The day's going a lot faster than we'd expected. Classes were the same, some teachers were friendly, and I actually enjoyed being in class for a change. Expected for one class. I never thought I'd say this but... I hated Ms. Whitlock's class. This universe had an evil Ms. Whitlock. It's like her and Principal Perry switched attitudes.
"Kids."
Leo and I turned around and saw Mr. D.
"Hey, What are you doing here?"
"I always pick you up from school. A, your mother insists on it, and... B, it's the few minutes a day I can enjoy natural sunlight." Mr. D explained. It's kinda sad hearing how little humanity he has. Tasha sure is keeping him on a tight leash.
"This world is so much different from ours." He leaned towards me and I nodded.
"Well, my world is limited to the lab. That, and of course the thrill I get for fifteen minutes a day, coming to pick you up. Stoplights are awesome!" Mr. D ranted. He has this innocences to him that is degrades his images from the other Mr. D.
"Hey, Leo." Adam greeted.
"Hey, look who made some friends." Mr. D pointed out. At this point I tuned out Leo too tired to hear him ask Mr. D about them.
"Oh, hey, look, it's the dude who gets all excited at stoplights." Chase mockingly waved at Mr. D. Then his eyes just had to spot me. He moved forward and grabbed me like he previously did.
He leaned in to my ear and whispered, "Don't get to close to him."
"Chase about what you saw earlier—"
"It's okay, babe. Everything is going to be okay after this." Chase rubbed my shoulder and went to kiss me. I was quick enough to move my head so he'd kiss my cheek. This Chase is being a pain in the ass.
"After what?" He ignored my question slightly pulling me behind him.
"Leo, we have a confession. We believe what you said earlier." Bree confessed.
"Yeah, and we want you to know that your bionic secret is safe within us." Adam said and Leo looked relieved.
"Finally, it's good to have you guys back!" Leo sighed and went to hug them. They awed and as Adam moved I caught a glimpse at a man in a suit.
"Leo!" I was able to pull him away as the trio planned to push him to the man. Leo looked startled while the trio glared at me. Chase held a mixture of disappointment and betrayal in his face. Is there a reality that I don't betray him?
A mixture of words fumbled out their mouths but they all had one thing in mind. To capture leo.
"Freeze Dooley. You're coming with me." The man grabbed leo by his upper arm.
"Not to self, not a fan of the Hendersons." Leo barked.
"Sir, how can you even believe them?! Do you have prove of what they told you?"
"See! That's prove!" Chase exclaimed. "He must've done something to my girlfriend. She's all of a sudden defending this freak." He once again pulled me away from Leo and to his side. The man didn't let go of Leo's arms and moved near us. Chase sighed and walked a few feet away from Leo and his siblings.
"Chase listen to me. He's completely harmless. Bionics are nothing to worry over." I tried to get him to understand. I looked back at Leo and saw the disbelief in his face.
"He did something to you. I just know it." Chase placed a hand onto my cheek scanning my face.
"What?"
"You never call me Chase. It's always been baby. You never hang out with a dork. You don't even wear that type of clothing. You're always there by my side. You brag about our amazing relationship and never avoid my kisses. You're completely different since you've been with him." Chase listed.
I sound completely different, and honestly, annoying. Oh, please don't tell me I'm a cheerleader. That's the last thing I need right now.
Our attention snapped back to his siblings and Leo as a loud clash sound came from there.
"Hey!"
Next thing we knew the man was on the floor with Perry near him.
"Nobody messes with my rollerblading buddy!" Principal Perry exclaimed, getting a good hold on the man almost at a chokehold.
"Kids, it's hot in the car and I'm not allowed to use the air conditioning. So are you coming or not?" Mr. D nonchalantly said.
When did he come into the school? Wow, he's a lot more quiet in this universe.
"Babe." Chase turned me to face him again.
I take back what I said earlier. He seems genuinely concerned over me— well, over his girlfriend from this universe not me.
"Oh my gosh! What?!"
"What did he do to you?" Chase looked at me with worry in his brown eyes. At this point, see this side of Chase, I'm kind of beginning to feel bad. And I can't exactly say I'm from a different universe it'll just complicate things. Which brings me back to feeling Orestes over the smallest things. I just want to go back home.
"Nothing. I'm friends with him. What else do you want me to say?!"
Chase looked taken back at my outburst. "You guys aren't friends though. You hate him because you got adopted into his family. He ruined your life."
"Wha—" I was shut off by Chase. He pulled me into a tight hug and muttered something about being brainwashed. I sighed and let him get in some seconds of skin ship. It's the least I can do since I've made him believe his girlfriend has been brainwashed. Come to think about it, how complicated is this Lauren's life?
"Run!" I heard Perry yell.
"I'm sorry." I said before pulling from the hug and using my newly found superspeed. I grabbed leo and sped us to where Mr. D parked.
"Why aren't we home?"
"I'm not just gonna leave Mr. Davenport." I crossed my arms keeping a look out for Mr. D. Leo groaned and facepalmed beside me.
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"This just does not make sense. The Leo I know would never show his bionics at school. And the Lauren I know would never let Leo show his bionics... or protect him as a matter of fact." Leo and I turned around to face the frantic man.
"That's cause he's not the Leo you know."
"We came from a parallel universe through a wormhole made by your proton fuser!" Leo stated.
"Wait, you were serious about that?"
Leo and I nodded. I softly gasped feeling shivers go down my spine. I'd blocked out what Mr. D was telling us and stared at the ceiling. I felt my fingers twitched. I looked down and saw a blue light coming from it.
As I returned my gaze to my surroundings, a bunch of men in suits broken into the house, surroundings us. Along with men coming down the ceiling on a rope.
Oh, so that's what I felt.
The room was tense. No one said anything, just stared at one another. Guess it was too much for Mr. D as he made a sort of made a squeaky sound flopping onto the floor.
"No wonder my mom keeps you in the basement."
The men in suits grabbed Mr. D and dragged him to a column. Then proceeded to tie leo and I. Leo and Mr. D were in the same column as I was tied to the stairs railing. I took advantage being near the stairs and took a seat on them. One of the men nudge my foot. I looked up at him and proudly showed him the middle finger, kindly telling him to fuck off. He huffed and looked back to— what I assume is— his boss. I was too far to hear clearly what he was telling them, but much to my luck, he began to near me.
"We don't know how you do what you do, but we're gonna find out. Even if it takes ten years in an isolated dessert warehouse. Hope you sweat a lot. That's the only water you'll get." The man informed.
"Well, what if I just break out of these?" Leo asked.
"We heard you were freakishly strong. So those are exploding handcuffs. Links break. Handcuffs detonate."
"Brutal." I muttered under my breath. I exhaled thinking of ways to get out of here in one piece. I tried my best to block out everything, even the shouting Tasha Dooley who was being dragged out the house in handcuffs.
"Are my baby okay? They haven't hurt either of you have they?" Tasha came up to us and looked over our bodies. I was able to shake my head before she was dragged out the rest of the way.
Okay, let's think this through. I was able to hear Tasha say 'something new about yourself,' so that must mean Leo and I have abilities we don't know about. I looked over to Leo and lifted my hands. I don't know what he was doing but hopefully something that won't kill us. I took a deep breath in and closed my eyes. I heard a whoosh proceeding by a heard a low yelp. I opened my eyes and saw I was next to Mr. D. I chuckled overjoyed that I figured something out.
"That's what I'm talking about. One of your new abilities is geo-leaping." Mr. D beamed.
"I can geo-leap too?" Leo asked.
"Yes. We never tested it. So..."
He was cut off as leo held onto him and geo-leaped him away. Nice, I'm left behind by my (in this universe) brother.
The guards rushed over to me and I instinctively held up my hands. I looked up as I heard multiple thuds. The guards were on the floor groaning while the blue light from my hands faded.
This is so cool.
My small celebration was cut short as more guards came to me. I put out my hand again, more confident this time, and the blue light returned. It's blue ray blasted precisely to the guards on the other end of the room. I chuckled looking at the guards holding their sides.
Okay, rime to get away. And knowing Leo, he probably geo-leaped to school. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes much like the first time. Only difference being the place I thought of. I felt tingles consume my body, the first sign that it's working, followed by a whoosh, the second sign indicating that it did work.
My surroundings change just as quick as I thought about school. And I was right. Leo and Mr. D stood in the middle of the entrance.
"Thanks for leaving me guys." I said making myself known to them. Mr. D yelped clutching his chest and Leo swiftly looked at me.
"Thank goodness you're here. Leo's bionics are glitching. Maybe you can geo-leap us away." Mr. D informed me. I nodded and held both of them.
"There he is!"
I looked over my shoulder to see sophisticated Adam, bratty Bree, and douchebag Chase come out the cafeteria.
"Yo! The bionic kid's in here!" Chase shouted. The men in suits came running into the room.
"Thanks a lot, Chase! You're super annoying in two universes."
"Trust me, our Chase is better than that one." I said as I geo-leaped us to the lab. Man, I'm going to miss bionics.
"We don't have much time, fire up the proton fuser." Leo commanded. Mr. D rushed over to his prototype and revealed his creation. He placed the proton fuser in the center of the room.
"Now, I would feel a lot better about this if you would sign some release forms."
"Push! Buttons!" Leo and I stressed out.
Mr. D did his thing as Leo and I kept watch on the entrance to the lab. We heard familiar buzzing and knew he'd turn it on.
"See! Told you it doesn't work."
"Make it work!" Leo told his step-dad.
The door to the elevator opened revealing the men in suits. Leo geo-leaped to the door and closed the secondary doors to the lab.
"Can't some dreams just die?" Mr. D asked. Well, he still acts like a child in both universes.
"It took a while for the wormhole to reach full size." Leo informed.
"That sounds like a volume threshold problem. I can tweak that!"
"Yeah, you go do that."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Tweak."
Mr. D began to work on the prototype as we watched the wormhole slowly build up.
"That's it! You're doing it."
"Something I made actually works!" Mr. D cried out. He placed his hands over his mouth concealing his cry.
His moment was cut short as the door began to open. The men in suits were prying it open. This view is eerily giving walking dead vibes. I shook the thought away and looked back at the wormhole that was getting to its maximum size.
"Wait, if I leave what'll happen to you?" Leo asked. Now thinking about it, what would happen?
"Both universes will reset to the instant you left. None of this will have ever happened!" Mr. D explained, "Except, I'm gonna start believing in myself."
"Good. Bring it in." Leo smiled. Leo and Mr. D hugged each other tightly. Mr. D looked up and shyly gestured for me to join the hug. I shuffled into the hug feeling like I'm intruding in their moment.
"This is nice and all but we have to leave. Like now!" I reminded them. Mr. D let go of us and I pulled Leo closer to the wormhole.
"Thanks kids. I tell you I'll never forget you, technically, that— yeah. You just— all right. Yeah. Anyways." Mr. D stumbled. He grabbed a magazine and smacked the hands that made its way through the crack of the doors.
"All right, go kids, it's now or never."
Leo and I took one last glance at Mr. D before jumping into the wormhole.
And as before, our surroundings stayed the same but the proton fuser wasn't on.
We're back. This is our universe.
"Hello?" Leo called out. We looked at each other and ran upstairs to confirm our suspicions.
We stopped as we saw the trio, Tasha, and Mr. D sitting on the couch, just like they were before we left.
Leo shriek beside me and I step back seeing the boss of the men in suits.
"Relax, guys. That's Gordon. He's my new head of corporate security." Mr. D explained.
"Well, hey there, little buddy! Nice to meet you!" Gordon shook Leo and I's hands.
"I'm so happy to see you guys!" Leo said hugging his mom. I went over to Chase and pulled him into a hug.
He was startled at first but slowly hugged me back.
This is Chase. And this hug felt right.
"Are you okay?" Chase chuckled. He pulled away and held me by my shoulders.
I nodded, "Yep, everything's fine. Just... never change."
"Okay?" Chase said sounding more like a question. I pulled him into one last hug before sitting down next to Bree.
"That also goes for you two. Never change." Bree and Adam looked at each other then nodded.
"It's so good to be home!" I heard Leo sigh.
"Good to be home? Where did you go?" Bree asked.
"A parallel universe! Mom was a tech mogul, Chase was an annoying jock that was dating Lauren, Bree was a shallow mall rat, and Adam was all introspective and philosophical."
"Okay, I don't think saying I was dating Chase was necessary." I awkwardly said as I got looks from Chase and Bree.
"You don't have to make up words, Leo. Just tell us what happened." Adam said.
"It was real, you gotta believe me!"
"He's telling the truth guys." I backed him up. Leo patted my shoulder.
"You know what? I believe you, Leo. Anywhere your mom is a tech mogul is definitely an alternate universe." Mr. D scoffed. Tasha glared at him and Mr. D nervously smiled. "I mean, you're very smart. It's just not with tech— I'll be doing the dishes."
"I also believe you Leo. A universe where Chase is dating Lauren, yeah that sounds like a parallel universe, alright." Bree teased. Chase mockingly laughed and I leaned back on cushiony couch, letting my head rest on top of it.
I'm just glad that nightmare was over. I'm gonna miss being bionic though.
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"Hey."
"Hi?"
Leo was talking to me. In a friendly way and not 'I hate you, get out my face' type of way.
"Uh, I forgot how good of a team we make." Leo scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah, totally, specially where you geo-leaped and left me with the men who were trying to take us away."
Leo narrowed his eyes, "I panicked."
"Guess besides that, yeah we make a pretty good team." I added.
"I still don't trust you and I don't like that you are with Marcus... but maybe... we can be, you know, be friends." Leo struggled out. "I'm not saying let's be best friends again but I've kinda missed having you around."
"Are you sure?" I asked. I don't know what Douglas had planned for us— I just know it's soon, and if I agree to this, I could destroy my chances of ever making it right between my old friends.
"Yeah." Leo smiled.
"Okay, then." I said after some thoughts. I extended my hand to Leo and he took it.
I just hope I don't screw this up. Again.
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Season 2 ep 8: Parallel Universe
Word count: 2958