Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats.
"Where have you guys been?" Donald questioned, the moment Bree and Douglas came in through the front door. The two quickly exchanges before Bree stuttered up with an answer.
"We..were just..going..were at the mall... Yeah.."
"The mall" Donald repeated, staring at his daughter, then brother with suspicion. Donald eyed his brother.
"Yeah, since you were being so hard on her..." Douglas said, stepping in front of Bree. "I decided to bring her to the mall, since you were pushing her too hard."
"Pushing her too hard? She needs the training. That was barely anything" Bickering erupted from the two, and Bree catching sight of the trouble she cause, slipped away, not knowing how to end the chaos. She walking over to the dinning room table where she sat down heavily, wishing for the loud bickering between her father and uncle to end. She couldn't bear to hear them yell at each other like that. She turned away from them, looking towards the ground.
"Bree." Donald's loud voice called. She looked up instantly.
"We're training again later" Donald commanded.
"Living with you stinks!" Douglas exclaimed, and quickly walked up the stairs, leaving Donald fuming in the living room. Seeing the anger, Bree stood up quickly and super sped to his side, putting a reassuring hand on his arm.
"I'm, really sorry Dad." Bree apologized softly. Her eyes lingered on his profile, where she could see his fuming anger up close.
Maybe it was the anger talking, maybe it was just a bad day, but Donald ripped his arm away from Bree and staring into her eyes he replied, "You should be"
He walked away soon, leaving the young girl standing in the middle of the living room, confusion running through her mind, shame all she felt.
Hurt all she was.
-x-
-Time Skip: Lunch Time-
Quietly, Bree stared at the sandwich she had made only a few minutes earlier. The house, though wasn't empty, felt just as lonely. Perhaps, even lonelier. Her stomach felt full with Donald's words and harsh eyes. Closing her eyes, she let her sandwich drop to the plate as she took in a soft breath.
You should be.
The words echoed in her head, making her heart ache. She bit her bottom lip gently, her eyes down cast. She quickly glanced behind her at the sound of the refrigerator door opening. She quickly locked eyes with Adam, but broke away instantly. Bree's eyes bore down on her sandwich, hoping her "interest" in her lunch would make her brother's eyes stop boring into her back. Her small attempt failed, Adam pulling the seat in front of her to sit down.
"How's lunch?" Adam asked. Bree finding no other way to avoid him, looked up towards Adam, whose curious eyes stared back at her.
"Fine" Bree replied, quickly looking back down at her sandwich. With a glance of her eyes, Bree saw the nod of his head. Silence came again and before long, Adam stood up leaving the table. Her only company had left her. Before Bree could stop her sudden thoughts, they slipped past her closed lips.
"Adam." Bree called. Standing at the bottom step, Adam turned back around, facing her. He looked at her, beckoning for her to continue with his silent eyes. "I..um.."
"What is it?" Adam asked, walking towards her. Bree spoke up, but her eyes fell to the floor.
"Do you guys hate me?"
The abrupt stop of his steps was heard loudly. Bree didn't dare bring her eyes up from the ground. Her anxiety grew all the more, as Adam took the seat he was in before, right in front of her. Her hands were shaking in her lap, hidden underneath the table, as so Adam couldn't see.
"Bree..." Adam's soothing voice said. His tone felt like a hand urging her face up. Bree followed his voice, pulling her eyes up to look at him. When her eyes were on him, Adam took in a nervous breath, his hands taking hold of his water bottle.
"Bree, we don't hate you" Adam told her. By the look in her eyes, he must have seen that Bree didn't believe him. "Look, Dad, Chase and I have been living without for, a long time. So, you suddenly coming back into our lives like this and Uncle Douglas. Its a lot to get used to. You know?"
Bree nodded, feeling the slightest reassurance in her mind. Adam, saw her better mood, continued on.
"And, I know its not the easiest thing in the world for you either. I mean, you didn't know about us" Adam said, laughing. Bree laughed along, his good nature rubbing off on her. "And if I makes you feel better, I can tell Chase to be nicer the next time we train?"
Her mind wrestled with the thought, not sure if were a good idea or not. Bree didn't have time to think, her train of thought flying off the tracks at the sound of thundering steps running down the stairs.
"Guys, mission alert" Chase informed, pointing to his phone that flashed with red on the screen. Leaving her uneaten sandwich on her plate, Bree quickly followed her brothers to the elevator.
-x-
"Gear up" Donald directed as the three ran into the lab. Everyone's eyes were felt on her, but Bree chose to ignore them instead.
We're all just getting used to you.
The capsule closed around her, and she felt her casual clothes replaced by the mission suit. It clung to her skin, sticky and uncomfortable. They all stepped out of their capsules in unison steps, Adam fixing his suit here and there, while Chase held a serious face.
"Dad, what's the mission?" Chase questioned, as he walked over to Donald. Donald handed each of his kids an ear piece and as they put it on, Donald answered.
"A rescue mission. Simple and easy. There are 25 people stuck in a nuclear factory. Some of them are probably criminals, but you still have to get them out-"
"Why?" Adam interrupted. Bree played with the end of her glove, hoping to find a way to loosen it.
"So they can be put into jail." Chase replied. "Let's go"
Bree followed her brothers as they headed out of the lab.
"Bree"
She turned around at the call of her name, looking at her dad. The humming of the machines was their conversation, leaving Bree nervous for an answer to an unknown problem. He looked at her a moment more.
"Just go"
Bree let out a soft breath as she turned around. Standing there in front of him was enough to drain her energy.
-x-
The car ride to the mission site was quiet. Awkward would be a better term. In the haste the three of them were to get to their destination, Bree unexpectedly came into the middle seat. She tried asking to switch seats, but if was already too late, the car starting its roaring engine. Besides, her brothers wouldn't have said yes anyway.
So here she was, squashed between her two brothers as the car took on bumpy terrain, the passengers inside rocked with it. Bree must have probably said "sorry" about twenty times already. Adam would always shrug off her stuttered apology with smile, while Chase kept his silence, eyes glued to the road.
The car came to a stop, signaling them that they had gotten to the nuclear plant. Chase nodded, and grabbing the gear bag by his feet, pushed open the door, Bree following behind him and Adam leaving from the other side.
"Bree" Chase's voice stated, his eyes bore into her. She looked around her, trying to figure out what she had done wrong.
"Here's your gear" Adam's voice interrupted behind her. Bree turned around, just to catch a large dark bag in her unprepared arms. Bree stumbled back a few steps in surprised. Behind her, she heard an obnoxious snort come from Chase and could clearly picture his smirk in her mind. She found herself actually seeing what she pictured, followed by a directing wave from Chase as he lead the group to the entrance.
Adam pushed open the door with his super strength, just to see a part of the ceiling come crashing down in front of them.
The ran through the open doors of the factory, just to see a large portion of the ceiling come crashing down besides two workers.
Bree took a fearful step back, a small piece of her first mission flashing in her memory. Her breath caught in her throat. Her ears felt blocked, she could barely make out Chase's directions.
"Alright, let's go"
Go? Go where?
But as her brothers split ways, Adam taking right, Chase going left, Bree went the only other way. Straight ahead. She walked pass rubble, dodging fallen doors and broken shards of glass. As she walked around the plant, cries of help rolled to her ears. Bree's walking quickened, coming closer to the voice.
One voice the some how separated into voices.
"Help! Help!"
"Shut your mouth."
A groan, while something hit the floor.
Bree gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth. Who knew that breathing out a breath of air could be so loud. Once again, the person's cry for help rang out in her ears. She couldn't let their cry go unheard. Bree took a deep breath and stepped out from the darkened corridor, and super sped up the metal stairs, it creaked after her as she came to a stop on the top step.
Standing at the end of the catwalk, where the stairs had led, Bree stared at the enemy right in the eyes. The thug sent a sick smile her way, before pushing hard at the scientists head towards the railing. The man groaned, and the thug let go of his neck, letting the man fall limp to the floor. The thug straightened, and staring at her, urged her to come with a small wave from his hands.
Bree took a deep breath and super sped in front of him. He was caught off guard and Bree used his surprise to attack him, quickly putting him in a hand lock with him still dull with shock and her enhanced speed. With one hand Bree held a firm grip on thug, and he could not find a way to get out due to his position. With the other hand, Bree gave it to the scientist, who grabbed and and with that she told him,
"Hold on tight"
They were at the entrance in a blast of wind.
Bree let go of the scientist's hand and he stumbled towards the bright exit, while Bree sent a push towards the thug, who also stumbled out of the plant. Just as she was done with two, She saw Adam walking towards the entrance, helping two people with each arm and four people following him. Bree bit her lip. Then from the side she caught Chase's form, walking towards them. As he came into the light of the entrance, along with him were four people and two thugs in his grip. With a hard push, the two went stumbling out the door, while the four behind him ran out.
Chase ran to his siblings.
"Adam how many did you get out?"
Adam strained his face, counting his gloved fingers.
"Before you came, Adam was walking out with six" Bree said softly, hoping that helped.
"Alright, Chase nodded approvingly.
"Four" Adam said after a while.
"What?"
"Before I walked out with them-points towards the opened entrance-I walked out with 2 thugs and 2 lab people."
"Okay, so that makes 10 for Adam, and for me as well."
"How about you Bree?" Chase asked facing her. All the while her brothers (mostly Chase) talked, Bree played with her glove, nervousness coursing through her. She mumbled her reply.
"What?"
"Two" Bree replied softly. Shamefully. She felt the normal bore of Chase's eyes into her, and felt Adam's lingering hand by her shoulder. After a few hesitated seconds, he put his hand down on her mission suit, rubbing her shoulder.
"Its your first try with the three of us. Its fine Bree" She shook her head.
It wasn't fine.
"Yeah, Bree. Its nothing to worry about" She looked up in surprise to hear Chase's voice reassuring her. Before they could talk more, something sparked and ignited on the side. Bree let out a short scream, while Adam and Chase cautiously took a few steps back.
"Okay we don't have any more time. There are still 3 people left trapped in here. Let's split up, it'll be easier to find them that way."
His siblings nodded in reply and the three split up, all oblivious to the growing flame from the side.
-x-
Within minutes, Adam and Chase returned to the entrance, both with a scientist following them.
"This way" Chase directed, pushing open the door. The scientist nodded at him, and left along with his friend after talking shortly with Adam. "One more"
Chase looked up at Adam, then looked around.
"Where's Bree?"
"Chase Move!"
Adam grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him away, merely escaped being crushed by a burning door, fallen through the hole of broken ceiling above them. Adam and Chase stared at the burning door. Fear quickly flashed in Chase's eyes, but he pushed it away. Pulling his eyes away from the burning door, he looked at Adam. Adam voiced his thoughts.
"We have to find Bree"
-x-
Bree breathed hard, being pushed onto the ground for the third time.
"I'm not going any where" the man yelled. His white lab coat was matted with soot, his face creased with fear and worry. Bree pushed herself up from the floor, staring at him.
"You have to, or else you'll die"
"So be it" he spat at her. He turned away from her then, about to walk back. She saw the growing, blazing flame. It lapped at the floor, coming closer. Her eyes quickly flickered from her fear and she grabbed his arm.
"Let's go!"
"No!"
But his protests were nothing against her activated super speed. She quickly put him in a tight arm lock and his steps were forced to move forward, towards the entrance door. As they walked a little way, Bree felt her glove slipping from her hand, and so she held a firmer grip on the scientist let one hand go and tried to fix her loose glove.
The next thing she knew, her arm slammed into the metal railing, hot from the spread of the fire nearby. Bree let out a yelp and let go. Bree fell to her knees, feeling the sharp pain shooting up her arm. Her pain worsened, when an hand grabbed her on the part of her burned skin. Bree brought her downcast eyes up and saw Chase, holding a death grip on her arm, his eyes a mixture of worry and anger. Bree then saw Adam, holding down the scientists for a bit. His face looked calm and controlled despite the glowing fire that surrounded them and the pieces of broken ceiling continuing to rain down.
Adam tilted his head towards the open entrance way, and without much more said, Chase led her out, his grip on her arm hardened with each step.
A lone black glove was left to burn as the fire only grew and never lessened.
-x-Time Skip-
Back Home
Her arm was yanked back for a second time in the day, Bree let out a soft wince of pain. Bree whipped her head around to see Chase, holding her wrist his eyes looking at her. They had just come home from the mission, their mission suits still on. When their eyes met, he let go of her wrist, staring at her.
"What happened? You took too long to find one person and he practically beat you up"
"Well I'm sorry, I guess I'm not Mr. Perfect like you are" Bree shot at him, anger in her veins.
He shook his head at her, clearly he was annoyed. "Bree, this isn't about me. Its about you. You have to train more, practice using-"
"That's enough. First dad, now you."
"Its true. The truth hurts. Your recklessness put us in danger."
Bree shook her head at him. She let out a breath that sounded almost like a laugh. A forced one that is.
"I could have handled all of that fine by myself" Bree said.
"Yeah, sure. It didn't look like you were handling it very well when Adam and I-"
"I would have done fine. If you hadn't interfered." Bree said loudly.
Silence passed, before Bree turned around and walked away, back into the lab.
Hope you all enjoyed that and stay tuned for more. :D
Don't forget to R&R.
Until next time, kelliburgles and PBL. :)