Lab Rats- Bree's Fallout (Three Minus Bree)

It had been several weeks since Krane had attacked the Davenports, and Amber was still uncomfortable going anywhere alone. The others, aside from Leo, had bionics and could help protect her. Plus, she just didn’t want to be alone at this point. She’d had a fierce reminder that her biological family was gone and was feeling very alone. She’d spent most of her time around Leo, Tasha, or Chase, but mostly Chase. They’d spent a lot of time in the simulator sparring with Chase as Krane. Some of these times would end in tears again, and some would end with them just being very tired, Amber more than Chase, and going up to the kitchen for food. Other times, he or Mr Davenport would teach her more self defense techniques, or general fighting in case something like it ever happened again. Both seemed to agree she was doing well. And she really felt she never wanted to leave this family.




She’d been in the hall at school with Adam, Chase and Leo thinking of this again when Bree approached from the office. “Hey, did you guys know we had a study abroad program?”


Amber was confused. “A school this cheap will pay to send you to another country? How does Perry allow that?”


“That’s a state thing, not a school thing, so Perry has no say,” Leo explained. That I’ll buy…


“But why would I go to another country to do something I don’t do here?” Adam asked. The guys pointed to Adam to emphasize they agreed with him.


“Look, it says you get to spend a whole semester at a high school in Australia. And guess what? I applied!” She looked really excited about this. Chase looked like he had a bad taste in his mouth that he couldn’t get out, but was trying to be polite about it.


Leo looked interested though. “Cool! Kelly Porter went last year. She got sucker punched by a kangaroo.”


“I’d love to go there someday myself, maybe not to study since I don’t do that here either, but someday, I’d love to travel a bit,” Amber chimed in.


Now Chase looked a bit confused. “If you don’t study, how do you pass all your tests with ninety percent or above?”


She shrugged. “I listen in class and take the notes. I don’t do the homework, but I remember everything….” She thought for a moment, ignoring Chase’s disapproving frown. “I’ve actually noticed that when I study for a test I do worse cause I’m second guessing myself.” Now his expression turned more interested, but seemed to be filing the information away for later. With him, that could be literal.


“Well, all right. I guess we’re going to Australia,” Adam mused happily. As the guys started getting hyped up for that, Amber just looked at Bree who seemed a bit unraveled at her brothers.


Raising her voice slightly, she was quick to shut them down. “Uh, no, no, no. No way, this is my thing. I can finally be on my own, I can study, make new friends…”


Chase stood from his perch on the back of the round bench in the hall, that bad taste look back on his face. “I hate to be a wet blanket…”


“No you don’t,” Leo interrupted. Amber rolled her eyes while Chase gave an offended look at Leo.


Turning his attention back to Bree, he continued. “But Mr Davenport is never going to let you do this. You can’t go on missions if you’re halfway across the world.”


“Well, sure I can. I mean, I haven’t figured out all the details yet, but there’s gotta be a way to make it work.” Chase clearly was still not convinced. Amber just couldn’t quite figure out why she was constantly trying to get away from them. Now more than ever, she couldn’t imagine being away from the Davenports. They’d done so much for her since her family was gone. She really felt they were her family now, with one exception that did NOT feel like family, but only because that included other feelings that had nothing to do with friendship. But he was currently giving Bree a very doubtful look and couldn’t see the faint pink that she was sure was coloring her face at the thought. Thankfully, no one else seemed to be paying attention either.


Leo stood up and made a point that brought her back to the present. “Not unless these two can unlock a new ability to make up for you not being here.”


Now Adam stood with a look on his face that made Amber wonder how hard they might want to slap him after he spoke. “Ooh, maybe I can unlock an ability where I disappear and reappear somewhere else. Let me try.” He braced himself for a moment, then bent at the knees held both arms in front of him, closed his eyes and grunted rather loudly. The others just stared at him with the usual expression when Adam had one of his ideas. Amber put her elbows up on the back of the bench and shook her head with the same expression on her face and sighed a bit. When Adam stopped grunting, he opened his eyes and looked at his siblings. “Did it work?”


Chase gave an indulgent smile before replying. “You didn’t do it long enough. Try it again, this time, more grunting.” Amber slowly turned her unbelieving stare onto Chase. He really wanted Adam to do that again? The grunting sounded bad enough the first time. This time, while Adam’s eyes were closed, the three of them moved to Adam’s other side to give him the impression he’d actually moved. I can’t believe he’s encouraging this...And when they actually acted excited for him when he opened his eyes and thought he had done it, Amber just closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose with one hand, then stared at Chase. Once the others had gone to class he noticed her stare. “What?”


“You really had to encourage that?” she asked him with a bit of a pleading face. He gave a bit of a laugh.


“I couldn’t help it. How dumb did he look?” he asked while helping her up.


“Very, but it’s not like he needs any help in that department,” she pointed out as they walked to class.


“Give me a break, its one of the few areas I can get back at him with when he’s constantly picking on me.” He rose an eyebrow and gave a side smile. She gave an indulgent smile back before answering.


“Fine, but next time can you tell him to leave out the grunting?” The plea was back on her face now.


“I’ll see what I can do.” He shifted his books from one hand to the other as he went farther down the hall from her class to get to his.


“Oh,” she added as he turned to hear what else she had to say. “And next time, have a ‘kick me’ sign ready to tape to his back or something.” He just grinned and started jogging to his next class. She knew the only reason he walked her to class was because he was just as worried about her at school as she was scared to go anywhere alone since she’d been at school when Krane had taken her. At that thought she shuddered and actually went into the class.












At home after school....





After school, Adam and Bree were sitting on the couch eating popcorn, while Amber, who wasn’t much of a popcorn person, looked for something else to eat. Chase was picking at an electric guitar sitting by Mr Davenport’s desk. He had shown intermittent interest in it ever since they had briefly tried to start a band with Marcus. It was a shame he hadn’t done more with it though. Amber finally decided on nachos and pulled out the shredded cheese just as Mr Davenport came in the room and Chase put down the guitar, walking toward the kitchen.


“Bree,” Mr Davenport started as he came around the couch to address his daughter. “Is there something you want to tell me?”


“I got this,” Adam said as he stood up and put a hand on Mr Davenport’s shoulder. “Look, we all like you, but we think Tasha could’ve done better,” he finished as he joined his brother and Amber in the kitchen. Mr Davenport seemed to dismiss this as just him being Adam before moving on to what he had come in there to say.


“I just got a phone call that said you’d been accepted to study in Australia?” From his tone, Amber could pretty much tell that Chase had been right about whether or not he would allow it. She finally found the chips for the nachos and started putting them together as quietly as possible.


Bree feigned ignorance for a moment, before being unable to contain her excitement. “What? That’s crazy!” She gave a small half laugh before asking quickly, “Did they mention what day I’m leaving?”


“You’re not going,” he answered firmly.


“Why?”


“Come on, Bree,” Chase called from the kitchen. “It was obvious. Even Adam saw that one coming.”


“No idea what you’re talking about,” Adam spoke for himself. “Already moved on to cold cuts.” Chase simply gave a gesture and head nod as if that was to be expected, which it was, before taking a drink of his water bottle.


“You can’t abandon the team,” Mr Davenport said calmly before walking toward her brothers. “What if Adam and Chase picked up and left for a month?”


“Well, then I wouldn’t have to go to Australia,” she answered pointedly. Adam seemed to just agree with her, but Chase looked offended. Amber folded her arms, hearing the microwave sound off with her nachos but ignoring it for a minute. “I wouldn’t just be leaving you guys. I can superspeed back anytime you need me.”


“That’s not the only issue,” Mr Davenport insisted. “What about your bionics? Your training? Your capsule?”


Bree tried again. “Mr Davenport, this is really important to me. Can’t we at least discuss it?”


“We just did,” he answered firmly. “You’re not studying abroad. End of conversation,” he finished as he walked out of the room.


Bree of course, wasn’t happy about this, and lost no time saying so to her brothers as Amber slowly pulled her nachos out of the microwave. “This is so unfair.”


Adam went back around the counter from his food and approached his sister. “Don’t worry, Bree, I’ll get you to Australia.” He took her hand and tried his teleporting grunt again as Bree took her hand back. Amber would’ve been more annoyed by it if he hadn’t been doing it to try to help his sister.





A few hours later....


After they had snacks and watched a movie, Amber and Chase started on homework while Adam watched more shows before Bree bounded in with some fun news. “Guess who just got invited to the Panic Inferno concert!”


“Brenda Delaney?” Adam guessed.


Bree stared at him with their typical “Where did that come from?” look before saying it was herself and turning to Amber and Chase. “Caitlin doesn’t want to go alone because she’s totally devastated.”


Amber frowned. “Why is she devastated?” She exchanged a slightly concerned glance with Chase before Bree answered.


Bree actually sounded excited about it. “Her boyfriend dumped her! Isn’t that awesome?! Whoo!” Chase just gave that look he had when they first heard about Australia, while Amber gave a tight lipped smile that could be mistaken for a frown, not looking at her.


Mr Davenport had been in the kitchen, but came around the counter with a careful expression as if there was more bad news for Bree. And there was… “Bree, I”m sorry, but you can’t go.” She just stared at him, another plan ruined. “I have to extract your bionic chips tonight for a critical performance modification.”


Uh oh… she’s not going to be happy about that...she exchanged looks with Chase, both of them expecting a meltdown.


“Can’t we do that tomorrow?” Bree asked him.


“No. I’m gone all day with a new product launch. Look, I wish I could go to the concert, too. You know, I get the whole rock and roll thing.”


At this, Chase interrupted, holding up the pencil he was using. “Uh, people who get the rock and roll thing… don’t say I get the rock and roll thing.” Amber just winced at the concept while Mr Davenport pursed his lips at being corrected and Bree looked more and more exasperated.


“Come on, Mr. Davenport, can’t I just--”


“No, I’m sorry Bree. You can’t go.” He did sound sorry. But he left the room right after he said that, leaving Bree standing in place, disbelieving her luck, or lack thereof. She turned slowly to face her brothers, talking just as slowly.


“Being bionic… is ruining my life.” She walked past the couch gesturing as she continued. “I can’t go to a concert, I can’t go to Australia, I can’t do anything!”


“You could go get me some juice.” Adam suggested, pointing to the fridge.Wonderbar Adam, I’m sure that’s going to help.


Bree made a decision. “You know what, I don’t care. I am GOING to that CONCERT!” Chase tried to reason with her before she got out the door, but she didn’t leave him enough time for that.


“Can you believe that?” He asked them after the door slammed.


Adam’s answer had them all laughing. “What I can’t believe is Caitlin had a boyfriend.”


Too late to stop Bree, who had probably supersped there already anyway, Chase looked over what Amber had finished of her homework while Adam grew bored of watching tv and wandered off. He commented on her grades and how they could be much higher if she actually did this more often, especially with what she’d said about her test habits. “Jeeze, Chase, you sound like my parents.” She stopped at that suddenly. Both of them knew why. “Although, I think they’d be grateful someone’s still pushing me to do this stuff,” she said quietly. Chase loosened his grip on his pencil and let one end fall on the table, looking pensive.


“How are you doing with that?” he asked tentatively. She glanced at him before returning to her own thoughts. He looked as concerned as always.


“Bout as expected I guess,” she said thoughtfully. Then closed her eyes for a moment against a memory, and added, “Though I’m still having nightmares.”


He nodded empathetically. “Me too. Tend to come up to the living room after one of those.” He let the pencil fall on the table and ran his hands over his face and hair before returning them to the table, one hand down on the table, the other supporting his head.


“The worst ones,” she went on, “don’t end with my family… dying.” He met her eyes at this part, concerned. She had to look away before continuing. “They end with another bomb going off… after you and Adam go in there…” she met his eyes again, which seemed struck with this, and sad. “And you don’t make it out.” Her hand was fiddling with her own pen, but she wished he would grab her hand. He didn’t, he looked a bit frozen. He seemed to understand what he was trying to say, but was trying to think of how to respond.


He bit his lower lip for a moment before saying “You know I’ve been trained for that right? Handling or dismantling bombs...for missions. I’ve done it before.” She closed her eyes, understanding that he was trying to reassure her, but that still wasn’t the point.


“Yeah, but… the nightmare is that…” he sat up a bit the hand on the table lightly gripping the pencil again, but not poised to write anything, his other hand just hovering over the table. “After everything else that had happened, and losing everything else, … then I lose … “ you “you guys too.” She met his eyes again, seeing the understanding there. “If I did, I’d be … totally lost.”


He looked down for a moment before replying. “My worst nightmares about it…. Are that you went into the house before the bomb went off. … That … Mr Davenport is driving away from the house when it does, and when he calls us to help and I go inside… “ he took a shuddering breath. “... you’re in there with your family, and ……I don’t think I stop with just throwing up when I see that.” Amber just looked at him, horrified, and with tears in her eyes. Not for what her own plight was in his nightmare, but knowing what just seeing her family had done to him, having to see her in there too………. “In fact a few times, its almost like Spike shows up, but……. Its just me freaking out…. Panicking….. Something.” Amber closed her eyes, hard, and remembered another image from her nightmares.


“Closest I get to that is when … “ she swallowed. “They bring out your bodies, and your face is stained with soot and ash and all that.” She covered her mouth briefly, in case the memory brought anything else up with it. “I know … there’d be more to it then that if it was a bomb…… but since you didn’t let me see that, which I am grateful… I have no other reference.”


He nodded slowly, fiddling with the pencil. “Yeah, its no picnic.”


She nodded an agreement, putting her arms on either side of her face, her hands clasped behind her head, with her head slightly tilted toward the table. “Neither is have your house blow up in your face… Or a lab…” she remembered grimly.


Now he looked alarmed. “You weren’t in that explosion were you?”


She thought for a moment about how to answer that. “We were in the lab, but D realized what Douglas was holding and got us to the elevator before the blast could get us.” He closed his eyes in relief for a moment. No doubt, she’d just added a few nightmares for him to have. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. We both have enough nightmares, we don’t need to be adding to them.” Her mouth pulled into a grimace in an apology. He shrugged it off.


“We could use a distraction,” Chase said abruptly. “Now that we’re done with homework, how about another movie?”


“Sounds good, something cheery,” she replied as she piled her books and homework together before Chase’s hand blocked her. “I’ll take those and put them away. You want to find a movie?”


“Sure,” she agreed as she started to pull back, but just as she did, his hand brushed hers, and he suddenly rushed to get the books down the hall. Just as well. She was sure she would need time to get the pink she was sure was rising in her face back down to a normal color. She found a movie quickly, and the starting credits were almost done before he returned. “Might head to bed after this though. Getting pretty tired.”


He plopped down on the couch next to her. “Wish I could, but I’ve gotta stay up till we’re done with that update Mr Davenport wants to do. And with Bree going to that concert…” he shrugged, not needing to finish. Who knew when she would be back, or how Mr Davenport would react. They settled into watching a Mel Brooks movie, before Amber, being so tired, fell asleep on the couch. Rather than risk waking her, he just grabbed a throw blanket to keep her warm and went down to the lab to wait for Mr Davenport to start that update.

















That night, in the lab....






Adam and Chase stood by the new cyberdesk, waiting for Mr Davenport to return with Bree. He’d noticed her absence right away, and all it took for Adam to give her up was for him to ask where she was. Chase had at least tried to think of a cover story for her, but was very annoyed with Adam for just giving her up like that. It took a few hours. Bree might’ve been able to get there in a flash with her speed, but it was actually over an hour away, and Mr Davenport had to go there, find Bree, and drive back. During that time, Amber had awakened and noticed that the movie was over and come down to the lab to see how it was going, then stayed on the seats near the tunnel, almost drifting off again. It was a weekend though, so she didn’t have to be up early the next day and she wanted to know how it would turn out with Bree. They finally heard the elevator open and the two walk in, still arguing.


She heard Mr Davenport first. “I can’t believe you went to that concert when I specifically told you not to!”


“And I cannot believe you jumped on stage and begged every member of the band to sign your t-shirt!” She shot back rounding on her dad.


Davenport turned to face the others as he rather unconvincingly denied it before snapping back to point out to Bree that he’d managed to get all of them to do it, then abruptly straightened up and returned to the subject. “Look, that’s beside the point. You are in big trouble!”


At this, Bree’s attention went to her brothers. “Yeah, thanks for selling me out, guys!”


“Oh, you have no idea what we went through. He GRILLED US!” Adam immediately replied, drawing questioning looks from Amber, Chase and Davenport.


“I said ‘Where’s Bree?’” Davenport said, still looking confused.


Adam didn’t wait a beat. “At the concert. Oh, man he got me again. This guy’s good.” Amber noticed Chase had to turn away from his brother in annoyance. No wonder. Idiot.


Davenport turned back to Bree to continue the lecture. “Look, because of you, we are three hours behind. Now the modification’s gonna take all night.Now go get in your capsule so I can extract your chip.”


Bree looked like she felt like screaming, but instead went with “Ugh, fine,” before speeding into her capsule leaving Davenport standing there and looking annoyed before he went behind the console to push the necessary buttons.


“I don’t know what has gotten into you lately. You can’t just do whatever you want whenever you want,” he finished as he looked at Bree to see if his messege was getting through.


She still looked just as annoyed, but more resigned to be miserable. “Trust me, you have made that abundantly clear. My life is not my own.”


Amber felt a bit torn. While she could understand wanting to be a normal teenager and being able to do normal things, have a normal life, or a life in general for them, she was still part of a team. A team that saved lives, did amazing things almost every day. And those things did come with responsibilities. She bit her lower lip slightly as she considered this.


The chip extractor pulled out her chip and the door opened. She retrieved her chip and stepped out, slapping her chip into Davenport’s waiting hand in a way that couldn’t be considered careful with what held her amazing abilities. As Davenport carefully placed the chip on the cyberdesk to work on it, she approached him from behind to continue her argument. “All I want is a little control over what I do.”


“Yeah, well, you’re part of a team. That’s not gonna happen,” he replied with a glance.


“So that means I have to give up my entire life because of it?!” she demanded to know.


Davenport turned back to her with a look that seemed to say that should’ve been completely obvious. “Yeah!” He went to the other console to grab some tools, leaving Bree looking livid. Amber was suddenly very concerned. Bree seemed very determined at the moment, and she wasn’t sure what Bree was up to, but she had a bad feeling about this. She glanced at Chase, who also looked concerned.


“Well, if being bionic is gonna stop me from having the life that I want...I don’t want to be bionic anymore.” She turned to the cyberdesk and grabbed a silver… paperweight? Rather decisively.


“Bree, what are you doing?” Chase said in a warning voice.


“Getting my freedom,” she replied before she repeatedly used it to smash her chip to bits. Everyone tried to rush to stop her at once, but too late and froze when they realized what she’d done, looks of horror on their faces. Amber took a few steps towards them, trying to see the chip for herself to see if it was true.


Davenport looked incensed. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”


Adam, having so little he could understand to actually explain to people, tried to explain this time, pointing to the chip as he did. “Well, she smashed her little chip--”


“I KNOW what she DID!” Davenport shot back before looking at the chip and back at Bree. “How could you do that?!” he demanded.


Adam cut in again. “Well, she picked up that--”


“I GOT IT!” Adam looked upset, Chase looked at Adam like he wasn’t helping, and Amber actually gave him a sympathetic glance before looking back at Davenport. Amber had only seen that look on his face once, when they had disappeared and the lab blew up- when he had lost everything. “You have no idea what you’ve done,” he said quietly as he picked up a fragment of her chip as if he’d lost a lifetime of work.


Bree looked very satisfied with this. “I know exactly what I’ve done.”


Amber heard a collective “oooh” from the boys and wondered why either of them thought that would help.


Davenport looked directly at her. “Then you know you’ve made the biggest mistake of your life.” Another “oooh” came from the boys, and Amber looked over her shoulder at them, trying to ask “Seriously?” without actually saying it. “Now help me find the rest of your chip so I can try to fix it,” Davenport told her.


“You know what? No,” Bree answered, still looking pleased with herself.


“Ooooh!”


Amber actually shoved Chase a bit. “Guys, cut it out, you’re not helping!” She hissed at them. She’d expect this from Adam, but Chase?


Davenport had ignored them the whole time however. “Excuse me…” He replied, giving her another chance to change her tone.


“I said, no.”


Finally acknowledging that there were others in the room, he said “Guys, can you leave us for a minute? I need to speak to Bree alone.”


They didn’t get the chance. “No, stay,” Bree said, finally addressing them as well before she looked back at Davenport. “There’s nothing left to talk about,” she finished before walking out of the lab, not looking back. Chase shook his head before going to Davenport and putting a hand on his shoulder, who had been staring at Bree’s chip.


“Don’t worry, Mr Davenport, I’ll go talk to her,” he offered.


“No.” Davenport wasn’t showing any emotion at this point. “If she doesn’t want her bionic abilities, she’s off the team.” They stared at her chip for a moment more before moving on to the boys’ chips. None of them really spoke after that, Amber, Chase and Davenport lost in thought and.. Adam… While no one really knew what was going on in his head, he at least seemed to get the idea that now was not the time for his usual blunders.








The next morning....



At some point Amber managed to fall asleep in the seating area in the lab, not bothering to get any pajamas on, or even a blanket. Yet when she woke around ten, she found the blanket that had been over her when she woke up on the couch back over her. The guys weren’t in their capsules, but Leo was at his workstation, concentrating on fiddling with some gadget. “Whatcha workin on Leo?”


“Long story,” he said as he kept fiddling with it. She narrowed her eyes. This look was familiar. Whatever he’d done, something had gone wrong, and he was trying to fix it.


“Leo?” Not as much of a question this time, but a demand to know.


He huffed slightly, not looking up. “I accidently put Eddie into a pill, gave it to my mom, and now Eddie’s trapped inside her body.”


Amber just nodded slowly, pursing her lips. “Sorry I asked.” He gave a slight acknowledging grimace but nothing more as he continued to work.


“Leo, I just had the most awesome day,” Bree said cheerfully as she strode into the lab. Amber wasn’t sure how she felt about Bree being so cheerful about this. “Now that I don’t have bionics, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.”


Leo finally looked up for a minute. “Kinda busy. Can I get a rain check on caring?” he asked briefly.


“I just finally know what it feels like to be normal!” She proceeded with an example. “This morning, I was supposed to meet Caitlin. I was an hour late. She’s not talking to me. It’s awesome,” she explained to Leo who had returned to working on….. Whatever fix he was trying to come up with. Amber did have to agree that Caitlin not talking to you would be awesome.


Leo just glanced up, Bree waiting for some acknowledgement on her apparently awesome day without bionics. “It’s a little bit early to cash in that rain check,” he answered. Amber gave a small huff of laughter as Bree deflated.


“Hey Leo,” Adam started as he came in, with his usual confused look. “Did you tell me to keep your mom here or let her go out?” he asked. Amber just looked at Adam, horrified. Let Eddie out of the house with Tasha’s body? How much work was the bionic team wanting now that Bree didn’t have her speed to keep up with Eddie’s damage? Leo grew more and more horrified as Adam spoke.


“Keep her here,” he answered. Knowing Adam, the damage was probably already done. They were right.


“Ah! Could’ve gone either way,” Adam replied as Leo rushed out of the lab to catch Eddie.


As Leo left from one door, Davenport and Chase rushed in from the tunnel. “Head’s up.” Davenport started. “I just got a mission alert. There’s a five-alarm fire at a chemical plant and the response team can’t control it. Suit up.” The boys rushed to their capsules to do just that. Fire? Amber thought. She’d been a bit more paranoid of fire since what happened to her house. Davenport just continued about the mission. “We have to get ahead of this thing before it spreads. Chase, you’re gonna scan satellite images and try to pinpoint anyone who’s trapped. Adam, you’ll knock down the compound wall and rescue them. Me?” He slipped a jacket on that …….. Loosely resembled their mission gear, but without the ability to really pull off the look. “I’ll come along with you guys and try to help any way I can,” he finished as he slipped on some sunglasses. That looked ridiculous. The boys were out of their capsules and had gathered their gear by then, and the looks on their faces clearly shared that opinion.


“Yeah, you can come on the mission,” Chase agreed. “But not dressed like that.”


Adam shook his head and added “Yeah, the fire’s already a tragedy, don’t make it worse.”


“Just go!” Davenport retorted.


“Be careful!” Amber called after them. She saw Chase glance back and nod even as he ran down the tunnel.


Bree stepped up. “Well, what can I do?”


Davenport removed his sunglasses looking very disappointed with her. “Nothing. You’re not on the team anymore.” With that, he ran out the tunnel, as Bree just closed her eyes as if a heavy weight was settling over her. Amber just sat there, wondering if Chase was actually going to come home looking like that.


Amber and Bree took turns pacing as they waited for the guys to return. It took most of the day, and both of them were getting really worried. Finally Davenport strode in from the tunnel. “You’re back!” Bree said as he headed for the console. Amber jumped up to join her as she approached him. “Where are Adam and Chase?”


“They’re putting their gear away,” he replied without looking at her, just pushing buttons on the console.


The girls exchanged looks. “Oh, well, I mean, we were starting to get worried,” she said genuinely. “You guys were gone forever. Let me guess, Adam tried to transport you home by closing his eyes and grunting?”


There was a definite wall as Davenport turned to Bree and answered, “Actually, Adam was quite helpful.” Since you weren’t there, he had implied. Bree just looked after him for a moment before the guys came through the tunnel.


Amber turned around around to see them and immediately gasped. They looked just like in her nightmare. Alive yes, but still had black all over their faces. As Chase looked up and noticed her face, he must have realized what she was thinking of. “We’re okay,” he immediately told her. “Tired, but okay.”


“Hey guys,” Bree said as she moved closer to her brothers. Chase seemed to return her look with a cool stare. “How was the mission?”


“Oh it was terrible,” Adam replied immediately. “You know, I was thinking about having my next birthday party at a chemical plant, but now I just--- I just don’t know.” Amber managed a small confused look, but was still too struck by the black marks all over their faces. Adam sat in the chairs near the tunnel as Chase told them about the actual mission.


“We rescued everyone, but the mission took twice as long.” He paused a moment seeming to debate about whether to continue. “Adam and I barely made it out alive.” He went over to the other side of the small table in that corner as Amber closed her eyes to shut out that image, trying not to think about if they hadn’t, which was hard with them looking just like they did in the dream.


“And in case you’re wondering, heat vision does not put out fires,” Adam chimed in.


“Oh.” bree stood there for a moment, trying to find a way to get back on even ground with her brothers. “Well, I mean, I’m sure it would’ve been just as dangerous if I had been there.”


“No,” Chase corrected. “If you had been there, your superspeed would’ve created a vortex and put the fire out instantly.” Bree, who had looked more and more weighed down as they waited for her brothers, and even more since they’d returned, now looked dumbstruck as well. “Congratulations, Bree. I hope that being normal is worth it.” Her brothers walked past her to their capsules as she just turned and stared after them. Rooted to the spot. Amber was torn between feeling sorry for her and worrying about what could’ve happened since she hadn’t been there.


While the others were in their capsules, Bree glanced at Amber. “Are you mad at me too?”


Amber shook her head before looking at her. “I don’t even know. But I didn’t want to add to it.” Bree just looked back at her brothers, now leaving the lab, then walked slowly down the tunnel. “Bree?”


“I just need some air, I’ll be back in a bit.”





On the roof....


Amber was too restless and upset to figure out what to do. So for now, she just went to her room and opened the window. She’d found a way to get to part of the roof from her window, and tended to go there when she needed to think lately. It was very cloudy, and dark, and a bit chilly, so she grabbed a jacket before going out there. Once she was out there, she saw a bit of lightning down in the valley. The Davenports lived on part of a mountain, so this part of the roof could see over the whole valley, which was why she liked it. She kept an ear out for thunder, but didn’t hear any right away. She did however see Bree as she came around the house from the tunnel. Bree wouldn’t see her while she was on the roof, but it got Amber thinking about everything that was going on again.


Bree had been very worried, and had kept going back and forth between worried and guilty glances at the tunnel where they always returned from the missions. They hadn’t actually said anything the whole time they’d been gone, but they didn’t really need to. They both just wanted the guys to come home safe.


But more than the others, Amber had noticed that Bree had always wanted to be normal. She wondered if the others had ever wanted that. Amber could imagine how having abilities might make a person feel alone, or -as much as she hated the word- like a freak. So she could understand not wanting those if you already had them. But lately, Amber had been wanting more and more to be part of the team. Hardly likely though. I mean, the most even Leo could do was support from home.


“You okay?” she heard Chase ask. He’d found her in this spot the first time she’d come up here. Of course, she’d been singing along to her music with headphones on, and he’d been able to pick that up with his bionic hearing.


She whirled her head around to see that he’d showered since he’d come home, so his face was no longer covered in soot, ash or whatever. So he no longer looked like he did in that nightmare, making her sigh in relief. “Much better,” she answered as she looked back on the valley.


He sat down next to her slowly. “I looked just like that dream didn’t I?” he asked quietly. She just nodded. “Sorry, I had a feeling I might look like that when Mr Davenport first told us about the mission but..”


She shook her head. “What else could you do? You wouldn’t forgive yourself if you didn’t go either,” she answered as she looked back at him. He shook his head again, thinking, and frowning.


“I just wish Bree had been there. Why would she do that?” he asked, sounding completely baffled.


“Look, I wish she’d been there too, but she was really worried while you were gone. We both were.” He looked like he was trying to understand, but still not convinced. “Haven’t you ever wanted to be normal?” He gave her a somewhat pointed look. “You know what I mean. I have nothing against you guys being bionic, I think its’ awesome.” He turned a corner of his mouth up in a smile at that point, his elbows resting on his knees, legs crossed but knees almost to his shoulders. “But haven’t you ever just wanted to be… human? No bionics or anything? Like me? Or anyone else at school?”


He thought for a moment, staring down at the valley. “Yes and no,” he said as he turned his head back to look at her. “I mean, occasionally I’ve thought it would be nice to be like everybody else. But… compared to Adam and Bree, my abilities seem more … normal anyway. Aside from ‘telekinesis’” he gave Amber a nudge with his shoulder at the use of her word for the ability “and force fields that is, which I don’t use as often as the intellect anyway.” Amber gave a wry smile at that. “But honestly, most of the time I’m around you and Leo, I don’t feel like I’m “the weird one” or anything like that. ...Although Leo has his moments when he’s around Adam and Bree. But you never make me feel like that. I just feel like… me.” Her smile grew warmer and more genuine at that point.


“I’m glad,” She replied. Thinking for a moment back to Bree though, as she glanced down at where Bree had been, she tried to get back to the subject though. “Can you at least understand part of why she did it?”


He bit the side of his lips as he considered this, tipping his head and rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, but she could tell he was trying to think about it. “Yeah…. I mean, bionics or no, she’s still my sister.” He gave a small half smile. Amber returned it before turning her gaze back to the valley. As she did, lightning flashed across the sky, making the smile quietly grow, and grow even further as the low rumble of thunder mildly shook the valley. She also almost closed her eyes a bit. “So why do you like that so much?” Chase asked curiously.


She shook her head. “I dunno,” she replied slowly. “I just do,” she said as she turned to look at him. He was simply watching her with a look that was part amused, part considering, eyes slightly narrow, but a half turned up smile.


“How long have you been up here?” He asked a bit more candidly.


“Since you guys got back,” she answered absently, her attention more on the possibility of rain now that the thunder and lightning had seemed to arrive.


Looking at the clouds himself, he seemed to wonder aloud, “Maybe I should’ve skipped a step with that shower and just come out here, cause I’m betting there’s going to be a downpour in-” He didn’t get to finish, because that’s when it arrived. They just laughed, and carefully climbed back through her window to get some towels. She returned to the window, and he went down to the lab.





Later, in the lab....





Chase wasn’t sure if he’d had an objective when he started using the console in the lab, but most of his attempts at the moment were revolving around trying to stop Adam from pressing buttons. With everything that had been going on, they didn’t need a disaster from Adam’s button issues. One last attempt ended with Chase gripping Adams wrist with an exasperated, but not hostile glare as Adam finally looked at him and got the idea that maybe, he shouldn't touch the buttons. As he turned back to the console, he caught his sister approaching out of the corner of his eye. He hadn’t completely forgiven her yet, but Amber voicing that perspective had helped get him closer to it. And his sister did look very contrite at the moment.


She approached the side of the console they were at warily as she addressed them. “You can probably guess why I’m here.” The voice sounded apologetic too. Which gave Chase another reason to push off of the console and actually acknowledge her. Adam of course…


“Chase and I didn’t make it out of the fire and we’re ghosts?!” he said in a worried rush. Even with what was going on, Chase had to give his brother a Where did that come from? look.


Bree paused, thrown off somewhat, but continued. “I owe you an apology.”


“Yeah, well you should’ve apologized when we were alive,” Adam replied harshly as he pushed Chase to his other side, presumably where he’d be safer from his sister since they were supposedly ghosts… Idiot. But he did let himself be pushed, not that he had much choice, but Adam did seem to be doing this out of a sense of protecting him. That was a nice switch.


“Look, I just wanted some freedom from being bionic. I never meant to put you guys in danger.” As she spoke Chase had made his way back to where he’d originally stood, between Adam and Bree.


“Well you did,” Which was the main reason he hadn’t been able to quite forgive her yet. As much as any of them might want to be normal, they weren’t, and they had responsibilities that affected all of them.


“I know. I was just thinking about me instead of us.” At this point, Chase folded his arms, considering what his sister was saying. She seemed to understand that point now. “We’re a family. I was being selfish and I’m really sorry. … I want back in.”


Chase waited a beat before saying “Good.” Like he’d told Amber, bionics or no, she was still his sister. And he didn’t want to break up the team, which is another part of why he’d been so hurt when she’d been willing to throw that away. He smiled as he turned to Adam, who wasn’t as ready to accept that.


“Whoa, wait a minute, we gotta vote on it. Hands?” as he pushed his way between his siblings again, raising a hand as if to emphasize it. “I’m looking for a three-fifths majority and someone to calculate it.” As he was saying this, Chase simply watched his brother practically dumbfounded as his hands fell to his sides. Where does he even come up with half of what he says? Sharing a somewhat bewildered and exasperated glance with Bree, he stopped his brother.


“Adam, we don’t have to vote,” which of course, Adam took the wrong way.


“Yeah, GET OUT!” It only took a beat longer for him to realize that this was a family moment, not an idiot moment and to change his tune. “Oh, right, family, family, yada-yada, I got it,” he went on in a much milder tone. “Bring it in,” he finished as he held his arms out for a group hug, which they accepted. At that moment, he saw Amber come out of the elevator and, noticing the hug, starting to smile. At the same moment, he heard Mr Davenport’s voice from behind him asking what was going on.


Bree launched into another apology as she broke out of the group hug to address their dad directly. “Mr Davenport I messed up, and I’m sorry. I’m ready to be bionic again.”


Mr Davenport seemed just as mellow as before however. “Well I’m glad you feel that way, but I can’t do that.” He turned to the console they had been gathered around before, but Chase wasn’t going to let this go.


“What do you mean? She apologized and she wants back in.”


“I didn’t create your chip, my brother did.” Chase didn’t like the direction this was going in, but why hadn’t this occurred to him before? “And now that its damaged so badly, I can’t duplicate it..” Maybe it didn’t quite sink in because she didn’t want it to, neither did Chase, but he knew what Mr Davenport was saying.


“Wait, what are you saying?” Bree asked.


“I don’t know if you’ll ever be bionic again.” He said with a sort of sad finality. Even though Chase had understood that once Mr Davenport had brought that up, it was still crushing to hear that his sister’s life may never be what it was again. He hadn’t noticed Amber coming up behind them until he saw her hand on Bree’s shoulder in support.When he saw her face, it looked just as crushed as they felt. Since there seemed to be nothing left to say, they all scattered to different parts of the house.














Not long after- Donald's POV






Mr Davenport stood in the lab long after the others had left, unable to get the looks on their faces out of his head. She’d seemed so genuine in her apology, and they’d all seemed so crushed when they realized what that crushed chip meant. He’d had to delegate the product launch to one of his trusted company officials so he could even try to see if it was possible to rebuild it. But the day before had already been a long day, and then he’d had to update the boys’ chips, so he was already beyond tired and unable to focus. Aside from that, he kept getting flashes of how much effort he’d put into their chips to begin with, how much he’d put into all of them, and for her to throw all that away, had hurt deeply.


And what was worse was that he understood why. More than her brothers, she’d always wanted to be normal. Its not like any of them and chosen to be bionic to begin with. His brother had just decided he’d play God and put bionics in humans that this technology had no business being in at that point. And as hard as he’d worked to make the best of that, and put a positive face on things, to give them a purpose and mission for their bionics, she had always wished she was like everybody else.


Maybe at some point, he would’ve figured out a way to give her that, as much as that could be done anyway. But the way she’d gone about it, destroying his life’s work like that right in front of him without thinking… had hurt too much to explore.







But now she that she’d seen the effects it had on her family…. He was glad she felt that way about wanting back in. He only wished he knew how to make it happen. He pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his face with his hands before deciding he’d spend all of the next day looking over what he had left of her chip and his brother’s original design, still in the Davenport Industries secure files. Maybe he’d be able to come up with something. He had to at least try.