(Ryans POV)
A few days after we asked Veracity to join the team, was the day Dakota and her sister were coming back from Tampa Pro. We basically had to celebrate over FaceTime together, but when she gets back I'm sure we're going to celebrate again. She was still in Tampa when I was laying on the loft of the control center and we were on FaceTime.
"So I'm posting more pictures from the competition and I need a caption." She said from her hotel room while scrolling on a laptop.
"Got any ideas?" I asked.
"Two potential candidates." She replied. "either 'I always knew I looked better in gold.' or 'back and better in gold'."
"Oh wait!" I said after a lightbulb went off in my head. "What about this, 'Welcome back to the Flip Side.' She chuckled, wide-eyed and said,
"I love how smart you are sometimes. I'm using that." I then heard somebody open the hatch door below me. Veracity climbed out as I put one finger to my mouth telling Dakota to be quiet as I turned the phone silently so she could see why.
"Okay, weapons, ew. Sticky." Veracity says to herself while examining Spyder's desk. She walked over to Harris's desk next. "Scanners. Shields. Scanners and shields." After looking at the two stations she stepped down to the control pad. I used my powers to make it light up as If I was on it. "This is amazing." She punched the air a few times as if she was controlling the robot before I made my presence known.
"Excuse me." I said causing her to jump. "That's my spot."
"How long you been up there?" She asked surprised.
"The whole time." I said turning my phone so Dakota could see her again.
"Hey Veracity!" Dakota yelled from my phone. Veracity smiled with a small wave as I climbed down to the floor.
"It's pretty cool isn't it?" I asked her.
"Yeah, uh except for the hallway that smells like bratwurst." She answered.
"Dang it, I told Spyder to stop using the legs as a smoke house." I said while Dakota and I shared a annoyed look. "So it's been a few days since we asked you to join. You still haven't told us that you're in"
"Oh no, yeah I'm in." She replied happily. "Giant monster-fighting robot? I will totally handle defense to Harris gets back."
"Then bump it." I said holding out one hand. She immediately hesitated.
"You know I'm really psyched to be here, but I'm not really the bump it type." She says awkwardly.
"Well in that case!" Dakotas voice says from my phone. She held up her hand for me to first bump her through the phone.
"Thanks D." I laughed before we heard a scream come from her end of the call.
"Dakota Rose I swear to god!" It was clearly Kendall's voice.
"I gotta go!" She yelled and laughed at the same time before immediately hanging up.
"Okay anyway moving on." I laughed putting my phone back in my pocket.
"So what's on deck?" Veracity asks.
"Getting ready to fight something way worse then Seth Harper."
—————
With Veracity officially in, we called up the rest of the team for a training session before school on Harris's new simulation program.
"Guys we're getting our butts handed to us!" I said after taking a hit from the non-existent Traeger monster standing across from us.
"Okay note to self wash hands after battle." Spyders says to himself out loud.
"We're losing the ventral armor, I gotta go secure it." Mark tells me before leaving the control center through the hatch.
"Harris, Harris shields!" I yelled out.
"I've got you covered Desmond." Veracity says in sarcastic response.
"Wow, Desmond, I've been calling you Ryan for what, 13 years now?" Spyder asked. "Why did you not say something?"
"Sorry, sorry, Veracity. Habit." I corrected myself.
"Yup." Veracity said trying to move on with the situation.
"Okay, Spyder, arm cannon and then I'll follow up with," I trailed off when the robot stopped following my actions and the lights started to dim, "the robot won't respond?"
"My panels dead too." Spyder added. 'Traeger' marches towards us and threw a punch that would of probably ended us had it been real.
"Bam! Simulation over!" A animated Harris said appearing in the screen. "Welcome to scrap town y'all!"
"Well that stunk." I said unhooking the robots harness.
"At least Harris's simulation program worked okay." Spyder added to look on the bright side.
"Anybody else get an animated Harris mocking them on their Mech-link?" Mark asked coming back into the room.
"Since he's been injured he's had a lot of free time." Spyder said.
"I don't get it how did we lose power?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah I think this ones on me." Veracity says from Harris's desk. "I figured out how to extend the shields and keep the monster further away."
"Sounds like a great idea to me." Spyder responded.
"Which is our first clue that it was bad idea." Mark added. Normally this is where Dakota would punch him, but she's not here so I get to.
"Well, I mean I needed the extra power to extend the shields, and I guess it took it from your systems." She said awkwardly, "my bad."
"It was a great Idea, but you have to tell us so we can work as a team." I told her.
"I was just trying to win." She said in response.
"We were all trying to win." I continued, "These simulations are to help you learn to work with us."
"Hey she gets it." Spyder cut me off.
"Hey guys, how'd the simulation go?" Harris asked after appearing on our screens.
"Well, spectacular, she was great, uh... I mean of course you're great too. It's still your chair, you're just injured." Spyder rambled. "Do I know how to diffuse a situation or what?"
"I found the plane Grey and Traeger stole. They're way up in the Arctic." Harris explained.
"The arctic?" Thats way to far for us to rocket jump." Mark says.
"You're right, we need Leo's flight mode. So Mark and I will have to finish the flight upgrade during our free period." Harris continued.
"All right great training session everyone." I said as Mark and I turned for the door. "See y'all at school.
————
(3rd person POV)
Spyder, Harris and Veracity all went their separate was to school, while the two brothers caught a ride in Marks car. Mark gave Ryan a lecture about trying to be a better leader especially towards Veracity. They both knew it would be hard adding a new team member but it was the next thing for the group.
Later in the day while Mark and Harris were working on flight mode, Spyder had tracked down Veracity who was busy in a study hall.
"Yo! Sup V?" Spyder yelled bursting into the room full of quiet students. The teacher and students all shushed him as Spyder shut the door.
"Dude, be quiet." Veracity said slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry, sorry, what are these people doing here?" Spyder says walking to Veracity's empty table looking at every kids screen. "Is this some kind of kid prison?"
"Spyder go away." Veracity says not lookiNg up from her tablet while Spyder sat down across from her.
"No." Spyder says sternly.
"I'm reading Harris's stupid tutorial again." Veracity said before Spyder snatched the tablet from her hand putting it one the other side of the table.
"Reading, No. I came here to tell you that your doing fine." He told her. Veracity looks around at the other students before resting her arms on the table and lowering her voice.
"Look, I can memorize every ridiculous detail in that stupid tutorial but that's not going to solve the real problem."
"Right." Spyder nodded. "Which is?"
"I'm used to working alone." She clarified. "The whole others relying on me and me relying on others thing, just.... just kinda weirds me out. I actually don't, have a lot of friends or anything."
"You know what's cool about the robot?" Spyder asked. "It's that it made all of us teammates, and friends. For starters look at Ryan and Dakota! I mean Ryan grew up idolizing her, they became best friends because of the robot really, now, they're like the cutest couple in the entire school."
"Yeah they are really cute together." Veracity chuckled.
"See? And then there's me and Mark."
"You and Mark?" She scoffed.
"Yeah! Mark and I didn't get along, and now we're like super buds." Spyder says before Marks voice comes through his Mech-link.
"Dingus! Hey! Smelly! Nerdo and I are ready to test flight mode! Peace butt-face!"
"No problem best buddy!" Spyder laughed causing all the students to shush him again. "I hate kid prison." Spyder quickly go up grabbing his bag marching to the door. "I will not be silenced!" Spyder screamed before closing the door, veracity shushing him through her laughs.
—————
(Ryans POV) After school, we met back up at the robot to test the new flight mode. Harris was flying in the jet to meet the rest of us, who were all in the robot. I piloted the robot out of the ferry, leaping up to attach the back of the robot to the underside of the jet.
"Locked in." Mark says checking things on his end.
"I can feel the jet integrating with the robot." I said as we flew. "All right. Let's fly." I took the robot around above the city and it's probably the coolest things since we swam underwater with a blue whale. "Flying is awesome!"
"Duh, bro, that's why birds are always singing." Spyder said as if he was pointing out the obvious. I got a absolutely kick out of Mark looking like he was going to puke when I started spinning while we flew.
"Dude faster! Spin faster!" Spyder cheered.
"Or slower, in a straight line please!" Mark said clutching the railing of the balcony.
"Anybody else thinking how much Dakota would love this?" I asked out loud just before there was some sort of explosion coming from the jet. "What was that!"
"Woah, uh, reading some kind of explosion? Obviously, Damage reports coming in." Veracity reads from her computer.
"Shut the jet down take us back to the hanger this test was a failure." Mark told me. I was trying everything but nothing was responding.
"It's not slowing down I can't stop it." I said. "I can't turn of the jets engine."
"The jets turbines or combustion engines. It's a chemical reaction you can't turn it off with your power." Veracity clarified.
"Mountain! Mountain!" Harris screamed from the jet. I pulled the robot up as best I could to avoid the mountain in our way.
"Harris can you detach the jet?" I asked.
"No, the explosion fried everything." He said. "And also, did you know Spyder has a third nipple?"
"What?" I asked in confusion.
"That was a pillow fort secret!" Spyder yelled in response. "That you gave away there."
"The carbon monoxide is filling up the cockpit that's why he's so loopy." Mark added.
"And the hatch is sealed!" Harris says in a confused tone. "All right lets save the day."
"Mark bust him out, I'm going to fly over the ocean where we can hit anything." I said as he left the room just before there was another explosion.
"Dude what's wrong now?" Spyder asked as fire came up from the hatch.
"I don't know how to say it, so Im just going to say it." I said. "My butts on fire."
"Uh, yup there is a fire in the anterior syndromic system." Veracity said leaving both me and Spyder confused, "the robots butt."
"You guys need to put it out." I said.
"Also I have a burn cream for that, if you'd like."
"Go!"