Chapter Text
It was the day The Davenport household would gain two new family members, the day Tasha and Leo (formerly Dooley) moved in with Donald into his Mansion in Mission Creek.
While he was out picking the two up the house was not empty, instead there were four teenagers. One working and watching over the other three while they argued in between their shared training sessions. The topic of the day’s argument was, for one, why the oldest was not watching over the other three and one taking another’s things.
Just as Ella went to stop them from arguing for at least a moment and help Adam, the oldest, in the search for his missing ePod she received a message from Davenport, assaying they would be there in five minutes and to come up so she could be introduced to his new wife and stepson.
Instead of helping or stopping the siblings completely, she left upstairs leaving the three with a warning not to do something stupid, asking the youngest to be responsible and not provoke the oldest. After all, only one of them had enhanced intelligence and it wasn’t the oldest.
She arrived in the kitchen just as the front-door opened and Donald Davenport entered, carrying the newly Tasha Davenport.
“Welcome to your new home, Mrs. Davenport!” Ella decided to observe quietly until they noticed her, or Donald decided to introduce her.
“Why thank you, Mr. Davenport.” Was followed by “Absolutely, Mrs. Davenport.” And her son appearing in the door. From the three sentences she had heard up until now, Ella could already tell both Donald and Tasha were wrapped around each other’s little fingers which made her already quite curious as to who was going to be having more say in the future. She guessed it was Tasha.
Three bags hit the floor in the doorway as – who Ella guessed was Leo – looked at his mom and new stepdad annoyed. “We get it. You got married. It’s getting old.” His voice changed while walking in and looking around the living room. “Wow! You got this big house just from inventing things?”
Her boss only answered with an agreeing hum, noticing Ella standing in the kitchen with a newly opened bottle of water in her hand and nodding to her. He already knew what she was doing and decided to wait and see if Tasha would notice his Lab assistant, since Leo was too preoccupied admiring the living room and giving kudos to this mom for her choice of husband.
“What the heck is that?” A question from Leo got Donald to come out of his little trance to brag about “Davenport industries’ first completely interactive 3-D TV”. Before turning it on to show a baseball match going on with a hit just going on.
What followed caused Ella to swallow her laughter, as Leo went backwards, trying to catch the “flying ball” and hitting Eddy, who promptly complained. “Watch the face, termite!”
“Mom, I think the little voice inside my head is back.” Donald chuckled, before introducing Eddy and his new family members to each other. “No, this is Eddy. He’s my smart home system. Eddy, this is my new stepson, Leo. Remember, I told you Leo and Tasha are moving in today?”
Yeah, there was no way Eddy had forgotten about it. Firstly, because he was a computer system, secondly because Ella had helped in programming him (although it was her first large program so Eddy was not as refined as her own system) and lastly: Donald had not talked about anything else for days unless they were working on an invention or training.
It was amazing, really, to see him talking about something other than himself and his genius. Eddy, who was used to being the number two for Donald – second only after himself of course – had already decided on hating both Tasha and Leo. “Hey, welcome. Everything here is mine. Except Ella’s room, I still can’t get in there.”
“Ella? Donald, who’s that?” Tasha was genuinely confused and – from what Ella herself could tell – lowkey jealous that there was another woman living with them who was already in better graces with her husband’s smart-home system than herself.
With this question sitting n the room, Ella decided to speak up. “That would be me, hi there!” She gave a tight-lipped, slightly awkward smile towards the three in the living room. They had been standing there for a good few minutes while she didn’t move much except getting a water from the fridge and leaning on the counter.
“Donald?!” By now Ella couldn’t really tell what Tasha was thinking anymore. “Calm down, Tasha, darling. This is Ella, my lab assistant. Ella, this is my wife, Tasha and her son, Leo.” Ella sent another slightly awkward smile to Tasha and Leo, along with a small wave and a “Sup.”
As the older woman turned to her husband, possibly to discuss something regarding herself, Ella interfered for only a moment. “Yo, Don, can I go back to the lab? I wasn’t done with my… documentation… yet. You good here or do you need me for something else?”
After being dismissed with a wave of his hand the silver haired teen turned around giving a slight grimace of raised eyebrows and big eyes to nobody while going to the secret elevator in the back of the house. While leaving she could still hear the directions Davenport gave to his new stepson to his new room. “Just go straight down that hallway, and when you see the room with the video games and the action figures and the 50-foot-screen TV… keep walking – that’s mine.”
She could still remember the time she moved into the mansion herself. She had been twelve at the time and almost done with her second Bachelor and started preparing for her start on her Master. The first Bachelor had been Microbiology, then Engineering with IT/programming which was a breeze although not as easy to her as the Microbiology. By now she was working on her first PhD, well, almost done, in the general area of engineering which would be done withing the next six months to a year after which would be her actual expertise.
By the time Ella had arrived in the lab, Adam was convinced that Chase had his ePod and was running after him through the lab while Bree was watching them amusedly with headphones on, listening to whatever sons were on Adam’s ePod. She gave a disappointed look to Bree, who simply smiled back and sighed at neither of the brothers noticing their sister.
Knowing she would not be able to stop the brother with enhanced strength, Ella turned to her laptop which had a program locked which she was working on. It was locked because she knew Chase wouldn’t even try to resist trying to look into it to try and “correct” her programming. It had happened before, and a simple security system program had not done the trick of keeping the fifteen-year-old out of her programs. Back then he was frustrated about not finding a mistake that he put one in to be able to act like the helping hand. She had to start over and decided on making a “locking” program herself.
This one took a picture of the perpetrator and sent it to her along with the location of the perp and the accurate I.P. address. This made her her first few million dollars as many companies and governments wanted the program which she sold, but at the same time did not sell. It was like a rented security system for digital presences.
Her current program was something similarly useful but much more demanding. Which was proven as the next thing she heard from any of the other inhabitants of the lab were loud screams after a loud crash – which was nothing unusual if you were used to living and working with three Bionic siblings which were teenagers.
What really got her away from the screen was an incredibly loud “MOM!” which made her take off her own headphones and turn around just as Donald and Tasha entered the laboratory.
“Leo! There you are!” Tasha laughed before realizing she did not know where she was and who the three teenagers in her house were. “What is this place? Who are they?” She either hadn’t noticed or ignored Ella. Either way, she didn’t hear herself complaining. Less explaining for her to do and more for Donald.
“Uh – they, uh, are… a boy band I’ve been working with, um, and the twist is, on of ‘em is a girl.” Yeah, not one of the people in the secret lab believed him, although the three teens in question tried to play it off by nodding and smiling. Davenport tried looking towards his lab assistant for support, but she only raised an eyebrow, showing him just how unbelievable that one was.
“All right, they’re part of a secret project I’ve been developing – genetically engineered superhuman siblings.” He grinned excitedly, before motioning to each of the three as he introduced them. “Tasha, Leo, meet Adam, Bree and Chase – the greatest combination of biology and technology ever developed. I don’t want to brag, but I’m incredibly smart.”
While it was incredibly clear Donald Davenport was quite self-centred and vain it was also obvious, he was a shit liar. Looking away from the scene Ella had apparently missed Tasha sending a look toward her son, which he answered vocally. “Don’t look at me – I told you to stay away from Internet dating.”
Tasha seemed to ponder something for a moment before speaking up again. “So they’re robots.”
This felt offensive, even for Ella, although she hadn’t been talked about, she was still Bionic even if Tasha and Leo did not know yet. And for once, Ella herself spoke up along with the three siblings. “Whoa!” “Hey!” “Oh no, she didn’t!” “Yoo, that’s offensive ma’am.”
Where the ma’am came from? No idea. But in Ella’s experience women didn’t really like to be called ma’am unless in a strongly disciplinary environment. They apparently often felt old.
Before Tasha could say anything to the silver-haired girl about this though, Donald stepped in to explain. “No, Tasha, they’re human, I’ve just given each of them a unique set of Bionic abilities controlled by a microchip implant in their necks. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is.”
When Tasha tried to speak up, he stopped her but changed his way of explaining when she pointed at his lab assistant. “Ella is Bionic as well, she’s the daughter of an old friend of mine who was working with me back then. Her dad is quite well known for her bionics but because she officially only has a universal translator and a viewing screen, she can live a relatively normal life.”
Tasha still looked sceptical but nodded. “See, Adam is all brute strength, and Bree has speed and agility, and Chase has super-senses and a superior intelligence. Ella has, as far as we know, some dormant abilities like the translator but she also has enhanced stealth and agility and has ice breath.”
While Davenport was ranting about his kids’ powers and those of his lab assistant Tasha looked increasingly agitated but chose to interrupt him with a nervous laugh. “Donald… Hi… There are children living in our basement!” As Donald explained to her that the basement was a “scientific habitat” with “anything a kid could ask for,” Ella stood up and walked over to her friends.
Her long night of working was starting to catch up on her, which Adam noticed as he made her lean against him while he agreed with Donald, saying something about talking toilet-seat-warmers. Those were something he liked, but she hated. They had made sure she always went on her toilet adjacent to her room upstairs.
Trying to fight against the tiredness of her body Ella tried to concentrate on the conversation happening, not even caring who was talking and just registering the voices while vaguely trying to pin the person they were coming from.
“Donald, I don’t know what to make of all this. Some new wives get surprised with a honeymoon in Hawaii or… a cruise. Bionic teenagers were not on our wedding registry.” That one had to be Tasha.
“Honey, they have to stay down here for their own safety. This is all very top-secret. But as soon as their training is complete, they’ll be able to handle any crisis or problem that the world throws at them.” Donald.
Followed by Chase wanting to go to the pyramids, Bree to Paris and Adam upstairs, which caused Ella to lean her head on his chest, feeling slightly guilty about never even taking them upstairs, but she knew Eddy was an easy tattletale.
Apparently, Leo had realized there were four capsules on one end of the laboratory and thought they were time-machines. Which were something Donald and Ella had been working on from time to time in the past years but hadn’t cracked… yet.
“No, they are not time machines. Those are in the shop.” Judging from Leo’s face, he hadn’t gotten the joke. But they were. Kinda. Not the kind of shop one could buy stuff at but, some kind of shop. “These are my biologically regulated atmospheric chambers where my bionic creations live and sleep and eat. Which reminds me, it’s dinnertime.”
The three siblings cheered, Adam sitting Ella on a chair to enter his capsule for “dinner”. After asking the three if they were ready, Donald started the pellet rain. “These are my patented protein pellets. Whatever they don’t catch is tomorrow’s breakfast.”
While he was looking enthusiastic about this – just like the three bionics inside the capsules – Tasha had the opposite kind of look on her face while Ella sighed. ‘I guess that means I’m in charge of dinner again…What is in the fridge that I can use?’ Standing up, she made her way towards the elevator to go upstairs to make their dinner and go to bed right after eating.
While she had a capsule downstairs it was usually only for emergencies of nights she didn’t want to go back upstairs. Her normal bed had the functions of the chambers’ downstairs, but it was in a lying position and with a mattress and didn’t close like a coffin but had more of a canopy bed look. Which was good, because sleeping while standing was not anywhere on her agenda now or in the future. She might be working with Davenport mostly because of the Bionics but living like one of his “creations” was a massive no.
~~~
The next morning was spent with Bionics training, finishing up with Chase’s forcefield. “Hey! Why does Chase get a force field, and I don’t?” Bree was quick to answer Adam’s question by throwing an empty bottle at him after telling him: “’cause if you had one, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
When the three were done, Ella finished their documentation of the training before going back to her program to put some finishing touches before a first launch while Donald decided to overshare about his day. “Okay, you guys take the rest of the day off. Don’t disturb Ella in her work she’s almost at the finish line. I’m gonna go speak at a tech conference – because I’m awesome – then I’m gonna go have speedboats detailed, and then I’m gonna go get waxed. Don’t judge me.”
Before leaving he went over to Ella’s workstation and looked at her code for moment. “You should really take a break, you know. Go out a bit. I don’t think you’ve had any fresh air outside of the air in the lab for a while. Maybe visit your old man sometimes.” He only got a hum and a movement of putting on her headphones with music playing on anormal setting – although with the dormant enhanced hearing app it was plenty loud.
After Donald left, Leo told the three he had to get ready for school, all of them were enthusiastic about going too.
“Ooh, I’ve always wanted to go to school. Passing notes, going to prom, breaking into choreographed dance numbers after math class…” Bree obviously had no real idea of school outside of movies. “Yeah, all we do is eat, sleep, and train for missions. We’re like human lab rats.” Leo couldn’t believe what Chase was saying until a squeaking coming from Adam running in a giant hamster wheel caught their attention.
“So, you’ve never left this room? That explains the haircuts.” Leo saying that, made both teens touch their hair self-consciously until Adam burst into the conversation. “I bet school’s fun. You know, except the books, classes and learning stuff. And El never tells us anything about school…”
“It’s not fun when you’re ‘the smart kid’. And how come Ella doesn’t have to get ready for school? Isn’t she our age?” Leo had finally realized what had been weird about Ella: She never said anything about school or acted like she was going to school. “Well, down here, smart is considered superior.” Chase tried to convince either himself, his siblings or Leo but succeeded in none, so he went to explain Ella in short for Leo.
“Well, Ella is superior, isn’t she?” To that both older siblings shrugged but nodded. “Anyways, Ella is a child genius. She graduated from High School in Mission Creek when she was eight, went straight to university, and is now working on her first PhD after two Bachelor and two Master degrees. She’s usually down here with us or out in the garden if she’s feeling especially healthy – “
Before Chase could finish his sentence Adam stepped in, Interrupting him. “And Chase is her least favourite because he botched a code she had worked on for a long time and she had to re-do the whole thing and write a security program to keep him out.” “Which got her a few million but threw her back almost a year in coding progress because she hadn’t locked it at first but did so with a generic code after Chase botched her first version of the program. The second one he botched too, so she wrote a high-security system to lock her laptop and digital footprint with. That is a hit with governments and companies so she’s making millions every month.”
The older two high-fived after, having fulfilled their goal of annoying Chase. They all knew of her favouritism but didn’t say anything since Davenport usually favoured Chase over the two of them except when it was the four of them. In those cases, Ella was always on top.
“Huh… - Hey, you guys should come to school with me! You could be my bionic bodyguards! It doesn’t seem like Ella would notice and we’re not supposed to disturb her anyways...” Leo suggested to which the only disagreeing voice was Eddy. After a moment of Eddy telling Leo, he was indeed EVERYWHERE they decided on shutting him off, with Chase protesting until Adam just pulled out a handful of cables and they left after taking a shower in their capsules.
While the three disappeared to attend school with Leo, Ella dove off into programming to possibly finish the rough coding that day and take a short break from this project.
~~~
After a few hours she decided to take a break and, once upstairs, was promptly roped into helping Tasha make lunch, so she would get away from her computer for a while. While the two were cutting up vegetables Donald ran in, over the couch and to the fridge, doing something with Eddy’s screen. “Hey, honey. Oh, okay. So, we have kids living in the basement, and we walk on the furniture— got it.”
“Sup, Don. What’s going on?” Davenport gave her a look of disbelief before answering anyway: “The alarm in the lab went off, Eddy’s been disabled, and the kids are gone. How didn’t you notice that?”
Before Ella could say anything, Eddy interrupted her, complaining. “Those animals yanked my wired! And one of them manhandled my motherboard!” Instead, she rolled her eyes while Both adults looked at her expectantly.
“Where are the kids?” Donald’s voice became increasingly stressed. “So that’s why I was able to work without any interruptions… Would’ve been too much to expect them not to interrupt me just because you said not to… But I don’t know where they are. The last thing I noticed was Leo saying something about getting ready for school, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they disabled Eddy and went with him…”
While talking, she was looking up towards the ceiling of the living room, only towards the end looking towards Eddy expectantly. He should know after all. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you looking at me, or the wife you replaced me with?! You know, I might like a new pair of shoes, too!”
While Donald looked close to popping a vein, Ella just looked confusedly at the smart-home system. “Eddy, you do realise I would be the one programming those shoes, not Donald, right?!”, Which made his reconsider. As much as he liked the lab assistant of Donald, he just knew she would make him nicer or change something else about his coding. “Fine! Ella was right. They went to school with Leo.”
This sent both Donald and Ella into a nervous frenzy, saying how they couldn’t go to school because of glitches that could, if triggered by their emotions, take out everything to Tijuana.
Donald and Tasha got into his helicopter to fly to Mission Creek High School as Ella decided to geo leap there, entering just as Adam’s heat vision activated and set fire to Dooey Dingo’s head. “Adam!” As he turned, the mascot ran away, right into the cheerleaders performing for the pep rally causing them to disperse. Bree ran over, trying to catch the falling cheerleader but overshot making her land hard on the ground.
The students panic intensified when the fire alarm broke out, Chase trying to calm them. “People. People. Statistics show that if we don’t panic, at least 70% of us will make it out alive.” Which did nothing but raise the panic of the students in the gym. Donald and Tasha forced their way into the gym just as Ella managed to round all four kids up to stand in a group.
“So… how was school?!” The four laughed for a moment until they saw the expression on the fifth teens face and got quiet, before running outside after Donald finished what he had to say. “Get in the helicopter!”
Upon arriving back home the four sat on the couch with Donald pacing slightly, Tasha standing beside him, and Ella having gone to sit in the corner of the couch, behind Adam and Bree, zoning out slightly and preparing her workload for the night.
“Do you realize what you've done? I had to write a check to that school for 30 grand to make this go away.”
“For 30 grand, I'll go away.” Leo tried to joke his way out of this mess he caused but only got a look from him mom.
“We're sorry. We just wanted to be normal for a day.”
“Oh, come on, Donald, they're just kids. When I was their age, me and Fiona Micklejohn, we snuck out and we crashed– You know what? I'm not helping.” Tasha tried to speak up in the kids’ favour but realized she was making it worse.
“Look, I designed you guys to go on highly classified missions, not try out for the cheerleading squad.” His voice was set, like his decision seemed to be. He couldn’t really talk about anything regarding the chip of his assistant, but those three were not meant to be students. At least not to his current state of mind, seeing them as experiments.
“Oh... well, there goes that dream.” Adam seemed disappointed but brightened up when he felt a head on his right shoulder.
“Look, I know you're mad, Big D, but these guys performed the impossible today— They made me popular. I got game!” Leo, Chase and Bree stood up one after another, telling Davenport what they achieved on one day of school. “And I cured male pattern baldness with a biology rat.”
Bree was the last, but she was the one who made Tasha get exited to do girly stuff with someone. Leo would never do something like it with her and from what she had seen of Ella, the girl was an absolute tech geek and not very big on ‘girly’ stuff. “Ooh! And I got invited to my first party! By a boy!”
“How exciting! We gotta get you clothes and shoes, and we'll do— again, not helping.” She sat back down next to Bree after receiving a look from her husband.
“That's it. Leo, you are banned from the lab. And you three are to have no contact with the outside world. No talking, no texting, no nothing.” Chase and Bree went to go to the elevator while Adam made one last attempt at possibly communicating with someone ‘outside’:
“Ooh! What about the lost art of pantomime?” He started acting like he was trapped in a box, or at least tried to.
“The only person you’ll see except for me will be Ella, now, go to your tubes!”
°~~~°
The three Bionics were back downstairs in the Lab by themselves, talking. “So, do all fuzzy animals have girls inside them, or just the dingoes?”
Chase took his chance to talk his older brother down: “If Mr. Davenport’s such a great scientist, then how come I’m not a little stronger and you’re not a lot smarter?”, which was met by: “I don’t know… but does this hurt?” along with a punch in the arm.
Bree widely ignored the usual antics of her brothers, continuing her complaints. “Now I’m never gonna have a boyfriend. Guess I’ll just keep fake-kissing that wall.” The weirded-out looks of her brothers were quickly met with a snarky: “Oh, we’ve all done it!” While Chase nodded admittedly, Adam grinned for a moment at nothing in particular. “Well, I don’t wanna brag, but I haven’t just fake-kissed.”
“If you don’t want to brag, then just don’t t-” Bree was interrupted by Leo strolling into the Lab, as if he hadn’t just gotten banned from the scientific space of which he was reminded by Chase. “Leo, what are you doing? You’re not allowed to be down here!”
“I know… Where’s Ella by the way?” On his way to tell the three about what he had done for them, Leo had noticed the silver-haired girl was nowhere in the house and neither of the adults had told him of her whereabouts.
“Oh, she’s not in the house? Well then, she’s either visiting her dad or – “, Adam was interrupted by Bree’s hand clasping over his mouth. Which he licked, making her scream in disgust before wiping her hand on Adam’s shoulder. “Again: Leo why are you down here, Mr. Davenport banned you from the Lab?!”
“I know… but you know the party everyone at school has been talking about?” He then somehow managed to get them to change out of their training suits and take them upstairs to the living room before finishing his sentence. “It's in your living room!!! Do the Leo! Do the Leo! Do the Leo! Do the Leo! Now just the sexy people!”
The party went on for a while until the Bionic brothers decided to jump on the couch, one accidentally turning on the TV which was showing a concert on a live stream, which was on its last song, a third encore of “Not a Pop Song”. The students stopped for a moment before cheering and collectively singing along.
The channel streaming the concert switched to just playing the songs of the same artist. About ten minutes after, the front door opened to show Donald and Tasha Davenport. “Hey, everybody! Thanks for coming. Get out!!!”
The students Leo had invited, filtered out through the still opened front door. As Donald went to close it a hand stopped him, Ella slipping in who was wearing a black asymmetrical empire waist dress with a sparkly belt, making Leo look at her weirdly. She was dressed for a party, but before he could question her, Donald let her slip through and began reprimanding his kids.
“You kids have really done it this time. And who gave Eddy cake?” Adam started lifting his hand until another hand from behind him stopped him. Leo noticed Ella once more standing behind the siblings with one of her hands on the eldest’s shoulder as he took of the samurai helmet he had been wearing while trying to defend himself.
“I just wanted them to have one more night of fun before you put them back in their display cases.” Display cases was, of course, automatically corrected by both of the scientists. “Biologically regulated atmospheric chambers.”
“Biologically regulated atmospheric chambers. Look, the fun's over. As of tomorrow, you're all being relocated permanently.” All five teenagers were shocked by this. “What part of "no contact with the outside world" did you not understand? You’re going to one of my remote research facilities where you can complete your training. Ella will come with you to complete her studies and training, although she can geo leap to where she wants to stay…”
Although he had trailed off at the end it was absolutely clear that the inventor was solid in his decision. “But this is home. This is where I get my meaty-flavoured pellets!” Adam tried to, once more, change his mind in his own way which didn’t work.
“Not anymore. Now go downstairs and pack your stuff.” As the four Bionic teens disappeared to the elevator Leo decided to speak up before disappearing upstairs. “This isn't fair. They're my best friends.”
The last thing Ella heard from the living room before the door to her room closed was Tasha reminding her husband the bionic teens weren’t just a science project and Eddy trying to ship Tasha off, too.
~~~
After changing into nightwear Ella went to join her oldest friends in the laboratory for the night only to be met with Bree brushing her hair while talking to her brothers. “I can’t believe this is our last night in the lab.”
All three agreed with her on this before Chase spoke up again. “I think Leo’s really gonna miss us.” As Adam went to agree he opened his arms for his best friend to step into his capsule with him. “Yeah, me too.”
Chase spoke up again as all three looked to his feet, where Leo was sleeping while leaning against his legs. “Think we should wake him up?” Bree let a soft laugh escape herself. “Nah, let him sleep. He exhausted himself partying after all…” Ella spoke up, keeping her voice as soft as possible so she wouldn’t accidentally wake the thirteen-year-old.
As the three capsules closed Chase quietly told the other three: “But he’s drooling on my socks…”, which was ignored in favour of going to sleep.