Chapter Text
There was someone poking him, Chase realized as he slowly woke up. Usually, it would be Kaz, but he was still pressed to Chase’s front, sound asleep, and the poking was coming from behind him. He stayed lying down with his eyes closed for a few moments in the vain hope that it would go away, but as his bionics started to come back online, he knew that wasn’t happening. Groaning slightly, he sat up, blinking slowly as he took in the sight of his siblings and younger self standing over the bed.
“Can I help you?”
“Yeah, we’ve got questions,” Bree said as the three of them all smiled hopefully down at Chase.
“No.”
He turned to lie back down and attempt to go back to sleep, but Chase felt a hand grab his arm before he could do so. Before he knew what was happening, he was hoisted into the air and carried out of the room. It was only due to the fact he was completely used to this from Adam that Chase didn’t try to fight it. It was decidedly easier to just go along with it, so Chase watched as he was carried away from the warm bed and Kaz, still sleeping peacefully. This was not the first time Chase was jealous of Kaz’s ability to sleep through almost anything when he wanted to, an ability he trained due to having eleven siblings, according to him and Oliver. There was no way his bionics would allow him to do so unless Chase had completely blocked out all of his senses, but that was largely impractical in the long run.
He wasn’t actually carried that far away, Adam ended up dropping him into one of the other rooms in the same hallway, and Chase looked up unimpressed at his now kidnappers.
“Really?”
“Look,” his younger self stepped forward, “I know you think something horrible is going to happen if you tell us anything of the future, but we’ve all experienced time travel, and we were all completely fine! If anything, it was better that we knew about the future.”
“Yeah, and it’s not like you being here alone hasn’t changed anything,” added Bree.
Chase thought back to all their previous interactions, “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Well, we know you’ve got a boyfriend.”
“So I was right about you never getting a girlfriend.” Adam grinned. Chase would normally protest this, but considering the only girl he actually dated turned against him and would just raise more questions than answers, he kept quiet.
“A fact about my personal life and a fact about the state of the future are completely different things.” Chase reasoned.
“Just because you've traveled back doesn't make you the expert on this.” Bree argued back, “And we’ve got questions that only you can answer.”
“So we’re not letting you go til you answer them.” The younger Chase said.
“Okay, first of all, in the future can dogs vote?” Adam asked. His siblings turned to stare at him.
“Really, of all the questions, that’s what you choose?” Bree drawled, unimpressed.
“No! I have others, like if I eat myself, would I be twice as big or disappear completely?”
“That’s got nothing to do with the future!”
“Well, you asked me to write some questions, and I’ve yet to find an answer to them.”
“You’re supposed to ask actual questions, like about our bionics.” the younger Chase chastised.
“Oh or-”
Chase cut Adam off. “Am I allowed to have a say in this? Cause the answer’s no.”
“No, you’re not answering, or no, dogs can’t vote?”
“No to both.”
Adam visibly deflated while behind him Bree and the younger Chase were still chastising him for his question choices. As he sat there watching them, he inwardly sighed. Chase knew himself, and he knew his siblings, so he knew this was never going to end unless he put a stop to it.
“You know what, fine.” he sighed, “I’ll answer one question each, and that’s it.”
“Only one?” the younger Chase asked, mind clearly starting to run overtime to think of the right question to ask.
“Hey that's not far! Chase got to ask a bunch!” Bree said.
Chase just shrugged, “He didn’t drag me out of my bed to ask me them. So you now get one. Choose wisely.” Sure it was mean, but he was tired and had no plans of possibly messing up the timeline further.
Adam, being who he was, immediately perked up, “Oh cool, so if dogs can’t vote, can-” but whatever he was going to say was cut off by Bree.
“Hey! That would be a second question; you've already asked yours!” Adam began to protest, causing the two of them to start bickering over exactly how many questions they should be allowed to ask. The younger Chase tried to ask his question but was roped into the fight as he had what Adam and Bree deemed to be an ‘unfair headstart’.
Chase watched them for a bit, feeling oddly nostalgic, before making his way to the door, which was now unguarded.
—
Chase reached the guest bedroom to see Kaz had not moved much, though he was clearly awake as he lifted his head upon Chase’s reentrance.
“You good dude?” he croaked out.
“Yeah,” Chase said as he sat back down on the bed, “It was just the others; they kidnapped me, asked me questions, nothing major.”
“They kidnapped you?” Kaz sat up, looking more alert. His hair was sticking up even more than usual, and he had trouble focusing his eyes as he fought to unwrap himself from his mountain of blankets.
Chase placed a hand on his arm to stop him. “They only took me to the next room; it's fine.”
Kaz stared at him for a moment. “You know, I’d say something along the lines of your family being weird, but I’m not sure I’m really in a position to talk.”
“Unless your family has created and trained bionic child soldiers, I think you can judge all you want.” Chase couldn't help but laugh a little.
“What did they ask you then?” Kaz was now sitting up properly against the headboard, having managed to untangle himself from the blankets.
“About the future naturally. You heard me earlier, they want to know all about it.”
“And I’m guessing you told them nothing,” Kaz asked jokingly.
“Of course not!” Chase didn’t know why he was the only one who could see that he could be putting the future at stake. It was pretty obvious to him, and there was no way he was going to risk anything.
“Would it be so bad to let them know?” Kaz asked softly. “I mean, I get it, not wanting to affect the future, but there’s not much harm in answering their questions, right?”
Chase sighed and thought for a moment about what to say. “It’s just… I…I don’t want to lose this. Us, the team, any of it. There are so many variables to consider, and we are literally in unknown territory. What if I say the wrong thing, and we get back to find that we’ve never met or the elite force doesn't exist?”
“So find me,” Kaz said, turning to face him and placing one of his hands over Chase’s. “We met each other in this timeline; who’s to say we can't find each other in others? You know where I live, I know where you live; really, there’s not a whole lot to stop us.”
Chase couldn't fight his smile as he looked up at Kaz’s earnest face. He made it sound simpler than Chase’s brain ever could. While he wanted to believe it would be that easy, his brain kept coming up with more and more worse-case scenarios of how everything could go wrong and how he could lose his friends and -
“Chase, It’s going to be okay; stop overthinking.” he focused on Kaz for a second and willed his brain to slow down.
“I don't think I’m physically capable of doing so,” Chase said jokingly, leaning his head against Kaz’s shoulder. “Like my bionics make me physically incapable.”
“I think that’s the neurodivergence talking, but what do I know.” Kaz shrugged the shoulder Chase wasn't resting on, a matching grin on his face.
—
They eventually went down to the kitchen at what Kaz deemed to be a more appropriate time. Before everything, this would have been around midday at the earliest, but a combination of working at Mighty Med and then the Elite Force had forced him to become more of a morning person. He still slept in the latest compared to everyone else, but it was still an improvement.
Neither Mr. Davenport nor his younger self and siblings were around anywhere; if Chase had to guess they were already back down in the lab, and with Tasha having already gone to work, that left Leo sitting in the kitchen by himself.
“Hey Leo,” Kaz said as he slid into one of the seats next to him. Leo waved in greeting and continued to eat his breakfast. Chase started to look through the cabinets and fridge for anything to eat.
“You wouldn’t happen to have any more comics, would you?” He heard Kaz ask nonchalantly and Chase turned his head just in time to see his little brother’s eyes widen.
“Another one? How many villains are after you guys?” he asked, sounding slightly excited. Chase froze before his head went haywire.
Another? How did Leo know that Aion was a comic villain? And how did he know that a comic villain specifically was after them? Chase never said anything.
He turned to Kaz. “You told him,” he didn’t phrase it like a question.
He didn’t try to deny it, “Okay, before you get mad, technically, I didn’t tell him; he figured it out.” Kaz placated. “You never said what to do if they worked it out.”
“Because they weren’t supposed to!”
Frankly, he was both impressed that Leo did figure it out and a little disappointed that his younger self hadn't, but Chase did have his limits in what he could believe in, and superheroes used to be one of them. But impressed as he was, he still hadn’t wanted anyone to actually figure it out.
Chase turned to Leo, placing his hands on his shoulders to keep his brother’s attention on him. “Leo, you cannot tell anyone about this, okay? I’m trying to keep this timeline intact. You remember Future Leo and what happened when you changed things? I don’t want Kaz to be replaced by a dog.”
There was a look of realization on Leo’s face when he caught what Chase meant, only for Kaz to cut in.
“Wait, wait, replaced how? Do I become the dog, or are me and the dog separate entities?”
“Does it matter?” Chase asked, turning to face him.
“Yes, absolutely.” Kaz crossed his arms to convey that he was in fact serious.
“I hope it’s the second option cause I’m not sure how I feel about marrying a human turned dog,” Leo said, looking like he was thinking deeply about this.
Chase suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, “Look, no one’s turning into a dog, okay? That’s not something that exists in the future.”
“I don't know, you did turn me into a sheep that one time,” Kaz said unhelpfully.
“You turned him into a sheep?” Leo asked, turning to face Chase, who dragged a hand over his face.
“Okay! We are getting off topic here!”
“Too bad you can't just drop that and leave it, man.”
“I can and I will,” Chase said, trying to bring them back to the matter at hand. Once again he placed his hands on Leo’s shoulders to try to keep his attention on him. “Leo, what exactly do you know?”
“That superheroes also exist, and you thought you'd keep that fact from me?”
He rolled his eyes, “Timeline reasons Leo, I already told you.”
“Who cares? This is awesome!”
“It really is,” Kaz added gleefully, still excited by the prospects of superheroes even now. Normally Chase would be charmed by this, but right now, he wanted to regain control of the situation.
“Okay, sure, it’s cool, but that’s not what we need to focus on right now.” he looked down at Leo, asking again, “Leo, what do you know?”
“You were sent back in time by the supervillain Aion, whose time abilities sent you specifically 12 years because they work on a schedule. Kaz thinks that they may have teamed up with another villain called Killjoy given how you found their lair. And, oh yeah, superheroes exist!” Leo excitedly yelled the last part.
As helpful as Leo had been in helping Kaz with his research into Killjoy, Chase felt like he was going to deeply regret Leo knowing about superheroes this early if he couldn't get him to agree to be quiet. He understood Leo’s excitement; for him, it was a literal dream come true, even with the bionic siblings, but it was incredibly stressful to think about when you were worried about maintaining the timeline as best you could.
He reiterated again, “Leo, you can’t tell anyone about this; you know that right? Not even us or Mr. Davenport.”
“Ugh but why?” Leo whined, “This is like the coolest thing ever, and it could be useful for future missions!”
“Honestly, I don’t think Mr. Davenport or the others will even believe you.” Chase said, “Plus you’re not supposed to even find out that they’re real for a couple more years.”
“But think about the bragging rights you’d get when you do meet them,” Kaz added, bringing a grin onto Leo’s face as he imagined it.
“Fine,” he eventually said, and Chase felt a flash of relief, “I suppose I’ll keep quiet about it for now.”
“Thanks Leo,” Chase patted his brother's shoulder, “You’re the best.”
“And don't you forget it!” Leo said, returning to his breakfast.
Rolling his eyes fondly, Chase tugged on Kaz’s sleeve to pull him along. “Come on, we need to get to the lab,”
Kaz adjusted his grip so he was holding his hand instead and turned back to Leo. “Check out Ambrose Comics specifically, he’s our chronicler!”
Chase could see Leo giving him a thumbs up before the elevator doors closed and they descended down to the lab.
—
They reached the lab, where Mr. Davenport was already inside, still dressed up from his meeting, standing with the other Chase over the machine. They were surrounded by canisters, presumably full of the replicated radioactive matter, in between the half-built parts of the time machine. The two of them were deep in a discussion and only looked up when they heard the elevator doors open.
“Oh good, you guys are here.” Mr. Davenport rounded the table, “So there’s been a development.”
“Has the radioactive matter gained sentience and started to multiply itself?” Chase asked, thinking back to when Adam cloned himself.
“What? No, it's the machine. It… uh... well, it broke.”
“What?” Mr. Davenport stepped aside and gestured to where the replicator was previously sitting, only now it was glowing unnaturally despite nothing else being near it.
“How the hell did it break?” asked Kaz, “You know, for a guy who made his fortune off technology, the technology sure breaks a lot!”
“Hey, it wasn’t human error… this time. It’s the radioactive matter itself. It wasn’t stable enough for the replicator to be exposed to it for so long, and it stopped.”
“Is it safe to have in the lab then? Cause only like 10% of the lab is analog. Hell, that’s the same for the whole house.” Leo asked.
“It’s properly contained now.” Mr. Davenport said, “And we were able to replicate some samples, though.”
“Okay then, with the samples we’ve got, how far back can we get?” Chase asked.
The Younger Chase pulled up some screens with calculations on them. “Based on my calculations, I’d say you could travel easily the four years to get back to your time.”
It was at that moment that Chase realized that they had forgotten something.
In the chaos that came from their sudden appearance and haste to start working on the time machine, he and Kaz had never mentioned the rest of their team. Who were also stuck in the past, even further in the past than they were. Chase had been so reluctant to give details in case they messed up the timeline in some way that he had completely missed mentioning the most important part of the plan, which was getting Bree, Oliver, and Skylar back. As he turned to catch Kaz’s eye, he could see that he had also come to the same realization.
“Cool,” Kaz said, dragging out the word, “and what’s the furthest we could travel with the fuel we’ve got? You know, hypothetically.”
Younger Chase shot him a confused look, “I’d say about 15 years? Maybe more if you push it, but that could jeopardize the machine.”
15 years wasn’t even close to what they needed. It could get them to Bree, if they ever get in contact with her, but there was no way they could reach Skylar or Oliver with that. Chase nodded, head already whirring with ideas and half-baked solutions as he watched Mr. Davenport continue to talk about the details of the machine.
—
He pulled Kaz to the side. “We forgot to mention the team.”
“We forgot to mention the team,” Kaz repeated in confirmation.
“What the hell are we going to do?”
“Should we tell them? Maybe they can come up with another way to make the fuel?”
“We have no clue where Aion and Killjoy are nor how close they are to finding Oliver, Skylar, and Bree. We don’t have the time to find another source of fuel.” Chase began to pace back and forth.
“I mean, I’d argue that we’ve got all the time in the world.”
Time travel was really starting to hurt his head. “Sure, but we are also racing against another time traveler; time both does and doesn’t matter in this scenario!” Chase clutched at his head, feeling a headache starting to form from his mind trying to figure out a solution.
“Yikes, I can practically hear you thinking from here.” Chase could feel Kaz’s hand on his shoulder, grounding him for a moment. He took a moment, just focusing on the weight of the hand, before looking back up at Kaz.
“Okay, for now, let’s stick with the plan to go back and get Skylar, Oliver, and Bree. That plan was fine, and there’s no point in deviating from it.” Kaz said when he was sure Chase wasn’t going to have a meltdown. “Plus, if we try anything else, I’m worried your head will explode.”
“I don’t think my head will explode from overthinking.”
“The ‘don't’ doesn't fill me with confidence dude, but given your track record, it would have happened already.”
Whatever Chase might have said next was lost when he heard a new noise. The earpiece crackled once from the pocket of his suit, only now a different voice called out amongst the static. “Cha…. az? Are yo…ere?”
Almost immediately recognizing the voice, Chase let out a sigh of relief as he pulled it out from his pocket, “Bree! Are you okay? Where are you?”
“Ear…..roke…manag….grab a….ew on…fro…ab.”
“Fro ab?” Chase repeated, struggling to decipher what his sister was saying. “Fro… from? From lab? Bree, did you go to the lab?”
“Yea… pret…asy act..ly.”
“Wait, Bree stole from the lab too? And didn’t get caught?” Kaz asked, leaning as close as he could get to Chase in order to also listen in. He had no idea where Kaz’s earpiece went.
“Well, her bionics are more designed for stealth, plus the lab was built by then.”
“Oh shit, awesome.”
“Bree, have you heard from the others?” Chase asked.
“No… calle…ou..fir..t.”
He couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of Bree going to contact him first. “Okay, so some stuff has happened.” He explained where and when the rest of the team had ended up and Chase and Kaz’s attempts to get them all back together again.
There were a few moments of back and forth, which was increasingly more difficult when you could only hear half of what Bree was saying, before a usable idea was brought up.
“Wait, could Bree get it?”
“Huh?” Chase looked at Kaz.
“Think about it! Bree is only 12 years in the past, the lab is still there, and Dr. Sims’ work is probably still around then, right? We could get Bree to get the elements, and when we travel back to get her, we could make more fuel and get back to Skylar and Oliver.”
Chase thought it over, “We’d have an extra four years or so of fuel left if we went to get Bree. Maybe more. If Bree can get the same or more of the materials, we could definitely stretch it enough years to get to Skylar at least.”
“And if we can’t reach Oliver, there’s always Mighty Med. If we get to Skylar and make a trip to them, there’s bound to be something to get us all back.”
Chase picked up the earpiece again. “Bree, I’m going to need you to get some stuff for us, okay? We have a plan.”
“We do?” Kaz couldn't help but ask.
“I’ve got like half of one right now.” Kaz was right in that Dr. Sims’ work would still be there even 12 years ago, but in order for this to work properly, they needed the lab in order to properly create more fuel.
Chase thought for a moment before he looked back over his hard drive and memories. With Bree, sneaking back into the lab would be easy, and her bionics would help to speed up the process immensely, but that meant that they needed the lab to be free, or at least to be able to grab the materials they needed undetected.
From what Chase would recall from his hard drive, Mr. Davenport had not yet created the replicator, so the latter option of sneaking in would make the most sense. Chase did have the plans memorised, and between him and Bree, they could definitely put something together.
Admittedly it was not a full plan, but it was something so it had to be good enough for now. Chase relayed his idea to Bree, telling her where Dr. Sims’ lab would be located and where she could get the elements before sending out a message to Skylar and Oliver so they would be prepared too. When that was done, he and Kaz returned to the lab.
—
Seeing as they thought that the job was complete, Mr. Davenport didn’t seem to think that there was much point in wasting time, and not long after Chase and Kaz returned to the lab, the machine was ready to go. They could have left a lot sooner really, but Kaz distracted Mr. Davenport into talking more about the machine and his work in general. Never missing a chance to talk about his genius, Mr. Davenport was immediately happy to spring into a whole lecture, drawing everyone's attention away from Chase.
As subtly as he could, Chase changed the date on the machine to 2001 before turning his attention back to Mr. Davenport, subtly tapping Kaz’s hand to let him know that the change had been made. In the corner of his eye, he could see Kaz subtly nod in acknowledgment.
Eventually, even Mr. Davenport ran out of things to talk about. For a moment, they all stood around the machine, unsure what to do. Chase figured normally people would say goodbye, but given he was going to see them all anyway, it felt a bit pointless.
“Uh… well thanks for the help.” he ended up going with. “We’ll… see you around.”
“Oh!” Bree piped up. “I still want to ask my question.”
Chase turned back to face her expectantly, already guessing what sort of question she might ask.
“Mom jeans, are they making a comeback or not?”
“Really?” the younger Chase grumbled, “That’s what you go with? Neither of you know how to ask the right questions.”
Kaz snorted. “Dude, didn’t you ask if you'd be taller than Bree?” Bree turned back to the younger Chase with a vindictive grin as he mumbled something in his defense.
“Well to answer your question, Bree, I think they actually are,” Chase said.
“I knew it!” Bree said gleefully as she stepped back and waved a hand toward Chase and Kaz. “Okay, you guys can go now.”
—
Traveling back in time this time around felt different, which was a phrase Chase thought he’d say. When Aion sent them back, it hadn't felt like anything, more like a punch, and suddenly you’d wake up somewhere- and some when- else. With the machine though, it was just a lot…more. Chase didn’t know how to describe it really. Vaguely he could recall Mr. Davenport asking future Leo if it felt like being sucked through a small hole, and he had to agree with that. It was like they were being pulled through a small hole, and their entire bodies were simultaneously being compressed and stretched out. It felt like it lasted for hours and minutes, and before Chase knew it, the feeling stopped, and he opened his eyes.
Looking around, he could see that the others were all gone; it was just Chase and Kaz here. For a moment, he scanned their surroundings, just in case this had all gone wrong and they hadn't traveled anywhere at all, but there was no one else around. Next to him, Kaz groaned back into consciousness and basically fell out of the machine, lying face down on the ground. Chase also exited the machine, stumbling for a few moments as his legs felt like they had just gone to sleep, and crouched down next to Kaz. Chase scanned over his body and placed a hand on his wrist to make sure he was okay, and with nothing coming up on his scans and his pulse beating steadily, Chase took his arm and dragged him up into a sitting position.
“Holy fuck!” Kaz said, slurring his words slightly. He blinked a couple of times, first up at Chase and then at their surroundings. “Let's never do that again. That fucking sucked.”
Chase hummed in agreement before offering his hand and helping Kaz stand up. “Sorry to disappoint, but in order for this to work, we have to do this at least one more time.”
Kaz groaned and slumped further onto Chase’s shoulder. “Don’t remind me. You heard from Bree yet? Or have we been blown in the wrong direction?”
Chase tried his comm, and for the first time since they had fought Aion, he heard a clear voice. “Chase? Kaz? Has it worked?”
“Bree! Yes! I can hear you clearly; I think it’s worked!” Kaz let out a small whoop next to him, both of them grinning widely.
“Oh thank god.” Behind Chase, he could feel a sudden rush of air and a much louder voice say, “It was a pain trying to listen through the static.”
They turned as best they could with Kaz still slumped against Chase, and there, standing casually like she was waiting for the bus, was Bree. It wasn’t noticeable before, the subtle difference between the Bree they had just left and the Bree now, but in that moment, Chase realized that he had missed his sister. The younger version of her just wasn't the same compared to the Bree who had gone through everything with him
Making sure Kaz could still stand, Chase dashed forwards and hugged her. He didn’t voice what he wanted to say, how he didn’t realize how much he missed being around his siblings now, not how they had been, but he didn’t need to when Bree hugged him back just as tightly. They stood there like that for a few minutes, though both of them would deny it when they got back. Behind them, Chase could sense Kaz walking up to them and loosened his grip to Bree could also hug Kaz.
When the reunion was over, Chase turned to Bree. “Do you have what I asked for?”
She nodded, speeding away for a moment only to return with a large box in her hands. It bore the same warning stickers as the box that Chase collected from Dr. Sims' lab. “These should be the right ones. I feel bad for setting their work back like another ten years though”
Chase opened and inspected the contents, scanning them to confirm that they were the right materials. “We’ll send a thank you card or something.”
Chase gestured for Bree to grab the end of the box, and the two of them moved it closer to the time machine. He checked he had all the plans and formulas for the fuel correctly memorized before grabbing Bree’s arm.
“Right, Kaz, you look after the machine; we won’t be long.” he nodded, and with that, Bree sped them both away back to the lab.
—
The house still looked the same as it always did, and the lab was no different. Despite the fact that Mr. Davenport was largely more paranoid about anyone finding out about Chase and his siblings, something that had relaxed over the years when they were actually allowed out in public, it was still easy for Bree to sneak her way inside. Her bionics were something that even Eddie couldn't properly pick up, so she easily sped her way through the house and down to the lab. As a safety precaution, Chase remained outside, hacking into Eddie so he could watch Bree and keep Eddie from reporting her to Mr. Davenport.
Inside, the even younger versions of Adam and the two of them were running around, arguing about something long forgotten. As her younger self was also using her abilities, Bree was able to dart into the lab without causing too much suspicion.
It took a couple of attempts; even with her bionics being made for stealth Bree’s speed wasn’t something she could completely hide, and the constant breeze she kicked up would be harder to explain away, but they were able to grab what they needed. Chase was mainly thankful he wasn’t caught out by Eddie for a second time.
“I forgot how short we all were,” Bree said as they left.
“Yeah, I forgot how short Leo used to be too. I kept looking up when speaking to him.”
“Oh please tell me you didn’t tell him about that. He does not need that ego boost.”
“Nah I didn't; figured it wouldn't change much anyway.” Chase thought back to the day when Leo’s growth spurt finally hit, and he was no longer the shortest of his siblings. He had been smug about it for weeks after.
Bree hummed in agreement, looking like she was also thinking back to Leo hitting his growth spurt as she grabbed Chase’s arm and took them back to Kaz and the machine. Kaz looked up from where he was lying on the ground and offered a thumbs up, going back to messing with his earpiece when Bree returned the gesture.
She dumped the equipment down, ignoring Chase’s protests about possibly damaging them as she sat down next to Kaz. Checking that nothing was damaged and sending an annoyed glare to Bree, Chase got to work setting up a space for him to work and began to lay out all the different equipment and materials they had picked up for the job. When he was satisfied with his space, he pulled up the various blueprints he needed and got to work.
Using his bionics, Chase turned down the rest of his senses, putting his full focus on his task. Faintly around him, he could make out Bree and Kaz talking and even Bree using her bionics to speed away every so often, but Chase engrossed himself in his work, so what he picked up was more a side effect of his bionics than his conscious mind.
When he was certain he’d successfully created it, matching it to the plans and formula he’s memorized from the lab, Chase finally looked up. Next to him, Kaz and Bree were sprawled out on the ground, talking between themselves while they ate takeaway that was definitely not there before. He looked down and found a drink wedged into the hand that wasn’t holding the container he had brought for the fuel.
He took a sip, suddenly realizing how dry his mouth was. “Did you pay for this?”
Bree shrugged a shoulder. “Well, technically, we still have access to Mr. Davenport’s money, so it’s not really stealing.”
“Plus, is he really going to notice?” Kaz added. Chase couldn’t bring himself to attempt to argue and just accepted the food that was offered to him, slumping down next to Bree.
“Anything interesting happen while I was out?”
“We talked a bit to Skylar and Oliver,” Bree said, picking up what looked to be her fourth or fifth burger, judging by the number of wrappers surrounding her. Both Bree and Adam had to eat a lot of food in order to keep up with their high metabolism and bionics “Both seem okay, though I think Oliver is firmly against disco music now.”
“Has he just… stayed at the disco this whole time?”
“Unclear, but not unlikely,” Kaz said as he shoved a handful of fries into his mouth. “I also explained the deal with Aion’s partner.”
“That explains the Home Alone setup back at their base.” Bree tossed aside her wrapper and picked up her drink.
“Also makes them a little more unpredictable to deal with.”
“At least it doesn’t seem like Killjoy actually has any powers, his stuff is all handmade.” Kaz pulled out a small notebook of notes he’s made while in the lab, “so he’s arguably easier to deal with.”
“We just have to avoid his traps.” Chase said, “though they both seem aware enough of our weaknesses. We’ll have to come up with a proper plan to deal with them once we get back to Skylar and Oliver.”
—
“Is this even going to work?”
“It has too,” Chase said, not wanting to voice the many worse-case scenarios that his brain couldn’t help but come up with.
It was times like these that he wished there was some way to turn off his brain. Having bionics where amazing, and Chase had no clue what he would do without them, but some days he wished he could just go about his day without his brain constantly collecting information from his surroundings and overanalyzing everything. Sure, there were millions of different ways that Chase could try to get his team home, but the thing about overthinking is that it doesn’t allow for much rationality, and there was only so much they could do, superhuman or not.
“Is it even going to fit all of us?” Bree asked, gesturing to the machine.
“I… hadn't thought about that, actually,” Chase said, stopping refueling to look at the machine properly. It had been made with only two people in mind for the journey, so it was pretty small.
“I mean, we could just double up, I guess,” Kaz said, shrugging slightly. “We only need to fit four people in there anyway, it shouldn’t be too bad.”
Chase stood up, wiping his hands on his suit, “It’ll have to do.”
“You think Oliver or Skylar will want some food?” Kaz asked, holding up the bag of takeaway not yet eaten. “I don’t really know what to do with this.”
“Paradox food.” Bree said, taking the bag from him “Why not?”
They managed to squeeze the three of them into the machine, with Bree wedged awkwardly between Chase and Kaz, resulting in pins and needles in his legs along with the general staticy feeling that the machine left him afterward.
“Just a heads up Bree, this is going to suck,” Kaz said right before Chase set the next date into the machine. Bree wasn’t given any time to answer before the machine started up, and they were sent back once more.
—
The feeling hadn’t changed, still felt like they were being pushed through a too-small space. The only saving grace was that Chase at least knew what to expect this time, though it did little to take away from how unsettling it felt.
The feeling suddenly stopped, and Chase was able to open his eyes again, blinking away pixels. He’d managed to remain upright in the machine, but Kaz was less lucky and ended up slumping over in a similar fashion to their first jump.
As Chase was getting his bearings and checking that Kaz or Bree wasn't dead, he could feel a rush of air and a flash of blue as Skylar had found them. Chase felt a similar feeling upon seeing her as he did upon seeing Bree again and couldn't stop the smile from spreading on his face.
Bree rolled off of Chase and Kaz and slumped over on the floor, mirroring Kaz. “You were right; that sucked.” she groaned. “Hey Sky,” they both weakly waved a hand in Skylar’s direction.
“Are they both dying?” Skylar asked as she walked over and hugged Chase, who was the only still-standing person.
“Hey Skylar, they’re going to be okay.”
“Time travel is the worst!” Kaz cried as he stood up, swaying slightly. Bree looked like she had fully recovered and joined Chase in greeting Skylar. Kaz also tried to join the hug but ended up slumping over Skylar’s back rather than actually hugging her. She didn’t seem to mind though, reaching back to pat his head.
—
The time between arriving and having to travel again was a lot short this time, as they only really had to fully fill Skylar in on the details and the rest of their plan before they set off again. The squeeze was even tighter with now four people piled into the machine, and Chase briefly regretted not telling Mr. Davenport about the rest of his team just so the machine could accommodate them all better.
Once more, they arrive with little hassle. The third time seemed to be the charm, as Kaz was able to stay on his feet with only a little stumbling. Bree and Skylar looked worse off, but Skylar was able to brush it off a lot faster and helped Bree get to her feet.
“So… where’s Oliver?” Kaz asked. They had all tried contacting him, but along with the lack of static, there was nothing to be heard on his end. Without the ability to contact Oliver, it was significantly harder to find him, seeing as he wasn’t there to greet them. And it wasn’t like Oliver to be late for something like this.
A voice came from behind them, “Sorry buddy. You had all the time in the world, and yet you're still too late.”