A/N: This is an idea that came to me a little while ago and it's so different to what I'm used to writing that I sort of dismissed it but it wouldn't leave me so here it is, on a new account so I won't startle my followers. It's rated T for now, but be aware that this story will probably deal with some difficult themes later on. I'll mark those chapters when and if they come up. One last thing as this is becoming quite a long author's note: If you like it (or even if you don't, I'm always looking to improve my writing) and want me to continue with this story, please leave a review, it really means a lot to me. Thank you! So without further ado, here's the first chapter of Memories!
Disclaimer: I do not own Lab Rats or any of its characters

Shadows climb up the dark walls, pressing closer and closer. A tall figure lurks in the distance. Everything is dark, blurred, shaking. The figure slides through the shadows, closer, closer. Somewhere, a child is crying. Please don't find me, please don't find me. Quiet sobs, soft gasps. The figure looms high above, a menacing smile breaks through the darkness.

"Ready or not, here I come."

I awake to find myself pressed firmly against the back of my capsule, heart racing and feeling uncomfortably warm. Panicking, I throw open the door and collapse out into the cool lab. As the fresh air brushes against my skin and the crushing weight of feeling trapped lifts, I relax. I head off to the bathroom to wash my face of its sticky sheen and as I watch the water swirl down the drain, the lingering traces of my dream drift away into the pale morning.

Breakfast, as usual, is a quietly busy affair. Adam and Leo race to finish their cereal first while Chase sits quietly and plans his day. Mr Davenport is hardly awake and Tasha's busy enough cleaning up the spilt milk that I'm able to slip in and grab a piece of toast and some coffee without anybody really noticing. I don't usually drink coffee, but I've barely slept all week and we have intensive training today.

"Good morning" I mumble as I sit down opposite Chase, rubbing my neck slightly.

"Morning," he replies, noticing my odd choice of breakfast but thankfully choosing not to say anything about it. "What's wrong with your neck?"

"Oh. Um, I don't know. I guess I just slept weird last night."

"You sleep standing up. Besides, you were fidgeting all last night. It was really annoying."

I just shrug lightly. "Maybe gym yesterday, then. I don't know."

Chase still doesn't look convinced, but at that moment the cereal race which had been proceeding uncharacteristically quietly beside us draws to a close and Adam announces himself the winner. I throw back the rest of my coffee, in the process reminding myself why I usually avoid it, and stand up from the table.

"Don't worry, Leo. You'll get him someday."

Training is not going well. Adam's frustrated, Chase is distracted, and I'm jittery from the lethal combination of sleep deprivation and caffeine. I had just run straight into Adam for the fifteenth time when Mr Davenport shut off the simulator.

"What is wrong with you three today? Adam, you need to break that door open faster, Bree, you know how to dodge things when you're super speeding so why aren't you? And Chase, you didn't really do anything wrong but that's mostly because you didn't do anything at all. You're supposed to be coordinating your abilities so you can be more efficient on missions but today it's like you don't even know each other." He sighs as we all look away, ashamed. "Look, you guys are a team. You're a great team and you do good things. But you need to look out for each other, okay?"

A little girl, holding back tears, sits on the ground as an even smaller boy hugs her and an older boy shouts at someone just out of view.

"Bree? Is everything okay?"

"Hm? Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry, just spaced out for a second."

I'm the little girl. The two boys, my brothers. Looking out for me.

"Um, Mr Davenport? I –"

All of a sudden my head explodes.

A baby girl, barely a few hours into the world. A tall figure, angrily shouting. "This isn't what I wanted! Look at it, it's useless. She's useless." The baby girl screams. She's hungry, but nobody feeds her. She's hurting, but nobody knows.

A baby girl, learning to walk, learning to talk. A tall figure, high above her, yanking up on her arms, shouting in her face. "Why do I bother with you? What's the point, you'll never be what I need." The baby girl sobs. She's tired, she's hurting, she's scared.

A little girl, just two years old. A tall figure, back turned to her. "See, look at this. He's smart, he doesn't cry, he's perfect. Why do we still need her?" The little girl cries silently. She's lonely, but nobody's here. She's hurting, but nobody cares.

A little girl, a few years old. A tall figure, looming above her. "Maybe you're not so useless after all. Come on, this won't hurt, don't be scared." The little girl blinks back tears. He's lying, she's hurting, she might never trust again.

The images race through my mind. The little girl is me. I'm remembering things, everything. I'm remembering my whole life. I don't want to remember. I want it to stop. It hurts, it's too loud, my mind is filled with screaming, with pain, with fear. I feel strong arms wrap around me and I can't breathe. I'm trapped, I can't get free, I can't even move. The figure from my dream circles the memories, closer, closer, and taller and darker until suddenly it descends upon me and I'm cloaked in darkness.

***Mr Davenport's POV***

Something strange is going on with Bree. She's been distant all morning, despite having swiped my coffee when she thought I wasn't paying attention. She claimed everything was fine, but then something clicked and she was completely gone.

"Bree?"

Her face is deathly pale and her eyes wide open in terror. She's hyperventilating, chest heaving as she desperately tries to suck in enough air.

"Bree!"

She's looking everywhere at once and nowhere at all, eyes darting frantically as she watches something nobody else can see. Suddenly, she goes completely limp, falling backwards into Adam's arms before closing her eyes, motionless.

Just then, Leo enters the lab. "Hey guys, Mom said lunch will be – what the heck is going on in here?"

Nobody answers him. All eyes turn to Chase as he checks Bree's pulse.

"She's fine, just unconscious," he concludes. "What just happened?"

"I honestly have no idea. I've never seen anything like that before." I check her chip data on the cyber desk. "She's unlocked a new bionic ability… eidetic memory. Huh, that's unusual."

Chase nods in understanding while Adam and Leo just look more confused.

"That means that she'll be able to vividly remember everything she's ever experienced, birth to present. And everything that happens to her in the future, she'll remember forever. I suggest you don't borrow money from her."

"And it's unusual," Chase adds, "because it's a sub-ability of super intelligence. How exactly did that happen, Mr Davenport?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure about that, actually. My best guess is that when you guys combined your abilities to fight Krane, there must have been some overlap."

Chase seems satisfied with this answer, or at least isn't going to press the issue right now, but Adam looks from me to Bree in confusion.

"So if she's just unlocked an ability, why did she collapse? That's never happened to any of us before."

"Well, since your bionics weren't designed to use with the human nervous system, there are some incompatibilities – that's why you glitch. So what happened to Bree is like a glitch of sorts. Her human brain doesn't have the capacity to process so much information at once, so she shut down in order to sort through it. Does that make sense?"

Once again, Adam stared at me blankly.

Chase sighed. "Lots of stuff to remember. Brain too small" he simplified. "Good thing it wasn't you or else you might have exploded. Wait, Mr Davenport, what do you mean our bionics weren't designed for humans?"

I sigh, figuring that now is as good a time as any to tell them about their past. "Take a seat. There's something important that you need to know about."