Forbidden || Chase Davenport

02

The next morning, Harley gives a knock before entering the Davenport house. She stops when she sees two of the bionic teens.

"What is going on here?"

The family turns to the girl.

"Oh, Mr. Davenport made robots of us for Leo," Bree answered.

Harley nods and walks over as she asks, "What do the robots do?"

"Adam tells the time and temperature, Bree has a mustache, and Chase knows math, and how to stutter," Leo said.

Silence filled the room as the door knocked. Davenport and Tasha went to answer it. He answered the door to an agent in a tuxedo, his hands folded together in front of him.

"Hey, Fitz." Donald greeted. "How's it going?" Fitz didn't respond, didn't even move a muscle. "How's life? How's the wife and kids?" Still no response. "Alrighty then."

"You should've seen him at the Christmas party. He is a karaoke master." Davenport said.

"Well, I guess this is it," Bree says sadly. "Thanks for everything, Leo. And I wish we could have gotten closer, Harley."

"Yeah." Chase agrees. "You're the best friends we've ever had."

"No, they're the only friends we've ever had," Adam argued, which made Harley smile.

Chase glances at the girl, wishing that this wasn't going to be the last time to see her. Harley meets his eye and gives a sad smile.

Harley and the others knew that Chase had formed a crush on the girl, even though they met the day before. What Chase and the others did not know was that Harley was putting on an act.

Harley is not the one to play with people's feelings, and deep down, she did not want to. But she knew that she had to. So what she did best was manipulate everybody into thinking she too had feelings for the youngest Davenport.

Harley hugged Adam and Bree, telling them that she would miss them. Then, she became teary-eyed and hugged Chase. The boy returned the hug as best as he could without suffocating her.

***

The next day, Harley received a call from Leo.

After the Davenport siblings left, Harley went home and thought about that moment with them. Harley did not understand why she felt a tiny stab in her heart as she said goodbye, but she chose to ignore it.

"Harls! Adam, Bree, and Chase didn't leave! They traded places with their robot lookalikes and when I went to school, they were at home! When I got back, Mom and Big D were there, but the robots weren't and I asked where they were, and they said they were at a recycling bin about to get crushed into Bionic cubs!" Leo exclaimed over the phone. "I'm going to get them, so be at my house when we get back!"

The Dooley boy hangs up and Harley had to sit there for a moment to process what was said before heading over to the Davenports.

Harley waited on the bench anxiously. She did not know why she was anxious. She should be glad that they were coming back. It was important to her that they did.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed the car pull up and Harley rushes over once she saw the bionic teens step out. Noticing her, the three open their arms and Harley accepts it, practically slamming her body into them. As she hugged them, her worries went away.

***

"Oh, thank heavens!" Eddy cried as they walked in. "You all made it home safe and sound and--" He blew a raspberry. Davenport shut him off as the teens collapsed on the couch.

"I don't know what you kids were thinking of pulling a stunt like that," Davenport said. "You could've seriously hurt yourselves."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, my robot was dead on," Adam spoke childishly.

"Can we please take him back to the recycling center?" Chase asked, looking between the adults. Bree nods in agreement as Harley playfully slapped his arm.

"And Leo, why didn't you tell us that Adam, Bree, and Chase were still here?" Tasha asks.

"Because I was trying to protect my friends," Leo says. "And I'm still going to protect our friends." He storms up to Davenport. "That's right. You wanna send them away, you have to go through me first. It's time to go, little man. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. There's a lot of fight in this little doggie. Come on!"

Harley laughs under her breath.

"Leo, calm down." Davenport puts his hands on Leo's shoulder to stop him from jumping around. "They're not going anywhere."

"Oh, don't you-- wait, what?" Leo asked in surprise.

"Watching you guys risk your lives for each other made me realize something." Davenport starts. "Maybe I've focused too much on training, the superhuman side of you, and I forgot all about the human part."

"Aw," Adam says, before turning to Harley, who was sitting next to him. "I don't get it."

"You're teenagers," Davenport explains. "And bionic or not, you deserve to experience teenage things. Like school and classes and cell phones."

"Yes!" Bree exclaims as she jumps to her feet. "A cell phone! I'm living the dream!"

"Yeah, you're not getting a cell phone," Davenport replies. "But what I can give you is another chance. Maybe there's a way that you can live here, go to school, and go on missions."

"So they can stay?" Leo and Harley ask.

"On one condition. No one can ever find out about your abilities. And you have to control your emotions so you don't glitch. Harley."

She looks up at Davenport.

"I'm trusting you to help them because I know you care about them."

"You got it, Mr. Davenport." She smiles.

"Are we clear?" Davenport asked.

"Done."

"Okay."

"Absolutely."

"Whoo-hoo! Yeah!" Adam yells as he stands up. Then he starts shooting plasma grenades out of his hands, causing everyone to jump down for cover.

"He has plasma grenades?" Leo asks. "My life just got a whole lot better."

"I will never get tired of this," Harley mumbles under her breath.

***

Down in the lab, Harley, Leo, Adam, Bree, Chase, and Davenport were watching Tasha and Robot Davenport which he had created.

"You know, I'm just not sure about the throw pillows," Tasha says. "They're a little plain. So, I got these. Are they too busy?"

"No." Robot Davenport replies.

"So, you like them?"

"I do if you do."

"You are so sweet." She walks over to sit in front of him and starts to kiss him. The six that were watching bust out in laughter.

"That robot might be my greatest invention ever," Davenport says. They all agreed until the robot started to glitch. It was smoking and bolts of electricity started shooting out.

"Donald?!" Tasha yells. With a scared look on his face, Davenport runs to the elevator.

"Uh oh, busted!" The five teenagers yell.