Chapter 3: Unsteady

A/N: Ok recap: Like the episode where they got the Doomsday Virus, they are inflicted with it. My reasoning behind it-when Douglas left Krane's side, Krane had still had Douglas' research so he was able to add the virus to their Triton App. Douglas is on the good side as of right now. In this story, I gave them a mother. She's not necessarily evil, but she's no saint. Graham is just like he is on the show, only concerned about his own fame and fortune. But he'll play a bigger role in this story. So far it seems Bree is affected worst because of the fact that she damaged her original chip. That's not to say though that the others haven't been affected. Read on because I have some questions at the end. I'll be honest, I'm not really proud of this chapter. But reviews are appreciated especially with any ideas or suggestions.

Straightening her lab coat, Sarah entered the control room appalled at the lack of progress made by her staff. Any progess made was only a temporary fix, they still had no cure whatsoever.

"Test subject is no longer viable." Another Agent whispered to Sarah as she continued to type on her tablet. "What do you suggest?" Sarah watched as one of the agents carried the poor dog away. Of course, that being another reason that they were back to the drawing board.

"How were Adam's vitals earlier?" She couldn't begin to process another loss. The kids, her kids, could not afford for her to fail.

"I still think we should break up those boys. Keeping them together is going to interfere-"

"Listen Graham, I think you keep forgetting who's in charge. I am. Those boys stay together. Do you understand me?" Graham was not one to take orders, but all things considering he had no other choice in the matter. For him, those kids were his big break. The kids could very possibly help him obtain fame and fortune. If not, he could always work his way to their secrets and sell to the highest bidder. Who wouldn't want to bank on super powers? However, for right now his job was bionic babysitter. Graham nodded as he pulled up Adam's vitals on his tablet. "As I was saying, how did Adam do earlier?"

"It seemed he struggled with what you called glitches, he excelled in the beginning and towards the end I'm not quite sure what happened. We believe the stimulation may have tired him considering his bionics have recently been disabled and were only turned on for the stimulation."

Groaning in defeat "But did he complete the stimulation?"

"No, it was too much for him. His blood pressure was increasing and he was becoming tachycardic. For everything we know about him, it was painfully clear the virus is starting to reach his chip.

"We're wasting our time. We are in no way near a resolve. This isn't just about those kids, Graham." Sarah frowned, as she pulled a small wallet size photo out of her lab coat discreetly looking at the photo of her and her small bionic children. Tracing her thumb over their faces, she put the photo back in her coat focused once more on her work. "I'm not one for dramatics but Krane has the power to destroy everything we know and I prefer to keep my mind intact."

"What do you suggest?" Graham's interest was piqued "Maybe if we keep working with Bob and Spin-"

Scoffing at his suggestion, she began to type on her phone "A guard dog would be more sufficient then Bob and Spin is far too young and still too little. I'll give Spin more credit, but those two are definitely nowhere near ready for any kind of testing or combat. No-" she began tapping her pen, a nervous habit she picked up when she was stressed "Chase is our key. He will do whatever is necessary for his brother and sister, which includes trusting us. The boy is a genius with more achievements than one could dream of. I assure you, Chase is the one we need to focus on."

"Shall I go get him then?"

Chase was ushered into a dark room with a big glass window right in the center. There was no denying the glass was kept as a barrier to keep him at their hands and mercy.

"Chase, it's so good to finally meet you." Chase's heart stopped for a brief second. It was her. The woman from his dream, although it had to have been a memory as she was real. Confusion rushed over him as he tried to process that memory. She had once meant something to him, that was painfully obvious as he recalled the memory.

His throat constricted and suddenly it was like the words couldn't leave his mouth, the only thing he could possibly mutter was "It's you."

Shocked that somehow her memory device had failed, she shuffled her feet not wanting to meet eyes with her teenage son. "Can I have a brief moment?" Sarah asked of her fellow employees. As they took the hint, in that moment it was just her and Chase.

"So you remember me?"

"I must say, I don't know which one of you is worse. At least with Douglas, he came right out and told us what he wanted."

Softly smiling, he truly was his father's son. She tried to see if she could see some part of her in him, but the only thing that was clear to her was his tenacity. "I know you can't understand why I did what I did, and believe me you have every reason not to trust me. But Chase, I'm on your side."

Disgusted by her choice of words, Chase turned away from her thinking of the pain he saw in Bree's eyes earlier and how Adam was a shell of his liveliness when he was brought back. When Adam doesn't feel like insulting him or punching him, then something is clearly wrong. Before the Marcus and Douglas situation, Chase might have believed her but if anything life had hardened him. "That's quite funny. You are nothing to me and I will protect my family." Chase responded with such determination that at that moment he honestly wasn't sure if he was trying hard to convince her of that fact or himself.

"Which is exactly what I'm trying to do Chase! Krane is creating-"

Annoyed at her attempt to try to get in good with him, Chase instantly cut her off choosing to ignore whatever response she was going to concoct. "Adam and Bree have no recollection of you, and up until I got to this facility I had no memory of even knowing you. So please, tell me once more why I should trust someone who has the power to tamper with our memories?"

Adam would have been the easier one to talk to. Bree seemed like she was struggling with the news, but in her own terms she would eventually come around. Chase was resilient-hellbent on shutting himself off.

"I can't expect you to understand why I did what I did. And right now, I'm not even asking for forgiveness-"Just as Chase was about to mutter 'Good' she shushed him "But we have to work together. If not for your own sake, then think of your brother and sister."

"Why so you continue to hurt them? Maybe it's not physical pain, but you're doing something. I can tell."

"When Douglas kidnapped you, his Triton App was flawed. I'm making an assumption but I strongly believe Krane transferred a virus on your chips when Douglas finally walked away from Krane. It's affecting Bree differently because it's not her original chip-"Chase tensed up as he listened to her discuss Bree's condition. "Chase, I'm not asking for much. I'm just asking for you to work with me. I know your head has been hurting since you've got here. It's a side effect from the virus."

It was too risky. Leo once warned Chase that he may have book smarts but the three of them were far too trusting, they lacked in the street smarts. They trusted Marcus and look where it led them. Slowly, Douglas was earning their trust. Although, the thought continued to plague his mind as to whether or not Douglas would someday return to his evil ways. No, he couldn't let her in.

"I am a genius. And I'm smart enough to know that I can't trust you."

Sarah wanted to bang her head against the wall, he was infuriating. She knew that she only had her self to blame, but Chase was being a petulant brat. He was going to end up getting them all killed because he refused to let his guard down. She walked away to her console. She really hated seeing them in such pain, but she had to get them combat ready. Marcus was incredibly smart, but they struggled against him. How in the world where they going to face Krane's army? She had heard about a recent attack against the Pentagon where equipment was stolen. The description sounded alot like bionics and with that there would be no way the public would allow her children to run free when supposively 'bionics' were considered the threat. If Graham even knew of her relation with the children, then he definitely would have her reassigned and off the case and who even knows what would happen to those kids?

"I assume Adam told you about his training. It's obvious that you have an amazing intellectual capacity. But did you ever wonder how you were able to break from the Triton App? " He observed her typing on her tablet and was stunned when suddenly his powers were back. "It wasn't a glitch, Chase. You were able to break free because your emotions were able to break thru that firewall. I'm not saying that it wouldn't have worked on Adam or Bree, but you were always gifted. You were the youngest, by the time we got to you we knew how to upgrade."

Chase felt like it was another repetitive speech of them trying to lure them on whatever side they were on. Once more, he was just another piece in their game. "I've heard this before and whatever you want I'm not going to betray my family."

"And you shouldn't. I can sense your hate for me, Chase. I understand it, I really do. But if you're going to fight against Krane, then first things first you need to learn how to fight yourself-"

Dumbfounded by her statement, Chase began to rub his temples. This must be what Adam meant about facing your fears.

"Let's begin" Chase had several electrodes placed on him. As he watched them leave the room, Chase was frustrated as he stared at the window where he watched his "mother" observing him like a Lab Rat.

Immediately Chase was placed back in Antartica, his family had abandoned him. They could only see him as useless, he understood siblings fought but he could only take so much from them. In the back of his mind, he thought of how it would be if he left them behind and joined Douglas. After all, Douglas understood. He was always in Mr. Davenport's shadow and he too had been bullied by his older brother. Chase tried to shrug that thought away, they need you Chase.

It's some kind of mind trick, Chase. Don't fall for it. The world does need you, Adam and Bree still need you.

"You're too weak to get yourself out of this mess." Spike teased "I say let them fend for themselves. After all, it's what they would do for you."

"NO! They wouldn't."

"Really? You can't even save yourself. How do you expect to get out of this?"

"What's going on with him?" Graham questioned Sarah as she continued to watch the scene unfold.

"Typically we all have a fight or flight response, well Chase has a fight response. It's called the Commando App. It's different, but this just shows that it's his weakness."

"Oh, I've heard about that App. Why is it considered a weakness? I'd say let it takeover. That's what you need against Krane."

"It doesn't work like that."

Chase spit a glare at Spike, it was weird how in this vision he was looking directly at himself but it wasn't him: it was Spike. "You're just trying to hold me back. You're worried that I might finally get rid of you once and for all."

Spike walks around Chase with a stride of confidence flowing over him. "None of them care. You really think Davenport is out searching for you when he could be facing jail time? Let's face it that man is all about himself and you three are the least of his worries. That woman behind that window." Chase watched her intently as Spike pointed her out "Well you can't bank money when the product is dead." Spike mocked. As he got behind Chase he whispered in his ear "You really are useless."

Any other stimulation, Chase had been used to fighting the bad guys. But something was completely off about fighting himself.

"Pathetic Chase. All those times you allowed Trent to bully you, when you knew good and well that you had training that could take him out in an instant-"

"I couldn't risk-"

"It's not your bionics you were worried about, dumb ass! It's the fact that you actually like the dark side."

As Chase was about to tackle Spike, he was quickly reminded of how it felt when he almost joined Douglas. Spike had no remorse, he hated that part of himself. That he could go on and hurt someone and not blink an eye. If there was anything he wanted more, it was to get rid of Spike.

"You're right. I did." Chase softly muttered. His emotions were running high, he was beyond tired and so conflicted. All he wanted was to be free: free from this prison and free from running. "I know what I have to do though."

"Something is wrong. We need to stop this." Sarah shouted at her lead technologist.

"His vitals are stable. In fact, it's much stronger than the others."

"I have a bad feeling about this. I say we pull him out." She strongly ordered, however the rest of the staff was in awe as they watched the scene unfold.

"Just a few more minutes."

"I'm stronger than you think. And I'm done with you." Chase pulled his laser bow out and attacked Spike. Chase never took his eyes off of Spike, for once it felt so good to finally disengage the one he hated most.

Sarah was stunned as she watched Chase pass out.

"He's fine. But we will need to extract his chip to see what that just did" The men took Chase out of the room by a stretcher to the infirmary. Assuring Sarah that he would just need some temporary monitoring before he could head back to his room.

However, she knew exactly what he just did. It was her idea to give Chase the Commando app. Bree would need brothers to protect her, not that she couldn't fend for herself. But as children, Chase was the weaker one. The Commando App was meant to protect him, to keep him safe. The stimulation was designed to show your weaknesses, your fears. Adam feared not being able to protect his brother and sister, while Chase seemed to fear himself.

Chase groaned as he finally came to. His body felt incredibly weak and his head felt like it had been bashed in. Surprised that no one was around, he assumed it must have been late. Heading down the hall, he came across his mother talking to Graham. He remained as still as possible in hopes that he wouldn't get caught.

"Actually, you'll be glad to know that I'm one step closer. At least, it should buy us some more time."

"Yeah and after that stupid trick that kid pulled-" Rolling her eyes, she interrupting as she couldn't stand the thought of that vile of a man talk about her kids like that.

"I have word that there is a girl who was working with Krane who had the Commando App like Chase who escaped the Triton App. She escaped Krane and maybe if we find her we can find the others."

This was all getting too serious. First there was an attack on the Pentagon and now there was the possibility of bionics being involved. He definitely didn't want to get on the President's bad side. After all, these bionic kids were his responsibility. "Do you think we should alert the President?"

"Why alarm anyone when we have this under control? I have an army ready to fight-"

"Those androids? You said yourself that the problem is androids burn out too quick."

"They do. But if we're going to go up against Krane, we need soldiers. And Adam, Bree and Chase are nowhere near ready."

"What shall we do about the kids?"

"I told you I have a temporary fix, until we resolve a more permanent solution. They may not see it now, but what we are doing is completely necessary and anything that happens is sadly inevitable. "

"What about that girl who escaped Krane? What do we do if we find her?"

"Kill her and any other soldiers of Krane's."

Chase was stunned. She had absolutely no remorse. She wasn't trying to get close to them, she was working her own agenda. How did she know so much about Krane? And what did she mean inevitable? Nothing made sense in this prison, but Chase knew one thing for sure: He had to save himself and the others. Chase quietly escorted himself back into his room before they would come back to check on him.

"I know exactly what I have to do." Chase muttered quietly to himself.

Ok so like I said, not the best chapter. I was inspired by the scene in Insurgent when Tris fights herself. So in my mind, that's how I pictured that. Also, on a side note, I always questioned if Chase was trained in martial arts why did he never stand up for himself against Spike? (Recalling the episode where Leo mentioned bobbing for apples in the toilet because of Trent). So I do think that Chase in his own way may have his own inner struggle with light and darkness. (Or I could just be saying that because I have Star Wars on the brain) I was thinking back to a few episodes ago when Kate was introduced and Chase was curious about how to fix the Spike Problem. Speaking of Kate, I was curious about getting Chase a love interest, or at least someone he can bond with in regards to the commando app. Is that worth exploring or no? I apologize for the lack of the others in this chapter. Next chapter will include them. Review and tell me this isn't the worst thing you've ever read. Like I said any suggestions or ideas are appreciated. Thanks again for reading.