Saturday came quickly, and once again, the buses waited in the lot on campus, still early in the morning as the Supersun was still rising. Another week of what became Rohan's new life had gone by, as he juggled his studies and companions with his new work in exploring his abilities and potential. With the extra work, Rohan was more busy than ever, and yet he felt more free than ever before, as if that extra work was more relieving to have.
He invited the extra work with open arms, desiring it, even being reluctant to stop the experimentation after burning himself out. He was still ready to pick himself up and continue working after his body gave out, because his mind could never deplete his stamina.
In the bus lot, the group of students approach the line of pods, splitting off to choose the bus pod of their choice. Among the students was Rohan, who once again didn't bring a pre-made suit, as he intended to make one once he arrived in the city. He also knows now that he can easily dispose of the suit, as after he'd lose concentration of it, it would vanish in mere minutes.
He had even done extra experimentation to control this vanishing, and while he was only able to achieve it a few times, he managed to let his suit disappear while still on his body, which would let him easily slip out of it. Of course, he still knew he could easily accidentally let this happen, which he had to prepare for, as stripping himself in a combat situation could be his end.
Of course, he hadn't even gotten into a combat situation yet to begin with, so he wasn't sure if there was even a beginning.
As Rohan boards the front bus and takes his seat, he looks out the window, juggling the idea that he could very well die today.
While it wasn't exactly the most cheerful thought, he knew the farthest reaches of his combat experience was in a contact sport, and he never even met someone else with Exhuman abilities. He could be drastically underestimating them, and could be killed on his first attempt, however he still tried his best to prepare.
He had to try, because if he was unwilling to get his hands dirty, there would never be a change to the cycle of violence. The news reports could continue to come for centuries and centuries more, and more innocents would lose any future they had planned in these horrible attacks.
Still, he knew there was a chance he'd have to pull out of a fight if it truly meant life or death, if he died then he'd be removing his chances from actually helping, and would just end up as yet another failed vigilante. While he hoped it wouldn't come to that, he wasn't completely suicidal.
The bus pod drives off after all the students board, and Rohan lays his head on the window as the pods leave the campus gates. He gives a soft sigh, trying to calm himself from his anxieties.
He remembers his conversation with Erica on the night of his awakening, when she tried to confront him on his displaced goals, seeming both worried and hurt.
Her words still rang in Rohan's ears: "Yeah...by fighting the people hurting them."
Rohan squeezes his eyes shut, realizing he was actively disappointing the person he loved to go into the field. While he tried to deny it, she was right, his intention was to go into the city and beat down anyone who sought to harm the citizens.
However, it was what he had to do. Someone had to be the one to fight. If Erica knew what Rohan was doing, she could get a heart attack, as he could already imagine that confrontation.
If Rohan didn't make it one day, she'd lose her second companion to the same enemy. She wouldn't be able to bear all that suffering, it would destroy her.
Rohan opens his eyes, realizing that he had to succeed and save the city, he couldn't let another person end up like Maria.
Eventually, the bus pod reaches the city, and once more Rohan is left in the same plaza as before. Rohan gets off of the bus, and his eyes lock onto the Zprints Enterprise building. He takes a deep breath, and once more approaches it, ready for another test in the city.
He puts his hands in his pocket and tilts his head slightly down, trying to keep attention off himself. He begins to already start thinking about the suit, priming himself to be able to create it when need be. He also tries to get his mind in the right space, knowing he had to stay on track or he could lose focus and thus lose his suit.
He enters the building and finds the elevator, taking it all the way up to the top of the building. Once at the top floor, he finds the short elevator to the rooftop, trying to walk quickly to avoid being caught by the security.
He takes the elevator up to the rooftop, and once the door opens, he is once again met by the strong wind of the sky.
Rohan walks out of the elevator and slowly takes his hands out of his pockets. His hair blows back and his jacket flaps violently, yet he continues walking forward effortlessly.
He approaches the edge of the building, and as he does, he closes his eyes, allowing himself to fully visualize his suit without any distraction. He takes a deep breath, concentrating harder on the armor as a whole, rather than a sum of different components, as he found it easier to think that way when materializing such complicated systems.
Rohan's chest begins to glow blue as mist starts seeping out of his eyes. While he continues towards the edge, four blue lines streak from his chest, with two heading to his legs and two heading to his arms. Streaks also run up his two eyes, but oddly today, they also run down to his mouth, almost covering his face with the blue energy.
His body starts to give off mist, and sparks of the electric energy show as well, the process clearly working now well on command. The mist covers his whole body, and it begins to harden, solidifying to create the shape of the suit. The gauntlets appear smooth yet solid, and the mask covers his face, momentarily blinding him due to the opacity of the mist. The blue armor then colorizes to a combination of blue and white as before, as there were only minor adjustments made after his first flight to make the suit as a whole appear more sleek, but for the most part it was the same.
The suit finalizes as the blue electricity stops sparking, the metallic armor shining in the sunlight. Rohan opens his eyes, staring through the blue tinted goggles, looking out into the beautiful city.
He stops at the edge and looks down, staring at the ground far below, where the pods were nothing but specs. He wasn't as anxious as before, as now he was confident in his suit, confident that he could make the jump.
He then looks back up and faces towards the south of the city, as it was the area he was targeting for his first fight. He knew that the south had more consistent Exhuman-related crimes, and since it was the weekend, it only meant that there would be a spike. If he wanted to find someone to stop, the south was the best bet for him.
He speaks out loud to himself, however his voice sounds different, as it was deeper and had a synthetically modified tone, as it seemed he had built in a voice changer into his mask. While the voice was still somewhat similar to his own, it was far too modified for any random person to tell the similarity.
He says to himself, "I need to work on a way to locate active outbreaks, I'll be lucky to actually find a fight here, right now I'm just going to be walking aimlessly."
He sighs, and decides to push forward anyways, as he still had to try. He leaps off of the rooftop, and begins diving down, putting his arms together to gain more speed.
The citizens in the plaza look up to notice the falling body again, and some of them even nudge others to get them to notice. This was the second time they had seen such an event take place from the same building, as it was amazing to witness it once, but to witness it again so soon was not expected.
As Rohan gets lower and lower, he passes more buildings, giving himself more options of what to pull to. Once he gets low enough, being about fifteen stories above the ground, he finally breaks out of the dive stance, and aims his right hand up towards one of the skyscrapers.
He closes his hand, and pulls himself upwards and towards the skyscraper, avoiding the ground. His body flies up, and he then boosts himself forwards, maneuvering through the city.
The citizens on the ground watch as he flies off, with many of them entranced with awe, once more seeing the man from the sky take flight. It captivated them for a few moments until he eventually vanished away, and they were left staring at the skyscrapers before resuming their normal lives once again.
However, the thought of the man still would stay in their minds for the rest of the day.
Rohan thrusts past several buildings before pulling himself with both hands, each aimed at a different tower. He was moving faster than last time, as he worked on boosting the suit's capabilities after having done more training to advance his energy capacity and outputs.
He boosts forward with his boots and allows himself to simply glide through the air for a few moments, as all the buildup in momentum had given him enough speed to fly forwards a strong distance.
He spreads his arms forward as he glides weightlessly, turning his head to view the city around him, feeling the wind push from behind him, as if pushing him onwards too. He looks down to see the sea of people appear as particles below him, walking among the faster specs most likely being pods, which were only slightly larger than the people.
Rohan's body begins to descend, and he once more pulls himself forwards again with his left hand, turning himself to the left side to exaggerate his pull.
As Rohan approaches another skyscraper, he aims his hand higher up towards the tower before pulling himself towards it. He flies towards the building, but as he does, his body begins to adjust its position to have his feet pointing towards the building.
His boots grip onto the skyscraper, and he begins sprinting up the building, which was still so far tall compared to where he was. He skips forward while using the back of his arm to boost himself more ahead.
Rohan runs at an angle, still moving towards the direction he was heading to before, but clearly trying to gain more height. Eventually he runs to the edge of the wall, to which he leaps off, and begins a fall with his back facing the ground. Before he could descend however, he aims both of his hands upwards, and pulls himself up again, using his boots for an extra boost.
Rohan begins to approach the top of the skyscraper, using a combination of pulls and pushes to climb faster and faster. Before he approaches the top however, he instead pulls himself directly towards the building, gripping the wall with his feet.
He then bends his knees before pushing off the wall, and using a push to get even farther away from the building. He turns around in the air, and continues forwards into the city.
Ahead of him, the buildings seem to get shorter, as there weren't as many skyscrapers. While there were still impressive buildings, it seemed that the farther he went, the lower they were, and the less crowded the area was.
Rohan's eyes stare through the blue tinted goggles, locking in the district, as he knows that such areas had more crime than the more densely populated districts, as those had far superior policing.
The weaker the area, the more of a target it would be.
Rohan continues to fly towards the district, being able to fly a great distance with the height he gave himself, as his steady descent was no obstacle.
His eyes survey the district he was heading towards, which seems to have rows of apartments and townhouses lined up densely, but more open fields past it. There were a few shopping malls past the sides of the fields, and other smaller buildings which seem to be independent stores in their own sections on the other side of the field.
Rohan sighs, wondering how exactly he was supposed to find someone, as it seemed harder and harder to locate an enemy. While he searched for a more vulnerable location, it would still be a great coincidence for him to clash with an Exhuman at such a random hour on such a random day.
Suddenly however, Rohan hears a distant explosion, and turns his head towards the buildings on the left side of the fields. There seems to be a burning building, with fires more than noticeable to his naked eyes.
It seemed it was something best to check for himself, as it very well could've been caused by an attack.
Rohan thrusts himself downwards, where the lower buildings were. Once he gets low enough to the point where the buildings are beside him, he begins using them to pull himself forward with greater speed, as the glide alone wouldn't provide him as much.
Now being much lower to the ground, Rohan has to judge his pulls more carefully, since he couldn't risk getting too low and hitting the ground. However, such a task wasn't as challenging since he was used to flying relatively low in games to avoid opposing players, and so he could still get by fairly easily.
Rohan reaches the fields, where he is then able to see the burning building. His eyes focus on the front of the building, as there seems to be a sign, which is of a red cursive 'VB.'
Rohan's eyes widen, as he recognizes the logo to be that of the Verpos Bank, a popular bank that carries a great deal of credits for many customers.
A bank robbery? Rohan was taken aback by the situation, as he expected a mass murder or a leveling of a block, not something as seemingly irrelevant as a robbery.
However, it would prove to be an easier trial for him, as it would be better if he started small rather than instantly reaching to fight against the greatest threats. He continues onwards, ready to take down whoever had caused this attack, and finally be able to prove himself a hero for the city.
Rohan pulls himself once more, and flies towards the bank, before landing on the road in front. He lands with his body low to handle the impact, his arms already ahead of him, his eyes on the bank. He then stands straight and balls his fists, staring at the burning building in front of him.
He slowly begins to approach the building, readying himself for whatever could come out. If it was a robber, then there was a chance it wasn't even an Exhuman at all, however if it was, then it was most likely a rather low tier one in terms of ability.
Rohan already knew how to weaponize the maneuvering system of his suit, and had created the gauntlets to be able to pull enemies towards him to deliver hard strikes with his armored fists.
He just needed to land one solid punch, and he could very well claim his first victory.
It doesn't take long for Rohan to figure out who had caused the fire however, as only moments later, a figure exits through the front doors of the bank, causing Rohan to stop in his tracks.
The figure was of a being that seems to be a man, however it wasn't completely certain, as he was completely covered from head to toe in an armored suit. The suit seems to have a base layer of a crimson red leathery material, however it was heavily armored with dark orange plating made of a material that appears to be stone.
The plating covers various parts of his body, with sharply tipped boots, curved shin guards, and armor to protect his thighs and pelvis. His abdomen is protected by three strips of armor in the front, and more protection on his sides. He has full breast plating above it, and above that are intricate strips to protect his neck.
His arms are protected as well, with oversized shoulder plating, plates to protect his arm's front and back, a gauntlet for his forearm, and plating on his gloves.
Finally, the man's face was completely covered in the orange armor, with a mask that seems to be made of different rigid plates as indicated by the seams. Between a defined jaw protector and where his eyes would most likely be was a wide opening, which creates the image of an open mouth, which seems to have a ventilation system of sorts that glows bright yellow. These vents carry up the center and where the goggles are, which also glow with the same yellow.
The man exits the bank, approaching Rohan, as his fists were closed and he seems to be breathing heavily as if he was exhausted.
Rohan steps forward however, and aims his hand at the unknown man's face, demanding the answer of: "Who are you? If you were the one who just attacked this building, then you're not getting out of here so easily."
The man stares down at Rohan, and he lets out a grunt in an echoey beast-like sound, clearly not human. The man then speaks, his voice carrying the same tone, threatening: "Who are you? Are they beefing their security up now? Did they get cocky enough to only send one officer? Well then, I should be able to get out of here easily."
Rohan tsks under his breath, seeing how the man who clearly was the attacker seemed to mistake him for just another member of the police department. Rohan thinks for a few moments, pondering the question of his identity, as he couldn't just say his own name.
However, he didn't have to, as he wasn't Rohan now.
No, Rohan would be in his room, studying hard for his classes, blissful in his cage. The person standing before the attacker was someone else, a fighter, a warrior.
He responds, "My name is Meditat, and I am not part of the department. I however am here to stop you from getting away with this crime easily, and you will not leave prized. When the police do come here, they'll find your defeated body here, waiting patiently to be taken."
The man chuckles, and he insults, "Oh, I thought vigilantes were an old fad that had died out long ago. Well, I guess this will be more enjoyable than wasting my power breaking doors. Shame that I'll have to end this resurgence so quickly though. I'll make sure it hurts."
Meditat closes his fist, and his gauntlet fires its beam at the man, attaching to the enemy. He then responds, "There's no need to waste that time."
Meditat kicks off of the ground and boosts forward, flying straight at the man. He then primes his fist back, and as the man's face gets closer and closer to him, he throws the punch straight into the right cheek.
However, the punch seems to have no effect, but instead, the man grabs Meditat by the forearm that was used to throw the punch. Meditat's eyes widen before he's then thrown towards the road, smashing into the ground with a loud crash.
Meditat groans in pain as his body lays on the cracked road, surprised to have met such strength, as his own hits seemed completely powerless. He takes a deep breath, making sure to remember to give absolute focus, as he had to keep his suit strong to keep fighting.
The man slowly approaches Meditat, and as he does, he cracks his knuckles. The man breathes heavily as his eyes stay on the defender, seeing how easy it was to toss him.
Meditat pushes himself back up to his feet, closing his fists and raising them, readying to keep fighting. He slowly steps towards the man as well, determined to win.
The man, once close enough to Meditat, makes his charge, throwing a right hook for Meditat. He roars out as he does, clearly putting energy into the punch.
Meditat ducks before throwing his own punch for the abdomen, seeing that it had the least amount of armor, and hopes that it would be a weak spot.
The hook does miss Meditat, however Meditat's punch once again seems to do nothing, as the man doesn't even stagger. Meditat looks up at the man, who then throws a hard punch into Meditat's stomach, causing his body to fly back towards the fields. His body smashes into the ground and slides backwards, with a trail of dirt being left behind.
Citizens who seem to have been near the edge of the field at the time of the explosion run away, screaming in terror from the outbreak, terrified of losing their lives.
Meditat stops sliding, his whole body in mortal pain, as he instinctively puts his hand on his stomach and bends forwards. He groans in more pain, wondering how to take on the enemy, since it seemed every part of him was too well armored, and even the parts that didn't seem to be were invalid weak points.
As he holds himself together, he hears the man taunt him: "As I guessed, you're no fighter. Hell, you're worse than the chickens they send from the police. If you're no Exhuman, don't bother trying to take on something like me. Now, normally I'd be in a hurry to escape the scene, but I also never get an opportunity to crush a dream like you. I'm sure they'll be fine if I take some extra time to complete a bonus."
Meditat puts his hand on the ground, and pushes himself off the ground, forcing his body in the air. He then lands on the ground again, and closes his fist, trying to stay calm and collected. He couldn't let the taunts get to him, he had to find a solution to take on the enemy.
The man starts to run at Meditat once again, and he holds both of his arms out, as if trying to prime himself for a tackle. He then leaps at Meditat, ready to grab him, aiming to bring him to the ground for what was most likely a crushing blow.
Meditat stands up straight and primes both of his arms back, as if trying to make an effort to shove the charging bull with his hands.
Before the man could grab Meditat however, both of Meditat's hands give a faint glow, and Meditat thrusts both of them forwards. He then delivers a powerful pushing force from his gloves, using his suit's maneuver systems as a weapon.
Due to both the unexpected strike along with the lack of ground the attacker had, his body flies far backwards, away from Meditat. The man flies straight onto the road once again, his boots scraping the road under him, causing shards to break off and fly around him. The man grunts in annoyance, his form still intact, however his attack had failed.
Meditat then kicks off the ground and towards the man, before using his feet to boost himself forwards. Meditat flies at the attacker, and grabs both of his arms with his hands, intending to fly the man straight into the building for what would hopefully be a painful blow.
While Meditat successfully grabs the man's arms, restraining him from using them, he fails to push the man at all, as he stays his ground. The boost of the feet does provide some thrust for a few moments, however it gives out, leaving Meditat stuck in an unpleasant position.
The man brings his knee up and straight between Meditat's legs, causing him to scream in agony. Meditat's grip loosens, allowing the man to move his arms again, as Meditat's body begins falling weakly.
The man grabs Meditat by the throat however, and turns around to face the bank. He then forces Meditat in the ground, and primes both of his fists.
As Meditat stumbles backwards, fighting to bring his fists up again, the man starts throwing one punch after the other directly into the face, causing Meditat to stumble back more, unable to strike back.
With every punch, Meditat's mask begins to crack, with the blue glow underneath seeping out. His arms lower to his sides, unable to be lifted even in the slightest, as he was helpless against the barrage of heavy blows.
The man continues throwing hooks into Meditat, grunting with every strike, as if putting his all into each. He finally stops, leaving Meditat standing weakly before him, his body slowly drifting from side to side.
The man then grabs Meditat by both shoulders, and throws him straight at the bank, roaring as he does.
Meditat's body slams into the bank wall like a ragdoll, causing a massive dent along with many cracks to appear with the loud thud. Meditat's limp body then falls on the floor, seemingly defeated.
Meditat lays on the floor, his mask cracked and dented, his body toiled nearly instantly. He stares ahead to see the man stare down at him, seeming to be the one to claim victory instead.
Rohan coughs, with the only thought that was in his mind being: 'What were you thinking?' For whatever reason, he greatly underestimated his opponent, and paid more than he'd ever anticipated. He knew death was possible, but he didn't expect it to feel so agonizing. He didn't even manage to defeat one demon before being sent out of the mortal realm, his death would be nothing but a reinforcement about the hopeless situation the people of Versepolis were under.
He wouldn't be able to return to the bus, nor would he be able to return to his friends. Nor would he be able to return to Erica. Was this really how things were going to end? This was his first time in combat, and it was horrible.
He was perhaps a decent engineer, but he was not even a fraction of a fighter.
He had no chance on the field.
The man bends his leg, and puts his shoulder in front of himself. He seems to get into a charging stance, aiming to run his shoulder straight into Meditat's defeated body.
He wasn't going to let Meditat go, he was intent to kill.
Rohan stares at the man, wondering why in the world he chose to try taking on such a brute. If it was someone who wasn't literally made with raw strength, his first move would've been a finisher. His suit was also so horribly armored, as it was hardly any better than the suits given in air hockey, which are meant to take damage by players in a game.
They were nothing to be used in a true battle.
The man clearly had set himself up for combat with a far more protective suit, and a greater emphasis on fighting in general. While Rohan's suit had near perfect maneuvering, it was horrible in a fight. The slight armoring to the gloves was clearly not enough at all either, when faced with a true threat.
Rohan's eyes widen, as he realizes he was wasting his last moments analyzing his defeat. He was about to be charged and killed, and he just chose to lay on the ground, ready to die.
If only he could have another shot, he could do better.
He had so much more to improve on, as he hadn't even started with the most basic surface-level issues, it was too early for him to hang up the cape now.
He had to keep fighting, he couldn't die now.
Before the man could charge at Meditat, Meditat pushes himself off the ground, struggling to stand up. The man waits, eager to see what his opposition was trying to do. To him, any move was futile, and he had his kill confirmed.
Meditat stands on his feet and straightens himself. He puts his fists up, as if ready to fight again, his back to the wall. He stares at the man through his cracked mask, breathing heavily, his plan put to mind.
The man takes a deep breath, and begins charging at Meditat. His shoulder aims for Meditat's chest, intent to break straight through the armor and kill whoever was inside. He runs faster and faster, the ground beneath him cracking, his vents emanating the yellow glow.
Meditat watches as the man closes in towards him, but before he could make impact, Meditat boosts off the ground, angling himself towards the left. Leaving the ground, he becomes completely safe from the charge.
The man asks: "Huh?" before he crashes straight into the bank, his body breaking straight through the wall, completely missing his target. He vanishes into the hole, seeming to have charged so hard that he couldn't easily stop himself.
Meditat then boosts back down to the ground, angling more to the right, landing on the line the man charged on, standing on the cracked ground.
Meditat turns behind himself to see the hole, and he takes a deep breath, relieved to have just barely managed to miss the strike. He then sighs to himself, and turns ahead, facing away from the bank.
He kicks off the ground, boosting away, and uses his hands to pull himself towards the nearest building, seeming to be retreating from the zone.
Meditat maneuvers away from the fight, instead heading back towards the bus stop, intent to find a place to lose his armor and heal before heading back home. While he would've loved to put down the Exhuman right then and there, he knew his limits, and while he had the maneuverability to dodge, he was in now way able to fight back.
In the end, he still lost the battle, and failed to reclaim anything that had been stolen. In the end, he didn't save Versepolis, instead he selfishly chose to save himself.
As Meditat swings past the buildings, he thinks silently to himself, wondering just how many new problems had been discovered from this altercation alone. It was his first time in battle, and it very much showed. He spent all his time trying to perfect making the suit work, however the suit itself was unimpressive, and nowhere near enough to get the job done.
He had much work to do now, as now he recognized that he had to practice combat more than anything, and make sure to work on his suit to truly hold its own.
However, to do such, he'd need to begin going to the city more, as he frankly couldn't just spend the whole week trying to tune his suit, he needed as much battle experience as he could get.
Of course, he had to be careful not to get carried away and get himself killed, but he had to go into the danger zone. There were so many problems he was facing, and it was beginning to pile too heavily on him, since he was alone in this mission, and had to take all the burden.
First, he had to somehow take what was nothing more than a modified air hockey suit, and turn it into a fully functional battle armor. Next, he had to be able to actually use it well, and fight against superpowered Exhumans. Then, there was no doubt that he'd run into more and more issues, with every solution only revealing another problem.
Even in the mission itself, it was difficult to work completely on his own. He had no idea if he was going to find any Exhumans since he wasn't aware of where they were, and he was fighting completely on his own without any assistance.
Normally, he chose to take on any task alone, as it was easier for him, however that was classwork.
This was something of a completely different caliber, something he couldn't see himself doing all his life alone.
As Rohan begins swinging between the skyscrapers, once more returning to the more dense areas of the city, he notes everything he experienced, and everything he needed to do.
What transpired today was what he wanted to commit to, and he had to be able to take on that life.
If he wanted to name himself Meditat, he had to deserve that title from the boy who was tasked to protect.
Inside the bank, the gaping hole resides, with smoke escaping out of it due to the explosive impact dealt.
In the hole was a dark room with a table and chair, seeming to be an old office of sorts, however now it was far too damaged.
Against the table is the armored man, who lays down, staring right at the hole in front of himself. He grunts, exhausted and confused.
The dark room was filled with both the gray smoke of the impact, but also the yellow mist that seeps out of the vents, creating a dark yellow atmosphere. There was rubble around the room, with rocks by the man's feet and hands.
A heavy breathing sound comes from the man, echoing through the room, his body unable to get back up.
The man leans forward, his glowing yellow eyes staring at the hole, unable to describe how his kill was ripped from him.
There was something unexplainable to the sudden act, something that seemed to tick him off greatly.
Someone had rivaled him.
Even though he still technically won by rule of retreat, someone had rivaled what he thought of himself as a god.
There was nothing to do, but pant heavily through his vents, noting the events that had transpired.