Start Notes
Okay, I know that I literally only posted this story this morning, but I already have an update for y'all teehee, plus half of chapter 3 written. I just really wanted to get over and done with the canon-compliant stuff, because Paramount's 15-second skipping feature is reaaaaally starting to get on my nerves. Like no babes, I don't want to watch the entire scene for the fourth time in a minute just because I missed this one word come on you stupid thing! So anyways! From this point forward, we are officially progressing to a mostly drabble fic of missing moments over season 3, before the couple endgame, which is either going to be a SwellMelonFest, or Bose's Birthday Party parody.
Chapter 2: Of Reconnections
Mika sat on her bed, chewing on a nail, her foot tapping loudly against the floor.
What was she going to do?
Their mums had forced them to disband Danger Force over three months ago now, and her mum was still on high alert every night. Another attempt at sneaking out had been foiled the night before, and Mika was getting really sick of it.
It wasn't fair!
Her mum had stripped away every single part of her identity, and Mika didn't think she could handle it anymore. She just wanted things to go back to how they were before!
She wasn't allowed to use her powers for anything, even though they were literally a part of who she was.
Her mother had gone as far as picking apart a vibrating dog collar and attaching it to a necklace that would buzz and text Angela whenever Mika used her powers. That had lasted for an entire month before she finally believed Mikawhen she promised she wouldn't use her powers anymore. Mika had no idea how the tech worked, and she had a sneaking suspicion that her mother had forced Schwoz to build it for her, but that didn't matter.
She had been completely isolated from her two best friends in the entire world, except for her brother, and even then the two rarely saw each other.
Her mother had taken to dropping them off at school every morning, only minutes before the bell rang, picking them up for lunch every day, and waiting at the front drive of the school the second the bell rang at the end of the day, honking insistently until they came out.
To make it even worse, she had clearly conspired with Celia and Alejandra to make sure the teens never spent any time together in school. When the group had showed up for their classes the Monday after the reveal, they'd found that all of their classes had been switched around and now none of them, Mika and Miles included, shared even a single class with each other.
Now all they had was fleeting glances in the hallways as she passed the two people that she needed more than anything else right now but couldn't talk to.
And to top it all off, Angela had set up all of their messaging accounts on her own phone, once she noticed the Danger Force group chat that they had still tried to use for the first week. She now got a notification of every text, message, DM and inbox they were sent by anyone to either of the twins and had completely banned contact with both each other and Bose and Chapa.
She and Miles pretty much only saw each other during car rides and family dinners now, and those were always supervised. She was pretty sure he'd run off and joined a cult, and she couldn't even smack some sense into him!
Her individuality had been completely stripped bare, all of her most important relationships were ripped away from her, and now only a shell of herself was left.
She'd taken up solo crimefighting almost as soon as she was free of that god-forsaken collar. Even without her powers, she was smart enough to be able to take down most of the petty thieves in Swellview, after all. But even that came to an end after only a few weeks, and now her mother seemed to know when she was planning on going out before she even had a chance!
Mika was sitting and stewing, trying to come up with a new way to sneak out so that Angela wouldn't notice- maybe she could start just skipping classes entirely to fight crime? - when a tap on her window made her jolt.
She looked up and gaped, seeing a face she hadn't seen outside her window in a long, long time.
She ignored the traitorous jump her heart did.
Mika shot up, whirling around to shut her bedroom door and used the doorstop she kept hidden under her bed to jam it closed- her mother had removed her lock after the incident.
She'd probably be in trouble for this later on, but none of that mattered right now. He was here.
Mika rushed to open the latch on her window and pulled the glass up, giving the boy just enough room to slide in.
"That's way more difficult than it was when we were twelve," he joked, pulling himself through.
"Bose," she choked, dropping the window to dive into his chest.
He didn't waste a second before wrapping his arms around her. She felt him take a shuddery breath as he held her.
The pair stayed like that for a few quiet minutes, neither wanting to let the other go first.
"I missed you," Bose eventually whispered into her hair, squeezing the girl one last time before dropping his arms.
"Me too," Mika sniffled, dabbing under her eyes as she took a small step back, not going far. "Oh god, I probably have racoon eyes now," she huffed lightly, making Bose chuckle.
"A little, but you still look beautiful," his eyes widened. "I mean, uh, nice. Fine. Normal. I like your bangs."
Mika laughed, ignoring the way her heart continued to patter irregularly. "Thanks. I like your long hair."
"Thanks."
She sat down on the chest at the end of her bed, patting the spot next to her. If he sat a little closer to her than he normally would, neither of them mentioned it.
Mika bit her lip. Clearly, something had to have been wrong, for him to have blatantly broke both of their mum's rules and sneak out to see her. Should she ask? She was torn. She wanted to make sure her friend was okay, but she was also desperately craving a chance to just hang out with him again. Like old times.
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am, really," she paused, bumping her arm against is, "but is everything okay?"
Bose's Adam's apple bobbed, and Mika flushed, forcing her gaze back up to his eyes.
"Um, not really," he swallowed thickly, hands clenching the leg of his jeans.
Mika was beyond ecstatic to see him, but she knew that whatever had happened must have been serious for it to have shaken him up this much.
There had been a period for the first week or so where the team had tried desperately to continue seeing each other, despite their parents. Emailing, secret phones, sneaking out, ditching school; but every attempt was only met with more restrictions, more loss of freedom, more punishments. Eventually, they just gave up.
Mika was ashamed to admit, that sometimes when she saw him or Chapa in the halls, she would duck her head and pretend that she hadn't. On a bad day, she knew that if she looked at them, she would completely fall apart.
Mika rested her hand on top of his but didn't speak, waiting.
"Um, where's Miles? I don't think I can say it twice."
"Okay, sweetie. Stay here, I'll grab him," Mika really didn't want to leave him, even for a second, but she did as she said.
She was careful when opening her bedroom door, making sure to check the hallway twice before stepping out and closing it behind her.
Lucky for them, it was 8:15, meaning that both of her parents would be downstairs in the lounge room, getting ready to watch the 8:18 pm news. They had probably half an hour before her mother would even think about coming to check on her.
Mika approached her brother's door, quietly rapping on it six times in quick succession. Their secret knock. They hadn't really used it much, lately.
"Mika?" Miles opened his door almost immediately. He noticed her smudged eyes and sombre expression instantly, quickly stepping out into the hall. "What's wrong?"
"Bose is here," she kept her tone low.
"Wait he is?" Miles' eyes widened. "Is everything okay?"
Mika shook her head, biting her lip. "He said he didn't want to say it twice. Come on," she nodded her head down the hall.
The teens slipped quietly into her room without being spotted.
Mika stood back, a gentle smile on her face, as she watched her brother embrace their mutual friend.
"It's good to see you again, man," Miles patted Bose on the back as he pulled away.
Sweet reunion aside, Mika could see the tension still in Bose's eyes, so she reached out and pulled him to sit back down with her.
"Whenever you're ready to talk, we'll listen," she rested a hand on his arm. "We don't need to see each other every day to be best friends."
Bose nodded; lips pursed as he pulled out his phone. "Uh," Mika and Miles both ignored his voice crack, "the 7:23 news did a segment. Just, watch."
The teen swiped at the device a few times, before Mika's TV turned on, mirroring the screen with an image of Trent and Mary, paused and waiting. He hit play.
"Mums," Trent spoke dramatically into the camera.
"That's right, Trent," Mary piped in. "Mums are in the news more than ever these days. Not only do they have 50 million things to do, but now they're-"
"Gone!" Trent jumped back in. "Including the trophy wife of Swellview's own vice mayor," Mika gasped, "second lady Celia O'Brien Pence Quayle Mondale Willard."
Bose pressed pause.
"Your mum is missing?" Miles cried, moving to stand in front of Bose.
"I haven't seen her in days," Bose confirmed, his foot tapping on the ground. "But, hey, it's not all bad. You know what this means?"
Mika could spot a desperate attempt to keep the mood light when she saw it, especially from Bose, so she went along with it. "That your mum has been married to five vice presidents?"
Bose shook his head but sent her a thankful smile. "She has a thing for vices. They're her only vice."
Mika elbowed him in response to the bad pun, making him laugh.
"But," he stood up quickly, "it also means… that we have a mission!"
Mika and Miles shared a look.
"Come on, Danger Force on one, two-"
"Hey dude!" Miles cut him off quickly. "It's okay that you're scared for your mum. You don't have to pretend."
"Exactly," Mika stepped forward. "And of course, we're going to help you get her back, but we can't just go around announcing that Danger Force is back."
"We're not allowed to fight crime anymore. We're not even allowed to use our superpowers!" Miles tried to be the voice of reason.
"I know, but we can't just sit here and let Bose's mum stay missing!" Mika argued, getting fired up.
"What else are we going to do?"
She knew that it was going to be tough. The last three months had been nothing but tough. But they would find a way to do this. They'd get through to Chapa, and they'd save Mrs O'Brien. She was going to make sure of that.
"I don't know, but-"
"Hey."
All three teens jumped. They'd been so distracted arguing, that they'd completely missed Chapa crawling in through Mika's window.
"Wow that's way harder than it was a few years ago," she puffed, bending over.
"That's what I said!" Bose grinned, clearly in better spirits now that the team was back together- kind of.
Mika rushed forward, giving her friend a quick hug, with an extra squeeze before she pulled away.
God, it felt so good to all be in the same place for more than a few seconds, again.
"Hey, I know we're not supposed to hang out outside of school anymore, but," Chapa looked down, "I haven't seen my mum in days… Also, I miss you," she whispered the last part.
"Oh my god," Mika cupped her hands to her mouth. "Miss you too," she whispered back.
"Seriously? Your mum too?" Miles messed with his twists.
"Wait, too? Who else?" Chapa looked around the room.
Bose silently raised a hand, pursing his lips.
"Awwe, Buddy, come here!"
Bose frowned, but accepted the hug, nonetheless. "Why is this happening? Who's doing this?"
Before Mika could answer, her bedroom door swung open, making Mika jump.
Shit! The doorstop! She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to put it back in place after bringing Miles to her room. Stupid, stupid!
"Hey, kids!"
Oh, thank god. Just her dad.
Somehow, much to Mika's surprise, her father had no idea about anything that had happened in the last three months. Angela had made Mika and Miles swear that they wouldn't tell their dad, and they weren't exactly in any position to argue.
Whenever their dad mentioned something about "that nice boy and the cool redheaded" not coming around anymore, Angela would jump through hoops to keep her husband distracted, and not asking any hard questions. When he mentioned that the kids were spending more time in their bedrooms than they had in years, Angela had the twins lie about school getting more difficult. Anything to keep their only sympathetic parent out of the loop.
"It's good to see you both again, not my kids," Herman nodded at Bose and Chapa. "It's been a while. Why haven't you guys been around much?"
"Uh," Mika and Miles exchanged a panicked look.
As much as she felt bad that her dad was so out of the loop, she really did not want to tell him anything, right now. Talking with her dad was the only time in the past three months that she'd been able to pretend her life was semi-normal. She really didn't want to lose that.
"They've just been busy, with home stuff," she supplied weakly, jumping in before their friends gave anything away.
"Fair enough, I hope everything's okay with you kids. I worry sometimes," Herman rested a hand on both teen's shoulders. "You've always got a safe space here, if things at home get to be too much. I won't ask any questions that you don't want to answer."
Mika swallowed down the lump in her throat. God, it wasn't fair! Why couldn't it have been her dad that had found out their secret? Would he have reacted the same way as her mum? Would he have banned them with no conversation, or would he have taken the time to sit down and talk? Would he have been disapproving, and afraid for their safety, but ultimately proud of them? She bet he would.
Mika steeled her resolve. When all of this was over, one way or another, she was going to tell her dad their secret, herself. On her own terms. And if her mother didn't like it, too bad! Maybe then, they'd actually be able to sit down and talk for more than sixty seconds, like a real family.
"Thanks, Herm," Bose smiled up at the man.
"Yeah, that means a lot," Chapa nodded, fist bumping him.
"No worries, kiddos. Anyway," the older man dropped his arms and turned to his own kids, "I just woke up from a nap and can't find your mother anywhere. Have you seen her?"
Mika blinked, trying to process. It was a Saturday, and well past 8:30 now, so her mum wouldn't have possibly gone anywhere.
Come to think of it, Mika hadn't seen the woman at breakfast either. Or lunch. In fact, she hadn't seen her since she'd busted into Mika's room the night before to stop her from going out.
So, their mum was missing too…
"Ah, she'll turn up. Don't worry too much, kids," Herman pulled the twins in for a quick hug. "She probably just went to a friend's house. You know how stressed she's been the past few months."
Mika couldn't focus on her dad's kind words, her mind too busy reeling with the new discovery. All of their mums were missing now. Had the news mentioned any other mums go missing? She tried to recall the broadcast. So far, it seemed that only Celia had been reported.
Which meant that, maybe, just maybe, it was only the mums of the Danger Force kids who were missing…
"What sick, twisted," Chapa started pacing the second Herman had left, her hands sparking, "low-life, piece of trash would kidnap all our mums?"
"I really hope I'm wrong," Mika swallowed down the bile, "but I've got a pretty good guess," she sighed crossing her arms. "We should head over to the Man's Nest."
"Oh my god!" The other three teens chimed in unison, clearly catching up.
"Let's go," Miles put his arms around Chapa and Bose, leaving Mika to latch onto Bose's arm.
Mika had to stamp down her excitement when she processed the scene in front of her. Finally, after three long months, she was back in the Man's Nest.
"Why are you upside-down?" Bose questioned, causing Mika to spin around.
Ray was tied up in a headset, hanging from the ceiling like a bat.
God… This manchild was her ex-boss and the beloved hero of the town. She shook her head.
"Never mind that," Chapa stepped forward, glaring at the older man. "Give us our mums back, you psycho," her hands sparked beside her dangerously.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Ray cried, crying to lean away but unable to do more than a slight wiggle.
"Save the zapping," Mika grabbed her friend's wrist and pulled her back, "for after we know where they are."
Chapa growled and yanked her hand away but didn't advance on Ray again.
"What the heck is happening?" The man cried. "I haven't seen you kids in months, and now you barge in here trying to kill me!"
Miles sighed, moving to start untying the cord. "Come on man. We know you took our mums as some weird plan to try and get Danger Force back. Just tell us where they are."
"And then I can fry you," Chapa smirked, raising a hand.
"What are you talking about!" Ray started wiggling in his binds again. "I don't know where your mums are! They all blocked me last month after I called them too much!"
"Come on, Ray," Bose shook his head. "All three of our mums go missing, and we're supposed to believe it's a coincidence?"
"It wasn't me!" Ray huffed, blowing the headset away from his face as it swung toward him.
"Oh, really?" Chapa snorted.
"The guy who's mad at our mums for pulling us out of Danger Force," Bose tacked on.
"The guy who would go to ridiculous lengths to get what he wants?" Mika crossed her arms.
"The guy who wrote 'kidnap their mums until they change their minds,' on his whiteboard?" Miles paused his untying efforts to point at the large whiteboard in the corner of the room.
Mika blinked. Wow, how had she missed that, when they'd first arrived?
"I haven't crossed that one out! I haven't gotten around to it yet."
Mika shook her head. She observed the list he'd written and saw that sure enough, the kidnapping idea had yet to be marked off. However, he had crossed out 'emotionally manipulate them,' 'buy more schools,' and 'appeal to their emotional sensibilities'… Mika didn't even want to know.
She refused to believe this. There was no way that Ray wasn't involved in their mums' disappearances. No way. Because if he didn't do it… then…
Ray let out an undignified yelp, as the final cord holding him in place finally snapped, and he crashed to the ground in a heap.
"Ouch, that looked like it hurt," Chapa smirked, kicking the man's arm with her shoe. "Good thing you're indestructible."
"Still hurts," the man moaned from his place on the ground.
"So, you really didn't kidnap our mums," Miles asked cautiously as Ray slowly got up, groaning the whole time.
"No! I didn't kidnap anyone's mums!"
"But he totally could if he wanted to," Schwoz commented, making the group all jump.
"When did you get here!"
"Awe, science freak!" Chapa was the first to greet Schwoz, giving the man a quick hug. "I've missed ya, buddy. You too, I guess, old man."
"Awwe, so she does have feelings," Ray mocked, accepting the girl's hug anyway. "I did miss you kids, dammit."
Mika blinked back her tears as they joined for a group hug.
Current dilemma aside, it was so good to see them all again, to be back in the Man's Nest. She could almost pretend that nothing had changed.
"Okay, touching reunion aside," Miles cut in, pulling back from the group, "does anyone have a plan to save our mums?"
"We could always use Ray's tracking device," Schwoz supplied helpfully, shrieking when Ray threw the headset at him.
"Ray has a what?" Mika shrieked, whirling around the glare at the man. "Are you tracking our mums?"
"That is so messed up, dude!"
"What the heck!"
"Hey, hey, hey! I am not tracking your mums," Ray trailed off, and Mika just knew it was going to get worse. "I'm tracking every mum in Swellview."
"WHAT?"
"Dude!"
"What the heck, man!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Ray leapt away from Chapa's glowing hands. "Are you really mad at me when I'm the only one who can help you find your mums?"
"Uh, yeah!"
"Absolutely!"
"We can feel two emotions at once!"
"Are you guys done fighting, yet," Schwoz drawled, standing in the corner of the room by a large machine that definitely hadn't been there a few minutes ago. "Are we ready to do this, or what?"
"We're coming back to this," Mika growled, glaring at the brunette, before walking to Schwoz's side.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Ray waved his hand flippantly, only to yelp when Chapa sent a stray shock his way.
"Okay, I don't mean to get my heart broken again," Bose spoke as the group circled around the mum-map, "but this is really feeling like the Danger Force is back moment!" He was practically buzzing.
Mika laughed, "Not yet, honey."
"Ow," Bose clutched his chest and fell to the floor dramatically.
Mika shook her head, smiling at the display. She'd really missed this dork the past three months.
Bose slowly got up from the floor, winking at Mika's when he noticed she was still looking at him.
The heroin flushed and looked away quickly. Plan. Mums. Save the day. Focus.
Word Count: 3,725
End Notes
Okay, can I just say, I really, genuinely did not mean for this to get as heavy-handed as it did? I've never really written anything remotely angsty, but I kept imagining being 15 and isolated as a punishment for doing good, and voila! And okay, lowkey, I grew up on Danny Phantom and Kid Flash, I'm a big fan of parents being high level disapproving of the hero lifestyle.
Also, I just want to say I really don't like contributing to the "mum bad, mum demon, mum punishes us, dad innocent and nice and can do no wrong" stereotype, but Nick dads, in particular, don't get enough love. Like every Nick show I can think of, the dads are kind idiots, and the mums are almost always cheating on them (cough, Siren did it worst of all, but I remember you Tori Vega's mum, whatever your name was. You weren't slick).