It was about 8:04am once Mark was halfway back to the house. His little brother lolled in and out of sleep. He tried to play it off by going on his phone, but failed miserably. His older brother glanced at him now and then. He was worried and a little anxious. After recent events, the sixteen year old was sure that it had to do with his powers. But if so, why doesn't Ryan just say it? They've just discovered some kind of substance that is running through his body. Who knows what it could do?

"So uh," Mark broke the silence. His little brother looked at him, "ya hungry?"

Ryan shook his head. Food was the last thing on his mind.

"You sure? We can stop for breakfast." Mark offered.

Ryan's response was the same as before.

"Ok." Mark replied.

His fingers tapped on the wheel as he continued driving. The moment wasn't exactly awkward as it was just the former jock making sure his brother was alright. After all, he left the toilet in Mech X4 filled with whatever he had eaten previously. That didn't include his powers going crazy. That had been the second time that it happened. He counted. Last time, it was after the Arctic mission against Tregear. What a doozy that was. Wonder if the two had some kind of correlation to each other?
  After a few more minutes of driving, the Walker household came into view. Pulling up in the garage, the sixteen year old made sure to park the car correctly. Once he did that, he unbuckled the seatbelt and hopped out of tbe vehicle. His family member did the same, only a little slower. He shut the door and Mark locked it. The former jock ran up the stairs to the front door. He watched as his little brother followed, but only walked up the steps. Opening the door, the two went inside the house. Grace was getting ready to head out. Ryan shut the door.

"Hey mom." Mark greeted.

"Hi boys," Grace responded. She looked at Ryan, who seemed like he was hit by a bus, "you ok Ry-Guy?"

The pilot shot his head up and nodded. He quickly walked past her and headed for the bathroom to shower. Grace looked back at her oldest child.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Mech X4 stuff," Mark answered her, "I'll watch him."

Grace nodded as she grabbed her purse.

"Alright, but let me know if you need help," she told him. She kissed his cheek and headed out the door, "bye."

"Later mom." Mark retorted.

The door closed. The older Walker brother went over to the couch. He flopped on it. While laying on it, he played with his device. Going through information and various apps he wanted to download, basically what anyone would do on their phone. And while his brother was in the bathroom, he got a text from a pal of his.

Dane: Sup

The former jock smiled.

Mark: Sup

Dane: Whatchu doing?

Mark: Watching my brother.

Dane: Y?

Mark: Long story.

Dane: Gotchu. Well look, the guys and I are heading to Tony's later. U up for it?

Mark: Maybe.

Dane: Maybe? Come on dude, you're going. Free toppings day, desserts half off, you can't beat that.

Mark: Bring everything here. Make it a party.

Dane: That's smart, alright cool, just don't bring Georgia.

Mark gave a weird look before replying.

Mark: Y not?

Dane: Reasons.

Mark: Those reasons being?

Dane: Being that I don't want her there.

Mark: Y?

He got a text back. But before he could look at it, a noise upstairs caught his attention. It sounded as if something was slammed on the floor. Hoping it was nothing serious, Mark ran up the stairs to see what it was. He checked the bathroom and saw his little brother hovering over the toilet. He was only in his boxers at the time. The sixteen year old stood by in case he needed help.
   This went on for the next few minutes before the young pilot stopped and raised his head. He snatched a piece of tissue and wiped his mouth. Mark flushed everything down the toilet and closed it. The tech controlling teenager sat on the lid, panting a bit. He looked down to the floor, upset at the fact that he couldn't even get in the tub without puking.

"You alright?" Mark asked.

Ryan nodded slowly and hopped in the shower. Mark backed away and out into the hallway. He shut the door to allow his brother to have privacy. He sighed.

**************

The male brains of the team was the first to enter the robot that morning. He had contacted his rival about the blood situation. Both of them were aware why she had decided to take it home. He just wanted to know what she found. While making sure his defenses were all in order, what he originally thought was false. He was indeed not alone. Another person had joined him. As the nerdy, short kid modified the shields a bit, he was abruptly interrupted.

"Hi there!" A voice shouted.

"AAHH!" Harris reacted in fear.

He turned around and smacked the person in the arm.

"What? I do this a lot." Leo told him.

"Yeah we know." Harris responded.

"Veracity told me about the blue blood thing," Leo got to the point, "I think I know why it's happening."

Harris perked up a bit.

"When I was creating technopathy, I was doing dozens of experiments at a time. That's why I needed test subjects to test all of my creations," Leo began to explain, "some of them had no side effects, like Randall and Violet-"

"And like the thirty, some of them become allergic to technology." Harris added in there.

"-Fixed that, don't need to live in the past," Leo stated. Harris nodded, "anyway, some of my um, concoctions if you will mixed with one another. It became this weird, white liquid. And when I tried to analyze it, one of my friends came in and accidently knocked in some dark blue, globby stuff. I didn't even know what that was, but man it was stinky."

Harris gave a weird expression for a bit before dropping it.

"I know. I never got a chance to figure out what it was because it was taken away for military purposes," Leo progressed on, "but it did help me in the technopath experiment. It was a lot safer than the other stuff, which is probably why Randall and Violet are okay."

"So two, separate 'concoctions' were mixed together with a dark blue blob like substance? That's what makes a technopath a technopath?" Harris summed up.

Leo nodded.

"And is why Ryan might be undergoing...changes," he retorted, "everything I used is natural. The blob stuff though, one of my old friends brought that in. He didn't tell me what it was, but it worked. That's why I can't recreate it and why I had to tell Mark he couldn't be a technopath."

Harris gave a questioning stare.

"Mark wants to be a technopath?" He queried.

"It was only to help Ryan out so he could get a break once in a while." Leo told him.

"Oh," Harris replied, "that's really nice."

"Yeah. Well now that we have Mackenzie, he doesn't have to." Leo mentioned.

"True." Harris agreed.

Leo gave him a worried look.

"So how's Ryan holding up?" He wondered, "You know if he's-"

"Mark texted all of us a while ago and said Ry's at home." Harris responded.

"Did you tell him about his blood?" Leo asked.

Harris slowly gave a sheepish smile, causing the oldest scientist to nearly flip.

"You didn't tell him?!" Leo questioned.

"Well we want to be sure!" Harris counteracted, "most of his blood is blue now, but it hasn't taken over completely. V is going to tell me what she found later and then we can finish that cure we started before."

Leo sighed.

"We'll tell him," Harris reassured, "once we're sure."

The thirty year old crossed his arms.