Loonatics United
Episode 50: Cataclysm (final part)
After Heather put on her bodysuit again, she and Rev hurried towards the lounge, Rev opened the windows and approached Heather, trying to hold her, but she backed away from him, confused. "Uhm, what are you doing?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh I have to take you with me as I have a jetpack and you clearly don't so there's literally no other way we could go to the battle in time or if you want you could use the elevator but that would be a waste of t..." Rev got interrupted by Heather's impatient sigh.
"Okay, it's fine." Heather found out Rev was right and also had gotten fed up with his words. Rev then held her and activated his jetpack, exiting from the lounge quickly. While flying over the darkened city by the night and the mothership's size, Heather looked at Rev. "Haven't anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"
Rev chuckled. "If by anyone you mean everybody, yeah."
Quentin and Peyton were in the lab, Quentin was standing next to the warehouse, with his back rested on a wall, while Peyton was sitting down over the central table, sharing an annoying silence, which Peyton decided to break. "And…are bad guys' dates same as the good guys'?" She immediately regretted what she asked. "Sorry, I just wanted conversation."
Quentin chuckled by her awkward comment. "Well, I don't think they're so different." He turned his gaze to the warehouse's inside, locking it on the weaponry rack.
Peyton raised an eyebrow. "What?" She inquired by seeing his static position.
"I…" Quentin looked at her. "I'm done."
"So, are you leaving now or something?" Peyton asked.
Quentin shook his head. "I'm done with my past." He entered the warehouse with no more hesitation. "I'm done." He told to himself while passing by the several racks, heading to the one he was interested in, occasionally glancing at the other stuff the Loonatics had there.
Peyton hopped from the table and walked rapidly towards the warehouse, entering and following Quentin. "Hey, what are you plotting now?" Peyton whispered while getting next to him.
"I won't just stay here and do nothing." Quentin replied. "Will you?"
"No, I mean yes but I have no other choice." Peyton answered when they both stopped walking right in front of the weaponry rack. Quentin immediately put his hands over the pair of rifles that were among some other weapons, they were black and had transparent lines that showed the clear liquid on it's inside, the lines led to a compartment that kept the transparent substance. They were the Gluco-Gel 9000 rifles.
"These look neat." Quentin took a rifle and handed the other to Peyton, then charged it, pointing at a flower pot that was in a corner of the lab. "Don't you think?"
"Quentin, put that back there or we'll have serious trouble." Peyton scolded, but then she glared at her own rifle, putting her hand on the rifle's barrel.
Quentin waited a moment before finally pulling the trigger, shooting the transparent gel at the object, which when colliding with the flower pot, it turned into a transparent cube that got it trapped. He lowered his weapon and smirked cockingly, then gazed at Peyton. "So...what do you say?"
Peyton was impressed by the results of Quentin's test, she looked back at the rifle that she still held, then she charged it. Peyton hesitated a bit to respond but then she nodded at him. "Let's beat those monsters."
Slam landed right in front of Matt and Anne, who were waiting for him next to an alleyway. He approached Matt and handed him the box. "What took you so long?" Matt complained.
Slam growled at him menacingly.
"Alright, forget about it." Matt walked towards his zoomatrix and attached the box with bombs to the back of it then hopped on his vehicle and put on his helmet, as well as Anne, both of them accelerated while heading to the mothership. When getting below the ship, Matt braked along with his girlfriend and he got his vehicle closer to hers, he opened the box and took about a half of the bombs then put them inside the trunk of Anne's zoomatrix. He looked at her for a moment, then just gave her a nod, which she returned with certainty, they then turned and accelerated to opposite sides, each one heading to a distinct black disc, of the several that were continuously shooting the green transportation lasers. Matt stopped in front of the huge plate that could barely be seen because of the darkness of the night, but the green laser it was shooting helped him to distinguish it, he opened the box and took a bomb then carefully placed it on the disc's metallic surface, the red led of the bomb instantly started to blink, and the explosive device also made dim beeping sounds, indicating Matt it was ready. "Okay..." Matt murmured to himself, then he turned and went for another disc. Anne had also placed her first bomb successfully, immediately heading to the next one.
Back at the mothership's control room, Zer-Urax was getting angrier each time the three Loonatics managed to deal with him, he screamed terribly, almost hurting the heroes eyes and making the windows to tremble, more tentacles then came from the holes and kept trying to hit them, Ace barely managed to dodge one by crouching, Tech shielded himself with a scrap he controlled and put in front of him, blocking the tentacle's upcoming hit, Lexi jumped and with that avoided an attack but then another came from behind and hit her, making her to gasp and fall over one knee. They were getting tired, and Ace wasn't an exception, while still crouching. "We need reinforcements!" Ace told Tech then suddenly the three got hit by a massive tentacle right on their snouts, they groaned and smashed the console behind them strongly and laid over the ground while trying to recover. Ace gasped and activated his comm. "Duck..." He let out another gasp and stood up slowly, helping Lexi to do so, Tech managed to get into his feet on his own. "Slam, Rev..." He raised his gaze and looked at Zer-Urax's holographic face in the tube. "We need you. Please, enter the ship and follow the locat..." He got trapped by a tentacle which moved violently to the right side and then released him, making him to hit a wall with painful strength, he groaned and fell to the floor again, gasping, resisting the pain.
"Ace, I found the hostages." Duck replied, he was in a huge, pitch dark chamber, between hundreds of people. "Sorry, you'll have to wait, new ones just come at each second!" He deactivated his comm and lowered his arm. "Sorry." He said to himself then embraced a small group of people and teleported along with them, appearing over the rooftop of a building far enough from the conflict. "Please, stay here!" Duck instructed and then disappeared after a brief orange light, generating some gasps of amusement from the crowd he had just saved. He appeared again in the chamber, putting his hands over the shoulders of two persons. "Hey! Take your hands, everyone! Or you don't want to leave?!" The scared, unsettled people obeyed him then he teleported again, managing to free a bigger group.
Meanwhile, Rev and Heather were battling with more reptiles, Rev was punching them while running by them, bringing them down with his fists and his speed, while Heather kicked them with unmeasurable strength, dodging their spears and knocking them out with sudden flying kicks and quick movements. Rev stopped running in front of her when he managed to clear the area he was taking care of. "My team needs me." He informed.
Heather glanced at the new hordes that were coming. She then looked at Rev and gave him a nod. "I can manage."
Rev returned the gesture and activated his jetpack. He quickly approached the ship and entered through the hole that Ace and Lexi had made on its bottom, following the signals of his suit's device to get to Ace's location, the darkness of the hallway and the green lights of the ceiling's sides disappeared when he entered the control room, he found his comrades battling with the alien so he landed on the floor and deactivated his jetpack, turning his attention to the tentacles that covered the room and running fast towards the scaly extremities, leaving his signature red blur behind him while punching them. Ace smiled when noticing his friend arriving, then also spotted Slam entering the room, running and going for the tentacles he found on his way, punching them and twisting them while growling beastly, also using his tornado to back them away, making the alien to roar with pain and desperation. Ace got between Lexi and Tech, who were also glad that help had arrived. "Just in time." Ace stated then Duck appeared in front of them.
"There are no more hostages." Duck told Ace and turned to face Zer-Urax, adopting a battle position. "Now I just want to kick some scales, bud!"
Tech looked at Ace, readying his magnetic powers. "At your command, boss."
Ace glared at Lexi, then at Slam, who had gotten behind them with his tornado. He looked at the front again, then Rev got next to him on an instant, looking at the weakened tentacles regaining strength and the alien's face frowning with great menace at them. Ace gave the alien a daring, pervasive look. After a brief, dense silence, Ace readied his laser vision. "Loonatics...United!" The team then began to fight again with Zer-Urax, with determination, Slam recurrently approached the tentacles he spotted on several corners of the control room with his tornado and stepped on them while spinning, gravely damaging the odd extremities of the alien. Duck teleported from spot to spot to evade Zer-Urax's attacks, cooking orbs every time he reappeared on a different place, throwing them with no hesitation at the tentacles, which jiggled with each explosion. Rev threw quick, unavoidable kicks and punches at the tentacles while running across the room, lighting it with his red blur. Lexi and Ace were burning the tentacles with their 'couple blast', being this the attack that caused the alien more pain. Tech was closing the holes from where the tentacles were exiting from, this time with more strength, and at the same time, he plucked several pieces of metal from the consoles of the room and used them to hurt the alien's scaly tentacles.
On the meantime, Matt and Anne were putting the bombs on the last of the panels, and when the red lights of the devices blinked, they turned and with their zoomatrixes they drew away from the ship, getting next to a building, a safe distance from the explosion they were about to provoke. Matt opened the box again and took a small, circular remote that had the same colors of the bombs on its design. It had only one, red button. "Three...two...one..." Matt pressed the button and the bombs exploded all at the same time, the red, orange and yellow clouds of the massive explosions covered the ship's entire bottom, the green rays disappeared and no more reptiles were being transported, as the discs had been destroyed.
"No!" Zer-Urax yelled with desperation when knowing his troops wouldn't be able to reach the surface anymore and that his ship had suffered critical damages.
Ace was laying over the floor, along with the rest of the team. He gasped when effortfully getting over his knees. Duck rested his back on a wall while still laying among his comrades, then he looked at Ace with an eyebrow raised. "What was that?!" He rubbed his head.
Ace chuckled slightly then finally got into his feet, glancing at his teammates, who had also managed to stand up. "We're winning, Duck." He turned to face Zer-Urax again, looking at the alien with confidence. "We are winning."
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Matt celebrated the success of the task, hovering and looking at the slowly falling scraps of the ship behind the big clouds of smoke.
Anne let out a chuckle. "Alright." She glanced downwards then looked at her boyfriend. "There are more scalies to deal with, hon." She smirked at him and accelerated towards the street, followed by Matt.
Quentin and Peyton shot at the reptiles with the Gluco Gel 9000 rifles, managing to trap them one by one, inside transparent, gelatinous cubes, leaving the creatures unsettled, struggling uselessly to get out. Quentin laughed while shooting at more reptiles. "Now I know why they do it!" Peyton trapped a pair of reptiles with one shot, then she glared at him. She gasped when a reptile got dangerously close to her, but she reacted fast enough to pull the trigger and trap him inside a cube. "The excitement!" Quentin added, briefly looking at her, but still shooting his weapon. "It's...cool!"
Peyton ignored him but managed to spot the reptile that was about to puncture him with his spear, as Quentin had gotten distracted. "Look out!" She shot at the reptile and trapped him on the gluco gel charge, making the creature to fall and struggle over the ground, growling and complaining. Peyton glared at him cockingly, with the tip of her rifle pointing upwards. "Your welcome."
"Than..." Quentin raised his shoulders. "I had seen him already, so..."
Matt and Anne were fighting a big group of reptiles that surrounded them, keeping them away and defeating some of them temporarily, but then more joined the group and brought them both down, gasping and groaning when hitting the ground, and when the spears were raised, Heather arrived with a fast rush and started to punch and kick the reptiles, moving her leg across the ground under their feet and therefore making them to fall down, she then waited for them to try to stand up, and on the right moment, she crouched a bit and threw a long kick at their snouts, spinning over her firm foot, then she stood up completely, looking at the defeated reptiles over her shoulder, smirking by her prowess. She walked towards Matt and Anne and offered them her hands, they took them and she helped them to stand up. They all shared looks and nods of sympathy and gratefulness.
The Loonatics were managing to defeat Zer-Urax, having weakened his tentacles, the alien then decided to use his last resource, and from every hole, space and slot of the control room, on the consoles, the walls and the ceiling, a green, slimy acid began to water, melting the floor and the walls. The floor got so melted that the Loonatics had ran out of more floor to step on, so they fell with gasps and screams. Zer-Urax started to laugh mockingly, thinking he was victorious, but then, with their jetpacks, the Loonatics got in front of him again, each member looking at the alien's eyes with a smirk and an arrogant glare. The alien frowned and yelled, angry and humiliated. "I didn't contemplate that!"
Ace laughed. "That's why you don't mess with the Loonatics!" He readied his laser vision, Duck his orbs, Tech lifted his hands and activated his magnetic abilities, Slam thundered his fingers, Lexi activated her brain blast and Rev warmed up his legs quickly as he hovered with his jetpack.
"I must admit..." The alien's frown accentuated. "...that I underestimated you."
Ace began to shoot his laser vision at the tube that displayed Zer-Urax's holographic face. "I think is time to shut up, monster!"
"No! Y..!" The alien left the phrase unfinished as the tube exploded into a cloud of crystalline dust.
"It was that easy? Oh man th..." Duck was interrupted by the alien's returning voice.
"You senseless creatures! I'm part of this place! You may not see me, but I'm all over you!" Zer-Urax started to laugh with mockery and madness.
"I think you've just spilled the beans!" Ace chuckled and looked up then glared at Lexi, nodding at her, she understood the signal and aimed at the same spot Ace was aiming at, then they shot their powers, getting combined in the middle of their paths, creating a powerful sphere of energy that collided with the ceiling, making a brief explosion over it and therefore destroying that area, revealing a thick, green and scaly tissue that pulsated and protrude from the destroyed spot.
"Ugh, gross!" Duck expressed.
Tech controlled other parts of the ceiling with his powers and began to tear it apart, revealing more of Zer-Urax's body.
"Grosser!" Duck threw the orbs he had cooked at the slimy looking body, hitting it, the explosions and heat of the orbs burned and damaged the alien's weak skin. A scream of intense agony was then heard inside the room.
The reptiles were being defeated, Quentin and Peyton still shot at them with their rifles and Heather, Matt and Anne battled them hand to hand. The soldiers of The Eye had arrived and were also dealing with the monsters, shooting at them with their weapons and others hitting them with their trucks while the wolves on the back shot at more reptiles with the vehicles' turrets. Close to the area where Matt and Anne were fighting, Hill was shooting at the hordes of reptiles that tried to approach him, burning their armors with his laser rifle. He managed to control the situation for a while, but then more groups of reptiles surrounded him, leaving him in great disadvantage, the spears were everywhere he turned to, he shot all of the reptiles he could but it was impossible for him to avoid the spear that came from behind, which went through him, making the General to scream by the abrupt pain he felt, instinctively holding the side of the spear that exited from his chest, the reptile then pulled out the spear and left followed by the other golden armored soldiers.
Matt had dealt with a pair of reptiles when looking leftwards and noticing the general collapsing onto the ground. "General!" He gasped and ran fast towards him, punching the several reptiles that got on his way, enraged, neutralizing them with a single punch in their scaly snouts. He finally arrived to where Hill was laying, kneeling down next to him and moving him carefully to make him look upwards. "General..." Hill was hurt very badly, blood came out from his mouth. He glanced at Matt with a subtle smile. "Don't worry, everything will be okay...Sir."
"You've always been a good soldier." Hill coughed a couple of times. "But, you never were a good liar." He coughed again.
"Stay with me, General." Matt tried to carry him but that made Hill to cough more violently, so Matt decided not to do so.
"Boy, my time is..." Hill groaned. "Over." He glared at some of his men that were fighting with the reptiles at the distance then he looked back at Matt. "They'll need a new leader." He grasped his arm. "Lead them, fellow." He struggled to breathe. "Lead them." He looked at the night sky, slowly letting go Matt's arm. Hill finally let out his final sigh. Matt was shocked, confused and then devastated, the lump in his throat finally broke and he started to cry for his mentor, holding his hand, staying by his side.
Anne and Heather were fighting with more reptiles, coordinated with Quentin and Peyton as they trapped them with the Gluco Gel 9000 while the other two threw punches and kicks at the trapped soldiers.
Zer-Urax was being defeated, the Loonatics were attacking him at the same time, hovering before him with their jetpacks, Lexi burned him with her brain blast, Ace did the same with his laser vision, Duck's orbs bruised the alien's delicate skin, Tech's flying metallic scraps cut the odd cutaneous mass, Slam hit the green skin like punching bags and Rev flew across the room, throwing quick, blurry punches at the alien, who yelled and groaned with great pain. When noticing Zer-Urax getting less responsive to the attacks, Rev shut down his jetpack and stepped on a remaining piece of floor then jumped towards the ceiling using his super speed, holding from a pair of pipelines that were in front of the spot from where the transparent tube that previously displayed the alien's face came from, he noticed a black box connected to it with thin, golden wires, it was made of black crystal, he aimed at it with his fist and punched it, breaking it with almost no effort, green, glowing liquid started to come out from the broken box. Zer instantly stopped making any kind of noise and his body stopped beating. Rev had destroyed the alien's vital system, he cleaned off some of the substance that had reached his suit while hovering down with his jetpack. Ace approached him.
"Good job, Rev." Ace put a hand over his shoulder and looked at him. "That's exactly what I talked you about."
Rev smirked at him. "Thank you."
The ship started to tremble strongly. "Oh, now what?!" Duck exclaimed.
A monitor above one of the room's many consoles started to display a countdown. "We must've activated some kind of contingency system." Tech said.
"Which means?" Ace asked.
Tech looked at his boss. "The ship is a bomb." He looked at his surroundings. "We must get it out of here or the reptiles will win anyway."
"Can you pilot it, Doc?" Ace inquired.
"I'll try." Tech hovered towards the main console and tried to mess with its controls, pressing buttons and touching flat, capacitive surfaces. "I...I don't understand this engineering, it's too complicated."
Duck gasped and pointed at him. "It's the first time you don't know something!"
"Not the first time, actually." Tech gave him a subtle frown. "But certainly one of few."
"Guys, this is no time for discussions." Ace warned.
"And what are we gonna do now?" Lexi inquired.
Ace started to think, then he looked at Duck. "Can you teleport this ship to space?"
Duck's eyes widened. "Are you crazy?! Of course I can't this thing is just too big!"
"Duck!" Ace exclaimed then let out a brief sigh. "You are our only hope, man."
Duck raised an eyebrow. "Woah, now that is new."
Lexi grunted. "Are you gonna do it or not?"
Duck was hesitant, unsure of his abilities, but there was no other option left for Acmetropolis, and knew that well. He sighed and raised his shoulders. "Alright, I'll save the day." He approached a wall with the aid of his jetpack and placed both hands on it, he then began to use his powers. The rest of the team exited the ship through the great hole that used to be the control room's floor.
Ace kept talking to Duck though his comm. "You can do it." He said. "We trust you, Duck."
Duck struggled to teleport the immense ship. "Not a smart move."
"I know you can do this." Ace kept encouraging him. "I have no doubt about it."
Duck breathed in and out rapidly, starting to get frustrated. He pushed the wall with more strength, he started to feel the matter of the ship getting covered with his power, suddenly he began to feel pain, but he didn't stop, Duck let out a scream of great effort and managed to cover the entire ship, he thought about the outer space and on an instant he and the mothership were there, and without air to breathe he rapidly teleported himself back to Acmetropolis.
Ace and the rest of the Loonatics looked worried at the sky, amazed at what had just happened, he tried to communicate with his comrade. "Duck?" There was no response. "Duck, do you copy?!" The gigantic green explosion that occurred far away from the planet's atmosphere was heard and sighted by everyone, generating yells of astonishment and awe.
The worry persisted in the team, then Duck appeared in front of them, flying with celebration. "Yeah! Did you think that was the end of Danger Duck!"
"Yes, but maybe it was too good to be true." Lexi joked with a smirk.
Duck put a straight face and crossed his arms. "You're despicable."
The team started to hear the applauses below them, so they began to descend to the street. Ace landed followed by the rest, between grateful people, smiling at them, then he looked at Duck. "I knew you would pull that one off." He glanced at his other teammates, giving them the same look of confidence. "I knew all of you would."
Peyton suddenly arrived and hugged Slam then kissed him. Slam growled, stating the weapon she was holding seemed familiar.
Tech intervened. "It's because it's ours, Slam." He looked at Peyton quite upset.
Peyton chuckled nervously and scratched her nape. "Sorry." She tried to hand the Gluco Gel 9000 rifle to Tech.
Tech looked at her and the weapon for a moment, then sighed. "Well...keep it, Peyton." He said so hesitantly, subtly smiling at her. "You'll give it good use."
Quentin arrived, walking towards Tech. "Uhm, that applies to me too?" He lifted his weapon before him.
"Oh you...who gave you permission t..?" Tech sighed again and grunted slightly. "Whatever." He just walked away from them.
Matt was still kneeling next to Hill, Anne stood before them, with her gaze lowered, Heather was next to her, with a straight face. The Eye's soldiers stood around them, looking at their dead boss with sadness. Heather walked away from the scene, then Anne noticed she had left and looked at every corner around her, but she didn't find Heather. She then returned her gaze to the General.
Quentin was sitting on a bench, away from the great crowd, looking at his recently obtained weapon. "Hi." Heather said when finding him then she sat down by his side.
"Hi." Quentin replied.
Heather raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?" She looked at her boyfriend with some worry. "We saved the day."
"I don't deserve to celebrate." Quentin placed a hand on her knee. "I ruined your life." There was a deep guilt on his eyes. "I'm not asking for forgiveness."
Heather took his hand and kissed him. "That's not necessary, Quentin. There is nothing to forgive."
Quentin hugged her. "I'm so...unsure, about everything, about the future." He broke the hug slowly. "What's next for us? I can't stand more of this pain and..." He sighed and lowered his head. "There will be more to come."
Heather smirked at him and placed a hand on his cheek, making him to look into her eyes. "Then don't expect it." She stroked his face. "Have faith." Quentin got thoughtful for a long moment, getting lost on the eyes of his loved one. He placed his hands on her shoulders, then kissed her.
A couple of hours later, outside of The Eye's base/stadium, Ace stood over a stage, built with huge storage boxes, weapon cases and other military equipment. He was wearing a black suit, same as his shirt and tie. The leader of the Loonatics was about to give a speech, the soldiers of The Eye, A.R.M., the A.H.P. and the rest of the Loonatics being the audience, all of them sitting down on rows of folding chairs, wearing black clothes. "Hill wasn't a common person." He tried to speak loudly as there wasn't a microphone. "He was brave, righteous and honest." He sighed. "We had our differences, but that never changed my thoughts on him. Back when the city was facing its worst moment, he still took action, to protect it from the forces of evil, he ignited a spark of fight in my team again, a fight against a great power. His bravery won't be forgotten, fear often strikes us in bad times, and in good times, but it will win only if we let it. Take the decision to overcome it and everything will be fine, that was something the General understood well." Ace glanced up. "Goodbye, General." He looked at the sitting crowd. "Goodbye, fellow."
Later that night, Rebecca started to wake up from her comma, when opening her eyes, she saw her boyfriend waiting outside of the infirmary. Rev then entered and with a gasp of happiness took her hand and kissed her. "What...what happened?" She slowly started to remember some of the events. "Did we win?"
Rev nodded at her. "We did." He put a hand on his chin and glanced away with his eyebrow raised. "Not without some problems here and there and I was very worried about you I really feared the wors..."
Rebecca interrupted him with a hug. "I'm here, hon. That's all that matters now."
Heather and Quentin sat over the rooftop of a tall building, looking at the star filled sky, holding each other's hands. "What a great view." Quentin opined. "It almost compensates the fear I felt when you carried me up here."
Heather chuckled. "You overreacted a bit too much, sweetheart."
"But it was so scary." Quentin argued.
Heather laughed softly. "Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I do." Quentin rested his head on her shoulder, then she over his, they both kept glancing at the sky. He let out a sigh. "What will be of us? I had never felt this doubt." He embraced her. "I mean, how will our lives turn out after this?"
"Better." Heather embraced him too. "They'll be better, love."
Quentin smirked at her response, closing his eyes calmly. "Better."
Author's note: Thank you, reader, for always being there at every chapter, every episode of this saga, you are a wonderful blessing. Fifty episodes, I still remember the day when I started writing this story, almost two years ago, and I didn't know it was the beginning of such wonderful experience, the characters, the world and the fic itself have grown in a very satisfactory way. "Cataclysm" has ended, the first macroevent of Loonatics: United, I think it turned out very well, I hope you are happy with the results of many months of work, spent to give you a good, entertaining adventure :). The next arc will begin soon, so stay tuned for the next episode of "Loonatics: United"!
God bless you.
-Grant