A/N: Realized too late that it was hyperlift instead of hydrolift. Boy, do I look stupid! XD
Susz: Here it is! Alright, whoops, I forgot to change your name on the other chapter earlier. I'll go do that now.
EmeraldTulip: Lol, yes, Leo is back! And yes, so is Adam. I am very sorry for playing with your emotions last chapter, terribly terribly sorry! Well, here it is! Enjoy!
AzulaTano: I'm so sorry! *hands box of tissues* Feel better please! Here's the next chapter! Thank you! And things may or may not get better with Douglas, we'll see! ^~^
Dirtkid123: I'm sorry! *hands another tissue box* Please feel better! Thank you!
Chase, Skylar, and Oliver went down the hyperlift with Adam after he came back up to the penthouse and walked out to see Leo sitting in a chair, rocking back and forth. Kaz laughed, "C'mon Leo, it was only a joke!"
Kaz went to place a hand on his shoulder, but Leo jumped up from the chair and shook his head furiously, "Nuh uh! You have scarred me for life! Are you happy?"
"Yeah, I kinda am. I'm so glad that worked." Kaz laughed and turned to the others who had serious faces. "Oh come on! You gotta admit that was funny! Plus, you guys helped me."
"Why would you do that to me?!" Leo shouted incredulously, staring at them with wide eyes.
"Because it was funny." Kaz said as if it was obvious. "Pfft, this guy." Kaz looked at the others who still watched him expectantly as he sighed and finally gave in. "Ugh, alright." Kaz faced Leo, "I'm sorry I scarred you for life, Leo."
"I don't accept your apology." Leo replied and turned away with his arms crossed.
"Leo!" Chase said sternly.
"He tried to kill me!" Leo argued, but none of them looked sympathetic. Leo reluctantly gave in, "Okay fine! I accept your apology, Kaz."
"Okay, now that that's settled." Chase started moving towards the hyperlift and turned around to face them while walking backwards. He briefly gestured towards Oliver, Kaz, and Skylar, "You guys are going to explain the whole Roman and Riker situation to them." He turned around to jog into the hyperlift.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Oliver asked curiously.
Chase pursed his lips before answering, "I'm going to talk to Bree and calm her down." Chase activated the hyperlift before anyone could argue or stop him and went back up to the penthouse. Sighing, Chase walked out of the hyperlift before stopping in his tracks, looking around him cautiously and sighing deeply. Even though he knew no one was there, he never felt safe anymore. Not after all of the missions he did with Adam and Bree, especially with all of the surprise visits at their own home from basically every villain who wanted their bionics or Donald's advanced technology. He always felt uneasy and on edge whenever no one was visibly around, but that just meant someone was watching them from afar or closer than they would look.
Chase shook his head, You're being ridiculous. You came up here to comfort Bree, not do a security check. He argued internally and moved to the stairs, walking over to Bree's bedroom door and knocking on it softly. "Bree…" He called quietly, but received no answer. "Are you okay?" He asked, but still nothing. "Look, I know it's hard knowing-" He stopped himself and looked around again, hoping no one-especially Adam, Daniel, and Leo-was listening to him other than Bree. He shakily continued, "Knowing that we're going to lose someone who we barely know, but we're close to anyway. Bree… Just-just come out." He pleaded quietly. "I can't talk to you with a door in between us."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Chase immediately became worried when he heard no response to his talking, not even a quiet whimper or the rustle of bed sheets. His enhanced hearing caught onto nothing of the like and it worried him. He pressed his ear to the door to see if it would help, but it didn't. Knocking on the door, Chase warily called, "Bree? Are you in there?" Nothing. Maybe she was sleeping. He knocked harder and spoke louder, "Bree?" Not a thing. "Bree?!" He turned the knob of the door and frowned immediately when he noted that it was locked. "Bree, open the door!" He started pounding on the door, but took a deep breath when he knew that he wouldn't receive a response. He made a hasty decision, "I'm kicking the door open!" He took a step back and released a breath before raising his foot and kicking open the door without a problem.
"Bree?!" Chase called and frantically looked around the room for his older sister. Calling her name several more times, Chase's eyes widened when he quickly realized that his sister was not there. "BREE?!" Chase yelled and finally checked the bathroom, but he didn't find her anywhere. Panicking, Chase ran back into the bedroom and looked around one last time before realizing there was a small sticky note on her desk. He hastily picked it up and read aloud, "Went to check on Marcus in the hospital, from Bree." He stared at the note in horror and dropped it seconds later, running out of the room towards the balcony. Looking over the edge, Chase used his thermal scan to scan the entire city, trying to distinguish human heat signatures from Bree's speed streaks from this high above. Finding absolutely nothing, Chase angrily hit the railing, "I should've stayed with her!" He said, huffing heavily and punching the railing again angrily.
"Chase…" Someone whispered brokenly as Chase spun around to yell, but stopped himself when he saw his sister approaching him cautiously. Bree reached out towards him shakily, "Chase, I-I saw him…" Closing the distance, Chase hugged his sister tightly as she whimpered and shook in his arms. "He looks so…" She trailed off before sniffling. "So so broken. So fragile. I can't-" Bree choked out and sobbed into his shoulder as Chase stroked her back comfortingly, allowing her to speak all her worries before he interrupted her in any way. "He can't be dying…" She looked at him with sadness plastered on her face and breathed out shakily as Chase watched her worriedly. "Chase, I don't know him, but he can't die. No one deserves to suffer like that alone. No one!" She yelled.
Flinching at her loud voice, Chase only hugged her tighter and assured her, "He's not alone, Bree. He's had Douglas all his life." Although, he wasn't really sure if Douglas really was fully present in Marcus's whole life. But then again, Douglas has been in jail multiple times. Chase mentally slapped himself, Focus on Bree and calm her! He spoke quietly to her, "He won't die either, Douglas will make sure that he gets the best possible treatment to cure him." Stop making promises you can't keep! Chase clenched his jaw. He wasn't sure if Douglas even had a cure for whatever sickness Marcus had. From what little information Donald gave them, it was an unknown illness that has never been recorded in all of history, which meant that Marcus was the first one to ever get it.
Bree sniffed and breathed deeply before saying, "We can't keep it a secret from them." She said, referring to their other brothers.
"You know we have to keep it from them." Chase replied.
She shook her head, "No, listen to me." She pulled away from his hug and their gazes met almost in sadness. She continued, "I heard Mr. Davenport and Douglas fighting inside the hospital. One of them are bound to accidentally let it slip like when Douglas said it in Mr. Davenport's presence, so it's better if they hear it from Douglas. And if possible, the two of us meet Marcus first so he doesn't get overwhelmed by all of his siblings trying to get to know him."
Chase sighed in defeat and nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're right. I'll try to inform Douglas and Mr. Davenport when they get here. In the meantime, you plan out excuses for us on why we're out so long, so they don't notice anything."
"We could just let Oliver, Kaz, and Skylar cover for us." Bree said.
"Do you remember what happened last time Kaz covered for us when Mr. Davenport asked where we were?" Chase asked with a raised brow.
"Don't remind me." Bree said, cringing at the memory and nodded. "Okay… Okay… When they get here, we leave."
"Are you sure you're up for officially meeting Marcus?" Chase asked, worry lacing his voice. He didn't even bother to hide it.
"Yea, I'm ready. Are you?"
Chase blinked in confusion before shaking his head, "No, I'm not actually. It's just weird, y'know?"
"Yeah, I do know. Don't worry, from what I saw of his actions, he's really sweet." Bree smiled smally.
"Anything like android Marcus?"
She shook her head, "No, he's the complete opposite."
"Well, that's a relief. Let's just hope it stays that way."
Douglas walked back and forth in the hospital waiting room and mindlessly chewed on his fingernails, waiting impatiently for the doctor to tell him that his son was okay. Marcus has to be okay. He can't die, he just… can't! While Douglas was visiting Marcus and silently crying on the boy's bed sheets, Douglas immediately panicked when he heard the heart monitor stop beeping every second and just beeped a long drawn out beep. He stood up from his chair and stared at the pale and unmoving body of Marcus Davenport for a few seconds before stumbling out of the room to get a doctor. He had to save his son!
Douglas shook his head to clear his mind from the very apparent memory and ran his hands roughly through his hair, sitting down in a chair and holding his head in his hands as he reluctantly refused to pull out his hair. "Douglas!" He heard someone yell down the hall and he already knew it was Donald. Somewhere in his panic, he had called Donald for some reason and told him of the situation. "Douglas!" Donald yelled, rounding the corner as Douglas stood up while meeting his brother's worried eyes with his near tear filled ones.
"Donnie." He choked out weakly and flinched when Donald took a step toward him. Taking a step back, Douglas nearly whimpered, "Please, don't yell at me. I'm already stressed out enough."
Donald's expression softened and he spoke softly, "I'm not gonna yell at you, Douglas. Why would I yell at you?"
As if he didn't hear him, Douglas said, "Just tell me already, Donnie! Tell me how terrible of a father I am. Or how I've failed Marcus. Or how I've just murdered my own son!"
"I'm not going to yell at you, Douglas." Donald said more firmly.
"STOP LYING TO ME!" Douglas yelled as Donald immediately tried to quiet him, but the younger backed away from him. "Why did you tell them, Donnie? Why?!"
Donald furrowed his eyebrows. Why was his younger brother acting like this? They've had this conversation already and he had already explained himself, but Douglas seemed to have forgotten about the conversation they had just yesterday. "I had to tell them."
"No, you didn't!"
"If I hadn't told them last week, then they would keep pestering us until one of us relented and told them. I did you a favor by answering it right away." Donald said, annoyed that he had to explain himself again, but ignored his annoyance because his brother was clearly having a breakdown.
Douglas shook his head furiously, "It was not your place to answer! You could've let me explain everything! Now look at what you've done, I have to tell Adam and Daniel separately because you were selfish!"
"Selfish?" Donald echoed incredulously. "Douglas, I have no idea what's going on in your head right now, but obviously you're thinking preposterously. Why would I be selfish in this kind of situation?"
The younger pointed accusingly at the older and spat, "You're trying to take them away from me again! On top of that, you're going to get rid of Marcus so that you won't have to care for another kid. Are you going to take Daniel too?" Douglas asked firmly before gasping in realization. His eyes widened and became fearful, "No, no, no! Please don't take Daniel too. You can torment me all you want, Donnie! Just please don't take Daniel and Marcus away from me!" He pleaded helplessly as he lowered to the ground and tears fell left and right.
"Douglas, I'm not going to take them away I promise!" Donald tried to assure him, but Douglas didn't seem to be listening. "Please listen to me when I say that I'm not taking them away from you." He said softly as Douglas appeared to calm down some.
"What's happening to me?" Douglas asked fearfully and looked distantly down at his shaking hands. "What's wrong with me?" Douglas stumbled back when Donald walked closer. "You should take them." He said, barely above a whisper. "They won't be endangered under if they're under your care. You'll give them a better life than I ever could." As if he was in a trance, Douglas stood up and started walking out the building, but Donald stepped in front of him. "They'll be… safer." He whispered.
Donald hugged him to keep him in place and comfort him, "I'm not taking them, Douglas. And Marcus needs you now, more than ever."
"He's probably not even alive anymore!" Douglas cried and thrashed about. "I killed my own son!" Donald tightened his grip around his brother and clenched his jaw. "Let go of me! Let go of me! Let go of me!" He thrashed even more, but the older didn't even loosen his grip.
"I promise you, Douglas, he'll be fine! He'll be healed and he won't die, not now, not ever!" Donald tried to reason with his brother who slowed his thrashing until he stopped completely and just put all his weight onto Donald who helped him stay up. "He'll be fine. Just give him time." He assured as Douglas pulled away from his older brother's tight hug and sat down in a chair, finally calmed down when he came to his senses. Donald sighed in relief and sat down next to him.
An hour or so later while the two were waiting impatiently for the doctor, they perked up when shoes repeatedly hit the floor, walking towards them quickly. "Mr. Davenport?" The doctor called as both of them stood up.
The two shared a look before Donald sat down and Douglas answered, "Yes?"
The doctor smiled briefly before the smile faded as quickly as it had come. "Your son, Marcus, is fine." Douglas sighed in relief and refused to run to his son's room to greet him. The doctor continued, "We were able to restart his heart and get him breathing through the mask, but he's resting right now. We're not exactly sure how long he'll be sleeping, but he should be awake by tomorrow. We're still trying to pinpoint what disease that's causing this much damage to his system and what caused this, but once we do, we'll inform you immediately." Douglas wanted to cheer right then and there because that was the best news he's received all week, but he could tell that there was something else on the tip of the doctor's tongue. There was something else he wanted to say and it made Douglas worry immensely.
"There's something else." Douglas said observably as the doctor reluctantly nodded seconds later. "What is it?"
The doctor bit his lip and continued, taking in a long deep breath. "Marcus's expectations on the time he has left to live has shortened from five months to one month."