A/N: This was my original headcanon for the Lab Rats' origin (created way back in season 1), so just ignore what was revealed in "Bionic Showdown" for the purposes of this story. Disclaimer: Lab Rats belongs to Disney. If I owned it, there'd be a lot more flashbacks to the little-kid!Lab Rats.

Bree and Chase wanted to see the world. Adam just wanted to see the inside of a regular house. His siblings wanted high school and sunlight; he just wanted to be looking out windows and eating regular food.

He'd wanted those things for as long as he could remember. He didn't know what happened to his parents, or if he'd had any siblings by blood. All he knew was he spent his days begging and grubbing through gutters for food and playing on the streets with the other kids his age.

Except that none of them were quite as young as he was, and all of them went home at the end of the day, leaving him alone again.

Except for Bree and Chase.

They were even younger than Adam was, and they, too, had no parents to hurry them away when they saw the dirt-stained new friend they'd found in Adam. The children soon found three begging faces worked better than one, and three bodies could steal more, see more, and get into more places.

They adopted one another almost instantly, scraping a living from their combined skills. Chase, though the youngest, quickly proved the smartest, coming up with the best ideas for where to find food or how to get to it. Bree was light and agile, climbing into tricky spots the others couldn't have managed, squeezing behind vending machines to grab coins that had rolled back there and making it seemingly instantly to dropped food or items.

And Adam was the strong one. They were all around the same age, and the others didn't seem to care about ages, letting whoever's skill was needed take charge as the situation demanded. But Adam couldn't forget that he was the oldest and the one that found the other two, and he took his position seriously, with the full solemnity young children have. It was his responsibility to take care of the near-toddler Bree and Chase, and he wasn't about to let anything happen to either of them.

When you're six, and living on the streets, that is an easy promise to make, and an impossible one to keep.

They were rooting around through the garbage cans behind a grocery store the day their lives ended. Adam was boosting Bree up to look into one enormous bin, and didn't notice Chase wandering over to the far end of the other, babbling to himself about closeness to the store and how long different foods stayed fresh. In fact, it was Bree who looked over and saw the stack of wooden crates teetering on the edge of the bin, being shaken by the small hand Chase was feeling around with.

"Chase! Look out!"

Bree was almost as fast as her screamed warning, but she still arrived just after the entire stack crashed to the ground, burying their tiny friend beneath it.

Adam was beside her a moment later, adding his strength to hers in an attempt to move the crates. Through a gap in the pile, Chase's small face peered out at them, pale beneath its coating of dirt; they could hear him sobbing quietly in pain.

Adam and Bree heaved at the crates again and again, until they were gasping for breath, but they made no progress. The crates were just too heavy, and they were just too young and weak.

"What do we do? What do we do?!"

Bree was close to tears herself now in panic.

"…we…keep trying…" Adam managed in between breaths, still straining to lift the crates.

"Um, are you two alright?"

That was when the voice sounded from behind them, like a genie from a fairytale.

Adam and Bree turned to see a young man with black hair staring at them in concern.

"Nuh-uh, we're not alright," Bree said desperately, but before she could explain further, a small, pained voice interrupted.

"Three…"

The man jerked in shock, then bent down to peer at the stack of crates in horror.

"Is there someone under there?!"

"Not two…" Chase moaned; Adam and Bree knew he was focusing on the numbers he loved so much to keep his mind off the pain. "Y'said two…they's three of us…wiv you is four…"

"Good job counting, but let's get these off of you."

The man easily lifted the crates away from Chase, and in seconds Adam and Bree were hugging him tightly.

"Ow," he whimpered, and they loosened their holds. "I hurt…"

"Careful: he might have broken bones," The man cautioned Adam and Bree. "We need to get him to a hospital right away."

The three children looked at one another, the knowledge they'd learned on the streets kicking in.

"But if you don't have parents they don't let you in," Adam murmured, pulling Chase closer even as he stared at the ground. " 'Cause you can't pay."

Once again the man looked shocked, thinking they were far too young for such a world-wise attitude.

"Are you three on your own?" he asked.

All three shook their heads.

"We're not alone; we're together!" Bree said proudly.

For a moment the man just stared at them, three little kids clutching each other tightly, eyes full of stubborn dignity, reviewing in his head the way he'd first seen them: working as a team to rescue someone trapped, refusing to give up even when things were hopeless.

He smiled at them.

"Why don't we go to the hospital now and worry later, OK?"

An hour later, they walked out of the hospital, Adam and Bree protectively on either side of Chase, who was more scraped and bruised than anything, although one arm now sported a cast. Adam had positioned himself between the others and the man, who'd given his name as Davenport.

"What do you guys say to getting some food?" he asked cheerfully.

The three kids eyed him more warily than before. First he had paid the hospital bill, and now he was offering them food; they knew better than to trust people that friendly to stray kids.

Davenport saw their faces and smiled, motioning them over to a nearby bench and sitting down himself. The three glanced around at the people passing, glanced back at each other, and followed.

"Look, what would you guys say to becoming superheroes?"

The kids stared at his huge grin and started edging off the bench.

"No, no, I'm not crazy," Davenport said, laughing. "I'm a scientist…well, genius scientist actually."

Chase's eyes lit up.

"A sci'tist?"

"Yup. And I've been working on bionic implants that will mesh biology and technology to enhance…"

He trailed off at the blank look on even Chase's face.

"Well, basically what I'm trying to do is use science to give people superpowers. And I think it would work best on adolescents, because they're still growing, and would integrate the new skills most easily, plus adolescence would be the prime time for training…"

More blank looks.

"I think it would work best on kids. But I've kind of been having trouble finding some to use in my experiments. But you three don't have a home or family—I mean besides each other," he hastily added as they looked indignant. "I can give you a house and food, not to mention an amazing opportunity. And no-one would separate you."

The children looked at each other. They knew kids on the street didn't last long; either they ended up in dangerous places, or they got taken by too-polite government grown-ups and their friends never saw them again.

"What kind of superpowers would we get?" Bree asked.

"Well, they'd have to be tailored specifically to fit each of your different skills, but pretty much anything is possible…what kind of powers would you like to have?"

Bree thought about being too slow to stop the crates from landing on Chase, and answered,

"I wanna be really fast! Faster than anyone!"

"An' I wanna be the smartest person eva!" Chase added, thinking about all the times his smarts came in handy, and all the times the others looked to him and he couldn't think of anything to help them.

"And what about you, Adam?" Davenport prompted when the third child was silent.

Adam thought about his vow to protect Bree and Chase, thought about being too small and weak to be able to properly do that, thought about not being able to lift the crates off Chase earlier.

He looked up at Davenport and said fiercely,

"I wanna be strong!"

Over ten years had passed since the day their life on the streets ended and their new one with Davenport began. It was so exciting, so much better than their old one, that they never talked about that one anymore. Adam wasn't sure Bree and Chase even remembered anything before life in the lab.

Adam remembered though, which was why he wasn't as keen as the others about seeing the world. He remembered what the world was like, and it was harsh; the inside of a house like the ones normal families had, though…well, that was all he'd ever wanted for them.

Still, this was a lot better than what they'd had; he was glad at how he'd managed to pull their little family out of the gutter and into a good life.

And if Bree and Chase laughed at him for being all muscle and little brain, then he was just happy he could make them smile, and happy that now he was strong enough to protect them from anything.