Capítulo XXXVII- Máquina Radiografía

     "I'm so glad school's over! Ms. Thistle talked for an hour in history. I mean, she's 90. Should she really be wasting all that breath?" Bree said as she, Adam, Chase, and Patience walked down the stairs.

     Patience agreed, "Yeah, you would think it'd be great because she spoke all period but she spoke very slow."

     The four stopped at the bottom of the staircase. A single file line of students extended throughout the hall as the lunch ladies scanned their belongings and did a whole body search. "What's all this?" Chase asked.

     "Listen up, frogspawn! Security check. Put all metal objects in the bucket then proceed to the wands for a more thorough search," Perry announced, collecting the student's phones.

     Bree's hands rested on her hip, "Principal Perry, what's going on?"

     "Somebody's been stealing laptops from the computer lab so I'm gonna bust the perp. Or perps," she eyed the four teens. "Bottom line, nobody leaves this school without going through those metal detectors. And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sort through your loose change and have a little heart to heart with the vending machine."

     Bree pulled Adam, Chase, and Patience away from the lunch ladys' earshot. "Guys, we cannot get wanded. Those things will go off like crazy when they detect our bionics."

     "Well, what are we going to do? She's totally going to bust us," Chase whispered.

     "Bust you for what? What are you hiding little bo peep?" Perry snuck behind them.

     Patience nervously smiled, "Pff, what. We aren't doing anything, we're just four normal teenagers."

     "Then why are you so fidgety?" Perry challenged.

     Bree grasped Patience's arm, "Sorry, she gets nervous. We aren't hiding anything."

     "Well," Adam pointed at Chase, "he does have an unusually large birthmark on his left hip. If you stare at it long enough, it kind of looks like Justin Bieber." Chase smacked Adam's chest to keep him quiet.

     "No way, really?" Patience asked smiling. Chase's cheeks heated up, turning away from her.

     Principal Perry rolled her eyes. "Let's go," she took Chase by the forearm to the lunch ladies. "Empty your pockets."

     "Principal Perry, I-"

     "Comply, perp," she yelled at Chase. "Wand him." The lunch ladies gradually scanned Chase from bottom to top. The device beeped loudly at the back of Chase's neck, detecting his bionic chip. "Well, what do you know, we got one. Flank him, girls, the little ones always put up a fight!"

     The lunch ladies formed around Chase. The four friends exchanged nervous glances. "You three, get over here!" Perry motioned towards her.

     "Principal Perry I'm sure there's some misunderstanding-"

     Perry cut Patience off, "Zip it, delinquent! Come on, empty your pockets." Adam, Bree, and Patience removed their devices or any objects in their pockets, dumping them in the red bucket the lunch lady held. "Wand them."

     The lunch ladies scanned Adam, Bree, and Patience. Of course, Patience was the only one who didn't set off the metal detectors. Principal Perry still kept her there because she was close friends with Adam, Bree, and Chase.

     "Carol, Deb, pat 'em down," Perry demanded.

     Patience being the nearest, they patted her down first. She raised her arms to her side as they searched Patience top to bottom and vice-versa. They did that to Adam, Bree, and Chase as well and none of them had any belongings on them. Perry kept the four friends in the corner as she scanned the rest of the students. None of them were caught with the stolen computers or school property.

     Perry paced in front of them, "Everyone cleared the checkpoint hours ago. So, why do you three fleshbags keep setting it off? You may not have the laptops, but you're hiding something." She gasped, "Maybe another pat-down from Carol and Deb will make ya talk."

     "No, no," Bree denied, smiling. "We're good. The first one already scarred me for life."

     As they stepped away, Perry called them back, "Don't move. No one is going anywhere until I get to the bottom of this." She dialed someone on her cellphone and trekked to her office.

     Chase quietly said, "Guys, we have got to get out of here."

     "Relax. We just have to wait her out. There's no way Perry can actually see our bionics unless she rips our skin off," Adam tried to reason.

     "Have you met Carol and Deb?" Bree motioned to the lunch ladies. They practiced their fighting skills in the hall.

     "I don't doubt they won't hesitate to rip us in half," Patience pursed her lips.

     Perry walked out of her office, "Great news!"

     "You're letting us go?" Bree happily responded.

     "No! I made a little call over to my friend Chet over at airport security and he's gonna let me borrow an X-ray machine."

     Adam beamed, "You have a friend at the airport? Well, ask him if he'll let me pass out peanuts from the 5-10 to Denver!"

     Perry's eyebrows furrowed. "Once I get that machine, it'll show what your hiding. Wherever it is your hiding it."

     As Perry waited for the x-ray machine, Adam, Bree, Chase, and Patience tried to come up with a plan. However, the plans they came up with involved exposure of bionics, suspension, or getting secured by the lunch ladies and Principal Perry.

     Perry told Adam, Bree, Chase, and Patience to follow her into the gym, "I should have thought of this x-ray machine a long time ago. Now I can bust you four, and find out what that stabbing pain in my kidney is. Just got to power it up."

     Chase said, "There must be a way for us to break this machine."

     "Hey, what about I use my blast wave ability? Y'know when I concentrate really hard and everything around me falls?" Adam proposed.

     Patience had never seen Adam's new ability in action. The one time he used it was when Patience and Dante were escaping back to the lab after being hostages for hours.

     Bree laughed, sucking in a breath, "Oh that's right, I just keep forgetting that you're not completely useless."

     Perry looked at Adam, "Okay, jumbo, get in there. Your day of reckoning has come!"

     As Carol and Deb forced him into the machine, Adam pointed at the top corner across the gym, "Hey, there's a little birdy in here!"

     "Oh, I'll get it! My cats love it when mama brings them home a treat!" Perry advanced to the location with Carol and Deb.

     "Hurry," Patience rushed.

     Bree, Chase, and Patience stepped back. Adam concentrated, powering up his blast wave. A surge of blue coursed throughout his hands and with one push outward, he directed the blast wave to the grey x-ray machine. The building shook because of the strong force, chairs fell from their stacks and the lights flickered.

     "Cover me, cover me!" Perry panicked. Carol and Deb huddled themselves around Perry as a protective barrier.

     Bree sarcastically said, "Wow! That was some jolt."

     "That was nothin'. I once got trapped in my car underneath a parking garage, had to survive by eating three cans of cat food and the leather from my bucket seats. Longest two hours of my life!" Perry examined the destroyed x-ray machine, "Puppy heads! The earthquake broke my machine!"

     Patience pouted, "That's awful, but we must get going."

     "Ah! Not so fast, Valmorida!" The four friends stopped in their tracks. "I can fix this. You may not know this but I work weekends as a lumber girl down at the tool tent. Nobody knows their way around a claw hammer better than I do."

     "I do not doubt that," Chase pursed his lips.

     They moved to the side as Perry went to get her tools to fix the machine. Carol and Deb stayed behind to guard the four teens. Patience cracked her fingers, her heart rate rose the longer they stayed in this conflict.

     She wished Leo was here right now, maybe he could come up with some idea to get them out of this situation. He was out sick from a head cold. Leo texted her during third-period that he sneezed and somehow managed to leave the class two pounds lighter.

     Patience's face brightened, "Wait I have an idea. What if we pretend we caught something like a cold."

     Chase shook his head, "That would never work. Perry wouldn't buy it, she'll know we're trying to leave." Patience sighed. Chase was right, nothing ever got past that woman until she got what she wanted.

     Perry struggled against the machine. She hit and rammed her screwdriver into the control panel. "Alrighty, lefty, right loosey, cram it in there!" she groaned, "Ugh, I can't fix it!"

     Chase took their opportunity, "You know, as much as we'd all love to sit here and watch you master the art of screwdriving, we're gonna go!" The group of four bolted out of the gym.

     "Hold it!" exclaimed Perry, barely exiting the gym. Their shoes squeaked stopping in the hall. "You four got lucky this time but I know you're up to somethin'!"

     Tiny sparks of electricity sprinkled by Principal Perry. She covered her eyes from the incoming electricity. "Your blast wave ability must have loosened the electrical box," Chase acknowledged Adam.

     "Eh, it's just a little fire hazard. I'll fix it next week," Perry nonchalantly spoke.

     The cord bounced in the air. It snapped off and jolts of electricity headed towards Perry. She screamed and Bree warned, "Look out!" She pushed Perry out of the way with her super speed.

     Chase pulled Adam and Patience back to a secure area. He moved Patience behind the stairwell. "We gotta stop that wire before someone gets electrocuted! I'll stabilize it! You sever it!" Chase used his molecular kinesis to keep the cord from bouncing place to place. "Okay, now!" Chase commanded. Adam fired his heat vision to cut the cord. Chase tossed the broken wire across the hall.

     "Yes!" Chase and Adam celebrated. Patience popped out of her spot. Agape, Perry stared at Chase and Adam. "And... that's our magic show! Ta-da!" The four teens posed, sending smiles at Perry.

     Principal Perry shrieked and ran into a nearby classroom.

     "Uh-oh."

     "Oh, no."

     "We're dead."

     "Wow! I have never seen her run!" Adam noted. They glanced up at him, sending Adam unimpressed looks.

     The lights flashed on, lighting the hallway up again. "Let me try to talk to her," Patience offered. The bionic siblings sent her nods. Patience walked to the classroom door and lightly knocked, "Principal Perry?"

     "Get away, weirdos!"

     Patience turned the knob, it was locked. "Principal Perry, please come out we could explain what you just saw."

     "Uh-uh. I've seen things like you all over movies!"

     "We're not gonna hurt you."

     Adam stood behind Patience, "Yeah, what she means is it'll only hurt for a second, and then you'll probably pass out." Bree smacked Adam's shoulder.

     Perry opened the door holding a pool stick and jabbed at them to get back, "Stand back freaks! I always knew there was something off about you four, but now I know the truth! You're martians!"

     The four looked at each other, nodding. "Yes, we're martians. You don't see a head like that on a human," Chase lied, gesturing to Adam.

     "What?" Adam mouthed. "No, we're not martians, we're bionic superhumans. I have super strength, she has super speed, and Chase- what do you do again?"

     "Wait, so you're not one of them?" Perry poked at Patience's shoulder.

     "No, and I promise they won't hurt you."

     "I don't trust you. For all I know, they could have brainwashed you." Perry stuck out her pool stick in a threatening manner at Adam, Bree, and Chase, "I've seen movies about you people. You act all nice and then an hour in, you turn, and try to kill Will Smith!"

     "No," Bree tilted her head back. "We use our abilities for good things like life-saving missions. For instance, the way we just saved yours."

     Perry refrained from Bree's touch. "Stay away from me, I've gotta call the cops or the FBI or the fire department. Think Terry, what would Will Smith do?" Perry repeatedly hit her forehead, leaving to her office.

     Adam, Bree, Chase, and Patience just stayed in their spots unaware of what to do.