March 8th Mission Creek High School (Maddie's POV)-
"Hey, did you guys know we had a study abroad program?" Bree asked.
"Why would I go to another country to do something I don't do here?" Adam made a good point.
"Look, it says you get to spend a whole semester at a high school in Australia. And guess what? I applied." Bree was basically bouncing in excitement.
"Cool! Kelly Porter went last year. She got sucker punched by a kangaroo." Leo said.
"That's what happened? I thought she got hit by an emu." I said as I continued to grab items from my locker and Chase stood beside me taking them from my arms. "You know I can hold my own books right?"
"Yeah but it's also part of my job." He smiled.
"And what job is that?" I closed my locker and we moved back to join everyone.
"To be the best boyfriend to the most gorgeous girl ever." That cheesy line earned him a peck. "Oh and Bree, I hate to be a wet blanket-"
"No, you don't." Leo rolled his eyes.
"But Mr. Davenport is never gonna let you do this. You can't go on missions if you're halfway across the world." Chase explained, I could feel the heat of Bree's glare since Chase kept his arm around my waist.
"Well, sure I can. I mean, I haven't figured out all the details yet, but there's gotta be a way to make it work." Bree said hopefully.
"Not unless these two can unlock a new ability to make up for you not being here." Leo provided.
"Ooh! Well, maybe I can unlock an ability where I disappear and reappear somewhere else. Let me try." Adam did a squat and grunted loudly. "Did it work?"
"You didn't do it long enough. Try it again, this time, more grunting." Chase said and Adam made the same sound and motion and Chase pulled us all behind him.
He turned around and found us behind him believing that he actually teleported.
Tompkins house (Maddie's POV)-
"It's official." I said as I walked in to find Alex on the couch.
"What?! Please don't tell me you're pregnant!" He jumped up knocking a few this with him.
"What?! No! Oh my Gosh no!" I was blushing madly at this point. "I meant me applying to college. You really think Chase and I would be that dumb?"
"Hey I don't know what you guys do in that house all day? But congrats on applying. I know that wasn't the easiest."
"We should be hearing back in the next few months but for now I'm not gonna worry about it so much. Who knows where I'll get in.
"So what's the plan today? You gonna spend time with that boyfriend of yours?" Alex laughed.
"Nah. It's my day off and I haven't spent that much time with you lately."
"The Maddison Munchkin Tompkins actually wants to spend time with little old me?! What an honor!" He loved to use this really crappy old British voice to tease me cause he knew I would laugh every time.
"Shut up you dork." It would've sounded a lot meaner if I wasn't still laughing. "And my middle name is definitely not munchkin."
"You sure about that?" He asked.
"You want to go skateboarding? We haven't been in awhile. Ooo and we can get food too!" I asked.
"Sounds fun Jumpy. Just let me finish my assignment then we can go." I got up and ruffled my brother's hair as I passed by and fled to my room before he could argue.
Davenport House (Bree's POV)-
"Guess who just got invited to the Panic Inferno concert tonight?" I couldn't believe my luck.
"Ooh! Brendan Delaney?" Who was Adam even talking about?
"Me! Caitlin doesn't want to go alone because she's totally devastated."
"Why is she devastated?" Chase asked as he looked up from his pile of textbooks.
"Her boyfriend dumped her! Isn't that awesome?! Whoo!" I explained.
"What kind of guy would date Kaitlyn though?" Adam asked and Chase chuckled.
Mr. Davenport had joined us and I have been waiting for his approval to go to the concert all day. "Bree, I'm sorry, but you can't go. I have to extract your bionic chips tonight for a critical performance modification."
"Can't we do that tomorrow?" I pleaded. This could not be happening.
"No. I'm gone all day with a new product launch. Look, I wish I could go to the concert, too. You know I get the whole rock and roll thing!" He explained and we all cringed at his slang.
"Uh, people who get the rock and roll thing don't say, "I get the rock and roll thing." Besides, you could just have Maddie run Bree's modification tomorrow." Chase provided.
"Yeah you make a good point. Alright Bree you can go but I expect you to be back by ten thirty." He said.
"Oh my gosh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I pulled Mr. Davenport in for a big hug.
March 9th Davenport Lab (Maddie's POV)-
Bree needs to explain to me why I had to wake up at five a.m. to run the eight hour long process of modifying her chip. I stormed into the lab and went straight to her capsule. I banged on the bang till she woke up then moved to the desk to grab the supplies I would need.
"What the heck was that?" She asked as she stumbled out from her capsule.
"Look, because of you, I had to wake up at five a.m. The modification's gonna take all day. Now go get in your capsule so I can extract your chip." I explained without giving her one look.
"Ugh, fine." I felt the breeze as she sped off to her capsule.
"Would you please explain why I had to come here to do this?" I was activating the neck brace lick scanner.
"I wanted to go to a concert last night which meant missing out on the modification but we realized if you did it I'd still be able to go. I'm sorry you had to wake up so early but it was so worth it." Bree said, I couldn't help but smile.
"It was so incredible to go out and be on my own for once." She stepped out of her capsule and passed me her chip. "You get to do stuff like that all the time though, right?"
"Sometimes it is. But even if I'm not bionic you guys are still my family and I'd choose to stay here." I grabbed the chip modification unit and started running the program.
"Yeah but you still have a choice. All I want is a little control over what I do." Bree sat beside me and I couldn't help taking a glance at Chase. She was right, I did have space to make choices for myself. But the hard part with that is those choices can affect others.
"Yeah, well, you're part of a team. The choices that you make heavily impact others." I was trying to pull Bree away from the decision she looked like she wanted to make.
"So that means I have to give up my entire life because of it?" She asked, becoming more angry.
"No, but-" She grabbed a large metal tool I had beside me.
"Well, if being bionic is going to stop me from having the life that I want...I don't wanna be bionic anymore." Bree couldn't know the impact of what she was doing.
"Bree, you don't know what you're doing!" I warned.
"I do. I'm getting my freedom." Bree smashed her chip with the tool repeatedly and destroyed it completely.
"Bree, no! What did you do?!" I was in shock as my mind tried to piece together what just happened. I didn't even know what to to so I ran to get Mr. Davenport and he went to talk to Bree. "Is there anything we can do to fix this?" I asked as he came back upstairs.
"No. If she doesn't want her bionic abilities, she's off the team." He said solemnly before heading back to his room.
. . .
Since I was already dressed I just decided to stay for the day and start work early. I went down to the lab and cleaned up what was left of Bree's chip, put all the tools away, and headed to my workspace to start the mountain of paperwork I had from Davenport's product launch. As I worked I could hear people moving around the lab and getting started for the day.
I looked up to see my boyfriend knocking at my door before I called him in. "Hey what are you doing here so early? Not that I mind it." He smiled sleepily and wrapped his arms around me from behind.
"I was here to do Bree's chip modification but she destroyed it." He tensed when I dropped the bomb. We had told Leo earlier when he came down to the lab but Adam and Chase didn't know yet.
"She destroyed her chip?" He asked in shock.
"Yep. She said it was the thing that held her back from having control over her life." I explained.
"I can understand that part. I mean it's not like we were ever given a choice to be bionic." I thought for a minute before continuing. "But I wouldn't give it up cause then we might have not met. I couldn't have that."
I could feel the heat in my cheeks and even though what he said was really sweet it still hurt a bit not knowing how we met. "Don't be so cheesy." I teased.
"Hey you know our anniversary is coming up?" He asked.
"Really what day?" I asked and felt embarrassed to ask.
"The eighteenth and don't be embarrassed you had a reason not to remember." He kissed me on the forehead before taking his leave and allowing me to focus on my work.
. . .
Leo and I had been left in the lab alone to work, we worked in silence. For a while the only sound would be me filling in forms and every once and a while Leo would hurt himself and exclaim. The silence was broken when Bree came from the elevator.
"Leo, I just had the most awesome day. Now that I don't have bionics, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want." I couldn't see but I could hear her.
"Kinda busy. Can I get a rain check on caring?" Leo replied no doubt not looking up from his work.
She ignored his protest and kept talking. "I just finally know what it feels like to be normal. This morning I was supposed to meet Caitlin. I was an hour late. She's not talking to me. It's awesome!"
"It's a little bit early to cash in that rain check." Leo added. The elevator sounded once again.
"Hey, Leo, did you tell me to keep your mom here or let her go out?" Adam asked.
"Keep her here!" Leo said with panic.
"Ah! Could've gone either way." Adam laughed and Leo ran out the room probably towards his mom.
"Heads up. I just got a mission alert." Davenport knocked on my wall to let me know to join them. "There's a five-alarm fire at a chemical plant and the response team can't control it. Suit up. We have to get ahead of this thing before it spreads. Chase, you're gonna scan satellite images and try to pinpoint anyone who's trapped. Adam, you'll knock down the compound wall and rescue them." He commanded.
"Me?" He put on sunglasses and a leather jacket. "I'll come along with you guys and try to help any way I can."
"Yeah, you can come on the mission, but not dressed like that." Chase said and I almost laughed.
"Yeah. The fire's already a tragedy, don't make it worse." Adam added.
"Just go!" Adam and Chase ran out grabbing their gear for the mission.
"You need me to come?" I asked.
"No Maddie. You just finished healing. I'm not risking you getting hurt again." He said. I could see the worry in his eyes so I didn't try to fight it.
"Well, what can I do?" Bree asked.
"Nothing. You're not on the team anymore." Davenport said coldly before running out as well.
. . .
It had been a few hours now and we still hadn't heard anything back. I was still keeping track of Chase and Adam's vitals from their suits but I had no way of tracking Davenport. Bree had been pacing the entire time. I know she was nervous but that's what it's like on this side of missions. Watching your loved ones run off into danger isn't the most fun thing to do.
"Is this normal?" She asked me hardly above a whisper.
"Sometimes. Some missions can take a few minutes and some take hours without any contact. It's hard but you get used to it." Davenport came in and the two of us stood up. He was covered in soot so I grabbed a couple of rags and put some water in them to help the guys clean up.
"You're back! Where are Adam and Chase?" Bree said happily.
"They're putting their gear away." Davenport looked exhausted and was acting distant. Sometimes missions did that to people, Bree just hasn't seen this side of it before.
"Oh, well, I mean, I was starting to get worried. I mean, you guys were gone forever. Let me guess, Adam tried to transport you home by closing his eyes and grunting?" She laughed trying to relieve some of his tension but that made it worse.
"Actually, Adam was quite helpful." I gave Davenport a wet rag as he passed by me to the elevator and he nodded in thanks. Adam and Chase came in covered in soot as well.
"Hey, guys. How was the mission?" Bree asked hopefully.
"Oh, it was terrible. You know, I was thinking about having my next birthday at a chemical plant, but now I just- I just don't know." Adam mourned the decision.
"We rescued everyone, but the mission took twice as long. Adam and I barely made it out alive." Chase said solemnly. I never really shared it but there is always one small part of me deep down that is terrified when Chase goes on missions. I was glad to have him safe in front of me but I know he was just as exhausted as Davenport.
"Yeah, and in case you're wondering, heat vision does not put out fires." Adam said seriously, but I could tell he was trying to relieve some of the tension between his siblings.
"Oh, well, I mean I'm sure it would've been just as dangerous if I had been there." Bree tried.
"No. If you had been there, your super speed would've created a vortex and put out the fire instantly. Congratulations, Bree. I hope that being normal is worth it." Chase said coldly. I dragged him to my work space and threw the other rag I had at Adam.
I pushed him to sit on the desk and stood between his legs as I cleaned the soot off of his face.
"You don't have to do this, Madds." He said in a low voice.
"I want to." Just as I finished I placed the rag down and grabbed his face giving him a slow and soft kiss. "You're not hurt are you?"
"I might be a bit sore tomorrow but I'll be alright." He smiled before kissing me once again.
Davenport Lab (Bree's POV)-
"You can probably guess why I'm here." I said to Adam and Chase.
"Chase and I didn't make it out of the fire and we're ghosts?!" Adam panicked.
"I owe you an apology." I needed to do this.
"Yeah, well, you should've apologized when we were alive!" Adam exclaimed.
"Look, I just wanted some freedom from being bionic. I never meant to put you guys in danger." I explained.
"Well, you did." Chase said before trying to step away.
"I know. I was just thinking about me, instead of us. We're a family..." Chase turned back around. "and I was being selfish and I'm really sorry. I want back in."
"Good." Chase smiled.
"Whoa, wait a minute, we gotta vote on it. Hands? I'm looking for a three-fifths majority and someone to calculate it." Adam joked and I could feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders.
"Adam, we don't have to vote." Chase laughed.
"Yeah. Get out! Oh, right, family, family, yadda-yadda, I got it. Bring it in." He said sweetly. I hugged my brothers tightly.
"What's going on?" Mr. Davenport and Maddie came in.
"Mr. Davenport, I messed up, and I'm sorry. I'm ready to be bionic again." I said but watched him hope vanish as his face stayed cold.
"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, but I can't do that." He said solemnly.
"What do you mean? She apologized, and she wants back in." Chase said. Maddie put a hand on Chase's shoulder.
"He didn't create your chip—Douglas did. And now that it's damaged so badly, we can't duplicate it." Maddie explained sadly.
"Wait, what are you saying?" I asked.
"I don't know if you'll ever be bionic again." Mr. Davenport said.
Davenport Lab March 11th (Maddie's POV)-
I was headed down to the lab but was stopped when I saw the food cart.
"Big D's gonna be back any minute. Do something!" Leo said.
"What are you doing? Why is he here?!" I pulled out a blaster when I found Leo in the lab with Douglas.
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" Douglas reacted by reaching for something to protect himself with but ended up grabbing a pair of pliers that Leo had left out.
"Maddie! Chill out! Remember that he saved Chase!" Leo was eating some food but tried moving in front of me.
"I know that. But I also know that we've been dealing with this guy for a while. Even though I don't know what he did I know that my gut is saying not to trust him." I kept my weapon pointed at the scientist.
"What do you mean you don't know what I did?" Douglas asked.
"Look right now he's the only one who can rebuild Bree's chip. I know you don't trust him but I need you to trust me. Please don't shoot him." Leo said carefully.
"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but the minute he tries something I won't hesitate." I somewhat trusted Leo but definitely not more than my instincts.
"You know I'm still here and can hear you, right?" Douglas asked carefully.
"You know that I am not afraid to rip you limb from limb if you try to cross us." I said with a sickly sweet smile.
"Are you sure she's Chase's girlfriend?" Douglas asked Leo as he shuddered.
"I'm honestly not even sure anymore." I rolled my eyes at Leo's comment before taking my spot in his desk chair. "Speaking of wouldn't you rather go hangout with him?"
"I told you I don't trust Douglas and I'm not gonna let him leave my sight." The two got to work and I kept watch.
I watched for hours as they tested and worked through the design, "There. It's as close to the original design as I can get."
For whatever reason Leo kept eating the food from Douglas's cart. "If your microchips are as good as your pita chips, I think we're in good shape."
"Leo, what is he doing here?" Bree asked as she walked into the lab. "And what are you doing with that?"
"It's okay. I brought him. He's the only one who can help you." Leo explained.
I was currently cleaning the barrel of my blaster. "You think I am gonna leave him alone here?"
"Hey I'm here too!" Leo protested.
"I don't know about this." Bree said warily.
"We don't have a choice. Do you wanna be bionic or not?" The chip fabricator dinged.
"Ah, chip's ready if you are." For whatever reason Douglas smelled the chip. "Why does it smell like pepperoni?
"Okay, fine. But this better work. Wait. You're not gonna, like, turn me evil, are you?" Bree asked.
"I already tried. Didn't take." I rolled my eyes at his dryness and kept my finger near the trigger.
"Don't worry, Bree. I think we can trust him. What bad guy makes baba ghanoush this good?" Leo said incredulously.
"That doesn't even mean anything." I groaned.
"Got a really good feeling about this." Douglas smiled as the chip was implanted. "Okay, go ahead. Test it out." Bree sped off, I couldn't believe that things actually seemed to be working.
"Yes! You did it!" Leo cheered, Bree passed through the lab again.
"I can't stop!" She yelled as she continued to run.
"I thought you knew what you were doing!" Leo exclaimed.
"I'm a little rusty, okay?" Douglas shrugged.
"I knew we couldn't trust him." I lifted my blaster and took aim.
"How did he get in here?" Davenport asked as he entered the chaos.
"I let him in. But...before you get mad, you've got to taste this." Leo offered his Douglas's cooking.
"Yeah that's why I didn't trust him to control the situation." I explained.
"Help me!" Bree yelled as she passed through once again.
"I specifically told you not to contact him. How could you betray me?" He exclaimed.
"Hey, in my defense...I'm just a little boy." Leo said in a high pitched voice.
"Oh, lay off the kid. He was just trying to help." Douglas tried. My blaster was still trailed on him though that bad feeling in my gut never left.
"Help her? She's worse off than she was before. I was this close to fixing this." Davenport argued.
"I saw our chip. You were not close." Douglas exclaimed.
"You were not close." Davenport mocked, these were grown men fighting like children.
"Do something!" Bree yelled in passing.
"Bree, do you mind? The adults are trying to have a conversation." I scoffed and both men shot me a glare. I decided it might be better to drop the gun, besides it wasn't the only weapon I had on me. "We're never gonna be able to fix that chip unless we can get Bree to stay in one place."
"Well, how are we supposed to stop someone running at the speed of sound?" Leo proposed.
Douglas snapped, "Spike strip?"
"Ha. Ha. Sure, why not? It worked for Wile E. Coyote." Davenport said sarcastically.
"Help!" Bree brought our attention back.
"Look, maybe we can construct some sort of giant air bag." Davenport added.
"Oh, yeah, 'cause that's not cartoony at all." Douglas replied and I hate to admit he had a point.
"Spike strip- where'd you get that idea, your hair?" Davenport asked dryly.
"Where'd you get the air bag idea- your belly?" How where these the two guys that were gonna save Bree?
"I'll have you know I lost that Christmas weight-" Davenport was cut off by Leo.
"Ballistic gel!" He yelled. I was so distracted by the two brothers I hadn't even begun to think of ideas to stop Bree.
"What?" We asked.
"You know, the gel that forensics labs use to test firearms." He explained.
"That's not a bad idea." Davenport agreed.
"I thought it wasn't a bad idea before you did." Douglas added.
"Spike strip." "Air bag." They mocked.
"I'll call some up from the labs." I said as I rolled my eyes at the two men. The two men didn't stop arguing the whole time that we were getting the ballistic gel set up.
"Okay, it's set. Next time she runs through here, she'll get stuck in there like a rat." Just then Bree ran in and got caught in the block of gel.
"Yes!" Bree said in relief as her legs twitched to keep running.
"It worked!" Leo cheered.
"I know, I'm a genius." Both men grinned. They tried again whispering this time. "I'm a genius."
. . .
We were somehow able to move Bree from the ballistic gel and into a hanging harness. Leo and I were keeping track of her vitals as she continued to run in place.
"Can someone please do something!?" Bree groaned.
"Her heart rate's at 200 and rising, and while I'm not a doctor, I feel that's unsafe." Leo said and I smacked him over the head for the understatement.
"Right now Bree is overusing her bionic infrastructure, it's causing a strain on her heart. If you don't fix it soon she could go into cardiac rest." I explained.
"This is all your fault! You overloaded her chip!" Davenport said, blaming Douglas.
"My fault? It was your chip I was trying to fix, which was flawed, much like your original nose." Douglas fought.
"Get...this chip...out of me!" Bree screamed in pain.
"We can't remove your chip while your bionics are in use, but we can program it wirelessly with this." Davenport explained
"Hurry, she's redlining! If we don't do something, her heart could-" Leo warned.
"My heart could what?!" Bree exclaimed.
"What's another word for 'explode'?" Leo asked me.
"Just hurry up and fix her chip." I said to the scientists.
"I'll enable a diagnostic app that will help us isolate problem areas in the code." Davenport explained.
"We don't have time for that." Douglas shoved Davenport away from the keyboard. "I'll fix the code."
Davenport pushed back. "Oh, you've fixed enough, I've got it."
"Oh no, what's wrong with her head?!" Douglas exclaimed looking at Davenport. The to brothers began to fight.
"Stop! We're running out of time!" I exclaimed.
"Wait... This line of code hasn't been debugged!" Douglas observed.
"That's why her neural array keeps re-indexing." Davenport continued.
"What does that mean?!" Leo asked, completely lost.
"It means they finally grew up and did their jobs." I sat down in the desk chair and finally relaxed.
"Yes! Her heart rate's going down. It's headed for normal." Davenport said with relief.
"Yay..!" Bree cheered with exhaustion. "I wish my heart exploded before I saw that."
Davenport House (Maddie's POV)-
"Hey, guys, guess what?" Leo asked as the three of us found Adam and Chase upstairs.
Bree superspeed over to them. "I'm back, losers."
"You got your speed back!" He hugged her before she went to Adam with Leo and Chase came to me.
"Hey, are you okay? You seem tense." He rubbed my arms and gave me a kiss on the forehead before pulling me into a hug.
"Hey boys." Douglas said, answering Chase's question as him and Davenport entered the room.
"Douglas? What's going on?" Chase asked.
"He fixed her chip." Leo answered.
"Actually, we fixed her chip. That's right. The Davenport boys, together again." Douglas smiled before Davenport stepped away.
"Yeah, not quite. Look, I'm grateful for your help, and I couldn't have done it without you, but I can't forgive you for what you've done to this family. You should go." Davenport explained.
"You can't throw your own brother out on the street." Chase said.
"Why not? I'd do it to you." Adam said dryly.
"He's tried to hurt us too many times. And succeed a few times too." Davenport said as his eyes found me.
"But he's also saved our lives. Twice." Bree argued.
"Look I don't know why but I know I don't like this guy, but if Chase says I can trust him, I will." I said and Chase gave me a kiss on the temple as he wrapped his arm around me.
"Plus, dude can cook." Leo said cutting through the tension in the room.
"Speaking of, you've eaten 60 bucks worth of my food. Pay up" Douglas added.
"You heard the man. Out!" Leo said pointing to the door.
"Come on, Mr. Davenport, let the guy stay." Adam defended.
"Give him a chance." Chase said.
"This isn't fair." Bree exclaimed.
"Guys, it's okay. He's right. I messed up. I'll see ya around." Douglas said before leaving.
"Thank you, Leo. I mean, if not for you, none of this would have ever worked out. And... I promise I will never do anything that stupid ever again." Bree promised.
"It's okay. We all make mistakes. And everybody deserves a second chance." Davenport said to her.
"Everybody?" Bree said, turning his word around on him.
"Oh, snap!" Adam exclaimed.
Tompkins house (Maddie's POV)-
"So how was your day? Were you guys able to fix Bree's chip?" Alex asked without looking up from the stove.
"Yeah Douglas fixed it." I said as I crashed on the couch. I heard a loud clatter from the kitchen.
"Douglas? Like the guy who almost killed you multiple times?" Alex said in a panic.
"What do you mean?" I asked sitting up now.
"Maddie he's the one who cause the explosion that gave you amnesia." He said seriously. I could feel a wave of rage wash over me. All the memories of Douglas came back with it. I was suddenly out the door knife in hand.
A/N: The next chapter will be up soon and the cliff hanger will be answered.
