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TWELVE!
let's get leo
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It was finally the time for Mech X4 team to rescue the creator of their robot. All of the members were sitting in the lounge room as Harris discussed their plan. The boy had set up an areal scan on the tv screen for everyone to see where Leo was located.
"Since I won the Harper Grant, I've been using their satellites to do a little recon on Leo's location." Harris explained with a smile.
"An underwater base?" Mark questioned.
"That's where Leo has to be." Ryan pointed out.
"And with a few mods, we can take Mech X4 underwater." Harris suggested.
"So, the tech from Mech X3 can give the bot submarine mode?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah but...tell him Harris." Mark ordered.
"It won't protect the robot from the intense pressure there. It can't go below crush depth." Harris said.
Before the boy could continue his explanation, Spyder decided to pipe up. "Crush depth! Awesome band name, calling it." He exclaimed and they all looked at him weirdly.
"We're starting a heavy metal band?" Natalie asked jokingly at his random statement.
"If you go below it, you'll get squished and die." Harris simplified.
"Squish and Die! First song we drop, calling it! Yes!" Spyder exclaimed excitedly. This garnered him even more weird looks from the others.
"Spyder's gonna end up in a body bag! And Natty's gonna help me dig the grave! Will be two singles on our first album." Hana threatened.
Spyder immediately shut himself up in fear as he was afraid of Hana's actions. The others were trying their best to hold in their laughter at how quickly Hana was able to shut the boy up.
Spyder and Harris were definitely the most afraid of Hana but nobody wanted to get on the girl's bad side. The girl had a reputation of getting aggressive and you never wanted to be on the receiving end of her aggression or else, you would be the one to end up in the hospital.
"Which is why I perfected and miniaturized these Mech-Links. Think of it like a little bit of Mech X4 on your wrist. They're fashionable and technological." Harris explained as he walked over to his backpack that sat on the couch.
Everyone followed and were immediately presented with six wristbands. Five of them were black and one was red. Everyone instantly knew that the red one was for Natalie as her favourite colour was red. Harris handed the bands out to everyone.
"I even made a red one for Natty." Harris said, handing the coloured wristband to the girl.
"Very nice, indeed." Natalie smiled before slapping the band to her wrist.
The rest of the team followed and the activation noises filled the air. This indicated that the Mech-Link had connected to its rightful owner and that it was working properly.
"The Mech-Link has a few key functions already built in." Harris confirmed.
Ryan then accidentally hit a button on his band. This caused a protective shield popped up in front of him. "Woah, force field! Very cool." He exclaimed.
"To swim from Mech X4 to the prison. It'll provide limited air, protection and propel us through water like a private underwater hamster ball." Harris explained.
"I had a hamster once. He died." Hana said sadly and Natalie just patted her shoulder.
Mark also was playing around with his band. He hit a button and this caused a mini hologram of himself to pop up on all their bands. "Woah!" He exclaimed in disbelief.
"And we can call each other on a secure channel." Harris said.
"Just wondering, how would I block three freshmen from calling me on this?" Mark asked, referring to the three freshmen boys.
"Last time I checked, there was five of us. Unless, I'm bad at math." Spyder said as the older teen forgot to include the two freshmen girls.
"Yeah but Natalie and Hana are cool, so I'm ok with them calling me." Mark said before perfectly fist bumping Hana, without even looking.
If you couldn't tell, Mark had a pretty close friendship with Hana, out of everyone in the team. The two often got along and worked well together. Mark would consider Hana his girl best friend in the team but the Oliveri girl was a close second.
Mark also liked Natalie as she was the only who could stop the three freshmen boys from knocking heads with each other. She was basically the peacemaker in the group as she never picked sides in fights and instead tried her best to push each side back before they got worse. He treated the two girls as if they were his younger sisters.
"Best of all, I never would have perfected it if I didn't win the Harper Grant." Harris boasted again as Hana and Spyder both groaned in sync.
"Ever since you got that Harper Grant, you never hang out with us anymore." Spyder complained.
"Oh, that's why you're groaning. I'm groaning at the fact that he won't shut up about that stupid Grant." Hana complained and Natalie agreed.
"That's not true." Harris denied.
"That's kinda true." Ryan said in agreement with Spyder. Harris then looked at Mark and Natalie for an answer to help back him up.
"Spyder and Hana are both right." Natalie said, trying to keep an even ground in the group.
"I like it when you're not around." Mark admitted.
"Guys, can we focus, ok?! Leo knows everything about me. He knows about the adoption. How I became a technopath? I want answers." Ryan said.
"Slow down, Ryan. We could be facing a number of underwater threats. I'll commandeer a satellite and scan the area. It may take a few days." Harris said.
"Leo might not have a few days." Ryan argued.
"You don't know that. Let nerdo do his nerd stuff and then we'll go." Mark reassured.
"Leo might be hurt or much worse. We have this cool new tech stuff and this cool new robot mod. We're going. Let's go get Leo." Ryan announced.
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Spyder decided to drag Hana and Natalie to Harper Futuristics to visit Harris, while he was busy at work. The place didn't look like your typical office building. The normal dreadful atmosphere felt more alive. There was fun activities set up everywhere in the building like soccer in hamster balls and trampolines. Those who work here definitely had a better time that those who don't.
The trio walked through the entire building until the spotted the room with Harris's name on it. He often raved about the gold plaque with his name on it as it made him feel very important to the company. They entered to see the boy at his desk. He did have a pretty nice office that was decked out in an abundance of computer equipment.
"Woah, Harris. You work in a funhouse!" Spyder exclaimed and Hana instantly hit the boy.
"Um....I mean, it's no big robot where you can hang out with friends." Spyder covered up quickly.
"That was smooth." Natalie said sarcastically and Hana face palmed at the boy's stupidity.
"So, what's the emergency?" Spyder questioned.
"I've been using the Harper satellites to scan the route to Leo's location and I got this." Harris said and they all looked at the visuals on his screen.
"You'll have to navigate through some pretty dangerous underwater terrain to get to the base. Since Ryan wants to leave right away, I have no time to upgrade Mech X4 with deep water scanning. You'll be blind down there, so I'll have to stay up here and guide you remotely." Harris explained.
"Which means you'll be staying at Harper's, shocking! Just admit it, you like it here better." Spyder huffed in annoyance.
"Ok, that's not true." Harris said as he stood up.
Before Spyder could answer, one of Harris's lab partners had entered the room to greet the friends that Harris had rambled on about. "Salutations." A guy with red hair, greeted. This instantly diffused the tense situation.
"Woah!" Spyder exclaimed as he stepped back.
"What did nerdo just call me?!" Hana asked in anger as she got ready to pounce on the poor boy.
"Easy, Hana." Natalie calmed and quickly pulled the girl back before damage could be done.
"Spyder, Nat, Hana, this is my lab partner Augie." Harris introduced.
"Lab partners? I prefer the term R&DBs, research and development buds." Augie corrected.
"Buds?" Spyder asked in disbelief. Erina decided to take the boy's hand to help calm him down.
"Yeah." Harris nodded.
"As in buddies?" Spyder asked as he gave the girl's hand a comforting and gentle squeeze.
"I think someone's about to cry." Hana whispered.
"That's right. We've already applied for three patents together." Augie beamed.
"And invented a video game, even moms like." Harris added.
"This is just one giant nerd off." Hana scoffed.
"What's the point of that?" Spyder asked.
"Aug, can you give us a minute? My friend has an embarrassing mole he needs me to see." Harris whispered to the intruding redhead.
"Oh, I know how that is. Ok, ees ouy retal." Augie greeted with a goodbye wave. Harris waved back but rest of the group just stood there in confusion.
"I said, see you later. Sometimes we speak in backwards phonetics." The boy explained.
"I don't remember learning that language in school." Hana inquired in confusion.
"That's because it's not a real language." Natalie pointed out and she sighed in relief.
"Za-Za-Zooey!" Augie and Harris exclaimed excitedly as they did some weird handshake. The group gave the two boys a weird look. Augie then gave them one last smile before leaving the room.
"I'm gonna have to flush the nerd out of my brain later." Hana said, while rubbing her eyes and Spyder nodded in agreement.
"Isn't he great?" Harris asked.
"If you mean weird then yes." Natalie nodded.
"Now I know why you haven't been hanging out with us anymore. You've been friend cheating with fa-fa-freaky!" Spyder exclaimed.
"Ok, that's ridiculous. Are Augie's quirky habits amusing, yes. Is he like the brain brother I never had? Maybe." Harris smiled.
"Is this you trying to be reassuring? Cause you stink at it. You like Augie better than us! He's your best friend....." Spyder started to say but got cut off by Harris turning completely invisible.
"What the...?" Spyder asked in confusion before starting to search around to find for Harris.
"The Mech-Link also has a limited stealth mode in case you run into any trouble. Nope, not even close." Harris explained.
"I will not be cheated on!" Spyder shouted before he got slapped across the face. Hana and Natalie started laughing as Spyder groaned in pain.
"Get ahold of yourself, son." Harris ordered as Spyder clutched his face in pain.
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The three teens were able to make it back to the robot in time as Ryan had wanted them to leave as soon as they could. Spyder, Hana and Natalie all made it back to Mech X4 in time to leave. Harris stayed behind at Harper Futuristics to help lead us to the underwater facility where Leo is being held.
"Wait a minute, let me get this straight. It's so dark and dangerous where we're going that we need Harris to be our GPS?" Mark asked.
"Yes." Ryan smiled.
"Because you're in so much of a hurry that you won't let him install an actual GPS?" Mark recalled.
"Technically since we're under the sea, it would be a sea-PS." Ryan corrected.
"Now is not the time for puns." Natalie reminded.
"Shut it, Ryan, ok? It's too dangerous. We can't do this." Mark dictated.
"Mark, I...I waited long enough for answers. It's time I've got them." Ryan pleaded.
"Ok but if anything goes wrong.." Mark started to say but was instantly cut off by Ryan.
"We bounce, I got it." Ryan reminded.
"Alright." Mark said reluctantly before going up the ladder to his station.
Ryan went over to the platform and put his waist belt. The rest of the team members secured the stations. He then made the robot super jump to the shoreline before diving right into the ocean. The water hit Mech X4 harshly, which caused the robot to shake but it wasn't anything major. The team were instantly met with the aquatic life that inhabited the Bay City harbour. They were all in awe at seeing the different creatures.
"This is awesome!" Ryan exclaimed in awe.
"Sub mode engage!" Mark said, flipping the switch for the robot to change into its new form.
The others looked at the senior strangely. "Don't.....Don't do catchphrases." Ryan begged.
"Yeah, catchphrases aren't my thing." Mark said.
"Yeah." They all agreed before Ryan dived deeper and they were met with a whale.
"Awe, so noble." Spyder exclaimed excitedly and clapped his hands together. Everyone was in awe.
Suddenly, the whale screech loudly. This caused all of them to cover their ears in pain. "Ah! My ears! That's hurts! So loud!" Ryan yelled.
"Oh, it's talking, so majestic." Spyder said in awe.
"It's too loud!" Natalie complained.
"And we dive." Ryan said before diving farther down into the ocean. The robot began to navigate through some rocky terrain.
"Ok, we're at 5000 feet. The pressure is building." Mark pointed out.
Ryan stopped before contacted Harris, using his Mech-Link. A small Harris popped up on everyone's bands.
"Alright, have you got us on your monitors? I can't see anything. Harris, you're gonna have to guide us through this mess." Ryan pointed out before mirroring Harris on every screen in the room.
"Oh, hi, Harris. So glad you could rip yourself away from Augie and help us not die." Spyder greeted bitterly.
"Bitter much?" Natalie asked Spyder in annoyance.
"Very." Spyder confirmed with a smile.
"Ignoring that. Ryan, lower Mech X4 about five feet and shift to the left, fifty degrees." Harris ordered and Ryan did exactly as he was told to do.
"Careful, Ryan, we're almost at crush depth." Mark warned the boy.
"Next part is tricky, just keeping going straight until...Wait!" Harris started to say but cut himself off at the sight. The robot now surrounded by deadly and explosive mines.
"Hey, Ryan! Watch out!" Spyder called and this caused Ryan to immediately stop.
"No! Stop! That's a mine. That is totally a mine." Mark pointed out.
"Actually, that's a lot of mines." Ryan corrected.
"We're gonna blow up." Natalie sighed.
"Well, if we are then I'm gonna eat my sandwich. Don't wanna die on an empty stomach." Hana said and pulled out a sandwich to eat. She received a large amount of weird looks.
"Mines? We're surrounded by explosives. What do we do know?" Ryan asked Harris.
"How about we go back in time, so I can update the scanners and then we can go on this crazy underwater mission." Harris said sarcastically.
"Now is not a time to be sarcastic." Natalie reminded.
"Wait, um, can we actually do that?" Spyder asked.
"No, you idiot! Time travel isn't real." Hana shouted and Spyder glared at her.
"This is the part where we go home." Mark said.
"No, don't you get it? If they're using mines to keep us out that means Leo's in there and we have to get it. Harris, can we do anything?" Ryan asked.
"Maybe try sending a few sonar pings. I can probably make a map of where the mines are." Harris said.
"Probably?" Mark asked in disbelief.
Ryan then used his power to help send a map of the area to Harris. The same map Harris had, popped up on everyone's screen since Ryan probably shared it with him.
"Go about 100 feet to your left." Harris ordered and Ryan did exactly that.
Ryan made it past the first mine successfully. "See, we can totally do this." He encouraged.
"Good, now just keep moving forward..." Harris started to say but all of the screens shut off.
"Harris? Harris? I'm going through." Ryan said.
"What? That's stupid! You can hit a mine, drown us all. Harris is MIA. You said if anything goes wrong, we go home. Let's go home!" Mark demanded.
"But I'm already halfway through the minefield." Ryan said and Mark's eyes widened. He didn't realize that the boy had been navigating through the mines as he rambled on and on.
"What?" Mark asked in disbelief.
"Well, I have been moving through the minefield since you said, 'dude, you could hit a mine!' And have we hit a mine?" Ryan asked but didn't realize that he was actually floating into a mine.
"Look out!" Natalie shouted to warn the boy and instantly caught his attention. He immediately stopped in his steps and moved away.
"Yet?" Ryan questioned nervously.
"Hey, guys! I have an idea, maybe I can hack into Harris's computer and upload his scan onto my computer. I can guide us from here." Natalie explained suddenly and all of them turned to her in shock.
"You can do that?" Ryan asked in disbelief.
"Of course, my computer is able to hack into any other computer as long as it contains a gps scan or a coordinate of some kind. My computer can run on satellites in case the internet or electricity goes out." Natalie explained. They all looked at her in confusion as they didn't understand a single word.
"It will just take a few seconds. I will upload a map to the monitors and then we can proceed from there." Natalie assured.
She then spent the next few minutes hacking through the fire walls of Harper Futuristics to get to Harris's system. She finally gained access to search through all of his files and found the file.
"Found it." Natalie announced happily and mirrored the map onto all of the monitors in the room.
"Yes! Great work, Nat." Ryan complimented.
"Thank you." Natalie smiled happily. She then jumped into her navigator position of guiding Ryan through another few mines.
"Aha! Haha! See? Told you, nothing to worry..." Ryan started to assure but got cut off by Mark.
"Are you nuts? Head for the surface now!" Mark demanded angrily.
"No but the station is right there, a few more mines and we're there." Ryan pointed out.
"I'm not playing. Turn the robot around and let's go home." Mark said and grabbed the boy's wrist to pull him back. Ryan flinched and Mark fought back. The two boys started to fight each other. This caused Mech X4 to mimic Ryan's actions.
"What's going on down there? You guys are drifting into the mines." Harris pointed out suddenly through the Mech-Link.
"Guys! Watch out for the mine!" Natalie shouted as both boys pulled apart. They had drifted right into the mines.
"Your fault!" Both boys yelled before Mech X4 hit the mine. The mine exploded and the robot was greatly affected by the impact. All of the members were knocked unconscious as a result.
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It had been a few hours or so since everyone was knocked unconscious. Well, almost everyone.
Natalie just laid on the floor as she had gained consciousness before anyone else had as her head landed on her soft backpack. She just couldn't get up due to Hana's heavy weight, the ocean's pressure and her lack of upper arm strength. She basically just counted ceiling tiles as she waited until somebody woke up to help her.
Her wishes had finally came true when she heard some noises. She looked over to see Ryan was shifting in his restraints to pull himself out of his slumber. "Ryan!" Natalie called and the boy flinched at her sudden voice.
"Nat! Are you ok?" Ryan asked worryingly as he turned towards her.
"I would be if Hana didn't weight so much." Natalie complained and he chuckled.
"Is everyone ok?" Ryan asked.
Mark had gotten up as Spyder forced himself to sit up on the floor. Hana just shifted slightly and rested more of her weight on Natalie, who was practically being crushed between the girl and floor.
"Some water may have gotten inside and gotten into my pants." Spyder said and everyone cringed.
"I'll get the emergency power back on." Mark said and ran to the control panel.
"Someone please get Hana off of me." Natalie begged.
Spyder immediately ran over and offered the girl his hand. Natalie took his hand and he gently pulled her up. The lack of strength in her legs made her fall into the boy's embrace. The two shared an awkward smile as they both blushed intensely. The Walker brothers watched them with smirks.
Hana flopped over and woke up with a jolt. "I'm up! I'm up!" She exclaimed and everyone laughed at her reaction.
This caused Spyder and Natalie to awkwardly pull away from each other. The power was then turned on, thanks to Mark. Ryan unhooked himself from his restraints and went over to his brother.
"That blast took out most of your power and right propeller." Harris informed the team.
"What's the good news?" Ryan asked.
"Who said there was good news? You're below crush depth. You have ten minutes to get out of there." Harris explained.
"Or we squished into meat paste." Spyder finished. The robot started to make weird noises, which meant that something was wrong with the controls.
"Ok, I'm gonna go use the Mech-Link and go get Leo. It's now or never." Ryan said.
"Still with this?" Mark asked in annoyance.
"This is what we came here to do. You just get Mech X4 working again before the pressure destroys it. Mark, please?" Ryan begged.
"Hey, good luck." Mark said and handed the flashlight to the boy.
Ryan just nodded before going into the hatch and down the ladder. Hana decided to go with Mark to fix the robot because she knew she would get to rip things out. This left Spyder and Natalie and they decided to follow after Ryan to wait for his arrival back. The three walked through the hallways with their flashlights as it was pitch black.
"Spyder, give me your Mech-Link." Ryan ordered.
"My Mech-Link? Why?" Spyder asked.
"Because Leo's gonna need a force field to get back." Ryan explained.
"Why not mine?" Natalie asked.
"Because yours is bright red." Ryan pointed out.
"Yeah but maybe, Leo likes red. It's a pretty colour." Natalie defended and Ryan chuckled. The group had finally made it to the exit.
"Also, if I don't make it back, can you just...Can you tell Mark that this was important to me? And umm." Ryan began to explain.
"You're sorry for being a jerk." Spyder added.
"Yeah, wait, I was a jerk?" Ryan asked in disbelief.
"Dude, we're sinking. You brought us to our watery grave. Hey, at least I'm doing it with friends." Spyder shrugged and gave his Mech-Link to Ryan. The boy then patted Ryan's shoulder. Spyder began to turn the dial on the door for the boy.
"You're gonna do great. I believe in you." Natalie reassured and patted Ryan's shoulder. Ryan gave her a thankful smile.
Spyder opened the door and Ryan quickly ran out. The door was shut and locked behind the Walker boy. Both teens sighed in relief as they relaxed against the wall. They were both tired of dealing with the Walker brothers' fights. They had ten minutes left until their oxygen ran out, so anything could happen at these exact moments.
Natalie glanced over at the boy beside her and swallowed the lump in her throat.
The girl was thinking of revealing her attraction to him but she was nervous beyond belief and very indecisive. She didn't know if she should push the nerves down or throw up everything in her stomach. The impending doom of death didn't help her spinning head. She finally decided that if she was gonna die then she wanted the boy to at least know about her feelings.
"Spyder." Natalie called and the boy immediately turned to look at her. "Can I talk to you about something important?"
"Yeah, what do you want to talk about?" Spyder confirmed with a smile and she blushed.
"It's really important and I want you to promise me that nothing will change between us after what I'm about to say." Natalie begged and the boy nodded.
"Natty, you're my best friend. Nothing can ever make us not friends." Spyder reassured.
That word brought a sour taste to her mouth. She wanted to be more than friends but the boy constantly shut her down at any chance. She did the same though.
"Spyder. I......" Natalie tried to say but couldn't even finish my own sentence.
In that instance, it felt like her tongue had been cut off and no words could escape from her. She went completely silent.
"What did you want to say?" Spyder asked.
The girl tried to speak again but no words would come out of her opened mouth. She just stared deeply into the boy's milk chocolate brown eyes. Even in a tragic time like this, she could still appreciate the boy's beauty. The way his teeth looked when he flashed her a smile or the way his eyes sparkled and became pools of luxurious honey in the basking sunlight just made her weak in the knees.
Spyder could say the same thing about her. He loved the way her eyes became little crescent moons when she showcased her signature grin or when her cheeks puffed up when she was annoyed. The two were so head over heels in love for each other that it was oblivious to them.
"Nat." Spyder called, which quickly pulled her out of her trance.
"Yeah." Natalie nodded.
"You were gonna say something." Spyder reminded.
"Oh, yeah." Natalie nodded awkwardly as she remembered her words. She took one more look into the boy's eyes and decided to make her move.
Her two hands cupped Spyder's jaw and she harshly pulled him forward, so his lips would hit hers. Every ounce of emotion that Natalie felt for the boy was in that kiss. She had no words to describe the feelings she had for him but a kiss would do.
The boy felt like a warm hug that could easily protect her from everything in the world that could hurt her but at the same time, he was a roller coaster ride filled with adrenaline.
The girl just knew that she wanted the boy with all of her heart. She used to despise the boy's antics but as she matured, she was able to see straight through his sly remarks and playful winks. She was able to see that he had a heart that was bursting with love and he only wanted to give that love to her.
Natalie was past the playful crush. She only desired deep and true love and she realizes that Spyder was the only person who could give her that. He was her soulmate. He was put on the earth for her and her only.
Natalie pulled away from the kiss but kept his jaw in her hands. She just gave him a look of disbelief as she couldn't believe she had the courage to kiss him.
"Wow." Spyder breathed out in the same disbelief.
Natalie quickly turned away in embarrassment. "I can't believe I just did that. I never expected to do that. I should of just told him and be let down easily but no, I'm an idiot. He's gonna hate me forever."
"Nat." Spyder called and grabbed her wrist. The girl turned around but couldn't face his eyes.
Spyder cupped her face and he leaned in. It was his turn to return the kiss and he did. He placed his lips to hers. Natalie wrapped her arms around his neck as her eyes widened in disbelief. Spyder felt his insides explode. He couldn't believe that he had the courage to kiss back.
He had always dreamed of kissing the girl but never had the courage to do so. He just always stood from a far and wished that she was his. I guess the confidence that Natalie emulated transferred over to Spyder, who gladly took it for his own use. He never expected it to happen but it did. He had the girl in his embrace and his lips on her.
The kiss the two teens shared was sweet but still filled with so much passion. Spyder could sort of taste the cherry lip balm on the girl's lips and was engulfed by her sweet scent of lavender. It was like the stress of world had melted away and the two teens were the only ones left.
They wanted to savour their precious moment together as long as they could before being pulled back to their harsh reality. Loud knocking on the door caused the pair to awkwardly pull apart from each other.
They shared a look before rushing over to open the door for Ryan. It took them a few tries to do it properly but they got it. Ryan carried the unconscious Leo in. Mark and Hana rushed into the room in time to help.
"Ryan!" Mark called and grabbed an unconscious Leo from his younger brother.
"Get Leo to Med Bay and let's get Harris on the line." Ryan instructed.
"I got this, you just take it easy. Are you ok?" Mark asked his brother, who looked uneasy.
"Yeah. I'm...I'm good. Mark, I'm really sorry about dragging us into this mess." Ryan apologized.
"Nah, bro, I get it. This is important to you. You need answers." Mark said in realization.
"And I got one, I know who the mastermind is." Ryan said and everyone's eyes widened.
"What?" Hana asked in disbelief.
"I'll explain after. Come on, let's get Leo to Med Bay, quickly!" Ryan rushed.
He then stepped into help Mark carry Leo out of the room. Spyder and Natalie looked at each other, sharing an awkward smile. Hana instantly picked up their antics.
"Why does it look like you two just made out?" Hana asked sarcastically with raised eyebrows. Both of the teens looked at the girl with wide eyes.
"What makes you think we made out?" Erina asked.
"Yeah, we totally didn't do that." Spyder defended.
"I'm just kidding. Jeez, why so serious?" Hana asked with a laugh. Spyder and Natalie both started to laugh awkwardly with the girl.
"How about we go help Leo." Natalie suggested as she desperately wanted to change the subject.
"Yeah, let's do that." Spyder agreed before they both rushed off. Hana followed.
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It had been a few hours since Mech X4's terrible trip to the ocean. They had safely made it back to the junkyard and even had Leo in their care. The injured scientist was placed in the Med Bay to receive the care that he needed for his health to improve. Most of the members except for Harris and Mark, sat on the couch in the lounge room.
"Just got Leo settled in the Medical Bay. That dude is seriously messed up and he keeps asking me for a grilled cheese sandwich." Mark explained when he entered the room.
"Well, man's gotta eat." Hana joked and Natalie chuckled at the girl's comment.
"So, you gonna tell us?" Mark asked, reminding everyone of Ryan's secret.
"Spill, man, come on!" Spyder exclaimed.
"The tea better be hot." Natalie said.
"Who is the mastermind?" Mark questioned.
"Ok." Ryan breathed out as he got up from the couch. The others listened closely for the info.
"While I was in Leo's cell, I figured something out. I took out his camera but I could still tap into the feed and I used my power and followed it back to the source. I can't believe what I'm saying, I can't believe that it's true. I know who the guy behind all of this is. It's Seth Harper." Ryan exclaimed angrily and everyone's jaws dropped.
They were in disbelief. They couldn't believe that the guy that was trying to be friendly with them was actually evil.
Suddenly, the phone went off. An alert popped up on the screen saying, there was incoming call from Harper Futuristics. Harris appeared on the screen. "Hey, guys. Just finished up at Harper's. Jeez! What's with the faces? What? Did something happen?" He asked in confusion.
"Just get down here, quick!" Ryan demanded and Harris nodded before the screen shut off.
"I'm gonna go check on Leo." Ryan said before leaving the room. Mark decided to follow after Ryan. This just left Hana, Spyder and Natalie on the couch.
"Hey, Hana, can I talk to Nat?" Spyder asked. Hana just nodded but kept sitting in her spot on the couch. She didn't realize he meant alone.
"Alone." Spyder emphasized and the girl sighed in annoyance as she got up from the couch.
"I'll be in the kitchen making a sandwich if anyone needs me." Hana said before leaving the room. It was now just Spyder and Natalie on the couch.
"So?" Spyder said, moving closer to the girl.
"So what?" Natalie asked in the same tone.
"About earlier." Spyder started and Natalie harshly swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Oh, you mean the kiss, right?" Natalie asked nervously and he nodded.
"Nat, I like you. I really like you as in more than a friend." Spyder announced and reached over to grab her hand.
The girl's heart exploded with happiness. She couldn't believe that the boy liked her back. She expected to be turned down or made fun of but to hear he shared the same feelings was a relief.
"I really like you as well, Spyder." Natalie grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers.
"What does this mean for us?" Spyder asked in confusion at their intertwined hands.
"I want us to be together but we can't. We have so much to deal with like helping Leo and taking down Harper. We will start dating when the time is right. Will you wait until then?" Natalie asked.
"Of course, I will wait for as long as you need. I only want to be with you. I like you, Nat and I truly mean it." Spyder assured.
"I like you too, Spyder." Natalie assured with a warm smile. Her heart melted at his words.
She couldn't believe what he was saying and how vulnerable he was in front of her. His eagerness to be with her was what drew her even more to him. She was happy he shared her eagerness and was willing to wait. She would wait a thousand years in order to be with the boy and he would do the same.
They were meant to be together. They are the two halves that were magnetized to each other. Nothing could pull the teens apart. Not even a monster or a near death experience.
💬 AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Natalie finally admitted her feelings and Spyder likes her back as well. I'm so excited for them to finally get together after all of the painful flirting, even if won't be for a while. Please be patient with me because of my slow updates but it will happen soon. Thank you and continue enjoying my book.
★ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ! spyder johnson ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)