Hey, everyone! I'm not sure if I'll be able to post so frequently like this, but take what you can get, right?((: Stardust16 - Thank you so very much! I may not need reviews to continue but it's always nice to hear from readers!
PurpleNicole531 - I do try to keep it similar, like a Lab Rats episode in your head, so it means a lot to me that you noticed! The Back From The Future vibe you're getting is exactly what I was going for, it was my inspiration.
daphrose - Thank you! I'll really try to make Alexa loveable, while not making her personality perfect. I'm excited to continue!
Please keep reviewing, only if you wish of course, and have a great day! I'm super nervous now because I have slight expectations on the chapters, but I'll try to out-do myself.
"Save the world," Lexi replied simply to Mr. Davenport. "Or rather, the future of this world."
The others went really quiet, not looking at one another or glancing around; instead, they just stared at the ground or at one point in the room. It wasn't like it was too much to take in, they'd saved the world countless times over. It would be a first to be saving the world via the past, present, whatever it was. The only glance into their futures they ever had was when an older, taller Leo came to warn them against Adam's, Bree's, and Chase's impending deaths. They'd stopped that without a future upset, maybe they could be successful again.
"Look, this mission is time sensitive," Alexa said, desperately breaking the silence. "I don't know how much time we have to stop these guys."
"What are you talking about?" Adam scoffed. "We've got a time machine, we have all the time in the world." He tapped the armchair.
Lexi grumbled something under her breath that only Chase, with his bionic hearing, was able to pick up.
"No," she said, her voice now louder and clearer as she was audible to the rest. "We cannot warp time more so than we already have, it's dangerous and could upset the balance of the future!" Her expression was stern.
"Alexa, what chain of events have these men come back to stop, exactly?" Mr. Davenport asked, stepping forward to stand between Adam and Lexi. "What happens in the past that is so fragile and important to the future?"
Alexa pondered that for a second, clearly knowing the answer, but not sure how much to tell. She had been warned by Davenport's future self to not give away much of anything, despite prodding and endless inquiries. "These men have come to eliminate the future of someone in the past," she finally said, pupils dilating slightly. She wasn't confident in her capability to hide her extensive knowledge.
Everyone understood, except Adam, who's face was contorted in his thinking face. He went through her words in his head, not being able to put two and two together.
"Give him a second," Chase said, trying to instill a little confidence in his brother's abilities. Those seconds went by quickly, though, and Adam was still no closer to a conclusion than he was in the beginning. "Oh, for pity's sake! They're going to kill someone! Terminate! Murder!" Chase blurted out, arms gesturing widely at his side.
A hint of a smile etched into Alexa's sullen expression, unbeknown to the others, and a little undefined. She wasn't smiling at the words so much as at Chase himself. "Exactly," by the time she spoke her smile had disappeared and was replaced with her straight jaw and expressionless mouth twitch. "Now, future ... Davenport," the others frowned, confused, at her awkward pause. "was able to track them down with their coordinates before-" she cut herself off. Future business, she had to remind herself of that. "and it seems like since they've arrived here in the past, or present, they haven't moved much. They remain in their designated perimeters." Alexa, again, reached into the sofa chair's side pocket and picked out a flat, crystal clear tablet. Sliding her forefinger across it's screen, pages and pages of information started folding onto each other, browser history perhaps, but Alexa locked in on one in particular and clicked on it. A map popped up, and zoomed in until several blinking red dots appeared. The coordinates. "Do you recognize the location?" Lexi handed Mr. Davenport the tablet.
He studied it for a brief moment, before clicking his tongue and shaking his head solemnly. "No, this is a very updated map of Mission Creek, nothing's where it use to be." Alexa's eyes fell in disappointment. "-but, I might be able to change that." Finger wagging, Davenport marched out of the kids' room and into the main area of the academy. He plugged the tablet into the system and went to work.
"What exactly are you doing, Big D?" Leo asked, following after him. The others came in behind him.
"I'm out-dating," he answered, not looking up from his work. Lexi's and Chase's eyes lit up.
"Brilliant!" Alexa exclaimed. Leo's nose scrunched up, clueless.
"Um .. what?" Bree asked, feeling like Leo was looking.
"Updates bring a device to the future, I want to bring this tablet back to the past," Mr. Davenport explained, finishing up the out-date.
"You can really do that?" Leo seemed unsure.
Davenport chuckled in his arrogant way. "Leo, Leo, Leo, I can do anything."
"No, you can't eat seafood," Bree stated.
"You can't go swimming for a half hour after eating," Leo added. "Or," he laughed, "you can't ever go back to Bowling Balls and Pins ever again-"
"Well, I can do this!" Davenport interrupted, giving Leo and Bree a 'not helping' look. He returned to his work for another few seconds. "There."
"Is it ready?" Lexi drew in uncomfortably close to Mr. Davenport in her excitement, eyes flashing from the screen to Davenport, and back again.
"No, the out-date will be ready in an hour," he said meekly, shrinking a little at Alexa's death glare. "Hey! Technology can only do so much, it's out-dating itself, you know!"
"I thought you could do anything," Adam laughed, bumping Bree's shoulder with a smirk.
"Technology can only do so much!" Davenport yelled. Adam raised his hands in the classic 'surrender' pose, giving Mr. Davenport a weird look. Stepping back, Davenport nodded his head and dialed his emotional range down again. "Sorry."
The hyrdo loop zipped its compartment into the academy, the soft buzz alerting everyone upon its arrival. Its doors slid open and Douglas was seen unbuckling himself from a seat. "Hey, Donnie, I got that no lettuce salad you ordered and-" he was cut off mid-entrance and flung backwards into the shutting doors by a powerful, surging force. Food and drinks flung everywhere. Stunned, everyone turned to see Lexi, her arms stretched out in front of her, with a panicked look on her normally controlled face.
"Lexi, what are you doing!" Davenport cried, running to Douglas to see if he needed aid. His brother was unconscious but appeared unharmed. He'd have to examine him for a concussion when he woke up.
"More importantly," Leo looked at her with a mixture of confusion and fear. "How did you do that?" He pointed from Douglas to Lexi, Douglas to Lexi, not quite sure how to contruct his face for a proper reaction.
Alexa straightened herself, eyes still wild with terror, but now appearing slightly guilty as she realized that that was the wrong thing to do. This time was a lot different than her own. "You mean he's not evil?" The others shook their heads.
"How did you do that?" Chase repeated Leo.
Lexi's eyebrows furrowed as she contemplated on how to address this situation. She remained quiet until every pair of eyes in the room were baring down on her. "I'm bionic," she gave in, glancing down at her palms in remorse. She seemed horrifed at what she had done and what she had given away. Biting her bottom lip, she went on, "You weren't suppose to found out. I had specific orders to not tell-"
"That's awesome!" Adam exclaimed happily, raising his hand up for a high five. Alexa thought about it a moment, then shrugged and attempted a leap to his hand. She just missed him and landed back down, having given the air a rather awkward high five.
"How do you have bionics? How far into the future do you come from?" Davenport stood up, and moved towards Lexi slowly.
"18 years," the girl answered, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Immediately, she appeared to have regretted saying that. It seemed like such innocent information, but it meant something to her.
"That's half a generation from now," Bree said, noting Chase's and Davenport's nose scrunches. "Basically ... Are more bionic humans created in the future?"
"Obviously, Bree," Adam scoffed, pointing at his sister with a 'can you believe her' look.
Instead of answering, Lexi shook her head, with sad eyes. She wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Though she had tried to persuade future Davenport to not send her, for she'd give away the entire future eventually, they both knew she was their only option. Bree was going to have to remain with countless questions swirling around in her head, unanswered until her time became Lexi's time.
Bree nodded once in understanding, but was disappointed nonetheless.
"Wow," Davenport was looking down, appearing genuine. He shook his head in disbelief before his head shot back up, a huge grin on his face, "I looked great for being 18 years older!" Alexa growled at him, but was cut off halfway by Douglas groaning. She peered over at him, but did not even flinch in his direction. The others, however, did and they scrambled to his side.
"Is he okay?" Alexa asked, her voice carrying no concern, but asking was the respectable thing to do. The girl was confused by the caring and worry that the others had for Douglas. In the future, he was someone to fear.
The past was a scary place to be when one knew every secret that would surface.
"Ohhh," Douglas moaned. The others leaned in. "How does my hair look? Still spiky?" Annoyed, Bree and Chase stood back, and Leo walked back over to where Alexa stood.
Adam stayed, moving in closer, and touching the tips of Douglas' hair with his pinky. "Spiky as ever, Uncle Dougie," he assured, patting him on the back.
"What happened?" Douglas asked, trying to sit up, rubbing the back of his head in the process. Davenport turned to Lexi, noting the fear she had in her expression earlier, and upon her pleading head shake, he said, "You tripped and fell on your head."
"I could have sworn something slammed into my gut and I was swung backwards into the hydro loop, flinging food everywhere," Douglas eyed Adam suspiciously. He noticed the new girl from the corner of his eyes and turned to look at her. "Who's this?"
Lexi cracked her knuckles nervously, turning to the tablet in hopes that the hour had been cut short. Every second they wasted on this bionic island was another second her future - everybody's future - was becoming more and more uncertain.
"Well, did I ever tell you about the time I cracked time travel-" Davenport was going to turn this into a long, exaggerated story, which was something that would make the time pass by, no matter how boring it was undoubtedly going to get. He would get caught up in boasting about himself rather than explaining who Lexi was and where she came from.
As Douglas was forced into the exciting tale of his brother's outstanding mind unwillingly, Alexa's finger danced across the tech table, jumping a little when an alarm sounded and a red light flashed a new mission alert.
Chase was staring at Lexi, noticing for the first time how on edge she seemed, like any moment she was going to glitch. He took a step towards here when the alert sounded and everyone had to rush to get into their gear.
"What, where are you going?" Alexa called after them. Her eyes went suddenly wide.
"To suit up!" Bree answered, her voice echoing down the hall. "We'll be back before the out-dating is done!" Bree's promise didn't soothe Lexi. She had come here for one reason only, it didn't make sense why the others would drop one thing to pick up another. Of course, if they didn't answer this mission alert the future would change, and who knew how drastically. Alexa sighed, then plucked a pair of gloves from her back pocket and slid them over her vibrating hands.
"What are you doing?" Davenport questioned, helping Douglas stand up. He wavered a little, but was able to steady himself quickly with his brother's help.
"Helping," Lexi didn't look up at him as she tucked her shirt in and adjusted her vest.