Hey, everyone! I'm finally back from my vacation and I have to say, I'm really glad I'm getting back to this story. I kept thinking about it and you guys, so I just jumped right back to it as soon as the I walked in the front door!

There will be a lot of references to chapters 5 and 6 of this story, and since that was quite a while ago I might suggest going back and reading it again.

Looking at the comments… maybe I should cut down on the oh-no-will-I-really-kill-a-main-character-so-early-in-the-story scares because… well, you know me. Later, maybe, but really not now. Anyway, speaking of comments…

Duck Life: I wouldn't really delay that sort of thing, so you'll find out. And thanks, it was pretty awesome and fun! (I also got to see Spiderman: Homecoming, which I thought was really good.)

Brentinator: Thank you!

TheUnknownBlock: Well, yeah, but I can't find a reason to argue XD I definitely have a dramatic side, so I hope I struck enough of a balance for you to enjoy!

Dirtkid123: You and me both, my friend. It's actually quite a good musical, I cannot lie. And thanks!

Asori: See, you all see through me so well. I'm not above killing a main character, but in general, it's uncommon for that to happen so early in the story unless it's a main plot point (which this clearly isn't). And yeah, you'll get your answers soon enough! Thank you!

PurpleNicole531: Did I really fool someone here? I'm actually a little proud of myself! But short answer, no. And I actually did consider the thing with Taylor, but then decided against it for drama's sake. You were right about Spin's ability, but I've promised myself not to drop hints about Spin's loyalties. You'll all just have to wait and see. Yes, Bree and Chase are still there, though they've been in the background for the last couple of chapters. That's going to change really soon, I promise. Actually, I love long reviews, and yours in particular always offer me a lot of insight and I really appreciate them!

Thanks for those reviews, everyone, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Leo woke with a gasp, hacking and coughing to clear the burning in his throat. Struggling to breathe, he pushed himself onto his hands, trying to stand. Fingers scrabbling at the wall, searching for a grip, he managed to get onto his feet, leaning heavily on the wall's corner.

"You really don't look so good," a voice said.

"Marcus," Leo choked out, instantly recognizing the person. "Get me out of here, now."

"Relax, Leo," Marcus replied. "The gas is gone."

Well. Leo had kind of known that, but it had seemed to good to be true. Sucking in a few more wonderfully clean breaths of air—if a little stale—he felt his heart rate start to go down. That was a good sign. "Marcus," he said again, "how long have I been out?"

"About a day, I think." Marcus replied.

"Ow," he muttered. "Okay, the control panel is right there. Can you just… let me out?"

"Hmm, no. Sorry."

The nonchalant tone made Leo look up, startled. "What?"

"Can't let you out. In fact, this isn't even the same prison as you were in before."

Confused, Leo pushed himself forward, stumbling toward Marcus. The second before it happened, he saw it coming, but he couldn't stop in time to prevent it. He smashed into another force field barrier, crashing back to the floor. Why does everyone have these? I didn't even know they existed until yesterday! This one was different, however—it sent what felt like a thousand tendrils of electricity through him, and his vision went black for another moment.

When the spots faded, he was on his back again, ears ringing. "Why?" he mumbled, struggling to shake off the dizzying effects.

"Because," Marcus said, and then he stepped right through the force field. Crouching over Leo, he grinned, lifting a hand as his skin vanished and revealed only silver. "I'm not really Marcus."

"Guys!" Bree shouted as she sped into the Cortex.

"Bree, the meeting time was ten minutes ago," Chase said. "You're the last one, other than Leo."

"No, no, that's the problem," Bree said hurriedly. "After the whole soldier recall thing yesterday, we were all really busy and in a rush, but then this morning I realized I didn't know where Leo was. I just searched the whole base. He's gone."

"How is that possible?" Sebastian asked, glancing at Taylor.

"The whole base was locked down after everyone was back inside," the Commander replied.

"Well, we missed something then," Bree insisted. "He's gone. I checked everywhere—our room, the dorms, the training room, even the prison! He's gone!"

This time, Taylor looked at Sebastian, raising an eyebrow. "I'll go check. Hold on." She was gone in a blur.

"Did you ask Daniel and Marcus if they've seen him?" Chase asked.

"I thought I'd let them sleep," Bree replied. "Adam, you haven't seen him, have you?"

"No," Adam replied, "but like you said, I was pretty busy."

"Logan?" Bree turned to the other teen, the only one who hadn't spoken yet. He shifted uncomfortably but didn't respond.

Chase frowned. "Logan, it's an easy question. You were with Leo yesterday afternoon; you two were working here to monitor the proceedings. What happened to him?"

"Um." Logan grimaced. "That may be a problem. I didn't actually see Leo yesterday."

"What?" Bree and Chase chorused.

"Yeah, uh. Taylor told me that Leo was going to help me monitor everything, but he wasn't here when I got here. I assumed he didn't want to see me so he left." Logan awkwardly bit his fingernail as he finished the sentence, shifting in his chair again.

"This is bad," Chase said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "That's really bad."

Taylor sped back in just then, looking at Sebastian again. "He's gone. He's really not here."

"No, I was just making it all up!" Bree shouted sarcastically, frustration leaking into her tone.

Adam let out a little noise of quiet frustration. "I'm so confused," he said.

"Who are you?" Leo asked, scrambling backwards and onto his feet. "What have you done with my brother?"

"Oh, Marcus Davenport is fine," Marcus—or not-Marcus— replied, straightening back up. "Relatively speaking. As for who I am, I really am Marcus—a perfect copy, at least, excluding the android infrastructure. That structure is designated X-34."

"Why does Giselle need an android copy of my brother?" Leo questioned.

X-34 sighed. "You ask a lot of questions. Too many. You're going to be dead soon enough, though, so I guess I can tell you. My mission was to infiltrate your base and find you. Alive. So I was tracking you, and when I finally found you alone, you were, you know, about to die. I pulled you out of the cell and brought you here."

"Why do you need me?" Leo interrupted.

"I'm getting there," X-34 replied irritably, sounding exactly like Marcus. "You were exposed to a virus not too long ago, in the base Giselle seized from you months ago. She managed to salvage the code that allows for a backtrace of bionic chips. You chip was infected with remnants of that and the code you got rid of, the one that destroys chips."

"She wants to use me to link to the Academy and destroy everyone's chips," Leo realized.

"Yup. And stealing info from your databases won't hurt, either," X-34 grinned. "The plan is coming together. My mother will win this war."

"Your 'mother'?" Leo questioned, scrunching up his nose.

"Well, she's kind of my mom," X-34 argued hastily, more intensely than necessary. Leo just held up his hands in surrender. X-34 gestured outside, and Leo caught a glimpse of another android outside. "X-52 will be keeping watch over you until Giselle is ready for the procedure. In the meantime, I'm off to do stage two."

"Wait!" Leo called as X-34 stepped through the force field. "What's stage two?"

X-34 grinned, glancing back over his shoulder. "Well, let's just say it has to do with everyone you love ending up dead."

"My algorithm creates teams whose powers complement everyone else's," Chase explained. "It took me a few hours to code it, but it works. So based on your—"

"No one cares, Chase," Adam blurted out, and there were a few murmurs of agreement from their audience of soldiers.

"No offense, Chase, but it's true," Bree added, stepping up in front of him. "Sebastian and Marcus have volunteered to head up the two teams. They'll explain more about the separate locations on the way, but remember: the objective is Leo. He is too important to our cause to lose. Logan will be up in Mission Command, ready to send in recon teams if the leaders activate out the panic alarms."

Chase projected the lists into the air, and there was subsequently a shuffle to stand by the two team leaders.

"Are you sure they'll be okay, Chase?" Bree muttered as Daniel loudly complained that Aw, I was placed on Sebastian's team instead of Marcus's, can I switch? and Adam replied that Daniel, you volunteered to look and this isn't some sort of capture-the-flag game. "I mean, we don't even know where Krane's base is. It's a blind search. And the Vickers base is almost entirely uncharted territory."

"Yeah, but Sebastian is trustworthy. If anyone can find Krane's base, it's him. And Taylor, who's going with them. And even though Spin is on that team, he's given the coordinates to Marcus. They'll be fine."

"We're gonna head out now, okay?" Marcus called over the sea of teenager's heads.

Bree flashed a thumbs up, and the room started to empty. "I hope so, Chase. I really hope so."

"Everything's going according to plan, Seb," Lexi said in a hushed whisper as the group barreled through the woods.

"Yeah, I know, it's my plan," Sebastian replied.

"Our plan," Taylor corrected irritably. "I'm the one who manipulated Chase's ridiculous algorithm to put us all together." Sebastian brushed her off.

"Is there anything I can do?" Spin piped up, keeping up right behind them.

"Sure," Sebastian said easily. "You can stop talking and make sure no one else knows what we're doing." The small boy sulked and slowed his pace so he fell back with the others.

"You don't have to be so mean, cousin," Lexi frowned.

"Sorry, Lex, but he annoys me." Sebastian slowed to a stop, waiting until everyone had halted before speaking. "Everyone, the plan is basically to scour the grounds until we find either Leo or Krane's base—you've all got the Krane memo, right? And the whole 'real life' thing?" Most nodded. "If you don't, you don't listen very well, and go talk to Daniel over there. He's from outside the contained environment. Anyway, we have to assume that Krane captured Leo if we don't find him out here. Just keep your eyes peeled."

"We're literally a five minute walk from the base," Lexi said under her breath to Sebastian.

"I know, but we have to make some detours or they'll get suspicious." He raised his voice to yell, "Okay, running!" As they began to run once again, he added, "Be patient."

Twenty minutes of running later, Sebastian held up a hand, slowing the group down again. "I'm sensing something on my scanners," he invented quickly. "I think there's something cloaked up ahead."

Lexi reached out, and her hand made contact with the shielded door. Remotely punching in the password, the door swung open. "This must be it," she said.

"Everyone inside!" Taylor ordered, stepping in and holding the door open.

Ushering the other soldiers inside, Sebastian closed the door after stepping in himself. Locking it, he glanced at Lexi, who nodded and pulled Spin to her side. "Soldiers!" he shouted, and his group turned to look at him. "Thank you for participating in the search. You are being relieved of your duties." He held out a hand, and Taylor handed him the tablet. "Welcome to the Rebellion, everyone." Sebastian activated the Triton beam, one by one, each person's eyes flickered to green.

"This is it," Marcus announced as the building came into view. They'd made good time, taking the hover-train and hopping off when they arrived near the coordinates Spin had given.

"We should check the prisons, right?" Kate asked as they approached the door. "Every bad guy has a creepy prison. Leo's there, if he's here."

"An excellent point," Marcus said, trying to open the door. It wouldn't budge. "But we should probably focus on getting the door open." Everyone just stood there for a moment, looking at him blankly. "Any suggestions?" he prompted. When no one answered, he smiled. "That's the answer I was looking for." The door flew open, and in an instant, the group was surrounded by silver androids. Marcus only smiled wider, skin fading away to reveal metal. "I know another way in."

Reviews are, as always, appreciated! I'll update as soon as possible!