Capítulo IV- Consecuencias

     Patience did not know what she was doing. One minute she was doing her school work and the next she was slipping out of her pajamas, putting on a red skirt with spandex underneath, a plain shirt, converse, and gathering her purse and phone in a matter of time. She skipped to the oak shed behind her house and unlocked it. She removed the chain from her baby blue bike and rode to the Davenport-Dooley mansion.

     Her legs peddle across the town to meet her friends at the party. The dark night gave her more motivation to peddle through, afraid of creeps lurking in the shadows. She stayed underneath the street lights as an extra safety step. Her heart pounded against her chest not only from the cardio she was getting in but the anxiety fueling her body. All she had to do was stay at home, finish watching her movie, and go to bed. Yet here she was at the end of the valley the mansion towered over.

     Mr. Davenport's car wasn't outside the mansion which wasn't a shocker. Leo would have never thrown that party with Mr. Davenport and Tasha home. They were yelled at five hours ago. Wherever they were, Patience hoped they would be gone long enough until the party was over. She wanted to spend the last few hours with them before never seeing them again. 

     Patience hid her bike behind some bushes, careful not to trip. Music bled through the mansion walls and someone screaming at the top of their lungs. Patience was greeted by a flood of the Mission Creek High student body all over the great room of the home. Leo stood on the table next to the couch and Adam, Bree, and Chase danced around him.

     "Do the Leo! Do the Leo! Do the Leo! Do the Leo!" Leo shouted, dancing, "Now just the sexy people!" 

     Patience laughed, shutting the door behind her, "Hey, guys!"

     Leo leaped off the table, picking up a bowl, "Patience, you're actually here!"

     "I couldn't miss their last day here. So let's party like there's no tomorrow."

     "There really is no tomorrow for us," Adam said, smiling with his lips pressed together.

     Patience glanced at him, "I probably should have phrased that better."

     "Leo, I can't believe you did this," Chase bellowed. The jitters were present again but this time he let them out. 

     "Yeah, like I told Patience, I owe you guys and since you couldn't go, I brought the party here. Cheese curl?" Leo offered Chase. He gladly took a chip from the bowl.

     Adam furrowed his eyebrows, "What about your mom and Davenport?"

     "They're at dinner. They'll be gone for hours," he answered. Leo peeked over Adam's shoulder, "Jimmy, I've already told you, get your head out of there. It's a microwave," he said, annoyed before stalking off.

     Chase, Adam, and Patience sauntered to the dining table. Four slices of cake were already cut and ready to grab. They didn't hesitate to take the free offer. Chase held his hand out and cautioned, "Careful there, buddy. That piece of cake has approximately 47 grams of sugar. If you eat it, you'll be bouncing off the walls for hours."

     Adam questioned, "How do you know that?"

     Chase threw his arms to the side and he brightneed up, "CAUSE I JUST HAD 12 PIECES!" He grabbed a fist full of cake and shoved it into his mouth. "WHOOHOO!" His feet were faster than his upper body as he ran around the couch. He hopped on and jumped on it like a trampoline.

     Patience's eyes widened at his sudden behavior. She tilted her head asking, "Have either of you had sugar until today?"

     Adam laughed, "Yeah, how did you know?"

      "Because Chase looks like he was possessed by a sugar ghost." Chase ran from one end of the couch to the other in hope of burning out the energy. "Maybe you should take it slow."

     "No way," he declined, chuckling as Chase ran around. "It's my last day allowed to be upstairs." Adam grabbed a chunk of the cake with his bare hands and shoved it into his face. He screamed and leaped to the couch to join his brother.

     Patience watched in concern as the two boys pranced on the couch with no care in the world. Some icing and small chunks of the broken cake stained the beige couch. Their dirty shoes marked footprints and you could tell whose shoe was whose. "You guys should probably get down before your brains splatter on the ground. I know it's a party but remember we want to live through this experience."

     Adam and Chase's smiles dropped and they both got off the couch. It was like the sugar rush was gone. Chase apologized, "Sorry, Patience."

     "Just be careful. Now, come on. Let's play limbo," she grinned and hooked her arms around theirs to lead them to the bathroom to clean them up. Their mood switched back up in an instant. They wanted to keep as little evidence of throwing a party as possible. Or else Leo and Patience won't get to live to see another year.

     "What the-" A horn cut off Mr. Davenport's curse. Startled, Patience let go of the boys and turned around to see Mr. Davenport and Tasha's angry faces. The three of them got out of the way of Leo's incoming party bus.

     "Hey! Your back" Leo innocently smiled. The fumed expression on Tasha's face and her crossed arms, made Leo get off the vehicle. He dumbly stared at the messy room in front of them, "How did these people get in here?"

     Tasha narrowed her eyes at him, "You are in big trouble, mister. You too, Patience."

     "Hey, everybody! Thanks for coming," Mr. Davenport forced a kind tone and then abandoned it at the end, "GET OUT!" The student body scrammed out of the house with no hesitation. The five remaining teenagers lowered their heads in shame. "You kids have really done it this time. And who gave Eddy cake!"

     Patience looked at the security home system. The pink icing smeared on his screen made it seem like he was a messy eater. Patience shook her head no and looked back at her friends. Adam awkwardly smiled, giving a little wave.

     "I just wanted them to have one more night of fun before you put them back in their display cases," Leo lamented. He untied the battle helmet and removed it from his head.

     "Biologically regulated atmospheric chamber," Davenport corrected. "Look the fun's over. As of today, you're being relocated permanently."

     "What?" the group of five asked in disbelief. 

     "What part of 'no contact with the outside world' did you not understand?"

     Bree asked, "Where are we going?"

     "To one of my remote research facilities, where you could complete your training."

     Adam stepped forward, "But this is home. This is where I get my meaty-flavored pellets."

     "Not anymore. Now, go downstairs and pack your stuff."

     The Davenport siblings didn't glance back at Leo and Patience. They gave a quick glance to Mr. Davenport and their shoulders slumped forward. Their heads looked down trudging to the elevator doors at the end of the hall. Patience couldn't do anything but watch and stare.

     "This isn't fair. They're our best friends," Leo said. He didn't look at Patience to say goodbye as he ran up the stairs. She understood though. She feared if she spoke, her voice would crack and the tears building up in her eyes would spill.

     "Patience, I'll take you home," Tasha offered.

     Patience glanced up from the ground. She blinked profusely and swallowed, sadly smiling, "It's fine, Tasha. I brought my bike. I think a bike ride home would be nice." Before she left the home, she asked, "Can I come back in the morning to say goodbye?"

     Davenport sighed, "Yeah, sure."

     "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight." And Patience closed the door behind her.

     Patience propped her bike against the wall by the Davenport-Dooley mansion. Her's and Leo's best friends were being sent away all because she and Leo couldn't follow simple rules. There it was, simple rules, again, again, and again. If she did what she was told none of this would have happened. Adam, Bree, and Chase would still be at the lab training with Mr. Davenport, and she and Leo would be able to visit the lab.

     The more Patience broke the rules or didn't convince others to follow them, the more consequences got worse every time. Even if all she and Leo did was show Adam, Bree, and Chase a glimpse of the foreign world that Patience and Leo were always exposed to. She should have put her foot down rather than letting them influence her.

     Patience rose her hand to knock on the boor, but Mr. Davenport was already there with a smile on his face and the door open. She drew her face back confused, the last thing she expected was him widely smiling after he declared to send her friends again. "Patience, you're just in time!"

     She lowered her hand and slowly stepped into the home. She eyed him curiously, "Good morning to you too, Mr. Davenport?" She backed away from him and spotted the burgundy sheet over an object.

     Leo and Tasha came out of the main hallway. Patience made her way toward them to keep a distance from Mr. Davenport and his sketchy behavior. Mr. Davenport crossed his arms, greeting them, "Good morning happy family!"

     Patience whispered to Leo, "Is he okay?"

     "Have you met him?" he motioned his thumb to him. 

     "But he's acting weirder than usual."

     "Then, no, I don't know what's wrong with him."

     Patience strode to Leo and whispered, "Is he okay?"

     "Okay, no need to whisper," Mr. Davenport blinked, dismissing them. 

     "What's that?" Tahsa slowly spoke, concern laced her voice.

     Leo remarked, "Whatever it is, don't get too attached."

     Mr. Davenport's grin fell and he approached Leo and Patience. "Look, Leo, Patience, I know you're gonna miss Adam, Bree, and Chase. So, I laser scanned their features onto these bio-synthetic robots," he snatched the sheets off and three robotic versions of Adam, Bree, and Chase glanced around the room emotionless. "And I programmed them with their core personality traits. Isn't this great or what? It'll be like they never left." Leo knocked on the Adam and the clanging of metal met their ears. The robot twisted and observed Leo before flicking him on the forehead. Leo yelpt. "What do you think?"

     "I think the excitement of having a billionaire dad just wore off," Leo retorted, continuing to rub his forehead. 

     Patience stepped forward, tilting her head to examine their features. She had an idea of what Adam, Bree, and Chase looked like. She had met them two days ago and their features were yet to be engraved into her mind. If no one saw them every day and just from afar, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Davenport siblings and the robots. They were merely shinier and looked like they were made out of metal.

     "I don't know about this," Tasha gestured to the robots, "I kind of prefer Leo and Patience to have friends who can't malfunction and tear them limb from limb. How would we be able to explain that to Dante?"

     Mr. Davenport's eyes followed Tasha as she stood by him without a reason to explain himself. "What are those," Bree asked, pointing at her replica. Adam and Chase weren't behind with their mission suits. They stood beside Patience, foreheads creasing observing the robots.

     In sync, the robots turned their heads to the bionic teens. "Oh, Dr. Franken, brain here, is trying to replace you with creepy robots." Leo motioned to his head and spun his hands around, "Welcome to Crazy Town."

     "Listen, Mr. Davenport," Patience began, "I get the thought behind this but it's a little creepy. What if they do end up tearing us apart? I don't think my dad will be very happy."

     He sighed, assuring, "They're not going to tear you apart. I programmed them and made sure they were safe." Everyone gave Mr. Davenport a look. "Okay, safe as it can be. Look at what they can do!" He pushed the bottom of his watch.

     The gears in the robot Adam turned as his head did. He said, "Good morning. The time is 11:22 am and the temperature is currently 68 degrees."

     Adam's face scrunched up, "You made a robot out of me that just stands around telling people the time and the temperature?"

     "Mhm."

     "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Adam went for a high five but his replica didn't move. He quickly retracted his hand and went back to his place.

     Bree inspected her replica, narrowing her eyes at its nose. She placed her hands on her hips, "Does my nose really look like that?"

      "No," it answered. "Yours has a faint mustache underneath." Bree touched her face offended as Adam, Chase, and Leo laughed. 

     Patience pulled Bree back, holding her arm, "They are just mad that we can grow one." Bree smiled at Patience's statement, both of them quietly giggling.

     "Hey, everyone. I'm Chase. Let's do Ma-ma-ma-" Mr. Davenport hit the robot's chest, "math."

     The rest of the teenagers laughed at Chase as he frowned, jabbing at the robot, "That's not funny."

     "No, you're right. It's fu-fu-fu-" Bree hit Adam's shoulder, "funny." 

     Chase crossed his arms, pouting. Patience pursed her lips suppressing her smile, "I'm sorry."

     The doorbell rang, and Mr. Davenport answered the door out of reflex. A man with his hands on top of one another on his stomach stood still by the door. His eyes were covered by sunglasses to prevent any kind of emotion to show. The black and white suit reminded Patience of the men in black. "Hey, Fitz. How's it going?" The agent stayed silent. "How's life?... How's Trix?... Alrighty then," Mr. Davenport gave up. He pointed back at him, "You guys should have seen him at the Christmas party. He's a Karaoke master."

     "Well, I guess this is it then," Bree shrugged, morosely. "Thanks for everything, Leo and Patience."

     Chase nodded, "Yeah, you're the best friends we've ever had."

     Adam cut in, "No, they're the only friends we've ever had."

     Patience sadly laughed, "Better some than none, right?"

      "Well, don't forget to bundle up on your deadly mission," Tasha said, hugging the three bionic siblings. 

     As they broke apart, Patience embraced them catching them by surprise but they didn't second guess hugging back. "I'll miss you guys." She gave them a squeeze before letting go. They peeled off her and Leo and Patience watched as they headed for the door. 

     "Hey, remember, this could be a good thing. Without any distractions, you might finish your training early," Davenport reminded before Fitz took them. They nodded and lazily went through the door. Leo and Patience waved goodbye and they glanced back to return the gesture one last time.

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Edited: March 22, 2023