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Without much further, ado, I give you ... chapter 4!
The burly, dark figure bent himself down to the ground, grasping a frayed piece of rope in his bear claw hands. "You did good work here," he smiled, which in his hardened face came off more as a grimace.
One of the three henchmen nodded, playing it cool, but obviously proud of himself. It wasn't every day his boss was pleased with him; mostly, he and the others were reprimanded for their utter stupidity. Of course, their superior would never see them in a different light, but in some pathetic way, the men yearned to be better and have the possiblity of pride from their boss.
"Doubt will set in soon enough," the leader's voice grated like grinding rocks. "That mission alert coming tomorrow, the highlight of their career, it will end very differently." Something of a chuckle escaped past his large, chapped lips, but was quickly snuffed out. "and our little problem will soon be nothing more than a distant, nonexistent memory."
His three followers cackled in response to him, but were abruptly shut up with a hiss from their leader and a siren.
"The first emergency vehicles will be here in a minute, hurry up and sweep the area of all tampered evidence," the boss spoke urgently. "Go!" He eyed the frightened passengers of the train that derailed. Clomping towards them ungracefully, he reached into his pocket, with dark eyes straining on the victims. They shook violently, begging for their lives. Lifting his palm out again, the leader blew on a spray of dust which swept across the unlucky few that hadn't ran away after the explosion. Blank expressions took form where once scared eyes resided. "Now," the man spoke under his breath. "You know your mission?"
The hypnotized passengers nodded their heads simultaneously, faces neutral.
"Get to the sewers and wait for me there," the boss murmured, turning back to his first three henchmen.
Chase grimaced as he yanked a shirt over his fresh bandages, hoping the pain medication would kick in soon. In a way, the young bionic wished the burn had caused nerve damage, then he wouldn't have to feel every slight motion he made with such regret.
Alexa's hands itched towards the time machine, knowing she had something in her possession that could take all that torture away, but also realizing that the inventor of the remedy was sitting right there. Something as small as that could have catastrophic consequences. Instead, the future girl tucked her shaky hands onto her lap and tried to reevaluate her take on dealing with the past. It seemed like such a heavy burden for a fourteen year old to have, but her main concern wasn't herself and the weight of her mission. Her worries lied in the reality of knowing that making a screw up in the wrong place could redefine the future. Little things, whatever they may be, have a cause and effect, and if she caused the wrong effect in any certain event, well, that could ruin everything she had come back here for.
"Lexi?" Bree prompted her out of her thoughts, noting how dumbfounded the girl had appeared right after the mission. The group had all agreed that the mission earlier had been a set up. Whoever these men were, they had a plan, and no one could tell what that was. If Alexa knew even the faintest bit of it, she wasn't telling. "Don't you know who we're dealing with?" The female bionic was hoping that by giving her time, Alexa would have formed answers in that future brain of hers.
"In a way, yes," Alexa breathed out, her words shallow. "But in every way that means something, no." She snarled, balling her hands up into fists. Her knuckles went white, but her palms were red under the pressure. "I have never seen their faces, and their plan always changes. They just always keep me in suspense. They have been my mission since before I could walk, and yet I am continuously lost when dealing with them." She sounded like a girl who was use to winning at everything else, and was tired of always being one step behind these people.
Bree simply nodded, positioning her body on the couch, where Lexi sat, closer to the very end. The longer Alexa was with them, the less sure anybody was that she was harmless.
Davenport had taken notice of this, and was watching the girl very closely. He didn't care what future him said, if Lexi showed any signs of snapping he was pulling the plug. He didn't want to let his own self down, he had made an oath when he was a kid, but Alexa was slowly putting them all at risk.
Chase could tell what everybody was thinking, but despite trying to see it their way, he could only see it Alexa's. He had an odd connection to her that nobody else shared, and though he was unsure what that meant, Chase was certain Lexi was good. He had a theory about her issue, and the longer he sat observing her the more evidence his theory gained. She was losing control, and when that happened to a bionic it meant one thing.
"Ah Choo!"
Startled out of his subconscious, Chase went wide eyed as he saw Alexa levitating three feet above the ground, and gaining altitude. She sniffled, wiping her nose, and glanced around her nervously.
"What are you doing?" Leo was puzzled. "You didn't tell us you could levitate!"
"I can't!" Alexa argued, flailing her arms and legs, hopelessly trying to get herself down.
"Glitch!" Chase exclaimed triumphantly. He was always pleased when it turned out he was correct. "You're glitching! Your molecular kinesis must be activated and is now going haywire." He was beaming that bright, obnoxious smile of his.
Davenport's whole face brightened, as it was all clear now. Lexi wasn't dangerous, she was glitching! "Of course!" His hands clapped together once, before he directed a finger to the future girl and made like he was about to speak. But he was silent for a moment. "Do bionic people still use capsules 18 years from now?" He finally asked.
Alexa's face reddened. She had been building up an immunity to glitching for a long time now, a science that was thought up by Chase himself, so glitches weren't really ever apart of her system. The past must have triggered it from, well, the past. "You mean those old, bulky tube things?" her nose scrunched up in distaste as she peered over at the three lined up capsules in the back of the room. They were ugly, uncomfortable looking things.
"Yes, those old, bulky tube things," Davenport mocked. "Adam, grab Lexi's ankle before she floats any farther up."
Adam smiled, like he was expecting his assistance was needed, and climbed up onto the couch to reach for the girl's leg. Just when his fingers brushed the tip of Alexa's big toe, she levitated an inch higher. Growling, he made to leap for her instead, but ended up flinging himself through the air and landing just outside his capsule.
"Good thing your resilient," Bree laughed, offering a hand to Adam.
Adam frowned, "I'm not disgusting." He seemed hurt.
"Resilent, not repulsive," Chase groaned, but his mind could only stray so far from Alexa before thinking about her again. He tilted his head upwards and his brow unwillingly furrowed.
"Where's Douglas in all this?" Leo questioned, whipping his head back and forth as if the ex-evil brother scientist was going to show up at that moment.
"I sent him on a wild goose chase," Davenport chuckled.
"For what?" Adam asked, thanking Bree for her assistance.
"A wild goose," Davenport said, focusing back on Alexa. "Well, we could get a rope and-"
"No!" Alexa said firmly, as if she knew where he was going with that. "I'm not going to be hog-tied in that vulgar way people in history use to do to cows!"
"History? That's still going on today," Leo stated.
"Exactly," Lexi smirked. "Old man."
"Haven't you ever heard the saying, 'Respect your elders!'?" Leo retorted, lunging for her. Chase held him back.
"Leo, pick your battles," he mumbled, glancing up at Lexi with a twinkle in his eyes. Her face, everything about her, gave him this weird feeling. It wasn't like what a guy got when he looked at a girl he liked. This feeling was different, and Chase couldn't explain to himself why. The smartest man in the world was confused.
"Well, we have to get you down somehow..." Davenport mused.
"Ah Choo!"
Lexi came falling down, landing with a couple of decent bounces on the white couch.
"Told you it was meant for jumping on," Adam scoffed, elbowing Bree.
"Nevermind, I guess," Davenport shrugged, helping Alexa up. "Maybe a night in a capsule will reset your bionics."
"No, there's no time for that," Lexi said, trying to control he voice range. It was obvious she wanted to scream that sentence out instead of simply stating it. "I haven't managed to get ahead of these guys, ever. If we rest for a night we may never be able to." Though her argument was valid, there was no possible way it was safe for her to be in the field, and without her future knowledge, the others were lost.
"I'm sorry, Alexa," Davenport said, tone dropping to match how she felt. Over the years he had become a bit more sensitive to those things called feelings. "But we need you at your best, you know that, I know that-" he paused. "your dad knows that." Though he hadn't a clue who her father was, Davenport had figured, since the first time that future Davenport mentioned him, he could play the dad card.
Lexi seemed to have had melted a little when her father was mentioned earlier, just like she did now. Her eyes wandered a moment, but then went back to staring at Mr. Davenport. "Okay," she finally agreed. "Though I doubt your out-dated technology will do any good." Alexa use to work really hard to try to keep that smug, haughtiness out of her tone in the past - no, future - but for now she abused her naturally born gift.
Davenport smiled. No matter how small the win, he always felt pride in himself. Ushering her to the three capsules, he took a sneak peek at Adam, Bree, and Chase, trying to decide which of them could make do. "Chase? You okay with sleeping on the couch?" He didn't want any of them to be glitchy or worn down tomorrow, but one night would be okay.
"Of course," Chase said, eager to help Lexi out in any way he could. Alexa gave him a slight nod, biting her lip awkwardly.
"Get on in," Davenport said, opening the middle capsule for the girl. She hesitated. Alexa had only heard stories about capsules and their use, it seemed so strenuous in the future to deal with them, let alone to sleep in one. "Do you want PJs or something..." Lexi shook her head once, and turned back to the capsule.
"Okay ... here I go," she balanced on her tiptoes, rocking back down on her heels again in a moment of reluctance. Before anyone could coax her, however, she stepped inside and winced at the shutting whoosh of the capsule door. She was sealed in. But these people in this room were trustworthy, Lexi counted on them with her life, past and future. They wouldn't force her into a death trap, though this thing was so clunky it was most likely highly unstable.
No one spoke anything, but Chase nonverbally said goodnight to her with his eyes, before he and the others left the room and Alexa was alone. It was the first time she had been since she got here, and it felt strangely relieving. She was an introvert, being by herself was something that she needed to not strain herself. Sighing, Lexi shut her eyes and tried to relax in this stiff capsule. Soon enough, to her surprise in the morning, she dozed off.