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Quite some time had passed since Madison's tightrope accident. She hadn't gone on any of the missions, as she was still recovering. One would think that the absence of one member wouldn't be of much significance, but it proved to be different. Every member had to pull their weight in order to successfully clear missions.

Madison was still in bed most of the times, her injuries being far worse than anyone had anticipated. The abrasion had caused multiple infections, which she had to fight off. After weeks of severe pain, she was finally almost completely back to health.

Here and there, Chase would help her with her exercises to keep her muscles from straining. He would come by as much as he possibly could to keep her company. He read to her, explained his newest inventions to her, cooed her and overall made sure that she was alright.

Today's invention was that of an ageing device.

"I haven't quite figured out yet how to reverse the process though," he was telling her, showing a cylinder-shaped device. "So far, I can speed up the ageing process."

"And why exactly are you making this again?" Madison asked her boyfriend, who simultaneously was trying to figure out how to reverse the process.

Feeling embarrassed, Chase reached for his pocket and got out a phone. Since every member of the Elite Force had the same phone, Madison had no idea that it wasn't his phone, until she saw a picture of Evelyn on the background.

"Is it just me, or do I look different in that photo?" Madison joked, to which Chase chuckled, feeling even more embarrassed.

"This is Kaz's phone," he said, scratching the back of his head. "He took a photo of me with this weird new app that shows you at a different age. This- this is me at forty."

He showed Madison the photo of himself. He seemed rather old, the wrinkles deeply engraved in his forehead. His hair was grey and definitely receding. "You still look cute to me," Madison reassured him. "Everyone's bound to get old. If you're that worried about growing up too quickly, maybe you should worry less. I've read somewhere that stress can speed up the ageing process."

"I'm bound to look like this when I'm thirty then," Chase said with a sigh.

"If you keep worrying about it so much, you might," Madison retorted. She took Kaz's phone in her hand and put it on the nightstand next to her. "Just let it go. Stop thinking about it."

"I'll try."

🌗🌗🌗

Chase failed to stop thinking about the ageing problem and continued to try and fix the problem with his device. In the meantime, Tasha Davenport, Leo's mother and Donald's wife, had stopped by to drop off Naomi Davenport and have a few hours to herself. Naomi was Tasha and Donald's baby and was at the tender age of one still, far younger than her siblings. Even Daniel, who was the Davenport's younger brother, was a significant amount of years older than Naomi.

To show Tasha that they were "good, big sisters", Bree and Elizabeth decided to watch over her. However, Naomi didn't seem to like either of them very much. Every time one of them held her, she would burst out into tears.

When the two sisters had figured that Naomi might just be hungry, they tried to feed her, only to get the green, mushy substance spat back onto their shirts. They placed Naomi with her toys and went on to clean their shirts.

She might've looked helpless and harmless, but Naomi managed to go down the hyperlift to the headquarters below the earth's surface, where five boys were present, which is where we are now in the story.

"AH! IT ADAPTED! I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" Oliver screamed next to Leo and duck behind him.

"Relax, if you can't win from a one-year old, we need to re-establish why you're here," Leo retorted, pushing Oliver away from him.

"How did she get into the hyperlift?" Chase wondered out loud, walking over towards the other boys.

"I don't know, but she's doing a great job dusting the floor. Look at her go," Kaz said dumb-founded, as the five boys watched Naomi crawl with incredible speed.

"Maybe she could do our room next," Adam suggested, but got a deadpanned Chase in return.

"For a creature with no kneecaps, she's extremely agile," Oliver suddenly said, referring back to Chase's comment earlier.

"Alright, well, don't just stand there, pick her up," Chase ordered Kaz. He didn't want to pick up Naomi. In fact, he had never even held her before, as he was afraid he would drop her. In the back of his head, ever since Naomi was born, he thought to himself that he would be an awful father if he's not even able to hold his own children.

"I don't know how to pick up a baby. You do it," Kaz said to Leo, who heavily shook his head.

"No, no," he refused. "I almost dropped her once. My mom only lets me hold her on the couch when she's present."

"Alright, you do it then," Kaz instructed Adam.

"I wish I could," he responded solemnly. "But Tasha doesn't trust me with my super strength and all."

No one was going to ask Oliver to pick up the baby.

"Oh come on, how hard can it be?" Chase blurted out. He walked over to Naomi and squatted down next to her. He awkwardly tried to pick her by her back, her head, her feet, and so forth. Every place, except for the right one. "Yeah...," he said as he got back up on his feet. "I got nothing."

"Her giant baby eyes are piercing through my soul. Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" Oliver screeched and jumped on the round cyberdesk in the middle of the headquarters.

"Why is he in the Elite Force again?" Leo questioned to Kaz, who genuinely shrugged to indicate that he didn't know.

"Hey maybe-" Adam begun and hit Chase across his chest, causing him to bump against one of the cyberdesk.

All Chase's belongings fell off, while he irritably said, "Keep an eye on her, while I clean this up."

"Here," Leo motioned to Kaz and threw a red blanket towards him. "Maybe she'll like that."

"Hey there baby. You want a blankie?" Kaz squeaked at the infant, while reaching the blanket towards her.

"Dude," Oliver scoffed, as he got off the cyberdesk he was on. "What are you doing?"

"Baby talk. I'm trying to speak her language," Kaz clarified, slightly offended by Oliver's remark.

"Tasha said that I've mastered that language a long time ago," Adam said proudly to the ones present.

The pair looked at Adam proudly reminiscing about the moment, before arguing about the blankie, which happened to be Oliver's blankie. Their argument ended when Oliver said that Kaz should know that he "gets the chillies" and had no idea how to respond.

"Uh, guys," Chase suddenly said. "I'm missing a mango."

Everyone turned to Leo when they heard someone take a bite out of something. "Oh," he murmured. "So this isn't for snacking then?"

"No, it is not," Chase spoke through gritted teeth. He looked around, but couldn't find the most important thing. "Has anyone seen the ageing device?"

"Aw, Naomi thinks it's a toy," Adam said when he saw Naomi nibble on it.

"AH!" Chase shrieked, taking over Leo's job.

Oliver and Kaz, being the ones standing closest to Naomi, instantly ducked forwards, but were too late. The ageing device had been activated and Naomi grew from a one-year old to a sixteen-year old.

"Madison was right," Chase sighed. "I should've just let it go."

"Pretty sure Elsa said that, but alright," Kaz huffed.

The hyperlift went open again and in came Bree and Elizabeth. "Has any of you seen Naomi?" Elizabeth asked the boys, who were nervously idling.

"I'm Naomi!" Naomi beamed happily.

"Very funny," Bree huffed, until she'd connected the dots together. "AH! NAOMI?!"

"I'm a big girl now," Naomi said with a big smile.

"Yes, you are," Kaz cooed her.

Naomi smiled brightly at him, until that smile disappeared and she said, "I'm cold."

"Let's get you upstairs. There must be something you could wear," Elizabeth said to her baby sister. She turned to face Chase and scowled at him, "Fix this, please. Tasha is going to kill us."

🌗🌗🌗

Madison got up from her bed to get something to drink. She was bored out of her mind, bound to rest for all eternity. At least, that was what it felt like to her. When she walked into the living room, she saw a grown girl hugging Tasha, calling her "mama", while Bree and Elizabeth tried their hardest to get her away from Tasha.

"So?" Tasha asked the two girls. "How did it go with the baby? Where is she?"

"She uh- she's down in mission command with the boys. They couldn't resist not babysitting her, because she's so darn cute," Bree lied. She wasn't a good liar, not in the slightest. If you needed a lie, you had to go to Evelyn or Madison.

"I should go down and check on her," Tasha said, gesturing towards the hyperlift.

"Oh no, you shouldn't," Elizabeth deadpanned, causing Tasha to look startled by her sudden darkness. "Instead uh- you should just sit down and relax."

The two sisters pushed Tasha towards the couch and sat her down. Tasha in turn looked over at Naomi, who was blowing on a white ball. "Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she's fine," Bree said nervously. "She's just a little bit of a kook."

"When she's bored, she likes to toss things up into the air and eat- keys," Elizabeth added faintly.

By now, Madison had put two and two together and tried to come to their aid. "You know," she said, diverting everyone's attention off Naomi. "Naomi is actually sleeping in the headquarters. We don't want to wake up a sleeping baby, now do we?"

"Oh gosh no," Tasha scoffed.

"Why don't you and Bree and Elizabeth go to the mall, catch up a bit. Maybe you'll find Skylar and Evelyn at the fro-yo stand," Madison suggested.

"That sounds like fun!" Tasha beamed and quickly got up from the couch. "Come on girls."

The three of them walked out of the penthouse, with Bree mumbling to Madison, "You're way too good of a liar, do you know that?"

"I'm also a very good yeller," Madison replied, before going down to the headquarters with Naomi. "Chase-"

"I'm sorry," Chase immediately shrieked. "I know, I know, you were right. It was stupid, I know."

"Oh, well, alright," Madison said, taken aback. "That's a shame. I was in the mood for a good yell."

"Aha, not today," Leo chuckled.

"I bought us some time. I sent Tasha away with Elizabeth and Bree. I just hope that they find Skylar and Evelyn. Those five won't be home for hours then," Madison told the boys.

"I think I got it!" Chase beamed, as he walked from behind the cyberdesk. He pointed the device to Naomi and activated it.

At first, it seemed to work. Until they realised that they had only shrunk her body and her head was of her sixteen-year old self.

"That's not a good look," Kaz said horrified, resulting in Madison nudging him.

"Shut up."

The hyperlift opened again and revealed Skylar and Evelyn. "Oh my god!" Evelyn gasped at the sight of little Naomi. "Did you play with one of your nerd toys again, Chase?"

"I didn't play with them. She took hold of one of my nerd toys and used it on herself. I'm trying to fix it," he huffed at her.

"You're not doing a great job then," Evelyn said, her eyes still fixated on the baby.

"I should've tested it on more fruit. Where's my fruit?!" Chase scowled. His gaze stopped at Skylar, who was eating one of his bananas.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"I need more equipment and fruit," Chase planned out. "Adam, Leo, Skylar, Evelyn, I need your help."

"Why me too?" Skylar huffed annoyed.

"Because you're eating my banana," Chase scoffed at her. The four of them shrugged and followed Chase.

Madison turned to look at the duo next to her. "Alright, let's fix Naomi back to her sixteen-year old self."

🌗🌗🌗

"WHERE IS MY BABY?" Tasha shrieked from the hyperlift and entered the headquarters. The entire Elite Force was now downstairs. Naomi ran up to Tasha and pulled her in another hug, but Tasha pushed her off. "Back off, Jennie. Who raised you?"

"Hey mom, you-" Leo tried to buy Chase and Madison some more time, but Tasha cut him off.

"Not you, I mean my other baby."

"Look, Tasha," Elizabeth began with a sigh.

"You got it! You fixed the bug!" Madison exclaimed excitedly next to Chase. Seeing that everyone was looking at them, including Tasha, she added, "Of one of his nerd things."

While Elizabeth and Bree were stalling Tasha, the other members of the Elite Force reversed the ageing process. Evelyn picked up the baby and brought her to Tasha.

"Huh, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you've grown since I left," she joked.

"Oh you know, they grow up so fast," Madison said and watched Tasha go up to the living room with Naomi.

Elizabeth and Bree collapsed onto the cyberdesk with a big sigh. "We're horrible older sisters," Elizabeth pouted.

"All we wanted to do was show, not only to Tasha, but to ourselves that we can be great older sisters," Bree quivered. Both seemed very sad, as if they failed one of the most important missions ever.

"I think you're fantastic sisters," Leo told the two moping girls and Adam and Chase instantly agreed.

"Being a sister is about more than babysitting. It's about taking care of the ones you care about, being there for them, doing everything in your power to help them and keep them safe and caring and loving them with all your heart," Madison spoke up. "You two tick all of those boxes."

"Thank you," Elizabeth and Bree said in unison.

Madison smiled towards them, before saying, "You people need to learn to let things go."

I only have to write chapter eighteen and I've officially finished this book.

Three more chapters to go and yes, they're indeed filled with drama.

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