Sloane Jensen is making her way up the steps of the Davenports' house. With nothing but a bag over her shoulder and and the clothes on her back, she knocks on the door. She glances down the down to the main road as the taxi that brought her here drives away. It takes everything in her not to run back down the steps and run away like she did all those years ago. Sloane keeps her feet glued to the ground. Finally, a man opens the door.
"Sloane?" He asks. Sloane gives one nod. "I'm Mr. Davenport. Come on in," he says this carefully, and without smiling. Mr. Davenport is fairly short, with dark brown hair and looks like he's in his late 30s. Sloane, who is even shorter than Davenport, also with dark brown hair, walks in. The first thing she notices is the strangers planted across the room. They're in what appears to be the kitchen, which is located next to the living room. The living room is the only thing that separates Sloane from the strangers she's about to move in with. Three boys, who look all different ages, are turned around staring at her, sitting in yellow island chairs. One of them is black. A black woman and a girl who looks about Sloane's age, is standing behind the island itself. All Sloane knows is that three of them are bionic, just like her. She can't read anyone of their facial expressions.
"Hi, Sloane, I'm Tasha," the black woman says and makes her way over to Sloane. She holds her hand out for Sloane to shake, and she does.
"Hi," Sloane finally speaks.
Davenport places a hand on Sloane's back and slowly guides her over to everyone else. Sloane desperately wants him off, not to be touched. "Sloane, this is Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo." They don't stop staring at her. This time, she just stares back.
"No offense," Leo says, "but who are you?"
Sloane is surprised and wants out.
"Leo," Davenport says, and finally takes his hand off Sloane, "This is Sloane. She's going to be living with us for a while."
"What?" Chase says, again with an unreadable facial expression.
"That's right. She's also bionic."
"Of course she is." Leo says, and Sloane guesses he's the one who isn't bionic.
"Cool," Adam says, "What can you do?" He sounds generally interested.
"I can shape shift."
"Oh my gosh, that's so cool," Bree walks around the counter, closer to Sloane. "Can you shape shift to look like me?!"
"Yeah, then you could see how stupid you look all the time," Chase smiles at Bree who then rolls her eyes.
A small smile forms on Sloane's face.
"Bree," Davenport interrupts, "That's not important right now. Sloane is here because the FBI is looking for her. She's here so she can be safe."
"I don't get it," Bree says, "How did you even know about her?"
"Dr. Evans found her before she got caught and knew she would be safe here. She's going to go by Sloane Mccarty instead of her real last name, Jensen. I expect you all to look out for her at school and outside the house."
"Mr. Davenport, all do respect, I can take care of myself. I've been on my own for three years," Sloane says.
"Yeah, and it would've been the end of that if Dr. Evans hadn't found you."
"Whoa," Chase says, "three years? How were you alone that long? You look my age."
"Well I couldn't stay at home. I would've been taken to some government facility and been tested on. I had no choice." Chase doesn't say anything. He looks at Adam who looks back.
"How long are you going to be staying with us?" Bree asks.
"We don't know," Davenport says. "As long as she needs to." He looks at Sloane, "Alright, Sloane, come with me. I'll show you your room." Sloane follows Davenport up the stairs to the left of them. Tasha follows too.
"Guys," Chase says.
"I know." Adam says.
"What? She seems nice," Bree interjects, "And it will be nice having another girl around here. If you don't want her here, you should be ashamed of yourself. She's just like us, your age," she points to Chase, "and she was all on her own." She crosses her arms, "She must have been terrified."
"You're right, Bree," Leo says.
Davenport and Tasha come back downstairs alone. "I know you guys probably have a lot of questions, but don't ask them. Don't ask her especially."
"So what do we tell everyone at school when they ask?" Leo says.
"Just tell them she's living with us. No harm, no foul." Davenport answers.
"Where's she now?" Adam asks.
"She's settling herself in. This is a big adjustment for someone to make, especially because she's only 15," Tasha says as she grabs out seven instead of six plates and hands them to Adam to start setting the table.
"Why didn't you tell us until the moment she showed up here?" asks Chase.
"Because I didn't need you asking questions then, and I don't need you asking questions now," Davenport answers.
Fifteen minutes later, Sloane comes back downstairs with wet hair and the same clothes on.
"Perfect timing, Sloane. Dinner's just ready." Everyone besides Tasha is already sitting at the table. Sloane takes a seat next to Bree and across from Chase, who makes eye contact with her once she sits.
"So, Sloane," Davenport says, "I know your room is really plain right now but I thought we could go buy some paint and extra pieces of furniture tomorrow. You can pick out some stuff you like."
"That'd be awesome, thanks," Sloane smiles.
"And there's no way you could have more than three outfits in that little back pack of yours. We have to go shopping for clothes too," Bree says.
"I've got four outfits, actually."
"And that's okay, I mean, I couldn't even imagine what you had to do to even get what you have." The smile fades from Sloane's face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It's totally fine," Sloane picks up her fork and jabs a piece of fruit with it.
"Maybe us three could go to the mall after getting stuff for your room," Tasha says. "That is, if you feel up to it."
"No. It all sounds fun," Sloane says.
"And if not, we still have Sunday too."
"So, have you even gone to school at all in the past three years?" Leo asks.
Sloane looks down, "No, but I guess I'm just going to have to catch up."
"Chase could help you," Adam says, "he's a nerd."
Chase gives an annoyed look at Adam then to Sloane. "I'm sure I could help you out." He takes a bite.
"Don't worry, you'll get caught up in no time with Chase's help," Tasha says and smiles at Sloane.
"Are you thinking about doing any extra curriculars?" Davenport asks.
"That's not really my thing," Sloane answers.
"Oh, that's okay, what do you like to do?"
Sloane hesitates, "I don't really know," she says slowly.
"What do you mean?" Leo says.
"Well I used to like video games. And drawing."
"Video games?!" Adam says. His and Chase's faces light up.
"Awesome," Chase says. "What's your favorite game?"
"Mortal Kombat," I smile.
"Not bad," Adam smiles back.
"We should play after dinner," Chase says.
"Or we could go hangout in the lab," Bree touches Sloane's arm.
"The lab?" Sloane says puzzled.
"Let's go show her," Adam says and hops up, followed by Chase, Leo, and Bree, who grabs Sloane's arm and pulls her along.
"Hey, we're not finished with dinner," Tasha calls after them.
They all rush through the kitchen to the elevator and get on.
"You have elevators in your house?" Sloane says.
"Yup," Chase says, "Five of them." He presses the unlabeled button inside and the door closes. "The lab is Mr. Davenport's workspace, but we also hang out there and sleep."
"Why don't you have your own rooms?" Sloane turns to Chase.
"I tried that out once," Bree says. She scratches the back of her neck, "It didn't work out well."
"We've been living in the lab our whole lives. In fact, we didn't even leave the lab until Leo found us when him and Tasha moved in a year ago," Adam says.
"You never left the lab?"
"Not until Leo found us," Chase repeats. The elevator door opens, and Chase leads the way in. "Welcome to the lab."
"Wow," Sloane says, "Hey, what are those things?" She points to the three capsules on the otherside of the room. "There's one in my room too."
"That's where we sleep."
"Huh, makes sense," Sloane says, not at all sarcastic.
"I can't believe you didn't know." Bree hops on the counter in the middle of the lab to sit. "Don't you sleep standing up?"
Leo shakes his head at them, "Freaks." Bree giggles.
"Funny story." Sloane leans against the counter next to Bree. "As a kid, I always woke up in my bed sitting against the headboard. When I turned about seven, I couldn't even fall asleep laying down, so I just. . .stood up. I started sleeping in my closet standing," she shakes her head.
"Hey, I do that sometimes now too," Adam says, and everyone gives him a weird look.
"I would've done the same thing. But why didn't you have a capsule?" Bree asks.
Sloane looks around before answering. "My foster parents didn't know I was bionic."
"Oh," Bree says.
"We didn't know you were living with a foster family before you. . .went on your own," Leo says. Sloane hopes they skip over the topic and don't ask questions.
"How did you get away with them not knowing?"
Sloane has a flash in her mind to the last day she saw her foster family, the day they saw her using her bionics; the day she ran away.
"Oh, ya know." Sloane says.
"So, about the shape shifting," Chase walks next to her. Sloane looks into his green eyes.
"What about it?"
"Let's see it!" Adam fist pumps.
Sloane smiles full for the first time in a while and she morphs into Justin Bieber.
"Whoa!" Chase says.
"I know right," Sloane smiles.
"Oh my god! I love Justin Bieber!" She hops off the counter and gives Sloane – as Justin Bieber – a hug. She backs off quickly, "Sorry." Leo's laughing at her.
Sloane instantly morphs back to herself, and tries to forget how it felt to have Bree hugging her. She hates being touched.
"What can you guys do?" She looks at Leo, "You're the nonbionic, right?"
"Sadly, yes."
"That's what I thought."
"Anyway," Chase takes one step closer, and Sloane tries not to step back. "I have super intelligence."
"Super strength." Adam says.
"And I have super speed," Bree concludes.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Sloane says teasingly.
"Oh, okay," Adam says and grabs chase.
"Adam, put me down!"
"Too late!" Adam tosses him over the counter. Sloane's mouth goes into a circle, but starts laughing when she sees Chase's head pop up, and gives Adam a high five.
Sloane waves her hand, "Man, you really do have super strength."
"My turn," Bree hops off the counter, and a wind blows in Sloane's face, causing her to blink. In just a few seconds, Bree returns with a bowl filled over the edges with ice cream and toppings. "Bon appetite," She smiles and hands the bowl to Sloane.
"Thanks," Sloane says with a smile, but feels a little awkward about eating it. But hey, vanilla with chocolate syrup is her favorite, and decides to take a spoonful to her mouth. "My kind of girl," she says after swallowing the ice cream. She felt so happy, being around kids again, and having some ice cream for the first time in months. It was all so easy going.
"Alright, alright. Enough fooling around. Pull out your dictionaries people, I'll spell and define any word you ask."
Sloane holds back rolling her eyes, and notices Bree does it herself. "I think we'll have enough time for that boring crap when you're helping me catch up."
"Oh you want to see something that isn't boring, huh?" Chase walks back around the counter, and holds his hand out in front of him. It's almost as if he's trying to get the ice cream bowl to come out of Sloane's hand, and come to him. And unbelievably, he does it.
"Hey!" Sloane laughs.
"You're right, I forgot the spoon," the spoon slips out of Sloane's hand and lands in Chase's. He scoops out a bite full and shoves it in his mouth. "Thanks for the ice cream, sweetheart." Sloane almost glares at him.
"So you can move things with your mind."
"Yep. I also have super bionic senses, force fields, and I can levitate," he puts another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. Sloane's surprised he care freely just eats off the same spoon as her.
"You're not the only one with more than one ability, Chase." Adam says. "Watch this, Sloane." He points his eyes at the bowl of ice cream, and red lasers shoot out from them. When he stops, the ice cream is just a melted, nasty liquid. Adam laughs and Chase gives him another annoyed look. Sloane catches on that Adam picks on Chase quite a bit.
"I have vocal manipulation," Bree says, and Sloane instantly looks at her. She used Sloane's voice to say it.
"Whoa, that's awesome!"
"I can also climb walls," Bree smiles.
Sloane points to her, "That one I can relate to," she walks over to the only plain wall in the lab and starts walking up it normal as can be.
"Cool," Leo says.
Sloane gets to the ceiling, "I can defy gravity," she looks down at them. Bree pulls her whole body onto the counter so that she can jump hop really high and meet her up there. They smile at each other.
"I'm not particularly liking this this one, "Chase says.
"Will you two come back down here, this is hurting my neck," Adam says. They both just simply drop down.
"The last ability I know of is my perfect memory."
"You must do great in school," Leo says.
Chase almost cringes.
"Not really," Sloane hops onto the counter next to Bree. This satisfies Chase, doing great in school is his thing. "I hate school."
"Me too," Adam says, "The only subject I have an A in is lunch."
"There are no grades in lunch, Adam," Chase says to him.
"Oh," Adam says like it's some big discovery.
"I wish I didn't even have the stupid ability." Sloane shrugs her shoulders.
"What? Why? You can remember every great event perfectly," Bree says.
"I can also remember every bad event perfectly. And I probably have more of those than great ones."
"Oh, I didn't think about that."
Davenport comes walking into the room, "You guys shouldn't have just left the dinner table."
"We were done," Bree says.
"And now you're done down here. Get back upstairs and help clear the table. Except for you, Sloane. Come over here."
Everyone heads back to the elevator and Mr. Davenport grabs some clothes out for Sloane. "Here are some of Bree's pajamas. You can borrow them."
"I don't remember the last time I even changed into pajamas," Sloane take the pjs in her hands.
Davenport smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder, "I'm happy we can help you out here, Sloane."
"Yeah. I really appreciate it," she nods.
"Sloane, come on, are we gonna play Mortal Kombat or what?" Sloane hears Adam's voice and turns around. They were all waiting up for her.
In the morning, around 9:00, Sloane is woken up by knocking on her capsule.
"Sloane?" Bree says. She's still in her pajamas.
"What are you doing?" Sloane says as she opens the door and comes out of her capsule.
"Waking you up, it's breakfast. We eat breakfast together on Saturdays and Sundays."
"Oh," Sloane rubs her eyes.
"And I talked to Tasha. We both agree we should go clothes shopping for you first. Then we can fill your closet, update your software," she walks over to the small screen mounted to the wall near her capsule and unlocks it, "and then you won't have to waste time actually getting dressed in the morning."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll be able to hop right in, and the capsule will do your job for you."
"I like the sound of that. No more shaking around to get those jeans on anymore," she laughs and so does Bree.
"But yeah, it's pretty amazing. It does your hair and makeup for you too."
"I've never really worn makeup before."
"Understandable. I can do yours before we go to the mall if you want."
"Cool," Sloane says at the same time they hear Chase calling up to them.
"We better get down there," Bree leads the way.
When they get downstairs, Sloane notices that all of the bionics wear the same pajamas.
"Waffles are up," Adam says, bringing the plate to the table.
"You let Adam help?" Bree asks.
"Don't worry. I didn't let him measure the ingredients," Tasha says.
Sloane and Bree sit down at the table in the same spots as last night. Chase is already sitting in his spot on his DavenPad.
"Guys, check it out. Scientists are saying organisms could live more than 50 kilometers above Earth's surface in the stratopause," he turns the screen towards Bree and Sloane.
"Let me know when they actually find organisms living that high up," Bree pushes the DavenPad away.
"No appreciation," Case locks it and sets it aside.
"Nope," Bree says and grabs a waffle off the plate and sets it on her own. She tosses one on Sloane's plate for her. "Pass the butter, will ya?"
Chase slides it across the table to her. Leo, Adam, Tasha and Davenport take their seats.
Tasha looks at Sloane, "Sloane, honey, after breakfast go ahead and get ready to go to the mall. We're going to get you some new clothes, anything you want."
"Already told her, Tasha. We're gonna have so much fun," Bree smiles at Sloane.