A/N: A long chapter today, yay! I was originally planning on uploading this as two separate chapters, but I couldn't bring myself to leave you on an awful cliffhanger so you get two in one. Just a warning, this chapter is very intense and includes themes of child abuse (including implied sexual abuse). If this makes you uncomfortable, please skip this chapter. I've uploaded a fun story in the Elite Force category for you :). Please also let me know if you think I should change the overall rating of this story to an M. The rest of the story will be relatively mild but I feel like this chapter is pushing it a bit. Thanks!
***Bree's POV***
When the darkness lifts, my world is suddenly clearer than it's ever been before. I feel as if before this – whatever 'this' is – all happened, I was watching the world through a veil. I never noticed before, but there was always a haze of uncertainty surrounding my memories. Now the veil has lifted, the haze is gone, and everything is crystal clear.
And it hurts.
The new clarity of my mind is razor sharp, all the forgotten images piercing my vision like knives. All I want is to just lie here and try to forget again, but something tells me that that isn't going to happen. Forcing my eyes open and blinking a few times to clear the lingering blur in my vision, I find myself face to face with Mr Davenport and my brothers.
The silence is deafening. I have no idea what to say, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to say it. I'm completely frozen. Do they know what I know? How can they stand there so calmly when our entire world just fell apart?
"Bree, are you okay? How do you feel?" Mr Davenport places his hand on my arm.
That's all it takes to break the stillness and thrust me out of my frozen fear.
"Don't touch me!" I try to scream, but it comes out as more of a strangled sob. I regain control of myself and speed out of the lab before anyone has the chance to stop me.
I need to get away. To think, to feel, to cry in peace. I super speed up the stairs and down the hallway. By the time I reach the living room, there are hot streaks running down my face and my vision is so blurred I can barely see. I'm nearly out the front door, nearly free, when I suddenly hit something and we both go down.
At this point I don't have the energy to fight anymore. I just lie on the floor, unmoving, defeated.
I hear someone huff and groan next to me. "What have I told you about speeding in the house?" comes a distressed cry.
Tasha. She's scolding me, but it makes me feel better to hear her voice. I can trust Tasha, she's never lied to me. She may not understand my brothers and my bionics, but she's always accepted us as part of the family. And with that, my guard comes crashing down and I collapse into tears. I've never been one for openly crying in front of people, but I always thought I was strong. Now I remember I'm not.
I distantly register Tasha's arms wrapping around me, pulling up off the floor and onto the couch, gently rocking me as I cry helplessly into her shoulder. She's whispering into my ear, I don't know what she's saying, but it's soft and comforting. At one point I think she asks me what's wrong, but I'm beyond being able to form a coherent answer. She doesn't press it though, she just sits with me and lets me cry. I don't deserve a mother like her.
I don't know how long we sit like that. Seconds, minutes, maybe even hours. I'm just so overwhelmed, I feel like I'm having a lifetime's worth of emotion all at once. I finally bring myself back to the present when I hear Mr Davenport enter the room.
"Oh good, she's with you." He says in relief.
"Do you know what's going on?" Tasha asked. "She came crashing through here about half an hour ago and she's been inconsolable ever since."
"We have a vague idea, but we're not sure exactly why she's so upset."
Hearing Chase's voice, I turn around to see Mr Davenport accompanied by all three of my brothers. They all look extremely worried, and I start to feel bad. We've been through a lot together – more than they'll ever know – and I hate hurting them.
"Hi Bree," Mr Davenport starts, "I'm glad you're safe. Do you mind if we have a seat? We need to talk about a few things."
I nod, noticing that he asked me before he came any closer. I guess I must have scared him down in the lab.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you before," I apologise, barely above a whisper.
"It's okay," he says. "I should have realised you would be a little on edge. I imagine this is quite overwhelming for you."
"I remember everything," I answer. "Why?"
I listen as he explains my new ability, and what happened when we fought Krane. "But I think there's something else here, Bree. What's going on?"
I don't want to tell him. I don't want to tell anyone, but I especially don't want to sit here and admit to my whole family that I'm not the girl they all thought I was. That I'm weak, that I'm just a failed experiment. I think that somewhere deep down, part of me is terrified that they'll agree.
"Bree, I want to help you work whatever this is out, but first you need to trust me, okay?"
I glance towards Adam, Chase, and Leo.
"I've already told them what I know, but I think that you know something that I don't and that's why I need you to help me out here."
I look back at Tasha, and she nods encouragingly at me. I take a deep breath.
"Okay."
I watch as Donald leaves the lab, closing the door firmly behind him. He and Douglas have just had another fight. We aren't s'posed to know when they've been fighting, but Chasey was upset and shut himself in his capsule, so we knew he must have heard them with his super senses.
Douglas turns around and grins at us. I know smiles are s'posed to be nice, but I don't like it when Douglas smiles. He looks mean. "Well, it looks like I'm in charge now," he says.
Chasey lets himself out of his capsule and comes over to join us. He knows that he'll get in trouble if he stays there too long, and Douglas will yell. He's only a baby, but he's very very smart. Still, Adam and I stand slightly in front of him. We never know what Douglas will do when he smiles like that.
"You boys can go off and play somewhere by yourselves. I don't care where. I'm going to do some solo training with Bree today."
My stomach churns and I feel sick. Douglas never usually helps me in training, he usually just ignores me until Donald comes back. He thinks I'm not worth the effort, because I'm weak, and I'm a girl. I can feel Adam gripping my hand tightly. We all know what solo training means. It means you get yelled at a lot, and if you're really bad, you get hit.
There's not point fighting though, so I just take a deep breath and nod. There's one last quick squeeze on my hand and then Adam and Chasey are gone, and I'm left alone with Douglas.
He grabs my arm and half leads, half drags me to the small training room. There's not much in here, since we only ever use it for solo training when Donald is out. Instead of leading me to the centre of the room though, Douglas picks me up and sets me on the table.
"Oh, you didn't think we were actually going to do training, did you?" Douglas says, showing me that awful smile again. "You know there's not much point in that, you're never going to be a soldier like Adam and Chase. I don't know how I ended up with you, but I think I've finally found a way to make you useful."
I don't know what he means, so I don't say anything.
"Do you know what makes you different from Adam and Chase?" he asks.
"I'm a girl."
"Yes. And do you know what that means?"
"It means I'm weak, and I can't fight, and I'll never be as good as them."
He looks confused for a moment, and that smile drops from his face. I don't know why he's so surprised. He's the one who told me those things, so he should know better than me.
"Well," he says. "There is one thing you can do that Adam and Chase can't." He smiles again, but something's different this time. He almost looks pleased to see me. I don't know why, but this frightens me a lot.
I want to know what he means, but I'm too scared to ask. He's playing with the ends of my hair now, and I'm scared that he's going to pull it. I don't move though, I know better than that. He tucks a piece behind my ear before he leans in really close to me, so close I can feel his breath on my face and I want to pull back but this is the nicest he's ever been to me.
"You can help me make more bionic people" he whispers in my ear.
I still don't say anything. I don't know how I could help with that, or why Adam and Chasey can't, but I don't want Douglas to call me stupid and be mean.
"You're not old enough yet, but we can still practice. Don't worry, I think you'll like it."
I'm still confused, but I don't have time to ask any questions because suddenly Douglas is holding me tightly and taking off my clothes. Then he starts to hurt me, and I can't stay quiet any more. I scream and try to wriggle away but he's too big for me to fight.
"If you don't stop screaming I'll get Adam in here to help me." He threatens.
This only makes me more scared and I want scream even louder but I try to be quiet because if Adam sees this he will be very sad. He tries to protect me and Chasey but he's only little too and he can't stop Douglas. I shut my eyes tight in case not seeing what's happening makes it hurt less. It doesn't, really, but at least I can't see his awful smile anymore. I just lie there, focusing on the tears leaving a wet trail down my face and hoping it will all be over soon.
Suddenly the pain gets a lot worse and I accidentally let out a scream.
"Bree?" I hear Donald calling out distantly. Good, he must be home. Maybe now Douglas will stop.
He does, and I feel relieved for a moment, he pours something on my arm and it burns worse than anything I've ever felt. He's not smiling anymore, but he looks very, very angry.
The door bursts open and Donald comes running in, followed by Adam and Chasey. They all look very scared.
"What is going on in here?!" Donald yells, and I jump a little. "Why were the boys playing with my anti-gravity simulator, unsupervised, and why is Bree crying – and naked?"
Douglas turns to Donald. "We were working one-on-one on her super speed and she lost control and knocked down that jar." He points at the now empty jar that he had just poured on me. "I was just about to give her a bath so the chemical doesn't permanently damage her or her bionics."
"Is that true, Bree?"
I don't say anything. I can't even look at him. I don't know what we did, but it must be bad if Douglas is lying about it.
Donald sighs. "I'll take this from here. Douglas, you go make sure Adam and Chase clean up the mess they made." He wraps me in a towel before picking me up and walking towards the bathroom.
"What happened to you, Bree?"
"I'm sorry."
A/N: So this was really hard to write. Not only is it a really difficult theme, but I actually like Douglas and I don't believe that he's capable of being that awful. Also, I wasn't sure how to show the past without having a huge chunk of dialogue, is the flashback okay? Also, I'm finished with exams now so expect a lot more updates! As always, please let me know what you think. I have a couple of ideas about where to take this story and I'd like to know your thoughts.