[11:13, 04/22/2040, The Next Day]

Denarrow- "Is that it now?"

Nami- "That should be everything. My new home."

It's a two-bedroom apartment with a small kitchen, a tight bathroom, and barely a living room. A standard apartment at the Holladay Hostel, an above-average apartment in Midcity.

Nami- "The rent is a little high for my tastes but that's okay."

Brooklyn- "Your rent is higher than anyone who lives here."

Nami- "What? Why?"

Brooklyn- "Because most residents have lived in these apartments since the remodel three years ago and due to the Midcity renter laws, I can't raise rent above a certain price. So you're getting what's today's worth of this apartments. They are highly valued but fortunately you skipped the waiting list because you're my friend. But I am a capitalist first when it comes to this line of work."

She smiles innocently. If no one were to know her well and saw this side of her, they'd probably think she's greedy and secretly a sociopathic being. Both Ace's and Nami's eyes widen in surprise.

Nami- "Well I'm glad I'm here."

Denarrow- "It's fucking small. And why are you here again? No offense."

Nami- "Protection. I umm heard you can fight."

Brooklyn- "He can, he told me himself. Are you in trouble though?"

Nami- "Sort of, journalism you know. It's complicated, but I just want some sense of security."

Brooklyn- "It has nothing to do with the bombing yesterday, does it?"

Nami- "I don't think so. I hope not."

Brooklyn- "I'm glad you're here then. Sorry for initially rejecting you in the car yesterday, I didn't know I had an available space."

Nami- "Who was it? The person previously."

Brooklyn- "It was a person named Jayson Works. I don't even remember him. I don't even remember what he looked like. Which is weird because I'm often told I remember everything. But apparently he was here since the Holladay turned from being a hostel to an apartment."

Nami- "When did he leave?"

Brooklyn- "Apparently in February, when I was adding my budget, somehow I lost a couple Ks in income. That's why Mister Ace is now my roommate because I needed to make up at least half of the loss. I could've investigated it further but I was busy and time constrained at the time. It was until I started looking at my rooms, cause I thought about you last night. Before I called you, I realized Mister Works no longer lives here. That's why he wasn't paying his dues. I don't know how I missed that. Or how I still don't remember who he was."

Nami- "Anyhow, thanks for the place Brooklyn. I preciate you."

Denarrow- "I'm only here because of a mistake."

Brooklyn- "Yep, fate pretty coo ain't it."

[22:40, 04/30/2040, A Week Later]

In the northeastern part of the city, north of the Hostel, there is an area known either as the Positives, for the more older generations of the city, or the Flats, for the more born-natives and younger generations. The Flats reside in the positive X and Y quadratic space, and it takes up almost the whole quadrant. The fifty million residents in this space use the Positives or Flats interchangeably when they conversate with each other. Being so dense in population and design, it's surprisingly small looking from the outside. All buildings in the Flats, mostly residential buildings, vary from four to six stories tall and are typically only an alleyway apart or enough space that two cars are able to pass by each other. It's a common thing for rear-view mirrors on older car models to never be open in the Flats. Straightforwardly, there is not enough space.

When looking at Midcity, you typically would see the tall and unique architectural buildings in the negatives, also known as downtown. In the northwest, there are fewer tall buildings with a mixture of trees and natural greenery. In the southeast, where the Holladay Hostel lies, it's a mixture of both north and southwest with tall, small, and more environmentally-friendly structures. And then there is the Flats. It's called the Flats because from above it looks completely flat, like a road, due to almost every building nearly having the same height. On the ground, it's different to which part they are in. Though nonetheless, urbanity is everywhere. The established pinnacle of the meaning of a concrete jungle.

There are four layers to the Flats. The upper Flats is probably the most eye-popping layer as it's a city above a city. Streets, sidewalks, and public transport, they're all built and operated at the third-story level of most buildings in the Flats. The second layer is the surface layer, where the natural earth once was. But it's sometimes mistaken to be underground because it's underneath the upper layer and sunlight doesn't touch the ground for most of it. Underneath the second layer is the third layer, which is literally underground, and underneath it is the fourth layer. The underground layers are similar in layout and each are a thousand feet in depth. Each layer is like a city itself (greatly residential though), leading to residents rarely ever coming out of their layer finding their livelihoods to be satisfactory underground. It barely has any trees or any green as the ground beneath is either earth or further urbanity.

The whole of Midcity has an underground side to it. What makes the Flats underground differ completely is that it's tight in space. Other parts of the underground city resemble a cave having large empty spaces in the underground sky and a more conventional city layout with high and low rises. Some buildings touch the surface's ceiling and many don't. The underground Flats is like a complex maze. The concrete ceilings are as low as the average hallway. The roads can be barely counted as such; thus, walking and biking are heavily used in the area. The third and fourth layers of the Flats are often considered to be giant apartment buildings. Homes, stores, schools, and essentially the infrastructures of city livelihoods cramped wall-to-wall altogether. One may ask: why would anyone live in these cramped underground structures? The answer is quite simple: they're inexpensive.

The Flats is the ultimate eminent of urban wonders. Therefore, it's unsurprising that this overly dense neighborhood also deals with the traditional problems its lesser version comes with. These problems include crime, never-ending upkeep on infrastructure, and, most obviously, overcrowding.

A man wanders these complicated grounds, specifically the second layer, on a cold cloudless night talking to himself. His speech is to be of a mixture of languages, including Durman, several Central Uropean ones, and Rosiyian. Every other word is a different language, but if all are translated to simply one language, there is sense behind such chaos. Four indecent-looking gentlemen, wearing all green and openly affiliated as members of the Gunner gang, take notice of the multilingual man talking to himself on his walk.

Larry- "Oi, old man!"

The man keeps on walking and talking to himself. One of the Gunners walks up and pushes him causing him to trip forward, but he fortunately keeps his balance. The man looks up at the sky and takes off his hood. He has no hair on his head or face. He has brown eyes, white skin, and is around thirty years of age. His eyes vigorously jump in all directions as if he's looking at a moving housefly.

Jerry- "We was talkin to ya mate. Show us a little of yo attention, please."

Their speech runs fast and the Midcity 'street' accent is in its purest form. One of the thugs in the back of the group feels something is off and decides to voice his opinion.

Jamal- "Ayo, I don't think we should be messin wit this man. He looks like one of dem foos ya don't wanna fu-"

Tevin- "Chill, it's not like we bout to kill him. We just wanna know what chems he on and see if we can get sum ourselves."

Jerry to quickly and gently frisk down the old man. The old man stops in cooperation, stands still, and is unfazed. Once the thug could only find a wallet on him, the search was initially for drugs, he complained.

Jerry- "C'mon old man, you was just a psycho? I thot you were really off a chem. Welp, let's just see who you are."

He opens up the wallet and about seven fake IDs come falling out. The pictures on them have the multilingual man in wigs or with makeup altering his appearance significantly.

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Larry- "What da shit!?"

He chuckles while simultaneously being creeped out.

Jamal- "He look too familiar, I don't we should mess wit-"

Abruptly, the one speaking has his metal chain pressed up against his neck, choking him.

Tevin- "Hey Jamal, you good man?"

The first thug that had approached the man turns around and grabs for his neck. It takes a moment for Jamal's friends to understand what's happening.

Larry- "You ain't de only one wit a Paradise Fruit, le go of Jamal before I'll light yo head off bitch!"

A police car on the road drives by and slows down to carefully observe the escalating situation on the sidewalk.

Policeman 1- "That man over there, the one being grabbed, he familiar or am I trippin."

Policeman 2- "I'm bout to drive in closer, this bound to escalate further."

The bald man looks at the police car coming while he is being yelled at and grabbed at by the thugs.

Creed- "Es tut mir leid, Hassen."

Creed lifts his hand up, causing a reaction from everyone. Jamal finally breaks the chain and starts to recover to stop his suffocation. He looks up seeing Creed pointing his hand at the police car.

Police 1- "Hey yo that's-"

Police 2- "Out the car now!!!"

It's too late as Creed puts his hand into a fisted position, simultaneously crushing the car like crumpling a piece of paper. The two cops were crushed to death in their vehicle, shocking everyone around. People in their homes and stores start paying attention to what's continuing to unfold.

Larry- "What the…"

Creed looks back at Larry, who’s grabbing his collar, with a wide sinister smile. Creed's eyes, then widen as he stares into his aggressor's eyes. Larry, scared, lightly unleashes his grip on Creed's collar. He even fixes the wrinkles he caused on the shirt. Creed's facial expression completely changes into a bored look. A parked car right next to them floats up without warning and hits Larry, crashing and killing him instantly. The car's momentum smashes not only into the thug but plows into the apartment building next to them.

With the quick death of one of their friends, the rest of the Gunnersbegin running away to avoid the same fate. Creed lifts his hand up and a wall made of the sidewalk's concrete stops in front of the fleeing thugs. A similar wall rises up from the ground floating in front of Creed. Using telekinesis, he pushes the wall, sending it toward the thugs without hesitation. Jamal turns around, and sees the wall behind moving closer, looking to smash into him and the wall ahead of him. He notices this quicker than his two friends and dives to the side out of the way. The floating wall smashes into the initial wall while in the process crushing Jamal's friends, like the cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich. Jamal, on the ground, looks at Creed who then looks right back at him. He then sees the blood dripping from out the sides of the wall like jelly between two slices of bread. Looking back at Creed, his heart can't stop racing.

Jamal- 'Is this it? My heart and lungs hurt right now. Does this mean it is wrap for me?'

Police cars start rolling in the numbers and the police begin shooting without warning, giving an opportunity for Jamal to run away. Creed instantly reacts well and stops all the bullets in mid-air.

Captain Jacks- "Retreat! Retreat!"

On the order, the police begin running back away from Creed. Two policemen go back into their vehicle, unlike all the others; a fatal mistake. Their car instantly crumples like paper once the headlights turn on.

Sirens that sound like nuclear alarms sound off all around the Flats. Digital messages are sent out to everyone in the northern Flats, telling them to evacuate the area. Further messages are sent warning the rest of the city to stay indoors and be ready to leave if told to.

Sergeant Field- "Captain! How far are we supposed to retreat?"

Captain Jacks- "To the point where we can't see him sergeant."

They all wear old 2020 military-grade combat armor with helmets and other tactical gear. The word old shouldn't be taken too literally. Not minding the date of their armor, the police nonetheless look like a special deadly covert military task force. Yet, they are helpless against individual against an individual like Creed

Captain Jacks- "We need reinforcements and we need plastic guns with plastic ammo as well. But before that happens we need to contain and evacuate."

Sergeant Field- "He's Creed isn't he? That magnetic power. That has to be him right?"

Captain Jacks- "..."

Nothing but silence came from the captain's mouth. Sergeant Field stopped asking stupid questions and follows orders rallying a couple of his men to help him perform his tasks.

A helicopter arrives in the sky circling the area while keeping a wide radius around him. Despite being on the second level of the flats and unable to see it, he senses it. He puts his left arm and points upwards in direction of the helicopter in the sky. He feels a small metallic connection with the flying object. He then brings his arm down as if he's pulling down a rope. The helicopter's sovereignty breaks as it flies down according to Creed's will.

Pilot- "I thought we were far enough from him! I'm going down. I cannot control it! Repeat…"

The helicopter crumples as it falls down and explodes into a building a block away. He begins walking at a slow pace heading to the upper Flats. Up the street stairs and then standing on the upper streets, he looks at an apartment building to the side of him. His left hand, again, points out with his palm open. He clutches his hand and the building collapses. Creed then takes some time to himself, planning on what to do next.

Creed- 'That felt good. The AHA will be here soon, I should escape before I cause even more trouble for Sir Hassen. Just one more time.'

He collapses another building on command. Hundreds of lives are lost in a mere instant.

Creed- 'This feels too good. I feel as if I am on a goldmine. The amount of metal structures in this place is absolutely unimaginable to think about. I cannot even think, I can only feel. And I feel like God with the amount of sandbox material I have right now. I'm truly sorry Sir Hassen, but with the potential amount of power I feel right now, the ecstasy flowing through me right now, it's impossible for me to go back to hiding as a shepherd in my current state. Because I am in my own Heaven.'

The ground directly beneath him starts to float, allowing for his flight. At the same time, buildings a couple of blocks away start their descent into the air breaking from the ground. Not just the structures on the surface descend, but all four layers of the building descend upwards as well. Captain Jacks can only feel helpless as a building right next to him comes off the ground and into the sky.

Captain Jacks- 'What the hell! His Paradise can reach this far!?'

He sees a mother with her elementary kid, both trying to jump out the building door as it goes up. Jacks goes over and opens his arms up, waving for them to jump. After a few seconds of hesitation, they make the fall. Jumping about twenty feet up, the woman while holding onto her child lands in Jacks' arms. Luckily neither the woman nor the child gets hurt, but Jacks hurts himself when he falls over catching them. He gets back up and tells them both to leave. The mother persists in staying, exclaiming her husband is trapped in the building. The buildings are already up high in the sky and were only to levitate even higher at this rate.

Captain Jacks- "It's not the time lady, you and your kid need to get going and save yourselves right now."

The mother could only run away with her son, holding him in emotional distress. The roads become crowded with even more people. A significant number of people living below ground come topside. Thus huge traffic is created heading southwest in a hurry. Jacks, still at the site he saved the mother and child, looks down into the massive hole where the building came out of. He then looks at the sky, sees three floating buildings, and wonders what's truly going on above. He taps into his radio.

Jacks- "Jacks here, what does it look like from the sky!?"

Police Radio- "Affirmative, not a clue, no birds in the sky."

He makes an attempt to jog, but on the first step, he feels pain in his back, stopping him in his tracks.

Jacks- "Fuck." 'I can't even do anything.'

A sense of feeling that everyone gets at least once in their lifetime, utter helplessness. It's not his fault. It's commonly not in a lot of people's cases. What he can't fully see, due to being on ground zero with tall surroundings obstrucitng his view, is the extent of Creed's metallic-earth power, Paradise Fruit Petra. Six buildings and their underground layers levitate high in the sky; they separate from each other, forming a circle. In the middle of the circle is Creed, who's sitting on a levitating rock. Upon reaching a thousand feet in the air, he stops levitation. He continues to sit with his legs crossed and puts his hand underneath his chin, appearing disinterested. He then looks at the tallest building in the city, Ace tower.

Creed- 'I'm not taller than the hospital, but it'll be fine. I'm high enough for the usual.'

Instantly a neon purple beam of light goes straight through one of the levitating buildings and aims linear at Creed. The rock he sits on moves to the left just in time to barely dodge the attack.

Creed- 'If I had not dodged that I would've died, you bastard.'

From above, a man with metal limbs tackles Creed heading towards the ground. His metal feet mechanically transform into mini-jet turbines and make the descent to the ground faster. Creed quickly rips the cyborg's arms off of him, forcing the cyborg to get off of him. By making the metallic arms he pulled off float upwards, Creed makes his grounding gentler. Though rough enough that it still makes him tumble roll on the ground and eventually plants him on his back. It takes a couple seconds for him to stand back up. The cyborg is able to properly adjust mid-air thanks to his feet jets and come down on two feet. Luke Royce, also known to many as the Hero Crossfire. Two limbs now. He wears a short sleeve jacket and long shorts revealing his mechanical legs. The two of them look at each other a hundred feet apart on the street.

Luke- 'Ironic that I have to deal with the dude who can turn my arms into tin cans with a flick of a wrist.'

Creed- 'If they sent him, that means the AHA doesn't have availability right now. If I made an escape right now, he wouldn't follow me. The problem is he isn't the only one here. I did my scouting and he doesn't have any powers that can shoot light beams. And heroes travel in pairs. So that would have been….'

As he is about to finish his thought, another player enters the ring. The new player comes flying from above while winding-up punch as neon purple light covers it. The punch aims right at Creed's head. Creed quickly grows a reinforced wall of street concrete right in time to block such a potentially fatal hit. Using the concrete beneath him, he glides away, avoiding the after explosion. As he does, he takes note that Luke is no longer at the scene, nowhere to be seen. He then stops his surface gliding to catch his breathe and analyze the situation.

Creed- 'Jabari Jakari, it is then.'