"Hey guys, somebody call a Houston and tell him we have a problem!" Adam nervously called to Bree and Leo, who were visibly stunned.
Spike shoved Adam back in disgust, sauntering away to take in his surroundings.
"Wha-what's he doing here? I thought Mr. Davenport got rid of him!" Bree sputtered, breaking out of her stupor.
"Yeah, I don't think it worked," Adam said, swallowing.
"What's this?" Spike asked sneeringly, holding up one of Mr. Davenport's latest inventions to investigate it further.
"That is Mr. Davenport's, and you might want to put that down before it does something," Leo said hurriedly, hopping up to stop Spike.
"Hey!" Spike barked as Leo pried the object from his grasp.
"I'm doing this for your own good, because you never know what might blow up around here," Leo quickly explained before Spike could interrupt him, growing more and more agitated as the app glared at him threateningly.
"Kindness is weakness," Spike finally hissed, turning away. Leo remained where he was, wide-eyed and gulping.
"What are we going to do with him?" Bree asked worriedly, Leo and Adam only shrugging in response. Spike acted as if he couldn't hear them. "I know!" Bree suddenly said. "Spike, why don't you join Adam in playing a video game?"
"What!" Adam exclaimed.
Spike smirked, clearly pleased by how dismayed Adam was. Spike simply said "Alright." He went to stand by where Adam was sitting, scrutinizing the screen. "Get on with it."
"Do you even know how to play video games?" Leo asked.
"Of course I do!" Spike snapped defensively, glaring at the younger boy.
"No you don't," Leo argued, forgetting it was Spike he was talking to.
Spike glowered at him, growling "Try saying that again, cockroach," as he stalked over to Leo, getting in his face.
"Let's calm down and think of… sleeping wallabies, okay?" Leo asked quickly in a high pitched voice. "It's not a bad thing that you don't know how to play video games… it's actually a good thing!"
"How?" Spike asked suspiciously.
"Well, we can just show you how to play, and it will be more fun for you, right?"
Spike still looked unconvinced, but he followed Leo back in front of the TV. At Leo's motioning, he sat and took the controller he was offered.
As Leo walked Spike through the mechanics of the game, Bree couldn't help but be amazed. Three days ago Spike had tried to kill them, but now they were teaching him how to play video games. This is a strange world we live in, she thought.
Bree watched her brothers and Spike (he only counted as half a brother because he was an app on her actual brother's bionic chip) play game after game, and she often – though making sure it was in secret – laughed at how into it Spike got and how happy he seemed to be whenever there was an explosion on screen. Bree noted that he had a funny giggle, but when she thought about it, it was also a scary giggle because normally when you heard it, you knew someone was going to get hurt.
Bree was in the process of deciding whether she liked or disliked Spike when Mr. Davenport came in, asking "Did Leo ditch you?" when he saw her sitting at the table alone.
"He's kind of doing something more important right now," Bree said, confused that her father didn't see the obvious.
"Since when have video games become more important than homework?" he asked her with a frown.
"Oh!" Bree exclaimed, realizing that her father-figure didn't know that it was Spike, not Chase. "It's not the video games; Leo and Adam are entertaining Spike until Chase comes back."
"Spike!" Mr. Davenport's eyes bugged out, and his head whipped around to study the three boys.
"Yes! We got the power-up points!" Leo shouted at that moment as Adam yelled "Woo-hoo! Now I can get the bunny costume!" and Spike merely roared, looking ready to smash the controller in excitement.
Mr. Davenport turned back to his daughter, appearing to be about to scream in shock and frustration. "How did this happen? I got rid of him!" he exclaimed as quietly as he could manage.
"I guess not," Bree said simply.
Mr. Davenport stormed out of the room, bumping into his wife on the way.
"What's wrong?" Tasha asked him, but he just shook his head, muttering as he made his way quickly to the elevator.
"What's going on?" Tasha asked Bree.
"Spike sho-" Bree began to explain when Leo interrupted her, announcing "Good news everyone, Chase is back!"
"What?" Tasha asked, looking extremely confused.
"Well, Spike was just here, but now Chase is back," Bree clarified.
"I thought Donald got rid of him," Tasha said.
"So did we, until Spike showed up again."
At this point the three boys joined the ladies of the family, Chase looking quite disgruntled. And it was undoubtedly him, being that he looked like he only wanted to disappear, something Spike would never approve of.
"I don't understand, I thought Spike would be gone forever," Chase said, unable to look at anyone else. "I thought I was free of him."
"Nope, so sad," Adam said, not looking sorry at all. "He's definitely more fun to play with than you." Chase shot his older brother an angry look at that.
"None of you are hurt?" Tasha asked, looking the teenagers over.
"Nope, I kept him calm because I am the master of Spike," Leo boasted.
"For the last time, neither I nor Spike is a dog!" Chase burst out. His facial expression began to flicker, and he staggered back, asking "What's going on?" his voice changing rapidly between his and Spike's as much as his facial expression was.
"Chase, are you alright?" Tasha asked worriedly, looking considerably freaked out.
"No Mom, stay back!" Leo said quickly, protectively pulling his mother away from the glitching bionic. Adam and Bree had also stepped back, Adam watching his younger brother with concern and fear. He would have been happy to go another round of their video game with the app, but this time there seemed to be something wrong. "I don't think Spike's going to play nice this time," he said.
"No, I won't let Spike out!" a strained Chase forced out, his voice breaking as he spit out the words.
"I'll get Mr. Davenport!" Bree said, speeding out of the room and arriving seconds later with the baffled billionaire.
"What's going on?" he spluttered, and Adam answered, saying "Chase and Spike are fighting!"
"No, that's not how it works, Adam," Bree said in annoyance before turning back to Mr. Davenport. "Chase is having a major glitch with Spike."
At this point Chase was leaning against the table heavily, shaking and breathing hard, often twitching.
"Do something!" Leo pitched in.
"What am I supposed to do? It's a glitch – we'll have to wait it out," Mr. Davenport said reluctantly, looking at his struggling adopted son. "Tasha, Leo, why don't the three of us go over here –" he gestured to the living room area "– while Bree and Adam watch him."
"What!" Adam burst out a second time that day. "I don't want Spike to kill me!"
"Adam, we are the only ones who stand a chance against him," Bree explained, keeping her eyes fixed on her younger brother. "We have to watch over him. If we work together, I'm sure we can hold him off. We've seen how he fights, so we'll be better prepared. We can't be surprised this time."
Adam turned back to the youngest bionic, panic growing in his gut. This was going to be big, and it certainly wouldn't be good. He knew that for a fact.