Author's Note: I was prompted to create this fic, and it was influenced by the recent KAB events. I did have a hand in those, and I'm so glad she and Slurp are making up. In honor of that, and the two of them, I have made this fic. If any of you hate on KAB after this, so help me, I will hunt you down and gut you. Soo...
DEDICATED TO: PhoenixRisingFromtheFire (KAB) and AllAmericanSlurp!
CELEBRATING THE END OF A WAR!
SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS FIC..."Somebody to Die For", by Hurts.
"If you focus on what you leave behind, you'll never focus on what lies ahead." -Anonymous
"Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them." -Bruce Lee.
They were running away from another successful mission when Victor Krane, arch nemesis of all the Davenports, geo-leaped in front of them. Despite being the youngest, Chase stepped forward in a fighting stance, the steel in his expression transmitting that Krane would have to go through him if he wanted to harm his siblings. Krane laughed, and a fireball levitated above one of his hands, electricity above the other. Krane launched both at Chase, but they bounced harmlessly off his forcefield. Krane growled, a feral noise of frustration, and made Vader proud by molecularkinetically choking Chase. Bree, faster than the speed of sound, launched herself at Krane, who flung her into a dumpster, where her head slammed into the side of it and she did not rise.
"LEAVE MY SIBLINGS ALONE!" With all the force of Adam's anger, his blast wave ability filled the air, affecting only Chase, as Krane simply absorbed the energy. Chase collapsed due to lack of oxygen and the blast wave effects, no doubt on his way to greeting death. Krane, still choking Chase, launched a burst of electricity at Adam, which sent the bionic teen down. He felt rage inside, at seeing this man behave so cruelly to his siblings.
He had only half of his synthetic skin remained, meaning half of him was wires that sparked, and metal pieces the creaked with rust. A sorry excuse for an android, Marcus had little under a day left. After his 'death', he'd devoted the remainder of his life to protecting his siblings who had been reluctant to kill him, even after all he'd done to them. Marcus jumped down from the roof he'd been perched on, using his molecularkinesis to break the fall.
"This is the last time you mess with my family," Marcus threatened, with every intention of staying true to his word. Krane, unable to see what his target truly was due to the shadows that cloaked him, fired a bolt of electricity at him. Marcus absorbed it calmly, feeling it power up his bionics even more. Marcus stepped out of the shadows, and the first thing he did was take molecular control of Krane. You won't be geo-leaping anywhere, not now, and not ever again. Marcus could've ended the battle there, but something inside him decided against it. His crueler side, from when he had been Douglas' apprentice, manifested in his thoughts. Make him pay for what he's done to your siblings, your family. Show him what happens when you mess with the Davenports.
Marcus listened to his darker side, and began mercilessly beating Krane, molecularkineticlly keeping him frozen in place. Marcus punched, kicked, used all the training Douglas had given him during the first fifteen years and nine months of his life, which was quite a bit of training. Satisfied with the bloodied, black and blue thing that was Victor Krane, Marcus harnessed his electricity for the final blow, the finishing blow.
Though Krane struck first, with a fireball Marcus barely managed to dodge in time. Fire and metal are not a good mixture, and I'm sure Krane knows that. Worse, Krane has no problem killing me, unlike my siblings. Which makes him all the more dangerous. Krane tried to strike again, and Marcus, like his brother had minutes before, using a forcefield to deflect it off harmlessly. There's a pattern of attack...Marcus knew Krane would go for a molecularkinetic attack next, and used that foreknowledge to make sure he took control of all his molecules, then went for the offensive on Krane. Shoot the moon. Marcus landed a nasty kick in Krane's side, but was countered by a series of ferocious blows he barely managing to block. With every second in the battle, Marcus could feel his bionics eating up his life. Not that I had much to live for, unlike my siblings.
After being slammed into the wall away from Krane, Marcus heard the electricity cackling in his electronic veins. I'm running out of time. So Marcus went for the attack no one in his family, save Douglas, would ever go for. Marcus put a molecularkinetic grip on Krane's chip, and yanked it out of his body. That was surprisingly easy. Krane put his hands to the hole in his neck, which, like with any wound, was now bleeding. And without his bionics, the beating Krane had taken earlier in the battle that would've killed a normal human, took its toll. Krane stumbled into the wall behind him, and fell down dead onto the ground. Marcus heard his body begin to power down, and knew that this bionic battle had taken something out of him that couldn't be repaired.
Marcus collapsed onto the ground, knowing his body would begin gathering all his remaining power into detonation, to leave no evidence of an android behind. Marcus would suffer minor seizures during this process, and he was not looking forward to dying. Though at least I did one thing right. So maybe I'll get into Heaven. Is there Heaven for androids? He heard one of the bionics teens start moving, and Marcus felt fear flash through his mind. Will they think I'm an enemy? Marcus saw Chase sit up, and turn his head straight toward Marcus. Both teens' eyes met, and emotions flickered through both at the speed of light. Chase quickly took in the alley, and his mouth began forming words Marcus feared would be shouts of anger.
"You saved our lives," Chase made his way over to Marcus, and sat him up against one of the walls in the alley, which Marcus preferred to laying down in the alley. He also preferred having the company of his siblings to dying alone and forgotten. Marcus could see in Chase's eyes that Chase knew he was dying, or, technically, burning out. "And now you're dying." The sadness on Chase's face made Marcus happy, of all the emotions to feel. His sibling did care about him, and maybe...maybe he could forgive him.
"Chase...I'm sorry for-" Chase shook his head, and Marcus quieted, fearful Chase would say "You saved our lives, sorry, but I can't forgive you." Instead, it was the complete opposite.
"You only knew us as enemies. Douglas raised you like that, it's not your fault. If we can forgive him, we can forgive you." Marcus had daydreamed many times how absolution would feel, but experiencing it, in real life, felt infinitely better than any daydream he could conjure. "Besides...I was going to ask you to forgive us." What? Why? You did nothing wrong! The emotions and exclamations were clearly engraved on Marcus' face, so Chase explained. "We abandoned you, when you were alive. We thought only of ourselves, and we left you to be crushed by rubble. I'm sorry about that." The regret was genuine, and Marcus wanted to hug his brother.
"There's nothing to forgive you for, you didn't do anything wrong. You thought I was dead, and tried to get the living out. No shame in that. I just wish..." Marcus trailed off, afraid he'd sound like a little boy. Chase cocked his head, a clear invitation for Marcus to go on. "I wish we could've been brothers." Chase gave him a sad smile, fully aware of the death that was less than a minute away for Marcus.
"You were always our brother. We hated you sometimes, yes, but all siblings have those times." What? I tried to kill you! But Marcus didn't protest, for he had exactly what he wanted: acceptance and forgiveness. Flashbacks to their fight danced across his mind. He remembered trying to kill Chase, the same brother who was keeping him company as he died. He remembered the rockfall crushing him, denting him in many place, shredding his synthetic skin. He recalled his hand, detached from his body, craving the same thing he did: another chance at life. His hand, however, had run out of power, as it had disconnected from him. Later, he managed to reattach it. I must look gruesome right now. Marcus had never thought about his appearance until now. But he saw no disgust in Chase's gaze. Then he felt the burning, the burning that would result in an explosion, and his final death.
"Chase!" Marcus cried, afraid of harming his brother. Chase took hurried steps back, and covered he and his siblings in his force field. The burning covered all of Marcus' body, and Marcus didn't feel afraid, he felt ready. Marcus' body detonated, shrapnel bouncing harmlessly off Chase's force field. Bree and Adam shot up, their bionics having healed them.
"Was that...Marcus?" Bree asked tentatively. Chase nodded, disabling his force field. The bionics siblings surveyed the damage, and Chase began collecting the wires, which were all that remained of their brother, Marcus.
"Call Davenport, tell him we need a coffin."
...
After telling Donald and Douglas, they arranged for Marcus to be buried next to their own parents. Adam, Bree, and Chase were adamant on going, whereas Tasha and Leo were adamant on not going. They couldn't forgive Marcus, especially not Leo. Then again, it wasn't their lives he had saved. No one cried during the funeral, but if they'd had more time with Marcus, not one of them doubted they would have cried. They all gave a eulogy, though Douglas' and Chases' were the longest. After the eulogies, they stayed in silent meditation awhile, then staring at the headstone became to much, and they had to leave. All that remained for them to do was to carry on and use the gift Marcus had given them: their lives.
Author's Note: Forgiveness and a chance at redemption...hmmm...
"It is never too late to give up our prejudices." -Henry David Thoreau.
"It doesn't matter who you were or what you've done in the past. The only thing that matters is who you are right now." -Shelly Crane.