Loonatics: United

Episode 28: Abrupt Fierceness

In the next day's morning, Tech had woken up early and was taking some notes on his digital notepad while in the kitchen. Suddenly, Lexi joined him as she entered and rested her back on a wall nearby the door. "Thanks for ruining my beauty sleep, Doc." Lexi stated.

"Why is that?" Tech replied, with his gaze totally engaged to the screen of his gadget.

Lexi chuckled. "Super audition and your footsteps aren´t what I would call, silent."

"Oh, sorry." Tech scrolled down the screen of the device to keep writing with the tip of his finger.

Lexi raised an eyebrow and walked towards him. "What are you doing?"

"I´m making a plan, Lexi, I won´t let her hurt more people." Tech responded.

"Have you asked Ace first?" Lexi inquired.

Tech looked at her. "No, and I won't, he is not himself, I am afraid we must deal with this without the boss."

"Good." Lexi said while lowering her head.

"Is something wrong with that?" Tech asked.

"It´s just that, he has always taken the lead, but I know he's changed, and all I want to do right now is to help him out." Lexi replied.

"And we will, don't worry, as soon as we take Mourn down, Ace's wellbeing will be my top priority." Tech said with a reassuring tone.

Lexi nodded and gave him a grateful gaze. "Thank you."

Tech smirked and looked back at his notepad. "Well, I guess we got a draft." He walked towards the door and half opened it, then looked at Lexi. "Come on, we must see Duck."

Lexi followed him as he opened the door completely, they got out of the kitchen and headed cautiously towards the lab. "What is he going to do?" She asked with a mumble.

"He'll stay here to ensure Ace doesn't find out our plan." Tech answered as the lab's doors opened before them, they entered and walked towards the infirmary.

"I've never done anything behind his back." Lexi said as Tech knocked the room's window, waking Duck up.

"He let us no choice, all I'm asking you to do is to be strong, that should come in handy when we confront her." Tech put his hand on her shoulder.

Lexi sighed. "I'll try." She and Tech looked at Duck through the infirmary's window as he had stood up from the bed. He exited from the room and approached them.

"Feeling better?" Tech asked.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt horribly like it did before, now it just hurts terribly." Duck replied.

"Good, I'll call Rev and Slam." Tech said then walked towards the lab's main door and exited to the lounge.

"What is he into?" Duck crossed his arms.

"A plan to stop Mourn, only without Ace." Lexi explained.

"Good news, finally, I can't stand that dude ultimately." Duck walked past her and headed to the lab's central desk to sit down in front of it.

Lexi followed him. "Is not his fault." She got over the chair that was next to Duck´s. "She is the cause, that is why he's been so..."

"Illogical? Stubborn?" Duck interrupted.

"Yes, Duck, but that is exactly why you can't blame him." Lexi responded. "The best we can do now is to support him."

Duck chuckled. "Lying to him is a good start; I guess."

"It´s not lying, he is not well and we can't take any chances, and besides, I thought you were okay with that." Lexi argued.

"I know, but it's still kind of weird to do things under the table, to be honest." Duck replied.

Lexi sighed. "Do you think is easy for me? Trust has always been important between us, even since before we were together."

Rev showed up after a brief, red light behind his race, he appeared sitting in front of them all of a sudden. "Tech said he had a surprise for us, so I just want to know, is it expensive, fun, both? Will it replace my birthday present? Because it's pretty close and I would hate to lose it."

Tech arrived to the lab accompanied by Slam. "No Rev, it's a quite different type of surprise."

Slam looked at him as he growled with intrigue.

"No, is not edible either." Tech replied, and Slam just lowered his gaze. "We don't have too much time, guys, so I'll start from the middle, if you don't mind."

"Do what you want, I tend to get asleep from the beginning anyway." Duck said.

Tech connected his digital notepad to a port that was on a corner of the table, then a diagram appeared in front of them in holographic form. "So, you all might know Acmetropolis is powered up thanks to the high capacity magnifiers that interconnect the electrical grid." He said, then the others just shared confused looks at his statement, which made him to let out a sigh. "Of course not, well, now that you know, I'm glad to tell you that the stadium is surrounded by four of those magnifiers, which are located on the adjacent buildings that corner the complex."

"And?" Duck asked.

"The appropriate mind can manage to turn those magnifiers into a wave field." Tech pointed at himself. "Just to be clear, I am that appropriate mind."

"You can't resist to be cocky, can you?" Lexi said with a smirk.

"Whatever, the thing is that this is a work of five; someone has to retain the signals of the magnifiers to create the field and get Mourn trapped, just to make time to find a fatal solution." Tech explained.

Duck looked at his comrades and counted with his fingers. "Uhm, appropriate mind, we are five here." He told Tech.

"You won't go with us." Tech said.

"What? Why?" Duck crossed his arms and frowned.

Tech rolled up his eyes. "How´s your leg?"

Duck hesitated briefly to give an answer. "Well, it's not good good, but I can han..." Lexi hit his leg quite hard with her foot under the table, which made Duck to gasp. "Okay, I'll stay."

"Good, and don't worry, you'll do something too, something of crucial importance." Tech said. "You'll be covering us."

Duck´s eyes widened. "Oh, like with some kind of long-range sniper, so you don't have to deal with unwanted company?"

"No, you'll have to watch over Ace and make sure he doesn't discover us." Tech replied.

"But wouldn't it be easier if we just, you know, knock him out temporarily? I could do that." Duck proposed.

"There is no need for more damages, just keep him distracted, okay?" Tech requested.

Duck nodded hesitantly. "Sure."

Tech nodded then approached a pad over the table and used it to zoom in the projected diagram, then pointed at the drawing he wanted them to focus on. "That being clarified, Jack will supply Duck on the task."

"Jack? Like, your pet hijacker worm? Is it still a thing?" Rev asked.

"He is up and running, Rev, fully upgraded." Tech answered.

"Replaced by a worm, kind of sad." Duck stated.

"Jack will serve as the retainer, I'll only need someone to activate him and send him to fly over the stadium, where the signals will intersect." Tech looked at Lexi. "Could you do it, Lexi?"

Lexi nodded. "As long as you promise me it doesn't bite."

"Very well, then." Tech slid his hand on the pad to move the hologram in order to show them the drawings of the buildings he had mentioned. "Each one of us will take care of a magnifier, they are usually located on the rooftops, so it shouldn't be hard to find them."

"I guess you've made extremely intuitive devices to do all the technical work for us." Rev said.

Tech shook his head. "These things can only be manipulated manually, but don't worry, I'll be guiding you from my comm." He looked at Lexi once again. "When the magnifiers are ready, you'll activate Jack and let him do the rest." He placed both hands on the table and let out a decisive sigh while nodding at his own reflection. "Go to the hangar and ready your zoomatrixes."

"It'll take a while to get the dust out of them." Lexi said as she got off her seat.

"They are fast and stealthy, we can't give her even the slightest chance to notice us." Tech argued, then headed towards a drawer and carefully took Jack out of it.

Without Duck, they had all gathered in front of the hangar, Tech approached the recognition pad that was next to the gates, which opened after he put his hand over it, they walked by the great variety of vehicles and equipment that were there and approached their zoomatrixes that were gathering dust on a corner. Tech got closer to his and wiped a layer of dust of its surface. "Old, but reliable."

Lexi activated her vehicle; it rumbled heavily, making a great amount of dust to automatically get off it, she got on it hesitantly, then smirked subtly after adjusting the windshield. "I never thought we would use these again." She looked at the zoomatrix that was parked next to hers and noticed it was Ace's one, she gave it a nostalgic look.

Slam had got over his cycle too and saw Lexi´s dismal gaze; he accelerated slightly to get closer to her and patted her back carefully, she looked at him and Slam just let out a snarl of support then made an affable smile.

Lexi simpered. "Thanks, big guy."

They all had got over their respective vehicles and put on their helmets. "Lexi!" Tech exclaimed and threw her Jack, she managed to react soon enough to catch the robotical worm. "Alright, let's do this, guys." He commanded before accelerating, followed by the rest. They turned on the flight function of the zoomatrixes, making two wings to come out from their sides, the hangar's exit gate opened, revealing that the sun had already arrived, they came out one by one through the wide aperture, heading directly to the street below the tower. As they reached the asphalt, they turned their cycles back to their terrestrial mode.

"Where to, Doc?" Lexi asked through the helmet's comm.

"I´m sending you all the directions to your spots." Tech pressed his wrist slightly.

The face shields of everyone´s helmet displayed a small map on a corner. "I got them!" Rev said.

"Me too!" Lexi added, along with Slam´s growl that communicated the same statement.

"Excellent, now we split." Tech separated from the group by turning to another street.

After the command, they all followed the map's instructions, getting closer to their respective edifices.

Lexi obeyed the map's suggested routes and parked next to the building she was commanded to cover. "I'm here, Tech." Lexi said, then took off her helmet and her suit's integrated comm reactivated automatically, she put the helmet on the vehicle's trunk and carried Jack, she got off the Zoomatrix and walked towards the stair she had spotted.

Tech was already getting close to his own designated building. "Go to the roof; you shall find a spherical machine on either of its corners, that is the magnifier, did the rest of you hear that?"

"Got it, but just to clarify, did you say spherical? I want to make sure I heard that well because these helmets' mics are kinda outdated and..." Rev got interrupted.

"Yes, Rev, spherical, the magnifiers are spherical, okay, is it clear?" Tech explained.

"Now it is, boss." Rev replied.

Lexi had arrived to the roof; it didn't take too long for her to find the magnifier; she walked towards it and kneeled down before it then placed her hand over its metallic surface. "Now this is some odd stuff." She raised her gaze and gasped at seeing the big, purple shield-like phenomenon that surrounded the stadium. "I spoke too fast."

Tech got off his vehicle and used his magnetic abilities to start climbing towards the roof of the edifice, helped by the building's external pipelines that were made of steel. "Don't worry." He got his feet on the roof's surface. "I know these devices, I´ll guide you." After spotting his magnifier, he walked towards it and removed a small lid from it by moving it away with his powers.

"I've found it." Rev said through his comm while waiting for instructions.

Slam growled, confirming he was also in front of the device.

"Okay, first things first, each magnifier is covered by a small, frontal lid." Tech instructed.

Meanwhile, Duck was taking a nap over one of the lounge's couches; he managed to hear that a door had been opened, so he quickly opened his eyes and stood up from the couch after a subtle gasp. He noticed that Ace had came out of his room. "Hi boss, uhm, what´s up?"

"Good morning, Duck." Ace said as he headed towards the kitchen. "I guess I´m fine; how are you doing?" He walked towards the cupboard and took a glass.

"Uhm, everything is fine, nothing out of the realm of normality." Duck said, then entered the kitchen.

Ace poured some carrot juice on the glass he had grabbed. "That´s good to hear." He took a sip of his beverage.

"Well, if you permit so, I would like to avoid further conversat..." Duck got interrupted.

"Where´s everybody?" Ace inquired.

Duck gulped. "Uhm, everybody? Oh everybody, well, we had run out of, sandals, so, yeah."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Sandals?"

Duck scratched his neck. "I know, I know, I told Tech it wasn't a big deal but some people take their feet like, very seriously, you know, conspiracy theories about germs in the floor and all of that stuff but who am I to judge? Or you." He said while pointing at Ace.

"O...kay, then."Ace took the last sip of his juice and left the glass over the bar then went back to the lounge and sat down on the couch in front of the TV.

Duck stayed in the kitchen for a moment, internally reproaching himself about his improvised excuse. He sighed and joined Ace, sitting on the adjacent couch. "So, how´s life?" He instantly got a dazed look from his boss.

Lexi gasped after managing to bend a wire from the magnfier´s inside. "Done."

Tech nodded as he had just done the same with his own. "Cool, what about the rest?"

"I'm superfast, don't you remember? That´s a yes, in case you wanted a better explanation of my state." Rev replied then Slam growled, stating he was also done with his magnifier.

"Great." Tech put the lid back on the device with his powers. "Secure them."

Lexi, Slam and Rev put back the lids on the spherical objects, which started to rumble. "Now what?" Lexi asked through her comm.

"Wake him up, Lexi." Tech commanded.

Lexi pressed Jack's back with her thumbs, the worm booted up fast and emitted several sounds. "He is back with us."

"Nice, I installed a hover function on him, just press his side." Tech replied.

Lexi followed Tech´s order and Jack started to float in front of her. "I had always wondered what is what you do in your spare time, this is not too far from what I imagined to be honest."

"Now, tell him to hover over the stadium." Tech commanded.

"Uhm, Jack, go hover over the stadium." Lexi said, Jack didn't move. "Tech, I think he is broken."

"Did you say please?" Tech asked.

Lexi sighed. "Really?" He looked at Jack with discontent. "Jack, could you please hover over the stadium?" Jack biped then obeyed Lexi´s command, it headed towards the complex then just stayed floating over the purple shield that surrounded it.

"Wait for it, guys, the signals should be intersecting already, Jack will help us create a wave field that should keep her trapped." Tech explained.

Slam growled, expressing his concern about for how long was she going to be trapped in there.

"Hours, but that´s valuable time for us to plan her definitive fall." Tech responded.

Jack started to rumble violently then Mourn´s shield got slowly surrounded by a blue colored field.

"It worked!" Lexi exclaimed.

"Did you expect a different result?" Tech boasted.

Lexi smirked before shaking her head. "Sometimes you can be a little too confident."

"Our work here is done, we should check the field more closely." Tech activated his jetpack then flew towards the stadium, his team followed him almost immediately. They arrived to the situation, Tech hovered carefully towards the blue wave field and knocked it gently with his fist. "Yeah, solid like a rock." He approached his look towards the transparent, blue surface to try to see what was happening on the inside, he saw Mourn throwing purple waves towards the field, with occasional screams of desperation. He let out a chuckle. "She is pissed." He looked at his team with a proud smile. "Mission accomplished."

"Great, I just hope this doesn't serve as a way to maximize all of that rage of hers, I mean, I wouldn't be happy if I were trapped inside a giant, blue who knows what against my will." Rev added.

"Don't worry Rev; we'll find a final solution, get back on your zoomatrixes, we'll meet at the hangar." Tech commanded and left the place heading towards where he had parked his zooomatrix, the others did the same.

The team returned to the hangar and left the zoomatrixes on their respective spots. "I hope Duck did a good job distracting Ace." Tech said as the hangar's doors closed behind them. They walked cautiously towards the lounge only to find Ace waiting for them.

Ace was standing next to the lounge's couches with his arms crossed and a face of discontent. "Did you really think Duck would've kept me distracted from your plan?" He said as they approached him.

Duck looked at him from the sofa he was sitting on. "I did my best!"

"Ace, it´s alright, she is trapped, temporarily, but at least now we´ll..." Tech got pushed by Ace rather aggressively.

"You made her betray me!" Ace exclaimed while pointing at Lexi.

"Ace! This had to be done and your mind is not what it used to be, we'll fix it, we'll save you!" Lexi argued.

"I'm fine, Lexi! Let go those stupid thoughts already!" Ace said.

Tech took a step towards Ace. "Don't talk to her that way!"

Ace punched him suddenly with no warning, Tech kneeled down while rubbing his snout then he growled and tried to throw a punch at Ace but he blocked it with a move of his leg then lifted him by grasping the cloth of his bodysuit and started to hit his stomach with his knee repeatedly, making Tech to cough and groan with intense pain, Ace dropped him on the floor then looked at the rest of the team, who were looking at him with horror and disbelief, he looked at his hands then returned his gaze at them, he gasped then his breathing got faster, he shook his head and ran towards the terrace, exiting through the large window that had opened automatically and activating his jetpack, getting out of their sight.

Lexi kneeled down next to Tech and helped him to get on his feet. "May we take you to the infirmary?"

Tech moved Lexi´s hand off his shoulder gently. "I'll be fine." He cleaned some blood off his snout. "My regeneration powers shall do the trick." He headed towards the terrace and turned on his jetpack.

"Where are you going?" Rev asked from the lounge.

"I just need to see someone." Tech flew away from the tower.