Who loves slow-moving, un-dramatic, boring exposition? If you do, then you clicked on the wrong chapter! This is definitely the most dramatic, action-packed chapter yet! I loved digging even deeper into Chase's evil side.
Wow, you guys are lucky! Three chapters in one day? I hope I'm not going too fast for ya! I'll probably update again tomorrow morning or afternoon.
Anyway, enjoy this! I don't own Lab Rats.
* * * Donald's POV * * *
The next afternoon I was working at my cyberdesk. Adam and Bree were sitting in chairs playing rock-paper-scissors to pass the time, but their hearts weren't in it. They missed their brother so much. They had been shocked and hurt at his betrayal. Of course I was too, but somehow it wasn't as great a surprise as I thought it was going to be.
As I had watched Chase grow up, sometimes it scared me how much he resembled my brother. There had been once or twice where I had slipped up and almost called my son "Douglas," but luckily he never caught it. He was the spitting image of his father. Had his personality, too.
Douglas hadn't always been evil. There was a time, long ago, when he was actually pretty sweet. I missed those days so much. Then he went all "evil scientist" on me and I had to kick him out of Davenport Industries, taking his bionic experiments with me.
When Douglas was younger, he was pretty much exactly like Chase – well, without the cool abilities, of course. Sometimes I became worried that Chase would choose the same path as my brother and use his intelligence for evil. I told myself that it wouldn't happen, that Chase was a good kid. But there was always that thought trying to remind me that Douglas had been a good kid, too.
Now Chase had chosen the evil path. Maybe I could steer him away from it. If I could just reason with him, perhaps I could get him to see that what he was doing is wrong. I just need to talk to him before it's too late.
I pushed all those thoughts out of my mind. Right now I was working on finding my youngest bionic son. It was the same thing I had been trying to do all day. Douglas must have disabled his GPS. I couldn't locate him anywhere.
Then suddenly I didn't need to. There was a rush of wind and Chase was standing right in front of us. He was still wearing his mission suit, but the bionic ring patch on his chest had been ripped off. In its place was a red triangle with a small black circle in the middle. Adam gasped and Bree's eyes narrowed.
"Chase!" I exclaimed. "So, you have all three abilities now. Are you happy?"
"Not quite," my son said with a sneer that made me shudder. "You never told us that we can only use one ability at once." The oldest two bionics turned their heads to look at me in surprise.
"I didn't think you needed to know," I replied honestly. I would explain it all the Adam and Bree later.
"Well, I've got more powers now. And I'd like to use them all at once. So all my father needs is a little bit of information, and he can fix me up so I can use as many abilities as I like." I think my heart broke when he referred to Douglas as his father.
"Chase, I can't let you do that," I said a lot more calmly then I felt.
"We'll see about that," he replied. Chase speed over, picked me up, and threw me across the lab into the doors.
"No!" Bree screamed. She flung herself at her younger brother. He lashed out, clawing at her face. Bree gripped her cheek and drew her hand away to find blood on it.
"YOU HURT ME!" she yelled ferociously. "You're my brother and you hurt me!"
"That's it!" Adam was furious now too. "You're going down!" Chase laughed.
"Come and give it a try!" he challenged. Adam accepted, lunging at his brother. Chase grabbed Adam's fist as it flew toward him. "I'm stronger than you now," he said in a taunting voice.
Chase picked up Adam and threw him over the desk. Adam slammed into his capsule. "No!" Bree cried as her older brother sagged to the ground. She turned to face Chase. "I can't believe you!" she screamed, throwing herself at him.
Chase overpowered her easily, tossing her to the other side of the room like a rag doll. I felt tears prick my eyes as she slammed into the wall and groaned. Chase laughed again and began to type commands into the keyboard at superhuman speed.
As I scrambled to my feet I grabbed one of my stunners. "I'm sorry Chase," I muttered. Then suddenly the small, gun-like object evaporated in my hands. Chase's new laser vision stopped and he smirked.
"Are you really sorry?" he said.
"Yes!" I said, the lump in my throat getting larger. "I don't want to hurt you!"
"Hurt me?" Chase laughed. "I'd like to see you try. And unfortunately, the feeling's not mutual." My son began to pick up chairs with his molecularkinesis and throw them at me. I rolled left and right, dodging them as best I could.
"Chase, what are you doing?" I cried.
"Getting my payback!"
"For what?"
"All the times you haven't appreciated me!" I dodged another chair. "All the times you praised only Adam and Bree for their bionic abilities!" This time it was a small table. "All the lies you told me!" Leo's mission specialist desk flew over my head. He was going to be ticked.
"And what about Douglas?" I reminded him. "He trapped you! He tried to turn you into his bionic slaves!"
"He was forced to!" Chase was practically screaming now. "You made him! You ripped us away from him!"
"So that excuses everything he did?"
"Look who's talking excuses! I've heard enough of them out of you!"
I took a step back. "What?"
"Fifteen years, Mr. Davenport," Chase snarled. "Fifteen years of being locked in this room! I wanted to go outside. To see the world. To go to school. We probably never even would have if Leo hadn't found us!"
"At least I didn't force you . . ."
"Remember not long after Leo moved in? When he found us, took us to school, and threw a party for us? What happened after that? You tried to send us to a remote research facility. Against our will." Chase picked up a heavy metal barrel with his molecularkinesis and held it over his head, ready to throw.
I squeezed my eyes shut. "And I'm sorry for that," I said.
For just a second Chase's eyes seemed to soften a bit. He loosened his telekinetic grip on the barrel and stared at me. "So you regret it?"
"Yes, Chase, I do!" I cried.
His eyes hardened again. He straightened the barrel and aimed it at me. "Good," he growled, "but it's too late now." With that he hurled the barrel in my direction. I tried to move out of the way, but I was too late. Pain shot through my leg as the barrel collided with my body and pinned me to the floor.
I glanced up to see Chase, to see my son, grab the flash drive out of the desk. He moved very slowly and carefully. That look in his eyes . . . he was in pain. It hit me like a lightning bolt. He had used his molecularkinesis and super-strength to throw that barrel at me. Not good. He also looked ready to super-speed away.
"Chase!" I called out. "I can help! You used two abilities at once! You can't super-speed back! You'll do serious damage to your bionics! Chase! Let me help you!"
Chase grunted and leaned on the counter for support. "I don't need your help," he managed to gasp. With that he super-sped out of the lab.
Adam was still slouched against his capsule. Bree was on the floor in front of the wall. I felt like crying. How could Chase have willingly done this to his siblings? I knew they taunted him a lot, but did it really warrant this?
Adam and Bree looked too dazed to help me right now. I silently prayed that Tasha and Leo were still upstairs. Then I began to do what any sensible person does when they're trapped: scream for help.
Sorry, I'm not the best at writing action. But still dramatic, right? What was your favorite part? Did you like it? Review, peoples! Next chapter: Chase feels the sting of using two abilities at once.