Chase stepped out of the chopper onto the helicopter pad. As soon as he was out from under it, the machine took off, flying back to where it had come from. He was relieved that the only thing that glitched during the ride was his levitation, because the straps of the seat held him in place; and thus, no damage was done.
"Big D!" Leo called from upstairs. "He isn't up here!"
"That's what I thought," Mr. Davenport responded. Leo came back to the ruined living area, saying "Where could he have gone in only a few hours?"
"Knowing Chase, he could be anywhere," Mr. Davenport said wryly, and he immediately thought of all the means of transportation that he owned. "We need to check for all of my cars, motorcycles, and the helicopter."
Chase quickly found the hatch that was the entrance to the facility, and he climbed down the ladder, travelled down a hallway and came to a large, empty room. In a matter of minutes, he heard all the locks of the entrances being automatedly drawn, the rungs of the ladder sliding into the wall, force field walls and shock fences being activated, and the doors being disguised. The chances of someone breaking in were low. The chances of him breaking out were even lower.
"Everything is here," Mr. Davenport reported, confused. He had been sure that Chase wouldn't have gone on foot.
"Big D, come here," Leo's voice said over the wireless phone headset, and Mr. Davenport quickly joined him where he was at the helicopter.
"Feel the engine – it's still warm," Leo stated, and by feeling it, Mr. Davenport confirmed his step-son's words.
"He flew somewhere – but it couldn't have been very far if it was only a few hours to make a round trip," Mr. Davenport deduced, his hopes rising.
"This baby goes fast – and Chase could have found other forms of transportation after the helicopter. He could be anywhere. Can we find his GPS signal?"
"I already checked – he disabled it. But we can check the helicopter's GPS history," Mr. Davenport realized. He climbed into the cockpit, and after a flurry of keystrokes, Mr. Davenport began scanning all the information the machine held.
He facial expression soon darkened, and he pounded the seat, exclaiming "Dang it, Chase!" The billionaire looked at Leo despondently, saying "He erased all of the helicopter's records and destination points for today, and I can't retrieve them."
Chase began his time in his new cell by pacing, something he knew he would do often (being that there wasn't much else to do). The large room was rectangular in shape, longer than it was wide, and it had absolutely no adornment. He knew that a part of the floor could open up to a storage shaft, where his necessities to keep him alive were, but it was nothing more than that. He also knew that the only other thing of interest was that one of the walls could open up to a port for shipping, but at this point he was so disoriented without his GPS that he didn't know which one it was. And even if he did still have a sense of direction, while the facility was in lockdown, the port would never open again as long as it held a captive. Not if Chase could help it.
"What are we going to do? It's not safe for him to be on his own, and we can't just let him run loose while he's glitching so dangerously," Tasha worried aloud, watching her husband pace back and forth, holding his head in his hands as he did so.
"Well, I suppose we'll find him when the news starts covering a raging maniac trying to beat up innocent people," Leo sighed, referencing Spike. "Maybe that will be your next reporting gig, Mom."
Tasha looked frightened at the thought, quickly shaking her head.
"No… running free is the last thing Chase would do," Mr. Davenport said, thinking of how paranoid Chase had been about Spike, to the point where he removed his chip. Then it dawned on him. "He went to one of my off-shore facilities!"
"How do you know?" Tasha asked.
"Because I had a conversation with him about it earlier today," Mr. Davenport said sheepishly. "He really didn't want to be locked up in one of them, but I think he's come to the realization that that is the only thing he can do to protect everyone else, short of taking out his chip."
"Great! It can't be that hard to figure out which one he's at, but even if it is, we can just go out and search each one ourselves, and we'll have Chase back in no time," Leo said optimistically, hopping up from the couch where he had been sitting next to his mother.
"No, Leo," Mr. Davenport said softly, and Leo froze in place.
"What?" he asked, stunned.
"No, he needs to stay at whatever facility he's at – he's too dangerous, and he knows that. That's the best place for him."
"All alone?" Leo asked disbelievingly.
"Yes."
"Will we ever see him again?"
Mr. Davenport paused, swallowing back his hurting heart that seemed to be bubbling up his throat. "No, at least not in person. There are likely only security cameras there, so we can watch him, but we can't interact with him. I never installed communication devices into those buildings because I didn't anticipate locking a person in one of them."
Leo fell back numbly, and his mother began to rub him consolingly. "Donald, are you sure there isn't another way?" Tasha asked.
"Not that I know of – Chase will have to stay there until we find another option, if there is one. But I don't think there is." He paused yet again, letting his features sag with sadness. "We'll have to tell Adam and Bree."
AN: Oh man, this is getting heavy (especially for a semi-humor story). But don't worry, my friends, we are not done yet - not by far. Sort of.
As is customary by now, thank you for the awesome reviews! Whenever I come on here, my family asks "Why are you smirking?" Well, it's not really a smirk -it's more a 'grinning like an idiot' smile xD
Anyways, as is also customary, hang in there for Chapter 13!