Corruption

Breaking Point

Samuel listened intently as Henry explained his abilities on the plane on their flight to Florida. It was a nine hour flight, and he found himself getting restless. But at the very least, they had somewhere to get a lead on what she may have been up to. Which in turn may lead them to where she may go next. As much resentment as he now held for Anora, he couldn't help but admit that her intelligence was coming in handy. He wouldn't have thought to try to locate her the way she had, and he hoped she was right. He also used the clearances Dylan gave him to have other members looking around the continent as well, and try to outright kill any aliens they found. Kelly kept trying to start conversation with him and Anora, but he just couldn't look at her right now. He didn't know what to do about the kids. Everyone on the plane, and well, everywhere was talking about the UFO that popped up in plain undeniable sight at the intersection in Hawaii. Things had truly gotten out of hand. He wished he could go back in time. He always had a feeling that Miranda was trouble. He was also wondering what kind of training Estavon and Javen had gotten. It would be interesting to see them in action, he just hoped they didn't get killed. These aliens were allot more dangerous than they thought.
Jasmine, who sat beside him, with Henry sitting in the seat across from them of course to show him how to use his upgrades, helped keep his mind off of things. Jasmine in particular. "So this Mindy chick is supposed to be real dangerous?" She asked him. "Miranda, you mean?" Samuel asked, a bit amused that she hadn't memorized her name yet, "Yeah, if you see her just hide and call for help. It's gonna take all of us working together to have a chance at beating her." "Damn," She said, crossing her arms. "Well now that you're like, Robo-Samuel we should be good, I think." "Robo-Samuel?" He asked, smiling a bit, "Don't let that stick. You can just call me Samuel." "So can you really shoot lasers out of your arms?" "No," Samuel said with a small chuckle. "But I can shoot rockets." In all honesty, she was sort of getting on his nerves, but he welcomed the distraction. It was nice to think about something other than all the negative things going on, like shooting lasers out of his arms. "I can't wait to see that in action," she said, almost excitedly. "You know this is serious, right?" Henry said, "Those missiles aren't the easiest things in the world to make, and he only has two before he has to replace them." "That's okay," Jasmine said, "I'll wait to see him blow up Manda with it." "You aren't too good with names are you?" Samuel asked, rolling his eyes, though he let a smirk escape him. She shrugged, grinning playfully at him.
*********
They chatted for most of the flight, save for when they fell asleep. His mind was at ease for a moment until they actually landed in Florida. They each got hotels to sleep in until the morning, where Henry had the money to rent them all cars to use while they chased Miranda. They drove as fast as they could towards the location in Spring Hill Anora pinpointed. They Samuel and Paul went in to question the store clerk. After they identified themselves, the cashier replied, "Holy shit the FBI? Is she one of them aliens?" Samuel nodded. "No point in denying it anymore," he said, "But more importantly, what did she do? Where did she go?" "Dadgum summa bitch," the cashier replied, "Aliens must have a sweet tooth. Lookit This right here. Came in yesterday, I was runnin' the register, and She came in and bought some chocolate Hershey's candy bars and some oreos, and one bottle of water, too, I'm thinkin'." "Huh?" Paul asked, "Is this some kind of a fucking joke?" "No sir!" The cashier quickly told them, "I can't help it if them fuckers got a chocolate fetish!" "This is weird," Samuel said thoughtfully. "Which way she go? Did she mention anything?" "Only words she said to me was 'thanks'. Awful polite. She went over yonder." He pointed out of the store and to the right. "We should try to look at the local cameras," Paul suggested. Samuel agreed and they headed out in search of the local police station. Paul googled the location of one.
About half way there, Jasmine asked, "Hey guys, can we stop at that restaurant real quick? I just gotta pee." "Can't you hold it in?" Paul asked. "I've been holding it in." "Here," Samuel conceded, "I'll stop here with her, Paul you go check that footage, and I'll ask around here while I wait." Paul rolled his eyes but agreed, and they stopped at Hungry Howie's Pizza. Jasmine quickly apologized and went into the bathroom. Samuel went to ask the cashier there if he'd seen a redheaded girl come in recently. He showed a picture of her. "Yeah sure," the cashier replied. "She's right there."
Samuel gulped. "Huh?" He slowly turned around to find her standing right behind him in line. "Hey, Samuel," she said. "I heard you were looking for me." Samuel nodded slowly. "Why don't we talk outside?" He asked her with deceptive composure. She shrugged and they walked outside. He couldn't have Jasmine getting caught up in this. She seemed inexperienced, and he wanted to make sure she could handle herself before risking her life. He noticed that her eyes, which were normally brown, were now a bright green. "Well?" She asked. "What do you want?" "What the hell..?" Samuel muttered. "Isn't it obvious??" Miranda once again merely shrugged. "How did you even know I was looking for you? Why are you still here?" "Your people have been causing us trouble," Miranda told him. "Your government had an agreement with us. From what I understand, you're now in charge? Well call them off. They're messing with our experiments." Samuel was appalled. But he saw an opportunity here. "You know why I'm here," he merely replied. "You give us Nelson, and I'll see what I can do." Damnit, Samuel thought irritably. I probably can't beat her alone and she knows this. Damn her! I can't even discreetly call for backup.. DAMN!
"You aren't listening," Miranda said with a frown. "You know we can settle this right now," Samuel spat, "I'm literally itching to kill you for what you've done to us." Miranda sighed, crossing her arms. She called his bluff. "Even with your robotic add ons, you aren't going to be able to beat me. You would've jumped me on sight if you thought you could win. I don't have anything against you personally. Let's not." "I have my reasons," Samuel said with a scowl. Maybe he should just risk it. "Hey!" He heard Jasmine's voice calling from behind him, as she exited the restaurant. "I thought you were going wait for... who's that?" She stopped. "Holy shit it's Minda!" She gasped. "Minda?" Miranda asked, seemingly as amused as she was confused. Samuel sighed and put his hand over his face. "Come dude we can take her!" Jasmine said, standing beside Samuel. "Hey jasmine wait.." Samuel stuttered, not confident one either of their abilities. They needed Paul and Anora and Estavon and Javen..
His thoughts were cut off by Miranda laughing heartily in front of them. Samuel scowled. "I'm sorry," Miranda said, "I'm just surprised. I expected you to have the balls here, not her." "Don't let her disrespect you like that," Jasmine said to Samuel. "I'll show you what I can do," she said, her demeanor suddenly changing. "You're thinking, she's not all that strong right? She can't fight, right? Well I'm tired of people saying that. Imma show you what I can do." She sprinted towards Miranda. Samuel was frozen in place. "Hold on..!" He said weakly. What's wrong with me? He thought. Was he really this afraid of her? There's no time for backup..
He noticed Miranda's eyes went from green back to brown, though he didn't understand the significance of the change. Jasmine immediately started throwing hands with her. She never was able to touch Miranda, but she surprising dodged Miranda's punches as well. A crowd quickly formed around them. Damn..! Samuel thought, unsure of what to do. Jasmine was surprisingly really good at martial arts, and lasted a couple of minutes before being knocked back by Miranda. She was able to block the kick, but it had enough force to knock her back on the ground beside Samuel. "Jasmine are you alright?" "Yeah I blocked it," she said. "Well she's certainly better than you," Miranda said with a smirk, then her expression immediately became dead serious. "Meet me at the Hidden Lake Airport, tomorrow at around, say, 10:30 pm. Maybe I'll bring an extra person along. But be warned. He's kinda sick of you." Samuel's rage reignited and overcame his fear as he realized what Miranda was hinting at. So she had shown him the video. "You bitch!" Samuel growled, losing his temper and running full speed to try to tackle her. She effortlessly dodged his tackle by doing a supernatural backflip and jumping all the way up to land on top of the restaurant's roof. Samuel fell flat on his face. He was blinded by rage. He looked up to see her staring down on them, her arms crossed, and a giant flying saucer now hovering above her head. The crowd was completely in awe. "Thank your friend for changing my mind." Miranda said before disappearing with the flying saucer in a blinding flash of light.
"Samuel?" Jasmine asked him. In his rage, he punched the sidewalk so hard it cracked it. He was completely made a fool of. "Are you okay?" Jasmine asked. Samuel shook his head no. That was when Paul, Anora, Henry, Estavon, and Javen all ran up through the crowd, weapons drawn. "What the hell happened??" Paul asked. "Miranda just left.." Samuel said quietly, trying to hide his overwhelming frustration. "Are you crying..?" Paul asked. He couldn't help it. It boiled over so much; his frustration, his disappointment in himself, his lack of ability to detain her, his embarrassment, his failure, all of it, spilling over onto the concrete as water droplets from his eyes. "He just got his ass whooped by that alien!" Someone from the crowd yelled. "But that girl beside him almost won!! She's some kind of Kung fu master!" "Jasmine?!" Henry gaped, openly surprised. "Damnit!" Samuel cursed, striking the ground again. "I swear to God I'll kill her when I see her again. Get in the fucking car. I'll explain." Everyone, surprised by his outburst, immediately followed him.