Chase

"Alright guys," Mr. Davenport interrupts our activities like he normally does when he has good news...or bad."I have a new task for you." I roll my eyes.

"Let me guess," I begin, already expecting a horrible disaster such as a runaway train or a rogue exoskeleton or a haywire design of some sort,"you invented the worlds first self-sufficient underwater colony and the inhabitants now wreak havoc on our coastlines threatening to push inward obliterating the immediate population and you need us to make sure that this doesn't happen." everyone looks at me sideways, like I just said something wrong.

"What?" I ask defensively. They all look back at Davenport, trying to forget my preceding comment.

"No. Actually, this one you all might enjoy." he says hopefully.

"Oh, really?" Bree joins, "How so?"

"You all know how I haven't been around much lately?"

We all nod.

Davenport goes into the details about how he was going through our files making sure everything was still alright and he had a thought. We glitch because we're human, we were born and raised as humans. But if we weren't human?

"What do you mean if we weren't human?" Bree asks dubiously.

"I mean, what if you were grown? Here in the lab with your bionics already in your DNA?"

We all look at him with looks of confusion and intrigue. And worry, I'm fairly certain of what he is about to say he's done and I can almost feel the weight of the consequences on my shoulders.

"Your anatomy would have already conditioned itself to the science. It would become natural, like walking or learning to talk. You wouldn't need all of this maintenance and mainstreaming for your bionics."

"Why are you telling us all this?" I ask. "I mean all of that sounds great and all, Adam, Bree and I are human. There's no way we can change that."

"You're right. You three are what you are and there's no changing that, but-"

I don't like that but, I think.

"I created a new type of soldier. One that doesn't feel pain, doesn't feel fear. One that's stronger, faster, and smarter than anything else in the world."

"Even us?" Adam asks. I'm actually surprised he's payed attention this long. We know Adam has the attention span of a drunk Paris Hilton. If it isn't wet, dirty, or disgusting, we don't expect him to tune in that long.

"Well," Mr. Davenport continues,"That's what we're going to see."

"What right now?" Leo finally chimes in.

"Yes. Right now." Davenport agrees. A wave of excitement runs through me without my volition. Maybe it's my love of science along with the tediousness and my desperate need for something to do.

"Cool." I say.

"Awesome!" Adam exclaims.

"Sweet! Let"s go!" Bree says.

We all get to our feet and follow Mr. Davenport to the elevator. From there we ride to the floor below his major art vault with all those creepy portraits of him in famous paintings. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if went through a rough childhood or something because he is one messed up adult. A bit too juvenile and narcissistic. When we arrive on the floor I realize Adam, Bree and I have never been here. I assume they haven't because I haven't, and being the team leader I can make those kinds of assumptions.

The floor is actually not that big, more like a room. Stark white and glowing. Completely empty other than three tubes at the far end of the room. Inside each of them is the body of a human. The left one houses the body of a male- blonde hair, sharp features, looks about seventeen- in the middle is a girl- ice blonde hair rises above her head in the liquid, her pale skin is flawless and appears artificially shiney. Maybe that's just the illusion of ectoplasm. Her features are striking, generally speaking, her nose is small and perfectly shaped with a triangular sort of look. Her eyelashes are black despite her nearly white hair, eyebrows too. I can't see the color of her eyes because they're closed. Her face is placid, unmoving. In the third is a boy, no older than seven. His curly black hair sways up like the girl's, his face is round and youthful. On the two boys, their legs are covered in a white cloth. The one girl is covered from her chest to the tip of her thighs on a white cloth that looks as though she was rolled in a towel. It almost melts into her skin if only her skin didn't have the lively blush that made her human.

Almost human.

I am speechless, Leo however always finds something to say. It's a good thing because there are so many things I want to ask but I can't find the voice to speak them.

"Woah." Leo gasps. "What is this place?"

"This," davenport stops and turns to face us,"is what I call the Beta Room. This is the Beta Project."

"Beta?" Bree asks, sweeping her eyes over the bodies in glass.

"Bionic Extra Terrestrial Alliance."

"Extra Terrestrial?" I ask, stepping closer to the case with the girl in it. There's something fascinating about her. Something...ineluctable.

Focus. I tell myself.

"Look, there's a lot of stuff riding on this project and I promise over time you'll learn all you need to know, but for right now I need you to do something for me."

I turn my attention away from the Beta and stare at Mr. Davenport with an expectant look.

He turns to the screen for Eddy's appearance.

"MILA, release Beta3-1-2." Davenport spats to his new security emoticon. She replaced EADDIE, EDDY's ex. It was a hard break up, she was so depressed she broke down and died. Poor girl...what am I saying? She was a freaking emoticon, a piece of equipment. They don't date. A robotic female voice. Booms through the room.

"Releasing Beta3-0-2" davenport's face pales.

"No no! 3 ONE 2! 3-1-2!" He screams but its to late. The liquid in the middle capsule begins to recede. Mr. Davenport runs to the wall and scans his hand on the screen. A mini lab unfolds and he starts rapidly pressing buttons in an attempt to stop the process but to no avail. The water clears, the glass lifts and the girl falls limp into my arms. I sit on the floor and lay her across my lap, pushing a drenched lock of white hair behind her ear revealing the tricirclular mark on her shoulder I recognize immediately.

It's the mark of Davenport Industries.