Rebooted

Chapter 5

  "What's wrong, Skai?" He asked, taunting me. "No hug, no 'good to see you,' no kiss? Where's the love?"
"Dead, like I thought you were," I snapped. I turned to Giselle and held her throat in a vice grip. "How is this possible?" She couldn't answer with no air, so I threw her to the ground and stood over her. "They told me he was crushed under a mountain of rubble."
"I was making a little 'movie' with your freak family over here. And while I was making this 'movie,' Douglas couldn't stop bragging about his greatest creation ever, an android with bionic speed, strength, and intellect. I spent so much time trying to steal Chase's intelligence, I completely overlooked the fact that Marcus already had it. So I dug him up, and reassembled him piece by piece."
"Oh, we should try that with Grandma Davenport!" Adam cried, and snapped my head around at him.
"Shut up!"
"Marcus' bionic intelligence gives him a photographic memory." I froze. Photographic? Oh no... "Which means, he remembers everything from his past, and boy, does he have an axe to grind with you, Douglas."
"Me? Why me? Leo was the one who hated you."
"Me? Uh, yeah, that's true..."
"When they attacked me, you ran away," Marcus fumed. "You were my creator and you left me to die."
"Well, to be fair, I didn't think you'd be coming back."
"Not helping, Douglas!"
"All right, Marcus, I think it's time we finish you for good." Mr. Davenport held up his gun, but Marcus flung them aside with a mear thought. He couldn't do that before. Giselle swept under my legs and I fell onto my back, groaning.
"You don't stand a chance against us," she laughed. "I upgraded Marcus' technology, and made him more powerful than ever."
"Well, he's gonna have to be more powerful, because there are four of us now." I raised my hand and Leo looked down. "Oh, sorry, Skai. There are five of us now. That's right, bushy brow. I'm bionic now, too." Marcus seemed to be holding back laughter.
"Seriously?"
"It's just his little arm."
"And my little leg."
"Not helping your case, Leo," I sighed. Marcus looked over at me and something resembling a sincere smile crossed his face as he extended a hand down.
"Let me help you up." I slapped his hand away and stood.
"Don't touch me," I growled, unforgiving from our last encounter. "And it doesn't matter how powerful you are. They took you out once, and I'd be glad to help them do it again. Get him!" In a split second, Marcus shoved me out of the way and blasted electricity at the other four, sending them flying back into the wall.
"Nice work,"Giselle complemented.
"Thanks, mom."
"Don't call me that, we're not there yet."
"Okay." I cocked my head. Something was off here. Marcus... seemed broken, emotionally, at least. I turned to him with an angry glare.
"Look, Marcus, I don't know what kind of sick, twisted reenactment of the last time I saw you this is, but it needs to stop. I know you're angry at all of them, but please! They're my family, and it hurts me to see you trying to kill them. And you don't want to see me hurt." He smirked and approached me, but when I tried to move, I was frozen in place. One of his hands brushed aside my blue hair, and his hand rested on my cheek as he looked at me with pure adoration.
"Something inside me died when I found you on the ground of that cage. They were the reason you killed yourself. I'm not going to let them take me away from you again." He kissed me cheek and I grimaced.
"I died doing what was right. You and Douglas kidnapped me and my family and held us hostage in a basement. Do you think I can forgive you?" He smirked.
"I think you'll learn." He turned to Giselle. "We'll throw those four with the others and tie those two up. I'll keep Skai with me. She doesn't do well when restrained." Four people I'd never seen before appeared to take Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo away, and Giselle tied up Douglas and Donald, while the only thing I could do was watch. After tying them up, Marus picked me up and led me into the other room, where one of the men emerged, roughly holding Daniel by his arm.
"Daniel!" I cried, wanting to run to him.
"You know him?" Marcus asked, infuriated.
"Vaguely, but yes. I don't understand why you sound so mad."
"He replaced me, Skai!" I was confused.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I used to be Douglas' son, but he's taken my place." I rolled my eyes.
"You were dead! And so was I. Marcus, people move on after death. You have to accept that!"
"Skai, you don't know how much it hurts to be replaced."
"I might not, but that doesn't justify what you're doing. This is murder, no! This is a homicide, and you're a willing killer."
"What happened to the Skai I was hopelessly in love with? The one who I would look forward to seeing, and the one, I'm pretty sure, that loved me back?" I lowered my eyelids.
"She died in the cage the first day you kidnapped me. She was just a corpse, and that electric shock freed her."
"Skai, please, I never meant to hurt you, and you know that. I was trying to protect you. I really was devastated when I saw you dead on the ground. The rubble crushing me was nothing compared to the guilt on my chest." I was shocked. Marcus felt guilty?
"The... guilt...?" I stuttered out. He sighed and put his hands on my shoulders. Oddly enough, I didn't pull away this time.
"I felt like it was all my fault you had gone to such desperate lengths. I should never have deceived you. I really, truly loved you, Skai, and I did something absolutely horrible." He looked down, then back up again into my yellow eyes, causing my heart to feel as though it were cooling. "I guess I'm asking for forgiveness." I became angry again.
"Forgiveness? You have my friends held captive here! How do you expect me to forgive you?" He pulled me close and suddenly pressed his lips against mine, softly and sweetly. And oddly enough, I gave in. I nearly collapsed in that moment right then and there, and when he pulled away, my look changed to one part horrified, one part confused, and a final part happy.
"Bring him in, Marcus!" He sighed and grabbed onto Daniel, anger once again prominent on his face. But for a moment, there was sanity through the madness, as he turned to me with apologetic eyes before entering. I couldn't take it and decided to follow. Douglas and Donald were tied together with pliable steel, and Giselle loomed over them, Marcus and Daniel now by her side. "Now you can both watch your kids as they beg for mercy," she smirked.
"Get your hands off my son!" Douglas cried.
"Your son?" Marcus chuckled. "You mean like I was your son?"
"Uh oh..." I whispered.
"Wait, he's my brother?" Daniel asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, but not for long." Marcus tossed the boy across the room as though he were a rag doll.
"Marcus, please. Stop," his father begged.
"Are you kidding? I could do this all day! And I think I will." Hoping to stop him, I gripped Marcus' shoulder, but he only smirked back at me. "Sorry, babe. I have to deal with this situation."
"Please... don't do this. I know you've always been programmed to be evil, but... there was that part of you that was good! I remember that part. The part that tried to teach me to play guitar, and that I had to sneak away to talk to." I sighed. "We were Romeo and Juliette, Marcus. Now we're Amy and Nick." I relaxed as an alarm began going off and the words 'perimeter breach' appeared on a monitor.
"I'll go take care of them," Marcus chuckled.
"No!" Giselle barked. "Let them get their hopes up. They won't get far." She picked up her electric whip and left the room. I hadn't even noticed Daniel had stood until he cried out and attempted to hit Marcus with a pipe. However, as Marcus was made of almost entirely metal, the pipe bent instead.
"What do you know?" The boy stuttered. "You broke my pipe."
"He's an android, you nimrod," I groaned. Marcus grabbed Daniel by the arm again and began to pull him out of the room.
"Marcus!" He stopped. "I know I built you to be evil, but I can reprogram you. We can be a family again. You, me, Daniel, and Skai could still be your girlfriend."
"Hey, I never said I was going to take that position again."
"Fine. Then maybe we'll adopt a girl, or a kitten."
"I hate cats."
"I don't blame you," I muttered.
"Come on Marcus. It's me. Your dad. Let's fix this." It appeared as though his words were working. "All you have to do is release these restraints." He broke for a moment, but snapped out of it and twisted Daniel's arm further.
"No! My only mission is to destroy every last member of your precious family, starting with him." He pushed Daniel to the ground.
"Marcus, I'm begging you." I was the one who had said that. He looked at me, and the reality of what he was doing seemed to set in as he listened, hypnotized by my voice. "Just let him go. He's not... he didn't replace you. As much as I hate to admit it, no one could." I had said something wrong. He began slapping Daniel around with telekinesis.
"I think it' time to put you out of your misery."
"Marcus, stop!" Marcus dropped the boy. "He had nothing to do with this. I... I'm the one who betrayed you. I made a stupid decision and hurt you, and that got you killed. If you're going to take anyone out, take me."
"Skai, no!" I turned to Daniel.
"This is between him and me, Daniel." I turned back to Marcus, and suddenly remembered: I could replicate his powers by touching him. I approached my former love and touched his cheek, feeling heat that indicated I had his powers. This was it, the moment of pure guilt. I was just about to ready an orb that would kill him, when I looked into his eyes. Suddenly, I saw the kids we used to be, stupid and reckless, and it broke me for a moment. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him furiously, resolving anything I could have wanted back then. He kissed back, and that was the moment I knew he was buying it. "I'm so... sorry... for what... I'm about... to do..." He pulled away after registering my words.
"What?"
"I never stopped loving you, and I realize that now. In fact, I probably never will stop. I'll always love you, even if one of us is gone. And now that I've told you that..." I pulled him back in. "Goodbye..." I summoned the orb, and he realized what was happening too late.
"Skai!" I kept my lips pressed against his as I slammed it against him body, only opening my eyes when I felt I was holding nothing and heard the clang of dozens of metal pieces falling apart around me. I opened my eyes to see everyone looking at me in shock. They likely didn't believe I'd actually do it. I stood there for a moment, over the parts, before untying Douglas and Donald. Leo approached me and put a hand on my shoulder.
"I didn't think you'd do it..." He muttered.
"He threatened my friends. You all are more important." I turned to all of them. "And I'm sorry I realized that a few years too late." Donald smiled.
"It's all right, Skai. Sometimes we do crazy things when we're in love." I nodded and helped Daniel up off the floor.
"Now let's go help the others." We ran into the next room, and thankfully, Adam, Bree, and Chase were there, unharmed.
"Guys, you're okay." I looked down to see Giselle in pieces and nearly gagged.
"But she is not," I managed to choke out, before bringing the three into a tight embrace. They quickly let go and looked at me with determination.
"Come on. We have to go find Marcus," Chase instructed.
"I already took care of him," I sighed.
"Really?" Everyone seemed so shocked.
"Yeah. It hurt me, probably much more than it did him, but it had to be done." Bree smiled at me for reassurance.
"We're proud of you, Skai. And I think I speak for everyone when I say we're glad to have you back," Donald gushed.
"Ahem!" We all turned our attention to Leo. "Let's not forget the guy who freed the entire student body, not to mention saved the three of you." I glanced at the former bionics, who shrugged.
"Yeah, well we should probably get going," Chase pointed out.
"Yeah."
"Right."
"This place creeps me out."
"Hold it." The four of us stopped and turned back around.
"Perry can handle things back at the academy, but if we're going to find a fix for your melted chips, I need to take you back to the lab in Mission Creek."
"Whoo-hoo, we're going home!" The other four raced out, while I stayed behind with Douglas and Donald.
"I'm proud of you, Douglas. You're going to be a great dad."
"Thanks, Donnie. And one day, I'm sure you will be, too." I chuckled at the joke and looked back at where the Marcus remains were one last time, before walked out of Giselle's lab for good.