"Perry 2.0"
Aggie, Chase and Leo were walking to their next class when they were startled by Perry's voice, "Morning Germ Sacks." She greeted, using an old microphone and small speaker to amplify her voice. Aggie felt bad for Michael, who had no doubt been bullied into carrying the small speaker for Perry. "I know you've all been complaining that the technology around her isn't quite-" Perry frowned at the mic when it cut out, "Ahem. Isn't quite-" Feeling frustrated she slapped the mic into the palm of her opposite hand causing a high pitched feedback that made everyone cover their ears in pain. Especially Aggie and Chase who winced at the pain inflicted on their super ears. "State of the art." Continued Perry, "So thanks to your truly we're getting cutting edge equipment for the whole school to enjoy." Perry handed the mic off to Michael who flinched back, "Jojo. Betty. Let's go ladies! Wheel it like it's hot!" Ordered Perry.
The two lunch ladies wheeled something covered by a clean sheet out of the gym, and with a smug smile Perry swaggered over to gesture grandly, "Behold. Mission Creek Highs brand new… Media Center!" Betty pulled away the sheet to reveal an outdated television. None of the students were impressed.
"I don't think you can call it technology if you have to change the channel with pliers." sassed Leo.
Aggie and Chase were practically gagging at the chemical smell wafting from the technological dinosaur, "Why do I smell Formaldehyde?" asked Chase.
"Cause I found it on the curb outside the morgue." answered Perry, "I'm getting all my Christmas presents there too. Aunt Dottie's getting sheets." She declared gleefully.
Chase frowned, "How is this thing new?' he demanded pointing at said thing.
"It's new to you Lady Face." fired Perry before walking away.
Meanwhile Aggie searched through her backpack and pulled out a necklace with a small silver vial pendant. Popping the top she brought it up to her nose and let the smell chase away the chemical smell. Leo raised an eyebrow at her behavior, "Uh, Aggie. What are you doing?"
She looked at the curious faces of Leo and Chase, "There is no way I am dealing with the smell of Formaldehyde all day long." She said donning the necklace, making sure to place it inside her shirt to stop it from clacking against her favorite necklace. "This will help."
"And that is?" he asked slowly.
"A small vial of perfume."
"Got anymore?" asked Chase, Aggie smiled at her boyfriend and produced another necklace.
Chase took it with a smile and removing the top he breathed in the scent, feeling curious Leo did as well. Chase smiled as he recognized the scent, "Oohh, this smells nice. What is it?"
"Jasmine and Musk." answered Chase.
"What about yours?" asked Leo.
"Honey and Coffee."
Leo's face scrunched up in thought while Chase beamed, "Why that? It's a pretty weird combination."
She shrugged, "It calms me." She and Chase shared a smile. Chase had asked her why she liked wearing his clothes, she had blushed and explained that they smelled like him and his scent of Honey and Coffee made her feel calm. This had led to Chase admitting that he also enjoyed her scent of Musk and Jasmine. It was nice to speak to someone who understood what it was like to experience a world that was on steroids. Everything was more for him, and sometimes it was overwhelming. Growing up he couldn't explain that to his siblings, because then they would think he was weaker than they already did. Mr. Davenport would just give him more training to try and fix it, and completely miss the fact that there was nothing to fix.
Leo shrugged, "Whatever floats your boat." Chase took back the necklace and placed it inside his shirt.
"Aggie!" shouted Adam, startling the three as he ran over with Bree in tow.
She smiled, "Hey, Adam what's-"
"The new kid's a bionic spy and Bree doesn't believe me." He interrupted.
"I told you Adam he's not a bionic spy. He's a foreign exchange student." groaned Bree.
Adam wasn't convinced though, "So was Marcus."
"Adam you're overreacting." said Chase, trying to stop his brother's paranoia in its tracks, "Marcus was built by Douglas and Douglas is frozen in a lump of ice in one of Mr. Davenport's secure facilities. He couldn't have made another android and sent it here to spy on us." Adam frowned.
"Yeah. You're just being paranoid." added Leo dismissively.
Seeing how worried Adam was, Aggie put a reassuring hand on his arm, "Why don't I check him out and have Roxy do a background check?" Adam beamed at her, "If you're wrong there's no harm done and if you're right we'll have caught him early."
"Thank you!" He exclaimed, picking her up into a bear hug. Knowing that Aggie wasn't as breakable as they had all originally thought, Adam had become more tactile towards her, much to his family's amusement. Adam, in general, was a very tactile person, which did not pair well with super strength. Even though he had control he was still afraid of accidentally harming someone and thus limited his physical interactions with 'squishies' as he had taken to calling normal people. A saying he had picked up from the Heller sisters, much to Mr. Davenport's frustration, needless to say the man did not like being called 'squishy'.
She laughed and patted his back, "Alright, put me down you big teddy bear."
Adam placed her back on the ground and was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, "So what's our first step?"
"Tell me what you know about him so far." Adam nodded, but it was Bree who answered.
"His name is Alistair and he's from Ireland."
"Did he mention where in Ireland?" Bree and Adam shook their heads making her sigh, "Alright, well, it's a start."
"Okay, let's fire up the media center!" Announced Perry gaining everyone's attention. Perry plugged the TV's power cord into an extension cord, the TV's screen came to life to display the Indian-Head Test Pattern and promptly shorted out not only itself but the school power as well, except for the emergency lights. Perry tried to play it off, "Uh, okay. Alright, just a minor setback. For the record, you all look much better in this light."
"And somehow you look worse." snarked Aggie, gaining laughs from not only the four siblings but a few of the students around them as well.
"I heard that Heller!" growled Perry, before stomping off to her office. Aggie and Leo fist bumped.
Time Jump!
Aggie was with Leo and Chase in the lab working on their homework with their outdated textbooks, or what passed for textbooks by Mission Creek High standards. She pitied Leo's book, the binding was destroyed and what pages still remained were sad and tattered, which hurt a piece of her soul. Unlike her boyfriend she preferred a real book to an electronic copy, sure she had an e-reader, but it was for long missions and allowed her to carry her favorites without losing any baggage space. But when she was home she loved reading from a physical book, the smell and texture made her know that she was home, so seeing books in such disrepair bothered her.
"Leo." Said Chase, breaking the silence of the lab, "Read what's on page 47 of your History book."
Leo gave him an irritated look which made Aggie giggle, "I don't have a page 47." he turned one tattered loose page, "I have a 4…" another page, "A 12…" another page, "A 32…" and then he held up two pages that were stuck together, "... And what I hope is gum on 98." They all cringed in disgust when he pried the two pages apart a little.
"This book is so old. Listen to this…" Chase pointed to a little paragraph in his book, "'Chapter 4, Horseless carriages taking over the streets of America.'"
"Other schools teach on laptops and tablets." groused Leo, "We're reading from textbooks that warn us the British are coming. We need to do something to bring Mission Creek High into the 21st century."
"Ooh. Maybe I can help." Offered Mr. Davenport as he joined the three teens.
"No." Denied Chase and Leo making their father pout,
"What- I am a genius tech Mogul. I could revolutionize your whole school." He frowned, "Why don't you want me to help?"
"Because every time you try to help it starts in a good place, but then your ego takes over and ruin everything." answered Leo.
Mr. Davenport scoffed, "That is not true. Give me one example."
"Last week you gave me a new backpack."
"You said you needed a backpack." He countered,
"A backpack. Not this." He said bending down to retrieve the white monstrosity that depicted a large picture of his father's winking face.
"Well the guys in the office loved theirs." He defended,
Leo gave him a deadpan look, "Trust me. They don't."
"Roxy's got some spray paint, if you want to paint over it." offered Aggie.
Mr. Davenport gasped in horror, grabbed the backpack and cradled it to his chest as if to protect it from her, "You will not paint over such beautiful work." All three rolled their eyes at his antics.
"You don't get it." Started Chase, getting them back on topic, "This is our school you're talking about."
Leo nodded, "Yeah. Whatever disaster you create there will affect us every day."
Mr. Davenport sighed and his expression became serious, "Guys, I promise I won't embarrass you. This is about your school and not me." The boys looked hesitant.
"Well, the school could really use the help." confessed Chase.
"Fine." grumbled Leo, making Mr. Davenport smile, "But you keep that ego under control." He ordered.
Mr. Davenport scoffed, "Don't worry. My ego is officially checked."
*Davenport Davenport someone's trying to call Davenport*
They gave him unimpressed looks when he pulled out his phone, "What?" he asked, "It's catchy."
"No it's really not." Mr. Davenport stuck his tongue out at Aggie before leaving the lab in a huff. "It's a pity he couldn't just make a donation to the school." she mused. Leo's head snapped to look at her so fast she was afraid he gave himself whiplash.
"Why didn't you suggest that?"
She rolled her eyes, "Get real, Leo. All the money would have gone to Perry and the sports teams, like the rest of the schools budget. It's why all the other clubs and classes have to have bake sales and car washes, to raise money."
"I still don't understand how she is still our principal." said Leo.
"Because she knows how to play the game and she's not afraid to fight dirty." she answered.
With Roxy, Adam and Bree
The three teens were in the living room lounging on the couch as Roxy did a background check on Alistair. She had been happy to help alleviate Adams worry, so she had shown up with her laptop and walked both Bree and Adam through how to do a background check, and how to verify whether the information was real or not. After an hour of combing through data Roxy had a verdict, "Well, you'll be happy to know that his name isn't fake and his school records are legit. I've even got a birth certificate, medical records and academic records. He's clean."
"See!" crowed Bree, "He's just a normal boy." She got up off the couch, "Later." She zipped out of the room leaving Adam and Roxy alone.
"Are you sure?" asked Adam, when Roxy frowned, he back peddled, "Not because I don't trust Aggie or your work. It's just-"
"You're worried." She interrupted softly, Adam nodded, "You missed Marcus and it almost cost you your loved ones." She placed a hand over his, "I get it. You're protecting your family. It's good that you're being more aware of the people around you. You saw a similarity and weren't willing to brush it off." She smiled at him, "You're learning."
Adam's smile was strained, seeing this Roxy closed her laptop and got off the couch, "Are you leaving?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Nah. My back's just killing me from sitting on this couch, I could really use a bed right now… And some company?"
Adam smiled, "Always." Together the two headed up to Adam's room and settled in together on the bed. Adam on his back with Roxy cuddled into his side, with one arm under her head, he thanked his bionics for stopping his limb from falling asleep. He was happily surprised when she asked him to cuddle with her the first time, she had looked so cute when she asked with a soft voice and a blush dusting her cheeks, he couldn't say no. Not to mention the fact that he loved to cuddle, Tasha called him a cuddle bug, which he figured was a good thing because she had been smiling when she said it. When he asked Roxy to explain it she had just giggled and told him that it was a good thing and that he should never change, so he had shrugged and gone with it.
He knew that this wasn't strictly normal for… a couple? His face scrunched up in thought, Are we a couple now? I mean… we've kissed, and we cuddle a lot, but we haven't gone on a date or anything. Though that's probably because I haven't asked her. Adam was worried about asking Roxy out, he didn't want to make her feel like he was pushing her into anything. He even contemplated the idea of letting her ask him out, it allowed her to decide when she was ready and saved Adam from feeling hurt if she turned him down.
"You're thinking too much." Mumbled Roxy, startling Adam out of his thoughts.
He chuckled, "I've been accused of a lot of things, but I've never been accused of thinking too much." Roxy poked his side hard, "Ow!"
"Don't talk like that. No ones allowed to talk to you like that, least of all you." she scolded, making him smile. "So what were you thinking about?"
Deciding to just bite the bullet, he answered her honestly, "I was wondering if you'd say yes or no if I asked you out on a date." Adam felt her become stiff and started to panic a little, Shit Shit Shit. He rolled onto his side to face her, "I'm sorry I just-" He was cut off when Roxy kissed him.
Surprised he remained still and when she pulled away she gave him a big smile, "Does that help?" She asked.
He smiled, placing an arm around her waist he pulled her closer against his chest and rested his forehead against hers, "Well, then. Would you like to go on a date with me this Friday?"
She smiled, "Yes." Adam gave her a goofy smile and as she cuddled into his chest to hide her blush he wrapped his arms around her to hug her close. Raisa is going to be so excited.
Time Jump!
Aggie was extra excited the next day as she walked with her sister around the school to inspect the improvements she had helped Mr. Davenport install. Roxy hadn't even been irritated when Mr. Davenport had barged in on her cuddle session with Adam to rope her into helping him with upgrading the High School. Aggie was happy to notice that Adam was also in high spirits when she had seen him earlier, They're both so cute! When she saw her sister frown she became a little worried, "What's wrong?"
Roxy sighed and shook her head, "Leo and Chase are going to be unhappy."
"Why? You and Mr. Davenport upgraded the school, just like they wanted."
"Yeah, but unfortunately I couldn't control Mr. Davenport as much as I thought I could."
Aggie groaned, "Oh, god. What did he do?"
Roxy winced, "You'd better see for yourself." Taking her hand, Roxy led Aggie to the front hall of the school towards Perry's office, though she detoured when she spotted Mr. Davenport, Chase and Leo conversing by Leo's locker.
Leo beamed when he saw the two approaching, "Roxy!" He exclaimed meeting them so that he could hug her. "Thank you so much for helping Big D! It's awesome!"
Roxy returned the hug awkwardly, "Yeah, um, your welcome." Chase and Aggie chuckled at the awkward look on her face making her glare at the couple.
Mr. Davenport looked smug, "See. I told you guys it would be great." The boys' smiles were short lived, when a robot Perry marched out of Perry's office.
"Oh. Now I get it." said Aggie.
Leo's smile was bizarre as he looked the robot over, "Oh, and I see you gave Principal Perry a makeover. I especially love what you did to her face."
Having heard him the robot's head turned to face him, "Zip it Dooley." It ordered.
"That's not Perry." said Mr. Davenport excitedly, "That's Robo-Perry. She's a robot."
"And she's beautiful." declared Perry hugging the robot, which was wearing the exact same pants suit and shirt. Perry kissed the robots cheeks much to their horror.
Leo covered his eyes to protect himself and Aggie covered not only Roxy's, but Chases eyes as well. "Make it stop!" Begged Leo. Chase and Roxy removed Aggie's hands from their faces.
Mr. Davenport frowned at their theatrics, "Anyway, I designed Robo-Perry so she can roam the halls handing out detentions, while-"
"I'm on a three hour luch break." said Perry, laughing, "Or lurking elsewhere."
Chase glared at his dad, "How could you do this?" he demanded, though Mr. Davenport was oblivious to his sons irritation.
"Simple. I, ah, took the foundations of a robot I built for private security. And I repurposed the software. And then of course I matched her vocal pattern. It wasn't easy matching the sounds of a gravel truck unloading with a bear in labor, but I got it."
"I always wanted a super cute twin sister." said Perry, she gasped as an idea struck her, "I'm gonna buy us matching bikinis." She did a pose which the robot mirrored.
"Aggie." said Leo, "Could I borrow a knife so that I can gouge my eyes out."
"Using bleach or lye is faster and there's some in the janitors closet."
"Copy that." Leo turned to leave, in the direction of the janitors closet, but Chase grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
Perry approached Mr. Davenport with her arms open to hug him, "Thanks Don."
Though he blocked her, "Ah-Eh. Yeah, you're welcome." He gave her a thumbs up.
Having reached his boiling point Chase dragged Mr. Davenport and Leo away from the two Perry's with Roxy and Aggie following, "Why would you make another Perry?" He demanded.
Mr. Davenport smiled, "Principal Perry said that if I make her life easier, she's going to name a wing of the school after me. Ha ha."
"You sold us out, just to have your name above a doorway?!" He asked incredulously.
"Once again your ego takes over and ruins everything." added Leo crossing his arms.
Mr. Davenport frowned, "Hey, if my name on this school brings more prestige and funding because I'm so awesome. That's a win-win-win. That's three wins! That's a Daven-win." he smiled an obnoxious smile.
Leo turned to Roxy, "How could you let him do this?!"
Roxy threw her hands up in defeat, "I tried! I'm only one person and I was busy getting everything else set up to babysit him."
Mr. Davenport scoffed, "I don't need a babysitter." he whined crossing his arms petulantly.
"Obviously you do." said Chase. He and Leo walked away, both upset with their dad.
Mr. Davenport looked upset as well and turned to the sisters for an explanation, "I don't understand. Why are they so upset with me?"
"Seriously?" asked Aggie, "Perry makes the entire student body miserable, but she loves picking on all four of your kids the most. And now that there are two of them not only will her bullying be doubled, but now the entire student body will be gunning for Leo and Chase."
Roxy nodded, "They'll be bullied even more than they already are. Leo especially, because he's an easier target then Chase." She turned to Aggie, "I'll go find Adam and Bree, let them know what's going on. They don't get bullied like Leo and Chase, but they should get a heads up."
"And they can keep an eye on Chase and Leo. Thanks." Roxy nodded and headed off to find the siblings, leaving Aggie and Mr. Davenport alone. The man looked a little ill, "We need to talk." She easily dragged the man outside and sat him down at one of the lunch tables.
"Are Chase and Leo really being bullied?" He asked, she almost felt bad at his sad tone. Almost.
"Yes, and you just made it worse." he flinched, but she didn't stop, "In one fatal swoop, you empowered their most tenacious bully, turned the entire school against them and proved to them that you will always put your wants ahead of their needs."
"I would never-"
"You just did." She cut him off, "All because you wanted your name above a door that no one, least of all the students, will pay attention to. Now before I start laying into you, I would like to know why?"
He looked a little lost, "I just wanted them to be proud that I'm their dad. Even if I'm not their real dad."
Aggie's face softened at hearing his vulnerable tone and took a seat next to him, "You are their dad. You raised them, not Douglas."
He scoffed, "They call me, Mr. Davenport and Leo even calls me Big D."
"I asked Chase about that once." She said, catching his attention, "Would you like to know what he said?" He nodded, "They call you Mr. Davenport because you never told them not to." his eyes widened,
"That's it?" He asked in surprise.
She nodded, "Yeah. As far as they're concerned, you're their father, not Douglas. Remember what Adam called him when we brought him back to the lab?"
"'Evil Uncle Daddy'." He quoted,
She nodded, "Yeah. And when Chase made the deal in the Arctic to bring Douglas back to the lab he refused to call him Dad, even though he was tricking him into believing he was on his side." his eyes became a little misty at that, "Although, considering you just made them social pariahs I think their bemoaning that fact right now." She patted his back, "All actions have consequences. Especially selfish ones. So you need to make up for it, and getting rid of that monstrosity is a great first step." He nodded, so she got up, "Well, I have to get to class. Take my advice, get rid of that thing before Adam kills one of the jocks. Or Spike does." Davenport's eyes widened as she walked back to the school entrance, her cackles trailing behind her.
Earlier With Roxy, Adam, and Bree
Roxy tracked Adam and Bree to the gym where they were having P.E. Adam spotted her first. He jogged over with a big smile, "Hey, Rox'." he greeted, bending down to kiss her cheek which became pink, much to his pleasure, "What are you doing here?" He frowned when her face became sad, he gently took a hold of her elbow and led her to a quieter part of the gym, "What's wrong?" He asked.
"It's about Chase and Leo."
He tensed, "Are they okay?"
She shook her head, "Your dad done fucked up." His eyebrows hit his hairline, Roxy only swore when she was scared.
"What did he do now?"
"He made a robot version of Perry." Adam paled, "Yeah. And the students know that it was Chase and Leo who convinced your dad to upgrade the school, and that he made Robo-Perry. So everyone is going to go out of their way to be mean to them as well as you and Bree, but I'm really worried about Chase and Leo because they are already being bullied and it's been really hard on Leo and I don't want-"
"Woah, hey. Take a deep breath." He interrupted her word barf, and pulled her into a hug to help calm her down.
Roxy clutched his gym shirt and tried to match his breathing, which is when Bree spotted them and came over wearing a worried frown seeing how upset Roxy was. "Is she okay?" she asked softly.
"Dad built a Robo-Perry."
Bree looked confused, "Why is she upset about that? She doesn't doesn't have to deal with that."
"Because people are going to blame you guys and they are going to torment Chase and Leo because they were the ones who convinced your dad to upgrade the school." said Roxy lifting her head from Adam's chest.
Bree winced, "Yeah, okay, that's bad." She met Adam's eyes, "We'll keep an eye on Leo. Aggie can handle anyone who tries to mess with Chase." Adam nodded, he and Bree could keep the other students from taking their frustration out on Leo, "Don't worry Roxy, we got this."
He looked down at Roxy with a reassuring smile, "See. Problem solved. There's nothing to worry about. Okay?"
"Okay." she said softly, making the siblings smile. "I'm sorry for interrupting your class with my little freak out."
Bree shrugged, "It's fine. I think it's sweet that you care so much about us." said Bree, Roxy smiled at the compliment.
"Thanks. I'm here all day though." She said surprising them, "Your dad and I or overseeing the installment of the fingerprint scanners for the lockers." She explained.
"Cool. That means you can join us for lunch." said Adam.
Roxy nodded, "Definitely." She kissed Adam's cheek before she left to track down Mr. Davenport. So she missed Bree poking fun at her brother for the goofy grin that was on his face.
Time Jump!
Aggie, Roxy, Leo and the Trio were eating lunch in the entry hall on the center bench when Robo-Perry marched by dragging along a male student. It was day three of Robo-Perry's reign of terror, much to Aggie's irritation. She, along with Adam and Bree, had been on protective detail, non-stop, which she was very grateful for when Trent and a few of the jocks tried to corner Leo in the locker room. Thankfully Adam had been there to scare them off before they could do anything, but it had taken both Adam and Spike to stop Aggie from crippling the idiots. After that Roxy elected to be at the school until either Mr. Davenport decommissioned Robo-Perry or it was destroyed by a mob created by Aggie.
"Keep it up Chip Barker and you will be in detention forever you..." Robo-Perry stopped, "Searching database for insult… Mouth Breather." She started dragging Chip away again, Chip glared at Chase and Leo as he was dragged past the group. Aggie and Bree glared right back.
Chase frowned, "Great. Everybody at school hates us." He bemoaned, Aggie rubbed his shoulder from her spot behind him. She was sitting on the flat top of the circular bench next to Adam, with Chase between her legs. Bree was situated behind Adam and Aggie, While Roxy was between Adam's legs and Leo was between Chase and Roxy.
"Yeah. But now it's high-tech hate." grumbled Leo. Roxy nudged his shoulder with hers in a show of support.
Which is how Mr. Davenport found them, "Hey, how come you guys aren't eating in the cafeteria?" He asked.
"Funny thing. When your dad creates an even worse version of the worst principal ever, kids tend to turn on you." Chase went to take a bite of his banana until it was rudely slapped out of his hand by a passing student. Aggie growled and made to get up and go after the student, but was held back by Bree and Adam.
Davenport frowned, "Look don't worry. Everything is going to be fine, I'm going to convince Perry to get rid of Robbo-Perry."
Leo and the Trio looked at their father in shock, while Aggie and Roxy beamed, "Who are you and what have you done with our self obsessed dad?" Demanded Bree. Aggie saw the spark in Mr. Davenport's eye when Bree said dad.
"Maybe he hit his head and has a concussion. Bree you should run him to the hospital." advised Leo.
Bree nodded and started to get up, "I didn't hit my head and I don't need to go to the hospital." Denied Davenport, feeling a little sad to know that his kids thought that the only way he would help them would be if he sustained a head injury. "I messed up." He admitted further shocking his children, "I promised you that I could keep my ego in check and I broke that promise. So I'm going to convince Perry to get rid of Robo-Perry."
"Really?" asked Adam hopefully.
"Do not play with me." Threatened Leo.
"Why did you wait three days?" asked Chase suspiciously. Normally Aggie would be proud of her boyfriend for being cautious, but hearing how guarded his voice was rubbed her the wrong way.
Mr. Davenport noticed his son's tone as well, "I've been trying to butter Perry up so that I can convince her to get rid of Robo-Perry." He explained, "I don't know if you've noticed, but she isn't a reasonable human being, and she is really attached to that thing. I mean-"
"Donny D!" Shouted Perry in greeting. The six teens saw Mr. Davenport grimace before plastering on a fake smile and turning to greet the principal.
"Principal P." He greeted. The two then engaged in a 'secret' handshake, much to the six teens' horror. Yet again Aggie covered Chase's eyes, but this time Roxy covered Leo's, Adam covered Roxy's and Bree covered Adam's.
When they finished the teens removed their hands and Leo shook his head, "Old people. You don't think you are, but you are." The other teens nodded their heads in agreement.
Mr. Davenport glared at his son, while Principal Perry just seemed giddy, "You are a genius." She praised.
The man smirked, "And you are a master of the obvious." the two adults shared a laugh, though Mr. Davenport's sounded forced.
"Robo-Perry is amazing." She gushed, "I know it's only been a few days, but…" She took a deep breath, "Do you smell that?" she asked.
Both Aggie and Chase sniffed the air, "Moist cat food." Sassed Chase, making the others snicker, Mr. Davenport hid his, while Perry glared.
"I was running late. I grabbed a can. I thought it was tuna. Live with it." she ordered. They all leaned away from her when her breath wafted over them, Chase and Aggie went for their vials, since they could smell it more than anyone else. "Fear." gushed Perry, "It's fear and it's everywhere. It's the best smell in the world."
"She's not wrong." agreed Aggie, only to receive a pinch from Bree for her comment.
"I prefer crisply minted hundreds, but whatever floats your boat Perry Bomb." said Davenport patting Perry's arm.
Perry smiled, "Listen, I was telling the superintendent how wonderful Robo-Perry is and he's bringing the entire school board by this afternoon to check her out. Soon, if we're lucky there will be a Robo-Perry in every school in the district. And after that every school in America." The six teens felt dread pool in their stomachs and Mr. Davenport choked on his own spit.
Perry thumped him on the back to clear his airways, "Great now kids who we've never met will hate us." snarked Leo
Recovering his breath Mr. Davenport tried to fix the situation, "Y- You know that's probably not a good idea." Perry frowned, "You know Robo-Perry still has a few glitches that I should-"
"I haven't seen them." countered Perry, "She's been nothing but perfect. Like me."
Mr. Davenport frowned, "Well, I built it so, I would know if something was wrong with it."
"Well, why don't we go and discuss this in my office? I think a lot more clearly in my butt massaging chair." All the teens grimaced in disgust.
Mr. Davenport's face went blank, "I'm sorry. I blacked out after the word chair." With a shudder Mr. Davenport followed Perry into her office.
"Okay. I think we can all agree that if he pulls this off he deserves a medal for putting up with… that for three days." said Bree.
"And if he doesn't we're locking him out of the lab for a week." Added Chase, they all nodded and Roxy shuddered. A genius being banned from their 'workshop' was painful. Chase perked up, "Wait. If Robo-Perry glitches in front of the school board then they'd have to make Perry get rid of it."
"So we need to make her glitch." said Bree following her brother's logic.
"Shouldn't we wait for your dad?" asked Roxy, "Maybe he'll convince Perry to get rid of it."
The Trio and Leo shared a look, "Nah."
Time Jump!
Following Roxy's advice, Leo and Chase skipped class so that they could get access to Robo-Perry while she was charging. Not wanting to leave them without backup Roxy decided to go with them, since she was not a student she could go wherever she wanted. She had initially wanted to be the one to tweak Robo-Perry's code, but Chase and Leo wanted to be the ones to mess with Robo-Perry, so she agreed to be their backup.
Roxy and Chase were waiting for Leo to give them the all clear before heading down the stairs to the first floor where Robo-Perry was charging. Leo appeared at the foot of the stairs and beckoned for them to join him, "Okay. Coast is clear."
Chase nodded, "I just need to find out where Mr. Davenport put her control panel." The three approached the robot slowly and Chase started his scan. When he found the panel he grimaced, "Hundreds. Hundreds of places to choose from and he puts it…" Chase lifted the robots left arm and pointed to the right side of Robo-Perry's 'ribcage', "...There."
Roxy rolled her eyes, "She doesn't sweat she's a robot. Just hurry up. I'd rather not have to explain to the real Perry why we're messing with her twin."
"Good point." agreed Chase, "Leo, help me move her clothes so I can get access to the control panel."
Now it was Leo's turn to grimace, "Yeah, I'ma pass on that. I don't like looking at Perry when she has clothes on and I don't care if this is just a robot version of her, I don't wanna see what she's hiding."
"Oh, for the love of- I'll do it." grumbled Roxy, marching over she helped get the robotic arm out of the blazer sleeve, then untucked the shirt to lift it and reveal the panel.
Using the tools Roxy lent him Chase quickly made a change to Robo-Perry's coding and when he finished he helped Roxy fix the shirt and blazer so that nothing looked out of place. "There we go." He said as he and Roxy took a step back, "Instead of seeing Robo-Perry patrolling the halls, the school board will see this." Chase unplugged Robo-Perry causing it to sand up, then, to Roxy and Leo's surprise, began to dance. Feeling accomplished Leo and Chase joined Robo-Perry with their own dance moves, Roxy started giggling at how ridiculous the boys looked, but her attention was soon grabbed by Mr. Davenport who was looking at the dancing Robo-Perry with wide, horror filled eyes.
"Ah!" cried out Mr. Davenport, catching Leo and Chases attention, "What did you guys do to her?!" he demanded.
"Tapped into her control panel and adjusting her settings." explained Chase, "Now she'll glitch in front of the school board and then Perry will have no choice but to get rid of Robo-Perry."
Mr. Davenport frowned, "I told you I would get Perry to get rid of it." He wouldn't lie, he was hurt to know that they didn't trust him to fix his mistake.
"Did you?" asked Leo.
Mr. Davenport shook his head, but then he realized something, "Wait. Did you say you adjusted her settings?" Chase nodded with a smug smile which made Mr. Davenport pale, which worried Roxy. "No, no, no. Robo-Perry's original programming was for military patrol." He explained making Roxy pale as the pieces fell into place, "If any unauthorized users tamper with it, it resets to its factory default." Chase and Leo didn't get, "So reset her date and time. Big deal."
Mr. Davenport glared at his son's, "The factory default is search and destroy!" He seethed, Leo and Chase's eyes went wide with understanding. Roxy pulled out her phone and set a text to her sister requesting backup and to bring Adam and Bree. "Now it's locked in and I can't stop it." Robo-Perry turned to face the four with red eyes.
"Threat detected. Destroy." It declared grabbing Mr. Davenport and throwing him into a wall of lockers.
"Ah!" The three rushed around the robot to make sure Mr. Davenport was alright. Leo and Chase helped him onto his feet, and Roxy did a quick check to make sure nothing was broken and he didn't have a concussion.
Meanwhile Robo-Perry went in search of another threat, which turned out to be a recycling bin, "Out of my way. Space waster." It grabbed the bin and tossed it aside.
"We need to stop her before she destroys the whole school." said Mr. Davenport.
"Or hurts a student." added Roxy.
Coming up with a plan Chase's face became determined, "I think we can divert her attention and lure her into an empty classroom." He explained, indicating to the open door, "We just need some bait." Chase and Mr. Davenport turned to Leo, making Roxy frown and shake her head.
"No." She protested, "No. Absolutely not. He can't handle the real Perry, let alone a military grade, robotic version of her."
Leo frowned, "I can do it!" He said.
Roxy glared, "You aren't even a hundred pounds when you are soaking wet." When he opened his mouth to argue she shook her head, "You are not going anywhere near that thing if I can help it." Leo nodded at her harsh tone. Her eyes zeroed in on Chase, his eyes widened and he shook his head, frantically and he felt a shudder when her grin resembled Aggie's. "You're the only one here who is bionic and it's your plan."
Mr. Davenport nodded, "She has a point."
Chase groaned, "Fine. I'll do it." Squaring his shoulders he walked cautiously towards the hunting robot, "Hey, Robo-Perry!" he called gaining the robots attention, when it turned to face him he glared, "You're mother's a vacuum cleaner!" he mocked and stuck his tongue out at the robot. When the robot charged at him, he flipped over it and bolted for the open classroom door, with Robo-Perry hot on his heels. Mr. Davenport, Leo and Roxy ran for the door as they heard crashes, and when Chase flew out the door Roxy and Leo rushed forward to pull it closed. They braced themselves against the door to stop Robo-Perry from getting out, though they, along with the door, were rattled when it banged against the door to get out.
"Wow. I am really glad I installed those security cameras, cause Aggie's gonna be upset she missed that." said Roxy.
"What did I miss?" asked Aggie as she, Bree and Adam descended the stairs. Adam immediately moved to the rattling door to replace Roxy and Leo, both sagged in relief when he did, they were not built to be effective human barricades.
"What did you guys do?" demanded Bree, she was eyeing the door Adam was keeping from being knocked down, she did not like the sounds of destruction coming from it.
"Well… the good news is I got her to glitch." said Chase slowly with an awkward smile, Bree and Aggie wore matching unimpressed looks, with their hips cocked, their arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. Oh, god she's been giving Bree lessons. "The bad news is that by doing so I reset her to her factory settings which as it turns out is Search and Destroy… Oops?"
Aggie's mouth was set in a grim line, "And why, may I ask, is Robo-Perry's default command Search and Destroy?"
"Because Robo-perry is a repurposed robot I built for the military." explained Mr. Davenport and he winced at the matching looks of anger on the two girls faces.
"Let me get this straight, you put a robot built for military purposes in a building surrounded by innocent teenagers?" demanded Bree, making her father flinch.
"Yes?" He offered.
Bree rolled her eyes, "Men are idiots." she bemoaned.
"Amen." Roxy, Aggie and Bree looked to Leo in surprise. Seeing their looks Leo shrugged, "What? You're not wrong." he defended, he had been raised by a single mother because his bio dad couldn't handle having a kid. His mom was a badass, who raised a kid single handedly without giving up her career. "Even if what you're saying is technically sexist."
Aggie nodded, "Good point."
"Okay, does anybody have any ideas of how we're going to get rid of the murder bot?" asked Adam, "Cause this door is starting to crack."
Before anyone could say anything Mr. davenport spotted a group of people being led by Perry coming through the entrance, "Oh, great. The school board."
"This demonstration will show that Mission Creek High is the school of the future." Perry declared walking in front of the school board like a preening peacock. Spotting Mr. Davenport Perry smiled, "And there's the man who is 30% responsible for it, Donal Davenport."
Plastering on his CEO smile Mr. Davenport approached the group, "Principal Perry." He greeted.
"What's the word Donny bird?" she fired back making finger guns. She looked around and frowned when she didn't see her robot, "Uh, where's Robo-Me?" she asked.
Seeing an opportunity Mr. Davenport pounced, "Well, remember those glitches I warned you about?" He asked, he internally fist bumped when a loud violent crash came from the door Adam was blocking, causing the members of the school board turned to it with wide, scared eyes, "Well, they've started to… let's say act up." He shook his head and came closer to the principal making it look like he was trying to keep what he was saying between himself and Perry, but made sure that the school board could hear him, "I told you that Robo-Perry wasn't ready yet." The six teens were smiling proudly at what Mr. Davenport was doing, especially the Trio and Leo.
Perry's face scrunched in confusion, "What are you talking about? You never-"
At that moment Robo-Perry tore the door off its hinges and tossed it into another part of the classroom. Adam jumped away from the door, as his siblings and the Heller sisters moved to the side and got between them and the rampaging robot.
"There she is." growed Perry, completely ignoring the fact that the robot had just destroyed school property in front of the school board. "Come give your sissy a kissy." She cooed.
"Threat detected." said Robo-Perry.
Perry scoffed, "Threat? I'm no threat. What are you talking about?" She asked in confusion.
"Destroy." declared Robo-Perry advancing on Principal Perry with its arms outstretched in front of it.
"Destroy me? Oh, honey many have tried. I don't think-" Perry was cut off when Robo-Perry grabbed her shoulders and the two began to grapple. Perry managed to throw the robot off and glared at it, "Alright. I don't know what's going on, but you are going down metal me."
"No. You are going down fleshy me." declared the robot and the two engaged each other again.
Leo was positively giddy, "Well, we're not getting much of an education, but where else can you see this?"
Aggie nudged Mr. Davenport gaining his attention, "This would be a good time to get the School Board away from the killer robot and show them the upgrades you made to the school."
Mr. Davenport nodded and turned to the School Board members, who's eyes were locked on the battle happening between their principal and what they thought was a great improvement to the school. Mr. Davenport was happy when Roxy came up to flank him as he began to address the group of adults, "Gentleman. Ladies. This is my associate, Miss Roxy Heller." He introduced, "She worked with me to install the various upgrades to Mission Creek High, and will be showing you the various upgrades we've installed."
One member pointed shakingly at the battling principal, "But- But what about-"
"No need to worry about that. Principal Perry can handle it." Dismissed Roxy as she shuffled the group up the stairs, "Why don't we start with the upgraded computer lab?" She offered.
Mr. Davenport stayed behind and turned to his kids and Aggie, "Mr. Davenport, how are we going to stop Robo-Perry?" asked Chase.
Mr. Davenport's face became grim, "We don't have a choice. You're going to have to use your bionics." the teens frowned.
"You want us to expose ourselves in front of Principal Perry?" demanded Chase.
Adam winced, "Poor choice of words little brother." Chase rolled his eyes.
"Look we have to do something." he argued, "Or else Robo-Perry's going to destroy the entire school." The three hesitated.
"It's your robot. You designed it." Pointed out Aggie. The last thing she wanted was for Perry to know the Davenport family's secret. That would not bode well for anyone, "Can't you just shut it down?"
Mr. Davenport shook his head, "The only way to change the code is with direct access. You can't hack into it. That was one of my selling points." He boasted. Aggie slapped the back of his head, "Ow." he complained, rubbing the spot.
"Focus." She ordered, "You're a genius come up w-" She was cut off by Perry yelling as the robot threw her into a wall of lockers. The robot turned to face the group of six, the trio got into fighting stances and braced themselves for a fight, Leo and Mr. Davenport moved out of the 'splash zone', while Aggie slunk around the edge of the room to get behind the robot to act as support. She pulled a push dagger out of her boot and settled it into her left fist. She wouldn't be able to pierce the metal 'skin' of the robot, but she could damage it's unprotected eyes.
Though it was unnecessary when Perry got up from where she had been thrown into the lockers and charged the robot with a warcry. She clotheslined Robo-Perry, bringing the two of them to the ground and in a true show of how unstable the woman was she proceeded to rip the robots head off and getting off the ground held it up in a show of victory. "There can be only one!" She declared.
"Still one too many." Mumbled Leo, gaining nods of agreement from his family and Aggie. Feeling exhausted, Perry, with Robo-Perry head in hand, retreated to her office, not caring about the school board right now. Chase raised an eyebrow at the blade in his girlfriend's hand, he knew that she preferred her Karambits when it came to close quarter fighting, so he was curious to know why she hadn't pulled them. Understanding his unspoken question she returned to the group, "A push dagger is better for attacking a face." She explained, "A long curved blade like my Karambit's would take more effort and time than I had to do the damage needed to slow Robo-Perry down."
"You were going to stab her in the face?" asked Leo
"The eyes to be specific." She answered, "I clocked them as a point of weakness. Joints would be too, but I don't know where they are on Robo-Perry so the eyes were the best bet at getting us an edge."
Leo eyed her, "Have I ever told you how terrifying you can be?" asked Leo.
She smiled feral, "No, but it would be nice to hear every now and then."
End of Chapter 18