Only Two

by ensiathe3rd

Something went wrong. Nothing new. But this time, it cost them dearly. Normally, Adam had the strength of ten men, but this weight was too much for even him to bear alone. Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo once thought themselves an unstoppable and inseparable team, that is, until someone decided to prove them wrong.

4. To Remember

disclaimer; i do not own lab rats

An; I have wrote, rewrote, deleted and wrote again with this chapter, i hope you like it. also i do not speak french. Ensia

Two Names

The air was cold in the morning before dawn. A breeze hit the trees in childlike playfulness, and before they could respond to the impromptu game of tag, the little rascal ran away again daring anyone to accept his invitation to a race. Like the mothers they were, the trees tried to catch the child in their long arms, but he proved too quick for them. Swirling and jumping and tossing and turning, he moved quickly without purpose and in the early morning before the dawn when the rest of his playground slept, he laughed. Nothing could stop him, nothing could hurt him. And so he kept on playing. What did he care of war? What did he know of death? Innocence, sweet and gentle, was his as it should be with all children. Though, of course, he was luckier than most. He didn't have to grow up.

Three beings walked through his playground in the darkness. Excited at the prospect of new playmates, he ran past them and playfully messed up their hair. He hoped to get a reaction from them, so they would come and play with him. They didn't, but he wasn't bothered by it, he just went on his merry way as his mothers tried and failed to catch him. The beings he left behind kept on their path. The shorter of the two boys walked surefooted as though he could see the path ahead of him. The girl would walk a few steps and then jump onto one of the trees next to her, she would stick there like a tree frog not indigenous to this area of the world and with little effort jump to another just ahead of the trio on the path. Only the last of the three was having trouble navigating the path in the darkness before dawn.

After tripping on what must have been the millionth root, which it wasn't, Chase had counted, Adam stopped and groaned in frustration, "I don't understand." Chase and Bree both stopped and thought for a minute, no, too easy. "Why can't Bree just run us there?"

Bree hopped back to a tree near Adam and with the grace of a gymnast, jumped down, "Short version, I don't want to." There were times when Bree lied, she was quite good at it, but sometimes blunt honesty just worked out better for her. "Longer version, if they really are tracking our GPSs we don't want to tip them off. Chase and I know the way enough that we can find the building with them turned off. So no harm there."

Adam crossed his arms, "I still think we can take them."

Chase rolled his eyes, but in the darkness, only someone with his eyes could see it, "Yeah, because that worked out so well for us yesterday."

Adam let out a breath of relief, "Finally, you get it."

"Adam, yesterday went horribly."

"We won, didn't we?" The simple truth often held the most logical of points. Adam didn't need book smarts or street smarts to understand this. Nothing under the sun was naturally complicated, but people often made it so, and Adam was often left behind. Not because he didn't understand the problem, but because he didn't understand the complicated twists and turns people put on it.

"Ugh, you're impossible." And with that Chase turned and they kept going. The only thing was, Adam was simple; his logic, while skewed sometimes, was almost never wrong. He didn't understand why that made him impossible or stupid to the rest of the world.

In a short while, they came to a ridge that overlooked their target. If they didn't know it was there, they would've overlooked it. It was buried in the wilderness of the forest and hidden from plain sight by trees and undergrowth. They lay down on their stomachs and watch. Chase put a finger to his temple and his vision expanded. Innumerable amounts of data jumped into his line of sight. Flashes of numbers and text sped through his line of sight at a rate nothing and no one but Chase could ever hope to process. Having a mind faster than a supercomputer might not seem as practical or cool as super strength, super speed, laser vision or anything else that his siblings could do, but it did have its advantages. After completing a task in five seconds what fifty people couldn't accomplish in less than three hours, Chase came to a conclusion that set him on edge. "What is that about?" he whispered mainly to himself.

His siblings heard none the less, "What was what about?"

He turned to his siblings and even though he knew they couldn't see him, he saw them look his general direction, "There isn't anybody there."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"How does that make sense? They were here earlier."

Chase ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know, maybe they heard about the hiker too and decided to bail before anyone came to investigate"

"Maybe they were abducted by aliens." Adam could feel his sibling's gazes on him. He just shrugged, "It could happen."

"Okay, ignoring Adam, what do we do now?"

"We're here anyway, let's check it out. Who knows? Maybe they left something behind, we can use." Though Chase really doubted it, he didn't want this trip to be for nothing.

"Okay let's go" Bree climbed to her feet, but Chase caught her foot before she could go any further.

"Hold up, we don't know what's inside. We need to be careful." Bree probably knew Chase could see her rolling her eyes.

Adam rose to join his sister, "Aw you're no fun Chase, where is your sense of adventure?"

Chase groaned but got up just the same and then they walked to the compound. They went around the walls until they came to a door with an electrical panel. The system was on full shut down. It only served to further Chase's belief that they wouldn't find anything there. It was only pure stubbornness that kept him from calling it quits. After Adam was so kind as to open the door for them, they snuck their way in.

The walls were cold and silent, the halls seemed to stretch on forever. Thankfully, dim lights hung from the ceiling and Adam and Bree could actually see where they were going. Adam was more grateful for this than Bree. They stepped in and walked down the hallway. Chase wondered why they would leave the lights on if they had left, but said nothing.

They kept going until Adam groaned, "I'm bored."

The three stopped their progress and the younger two looked at him irritated. Bree crossed her arms, "Not that I don't agree, but what do you want us to do about it?"

Maybe Adam would have retorted, maybe he wouldn't have, but Chase raised a hand and silenced them anyway. His siblings watched as he took a deep breath through his nose. He turned his head and did it again. "Do you guys smell that?"

"No, not all of us have super senses, Chase. What do you smell?"

"Something sweet." He walked forward and turned down the first right branch he found. Adam and Bree looked at each other, worked their silent communication that they were so good at, and shrugged. They then followed their baby brother. Chase kept walking until he heard a slight splash. He knelt down and looked at the clear-ish liquid that covered the floor. Adam and Bree stopped behind him.

After a while, Adam was bored again, "Chase if you really want to play in the water we can let you have the kiddie pool at home."

Chase bit back an exasperated sigh, "This isn't water."

Bree tilted her head and rose an eyebrow, "Well, what is it then?"

Chase tried to think of a way to explain it so his siblings could understand, well, so at least Bree could understand, "Basically a blending of a bunch of chemicals that really shouldn't be put together. It can be toxic, but only after periods of long exposure."

"Yeah kinda figured."

Chase shook his head, "No, I mean yes, but the thing is, it's not the amount you're exposed to, it's the time you're exposed to it. Anyone who is even halfway proficient with dangerous chemicals should know this. So why leave it about in massive quantities?" Upon receiving no answers, Chase looked again at the substance, "It's weird."

"Care to elaborate?"

"That chemical that was in the barrels yesterday, the one you slipped on," Bree rolled her eyes but let her brother continue, "it was almost exactly the same combination of chemicals as this with a few more chemicals that almost completely neutralized it's toxicity, but they protected those barrels like their lives depended on it."

Adam didn't understand, "Why would they protect the nontoxic stuff, if they're trying to kill people the toxic stuff would work much better. And why spill it over the floor?"

Chase couldn't say anything against him when Adam was actually right, "That's the point, Adam. I don't know." Chase stood from his crouch, "Let's find out. Follow me."

"What about the whole toxic thing?"

"We should be fine, we won't be exposed for long."

And the youngest Davenport stepped into the puddle and kept walking. Adam followed by first jumping into the liquid to create a small splash and continuing on as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary. Bree crinkled her face at the prospect of being in an environment where her speed would be compromised, a part of her swore she felt her arm flare in pain at the thought, but quickly smoothed her features and followed her family. The hallway continued into a section with doors left wide open, silently the three split up to check individual rooms. The liquid covered the floors and even a bit of the walls in all the rooms they came across. Chase found a computer in the fourth room he checked, but try as he may, the computers were completely wiped and he couldn't find anything of use to them. It was Bree's fifth room that actually held anything remotely interesting. Only to call it a room felt like an understatement, the door opened up on a catwalk overlooking a vast factory floor below with machines as far as the eye could see. Well, human eyes anyway.

Various machines dominated the scene, all of them making one loud noise or another. A series of conveyor belts traveled, crisscrossed, and looped throughout the place; weapons in various stages of construction and of various sizes flowed from machine to machine. Countless tools of destruction being made every second with no end in sight.

Chase was the smartest person on the planet. There was no way that there was nothing defending the monstrosity in front of him. At the rate it was going, it was probably shipping out hundreds if not thousands of weapons a day. Weapons ready to be shipped to rogue factions all over the world and cause untold damage. Their mission was to gather intel and get out, but every day that delayed this place being shut down was causing irreversible damage. On the other hand, the personnel in the facility, if any, were letting them go for the time being. Any direct attack would be cause for the end of the truce. As of yesterday it was too clear in Chase's mind that they were grossly unprepared for a fire fight with these guys. Chase could see the pros and cons of each plan clearly, and when the day was over it would be his choice. Chase was the smartest person on the planet, but he was a hero first.

"Okay, guys we need to stop this thing from making any more weapons." For all their disagreements, and sibling rivalry, this was something they three could whole-heartedly agree upon. Chase stared out at the factory floor below him and tried to come up with a plan that would work. His vision went green and numbers and data raced across his eyes. Then something else appeared to him, a heat signature came from a spot not too far from them on the factory floor. From the build, Chase assumed it was a female, and she was just leaning against the machine. He figure she might be a problem. "Bree, there is a girl down there." He pointed to where he saw the heat signature, "Can you check her out?"

"Yeah, you want me to knock her out?"

Chase considered, "Not right away. Just see what we are dealing with. If she's going to be a problem, let us know and we can decide from there. Be careful."

"Give me a minute." Bree turned invisible. After that, both boys assumed their sister had left, and Chase continued to examine the machine.

Adam looked over his brother's shoulders, "Why can't we just smash it?"

"It's not that simple, Adam."

"Why not?"

Chase let out a grown of frustration, "Because we are trying to be subtle and stealthy."

"Why are we doing that? They'll know it was us anyway."

Chase glared at his brother, "That's not the point, just let me work."

"Right. And what was it you do again?"

Chase rolled his eyes, but remained silent.

Meanwhile, Bree had found the staircase going to the factory floor. If there was anything she hated about being invisible, it was that she couldn't use her other abilities at the same time without risking injury of some sort (Chase proved that very effectively). As she descended the stairs, she wished she could have just used her agility to jump down, stairs were too slow. Slow set Bree on edge. On the floor, Bree crept to where Chase had indicated. Sure enough there was a young woman there. She looked like she was barely older than Adam. She was wearing loose clothing that looked more at home for someone from the streets than someone working in a high tech terrorist facility. A faded t-shirt and jeans, and a brownish jacket that might have been grey once. The only thing that actually looked like it belonged in this place, was the metallic cylinder hanging from the belt around her waist. She was leaning against the machine while tapping on a tablet. Bree stood still, the girl continued to tap for a moment before freezing with her eyes glued to the screen. Then the girl smirked and let out a chuckle. There was something almost playfully cruel about the noise, like a small boy laughing at the ant he just fried with a magnifying glass. "Hiyah," She didn't look up from her tablet, "It's Bree, right?" Her voice was childish, and her words slurred.

If Bree was visible she would have visibly paled. The girl laughed again, "Don' worry, s'long as you remain outta sight, I'm the only un who knows you're here." She coughed harshly into her hand. "Cameras don' have audio," She tapped her ear twice before continuing the motion to brush her short blonde hair behind her ear. "People watching the feed will only see me talking to myself, which is," She laughed again, "nothing new." The girl hacked again, but after she stopped she took a brief look at the hand that covered her mouth, shrugged, and continued to tap. "Not tha' there should be anyone lef' to watch the feed, but a few tha' are milling around migh' stumble across i'."

Bree took a step back, she wasn't sure how to deal with this girl. She only knew that if this chick knew about her, she also knew about her brothers.

The girl frowned at her tablet, "aw, don' go nowhere." Bree stopped, the girl sounded in legitimate distress. She tapped a point on her tablet and pain surged through Bree's neck. She gasped and swayed at the pain, but Bree had felt worse just the night before, she could take it. The girl tapped the tablet again and the pain stopped. Bree took a deep breath to settle herself, "Desole, bu' I neede' to prove my poin', I nee' you to hear me ou'." The girl ran her hand through her hair and stared at the tablet "He said you would come, I didn' believe him. Desole. Bu' you can' leave now tha' you're here."

Bree rubbed her neck, she couldn't figure out what she was supposed to do, so she just acted, "Who are you?"

The girl smiled again, "So many answers, even more if we look inta the whole philosophy an' our place in the universe and whatno'." She stared intently at the tablet, but whatever focus she might have had was broken by another coughing fit. "I suppose the answer you're looking for though is Carla Peterson. Or Carla, I don' much like Peterson." Carla wiped her mouth and Bree saw a distinct shade of red stain the girl's hand. "I don' ge' why people use both. Or those people who use the middle. Waste of time, if yah ask me." Carla shrugged, "Though I do know a girl who is named after those bugs tha' are really annoying. Yah know?" She swiped her hand in front of her eyes as if trying to swat away the bug she was trying to recall the name of. Carla diverted her eyes to the floor, "She hates me now." Her voice was quiet and just sad. "Why else would she leave me alone?" And she was coughing again.

Bree debated turning visible and then running as fast as she could back to her brothers. But she didn't know anything about the pain, and she didn't want to risk it happening again or to her brothers. If all this girl wanted was to be heard out, Bree could do that for now. This girl sounded like she had taken one too many blows to the head and unfortunately, in Bree's experience, the crazy ones were always the most dangerous. "I don't know. How did you know I'm here?"

"I didn' make you up, you're talking to me."

"No," Bree tried to keep calm; she had spent years dealing with Adam, a child at heart who didn't always make the same sense of the world as she did. She could handle this girl, "How did you know I was here before I spoke?" Bree had to know, if she did then Mr. Davenport could do something to stop it.

Carla closed her eyes tightly, took a deep breath, and opened them, "I tracked you're signal." She flipped her tablet around, on top of a digital floor plan were three colored points, the yellow and green were together and moving along the edge and the red one was more toward the middle. Bree barely got a look at it before Carla flipped it back, but she saw enough to have her heart stop in her chest. "You're bionics give off a distinc' signal and there are sensors all around tha' have been programed to detec' i'." She said it as if it was the most obvious of concepts, "If I inpu' the righ' code, I could shu' them off, overload them, anything really. Bu' they don' know tha' so don' tell them." Carla laughed again, there was definitely blood staining the girl's teeth and lips but if Carla noticed or cared, she gave no indication.

Bree tried to keep her breathing in order, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Yah see these?" She threw her hand out in the general direction of the conveyor belt, then brought her hand back to brush her hair behind her ear. "I made these." She rubbed her eyes with the dexterity of a three year old wiping away tears.

"You made these?" Bree wasn't too sure what she was expected to believe. She wasn't a stranger to smart people who were crazy, but it was normally full of themselves crazy like Douglas or evil crazy like Krane; Carla seemed almost childlike.

"Well, half made them, bu' they're mine." Carla looked up from the tablet and looked at a spot just above to the left of where Bree was standing, "You don' understand. No one does. They don' think I'm capable of anything, they don' know wha' I've done. Wha' I can still do. They don' listen to me, tried to ignore me, bu' they can', no' anymore." She was shaking, "I told them wha' I'd do, but they laughed a' me.

Bree shifted on her feet, "What are you going to do?"

"End them. These are mine, they're all I have lef' of her an' they defile' them, use' them for evil." Carla reached into her pocket and pulled out a flash drive. She tossed it in her hand, and once she caught it she clutched it to her chest. Carla took a deep breath and tossed it on the floor in Bree's general direction. "Here." Bree couldn't decide whether this girl was angry or sad.

Bree was curious so she slowly walked to it and picked it up off the floor. It fell under her invisibility field and vanished from both their sights. She rolled it in her hand, "What is it?"

"An edge." Carla stressed the d.

"Are you helping us?" It seemed off.

"I suppose, bu' in this chess game you're the knigh's an' bishops, well two knigh's an' a bishop, the other bishop is a' home righ'" Carla shrugged, "bu' really, I can only help yah as long as you're necessary to the en' game."

Bree wondered what Carla meant by that, but as the older woman became more and more worked up, her hard sounds in her speech faded, "And what are you?"

"A pawn." Bree didn't know much about chess, but she knew enough to not be so offended by the previous knight comment.

"Who is king?" Bree wasn't interested in leaving just yet, if there were more players she needed to know.

"He was the one who tol' me to invi' you here. I didn' believe you'd come." Bree was about to press for a more concrete answer but Carla interrupted her, "I rea' the papers, I saw the in'erviews, ou' here there is no serious threa' to anything or anybody. No' apparen'ly anyway." She frowned, "You come when the threa' is so big you can' ignore i', then you go back home an' live your life while we wor' righ' under your nose. By the time you go' to us on your own, i' would've been too late." She stressed the t.

"We can't be everywhere at once," Bree wouldn't claim to have a perfect record as far as superhero-ing went, but she and her family did what they could and a lot of people didn't understand that.

Carla laughed but there wasn't any light to it, "Desole, I ge' i', I do, bu' I coul'n' wai'." She was shaking and brought her hand up to brush her hair back, but she grabbed her ear as if trying to block out the sound from her left ear.

"Listen, there is a dangerous chemical spilled all over the floor upstairs, it's toxic and I think you've been infected, it's killing you. Come with me and my brother can help you."

Carla shook her head smiling that blood stained smile of hers, "It's flammable too." But her manic grin turned into more of a grimace

Bree didn't know what to make of that, "Look, I'm trying to help you."

Carla burst into laughter, but it was quite clear that she couldn't really breathe correctly. Fortunately, that meant it was short, "Too little, too late, I'm afraid. She coughed again, and Bree winced at how it seemed to echo in the older girl's chest. Carla's eyes lost focus, "Abou' four months too late."

Bree filed that information away for the time being, "You are clearly in pain now. We can help you with that."

"The only constant in life is pain and the only certainty is suffering," Carla released her ear and brushed back her hair, her voice dropped, "We either live with i' or we die from i'" She looked to a place just above Bree's shoulder, "in the long run, i' doesn' matter anyway," She shrugged and looked to the floor, "we all die in the end." And a new wave of coughing began, her face crumpled in distress and Bree was tempted to approach her and even took a step in her direction, "No!" Bree stopped. "No, no, you go, you go away, you leave, you can' be here."

"Who can't be here, Peterson?" Bree almost turned visible at the shock of hearing the new voice, but managed to stay hidden. The man was in formal military looking garb and flanked on both sides by soldiers.

"You" she glared at him, "You can' be here." She swatted the air in front of her like she was trying to kill an annoying fly. "Go away, before something ba' happens to yah. You should've lef' already."

The man ignored her, "Who were you talking to?"

Bree hated the look the man was giving the other girl. "My frien'."

"Where is she?"

"She's righ' there." Carla pointed in Bree's general direction, and Bree froze.

The man looked in her direction and Bree held her breath, but she needn't. The man quickly looked back to Carla, sounding exasperated he said, "Your 'friend' is not here."

"Si, elle est la." Carla started to grab at her ear again. Bree stood stock still, if this man found out where she was she had the feeling that she would be in serious trouble.

"Your friend is dead." Carla flinched as though he struck her, "Now enough of this, how far are you in setting up the tracking protocol?"

"Aimeriez-vous pas savoir?" She said it quietly, deadly.

The man didn't mind her tone, simply rolled his eyes, "In English."

"No' finish' ye', leave me alone. It's no' like we're in any real hurry. You called an evac this morn' don' you remember?" Carla turned around and walked to the edge of the machine and picked up a faded laptop bag that was leaning against it. It was just old enough looking to match with everything else she was wearing. She put her tablet inside and fished out a clear plastic bag. Inside were pills of varying colors.

"Peterson, you have been given plenty of time. My patience is running thin."

Carla reached into the bag and pulled out a white and a blue pill. She extended the bag to the man and his subordinates, "You wan'?"

"No, you will finish this project or there will be consequences."

Carla shrugged, "Your choice." she put the bag back into her bag. She popped the pills in her mouth and swallowed them.

The man stepped forward, and grabbed her arm and in a low voice, "I will not stand for this insolence much longer, remember that you are replaceable and no one will know the difference." He then shoved her back.

Carla stumbled backward, but found her balance before she fell, she rubbed her upper arm where the man's hand had been, "You won' kill me." Her breathing was harsh and labored.

"Try me."

"I can' help you." She wouldn't meet the man's eyes, but she met the eyes of the solider to the right.

"You're making a very good case as to why I need to get rid of you."

"Yin can." Carla tapped her chest just below her neck, "Yin always helps, she knows wha' to do."

"Enough with this nonsense, get your job done. The bionic teens will be here sometime today, and we have to be ready for them." And with that he turned and began to walk away.

"Wha' you mean they're coming?" Carla tilted her head.

The man turned around, "Somebody reported us to the authorities." He waved his hand, "It's no matter. They won't know what hit them. Just you make sure you have your little program up and running. We'll need it now that we know the girl can turn invisible." He trailed off at the end. The man looked hard at Carla as her face fell into a glare. Comprehension fell on his face, "Where did you say your friend was again?"

Carla broke out into insane laughter. And faster than even Bree could keep up with, Carla pulled the cylinder from her belt and pressed a button. A quick bolt of light left the hair above the man's ear smoldering.

The man ran his hand through it, but chuckled deeply, "You missed. But I do thank you, I had been waiting for a reason to kill you."

Carla's smile never faltered, "I don' miss. An' you won' kill me." She turned her head and spat out a glob of blood.

The man pulled his own weapon from his belt, "You seem so sure of that."

"Oui." Carla stood tall. Before the man could fire his weapon, Bree turned visible and rushed him. He went down hard. Bree sprung back up and stood next to Carla. The older girl bowed her head briefly, "Merci." Bree nodded

The man climbed slowly to his feet, "So what are you going to do now, traitor? Run away, like you always have?"

Carla's smile got even larger, "You migh' consider i'." She turned to Bree, "You too."

Bree shook her head, "We can take him." Carla glanced at her and shook her head back.

The man glared at the two girls. Carla didn't pay him any mind. She looked over his shoulder to the soldier on the right, she called out, "I' time Rook!" The soldier nodded to his partner and both ran in the opposite direction.

The man turned and saw that his backup had left, "What is this?"

Carla pulled her hood over her head, "A gambit. Run." Something in the girl's voice made Bree consider it. But there wasn't time anyway. The air erupted in a red fury. Bree was pushed back by the force of it. The angry tongues ate at everything it could touch. The heat was unbearable. Bree squinted her eyes to see through the blood red flames that dominated her surroundings. Bree doubted it was really as quiet as she perceived. But all she could hear was her heart pounding in her throat. Somewhere, she registered the sound of insane laughter and a scream of agony.

Bree shook her head to try and clear the cobwebs of what had just happened. She was moderately successful. She used her speed and circled the flames. But it wasn't normal fire, and depriving it of oxygen didn't work. The fire just continued to grow and burn. Bree knew she couldn't sit and ponder what that meant for Carla. She knew she wouldn't be able to function if she really understood what had happened. All Bree felt was a deep desire to run to her brothers. And so she took off.

The fire was spreading hot and fast, hungry for another victim. Bree had to be careful when navigating it. She was terrified her rampaging emotions would cause her to glitch. She couldn't let that happen. Somewhere in the sea of red, Bree noticed that there was another source for the red light that she knew she would hate should she ever make it out. She saw her brother's high above where she left them on the catwalk, they were in the process of beating down several soldiers. Barely thinking, Bree jumped. Only once in the air did she realize that she was still a few inches too short. Just as she was about to fall back down, two large hands wrapped around her right forearm. She still slammed into the metal grating as her momentum carried her the distance it failed in height. Adam hadn't even begun to pull his sister up unto their landing when more shots ran through the air. Their catwalk shook and Adam's grip on his sister slipped. He grabbed her tighter.

A loud crack split through the air and Bree whimpered. Adam lifted her onto the catwalk as Chase shielded his siblings. Bree had paled considerably and sunk to her knees clutching her arm. Adam knelt beside her as Chase threw a force field at their opponents. Chase then joined his siblings, he was concerned, usually Bree would just shrug off a broken arm. As cruel as it sounded, he had been expecting her to just get up and continue to fight. She was shaking and tears pooled in her eyes. Chase called her name and once she looked at him he asked, "What happened?"

Bree swallowed a lump in her throat, she opened her left hand and presented it to Chase, "She said to find Yin."

Chase took the flash drive from Bree and was about to question her further, when he heard more footsteps all around them, "Okay, we'll figure this out. Can you stand?"

Bree took a deep breath but nodded, "Yeah." She managed to stand, but it was unsteady at best.

Adam looked at her concerned, "Bree, I'm…"

Bree didn't give him any time, "It's fine, Adam." She looked to Chase, "What do you want us to do?"

Chase looked at the plume of flames to one side and the advancing guards on the other, "Let's get out of here." There was unspoken agreement between the three and they took off running the way they came in.

Bree was trailing behind her brothers, and the boys slowed down a bit to allow her to keep up. Bree wasn't having it, "Keep going, I'll keep up."

The boys shared a look but sped up regardless. They broke out into the open air outside and their stomachs' dropped. Countless numbers of soldiers stood between them and freedom. They had a variety of weapons that ranged from regular old guns to the high tech bolt launchers. All three fell back to back in a human triangle. "Chase."

"Give me a minute, Adam."

"We don't have a minute."

Bree's arm was throbbing, but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to. She looked at her arm, then her brothers, then the swarm surrounding them. "Adam's right, we don't." There really wasn't a choice anyway, she grabbed her brothers and tried to run. They made it about ten feet before, sharp and unbearable pain coursed its way between Bree's neck and broken arm. She stumbled and blinked the fog out of her eyes, but it was easier said than done, "Okay, that's not going to work."

Adam looked at his younger brother, "Do we fight?"

They really didn't have much of a choice. Chase managed a shield just before the swarm fired at the three. Any sound was pointless as the air was filled with the roars and cracks and squeals of weapons firing. Adam used his laser vision to destroy the enemy's weapons, but it was slow going. Bree was the only sibling without any long range abilities, a fact that she had always hated gowning up. Normally, she would just move faster than sound and count that just as well as long range, but in this moment she wasn't sure she could get any decent pace going. If she got any more hurt, it would just slow down her brothers. She knew it, they knew it. So she stayed where she was, and hoped against hope that Adam and Chase could hold their own.

They did for a while. Adam was making decent progress with taking out the weapons, but Chase could only hold his shield for so long and while his mind could take it, he simply wasn't strong enough and his shield fractured. The first bullet was the worst. The pain was hot and intense in his back and he barely registered the others. He didn't remember falling to the ground. He didn't remember passing out. Bree quickly knelt beside him. Adam stood over his siblings and continued using his laser vision. He felt several sharp stings hit his chest and arms, but he kept at it. Bree kept on the ground, she might not have been a doctor but she knew enough to know Chase needed help. Adam was slowing down under the tirade of blows, and soon dropped to his knees. Without warning Adam felt a blow to the back of his head just at the base of his skull. His vision swam. Bree looked around at their situation. She really didn't have a lot of options. Her arm had gone back to dully throbbing, her heart beat hard and fast in her chest. Bree thought about what they had done to her brothers, what they would do to them and the rest of the world should they fall here. She thought about how she had failed to save Carla, and how she failed to protect her brothers, she thought of Leo, Mr. Davenport, and Tasha back home. She got mad. She got strong. She stood, and she did what she did best. She ran. And that was the last Adam saw of her before he passed out. At the very least, he was spared the sound of her cry of agony and the sight of her motionless on the ground as her blood pooled around her.

March 24, 2015

Leo crossed the room for the seventy-fourth time. He hadn't hit anything yet, so yay for that. However, having a rubber ducky while trapped in the middle of the ocean didn't make for much of a ray of sunlight. It had been thirty hours and the time was only getting longer. Donald and Douglas had run through every apparently possible path of finding their kids, but each channel fell short. Leo had thrown up seven times out of the worry twisting his stomach into knots. Only, he hadn't eaten anything since and had been reduced to painful dry heaves in between pacing. He didn't care. He just wanted his siblings back. His head kept cycling back to the last time they had disappeared. This was so many times worse. Last time, they had left of their own volition. They had a fighting chance. Here and now, they were just gone.

Tasha had taken to bringing them food that none of them touched, nor did she expect them to. She just needed something to do. She needed something to keep her mind off of what could be happening to her babies. Douglas and Donald could only think of their work.

Silence prevailed. No one could think of anything to say. Approaching hour 34 Leo couldn't take it anymore and slammed his hands down on the far holotable. It gave under his right hand and glass shards flew from it. Everyone stared at him. Leo didn't register the glass piercing his skin. His knees felt weak and buckled underneath him. Tasha wanted to move to comfort her son, but the action didn't come. She just took her son's breakdown as permission for her to start crying into her hands.

Leo looked up and asked the question that was weighing on everyone's mind, "Where are they?"

Mr. Davenport looked to his brother, then his wife then back at his son, "I don't know."

But none of them were about to stop trying to find out.