Blue Nexus #3: Community

            There was no tunnel that appeared once the air-locked gates opened up, instead it was just a set of long stairs that let down to what definitely was a command center. It was a single room, but it was also humongous. A large tower stood straight up in the back of the room with rings lighting up constantly—the various colors of the rainbow—leading up to a semi-sphere that was, undoubtedly, below a crater, not jutting out of it. In front of that were several other large tubes of what appeared to be metal.

            The center of the room was mostly vacant if not for the circle of computers that were there. There were in five of them, each of them with a twenty-four x twenty-four inch screen, with no keyboard. Touch screen, very interesting. A thick wire ran from those to one of the tubes connected to the cell tower at the back of the room.

            The stairs were a walk straight down onto a moving platform. It only went about twenty feet into the center but it was still a little easier to walk, especially for one who’d never seen this kind of thing before. Several corners of the room had large screens, each with different video feeds on them. Some had names, such as “Eclipse,” “Phoenix,” or “Riko.” The former two had live feeds of different buildings across the world while Riko’s were blank, as were the screens of Lalay.

            The left end of the room was set up similar to a laboratory. A large piece of weaponry, or equipment, sat half-built on a large table with a design spread neatly laid out next to it. Various tools, some human and some alien, were scattered around the work area. Posted to the walls around it were different projects in red or green writing—once again, in human or alien writing. Finally at the other end of the room were six tubes, one marked for each Zanderian and then a sixth one. They were all empty but each had something different inside of it, sort of like a locker.

            “How long have you been here?” Kyle asked as he and Riko the super hero stepped onto the moving floor.

            “About a month after we came together,” Riko said. “Most of this, believe it or not, was actually here already. Eclipse knew about it, since apparently it was an old outpost of his before he returned to his home world. When we formed the Zanderians following the battle with Aviator and Goloth.”

            “No way, I remember hearing about that!” exclaimed Kyle. “Do you keep them locked up here or something?”

            Riko shook his head. “That’d be ridiculous. Leaving extremely powerful alien life forms in our command center would pretty much be handing them the keys to Earth. No, Lalay knew of a prison planet she was able to bring them to. It’s not occupied by many, and it’s far enough away for it to be nothing to us.”

            “What if it becomes something?”

            “We’ll know, and we’re ready for it.”

            “Just you five against a potential army of super-villains?” Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow. They stepped off of the moving platform.

            “Well that’s where our minor allies come in,” Riko said. “And you.”

            Kyle pointed to himself, his eyebrow still raised. “Me? You mean you were serious about making me a…Zanderian?”

            “On the planet Ulzar, the planet of life, it means guardians. But, that term seems a little dull. We were going to use the word for Sentinel, but, we have something of an issue with him—I mean it.”

            Kyle’s eyebrow fell. “Well, sounds alien to me. Why would protectors of the Earth want to use an alien name instead of an Earthly name?”

            Riko smiled and nodded. “Just the question I was waiting for. Kyle, out of the Zanderian that you are aware of, how many of them are alien?”

            Kyle shrugged. “More than half.”

            “Correct. And what have been Earth’s biggest threats lately?”

            “Well outside of terrorism and global warming I’d say aliens and killer robots.”
            “Exactly. We chose an alien name because we have to be the aliens. Sure, there are Earthly super-heroes, just look at Phoenix and now yourself. But that’s not all that there can be, there must be more. We have to show the world that despite there being a lot of bad within the intersteller threats that there is good, that the guardians of Earth don’t need to be from the Earth. We must build keep the peace within the intergalactic community.

            “Earth has a history of segregation, keeping peoples apart based on appearance or ideals. But how great, truly, is the difference between a being of Mars and a being of Earth? Both are living, breathing creatures of the universe. They share a bond of life, a bond that has never been broken. We all have to live together and defend each other from the creatures that want to take that bond away from us, the ones that want complete rule and darkness in the galaxy. That’s why we’re the Zanderians, the guardians, of not just Earth, but the so-called aliens of Earth and the universe. Because if you brought an Earthling to Ulzar, they would be alien too, right?”

            Kyle’s thoughts left him for a moment. It wasn’t just about a cool name like he thought. It was about community indeed, it was about setting aside the differences of one’s birth and uniting under one name, alien or human, to defend each other, to be the brother’s and sister’s they needed to be in order to maintain balance and order in the galaxy, no, the universe.

            When he thought like that, Kyle felt the weight of being a Zanderian. If it really was the universe then that would mean he would have to travel across the sea of stars to fight various threats. How was he supposed to do that when he was already swamped with homework and lacrosse? The Nexus powers were just adding onto that heavy list.

            He shook his head. No, he couldn’t think like that. His parents left behind their mega-bracelet because they needed him to succeed them in defenders of the Nexus, of the galaxy. Of the universe. As such, he had an obligation first and foremost to them to complete their mission. Plus, he wanted to do this. He wanted to make an impact and become the hero. Because in his small town, nobody made an impact, everyone just was. Now, he could prove that wrong in the best way.

            “I’ll do it, then,” he said with confidence. “I’ll become Zanderian, I’ll fight for everyone we fight for.”

            Riko nodded, and moved over to the sixth tube, speaking up so Kyle could hear him. “Ever since we founded the Zanderian we haven’t had a new member, but we were waiting for a sixth just in case one wanted to come. Specifically, we were looking for one with the power of the Nexus, a major player in the scheme of things. Luckily, we knew your parents, and they told us to come looking once the Nexus came around after they vanished.”

            “So you wouldn’t happen to know where they are, would you?” asked Riko.

            He shook his head. “Eclipse may, but even after we’ve asked he won’t tell. I fear my hunch and if so it’s a task you cannot handle alone, whatsoever.”

            “I’ve been told,” Kyle muttered.

            The tube opened up. It was empty and had no name over it, but did have a small object sitting in it. Riko picked it up, allowing Kyle to see it clearer. It looked just like a beeper, but it had a much larger screen on it. Riko tapped it and it lit up, with a hologram appearing out of the screen. He gestured to Kyle, then tossed it. Kyle caught it, careful not to break it with his super grip.

            “Communicator?” he asked.

            Riko nodded. “Once you return home, be sure to follow it’s instructions, and it should easily set itself up for you. Plus, once you’re done with that, you’ll have your name placed up there, and become an official member of our team.”

            Kyle smiled brightly. Just a few days on the job and he was already on the super-hero squad, sweet. He frowned when a thought dawned on him.

            “You better not make me some coffee-brewing intern,” Kyle said.

            Riko laughed. “No, no. If we get a seventh member, that’ll be their task.”

            Adelita Community College, home of the Raiders and the high school students who either couldn’t afford college or their brain took a break all of high school and was just now realizing that the real world was upon them. Consisting of a grand total of three buildings no larger than the local high school and zero sports teams, it was the optimal place for students or adults to go to in order to get a cheap education, then clock out the second they left the place, even if it were just for a day. Most high school students regarded it as “thirteenth grade” while most adults considered it prime time for them to get away from their kids and learn a foreign language, perhaps try and get a business degree.

            Most people only taught at the community college level just to prepare themselves for the step up to a state university, seeing as how they also viewed the community college as nothing more than thirteen grade for the younglings as well.

            For a couple of professors, doctors rather, it was nothing more than an opportunity. A perfect cover. They figured that the this was the perfect ground for them to perform experiments in their field. It was just a community college, how often were those on the news while freaks in costumes ran around fighting tigers on fire?

            At least, those couple of professors thought that way. Dr. Boomer, a lesser-known expert in chemistry, was one such man, while Dr. Luna, a widely-accepted master of astronomy following her pin-pointing of the alien Orion system, home of super-hero Eclipse, also felt the same way, just a little less passionate.

            Both worked full-time at the college, there almost all of the time. Their schedules were divided in such a way, though, that teaching was more of a chore than their true job. They dedicated themselves to experimentation and research day in and day out, even if it meant blowing their covers. They needed the truth, they needed to know everything.

            Particularly, they needed to know what it was like to be super.

            “This fool, Fire Tiger, makes the headlines every day,” Dr. Boomer said that evening.

            Dr. Luna had observed a strange blue light flying in the sky, above Adelita, headed for the moon, and confronted Dr. Boomer about it. They’d only seen that blue light once before, during the attack on the town.

            “Well after Gargador came in and wrecked the streets, then disappeared what else are the major headlines supposed to talk about?” Dr. Luna asked. Her glasses were lowered to the tip of her nose as she sat leaning back in the chair across from Dr. Boomer. The two varied greatly in appearance.

            Dr. Luna was a pretty, young professor who cared nothing for teaching and wanted everything to do with the mysterious alien activity that Earth had seen recently, going so far as to try and find a pattern between all the planets. Her hair was dark brunette and her eyes dark brown. She had an athletic figure and always wore flat shoes. Dr. Boomer was a bit of an older man. His hair was balding, and poor vision forced him to wear large jackets. He’d gotten so used to a lab-coat that he took to wearing one all the time. However, he wasn’t wearing one now, as he had a meeting earlier and needed to look professional. Now he was simply in a blue polo shirt with khakis and dress shoes.

            “But what’s he done?” asked Dr. Boomer. “The alien, that Riko, he’s always chasing his tail after the same thing. Burning a building. I image those cities are springing up fire departments at every corner at this point, so what’s the use?”
            “Fire Tiger’s nothing compared to Aviator, Goloth, or even Gargador, though,” Dr. Luna said.

            “Problem is there’s a team of them,” Dr. Boomer said. He fiddled with a pencil between his fingers while he sat contemplatively at his deck.

            They were sitting in his office, not much too it, as it looked just like the typical professor office with a book shelf and desk, only there were no family photos, just various pictures of Dr. Boomer in a laboratory performing risky experiments he, of course, could pull off. The lab was underground and only accessible to him, virtually allowing it to be his playground.

            “Where is that fool anyway?” asked Dr. Boomer. “He was supposed to meet us here.”

            “To talk about what?” asked Dr. Luna.

            Dr. Boomer looked at her excitedly. “The Nexus.”

            Dr. Luna sat up, lacing her fingers together. “Really, the Nexus again? Thought this town was done with it?”
            “What the hell do you think that blue light was earlier?” asked Dr. Boomer. “Some kid’s got the Nexus now, apparently the son of two other users from this same town. We figure out who it is, we steal that power, and before you know it, no more supers.”

            “Thought you were in it to get noticed by that War God?” asked Dr. Luna.

            “How do you expect the destroyer of galaxies to notice us?” asked Dr. Boomer. “If we eliminate her greatest threat—not much in comparison to her power—then we’ll be noticed. And if we let her just swipe away the Earth, the Nexus’s prime connection to the universe, we’ll be forever in her favor. Think of what we could gain, the power and knowledge we have right at our finger tips.”

            “Right in this town,” Dr. Luna said. She adjusted her shirt. “Guess I’ve been star-gazing too much to notice what’s right in front of me.”

            “Just like us,” Boomer said. “And if he’s just a kid, given that he puts up something of a fight, he’ll be easy to take down. Gargador can do it, as long as he doesn’t run away scared again.”

            The air startled to seemingly fizzle in the darkest corner of the room—as the two were speaking only by the light of the lamp on Boomer’s desk—then with a popping noise, the fizzling ended. The two looked over nonchalantly to the newcomer.

            “You would insult me, a War God?” asked Gargador. He kept his voice low but it was so deep that it hardly made a difference.

            “Demi-War God,” Luna replied. She could care less if he was an all-powerful universal warrior, he was still in league with them and he was too stupid to do anything without them. “And yes, because you’ve failed twice to kill the kid.”

            “Fighting two Nexus, unprepared, is not something I casually,” he said. “If only you would have me take human form, catch the boy by surprise.”

            Boomer raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t thought of that before. Slipping Gargador into the human world would make him conspicuous. Even if he failed to kill the boy and get the bracelet, a simple name would suffice. Gargador, out of pride, refused to give up the name of the boy’s parents, which would make things easier for Boomer to kill him. Gargador wanted him all for himself though, so Boomer was just fine with that. All he wanted was the bracelet, and then Gargador he would give Gargador his prize—a formula he’d been working on to elevate his strength to all new levels. Problem was that he formula wasn’t done yet and the initial effects were ninety percent proven to be fatal.     

            “Indeed you should,” Boomer said. “Go on, then, if you know where the boy is normally you can go to him and you can kill him by surprise. Just make sure you don’t leave a trail, okay?”

            “Understood,” Gargador said. “I expect my enhancement to be done upon completion of the task, Dr. Boomer.”

            “I’m doing my best,” Boomer said.

            The air began to fizzle and then popped again, leaving just Luna and Boomer once more. Luna turned away from looking at Gargador back to Boomer.

            “You wouldn’t even bother to test it on someone before giving it to him?” asked Luna.

            Boomer laughed. “Who do you think the test is for? I’ll give it to him, incomplete, the second he’s done. If he wants to kill me, that’s fine. But what will the heroes of Earth think when they find out that some of the United States’ best scientists are being attacked by him? Who will the real enemy be?”

            Luna reached over and grabbed Boomer’s cheeks. “This is why I love working with you. Always a step ahead.”

            “That’s the name of the game now, my dear. One step ahead.”

            Kyle initiated the communicator process the second he got home, going straight to his shed. It asked for pretty basic stuff, such as his hometown as well as what his super-hero name was. He wondered if, like a job application, it would ask for work availability, but figured that the world needed saving twenty-four/seven. The biggest thing that the communicator asked for was his base of operations.

            That was what forced him to take a good look around the shed. It was very well organized. In the center was his large telescope that he looked out of nightly to stargaze, maybe see some of the planets that the aliens were coming down from. He had large star charts drawn up on the wall to his left and to his right he had coordinates for planets for galaxies. Then before him, on the back wall, was the trunk of knick-knacks, and underneath the countertop that had some paper and pencils for star charts were a few other trunks. Wasn’t much of a command center as it didn’t have a lot in it, but it’d been Kyle’s haven for the longest time.

            He locked on the specific coordinates of the shed to the communicator. The hologram showed the shed in its current state, and with a swipe, it also revealed the five other names of the Zanderians. The hologram was blue, like in the movies, but much clearer to him.

            The beeper fit nicely into his pockets, just as his phone would. The biggest issue he had with it was the fact that it didn’t have a “silent” mode like his phone would, meaning there was a chance it could go off in the middle of class. And its size did not accommodate well for it to be used during lacrosse practice. He wondered if he should call up Riko and ask how the heck he was supposed to be notified during practice, but, tired, figured that situation would resolve itself on its own.

            At school the next day, Kyle informed Luke and Kip about his new status as a Zanderian, making sure to keep the conversation low-key and out of the way of anyone. The two congratulated him, but just as quickly asked if they could get the chance to see the command center for themselves. That Kyle was not sure of, but did hope they could get to see it.

            The rest of the day, leading up to practice, was a nervous-filled day. The communicator sat in his left pocket, opposite the right pocket in his phone, silent. He was just waiting for it to break the silence, to break the mold of the class and for him to be exposed on the first day as a super-hero. He also wondered what it’s ringtone would be or if it was just like a radio and he would hear a voice over the end of it.

            Lunch was a relief as it was filled to the brim with noise—and he saw Mira, which always brightened up his day—so if the communicator went off it wouldn’t be too much of  hassle. Changing in the locker room was also worrisome. Forget the fact that the thing could go off…who carried a beeper around anymore, anyway? At least nobody would be around to hear it as he was in practice. That also meant, however, that he wouldn’t be able to hear it either. What if Lightning and Thunder Tiger attacked, or if Gargador was ravaging yet another city looking for another Earth member of the Nexus? How would he know while he was running drills?

            When he was done changing, he began to jog out to the practice field, following his buddy, and the lacrosse captain, Brian Earl. He saw Mira with the rest of the trainers, contemplating giving her the beeper. But, that would be ridiculous. Yes they were friends, but, they weren’t good enough friends for her to come trotting onto the field telling Kyle that his beeper was giving him super-hero updates. Talk about exposure.

            His pace slowed as he thought about the beeper, and his mind completely left his body as practice began, going through the motions of the warm-up with a blank look. He swore Coach yelled his name twice, but hardly noticed.

            They started off with a two-on-ones, the same exercise that gained Kyle the respect he had on the team now. Only this time, for the first time, he was on the defensive side. Considering how he was still riding the bench, despite great recommendations from his captain, he didn’t expect otherwise. First up as, of course, Brian. Kyle had to try to hit Brian as hard as he could.

            For a moment, he panicked. Yes he’d had the bracelet for a few days prior to practice but he never had to really exert himself outside of running fast in quick bursts. Being that he was on the bench, he was nothing more than a practice dummy for Coach to use or a tool for him to make fun of. With Brian coming up first he would have to use his strength. Could that initiate some kind of trigger in the bracelet? Would his connections to the Zanderians cause his exertion to go noticed, and have them arrive at the scene?

            Sweat poured down his face before the whistle was even blown. When it blew, Kyle was still zoned out. His partner sprinted forward, and Kyle followed suit. They both threw their shoulders into Brian, but Kyle hit him at an odd angle, forcing him to spin out and fall flat on the ground, eating the dust of the dirt.

            “Oh, Kyle!” he heard Mira shriek from far off, as the trainers were coming toward practice. They were always there in case a player got seriously hurt, as could be the case as Coach loved to see hitting.

            “Raiden, what do you think you’re doing?” yelled Coach.

            A set of heavy footsteps ran up to him, patting him on the back. Kyle began to pick himself up and realized it was Brian.

            “You okay?” he asked. “You seem totally out of it.” He checked out his face, as if looking for something. “You hit a blunt or something?”

            Kyle shook his head, then patted it. “No, just, got a lot on my mind. Go again, I dare you. You aren’t getting past me.”

            “There ya go,” Brian said, knocking him on the head with his helmet. The two jogged back to their positions, Kyle bouncing on his feet. He had actually exert himself if his exertion were to go noticed.

            They replayed the drill, this time the two defenders keeping Brian at bay long enough for coach to blow the whistle. Kyle and his partner high-fived, proud that they kept the three-time captain at bay. Kyle liked to think that he was something of Brian’s protégé, as apparently he reminded some of the senior players of what Brian would try to do in order to get more and more playing time. Which was, of course, the name of the game.

            The team then moved onto running a few plays, Kyle on the practice squad. He simply moved through the motions of defense, running up to various players and trying to slightly throw them off his game. Coach used him, once more, as an example when it was the practice squad’s turn to go on offense.

            Kyle got the ball passed to him. Each time he had the ball he liked to try and make the best of it so to move up to the starting position. He quickly flicked a glance to Mira, then Coach and then bolted off.

            Since getting the small check-up from Brian, Kyle felt a lot more relaxed. Human contact, literally, seemed to be all that he needed.

            Mentally, anyway. As he ran down the field, his maneuvers through the defense seemed less and less likely to work, until finally he was ganged up on. One player crossed his side, swinging his stick down. Kyle dodged him, leaving the ground slightly to get out of his way. This, in turn, left him wide open.

            First he heard the smack, then he heard a few low “Ooh”s until finally he felt the ground. Wham! Kyle’s head crashed to the ground with the rest of his body, momentarily limp as he had to remember that his shoulder had not yet fallen off. His stick was out of his hands, a few feet away from him, and his body laid out on the side. The offender managed to trip over him but was quickly jumped on by another player, Brian.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted. “That is your teammate, man! Don’t try to to kill him!”

            Kyle made a few gurgling noises as he tried to pick himself up. Totally should have seen that one coming, he felt like an idiot for letting it happen. He clenched a fist in anger, then looked to his bracelet. Still fine, even after having his body crash down on it.

            “Damn, son, you took that like a man!” shouted Coach. Kyle was on his knees, very slowly getting up.

            Brian pushed himself off of the other player. The other senior captain was already at Kyle, the two reaching down to help him up.

            “I…I got it,” he said. “Just, hand me the stick.”

            Brian backed up, the other player remaining at Kyle’s side should he falter. Mira and another trainer were halfway on the field already, halted in their run as Kyle was getting up. Everyone else stood and stared at him.

            “Sorry,” he said quietly. “Taking up too much time.”

            Brian handed him back his stick, which had taken no damage thankfully. Kyle twirled it in his hands, then flexed his shoulder a little. He looked over to Coach, who had a giddy look on his face.

            “Man if we could do that to the other teams that’d be great!” he shouted.

            “Just not our own,” muttered Brian’s fellow senior captain. Kyle laughed.

            “I’m fine,” he said, cracking a smile. “Let’s keep going.”

            Play resumed from where the ball was, a practice squad defender sprinting down the field. Kyle took a slow step then broke into stride, dashing down the field leaving Brian behind him. The captain was with him most of the way before he broke off into his play, Kyle taking the zone he was assigned to.

            The instant he got the ball, he did as he was told and passed the ball. However, it soared past its target and straight to a starter’s chest. Kyle stopped his run, cocking his head back in disgust. Coach blew the whistle and the play restarted.

            So to avoid getting concussed, Kyle decided to pass the ball instead of try to be a show-off. The pass was a little ahead but the bounce allowed his teammate to scoop it up instead. Brian was right upon him, though, and Kyle was feeling a little one-on-one. He waved his stick in the air, breaking into an opening. The other player stopped, tried to fake out Brian, then tossed it to Kyle, who snagged it out of the air.

            He took a step back, shifting his weight to his back foot, then exploded forward in a juke move to try and psyche out Brian. However, that completely failed, as Brian’s feet were locked into the ground and he charged Kyle. Kyle attempted to spin around Brian, but the senior captain as well onto his tricks, swatting his lacrosse stick over Kyle’s head. The stick fell down, the ball popped out of the pouch, and it rolled into an offender.

            Kyle, his spin broken off, fell back and tripped over Brian’s shoe, landed hard on the ground. Coach blew his whistle, signaling the play to resume. Kyle helped himself up, feeling a bit dizzy. Perhaps the power of the Nexus could help a little.

            The bottom of the sun reached the top of the school’s second-story buildings, and thus, practice ended. It went about the same as the early drills had—miserable for Kyle. He did well, then something worse happened in his mind that threw him off his game for the next several plays. He wanted to cite it back to his distraction of the Zanderian communicator as well as the big hit he took, but knew he was just off his game. Compared to some of the other players, it looked like he was never on it. Yet other players like Brian seemed to keep helping him out. Maybe they really did want him to start and Coach was just being a jerk.

            The players started to walk back to the locker room, tired, sweaty, and ready for a nap when really they had hours of homework to do. Kyle walked alone, anxious to get back home and ready for the weekend. He expected nothing less than tons of work from school and the heroism over the weekend, especially since it was going to be the first of many.

            Someone, not with cleats, came trotting up the cement pathway to meet him. He flinched as he thought it was coach, but instead, he could almost sense it was a much nicer presence. And indeed it was…plus a far prettier one.

            “How’s your head feeling?” asked Mira. Kyle blinked several times, caught off guard every time they talked by her radiance.

Her athletic figure was one to melt over. She had black hair to give darkness a good name and green eyes to match the wide pastures they lived around. She was shorter than Kyle, at about his chin, and almost a year younger than he. But through some weird school technicality when her parents moved they were able to get her into his grade and ever since it was love…for him, anyway. She was clueless to it.

            “Oh, well, I’m not seeing as many stars anymore,” Kyle said after a second.          

            Mira sighed. “Good, we were worried about you after you took that hit. You kept slipping up, we weren’t sure if your balance was off because of your head.”

            Kyle blushed. “No, that would be my, uh…lack of coordination at lacrosse.”

            Mira placed a forgiving hand on his padded shoulder. “You had an off-day, everyone has them. I’ve seen days where Brian is off, he actually looks just like you do those days. Except, he was actually a little slower when I first came on to get up from hits like the one you took. You take shots like that often?”

            No, but I will be more often, Kyle thought, thinking of any upcoming battles, Gargador immediately coming to mind.

            “Nah, I guess I just bounce back kind of quick. Still, I think it threw me off today. Can’t really just walk away from one of those, and I’ll definitely be feeling it in the morning.”

            Thinking about it only made it a little worse, as his head began to beat as his heart did with nerves of talking to Mira.

            “Hmm, sucks I bet,” Mira said. “I took a hit to the head once, but that was when I was running in track in field. I missed a hurdle and bam! Right in the face. Not sure which would be worse, though.”

            “Don’t think I’d want to find out,” Kyle joked.

            He reached up and relieved himself of his helmet, hoping that would stop the pounding. It did, but only slightly. A good nap would do him well.

            “Neither do I,” Mira admitted. “But, anyway, glad you’re feeling better.”
            “Thanks for asking,” Kyle said, his brain beginning to wander off again. He could sense the dreaded end of the conversation he would be thinking about for days to come. Well, if he had time to think like that.

            “You do seem off,” Mira said out of the blue.

            Kyle nearly jumped. She was still there, how strange.

            “I mean, yeah,” he said clumsily.

            “Hmm, I know! How’s about we get you some of the best cure in the world, some ice cream?” she asked, looking up to him with a smile.

            Kyle’s heart plummeted. “Yeah, sounds great.”

            “Awesome, just take a shower, I’ll be waiting, hopefully changed into my school clothes and not these ratty trainer clothes, and we can go. If you’re not busy.”

            Kyle’s eyes widened as he looked away from her. Going out to ice cream with Mira, how much more perfect could it get? This was the opportunity he’d been waiting pretty much his whole life for. Who cares that he wasn’t the one the one that asked, he could finally get to spend some alone time with her for the first time in forever, and for a while, too!

            He and Mira split off, Kyle cautiously racing for the shower to get ready for the date. Wait, date? As he showered he pondered the word. Was it a date, or merely them hanging out? Usually a date implied consent between the pair that it was, indeed, a date. A date could not simply be perceived, it simply was. Sort of like a contract. This wasn’t that, but, could it be? It was so out of the blue, so out of character for Mira? What was the sudden interest? Perhaps it was just that she felt sorry for Kyle in which case, oh well, it was alone time with Mira, what was there to lose for him?

            Kyle stepped out of the shower a far more confident man. Date or not, this was going to be the Friday night of his dreams. He had his Zanderian communicator in his pocket, his Nexus bracelet on his wrist, and a beautiful girl waiting to hang out with him.

            For the start of the first weekend on the job, it wasn’t bad at all.

Next time: It's date night for Kyle! And he can't forget about that lacrosse scrimmage...but whose the new guy trying to join the team? He's more familiar than he appears! Find out who he is, and how the date goes, in "Blue Nexus #4--Competition"