During the day, the silver skyscrapers that stood in masses like blades of grass in a field glistened from the cyan sunlight above, reflecting the rays off the towers’ smooth walls with gentle curves in such a way that felt surreal. Between the buildings was a complex network of traffic streams that weaved between buildings and down long stretches.
During the day, the pods hardly needed light of their own, allowing themselves to be represented in their true colors of their shell whether it be black, white, red, blue, or any unique color or more complex pattern based on the personality of the drivers.”
During the day, crowds of people walked the streets on the ground between buildings, roaming various plazas and parks that embellished the city. Mostly composing the mobs were adults dressed in formal wear appropriate for professions, suits with ties and dresses with long skirts. Some of the people lazed the blocks while staring at holographic screens displaying photographs, blocks of written text, video footage of people speaking to them, and an infinite array of potential media to consume in an internet home to an estimated thousand billion give or take. Other people on the other hand raced down the streets with haste, clutching hats or skirts as they made chase for business that required tending.
Among the citizens eager to reach a specific destination, a blue blur soared far above the citizens on the ground with a roaring whoosh like a shooting star, attracting the attention of many people who heard the passing entity but failed to get sight of it.
Among the pods stuck in traffic on another busy day in the Capital City of Capital, an object darted overhead, swinging between buildings with immaculate speeds as blue wires flashed from the origin to the buildings, moving far faster than the pods even at top speeds.
Among the silver skyscrapers that covered the city in a coat it would not be itself without, the man in blue swang through the city from block to block in seconds, blue cables projecting off his body primarily from the hands and hips as his body was thrusted forward by exhaustive bursts of blue mist primarily from the feet and back.
Speeds so great that the still buildings are nothing more than a silver blur, the man in a hurry glided past multiple blocks in a second as his arms remained out in front, constantly projecting blue cables to reel himself towards buildings ahead as he boosted himself at a consistent pace, the maximum reasonable for the setting.
Weaving between buildings above the blurred road of pods that appeared still from the incomparable pace of the man, the man was pushing his limit to the extremity, facing one of his most challenging foes, one of the most dangerous of enemies he’s ever faced.
Tardiness.
After passing through a series of blocks by slithering between buildings, the man gradually rose as his cables projected at upward angles, as he climbed up the buildings at a quick smooth rate as though he were on a ramp. Farther ahead there appeared to be an end to the nearby neighboring buildings on his sides, leading to an aperture, a cue. He continued to ascend, his trajectory already perfected to put him in the best route.
Reaching the final pair of neighboring skyscrapers, the man reached the top of both of them, his cables projecting onto the very tip of the buildings that pierced the sky. He was then catapulted upwards past those final buildings with an explosive boost, carrying him into an open area distinct from the dense field of towers that covered most of the region.
High up in the air above most of the skyscrapers in the city, the man in the blue suit soared in the cyan sunlight with blue energy pushing him forward and thrashing his black cape gracefully. In front of the man on the other side of the open space was one skyscraper that was more notable than the others due to its titanic scale compared to the other ginormous towers. All other skyscrapers paled in comparison like suburban houses, as even the other distant highrises appeared short now next to the one in front of him.
The gigantic smooth silver skyscraper had a notably unique feature where a chunk of the building’s stories are open halfway up the tower, held up by a perimeter of thin pillars that manage to carry the upper half’s weight. The design was interesting, a standout from all others in a perculiary artistic sense, although the deep irony of the context was what made it so fascinating in a way only very few truly understood.
Carried by the built momentum of the swinging, Meditat’s body is thrusted up at a far more tilted angle, nearly straight up, blasting off in a thick blue trail like a comet as he rose up towards the height of the skyscraper with a roar.
As the arc reached the top of the tower, it arched downwards to land on the roof, far from the visibility of anyone beneath as it was the tallest tower in the area easily, reducing sight from anybody beside the one soaring up to it.
At the top of the tower was a wide circular rooftop area in front of a curved extension that continued to curve tens of feet above the flat section until reaching a tip with its base from the flat top wide enough to fit a room.
The blue comet flew towards the rooftop in an arch before making its impact in the center of the circular rooftop area, releasing a blue cloud of excess energy that spread throughout the peak.
Through the dispersing blue cloud emerged Meditat, who walked up the flat top towards the extension where the wide curve was. As he approached close to the extension, a piece of the wall the size of a double door dematerialized, revealing a cylindrical interior of the extension with a white circular pad.
Without slowing pace, Meditat stepped in through the opening and onto the pad, to which the aperture was then shut as the door materialized to conceal the man inside.
Now inside the building and completely shrouded from all eyes, Meditat straightened his neck, staring at the chrome wall encapsulating him as the white pad descended down like an elevator, bringing him deeper into the tower with a quiet hum. His entire body then was set ablaze in blue, turning his body into a silhouette from the intense flames. The cape of the silhouette vaporized, and the shape of his body transformed as something like a cape appeared behind his head, although smaller as it only reached to the top of his shoulders.
At once the flames were extinguished, revealing the man in clarity once again, although where once stood the savior in blue now stood a human in a formal suit, adorned in a matching navy blue set of dress pants and a blazer with a golden chain on the chest pocket over a white buttoned shirt and azure tie.
His closed hands rested under the sleeve with three golden buttons, and his feet stood on the white surface in brown leather dress shoes.
Closed eyes shut where the goggles once were now on an exposed human face that most resembled a Latino with a chiseled jaw shaved of any facial hair. On the man’s head was a relatively lengthy cape of black hair that reached down to the top of his shoulders, curved outwards from both sides naturally to the center of his shoulder’s width. It was well groomed with four minute bangs covering the forehead symmetrically, and longer bangs over the ears. The man appeared to be somewhere in his late twenties or early thirties, approaching middle age.
A deep breath is carried into the man, filling his lungs with air until reaching their capacity. He held it in for a few seconds, and then gently released it back out. His hands relaxed and opened, as he dispelled the anxieties he felt on the way. His eyes open up, his irises gentle azure, filled with life almost like youth even though the man was far from such an age group.
His hands rested by his side as the pad came to a stop, and the wall in front of him dematerialized, shining white light onto his human body.
Out of the elevator stepped the man and into a long wide hallway with white walls that emitted a gentle luminescence. The hallway brimmed with voices as walking up and down were adult men and women in formal wear speaking to one another, some pointing at holographic screens carried in front of them as they were in the middle of professional discussions.
Walking amongst the crowd was the man in the blue suit, his head straight up as he assumed the confident stance of a man blessed with class and elegance. As he walked down the center of the hallway, the other adults made way for him in respect, veering to the edges of the hallway to give space as he marched forward.
A cluster of adults walked towards his direction from the far side, speaking to one another as they went about their day. One of the adults by the center of the cluster was a woman dressed in a black blazer with green buttons over a white collared shirt above a forest green formal skirt and black stockings.
She walked in black heels with a white top, and turned her attention towards the man in the blue suit, staring at him through bright green eyes beneath amber hair cut short similar to most of the men in the hallway with thick hair on her head but no bangs or long strands.
She then glanced at the adults beside her and spoke quickly before turning back to the man and accelerating pace, jogging down the hallway towards him as he kept steady pace.
The woman reached the man in the blue suit and turned around to walk in his direction, declining her pace to be able to walk side by side with him. She then spoke in a familiar yet higher voice, hastily prompting, “Rohan, your meeting with the other executives started five minutes ago, they’ve been waiting and one of them seemed unhappy. Now as your assistant I’ve been trying to keep everything stable but they wanted me to find you, this isn’t a good first impression.”
Walking beside the assistant, the man noted, “I see, well I’m on my way now. I had some business that extended longer than anticipated, but I am sure it will all go well from here.”
Shaking her head in denial, the assistant evoked, “Maybe it would be easier to save face if you hadn’t scheduled the meeting to be in a…you know…regular employee meeting room. You know we have several luxury meeting rooms for situations just like this, and most of them are always free, so why didn’t you take them?”
“This one was free too,” calmly explained the man while keeping pace.
Given an undebatable rebuke, the assistant only sighed in defeat before softly reflecting, “If I worked for any other C.E.O, they would’ve been far more sensible.”
Both turned into another hallway, empty of people and notably shorter as the end was visible from them not too far away with a closed gray door. Beside the end wall are several men with huge builds, towering statutes and muscles nearly visible even beneath their formal attire. Their eyes are covered in black tinted sunglasses and most had nearly shaved hair, appearing to be security of some sort.
As the man continued down the hallway the woman stopped following, as it was her time to part ways. Before the two fully do, the man spun around to face the woman before asserting, “If I were too sensible, your position could be compromised.”
“Haah. Haah.” the assistant sarcastically reacted after the snarky comeback before she turned around and walked away, leaving the man to swivel back around and continue down the hallway towards the far door.
Now by himself, the man calmly strolled down the hall to the end, passing the menacing security guards without reaction. He reached the gray door, to which it dematerialized, allowing him to pass into the next room.
Past the hallway is a room with light gray walls other than the wide window on the far side that consumed the whole wall, breathing natural sunlight into the room which has a long table on the right side. Covering most of the room is a large rectangular glossy white table top with smooth edges, and around the table are six hovering black executive-styled chairs down the long ends, and seated on four of them are adult men dressed in black formal suits.
Stepping onto the white floor was Rohan, and upon entering the room the doorway behind him was sealed shut. He continued forwards, walking past the table, past men notably older than him as most were around the age of late forties it seemed, with a balding one in particular with wrinkly skin indicating potential seniorhood.
Only the soft footsteps of Rohan made sound in the room for the first few seconds as he snatched authority in an instant, circling the table until reaching the windowside. He had his hands behind his back as he stared through the window at the silver skyscrapers covering the field of the city.
He then calmly greeted, “Welcome, it seems you all are already here.”
Right off the bat, the senile man glared at Rohan with an agitated face before feuding, “That’s because you’re late! You know, I already felt off about you before coming here, but seeing how unprofessional you are this early on just cements my hunch!! Tsk!”
Without needing to turn towards the men, Rohan coolly accommodated, “You have my humblest apologies, Johnny.”
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“That’s Johnathon, no, Mr. Smith to you!” angrily corrected the old man, unhappy with Rohan’s informal naming.
“Mr. Smith it is then. Anyways let’s stop wasting time, if I am correct you have all come here with a proposition,” surpassed Rohan, choosing to shift focus on the main matter rather than the bickering.
Enraged by the clearly hypocritical statement, the old man opened his mouth to bellow. However before a word could seep between his corroding teeth, one of the other men spoke up in a firm voice, confirming “That is correct. I’m sure you’ve heard about it –we all have– but as the next generation grows into adulthood, brands fall as new ones rise to take its place. We’ve already seen this with PeopleNovel, once the kings of social media now struggling to meet their quota of a hundred million users per month. And in its place are these new brands like ClicCloc which have been grossing billions a day, many of us have reasonable concerns about being swept up by this new age of consumers. Especially since most of us have been household brands for a while now, it’s all the reason to make sure we keep our ground.”
A soft hum exuded from Rohan as his eyes remained on the window, pondering the hook being delivered to him. He then inquired temptedly, “I see, but XPrints is not a social media platform, it is a technology manufacturing company with its focus on research and design for tools rather than internet-based devices. Sure we have a few departments for softwares and we do have a few internet platforms, but we’re far from a ‘social media.’ For us, the competition is less about appealing to new generations by trend but rather by product competency. So I’m not sure what my involvement is meant to be.”
A man different from the previous speaker elaborated on the group’s behalf, “You’re right about the priorities of your corporation, but we cannot downplay the admirability of your software departments and the projects they show as results. Also, you are the leading brand in innovative branching hardware, but I digress. We all believe it would be intelligent to have a joint structure where we can build new platforms that will stand as the pinnacle of internet culture, and work together to stay above the waters if you will. We have several pitches for projects with maps detailing what new teams each company would need and how they would interplay, and we believe many of these pitches will be what brings our names back into the spotlight.”
Another soft hum resonated from Rohan, and at last he finally turned to face the four CEOs in his office. He then objectively propounded, “But to what I recall, a portion of this partnership is already well into the spotlight. In fact, if I remember correctly, Chatterbox has had quite the reputation both in terms of discriminatory design for consumers but also abuse in the workplace.”
Glancing at Mr.Smith, Rohan alluded, “The pull for XPrint’s collaboration is already rather flimsy, but it is hard to understand if I would gain more or lose more from this partnership. We are diligent in preserving our reputation, it would be quite detrimental if it were to crumble due to involvement with an entirely separate group, wouldn’t it?”
Targeted, Mr. Smith stood up from his seat with his hands grabbing the edge of the table before clamoring, “Hey now, since when did you become so condescending? I swear, all you children are so alike, I knew there was nothing to respect from you when I saw your report! You’re just another prodigy story, got lucky young and has been riding that wave ever since! No substance behind charm! I don’t know if you didn’t know, kid, but this business isn’t any game, it’s ruthless and you need all the help you can get! Acting all high and mighty, rejecting aid is only going to bring you down while everyone else exceeds you!”
Not having spoken prior, the fourth executive in the room next to Mr. Smith stood up and put his shoulder on the angered old man, the executive seemingly in his middle fifties. He gently reasoned, “Let’s not start a fight in here, this is his headquarters after all! Remember, we’re trying to get him on our side, antagonizing him isn’t going to help.”
“I appreciate the transparency, Mr. Smith,” Rohan collectively considered before he turned back onto the window, away from the four. He lowered his head to watch the city before continuing, “It appears this meeting has strayed from its intended conclusion. Unfortunately, even with your attempts to quell the situation Elias Greenwood, I find myself struggling to find a good reason to entertain this partnership. I woefully am weary of mixing my employees with ones who have been given reputations of abuse, which I hope most of you can understand. Ultimately as well, as I mentioned earlier XPrints simply does not seem an appropriate partner for this type of project, regardless of a few departments our focus is not on platforms and I do not believe any of your corporations focus on the same faucets as my own. I cherish that you all sought my involvement, but I must politely decline the offer. Simply put, the foundational grounds do not hold adequate reasoning for my participation.”
The two other executives stood up in shock to the rejection, the one to pitch the idea pleading, “I apologize for the inconveniences that took place so far, but may I give a more thorough design of the project ideas? I have prepared several presentations in advance, and it may bring a greater understanding as to why we believe you to be a solid partner for these types of projects even if it might not appear so at face value. Trust us, this will help all of us including you, we understand that currently XPrints has been thriving but as time goes on and the world becomes more swarmed with competitors, fending for yourself won’t be viable. We are only trying to help you!”
“I admit you had me in the first half. But trying to pull the card that this is an operation I desperately need paints quite the ugly picture for your group. It also paints one of nescience, as I do in fact have partnerships, many ongoing as we speak, although most are with research companies and machinery manufacturing. I do genuinely believe your presentations are informative and well designed, however no mansion can be alluring enough if it means living on top of a volcano. I hope you understand, but I respectfully decline,” confidently determined Rohan, his hands remained behind his back, turned on the four desperate executives.
Tsking in bitterness, Mr. Smith cursed towards Rohan, “You know what, we didn’t want you anyways! You’re just a naive little kid who never matured after hitting it big! Probably some rotten corpse from Earth 15 or some other third world, one day soon your precious life of luxury will fall apart and you’ll be on our doorstep begging for us to let you get a piece of the pie if it means slaving yourself away! God damn kids and their condescending attitudes, did your parents teach you anything?!”
A quiet tsk comes out of Rohan as though something within Mr. Smith’s rant put him off. He lowered his head, and took in a deep breath, composing himself once again to steady his heart. He let out the breath slowly, but his head remained low.
“I thank you for coming here today, and I apologize for my tardiness. I understand this meeting has been rather short, especially compared to the likely plan, however if I may I am concluding this meeting now. You have my final decision, and I wish you all the best of luck on your ventures, independent and collaborative if that project does come to fruition, to which I expect it to be of the quality most of your brands are associated with. With that, I ask you to depart from this room and take any belongings you may have. Thank you,” Rohan dismissed in a calm voice.
Growling in burning fury, Mr. Smith opened his mouth as if to roar, only for his shoulder to be tapped by Elias Greenwood. After the angered old man turned to his partner, Elias nodded his head silently and quietly defused, “Let’s just go, we can formulate a new plan and find someone else. There’s no shortage of options out here anyways.”
Both of the other executives began walking towards the exit as did Mr. Smith and Greenwood, all of them leaving the room at once reluctantly. Among the four, one of them muttered, “Everything was riding on this, dammit,” before the door dematerialized to allow exit, which all four took. They continued to mutter unclearly out in the hall as they made their departure, leaving Rohan alone in the room by the window.
Before the door could materialize shut again, the assistant slipped into the room with her hands held in front, glancing back and forth curiously before leaning forward and striding towards the window. As the door materialized, enclosing the room once again, the assistant in the amber hair dashed to Rohan’s side, her hands in front of her held together while his are held together against his back.
She glanced at Rohan, reading his gaze for a few moments before gently recalling, “‘I am sure it will all go well from here.’ Didn’t know you could see the future too.”
A soft sigh released from Rohan before he softly clarified, “I thought it went well all things considered.”
A quick take back at the gray door, the assistant contended, “I’m not so sure, they didn’t seem very joyful coming out of there. Also, I expected the meeting to take an hour or two…not…like a couple minutes.”
“It felt like a couple hours,” Rohan gently rebuked.
Now the one to sigh, the assistant lowered her head before insisting, “Aren’t they big names? You could’ve gotten a lot, even if you had to tolerate their…them.”
His gaze remaining in place, Rohan elucidated, “Big names for the wrong reasons, they didn’t want us to actually work with us. They only wanted us so they could cling onto our name and look good, but all that would do is end up dragging ours down with theirs. Come on, I’ve been running this for years, I’ve developed a sixth sense for this. We’ll be fine, you won’t lose your job or anything.”
A hmph was shed from the assistant and she muttered to herself, “That wasn’t why I was worried.”
Otherwise empty, the two stood in front of the wide mirror in the spacious meeting room, staring at the silver skyscrapers below them down to the horizon of the noon of the beautiful sunny sky with only scarce strands of white clouds.
At random, heavy rainfall was unleashed onto the city from the rapidly darkening sky as a sudden storm was overtaking the streets. The beautiful view was quickly massacred in gloom as the sound of heavy rainfall whooshed from past the window, the sky dark for as far as the eye could see in thick clouds that covered the silver city.
While at first a simple quick storm was no abnormality, what fell from the sky along with the rain were red blazing meteorites crashing down towards the city, many of them all at once in front of the city for the two to see. Meteorites crashed into the streets below with loud rumbles following, and the white lights illuminating the meeting room flickered in response.
Both the assistant and Rohan fell into shocked expressions as they watched the cosmic onslaught right ahead, distraught by the immediate calamity that yielded no prior warning.
“Shoot,” exclaimed Rohan before he took a step back, clutching his blazer’s lapels tightly as his teeth gritted in anxiety. He then immediately turned around and began sprinting towards the room exit door as he declared, “I need to go!”
As Rohan raced to the door, the assistant turned to face him and cried, “Should I come??” as her green eyes carried despair.
While the door dematerialized in a whoosh, she received the hasty command: “No, I need you to evacuate the building! Quickly!” The door then materialized shut, as the man in the blue suit continued his run, leaving the assistant with wide, terrified eyes at the predicament befallen so chaotically.
Down the long hallway Rohan sprinted as hordes of other employees shuffled against each other, shouts filling the hallway as they all attempted to escape amidst the chaos. Brushing against fellow employees, Rohan stepped through the crowd, gritting his teeth as he ran the opposite way from everybody else, who sought the public exits.
He murmured “sorry” as he accidentally knocked against other adults, apologetic yet still hasty as he didn’t slow pace. The white lights that once cast the room began flashing red as a siren played from the walls as though doomsday was upon them.
After pushing against his own mob, Rohan reached the far end of the hallway, to which the door dematerialized to reveal his private elevator pad. He rushed into the elevator, his suit ruffled from the contact, and he turned around to face the doorway as it was sealed by the materializing door.
As the elevator began ascending on invisible command, Rohan raised his head up at the ceiling of the shaft, and closed his eyes shut. While he continued to hear shouting from the hallway as well as the deafening sirens, he attempted to isolate his mind to calm down and concentrate, needing to think rather than fall into fear.
As the world around him darkened, the sirens and screams silencing, Rohan entered a state of psychological isolation, detaching himself from the chaotic world. The evacuation, the meteorites, all of it gone from his mind, as there was nothing left but his own thoughts.
Within the thoughts that survived the filtration, images flashed in his head, his imagination warping thoughts into visual objects, using his mind to imagine its own world separate from the burning one, its own world of his own creation.
In the black canvas of the imaginary world he began painting the suit. The white helmet. The blue body. The black cape. All of it, in his own thoughts, fixated, concentrated. All that existed was that suit to him, as in that flash of an instant, his mind raced to design and construct a perfect replication of the suit, not just from the visual exterior but the internal wiring in the black gauntlets, the composition of the frosty crystals, all if it thorough and perfectly constructed in his mind.
The hyper specific fiber material of the blue suit was woven together, the pristine detailing of every atom that built the transparent parallelogram lenses from the ground up. An image he’s imagined countless times over countless days. Updated, refined, perfected. Thoughts so ingrained into his head that they nearly felt subconscious; like a dream, so real it almost felt tangible.
So real that it could become tangible.
Opening his eyes, the man stared through the blazing blue parallelogram goggles of the white mask, his body embellished in the blue fiber-woven suit as his black cape rested behind him. Standing in the ascending elevator alone, the man in the blue suit stared up at the ceiling, suited up in an instant.
At last the elevator came to a halt, and the door in front dematerialized, allowing the roars of rainfall to blast into his ears. But now he was prepared to take on the world as he lowered his head straight, his eyes radiating azureus energy as did his chest.
Prepared to take on whatever stood in his way, the man in the blue suit sprinted down the raining rooftop, swinging his arms back and forth. As he reached the edge he leaped off the building, diving straight down the colossal tower with his arms at his side and his head staring down at the ground far ahead. Keeping tight formation, his body propelled itself with a stream of blue energy, speeding his descent into the collapsing world without fear of the ground.
Wind roared in his ears as Meditat pushed against the air, his cape dancing in the raging breeze of his fall below the dark gray stormy sky. Passing stories in seconds, he dropped faster and faster with every passing second, faster towards the hard road below with no slowing down as he stared down blue eyes blazing with determination.
Falling down with the red meteorites that drop from the sky onto the city, he chased the city’s assailants as its protector, ready to face anything that threatened the stability and freedoms of those who lived under his watch in the sky, those who lived under the same blue sun as him.
His people.