The ship docked on a commercial planet that mirrored the earth star know as Mars, it was a popular tourist center after it was terraformed, housing one of the largest resorts in the galaxy, proudly owned by the Deadman family.
Everything on the planet had been tailor made to suit the needs of would be residents, tickets would cost most appendage, Mercury thought it was quite the adequate drop off point, since bringing her to one of their bases didn't feel like such a bright idea.
"And I truth you're just stalking your boyfriend". Mercury glanced over her shoulder at the red skin, her brows knitting at the sight of the woman's smug face.
"I was not".
"Not denying the boyfriend allegations, are we?". She sipped from her cup of mud looking substance with a loud, long and irritating sip, the petite girl just groaned and put away her communicator, and stood up to look at the seated redskin in the eye. "You realty are quite a small human woman" the red skin continued to sip from her sludge and the dainty girl known as Mercury Deadman walked off in a huff.
Her father had completely regenerated, so he would likely be waking up soon, that would leave her with nothing to do for a while after the red skin was gone, luckily, they were at a tourist center.
"Why are you following me…again" The white-haired boy turned around, the planets light causing his eyes to twinkle like tiny scarlet stars.
"I have nothing better to do" she shrugged and then placed a finger on her cheek "Besides, weren't you lost?".
Zed took a side ways stance with his index finger pointed at her "I was not lost, merely wandering about" Mercury rolled her eyes before crossing her arms of her chest and shooting him a snarky grin.
"Then I'm sure the great wanderer remembers the way to the exit then?" Zed flinched for a moment and looked to the side before offering her a light bow.
"Please guide me mistress".
"That's what I thought".
The two had actually encountered each other by coincidence, at least, that's what she told herself. The tiny rich woman had known he was on planet thanks to an anonymous snitch…anonymous informant, whom revealed their location.
The only thing that was up to chance was encountering him while on the nearly planet scale resort, she was fairly lucky to encounter him wandering around the area she had lodged the red skin, that was something she had never expected.
She wanted to run up and hug him but knew he would resist it, so she had to do her best to contain herself "The fuck are you doing?", he had noticed her mumbling something with a strange expression and decided to walk over.
This was certainly not due to him being lost and deciding a familiar face would be best, he glanced behind her and glanced at the red skin and flinched, his breath becoming slightly shaky, he took deep sharp but short breaths and trembled ever so slightly before closing his eyes, clenching his fists and between breaths muttered "Red skin". Those where the only words that escaped his lips, words dripping with malice, an enmity the woman acknowledged and quietly removed herself from the interaction.
"Scared?" She asked, seeing how he had reacted to the woman to which the proud, young looking boy scoffed, and turned around to leave "Where are you going?"
"The arcade or something" Mercury nodded and watched him for a few seconds.
"The games are this way though" He froze mid step, turning his head to observe the direction her finger was pointed in, turning on his heels he quickly walked past her and kept walking.
"No thank you?"
"Leave me alone". She made a face and threw a sideways glance at the staff who just nodded while she walked behind him, a cheerful smile as she practically skipped behind him and that was how she ended up following him around like she is currently.
As they watched the performers from the booth, the needlessly complex ways they used their powers, the crowd cheering for them made Zed chuckle a bit. After the war most living veterans and their descendants had moved on to newer jobs although many simply couldn't come to terms with the idea of co-existence and choose to remain obsolete.
Zed turned his head from the stage and locked eyes with Mercury who had her palm just a few inches from his head "What are you doing?".
"There's a dare going around the facility to see if you actually keep this barrier up at all times" Zed facepalmed and slowly dragged his hand over his face.
"You're the sponsor?". He tilted his head at the doll like woman "Aren't you already rich?". The doll woman shook her head and clicked her tongue and replied.
"You will never understand the joy of taking money from people who think you're an easy mark just because you're a spoiled rich girl". Zed deadpanned at her shamelessness and retorted.
"So, you were aware you are spoiled". The dainty dame rolled her eyes at the boy and shook herself free of his invisible grasp and settled back into her seat with a pout.
"I'm eighty years old my friend and I have no idea how old my father is, shouldn't this much self-awareness be basic?". She had a look as though she were being asked to be praised for having common sense, showing the true disparity between them.
"How amazing~" Came to monotone reply from him accompanied by the dicrotous and obnoxious stiff clapping of his hands, which only made Mercury frown.
"Dude, fuck you". Zed just closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders clearly unbothered. They both remained silent for a while until Mercury spoke up "Are you sure you're good?".
"The lead scientist in charge of my experimentation was a red skin woman" he tapped his fingers on the chairs armrest and took a deep breath "I've been doing missions so far and we've seen a lot of them but never felt anything, maybe because they were all male, I'm not sure".
She patted him on the back and said as gently as she could "Time will heal you kid, you've got a disturbingly long life ahead of you, and everyone will be hear for it". Zed was about to turn his head to thank her when she suddenly yanked out some of his hair "I GOT IT, QUICK! RESTAIN HIM".
Zed extended his hand but couldn't feel his psionic energy properly, like it was blocked, his eyes widening with shock and realization "YOU TRAITORS!"