Loonatics: United

Episode 64: Unwanted Encounter

The team was gathered in the lab. Tech was approaching his comrades while holding a spray can. "Close your eyes." Tech handed it to Rev. "Rev, do the honors." Rev nodded and started to spray the transparent substance on everyone's suits after spraying himself. "This layer will protect us and the bikes from the electricity." Tech explained while getting in between them.

"Why does it smell like lavender?" Duck said with a glare of confusion.

"Do you prefer car oil scent?" Tech inquired sarcastically.

Rev got behind them and kept spraying, then he rapidly got in front of them again. "It's done we're good to go now I hope this stuff is good enough to resist but it was my idea in the first place so I'm sure it will work."

"It will work, but because it is my formula." Tech pointed at himself with a cocky grin.

"Yeah but it was my idea and I think that gives me more cr…" Rev was interrupted.

"Guys, I would like to see how this debate of yours ends, but we gotta go." Ace said.

"Wait I'll spray the bikes…" Rev was gone for a moment then he was again among his friends with a fading red trace behind him. "…done."

Ace chuckled. "Alright, team. Let's jet."

"Come on, just do it." Ray told himself as he was still in the alleyway, poking his head out while looking at AMRI's electric fence, which consisted in several purple glowing wires. He waited a bit more, then let out a sigh and exited from the alleyway.

In a small stand, a security guard was reading a magazine, he wore a blue shirt and black pants as well as a cap of the same color, he was a gray furred mole. He glared away from his magazine for a moment then looked at it again, his eyes widened then looked again through the window and saw Ray rapidly approaching the fence. "What the..?" The guard stood up and opened the door, rapidly exiting from the stand. "Hey! Stop! This fence is e..!" Ray took a high jump and easily got over the fence then landed safely on the gravel that covered the ground at the other side, immediately resuming his rush towards AMRI's complex. "Hey!" The guard grunted and got in the stand, pressing a button on the console over the desk.

Ray kept running, he then approached the white painted building and jumped again, landing over the roof. He spotted a hatch and ran towards it. Ray crouched and tried to open it, he gasped a bit by the effort after noticing it was locked electronically, because of the wire that surrounded it. He backed away from it and cooked an electric sphere then threw it at it. The rays surrounded and electrocuted the hatch for about a minute, then when the sphere and the electricity faded, the hatch opened smoothly by the hydraulic systems it had. Ray grinned and before taking a single step, his ear twitched inside the helmet when hearing several hovering sounds. He turned and spotted a dozen of drones in formation flying ahead. They almost looked like shoe boxes, their surface was dark gray colored and had a red lens at the front.

"Intruder." The drones' robotic voices said. "Surrender."

Ray chuckled. "No can do!" He cooked a pair of spheres.

"Resists." The drones' said several times. "The intruder, resists." The red glow in their lenses intensified. "Defensive tactics…activated." They arranged themselves horizontally and started to shoot red lasers at him.

"Woah!" Ray jumped and avoided the coordinated attacks, then he landed a few meters away from the lasers' end. The drones moved towards him while still shooting, he jumped again, this time towards the drones. When being right over them, he threw both orbs at the drones, which were already trying to direct their lenses at him, but the electric spheres got in contact with them and the electricity started to shock them all. Ray landed over one knee and then stood up, not wanting to lose time looking at the perishing drones. He rushed towards the hatch and rapidly got inside the building.

"Sy...system…failu...ure." The drones said with gaps, smoke started to come out from them by the constant shocks. The electricity stopped, and while the drones still hovered, they exploded all of a sudden, noisily, the blue and yellow light that mixed with the black smoke of the explosion lasted several seconds.

Ray was now in a hallway, greatly illuminated with the continuous pattern of flat led lights over the sides of the ceiling. The walls and the ceiling were entirely white while the floor was gray. He didn't stop until another fleet of drones appeared before him, with their lasers readied. Ray dropped himself and slid below the drones, getting past them, then he stood up and before the deadly machines could turn he readied two spheres and tracked them, he threw the spheres and just continued his rush. After some moments, he heard the explosion at the distance and grinned.

The hallway began to appear endless, until a large window started to show at his left, revealing the inside of a high-tech laboratory. He looked through it and gasped when spotting what he was after. Ray kept running through the curved hallway and finally found the automatic door that led to the lab, stopping his rush and finding out it was locked. He prepared an electric orb and backed away a couple of steps then he threw it at the recognition pad at the door's left. The sphere hit the pad and started to shock it. The rays stopped surrounding the device and the automatic doors opened, sliding smoothly before him. He entered and went directly to the wide tube that was holding some kind of transparent mat, which was hovering inside of it, with blue lights illuminating the tube's inside. After reaching the low platform, Ray put his hands over the tube and studied the mat for a moment. "Yeah, this is it." He said to himself and rapidly went down the brief unevenness between the floor and the black platform that the tube was attached to, heading to the lab's main console. He studied the keys and controls for a moment then looked at the monitor, white as the rest of the lab, pressing keys and opening programs. Ray looked over his shoulder and pressed the 'Enter' key, the tube opened in two parts, one slid upwards and the other downwards. The mat was still hovering, but now uncovered. Ray smirked and chuckled briefly then went back to the platform and didn't hesitate on getting his hands on the mat. He held it in front of him and turned it several times, stretching it, it was flexible and malleable yet firm, he could notice the subtle golden, thin wires over the crystal clear surface. "I guess…" He pressed it onto the suit's chest zone. "…it works this w…" He gasped when the mat started to expand over the suit, covering it completely in about a minute. A brief, dim light blinked from the mat afterwards. Ray grinned. "Symbiotic shield…check." He turned and tried to escape as soon as possible, hopping from the platform and rushing towards the doors, but he gasped and stopped his hurry right away as he had gotten company.

"Going somewhere?" Ace inquired with his arms crossed, between the other five heroes.

Ray grunted. "Just leave me alone! What have I done to you?!"

"Well, you electrocuted us, which was absolutely not cool…" Duck replied. "…yeah, that's pretty much it."

Ray sighed. "Please, let me go, you don…"

"Understand, yeah, you said that before." Lexi readied her laser vision and adopted a combat position.

Ray readied an electric sphere. "Last call…or I'll do it again."

"Oh no, we are doomed!" Duck exclaimed sarcastically, which pissed Ray off.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Ray backed his arm and threw the sphere at Ace. The orb bounced on his chest and then over the floor, just with a couple of rays surrounding it. Ray gasped and looked at them with astonishment. "Wha...?"

"Oh, you thought we wouldn't be prepared?" Duck inquired mockingly and cooked two of his orbs. "Now…"

"Surrender…it's your only option." Tech said, raising his hands a bit as a sign of empathy.

Duck growled. "I wanted to say that! Just a bit more, aggressive, maybe."

"Just…get out of that suit…and come with us." Ace added.

Ray looked at the door behind the Loonatics, knowing it was impossible for him to reach it, he then looked at his sides, not finding any other alternative. He then looked over his shoulder and glared at the main console. Ray cooked a pair of electric orbs and turned a bit to aim at the console. He threw the spheres at it and when colliding, the electricity started to surround and damage the console gradually until all the lights that illuminated the lab went off after deactivation noises, leaving Ray and the Loonatics in complete darkness.