Spike landed on the lush grass with a soft thud, swaying in place for a moment. Brushing his fingertips across the tops of the thin green stalks beneath him, he regained his shaky balance and slowly rose to full height, resting his hand on the trunk of the tree for support.
Looking around dully, he spotted his hat in a crumpled heap a little to his left, and he walked carefully over to it. Rather than risking a tumble by bending over, the app merely lunged low enough to scoop it up before standing up straight again. After tenderly brushing it off, he replaced it on his head, squashing down his tussled hair. Much better.
"Now for punithment," he muttered, biting back his irritation for the lisp that still lingered. That fly had done a number on him. What kind of fly was that? Are all flies like this?
He had a mind of where he could not only find out but also exact revenge. Ready or not, Bree, here I come.
He clumsily stormed back into the house, startling Tasha who was chopping a tomato in the kitchen. "Spike! Is everything alright?" She eyed his rumpled clothes and the red scratches dotting his skin.
"Everything ith jutht fine," he snarled, accidentally plowing into the dining table. With a muffled moan and various curses under his breath, he guided himself around it and tried to continue on his way. But he was stopped by Tasha standing directly in front of him, a look of concern and disappointment on her face.
"Let me smell your breath, mister," she said in a stern tone, crossing her arms.
"What?" Spike asked, bewilderment screwing his facial features.
"You heard me," Tasha replied stubbornly.
Still confused, Spike did as he was told, as strange as the command was. He watched her frown in surprise, and he could practically see the gears turning in her head. "You smell clean," she stated.
"Clean?" Spike questioned.
"You haven't been drinking or doing any drugs, have you?" Tasha pressed.
Understanding washed over the youngest bionic, and he smirked. "No, I haven't."
"And you're being honest?"
"Yeth."
"But what's with the lisp? And why are you walking like you're drunk? What happened to you?" Tasha gestured to all of him.
Spike sighed. "I wath thtung by a fly."
"A fly did this to you?" the mother figure asked dubiously.
"Well, I wath in a tree."
"What? Why?" Tasha's eyes flashed with worry.
"Becauth I wanted to be alone."
"Again, how does a fly do this to you?"
Spike's eyes narrowed as his anger returned. "That'th what I'm about to find out." He shouldered his way around her (unintentionally shoving into her harder than anticipated) and made his way to the elevator in a huff.
"Don't hurt anyone!" Tasha called after him.
"No guaranteeth," the app grumbled to himself as the thick metal doors closed, cutting him off from the rest of the main level. As soon as he reached the level of the lab and the elevator doors opened, he marched (to the best of his ability) out into the lab itself, furiously shouting "Bree!"
Bree's head shot upwards at the sound of her name, her eyes widening slightly as Spike came right up to her. Adam and Leo glanced at each other nervously, coming to stand near their sister and the app.
"What happened in the tree?" Spike demanded, jabbing his finger at her.
"I… saved your life?" she offered, shooting her other two brothers a look. She absentmindedly rubbed her bandaged forearm where the tree bark had torn her skin as she recalled the earlier event.
"Thom rethcue – you left me up there! And how did you know that I wath thtunned?" the app growled.
His siblings all snickered, Leo choking "You have a lisp! You sound so funny!"
Spike darkened even further, turning on his younger brother. "Let'th thee how funny I thound when I rip off your earth[7] and uthe them ath ninja thtarth for target practith!" He tried to wave his hand to demonstrate for emphasis, but his clumsiness had not yet abated, so he accidentally whacked it on the cyber-desk. "Thoot!" he cursed, holding his throbbing fingers protectively.
Leo couldn't keep a straight face, laughing "Dude, you're killing me! Come back and threaten me when you can walk and talk again!"
Spike glowered at the non-bionic, remaining quiet and getting right in his face. Leo's laughing died as Spike's nose was inches from his own, and he gulped.
"Will do," Spike hissed, and after an extended tense moment, he stepped back. This was not merely a threat, but a promise. And Leo knew it.
The app turned back to Bree, saying "What. Happened. In. That. Thtupid. Fly-infethted. Tree? How did you know that I wath falling?"
The middle bionic blinked. "It's Adam and Leo's fault – they were playing with a spy fly!"
"Wow Bree, way to throw us under the bicycle," Adam said with irritation.
"No, she threw us under the bus," Leo corrected his oldest brother. "And, anyways, it was you who steered the fly into Spike."
Adam threw his hands up. "Now I've been thrown under two busses, so I'm double dead!"
"You've got that right," Spike snapped, balling his fists.
"For the record, that fly just didn't like you because I didn't tell it to stun you," Adam said defensively.
"You activated its attack mode," Leo said dryly to the oldest bionic.
"You set me up to it!" Adam argued.
"Who warned you not to do it again?" Bree asked, giving Adam and Leo another look.
"Who left Spike in a tree?" Leo shot back.
"You're all dead!" Spike shouted over his bickering siblings, silencing them. "Now who'th firtht?" he asked menacingly.
The three at fault all looked at each other before Bree said "Well, I'll just go now. Bye!" With that she sped off.
"Okay, Bree, just leave your brothers to get beat up all by ourselves," Leo said with annoyance. Glancing at Spike, whose eyes were beginning to flash with excitement for a fight, he patted Adam's shoulder and said "Good luck with him, Adam!" before taking off.
"Jutht me and you, pea-brain," Spike stated with a nasty grin.
"Nope, just you!" Adam said before bolting out of the lab.
Spike padded down the carpeted hallway of the main level, dragging his left hand lightly on the wall for stability. His senses were on high alert, and they told him that Leo was hiding behind the kitchen counter, hoping that Tasha could give him some protection. How wrong he was.
The youngest bionic drew in a deep breath; through the fumes of cooking food he could pick out the smell of Leo's fear, which, admittedly, was kind of gross. But it brought the app to a new level of excitement; his target was close at hand and was afraid of him.
He wiggled the fingers of his right hand in anticipation, judging their movement. They still felt slowed and imprecise, but they were gradually getting better. His balance overall had improved, so now that that no longer hindered him as much, his siblings were going to be in trouble.
Spike stopped at the corner, just out of sight of the kitchen. He could hear Tasha stirring frying meat, and his stomach grumbled lightly. It had been a long day, and even if it was Tasha's cooking, hot food sounded wonderful at the moment.
Focus, he reminded himself. Instead of practically drooling over dinner, the app returned the attention of his bionic senses back on the task at hand. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he could hear the frenzied beating of Leo's heart. Spike's lips twisted into a leer.
"Rawrrr!" the youngest bionic roared as he leapt around the corner without warning. Tasha jumped with a small scream, spilling hot bits of meat on the stove and all over herself.
"Spike!" Leo shrieked, scrambling to his feet and dashing around the opposite side of the counter. The non-bionic ran for the front door, frequently looking behind him.
Spike wasted no time, gracelessly catapulting himself over the counter and sprinting after the younger boy. Even through the crashes of a number of dishes and a stool, Tasha's irate shouting could be heard easily. But the boys paid her no mind as Leo fled for his life from his older brother.
When Spike was within reach of Leo, the youngest boy cut back and ducked under the bionic's klutzy grab, racing back towards the kitchen and into the hallway where Spike had come from. The app attempted to follow, but he tripped over his own two feet, toppling to the ground with a surprised "Oomf!"
Leo ran down the hallway as fast as his legs would take him, diving into Mr. Davenport's planning room where the billionaire was pacing back and forth.
"Leo, what's-" Mr. Davenport began to say.
"Hide me!" Leo squeaked, scurrying behind the mogul.
Mr. Davenport gave his step-son a confused look, calmly walking to the door and closing it. The boy sighed with relief when the lock clicked into place.
"What's going on?" the head of the household asked, his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised.
"Spike's trying to kill me!" Leo gasped as he tried to catch his breath. He was not in shape for this. All of a sudden his older siblings' physical ability enhancements weren't so cool anymore.
"What? Why?" Mr. Davenport pressed.
"Adam, Bree, and I might have made him angry," Leo explained vaguely.
Their conversation was interrupted by raucous pounding on the door accompanied by Spike's bellows of "Leo! I know you're in there, cockroach! Come out here tho I can give you a tathte of your own medithine!"
Leo paled, swallowing nervously. He was certain that the door would not hold up if Spike decided to break through it.
"What's wrong with Spike? He's talking weird," Mr. Davenport asked Leo pointedly.
"He got stunned by a spy fly," Leo answered.
"It worked on him?"
"Sort of; he wasn't knocked out – which is worse for me – and the effects still haven't gone away all the way. Which is even worse for me!"
"What'th even worth[8] than that for you ith that I wath in a tree when it happened!" Spike growled through the door. "Come out on your own or I will turn thith door into toothpickth tho I can drag you out by your thpleen!"
"Why are you only after me? Adam and Bree were in on it too!" Leo whimpered.
Mr. Davenport shot his step-son a look of ire, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him over to the door. "Get out there before he destroys my door!"
"But he'll kill me!" Leo whined.
"You earned this one," Mr. Davenport said with a small smirk as he unlocked the door.
"Ahhh!" Leo yelped as he was shoved out of the room and right into Spike.
"Keep him in one piece," Mr. Davenport commanded the commando app.
"No promitheth," Spike replied darkly.
[7] The word ears, but because Spike has a lisp, his S's are pronounced as the TH sound. The written word is pronounced eerTH.
[8] The word worse, but said with a lisp as described above.
AN: Ahhh, this one was fun to write. Yes LivingforJesus, we are working on Spike's humility here xD And still he insists on beating up his siblings (who probably deserve it...). PurpleNicole531, you definitely saw this one coming :P
Thank you everyone for the wonderful support this story receives, through follows, favorites, and especially reviews - y'all are my favorites B)
So yeah, stay tuned for the next few chapters - Chapter 38 is up next (Wow, that many already? I'd better hurry up and finish this bugger before I run out of pre-written material - I certainly couldn't maintain this pace otherwise...). See you then!