Bree had stepped out of her capsule one afternoon, and had quietly walked down the stairs. It was the first time she had left her room in at least eight months. Hope was filled within her. Where she had gotten the hope, Bree would have told you if she wouldn't have overheard what Chase, her own brother and teammate, responded to Skylar….

"The whole balance is falling apart, Chase. How are we going to go on missions now?"

"Skylar, Bree's absence is a disappointment because she's my sister. I obviously love her, but you have all of her bionic abilities and more. Remember that. We'll be perfectly safe on missions without her."

"Chase…"

"No, Skylar… "

"I….I mean even if she still had her bionics, we'd probably never need them."

Bree remembered biting her lip, trying extremely hard to not let the warm tears fall as she stood there, forcing herself to painstakingly listen to the rest of their conversation. How could she have just gone back upstairs after learning what her brother really thought of her?

Bree remembered the damning feeling of her bare feet frozen to the cold steps, as she tried to convince herself that this wasn't her brother. Her mouth agape, she felt world-trembling rejection crash into her. The only thing Bree could do was continuously shake her head back and forth, refusing to believe what was deafening her ears.

"So, you're saying that Bree wouldn't be useful even if she still had her bionics?"

"How could you say that, Chase? She's your sister!"

She remembered how her eyes lit up for the slightest second, as Skylar actually believed she was still worth something, but a hardened stare quickly replaced it. How could she be happy with Skylar? Sure, she was backing her up, but it still didn't change things. Skylar was still on her way to replacing her.

"Well, I don't want to say that. But once I got to thinking, it's kind of true."

"But I would NEVER say that to her!"

And since Bree had chosen to trust herself, her reward seemed to be getting the front row seat of watching Chase reinforce her replacement…

How could he do this to her? So much for thinking maybe everything would be ok. So much for thinking that she could still be Bree; the legendary badass, without her bionics.

"…"

The silence from Skylar spoke volumes to Bree. She knew that as much as Skylar hated to admit it, even she was beginning to understand Chase's reasoning. After all, how could she not?

Skylar was here with her own super-speed, so Bree even had to admit it to herself. Chase was right. The team would be fine without her. They would be safe without her. Bree had felt so many emotions that afternoon. Her first emotion was relief. It was relieving to know that her family and friends would be safe, but it still sent earth-shattering pain through her…to know that no one needed her anymore.

Her second emotion had to do with feeling hatred towards Skylar. Bree was guilt-ridden because of it, as a part of her loved Skylar like a sister, but she still felt it inside her. It was the kind of hate that even she herself hated for feeling. She hated herself for feeling it even. It was the kind of hate that was raw, and filled with so many deadly toxins. It was the kind of hate that she would feel pleasure from whenever she would send a cold glare towards Skylar. It was the only type of hate that allowed the wounded expression on Skylar's face to excite her.

"Skylar, you have super-spee—"

"But so does Bree, Chase!"

And Bree wanted to slam herself against the wall for feeling it towards her. Fore Skylar didn't deserve it at all. Bree knew she wanted her to come back. Bree knew she wanted to help her restore her abilities. Skylar had hope for Bree that one day she'd get her abilities back, just like she had gotten her powers back. And this is how Bree dared to think about her; dreaming that one day Skylar's bed would burst into flames with her laying peacefully in it, as her skin slowly burnt to ashes.

Now of course that would never happen. Bree knew Skylar could easily escape it with her powers, but it still didn't stop her from craving it with everything in her. Bree knew it was a sickening and twisted craving, but she still couldn't stop herself from wanting it.

It was incredibly agonizing to feel a feeling that you couldn't control…no matter how hard you wanted too, or knew you should. Bree would frequently wake up in loud regretful sobs; sobs that of course Skylar slept through, and would smack her head against the wall for dreaming and feeling those thoughts towards her.

Chase had even woke up once, and the capsules were supposedly sound proof. The look she remembered him giving her screamed,

"It's just Bree being insane again. And it's a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I don't have time to quiet her down. Hopefully she'll quiet down herself…but I doubt it."

It was almost like he completely lost all hope for her. Maybe he even lost all respect towards her as well. Now of course, this was after she had heard the conversation between him and Skylar. Bree didn't think she truly felt hatred for Skylar before that conversation. She had only slightly disliked her because Bree wasn't an idiot about things. She had a huge feeling in the first couple of weeks of locking herself in her capsule, that she was being replaced. But to have it actually confirmed by her own brother….

"No! She HAD super-speed!"

"She HAD bionics, Skylar!"

"There's a difference!"

It consumed her with such a gruesome kind of hate; a hate that she hadn't even felt for Giselle…and she had tried to kill her younger brother. Did she actually hate Skylar; an innocent girl, a friend that she had once called her sister, more than the vicious villain that tried to kill her younger brother?

How. Was. That. Possible?

Abandonment…

Feeling like you're abandoned is an ugly emotion itself. It has shown to strike that last chord remaining inside someone. But the feeling of being replaced is quick to snap that last chord; the chord that's unfortunately already been struck by the first feeling; abandonment.

Abandonment sneaks upon you. It doesn't matter if you make yourself feel the abandonment, or someone else gives you a reason to feel it, because either way it's a feeling that you're going to still feel. Whether someone abandons you, or you abandon them, which tricks your emotions into feeling like you got abandoned by them, you still have that ugly feeling inside you.

A feeling that you can't get rid of.

"…"

"…"

"It's not her fault that she lost them."

And when that feeling closes in on you, you run, and run, and run. You might stop to think at the top of the stairs of hopelessness, "What if I stayed?", but that feeling of abandonment just continues to consume you. You feel the flame of abandonment surround you, taunting you, and then you start back where you left off for that one second; you run.

"And I'm not saying it is."

And you miss the words behind you.

And you miss what you were supposed to hear; that you abandoned them first.

"You know, Skylar."

"Maybe this is Bree's fault!"

"Maybe she shouldn't have been so quick to abandon us…"

"Chase…!"

"Skylar, I'm done talking about this!"

"You asked, and I answered!"

"Way to close up a conversation, mission leader!"

"Go, Skylar."

"And that's perfectly fine with me…"

But most of all, you miss seeing all the pain you caused to the people you loved the most.

And it's all because of the feeling of being replaced.

''''

Kaz had told her one night that it was her choice to choose who she wanted to be in life. He reminded her that even if she wasn't bionic anymore, she could still be who she wanted to be. He shared with her one of his biggest secrets growing up with Oliver; that he had always dreamed about becoming a superhero….even though he wasn't one back then.

"You know, Bree,"

"Growing up there was nothing I wanted more than becoming a superhero."

Bree could still remember that amused laugh that escaped him afterwards.

"And…and it's ironic because back then I thought superheroes weren't even real, you know."

"I was so sure that it was just an infatuation I had with my comic books."

"But it didn't mean I stopped desperately hoping I could become one, Bree."

"I was just really fixated on the idea, I guess."

"I mean even Oliver was."

Sheremembered interrupting him with a slight grin, teasing him to ease the tension that she could feel coming from him.

"Kaz, are you actually using a big word like "fixation"?"

And remembering the playful glare that he sent her still made her stomach flutter.

"I can use big words when I want too."

The gaze that he looked at her with, his lips forming an adorable puppy-like pout, still made her smile even when she felt alone.

"That's not nice, you know."

She had let her own quiet, playful laugh escape her.

It was the first laugh that she had let out in a while.

How could she have forgotten it?

"I do know, Kazimierz."

He had laughed and turned serious again, which was exactly what Bree was trying to avoid by teasing him.

Kaz had just continued on, completely missing Bree's weariness.

He explained to her that even after he started working at Mighty Med, he still dreamed about the idea at times…because it just wasn't enough. Kaz told her that he understood her more then she thought. He expressed that he got where she was coming from; that saving superheroes didn't mean it made him one himself. Kaz had expressed that with a type of raw emotion that Bree had never seen come from him before.

"I get it, Bree!"

Bree remembered how the dry laugh that he let out shook her. It almost seemed to her that he was fighting with his own inner demons. To Bree, she wouldn't have thought Kaz would have inner demons at all. To her, he's always been so laid back. He gave out the persona that he was always filled with happiness, cracking jokes and what not with everyone. To think that Kaz was fighting with any demons at all was just unimaginable.

"I get what you must be asking yourself every day…because I used to do the same while working at Mighty Med ok."

"How does saving someone without powers mean I'm a superhero?"

"That's it, right?"

"But in your case Bree, how does saving people without my bionics mean I'm a bionic hero?"

"Am I close, Bree?"

She remembered glaring at him. But she wasn't quite sure if she was mad at him because he was raising his voice, or because she knew what Kaz was saying was getting to her.

Either way, Bree had raised her voice right back.

"I can't be a bionic hero without my bionics, Kaz!"

Kaz didn't even bother to pretend like he had heard her, when obviously he did, judging by the fire that ignited in his eyes.

"But you know something, Bree!"

"I never let the fact that I didn't have powers stop me from getting my job done!"

Bree remembered locking eyes with him for a long while. His determined brown eyes meeting her regretful brown ones. It must have been for at least two minutes before she allowed herself to ask,

"And…and what job was that?"

The nervous stutter Bree let out was because she already knew his response.

She remembered Kaz looking at her with such a soft gaze, his eyes still very much locked with hers.

"Saving others!"

It was definitely the smartest wisdom Kaz had ever gave.

It was exactly what Kaz said that gave her hope.

It was exactly what she needed to hear to find that strength hidden inside her.

But it was what Bree had overheard Chase say to Skylar, that made her feel what she had felt when she crashed into that Eiffel Tower in what seemed like so long ago.

Defeated.

In more ways than one.

''''

Seeing Bree standing in her capsule with a book in her hand, Kaz walked up to the glass. He knocked once, making Bree lift her head up from her book.

She stared at him with annoyance in her eyes, "What?"

"I saw you."

Accusation filled Kaz's tone, and it made Bree slam her book closed with a tightened jaw.

"What?" She asked again with gritted teeth.

However, she couldn't stop her eyes from showing confusion. And she wanted to curse herself because showing confusion meant also showing weakness.

Kaz looked at her with a patronizing smirk. "I saw you listening in on Chase and Skylar's conversation on the stairs last week." He tilted his head at her.

Bree just stared at him with eyes that were pleading for him to stop talking.

Kaz continued in a softer voice. "They were wrong!"

Wow! This was a whirlwind of a chapter, wasn't it? Lol. I'm going to explain it a bit to ease any confusion you might have. In the beginning of the chapter, it was all about how Bree was feeling. There was a twist though. I wrote how she was feeling in between the lines of Skylar and Chase's conversation. It should be self-explanatory that she overheard their conversation. It was a very difficult chapter to write. It was a mixture of the past and the present. Then I wrote her remembering why she stepped out of her capsule in the first place. It takes you to Kaz and Bree's conversation…which she's remembering from the past in the present. It's confusing. I know. Lol. Then at the end which is the cliff hanger, it's all present. The beginning of the chapter explained everything she was feeling, and then Kaz came and knocked on her capsule. So if you were to put this chapter into a movie scene, you would see Bree thinking about the past in the present, probably flashbacks would occur like Chase and Skylar's convo for example, and then you would see Kaz walking over to her.

Like I said, wow! It was fun but very hard to write. I hope you loved it though. For all the Braz shippers out there, I'm locking my windows and my bedroom door. I left you with a bad cliffhanger involving Braz and I'm sorry, but it had to happen. Lol. Let's just say that the next chapter will be the chapter that Bree finally comes out of her capsule:) And I will hopefully stop mixing the past and the present together!

P.S: This was a period of Bree locking herself in her capsule for about 8 months that was written in two chapters (another thing that was hard to write btw). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to update faster, but keep in mind that I'm a senior in high school about to enter college. I got a lot of work surrounding me right now. Lol. Until next time guys! Review, favorite and follow! :)