Loonatics: United

Episode 55: Night Of Perceptions

Night was arriving, 'The Station' was a popular pub in Acmetropolis, specially at night, it was over one of the many metallic platforms that conformed the shops of the Hadron Tower, one of the many malls in the city's downtown. The elevator's doors opened and Lexi, Ace and Tech exited from it, Tech had switched to civilian clothes just as his comrades, he wore a pair of black jeans and a dark green T-Shirt. The three Loonatics walked towards the reception of the pub, right under the glowing blue and purple, neon lighted sign.

"Hi, uhm, table for three?" Ace asked to the young lioness behind the counter, she wore a black cap and a gray blouse with the pub's logo on it, as well as black jeans.

The receptionist nodded at him with a friendly smirk. "Sure, follow me." The lioness walked into the pub. Ace let Lexi enter first then he got in followed by Tech, who immediately studied the place with his gaze, admired by its constant aesthetic, the blue and purple glowing lights were everywhere, the synthwave music playing on the background, the holographic screens streaming different types of music videos, he began to like the place already.

The lioness took them to a table on the terrace, the floor was a metallic grid, so the height could be seen clearly under their feet. "Thanks." Ace said after a brief, thankful chuckle, sitting down on one of the chairs next to the terrace's railing, resting his arm there, Lexi sat down on the opposite chair and Tech did so on the one at the middle, which faced the pub indoors area.

The lioness smiled at them with another friendly nod. "I'll call someone to take your order." She said then went back to the pub's inside.

"So…what you think?" Ace asked Tech.

Tech was already checking the menu, he put it down and nodded at Ace with approval, looking briefly around him. "It's good." He pointed at the neon lights that exited from the pub's inside and traveled over the black wall. "I like how they used the light to build up the ambient, it's like, uhm, very consistent."

Lexi chuckled. "You really like to analyze stuff, like, everytime." She raised an eyebrow jokingly, crossing her arms.

Tech grinned and raised his shoulders. "What else could I do? I'm a scientist."

"Maybe you could talk about, well, movies or something." Lexi proposed.

"Oh, I heard 'The Igniter' twelve is coming next year, it will be brutal." Ace said.

"Twelve already? That's a bit much." Lexi argued, gesturing with her finger. "But I'm gonna see it anyways."

"Uhm, igniter?" Tech raised an eyebrow at them.

"Yeah, the ones with Tom Le Pew…" Ace waited for Tech to suddenly remember what they were talking about, but his only response was a brief head shake. Ace's eyes widened a bit. "…stunt scenes, explosions, agents, no?"

"No." Tech shook his head.

Ace chuckled with disbelief. "Man, you should really watch them." Ace opined, resting his arm on the table and pointing at him. "A marathon, all the team, you're in?"

Lexi gasped with agreement, placing her hand on her boyfriend's arm. "Oh, that would be amazing! Like a sleepover!"

"Uhm, what does running has to do with a sleepover?" Tech inquired, tilting his head slightly.

Ace chuckled. "A film marathon, Doc."

Tech thought for a split of second then snapped his fingers. "You mean watching all those movies in a row?"

Ace nodded with a smirk. "See, you know what we are talking about here."

A waiter approached them, a black cat who wore gray overalls, with 'The Station' logo on it, over his casual clothes, a blue T-Shirt and jeans. "Hi, I'm Evan, I'll be your waiter tonight, may I take your order?"

"Hi, uhm, I'll have spicy wings..." Ace answered. "...and a dark beer, please."

"For you, lady?" Evan asked Lexi.

"Also spicy wings, please." Lexi replied. "Light beer."

The waiter looked at Tech. "For you, mister?"

Tech read some lines of the menu. "Uhm…a light beer and…sorry, how spicy are the spicy wings?" Tech asked, looking at Evan with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, spicy." Evan raised his shoulders.

Tech glared at Ace, who did a more-less gesture. Tech scratched his chin and nodded at the waiter. "Well, spicy then."

"Alright..." Evan sent the order with a tap on his digital notepad. "…done." He smiled at them with a nod. "Right in a moment." He walked away from them to attend another table.

Ace chuckled. "Don't worry, Tech. I'm sure you will handle them."

Tech shared the chuckle, putting down the menu again. "I hope you're right, boss."

The darkness of the night already covered HarmNix's facilities, Dan and Darcy didn't have any trouble in reaching the area where the laboratories were located, as the apartment where they lived was actually in the company's property, being one of many small residences that HarmNix forced their workers to live in. Dan, Darcy and Susan were resting their backs against the wall of the building, standing over the gray, rocky ground. Dan poked his head out and saw two members of the A.H.P. guarding the entrance to the building, one of them was a german shepherd and the other a wolf. "Okay, sis." He looked back then returned his gaze at the policemen. "When I cou…" He rapidly tuned his gaze again and noticed his sister wasn't behind him anymore, only Susan, he quickly looked back at the front and gasped when seeing Darcy running towards the guards with her hands glowing and ready to attack, screaming while the guards shot at her with their laser guns.

Darcy had her hands facing frontwards, the green glowing smoke that her hands expelled made the lasers to vanish on their way, the guards kept shooting but no laser reached Darcy. Dan got out of the cover, grasping Susan's arm and taking her with him, running towards the guards with his other hand pointing at them, and when Darcy got close to them, she jumped and shot a charge of acid at the german shepherd, as the wolf had evaded her, the german shepherd let out a scream of death while the acid went through his chest, falling to the ground with his chest steaming. Darcy was crouching, the remaining guard was standing behind her, pointing his gun at her head, almost pulling the trigger, but Dan arrived just in time to shoot acid at the guard's side, leaving him lifeless on an instant. The wolf fell down next to his comrade. Darcy breathed in and out repeatedly, smirking at Dan when recovering her breath. "Did you see that?" She got fully into her feet.

"Yes." Dan said with a straight face. "You nearly got killed." He crossed his arms. "You should listen to my instructions, sis."

"Wha…?" Darcy glanced at the dead wolf. "Oh…"

Dan sighed. "Just be more careful, okay?" Dan placed a hand on her shoulder. "We are a team, remember?"

"Yes, I…" Darcy glared down, scratching her nape. "Sor…"

Dan chuckled and patted her shoulder. "You were good, sis." He expressed, pointing at the guards. "Just listen first." He smirked at her. "That's all."

Darcy looked into his eyes, grinning slightly. "Okay."

Dan nodded and looked around briefly. "Alright." He let go off Susan's arm and got in front of the door of the building, red with yellow diagonal lines. He approached it, the door opened right away, as it was automatic. Dan chuckled and looked at Susan. "And I was already preparing these…" He briefly raised his glowing hands, Susan didn't express any reaction. Dan looked at his sides, seeing no guards on the dimly illuminated hallway. "Come on." He mumbled and hurried towards the right side followed by Darcy and Susan. Darcy ran behind her, to prevent her to try to escape or refuse going with them. The three went up a set of metallic spiral stairs and reached the second floor, Dan stopped running when seeing three guards pointing at them with their laser guns, Darcy got next to him while holding Susan's arm.

"It's over!" The leading guard exclaimed, a white tiger.

Dan thought for a moment, then he looked at Darcy and winked at her, making her to tilt her head a bit with confusion. Dan grabbed Susan and held her in front of him, with his arm pressing her neck, pointing his glowing hand at her. "Oh, really?!" He started to walk. "One move and she is dead!" He made the glow stronger. "Drop your weapons, now!"

The two guards behind the tiger, a cougar and a squirrel, shared looks of doubt. The tiger and his comrades kept pointing at them. "In your dreams, pal." The tiger said with a frown.

"Oh…" Dan looked at him with a daring glare while getting his hand next to Susan's face, hurting her the same way he had done at the apartment, making her to scream with great pain.

"No!..." Susan cried out loud, her cry echoed in the hallway.

The cougar couldn't stand seeing her suffering. "Terrence!"

Terrence kept pointing his gun at them, refusing to obey Dan. "Stop!"

"You want me to stop?!" Dan chuckled and placed his hand right on the fur of her face, applying more pressure and increasing the heat of his power. "Drop your weapons!"

Susan's screams got more intense, tears were flowing with non stop, her deep cry and her face of pain were too much for the guard's guts, he let out a scream of rage and dropped his gun violently. "Drop your guns!" He commanded, the two guards obeyed him and lowered their weapons more gently.

Dan smiled at them and got his hand away from her face. "Good boys." He kept holding Susan, who sobbed with great sorrow. Dan continued walking followed by his sister. When being between the three guards, he winked at Darcy with a slight nod, looking rapidly at her hands, Darcy made her hand to glow dimly and looked at her brother again, who confirmed with another subtle nod.

The cougar gasped when seeing Darcy raising her hand towards Terrence. "Watch ou..!" Darcy shot both at him and the tiger, with her arms extended at them, melting their chests with acid, Dan rapidly threw Susan to the floor aggressively, making her to groan while still crying, he now had both hands free, so he approached the squirrel and grasped his neck with both hands, shooting acid while holding it strongly, killing the guard instantly and dropping him after so.

Darcy walked towards Susan and helped her to stand up, grasping her arm. "How was I?" Darcy asked Dan with a cocky grin, approaching him.

Dan chuckled with approval. "You're getting just better." Dan said then they kept walking. He smirked when seeing the sign over the only door of the hallway, it said 'Lab 4'. They stopped walking right in front of it. Dan approached the handle and tried to open the door, but the handle had a fingerprint lock system, as Dan noticed by the handle's texture. He didn't hesitate on melting the handle with his power, a distorted beep sounded then he pushed the door gently with his hand and it opened. He walked into the lab, the white dazzling lights turned on automatically. "This is it." He said, walking and glancing at the tables, computers, chemicals, devices and other stuff that the lab offered. "Is this enough for you, Ms. Sanders?" He turned when reaching the central workstation, resting his hands on its edge, looking at Susan with a face of inquiry. Susan had her gaze lowered, her sobs were still present. Dan walked towards her and moved his sister's hand away from her, gesturing at her then glancing back at Susan, putting his hand on her chin and slowly raising her head until she looked into his eyes. "I made you a question."

"Y…" Susan sobbed, looking briefly at the place. "Yes." She blinked for a long moment then opened her eyes slowly, letting a couple of tears to travel down her face.

"Good." Dan smiled at her and let go off her chin slowly. "Where do we start, then?"

Susan stood silent for a moment, then she lowered her gaze and took a couple of breaths to control her still broken voice. "I need your blood."

Dan thought briefly, then he raised his arm and pulled down his sleeve, revealing the green glow of his fur. "Go ahead, Ms. Sanders."