Chapter 1: Normality

Disclaimer – I do not own Lab Rats.

"Evacuate the lab immediately!" Davenport screamed, frantically waving his arms. "Everybody move now! We have ten seconds before it explodes!" He began to usher Chase and Leo into the elevator at the entrance to the lab, while Bree zoomed ahead towards the elevator's sanctuary. With only a few seconds to spare, the boys slid past the closing doors as Bree jabbed the 'close door' button repeatedly. They huddled together in the center of the small room, bracing for impact.

And then they heard it: the longest, loudest, most disgusting fart in the history of the world, emanating from the muscled body of their eldest brother.

"Oh my god," Leo croaked as he pinched his nose, "I can smell it through the doors!"

"Quick, get us out of here!" Bree yelled desperately, as she gagged on the noxious fumes beginning to seep in. Chase took a brief break from retching in the corner to push the ground-floor button, and the elevator rocketed up and out of the danger zone.

When the elevator finally arrived at their desired floor, they all tumbled out in a chaotic mess, taking deep breaths of clean air. Once their coughing and choking fits had subsided, Davenport struggled to his feet.

"Okay, who had the brilliant idea to give Adam the Grande Supreme Loco Bean Burrito?!"

ooOOoo

Aside from nuclear level fart attacks and Bree's occasional boy meltdowns, life at the Davenport household had reached a level of somewhat-normality. Adam, Bree, and Chase had been attending school for a few months, and they were only falling into crazy hijinks and hilarious misadventures about once a week, a new record for them. Leo had patched things up with Janelle, and they had reached a tentative friendship. The kids still continued their training with Davenport on a regular basis, with an occasional mission thrown in every once and a while.

Bree had strengthened her friendship with Caitlyn, their quirky personalities gelling well. They had expanded their small circle to include Amanda, an over-enthusiastic, bubbly nerd, and their pet project: Dani. Dani was a very quiet, but sweet girl who had arrived at school halfway through the semester. While not necessarily shy – she wasn't scared of people, and would talk to anyone if they asked her a direct question – Bree, Caitlyn, and Amanda had taken it upon themselves to open her up and make her more sociable. Some progress had been made, like getting Dani to wear clothes other than her old blue hoodie that she always wore, but they still had a lot of work ahead of them.

It was this plan the three girls were discussing when Chase, Adam, and Leo met them at their lockers one Monday morning.

"Okay, is Phase 2 of Operation Soaring Eagle ready for activation?" Caitlyn asked, closing her locker door in order to see Bree and Amanda staring at her blankly.

"Um, Caitlyn?" Bree said as she put her arm around Caitlyn cautiously. "First, there was never a Phase 1, and second, there is no such thing as Operation Soaring Eagle!"

"Oh, right," Caitlyn said sheepishly, "I guess I just got a little overexcited."

"And third," Amanda interjected, "Dani isn't even at school today."

"What? That's like the fifth time in two weeks!" Bree pouted.

"She says there are some family issues at home that she keeps having to deal with," Amanda said. "All I know is Principal Perry is seriously pissed."

"Isn't the temperamental rhinoceros that we call our principal always mad?" Leo asked as he walked up to the girls, along with Adam and Chase. "At least she's not mad at me anymore!" He did a little victory dance, but stopped when he noticed his friends' faces. Bree just rolled her eyes, and then focused back on her friends.

"Okay, I guess we can all just meet up tomorrow at my house to give Dani that makeover."

"That sounds fine, as long as your house doesn't try to kill us again," Caitlyn said.

"No, our house didn't try to kill you, it was our security system that controls our house that tried to kill you," Adam attempted to explain. "Leo turned him evil down in our secret lab." He gave a matter-of-fact nod before seeing his siblings staring at him with wide eyes. "Oh, I meant down in our secret cab! Mr. Davenport owns his own taxi cab." He leaned over to Chase and said in a loud whisper, "Saved it!"

Chase only sighed and patted him on the shoulder tiredly. He knew there was nothing really to say to Adam that would make him understand. Chase turned back around to see Bree, Amanda, and Caitlyn walking off toward their next class and Leo strutting over to Janelle … or at least he was trying to strut. Needing to laugh with somebody over the example of what a Chihuahua would look like if it had "swag", Chase glanced around again for Adam, only to see he had gone over to flirt with a couple of ditzy blonde girls. They were the only females that he could possibly connect with on a mental level.

Resignedly, Chase slipped into his math class three minutes early and took his seat in the empty room. Of the three Davenports, he was faring the worst at the social aspect of school. Bree had her group of BFFs, Adam had the 'jock' look that enabled him to hang out with the popular clique – hell, even Leo had more friends than him! Chase had been stuck with the nerd stereotype the second he walked into the school, and his natural enthusiasm and easy smile had not been enough to pull him out of the social circle he was pushed into.

Chase, however, was not one to give up. Despite the fact the Adam, Bree, and Chase were 17, 16, and 15 respectively, they were all in the same grade at school. Chase had been moved up a grade because of his heightened intelligence, while Adam had been held back because of the fact that he couldn't even spell 'orange'. Chase used this to his advantage, and tried to spend time with his siblings' friends since they were also his classmates. This tactic had not quite worked yet, but he was too stubborn to quit.

The school bell finally rang, and students began to file into the room, taking their seats around him. Soon, his teacher began to lecture on the applications of logarithms, and Chase forced himself to focus on math problems instead of his own problems. A small grin formed on his face as he began to complete yet another A+ worthy assignment.

ooOOoo

"We're home Big D!" Leo called out as he opened the front door. Adam, Bree, and Chase followed him in, and unceremoniously dumped their backpacks on the steps. Bree quickly sped away, leaving a sudden breeze blowing through the living room, before she appeared again wearing a comfy T-shirt and shorts, instead of the tight, pink tank top and skinny jeans that she had been wearing at school.

"So much better!" she said, letting out a sigh of relief. "I was uncomfortable all day." Bree went to flop down onto the couch, but stopped short when she saw that it was occupied.

"Um, Mr. Davenport? Is everything okay?" she asked cautiously. The scientist was sitting in the middle of the couch, watching the television with an intensity to rival Bree's when she picked out shoes. Four pairs of eyes moved to gaze at the TV screen that was holding their patriarch in a trance.

The TV in question was displaying what seemed to be a press conference for a politician. A text box at the bottom of the screen read "Andrew Morgan, Candidate for U.S. Senator," while the rest of the monitor was filled by the face of a handsome man. He appeared to be in his late thirties, but he had the charming look of a screen actor. His smile was charismatic, and his hair was the light brown color that preceded the growth of white and gray. Behind him stood a tall brunette woman who seemed bored and uncomfortable.

"And this was the scene earlier today at senatorial candidate Andrew Morgan's press conference," a news anchor said in a voice over. "Though the day started off normally, with Morgan preaching his platform for his campaign, it descended into a heated question-and-answer session. Many people believe he was aware of the planted cameras and recorders within his opponent Cameron Mitchell's campaign headquarters. Mitchell himself was one of the most vocal today, as he swears that Morgan was solely to blame. Though not quite at the level of the Watergate scandal, this issue has knocked Morgan down 11 points in the polls, making his lead much more narrow. His chances of winning, however, are still – "

The audio abruptly cut off; Davenport had somewhat savagely pressed the 'mute' button. The screen was now depicting the end of the conference, where Morgan and the brunette woman were walking out into the crowd, shaking hands and trading a few words.

"I can't believe this!" Davenport yelled, putting his head in his hands.

"I know!" Adam exclaimed just as loudly, "who knew there was a gate made entirely out of water?"

"Adam, just be quiet a second!" Chase said, annoyed. He walked over to the man and tentatively tapped him on the shoulder. "What's wrong Mr. Davenport?"

"What's wrong is that my college nemesis might become a senator!" He pointed viciously toward the television. "This man tormented me all throughout my four years at college, and now he might have power to make decisions for our state. He'll probably make a new law that everyone must give each other atomic wedgies everyday," he said bitterly.

"Don't worry Big D, it's not that bad. After a few hours, you lose feeling in your legs, and the pain goes away!" Leo patted the man on the shoulder consolingly, only to be greeted by a scathing look.

"Leo, you don't understand. This guy appeared to be nice and charming to people he was trying to impress, but he was a major jerk; he stole my homework, messed up my experiments, and would always give me noogies." Davenport stroked his hair lovingly. "He ruined the work of art that is my flowing locks!"

"Sure it is," Bree said skeptically.

"But worst of all, he always compared me to Donald Duck because of my name. He called me Ducky," he said indignantly. "I mean, how could my gorgeous face ever resemble a duck?"

"That's easy," Adam said. He walked over to Davenport and pinched the man's mouth into the duck face. "Like this!"

"Look on the bright side Mr. Davenport," Chase said as he changed the channel on the TV. "It seems like this guy won't get elected with all the bad press he's getting."

"No, Morgan always had the infuriating ability to win at everything. If anyone can come back after this, it's him." Davenport sighed. "Okay, that's enough about me. It's time for training."

A huge groan emanated from Adam, Bree, and Chase, as they trudged down to the lab. Leo took the opportunity to leap onto the couch excitedly. Just before he reached the remote, however, Davenport reached out and grabbed it.

"Uh uh, no way Jose," Davenport said. He ushered Leo toward his room. "You're still grounded after you broke my robotic spider."

"Come on, it looked really lifelike! I had to stomp on it; I was protecting us all!"

ooOOoo

The man sat brooding at his desk while he fiddled with his pocket watch. The person he was supposed to be meeting was late. He frowned; his day was not going at all as planned.

Two curt knocks echoed through his office, alerting him to the person waiting for him outside. He pressed a small button at the corner of his desk, causing the door to open. A tall, subdued figure entered the room and stood carefully within the shadows a few feet away from the man.

"Status report," said the man after a few moments.

"We are ready for the next phase," the figure replied softly. Their eyes had not left the floor. "It will begin tomorrow as scheduled. All is well."

A dangerous glint entered the man's eyes. "All is not well. I thought you said you had our little situation under control. Obviously you do not."

The figure swallowed nervously. "It is under control. I just need a little more time; you know that it works better over time."

The man just stared at the figure. "Time is not a luxury that we have. You will need to work faster. Unless you want to take a few minutes to … relax." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote. His finger rested upon a red button.

"No!" The figure cried out. "That will not be necessary. It will be done, I promise."

"Excellent," the man said, sitting back in his chair. "Tomorrow, after you have completed the next phase, you will meet back in here for another report."

The figure let out a short breath of relief. They gave a slight nod and headed over to the door. "Is that all you needed tonight, sir?"

"Not quite." The man leaned over his desk. "Project Delta is close to coming to fruition. We do not need any distractions or setbacks. To prevent further impediments, we must learn from our mistakes and correct them."

"Sir?" the figure said, shifting uneasily.

"In this case, my mistake was not explaining to you more clearly the consequences for these setbacks." His finger inched toward the remote again. "Let me correct my mistake and demonstrate the consequences." He pressed blue button located at the bottom of the remote control.

The figure barely had time to inhale before an unearthly scream burst from their lips and they collapsed to the floor.