Hey, hey to the boys and the girls that left me a review last chapter!

First off, doomforombies16 and AlienGhostWizard14? I'm very impressed with you guys! You remembered! When Adam, Bree and Chase took Principal Perry to the lab, they told her that they were at an enemy base/territory, which is why they have to be very careful. Great job, you two!

To Adeo1234, Sharon1234, and Lady Cougar-Trombone - thanks so much for your reviews! I'm glad to hear you guys are rooting for Leo and Janelle, too!

Alrighty. I hope you guys enjoy this next one!

Episode Tag to: Zip It

Chronicle #029

"Mechanics"

02/28/14

10:08 PM

The objectives were simple: snatch the flags off an opponent's waist, and the last man standing's team wins.

The rules were simpler still: whoever falls off the zip line is out. No unnecessary roughness. No cheating. Most importantly of all, no bionics.

The prize? Bragging rights for the winning team, finishing up the remaining cleaning duties for the losing team.

It was to be a high stakes game.

It all started Wednesday evening. Bree and Chase were laid out on the couch, tired from their busy day at work that afternoon. Adam, meanwhile, was busy trying to finish his Geometry homework. Big D was dismantling his t-shirt canon, as per Mom's demand. Mom was upstairs, changing out of her anchorwoman clothes into something casual for our scheduled family bowling night.

On my side of the world, I was working through the last mountain pile of clothes, folding them, after at least two days of washing load after load. I think the duration and the repetitive process had almost driven me mad, because at one point I considered putting everyone's clothes back in the laundry baskets and tossing them all in the furnace so I will never have to do them again. But, I figured, someone's already got the role of being the family psychopath filled. No use getting in on that dark streak action, especially considering that it's just over a chore.

So occasionally obedient, forced-into-child-labor kid it is.

When Mom came downstairs, telling us it was time to go, nobody, besides Big D, wanted to get up. The lack of interest on that invitation, I think, became even more obvious through the groans that came from their children. "You guys don't want to go?" Mom asked, just then realizing how exhausted the rest of us looked.

Chase started talking to her, telling her why he wasn't particularly up to it, but I couldn't really remember what he said exactly. The polo shirt I was folding caught my attention. Having to redo the buttons because I didn't do it right the first time finally got on my last nerves. "This is so ridiculous!" I yelled in frustration.

Mom glared at me and raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"No. No, Mom, I'm sorry. It's not you," I explained, getting up from where I sat. "It's just—I've folded hundreds of clothes, cleaned out a massive amount of lint from the dryer, and I reek of laundry detergent. Is there any way I can skip my turn of doing chores next week? Because I feel like I've done at least a month's worth of work."

Mom's expression softened when she understood. She shook her head slowly. "No, honey. I'm sorry. You know this wouldn't have been so bad if you and Adam had done the chores when you were supposed to," she said.

"Okay," I just said in defeat. It was then I noticed the zip line. I sighed. "Can we at least hold off on the zip lines, at least for tonight?"

"Yeah, can we, Tasha?" Adam asked, getting up from his seat. "Please?"

Mom shook his head. "No can do, boys," she said. "Unless you're using it again, which I don't see why you would, everything has to be taken down."

Big D and Adam started to protest, reasoning why the zip line should stay up. While they did, something in what she said gave me an idea for a compromise. "Why don't we use it?" I said.

Mom looked at me. "Use it?" she asked.

"Yeah. Tonight. Let's play a game using the zip lines," I said. "Whoever loses takes all of it down tonight."

"Um, hate to break it to you," Chase chimed in from the couch, "but there's only one line left. I don't see how having six people hanging by that line would constitute a game. Or how it would be safe."

"Or sane," Bree said.

"Give me an hour, and I can get you fifteen lines," I said. I looked at Mom. "That is, of course, if it's okay."

Mom crossed her arms when, one by one, the rest of her family started giving her pleading looks. Even Bree turned to her, although I think she only did that to see what she would decide.

After a minute or two, she sighed. "Alright. I guess we can do something else tonight," she said, causing a ripple of excited grins. "But I don't want anything broken by the end of this game, understand?"

Everybody nodded.

Big D clapped his hands together. "Okay. What are we going to play?" he asked.

While they were thinking about it, I told them that I would get everything ready. Bree wasn't that much interested in listening to the boys pitching in their ideas, so she decided to offer me help instead. She told me that the faster we get the zip lines up, the quicker it'll be for the game to end, thus the sooner she could go to sleep.

But, if you ask me, I think what she really wanted was a turn on the zip lines. Adam and I have told her and Chase about it over and over again, and based on the way she asked all those questions about them, I just figured she wanted to check it out for herself.

When we finished fifteen minutes later (Bree finished the course in two, but it took me longer to recalibrate the trolleys and reinforce the safety gears), they had come up with the game. "Flag football," Big D said as soon as Bree and I came in.

"Flag football?" Bree asked.

"Yeah, but without the football and having to score a goal and all that boring stuff," Big D explained.

"Sorry. I completely zoned out when I heard football," I said. "Can you please explain that game again?"

So Big D, along with the assistance of an excited Adam and a none-too-excited Chase, explained the objectives and the rules of the game. All I got—and all I needed to hear—was that we were playing in teams, three against three, pull out an opponent's flag to take them out of the game, no bionics and all the other good stuff that was mentioned in the beginning of this entry.

To make sure that the calls made throughout would be fair, Big D enlisted the help of Eady, Eddy's much nicer, way cooler, and generally just better counterpart.

"Are we good?" Big D asked with a smile after his explanation.

Clear on the rules and actually excited about it, I nodded. I looked at Bree to see what she thought. She nodded, slightly smirking. "We're good," I said.

"So how are we going to choose teams?" Chase asked.

"Why don't we let Mr. Davenport and Tasha be the team captains? Let them choose who they want?" Bree suggested.

Big D and Mom looked at each other.

Mom shrugged. "I don't see why not," she said.

"Ooh, me first. I call dibs on Adam and Chase," Big D said, putting his arms on their shoulders.

Adam, of course, had no problem with that, and from the grin that came up on Chase's face I could tell that he favored that too.

"What? But that's not fair!" Bree protested. She looked at Mom. "Shouldn't we at least have Adam on our team?"

Mom gave me a knowing look as she tried not to smile. I understood what she said in that glance, and I tried not to laugh. "No, no, I think we're fine, sweetheart," Mom told Bree. She smiled at her. Then, to Big D, "Are you sure you want Leo in our team?"

Big D nodded. "I'm sure."

"I mean, really sure? You have no problem with him being with us?" Mom asked.

"Nope," Big D said. "No problem at all."

"Okay," Mom said. "Bree and Leo on my team, then."

"Good. So it's settled," Adam said. Then, with a look at his team mates, "It's the boys—" then to me, "versus the girls."

Big D snickered, although he tried hard not to.

Chase joined in the trash talk soon after. "Oh, but don't worry. We'll take it easy on you, especially on your mascot."

I was starting to get slightly offended, but then Adam laughed and said, "Ooh, Bree! You just got burned!"

Bree was fuming and was about to attack when Mom stopped her. "Okay, okay. Enough with that," she said. "Why don't we all get with our teams and get a plan together?"

"Sounds great, honey," Big D said.

We separated into our own little huddles after that.

Bree was still radiating with anger as the three of us settled beside the elevator, far away from where the others were. "Why did we let them do that?" she asked Mom. "Oh, man. We're so going to lose this. If I had known I'd end up taking it apart anyways, I wouldn't have helped put up the zip lines."

Mom and I exchanged glances. We smiled.

"Chill, Bree," I told her. "Relax. We got this."

"How?" Bree asked, now somewhat upset with me.

I looked up at Mom.

"Let me tell you a secret…" Mom said.

And she did. She told Bree a little known fact, which was the very reason Mom and I were fine with the team we have. As she understood, Bree started smiling, too.

We took a few minutes to discuss our game plan, each of us contributing to it, before we declared break.

When we got back, Big D, Adam and Chase were waiting. "Are we ready?" Big D asked.

Bree shrugged, playing it off as we had. "I guess we are," she said.

And with that, the game was on.

To be honest, I was nervous. We may have had a great plan in play, but plans have the tendency to get derailed once the buzzer goes off. I was also worried about the trolleys. They were working fine when I checked them, but there was a good chance it could go haywire and electrocute someone. The last thing I would want is for someone to get hurt.

But before I could rethink it, the signals went off, telling us that we are a go.

As Mom had instructed, my first destination was the library, one of the blind spots in the house. I timed it right after someone passed by before I headed to where I should be. When I got there, I waited and watched. Mom and Bree agreed that during the first round, I'm only supposed to observe where Big D, Adam and Chase frequently go. The two of them were in charge of ousting somebody.

I didn't have any problem with it. Knowing what I know about Mom, I trusted her judgment. Plus, it was actually kind of amusing, maybe a little freaky, seeing everybody else pass by, hands sticking out in hopes of de-flagging somebody. I heard at least two vases shatter; I was glad I had nothing to do with that.

I heard them laughing too, and that's always nice.

Soon, I noticed a pattern.

Not long after, the buzzer went off.

Eady announced the first casualty: the team leader himself, Donald Davenport, eliminated from the game by his one and only daughter.

"What?" Chase exclaimed when he settled back on his starting point. "How's that even possible?"

"She caught me hiding out in the hallway," Big D said unhappily as he unbuckled his gear. He shot Bree a look then Adam and Chase, in effect telling them to watch out for her.

As Big D gave Adam and Chase more instructions, Mom and Bree both looked at me for what I found out.

I scratched my head then glanced at the balcony then craned my neck to the direction of Big D's storage room, the two places where Chase pass through a lot.

Bree fake sneezed. Adam?

I glanced at the living room.

I would have told them the second spot, but I noticed that Chase was watching me with a frown.

I frowned back, hoping to distract him from figuring out what was happening.

That, of course, didn't work. What else did you expect from a skilled mission leader?

Heading into another blind spot after the second round began, I noticed that while Adam remained going through the living room and the sewing room, Chase was almost nowhere to be found. The first time they almost swiped Bree's flag off, I figured out their trick: use our own plan against us. Adam acted as a decoy, while Chase waited for whoever took the bait.

So, acting exactly opposite to what Mom asked I do, I moved to a place where I was less hidden.

Before I moved to the next spot, I saw Mom heading towards the living room where Adam's about to cross. "Mom, no!" I yelled. I rushed back before she reached the intersecting lines, because it was clear what would happen when she got there: an ambush.

And it was exactly what happened when I intercepted. Adam yanked the flag off from my belt so hard, Chase doing the same thing to a piece from my zip line gear, that I flipped like a coin in the air then landed on the floor like a plank.

Eady announced that I was out, but I was in too much pain to even listen to what she was saying.

Big D helped me up and led me towards the couch. I could tell he was torn between laughing at how that whole attack probably looked and keeping a straight face as he watched me limp.

It wasn't as bad as when everybody left in the game got off their gears. Everybody was talking to me all at once. Adam, Bree, Mom, Chase.

"Man, Leo! I'm so sorry!"

"Are you out of your minds?"

"Baby, are you… How badly hurt are you?"

"I'm sorry! I thought that was your flag!"

And all of them started looming in on me, which made me slightly claustrophobic. So, I waved them off. "Guys, guys, I'm okay," I said unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?" Big D asked. "You don't look okay."

"No, I'll be fine," I said. Then, to Mom, "If you're still wondering Mom, eight."

"Eight?" Chase asked, slightly alarmed. "Your pain level is eight?"

I nodded. "Eight," I said.

Mom got my drift. Bree did, too.

They figured out our play. Time for another plan.

"Should we keep playing?" Chase asked guiltily.

"Yeah. Go," I said.

Hesitantly, Adam and Chase got back on their lines, feeling bad about what happened. Mom and Bree got on their lines, too, though I was confident they knew what to do next.

The third round was interesting. Adam and Chase were not as determined to out Mom and Bree, but they were still stealthy when it comes to hiding. They finally discovered my hiding places, so that was a bust. The third round lasted a while, because it became a game of avoiding.

It finally finished ten minutes later, when Bree happened to zip past Adam, and she took his flag.

Sadly, she was eliminated, too. She slipped out of her gear right after the flag she snatched hit the floor.

So, the final round ended up being Mom versus Chase.

Bree sat by me on the couch to watch, while Big D and Adam sat on the stairs.

For five minutes, all we saw was Chase zipping from line to line, confused because he couldn't figure out where Mom had gone. A few more minutes went by, and still no Mom.

The last time we saw Chase was when he headed to the hallway adjacent to the elevator.

Then all we heard was a click, a thud, and a distraught "No!"

"Chase is out of the game," Eady announced later. "Team Tasha wins!"

Big D and Adam exchanged glances before rushing towards the hallway.

Bree and I got there just in time to see Big D pulling Chase up from the floor. "What happened?" Big D asked him.

"I don't really know," Chase said, quite unable to stand up straight. "One moment, I was looking for her, the next moment, she had my flag."

Big D looked at Mom. Mom smiled. "I hid. I waited," she said.

"But how come I didn't find you?" Chase asked. "I looked everywhere."

"Everywhere?" I asked.

"Yes," Chase said. "All twelve areas where the zip lines are."

Mom grinned. Bree crossed her arms as she smiled.

I raised my eyebrows. "I said in the beginning that I was setting up fifteen lines," I said.

Chase, as well as Big D and Adam, were lost. "What?" Adam said.

"Yeah," I said. "The way it was set up, there were five blind spots around the house. Two of them, you can find if you really look, and three of them, well, you wouldn't know they're there unless you happen upon it or, you know, if you helped set up the course."

"Wait. Wait. This isn't fair," Big D protested. "How come we didn't know about this? How come you didn't tell us about this?"

I shrugged. "I wasn't required to," I said. "I wasn't on your team."

"And it is fair, honey," Mom added. "I asked you if you were sure you're okay with Leo being on our team, in effect putting him with the only other person who'd know the course well, and you said yes."

Big D thought about it. Chase and Adam did, too.

"See, you guys were so busy focusing on what we can't do that you forgot what we can do," Mom added. "Leo knew the course well, and Bree brought a lot of great ideas. As for me, well, you just didn't think I could play tough."

"Quarterback, Powderpuff," I clarified when they frowned. "Won two straight years in junior and senior year."

"Powderpuff?" Adam asked.

Big D sighed. "Football for high school girls," he said, finally realizing where he went wrong.

Mom smiled.

"Great game," I said in consolation to them.

"Oh, yeah! And hey," Bree turned towards Chase, "thanks for taking it easy on us."

"Now I don't know about you guys, but I feel like getting some good old fashioned burgers with a great milkshake," Mom said. "Leo? Bree? You with me?"

"You had me at burgers," I said.

"Alright," Mom said. Then, to Big D, Adam and Chase, she said, "We'll be back in a few hours, boys. This place? Sparkling clean."

We left after that, our hands free from the obligation of cleaning the house.

Mom took us to eat at a restaurant near the bay, where we tried these slamming salmon burgers. The caramel shakes topped with ridiculous amounts of whipped cream, finished off with cherries, made our victory so much sweeter. Our night out was fun. Mom told us about those two years where she and her team won the football games and how they were able to raise a lot of money for a charity because of that. We tried to have good sportsmanship by not talking about the other team behind their backs, but…

When we got back home, we found the house clean. Even the clothes I was working on was gone. Mom was very pleased with everything, but Bree and I were half-expecting a payback of some sort. It's not that we think they're sore losers; we just thought that everything was suspicious, especially since we couldn't find any of them when we came in.

Mom told us not to be too paranoid, and then she instructed us to go to bed. She kissed us goodnight before going upstairs to call it a day.

Bree and I checked down the lab, just so we can put to rest the they're-gonna-seek-revenge-on-us theory that we had.

There, we found Adam in his capsule, knocked out, while Chase, who appeared very, very sleepy, was curled up on the couch with a book he's referencing for his Sociology paper.

We thought at first that they were faking everything, but when Chase came up to us, telling us, despite his extreme grogginess, that as they did housework they thought about what Mom said and he and Adam were really sorry about being presumptuous, Bree and I determined that there wasn't anything we should worry about. So we let them off the hook and decided to let go of what we suspected them with.

But, for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone's watching me. I didn't know if that just comes along with winning a game, which does not happen quite often for me, or if someone really is keeping tabs on us. Now that I think about it, I hope it just came with winning, because I don't think we're quite ready yet to face Douglas and that Krane guy yet. It's still too soon.

Hopefully this goes away in a few days.

I might even reconsider doing some more laundry if it's what it would take.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

02/28/14

11:49 PM

The Adam Chronicles

As we first saw in Zip It, what was the name of the store Bree and Chase now work at? Answers are optional, reviews are loved!