I don't own Loonatics Unleashed
Enjoy!
It had been quiet for the past couple of weeks in Acmetropolis. Other than transferring Weathervane, Massive, Mallory Mastermind, and Sypher at the most maximum-security facility, the Loonatics were glad that they were able to catch a break after such a difficult mission with Time Skip. The team still recalled how tired they had been when the day had been reset several times, but at least they were able to finally get through it. With the four villains being transported to the maximum-security facility, Duck had volunteered to look after them and then the Loonatics were going to alternate through the weeks. However, the day had not gone like Duck had planned. Under his watch, the villains had escaped in the strangest way and he couldn't help himself but panic after what had happened. Immediately, he had returned at headquarters and alerted the team.
"They escaped on my watch," Duck explained as he placed his hands over his eyes and tried to hide himself from whatever scolding he was going to get. Even through the mistakes that he had made, and tried his hardest to correct, he knew that he was in not good terms with Zadavia. "I'm doomed!"
Miranda was sitting next to him, trying her best to console him that even though the villains had escaped, they were able to beat them once before and they would be able to do it again.
"Ah don't be so hard on yourself, Duck," Ace said to him.
"Ace-is-right!" Rev perked up, "it's-not-really-your-fault-even-though-it-was-a-major-botch.-You-probably-feel-even-worse-because-we-all-know-it-makes-you-look-even-less-like-the-kind-of-leader-that-you-want-to-be."
Miranda shook at her head at Rev while Duck said, "Geeze Rev, ever heard of the phrase 'who asked you?'"
Even though Rev was half-right in what he said, it was unnecessary to rub it in Duck's face that he had failed his duty. "We'd better tell Zadavia," Ace said, but the moment he said that, her hologram appeared in the middle of the table.
"I already know," she responded with exasperation and concern in her voice as she looked at her team.
Duck gulped and placed a hand over his head. I'm going to be suspended…no worse! I'm gonna be FIRED! "Oh boy," he said and waited for Zadavia to give him a lashing with her words.
"How did they escape, Duck?" she asked him.
Duck felt his muscles relax upon that question. At least she hadn't called him a failure, as he had feared, and didn't threaten to suspend him from his position. "They were just kind of flushed into a hole and just went poof!" Duck explained to her.
"You must find them before the situation escalates," Zadavia said to him and the team. "I…I suspect…" she trailed off with hesitation.
Ace looked at his boss with a concerned look upon his eyes. "Suspect what Zadavia?" he asked her.
"I must go. I will contact you later," she cryptically said to the team before her hologram disappeared.
Ace turned away from his team and pondered on what Zadavia had meant with those words. After a year and a half of working with her, this was the first time that he had seen her sounding so worried. What could be happening that would cause her to act in such a way? As Ace was about to set a plan with his team, he noticed Duck with a bag over his shoulder that was filled with gadgets.
"Fear not!" Duck said, "I shall track down those criminals and serve up justice Duck style—with a side of melted cheese!"
"Eh," Ace said as he walked past Duck, "I don't think so."
"But my cheese will get cold," Duck said to him.
"This is just another sad, desperate attempt to kiss up to Zadavia and hog all the glory," Lexi spoke up as she sent Duck a glare.
Is that what you think? Duck thought as he looked at the female rabbit. For once, let me try to fix what I have ruined even if she wants to congratulate me…not that she has ever done before. "Yeah," Duck said to her, "and your point is?"
Miranda walked up to Duck and place a hand on his shoulder. "We just don't want to see you getting hurt when you go fighting them by yourself."
"Who said about getting hurt?" Duck asked her. "What do those four losers have that I don't? I'm Danger Duck and I'll be able to take them down in an instant!"
"Not-when-you-have-Massive-pulling-you-down-with-his-gravity-manipulation-or-Sypher-stealing-your-superpowers-or-Weathervane-throwing-thunderbolts-at-you-or-Massive-sending-her-devices-after-you," Rev jumped into the conversation.
Duck felt his shoulders slump upon these contradictions. "Again, who asked you Rev?" he said to the roadrunner.
"Okay Duck, how about I make you a deal?" Ace said with a smirk upon his lips, "you can go look for those super jerks so long as you take Rev and Miranda with you."
"Yeah!" Rev said as he zipped in front of Duck and Miranda with a smile upon his beak.
Miranda let out a sigh of relief when Ace made that suggestion. At least Duck was going to have two team members by his side and even if them were going up against four of them, three was a good number. They just needed to find the weakest link in the group and deal with them first before getting to the others…or that was what her thought process was. "Thanks Ace," she said to her leader.
"Uh…sorry," Duck said and he folded his arms across his chest, "I don't do partners."
Miranda clenched her jaw and was about to give Duck a punch on the arm but she remembered all that retraining that she had gone through with Ace. Instead, she elbowed him to side causing him to flinch in pain.
"How about sidekicks? Lots of heroes have sidekicks," Rev suggested to him.
Duck thought about it. "That could work," he said to him, "Danger Duck and his mistress with Rooster Boy! I like it! Let's move out!" he said as he and Rev headed out and prepared for their mission.
He did NOT just call me his mistress Miranda thought as she stomped after them. She was going to deal with him later when the moment came.
Duck, Rev, and Miranda got onto their jetpacks and headed out of the headquarters and into the skies. It was going to take a long time to search all Acmetropolis to find out where these villains had gone to. Since he had been in the maximum-security facility prior to this happening, he thought it was better to start investigating there and hope that he would find some sort of clue.
"So-what's-the-plan?" Rev asked as he flew close to Duck.
"We're going to the maximum-security facility," Duck answered him, "who knows that clue they may have left behind. We can pick something up from there and see where it leads us."
Rev gave him a rapid nod of his head and once they arrived at the facility, the trio didn't waste any time and headed over to the location to where Massive, Weathervane, Sypher, and Mastermind were being kept.
Duck knelt towards one of the walls where they had escaped and looked at the anatomy of it. "Clearly this wall was perforated by an unknown force. The question is, what kind? Was it a…?" he trailed off and tried to think of what could have been the cause for this.
Miranda raised an eyebrow at his 'investigation.' Why would he be referring it to as an 'unknow' what he clearly saw what it was. She looked at one of the structures of the walls for any signs of external damage from a heated device but it didn't have the features of melted metal. "Certainly not a weapon," she stated.
"Tech-might-say-the-walls-were-subjected-to-a-time-space-displacement-vortex-also-known-as-a-wormhole-though-technically-that's-inaccurate-because-there-really-aren't-any-worms-involved-at-all," Rev threw in his suggestion.
"Not unless they're the ones with sharp teeth," Miranda chuckled, "you never know what you can find in other planets."
Duck stared at the duck and the roadrunner. He didn't need any of their suggestions when he felt that he was close to discovering it by himself. Weapons, wormholes, those were the most laughable theories that he had ever heard. What was next…termites? Wait a second. He gasped when an idea came to him. "I just realized," he said to them, "there is but one force powerful enough to have this effect! Termites."
Miranda rolled her eyes and looked over at Rev as if she was telling him God help me with him.
"Or a wormhole," Rev good naturedly said to him. Good guess, but not correct he thought.
"Yeah, that too," Duck dismissively said, "which is why we have to head back to HQ and let the others and Zadavia know about this."
"But shouldn't we do something here?" Miranda asked.
"What is there to do?" Duck asked her, "unless Tech has created a device that would stop a wormhole from being created."
"He-might-as-well-have-one," Rev said, "and-we-just-don't-know-when-or-if-they-would-appear.-I-agree-we-should-head-back-and-let-the-others-know."
Duck puffed his chest proudly when someone finally agreed with his choices. See? he thought to himself. I can be just as good of a leader as Ace can.
Strapping on their jetpacks, the three of them headed back to HQ. Before arriving at the main room of the building, Duck bought his face towards the machine to be scanned for facial recognition. "Welcome back to Headquarters, Danger Duck," the machine said as it began to scan his features, "access denied. Facial scan of Danger Duck is a duplicate."
Duck gasped when he heard that whilst Rev and Miranda gave the machine a strange look. "What? What do you mean 'duplicate?' Listen you overgrown ATM, when they made this kisser, they broke the mold! So, open this door now or else—"
Rev walked in front of the machine as it scanned his face and the doors opened.
"Access granted," the machine said.
Duck turned around and with an annoyed, yet satisfied look, he looked at Rev and Miranda as they were walking inside the room and said, "see the kind of respect I command? Even the computers are afraid of me."
Before they headed deeper into the room, Miranda put both her arms out in front of Duck and Rev and they stopped walking. "Wait a second," she said to them, "didn't you guys find it kind of odd that the machine said that Duck was a duplicate?"
"Who-would-be?" Rev asked her, "unfortunately-that-machine-has-been-acting-up-a-lot-lately-I-told-Tech-about-it-but-he-hasn't-gotten-around-to-it-yet."
"But why with just Duck's face?" Miranda asked him, "could it be that someone is already in here?"
Duck waved his hand in the air. "You're being worried as usual, Miranda," Duck said to her, "who has the same face as me? Now come on, we're already wasting enough time as it is."
As the three of them headed deeper into the room, they noticed that all the screens were static and nothing was able to get transmitted through. "Who forgot to pay the satellite bill?" Duck asked as he looked from screen to another. Just when they needed the satellite to see how the city was doing with those villains on the loose and this happens.
On one of the screens, the static changed into Zadavia's hologram. Miranda looked over and got Rev's and Duck's attention as they turned around to look at the screen. "Oh, at last I'm getting through," Zadavia said, "Duck, get out now!" she yelled as the screen was hit with a laser.
Duck, Rev, and Miranda whipped around as they saw Mastermind standing by the entrance of the door with a weapon in her hand. "You're really clueless aren't you?" she said as she ran towards them, "blast them!" she yelled.
Between Duck and Miranda, a thunderbolt hit the ground as Weathervane got closer and closer. The two ducks jumped out of the way before they were hit by another bolt. Rev sped out of the way when Massive through his gravitational manipulation attack towards him. Duck quickly hid underneath a table and then teleported out of the way when Weathervane threw more bolt towards his direction.
Miranda glared as she looked at the woman. "Hey Cloudy!" she yelled at the woman as her eyes levitated a couple of chairs in the air, "you have a ninety percent chance of being hit!" Using as much force as she could, she sent the chair towards her direction.
Weathervane threw her bolts as quickly as she could to the chair that were coming in her direction. She was then hit by one of the chairs and to the spot where Rev was standing from Massive. Rev looked up and sped out of the way as Weathervane was hit by Massive's attack. A surge of thunderbolt escaped her hands as she was levitated to the ceiling and fell. Massive was hit by the thunderbolt and he fell to the ground with Weathervane on top of him.
"Let's-get-out-of-here!" Rev said to Duck and Miranda as they headed out of HQ.
Once they were a good distance from HQ, Miranda felt her telepathy picking up on some familiar voices. Wait until I get my hands on those three birds; those three are going to pay for what they did; incompetent villains and annoying birds are a terrible combination! "Guys," she said to Rev and Duck, "we're being followed."
If there was one thing that Duck had learned, it was that villains were willing to do anything to make sure that they finished their mission, even if it was chasing after the heroes. Duck, Rev, and Miranda took a turn and hid within an alley. Once the villains had disappeared, Duck teleported out of the garbage can that he was hiding in, Miranda came out from behind another garbage can, and Rev met up with them after he had hidden deeper in the alley.
"Rev, Duck, Miranda, can you hear me?" came Zadavia's voice from Duck's telecommunicator. Duck bought his arm close to his face and noticed Zadavia's image, "I'm tapped into a private data net. Bad signal. You must find the other Loonatics. All my systems have been sabotaged. Find the others—now!"
Duck glared at the screen when Zadavia disappeared. So that would explain the reason as to why the villains had gathered there. They probably caught the Loonatics and arrived there to set the trap and capture them. "Rev," he said as he looked at the roadrunner, "can you located them?"
With his built-in GPS system, Rev shut his eyes and tried to locate the rest of his team. "Focus-focus-focus-focus-think-think-think!-Oh!" he exclaimed.
"What have you got?" Duck asked him.
"A-headache," he answered.
"Rev!" Miranda scolded him and placed her hands on her hips.
"Wait-that's-it! Duck-Miranda-a-headache!" he said to them.
Miranda furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and Duck glared at him, "what are you talking about?" he asked him.
"Who-has-the-biggest-head-you-know?-Mastermind-right?-And-who-was-in-a-specifically-designed-underground-prison-that-isn't-open-anymore?-Mastermind-again!-So-where-could-be-the-closest-place-for-her-to-lock-up-our-buddies?" he asked and waited for Duck to answer his question.
Duck looked at him with a perplexed look. "Go fish?" he told him.
"The underground prison," Miranda answered Rev.
"Yeah-the-one-Tech-designed!-Now-come-on!" Rev exclaimed as he took off down the street with Miranda and Duck following him.
Duck tried to catch up with Rev as much as his jetpack would allow him. "Wait!" he yelled after him, "you're just a sidekick!"
Miranda put in as much speed into her jetpack. "Don't push it Duck," she said to him, "just let him lead us there! I'm sure he has a better direction."
"Oh, and I don't?" Duck asked her. "I've been leading the both of you through Acmetropolis trying to figure out what's been going on." Geeze! I thought you were on my side! he thought as he clung tightly onto the straps of his jetpack.
It was inappropriate to have a fight, especially when they were on a mission. She knew that if they continued to fight, they were not going to be successful in saving their teammates. Miranda felt one of her nerves tick but she tried her hardest to not let it interfere with her mind. Clear you mind, calm down she mentally thought to herself, suddenly feeling a bit of ease taking over her mind. She tried to think of herself in Duck's shoes. Maybe, even though he was a master at hiding it, he was stressed through all of this. Ace had given him a job, where he technically made himself the leader of the group, and he didn't want to fail at it. Whether it was to fulfill his ego, or show Zadavia what he could do, or both it was better to have something where he would be at peace with himself…and give her peace of mind as well.
"We're-here!" Rev said as he halted to quick stop. Duck almost crashed into him but he was quick enough to stop the jetpack before he did so.
"I'll take us down there," Duck announced as he went ahead and took lead. "And…just where will we be heading?" he asked when he suddenly stopped and looked at Rev.
Rev couldn't help but look at Miranda as he gave her a small chuckle. "The-door-to-your-right-is-the-elevator-and-take-the-lowest-number-to-get-to-the-underground-prison."
The three of them headed inside the elevator and Duck pressed the last number that was available. It didn't take them long to get to the last floor and once the door opened, they saw Sypher standing in front of the Loonatics who were trapped inside a prison dome. "Are you kidding me?" they heard Sypher say to the Loonatics, "if I knew those six little numbers, I'd have all your powers by now."
Duck loudly cleared his throat as Sypher turned around and looked at who had just entered. "Forget about somebody?" Duck asked him.
"Duck, Miranda," Ace said to them, "entertain our friend. Rev, help get us out of here!"
Rev sped down the pavement as Duck teleported into thin air. Miranda stood where she was she waited for Sypher to charge towards her. "Come on little boy," she said, motioning to him with her hands, "or are you too chicken to do so?"
Sypher charged towards her with his hands out in front of him but Miranda quickly jumped out of the way. Sypher almost hit the wall but at that moment, Duck appeared on his shoulders. "You can look," he said and teleported away again, "but you can't touch!" he teleported away when Sypher attempted to catch him again.
Miranda jumped behind him and gave him a kick under his feet, causing Sypher to fall on the ground. He was quick to jump back up and attempt to grab her, but she rolled out of the way.
Duck teleported in front of Sypher and then teleported out again when he tried to grab him once again.
In the meantime, Rev sped over to the hardware system as he tried to find the sequence of the code to release his teammates.
As Duck continued to teleport from one place to another and Miranda distracting Sypher, Duck teleported on top of Sypher's shoulders. Only this time, Sypher was quick to grab Duck and drain him out of all his superpowers and weaken him. "Ha!" he said as he threw Duck across the room and towards Miranda.
Miranda quickly turned around and levitated Duck in the air before he crashed into her. "Oh no," she said as she noticed the discoloration in Duck's eyes. "Duck." She grabbed his cheeks in her hands and looked at him as he tried his best to stand on his feet.
Sypher turned his attention over to the Loonatics and smirked at them. "Feel like a little company, dudes?" he asked them, "so now that I stole Duck's powers, I'm gonna quack myself in there and steal yours too."
Rev looked up from the hardware system when he saw Sypher approaching the prison dome. Looks like the cracking the code was going to have to wait. He got himself between Sypher and the Loonatics with a determined smirk upon his face. "Want-a-little-super-speed…dude?" he asked him and then sped out of the way.
With Duck's teleportation powers, Sypher was determined to grab Rev's powers as well. With both of those powers combined, he would be able to grab all the Loonatics' superpowers in no time.
Duck let out a groan as he opened his eyes and looked up to see Miranda looking down at him with a relieved look upon her face. "Come on," he said as he staggered in a standing position, "we need to help them."
"Duck!" Ace yelled through the dome, "get to the keypad."
Miranda looked from Ace and then at Duck. "Go," she said to him, "I'll help Rev." She got up from the ground and ran towards the villain.
Duck staggered towards the keypad as he continued with an endless number of complaints. "I'd just like to point out that I'm doing all the heavy lifting here."
"Hurry!" Ace said to Tech, "tell him the code!"
"One, six…three, two, O, eight," Tech said.
The moment that Duck pressed onto the last number on the keypad, the security system was shut down and the Loonatics were able to escape from the prison dome.
"You-did-it!" Rev yelled.
"Way to go, Duck!" Miranda cheered.
"I did?" Duck said, not believing that he was able to get the team out of the prison dome. "I rule!"
Rev ran down the pavement and over to where Sypher had teleported. He tapped his shoulder and once Sypher turned around; he saw himself surrounded by the rest of the Loonatics. "Oh no," he said.
"Oh yeah," Ace shot back, "we got a little score to settle, Sypher." He was determined to get back to this guy and the rest of the villains after what they did to him and the rest of him teammates.
The doors of the elevator suddenly opened as Weathervane, Mastermind, and Massive walked into the action. "You let them escape?" Weathervane accused Sypher.
"Relax Weathergirl," Sypher said to her, "I'm handling it."
Lexi brain blasted Sypher with as much force as she could muster and sent him crashing into the wall. He attempted to get up from the floor but found himself a bit weak at the moment.
Weathervane let out a frustrated sigh. "Never let a boy do a weathergirl's job," she said as she summoned blots of thunder and sent them towards the Loonatics. Ace used his laser vision against her powers, as Lexi faced off against Massive, and Tech fought against Mastermind.
Massive used his gravitational manipulation towards Lexi and she used as much of her brain blast to crush the boulders that were being sent in her and Duck's direction. Lexi jumped out of the way before she was hit. As for Duck, he ran from one place to another to not get hit. Miranda jumped in front of them and with her telepathy, she levitated the rocks in the air before having them fall to the ground in spots where they floated.
"Here's another present for you, ducks," Massive glared at them.
Duck walked up in front of Miranda and held his arm out in front of her. "That's okay," he said as the two of them walked backwards, "we don't need any presents."
Massive placed both of his hands together and was about to shoot them towards Duck and Miranda. Before he knew it, Slam twisted towards him and was spinning him in the air. The rest of the Loonatics joined them, whilst keeping their eyes on the villains.
"I'm having personal space issues," Lexi said.
"Then what do you say we get out of here?" Ace suggested.
With Slam courteously jumping in and saving them from Massive, Duck had pulled Miranda away from the fighting and they were both standing by the elevator. He cleared his throat and got the team's attention. "First floor—furniture, toys, ladies' undergarments."
Miranda facepalmed and shook her head and the joke that he had just made. She looked up when she saw Sypher, Weathervane, and Mastermind blocking their way to the elevator. However, it wasn't long when Slam directed the cyclone towards the villains. They were quick to dodge the attack but it was giving way for the Loonatics to run towards the elevator. The doors closed and the elevator began to rise to the first floor.
Ace looked down when the noticed a force against his feet, almost as if it was pulling him down. Massive he thought and looked over at the coyote. "Tech."
Tech held his arms out against the elevator and used his magnekenesis against Massive's gravitational pull. "I'm gonna need a little help," he said to Miranda.
"You got it," Miranda said as she looked at the top of the elevator. The portion of the ceiling was highlighted in blue and with their forces combined, the elevator was pulled up to the first floor as quickly as possible.
"Nice going guys," Lexi said as they arrived at the top and outside of the underground prison.
Once they were fully out, Lexi super hearing picked up a noise that was approaching them. Ace had a feeling that the villains were coming after them and he warned the team that they were going to have company soon. His sentiments were accurate when he noticed the prison dome that they had been locked in, levitating in the air with all four villains inside.
Mastermind smirked as she looked at the heroes. "Care for another round, Loonatics?"
"I'm gonna wipe the shine right off that head," Lexi said through gritted teeth.
Just then, a light that resembled a hologram that they were all familiar with appeared in front of them. "Zadavia?" Lexi said as she squinted at the hologram. What was she doing here? Unless she was going to help the team.
Ace got a better look at the hologram and he never noticed Zadavia with an eyepiece before. "Not exactly," he said and shook his head at Lexi.
The strange person in the hologram direction his attention over to the villains as they stared at him in fear. "I ask you to do one simple thing…catch the Loonatics. But you can't even do that. I should eradicate you as well." He felt an internal joy when he saw the shocked looks on the villains' faces. "But I suppose you may still prove yourself useful to me."
He held out his arm in the air and a wormhole was created towards the villains as it descended upon them.
Duck watched what was happening and he was not going to let them get away with it…especially when one of them had his powers. "No way Suction Boy!" he said as he ran towards the wormhole, "you've still got a little something called my powers to return."
"Duck—" Ace yelled.
"Come back!" Miranda yelled as she was about to take off after him but felt Ace's fingers wrapping around her arm, "let me go!" she yelled at Ace as she tried to pull herself off him. The wormhole inhaled all four villains and Duck when he launched himself towards Sypher and grabbed him by the ankles.
Miranda pushed Ace off her and she ran towards the wormhole. She jumped and tried to grab Duck's foot but she caught nothing and fell back on the ground, landing on her hands and knees. "DUCK!" she yelled as she tears sprung in her eyes. She looked up and saw as the wormhole and the hologram disappeared into thin air. She couldn't believe it. Duck had disappeared in front of her eyes and she had done nothing to stop him.
"Who was that?" Lexi suddenly asked the team.
"Loonatics," a voice said behind them as a tall slender blonde woman with a maroon cape appeared in front of them. "There's something I must tell you." Her eyes were cast to the ground but the moment she removed her hood and looked at the Loonatics with those familiar green eyes, it wasn't hard to recognize whom she was.
"It's Zadavia," Lexi said.
"In the flesh!" Tech exclaimed as the rest of the team, aside from Miranda who was still mourning Duck's disappearance, were excited to finally meet her in person.
"Zadavia," Ace said as he walked towards the woman. He had to admit that he was a little nervous to finally be meeting his boss face-to-face. "You know something about that big guy looked familiar."
"I'm not surprised," Zadavia calmly said, "after all, he is my brother."
The Loonatics blinked as they looked at her. "Oh brother," Ace said.
"Well," Lexi spoke up, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit, "every family has its problems."
There was truth in those words. However, the problems that she had with her brother were with no comparison to the issues that others had with the family. "This is something that we should discuss at headquarters," Zadavia said, "I'm afraid we're not safe out here. Especially now that my brother knows that I am here. He will exterminate anyone close to me. If we do not act soon, Acmetropolis will be destroyed."
Ace gave her a nod of his head. Just like she had been looking out for them and Acmetropolis, he was going to do the same for her. "You got it boss," he said to her. He looked over his shoulder and noticed that Miranda had made no attempt to join them…or even meet Zadavia. "You guys go on and get ready, I need to take care of something." He walked over to Miranda and placed a hand on her back, "hey," he said as he knelt on one knee and looked at her, "we're gonna get your guy back."
Miranda shook her head at his words. "How?" she asked him, "he's gone in the blink of an eye. He could be anywhere out there…with those villains and without his powers. Oh God…" she placed her hands over her eyes as she felt tears springing in her eyes again.
Ace walked in front of her and grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her eyes. At least she wasn't showing any violent tendencies towards villains, even now that Zadavia was with them. "Pull yourself together!" he sternly said to her. It was not his intention to sound harsh, but they weren't going to save Duck if she was going to cry about it. "This isn't helping to get Duck back. We need to act now, and we're running out of time!"
Lexi walked towards both. "Ace," she gently said as he looked up at him. "Go and join the others, I'll take care of her."
Ace was glad that Lexi had stepped in. Even though he tried to console her, he felt that he hadn't done such a great job at it. Miranda wasn't the only one who was worried about Duck. No matter how annoying he was, Ace considered him as an important member of the group just as he did with the others. He looked over as he saw Lexi consoling Miranda about the whole situation.
"Come on," Lexi said as she helped Miranda to her feet and looked at her, "Ace didn't mean anything by it. We're all worried about Duck. He's our friend too." There was a look in Miranda's eyes that Lexi couldn't decipher. Almost as if this was news to her. "We will all do everything we can to get him back."
Miranda took a deep breath and nodded her head at Lexi before she went ahead and joined the rest of the group.
As Lexi walked past Ace, he reached out and gently grabbed her hand. "Thanks for stepping in," he said to her. "I don't know what's going on," he let out a sigh and placed a hand on his forehead.
Lexi gave him a light smile and placed a hand over his shoulder. "You're stressed out," she said to him, "we all are. I guess in Miranda's situation is different. They're going to get married soon and she just doesn't want to lose him. As for us, he's our friend and we want the same thing as she does."
At least Lexi was able to simmer down the situation and help him before he lost his nerve. He was going to need a long rest after all of this. The rest of the team found their way around Acmetropolis and headed back at HQ. When the team got adjusted back at HQ, they gathered at the round table.
"So chief, you gonna spill the beans or do we wait for Duck to end up as your brother's main course?" Ace said and at that moment, he wished he could take back those words when he felt Miranda's glare searing at the back of his head. "Sorry," he said, quickly turning his head to look at Miranda and back at Zadavia.
Zadavia took a deep breath as she pulled up a hologram of her home planet. "This is my home," she said, "the Planet Freleng. It is over six hundred parsecs from your own galaxy. I was born into the royal family. My brother and I were groomed to rule Freleng together, but it was not to be. Optimatus would not let the rule of law stand in his way. First, he kidnapped the high council. Then feeling I would lead a revolt against him, he came after me. Optimatus would not rest until I was under his control. As I was making my getaway, he was accidentally caught in the heat of the ship's exhaust," she stopped for a mere second as she shivered at the memory of reliving the scene where she had seen her brother get damaged by the exhaust. "I was truly sorry but I couldn't afford to turn around. Too much was at stake. I used one of Optimatus's own wormhole generators to escape to Acmetropolis. I thought I left no trace for him to follow me…I was wrong for somehow my brother found me. He sent a meteor hurtling at Acmetropolis and he did not care who else might suffer. Eliminating me was all that mattered to him. I was able to slow down the meteor, saving Acmetropolis from destruction. Still, the impact threw your world off its axis and released a strange radiation which, of course, gave you your powers."
Lexi looked up at the events that played out on the screen. Reliving the memories of the impact from the meteor, even though a full year had passed, still sent shivers down her spine. "So basically, by coming here to get away from your brother you're responsible for creating these supervillains."
She was quite the blunt rabbit at times, but this was the truth that Zadavia couldn't escape from. Zadavia had felt responsible for the actions of her brother's and at that time, it was the only thing that she could do to ensure that no one else got hurt. Unfortunately, she still remembered the high number of casualties that were hit by the radiation.
"There were a number of unexpected side effects," Zadavia said, "I have been scanning your solar system for signs of Optimatus, then I found this…" At that moment, a dark planet appeared in front of their eyes, "a small planetoid approaching the asteroid belt."
"So big brother's on that rock, huh?" Ace said.
Miranda gave Zadavia and Ace a hopeful look. "Then we still have a chance at finding Duck?" she asked them.
"Absolutely," Zadavia nodded her head as she looked at her. Even though she was with Duck, she was quite different than he was…yet, she did have her moments of being difficult. "And I am sure that Duck is doing everything that he could to wait for us to get him."
Even Zadavia was hopeful for Duck and that made Miranda feel at ease. She thought back on what Duck had told her many weeks ago, about how Zadavia never praised him on anything or the team not caring about him. Well…this was quite the different story. It seemed that the team did care about him.
"If we take the Loonaporter, I'll need to install hyperdrive boosters," Tech spoke up as his mind began to quickly work at how he was going to do it in the amount of time that they had.
A blissful smile came upon Zadavia's red lips. "That's alright Tech," she said to him, "we'll use my ship." A large aircraft approached the window of their HQ as the Loonatics looked at the vehicle in awe. "It has warp-like speed capability able to cross the solar system in a matter of moments."
"You've been holding out on us, boss," Ace joked with Zadavia as him and the rest of his team made it into the Loonaporter. Once they got themselves adjusted into the aircraft, they took off as quickly as they could into the skies and into space to go and get Duck. Ace looked at the controllers that were next to him but with Zadavia's assistance, he was able to quickly learn how to steer the aircraft with ease.
Tech, who was fascinated with a piece of technology from Zadavia's planet, turned his attention back to the screen and his eyes widened when he saw the asteroids that they were approaching. "Hey guys," he said to them, "we're approaching the planetoid."
"And that's not all," Ace said.
The moment he said that Optimatus's hologram appeared in front of the team, his attention primarily at Zadavia. Miranda gritted her teeth as she was ready to jump at the hologram and slap the smile off his face. "What did you do with Duck?!" she yelled at him but Ace was quick enough to stop her from jumped out of her seat as he place his arm in front of her.
"Greetings sister," Optimatus said to Zadavia, ignoring Miranda, "as much as I'd love to chat, I think you'd best spend these next few moments preparing for your demise."
Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda turned her head and noticed a swarm of warships coming towards the aircraft. "Incoming!" she yelled as a laser beam shot out towards the aircraft.
"Ace!" Rev yelled, "they're-trying-to-maneuver-us-into-a-crossfire!"
Ace's hands quickly scrambled around the spheres at the side of his armchair as he was able to successfully dodge the aircraft from the warships, that blasted one another with their laser beams.
"Nice move, Ace!" Lexi congratulated him when they made it out of that obstacle.
"Thanks!" Ace said, "but we got more on our tail!"
"Deploying defense weapons," Tech said as he activated and adjusted the defense weapons on the side of the aircraft and they shot out at the warships.
"Radar's picking up three more bogies," Ace communicated to the team, "and they're closing in fast!" One of the warships slammed against the aircraft, causing the ship to vibrate.
Lexi turned around in her seat and looked at her team only to see that Zadavia was gone. "Where is she?" she asked.
Ace squinted outside of the aircraft and noticed Zadavia in action as she zapped the warships from attacking the aircraft. "Zadavia," Ace said to her, "this is not the time to take a stroll!"
"I'll hold them off," Zadavia communicated back to him, "you get to the planetoid and stop Optimatus." Just then, she was hit by the laser beam from the warship and was carried off.
A gasp escaped Ace's mouth as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him. "They got her," he said. "Tech, Slam, Lexi, Miranda, get out of here and help her! Me and Rev will cover for you."
The four of them immediately put on their spacesuits and headed out of the aircraft. There were four warships that were making its way towards the aircraft but none of them were going to let it stop them from getting to Zadavia and Duck. Lexi brain blasted one of the warships, Slam punched one of them and created a cyclone causing it to rapidly spin until it burst. Miranda used her telekinesis and stopped one of the warships from getting to the aircraft whilst Tech used his magnekenesis and slammed it against the levitated warship. Just then, the four of them flew towards the planetoid and noticed a plume of smoke off the side Zadavia's aircraft. The aircraft had been hit by two more warships that ambushed them.
"Eject! Eject now!" Lexi screamed, hoping that they were able to hear her but before she knew it, the aircraft exploded right in front of their eyes.
The Loonatics watched in horror. Tech's eyes widened, Slam put his hands over his eyes, Miranda put her hands over her beak, and Lexi had a dismayed look in her eyes. "Oh no," she said as she felt tears springing in her eyes. She felt Tech's hand on her shoulder, but it wasn't enough to console her. "They didn't have the chance." A piece of fabric floated in front of her and she reached out to grab it. Ace it said. "He was the best leader," she said and tears rolled down her face. "There's nothing left."
"Who're you calling nothin'?" That familiar Brooklyn accent voice came over to Lexi's ears, making her think that she was hearing things.
The moment that Lexi turned around and saw Ace and Rev safe and sound, a bright smile took over her features as she jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. "I thought we lost you!"
Miranda walked up to Rev and gave him a gentle hug. "Thank goodness," she said as she received a hug in return from him.
"Hey careful," Ace joked after he gave her a hug of his own, "you'll wrinkle the space suit." He couldn't believe that in a near fatal accident, it resulted in him being this close to Lexi. He wished that the hug would linger for longer when Lexi let go and gave him a slap on the arm.
"You scared us," she said, after recovering from her excitement and the fact that she had been very close with Ace. "We thought—"
Slam interrupted her be voicing his fear that they had blown up along with the aircraft.
"Yeah-but-Ace-had-us-eject-as-we-went-behind-the-asteroid-so-it-looked-like-we-bought-the-farm-I-wonder-if-Zadavia-had-insurance-because-replacing-one-of-those-ships-must've-cost-a-fortune-unless-you-think-it-was-a-rental-or-maybe-if-we-get-down-to-the-planet's-surface-we-can-talk-to-someone-about-a-new-one-wasn't-it-cool-how-we-could-guide-it-by-using-our-hands?" Rev was saying until Lexi walked up to him and a placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Rev," Lexi gently said, "not the hot issue right now. Let's go," she said as the team proceeded on their way. Even though the rest of the team was glad that their fellow roadrunner was safe, his rambling was getting to be a bit too much and they didn't have much time left to save Duck and Zadavia.
With the help of Tech, who was able to pick up on some magnetic activity, the team was able to find the location where Duck was being held. The moment that Miranda's feet touched the floor, she saw Duck lying on the ground and being surrounded by a group of large robots who were pointing their weapons at him.
"Slam," Ace said as he looked at his teammate, "go for it buddy!"
Slam twisted towards the robots, destroying one of them before it hit Duck and then he knocked out the other two. Duck looked up to see the Tasmanian devil land in front of him but then a staggered forward when he felt a pair of arms circling around him into a hug.
"Duck!" Miranda said as she hugged him tightly against her, "you're okay!"
"Of course, I'm okay," Duck assured her, "nothing is going to keep me away from you." Suddenly a laser beam hit the ground where the three of them were. "Except that!" he looked up and saw an army of robots running towards them.
Lexi jumped to the other side of the room and ran towards them with the rest of the team. "Yoo-hoo," she called to the robots, "metalheads. How about a game of whack-a-bots?" She kicked and brain blasted the robots that were around her perimeter.
Rev ran towards the robots with a small device in his hand and was able to disassemble all of them as they fell on the floor.
Slam threw out a cyclone towards a pair of robots as the cyclone lifted them into the air and destroyed them.
Duck teleported out of the way when another robot ran towards him. He jumped in the air and sent a power orb in its direction, hitting it directly on its face. Miranda used her telekinesis and hovered him in the air and before sending him crashing into another robot. "You got your powers back?" she asked and ran over to Duck. She quickly checked him to make sure that he wasn't hurt. No glass, thank goodness she thought to herself.
"All of them," Duck said as he held up a power orb at the palm of his hand. "Optomoato sent the villains back to Acmetropolis after they fought him and I took the opportunity to get them back. Also freed Zadavia in the process." His ears picked up Zadavia approaching Optimatus into the next room.
Before he was about to teleport out and cause some mischief, Miranda grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him deeply. "You're a hero, you know that?"
"Of course, I do," Duck proudly said to hide the fact that he was turning to mush when she showed her affection towards him, "can you say it again, please?"
Miranda gave him a playful look. "How about…no?" she said as she tapped his beak.
Fine he thought once will have to do.
He teleported away from Miranda and over to Zadavia and announced that he had been the one to free her from the being held prisoner. Fearing that his plans were going to be ruined, Optimatus launched an attack towards them but was blocked by Zadavia's shield. Optimatus jumped towards Zadavia as they began to fight against one another.
Ace and Tech suddenly joined Duck and he warned them about a wormhole that Optimatus had created that would send Acmetropolis into another galaxy. Tech immediately ran towards the keyboard and tried to think of the code that was needed, until he had a moment of epiphany and figured it out. As Tech was busy trying to decipher the code, Ace jumped into action and fought against the robots that made their way towards them.
The remainder of the team, after having defeated their share of robots at the other side of the room, walked past the wall and noticed Optimatus being thrown across the room after he had tried to subdue Zadavia. Lexi looked over and smiled when she saw Zadavia standing proudly after what she had done and ready to fight. "You go girlfriend!" she cheered for her.
Optimatus got up from the floor and was about to attack his sister once more. With as much force that Zadavia had in her, she shot her assault at her brother and sent him flying against the wall as he flew out of the room.
After deciphering the code, Tech placed a small chip into the hardware and looked up to see planet Earth being pulled away from the wormhole and back to its proper location. The Loonatics cheered and congratulated one another at their accomplishment. "Tech, you shut down the wormhole!" Ace exclaimed.
It was a bit of a stressful situation but it was as much as he could do. "I didn't shut it down exactly," Tech said, "more like relocated. If we don't escape from this planetoid immediately, that wormhole is going to send us off to another galaxy far, far away."
"Everyone," Zadavia alerted the team, "into my brother's ship!"
The Loonatics escaped from Optimatus's lair and headed into his ship, where they activated the aircraft and flew out as quickly as they could. Thinking that Zadavia was finally far away from her brother, she was shocked when she heard his voice inside the ship and launching an attack towards her and her team. Luckily, a small asteroid hit the side of the ship, making Optimatus lose his target and Ace jumped towards him and blasted him with his laser beams.
"That felt good," Ace said.
Zadavia reached for the weapon that Ace had disarmed from Optimatus. "Now you will pay brother," she said to him as she held the weapon towards him. The weapon created a wormhole and inhaled him inside, sending him to a far away galaxy. Now that her brother had gone, and she hoped for a long time, she turned her attention to her team.
"Thank you Loonatics," she thanked them, "you saved me and the galaxy. You are all heroes. My heroes."
"Just for the record," Duck said as he held up his index finger in the air, "she's talking about me!" He was pushed forward by Slam as he went up and hugged Zadavia. Duck got up from the ground and then headed over to the window of the aircraft, looking at the stars and planets that they passed. "What do you think happened to Optamatato?" he asked her.
"The wormhole will reopen in some cold, remote part of the universe. I doubt we'll be bothered by him for a long time," Zadavia explained to Duck. Even she was relieved that this mission was over and that everyone was fine.
And that was the way that the galaxy ought to be. At peace. After bidding their goodbyes with Zadavia, the Loonatics returned to Earth. Before they headed back to their HQ for a well needed rest, there was some unfinished business that they needed to take care of. They silently grouped together and noticed Weathervane, Sypher, Massive, and Mastermind gathered in the center of Acmetropolis as they wondered what had happened to the seven of them.
"Do you know what this means?" they heard Massive say to the other villains, "there's no one left who can stop us from taking over the world!"
"Greetings Losers!" Duck yelled over at them, catching their attention as they looked at the group.
"What up, docs?" Ace smirked and the moment that he saw the look of fear on the villains, he finished by commanding, "let's get 'em!"
The galaxy may have been saved, but they still had their job to accomplish in Acmetropolis as heroes and it was one that they would partake in until the end.
A/N: So, I decided to combine both Part I and II of the episode Acmegeddon to finish season one quicker. Will be giving these guys a break from crime fighting for a couple of chapters, depending on how much I can write up until season two. Thank you for the reviews!
