episode 25
~ the vanishing part one ~
"i'm here, i'm here," bob announced as he ran into the training area, interrupting the class.
"bob, you're late again," valerie sighed, pausing the combat moves her and bree were trying to show the other students.
"it's not my fault i overslept. it's bree's."
"what? how is it my fault?"
"you keep showin' up in my dreams."
"okay, that's enough," val pulled her girlfriend away from the younger boy, leaving him all to chase.
"we need to talk later," bree whispered.
"nothing good ever comes out of 'we need to talk'," val jokingly hummed.
"i'm serious."
"what's up with you? someone ask you to prom?" leo asked a giggling martin, donald and douglas.
"no. but thanks for opening up old wounds."
"after countless hours of research and development, douglas, martin and i have finally perfected the most amazing bionic operating system upgrade ever."
"i woke up for this?"
"this upgrade is gonna be like going from motor scooters to jet engines. it'll make all of your abilities ten times more powerful."
"an upgrade, huh? well, i'm not sure you can make my
leg any more powerful, but go ahead; give it a go."
"sorry, leo, the upgrade only works on people with bionic chips."
"be grateful you have a bionic arm and a bionic leg. that's all you're getting. well, at least until your next horrific accident," mister davenport chuckled, followed by leo's fake laughter.
"got anything for superpowers?" valerie inquired, resting her arm on her dad's shoulder.
"no, but we do have time for training today," douglas shrugged.
"mister davenport, are you sure that this new upgrade is safe? i mean, some of our students haven't even mastered their bionics at the current level."
"yeah, mister davenport, i know you wanna give us like, the coolest thing ever, but do you have to?" bree added in a whiny voice, causing the others to chuckle.
"don't worry. i built in a skill app that allows the students to master their amped-up abilities instantly."
"bottom line, this upgrade is the best thing that donnie and i have ever created together. i am so proud of you."
"no, i'm proud of you."
"i'm glad i wasn't included in that statement," martin murmured, stepping away from the two brothers who were now arguing about who was prouder.
"hey, hey. you know what'll make us all proud? if you two go back to hating each other."
"stop, bree," bob interrupted their conversation. "you're embarrassing yourself. oh, sweet girl, you don't have to beg. i'll allow you to kiss me."
suddenly, a loud smack was heard and bob jumped awake.
"ouch!"
"valerie, don't throw things at the students!"
"sorry, hand slipped," the hispanic shrugged, a small smirk appearing on her lips.
ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
"how's it going with the upgrade?" donald asked, announcing his presence as bree flicked val's forehead, waking the girl up.
"i'll let you be the judge. go ahead, jenny. show him how powerful you are now."
with a smile on her face, the student ducked down and shot a fireball at the ground, leaving a trail that went in between mister davenport's legs.
"wow! that is powerful. you just made an old man jump."
"well, that's the last of the students," douglas informed.
"oh, great. i'll do adam, bree, chase, chris and valerie."
"yeah, you do that, and the guy who really needs the upgrade will just stand right over here wishing he was actually part of the family," leo sarcastically smiled, rolling his eyes when he noticed jenna sticking her tongue out at him.
"don't worry, leo. i am working on something very special just for you."
"really?"
"how would you like to be the proud owner of the world's first bionic nostril?"
"bionic nostril? you can't be serious. i'm considering it; we'll talk."
"okay, adam, we'll do you first. that's weird. the upgrade's not taking."
"it's probably searching for his brain."
"bree, let's try you," mister davenport gently pushed away an annoyed adam. "chase," he added after hearing more beeps, signifying that the update was being denied. "i don't get it. why isn't the upgrade working on any of them?"
"probably because their bionics are first generation," douglas snapped his fingers.
"we built the upgrade for the students' infrastructure. it must not be compatible with their older systems," martin realized.
"there has to be some way you can adapt it."
"i can probably work something up, but given how old your bionic architecture is, i'll never be able to match the power the students have."
"who's old now?" mister davenport joked, referring back to adam's comment.
"so let me get this straight-"
"that's a first."
"-they all just became more powerful, and we're stuck like this forever?"
"oh, my, that certainly is a shame."
"leo, i will geo-leap you to the middle of the atlantic ocean and leave you there," chris threatened.
"if all the students are more advanced than we are, then that means that adam, bree, chris, val and i are...obsolete."
ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
"we've dedicated our entire lives to being bionic heroes. now, we don't even matter," bree groaned, plopping down into the seat beside val, who instantly threw her arm over bree's shoulder.
"yeah. when you think about it, it's like we've been training our own replacements."
"guys, what's with the doom and gloom? i'm actually okay with it. in fact, i've been checking out some retirement communities, and they're awesome. look-"
"no," chris stopped him, taking the magazine out of adam's hands.
"but they have railings on the toilets."
"retirement?" bree scoffed. "no way. i'm a teenager. i haven't even got my driver's license yet."
"i feel so used," val joked.
"oh, don't worry. you won't need it. most of these old folks' homes don't even let you drive. but get this. there's a van that'll take you to the market twice a week."
"we're not retiring. i'm gonna figure out a way to give us an upgrade. and not only that, i'm gonna make sure it's even better than everyone else's. after all, i am the smartest man in the world."
"not anymore, you has-been."
"jenna's in the training room with daniel and leo," chris spoke, not even having to look up to know that chase no longer wanted to be around the gloomy group with adam's occasional retirement home facts.
"whoa! this place comes with people who will change your pants. now that's easy living."
"alright," bree sighed, "let's go have that talk."
"bree, we already had this talk in greece," val whispered once they were far enough from everybody. "we're too young."
"i don't care. we'll never have enough time to have an official ceremony. we're always too busy saving others."
"love, if you're saying you want to elope, i'm going to say no. you've always wanted this huge ceremony and official wedding and i want you to have it. i'm willing to wait."
"i'm just scared," bree let out a deep breath that she didn't even know she was holding.
"you're not going to lose me. i promise. you're stuck with me. and you won't have to wait that long, i mean, almost everyone here is more powerful than us so-"
"you're the only one here with superpowers."
"oh yeah, i forgot. i'm the most powerful one here because i can walk through walls," valerie exclaimed, making bree snort.
"i love you."
"i love you more. now go teach your class...or go get your ass beat by your own students. please text me if that happens. i would love to see it."
ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
"hey," chris called out, catching his sister's attention. "have you seen like any of my students recently?"
"no, why?"
"no one showed up to class," he groaned, sitting down at her table and shoving some of the popcorn val was snacking on into his mouth.
"they're probably tired of you," jenna walked into the cafeteria at the perfect time, moving aside to avoid crashing into another student.
"shut the fuck up. at least i'm not blonde."
"chris."
"what? the blonde slander-"
"she's gone," valerie stuttered out, looking around the rest of the area to see everyone else geo-leap away.
"that's a problem."
"jenna was gonna train with leo and daniel today. they can't geo-leap."
"well, technically," chris began, closing his mouth as soon as he noticed valerie's annoyed expression. "yeah, no they can't."
"mister davenport!" they both heard an easily recognizable voice shout, causing them to get up and run to where it came from. "we have a problem. i can't find my students anywhere."
"are you sure they're not just avoiding your training session? i mean, i've sat through your class. we all think you could use a little pizzazz."
"no, the students are vanishing," leo said, appearing from the training room as well.
"jenna did, too," chris mumbled, avoiding eye contact with chase.
"what?"
"bob's gone, too," adam joined the conversation. "and i can't lose my bob. we have an 8:00 a.m. tee time."
"alright, everyone calm down. there has to be a logical explanation."
as if on cue, the group of teens passing by them disappeared.
"or not."
"daniel!" douglas yelled, leaving his hand extended to where the dirty blond was standing seconds ago.
"everybody's gone. what are we gonna do?"
"what do you mean, we? i'm retired."
with a roll of her eyes, bree sped off, returning only moments later, throwing her hands up in exasperation.
"i double checked the whole academy. all the students are gone."
"the new upgrade must've caused a glitch that made them geo-leap away."
"daniel disappeared, and we didn't give him the upgrade," douglas shook his head in disagreement.
"technically, that is correct. you did not give him the upgrade."
"leo!"
"that kid was impossible to train. and trust me, i happen to know a thing or two about slow learners," the youngest one pointed at himself.
"i specifically told you not to give him that upgrade."
"don't blame me. you built the software that made everyone disappear."
"for the record, donnie had just as much to do with this as i did. if not more. a lot more. in fact, this whole thing was his idea."
"it was not!" mister davenport argued.
"was too."
"was not."
"no, it wasn't!"
they both began talking at once, ending up with them blaming martin since he wasn't present.
"we have to find them. although, with them gone, we are top dog again."
"do something!"
"okay. i'll pull up their gps locators, and find out where they are," chase moved towards the cyber desk, everyone following.
"nothing's coming up. their signals must have been deactivated."
"great, so now my girlfriend, our brother, and the entire student body are missing, and we have no idea where they are. they could be anywhere in the world."
"i have tried every way possible to remotely reactivate their gps locators, and nothing is working," douglas exclaimed.
"then we'll have to find them the old-fashioned way. chase, map out an urban search and rescue. we'll go mile by mile, state by state if we have to."
"mister davenport, what if we're too late? that glitch could've geo-leaped them anywhere," valerie spoke up for the first time since their realization.
"they could be at the bottom of the ocean or inside an active volcano. they may already be gone."
"we're not giving up."
"hello?" daniel's face appeared on the giant monitor, jenna right behind him, observing the lab they seemed to be in.
"guys, where are you?" leo instantly asked.
"listen, we don't have much time. the lady hacked into our chips and geo-leaped us here. she had us trapped, but jenna and i busted out."
"place looks familiar."
"that's giselle's lab."
"hey, what do you think you're doing? how did you escape?" giselle cocked her head to the side, attempting to hit daniel with the weapon in her hand, but jenna managed to stop it from hitting the kid.
"dad, hurry!"
"say goodbye to your son, douglas. to the rest of you, say goodbye to your best friend."
"everybody suit up."
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lol sorry for the late update, got a life and have been very busy. i have like two days before school starts so i'm gonna take advantage of that and finish this book. there's only a chapter left bc i've lost motivation 💪🏼💪🏼