Corruption

Opening up

They headed out.
     Ever since Nelson had turned his back on humanity, the missions he accompanied Miranda on had become allot more serious. On this particular mission, they were tasked with placing a trap for the Martians on Earth as Mari had instructed. Miranda immediately took to setting a few up through out Spring Hill, since there was a massive energy anomaly there from where they had battled and Nelson used that energy gun, which was detectable from space. As a precautionary measure, they were to, as quickly as possible, set up traps in surrounding areas with energetic anomalies. He listened to her instructions as best he could, as she was unbelievably efficient now that they were truly on mission as allies and not him just tagging along. He tried pay attention to the way she quickly set up every trap, pressing a dozen digit code almost too fast for him to remember. They didn't require sleep and food to stay alive, so they were nonstop constantly moving, relentlessly approaching their next target.  It took them close to a month in all 50 states to set everything up.
               As they finished up, Miranda said, "That's the last one. You know how they work right?" Nelson nodded, though he was only half sure. He was barely keeping up with her. Also, she had seemed to be in a bad mood. Now that they were done, she stopped to contact Mari and tell him they had finished. He shrugged and said he had something else for her to take care of later.  She nodded curtly. She sighed. "I guess let's go ahead and get whatever else he wants done," she muttered, already speeding up to a jog. "Wait a second," He called after her. "What's been bothering you? You've hardly spoken and you seem.. off?" She crossed her arms, still not facing him. "I'm fine," she replied sarcastically. "But don't you think it's a little disappointing?" Nelson stared at her, clearly confused. "You know," she continued, "You would think my own Dad cared about me a little more. He never cares how dangerous any of the situations he puts me in can be, he never comes to check on me besides when he has another task for me to do. It's like he doesn't care about me anymore.." she had started off speaking angrily, but by the end of her rant, her voice seemed more hurt and upset than angry. He frowned. "I'm sorry.." was all he could think to reply to that. She shrugged, sighing deeply. "I don't mean to sound mad at you," she explained, "I'm actually happy you even asked. It's still a new feeling to have someone notice that I'm upset.. and care enough to ask." "Of course," Nelson replied, "I mean I feel like you're already dealing with allot of stuff so I want to make it easier for you if I can." "Thank you," She said with a hint of a smile. He went to stand beside her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. They had been standing in the middle of a large open field, during dusk as the sun was just beginning to set. She rested her head against his shoulder. She was actually fairly shorter than him, standing only as tall as his shoulders. "Of course I don't know the full story," He told her slowly, "But really, at least try not to think about it as much? Maybe he'll soften back up later? I don't know. But right now, don't forget that you have another person who cares about you. Another person who wants to see you be happy and succeed in life. Who lov.." he stopped himself, surprised at what he was about to say. Miranda also seemed surprised. She blushed softly, clearly too shy to say what she seemed to have on her mind. "Well um.. that person's me.. of course.." he finished awkwardly. "Thank you." Her response was a genuine one, warm and appreciative. She smiled at him for a while.
"You know I was thinking," Nelson told her, "Mari said later right? Don't we have time to do something in between?" "Do something in between?" She asked, staring at him intently, playing with a few strands of her wavy red hair. "I mean like I don't know," he said quickly, "Just spend some time together." She stared at him absentmindedly a while longer before snapping out of it, and replied, "He can wait. I would absolutely love that." They got in the flying saucer and flew off into space. They were flying for a while, but he had gotten accustomed to not having any sense of time. He was also chatting and relaxing with Miranda the whole time, which kept him occupied. "Where we going to?" Nelson asked her. "It's a nice little planet," she said, "It's in my top three. I want to go to their capital city of Mízi. I love that place." "Mízi?" Nelson echoed, "Sounds interesting." "I've always wanted to settle down there," she said, "It's a city, but it's so relaxing, not like a city on Earth. And the plant life is a pretty color." "Sounds like a hell of a place," he commented. "I love it. That's why I'm taking you there. I remember how fun it was to run around in the fields and I miss my Zuvían friends." "You have friends there?" He asked. "Well.. technically," she said slowly. "I mean the wildlife. I never made friends with any of the Zuva there. But their wildlife is really friendly." "Interesting," Nelson said, "But what is a Zuva?" "They're the dominant species there, like humans are on Earth."
         From what Miranda explained to him, the buildings were shaped like mushrooms, with rooftops that glow at night. The planet seemed really strange to him, but he didn't mind as long as he got to spend more time with Miranda. She seemed to like something about it so it couldn't be that bad, he thought. They arrived in near orbit of the planet. "This planet is called Zuvaría. Mízi is the capital sure, but it's divided into two major parts because of the war. Last I heard it was over now though, and I wanna just check in and see if they're recovering okay. And there are certain areas outside of the city where people can relax and enjoy nature." "Like parks?" "Mostly," She said. "But a little bit different." She maneuvered the saucer so that Zuvaría was visible from the transparent material that was used to substitute windows. It was a huge planet, at least the size of five Earths. However instead of there being multiple continents, there was just one supercontinent, surrounded by a vast bluish purple ocean.  The sun of Zuvaría glowed a deep purple color, reflecting off of the planets natural aura. He saw numerous glowing areas on the supercontinent, which he assumed where cities. "This is one hell of a planet," he said, amazed by what he was seeing. "It's got allot of character to it, that's for sure." She said. "You'll see." "I've also never seen a purple star before. Especially one that huge. It kinda looks like a supernova or something." Miranda smiled curiously. "I see you learned some astronomy. It is. The reason you're seeing purple is because normally the human eye can't see it as this color, so you might normally see blue in this case. But you've got your mutation enhancing your eyesight." "This is some crazy shit," Nelson sighed. "Like I just can't believe there's all this shit out here space." "This is just in this galaxy," Miranda commented, "Can't imagine what kinda things exist in other galaxies." "We should travel out and see what's all out there," Nelson told her, "You know, one day when our war with the Martians is over." Miranda's eyes lit up. "Like we would go on like... trips together exploring the galaxy?" "Why not?" Nelson shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe there's some hidden civilization that can travel between galaxies?" "That would be crazy," Miranda mused, "Only the Annunaki have been confirmed to ever do it though." They sat there for a quiet moment, staring at the curious planet before them as they orbited around it. Miranda had been smiling at him the whole time, and by the time he noticed she had been staring for a while. "What's up?" He asked her. "I don't know," she said softly, "I'm just.. I.. I don't wanna make this awkward or anything, but I'm just so happy around you.. like normally I have to be on edge and I have to keep everything pent up, but I just don't feel like that around you. I just.. I really like you." She put a shy emphasis on the word "really". Nelson grinned shyly, not expecting her to say that. "Like as more than a friend, though.." she quickly added in. She fiddled with her fingers nervously. "You do?" He asked her, still smiling. "How long?" "Long enough, silly," She retorted, her cheeks bright red. Her freckles became a bit more noticeable when she blushed, he noticed. "Well I really like you too." He replied, gently taking her hand and kissing it. She giggled shyly. "I'm really glad you do," she told him. She seemed to be checking him out, looking him up and down. "What're you thinking?" He asked her, noticing her doing so. "About you," She said, a small smile on her face. Somehow she was managing to blush even more.
"What about.." he was about to ask her when they were interrupted by a loud beeping sound. Nelson sighed an annoyed sigh. "Can't the phone be any quieter?" He complained. Miranda shrugged, similarly annoyed. It was her father, Mari. "Miranda," Mari said, sounding annoyed. "Why aren't you back yet? You realize it's been 26 hours? The first trap already activated. In Florida." Damn we been flying that long? He thought, surprised. Guess time isn't all that important if I'm biologically immortal now. "Okay," her voice was formal, all the vulnerability he'd heard in her voice was gone. He guessed that was a side of her only he got to see. "We will head down and get it. Then..." "Then immediately bring that little grey bitch back up to the mother ship. No stops in between." "Oka.." but Mari's voice clicked and stopped suddenly, indicating he had disconnected before she finished replying.
"Well I'm assuming you heard him," Miranda said. "Yeah." She still held onto his hand for a moment longer. "One more thing," she said, squeezing his hand affectionately before letting it go. "Thank you for caring about me.. and being here for me." "Anytime. You know I got you." With that, they headed off, returning to Earth to find the Martian that stumbled into their trap.