(Ryans POV)
"Hey dude." Mark said walking in my bedroom door.
"Hey." I responded from my bed, barely looking up from my phone.
"I was surprised you were actually here last night." He said sitting on the couch.
"Why is that weird?" I asked. "You know I live here, right?"
"I mean yesterday was Friday, you and Dakota sneak out pretty much every Friday, to go skating don't you?"
"You know about that?" I asked.
"Uh yeah." He laughed. "Anyway, why weren't you out."
"Uh she canceled." I answered, hoping to leave it at that.
"Uh-oh." Mark said. "What did you do?"
"Why do you assume I did something?" I asked, slightly offended.
"I had a hunch," he responds. "So what did you do?"
"Long story short, Leo might have found a way I can help Dakota get her powers back, let's just say I wasn't very supportive of the idea." I explained.
"Ahh, yeah that makes sense." He said. "But why not?"
"Mark I don't know, if I were to do what Leo says might work, and something were to happen to her, I would feel terrible, I don't want to be the reason she gets hurt. Kinda already did that once." I continued to explain.
"I think you still need to support her, I think it's her choice to make, if Leo's confident it will work, she wants to, I think you gotta let her." Mark says, giving me the, you know I'm right look.
"I'm gonna talk to her today." I said slightly glancing out my window.
"Might get to do that sooner than you think, come on." Mark said, sacredly looking down at his phone then his mech-link.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Harris just messaged us, Greys monster just stopped on a huge research facility."
—————
(Dakotas POV)
We met up with everyone at the robot, and yes Greys monster was still here. It was outside a huge glass dome with a big hole in the roof. I wasn't really fond of being there, but hey, duty calls.
I guess.
When we met the brothers there, Spyder ran to his desk, me my chair, but a now healthy Harris almost collided with Veracity when they both ran for the last chair.
"This isn't awkward." Spyder said trying to ease the tension. "I don't feel awkward."
"No no no, this is your station, your shields." Veracity says to give the chair to Harris. "I will go help Mark with the X-weapon."
"Alright Spyder." Ryan began once Veracity left the room. "Light him up like a Christmas tree." Spyder happily hit the launch button but nothing happened. "Spyder?"
"Nothings responding?" Spyder said. I had slid over to the monitors on the side of Harris's station, looking over the robots systems.
"Zero connection with the weapons systems and the shield systems." I said while Harris continues to try and get the shield up. "Mark talk to us, what's going on?" I asked into the mech-links.
Through all of the screaming and yelling, we could make out Mark saying, "Leo and Harper were trying to shift power to the X-weapon, then they started clawing each other's eyes out." I stood up out of my chair and reached for the hatch in the floor.
"I'll go down there and bust some heads for you." I said annoyed, mainly with Harper and Leo.
"Much appreciated, thank you." I heard Ryan, somewhat laugh before the robot shook while we took another punch.
I eventually made it down to the X-deck where they were working, while the robot got thrown around a few times which was complicated but I made it. Now with my help, Veracity, Mark and I shoved Harper and Leo to opposite side of the room. While Mark and Veracity went back to fixing the wiring, Harper told us to do it one way, Leo said do it another, and it all went down hill from there.
They were up in each other's face again screaming and yelling when Ryan walked in with Harris and Spyder. Ryan couldn't get there attention so forced myself in between the two of them shoving them in different directions, so they'd shut up.
"What happened?" Ryan asked Leo. "The robot wouldn't respond."
"First off, these goggles are sweet." Leo said to Harper. "Second of all, when the robot got put back together, someone who's names starts with an H. Didn't use the right wiring protocol."
"Yeah," Harper began. "Harris!"
"Guys can you just figure it out?" Ryan asks. "Before Traeger throws another monster at us? Please."
"Fine." Leo says defeated.
"Good, now shake hands." Ryan told them, I stepped back from in between them, opening up the floor. The hesitantly stepped together and shook hands, glaring at each other the whole time. "Okay now go fix the robot together." They didn't get halfway down the hallway way and they started arguing again.
"Okay that's gonna be a issue, anyway, we're just glad the monster wasn't after us this time." I sighed.
"Yeah, but what was it doing?" Ryan asks. "It didn't even destroy the place it just put a hole in the roof."
"Well, when the police clear out, we can go check it out." Veracity added.
"Okay dibs on not having to babysit Harper and Leo first." I quickly said.
After checking in on the two downstairs, I was on my way out to meet my sister, when I was stopped by the elevator by none other, than one could probably guess. Ryan.
"Where you headed?" He asked while I walked towards the elevator door.
"Meeting Kendall for breakfast." I answered with almost zero emotion.
"Can I walk you there?" He asks. I looked over my shoulder with a skeptical look on my face. "Come on I'm looking for an excuse to talk to you."
"Fine." I smiled, holding the door open. "Come on."
I was meeting my sister at a restaurant downtown, and for Ryan wanting to I talk with me he was awfully quiet.
"Ry, you know you can't look for an excuse to talk to me, then not talk." I said once we were over halfway there.
"Yeah, sorry about that." He slightly laughed. "Here's the thing, I'm still not entirely comfortable with, the whole powers thing but, I think I have come to realize it shouldn't be my decision to make and I'm sorry." I smiled at what he said.
"I was hoping you were gonna say that." I said.
"We're good?" He asked.
"Of course we are." I answered, "It really didn't need to be as big of a deal as it was. I think maybe we both blew it out of proportion a little bit."
"What do you mean, you weren't in the wrong."He responded to my last statement.
"I mean, I could have not stormed out." I added.
"Well, yeah I guess that's true." He says. I waved at my sister through the restaurants front window before turning back around.
"Thanks for walking me but I will see you later." I said smiling while he held the door for me. Adorable. I walked in while the door shut behind me before I spun back around leaning out the door. "Hey since I kinda canceled last night, skatepark? Say eleven-ish?"
"I'm down if you're down." He smiled back. I nodded and headed into the restaurant.
—————
I met up with my brother and as we were walking back to the house, he took a phone call from his girlfriend Georgia. I just enjoyed listing in to at least one side of the conversation.
"Yeah, I'll pick up you up around seven. Yeah, miss you to." He said just before hanging up the phone.
"Ooooh, look at Mark Walker getting all serious." I laughed.
"We're not getting serious, I mean maybe a little serious." He said. "Here let me see how can I turn this conversation on you,"
"Oh no." I groaned.
"Oh got it! How'd it go when you talked to your girl?" He asked.
"Uhm, good actually. It was good." I answered. "I was honest, I'm not fully comfortable with it, but you were right, it's really not my decision."
"That it is not." He added. I thought he was going to say something else, but when he was silent I followed his gaze to our front yard that had a newly placed 'House for Sale' sign. We both shared a panicked look before running the rest of the way home.
"Mom?" I called when we got in the house.
"In the kitchen!" He heard her yell back.
"What's with the sign in the front yard?" Mark asked as we ran through the hall to the kitchen. "Please tell me your just looking for an upgrade or something."
"No, guys I'm sorry, I think it's best we get out of the city." She explains while she's busy cooking.
"What? Leave Bay City?" I asked.
"That monster attack was the last straw. What if he had stomped your house while you guys were home? Oregano." She says.
"No the monsters are targeting civilians." I said passing her the bowl while Mark nudged me to keep me from spilling a secret. "They said so on the news. And Mech-X4 is protecting us."
"I'm sorry, but I don't trust some robot, who blew up your old school to not smash our house the next time he gets into a fight. Carrots." This time Mark handed her the bowl and asked,
"What about our friends?"
"Yeah, Mark finally has a girlfriend that he talks with instead of just pretending to listen to first of all, second Dakota, what I'm just going to up and leave her?"
"Boys I know it's going to be hard for you to leave Bay City, but it's for the best." She says still working.
"But Mom Dakota gave up her old life for me." I continued. That actually caught my moms attention a bit. "She was ready to move back to South Carolina but stayed here because of me. She scrapped her and her sisters plans to go back, now I'm just going to move away?"
"Okay, listen, I got a final audition with Chrstph Frssll at the Bay City culinary institute." She begins to explain.
"I'm sorry who?" I asked.
"Chrstph Frssll the famous chef?" Mom answered. "He removed all the vowels from his name in an artistic statement. Anyway, if I can impress him, I will be an assistant chef at his flagship restaurant in Miami."
"Wait, what? Miami!" I said looking at my brother.
"I know can you believe it! Black pepper." She says grinning.
"But mom-" but she cut me off, this time a little more stern.
"I said, black pepper." I reluctantly passed it to her and as she put some into her food she said, "See if I can get this job, I'll be able to move you guys away. And no more danger, no more monsters, no more Mech-X4."