MIRANDA'S ARRIVAL-SIDE STORY

Someone kicking my seat, a baby crying to the point of almost making my ears bleed, and cold food that felt weird in my stomach. Back to the first world problems I had left behind. At least I had space in the legroom of the plane I was flying back to Paradise to. I could barely concentrate on anything I was doing on the plane, I tried going through a couple of magazines and tried seeing what was on the screens but I could barely think of anything but the letter.

I was confused about why exactly I had to find Cyrus of all people. I remember he was my whimsy best friend I could not figure out why he would be someone important to find especially at a time Gendwall was at war. My mind was going all over the place wondering why he suddenly became important.

"Maybe it was because he apparently became a millionaire at a young age. Maybe I could use him for money. Or maybe he would be a great help in finding this XR human."

At a young age, people used to tell me that I would make things difficult and I would laugh it off by saying that the harder it gets the better. I used to live for the challenge. I believed challenges would make me grow stronger until I gave myself this ridiculous hide and seek challenge for myself to complete and that was when I realized that maybe I was not the easiest person to work with.

After constantly moving in my seat I decided to go to the bathroom and get a breath of fresh air or whatever gas was circulating in the plane. I looked at myself in the mirror and I was still shook by the face I saw in the mirror. It was a completely different person. I had to act like a proper human which thinking about it was not my favorite job in the world. I can still hear people laughing at me when the commander was taking me through etiquette classes before leaving.

I looked at the mirror again and I was glad that the holographic image could mask my stress. Being stressed all the time was something I had got used to. Being prepared for anyone to attack any second of the day was the reason why I looked like I was hit by a bus every single day of my life. I washed my face again to get the splash of cold water to get my nerves down and prepare to meet little Cy.

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Going past through the security checks was easier than I expected but I would assume that Fred did something to the guards that allowed me to easily pass through even with my holographic mask on.

Stepping outside and seeing Paradise City almost made me cry. The city looked beautiful with many many improvements. I could see a lot of security cameras probably controlled by The Executive, skyscrapers, and tastefully designed buildings. The air was fresh , probably caused by the large number of trees planted along the pavements. It was at night and the city lights shining through was extremely beautiful.

It felt a bit selfish to be able to experience all of this when my comrades were fighting for the lives of the people. I felt bad about it but I had to remember what the commander said that my mission would be the most efficient way to stop the war and save more lives than we could imagine. I made sure to repeat those words in my mind as much as possible. It was one of m only encouragements that would push me to finish the mission successfully.

I went to the transport request center to get my way to a hotel nearby. Entering the taxi still felt like the biggest privilege in my life. I could not stop myself from staring outside the taxi window and hoping that one-day Gendwall could look like that in the future.

"New to the city?"The taxi driver asked probably taking notice of awe of the city.

"No, I haven't been here for a while," I said keeping up with my stupid proper lady act.

"It changed hasn't it."

"Yeah."

Looking outside of the window I started to take note of something I knew I had not left behind which were interconnected tubes which were at the sides of the buildings and went along some of the roads and above some buildings.I was sure I had not seen them in any city before even from the images I went through before arriving.

"What is that?"I asked.

"Those are Digicliff's new transport tube project. Apparently, they transport items through out the city. Personally, I think this is the government's way to control the movement of..... "

Even before I listened to his ending which was probably going to be a government conspiracy theory I took note that it was Cy's company that put the transport tubes around the city. They were practically everywhere. I could hardly believe that Cyrus Mayday could even do all of this. I knew Cy was extremely smart everyone could see that but he never acted. He was too shy and nervous to ever actively participate in groups or even come up with group project ideas we had in middle school. If he built a company that could accomplish that much in the few years since it was founded then he must have changed.

I was going to meet a completely different person. It was going to be an interesting meeting between us. I thought about the one clue that my past self had given me which was Cy should be wearing or carrying around a Frafic watch that she had given him. It made me wonder why I would do that for him, or why after so many years she would be carrying a watch from me. As much as he was a caring person I never understood why he would opt into doing that.

Arriving at the nearest hotel I was glad that I could finally relax but after being told the ridiculous pricing I felt defeated. I could sleep on the streets but I did not random people think that I was a homeless street urchin. My original plan was to stay the night at a hotel and then get to Cy's place. I went to a cafe to try a search for Cy's home and I found out that that whimp had numerous houses. It was just crazy. I decided to check if he was spotted around and sure enough he was at his transport tube event.

I knew I had to find a place to stay and Cy was my only answer so I did the most reasonable thing to do, follow him around that night. Sure enough, I was able to get into the exclusive event by simply smiling and lying to the guards at the entrance. The trust system there was crazy. Or maybe they would assume I was at the social class of those who were at the event. Either way, I was already inside. I found Cy talking to some people and looking at him from the corner of my eye he looked tired and dead inside.

It was a sight to behold for me, considering that even Cy was an awkward nerd he was always happy. He had a smile that would even make me feel happy on rough days. The years past and he looked like he had gone through suffering. I heard being an adult was hard but I never thought it would look that draining. The large number of people in the roo made me rethink my approach of just walking up to him and being like "Hey it's Miranda."

I made sure to tail him from a far, sometimes sipping a little water as I talked to random people in the room. I never lost sight of him until he left earlier than the rest. I assumed he was going back to his house but he went to the Digicliff building late at night. That was extremely odd of him. Or maybe that was where he was hiding something. I could not tell. I stood by the entrance and I took at a small picture of the building's blueprint and sure enough, there seemed like something missing with the plans.

Being in so many fallen buildings and odd passageways made it easy to figure out that he had a secret underground level. I knew ventilation must have been installed and decided to move with the vents to the end. It was far into the ground than I thought and when I reached the end I could see Cy staring at footage of Gendwall and talking to himself. I looked at the footage which was one we had messed with back in Gendwall. I took out my tiny computer and antennae and looked for the wave movements which could make me gain access to his computers.

It did not take long to take complete access of the building. It seemed that Cy was careless with his set up, I smiled and looked at him innocently at his computer. I could enter in quietly or I could make a spectacular entrance. I think we all know which one I opted to take.