"…how you steer, and this is the screen," Leo explained, showing Adam how the watch worked. Bree rolled her eyes from where she was still sitting on one of the stools; what could her brothers possibly be doing now? Wait – that could be a million different things, and I actually don't want to know, she thought to herself, returning her attention to her phone.
Then another thought struck her, and her head shot back up. "You two had better not be trying to get anything else to blackmail me with!" she snapped, interrupting Leo and garnering the immediate attention of the boys. "It's taken me long enough to get rid of what you already had!"
Oh, you have no idea, Bree, Leo snickered to himself. Out loud, he said "Actually, we're using it to watch Spike instead of Adam having to go to his practices."
Bree raised her eyebrows, asking "Really? After what happened last time you tried to use the flies?"
"Relax, Bree – I'm a master at this now. Here – I'll give you both a demonstration," Leo said confidently, walking over to his sister so that she could see the screen on the watch. Adam followed the younger boy, standing behind him.
"Alright, do your thing, Wingston fon Dooley III," Leo fondly told the little fly he held in the palm of his hand, and it took flight. "Let's find Spike."
The fly circled the room a couple times before exiting the lab, and the three teens watched the screen as the fly made its way up to the upper levels of the mansion. When it arrived on the main level, they saw that it was empty as the fake insect zoomed haphazardly through the large room.
"Let's look down the hallway," Leo suggested more to himself than to the other two, steering the fly back behind the kitchen. To his dismay, all of the rooms were empty except for Tasha dusting in one of them; it was the one with an array of Donald Davenport-themed household items. "Does that man really need a life-sized lamp-version of himself?" Leo asked in disgust. Adam and Bree were not surprised in the least.
"Could Spike be upstairs?" Bree asked, returning their attention to the task at hand.
"Let's check it out," Leo mumbled, steering the fly out of the obnoxious room. Upon reaching the next level of the mansion, Leo proceeded to check all of the rooms and found that they too were empty.
"Where is he?" Bree asked. "He's not supposed to go anywhere without supervision – he might hurt someone."
A light bulb lit Leo's mind, and he said "I think I know where he is."
"In the dishwasher?" Adam asked excitedly. "I knew it all along!"
The younger two teens gave their oldest brother a look of incredulity, Bree saying "No! Why would he be there?"
Adam shrugged. "It's a good place to hide."
"No it's not, a person can't fit in there," Bree argued, her tone dripping with annoyance.
"Yes you can, I've put Chase in there!"
"What!" both Bree and Leo exclaimed.
"It was a joke," Adam explained "but I wasn't able to close the door. And he threatened me not to tell anyone about it… ohhh…. Dang it, does this mean that I have to kill you guys now?"
"No, it doesn't," Leo said quickly. "We can keep a secret!"
Adam sighed in relief. "Good. Don't tell Chase."
"If Chase ever comes back," Bree said sadly, and that statement caused the mood to fall sharply.
Leo returned his attention back to the spy fly, commanding it to take flight again. The dialogue of the siblings had distracted the youngest teen so that the fly crashed into a wall and fell to the floor. "Anyways, I think I know where Spike might be," he said into the solemn silence.
He piloted the fly into the last spare bedroom and through an open window to the small balcony. "This is where I found him once, a few weeks ago." The bionics leaned over Leo's shoulder as the three of them looked at the screen on the watch expectantly. But as Leo turned the fly, they saw that the balcony was empty of the commando app.
"I don't understand," Leo muttered, turning the fly in circles. "He isn't anywhere else, and I would have thought for sure that he would be here."
"Leo, stop, I think I saw him," Adam said suddenly.
"What? Where?" the non-bionic asked, looking up at the oldest dubiously.
"He's in a tree," Adam replied.
Bree and Leo shot their brother a look, the middle bionic rolling her eyes and saying "Let me guess, he turned into a squirrel."
"No, but that would be awesome! I want to be a squirrel!"
"No you don't," Bree snapped. Turning to the youngest teen, she said "Leo, let's call it quits. He isn't here."
"But don't you think we should find him, especially if he's not here? He's always making trouble," Leo pointed out.
"But guys, we already know where he is," Adam interjected. "He's in a tree."
"Adam, cut it out," Bree said with obvious exasperation. "This is serious."
"No, I'll show you," Adam argued, grabbing Leo's wrist and beginning to steer the fly.
"Adam!" Leo cried out in surprise, trying to tug his hand away. But it was in vain considering the bionic's super-strength.
Adam flew the fly out into the open air, the green grass of the yard a dizzying distance below them. The little machine meandered its way along at a downward angle, and to the astonishment of the younger two teens, the commando app came into clear view of the camera of the spy fly. He was sitting across two large branches with his back to the trunk of the tree, his arms loosely crossed and his hat pulled over his face. He looked to be sleeping. Thirty feet in the air.
"What is it with Spike and heights?" Leo wondered aloud.
"Maybe for once he can feel tall," Bree snorted.
"Yeah, because he's so short!" Adam added obviously. He began erratically steering the fly closer to the youngest bionic so that they could see him better.
"Watch it, Adam!" Leo cried out as the fly bumped into the side of Spike's face. The app lazily waved the air where the fly had been, not bothering to move his hat in order to see it.
Adam couldn't contain the little laugh that escaped him, a mischievous grin forming on his lips. He had just discovered a new game. He purposefully steered the fly towards Spike again, whizzing past the app's ear and grazing his chin. Spike waved his hand through the air again, this time with more force, and he shifted in his spot.
Leo giggled with Adam now, the boys taking pleasure in annoying their brother. Bree only rolled her eyes, saying "Guys, I don't think it's a good idea to make Spike mad."
"Loosen up, Bree," Adam said merrily. "This is fun!" With that statement, he drove the fly straight at Spike's cheek, hard. Spike jumped, scrambling to stay on the branches supporting him. He whipped his hat off of his head and began swatting madly at the fly that was now circling around him. They could hear his grumbling and cursing at the fly through the speaker of the watch.
This made Bree crack, and she brought her hand to her mouth to try to stifle her snickering. Adam and Leo were roaring with laughter by now. Pestering people with the spy fly from the controlling end was quite entertaining.
All of a sudden the camera feed from the fly began spinning in all directions, and they could distantly hear Spike's "Ha!" of victory. The app had finally hit his tiny target.
Leo extracted his wrist from Adam's hand and began to try to right the fly again, but without warning the screen began flashing red with the message ATTACK MODE ENGAGED: STUN STINGER ACTIVATED.
"What!" Leo and Bree exclaimed, a panicked Leo frantically tapping the screen and pushing whatever buttons he could. But it was no use – the fly was no longer under his control.
"Relax, guys – what's the worst that could happen?" Adam asked nonchalantly.
"Um, he could be stunned, fall out of the tree, and die!" Bree practically shouted.
The three teens watched with horror as the scene on the screen unfolded. The fly began diving at the commando app, who knocked it away whenever it was close enough. His expression was of frustration and his muttered curses at the fly were vehement.
As Spike was reaching for the fly to stop another of its attempts at getting him, he slipped backwards and off of the right-most branch. With a startled yelp, he whipped his arm back behind him and grabbed a branch a little below him just in time to catch his fall.
At this point the app was stretched diagonally across three branches, gripping the higher two branches with his feet so that he might not slide into thin air, and bending backwards at the waist, he supported most of his weight against gravity with his right arm. His left hand held his hat, which he used to ward off the fly.
The youngest bionic was sweating profusely by now, and a strange emotion played across his face: terror. "Get away from me!" he yelled desperately at the fly. But in that position, there was not much the app could do to avoid the fly, and breaching the bionic's only form of defense, the fly stung its target.
Spike's eyes went wide as his muscles weakened. The fly's sting was slowly stunning him, and he began sliding off the branches that were keeping him from plummeting through countless other branches and to the ground far below.
Seeing this, Bree knew what she had to do. With a whoosh! she was gone, racing outside and climbing the tree within seconds. She reached the height where Spike was just in time to grab his leg. With one arm wrapped around the tree trunk and the other holding the app's ankle in a throttle-hold, Bree's face screwed into an expression of intense effort as she tried to keep the youngest bionic from falling.
"Spike, I need you to grab that branch just above your head!" the middle bionic forced out, her voice strained. All she received in response was an angry grunt. "Oh yeah, you can't move," Bree said breathily with annoyance.
Groaning irritably, Spike tried to close his eyes, but his muscles wouldn't respond to his commands. Limply swinging upside down thirty feet in the air was making him queasy, and all the blood rushing to his head to give him a headache didn't make anything better. Being helpless sucked.
Bree looked down past her younger brother, studying the pattern of branches below. There was another cluster of branches about seven feet below them – if she could lower Spike to that cluster, she could lay him across them until the paralysis wore off.
Sucking in a quick breath, the middle bionic loosened her grip around the trunk so that they slowly slid downward. She had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out as the rough bark began shredding the skin of her right arm.
Their progress hitched when Bree reached the first branch that hindered their decent, and she moaned in frustration. What was she going to do now?
"Whad? Whyd-doo thop?" Spike slurred. He sounded so ridiculous that he felt like punching someone, but considering that he couldn't even make his tongue work right, any attempt would be futile.
Bree stifled a giggle, and when she was under control again, she answered "I'm stuck on a branch." A thought struck her, and she asked "The paralysis must be starting to wear off if you can sort of talk – can you move at all?"
Spike focused on his fingers, only managing to twitch them ever so slightly. "No," he replied sullenly.
"Alright," Bree huffed. "I can't move down anymore without dropping you, so we are going to be here until you can do something."
Spike closed his eyes with another groan. Great. Just great. …It's sad that closing my eyes is an accomplishment at this point. He wished that there was something he could do – even just being able to actually control his fingers would be an improvement.
Maybe there is, a small voice said within him. You're bionic, remember?
But what abilities will help? he wondered. Super-intelligence? Oh please. Molecular kinesis? No, not an option. Magnetism? You've got to be kidding – we're in a tree! GPS? No, stupid! Force-field? Only if I intend to fall out of control – which I don't. Levitation? …That could work. That could actually work.
"Bwee, ahm ohin doo nebidaydt," Spike tried to tell the older girl, reopening his eyes.
"What?" Bree asked. "I can't understand you."
Spike sighed crossly. Communicating wasn't any use, so he'd just have to do it. Concentrating as hard as he was able to, he activated his levitation ability and made himself start to rise up.
"What are you doing?" Bree initially cried out in surprise, but then it hit her. "You're using your levitation! Genius!"
Spike ignored the compliment, righting himself as Bree let go of him. It felt good to not have to fight gravity anymore. But now what?
"Now whad?" he asked aloud, slowly turning himself so that he could see Bree. From the expression the middle bionic wore, Spike could tell that he probably looked absurd; his limbs hung lifelessly and his head lolled to the side. Just survive and you can reinstate respect for yourself, he promised himself, demanding patience from himself.
"There's a clump of branches a few feet below you – lower yourself to them and you can lay there until the stun wears off," Bree informed him as she readjusted her position.
Spike did as she said, working his way downwards slowly. If he broke focus even a little bit, he knew that he wouldn't escape this incident without at least a scratch. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur that was Bree as she sped-climbed lower in case he should fall again.
It was with relief that he made it to the thick clump of branches, and he exhaled the breath he hadn't known that he was holding. He relaxed onto branches spiny with leaves, limply sitting with his back to the tree trunk as he had earlier.
"Are you good?" Bree asked him from the adjacent branch that she was crouched on.
"Yeth," Spike responded, giving her the best death glare that he could manage. But being that he could barely move the muscles in his face, his glare was rendered ineffective; Bree wasn't intimidated in the least.
"Alright, then I will just be going, then," the older bionic said quickly before climbing down the tree at an unrivaled speed.
"Weelee? You ah uthd ohin doo yeeb bee heeah?" Spike slurred angrily into the following silence. His only answer was the buzzing of a fly that was growing louder with every passing second. No, no, no! he thought in horror as the small bug meandered its way towards him; his eyes crossed, he watched the insect land on his nose.