"I don't fit in anywhere." – Leo, First Day at Bionic Academy

Episode: 4x7, "Forbidden Hero."

Taken off the team. He'd been taken off the team.

By his mom, who didn't even have anything to do with the missions. Leo barely even saw her in person anymore. She had no right.

Oh, sure, everything had been sorted out now. Leo had saved his mom, and she'd let him stay on the team. But the fact that she'd tried to keep him off the team – she was going to take him with her back to the mainland. Away from Adam, Bree, and Chase. His friends, siblings, and teammates.

Speaking of which, they hadn't even defended him. Leo's rage turned to hurt and sadness. He'd trusted them to stick up for him, to tell his mom that he had what it took to go on missions. Sure, he'd gotten hurt twice in one week, but he was just on a bad streak, that was all.

They hadn't even tried.

They send you in first because you're the weakest. The distraction while they do the real dirty work.

Leo sat down in the chair in the 'classroom' beside the hydro-loop. Being angry while near tears all day had left him utterly exhausted. He didn't have the energy to fight the Voice.

They clearly don't see you as their equal.

He knew that.

They didn't even care when your mom was going to take you away from the island.

Leo leaned his face into his hands. His elbows hit the smooth surface of the table. His shirt rode up his stomach, revealing the flowers he'd been drawing all day.

They don't even like you. You're not their brother. You're their pet.

Leo shifted his hands from his face to his ears. His eyes shut tight, he willed the Voice to go away.

You know how to get rid of me. Bet you won't do it. You're too pathetic. Useless little Leo, that's what you are.

"Not true," Leo whispered brokenly.

You're a joke. Unwanted. Unneeded.

"Not true," Leo repeated, slightly more firmly. His siblings had said the opposite. They'd said they needed him. That he was an important part of the team.

Oh, poor naïve, gullible, stupid Leo.

He really, really hated the Voice.

Gaining a sudden sense of clarity, Leo lowered his arms. He laid his left arm – his stupid, weak, non-bionic arm – on the table. He was at his limit. He'd been falling apart for months. He needed the Voice to go away. His marker laid in his pocket, forgotten. He instead lifted his right arm – his perfect, strong, bionic arm – and summoned the laser orb energy. Leo licked his lips. He was apprehensive, nervous, horrified at himself. But he couldn't fight it anymore. He'd lost. Failed.

He wondered how badly it would hurt.

"Leo!"

He jolted, accidentally firing the laser orb into the room. It fizzled out once it hit the wall. His shirt ruffled as Bree used her super speed to run over to him.

"Leo, what were you thinking?" Bree asked. She took his arms and looked over them for any injuries. Leo yanked his limbs away.

"I'm fine, Bree," he said. Bree crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Leo suddenly noticed how much like Chase she looked. "Seriously! I'm fine!"

Bree sighed and dropped her arms to her sides. "That's just it, Leo," she told him. "I don't think you are." Leo tried to argue despite knowing she was right, but the older teen cut him off. "You tried to hurt yourself. That's not 'fine'."

The Voice had left again. Leo was too exhausted and upset to explain. To stand. To speak. He chose, instead, to avoid Bree's gaze.

"Why would you try to do this to yourself, Leo?" Bree demanded. "I thought …"

"What? That I was better?" Leo asked lowly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bree flinch. He sighed. "Look, sometimes I have bad days, but I can get through them. Other times, I have worse days, and I have a hard time not slipping back into old habits."

Bree just stood there, at a loss of what to do. Leo smiled, genuinely glad that she'd stopped him from making another stupid mistake.

"So… you've had other 'worse days'?" Bree asked, expression worried.

Leo bit his lip. "Well, yes, but –"

He was cut off when Bree pulled him into a hug. Leo wrapped his arms around her, holding on perhaps a bit too tightly, but not enough to hurt her. It was several minutes before they pulled away.

"We love you, Leo," Bree said. "Don't… don't hurt yourself."

Leo was surprised when he found himself crying. But he supposed he should have expected it. After a long day of feeling hurt and untrusted and unloved, it was nice to hear someone say it.

Bree held him again while he cried.