Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Shock, could you be a little quieter? I'm trying to sleep." I mumbled, burying my face in my pillow.
"That's not me." Shock answered, flying over to me. Opening my eyes I looked up at him.
"Then what is that noise and where's it coming from?" I said and that's when I noticed my phone was shaking. With a groan I reached over and snatched it from table beside the bed. "Hello?"
"Good morning to you, too. You do realize that it's after 9 am?" I heard Berto point out and I glanced down at the phone's clock display. It read 9:15 am and I winced.
"Oops. Sorry I forgot to set my alarm. I'll be out in five minutes." I told him.
"That's okay. I'll wait for you on the ground floor." Berto said and hung up. Slipping my phone into my pocket I was about to leave the apartment when I realized I was still wearing my base suit.
"I can't go out looking like this. Shock, do you mind?" I asked him and with a nod, he changed my outfit. Once he did I grabbed my backpack and Shock flew inside. "Sorry about this but you remember what Forge said." I apologized.
"Don't worry about it. At least I can come with you this way." Shock said.
Moments later I walked outside wearing a light green hoodie, a silver t-shirt, jeans and black and white sneakers. Once outside I found Berto standing on the pavement and I was a little puzzled when I found him wearing a grey hoodie and a red shirt instead of his lab coat and armor/shirt. Noticing the look on my face, Berto grinned.
"I couldn't walk around Copper Canyon with my lab coat if I wanted to blend in. What do you think?" He asked me.
"It looks great on you." I said with a grin. "How do I look?" I asked him.
"Lo bello." He said and I raised an eyebrow.
"He means you look beautiful." Shock explained and I blushed.
"Thank you Berto." I replied and he nodded. "So where should we go first?"
A short time later we were sitting at a café a few blocks from the apartment.
"By the way, sorry about waking you up this morning." Berto said as I sipped at a glass of orange juice.
"That's okay. I meant to set my alarm and I kind of forgot. "I admitted, setting down my glass. " I have to say it's nice to be outside without having to fight some super villain."
"Definitely. Plus it's good to hang out outside of N-Tek. "Berto said as he picked up his glass of soda.
"I second that." Shock said, peeking out of my backpack and I had to agree. "Even if I have to spend my time stuck in here."
"I know Shock but you remember what Forge said. I can't let anyone see you outside of N-Tek. I wish I didn't have to hide you or my powers." I sighed.
"Max and Steel have the same problem. He wants to tell his friends, Sydney and Kirby, his secret identity." Berto said.
"Yeah but then he'd put them in danger if anyone found out that they were his friends. It makes a lot of sense. Plus I shouldn't complain since my friends already know how I am." I smiled.
"Yeah. That's a good point. So where to next?" Berto asked me.
"Is there an arcade in Copper Canyon?" I asked him and Berto grinned back at me.
About half an hour later we were inside the arcade and I have to say it was pretty cool.
"So what do you want to do first?" Berto asked me and I asked him if they had a karaoke machine. Noting the confused look on his face I told him that I was also pretty good at Karaoke. After a few minutes of searching we found a karaoke machine and I picked up the microphone.
"So what are you going to sing?" He asked me and I gave him a mischievous smile.
"You're about to find out." I said as I picked my song and waited for the music to start. As the lyrics began to appear on screen I sang along to 98 Degrees' Uno Noche. Concentrating on the song I didn't notice the expression on Berto's face, who had his eyes on me the entire time. By the time the song ended I discovered that I had gained an audience. With a grin I replaced the microphone and gave a bow as my audience clapped. Joining my friends Berto handed me my bag.
"So how did I do?" I asked Berto, who scratched his head.
"From the look of it, very well. " Shock replied, peeking out from the top of my back pack. "Judging from the expression on Berto's face I'd have to say he thinks so too" causing Berto to go red in the face.
"It wasn't like that. I was impressed by your skills." Berto shot back and Shock shrugged, clearly not convinced. "Not to change the subject or anything but what next?" So for the next two hours we played video games. Soon after we decided to have lunch and found a burger joint within walking distance.
After grabbing two burgers we found a seat outside in the fresh air.
"I've had a pretty good day so far. No battles or annoying villains to fight." I said as Berto sat down across from me.
"I second that. "Berto said.
"And I third that." Shock said and I giggled. "Nice not to have to battle the Ultimate Elementor or Miles Dredd."
"What did Shock say?" Berto asked me and I relayed his words. "Yeah I'm not so thrilled to fight any of them."
"At least you can send C.Y.T.R.O into battle. Shock and I have to face them head on. Plus we only have two modes at the moment, three if you include the mode I accidently accessed." I pointed out.
"Actually I've been working on that and two other modes. When we get back to N-Tek, I'll unveil them." Berto told me.
"Wicked. Looking forward to it then." I said. "By the way, have you put any thought into what movie we're going to see?"
"I have one picked out. You'll just have to wait until we get there." Berto replied and I groaned.
"Aww. Fine then I can wait. I suppose." I answered and took another bite of my burger. We ate in silence for the next minutes as I tried to narrow down what type of movie we were going to see. Most likely action or horror, I thought to myself.
"So what do I do?" Shock asked me and I told him that if he hid in my back pack, I could sneak him in.
"It might be breaking a few rules but it's the only way to get you into the movie. I don't know what the usher would think if he or she saw you." I said, giggling as I had a sudden mental image of the usher screaming and running away from Shock.
"What's so funny?" Berto asked and when I told him, he cracked up too. After I told Shock he didn't find it as funny.
"I don't get what you two find so amusing. Why would anyone run away screaming from me?" Shock asked me and I attempted to explain the joke. Of course a joke's not as funny when it's explained. On the plus side Shock kind of understood even though he still didn't think it was very funny. As soon as we reached the movie theater, Berto excused himself and went to buy tickets. Of course Berto was still keeping me in the dark about the movie he chose, no matter how many times I asked him. Realizing I was getting nowhere I resolved to wait until the movie started to find out.