CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN, no going back

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Due to feeling sick, Emilia had to stay home from school along with Leo who left early since he was feeling similar to the girl. The boy came walking down the stairs holding a tissue box when Donald questioned. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here." Leo stated the obvious making Emilia giggle before it turned into a coughing fit, making her glare at Leo. "I'm the one you didn't cobble together in your basement."

"I mean, why aren't you at school?" Donald asked, standing up from desk.

Leo walked towards him as he explained. "Got a little head cold. I sneezed in class, and I don't know what came out, but I walked out two pounds lighter."

"Donald, I think something's wrong with your credit card. When I went to buy groceries it was declined." Tasha informed him, walking into the room. Emilia got up from the couch and walked towards them as Donald questioned. "Declined? How could that be?"

"Let me spell it out for you." Eddy appeared on the screen. "She spent all your money!" Tasha looked at the screen in annoyance. "I did not spend all his money." She defended.

"Oh, saving a little for a facelift?" Eddy asked, making both Emilia and Leo stop Tasha from getting closer to Eddy as she had a look of anger on her face. "This card is completely maxed out with purchases I didn't make. A plane ticket, a speedboat, two thousand dollars worth of hair dye and color contact lenses." Donald explained, after clicking into his computer. The three raised their brows at him, making him raise his arms in the air as he defended. "This time it was not me!"

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In the lab, Emilia and Leo were searching the computers while Donald kept sighing every time he was locked out of the cyberdesk. He looked towards the two teens. "Guys, any luck tracing those hackers?" He questioned.

"No. Every IP address you gave us leads to a dead end." Leo explained, with Emilia nodding along as she chimed in. "These people really covered their tracks."

Eddy appeared on the screen. "I don't have any fingerprints or evidence, but I've drawn a police sketch of what I think the suspect looks like." He said before showing a picture of Tasha.

"Eddy!" Emilia scolded, before looking back at Donald who sighed. "I can't access anything. All the contents of my cyberdesk have been wiped clean." He said, brushing his hands against the desk. An alarm beeped on his tablet making him sigh once again. "This is worse than I thought. Every one of my facilities worldwide has been hacked. Every database- the entire infrastructure of Davenport Industries is gone!"

Emilia furrowed her brows, looking like she was in thought. "This is not some run-of-the-mill computer hacker, guys. This is obviously someone who hates me and wants to ruin my life." Donald thought out loud.

"Well, that could be anyone." Emilia and Leo said simultaneously. "Alright." Donald said, glaring at the teens.

"What are we gonna do?" Leo asked.

"I'm gonna have to call my friend at the FBI." The man said, pulling out his phone. Leo looked up at his stepfather with furrowed brows. "You have a friend at the FBI? Wow! That is so cool." He said with a small grin on his face.

"Yeah, we're yoga buddies." Donald added as Leo nodded in response before looking back at the computer. "And now it's not cool." The Dooley boy corrected himself with Emilia nodding in agreement.

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Emilia and Leo came walking back down the stairs to see Donald shutting the front door, making Leo ask. "Hey, Big D, what happened with your friend at the FBI?"

Donald gestured behind him. "He just left. I gave him all the information, but he said this hacking is beyond anything he's ever seen before. It's gonna be weeks before they have any leads." He sighed, before someone knocked on the door, making him huff out a breath before walking to open it.

"Principal Perry. What are you doing here?" The man questioned, before Leo chimed in with a question. "Does our front gate even have a code?"

"You don't run a women's correctional facility without knowing how to scale a few walls." The woman said, receiving a nod from them. She walked in, as Donald shut the door. "Anywho, I thought I should just drop by and say Hi and tell you that I know your kids are bionic!" She blurted out, making Donald and Emilia widen their eyes along with Leo who dropped the box of tissues.

Donald fake laughed with the two teens joining along with him. "Bionic! I- What? I don't- what are you talking about? I don't think so. I mean, just because a child says their bionic-"

Perry interrupted him. "The big one shot lasers from his eyes, the girl ran faster than lightning, and the stumpy one could move things with his mind!"

Leo looked at Donald with a wince. "Oh, yeah. She's got you."

Perry poked Leo's arm. "Is he bionic too?" She questioned, with Donald pointing at the teen in response, looking at Perry in disbelief as he replied. "Seriously? Look at him." Leo looked at him offended before Perry questioned. "What about Hunter?"

Emilia wasn't going to answer when Leo did for her. "She's bionic too, along with being a banshee." He answered, making Emilia whack him in the stomach.

Donald looked at Leo before telling him. "Leo, go downstairs and bring Adam, Bree and Chase up. Now!" The boy nodded, picking up his tissue box and ran downstairs to the lab.

"So, what's a banshee?" Perry questioned, making Emilia purse her lips. "I'd rather you search it up, then me telling you because I really don't know how to answer that question." She informed the woman.

Tasha walked downstairs, looking at the newcomer with a fake smile. "Oh, hello, Principal Perry."

"Hello, Tasha." Perry greeted. Tasha looked at her husband before asking. "Donald, what's going on?" With gritted teeth, Donald whispered to the woman. "She knows."

"Knows what?" Tasha questioned, only then did she understand when Donald and Emilia gave her a look. "Ohhh. They were here when I got here!" The woman blurted, holding her hands up in surrender, making Donald glare at her.

"I've never seen you look so nervous, Don. I gotta say, it's real nice." Perry stepped towards him, getting in his face. "Look, I can explain everything." Donald started to say.

"Ha! No need. My first instinct was to go straight to the authorities, but then I thought, I've got secrets too- a lady of mystery, if you will." The woman explained. "So you're gonna keep this between us? Oh, thank you-" Donald went to hug the woman, who ducked under him.

"Not quite. I'll keep your secret, but it's gonna cost you- a lot." Perry challenged, before Tasha and Emilia stepped towards them. "Who do you think you are, blackmailing us? We will never-"

"Deal." Donald interrupted Tasha, making Emilia look at him shocked. "What?! You're just gonna let her win?" The teen questioned.

Donald looked between the two. "Yes. If it allows us to keep our family together." He said before turning back to Perry with a sigh. "So the leprechaun finally got her pot of gold."

"I'm gonna be rich, I'm gonna be rich, I'm gonna be rich!" Perry danced in excitement. Someone knocked on the door, making Donald groan as he threw his arms up. "Oh, what now?"

He opened the door, making them all confused seeing three agents standing there. "Donald Davenport. We're with the first international bank. This house and everything in it no longer belongs to you." One of the men informed him.

"What?!" Emilia looked shocked, as well as the rest of them. "That's ridiculous! I have billions of dollars in your bank!" Donald said in confusion.

The man shook his head in response. "Not anymore. All of your accounts were liquidated hours ago." He informed.

"I never authorised that!" Donald defended, in which the man showed him the files. "Well, your signature says otherwise."

"Look, whoever hacked my accounts must have forged my signature." Donald tried to explain, making Emilia furrow her brows in thought.

"That may well be, Mr Davenport, but until we straighten this mess out, we are going to seize all your assets." The man explained. "What do you mean?" Donald wondered, in which the man declared. "I mean, you're broke."

"I'm bro- you're broke?!" Perry shouted, as Tasha looked out the front door. "Donald? They're towing the cars!" She said, before Emilia glared at Perry who groaned. "Wow! Rough day!"

"Rough day for us, you mean?!" Emilia shouted before Perry stood up from the couch and looked at Donald.

"Well, I guess our little deal is off." She told him.

"What?" Donald asked, making Perry elaborate on her point. "If you're broke, you can't buy my silence. Ohh, what to do, what to do..." She grabbed the bowl from the table before going to walk out, but not without taking a few other things as well.

Leo then came running in. "Big D, we have a problem." He panted. Donald threw his arms up to the sides. "Leo, where are Adam, Bree and Chase?" He questioned.

"I found this in the lab." Leo stated, placing a device on the table before looking to Emilia. "Uh, this is for you to read afterwards." He sadly informed the girl, passing her what looked like a letter that was addressed to her.

She looked down at the envelope before looking up to see Adam, Bree and Chase in hologram form, making her furrow her brows. "Hello. Testing, testing. Echo. Echo." Bree slapped Adam on the arm to get him to stop talking.

"Mr Davenport... we really messed up." Chase started, before it was Bree's turn to talk. "We didn't mean to expose our bionics to Perry, but... she was in danger and we had no choice."

"You always trained us to handle any mission, and right now, the mission is survival- yours and ours." Chase said, making a few tears spill in Emilia's eyes. Whatever they were going to say, it wasn't going to be good.

"I mean, if we're not around there's no proof that we exist, so we're leaving. For good." Adam informed, making Emilia blink her eyes a few times as tears began running down her face.

"Thank you... for all that you've done for us. You made us who we are. We're sorry we let you down." Bree said, before the hologram disappeared. Holding the letter in her hand, the auburn haired girl walked out the room and into the hallway, leaving the others to give her time to read the letter.

Leaning her head back with a sniffle, she looked down before opening up the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside before beginning to read it.

Dear Emilia,

If you are reading this than that means you know what me, Bree and Adam have decided to do. I apologise for not saying goodbye the right way but this is what was needed in order to keep our secret safe, along with you and the others.

I wanted to tell you something but I just couldn't say it over a letter. But please stay safe, and I hope you are okay.

Just remember, this isn't goodbye. It's a see you later.

- Chase.

More tears fell from her eyes. They were gone.

Chase was gone. And she had no idea if she would ever see him again. And they never even got to say it. Her knees buckled underneath, as she weakly fell to the floor, with the letter slipping from her hands and everything just came out. The loud sobs coming from the girl was all that was heard, before she was pulled into Leo's arms as he wrapped his arms around his bestfriend, letting her sob into him.

Donald and Tasha came rushing around the corner, frowning at the sight of the girl. The man picked up the letter from the floor before him and Tasha scanned over it, making them frown even more. She didn't get to say goodbye to her boyfriend and two best friends. The main three people that she was supposed to protect and stop from getting hurt.

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Back in the lab, Donald and Emilia were hanging around, the former staring at the capsules, and Emilia stared at nothing while silence erupted the room.

Leo then walked in. "The guy from the bank says we need to leave now. They're changing the locks on all the doors." He sadly informed them.

"I can't believe they're gone." Donald sighed in disbelief. "I should have been at school today. It's my job to watch out for them, and I didn't. This is all my fault." Leo admitted.

"No, it's not." Donald reassured the boy.

Emilia nodded. "He's right, Leo. It's my fault. I'm supposed to protect them, but now I can't." She sniffled, making Donald place his hand on her shoulder. "It's not yours, either. You didn't know this would happen." He reassured the girl. "And it's not theirs, either. I gotta find them."

"I can't even use my cyber desk. Who is doing this to me?" Donald asked in frustration. "It's obviously a tech whiz who will do anything to destroy you, someone who has intimate knowledge of your life and Davenport Industries and-"

"I can only think of one person that fits that description." Emilia pointed out, before her and Leo shared a look. "Wait a minute. We know who it is." Leo stated, getting the man's attention.

"It's your brother." Emilia admitted, making Donald sigh, not really believing them. "Guys, that's impossible. We froze Douglas in a block of ice. He's under 24 hour security at my most remote offshore facility. See?" He said, showing them the security cameras on his tablet.

He zoomed in on one of the screens, making them widen their eyes. "He's gone. But-" Donald stated the obvious. "How?"

"Rewind the footage." Leo told the man. "Go back. There it is." He said, before Donald stopped it at a certain point before pressing play. A person dressed in all black and wearing a white mask came walking in before fighting off all the security guards. "Whoa. There's another bionic dude?" Leo questioned in shock.

"I don't know who that is." Donald said. They watched as the man punched through the ice block, making it shatter into pieces before he lifted Douglas over his shoulder and walked out.

"If Douglas escaped, that means Adam, Bree and Chase are in real danger." Donald stated, shutting the tablet off. "We all are."

"You sure are, Donny. Ha ha ha! I'm back!"

The three of them started at the screen in shock before Donald gestured to the teens. "Yeah, Leo and Emilia already figured that out." He said to the man.

"Anyway, I just thought you should know that it was me who did this to ya. Well, I had a little help. And now that I'm free, I think I'll spend some quality time with my three wonderful kids."

"You go anywhere near them, it'll be the last thing you ever do!" Donald pointed at him in anger.

"They're mine, Donny!"

With a determined look on his face, Donald told his brother. "I'll find them first."

"Good luck. That's gonna be a little hard to do without your lab."

Douglas evily laughed, while pressing a button on the device he was holding in his hand. "Guys, that's a detonator!" Donald informed them in panic.

Emilia glowed her eyes blue. "Grab on!" She yelled, as they did so before she super speeded them to the elevator before the fire could hit them.

A few moments later, the three were stuck in the elevator, with Donald banging the phone against the wall, seeing as it didn't work.

"The phone is dead. Hopefully my sprinkler system extinguished the fire before it spread to the rest of the house."

"So we're trapped in here? What are we gonna do?" Leo questioned, from the floor.

"I'm working on it, guys." Donald attempted to reassure the teenagers sat next to him. "Well, hurry up. I mean, if we don't get out of here, Douglas and that creepy mask guy are gonna beat us to Adam, Bree and Chase." Leo reminded, making Donald even more angry. "I will figure something out, Leo." He snapped.

Reminding him once again, Leo told him. "How?! Your lab is gone, your cars are gone, Davenport Industries is ruined!" Emilia narrowed her eyes at the boy before telling him. "Leo, you're not helping!"

"And to top it all off, you're completely broke."

This is what broke him, not that it surprised them. Donald leant back against the wall with a big frown on his face. He slid down the wall, sitting beside Leo as he sobbed, making Emilia and Leo look at him strangely.

"I'm crying about the kids!" He went to defend, before continuing to sob.

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MEGAN SPEAKS !

now this was a lot but i hope you
enjoyed reading this chapter!! i've
finally finished act two and i'm even more
excited for you to read what happens in act
three, which will probably be even more
chaotic!! thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33