Forever || Chase Davenport

15

Bree, Chase, Leo, and Harley walk into the main area to find Adam standing next to Bob, who was wrapped in tin foil.

"Uh, Bob? Why are you wrapped in tin foil?" Bree asks him. "It's not just tin foil. I'm also wearing three layers of pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese." Bob replies.

"Adam slaps a hand on Bob's back. "I turned him into a human lasagna pan. Forty minutes in the sun and it's Bob-appetite."

There was silence before Leo turns to the three next to him. "You know, given what I've seen of Bob's training, this might be the most productive use of him yet." The others nod while Adam dipped his finger into the tin foil.

"Mm, don't move. You need more oregano." Adam takes off running, and as soon as he was gone, Perry appears beside Bob. "Mm, lasagna! Got any garlic bread?"

"You betcha." Bob answers. "They're strapped to my shins."

Perry nods. "I'll be back. Save me the greasiest piece." The teens look at her in disgust as she made her way towards the hydraloop. Harley and Leo walk over to her. "Hey, where are you off to?" Leo questions.

"And how long can you stay there?" Harley adds. The two best friends high-five as Perry rolls her eyes at the two. "Your cheap father forgot to pay the trash bill. I am so sick of working for a guy who won't let me throw trash in the ocean." She complains. 

Then, she pulls out a tissue from her pocket, blowing her nose very loudly, and throws it on the floor. Harley crunches her face in disgust as Perry went into the hydraloop, the doors closing behind her. "I'm not picking that up." Harley eyes the four. 

Douglas enters the room, holding a small device in his hand. He holds it up to them and says, "Check this out. This is gonna change our bionic academy forever." Harley looks at the device in her father's hand, raising an eyebrow. 

"Dad, you've had terrible inventions before, but this..." She sucks in a breath. "This is just sad." Douglas turns to the girl with an offended look before shrugging it off. "I found a way to replicate Chase's bionic intelligence." He turns his head to Harley with a smug. "Sad now?"

Harley rolls her eyes as Douglas continues. "Remember how Giselle Vickers wanted to give your intelligence to all of her androids? Well, this intelligence duplicator will wirelessly add it to everyone's chip."

"Wait, so you're gonna make me like him?" Bree points at Chase, who was smiling. Douglas nods and Bree scoffs. "Pass." She looks over at Harley. "No offense to you, Harls. Your intelligence I can handle. His..." She points at Chase again. "I can't handle it." 

"Don't worry. The five of you won't be affected." Douglas reassures them. "Your chips are older models, and Leo doesn't have one." Leo looks at the man offended while he continues, talking to Chase. "But if this works, all the students will be just as smart as you. I just have to find someone to test it on."

"And do you really think someone's gonna let you just randomly experiment on them?" Chase asks. Adam walks into the room, heading over to Bob. "Sorry, Bob. It's getting cloudy. I'm gonna have to cook you with my heat vision."

Bob nods. "Will it hurt?"

"Let's find out together," Adam replies.

Bob shrugs. "Okay."

They watch as Adam takes a step back and uses his heat vision to 'cook' Bob. The blonde-haired boy just nods while saying, "Mm, something's cooking!"

The five at the console glance at each other before agreeing, "Bob it is."

*

While Chase and Douglas worked on giving Bob Chase's super intelligence, Bree, Leo, and Harley headed into the main area where Perry slammed a flag onto the center of the room, pretending to play a horn with her mouth. 

"Welcome to the United Republic of Perryland." She announces. "The what now?"

Leo sighs from beside Harley. "I know I'm gonna regret this, but what's Perryland?" Bree examines the flag by holding it out. "And why does the flag have a cow on it?" Bree asks.

"That's an ox. Know your meats." Perry snaps at her. "When I went to pay the garbage bill, they told me you'd never registered the island as a country, so I seized the opportunity. As of today, you're all second-class citizens of Perryland." She picks up a scroll from the console and unrolls it. "This is the official charter. Read it and weep.

As Bree takes the scroll from her hands, Leo and Harley give her a look. "You expect us to believe that's real?"

"Oh, it's real. Just ask my muscle." She blows the whistle that was wrapped around her neck and five military guards came marching into the room. They stood behind Perry to guard her. 

"This is bad. This is very, very bad." Leo says, his tone filled with worry. 

"Who are they?" Bree questions.

"They're on loan from a tyrant friend of mine. Speaking of tyrants, guess who the dictator of Perryland is." She says, rubbing her hands together. Harley looks over Bree's shoulder to read the scroll. "Your cat, Mr. Whiskers?"

"Don't be ridiculous. He's vice-dictator, and he reports to me. Now join me in singing the Perryland national anthem." Perry clears her throat and places her hand over her heart. She begins to sing as if she was in opera. 

The three bionic teens look at each other with confusion. When Perry was done singing, Leo asks, "When did you have time to write that?" Perry didn't answer as she shrugs. 

*

Harley did not enjoy this at all. Perry being Dictator was the worst. Everywhere she went, there was a military guard. When she was finally able to lose them, she joins Leo and Bree at the mentors' headquarters. Their jaws dropped when the doors opened.

It was covered in animal print. The couches, the floors, the armchairs. Even the capsules. There was a large portrait of Perry on the wall. Perry was sitting on a throne that was in front of their capsules as a guard rubbed her feet. Harley definitely needed to scratch her eyes out after this.

"You cannot just come in here and take over our home," Bree exclaims as she storms over to Perry.

"Of course I can. In Perryland, Perry does whatever Perry wants." She says.

Bree takes a deep breath. "Okay, look, you may own the island, but we still need to sleep in our capsules." 

"Fine. Because Dear Leader is a compassionate goddess, you may recharge your robot batteries right before bedtime. And FYI, I changed the lock on that door, so you're gonna have to buy key cards from me. Twenty bucks each."

"What?!"

"That's insane!"

"Fine. Forty bucks." Perry shrugs.

Harley did everything in her power to not shock this woman with her lightning fingers right now.

"Now get out of here. I have work to do." Perry shoos them away before clapping her hands twice. Two guards enter rolling in wheelbarrows of sand, talking it over to the pool.

"What is that?" Leo asks.

"Sand to fill the pool with. Vice-dictator Mr. Whiskers is helicoptering in tomorrow, and he demanded a much bigger litter box." Perry smiles.

"Ew!"

"That's disgusting!"

"Don't worry, you can still swim in it." Perry and the guard who rubbed her feet began to laugh. Suddenly, she glares at the guard. "It's not that funny. Get back to work!"

In the corner of his eyes, Leo noticed blue sparks flickering out of Harley's fingertips. Bree and Leo glance at each other before pulling the girl out of the room.