"Hey, Mitch, we took out that drone swarm for ya!" Five yells to Mitch as he pets Ally.
"Yay, you ganked a few minions. You want a cookie for following orders?" Mitch says sarcastically as he goes back to fighting the boss' glitch with Zahra and Haneesh. They weaken the glitch and Mitch goes in for the kill. Oh boosh. Mitch thinks and curses under his breath as he wipes away the slime he's drenched in.
Five geeks out while watching the battle "whoa! Haneesh and Zahra were so cool out there. Man did you see how she scaled that glitch. She was like woosh and then slice and and cool hero landing."
Miko smirks at her partner as he continues to gush over their teammate. "Why don't you go talk to 'em?"
"Uh I don't know. I don't even know what I'd say."
"Just say" Miko takes a moment to gather her hair to imitate Five's "hi, you're p cool. You can do it." She says as she shoves him over to them.
"Uh hi." Be cool be cool be cool. Five straightens up and tries to hide the blush on his face.
"Hey what's up?" Zahra asks as she and Haneesh turn to Five.
"Um I just wanted to say uh… You guys are p cool." Five tries his best to duplicate how Miko did it.
"Aw thanks High Fly!" Haneesh says as Zahra grabs a gagging Mitch as they leave.
"See ya" Zahra smiles at him.
Five gives her a weak smile. Estupido. All I had to do was be cool. Ugh she probably thinks I'm lame. Five thinks to himself before Miko and Ally cheer him up and they head back to HQ. As the offload there xp Phil's tells them and Mitch's raid team of another team of glitches they need to take care of. And with Mitch in quarantine with the nano flu Miko volunteers Five to be raid leader.
"Well we're countin' on ya, new guy. Don't mess it up." Haneesh tells Five as he goes to leave. Zahra shoots Five a wink before heading off with Haneesh.
Five laughs nervously and tells Miko he needs a few minutes to himself as he heads for the locker room.
What to do? Five's gone to prepare being a leader for the mission and just standing around here is boring. Miko scans the lobby for something fun to do. She smirks as she heads over to an angry Mitch in his quarantine tube. "Whoa never seen a deadman walking before. Or is it more like floating?" She holds back her laughter as Mitch glares at her from the tube.
"It's not funny Miko." Mitch grumbles as he slumps against the glass. He quickly scans the lobby making sure no ones close enough to hear them. Won't do me any good if people think I'm going soft around the sugar plum.
"It's pretty funny from where I'm standing." Taking a step closer to the glass Miko blows on it, fogging it up so she can draw shapes on it.
"Alright that's enough of that." Mitch complains and uses the metal arms to push her back a bit.
"Booo. What else am I supposed to do to bug you if I can't play with your hair." Miko pouts as she starts tapping on the glass and making faces.
"How about annoying that partner of yours. Where is the string bean anyway?"
"Went to the lockers to get in the zone for being raid leader." She says nonchalantly as she starts drawing on the glass with a marker.
Where'd she even get that? Mitch says nothing as he floats away from her while wiping away the still wet drawing.
"Hey! My masterpiece!" He hears Miko complain as he heads to the locker room.
As he enters Mitch hears Five talking to himself. He's going to completely ruin my spot on the leaderboard. Mitch decides to lay down the rules for Five and get him to understand that his plans were terrible and he needed to be more like him if he wanted to succeed. As he leaves Mitch opens his locker for Five.
Five looks into the locker seeing that Mitch is totally self absorbed. Well what did I expect? Five reached into the locker to grab Mitch's pure man hold me hair gel when something catches his eye. Well that's odd. Didn't expect him to have anything here not about Mitch. He thinks while noticing a few colorful magnets and stickers of anime characters placed on the door under Mitch's photos of himself. Why do these look familiar? Five is broken from his thoughts as his gauntlet beeps. "Venga! Get it together Five." He says while looking at the hair product "Boosh."
"Hey we're here, I mean uh...oops. Nailed it." Miko finally gets the truck on the ground after landing on top of the park gate and crashing the admission booth.
Zahra leans over to Haneesh "she does not get to drive again." Haneesh nods silently agreeing with her before they all get out of the truck.
"So where's the fearless leader?" Zahra asks Miko as she de pixelates her buster sword.
"I dunno know. He said he'd meet us here as soon as he got" Miko pulls a confused face as she looks at Five walking through a portal "uh...changed?" Oh nerds he looks like Mitch. Why does he look like Mitch? His curly poof is gone. Miko wasn't listening as Five explained about the glitch's.
"Any questions?"
"I've narrowed them down to one. Can I touch that hair?" I wonder if it feels like Mitch's. She thinks as she instinctively reaches to mess up Fives hair like she does Mitch's.
At Haneesh's laughter, Five pushes Miko off of him. Keep it together Five. Don't embarrass yourself. You're the leader. "Zahra, carry out the order."
"You got it, new guy." Zahra smirks at him before she and Haneesh do as he said.
"Whoa!" Miko and Five are both awestruck staring at the move Zahra just pulled. Five is so stunned his hair pops back into its usual look. Asombrosa. Shes just...wow. Five thinks before catching himself. Five does Mitch's signature hair fix and uses the comms to get the report from Zahra.
Throughout the mission Five was becoming more demanding and not listening to the rest of his team. Miko was getting annoyed especially after she just saved him and he yelled at her.
"You should hear yourself! What? Did you get bitten by a Mitch-pire? Blah! I want to lead your team!"
"Seriously you guys!" Zahra tries to interject but gets ignored. They're acting like children.
"Everything's a joke to you," Five tells Miko.
Miko scoffs stepping up to Five, she shoves him a bit. "Me? Have you even looked in a mirror lately, or do Mitch-pires not have reflections?
Both Haneesh and Zahra were unimpressed and annoyed by their fellow techs. Zahra was about to try and break up the fight when the glitches showed up. Five accepts the 1v1 challenge and loses allowing him and his team to be caught and separated. After some reflection atop the test your strength game Five knows what he must do. Once Ally helps him down he frees his team and apologizes.
"Sorry for getting you all into this mess. I just wanted you guys to respect me like you respect Mitch. But the truth is I'm nothing like him." Five throws away his jacket and wipes the hair gel away as he turns to face his team.
"Like we respect Mitch?" A thoroughly confused Zahra says.
"That guys the worst. Who told you we respected him?" Haneesh asks, having the same expression on his face as Zahra.
"He did." The group says in unison before they start laughing.
"It's okay you goof." Miko sighs as she puts her hand on Fives shoulder. Note to self remember to yell at Mitch later. " I couldn't stay mad at this face anyway." She says while pinching and stretching Fives cheeks as he grumbles hearing Zahra and Haneesh's laughter behind them.
Five listens to his teammates and they work together coming up with a plan that will take out the glitches. Using himself as bait Five manages to distract the glitches long enough for the plan to work and them to depixelate.
Smiling at the younger tech Haneesh congratulates him. "Great job, High Five. And hey… mad respect."
"That was... v cool." Zahra says clapping him on the back with a small smile.
"They know my name." SHE knows my name. And thought I was cool. Five stands there stunned as he watches them walk away.
"And to think, I knew you before you were a big shot." Miko jokes hugging her friend as they head back to the Hinobi store. Once back they go offload the xp and glitches.
"So looks like you didn't completely muck it up newbie." Mitch leans against the glass as he side eyes Five.
"You know what, Mitch? You never needed to worry about your precious score. Your team is amazing."
"Accurate. You're not so bad yourself Five." Zahra winks at Five causing him to blush.
"Aw thanks Five."
"Today was so fun I'm thinkin' maybe I should lead the next mission. What do ya think Mitch?"
"Yeah" Haneesh says with a smirk "we should start a rotation."
"What? What?" The panic evident on Mitch's face as he slams his hands against the glass
"Gotta go. Feel better. Kay bye!" Zahra waves at Five and Miko as she leaves with Haneesh. Mitch angrily follows them.
"Ya done good, cap. But from now on I give the orders" Miko says dramatically, messing with her hair so it poofs up like Mitch's. "Boo-oosh!"
Five laughs and runs away from Miko "aah my partners been bitten by a Mitch-pire!"
"That is not what I sound like!" Mitch yells at the duo as they run around his tube. Soon they get tired and leave him to sulk. Stupid blueberries. They go off on one mission and now my team is a complete mess.
Miko and Five head to the lockers. "So you coming over? There's this level in" Fives sentence abruptly stops as he sees Zahra packing up. Miko looks between the two and roughly elbows Five.
"Why don't you go talk to her?" Five gives Miko an unsure look before she continues talking. "We can game another night. Now turn up the charm stats and go." Miko pushes Five and he nearly runs into Zahra's open locker. She smiles before going back to the lobby. Miko had a feeling that she should try and give her friend some privacy. She spots Mitch alone over in the common area "sup Williams." She says while taking out a marker to draw on the glass with.
"Thought you left." He raises an eyebrow at her. As she starts drawing he just sighs. Since no one else is around he doesn't care if she doodles on the glass. He actually quite likes her drawings.
"Was gonna, but Five was being a nervous baby again. So now I'm here." She mutters as she focuses on her drawing. "How much longer you stuck in this thing for?"
"I have acquired the vaccine for the nano flu you contracted earlier today." BITT floats over holding a needle.
"Finally. It's been like twelve hours." Mitch complains as BITT releases him from quarantine. BITT quickly sticks the needle in Mitch's arm "ow you bloody bot. Could've at least warned me."
"That would've been less efficient. Statistically it is easier to administer when one is distracted." BITT responds before floating off.
Mitch heads off to the lockers and Miko skips and twirls behind him before jumping through the door he's held open for her. Walking over to his locker he opens it grabbing his jacket.
Peaking in his locker Miko laughs as she reaches past him "pure man hold me? Dude you've got more hair products in here than me and my little sister even own." Mitch snatches the gel back and Miko's laughter dies down as something catches her eye. "You kept them?" The surprise in Miko's voice didn't go unnoticed as she looked at the stickers and magnets she'd designed stuck to the inside of this locker.
"Yeah well, your drawings aren't terrible and what kinda gentleman would I be if I just tossed a gift I got." He replies as he shrugged on his jacket.
"Thanks I'm glad you like them." Miko blushes slightly and plays with a long strand of her hair.
Unconsciously Mitch reaches out and touches Miko's hair. Oh boosh! He thinks as she freezes and looks up at him.
"What are you doing?" She asks not with an accusatory tone but one of curiosity.
"I uhh..um" bollocks what the hell am I doin? Say something. Anything! Try telling the truth. An annoying voice piped up. Eh why not. Mitch lets out a sigh while still holding her hair, letting his thumb run over the strands. "I've been trapped in a glass and metal tube for the better part of the day I just… I just wanted to feel something not cold and metal." Mitch waits for her reaction and is surprised when she just smiles at him.
"No need to be shy, I touch your hair all the time." As if to prove her point she reaches up to ruin his hair. "Besides we both know my hair is way nicer than yours. Bow before my silky tresses."
Mitch just rolls his eyes as he continues to feel her hair. "It'd be nicer if you actually did something with it. You look good when it's up like when we're in the store."
Mitch is so focused on her hair he doesn't notice the blush on her face deepen. "Well I'm actually not that great at doing styles. So I just stick with what I know." She admits quietly. Mitch just looks at her before walking her over to a bench.
"Sit and wait here." Mitch says before going back to his locker. Miko does as she's told, tapping her feet and humming as he comes back with a brush and a few hair ties. He gets behind her and starts brushing her hair.
Should I ask him? Or just let him continue? It's been a long time since someone else did my hair. Also does he even know what he's doing. Why am I letting him do this anyway. Miko bites the inside of her cheek as her thoughts race. I should stop him right? But why? It feels good. And it's not like you really mind him touching your hair. Besides like you said earlier it's only fair. Plus you like him. Miko's face is fully flushed at her last thought. No that can't be right. Like him you know as a friend. Yeah yeah a friend. That's all. Mitch cleared his throat snapping her out of her thoughts. He handed her a mirror "wow. How'd you get them to be so perfect." She asks referring to the two buns in her hair. "I look just like the girl from block brawlers!" Miko messes with the half of her bangs he left down and he swats her hand away.
"Thought it was appropriate since you hit hard enough to be in the game" Miko sticks her tongue out at his remark before she goes back to admiring his work. Mitch just smiles at her excitement over the simple style. "Come on. Lets get some smoothies and go. You can even tell me how that beanpole managed to not muck things up."
"Ahhh! Now I remember. I'm supposed to yell at you." Miko exclaims as they walk towards the portal.
"What? Why?"
"Because Five was acting all weird and bossy and then I realized it was because you," she dramatically points at him only for Mitch to slap away her hand, "You infected Fives brain like the Mitch-pire you are."
Mitch rolls his eyes while shaking his head Miko continues rambling on as they walk into the portal. She doesn't notice the small smile on his face.
