Spike slammed open the door to the Davenport mansion, storming into the house with Adam and Bree in tow.
Leo looked up in alarm from the couch where he was watching a movie in his pajamas. "Chase…?" he asked in a hoarse voice before clearing it. The youngest bionic simply marched past.
"Guess again," Bree sighed as the app exited the large room into the hallway. Bree continued to explain, saying "Spike came out about an hour ago and beat up Trent."
"It was awesome!" Adam said excitedly. "Who knew someone so small could break Trent's nose so beautifully?"
"What?" Leo exclaimed in disbelief, immediately pausing his movie. "Of all the days for me to be home sick!"
"Yeah, well Spike was so hyped up that even Principal Perry couldn't stand him for very long. If she had let him stay, he would have crippled Trent for life; it was up to Adam and I to get him to leave," Bree grumbled.
"And you brought him back here?" Leo squeaked.
"It's called saving the world," Bree muttered, flopping down on the couch next to her step-brother tiredly.
"Um, where did Spike go?" Adam called nervously, glancing down the hallway before looking back at his siblings.
"Uhhh…." Bree and Leo exchanged looks of worry before standing up quickly.
"Spike," Mr. Davenport fumed as he entered the room from the hallway, "is destroying my priceless Manchurian bowl collection!" He came to a stop, crossing his arms irately. "Why is Spike on a rampage?!"
The three teens glanced at each other, Bree finally saying "The quarterback was teasing him."
"Teasing him? I'm pretty sure Chase can handle a little teasing," Mr. Davenport said, giving them a hard look.
"Trent called him Ladyface," Adam added with amusement. "It was really funny!"
Mr. Davenport frowned. "Funny, huh?"
"Well yeah, everyone was laughing at him."
The tech mogul's frown turned into a scowl.
Leo, sensing their impending doom, quickly interjected by saying "I'm sure it wasn't that bad."
"Well, that wasn't all that Trent said," Adam divulged, missing Leo and Bree's looks of trepidation. "He said some other stuff too, and we all thought for sure that Chase was going to cry."
Mr. Davenport's countenance darkened drastically, and as calmly as he could manage through clenched teeth, asked "And you left him on his own against this bully?"
Adam and Bree recoiled, their cheeks flushing with shame as they averted their eyes. "Yes…" Bree answered huskily.
Mr. Davenport exploded. "How could you leave your little brother out to dry? You are his older siblings! You're supposed to take care of him!" The bionics cringed at the reprimanding, guilt stabbing them cruelly. Neither of them said anything, Bree pretending to be deeply fascinated with one of her fingernails while Adam simply hung his head in shame.
The head of the household let out an angry sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration and disappointment. "As soon as Chase comes back, you both need to give him a sincere apology; until then, you are going to watch Spike and try to calm him down. Got it?"
"Got it," Adam and Bree chorused dejectedly.
"For the record, I expected better of you," Mr. Davenport said in one last statement. With that, the angry mogul promptly left the room, muttering crossly under his breath.
"Well, you two have fun with Spike – I'll just be upstairs, in my room, with the door locked…" Leo said into the silence, standing up from the couch.
"No Leo, you can't leave us on our own with him!" Bree pleaded.
"Why not? You guys deserve it. And plus, I'm sick!"
"Yes, we did earn it," Bree acknowledged uncomfortably, "but this is Spike – we're going to need all the help we can get."
After a long look, Leo sighed, relenting "Alright, alright, I'll help you – I'm mostly better now anyways."
"Thank you Leo!" Bree exclaimed before throwing her head back in relief. Looking back at Leo, she flashed him a fleeting grin before she said "Let's go get Chase back."
The three then began making their way to where the bowl collection was, creeping down the hallway cautiously. They heard a roar accompanied by the ringing crash of breaking pottery, followed by a pause filled with enraged panting. They peered around the doorframe, seeing Spike facing away from them. His back visibly rose and fell with every heaving breath; he stood with his feet shoulder-length apart, his shoulders hunched, his head aggressively cocked downwards, and his fists clenched so tight that it looked painful.
The other three glanced at each other nervously before Bree swallowed, stepping into the room with the other two following in her wake. "Hey Spike," she said gently, trying her best to keep her nerves from being apparent in her voice.
Spike whipped around, glaring at the three intruders in turn. "What do you nugget-heads want?" he demanded.
Bree carefully picked her way through the shards of pottery over to him, pushing back her anxiety. "Spike, please calm down. It's okay, everything is fine now."
The commando app's lips rose into a snarl, and he snapped "I'm not a dumb animal, cupcake - everything is just peachy!"
"Please, Spike," Bree began to say, reaching out to put a soothing hand on his shoulder.
But Spike's arm shot up and whacked her hand away, the app growling "So much as touch me and I will break off your fingers and use them as throwing darts!"
Realizing that this was not going so well, Leo decided to step in. "Spike, let's take a deep breath and think of… sleeping kittens!"
"I hate cats,"[1] the app said with his face scrunched up.
"Okay, so sleeping… sharks."
A small smirk grew on Spike's face. "They're better when their prowling for other fish, and then when they smell blood in the water…." A giddiness came over the app, and he seemed to relax. Leo's approach had worked.
"You know what, Spike? I think there is a documentary about sharks recorded – want to go watch it?" Leo asked.
"Will there be gory hunting scenes?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure there will be – come on." With that, Leo led the app controlling his youngest step-sibling out of the room, leaving Adam and Bree alone in the room of broken pottery.
"How does Leo do that?" Bree asked wonderingly.
"Beats me," Adam replied with a shrug. "I don't know about you, but I really want to watch that documentary now." He turned and began to go after the other two.
"Nuh uh uh, not so fast!" Bree exclaimed, zooming over to grab onto her older brother. "I'm not cleaning this up all by myself; you're helping me."
"Aww," Adam complained, his shoulders slumping with disappointment. The oldest two bionics examined the mess around them; the floor was littered with sharp pieces of the destroyed bowls, each one a unique shape and size, all with jagged edges. There were few bowls that had escaped Spike's wrath.
The teens heaved a sigh. "Let's do this," Adam said unenthusiastically.
[1] In the canon plot, Spike may in fact like cats. But the author highly doubts it.
AN: I have something really quick to say - in rereading this, I almost cringe at my writing, but I am sharing this with you all anyways. Throughout this story, you will see not only Spike's growth, but also my own growth as a writer and storyteller. This was written almost a year ago, and I swear I'm better now - hang in there until we get to the good stuff (which is also super intense content-wise). I'm not apologizing - I still think it's fairly good - but I'm telling you that you should have faith in what I've become so that you don't miss out ;)
Well anyways, thank you everyone for the amazing reviews and support this story has already received - you all are incredibly awesome! :D
Keep your eyes open for Chapter 3!
