Chase stared at the Transjuvenator, squishing his now-infuriatingly-chubby cheeks with his hands as he rested his head in them. Sure he could fix the invention, but it was tedious, and worse, boring. Chase had been at this for exactly eighty-six minutes, but now he just wanted to do something fun.
No, I have to fix this – the longer I take, the longer I'll be stuck as a seven-year-old, Chase thought to himself, trying to convince himself to work. But he wanted nothing more than to play.
Chase eyed the various machine parts lying around the lab, torn between doing what he was supposed to do and doing something he wanted to do. He looked around quickly, confirming that none of his siblings were on this level of the mansion. Chase looked up at the ceiling, trying to make up his mind on what he was going to do. As he weighed each side, he finally made his decision.
Mr. Davenport was walking into the lab when he heard a young child talking and a little bit of light banging. He froze, slowly creeping up to the doorway, peeking around the corner. What he saw caused him to quickly hide again, inwardly groaning. He walked at a fast pace out of the lab and into the elevator, waiting impatiently to reach the main level of the house.
When he did, he marched into the main living area, saying "Adam! Bree! Leo! What's going on?"
"Aw man! He snitched on us!" Leo said angrily under his breath, pausing the movie that he, Adam, and Bree were watching. Bree also looked irritated, but Adam just seemed confused.
The three teens stood up from the couch and slowly faced their father-figure, who had his arms crossed with a disappointed look on his face.
"Why is Chase a little kid?" Mr. Davenport asked, straight to the point.
"It was an accident, we swear!" Leo said quickly in defense, and Adam and Bree vigorously nodded in agreement. "What did Chase tell you?" Leo asked.
"He didn't tell me anything – I saw enough to know that you three were screwing around with my inventions again," Mr. Davenport said.
Bree sighed. "Look, Mr. Davenport, Chase was being a jerk since he made himself look older, so we wanted to teach him a lesson," she explained. "We made him really old, but then he faked a heart attack and we panicked, turning him too young before Adam dropped the invention. Chase is currently trying to fix it."
"Oh, Chase isn't fixing anything right now," Mr. Davenport said with his eyebrows raised, and the teens looked to each other in bafflement.
"What is he doing, then?" Bree asked.
"Come down and see for yourselves – and be quiet so he doesn't hear you," Mr. Davenport said with a nod, gesturing that the kids follow him, which they did.
They crept into the lab, the teens looking at each other in confusion and disbelief as they heard Chase's high pitched voice speaking, occasionally interrupted with sound effects. Chase's siblings and father-figure all peered into the main area of the lab, hardly able to believe their eyes. There was Chase, playing with make-shift toy cars in his own make-shift city, pretending that he was Godzilla.
"Ahhh! Watch out – here comes the fifteen-thousand, two-hundred and sixty-four-point-three pound behemoth!" Chase was saying as he stomped on a car. He let out a whisper-roar and responded with pretend screams, quietly yelling "Get into the base isolated basement of the Aero-Tech Laboratory Equipment Company™ building so that we won't be crushed!"
"Wow, he really knows how to ruin Godzilla – it makes me almost want to cry," Adam said.
Chase whipped around at the sound of Adam's voice, and when he saw them, his eyes went wide and he screamed, dropping to the ground so that the buildings would hide him.
The three teens and Mr. Davenport all looked at each other, snickering as quietly as they could manage, and Mr. Davenport slowly walked over to where Chase was in view. The little boy was lying as flat on the floor as he could, curled into a ball and covering his head.
"Hi there, Chase," Mr. Davenport said gently, a smile of amusement playing across his lips. Chase flinched badly, turning to see Mr. Davenport standing there; the littlest bionic groaned, hiding his face again.
The billionaire crouched down, saying "Whatcha playin'?"
Chase shifted uncomfortably, refusing to answer. His siblings had come over as well by now, Bree saying softly "I thought you were going to fix the age-invention-thingy."
Chase sighed, sitting up. His face was beat red and he wouldn't meet any of them in the eye. "I got bored of fixing the Transjuvenator," he said honestly in a quiet voice.
"So you made all of this to play Godzilla?" Leo asked, tapping one of the buildings. Chase nodded, still not looking up.
"Yeah, that was pretty much the worst thing I have ever seen," Adam said, and Chase cringed. Mr. Davenport shot Adam a look before turning back to the small boy.
"How about this – why don't I finish fixing the Transjuvenator for you?" Mr. Davenport offered.
"But I can do it!" Chase said, looking up.
"But you really don't like doing it, do you?"
Chase pursed his lips, looking away.
"Go upstairs with your siblings – they can take care of you while I work on the Transjuvenator, I'm sure they won't mind," Mr. Davenport suggested, looking at the other three, silently commanding them to be nice. Turning back to Chase, he saw that the little bionic was scowling.
"I don't need them to babysit me – I only have the appearance of a seven-year-old," Chase argued, looking vexed.
"And the maturity of one," Leo coughed, and Chase glared at him.
"Look, just go upstairs with them so I can do this, alright?" Mr. Davenport said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "And try not to get in trouble."
Chase got up and followed his siblings to the elevator, giving Adam a dirty glare and a punch when the oldest tried to pat him on the head. When they were gone, Mr. Davenport sat back, almost feeling dizzy with nostalgia.
He remembered the genuinely seven-year-old Chase as if he had been running around the lab only yesterday. And chasing him would be nine-year-old Adam and eight-year-old Bree. So small, so sweet, so innocent. Sure they had been exhausting and irritating beyond belief, but Mr. Davenport found himself missing that time when in their eyes he really was their father, their role-model, their rock.
He had never asked to be a parent, but he had come to realize that Adam, Bree, and Chase being brought under his care had been the one of the best things that had ever happened to him, up there with marrying Tasha and better than becoming a billionaire. He loved them as his own children, because to him, they truly were his.
Getting up slowly, Mr. Davenport picked his way through Scrap-Metal City, impressed with what Chase had made out of seemingly junk. This thought brought back the nagging question that had been bothering him since he first saw Chase playing that day. Did the Transjuvenator alter more than the appearance of the person?
It seemed that that was the case, being that Chase's maturity level had lowered severely. Leo had been right about that. But had it changed more? Chase didn't seem to have lost his memory, which was good. Would the Transjuvenator have any other side-effects? Mr. Davenport hoped not.
He sighed, looking down at the little machine that had caused so much mischief. Grimly, he resolved to destroy it after turning Chase back. He wasn't going to let this little fiasco happen again and again, not if he could help it.