Virtual high five to Mia Teresa-Davenport and AllAmericanSlurp for answering the twofer question from last chapter right! The new bad bionic on the block is S-1, who Krane controls with the Triton App wired in his brain. ;)

Points also go to BTRlover1122 for guessing the answer to the bonus question correctly! Tyrel (Leo) and Ashley (S-1) were the ones who couldn't stop laughing during the school scene in YPW.

Big thanks to Doomforzombies, Lady Cougar-Trombone, RandomGirl, 88keys and UnknownForNow for the awesome reviews, too!

Okay, quick note: as I've said before, although I try to stay as close to canon as possible with these tags, this fic will have some things that might not agree with facts in the show as they would be revealed in the future. For example, in this chapter, it will be established that Leo - and also Chase, though it wouldn't be implicitly stated - is a senior in high school. That may be the case in the show, that may not. Either way, that's what we'll go with for now. :)

With that aside, I hope you guys would enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's another favorite.

Episode Tag to: Armed and Dangerous

Chronicle #038

"Litmus"

10/03/14

6:56 PM

Kids my age usually consider chilling at home on a Saturday night to be pretty lame. It becomes much lamer when you add the fact that this said person chilling at home has siblings that had been invited to one of the biggest parties of the year and would have snuck him in—but he chose not to go because he's tired.

In my defense, my schedule this week had been filled with so many things. Ever since Agent G and the dark suit posse left, everything's gone back to normal, which means Big D resumes his team leader activities while I resume my intern activities. Science Fair's started too, and though as a senior I'm not required to participate, Mr. Fitz offered a generous amount of extra credit for those who'd brave it. I thought I could at least give it a try.

So, really, this week had been a whirlwind of everything that made me decide to kick it here at home for the weekend. I've been busy with school, homework, projects, trainings with Douglas, chores, catch-up on mission specialist deskwork…

Yes. You read that fourth item right. Trainings.

How cool is that? I really thought Douglas would have completely shut off my bionics after my arm went haywire at the gym, but instead he offered to train me. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant at first. As great as Douglas is when it comes to things like that, the last bionic/android he trained ended up being a short-tempered sociopath. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to turn into Eyebrows because (1)Douglas is a good guy now and (2)I'm a good guy intent on staying on the good side, but I couldn't help but have my reservations at first.

We had to ask permission from Mom before we started (it was a general consensus that incurring a mama bear's wrath due to her being uninformed was not a good idea), and she did give us her approval. She also threatened Douglas just to make sure I don't end up getting hurt in the process of everything, but that's another story. She gave us two rules to follow: trainings should never interfere with school, and we should be at the dinner table when it's time for us to have dinner—no exceptions.

So far, we haven't broken either of those, which, considering Douglas' and my record, is a surprise.

The trainings had been going well. There are definitely some similarities in the way Douglas does trainings and in the way Big D approaches them. Like the holographic target board. I think I saw something similar last week, when Big D trained Chase for his force field and Adam for his blast wave. I didn't complain, though. The board helped a lot with my aim, which, honestly, I've been working on for months already. I just never told anyone else because they'd figure out that my sudden interest in drawing and posting it up on random places on my wall stemmed from the need to hide the burn marks on them.

When it became apparent to Douglas that I was already pretty good at it (target shooting, not burning the house down), he decided to step it up—and this is where the difference in his and Big D's approach came in. For one, Big D's the type of trainer who will let Adam, Bree and Chase know what they will do for training ahead of time. He gives them details so that they could prepare themselves mentally.

Douglas does not. When he decided to change up the program, he did not tell anyone. One afternoon last week, after I finished putting together my project board for the science fair, he told Big D that he needed to go to the store to buy something. When Big D tossed him the keys to one of the cars, he gestured for me to come with him. I told him I had to finish cleaning up before Mom got home.

He said we'd be quick and would be back home before then.

I looked at Big D for permission, and he nodded.

I didn't figure out that something was up until we'd been on the road for a good thirty minutes. After we passed two Walmarts and about a hundred mini-stores, it came to me that I may have been duped into going somewhere I might not want to go. "You know, I get the reasoning behind felons seeing something like this as a road trip," I said casually, "but normal people like me actually consider this as kidnapping."

Douglas glared at me. "Nobody's kidnapping you, kid," he said gruffly as he continued driving. "We're just taking a pit stop somewhere before we go to the store."

"Right. So where will this slaughterhouse be?"

I think Douglas got tired of the subject immediately because he just brushed it off with a curt and distant, "You'll see."

We drove for some time in silence. Admittedly, as abandoned shipping docks came to view, I started to get a little freaked out. I was not equipped with the speed to outrun that situation, and it had been made clear to me that my bionics could be turned off at any time with the (new) switch that Douglas constructed. The thriller/suspense scenario, clearly, would not be my best suit.

When Douglas parked, I took out my phone then started texting Big D, all the while looking over my shoulders just to make sure that Douglas was not watching me. YOUR BROTHER IS ABOUT 2 KILL ME! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! Then, I hit send.

Douglas' phone dinged after he got out of the car. He read the message as he was shutting the door. He frowned at me. "Leo, how many times do I have to tell you that I am not going to kill you?" he asked, notably upset.

I frowned. I checked my phone to make sure I sent it to Big D.

Nope. Sent it to the alleged murderer.

"Come on," Douglas said, so I had no choice but to get out and just wing it if I needed to.

It turned out that I was worried for no reason. The warehouse was a little creepy inside, with all of the rusted equipment and how cold and lifeless everything was in there, but it was very spacious and somewhat well-lit too. One of the things I noticed immediately was the piece of metal standing slanted in the middle of the warehouse. It spanned almost a good third of the building, and it was twice as tall as me.

Douglas told me then that we were there for our new training program, and my first task was to move that construction beam to the other side of the room. Thinking nothing of it, I just said okay and walked up to it. "With both hands on the beam, and the beam has to be straight when it gets there," he added.

Again, I didn't think anything of it. I just started to push forward.

Apparently, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Because only my right arm has the super strength, it didn't take long for the beam to slant more and more. I kept trying, but soon it became clear that all the beam and I were doing was just going around in a circle instead of moving straight up.

"So, I'm not here to be killed but to be tortured," I said about half an hour later, a little out of breath and a little too tired from the work.

Douglas shrugged. "Training you with what we have in the lab was too easy for you. You're not going to learn with things that are too easy," he said. "Plus, I thought that you need a little balancing out. Let's be honest. Your left arm is never going to be as strong as your right arm, but it still needs to be stronger than what it is now. Your laser sphere generation needs control, too. Can't have you hurting people whenever there's an insect buzzing around you now, can we?"

So that's how this stay-at-home weekend started out: extensive training. So far, it has consisted of moving the beam (beam's still halfway through the warehouse, but at least it's getting there) and target practice (where I need to hit this energy-neutralizing loop standing so many yards away). Douglas said that there would be more variety next week. Honestly, I think the way he plans these things is bit on the crazy side—especially after hearing talk of spy flies that would be set on attack mode and lifelike holograms of my family that I should not hit—but it works.

Plus, the guy knows how to avoid burnouts. We had an off day Thursday so that I can prepare for my Science Fair presentation, and yesterday he limited our training back to target practice in the lab again.

Still, despite those rest days, I had a hard time going to sleep last night. It was probably some left over excitement in my system that I couldn't turn off even if I wanted to. I was physically tired, but my mind was super wide awake. After about an hour of lying down on my bed with my eyes closed and no chance of sleep, I got up. I decided to just watch whatever recorded show on the DVR looked good to me and hoped it would put me to sleep.

When I got to the living room, I found Douglas sitting in the dark, chuckling as he watched TV. "Hey," I said, none too loud seeing that it was already one o'clock in the morning. "What are you doing up?"

"Eh, fighting off a bit of insomnia," Douglas said, not taking his eyes off the TV. "What about you? Isn't it way past your bedtime?"

"Oh, please. I'm sixteen. I don't have a bedtime."

He stared disbelievingly.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, eleven o'clock," I said, "but it's the weekend so I have a free pass."

Douglas looked back at the TV then continued watching.

"What are you watching anyways?" I asked as I made my way to the sectional.

"Funeral Mishaps," Douglas answered as I sat down. "I found it on the DVR."

I watched the clips being shown closely, and though I recognized one or two from the montage, a number of them were fairly new. "You didn't delete the rest, did you?" I asked him. "I haven't watched those."

Douglas's brows wrinkled as he looked at me. "You were the one who recorded these?"

"Yeah," I said.

"You watch this show?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

Douglas turned his attention back to the screen, but it was obvious from the expression on his face that he was processing the information. "A little too dark for you, kid, don't you think?" he asked.

I thought about it. I shrugged then nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

There was a bit of a pause before he spoke again. "So you really didn't record this just because you know I like this show," he said though it sounded like he was asking.

I shook my head. "No," I said. I started to wonder then why he seemed to be interrogating me over the simple matter of recording a reality show. Then, it came to me. "Do you miss him?" I asked.

"Miss who?" Douglas asked as he fast forwarded through the commercials.

"Marcus."

Douglas paused as he thought of the answer. He hit the play button then leaned back again. He shrugged lightly. "He was a very focused kid," he said. "Got a bit of a temper on him, but – that's not really his fault. I'm the only person he was around with, and there's really nothing much about patience that I could teach him."

I nodded. "Okay," I said. There were more questions in my mind as we looked at the show, but I decided not to ask them. That Douglas was there and may not mind answering did not mean I had the right to interrogate him.

"In case you're wondering, he was with me for about six years," Douglas said after another commercial break. "The first time you guys met him, that's how he looked seven years ago, when I built him. He just thought he was growing because I kept programming that idea into him, along with some other fake ones." He waved his hand. "It's a little too complicated," he said.

I glanced at him and said nothing else, because at that moment there was nothing else to say. We watched the show for at least a good half an hour. Before I could put a break on it, the question came out of me. "So you trained him for that long?" I asked.

Douglas frowned. "Who?" he asked. His face immediately cleared as he remembered. "Oh. Oh, yeah, I did," he said. "It wasn't that hard to do, though. It's in his nature to pick up on tasks and quickly learn it. He's not limited with glitches either, so."

"That's why he was pretty hard to, well, you know."

Douglas smirked. "It was hard to take him down because he's good," he said. "He's good because I trained him."

I nodded awkwardly. "Right. Of course," I said.

"We did have problems when we trained, especially when we came a bit too close to overkill," Douglas thought aloud. "Whereas you would get sarcastic, he would get angry. And dangerous. Kid almost offed me with his laser vision once. I had to shut him down."

I laughed a little. "Yeah, I know how that's like," I said.

Douglas looked at me. Even if there was still that smirk on his face, there was also a measure of apology in his eyes. "Yeah, I guess you do," he said as he looked back at the TV. "So what about you? What's the story?"

I stared at him, a bit confused. "Um, arm got destroyed by an evil chick then you implanted bionics in it?" I answered, not quite sure.

"I didn't mean you and your bionics, I meant you and your siblings," Douglas said. "How'd you find out about them? You know, that."

"Oh. Uh—" I frowned, "Mom and I were officially moving in a day after they got married, Big D told me that I could go check out my room, got lost. Accidentally leaned on the switch that revealed the elevator to the lab, got curious, got in it, plunged towards the lab. Came in just as Chase was running away from Adam. Hid. The three of them were arguing about something, and after Adam and Bree used their bionics against each other, they accidentally discovered that I was there and, voila! We all became friends."

"That's it?" Douglas asked.

"Well, there were a lot of other things, of course," I said. "There was a huge, domino-like accident at school and a house party that ended up in a relocation plan. Then a switch-off, the three of them almost getting pummeled into recycled bionic cubes, me running after them to save them… There are tons of other stuff, but I don't want to bore you with the details."

"So this whole 'going after them and rescuing them' thing had been going on since the beginning, huh?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess," I said. "We've always had each other's back. That's probably why we're all best friends."

Douglas nodded.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Douglas glanced at me. He must have known exactly what I was talking about, because he just answered, "Every now and then. Sometimes I'm reminded of him when I see Donnie training with Adam or Chase, sometimes when I pass by the old house. Sometimes I think about how much trouble I'd be in if he had survived what happened, because I'm pretty sure me leaving him would be an issue he'd want to settle with me in a not good way." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess remembering him is natural. I did make him."

I agreed by not saying anything.

"Hey."

I looked at him.

"I'm glad you didn't die that night," Douglas said. "You're a good kid. They need someone who knows how to roll with the punches."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Hm."

The conversations following that were much shorter and more detached. We talked a little bit afterwards about what the plan was for this weekend. He said he had some things to do, so I have time off. Other than that, we were pretty much just watching TV, trying to make sure not to laugh too loud so Big D and Mom wouldn't get woken up. I must have snoozed off around the fourth recording, because all I remember was Douglas getting up to get something to drink from the fridge while the host welcomed the viewers for the fourth time.

I woke up this morning on the sectional, apparently alone, with Chase lightly shaking my shoulders, saying it was time to eat breakfast. Not being in my room, with daylight and houselights and Adam's and Bree's phones focused on my face, disoriented me for a while, but the smell of eggs and bacon snapped me awake enough to know that the dining table was only a few steps away and that I should probably be at it.

I decided to write tonight after months and months of not doing so in hopes of calming down my nerves after everything that has been happening, and I think it's working. I guess I did it too because I missed it. I think by starting me off with the Chronicle last year, Big D has created a habit and possibly a maybe-productive addiction of writing in me, which is not bad at all.

With all the new bionics and trainings and senior year, I have a strong gut feeling that writing will be a leverage. I don't know. I guess we'll see. After all, it seems like I'm still in the test phase of things.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

10/03/14

9:41 PM

The Adam Chronicles

Name one of the places Agent Graham took Adam, Bree and Chase to for their press tour. Reviews and answers are appreciated!