New Beginnings || Chase Davenport

17

"I love that movie. I've seen it five times." AJ says as he and the Elite Force walks into the penthouse. "Ooh, I hope I didn't ruin the ending for you guys." 

"No. You had already ruined the beginning and the middle, so I didn't really care about the end." Kaz shrugs his shoulder, and Harley nods in agreement. 

"So, uh... what do you guys wanna do now?" AJ asks the team.

The group glances at each other while Harley sets her pile of candy on the kitchen counter. Kaz tries to reach for a licorice until the pregnant woman smacks his hand away. 

Bree slouches down to AJ's height with her hands on his shoulders. "Hey, um, why don't you stay right here while we go have a quick team meeting out on the terrace, okay?"

"Okay."

Kaz nudges Harley as the rest of the team went out onto the terrace, her making a mental note of how many licorice she had remaining in the package. 

Bree sighs. "Chase. Look, I know you told AJ he could hang out with us, but this is getting ridiculous. He never leaves." 

"Yeah. This morning, I came down for a bowl of cereal, and he poured my milk, which was nice, but kinda creepy." Oliver says.

"That's creepy?" Skylar questions. "This morning, you offered to be the milk in my cereal."

"It's... not... I didn't... Offer still stands."

"Looks, guys, give AJ a break." Harley starts. "The only reason he hangs around us so much is that he doesn't have any friends."

"Ah, so he's a mini Chase. Got it." Kaz comments and Skylar smacks his arm.

"And it's nice that you and Chase are looking out for him, but we just need a little bit of space." Bree continues.

"Yeah, and not to mention, it's really risky." Kaz points out. "I mean, we have to keep our superhero status a secret."

"Okay, I get it. I'll go break his heart and tell him he can't hang out with us as much." Chase starts to head in, the group following behind.

AJ was sitting on the couch munching a few cookies. "Great cookies. Got anything to wet my whistle?"

"Oliver can be your milk." Skylar smirks.

"Uh, look, AJ, we should talk," Chase says to the boy. "There's been some concerns, mostly from the others, about you being around so much."

AJ stands from the couch and shrugs. "I get it."

"You do?"

"Of course. They're afraid I'm gonna find out that they're superheroes." The boy gestures to Skylar, Oliver, and Kaz.

"Us?" Skylar speaks. "That's crazy."

"Yeah, we're bionic," Oliver tells him.

"Uh, no, you're not," AJ says. "She's an alien, and you two touched the Arcturian space rock."

"He knows too much," Oliver mutters before looking at Kaz. "Light up your fire hand. We gotta take him out." Kaz lifts his hand, but Harley stops him before he could ignite a flame. "You're right. We don't wanna make a mess. Better freeze this punk." This time, Oliver was stopped by Skylar.

"How did you know we were superheroes?" Skylar asks.

Kaz sighs. "It's my fault. I'm just way too heroic-looking to pass for normal."

"I've known your secret for weeks," AJ tells them.

"Okay, I don't like this. Who knows what else is in that little cat-toy-sized head of his?" Oliver says.