The next morning as we walk into school something feels different. A nest of snakes writhes in my stomach. I shrug it off as my oatmeal having a hard time digesting. But as the day continues it gets worse. That afternoon, Davenport is late for training, something that never occurs. And when Marcus appears on Eddy's screen, we know why. It is nothing but a trap, but we have to walk straight into it if we want any chance of getting Davenport back. Meeting Marcus at the front door is a shock. Leo was right. With some new flying/levitating bionic, Chase knocks the eyebrow boy out and we rush inside. Right into the trap. A man who seems strangely similar appears, taunting us and Davenport like they share a long history.
"Who are you?" Chase demands, poised to fight if necessary.
"Adam, Bree, Chase: I'm your father." They gape at the man standing with open arms. In his cage Davenport avoids eye contact with anyone.
"No, he's our father!" Bree spits, gesturing behind her. The stranger only smiles patronizingly then turns to me.
"Audrey, I'm the one who programmed your chip." My jaw slackens.
"You're the reason I'm bionic?" He nods with a smirk.
"I don't know who you are but you are going down." Yet, before Adam can take more than one step the four of us are teleported into the confinement with Mr. Davenport, which effectively blocks all signals from our chips. After Douglass and Marcus leave, I turn to the one remaining adult with arms crossed.
"This would be a great time to explain yourself." With a sigh and pleading tone he does, wanting nothing but for the children whom he has adopted as his own to forgive him-or at the least to believe him. But how can they, when learning that everything they ever knew was a lie?
Relief courses through my body when I see on the monitor that Leo has come with a little red wagon to rescue us. But Marcus zaps him and the screen blackens. "No!" we scream but no human could survive that. Leo is gone.
"When I get out of here I am taking you and Marcus down," Adam vows.
"Good luck. With a push of this button my Trident app will override your chips and I will control you. Permanently." Horror crushes my ribs as his finger comes down on the button. But the siblings have no reaction other than painful cringing. Douglass frowns and Donald laughs, gives a dance of triumph.
"I put a block on their chips a long time ago!" His brother glares, then types furiously for a moment.
"There, in eight minutes my encryption key will override your block and will activate the Triton app! In the meantime," he reaches into a pocket and removes a nearly identical button, this one grey. "You were too busy training her to encrypt Audrey's chip." Realization washes Davenport's features, as well as the others in the cage. I am the last to understand, even after Adam. No. No. NO. "And this one doesn't require batteries," he sneers. In slow motion I watch his finger push down. There is nothing I can do.
Taking the backseat on my own life is scary to say the least. Information is being gathered from the five senses but I have no power to make my own actions. It is like watching a 3D movie and reaching out but grasping at thin air, if that makes any sense. Using his teleportation device, Douglass removes me from between the lasers. My friends' faces express betrayal, which angers me. Like I can do anything about it! Douglass leaves the room, me following dutifully in his footsteps. He steps into the kitchen and opens the fridge, offers me a juice box. I frown and he shrugs, pops the straw into one and slurps loudly.
When we return it is to my joy that the cage has been deactivated. But that feeling is short-lived, for Marcus returns, the encryption is complete and there is nothing more preventing Douglass from controlling Adam, Bree and Chase. Except Donald's high-sweeping kick. The button flies onto a catwalk above. Sharing a look, the brothers race in a wild dash for the control. Chase meets my eyes and silently begs for me to stop. We both know what is about to happen. If I could, I would. But I cannot stop. Davenport yells for them to escape but Marcus and I block the exit.
"Out of our way," Chase warns.
"I am more powerful than all of you." Not arrogant at all, I think as Marcus smirks. Adam jabs forward in a punch that Marcus easily deflects, then raising him over the head, slams Adam into the floor. Then it becomes three-on-two, Bree and Adam-when he recovers-challenging Marcus and Chase squaring up to me.
Fighting Chase in hand-to-hand combat is difficult. To my relief he refrains from using bionics. "Audrey, I know you're in there. Fight it," he pleads. I am in here and I am fighting it, I whine as I leap forward. He rolls to the side and comes up in time to deflect a hit to the head. I would rather gouge my eyes out with hot pokers than mercilessly beat on my best friends. Douglass and Davenport are having a brother smackdown nearby. I half wonder while struggling to hold back from using all my strength in a kick if those brothers have more unresolved issues than they are letting on.
Please no! I scream internally. Without warning I evaporate and solidify behind Chase. He wheels around, but not before I swipe a finger against his neck. A crackling forcefield appears in my hands. I did not know I could gain another bionic if it is not actively being used by the other person. Thrusting it forward, the force knocks the breath from his lungs and his body to the floor. He gasps heavily and sweat trickles down his temples.
Something hard slams into me from behind and knocks me to the ground. Twisting around I find Bree struggling to hold me down. Kicking her off me I jump up and raise two fists. With a hard face chiseled from stone she super speeds forward. I gain it instantly and fight back with just as much vigor. As she spins around for another go a puddle appears in my place. Slipping in it she falls and skids, landing with one leg twisted under her.
"Bree!" Adam exclaims, rushing to her side. She yelps in pain as he scoops her up. With Adam now protecting them both I realize with sinking dread how easily I could attack them. Marcus has fluidly shifted and is now sparring with Chase. I solidify back into my regular body. Adam stomps his foot hard enough to cause the ground to tremble in a tremor that causes me to struggle to stay on my feet. Losing balance I fall, chin slamming into the floor, pain flaring through my jaw.
He sets her down to the side and speaks in low tones. She nods and licks her lips. The sight of my best friend blinking tears from her eyes that I caused rattles my core.
"Bree!" My voice cracks. They both look up and I see relief flash across their faces.
"No!" Douglass cries and presses the button again. As quickly as it came my independence dissipates and I am pushed from the driver seat of my mind. My body surges forward as I mentally struggle with the invading force. Adam steps before Bree and holds his hands out the way one would coax a wild animal.
"Audrey, you are not the monster Douglas is turning you into." If I could I would hug him for believing unconditionally in me. I would not be swinging my leg back to kick his shin as hard as I can.
"Ow! How can you kick that hard? Those legs don't look that strong," he gasps, doubling over. I shove him and watch as he tumbles over. I press my foot to his chest and look into the face of my friend with eyes filled with artificial hate.
Suddenly I am flung backwards by Chase's telekinesis. A force field appears between me and the two fallen Davenport siblings. Chase stands between them and me. He has another one holding Marcus at bay, who circles to stand beside me.
"Audrey, please don't make me do this," he begs. I wish I could stop this.
"Are you afraid?" comes out of my mouth instead.
"No." Taking in a deep breath he steadies himself.
"Bring it on, then," robotic, following-the-orders-of-a-button-me taunts. Marcus' eyes glow and I grab his arm. Our heat vision explodes against the forcefield and sends everyone reeling backward. Taking this moment of opportunity, I evaporate, solidify directly before Chase, lift him up, slam him back down. Marcus and Adam are locked fist-to-fist, matched strength-to-strength and skill-to-skill.
Chase lies on the ground, me ready to finish him off. He does not struggle but stares into my eyes and says gently, "Adriana Ortiz, I love you," his voice laced with nothing but feelings of pure affection. There is no despise or hatred that can be detected.
How can any part of me ever hurt him like I have just done? Like I have done to all of them? I will not destroy him, even if it kills me in doing so.
With a guttural scream that rips my vocal cords I tug control. I feel the foreign strength leaving and my knees buckle. There is still one last thing I need to do.
Davenport has taken the opportunity of confusion to jump from the catwalk onto the button to control the siblings, then to rip my button from his brother's hand and smash it under his heel. Douglass grinds his teeth in anger and reaches for me. At the same time a flash of pain erupts in my neck and rapidly spreads to every crevice of my being, succeeded by another and another and another. This must be molten lava pumping through my veins instead of blood.
The pain is too much to bear, heaped on top of my utter lack of energy. I must be hallucinating because something with Leo's voice just fell through the ceiling. "Audrey!" someone yells. The last thing I remember is Chase's face, smudged with dirt and sweat and face anxious yet determined, right before Marcus sends a jolt of electricity through all the bionics in the room.