Donald Davenport was sitting in the lab Saturday afternoon, reading through schematics as always. It was a normal day; the kids were off at frozen yogurt taking advantage of Adam's new license, and Tasha was covering a surprise story about some prize-winning cabbage in the area. It was interesting, the way so much had changed since years ago when he'd started the project on the children. He now had an amazing wife and four kids who were all friends and got the chance to pretend to be normal in the real world.
He smiled a bit to himself as he scrolled through documents. He'd always had plenty of money and pride, and then the kids happened. And then Tasha and Leo. The solitary inventor had become a family man, handling Bree's drama and the boys' antics as best as he could. Parenting was a new world to him, and yet getting to wake up every morning to Tasha and the kids was so much better than he thought it would be. He wasn't perfect, he'd made plenty of mistakes, even though he didn't like to admit it. His ego, for example. And Adam, Bree and Chase weren't the only ones having to adjust to a 'normal' social life. Yet his family had shown him how good it could be. And even after the kids went out into the real world for so long, nothing had gone horribly wrong. A few close calls, sure. But so far, everything had been just fine.
Or at least, that's what he thought.
When he heard his voice singing in the distance, he closed down the file. "Guess they're back early," he muttered to himself.
Once he heard the smash he knew something was wrong. He took in a sharp breath, waiting to hear some loud comment from Chase about Adam's clumsiness. But as he hoped, not even the sound of his singing came through the elevator. The kids wouldn't be so quiet, and Tasha wouldn't have smashed… anything.
Something was wrong.
Instinctively, he crouched behind the lab bench. "Eddy," He said. "Show me the elevator feed!"
But he didn't have the time. He'd barely finished the sentence when the elevator doors opened.
"Really, behind the desk?" He let out an anxious breath. He vaguely recognized the boyish voice, but couldn't place it. "We have camera feeds. Just stand up and save your dignity."
He balled his right hand into a fist, trying to prepare himself for whoever he'd find. Kids, please get home soon, He thought. Then he stood and turned.
Near the mouth of the elevator was the face he recognized immediately. He'd aged, for sure. But he'd know that face anywhere. Garrett. The kids' birth Father.
And in front of him, wearing a glare Davenport didn't recognize, was the boy who'd spent the night at their house smiling and happy just recently; Marcus.
"Garrett," Davenport said in bitter disbelief. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you for a while."
"Well," He put his hands out in front of him. "Here I am."
He looked to the boys' friend. "Marcus, what are you doing here? Did he force you into this?"
Marcus smirked. "Oh Mr. Davenport, ignorant to the end." He took a few steps forward. "Leo warned you about me, didn't he?"
"Well," he stuck folded his arms and shrugged. "Not… specifically. I mean, he told us he didn't trust you, but-"
"But you passed it off as a pre-teen's paranoia." Marcus shook his head, smiling again. The previously kind boy's voice was threatening. "You should have listened to him."
"Marcus, I should warn you," Davenport got into a threatening kung fu crouch with his hands up, but it only made them raise their eyebrows in amusement like he was a tiny growling puppy. "I'm top level in multiple kinds of karate, kung fu and capoeira. So are the kids, and they're upstairs."
Marcus tilted his head to the side, losing the smile. "Doesn't phase me. Especially because the part about Adam, Bree and Chase is a lie."
Davenport bit his lip, then spoke. "Oh yeah? How do you know they're not on already their way?"
Marcus smiled slightly, and Garrett folded his arms. "Because I invited them out for frozen yogurt."
Davenport straightened up a little bit. But he still was slowly losing the fear he'd had at the initial break-in. So, maybe Marcus was as manipulative as Leo had warned. But the small teenager and his untrained father were no match for him. "Okay, so you are evil like Leo said." Davenport smirked. "Standing people up to yogurt is just nasty."
Deep down, he silently hoped that that really was the extent of it.
Garret folded his arms and smiled. "If only you knew."
"Well, let's get this over with then," Donald tried to take control of the situation. "I'd hate for you to miss your little date with my children."
"Don't call them that," Garrett glared. "And sure we can. Marcus?"
Donald moved away from the desk, ready to take down the boy. But he didn't have the chance.
Marcus, threw his hands out in front of his body with a lunge. Suddenly, Donald was stuck in a cloud of green… something.
"See Davenport?" Garrett glared. "Nice and quick." Marcus is… bionic?
That's when Donald showed his fear. He couldn't move, and someone he didn't trust or like had bionic powers over him. He had no idea where he was going or what they'd do to him, and there was nothing he could do about it.
