Hey, y'all! Gosh, it's been so long! It's almost awkward; I haven't updated since, what, January? December? November? I really don't know. The February 23rd update doesn't count; that was an A/N. Oh, so much to say; but I won't. I'll post what I want to say on my profile later, but gosh I am so happy to be back from my all-terrible hiatus! I've already finished Chapter 9 of C2, so I'll be updating in a week! A reminder to to y'all: this takes place before Leo gets bionics; it takes place in Season 3 (because of the new lab) but Krane never existed. Or, at least, he hasn't been introduced into my little story-world here. Yet. Got it? Good! There's a lot of accuracy checks in this chapter; remind me if I miss something! (You'll know what I mean when you read it!) You know how FFNet censors dot com "links?" Well, I had to put spaces between my "links" so that's why there's some weird spacing! Good? Good! Again, soooo happy to be back; I'd been even happier if you would review! So, enjoy, and R&R!


Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.


"Your mother is elusive," Douglas announced.

"You think I haven't noticed that?" Chase snapped, still wary of Douglas from their earlier spat. Douglas wasn't normally like this. Sure, he was naturally snappy and suspicious, but when Chase had been trapped in the avalanche, Douglas had been slightly more caring. The last thing Chase expected Douglas to do was to be all angry and pick a fight. Douglas was too joke-y and carefree to be serious and down to earth.

"Take a break," Chase suggested, trying to smooth things over.

"I don't take breaks," Douglas said stubbornly. Chase sighed, and scratched his dirty fingernails on the worn-down leather chair.

Chase looked down at the river they were next to. The apartment Douglas had rented had a nice waterfront view, and he stared out the window.

"Chase?" His head snapped up, and he looked at Douglas. Douglas didn't even acknowledge that Chase was there, as he was busy typing on the computer. Who had called his name?

Bree.

Chase's eyes flicked around rapidly, and he inhaled. What had he heard?

"Chase… come back…"

Chase ran, feet pounding down the hallway. He could never come back, never. His hair was disheveled; his eyes were wild. Why had he done it? He could only think of one answer…

"Chase… we need you…"

"Twisted heart," they whispered. "A black soul. You care about nothing, and nothing cares about you."

"Oh, Chase! What… what have you done?"

But they don't know that you ran. They don't know the reason you ran. You ran because you finally realized the potential you have; you recognize what your heart truly tells you. You belong here; you belong in eternal darkness. You are one with the black of the world; you will never, ever go back to the light…"

"Chase… where have you gone? Why did you leave?"

One day, they will find out. And they will hate you. And they will be right to hate you. You are sick. You are crazy. You are insane. You are the perfect image of what you were destined to be. You cannot push the feeling down; you cannot hide what you truly experience. Every jolting emotion; every lilting feeling. It all boils down to what your fate is to be. You will be…

Several voices spoke at once, and Chase's head jerked up and his legs flailed.

You will be evil.

"No! I—I'm not!" Chase's eyelids burst open, and the light flooded his brain.

You see the light, but you will not return.

"Bree! I didn't intend to harm you! I can show you! I'll come back! I promise!"

If you go crawling back to them, they will be afraid to take you in.

"Bree! Adam! Please, let me stay!"

Let them sob as they turn you away. Let them wipe stray tears, and say it's for the best. You don't need your family. You don't need anyone. What is done is done, what you will do you will have no regrets about. You will find vengeance. You will find your mother and prove them all wrong…

"Please…" The last cry for help rang in the air, before darkness dragged a screaming soul into the black pit…

"Chase!" Douglas jabbed Chase in the air, and the blackness of Chase's hallucination dissipated like fog under a fan, and Douglas' face came into view.

"What… I—did—shouldn't you… but aren't I—?"

"Chase, something's been affecting you. Talk." While Douglas pretended not to show affection, Chase could tell Douglas cared. Maybe it was only because of their temporary—temporary—alliance, but Chase had a shrewd feeling that Douglas cared more than he let on.

"It was nothing." His voice was sharp as his gloved hand sliced through the air, waving the whole dream away.

"Chase, you were whispering in two different voices after your eyes closed. Your legs were jerking and your eyes were throbbing under your eyelids. Your veins in your neck stood out as if trying to break through your skin. Something is wrong, and you can't deny it!"

"You were supposed to be searching for Beryl," Chase said, his voice now hard. "Why are you focusing on me?"

"I… needed, a, um, break—from, uh, work."

"Douglas, you said earlier that you don't take breaks. Rather firmly, if I remember." Chase enjoyed toying with Douglas, and Douglas knew he was caught.

"Wallow in your self pity. I think I've found something."

Chase blinked. He had a valuable piece of information to add to his mind's super-smarts database about Douglas—when cornered, mentally or physically, he would distract the accuser by turning the tables.

Chase smirked. "You haven't found anything—"

A bright red light flashed on the monitor, and several sounds were emitted. Search match found. Continue with answer? The computer's emotionless voice asked.

Douglas smirked back. "I think I have."


—Nothing. Leo saw absolutely nothing. That was odd. He had been so sure that there were kidnappers, or pirates, or ruffians—why had Big D not responded to Leo's calls, then? What was in the house?

Leo felt a minor annoyance as he began searching the downstairs for Big D. And, while he was at it, he would try and look for Adam, Bree, and Chase. While their whereabouts were a mystery to him, it didn't really register in his thoughts. He had better things to do than to try and find his absent family. Leo could think of ten things right off the bat that he could do instead of doing stupid things because he loved his family.

First, he had to call Janelle and ask her about the dance and what the theme was. He was pretty sure that it was a semiformal theme, but not positive. (There was a very good reason for this. He had showed up at last year's dance dressed up as Elvis, because he had received a supposed tip from Caitlin that it was an 80's theme, when it really turned out to be an undecided, ever-changing theme between an alleged "space" and "Western" theme… apparently, Owen and his muse solved their relationship problems in some very strange ways…

And second, Leo had to call Janelle and thank her for asking him out. And of course, right at the top of his list, he had to write a diary entry about Janelle and her beautiful hair and shining eyes and luscious skin and… Well, okay, so Leo didn't really have anything better to do. But anything relating to Janelle would be better than having to search for his family.

Truthfully, Leo was a bit immature and willing to manipulate his friends and throw them under the bus the next minute. He was a coward some of the time—no, that was not an invitation to bring up the Death Spiral Smackdown incident!—but he was brave when he needed to be. His unfailing sense of humor (almost as amazingly nerdy as Chase's!) never escaped him, even in crises such as the one was in.

So, Leo did what he knew he had to do.

He looked behind the family-sized can of tomatoes in the pantry.

"Big D? You're a small man. It's a good thing I knew to search for you here…" And of course, Big D wasn't there. Leo was stupid. He knew it. It was a futile search. What kind of hero was he without bionics?

Leo gave up with the upstairs and went downstairs to the lab. Perhaps he could console himself by watching the footage of Bree sleeping. Hey, he enjoyed scaring himself. He'd sooner face a Yeti than a drooling, sleepwalking Bree!

The elevator dinged as Leo mindlessly ran his hands along the new lab's counter. He hadn't quite gotten used to it—he missed the old one, with its comforting blue walls, and the black marble countertop, probably filled with memories stretching back, and back, and back. But he couldn't complain about the new one—what it was lacking in comfort it made up for its cool technology and modern, futuristic look.

He just realized that he hadn't fully explored what all the buttons in the lab could do.

(He remembered what the big, glowing red button looked like, of course. Chase had been mad at Leo for weeks after Chase was trapped in the elevator when the lab went on lockdown. Luckily, Big D always kept a bucket in the elevator… and not just for barfing for the sensitive-stomached people!)

He may as well take advantage of being supposedly alone in the house and get into some mischief!

He picked up the main-controlling system-iPad and fiddled with the compartment openings and closings. He watched his Mission Specialist desk move up and down on its pulley system as the hexagonal tiles slid back and forth.

Up.

Down.

Up. Down.

Up down; up down; up down; up down.

Then a new window popped up and the whole screen flashed a bright blue and a reminder window popped up.

404ErrorL30/1t5/b19D/1m/5tuck/1n/%5t0ra93/r00m5/5av3/m3/html . com.

What? What was this weird link? Leo could discern a "404Error" (he hated those! Always getting in the way of his Teen Proposals marathon!), even the word "tuck," and an "html . com" ending, but what did the "L30/1t5/b19D/1m/5tuck/1n/%5t0ra93/r00m5/5av3/m3/" mean? And why so many backslashes? Normally, there were only a couple…

What if it was a code?

It was probably foolish thinking. Unless Big D was trying to send him a message being trapped someplace in the house…

Well, it was something to do, wasn't it?

But what kind of code was it? ROT1? Stenography? Transposition?

There was always the simple Cub Scouts codes—replacing numbers with letters, A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on… but Leo was sure it was more complicated than that.

But what if it wasn't? It did, after all, look like a hyperlink—innocent but maybe, just maybe, hiding an important message.

There was always password/text talking—replacing letters with similar looking letters. "S" became "5;" "E" became "3;" "I" became "1." Hmm… there were a lot of numbers (a good excuse for using the hyperlink if this was the right code!) and the backslashes could have been spaces between letters.

Leo decided he would give it a try.


"You found something?"

Chase was absolutely incredulous. Douglas found something? Pathetic.

You want to see your mother, don't you? You wanted to see her bad enough to leave us, fight us, and destroy us.

But he knew, deep down, that his family would thank him later for finding his mother.

You're wrong, Chase. You only want your mother to yourself. Otherwise, you would have told Donald yourself.

"It was for the best that I left!"

Was it? Chase, was it worth it? I hope it is. The invisible voice turned bitter. You trapped your own father, you knocked out your own siblings, and you twisted metal to resemble your heart. There is no doubt that you are—"

"No!" Chase croaked. "Don't say it again."

Is poor little Chasey afraid of the truth? Afraid that he's—"

"Everyone has their dark days! Everyone has cheated or lied or stolen at one point or another; why can't I?"

Because you embrace it, my dear boy. And once you do, you will finally, truly, realize that you belong to the fire of darkness.

Wait—wait a minute. "My boy?"

Douglas waved his hand in front of Chase's face. "Hey there, Boy Wonder. You all right?"

Chase averted his eyes. "No," he mumbled softly. "I won't be for a long time."

Douglas smiled absentmindedly. "I see! Ah, is that so? Wonderful. Go get that monitor up and get the control system running, will you?"

Chase trudged off.

You're sick.

You're twisted.

You're crazy.

You're insane.

You're a monster.

You don't deserve your family, but they don't deserve you. You could never reach your full potential staying with them. It was, after all, for the best. Because blood will spill blood, but darkness overrides fate. You injured your family severely, and they will be back to get you.

But they cannot.

You will be the ultimate powerhouse by then.

Chase felt his eyes burning—not with anger, but with tears.

He geo-leaped to controller and, in a daze, connected the fitting wires.

He wasn't mentally insane or crazy. He was perfectly fine, even if an inner voice was tampering with his thinking. He wasn't half demon*, he didn't have a bipolarity issue, and he certainly didn't have Multiple-Personality Disorder. At least, he was mostly sure. He would know, wouldn't he? He was the smartest person on earth. Surely he could recognize the symptoms for that.

Chase had dark shadows under his eyes as he looked right up, and saw someone swimming in the river.

A hand flailed, then was pulled under the surface by the raging current, and disappeared.

The river relaxed.

And the river was calm, like a stream, like there had been nothing there.

"Douglas! Someone's drowned!"


So what did Chase do? Watch someone drown, or drown said person? Figure it out in the next chapter, won't you! And my last words? Do some research on the codes. The first person to figure out the code (surprisingly easy - I'd be surprised if everyone who reviewed doesn't figure it out!) gets a shout-out in the next chapter! And the evil voice in Chase's head - please don't yell - is not, I repeat, not, copying Zara's demon voice from her demon universe. This is different. There is a scientific reason for it that you'll all learn later. So stay with me here, will you please? And yes, I know, we're finally picking up the story! I heard from a little birdie that certain people (I won't say names) say that my story is good but slow and the exposition is taking forever. I understand. There is a reason for the slow exposition - if you skip any part of the first what, nine chapters? Eight chapters? I don't even know this story well enough to know how many chapters are in it! - you'll be super confused later on, unless, of course, you can speed-read; skip whatever you like if you can!

The story will definitely be hot on the trail of Beryl starting in the next chapter, which will be posted next week, and especially the chapter after that (Ch 10). Looking forward to Chapter 9? Then please review and maybe I'll post it a day early; on Sunday!

Again, I apologize for the slow exposition - there's just too much to put into three or four chapters (because I'll bore you to death and it'll be really hard reading - as in you have to wade through boring words and you only read it because you know there'll be exciting stuff later - so that was why there are so many chapters. There is a maximum of 4,000 or less words in each chapter; I could have posted a prologue that was around 23,055 words (not counting this chapter) and I'm certain you would have skipped this story, so, yeah! I've done an estimate of how many chapters there will be in this story - it's around 30 or so. Maybe more, maybe less. Probably less. Please write the phrase "30 or less chapters" in your review if you're still reading/have read this far!

So please bear with me and I'll see y'all around on Sunday/next Monday! Hugs, kisses, and reviews!


(I apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors. Let me know if there was an error in consistency with the "hyperlink!")