Loonatics: United

Episode 27: Essentially Functional

Lexi was looking through the lounge's windows, worried for her friends, her gaze was focused on the stadium that could be seen from practically every spot on the city. She felt a stroke on her shoulder and looked over it; Ace had got behind her. "You are worried for them." He said.

"Why wouldn't I?" Lexi replied, she looked at him and felt uneasy at his careless smile.

"They'll be fine, we both know them well." Ace caressed her arm. "Some TV shall help, come on." He walked towards the couch and sat on it then took the remote and turned on the television.

"Ace." Lexi sighed as she sat down next to him. "We are a team, you and I should be there, helping our friends."

"They can handle it." Ace replied while he changed the channels with the remote.

Lexi snatched the remote from him and turned off the TV, making Ace to look at her with unsettlement. "Listen to me, you've been acting very weird since that woman attacked you, maybe you are still under the effects of her powers."

"That's ridiculous." Ace crossed his arms.

"I mean, you gave Tech the excuse that we were going to stay here to surveil but all of a sudden you just want to chill like if nothing is happening." Lexi said.

"I am waiting, Lexi, if an alarm sounds then you and I will attend the trouble." Ace responded.

"Ace, if you don't want to go there at least let me do so." Lexi requested. "Then Tech and I will help you with whatever is going on with you."

"Why do you mention him that much?" Ace asked with a frown.

Lexi raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind." Ace leaned closer to her. "This is our moment." He tried to give her a kiss, but she moved away from him and stood up from the couch.

"Ace, this isn't you." Lexi said.

"Okay." Ace got into his feet. "You want to see that I care?!" He walked past her. "I'll go check the news on the lab's computer, are you happy?! I am helping, like I always do!"

Lexi watched him leave. "I want you back." She mumbled before letting go a sigh.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team was arriving to the stadium. Tech landed over the roof followed by the others. He turned off his jetpack and walked towards the edge of the roof to get a better look of the situation. "She is on the field, doing the same thing she did back at the mall, you got your bracelets ready?" Tech looked at them and they replied with a nod. "Alright, this is the plan, Rev will distract her while the rest of us find a way to sneak into the field without her noticing, then we all attack, remember, we must aim the bracelets towards the same spot to magnify their effectiveness, as we only have one load each."

Duck raised his hand. "Can I say something?"

"Sure." Tech said.

"Would this have been easier if Ace wasn't acting like a total jerk?" Duck asked.

"Certainly." Tech responded.

"Thanks, I just wanted to ensure I wasn't the only one who thinks that about the great boss." Duck stated.

"We'll deal with that later, Duck, now we have to follow orders and end with this mess." Tech commanded. "Rev."

Rev turned on his bracelet. "What will I do if she does her mind tricks with me? My mind isn't as stable as you may believe and that would be like, very bad, you know."

"Don't worry, I forgot to tell you I installed isolators on the bracelets, they'll impede her waves to reach yours." Tech explained. "It is late for Ace now, but you shall not have any kind of trouble with that." He briefly studied the complex with his sight. "Go now, Rev, and stick to the plan, we'll catch up with you."

Rev nodded and headed towards the field by running through the stands of the stadium. He got in front of Mourn in a split of second, she was floating over the center of the holographic surface, with a beating purple cloud behind her and her white eyes gazing at the sky. Rev noticed that the crowd on the stands was trembling and groaning on the ground while Mourn had both of her arms raised. "Hey monster! Why don't you mess with someone of your size?! Technically I am smaller than you but it sounds cool enough to get your attention!" Rev exclaimed.

Mourn lowered her gaze towards him and made up an evil grin. "Fool hero, you dare to challenge me once again." She tilted her head slightly, then raised an eyebrow at noticing she hadn't made any effect on Rev. "What?" She closed her eyes a little bit and tried harder, but she still couldn't attack him.

"Seems you've run out of tricks, uhm, Squeak, isn't it?" Rev joked.

Mourn growled. "You know well who I am, my name causes fear to anyone that hears it!"

"I know, I know, I just…" Rev got hit suddenly by a purple wave Mourn had thrown towards him with a gesture. He collided with a wall then fell to the ground. Rev coughed and got into his feet slowly. "That didn't hurt at all; I let you do it just because I needed to distract you." He ran fast towards the other end of the field. "So we can all ruin your party, not in a literal way as you may suspect." Rev had got next to his comrades, who had their fists pointing at her.

Tech looked at him with a smirk. "I told you we would catch up!"

"That was quick! And coming from me that should be considered a great compliment." Rev replied. "Now what, Doc?"

Mourn groaned and tried the same thing she had tried with Rev, finding out they were also immune to her mind powers. "You asked for tricks! Take your tricks!" She backed her arm as if she was going to throw another attack.

"Now!" Tech commanded, they all activated their bracelets and began to shoot the invisible waves towards her, she immediately started to scream and the purple cloud she had behind her started to fade away.

Slam growled with excitement.

"Of course it's working, keep it up guys!" Tech said.

"How long will this take? The soap opera is about to start!" Duck asked.

Tech let out a sigh of effort. "Until she is totally neutralized." Mourn's purple cloud started to gain color again. "Oh no."

"My bracelet doesn't glow anymore!" Rev said.

"We are running out of Lexi's charge, get closer to her!" Tech commanded then took a few steps towards Mourn along with his team.

Mourn yelled like if she was going through great suffering. "You…don't know her!" She stopped floating and fell down, getting over her knees, she looked at Tech and her face opened, showing another face on what it looked like the inside of her head, this face looked younger, the face of a troubled, orange furred female fox that pleaded for a way out, Tech could notice that on her purple eyes, she was inside that monster.

"Mine is dead too!" Duck complained and shook his arm to see if he could reactivate the bracelet, with no results.

Mourn's face rejoined in one piece again and the purple cloud helped her to float over the center of the field. She grinned and laughed then threw another purple wave towards them, it hit them strongly and sent them towards a wall which broke in several pieces with the impact. They fell to the blue, holographic ground between groans and rubble. Duck managed to stand up first after a painful effort and started to walk towards her. "Because of you, I've lost precious minutes of my favorite TV program!" He exclaimed and started to cook a fire orb over the palm of his hand.

Tech rested his back on a piece of concrete and checked his bracelet, which had already ran out of power; he glanced at the wrists of his comrades and noticed the same thing had happened to their devices, Rev and Slam were struggling to get out of the rubble. He then looked at Duck, who was getting close to Mourn. "Duck! Wait!"

"I say, it's enough!" Duck threw the orb towards her, but it exploded on the unseeable barrier, leaving Mourn untouched.

Mourn put her hands together then separated them around a big, purple sphere which she threw towards Duck, he tried to evade it but Mourn managed to hit his leg. "I decide when it's enough!"

Duck fell down and groaned with pain while rubbing his leg as the smoke of the sphere dissipated. "Maybe you are right." He turned his gaze towards the others who were standing in front of the broken wall, looking at Mourn.

"Team, I guess we've lost for today." Tech stated.

"Two in a row, that wouldn't be good for my hero curriculum, if it existed of course." Rev said.

Tech walked carefully towards Duck and helped him to stand up. "Duck, take us out of here." Rev and Slam approached them and placed a hand over Duck's back.

"Not without a fee gu..." Duck groaned again. "Maybe this is no time for my likeable sense of humor." He visualized the HQ and began to teleport himself and the others.

Lexi was laying over the lounge's couch, thinking about the issues with Ace, then Duck appeared all of a sudden after a brief shine of orange light along with the rest of the Loonatics. "Guys?" Lexi stood up quickly. "What happened?"

Tech shook his head. "We ran out of chances."

Lexi noticed he was helping Duck to stand. "Is he alright?"

"Oh yeah, Lexi, I have never been so well in my entire life, my broken leg is like a day in paradise…" Duck got interrupted.

"I get it! Duck!" Lexi responded with a straight face.

"I'll take him to the infirmary." Tech said.

Rev looked at the stadium through the window, which now had a big, purple sphere over it. "She is moving fast with whatever plan she has."

"We'll resolve that matter later." Ace said as he arrived at the lounge. "How was the mission? Doc?"

Tech snarled and got right in front of him while still helping Duck to walk. "Nothing to report except complete failure, boss, that's how it went, and it's all on you." He put his index finger on his chest.

"Watch your tone." Ace warned.

Tech's eyes widened. "Tone! I'm just sick of you, Ace, Duck is hurt and all those people are out there, suffering under that woman's tortures! And you talk about tones! It's your fault, Ace! Those minds are on your conscience."

"Well, if I had known I would've put Rev in charge instead!" Ace exclaimed.

Rev quickly turned his gaze towards them after hearing Ace's statement. "I wouldn't object that, but on the other hand, leadership is known to be tough and full of…"

"Shut up, Rev!" Both Ace and Tech demanded.

Ace sighed. "Tech, I don't have time for this nonsense, just take Duck to the infirmary and we'll discuss this later." Tech gave him a look of anger, then he growled and helped Duck with his steps.

"Later, always later." Tech mumbled after walking by his boss.

Ace waited for them to get out of his sight, then he looked at his other friends, who were looking at him like if he was another person. "Another complaint?"

Rev and Slam just shook their heads and went to their respective rooms, Lexi waited for them to close the doors. She looked at Ace and walked towards him. "That is new."

"I guess Tech can have his temper sometimes." Ace said.

Lexi shook her head. "I wasn't talking about him."

Ace frowned. "You too!"

Lexi took a step backwards. "Easy, that's exactly my point, Tech should take a look…"

"I'm fine! Lexi! It is all of you who drive me crazy sometimes!" Ace turned and walked towards his room, smashing the door with notorious discontent after getting in.

Lexi sighed and went to her own, she rested her back on the door after closing it then she sat down on the floor. "What did you do to my Ace?" She could only think about Mourn and the seizures she had caused to her loved one back at the mall.