"Mr. Davenport, can I ask you a question?" Bree asked.
"I don't know, can you?" he replied.
"Ugh, whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "Why don't you just take the commando app off of Chase's chip so that he can stay bionic? Can't you see how upset he is?"
They both looked over to see Chase sulking as Adam beat him at yet another round of whatever video game they were playing now. Bree didn't get why they even liked to play video games in the first place.
"It was funny for the first ten minutes, but now I just feel bad for him," she said as she and Mr. Davenport turned to look at each other again.
"I wish I could, but Spike is so ingrained into Chase's chip that taking out the app might destroy the chip altogether," Mr. Davenport elucidated.
"This is about saving the chip? What about saving my brother?" Bree asked incredulously.
Mr. Davenport pursed his lips. "It might damage his brain."
Bree looked away, her thoughts whirling. She turned back to the billionaire inventor. "You have to try. You're the person most likely to succeed."
"I know," said Mr. Davenport, not even cracking a self-satisfied smile at her statement. It was his turn to think. "Before I do anything, we need to ask Chase what he wants."
A grin broke out across Bree's face, and she turned back to her brothers. "Chase! Come here!"
"Just a sec," he mumbled, frowning as more of his space ships were destroyed by Adam's fleet. It wasn't long before all of his ships were obliterated, and he sighed in disgust with himself. Putting down the controller angrily, Chase got up and joined Mr. Davenport and Bree where they had been conversing by the kitchen counter. "What is it?" he asked them.
"I've decided that I'm going to try to remove your commando app from your chip," Mr. Davenport stated seriously.
"I convinced him," Bree added, still grinning.
It took a moment for Chase to register what he was hearing. But when he did, a huge smile brightened his features, and he began laughing with joy. "Yes!" he cried out. "Oh yes!"
"You know it could damage your brain, and it might not even work at all," Mr. Davenport warned.
"Who cares?" Chase exclaimed. "It can't get much worse than this!"
"Um, I'm pretty sure it can," Mr. Davenport said stiffly.
"Stop being a wet blanket," Bree scolded the tech mogul, slapping his arm lightly. "Let him be happy." She had been taken aback by how emotional Chase was that day, and this extreme almost surprised her more. It warmed her heart.
Mr. Davenport still looked unsure of his decision, but there was no going back now. "I'll work on it as long as I need to tomorrow since it's Saturday," he said before walking away from the siblings.
"Ahh! I can't believe this! Thank you, thank you, thank you Bree!" Chase said enthusiastically, and he wrapped her in as much of a bear hug as he could give.
"Not having your chip was that bad?" she asked when they parted, raising her eyebrows.
Chase's features fell to seriousness as he said "Yes. Since I took my chip out, I've feel like I don't have a brain; everything is so confusing and I've felt completely useless, I feel super tired, and…," he just shook his head, letting his features brighten again as he thought about getting his chip back once more. "I'll get to feel like me again!" he laughed, practically hopping.
Bree wasn't sure whether to be amused, disturbed, or worried as she watched her little brother dance around the room. She just hoped that she had done the right thing.
"When do you think you'll start working on my chip?" Chase asked Mr. Davenport the next morning at breakfast.
"After I finish getting ready and get everything set up," he answered.
Pause.
"How long will it take to get rid of Spike?" Chase asked.
"I don't know," Mr. Davenport replied.
Pause.
"Do you-" Chase began to say.
"Stop it!" Mr. Davenport exclaimed, cutting the youngest bionic off. Chase had been pestering him all morning, asking many of the questions more than once, and the head of the household was fed up. "Stop. Asking me. Questions!"
Chase shut his mouth, retracting much as a turtle would.
Mr. Davenport closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing. "Just leave me alone, and I'm sure everything will be fine. If you bother me too much, I may just 'accidentally' break your chip," he threatened.
Chase gulped. He remained quiet and as un-obstructive as possible for the rest of the morning, shh-ing anyone who so much as made a peep around the mogul. At one point Mr. Davenport finally managed to shake the second youngest long enough to sneak down into the lab and lock himself in before the others could follow, getting to work right away. A paranoid Chase paced outside the elevator doors for the rest of the day.
It wasn't until later that evening that the billionaire finally came up from the lab, emerging from the elevator for dinner. Everyone else was there for his arrival, barraging him with questions.
Chase won his attention first, asking "Did it work? Did it work? Did it work?"
"It better have," Bree groaned. "We did not put up with that" she gestured to her younger brother "all day for nothing."
Chase frowned before returning his attention to Mr. Davenport, who simply exclaimed "Leave me alone! Sit down at the table and I will tell you about it." His family complied, and he joined them. "It certainly wasn't an easy task; I wouldn't have trusted anyone else to do it. The chip took a little bit of work, but I cracked it open –"
Chase gasped in horror, and Mr. Davenport rolled his eyes, saying "Not literally," before continuing. "Anyways, I got into it and started looking at what was there and identified where the commando app was stored. I started tinkering around with it –"
"Hee hee hee! He said tinker!" Adam giggled. Chase elbowed him, saying "Let Mr. Davenport talk!"
Mr. Davenport looked thoroughly annoyed, but he continued to finish explaining. "So I was working with it, and in a long and complicated process I couldn't hope to explain to any of you, I am pretty sure that I removed Spike."
Cheers broke out among all of the family members, and with that, a smile of accomplishment was plastered on Mr. Davenport's face.
"I'm putting my chip in right now!" Chase announced, barely able to contain himself, running to the elevator.
"I never want to see that again," Leo commented quietly to Bree.
"Are you really one to talk?" she asked.
"Touché."
Five minutes later Chase was with them again, saying "Good news, people, the Chase Davenport you all know and love is back!"
"Ugh," Leo, Bree, and Adam groaned teasingly.
"That's wonderful, sweetie!" Tasha said.
"Is everything working?" Mr. Davenport asked.
"Well, being that I can identify how many calories a serving of that chicken would be, I would say so," Chase answered, flashing his family one of his bright white 'Look how smart I am!' smiles.
"And everything else is working?" the inventor pressed.
Chase went around displaying his powers, lifting things with his molecular kinesis, showing off his force field, rising a few feet into the air with his levitation, and demonstrating his magnetism. "All systems are a go," he said happily, "except for one."
"Which one?" Mr. Davenport asked worriedly.
"Well, the commando app, of course!"
There was light laughter around the table, and Chase sat down with them, reaching to grab his glass of milk. But as he touched it, there was a snap, and the drink was frozen. "Whoa, what was that?" he asked, just as amazed as everyone else was.
"I think I triggered the unlocking of a new ability for you," Mr. Davenport said in wonder.
Everyone looked at each other, Adam exclaiming "Ooh, ooh, work on my chip next!" There was more laughter at that.
"Do it again, Chase," Bree requested eagerly. Chase grabbed Leo's drink, but nothing happened this time. He frowned, touching Adam's cup, but still there was no reaction.
"That's weird, why won't it work now?" Chase wondered aloud.
"We'll look into that after dinner," Mr. Davenport said curtly, and the family finally began to eat. Half an hour later you could find them (minus Tasha) in the lab, Mr. Davenport scouring his reports on the abilities of the bionics. "According to this, you build up a special kind of energy and expend it by giving a 'cold shock' to anything you touch," he said to Chase, looking up excitedly. "The app harvests the energy and allows you to use it; the energy is a byproduct of the use of your other bionic abilities, so the more you use your magnetism, levitation, and any of your other physical abilities, the larger the shock."
"That is so cool," Chase said, beaming.
"Why does he get all the abilities?" Bree complained.
"Does Chase really have anything else going for him?" Mr. Davenport pointed out, and Chase frowned, saying "Hey!"
"It's true," Leo pointed out, putting his hands up.
Chase shook his head in exasperation, focusing back on his newest development. "So if I do this," Chase picked up and set down every loose object in the room simultaneously with his molecular kinesis "and that," he put up his force field briefly before letting it back down "I can shock you like this?" he asked mischievously as he touched Mr. Davenport.
"Gah!" Mr. Davenport yelped, tensing up. After a moment he started moving again, shivering and trying to rub himself warm. "Don't ever do that again!" he shouted through his chattering teeth. His children simply laughed, Adam forgetting about his super strength as he gave Chase a high five; Chase made a face as he shook off the pain from the force of it.
"Chase, you need to be careful with this ability," Mr. Davenport said as another chill went down his spine. "You don't know how powerful your shocks could be; you don't want to hurt someone."
"What did it feel like?" Leo asked curiously.
"Like someone froze my blood," Mr. Davenport said angrily "which is what he practically did!"
"Great, now Chase has another potent weapon in his arsenal," Bree said with no enthusiasm, rolling her eyes. Chase grinned at that, laughing manically.
"I'm glad I'm not more mature; you're all going to be seeing more of this ability!" he snickered evilly, and his siblings groaned.
"And this would be why you didn't have it before," Mr. Davenport sighed. "Quite frankly, I don't think you should have it even now."
"I assure you, Mr. Davenport, no one will get hurt," Chase said in an effort to put Mr. Davenport at ease. "It will all be in good fun."
Mr. Davenport looked at him seriously before saying "Why don't we give it a rest, alright? Tasha was thinking we'd have a family movie night tonight," as he ushered the teens to the elevator. From there the conversation turned to what movie should be watched, and the rest of the night progressed as a normal night would, aside from the fact that by the end of it, everyone had been literally chilled by Chase's new ability. It was the general census that Chase's full maturity couldn't come sooner.
AN: So this is where it gets a little AU... what do you think is going on? This can't be the end... can it?
Nope, it's not. We have barely begun!
Oh, and to reply to the most recent guest reviewer, I do in fact take story requests :) Also, as I've said before and will keep saying, thanks for all of the wonderful reviews! You guys rock :)
Stay tuned for Chapter 7!