Title: Simple Addition

Rating: K+

Genre: Family

Characters: Adam

Pairing(s): None

Summary: Addition is simple, but he never was any good at it. He used to like change, but he doesn't anymore.

Warnings: None

Notes: Not much to say about this. I just wanted more Adam-reflecting-on-his-family stories, especially because of what happened in Space Colony. Tiny bit of speculation for the series finale. Enjoy, guys!

He is the oldest, the first. He is 'Subject A'. Douglas has plans for him—of course he does. Adam will grow up with the abilities, and they shouldn't be a problem. But Douglas has to form a connection—an emotionless robot won't do. So Douglas calls him Adam. Despite being so young, he only is a baby, Adam likes his name and loves his father. Adam makes Douglas's cold heart thaw, just a bit. Adam makes sure to keep track of the one family member he has.

Too bad that, sixteen years from now, he will not remember his beloved father at all. His mind is too young for such memories, and that is the saddest thing.

She is the second. She is 'Subject B'. Douglas names her Bree. Adam feels a little upset, thinks he isn't as special anymore. Adding one more person to his orderly little toddler life is almost too much for him to comprehend. And it turns out that she's a fast one, too fast for him to ever catch up too. He senses it may become a problem in the future. But he admits it, he really does love his baby sister.

He adds because he's not about to forget her any time soon.

He is the third. He is 'Subject C'. Douglas dubs him Chase. Adam is now used to having at least one younger child around, one more shouldn't be a problem. But it turns out that Chase is very sensitive to noise, so Adam has to be quiet while playing. It really is quite annoying—how is he supposed to blow stuff up with his eye lasers if Chase has to sleep? Adam, being three, doesn't like that. But—and he never will say this out loud—he loves Chasey.

He adds because he's definitely never going to lose him.

Adam doesn't remember 'Subject D'. Daniel. After all, Adam only knew Daniel as a diagram and a test tube in Douglas's lab before Donald took him away.

So therefore, Adam can't remember his youngest brother. There was nothing to add in the first place, so there is nothing to subtract.

Donald adopts them. For some reason that Adam doesn't understand, Donald is initially indifferent. But he warms up to them, eventually. It's kind of funny: Adam can't pronounce 'Davenport' yet, so he just calls him 'Mr. D'. Donald seems okay that that. And within a year or so, they're no longer the kids, they're his kids. Adam is so happy to know that.

Adam doesn't even remember Douglas anymore. He added one but also subtracted one without even realizing.

They train. They're learning to be superheroes. In contrast to every comic book Adam's ever looked at the pictures in, it's boring.

Boring—that's the story of Adam's life, as he understands. He just wants some excitement. He has Bree and Chase, of course, but he wants more. He hopes that the next time someone comes (if anyone ever does), they will change his life.

His name is Leo, and he's… different.

He's smart. Curious. Funny. Oh-so-wonderfully human. He changes Adam's life, alright—he changes all of their lives in so many ways.

Adam just doesn't know yet if it's for the better. Either way: he adds.

School, Adam decides, is pretty okay. It's not really his thing, but his siblings like it and he has a chance to create a good reputation for himself. No one knows him, so it's fine. He and his siblings are new, but Leo isn't.

At school, Leo is nerd, geek, shorty, loser.

For Adam, Leo is his little brother.

Along with Leo comes Tasha. Adam has never had a mom before, so it's something else to be added to his life, something new to get used to. It's okay, though. He likes Tasha, and is glad that he met her. She's a little odd, with a weird obsession with reporting weird news, but then again, he's used to weird. He adds.

It takes him a while to realize that she may very well be the most normal out of all of them.

Marcus is next, and Adam finally can say he has a friend. They form a band, and it's easily one of the most exciting things Adam's ever done, even including all the missions. It makes him upset that Leo doesn't like Marcus—why can't all his friends be friends, too?—but as long as he keeps being friends with both of them, that's okay. Of course, it only makes sense that he would add.

Adam so blinded by the prospect of friendship that he almost doesn't notice the terrified looks that cross Leo's face every time even the thought of being alone in a room with Marcus is brought up. He almost doesn't notice, but he does. He shrugs it off as Leo being overly-paranoid and jealous.

Adam only realizes that Leo was right after Marcus dies. And not only that, he realizes that the whole friendship was fake. The band, the laughs, the selfies… all an act.

That fact crushes his hope even more than the boulders crushed Marcus.

They know the truth—and Adam can honestly say that Douglas's proclamation possibly stirred some memories within his mind. He can remember flashes of what he thinks he used to have.

He remembers feelings, impressions. Douglas loved them at one time, Adam knows. But that love has been twisted into something else, something Douglas can convince himself is all with good intentions for his children—greed. Douglas wants them back for his own best intentions, though he says that he is doing it for them. Adam doesn't know whether to add or subtract.

All he knows is that it hurts, knowing that your blood-father is completely deranged.

A few years pass with no addition for Adam—not including the stuff in math class, of course.

But then Douglas comes back—as a good guy. He has done some terrible things: trying to turn Chase against them, putting them under the Triton App, pretty much stalking them nonstop, to name a few.

But, as Bree says, everyone deserves a second chance (even though it means more addition for Adam).

Soldiers. Tons of soldiers. They follow him like he's their—

Oh. Oh.

He's their new leader, of course.

And, as it turns out, they're pretty fun. He likes them. All of them. They're better than Chase (okay, that's a lie, but that's not going to stop him from saying that they're better). He has more siblings—yes, that's what they are, already. They're family. They like him, he likes them, done and done. And sure, it's more addition for him to do, but hey! There are only about a hundred of them.

There's one that stands out—to him, at least. The others have their stand-outs, too.

For him, it's Bob. Bob is the first person he's ever truly understood—he's simple, straightforward, funny. He hasn't got the best influences (and cue the glare towards Spin), so Adam steps up. He'll protect the kid if it's the last thing he does.

For Bree and Chase, their stand-out student is Sebastian. Adam doesn't see it, he just doesn't like Sebastian. But he doesn't have the heart to tell them that they shouldn't get attached, even though he somehow senses that it will all go downhill in the end. (And later on, after everything unfolds, he doesn't have the heart to tell them that he knew it all along.)

For Leo, it's Spin, and later on, Logan, and Taylor. Spin is his nemesis of sorts, and Adam won't deny it—it's positively hilarious. Logan and Taylor are Leo's friends, though. And somehow, they just don't give off the same aura as Sebastian did. Adam trusts them, wholeheartedly. Perhaps it's because they saved his whole family from falling off a bridge, or maybe it's because they're just genuinely nice to talk to and are eager to learn.

Either way, Adam somehow knows that they are his friends—real friends. He would bet his life on it.

Adam's not going to lie—he kinda thought Troy was pretty cool. Adam was more than willing to teach him a couple tricks. But then it was just Marcus all over again—the hopes of at least having one connection to the normal world, gone.

Giselle definitely wasn't any better.

Daniel.

Adam doesn't remember him—nothing seems recognizable, unlike Douglas. But, actually, he can see the family resemblance. Daniel doesn't look like Adam at all, but he definitely looks like Douglas. It only makes sense for Adam to add him.

And Daniel… like Leo, he's different. But in an odd way, somehow. For one thing, he's different because he's so much like them.

Well… that doesn't make sense. But… he's different because of his ability to replicate their abilities—Adam has never seen that before. It's a change, certainly.

It's a change Adam can get used to.

Marcus comes back, and with him he brings a longing in Adam for… what, exactly? Adam doesn't know, it's such a foreign feeling. He just knows he is angry, he wants reveng—

No. He's a hero. Revenge is a villain's job, not his. He doesn't want revenge, he wants… justice. Yeah, justice. Marcus captured his blood-father and father-figure, and then Daniel went to rescue them. Marcus will kill them. And Adam can't lose them. He just can't.

He doesn't want to suffer from any more subtraction.

Oddly enough, once Marcus is gone for the second time—permanently—Adam just feels empty. He feels a—

Loss. Yes, that's it.

Because even though Marcus was only pretending to be his friend all those years ago, even though he wasn't even human—didn't he deserve a second chance? That's what Bree had said about Douglas. But, apparently, that rule doesn't apply to bionic androids named Marcus.

Adam doesn't get it. He does the one thing he went to fight Marcus for so he wouldn't have to do it. He subtracts.

Bree and Chase are leaving.

Bree and Chase are leaving.

It's surreal. His younger siblings had always been there for him and now—they were going.

Adam tries to console himself with the fact that they're okay, they're not hurt (or worse, dead). They're just… going away.

But it doesn't work. He feels that hollowness again. It's so much change, too much for him. He doesn't want anything to change now, he likes his life, he loves his family. He doesn't want them to be split apart. It will only break him.

He remembers that, when he was younger, he dreamed about the day that his whole life would change.

He remembers the day everything did change. He remembers his question about it, too: was it for the better?

Adam still doesn't know the answer.

And so, even though Bree and Chase are alive, he is numb. He can't take the pain, doesn't want to take it. He shuts his emotions down. He's what they were maybe always intended to be—a robot, showing emotions but never having them. An empty box on a body, like they always say he is anyway—dumb.

It isn't worth it.

Yes, Bree and Chase aren't dead. But to him, they might as well be.

He subtracts.

Reviews are appreciated.