CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT, rise of the secret soldiers

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"Good news, my famous bionic peeps!" Leo called out as he walked through the front door, as the other four teenagers were eating snacks at the counter. "Your new PR guy came through big time."

"Please tell me it's not another celebrity game show. We always lose." Chase groaned, throwing his arm out.

Bree sighed. "Probably because one of us always hits the buzzer too soon, and doesn't know the answer!" She scoffed, before turning her gaze to Adam.

"In my defence, I thought hitting the buzzer was the right answer." He defended.

"You remember that big magazine interview I got you guys?" Leo rhetorically asked. "The article just came out, thanks to yours truly, Leo Dooley of Dooley entertainment, a subsidiary of LeoCorp."

"Awesome!"

"Cool!"

"Ooh, yes!"

"Wait, I wanna see!" Bree grinned, grabbing a magazine from Leo before frowning. "Wait, the reporter interviewed all of us. Why is Emilia and Adam the only ones on the cover?"

"This whole article makes it sound like he's in charge next to Emilia." Chase looked at the magazine in disbelief. "Adam Davenport is the bionic team's second leader, strong man, and all-around superstar'?"

"Ah, finally, someone gets how things work around here!" Adam smiled as he looked down at the magazine, before leaning down onto the couch.

"I mean I get what they say about Emilia, but listen to this." Bree began to say. "Along with Adam's little brother, the girl helps him on missions. It's like you and I barely even exist!"

Adam looked up at the brunette. "What are you talking about? You guys are mentioned right here, see? Bree and Chase Davenport not pictured." He pointed out.

"You're not helping Adam." Emilia told him.

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" Donald walked into the room.

"This article totally misrepresents how our team works." Chase walked towards the man, flipping through the pages. "People are gonna think that Adam and Lia are the only ones who do anything. But I agree with the Emilia part."

Emilia frowned, feeling bad for Bree and Chase, knowing damn well that they deserved to be properly mentioned.

"Oh, don't worry! I'll set the record straight and tell 'em the girl does stuff, too." Adam piped up, making Emilia nudge him before walking over to where Chase, Bree and Donald was.

"Guys, don't worry about it. The media distorts everything. I mean, one time, an article said that I was self-absorbed." Donald laughed in disbelief.

"What's false about that?" Emilia was looking at him confused, getting a look from Donald.

"Look, the important thing is that you know the truth about who you are and what you do." The man sighed, placing a hand on Chase's shoulder.

Chase flipped the magazine open to a page before reading aloud. "We also spoke to Leo Dooley, the bionic team's brilliant mastermind."

"What?" Donald snatched the magazine off Chase and flipped through the pages. "That's it, I'm calling my lawyer."

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"Leo, look at this." Chase walked into the lab and handed Leo the tablet, with Emilia, Bree and Adam behind him. "It's bad enough that magazines are twisting the facts, but now gossip sites are writing all sorts of lies about us."

"Yeah, like I can't keep a boyfriend!"

"And that I'm a nerd!"

"And also, a bunch of stuff that isn't true!"

"Guys, look." Leo started off. "This is the price of fame. Now you see why I've chosen to live my bionic life out of the spotlight. And take my modest 25% cut as your manager."

"Leo, this is wrong!" Chase sighed. "The world is not seeing us for who we really are!"

"Yeah," Bree said, throwing an arm out. "people need to know that I am a humble, down-to-earth, bionic supermodel!"

"Look, I have a fix." Leo stood up, walking out of the lab to the table near the elevator. "When you guys first went public, a production company wanted to do a live reality show about you, but Big D turned them down."

"Why?" Chase asked as he leant against the table.

Emilia sighed. "One hint. Guess who wasn't going to be the star?" She theorised, making the others tilt their heads in agreement before they looked back at Leo.

Leo was dabbing his teabag in the cup that was in front of him. "Davenport's going away on a business trip, so I'll call the company and let them know we've reconsidered." He suggested. "They'll send a camera crew to follow you around."

"Yes! Then the whole world will see how things really are." Chase agreed with the idea.

"And it'll be live, so they won't be able to manipulate the truth." Bree chimed in, grinning at the idea.

Adam smiled. "Great idea, Leo."

Nope, no it's not. Emilia had a bad feeling once again.

"Well, as the article says, I am the bionic team's 'brilliant mastermind'." Leo grinned.

Adam picked up the tablet. "Really? 'Cause according to this website, you're our 'adorable, 8 year old sidekick' Lee Clooney." He said, holding the tablet to Leo.

"That's your blog." Leo deadpanned, making Adam look back to the tablet.

"Oh, should've known." He chuckled. "I spelled my own name wrong."

"Guys, are you sure about this?" Emilia asked, looking at them in worry.

"Emilia, it's going to be okay." Bree reassured the girl. "Nothing bad is going to happen so there's no need to worry."

"Okay, if you say so." Emilia mumbled before she walked into the lab. "But if anything bad happens, don't expect me to come running to fix it."

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"Okay, people, we go live in two minutes!" Leo called to the four bionic teenagers who were in their mission suits and getting their makeup done. "Oh, no, that was just for them. You keep puffing that powder, sweetheart."

Emilia huffed out a breath, sitting on a chair when Donald walked in. "Leo, why is there a camera crew in here?"

Leo looked flabbergasted by his presence. "Uh, it's for a new TV show we're filming, called 'What happened to your business trip'?"

"What happened to your business trip?" The trio joined in, making Emilia roll her eyes as she approached them.

Donald pulled the boy by his arm. "Leo, I don't want people seeing our private lives. The more people see, the more they'll start criticising every move Adam, Bree, Chase and Emilia make, and it'll start messing with their heads!" He scolded.

Bree sighed. "People are already criticising us! That's why we're doing this! So that they can see the truth. And my new highlights." She smiled, playing with her hair.

"You have nothing to prove. And by doing this, you're just feeding into the frenzy." Donald tried to talk them out of it.

"That's easy for you to say. You aren't dragging through the mud on a daily basis. There are rumours online that I'm expecting twins!" Chase yelled, making Emilia and Donald widen their eyes.

Adam grinned and placed his hand on Donald's shoulder. "We're getting him a double stroller. Let me know if you want in."

"Look, for the record, I think going on television is a huge mistake."

"Thank you! That's what I said." Emilia huffed, throwing an arm out.

"We're live." Leo informed.

Donald walked around Leo to stand in view of the camera. "Hello! Hi, I'm Donald Davenport, brilliant, genius inventor who—"

"Was just leaving." Leo interrupted the man as he went to stand in front of Donald who pulled him back.

"No, I'm not." He corrected his step-son before turning back to the camera. "Excuse me. Sorry about that. You know..."

Leo interrupted him again. "You do know the camera adds ten pounds? And in that outfit, it's more like twenty." He deadpanned.

Donald looked down at his outfit before chuckling nervously at the camera. "Excuse me, while I change into something a little more flattering."

He ran out the lab with Leo laughing at him before his eyes widened. "Wait, stay out of my closet!" He yelled, following Donald out of the lab.

Chase rushed to stand in front of his sister. "Hi, everybody! I'm Chase!" He introduced. "This is the lab where we train for missions, well, actually, they train for missions. I'm always mission ready."

"Uh, your shoe's untied." Bree hummed, causing Chase to look down.

"Aw, man!" He groaned, before bending down to tie his shoe laces, giving Bree the chance to be the front view of the camera.

"Uh, just to set the record straight, I can keep a boyfriend. I just can't get one." Bree said into the camera, making Emilia raise a brow. "Uh, uh, no. I mean, I can get one, I just... You know what, I can run 500 miles an hour, what can you do? Hmm?"

Hearing the sound of grunting, the camera men turned around to reveal Adam flexing his muscles, shirtless.

"Adam, what are you doing?" Emilia questioned, before Chase reached his hand up to cover her eyes.

"What I do everyday at this time, leading the bionic team by doing strength poses." Adam answered, continuing to flex his muscles.

"Would you relax? Like, I'm gonna look." Emilia whispered, pulling Chase's hand away.

They turned around hearing the mission alert to see the President was calling them. "It's the President with a mission alert!" Chase confirmed, running over to answer the call.

Bree turned to the camera. "That means there's an emergency somewhere."

"I'm guessing it's that way." Adam said, flexing his muscles while pointing over to where Chase was, making Bree push him away as the three followed Chase to the monitor.

"Mr President, we got the alert." Chase nodded.

"Listen, there's a power surge at a major electrical tower, and it's too dangerous for anyone else to handle. I need you to fix the broken transformer before it blows and starts a nationwide chain reaction." The President explained.

"We're on it, sir." Emilia nodded, smiling at the man politely.

"Good luck. The country is counting on you." The President said before turning his gaze to Adam, making him add. "And would also like you to put a shirt on."

Bree smiled to the camera after the President ended the call. "Hear that? The President is asking us for help. Does the President ask your girlfriend for help?" She moved closer to the camera as she mouthed. "No, I don't think so."

"Come on, we have to go now." Chase told them.

"Wait, but what about the cameras?" Bree asked quietly.

Emilia was about to say something when Chase answered. "Bring 'em with us! That way people can see what really happens when we save the world!"

Emilia widened her eyes, sighing in defeat as Adam grinned at the camera. "Good idea, little brother." He said, resting his arm on Chase's head who groaned in disgust. "It's Mission time, whoo!"

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The Mission was a disaster. With the siblings being too involved with the camera, they ended up fighting while Emilia tried to fix the broken transformer herself, only to get badly hurt because of it. Again? Shocker. The whole world watched as they failed the mission.

"I can't believe we blew the mission!" Chase yelled, helping Emilia into the lab before he threw his bag onto the cyberdesk.

"Chase, relax." Adam told him. "All we have to do is cause a bigger disaster somewhere else, and people will forget all about this."

"Again, Adam. You're not helping." Emilia grunted through the pain.

The group then heard footsteps, following by the light turning on, revealing Leo who wasn't happy about what happened either. "What were you thinking? That explosion took out power grids all over the country! You grounded flights, caused traffic accidents!"

The four teens followed Leo over to the cyberdesk who turned in the small monitor on the desk to reveal video footage of what the trio have caused because of their fighting. It would have been unfair if Emilia was mentioned, since she was the only one who was actually focused on the mission. "People are freaking out!"

"You know what, this is all your fault." Bree pointed a finger at Chase. "If you would've just let me go up the tower, none of this would've ever happened! And Emilia wouldn't have gotten injured!" She yelled.

"Don't blame me! You guys are the ones who didn't follow orders." Chase yelled back in his defence.

"Yeah, 'cause they were stupid orders." Adam scoffed. "And don't drag me into this, it was Bree's fault."

"How is this my fault?" Bree asked, looking at him in disbelief.

Adam shrugged. "I don't know, you were next in the blame circle!" He yelled, before the three siblings began arguing with each other as Emilia stood off to the side, clutching onto her chest.

"Knock it off!" Donald yelled, walking into the lab. "You're all to blame. And everybody knows it, because it's on every news channel in the entire world." He clicked on the footage from the small monitor to see the siblings fighting at the mission site as Emilia approached them.

Donald turned back to the trio. "People are furious. They're saying you're irresponsible, that you can't be trusted. You have managed to turn the whole world against you." He continued.

"I know how we can fix this." Leo piped up. "A commercial-free sit down with Oprah. Which one of you cries best?"

Emilia snatched the phone out of his hand. "This cannot be fixed with PR." She scoffed before placing the phone on the desk.

Donald nodded at the girl, before turning to the trio. "Do you realise the gravity of what you've done?" He questioned, before they all heard looked at the small monitor as an alarm went off, making Donald sigh. "It's the White House. The President wants a video conference with us in 20 minutes. This is bad. This is really bad."

They all stared at Donald who dramatically sobbed, making Leo sigh. "Okay, I'm calling Oprah. I think we found our crier."

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During the twenty minute wait, the four bionic teenagers got changed out of their mission suits, before it was eventually time for the call.

"Obviously, you've seen the consequences of your careless behaviour." The President started off by saying. "People all over the country are extremely upset."

"Wait, because their power's out, or because they can't finish watching our awesome reality show?"

Emilia sighed at Adam, as Donald nodded. "We understand, Mr President."

"We'll do everything we can to fix this." Chase chimed in, making the President shake his head.

"I'm afraid 'fixing this' is beyond your control. I'm getting calls from officials all over telling me to lock you up."

"Lock us up?" Bree asked, all of them sharing the same look of shock.

"We messed up one mission. What about the hundred of missions that were successful?" Chase questioned.

The President sighed. "Unfortunately, people only care about what they saw on TV. Not to mention that I have people suggesting to take Emilia away from you guys." He notified, making everyone look more shocked than before.

"Take her away from us? Why?" Donald asked, filled with fear and shock.

The President took a deep breath. "Seeing what happened on your show, just proved them right thinking it's ironic that Emilia is always there for you guys but nobody's there to help her." He explained, making Emilia look down. "She was the only one focused on the mission and got hurt because of it. They don't believe she's safe."

"But, I still believe in you. So I'm going to hold a press conference to try to convince the country to stand by you." The President continued, as Emilia was trying to push down tears.

They weren't dangerous.

"Thank you." Chase nodded.

"In the mean time, no more missions. Don't leave the house, don't talk to anyone." The President instructed them.

"Did we just get grounded by the President?"

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"Hey, Leo, what's all that noise?" Chase asked, walking into the living room with the others following behind him.

"Angry protesters. They're demanding that you leave Mission Creek." Leo answered.

"What?" Adam asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'm surprised they didn't ask you to leave years ago." Chase pointed out, making Emilia sigh, nudging his arm to tell him to stop.

"Wait, hold on, why do they want us to move? This is our home." Bree frowned.

"Okay, the President said that he was gonna take care of things. Let's just stay calm and hope for the best." Chase reassured them.

"I better check on Perry. She went out there 20 minutes ago to calm them down. You four stay here." Leo said, before opening the front door to reveal Perry had joined in with the protesting.

"Go away, freaks! Get out of Mission Creek!" The crowd along with Perry chanted together, holding up their signs.

"What are you doing?!" Leo shouted.

"Getting on the right side of history." Perry replied, before Leo pulled her into the house and shut the door behind him.

"You're supposed to be helping us!" Leo exclaimed.

"I know, but I still have a ton of t-shirts and stuff. So now, I'm selling bionic souvenirs so people can burn them." Perry grinned. "Look, I can see you're upset, and despite my enjoyment of it, I'm gonna make it up to you." She grabbed the megaphone from Leo before opening the door to the protesters. "Attention, unwashed masses! Remove yourself from the premises! Don't make me get my crossbow!"

The crowd began to throw trash at Perry who turned to Leo. "Dooley! Do something!" She yelled, moving the boy in front of her.

"All right, back off!" Leo yelled to the protesters, who simply ignored him. "Now!" He threw his arm out, accidentally firing a laser sphere which hit the wall. "Uh, oh."

"It's another bionic freak! Get him!" A woman yelled, before the crowd began to run into the house as Leo backed away.

"Help me! Aah!" Leo begged, as Emilia, Bree and Chase rushed to the door. Adam began to panic seeing Leo in trouble, and his first instinct was to use his lung capacity.

"Leo!" Adam yelled, before he activated his lung capacity and started using it to blow the protesters off Leo.

"Adam, don't!" Donald yelled as he ran into the room and stared at the scene in shock.

Emilia, Bree and Chase managed to get away but Adam was still using his lung capacity to blow the protesters away. Once they had all gone, Adam stood at the door before turning to look at Donald and asked. "Don't what?"

Once again, they were now on the news as it was showing footage of what just happened outside their house.

"Great." Bree turned the tv off. "Now every news station is saying the bionic people attacked the public. They think we're dangerous!"

Donald turned to Leo. "What were you thinking using your bionic arm?"

"In my defense... I wasn't thinking." The Dooley boy replied, making Emilia sigh.

"What he's trying to say is that it was an accident, Davenport." Emilia explained for Leo.

"Never mind him." Chase turned to Adam. "How could you attack those people?"

"I didn't attack them, I was trying to get them away from Leo." Adam contradicted.

"Well, good job." Bree scoffed. "You sent ten protesters to the hospital."

"I didn't hear an ambulance." Adam furrowed his brows in confusion.

"No. You blew them to the hospital!" Bree yelled, gesturing to the front door.

"Idiot." Chase seethed.

"I'm an idiot?" Adam echoed, as he turned to his brother who nodded. "There wouldn't have been an angry mob of protesters if our mission leader had done his job right!"

"Oh, really? I'm always saving your butt." Chase looked angry. "If it weren't for me, you would've lasered your own face off by now!"

"Oh, yeah? Well how about I laser my ears off instead so I don't have to listen to your stupid voice!" Adam yelled.

"What are you complaining about?" Bree interjected. I'm the one who has to go on every single mission with you two morons!"

Chase glared at Bree. "Then don't go!" He moved to stand in front of her. "You've quit before! Just do it again!"

Emilia reached her hands to her head as she tried to shut them out.

"Really? You're gonna pull that one out? You know, if I remember correctly, you're the one who took off on us and went on a mission alone, Mr Avalanche." Bree reminded him.

Chase glared. "So what if I did? I'm better off on my own than having to carry you worthless dead-weights!" He yelled, looking between Bree and Adam.

"Enough!" Emilia screamed, making them stop and turn to her and Donald who continued for her.

"Would you listen to yourselves?! Your selfish behaviour is tearing this team apart and I'm tired of it. Something has to change." Donald scolded, shaking his head with a sigh as he walked out the room.

Emilia gave them one last look before walking away with Leo, the last thing they heard was Chase sighing. "He's right."

They had to make a decision. And that decision was to dissolve the team.

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MEGAN SPEAKS !

hope you enjoyed reading this
chapter! this is only part one but
you guys are not ready for part two!
thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33