Chapta 9! Definitely more hurt!Chase in this one than previously. Don't fret too much, he's my favourite so I won't be that mean ... maybe.
Dirtkid123- Maybe, maybe not! Thank you for your intense interest! It means a lot(((:
tvd1992- You're new to reviewing, so I commend you. Thanks a million!
PurpleNicole531- I'm so glad you liked it! I'm thinking about adding more flashbacks/forwards with them cause it makes me want to squeal just writing it!
Dancer4Jesus- You and me both. I love daddy/daughter moments of any kind, so I had to make some for these two. Answers will come, and you'll definitely get to meet Chase's future wife soon((:
Casey Storm- It's my goal to leave people dying for answers, however cruel that sounds, because that means I'm doing a decent job! Thanks so much! I may have written it, but I felt total adorable feels over the flashback/forward with Chase and Lexi because who wouldn't!
Leo Corp- Ahh, I know how you feel! When you love a story someone can't update fast enough and you just don't want to be waiting! I'll try to post more than once a week(;
I BIG HI to my new follower! I honestly didn't expect it, but was delighted to see it when I logged on!
Lexi took another deep breath through her nose, releasing it with emphasized fake calm. Her dark optics blinked rapidly, as she took a couple swift glances down the street. North was barren, with a few dimming lamp posts standing guard. South had a taxi coming their way, causing Alexa to duck back into the alley she was peeking from.
Bree let out an annoyed sigh. The future bionic had been acting paranoid for several streets now, their progress towards Mission Creek High slowing immensely.
"Lexi, honestly, the school is another block away," Bree whispered, remembering how harshly Lexi had shushed her last time she spoke in a regular tone. The fourteen year old's shoulders slouched, her head drooping with exaggerated impatience towards Bree.
"The moment you doubt these guys is the moment you lose," Alexa said simply, unable to peel her eyes off the road. "Now!" She motioned with a flick of her wrist for the three behind her to follow. Lexi dashed into the darkening night, the street lights hardly casting a proper shine on any of the four frames. With quick but steathly movements, the time-traveller made her way down another block.
Bree obeyed, but bouldered her way behind the girl in protest to the ridiculous act. Adam and Leo were happy to comply to Alexa's wishes, however, and added an extra tumble and leap here and there.
"This is so cool!" Leo whispered in excitement. He held his fingers up, pointed at the sky like a gun.
Bree growled, and Lexi shook her head. "This isn't suppose to be fun," Alexa half-hissed. "Please take this seriously!" Lowering Leo's hand in warning, the girl of the future bit her lip in frustration and nerves.
The highschool was in sight now, a faint outline visible from where they stood. Something felt off about it. Though the school in appearance could pass as shady, the atmosphere surrounding the building hadn't changed. It might sound far-fetched, but Alexa had grown accustomed to feeling that difference. She knew when her nemesis was near. "He's not in there," she decided out loud, nodding her head in concurrence to herself. Twisting on the balls of her feet determination, Lexi made to leave when Bree stopped her.
"The coordinates mark this exact spot!" the speedster argued, almost shoving the tablet in her niece's face. It was unnecessary, Alexa had studied the mapped red dots every free chance she got – which wasn't a lot since arriving in the past. She knew what they read, but Lexi had learned to trust her gut when it came to the idiot ruining her life.
"He's not in there," the younger female tried again, gritting her teeth. The current situation had set everyone on edge, and questioning one another was starting to worsen their emotions.
Adam stepped inbetween the soon-to-be-bickering girls, and eyed the school longingly. "You sure?"
"Positive, I have a sixth sense for this type of thing," Lexi sighed, forcing her muscles to relax.
Bree snorted, crossing her arms.
"Well, the stupid trackers must have a glitch or something," Leo murmured, sulking a little as the spy-movie mood was now very much dead. Alexa raised a gloved hand, successfully hiding the fact that they were increasingly disappearing. She screwed her features into, what the others recognized it as, her thinking face. It was a less obnoxious version of Chase's, but at the moment Bree still found something in it to harness her built up frustration.
"No ... no," folding the rest of her fingers into her palm, Lexi pointed her forefinger in a few random directions, pinpointing something. She hovered her arm at shoulder height.
One second the future girl's brown eyes were hidden in the night, and the next they glowed with a faint golden shine. The pathway in front of her illuminated, revealing the sidewalk. It was a very precise light that was focused like a flashlight, controlled by the slight movements Lexi's eyes made. Every time she blinked, the glow would momentarily go out. "There," the traveller stopped her hand gesturing and rested her gaze and finger direction on a sewer drain. Kneeling next to it, she tapped the thick bars.
"What?" Bree's eyes itched towards the school's front doors, wanting to get this charade over with and get back to their mission.
"They're down here," Lexi stated, confident. Her eye flashlight went out. "The coordinates can't dechipher the difference between above ground and below, this is a much more suitable place for that scum-" Alexa paused to fix her tone, remembering she wasn't talking to this guy of the future directly. "- and I have a feeling."
"A feeling?" Bree questioned, raising an eyebrow. Her hesitation stemmed from only minor anger towards Lexi now, and a lot from the fact that sewers were revolting.
"Yes, my father says it's strongest when dealing with my enemy," Alexa continued. "and that it is highly dependable."
"I'd like to hear that from him," Bree growled, unsure as to why she was so snippy. There was only so much unstable future, kidnapped brother, and disappearing niece drama a bionic could take.
"You can," the future bionic said. She rose, forcing everyone back gently with her molecular kinesis. Aiming a hand, a bright but silenced blast wave slammed against the sewer drain with practiced ease, causing a hint of a smile to form at the corners of Lexi's lips. "As soon as we get down to him."
Bree sighed. Hearing Alexa talk about her brother like that was a little weird and uncomfortable. She may have thought she was fine before they left, but a time-travelling niece and an endangered future was a going to take more than a bit to get use to. Bree only wondered how Leo remained so level-headed, he usually had about a dozen freak outs in situations like this at this point – except, there were no situations like this.
"Awesome," Adam chuckled, being the first to start shuffling down the wet and smelly ladder to the cemented ground below the streets. He squinted in the darkness, his nose wrinkling as the odor leaked into his nostrils. "Plug your nose before coming down." His warning caused Bree to grunt in disgust and Leo to attempt a one-handed descent into the sewage. Halfway down, Leo's left arm gave out, his right – bionic one – still clasping his nose, and he fell down on his back.
"Next time, use your bionic arm," Lexi suggested from above, unnecessary as her uncle came to that conclusion during his free fall.
"Mm hm," Leo mumbled, rolling to his stomach to heave himself back to his feet.
"Don't make another move," Alexa advised, starting to make her way down the few feet of ladder. "Bree needs to do her scan of the area."
"This would be a lot easier with Chase's x-ray vision," Bree said with a sigh. It was clear that she worried over her little brother, no matter how much either tormented the other. When she at last placed her feet at the bottom of the drain, Adam passed the silvery invisibility cloak over to her with a quiet expression. It was fun and games to him until the reality of the smelly, dark depths of the sewage hit him. Chase was down here, captured and perhaps tortured, maybe even ...
The oldest bionic shook that horrible image from his head. His little brother must have enjoyed having Adam fret over whether he was alive or not, since it happened so often these days. "Get this on," the muscles of the gang tried to keep his tone neutral, but his sister picked up on the urgency – she felt it too.
Shouldering the cloak, trying to get a feel for it around her, Bree watched sullenly as Alexa fitted the hood to hide half her face. Instantaneously, the speedster appeared to gave vanished, her heavy breathing the only giveaway that she was still present.
"You need to calm your nerves," Alexa said softly. "Focus." A hand stuck out in the air, probably attached to Bree's unseen arm, giving the future girl a thumbs up. "Go." A gust of wind blew past the three bionic teens, and to fill the emptiness left behind was an eery feeling.
"You're right about this place," Leo commented, shivering and rubbing at the goosebumps on his arms. "Creepy." Lexi didn't have a voice to say anything, so in answer she nodded.
Adam glanced at his niece for a moment, than took a doubletake. "Lexi ... your ear." His calloused hand reached towards the girl's face, poking at the spot where her ear should be, only to touch nothing. Alexa eyed him in disbelief, but in the second it took to check for herself her face contorted in panic.
"It's okay," her tone was almost believable. "We'll get Chase and fix the problem." If it wasn't for her gnawing on her bottom lip and those beautiful , scared eyes, she almost had the two convinced; she was well practiced in the art of deception, except for two rather obvious giveaways. Lexi considered it a flaw in her otherwise perfect composure.
In a sudden rush, that had Leo jumping into Adam's arms, Bree muttered a low-spirited greeting, and removed the cloak. Alexa was silent as she looked at her future aunt, unsure about how to comfort her. She had the habit of doing it awkwardly and with no confidence boost. "Lead the way," was all that came out of Lexi's quivering lips.
Bree took noticed in that slight shiver of the future bionic and at the sudden disappearance of her left ear, but brushed it aside. One problem at a time; if she didn't filter them, the Lab Rats would never get anything done. "Okay," pressing a finger to her ear piece, the speedster was about to inform Davenport about their go-ahead, but instead was interrupted by a fuzzy connection issue. "Mr. Davenport?" Bree tried to talk to him anyway. "Mr. Davenport, can you hear me?" The buzzing activity went dead, the other line disconnected from them entirely. Groaning, Bree beckoned for the three to follow her steps. "We must be in a dead zone, our intercoms aren't working."
Lexi frowned, as if that didn't add up. "That doesn't make sense. Mr. Davenport's design is too good for that." The girl gulped, falling into silence for a minute as she copied Bree's movements exactly. "Something else must be interrupting the signal ..." Her words made the hairs on the others' neck rise up.
"How would they even know we're here?" Leo questioned, a squeak badly hidden at the end.
"They might not," Alexa murmured. "But they definitely planned for visitors with bluetooths."
Chase's stomach growled, waking him up from his discomforting sleep. His head resumed throbbing the second his bloodshot eyes blinked open. He felt like groaning, but discovered he had used up every ounce of energy he had previously. The serum was effecting him physically now, with his bionics disengaged, and the injuries he had sustained before capture weren't helping.
The prisoner lifted his neck wearily to see if M1 was still standing by, and to no surprise, he was. Opening his mouth, Chase had to snap it shut again, catching himself almost calling his captor by his real name. That wouldn't go over well. "M1?" The impersonal title was distasteful to even say. Smacking his pasty mouth in exhaustion, the teen waited for his guard to show signs of having heard him. M1's shoulders stiffened, so Chase continued, "How long are you going to keep me locked up in here?"
"Until the effects of the virus override the control of your limbs," the human-turned-robot answer gruffly.
He wouldnt admit it, but that was unsettling, so Chase dropped his strained neck back on the stone bed. "Can I have something to eat?" The appearance of M1, him being someone Chase knew, tore down any walls the kidnapped bionic may have wanted to put up. He felt so strangely comfortable around him, though it was evident he neither recognized Chase nor cared about him.
"No."
"Can I have some water?"
"No, and shut up."
"So you're from ... 18 years into the future, right?"
An exasperated grunt was the only response. Chase took that as an in.
"What's it like?" The third bionic teen already knew the answer by the way Alexa had talked about it, but he couldn't help but dream of what it was like before the destruction. Of course, M1 wouldn't give him any fulfilling information about the things he wanted to know of life 18 years from now.
"Unsatisfactory until this mission is complete," M1 growled, straightening up – though you could hardly call him a slouch to begin with. "Sir."
Chase's eyebrows creased. Since when did he get that kind of respect here, or ever?
"M1, my favourite minion," an unpleasant voice sang. It was an unnerving tone coming from the person it did. The leader, the boss man. "How's the prisoner?"
"Deteriorating at an acceptable rate, sir," M1 replied, with a hint of pride. Chase flopped his head to the side, to watch their conversation.
The news caused a satisfied nod from the leader, his dark eyes carrying over to the kid behind the bars. He approached menacingly, an evil grin resided in his features. It curdled the little food left in Chase's stomach. "You look awful," he chuckled, tilting his head to get a better look of the teen. Chase had dark bags under his eyes, ghostly skin, and pale lips. "You know with those bionics of yours you could get out of here easy." The words were meant as a taunt. "Come on, then. Raise that sickly looking limb and use the force." The leader clasped his bear hands to his throat, mocking what it'd be like if Chase was choking him. "Ah, yes." Opening the cell door, the boss stepped closer to the one, ungrateful piece of furniture given to the boy to lay on. "This is where you belong, future, past, and present." Lifting his chiseled jaw, he spat onto Chase's forehead.
"What did I ever do to you?" Chase had decided long ago that this was a personal hit. The man was wanting all of this too passionately for it to be a random act.
"You may never know with the future now reset, but you stole from me the ability to get back home," the man growled, heading back out of the cage. "I'm simply taking back my life."
"And destroying others in the process," Chase croaked. His tired brain was starting to get hazy.
"Precisely."
The leader clanged the door shut once more, bidding M1 to follow him to a minion grouping. Balling his weak hands into pathetic fists, the bionic teenager attempted to pound them against the bench at his sides, unable to raise his arm higher than an inch. "You won't-" Chase couldn't finish the well-known retort to any evil guy's monologue.
Eyes fluttering, Chase started seeing dark blobs forming around the sides of his vision, cutting out peripheral view.
"Chase!" his named was hissed in a whisper. He groaned in protest to the intrusion. He wanted to shut his eyes and block out the world. "Chase, we're gonna get you out of here." The voice sounded clearer now, and the deep, desperate, and recognizable tone confused the captured bionic. Trying to get a peek of his rescuer, a wave of pain zipped up his spine, and a burning sensation churned in his neck.
A soft clunk told the ill teen the cell door had been reopened, and the fuzzy face appearing in his vision confirmed who he thought it was. "Adam ... you're young again ... I thufanei yairfj," his words slurred and his voice dropped to inaudible.
"He's completely out of it," Adam sighed. Though he could see his brother was right in front of him, to Chase he sounded very distant.
"Pick him up, and hurry," another voice came in. It took Chase longer to pin it as Alexa's.
"Oh," Chase smiled at her, limbs dangling limp as Adam cradled him.
After that, the virus-induced teen only remembered being rushed away, roughly forced to endure a bumpy trip upwards, and breathing in a sudden gust of fresh air. His world then went black.