*Tries to sneak in, knocks over a lamp* Oh, hi! *sheepish grin* Well… it's not Friday, so… yay for updating early? My band practice basically ended up not getting in the way like I thought it would, so here's an update, since I had this ready!
Thanks to ereader12, TKDP, PurpleNicole531, musicnotes093, Leo Corp, Dirtkid123, Stardust16, and Guest for reviewing Chapter 3!
Special shoutout to Leo Corp for being the twentieth reviewer! (I honestly can't believe I hit 20 reviews, thank all of you so much!)
Some replies to you, then on to the chapter!
ereader12: I agree, Leo's new ability is awesome. As for the fire/ice duel, well, you may be on to something there… ;) And thanks! I tried to add at least a little humor before everything goes horribly wrong.
TKDP: Oh, Bree's gonna do something, alright! (Okay, I can't say anything more about that or I'll totally ruin it, so…) And actually, to answer you question, Donald didn't even have time to scan her chip, Bree left before he could do that. Probably should've mentioned that, but there you go! Another reason will be revealed in this chapter, as well.
PurpleNicole531: Thanks! And yeah, I tried to just lighten the mood before basically smashing it with a hammer XD Also, yes, you're pretty much right in your guess.
musicnotes093: Okay, cool! But either way you got it right, actually. The speed thing may or may not come in later… ;) And yeah, one of my biggest pet peeves is when people just throw something in without explaining it. I was kinda worried I over-explained it, but I'm glad you liked it! And that totally did make sense. Plus, the thing with it being his stable point will definitely come in later. Yes, Donald just needed some time, I think. I'm glad you liked the rest of it! As for the vocal manipulation thing—that's actually going to be a big part of a later chapter, so good job with guessing that!
Leo Corp: (this is for all three reviews, FYI) 1. Thanks! 2. I know, right? She really could use some for offensive abilities. Oh, and Krane's revival will be explained later on. And you are correct on all counts! 3. Ah, but Bree's cryokinesis has the Krane 2.0 upgrade! So it's not just the cliché 'fire vs. ice' thing. And you never know what might happen with Taylor and Logan!
Dirtkid123: Thanks for the all caps XD And yeah, Leo's pretty much the last one standing, so let's see how that goes, yeah?"
Stardust16: That's totally fine, I'm just glad you reviewed the third chapter, since you're an awesome reviewer! You're right, Leo definitely does have to be careful! And your guess with Chase's override app usually would be correct, but at this point, it isn't something you can just shut down by taking over her chip—but I'll explain that more later.
Guest: That's okay! Oh, a Frozen vibe, huh? Interesting… that wasn't what I was going for, but okay! XD And yeah, Bree will definitely have a few moments of clarity, but of course, maybe none of them will be able to pull her though… And Chase should be fine… should be… (okay, now I'm just being mean! XD Just wait and see!) Yes, Donald just needed some time.
Okay, now, I have a few notes at the end, but since I don't want you to have to wait any longer, on to the chapter!
The phone slipped from Leo's fingers and clattered to the floor.
VK… there was no doubt in his mind who that was.
Victor Krane. Somehow, he was alive—and he had Bree. There was no other explanation. Krane must have captured her, cut off the rest of Leo's family, and was… after him.
That was terrifying enough, but Leo pushed that away for the moment, focusing on the rest of his family.
His mother had gone to the island, and his brothers, stepfather, and step uncle were all there as well. Well, he'd just get them all out along with the students… somehow.
But how does Bree tie into his plan?
A sudden, horrible thought rushed into his head. Oh, no…
Shakily, he scooped up his phone, turned, and ran.
Taylor turned when she heard footsteps approaching.
"Hey, Bob, what's up?" She could now differentiate people's walking patterns, something she was quite proud of.
When the kid spoke, he sounded a little dejected—she didn't really know why, but he'd probably say. "The mentors are going to see Bree, and no one else is allowed to go, so you and Logan are in charge."
Oh. That would explain it.
She opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, there was a loud cracking noise and she heard several surprised yelps from inside the training area.
Her head reflexively jerked towards the training area, as she would've if she still had her vision. She couldn't see anything wrong, but she obviously couldn't see anything.
"What happened?" she called quickly, frustrated at her lack of sight.
Another person ran up behind her—Logan.
"The power went out," he said.
"What? Why?" she asked, turning to him, her brow furrowing in concern.
"I don't know," he replied. "Let me call Leo."
He pulled out his phone but immediately frowned. "Weird. It won't turn on."
Taylor felt something ice-cold slide down her spine—fear. It prickled her memories, the ones from… before.
"We're being cut off," she muttered.
"What?"
She turned. "Bob, get Spin and round up all the students, get them all back to the dorms. We're on full lockdown."
She waited until his footsteps receded, and then turned back to Logan. "It's an old battle strategy. Cut off any forms of communication the enemy has. Someone's attacking us. And…" she trailed off, putting a hand to her head, which suddenly was, for some reason, pounding. Like when she had… the memories.
"And what?"
She frowned, the headache increasing. "Something about this feels familiar." She swayed, then toppled over. The last thing she remembered was being slowly lowered to the floor.
"Come on, come on!" Leo shouted angrily, flipping through papers and trying not to drop them. "Where is it, come on!"
After about half an hour of this, he triumphantly held a piece of paper in his hand—his left one, just in case he got too excited.
He sat down at his Mission Specialist desk and began inputting codes.
"Bree's chip log from the week that it happened… come on…" he scrolled through different screens as fast as he could. "Aha!" He finally came upon a screen from Bree's chip log the week before she checked herself into the hospital.
Scanning it, he pulled out a few lines of code that looked… off. It looked almost like a bug, a computer bug, but not quite…
He frowned at the screen for a moment. "It looks… tampered with," he muttered to himself. "It's almost like it… corroded. But how could that be?"
It was so small an error, no one would have been able to see it unless they were very deliberately looking, like he was.
But that didn't wake any sense at all.
He fast-forwarded a few days, to the day right before Bree left. His eyes widened when he saw it—it was figuratively a gaping hole where her chip processed logical thinking. That wasn't good.
He spotted another anomaly, and his heart sank even lower when he realized where it was. It was directly where Bree's memories were effectively 'backed up'. That was even worse.
He remembered what the doctor had said about Bree—she was having trouble stabilizing her emotions and she was forgetting things.
It hadn't been a mental thing at all—it was from her chip.
But it was deliberate, purposeful, Leo could clearly see that. Someone had hacked into her chip and set off the virus, with the intention of—well, he didn't exactly know their intentions, but he at least knew who it was.
VK, from the message. Victor Krane. It all fit. He hadn't captured Bree at all—she had gone willingly, with no memories.
He could only imagine what horrible things he had made her do.
"Oh, Bree," he murmured, looking helplessly up at the screens. "What has he done to you?"
"I don't get it, what happened?" Chase was obviously freaking out, seeing as he was running around the room, flailing his arms.
"I don't know," Donald and Douglas said at the same time.
"Why don't you know?!"
"I don't know!" they both snapped.
Douglas sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "I don't know how Krane is alive, if that even is him, but if it is, we're in big trouble!"
"Oh, ya think?" Chase retorted.
Douglas glared at him, but said nothing.
Donald shook his head. "Even Krane makes mistakes, though. There has to be a weak spot somewhere! Chase, do a scan."
Chase nodded and lifted a hand to his temple, furrowing his brow in concentration. Suddenly, he froze.
"What?" Adam and Tasha said at the same time.
"It's… not working," Chase said hesitantly.
"What do you mean, 'it's not working'?" Douglas demanded.
"I mean… I can't do a scan, because my bionics won't activate," Chase clarified.
Douglas threw his hands up in the air. "Great! This is just great!"
"Well, it's not my fault!"
"But there's a reason I created you, and it was not just to sell you to tyrants!"
There was a sparking noise behind them, but only Adam seemed to notice.
"Uh, guys?"
No one seemed to hear him over the bickering.
"You're not helping."
"You're not helping!"
"But you were the one who—"
"Guys!" Adam yelled, finally getting their attention.
"What, Adam?" Chase snapped, looking annoyed.
He pointed behind him, where a monitor had flickered on. "The students."
They all spun around, seeing the only active monitor split into sections, viewing the training room, main area, a few hallways, and the capsule dorms.
"I don't know how that turned on, but it looks like Taylor and Logan ordered a full lockdown," Chase said. "Good."
Tasha frowned. "But where are Taylor and Logan? They're not in the dorms."
Everyone went silent for a moment, searching for the two missing teens.
"There!" Adam suddenly cried, pointing.
They could see them in the main room, right outside the training room. But…
"What's wrong with Taylor?" Chase asked.
She was sprawled across the floor, limp, eyes closed. Logan was kneeling next to her, looking helpless.
When no one answered, Chase repeated the question.
"I don't know."
"Why don't you know?"
"I don't know!"
The teenage girl tugged the hood of her dark sweatshirt lower, better concealing her face. She glanced at the device in her hand, where there were several blinking dots scattered around—GPS coordinates.
She smiled as she noticed the cluster of dots seemingly in the middle of the water (though she new it was on the island Mr. Krane had mentioned in the report), and the one dot, alone, near the shore. She put the device in her pocket and glanced around furtively before transforming into a blur and rocketing toward the lone dot.
Bree knew who it was she was targeting, and she fully intended to carry out her master's orders.
Get ready, Subject L. I'm coming for you.
How was this chapter, guys? I know that I did quite a few line breaks, but it was pretty necessary, in my opinion, since I was showing a bunch of different scenes that all had time skips and stuff. I don't think it was confusing, but tell me so I know how to structure it next time.
Recap time! Leo figured out it was Krane. Taylor and Logan put the students on lockdown, but then Taylor had a memory (we'll get to that next chapter) and collapsed. The Davenports are still trapped in the mentor's quarters, but they can see everything of what happened in the Academy because one of their monitors turned on (coincidence, lucky break? Maybe. Part of Krane's plan? Possibly. Will I hold out on you? You betcha!). Anyway, Leo figured out what's going on with Bree and her chip. Back to the Davenports, they discovered their bionics are shut down (but is it the same in the whole academy? Only time will tell). And finally, Miss Brainwashed Assassin is hunting all of them down, and it's kinda obvious who she's going to run into first—I mean, I literally said it! Well, kinda.
Oh, and a little note: my chapter limit prediction is pretty much smashed to pieces now, so this is probably now a multi-chaptered story. But it shouldn't run past ten (maybe?) chapters, so… I think yay? Is that a good thing, or a bad thing, because I honestly have no idea.
Anyway, as always, review! Your reviews are awesome, all of you :)
I'll try to update Friday, and since I have half the next chapter pre-written, that'll probably happen.
Oh, and go vote on my poll, I really need the info!