The mission was over. It was around 12 pm in Montana but the team was still on edge. Miles and Chapa spent the little time they had quietly playing checkers in Mika and Chapa's hotel room, while Ray and Schwoz were down the halls, fast asleep. The argument still replaying in their heads. As for Bose he peacefully soaked in the hot tub, in his swim trunks, under the stars, staring into the pearly blue water. The faint smoke calming him as recalled earlier events.
Danger Force, Captain Man, and Schwoz were called upon to come to Montana to investigate the sudden disappearance of Polonium at their most famous research center. Ceo Richard Basil was leading the study, he worked with them to try to pinpoint the criminal and catch them in the act.
During the first 2 days, Shoutout had developed a certain interest in one of the younger scientists who was around their age. His name was Enzo, he was head of the Atomic program and The Italian scientist had spiked an interest in her as well. During their days at the research center, the two were inseparable with their subtle flirting and touchy hints. As Shoutout worked at the computers navigating when the next shipment of Polouim would be coming in, Enzo was always hovering over her and making her blush.
Everyone was quite nicely acquainted with Enzo, except for Brainstorm. Something about him threw Brainstorm off, which said a lot because he was the friendliest member of the five, with Shoutout close behind. When he tried to tell Miles, he always ended up shaking it off and telling him that he was just jealous of Enzo's relationship with Shoutout. Bose denied the allegations, when Chapa, Miles, Ray, and Schwoz didn't listen to him, he screamed into his pillow frustrated.
He pulled Mika aside on one of the days when they had all gotten out of the undercover man van and told her his concerns. Of course, she didn't buy any of it. She just thought it was Bose being Bose. Enzo was perfect and she really liked him. Sure he didn't know her real identity but he said he didn't mind having a superhero girlfriend because he liked mysteries. When Bose kept insisting that something about Enzo wasn't right, Mika had enough. She finally found someone who understood her, someone who made her over the moon happy, and now Bose couldn't even find the decency to not ruin this for her. She refused to let him, 'Bose this up'.
"Just stop it, Bose. Enzo gets me and i like being with him. You're just paranoid and i really don't need you screwing this up, i can take care of myself so just stay out of my business," She snapped storming away from him. Bose was hurt that not even she believed him. Mika was too blindsided by Enzo's charismatic personality to see what was really going on.
A week went by and they still hadn't caught the culprit. However, they did have a strong lead on who it might be but there wasn't enough evidence and Mr. Basil was becoming impatient. Mika and Bose hadn't spoken after their chat about Enzo and remained upset with each other.
However, when Danger Force made a secret plan to catch the criminal by themselves without telling anyone from the research center, everything unraveled itself. When they got to the warehouse, it was none other than Ceo Richard Basil himself and his second in command Enzo. They had been the ones hijacking all polonium for some elaborate plan. Which explains why it was so hard to track them. Their game was to throw Danger Force off their trail and remain undetected.
So yes they did find the bad guys but they didn't have as much of an advantage as they thought they did. Apparently, Shoutout had trusted Enzo enough to tell him about their secret plan and that they'd be at the warehouse, which led to their capture.
In the end, they managed to stop most of them but Richard and his team had already packed a small amount of Polounim and got away with that. Luckily the amount that was already stolen wasn't enough to see their plan through. After they left the rest to the cops, the ride back to their hotel was silent. Everyone was silently angry at Shoutout.
They transformed back to their regular selves before getting out of the van one by one. It was when they were all in Ray's room and Schwoz asked what happened is when all hell broke loose. Miles was the first one to start ridiculing Mika and soon after, Chapa joined in. Mika tried to defend herself claiming that she thought she could trust Enzo. But that wasn't good enough for everyone else. Bose tried to defend Mika but that only irritated her more when the tears started pouring out of her eyes.
"I don't need your help!" She exclaimed at him. Bose was taken back and shook his head, she was really pushing his buttons since she met Enzo.
" You're right! So i guess i should say that i do agree with all of this being your fault, if you would have just listened to me instead of totally disregarding what i said the mission would have gone a lot more successful," He added, holding back a little.
Mika looked around not knowing what to say. She wanted to say anything that would make her feel less guilty but she knew she was in the wrong. She wiped the tears from her face, storming out the door, and into her own room that she shared with Chapa.
Here was Bose now, in the hot tub thinking of her. He hated seeing her cry like that and he hated that Enzo broke her heart even more. He brought his hand down and the water splashed. He turned his head to the side when he heard footsteps approaching.
Mika was standing a few feet away as she watched Bose, debating whether to approach him. Under the light jacket, she wore was a bikini. Turns out they had the same idea to come out here and clear their head. She didn't know what she could possibly say to him now. However, she took a deep breath and worked up the courage to approach him. Bose turned his head when he saw her then turned back around looking into the water, trying to forget her presence. Mika slumped her shoulders " You okay?" She asked. Bose nodded still not looking at her. Mika sighed and walked over to the platform that leads you inside the hot tub and sat there pulling her jacket closer.
She owed him an apology. "Bose I'm really sorry about..." She trailed off, "Everything".
There was a small silence before Bose responded with, "I know,". He finally lifted his head to see her slightly chubby face frowning down. "Are you okay?" He added. The good news was she wasn't crying anymore but the bad news was she seemed like she was about to when he asked her that.
"No," She honestly answered, "But i will be,". She took her shoes off and dipped her feet into the water.
Bose brought his arms up and leaned them against the sides. "If it makes you feel better his real name is Lorenzo, not nearly as cool En-zo," Bose joked and Mika laughed at his effort to make her feel better. She didn't even try to tell him he was pronouncing it wrong. "I would tell you his last name but I'm afraid you'll have a field day with that one," She jested. Bose shrugged smiling.
"I just thought he was different," Mika picked at her fingers when she heard Bose scoff and glanced up at him.
"Did you really think he was good enough for you?" He questioned. Mika went quiet thinking about it. She blinked a few times remembering her and Enzo's conversations, she should have known something wasn't right when he always tried to bring up if there was anything that could stunt superhero's powers and how he would brush off any topic that wasn't related to what they were working on. Was she really that blind? Mika huffed and started to remove her jacket placing it to the side and getting into the hot tub.
"Wow, so not only did you decide to ruin my peace but you also had to enter my sacred dwelling, that's rude, " He quipped bringing his arms back down as Mika made her way to him trying not to get her hair too wet. " Ugh, i need it more than you do," She remarked. As for Bose, he dipped his head right under for a quick second allowing his brown locksn to get drenched.
When he brought his head back up, he shook his hair causing the water to start hitting Mika. She laughed going in to hold his face in her hands so he'd stop. When his eyes met her he tucked his lip vaguely between his teeth. She looked beautiful under the moonlight with water speaks dripping from her skin. "I really messed up didn't i...," She changed the conversation. She couldn't help it, she was supposed to be the smartest person on the team, but let pearly white teeth fool her, even if they were the best pair of teeth she's ever seen. "No, you didn't, he's the one that messed up-" Bose was cut off.
"He wasn't the one who gave his team up, i just really wanted him to be innocent. I was so stupid for letting Enzo trick me, that's your job! No offense. I wish i would have stuck by that 'Superheros can never fall in love' rule. I mean what's wrong with me-" She was in the middle of ranting until Bose interrupted her. "Mika, there is nothing wrong with you, you got hung up by a crush, it happens," He assured moving her closer to him.
Mika titled her head hearing him say that. When did he become the sensible one? When Bose moved her closer she didn't think anything of it because she and Bose had always had an affectionate relationship and she was very comfortable with him.
"He didn't deserve you, i don't think anyone deserves you," He admitted. Mika felt her heart gush at his words. "I don't know, maybe wanting a guy who i thought was like Enzo is asking for too much," She dropped her hands from his face. What she certainly wasn't expecting is when Bose reached for her thighs and moved her up so she hovered over him as her arms found their way around his neck.
"Would you stop that! You're incredible," Bose lovingly looked up at her bring his hand up to push away hair that was coming onto her face while the other held her up by the waist.
They were dangerously close and Mika became flustered peering into his eyes. His wet hair becoming damp, his eyes glistening and his lips curled.
Mika appreciated his praise, but she didn't know if she was meant to take it to heart. "But he was Italian," she whined. Bose laughed, there was nothing special about that, but since Mika liked Italian guys...
"Beh, parlo italiano, conta qualcosa?" Bose smirked. (Well, i speak Italian, does that count for anything?)
Mika was impressed by how perfectly he said that. She didn't know that he still knew how to speak Italian. "Si, lo fa,", Mika responded. (Yes, it does) Bose smiled still staring at her with those eyes. Mika smiled back, her face becoming flushed. Come to think of it, was there anything Bose didn't have? Except for a high IQ, but she didn't so mind it because he wouldn't Bose without it. Her Bose.
He always made her smile, made sure she was taken care of, would actually take time out of his day to explore her interest, even if he didn't understand what was so fun about online pre-calculus games and vice versa.
As Bose intensely admired her, it was Mika's turn to push his hair out of his face, which unlike hers, was wet. She felt her heart do flips when he lowered her down so that she was only inches away from his face. Bose felt her breathe brush up against his skin and he found himself staring at her slightly parted lips.
There was no doubt that the two have always had tension between them, and it definitely wasn't just friendship. They never had the chance to be alone like this, together, holding each other. He looked up at her to see Mika nervously gazing at him, almost like she was waiting for something to happen. Realization dawned on him and he pressed his lips against hers, Mika immediately taking him in.
She moved as close as could be cuffing his face. Bose held tighter onto her waist, wanting time to freeze at this exact moment.
Neither wanting to stop, they took small gasps of air for split seconds before they attached their lips to each other once again.
Bose reached his hand up gently running his fingers up her scalp getting it tangled in her curls.
Mika was the first to fully pull away catching her breath and Bose's eyebrows shot up almost like he realized what had happened. "Wow..." Mika trailed off. She didn't know a kiss could feel so right.
"Took us long enough, don't you think?" Bose gazed at her with a grin on his face and she tried to contain her smile. She excitedly nodded, taking Bose by surprise, and smashed her lips on his. He had no complaint and happily embraced her.
He finally had Mika Macklin.