Thank you so much to tiff. n. b36, LabGirl2001, AlienGhostWizard14, Lady Cougar-Trombone, and AllAmericanSlurp for your reviews! I apologize for not being able to send a reply! Family events this past weekend took me off the computer...

Odd way to kick off the chapter, especially with how the last one ended, but things will be explained throughout.

Twenty-One.

A Beatles song had just begun playing inside the pizzeria when Chase walked out, the clang of little bells attached on the door ringing after him. Despite the steady pitter-patter of rain, he continued heading towards his car, drawing out his keys from his pockets. A deep, crossed frown seemed to have etched itself on his face as he thought of how pathetic all of it was, how pathetic he felt. He had waited for three solid hours for Mathai, and she never came.

He was inclined to take the fault as his own, but his dissipating but still very present short-temperedness did not allow him such a great foolery. Granted, he did have to call her last night to ask her if they could reschedule after what happened at the lab, which might have been inconvenient and somewhat of a turn-off for her, but he had already been given a head's up earlier about the possible reason for her apparent indifference to their date. Theodore reported that while he was out picking up an order at a restaurant somewhere in Pasadena last night, he saw Mathai steadily flirting with a senior, and the guy was leaning in towards her in such a way that 'it was clear they were more than friends, man.'

Chase rolled his eyes as he reached his car.

Pathetic, all of it was.

Chase pressed the unlock button on the controller and instead of hearing the locks clicking up, he heard nothing. He tried again, his patience already wearing thin, but again, nothing. He huffed in anger. However, before he could do or say something that he knew he would regret later on, he took a deep breath and worked hard to get the sour expression off his face.

He hated it, what that program did. He could remember everything that happened, and he could still feel its effects.

He had brushed it off when it began, which was about a few seconds into their travel out of the mountain in Virginia. He felt what seemed like an early onset of a terrible migraine, and his stomach twisted in an incredibly painful knot. Still, he endured it, knowing that he could just sleep it off once they got back home.

However, before the three of them could get into their capsules to get their chips extracted, the program took its toll. He watched Adam fall, then Bree, before the sharp pain solidly hit him straight on his skull and on his chest. He couldn't breathe. He struggled to, because he didn't want to die in his father's arms. He didn't want to inflict that pain on him, and he tried to communicate it the best he could through his eyes. However, the effect of the program was too powerful, and all he could do was submit to it as peacefully as he could.

Soon, there was darkness.

Next, there was brightness.

He woke up inside his capsule, lightheaded and with a sore neck. With a wince, he touched the spot where the mild pain throbbed and found that the slot where his bionic chip usually rested was empty. He looked up and found his father hurrying towards him, his face pale. Meanwhile, Tasha sat on the sofa with Bree, offering her stepdaughter a glass of water, her face awash with similar anxiety.

When he, Adam and Bree regained enough energy, his father, who notably had been terrified out of his wits, told them that their systems shut down for a few minutes, rendering them technically dead in that span of time. Their vitals resumed again, and when both he and their mother was sure that they really were in a safe state, they helped them into their capsules, preventing any further scares by extracting the chips while they were asleep.

After letting them rest longer, their father told them earlier while they were having breakfast that after a thorough search, he didn't find anything harmful in their chips. There was that new program, and it sat stubbornly within. (He tried to delete it, but it wouldn't go. It seemed to have attached itself onto them and would not budge—no matter the effort.)

One curious thing about the introduction of the program, though, was what it seemed to have done. The Triton app was gone. Their father said he repeatedly combed through their chips in an attempt to determine whether it had suddenly turned dormant or, worse yet, evolved into something more powerful, but he did not find it.

The program that was wound around them like strings to three puppets had been snapped loose and was now non-existent.

Yet, as much as Chase would like to revel in that, he felt wary. That other program was still in them, and even if his father had declared it harmless (though still a nuisance), he couldn't help but be suspicious, especially whenever he considered the fact that they didn't know who made it, why they made it, and what its purpose was.

"Chase Davenport!"

Chase sighed, slipping in the key to the car door to unlock it. "Look. I'm in no mood for jokes right now," he said calmly but firmly. "If you guys need a freshman to torture, you're going to have to try another day." He was about to open his car, determined to get out of the situation and the heavily pouring rain, when a hand turned him around to face her.

"Chase Davenport, please," Torrance begged, the dim lighting from the distant restaurant sign revealing the desperation in her eyes. "I need your help."

Chase's brows knitted, unhappy with the presumptuous act. He shrugged off her hand, slowly pushing it away at the same time. "Please don't do that," he said. Then, he turned back towards his car.

Knowing that she was not being heard, Torrance acted drastically. She grabbed the edge of the door when Chase opened it and refused to let go.

Chase snapped back at her impatiently. "What do you want?" he asked.

"I want your help," Torrance said. "You and your siblings are the only ones who can rescue him."

"Rescue who?"

"Leo," Torrance said.

Chase stared at her blankly, his mind in an uncertain rotation between shock, sorrow and anger. Finally, he shook his head. "Tell your friends I got the message," he said quietly. "Tell them too that my mind's in a dark state tonight, and if they push me too far I can be as unreasonable—and they're not going to like my way of answering back."

"The only friend that's inciting me to do this is Leo, and he is in danger," Torrance insisted unwaveringly. "Why won't you listen—"

"Who do you think you are?" Chase fired back, refusing to hear what she had to say anymore. "You don't know me—"

"I know you more than you think I do," Torrance responded calmly. She took her hand off from the car door. "I know more things about you than your current friends do." She sighed, her breath shuddering from the cold of the rain and the guilt she felt inside, especially as she thought about Leo.

Chase continued to fume as he glared at her, but something about her seemed familiar. The feeling continued to claw at the walls of his memory until finally, it broke free. His face cleared. "You," he said. "You were the girl at the ball. And the funeral."

Torrance looked down and said nothing.

Many things evidently tumbled in Chase's mind, and he considered them all. She was the answer to his search, the proof that his efforts had not been in vain. He knew he should feel a sense of closure, but he didn't. There were numerous ways he wanted the situation to end, but he opted for the one he thought satisfied him the most. "I will give you five minutes to run," he cautioned evenly. "After that, my family and I will go after you, and we will turn you in for what you did to my brother."

After one last look at her, Chase turned towards his car, intent on stepping in.

"It's just this vocal gadget thing I made a while back. I don't really know what to call it, but it does a few things. It can record. You know, basic things."

Chase stopped, his heart skipping at hearing the voice of his younger sibling.

"Is it recording us now?"

"Yeah, I guess. I haven't worked out that kink yet. It records everything while it's starting up."

Chase spun around, eyes slightly wide.

Torrance stood a few steps away from him, holding in her hand the recording device Leo asked her to keep for him.

Chase heard Leo laugh, and it melted away all his anger, reducing it into a forceful chemical of recognition then longing. "I tried it once, when we were in Colorado. It was...interesting."

"Colorado? You have had it since then?"

"Yeah. I was supposed to sneak in a second gift to Chase into that care package he was going to take for Columbia. This was it. I thought this would be helpful to him, not that he needs it. With his bionic intelligence, I don't think he'd use this."

"Why would he…" Chase trailed off, surprised that Leo had revealed something as sensitive as his bionics to a stranger. "He wouldn't…"

"You think so?"

"I know so. The guitar you had given your brother meant a lot to him. He even mentioned it in his graduation speech."

Torrance stared at him, her eyes soft with pleading for him to believe her.

Chase looked back at her, completely puzzled and deplete of words.

to be continued.