Chapter Twenty-Five. The last one of the Hybrid series.

It's a serious moment, indeed. It marks the end of Krane's reign of terror and the beginning of a new adventure, no?

Seriously, I'd like to thank all of you guys. :3 Without anyone to support us, this story would likely never have been finished. You rock.

*Points at random readers*

And you rock.

And you rock.

But not you.

Kidding. You rock, too. xD

I had a hard time writing this chapter, and I still don't think it came out perfectly. But it came out good enough, and that's enough for me. :3

Mia-Teresa-Davenport: "Missed you too?"

AllAmericanSlurp: Hail the crayons!

RissA15: Damn, don't hurt yourself. ._.

j. liz. 8: "But…I thought I did good. :c"

It's okay, Adam. We still love you.

DisneyXDGirl: Indeed, I do.

Guest: And I like to let you believe that. :3

DarkestKing: "Wow. ._."

"O_o Thanks."

Yes, I'm afraid that, upon the ending of this, the army that has plagued us will have to move elsewhere. And, by proxy, so will we. :3 Thank you for letting us stay here. We'll be sure to visit.

So, who wants to do the last one? Hellcat?

"Zara doesn't own Lab Rats or anything you recognize. If you don't recognize it, it's probably hers."

"…I won't let you crack when the devil's on your back. Living on the fumes and you can't breathe; dancing on the edge of tragedy. When the road is dark and you're running on empty, I will be your gasoline…"

Caitlin Crosby, "Gasoline"

"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned."

Maya Angelou

Chapter Twenty-Five - Home

Chase

You know, I never quite understood why people cried when they were overjoyed. I mean, Tasha and Adam started the waterworks when Bree arrived at home with us in tow. Mr. Davenport looked like he was on the brink of tears himself. It was way strange. If they were happy, why the crying?

I supposed that it was something I'd never understand.

At the same time, I was sure that my shimmering form probably freaked them out a bit. So we were even.

I could've done with less hugging, though. I swore that Leo alone almost crushed my ribs. Douglas drew the line there, squirming out of hugs that lasted too long or were too tight. It just wasn't in his nature to be too physically affectionate. I let them hug me for as long as they wanted, though. We had died, after all. It turned out to be a good twenty minutes before I was allowed personal space again, but I figured that it was worth it. As for Yahn, he settled onto Adam's shoulder, both grinning massively. Oly sat on the back of the couch with Ysthry, both deciding to stay out of the reunion.

However, as with all things, the ecstatic hugging and tears simmered down after a while. It was then that Bree asked what happened to us. Everyone had a morbid fascination with it, especially when it came to Douglas' missing hand and my new limp.

Honestly, it was a simple tale: Douglas had destroyed The Arm of Raziel - which burned off his hand - right when I thought about Røros and somehow activated my geo-leaping ability. We scared some people shitless when we randomly showed up in an alley and stumbled into the street, confused and getting blood everywhere. Lucky us, though, they didn't see us until I managed to look human.

The almost two weeks that we spent in the hospital was a blur to me. As I had to remain human in appearance constantly, I had been basically writhing in pain by the end of the first day. The doctor's solution? Pain killers. A lot of pain killers. I was in and out of consciousness so often that I actually lost track of time. According to Douglas, a couple of mischievous imps kept my bionics from being discovered in x-rays while this was happening. Scans that were irrelevant or showed anything conveniently went missing. How they got anything done was a miracle. However, when I was coherent enough to be helpful, Douglas and I began work on a cyborg hand. We couldn't fix my problem – my limp would likely become less pronounced, but it would be there forever; the afrit had done a lot of damage – but we might have been able to fix his by replacing his missing hand.

Mr. Davenport and Leo were keenly interested in this. My kindergarten drawing of a hand – I literally just traced around my own because I was bad ass at art – had them almost laughing, but the formulas and the like spoke for themselves. Mr. Davenport in particular studied it, asking several questions and making a few suggestions here or there. This caused the Davenport brothers to vanish into the Lab after about ten minutes, eager to start inventing the thing.

It was about this time that I caught Bree avoiding my eyes every time I looked at her. She would look at her feet guiltily, like she was a little kid who had been caught stealing a cookie. I perked my ears in her direction. "You all right?"

This prompted Tasha, Leo and Adam to look at her, confused at my question. Bree just sighed heavily. "It's my fault you have to limp. I got Azazel's Bane instead of getting you out of the way."

Several long seconds of silence filled the room before I found myself laughing. "I can live with a limp. If you hadn't kept Azazel's Bane away from Soad, we would all be dead. Then how well would I walk?"

You would walk perfectly fine if you hadn't been an idiot and stayed behind, my voice pointed out. You should have gotten out of there and let the old fool kill himself.

I flicked my ears dismissively. I had chosen right, whether or not my voice agreed. Besides, it had been perfectly quiet at the time.

Oly snorted. "Smart ass."

As Tasha casually knocked the imp off of the top of the couch on "accident," Bree finally looked at me. "So you're not mad?"

I grinned. "I have better things to do than be pissed at you for saving our asses."

Tasha pointed at me. "Watch your language."

I winced. "Sorry."

Leo decided to take the conversation over at this point, rubbing Ysthry under her chin as she climbed onto his shoulder. "Hey, Mom? Didn't you mention pizza earlier?"

My stumpy little half-tail twitched excitedly as I perked my ears. "I just heard something about pizza?"

Tasha chuckled. "All right. Come up with your strange topping combinations, and I'll order it."

"Yay!" Adam cheered, raising his hand for Leo and I to high-five individually. I noted that he had a new cast on his broken arm. It was oddly devoid of signatures.

Bree wrinkled her nose. "Please don't put barbecue chicken and anchovies together again."

I shrugged. "No promises." I then nudged Adam. "Why hasn't anyone signed your cast?"

Adam's cheeks suddenly turned red with embarrassment. "I didn't want them to." He hesitated. "Do you want to sign this one? Because you never signed my old one."

Oh, right. "Sure."

Bree vanished in a blur only to reappear at my side a second later, knocking Oly off balance and sending her crashing to the floor again as she tried to climb back on the couch. Bree offered me a Sharpie marker with a grin.

I smiled as I took it. "Thank you." Then, with a flourish, I gleefully signed my name.

Chase "Hellcat" Davenport.

"…I said I love you and I swear I still do. And it must have been so bad, 'cause living with me must have damn near killed you. And this is how you remind me of what I really am…."

Nickelback, "How You Remind Me"

"Happy? No, I am not happy…Alduin was once the crown of our father Akatosh's creation. You did what was necessary. Alduin had flown far from the path of right action in…the arrogance of his power. But I cannot celebrate his fall…He was my brother once. This world will never be the same."

Paarthurnax, Skyrim

Mr. Davenport

The blueprints Chase and Douglas had come up with were extraordinary, indeed. He glanced over the top of them at Douglas, who was typing some numbers into the computer. Doing it with one hand slowed him down, but he was still getting the formulas in pretty fast. "How did you even come up with this idea?"

Douglas shrugged, not turning around. "Ghost limbs. I can still feel the hand that's missing like it's still attached. So I figured that my nerves are still sending current along the surface of the skin there." He finally looked at Donald. "It's just a theory, of course."

Donald nodded, looking down at the poorly-drawn schematics. Chase couldn't draw to save his life. It wasn't like drawing a hand was even that hard. If Donald could do it, so could anyone else.

Except Chase, apparently.

It took him a moment to note that the sound of typing had stopped. Donald looked up to see Douglas watching him, a question obviously on his tongue that he was debating whether or not to ask. After a second, Donald sighed. "What, Dougie?"

Douglas narrowed his eyes at his loathed childhood nickname, but didn't acknowledge it. Instead, he spoke slowly, as it weighing each word before he said it. "Has anyone mentioned Krane?"

Donald frowned and crossed his arms, confused. "No. He died, remember?"

Douglas nodded. "I know. I mean…did anyone even miss him? Was there a funeral or anything?"

Donald shook his head, not understanding why Douglas would even ask. "It doesn't really matter, does it? He was a dangerous man. It's a good thing that's he's gone. Why would anyone want to honor him with a funeral?"

Douglas looked like he wanted to say something, but he seemed to think better of it as his entire demeanor gained a melancholic air. "I was just curious."

Donald tilted his head as Douglas returned to his typing. He didn't understand why Douglas would ask any kind of question like that. The death of the wicked was often met with joy and revelry, not funerals and mourning. Krane was just as much Douglas' enemy as he was everyone else's, even if they didn't used to be.

Oh.

Mr. Davenport suddenly understood. Even though Douglas had turned on him in the end, he and Krane had been brothers-in-arms once, if not friends. Enemies or not, Douglas obviously still felt a bit of grief over the death of his former comrade; even if the comrade had never cared about him. Donald was at a loss for words for a moment before, quietly, he said, "Douglas? I'm sorry."

Douglas sighed and looked at him, his expression unreadable. "It had to be done."

A simple yet harsh truth. Donald nodded, relieved that Douglas at least had the sense to look beyond his emotions to see that.

Silence engulfed them for a few long moments, neither of them moving. They only watched one another, their eyes locked in silent understanding. How many years had it been since they had been able to communicate silently like they were now?

Too many, Donald decided.

Finally, Donald was the one to break the silence with a nagging question. "So, now that this whole thing is over, what are you going to do?"

Douglas shrugged. "Look for a job. Get an apartment maybe." He smiled a bit. "I would get a house, but Hellcat says home ownership isn't for me."

Donald wanted to ask why, but he decided against it. Let them have their inside jokes and secrets. Instead, he nodded. "Any idea where you're going to start looking?"

Douglas resumed his typing. "Maybe some kind of chef or something. That would be a nice change from always inventing things."

Donald nodded again before looking back down at the blueprints. A cyborg hand. If it worked, then it would revolutionize prosthetics forever. It was a multi-million dollar idea, all drawn out by hand.

And not his own.

He looked back at Douglas, an idea suddenly forming in his mind. "Hey, Doug?" Douglas hummed in response without looking up. "What if you just lived here from now on so that we wouldn't have to visit you somewhere else?"

Douglas did look up at this. "I don't need your charity, Don –"

"I'm not offering charity," Donald immediately interrupted, holding up a hand. "I'm offering you a job." He lifted the blueprints. "If this works, it's likely to become a major branch in Davenport Industries. And I want you to spearhead research and development within it."

Dougie's mouth dropped open for a second in stunned surprise. After several moments, he pursed his lips. "Only if I pay rent."

"Room and board are part of your pay," Donald immediately countered. "But only if you cook for us on occasion."

Douglas started laughing at the comment before he grew a bit serious again. "Are you sure, Don?"

Donald nodded. "Don't make me beg."

Douglas smirked. "I kind of want to see the begging."

Donald rolled his eyes before stepping around the cyber desk and walking to his younger brother. "And I want Perry to stop blackmailing me, but that won't happen, either."

Douglas straightened up as Donald stopped in front of him, his hand extended. After a second, Douglas took his hand and nodded. "Thank you."

The simple handshake between business partners devolved almost immediately into a hug that only long-lost brothers – recently reunited – could share.

"A family in harmony will prosper in everything."

Chinese Proverb

*Sobs* That's it, guys. The Hybrid series is over.

But, again, Hellcat lives on. :3

I've already got a couple of one-shots up my sleeve. I just have to write them. :D

Besides, maybe another major plot will come to life, and another chapter story or two will be born. Who knows?

At this point, I would like to thank everyone who has ever read this series, whether or not you liked it. All the supporters, the fans, and the reviewers are the reason Hellcat lives today!

These stories are dedicated to ya'll!

If you'll excuse my Texan. xD It's a language all its own.

So, everybody, this will be the last time I say this on this series.

Feel free to review. Or don't. I don't mind. :3

And, as always, enjoy.

*Bows and exits*