I don't own Loonatics Unleashed

Enjoy!


Ace met with the rest of the team in the center of Acmetropolis. He couldn't believe that for this first mission, they had been successful at eradicating the city from these ticks. One of the things that Ace was grateful for was that the ticks hadn't harmed any of the citizens. Harm on human life was something that he couldn't bring back. The meteor had done enough of that and this city didn't need any more of that. "What's the status on these ticks, team?" he asked once the team regrouped.

"Ticks on the west side of the city have been taken care of," Lexi proudly said and put her hands on her hips.

Slam garbled on his heroic deed over by the east side of the city and gave Ace and thumbs up.

"Tech-and-I-took-care-of-the-south-end-man-there-were-a-lot-of-them!" Rev emphasized.

"And everything is fine up north," Ace said with a nod of his head. "Great job team. Let's get back to headquarters and debrief Zadavia on this tick problem. Hopefully that's the last of it."

Upon his command, the team activated their jetpacks and took off in the air. Tech quickly walked over to Ace before the rabbit was in the air. "What's up, Tech?" Ace said and noticed the look of concern upon Tech's features. "You okay there, bud?"

"I'm fine," Tech assured him, "I just wanted to let you know that I took action on something that I thought may help us."

Ace wondered what Tech was talking about. "Okay," he slowly dragged out the word, "what gives?"

"I have this friend…well, a student that I used to tutor back at the university, who is also a friend. When Rev and I were cornering the ticks, I happened to grab one of them. I handed the tick over to her to study on why it's increased in size, acting the way that it did…maybe to give us a clue on how we can avoid this problem in the future," Tech explained to Ace.

"Ya don't think that bug spray might help?" Ace asked, though from the smirk that was upon his lips, he was joking about the idea of it. With the number of ticks that had taken over Acmetropolis, it was going to take a lot more than bug spray to get rid of them.

Tech slowly shook his head. "I'm afraid not. That's what I'm having Quinn…my friend, investigate."

"Hopefully she finds something soon," Ace said before looking at Tech earnestly. "Thanks for telling me by the way, Tech. That information may help us. Now let's jet back to HQ. I'm sure the rest of the team beat us to it."

Tech let out a sight of relief. He was glad that Ace understood his intentions and didn't reprimand him for acting without speaking to anyone first. He activated his jetpack and followed the rabbit back to their headquarters. Once he arrived, he looked over at the city taking in the peacefulness that came with it now that it wasn't infested with ticks. He then proceeded to walk into the lounge area where he found the rest of his teammates questioning Duck about his disappearance.

"Where were you Duck?" Lexi asked the mallard as Tech joined the team, "we had a mission today!"

If Duck was to lie to them and say he had been here this whole time, the team would know about it. Lexi Bunny was very sharp and the last thing that he wanted was to be reprimanded for his actions. "I was busy," he simply answered her.

"Doing what?" Lexi asked him. "The city needed us and today, of all days, was when you decided to be busy?"

"Look here, missy," Duck said as he got up and walked over to the rabbit, suddenly realizing that he was shorter than she was, "I don't have to answer to you. You're not the boss of me."

"No, but Zadavia is," Lexi said, not at all affected by Duck's attitude. She had dealt so much with this in her past that she didn't care for the rudeness that he exhibited towards her. Perhaps a little brain blast to the tail feathers would make him think twice but she wasn't considering it now. "Imagine what she has to say when she finds out you were gone."

"Please," Duck said as he dismissively waved his hand in the air. "What is she going to see me through? A hologram?"

"I may very well just do that," an all too familiar voice suddenly came into the lounge area. The Loonatics turned around as they saw Zadavia's hologram in the middle of the round table. Duck felt his stomach drop upon her appearance and he hoped that she hadn't heard what he had just said. "I was hoping to see you with the rest of the team…Duck."

She didn't sound happy with him and Duck didn't know how to respond to that.

"For the rest of you," she then said to the other Loonatics, "you acted valiantly in ensuring that the citizens of Acmetropolis were kept safe from those mutated ticks. Ace, I congratulate you in being able to lead the team towards the mission."

"Ah it was nothin'," Ace said with a smile upon his lips.

"Lexi," Zadavia then looked over to the female bunny, "you seemed to have a bit of difficulty calling upon your brain blast power but you managed quite well and eradicated a great population of the ticks. Congratulations."

So not only was Zadavia able to hear everything but also see what they were doing. Lexi, however, appreciated the praise that she received and gave the woman a smile.

"Slam," the blonde woman said to the Tasmanian devil, "your I applaud your decisive actions when you gathered those ticks into the trashcans was effective. I gathered word that those ticks have been gathered and will be properly disposed of."

A bright smile came upon the Tasmanian devil's lips as he said a very enthusiastic 'thanks' to the blonde.

"Tech and Rev," she said to the coyote and the roadrunner, "you two make an excellent duo. I like to see more of your collaborations soon."

Tech appreciated the praise as he beheld a gentle smile upon his lips and Rev brightly smiled at the blonde.

"Once again team, congratulations on your first mission. I will be in touch with you when needed. Zadavia out."

Duck couldn't believe that they were getting praise for something that he should have been a part of. A part of him hated that he had missed out on this mission, but another part of him was glad that he was able to see Miranda waking up. He planned on paying her a visit later but would he be questioned by the team again? The last thing he needed was an interrogation and he was not willing to answer any of their questions.

With Zadavia's positive message to the team, Lexi decided to head in her bedroom and relax a little before training. Tech decided to head into his laboratory and Rev followed him to see what else the coyote was planning on the building. As for Slam, he was a little hungry and decided to make himself a sandwich and enjoy it in his room.

Duck folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window. As he stood seeing what was out there, he noticed Ace's reflection appearing behind him on the glass. Oh, great Duck thought as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Another rabbit interrogation. He turned around and looked at the rabbit with a dissatisfied look.

This guy was going to be a difficult one to deal with. Ace had dealt with a lot worse. "Sorry you had to miss the first mission there, Duck," Ace said to him. "Is everything going okay with you?"

"What makes you think that?" Duck defensively asked.

Now that attitude was a good giveaway. "Well, let's see," Ace said as he began to count off on his fingers, "you're barely interacting with the team, you leave at the same hour each morning and return late without letting anyone of know, and you're very defensive about everything. What gives? Is it something we did?"

It wasn't them. It was that damned meteor! "Are you going to ask me this every time?" Duck asked him. "Why do I need to tell any of you anything?"

"Because we're a team and it's all about communication, buddy," Ace said to him. "Like Tech. He acted on something today and told me about what he did."

Oh, so now there were comparisons! Duck hated that. "I could care less what that d—coyote did. Since I wasn't here, it was for a good reason."

"What was the reason?" Ace asked him.

"I don't have to tell you what my reason was," Duck said to him, "it's personal!"

"Must be a very important reason then," Ace said to him, "something related with family?" he asked.

Duck froze when Ace asked him that. Family wasn't a foreign concept to him, but it was something that wasn't his. With Miranda, they had been living together for months and became comfortable around each other and he hoped for something more in the future. "It's none of your business, bunny," he bitterly said to Ace.

Ace shrugged his shoulders and took a seat on one of the chairs in the kitchen. He leaned back and placed his feet on the table. "It will become my business when I become leader."

Duck gaped when he said that. "What makes you think you will become the leader?"

"I don't know," Ace said with another shrug of his shoulders, "with the way things went and Zadavia's praise, I think I have this in the bag."

"Oh yeah?" Duck said as he walked up to the rabbit, "well she doesn't know that this duck come with a whole package a-and lots of it. She just missed out on the opportunity to see what I can do."

"She didn't miss out on anything," Ace smirked, "you did."

Duck frowned when he fell into Ace's little conversational trap. "Yeah will she'll have to go easy on me considering where I was."

"And just where were you?" Ace asked him.

"At the hospital," Duck answered him.

Oh? Ace didn't expect such an answer from him. Whatever he was doing in the hospital was serious unless he was doing some volunteer work. "Doing what?" he asked him.

He couldn't believe that he had walked in that trap again. Now Ace had him in a secure trap and he didn't know if he could get out of it. "I don't need to answer this," Duck said as he was about to walk away from the rabbit but Ace jumped right in front him, blocking his path.

"Going to a hospital is more serious than a walk in the park, Duck," Ace said to him. "Are you doing alright?"

No, I'm not! Duck wanted to say to him but didn't want to deem himself weak in the eyes of others. "Of course," he said to him. "What could possibly be wrong?"

"Other than you going to the hospital, I can't think of anything," Ace said to him.

"I didn't go to the hospital because of myself. I went there because of my girlfriend!" Duck finally vented at him. "She has been in a coma for weeks from that meteor and today was the day that she finally woke up! And you think I was going to miss seeing her today just because you and the rest decided to go ahead and play with some ticks? No!"

This was a fact that Duck never shared with the team. Ace was shocked to hear such a fact. The meteor had affected everyone in Acmetropolis and many were still grieving for the ones that they had lost. The amount of people that Ace had seen in the hospital injured and fighting for their lives. For Duck's situation, even though Ace didn't wish that for anyone, he had been one of the lucky ones where their significant other came back from a coma. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Ace asked him.

"Because it's nobody's business," Duck said to him.

"So, in other words," Ace said, "you don't trust any of us?" When Duck remained quiet, that was more of an answer to Ace than anything. "Wow. I am quite surprised that you would think something like that."

"I didn't say that, you did," Duck accused him.

"You not saying anything just proved to me what you consider the team as and that ain't good," he said with a shake of his head.

Duck glared at him. "Have you considered the fact that I don't know any of you?" he reminded him.

"I didn't know any of youse when I came here either," Ace said, "neither did Lexi, or Slam, or Tech, or Rev. We've been living here for the past week and had more fun with one another and became quick friends while you didn't bother to come out of your room and stay with us. How do you think that makes us feel?"

"I had—"

Ace held up his hand and interrupted him, much to Duck's dissatisfaction. "I get it, you had a good reason to. But a whole week, come on!"

Now that had seemed to shut Duck up. The mallard couldn't make out any sentences to argue with the rabbit. He remained quiet and all he could do was send a glare towards the rabbit's direction.

Ace let out a sigh and shook his head once more. "If you really want to be a superhero and part of this team, then you better start acting like one. I'll see you around." With those words, Ace walked away from Duck and headed into his own room, leaving Duck all alone in the lounge area.

It wasn't that Duck couldn't differentiate what was important to him. He knew that being there for the city was important but so was his presence for Miranda. He knew that she was in good hands with the nurses, but he also wanted to be there with her. There was one thing that stuck in his mind. He wanted to be a superhero and he also wanted to be part of the team. He hoped that after his absence for today, the team would be more forgiving to him tomorrow. After all, he wanted to prove just as much to Zadavia that he could be the leader.