xxxviii. adam steps up

——

~Training Area~

All the students are in the training area with Chase and Bree.

"All right, listen up, guys. We're introducing a new element to training-- the bionic battle. Each week, two of you will be pitted against each other in a physical challenge." Chase explained.

"To the death?" Spin grinned menacingly.

Leo chuckled sarcastically. "Yes, Big D built this multi-million-dollar facility to train and house you just so we could pick you off one by one."

So each week's winner will earn points toward advancing to the next bionic skill level. And the loser gets...well, humiliated." Chase continued to explained.

"Can I fight you?" Freya asked her boyfriend.

"No. Mentors are off limits," Chase dismissed, chuckling nervously. Chase knows very well Freya can take him down and doesn't want to embarrass himself.

"Spin, since you're the youngest, you get to choose an opponent first." Bree offered.

"Yes!" Spin cheered and walked around the room, threateningly. "Scared? Ya should be."

"No, no. This isn't about scaring people. No one's going to get hurt." Chase objected and glanced at Freya. "Right, Rey?"

Freya sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I won't hurt anyone."

A basketball is thrown at Chase's back from the common area

Chase winced. "Ow!"

Chase, Juliet, and Bree walk into the common area to find Adam, Bob, and some other students shooting hoops.

"What are you doing?"

Bob pointed at the basketball hoop. "We're throwing this thing at that thing. I'm an athlete."

"Adam, you're a mentor now. You have to start acting like one." Bree told her older brother.

"I am. We're supposed to teach them how to use their abilities." Adam reasoned. "So...we're havin' a bionic slam dunk contest."

"Incoming!" Bob yelled.

Chase gasped. "Whoa!"

Bob jumps to the basket with the ball and hangs up from the net.

"Bob, get down from there!" Juliet cried.

Bob let out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, little lady. No can do."

Bree frowned. "Why not?"

"Because I'm afraid of heights!" Bob cried.

"But you can levitate." Chase reasoned.

"Oh, I'm good going up. It's the going down part that never ends well." Bob admitted.

"I'll have to use my molecular kinesis to get him down." Chase told them

Bree made a face. "Or you could just use a ladder."

Chase walks over to Bob, who is starts screaming as he falls on top of Chase and the hoop falls on both of them. Juliet starts chuckling with Bree and Adam.

Adam laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Bob. That ended very well."

——

~Training Area~

Davenport walks into the training area while on the phone. "Okay, Tasha. I- I got it honey. Okay, now you're just growling." He hangs up.

"Trouble in paradise?" Bree smirked as she, Adam, Chase, Freya, and Juliet approached him.

"I've just been so busy with the academy, I haven't been able to spend any time with Tasha." Davenport explained.

Adam frowned. "And she's complaining about that?"

"Hey, Mr. Davenport, why don't you go back to Mission Creek for a couple of days? We can handle things here." Chase suggested, assuring him.

"Thanks, but there's too much going on here. Tasha will just have to wait." Davenport remarked.

Leo walks in, holding towels.

"Hey, Big D, what are you and Mom doing for your anniversary tonight?" Leo asked, passing by.

Donald chuckles. "Anniversary." He gasps loudly. "I'll call you from the mainland!" He runs out of the room.

——

~Common Area~

Adam walked into the common area. "Hey, is Mr. Davenport gone yet?"

Chase was sitting at a cyber desk with Freya, Bree, and some other students. "Yep. The hydraloop just left."

"Good, 'cause the party train just arrived." Adam cheered and Adam and Bob do a chest bump and Bob is knocked to the floor. Juliet winced as she walks into the room, going up to them.

"Oh, sorry, dude." Adam helps him off the floor.

"It's cool. I'm a beast!" Bob exclaimed, chuckling.

Adam laughs. "All right. Who's ready to do some things we'll regret."

Adam's students cheer and Juliet sighed, stopping them.

"Adam, you can't do that." Juliet objected.

"Yeah, Adam! We're supposed to be responsible." Bree agreed, walking up to them.

"Look, we're supposed to teach them life lessons and today's life lesson is about doing things we can't do when Mr. Davenport is here." Adam reasoned and turned to Bob. "Right, Bob?"

Bob nodded. "Right."

Adam and Bob chest bump again and Bob is knocked to the floor, making Bree and Juliet wince.

"Be careful," Juliet told them, helping Bob off the floor.

Chase went up to them with Freya. "Adam, Mr. Davenport left us in charge. We're not just goofing around."

"All right, well, I'm in charge, too, and I say we are." Adam remarked and leaned down to Bob's height, grabbing his shoulder. "Bob. These are the moments that define us. The moments that prove we are men. Now let's go have a belly flop contest!"

Adam's students cheer again and Bree, Juliet, Chase, and Freya walk away, impatiently.

Bob smiled up at Adam. "Adam, you're the best mentor ever. When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

Adam frowned. "Then who would I be?"

——

~Common Area~

Chase, Bree, Freya, Juliet, and Sebastian were sitting in the common area chatting.

Adam walked up to the group. "Hey, has anyone seen Bob? Short, blonde, looks like a Bob."

"Do I look like a Bob?" Freya asked, touching her hair self consciously.

"No, Bob has better hair." Adam remarked and Freya shot him a heavy glare.

"You're more dirty blonde," Chase pointed out, touching her hair. "So, you're good."

Freya rolled her eyes playfully at him.

"I thought you were mentoring Bob in the fine art of belly flopping?" Bree asked jokingly.

"I was, but I haven't seen him since he took out that swordfish." Adam told them.

Chase got up alarmed. "You lost him in the ocean?"

Adam frowned. "No, in the cafeteria. It's Seafood Sunday."

Chase sighed with relief as Sebastian checked his bionic beacon. "That's strange. I'm not getting any trace of Bob on my bionic beacon.

Juliet shrugged. "So what are we gonna do?"

Chase shook his head. "I don't know. But I'm not about to lose a man on my watch."

"Forget about the man on your watch. We have to find Bob!" Adam exclaimed and Chase rolled his eyes.

"I don't remember a little man in your watch?" Freya frowned and Chase shut his eyes, sighing impatiently.

——

Sebastian exits the hydraloop, going up to Adam and Juliet. Chase, Freya, and Bree joined them. They searched the island for Bob, but no sign of him.

"Did you find Bob?" Sebastian asked.

"No, but I was thinking. What if we're the ones who are lost and Bob is looking for us?" Adam asked and Freya frowned in confusion. Adam shook his head. "This is getting weird. It is not like Bob to just disappear. And I should know, we've been best friends for two days."

Suddenly, a video call of Bob pops up on the monitor in the common area.

"Hello? Is this Pizza Planet?" Bob answered and this alerted everyone.

"Bob?" Chase frowned.

"Oh, hey, guys. I must've dialed the wrong number. But while I got ya, wanna go halfsies on a peperoni?" Bob offered.

"Are you on a plane?" Freya asked, not clear on what Bob was in.

"Is that Mr. Davenport's jet?!" Chase exclaimed and Freya's eyes grew.

"I hope so. His picture's all over it." Bob remarked and moved the camera to view Mr. Davenport's portrait on the door of the jet.

"Bob, what made you think you could take Mr. Davenport's plane?" Sebastian asked Bob.

"Cause Adam said we were supposed to do all the stuff we can't do when Mr. Davenport is there." Bob reasoned and this got looks from the five other people.

Adam shrugged, trying to defend himself. "I did say that, but in my defense, I only meant to think it."

"I was going to surprise you with your favorite pizza from Mission Creek." Bob confessed. "So...surprise!"

Juliet couldn't help, but crack a smile at the sweet gesture. It was a dangerous one, but she knew his heart was in the right place.

Adam smiled softly. "Aw." Adam whispered to the others. "Hey, when he gets back, act surprised."

Bree frowned. "How is he even flying that thing?"

"It's a self-flying jet. As long as he doesn't disengage the autopilot, he'll be totally--"

Before Chase could finish, Bob spotted a button. "What does this button do?" Bob presses a button and starts screaming as the jet falls and blares an alarm.

Freya gasped, grabbing Chase's arm. "Wai-- what just happened?"

"He disengaged the autopilot!" Chase exclaimed. "The plane is in a freefall"

Adam chuckles. "Classic Bob."

"Okay, Bob, I need you to rotate the stick to level out the plane," Chase instructed Bob.

"Okay." Bob nodded and grabbed the stick, leveling the plane out.

Chase continued his instructions. "Now I want you to reactivate the autopilot by pushing the two red buttons on the panel next to you."

Bob looked around frantically. "I don't see any red buttons. Only green ones."

Chase frowned, confused. "Green? There are no green buttons."

"Would now be a bad time to tell you Bob is color-blind?" Sebastian asked him.

Chase groaned impatiently and turned to Adam. "This is all your fault!"

Adam frowned. "How is it my fault Bob's color-blind?"

"This is what happens when you're not a responsible mentor." Chase scolded.

"I'm very responsible." Adam protested

Adam and Chase start arguing indistinctively and Juliet and Freya quickly step in between them, breaking their argument up.

"Guys! Stop fighting!" Freya yelled, pushing on Chase's chest as Juliet was holding Adam back.

"We have to figure out a plan to save Bob before it's too late," Juliet exclaimed

"Exactly. He's our responsibility." Bree agreed.

Sebastian pointed to the girls. "They're right."

Bree turned to Sebastian. "Well, thanks for backing us up."

Sebastian grinned, cheekily. "Thanks for having such lovely hair." Bree touched her hair bashfully as Chase rolled his eyes. "Maybe I can hack into Mr. Davenport's mainframe and try to override the autopilot from here."

"Well, that's an awesome idea." Bree praised.

Sebastian grinned. "Thanks."

Bree leans toward Sebastian and they start laughing and talking to each other. Freya and Juliet share a smirk as Chase rolls his eyes, facing his brother.

"Now we're dealing with two disasters."

——

Chase, Juliet, Bree, and Sebastian were trying to reingage the autopilot as Adam and Freya looked at the screen, watching Bob. Chase looked at Bob. "Hang on, Bob. We're trying to reactivate the auto pilot from here."

"The altitude thing is flashing 'danger.' What does that mean?" Bob asked, panicking.

"It means you're in danger!" Bree exclaimed.

"Are we talking good danger or bad danger?" Bob questioned.

"There is no good danger!" Juliet yelled at him.

"I thought there was?" Freya frowned, glancing at her sister, who rolled her eyes.

"Guys, we're running out of time." Adam told the group seriously.

"Don't worry. I hacked into the jet." Sebastian told them and then leans over to Bree, smirking. lAll I have to do is press this button, the auto pilot will be back up in no time."

Sebastian presses button while staring at Bree and the video call with Bob is disconnected.

Bree's eyes grew in shock. "Uh where did he go?"

Sebastian gasped. "Oh, no! I must've hit the wrong button."

"Maybe because you're staring at my sister!" Chase snapped and Bree glared at him. "You just disabled communications with the jet."

Adam chuckled. "Classic Sebastian."

"You would get distracted just as easily if it was Freya," Sebastian protested and Freya blushed as Chase's face filled with embarrassment.

"That is irrelevant!" Chase quickly defended with his cheeks bright red.

A video call with Davenport pops up on the screen, interrupting the moment.

Adam frowned. "Bob, what happened? You look awful."

Freya gasped softly as Juliet eyes grew.

Chase hits his brother and awkwardly greeted Davenport. "Uh, hey there, Mr. Davenport."

"Any kids missing yet?" Davenport asked and the six of them look at each other sheepishly. "I'm kidding.

Adam. Bree, Chase, Juliet, Freya, and Sebastian start laughing nervously.

"You're so funny, Mr. Davenport." Freya pointed to Davenport and Juliet gave her sister a nudge, agreeing with her.

Bree chuckled. "Oh, this one with the jokes."

"Look, I just wanted to check in and make sure everything is running smoothly." Davenport smiled and the leaned close to the screen. "It is running smoothly, isn't it?"

"Yep, real smooth!" Chase nodded.

"Smoother than a baby's butt!" Freya grinned, giving him two thumbs up. Davenport raised his eyebrow at her as the others gave her weird looks.  Freya looked back at them, embarrassed and whispered. "When I panic, I get nervous."

Chase beckoned her over and she stood behind him as he spoke. "Uh, hope your anniversary's going well."

"It's great. I just made this rosemary chicken--"

Chase cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, chicken. Have a nice dinner." He hangs up on him.

"Smoother than a baby's butt?" Juliet asked her sister and Freya's cheeks were bright red, sighing.

"Let not bring it up!" Freya exclaimed and Chase grinned, chuckling himself.

That was adorable. Chase thought to himself.

——

Adam used The Jet Wing to fly up to Bob and saved him from his possible death. However, they ended up crashing into Davenport's house and ruining the dinner. Now, Davenport is back on the island and is berating them on being irresponsible.

Freya and Juliet were sitting in the platform listening, because it wasn't their responsibility to take care of the students.

"I am never leaving you guys in charge again." Davenport sternly told the three mentors.

"Mr. Davenport, it's not their fault. It's mine. I was goofin' off, and the students thought it was okay to goof off, too. I...I should've been a better mentor." Adam confessed and Juliet gave Adam a soft smile, proud of his confession.

Bob stepped forward. "Actually, Adam was a good mentor."

Donald frowned. "He was?"

"He was?" Freya asked second.

"He was?" Chase asked third.

"I was?" Adam asked last.

"Yeah. When I was up in the jet, I didn't wanna jump, but Adam boosted my confidence, and helped me conquer my fear of heights." Bob explained.

Juliet was impressed by this. She was super proud of Adam for helping Bob. She thinks he will make a good dad.

Davenport smiled. "Wow. I'm impressed, Adam."

"Good job, babe," Juliet praised, approaching him and Adam blushed.

Bree scoffed. "Never thought I'd hear those three words together."

"What I don't understand is why you had to jump in the first place." Davenport mentioned

Adam frowned. "Hmm?"

"It's a smart plane. Even without the auto pilot, it has an emergency homing beacon that allows it to land automatically." Davenport explained and Freya stood up with her eyes going wide.

"So we jumped for nothing?" Bob asked staring at Adam.

"Wait. Does you jet wing land itself too?" Adam asked.

Donald gritted his teeth angrily. "No."

Bob laughed. "Classic Adam."

——

Up Next: Unauthorized Mission

Final chapter of season 3 is next and then it's season 4! I decided to continue this book instead of making a new one for season 4 and elite force (if I do that one). If I do elite force that will
be a new book.

This next one is where all the issues start. I'm excited. Buckle up, it's gonna be one hell of a ride.