Great job to LRW, LabGirl2001, ceeceerocks2000, Lady Cougar-Trombone, and AlienGhostWizard14 for answering correctly! Chase did want to be a teen ambassador of some kind, working with the environmental team at the White House. Adam admitted to sabotaging the 'interview' because he said he would miss him, which was sweet. :)

Welp, the attempt to get this open tag done before the one-hour special failed epically. I almost got rid of it (a third of it was already written before the episode aired), but it still fits into the mini-arc that begun with the 60th chronicle. This will be kind of like the calm before the storm chapter.

Just a quick note: there will be quite a lot of recognizable names and characters here, so I will defer you to my profile page if you'd like to see some disclaimer.

Anyways, please enjoy!

Episode Tag to: [open tag]

Chronicle #063

"Dialectic"

11/08/15

10:13 PM

So this weekend turned out to be one of the best weekends ever.

I decided to cash in a few days off the two-week vacation Big D promised me because two friends that I made last year invited me to come to Rhode Island for an event. When I came to ask for the time off, Big D seemed to be okay with it. But then, when he asked what I was planning on doing and I explained it to him, the tides took a quick turn. He didn't like the itinerary much. He was obviously hesitant about letting me go, mostly because he said he didn't want me to be at a place where I would be alone. "Well, actually…I was kind of hoping that you'd let me take a few students with me," I had told him after he said that.

"What?"

"It's, uh, you know, something that I think would be nice to attend with a group," I explained, hoping he'd say yes.

He placed his hands on his hips, which told me that I had to work a bit more in convincing him. "And when you say 'group', how many people do you exactly have in mind?" he asked.

"Six…?"

"Is that a question or a statement?"

"Statement…?"

"Leo."

"Okay. Six," I said.

"Any of those six your brothers or your sister?"

"Seven. Seven people besides me," I amended. When it seemed like Big D wouldn't budge, I said, "Come on, Big D. Please? I just want to take my friends on a trip. They haven't been to anything like it before, and I know they'll enjoy it."

"That's what worries me. There will be a lot of people there. I don't want them to be overwhelmed."

"No, no, they'll be okay. You've taken them on field trips before, remember? They were okay with it."

"Well, what about the other students? What do I tell them if they get upset because they didn't get to go?"

"I can't take them all, Big D," I said. "I mean, they're great and all, but I want to hang out with my friends. Plus, the tickets for this thing could get super pricey."

"Speaking of pricey, where are you planning to get the money for the tickets?"

I slowly grinned.

Big D scoff-laughed. "No, Leo. Financing eight teenagers for this event is not in my budget," he said.

"But you have money! Tons! You always tell me that. What's two hundred dollars?" I asked. "Plus, I haven't asked you to buy me anything lately."

"Maybe you haven't, but that new leg you have now is not cheap."

"But—"

"No, Leo. End of discussion. If you want something new to do with your friends, I'll just get you guys more board games."

Defeated, I just said, "Okay." Although I didn't really want to, I got my phone and called the person who had invited me to tell him that I wouldn't be able to make it, but all I got was his voicemail. I just told him that I had bad news and to just call me back when he could. Then, I hung up.

I was pretty bummed that night and the following day after that, and I think everybody saw it. Chase asked me if I was okay, and my friends – and even S-1/Sarah/Charlotte/Taylor – asked me if things were fine. I sulked throughout the whole day, but I wasn't really terribly disappointed because I'd known that that two hundred bucks was the deal breaker.

Two nights after Big D and I had spoken, a package from the mainland came, and it was addressed to me. It was a new board game called Pandemic, and on top of it was a note: 'Fun game to play, but only with your FRIENDS. Enjoy the contents. You can thank me later.' I thought the note was a little weird, but I still took the game to the cafeteria because that night was board game night.

As planned, it was just the seven of us. My mood improved a bit being around them, especially when Era made a joke about hoping that the objective of the game wouldn't be to stop people from getting sick 'because with Miller playing, everybody will die.' Miller wasn't very amused, but the rest of us were laughing.

That was why when I opened up the game board and saw the eight tickets in the middle, I was caught by surprise. I must have worried the rest of the group when I just sat there staring at the tickets with a goofy grin on my face because they started frowning and even picking up the stubs. "What's a comic con?" Era asked after she read what was printed on it.

I explained to them what it was once I got out of my haze of disbelief and excitement. They didn't really understand it at first, but after I showed them pictures and videos online, they started to understand why I was geeking out – no pun intended.

Needless to say, Big D woke up to a voicemail from me the following morning, one that was full of high-pitched 'thank you's and incoherent nerdy ramblings.

I think the best part of all of this was the planning. Getting there and getting back wasn't a problem at all because of Miles' geo-leaping ability. It wouldn't put too much of a strain on her to transport seven other people because we only had to make two trips since we were only attending for a day. As far as which of my siblings would come to supervise, Era requested for Adam. I was okay with that, and Adam was more than happy to have the chance to spend some time with her.

It worked out well, too, because we all decided to wear costumes to make the experience fun. I had suggested that we all go as the Avengers, but my friends, being that they are my friends, decided to go with something different. Instead of Marvel, they went with DC. I guess that's kind of my fault because I was the one who introduced and eventually turned them into The Flash, so I don't have a right to complain.

For two people in our group, choosing who they would be was easy. Rocket was set on being Green Lantern, and Miles was determined to be Supergirl. Miller really wanted to be Captain Cold, and he tried to convince Miles to go as the female version of Heatwave, but his sister remained with her first choice. Miles suggested instead that he talk to Storm about his idea. Miller was a little reluctant, especially since Storm seemed to have made up her mind to go rogue and be Agent Melinda May, but after he asked twice, she changed her mind. So Miller did end up being Captain Cold, while Storm was Heatwave.

Since we decided that it wouldn't be a good idea for Adam to be recognized at the con, we thought it'd be good for him to go as Batman. His face would be covered, and he wouldn't stand out since there would probably be hundreds of Batmen walking around (and there were). To complement him, Era took up Selina Kyle's Catwoman mantle. The two of them looked dark and mysterious and very, very happy.

Meanwhile, Amaranth and I also had a bit of a discussion on who we'd like to be. We figured that we should pick characters that also went together. At first, Amaranth gave me the reins on the choosing, but since it was going to be her first comic convention, I wanted her to have the pick. After thinking about it, she told me that she liked Black Canary's costume, so I told her that that was the direction we would go: her as Black Canary and me as Green Arrow, minus the goatee.

That was better than what I was thinking, actually. I had Killer Frost and Firestorm in mind.

All eight of us were so pumped up the night before, and the excitement quadrupled the following morning when we all met up to leave. The amount of pictures and selfies taken was unbelievable, but it was not surprising. We looked legit Justice League. Well, maybe not so much with Miller's and Storm's characters, but still, it was pretty cool.

What made the League more complete was when we got to the convention site and I finally met up with the two people who invited me to come. "Boy Genius!" Xavier, who was dressed as The Flash, practically yelled out when he saw me. Natalie, who was Wonder Woman, looked excited to see me, too.

"You still remember that?" I asked with a laugh after Natalie gave me a hug.

"Of course. That's your name, right?" Natalie said jokingly.

I grinned. "I haven't seen you guys since the tour at USC last spring."

"Yep. Been a while," Xavier said.

"I'll say. You've gotten much taller, Boy Genius," Natalie said.

I was about to thank her when I heard somebody clear their throat. Looking back at my friends, I said, "Oh. Guys, this is Xavier, and this is Natalie. I met them at a college tour I went to last year. Xavier, Natalie, these are my friends."

"And here I was thinking you're a loner," Natalie joked.

"Ha ha," I said, unamused. Natalie just grinned. "Anyways, Heatwave over there is Storm. Then that's Miller, Rocket, Miles. This is Era, that's my older brother Adam, and this is my special little lady Amaranth."

As Xavier started shaking everyone's hand one by one, Natalie leaned over to me then asked quietly, "Older brother? As in Adam Davenport your older brother? The one with the super strength and laser vision and…"

"Yeah. That's him," I said. "But don't tell anybody, okay?"

Natalie shook her head, an excited grin slowly coming to her face. "I won't," she said. Looking at Amaranth, she asked, "How does it feel like dating a person with bionic siblings?"

Yep. Xavier and Natalie had no idea all eight of us were bionic.

Amaranth just smiled. "It's just like I'm one of them," she said, and I had to stifle a laugh at that.

Natalie looked at me with raised brows but decided to move on to introducing herself to the rest of the group.

After that, we decided to move on through the booths, which, after a while, we realized wasn't a very good idea. A herd of ten teenagers could cause quite a traffic, apparently, and that in turn resulted into some unhappy attendees. The business owners who had set up the booths felt the opposite about us, though. Having a big group rifle through what they have on display kept them from being bored. Plus, when passersby saw all of us, a few of them naturally got curious and so joined us to see what all the activity was about, which meant more income and/or exposure for the business owners and the illustrators.

Our morning at the con went really well. Miller, Rocket, and Era had so much fun looking through comic books sold there, and Adam, Miles, Natalie, and Amaranth browsed through the different collectibles displayed. Storm just observed, but from what I could tell she looked like she was enjoying it. Xavier hung out with Adam and the girls, but he looked conflicted. I knew why, but he didn't come clean until it was almost lunch time. "Hey, can I ask you something about one of your friends?" he asked quietly after he had pulled me aside.

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

Xavier glanced back at our group before asking, "Are any of them dating?"

"For real?" I asked with a slight grin, just to mess with him.

"Too presumptuous?"

"'Presumptuous'? You are a College Boy."

"Dude."

"Alright, alright," I said. "Catwoman is with Batman, and Black Canary and I are together. Those are the only couples here."

"What about Captain Cold and Supergirl?"

I laughed. "Oh, no, man. You didn't just go there," I said. "Captain Cold and Supergirl are fraternal twins."

"Oh," he said with a frown.

I smirked. "You like her, don't you?"

He grinned embarrassedly. "Is it that obvious?"

"From the moment you told her that you liked her costume and that Supergirl is one of your favorite superheroes."

He glanced at her. "Will that make it awkward between us? If I talk a bit more to your friend?"

"Miles is her own person. Whatever she decides, I will support. I'm just a friend," I told him. "Although, just a friendly advice? If you don't think you'll be very serious about this, and if you think that there's at least one percent chance that this could lead her to having her heart broken, don't even start. Her siblings are extremely protective of her, especially the Rogues back there." I shook my head. "You don't want to mess with the two of them. They will hunt you down if Miles get hurt."

"You really think I'm just going to be a doofus towards her?" Xavier asked, obviously hurt and offended.

"No. I really just want you to be aware of the serious risk you could be getting yourself into if you so choose to establish a friendship with Miles. Trust me. I'm trying to save your life here," I said.

Xavier wasn't happy with that, but he did believe me. He frowned before asking, "Wait. Siblings?"

"The rest of the League back there are her adoptive siblings," I clarified.

He stared at them. "So I could be up against at least five people if I don't make sure I act right?" he asked.

"Five. That you know of," I mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," I said, smiling. "But, yeah. It's not going to be the best case scenario for you if this end up badly."

"You guys, we need to get something to eat. I'm starving," Natalie complained as she slung her arms on our shoulders, not noticing the thoughtful look on her cousin's face.

"Yep. I concur," I said.

Lunch was nice, very loud. Then again, that was to be expected. Adam and I ended up spending quite a bit for our Academy group, which I didn't really account for, but that was okay. An advantage of being stuck in an isolated island for months is that the money left unspent on your account builds up, giving you enough when situations like that comes up.

I liked it, too, because I had a chance to really catch up with Natalie and Xavier (Natalie, mostly, because Xavier was still kind of broody then). We e-mailed and texted each other periodically, but there were still some things I didn't know, like what they were doing in Rhode Island when their hometowns are on the west coast. As it turned out, both of them were visiting with family because they were thinking of transferring to a university there because of a program available. That was when the 'Which university are you going to now?' question came up. Of course, I couldn't tell them what's been going on, so I just told them that I was taking a break. Natalie said she understood and even wished she had done the same thing.

After lunch, things went a bit slower. Since we'd visited most of the booths, we decided to start taking pictures of other attendees, and they, in turn, took pictures either of us or with us. That occupied us for a while. At one point, we all agreed to leave the convention place to walk around the city. Natalie was only too happy to show us around.

By seven, everybody was exhausted and ready to go home. Xavier and Natalie offered to walk us all back to our car, which wouldn't have been a problem if (1)we had a car, and (2)I wasn't trying desperately to keep someone from blurting out the method we got here to the two of them. I politely refused and told them we'd be fine, hoping that would be enough, but, of course, Murphy's Law. "What, is your sister coming here to super speed you guys back home?" Natalie had asked me and Adam as a joke.

"No," Adam said. "Miles is going to geo-leap us back home."

I looked at Adam in shock. I was going to say something to cover it up, but then Xavier asked, "Geo-leap?"

"No. No, Adam just means—"

"Yeah. She has the bionic ability to teleport," Adam continued. "She's an expert in it, too."

"Bionic ability?"

"Yeah."

"No!" I said, trying my hardest to interrupt. "Adam, please—"

"But, we thought there are only three bionic people," Xavier said.

Adam scoff-laughed. "Not anymore," he said.

"O-kay! Come on, Adam. You're just very tired. Let's go home," I said as I tried to steer him back to our group and away from acquaintances that really shouldn't know all of these things.

"Leo?" Xavier sounded worried and freaked out and confused. I wasn't obligated to stop and turn around then, but I thought that he and Natalie didn't deserve to be ignored. So, I had to face the music. "Is that why you warned me about talking to her?" he added.

Well, I actually did because of what her siblings can do, I thought but didn't say.

I was about to respond when Xavier said, a teeny bit defensively, if I may add, "Because, you know, things like that don't matter to me. I'm not going to look at her any differ—Well, okay, yes I will. But that's not a big deal to me. I like her because she's sweet and smart and pretty. I know you may not trust me very much because we don't know each other that well, but I'm not the kind of guy who sets ridiculous standards for girls or who would just take advantage of them. My mom and my aunts will kill me if I do something like that."

"Yeah," Natalie agreed. "Xavier's really nice, even if he does look like a dirtbag."

Xavier glared at her.

"What? I'm just trying to help your cause here," Natalie reasoned. "And, if it helps for you to know, Leo, Xavier hadn't had a girlfriend before—"

"Natalie!"

"—because the first girl he tried to go on a date with and his best friend pulled the 'casual dating' garbage on him behind his back," Natalie said with a nod. "Broke his heart."

"You really have to bring that up again, didn't you?" Xavier asked unhappily.

"Because what they did was just jank, man," Natalie said.

I tried not to laugh. "Look, Xavier, I was serious about what I said. I didn't lie," I told him. "Her siblings are very protective of her, and as her close friend, I am, too. I said the things I said, not because I think you look like someone I shouldn't trust, but because that girl over there is a very, very important girl – and not because she's bionic. She's a great human being, which is obvious because of how many people are willing to stand up for her. That's why I ask you to really think about any move you may want to make. Her siblings are not people you'd want to mess with. And I know, because I'm with one of them."

I smirked. "Plus, if that's not scary enough, just know that Miles can do much more than geo-leap, and none of them are abilities you can run away from," I said. As Xavier began thinking about it, I said, "Thanks for inviting me, guys. I had fun. Let me know what happens with the transfer, okay?"

We got back to the Academy at half past seven. By that time, Miller and Adam were ready to eat again, so the group elected to make a raid of the food stash we have at the back of the cafeteria. Before I could follow them, Miles stopped me. "I heard what you told your other friend and his cousin," she said with a smile. "I just want to say thank you."

I smiled back. "Not a problem. I did mean what I said. I've got your back," I said. "You're like a sister to me, so of course I'm going to make sure no jerk will try to hurt you. That's not to say Xavier's a jerk. He and Natalie are nice people, but I thought he just needed to know what he'd be up against if he does decide to talk to you." Then, I asked, "It…wasn't too much, was it? You don't think I discouraged him from liking you, did I?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. Like you said, he has to know all of these things," she said.

I nodded. "So, can I ask what you think of him?"

Her eyes narrowed as she thought of it. "He seems…awkward. And nervous. He fidgeted a lot whenever he talked to me," she said, smiling.

"He's not always like that, you know. He's usually very confident. That's the first time I've seen him that edgy," I said. "Does that make you feel uncomfortable?"

"No. It's just different," she admitted. "I've never really thought of myself as someone who could make another person feel that way. I don't know. Maybe it's just because I've also never seen myself as being with another person."

"Why not?"

"Too focused on my younger siblings," she said. "Plus, I imagine my future's filled with missions, so that's really the only other thing I've thought about."

"So that was a good idea that I kind of scared him off, huh?"

She laughed. "I didn't say I'm not going to like him."

I stared at her with a frown, a bit confused. "Wait. So you…"

She shrugged. "I'm going to give it serious thought, because I don't want to lead him on either if I don't see this as something that would work out," she said. "I don't want to waste his time."

Miles. Ever the mature person. "So what do you think of him? Besides being fidgety?"

She smiled secretively. "That is a discussion that I will rather have with my sisters," she said.

I gaped at her as she walked away. "Oh, come on, Miles!" I called after her, but she ignored me.

Up until now I still have no idea what she thought of Xavier. I guess it was something positive, because Miller had complained yesterday morning at breakfast how the girls were squealing and talking so loudly that he wasn't able to get much sleep. I tried to get something, anything, out of Era and Amaranth, but they shut me down. Talking to Storm about it is not even an option.

Natalie sent me a text message earlier to let me know that she had posted our pictures from the comic con on Instagram. It all turned out really nice. I told her I would show it to everybody tomorrow morning when I see them at breakfast, and she asked me to tell Adam and my friends that she said hi. I asked about Xavier, how he was doing, and Natalie told me that he's been driving her crazy because he's been humming love songs since Friday night. He's also been super happy.

I asked if it was because Miles had contacted him, but Natalie said she didn't know. Xavier wouldn't say.

Those two. They're so cute. They think they can keep secrets from me. It's like they don't even know who I am.

Signed,

Leo Francis Dooley

11/09/15

9:09 PM

The Chase Chronicles

Though it's an open tag, there's still a question: in one episode, the family, minus Tasha, went to a fan convention. What episode is it? Reviews and answers are appreciated!