Loonatics: United

Episode 35: Brutal

Adam was on his room, glancing at the still powerful sun through the wide window, trying to reassure himself with its light, hoping his suspicions to be wrong, he could only think about his wife, but not as he had always known her, a new concept of his beloved came to move the previous one away, he wished so hard it wasn't true. The automatic door opened and Lyla entered the room, the door closed afterwards. "You look troubled, my dear." Lyla said then began to walk towards him.

"I am, indeed." Adam replied coldly, with his gaze locked at the landscape.

Lyla approached him and put a hand over his shoulder. "What is it?"

Adam was clenching his fists with strength, he overcame the lump in his throat before speaking. "The investigation is doing well, Lyla." He said.

Lyla moved her hand away from him. "Oh." She backed away from her husband then sat down on the edge of the bed. "That's good." She lowered her head.

Adam took a deep breath then exhaled, calming himself down a little bit. "They caught a suspect, but he killed himself with cyanide."

"That's a shame." Lyla responded.

"Yes." Adam said. "But he actually had something last to say." He looked at her. "Long live the Queen." Lyla stood silent and Adam began to walk towards her. "I guessed the man was delirious." He sat down next to her. "I hope he was." The uncommon silence of Lyla started to get him impatient but fearful at the same time. "Lyla." He put a hand on her cheek. "Look at me." His wife ignored the request. "Please, look at me, look at my eyes, my love." She hesitated but finally glared at him as he had told her to do. Adam locked his gaze on hers, studying the looks of her eyes, he got his hand off her face and shook his head while still looking at her. "Why?" Adam asked with a broken voice.

Lyla closed her eyes and lowered her head. "It had to be done."

"H…" Adam stood up abruptly. "How could you?!"

Lyla got into her feet. "There was no other choice, Adam! They were not paying for their crimes!"

Adam grunted. "They were! At the dungeon!"

Lyla took a step forward. "That's not enough! Criminals don't deserve to live! They must die! Slowly and painfully, they deserve it!"

Adam walked towards an abstract statue that was next to the window and hit it with rage, making it to fall and shatter into pieces, he let out a scream of fury and approached her again. "Why you?! That's not how I…"

"How you made me?!" Lyla exclaimed. "I changed, Adam, now I'm free from your lectures, from your weak programming."

Adam covered his face with both hands. "You…you killed them."

Lyla turned to stop looking at him. "And I don't regret it, I'm keeping my city safe."

Adam lifted his head and got closer to her. "Your city?! It is our city! It was our dream, don't you remember that?!"

"Dreams die, Adam." Lyla turned to face him. "Just like everything."

Adam snarled with disbelief and desperation. "I'm done with this." He closed his eyes and communicated with the guards at the castle's door with his powers.

"Adam." Lyla tried to caress his face but he backed away to prevent her from doing so, she grunted and looked at him with a straight face. "I'm doing the right thing! You keep protecting those monsters while I do what's better and much more efficient! Terminate them, end of story!"

"That's not how the world works! Lyla!" Adam responded. "It works with mercy, not with death, not with cold blooded killers like you!"

Lyla slapped him. "You are weak! Adam! I'm the one who is getting things done here! I'll bring peace to this city!"

Adam rubbed his cheek after that then looked at her enraged, the room's door opened and let the two guards, the fox and the tiger, enter. He looked at them then at his wife. "Try to do that on the dungeon."

"Any problem, your highness?" The tiger said.

"Take him to the dungeon." Lyla commanded, the guards approached Adam and grabbed his arms.

"What are you doing?! I called you, is her!" Adam struggled then looked at Lyla.

"We don't take orders from you anymore." The fox said, tightening his grasp to prevent Adam to escape.

"Your weak sentences are now abolished, my dear." Lyla said. "No more defense to thieves and killers."

Adam gasped while trying to get off the guards' grip, he made a pixelated, black cube to form on his foot and hit the shins of both guards, they groaned and backed away, letting him go. "You forgot one thing, I built this place, I created this society on my own!" Adam walked towards her.

"You are right." Lyla raised her hands and made a black cell to appear around Adam, caging him. "But I have your powers too."

"That won't make any difference." Adam moved his hands towards the bars of the cell and tried to manipulate them, then gasped at discovering he couldn't cause any effect on them. "What?" He said, frightened and confused.

Lyla chuckled and walked towards the cell to look at him more closely. "I've made up some tricks of my own, and as long as I breathe, you will never get out of this cell." She poked a bar of the constructed prison and looked at him mockingly, then she turned to give her guards new instructions. "As I said, take him, now."

"As you wish, my queen." The tiger said then he and the fox walked towards the cell, they took it from below and lifted it with effort, then started to take Adam out of the room.

"You will regret this! Lyla! You have a conscience!" Adam was kneeling down with his hands grasping the bars, looking at her. "I gave you a conscience!" Lyla just waved her hand at him from where she was standing, then the doors of the room closed.

Meanwhile, the Loonatics and A.R.M. were doing routine surveillance, they were moving between the crowd through the unending streets. "Everything here just looks the same, how boring." Duck complained.

"We are not on a holiday, Duck." Ace replied.

"I know but we've been looking for hours and I mean, everyone just dresses the same and their houses look the same, is creepy." Duck responded.

"I actually concur with Duck in this one." Lexi opined. "I wouldn't stand anyone who dresses exactly like me, is just not right."

"Focus, guys." Matt said. "Keep looking instead of arguing about clothes."

"Wow." Tech expressed. "It seems that the agent life has certainly made you a leader."

"Bossy, that's the word." Peyton joked and made Anne to chuckle.

"I'm not bossy, I just want to focus on the mission." Matt argued.

Anne smirked and put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, hon, we are just messing with you."

"Just don't mess with Slam he tends to punch everything that remotely annoys him isn't it Slam?" Rev looked at his comrade.

Slam growled affirmatively and gave all of them looks of warning.

Lyla spotted them from the roof of the castle, she then closed her eyes and lifted her head a little bit to communicate with the guards. "My servants, go to the east, you shall find the Loonatics and their friends there, kill them all and leave no trace of them."

"We shall separate." Rebecca proposed. "That way we'll cover more ground."

"Good idea." Ace said. "Matt, Anne and Peyton, you and Rebecca are forming a group, the rest of us will take care of this area." He looked at Rev as he had raised his hand. "Yes?"

"I should go with them." Rev said.

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Uhm…" Rev scratched his nape. "Because, they will need someone with, you know, powers."

"Matt has super strength, Rev." Ace argued.

"Yeah but is not like that good of a power you know." Rev looked at Matt. "No offense."

Matt crossed his arms. "Not taken, I guess." He had a straight face.

"You stay with us, Rev, they'll manage." Ace said.

"This isn't just because you want to be with your girl, is it, Rev?" Lexi asked jokingly.

"Oh come on, like…" Rev got next to Rebecca in a split of second and hugged her. "But of course."

Ace grunted. "I said no, Rev, as Matt said, we must focus."

Rev sighed and lowered his head. "Okay." He walked away from his girlfriend.

"Alright, we'll meet up right here, okay?" Ace commanded.

"Understood." Matt said then he and his team walked away from them.

"Keep looking." Ace said and continued to walk followed by the rest of the team.

Lexi approached her boyfriend. "Ace, are you sure splitting up is a good idea?"

Ace nodded. "If anything goes wrong, it's more possible the other group will be available to help the other." He looked at her. "Just a simple strategy."

"Yeah, but things have been quite calm for a while, mayb…" Lexi's ear twitched. "Oh oh."

"What is it?" Ace inquired.

Lexi turned. "I hear movement, from both sides."

Ace sighed. "Great." He glanced at his team. "Get in position, we are being intercepted!"

Ace, Tech and Lexi faced one side and Rev, Duck and Slam turned to the opposite way, all of them adopting combat positions, people started to scream and move to the sides to let the guards pass through, a group of six guards for each side of the street the team was covering.

"These guys again?!" Duck complained, the guards were wearing helmets as the ones who had received them when they just entered the city.

The guards approached them and began to load their weapons. "Evade! Now!" Ace commanded and activated his jetpack, same as the others, he flew upwards then landed on the small plaza at the other side, the other five did so too.

"These morons want to kill us!" Lexi exclaimed.

"You don't say?" Duck mocked.

Lexi looked at him angry. "Duck!" She said with an upset tone.

"It's fire against fire, then!" Ace stated then the twelve guards entered the plaza, they didn't hesitate to aim their weapons at them and shoot.

"Wait!" Duck teleported to a place safe from the upcoming charges. "I wasn't ready!"

Ace had jumped along with Lexi to evade the shots, he was laying on the ground next to her, he took her hand and helped her to stand up while Rev had dodged the charges easily with his super speed, Tech was hovering with his jetpack over the ground turned into blue, moving cubes, Slam had managed to avoid the attacks with his tornado which he just stopped using. "Come on, we must destroy their weapons then we fight!" Ace commanded.

"Right away." Rev ran rapidly towards a pair of guards and took their weapons, he ended on the other side of the plaza. "Hey, look what I do to your toys I know these ain't toys but you get the idea!" Rev threw the rifles upwards and jumped then rushed in the air towards both weapons and destroyed them, making them to turn into falling, white dust with a cloud of blue colored smoke.

"You disgraceful bird! I'll kill you with my o…" A guard said but was interrupted by Rev who rushed towards him and punched him and the other disarmed guard in the face, they impacted on a nearby wall and fell to the ground unconscious.

Rev just stood in front of them while dusting his hands off. "You were saying?"

"Lexi, the double attack!" Ace told her and ran towards the center of the place to face the guards more closely.

Lexi followed him there. "Oh you mean the couple blast?"

Ace sighed and blushed. "Yes, Lexi." He fired his laser vision at a guard's weapon then Lexi did the same with her brain blast only that she aimed at one spot of Ace's laser which created a sphere shaped charge that they both aimed at the rifle and made it to hit the weapon strongly, it got destroyed with a colorful explosion.

Slam headed to the conflict using his tornado and made five guards to enter it and started to hit them while on the inside of the phenomenon, he then threw one by one upwards, making them to fall to the ground unconscious, still holding their weapons.

One of the guards shot at Duck but he reacted fast enough to throw an orb at the projectile, both collided and a blue explosion was generated with broken, randomly shaped cubes that just vanished in the air. "You will need more than that to be…" A guard punched his beak, Duck groaned and teleported behind the guard then threw an orb at him, making the guard to gasp and fall down. "As I said, you will need more than that to beat me!" He rubbed his beak. "But maybe is just enough to hurt me."

"My turn!" Tech headed at the four remaining guards with his jetpack, they began to shoot at him but he dodged the attacks with evasive maneuvers, he controlled the metal of their weapons and made them to float away from them, he then hit the four guards with their own weapons on the head, leaving them unconscious. He turned and landed next to Ace. "They were the last of them, boss."

"Good work, Doc." Ace looked at his other teammates. "You did well, Loonatics."

"We should inform Adam." Lexi proposed.

The night had come, the Loonatics entered the castle, Lyla was sitting on her throne. "Your highness, we must speak with the king immediately." Ace said.

"Is there any problem?" Lyla asked.

"We were attacked by your guards." Tech responded.

"Oh." Lyla stood up, pretending an expression of concern. "What could have possibly made them to do such barbarity?"

"They must be involved with the disappearances." Lexi responded. "You must stop them."

"I would be glad to help but that kind of decisions are to be made by me and my husband together." Lyla said. "Bureaucracy, you know."

"It's urgent, I'm sure you can at leas…" Ace got interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do now." Lyla insisted.

Ace sighed. "Don't worry, we understand."

"I don't!" Duck took a step forward to face Lyla. "You are responsible for this! Don't play the innocent, you don't fool anyone!"

Lyla frowned subtly. "Be careful with that insolent mouth of y…"

"Is fine, your highness." Ace rapidly took Duck with them. "We'll continue the investigation." He began to walk away from her along with the others then they exited the castle.

When they got far enough from the castle's entrance, Ace bumped Duck's head. "What the heck was that? You've risked the entire mission!" He scolded.

"Ouch!" Duck rubbed the back of his head. "She is clearly behind this, and you know it!"

"Yes but we must be cautious! We don't know what she is capable of!" Ace stated.

Meanwhile, Lyla was kneeling down while facing her throne, she placed both hands on the floor and began to move them to the sides slowly. "My reign begins, now." She whispered and raised her hands.

The city started to tremble and the citizens began to run scared and confused. "What now?!" Ace inquired and gasped at seeing the castle getting elevated by a white emerging mountain below it, getting unreachable.

"Now we are sure!" Tech looked at Ace. "She is behind the crimes! She must've done something to Adam!"

"See?!" Duck said.

Ace ignored him and tried to activate his comm. "What?" He hit it to see if that could make it work but nothing happened. "Tech, can you contact Matt?"

Tech tried to turn on his comm but nothing happened. "I can't!"

"Neither do I!" Lexi informed.

Ace snarled and jumped, with the intention to fly with his jetpack, but nothing happened. He looked at Tech with worry. "My jetpack doesn't work, Doc."

"She must've done something to our technology." Tech said.

"Stand back." Duck took a few steps forward, facing the mountain below the castle, with the intention to make an entrance. "I'll take care of this." He moved both hands to the front, his orbs didn't appear. "What in the…" He tried again but nothing happened.

"We are waiting." Lexi crossed her arms.

"I…I think I lost my powers." Duck said.

Ace gasped and looked at the ground, focusing on it, he tried to shoot his laser vision but it seemed to be gone. "We are two, then."

Slam punched the ground heavily, he groaned by the ache he felt by the hit, his super strength was gone.

Rev tried to run fast but all he got was a normal speed run. "We've all been affected!" His voice sounded normal.

Tech complained at the frustration of not being able to activate his magnetic powers. "Lexi, how are yours?"

"I can only hear you." Lexi responded, then she tried to fire her brain blast, without results. "Yeah, that's gone too."

Ace put both hands over his head, trying to think about a plan, there was only one thing to do at the moment. "We are on disadvantage here." He looked at his team.

"What will we do, boss?" Tech asked.

Ace shook his head. "For now, we escape, before t…" The four guards that surrounded them interrupted his words.

"You ain't going anywhere…Loonatics." A guard said, he pressed a hidden button on his rifle and a blade came out from a slot, the other three did the same. He approached Ace and threw an attack with his blade, right towards his face, but Ace crouched and dodged it, he then kicked the guard's side, who gasped and backed away a little bit, Slam was applying wrestling techniques with a guard, managing to deal with him.

A guard had cuffed Tech's arms with his own. "Get off me you…" The remaining guard punctured him with his blade right on his side, Tech screamed by the terrible pain he was feeling, the guard took the blade out of him, his side was bleeding, his regeneration powers were inactive, he gasped and fell to his knees, covering the wound with his hand.

"Tech!" Lexi yelled with extreme worry, she approached the two guards, they both tried to attack her with their blades, but she ducked and the blades clashed right above her head, she jumped and held from the clashed blades and brought herself to the ground, making the guards to fall and hit their heads with the other's, ending instantly unconscious. Duck and Rev were helping Ace with the guard hesitant to be out of the game, he was far more skilled than the others, Rev kicked his shin and the guard barely reacted, Duck climbed on his back and started to punch his face, an alternative attack to the one he tended to do with his burning orbs, the guard threw flawed punches, Ace hit his stomach with his knee, and the guard fell down.

"That's one for Duck." Duck claimed.

Ace growled then turned and saw Lexi helping Tech to stand up. "Guys! We gotta go now!"

"Then help us here!" Lexi replied, making Ace to approach them and help Tech to stand on his feet.

Tech groaned with authentic suffering. "He is…" He complained by the pain. "Right, more guards will come."

"Loonatics, to the gate!" Ace ordered. The team ran reasonably fast to avoid Tech from getting more hurt and losing more blood. After a couple of minutes of fearful running, they reached the gates and Slam got closer to them, he started to push the doors with all the strength he had, he growled by the enormous effort he was making, the doors opened slowly, he was getting very tired.

Ace saw the small but sufficient space Slam had revealed between the doors. "That's enough, Slam, well done." Ace praised. "Now let's get out of here!" He ran towards the gap followed by the others and they all exited the city, Slam was already outside.

With occasional, paranoiac turns by the fear of being followed, the Loonatics walked through the dense dessert. A couple of minutes later, Tech started to feel his pain fading away, he uncovered his wound, only to find out it was gone. "Boss." Tech said. "My powers…they're back."

Ace hesitated but decided to stop helping him walk along with Lexi as he really seemed to be much better. "Could that mean…?" He fired his laser vision to the sand, turning that area into clear glass. "They are back, guys!"

"That means she only holds power on her territory." Tech said.

"Can you make up something with that?" Ace asked.

"I'll need my lab for that." Tech responded.

Ace smirked with confidence. "And I'm glad you've said that." He activated his jetpack, the others did the same after seeing their technology was working again. They started to leave the desert behind, en route to the headquarters.