CHAPTER THIRTEEN, drone alone

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Everyone was gathered around in the living room when Tasha walked in, holding her luggage as she smiled. "Oh, this is so exciting! I have never been to Australia before."

Eddy appeared on the screen. "Hey, maybe you'll like it so much you won't want to come back!" He disappeared as Tasha glared at him before walking towards her husband. "Donald, honey, do you have the plane tickets?"

"Honey, we're taking my fully automated private jet." Donald chuckled before letting out a scoff as he added. "Plane tickets. Why don't we just slap on a bunch of stamps and mail ourselves there?"

"Private jet. That works." Tasha laughed before turning to her son who nodded along with her before they cheered simultaneously. "Score!"

Donald then approached his stepson. "Okay, Leo, this is your chance to prove you're responsible enough to stay at home without us."

"Me? What about them?" Leo scoffed, looking to the other four who were slumped down on the couch, either watching tv, on their tablet or their phone.

"Emilia was designed to look out for others. And the others were designed to go on missions and save the world." Donald explained, referring to how Emilia was more sensible than him before pointing a finger at Leo. "You were designed to break stuff."

Leo mentally rolled his eyes as he sighed. "Don't worry, I know the rules. No touchy-touchy your stuffy-stuffy."

Donald rolled his eyes. "Leo, I'm serious. There's millions of dollars' worth of technology here. So no goof-ups, no explosions, no fires—" He started to panic. "You know what? I'm not going. I'm not going."

Tasha approached the man with a sigh. "Donald, Leo will be responsible. He is a big boy. Besides, Emilia will be here, too." She turned to her son before telling him. "Sweetie, I left your flame-retardant undies on the dresser."

Emilia slowly looked over at her best friend and smirked in amusement as Tasha and Donald walked towards the door with the latter facepalming himself. Emilia stood up from the couch and walked towards the door to hug Tasha goodbye before Bree then stood up. "Mr Davenport, Leo and Emilia will be fine. I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

Chase smiled, looking up at Bree as he held a piece of paper. "Funny you should ask. I've made an actuary chart which covers every possible catastrophe. You have an 82% chance of coming back to a perfectly normal house." He passed it to Donald. "Happy travels."

Tasha waved them off. "Don't worry. Eddy is here to monitor every room in the house. He is like a virtual babysitter."

Emilia rose a brow. "To be honest Tasha, do you even trust Eddy?"

"Yeah, and I virtually care about your kids." The smart-home system appeared on the screen which Emilia gestured to with a huff. "See. He just proved my point."

Leo sighed before starting to push Donald out the house. "Big D, me and Emmy have got this. No explosions, no good-ups, no fires, no floods—"

"Wait. I didn't think about floods." Donald tried to stop but ended up outside the house anyway with Leo shutting the door behind them with a sigh.

"Whoo-hoo! Party in the lab! Whoo!"

Emilia sighed, moving towards the couch before laying down on it as Leo sent the trio a pointed look. "Did you not hear what Davenport just said? We're supposed to be responsible."

Adam nodded. "Oh, right. I'll be responsible for the snacks. Leo, you're responsible for blowing up that raft!" They all cheered before running out of the living room causing Leo to sigh. "And he's worried about me?"

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Later on in the day, Emilia walked down to the lab with Leo by her side when the latter rushed straight towards Chase. "Chase, what are you doing at Davenport's computer?"

Chase giggled to himself as he explained how he was pulling a prank on Donald where he changed the currency on the computer to euros.

Emilia stood beside Adam, examining the foods on the cyber desk with a look of disgust on her face when a gust of wind flew in and then appeared Bree who looked like she just came from a fashion show gone wrong.

Leo moved beside Emilia, also staring at Bree with furrowed brows. "Where were you?"

The auburn haired girl scoffed. "Yeah, and what are you wearing?"

Bree then started talking in a jersey accent. "Well I was headed to New York City, but I got stuck in Jersey. Check out my bling. Boom! How's ya like them sparklers?"

"Bree, look what you did! You got butterscotch pudding all over my broccoli!" Adam exclaimed, gesturing to the bowls of food on the table. He picked a broccoli up before taking a bite out of it and his face lit up. "What a delicious mistake!"

Emilia gagged. "Oh, I think I'm gonna puke, Chase take me somewhere."

The boy chuckled, placing his hands on both of her shoulders and guided her towards the bin before looking behind him as Bree fake frowned at Adam. "I'm sorry, Adam. I meant to get it on your face!"

While standing by Emilia, Chase flinched when he suddenly felt a splotch of butterscotch pudding on his head and glanced over at Bree who had a spoon raised in the air. "Ho Ho! Boom on throwin' puddin' here!" Adam chuckled, looking at Chase who was still stunned about what happened. "Oh, look! Chase and pudding! I hadn't thought of that combo!"

He went to reach for the butterscotch pudding on his head, only for Chase to smack his hand away with an angry look on his face.

Emilia sighed, pushing her hair back as she stood up straight before moving towards the chair to sit on watching as a food fight was about to begin between the bionic siblings only for Leo to interrupt them. "Hey, hey, hey! Stop! I really need this weekend to go well for me."

Chase shrugged. "Chill out, Leo. What's the big deal? We're just having a little fun." Leo looked at him. "I'm not. If Davenport trust me to stay home alone, then next he'll give me a project in the lab, and then he'll let me go on a mission with you. Don't you want me to go on missions with you?"

"Eh."

"I guess."

"Not so much."

Emilia snorted before looking towards her best friend who started ordering. "Okay, that's it. No more crazy foods, no more planking Davenport, and no more breaking your curfew to go to New York."

"Jersey! Whatever." She glanced back at the boys while still speaking in her jersey accent. "This guy, what a nudge."

Emilia stood up from her seat, bursting with laughter as Leo sent her a glare so she cleared her throat. "Sorry, not funny." Leo turned back to the bionic trio. "Just get in your capsules and go to sleep. I'll turn on a nightlight for you."

Emilia was too busy humming to a song that she didn't notice Leo turn something on for what he thought was a nightlight.

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"What the— raft?!" Emilia exclaimed, staring in disbelief at the sight in front of her along with Leo who stood beside the girl. Emilia and Leo looked over at Chase who was facing the other way calling out. "Lia? Leo? Lia, is that you?" Leo looked at the scene. "What happened? All we did was go to sleep?"

The auburn haired banshee furrowed her brows as Chase then explained to them. "Emilia, Leo, something happened to my vision. I can only see pixels." They both jumped back as Chase fell to the ground, groaning in pain. "I'm okay."

Emilia rushed over to him. "Chase!" She held onto his arm. "It's me, don't worry." This made Chase visibly relax as he stood up from the floor with Emilia's help before they turned to Leo who gestured to Adam. "He sounds different."

Without making eye contact with any of them, Chase informed them. "Yeah, that's cause he can only speak backwards. It was fun for about the first five minutes— now I just want to rip his head off."

Emilia did a double take. "Hold on a fucking minute. Where is Bree?"

Leo whipped his head around, now just realising that as well before looking towards the boys. "If you say she went to Paris for crepes, I'm gonna lose it!"

Chase moved his hands around until he finally was able to hold onto Emilia's shoulders. "I don't know where she is. Something woke us up in the middle of the night, she started bouncing around the room like a pinball, and I haven't seen her since." He was quick to add. "I haven't seen anything since."

Emilia sighed. "All right. Okay." Chase moved his hands around again with the girl leaning back as he was aiming for her face. She chuckled to herself once Adam was able to pull him away before saying. "Leo, you call her and get her back, okay?" The boy nodded before going over to one of the screens to call Bree with Emilia and Adam following.

They were able to contact Bree who explained how she just started running when she woke up and somehow ended up in the middle of the desert, with her feet smoking and her navigation system was goofed up before it cut off.

"Guys, a little help here, please?" Chase called out, looking around the room with pixel vision.

They pulled him out of the corner, but Adam decided it was funny to push Chase to the ground in which Emilia scolded him for before helping the smart boy up off the floor.

All of a sudden, a loud alarm echoed through the room with Leo pulling a face of confusion. "What the heck is that?!"

"Well, it's either Mr Davenport's radon gas alarm, or it's his emergency phone. And being that none of us have passed out yet, it's his emergency phone!" Chase snapped, making Emilia wrap her arms around his head and stroked his hair, humming soft sounds to calm him down while Leo and Adam rushed towards the phone.

Leo was first to answer. "Davenport Industries, home of the little man's big dreams. Leo speaking. How may I help you?"

Emilia glanced at Chase. "You good now?"

"Yeah, thanks." Chase cleared his throat as he felt a part of him was glad that he had pixel vision, otherwise he would probably be screaming at the close proximity between them.

Emilia turned her and Chase around to face the boys, keeping her hand on Chase's arm while listening to Leo lie to Donald saying that he was watching cartoons and eating cereal.

Adam smiled. "Cartoons watch to want I!"

Chase moved his hand towards where Adam was, placing it over his mouth to keep him quiet. Leo started walking away with the phone making up an excuse that he was watching Captain Backwards on TV.

"What about Bree? Is she around?"

Leo fake smiled. "No. You know girls. She's knee-deep in makeup and unicorns." He then whispered. "What am I saying?"

Emilia hummed. "Yeah, what are you saying?"

She tried not to laugh at how Chase and Adam were literally attached to each other since she had stepped away from the boy.

Leo walked towards the LEMP. "Oh. You mean... the nightlight?" He turned it off in panic. "No, I did not."

Emilia tilted her head at the boy once realising what he had done before letting out a giggle when Leo said. "I should go. Tell my mommy I love her."

"Turn this plane around! Leo! We are coming home right now!"

Emilia winced at the sound, as Leo pulled the phone away from his ear also wincing at the yelling before it disconnected.

"They're coming home right now." Leo informed them in worry.

Adam widened his eyes. "What?"

Chase leaned his hands on the cyber desk. "Tell my mommy I love her?"

"Yeah, he talks baby talk when he gets nervous and freaks out. Should have expected it." Emilia explained for Leo who nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go upstairs to take a night-night with my binky."

Leo went to walk out only for Emilia to pull him back. "Hold on there child!" She turned him around as Chase asked in panic. "How could you turn on the LEMP? It's a giant glitch machine! That's what goofed us all up!"

Leo sighed in realisation before asking them. "So this is one of those things that Davenport talks about we're not supposed to touch?" The three of them nodded along causing Leo to freak out even more. Chase then located Bree's signal and sent her the coordinates so she was able to find her way back but Emilia had a feeling something was bound to go wrong.

Chase placed a flash drive into the slot of the control panel before Donald appeared on the big screen. "So if you're watching this, I must have gone to that big hard drive in the sky."

Emilia, Adam and Leo stood there awkwardly as they watched Donald dramatically cry on being hypothetically dead.

Chase muttered from behind them. "Right about now I'm sort of glad I can't see this."

The auburn haired girl shook her head as Leo questioned. "Is that really what he wore to say his final farewell? Slap on a suit, dude! You're on a stairway to heaven!"

Emilia furrowed her brows in amusement as Leo turned to her and Adam. "Don't you let him near my cold cuts." They turned back to the video and eventually heard useful advice from future Donald about how they can fix this situation.

Chase nodded. "Okay. Once I restore my settings, we can get things back to normal before Tasha and Davenport get home. And they'll never know how thoroughly and completely you messed up."

He pointed in a direction to where he thought Leo was as Emilia followed his eyes staring at nothing before moving his hand to point it towards Leo. Adam grabbed his younger brother before pushing him into the middle capsule and shut the door before moving back to Leo and Emilia as they watched Chase place his hands on the each side of the capsule, also being bare feet which was included.

Chase fell out the capsule and decided to prank them. "Where am I? Who are you people?"

Leo groaned. "Oh, great!"

Emilia smirked knowing he was faking as Chase chuckled. "Ha! Just kidding. You're next."

After Adam repeated Chase's actions, the boy stepped out of the capsule with a smile. "Whoo! I think I'm okay. Wait, my voice isn't coming out of my butt, is it?"

Emilia tilted her head with a smile. "Nice to have you back Adam." The boy did a happy dance in response.

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After making sure the house looked neat and tidy for when Donald and Tasha come home, Chase tracked Bree on the computer, however the girl arrived a lot quicker than he thought. It turned out she never got the co-ordinates that Chase sent her, confusing the ones in the room.

"Wait. If Bree's here, then what are you tracking?" Adam questioned just before the beeping sound started to increase in speed.

"I don't know. It's probably just a bird." Chase guessed, shrugging his shoulders.

Emilia looked out the window, her eyes widening when she saw one of the drones coming straight towards her. "Not a bird!" She somersaulted out the way just in time before the drone crashed through the window and fell to the ground.

Chase widened his eyes. "Yep. Not a bird." The auburn haired girl sent him a look before they all ran towards it with Chase panicking. "Guys, this is one of Mr Davenport's drones. I must have sent it the co-ordinates instead of Bree!"

Leo looked at him in disbelief. "Oh, yeah. A giant flying piece of metal and a teenage girl, I see how you can get that messed up."

Emilia heavily sighed at him as Chase reminded him. "I messed it up because my vision was impaired— by you, Mr Touchy-stuffy mommy-misser."

Leo put his hand in front of Chase's face. "Chase, let's not play the blame game." He sighed before gesturing to the drone. "Guys, this drone controls all of Mr Davenport's GPS technology, including the plane he's flying on right now."

Leo widened his eyes. "What? Why would he keep the command centre for all of his technology flying around in the sky?"

"Probably because you're down here." Emilia raised a brow at the boy before the group decided to make it their mission to tidy all the broken glass up and get the drone fixed and back up in the sky.

Adam had just made it out the room just as Donald and Tasha walked in to see the kids apart from Adam all huddled together.

Eddy then appeared on the screen. "You are on the list, cupcake!"

Tasha stepped towards Eddy, holding her hand in the air. "Okay!" Donald looked over the living room in surprise. "Hey, what do you know? The house is in one piece."

Leo walked towards Tasha to pull her into a hug and winced as he let his baby talk slip out again causing the woman to grow suspicious. "Okay, what are you guys up to?"

Emilia fake gasped. "Who us?"

Bree looked at them nervously. "Just chillin'. Ya know. We didn't do anything. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. You two— always so suspicious."

"Hmm. I don't smell any fires... and no one's in a full body cast. Wait— where's Adam?" Donald asked after looking around the room, only for him to receive nervous stammers from the group who struggled to come up with an excuse.

But thankfully, Adam walked into the room just in time to announce his presence, and pulled the adults into a hug before moving towards the others.

It seemed like it was all going well for them until the beeping sound was heard again and the next thing they knew, the drone that crashed into the house before had now fell through the ceiling.

Adam leaned closer to Chase. "By the way, we forgot to reset the coordinates."

Emilia sent him a look before wincing at Donald who exclaimed. "Reset the coordinates?!" He looked over at Leo as if he knew he was a part of that. "It looks like somebody touched my stuff!"

Leo whimpered. "Mommy."

Emilia shook her head. "Uh-uh. 'Mommy' can't save you this time."

Later on in the evening, the teens were shown a slideshow of different photos of what had happened while Donald and Tasha were gone, so it turned out they knew a lot more than they thought they did.

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