Title: Simulation

Rating: T for future scenes

Genre: Adventure, drama, family, angst, mystery… the works!

Characters: Every character will be incorporated at some point. Not a single character will be left out!

Pairing(s): There are a few, but let's keep those a secret for now, shall we?

Summary: AU. 'It's all just a game. It's just a sim.' That's what we kept telling ourselves throughout this whole virtual battle that could literally last a lifetime—we couldn't exit until the war was over. 'It's all fake, none of it's actually happening. We weren't given bionics, we're not actually in control of a bionic army.' But it's so hard to remember that when it feels so real.

Warnings: There are some more intense scenes later on, but it's nothing much

Notes: Yup, this is one of the big projects I mentioned! I have the whole plot, so it shouldn't be too long between each chapter. As I said, it's an AU, but actually, not much has changed. There's some stuff that's definitely different—like I changed their bionic abilities a bit, nothing much. It'll be more clear later on—if you don't get it at first, don't worry, it's meant to be confusing! I hope you like it!

"Leo, wake up!"

The boy groaned, eyes shooting open as he swayed in his capsule. "What, Chase?"

"We're almost late for training, come on! Bree's gonna kill us, Adam's already out the door!"

Leo cursed inwardly. Whenever Adam was ahead of them, they were definitely late. And Commander S-1 would almost certainly put them on garbage duty, no matter how long they'd known each other.

He hurriedly programmed the capsule to change him into his uniform—crisp white with black stripes, showing his status as one of the highest ranks in the whole Academy. Second only to the commanders, of course. Chase was waiting outside the door, wearing the same uniform and tapping his foot impatiently. Fortunately, a late-coming speedster rushed down the hall just then, and Chase flagged the streak down. The speedster, a girl named Danielle, gave them a ride down to the training room and dropped them in just as Commander S-1 got to their place in line, taking attendance.

"Adam Davenport?"

"Present!"

"Bree Davenport?"

"Present."

She stopped at Chase. "Mr. Chase Davenport. So glad you're joining us. Same goes for you, Mr. Dooley." She glanced over at Leo, who was next in line. "You must understand how important punctuality is, even in a sim."

"Calm down, Tay Tay," Leo said airily. "We're not late, so just relax." The whole squadron snickered—Leo was one of the few who could get away with calling Taylor a nickname, let alone her actual name. No, to most, she was Commander S-1.

She sighed, obviously frustrated. "Leo…"

"Yes, Taylor?" he replied, grinning.

She glared at him. "Never mind." She continued to walk down the line. "Caitlin Evans?"

"That was risky, Dooley," another commander muttered as he walked passed, trailing S-1.

"I hate to say it, Leo, but S-3's right," another added.

"Aw, really? Siding with Sebastian now, are we Logan?" Leo teased the second boy.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Ha ha. Seriously though, even though we're friends, you know it's protocol to call me S-9 and Sebastian S-3 during training."

"Fine," Leo muttered, and Logan continued walking.

"Hey, guys, why were you late this morning?" Bree hissed, glancing over.

"His fault," was Chase's response, pointing at Leo.

"In my defense," Leo said, "I was on a mission last night and didn't get back until super late. Second, not all of us can be the Academy's top spy and sneak into class whenever I want to!"

Bree grinned, obviously pleased that her stepbrother called her 'the Academy's top spy'. "Fair enough."

"Hey, what about me?" Adam complained. "I'm the best soldier they have!"

"Something to share, Dooley-Davenports?" Commander S-1's voice suddenly called, and all four snapped to attention.

"No, Commander," Leo replied reluctantly.

Next came training, which was painful—for the newbies. Every month, a couple more people would be sent in by the people running the horrible game of war, and everyone tried to integrate them as gently as possible. And by that, it meant constantly beating them up during training.

Generally, the Commanders paired certain high-ranked with the newbies "so the advanced recruits won't stress themselves out, since they will be put to even tougher tests later", in Logan's words. (Everyone knew it was just an excuse so that they Commanders didn't have to babysit every newbie.) It was extremely flawed logic, in Leo's opinion, but he couldn't change the rules.

The month that a newbie was matched to a soldier was a month none of the soldiers were looking forward too. Unfortunately for the Dooley-Davenports, it was their turn.

That day, the door to the Arrival Room opened, revealing a few more kids. Commanders S-3 and S-9 matched each one to an advanced recruit, who would show them the ropes, train them, and all that.

Chase was matched to a fifteen-year-old girl named Kate, Adam was matched to a thirteen-year-old boy named Bob, Bree was matched to another teenage girl named Lexi, and Leo was matched to a tiny twelve-year-old named (and it was completely ridiculous) Spin.

"So, Spin," Leo said nonchalantly as they began to lead their charges around, giving them tours. "What's up with the name?"

"I lived in an orphanage," the boy muttered. "I got to pick my own name. They seemed to find it funny when they attached a bunch of wires to my head, pressed a button, and sent me here." He paused. "Where is here, anyway?"

Leo shrugged. "To put it simply, we've all been captured by that mysterious 'they' you mentioned, sent into a simulation—meaning we're sleeping in real life, and our brains are 'living' in a computer program—and train with bionic abilities for reasons no one will tell us."

"But… so you don't know what you're fighting for?" Spin asked, and Leo was almost startled by his perceptiveness. Almost.

"Well, not really," Leo replied. "The Commanders seem to know. I'm a step down from Commander, but I'll get there one day soon—really soon. We try to avoid death, but it inevitably happens."

"But if it's a sim," Spin countered, "wouldn't you not actually die? Could you, theoretically, wake up unharmed in the normal world?"

"Maybe," Leo admitted. "We don't really know. The alternative is that we would die here and there. So I'm not risking it."

"How long have you been here? And how long are we going to be here?"

Leo sighed. "You ask too many questions. But I've been here for about four years, since I was thirteen. I was one of the first, along with my siblings. And, if Taylor is correct, we don't get out until we win the war and complete the sim."

"Two questions," Spin continued. "One: who's Taylor? Two: who are we fighting?"

"Taylor is the Commander of Commanders, as we call her," Leo grinned. "Just call her Commander S-1 and you probably won't get disintegrated." Ignoring the kid's terrified look, he continued. "The war is against androids, created by some Virt-Life named Giselle Vickers. Virt-life just means a virtual person, by the way. She's part of the simulation. Anyway, the androids are cruel and power-hungry and want to rid the virtual world of bionic humans for good."

"You keep mentioning 'bionics'. What are they? What are bionic humans?"

"What you and I are, kid," Leo said. He held up a hand. "In the simulation, anyway. In real life, we're normal." His hand burst into flame. "I don't know who took us, or why we're in this simulation, but it's a fight for survival. Once we take down Giselle's androids, we can go home. And we'll be rid of all this war, and the powers…"

"What's wrong with the powers?" Spin insisted.

Leo gave him a grave look. "Trust me—it looks like a blessing, but it's definitely a curse." He didn't elaborate, just closed his hand and the flames went out.

Spin wouldn't leave him alone. "So, what can you do; what's your rank?"

"Well, I'm a Mentor. Second only to Commanders. And as my sub-rank, I'm a Ranger," Leo said. "I have super strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, energy transference, laser spheres, bionic eye scanners, and pyrokinesis. And, of course, hidden abilities—we all have those."

"What do I have?" Spin asked. "Or do you need equipment to tell?"

Leo chuckled. "Dude, I just told you that I have bionic eye scanners. I have the equipment right in my eyeballs." He grabbed the kid by the shoulder and his eyes flared blue as he glanced at the spot in the kid's neck where his chip was located. He pulled away. "Well, so far you have hidden abilities along with rapid gyration—super spin, as we like to call it here."

Spin shook Leo's hand off his shoulder. "Mean joke."

"What? Oh—the name." Leo had forgotten what the boy had said about the people who put him into the sim—rotten sense of humor, apparently. Giving a child named Spin the ability to spin really fast—that was just cruel. To take the boy's mind off it, Leo grinned wide enough to show teeth. "Well, I'll introduce you to my siblings and some of the others before we get started on training."

"Training?"

Leo raised an eyebrow. "What, with all the talk about war, you didn't expect to just be sitting back here all day, did ya? No, you're going to be front and center." Again, he ignored the petrified look on Spin's face in favor of pulling the child down the hall. "Come on, I'll show you around and introduce you to some people!"

So how was the first chapter? It's mostly just set up for now. More explanations next chapter, but if you have a question, feel free to ask! Reviews are appreciated!