We're Different

Chapter 21

Guys, it's the last chapter... This story is coming to an end... and prepare to feel the feels!
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Douglas walked downstairs and looked at Mr. Davenport and I in the cage, trapped like animals in a circus.
"You know you're never going to get away with this," Mr. Davenport threatened.
"Yeah, that's what you said when I stole twenty bucks from dad's wallet. Guess what? I got away with it. Boom!"
"Oh no, no, no, no, you do not go boom, I go boom. That's my thing! Boom!"
"Well, I guess I stole that, too. Just like you stole Adam, Bree, and Chase."
"You what?" I cried.
"I did not steal them. I was protecting them from you."
"I found a way to use our bionic technology in humans, and you ripped it right out of my hands!"
"You were going to make bionic soldiers and rent them to the highest bidder. You were going to use kids for evil purposes."
"Hi, hello, I'm still not up to date on the whole 'stole Adam, Bree, and Chase' thing." They both ignored me and continued arguing.
"You say that like it's a bad thing. I'm just trying to meet the needs of the my customers. It's not my fault they're all dictators and madmen." The monitor beeped, and I looked over to see Adam, Bree, and Chase standing there, trying to find the secret door. "What do you know? We've got company."
"Trust me, they will defeat you."
"Ooh. I'm so scared. You forget I have a bionic weapon of my own. Marcus!" Marcus ran down the stairs, and after looking at me for a few moments, looked towards his dad.
"Is it time?" A menacing look glinted in his eyes.
"It is. Go welcome our guests." Marcus mouthed 'I'm sorry' to me, then ran out to where the three were. Douglas turned to us with a smirk. "Boom!" He walked back up the stairs to deal with some more business.
"You don't even do it right!" I focused hard on the footage on the monitor. My heart pounded as I watched Adam, Bree, and Chase fight Marcus. He easily knocked down Adam and Bree, but Chase used some ability I had never seen before, and Marcus collapsed to the ground. Chase helped his siblings up, and they ran through the secret door. At first, I was relieved, but then I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, and I saw Marcus get back up and walk through the doorway, following close behind. Douglas came back downstairs and pushed a button, playing some smooth jazz.
"You know, for an unstable sociopath, your taste in music could be a lot better," Mr. Davenport scoffed at his brother.
"You were in a boy band."
" It was not a boy band. It was an A Capella group that just happened to be made up of boys." Adam, Bree, and Chase came racing down the staircase, and Douglas turned off the music.
"Mr. Davenport!" Bree cried in relief.
"Skai?" Chase asked. They all looked at me and their eyes widened.
"Oh, goody. Everyone's here. Party time!" Marcus ran through the stairwell and smirked at his father.
"I've secured the perimeter. They're ours now."
"Mr. Davenport, what is going on?" Chase asked with confusion. "Who is this guy?"
"Donny, you never told them about me? I am deeply offended. Adam, Bree, Chase... I'm your father."
"What do you mean you're our father?"
"Yeah, he's our father." Bree pointed to Mr. Davenport.
"No, that's what he's been telling you."
"Well, I don't know who you are, but you're going down." I'd never seen Adam so angry. They all lunged for Douglas, but before they could get even close to him, he pressed a button, and suddenly the three bionic siblings were standing next to me.
"You mastered short-ranged teleportation before I did? I've been working on that for years!"
"I know, I'm awesome."
"You're still going down." Adam reached his arm out, but he quickly lowered it and looked at it as if he were contemplating something.
"That's your arm, Adam," I said as if speaking to a three-year-old.
"No. My super strength... it's gone." Bree tried running, but she ended up staying in place.
"So is my speed." Chase raised his fingers to his skull and then lowered them in defeat.
"I've got nothing."
"That's because I've designed these lasers to block the signals to your bionic chips. That's right: daddy gave you toys, but he can also take them away." Marcus walked over and leaned against the wall, standing close to me. He smiled lightly at me, and I blushed and grinned at him, too.
"Well, Marcus, we finally captured them. Actually, I captured them. Me, me, me, me, me."
"You've got one of those too, huh?" I asked him in sympathy. Marcus reached his skinny hand and arm through some spaces in the bars and grabbed my hand. I grasped my fingers through his and smiled at him. Luckily, no one else noticed.
"You have no idea," Marcus answered, in response to my earlier question. I giggled lightly, in hopes that none of the others would notice.
"Come on!" Douglas snapped and Marcus released my hand and walked away. I sighed and watched him leave. "We've got work to do."
"Mr. Davenport, why did that guy say he was our father?" All attention was focused on Chase for a moment, before it flickered over to Mr. Davenport.
"Because technically, he is your father, and my brother."
"What?" Bree's confusion almost made me laugh. It was so simple.
"How is that even possible?"
"Wait, so does this mean Chase is also my father?" All of us rolled our eyes at Adam's idiocy.
"Years ago, Douglas and I started Davenport Industries together. It was great, we had a cute little lab. You know, not as good as the big lab I have now, but then we didn't nearly have as much money-"
"Get to the point!"I cried.
"Right. We developed bionics so that robots could do the jobs that were too dangerous for people. But, then Douglas went behind my back and implanted them into genetically engineered humans."
"You mean us?"
"No, Adam. The Green Bay Packers."
"Your bionic chips were never designed to be interfaced with the human nervous system."
"So that's why they glitch?"
"Exactly."
"Oh, and all these years, I thought it was just 'cause you're a terrible scientist." I slapped Adam on the arm and he quickly shut up.
"Douglas also hid all kinds of secret codes in your chips. That's why you have all these mysterious new abilities popping up out of nowhere."
"So, if your brother created us, how did we end up with you?"
"He wanted to make you into cyber-soldiers of mass destruction. But I knew if I raised you in a safe environment, I could train you to be bionic heroes. So I built the lab and I had you there."
"Wow, so everything we've ever known about ourselves, about you, it's all been..."
"...one big lie.
"Wow. This changes everything. Oh! Am I Jewish?"
"Jesus, Adam..."
"Please tell me there's another unexpected twist where I find out that I'm not related to him."
"Oh, join the party, sister."
"Oi, this one with the futzing and the complaining."
"Look, I wanted to tell you guys, but I figured the less you knew, the safer you'd be."
"But we trusted you. I mean, if you were lying about this, then, who knows what else you were lying about?"
"Exactly." Adam yanked on Mr. Davenport's hair harshly.
"Ow! What are you doing?"
"He's not lying about the hair, just looks fake." Marcus walked downstairs without saying a word, then climbed into an orange capsule and shut the door. Douglas walked down right after that and smirked at the five of us trapped in the cage.
"Hello, family and Skai."
"We're not your family," Bree growled. "Let us out of here."
"Yeah, you can't force us to be your cyber-soldiers."
" Actually, I can, boy wonder. See, when I created you, I installed my Triton app on your chips. Once it's activated, I'll control your bodies, and your minds. You'll do whatever I want, whether it's start a world war, or some light housekeeping."
"Oh, no way. You cannot make me vacuum!" Adam cried.
"Why do you need us? You already have Marcus, and apparently a barber with a sense of humor."
" Marcus is just an android. He's not sleeping, he's recharging. Trouble with androids is they burn out too quick. He won't make it to his 16th birthday."Oh, but don't tell him that: he thinks he's getting a car." The monitor beeped, and we all looked over to see footage of Leo standing outside the house with a wagon of weapons. "Oh, look who showed up to be a hero. And this one's not even bionic. I can take him out with the sprinklers."
"Leave him alone. He's just a kid!"
"A nosy kid who keeps getting in our way."
"Stay away from him!"I screamed.
" Don't worry, princess. I'm not gonna hurt him. Marcus wanted that privilege all for himself." Marcus stepped out from his capsule and looked at Douglas with a menacing smirk. "Your little friend Leo is back. This time, take care of him for good."
"Done." Douglas held up his hand for a high-five, but Marcus just walked away.
"Really dude? You're just going to leave your creator hanging like that?" I watched the footage in agony as Marcus and Leo bantered. However, it ended in Marcus shooting a ball of electricity at Leo, knocking him to the ground.
"No!" We all cried.
"Leo, poor Leo, he was trying to protect us." Bree sighed and placed her head in one of her hands.
"He tried to warn us about Marcus and we ignored him."
"When I get out of here, I'm taking you and Marcus down."
"Good luck with that. Once I press this, it'll activate your Triton apps. Then I'll control you. Permanently."
"No!" They all formed a shield around each other, shoving Chase to the front.
"Stop!"
"Do Chase first!" Douglas pressed the button over and over again, but nothing happened. Douglas almost threw down the remote in anger.
"Marcus, did you put batteries in this thing?"
"Ha! I went in their chips and put a block on your app a long time ago! Ooh, it is so good watching you eat it!" Mr. Davenport smacked his hand against the bars on accident, shocking him. "Ow!"
"Very clever, Donny. But, I'll get around it. I've always been a better programmer than you! There, see? Only eight minutes till my cypher key decrypts your amateur block and activates the Triton app! What are you gonna do? Call Mommy? If you do, don't tell her I'm alive." I sighed and watched the timer count down in agony.
I have to do something, I thought.
"Guys, there's only four minutes left until the block is decrypted. We have to get out of here."
If we could find a way to deflect one of these beams, we could take out the control console and deactivate the laser source. I don't suppose anybody has a mirror on them." Mr. Davenport looked at Bree.
"If any of us had a mirror on them, it would be you!" She pointed out.
"There must be something we can use."
"Well, I can't think on an empty stomach." Adam pulled out a granola bar from his boot, unwrapped it, and began eating it.
"You brought a granola bar?"
"Yup. Thanks for taking my suggestion on the snack holder."
"That was supposed to be for a weapon."
"Oi, this one with the weapons."
"Oh, hey, we can use this as a reflective surface." Bree grabbed the wrapper from his hands and threw away the remaining part of the granola bar.
"Yes, but it will never withstand the intensity of these beams. We need something to support it. Something hard and flat."
"How about Adam's head?" I sighed. I knew what I had to do.
"Or how about my hand?" Everyone looked at me in shock.
"Skai, the electricity that would be sent through your system... it would kill you." I looked at the floor for a moment, then back up at all of them.
"Yeah, I know, but... you guys are in danger. I'm willing to sacrifice myself to free you guys."
"Skai, you can't." I could hear Bree choking on tears.
"I have to. It's the only way to free you guys."
"Skai-"
"You can't... change my mind." I looked at all of them, then removed the artificial skin from my hand, revealing the wires and flat, metal skeleton.
"Thank you all for taking me in and making me feel accepted. You really made me feel like I was family. Chase, I know we didn't get along the best, but I'm really going to miss you a lot. Adam, you may not be the brightest, but you're so funny. Thanks for always making me laugh. And Bree, I never would have survived living with three guys without you. Thanks for being the closest thing to a sister for me." Bree laughed and sniffled a bit, smiling at me. I wrapped the granola bar wrapper around my hand and aimed it towards the monitor, positioning it by the bars. Before I placed my hand on it, I turned back to them and sighed.
"Tell Marcus I love him." I placed my hand on the bar and electricity shot through my spine. I screamed as pain ripped through me like a knife.
System overload. Cannot compute.
With a final spark, I collapsed to the ground, and after a little bit of twitching, blackness closed in, and my system shut down forever.
I love you Adam, Bree, Chase, Leo, and Mr. Davenport...
...I love you to the moon and back, Marcus.
Survive without me, my love. Keep on going.
I'll see you in heaven, some time, some day.
I'll wait for you.
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So... that's the end of the story. I'm sorry it ended with the death of Skai, but it was what I wanted from the start of this story. That basically means there is no sequel, but I hope you all enjoyed it.