Loonatics: United

Episode 81: Flying Snake

Ace Bunny opened his eyes slowly, the ceiling of the lounge was the first thing he saw when waking up. He yawned and got in a sitting position while stretching, letting out a gasp as his side ached stronger than before, sighing while glancing through the windows, looking at the city, illuminated by the morning´s sun. He let out another gasp while standing up, then he headed to the lab, hoping Tech had managed to track Derek down.

Tech was sitting down before the main computer, taking sips of coffee from his mug, looking at the monitor. His ear twitched when hearing Ace arriving. "Oh...hey boss. Morning." He greeted.

"Good morning, Doc." Ace walked towards him and stood at his side while crossing his arms and glaring at the monitor. "Found something?"

"Of course." Tech put his mug on the board and started to type over the console. He pressed the enter key to open a program and several pictures of a huge, metallic dome started to show up on screen, located on the outskirts of Acmetropolis as some notes stated. "I had to look deep in the city´s real estate records. I also used some personal info I found scattered all over the net as well as in the files we got." He pointed at the pictures with his hand. "All the data confirms this is the place from where he is operating." He looked at Ace, waiting for an order.

Ace looked at the pictures for a moment then nodded. "Excellent." He praised. "Get the jet ready, we´ll head there in an hour...and finish this job." He started to walk towards the infirmary.

"Uhm, boss...you should let her rest, she is still recovering." Tech´s warning made Ace stop his steps while looking at his girlfriend through the large window of the infirmary.

Ace lowered his gaze as he clenched his fists, sighing and turning. "Alright." He headed to the lab´s exit.

"Oh." Tech stood up from his chair and walked towards the central desk, taking a small cylindrical container and opening it, then he took a small white pill from the inside. He approached Ace while showing him the pill. "Take this, you´re still in treatment."

Ace raised an eyebrow while taking the pill, studying it briefly with his gaze. "Is this gonna make me, well, sleepy?"

"Not...too much, is just a soft anti-inflammatory." Tech answered.

Ace kept looking at the pill then finally swallowed it with hesitation. "Thanks, Doc." He subtly smirked at him.

Tech nodded. "It´s nothing…" He chuckled briefly. "It´s my job."

Ace finally left the lab and when arriving at the lounge, he headed to the button that was attached to the wall, pressing it and activating the noisy, buzzy alarm. Slam, Duck and Rev exited their rooms, with tired faces and the common disgust for the ongoing sound. Duck, stretched while heading to the kitchen. "We´re up! Turn it off!" Duck said before yawning and entering the kitchen.

Slam growled with concur, following Duck to the kitchen as well as Rev.

Ace pressed the button again, deactivating the alarm. He went to the kitchen to join his comrades. Rev had already finished his breakfast as he was cleaning a bowl dish and a spoon at the sink. "Won´t you wait for us to eat, Rev?" Ace asked jokingly.

"Oh..." Rev looked at him briefly over his shoulder then glared back at his task. "Sorry Ace you know I eat very fast just as I do everything well I´m actually taking my time to clean this stuff because I enjoy dishwashing quite a lot is that weird? I think not."

Ace chuckled. "I´m kidding, Rev." As he sat down at the table next to the window, he noticed Duck was still looking for food in the fridge. "Hey, Duck, what are you having?" Ace yawned.

"Well, we got..." Duck started to take several things from the fridge´s inside, holding them with one hand. "Some mortadella, uhm...I think this is lettuce, not sure...meh, it´s still green though." He also took a bottle of mustard and one of ketchup then closed the fridge´s door with his foot. "I guess I´m having a sandwich, maybe, do we got bread?"

Ace sighed. "We have some, yeah. Could you make me one, Duck?"

Duck raised an eyebrow while searching for the bread in the cupboard. "One what?"

"A sandwich, please." Ace replied.

Duck grunted silently then sighed after finding the metallic container with the bread, lowering it from the cupboard and placing it over the bar next to the other ingredients. "Sure..."

"Thanks, man." Ace looked at Slam, who was sitting just before him, with an empty dish in front of him, where only crumbs remained. "You too, buddy?" He said with a chuckle.

Slam replied with an affirmative growl and a rather involuntary burp.

"It´s fine, big guy, don´t worry." Ace sighed while rubbing his face. "We actually need to hurry as we are leaving in an hour."

Duck´s eyes widened, he looked at Ace with disapproval. "An hour?! But the sports show is g..." He sighed. "I guess I´ll watch the replay tomorrow." He pointed at Ace with warning. "But only because I want to avenge Lexi...and you, if you want."

"What could we do without you, Duck?" Ace said with a quite sarcastic tone, but not that much. He looked at the city through the window, getting both hands behind his nape and crossing his legs, sighing while studying the looks of the buildings and skyscrapers.

After having their breakfast and waiting a few more minutes, Ace and the others went to the lab. "Doc." Ace said when arriving.

Tech stood up from his chair and looked at Ace with a confirming nod. "It´s ready, boss."

Ace nodded back and looked at his other comrades. "This ends today, guys. For Lexi, for all the victims."

"Alright, I´ll see you at the hangar." Tech said and exited the lab rushedly.

"What´s exactly the plan?" Duck asked. "Are we just gonna show up and see what happens?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Ace answered.

Duck raised his shoulders. "Okay." He thundered his fingers. "A good old beating awaits for this guy, then."

Ace looked at the infirmary. "Go with Tech. I´ll meet you in a second."

"Alright, Ace." Rev replied and then looked at Slam and Duck, gesturing at the lab´s exit. The three heroes then exited the lab.

Ace sighed and walked towards the infirmary, then he got in and approached Lexi, placing a hand on her face, caressing her. "This goes for you, sweetheart." Ace got closer to her and kissed her, then he slowly backed away, taking her hand for a moment. "Hold on." He smirked and then exited the infirmary after giving her a last, caring glance.

Tech activated the jet´s engines. Ace and the rest of the team fastened their seatbelts. The jet started to get off the ground. "At your signal, boss!"

"Go!" Ace commanded right away. Tech accelerated and with that the jet exited the building through the gates of the hangar. Inside the cockpit, Tech was being guided by the map that was displayed on the console´s screen.

"So, what´s the next monster? A mammoth, a mutant raptor?" Duck inquired.

"We´ll have to find out, Duck." Ace said with a straight tone, glaring away with a thoughtful look.

"If it´s a mammoth then I think we should leave most of the work to Slam, right? You know, fire against fire." Rev suggested.

Slam grunted arrogantly, stating he was far stronger than a mammoth.

"What if it pukes acid? What are you gonna do, big guy?" Duck asked.

Slam grunted and raised his shoulders.

"Hmm, maybe I could feed it with the specialty of the house." Duck commented. "You know, some burning orbs right into its mouth."

"But its digestive system would neutralize the orbs, I mean if it pukes acid..." Rev opined.

"Or...it could create a, uhm, redaction? An explosive redaction, I mean." Duck argued. "That´s how it´s said, right?"

"Reaction, Duck. But still, I´m more inclined to my supposition." Rev responded.

Ace sighed. "Guys, you could just wait till we arrive. Maybe there´s no beast at all."

"Huh? So we´ll just enter and cuff the guy?" Duck crossed his arms. "Pfft, how boring."

"It´s a possibility." Rev stated.

Slam grunted, saying he needed to punch something at least.

"I agree with you, big guy." Duck got both hands behind his nape, finally willing to stop the rather senseless conversation. "I´ll be highly disappointed if I can´t get my hands on that madman."

After several minutes of travel, Tech began to see the huge dome shaped building, located at the margins of the city, with empty spots of desert land around it, between just a couple of abandoned buildings. "We´ve arrived, guys!" Tech informed, and after getting closer to the dome, he lowered down the jet slowly until landing it on the earthy ground, turning off the engines afterwards.

Ace sighed while unfastening his seatbelt, followed by the others. They all got off the jet and stood by it. "Alright, team, we don´t know what could possibly be in there, so we gotta be extremely careful, okay?"

"Careful?" Duck cracked his knuckles. "Who you think you´re talking to, man?"

Ace nodded at them all. "Let´s do this, then." The five heroes started to walk towards the dome with hurried steps, ready to fight against whatever menace awaited them.

Derek was sitting at his workstation, looking at the Loonatics approaching the building thanks to the security cameras, the monitors displayed several angles of the event. "Oh, you don´t waste any time, do you, Loonatics?" He started to chuckle while pressing several keys over the keyboard. A text displayed on the monitor at the center, over a progress bar marked at one hundred percent, the text said 'Flying Snake'. "My greatest creation...ready at last." Derek sighed. "I was keeping you for a special occasion." He took the strip that was attached to one of the workstation´s metallic, cylindrical legs, it held a carabiner that then he attached to the buckle of his belt. Derek gave a last glance at the dome´s inside, the tubes, the dirty floor and the high ceiling. "I´ll miss this place so much." He said with a nostalgic tone then pressed the enter key hesitantly.