Loonatics: United

Episode 40: Cataclysm, part 4

The morning had arrived, Hank and his comrades were hiding in a alleyway, standing next to the truck they had stolen. "No matter how we got out of there, guys." Hank said. "Now we are free to do whatever we want!"

"Super strength, military type vehicle, cool armors…" Nate counted with his fingers, trying to make a statement. "Yeah, no restraints at all."

Hank smirked. "Exactly."

Troy sighed. "So? I mean, I'm sure they're already looking for us, we should escape to another planet in our situation, but hey, we got no money to do so."

Hank chuckled a bit. "Troy, your lack of vision is certainly embarrassing." He turned to his side to contemplate the skyscrapers, finding the tower where German Gillian's office, also his apartment, was. He smiled and pointed at the tower then glared at them. "That's our goal now! We stay here and make it ours! Totally ours!"

Kyle and Nate made gestures of approval and welcomed Hank's idea, but Troy was still doubtful. "It's not that easy, Hank." He opined. "You can't take over a entire city just with invading an office."

"I say it can work." Kyle stated.

Hank nodded and glanced at Troy. "See? This boy has vision!"

Troy grunted, he had to accept the fact they were no turning back on that. "Alright." He looked at Hank with a straight face. "But let me handle the people."

Hank raised an eyebrow. "The people?"

Troy nodded. "They won't be happy with the change of regime." He cracked his fingers. "So good I'm particularly skilled dealing with the uncooperative." He kept explaining his plans. "In simple words, pay and shut up, or get killed, that's my approach."

Hank let out a chuckle of approval. "What a good idea."

"We can help with that." Nate said, looking at Kyle, who nodded at him then glanced back at Hank.

"It's decided, then." Hank started to head towards the vehicle, grinning with ambition. "Let's take over this miserable city."

Inside the glitched, messed up base of The Eye, General Hill was sitting over a storage box, looking at the floor, thinking about the events. A soldier approached him to communicate him something. "Sir, Mourn has been stolen. We identified the thieves, Magnus Maxfield, Heather Stanton and Quentin Quintana, the three of them are fugitives from Acmetropolis' prison."

Hill sighed. "What a mess." He stood up and looked at the front. "Leave them to the Loonatics, the renegades are top priority now." He chuckled silently. "Those fools took the suits." He turned to look at the soldier. "It happens I installed a tracker on them."

Lexi, Duck and Rev were exploring the ship's long corridors, in search for a reptile. Lexi sighed as she began to get impatient. "Great, they don't show up right when we need them."

"Maybe those were all." Duck said. "It's possible."

"It's not, the ship is way to big to only have that crew." Rev said.

"Maybe they just want to be showy." Duck opined.

"Guys." Lexi murmured. "I think I hear something."

Duck rolled up his eyes. "What a surprise."

"Shut up, Duck." Lexi ordered, then her ears twitched. "They're coming, plenty of them."

A big group of reptiles arrived at the hallway from the right side of the bottom, they pointed their spears at them and ran towards the three heroes, growling menacingly.

"Here we go again!" Rev said and rushed towards them, hitting several reptiles in a row, Duck teleported near to the ceiling and held from a handle shaped part of it, and while hanging, he shot orbs continuously at them, not even choosing his targets, the reptiles groaned with pain as the heat of the orbs burned their scales, demonstrating their armors weren't that effective.

"Take your breakfast! Space lizards!" Duck exclaimed mockingly while attacking them.

Lexi was cornered by five reptiles who approached her more each second, with the spears dangerously close to her. She smirked confidently. "Sometimes this is just too easy." She jumped, using the spears as surfaces to do so and with that stepped on each reptile's head strongly, disorienting them. Lexi landed behind the circle of reptiles, then she started to shoot her brain blast at them, burning them rapidly. After growls and screams of pain, the creatures fell down, steamy and defeated.

Rev jumped with fast impulses to take down his enemies with his fist aiming at their snouts, he started to get tired and finally decided to run between the reptiles and hit their jaws as he ran, evading the spears' attacks. He stopped running almost at the opposite side of the hallway, seeing the reptiles laying on the ground. He cleaned his fist on his suit and nodded at his victory. "One more for Rev Runner no one is actually counting but I had to say it." He inhaled and exhaled rapidly. "Yeah, even if no one heard me."

Duck teleported continuously to the heads of the reptiles that were left, burning their heads with two orbs he retained on his hands. "And it didn't get old!" He went from head to head until there was only one reptile left, approaching Lexi with hesitation and a bit of fear. Duck just kept his sight on the reptile. "It's all yours, girl."

"What if he doesn't want to speak?" Rev inquired, already at the side of his two teammates.

"Oh." Lexi charged her brain blast. "He will, believe me." She began to walk cautiously towards the reptile, who let out a growl of battle and approached her rapidly, Lexi disarmed him in a blink with a flying kick, sending the spear far from him, she then punched his face and tackled him, then began to stand up slowly while holding his neck with her arm. The reptile coughed and moved aggressively, Lexi then freed him briefly and grasped his neck with one hand, she lifted him and put him against a wall. "The blueprints, snake!" She burned his shoulder with her brain blast, making him to scream by the pain. "Speak!"

The reptile groaned and looked at her with hate. "You'll get nothing from me, inferior being." His voice was strangely deep.

Lexi smirked. "You don't know me." She burned his shoulder again, this time she had increased the heat of her power, the reptile screamed stronger than the first time. "I can be very insistent."

"You..." The reptile tried to undo her grasp with desperation, but he was weak by the wound on his shoulder. "Let me go…" He said with a voice that was starting to break.

"I'm sorry, but I still don't have what I want." Lexi said, then started to recharge her brain blast. "My hands are tied." She burned the same spot again, the reptile's scream echoed in all the place, then he started to gasp.

The reptile groaned, he had his eyes almost closed, he couldn't stand the pain anymore. "You miserable creature…" He wanted to retain the answer to her demands, but Lexi's brain blast had made permanent damage to his scales, and he didn't want to suffer more. "Left, right, right…" He groaned again. "Red door…" The reptile fainted, then Lexi dropped him on the floor.

Lexi looked at the hurt reptile for a moment, then she turned and began to walk forward. "Move." She said, her face was straight and her steps cold, Rev and Duck followed her, quiet and with no intentions to talk about anything at the moment.

Quentin and his gang arrived at the desert zone of Acmetropolis in the van.

"I thought you had said the Loonatics weren't going to be a problem." Magnus said.

"I miscalculated." Quentin replied. "But we still have advantage." He parked the van a few miles away from the city of Quantal. "Behold…" Quentin got out of the van followed by Heather and Magnus. "…The great city of Quantal!" He raised his arms and contemplated the city, Magnus and Heather got at his sides, admiring the scene with astonishment.

Heather was still holding the box that caged Mourn, her eyes were amazed by the white of the city. "I must admit I didn't expect this."

Magnus nodded, also glancing at Quantal. "And it's all ours."

Quentin smirked. "Well, it will be, my friend." He approached Heather and took the box from her hands, then lowered it on the sand. "When you take this!" He punched the box, which broke easily as it was made of thin glass. Mourn grew a bit and started to shake and swallow the broken glass around it.

"Uhm, is it safe?" Magnus asked, pointing at the moving, black substance.

"I won't lie, my friend." Quentin said. "There's only one way to know."

Magnus scratched his nape. "Well…" He glanced away. "I'm not sure."

Quentin started to frown. "Take it."

Magnus looked at him, quite upset. "If it's that good then why don't you take it?"

Quentin sighed. "Magnus, just close your eyes, place your hands there, and this will be over." He gave him a look of authority.

Magnus was uncertain of the nature of Mourn, but he started to consider Quentin's words and insistence. He grunted, maintaining his frown of doubt, he started to crouch towards Mourn, with his hand above it, slightly backing it away at times, but still reaching the substance. There was fear on his eyes, but at the same time, they reflected a hidden desire to gain that power. He finally touched the substance, and its gooey surface immediately trapped his whole arm, making Magnus to gasp. Mourn started to glow purple, that hurt him and he screamed by the intense pain he felt, as the black, glowing goo covered him, it glowed more and he screamed more intensely. "Help!" He yelled before Mourn covered his face completely. He knelt down and put his hands over the sand.

Quentin raised an eyebrow and took a small step forward. "Magnus?" Heather shared that same look and intrigue.

Magnus opened his eyes, which were now completely white, and he was now like a shadow, he chuckled with a deep voice and stood up, then turned and looked at them both, then he looked at himself and began to float before them. He growled and formed two purple energy spheres on his hands, then he smirked. "That city…is ours."

Quentin was rather scared with Magnus' new form, same as Heather. He just nodded at his statement. "Uhm…how do you feel, then?"

Magnus let out a monstrous growl, then chuckled again, with a confident grin. "Powerful."

Quentin smiled. "That's good." He turned to face the city, then he pointed at it. "Alright, then. We have a city to invade."

Tech, Ace and Slam were in A.R.M.'s HQ, Tech was in a improvised workshop, the room was small and had a few racks and boxes with tools and several devices, it was illuminated by a hanging light bulb. Tech was fixing the jetpacks at a metallic table, he stood before it while cleaning the parts and soldering stuff. Praise was sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall, at Tech's right. She wore a black bodysuit with red lines, similar as Anne's. "Tough day?" Praise inquired.

Tech chuckled. "You have no idea."

Praise sighed. "It must be awesome to be you, I mean, you fight with bad guys, deal with perils and stuff, use cool gadgets." She shook her head. "They won't let me do any of that stuff here." Praise glanced down. "I want to fight."

Tech looked at her, briefly stopping what he was doing. "Praise, believe me." He put a serious face. "You don't want that."

"Of course I do." Praise argued. "I want to do more than designing plans and mapping things." She stood up. "I want to…feel important, you know." She rubbed her arm and lowered her head.

Tech sighed and put his tools over the table then he approached her and placed a hand over her shoulder. "You are important, Praise, for them, and for me." He smirked at her. "For us."

Praise's gaze was still on the floor. "Why? Why can't I go on missions like you, uncle?" She looked at him. "I don't understand."

Tech was thoughtful, then he just spoke out his mind. "You are not ready."

Praise raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that? I'm not that young."

Tech shook his head, then sighed. "It's not about age, it's about…moving on."

"What do you mean?" Praise inquired.

"You still think about her, don't you?" Tech asked, with care on his eyes.

That question took Praise off guard, she remained speechless until a tear escaped from her eye. "I…" She breathed in. "Every night, I see her." She lowered her gaze. "I become her again, in my dreams."

Tech nodded compassionately. "And when you wake up, does it all end there?"

Praise sobbed. "No, I…I feel afraid, lost." She looked at him again. "Worried."

"Praise." Tech hugged her. "You have to overcome this, if not, you'll never be able to go."

"Why?" Praise embraced him too.

Tech sighed. "Decisions." He explained. "Those are crucial, in any mission." He broke the hug. "Beat these feelings first, and then you'll have what's necessary to be a formidable agent, okay? Would you do that for me?" He smirked.

Praise let out a sigh of calmness, then she thought about what Tech had told her, knowing he was right in his words. She nodded slightly. "Okay."

Tech smiled. "Good." He turned to keep working on the jetpacks.

At the HQ's main office, Ace was speaking with Matt, who was sitting on his chair, while Ace was just resting against a nearby wall. "I must congratulate you, Matt." Ace said. "You four have done a extraordinary job with this agency."

"Well, it's been a tough task." Matt replied. "But still, I think we took the right choice."

Ace chuckled. "Leaving The Eye?"

Matt nodded. "I always thought Hill's methods were too drastic." He explained. "It's just not my style."

Ace lowered his gaze a little bit. "Neither mine." He sighed and crossed his arms, now gazing at the lights on the ceiling. "Well, I don't know."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?" He inquired.

Ace let out a sigh of guilt. "Today I didn't care, Matt." He looked at him. "I didn't care for them, for the people. I acted for myself."

"Ace, these things happen, it's part of the job." Matt tried to reassure him.

Ace shook his head. "I could've been more careful, I knew the consequences." He glanced away. "I hurt people, but all I wanted was to beat them, to win." He started to clench his fists strongly. "All we have done in the past, it has been in vain."

"That's not true." Matt said. "You saved thousands of lives." He stood up. "We saved people."

"Of course we did." Ace grunted. "But now they are at risk again, and why?" He said. "Because this city is evil, it wont matter what we do now or in the future. Bad things will keep happening."

Matt sighed. "I get you, man, I truly do, but that's exactly why we are here, to protect the weak from that evil, from any kind of evil, even if it returns over and over again, like it did now, we must be there for them."

"And I know that, Matt." Ace glared at him with a straight face. "What I don't know, is for how long am I going to stand it." He lowered his head. "Until I become like them."

"That will never happen." Matt approached him. "Not to you, you have heart, Ace, leadership." He extended his hand. "Values, no one can take that away from you."

Ace got thoughtful for a moment, then he looked at Matt. "I hope so." He shook his hand. "I really hope so."

"That's the truth." Matt concluded.

In a small entertainment room, where an old, unplugged CRT Television was over a wooden table, and at the sides a couple of opened drawers revealed cartridges with several types of movies, Slam, Anne and Peyton sat on a red couch that faced the TV, speaking about the mission. "I told you I could handle it, that's why you hired me in the first place." Peyton told Anne, rather upset with her.

Anne sighed. "That tunnel was too low, Peyton, not only the drivers would've been at serious risk, but also the three of us." She crossed her arms and glanced away from her, then shook her head and let out a sigh. "You should trust in our decisions."

Peyton grunted. "And you should trust me!" She exclaimed, Slam tried to calm her down by putting a hand on her shoulder, hesitantly, but it had almost no effect on her. "Then why am I here?!"

Anne growled and stoop up abruptly, then began to walk away from them. "I'm not in the mood for this." She finally left the room and slammed the door.

Peyton gasped after the brief fight then she snarled and put her face on her hands, saying no word at all. Slam growled reassuringly and began to stroke her back, then he emitted a pair of snarls, telling her to calm down, saying it really was a low tunnel.

Peyton sighed. "You too?" She raised her head and looked at him. "I've been working here for a while now, and they still don't trust me, Slam." She shook her head. "No one does."

Slam grunted, telling her he trusted her.

"It's not the same." Peyton replied. "But thanks, anyway."

Slam looked at her, as her gaze was again lost on the floor, he then gave her a strong hug, not being able to control his strength.

Peyton coughed. Okay…thanks…" She took a deep breath, but she was still choking. "That helps…b…but is enough."

Slam gasped when noticing he hugged her too tightly, so he undid the hug and snarled several times, saying he was very sorry.

Peyton breathed in and out repeatedly with her eyes a bit widened. She began to regain her breath and then she closed her eyes and sighed. "It's okay." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Thanks, that...helped a bit." She kept looking at his eyes, making him to blush, then she got closer to him and kissed his cheek, then he growled with hesitation, but he finally did the same, kissing her on the cheek. They both glanced away from the other, blushed and full of questions, but also full of joy.