"Did somebody call for tech support?" Five says while standing in between Zahra and Miko.
"This looks like a job for…" Miko exclaims, but gets interrupted by her hair flying everywhere from a speed boost going past her.
"Boosh!" Mitch chuckles, stopping in front of them as the others groan at his theatrics, whining his name. "Not thinking about hogging all that juicy xp for yourselves, I hope."
"Of course not. We got a high level glitch in there that's gonna take a whole team to take out." Five says while looking at his gauntlet readings.
"So let's party up guildies! Whoo!" Miko shouts, twirling around ready to burst into the house.
"Hang on." Mitch says, crossing his arms and stepping in front of Miko to stop her and the others. "As the highest - level glitch tech here, I will, of course, be leading the team." Miko crosses her own arms and groans, he smirks as she frowns up at him. Mitch knows she hates when he pulls rank especially when he's just doing it to show off.
"Wow okay, great Mitch." Five says and Miko whips her head around making sure her hair hits Mitch in the face as she turns her frown towards her best friend.
Mitch looks at Miko and has to stop himself from reaching out to touch her hair. Since the two of them started dating they both enjoy playing with each other's hair. Albeit him a bit more than Miko since he enjoys styling her long tresses while she just likes messing up his, just the other day he was practicing different braids on her and Miko had asked him why he didn't change his hair and he just shrugged. She had told him that even though she likes his poof, she'd like to see him style his own hair differently. He had told her he'd think about it.
"Uh, so what's your strategy?" Five asks Mitch to pull him out of his thoughts.
Mitch notices Zahra flicking her eyes back between him and Five and she raises an eyebrow at him. "We're dealing with a copycat glitch here." Mitch immediately goes back to his I'm in charge mode as he explains the type of glitch they're dealing with.
"Careful, got it. Good strategy." Miko says while trying to head into the house.
Mitch holds out his arm to stop her from moving forward and she just groans and frowns again. Mitch can tell she's annoyed with him, but he doesn't want her getting hurt by just barging in.
"So do you have a plan or not?" Zahra asks, causing Mitch to pull his gaze from Miko.
Mitch nods, causing Miko, Five and Bergy to huddle up. He tells them to stay put and that he'll teach them a lesson. Miko and Zahra look annoyed while Five complains as Mitch heads into the house.
"What kind of lesson is that?" Miko asks her boyfriend while trying hard not to yell at him. Especially because she knows how great Mitch can be, but the arrogant griefer persona he puts on in front of the others pisses her off.
"Relax, just sit tight until I give you the all clear." Mitch says to the group, but focuses on Miko. Oh boosh she's gonna give me an earful later. He sighs and heads inside as Bergy salutes him and the others look annoyed.
"Well he is number one on the glitch tech leader boards." Five says turning to Miko as Zahra walks back to the van.
Miko scoffs, crossing her arms as she watches her boyfriend go into the house and no doubt hog all the xp. "Yeah but he acts like a number two. But hey, the sooner we're done here the sooner we can get back to hq, 'cause guess who scored a used copy of pixel panic for game night?" Miko excitedly throws her arm around Five's neck pulling him down to her.
Five smiles at her since it had been a while since the two of them had a game night. He'd been busy helping his grandparents and Geri since they reconnected thanks to the ping glitch. He also had been going on raids with Zahra which made him feel a bit guilty about not hanging out with Miko. "That's awesome, Meeks, how'd you get a copy?"
"If I told you I'd have to kill ya." Miko chuckles but knows she can't tell Five she got it from Mitch the last time she was at his place.
Bergy, taking Mitch's orders a bit too seriously, tells them to be quiet and Miko just facepalms while Five shakes his head.
The team waits as Mitch fights the glitch.
"What's he doing in there?" Miko asks, swinging her legs from where she's sitting on the roof of the van. She knows her boyfriend well and knows exactly what he's doing but she's bored.
Zahra looks up at Miko from where she's leaning against the car door not too far from where Five is sitting on the ground "probably hogging all the xp."
"Ah. come on you guys. I know Mitch is full of himself but I dont think he'd be that selfish." Five says looking at Zahra and can hear Miko snort from above him. "He used to have the highest - rated gamer feed on tweeker."
"That goblinoid had his own tweeker feed? I gotta see this." Miko says hanging upside down from the top of the van. She laughs and can imagine Mitch yelling at her to be careful. He never told me he had a tweeker feed. Oooh I can't wait to see his face when I tell him. Miko drops from the van and quickly stands next to Five so he can show her.
"Okay check this out" Five pulls up a MitchFTW vid.
Miko is stunned thinking about how adorable the younger Mitch looks as he introduces himself and his cat before playing atom blast. "Mrs. Boosh?" She can't help but laugh. Oh he's sooo getting it later. And his hair was so floofy. She thinks as she rolls on the ground as Zahra and Five also laugh with her. They continue watching the video and Miko is surprised "huh reasonably solid tippage." She says watching the younger version of her boyfriend.
"I learned tons from these old gameplay videos," Five says.
"So what happened to the guy?" Zahra asks Five, surprised at how different Mitch is in these videos.
"His feed went dark after that episode. I guess once Mitch started working for Hinobi and became a glitch tech, he just kinda changed."
"Mitch for the win!" Mitch shouts as he blasts the glitch into pieces, "now come on, act like a boss, not a trash mob." Mitch tells the glitch as he evades hits before getting in front of it. "Boosh!" He defeats the glitch and captures it. And with this I'll be able to get off early. Maybe I can convince Miko to ditch the rest of her shift and we can catch that movie she's been wanting to see. Mitch smirks to himself before heading out of the house "all clear."
"Great, so, um, what do you need the rest of us to do?" Five asks as he walks up to a whistling Mitch
"Nothing...anymore." Chuckling Mitch walks back to his van intent on leaving Five, Miko and Zahra behind so he can get back to hq.
"You said you were gonna teach us a lesson." Five runs after Mitch to stop him.
"And that it'd be one you'd never forget. And you won't. Will you?" Mitch snapped smirking at Five before continuing to his truck.
"No. You don't get to say something and just walk away this time. You walk around like you're heavy, but really you're just a self punk who's too afraid to work with us instead of against us." Five says pushing Mitch away from his truck.
"Dang!" Miko and Zahra exclaim while watching Five rip into Mitch.
Way to go Five. Who knew he had it in him. Zahra thinks as she records the verbal fight.
Miko is torn between supporting her partner on calling Mitch out and worrying her boyfriend is gonna do something to Five. She watches as Mitch just scoffs not taking Five seriously.
"This is Glitch Techs, not Mitch Techs. We're a team so if you're not willing to be a team player, then we're better off without you." Five says holding his ground.
Mitch just stares at him before looking back at Zahra and Miko. He doesn't say anything before pushing past Five to get in his truck and leave.
Miko watches her boyfriend drive away. Slightly worried by how fast he pulled off before she moved over to Five. "Whoa! You really told him off, partner!" She punches Five's arm and smiles. Maybe this will get Mitch to be nicer to others. Ahh who am i kidding no it won't my boyfriend's a jerk. But he's my jerk.
"Huh? Yeah, I guess I did." Five says still a bit stunned he had done so.
"He didn't even have a comeback!" Zahra says touching Fives shoulder. Blushing slightly she pulls back, "uh, i mean, Mitch always has a comeback! You were so cool. I, uh, mean that was cool. Yeah! I gotta go post this to every tech I know!"
She thought I was cool. Five blushes and can still feel the warmth from where Zahra touched him. Zahra pensó que era genial y regañé a Mitch. el mejor día!
"Well after all that drama, I think you've earned yourself a little game time." Miko holds up her fist.
"Let's co-op till we drop." Five chuckles and gives her a fist bump. They all head back to hq ready to forget about Mitch's attitude and how he ruined the mission
Meanwhile Mitch was already back at HQ, "MitchFTW here, offline edition. Bringing you stunning, handsome reflections on the day's events." Mitch says into the bathroom mirror while touching up his hair. He mocks Five a bit as he combs through his blonde strands. "One Mitch Williams is worth ten of those newbies," except for Miko. He thinks, "ugh she's gonna yell at me later for that xp grab. Maybe I can distract her before she gets started." He wonders, thinking about how last time they were at his place she had remembered something he said to her partner and started yelling. A few kisses and the promise of homemade waffles did the trick. Mitch smiles at the memory before the lights flicker and go out. "Wait, what?" His gauntlet goes off alerting him of a glitch. He opens the stall door only for the tentacle to shoot out and drag him in.
Miko is playing pixel panic with Five in the lounge when she hears her boyfriend come in. He hops over the couch sitting between her and Five. She stiffens feeling his arm go around her while playing with her hair as he talks to Five. What the gorf? And since when does Mitch wear hats? He never wears hats; he hates anything that could potentially mess up his hair. Miko along with everyone else is shocked when Mitch says Five was right about earlier. Okay there has to be something seriously wrong here. She looks at her boyfriend with suspicion as he gets up and continues to apologize along with saying he's throwing them a party. Miko's eyes turn to saucers as she sees the xp Mitch had given her along with the other. She and Zahra share a look as Mitch says he wants to be part of the team. Five looks at them and Miko just shrugs. I definitely have to get him alone to see what's up because this is too weird even for Mitch.
Phil barges in with a plunger and gets quickly thrown off his rant by Mitch's new attitude. Mitch follows Phil out, still trying to convince him. The next thing Miko knows she's at the party with Five. Still suspicious and slightly upset, she hasn't been able to catch her boyfriend alone so she can ask him why he's doing all of this. She tries to catch Mitch, but he whisks Five away so Miko ends up sitting down only to be joined by Zahra.
"Hey Miko, where's your partner?"
"Off with his new bud Mitch." Miko says, trying not to sound bitter.
"Speaking of Five…are you and he like partners, or are you like partners partners?" Zahra asks with a slight blush.
"What's up, partner?" Five appears and startles Zahra.
Miko can't help but smile as she watches Zahra fumble over her words and get nervous at her friend. And he thinks she doesn't like him pffff. These two nerds deserve each other. Miko thinks as she watches Zahra make a hasty retreat.
"Car in your wallet?" Zahra groans "what is your glitch Zahra? Just go and talk to the dude. We go on raids all the time and we work well together. Ugh it shouldn't be this hard."
Five takes Zahra's abandoned seat next to Miko. "She likes you ya know." She says deciding not to bring up Mitch's weird behavior anymore.
"Wha- that's crazy de ningún modo. Ella es demasiado bonita y sorprendente, nunca me vería así." Five says and gets uncomfortable as Miko gives him a look.
Miko was about to continue but they got distracted by Bergy on the dance floor. Miko sees Zahra walking back over but this time she's wearing that same stupid hat as Mitch. Miko leaves to let the two of them be alone. She sees Mitch leaving with Venkman and decides to follow them. "Hey!" Miko screams as she sees Mitch shut the doors behind Venkman.
"Enjoying the party?" He asks with open arms.
"Okay. Williams. Five may be buying into the epic return of his hero MitchFTW, but if you break that trusting heart of his, you're going to have me to deal with." She says angrily and crosses her arms.
Mitch chuckles, "you know, you and five always have each other's back." Mitch takes a few steps closer to her, "sometimes, I think I'm so awful to you both because I just…" he stops talking and pulls her close, wrapping his arms around her. Instinctively Miko relaxes against him and Mitch smirks into her hair before bringing his hand up to run down the side of her cheek, "I know I'll never have that kind of bond with anyone. Except maybe you…" he says and leans in to kiss her.
"That is the saddest thing I've ever heard, but I'm not buying it because I know my own boyfriend and whatever you are ain't him imposter. So where is my Mitch?" Miko asks, stopping the Mitch clone from kissing her and pushing him away.
"Huh what gave me away?"
"Laid it on just a bit too thick faker" Miko puts more space between them and gets in a defensive position.
"That's okay. If I can't change your mind I'll just have to change you." The clone says before letting the glitch tentacles attack her.
Miko screams before trying to fight off the glitch before it attacks her. The next thing she knows she's waking up and sees five being attacked. Fighting a glitch this size was difficult even with the amount of techs they had freed. Haneesh, Zahra, Bergy and herself had their shields up to protect Five as he searched for the original glitch. "These shields won't hold much longer, Five!" Miko groans. "Five!" Miko yells and her shield breaks after a few more hits. The glitch raises a tentacle to attack her but it gets blasted and Mitch jumps in front of her throwing up his shield.
"I gotcha sugar plum" Mitch whispers and Miko can't help, but smile seeing Mitch actually work with the rest of them.
With the glitch contained and everyone back to normal Miko and Five finally get a chance to game till their thumbs fall off. After playing a few more rounds of pixel panic she tosses Zahra her controller. Remembering that she had asked if she and Five were more than just partners, Miko winks at Zahra hoping to convey that she and Five were just friends and giving her the okay to make a move. Though by the way the two of them are fumbling over their words and blushing, Miko doesn't think either is ready to ask the other just yet. Cupid's job is never done. Miko messages Mitch to see where he went. He tells her he's in one of the sim rooms training. She makes her way there and enters just as he blasts through the last enemy. She joins him for a round of sparring before they decide to get smoothies. After leaving the Hinobi store, Miko grabs his hand like normal and he gives it a squeeze. "Oh by the way Five showed me your tweeker feed." Miko smirks as Mitch groans beside her, "your hair looked even floofier without all that product you put in there. And you were so adorable with Ms. Boosh!"
Mitch drops her hand and just walks away from his girlfriend as she laughs behind him. I'm so gonna mangle that partner of hers.