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mimic12455 · Beast

Sole Bi-mantis

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 2

We find our three salesmen (Pete, Joe, and John) at their stand, selling their produce to the customers.

“Hey Joe, work the money. I’m guarding turnips.” Said Pete. He stepped away from the cash register as Joe took his place. John was watering the fruit and vegetables to keep them fresh.

“Any sign of that freakin guy?” John asked. Joe shook his head.

“Not now. He will come, then we’ll catch him to appease our sexy god.”

John raised his left eyebrow. “When we have sexy god?”

“We had it yesterday. We’ll turn down tomorrow.”

“Hey guys! Crook just taken money!” Yelled Pete, who came back from the turnips stand. A man in a black cloak ran away with the money. He took it while the two salesmen were talking.

“Quick, chase him!” John ordered.

“We’re on break.” Joe said. Pete nodded.

“Yeah, get Stu to chase him.” Pete replied.

“Stu has no legs!” John exclaimed.

“I don’t care, he’s freakin fast!” Joe retorted. Just then, a big heavily built man with a silver and yellow mechanical-like suit drops down, landing on the turnips. He gave out a loud battle cry. All the pedestrians ran in terror from this.

“Nooooooo!! My turnips!” Pete screamed.

Chapter 2

“There was always a time where a person must face his past. Some might hide and forget about it, there are some who might even run from it and try to make a new life, forgetting the past like it never existed. Some might stay in it for as long as possible, delaying their future and waste their lives. There are also some who learn from their past and use it to improve their future. No matter what you do, the future comes to you and the past follows right behind.” ~Mimic12455

Danger Duck is the type that doesn’t let things get to him. He would simply shrug it off with a witty remark and get on with his life. Whether it was loosing soda or not getting credit for a mission, he’s always got over it (well, the credit thing might be an exception due to his ego). No one, not even his friends, would think twice that he’s hiding anything that would affect them. Can you blame them? His last job was cleaning a pool containing objects, using a net (better then using his hands). That was just the tip of the iceberg. The chances of accepting the real truth, however, would be rather low. What he had done will be forever embedded into his mind, but he will not speak it. Instead, he tries to forget it as if it never happened. Of course, the past always finds ways to connect to the future... and the outcome is never same.

He was in his rather small room, laying on his bed while listening to his music from the Boom box on his bed stand near the alarm clock. He was listening to the jazz remix of the classic song (or at least it is in the future) “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. His room is what anyone would expect, not very neat and full of posters that have either women or cars… or both. It also had a bathroom for hygiene and other personal purposes. His king-size bed was simple with blue sheets covering it with the color of decorative orange and black woven into it. There was a dresser drawer, bookshelf with random books within the horror and glamour genre, and an alarm clock that was shaped like an egg.

He shivered again. “Ok, this is getting ridiculous. I know I’m not sick! I don’t feel sick… What the heck keeps giving me chills?” He turned off the boom box. He looked out the open door, a shadow was seen moving. Curious, he got up and looked outside. In the metallic hallway, there was no one. Just the sounds that he would normally hear in the hallway and never really gave much thought into it.

“That’s odd,” He thought to himself. He closed the door. As he was walking away, a silhouette moves passed the door and disappears around the corner of the hall.

- - ---

In the living room, most of the Loonatics were idly amongst themselves. Slam is raiding the fridge for something to feed his endless hunger and Lexi sat lazily on the couch in front of the TV. Rev was running about, keeping himself occupied. It’s been about a few minutes since Danger Duck left to rest in his room. It didn’t make them worry a lot, but it made a certain fearless leader a little bothered.

“Have you guys noticed that Duck was acting a bit… unusual?” Ace asked in his Brooklyn accent (Like great grandfather, like great grandson). Tech was eating a slice a pizza he got from the fridge before Slam could take it. Good thing Slam was busy eating from said fridge or that pizza would have been gone before he could blink.

“You mean when he said he was cold and was shivering a lot, not really.” Tech said in a subdued manner. He took a bite off his pizza. “I mean, he could have had gotten a minor case of influenza. Not too big to worry about.” (A/N: Paging Dr. Tech, Head for the medical room for some random surgery. XD)

Ace thought about this. Maybe Tech was right. Duck could have just gotten the flu. However, Ace couldn’t shake the feeling that something about this was not something regular…

There was no time to ponder this as Zadavia came on the hologrid, hovering an inch or two above it. Her pupil-less eyes looked toward the Loonatics. She wore her usual white gown and had her rather light blonde hair.

“Loonatics, there’s a disturbance in Acmetropolis.” She said, getting everyone’s attention. They gathered as she continued briefing them. “A madman calling himself Boomer escaped from an asylum and is terrorizing the city even as we speak.”

“So he’s a mad bomber?” Lexi asked.

“Actually, despite what he has been given the designation, he is equipped with an exoskeleton device that increases his strength to the point of crushing vehicles with his bare hands. He caused much collateral damage so far, yet there hasn’t been any reports of casualties.”

“All the more reason to stop him before he can hurt any people. Come on Loonatics, we got a nutcase to close!” Ace said as he and the others headed off to stop the crazed madman. They flew out the base via Jetpacks with the exception of Rev, who can fly without the aid of such devices. His eyes were glowing a shade of red as his arms leave a trail of fire behind him. This happens to any of the Loonatics who use their powers, the energy being released causes the eyes to glow in the specific wavelength of the energy which happens to be the color of their fur. Can both be a riot at parties and intimidate lesser opponents.

“Shouldn’t we have called Duck to come?” Tech asked Ace. He had to raise his voice a bit due to the wind rushing passed them. Ace shook his head.

“Nah, he’s not in condition to go. You know, with his flu and all. Besides, what’s the worse that could happen?” He said. Funny how fate can play tricks on someone, making them eat their own words. As they flew through the air, another scene was taking place. Only this time, it was back at the base.

- - - -

He knows he should be resting, but that’s rather hard to do if your stomach is growling for some food. Provisions before slumber… or something like that.

Duck used the elevator to the floor where the kitchen was located. The music from the elevator was a soothing jazz, although you won’t find it soothing after hearing it for umpteenth time. His eye started to twitch. The elevator came to a stop a few moments later. He walked out as the door opened up, the speaker making a few sparks and sizzling noises. Said speaker got fried courtesy of an electric egg made by Danger Duck. He turned left from the nearest intersection called Sector 3T.

Danger Duck never thought of the locations names and never bothered remembering at least half of them. He never really listened to Tech during his little lecture about it. All he did during this time was daydreaming about being the number one member of the Team and getting all the ladies (Oh yeah, Danger Duck’s bad beats pumping tonight). So he occasionally got lost (or so he claims), but remembered some key areas such as his room, Tech’s garage, the lobby, and the living room. Here is how he claims he remembers where to go: “So from my room, I just goes “there”, then “there”, and turn “here” where the halls make a T in order to find Ace’s room... or was that where the training area is?” unquote. That’s his system of finding his way around the base (You can see why he’s lost some of the time). Of course, that just what he says. There’s a difference between saying something and doing something. What he actually does is map the entire base in his head and guess where he is located. He memorized the basic layout of the base, but not every detail of it. One thing a person would ask is: If Danger Duck knew where he was, why does he get lost on a few occasions? The answer is simple: He doesn’t get lost. (Yes, I am reading your thoughts…. No, I know exactly what I’m saying 95 percent of the time…. Ok, 75)

He reached the kitchen, walking through the automatic door as they made that ‘swish’ sound. It was your average futuristic domestic kitchen. It has a refrigerator, a stove, microwave, some silverware drawers, a trash compactor (Who needs one with Slam around?), counters for placing things upon, and the list goes on. The lights were on a nominal level, not to bright nor dark. The lights were on the ceiling of course and were controlled by the dial near the door. Walking over to the fridge, the lights flickered on and off for a few moments. He looked up toward the light fixture.

“Sloppy Tech, veeeery sloppy. He can make jetpacks, hover cars, and amazing invention yet he can’t fix a light bulb?” He said out loud to himself. Suddenly, his cell phone starts ringing. “Great…” He sighed. Chances are that it will cuts off before he can say “hello”. It’s the 28th century and despite all technological advances, his cell phone can get a signal on the 74th floor. It was still ringing. He decided to wing it and answer the phone. Who knows? It might actually stay on long enough to make a decent conversation. He takes it out and clicks the talk button.

“Hello?” He greeted questionably.

“Hello…” The voice on the other end sounded rather shallow and raspy. Danger Duck frowned, not knowing who it was that called him.

“Who is this?”

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”

“Wha… Who are you!”

"You know the answer the that, deep inside you have that solution” Naturally, Duck was confused

“What in the hell are you talking about… this better be good.”

“Your friends may not know, but I do. I was the past you try to hide away.” Duck’s eyes started to widen and his jaw dropped a ways down. He was going into shock. (Oh yeah, that’s the bombshell.)

“No… y-you can’t be-” Danger Duck stuttered.

“Keep smiling Duck, it makes people wonder what you're up to."

Click!

Silence…

Danger Duck had the phone stuck to his ear (or at least where it should be) for about a minute. He looked as if he just met a ghost. He forgotten his hunger, another urge replacing that feeling of starvation. Something that he often feels in his missions, but almost never has something such as this affected him on such a towering extent. It started to consume his very being, clouding his mind, and make his body react as if there was something ready to strike him down from where he stood. Then within a blink of an eye, Duck quacked (teleported) out of the room. The phone clatter on the ground, dropped by its user in his moment of fear…

Fear…

The lights flickered off for a moment, then lit up again. Where the cell phone has been, blindfolded Duck stood. He held it in front of him, the device in his left hand. His head looked down to where it was despite the fact his bandana obscured his vision. He crushed the phone with a sickening crack! He dropped the contents on the ground and walked out the door. The doors make a ‘swish’ sound and they opened and closed…

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 3

What goes through the mind of a man in a state of fear? Not much really. One of these thoughts would be to insure his/her survival and well-being. Another thought would often say to either run or fight, a basic instinct more then a thought. If one believed that it’s capable of beating the fear, that person fights. If not, that person runs. What drives a person to run or to fight? What happens when the person in question is titled a hero? In the eyes of the public, that person is braver five minutes longer…

The Loonatics returned from their rather strenuous mission. Some of them were injured in the fight, but nothing too serious. Getting out of the elevator and heading down the halls, it was just another day for the protectors of the city. They were talking about their recent mission as entered the lounge.

“Geez, I can’t believe someone like Boomer was such a pain.” Lexi said, flipping over the couch and lazily sat down, clicking the TV on with the nearby remote. Rev was rather content with the mission.

“That mission was great! Ok, there were some things that weren’t so great like when the bad guy was throwing stuff and getting the upper hand for a few moments, but we beat him no problem! Who knew that all you had to do to make him stop was to give him a donut? I sure didn’t, that surprised me. Though not as much as the time we fought those cloud creatures. I had to admit that it was fun beating them using water ‘cause I got to make a water funnel and directed it into the cloud and then BOOM. It popped like a water balloon only it was just condensed water and didn’t have any rubber in them and didn’t really make the same sound a water balloon would when it pops.” Rev commented, though a bit more then needed.

“Bahrugaru lala grabalow.” Slam remarked. He headed off to where the kitchen was, all that fighting made him hungry. Rev zipped off in order to find something to keep his hyperactive mind occupied.

“Yeah, for someone whose crazy, he’s more resourceful then he looks. I mean, grabbing a nearby car and making them into boxing gloves? What is he, Mike Tyson?” Ace criticized.

“He’d make a good replacement. I can still feel the impact of the punch vibrating in my skull.” Tech said. Holding an ice pack to his head. During the fight, Tech was unfortunate enough to get hit by Boomer (while said maniac had the car gloves on) square in the face, sending him through a number of walls and into a car with the car alarm going “ree-roo ree-roo” when he hit it. Sure, molecular healing can fix damage tissue and reconstruct the body the way it should be held, but it can only do so much. Having a headache or getting athlete’s foot would be some examples of these limits. No one knows why, but it happens. Tech could probably explain, but chances are that anyone listening would fall asleep after the word “fungus” or “jugular”; which ever comes first.

“Need some aspirin, doc?” Ace asked.

“That won’t be necessary, it’ll pass in a few… hundred seconds.” Tech walked to a chair, one of the six chairs near the table that Zadavia would appear on, and flopped down on it.

“If you say so…”

Rev, who was now on the computer and getting the new high score on a video game called “Battle Rocks”, spoke up. “Yeah, too bad Danger Duck had to miss it. Though with the chills he said he’s been getting, I doubt he could have done much since it would effect his concentration and all. That gets me to wonder if he’s really sick or that he’s just faking it to keep himself from going on another mission, which he would do since he likes to take things easy. Though with his ego-“

“Rev, you’re giving me a headache…” Tech groaned.

“But you already have a headache.”

“Yeah, you just gave me a new one.”

Rev gave an annoyed frown at that comment. Ace chuckled.

“Anywho, I don’t think Duck would fake getting sick… unless he has some crazy plan for a party or something.” Ace responded to Rev’s past comment. “Rev, why don’t you go check on Duck. Make sure he’s in his room and not off somewhere goofing off.”

“Sure thing, Ace. I’m on it!” Rev zipped out the room. Just then, Slam came into the room, holding something in his hand.

“Wha’cha got there, Slam?” Ace asked.

“Cellphone.” He said. Although Slam is not really one for words, he does know a few and says what’s necessary. The cellphone in his hand was crushed into pieces.

“A cellphone?” Ace looked at the remains. “Ya found it like this?” Slam nodded. “Hey Tech, any idea who’s cell phone is this?”

“Probably belongs Duck, he’s the only one I know who actually has a cellular phone.” Tech said. He didn’t need to look at it to figure that out.

“Odd, why would Duck’s cell be in the kitchen in pieces?” Ace wondered. Something about this doesn’t seem right, nor does it add up.

- - - -

Rev was currently outside the door of Danger Duck’s room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Though he could have sworn that he heard something. Pushing that thought out of his mind, he knocked.

“Hey DD, You in there? Ace wanted to know if you’re in your room and not doing something you shouldn’t, which you might do anyways if you did anyways. If you don’t say anything, I’m coming in without your verbal permission.” Rev said. When he didn’t hear a response, he opened the door and went in. Looking around, Duck was no where to be found. “Ya can’t hide from me, you know. Now lets see where you are…” Rev used his telekinetic global tracking power to find where Duck went. It didn’t take long to find him. He spotted Duck’s familiar form inside the closet.

Rev gave a puzzled look. ‘Why is he inside the closet?’ He thought. He walked over to closet door and opened it to find non-other then Danger Duck. However, there is something wrong. Something very wrong.

For starters, Duck was hugging his knees while rocking back and forth. His pupils were contracted, nothing more then little dots. Not only has he been murmuring what sounded like random bits of words strung together, but also shivering violently. He looked to be a total emotional wreck. Rev rushed over to Duck, worried something terrible has happened.

“Good god! Duck, are you ok!” Rev asked with panicked concern. He shook him to try to snap him out of it.

“He… s-still here… co-co-coming… disowned… accident… f-f-f-five minutes… very angry… mommy…” Babbled the slightly disturbed duck. Rev’s mind ran though every possible solution in which could snap this duck out of his trance. Then he came to one that would most likely work. He reared his arm back with palm open.

Smack!
The sound reverberated off the walls, passed the room, and across the hallways. Then it was so quiet, a pin could be heard hitting the floor. Rev slapped him so hard that his bill actually did a 1080 degree spin around his head and set itself back in place; It was as if it was one of those revolving doors. It was a family trick he inherited from his father. It doesn’t do much, but it is definitely a riot at parties. Needless to say, Rev was astonished at this.

“Thanks, but for the record... don’t ever EVER do that again.”

“How the heck did you do that? Now I’ve seen some pretty unusual things, but I never seen something like that except maybe in cartoons like this one episode-“

“It’s a family thing…” Danger Duck said, keeping Rev from continuing.

“Oh, ok then.” Rev helped Duck back on his feet, who had trouble standing due to his legs having fallen asleep from the lack of circulation from hugging them too long. After he was sure DD was stable, Rev decided to get some answers. “Ummm, Duck.”

“Yeah?”

“Why were in the closet?”

Danger Duck hesitated. He walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge. His elbows were situated on his legs with his back arched and his head looking down. He stared at the floor for a moment. Rev stood there, watching his movements and wondering what was going through that duck’s mind. Danger Duck spoke again.

“Someone is after me…”

Rev smirked. He began talking while gesticulating with his arms and such. “Is that all? Here you had me worried that it was something really horrifying. Did you get Zadavia upset again? ‘Cause that’s no reason-“

“No.” The tone in Duck’s voice made Rev stop instantly. Danger Duck looked up from the floor. “He’s someone whose looking to pay me back for what I did to him.” Looking at Duck, Rev saw the serious look in his eyes. It wasn’t the ordinary kind of serious. This was the kind that could paralyze someone on the spot, making it feel that their heart stopped a moment and started back up. Whatever was after DD, was severe enough to make Duck’s persona from laidback ego maniac to a dead-serious character you’d find as war veterans or in noir genre stories.

“… that bad?” Rev asked, getting worried.

“I’m afraid it’s worse then that… he’s in the base.”

“Wait wait wait wait wait, he’s looking for you and is in the base? NOW?”

“Yes.” Duck started to get up from the bed.

“…Who is this guy? Well, we should tell the others that there’s this crazy person in the base.” He began walking over to the door to open it. “If we hurry, we might be able to catch him before he can do anything that might-“ He was cut off as something hit him in the back and sent a painful jolt through his nervous system, knocking him out on the spot. He dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Duck got out of his pitching stance and walked over to Rev. He dragged him over to the closet and set him on the back wall of said closet. He walked out of the closet and shut the door.

“Sorry Rev, but I can’t let you do that.” DD walked out of his room and closed the door. Imputing the code for the door, he locked it. “I can’t let the others know about this. If they knew who he was and what I did, chances are I’d be back doing that lame job as a pool cleaner.” He walked down the hallways and into the elevator. The speaker was still broken since Tech didn’t fix it yet. He pressed the button for the floor where the lounge was located. A thought crossed his mind. If he just walked in, they would ask why Rev wasn’t with him. He would have to think of some alibi for Rev’s absence. Plus for the reason for his chills. He suddenly felt a coldness run up his back. He shivered, but quickly stopped. He had to act as if nothing is wrong in order for it to keep the others from getting wary of his actions.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard…’ he thought. The elevator stopped. He walked out and went down the hallways to the lounge. He stopped just outside the door. ‘Ok, just act natural and don’t do anything suspicious.’ He took a deep breath and exhaled. ‘Here goes nothing.’

He strolled through the door, whistling some nameless tone, acting all innocent. Lexi was doing some yoga exercises, Slam wasn’t in sight (possibly in his room for some reason), Tech was meditating on a pillow, and Ace was sitting in a chair. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact Rev wasn’t there. Of course, no one knows that yet. Then a thought struck him, Lexi has sensitive hearing. She could have heard what happened. The idea was struck down when he saw the she was wearing earphones, listening to whatever music was on her Walkman. His presence gotten Ace’s attention.

“What’s up Duck, feeling better?” He asked in his usual tone of voice.

“Uh… yeah! Guess all I needed was a nap. I feel like a million bucks!” He showed this by flexing his “muscles” in a variety of poses.

“That’s great Duck… say, where’s Rev? Didn’t he go check on you?”

Duck stopped flexing. “Um… I think he ran off to go… check out the city. Yeah! Saying something about… looking for his… favorite magazine?” Danger Duck, though appearing calm,was inwardly shaking with uneasiness. ‘I hope he really goes for that excuse…' Ace appeared skeptical for a moment.

“His favorite magazine?" He didn’t seem convinced at first, but decided let it slide for some reason. "I’ll have to ask him about it… it’s not one of those dirty magazines, is it?”

“I don’t know and frankly, I don’t want to know.” Duck said flatly. ‘So far, so good.’ He thought. ‘Now I just need to come up with a plan to-‘ His thoughts were interrupted by Ace.

“By the way,” Ace took out the remains of his cellphone. “do you know that your cell phone was found in pieces… in the kitchen?”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 4

Estimated time is 20 years ago, more or less…

The sky was blue and clear on this nice day. The city was brimming with activity. (This line has got be older then my pants…)

In the park, being watched by his mother from afar, is a younger version of Danger Duck. Of course, his name isn’t really Danger Duck. There are occasions where someone just calls him Duck. He’s not wearing his hero suit for obvious reasons. His real name is Daniel Duck. He was about 3 and a half years old (ah, you just can’t beat a classic quote). He was born in the city of Acmetropolis.

His mother, Martha Duck, had been sitting on the bench while reading some novel about two people in love. She was, like most of the family, a black duck. She had on a light purple shirt with baggy jeans and a pair of sunglasses. She was also a bit of a tomboy, which explains the taste of clothing. While Daniel was young, his father left the family to find “a life that really appreciates his talent.” So his mother had to take care of him and of her two other children all by herself. Which were difficult thanks to her job, but with a little help from her cousin Larry, who lives nearby. He just baby-sits when she’s away.

Playing in the sandbox was the female of the siblings. Her name is Beckatha Duck. She was sewing a broken apple together with a sewing needle and thread. She wore a pink shirt and matching color skirt. She was four years older then Daniel and was in the 4th grade. She was the mediator for Daniel and her other brother.

“Go odder branch!” Said the duck under the tree.

The other brother, who was with Daniel at a nearby tree, was Dabble Duck. He always liked giving Daniel a hard time. Of course he knows his limits, most of the time. He was currently climbing the tree Daniel was under.

“Sure I can!” Dabble said confidently. He reached over to the next branch. As he was pulling himself up to it, it gave way from his weight.

- - -

(present time)

Duck began staring at his cellphone, now in many little pieces of and two big chunks of wiring and plastic. His mind was in shock.

Ace had shown him this a few moments ago to see if he known anything about this. Chances are that Danger Duck will freak out and get melodramatic, acting as if he lost something really essential. Of course, the reaction Ace received was pretty predictable.

“NOO!” Screamed the overly dramatic duck.

Duck rushed over hand grabbed the pieces from Ace. He was cradling them in his arms.

“Who would do such a thing to my poor phone! There there, it’s all right. Daddy’s gonna fix you all up…” He said to his phone as if it could hear him. Ace shook his head.

“Duck, it’s. just. a. cell. phone!” Lexi exasperated, taking off her headphones.

Duck ignored her, too emotionally caught up with the lose of his cellphone. “How could have this happen… this is almost as bad as… as missing Misty Breeze doing the weather forecast on TV on the four-o-clock news.”

“Well, apparently it somehow got left in the kitchen and got broken when it fell to the ground.” Tech elaborated. He nonchalantly walked over and brought the leftover cellphone, the two big chunks, to him with his magnetic powers. This didn’t suit well with a certain black duck.

“Hey! Can’t you see I’m mourning over here?” he said while glaring at the coyote.

Ignoring him, Tech took a look at the pieces.

“Hmm… it appears that the phone broke, not by the fall, but crushed by a single hand.” Tech said while analizing the broken device. Ace ****ed his eyebrow in confusion.

“So what you’re saying Tech is that someone broke it?” Ace asked.

“Precisely.” He said with a nod.

Ace looked at Danger Duck with a stern gaze. He has a sneaking suspicion that Duck has something to hide and he’s going to find out what it is.

“Duck, why did you leave your cellphone in the kitchen?” He asked.

“I.. uh… left it there when I was getting something to eat.” A cleaver lie or half truth, many can decide. In the end, Ace almost bought it.

Almost.

“Didn’t I tell you to get some rest?” he inquired sternly.

In Duck’s mind, he was sweating bullets. He was getting worried, but he has to play cool. They might begin to link this to him if they find out. There’s an intruder here, they might go against him if they find out why he’s here especially if Ace knew and they find Rev in his closet. And it was not just any average intruder, it was-

“Well?” Ace was getting impatient. He had his arms folded and was tapping his foot.

“I was hungry! A hero of such high caliber can’t go to sleep with an empty stomach.”

Ace sighed.

“I know you know something, Duck. But at this time, it’s not important. Slam smelt the phone and besides your scent, there was another person’s sent on it. I believe it was the one who crushed your phone-”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Duck interrupted. “Let find that guy! I want to give him a piece of my mind!” He did some punches and kicks to emphasize his point. Ace nodded.

“First, we need to split up and search the base for any clues on our mystory guest. Tech, since Rev isn’t here, I want you to go get one of your gizmos that might track down this person.”

“I’m on it, I’ve been dieing to try out my latest tracking system I made yesterday.” Tech replied. He dropped the cell phone on the floor (Duck: Hey!) and left the room, heading straight towards his lab. Ace looked over to Slam and Lexi.

“Lexi. Slam. I want you two to search the place. Leave no stone untoin.”

“Gotta.” Lexi said, nodding. Slam grunted in acknowledgment.

“Just don’t go into my room. I’ll go check it.” Duck said. “I don’t want anyone going in there with their grubby little hands.” He gesticulated with his hands while he said that. Lexi smirked.

“With all that junk in your room? No thanks. It’d probably take a week to clean out your closet. Slam would probably get lost in there.”

“Oh ha ha. I’m dieing of laughter.” He said dully.

“Alright guys.” Ace said, getting their attention. “Lets get going.” He left the room through the main doors. As the rest go through the doors, Duck thought. He thought of what he should do. What he could do. What he has to do.

“Hey Duck.”

Shaking out of his currents thoughts, he looked over to the speaker. It was Lexi, looking at him with a perplexed look on her face. He looked back with a raised brow.

“Yeah?”

“Is there something wrong? I could hear your heart beat from here and it’s going unusually fast ever since you came into the lounge.”

Keep smiling Duck, it makes people wonder what your up to…
“Well…” Duck trailed off a bit. He had to think of something to say. He forced a smile. “I’m just agitated today.”

“Why?” She asked, putting her hand on her hips. Something was going on with this duck and it was getting on her nerves. It was tolerable in the past, but now it seems like he’s hiding something.

“Uh, hello!” He began counting with his fingers. “Slam drank my favorite pop, I had the chills for a good amount of time, my poor cellphone got crushed, and now you asking me “Why”? Come on, ya dumb bunny! You’d think it’d be OBVIOUS!” At this point she started stepping back in surprise, holding her hands up in defense.

“Ok Ok! Sorry. Jeez, no need to bite my head off.” She exclaimed. She headed out the door. She then thought, ‘What’s wrong with that duck?’

Alone in the lounge, standing in the center of the open space, Duck looked over to the mirror with his arms folded, his mood changed to that of a serious nature. He slowly walked over to it. He stopped about three feet away from it. In the mirror was himself, nothing out of the ordinary. It simply reflected back the serious look he had on his face. He sighed.

“So,” he said in a low tone. “You came back?”

Silence. He lowered his head, his eyes closing. He knew that one person was listening.

“Of course you did, apparently there’s some unfinished for you here. Why else would you be here?”

Another pause of silence.

“Whether it me or that other hated desire, you’re not going to have either. A coward I may be, but I’m brave long enough to be a hero. Even if it’s only five minutes, it’s just enough to be a hero. I will not let you have what you need. I know you can hear me.” He looked back. “What do you want here, ya moron?”

“The answer is obvious.”

Only 7 feet away, stood the mysterious caped duck with the staff and bandanna. It was as if he was standing there the whole time. He still has that look on his face despite the bandanna covering his eyes. Duck twitched when he saw him.

“Well, you know I’m not the type to get things right away. So spare me the headache and tell me.”

The duck replied again.

“I want you and the rabbit.”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 5

"The longer one holds onto a memory, the longer one lives in the earlier period. The deeper the memory they hold onto, the more striking the past will become. The beautiful recollections will eventually turn into detestation. Even if they look ahead, they lose the ability to stride. As long as the heavy chain called Revenge continues to fetter the heart. As long as tears of sadness continue to flow. What can break the cycle? Only time can tell." -- Mimic12455

Danger and the enigmatic duck stood where they were, hardly moving. They were staring at one another; one had a stone glare and the other had no look to be seen. Chills were going down Danger’s spine in 2 second intervals, making him lose focus on his target. The familiar feeling of fear still lingering within him. The other duck just stood there, unmoving and stoic. It was like watching two warriors staring each other down before the big battle. The silence was deafening and the tension coming from Danger was beyond one would believe would come from such a person who knew his character. After what seemed like an eternity, Danger broke the silence.

“So, you’re after that dumb bunny as well as me?” He asked rhetorically.

The other duck just stood there. Danger narrowed his eyes. This act was grinding down Danger, breaking his nerves as the seconds ticked away. He was sweating profusely. He has no idea what the other is thinking with that bandanna covering his eyes. Then, without caveat, the other duck smirked.

“You think you can stop me?” He asked in a rather slow pace, almost devoid of emotion with only the hint of either amusement or interest. It was Danger’s turn to be silent this time. “There’s no stopping the inevitable, Daniel. What is said, will happen by me. For now, I’ll have my senses on the rabbit. You will be the last of the line of vengeance.”

“You still going on about that?” Danger asked. “That happened 400 years ago! Get over it! Things are different now, though eerily similar.”

“Daniel Daniel Daniel…” The duck said while shaking his head. “As long as the past is remembered, there will always be connections and effects. The only way to fix it is to either change the cause… or get rid of it. Since no one can change the past without causing everything to change, getting rid of the current cause will have to do. When the cause is gone, the cycle of grief will be transferred to the endless void of nothingness in due time.”

In Danger’s mind, he knew this duck lost his mind all too long ago. If only thing ended differently, his mind might have been still with the sane. If only he could have been strong enough to stop him.

Suddenly in a blink of an eye, the duck rushed at him. Danger didn’t have time to react as he got punched in the gut with great force. Time seemed to slow down as the impact was enough to send him two feet in the air, his eyes wide with surprise, shock, and pain. In the elapse time of 1 and a half seconds, the nameless duck spun around to Danger’s left side and used the momentum of the spin to strike Danger in the back of the head with his staff. The sound of bone shattering was heard. Danger landed on the ground with a low thud. Small trickles of blood flowed out of his head from the opening of the suit where the staff hit. Black and orange feathers could be seen along with the red blood.

The blindfolded duck simply ‘looked’ at him for a moment and walked out the door to the kitchen, with a sense of immediate satisfaction. Before he left, he stopped and looked back.

“First comes the punches, then comes Nix… then comes the rabbit… which I will fix…” He let out a low chuckle as he left the room, leaving the battered Danger Duck in the room with blood starting to pool.

- - - - - - -

Opening his eyes, all he could see was darkness. His body felt heavy and drained. It felt like someone put a lead vest on him and drained him two quarts of blood. He tried getting up, using the nearby wall as a support. He felt around for a light switch. Finding it, he turned it on. Rev looked around and found himself surrounded by Misty Breeze products. He must be in Danger’s closet. Now that he thought about, he liked it better with the lights off. Pushing that thought out of his mind, he tried to remember what happened before he blacked out.

“Ok,” He said to himself. His speech slowed downed to a more normal pace. “I found duck in the closet, babbling like a maniac, then snapped him out of it, then told me someone is here, I panicked and went for the door… then I felt a surge of electricity and everything turned black. Now the only way that could have happened was if…”

His eyes shot open, beak hung open. The realization hit him like a snowball in mid-summer. The stinging shock…

“…”

Then the climbing rage and total disregard of language.

“… that-no-good-dirty-son-of-a-B#&CH!” He screamed with his fast pace of speech returning. No matter how intellectual, polite or smart a person are, they say the same thing when something greatly angers them.

Walking across the halls were Lexi and Slam. They have been searching anything that might be out of the ordinary. They were looking on the floor that was the same level as Danger’s room. Just as they passed his room, Lexi heard Rev in the room when he made his vulgar remark. They both stopped at Danger’s room.

“That sounded like Rev,” she said out loud. She knew Danger didn’t want anyone to go into his room, but why was Rev in there? She tried opening the door, but it was locked. She looked over to slam. “Think you can open it?”

Slam nodded with a smile on his face. Using his awesome strength, he punched the door down with one shot. The sound of the impact echoed across the halls. They walked into the room. Lexi shook her head in disgust when she saw Danger’s room. She knew he had poor taste in decoration. But having posters of cars and women all over the room?

“Ugh, that duck has bad taste in interior decoration.” Lexi remarked.

Slam looked at the clock on the desk. Thinking it was an actual egg, he took it in his hand and popped it in his mouth. It made metallic crunching noises as he chewed it.

Then, using her sensitive hearing, Lexi heard someone in the closet. Though it’s quite obvious due to the fact that someone was banging loudly from inside of it saying “Let me out!”. Opening the door, She and slam found a rather irritated Rev. His angry eyes were glowing crimson and his body was producing smoke, adding to the affect of looking furious. Lexi and Slam just stared at this rather uncharacteristic display.

Rev has always had a rather playful and energetic personality, kind of like a nine year old child. True, he does act serious when the situation called for it. He also gets angered as well. This, however, wasn’t anger that happens when you stub your toe or get called names. This was something you’d see someone after he gets punched in the gut for no real reason by a friend.

“Um… what happened?” Lexi asked rather uneasily. The response wasn’t what she expected, in fact it shocked her. Rev said his situation one sentence, slowly and dripping with anger.

“Duck… shot.. me… in.. the… BACK!”

- - - - - - -

In another part of the tower, Tech was looking for his electronic sonar emitting radar powered by an electron core. His lab contains almost every technological device known to man and then some. It has a big computer, multiple inventions, a garage to put all the vehicles, and a chair (possibly the most important device in the lab… where else you expect him to sit?). The only thing that was missing was the kitchen sink, but since this is not a kitchen... its more or less useless.

Currently, he was looking for the invention he finished working on yesterday. Some of the stuff he works on that isn’t as big as a van, he places on his work table (which is pretty big). Anything he finishes that is that size, he places on a shelf. As he walk passed the inventions, he said out loud what they were.

“Lets see… Particle suspension generator… Neon Orbital Restrainment ring…. Electric fur groomer… why did I make that?” He said, picking up the groomer while scratching his head. He shrugged and placed it back on the shelf. He came to the next invention, blinked when he saw it.

It was a device he was working on when he thought about Danger’s teleportation powers. He wanted to create a device that could teleport the user to anywhere he/she desired at short distances. When he tested, however, he ended up in the refrigerator instead of 2 feet in front of him. He still needed to work out the bugs. He also calculated that if he could calibrate the device to Danger, the power from him will transfer to the device and cause him to accelerate the speed of his mind and body. This will cause him to think and move at the rate that would be the equivalent of Tech’s thinking speed and Rev’s fast movements.

The problem would be that the device wouldn’t be able to take the strain and would cease to function. There’s also the small chance of the device backfiring, causing Danger to turn inside out, blowing him to bits, or something far worse. Tech calls it the portable Matter Transporter. He thought about putting it with the other dangerous and failed inventions, inside an impenetrable safe. He decided to leave it there in case of an emergency. He could easily modify it to a cannon or something and send it to a safe location. He’s hoping to upgrade it and fine tune it for better use.

Tech shook his head to keep himself focused and continued to the next invention. It was the device he was looking for, the electronic sonar emitting radar powered by an electron core. With this, he could pin point any organic object with in a 400 meter radius. True, there was a second or two of lag time, but nothing is perfect. It looked like a backpack with an antenna. Next to it was a small screen like device that looked like a portable TV. The backpack part of the device is used to send and pickup the electrons, forming it into a picture and send the picture to the small wireless screen. The problem was that with Rev around, there wasn’t any need to use it since Rev is a walking radar system.

He was about to turn it on when his communicator came to life.

“Tech, you got a minute?”

It was Ace. Tech lifted his right arm where all the teammates’ communicators were and spoke.

“Yes Ace, what’s the problem?”

“A few problems actually. First one would be the speaker in the elevator is busted.”

Tech signed in aggravation.

“That is the fifth time this week. Why do I even bother trying to fix when it’ll get broken a day later?”

“Try getting better elevator music.”

“… I’m a genius, not a disk jockey.”

“Good point.”

“What’s the other problem?” Tech asked.

There was a pause. Tech shook his communicator a bit.

“Um…. Ace? You there?”

He hear something on the other side, sounded like someone saying “Oh my god!” in a distance voice.

“Ace, are you there?” The response wasn’t one he’d expect.

“Everyone! Get to the lounge room ASAP! Tech, get medical equipment!” Ace shouted, switching his comm. to everyone’s frequencies.

“Huh-What? Ace, what happened?” Tech asked.

“I just walked into the lounge room. Duck’s been injured!”

“I’m on my way!” Tech turned off his comm. and went to get the First Aid Kit he made himself. A lot better then the usual first aid and gets the job done quick. As he grabbed the case with a big red cross on it and dashed out of the door, he wondered what could have happened.

Danger had always been a pain in the Bronx, but he was a Loonatic and a friend as well. Just because he’s been an egotistical loudmouth, doesn’t mean he was any less of a hero… well, maybe a little. Tech wondered who could have attack and if he was still in the base. He really should have moved the base to a more secluded area, though he didn’t think any enemy would be dumb enough to attack them in their own base.

As he left, the duck came out of the shadows. He slowly walked around the lab, dark intent seething from him like a furnace. He ran his fingers along the radar device Tech had earlier. Then the enigmatic duck grinned sinisterly.

First come the punches, then comes Nix… then comes the rabbit… which I will fix…

mimic12455 · Beast

In a random part of the city, John and Joe were sitting on the bench and talking to each other.

“I still don’t get why the big guy came and broke the crates.” John said, eating an apple he got from his cart. They and Pete had to wait for their stand to be clean and fixed by the repairmen.

“He’s crazy, John. There a lot of them in world.” Joe explained.

“Why is that, Joe?”

“You see, for every sane people born… another insane person is created. This happens to balance the sane people so that they don’t get too advance for their own good.”

“What?” John asked with an eyebrow raised.

“This is something that people don’t look into much. If person becomes too advance, they would be isolated from group. If this happens, they won’t be making the babies. Then there would be no more people in the world. It’s important for there be unbalance in world. Then things won’t get progress too much and things will be more entertaining.”

“But wouldn’t unbalance cause problems?” He asked, eating his apple.

“This is true, it has to be less then or equal to the sane people. If not, world would explode.”

“Yes… How’s Pete?”

“Well…” Joe trailed off. “… he’s mourning the turnips over there.” He points to where the turnips were smashed. Pete is standing there, crying his eyes out.

“Jeez, he really needs girlfriend…” John takes a bite out of the remaining apple. “Do you think we’ll ever get thief?”

Joe sighed. “I don’t know. He got away after getting money. He’ll be back for sure, but we’ll be ready for the catching of him.”

“Most definitely…. I hope.”

Chapter 6

The room had been quiet, seemingly still of movement. The lounge room had been used in the past for leisurely activities and serious discussions. Occasionally, there were meetings that take place here if the emergency is in need of immediate attention. Now, however, there isn’t any discussions, leisurely activities, or meetings… but there is an emergency to be seen within the center of the room: Danger lay face down in his own blood, skull cracked like a coconut.

Ace was the first to see this when he walked into the room. He went to check to see if Danger had gone or had been goofing off. He used the elevator which had the broken speaker, which was the reason he called Tech. He was going to ask him if he seen Danger anywhere, but went silent when he saw him laying in his own blood. His brain went into a state of shock as he looked in horror at the fallen hero, unable to think for a few moments before his leadership instincts kicked in. He switched the frequency to all teammates and issue orders to report to his current location. If only he had been there for Danger sooner, this might not have happened.

Ace is kneeling next to the body of Danger, checking for a pulse. Much to his relief, he found a weak pulse. The first one to arrive is Rev, understandable since he is the fastest. He zips next to Ace.

“Hey-Ace,-I-came-as-soon-as-I-could-so-what-…” Stopping in mid-sentence and looking down, he saw Danger in his current state. “SWEET-MOTHER-OF-THE-SUN! Oh-my,-not-good-not-good-not-good-not-good-not-good. Quick-call-a-doctor,-call-the-police,-what’s-the-number-for-9-1-1!” Rev had been zipping around, forgetting about Danger’s recent shot at him and trying to figure out what to do while hyperventilating.

Tech, who came in next, thankfully stopped him before he could hurt himself. “Rev, calm down!” He said, stopping before he got ran over by said Roadrunner. Rev stopped, holding the position he was at when Tech told him to stop. “Now, take a deep breath.”

Rev did just that, taking a deep breath and… passing out from too much oxygen to the brain; he fell on his back and had swirls in his eyes.

Tech shook his head, “He really needs to lay off the coffee.” He walks over to Danger. “Whoa, I better work fast.” He opens up the first aid kit and begins to fix him up. He takes a syringe containing a special healing agent he made using what knowledge he had about his own regeneration and injected it into him. Taking out another device, he hovers it over the wound and the rest of the body.

“How bad is it?” Ace asked. Tech had on a neutral face, a face he uses a lot when he concentrates.

“He has a large bruise in the upper part of his abdomen and an open wound on the back of the skull. Along with the lower part of the skull fractured. Judging by the fracture and size of the wound, it seems to have been caused by a blunt object, specifically a pole-like instrument, being used with extreme force. The bruise on his stomach was caused by a fist, the size of it means either the person is very strong or Duck needs to workout more. I’m leaning towards the person being strong.” Just as he said that, there was an audible crack.

“What was that?” Ace asked.

“That would be Duck’s skull realigning itself thanks to the healing agent I injected into him.” Tech said casually.

Lexi and Slam came in, going as quickly as they could. They were a bit disoriented after Rev rushed passed them. It took a few moments for them to regain balance and dashed out of Danger’s room to get to the lounge.

“We came as soon as we could. What happened?” Lexi asked.

Ace looked up. “We got a bird who had an overdose of air,” He indicates Rev by pointing his thumb towards his direction. His face grew firm when he said the next part. “…and an injured duck holding all the answers.”

Slam winched when he saw Danger while Tech placed the bandages on him, though it’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. He witnessed and experienced plenty of injuries when he was wrestling. It still makes him queasy to see someone like that though. Lexi, on the other hand, is looking at this with shock. Her hands were on her mouth, her heart beat increased, and her eyes were wide as saucers. During the whole time as a heroine, she never seen her teammates, aside from Tech, get injured this severely. (Honestly, would anyone worry too much about a guy who can regenerate at a molecular level?)

“Oh…. My… god…” she exclaimed, taking a few steps back. She never saw so much blood in one place. She sat down on the couch, feeling lightheaded and ill.

“You ok Lexi?” Ace asked, concerned.

Lexi nodded. “Yeah, I just need to wait till my head stops spinning.”

Tech had closed the first aid kit with an audible click. “All finished.” They gazed over to see Danger’s head with a bloody bandage. This isn’t something they’re used to seeing. Ace is the first to speak up from the stillness.

“I take it he’ll be fine?” He asked.

Tech nodded. “Of course.” He looked down at Danger. “In fact, he should be waking up any moment now.”

As if on cue, Danger started to stir. He opened his eyes, groaning in pain as he held his head. “Anyone get the number of that bus?” he asked. He sat up with a bit effort. He winched, holding his stomach with both arms.

“Duck, what happened?” Ace asked. He and everyone else wanted some answers.

Danger blinked. “I.. uh…” It looked like he had trouble remembering. “I got attacked by… some martial.. arts guy with a blindfold and a staff.” This caused confusion among the group. Rev was starting to come out of his daze.

“A blindfolded fighter?” Tech asked skeptically. “Why would he be attacking you?”

“Well, I-” He was cut off when Rev suddenly gave a battle cry, jumped on him and started strangulating him.

“I’m-gonna-kill-you!” He yelled.

It took the combined efforts of Slam, Ace, and Tech to pull him off. This perplexed Ace and Tech, they knew Rev wouldn’t do this without a good reason.

“Rev, cool it! We’re trying to save Duck, not injure him!” Ace said strictly.

Rev is struggling to break free with little success. “Let-me-at-him! Let-me-at-him! Let-me-at-him! I’m-not-done-with-him!”

“What are you talking about?” Ace asked, trying to keep the psychopathic roadrunner from injuring Danger.

“He SHOT me in the BACK!” He screamed. The room went silent, everyone stopped moving and let those words sink in..

Said duck was staring back at the same person he shot in the back, the other looked back with stern, angry eyes.

Emotions were conflicting in Danger, not knowing what to do. He felt guilty, confused, shocked, scared, and angry all at once. He doesn’t know whether to kick Rev in the groin or Quack out of the room and hide. He needed to figure out what to do. A thought suddenly popped up in his head. It was the last thing he heard before he passed out.

‘First come the punches, then comes Nix… then comes the rabbit… which I will fix…’
He thought about it the limited time he got from the silence. He already got punched in the gut, injured badly in both body and spirit. Nix…

“Nix…” He said out loud. Just in time too, another second and Ace would be yelling like a crazed loony.

“Huh?” Lexi asked.

“The person who attacked me… He’s called Nix…” Ace, Tech, and Slam released their grip on Rev. Said speedster didn’t jump on Danger… yet. He, and the rest, wanted to hear what this duck is hiding.

“Nix? Who, may I ask, is Nix?” Ace asked, his arms folded. Danger got up and walks over to the nearest chair. He sat down, with a deep sigh he looked up.

“Ok, here’s the deal. Nix isn’t like all the other villains we face. His real name is Dabble Duck… he’s my brother…”

“Whoa whoa whoa, time out Duck.” Ace interrupted. “The guy who attacked you was your brother?”

“Yes. He’s not just after me either.”

Lexi got irritated. She got sick of all this secrecy Danger has been hiding. Unable to take anymore procrastination from Danger, she got up and spoke, “Not just after you? Who else does he want? If he’s after you, why didn’t he finish you off?” She had walked over to Danger, gesticulating with her arms. She then grabs him by the upper part of his suit and yanks him to her eye-level. “What the hell is wrong with him! Why didn’t you tell us this sooner? What did you do to get him to the point of wanting to get rid of, not just you, but one of us as well? Huh? Tell us!”

Danger stuttered. “I-I-I… uh, well.”

“TELL US, GOD DAMN IT!” She screamed in his face. Everyone stepped back in alarm. No one in his team had seen her upset like this. They watched in awe as the scene progressed, not wanting to get on Lexi’s bad side. Her green eyes glared daggers at him, right in his stunned, aqua-colored eyes.

Just then, alarms start blaring. Metal shutters seep down on the windows one by one. The lighting turns off, coming back on with an eerie red glow. Every one looks around in a panic.

Ace tried to assess the situation. “Tech, what’s going on?”

Tech looked at him, knowing what happened. “Someone activated the lockdown system. The entire tower has been sealed completely till either the power runs out or someone turns it off.”

A low chuckle echoed across the room.

“You are correct.”

They all looked at the holo-projecter located on the table. It wasn’t Zadavia this time. It was the enigmatic duck, Nix. His form was hovering over the table, grinning evilly. He was holding his staff as usual. The lighting seemed to have giving him a more heinous look on his features. On his back was Tech’s radar system he found in the lab.

“Hey! That’s my invention!” Tech yelled. He is angry that someone is using his invention without his consent.

“Correction, it was your invention. Now it’s mine and with it... there’s no place to hide.” His already evil grin became, if possible, even more sinister. “I’m sure you already know me by now. So skipping the introductions, lets go right on to the main point why I’m here.”

“Ok then doc,” Ace said. “Spill it. Why are you here?” The others stood there, waiting for a response with serious expressions on their faces. Danger was no different, though he already knew the reason for Nix being here. He just hopes he doesn’t tell them why he’s doing it. The sudden information might turn them against him.

Nix continued. “I’m here to kill two people in this room, but if you’re going to get in my way... Well, I won’t be held responsible for my own actions. One you already know and the other...” He paused for a moment. The tension in the air was weighing down on everyone like a mountain. It like waiting for the winning numbers in a lottery drawing, only this one could end your life. “…is a certain cotton-tailed rabbit.”

This got the attention of two of the members of the Loonatics: Lexi and Ace. They knew it was one of them, but which one is he talking about?

Nix continued, “If you’re wondering which one… I won’t tell just yet. It’s a surprise.”

Danger knew Nix liked playing mind games, which is why he has fear from this deranged mallard. He doesn’t know whether he would strike now, later, or going after something else entirely. Ever since Nix gotten himself buried with the history of his family and their problems, he wanted to break the cycle of grief he believe started 400 years ago; in the 24th and a half century. He is interrupted by the yelling of Ace’s voice.

“You think you can scare us like you’re some ghost? Well Nix, if you want one of us, you’re going to have to face all of us.” Ace said in his usual tone of voice. Nix face remained void of movement.

“Very well, I guess we have to do this the hard way. Keep those eyes open Loonatics, cause I can be where I want and where you are… is a simple ping.” The hologram turns off, leaving the Loonatics alone with only themselves to network. Then, a voice echoes across the halls. The source undetermined and cracked, as if from an old speaker.

“Black of the past, orange with stripes of the future. With the chains of rivalry, the family is grounded. Breaking the old chains, the grief is set to the jailer.”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 7

“Sanity is relative. If you’re insane, would you say that you’re actually insane? Perhaps the perspective is true. Thinking the world flat would be a crazy thought now, but a hundred plus years ago it was true. Everyone knew the world was flat because the ground is flat, to say otherwise would deem your mind flawed. A person is only as sane as the others who perceive him. If it goes against society’s way of thinking, it’s insane.” –Mimic12455

Now, there are many things to do a situation like this. One would be to panic, letting the mind run on instincts and do the first impulse that comes to mind. Another way is to assess the situation and find the best choice of action to solve the problem. Doing nothing normally doesn’t help, but doing something could cost them their lives.

Five minutes have passed since the lockdown had been activated, yet nothing has happened. Ace has been thinking of what to do and the effects of that decision would have on the team. Slam occasionally punched the shutters to try and break out, but Tech told him that those shutters were a special blend of chemicals and a metal alloy found after the meteor hit called “Astrinium”. Rev had been running around the area, trying to find Nix or a way out; which ever comes first. Danger went with Tech to try and deactivate the power in order to deactivate the lockdown. Ace and Lexi were searching the base for Nix, wanting to give him a piece of their mind. Since the elevators were inoperative, everyone had to use the stairs. This might not be much of a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that the tower had 200 floors.

As Tech and Danger descended down the stairs, walking almost side by side, to reach the basement, the red lights giving the feeling of being in a horror film, they talk to try and pass the time. At first Danger suggested singing, but Tech chose not to and had to hear the targeted duck sing. After shutting him up by clamping his beak with his hand, Tech asked Danger not sing in the chance Nix finding them. He agreed and they decided to just talk while they walk.

“So Duck,” Tech said, getting Danger’s attention. “Why exactly is… Nix.. going after you?”

Danger sighed. “Normally I’d say “None of your business!”, but seeing how this became everyone’s business, there isn’t any real reason to not tell you guys.”

They were walking a few minutes in silence.

“… well?” Tech asked.

“Well what?”

“Why is he after you?”

“Because I tried to stop him from doing something insane.”

Another moment of silence passed, Tech looked perplexed.

“Which was what exactly?”

Danger stared bleakly at him as they continued walking and said, “The only time I’m going to tell you is if you and Rev kiss each other in front of the others, open mouth.”

“What are you impli…” Tech just stared with wide eyes and in disbelief by what he just heard. He cringed at the thought of actually doing that.

- - - - - -

Walking down the hallways in a rather casual manner with his staff going in step with his own, Nix looked down at the screen in his hand despite the blindfold. It shows a map of the base, there is 6 blips on the screen: Two going down the stairs, one seemingly wandering, two nearby, and one rushing around at a high rate of speed. With an ever neutral face, he walks onward.

He hummed, “hmm, hmmhm, hmmm, hmhmhm, hhmmmm, hmhmhm.” It’s a low tune, randomly humming a few bars for the sake of amusement. He took out a peanut butter sandwich he took from the fridge a while ago took a bite out of it (Even a villain has to eat you know).

- - - -

They continued down the seemingly endless cluster of stairs. This went on for about five minutes. The silence was pecking at Danger, who was not used to hearing nothing except when he’s sleeping. Tech appears to be in deep thought, his mind in its own little world.

Danger could only wonder what is going through his mind, hopefully not actually thinking about kissing Rev. He’s not sexist or anything, he just wasn’t used to seeing that kind of thing in public or on TV. The last thing he needed was lawsuits. He shook his head. He was loosing focus of what was happening. He needed all of his cunning and wit for this. Another few minutes passed, they passed the 78th floor.

“Jeez,” Danger said, aggravated at the fact that there’s so many stairs. “Whose idea was it to put so many floors? I mean come on! 200 floors?” He waved his right arm in a sweep motion as he said it. Tech looked to his right, where Danger has been walking.

“To answer your first question: it was mine. The reason for so many floors is to reinforce the base of the tower, store any unnecessary items, and where most of the wiring and devices are located. That, and to make sure anyone who uses the stairs would have a difficult time getting up to the top.” He said. They turned at the corner where it said “Floor 72”.

“So how long will it take to get to the basement?” He asked.

“Well-“

“Give a straight answer…” Danger deadpanned. He knew every time someone asks Tech a question, he would say the equation or theory out loud.

“… 30 minutes.” He said, rather annoyed that he had been interrupted. Danger’s eyebrow twitched in agitation.

‘30 minutes?’ he thought. They would be dead and buried six feet under by then.

“Wow, thirty minutes. We should be there and back WAY before everyone gets mauled.” Danger said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Ok then smartass, what would you suggest?” Tech asked irritatingly.

“Hmm…” He hummed. ‘There’s got to be a faster way down… wait a minute.’ He just thought of something he should have done in the first place.

“Why can’t I just Quack us there?” Danger asked. Tech stopped in his tracks, blinking a few times. He thought about what Danger just said in a second.

“… you know, I should feel pretty stupid right about now.”

“Yes you should, but do it later.” Danger put a hand on Tech’s shoulder. “Get ready, here we go!”

With a flash of light, Tech and Danger were gone. Teleporting to the lower levels at a higher rate of speed. It should take them no more then a few minutes to get to the basement.

- - - -

The halls were murky and devoid of any type of reverberation. The air has gone cold and still, wisping along Lexi and Ace as they travel down the hallway and into the depths of the base in search for the elusive madman. It’s apparent that they were having no luck. Lexi is using her super hearing to listen to the beeps of the radar Nix is using, problem is that there is no way of knowing the direction. It’s basically a game of hot and cold, the louder it gets the closer the target. With little else to warn them, they are keeping their wits about them.

“Got anything Lexi?” Ace asked without looking at the other.

Lexi shook her head and said, “Nothing yet.” As they continued down the hall, Ace can’t help but feel as if he was being watched. They were passing by a door when Lexi’s ears picked up something. She stopped and turned her head toward the door.

“Ace, I’m picking something up from there.” She said as she pointed at the door.

“Good job, Lex.” He said. They entered the door as it opened with an audible ‘swoosh’. It was the Gym room. Other then the training room, the gym is where they would lift weights, run on treadmills, or any other activity that requires physical ability. The lighting gave the place an unwelcoming appearance that seemed to come from a nightmare. It’s quite unsettling to be in now. The only thing that kept them going is the fact there was a madman and he had to be stopped. As they walk into the gym, the door behind them shut itself like it would normally do.

“Ace,” Lexi said, getting the awareness from the yellow rabbit. Her ears were producing little purple rings around them.

He looks over to Lexi and asked, “What is it Lex?”

“I’m picking up a chain of Pings… and they’re close. I’m guessing that Nix is here.”

“And you guessed right.”

They both shot with their respective powers at the source of the voice. The smoke cleared, revealing the charred remains of… the radar Nix was carrying.

- - - - - -

At the bottom of the Tower, Danger and Tech finally made it to the basement. Danger sat down on the ground for a moment to rest, having used a large amount of energy to teleport Tech and himself down 70 plus floors. He had to teleport every two floors. Sure, he could just teleport straight to the bottom. Of course there was a slight chance of him miss-judging the distance and they both could have ended up IN the floor instead of on it. If that happens… lets just say that there would be a big mess to clean.

As Tech shook the feeling of having transported from on place to another at a quantum level, he suddenly had this feeling of bother spike through his system. Danger noticed this and asked “What’s wrong? Looks like you saw one of your inventions explode.”

Tech blinked and began scratching his head as he gathered the words to explain what he just felt. “Well.. I just have this weird feeling that Ace and Lexi just blew up my radar system.”

Danger rolled his eyes and said, “You really need to get out more.”

Tech smirked. “Really, this coming from a duck who practically worships a woman who does the weather?” Danger glares at Tech for a few moments.

“… Shut up.” Was the little black duck’s response. Tech chuckled.

“Humor aside, it’s best we get moving and find the circuit breaker as soon as possible.”

“Right!” Danger said with vigor. He stood straight up… then wobbled a bit and sat back down. “… Just give me a minute…”

Tech sighed, shaking his head at Danger’s lack of stamina as he goes off to find the circuit breaker.

- - - - -

“What the..” Ace replied in confusion.

“I knew those ventriloquism lessons would pay off.” Standing near a set of barbells, Nix had been smirking at the actions from the two Loonatics. They got into fighting positions, making Nix shake his head in aversion. “Revenge is a dish best served cold, but needs seasoning for it to have any taste. So least you can do is fight back.” He sank into a fighting stance.

“Oh, you won’t have to worry about that.” Lexi said as she shot at him with a brain blast. He rolled forward to avoid the attack and dashed at the two with soaring momentum. They jumped out of the way just as Nix swung his staff horizontally, missing by a few inches. He jumps after Ace, who took out his sword and blocked an aerial downward strike.

The two began exchanging swings at each other, fast and furious. Lexi isn’t able to get a clear shot with the two moving around so quickly, forcing to stand in the sidelines and watch. Ace’s eyes were glowing their yellowish glow, indicating he’s using his enhanced agility. He did a sweep kick, but Nix somersaulted backwards to avoid the attack and thrust his staff at him. Narrowly dodging the thrust, he jumped at Nix and brought his sword down for an overhead slash… only to be blocked by the staff. Try as he might, he has not landed a hit, either being blocked or parried. He even tried using his eye beams in-between swings, but Nix just steps out of the way just before it hits. They lock their weapons together, trying to get the upper hand on the other.

“How da heck did you do that with that bandana over your eyes?” Ace asked, straining against the duck’s staff.

“I don’t need to see in order to beat you. Oh. In case your wondering, my staff is made from wood genetically enhanced to be as strong as steel. So your sword can’t cut it.” He replied, appearing calm. They breakaway, leaping a few feet back from their last positions.

Lexi took this moment of opportunity and shot a brain blast at Nix, aiming for his head. He simply leans back and let the blast pass by. He straightens his poster again and then slowly turned his head toward Lexi. A frown forming on his face as faint dark wisps began emitting from his body.

“Rather rude of you, with past comes payment.” Just as Nix said that, Ace dashed forward and swung his sword. Nix, who only moved one of his arms, blocked the attack. Using his free hand, he rears back and punch Ace with a strong hook to the side of the skull. The sound of flesh hitting flesh rung in the air as Ace flew diagonally, right into a pile of weights.

“ACE!” She screams. Before she knew it, Nix appears in front of her. Her reaction is kicking him upside the head with a roundhouse kick… or rather that is what she tried to do. Nix simply blocked with his right arm which is engulfed in murky purple wisps. Suddenly, he grabs her leg with his right hand in a vise grip as he pulls it back while simultaneously shooting his left fist forward. The blow connected and Lexi blacks out. Nix grabs her before she falls, lifting her on his shoulder while the purple wisps disappear.

“Get… your mitts… off Lexi…”

He turns his head over to Ace, who groggily got up but having trouble keeping balance. His expression is that of serious anger, a killing intent radiating from his now glowing yellow eyes.

Nix grinned his sinister grin and spoke, “Time to put the icing on the cake, Ace. I want those last moments to be having all the lasting effects like the wave of Armageddon. Find me, and let the ties break. I want to see the real you. Tell my brother to join you. I want to see you two drown in the cesspool of darkness…”

The lights flickered out for a few moments. When they came back on, Nix was gone... and so was Lexi. Ace eyes widen with distress, no longer glowing. He frantically scanned the area, searching for any sign. He, however, found none. He ran out the door, hoping to find them outside the gym.

“Lexi? NIX! Where are you!” Looking down the halls, there was nothing but air. He fell on his hands and knees, both exhausted and filled with anguish. Thoughts were going through his head. He should have acted quicker. He should have done something. Why couldn’t he save Lexi when he had the chance?

He sat up to a kneeling position, his head bent down in despair and his arms dangling down in front of him. After what seemed like an eternity, he rears his head back and yelled.

“LEXI!”

Just then, a gust of wind along with a red blur passes by. A few seconds later, it comes back. The red blur is none other then Rev. He finds Ace on the floor, his face full of gloom.

“Ace,-what-happened. I-was-running-through-a-few-floors-under-and-heard-someone-scream-so-I-went-to-check-it-out-and-found-you-here. Where’s- Lexi? I-thought-she-was-with-you.” Rev blabs. Ace looks up, a blend of sorrow and anger could be seen in his eyes.

“He took her…” Ace said in a grave tone. “Nix took Lexi and I don’t know where they are.”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 8

“The roots of the past run deep, ever growing over time. From the roots, the substance that the roots pick up carry on to the branches of the future. Blocking off the roots will lead to the demise of it’s own being. Blocking off little strands of bad roots will leave the plant unprepared for the upcoming disease.” – Mimic12455

The lights still red, the tower still in lockdown, and Lexi captured, it was grave situation for Ace. After Nix took Lexi away, he blamed himself for not acting quick enough. Rev came a few moments later after finding him kneeling on the ground. After being told that Nix took Lexi, Rev tried to reassure Ace that it’ll be alright.

“Don’t-worry-Ace,-we’ll-find-them-before-you-know-it. He-couldn’t-have-gotten-far-since-this-place-is-under-lockdown-and-all. Plus-I-could-find-him-in-no-time-with-my,“ As Rev continued talking, something ran through Ace’s mind. He felt that he had forgotten something important. The question is what could be…

Ace suddenly realized something while Rev was talking. “Wait… Tech and Duck was supposed to restart the… oh no, I got to stop Tech and Duck!” He turns on his communicator, hoping that he isn’t too late.

- - - -

Down in the basement, Tech is almost finished with the circuit breaker. Danger recovers from his exhaustion and had been helping Tech. Tech told him to wait by the lever till he was finished. His left hand is on the lever.

“Ok, ready to restart.” Tech stated, closing the lid on a transformer.

“About time, I was getting tired of waiting.” Danger said. Just as he was about to pull it down, Tech receives the call from Ace, though a bit jumbled due to the distance and interference.

“Te-h! D-- restart th- power! I r-pe-t! -- Resta-t power!”

Tech looks over to Danger. “You heard him Duck, restart the power!”

“Alright alright,” He pulled the lever. The entire tower went black for a moment, then the power went on. This time the regular lights came back on and the shutters were now lifting. Lockdown is now over, if only those two knew what Ace was actually saying.

- - - - - - -

Ace and Rev heard the shutters returning to their original places and saw the lights going back to normal. Ace was dumbstruck. The first thing he did was curse, damning Danger for restarting the power. Pushing the thought of throttling Danger, he acted quickly and turned his attention back to Rev.

“Quick, Rev! Find where Nix and Lexi are before it’s too late!” Rev nodded as his eyes began to glow crimson. He shot out of the room and then the building as fast as he could. The streets became a blur to him, ignoring the small surroundings and only the target. His mind searching for Lexi since he doesn’t have any clue how to pickup Nix’s trail, the upshot wasn’t what he had expected.

“Wait-a-minute,-this-doesn’t-seem-right.” He activated his comm. and contacted Ace. “My-internal-radar-is-saying-that-he’s-on-the-outskirts-of-the-city,-but-that’s-impossible. I-mean-he-would-have-to-be-as-fast-as-me-to-cover-that-much-distance-in-such-a-short-amount-of-time-unless-he-really-does-have-my-powers-for-some-reason-or-maybe-he-has-teleportation-like-Duck. Anyhow,- he’s-at-the-abandoned-acme-church.” Rev said. Just as he finished, Ace and Rev get an incoming call from Zadavia. Rev stopped about a mile away from the church, standing on the sidewalk.

“Loonatics, what is happening?” She asked. “A few minutes ago, the base was under lockdown.” She was visibly worried that something terrible might have happened.

Ace sighed. “Someone by the name of Nix broke into the base, attacked Duck, and kidnapped Lexi.”

“Oh dear. This is a rather dreadful situation. Gather the other Loonatics and find Nix as soon as possible. I’ll search for any information on this new villain. Do you have any data available concerning Nix?”

“His real name is Dabble Duck. Duck’s brother…”

“Danger Duck’s brother?” She asked, a bit perplexed about this information. “Interesting… thank you Ace, I’ll contact you as soon as I retrieve any information. Zadavia out.” She disconnects the transmission.

- - - - - -

Tech and Danger were in the elevator, going to the 129th floor to meet up with the others.

They were standing there, almost happy. It went like that until they were halfway there.

Danger glanced over to Tech and asked, “You think the others are doing fine?”

Tech shrugged. “Maybe.”

It got quiet again.

“Say Duck..”

“No.”

“But I didn’t tell you what I wanted to say!”

“Does it involve my past?”

Tech rubs the back of his head with his right hand. “Um… yes?”

Danger sighed, knowing Tech is going to keep pestering him until he gives him some answers. “Fine… shoot.”

“I was wondering… did you have a sister?”

Danger turned his head slowly toward the green coyote, his face grim. Tech could see the expression in his eyes that he touched a sensitive subject. Tech smiled sheepishly, giving a nervous chuckle. In the back of Tech’s mind, he thought of an old saying that could fit this situation; “Curiosity killed the cat”. Surprisingly enough, Danger answered in a somewhat regular tone.

“Yeah… Why the sudden interest?”

Tech sighs inwardly, relieved that Danger hadn’t gone postal… yet. He continued, “Well, I remembered that a few years before I went to college that I met a female duck at high school which now reminds me of you... if you were a girl.”

The heroic duck looked at Tech with a look of confusion and what appeared to be nausea.

“If you’re going to ask me to dress up and be your girlfriend for the day, you can forget it. I don’t do that anymore.”

“Wha-NO! Nononononono, this has nothing to,” Tech did a double-take, recalling the last part the black mallard said. “Wait, did you say “Anymore”? As in, you…”

An awkward moment of silence came as the information began to sink in. Danger broke the calm.

“… this conversation never happened.”

“Right.” Tech said numbly with a nod, his mind trying to comprehend this new information.

It was quiet the rest of the way, Tech took small sidesteps away from the duck next to him. Danger, however, thought about the others. He wanted to know if they were ok, that Nix didn’t cause them any bodily harm. Of course, this is just wishful thinking. If he wanted to, he’d grab Nix by the throat and throw him out the window.

‘Knowing Ace, he probably has this whole thing taken care of.’ Duck thought. For some odd reason, he felt doubt about that. The elevator door opened and they walked down the corridor to the lounge room where the others are supposed to be. When they opened the doors, they could feel the heavy atmosphere of the room. Rev and Slam were standing in the middle of the room.

“Guys, what happened?” Tech asked. Danger noticed that Lexi wasn’t in the room, something is definitely wrong here. When they didn’t answer, Danger asked.

“Where’s Lexi?” Just as he finished those words, he got tackled by Ace. He began twisting his arms, which is rather uncharacteristic of Ace. “Ow! Ow! What the heck! Ouch! Those are my arms!”

“That’s ‘cause I can’t reach your neck!” Replied the agitated rabbit. Tech and Slam grabbed Ace by the arms and pulled him off of Danger before Ace could rip him apart. The abused mallard stood up. It’s just one of those days where everyone seems to be out to get you.

“Ok,” Danger said, obviously had enough of this as he rotated his arm to get rid of the pain in them. “I’m getting really sick of being a pain magnet! Ace…” He walks toward the long-eared bunny and gives him a quick slap across his face. “Stop being angry and think like a leader you always seem to show every day since I came here! Then tell me, very calmly, what in the blue HELL is going on!”

Everyone looked at Danger as if he transformed into someone else. Once again, showing uncharacteristic attitude toward the situation and acting serious. His eyes seemingly turning cold and attentive. Ace blinked, unable to believe that Danger just came up to him and slapped him in the face. Thankfully, that was just what Ace needed to calm down. Tech and Slam released Ace after seeing him relax, he regains his composer.

Ace spoke, “Nix took Lexi. He wants me and you to go find him. Rev saw him at the abandoned church...” He said in a serious tone. This struck a cord in Danger. He suddenly saw an image of Nix shattering his sister’s spine against a rock. Then that image was replaced, seeing Lexi suffering the same fate. His blood started to boil. His expression turning serious once again. Rev noticed this, he didn’t say anything though.

“Ace,” Tech said, get their attention. “Meet us up on the roof. Duck and I have to get something from the lab.”

Danger looked at him questioningly. “We do?” he asked.

“Just teleport us there and I’ll explain the details.”

Danger put a hand on Tech’s shoulder, “Alright, if you say so.”

Ace raised a brow, “… Ok, be there in 10 minutes.”

With a nod, Danger and Tech disappeared in a flash of light. Ace turned his attention to the others.

“There’s no time to waste guys, get what you need and meet up on the roof. Let move out!” Slam and Rev nodded, leaving the room to get everything they need or just to head to the roof. Ace looks out the window, his expression softens for a moment. “Hang in there Lex, we’re on our way.”

- - - - - - -

(9 minutes later)

Ace and the others waited on the roof for Danger. Tech came five minutes ago, telling them that he gave Danger a device that would help. Then he said that Danger said he needed to get something from his room. So they waited… and while they waited, Tech told them how the device worked.

“-so by combining concentrated protons and pure quartz from split atoms, I was able to create a device that can, much like Duck, transport anything anywhere at a quantum level.”

When he was finished, he saw that Ace looked clueless, Rev lost interest and was playing with an imaginary basket ball, and Slam was asleep on his feet. Tech sighed, “True genius is never appreciated…”

Just as he said that, a flash of light appeared. Stand there is Danger Duck… only it didn’t look like the Danger they usually saw. He was out of uniform and is wearing baggy pants, sneakers, and his jet pack (yes girls, he has no shirt on). His body has black and orange feathers, the orange making random stripes patterns while the black is more dominate. The device Tech attached to Danger was modified to a gauntlet on his left arm. In the current lighting of the sun and his arms folded, he looks like a badass. Everyone began gawking, not sure what to say. Ace, however, knew exactly what to say.

“Uh… Duck? Is that you?”

Danger smirked, but for some reason it wasn’t his usual smirk. “Of course, who else would it be?”

Ace gave a meaningful smile. Perhaps there’s more to Danger then meets the eyes.

“So you ready Duck?”

“Yeah… and call me Danny. I’m not wearing my Loonatics© suit, you know.”

“Sure thing… Danny.” Ace said. With a blast from their jetpacks (except Rev, of course), they took off to save Lexi before it he does who-knows-what to her.

- - - - - - -

(10 minutes ago)

In the outskirts of the city, an old abandoned church stood. It was once called “Acme Church”. It was founded by a priest called Reverend Dolie and had been supported by, who else, the acme cooperation; boosting its public rating. It had a school for teaching, a prayer room, a beautiful garden, kitchen, the priest (of course), and other stuff. It had a good history till some unexplained event caused it to have a bad reputation of having “a Demon curse”, having acme cutting the funds to it in order to prevent a backlash to them and for some reason the disappearance of the priest.

The church now, after a few years, isn’t what it used to be. The size of it is that of a mansion, but age taken its toll on it. The garden that once green and lush is now barren and full of weeds. Vines surrounded the outside walls and some of the rooms. The stained glass windows were either broken or covered in dust. The varnished wooden seats in the church were covered in dust, the rate of decay slowed to a snail’s crawl due to the polish that covers it. The bell tower where the bell would ring is filled with the creatures of the night and covered in cobwebs. All and all, very devoid of activity… or is it?

Inside the church, tied to the cross hanging on the balcony of the second floor by the arms and in the back of the room is the unconscious Lexi. She had on some type of headband device strapped to her head. Behind her was a stained glass window, it had a picture of an angel and two swords. Surprisingly, the window was clean and free of any dust. As she hung there like a rag doll, Nix had been leaning on the podium in a seemingly statue-like state. A few moments of silence, Lexi began to stir.

“Uhhg…” She moaned. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times to focus them. She didn’t notice Nix at first glance, mistaking him as a statue with his lack of movement, back toward her, and lack of vibrant colors. Looking around, she had a hard time figuring out where she is. She also noticed that her arms and hands were tied along with her legs.

She smirked. “Like these are going to hold me. I’ll just brain blast them and…” She activates her powers… only to have it fizzle out. Her smirk quickly turns into a frown as she tried again. Same result. “Huh? Why can’t I use my brain blast?” She said to herself in a worried tone.

“You can thank that device on your head for you lack of bizarre energy projectiles.” Came the ever-so-slow voice of Nix.

Lexi did a double-take, finally seeing Nix leaning on the podium. He turns around and “looks” up. His face is neutral and looks like it had been chiseled in stone. The atmosphere changed from low confusion to heated seriousness. Lexi glare having no effect, she asks, “Why did you kidnap me and tied to a cross?”

His face forms into an evil sneer, giving Lexi chills down her spine. “You prefer that I nailed your hand in the cross and sewn your mouth shut with a rusty needle instead?” He asked in a slightly curious tone. The look on Lexi’s face was that of terror and shock. Nix chuckled. “As tempting as that is, that isn’t my way of vengeance and you’re not my target. You’re just the bait to lure the problems here.”

“Problems?” Lexi asked. He nodded, his face returning to a neutral status.

“The ones you know as Ace and Danger…”

“Why here?”

“It was here that I first tested out my skills… killing the priest and all that.”

“Whoa, time out. You killed the priest!” She asked in shock.

He nodded.

She shook her head in disgust and asked, “Why do you want them? What did they ever do to you?”

“My brother, Daniel, is the one who gave me this scar on my beak and arms,” he said, running his fingers on the scar. “… and stopping me from fixing the problem before.”

“What about Ace?”

Silence.

“Well?”

“… he and his forefathers were the cause of our family’s grief.”

“What do you mean “the cause of your family’s grief”? He didn’t-”

“Not yet, but he will in due time. Time that won’t be given to him, not on my watch.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I see you’re curious.” He stated.

“Wow, you certainly perceptive.” She said sarcastically. The duck grinned.

“Very well, I’ll tell you.” He started walking around the large room with one hand in his pocket and the other with the staff while his cape flapped behind him, his voice echoing off the walls and could be heard loud and clear. “It started when I was young, about seven years old. I was climbing a tree and Daniel had been under it. Our sister was sewing an apple that was in half shut, never knew why though. Anyways, Daniel told me to go to the next branch. Being young and naïve, I did that. The branch broke and I fell, blacking out and not knowing what fate had for me. When I woke up, I was in the hospital. My body ached and my head throbbed. Doctors said I would recover in a few weeks. I won’t bore you with the details, so here’s what happened. I was in my bed recovering, bored out of my skull. My uncle was babysitting. He came in to check up on me. I told him I was bored and did everything a seven year old stuck in bed could think of. He had an idea and left the room to get something. He came back with a book. It was old, originally written 400 years ago and held many key events. He told me there were more books in the attic just like it and he found it when he was looking for something. Didn’t say what it was exactly.”

He paused for a second, still walking and now at the other end of the room. “I read that book from beginning to end and back again. The author of the journal told of how there was an ever lasting feud between them and a certain part of the rabbit community. It started about 300 years before the book was written. After healing from the injuries, I looked into it with the book in the attic. I found out that it wasn’t some family feud, it was a secret war…” This information caught Lexi’s attention, she heard rumors of a war when she took history class. Of course no one took it seriously since there wasn’t any proof of it actually happening and was announced 300 years ago that it was just political propaganda made by a bunch of people who wanted to see the nation go into chaos. The war wasn’t real, was it? Nix had to be bluffing… right? He stopped at the podium, looking up at the blonde haired bunny.

He continued, “A war that lasted 300 years without the government or authorities knowing of it. No one knew how it started, but no one particularly cared. There was an old vow they agreed upon just as the war was declared. It stated that no one in either family would reveal the battle going on between the two families to anyone. Any who does would have the dishonor of having to be removed from the family and seen as the “black sheep”; a term similar to Benedict Arnold. There were times when someone did turned traitor and ended up as either dead or at the bottom of the social ladder; most were deaths. The deaths during the war were often seen as accidents. There were times when they were seen as crimes, thus were arrested. As I learned more about the war, my family was getting worried. I always was in the attic and only came down to go to the bathroom, go somewhere I have to, or get something to eat. I became obsess with the history. Often my bother or sister would ask what I was doing, I told them I was interested in reading and they would say that it was boring and would leave. ” He wave his hand as he said that last sentence.

“Jeez, you had less of a life then Misty Breeze did.” Before she knew it, she felt a wave of pain pass through her entire body. She screamed in agony as arches of electricity slithers down her body. She is having the experience of feeling pain that seems like an eternity only that it had been done for only 30 seconds. When it stopped, her body went limp. Breathing heavily, trying to get some oxygen into her system after having been shocked with high voltage, she looks over to Nix. He had that seemingly plastered sneer on his face. He took his hand out of his pocket, revealing something that was inside. In his hand was a remote with a red button.

“Did forget to mention the shock feature that the headband has… doll?”

If looks could kill, Nix would have been dead fifty times over. Her eyes are glowing with the rage only a women pissed off beyond belief would have. As said before, someone whose rage reaches a high level rarely has anything original to say. (due to the amount of profanity in the dialogue, the cuss words will be beeped.)

“YOU SON OF A (beep)! MOTHER (beep)! (beep) (beep)ING (beep)! (beep) (beep) WADE OF (beep)! YOU PILE OF (beep)ING (beep)! DAMN (beep) EATING (beep) BAG! WHEN I GET MY (beep)ING HANDS ON YOU, I’LL RIP YOUR (beep) EYES OUT AND I’LL KILL YOU SO (beep) SLOWLY THAT (beep) OBLIVION WILL BE (beep) SURPRISED!” She screamed. The response given is another electric shock, 45 seconds this time. She went limp again, stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. She didn’t say anything after that.

“Now that it had been driven out of your system, I’ll continue. I finished reading all the books, I found out the war stopped due to some catastrophic event that involved a huge battle royal. Someone tipped the cops and they arrested everyone there. The public knew it as the biggest gang arrest ever known, but it was also spelled the end of the war. Due to having so many arrested at once, the families agreed to stop the war under special conditions. One is that no one would speak of the war ever again, so the future generations would have a peaceful future. The other condition is that if a family kills the other, the war would start again in an event that would signal the apocalypse of a single city. Now you’re wondering what all this has to do with me, correct?”

Silence…

“Well, after I turned 12. My family found out that my dad died after trying a role to a movie. Here’s how it went: He was trying with all his talent to get the role, but some dumb bunny, which I later found out was Ace’s grandfather, manage to get the part. In a last ditch effort and desperate act to get the role, he did the old “drinking explosive liquids and eat a match” trick he learned from his grandfather. He would have had the part if it wasn’t for one dilemma. He could only do it once because it cost him his life. He literally killed himself to get that role, giving it his all, while an old rabbit got it with little effort.”

“You honestly expect me to believe that?”

“Sometimes the truth is less believable then a lie. The family took it hard as did I. Life went on as did we, though with some negative changes. Mother began drinking, hanging out in bars and would come later to fall sleep on the couch. My sister left when she turned 18, never saw her again. She did send postcards on occasions to assure us that’s she’s alive and well. Daniel was the least effected, he went on as if it didn’t happen. Though it makes sense since he never saw his father. I, on the other hand, started to think. Thinking about the war the books told. Thinking about how the rabbit pushed father to his limit. I began to think about how the descendents of the other family like Ace had gotten better jobs while our family gotten the shorter end of the stick. I’m sure you remember Daniel’s previous job…”

‘Man, this guy likes to talk…’ Lexi thought as she continued to listen to this duck’s rambling.

“Ah yes, Danger’s previous job. After graduating high school, he went out to look for a job. With a little hard work and job searching, he managed to get a job as a pool cleaner. It was a start. He believed that if he started as a pool cleaner, he would work his way up and be a life guard. Maybe in a few years. I almost felt sorry for him, but since he gave me this scar and stopped my previous plans… I don’t give a damn about him. He would have been stuck in that job for the rest of his life, but fate had other plans for him. The meteor came and everything changed: Knocking earth off it’s axis, releasing supernatural forces, and so forth.”

“Other plans? What other plans?”

“During high school and after, I had been taking martial arts and a weapon training course known as Bojutsu. My plan was to kill off most of the rabbit family that were descendents of the war. When my sister and brother found out, they tried to stop me. I was in the wasteland, perfecting my skills, when it happened. I killed my sister by shattering her spine… and Daniel sent me off the cliff to my supposed death. Luckily, he didn’t check if I was dead and I escaped death without him knowing.”

“You killed your sister!”

“Of course.”

Lexi couldn’t believe what she just heard. Nix killed his sister and acts as if it was no big deal. Yet knowing that Danger actually tried to kill his brother was totally surreal to her. However, she would probably do it as well if she had a sister and she was killed by her brother. This was all too much to take in. Something was bothering her though. She lifted her head and asks him, “Then why are you blindfolded and what’s with these strange powers you have?”

“I use the blindfold to block out my sight and sharpen my other senses. Taking it off only when necessary.”

The realization hit her like a freight train. “So that means… you’re not blind?”

“Yes Lexi…” He pocketed the remote and used his free hand to take off the blindfold, dropping it on the ground. His closed eyes started to open, revealing something that will forever be imprinted in Lexi’s mind.

“Those eyes…” she trailed off, her mind and body beginning to feel numb from shock. The irises were dark purple and looked reptilian, seemingly digging into her very soul. The way he looked at her with those ominous eyes, struck her like a lightning bolt. She afraid, seemingly like a small child would be if he/she was seeing the boogieman.

“Yes, these eyes came with the powers. The powers given to me when the meteor crashed was, and still is, both a blessing and a curse. I call this ability “Darkside Enhancement”. It gives me speed and power necessary to defeat any foe. All I have to do is activate it… and I’ll be unstoppable… The only downside is that it takes a bit of my life energy. The more I use Darkside, the more life energy is used. I’m expected to die if I use too much at once…”

He looked down on the floor, much to the relief of Lexi. However, that relief was short lived as she heard him starting to chuckle. Then that chuckle began to increase in volume, turning into a loud, evil laugh.

He stopped laughing and gazed into the eyes of Lexi, “but who cares! As long as I kill both Ace and Daniel, my death will be worth it!”

“Hate to spoil your little speech,” came a rough voice from the door, “but the heroes are coming.”

The man at the door looks like he could chisel stone with his face. He has jet-black messy hair, blue eyes, block chin, tan skin, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt that says “Die when I kill you!”. He had big muscles and hanging on him were guns…. Lots of guns. Nix gave a smirk to the man. This man is Ram Servo, expert mercenary. He has been hired by Nix to make sure only Ace and Danger goes through those doors and to keep the others away. Luckily, Ram has powers as well. He has power to make copies of himself, only problem is that it take a bit of energy to create a clone.

“Ahh…” Nix said with a greeting. “Ram, right on time. Be sure to greet our guests accordingly.”

Ram grinned. “Sure thing… boss.”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 9

“Emotions can do many things. It gives a person strength and takes it away. It pushes us to greatness and drags us down. It gives us passion and sorrow. It does so many things. If there is emotion, what makes it? Why do we feel like this? We can’t choose the emotion we want, but we can choose what we want in life. Though it’s never that easy.” –Mimic12455

The night slowly rises over the horizon. Outside the church, Ram waits near the front door. He leans on the door, arms crossed, looking down on the ground as he waits for the Loonatics. He had a handgun clenched in his left hand. Everything was quiet around the area. Too quiet for his taste. He is the kind of guy who enjoys lots of action and guns. Waiting in one spot for the guests to arrive isn’t really one of his ideas of entertainment. However, just because he’s impatient doesn’t mean that he’s unprepared. He’s ready for their arrival, ready to spring out a special surprise just for them. He looks up, seeing a group of birds fly by.

“Well,” He mumbled. “Whatever’s going on, it should be hella better being worth it. I don’t care what’s gonna happen, I’m getting the pay with no problems.” He hears the rustling of the bushes. He sighs, knowing he needs more training after this.

Ram’s past wasn’t really a glorious one. He was born in poverty with a father who is always drunk and a mother who always works. Not get much attention when he turned 6, he hang out with the wrong crowd and started skipping school. He only gained an 8th grade education, choosing to go down the road as a hitman-for-hire at the age of 18. Needless to say, he became quite good at it. After the meteor hit, it made things a whole lot easier for him. There were times when he was almost caught by the local law enforcement, but he always managed to slip out of their clutches thanks to his recently acquired abilities. He received many offers from mobsters, random people, even the military. This offer, however, takes the cake. Having to fight Loonatics is something he didn’t want to do, but seeing that he was paid half of a huge amount of money he is to receive from Nix. After all, he does this for the money and nothing else.

Looking up in the sky, he hears the faded roaring of jetpacks. Most likely the Loonatics coming this way, Ram estimates they will be here in less then 2 minutes. He made on final check of his surroundings to see if everything is in place. Seeing everything in order, he stood his ground. Soon, the Loonatics will come and the fun will begin.

The Loonatics landed outside the old church. The air was eerily calm as they slowly approach the front doors. There were crows perched on many parts of the area, cawing at random intervals. The group starts walking into the churchyard.

“Ok gang, be ready for anything.” Ace said to his teammates. They nodded in agreement. They saw a man waiting near the front door, leaning against it with a bored expression on his face. He didn’t seem to notice the Loonatics… yet. Danny raised a questionable brow.

“Who’s that guy?” He asked.

“It-looks-like-he’s-packing-enough-heat-to-level-an-entire-block.” Rev exclaimed.

Tech looked at the man for a second before responding, “It appears to he’s carrying pulse rifles, pistols, many different kinds of grenades, and, this is an educated guess, he has more under his coat.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” The man said unexpectedly. He had gotten their attention.

“Who are you?” Ace asked.

“Heh,” he smirked. “I’m the guy who’s guarding the door. The name’s Ram, I’m afraid I can’t let ya’ll pass.”

“Oh yeah,” Danny responded. “It’s five against one, how are you going to stop us?”

“Well, you know what the best part is about being me?” Ram asked, raising both his eyebrows.

“No…” Then Danny thought of what he said. “You’re not going to rip off some quote from the Matrix are you?”

“Yes… yes I will. Got a problem?”

“Rather cliché, don’t you think?”

“Who cares, I’ve always wanted to say it. Now as I was saying, the best part about being me…” Suddenly, sounds of multiple clicks and revving of plasma guns could be heard on all sides. The Loonatics look around to find themselves surrounded by men that look exactly like Ram, all pointing at them with enough firepower to sink the Titanic ten times over. When they look back at Ram, they saw him smirking.

“… is that there are so many ‘me’s.”

“Loonatics, scatter!” Ace shouted, just before everyone jumped out of the way of the barrage of gunfire.

And thus, the battle begins….

Ace blasts the first bunch clones with his heat vision, ducking out of the way of an incoming missile from his left side. The clone with the rocket launcher smirked, only to get hit in the face by a fist from Slam. He took the Rocket Launcher in his massive hands and ate it, belching in satisfaction. A few nearby clones started shooting at him, some managing to get a few hits. Slam’s eyes glow an angry purple. He advances at them, using a tornado for an extra boost of speed, and plowing through the legions of clones like bowling pins.

Dodging and dashing around the genetic copies, Rev was having a blast. He began narrating what he was doing.

“Rev-Runner-rushes-past-the-24th-clone, kicking-him-in-the-head. He-rushes-past-5-more-clones, punching-them-in-the-chest-with-immense-force. Narrowly-dodging-the-shot, Rev-Runner-zips-over-to-the-shooter-and-bashes-him-repeatedly-with-his-own-rifle. He’ll-be-feeling-that-in-the-morning. Rev-spins-around-like-a-top, creating-a-tornado-and-sucking-up-all-the-nearby-clones-like-a-slurpy! He-stops, sending-the-fakes-flying-through-the-air. They’re-going, going, gone!” Rev said with enthusiasm. He is in his own little world now. Too bad as he said that last sentence, a clone came up from behind and kicked him in the back, knocking him on the ground. He pointed his gun at him, ready to fire.

He didn’t have a chance when an egg-shaped projectile hits him on the side of the head, covering him in a tar-like substance. Followed by a flying kick to the head from a webbed foot. Daniel went over to Rev and helped him up. Rev looked up with an unreadable look on his face.

“Rev,” Daniel said. “I’m sorry about-” Rev waved it off.

“It’s-ok, you-were-just-going-through-an-emotional-trip. I-probably-would-have-done-something-like-that, but-next-time…” He grabs Daniel by the collar and pulls him very close to his face and starts talking at a slow pace (well, slow for him). “If you ever do that again, I’ll send you on a one-way ticket to the moon.” He smirks. “Clear?”

“Crystal,” Daniel said as a smile formed on his face. They go back to the battle. Daniel and Ace soon meet up after a few minutes. Ace scissor-kicked two clones and chopped one in the neck.

“Danny,” getting his attention, Ace continued. “We need to get to the church and stop Nix. The others will handle these guys.”

“You got it, Ace.” They both ran toward the church. Making it to the front doors little difficulty, they went inside. It was a little odd that they didn’t receive as much resistance as they originally thought. However, they didn’t have time to stop and think about it, as Lexi needed their help. As they went in, the original Ram watched with a smirk on his face. He took out his radio.

“Boss, the two targets have entered the building.”

“Excellent, just as I planned. Continue with the battle and keep the others from interfering.”

“Roger that.”

- - - - - - -

For as long as there were Loonatics, the two members known as Ace Bunny and Danger Duck were always considered polar-opposites in almost everything ranging from fighting style to personality. Never managing to see each other eye-to-eye, people thought that they could never co-exist with each other. Even their teammates thought the two would end up tearing each other apart in less then a month. On one hand, you have a determined gray rabbit whose charm makes him a good person to be around. The other hand, you have an egotistical black duck that would do anything to get the recognition a celebrity would have on movies. Despite their differences, they fought together and lived together with four other anthomorphic people for two years.

It’s fitting to see if this bond will last long enough to stop me…
The two nearly opposite duo, Danger and Ace, traveled deeper into the large church as the others kept the mercenary occupied. Not easy considering that the mercenary can replicate himself. They both had one thing on their minds: save Lexi and stop Nix. As they enter the room where the podium and seats were, Nix and Lexi were nowhere in sight. Odd…

“Where are they?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know,” Ace looks around for some clues. “But I’m going to find out.” They look around the room, opening doors and going upstairs for any signs of recent use. Daniel opens a door downstairs; it appears to be an office. There’s nothing odd about that if you did not notice the room appears to be devoid of dust and cobwebs. The office had been cleaned and appears to have been used recently. There is a bookshelf on the right side of the room, a desk in the back with papers scattered around the top. The left side has a painting of a tower; it has the title “Tower of Lost Souls” at the bottom of the golden frame. The room seems to scream out “Nix was here!” in bold letters.

Daniel activates his communicator. “Ace, I found something that might give us a clue where Lexi and a certain emo maniac might be located.”

“I’ll be right there!” The communications cut from there. Ace runs in a minute later. They begin searching the office. While Ace looks through the papers, Daniel walks over to the bookshelf. He began to wonder.

‘… He wouldn’t actually…’ he thought, as he pulls a book titled “War and Peace” from the shelf. Just as he did, however, the bookcase begins to move. Sliding all the way to the left, it reveals a passageway that leads down to a possible basement.

“I don’t believe this,” Daniel mumbled, shaking his head. “He actually made this? This is got to be the biggest cliché I have ever seen in my life.”

“Gripe about it later,” Ace responded. “We don’t have much time, Nix might be doing who-knows-what to Lexi.”

Daniel nodded and followed Ace into the passageway.

A few moments later, the lights in the room flicker. When the lighting comes back on, Nix is sitting behind the desk; His feet propped up on the desk and leaning back with his grin still plastered on his face. His staff is leaning against the wall behind him. He no longer has his blindfold on, his eyes gleaming with a dark aura that seems to swallow up the light surrounding him.

“Continue the pursue you two,” he said with malice in his voice and madness in his eyes.

Without changing his position, he grabs his staff. He flips over the desk and lands on the other side. He walks over to the light switch and turns off the lights.

“It’s only a matter of time till I see you… ehehhaHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAA!”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 10

“The eye is quicker then a rock, the hand is quicker then the eye, what’s quicker then the hand? Light.” --mimic12455

Deep within the church, down the hidden passage, in the seemingly endless darkness of the hallway, Ace and Danny continued their way toward the final destination. Their footsteps echoed across the walls. It was cold due to lack of sunlight, the moss-covered walls collecting the moisture and making the air thick. As they were running, they both had only one thought in their minds. Stop Nix and save Lexi. Not exactly the most original thought, but with Lexi being held captive by a madman?

They WOULD rather have her in one piece... and Nix in pieces.

At the end of the tunnel, there stood an iron door. Not bothering to knock or stop, they blasted their way in, sending the door flying. They stop after entering a few feet in the room, adapting to their surroundings. It wasn’t really what they were expecting. It is room full of plants of many types. The air had a fresh, moist feel to it. It has been mildly lit except for a few areas where there were large plants. Also there are three men. One is really fat guy with the mustache, white shirt, and blue sweatpants. Another is thin guy with the tacky shirt and jeans. The last guy is short and had a blue shirt and black pants. Each one is in a random spot around the room; appear to be looking for something.

“Hey you three,” Danny shouted. The three men look up from what they were doing. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“Hello,” said the fat man. “I am John. He’s Joe-“ He points the thin man. “And that is Pete.” He points to the short man. “We’re salesmen whose money has been stolen by a robber. We’ve been looking for him since this morning.”

“We had our money stolen for the last few days and got sick of it.” Said Joe.

“Yeah, we follow trail from robber to here. Only we can’t find him.” Pete said, scratching the back of his head.

“You don’t say…” Danny said, obviously not interested.

“Say,” Ace replied. “I don’t suppose you saw another rabbit around here, did you?”

“You mean the pink bunny with triangle on chest,” John asked. The two Loonatics nodded. “Yes, we have seen her. She’s in the next room over there.” All three salesmen point at the door on the opposite end of the room.

“Thanks,” Ace said with a smile. “Come on Danny.” They both run to the door and enter to the next room.

“Good luck finding that robber!” Danny said before closing the door.

The salesmen continue their search in the greenhouse. While Pete was looking under the table, he thought of something.

“Hey guys,” he said. “Should we tell them that room where pink bunny is at is also sacrificial chamber?”

“Nah,” John said, shaking his head. “They’ll figure it out when they get there. I mean, it’s pretty obvious.”

“Like you’re eating habits?”

“I told you, I just have weight problems.”

“The only weight problem I see is that you can’t wait to put more food in your mouth.”

“Will you two be shutting your mouths? We got robber to catch!” Yelled Joe.

- - - - - -

It was dark. The large stone chamber was almost barren, shaped like a dome. In the center of the room, there’s a cross. Tied to the cross was none other than Lexi Bunny. Her eyes are closed, obviously unconscious. The only light source in the room came from the candles on the stands littered across the area. It gave the place an eerie setting. The iron door on the south side of the room gets blown off its hinges as Danny and Ace run into the room.

“Lexi!” They yelled in unison. They rush pass the candles, closing the distance between them and Lexi. Just as they got near her, however, a cage drops from the ceiling, landing with a loud clang around Lexi. The two rescuers stop a few inches from the cage. Ace looks at Danny.

“Danny, teleport yourself inside and get Lexi out of there.” He said.

“I suggest that you forget that plan…”

They whirl around to see Nix a few meters away, in all his evil glory. The blindfold is no longer on his eyes, the lighting showing the purple tint of his irises on his face. He stood there with a smirk on his face, his staff in his left hand and a remote in his right. Danny looks at Nix heatedly as he and Ace prepared themselves for any attack Nix might throw at them.

“And why should we listen you?” He retorted.

“Simple,” he said in an even tone. “This remote I have controls the electric current on the headband located on your female friend’s head. I adjusted the voltage to send all the energy into her instantaneously. This will result in extensive tissue damage, heart failure, paralyzed lungs, and/or neuron-shut down.” His smirk grew larger. “In other words: DEATH! So I suggest you stop worrying about your little friend-”

“Yeah, kind of hard not to when a nutcase straps an electro-headband of death on your friend’s head.” Danny deadpanned.

“Heh,” Nix chuckled. “Always with the wise cracks, eh Daniel? Nice style in clothing…”

“Shaddap, ya psycho!” Danny interjected. “Just drop the remote before we send you on a one way ticket to hell!”

“I rather not.”

“What do you hope to accomplish by capturing Lex?” Ace asked, anger evident in his voice.

Nix pockets the remote.

“I’m hoping to start the war again.”

“War?” Ace asked. “What war?”

“The one that was rumored to never happened. The one between my family and yours, the Bunny family and Duck family.”

“Huh?” This was new to Ace. He never heard of such a war.

“What? Don’t you know? A feud between two families that ended 300 years ago, it was very interesting. The government covered it up, saying the last battle was a riot. It was agreed that they would never fight again… unless someone from one family kills another.”

“What are you talking about?” Ace looks over at Danny, hoping to get something from him.

“Ace,” Danny sighed. “There was a family feud that started 600 years ago between your family and mine. It ended 300 hundred years ago, with the conditions lay down by them. One is that no one would speak of the war ever again, so the future generations, a.k.a. us, would have a peaceful future. The other condition is that if a family member kills the other, the war would start again in an event that would signal the apocalypse of a single city.”

“You mean-”

“-when I kill you or Lexi, the war begins.” Nix interrupted. Ace looks at Danny, then at

Nix, then at Danny again.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“’cause… I didn’t think you’d want me around if you knew about it. Heck, you’d probably label me as a criminal or something.”

“Danny, I…”

“Enough!” Nix assumes a ready stance; his left foot moves forward and both legs bent with the body slightly crouched, staff held near its front end about waist-high with both his hands palm-down. The aura’s energy start wrapping itself around his body, flowing like wisps of vapor.

Ace draws out his sword and Danny form two eggs in his palms, eyes glowing with both power and rage.

“If you think you can beat us-” Ace retorted angrily.

“-then you need to get your head examined.” Danny finished.

“Don’t worry, I had it thoroughly examined before I got here.”

He rushes at them without notice. Danny threw the two eggs at him; they both exploded before they could hit… and covered him with… tar.

“What the…” Nix exclaimed, trying to get out of the black substance that covers him. Ace blasts him with his lasers, knocking him to the ground. He jumps at him, bringing his sword down. Nix blocks it, kicking the rabbit away and into Danny. The aura around him bursts from him, getting rid of the tar on his body as he jumps back up from his fallen position. He comes face to face with Danny’s fist. He staggers back as he ducks the high kick from the enraged foul. Nix jabs his staff into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and knees him in the face. He sees Ace coming from behind and blocks an incoming slash with his staff. The two fighters exchange hits, trying to land a blow only to be blocked by their weapons. Ace fired his eye beams, but misses. Nix throws a haymaker uppercut to Ace’s chin and spins his staff, hitting the rabbit in the side of the head. Nix starts grinning and turns around… only to be tackled to the ground by Danny. He starts punching him in the face with right and left hooks, but Nix grabs him with his legs and throws him off. He gets back up and gets kicked in the face by Ace, staggering back from the blow. Before Ace could give another, Nix snaps the staff right in his face. With a quick spin, he also hits Ace on both sides of his torso and kicks him in the gut using the staff as leverage. Before Ace hits the ground, Nix throws the staff into his stomach. It bounces off of him and goes back to Nix, who caught it with ease.

Danny throws an egg at him while he was distracted. The egg hit and covers him head to toe in water… water egg. Guess Danny luck out with that one. He throws another one, but Nix repels it with his staff and sends it back to Danny. It hits, it explodes in a cloud of flour. As they were recovering, Nix begins thinking about his chances.

“Seems I’m at a disadvantage in numbers,” Nix stated. “No matter. Lets see if you can keep up.” His purple aura flares back up. Ace and Danny get back up, only to see Nix disappear again and the door left wide open.

“Danny, go on ahead. I’ll catch up. I’m going to try ta free Lex.” Ace said, holding his stomach from the impact of the staff. Danny nods and rushes out the door, chasing after Nix as the door slams shut. He had to stop the crazed madman before it was too late.

Danny rushes past the office door and into the preaching hall. He screeches to a halt at the middle of the center aisle. He looks around and finds Nix, standing at the end of the aisle front of the podium. He no longer has the eerie aura around him, looking as if he ran out of power. They both stare each other, waiting for the other to make his move.

“Daniel,” Nix spoke, his voice unusually calm and, dare I say it, kind. “Dearest of my family… you continue to fight against me. Acting as my polar opposite for so long. There are so many things done to our family since these last hundred years. We continue our efforts to have the attention and success we so deserve, and yet we seem to have quite the opposite. Continuing to have our dreams taken from us by those rabbits.”

“Having to listen to you is worse,” Danny retorted.

“Heh,” he chuckled, shaking his head in disapproval. “Even after all that has happen to our family by them, you still choose to protect them. I must ask you… why?”

“Why?” Danny looked at him confusion.

“Yes, why… Why do you continue listening to that ‘leader’ of yours? Why do you hang around with them? Why do you not hate them?” His anger rises as he continues. “Why do you help them? Why do you believe you be friends with them? Why do you choose to stop me from completing my plans! Why is it that every time I try to kill them, YOU TRY AND STOP ME! WHY! THEY KILLED OUR FATHER! I MUST KNOW WHY!” He starts yelling, pointing his Bo staff at Danny with vast rage. He simply looks at Nix with deadpan eyes.

“… because they are my friends… and just because our father died from his performance against Ace’s grandfather, doesn’t make this right. Our dad did his best and died what loved doing; the rabbit just had a natural talent for the stage. You can’t go and kill a whole family because of that. Dad wouldn’t have approved of you doing what you are doing; this has to stop.” Danny folds his arms. “I realize I can’t change your mind, but I can stop you. I chose to be a superhero, not for the fame or glory… well, maybe sometimes, but to protect the people I care for from people like you… And by the gods or whatever higher power is up there, I’ll do everything within my power to stop you from killing Lexi, Ace, and any of my friends.” He shoots into an attack stance, his eyes blazing with the intensity greater than the sun itself. “There’s nothing you have with you that will stop me!”

“You say that nothing I have can beat you?” Nix starts glowing. “You don't realize the truth: I am nothing!" He gets into a fighting stance. It was the calm before the storm. The battle is about to begin. Danny took a quick glance at his gauntlet; the one Tech gave before they came here. He remembers what he told him about it, explaining how it’ll help him with the next encounter he has with Nix.

- - -

(flashback)

Danger, in his uniform, is leaning next to the wall as Tech continues to tinker away at whatever he was creating on the table. He was told that it’s help with the fight against Nix, but he doubts that could happen. Then again, Tech was known to make things that would normally be impossible for a normal person to even imagine, let alone create. He glances at the scientist impatiently.

“Come on Tech, hurry up!” Danger whined. “I’m going to die from old age if I have to wait any longer.”

“Just a sec,” Tech said snidely. “You can’t rush brilliance...”

“No, but you can give it a big push.”

“I’m almost… finished!” He exclaimed, holding up… a fancy-looking black and orange gauntlet.

“Uh… Tech, I’m thinking you lost your touch or are looking for a lawsuit ‘cause that thing has been invented, I don’t know… a few centuries ago!”

Tech looks fiercely at him. “This happens to be one of my greatest invention I ever created… this month,” he added.

“What’s so special about it?”

“This gauntlet is a combination of the Quantum Teleportation module (the matter transporter), Neon Orbital Restrainment ring, Particle Suspension generator, and a standard gauntlet I had laying around. I call it the “Quantum Stim Glove.” This is specifically designed for you and ONLY you. I calibrated it from your powers, specifically this will activate from your teleportation ability. The power from you will transfer to the device and cause it to accelerate the speed of your mind and body. This will cause you to think and move at the rate that would be the equivalent of my thinking speed and Rev’s rate movements.” He gives the gauntlet to the egotistical duck, seeing him grinning like a maniac.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about! With this thing, I’ll-“ He suddenly stops, seeing the stern look Tech is giving him. “… there’s a catch, isn’t there?”

“I’m afraid so, I BIG catch. The problem would be that the device wouldn’t be able to take the strain and would cease to function. I estimate you only have a 3-minute time limit before it shorts out. So you only got one chance to use this, you better make it count. There’s also the small chance of the device backfiring, causing you to turn inside out, blowing you to bits, or something far worse I rather not put into words. After what’s been happening to my invention lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t work.” He turns away, feeling a bit of shame from his previous failures.

“Tech,” Danger put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, you were just having an off week. If there was anyone I’d go to for help anything scientific, it’d be you… or Rev if you were too busy.” He smirked.

Tech smiles and says, “thanks.” As they were leaving the lab, Danger goes in a different direction. Looking back in confusion, Tech tells the black duck he’s going the wrong way. Danger looks back, the gauntlet still in his hand.

“I’m going to change in a different costume, tell the others I’ll be right up.”

Tech shook his head and sighed. That duck, sometimes he wonders if he has issues with vanity or if it’s genetic. He leaves and enters the elevator, heading toward the roof.

Danger quacks inside his room, throwing the gauntlet on his bed. He begins to take off his suit, which was just a single-piece jump suit. It wasn’t hard to get out of, but it felt weird taking it off. It was like he was taking off a layer of skin or something. He got his arms out of it, exposing black and orange feathers underneath, and began working to get his legs out. He kicks off the suit from his foot and onto his bed. Walking over to the closet, he picks up a blue bandanna and ties it to his left arm. He opens the closet door and takes out some jeans and a pair of sneakers. He puts them on and slips on his shoes. He walks over to his bed and picks up the gauntlet. Looking at his carefully, he slips his arm into it. It was snug and fits him almost perfectly. He flexes his fingers; there was little resistance from it.

“Tech sure knows how to make ‘em.” He said to himself. He glances around the room one more time. This maybe the last time he ever comes in here again. With a deep breathe; he casually grabs the jetpack from his suit and leaves.

- - - -

‘Hope this works,” Danny thought. He clenches his fist, concentrating his energy into the gauntlet. Slowly, the lines and lights on the gauntlet start glowing orange. It makes a charging sound of some sort. Soon, the entire gauntlet starts glowing with energy. All of a sudden, it dims considerably. It spreads all around Danny, giving him a soft orange glow.

Danny blinks, slowly looking at himself. “… that’s it? I was hoping for something… flashy.” He began thinking of what went wrong. Though he did feel a little different, but still…

“Seems you received a broken tool, too bad.” Nix said, quite happen with the obvious advantage he received.

“Oh boy…” he responded meekly.

Nix dashes forward and jumps into the air, his staff raised in the air for a downward strike.

“Time to die, Daniel!” He yelled. He brought the staff down with all his strength, intending to split Danny’s head open…

… but he didn’t have the chance. Danny, moving so fast that if someone were watching this, it would look like he never moved, had caught the staff. Nix, caught off guard, didn’t prepare for what happen next. After catching the staff, he lifts it up with Nix still holding on and used the other hand to send an explosive egg at him with the force of a bullet. Nix rockets backwards and goes through the podium and into the wall, cracking it like glass. Nix, the shock and pain evident on his face, looks up at Danny, who was grinning like he won the lottery.

“Sorry, but this duck isn’t going anywhere.”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 11

“When you thought you couldn’t get any more cliché’ than this, it suddenly goes into a whole ‘nother level!” Mimic12455

The Church became silent, as if the entire room froze in a moment in time. In one part of the large room, in the aisle between the benches, stood Daniel “Danger” Duck, glowing with power thanks to the gauntlet Tech made for him. On the other side currently covered in dust and debris is Nix, the Psychopathic duck and brother of Danny, a mix of confusion and shock evident on his face.

Nix couldn’t believe what just happened as he pushes off the debris that fallen on him. Stunned by the fact that Daniel stopped his attack with ease and sent him flying into the wall with a single shot. His mind tried to grasp what has happened. This shouldn’t be happening, he thought. This shouldn’t be happening! His shock turns to anger. He flips off from his fallen position and cries out in primal rage. The purple aura emitting from him crackles to life like a bonfire.

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLL!!” Whether it was his voice, power, or a combination of both, the force of it causes the entire building to tremble and almost all the glass in the church to shatter. The rubble around him flew away like a flock of birds. Nix charges at Daniel with nothing more than hatred on his mind. In Daniel’s mind, however, is something different.

“Wow,” Daniel thought. “Everything is going so slow.”

In his perspective, everything seems to be going at a slow pace. The glass, his brother, the debris, everything seems to be going incredibly slow. His body almost feels as though it is going through water. He also feels his mind pulsing, giving him a tingling sensation in his brain. This is because he is thinking at a pace never thought possible by some. He is now thinking at a rate of a 3GHz super computer… though that doesn’t mean he’s smarter. All it does is allow him to think of more things within a shorter amount of time.

“This must be what Rev goes through when he’s running or something.” He looks around from his spot. “It’s like that one movie… where the guy is in this computer thing and he could dodge bullets and see things go in slow motion. What was it called? The Matric? Gah! This is going to drive me nuts…”

He shakes these thoughts away.

“Wait a minute, I’m in the middle of a fight here! I got to focus! Ok, lets see… Nix propelled himself toward me. Not good. He’s about 3 feet away right now and closing. Damn. Got to defend myself of course. He looks like he’s going to do a lunge with that stick of his. I better dodge it.” He smirked. “I may actually beat him. I got to thank Tech after I’m done.”

Getting back to reality, the battle begins. Nix, just as Daniel predicted, lunged his staff. Daniel dodges to his right and slams his fist into his brother’s stomach. Stopping him on the spot. Grabbing his tank-top, Daniel throws him into the benches. Nix falls through the old benches. Only to bounce back up, flipping over Daniel. He lands on the ground and whirls around, delivering a left strike with his staff. Daniels blocks with his right arm and grabs the staff with the left. Twisting around with Nix in tow, he smashes him against another bench seat.

Nix grit his teeth in anger. In a flash, he grabs Daniel by the arm. He lifts him over his head with great strength and rapidly slams him into the ground over and over again. Daniel quacks out before the 5th slam, appearing 10 feet above Nix, who became unbalanced. A random egg forms in his hand.

“Special Delivery!” Daniel shouted. He throws it at Nix. Nix rolls out of the way as the egg impacts the floor. The egg hits the ground and explodes in a cloud of orange powder. The cloud spreads all around the lower area.

Having trouble breathing, Nix jumps and rebounds off the walls to the second floor balcony to regroup.

- - - -

Meanwhile, Ace recovered from his recent injury from Nix. Taking out his sword, he walks next to the cage. He knew Danger Duck could handle his brother or at least hold him off till Ace got there. Either way, this would give Ace time to get Lexi out of here. He readies his sword.

“Here goes.” He said. He makes a few slices on the cage and stops. The bars fall onto the ground with a loud clang. He smirks and says to himself, “Nothing to it.”

He jogs over to Lexi. There were a number of scorch marks on her forehead where the headband is set. Judging by the size and darkness of said marks, she must have been electrocuted a number of times. The thought of anyone doing such a thing to her made him grit his teeth in rage. What he wouldn’t give to wipe the floor with Nix and bury him 6 feet under. However, he had more important matters.

Ace tries to untie her from the cross. “Don’t worry Lex, I’ll have you out of here in a sec.” After a few moments, he realizes he can just shoot them off. “Oh… right.” He burns off the ropes, catching Lexi just before she fell. He sets her down on the floor gently and checks for a pulse. He feels one. Sighing with relief, he takes off the headband attached to Lexi’s head.

“You’d think Nix would get a headband that would stay on someone’s head,” Ace remarks. Next he tries waking her up.

“Lex, this is no time for a nap. Wake up!” He says while lightly shaking her. She opens her eyes, groaning something about having a headache.

“Wha,” she says groggily. “… What happened?”

“Long story short: Nix captured you, we came to save you, Duck is fighting him, and we need to get out of here and help Duck out.” Ace helps her up. She wobbles a bit, but gets back her sense of balance. Ace’s communicator bleeps to life, indicating a call.

“Ace, are you there?” It was Tech.

Ace response, “Yeah Tech, I’m here. What’s the dilemma?”

“We’re having difficulty getting into the church. This mercenary has us pinned down thanks to all those clones of his.” Sounds of multiple explosions are heard. “He must have made thousands because they keep popping out of nowhere!”

Distress becomes evident on Ace’s face. “What about Rev and Slam?”

“Rev is ok, but I’m not sure how long he can continue without getting hit. Slam is tiring out, but holding out at the moment.”

“Ok, we’ll be there as soon as we can. Just hold out a bit longer.”

“That’s good, but what’s happening in there? I’ve been trying to contact Duck, but I’ve been getting interference.”

Ace sighs in displeasure. “Well… When we found Lexi, we had to fight Nix. He incapacitates me and Duck went after him. I just recovered and freed Lexi.”

“That’s good to hear-” a faint whistling sound is heard in the comm. link. “Oh crud!” The connection cuts off as a sudden sound of static fills the air, followed by a thunderous tremor that made the ground under their feet quake.

“Tech, what happened?” Ace asks, but receives no answer. “Tech, answer! TECH!” Still no reply. Ace feels as though the atmosphere is crushing him like a giant hand. Lexi is no different, apparent by the wide eyes and hands covering her mouth.

“Ace… You think tha-”

“No,” he said, lowering his COM link. “Tech can take lot of punishment. He’ll be alright, for now.” He glances toward the door. “We need to get out of here.”

Lexi nods. “Right, lets go.”

- - - -

Things were not going very well for Nix. He didn’t expect his brother to gain the upper hand like this. With the gauntlet’s power, Daniel is tossing him around like a rag doll.

‘At this rate, the battle will be over with the hero victor-‘ his thoughts are interrupted by a sudden kick to the back of the head. Nix is sent flying into the wall with a loud thud. He quickly recovers, but his aura disappears. He kicks Daniel, but he quacks out of the way. He appears 10 meters away.

“Give it up,” Daniel said, folding his arms. “I got you by the tail feathers.” Nix, although bleeding in a number of places and slightly hunched over with exhaustion, simply chuckles. This causes Daniel’s eyebrow shoot halfway up his forehead.

“You think I’ll simply relinquish myself after all the effort I put into making my plan a reality?” Nix asks. “If so, then you’re foolish for thinking so.” He straightens up.

“Nix, get real. You can barely keep up with me now.” A wary little half-smile curved Daniel’s lips. “What makes you think you can beat me?”

There was a moment of silence.

“… Because, till now, I’ve been holding back my power.”

This caught Daniel’s attention. Holding back? He must be joking. The look on Nix’s face, however, told otherwise.

“Why are you holding back?” Daniel asked, glaring at his brother in suspicion.

Nix thought for a moment. “… I suppose telling you won’t make any difference in the outcome of the battle.” For a moment, Daniel thought he saw his brother’s eyes change shape. He dismisses it, probably his imagination. “You perhaps already know, whenever you see me with my glowing purple aura, I am faster and stronger than I originally was. That ability is what I call Nocturnal Enhancing Bio-stimulus or “Dark Elevation” for the sake of simplicity.”

“Wow, that so amazing. I would have never thought of such a great name.” Daniel remarks sarcastically. There was a sound of an explosion outside.

Nix glares at him. “… Talk less Daniel, you’ll live longer. As I was saying, it acts as a stimulant. Thus, gives me great power.” He lowers his head slightly. “… At a price.”

“What do you have to pay, an arm and a leg?”

“My life span.”

Daniel, despite what recently happened, look at his psychotic brother in alarm. “What?”

“That’s right.” Nix looks up, seriousness in his eyes clear. “With each use, my existence slowly declines. The more I use, the faster I’m expected to depart this life. At my current rate, I’m expected to die within the next 10 years.”

“… I see.” There wasn’t anything else Daniel could say. Not only was his brother trying to kill him and his friends, he’s willing to put anything including his health on the line just to get what he wants. Daniel doesn’t know whether to feel pity, sorrow, or hatred for him.

The shady villain shakes his head. “But I wouldn’t be worried about my life. For as I said, I have been holding back. So far, I’ve been only using half of my power. I think it’s about time I let it all out and finish this pointless battle.” Soon, the purple aura reappears on Nix. It becomes different this time. It starts to envelop him like snakes, obscuring any details on his person. The iris of his eyes were glowing a bright violet. This transformation ended quickly. His body looks like one big purple shadow. He looks at Daniel with his big glowing eyes full of evil malice and says, “Time to respire your last breath, brother.”

That look gave Daniel the chills, even more so than before. He can tell by just looking at Nix that he’s going to take much pleasure causing him pain. It didn’t matter; Daniel would gladly take a few hits if it meant stopping his brother from completing his ludicrous plans. He readies an egg in his hand and says, “we’ll see about tha-“

“Duck!”

Both fighters stop and glance to where the feminine voice came from; Lexi and Ace came out of the office downstairs and were looking up toward Daniel. While he often received help from the others in the past and would gladly receive it, this actually causes the situation to be a lot more distressing. This is due to three factors: one is that Ace and Lexi came just as Nix has fully powered himself. Two, Ace is one of Nix’s prime targets. Three, said psychopathic duck is looking at Ace… and grinning.

Daniel sees this and shouts, “Ace, lookout!”

Nix jumps off the balcony, landing in front of Ace. He kicks his leg straight up, into Ace’s jaw. The impact sends him flying into the air. He crashes hard onto the ceiling.

“You son of a-,” Lexi, in anger, tries to brain blast Nix at point blank. Nix spins his staff with one hand at high speeds, deflecting the shot away from him.

“Bitch.” Nix finishes. He starts walking toward her, but receives a sudden roundhouse kick to the head via Daniel’s foot. It hurls him through a bunch of chairs and into the wall. Daniel throws a pair of his eggs at him. They explode on contact and cover him with a gooey binding agent. Daniel glares at him, and then glances at Lexi, who blinks in mystification.

“Duck…” Lexi says, “are you aware that you’re… glowing?”

He looks up without a word and lifts his arms in front of him a moment later. Ace, who finally pealed off the ceiling, fell into his arms. Daniel quickly gives Ace to Lexi.

“Take Ace and get out of here.”

“But what about-“

“Go!”

“But-“

“NOW!”

She steps back in fright. She never saw Duck act so forceful. She stares back at him, his aqua eyes pleading for her to leave. She nods and reluctantly leaves. Daniel looks back at his crazy sibling. The goo that held him turning to vapor, he stands up and glares back at Daniel.

“You can’t protect them forever Daniel,” Nix said, “It’s only a matter of time before I eliminate those blasphemous rabbits.” He looks at Daniel’s gauntlet with a smirk. It starts to flicker and spark. “And that device of yours appears to be running out of power. This is your last moment to admit defeat.”

Daniel never breaks his gaze. Instead, he slips into a battle stance with an egg in each hand and says, “Shut up and fight.”

“Very well, let us conclude this battle.” Nix spins his staff around himself and charges forward with blinding speed. Daniel quickly reacts by quacking out, leaving the eggs behind. The eggs hit the ground and expand into two boulders. Nix kicks off of the boulder, bouncing into the air where Daniel reappears. He thrusts the other leg into Daniel’s chest.

Daniel hurls backward, but quacks out before hitting the wall. He appears behind Nix and, using the momentum from before, slams his elbow into his back causing an audible crack. They both fall into what’s left of the podium, breaking it into little pieces. Nix, who had Daniel on his back, pushes hard off the ground and launches into the air with enormous strength; slamming into the ceiling.

Nix fell to the ground while Daniel stuck to the ceiling like glue. The pain shot into his brain like a bullet; his back felt like it’s on fire. He quacks out and appears on the ledge of the balcony.

“Dodge this!” He said, forming more eggs in his hands. Looking up, Nix finds multiple egg-shaped projectiles raining down toward him. He jumps out of the way of the first wave as they impacted the area. More came as he zigzags and leaps past them and the surrounding objects. The explosions varied from egg to egg; some exploded while others simply cracked, spilling their contents onto the floor. The chances of one of them being lethal were low. However, Nix didn’t want to chance it and did his best to avoid all of them. The few that did hit were simply filled with yolk, water, or some orange substance that he really didn’t want to know.

Deciding to put a stop to this, he ran up the wall with the trail of bombarding eggs behind him. Once he got high enough, he kicks hard off the wall, kicking off the other wall on the other side, and sails at Daniel full force. This catches him off-guard for a moment before regaining his self-control. He throws more eggs at Nix, hoping to stop him before he gets too close. With a quick shout, Nix deflects the incoming eggs with his staff and thrusts his leg into Daniel’s face. The impact causes Daniel to tumble backwards, dropping the egg he had in his hand. He recovers in mid-fall and flips back just as the egg hits the ground. It causes a huge explosion behind, which he uses to propel himself at Daniel.

Daniel quacks out of the way while Nix bounces off the wall and lands on the floor.

The surrounding area appears to slow down as the fighters pick up the pace. Daniel appears behind Nix to deliver a kick to his head, which leans out of the way and he kicks with his right, but Daniel hits the leg with the base of his palm, halting it successfully. Daniel jabs with his left, hitting Nix between the eyes. Nix retaliates with a quick blow to the stomach via his staff. This pattern continues, exchanging their bombardment of punches with incredible ferocity with no sign of letting up. Bruises, blood, and cuts pile up on their bodies like sand in an hourglass.

Nix throws his staff at Daniel, who catches it, and sidekicks him hard in the chin, sending him off the balcony and dropping the staff, which Nix grabs in midair while running forward. Using the forward momentum, he jumps off the edge of the balcony and follows Daniel in the air, who quacks out before hitting the ground.

Nix lands in the middle of the room and looks around. Fifteen seconds pass, there is no sign of Daniel anywhere.

“Where are you Daniel,” Nix says loudly. “Don’t tell me you’re giving up already. The fun has just started.” With a sneer, he begins walking down the aisle.

Daniel sat behind a pillar nearby, his back pressed against the marble column. Out of his mouth came short, quiet gasps. Beats of sweat ran down his face, mixing in with the blood seeping out of his wounds. His orange and black feathers are a mess. If he had a shirt, it’d be torn to ribbons by now. His body is no longer glowing orange; he looks at his arm.

“Time’s up,” he thought grimly. The gauntlet Tech made for him no longer works. He lost his edge, no longer able to keep up with his brother. If he went out there now, he’d be dead for sure.

He looks at the blue bandanna tied to his left arm. The bandanna was given to him from his sister Beckatha before she passed away. She used to keep it with her for good luck. He took it off and held it in his hand. “What should I do?” He gazes into the piece a cloth for a moment.

He recalls what she told him, remembering the day she gave it to him before they both went off to stop their brother.

--

“Danny,” she said, taking out the bandanna. “Before we go, I want you to have this.” She gives it to him.

“What is this, a tissue?” He asks. She shakes her head.

“No silly, it’s my lucky bandanna.”

“Lucky bandanna? Since when to girls wear bandannas?” This earned him a smack via Beck’s hand. “Ow!”

“We’re having a family moment Danny, don’t ruin it. As I was saying, I had that bandanna for as long as I remember-“

“Then why are you giving it to me?” Giving her a questionable look.

“I have a feeling you’re going to need it more than I do.” She said with a smirk.

“Oh ha ha. Can we go now?” Just as he was going through the door, she stops him.

“Before that, you have to promise me one thing.” He looks at her for a moment.

“… ok sure. What is it?”

“If I can’t be there to stop Dabble, promise me you’ll do it for me.”

Danny gives a smile and nods. “I promise.”

--

Daniel remembers the promise he made to her sister, but he has doubts. Can he really keep that promise? The situation looks grim; His teammates are battling against an army outside, his brother is now a pumped-up freak of nature, and his only advantage shorts out. If he ran away now, then he’d still be alive but would leave his friends behind with that monster. If he stays here, he’d be-

He quacks out just as Nix strikes the pillar, turning it into rubble.

“You can’t escape me! I’ll hunt you down like the vermin that you are!”

Daniel reappears behind some rubble.

“This is going nowhere,” he thought bitterly. “I can’t sit by and watch him kill my friends. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happens. Even if I die, I’ll make sure he’s coming with me.” He ties the bandanna across his forehead. He felt ready, the fierce veracity returning in his eyes. Says to himself, “Rambo, eat your heart out.”

“Daniel,” Nix yells out. “Come out and PLAY!” Suddenly, he gets hit in the back of the head with one of Daniel’s eggs. It covers him in orange goop.

“Tag,” Daniels said. “You’re it!” He quacks out and reappears on one of the boulders he made earlier.

Nix turns around and glares at his brother.

“I will enjoy killing you!” He leaps at Daniel, who quacks out of the way before Nix brought his staff down, smashing the boulder into rubble. Nix flips back just as an egg hits where he stood. Looking up, he finds Daniel on the remains of the podium.

“Come on,” Daniel said in a fake cheerful tone. “Hit the duck and win a prize!” He disappears and reappears on a statue. Nix simply blurs out before Daniel’s eyes.

“Hey, where did he-“ He gets cut off when Nix grabs him by the neck and tosses him into one of the pillars on the right side of the room. The collision paralyzes Daniel due to the pain, his body appearing limp. Nix leaps over and lands in front of Daniel.

“A valiant effort Danny,” Nix says with no sympathy behind it. “But it was all for nothing. You see, not only am I older than you, but I’m also stronger than you. If that bitch of a sister couldn’t stop me… what makes you any different?”

Anger boils in Daniel, clenching his fists till they bled. That last statement was uncalled for.

“I’d say it’s been nice knowing you, Daniel,” Nix said, lifting his staff over his head. “But frankly, I just don’t like you.

Daniel quacks out before Nix brings down his staff, the impact crushing the ground and forming a small crater. When he tries to pull out his staff, it won’t budge. Looking down, he finds out why. It’s covered in orange goop. Nix yells out in aggravation. Daniel re-emerges on the other side of the aisle. A look of immense fury appears in his glowing eyes. He puts his hands together. With all his power, he concentrates on putting as much energy as he could into forming this egg. It forms, trying to become bigger and bigger. Daniel, however, compresses it from becoming any bigger. Pretty soon, it starts changing color from orange to red… to blue.

Nix chooses to leave the staff and just use his fists. Just as he turns around, Daniel finishes powering up his attack.

“This is for my sister!” He hurls the oddly colored egg with all his might at Nix.

The egg speeds at Nix at unbelievable speed, catching him off guard and hitting him square in the face. In a short flash, it bursts out in a blue flare, enveloping Nix’s head. He staggers back, growling in agony with one hand covering his face.

Daniel looks in mystification. He forms two more eggs in his hands. Instead of the usual orange color, they were now glowing blue. It feels different from the usual eggs he creates, not feeling the chaotic energy that usually emits from them. This feels more calm, controlled, and powerful. Is this a new power?

“I see you learned a new trick,” Nix said, recovering from his injury. “Interesting… but futile. It doesn’t matter what trick you have up your sleeve.” He launches himself at Daniel. “I CAN TAKE WHATEVER YOU HAVE!”

Thinking quickly, Daniel decides to just wing it and use this power while he still can. He puts all the energy he can into these eggs.

“Well take this!” He slaps both eggs in front of him just as Nix was right in front of him. The action results in a short implosion, followed by a large blue ball of swirling energy that shot straight toward Nix, who couldn’t stop his forward momentum in time. It makes contact with him, impacting him with colossal power he never felt before in his life. The shock is so sudden; he didn’t have time to scream while it hurled him backwards into the office. His screams became heard when he made contact to the wall and the ball of energy that carried him exploded, decimating the entire office.

Daniel stood there, his arms in the same position, in shock for a moment. Letting his arms and head go limp, he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

“Well,” he says out loud while panting. “I may… get sued for… doing that.” He stops for a moment to catch his breath. “But at least… it’s over…” A feeling of relief flows into Daniel, thinking it is done. Looking up, he realizes how wrong he is.

Out of the office room with blood dripping from multiple parts of his body, Nix walked. His aura, no longer covering his body, is now barely visible. The large scorch mark on his chest, where the attack hit, is very noticeable. Though it is evident his body is incredibly drained, the glare he’s giving Daniel shows he couldn’t care less. Grudgingly, Daniel stood up, though having trouble staying up with his legs feeling like jelly.

“What will it take to make you say down,” Daniel asked.

Nix replies, “I’ll die… when I kill you and that damn rabbit!”

With a short battle cry, they both sprint toward each other as fast as their bodies could take them. They tackle one another, grappling with expectation to over power the other. Daniel quacks out with Nix in tow, reappearing above the balcony and Nix’s back toward the ground. They impact the floor, rolling for a few moments, trying gain the upper hand. They roll until they were near the stained-glass window.

Daniel lets go with his right hand and starts punching Nix in the face. Without him noticing, Nix takes a nearby piece of debris and smashes it against his face, knocking Daniel off of him.

Nix grabs him by the neck, bangs him once on the ground, and lifts him up.

“Daniel,” Nix sneers. He squeezes his brother’s neck. “This will end. I have had it with your interference with my plans. I will be making sure you will be join our sister and with you gone, I will kill Ace and start the war once again. Then I, as the commander of the Duck army, will make sure every rabbit is wiped out from the face of the earth! NO ONE WILL STAND IN MY WAY!!”

“Dabble,” he said with some difficulty. “No matter what happens… or what you do to me. I… want you to know only one thing.”

Nix’s glare deepens. “And that is?”

There is a moment’s pause, waiting for Daniel’s answer.

“… You will never succeed. You will… be brought down, along with your plans. You… will lose… you smug, selfish, backstabbing basta-”

Nix heard enough. He threw the battered Daniel through the stain glass window with great force. The echoing sounds of glass shattering rang through the air. Daniel, like a rag doll, flew through the window as it shattered around him. For a moment it was almost pretty, a thousand shards of glittering crystals. This scene gave Nix much satisfaction. It seems as though he has won. This was not to be, however, as Nix, out the corner of his eyes, saw a pair of glowing orange orbs fall through the air. His expression went from satisfaction to shock.

Daniel was dimly aware of his plummet to the ground and the shards of glass that surround him. Everything seems to be going in slow motion; it was like when he activated his gauntlet. The only difference this time is that he can’t move his body and unable to think clearly. It felt like a dream. He faintly watches the explosion that came out the window he flew out of.

Daniel smiles.

‘A parting gift,” he thought, “from me to you, brother.”

The last thing he saw was faint images of each of his friends and family: His mother Martha, sister Beckatha, his brother Dabble, his friends Ace, Tech, Rev, Slam, and Lexi…

Then everything went black.

-

-

-

-

“Danny…Wake up…”

mimic12455 · Beast

Chapter 12

“Leave the mind, leave the body. There is no sanity.” mimic12455

“Danny, wake up!”

Where am I?

An echoing sound filled his senses. The feeling of a dull ache filled his entire body. He tries to open his eyes, but they refuse to open, feeling like ten-ton anvils are attached to them. The colorless void had been all that Daniel could see since he fell out the window. Although he couldn’t see, he could faintly hear the sound of familiar voices nearby.

“How is he?”

“Well, he has seen better days. A fractured spine, internal bleeding, broken ribs, more burses and cuts then the time I tested out my Gardener Triangulating Gyrator 300 a few months ago. He’s heavily injured, no doubt about that, but he’s still alive.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Daniel tries to distinguish the voices, but his mind is still fuzzy. He can barely comprehend what is happening, feeling a wall inside his head blocking any coherent thought in his cranium. He suddenly feels a pair of thin arms under his legs and back; someone is lifting him off the ground. He starts losing consciousness, his mind slipping back into the void.

- - - - -

Slowly regain his sense of reality, Danny became aware of his surroundings. The first sensation that hit him is the dull ache that is reverberating through out his entire being. Next came the smell of medicine and… clean, he could not put it in any other word to describe that last smell. It reminded him of the day he and the other Loonatics had to clean the tower after a sludge monster broke loose from Tech’s lab. They defeated it, no question there, but it left a rather large mess. It took the rest of the day and most of the night to clean the entire tower of that gunk. The smell it gave off, it was something that would forever be burnt into him mind and nostrils. After the entire place had been cleaned, he could recognize the smell of a place being very sterile as “clean” such as a hospital or chemical lab or something.

Since he has no reason to be in a chemical lab, Danny guesses he has to be in a “sick bay” of some sort. After the brutal battle he had, it came to no surprise. He opens his eyes and sees that his hunch is right. I.V., monitors, and many other things littered the room; some are connected to his arm. He tries to get up, but finds himself having a rather difficult time doing so; feeling very drained just like the time Sypher just drained him of his powers a few months ago.

“Take it easy Duck, you just got back from surgery a few hours ago.”

Rolling his head to his left, Danny sees Tech, the green coyote himself, standing there with a clipboard in hand, writing something within the numerous pages attached to it. The black orange striped duck stares back in puzzlement.

“What do you mean surgery? What did you do, where are the others, and-why are you wearing that ridiculous outfit,” Danny inquires. Instead of the official Loonatics™ uniform, Tech wore a lab coat, doctor clothing, and a stethoscope. Looking down at his attire for a moment and looks back at Danny, looking a bit offended.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Seems a bit cheesy to me,” Danny says with a shrug.

“A lot less cheesier than your room.”

“Hey!”

“What? It’s true,” the green coyote smirks.

“Right… what about the other?”

“They had to stop yet another super villain from destroying the city. I believe it is Massive this time.”

They were silent for a few moments. Then Danny spoke up.

“So how did the battle go?”

“Before or after your defenestration?”

“My wha?” Danny looks at him with an expression of confusion and bewilderment.

“Falling out of a window.”

“You and your fancy words… just tell me what happened.”

His face becomes more serious, tension in the room shooting up like a rocket. Tech let out a heavy sigh, grabbing a nearby chair to sit on.

“It had been tough, we were on the receiving end of Ram’s bombardment of clones and ammunition. We managed to stop and subdue Ram’s army after Ace and Lexi came into the conflict. Well, I should say Lexi did. Ace had been incapacitated, but came up a plan. After knocking out the original Ram, the rest for the clones simply vanished, being unable to sustain them without the original’s conscious mind directing them. Ace managed to fill us in on what was going on in the church.” Danny nods, remembering all-to-well what happened back in the church.

“Before we could get in, however, a huge explosion detonated in the church; it caused the church to collapse into itself. We were shock and afraid of what might have happened.” He gaze looks straight at the bed-ridden duck. “I’m sure you know what we might have thought.”

Danny simply nods. Tech continues on with his narrative.

“After that, we tried to find where you were. Luckily, Rev managed to use his GPS to locate you, though with some difficulty. We found out why when we found your body lying a few feet away from the back of the church, bleeding and broken like a over-used toy. We took you back to HQ as fast as we could, which was actually pretty fast.” He paused for a moment. “You almost died.”

Danny raised a questionable eye at the doctor. The intellegent green coyote went on.

“You lost 75 percent of your blood, bone fractures in places I couldn’t believe were possible, more cuts and bruises then the time I was thrown into a jet engine, and don’t even get me started on your spine.” Another pause. “It took me and few local doctors a few hours to readjust the bones and stop the internal bleeding. After that, I simply injected a small dose of my regenerative serum into your body.”

“Why a small dose? Why not just inject the entire thing from the beginning?”

“Well, as you know, a living organism is capable of many things. These include healing cuts, walking, talking, thinking, and much more. All these tasks require energy.”

Danny nodded rather boringly, not sure where he is going with this.

“Regenerating lost cells takes a rather large amount of energy, especially if you are gravely injured. If I had injected the necessary amount to heal you completely all at once, it would spend your body’s entire energy and you would have died of exhaustion. Even if you did somehow survive, your bones wouldn’t have aligned and fused themselves properly. You don’t need me going into detail about how that would end.”

The thought and image of being in that kind of situation makes Danny cringe.

“You’re telling me.”

“Well,” Tech leans back in his chair. “All in all, you manage to survive and beat Nix. Rather impressive considering your previous track record with other villains.”

“When you got it, you got it.” Danny says rather arrogantly. The scientific genius in the chair could only smirk.

“Too bad you forgot it.” He made a quick thought in his mind. “Looks like he’s back to his old self again.”

“Hey! I should have a celebration in my honor for this. Yeah! With parade balloons, confetti, flyers, some lovely lady dancers-“ Danny notices Tech slipping out of the room while he was talking. “Tech! Get back here! You got to write this down and call Zadavia about this. Tech? TECH!”

With an exasperated groan, Danger Duck falls back onto his pillow. He stares up at the ceiling, wondering how long till he could get out of bed.

- - - - -

A few hours later, Danger is in the lounge room sitting on the couch. He managed to get out of bed an hour ago with some expected difficulty. Tech told him to take it easy and rest up, but Danger, being stubborn, ignored the warnings and walked out with his suit back onto his body. His body still aches, but he would not let that keep him in bed all day.

In front of him is the television program he often watches and never misses, the Weather Forecast with host Misty Breeze. Every time he watches this, his admiration for the weather lady never wanes. Normally, he would have just stared longingly at the entire program. Now, with all that has happened, the black duck simply stares blankly at it. For some reason, he’s not feeling the passion or fan boy devotion he had before when he saw her. Just felt like watching another average person doing their job. It is as though something inside of him changed. Something about him is different from before, but he cannot seem to figure it out.

Just then, he hears someone come in though the doors as they make an audible “whoosh” sound. He looks over his shoulder to see who it is out of instinct than anything else. He sees the telekinetic pink rabbit known as Lexi, waving at him as a casual greeting. He waves back as she walks over to the couch.

“Hey,” she says. “Feeling better?”

“Of course, it takes more than a few bruises stop me.” He strikes a pose to prove this, only to winch when the feeling of pain and ache make itself apparent. Lexi smirks.

“Really?” she asks sarcastically.

“Alright alright, so I’m still healing.” He sits back down on the couch with his arms crossed, an annoyed expression on his face. “That ain’t going to stop me though, oh no. Far from it! As soon as tomorrow comes, I’ll be good as new. Ready to take on the world!”

“We’ll see,” she says. Her gaze slips toward the television, Misty Breeze is still on. “Ugh, I still don’t get why you would want to watch her.”

“Me neither.”

“Huh?” Lexi stares at Danger with a look of puzzlement. He looks back, quirking an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Well, normally you would go on and on about great she is when someone mentions her.”

“Yeah… uh, I just… don’t feel like it.”

“Why not?”

Danger shrugs. “I don’t know.”

They sat there for a few moments, neither talking with the only sound coming from the television. It is starting to get awkward.

“I guess,” Danger says. “I just don’t feel the attraction today. Having your brother coming back from the dead and trying to kill you can do that to a guy.”

“Tell me about it. I can still feel the electric shocks he gave me.” She says, rubbing her head where the bandanna had once been.

“Sorry about putting you guys through all this. I should have just told you about my brother sooner. I just thought it would have been safer if no one knows about him. I didn’t want to lose you guys the same way I… lost my sister.” Danger’s head droops down in sorrow. He feels a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him; it is Lexi’s hand.

“Don’t beat yourself about it. He’s gone and everyone is fine now. Sure, it had been partly your fault, but you did what you thought best.”

“Thanks… I think.”

“Look Duck, we all lose friends. We lose them in death, to distance and over time. But even though they may be lost, hope is not. The key is to keep them in your heart, and when the time is right, you can pick up the friendship right where you left off. Even the lost find their way home when you leave the light on.”

“Wow,” he exclaims. “Where did that come from?”

“I got that from a fortune cookie last week.” Danger blinks at her with deadpan eyes. “It does have a point though. Even if you think you’re alone, you will always have someone there to help you. Whether it is Ace, Slam, Rev, Tech, or even me, we’ll always be there to help.”

“In that case, could you help me get a sandwich? I’m hungry.”

That remark earns him a Brain Blast in the pants.

“YEOUCH!”

Lexi storms off in anger, murmuring something about “men” and “jerks”.

“What’d I say?” he exclaims.

It seems things are returning to normal in the Loonatics HQ. Rev eventually got over what happened to him in Danger’s room and they became friends again. The rest of the Loonatics did as well. They asked the local authorities if they found any trace of Nix at the church. They said they didn’t find anything, but they would let them know if they find anything.

- - - -

Meanwhile, in the market area of the city, the salesmen from earlier have reach back to their store with their hands empty and head heavy.

“Well that was a bust.” Pete says as he sat down in the nearest chair he could find.

“So how did it go?” Steve asks from behind the counter.

“Not so good,” says John. “The man escaped again before we could get him.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Tell me about it,” Joe says, stretching the sores from his back. “I’m going to be feeling that in morning.”

“You think we’ll ever catch that guy?” Pete asks.

“Of course we will.” John exclaims, sticking his chest out. “We are salesmen, it will take more than some robber to out smart us! Besides, he’ll be back and when he does. We’ll be ready. Am I right or am I right?”

“Yeah!” The other three men shout loudly. Just then, a man wearing black slips in and takes the cash register, rushing out as fast as he could.

“Hey, it’s the guy!” Steve exclaims.

“GET HIM!” John yells as he, Joe, and Pete dash out the door to get the thief. Steve waves goodbye.

“Good luck guys, I’ll be waiting here till you come back.”

As the sun sets, we see that while one chapter closes, another one begins to open up. With another day come new surprises and dangers. Forever turning, the world keeps moving and spinning. Life and death, good and evil, right and wrong; these are but a few of the many things that change yet stay the same. It shall continue on even after the fat lady has sung.

- - - - -

Ace is walking down the hallway. He is about to go into his room when he receives a call from Zadavia. He answers it.

“Ace, I would like to speak to you for a moment.”

“Sure Zadavia, what’s the trouble?”

“It’s concerning Duck’s older brother.”

“Him? Don’t worry about it. We took care of him. We weren’t able to capture him though, but we stopped him from whatever insane plan he had.”

“Yes, you did. That, however, isn’t why I called you. I’ve been looking into the records and found that there isn’t a person named Dabble Duck anywhere in the database.”

“No data? That’s impossible, we saw him. Are you sure?”

“I’m afraid so. It’s as if Dabble Duck never existed. There is also no data involving Duck’s family members either.”

“So what does that mean?”

“I’m not sure, I need to look into this. I’ll contact you when I have compiled enough data behind this strange situation. Zadavia out.”

“… out of one box then into another, and me without my sledgehammer.”
___________________________

That's ends the story, please tell me what you think. :)

Akira_Cat · Your local cat

This is all good. There is only one thing I have to say to you. In chapter 1, Ace was on a habour on a film set when he got hit by the meteor, not in the park. Second of all, the present and past tenses were mixed together. Either it's in the past tense or the present tense, have to choose. It was just confusuing when you drifted from those tenses.

Other than that, I like the detail and the emotion you've portrayed in this. Especially Duck's emotions. I like how you've created that sort of tense atmosphere between Rev and Duck. So keep it up is all I have to say

.

mimic12455 · Beast

This is true, but it couldn't be helpped at the time. I wrote that chapter before the origin episode came to existence. As for the past and present tense.... I've been known to have that issue. Still working to fix that. :)

Thanks for commenting. aww

ruthchang93 · Martian

YOU POSTED IT HERE!!!!!!

I swear, I already read all of this on FF.Net, but I was still up for reading it again here! You should be proud. I don't usually read the same thing thuroughly twice, unless I really, REALLY like it.

You probably never saw me comment. I'm bad at commenting. Period.

Anyways, you're awesome. I'm definitely waiting for your sequel!

...

There IS going to be a sequel, right?