Sloth: Fun fact, this chapter when through 8 different drafts and revisions. Its why it took so long. But now its done and things are set up for the final chapters.

Hit Me with Your Best Shot

Marcus wasn't an impatient guy. If anything, he was the embodiment of patient planning. But sometimes there's being patient and being filled with the energy of excitement. He sat in his chair, his foot tapping against the floor while he drummed his fingers anxiously on his left knee. He couldn't help but lick his lips as he sat, the sound of taping fingers and muttering behind only adding to his excitement.

"Could you calm down, you're going to tap a hole into the floor," Chase asked as he stepped in front of Marcus. The younger boy raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, is your chip being reprogrammed to be usable again?"

"No, but mine isn't at risk of blowing up," Chase shot back.

Five months ago, Marcus would have punched Chase for the comment. Instead, Marcus playfully showed his middle finger to the other bionic boy. Chase just rolled his eyes in mild annoyance and returned to Davenport's side. Marcus could hear them discussing the final touches on the reprogramming and he tried to keep his cool persona. But internally, he couldn't help but feel like jumping around in excitement. After five long months, Mr. Davenport had finally cracked the final firewall. His chip was now an open book and the egomaniac finally figured out a solution to the detonation sequence.

To be honest, a lot had happened in five months. Some good, like the friends he has made since he had no choice but to be an average teenager, and some not so good. A forlorn sigh escaped his lips as his mind fell onto Owen. It's been three months since his death and things were starting to get back to normal. Owen's death had hit the community a lot harder than he would have thought. Not that Marcus didn't think Owen wasn't a great guy, he was, Marcus just didn't realize how active in the community Owen had been. He was part of the Art Club, student council, and dance committee. Outside of school, Owen did a lot to help where he could. He volunteered at animal shelter's every Sunday and he had a steady afterschool job.

Everyone seemed to feel the emptiness his death had caused. Hell, even Psycho-Perry didn't make a joke about Owen. It didn't really stop her from being a crazy Principal who should NOT be around children, but it was good to know she had standards. And Marcus wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But now, as the saying went, time was healing the wounds. And there was one person Marcus was happy was starting to heal.

"It's the last weekend of summer and you're spending it tinkering around Marcus's head," Bree snarked in good nature as she entered the lab. "And you wonder why no girl has asked you out."

While her laughs still didn't quite reach her eyes, Marcus could see she was doing better. The past couple of months, Bree had been putting herself into her training and missions. It was an unhealthy outlet, but he didn't feel like in calling her out. A downside living with people, you tend to care about them even if they didn't care about you. Fortunately, probably thanks to some heart-to-heart talk with her brothers, Bree was finding a different outlet that didn't jeopardize her health or the team.

"When am I ever going to get chance to reprogram a chip? Besides, this way I get to compare bionic chips and flaunt how superior mine is to Marcus's," Chase said with a smile. The smile grew twice as big as he gleefully shouted, "It's the perfect weekend!"

"Better than bionic brother toss," Marcus muttered, getting an agreement Chase. Their similar builds some how gave Adam the idea of two people he could playfully toss around the lab. He started to realize why Chase's temper was so short.

The hiss of the elevators drew Marcus's attention, Leo and Adam came into the lab. Adam was carrying a giant stuffed pink unicorn while Leo was munching on cotton candy. Adam cheerful showed off his prize, repeatedly snacking Chase in the face with the unicorn's stuffed horn. Marcus snickered at the sight. Part of him wished he could have joined Adam and Leo to their afternoon excursion to Grub N' Games, but even all this worked out, he'd take bionic abilities over a stuffed toy any day.

"Adam would you mind? Your brother and I have to focus. One wrong number and we could be spending our evening cleaning Marcus all the walls."

"I'm sorry, what?" Marcus and Bree asked simultaneous.

"I thought you said you have everything worked out," Marcus added, his voice cracking slightly as an image of his graphic demise flashed through his head. Davenport just rolled his eyes.

"Have a little faith in me. I made three bionic kids, fixing a chip so it doesn't turn into a bomb is a piece of cake."

"Yeah, but one of your bionic kids is Adam," Marcus said as he pointed to the aforementioned teen, who was now chewing on his unicorn's horn.

"Ew. Not cotton candy."

"Yeah well, two out of three isn't too terrible," Davenport said. "Marcus. Trust me. Chase and I aren't going to let anything bad happen to you. We've got this."

Marcus let out a sigh. Honestly, he did have faith in Davenport. He wouldn't be here today if the man hadn't put together an inhibitor in a matter of seconds. Plus, he spent the last five months working on his chip's schematics, so if there was anyone familiar with his chip, it was Davenport. Marcus drew in a long breath and exhaled slowly.

He trusted them.

"Ok, calibrations are set," Chase said.

"Complex asterisk, p equal null. Value equals one and…done!" Davenport cheered. Marcus felt a tingle in his neck, his chip seemingly reacting to whatever programing they had done to it. He reached up to rub his neck, feeling the wireless calibrator that was attached to the chip.

"Ok, by my calculations you should now have access to a variant of energy transference. You'll be able to safely transfer the neutron energy out of your body into this neutron power cell," Chase explained as he wheeled a large metal device. To Marcus it looked like a background prop in a sci-fi movie, equipped with a large tower, a crystal orb on top and tesla coils all the way down. The tower wasn't any taller than Chase and its base looked like a metal suitcase decorated with fancy buttons. Marcus just blinked.

"That can't possible be a real thing," Leo commented from his spot next to Adam.

"Hey, Sebastian and I build this from scratch," Chase said. "It's perfect."

"Looks like a pile of junk to me," Adam commented, making Bree snicker.

"It isn't!" Chase shouted in frustration, his face getting red.

"Calm down, Anakin," Marcus said as he patted Chase on the shoulder. "I think your Christmas tree will work fine. It a little early for Christmas but -"

"It's not a Christmas tree!"

"Guys, that's enough," Davenport said sternly as he placed a hand on Chase's shoulder to stop the boy from getting angrier. "For this next step, we're going to need everyone's help. Marcus, once I unlock the inhibitor, I need you to focus. This type of ability is still new, and there's still a lot of trouble shooting. You have to focus on forcing that built up energy out or you'll fry your chip. Chase, I need you ready with a force field in case Marcus loses control. And if that happens, Bree I need you to super speed in with the cyber key to lock the inhibitor back up. Adam, Leo…you stay right there and don't touch anything."

"Alright, don't have to do anything," Adam cheered before he leaned back. He then casually leaned over to take a bite out of Leo's cotton candy, ignoring the younger boy's protests.

"Ok, everyone ready?" The needed looked at each other. Each one nodding in turn before telling the inventor that they were ready. Taking them at their word, Davenport walked up to Marcus, fishing the cyber key out of his pocket.

This was it. In just a matter of seconds, Marcus would have his bionics back. He'd feel whole again after so long. He watched as the key was brought to his inhibitor. The thin sheet of metal slid into the tiny slot on the side. The muscles in his forearm tensed, his grip tightening. The inhibitor buzzed and he watched as the lights started to dim. The pressure on his wrist relaxed, the inhibitor seeming to loosen. His wrist felt slightly hot, like he had just removed a wristband after working out for a day.

The back of Marcus's neck started to tingle. It was a dull sensation, like someone had taken a novelty joke buzzer to the back of his neck. A moment later and he cursed as he felt a shock burst from his chip, a bolt of electricity taking out a computer screen.

"Marcus, focus!"

"Right! Sorry."

He took in a deep breath. Get in the zone, he told himself. He pushed everything else out. The voices of the others. The pain in his body. The pressure in his neck started to get more intense, but with it, Marcus's memories became clearer. The world started to become an empty void. It was just him and the power cell. Him and his target.

"Look at the target and focus everything on it. Don't hold back." A voice told him in his head. It was a gruff voice, stern yet comforting. He gave himself to the instructions, letting go of all hesitation. His body moved, years of instincts fitting back into place. His body, both bionic and biological, were coming together as one.

"Trust your bionics. Trust in yourself. And most importantly; trust in me. After all, I'm a genius."

His eyes zeroed in on the power cell. His vision was filled with schematics and data, from the measurements of the power cell to how much it could take. The pressure in his neck started to build, intensifying more as his brain processed all the information. His hands aimed for the power cell and he took in one final breath before he relaxed.

The pressure in his neck started to ease up as a warmth flowed from his neck and down his arms. As it reached his hands, the warmth grew hotter, like he was touching a tea kettle fresh off the stove. He flinched in pain, but otherwise held his position as a stream of electric blue plasma escaped his hands and rushed into the power cell.

Marcus dug his feet into the ground and the energy stream remained steady. His bionic vision told him he was at 40 percent and a small smirk formed on his face. As his body readjusted to his bionic infrastructure and chip coming back to life, every instinct he had before came flooding back. Everything that had made him Marcus, Bionic Soldier, was booting back up.

….

…

..

As Marcus filled the power cell with energy, a micro camera recorded the feed. The live footage was being watched by two figures sitting in their kitchen.

"Looks like someone's chip just turned back on," S-1 smirked.

"Too bad. I was enjoying my mission," S-3 commented before shoveling a handful of dry cereal into his mouth. The other bionic soldier glared before hitting her brother with the tablet. "Hey!"

"I just cleaned the counter," S-1 scolded. "How about you do something useful and go get the others. Once our 'brother' disables that security field that's been stopping us from geo-leaping in, we move in."

The boy rolled his eyes and hopped off his chair. He sulked out of the kitchen, muttering to himself. S-1 rolled her eyes before turning back to the video feed. She tapped her tablet and accessed the new program. A dark smirk formed on her face as her finger caressed the app.

"Well Douglas, let's see if your pwecious baby boy is up for a little mayhem."

"Triton App Engaged."

….

…

..

Marcus's vision suddenly glitched, static over taking his left eye. He flinched and briefly lost footing. Adam helped catch him, placing a firm hold on both of Marcus's shoulders. The younger bionic thank him before focusing again on the power cell. He couldn't lose control again. He forced the energy to move out a little faster. His scan told him he was over 50 percent done.

His left eye pixilated, a series of codes flashing in a blink of an eye.

He ignored it, flinching only as a sharp pain cut through his head. He could do this. He was almost done. He forced himself to put out more energy into the power cell. More. Faster.

"S-Chip Series M Standby…"

He couldn't help but cry out in pain as the loud robotic voice echoed in his head. He lost his grip, the energy output halting as he clutched his ears. He felt Adam hold him, but that didn't matter. His body was starting to get hot as the remaining energy tried to escape back out.

"New Update available. Commencing down and update…"

"Big D, what's happening?" Leo asked as he stood behind the force field Chase threw up. Davenport was frantically going over his tablet, desperately trying to find the cause of the problem.

"I don't know! I'm losing connection to his chip!"

"Bree turn on his inhibitor!" Chase ordered desperately.

"On it!"

She didn't get far. Marcus let out a shout of pain as he lost control; the remaining energy stored within him exploding outwards in a shockwave. His body felt like an electrical current had just gone through it. Nerves and muscle screamed in pain as the energy flew out of his body. But despite that, it was nothing compared to the pain in his head. His head felt like someone was driving a needle into it, probing around carelessly.

His quiet world was shattered as the sound of his explosion slammed into metal and stone. Adam was thrown off him, flying into Bree. The cyber key was knock out of her hands and skidded to the floor. Everything in the lab that wasn't bolted down was thrown against the stone walls of the lab. The capsules shook, the computer screens cracked, and everything electrical started to glitch. The force of the blast had shattered Chase's force field, knocking Davenport, Chase, and Leo to the floor.

The air sizzled with an electric hum. As power slowly came on, everyone started to get their bearings, rising from the floor.

"Is everyone ok?" Davenport asked as he sat up. He looked at his tablet, the screen now shattered after breaking his fall.

"I will be once Adam get off me!" Bree shouted, shoving Adam will all her might.

"Sorry."

"What about Marcus?" Chase asked. He looked to see the other bionic teen had fallen to his knees. His body emitted tiny sparks. He wasn't moving. Concerned, Chase touched his fingers to his temple. A quick diagnostic report revealed that Marcus was still alive, and everything was still functional. He had transferred enough energy out of his body to prevent any damage to his body, but it looked like there was some damage to the boy's bionic infrastructure. Just as Chase was going to get up, his bionics detected an anomaly.

"Mr. Davenport?"

"Yeah, Chase?"

"What's a Triton App?"

Adam strung back up, shaking off the blast like it was just another Saturday. He walked over to help Marcus, patting the boy on the back.

"Dude, nice boom. But next time, warn a guy, ok? Oh hey, were your eyes always green?"

"Triton App activated."

"Adam get away from him!" Chase warned.

"So, he's a little sparky. Don't be rude, Chase," Adam scolded playfully. But any humor came to a halt as Marcus's fist slammed into Adam's gut. As Adam bent over in pain, Marcus stood up and delivered an uppercut before grabbing Adam by his shirt collar and tossing him over the cyber desk. Adam crashed with a yelp of pain. "I'm ok." He tried to reassure his family.

"Uh, I might not know a lot about bionics, but are his eyes suppose to glow like that?" Bree asked as she joined her father and brothers.

"That must be what the Triton App is!" Chase declared as his brain put everything together. "Henderson must be using it to control him. It's the only explanation that makes sense."

"That's impossible, I removed the obedience sequence from his chip," Davenport said. His tablet was suddenly ripped from his hands and into Marcus' outstretched hand. He brought the tablet over his knee, snapping it in half. "Yeah, maybe something's controlling him."

"That or he's evil again." Everyone turned to Leo, who shrugged. "I'm just saying, the guy's tried to kill me like four times. He's chilled out but he's still a little crazy."

Marcus grabbed his inhibitor and effortlessly tore it from his wrist, tossing the mangled remains aside. He seemed to look around the lab before he seemed to stop. His heat vision activated, twin beams shooting from his eyes and blasting Eddie's motherboard.

"He's taking out our security system!"

"Why would he do that?" Leo asked. He let out a shriek as Marcus's lasers destroyed a computer terminal. As another set came in their direction, Chase stood in the way and threw up a force field.

"Mr. Davenport and I put up a security fence around the house to try and stop those bionic assassins from coming in. They must be using Marcus to try and take out the fence from the inside."

"And you're only telling us this now?!" Leo asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry, do you really want to yell at the guy trying to block death lasers?" Chase asked sarcastically, an unamused glare on his face. Leo thought about it and then slipped behind Chase.

"Carry on."

Marcus stopped his assault, his eyes seeming to scan the lab. He stopped and started to move to another terminal.

"Well, can't say I haven't been looking forward to a rematch," Bree said. She zipped out of the safety of the force field. She collided with Marcus, who caught her attack by matching her speed. She went for a punch, which he blocked with his elbow. He then threw a punch, but Bree dodged it with ease and countered with a kick. They went back and forth, each trying to land a blow, only to be blocked. Just when it seemed like the stand still would continue, Marcus got the upper hand by slamming his foot into the ground. His bionic strength caused his foot to send a shockwave upon impact.

Bree stumbled back and Marcus took the advantage by delivering a swift kick to the gut. As he prepared another attack, Adam charged with a loud battle cry. He picked the smaller boy up slammed him to the ground.

"Sorry, buddy, but you're being a bad friend right now." Marcus responded by delivering a knee to Adam's lower region. Chase, Davenport, and Leo flinched as Adam fell over in pain. "You're a really bad friend right now." Adam squeaked, his voice going up two octaves.

"Leo, go get the chip extractor," Chase ordered before he raced forward. He flipped over Marcus and intercepted him. He took a fighting stance, one that Marcus mimicked.

"Um, if you haven't noticed, its on the other side of the room and there's a homicidal Marcus in the way."

"Not for long."

The two teens engaged in hand to hand combat. Chase's intellect allowed him to analyze Marcus's attack patterns, giving him a quick advantage against someone who had no will of their own. But as quickly as Chase gained the advantage, Marcus started to regain it as he started to copy Chase's moves. Chase grappled with Marcus, turning his head briefly at Leo. The eye contact was all they needed to communicate. Leo was running across the room. When Marcus attempt to intercept, Chase slammed his head into the other boy's as hard as he could. There was an electrical crackle in the air, Marcus's neck briefly letting out a spark of electricity.

"Ow!" Chase paused. He watched as Marcus shook his head, the green in his eyes flickering to blue before turning brown. "What did you do that for?!"

"Marcus?"

"No, the Easter Bunny."

"Oh, thank god I thought – "

Marcus's eyes suddenly flickered back to green and he delivered punch to Chase's jaw. Chase staggered back, holding his jaw in pain. He didn't have much time to dwell on it as Marcus marched towards him and raised his foot. Chase rolled out of the way, watching as Marcus's foot slammed into the terminal. Hearing Davenport's high pitch shriek, Chase realized his mistake a little too late.

Marcus pulled his foot out and went to for round house kick immediately after. Chase narrowly dodged it by dropping to the floor. Without missing a beat, he did a leg sweep. Marcus fell to the floor, but quickly rolled away. He stood up, his head turning to Eddie's blank screen that was mounted on the wall next to Adam, Bree, and Chase's reinstalled capsules.

Marcus punched the screen and ripped it out of the wall, exposing a small cylindrical device. It had a green light that blinked on and off. Cables were attached to it and those cables snaked into the wall.

"Don't let him destroy the fence generator!" Davenport cried out.

"I'm trying! Leo where's the chip extractor?!"

"Found it!" The chip extractor flew out of Leo's hand and into Marcus's. "Had it."

Marcus went to break the device over his knee. But before he could, Bree slammed into him at her top speed, knocking him to the floor and the extractor flew from his hand. Chase used his molecular kinesis to drag the tool into his hand. Adam joined his siblings, kicking Marcus away. The boy stumbled back, giving the three siblings enough room to use their bodies as a shield between Marcus and the only thing keeping their house safe from a possible invasion.

"We're going to need you move," Marcus said. At least, it could have been Marcus. His voice came out distorted, like three different voices all speaking at once through a broken microphone. They could hear Marcus's voice clearly, but the other two voices were more robotic and lacked any emotion.

"Whoa, Marcus is a robot," Adam gasped in amazement. Bree and Chase turned to look at their older brother before looking at each other and shaking their heads in embarrassment.

"What's the plan?" Bree asked as she stood next to Chase, who stood in front of his siblings. From the corner of her eyes, she spotted Leo next to the tool cabinet. With a desk between him and Marcus, it was most likely the other bionic teen didn't see her youngest brother. Quickly scanning the room, she found Mr. Davenport hiding behind the cyber desk while looking through a second tablet. He was most likely trying to figure out how to stop the viral app in Marcus's chip, which meant they had to keep an eye on the billionaire and keep him safe until his work was done in addition to protecting the fence's power source.

"We need to remove his chip," Chase told them as he kept his eyes trained on Marcus.

"I thought you guys said extracting his chip could do damage to his nervous system," Bree said with worry.

"It can," Chase confirmed. He stared into the cold green glow, his own expression hardening.

His relationship with Marcus wasn't what you would call ideal. They fought often, especially when the other boy had been forced to live with them. His trust had been broken and seeing Marcus every day just felt like a clear example of his poor skills as a leader. A good leader would have been able to see through the lies and the deception. Instead he allowed himself to be blinded by childish desires and a yearning for someone to like him for himself. He lashed out, threw all his anger and frustrations at an easy target.

Part of him felt like he should enjoy this. That this justified his rudeness. But he knew deep down, through logic and reason, that this wasn't right. Standing in front of him wasn't Marcus. It was his body, but it lacked everything that he had grown accustomed to in the past five months. It wasn't just the soulless green glow in the eyes. It was how Marcus's body stood straight and rigid, lacking his laid-back slouch and confident stance. His fighting was too precise, too calculated. It didn't have any spontaneity to it, no quick readjustments. But the lack of speaking, no witty comment, no taunting or teasing, that was what solidified his decision.

"What can I say? Being witty throws people off their game. Best way to fight."

"If we do it right, and quickly, there's a 52 percent chance of extraction without damaging the nervous system. We can't fight to hurt, but we can still counter. The less damage we do, the better the odds," Chase explained. "We restrain him."

"You know, the last time we had to fight him, he kind of kicked out butts," Adam reminded them.

Chase just smirked.

"We were fighting Marcus back then. Now we're just fighting a coward who's too afraid to fight us themselves. They've got nothing on the four of us."

His older siblings stared for a second before nodding in agreement. Marcus took a standard fighting stance. The three bionic siblings readied their own, waiting for him to make the first move. The lab was still, the air still crackling with residual energy from the interrupted energy transfer. Both opponents stared at each other. One determined to take down their defenses. The other determined to free their friend.