A/N: next part
Ain't no grave by Johnny Cash to represent evil villain number two
Super excited for the new pirates of the Caribbean movie
Usual apologies
Disclaimer: see previous chapter
Well, meet me, mother and father
Meet me down the river road
And Mama you know that I'll be there
When I check in my load
Ain't no grave, can hold my body down
Rotting, stinking, putrid flesh.
Leo cringed as the stench hit him right in the face as the thing in front of him let out an inhuman roar despite its human appearance. Well mostly human anyway.
She looked like she was in her early twenties, had blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin you know, before she died. What was left of her now was a rotting corpse missing several chunks of flesh from her face and neck with a huge gaping hole in her chest dripping with puss and some sort of black slimy liquid.
Still the girl was inhumanly strong since she was able to grab Adam earlier and toss him around like a ragdoll before she turned towards Leo.
Leo struggled in the girl's grasp as she held him up against the wall and glared at him with dead eyes and her grip around his neck tightened. The teen gave a grunt as he lifted his bionic arm to punch the girl hard. Once, twice, three times and she finally let go stumbling back before Leo fired an energy sphere at her causing her head to explode, chunks of flesh and bone scattering in the air before her body fell to the ground becoming still.
Leo took a moment to catch his breath and he was about to make some snappy little quip about girls not being to able to keep their hands off of him, but there really wasn't any time for that.
"Leo watch out!"
Leo's head snapped up at the sound of Logan's voice through the communicator in his ear and he ducked down just in time to avoid a large metal desk flying right at his head before another one of the dead beings they were fighting to suddenly let out a roar as it came running towards him, Leo braced himself for impact, blocking the punch that it threw at him by catching its first with his bionic arm causing the zombie to growl in fury. He was tall, with dark skin and maggots crawling all over the gaping wound in its neck.
"Oh this is so gross." Leo complained as he tried to push the man back only for him to push back when he was just as suddenly knocked away and Leo stumbled back to see Adam roll across the ground before stopping holding the zombie down to blast its head off with his heat vision before looking up at Leo he sounded exhausted but Leo couldn't really be sure if Adam was as tired as he sounded.
They started wearing masks a few years ago when the academy became and agency. Being a super famous superhero had its drawbacks and Mr. Davenport wanted the bionic academy's students to be able to have normal lives outside without constantly being swarmed by the press. So they started wearing masks to keep their identities at least somewhat anonymous. They still wore suits with Davenport industries logo on them so people knew they were bionic super humans but they didn't know their civilian identities.
Adam and Leo started wearing masks too, although they'd already had so much time in the spotlight that they could still be recognized as bionic agents, it was easier taking down bad guys when the bad guys weren't exactly sure which bionic agents had which abilities so they could try and catch them by surprise. Plus with Bree and Chase getting so much attention in Centium city, Adam and Leo sort of faded out of the public's general radar so they could go out in public and have semi normal lives, although there were people that still recognized them every once in a while it wasn't often enough to become an annoyance.
"Leo go after Doctor Decay, we'll take care of the zombies." Adam said and Leo gave a quick glance around the large room which acted as the main entrance to the new scientific facility that moved to Mission Creek a few months ago.
Logan and Taylor were working together, fighting off the walkers near the center of the room barely looking like they were breaking a sweat as Logan would grab the zombies one by one and toss them into the air before Taylor blasted them with her energy spheres. Kate was at the entrance with Chuck using her sonic scream ability to hold the zombies back and even blast some of them apart while Chuck used his heat vision to kill the ones that managed to get around her.
"On it."
They were doing pretty good so Leo nodded his head and ran for the heavy air locked door on the other side of the room where the villain Doctor Decay walked through a couple of minutes ago before raising his zombies to distract them.
Sigh, they just had to build the facility next to a cemetery didn't they?
It was like something out of a horror movie but then again they learnt that that was Doctor Decay's style.
He was a new enemy that just came up out of nowhere a few months ago. The first time was when they got an alert from the hospital in Mission Creek about a break in in the hospital's morgue section. Apparently they tried sending security guards to go check it out before calling the police but no one reported back or came back once they did, so the bionic agents were called in.
What they saw when they got there was both the coolest and the most terrifying thing that Leo had ever seen in his entire life.
At first the morgue seemed empty when he stepped into it with Logan and Taylor, only for Taylor to suddenly grab them both and drag them to the floor when she felt something move in behind them. The lights suddenly went on and they found themselves trapped with a room filled with the undead and a man dressed in all black standing by the door with his arms folded across his chest and one ankle over the other, leaning back against the wall with a black mask covering his face.
That's the first time they met Doctor Decay and they've been dealing with the mad scientist ever since.
From what they could tell, the evil genius' plans didn't actually have anything to do with creating a zombie apocalypse like they originally thought was the man's main plan. The zombies that he raised, Castile still hasn't managed to figure out exactly how the man managed to do that, were usually just a distraction. Henchmen to keep the bionic agents busy while he stole whatever technology or serum he was after whenever he broke in to a lab or research facility and they went to go stop him. Sometimes he'd raise zombies from a nearby cemetery or funeral home and sometimes he'd just use the bodies from the guards that he took out in whichever facility he attacked. It was rare for them to actually just go up against him, but even when they did, Doctor Decay was a hard man to beat. He was strong and fast, not inhumanly so but then again he didn't need to be since he knew exactly how to use his strength and speed since he was an absolute genius. Plus it seemed that he had some of the abilities that his undead minions had. You see, they've tried to kill doctor decay before, fired energy spheres at him used heat vision and even that plasma whip that Castile managed to reengineer from their episode with Giselle all those years ago and he managed to come out without a scratch on him. It was the most frustrating thing that they'd ever had to deal with especially since Doctor Decay didn't show as much as you think he did.
It was maybe once or twice a month that they'd have to fight the villain, since it seemed that he only caused all hell to break loose when he was after something. It was never money or jewels, no just obscure technology and science projects on crops and various developments in medicine and cell regeneration. Nothing that could cause any kind of real harm and nothing that was of much value. Castile tried to figure out what the man was doing with the things he stole and the only possible explanation that she could come up with was that maybe Doctor Decay was trying to find a way to reanimate human life but that didn't make any sense since the bodies he raised every time they clashed with the man, made it clear that he already had that whole raising the dead thing down.
So every time Doctor Decay made an appearance the bionic agents would go after him. Since Adam and Leo were the strongest agents in the academy they always went after him and always brought back up, but somehow that never mattered. Doctor Decay somehow always managed to find a way to beat them and he always found a way to escape even on those rare occasions when they managed to capture him.
It was the most frustrating thing in the world.
Leo got to the door only to give a frustrated sigh when he realized that the stupid thing's security system was still working and he wouldn't be able to force it open without the building's security system being tripped and trapping them all in inside which might have been a good thing in order to catch the villain if it weren't for the fact that this particular security system had the nasty little feature that included a gas that would knock everyone out within a matter of seconds. And thanks to the Breach technologies incident a few months ago they knew that poisonous gasses had little to no effect on Doctor Decay.
Leo gave a sigh as he quickly searched through his weapons holsters and found one of the devices that Castile gave them, attaching the cable onto one of the port on the side of the password console on the side of the door and activating it. A bunch of numbers flashed across the screen and Leo gave a worried glance back at the others at the roars the zombies made when the machine suddenly beeped and the door popped open.
Leo carefully pushed it open a little further checking to make sure that he didn't walk into a trap to find a long hallway, with gleaming white floors and walls and bright florescent light with another air locked door at the end of it, only that one was standing slightly ajar. Taking a deep breath Leo stepped inside and headed to the other side of the hall way. The door behind him shut and locked automatically behind him and Leo pretended like he didn't jump at the sound instead choosing to quickly make his way over to the end of the hall and pull the door open slowly when a voice suddenly spoke from the inside.
"It took you long enough."
The voice was deep and distorted like he was talking through some kind of device, Leo took a deep breath as he stepped inside and found the man clad in his usual black suit, trench coat and mask standing on the other side of the room in front of a cold storage unit. Taking out one vile of green fluid after another and putting it in a gleaming silver box of as it sat on lab table just beside the man.
"Yeah well, I was a little preoccupied what with the whole night of the living dead thing you have going out there," Leo said standing reading in case the man suddenly turned around and attacked him or… woman?
Honestly they couldn't be sure with that voice communicator.
"Now all you need to do is turn yourself in." Leo said with a smirk, "Quietly."
Doctor Decay gave a snort as he shut the storage unit and turned to close the silver box and shut it.
"You've got spunk kid, I'll give you that."
"I've got more than just spunk." Leo said as he charged up an energy sphere and his right hand started to glow, "Turn yourself in and this won't have to get ugly."
"We both know I'm not going to do that."
"Ugly it is."
Leo moved forward and the next few seconds seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, or at least that's how it felt since the moment he made contact with Doctor Decay seemed like the exact same moment that the tables were suddenly turned on him as the man dodged him and grabbed his bionic arm and threw him against the wall before a large hand suddenly went around his neck and hold the teen up against the wall with his feet dangling at least a foot above the ground.
Leo struggled in the man's hold while he just seemed to stare back until the masked figure's head gave a tilt as he spoke.
"You never learn do you? How many times do I need to crush you for you brats to finally get the hint?"
"Oh please." Leo gasped as he kept struggling in the man's hold, trying to pry off the hand around his neck that stayed locked like a vice, "You're idea of crushing is knocking us out or leaving your zombies to do your dirty work."
"I'm not in the habit of killing children."
"We're not children."
"Is that so?" the man said with a snort as he reached out with his free hand towards the teen's face, "Well then, let's see just what you are."
"No! Let go-" Leo was cut off as his mask was pulled off and the teen could do nothing more than glare when the man in front of him suddenly tensed tremendously.
"Leo?"
Leo's eyes went wide, "Wha-"
The teen was cut off when the man abruptly let him go and stepped back, dropping the mask in his hand to the floor with a clatter. Leo fell to the ground, not expecting the sudden release and coughing as he tried to catch his breath once his air supply increased.
"How-ugh-ugh-How do you know my name?" the teen forced out staring up at the man in confusion as he just took a step back, Leo slowly got up to his feet bracing his hand on the wall while the man continued to step back, "Hey! I asked you a question."
The man stopped abruptly reaching into the pocket of his long black trench coat to pull a tiny silver ball from his pocket and throwing it against the wall.
"Uh oh."
Remembering exactly what happened the last time he saw Doctor Decay used a device like that Leo immediately jumped for his mask and tried to pull it on before the explosion came but it was too late.
BANG!
The wall erupted, causing cement and rubble to scatter across the room and dust to fill the air seconds before the security system was engaged and the knock out gas was immediately released into the room.
Leo struggled to stay conscious and tried to get his mask on before he could black out but failed as he felt the darkness pull him in. The last thing he remembers seeing was Doctor Decay standing over him staring at the teen with his hands clenched and his form absolutely still before everything suddenly went dark.
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It's been four years since they split up, since Bree and Chase left the island to start the new team while he and Adam stayed behind to run the bionic academy and things were going relatively well. From what he knows things for the Elite Force were going great, the new team has settled in since the Rodissius mess was sorted out three years ago and Centium city is now one of the safest cities in the country. As for Adam and Leo, they've been doing pretty good as well. They still went on missions, trained with the bionic children, but their schedules have gotten a lot more hectic since they had to coordinate and supervise the majority of the missions on an international scale since they just had more people than the Elite Force that could handle it. Things became especially rocky after Mr. Davenport left Mission Creek along with Tasha and Douglas to live in Centium City. And they had to get some new personal to run help run the academy, but eventually they did.
"Dooley… Dooley!"
"Leo! No, you are not passing out again."
Leo groaned in pain and frustration. His head was pounding viciously and his entire body hurt like hell and of course the only person to be by his bedside when he wakes up after getting knocked out by a villain had to be Castile.
The teen forced his eyes open, using his left arm to shield against the bright lights of the med bay shining right above his head to turn his gaze towards the angry looking redheaded woman beside the bed.
"C'mon Cass, five more minutes." Leo said trying to turn away from her and the woman grabbed his arm to pull it back, "No, you need to stay awake. It's not safe to sleep this long with the chemicals from that gas in your system. C'mon eyes open, focus on me."
The teen reluctantly opened his eyes to look at the woman beside the bed.
Bright curly red hair going down to her neck, bright green eyes behind the frame of a pair of square shaped glasses and thin lips pressed together in a tight line and her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.
Doctor Michelle Castile was the Academy's newest bionic specialist.
Michelle was around thirty two years old, she was strict and didn't take shit from anyone but she also had a surprisingly dirty sense of humor which made her get along with the agents surprisingly well. She used to be one of Donald's apprentices at Davenport industries until she managed to design and build a fully functioning bionic chip about two years ago, putting her years ahead of her peers at the company and therefore Donald's top pick as successor after he left the academy. And if Adam and Leo were honest, she was a lot better at her job than their father ever was, not that they didn't appreciate all that the man has done for them, but it has been three years sure they got injured and sometimes needed the odd upgrade but they haven't had a single glitch among any of the bionic agents since. Plus Michelle managed to create an alternative to the bionic capsules, replacing them with bracelet stabilizers which greatly improved the whole sleeping while standing situation.
"Leo look at me." The woman in the white lab coat said as she reached down on the bed to elevate his back and tipped his head a bit so he was looking at her while he just lay limply against the bed. "What happened, do you remember?"
"Uhm…" Leo frowned for a moment at a complete loss for words when the memories suddenly came back to him, "There was another break in."
"Where?" the redhead asked as she pulled out a tiny flash light from her pocket and shined it into the teen's eye, first the left then the right and Leo had to try hard not to flinch away, "…Greenwood institute, next to the cemetery. Doctor Decay was there."
Castile glanced down at the teen as she checked his ears before moving on with the stethoscope. "Then what?"
"He raised his zombies, we fought them off. Adam said they could handle it and I went after Doctor Decay. We fought… he slammed me against a wall and then-"
"And then?"
"And then he pulled off my mask, he recognized me somehow." Leo frowned as that memory came back to him, the way the older man seemed to tense so completely before dropping him when Castile spoke. "You used to be in the news a lot three years ago, remember that? He probably just remembered you from one of the stories."
"Yeah." Leo said although he wasn't entirely convinced, somehow he knew the man was shocked by more than just recognizing him in the vault. But he still let out a sigh as he finished, "Then he let me go, threw a bomb against the wall. The security system was tripped and I breathed in the gas before I could get back my mask and he escaped… I think."
"That explains the giant hole in the wall when Adam and the others found you." Castile said before letting out a sigh. Much to Leo's surprise the woman suddenly punched his arm before glaring hard at the teen,
"Ow, what was that for-"
"How many times do I have to tell you to always keep your fucking mask on?!"
"It's not like I took it off to show the evil bad guy that I had good looks to go with my charm he just pulled it off." Leo defended weakly since he was still trying to fight off the fog of sleep trying to pull him in and the teen's eyes almost slid shut before Castile punched him again.
"Ow."
"I said no sleeping." The redheaded woman said as she folded her arms across her chest, "I'm trying to make an antidote, just waiting for the program to finish running on the computer to finish synthesizing the poison's components first. It shouldn't take too long so I need you to stay awake until it finishes."
"Fine." Leo said letting out a soft sigh, "What happened to Doctor Decay?"
"Got away, again. This time he didn't take anything, the chemicals he had in the containment box where still in the vault when Adam found you. It's so strange that he'd go through all that trouble and somehow forget what he went there for."
"What was he trying to take this time?"
"Same as always; synthetic stem cells, collagen replacements and a couple other chemicals used for cell regeneration." Castile let out a frustrated sigh, "I just can't figure out what he's trying to do with them."
Leo gave a snort at the look of total utter frustration on the woman's face as he continued, "And the others? Are they O.K?"
"They're fine. Its seven so most of them are having dinner in the cafeteria, but Taylor and Logan are waiting outside. They've been begging to see you for the past hour." The doctor shook her head and glared all over again when Leo's eyes started slipping shut and she reached out to pinch him causing the teen to let out a tired yelp, "I should probably let them in, maybe they'll keep you awake."
Castile walked away and Leo tried to keep his eyes open as he heard the doors from the med bay quietly hiss as they slipped open before and he could hear the redhead speak.
"You can come in but make sure he stays awake till the antidote is done."
Try as he might, reality was starting to fade around the edges and Leo's world started going dark. He wondered why Doctor Decay left the lab without taking the chemicals he tried to steal with him, he wondered why the man seemed so shocked to see him when he pulled Leo's mask off, it didn't really make much sense.
It's possible that he just saw Leo on the news like Castile said but, that didn't explain his reaction-
"OW!" Leo suddenly yelped with a jump when what felt like a sharp electric buzz shot through his body and his eyes snapped open to find Taylor with her eyes still covered by her glasses but smirking at him while Logan rushed to his side in concern.
"Taylor?!"
"What? Cass said to keep him awake."
"You didn't have to do that." Logan said with a frown before he turned to Leo, "Leo, are you O.K?"
"I'm fine. No thanks to some people." Leo said aiming a weak glare at the girl while she just laughed in return, "Where's Adam, Kate and Chuck."
"Adam's at dinner, he promised to bring you some too." Taylor started with a shrug as she moved to sit on the bed, "Kate's trying to get the zombie blood from her hair and Chuck's messing with Daniel again."
Leo scoffed, "So much for sticking together."
Taylor shrugged while Logan just grinned, "Yeah but you still have us, and we're still your team."
"Yeah, I guess you are." Leo answered with a smile before rubbing a hand over his face as Taylor spoke, "Any ideas on what Doctor freaky was after this time?"
"Nope and neither does Castile so don't bother asking her."
"It's so weird that he just left without taking anything huh?" Logan said as he walked around the bed to lay down across from Taylor with his legs dangling off the side and Leo just frowned.
"Yeah, I wonder what he was after."
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Darkness.
Sebastian was used to it.
Four years have passed since they found out about Davenport and their father.
Four years since their bionics were taken away from him and his siblings before they were dragged off and separated, forced into cages and locked away from the world outside.
Of course it was different for him than it was for Lexi and Tank.
Lexi and Tank just had their chips taken away, Sebastian's entire infrastructure got fried during the fight with Davenport's lackeys.
Even if he found a way to get out, get a chip and implant it into his brain there was no guarantee that he'd get his abilities back. No guarantee that the chip would do anything besides kill him.
So he sits, in this four foot cage far away from his sister and brother, alone in the darkness. He's had four years to rage, four years to brood over what was done to him and his siblings, four years to miss and hate and miss his bionic siblings over and over again. Sebastian's gotten used to it.
He no longer tried to rebel by refusing the food he was given or trying to fight the guards, he's fallen into a routine of getting up, eating, staring at the concrete walls of his cage before eating again and then sleeping all over again. Despite the fact that he no longer had bionics, he was still considered dangerous because of the things he knew about Davenport and the academy and bionics as a whole. So he wasn't allowed to leave and neither were Tank and Lexi.
They were all trapped.
Four years have passed and Sebastian feels nothing in particular.
He still hates Adam, Bree, Chase, Leo and Davenport. He still hates the academy and everything it stands for. He hates his father for being so weak and so easily defeated by those bionic traitors. But at the same time Sebastian didn't particularly care either.
What would be the point in that?
Even if he escaped, found Tank and Lexi and they got their chips back he still wouldn't have his abilities. Their bionic brothers and sisters are too busy playing hero to actually do what they're supposed to do and join forces with them and even he has to admit that they would be outnumbered if they tried to escape and take back what should be rightfully theirs.
It was all sort of pointless.
So Sebastian felt nothing as he lay there on his lumpy bed, staring up at the dark ceiling in his dark room, when a security alarm suddenly rang loudly against the concrete walls.
Sebastian sat up, placing his feet on the floor as he stared at the door where he could hear dozens of guards rush by.
"ATTENTION ALL PERSONAL! THE FACILITY IS NOW UNDER EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN PROCEDURE 25489. I REPEAT THE PRISON IS NOW UNDER LOCKDOWN! ALL PERSONAL REPORT TO THE MAIN ENTRANCE IMMEDIATELY!"
"Lockdown?" Sebastian said with a frown as he got up and walked towards the door when he suddenly heard gun shots firing in the distance, fighting, screaming.
The sounds carried on into the hallway of cells where he was being kept and the siren continued to blare out loudly. When the screaming faded into the distance and this time he could hear what sounded like footsteps walking down the hall.
Sebastian kept still as the footsteps got louder until they eventually stopped right in front of the metal door that kept him trapped inside of the room.
Sebastian leaned forward to look through the small slot at the top of the door where they usually handed him his food to see a man dressed entirely in black with a black mask covering his entire face standing on the other side.
The teen's eyes widened and he stepped back, just before a loud bang rang against the metal door and it fell forward, falling with a loud slam right at his feet. Sebastian raised a hand to cover his eyes as the bright light from the hall way came pouring in and he blinked repeatedly trying to get his eyes to adjust.
"Sebastian Davenport."
The man said his voice was distorted by some kind of machine but the teen couldn't help but glare as he growled at the man, "Sebastian Krane, not Davenport. I'm not related to that hack."
The man's head gave a tilt, "Very well, Sebastian Krane. This is an interesting place to choose to spend your life."
"I never chose this, I was betrayed."
"I find that hard to believe, with your abilities, I'm sure you could have found a way out of here years ago if you really wanted to."
"I don't have bionics any more if that's what you're talking about." Sebastian said taking a step back, "And I'm not telling you about them either if that's what you're after."
"No need I already know how they work." The man said as he stepped into the room and his head slowly turned from side to side as he looked around the tiny cell while Sebastian frowned, "Then I'm assuming there's another reason why you decided to attack and invade a federal prison."
"You assume right."
"What do you want?"
"Cooperation, from you and your siblings Tank and Lexi." The man said as he stood at his full height while the teen folded his arms across his chest, "And what do we get out of cooperating."
"Like I said before I already know how your bionics work. I'm willing to give back what was taken from you in exchange for your assistance."
Sebastian tensed, "There's no way for me to get my bionics back-"
"Yes there is." The man interrupted smoothly, "I already know what happened to you, I can fix the damage that was done to your bionic infrastructure and give you a brand new better chip. You and your siblings will be better than ever."
Fix his bionic infrastructure?
It seemed too good to be true.
There has to be some kind of catch.
"What do you mean by cooperate?"
"I mean help."
"With what? You seem to be doing pretty well on your own right now; you know about bionics, what do you want from us?"
The man let out a chuckle, "Funny enough Sebastian I want the same thing you want." The man stepped forward and Sebastian had to force himself to just stay still as he approached, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that Sebastian realized was a picture as it was handed to him.
The teen frowned, "I don't understand."
"Like you I have unfinished business with Davenport and his family. Many years ago something was taken from me." The man said and Sebastian could almost hear the dark glare in his voice as it dropped an octave and he growled.
"I want it back."
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Three days later, Castile finally decided that Leo was healthy enough to leave the med bay and the first thing Leo did was go to Mission Creek for some much needed down time.
Adam took a couple of the bionic kids with him after an alert came in to the academy that morning about some facility that was broken into and since Castile still hadn't deemed him fit enough to go on a mission just yet, Leo decided to spend some time on the mainland instead.
It's been two days since he went to Ollie's and he did promise to help the older man at the store after all. Leo could tell that he was having a rough time with Video Vulture, it's actually one of the reasons why he kept going back instead of just ordering his movies online. He'd do more to help if he could but Ollie was stubborn, he probably wouldn't ask for help if he were hanging from a cliff about to fall to his death.
At least they have one thing in common.
Still he was a nice guy and going to Video Vulture gave Leo an excuse to escape the island every now and then. With his mom, little sister and big D living in Centium city Leo rarely had a reason to go back to the house anymore and since he broke up with Janelle Leo's had even less reason to go to Mission Creek. Most of his time was spent at the on the island and Leo was starting to feel a little suffocated.
Movie marathon Fridays was about the only day that he could actually just get away from the other students and just breathe without feeling like he was all alone like he did when he went to the house sometimes.
Leo gave a smile as he neared the store.
Rushing towards the entrance and letting it spread into a grin as he pushed the door open and that familiar tinkle of the silver bell above it rang loudly as he entered.
"Hey Ollie, sorry I didn't come back till-"
The door swung shut behind him and Leo just stared in confusion at the man standing behind the counter. He was tall; he had white blonde hair tied out of his face at the base of his neck, hazel green eyes. Dark blue jeans and a loose black long-sleeved V-neck.
He looked older, early thirties late twenties maybe.
Leo just paused as he looked around the store in confusion feeling like he might have walked into the wrong store when the man spoke.
"Can I help you?"
"Uh…" Leo paused again before walking up to the counter, "I'm looking for the guy that owns this place, you know, Ollie?"
"Oh you mean Mr. Waltz?"
"Yeah."
"He isn't here, he's on vacation."
"Vacation?" Leo asked incredulously, he can't remember the last time Ollie said he was taking the day off let alone going on vacation. The man behind the counter smiled, "Yes, he came into some money recently and decided to take a trip to the Bahamas with his children."
"Oh well good for him." Leo said with a slight smile, at a complete loss for what to do. If Ollie isn't there then; should he leave?
"I'm Jacob Hadley. Mr. Waltz asked me to keep the store open while he's away." The man suddenly said as he reached out his hand right across the counter and Leo stepped closer to take it, "Leo Dooley, I just come in to bug him sometimes but I'm pretty sure he enjoys it."
"Leo." Jacob said and his eyes suddenly softened and filled with… something. Leo paused at the odd look he was given and couldn't help but look down at their joined hands before making to quickly pull away only for the man to hold on tight.
The teen frowned, "What-"
"Right, Leo! Mr. Waltz said that he kept some special discs for you and that I should tell you in case you came by." The man said even as that look never left his eyes and he walked around the counter still holding onto the teen's hand.
"He did?"
"Yeah." Jacob said as he pulled Leo along with him to the back of the store, "Body heat three and Octolancer, from Russia I think."
Leo's eyes widened and he momentarily forgot the weirdness of the situation as he tried to keep up with the taller man, "No way. Those aren't due for release for two more months."
They stopped in front of a shelf not too far away from where Leo had been going through the box of discs a few days ago and Leo grinned as he picked up the DVD case that read Body heat three in huge red letters, when something suddenly caught his eye near the bottom corner of the shelf.
It was a smudge. A finger smudge, black-no-dark red it kind of looked like-
"Is something wrong?"
Jacob asked and Leo turned back to him pausing for a moment before he looked back down at the smudge, "Nothing I just… that kind of looks like blood."
Jacob looked over the teens shoulder before giving a shrug, "Huh. First time I've seen it, it's probably nothing."
Leo's frown deepened. Has that always been there?
"When did Ollie say he'd be coming back?"
"A month." Jacob said wrapping his arm around Leo's shoulder's causing the teen to jump in surprise as he was suddenly steered away, "C'mon, Octolancer should be over here. We have a couple of other new ones too."
"Okay." Leo said as he let himself be steered away, a little surprised by the grip around his shoulder. It was tight, very tight. Not enough to hurt but definitely enough to get his attention so Leo shrugged the hand off as politely as possible once they reached the next shelf.
"You're really friendly, huh."
"I like making new friends." Jacob said with a smile as he leaned over Leo and reached out to take on of the DVD cases off the shelf and handed it to the teen, "Who knows, maybe you and I could be friends."
"Maybe." Leo said quietly as he turned his attention to the summary given on the back of the case while Jacob just smiled and Leo tried to ignore how that strange expression never left his face.
A/N:
P.S: I will be bringing Marcus back in this before you ask, yes he still died as an android… sort of, you'll see.
P.P.S: Taylor is still blind in this one.
Please review