I don't own Loonatics Unleashed

Enjoy!


The past few days had been quiet for the Loonatics. After the Loonatics accomplished their last mission in blowing up the comet before it hit Acmetropolis, they had reminisced with each other the past year and how much had changed since then. Before, they were normal citizens of Acmetropolis, trying to make a living for themselves and now they had superpowers where they tried to use them to help their people. It had been a lot to get through but with the team that they had formed, it seemed that no matter what obstacle came in their way, they were unbeatable.

Nothing in the group remained a secret, especially when a member sported a ring on her finger. The day after Duck had proposed to Miranda, Lexi Bunny had caught sight on the ring on Miranda's finger and she had been ecstatic for her friend and for Duck as well, even if he got on her nerves at times. This news had spread to the other team members as both Rev and Slam expressed his enthusiasm for the couple whilst Ace and Tech gave their congratulations.

As for tonight, the Loonatics had gathered at the round table, hoping to get word from Zadavia if they had any missions that they needed to get to. Lexi looked across the table as she saw Tech holding a device that he had made. The Gluco Gel 9000, as he had called it, and of course 'one of his greatest inventions yet.' Of course, when Tech began to explain the reason behind his inventions, Lexi couldn't help but have a faraway look in her eyes. She understood the passion that he had for his field, but sometimes it got a little much. She was, surprisingly, glad that Duck's voice interfered within the group when he approached the round table and saw that Zadavia was nowhere to be seen in the hologram.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Duck said as he took his seat next to Miranda, "where's Zadavia? Did someone forget to pay the holocom bill again?"

"Patience is a virtue, Duck," Lexi said.

"What are you a fortune cookie?" Duck asked as he looked over at the female bunny. "Ow!" he cringed as he felt a punch on his arm and let out a small whimper before looking over at Miranda. "What did I say?" At least she hadn't punched him with the ring, otherwise his arm would have hurt more.

Ace shook his head at the two ducks before looking over at Zadavia's hologram. "It's not like her to stand us up. You sure we got the time right?"

Miranda looked down at her watched and nodded her head. "Yeah and she's late."

Lexi's ears suddenly perked up as he looked at the direction where the noise came from. "Put a sock in it guys, I'm hearing something I don't like."

"Please," Duck said as he got up from his chair and approached Slam, "it's the sound of Slam's stomach gurgling."

Miranda perked up at that. "I guess that means we ought to order some Chinese takeout!" As she was about to jump out of her chair and head over to the phone, the alarm went off startling the Loonatics.

Lexi had a satisfied smile upon her lips as she folded her arms across her chest and said, "told you so."

Suddenly, a strange looking small chimp-chameleon-lizard looking hybrid appeared from the door of HQ and jumped to where the Loonatics were. The superheroes gathered around to see whom this visitor was and they were surprised to see such a strange looking creature. Everyone but Duck.

"That hideous beast is invading HQ! Run for your lives!" he dramatically yelled before he realized what he had just said, "I mean…attack? Attack!" he yelled as he formed a series of power orbs and began to shoot them over at the small creature.

The creature shook in fear but was able to dodge all the attacks that Duck threw. It hid within the color of the walls, making it seem that Duck was successful before it appeared in front of Ace. Duck noticed and he teleported in front of Ace as it jumped over Duck's shoulder and into Ace's hands.

Lexi walked towards Ace as she saw him holding gently onto the creature. It was such a cute sight, she wished she had her digital double-lens camera to take a picture. "I think it likes you, Ace."

Miranda approached the creature and took a closer look at it. For a strange looking hybrid, it was rather cute. "Poor thing is scared," she said. "Did that mean ol' Duck scare you?" she asked and she couldn't help but laugh at the glare that Duck sent her way.

Ace looked down at the creature's neck and noticed a collar hanging from her neck. "Check out this collar," he said as he took a hold of the pendant and turned it around to see the words 'Space Circus Union# 3635' written on it. "It's from the Space Circus."

"Wow!" Lexi said, "a galactic oddity! Poor thing. Must have escaped and gotten lost."

Miranda tilted her head when Lexi said that. "Galactic oddity? You mean that orbiting space circus that has these guys?" she asked as she smiled over at the creature and gave it a light pet on the head.

"EW!" Duck flinched, "don't touch it! It probably said intergalactic bloodsucking fleas. I say we get rid of it, pronto!"

The creature responded with a quick shake of its head. Either it didn't want to be taken back, or it was just extremely scared of Duck's behavior. "I think it's time we take a trip to the Big Top," Ace said to the team, "let's jet!"

The Loonatics immediately put on their jetpacks as they flew over to the Orbiting Space Circus. Duck had a strong hold of the cage where the creature was kept whilst Rev was excitedly talking about getting free passes and how much he enjoyed the circus.

Miranda looked at her surroundings before looking over at Rev. "Not seeing any popcorn or taffy but keep your eyes peeled for cotton candy. I could go for some!"

"Oh-that's-gonna-be-sweet-sweet-sweet!" Rev said.

Between their excited conversation, the monkey creature began to laugh along with them until Duck began to scold it. "Zip it lizard lips, this is all your fault."

Not liking the way that the creature was being treated, Tech used his magnekenisis to bring the cage over to him. He set it on the ground and opened the cage. "You're free to go little one," Tech said.

The moment the creature stepped out of the cage, there was a look of hesitation upon its face. Almost as if it didn't want to venture back home. It turned its head when it saw Duck trying to shoo it away and when Duck began to approach, the creature hopped away from him. When it approached the entrance of a building, it began to jump in place.

"I think she wants us to follow her," Ace said. Wherever this creature was trying to take them, Ace had never seen such a creature acting so urgent about something. His intuition told him that there was something very strange going on in this Space Circus but he hoped his intuition wasn't true. The Loonatics followed the monkey hybrid deeper into the building until they encountered strange looking hybrid creatures.

Just then, the door opened and a rhinoceros-eagle hybrid with a robust body walked out of the door and approached the superheroes, though their reactions didn't match to the monkey's as she jumped away from them in fear.

"Maybe-these-guys-can-help," Rev said as he looked at the creature, "we-have-your-lost-friend.-Can-we-get-free-passes-to-your-circus?-That'd-be-totally-sweet-sweet-sweet!"

"But first," Duck glared at the creature as he reached over and grabbed the monkey hybrid by the tail, "take back your fuzzy lizard thing before we all catch monkey flu."

Just then, another rhinoceros-eagle hybrid walked towards them and delivered a strong punch at Duck, sending him and the monkey flying in the air. Duck crashed against a wooden box as the wood covered him. "Hey!" he yelled at the hybrids, "what's the big idea?" He held out the palms of his hands as two power orbs appeared and the threw them towards the rhinoceros-eagle hybrids.

Slam spun into a cyclone as he attacked the hybrids that were coming towards him. Lexi used her brain blast on one of them and Ace gave another hybrid a powerful kick, sending it crashing against the wall.

In the gaping hole that was created within the wall, Ace's eyes caught something that was in there. He motioned for the Loonatics to follow him as they came upon a device. "What, no clowns? Not even a dancin' bear? Fascinating," the male rabbit smirked, "Tech, check out the hardware."

Of course, he was the one superhero for the job. Without any hesitation, Tech walked towards the computer and tried to hack into it to see if they could find something that the monkey hybrid was trying to tell them. What he saw on the screen shocked him as Ace looked over his shoulder towards the screen. "Genetic manipulation codes," he said to Ace, "human mixed with every animal on the zoological spectrum." The next couple of screens that came up, he shook his head, "it's an experimentation log…and a most disturbing one."

Lexi was looking at a screen on the hardware. It showed a picture of a child and the moment that Tech mentioned human mixed with animal, she was horrified at what she had just heard. "Let me get this straight," she said as she looked over at Tech, "these freaks are human?"

The moment that Lexi asked that question, the automatic doors closed in the room and the glass cylinder tubes that were attached on the platform became loose and hovered over the Loonatics. "Watch out, it's a trap!" Ace yelled at the team but it was too late.

The cylinder tubes sucked the superheroes and trapped them within. They tried to punch their way out or use their powers against the tubes but to no avail. Tech let out a groan as he looked at the texture of the glass. "These cylinders must have been designed to withstand our individual powers."

Miranda had tried to levitate an object from the room to crash towards the glass but she was not successful. She let out a groan as her eyes began to sting from concentrating at a certain spot.

Suddenly, a strange looking man who wore a carnival liked outfit approached the cylinders as he smirked at the Loonatics. "A brilliant observation. They didn't call you 'Egghead' for nothing."

Tech frowned as he folded his arms across his chest. "That's Dr. Egghead to you."

Ace glared at the strange looking man, knowing that he was the one behind all of this. "And what's your name Fancy-Pants?"

"They call me the Ringmaster," he introduced himself.

"Yeah," Ace said, "doesn't ring a bell. You might want to hire a publicist."

The Ringmaster was insulted by what Ace had just said to him. "I am the greatest showman in the universe!" he exclaimed.

Miranda looked at him up and down with an unamused looked upon her face. "So, you're part of the show?" she asked him, "what do you do? Jump through hoops? The lions tame you?" she asked with a smirk upon her beak.

The Ringmaster gave the female duck a glare. "No!" he emphasized, "in fact, you my friend are about to become my new opening act." He swept past the Loonatics, his long cape following him as he walked outside the door.

There was no use in attempting to break out of these cylinders. Whatever was going to happen, Ace hoped that none of his teammates would get hurt in the process. No matter what, there was going to be a way for them to get out of this. Just then, the Ringmaster came back with a someone who was slightly shorter than he was but still had that carnival aesthetic. Without saying a word to the superheroes, the small assistant walked over to the hardware system and took a seat by the computer. Ace tried to follow what was going on, but he didn't get the answers that he wanted just by looking at what was happening. "Hey Ringo," Ace said as he took a seat in the cylinder tube, "what's with the carnie contraption?"

"I'm always trying to improve my Big Top," the Ringmaster answered Ace, "so I had this device built to accommodate your unique genetic makeup. It will manipulate your superpower DNA and transform you into monstrous hybrids under my control."

Slam let out an unsatisfied garbled of words as he glared at the Ringmaster.

"Ugh," Lexi said, "I'm with you Slam."

"I'm not clinically insane," the Ringmaster said in his defense, "I'm a master performer."

"Master performer with a side of psycho," Miranda rolled her eyes, "I feel like I'm living in a new version of Frankenstein."

The Ringmaster did not appreciate her comment but she was going to regret those words after the power that he was going to unleash upon her and her teammates. "You might as well be…duck," he said as he approached her cylinder, though he could see that she was not at all intimidated by him. "By the way, this is going to hurt…a lot." He pulled away from Miranda and turned his attention over to his assistant. "Otto," he said, "proceed."

His assistant, Otto, pulled the lever from the hardware system and all the energy traveled from the hardware system and towards the floating sphere in the middle of the room. All that energy suddenly traveled towards the cylinders and into the Loonatics, where it began to manipulate their DNA. The Ringmaster was not joking when he said that the process was going to hurt. There were no words to describe how painful it was to feel their DNA changing into something that they weren't. It was as if someone was pulling their limbs apart and objects protruding out of their bodies.

"Tech!" Ace attempted to yell through the pain, "get your Gluco gel thingy!"

Tech felt his tail changing into a different form as he managed to grab the Gluco Gel 9000. He held the weapon towards the opening hatch of the cylinder tube and hoped that what he hoped would happen, happened. "Here goes nothing," he said as he pulled the trigger on his weapon. The gel from the gun traveled from the hatch and onto the floating sphere, gumming up the machine. As a result, the sphere exploded and so did the cylinders where the Loonatics were held. The Loonatics fell on the ground and once they recovered, they were shocked to see that they were turned into hybrids.

Ace was shocked the see that he had antlers that were grown out of his head and the body of a cheetah. Slam was devastated to see that his body had changed into a half-lion and half-elephant. Tech was confused at the fusion of the DNA that he had received. A zebra and a crocodile? What sort of combination was that?! Rev touched the tip of his ears when he felt them move and was just as surprised to see wing flaps on his arms. Miranda shook her head and when she noticed the whiskers on her face followed by a fluffy tail, pointed ears on the top of her head, and hands in the shape of claws. A cat and squirrel hybrid, very strange. Duck looked down at his body and was stunned when he saw that he had gazelle legs and the torso of a gorilla. Who thought of this combination?! As for Lexi, she was devastated to see a black and white tail and frog arms and legs. This look was so not her.

The Ringmaster and Otto coughed as they got up from the ground. "You wrecked my sonic DNA scrambler," the Ringmaster said as he began to approach the Loonatics, "spoiled my main attraction, and I'm not sure but I think I chipped a tooth. For that, you will pay dearly."

Miranda smirked as she looked at the Ringmaster. "For the chipped tooth? Hopefully insurance covers it."

"Quickly Ace," Lexi said to him, "give him a laser blast."

As Ace was about to do that, he noticed power orbs coming out of his hands causing him to accidentally drop them on the ground. "Slam give him a tornado punch!" he said to the Tasmanian devil.

As Slam was about to do that, he felt something growing between his ears, almost scaring him and he stopped the brain blast from forming.

"It's time for you to get into the center ring now," the Ringmaster said as he held up his scepter. The scepter brightly illuminated, causing all the doors within the room to open as it released all of the hybrids that were kept. "Attention galactic oddities, round them up!" he said to the creatures as they ran towards the Loonatics, "all of them!"

The Loonatics ran away from the galactic oddities as they chased after them. The superpowers that they had been switched with, were ones that they weren't familiar with. Ace had a tough time throwing the right powered orbs towards the creatures and teleporting from one place to the next. Miranda had lost her telekinesis ability as she tried to use one of the wooden boards that Duck had destroyed earlier towards a galactic oddity. Rev had trouble with controlling magnekenesis as he was chased by metallic objects, Slam was having trouble concentrating with hearing noises in his head and using Lexi's brain blast as he hit Tech and a creature that he was fighting behind him. Slam was then punched by an octopus hybrid as he fell on the ground. Lexi didn't know how to control the mini cyclone that she formed and she traveled from the hybrid that was chasing her and she crashed into Tech, who crashed into Duck. Duck fell on the ground and laser flew out of his eyes and towards Rev, turning him into nothing but ash.

Duck was devastated when he did that. Thinking that Rev was really gone, he began to apologize to the roadrunner for calling him a disgrace to the bird community and for stealing his cookies from his secret stash. Upon him saying that, Rev immediately regenerated and was upset that Duck did such a thing. Their argument was then interrupted by a galactic oddity running towards them. Duck ended up being attacked and used laser vision on the creature, but he couldn't control it as he shot the laser at different sections of the room.

"Duck!" Ace yelled as he dodged an attack, "close your eyes."

Duck did as Ace told him and the laser blasts stopped.

"We can't keep this up!" Lexi said, "and this Pepé Le Pew look definitely is not me!"

"I never thought I'd say this," Ace said and placed his paws over his mouth and yelled at the team, "haul tail!"

All the Loonatics jumped inside a chasm that had been formed during the blast. "Where? Which way?" Duck yelled as he continued to have his eyes closed.

"This way!" Miranda yelled as she pushed him towards the chasm and she jumped right after him.

Once the Loonatics verified to make sure that they were safely away from the Ringmaster and the galactic oddities. "What's going on here Tech?" Ace asked the coyote…well, zebra crocodile hybrid in this case.

It wasn't that difficult to understand what had happened. Strange that the gluco gel would react in such a manner, but nevertheless amazing. "My Gluco Gel 9000 destroyed the DNA scrambler."

"But not fast enough," Ace said. "I mean look at us!"

"It also mixed up our genetic codes, which explains why we've switched powers."

"Well look on the bright side," Lexi said, "it can't get any worse than this."

It was as if she had jinxed it. A large cobra creature with the face in the shape of a gorilla slowly appeared from the water sewers and grabbed the Loonatics with its tail. "You had to say it, didn't you?" Ace said to Lexi.

"Ace, what's the plan?" Duck asked as he panicked, feeling his bones starting to crush against themselves as the cobra began to tighten around them.

The only way to get out of this was to use the strongest force that they had. "Who's got Slam's power?" he asked.

"Ooh," Lexi perked up, "that would be me!" She twisted her body around and flew all the way up to the creature's face as she threw a series of punches towards it, knocking it out. The Loonatics were freed and Lexi shivered from what she had experienced. "I'm so grossed out," she said, "that gorilla snaked licked me! Yech! I'm gonna need a hot bath, quick," she said as Slam helped her out of the water.

"We need a plan and fast," Tech spoke up to the group. "I can't live like this."

"You got that right," Miranda agreed as she nodded her head at Tech, "a duck with the ears and whiskers of a cat and a tail and claws of a squirrel. What is this?!" she looked over her shoulder when she noticed Duck trying to punch that monkey-chameleon oddity that had come to HQ. She rolled her eyes in exasperation and grabbed Duck's wrist with her tail, pulling him away from the oddity. "At least it makes for good security. Duck, stop bothering the monkey!"

"Alright, the way I see it," Ace began to say to the group, "we got to somehow rebuild the Ringmaster's sonic DNA scrambler and reverse the transformation. You up to it?"

"Normally it would take me at least two days to reconstruct a machine of that magnitude but with Rev's superspeed, I need, say…five minutes?"

"Okay then," Ace gave Tech a nod of his head, "make it four in a half."

The group made their way out of the sewers and headed to the top of the of ground. They noticed a couple of galactic oddities guarding parts of the circus but they made their way safely around them.

"Ace-those-hybrid-creatures-have-amazing-hearing," Rev said to him, "we-don't-want-to-get-their-attention-uh-oh!" he exclaimed when he heard the oddities growling towards them.

"Go Tech!" Ace said, "we'll cover for you!"

Having Rev's superspeed, Tech sped away from the group as quickly as he could to get to work on the device as the rest of the Loonatics were left to deal with the oddities. The oddities tried to zap the Loonatics with their scepters and Slam tried to attack back with Lexi's brain blast. It may had not been a great first attempt, but Lexi helped in telling him to concentrate. When he did so, he knocked out one of the oddities.

"That's it!" Ace said, "we can beat these guys if we all work together."

Using the powers that they were given through the DNA scrambler, the Loonatics concentrated on using them. Even though some of the powers had their challenges, they became easy to use if they just focused. Rev was glad that he had both magnekenesis and telekinesis. He couldn't use just metallic objects but also any objects that were around him to attack the oddities.

Miranda was up against one strong creature that had the body of a gorilla, the face of an eagle, and hooves of an elephant. She had been gifted with Slam's strength through the DNA scrambler and she used all the force that she could to pick up the creature and throw it towards a wall, where it crashed and fell on the floor.

Lexi used Slam's power cyclone as she pushed an oddity away from her as it flew in the air and fell on the ground.

With the oddities defeated, Tech returned to the team with the device that he had prepared in four minutes flat. The Genetic Rescrambler. Before he used the device on himself and his teammates, he used them on the galactic oddities as they changed from the hybrid creatures to children that the Ringmaster had kept for the circus. After all of the galactic oddities had been accounted for, he turned the Genetic Rescrambler upon his teammates and their genetic codes with their superpowers were changed back to their original form and owner. Within the force field of the Genetic Rescrambler, the monkey-chameleon hybrid jumped inside and it was changed back to her original form.

"I'm back," a familiar voice said to the team catching the attention of the Loonatics. "Hello Duck."

Miranda's eyes widened at whom it was. "Yikes," she whispered.

Duck gasped when he saw whom it was. "You mean all along, that little monkey thing was uh…" he couldn't continue his words for he was too afraid to say anything. "You never looked better," he finally said, hoping that she would be lenient on him for giving her a compliment.

"We need to talk," Zadavia coldly said to him.

From his peripheral vision, Duck was glad that this conversation had been stopped by the Ringmaster running away. He let out a nervous chuckle, "love to stay and chat but gotta stop the Ringmaster." With that, he ran away from the group and towards Ringmaster.

Ace beat Duck to it. He ran as quickly as he could and pointed his laser beams towards an electric keypad. He destroyed the device and it locked the Ringmaster inside the room. "And that's a wrap circus boy."

"The show is over," Lexi said.

"No," Otto voice suddenly rang within the room as he approached the Loonatics, "actually, the show must go on." He reached inside his suit, "but we have one last surprise. Feast your eyes on our main attraction." He directed his device towards the Ringmaster as the blue light hit him and began to manipulate his DNA, changing the Ringmaster into a creature that someone would see in their nightmares. "Ringmaster's only to face of this circus," Otto said, "I'm the real brains under the Big Top. He works for me!"

"Attack!" Ace commanded to the team as everyone dispersed from the group and he shot his laser beams to the creature.

Tech tried to his Genetic Rescrambler but a tentacle swatted the device away and broke it to pieces.

Duck teleported from one place to next, trying to confuse the creature only to be punched by a fist.

Miranda threw as many objects as she could towards the creature but with the number of tentacles that it had, he was able to destroy every single one of them.

As the creature bought his claw towards Slam, Slam held tightly onto the claw and tore it away from the creature, who was able to regenerate another stronger and better claw. Slam threw the claw towards the creature who dodged and hit Otto towards the wall and destroying his device.

Lexi jumped away when she almost hit by the fire. "Okay, now I'm getting annoyed," she said as she joined Tech and Ace.

"Sounds waves trigger that DNA transformations. We need to create a sonic boom," Tech said.

"Yo Slam," Ace said to the Tasmanian devil, "twist and shout!"

Slam formed a mini cyclone and sped towards the creature as he began to twist around him. Upon Ace's command, Rev ran towards the creature and mimicked Slam as they created an electric field by combining his power with Slam's. The Loonatics joined; Ace with his laser beams, Lexi with her brain blast, Duck with his powered orbs, and Tech with his magnekenesis. Miranda directed her eyes towards the lights as the force pulled them down, releasing the electric wires that they were attached in. She bought them inside the field and with all the energy that was placed within the cyclone, it only got bigger and stronger.

"Okay, back off Loonatics," Ace commanded his team as the team ran away from the room, "the sonic vibrations could knock the Big Top out of the sky."

Small explosions occurred from one section to the next as the aircraft was destroyed from the sonic vibrations. The Big Top headed towards the water in the outskirts of the city with the Loonatics falling on top of another. The group was quick to recover when they noticed Ringmaster and Otto fleeing.

Tech held his Gluco Gel 9000 towards them as the gel shot out and help both men into place.

"That was a lucky shot Tech," Lexi said to him.

"True genius is never appreciated," Tech said as he twisted the Gluco Gel 9000 around his finger and placed it back on the holster.

Before the Loonatics left for HQ, they ensured that all the children aboard the Big Top were safely secured by the Acme Rescue Unit. Rev was left in charge to look through every part of the destroyed Big Top so that everyone was accounted for while Lexi and Miranda assisted the children into the aircraft of the rescue unit. "I bet everyone is happy to finally be back home," Lexi said as the last of rescue unit headed back to the city.

"Yeah," Ace agreed with a nod of his head, "which means we ought to head back. I bet Zadavia is going to debrief us on this."

Duck gulped when Ace said that. He wished that he was able to skip out on this meeting but he knew that wouldn't look good. He was already in trouble with her as it was.


Once the Loonatics arrived at HQ and gathered at the round table, Zadavia's hologram was quick to appear and congratulate the Loonatics on their heroic efforts. "The Ringmaster and Otto are both in custody and all the human who were turned into galactic oddities have been reunited with their families. Once again, Acmetropolis is in your debt. Excellent work as always."

Ace turned his eyes towards Duck who was hiding behind a magazine. "Uh, anything else you wanna say boss?" he asked her, causing Duck to frantically shake his head.

"Nothing at the moment, Ace," Zadavia said.

"Anbody here who you might want to have a few words with?" he prodded her on, causing Duck to glare.

Miranda blinked when she was able to pick up on Duck's thoughts. Such thoughts were thrown towards the rabbit that not even Miranda wanted to think about…or repeat for that matter.

"I don't believe so," Zadavia answered him with a shake of her head, "Zadavia out."

Duck slowly raised the magazine from his face as he looked over at Ace. "Is she gone?" he asked.

"Yes Duck," Ace confirmed, "she's gone. You can relax now."

"Phew," Duck breathed out, "I thought for sure I'd get busted for ragging on her when she was that disgusting monkey thing," he cringed at the thought of it.

Miranda shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like any of us would have known that it was her," she said, "but you did try to hurt a little creature."

"Regardless," Duck said, "I guess this finally proves that Zadavia really likes me best."

Miranda shook her head at his words and then noticed how quickly he hid his head inside the magazine when Zadavia's hologram appeared.

"Oh," Zadavia said, "I did forget one thing. Duck, we need to talk…alone. Now!"

Slam chuckled when he noticed how deep in trouble Duck was with his boss and joined the rest of the team as they dispersed into their rooms for the night.

Duck looked up at the hologram in fear and hid further into the magazine. Why did I get myself into this? I'm in deep trouble! At least have some mercy on me. I didn't know that you were that hideous looking monkey thing.

If only Zadavia had the ability to read minds then, hopefully, she would at least understand that what Duck had done could be considered a mistake. Of course, Miranda didn't praise the way that he had treated Zadavia, in that monkey form of hers, but the team was just as shocked as he was when she had appeared in HQ in the form.

"Miranda," Zadavia said as the female duck looked over at her hologram, "I would like to have a word with Duck alone. It won't take too long."

Miranda looked over at Duck, who shook his head for her not to leave him alone in such a precarious position. She tried to see if she could get into Zadavia's mind, hoping to hear what she was going to say to Duck, but it was different from a hologram compared to a physical being. However, she couldn't go against her boss's orders...and she was sure that Zadavia wouldn't appreciate her thoughts being read. Miranda put her hand on Duck's arm and gave it a squeeze, "everything will be alright," she whispered to him as she got up from her chair and gave Zadavia and Duck their privacy.

Duck felt his stomach drop when he saw her walking away. He held the magazine tightly against his eyes, wishing that he could hide from whatever scolding he was going to get. There was silence between them and he hoped that this had been a very sick joke and that her hologram was gone. Slowly he lifted the magazine from his eyes and saw that she was still there.

"The longer you delay this talk, Duck, the longer it will take," Zadavia said.

Finally coming to his decision, Duck removed the magazine from his eyes and took a deep breath. "Look Zadavia, I didn't know that the hid—well monkey creature was you."

"So, you would do that to any creature that comes into HQ?" she asked him. "Those are not the characteristics of a superhero. Might I remind you that not all visitors come in shape of humans…there are also shapeshifters out there from the aftereffects of the meteor."

"That I didn't know," Duck said.

"Of course, you wouldn't," Zadavia said. It was not at all her intention to be harsh just with Duck, he had overstepped his boundaries far too much that is she did reprimand him sooner, he would be out of control. She appreciated Duck for his heroism with the team and she knew that he could do better. "I am disappointed in you, Duck," she said to him, "from what I can see, you are using your privilege as a hero to boost your ego."

Duck blinked when she said that. He didn't consider himself as egotistical. There was certainly nothing wrong in praising himself for the job that he did and how far he had gotten in life considering the terrible past that he had. There were just some things in his character that he had to get out of that trauma. "I'm not Zadavia," Duck said with a shake of his head, "I've been trying too much to show you what I'm capable of, what I can do, who I am as a hero. I haven't gotten any credit for anything."

"You would have, if your sole purpose wasn't to show me that you were fighting for the role of the leader," Zadavia said to him, "I will reiterate, my mind has been made up and shall not change. Ace Bunny is still the leader."

Duck felt this conversation was going from one thing to another. He fought the urge to glare when she mentioned Ace's name.

"Heed this as my last warning Duck," she said to him, "if you overstep one more time, you shall be suspended from the team indefinitely. Zadavia out."

Once her hologram flickered and shut off, Duck stood glued to his chair as he stared to where the hologram had once been. He didn't notice Miranda walking towards the table and taking her seat next to him.

Miranda looked at his features and she could see that the meeting had not ended on a positive note. She placed her hand on his arm and squeezed it. "What happened?" she asked him.

Duck let out a defeated sigh. "Nothing," he said to her, "nothing happened."

Miranda leaned against her chair and looked at him. "Really?" she asked him, "you don't look too good."

Duck let out a small scoff. Of course, she was going to prod him until he spilled everything to her. So much for his other teammates for wanting to check in on him if he was doing alright. "She told me she's disappointed in me," Duck said to her, "saying that I'm using my title as a hero to boost my ego."

Miranda raised an eyebrow at that. "What did that have to do with today's events? And her being that monkey…lizard…thing?" Miranda asked him.

"Don't know," Duck said, "all I do know is that she'll suspend me from the team if I overstep."

Miranda furrowed her eyebrows upon that news. "She can't do that."

"She can," Duck said, "and she will. So much for trying to impress her after a year. No, all the glory has to go to Ace and everyone else. I'm just as good as they are! Why can't she or anyone else see that?! Why do I have to be the joker of the group?"

Miranda grabbed his hands in hers and she could feel that he was shaking from the anger that was bubbling from within. "You are just as good as anyone here," she said to him, "when you're out there and doing your thing out there, you're really great."

He appreciated that she thought of him that way, but he knew that the others didn't think the same. When Zadavia mentioned about suspending him, a thought came to Duck's mind. Should he just leave just to avoid being suspended and being part of a group where he believed he wasn't treated properly. Maybe I should just go he thought.

"If you go, I go," Miranda said, picking up on his thoughts. "Don't give up on yourself, Duck. Don't prove to anyone what you can do. Prove it to yourself."

"I have," Duck said, "and I've impressed myself with it."

There was that little ego of his coming out. It had been a long time since she had seen him this vulnerable but she was glad that he was feeling slightly better. "Yeah, you're a real masterpiece," Miranda said.

"I don't know whether that was supposed to be a compliment or sarcasm," Duck said to her, "you're really a piece of work Miranda."

"I hope you mean that in a good way," she said as she gave him a smirk and pulled him off the chair, "come on, you need your rest after this mission and that meeting."

"Great," Duck said, "sleep all alone, wake up, go on a mission, debrief, and repeat."

"Who said you'll be alone?" Miranda said as she looked at him as they approached his room for the night, "come on Duckie, turn that frown upside down."

Duckie? he thought as he made a face at the sudden new nickname that she had given him. This girl really was a piece of work even after a year of being together, but at least he knew that they were going to enjoy the cuddles during this night…and if he being truthful to himself, he was feeling slightly better about it.