Corruption

Martian Manhunt 2

Samuel frowned as Anora made her way to the bathroom. She had been so cold and distant since that whole incident with Nelson and Miranda and her baby. He couldn't really blame her, especially with how upset he was about his own kids' death. But he didn't want her hatred for Miranda to consume her, to make her go bad and do something she would regret. Samuel apologized to the man Anora had held a knife to. "I'm sorry about her," he told him, "She's had a very bad day." "Haven't we all," the man said.
             Shortly after his conversation with the man, they heard a loud thump towards the back, sort of where Anora went. "I should go check," Samuel said. "You guys wait here, just in case we see anything. He cautiously made his way to the back of the store. The bathroom door was swinging back and forth, as if it'd been kicked or something. He started looking around the aisles nearby. They were all empty, but he heard rushed footsteps. Like someone being chased. It was then that he was unexpectedly knocked to the ground in the paint aisle. He looked up and saw it. A gray martian, short with its classically large head. It was holding some kind of glowing red futuristic gun in his face. It didn't shoot, however, it held a finger to its lips, as if indicating he be quiet. Before Samuel could ask anything, he heard a loud sniper shot from behind him. Anora was on the other side of the aisle, and had fired a shot in between the paint supplies and shot the gun out of the Martian's hand. It's eyes widened and it ran away. Samuel picked up the Martian weapon and chased it. People were panicking up at the front at the sound of the gun shot. As he sprinted towards the grey alien, which was surprisingly fast, it constantly threw things from each aisle at him. It turned and zipped down an aisle, and Samuel was only able to just barely keep pace. That was when Anora dove in between the shelves of the aisle, knocking everything over and tackling the surprised alien and started choking it out. "I'm about to beat your fucking face in!" She scowled. "Anora wait!" Samuel called. "Don't kill it!" The Martian seemed frightened. Maybe they could get some information out of it. It screamed in a frightened, unexpectedly high pitch. Anora scoffed and stood up, picking her sniper off the ground. "Run away again and I'll shoot you." She said coldly to the alien. It stood up, looking around frantically. "Relax," Samuel said, "I'm sorry about the misunderstanding, but we just want to talk, can you understand us by any chance?" The alien stared curiously at him before bolting away. Anora grimaced and aimed her sniper at it. "Wait..!" Samuel gasped. It darted past Jasmine, sliding between her legs and running away behind her. "Ewww," She said, "Was that the alien? I found it!" She called to Samuel, apparent not noticing Anora aiming her gun at it. People screamed and pointed at it. Then there two sniper shots, each one just barely grazing over each of Samuel's shoulders. Anora had shot both the alien's knee caps, causing it to fall just before it got to the door, and it hit its head against the glass. Falling over, it was likely unconscious. He frowned. He hoped she hadn't killed it. "You Gotta be careful," he told Anora, looking at the rips in his shirt where the bullets just grazed over him. "I got it didn't I?" She said, walking past him. "I'm not missing this opportunity."
      People stared in awe, taking pictures as Anora walked up to the unconscious alien, grabbed its foot, and dragged it behind her as she walked up to the cashier, who was visibly shaken up. "Where's the rope at?" She asked him, indifferent to his awed expression. "W-What are you.. gonna do to it.?" Anora sighed impatiently. "You gonna tell me or not?" The cashier pointed the direction of the rope. As she walked away, dragging the body behind her, leaving a trail of blue blood, Samuel went to the cashier and apologized to the cashier. "I'm sorry man," he said, "Of course we're with the government, and she's just having a bad day. We'll pay for any damages." "Uh... t-thank you..?" The cashier stuttered.
           They tied the creature up, and as soon as the rain stopped, they returned to the EED base. They were immediately greeted by James and Cherry, who already had a room set up for some reason. "Wait, how did you know?" Samuel asked them. "It's all over the news," James said, " 'Florida woman brutally murders alien in grocery store'. What the heck happened?" Samuel explained it to them as they tied the Martian to a chair in the middle of the otherwise empty room. The Martian opened its eyes, looking around slowly. "Why are you doing this to me?" It asked. "We need you do find someone for me," Anora said. "If you could speak before," Samuel asked, "Why didn't you?" "I was startled, and I couldn't remember this language at first," it replied. "I'm lost. I just woke up naked on this planet a few days ago. I went to ask that human" - it pointed at Javen - "For help because I heard him talking about some extraterrestrials as if he'd been in contact so I thought I wouldn't frighten him. I hypnotized everyone in that building to prevent them from attacking me on sight. Humans can be pretty ignorant so I needed to be cautious." "Why not hypnotize us?" "Because," it said, "I need a while recharge my brain. I can't just do it at my leisure. It requires proper preparation. At any rate, I'm assuming if I help you, you will help me?" "Help you??" Anora scoffed. "Relax Anora," Samuel said with some thought, "I know you're angry but he's not the same species that kidnapped Nelson." "Hmmm," The Martian said observantly, "So it's a vendetta? Or something similar. Hmm. And which species was it you're looking for? Inu? Menehune? Quiddling? Urzuhg? Maybe the White Martians?" "Damn mane," Javen commented, "I ain't know there were that many kinds of aliens." "Much more than those actually," The Martian replied. "I'm almost certain it was the Urzuhg," Anora said. "This is kinda freaky, isn't it Sam?" Jasmine whispered to Samuel. "I mean, I've seen videos and such, but I've never actually seen this type of alien. They're the stereotypical gray aliens right? But they're the hardest to find." Samuel shrugged. He hadn't really thought about it.
"That would make sense," the Martian said, "They're the only species more inherently violent than you, well humans. But we have an agreement, yes?" "I don't see how we can help you," Samuel replied, "We can't travel out in space like you can. We still have a hard time getting to the moon." "There is another matter you can help me with," The Martian said. "Interesting that you want revenge on Urzuhg. Martians and Urzuhg have been at war with each other for a few billion years, on and off. Constantly. Space is a big place. Think you've wiped them out, and they're rebuilding on a planet on another side of the galaxy." "Oh so your species is good at killing Urzuhg?" Anora asked. "Sure," the Martian said. "They have obvious physical and military advantages over us, but we are technologically superior." "Wait billions??" Cherry asked, "How old are you?" "I didn't exist yet," the Martian explained, "But roughly 3.8 billion years ago the first war between our species peaked. The debris in space which you refer to as the asteroid belt used to be their planet. They didn't have the technology to blow up a planet like we had, but they could still knock our atmosphere off - hence why mars is so barren now. That's why we're sworn enemies. There used to be oceans and vegetation everywhere on Mars.
Not too dissimilar from here, but much cleaner."
Cherry seemed highly interested in learning more but Anora interrupted, "Well I really want to kill this... Urzuhg by the name of Miranda. Are you able to help?" The alien frowned. "What is it?" Samuel asked. "She is the daughter of the Commander of the Urzuhg military. It's next to impossible to get close enough to kill her, and even harder to do so if you can. She's considered one of their strongest military assets, since she's the first successful hybrid. I don't know what they're trying to do per se, but I know it probably has something to do with killing more of my species. Last I heard they also made another male hybrid. They figured out the secret to making fully functional hybrids which is ironic, because on the galactic scale, they aren't known to be that smart." "That male hybrid was Nelson," Anora said quietly. She was clearly upset, but she was trying not to show it. She wasn't doing too good of a job. "This makes more sense," the Martian said. "I see why you're so angry. You're a direct victim of their experiments." "Wait a second," Cherry said, "You guys can do it too. Remember you sent one to open something on a pyramid on Mars? A few years back?" Oh yeah, they got José, Samuel thought, remembering. He had red eyes. "You must not know what you're talking about," The alien said with a frown. "We haven't been successful yet. Even if we were, there's only one functional pyramid left on our dead planet. And it's prohibited to enter it. Anyone that knows why would NEVER break that rule." "Why?" "Annunaki," it replied. "Nearly wiped out or enslaved all life in the galaxy until we all put our differences to the side and sealed them away 500,000 years ago. The peace didn't last long, but if they were so much of a threat that they could make us work with the Urzuhg, that should tell you something." "Even if you're telling the truth," Anora said, "I know it happened. I almost died trying to stop it. I still have a scar on my shoulder where I was stabbed." The Martian frowned. "You stopped it?" It asked. "Yeah, and... Nelson took the key thing," Anora said, "I think he named it Nightmare. He.." "The Urzuhg have the key??" The Martian gaped. "They're reckless! They don't think about the consequences of their actions! It needs to be in safer hands than that. The Annunaki Can NOT return. You know they never lost a single battle in the war? Not even one casualty on their side. Them against every technologically advanced species in the galaxy. Alright. We'll help." "We?" Jasmine asked curiously. "The rest of my species will agree once they hear of this," The Martian said, "Maybe even the white Martians too. This goes beyond your revenge, humans, but we have a common enemy here. Perhaps you can get your revenge along the way. The two hybrids are bond to be kept close together." "A little too close," Anora muttered distastefully.
"What about this disease?" Samuel asked. "Can't you find a cure?" "Oh you mean what's killing the humans," The Martian said absentmindedly. "Yeah, I've seen it before. It's a cruel Urzuhg disease that strips you of your memories and kills you by making your body forget how to function. We may have a cure for it, but that leads me into what you can do for me. I need materials to rebuild my transmitter. Obviously I can't get full functionality, but I should be able to get some of my people to come assist us. They'll want to hear this." "As long as I can kill Miranda, I don't care," Anora said coldly. "Kill as many Urzuhg as you want human," the Martian said encouragingly. "We definitely don't disagree in that regard. The less of those brutes the better."
"Guys!" Henry came busting in. "Eugene's dead! He just fell over and died!" "What?" Cherry gaped, clearly surprised. "He must have had the disease," The Martian said observantly. "Sudden immediate death is usually a tell tale sign." "Holy shit is that a gray Martian!?" Henry gaped, "You know how rare it is to see one of those??" "We try to stay away from humans, for obvious reasons," it said. "I'm sorry," Samuel said, "Most aliens aren't exactly the friendliest when it comes to us. As a sign of goodwill, why don't we untie you?" "Are you crazy?" Anora asked him, "Why the hell would
you untie this fucker? He's going to run away as soon as he can." "Fucker?" The gray Martian asked, "I'm assuming that's not a good thing, if she's saying it." Samuel sighed. "Look, what can we call you? A name maybe?" "I suppose Fred is fine." "Fred??" Jasmine asked, smiling. "Is that your real name?" "Of course not," Fred said, "But you probably can't pronounce it so I picked something simple." "What the fuck ever," Anora grumbled, storming out of the room. Samuel felt bad for her. It seemed like all that pain she was feeling was being expressed as anger. Maybe she needed to vent or something. She needed some sort of help. He didn't want her to be heartless. And she
was a very valuable member of the EED.
"What the Fuck ever?" The Martian echoed. "It seems your language has gotten a bit more complicated." "Oooh can I teach Fred curse words?" Jasmine asked Samuel excitedly. Samuel put his hand over his face and sighed. "Why not," he said. He figured he'd try to talk to Anora. Holding all the anger in was very bad for her health. It had to be. "Curse words?" The Martian sighed. "You are aware there are no such thing as curses, right? I thought that stopped being a thing a few hundred years ago." Samuel left as Jasmine excitedly began to try to teach 'Fred' obscenities, and began to look for Anora. He imagined he'd start at the training area.