CHAPTER FOUR, quarantined

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"Guys I need to prep you for a very important mission." Donald said as they all stood around in the lab. "And to demonstrate, Leo-" The boy made a noise before correcting the man. "Mission Specialist Dooley, will be adding a little more audio-visual 'Pizzazzle' to the usual snooze fest." He loaded it up on the screen to reveal fireworks.

"Wow. Fireworks." Emilia uttered sarcastically, as they all gave Leo a look who then said. "Hey, you want a show? Kick in the dough." Donald put his hands on Chase and Adam's backs while telling them. "Tonight I'm sending you to gather intelligence."

Chase oohed. "Oh, you hear that, Adam? You'd better bring a big basket." He remarked, making Emilia chuckle before patting Adam on the shoulder.

"I was satellite-scouting industrial sites when I found this warehouse that I think is a front for environmental criminals. See these barrels? They're full of toxic chemicals. They're expensive to dispose of properly, so they're probably just gonna dump them into the sea."

"Which could harm ocean life and obliterate the coastline." Leo interjected before they furrowed their brows in confusion when they heard Bree laughing while talking to someone on the phone.

"Owen, you are so sweet. Yes, I will 'Bree' your valentine." The girl turned to the others to explain, "See, he took my name and-"

"Yeah, we got it." Chase interjected, which Adam nodding along. "Even, I got it." He turned his head to look at Emilia with a frown. "I didn't get it." The banshee playfully frowned, ruffling his hair before looking up at Donald who asked them. "What is going on?"

"She's talking to Owen." Emilia explained. "He's an artist." She added on, making Chase nod before chiming in. "He claims that Bree is his muse."

"Well, I for one, am not a-mused." Donald remarked, before Leo played a 'Wah-wah-wah' tone on the tablet. "Gimme that!" Donald said, grabbing it from Leo, before turning to Bree to tell her. "And you, off the phone!"

Bree groaned while hanging up the phone. "Just tell us what you invented, what went wrong, and how long till it blows up." She said.

"Look, the police cannot bust these guys without evidence, so I need you to sneak in there and gather samples. Show 'em the barrel." Donald instructed before Leo pulled off the sheet to reveal the barrel. "Now, there's only one safe way to get the samples, and Leo... Sorry. Mission Specialist Dooley will demonstrate."

While Leo demonstrated, Donald continued his explanation. "First, take the canister and attach it to the spout. Push down and turn 45 degrees... to create an airtight seal. Then, pull the handle."

Bree laughed once again, making them turn to see her texting on her phone. "LOL, Owen." She giggled.

"Bree!" Donald yelled, making the girl groan in response.

"Come on. Why do I have to pay attention all the time?" Bree questioned. "Strong. Smart. Fast. Let's just do this already." She super speeded away, only to crash into the lab doors, making her fall to the ground. "Bree, how many times have I told you? No texting while super speeding!" Donald reminded the girl, who just looked back at them.

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"Wake up!" Donald banged on each of their capsule's the next morning. "I want a complete debriefing of what went wrong last night without any giggling when I use the word 'debriefing'."

Leo laughed, making Emilia and Donald give him a look as Adam and Chase stepped out of their capsules. "Guys, you failed the mission. What happened?" Donald wondered. Bree went to step out of her capsule, only for an alarm to go off, making Donald panic. "Get back in your capsule! Get back in!"

"I'm guessing that." Emilia spoke loudly over the alarm. "The system is detecting a high level of contamination in Bree's capsule." Donald informed the others.

"What? That's ridiculous. How could my capsule be...?" Bree went on to question before sighing in realisation.

"Ohh, what? What is 'Ohh'?" Chase asked, with an annoyed expression on his face.

Adam looked at his brother. "Duh! 'O's the second letter in the number 10." He snickered before Donald questioned. "Bree, is it possible you were exposed to something toxic on the mission?"

The girl shrugged in response, making Leo pipe up. "Oh, it certainly was. According to this, Bree's mission suit never left her capsule last night."

"Buh-Buh-Buh Busted!"

"Will you stop with that?" Emilia huffed out a breath as Donald stepped past her to question the speedster. "Why weren't you wearing your mission suit?"

"Oh, I'll tell you why. Because she was out with Owen. She showed up late, contaminated herself, and then set off the alarm." Chase admitted Bree's mistake.

"And you wonder why no one at school likes you." Bree sneered.

"Until I figure out exactly what you were exposed to, the capsule should counteract the effects of your contamination, but you are quarantined until further notice." Donald instructed, in which Bree looked at him with her mouth agape.

"Quarantined? But Owen's having a big art show at school tonight!" Donald ignored her excuse and told her. "You are not leaving that capsule until Adam and Chase get back in that warehouse and figure out exactly what you were exposed to."

Adam snickered. "Besides Owen's bad art?"

"Great. Now that we've set off the alarm, getting past security's gonna be even harder." Chase sighed to his brother. "How are we gonna get in?"

"The same way I'm standing right here, and you can't see me." Donald piped up from behind the group who turned around to see the man was nowhere to be seen.

"How'd you do that?" Leo wondered, getting a gasp from Adam who said. "He's a witch!"

"He's not a witch, Adam." Emilia said, looking at the boy before Donald explained. "It's my new spatial micro-projection technology." Adam sighed before telling him. "Dude, I know witchcraft, and you're a witch."

"No, I'm not." Donald said, before suddenly appearing in front of them, holding something in his hand as he explained. "This device scans your environment and uses a matrix of light projections to create a virtual environment you can hide behind!"

"Tah-da!" He let out, using the device to hide behind the invisible wall. He poked half his body through it as he told them. "I invented it as a 3D modelling engine for Space telescopes."

He retracted his body back through as Adam gasped. "So, he's a space witch! Those are the worst kind."

Emilia sighed, turning her head to look at Chase as she muttered. "We really need to get this guy a tutor."

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Since Donald had to rescue Adam and Chase, Emilia and Leo had the job of making sure Bree stayed in her capsule, but that didn't work out so well. Remembering Bree telling them about Owen's art show, the two teens rushed to school to find Bree.

Seeing her on the stairs next to Owen, they ran with panting breaths as Leo began to say. "Bree, we gotta- Ahh!" Emilia grimaced at the mask Owen was wearing as Leo told him. "Hey, we need to talk to Bree. Can you go put your face on pause somewhere?"

Owen pulled his mask off. "In life, as in Art, there is no pause. Only moving forward." He told Leo who gestured to the stairs. "Can you move forward down the stairs?" He asked.

Once Owen had gone, Emilia turned to Bree with furrowed brows. "Really him? That's the guy you snuck out for?"

Leo nodded before telling the speedster. "You've had your fun. Big D needs you to stay in your capsule." Leo grabbed her arm and went to pull her away, only for Bree to stop him. "Guys, he is overreacting. I am perfectly fine. See? Haven't had one single side effect." She waved her fingers in his face when her arm suddenly dropped down with Bree nervously chuckling. "That's- That's nothing." She purposely dug her hand into her pocket as she smiled. "See? I am trying to come off casual so Owen doesn't sense how desperate I am."

"I hate to tell you this but it's not working." The Hunter girl said to Bree who bent her right leg, though not on purpose.

"I'm good." Bree nervously chuckled, going to move her bent leg, only to lose balance and tumble down the stairs. The speedster reached her hand up to the railing to help her get up as she nervously chuckled to the students. "See? That is Performance Art. I call it 'falling uncontrollably down the stairs'."

Emilia and Leo rushed down the stairs to help her up before placing her on the bench as Leo sighed. "Bree, Davenport's gonna freak out. We have to go."

"Guys, I can't even stand up. Everything is numb. Look!" Bree exclaimed nervously to her two friends, demonstrating how numb her body was as her head dropped down on the bench, making her sigh. "Just help me get out of here before it gets 'worth'. It's 'worth'!"

"What's happening?" Emilia asked, in which Bree explained with a lisp. "The numbness spread to my tongue! I can't talk!"

Leo grinned. "Finally, a positive side effect." This made Emilia whack his shoulder before Bree called out. "Leo, Em!" The two moved towards her before getting her off the bench, wrapping her arms around their shoulders before they dropped her onto a moving stool.

"Okay. Once we get outside, we'll upgrade you to a nice shopping cart. How's that?" Leo told the girl as they pushed the stool, only for Owen to approach them as he called out Bree's name before saying. "There you are. I'm about to unveil the centerpiece of my exhibit. Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. She's fine." Leo lied, as him and Emilia pulled her up to stand. "Your art is just so good, she's getting emotional." Emilia made up an excuse, making Bree smile as she chimed in with a lisp. "That's good, Em, that's good."

Owen grabbed Bree's hand as he pulled the three of them along while saying. "Come on. I've been waiting all night to show you this. I wasn't kidding when I said that you were my muse. You've inspired me to create my most deeply meaningful piece yet."

While he was talking, Emilia and Leo were rushing around to keep Bree on her feet. "I call it 'my most deeply meaningful piece yet'." Owen pulled the sheet off, making Leo pull away from the girls to get a closer look at the painting, while Bree and Emilia fell to the ground.

"Leo, you bastard." Emilia grumbled to the boy who was too busy looking at the painting. "That's not totally horrible. What is it?" He asked Owen.

"It's Paintball Art." Owen informed. "Two thousand paintballs fired with precise accuracy to create a portrait of your sister."

Remembering about Bree, Leo turned to see Emilia and Bree on the floor. While Owen was still explaining, Leo rushed over to help Emilia get Bree off the floor and onto the bench. "So, what do you think, Bree? Bree?"

The girl smiled while giving an indistinct response because of her numb tongue. "She had the same reaction to the Mona Lisa." Leo said with a chuckle. The two stood up, holding Bree between them when Emilia announced. "Well, we have to go."

Bree tried to protest until the girl was pushed into Owen's arms. "Yeah, that's enough. That's enough." Leo said, as him and Emilia pulled Bree off Owen and pulling the girl out of the school, but not without going through Owen's portrait.

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Arriving back to the lab, the elevator doors opened with Bree on a trolley to stand on while Leo pushed her out of the elevator. "Okay, let's just get you back in your capsule before we get in a lot of trouble." Leo said before letting out a shocked scream, seeing Donald, Adam and Chase, accidentally having Bree fall off the carrier and fall onto Emilia once again. "Clean up, Aisle Bree and Emilia." He nervously chuckled.

"Leo!" Donald scolded. "You and Emilia were supposed to watch her."

Leo gapped at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. Somehow the fastest person in the world managed to sneak past us." He reminded the man.

Emilia smiled, taking Chase's hand. "It's not our fault she escaped when you left the lab." She chimed in, coming to her's and Leo's defence.

Bree leant into Adam's grasp as Donald held the syringe to her neck. "Let's hope there's enough time left for the antidote to work." Donald pulled away after sticking the antidote in her, leaving Chase to ask. "Bree? Are you okay?"

The girl groaned. "I feel funny. Funny. Fun-nay. Funny... Funny..." Adam groaned before telling his sister. "Oh, just spit it out already!"

"I'm cured!" Bree smiled, making them all sigh in relief. Donald placed his hand on Leo's shoulder as he said. "Oh! This is such a relief! It'll be so much more enjoyable to punish you now that you're healthy! What were you thinking? You could have put us all in danger!"

"Sorry. I just wanted to be like every other girl and hang out with the boy that I like. What's the big deal?" Bree sighed.

"The big deal is you're not like every other girl. You're part of a team. And your decisions affect us all." Donald explained, making Emilia frown, feeling sorry for the girl.

Leo groaned. "Yeah. Because of you. I had to go to an art show."

Emilia chuckled sarcastically before turning to Leo with narrowed eyes. "Yeah, but because of you, I almost broke my back twice because Bree fell on top of me."

Adam nodded before chiming in. "Yeah! And I haven't eaten since 2:30!"

"Also, on a lesser note, we all could have been killed." Chase pointed out, making them nod in agreement.

Donald sighed, turning his head to look at Bree before saying. "Look, you can have a social life. Just don't let it interfere with your bionic life."

"I get it. From now on when a mission comes up, it gets my full attention." Bree sighed before Donald threw his arms out to the side. "Okay, well, I think we've all learned a valuable lesson, so let's just go get something to eat."

They all went to walk out the lab, only to go back, forgetting that Bree still couldn't stand on her own yet, so they had to carry her out of there.

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MEGAN SPEAKS !

hope you enjoyed reading
this chapter!! it won't be long until
the main chapter that i'm excited to show
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what you think! thanks for reading, ily! <3