Multiple people emitted a white aura. Brittney's mind fumbled: fix Jacob's arm or do something to keep people's minds occupied.

"Ms. Baker!" Mayor Garm's imposing yell countered his tiny stature, his head only reaching to above the young teen's stomach, but sprung into action much faster.

"Right," pulling out a cucumber jar and handing it to him.

"Witness, after fourteen years I will finally open this jar!" His fingers tightened, pulling every fiber of muscle in his body in vain attempts to open up while moving around, crashing into a pillar of the museum. It flipped out of his hand and into the air.

Sarah Baker cut her fingernails and hurled one at the jar, slicing it in two. The cucumbers fell down and the mayor's mouth barely caught them all while she collected the split jar pieces.

Brittney and Jacob turned to each other at the laughter from the children and the applause from some of the adults. Most of the energy levels had sunk.

"He pulled it off?!"

"He's never going to open those things without her help, won't she."

"Carry along everyone," Mayor mumbled while the cucumbers were stuck inside his mouth, forcing Baker to translate, receiving more amusement from the crowd while she used the remains as a plate for him to rest some of them on, while he swallowed the rest, rejoining the teens.

"Sorry about that. What good is a mayor if they can't support the people who elected them?"

He acted like such a leader? Could I do something like that, Brittney thought seeing Jacob pick up his limb in frustration at the guard.

"That's how you treat civilians? By all accounts you should be fired!"

She grabbed his arm, using a wrench and started reattaching it while tightening it up.

"It's okay," holding the metallic hand after finishing it. "At least nothing bad has happened so far."

"Well," taken in the sensations from the nerve and touch centers wired to his emotions, "you make a valid point."

Baker smiled at him while the Mayor handed the two of them tickets.

"This was a lot to handle for the both of you. Take this."

"A half off for most Recall Enterprise owned businesses in the town?"

Baker walked them out as the mayor nodded.

"If anything happens, we'll do our best to reduce the situation. Go enjoy your youth."

Although he wanted to stay, Brittney's excitement of using this anywhere: some of the restaurants, the movie theaters, clothing stores, game stores, the zoo, led him to take the advice.

On their way, she grew curious. "You wanted to show me the exhibit?"

"Yeah. I heard museums were a good place for investing personal time without costing too much."

"Oh yeah," being honest about what little money she had. He told her not to worry about it.

"Our struggles and financial situation explain aspects, not define us. But I won't entirely kick an opportunity like this," maintaining eye contact as her spirits lifted back up. "Okay?"

She wrapped both hands around his hand and leaned in. "Sure. Mind if I make sure the adjustments work?"

"Well," noticing her enthusiasm mattered more than the miniscule attention than others, "why not."

First off was one of the restaurants, trying out filet mignon, carbonara, and halibut.

"You didn't want to follow your dad's footsteps?"

"I am," swallowing it down. "He loves inventing new food combinations, and I want to do the same but with tech. Not just to stop the Chaos Crisis, but to find formulas to help anyone I can."

Next, they went to the clothing stores, where she tried on a variety, wondering his thoughts.
"I'm not good with fashion sense."

"Me neither," trying on a red top with open sleeves. "But it's fun to try."

He relented, finding a plaid print pocket patched shirt. "Think it's good?"

"Yeah, I love it!" The two agreed to buy them, trying them out when they went to buy some games.

"Wanna pre-order Miracles vs Hatnet 3? It's got Arachnid Adolescent, the Liberty Trio, and Hatnet, plus we can team up online if we work together."

"I'd love to, but the wifi in the apartment isn't the best."

"I can set up a better signal," earning thanks. After both pre-ordered their copies, they considered going to the zoo until switching course to the movies given the pigeon excrement issues, but not before buying some ExploMouth chicken to sneak in.

Halfway through the movie, a certain blond allowed cockroaches to crawl near her.

"I knew it, it was a date," Bella quietly screeched from behind the movies.

"So are you jealous your ex-friend is hanging with your new best friend or not," Bern asked, chomping down on some popcorn and feeding the animal. "So you still like him?"

"As if! I don't want him hurting her," earning a side eye. "Don't sass me. And I'm in love with someone else."

"Who?"

"How do I explain it: a-monarch-from-a-far-away-kingdom-who-I-swore-an-oath-to-cherish, and protect."

"You're a good liar," the brunette responded, much to the blond's anger.

Brittney and Jacob endured a scene that made the former cry and the latter taken aback by both, concerned.

"I just know what he's going through. That person that got made fun of for everything growing up, just trying to do their best," wiping her eyes, "and sacrificing themselves for the one person who cared about them. Only a true hero could do that."

He gave her a minute before he popped a question. "What Ditch did to you? Did someone try to turn you before?"

The look in her eyes confirmed it. "I even built stuff to keep me safe."

"Can't fault you. Some idiots thought when I lost my arm, I'd be more susceptible to chaos transformations, and tried to experiment about that."

"Is that why your friendship with Bella ended? She didn't want to be included in that."

He sighed. "That's one reason but I can't entirely blame her. Although if it wasn't for Kenne...Ms. Marge, things would be much worse for me. What Ditch wanted to do should never happen to anyone else, and I can't ignore someone in distress. Including you."

"Oh," holding her cheeks with both hands. "Means a lot. I'm not used to compliments."

"I'm not either. I'm not great with people but I'd like to start."

"With me? But guys always find me weird. I was even voted least likely to kiss, date, or hang out with."

His eyes widened. "One, whoever constructed that voting is scum. And two, would you want someone to give you that opportunity?"

She grinned. "Friends who treated me like siblings, and someone who loves me for me. I've just become friends with Bella, Bern, and Ming. And yeah, a cute guy would be nice, growing up with monsters at any turn wouldn't be so hard."

"Well if you don't mind," taking off his goggles as one character leaned down to support another one, "I'd be okay with helping you out with that."

Bella, Bern, and Brittney all gasped as he gently wiped off the rest of her tears and softly laid his lips on hers, astounding her before pulling back.

"HUH!?"

She proceeded to get a swarm of angry faces demanding she shush, leading to the two whispering.

Did you just kiss me?

Well I thought that was what you wanted.

The two of them looked away from each other while watching the video, as Bella recalled a nearby fly to get the context.

"I knew it," planning to lunge in when Bern held her back.

"Hold on, let's see what happens first."

The other two kept watching the movie. The resurrection scene and the conversation between the leads wasn't enough to stop their rampant thoughts.

That was my first kiss, holy crap! It was so, ahh! Wait, does he like me? No, he said he was being considerate. Which was it? Focus on the movie for now. Ahh, his kiss brought her to life.

Wait, that manual said that was the ideal method to comfort someone. Was that too forward? Should I have just used her words? She seems calm, her chaos energy seems fine but my heart: is this normal?

The movie ended up with a finale leaving both of them satisfied. As they walked out, Jacob decided to be front.

"Sorry about that."

"Well, um," twiddling her fingers. "I wasn't-I don't know, um, but I," caressing her hair, "want to know: did you do that because you thought that's what I wanted, I wanted to or do you like me?"

Jacob stood silent, unsure of what the answer was, especially given his initial motives. Nectar started barking, directing him to the guard emerging from ExploMouth.

"How dare that little brat act like he has authority over me."

"Care for me to assist you in that? Just form this little contract with me."

Despite Jacob's protests, the guard signed the paper. The next thing they knew, Volgo had chucked a white chicken at the guard and fired a beam at the male, who's body transmute into a large monstrous anthropomorphic chicken with a large beak, feather arms, and four toes.

Bern noticed that. "Is that what she did to Kale?" She grabbed Belladonna. "Come on!"

Brittney analyzed the situation. "Hold on, they combined two methods?"

"A humanoid animal via technology. Three. Where did that chimp get that from?"

The guard headed straight for Jacob, and the troubling teens leaped away from his brutal kick that cracked the windows of the movie theater.

Brittney decided to take a page out of the mayor's guidebook. "Jacob, you get his attention, I'll get everyone out of the building!"

She's most likely going too-right now that doesn't matter. "Go for it!"

She rushed back into the theater while Jacob had Nectar transform into a skateboard to get their attention, but not before her P-Tector noticed something off.

"That's Volgo's signature, snake lady, and," checking the radar. Outside of Jacob, someone nearby, yet opposite of Jacob's direction displayed a similar reading.

She evolved into Blizzard, freezing up the walls while gathering as many people as she could and instructing people to leave. A chuck of a ceiling was about to fall on someone's head when Blaze kicked it away and Biome used some pigeons to get others to safety.

"How'd you two get here so fast?"

"Let's just say we had a lunch date nearby, right Biome?"

"Sure."

"Thank the mother of all coincidences. Could you get Ja-adjacent to any survivors and blast Kicking Cawk away? There's something I need to investigate."

"Sure!"

Blizzard flipped out and hopped from building to building in pursuit of the third target when Volgo and Gorgon appeared behind her in pursuit.

She swung from traffic lights to moving vehicles, blowing air down to her feet for skates to accelerate after thinking about Jacob whisking her away earlier. Narrowly flipping from laser beams and Gorgon's snake heads while wobbling her steering and balance, she only realized what was really going on.

Then, a force flew from the air, blowing the three evolved beings further: Nightshroud's appearance, kicking Volgo into Gorgon and struck Blizzard with a spinning kick.

"You're abandoning people's lives on the line?"

"I'm trusting my team. There's someone around just as strong as them towards the museum."

"What?" The two heard an explosion from the museum, and the monument floated onto a truck. Nighthound fired a dark sphere at them, but a shield of energy blocked it, driving off. Gorgon bombarded the canine knight in the confusion, hurling him into the wall while Volgo slammed him into the ground.

"Your armor may be useful for Volgo's future goals," about to maim him when Blizzard kicked the mammal off and punched them away with her makeshift ice gloves, picking him up. The teen blasted ice at the slithering adult's hair appendages, locking them in place while Nighthound recovered in time to catch Volgo and throw him in Gorgon.

Above them, Kicking Cawk fell from Blaze and Biome, the latter of whom summoned an army of pigeons to use their posterior projectile in the air. Blaze fired up the tennis racket, collecting the projectile all into one ball that she smashed into the humanoid chicken.

Kicking Cawk burned out from the flames, nullifying the contract and separating him from the beast. Still, Blizzard and Nighthound launched their attacks at the same time and finished the job, returning the guard back to normal.

The pale serpent headed human and animal backed away.

"We already got what we came for."

"Goodbye, color coded creations." The two flew off much to Blizzard's dismay. That shield's emission was too familiar.

Nighthound put out an ETA, demanding the police split between the museum and the truck.

"The people come first, but, Blissful Blizzard, I acknowledge your support," flying off in the opposite direction.

The three girls ended their transformation before more police started arriving.

"Thanks girls."

"Anything you're not telling us," Bella asked, getting in her face when Bern pinched her.

"Pipe down. For the most part, we stopped another threat. We got a win."

Not too long after, Jacob and Nectar's voice was calling out for Brittney, who asked the girls to let him talk to her alone before waving to him.

"You alright," he asked, almost out of breath, with Nectar nudging her.

"Mostly intact. We, I got everyone out."

"Glad," wiping the sweat off his face. "Could we finish our convo from earlier?"

"Sure," feeling confident to answer and ask anything. "But be honest, was this supposed to be a date?"

"To be honest, I'm still not sure," scratching his head and chuckling. "I didn't lie, I was going to do some of this anyway, but something told me to just have fun for once and I wanted to explore that," picking up Nectar, who's front joints had a dent, "with someone outside of him."

"So the kiss?"

"Both. I," turning slightly away from her, "did my research and concluded that was something I should do if my, could I rephrase that?"

"Rephrase away." So he does like me?

"I assumed if there were signs of mutual attraction, that would be the optimal mood. I apologize again for my mistake," rubbing his cheeks. "I wanted to make you feel better, but I wanted to assess my feelings for you at the same time. Everything that came out of my mouth was genuine."

Yes! He likes me, he really likes me! Am I actually gonna have time for dating? He can hold his own but, if Arachnid Adolescent couldn't, why should I. Brittney shook her head.

"That really meant a lot to me," but, okay Bri, how do I phrase this without ending it? "But I'm still new at stuff like this. And I don't think either of us are ready for dating just yet."

" I have to admit that's a bit of a fair conclusion," lowering his head. " I think we both need more experience before we make that call."

"Well that, I kind of wanna get to know you a bit better first if that's okay. I really had a fun time today."

"Me too," he smiled. "Are all my offers still on the table?"

"Yes! Please, games, Wi-Fi, all of that I need help with."

"A promise is a promise. I'm gonna go check on the mayor and the secretary." Before he left, he turned back. "Did you like the kiss?"

She hesitated, but answered. "It was my first and it was my best," holding her hand to her heart.

"It felt nice too," riding off with Nectar.

Brittney's heart melted. The day wasn't over, but this was something she wouldn't forget.

She called Bern and Bella back.

"Everything worked out?"

"For the most part. Come with me, we're going to the museum."