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"Douglas, you're here!" Bree exclaimed. At the sight of him, she hurried from the couch and hugged the man named Douglas.
Chase leaned on the luggage, explaining, "Guys, this is our uncle, Douglas. Well, technically, he's our father."
Bree scoffed, moving to stand next to the two. "Yeah, like we'd ever call him that."
"Oh," Kaz gestured to him, the recognition clicking in his brain, "you're the guy who tried to kill them." His face lit up warmly in greeting as he stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you!"
Alex followed Kaz and the others over to the Davenports as she nodded slowly, "Cool. Mighty dandy. Sounds extremely complicated." Her lips pursed, adding to herself, "Gotta love that."
Douglas watched his hand shake Kaz's. He then gestured to him, studying the boy up and down. "Yeah you too, Oliver. Though you're not nearly as scrawny as Chase said you were."
"That's because I'm Oliver." The other boy corrected him.
Skylar ignores Oliver's remark and walked up to Douglas. "Hi, I'm Skylar."
Douglas shook Skylar's hand. "Ah, the alien girl." He chuckled slightly. "You know, I'm kind of disppointed. I thought you'd have three heads." He waved his hands around vaguely in reference to the said-missing heads, sounding displeased.
Skylar waved her arm at him. "Don't be silly. You shed the other two when you're a kid and leave them under your pillow for the head fairy."
"That's.. disgusting?" Douglas glanced at Chase, almost as if he was looking for help.
Alex held up a hand. "Wait, hold up, the alien girl? Am I chopped liver?" She pointed to herself.
She wouldn't be surprised if she was being honest.
Douglas turned to her, "And you must be Alex, the less crazed alien." Alex's brows raised at the description and furrowed when the man kept talking, "I've heard a lot about you. But again, kinda disappointed on the whole no-multiple-limbs thing." He gestured, slightly frowned.
Chase cleared his throat awkwardly, interjecting, "Uh, good news. Skylar just got her powers back." He motioned to Alien number one.
"And guess who got them back for her." Kaz added and proceeding to gesture to Chase.
Chase shrugged almost humbly but his giddy smile gave him away. He loved the credit. He loved boosting his ego. "Okay... It was me." He chuckled lightly.
Bree leaned closer to Douglas. "A little Elite Force gossip: Scrawny's jelly because Bookworm got Alien 1 her powers back." She pointed between them.
Oliver's annoyed expression proved Bree's point.
"Alien 1?" Alex repeated. "Does that mean I'm Alien 2?"
"Maybe?" Kaz tilted his head as he turned to her. "Don't take it personal."
Alex pursed her lips, "Gee, why should I?"
"Hey," Kaz nudged her slightly, "at least you're Alien 1 in my heart."
"Aww, that was super cheesy, you dork." Alex smiled and nudged nudged him back, hinting at her teasing. Her smile dropped, "Never say that ever again."
She laughed when Kaz feigned a hurt expression, to which he smiled at.
But deep down, both of them knew her laughter wasn't gonna fix the way Alex was feeling inside. The morning was already revealing too many new things to her.
"Okay... Aliens I can believe, but someone jealous of Chase?" He pointed to the boy with a shake of his head, "unfathomable." He then walked past them, patting Oliver on the shoulder. "So... looks like I'll be staying here with you while my brother's gone."
Douglas took no time making himself at home. He plopped onto the couch and stretched his arms.
Skylar asked, moving to sit on the back of the couch. "Where did Mr. Davenport go anyway? I mean, not that I'm complaining. I think I speak for all of us when I say we could use a good break."
"He went back home. He'll be checking in, but he wanted to be there with Tasha when the baby arrives." Douglas told them.
"Hm, probably so he can jam a bionic chip in its neck when she's not looking." Bree said with a chuckle as she took a seat on the couch as well.
Alex quirked a brow. "Maybe that should be.. oh, I don't know, unpacked a little?" Her finger moved around in reference to the loaded comment but got no reaction.
She looked to Kaz for help, to support her in some way. But he simply shrugged. It was very likely he hadn't been paying attention and had only noticed Alex's eyes on him.
That tended to be the case. And was here.
"Anyway, my first order of business while I'm here, is to design the team's new mission suits." The man said.
Chase waved his hand in protest with the other across his chest. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, no you're not. 'Cause I'm designing them. I started sketching up a prototype two weeks ago."
Douglas snorted like what Chase had just told him was a ridiculous joke. "I think we can all agree that the guy who created you, is much more capable of creating the mission suits."
"Yeah, 'cause Chase can't be trusted with anything!" Oliver exclaimed loudly. He took a slight step back, realizing his crazed and emotional outburst. He placed his hands in front of him, awkwardly clearing his throat. "I mean, I'd like to be on Douglas's team please."
Kaz shrugged and moved to place a hand on Chase's shoulder. "I don't know I mean, Chase is the smartest guy in the world, and he did cure Skylar all by himself..." He glanced at his best friend, smirking mischievously.
Alex pointed to Kaz to show she emphasized his words. "Dude's kinda got a point."
"Thank you, Kaz." Chase then turned to Douglas, crossing his arms with a smirk. "And I think we can also all agree that our mission suit shouldn't be designed by anyone who looks like a hipster porcupine."
"You kind of look like a younger, nerdier porcupine," Alex shrugged and smiled softly when Kaz laughed, offering a high five. Which she accepted.
"Okay. I see how it is." Douglas stood up, crossing to place a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Well, I guess Oliver and I will get to work on my version of the suit, while you, Alien number 2 and Kaz spin your wheels making something we'll never use."
"That's right, we will." Chase said.
"Yeah, you will." Oliver remarked.
"Yeah, we will." Kaz turned to Chase, "I'm sorry, what are we willing?"
Alex raised a hand. "I'm not willing, I never agreed to this." She motioned to Chase, "Don't go looking for my help."
"Too late." Chase told her.
"I'm not gonna do anything."
"Well, you're on our team anyways." He whipped around to face Kaz. "We are gonna make the most powerful, intimidating, take-no-prisoners mission suits ever! It's dress up time, and you just became my doll."
Chase walked away and Alex couldn't help but laugh, to which Kaz looked over at her, his eyes reading; How dare you betray me and leave me to this fate?
She smiled sympathetically and mouthed, Sorry.
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Chase was measuring Kaz's waist but was finding great difficulty with Kaz, in a black suit, squirming around with every adjustment the bionic made.
Chase pulled the tape away. "What are you doing?"
"I want you to make my mission suit breathable," Kaz answered. "I'm a wiggler." He shimmied his shoulders to show Chase he meant it.
"Well, stand still. These measurements have to be exact." Chase told him.
He out the measuring tape around his neck and pulled out a pin.
"Ow!" Kaz exclaimed with a harsh flinch away. "Careful. Those pins are sharp."
Chase looked up at him. He sounded offended. "Would you relax? I know what I'm doing."
However, the superhero felt a prick of a needle where Chase had resumed working and recoiled.
"Ow!" Kaz cried out. His eyes accusingly found Chase's, wearing a smug grin.
Chase giggled evilly. "That one was all me."
"Stay away from me." Kaz pointed at him. "Stay away from me!"
"Come on. Really?" Chase complained before running after him.
The boy bolted off of the stand and ran for the stairs. He took them two at a time knowing Chase was on his heels, but collided with someone as he rounded the corner.
Kaz caught Alex by her arms, gripping onto her elbows to keep both of them stable, with their faces not at all far apart. Which Kaz didn't mind.
"Hi." Alex said. Not knowing what else to say.
"Hey." His lips tugging into a classic Kaz smile.
"You going somewhere?" Alex asked. Her curiosity got the best of her sometimes and when she was almost knocked over, she figured she could know why.
"Kaz! We need to finish the lining of the suit!"
Kaz grimaced at the sound of Chase's voice. He let go of Alex, realizing he had been holding her for far too long. Any longer would have made things way too awkward. "Kinda busy running away from Chase." Kaz pursed his lips while Alex nodded. "Gotta go."
The boy breezed by Alex with efforts of moving her aside a bit. His touch on her waist to get by her caught her by surprise, so much so that she didn't even say hey back to Chase as he bound up the steps.
She almost even didn't notice Chase barely avoid knocking into his sister, who had dodged out of his way as she came down the stairs.
Bree glanced at her, "You okay?"
Alex figured she looked weird just standing on the stairs for no reason. Especially when Bree hadn't witnessed her interaction with Kaz. That probably would have made it weirder. At least for Alex. "Yeah, totally."
Bree nodded without reading much into it and gestured for her to follow her. "Come on, I got a really cool announcement to share with you guys." Bree smiled to her before calling to their other roommate. "Skylar, I just got a call from the head of the biggest shoe company in the world, and you're never gonna believe what they offered me."
"Is it free shoes? I wonder if they have anything for girls with 14 toes." Skylar said while taking a seat.
"You really have 14 toes?" Bree asked.
"Duh. I'm an alien." Skylar told her, "Eight and six."
Bree turned to Alex, her eyes questioning. She furrowed her brows and pointed, "Do you?"
"13."
Bree nodded and continued on, "All righty then. Anyway, they're giving me my own sneaker line. They're gonna call them Bree-zers." She waved her hands in the air in front of her as if the words would appear.
Skylar tilted her head, "I don't get it."
"My name is Bree, and they just added a "zers" at the end." She explained.
"No, I get the bad pun." Skylar told her, "I mean, why are they giving you your own shoe?"
"Because of my super speed. They're gonna put me in ads, commercials, billboards. When you see Bree, you'll think feet." Bree smiled. Alex smiled too in good spirit to show she was happy for her.
Even though Alex personally wouldn't wanna be paired with feet if it were up to her.
Skylar stood while asking, "So you're actually gonna do it? I didn't think heroes did stuff like that." She crossed her arms.
"Like what?"
"You know, sell out."
Alex pursed her lips. Yikes. That was quite a dig.
"I'm not selling out." Bree said in efforts to defend herself. "It's just nice to be recognized for my unique ability."
Skylar shrugged. "Well, I have super speed, too, but I never needed credit for it. I guess the gift of saving people has always been enough for me. But if this is something you need, you go, girl." She nodded in mock approval, the judgement barely hidden on her face.
Bree turned around to face Skylar as the alien tried to walk away. "I don't need it."
"Okay," Skylar glimpsed at her, pursing her lips.
"I don't." Bree reiterated.
Skylar shrugged. "Fine. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."
"Yeah, I guess we will."
"Okay then, we will."
"Okay."
"Sally Sellout," Skylar murmured.
"Molly Martian Claw," Bree grumbled.
"I take it that's my cue," Alex said, pointing for a leeway to leave.
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Downstairs, Douglas rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Okay, Oliver, let's start designing this suit."
"Cool. So here's what I'm thinking—"
"Oh." Douglas laughed, "That's cute."
"What? I've been dreaming about having my own superhero suit since I was a little kid. Now that I finally have powers, this is my chance." Oliver told him.
Douglas gave in with a slight sigh. "Okay, fine. What did you have in mind?"
"Are you ready for this?" Douglas have no reaction. "Elbow swords. Swords that come out of your elbows."
"Unlike that idea, which came out of somewhere else." Douglas mumbled with an unnoticeable roll of his eyes.
"You're not seeing it." Oliver said. He jabbed his elbows around with fighting noises. "Elbow swords!" The boy grinned with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Douglas waved his hands at him disapprovingly. "No. With all your super powers, you don't need gadgets. Just a simple, functional suit."
Kaz exited the Hyperlift with a smug Chase alongside him. "Guys, look. Chase tricked out my suit with smoke jets."
"Why?" Douglas asked.
"For dramatic..." Kaz said as he was surrounded in a billow of smoke.
"Exits." Chase finished once the smoke cleared and Kaz was gone.
"That was so awesome!" Oliver beamed.
"No, it wasn't." Douglas corrected Oliver quickly. Oliver's amazed grin fell at the glare from the man.
"Oh, don't worry, Douglas. There's nothing wrong with finishing second." Chase chastised him. There was a slight pause. "I don't have any smoke jets, so I'm just gonna leave."
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"Oh, you guys! I can't believe you came to support my commercial." Bree greeted, seeing the girls walk up.
"I didn't," Skylar told her, "I came here to talk you out of it."
Alex turned to Skylar. This was news to her. "So that's why you asked me to come with you to Bree's commercial? Girl, I thought we were being supportive."
"Oh." Bree said. There was a hint of disappointment at Skylar's answer but she masked it. "Well, it's not gonna work. Now step aside so everyone can see my Bree-zers."
Skylar glanced down at Bree's feet as she showed off the shoes. "Those are the ugliest shoes I've ever seen."
"I know, but they're mine!" Bree beamed.
"There's our Bree." A man exclaimed as he walked up to the girls. Alex fussed he was the director based on the headset around his neck. "I'm Tony."
"Right. We talked on the phone." Bree said.
"Sure did. Ready to shoot your first commercial?" Tony asked.
Bree's hands went to rest on her hips, smiling brightly at him. "I sure am."
"Great," Tony clapped. "Let's get you into hair and makeup."
Bree's brows furrowed and she frowned slightly. "I already went."
"Oh." There was a pause as he faltered awkwardly. He switched the topic, "Isn't this exciting? All these people are here just to watch you run. And when they do, those shoes are gonna fly right off the shelves." He waved his arm in a sweeping motion to really sell it.
"And right into the garbage." Skylar grumbled, having made the comment not so quietly to a disapproving Alex.
The man must've heard her because he turned around. "Excuse me, miss. We're about to start shooting, so fans need to be on that side of the camera." He gestured to a part of the park a bit further away.
"Oh, I'm not a fan." Skylar corrected him.
"Oh. Are you the hair and makeup lady?" He said before leaning closer and cupping his mouth in hopes Bree wouldn't hear him, "'Cause if so, we need to talk."
Alex grimaced and switched to a smile as she turned to Bree, who was frowning at Skylar. She gently touched her arm to get her attention. "Hey, I'm gonna get out of the way but I just wanted to say, congrats on the commercial. You deserve this."
Bree's face lit up, and for a moment, Alex was relieved she had diverted her attention away from Skylar. But she was proven wrong. "Thank you. At least someone thinks so."
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Chase rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Did you see their faces when your smoke jets went off?"
"Actually, I haven't really seen anything since my smoke jets went off." Kaz told him. He blinked hard in hopes his eyes would magically recover.
"Hey you two," Alex greeted as she entered the apartment.
Chase looked over at her. "Hey. Where'd you go? You've missed a lot. We've made a ton of improvements."
"Went with Skylar to Bree's commercial," Alex jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in reference.
"Oh, yeah?" Chase asked, "How'd that go?"
Alex shrugged. "Being in the middle of Skylar and Bree disagreeing made me feel too awkward so.. I left."
Kaz blinked hard again, staring straight ahead. "Who is that? I can't see."
Alex rounded the counter, leaning on it with a look of curiosity and concern. "Me, fireboy. You okay?"
Kaz squinted. But he still looked straight ahead. "Alex? Question: do you still look as good as when I last saw you?"
Alex knit her eyebrows together at the inquiry. "Uh.. I don't know, I guess so? What kind of question is that?"
Kaz almost seemed to frown a little. "You don't sound too confident. Not a good sign. Maybe it's good I can't see you right now. Whatever, at least I get to hear you."
"Wait, Alex said, "why can't you see?"
"We added smoke jets to the suit."
Alex raised her brows. "Oh? You did now huh? And may I ask, why's that?"
"Let's focus on what's important. Beating Douglas. We already won the battle, now we just have to win the war. Which means you need something more." Chase said before announcing enthusiastically, "Laser-guided ankle rockets!!"
Kaz pursed his lips, "I was really hoping you were gonna say soothing eye drops."
Alex patted Kaz's shoulder with a small sympathetic smile.
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happy holidays!!! here's my christmas gift to you all!
i'm not gonna lie, fitting alex into this chapter and next has lowkey been giving me a hard time. but i have more ideas for future chapters, don't you worry! i'm gonna try to work on them the rest of break.
but srsly thank you all for loving alex as much as i do!! i hope the year of 2022 has been good to you and that 2023 is even better.
your comments and votes mean the world! don't forget to follow to receive regular updates involving my works.
much love!!!!
see u in the new year folks,
al