Capítulo XXII- Carnada

     Dante woke up on the stone-cold floor. A blue hue covered most of his blurred vision and a standing black figure. He squeezed his eyes, rubbing them to clear his unpaired vision. Dante blinked and slowly the picture was clear. Donald Davenport was the standing figure over him. He was talking to a man with spiked hair outside the cell. He got up from the floor and Donald help him to his feet.

     "Dante, are you okay?" Donald asked.

     "Yes, but where are we and who is he," Dante nodded towards the man outside the cell.

     The man smiled, "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Douglas Davenport."

     Mr. Davenport glared at Douglas answering Dante's question, "It's my evil brother, Douglas."

     Douglas pointed at Donald, "What you call evil, I call taking the company in a more creative direction."

     Donald corrected him, "You were gonna use bionic humans as weapons."

     "And that's why I'm here to finish what I started. To take back what's rightfully mine!"

     At the moment, Dante was aghast. The last thing he remembered was that he was opening the back door to the restaurant he worked in before some sort of blast knocked him out. Now, he woke up locked in a cell in a strange room.

     Fully aware of his surroundings, Dante glanced around the room finding if there was anyone else, but it was just him and Donald. "Where's Patience?" Dante asked Donald.

     Donald truthfully answered him, "She's fine. She's with Adam, Bree, Chase, and Leo."

     "Not for long. You're my leverage," Douglas smiled at Dante. Dante and Donald sent him confused looks. "Once they find out you're here, they'll come to me," Douglas chuckled. The monitor on the desk across from them beeped. It displayed Adam, Bree, and Chase waltzing into the lab. "Well, look who's home. 4:00 sharp, right on time."

     "You've been spying on us?" questioned Donald.

     "Not just you, them too," Douglas pointed at Dante. "At least until Patience took down every camera. I've been spying on you both for months. He grimaced, looking at Donald, "And trust me, Eddy's not the only one who's revolted by your sweeping high kicks."

     Douglas's boots thumped on the concrete floor as he left the lair. Dante faced Donald, "What does he mean by bionic soldiers and us being leverage? I don't understand."

     "Years ago, Douglas and I started Davenport Industries together. It was great, we had a lab and we developed bionics so that robots could do jobs that were too dangerous for people. But, Douglas went behind my back and implanted them into genetically engineered humans."

     "Adam, Bree, and Chase are bionic?"

     "My brother created them and wanted to make them bionic soldiers for evil purposes. But I took them away from him and raised them in a safe environment to train them to become bionic hero's."

     Dante was surprisingly calm listening taking in Donald's story. He empathized with Donald. He understood that he had to take Adam, Bree, and Chase away from Douglas to keep them safe. It kind of reminded Dante of how he fought for Patience to keep her safe, away from her emotionally manipulative mother. Of course, they weren't in the same situation, but they both wanted to keep their children safe.

     He knew Donald did not mean any harm. Patience and Donald's kids have been friends for nearly a year and from what he could tell from Patience's stories of their adventures, they were as close as they could be.

     "Patience, Leo, and Tasha promised to not say a word about their bionics. Patience helps out a lot with Leo, they're my mission specialist. You should see them work together, it's like they read each other's minds."

     "Helping people is her specialty," Dante said, sitting down. The image of Patience working with the team was glued to his head, she often tried her best to cheer people up and not bring them down. Even when Dante had a tough day at work, Patience always knew how to cheer him up.

     Donald took a seat by him, "Yeah." He was quite glad Dante didn't yell or shout at him for getting into this mess. He was understanding but that didn't surprise him when they went out to dinner after the father-daughter career day.

     In fact, Dante was also thinking of that night and how Patience interacted with everyone at the table. He remembered how Patience didn't make Adam feel dumb. He remembered how Patience and Bree acted like long-lost sisters. He remembered how Patience didn't pick on Chase for his smarts. He remembered how Patience didn't scold Leo for every little thing. And he remembered...

     "Marcus?" Dante mumbled. Dante and Donald shot up from the ground.

     Marcus strutted into the lab, he ignored them and plopped on a chair. He tapped on the keyboard on the desk until he was able to speak to Adam, Bree, Chase, Leo, and Patience.

     Chase offered, "Let's ask Eddy." Bree, Chase, Leo, and Patience sauntered to Eddy's screen, including Adam who was on a chair.

     Marcus cut in, "Don't bother. I deactivated him hours ago."

     "Marcus," Leo and Patience blurted.

     "He's got his own TV show?" Adam turned to ask Leo and Patience, "What channel is this?"

     "How did he get-"

     Leo interrupted Bree, "What do you want, Marcus?"

     "I'm just checking on my favorite bionic friends," Marcus nonchalantly answered.

     Chase questioned, "He knows we're bionic?"

     "I don't- I mean- that is- wow," Leo quavered out.

     Patience stuttered, "I- this is the first time- yeah."

     "I heard you were looking for your daddy. He's right here with a surprise guest," Marcus moved out of the way to expose Dante and Mr. Davenport trapped in the cell. 

     Dante stepped forward getting a closer look at Patience. She was stuck in her spot and her skin paled by the second. Dante hated seeing Patience in a state of fear because it made him afraid, not for himself but for her.

     "And if you ever want to see them again, I suggest you come get them."

     "Guys, don't fall for it. It's a-" Before Mr. Davenport could finish his sentence, Marcus turned off the monitor.

     Patience and Leo sat on the same side of their desk. They guided Adam, Bree, and Chase, through the coms, sharing the same bag of pretzels Patience brought down to the lab earlier. Adam, Bree, and Chase halted behind the agua blue house. 

     "Trust me, this is the house," Chase assured Adam and Bree.

     "Are you sure?" asked Adam. "I don't hear Mr. Davenport crying like a baby."

     Bree piped up, "How are we supposed to get inside if there's not even a door?"

     Adam gasped, "I know. Let's order a pizza and see what happens."

     "Adam, that's ridiculous."

     "Okay, it doesn't have to be pizza. Can be Chinese, Mexican, whatever you want."

     Leo touched his com to unmute himself, "Guys, focus. You need to look for a way to get inside. Once you're in, I can tell you where to go."

     Patience added, "There should be something there to reveal a hidden door."

     "I got this." Adam stopped and heavily exhaled. "Open Sesame!"

     "Adam," Chase scolded.

     Patience guessed the door unveiled itself when a beeping sounded from a distance. "Congratulations. Your hidden ability is talking to vinyl sidings," Bree jested.

     Marcus's voice was added to the conversation, "Well, well, well. Look who's here."

     "I should warn you. I can control vinyl siding," Adam threatened. Patience furrowed her eyebrows and faced Leo. He shrugged his shoulders.

     "Where's Mr. Davenport and Valmorida?" questioned Bree.

     "Oh, the little bionic babies miss their daddy?"

     "Why would you do this, Marcus?" Chase asked. "We thought you were our friend."

     "Oh, yeah, you fell for that one," Patience could hear the smug smile on Marcus's face. "Hook, line, and sinker. Who would've thought pathetic little Leo was right all along?"

     Leo put his hands out, "Thank you." Processing the name Marcus called him, Leo turned back to the screen, "Hey!"

     "And, you know, the best part of all, is that none of you had a clue that I'm just like you."

     "Half Irish?"

     Patience unmuted her mic, "He means, being bionic, Adam."

     At the same time, Marcus said, "Bionic. I'm bionic."

     Bree demanded, "Well, you're gonna take us to Mr. Davenport."

     There was a pause before Marcus said, "You're gonna have to move faster than that."

     "Let's see how you handle this." Adam groaned and there was a thump at the end. Patience scooted closer to the desk, wishing she could have a visual of Adam, Bree, and Chase.

     Bree cried out, "No!"

     Marcus teased Chase, "You wanna give it a shot?"

     "I thought you'd never ask."

     "Guys, what happened?" Patience asked. "Are you okay?"

     "Yeah, just a little- Oh. I didn't know you could do that," Adam changed the topic. Patience turned to Leo who had his eyebrows furrowed, just as confused as she was.

     Chase chirped, "Another hidden ability I discovered. I was just in the shower one day and there it was."

     "Oh, man. All I get in the shower is pruny fingers."

     "Guys, come on," Bree huffed.

     A static tone filled Leo and Patience's ears. Leo tapped away in his laptop to get the signal back, but nothing worked, Patience also tried and nothing had worked. Their signal was interrupted, meaning Adam, Bree, and Chase were in the lair with no communication. 

-

Writing in Dante's point of view was so weird, I'm just used to writing in Patience's.

Sometimes I wonder why I pictured Patience dressed in what I described in the book and then I remember it's the early 2010s.

-Aithusa