Last chapter, here it is people ;)
"When any trouble comes in home, all family members takes it as its own and this is called family love."
- Unknown -
It was Monday afternoon, about a day after Chase had woken up in his capsule, and Davenport had gotten him caught up on everything that had happened. Apparently the wound itself hadn't been all that major but the bullet had nicked an artery which had almost caused Chase to die of blood loss. Roger had been forced to use the paddles to bring him back when Chase's heart stopped which had, in turn, damaged his chip.
The first time Chase had woken up in the hospital, which the fifteen-year old vaguely remembered as a blur of voices and light, his chip had been overly sensitive to everything causing Chase to immediately pass out again. The scream Chase had given right before he went eerily quiet had scared everyone to the point of demanding Chase was released from the hospital so that he could be cared for at home.
Roger had, thankfully, understood why (he was one of the few people who knew about the siblings' bionics) and Chase had been immediately transferred to his capsule so that his chip could be fixed. But putting Chase back in his capsule had apparently been a lot more difficult than anyone would have thought seeing as the wound was keeping Chase from being able to stay upright in his sleep. He had merely slumped against the walls of his capsule which had almost torn his stitches at one point.
This was when, in the humble words of Davenport, 'my superior brain and genius came to light'. Davenport had decided to put Chase in a simple harness and then fill his capsule with water to make Chase as lightweight as possible so that he wouldn't aggravate his wound any further. Davenport also went into a very long and tedious explanation of how his 'awesome mind' came up with the perfect mix of salts, vitamins and minerals so that the water would actually speed up the healing process.
Every afternoon or so, Davenport would drain the capsule for some time so that Chase's muscles wouldn't become weak from merely floating around in water.
At the moment Tasha was keeping Chase company and playing word games with him. Tasha had been the one to decide that they would call Chase in sick at school and not tell anyone what happened. This of course, had to be repeated several times to get through to Davenport who had already begun searching for 'this Bryan's house', so he could blow the place to kingdom come. Leo had been in the process of calling the police when Tasha had reminded them all very kindly that Adam, Bree and Chase weren't exactly your typical high school students and involving the law or nuclear weapons would probably draw too much attention to certain secrets that had to stay hidden.
It had taken a while for everyone to actually agree with her (read; Mr Davenport) but eventually Tasha's rule went.
This, however, did NOT mean that Bryan was going to get away with everything he had done. If Bree's expression was any indication, than Chase was almost a little afraid of what she would do, and no doubt drag Adam into, at school today.
He was a little scared but most of all he felt pretty damn good knowing that, if shit went to hell, he could always count on Bree and Adam.
Principal Perry grinned as she used the phone she had just snatched off of a first year to film the wonderful scene unfolding in front of her. She didn't really know what Bryan had done to piss off Adam and Bree to this extent, but from what she could gather, it had something to do with their genius little brother Chase. Not that she really cared why this was happening, she just found it hilarious and quite amazing to finally see Adam in action. She had known Bree had a temper, but to see sweet (Perry also couldn't help but think stupid) Adam getting this upset … it was funny!
"Please! Put me down, just put me down!"
Tears were streaming down Bryan's face as he was flailing around above Adam's head. Adam just huffed as he watched the boy in a near panic. He was only holding him above his head, it wasn't as if he was going to throw him down again. He'd already done that and Bryan almost broke. The kid had no stamina whatsoever. A single kick from Bree had had him wailing. He hadn't even been able to get a punch in. Bree had asked him not to use his strength because apparently that would hurt Bryan too much. Well excuse him for just trying to be fair! Bryan had used a gun on their little brother, didn't that mean Adam could use just a little of his bionics of Bryan?
But nooo, Bree had made Adam promise that he wouldn't use his bionics or throw Bryan, again, because the guy could die and they didn't need that kind of attention … whatever that meant. Not that Adam was trying to kill the guy, he was just trying to teach him a lesson for hurting Chase. But unfortunately, having had only Chase to practice fighting with, Adam didn't really know how breakable people without bionics were compared to those with technological and biological enhancements. So who could've known that throwing Bryan around with some enhanced strength like he did to Chase all the time was a lot more harmful for the first than it was for the second. It had been an honest mistake that had dislocated Bryan's arm and Adam had even popped it back in for him, he wasn't going to do it again. Not just because he had promised Bree he wouldn't, but also because helping Bryan had left a very sour taste in his mouth and a burning feeling in his chest.
Adam huffed again before swinging Bryan around, making the boy scream again, before grabbing a hold of his ankles which left him dangling upside down above the ground.
Bree walked up to them and squatted in front of the terrified bully. She grabbed a fistful of Bryan's hair and pulled a little. The boy was immediately clawing at her hands and whimpering.
"Starting to get it now, Bryan. Our brother is off limits, and if you ever go near him again."
Bree yanked at his hair and brought his face a little closer. Her eyes were on fire and Bryan stopped breathing for a second as he was faced with the full wrath of this, to be believed, small girl.
"Adam will demonstrate how unhappy that would make us."
She pushed the guy away from her leaving him swinging and flailing. Nodding to Adam, Bree got back to her feet and took a few steps back. They had agreed that Bree would do most of the talking and, after making him promise her that he wouldn't use his bionics on Bryan (God knew Adam wanted to), that Adam would get to rough him up a bit.
At the nod Adam began to straighten up and seemed to almost beam. Bree just hoped that his big brother instincts wouldn't make too much of a mess of Bryan. Even when Adam wasn't using his bionics, he was still way stronger than anyone in this school, including Principal Perry. But then again, it wasn't her intention for Adam to hold back completely. The little prick in front of them had thought it was a good idea to bring a gun to a party and shoot their little brother with it. Needless to say, it had been the stupidest thing Bryan had ever done in his life. And to make sure he would never do it again, well, Bree was sure Adam could talk some sense into the guy.
Adam was now swinging the guy back and forth, making Bryan's head a nice red/purple. The burning in Adam's chest was getting worse the more he looked at the person responsible for hurting Chasey. Adam knew he had to be careful with his strength, but rage was a funny thing and the more he felt it, the more he just wanted to hurt this idiot he was holding.
Bryan was screaming again and after one more swing, Adam let go and Bryan landed on the ground with a painful sounding thud. The crowd went silent for only a second until Bryan scrambled to turn around and face the towering giant that was Adam. Then they 'oowed' again and started to chant Adam's name. Bree was laughing into her fists as she saw the wide-eyed dear-caught-in-the-headlights expression on Bryan's face. He was now sitting down while staring up at Adam who had walked towards him and was towering over him quite nicely. Bryan started to panic for real now and was stuttering half-assed apologies that made Bree cock an eyebrow. Was this guy for real?
Adam seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he narrowed his eyes and dragged the guy to his feet by holding onto the front of his shirt. Adam didn't even seem to notice the fact that Bryan's toes were hardly touching the ground or the fact that his close proximity to the bully was causing said bully to elicit some extremely high-pitched squeals. Bree almost doubled over form laughing and a good portion of the student body surrounding them did the same. Man, this was priceless!
"You think an apology will be enough!? You hurt my little brother! No one hurts my family, understand me. Chase is my little brother and Bree is my younger sister. If you ever get near them than you get to deal with me!"
Bree was actually a little surprised to see Adam this worked up. Yes she was pissed beyond measure at this Bryan idiot, but she had had no idea that Adam could even get this mad. He was their older brother and he was protective but this was a whole new side to him. A small smile made its way to Bree's face as she realised that Adam didn't need Chase's smarts to understand family love. Adam had been the closest to himself the past few days while everyone else had been a worried wreck. Bree just now started to understand that that had nothing to do with Adam's somewhat dumb behaviour but everything to do with his desire to protect his family.
And only now, when Chase was on the mend and everyone back home was becoming themselves again, did Adam let himself go. It was only now that Bree glimpsed at Adam's anger and pain because his family didn't need him to be strong anymore.
Bree decided to step in before Adam's emotions reached glitching height and their secret was out. Or at least, she tried to. Before she had the chance to do anything Adam drew back his right fist and landed a solid punch on Bryan's face. He let the boy fall to the ground and for a second Bree stopped breathing because Bryan didn't move.
'Oh God, what if he's-'
But the thought had, luckily, been unnecessary as Bryan started to moan and cradle his face. He was sitting down again and his eyes darted from Adam to Bree and back. It was like he was unsure which of the two siblings posed a bigger threat. Bree quickly put her hand on her brother's arm to try and calm him down. Adam seemed to get the idea as she could hear him take slow calming breaths. Bree fixed the lowlife in front of her with a withering glare and didn't need to look at Adam to know he was doing the same.
"I suggest you take our advice and never come near our brother again. Unless you want us to stop holding back on you."
Bree saw a satisfying shade of white colour Bryan's face as the knowledge that this wasn't the worst they could do settled in his head. She held her glare for a little while longer before she carefully tucked at Adam's arm and made him follow her into the school. The crowd actually cheered and Bree thought she could hear Principal Perry's indignant shouts of 'this fight isn't over' but chose to ignore her. She had seen the look on Bryan's face and she had seen the look on Adam's. Bree was willing to bet her life on the fact that Bryan was never going near Chase again. Oh yeah, this fight was definitely over.
"Hey Chase, how are you?"
Chase waved as Adam and Bree walked into the lab and answered his brother's question.
"Doing better. My side doesn't hurt as much and my head's getting clearer. How was school?"
At this Bree glanced at Adam who merely shrugged and threw his backpack down near the console table.
"Just school with boring teachers and boring classes."
Bree stared at her brother before looking at Chase and seeing he had his eyebrows down in a frown. Bree saw his mouth open to ask him a question before Adam turned on him and said, in the most serious tone she had ever heard her brother use.
"But just so you know, if that Bryan kid ever comes near you again, you just tell me and I'll deal with it. Got it!"
Adam held Chase's gaze for a few seconds longer before promptly turning around and walking out of the lab. Bree heard the elevator and turned to face Chase with a somewhat bewildered expression on her face. It seemed Bree's idea of a 'protective Adam' hadn't even come close to reality.
"Okay, what happened?"
Bree saw Chase looked somewhere between confused and suspicious and suddenly found herself with a grin on her face. It was that moment Leo chose to walk in.
"Bree, my God, that was amazing!"
Chase was immediately looking at Leo.
"What?! What was amazing, what happened!?"
Leo looked at Bree in confusion when he saw her making herself comfortable in Davenport's desk chair.
"You haven't told him?"
Bree merely continued to smile and starting typing on the keyboard.
"What is it Leo? Told me what!"
At this Leo looked between Bree and Chase for a moment before he grabbed himself a chair and sat across from Chase's capsule looking like a newly appointed king.
"Well, it'd be my pleasure to tell you the tale of, what has become known as, 'How the Brute got butchered'."
Throughout the story (with a lot of sound effects and wild arm gestures from Leo's part) Bree saw a number of emotions flit across her younger brother's face. But the one constant thing was the small smile that had formed right at the beginning. Looking at that smile and the brother she had come to love/hate, Bree concluded that, yeah, they may not be invincible. But as long as they had each other's backs, they would be alright in the end.