A/N: First, I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. Packing, moving, and unpacking took up so much of my time this weekend that I didn't have a lot of time left for working on this. Second, sorry for this being such a short chapter. Had a LOT of trouble with this one and ended up deleting a large amount of what I was originally going to put in it. Hopefully it still makes sense. Now that it's out of the way, though, my writer's block is gone (YAY!) and I'm making great progress with chapter 10. We're nearing the end now and there will probably only be a few chapters left.
Thanks again to everyone who has been reading, following, reviewing this story!
BasketballQueen: XD Your review made my day! XD And thank you so much!
PurpleNicole531: Thanks! You'll be finding out the hacker's identity in this chapter. And thank you so much for all the reviews on my earlier chapters as well!
Asori: I tried your suggestion for beating writer's block and it actually helped. Thanks and I'm glad you liked the chapter!
Daphrose: Thank you! Fight scenes are actually rather hard for me, so I'm really happy it turned out okay. Oh, and thank you SO much for updating Daddy's Little Lab Rats.
Unknowndiva: Thanks! And I'll be anxiously awaiting that update. Glad you're enjoying the story!
X-X-Midnight Star-X-X : I'm really sorry this update didn't get out sooner. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and I'm really glad you are enjoying it!
Who Doesn't Like Reading Grr, DeathStar5799, LoveShipper, and Smartgirl13579: Thank you so much! Your reviews mean a LOT to me. You guys are amazing!
Chapter 9: An Old "Friend"
While the bionic battle was going on upstairs, Douglas had managed to track down the hacker's location. It was an address somewhere inside the warehouse district by the docks.
"Unfortunately," Davenport said, "that will make communication between the lab and the team rather difficult. We'll have to use the high-frequency communicators I designed for your Antarctic mission last year."
Leo passed the special communicators around and everyone attached one to their ear. After a quick check to make sure they were properly linked with each other, Davenport went to his cyber desk and brought up a holographic satellite display of the warehouse area in question.
"Okay," he said. "This is the area that the hacker's signal came from. If the location is accurate, he should be inside warehouse 34. That's this one," he zoomed in on a warehouse located directly on the edge of the water. "The only entrance is on the northeast corner. Chase, you feel well enough to handle being mission leader?"
Chase nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Okay, but I want you to pull out if anything feels wrong," Davenport told him. "We're fairly certain that the hacker got into Adam's and Bree's systems by accessing them through your network. As long as you keep him out of your own bionics, you should be able to keep them safe as well. So don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Don't worry, Big D," Leo said. "I'll keep an eye on him."
"You're not going," Davenport said. "It's too dangerous. And besides, your mom would kill me if she found out."
"You have to let me go," Leo pleaded. "I'll explain it to Mom if I have to. Chase is like a brother to me and this guy deserves to pay for what he did. This is something I just really feel I have to do."
Davenport hesitated, seeing how earnest his step-son was about wanting to help. "Fine," he sighed. "But you'd better not do anything risky. I want you to return in one piece. And I'm going along, too."
"Me, too," Douglas added.
Davenport shook his head. "We're going to need someone back here in the lab to monitor things."
"Why don't you?" Leo asked.
"For the same reason you're going. This guy almost killed my son."
"Hey," Douglas said. "He's my son, too. I have just as much right to go." He crossed his arms stubbornly to show that he wasn't going to back down on this decision.
"Okay," his brother finally gave in. "I guess we could have Eddy keep an eye on everything back here. You'll behave for us, won't you, Eddy?"
"Oh sure," the emoticon said, appearing on the main wall monitor. "Just don't expect the door to be unlocked for you when you get back. Although I guess I should have said 'if you get back'."
Bree rolled her eyes and tried to ignore him. Turning to Davenport she asked, "When do we head out there?"
"In five minutes. So get in your capsules to change into your mission suits. The rest of us will go down to the weapons vault and get us some firepower."
Leo and the Davenport brothers headed for the elevator while Adam, Bree, and Chase hurried into their capsules. Chase activated the change sequence and they emerged a moment later in their mission suits. Adam and Bree then headed downstairs to help the others in the vault.
Left alone in the lab, Chase sat down in a desk chair with a sigh of relief. He'd managed to keep himself looking healthy and alert during the mission briefing because he knew that was the only way he'd be allowed to go. If Davenport knew how he really felt right now, he'd definitely be banned from this mission.
The truth was, he felt awful. Apparently whatever that hacker had done to his brain was still affecting him. Chase was also pretty sure that the failed attempts at linking with his chip the other day had left some damage behind. He felt tired, dizzy, and he had a headache that just wouldn't quit. Plus, that laser blast he'd taken from Adam earlier was still hurting like crazy.
But he needed to go with the others. His override app could protect Adam and Bree from getting hacked again. The culprit would have to get into Chase's system first; and Chase was definitely not going to let that happen again. He just needed to continue pretending that he was fine. Afterwards, he could come home and sleep for a week to make up for this.
The others reentered the lab, carrying their selected weapons and devices with them.
"Do you really think we'll need all this stuff?" Leo asked.
"I hope not," Davenport answered. "But since we don't know what we're up against it's best to come already prepared."
"Yeah, especially since this guy obviously has extensive knowledge in how bionic people work," Douglas said. "He probably prepared for Adam, Bree, and Chase already. He might have even let us track his location as a way of leading them into a trap."
"Come on," Adam said impatiently. "Let's just go hit this guy and get it over with."
Leo grinned. "I like the sounds of that," he said. "Let's go!"
Adam easily broke the lock on the warehouse door and stepped aside to let Bree through. Using her invisibility, she ran around the outer edge of the building at top speed, checking for any potential ambushes. Returning to the door, she reported that she'd seen no one inside.
"That's strange," Davenport said. "Chase, use your thermal scanner to check the building for life forms."
Chase quickly ran a thermal scan of the building and immediate surrounding area. "No life forms," he reported.
"I guess he cleared out," Leo said. "Are we going inside?"
"We'll split into two teams," Davenport said. "Adam, Bree, and Chase, you go inside and check for any signs that someone has been here. Douglas, Leo, and I will stay outside and guard the door in case this turns out to be an ambush."
"Okay," Bree said. "Let's go then." She slipped back through the door, followed closely by her brothers.
The warehouse was dark and looked like it hadn't been occupied in a while. A thick layer of dust coated the floor and the rows of giant, wooden crates. There were several skylights in the roof but the glass was so dirty that only a tiny amount of light managed to filter through. It also didn't help that the day was already heavily overcast.
"It looks like Leo was right," Bree whispered. "Whoever was here must have cleared out."
"That doesn't make sense," Chase said. "There's something we're missing." He couldn't shake the feeling that they were walking into a trap. "I'm going to scan the area again."
"No need for that," a voice said from behind them. They spun around to see the vague outline of a teenager, approximately Chase's height, standing just out of sight in the shadows. He was blocking the narrow passage that lead through the tall stacks of crates toward the door.
"Who are you?" Chase demanded. "And why didn't my scanners detect you?"
The teen stepped out of the shadows and stopped a few feet in front of them. He glared at the them with hate-filled eyes and asked, "Now do you recognize me?"
The three siblings felt a mixture of shock and fear as they saw who it was. Yes, they definitely recognized him.
"Marcus?!"
A/N: Marcus wasn't actually my first choice for the villain in this, but I was re-watching the second season of Lab Rats on Netflix streaming last week and decided that I really wanted him to be in this story. Also, since this is the last season of the show, I think they should bring him back for real and have him attack the Bionic Academy (maybe with an android army of his own or something). Either that or I really want to see another episode with Sebastian. Okay, anyways, chapter 10 will be done soon. Sorry again for this chapter being both really late and really short. Please let me know what you thought of it.
NEXT CHAPTER: "Family Reunion" - Marcus wants revenge, and the Davenport family may be in deeper than they can handle...
