╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮
THIRTY!
versus the sabotage
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────
Today was considered a day of relaxation for the Mech X4 team. The group had no missions lined up for them to tend to and everyone had finished up any outstanding tasks they had, whether it be school work or repairs in the robot.
This meant that there was an abundance of free time for the group to indulge in and they decided that playing an intense game of Risk was the perfect way to spend the day.
Veracity unfortunately had to miss out but the rest of the group currently sat in the lounge room.
"Ohh! My fiefdom is fiefdope!" Ryan exclaimed excitedly, moving more pieces into his designated. The game was definitely getting intense and the technopath was the most competitive.
"Easy, dude." Spyder reminded when he received a harsh shove in the shoulder from the technopath. "I'm still feeling a little....."
"Stupid? For wearing that hat?" Mark mocked him for his choice of hat. The boys all laughed in agreement and Mark received a high five from his brother.
Spyder Johnson had decided today was the day that he would switch up his usual hat choice. The newly long haired boy was known for wearing baseball caps with snaps in the back and it was a stable in his wardrobe. That was his go to style.
But for some reason, he had chosen to go with a knitted hat embroidered with dinosaur features. He was a bit self conscious about the new look as it was out of the ordinary for him, so the constant teasing from the others definitely didn't help him feel better about it.
"I actually think Spyder looks adorable in this hat." Natalie complimented, causing her boyfriend to smile happily.
"You have to say that, you're his girlfriend." Hana pointed out.
"No, I like this hat." Spyder defended. "It's just, I'm still feeling a little...barfy." He explained. The poor boy was currently overcoming a bad case of food poisoning. He was no longer throwing up everywhere but he was still queasy.
"Really cause I feel great!" Ryan exclaimed happily. "Defeat Traeger, check. Defeat all of you at this game? In the progress."
"Not if I destroy you first." Hana spoke up confidently. "I do have tricks up my sleeves."
"Not so fast kids, ok? I've been playing this game so long, I have moves they haven't even invented yet." Leo reminded.
"Surprising confidence when Ryan and Hana are both kicking your butt." Harris pointed out.
"Yeah." Ryan agreed.
"That's a first, usually Ryan eats it at this game." Spyder reminded in disbelief.
"We never get past the first round. All we do is hassle him." Harris added.
"Finally, Hana wins the entire game and afterwards, we all have to ice our new bruises that she caused." Natalie finished but received a weird look from Leo. "It can get really painful when Hana gets competitive." The boys all nodded in agreement.
"How is this any different?" Ryan questioned.
"We're celebrating Traeger's loss. Instead of playing a game that Ryan loses." Mark pointed out, causing the eccentric scientist to chuckle.
"Not this time." Ryan denied before putting down a card on the table that could change the fate of the game. "Boom! Trance! Skip your turn! Oh yeah! Back away." He exclaimed excitedly and the rest of the group looked in surrender at the boy's card.
"Wow." Leo's eyes widened in disbelief.
Suddenly, Spyder turned away from group and threw up in the garbage can beside him. The group all cringed in disgust. "Food poisoning. Happens when you keep fish sticks in your locker." Harris reminded the ill boy.
"Didn't Natalie and Veracity throw those away though?" Ryan questioned in confusion.
"Not all of them." Spyder confirmed, causing everyone to cringe in disgust.
"I thought we talked about this. No keeping deep fried food in your locker." Natalie scolded.
"Hey, where is Veracity anyway?" Leo pondered, finally noticing the girl's absence. "She was supposed to teach me gramogram. Have you guys heard of this thing called memes?" The group gave him a weird look in response.
"Wow, you're really old." Hana taunted and received a harsh slap to the shoulder from Natalie. She winched at the sudden impact.
"You've all heard of it." Leo pointed out.
"Yes." Ryan nodded.
"A little bit but that's ok." Harris assured.
"Veracity's touring a school that's for geniuses that has never invited Harris." Spyder taunted as he reached for the dice for his turn.
"Because it's an all girl school." Harris shot back.
Spyder shook the dice using one hand before tossing them onto the table. Unfortunately for him, he accidentally put too much force into his throw and the dice flew across the table and onto the floor. The group all stared in annoyance at him.
"My petition is working its way through the court system right now." Harris reminded.
"You retained a lawyer?" Leo questioned.
"Yes." Harris nodded.
"Yep, of course you did." Spyder rolled his eyes at the shorter boy's antics.
Mark went to pick up the dice but had taken too long to grab them, making the others annoyed. "Come on, Mark!" Harris exclaimed.
"Anytime, Mark." Ryan waited before his brother handed him the set of dice. He rolled on his turn, getting another impressive advancement.
"Woah, ok." Mark's eyes widened.
"I'm on a roll." Ryan cheered.
Mark picked up both dice and rolled them. The game was was getting super heated by the minute. It was already a close game but now it was extremely competitive as they almost reached the end. Hana, Leo and Ryan were all neck and neck for first place.
"It's gonna be a chilla and a thrilla and quite a killa when burn down your vill.....age, village." Leo tried to threaten but only earned weird looks. He shook the dice before throwing it onto the table.
"What's that ticking sound?" Harris asked randomly.
The room instantly became silent as the entire group tried to listen out for the unfamiliar noise that the boy had mentioned. It ended up just being Leo Mendel being his weird self.
"Ah, it's me! I'm making the ticking sound." Leo announced. "When I think, I'm concentrating I make little sounds with my mouth."
"Stop that." Ryan ordered, reaching over for the dice as it was his turn to roll.
"Hmm, ok." Leo nodded.
"Uh huh! Yeah!" Ryan rolled the dice and picked up some unexpectedly good cards. "Who's been playing this game since before I was born now?" He confidently threw down his cards.
"It's still me." Leo pointed out with a dead pan expression. "That's not how time works."
"Well, yeah." Ryan shrugged.
"Oh but also, I have a little surprise for everyone. Steal!" Leo exclaimed, throwing down a card.
"No, you can't do that." Ryan argued.
"Oh, yes I can." Leo reminded. "Oh and uh, speaking of can. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the left ankle. Do not disturb." The scientist stood up from his seat and quickly left the room.
"Dude, you didn't have to say it like that." Hana called in disgust but it was too late as the eldest male was already out of earshot.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, hold on. The left.....the left ankle is the bathroom?" Spyder questioned.
"Yeah." Ryan nodded.
"It always has been." Natalie confirmed.
"So nobody go in the right ankle." Spyder warned, causing the group to cringe in disgust.
"Dude." Ryan cringed.
"That's nasty." Hana fake gagged but had accidentally caused a chain reaction and Spyder had to back up to throw up again.
"Dude, you sure you're ok?" Ryan asked worryingly.
"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm just.....just working the fish sticks through." Spyder explained to the boy before throwing up again.
"That's disgusting." Ryan cringed.
"Uhh, I regret nothing!" Spyder yelled before continuing to throw up for the third time.
"You should regret everything." Hana pointed out.
"Ok, so guys, would food poisoning cause me to like see things? Like some sort of cool but scary bomb under the table?" Spyder asked jokingly.
"No but you can accidentally get super high and hallucinate if you take too much gravol." Hana explained to the boy. "Did you give him too much gravol?" She turned towards Natalie.
"I only gave him the recommended amount. One pill every six hours." Natalie confirmed.
"Spyder, you're seeing things." Mark claimed.
"You don't look so good. Maybe you should lie down." Harris suggested.
"That's a good idea. You look like you need some rest. I'll help you to the Med Bay." Natalie added, agreeing with the shorter boy.
"No! Just look under the table!" Spyder yelled and they all went under the table to look, not expecting to see what they had.
"Bomb!" Harris exclaimed.
"No really, thanks captain obvious." Hana pointed out sarcastically.
"Ryan, you can stop it right?" Spyder asked.
Ryan then used his power to stop the bomb but it wasn't working. His powers kept getting shut off. "Uh......I'm trying but nothing's working!" He exclaimed in frustration.
"There's no electricity in the bomb. No technology means no electrical wires are running through it. That means this bomb is running a natural fuse that needs a chemical reaction to start it." Natalie ranted in a nervous manner.
"Hmm, maybe if we turn the timer to zero......" Spyder said as he reached for the bomb.
"No!" The group all exclaimed in sync as they pulled him away from the table.
Mark immediately got up from his seat and slide under the table to figure out how to turn the bomb off before it went off. "Oh, uh.......Harris, give me my drill from my toolbox." He quickly ordered the short boy, who instantly nodded.
"The small one!" Mark emphasized and the short boy quickly ran off to find the needed tool. "Uh, Spyder, go to the left ankle and pull a torken fetter from the access panel." He ordered the other boy.
"I don't know what that is but I will pull everything." Spyder confirmed before nervously running off to search for the fake tool. He clearly didn't know that it was a just thing that Mark made up to get rid of him from the situation.
"There's no such thing as a torken fetter." Hana pointed out to the older teen.
"I've seen Spyder drop several explosives." Mark reminded. "And we're done rolling dices here."
"Here you go." Harris quickly handed the desired tool over to the eldest teen.
Mark tried to use the drill to add pressure to a weak spot on the bomb but that plan backfires as the bomb's timer went faster. "It's speeding up. I can't jam it." He exclaimed worryingly. "One minute left!"
"Um, I can't find the torken fetter and also, Leo says it doesn't exist!" Spyder announced nervously over the Mech-Link to the other members.
"It doesn't." Leo confirmed. "Listen closely, cut the blue wire. It's always the blue wire." The scientist assured, somewhat confident.
"There aren't any wires!" Mark exclaimed.
"Umm......cut the red wire?" Leo suggested.
"It's just gears." Mark confirmed, trying to think a new plan. "Maybe we can......freeze it with the coolant from the power system!" He suggested suddenly.
"I'm on it!" Ryan exclaimed, quickly getting up from the ground.
The Technopath rushed into the hallway where the desired can was located. It was in a secret panel in the wall as that ensured it stayed cold. He harshly opened the panel door to reveal the much desired can of coolant. Upon obtaining it, he ran back over to the group and tossed it to his brother.
Mark quickly uncapped it and sprayed the substance all over the bomb, causing it to instantly freeze up. Once the timer and mechanisms had stopped, they were free of an explosion and they celebrated at their second chance of life.
───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────────
After the tense situation had calmed down, the team had re-grouped in the lounge to find answers. They were unsure of who could of done this and how it was planted but they knew they had to get to the bottom of this before something worse happened. The group stood around the table as they investigated the bomb that Mark had taken apart for them to see.
"Who could've done this?" Ryan questioned in disbelief. "Ok, it has to be Harper."
"It can't be." Harris disagreed. "The bomb used an egg timer, it had to have been placed in the last hour. Harper ghosted days ago."
"Grey?" Ryan pondered.
"Impossible." Leo confirmed. "Mark and I built a security system specifically designed to keep her out, while you saved Ryan's bio-dad from the mine collapse before the city-wide blackout." He explained.
"Man, that was a crazy 24 hours!" Hana exclaimed, earning a nod from the older male.
"We have to check the security footage to see if anybody got in." Ryan suggested.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Spyder exclaimed, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. They all gave him a confused look. "There are cameras in this robot?" He asked nervously.
"Spyder, it's okay. We know you sleep here four days a week." Ryan assured the boy.
"Ew! You probably sleep naked here!" Hana exclaimed in disgust.
The group then went into the next room to check out the security footage on their monitors. "Look, the time code jumps from 6:09 to 6:42. The last half hour of footage was wiped." Mark explained.
"But just on the interior cameras." Natalie added.
"The exterior cameras didn't show anything, which means.....no one came in or out." Ryan pointed out.
"So what you're saying is it's one of us? One of us planted the bomb?" Harris pondered in disbelief.
On command, Ryan used his power to shut all of the doors and locked them. He wanted to make sure that one left before the truth was uncovered. "And no one moves till we find out who."
"Are you insane? You think one of us planted the explosive?" Mark questioned in disbelief.
"There's no other explanation. No one came in or out." Ryan defended.
"That doesn't make any sense. We were all in the robot. It could've taken any of us out." Harris reminded, earning nods of agreement.
"Guys, we've done some crazy things." Ryan pointed out. "I went nuts in the Arctic. Harris turned into a monster."
"Harper gave Ryan's mom a mind-controlling brain bug. Couldn't he have done that to any of us?" Spyder pointed out. "I mean......am I even in control?"
Before anyone could stop the boy's antics, he quickly slapped the bottle of juice out of Leo's hands. The liquid spilled everywhere on the male and on the floor. "Bro!" Leo exclaimed in disbelief.
"I think so." Spyder mumbled in confirmation, blocking out the weird looks he received.
"You idiot." Hana shook her head in disappointment.
"That's my juice. I gotta get another one and the fridge is all the way over there." Leo voiced in annoyance before going over to the fridge to grab himself a new bottle.
"Hey! One of us did this, we need to stay together
until we figure out what's going on!" Ryan reminded.
"Okay, you guys? We just need to, uh, take a deep breath. Think of things that'll calm us down." Mark suggested to the group but instead just hyped himself up.
"Wow.....nice job lifting all of our spirits, Mark." Leo sarcastically spoke.
"What are you doing to figure this out?" Mark asked in annoyance.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.....we can't turn on each other. We're a team." Leo reminded.
"He's right." Harris agreed.
"We need to go over exactly where we were, right before the game, during the deleted security footage." Natalie explained.
"If one of us did that, wouldn't they lie about where they were?" Mark pondered.
"Yeah and when we find the hole in their story, we'll know who tried to kill us." Ryan pointed out, earning a nod of agreement from everyone else.
"I'll go first." Mark volunteered. "This afternoon, I was in my workshop, working on a sick engine rebuild." He started.
"I saw Ryan, too." Mark exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah, I remember that." Ryan confirmed. "Did you do......anything else?" He asked the older teen.
"Uh, I needed a tool, so I headed over to Leo's." Mark answered. "He'll back me up." He looked directly at the scientist for confirmation.
"Was it a torken fetter?" Spyder whispered to his girlfriend.
"No." Natalie shook her head.
"Okay, I think we get it." Harris stopped the teen's story. "Mark borrowed a tool from Leo and has a disturbing amount of self-esteem."
"So, Leo, you back up Mark's story? At least the parts he wasn't embellishing?" Natalie questioned.
"Yes, but there are two problems with Mark's story!" Leo exclaimed. "One, when I grow up, I wanna be Tina Fey."
"That's a bit of a weird dream." Hana gave a weird look to the older male.
"And two, the tool you borrowed from me wasn't a wrench. It wasn't even a tool you'd use on an engine at all." Leo explained.
"Well, what was it?" Ryan asked.
"A needle." Leo confirmed. "Used for boring small holes."
"Small holes, like at the centre of the gears in the device?" Ryan pondered.
"No, no, no, no, no! You guys, I promise, I would never....." Mark quickly denied.
"Mark, hey! Just.....Just show us the engine." Ryan begged. "You're my brother, I know you wouldn't do this."
"No." Mark shook his head.
Before the Walker boy could stop his younger brother, Ryan immediately sprinted towards his workshop. The others followed after him but Mark quickly caught up as he wanted to get the room first. He was clearly hiding something. Even if he didn't make the bomb, it was definitely something that he's embarrassed about.
As soon as Ryan reached the mysterious item under the sheet, he pulled it off to reveal an embroidery station. This confused the group as they never expected the teen to have this sort of hobby.
"What is this?" Ryan questioned in confusion.
"Just leave it alone, it's nothing...." Mark denied.
"It's an embroidery station." Hana happily confirmed. The girl was into sewing and this led her to dabbling in the hobby of embroidery. She had her own kit and it looked almost identical to the one in front of her, so she knew that was Mark's secret hobby.
"What a.....relief?" Ryan awkwardly chuckled.
"I didn't want you to find out this way or at all." Mark said in an embarrassed tone.
"I think it's cool." Natalie complimented as an attempt to cheer up the embarrassed teen.
"Georgia got me into embroidery for cosplay and we do it while we watch basketball." Mark explained. "It's......It's romantic. It's romantic!"
"This is intricate." Harris complimented as he investigated the newly embroidered pillow that had Mark's face on it.
"Yeah, I can't even do stuff like that yet." Hana agreed in awe.
"Thanks?" Mark shrugged.
"What a tight stitch. This took a long time and it's still warm." Harris pointed out. "Which means that Mark must've worked on this before the game....."
"It's not him. He's innocent." Natalie confirmed.
"Let's get outta here and never speak of this again." Mark rushed, wanting to usher the group away from his embarrassing secret.
"Oh, yeah, man, for sure." Ryan nodded. "Just let me get a couple of pictures." He quickly pulled out his phone to snap a shot of the hobby.
"What?" Mark eyed his brother in disbelief.
"Do you like portrait or landscape?" The two boys began fighting each other but Mark quickly got the upper hand and won. The teen covered his machine up with a sheet before leading the group back to the main lounge room.
They all sat down at the table as Spyder began to speak. "I don't have some awesome sewing secret but I was totally busy not building some crazy explodey thing." He assured the group.
"I was in the Med Bay, doing some light math as usual, in an attempt to cure my food poisoning." Spyder began to retell but his story was actually just a fever dream he had while he slept.
"Um, I don't......" Harris's began to shake his head in confusion but Ryan quickly cut him off.
"Mark got make stuff up, so let's just let him have this." Ryan stopped, earning a nod.
"And then, four Harrises did a line dance." Spyder happily finished his story off.
"Spyder, that was a fever dream." Harris pointed out to the boy.
"Yeah, we took care of you in the Med Bay while you slept." Natalie confirmed. "Until you woke up and threw up on Harris' sneakers."
"Oh, yeah! I remember that." Spyder laughed, hitting the shorter boy in the shoulder.
"So the only person who could vouch for you was asleep." Mark reminded.
"Yeah but I was in the Med Bay the whole time." Natalie argued. "Spyder saw me before and after he fell asleep and so did Harris."
"Yep, I was there with Natalie." Harris confirmed, vouching for the girl.
"Ryan, you saw us, too!" Natalie pointed out.
"Yeah, I know but either of you still had enough time to jump in the elevator and then plant the explosive." Ryan explained.
"Except......I cut the power to the elevators when I was doing the upgrade." Leo announced. "So it was literally impossible for Natalie or Harris to do all that in such a short time."
"Leo's right." Mark agreed. "I couldn't even move that fast and I'm.....you know, awesome." Leo nodded in agreement with the teen.
"Bam! Innocence is sweet!" Harris exclaimed happily.
"Yep, I'm free too." Natalie nodded.
"Next is Hana......" Ryan looked at the girl, who had suddenly gone quiet at the table. Almost too quiet for their liking. "Where were you?"
"I was in the lounge the entire time. I was just watching a movie as I sewed patches into my new denim jacket." Hana answered.
"By yourself?" Mark questioned.
"Yeah, that seems suspicious." Ryan pointed out.
"I wasn't alone the whole time. Leo joined me at one point." Hana confirmed.
"Yeah, I saw Hana was watching Spirited Away and I had to join her. We watched a bit of the movie together before I went back to doing upgrades." Leo explained, vouching for the Miyazaki girl.
"I also saw Leo and Hana together when I went to make a tea for myself in the lounge." Natalie added.
"Yeah, I was just stitching on patches, which takes forever, so I wouldn't have time to do install a bomb under the table." Hana reminded. She then held up her jacket as proof for them to see. The black denim was covered in colourful designs that were hand sewn on.
"I believe Hana." Harris announced. "She's too into her crafting hobbies that she wouldn't stop them for anything else."
"Ok, so that leaves you, Ryan." Mark looked directly at his younger brother.
💬 AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter was getting so long that I decided to split it up into two parts. There's just so much packed into this episode and I also had an idea of my own that I wanted to include but I thought there was already too much stuffed in this chapter. Sorry about the wait but I'll make sure to make the next chapter even better for you all. Thank you again!
★ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ! spyder johnson ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)