Tech could hardly believe his luck. He would get to visit the famed Escuela Divertida, the school where celebrity Kiara Davis taught. She was smart, a beauty, soap opera star, and Tech's secret crush. It almost drove him crazy when her character ended up with the most idiotic man in all of Acmetropolis. And, according to the tabloids, the guy was trying to make his move on her in real life as well. However, if Tech could only meet her, maybe…just maybe…

No. He had a mission to accomplish first. Personal feelings had to be set aside for the time being. Speaking of feelings, what was up with Ace lately? He was being really cold toward the coyote genius. Tech wasn't sure what he had done to make the chief so upset with him. Maybe it was just a bunny thing, because Lexi would get cranky for a week every month, too.

Tech decided to go down to the training room for one last session before they all left. When he arrived, he found the lone female of the team mauling the remains of what used to be a training dummy. "Hey, Lex," he said as he passed her to get in the simulator. "Hey Tech," she replied, glaring at the scraps on the floor. She seemed surprisingly hostile, she seemed in an okay mood earlier.

"What's the matter?" he asked, halting. She sighed and dropped to the floor, her legs folding beneath her as if they couldn't hold her up anymore. He rushed over to her and kneeled, fearing maybe she wasn't completely ready to be on a mission quite yet, that she wasn't healed completely.

"Tech, I - I don't know what to do," she said helplessly, her ears hanging limp. "Ace is - he's not - I don't know what to do," she repeated, fighting back tears. Tech put a gentle hand on her back, unsure of what to say. Female emotions were highly reactive, and he didn't want her to explode. She rested her head on his shoulder and sniffled. He pulled out the towel he used to polish his machines from out of his pocket and handed it to her. She took it gratefully, wiped her face, and blew her nose. Tech patted her back, silently letting her know he was there, and that hopefully everything would be okay.

Unfortunately, Ace took that moment to walk by and look in the windows of the training room. Red hot fury washed over him at the sight of his girlfriend wrapped in his best friend's arm. He debated on thundering in and demanding an explanation, but he just stalked off to his room.

Two can play that game, he thought maliciously, I could get any girl I wanted. His thoughts astonished him; Lexi was the only girl he wanted, he'd never hurt her by flirting with others. She'd do that to you, apparently, his mind betrayed him. He shook his head to clear it, and started researching Escuela Divertida.

His search informed him of several different options of escape, should anything happen.. He also found that Kiara Davis, gorgeous star of the soap opera Last Chance, was a teacher there. He himself didn't care much for the show, but he knew that Tech never missed an episode. Not that he would admit it, thought Ace with a smile, shaking his head.

However, something was bothering him about the scene in the training room. Lexi was on the floor with her ears down and wiping tears from her face. Tears. What had happened? Why had he stormed off without checking to make sure she was okay? Some boyfriend.

"Checking out escape routes, Chief?" came a soft voice from the doorway of the computer room. He was overjoyed that Lexi came to seek him out, then ashamed. Of course her super hearing would've detected his stomping pace. She'd known something was wrong and, if he was right, came to him despite her own pain.

"Are you okay?" he asked the question that had been haunting him. She nodded and tried to smile, but failed and looked away. Odd, usually she was a pretty happy person. He frowned and got up from his chair, striding over to her, but she held up a hand to keep him in place.

"Don't touch me," she whispered, trying to compose herself. She didn't want Ace to see her falling apart any more than he already had in the training room. He was acting so strange, and she didn't ever know what reaction to expect from him. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately."

Ace fired back, his temper rising, "Yeah? Well I don't either! What's up with you and Tech becoming so close, eh?" Lexi was stunned that he had spoken to her like that, and disgusted with what he had said. "For your information, Chief, who was it that came and checked on me when I was…well, not myself? Tech. He's like my brother, and you should know that," she spat condescendingly. "And if you were wanting to end 'us', you just had to say so," she continued, her eyes getting wet, "You didn't need to bring Tech into it."

And with that, she fled.