Chapter 4:
The heir up there

Out in space, above Acmetropolis loomed a spaceship of ill intentions. As the being rocketed into the planet’s atmosphere the heroes peacefully slept: Ace in a traditional one person bed with hobby items in the corner of his room, Lexi in a hamock with a small radio on a small end table, Peter also in a one man bed with camera in hand, Slam one person bed with turkey also on it, he made a habbit to eat while sleeping; there was also a bench press bar (fully loaded) over head, Tech: mutters famous genius quotes while sucking his thumb, Rev keeps adjusting himself with his super speed, “Firing cat-claw bombs.” The invader said once he got into position. “Time for a rude awakening.” He added after activating his four piece attack.

“Warning. Warning. Enemy vessel detected.” A computerized voice said over the PA system after the shaking of the spire woke them up. With that the group suited up as fast as they could and rushed to work.

“Rev, initiate counter defense measures. Lexi, Spider: put on your brain blast helmet and web gauntlets and get ready to fire. Tech, raise the deflector shield.” The lead bunny said to the others while rushing into position. “Slam, get ready to launch photon rockets.” Ace ordered while five seats were coming out of the floor.

‘This should be good.’ Peter thought since he knew that this defense system was still experimental. Yellow put on a helmet, similar to his armored form, typed on the small console to his right, and with that a cannon of sorts appeared at the top of the spire.

“Ready to channel laser blasts, now.” The swords-bunny commented before focusing his optic blasts into the sphere lensce of the cannon, and took out one of the attacking items.

“Counterattack initiated.” Lexi said after putting on her helmet causing a pair of rabbit ears to come out of the sphere. Her brain blast came out in beam form and took out another attacking bot.

“Need more fire power.” The attacker shouted in rage after seeing that he was down to only two claw bombs. At that point Peter who stuck his arms into two immobile gauntlets causing cannons to come out of the spire that held the sphere in place, and Slam grabbed an object that looked like a pilot’s steering wheel causing a small cannon to come out at the bottom right of the sphere.

‘Choke of this.’ The devil thought with a big grin as he and the web-slinger opened fire. It took a few tries, but eventually the two took another one down. It occurred to Ace that he, Slam, Lexi, and Spider were attacking, Rev was making sure their gear was working, and Tech was making sure that the yellow glowing shield that he activated since the beginning of the fight was holding, but one was still missing.
“Hey, a certain someone seems AWOL. Anyone seen the Duck-meister?” The field leader pointed out and questioned as he often glanced at the empty battle station. The duck in question was still snoring in his self portrait room with earmuffs and a slumber mask.

“I’ll rescue you.” He said in his sleep before adding after a long snore, “Misty Rains. Interview moi? I accept.” The mallard then went back to sleep.

“Any idea who’s using us for target practice?” Ace questioned as he was also trying to look for the source of these strange devices. “Always like to know who’s trying to blow us to smithereens.” He explained to them while defending their base/home.

“Hey, would you mind keeping it down? An action hero needs his beauty sleep. Not so much for me, but for my fans.” Danger said to them while wearing orange/yellow pajamas, earmuffs, and his sleep mask with one eye shown until he was done talking.

‘I swear if I didn’t need both of my arms for these cannons I swear that I would web-yank you to your spot.’ The web head thought as he continued to fire his explosive web-balls.

“By the time Zadavia reaches the Loonatics, there won’t be anyone to reach.” The invader said as he watched the show before him. “All’s going as planned.” He added even though the masked man has note even scratched their shield.

“That’s the last of ‘em.” Ace said after he and Lexi took out the last of the attck bots.

“Curses.” The source of the attack said as he slammed his fist onto a small console causing new cat-claw bombs to appear on the ship - ready to attack. Instead of going with more bombs he simply used a powerful beam from the belly of his ship.

“Okay, guys. Let’s focus our firepower and take out this tin can.” Their field leader said to them before using four out of five of the weapons on the ship in the sky. The combo attack did a lot of damage to the enemy vessel.

“No one beats Sylth Vester.” The man said after standing up from the attack. “At least not twice in a row.” He muttered after a few moment of saying his name. It was then he saw a red flashing light on his console and from it came a voice.

“What was that?” A deep voice, the voice of his boss, questioned to the helmeted one.

“Uh, it was nothing. Just a minor bump in the road.” He answered back to his employer as he was trying to prevent his boss of knowing that he lost to the seven heroes of this planet.
“Don’t tell me it was nothing when I heard something.” The voice said back; showing that he already knew that this attack was a failure.

“Sorry, boss, but I’m losing ya. Must be solar flares.” He said while trying to use that as a cover as he hit the com link button. “Works every time.” He said as he believed he had hit the right button, but instead:

“If I was there, I’d kick you where you do your thinking and sitting.” The employer threatened to his worker, but after he said that the cat then press the correct button.

“Oops. Wrong switch.” He said after he pressed the right com link button. The feline fighter then decided to retreat into space for now. A little after that their founder stopped by for a visit while also showing off that she now had a new cruiser.

“Loonatics, I have a very important assignment for you.” She said after coming into their conference room before activating the feed featuring an elder in pig tails.

“I am Queen Grannicus from Planet Blanc deep in the Merrie Melody Galaxy. We’re about to be attacked and so desperately need your help. The only way to stop the invasion is for the rightful heir to take the throne.” The elder said to the lot, but the still PJ’d super still did not see the urgency.

“So, what does that have to do with us?” Danger questioned as he lounged at his chair with his mask still on.

“I’d like you to meet the heir to the throne.” The blond woman said to them as she easily ignored the feathered one’s comment. “Presenting the Royal Tweetums.” She said causing a fancy container of sorts to float over the table and the curtain to open. “Royal Tweetums.” She repeated after clearing her throat.

‘Guess that’s my cue.’ He thought as he placed the portable gaming system to a hidden pouch under his cape before walking onto the extendable perch.

“Where? All I see is some scrawny-looking bird.” Danger said after getting an eye full of the creature before him, and was not impressed. Zadavia did not like the tone of Loonatic orange, so she decided to set the record straight.

“This is the heir to the throne.” She informed the slacker of the team. The yellow feathered wonder decided to speak a family tradition to the warriors before him, but with his own twist.

“I’m only 3-and-a-half parsecs old.” The canary said and showed the number three on his left hand. This oly made the PJ wearing protector to be even less impressed.

“Well, royalty isn’t what it used to be.” Danger commented as he recalled his great ansestor often spoke of a royal woman as tall as your basic Earth female, but the size of this royal one was a joke.

“I have a hunch our feathered friend has something to do with our recent rude awakening.” Ace said to his founder as he wanted to show off that he knew the importance of this mission and to tell her that they had an early bird fighter.

“There are forces that do not want Tweetums to reach Planet Blanc.” She informed them after having the stand hover just over her shoulder so the royal one could walk onto her left palm.

“Dark and very mean forces.” The smallest of the birds said with a shudder of fear. The founder placed the bird on their table and went on to explain the importance of this mission.

“Somehow, they’ve managed to track our every move. That’s why you are needed to make sure that the destination is reached.” She said to them, but even with a tone that showed them why this was a big deal there was still one that did not understand.

“What’s the big deal about one puny planet run by one puny prince?” The egg tosser questioned to the boss of their team before taking another look at their guest and added, “Or should I say princess?” This of course got the royal’ one’s attention.

“Hey.” He shouted in anger, but knew that this was a tradition in his family tree; no one knew if they were male or female even though the females of their kind had pink feathers while males had yellow feathers.

“The last time Blanc was invaded…” Zadavia started while gesturing to one of the smaller monitors and showed old footage before continuing with, “…the universe was plunged into an intergalactic war that lasted 1500 years.” They all saw ships of different origins trying to blow each other up.

“How come every time the universe is plunged into war, it lasts 1500 years?” The orange clad hero questioned since that seemed to be a popular number.

“It’s probably actually 1,275 years, but 1500 sounds more ominous.” Spider said to the feathered one as he paraphrased a quote from Xiolan Showdown, but surprised that their founder was blushing over what he said. ‘Seriously?’ He thought as he was surprised that a cartoon could be right about something like that.

“The royal family was exiled. Now is the time for Tweetums to return to the throne, or risk another war.” She said after settling down her embarrasment. The founder of them tried not to blush again, but this time with all the attention the field leader was giving her.
“We proudly accept the mission.” The owner of optic blasts said to her as he rose from his seat.

“Oh, goodie, I like him.” Tweetums said as he jumped in place, but stopped jumping to add one little piece of information. “You, I’m not so sure.” His comment did not phase the mallard since it was a family tradition for everyone to enjoy the rabbit over the duck,

“Spider, Duck, Slam and me will drop off Tweetums with Queen Grannicus. Lexi, Tech, and Rev, stay here and watch our backs.” The head bunny explained to them, and finished with, “We’ll take Optimatus’ old ship.” This frightened his family’s rival a bit.

“But that belonged to the bad guys. It still gives me the willies.” Danger said back and tried under the table to show just how scared he was.

“Tech retrofitted it from top to bottom with thrusters, blasters, even a juice bar serving the finest carrot smoothie this side of Gemini.” Ace explained to the duck billed one after walking over to one of their monitors and showed off what the upgraded one had in it.

“A billion miles for a smoothie? Oh, goodie.” The porter stated in an un-thrilled tone. After Loonatic orange has suited up the team set off to their destination.

“We’ll be running a skeleton crew, so it’s important that everyone sticks to their duties.” Ace informed the others before assigning the tasks, “Naturally I’ll be the pilot. Peter will be the navigator. Slam will be in charge of the engines, weapons and the kitchen.” He stopped when he saw the strength in question drool at the last job mentioned.

‘I like that idea. I really, really, really do.’ Slam thought while shaking his droll in every direction.

“Uch. Great. Drenched in Slam cooties.” Danger said as he was receiving most of the spray since the spider was protecting their field leader with a web-shield; Duck saw this and pulled out his collapsible unbrella.

“And Duck will watch Tweetums.” Ace said when the storm of spit passed. As the others headed over to their assigned spots the babysitter could only glare at the person he was assigned to.

“Oh, boy. Oh, boy. You are the lucky one.” Tweetums said after walking out of his traveling container to look up at his latest sitter.

“Hey, I’m a trained warrior, a mean, lean fighting machine. Not a babysitter.” Danger said as he tossed his umbrella to the side and stormed off - away from the heir.
“I’m not a baby. I’m 3-and-a-half parsecs old.” The bird informed his current protector who was not interested in hearing that.

“Yeah. Yeah. I heard you the first time, nugget, and it wasn’t that interesting then.” Danger said with his back still to the heir since he really didn’t like this gig.

‘He’s acting just like my other sitters, so I guess I’ll have to do to him as I did to them.’ The canary thought as he began to think what to do first. At the controls the pilot decided to give the others the good news.

“Looks like the survival of the universe is well in hand.” Ace said to the others after activating the com link back to the base. The others at the spire liked what they heard,and was also happy that everything was running hot, straight and clean.

“All you gotta do is enjoy the ride.” Loonatic green informed Loonatic yellow; feeling pretty good over what he had accomplished. “I’ll be using a high-powered protective shield generated here at headquarters that’ll keep you and your ship completely safe.” He informed while typing on the console.

“It’s a nano-tech molecular screen that derives energy from sub-atomic particles that can be directed long distances by bouncing from satelite to satelite, and then reconstituted to their original molecular structure to create an invisible layer of pure proto-plasum. Which not only provides protection, but also cloaks the vessel from any outside detection…” Rev explained to Ace, and used the scientific notation since he wanted to show to the others that he could be more than a speed factor or GPS, but all he did was make the swords-bunny and the big-eared egghead tired.

‘Click.’ Ace thought as he cut transmission and then he activated the com link to the kitchen. “Hey, Slam, what’s cooking in the kitchen? Can’t wait to see what you’re whipping up for dinner.” Ace questioned as he saw the devil at the fridge and believed that he was seeing all that they had.

“Oopsie.” The Tasmanian said as his bodies was covered in half eaten food, and he knew that if he didn’t present something to his field leader or he would get yelled at by him and possibly the other two.

“Come in, Queen Grannicus.” Ace said as he decided to call up the one that assigned them on this mission in the first place. “We’re cruising through the Clampett galaxy with an ETA of seven and a half hours depending if we have the solar winds at hour tail.

“Oh, how very nice. Have a safe trip and be sure to take care of my precious Tweetums.” The elder said to the swords-bunny in a rushed tone; as if she had somewhere she needed to be.

“Hey, uh, don’t lose any gray hairs over it. Tweetums couldn’t be in better hands.” Bunny informed her and was mentally enjoying that he gave the slacker the role of babysitter.

‘Please stop singing. Please stop singing.’ Danger thought as he was forced not only relocating the container to a fancy room, but also brushing the royal one’s back as he was taking a bath. “That does it. Bath time’s over.” He shouted in anger and threw the brush to the ground to show how angry he was.

“Aw, but you were doing a very good job. Even if you missed a spot.” The canary said and pointed out by waging his tail feathers at his fellow bird who took the opportunity to flip body part.

‘That felt good.’ Danger thought as he heard the splash of canary meeting bath tube. “There. Happy?” He snarled and questioned since this was really working his last good nerve.

“I think I’ll make this song my planet’s national anthem.” He said: not even bothered by his sore tail feathers. “Will you sing it with me?” Tweetums questioned after getting a new towel and walked back outside.

“Forget it. I don’t do duets.” The egg chucker said to the heir with his arms crossed to show that he is serious about this.

“You shouldn’t feel sad just because you have a bad voice. Turn, please.” Tweetums said to the duck and knew that was the right thing to say so he could start having fun.

“I happen to have a great voice. I just don’t wanna sing your stupid little song.” Danger said back after a scoff.

“Only one of us is royalty and only royalty gives orders.” The small bird informed the super powered bird with a calm voice as he dried up the tail feathers. “You can either sing or change my diaper.” The little one offered, and even though he may not be a baby his visors suggest that a diaper be used due to all the threatening creatures in the galaxy.

“Ha! You’re not wearing a diaper!” Danger said: thinking that he had the royal one pegged, but received a towel to the face for his comment.

“True but I can and I’ll make sure that it needs to be changed.” The canary said back to the hero bird. It was then Danger used a family line:

“You’re despicable.” He said and tried to put as much spittle as his ancestor has, but failed at that part. The canary, like his ancestors, was unphased by that statement. “So, what are the stupid lyrics?” He questioned in defeat.
“You made a wise decision, Mr. Duck.” The royal child said with a smile since he knew how to feed this into his plan before continuing with, “And-a one, and-a two…” Tweetums said and as they were singing Sylth was cruising through the stars, and as he was the cat activated a hologram viewer.

“Everything is on course as I had planned.” The cloaked hologram said to the henchman before him. “You know what to do.” The figure questioned and was praying that the underling would not disappoint again.

“Soon, I’ll launch my surprise attack and make sure feather duster never reaches Planet Blanc.” Vester said back to his boss as calmly as possible. “That’s why I’m a super genius.” He added boastfully; forgetting that it is the being before him that came up with the idea. Not taking any offence the man cut transmission on his end and left it at that.

‘What else can I do with this guy that will be fun.’ Tweetums thought as he paced around a coffee table as his protector read a magazine.

That’s right. Ducks do make the finest leaders.” Danger said as he read a classic magazine. “Must be because of their rugged good looks.” He added while stroking his head from forehead to the back of the head.

“Hey, when are you gonna show me around the ship?” The heir questioned figuring that would be a good start with his quality time with this guardian.

“I believe the expression is, ‘when something freezes over.’” Danger said as he tried to block the royal one from view by putting his propped feet in front, but that didn’t work.

“Oh, pwease, Mr. Duck, give me a tour and I won’t make you clip my big yellow toenails.” Tweetums offered after pulling the webbed feet away from each other. He prayed that the offer would let him have some fun, and it.

“Forget it, mustard stain. You’re staying put until we reach that ridiculous planet of yours.” He informed while pushing the royal one away with the outside of his left foot, and switching to a lying pose on the couch. “And there’s nothing you can do that will get me to move.” He added before getting back to his book.

“Ooh, look at all these fun places to hide. Bye-bye.” Tweetums said after opening the door that led to the hallway, and then left.

“Except that. Heir to the throne. Little hair. Hello? Oh, please.” Danger said with worry as he searched all around the room and came up with nothing. If that weren’t bad enough his field leader activated the video com link to the room he was in.

“Hey, what’s up Duck?” Ace said to get his friend’s attention before adding, “Just checking in to see how things are doing?” As the hare spoke he also scanned the location through the monitor and saw no sign of their package.

“Oh, things couldn’t be better. Why wouldn’t they be?” The duck themed hero said; trying to give the idea that everything is going according to plan. “You think I can’t take care of one pint-sized yellow bird?” He questioned before giving off a forced laugh.

“It’s just that the universe would be placed in great jeopardy if anything happened to the royal highness.” The swords-bunny said back to him in his usual calm tone as if it was a routine thing.

“Royal pain in the butt’s more like it.” The mallard said when the feed was cut off. “That yellow fuzz ball’s gotta be around here somewhere.” He said before heading to the door to see if he went into the hallway.

“Ooh, what’s in here?” The canary, who stood near the door, and only began moving when opened for Danger.

“Oh, no!” The teleporter said as he not only saw where the royal one walked, but also saw the signs around the door - that read: Keep out, danger, and high voltage. The hero slowly walked in, turned on the lights, and saw what the brainiac filled it with. “Oh, great, this is just where bird breath would go.” He said before walking further in.

“Oh, I wonder what’s up here.” The target said as he was standing near a collection of wires. “Ooh, this place looks most interesting.” He added after taking a closer look at the machine he stood on.

“When I get my hands on you, I’m gonna--.” Danger shouted as he charged at the person they were looking over, but was interrupted by the bird in question.

“Oh, goodie. A game. Now see if you can catch me.” Tweetums said as he ran into the large collection of wires.

“Ohh. Cheddarhead’s gotta be around here somewhere.” Danger said not knowing how far ahead the smaller bird really was. The water fowl saw his target after the royal pain said:

“This is fun.” While laughing at the situation the two of them were in. He followed after and stretched his hand he believed the bird was.

“Gotcha.” Danger said after feeling something in his grip, and to him if it was small then it was the heir that they were guarding…until he heard that voice.

“What do you have there, Mr. Duck? A present for me?” The royalty questioned while sitting on a thick wire. The duck eventually pulled the rest of him free and saw that he was not holding Tweetums, but the tip of a powerful laser of their’s.

Whatever you do, don’t touch the red button.” Danger warned the royal one, who had gotten off of his perch and over to the main console of the room.

“I’m a very curious birdie, and when told not to touch something there’s only one thing I can do.” Tweetums warned and then pressed the button in question.

“Mommy.” Danger said aloud since he knew that this was going to hurt, and after a lot of screaming and explosion he knew that such a laser was going to hurt.

“You gotta be more careful, Mr. Duck.” The canary said as the hero stumbled away with scorched up feathers. “So, what game would you like to play now?” He questioned since to him his main guard was doing these things for his amusment.

‘This’ll do nicely.’ He thought after sifting through several ideas, and came up with just the one. After grabbing the kid, tossing him in the container, and then locked it with any lock he could find.

“I don’t think I like this game.” Tweetums said up to his babysitter through horizontal jail bars.

“Tough, turkey. You’re staying put until we reach your planet.” Danger informed before adding, “And just to make sure…” That said he latched heavy chains and a combination lock to the small container.

“You’re funny. But it’s not easy keeping me in one place.” The heir informed in a warning tone, but the taller bird was not buying it in the least despite seeing the event first hand.

“You can flap your beak all day. Those locks are impene-tra-bibble.” The duck counter warned: feeling confident over the security he put on the royal transport.

“Not for my lucky paperclip.” He muttered while the mallard went into a different room. As soon as he took it out the canary began to think over which lock to start off with.

‘Now’s the time.’ Sylth thought as he followed them and then launched his attack while they were not looking. Back at the base Rev and Tech was making sure that the ship was working at peak performance, but the agile bunny saw something following them through the radar.

“Looks like Spider and the others have company.” She warned to the other two. They heard her, but the brains of the team did not believe her.
“That can’t be. Their flight plan is totally encrypted…” The genius informed her before adding, “…and no one knows the encryption except for me.” The speed factor of the team heard this and decided to tell him the truth.

“Well, here’s a theory, and I’m saying it’s just a theory even though I think it’s a pretty sound theory that maybe there’s someone out there who broke the encryption…and that someone is not only one step ahead of you, but smarter then you.” Rev comment and what he said instantly peeked the canine’s interest.

“Smarter then me? Like dividing by zero.” Tech said back to his friend. The agile one saw this while she was trying to work, and knew where it was going. Before their conversation could get any more heated she took Runner’s beak and Coyote’s muzzel, one in each hand, causing both to stop.

‘To your stations.’ She thought to herself while pointing to two different consoles after letting go of their mouths. They did as she pointed, and with that fight avoided the young hare went back to work to protect her other friends.

“Jamming transmission.” The computerized voice of Vester’s ship said after he typed in the command in question. Back at their base Lexi tried to raise the others on the horn.

“Ace, Spider, come in. To any Loonatics hearing this, respond?” Lexi said after typing in access to their communication system. “I…I can’t get through.” She told the egghead to her left with a twinge of fear in her voice.

“Our transmission is being jammed, which means the protective shield is also down.” Tech said back to the woman beside him: not sounding bothered about that in the slightest even though his face showed her just how scared he was.

“Really? Maybe it’s being done by that same person who’s not smarter then you.” Rev countered, praising that his theory won their earlier talk. As the genius face sunk in defeat Lexi let a smirk graze her face since she knew that comment was deserved.

‘Strange Spider Sense is going off, but why?’ Peter thought to himself as he and Ace were guiding their metal coffin to its destination.

“It’s payback time.” Sylth said after pressing a button which caused his pods to leave his ship, which was flying behind the heroes, and fly up to the bridge.

‘Oh, I see why it went off.’ Parker thought as he saw a pod and realized he should have told the others what he sensed, but it was a moot point now. The item before them open fire and shook the ship, but not enough to blow it off course.

“If it’s a fight they want then a fight they’re gonna get.” Ace said as he saw the source of the weapons was behind them as he stared at his monitor. “Raise deflector shields. Arm all systems.” He instructed through the ships speaker system which Slam abandoned the Kitchen and headed to the bridge; once there the devil went to his station.

“We’ve got trouble.” Loonatic purple alerted the pilot in his native tounge as their vessel took another hit.

“We lost power to weapons.” The field leader said in alarm. “Switch it to auxiliary power and channel it straight to me.” He informed the two of them while putting on the same helmet that’s a part of their home security system. “Let’s see what space case thinks of my laser blasts.” He boasted while focusing his move through the ship’s cannons.

‘Man, that guys good.’ Sylth thought while growling in anger. The swords-bunny took this as a chance to blast the pods as well. As the three on the bridge were celebrating what they had done Duck, who was flung off his feet from the first attack, saw that the locks have been picked.

“Heir to the throne?” The mallard questioned when he saw the sight before him, and it was then the voice of the creature in question spoke.

“Oh boy, I’ve always wanted to see a big space battle up close.” The canary said as he was already out the door, and headed for the closest window to watch the brawl.

“Uh-oh.” The sitter said before getting to his feet and ran after him.

“Yoo-hoo, Mr. Duck.” The royal one called out to his watcher as a way to tease him. The hero in question looked into the room he had just passed and it was then that he saw a problem.

“Waahh!” The egg tosser shouted in alarm as the royal one was standing in the open garbage chute on the far wall of the room.

“I’m over here, Mr. Duck.” Tweetums called out to the warrior even though he knew the duck has already spotted him.

“No. Not the garbage chute.” Loonatic Orange called out to the prey in question while the mechanical door to the machine was closing. Duck then quacked to where they had their suits stashed put it on, and quacked to where the trash was. “Heir to the throne? Hey.” He called out while quaking this way and that way in order to find his fellow bird.

“Lookie what I found.” The feline fighter stated out of evil glee as he spotted a lone Loonatic in space. The man in question on the other hand looked through the zero gravity garbage, and found nothing - which aggravated the hero greatly.

“I wonder where that walking appetizer went.” Danger said before feeling a strange pull causing him to scream as he looked up and saw the pull was a tractor beam on the enemy ship.

“Poor, poor Mr. Duck.” The canary, who: for reasons unknown, was still on the ship, and saw the capture of one of the heroes. “Since I am royalty, it is up to me to save my new best friend.” He said aloud; knowing what he should do next.

“Hey, Duck.” Ace called out one hour after the kidnapping and entered the room he thought they were in. “Tweetums.” He called out before looking down and saw the damaged carrier at his feet. “Just as I thought, those two birds of a feather are up to something.” He stated, believing that the fowl in question were doing something fun, and decided to find out where they were.

“If you don’t get on the radio and tell your friends to turn over Tweetums, I’ll show you the meaning of pain.” The feline bounty hunter said to his prisoner who was standing in a small circular prison.

“Are you kidding?” Danger questioned back at the taller creature and followed it with, “There’s nothing worse than what that flea-bitten winged rodent has already done.” The mallard meant that sentence since his body has been in pain ever since they first met.

“You too?” He questioned in pure awe that someone else was feeling his pain. “You know, the very first time I ran into canary face…I lost all my back teeth, look.” He stated and even showed the hero the damage he was speaking of.

“Ew. You got off easy. I lost parts of me I never even got to use.” Duck said back as a counter comment. Neither of them knew that the bird in question was making a solo run to the enemy vessle.

“Maybe nobody’s home.” Tweetums questioned after using his person hover disk to get to the door handle of the opposing ship. After giving the handle a simple pulldown the door opened for him. “Oh, it’s unlocked. Not too smart in this neighborhood.” The royal one pointed out before going inside.

“I got this the time cheeseball locked me in a particle accelerator.” The cat said as he opened the armor to his lower left arm and showed that there was no fur on that limb…in fact it seemed the hand to that arm was also stiched back on as well.

“No feathers left from taking on 200 million volts.” The mallard countered while lifting the shirt portion of his outfit and showed the feline that his stomach area had no sign of feathers.

“No hair left for being dipped in molecular acid.” Vester countered while opening his lower chest armor to reveal what he said…along with gaining a gut. As they continued their back and forth the spire team had some good news for their space bound friends.

“There the protective shield is back up.” Lexi said after Tech flipped three switches. “You did it.” She said in praise to the other two.

“Thank you.” The speed and brains of the team said as one. “She was talking to me.” The two shouted in anger with their foreheads touching one another; they were both about to have a bout to see if speed was better then magnet or was it the other was around, but a clearing the throat sound from Spider-Man caused them to focus on their field leader.

“You know, it’s awfully strange that whoever’s out there found us so easily.” Ace said once all of their attention was on the delivery team.

“Unless they intercepted our communications.” Rev said to the field leader since that was the only thing he could think of. The canine heard his friend’s comment and did not agree with it.

“Impossible. They would’ve had to have broken my code, and no one could do that.” Loonatic green said to red since he prided himself on his defensive prowess. The other egghead heard that as did the rabbit, and it was then they knew that something was up.

“Tech, do some snooping and trace all transmissions during the attack.” Ace instructed the computer expert at the base. “Find out who’s been yakking with the enemy ship.” He added, giving the others a hint that he already suspected someone.

“That’s just a scratch.” Duck called out after seeing the latest damage the man outside his energy cell has suffered. “I can beat that, look.” He added and was about to show him the damage, but the cat leaned in, immune to the field, and got up close to the duck.

“Oh, yeah? Well, I bet you never got sucked into a black hole.” Sylth said before standing up and took off his helmet. As soon as he did Danger bared witness to something that horror movies could only dream of doing to a person’s face.

“Okay, you win.” Danger admitted while keeping his lunch from going into his mouth. As the cat went to a nearby console to input a simple command the creature they were speaking of saw the last bit of it.

“That duck sure is a good friend. He’s confusing the puddytat and making him that that he doesn’t like me.” Tweetums said to himself in an admiring tone. The tiny creature decided to get to work. “Psst. Mr. Duck.” Tweetums whispered as he used his hover disk to get in close.
“What are you doing here?” Danger whispered back since he knew the safety of this royalty came first.

“I’m here to rescue you.” Tweetums said back in an, ‘isn’t it obvious’ tone. The canary took out his paper clip, hovered to a panel in the back and got to work. After a few moments the field went down, but that did not make the water based warrior happy at all.

“Can I sink any lower? Freed by the makings of a finger sandwich.” Danger said with a disgruntled sigh.

“I was very worried about you, Mr. Duck. You shouldn’t wander off like that.” Tweetums commented to the Loonatic after putting his paperclip back in its proper compartment in his armor. “Uh-oh. I thought I saw a puddytat.” The small bird stated after a familiar shadow was cast over him.

“Come here.” The lackey shouted while snatching the royal one from the ground. Despite the chewing Tweetums was able to lift the upper jaw from the lower jaw without any problem.

“I did. I did saw a puddytat.” The bird said, just as his ancestors before him. The prize then fell out of the open mouth and landed at the feet of his new best friend. “You are a very, very bad puddytat tying up my friend like that.” The bird said as he pointed an accusing finger at the creature in question.

“Kiss your feathery butt bye-bye.” The opponent shouted as he pulled a gun from a hidden spot on the back of his armor and pointed it at them.

“Oh, yeah? Jump on. I’ll get us out of here.” Danger said to Tweetums while picking him up and placing him on the back of his neck. As soon as the cat shot from his blaster Duck quacked away, but reappered beside the console the cat was just at.

“Are you sure you’re an action hero?” The heir questioned after peeking from their location and saw that they only teleported about a foot from where they were, and was unimpressed.

“You got any better ideas?” Loonatic orange questioned with a sarcastic tone since he did not like it when someone insulted his quacking powers. As Sylth came over to them Tweetums decided to do what he did best - be a curious bird.

“Ooh, what’s this wed button do?” The yellow feathered friend questioned after climbing to the console and pointed to a big red button marked: danger.

“Suffering succotash! Whatever you do, don’t touch…the red button.” The cat said in alarm since he knew what it did, and he didn’t like it.
“He don’t know me very well, do he?” The tiny one questioned to his best friend before doing what the other specifically told him not to do, and pressed it with his foot.

“Suffering succotash.” The attacker said in an awe struck tone even though he was thinking, ‘Should have seen that one coming.’ It was then his computerized voice of the ship spoke to what was just pushed.

“Self-destruct sequence activated.” The voice said causing the three to become a bit nervous over what was happening around them. “The ship will self-destruct in 10 seconds.” The voice explained to the three organic life forms within, and began to count down.

‘Come here you.’ Danger thought as he stood up and grabbed the royal one. As soon as the porter ported away Sylth went to work of typing to disarming code as quickly as possible.

“Whew. That was close.” Vester commented after typing in the last of the code and just made it on the last second.

“Zero.” The voice said to the owner of the ship along with, “Bye-bye.” Outside Duck and Tweetums flew back to their ship, and heard the explosion - expecting their pursuper to be gone with the ship, but in the smoke the man in question flew away in an escape pod.

“How do you like that? For once I didn’t get the worst of it?” Danger questioned as he looked over his shoulder and saw in the pod window that the cat was covered in a soot of sorts. His praise was short lived for when he looked forward, “Yipes!” He shouted before slamming face first into their ship.

“Poor, poor Mr. Duck. I’ll rescue you.” The heir said as he watched the mighty mallard slide down the side of the hero vessel. After the save the two went back inside and told Ace, Slam, and Spider-Man everything that had happened, and all that they said helped cement Peter and Bunny’s thoughts.

“Better act as if everything is normal when we reach Blanc.” The swords-bunny stated to the loner of New York who nodded before getting back to his post. With no other interferrence they landed on the specified planet and made up with the elder in question.

“Ah, Loonatics, you’ve made it. Do you have the Royal Tweetums?” Grannicus questioned politly to the heroes of Acmetropolis.

“Here you go your highness. Safely delivered as promised.” Loonatic yellow said to her with blue and orange to the right of him and purple to his left along with the one in question at his feet.
“Oh, thank you, Ace.” The woman said back to the hero with the same nice tone not noticing the eye conversation between blue and yellow. “Now you can do me one more favor:” She said while adjusting the staff to her lips and finished with…

“Drop your weapons.” She said in a deep voice which surprised the heroes.

“Do as she says. I got an itchy trigger finger…” Sylth said to them as the seat in the center of the rondevous point turned and they saw him sitting in a wheelchair. “…Well somewhere in here.” He added since his nervous system was still shot due to the latest explosion.

“What’s going on here?” Danger questioned as Vester revealed the hidden arsenal inside his wheelchair. Peter nodded: telling the field leader that it was okay if he explained he was just happy to make sure the lackey was with her thanks to his spider sense.

“It seems Queenie was in cahoots with Sylth Vester all along. Not only did she launch the attack on HQ, she was the one jamming our signal and feeding whiskers the location of our ship.” Ace said while the gun totting grunt was wheeling into a better firing spot.

“That’s right, rabbit. There’s no way I’m turning over the throne to some small bird. I‘ve been running things just fine.” She said with the ‘I’m better’ tone in her voice while pointing at the creature in question with the staff.

“You are a bad, bad queen. Just for that, you are off my court.” Tweetums said to her with a defiant tone of voice.

“Oh, and you are off my planet. Permanently. Finish them off.” Grannicus said: not even taking the threat seriously. He did as she asked and opened fire while laughing.

“Take that. And that. And thatty.” He shouted while firing. The cat began spinning around them and fired at the same time, but once he stopped all five of them vanished. “Hmm. Not exactly the sharp shooter I used to be.” Sylth admitted after they faded away.

“Sorry, mummified mercenary, but you were mainly blasting away at our holograms.” Spider-Man said in a casual tone causing both villains to turn and see that each of them were holding strange sugar cube which Parker called - holo cubes.

“Queenie, you are dethroned.” Ace said as he put his cube away and pulled out his sword. As the bunny did that the two of them tried to make a break for it. “Guardian Strike Sword attack.” He ordered after plunging the blade into the ground, the power surged to them, and made a dome barrier.

‘At least things can’t get any worse.’ The elder thought after hitting the dome and landing in her minion’s chair only to look up and see the dome fade away and some gunk fall on top of them.

“If it wasn’t for Duck’s brilliant scheme to have Sylth capture him I would have never figured it out.” Ace said when the gunk, which was glueco gel, harden into block form so he could lean on it.

“That wasn’t my brilliant scheme. I mean, that was my brilliant scheme?” Danger said back, and realized that the field leader say that just to make him part of the solution to this whole thing.

“You see: Sylth was so busy with you Danger-wing that he had no idea that he was being monitored by Tech back home. Tech traced who the puddytat was talking to, back to the anti-Granny.” Parker stated since he did not want to be left out entirely.

“Yeah, it was brilliant, right? Sometimes I even impress myself.” Danger said back, feeling even more proud of his role as decoy. Within the mold Grannicus elbows his grunt in the gut for his failure of not making sure that the channels were secure. Once they were taken care of and Tweetums sat on the throne the tiny one had one more request.

“You may approach, Mr. Duck.” Tweetums stated to Loonatic orange in his usual tone. The hero in question walked up to him as if he was still in the hero’s protective custody. “Psst. You’re supposed to bow your head in the presence of my greatness.” The canary whispered since he saw the egg-tosser did not do that on his own.

“Oh, right.” Danger whispered and knelt down with a stern look on his face.

“For acts above and beyond the call of duty…I knight you Sir Duck.” Tweetums said once the hero was in the proper pose before hitting him on the head with the royal scepter.

“Ouch! Owie! Hey!” He shouted in pain, and stood once the hitting stopped. “Funny, but I feel kind of different already.” The mallard admitted with four large bruises on the top of his head. “So, what kind of perks does a knight get anyways, huh?” Duck questioned once the area stopped spinning.

‘This is too good to pass up.’ Peter thought to himself. He followed the two to a room on Blanc and opened the door a crack and saw that Danger was giving the heir a bath and they were both singing a song he has never heard before.

“A little lower. No, lower. Lower.” Tweetums ordered his latest knight before cutting the cheese in his bubble bath.

“Easy, Your Highness. This is about as low as I get.” Danger said back with a face of disgust not knowing that his pain was being captured on film.

‘I can’t wait to see the other’s expressions once I have these developed.’ Peter thought with a satisfied smile on his face.

Copy Rights:
Spider-Man, and the others, are owned by Marvel and Stan Lee.
Loonatics Unleashed, and the others, are owned by WB.