╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
TWENTY TWO!
versus the dark night
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
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The group had just finished a successful mission at Mount Lancer. They had saved a whole group of miners, who were trapped and they were currently proud of themselves.
After the stressful mission, the group wanted nothing more than to relax but unfortunately for them, a mysterious blackout had occurred in their home city. To some it would seem like faulty wiring but to the Mech X4 team, they knew something bigger had happened, so they had to get to the bottom of the situation.
"The whole power grid is glitching." Harris announced to the whole group.
"It's crazy out there." Mark revealed, once he had exited the elevator and walked over to his brother.
"Any theories?" Ryan questioned.
"No, Leo's trying to figure something out thought. One second everything's fine. The next, there's some sort of weird power surge." Mark explained. "Do you think it could be..?"
"Grey." Ryan nodded. "Yeah, maybe."
"Or it could be a squirrel." Spyder suggested confidently. "They nibble on a few power lines and boom! It's a blackout." The entire group stared at him in confusion.
"Spyder, what have I told you about speaking before thinking?" Natalie reminded.
"Don't do it." Spyder muttered shamefully, causing his girlfriend to nod in agreement.
"Spyder, could be right. It might not be Grey." Harris pointed out.
"Spyder could be right." The boy's eyes widened in disbelief. "So, um, this is what dignity feels like. It's ok." Everyone gave him weird looks.
Suddenly, the whole robot violently shook again. Ryan ran closer to the screen to see what was happening in the city. All of the lights in the city then went out. Every single light was gone.
"That came from the power plant." Harris pointed out in disbelief.
"The city lost all of its power!" Ryan exclaimed.
"No squirrel did this." Spyder said.
Natalie decided to quickly run and check all of the geographic systems on her computer to ensure that the area was not unstable. She also made sure to check for any remaining power sources in the city. "I'm scanning the city for power fluctuations." She announced to the entire group.
"It looks like all of the buildings that have power are running off generators." Natalie explained as her teammates surrounded around her computer to get a better look. "Hold on, picking up a strange reading coming from..." She was drawn to one certain location that was heavily interfering with the program she was running.
"Veracity's house?" Harris questioned out loud. "That's weird." Everyone gave him a weird look.
"What's weird? Other than the fact that you're scanning a girl's house." Mark pointed out.
"And that you apparently know Veracity's address by heart." Ryan added.
"Natalie scanned every house in the city. Statistically, some of those have to be a girl's house." Harris defended himself.
"Super creepy." Spyder shuddered.
"Oh, you're not so innocent there, Spyder. Do you remember when you used to follow Natty home, back in middle school?" Hana announced the boy's secret, causing everyone's eyes to widened. Spyder just looked away awkwardly.
"Dude." Ryan's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"Now that's even creepier." Mark pointed out.
"In my defence, I needed to make sure that my woman was safe." Spyder defended himself.
"Her house has more power than any building in the entire city." Harris pointed out, trying to bring the topic back to the powerless city.
"Ok, then you guys go there and figure out why her house still has power. Maybe it can help us find out how to restore power in the city." Ryan explained. "And just in case Grey or Harper is behind this, we need to get the power back on."
"Are you sure sending Harris is a good idea? Since he and Veracity are a few weapons away from a duel to the death." Spyder questioned.
"We work together when we have to. We're frenemies. You guys get that." Harris said.
"No, no." Ryan shook his head.
"Weird way to put it." Mark agreed.
"Yeah, he got you there." Hana nodded.
"I think I should bring a spray bottle, so you two feisty cats don't kill each other." Natalie suggested. "Well, it's more like Veracity killing Harris."
"Alright, we gotta go to the power plant and see if Grey's behind this." Ryan pointed out and his older brother nodded in agreement.
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Spyder, Harris, Hana and Natalie were tasked with dealing Veraciry Campbell as she had somehow been the only person to be able to avoid the citywide blackout. The group had walked a solid twenty minutes to her house but no one knew exactly where the place was located due to the lack of light.
Luckily, her house was the brightest spot in all of the town. It stuck out like a sore thumb, so it was very easy to determine which place was hers. The group of four reached the driveway and were met with extremely loud edm music and flashing strobe lights. This was definitely a strange sight to them.
"Veracity's having a party." Spyder pointed out.
"Wait, Veracity's having a party?" Harris questioned in disbelief.
"No, she's having a book club meeting." Hana deadpanned with a blank stare.
The group walked up her driveway and over to her front porch. Harris moved forward first, grabbing the door knob and opening the door to reveal that there was indeed a high school party taking place in her house. The residence was filled with a few hundred people or so as music blasted. The group never expected to be stuck at a party.
"It is a party!" Harris exclaimed in disbelief.
"This is my first high school party." Spyder jumped happily on the spot before being accidentally hit with a glass of punch that some girl had spilled on him when she tripped. "It's everything I dreamed it would be." He smiled happily.
"She didn't invite us to her party? This is inappropriate frenemy behaviour." Harris said as they started to walk through the front hallway.
"Harris, I know you're hurting and I wanna be there for you." Spyder tried to comfort but it went sour real fast. "But a party!" He quickly took off into the crowd of people, disappearing within a second.
This just Harris, Hana and Natalie, who were still standing in Veracity's front hallway. Harris wiped the spilled punch off of his face in annoyance. "I'm gonna go find Veracity. Please make sure Spyder doesn't do anything stupid." Harris ordered before stomping off to find the blonde girl.
"God, I can't believe we accidentally got pulled into going to a party. They're like a bunch of animals in here. I feel bad for Veracity." Natalie implored.
"Hey, you wanna go check out the snack table?" Hana questioned.
"Yeah, I'm in the mood for some snacks. I'm also now craving fruit punch because Spyder smells like it." Natalie nodded.
The two girls quickly found their way to the kitchen for some much needed drinks or snacks to fill their appetite after that long agonizing walk from the robot to the house. Luckily for them, the entire kitchen was covered in an abundance of various snacks and drinks. Hana had discovered her favourite brand of pretzel mix, so she immediately drove straight into them.
Natalie decided on helping herself to a much needed drink of fruit punch. She had retrieved her own red solo cup from the stacks behind the bowl before grabbing the spoon in the bowl to pour herself some. She gave herself a large quantity of punch, practically filling her cup to the brim. She took one sip of the punch and was met with a sharp burn in the back of her throat that made her choke unexpectedly. The punch was most likely laced but the girl had never had any alcohol, so she couldn't tell the difference. She thought it was just a different brand of punch and just continued to pour herself countless more cups of the laced drink.
Natalie ended up having at least five or six full cups of the laced punch to the point that the room was practically spinning around her. She was so out of it that she started to sway on the spot. She decided the best plan of action was to go find the others as Hana had left her alone to find Harris.
She pushed herself away from the bowl of punch but she practically stumbled in the process as she no longer remembered how to use her two feet. She had somehow found her way out of the kitchen but she immediately became focused on the large group of people dancing in the living room. She quickly abandoned her idea of finding the others and dove straight into the dance party. Natalie was not one for loud edm music or dancing but for some reason, she wanted to party hard with these random teenagers.
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The party had gone on for way too long for Veracity's liking. Spyder had decided to compose a plan to get rid of everyone in a fast rate. His plan worked like a charm and right now, he was currently holding the door open as everyone ushered out. "Ok! Wrap it up! I don't know where you're going but you can stay here!" The boy exclaimed to crowd of drunk and disappointed teenagers.
"Alright! Oh! FYI! The yellow punch was not originally yellow! So..!" Spyder smiled happily once everyone had officially left. He quickly shut the door behind the last person and then sat down on the staircase next to Hana. The three all stared in awe as Veracity revealed the generator that was currently keeping power to her house.
"A potato?" Harris questioned in disbelief.
"One part, potato generator. One part, turbine powered by the earth's magnetic field. It's got enough power for like two weeks. That's why I can't just turn it off." Veracity explained.
"That Spyder guy ruined the party." Wade, the local school bully, complained. "But its still hilarious we took over some nobody's house." Wade chuckled as he exited the place. That comment made Veracity feel insecure about herself.
"Um.....Yeah, uh, so it charges things wirelessly. And if you turn..." Veracity stuttered sadly.
"Hey, it's amazing." Harris complimented. "Look, don't let that Wade guy get to you. Like I've seen him walk into sliding glass doors, multiple times." He tried his best cheer up the blonde girl.
"I saw him eat a rock once. That's like the end of the story. He just ate a rock for no reason." Veracity added and the group laughed.
"I saw him use his head to get a bag of chips unstuck from the vending machine." Hana finished.
"Alright, I should go clean up." Veracity stood up from her spot on the staircase. "You can charge anything you want but just do it here." She offered to the group before walking away.
"Alright, cool." Harris nodded happily.
Veracity had gone into the kitchen to clean up the piles of messes located everywhere before her two fathers arrived home from work. The first thing she noticed upon entering was that Natalie was still dancing to the loud music playing. It seemed like she had failed to notice that the party was over but she was so drunk, that she was still enjoying herself.
"Natalie?!" Veracity called. The Oliveri girl froze on the spot at the sudden call. She turned towards Veracity and giant smile was etched on her face. She was excited beyond belief to see the other girl.
"Oh my gosh! Hi, Veracity!" Natalie exclaimed before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
"What's wrong with you?" Veracity questioned as she approached the girl. One sniff and the blond immediately knew. Natalie Oliveri reeked of alcohol. "You're drunk." She pointed out.
"Me? Neverrrer!" Natalie giggled.
"Come on." Veracity grabbed the girl by the wrist and dragged her over to where the others were. She practically stumbled over each step but somehow made it to the front hallway in one piece.
"Hey, guys!!" Natalie greeted, causing everyone to turn towards her. She had the biggest smile on her face, was giggling uncontrollably and was practically swaying on the spot. They all gave her confused looks at how weird she was acting.
"She's drunk." Veracity simplified and the thought clicked in all of their heads.
"I'll take care of her for you." Hana suggested, grabbing the drunk girl from Veracity.
Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by a loud roar of some sort. "What was that?" The team asked in sync. They quickly all got up from the stairs and rushed over to the door.
"It's...Oh, man." Spyder's widened. The noise had come from a flying monster that had flew over to the place. It landed right above the group on the roof and began to suck the remaining electricity out of the girl house. This caused the lights to start flickering uncontrollably.
"We have to warn, Ryan." Harris reminded.
"What's going on?" Veracity questioned in confusion, rushed over to the opened front door. She immediately stopped in her tracks when she saw the giant monster above her house. "Woah."
The group all stood there in shock as the monster continue to retrieve the remaining electricity from out of her house. Mech X4 was quickly approaching from the distance. The monster growled loudly before flying over to the robot. The two started to fight each other in the field but the monster ended up gaining the upper hand by sucking all of the electricity out of the robot as well. This left the robot to be unusable for the time being.
"Did that thing just suck out Mech X4's power?" Spyder questioned in disbelief.
"You are sharp." Veracity complimented sarcastically before walking away again.
"We need to get to the robot." Spyder muttered to the team. Well, the coherent members as Natalie was still off in her fantasy from the alcohol.
"Just....one thing first." Harris stopped, he ran over to the stairs to carefully grab Veracity's generator. They all then escaped out the back door.
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The group had tried to make it back to the robot quickly but it didn't help them that Natalie was wasted and kept forcing them to stop at like every possible second. It got so bad that Hana had picked the girl up and carried her over the shoulder. They group took longer than they wanted to but they made it safely back to the robot. The two Walker brothers greeted them at the entrance of the lab.
"What's wrong with Natty?" Ryan questioned, when Hana had forcibly placed the squirming girl to sit down in a chair.
"She's drunk." Mark said like it was obvious. He immediately knew that the girl had too much.
"I only had like six cups." She laughed but everyone's eyes widened in disbelief. She practically had half a bottom to herself at the party.
"Wow! This is still generating power even after the monster attack." Harris exclaimed, bringing the subject back to the generator on the table.
"Can we use it to jumpstart the robot?" Ryan asked.
"I'm not sure." Harris shrugged.
"Hello!" Leo exclaimed suddenly, causing the entire group to scream in shock. They all quickly turned towards the older man with glared.
"Where did you come from?" Ryan questioned.
"There was darkness everywhere, Ryan." Leo pointed out. "I fell asleep on a park bench."
"I hear that, brother." Spyder agreed.
"Guys, the robot is almost completely drained." Mark pointed out.
"Thanks, Mark. Awesome update." Leo complimented sarcastically with a dead pan face. "That's ok. We can recharge it and this beautifully crafted generator will do the trick. Amazing!" He closely investigated the generator on the table.
"You finally did it, Spyder." Leo complimented suddenly as the group tried to cut the male off. "You finally proved yourself a worthy band valuable member of the team. Yes, he did."
"I.....did not build that." Spyder admitted.
"Oh." Leo's face fell.
"But I did help steal it though." Spyder assured.
"Well.....At least you're consistent." Leo shrugged.
"Yeah, come on. You think this train wreck has enough brain cells to build something like this." Hana pointed out in a mocking tone. She received a glare from the boy.
"Anyways, I should be able to get everything back online in a few hours." Leo assured the group.
"A few hours? We need to find that monster now." Ryan reminded in disbelief.
"Well, I could really ramp things up if I had another potato. Let's.....Oh! Look at that! Another potato!" Leo exclaimed, pulling a new potato out of his pocket.
"Why would you have a potato?" Ryan asked.
"To make food." Hana said like it was obvious.
"How are we gonna track the monster without a robot?" Harris pondered.
"It's a big, glowing mosquito in the middle of a blackout. We can find it." Ryan pointed out.
"Woah, hold on, you can't just chase down a monster on foot." Mark reminded.
"That monster's carrying all of the city's power somewhere. We have to follow it, see where it goes and then come back with Mech X4." Ryan said.
"What if we run into Grey? She's.....You know, super strong." Harris pointed out.
"Mech-Links. Antidote darts." Ryan said like it was obvious. "Guys, we can take her down. She's been messing with us since we started high school. With her gone, we're one step closer to having normal lives."
"That's very emotionally stirring, Ryan. I'm really glad I woke up for this." Leo nodded happily. "Ok! I'll get the robot up and running as soon as possible." He assured the teens.
"And we need to get there before we lose sight of the monster." Ryan confirmed, causing them all to nod in agreement.
"Also, Leo." Mark called suddenly, causing the scientist to turn back towards them. "You're on Natalie watching duty." He ordered.
"Why? What's wrong with Natalie?" Just as Leo had finished, the girl had turned bright white and was struggling to hold down the contents of her stomach. The after effects of all of the alcohol that she had consumed, were now finally hitting her.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Leo agreed with wide eyes. He quickly handed a empty garbage can to the hungover girl, who immediately threw up in it. "I'll handle her. You guys go." He ordered and the rest of the group rushed out of the lab.
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Everyone had quickly ran home to grab their bikes as it would of been the fastest method of transportation to chase after the monster. The entire group rode together, following after the monster. The monster was currently traveling over to the power plant on the outskirts of Bay City.
"I can still see it! Over that ridge!" Ryan exclaimed.
"So, we're doing this low tech?" Harris asked.
"Eh, think of it as old-school." Ryan shrugged.
"Ha, ha, we destroyed our old school. This is gonna be awesome." Spyder smiled happily. "We're gonna catch Grey and...hey, ptero-squito!"
"Nice." Mark complimented with a nod.
"And that's why he's names the monsters." Ryan pointed out.
The team had made it safely into the power plant after vigorously peddling there. They entered a room at the back that was decked out in different machines that all served a purpose in Grey's plan. They all ducked behind a few of them to see what Grey was up to. Grey hovered around this aquarium sized tank that was filled to the brim in red monster ooze. She quickly checked all her screens before heading over to a red button.
"Now!" Grey exclaimed, pressing the button. The sounds of alarms started to filled the room. That was the cue for the monster to transfer all of the stolen electricity into Grey's experiment. The room started sparking intensely from the powerful energy source.
"Is that thing made of ooze?" Mark asked.
"Whatever it is, it's not good and we have to stop her. And we have to take that thing out before it's fully charged." Ryan pointed out.
Ryan finally mustered up enough courage to go after her. The rest of the team followed for back-up. "Grey! Whatever you're doing, it stops now!" Ryan exclaimed.
"You're too late." Grey said before taking off.
"She's running." Mark pointed out.
"Should we run?" Spyder asked worryingly.
The team sat there in confusion as Grey's experiment was finally completed. An explosion went off and sent all of them to the ground. Everyone groaned in pain as they rolled over to see what had just emerged from the ooze. It was a man but not just any man. A man made from electrified ooze and he was definitely equipped with powers.
"Is this....form, correct? Have I taken a proper form, so you will recognize me as your ruler?" The man asked.
"I don't like the way that dude's talking." Ryan pointed out.
"Ryan, this guy's power readings are off the chart." Harris pointed out.
"You will address me by my name, human! Traeger, you will address me as Traeger." He demanded.
Mark's phone went off and he pulled it out to see a text from Leo about the robot. "The robot's ready." Mark said happily.
"Then let's not take any chances. Come on!" Ryan demanded. He quickly used his power to connect to the robot and send it over to the power plant. When he was done, him and the rest of the team ran.
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The team quickly and safely made it back to the robot. Everyone got to their stations and prepared to take out their new enemy. "Let's squish this thing back into the ooze it came from!" Ryan exclaimed. Traeger had slowly made his way over to where the robot was in his new all leather attire. He seemed ready for battle as well.
"What is that?" Leo asked in confusion upon making eye contact with the unfamiliar enemy.
"When Ryan's done crushing it, gum on our boot." Spyder confirmed.
Ryan glanced down at Traeger once more before bringing the robot's foot down on him. Traeger's monster ooze composition gave him strength, so he was easily able to catch the robot's foot right before it came down on him. He then tossed the robot into the woods like it was a rag doll. All of the members of Mech X4 fell out of their desks and were hurled towards the elevator. They were pinned to the doors from Traeger standing on the robot's face.
"Come on, guys, we got to get back into this fight." Mark encouraged. Ryan then used his power to force the robot to get back up. Everybody was unpinned from the elevator and could now move freely. The heavy weight was now off their chests.
"It's gone." Harris pointed out in shock.
"Oh, good. I mean, that guy was way out of our league." Spyder sighed but received a glare from everyone. "He threw us like a chew toy. Guys, come on." He shrugged.
"You didn't have to point it out." Hana reminded in annoyance.
"I don't understand. Why not just waste us now?" Mark pondered.
"Because whatever it's planning, it's a lot bigger than just beating up Mech X4." Harris pointed out.
"What was that?" Leo asked.
"He said his name was Traeger." Ryan confirmed. "And I have no idea how to stop him."
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After the devastating battle with their new created enemy, Traeger, the group had retired to the lounge room to figure out a new plan. The only two who didn't join the group was Natalie, who was now sober and Leo, who was stuck caring for her. The girl sat on the bed in the Med Bay with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She was feeling a bit better but the garbage can was still nearby in case she had the urge to throw up again.
"I have the best remedy for you!" Leo announced upon entering the room. "A bottle of water and two slices of buttered toast." He showcased the two items in his hands with an excited smile.
"I don't want anything to eat." Natalie denied.
"You have to. You'll feel better if you do." Leo assured and she reluctantly took the toast from him. She began to unhappily nibble on the toast.
"How do you know so much about taking care of hungover people?" Natalie pondered.
"I used to have wild days back in university." Leo explained.
"You?" Natalie's eyes widened.
"Of course! I used to occasionally party and drink in my freshman year." Leo confirmed. "I was somewhat of a party animal."
"That sounds so fake but I trust you." Natalie assured, earning a glare from the older male.
"It's true!" Leo defended. "Harper and I used to go on benders together after we finished our exams. I one time got so blacked out that I woke up in the dorm hallway."
"That's kind of insane, especially for you." Natalie chuckled in disbelief.
"Oh, yeah.......but you shouldn't do what I do when you get to university. Your studies are more important." Leo lectured in a serious tone.
"You sound like such a dad." Natalie pointed out at the male's suddenly serious nature.
"Never would expected to sound like a dad. I'm more like the cool uncle." Leo defended himself.
"Well, you kind of are the dad of the group. You are the oldest." Natalie reminded.
"I'm not that old." Leo argued.
"Yeah but you know what I mean. You teach us how to do things. You basically take care of us. Like you give us advice, encourage us to do better and you still took care of me, even though I threw up everywhere. You're the dad of the group." Natalie explained.
"You know it's funny you say that because I do actually have a daughter." Leo confirmed.
"Really?" Natalie's eyes widened and earned a nod of confirmation. "How old?"
"Around your age but I wouldn't know as I haven't seen her in years." Leo answered sadly.
"Because of the experiments and hiding?" Natalie questioned and he nodded. "Have you thought about looking for her?"
"Yes and no. I would like to see how much she's grown but at the same time, I don't want to put her in danger." Leo explained.
"I get that but I'm sure everything will be fine soon and you'll be able to meet her." Natalie assured.
"I hope so too." Leo agreed.
★ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ! spyder johnson ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)