Not long after that, Douglas goes to pop open a bottle of (non-alcoholic) sparkling cider so they can all celebrate. Donald starts explaining the logistics of their schedules, how they'll go to school, come home for training, and then get some free time to relax or play games in between dinner and bedtime.
"See, he figured out how to raise teenagers by testing stuff out on us," Chase points out to his siblings. "We are literally lab rats."
"Whatever," Bree says. "I'm just glad these kids won't have to go on strike. Or get stranded in Antarctica. Or get locked up in beach jail."
"Yep," Adam says. "They'll all get to experience their own unique assortment of disasters and catastrophes."
"Hey," Taylor says, approaching Leo. She looks uncharacteristically shy all of a sudden. "I was wondering if… well, would it be alright if I was one of the Dooleys?"
Leo grins. "Totally," he says, doing that embarrassing little leg-swing he does when he's smitten. "If you want, you can use my middle name too. It's Francis. Gender neutral."
Bree raises her eyebrows and smirks at Adam and Chase, who both snicker just a little. Honestly, though, it's nice to see Leo and Taylor hitting it off. It might be the one good thing that came out of all this mess, Bree thinks to herself.
But then, looking across the whole room at the eager, excited faces of forty-odd bionic kids, all psyched to go the school and learn about the world, realizing what she and her brothers mean to these kids, what they mean to her… she changes her mind. A lot more than one good thing came out of the disaster that was her nine months as Krane's soldier.
The night before the students' first day at school, Douglas calls Adam and Bree down to the lab, and Leo and Chase tag along with them. "Good news," he says, patting the chip fabricator beside him. "I was able to replicate your chips. You can get all your abilities back." He glances at Bree. "If, you know, if you want."
She nods. "Yeah, I'm ready now." Leo and Chase watch on expectantly as Bree and Adam climb into their respective capsules, the chips all lined up. Douglas flips all the switches and presses all the buttons, and then Bree feels the slight buzz run through her whole body as the chip slides into her neck.
She and Adam step out of their capsules, both flexing their hands like they're trying to feel the bionics thrumming through their bodies. Bree's ready to run again, more than ready to watch the world blur around her as wind streamlines past her face. She puts one foot forward, leans into a sprint— and nothing happens. "Hey, it's not working."
"Hi everybody, I'm Chase," Adam says in an identical replication of his little brother's voice. "And I love vegetables, math, and returning library books on time." He's using Bree's vocal manipulation— and getting a kick out of it.
"Oops," Douglas says. "Must've mixed up the chips."
"Hi everybody, I'm Bree," Adam says in Bree's voice. "My favorite things to do are put on lip gloss, boss people around and repel boys."
"Excuse me?" Bree says, activating Adam's laser vision and hitting the spot on the wall behind him. Adam uses her super speed to jet away, and Bree goes racing after him. "Yeah, you'd better run!"
"Kids, settle down," Douglas yells, chasing after them with the chip extractor. Adam zooms back to his capsule with a cheeky grin and Bree comes panting after him, trying to get a breath in so she can use Adam's enhanced lung capacity. "Adam! Bree! I will turn this lab around!"
"Wow," Chase comments. "You really sounded like our dad for a second."
"I am your dad," he grumbles. "Ish. Sort of. Not really. I like being the fun uncle." He extracts the chips from Bree and Adam's necks and sends them back to their capsules, this time with the right chips in the right places. "Okay," he says, hands hovering over the cyber desk. "Ready?"
"Uh-huh."
"Yeah," says Bree, and again she hears the familiar whirr of the machinery in her capsule, the hum of the lab around her, the comforting click as the chip connects with her bionic infrastructure.
It's going to be okay. It really is.
Her capsule slides open.