Author's Note: Ahaha I hope you enjoyed my cliffy! Hopefully, you'll feel some emotion, and everything is confronted, not necessarily resolved. Keep in mind Chase is a telepath. And oh I add in some heart-wrenching moments. Because I'm me. And I have a few chapters left, keep in mind. And this is the last one, so...yeah. I do plan on posting more stand-alone Lab Rats fics, kinda wanna do a Taken remake, because come on that was like barely scratching the surface of what they could've done!
Bree registered a disturbance in the air behind her, and she turned to see a baton ready to club her on the side of the head. Bree was paralyzed, knowing there wasn't enough time to move. Then it froze, and the man was slammed against the wall. No one had touched the guard. There's only one person I know who can do that...standing in the entrance, the sunset vibrant behind him, was her brother. Bree's brain let loose a surge of happy endorphins to be countered by severe distrust. Chase ventured deeper inside, and knocked the man out with a blow to the side of the head.
He swiveled around to face Bree. Bree was in shock. My brother, alive, in the flesh and blood, is here. Not dead. She put a hand to her mouth, and tried to staunch the tears that were threatening to fall. But what irked her was the expressionless look on Chase's face. She forced herself to look into his eyes, and saw...nothing and everything. There was so much emotion she could not decipher and yet there was no emotion. It was a look her Chase never would've had. Distrust swelled up in her. He spoke clearly and calmly, surprising under the circumstances.
"Bree, I was gone for six months, you didn't honestly think I was going to be the same person I was?" Yes, I did. You were going to be yourself and I would bring you home and we would be a family but now you're barely recognizable and I just can't. The sudden realization that this wasn't the brother she remembered, if he was her brother, came crashing down like the waves of the ocean. She desperately wanted to evade the waves crashing over her head and pulling her this way and that way. Chase saved her from that. "Bree, we know from Marcus to be careful about trust, and I have done nothing to deserve it, but all I'm asking is that you listen to me. Lagos Abeokuta, owner of this company, is a million times worse than Douglas. He's planning to kill off most of the worlds' population. We have to stop it. Bree, please, just let Donald know about him and tell him to do everything he can to get as much information as possible. I'll try to send information as much as possible, since I know you won't want me around home base, and I understand. Please check this out."
Chase was sincerely pleading, Bree knew it by her brothers' face. But his words hung on her mind. How he thought he wouldn't be accepted into the fold. How he was willing to go off alone. Bree knew she lacked that fortitude, she could never leave her family, she would always need them. But after being alone for six months, it must be a second nature to him. Bree smiled and embraced her brother tightly.
"You really think I could turn my own brother away? After we thought you were dead? After you've already been separated from us for six months? No way! I missed you so much!" Bree drew him closer, and she could sense his smile. "Yeah, Bree, you're still the way you were. Speaking what's on your mind." Bree grinned, released her brother, then realized what he'd said.
"You freaking read my mind? You're lucky I'm happy you're alive and well, otherwise you'd have a nice shiner on your face." Bree threatened, knowing she could never complete it. Knowing her brother knew she'd never do that.
"I am petrified." Chase teased with no emotion in his voice, leading to her punching him softly in the arm. Even though we're in the ruins of a building, it's like nothing changed. Chase began inspecting the ruins.
"What're you looking for?" Bree inquired, having a guess at the answer, but the answer seemed dull in comparison to the idea of leading her brother back home.
"Information. I need to know more about this man, and his plans." Chase sounded more like a soldier than the brother who had been there less than a minute ago. He's changed, definitely, for better and worse. Bree decided to ignore it, satisfied with her brother being alive. She wanted to talk about something else, anything really, and settled on,
"How did you learn about this guy? Donald learned about him like two weeks ago. Does it have anything to do with where you were for all this time?" She sensed the rigidity that crawled up Chase's body, to be coated by a feigned relaxation that she didn't pick up on the manufactured quality of.
"Bree, he and I have met a few times over the past months. None pleasant, all were brief. He and I have become...acquainted, shall we say." Chase began scanning rubble again, and Bree shrugged, happily shifting rubble with her brother. After scanning all that remained of the building, Chase cleared them to go, proving he was still a leader. Bree grabbed his hand, and zipped then back home.
...
"Bree's back." Leo called, opening the door with anticipation and boredom. He was bored of hearing about cool missions and being unable to go, but also loved hearing about cool missions. Leo opened the door and was half-tempted to slam it, and run away from what he saw. The other half was tempted to learn more about it and face it like the man he was. Bree was at the front door, accompanied by the person whose death they'd just gotten over. "Bree, if that's a hologram or robot version, bionics or not, I'm gonna kill it and you." Bree chuckled, and the Chase look-a-like gave a tight smile. Definitely not like Chase. Leo allowed them in, being the gracious man he was. I hope Robo-Chase doesn't go nuts and attack us, because I'd never be allowed on a mission after that.
"Bree, move away from the robot until we can test if it is Chase, which it probably isn't!" I'm just now moving on, girlfriend and everything, and now it's all coming back. Please, just leave. Chase responded quietly.
"Leo, I know I shouldn't be here, and I'm glad you don't trust me immediately. But I swear I am Chase. I'm happy that you're finally dating Janelle." Leo flared up in shock, then remembered Chase had been a telepath.
"Get out of my head! And Marcus had the same bionics as all of you, so you could be android Chase! You were proven dead! Bree, were did you find him?" The bionic siblings had on the same calm expression, and Leo realized no matter what he did, he could never be as close to them as they were to each other. There was no way to make up for the times they'd trained together, and fought together. That just got Leo madder at them, but he listened to their arguments. Chase went first.
"I'll stay out of your head, alright? I am not Marcus, thank you very much, and all you found was my blood on a rock and no body."
Bree followed up with: "For your information, Leo, he saved me from being kidnapped by our newest enemy, Lagos Abeokuta." Bree had herself in her defiant pose, arms crossed, that stubborn look in her eyes. Leo sighed. He hated having 'Chase' come in and screw everything up. When this 'Chase' was proved to be a fake, it'd take them more months to recover. Why can't he just stay gone?! Chase closed his eyes in thought, then re-opened them.
...
"Guys, I should leave. I can't disrupt the life you are living. We need to coordinated an assault on him, but you or Bree can just phone me when you plan to strike. Or, we could just strategize by phone. I shouldn't be here." There was no emotion in his voice, but Chase had no clue how he could live this life again, after all this time had passed. I feel like I'm looking into a mirror that shows the easy path, and I'm walking away. Before Chase could leave, Adam and Donald walked in. Chase instantly reached into their minds, ready to wipe himself from their memories, but Bree laid a hand on his arm. "No, Chase, they're your family. They deserve to know."
Both of the new arrivals had expressions of surprise of their faces, and Chase's eyes filled with pain. "Adam, Donald," It sounded as if he was testing out their names. "I'm alive. I'm home." There was a little hesitancy before the last word, but it came out. Donald hugged his son so tightly Adam should've been jealous. But Adam was there, hugging the baby brother he had left behind all those months ago. Chase tried not to flinch in pain as they squeezed the not-so-healed lacerations on his back. But thinking of those lacerations drew him from all the happiness and security of being home. He pulled away from the embrace to find his dad crying.
"Chase. You were gone for six months. Where were you? We thought you were dead! Why did you wait until now to come back?" Chase's eyes filled with more pain, seemingly centuries' worth. He forced a smile, his voice surprisingly steady.
"I was in a coma for at least two months. The rest I don't really remember." Don't want to, is more accurate. But still he lied to his family, and felt no regrets. They had to be spared the horrors of the world he desperately wanted to forget. "But that's not important. Lagos Abeokuta is. He's planning to kill off most of the human race, and we have to stop it."
Author's Note: Pay attention to the chapter titles, fellas. And OMG Leo isn't happy with the return of Chase. And how does everyone take it? How does it affect their dynamic? What if they find out he's working with Douglas? And ahahaha I'm changing up the story ending to get maximum feels from you. Next Chapter is, 'As Time Goes By'.
