Loonatics: United

Episode 26: Dicey Recoil

The moon had already got over Acmetropolis. "She was laying over that strange surface, her face was, lifeless and I thought she was gone forever." Ace explained to Tech and Lexi while he was sitting in front of them on a metallic bench inside the lab.

Tech was writing down the info Ace was giving to them. "Would you call it, a nightmare?"

Ace shook his head. "Anyone would prefer to have a nightmare instead of that."

"Well, now you are back with us." Lexi said.

"Yeah." Ace looked at her. "Thanks."

"The credit is all on him." Lexi patted Tech on the back.

Ace nodded at him. "How did you manage to take me out of that place?"

"Well, it was fairly easy to find a solution as your condition was entirely related to your mind and its waves, I designed this helmet to help Lexi stabilize your thoughts with her power." Tech took the helmet from a nearby table and showed it to Ace.

"Great to know it didn't fry my brain." Ace said.

Tech smirked. "Another one of the benefits of this baby."

"How's the rest?" Ace asked.

"They're fine, you were the one who got us pretty worried." Lexi replied.

Ace stood up from the bench. "Any reports of this, new maniac?"

"The Eye hasn't reached us yet, but I gathered some interesting ones from Acmetropolis' General Hospital." Tech stated after putting the helmet back on the table and taking out his digital notepad.

Ace nodded. "The people at the mall?"

"All of them were diagnosed with the same state as you, unstable brain activity, seizures and data that relates to panic attacks." Tech responded.

"We must help them." Lexi proposed.

"Sure, I'll ready the helmet." Tech said.

"No." Ace commanded.

They both looked at him. "Sorry?" Lexi asked.

Ace took a step towards them. "You are not going there." He took Lexi's arms gently. "Stay."

Lexi looked at him with disbelief. "Ace, we can make them feel better, we must go, I mean you lived it."

"Yes, Ace, we must…" Tech was interrupted.

"It is an order." Ace said. "Am I clear?" He looked at Tech with eyes of warning.

Tech lowered his head. "Yes, boss."

"Good." Ace sighed and exited the lab.

Lexi looked at Tech. "What now?"

"Orders are orders; I suppose." Tech shook his head and walked towards his working station.

"I'll talk to him." Lexi said.

"Sure, in the meantime I will use the info that the receiver got from when we saved Ace from that collapse, maybe I can use this data to build us weapons just in case she comes back." Tech sat down in front of the station's computer.

"While those people keep suffering." Lexi began to walk towards the exit.

"Lexi?" Tech said as he had his sight focused on the computer's screen.

"Yeah?" She looked at Tech over her shoulder.

"Keep an eye on him, would you?" Tech requested.

Lexi nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks." Tech said.

Ace had gone to the kitchen, he was searching for something that could calm his thirst in the fridge, he found a sport drink and grabbed it then he closed the fridge's door. He walked towards the dining table and sat down before it, he opened the bottle and took a sip of the drink he had taken. Suddenly, the kitchen's automatic door opened and let Lexi enter, she walked towards the table and sat down in front of him. "Rough day, huh?"

"You've said it." Ace took another sip of his drink.

Lexi's gaze went to the window. "So, why?"

Ace raised an eyebrow and put the bottle back over the table. "Why what?"

"Why aren't you willing to help those people?" Lexi asked.

Ace sighed. "I know you are worried about them and that they need help but believe me, there are more important things to attend right now." He raised a hand and caressed her face. "Do you trust me?"

"I do, Ace." Lexi put her hand over his. "I just don't know why we can't just help them right away."

"Please, don't worry about that." Ace said. "You two will cure them when the time comes, I promise, but right now we must focus on bringing that woman down so she can't hurt more people, do you get me?"

Lexi looked at him with doubt on her eyes. "I…think so."

"That's my girl." Ace got his hand off her face and smirked. "Everything is fine."

Lexi forced a smile. "Sure." She tried to leave the table, but Ace had taken her hand to stop her.

"Say it." Ace said. "Everything…"

Lexi let out an almost silent, nervous chuckle. "Everything is fine."

Ace let go off her hand. "That's right." Lexi started to walk away from him as she gazed him with occasional looks of concern.

In the meantime, Tech was finishing printing the weapons he had planned to make against Mourn. "Come with daddy." He took one of the six bracelets from the chamber of the 3D printer and put it around his wrist. He walked towards the lab's main workstation and readied an antenna he had connected to it via USB, then he pressed a key on the machine's console to start a software which displayed several graphics on the screen above it, he backed away a little bit from the desktop and pointed his wrist towards the antenna, then he pressed a small button on the bracelet and the antenna began to tremble slightly, Tech turned his gaze towards the graphics on the screen which only had changed a little bit. He sighed and took off the bracelet then sat down in front of the workstation's desktop and lowered his gaze, scratching his head with disappointment. Suddenly, he just looked at the front as if he'd had an idea.

Lexi had gone to the lounge, then she sat down on the couch that faced the TV. "My condolences." Duck said as he continuously changed the channels with the remote.

Lexi gave him a serious look. "He is fine, Duck."

Duck nodded. "Exactly."

"Duck, he was like, very bad I mean, we don't know what could've happened if Tech hadn't come up with a solution." Lexi said.

"Relax, I am just kidding, I'm glad he is okay." Duck replied.

"Well, maybe not that okay." Lexi said.

Duck raised an eyebrow after he had finally found a decent TV show. "Why is that?"

"Since we took him out of whatever was affecting him, he's been acting a little, off." Lexi responded.

Before Duck could reply her, the TV displayed a text of alarm and began to emit intermittent beeps. "Oh you gotta be kidding me, the Stadium! Now?!"

"Look at the video feed, it's her!" Lexi pointed at the screen.

Rev had got behind them after a rush. "Hey, Ms. Weird is doing her weird things with her weird abilities!"

Slam arrived after having heard the noise of the TV's alarm and growled at seeing Mourn attacking people on the video feed.

"Guys, I got good news and bad news." Tech caught up with them, holding the bracelets he had built.

"Bad news first." Duck asked.

"No can do, good news are the context." Tech replied.

"But it's always better when someone gives the bad news first because then…" Rev got interrupted.

"What is it?" Ace said as he arrived to the lounge.

"The good news is that I managed to create these powerful devices that should be able to confront Mourn's powers with their wave system." Tech sighed. "But they'll only work if Lexi charges them continuously."

Lexi nodded. "No problem."

"Wait." Ace said. "She can charge them here and stay with me doing some surveillance while the rest of you go there and beat Mourn."

Tech raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, but we'll go with only one load each."

"Isn't that enough?" Ace asked.

"No, excuse me but I think Lexi must come with us, you must come with us too." Tech replied.

"But someone has to stay here, we don't know if she is the only one, there could be more than her." Ace stated.

"Why are you suddenly coming to that supposition? We fight what we see, Ace, that's our style, more specifically your style." Tech pointed at him.

"Well, who's the leader?" Ace said.

Tech snarled subtly. "You are."

"Thanks, now, charge those bracelets, Lexi." Ace commanded.

Lexi nodded and carefully shot her brain blast towards the six bracelets Tech was holding, which began to glow pink after Lexi's action. She then looked at Ace. "It's done, but I think Tech is right, we should…"

Ace interrupted her. "You stay, I need help with the surveillance, the rest of you, go to the stadium and stop that woman."

Tech growled. "Okay guys, put on these." The team approached him and put on the charged bracelets; Ace was the last one to pick his.

Slam opened the windows by pressing a button that was next to the kitchen, Duck and Rev shared looks of confusion then they flew away with their jetpacks towards the situation followed by Slam.

"Go, Tech, you are in charge in this mission." Ace said.

"Ace, you know is risky going out there like this, please, come with us, both of you." Tech requested.

Ace walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You'll be fine, Doc, there's no success without…"

"Risk, yeah I taught you that." Tech said with a frown, then he just turned. He activated his jetpack and headed towards the stadium, leaving Ace and Lexi alone in the HQ's lounge.