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The young rabbit hero quickly motioned to the surprised teenager to get into her portal before desperately shouting out, ‘Luka—Viperion, I need your help!’
Luka tsked. 'Civilian and hero identity? Bunnyx, you’re slipping.’
Bunnyx growled. Luka put his hands up as he chuckled in mock surrender.
'Be glad you found me when I was home alone, Alix,’ he said as he entered the Burrow.
'Who’s breaking rules now, snake boy?’ Alix grouched, snapping the portal shut and stomping across the Burrow, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him along with a ferocity that made him immediately switch into focus.
Luka knew how playful Alix was; cheeky by nature, a jovial competitor, and while she was a realist, she would be able to find levity in heavier moments. Normally, if he pulled her up on a slip, she’d roll her eyes, cock her hip and sass right back at him with an anecdote of when he himself had stuffed up, just to make it an even playing field. Normally, there’d be a little more banter. This, however, wasn’t normal, and it put him on edge. As he observed her, she was pale, sweating, tired, jittery… scared.
'What happened?’ he asked.
'No spoilers,’ she shot back curtly as she pulled him in front of another portal.
'Hey.’ He pulled his wrist out of her grasp. 'If you’re going to send me out of my time into something that obviously has you rattled, I’m going to need to know what I’m walking into - which includes what led up to whatever this is.’
Bunnyx sniffled, and that’s when he saw it. It wasn’t just sweat trailing down her face. Luka wrapped her up in a hug.
'What are you doing, man?’ came her muffled voice from against his chest. 'You-’
'I can spare a moment to make sure you’re okay,’ he told her. She returned the hug, and he felt his shirt dampen with tears. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there, but eventually she pulled away.
'Th-the villain, the new holder of the Butterfly,’ she began as she wiped her eyes and attempted to refocus herself, 'she’s… so much worse that we could have ever imagined. Hawk Moth, Shadowmoth, Monarch - he had at least some boundaries, some morals, some rules about what he did, some lines he wouldn’t cross… but her? She’s just… there’s nothing she wouldn’t do, and it’s horrifying.’
Bunnyx shivered, her pale facade tinging green.
'Should… should I ask why you couldn’t get the Luka of that time?’ he asked cautiously. Bunnyx just shrunk in on herself, and his heart sunk at the mortifying, unthinkable reasons she wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t-
'Spoilers,’ she whispered with a glimmer of a smile, and he relaxed. So perhaps it wasn’t as bad as he wasn’t imagining, right?
'We’re down a few members of our usual team, and the ones who are fighting are being pushed to their limits,’ Bunnyx continued. 'This akuma is complicated, relentless and devastating. When we get on site, I’ll inform the team that you’re here, and after that, observe, report back to the team, and for goodness sakes - don’t let the akuma see you. It’ll be game over if you do.’
'What, like Medusa or something?’ Luka joked, but at Bunnyx’s nod, he grew solemn.
'And that’s just one of the akuma’s abilities.’
'Shit.’
'Yeah.’
Luka heaved a heavy sigh. 'Anything else I need to know?’
'Don’t touch the goo.’
Luka raised an eyebrow.
'Seriously, don’t touch the goo,’ Bunnyx warned him.
Luka nodded slowly as he called on his transformation. 'Goo is a no-go. Got it.’ He looked back at her. 'See you soon, yeah?’
'Yeah,’ she agreed softly. 'Be careful.’
He smiled before stepping through the portal. He was halfway through when he felt a hand pull him backwards.
'Wrong portal, dummy!’ Bunnyx scolded, shaking her head as she lined him up with the portal to the left of the one he just walked through. 'What would you even do without me?’
'I’d probably be really bored,’ he countered as she shoved him unceremoniously through the portal and onto a secluded rooftop.
'I got the young Viperion for you, team’ Bunnyx announced into her comms. 'Don’t lose him - he can’t stay up past his bedtime.’
'Copy that,’ he heard the chorus of voices through his earpiece as he put it in.
'See you later, Vipey,’ Bunnyx said to him as she slapped his shoulder in farewell.
'Later, Energiser,’ he replied, chuckling as she flipped him off before hopping back into the Burrow, the bright portal swirling shut behind her.