Lab Rats

Chapter 8

Chase backed up, raising his hands in front of him defensively. "Adam, put her down now," he said forcefully. He glared at his brother, trying to scare him into leaving the girl alone.

"No, I swear I'll kill her right now if you don't stop this," Adam shot back. "But, if you stand down and give this up, I'll let her go. Let us fix you and she'll live."

Chase's eyes squeezed into a death stare. "Never," he declared. "There's nothing wrong with me – nothing to fix. You won't touch my chip, but you will let her go before I tear your head off of your shoulders!"

Sabrina opened her mouth, "Please, Chase. I'm scared. Just let them help you!" She went silent for a moment. "I don't want to die… Please help me, Chase."

Chase faltered and focused back on Sabrina. "Sabrina, I can't. They'll hurt me again. I can't let them get to me. I'll save you without giving in! I can do it." He shifted back into his fighting stance, readying to pummel his brother into the ground for touching Sabrina.

Adam, however, tightened his grip Sabrina. "Chase, I'm warning you. I'll do it. You know that. All you're doing is nudging me on."

"Chase, please! I can barely breathe! Just let them help you!" Sabrina cried out, fear pouring from her voice and through her tears. She struggled in Adam's grip and tried to free herself.

Chase's glare lessened. A look of fear and worry slipped into his eyes. He looked between Adam and Sabrina, confused as to what he should do.

"Chase, it's time to decide. Let us help you get back to normal, or Sabrina gets it," Adam growled impatiently.

Sabrina croaked, losing air, "Chase, please."

Chase backed up and combed his fingers through his hair. He squeezed his eyed closed hoping to get some clarity of thought. I – I don't know what to do. For the first time in my life, I have no idea what to do… If I save Sabrina, they'll mess with my chip and make me weak again. I'll lose all the strength I just gained. But, if I don't surrender Adam will kill her. I can't lose her. But, I don't want to go back to how I was. Weak, helpless, pushover Chase. They'll tease me and throw me around. They'll abuse my intelligence and use me… But… Sabrina…

"Chase," Adam interrupted. "What's it going to be? Sabrina or the chip?"

Chase looked up and glared at his brother. "Put her down and you can have it." His hands fell to his sides. He relaxed his stance and stood still.

Bree stood and speeded to her brother, knocking him down onto the ground. Chase grunted as he hit the ground. He hands were pinned to his back by something that felt like handcuffs. They're probably blocking the signal from my chip. He turned his head to make sure Sabrina was unharmed.

"Adam, you can put her down now, but don't let her go," Leo spoke. He came out from his hiding place behind one of the capsules. "Big D, where's the chip extractor?"

"It's under repair right now," Donald said.

"What?!" Leo yelled. "Well how are we supposed to get his chip out?"

"We'll have to get him in his capsule and take it out that way. It'll be harder, but it's the only thing we've got right now."

Leo groaned. "Fine. Bree, get him in there and keep him restrained. We can't risk him getting loose."

Chase grunted again as he was lifted by his sister and shoved forward. As he took his first steps, he turned again and looked worriedly at the blonde girl in the room. "Sabrina, are you alright?"

The girl said nothing. She had her hand at her neck where Adam had held her. She looked up, fear still in her eyes and nodded.

Chase's worry was not lessened by her confirmation. He noticed Adam's firm grip on her shoulder and his eyes narrowed into the glare again. Chase was suddenly shoved forward into his capsule. Bree turned him around and shoved his neck against the back wall of the tube. Soon, Chase knew, his chip would be removed and "repaired" and he would go back to how he was before.

Bree stepped out of the capsule and closed the door behind her. A click sounded as Donald pressed a key on the cyber desk that locked the door. Chase would not be able to escape. Only Adam had ever broken through that glass. There was no way Chase would be able to.

Chase growled in the capsule. He stepped forward and pounded on the glass. "I'll never forgive any of you for this! Never! I hate you more now than I ever have!" Again and again his fists slammed against the glass. He raged and laid down a hit on the barrier like none other. The glass cracked under his strike and he stopped his pounding. Instead, he screamed and yelled at his family.

Everyone took a step back. Sabrina's tears flowed freely down her face. Bree and Adam stood ready for Chase to break out and resume their fight. Leo flinched and Donald slammed his hand down onto the keyboard of the desk.

Gas filled the capsule around Chase. He looked up and saw it, realizing his family was trying to sedate him. His screams got louder and he resumed pounding on the glass. With each pound he drew a breath. Every breath made him more and more drowsy. His attempts to free himself weakened and soon his hands pressed weakly against the glass trying to stay upright and awake. His efforts failed as he fell forward and slid down to the ground, his vision going black.

When Chase finally fell unconscious, Adam released Sabrina and spoke, "Sabrina, I'm sorry I had to do that to you. He wouldn't listen to reason, so we had to force him to choose between you and… whatever it is that he was."

Sabrina took a deep breath. "You could at least warned me!" She reached up with her other hand to massage her shoulder, tender from when Adam had held her away from Chase. She paused for a moment and turned to look at Mr. Davenport. "Is he going to be okay? He'll go back to normal, right?"

Donald spoke. "As soon as I get his chip out of him and the settings all returned to how they were before this whole fiasco, Chase should be just fine. We'll have good, old, know-it-all, sensitive Chase back."

"Good," Sabrina smiled faintly.

Donald tapped across the surface of the cyber desk, unlocked the capsule, and walked over to open the door of the capsule. He pulled the limp boy out and dragged him to the couch on the far side of the room. He lifted him and laid him on the surface.

"Leo, the chip extractor is in compartment 7. Could you go get it?" Donald turned to ask his step-son.

"But you said it was under repairs," Leo said confused.

"I lied. I thought it would be better to extract Chase's chip if he was unconscious. That way he couldn't fight against us. I'm not just a pretty face. I do have a brain, you know."

Leo rolled his eyes and turned to go get the chip extractor. He disappeared under the floor.

Sabrina walked up to Donald, wringing her hands. "Mr. Davenport? I know I said that as soon as I talked to Chase, I didn't want anything to do with you anymore, but is it alright if I stay to make sure Chase is okay?"

The tech mogul turned to the girl and smiled. "Absolutely, Sabrina. You can stay as long as you like. Chase – I'm sure – would really appreciate it."

"Thanks, Mr. Davenport," Sabrina knelt down next to where Chase lay. She glanced around the room and her eyes landed on Chase's form. Tentatively, she reached out and rested her hand on his knee. She let out a puff of air and asked, "How can I help?"

Chase's eyes fluttered. He groaned and turned his head slowly from side to side, trying to wake himself up.

"Mr. Davenport, he's waking back up! What should I do?" a girl's voice quietly spoke.

"Here. Put this mask over his face. It's hooked up to a canister filled with gas that will keep him knocked out until we take it off," someone else said.

Who was it? Chase couldn't determine who was there. The voices were unfamiliar and faded in and out. He could hardly understand them. He tried to fully open his eyes. His lids felt like they were lined with lead or kryptonite. He was too tired.

Something was on his face. He was breathing something other than air. Or maybe mixed with air? He couldn't tell and – if he was being honest – he didn't care. It made him feel good. Good and sleepy.

"Is it working? Is he going back to sleep?" the second voice sounded one more time.

"I think so. He's moving less and less every seco…"

Chase drifted back into blissful oblivion.

"Mr. Davenport, he's been out for six hours," Sabrina said. "Shouldn't he have woken up by now?"

Donald scratched his head. "Yes, he should have woken up hours ago. Especially when Adam, Bree and Leo left after the mission alert. That alarm can wake the dead. I don't know what's going on." The man stood up, leaving Chase's side where he had been for the last few hours. He made his way to the cyber desk and tapped along the screen. "Let me look at his vitals."

Sabrina stood and followed the man to the desk, trying to decipher what the flashing lights and numbers meant. She noticed the glowing lines that showed his brain activity and heartbeat. She noticed a number to the top right of the screen that was steadily rising. It read 101 and soon rose to 102 in seconds. She pointed to the number and asked, "What does that number mean?"

Donald turned and looked at where she was pointing. "That's his body temperature. It looks like he has a fever, but I've never seen a fever come on that quickly let alone rise at that speed!" He stepped around the desk and rushed back over to Chase. He knelt down and put his hand on the boy's forehead. The boy was burning up and sweat beaded across his brow. "What's his temperature now?"

"It's holding steady at 105. Is that bad?" Sabrina's voice shook.

"If it's holding steady there, he's in critical condition. If he stays like this, we'll have to take him to the hospital. However, if it goes down soon, he should be fine." Donald stood and walked back over to the desk, sending Sabrina to get some wet washcloths to cool Chase down. "I'll try to figure out what is causing the fever. Hurry! We need to cool him down!"

Donald's fingers sped across the buttons on the desk, going through all of Chase's vitals. He had no viral infections or bacterial ones. None of his organs were shutting down. He kept searching, desperate to find the cause.

Sabrina returned with several rags and a large bucket of cold water. "I have the rags and water. Have you found the cause yet?"

"Nothing! He's totally normal! There's nothing wrong with him!" Donald cried out.

Sabrina soaked a rag and put it on Chase's forehead. "Okay, well, let's stay calm. Is there anything we can do for him?"

"We're already doing it," Donald replied. He sighed dragging his hand down his face. "The only thing we can do is try to keep him cool."

An hour passed with no signs that Chase would wake up. Donald glanced at his watch. "Sabrina, it's getting late. You should probably head home. My family and I will watch over Chase."

Sabrina stood, "No way. I'm not leaving until I know he's okay! I know I said I didn't care about him at all earlier, but…"

Mr. Davenport put his hand on her shoulder. "I know. Don't worry. We'll take good care of him. You'll be the first to know if there are any changes." He walked back to the desk to check on his son's vitals again.

Sabrina looked down and Chase, worried for his health. "Okay. The others will get back from their mission any moment. They'll take good care of him." She brushed his drooping hair away from his face. She bit her lip, not sure if she should do what she wanted to do. She hesitatingly pulled her hand away from his face and turned around to leave, deciding against it. She walked toward the elevator but only made it a few steps before she huffed and turned back around. A confident look grew on her face and she marched back to Chase's side.

Donald glanced up at his son to see Sabrina placing a delicate kiss on his brow. The inventor's face split open with a grin. He tore his stare away to give Sabrina some privacy and looked back down at the desk, his smile forced from his face.

Sabrina turned away and left.

Donald allowed the grin to creep back on his face. Looking back at the boy on the couch, he watched as Chase shifted and a faint smile appeared on his lips.