Sloth: Well, I'd like to first thank everyone who took an interest in the story. I just love getting a mailbox full of stuff from Fanfiction. Especially when they are reviews. Reviews are my favorite. So I'd like to thank all the guests who reviewed, and I'd like to thank RIK, LBozzie, and BTRLover1122 for their signed reviews. I enjoyed getting the reviews and since I'm already 5 chapters in, and since Fourth of July was yesterday, I decided to, why not, toss in the second chapter.
Now something to note first, while writing, I had a hard time trying to figure out how to refer to Davenport. We know his name, but he's called so many different things. Donald, Donny, Mr. Davenport, Davenport, Big D. So I decided to refer to him by what the character would call him. The story is 3rd POV, but mostly from the perspective of the character the chapter is focused on. So, if the chapter is mostly about Marcus, then Mr. Davenport will be referred to as Davenport. It's its Leo's then it's Big D. If it's the Lab Rats, then it's Mr. Davenport. So you can tell who the chapter is focused on by his name. This also means the story won't just be about Marcus.
One final thing, I saw this done in another story and I thought I'd give it a try. So for everyone who reviews, that as an account, I'll give them a preview of the next chapter. I thought it would be interesting to try.
Disclaimer: I don't own Lab Rats.
Cough Syrup
Pain. There had been so much pain. Like someone just kept poking his exposed flesh with a hot fire poker. Not stabbing, just poking, digging lightly enough not to pierce flesh, but enough to hurt. He wanted it to go away. He escaped to the inner most recesses of his mind. He wanted to hide from the pain.
It wasn't until he felt something cool and wet touch his head did he began to stir. He blinked through the darkness, pushing the darkness away and bringing some light into his world. The first thing he noticed was the caramel colored walls. They were blank, so he couldn't guess where he was. But from the fact that there was some color meant that he wasn't in a hospital room. That was good.
As he sat up, a damn cloth fell off his forehead and onto his lap. He was a little taken back by it, but not too much. He managed to ignore the involuntary need to jump. He went back to looking around. He noticed that he wasn't in his normal clothes. His jeans and hoodie were replaced with silk pajamas. He was mildly surprised that he was in pajamas. Normally he slept in a capsule while wearing sweatpants. And who even changed him?
He tried to remember what happened before he awoke. There had been pain. Lots of it. He remembered seeing someone leave him. Who was it? Name flashed through his head. He remembered the person had been important to him. They had to be, otherwise, why else would it hurt so much seeing the person leave him behind.
"Yes Dad, I remembered to record Funeral Mishaps"
"I'm so sorry. Don't worry, I'll fix everything."
"Ow! Dad, I'm sorry I-"
He snapped out of his daze. Where did those memories come from? He rubbed his eyes. That's when he noticed the silver band on his wrist. That hadn't been there before. He reached for the bracelet, only to be forced back by an electrical shock.
"Ow! Son of a-"
"Oh! You're awake!"
He looked up to see a woman with short dark hair and hoop earrings. She was a very attractive woman, with a gentle smile and soft voice that held a lot of authority.
"You're Leo's mom," he suddenly said, memories flooding back to him as his mind registered. He felt something cold hit his stomach. He suddenly realized he must still be in Davenport's house. He didn't know whether to make a run for it or not. He decided to risk it. He made a run for it. However, rather than super speeding out of the room, he fell off the bed, hitting his head against the hard wood floor and dragging the blanket and pillow with him.
"Marcus! Are you ok?"
"Ow," he groaned. "Why couldn't I run?"
"Um…well. Here, why don't we get you back in bed and I'll get one of the others to explain things to you."
Tasha helped Marcus back into bed, his legs still shaky. He didn't understand why she was being so nice. He had invaded her house. The living room should be in shambles because of him. Why was she being nice to him when he tried to kill her son? It just didn't make sense.
She tucked him in before walking out of the room, leaving Marcus by himself. He didn't know what he was expecting. Were they going to come in, pots and pans ready to knock him into oblivion? Or were they going to drag him down to their secret lair and do horrible experiments on him? He visibly gulped at the idea. It scared him.
"Marcus?"
He jerked up, looking to see Davenport and his bionic teens at the door. Oh, and Leo. He gave them one of his patented Eyebrow-Glares-of-Doom looks. He might have been bed ridden and apparently lacking in the bionics department, but that doesn't mean he was going to look like a wuss in front of them.
"Well, I take it this is the part where you interrogate me?" he asked them with as much snark as he could muster. They all looked uneasy at each other. This made his right brow go higher up his hairline. Which was saying something considering his hair was usually gelled back.
"So…how are you feeling?" Leo asked as he tried to break the ice. Again, Marcus gave him a raised brow look. Was he actually serious or was this some strange, twisted way to get him to let his guard down so they could turn on him. After all, it was something he would have done.
"Seriously?"
"Well, you did blow up," Adam commented like it was nothing. This got his entire family to shout his name in unison. It was almost funny. Almost. Because when you were told you were blown up, you don't normally become amused.
"I did what?"
"Uh," Mr. Davenport started as he took lead and walked over to Marcus. "Marcus. What exactly do you last remember?"
He looked at the older man, curious as to what the man was getting at. "I remember a lot of pain, which wasn't really pleasant by the face." He turned a glare towards Leo at the comment. The image of Leo jumping on his back and tazing him with something was definitely seared into his brain. But he couldn't remember anything after that. He made a face as he tried to remember more.
He remembered being in a lab. A bright lab. Then there was a man. Someone important to him. Someone really, really important, because he recalled them leaving and the pain of that was much worse than the pain in his neck.
His eyes suddenly widened and he reached behind him for his neck. He could still feel the small bump on his neck where his chip was. But if his chip was still there, why couldn't he use his bionics. He looked up at Davenport, fixing a glare in the man's direction and wordlessly asking him the question.
"Um…well. You're probably wondering why you can't use your bionics. Chase, do you want to take this one?"
"Oh no, don't look at me," the youngest bionic teen said. "I voted for him blowing up."
"You know, if I could," Marcus glared, "I'd blast your head off with my laser vision."
"Well you can't," Chase countered smugly, "so ha!"
In response, Marcus chucked his pillow with as much accuracy and precision he could muster in his ill state. It was just enough, even without bionic enhancements, to nail Chase right in the face and send the other boy to the ground.
"Oh! Pillow fight!" Adam enthusiastically picked up the pillow and smacked Leo with it. The sight was enough to bring a smile to the bed-ridden teen.
"Well, I guess I'll take this one," Davenport said soberly and he watched Bree try to wrestle the pillow away from Adam before he could continue to use it as a weapon. "Look, Marcus. I'm going to be honest with you. What you did, we really can't forgive easily."
"So you're going to send me to jail?" he asked, his features twisting with an intense glare. It really shouldn't have some off as a surprise. He knew what happened to the bad guys. They get carted off to jail in handcuffs and had to wear eye-burning orange jumpsuits for the next ten-to-twenty. But did he really classify as bad? Ok, sure, he tried to capture Adam, Bree, and Chase…but he couldn't exactly remember for who or why. Did that make him bad? Some part of him registered that kidnapping, even if you were kidnapping bionic super-teens, was illegal and bad. Then he felt the urge to run for it again.
"I never said that," the billionaire interrupted his train of thought. Marcus managed to crush the hope in his eyes and looked up at Davenport with an unimpressed look.
"Oh really? So what are you going to do with me? Keep me under house arrest?"
"Well…it was Bree's idea."
Marcus actually looked indignant as Bree came to her own defense.
"No it wasn't. It was Leo's! I just agreed."
"Oh no, don't try to pin this on me," the youngest said. "I said we shouldn't leave him on his own. I did NOT say keep him in the house. It was my mom's idea."
"I heard that!" Tasha's voice carried from down the hall.
Marcus wasn't exactly sure how to feel. Part of him was glad that he wasn't going to go to jail. Sure, he was positive he'd be able to survive on his own if he still had his bionics and he didn't need to worry about getting carted off by the government. But he was scared what would happen to him now that he was normal. But he was both curious and concerned as to why they were keeping him here. Who in their right mind would keep the person who tried to destroy their family inside their own home? Were they insane or were they just that goodie-two-shoes?
"I still don't get it," he told them earnestly. "Why?"
"Well…" Davenport struggled, "to be perfectly honest…"
"Oh just spit it out already," Marcus said. It was tired with all this dodging and stepping on eggshells. He was fifteen. He could handle it.
"He's afraid you'll blow up," Adam blurted out.
"What's he talking about?"
"Well, Marcus…your bionic chip had a detonation feature in it," Davenport explained slowly.
"A detonation feature?" he repeated slowly, confusion invading his features. "You're kidding right?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not." The expression on Davenport's face told him was serious, which didn't make this any less painful. He couldn't exactly remember who gave him the chip, but he didn't understand why they would put in a detonation feature in it. What was the point?
"So whoever gave me the chip wanted to use me as a bomb?" he asked, his voice wavering just briefly.
"What do you mean who?" Chase asked. "Your d-"
"Marcus," Davenport quickly interrupted, "do you remember where you got your chip from?"
The raven haired boy frowned at the question. He tried to remember, but all he got was fog. He could see the shape of a man, but nothing more. It was like their entire feature was wiped from his mind.
"No. I just remember someone taking me from the orphanage and then getting the chip. I can't remember who or why."
"The explosion must have fried your memories. A failsafe just in case you managed to survive."
Marcus's head nearly snapped off his shoulders with how fast he looked up at Davenport. "What do you mean 'managed to survive'? What happened?"
Davenport sighed. "Look Marcus, I don't exactly know how to say this-"
"Then say something," he snapped. "Why aren't my bionics working? Who put a detonation in my chip? What happened?"
"We weren't exactly able to completely stop the explosion. We placed an inhibitor on you," the billionaire said as he gestured to Marcus's new bracelet, "to stop your chip from completely overloading a killing you. It's designed to block the chip's signals and prevent you from using your bionics. But more importantly it's preventing the detonation from completing."
"So what you're saying is, that as long as I'm wearing this, I can't use my powers or blow up."
"In a nutshell," Davenport nodded. "Look, it's only until I can find a way to shut off the detonation process. If the inhibitor were to come off, the detonation sequence would proceed from where it left off and you would…um…" He made a gesture with his hands that was supposed to look like an explosion. Instead it looked like his fingers were having a spaz attack and were trying to get away from Davenport. Either way, Marcus didn't need the imagery. He was smart enough to know what would happen.
"We're keeping you here so it'll be easier to find a way to shut it off."
Marcus looked down at the bracelet. He couldn't believe something so small and innocent looking object was keeping him alive. He felt the urge to remove the bracelet, to feel the power of his bionics course through him again. He didn't like this feeling of being powerless. But at the same time, he didn't want to blow up.
There was still one question on his mind though.
"Why?"
"I peg your pardon?"
"Why? I don't think I'm actually on your top 10 favorite things list, so why are you helping me?"
"Because it's the right thing to do," Davenport said simply. "Right guys?"
"Yeah," Adam smiled. "I mean, sure you tried to kidnap us and you were like, super evil and everything, but even that doesn't mean we're just going to leave you by yourself."
And that might have just been the smartest thing out of Adam's mouth. Marcus looked at the gathered teens and the billionaire. He still didn't get it. He didn't understand why they would willingly want to keep him around. Wouldn't it be better to have him in a warehouse, far, far away from the family? It would be easier to have him away from everyone instead of right there. Maybe it would be easier to keep an eye on him. After all, he would just need to take off the inhibitor and BOOM.
"So, until we find a way to stop the detonation," Davenport started again, "you'll be living with us."
"Again, not my idea," Chase piped up, earning him a glare from Marcus.
Before Marcus could launch another pillow at the annoying super-brain, Tasha came into the room.
"Well, if everyone's done crowding Marcus, dinner's ready," she told them. Adam's eyes brightened.
"Alright! Food!" he took off, with Bree, Chase, and Leo following close behind.
"Marcus, would you like to join us?" she asked kindly. Again, Marcus didn't understand why she was being nice. He had tried to kill her son on several occasions. What kind of mother would be nice to him? Was it because he looked so pathetic, lying on a bed like an invalid?
They probably feel sorry for me, he thought. Great. It's a pity party. Just my luck, he scowled.
"No. I'm fine. I think I'll just go back to sleep."
"Oh. Well ok," she nodded. "I'll bring something up in case you get hungry." With that, she turned and walked downstairs.
Davenport sighed and looked down at Marcus as the teen laid back down.
"Marcus, if there' anything-"
"Going to bed now," he interrupted, pulled the covered over his head as he turned away from Davenport.
"Alright. I guess I'll be leaving now."
"Please."
Marcus could hear heavy footsteps leaving the room. He was alone. He was tired. He was drifting off, the revelation that he could blow up taking its toll on him. He just wanted to go to bed and forget this happen.
"Oh man!" a computerized voice shouted from the screen by the door, jerking Marcus awake. "Not another brat!"
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Sloth: So originally, I was going to name each chapter title after episode titles from the show. However, after listening to nothing but Glee and Disney songs all night, I decided to use song titles instead. So you can go find the song title and listen to the song while reading the chapter. Anyways, see you next time.
