cried out, then Lexi freed him before standing up after noticing the trunk was collapsing.
"We need to get out of here!" Lexi exclaimed.
"Take the big guy; we'll meet…" Ace was interrupted by the sudden fall of the dome; he got trapped in a group of broken branches.
Lexi had reacted soon enough to exit the structure instinctively with the help of her jetpack through an open space. She was now hovering safely in front of the falling trunk. "Ace!" She gasped and tried to fly towards what had remained of the dome that was aggressively falling down but couldn't reach it as the structure sunk inside a great hole that the bomb had created. She landed before the massive crater and the great cloud of dust. "Ace!" She yelled then Tech and the rest of the team landed next to her with their jetpacks.
"It's done, look!" Tech pointed at their surroundings to show the buildings getting free from the branches' as they dissolved.
"You really did it not that I doubted about your capacities but still that was pretty impressive!" Rev got next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lexi?"
Lexi looked at them. "He is down there, with Magnus." She pointed at the crater.
"Oh, great! Let him deal with it; he is a good fighter after all." Duck said. "The job is done, isn't it?"
Slam growled at him with reproach.
Duck sighed. "Fine, we'll help him."
Lexi flew down to the fallen, destroyed structure followed by the others. "I can't find a way in."
"In that case." Tech started to shoot his weapon towards the layers of branches of the fallen structure. "We shall make one." The others followed Tech's action and started to shoot on the same spot of the surface Tech was destroying.
Ace opened his eyes wildly at finding himself trapped inside branch rubble, only a few rays of light could enter the place, he stood up and rubbed his head then began to walk carefully with his sight examining his surroundings to try to find a way out, he could only think about if Magnus managed to survive, thought that was later answered by a sudden punch Ace received on the back of his head, he gasped and fell over his back. Magnus was standing in front of him, frowning and ready to strike again, Ace noticed one of his gloves had a gap that exposed burned skin and fur, product of his previous attack. "Don't you see it?" Ace dragged himself back. "You've lost."
"I know." Magnus replied. "Now I got nothing else to pursue but payback!" He yelled and tried to throw a punch at Ace.
Ace gasped and tilted to dodge Magnus' fist which hit the ground strongly. He stood up quickly and readied his laser vision as an intent to intimidate Magnus.
"You feel strong, powerful, invincible." Magnus stated. "But you aren't brave enough to fight without your gift, are you?!"
Ace growled and his eyes went back to normal. He clenched his fists and got in attack position. "If that's what you want, then you shall have it."
Magnus snarled fiercely and ran towards Ace before throwing a kick, Ace jumped over him and landed safely on the other side then rapidly approached Magnus and kicked his head. "Are you done warming up?!" Ace joked.
Magnus turned and grabbed Ace's leg then smashed him to the ground. "Are you done being impertinent?"
Ace groaned. "Never." He freed himself from Magnus' grasp and kicked his snout, Magnus frowned and covered his bleeding nose while Ace got into his feet once again then dodged a punch by crouching and kicked his leg, making him to kneel down, Ace didn't hesitate to throw a strong punch at his face, Magnus resisted and answered with another punch that threw Ace a little bit backwards, Magnus stood up and punched Ace again, this time managing to send him to the ground.
"Where is your heroism now!" Magnus started to punch his face repeatedly. "It faded away! Like your life is doing right now!"
Ace's focus attenuated with each hit, every sound started to mute as he felt the pain of his bleeding snout, he had almost given up, but he used the strength he had left to stop Magnus' fists on their way with both hands, Magnus leaned forward to try to weaken Ace's hold, he growled at him desperately, then Ace took the chance to hit his forehead unmercifully with his, Magnus' scream invaded the place's echo before he fell down in front of Ace unconscious.
Ace laid below the tall layers of rubble, glancing upwards, a peaceful darkness that gave him a sense of victory, suddenly interrupted by an aperture that brought light once again. "Ace! Ace talk to me!" The echoing voice of Lexi was barely caught by his ears which also managed to hear the far voices of his other comrades, speaking with astonishment and a slight tone of relief.
The light of the infirmary made Ace's tired eyelids to open, he gasped slightly then moved backwards and noticed that Lexi was sitting next to the bed on a stool, holding his hand with a face of emotion. "Morning."
Ace smiled. "Hi." He looked around as if he was looking for something, then he glanced back at her. "Magnus?"
"In prison." Lexi replied. "The city is back to normal, you can relax."
"Not without a cost." Ace rubbed his muzzle. "That's for sure."
Lexi giggled. "Sometimes you are so whining."
"Oh and this bed couldn't be more uncomfortable and my gown is kinda itchy by the way." Ace replied.
Lexi punched his arm gently. "Stop it already."
Ace smirked and placed both hands on her face then leaned his forehead on hers. "I couldn't have done this without you." He mumbled.
"We are a team, Ace, never forget that." Lexi replied.
Susan was in the lab packing her stuff on a backpack then Tech opened the door and entered. "So, you'll return to Alumia." He asked as he walked towards her.
Susan chuckled. "One would think that but maybe I've been far from home time enough." She zipped the backpack and turned to look at him.
"Home? Then, you actually live elsewhere?" Tech asked.
"I'll just say I found a quite comfortable place here in Acmetropolis, it was just about time." Susan wrapped her arms around his neck.
Tech smiled. "Or it was just about me." He placed both hands on her waist.
"What would make you think that?" Susan leaned forward and gave him a brief kiss.
"Well, that could be a valid proof." Tech said.
"And what do you think?" Susan inquired.
Tech embraced her and started to kiss her then broke the hug. "My life just got better, Susan." They both hugged each other again and continued kissing.
"Alright morons, eat fast as we don't have your precious, valuable time!" A male, German shepherd who wore a black, police uniform exclaimed as a group of convicts sat down on the benches of the prison's dinning room. On one of the benches, Magnus Maxfield was sitting while eating his food, completely alone, the other convicts seemed to fear him as they had heard what he was capable of, but a brave, male fox took the chance to meet the new guy. "Magnus, aren't you?"
Magnus lowered down his fork and nodded at the fox. "Need something?"
The fox sat down in front of him and began to eat his own food. "Have you tasted the pudding? Pretty neat to be made for misfits like us, one of the pair of things I don't hate of this place."
"Spit it out, fox, what do you want from me." Magnus tone went more aggressive.
"Sure." The fox cleaned a bit of food from his snout with a napkin. "Does the word, Loonatics mean something to you?"
Magnus bent the fork he had been holding as he clenched his fist with rage. "Those morons got me here and messed up all my plans, my hopes!"
The fox nodded with a grin. "It seems you and I have already a lot in common then." He extended his hand. "Quentin Quintana, nice to meet you."
Magnus frowned for a second then shook his hand cautiously. "Magnus Maxfield."
"We have a lot of work to do, Magnus." Quentin stated.