Loonatics Unleashed:

"Silent Conspiracy"

(This story is post Season Two – after the cartoon series.)

Rated T for Intrigue.

Disclaimer: Loonatics Unleashed, Duck Dodgers in the 24th and ½ Century, Looney Tunes, and all related Characters and Elements are trademarks of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Other references, lyrics and quotes belong to their individual artists, authors, copyrights, or trademarks.

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Epilogue.

Pink Triangle.

CRASH!!!

Lexi rolled over in her hammock and groaned. "Not again." Then, even though the disturbance wasn't repeated, the doe bunny pushed aside her unworthy sentiment and got up. Not wanting to deal with the troubled genius's night-terror on her own, Lexi padded out of her bedroom in her pink pajamas and bunny slippers and knocked on Rev's door. "Come on, Rev, you're the one who insists on letting Tech have metal in his room. You can help clean it up when it's trashed."

"Another-nightmare? Tech's-been-doing-so-well-lately;-he-hasn't-been-nightmaring-like-he-was-right-after-his-incarceration. He-must-be-having-a-relapse. Thankfully-they-are-becoming-less-frequent." Wearing his red nightcap and pajamas, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Rev joined Lexi. "But-I-had-hoped-he-was-getting-over-it."

"You and me both." Lexi agreed with her speedy teammate.

"You and us all," Ace corrected. Ace in his yellow pajamas and Slam in his nightshirt joined their two teammates. Over the course of the coyote's emotional recovery, the Loonatics got used to seeing each other in their nightwear.

Not that Ace could blame Tech for not being able to sleep. He'd had nightmares himself after seeing the prison surveillance footage of the guards beating the coyote. With the exception of Tech, all of the Loonatics had started watching the uncut footage that Optimatus brought back from the Acmetropolis Intergalactic Prison Ship; but only he had finished it. It was hard to stomach. But as leader and as the one who had executed the coyote's arrest, Ace figured that he owed it to Tech to know the truth. Little wonder that Tech still refused talk about it. In fact, whenever confronted with the proof, Tech would shoot his metal spikes through the footage and rip it apart with his magnetism. At least the mayor of Acmetropolis conducted a thorough investigation and reformation of the penal system.

Despite all, Tech worked fine as a guardian of the universe. If anything, the coyote was more efficient in the field, (slightly) less fanatical with his inventions, and more dedicated to his teammates than before. He repaired and updated the base and all the broken equipment as well as published his papers. Tech never missed a shared meal with everyone or a night out to the movies together. To all intents and purposes the coyote made a full recovery from his imprisonment.

In the light of day, anyway. Nights were another matter. And yet even those had abruptly smoothed out about two weeks ago. No, Tech functioned well as a Loonatic. Almost as he always had . . . almost. There were other fallouts of his incarceration besides the nightmares.

Ace shook his head remembering the Loonatics' latest capture. Slyth Vester had escaped and boosted one of Tweetums' egg-transports to flee the system. Tech's upgrades on the Loonatics' enviro-suits allowed them to apprehend the felon feline with no difficulty. He'd even stopped the treacherous tomcat with his magnetism, but the scientist refused to aid in the actual arrest. Though Tech didn't interfere with his teammates taking the villain into custody, he wouldn't do it himself.

"Ya know, gang, I'm wondering if yesterday's incident with 'Puss in Boots' didn't spark tanight's nightmare." Ace triggered Tech's bedroom door and they stepped inside.

When the door swished open behind him, Danger Duck hastily dropped his hands from rubbing Tech's ears to calm the genius down to his shoulders. Seeing their teammates, the mallard put on his tough-guy act, which was just a little hard to do in his orange feet-y pajamas. He hated being caught coddling the coyote. Danger might have a tough love, but it was real. The mallard shook his head. He often found Tech on the floor like this. The coyote had no bed in prison. "Come on, you big baby, wakeup."

The faintly glowing green coyote crouched in the center of the floor, knees drawn up to his chest much as his distant ancestor, Wile E. Coyote was wont to do when contemplating a new scheme to capture the roadrunner. Tech, however, wasn't pondering a new invention. His arms were wrapped so tightly around his knees that they trembled and his eyes were squinched shut, blocking out the intrusion of reality. Tormented by emotional memories, Tech didn't respond to his teammates; he only whimpered slightly between mumbled words of denial. "'Voices, far away like from a different world . . . only right next to you.'"

Rev crouched down beside the coyote, calling his name and placing his hand beside Danger's on his friend-brother's shoulder, but the genius only pulled tighter into himself. Tech wasn't in his pajamas; he was still in his Loonatic uniform, though it sported the additions of the coyote's fingerless sports gloves and spikes. The roadrunner suspected that the inventor had been working late into the night when exhaustion overtook him. It was a habit that Tech had rekindled of late to avoid the phantoms of his sleep.

The roadster looked around the room. Metal spikes and twisted links of chain were embedded in the ceiling and walls. An entire metal shelf and all its contents was smashed on the floor. Rev hated it when Tech got like this. You never knew when the coyote would lash out in his sleep and you'd have to duck for cover to avoid getting hit by the shrapnel. Even so, the speedster made sure that Tech's room was nothing like his prison cell where nothing metal was allowed.

Slam spun out of the room, but was back in a whirlwind moments later with an armload of beanbag chairs from the living room. The Tasmanian devil grunted when he noticed that Danger's big fluffy orange pillow was already there on the floor. Stepping over scattered tools, gadgets, and even a letter-gram from Black Velvet that came three days ago, as well as the broken shelf that had awakened Lexi in the first place, the rest of the Loonatics settled in until Tech either fell back asleep or woke up completely. They lent the coyote the only support they could . . . that of their presence.

Tech heard his friends' voices. Clinging desperately to the lingering remnants of the dream that he despised, the genius feared what he'd face if he truly awoke. Finally, feeling multiple sets of arms around him, the coyote uncurled and tentatively ventured to open his eyes. The pupils of Tech's eyes smoldered green again. In prison, he hated sleep when he dreamed of the past. It made the waking that much more painful. Only this time he really was surrounded by his friends.

Tech shuddered as taunts of false hope resolved into his teammates. Drawing a ragged breath, the coyote clung to his rout . . . his family. In his waking mind, Tech knew. In his nightmares, the horror still lived. Feeling his friend-brother trembling, Rev tightened his hold.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Lexi asked gently.

Tech shook his head, no. "I dreamed of when we were still on Acmetropolis. We were all at the beach just playing in the waves. There was a light, warm breeze, and you could even see an outline of the sun through the sullen purple skies."

Lexi smiled. It sounded wonderful! She still kept her surfboard, water skies, and sand bucket with hand trowel in her room, though there were no big seas on Blanc. That was precisely the type of dream that she went to sleep for. Then the bunny's brows furrowed. If Tech was having such pleasant dreams, why was his room a shambles? The doe bunny looked to her friends, but they were as confused as she.

"Oooo, bad one!" Danger said sympathetically. In prison with no chance of parole, the worst nightmares had to be pleasant dreams of home. The mallard affected a shudder. "Imagine thinking you're on a nice outing with your friends and then waking up to Mastermind's bloated head. Eeewww!"

Ace's ice blue eyes darted from Danger Duck to Tech, then to the oversize orange pillow on the floor. No, Tech's recovery wasn't as abrupt as they had thought. And tonight's isolated incident wasn't just a relapse . . . nor was it isolated. Danger had been getting up the with coyote all these nights while the rest of them slept. The knucklehead! the mallard should have told them. "We're here for ya, Tech. All of us."