"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Miko's mother stops her just as she reaches the door.

"Uhhh to Fives?" Miko responds almost unsure if that was the correct answer. It's not like I can say I wanted to use the sim room at HQ. Gotta make sure I can kick Mitch's butt and wipe the smug grin off his face. Miko thinks to herself remembering the last time she sparred with Mitch and how he beat her with a cheap shot.

"No you're not." Miko gives her mom a confused look. "You promised to wait with Lexi at that book signing."

"Noooooo'' Miko drops to her knees dramatically. So much for my plans. Well it's not like I'm not already super kick butt awesome anyway. But the extra training wouldn't hurt. After all, Mitch is ranked number 1 for glitch captures for a reason. Miko shakes her head as if to banish those thoughts as Lexi approaches grabbing her arm.

"Come on I don't wanna miss my chance to get my copy of Mermaid Mindy super spy signed." Lexi drags Miko with her to the car as she continues to gush about her favorite book series.

They make it to the bookstore and Lexi hops out of the car making a beeline towards the queue of people gathering for the signing. "Make sure you text your sister when it's over. Nika will come get you guys. Your dad and I are having a date night so"

Miko cuts off her mother "ahhhh mom gross I don't need to know what you and dad plan to do." She begrudgingly gets out the car and goes to stand with Lexi. Geez, why are there so many people. It's just a book. It's almost like when the Hinobi sneakers dropped. Both Five and Mitch were freaking out. Especially Mitch when even newer sneakers came out at the end of the day. Miko laughs to herself as she thinks of Mitch and how frantic he was. Lexi is brimming with excitement as they continue to get closer Miko plays about 30 levels of crystal crush, flunky quest action and a bit of jungle jog by the time they get to the front and Lexi gets her book signed. "Finally I almost felt a bored dance coming on. Let's go."

"We can't leave yet they're going to announce the next book in the series." Miko just groans at her sister's admission and hangs her head.

"Well I'd know the plum mess of hair anywhere."

Miko looks up and sees Mitch standing in front of her. She gives him a confused look reaching out to poke him as if to check that he's real and begins to open her mouth.

"What was that for sugar plum?" He asks, grabbing her hand so she'll stop poking him.

"Why are you here?" Miko unconsciously intertwines there fingers so that the pair are now holding hands.

Mitch scoffs at her rudeness and notices their hands but doesn't let go. "My sister is a closet Mermaid Mindy fan and couldn't make it so I'm doing her a favor."

"You have a sister? Since when?" Mitch gives her a look as if she's nutters. Miko goes to speak but is interrupted by Lexi.

"Who's this? Another one of your secret tech fighting friends?"

Mitch raises an eyebrow at the younger girl before turning his attention back to Miko "who's the shortstack? I'm guessing another Kubota."

"Mitch, this is Lexi. Lexi, this is Mitch."

Lexi stares at Mitch for a few seconds before a smirk crosses her face "ooooh so this is the guy Nica met. Miko talks about you a lot."

"All good things I hope." He replies before smirking at Miko.

"Ugh I hate you both." Miko blushes and finally lets go of his hand as she stares at her sister, "anyway after this I was planning to head back to HQ and use the sim room. Want to join me?" She didn't know why she decided to ask, but the British boy had been on her mind a lot today. Mitch doesn't get a chance to respond as Lexi interrupts.

"Ssssh they're going to start."

A woman dressed in a suit walks to the front of the crowd standing in front of a bunch of screens and tablets. "Thank you to everyone who came to support today. I'm here to announce not just the next book, but also the launch of a new app for Mermaid Mindy in collaboration with Hinobi." As soon as the screens turn on showing the app loading it freezes before starting to glitch.

"Oh nerds!" "Bollocks!" Miko and Mitch say at the same time before equipping their gauntlets and visors. "Lexi get somewhere safe" Miko tells her as mermaids with jetpacks and laser guns start to plixelate.

Mitch quickly gets to the front of the crowd telling them it's part of the demonstration and that everyone will get a Hinobi discount if they find some obscure book. There were too many people for just the two of them to reset. Miko is blasting at mermaids while hiding behind a bookshelf, "a little help here Mr. Number One Griefer!" Miko yells as a mermaid flies at her.

Mitch blasts it just before it reaches her "there! They keep spawning! Bloody jetpacks really!"

"BITT this is Miko I need support like yesterday!" Miko screams as climbs a bookshelf standing on top of it before equipping an oversized flame thrower.

"Oh and what am I an npc?" Mitch says pretending to be offended as he blasts another mermaid.

"Well you run your mouth enough to be one" Miko laughs as the flames cause some of the mermaids to burst. "How do we stop them?" Taking a few steps back as more mermaids descend Miko realizes a moment too late that she's run out of room. "Oh nerds!" Miko cries out as she falls. Bracing herself for the impact, but it doesn't happen. Pushing her hair out of her face she looks up to see Mitch and realizes he's holding her.

"You okay there sugar plum?" He asks tightening his grip on her not noticing Miko's cheeks heating up as he runs behind another bookshelf to avoid the blasts. Another mermaid drops down from above them and Miko shoots it before squirming out of Mitch's arms.

"Sooo um ideas? I mean on how to stop this because we can't just keep blasting mermaids? Can we?" Miko as she flexes her hands repeatedly. She looks around the bookcase and sees one mermaid being surrounded by others.

Mitch leans over her, propping his head on top of hers to follow her gaze "best bet we take out that one and all the others disappear."

"Gotcha!" Miko smiles before dashing out from their hiding spot.

"Miko, wait! You can't just" Mitch doesn't even get to finish as Miko makes her way through the mermaids. Ugh this girl is so frustrating. He says to himself. And you wouldn't have her any other way. A voice in his head pipes up. Mitch watches Miko's movements realizing she'd figured out a pattern for getting closer to the main mermaid. Easily falling into step with her they make it through to the final ring of mermaid guards. The ones behind them turn around which catches Mitch's attention. Miko quickly throws up a shield to protect him from getting hit by the ones in front. "Don't say I've never saved your sorry butt" she chuckles while keeping the shield up.

Mitch throws up his own shield "not the time princess." He grunts as they're surrounded, "anymore bright ideas?"

"Actually yeah, but you probably won't like it. Gimme a boost?" Miko smiles as Mitch just groans, deciding to follow whatever plan she's concocted. Miko switches to her sword swiping at the mermaids in front of her as Mitch blasts the ones facing him. Mitch hits Miko with a power up as she jumps on his shield and he pushes up. She propels herself upwards. As Miko's in the air she smiles lining up the shot taking out the main mermaid. Causing all the others to deplixilate. Capturing the glitch she cheers as she falls back to the ground this time Mitch wasn't prepared to catch her as one of the mermaids got in a shot hitting his arm. Crashing into a pile on the floor Miko goes into a fit of laughter as Mitch groans underneath her. "We totally kicked major mermaid tail!" Miko says smiling from her spot on top of him. "You should sooo take my advice more often." Her fingers thrumming against his chest. She expects Mitch to push her off of him and complain about her bagging the glitch, but instead he gives her a rare smile and pats the top of her head running his fingers through her hair. Miko stares down at Mitch before dipping her head and quickly pressing her lips against his. Unsure of what came over herself and how to deal with what she's feeling Miko tries to pull back just as quickly as she leaned in only to be stopped by Mitch's hand on the back of her head pulling her back down and his other arm snaking around her waist. The kiss is soft and slow causing Miko's brain to stop functioning. Mitch let's his hand slide from her head to the side of her face, cupping her cheek before breaking the kiss. The two just gazed at each other before Miko's brain rebooted. Miko's face is bright red as she sits up and backs away from Mitch while he just lays there staring at her.

That did not just happen. O M squeee I kissed him. I kissed Mitch Williams. Mitch Williams kissed ME back… and I liked it! Oh nerds! I liked it. Why why why? Ok don't panic. Oh fluff I'M PANICKING. Say something. Say anything! As Miko is having her internal meltdown Mitch is just watching the variety of emotions play out on her face.

Mitch is surprisingly calm given the situation. She's cute like this. He realizes he'll have to be the one to say something. So he sits up and raises his hand to push some of her hair out the way cupping her cheek like he had done just moments before. "Miko I '' he gets cut off as the other techs arrive. Miko jumps away from him leaving Mitch on the floor, the embarrassment of her actions still fresh.

"Surprised to see you two here." They both turn to see Nix.

"Oh we just both happened to be here when the glitch appeared. I was with my sister. She needed books. Obviously. That's why we're here in the bookstore. Separate from him. We weren't together at all. I mean we were because we caught the glitch. But not together before that. Oh I should go check on my sister. Gotta reset her and all that." Miko lets out a weak laugh fidgeting and pulling at her hair after her panic induced word vomit and quickly goes over to Lexi.

Nix gives Mitch a confused look and he just shrugs his shoulders before standing up not letting his emotions betray his expression. Nix goes off to help the other techs reset all the civilians. Mitch goes outside to wait by his car, since he didn't have work that day he did have the Hinobi truck with him. He waits until he sees Miko leaving with Lexi. Just be your normal self "Need a ride sugar plum?" He asks hoping she can't hear the nerves in his voice.

Miko was nervously fidgeting and messing with strands of her hair, still dazed from the kiss and needing an outlet for her energy. Lexi stepped up and answered yes for her. Seeing that her sister was having a hard time. The three make it to his car. Instead of getting in the passenger seat Miko slides in the back with her sister. Lexi notices the tension between her sister and the boy Nica says she should be dating. What happened? She wonders as the car ride is silent with the exception of Miko thrumming her fingers against the door. They arrive home and Miko dashes out of the car before Mitch has even properly parked in the driveway Lexi promptly thanks Mitch before getting out. "I don't know what happened between you and my sister, but she really likes you. So maybe put Nica and I out of our misery of hearing her talk about you all the time and ask her out."

"I'll think about it." Mitch says before directing his line of sight to the window seeing where Miko was peeking out of it. He chuckles to himself as Lexi heads inside before pulling out of the driveway.