He never had a mother or a father. He had a creator. For a four year old kid, even an intelligent, bionic one, that concept was hard to grasp. The difference between father and creator, the line between the two, was smudged a lot more often than it should have been. So nowadays he likes to remember those times when he called him 'daddy' because he just didn't understand the difference. He likes to think about those things he has long since grown out of.

He thinks about all the best things.

Like when he was five years old and it was his birthday, and Mr. Davenport sat with him the whole day reading him to sleep with a child's story book instead of a tech manual or an atlas for once. Or when he was seven and he fell off the top of the rock climbing wall, Adam had dared him to try it without the harness or any other support, and he was screaming his little head off, so Mr. Davenport held him until he stopped crying and then convinced him to try climbing again-with the supports. Or even when he's a teenager and no longer a little kid in need of constant attention. Mr. Davenport still manages to spend enough time with him to make him feel important.

Like when he has a project for school and Mr. Davenport helps him, stays up late just for him. Or when Mr. Davenport is working on a new invention for Davenport Industries, comes across a bug that can't be fixed, trusts him enough to let him in on the prototype and takes a minute from 'being awesome' to act so much like a dad it's hard to remember to call him 'Mr. Davenport', even for the Smartest Person in the World. Or even when he screws up because all of a sudden he's on his own and he hates it and he does stupid things. Mr. Davenport says there is always a lesson to be learned and somehow manages to forgive him all his temporary insanities.

So Chase knows he's Mr. Davenport, not his father. Chase knows about Douglas and about boundaries and about being a disciplined team. But then, Chase also knows that Douglas can go to hell and Mr. Davenport is the only father he'll ever have. Even if he can't say it, he always thinks it. And when his siblings say 'everyone knows you're his favorite', he can't keep the smug smirk off his face. Because, just maybe, it might be true.

So when Chase looks up from his textbook, which he's already memorized, and sees Mr. Davenport working on another new invention, he has to do it. For the one-on-one, father-son time he absolutely lives for, he has to do it. For the attention he wishes he didn't crave, he has to do it. As he sets his book aside, he wonders if his siblings are right. As he stands up and starts to move across the lab, he wonders if maybe he needs the attention too much. Maybe he is acting superior, and maybe, just maybe, that's what makes them say those insult-sorry, jokes-that he doesn't feel like laughing at. Maybe he's a bit too much like Douglas for his liking, and for a second that freezes him where he stands. But when the second is up, he moves on. Because even with all the 'maybe's going around in his head, he still needs it. So Chase leans over Mr. Davenport's shoulder and says,

"What are you doing?"


Sometimes he has a bad day. Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't love his father. After all, when you love someone enough, it's easy to ignore their annoying habits and insulting nature. But on a bad day, he notices. He notices these things that make him think he will explode, make him think he is so small cast in the shadow of his siblings. And when he notices these things, he thinks about them. He thinks about the things no one else seems to notice.

He thinks about all the worse things.

Like when he literally almost kills himself to impress his father, and Mr. Davenport can only see the 'flash' of Hustle and Muscle. Or when Mr. Davenport came up with that horribly catchy team name, Hustle and Muscle, and he got to be Chussle, and thank God Mr. Davenport put that big brain into use and thought up Flash Glue to really make him feel like part of the team. Or even when his step-brother Leo came into the mix and suddenly became Mr. Davenport's favorite. Because Leo didn't have to work as hard as he possibly could or use every breath and every decision in an effort to be noticed.

Like when Mr. Davenport just let Leo become a part of the duo-now trio-that works The Call without a second thought, and they both seemed to forget how long it took him to fight and beg his way into it. Or when Leo tricked and conned his way onto the mission team, and of course he's glad the Leo is part of team, but no one seems to be able to remember those fifteen years of training and training and training besides him, and of course Leo just gets to skip all the work and go straight to the fancy desk and cool name tag and sneaking his way onto the actual missions. Or even when Leo does something like endanger everyone on the team and Mr. Davenport absolutely has to punish him. Someone should have realized by now that a slap on the wrist won't teach Leo anything.

And it's not like Chase doesn't love Leo. It's not like Chase could imagine his life without the medium-sized, three mile accident-radius troublemaker. It's not like Chase is actually questioning the way Mr. Davenport runs the team. But, man, it would be nice if there weren't so many standards that he has to meet, and it would be even better if any of them applied to Leo. It would be great if Mr. Davenport could pick up a hint and figure out how Chase feels about Leo moving in on all the activities that used to be just theirs. To be honest, Chase is jealous. He's tried to squash it and act like the superior genius he is, but then Leo started inventing things. And that just isn't allowed, because Chase can think ahead. Chase knows what comes next. If Leo starts inventing things that work, Mr. Davenport will start to notice. If Mr. Davenport notices, he'd want to get Leo more involved in the behind-the-scenes action at Davenport Industries. And if Leo get more involved with Davenport Industries, just how long is it going to be until Mr. Davenport names Leo his heir and turns the company over to him instead of Chase? Most people would say Chase is being paranoid, but those people don't Mr. Davenport. Those people don't know how easily Chase fades when it comes to his family.

And so Chase is scared of Leo. Not like he was scared of the Monster in his Capsule when he was five, or the way he's scared of Adam and his Bionic Brother Toss, or even the way he's afraid of Bree and her Mission Leader Jokes. No, Chase is scared of Leo in a way he's never been scared of anything in his life. Because isn't he the obvious choice to one day take over Davenport Industries? With Adam, who walks away from Math long before the letters start, and Bree, who's always wanted to travel the world and never once had the ability to competently own a business like Davenport Industries, wouldn't Chase be the only one to do it? Except if you add Leo into the mix, everything Chase has always known for a certainty about his future goes up in smoke. Everything he's dreamed about doing with Davenport Industries-gone. And Chase hates to think this way when he so desperately needs Leo, when Leo is the only person he can hang out with who doesn't make Chase feel self-conscious. But he can't trust Mr. Davenport with Leo acting like a rising star, so he has to think of Leo like an enemy. So that's what pushes him to walk up to Leo, hating himself for his motives, and ask,

"What are you doing?"


Okay, so wow. It's been that long since I updated? Since it used to be summer, I really have no excuse. Well, thank God for disease! I got sick this last week and I've been writing and rewriting this all weekend. I'm not too happy with the top half, but I'm pretty proud of the bottom, if I do say so myself. So, sorry it's been so long and I hope I can keep this updating thing up for the rest of the week at least. I have an eye infection thing going on, and I'm highly contagious! No school! Which, though bad for my education, is proving pretty good for my writing. Someone asked me to write Leo next, so I'll be getting started on that. Don't forget to review!