▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
The last few days proved to be very eventful for Jordyn, and the Davenports were the sole reason. After the visit with her parents, she had to pick up some documents for her mother which she handled dutifully. While going over, Bree had stopped her and they exchanged numbers. A few conversations later and she was now driving to school, earlier than usual, meeting up with her and Adam in the school parking lot.
Her newfound friendship with Bree had surprised both girls but they got along swimmingly. They didn't have many common interests but what they did share was an equal curiosity and lack of girl friends. The girls were able to bond over their differences as Adam had previously done with Joe. However, before befriending Bree, Joe had to promise Adam that he would always be her best friend even with his siblings in the picture to which she agreed.
She parked her car, leaning over the center console to grab her backpack. Once she stepped out, she heard her name being called by Adam from the entrance. "Joe! Over here."
Joe followed the voice and found the group all huddled together. What she noticed almost immediately were the sounds of wheels screeching. This led her to grimace, being sensitive to such loud noise. "Hey, guys. What the hell is that?"
"That jerk has been doing doughnuts in the school parking lot all morning," Bree answered, annoyed as the siblings had to endure this all the time waiting for her.
Adam smiled, "Finally, a good reason to come to school."
Joe shook her head with a grin but couldn't retort as Chase already exclaimed, "Guys, look out!" He pushed Leo out of the way, reaching for Joe's arm. However, Adam was faster and had pulled the girl to his chest for her to not get hit by the car which pulled up at the spot she stood not a second ago.
They all exhaled deeply in relief, Joe untangled from her best friend's arms as Chase let Leo go.
"Boggin nyaff," Jordyn mumbled, dusting off her backpack.
What the group didn't expect was the principal struggle to fit through that car window to get out. The honk went off twice as she wiggled in her seat before she finally gave up and opened the door to exit. Perry slammed the door and nonchalantly spun to the teens, "What's up?"
Leo gathered all his courage and walked up to her, "What are you doing?"
"Pushin' the envelope on this little baby's rollover specs."
Joe cringed at the answer and hid her head in Adam's arm while Bree patted her back. "I hate everything about this scene," she murmured so only they could hear.
"How did you afford this?" Adam asked what everyone thought.
"Your daddy gave me my first payment for keeping your little bionic secret," Perry shrugged not even questioning Jordyn's presence.
"You're damn lucky Jordyn already knows because if she didn't you could have said goodbye to the money already," Chase pointed out to her with the girl nodding in agreement.
Perry narrowed her eyes. "Do not joke about this," she said in a threatening tone, making the boy step back.
Satisfied with his reaction she continued, "Anyway. Naturally, I went out and bought my dream car, a barrel of pudding, and a lifetime supply of kitty litter. The fancy kind that clumps!"
Bree frowned at the misplaced excitement, "I think we have different definitions of fancy."
The group wanted to get away from the woman as fast as possible, so they entered the school. To their misfortune, Perry followed, keen on squeezing as much information out of them as possible.
"So you guys are bionic. How's that work? Can you recharge my cell phone? Do you have vacuum attachments? Can you turn into wolves?"
Adam grinned at the validation of his own idea, "Not yet, but I did put that in the suggestion box."
"Any louder and the only people not in on the secret will be the deaf," Joe shook her head at Perry's loud behavior in the middle of the school. She hadn't known about the secret for long but was aware of the consequences it may bring if exposed. Chase pointed at Jordyn and nodded as the girl had voiced his thoughts exactly.
However, Perry ignored them. "Come on, there's gotta be more you're not telling me. Spill!" With this she turned to Adam, poking his chest repeatedly, "Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme."
When the principal didn't stop, Bree spoke up, "She's not gonna stop, is she?"
Leo gestured to the ongoing pestering of Adam, "What do you think?"
Perry progressed to clutch the strap of Adam's backpack, pulling on it. This made the boy break. "Okay, okay!" He exclaimed loudly to be finally released from the woman's grip. "We use our bionics to go on missions."
Joe's head perked up at the information. She didn't know about that. But it made sense. Her own assumption on why they had bionics in the first place was them just being lab rats to be experimented on. Turns out there's an actual use for their powers, she thought.
Her attention was brought back by Chase snapping his fingers in front of her face, paired with the loud bell. Adam and Bree waved at Joe as their class was in the opposite direction as hers. Unfortunately for them, Perry decided to follow, "So when do we go on our first mission?" When she also started poking the girl's arm, Joe sent her an apologetic look and mouthed a "Good luck".
"Do I get nunchucks? I want nunchucks. I want nunchucks, I want nunchucks." Perry's voice went silent since she moved away, leaving Leo, Chase and Jordyn. Leo held up his finger, about to speak when he caught sight of Janelle in the corner of his eye and moved towards her, "Hey, Janelle!"
Jordyn and Chase looked at each other and waited for the other to speak. Even though Jordyn had bonded with Bree and considered Leo her friend in a week, Chase and her had a rather tense relationship. She had no idea why Chase was so dismissive toward her. She never even had the chance to be friendly to him as he was reluctant from the very start. Maybe my anxiousness during our first encounter put him off, she thought.
Chase cleared his throat, "You have math now, right?" Jordyn nodded and pulled at the straps of her backpack. "My Latin class is opposite yours, let's, err, go together."
"Good idea," Jordyn said and took the first step of the stairs. Chase did the same and soon fell in step with her. It was easy to keep the same pace for them as they were practically the same height. "For the record, all my ideas are good," he said after some silence.
Jordyn turned her head to look at him to see his eyes already on her. Her jaw clenched. How could he be so arrogant? She decided against voicing this as she didn't want to invoke a conflict. Instead, she looked back at the floor and didn't acknowledge his comment at all.
The rest of the walk was spent in silence which both were quite satisfied with. When they arrived at their destination, they nodded once and walked into their respective classroom. If Chase didn't stop being so insufferable Jordyn would surely punch him in the face soon.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
After a long and exhausting day in school during which Perry couldn't stop following the Davenports, Jordyn returned home to a surprise. Her mother was supposed to be on a flight to China today but instead, she was sitting at the dinner table with Mr. Davenport. Her father absent due to his shift in the hospital.
Eliana turned around at the sound of the front door and smiled, "Welcome home, muñeca. How was school?"
Jordyn slowly nodded, letting her backpack slip down her shoulder on the couch. She crossed the room to the kitchen. "Better than Adam's. Better than all of theirs." She then turned to the man at the table who frowned at her answer, "Hello, Mr. Davenport. Will you being here or us being over at yours be a regular occurrence now? Do I have to start adjusting to it?"
Mr. Davenport chuckled lightly, "No, I don't think so. There's just some things we have to manage because of this huge change. If you don't mind me asking, what happened today?"
Jordyn crossed her arms and raised a brow, "No offense but the few conversations we had, didn't make me magically trust you enough to tell you all about me and my friends' lives."
"Jordyn!" Eliana scolded the girl's tone.
Mr. Davenport seemed unaffected, "We're still talking about my kids, right?"
Jordyn narrowed her eyes, "Who knows? Maybe you are a random stranger just claiming to be their father when in reality you're just a weirdo without your own family, trying to fill the deep, endless void-"
"How would you even think of that?" Mr. Davenport asked, puzzled.
Eliana shook her head and told him with a pointed look toward her daughter, "It seems like the codes have gotten to her brain and programmed her to be rather impolite today."
Jordyn smiled and shook her head, "No, that's all me. No program needed. But I'd like to think that dad would have enjoyed both our jokes." She then sat next to Mr. Davenport and looked him directly in the eyes, folding her hands in front of her, "What I'm about to tell you is classified information. Word about this cannot get out to anyone in the world. If so, everyone's in danger."
Mr. Davenport blinked, not breaking eye contact, afraid to do so after the girl's warning.
After not getting an answer, Jordyn asked, "You understand?"
He nodded at this and she smiled, looking towards her mother who wore a disapproving expression.
Jordyn shrugged and stood back up, "That's what you should have told Principal Perry and what you should catch up on now. She was following Adam, Bree and Chase every step they took, yelling at them in the middle of the hallway to find out more about their bionics. Or just anything. She's desperate, that one."
Mr. Davenport sighed at this revelation, "Thank you for telling me. If she keeps acting like this, everyone will know."
"Threaten her hush money. That will do the trick. I'm speaking from first-hand experience."
Eliana frowned, "How did she even find out? That woman doesn't seem the brightest."
"Yeah, she's the dullest probably," Jordyn nodded.
"Pure rage," Mr. Davenport agreed, "It's a very long story and I don't want to overstay my welcome."
"Bye then," Jordyn waved, getting a plate from the kitchen.
Eliana glared at the back of her head, "Don't listen to her. She thinks being rude is an original personality trait."
"Excuse me?"
"You're excused. But do bring over the empanadas on the counter as our guest cannot tell a story with an empty stomach."
Mr. Davenport smiled gratefully, "You're too kind. Thank you, Eliana."
"You're welcome."
Jordyn mumbled something under her breath and brought the warm food over to the adults. "Yeah, you're welcome, Donald," she imitated her mother whose hand she then had to evade.
Donald chuckled and took a bite of the food, "Oh! This is heaven. But to the story..."
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
The table erupted into laughter after another story of Donald's life. He proved to have undergone many challenges which impressed the Sotos.
Their good mood was interrupted by an alert from his phone. He grabbed it and jumped up immediately, his eyes wide.
"What the hell are they up to now?"
"What's wrong?" Eliana asked, voice laced with worry.
"The lab is in lockdown. Something must have happened to the kids." He spun on his heel, trying to gather his thoughts and make a plan.
Jordyn sprang to her feet and ran to pick up her backpack from the couch, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"Oh no, you're staying here. I don't know what is happening over there," Donald told the girl.
"Exactly, you don't know. It would be silly to go there alone. So you need backup. I am the backup," Jordyn argued.
The man looked towards her mother who nodded, "She's right. She'll know when not to interfere."
Donald nodded and grabbed his keys from the table, "Just send these forms over when you're done."
"Take care."
With that, the two left and entered the car.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
They rushed into the house, ignoring Tasha's call out. Donald jumped over the couch while Jordyn followed him, avoiding the couch. Her laptop in hand, she ran, "Firstly, where is the lab? Secondly, was it really necessary to jump over the couch like you're in some kind of spy movie?"
Donald stopped in front of a wall, pressing a button that suddenly revealed the stairs. He ushered her down and followed quickly, "Firstly, we take these stairs down to the lab. Secondly, is this really the time to criticize my behavior?"
"Firstly, that's so cool," she skipped down excitedly but stopped when the steps ended, "Secondly, it's never a bad time to make fun of your childish behavior."
The man ran up to the doors and thumped on them. He yelled, "What is going on in there?"
Inside the lab, Bree exhaled in relief, "Mr. Davenport is here!" Alongside Chase, she was about to run to the doors.
"Wait!" Adam exclaimed to stop his siblings. "It could be a trap."
Ignoring him, they continued their way. Chase took the lead, "Hey, Mr. Davenport. Don't worry. Everything is fine."
That was all the reassurance Jordyn needed and she sat down on the floor, pulling her laptop on her lap. She started trying to override the lab controls, only listening to some extent.
Mr. Davenport chuckled humorlessly, "Of course it is. That's why I got an alert on my phone that the lab is on lockdown! What's going on?"
"Well, you remember your rocket program," Chase started slowly.
"Yes!"
"Perry may have accidentally-"
"Sent one to our high school," Bree ended the sentence for her brother as it took too long for her liking. She just wanted to get over with the scolding already.
Jordyn looked up at the name of her principal and turned to Mr. Davenport with raised eyebrows as to say 'I told you so'. The man who had returned her gaze rolled his eyes and whispered, "Shut up."
The bionics exchanged confused glances at their father's whisper but waited for his reaction.
"Perry?!" He finally screamed after he grasped the fact.
Perry, who had gestured for them to shut up, was disgruntled but didn't let it show in her tone when she answered him, "Hi, Don."
"Nobody touch anything," he gestured widely even though nobody could see as Jordyn was staring at her screen. "I'm gonna try and hack my way into my own security program." After some seconds of typing, he answered exasperated, " It's not accepting my override command. Why did I have to design it so perfectly?"
Jordyn shook her head, "Don't worry. You didn't."
Although Bree couldn't hear the girl she unconsciously agreed with her, "Wow, even in a crisis, that ego does not quit."
Mr. Davenport looked at Jordyn on the floor and back to the doors, contemplating his next moves. With a sigh, he decided, "Adam, would you mind using your strength to destroy my brand-new lab doors?"
Stretching out one arm, she wanted the man to stop his orders, "Wait, no. I got it."
Her words were drowned out by Perry on the other side of the doors. She had found a weapon and shoved Adam away from the doors, "Back up, jumbo. I got this."
She fired the gun despite the yells from the teens. Mr. Davenport flinched away from the door as the blast hit the doors and backfired, hitting Perry square in the chest. The might propelled her backward on a cyberdesk.
At this moment, the lab doors opened. Mr. Davenport came rushing in, ignoring his children, to go stop the rocket.
Adam laughed, "Yes! Wow, she opened it. Maybe we should add her to the team."
A chuckle and the snap of a closing laptop made him look towards the doors, "Hate to break it to you but it wasn't Perry's doing."
"Joe! Never doubted you for a second," Adam said with a hand over his heart.
"Nice costumes," Joe teased, shaking her head and approaching the main lab area. She looked around in awe, trying to hide her excitement over the equipment. It wasn't the right time to admire the technology around her.
Perry stood up and groaned, leaning on one of the cyber desks. Mr. Davenport pushed her away which made her fall to the ground once again. The teens all were at a loss for what to do.
"My head's killing me." At the principal's comment, Bree sighed and ran to get an ice pack. A second later she gave it to the woman who held it to her aching spot.
"I should be able to shut down the rocket remotely from here. I just have to switch everything to the satellite feed," Mr. Davenport fussed over the cyber desks while the others returned their attention to him.
Perry started giggling stupidly, "Satellite feed."
Bree, who was slightly weirded out, spoke to her, "You okay? You look weird." After a second she added to it, "-er than normal."
"Course, I'm okay." She put the ice pack away and looked at Mr. Davnport in awe. Stretching out her arms, Perry approached to pet him, "Mr. Whiskers. Come to mama."
A small tussle began between the two which Jordyn quickly ended by stepping between them and holding the woman at arm's length.
Mr. Davenport nodded gratefully and turned to the bionics. His anger could be read on his face and he exclaimed, "How could you let her down here? She's shedding. You are all grounded forever! Times three times pi." With a sigh, he went back to his work on the satellite and realized, "The rocket's too close to its target. I can't stop it from here."
Bree was agitated and scrambled for a solution, "Chase, can't you slow it down with your molecular kinesis?"
"Well, not something that big traveling that fast," Chase shook his head, defeated.
"That's disappointing. Hoped you had some cool powers like the others," Jordyn tried to lighten the mood slightly which resulted in a lot of annoyed expressions. "Sorry," she mumbled and took a step back as she was no help.
"It's only three minutes from its target. We have to evacuate that school. Adam, Bree, go!" Mr. Davenport ordered.
Adam was taken aback at first, "Is it too much to ask for a please?"
"Go!"
Bree took her brother's arm and super-sped away, "Come on."
When they were gone, Chase turned to Mr. Davenport, "You think they can do it?"
"They are our only hope."
Their somber moment was interrupted by Perry, "Mr. Whiskers, time for a rubby-rub-rub on your tummy-tum-tum. Mr. Whiskers! Mr. Whiskers!!"
Mr. Davenport ran away from the woman and screamed for help. Chase and Jordyn looked after him and turned towards each other before breaking out in laughter.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Adam and Bree had reached the school and stood in the parking lot. Janelle and Leo were currently looking at the sky. The latter's attention was attracted by his siblings' arrival and he quickly ushered Janelle behind a trash can.
"There's only 20 seconds before the rocket hits. There is no way we can get everyone out on time," Bree worried as she looked at the time.
Adam who watched the rocket shook his head, "Don't worry. I have an idea."
Bree didn't believe her brother to have a good idea and wanted to make fun of him, "Great, what are you gonna do, throw a car at it?" She pointed to the surrounding cars.
Adam frowned, "No." His expression changed into a grin, "but that's way better than my idea. Let's do that." He grabbed the nearest car and lifted it easily. With momentum, he launched it upwards, straight towards the rocket. Bree and Leo watched with wide eyes as it hit and created an explosion.
Adam chuckled lightly, "Whoa, it worked. Let's grab another car, just to make sure."
"No. Come on, let's get out of here," Bree stopped his stupidity and super-sped them back.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
Mr. Davenport, Chase, Perry and Jordyn observed the situation from the lab.
"Look, something's hurtling towards the rocket," the man piped up when he noticed something on the live footage.
The principal leaned over, pushing Jordyn out of the way, "Huh. That looks like my new car." Slowly, realization dawned on her and she grabbed the monitor aggressively, "That is my new car!"
The group watched the explosion and three out of four screamed, "Yes!" Chase and Mr. Davenport high-fived each other. Perry, on the other hand, screamed the opposite.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
"I guess everything turned out fine," Jordyn concluded at the end of the day as everyone entered the living room. She herself stood next to the couch. Perry had been ushered out after the problem was solved.
"Luckily it did. But it was way too close, you should have never allowed Perry in there. No outsiders are to be in the lab," Mr. Davenport scolded the bionics.
"I can't believe Perry was in the lab. We have to disinfect everything now," Leo said with a disgusted look.
Chase held up his finger and retorted, "Theoretically, you broke your own rule when you brought Jordyn with you, Mr. Davenport."
"So... we're even," Adam concluded, smiling.
"Actually, I didn't break the rule as Jordyn is no outsider."
"She's not?" Everyone asked.
Their confusion was supported by the girl herself, "I'm not?"
Mr. Davenport walked to Joe and put his arm around her, "Firstly, Jordyn proved to be an important support member to the team. Secondly, her know-how will come in handy at future missions, I'm sure."
Leo gasped, "Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me... I had to wait for months to be mission leader and you offer her to be part of the team after what? Two weeks!"
Jordyn shrugged his arm off, "Calm down, Leo. Hate to break it to you but I never agreed. He never even asked for my opinion on this!"
"Leave it to Jordyn to be presented with an incredible proposition to decline it," Chase rolled his eyes at the girl.
"Hold up. That's not what I said. I just don't want others to make decisions for me," Joe turned to the man beside her, "I don't really see what use I would be for this team."
Mr. Davenport thought for a second, his eyes widened once he got the perfect plan, "Jordyn, how exactly did you open the doors? I tried to hack into my security system but it wouldn't work. You managed, how?"
She shrugged. "Instead of hacking into the security system to override the command, I just hacked into the doors' specific mechanism. Your network isn't very secure so it was pretty easy once I got through the firewall."
Bree leaned over to Adam, "Do you understand anything they are talking about?"
Her brother shook his head, "Nah, but I'm used to it. Just excited for Joe to be part of the team."
Mr. Davenport raised his brows and mumbled to himself, "How did I not think of that?" After a short pause, he raised his voice, "I mean, of course, I thought about that. Must have been a bug."
"Sure," Jordyn and Chase said in unison. She continued, "It's like I always say; Work smart, not hard."
Chase scoffed, "That is barely to categorize as smart. Even Adam could have thought of this."
"No, I couldn't," Adam shook his head with a sad expression.
"Didn't see you or Donald come up with it." She crossed her arms challengingly, steering away from her friend.
Mr. Davenport repeated his previous statement, "I thought of it! But it doesn't matter. What does matter is your opinion on becoming part of Davenport Industries like your mother. You're not 18 yet so I can't properly employ you. But what I can do, is offer you a sort of internship. You said my security system isn't secure. I think it's perfect but if you're so sure of yourself, make it better. Your mother told me about your interest in cybersecurity and you demonstrated your skills on more than one occasion. Find the weak points and improve them. Naturally, I'll oversee the process but you'll have free reign. What do you think?"
Jordyn's mouth fell open. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It would look great on her resume. And maybe she could even convince Donald to employ her once he can. A grin overtook her face and she clapped her hands, "Yes, yes, yes. Thank you so much. I won't disappoint you."
"Great, we'll just say you're working under me. This also means you can help us with the missions if needed," Mr. Davenport smiled and looked at the girl who had jumped into Adam's arms.
Bree came up to them and enveloped the two in a group hug. The trio squealed and jumped in a circle. "Come on, Donald. I know you want to," Joe sang from the middle when they settled again.
"I'm your superior now, so you can't call me by my first name."
"Is that a no, Donald?"
"Oh to hell," he waved his hand and did as told. They repeated the squealing and jumping with Donald. Chase and Leo stood on the sidelines, both with shocked expressions.
"But... You can't. No!" Chase cried out.
"What about me? I want to be your business partner, Big D," Leo complained again.
The group hug dispersed. Mr. Davenport frowned, "We're talking about an internship, not being business partners, Leo."
"Yeah, Leo. Keep up. My mother's already the business partner," Joe smirked and fist-bumped Adam.
"It'll be so cool. Maybe we can finally replace Chase," Adam grinned and gained a laugh from Joe.
Chase huffed, unimpressed, "I'm right here, Adam."
"I know."
"Anyway," Bree took Joe and steered her away, "I'm just happy to not be surrounded by boys only anymore. Finally some sanity around here."
"Now that everything's cleared out let's bring you back home, Jordyn," Mr. Davenport grabbed the car keys and approached the door. Jordyn nodded and put on her backpack, her laptop inside already.
"Bye. See you tomorrow, team."
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
In the car, Jordyn turned to the man, brows crunched, "Mr. Davenport, why did you offer me this?"
"Why so formal all of a sudden?"
She shrugged, "Thought I would seem more serious that way."
Donald chuckled lightly and parked in front of the girl's house to properly look at her, "I gotta be honest with you. What you can do impressed me. I'm not only talking about today but also the robot some time back. You're a quick thinker and have amazing coding skills. Your mother is part of my company already so I don't see why you should not be as well. She told me what help you could be for us if you wanted to. I see nothing that speaks against it."
"Besides Chase," Jordyn added with a snicker.
"He'll get over it. You two could actually work great together, you know?"
"Thank you. Your family's a great one."
"Thank you, too. I'll send the necessary documents to your mother, alright?"
Jordyn nodded and left the car. "Bye."
Donald waited for the girl to get inside the house safely before driving back. He was glad he did as he could hear Jordyn scream once she crossed the threshold.
"I GOT A JOB NOW!"
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
so...
jordyn's an official part of the bunch now. cool, huh?