Loonatics United: Module 1

by Grant Crose

Acmetropolis has suffered a devastating attack from its inside, now the Loonatics have to deal with harsh consequences and new menaces.

36. Episode 36: Life

Loonatics: United

Episode 36: Life

The Loonatics were reunited in the HQ's lab, they were sitting at the great desk on the center, where the discussion about a plan was taking place.

"I say it's done." Duck opined. "Face it, guys, we can't win this, not without our powers and Tech's toys."

"By toys I hope you mean advanced, unprecedented technology." Tech said rather upset, then he sighed and scratched his head. "But I'm afraid you may be right."

Ace raised an eyebrow and looked at Tech with confusion. "Come on, Doc." He looked at the rest briefly. "Everybody, listen, we are on disadvantage, clearly, a grand disadvantage, but when has that stopped us?" He hoped his words to generate some hope, but the team barely listened as the sense of defeat was already a common feeling among them.

"My girl…" Rev shook his head. "You should've let me go with her."

Ace sighed. "She is fine, Rev, just…"

"No!" Rev stood up rapidly from his seat. "She must be dead now!"

"Rev, you don't know that." Lexi argued.

Rev grunted. "I could tell you exactly the same thing, this is useless." He vanished after a brief red blur.

Ace sighed again and tried to stand up to go and talk with him but Lexi prevented him from doing so. "I'll go, Ace." Lexi walked away from them in order to speak with Rev about the matter.

"Okay." Ace looked at Tech after the abrupt friction. "I'm listening, Doc."

Tech shook his head and let out a little growl of desperation. "No circuits, no dongles, no screens, no nothing." Tech covered his face with both hands. "This is too much for me."

Slam growled, questioning him about that uncommon type of frustration he was having.

"Slam, how can I be calm when the only thing I know to do is futile?" Tech glared at him. "I mean, what do you want me to do?" He looked at his boss. "Some kind of old schooled vehicle? With fire and…" He gasped with astonishment. "And, gunpowder?" Tech scratched his chin. "It doesn't sound that bad, yes." His eyes were lost on the desk's edge while he was picturing some designs in his mind.

Ace chuckled hopefully and grinned the same way. "That's old Tech, guys." Ace crossed his arms, his optimism was elevated.

Duck sighed with skepticism and stood up from his seat. "Yeah, good luck with that, uhm, whatever." He started to walk away from them. "If anyone needs me, I'll be at the lounge." Duck turned briefly and gave them a look of warning. "And please, don't need me." He finally exited the lab.

Rev was standing on the terrace next to the lounge, looking at the dark horizon, not feeling the cold of outside's air as his fear was greater than that. Lexi approached him and he frowned subtly as he didn't want to talk about anything at the moment.

"It's hard, isn't it?" Lexi inquired, getting Rev's attention, but his gaze was still looking at the front. "The doubts and the fear."

Rev kept his face straight. "What do you mean?"

"One of the things I'm good at, is at hiding my feelings." Lexi responded. "I play it cool when danger is near him."

Rev tilted his head a bit towards her, with his eyebrow raised. "Ace?"

Lexi nodded, lowering her head. "It's something we cannot simply ignore." She sighed. "I often imagine my life without him, it is, like an exercise."

"Sorry, but, I really don't get you." Rev replied.

"Neither do I, Rev." Lexi chuckled subtly. "Maybe I want to be prepared, for that day." She looked at him. "I'm afraid, Rev, every second, every day, for him not to return or breathe again."

Rev stood silent for a moment, then he glanced at her eyes too. "Why does this happen? Isn't love supposed to be all smiles and happiness?"

"It is that way, precisely." Lexi responded, glancing down again, at the far street below them, resting her crossed arms on the edge of the balustrade. "But, when it becomes, inevitably, a crucial part of your life, the mere thought of losing it turns into a nightmare."

Rev also glared at the city's lowest part, the ever glowing lampposts accompanied his thinking. "Does that mean, that I'm not ready?" He sighed silently. "I think she is the one."

Lexi chuckled reassuringly. "Quite the contrary, Rev." She put a hand on his shoulder. "It means she is indeed the girl for you."

Rev nodded. "That makes sense." He looked at her with a grateful smirk. "Thank you, Lexi." He looked at the side and scratched his nape. "I guess I should apologize to Ace."

"Don't worry." Lexi said. "If there's someone in this world who understands what you feel, it is him."

"Levers, I need levers!" Tech said while designing the vehicles on the lab's main computer, standing before the large keyboard, he was writing some specs and drawing vectors with the rolling pad while Ace, Duck and Slam were in the lab's warehouse at the other side of the room gathering what Tech was telling them.

The warehouse was a room annex to the lab, with its own automatic doors, which were open, of course. "You know, Doc, you could use some organizing tips from Lexi!" Ace lowered a box from a shelf at the top of one of the many racks that were full of random stuff.

Duck sniffed heavily, dropping the small plastic box he had been carrying, making the things that were on its inside to get all over the floor, rolling and falling. "Yeah, and maybe clean a little, too." He rubbed his nostrils over his beak, then he sniffed again.

Tech glanced back thanks to the messy noise, looking at Duck warningly. "If anything, even a single capacitor gets damaged by your incompetence, you'll pay for it! Duck!"

"Yeah, like if I knew what a capa-cetir, whatever, is." Duck was picking up the box's content and putting it back to its former place.

While looking on a metallic locker that was on a corner, Slam found a gray colored lever, but he wasn't sure if that was it so he walked to let Tech see him from the lab and growled to get his attention, asking if the thing he was holding was what Tech asked them to find.

Tech turned again, with his hands still over the keyboard. "Yes, Slam, but I'll need more!"

Slam grunted rather upset and dropped the lever carelessly on the floor then he walked back to the locker.

"Ace! Do you copy?!" Matt sighed worriedly and hit his wrist communicator at a wall to see if that could activate it. "Ace!" He waited hopeful for an answer but it never came. He lowered his arm and shook his head, resting over the wall of one of the nearby buildings at the meeting point they had previously established with the Loonatics.

"Maybe is the battery." Peyton said innocently.

"These things last, Peyton." Anne explained. "Something else must be going on."

"They must've obtained intel, then." Rebecca intuited.

Matt nodded and approached them three. "But we all agreed to meet here." He crossed his arms and got thoughtful. "We should go to the castle and tell the king about the matter."

After a brief but hurried walk, they approached the mountain that laid under the castle, their faces showed amusement, concern and confusion.

"Uhm…" Peyton tilted her head towards Anne to comment something. "Was this here before?" Anne just shook her head.

"This is very wrong." Matt turned and looked at his teammates. "We are not safe out here, w…"

"Oh, you are correct in that one." A guard said, who had intercepted them accompanied by four more, he was a cougar.

Peyton backed away instinctively. "Matt…" She said, appealing to her boss' super strength.

"Where are they?" Matt asked, frowning and adopting a combat position.

"The freaks?" The cougar laughed. "They are dead, my friend." His comment made Peyton to gasp and cover her muzzle, Rebecca kept a straight face but on the inside, she felt deeply concerned about her boyfriend.

Matt growled. "You are lying!" He threw a punch at the guard's face and while managing to give a strong hit, it was certainly one of average strength, and he noticed that.

"Your powers…they are gone." Anne said, still about to join the brawl that was starting.

Matt was thoughtful, he knew there was only one reasonable choice at the situation. "Run." He said softly but loud enough for Anne, Rebecca and Peyton to hear it.

The cougar laughed with unsubtle mockery. "And you call yourselv…" He got punched severely by Matt, who began to run away from the battle, following his three comrades, the shots of the guards' weapons turned spots of sand into blue cubes behind them, but they didn't look back, they all knew there was no chance, a cop and three modestly armed agents against trained soldiers with fantastical weapons.

Despite the growing exhaustion, the three agents and the cop kept running, turning on random intersections and passing through new alleyways, they weren't going to stop until they knew the guards had totally lost them, Peyton was the one who slowed down her steps sooner, she didn't have the same condition as the other three, after an unmeasurable effort she couldn't take it anymore and dropped herself to the ground, breathing in and out more than ever before, Matt and Anne stopped running a pair of meters ahead, they both rested their backs on opposite buildings and lowered themselves down to sit over the sand, looking up and gasping continuously.

"Sorry." Peyton coughed, with her hands and her knees over the sandy ground, blueish by the darkness of the night.

Matt closed his eyes of tiredness. "Is okay, Peyton." He said. "I think we've lost them."

Rebecca had just stopped running and started to retrieve some air. "That queen must be behind this."

Anne shook her head while recovering. "What was her name?" She leaned her head against the wall. "Lara?"

"Lyla." Rebecca corrected.

"You really think she is our target?" Matt inquired.

Peyton sighed with a tone of obviousness. "You still doubt about it?" She sat down with her legs crossed and her gaze lost on the sand. "I thought we had that clear since the fight with that kangaroo."

"I had my doubts, yeah, but now it seems that's just the case." Matt opined and glanced at a narrow alleyway next to the building in front of him, were Anne was resting. He pointed at it, as he thought it was a good place to spend the night and hide. "We are exposed here, what about that spot?"

Anne glared at her side. "Seems fine to me."

Peyton sighed and placed both hands on her face. "I just want some decent sleep right now."

"Same as I, Peyton." Matt began to stand up. "Tomorrow, we'll make up a plan and rescue our friends."

"If there are still friends to rescue." Anne said somberly and hopelessly.

Meanwhile, at the Loonatics HQ's lab, Tech was showing his comrades the inventive vehicles he had come up with, on the big monitor over the keyboard of the main computer, Ace and the rest were just standing behind him ready to contemplate the newly designed vehicles, while Tech was pressing several keys on the keyboard. "Lady and gentlemen." Tech pressed the spacebar and the monitor displayed 3D models of six vehicles, triggering surprise on the team, along with intrigued faces. "Behold, the X-Piders!" He raised and pointed his hands towards the display. "Fully analogical, no chips, no wires, no circuits, pure old engineering."

"A little, aggressive." Duck said, noticing the rusty look of the arachnid shaped vehicles, the industrial yet futuristic aesthetic of the X-Piders was their greatest point in favor. Duck crossed his arms and chuckled with confidence. "I like them."

Tech grinned at his comment. "Thanks, Duck." He pressed the enter key, then the models' animations began to play, starting with a zoom in at Ace's X-Pider. "I did my best to emulate our powers with these beauties." The animation showed the X-Pider throwing fire through a set of small tubes that were located at the top of the vehicle.

Ace nodded with a smirk of interest. "Nice, Doc."

"Now, with Lexi's." Tech just waited for the next animation to show up, zooming in again at the model at the side of the previous one. The vehicle had two metallic spheres, also at the top, which began to shoot powerful rays as lightning. "This was a tough one, certainly, but with the adequate minerals, which I have, the generated static will be enough to replicate your brain blast, Lexi." He looked at her. "What do you think?"

Lexi studied it while covering her chin. "Not bad, Tech." She replied. "Let me give it some paint, and I'm in."

"Sure." Tech responded, then looked back at the screen. The next vehicle started to play. "Duck, yours was not so hard to conceive, it basically, does this." He pointed at the vehicle that was shooting rocks with a cannon at the side. "That's the advantage of gunpowder."

"I'll keep saying this…" Duck thundered his fingers. "I like it."

The next animation played. "Alright, Slam, as its well known you like to smash and flatten things up." Tech said while the displayed vehicle showed a giant hammer going up to down heavily. "I chose to let the heavy stuff to you."

Slam growled with concurrence while crossing his arms, grinning gratefully.

"Now, Rev's." Tech waited for the next animation to play. "As you can see, your X-Pider's legs have special springs to give it the ability to jump great distances."

Rev nodded at what he was seeing. "It's okay I mean no it's actually awesome I already want to test it but hey we still don't know about yours."

Tech chuckled. "But of course, I left the best one for the end." He glanced at the screen, his vehicle had a big, metallic and circular magnet at the front. "With this, I'll be able to disarm all of those soldiers in a blink." The animation showed the magnet attracting several objects like weapons and scraps of metal. He turned and looked at his comrades. "Give me a couple of hours, and they'll be ready."

"Great job, Doc!" Ace approached him and patted his shoulder. "I knew you would find us a solution."

"Thanks, boss." Tech replied. "I'm sure they'll be ready by tomorrow's morning."

"You want any help with that?" Duck asked.

"Actually, I could u…" Tech just left the phrase unfinished as Duck had teleported to somewhere else.

Tech sighed. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me."

Ace chuckled. "Don't worry, you got eight more hands here to help build those things."

Slam snarled, feeling forced to help, he sighed and nodded after Ace's statement.

"As I said before…" Lexi approached them both. "I'll choose the paint."

"Seems fair to me." Tech grinned.

They all started to work on the vehicles, gathering more stuff in the lab at Tech's command, they were building the X-Piders step by step with the help of the diagrams Tech had printed, Ace was soldering a lever onto the first piece of his future vehicle while occasionally looking at his copy of the diagram he was holding with the other hand, to avoid making any mistakes.

Lexi was painting the eight legs of her X-Pider with a spray can of pink paint, she had arranged them on the floor, close the each other.

Duck was in the kitchen, looking for food in the cupboard, he struggled to find something tasty.

Rev was building his X-Pider way faster than the others, reading the diagrams with quick eye movements, and returning to his work space in a rush to apply the instructions with the tools he had at his side.

Duck gasped when he found a bag of chips at the bottom of the narrow cupboard, he reached the bag with some effort and opened it, smelling the salty snack, he intended to leave the kitchen at that moment, but then turned back to look for a bowl.

Slam was using no tools to build his vehicle, he used punches instead, basically forcing the pieces to stay together, a rough but efficient job.

Tech was moving the magnet across the lab with his powers, he then lowered it and by moving and adjusting some nuts and screws, he managed to attach it to his vehicle's systems successfully. After that, he went to the warehouse to look for more metal and tools as he took the responsibility too build Duck's X-Pider.

Duck was emptying the bag of chips onto the big, blue bowl he had put over the kitchen's table, he just left the empty bag on the floor before walking towards the lounge, but then he remembered something important, the chips needed some sauce, so he turned again and went to the cupboard to look for it.

After a couple of hours, as Tech had predicted, the X-Piders were finished, huge and bulky arachnid-shaped vehicles, with glass windows covering the cockpits, lots of levers and pulleys conformed the systems, analogical with no sign of electric components. The looks of five of them were the same, rusty like, industrial and rough, but Lexi's was completely covered in pink. "That woman doesn't know what awaits her with these beauties." Tech said, looking at his creations proudly.

"This will be interesting, I can't remember the last time I pedaled an actual bike." Lexi was referring to the X-Piders movement system, similar as a bike, just as she stated.

"Well, these shall get us in good shape then." Ace said. "Some exercise won't make us any harm."

"Did you just call me fat?" Lexi looked at him, with upset, joking eyes.

"No, I was just, uhm." Ace began to feel nervous. "You know me, I like to see the bright side of things sp…" He got interrupted when Lexi kissed his cheek suddenly.

Lexi chuckled. "It's so easy to fool you."

"Well the sun is already showing up I actually was on the lounge literally a couple of seconds ago and we should move fast to end with this soon." Rev said, the remnants of his red blur had vanished almost completely behind him.

Ace nodded. "I concur, Rev." He looked at Tech. "Doc, get the jet ready."

"On its way, boss." Tech left the lab in a hurry, heading to the hangar.

Lexi sighed. "I'll get the lazy one." When trying to leave, Ace stopped her.

"Not so fast, Lexi." Ace walked towards a toolbox that was on the floor, he took a spray-can of orange paint and walked towards Duck's X-Pider, he shook the can and then started to paint a word with it on the vehicle's back. He then looked at his comrades. "Slam, Lexi, Rev, come here and tell me what do you think."

The three Loonatics approached the vehicle and shared brief laughs at seeing what Ace had written on its surface. "It suits him." Lexi said.

"Yeah I would have written it on the window but that would have been dangerous for him I mean the guy is kinda annoying for me but not at that level." Rev opined.

Slam just laughed again, more exaggerated than the others.

Tech had finished preparing the jet, on his way to the lab, he saw Duck watching TV, sitting over the couch and eating the chips he had brought with him carelessly. "Hey Duck! We are leaving now!"

"One more minute, Tech." Duck pointed at the TV before eating a pair of chips. "I want to know what happened with Rosita's money." He said with his mouth full.

Tech grunted and walked towards him, he took the cloth of his suit behind his neck and began to drag him like a ragdoll towards the lab. "It was not a question, Duck."

Duck coughed repeatedly. "But I…" He started to overact a bit. "I…wanna...but…Rosi…" Tech ignored him and kept dragging him all the way towards the lab.

Meanwhile at Quantal, the three members of A.R.M. and Rebecca were walking stealthily between the people on the city's streets, watching over every spot to avoid encountering with more guards. "I hope you to be right, Peyton." Matt said. "Acmetropolis would be lost without them, if they are not there, that will be a reality."

"They will be there, Matt." Anne replied. "Where else could they be but in the dungeon?"

"Buried, gone." Matt said, keeping his tone low.

"The dungeon shouldn't be too fay away now." Rebecca stated. "We've walked for hours."

"Yeah, that doesn't me…" Matt stopped talking when seeing a big, cave-like, open entrance, protected by two guards at the distance. "Never mind." He looked at his teammates. "So...what's the plan, Peyton?"

Peyton raised an eyebrow, raising her hands with the palms aiming at him. "Don't look at me, I had the idea, but you're still, uhm, the plann-er?"

Matt sighed. "Okay." He turned and looked at the guards, trying to visualize a strategy. "Maybe…back to back…" He scratched his chin while thinking more, he finally took a decision. "Yeah, that will work." He whispered to himself then looked at Anne. "Back to back, honey." He said.

Anne nodded. "I was just about to propose that."

"What about me?" Peyton inquired.

"You wait here." Matt responded. "You are still not ready to fight."

Peyton couldn't come up with a solid argument against his statement. "Sure." She concluded, with subtle disappointment and shame.

"I'll take care of the child." Rebecca looked briefly at Peyton.

"Hey!" Peyton protested.

"Okay, then." Matt said and gestured towards the entrance, Anne understood the brief signal and they both hurried between the crowd.

The guards spotted them right on their way and readied their weapons, taking out the blades from their respective slots, Matt and Anne approached them with their backs facing the other's. Matt grasped the guard's weapon with both hands and with a quick push he got it away from his face, he punched the guard right on the snout after so, the guard's helmet protected him well, he replied to the hit with a quick maneuver of his weapon, aiming the blade at Matt's right arm, managing to cut through the cloth of his jacket and injure him, Matt groaned and covered his arm instantly, but he knew he needed to resist and keep rhythm, so he jumped despite of the pain he was feeling and kicked the guard with both feet on the chest, making him to fall. Matt stood up from the sand and approached the guard, he knelt down next to him and started to punch him several times, he took off his mask to reduce his advantage even more, revealing the bleeding face of the canine behind it, he gave a final, concluding punch and left the man unconscious, Matt gasped and stood up to help Anne with her own guard, she evaded the constant attacks that the guard threw with the sharp blade of the rifle, she crouched and jumped at his legs, caging them and bringing him down along with herself, she approached his face and grabbed his neck while kneeling down next to him, she punched his face strongly, managing to break the mask in the process, neutralizing him.

Anne stood up and dusted off her clothes, Matt was resting over the gray, rocky wall of the entrance, looking at her while sighing repeatedly. "Good job." Matt said, with a tone of tiredness. "I knew you would handle it." He groaned and rubbed his arm.

Anne chuckled with pride. "And you came to my aid nonetheless." She approached him and gasped at seeing the blood on his jacket. "Your arm…" She took his arm carefully.

"I'm fine…" Matt gently moved her hand away from his wound. "Let's find our friends."

Anne looked at the spot where Peyton and Rebecca were supposed to stay. "Uhm, Matt, where are…"

"We're here." Peyton said, she and Rebecca had met with them with no previous warning.

Anne gasped and jumped a bit, then sighed and shook her head. "Don't give me those scares, please."

"Got it." Peyton replied.

"Come on." Matt entered the dungeon, followed by Anne, Peyton and Rebecca.

The dungeon was like a cave with cells at the sides, the hallway where they walked seemed to have no ending and it was illuminated by small led lights. "This place looks so…empty." Peyton noticed that they hadn't encountered with any prisoner since they arrived.

"Maybe they're at the bottom." Matt opined. "They must be here, I know it."

Anne was thinking more pessimistically now, at every darkness that was revealed they only found more empty cells. "This is very strange." She said. "Where is everybody?"

"Dead." A familiar voice came from the darkness ahead of them, they all let out subtle gasps of fright, but kept walking into the darkness to find out who had spoke, the modest lights revealed that Adam was caged in the cell that Lyla had made for him, and that cell was inside another cell, the one from the dungeon.

"Adam!" Matt approached the cell hurriedly, followed by the others. "What are you doing here? What happened?"

"The answer to both questions is simple." Adam replied. "Evil, there's your answer."

"You'll need to be more specific." Anne got closer to the cell, grinning at him as a greet.

"Hi, Anne." Adam was sitting on a corner, against the bars of his cell, his gaze was lowered.

"Hi, Adam." Anne responded with friendly courtesy. "I wish we had met again at better circumstances."

"Bud." Matt said. "Where are the others?"

Adam shook his head. "I've answered that question already."

Matt felt a great despair inside him, he grasped the outer cell's bars with disbelief. "It cannot be."

"We are late." Anne lowered her head. "The Loonatics are gone."

Adam's eyes widened slightly then he looked at them. "The Loonatics?" He found out they had misinterpreted him. "They haven't been here."

Matt raised his gaze, he looked at Adam, reassured by the comment. "Then, who were you talking about when you said 'dead'?"

"The prisoners." Adam responded. "She killed them all."

"Your wife." Rebecca said. "How are you so sure?"

"She told me everything." Adam replied, with notorious disappointment on his eyes. "Then she caged me here."

"That's something I can solve." Matt took out his gun and shot at the cell's lock, but nothing happened. "Or not." He put away his weapon, slightly embarrassed.

"Now I regret making these bars so indestructible." Adam expressed. "Funny."

Matt sighed. "If only I had my powers to take you out of here, bud."

Adam looked at him behind the bars, concerned. "What happened to them?"

"I'm not sure." Matt replied. "But I think it has something to do with your wife."

Adam thought for a moment, then he shook his head and lowered his gaze. "She has overpassed me in so many ways." He sighed. "Not the same Lyla I created."

Everybody raised an eyebrow after the comment. "Did I just hear what I heard?" Peyton inquired.

"Uhm, could you explain yourself a little?" Rebecca asked.

"Sure." Matt responded and looked at them the best he could. "It all began not too long after I decided to build this city from scratch, my mind and my hands were the correct tools for the job, they have served me well." He looked away, gazing at a dark spot behind the team with nostalgia. "But I found out that wasn't all I wanted or needed, there was this, emptiness, inside my cognitions. Frustration came and I thought I would've never find the answer, until I saw her, I imagined her at my side, smiling at me and taking my hand with emotion, a beautiful woman to share my goals and achievements, Lyla, I named her, everything just started to form and all of a sudden she appeared in front of me and gave me that look I had seen only in dreams, she was like me, compassionate, enthusiastic, intelligent."

"Modest." Rebecca interrupted, grinning jokingly at him.

Adam just kept talking. "I gave her freedom, to be as she willed. But she misused it, as we just have discovered." Tears began to appear on the corner of his eyes. "I taught her love, mercy and service." One tear finally escaped. "She answered with hate, revenge and egoism."

Matt looked at Adam empathetically, he, as everyone else, noticed there was true sorrow in his words. "I'm sorry." Matt said.

Adam nodded, he was still wandering through his memories. "I appreciate your support, my friend." He sighed and looked at him. "But I'm afraid is useless, as my wife has won this battle." Adam glanced away from them. "Go, leave while you still have a chance."

Matt shook his head. "That won't happen, Adam."

Adam looked at him again, with eyes of warning and worry. "Leave this place, I beg you, she'll kill you all and that's a burden I'm not willing to carry for the rest of my days."

"You may be king." Anne crossed her arms and approached the bars of the cell. "But you can't make us leave, you are our friend and we will stay here, with you."

Adam grunted silently. "You don't understand, Anne, she is very powerful, you are nothing against her."

"That's true." Rebecca said, getting the team's attention. "She would crush us in a second, with no doubt." A tone of hope began to show up in her words. "But I know six people who can put an end to this." Rebecca looked at Adam. "Our duty now is to keep the king safe."

"I'm not worth the risk, good people." Adam insisted. "Honestly, I don't think our friends have a bigger chance than you four."

"Then believe it." Matt replied. "Is all we can do now."

The hangar's door at the Loonatics HQ was open and ready to let the jet come out. "All the systems are online." Tech reported from the cockpit.

"Alright, team, plan recall." Ace said from his seat. "We land on the desert, get in the spiders a…"

"X-Piders." Tech corrected, loudly from the cockpit.

Ace growled. "Okay, we get in the 'X'! Piders." He exclaimed that first letter. "And climb to the castle, stop the queen and rescue Adam, understood?" The team nodded at Ace's question.

"At your command, boss." Tech said.

Ace took a deep breath and grinned with hope and young confidence. "Let's jet, Doc!"

Tech accelerated and the jet left the hangar in a blink, en route to the desert. They had put the X-Piders on the storage area of the jet. The sun was rising on the horizon, the day of truth had arrived, there wasn't any kind of speech while they were approaching the desert, the team was focused on the mission, more focused and concentrated than ever, wanting to put and end to Lyla's reign of terror.

Lyla was standing at the edge of the new mountain, in front of the castle's entrance she was now wearing a polygonal crown on her head, black colored with glowing blue lights like gems, she sighted the Loonatics' jet coming from far away, she grinned with confidence and daring eyes then kneeled down and placed both hands on the white and porous surface of the mountain, she closed her eyes and began to raise her hands very slowly. From various spots, huge cannons began to pop out from the mountain's rocky surface, these weapons were made of the same material, porous and white, glowing red light could be seen emerging from their muzzles. She stood up and dusted her hands off, then she communicated with her soldiers using her mind powers. "Dear warriors, I'm afraid to tell you that this kingdom won't need your services anymore." She moved her hand to the left and for about a second she could hear all of the final screams of the soldiers, then it all turned into silence. She smirked evilly and began to return to the castle, getting inside and closing the doors with a single gesture, then she stopped walking at the middle of the way between the principal doors and the thrones. "Prepare for your last battle, Loonatics." She said with confidence.

The jet landed softly on the desert's sandy hills, then everyone came out rapidly from it, except for Tech, who pressed a button on the console of the jet and the back door began to open. He then exited the cockpit with a jump and approached the jet's back door along with the rest of them. The door opened completely and the Loonatics didn't hesitate to get in their respective X-Piders. "I'll explain again." Tech said while getting inside his vehicle through the hatch it had at the top. "Pedal to move, pull to attack." He put his seat belt on and began to pedal, making the legs of the spider to move with harmony, smoothly and with minimum effort, getting the vehicle out of the jet by the ramp that was touching the sand.

"Got it, Doc." Ace said while following the same steps as Tech before following him to the outside.

"Who did this?!" Duck exclaimed all of a sudden, angry and annoyed.

"What is it, Duck?" Lexi turned along with her vehicle with the help of the pedals and the steering wheel, same as the rest.

"Oh, don't play the innocents!" Duck aimed his hands at the backside of his X-Pider. "Lazy! L-A-Z-Y…oh when I find the one who did this…" He got inside the vehicle nonetheless and just followed the others.

"It was me, Duck." Ace confessed, with a mix of joke and seriousness on both his face and the tone of his voice. "You'll think it twice next time you decide to walk by instead of helping us out!" He tried to speak loudly as they had deactivated their comms.

Duck grunted. "You're… despicable."

"Come on I have to save my girlfriend you know Rebecca Moon the beautiful raccoon!" Rev said with desperation. "Oh, that rhymed guys!" His eyes widened a little, he was already in his vehicle.

"Don't worry, Rev." Ace said and made his vehicle to face Quantal's barriers. "Loonatics, time to put order here!"

The team headed to the city, driving their odd, arachnid machines, attentive to any kind of traps that could appear on their way. The path towards the danger had been strangely calm, but things were about to change. They reached the barrier of Quantal, Ace looked at his side, upwards. "Can these things climb walls, Doc?"

Tech chuckled. "Of course they can, boss!" He moved his X-Pider towards the white barrier and the vehicle automatically started to climb it. "Follow my lead!"

"You heard him!" Ace stated and also took his vehicle to the wall's end, the X-Pider attached its eight legs to the wall easily and it began to climb just as Tech's.

"I hope this doesn't get me dizzy or something." Lexi said as her X-Pider went completely vertical.

"Oh, you can stay here if you want to." Duck replied, having got his X-Pider in position, same as Rev and Slam.

Lexi grunted and moved fast towards Duck's vehicle, hitting it with purpose, almost making it to fall. "You were saying?!"

When Duck recovered from the hit, the vehicle was still shaking, he then looked at her through the X-Pider's window, pissed off. "You can't stand a single joke, can you?!"

"The same way you did with Ace's little prank?" Lexi raised an eyebrow, smirking a little.

"It's n…" Duck sighed. "Whatever."

"Be careful down there!" Tech warned.

The X-Piders reached the top of the wall rapidly. "Just keep moving!" Tech instructed, they followed his command and the X-Piders began to descend towards Quantal's ground over the wall.

The six vehicles reached land safely, Lexi felt relieved when the vehicle was facing frontwards again. "Alright." She looked at the castle over the top of the mountain. "Now for the big one."

Slam growled while raising an eyebrow, having thought she was talking about him.

"I think she refers to the mountain, Slam." Ace clarified.

Slam thought for a moment, he then growled when understanding Ace's explanation.

"No more time to loose, g…" Tech gasped as he suddenly felt weaker and different, the same way he had felt when his powers were gone before. "It has begun, guys."

"I felt it too, Doc." Ace said. "It's up to your 'beauties' now."

"And…we are lost then." Duck commented.

"What are you talking about? If you do the proper study you'll see that it is thanks to my inven…" Tech was interrupted.

"Discuss later." Ace ordered. "It's show time."

Lyla had her eyes closed, she sensed the presence of the six heroes. "Show me the best of you, Loonatics, as you'll need it more than ever before." She readied the cannons with a circular movement over the throne room's floor.

The X-Piders approached the mountain, Ace looked up and saw the huge cannons that were aiming at them. "Were those things there before, Doc?"

Tech delayed to respond as he analyzed what he could of the weapons' composition. "Negative, boss." He replied. "And I don't think they're for fireworks."

"If I had my brain blast, I would be dealing with them already." Lexi complained.

"Trust me." Tech replied. "These things will suffice." He started to move forward, right towards the mountain's first rocks.

"We can do this, team." Ace said. "Just keep moving."

Each one of them began to pedal towards the mountain, not too much before getting the vehicles' multiple legs over its white and rocky surface. They all had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the lever that hung from the ceiling. The six vehicles were facing upwards, maintaining their vertical paths and moving one leg at a time, with cautious steps. "I'm getting tired already!" Duck complained all of a sudden, getting no response.

Lyla let out a confident chuckle, she moved her hands slightly backwards. "And the Battle of the Mountain begins."

The cannons began to glow more intensely, the red light almost covered their own surroundings uniformly. "Attack!" Ace exclaimed and aimed his vehicle at the cannon, he pulled the lever at his right side and the flames of his X-Pider came out rapidly, reaching the cannon right when it was about to shoot a charge, overheating it and making it to explode into numerous, little pieces of burning rock and red cubes that fell down all the way to the ground that was already several meters below them, some pieces hit the vehicles, but they only gave them a few scratches and dents.

Lyla was coughing as she had been directly affected by the attack. She screamed with rage and began to charge more cannons. "You dared to challenge me! And I shall not be humiliated!"

Duck grunted. "Good job, Ace! You pissed her off!"

"Now it's late to argue, Duck!" Ace responded as he counted how many cannons were aiming at them. "Those are two for each one, team!" He stated and kept pedaling.

"Practice those gaming skills, Lexi!" Rev said in a challenging way.

Lexi grinned. "With pleasure." One of the cannons she was aiming at shot a charge, a huge red cube that glowed like the sun, she gasped by the sudden attack and before it could get closer to her vehicle she pulled the lever and the X-Pider shot a glowing white ray that collided with the cubic projectile, it decomposed instantly into floating ashes after a silent but bright explosion.

"Yeah!" Lexi celebrated. "I'm the best!"

"Not so fast." Rev pulled the lever and his vehicle jumped forward, getting rather far from the others, he had aimed at a cannon so thanks to the jump's impulse he crushed the loading weapon with the vehicle's heaviness, not without scraps and cubes falling after an explosion. "Now who's the best?!" Rev raised his fist with joy.

Not too long after Rev's success, Slam approached two cannons that were particularly close to each other, he pulled his X-Pider's lever and the hammer went from the top of the vehicle to the cannon instantly, smashing it into hundreds of pieces, he immediately pulled the lever again, then he repeated but aiming at the other cannon, the hammer did its job by crushing the weapon right on time. A growing cloud of black smoke started to come out from the remains of the cannons, Slam growled arrogantly and pedaled in a random way to simulate celebration.

"I'm glad you are having fun, guys, but this ain't no game at all!" Tech argued.

"Oh, you're such a killjoy." Lexi replied.

"You wanna see high scores?!" Duck thundered his fingers. "Just watch!" Without previous study, he started to shoot the rocks of his vehicle, which came out covered in flames, most of them just didn't hit anything, but some got inside the muzzles of a cannon, obstructing it, the weapon began to malfunction and it exploded with its own charge, turning into randomly flying red cubes. "That's Danger Duck for you!"

They kept advancing and destroying the weapons that got in their way with the help of the X-Piders' weapons, Lyla was getting furious as she sensed their successful attacks, she focused on the three most effective at the time, Duck, Slam and Rev, she made two cannons to appear by the sides of each one of them, charging already.

"Woah!" Duck gasped with fright by seeing the bright and menacing red glow just a few inches next to his vehicle, he didn't figure out what to do soon enough, his hands couldn't decide between the lever or the steering wheel, there was a worrying uncertainty among them, Slam and Rev were at the same situation as Duck, the other three, Ace, Lexi and Tech were too busy fighting the cannons on the upper levels of the mountain to notice the big trouble their comrades were in. That moment was certainly brief and the cannons shot their charges.

The three X-Piders got destroyed, turned into falling red cubes, the three Loonatics started to fall all the way down to the bottom, hitting several rocks, gasping and groaning by the constant hits they received while falling. The three finally hit the ground, Slam did so in a much greater scale.

As Tech was practically just watching over Ace and Lexi, because his magnet wasn't working with Lyla's weapons, he turned around with the pedals and the steering wheel to try to spot new targets, he gasped at seeing his friends getting off the ground slowly and with great effort, having found out their respective vehicles had been destroyed. "Guys! Are you okay?!" He said worriedly. "What happened?!"

Duck coughed as Slam helped him to stand up, Slam had been the one who took the impact less gravely, Rev just stood up on his own, rubbing his arm as he had fallen right over it. "Not good!" Duck yelled, looking up, glancing at Tech.

"We got cornered by those things and it was literally..." Rev rubbed his head, he was having a headache provoked by the hit. "…impossible for us to stop them!" He concluded.

Slam growled with strength, confirming what Rev had said.

Tech sighed. "Hold on! We'll finish this up here." He turned a bit at hearing a blast that happened behind him. "Look for A.R.M.! They must be in trouble!"

Duck was recovering his breath, the pain of the great fall was still present. He finally looked up again and nodded. "What else can we do, anyway?!" It was his way of accepting orders.

Tech nodded. "Go, then!" He turned around with his vehicle and pedaled towards the battle that grew between Ace, Lexi and Lyla's weapons.

"Lexi!" Ace exclaimed when he saw five cannons stacking up in front of them, knowing they needed to attack together. He looked at her through his vehicle's window. "Couple blast!"

"You've learned!" Lexi responded with emotion, she and her boyfriend got in position and pulled their vehicle's levers, Ace's X-Pider shot fire and Lexi's threw rays, they merged and turned into a solid ray that was hitting directly on the group of cannons, they started to shine white as stars that were about to explode, thing that happened sooner than they expected.

The explosion's sound reached the ears of the Loonatics that were looking for A.R.M. "Whoa!" Duck stopped running and turned to admire the enormous amount of light that was coming from a tall spot of the mountain.

"I hope that means they are doing well not that they're long gone and done!" Rev said with a mix of optimism and worry.

Slam growled, encouraging them to keep searching. He gave a final look at the dimming light then resumed his hurry, followed by Rev and Duck.

Lyla was laying on the floor, having felt the strength of the explosion. She got on her knees with unexpected effort, groaning by the pain. She raised her gaze and looked at the door, assuming it was their target, she growled and stood up after a gasp product of the continuous pain. "Bring it on…" She adopted a position of defense. "Bring it on!" She yelled with desperation.

"Engage! Now!" Ace commanded and pedaled the fastest he could, followed by Tech and Lexi, who were also giving their most at the demanding task. The three vehicles reached the horizontal ground before the castle's facade. The Loonatics took a moment to regain their breath. "Now…" Ace breathed deeply before finishing his order. "Destroy…Destroy that door!" He pointed at the castle's tall door, he pedaled forward to get right in front of it, Lexi and Tech got at his sides, Ace just began to shoot the fire of his vehicle at the door, Lexi did the same with her X-Pider's ray, the door started to make cracking sounds, cracks began to grow from the center to its four corners. Ace and Lexi stopped firing, having weakened the door successfully, Tech pedaled towards the door and with a maneuver, he managed to hit the door with the front of his vehicle, destroying it and revealing the castle's inside after all the remains fell. "Good job, team!" Ace praised. He entered the castle after Tech did, Lexi entered last.

Lyla formed two grenades over the palms of her hands, they were floating black spheres with a strange bright. "Do you think you can stop progress?" She stared at them angrily, her voice was slightly broken. "It is imminent." She took a step forward. "I am that progress."

"You call killing…progress?" Lexi asked.

"I kill those who deserve to be killed!" Lyla got more uneasy on a finger snap.

"And who may be those, Queen of Quantal?" Ace pedaled forward.

"Thieves, kidnappers…" Lyla began to walk towards them. "Murderers."

"Tell me something, Lyla." Tech said, being helped by the castle's echo. "What makes you different from them? You do exactly the same thing, and you know it."

"I…" Lyla growled. "There is no other way!"

"You are wrong." Ace said, they were already a pair of meters in front of the queen. "There are other ways, much more than you imagine."

"Slow…" Lyla replied. "Ineffective."

"It's all about strength, Lyla." Lexi said. "Strength to face challenges, to help the wrongdoers to be better, brick by brick, not to take the easy route."

"That's…" Lyla couldn't come up with an adequate answer, she was cornered, in many ways. All she could do was to scream with desperation after being unable to throw another justifying word, she moved her arm back to throw the first grenade. "I am the progress! For my kingdom! For the world! For the universe!" Lyla threw the first grenade at Ace, who reacted fast enough to shoot at it with the fire of his vehicle, it made it explode in thousands of black cubes that floated briefly then just vanished in the air.

"Split!" Ace commanded, Lexi and Tech obeyed the order and went to different sides of the throne room with quick pedaling, Lyla didn't hesitate to throw the other grenade, she aimed it at Lexi, who pulled the lever just in time to electrify the grenade, which exploded and emitted a louder noise than the previous one did, the lighting covered cubes disappeared after so, Lexi took advantage of the moment and shot her ray at Lyla, who flew towards a wall while being electrocuted, she hit the wall so hard that a crack formed on its white surface, she gasped and fell to the ground, then Lexi stopped shooting.

Lyla groaned by the lightning that was still hurting her, she tried to get into her feet but the pain was stronger than her at that moment, she gazed at Lexi with eyes of hate. "You…will pay for that!"

"Face it, princess." Tech said, pedaling towards her. "You're done."

Lyla growled and started to stand up, screaming and rubbing her aching arm. When she got fully into her feet, she closed her hand as if she was wielding something, an exaggeratedly tall and sharp sword appeared right after so like a pixelated video transition. "Your lives are mine, Loonatics!" She made a quick, menacing movement with the sword. "Come and end this!"

"With pleasure." Lexi pedaled fast towards her before she could attack Tech, she got between the upcoming hit and her comrade, the X-Pider trembled violently with the attack, but it resisted, as Lyla had hit its metallic surface. Tech gained time to back away and let Ace team up with Lexi to take Lyla down.

"Want some help?" Ace arrived and shot a large flame at Lyla, who screamed and got on her knees, totally on fire, but still holding the sword, she started to surround herself on a wet looking, black matter, which covered her completely for a few seconds, then it melted and revealed her, free from the fire and the pain.

Lyla breathed deeply and slowly, tiredness began to affect her, a sudden chuckle of pride came from her, she then let out a couple more and stood up while staring at the floor. "Your tricks are childish, useless, and futile." She looked at Ace, backing away her sword. "But mine shall end you now!" She ran towards him and began to hit his vehicle with the sword, enraged, not letting him to even move back, she spotted the weapon on the top of the X-Pider, so she jumped and cut it in half cleanly.

Ace tried to activate the weapon, but the flamethrower was no more. "Hey! That's against the rules!"

Lyla grinned and prepared to throw another attack. "There are no rules here, bunny." She lifted the sword and threw another hit, but Ace shielded from it with the frontal legs of the X-Pider, managing to stand just on the legs of the back. Lyla gasped as she found it hard to move the sword a single inch towards him. "I got to admit…" Lyla said. "You know how to cause trouble."

"You…" Ace tried to pedal but Lyla's insistent attack was very strong. "…have no idea!" He screamed by the effort and managed to pedal enough to push Lyla, who fell on her back next to her sword.

As soon as Lyla tried to recover, Lexi started to shoot at her with her ray, making her to scream and shake over the floor. "You like that?!" Lexi exclaimed with mockery, electrocuting her continuously.

"P…" Lyla's tearful eyes looked at Lexi. "P…please!" She let out a scream of suffering. "Stop!"

"Lexi!" Ace exclaimed, stating it was more than enough.

Lexi immediately obeyed him, stopping the attack, knowing she had crossed the line. "Right." She sighed and thought for a moment about what had happened. "Okay." She started to feel ashamed.

Ace nodded at her with a straight face, he then pedaled cautiously towards Lyla, who seemed to have fainted, Tech approached her from behind with less caution. "That's it?" Tech inquired, Lyla was still being surrounded by intermittent lighting. He got a bit closer to her, looking at her from above through the X-Pider's window. "I can't see any signs of…" His words weren't faster than the sudden recovery of Lyla, who took her sword and punctured Tech's vehicle all the way through, getting through his side.

"Gah!" Tech exclaimed with unbearable pain.

"Tech!" Ace growled and pedaled towards Lyla, hitting her with the vehicle, sending her a few meters away from them.

"Hold on!" Lexi approached Tech with her vehicle, she then opened the hatch and jumped out of the X-Pider. "Hold on, Doc…" She repeated, wielding the sword that Lyla had left embedded on the vehicle, she began to pull it, making Tech to scream even more, groaning while the blade was getting out. "Just one more sec…" Lexi gave a final pull, getting the sword out of him and the vehicle, she dropped the sword and immediately climbed the X-Pider to reach for the hatch.

Ace was dealing with Lyla, he had cornered her between two columns, throwing fire at her with no stop. "Is over!" Ace exclaimed and got right in front of her.

Lyla was resisting the fire much better than the average person would do, even better than any Loonatic could, but it still weakened her, the pain the heat was causing her was increasing, it did so until the point she knelt down in front of Ace, raising her hands as if she was about to fabricate another weapon with her last strengths. "You…" Lyla expressed with a broken voice. "Are no riv…" The fire stopped suddenly, in exchange for continuous hits of the X-Pider's frontal legs, Ace was moving the pedals and the steering wheel harmonically to hit her face, left to right and so on, with growing desperation as it seemed to be ineffective. When he judged it was enough, at seeing her eyes closed behind the fastness of his attacks, he stopped and got his vehicle totally horizontal again. Lyla laid between the columns, hurt, unconscious, defeated, no scars or burns could be seen on her but the victory was real this time.

Ace gasped and sighed continuously while watching over her, just in case it was another trick. When he got sure it wasn't, he got out of his vehicle with a jump, then hurried towards Lexi and Tech.

Tech groaned when Lexi helped him to sit on the floor with his back resting on a wall, his side was bleeding and the wound was deep. "It's…far worse than I thought." He said while rubbing his wound, looking at it with anxious eyes, which were also lost and tearful.

"Don't worry, Tech." Lexi reassured. "Everything will be okay."

Ace approached them and knelt down next to his comrade. "Come on, man." He helped him to stand up with serious struggle, constant growls and groans came from Tech. "We gotta go." Ace said while handing him to Lexi.

Lexi helped Tech to stand on his feet by supporting him with her arm under his. "You'll be fine, Tech." Lexi started to take him to her vehicle carefully.

"I'll take the queen." Ace informed. "Let's find the others."

After Ace and Lexi dealt with the difficult task of getting their passengers, Lyla and Tech, inside their vehicles, they exited the castle and climbed all the way down to the city. The X-Piders reached the ground, Ace and Lexi knew the heavy vehicles were about to become a burden so they exited them. Lexi was careful of not hurting Tech while getting him out. "Just keep up with my steps." She advised when they both got their feet on the sand.

Ace was carrying Lyla, he looked at his surroundings, unsure of where to go, until his comm started to beep. "We found them, Ace, we are at the dungeon." Duck's voice sounded from the comm's speakers. "We are with the king…and the others."

Lexi activated her comm to speak with him. "Understood, Duck." She replied. "We beat the queen, we'll be with you in brief."

"Go east." Duck told, then he cut the communication.

On their way to the dungeon, the people of the streets looked at them with concern and confusion, specially at seeing Ace carrying their queen, unconscious and defeated, but Ace and Lexi had other stuff to worry about. "Our powers are back, Doc." Ace said. "You'll heal."

Tech groaned when the steps started to get heavier for him to take, his sight was getting blurry and the sounds and voices were making echo. "I'…" He coughed violently then sighed weakly. "I don't think that's happening."

"Your healing powers, Tech." Lexi thought he was too hurt to understand, even with his prestigious mind. "They'll get you better."

"If that was the case….they would have done that already." Tech responded hopelessly.

Ace tested his laser vision, he burned a bit of sand on the ground then looked at Tech. "They're back, Doc." He stated. "You'll get better."

While walking, Tech lost balance but Lexi stopped him from falling. "Maybe…my powers were absent…" He coughed. "…for too long."

"Hold on." Ace looked at the horizon. "Just a bit more."

Meanwhile at the dungeon, Duck, Rev, and Slam were sitting on the ground among the three A.R.M. members and Rebecca, Adam was laying in his cage, sleeping. "I'm glad this is over." Matt sighed with relief. "Honestly, at times I thought we weren't going to pull this one off, none of us." He looked at Adam. "Now he will find peace."

"Maybe in a while." Anne added. "He'll still be alone."

"Well, I wouldn't want to spend even a single more minute with a mad woman like her." Matt opined, referring to Lyla.

"It is far more complicated than that." Rev said, he was holding the hand of his girlfriend. "When you find the woman with who you'll spend the eternity there's no turning back from that, Matt, and you should know that well."

Matt thought about Rev's comment, in which he found nothing to object, he rested his head on Anne's arm, thinking of Adam's face of despair. "You are right, Rev." Matt said. "It won't be easy for him."

"What is taking them so long to come? They sh.." Duck stopped complaining when hearing steps coming from the dungeon's hallway. He stood up along with Rev, Rebecca and Slam, Matt, Anne and Peyton also got into their feet, Adam opened his eyes slowly and turned his gaze to the tunnel.

Ace arrived, lowering Lyla carefully on the ground, Adam noticed she was unconscious and pointed his sight at his cell's bars, which disintegrated along with the cage's base. He fell not so gracefully, he got up quickly and also got rid of the bars of the dungeon's cell, exiting to see his wife more closely. He looked at her with disappointment but love was still showing on his eyes, he glared at Ace and nodded subtly. "Thank you."

Lexi and Tech arrived briefly afterwards, she helped him to lay on the ground against a corner, he groaned with pain as he rested his head on the wall. He looked at everybody, who were looking at him with worry. "Hi…" He gasped and rubbed his wound.

Duck gasped. "What happened?" He asked Ace.

"She punctured him with a sword." Ace answered. "His healing powers aren't working."

Rebecca walked towards him and knelt down next to him, studying his wounded side. "He has lost so much blood." She said, then looked at the rest.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Matt inquired. "Let's take him to a hospital, we s…"

"No…" Tech groaned. "It's too late, guys." He sighed, tears were forming on his eyes. "Just, let me say something."

"Tech…" Lexi expressed with a broken voice. She kneeled down, same as the others.

"Just…" Tech coughed. "Hear me out." He looked at Slam. "Big guy…don't forget that move I taught you." He gasped. "It will do wonders."

Slam grunted with deep sadness.

Tech looked at Duck. "You are the most annoying person I've ever met, Duck." He smirked. "But know that there is no heart bigger than yours." Despite his words, Duck's eyes were full of negation and disbelief. "Lexi." He glanced at her. "Your selfless soul is one of few, keep putting the others first, I beg you." She had an uncontainable lump in her throat. Tech glared at Rev. "Keep inventing, don't waste your potential, keep speaking your mind, honesty is something that this world needs so much." Rev just nodded but couldn't hide the sorrow he shared with the others. Lastly, Tech looked at Ace, who was kneeling down at his side. "Boss." He said. "I never deserved such a great leader, you took me to places I could only picture in dreams." He coughed a couple of times. "You made me a better person." Tech glanced at the ceiling, getting lost on its darkness. "Move…forward." His voice was getting tired. "Tell Susan that she is the best thing that ever happened to me." He recovered some air to finish what he was saying. "Tell her... that I love her." He began to breathe slowly and calmly, his eyes looked completely lost and forgotten, Ace started to cry in silence, Duck tried to hide his feelings but on the inside, he was as devastated as Lexi who was crying loudly and was hugging him, not wanting to let him go, Matt, Anne and Peyton were tearful just as the rest.

"Don't go." Lexi said with a broken voice. "Please." She sobbed and kept hugging him.

Everyone around him mourned and cry hopelessly, destroyed, lost in waves of sadness. Adam walked towards him and knelt down next to Ace, doubtful and troubled, but he knew he had to try. Slowly, he placed his hand on Tech's wound, Ace just looked with intrigue, same as the rest. Adam closed his eyes and started to breathe deeply, his hand started to glow, making the wound to disappear gradually. "I renounce." He said. "Keep dreaming, hero of Acmetropolis." The glow suddenly got brighter and in a blink, it disappeared.

Tech started to breathe again, his eyes regained the light that was briefly lost, Lexi looked up and saw his face of astonishment, she smiled and let out a cry of happiness. "I thought we had lost you!" She hugged him stronger than before.

"M…Me too." Tech looked around, confused, then he glanced at where his wound was, finding nothing. "How…" He looked at Adam, who smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"The world still needs you, Tech E. Coyote." Adam responded. "I'll be fine without my gifts."

"You gave up your powers, to save me?" Tech asked.

"That's what a true friend would do." Adam said.

Ace hugged Tech followed by the rest of the Loonatics, almost asphyxiating him. "We missed you, Doc!" He stated.

"Even if you were gone literally for a few minutes!" Rev said.

Rebecca let out a chuckle of happiness and hope. A.R.M. was just as happy as the Loonatics.

Lyla opened her eyes rapidly, like if she had been woken up with a bucket of cold water. She got up with a jump and aimed her hands at them. "Now I will destroy you! Loonatics! All of you will perish!" She moved her hands at them aggressively, she did so again after seeing nothing had happened. "What?!"

"My love." Adam said, Matt and Anne ran rapidly to get behind her and held her arms to prevent her to escape. "My powers are gone." He explained. "I renounced."

Lyla frowned and put an expression of great anger and confusion. "But…what about mine?!"

"You are linked to me." Adam answered. "So were your abilities."

Lyla gasped and glanced down. "Why…Why did you gave up something that great? Now we are like the rest, weak and limited."

"Yes." Adam responded. "And that's good."

"Well, let's get you to your new home." Matt said and he and Anne started to take her to the annex cell.

Adam raised his hand. "Wait." They both stooped and he walked towards his wife. She stared at him with eyes of hatred. "Oh, my dear." He caressed her face. "You will spend many years inside this prison." He placed both hands on her cheeks. "But I'll wait for you." He kissed her. "I'll visit you everyday, as you are still my sun in the morning." After that, he let the two agents get her inside the cell.

Later, Adam, A.R.M., Rebecca and the Loonatics gathered in front of the city's gates, surrounded by thankful citizens, even Bridget, who had just got the bad news. "Your husband will be remembered, ma'am." Adam was hugging her with compassion.

Bridget sobbed. "Thanks, my king." She broke the hug and walked away, getting lost in the crowd.

Adam sighed and turned to face his comrades. "Your duty here is done, Loonatics and friends."

"And friends…" Matt mumbled with a pinch of annoyance.

"You'll always be welcomed guests here at Quantal, for your service in favor of life, mercy and justice." Adam looked at his people. "Values we'll defend with honor and courage!" He raised his fist, the people did the same and started to yell the city's name.

Tech approached him. "Again, thanks for saving me, your highness." He extended his hand but received a friendly hug in exchange.

"Is nothing, my friend." Adam broke the hug. "Now I'm free." The gates opened behind the team. "Now go! And fight for the people, brothers and sisters!"

Susan was in her apartment, sleeping on the couch, snoring with a pile of opened books on the floor at her side, the moonlight passed shyly through the curtains, then she heard a couple of knocks on the principal door. She stood up and yawned while approaching the door, she then opened it and gasped with a smile at seeing her boyfriend. Tech just returned the smile and leaned forward, kissing her with surprise, feeling thankful and full of joy, knowing what he had in his life.

Rev and Rebecca were dining at a pizza parlor in the mall, the two of them were laughing and talking while sharing glares of love and trust.

At the HQ's lounge, Duck and Slam were arguing in front of a retro videogame console that was connected to the TV, Duck teleported behind Slam's head and started to slap him, Slam growled and ran towards a wall and hurt Duck with that, making the lounge to tremble.

Ace and Lexi were holding each others hands in the kitchen, he began to move his feet gracefully, same as her, their movements were synchronized and their eyes were locked into the other's, they danced, turned and laughed all night, letting life to flow and move while they still had the chance.

-Author's note-

Thank you very much for reading, I really hope you liked this arc, because Quantal will play a key role in the next one: Loonatics United: Cataclysm, the first macro-event of this saga, which is something very special to me and reveals just how much support this story has been receiving since I published it, I thank God for all of you, readers, you are awesome. Stay tuned for Cataclysm!

Happy Holy Week and God bless you.

Grant