Chapter 16 already, guys! I am getting you guys to wait longer than usual for an update and that is solely because I've been procrastinating in finishing the chapters! This story is quickly drawing to a close, but I'm hoping to perhaps get to at least 20 chapters! We'll see!
Anonlabratslover- Thank you! Chase and Alexa moments were a wanted thing so I wrote it. If there's anything else you'd like to see, don't hesitate to ask.
PurpleNicole531- Awww, thanks! I do try to add a bit of humour to lighten the mood a bit. Who wants to read a story and constantly be depressed or just casual? Right? Haha((:
Casey Storm- I personally loved it too. I'm glad I fit it in last chapter ... *trails off* So many great questions. I hope I answer some in the next few chapters, because unanswered questions are the worst, aren't they? Thanks so much for your continued support!
tvd1992- It's such a true line, though. I feel that way about my family often;;)
Dirtkid123- M1 feels like he truly belongs! Haha.
EmeraldTulip- Thank you! I always love to hear about a reader's favourite parts so I know what to do more of, and what I'm doing right((: Leo will always be Leo, he's so easy to write for too!
Guest- Thank you! I'm glad you thought so(((:
Leo Corp- Heyyy! Thanks so so much! I do try my darnedest to pull off humour, but I need to add seriousness to make it more interesting as well! That's one of the best compliments you could give me((: Peach is great! I'm on other sites, and my nickname's Peach so;;)
daphrose- YOU CAUGHT UPPP! Yay, it's exciting hearing from you again, seriously though((: Thanks so much! I hate my own grammar mistakes, honestly. I read over my writing, think it's great, post it, and dang it! Three casualties or more;;) I'm just too lazy to fix it, though. Haha. Your review means a lot!
"Sir, perhaps we should let those men go," M1 murmured, unsure. "Our fight does not lie with them, I-"
"Our fight lies with them and everyone else in this retched timeline!" the boss screamed, rising from his chair and looming over his minion threateningly.
"They were not the ones who wronged you ..." M1 tried, cringing away from his leader like a deflated balloon. In response, the future Adam was given a warning glance. That made two in total. If he got one more, he'd be taken away where the rest of the useless and curious unfollowers went, and never be seen again. If he was going to help his past family, he was going to have to be more careful in his questionings.
"Forgive me one last time, Master," M1 said apologetically, hoping to come off as sincere. He didn't feel so sorry knowing he was being lied to and treated like he was merely reusuable for his boss' own personal gain. The only person to ever show any care for him was himself, past Adam.
Adam. M1 wouldn't have pegged himself for an Adam. Stephen or Oliver, maybe.
"There is nothing to forgive, M1," the leader sighed, slowly sitting himself again in despair. "I am on edge and wound tightly. Every minute we spend in the past is another that my life is being ruined by those fools. Have I ever told you the story about how I became what I am?"
"Yes," M1 mumbled, but instantly perked up for his boss' and his own sake. "But, I'd be delighted to hear it again. It's great to talk about your problems, sir."
"The year was 1971," the handsome man said, folding his hands together and placing them in his lap. "I was 26 and engaged to a beautiful woman. Bella was an amazing girl. Her smile was so broad and could light up an entire room, her curly red hair shimmered in the sun like my own precious gold. She was mine, and I loved her." M1 sat in a chair opposite his commander, knowing how deep in sorrow and memories he could get when he retold his life's story and final purpose. "We were at the park that day, hand in hand, laughing and talking about everything on our minds. That was when the bright light came, shining in our faces. I blocked the rays immediately, my hand shooting towards Bella, but she was so mesmerized by the sight she gazed into it directly. Her corneas burnt, and my wonderful fiance was blinded.
"A horrible, bulky thing popped up on the grass beside us, carrying a man with dark shades covering his eyes. Davenport was so ecstatic and pleased with himself. He shouted some stupid comments about his accomplishments, and prepared to take off again. I would have none of that, my little lady was staggering beside me trying to get her eyesight back. I leapt onto the retched device and was flashed away from my world, my timeline." The boss had risen now, gritting his teeth as he paced the sewer floors. "I shut my eyes and climbed the machine in hopes to reach that man. I fell onto the buttons, struggling with Davenport and trying to steady myself and force him to fix Bella. I grasped at his mangy neck, but the time machine shook and parts flew off and tumbled away into oblivion. Davenport's unnatural invention finally stopped and I fell off into a degraded heap. All my begging and prodding didn't encourage him to fix the time machine fast enough, and when he finally did he told me a time loop had been created in the process and I was incapable of getting back home. I asked to be dropped off elsewhere, but he merely explained to me it was too risky messing with the past and future so much. He told me I was deserted, forced to watch my beloved from afar and see how her life made out without me in it. Bella had married someone else, and she birthed two children with that man. Her hair had turned grey and her skin was slightly wrinkled. Her beauitful eyes were glazed over from blindness, but she was stil so dazzling. Yet she wasn't mine and I was forgotten about." Hands clasped behind his back, the leader stared off down the dark sewer corridors. He always got dramatic when he told his minions about his non-fairytale ending life, but instead of feeling heartbroken, M1 only felt bad and annoyed more than anything. His life had been ruined, no doubt, but the boss was taking it out on his innocent family. "After all this time, it took Davenport's own family being at risk for him to take action. Time travel is too risky, yet here we are, here they are. They disgust me."
"And me," M1 tried to sound disgruntled, which was fairly easy if he directed it towards the chief without him knowing. "You'll get your lady back, sir."
"Even if that is not the case, Davenport will regret ever destroying my entire life." The boss took in a deep breath, his lungs sucking back more air than M1's could hold. "It is time to activate the final stage. Gather the troops. By now the bionics will find themselves only just capable of using their powers, and as soon as we inject them all with the close combat virus we will conquer them easily as their health and chips deteriorate."
Olivia fell out of the loop as soon as the doors slid open, Future Leo quickly trying to steady her until the dizziness ended. "That can be a side effect of closing your eyes."
"But he told me that it would help," Liv murmured, pointintg accusingly at Leo.
"Hey, it's not a solid theory," Leo defended.
"The machine is this way," Chase said, trying to brush aside any arguments or awkward conversations. He just wanted hurry this along, but perhaps that was too much to ask.
"Chase! Thank god," Davenport exclaimed, patting his son on the shoulder. "Where have you been?"
"Getting Olivia," Leo answered for his step brother, realizing Chase had reddened in the face and went silent. "Everyone, Olivia. Olivia, everyone." Clapping once, the fourth bionic lead Liv to the Mentors' Quarters, many tag alongs behind them.
"So that's Chase's future wife?" Bree whispered at Future Leo.
"That's Olivia."
"Huh," Adam tilted his head, giving her a once over. "Her family must have gotten a lot of goats for them to have agreed to give her to Chase. She's way out of your league, dude."
"I never would have guessed you were into blondes," Bree smirked, bumping Chase playfully on the shoulder. The third bionic rolled his eyes, tightening a hand around Alexa's weak frame.
"Careful, I can barely keep her up as is," he mumbled.
Bree frowned, taking notice of her niece now, yet she didn't want to mention her condition, it was obvious and no one needed it said out loud. "Does Liv know the truth about you and Lexi?"
"Are you kidding?" Chase asked. "We wouldn't have been able to get her here if we had gone into details."
"So who does she think you are?"
"Someone really important, and because of that Alexa is disappearing," Chase answered nervously.
"Yeah, that'll hold up," Bree scoffed.
"It doesn't have to hold up," Chase hissed, looking down at Lexi worriedly when a quiet squeak escaped her paling lips. "She needs to know the truth for this all to work, but we had to get her here first."
"Woah," Liv's mouth gaped when she set eyes on the black couch and white armchair. " ... it's furniture." She peered over at Chase and the Leo's with slight frustration. "I should have known this was a hoax."
"Ah, but it's not just any furniture," Future Leo promised stepping around the angered girl, and reaching his father's inventions. "This is the most efficient and comfortable way to travel in time. We had a much more time machine-y looking one before, but it's since been upgraded to these." Tall Leo spread out his arms, a bit of a dramatic 'behind this curtain' flare being unnecessarily added.
"Impressive," Olivia sighed. She turned to leave when the keyboard on the couch's armrest caught her eye. "Hm." Poking at a few buttons, the machine booted to life and the monitor activated.
"From here you would just press the date and time you want to go to, and you're off," Future Leo explained, showing her the proper keys as he spoke. "I personally preferr the couch, but that armchair over there is a time machine too." He jabbed his thumb behind him at the white chair Alexa had arrived in.
"I suppose asking for further proof would be asking to much, right?" Liv said, finger dragging along the back of the armchair's cushions.
"No, but it'd take up a lot more time that we no longer have," Davenport said, approaching Olivia. "Hi, Donald Davenport, future inventor of the time machine." He smiled wide.
"You're creepy," Liv stated, ignoring his offer of a hand.
"So?" Chase prodded, knees buckling when Alexa went completely limp in his arms. Bree rushed to her other side, wiping away the beaded sweat in maternal worry.
Olivia paused. "I believe you. But know this, if you are lying to me I took a street fighting class when I was ten and broke a kid's nose." Liv attempted to appear threatening, but hersweet features didn't allow it.
A screened popped up over the time travelling couch, the vision blurry and odd shuffling noises coming out of the speakers in the headboard. "Try that button," a voice spoke hoarsely. "Hmm, maybe if we adjust this and then just-" A thwacking sound came from the other end and the screen suddenly went clear, revealing two faces.
"Chase! You could have broke it," the other person spoke, now being seen as an older Mr. Davenport. "What kind of ultimate genius hits a computer screen."
"It worked," Chase pointed out, gesturing to the faces on the other side. "Wait .. it worked!" The older Chase's eyes bulged, leaning in so that that all the other's could see was his eyes and part of his nose.
"Chase, I'm happy to see you and all, but back up, man," Future Leo suggested.
"Sorry," he sat back on a chair, staring.
"I can't believe this!" Older Leo went on. "How did you get out, I thought Oli- that person was holding you captive ... how am I seeing you at all?"
"Davenport broke me out, finally," Older Chase gave his father a nudge, the screen going fuzzy for a moment of lapse.
"Look, there's no time," Older Davenport interrupted before the brother's could catch up with the latest time frame gossip. "What has happened? What changed?"
"What?" Bree inquired.
"The future, it's been upset."
"How could you possibly know that?" Liv asked, realizing she was surrounded by a bunch of people in the know.
The two figures on the screen froze, and Future Leo moved to bump the monitor thinking it was a glitch. When Older Chase let out a weird squeak and Older Davenport squirmed uncomfortably, Tall Leo knew he was mistaken. They were both unable to peel their eyes away from Olivia, as if expecting her to do something sinister right there.
"What?" Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow, and scratching at her bandages self consciously.
"We're from the future," Older Davenport was able to say before losing his voice again.
"How? I just ... you know what, I don't care," Liv flung her arms up. "I don't care, I give up!" Plopping down on the white, normal couch, Olivia laid her head backwards onto the headrest and just barely bothered to listen. Catching up to what was happening was way beyond an option right now.
"Look, we unintentionally screwed up an important event," Leo said. "If we had let Lexi voice herself more thoroughly, we wouldn't be in this mess but-"
"Oh, god, Alexa!" Older Chase exclaimed, swishing his head from side to side to look for her in the past room. "Where is she?"
"Right here," Chase moved into the view of the screen, dragging along a now unconscious Lexi with the help of his sister. The third bionic noticed his future self cup his mouth and inch closer in attempt to reach his daughter.
"What important event did you screw up exactly?" Future Chase pressed, obviously working at keeping his tone low and not place blame.
"The tunnel cave-in," Future Leo answered. Those few words were like some kind of code to future people, because instantly both men understood when they heard it.
"Crap," Future Davenport voiced, rubbing his forehead. "How are you working at fixing it?"
"We have Liv right here," Davenport answered himself.
"That won't do, you have to recreate what happened."
"Exactly?"
"No, but the feelings have to be the same ... so the situation has to be close to what it had been," Future Davenport said. "How long has this been going on?"
"A few days," Adam spoke up, waving at Future Chase and Davenport enthusiastically. Future Chase waved him aside.
"She should be gone by now," Future Davenport mused.
"I think he tampered somehow," Chase spoke slowly, feeling Lexi's arm fade from his touch.
"Always the dramatic one," Future Davenport sighed. "He has to make everything torturous and elongated."
"Who is he to us?" Davenport asked.
"He's never revealed himself to me before, I honestly cannot tell you ..." Future Davenport trailed off.
"But you have a hunch?"
Future Davenport nodded once, very carefully, stalling.
"What did we do?" Davenport accused immediately, knowing himself well enough that it had to have been something he did.
"During the beginning stages of inventing the time machine, I went on a successful test run," Future Davenport explained, then stopped himself. "I cannot tell you this, the future is unstable and-"
"What greater damage can be done, really?" Chase growled, short-tempered.
"A revengeful man hopped on board on my way back and got stuck in the future," Future Davenport finished. "His whole life passed him by like that, and it was too risky to bring him back."
"Damn, Big D," Leo said. "That's cold."
"What could I have done? By the time the machine was stable enough for another go it was three years later, and he had disappeared. Besides, something had happened during the trip back and a time loop was formed. He can never go back to where he was, even now, " Future Donald sighed.
Chase went to stroke Lexi's forehead, finding his hand waving through her instead and landing at his side. Alarmed, the third bionic turned to look down at the girl leaning against him. Her whole body had become translucent, and she shimmered delicately like glitter in the sun. "Alexa!" he exclaimed, shaking her awake. Lexi's eyes remained closed, her breath wispy as she shrunk from her father's grasp.
Future Chase gasped, scooching off his chair to try to get a better angle.
Donald rushed over quickly, and even Liv jumped up. "No no no no," Davenport repeated, taking Alexa's head softly in his hands. "Stay with us, hon. Lexi, open those eyes. Let me see those eyes." Lexi allowed a faint smile, before falling out of Chase's hold like a ghost, vanishing before her head could hit the ground.
"Alexa!" Chase and Future Chase cried. Olivia swayed in bewilderment, peering around at the other's for answers. Brushing his hands around where Lexi use to be, Chase urgently searched for the lost girl. "Lexi ..."
A red light flashed, and a loud siren rang throughout the academy. "To arms, to arms! We're under attack!"