CHAPTER FIFTEEN, dude, where's my lab?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Down in the lab, Emilia and Leo were watching Donald train the bionic siblings as they stood beside each other with a strap around their necks. "Okay, now we'll check your bionic reflexes. First, the left arm."

Donald pressed a button on the machine, making their left arms throw up in the air, Chase's hitting Adam in the face, along with him hitting Bree.

"Okay, now the right arm." Donald said, before pressing another button, leading for Bree's arm to hit Adam in the face who then hit Chase.

"Oh! I hate this game!" Adam groaned in pain, as Emilia laughed. "Really? Because I think this is hilarious."

"Okay, Adam. Well, you can sit this one out. I'll just do Bree and Chase." Donald told him before pressing another button, leading for Chase to throw up his left hand and Bree to throw up her right hand, both of them hitting Adam in the face making him groan in pain while the others laugh.

Leo sighed. "Come on, Big D. It's Summer vacation! Let's hit the beach. Slap on some shorts and show everyone your pasty little walking sticks!"

Emilia snickered, getting a look from Donald before he replied to Leo. "Not now, Leo. We're doing some routine bionic chip maintenance. Besides, this is fun, right guys?"

Tasha walked in, holding a drink tray as the bionic trio called out sarcastic replies. Bree threw out her arm before asking. "Okay, are we done here? I wanna go be normal for a while!" She pulled off her neck strap and threw it towards Donald, only for it to hit the machine, creating a massive spark and Tasha to drop the drinks tray.

Tasha groaned. "Can't we go just five minutes without something sparking, exploding or oozing around here?!" She exclaimed. She stepped towards her husband as she continued. "Ever since summer vacation started, it has been like one long science experiment."

"I'm sorry, honey. I... you know... maybe... maybe Leo's right. Maybe we need to take a break and go to the beach. We'll take a whole weekend, as a normal family, you know? No gadgets, no phones. We'll do it totally tech-free."

Tasha smiled at her husband. "Oh, that is exactly what I need. You would really do that for me?"

"Of course. You are way more important to me than the amazing innovations born of my genius." Donald said, his ego showing making Tasha give him a look before walking out the lab.

Leo stood up, holding the drink tray as he smiled towards his step father. "Wow, Big D, It's really nice of you to blow off work for my mom."

"Well, you know, Leo, now and then, everybody needs a little peace and..." Donald said, being cut off by an alarm blaring. "Quiet!"

"It's the early warning satellite system." Chase said, as to which Donald stopped the alarm before explaining. "It's detecting a giant solar flare. When that thing hits the atmosphere, it'll cause massive power failures and a total blackout of satellite communications."

Leo gestured behind him. "Okay, I should tell my mom we're not going to the beach, then." He went to walk out the lab, only for Donald to stop him. "No, no, no, no. Don't tell your mom a thing about this."

"Oh, right. Let's just ignore the biggest solar flare in history to keep the little lady happy." Chase said sarcastically, making Emilia hit his arm as she said. "And me! I want some beach time!"

"Don't worry about the solar flare." Donald told them, after giving Chase a look. "I'll handle it. Just pack your stuff in the RV. And get ready to get your beach on!" They all stopped to look at him, making his smile drop as he said. "I know nobody says that. I know that."

Adam began passing them safety goggles making Emilia glance between him and the item in her hand before questioning. "What the fuck is this?"

Chase chuckled before telling his brother. "Adam, safety goggles aren't going to protect our eyes from the solar flare."

"No, but it will protect us from the glare when pasty-legs Davenport puts on his shorts!" Adam explained, making Emilia hum. "Oh yeah. Good point."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Now arrived at the beach, Donald walked back into the RV with Tasha following him as he announced. "Alright, Tasha. Your totally tech-free weekend starts now."

"Great. I'm gonna go claim our spot. If we wait too long, we're gonna end up sitting next to talkers. I hate friendly people." Tasha told her husband.

"You go ahead. I'll be right there." Donald said to the woman who smiled before walking out of the RV. Adam, Bree and Chase went to follow only for Donald to stop them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you guys think you're going? Did you forget about the solar flare?"

"What do you expect us to do?" Chase asked before adding on. "Bionics can't stop a solar flare."

Donald smiled. "No, but I have something that can." He informed them, and suddenly, from the press of a device, a small version of the lab had appeared. "Welcome to the Davenport Industries. Mobile action lab."

"Very impressive Big D." Leo smiled. "You're the master of the ta-da moment!"

"I call her the ugly lady, because it's what's on the inside that counts." Donald laughed to himself before going to explain. "You guys will launch the rocket just like in your training simulations. It will block the solar flare by releasing a cloud of heavy gas into the atmosphere."

They all smiled before looking over at Adam who exclaimed. "You're going down, sun!"

Donald continued with his explanation. "This supercomputer is calculating the precise time that you need to launch the rocket. It could be minutes. It could be hours. You'll just have to wait and see."

"In here?" Bree scoffed before reminding the man. "But we're supposed to go to the beach."

Donald nodded as he replied, "Yeah, and I was supposed to be six-foot one. Life is full of disappointments."

Chase groaned. "Great. So, we all have to pay the price for another short guy with an axe to grind."

"Look guys, focus. It takes all three of you to initiate the sequence. Once, the alert sounds, you'll have a two hour window to launch the rocket before the flare becomes unstoppable. Got it?"

"Yeah, we got it. Saving the world's gonna ruin my vacation. Stupid world!" Bree said bitterly.

"Guys, come on!" Tasha yelled from outside the vehicle. "You're missing all the fun! There is a bull dog in sunglasses riding a surfboard. Ooh! Never mind!"

"Be right there, honey!" Donald called out before looking back at the others. "Look, as soon as you guys launch the rocket and save the world, you can get outta here and go get your beach on."

"What, still nothing?" He questioned, seeing the looks on their faces. Emilia shook her head in disappointment before he told them. "You know what? I don't need your approval. I'm rich!"

"And there goes that ego." Emilia let out, before turning to Leo who smiled. "Am I the only person who thinks launching a rocket is cool? Big D, go slather on some SPF fifty... thousand. I got this."

"No, the only thing you've got is the uncanny ability to break the most expensive thing in the room." Donald retorted to his step-son who looked up at him in question. "Is this about your guitar?" Leo asked.

"What about my guitar?" Donald inquired since he didn't know anything on the subject.

This of course, panicked Leo. "Let's go, Emmy! We're missing the surfing bulldog!" He exclaimed and grabbed her hand before pulling her out of the RV.

"Aah! He's kidnapping me! Help!"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Now on the beach, Emilia spent the time talking to Tasha, watching as a bulldog barked up seeweed, and played volleyball with Leo until he had to go check up on Adam, Bree and Chase, leaving Donald to fill in for him.

Of course, Emilia had won the game, making Tasha cheer for the girl. Soon, Bree and Leo had came back, so the girl went with them to look around but not without stopping in her tracks, when hearing a blaring sound ring through her head, making her nervous. However, thinking it was nothing, she shook the thought off and carried on.

The three ended up getting a pair of sunglasses for themselves, as well as stuffed animals, with Bree and Emilia getting matching cuddle bears.

Emilia stopped in her tracks, making the other two furrow their brows in confusion before Leo asked. "What's wrong?"

Emilia narrowed her eyes. "Does Chase have a twin we don't know about because that guy over there looks a lot like him." She wondered as Bree and Leo followed her gaze to see Chase standing around with a crowd of people.

"Chase! What are you doing here?" Bree asked her brother, panic evident in her voice.

Although Chase didn't seem to notice. "Watching this guy. People keep giving him money. But he just won't leave." He told them.

Emilia smiled slightly while adjusting the grip on the giant bear that hung from her back. "You're supposed to be watching the mobile lab." Leo reminded Chase who shook his head. "No worries. Adam's watching it." He reassured the three.

"Adam? Adam's watching the RV, now?" Emilia wanted to make sure she heard him right. But before Chase could respond, Adam approached the group holding different flavours of ice cream as he greeted. "What's up, beach bums?"

"My point exactly." Emilia gestured to Adam who was next questioned by his brother. "Adam, what are you doing here?" He asked in worry.

"Well, I wanted an ice cream cone, but they had 21 flavours. And you know me— I'm never one to make an uninformed decision." Adam explained, before licking his ice cream cone.

"Adam, get rid of those. We need to get back to the mobile lab." Leo told him.

Adam nodded at him before turning around and yelled. "Free ice cream!"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Rushing back to where the RV was, the guys panicked seeing it wasn't there. Bree turned to the others, pulling her sunglasses off as she wondered. "Where's the mobile lab? It was parked right here."

"It's gone."

Emilia sent Leo a pointed look. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock. What are we gonna do?" She remarked with sarcasm evident in her tone — a normal thing for her to do when she was panicking.

"Okay, all right, nobody panic." Chase tried to calm them down, when Adam suddenly let out a shriek. "Sorry. Brain freeze." The boy apologised before gesturing to the sand. "Where's the RV?"

Soon enough, Chase and Bree began pacing back and forth while the others sat on the rocks watching them, when Bree turned to them. "How could the mobile lab just disappear?"

Adam shrugged. "Maybe it got tired of waiting and split like we did."

"We have to tell Mr Davenport." Bree pointed out to the group, with Chase throwing his arms out in the air with a huff. "Oh, yeah? And what are we gonna tell him? 'Hey, remember that really easy mission where all we have to do was sit around and wait? Well, guess what? We totally blew it, and the world is toast. Oopsie'!"

A siren blared, alerting the teens when someone yelled out. "Freeze!" They watched as a man rode on a kid scooter towards them before pulling to a stop.

"Officer, we'd like to report a crime. Someone stole our RV from this spot, and it's supercritical that we get—" Chase informed the officer who was quick to cut him off. "Cool your jets, Spanky. I had it towed." The man told the group.

"What? Why?" Adam exclaimed.

"Your car alarm's been going off for, like an hour, dude." The officer started to explain. "Plus, I thought it'd be funny to watch a little tow truck pull that huge thing away. It was."

"Car alarm?" Emilia repeated, looking at the others with wide eyes.

"If you want your RV back, you're gonna have to cough up 200 clams." The beach officer notified them.

"But, does it have to be clams? 'Cause personally, I'm more of a shrimp guy." Adam scoffed.

Once the man left, Chase turned to look at the others. "You guys, that 'car alarm' was the alert tone telling us to launch the rocket!"

"Wait, so that means we have under an hour to collect $200, get the mobile lab back, stop the solar flare, and wrestle a shark." Leo explained, receiving weird looks from the others. "Oh, what? The three of you are bionic, and we're at the beach. I'd like to do one fun thing today. Actually, two things because that volleyball game with Emmy was quite fun."

"Thank you!" Emilia said, before turning to Bree who piped up. "We need to tell Mr Davenport. He'll give us the money to get the RV back."

"No. No, way." Chase disagreed. "We can still fix this. Come on, I know how we can get the money fast." He declared and grabbed the arm closest to him which was Emilia's, before running off with Adam and Leo, Bree following behind a few seconds later.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The plan to get two hundred dollars had failed.

Before they could receive more money, they were busted for not having performance permits, leading them to be put in the jail cell that the cop had they saw earlier.

Chase sighed. "Okay, there's only one thing left for us to do— we have to find a way to get in touch with Mr Davenport fast."

"Uh, I'll just call him." Adam said, before yelling out. "Davenport!" To everyone's shock, the man himself had walked in, more like being guided in by another cop, making Adam laugh. "I can't believe that worked!"

"I did not steal anything. That woman committed assault with a deadly floatie!" Donald countered, trying to lie his way out of this when he was pushed into the cell and his eyes widened to see the group, making him scream in shock.

Leo approached him. "Long story short, Big D, botched mission, world is doomed, solar flare's a comin. Oopsie!"

Donald nodded. "You know, an hour ago, I was a little freaked out because I didn't know what was happening." He raised his voice as he continued speaking. "But now I think I prefer the mystery. What are we gonna do?"

"I can use my strength to break us out." Adam suggested, making Donald point at him. "Good one. Okay, we have to figure out a way to distract Captain Cocoa Butter over there."

"If only we had a burrito or, like, a monster wave, dude." Emilia mocked, making Bree laugh.

"Luckily, there is a genius inventor in the house. Everybody empty your pockets. Come on." The Davenport man told the group who began doing as he instructed.

"Uh, stick of gum."

"Two dimes."

"A crayon."

"Nine volt battery."

"Bobby pin?" Donald asked Chase upon seeing the item he pulled out of his pocket.

"What? Bree had a nine volt battery, but no one said anything about that!" Chase defended before Donald grabbed it off him.

"All I have to do is take these items and fashion a makeshift phone out of them. What am I talking about? This is a bunch of pocket junk, I can't do anything with this." Donald talked to himself before attempting to make a phone out of it until a ringtone started playing. "It works!" He spoke in shock, but quickly disappeared when he found out the ringtone actually belonged to the beach sheriff's phone.

"Hello. What? What do you mean someone's towing my scooter, dude?" The man questioned through the phone before hanging up and running out of the room.

"Now's our chance. Adam, be discreet. Just turn the lock pin ever so slightly—" Donald went to instruct, when Adam interrupted him by lifting the whole cell gate off it's hinges.

"I don't think he gets what discreet means." The auburn haired girl hummed, making Chase nod before they all ran out.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Ah! We're all gonna die!" Emilia yelled playfully, hearing the alarm sound as she entered the RV first.

"We're not gonna die." Leo shook his head in disbelief before remembering his friend's abilities and started to think. "Actually, you're the only one who can sense it. Ahh! We're gonna die!"

Emilia laughed as Chase sent Leo a look. "Leo, she was joking." He deadpanned to the boy who soon stopped screaming and sighed. "Oh. That's a relief."

"Oh, no! Everything got all messed up when the mobile lab got towed!" Adam panicked after looking around the RV.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Chase chimed in, looking around at the scene. They all looked at Donald who was staring at the receipt in his hand. "Yeah, it is. Two hundred dollars to get my RV back. Two hundred dollars for disorderly conduct, and a hundred dollars for stealing a cell phone. What were you thinking?"

"That's funny. I don't recall us stealing a cell phone." Emilia hummed, with Leo nodding in agreement. "That was you!" He reminded the man.

Donald ignored what was just said, and pointed to the screen, shouting. "There is a solar flare headed towards us right now!"

"Ahh! I'm freaking out!" Adam exclaimed, as to which Donald told him. "Look, don't panic. In simulations, you guys have launched this rocket in two minutes, and you've still got..."

"Launch window closes in sixty seconds."

"Half that. Okay, we're gonna have to work together. Adam, pick up that rocket. Leo, find the launch keys. Bree, console. And Chase, you're gonna have to help me figure out the launch vectors." Donald explained. "The vectors are corrupt in every system. The computer isn't fast enough to recalculate them."

"Bree, how many words can you type in a minute?" Chase questioned, panic evident in his voice.

Bree sent him a look. "All of 'em."

Chase pursed his lips. "Right, I knew that. Okay, type this in." He said before going on to explain instructions while Bree typed it in.

"Done." Chase and Bree told each other, along with Adam and Donald who did the same thing.

"Launch window closes in ten..."

"Leo, launch keys!" Emilia shouted.

"I found 'em!" The Dooley boy yelled and threw one of them to the girl who caught it with ease before standing at one of the keyholes.

"They have to be turned at the same time."

"Where's the other keyhole?" Leo asked, as to which Donald pointed across the RV. "Over there!"

"Four... three. Two..." Leo was sprinting across the room with a look of determination on his face before he jumped, jamming the key into the keyhole, and just as the countdown reached to one second, Emilia turned her key at the same time Leo did.

The group fell to the ground, as the rocket took off, into the solar flare. Donald stood up, staring at his computer as he said. "Everything looks good. It's on target."

"Did it work?" Adam asked, as Chase helped Emilia off the ground.

"Solar flare neutralised..."

"It worked! We did it!" Donald announced, throwing his arms up in the air, making them all cheer. Chase smiled, moving to pull Emilia and Bree into the group hug.

"Okay. Now that's finally taken care of, can we please go have fun at the beach!" Bree asked.

"Absolutely." Donald nodded before the smiles dropped from their faces when another alarm had blared through the RV. "Oh no!"

"What now?!" Emilia shouted.

Donald stepped back with a smile. "Nothing. I'm just messing with you. It's my car alarm." He held up his hand for a high-five only for Chase to ask exasperatedly. "Really?" He put his hand down before running off.

Emilia jumped on Chase's back. "Get him!" He adjusted his grip on Emilia before running out with the others following him.

"Oh, hey guys." Tasha greeted, seeing the others approach her. Emilia got down from Chase's back before happily sitting down on the beach towel when Tasha asked. "I must've dozed off. Did you all have fun today?"

"Sure did." Chase answered, along with Bree who chimed in. "Yeah, tons of fun."

"We weren't in jail, that's for sure."

"Great." Tasha smiled. "Well, I have had my fill of fun for the day, so let's go home." The woman announced to the group and began to pack up her things.

"What? Go home?" Bree asked, with a look of disappointment. "But we didn't get to do anything fun yet?"

Tasha paused at that. "Wait, if you guys haven't had fun all day then what have you been doing?"

The group shared a nervous look before Donald spoke. "Home it is, then."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───