Rebooted

Chapter 3

      Leo and I stood in front of the troubled child, apparently named Daniel, ready to begin our lesson.

"Okay, Daniel, since you have bionic ability replication, we'll start you off by touching one of these students, so you can take on their ability," I informed him.

"Okay."

"Wait a minute." One of the younger students, Bob, stepped forwards. "This kid can just touch me and he'll be able to do everything I can do?"

"That's right," Leo responded. Bob pulled a yellowed piece of paper from his back pocket.

"Well, here's my class schedule, my chores, have at it. I'm going to sleep until I'm twenty." Daniel looked at the piece of paper, confused, and I called the student out.

"Bob!"

"It was worth a shot." He took the paper back from his fellow student and stepped back in line. "Okay, Daniel, go ahead." One of the older, male students stepped forwards and Daniel touched his arm, static electricity-esque sparks shooting between them.

"Great. Now you have his bionic thunderclap."

"Cool." Daniel clapped his hands and a loud boom echoed, sending everyone flying back except me, on account that I was largely metal. Some of the roof came tumbling down, and I rolled my eyes.

"Not so hard," I warned.

"Sorry." Douglas emerged from his workplace covered in dust, some broken machine now wrapped around his neck.

"Well, I can see this is going well," he stated sarcastically, prying the device off his neck.

"Daniel, you have to focus," Leo scolded.

"I am focusing. But how am I supposed to master my abilities when I get a new one every five minutes."

"He does have a point."

"I have the ability as well," I pointed out. "It took me almost two years to master it."

"Yeah. Too bad you can't upgrade him like everyone else. Then a skill app would bring him up to speed instantly."

"I can give him the upgrade, but I'm not gonna. Not until he shows me he can be responsible with his bionics."

"Also, attempting to have him master the ability instantaneously could prove dangerous for both him and others. It could cause a data overload in his chip, or his brain could explode."

"What Skai said..." Douglas seemed increasingly concerned.

"But, Dad..."

"End of discussion. Now get back to your training." Leo turned the adult.

"I gotta be honest, Douglas. This whole 'you being a dad' thing is a little weird."

"I know. It's freaking me out."

"Yeah, the last time you were a dad, you kidnapped me." Douglas rolled his eyes and walked away. "Okay, Daniel. Touch Bob's arm."

"But be careful. I'm a fragile flower." I covered my mouth as I snickered at Bob's word choice. Daniel touched his arm.

"Great. Now let's see how you do with super strength."

"I'll go hide in the other room," I joked.

"Okay." Bob grabbed the kid and tossed him across the room.

"Bob!" I screamed.

"I know. I can throw him much farther. Let me try again."

"Wow... you really can't get super strength and intelligence in the same body..."

"You're useless!"

The sound of something being thrown to the ground echoed. It had been a couple hours since training had ended, but I was still in the training room, which I quickly raced out of, finding Chase standing over a broken laptop. He noticed two students staring warily at him, and he snapped at them.

"Do you mind? This is a private moment between a man and his computer." They walked away and Bree came towards us, looking distressed and angry.

"Chase, have you seen my students?" She asked bitterly.

"Nope," he replied honestly, confusing the brunette.

"Huh. We were supposed to start training an hour ago. Today's lesson is very important. It's called 'You're Not Better Than Me.'" Adam strode out from behind a pillar in a kilt and ridiculous hat, wielding a golf club.

"Hey, has anybody seen Bob? Leo said he was training a little while ago but hasn't seen him since. Now that I'm retiring, I need to know if he can play golf with me on Thursdays."

"Adam, please, just wear something normal," I begged before getting back into the real conversation. "And now that he mentions it, I haven't seen or heard Bob since we finished Daniel's training."

"Wait, no. First, my students are missing, and now Bob? Something weird is going on. I'm gonna go look for everyone." Bree exited the room, leaving me with Chase and Adam.

"Speaking of weird, why are you wearing that?" The other bionic brother asked.

"The hat? Because I'm a golfer."

"The kilt," I clarified.

"Oh. Because somebody changing my pants is easy living. This is what I call breezy living." I gagged a little bit and Chase wandered back over to me, eyes wide.

"I'm starting to think with your brother, it's best not to ask."

Our break from Daniel's training was over, and now we were back at it. Leo was currently hurling energy orbs at him, while the kid attempted to block them with a force field, like Chase.

"Come on, Daniel. Make your force field bigger," Leo instructed.

"I'm trying!"

"Concentrate."

"It's kinda hard to concentrate when you keep yelling 'concentrate.'" His guard went down for a second, and so did the force field. An orb hit Daniel and he fell to the ground as he cried out in pain. "You know, this would be a whole lot easier if you just gave me that upgrade." I rolled my eyes and moved to help Daniel up.

"No. You heard your dad. He wants you to master your bionics the old-fashioned way."

"Okay. But, if my training's not going well, doesn't that say more about you two as mentors than me as a student." He was trying to get to us, but I wouldn't let him.

"Oh, please. I was just rebooted a few hours ago. I think your father would make an exception with me, especially because he tried to kill me once, so now he feels bad." Leo chuckled behind me.

"Oh, please, Danny boy. I invented that trick. You play on a person's insecurities to get what you want. It's not going to work on me."

"You're right. I guess I'm just not ready to be a bionic student." Leo shrugged and began to walk away. "Kinda like you're not ready to be a bionic mentor." This kid played dirty. Leo turned around and looked at him angrily, then grabbed his arm and led him over to the console, giving the kid the upgrade. After it had finished uploading to his chip, the two of them came back to finish training.

"All right, Daniel, let's see how this upgrade works." Daniel put up a force field and defended remarkably, shocking me. "Well that proves it. I am a great mentor." Today was just a day full of eye-rolls for me.

"Hey, you thought that was cool, watch this." Daniel took a stance, and suddenly, the students behind Leo... vanished. I gasped and my hands flew to my mouth.

"How did you do that?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"I didn't."

"Then how did they all just disappear?"

"I don't know. But if anyone asks, I'm blaming it on Leo."