Chapter Text
Both Chase and Mr. Davenport jumped backwards, Chase mentally preparing himself to fight. But after thirty seconds of nothing, he slowly crept back towards the table Marcus was on. Why hadn’t Marcus attacked? Why hadn’t he gotten up, or even turned his head? Both him and Mr. Davenport had forgotten to put the restraints back on.
“Why… Why am I here?” Marcus spoke. His voice wavered, sounding more robotic than usual, which he noticed after speaking. “Why do I sound like that?”
“Your voice box is damaged.” Mr. Davenport answered, talking softly.
“Oh,” he paused, eyes flickering back and forth. “Why am I here? Why are you guys here? Why did you… Why… Why can’t I move?”
His volume gradually picked up, until he was yelling. Though his voice was robotic, Chase could feel some sort of panic in his words. A kind of panic that seemed eerily genuine.
“Marcus, you’re broken.” Chase responded simply, so quiet it was almost a whisper. No one spoke, seemingly waiting for somebody else to say something. Davenport and Chase stared at Marcus, who was still unmoving. Marcus, not able to do much else, stared at the ceiling.
“Where’s my dad?” No response, of course neither Chase nor Mr. Davenport had any way of knowing where Douglas was. Unsatisfied with the silence, he repeated his question more sternly. “Where is my dad?”
“Marcus, we don’t know where-” Davenport started before interrupting.
“No!” Marcus yelled. “No! You’re lying!”
“I’m not-”
“Shut up!” he screamed, his voice crackling.
Davenport threw his hands up in defeat, walking away from the table and towards the lab’s exit. “Chase, if you wanna interrogate him, by all means go ahead. I’m not dealing with this tonight.”
“But Mr. Davenport-”
“No. I’m going to bed.”
The lab doors shut, leaving Chase alone with Marcus. Chase stared at him for a second, earning a glare from Marcus. Or from one of his eyes at least. The other one seemed to still be broken, as it was still stuck staring straight up. The lab felt somehow more cold, more still, without Mr. Davenport there. The two siblings, two friends, two enemies, were by themselves now. Chase sat back down, falling into the chair and burying his head in his hands. He sighed loudly, loud enough for Marcus to hear.
“Why am I here?” Marcus asked again.
“Me, Adam and Bree found you in an alleyway severely injured and took you back to the lab to make repairs.” Chase said.
“Why? Out of the kindness of your heart?” Marcus scoffed.
“For an interrogation,” Chase said, standing back up and making his way over to Marcus. “Though, with your condition, I have more present concerns. Do you… Do you know how to repair yourself?”
“I can’t even turn my head to look at the damage. What’s broken?” He asked, making Chase feel nauseous. He pitied Marcus, it truly was a terrible position to be put in. He forced himself to be as kind as he could, to ignore the ocean of emotions he had no idea how to categorize stirring inside of him.
“Some skin is missing, some parts look scratched, a lot of wires were torn but Mr. Davenport and I did our best to mend those. I think you’ll be fine if we just make a few more minor repairs-” Chase said, trying not to let the quiver in his voice show. Marcus noticed, of course.
“Terrible liar. Always have been.” Marcus interrupted. “I can see several warning lights, I can’t move, and my voice sounds different. Whatever you’re not telling me about is gonna take more than a few minor repairs.”
“If you’re gonna be rude I can leave.”
“But you won’t, if you were going to you would have already.”
“Fine, I’ll leave then,” Chase said, getting out of his chair and heading straight for the lab's exit.
“Don’t!” Marcus yelled, stopping Chase in his tracks. The cracky, roboticness of his voice showed more clearly when he raised his voice, making Chase cringe.
How had he ever thought Marcus was a human? His movements were always slightly stiff, his mannerisms a mere imitation of normal. Maybe that’s why they had gotten along so well back then. Aside from the fact that Marcus was definitely pandering to Chase, he could relate to him on a level he still believed was real. Neither of them could ever be normal people.
He was family, too. That was something Chase still struggled to process. Everything with Douglas, it was a lot. He still didn’t really view Douglas as a father. Mr. Davenport was always the one to take care of him, Bree, and Adam. He wondered if any of them had a real mother sometimes. He definitely thought of Tasha as his mom since she’d come into his life, so he had her at least. An imitation of a normal family.
Douglas wasn’t his father, he’d never call him that. But Douglas was Marcus’ father. What did that make them? Brothers? That still didn’t sound right, he didn’t think it ever would. He turned back, moving back to his chair. Families are meant to stick together, aren’t they?
“I hate you,” Chase said plainly, sitting across from him.
“Feeling is mutual,” Marcus replied. “Shocked you’re bothering fixing me at all,” He said in a rather defeated and vulnerable tone.
“We weren’t gonna leave you to die,” Chase shrugged. “Don’t mistake human decency for any of us caring about you.”
“Aw, were you scared your only friend was going to die?” Marcus taunted. Chase glared at him again, resisting an urge to just turn off Marcus’ power and leave.
“Leo is my friend,” Chase said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Leo is your step brother, that doesn’t count.”
“You’re also my step brother,” Chase pointed out, as if this was some sort of gotcha moment.
“True, guess I don’t count either. No friends at all then,” Marcus laughed to himself, though he stopped quickly when his laugh sounded like it was crackling. Chase had to stop himself from laughing, it felt cruel to do in this situation. “Where’s my dad?”
Chase scoffed at that, standing up and walking over to Marcus. “We brought you here to ask you that exact question, actually. None of us have known the answer since he busted out of prison. We were also wondering about the person who did that-”
“Krane,” Marcus said, his voice low. “Same one that did this to me.”
“Oh,” Chase said, pausing for a while. “It wasn’t Douglas?”
“Douglas? Why would Douglas… No, he built me, he wouldn’t do this. Krane… Krane is evil.”
“So is your dad.”
“He’s your dad too.”
“I don’t view him as such, and if you don’t have anything helpful to say, I’m leaving you here for the night.” Chase said, spinning around and practically stomping towards the exit.
“Hey, wise guy, your capsule is in here!” Marcus called after him.
“I can go a night without it!” Chase yelled back, exiting the lab and leaving Marcus truly alone.