"I can't believe it," Abby said. "It's the last day of school, and we have to spend it going to a stupid nuclear power plant."

"It's not all bad," Ty replied. "They're a cleaner source of power than fossil fuels, and until we figure out how to make solar cheap, they're the best we've got."

"Yeah, but they're basically legal nukes. Besides, it's not like they'll turn us into radioactive mutants with a dozen superpowers."

"That would be AWESOME. Unusual, but awesome."

"You know what else is unusual? I haven't seen Paige all morning."

"Why does it concern you?" Ty asked. "I thought you hated her guts."

"I do, but normally she'd make some snide remark about my clothing by now."

"Hmm..." Ty thought for a moment before saying, "Come to think of it, we've seen less of her than normal for the past month. And when we have...she's nicer than she was before that."

"Her parents probably yelled at her or something. It's not like she joined the you-know-what and we don't know about it. Which reminds me..."

The two sophomores ducked into a hallway where they were sure no one could see them. Abby took out her Grossometer and turned it on.

"Hey guys," Lab Rat said, his face filling the tiny screen.

"Any villain activity yet?" Abby asked, hopefulness in her voice.

"Negative."

"Dangit!" Abby stomped her foot. "It's been three weeks since the villains even tried to do anything. Lab Rat, I'm starting to lose it!"

"That makes three of us..." Ty commented.

Lab Rat ignored that and said, "I know. I've been so bored I've actually made a new project."

"Really? When will we get to see it?" Ty wanted to know.

"He'll be done tomorrow morning."

"Well, that's good, I gue-" Abby did a double take. "Did you say 'he'?"

Lab Rat was about to explain what he meant when a noise came from somewhere in the Gag Lab - the sound of something being knocked over. "You know what? I'll call you back," Lab Rat said. The transmission ended.

"We should be getting to the bus," Abby said.

As they joined the crowd of teenagers leaving the building, Ty said to his sister, "I hope I get to sit next to Naomi. Now that would be awesome."

"When are you going to tell her you like her?" Abby asked, shaking her head. "Seriously, it's been two years now."

"Nineteen months, actually."

"Whatever! Point is, you have to tell her sooner or later. There's a long line of guys who'd want to date her."

"I know. That's the other reason I want to sit next to her."

Luckily, Naomi was sitting alone, so Ty got his wish. As for Abby, she got stuck with Andy - which she was not too happy about.

After an eventful day, the students started heading back to the bus at 2:45. The way back took them over a radioactive waste storage unit on a rickety, narrow steel bridge.

"This'll be torn down six weeks from now because of safety code violations," a worker explained. "We haven't had the money to do so for years because the equipment needed kept getting more expensive. Watch your step - parts of this bridge are pretty badly rusted through."

Everyone took caution with walking on the bridge. Ty, who was at the very end of the line, did so in an almost comical fashion, carefully looking for parts that weren't rusted, then setting one foot after the other on them.

"Will you hurry up?!" Abby snapped.

"I'm TRYING to not get killed!" Ty growled in response. Now he wasn't paying attention, and stepped on a segment of bridge that was the most corroded of all. It gave way, and broke off with an audible snap.

Now there was one part of the bridge (Ty wasn't too far from the end), the other part, and four feet of air between them.

Ty looked down, then back up.

"Oh, poop."

He fell. Down, down, getting closer and closer to the 10-foot-deep pool of churning contaminated water.

"Ty!" Abby shrieked, immediately sorry for rushing her brother.

"I regret nothiiiiiiing!" Ty yelled as he descended, and ended the fall splashing into the pool.

Now everyone was staring in horror at the storage tank.

"Turn off the agitator! There's a kid in there!" the worker from before called to his fellow employees.

The water in the pool stopped moving.

It was now very, very, very still.

Abby began breathing in short, rapid breaths.

"Abby..." a teacher said, walking up to her. "I'm sorry, but your brother...is dead."

"N-no..."

Sure, she and Ty had a rocky relationship, but they had a true sibling bond, forged through sixteen years of Abby's life (which was all of Ty's). And now all that was taken away in a single moment. Unable to suppress the urge to cry, Abby began weeping.

Everyone looked down in mourning. Somewhere in the crowd, Paige took off her hat and placed it over her heart.

AN: Sad, right? And I'll admit, killing off a main character (other than an antagonist you absolutely can't sympathize with) is my number one "don't" of fiction.

But the trope here is not Killed off for Real; it's Disney Death. And if you've read TvTropes, you'll know what I mean...

So go to TvTropes! And stay tuned for future chapters!