About another week went by, and in that time, Meditat continued improving with every battle he faced. His suit adapted to resolve problems that caused issues in past battles, Orial became smarter and became better integrated with more work being put into him, and Meditat himself learned to become a tougher fighter himself.
It wasn't the most pleasant journey however, as Meditat found himself failing at nearly every encounter, unable to catch even one Exhuman. He knew his reputation would never reach anywhere near the status of savior if he couldn't stop one Exhuman, but all he could do was take that frustration and make himself good enough to be able to achieve what he wanted.
The injuries were becoming their own issue as well, as Meditat was coming close nearly every day to permanent damages to his own body, from the intense burns he had to heal to various scars that seemed to be made even while wearing his suit.
He was always getting closer to death, as his armor wasn't perfectly able to immortalize him, but it was a necessary sacrifice he had to reluctantly take if he wanted to get any better.
It was a cruel world, and he couldn't shelter himself without letting everyone else be slaughtered in the hail.
His own death would mark the end of all his dreams, whether it be the continuation of this new life, or even his old ones of having a normal profession. He had to make sure to stay ten steps ahead of that death, even more, as too many Exhumans reached him closer than he hoped they would.
As the night falls once again over the city, and the skyscrapers light up the streets themselves, Meditat boosts past buildings, zooming down the streets along with other pods that drive with their lights on.
He uses the pods as points to pull towards, making sure to maneuver precisely as to avoid hitting any. It was a more risky way to traverse the city, however the speed of the pods seemed to transfer momentum to Meditat as well, making him far faster than simply swinging off of buildings.
He throws himself above the pods, letting himself glide forwards for a few moments, feeling the heavy wind push against him.
His suit's appearance for the most part didn't change, however one noticeable difference was the addition of a slim gold pauldron of sorts, as the piece resides on his shoulders and upper arms, however it only seems to cover the top half of his arms while the lower half was still protected by the blue plating.
The gold piece was not massive, but it was larger than the normal blue covering, with the single piece seeming to sit over his collarbone to bridge the two sides together. It still stayed sleek to fit well with the rest of the suit, with smooth transitions from just barely above the chest on the front and thinning out on the elbows.
Another addition, while not noticeable from the exterior, was a far more complex system of sensors and devices in the internals of his suit, which allow Orial to get a live reading of extensive information pertaining to Meditat's current state, such as knowing his body temperature, injuries on his body, and heartbeat. These readings made it far easier for Orial and Meditat to record his vitals during battle, which was becoming more important as he faced more dangerous enemies.
The system didn't just stop at being able to record his vitals however, as there were also several features to help him stay at a steady state. He had created a heating system to induce temperatures onto his body, with the intention of being able to neutralize exterior harmful temperatures.
He also had several other features, such as a defibrillator, and even went as far to redesign his suit's structure to allow it to be moved remotely if he ever needed Orial to take him over. It was a more extreme feature that he didn't want to have to use, especially with Orial's current skill, but it was one that he felt he could very well one day need.
Meditat dives under a couple pods before holding his hands out to two of them, and pulling himself back up into the sky again. He lets out a soft breath, as while he wasn't fond of the injuries he had to sustain during encounters with Exhumans, he never wavered in his love for maneuvering through the city.
He asks, "Orial, how are my vitals?"
Orial answers through Meditat's ear, still using the Connect, as the suit wasn't perfect just yet for him to be able to abandon the device: "It appears standard. Are good?"
Meditat thrusts his chest forwards, boosting past several skyscrapers at once, and responds, "Yeah that's good, thanks for checking. You can see and hear everything, right?"
Orial responds, "Yes, I tuned out wind so can hear better."
Meditat notices a uniquely shaped skyscraper in the distance, which has a significantly wider base and swirls with several levels of flat platforms sticking out of the side, most likely being parking lots. It stood out in the crowd of other skyscrapers, as it hogged more space due to its base, and had a design that singled it out from the rest.
He decides to approach the building, which was easy since it was still ahead of him, and he says back, "Good, so you're able to manipulate the audio better. You're getting smarter then, I'm proud."
Orial replies, "I understand."
Meditat lets himself dive under a few more pods once again, and he aims both of his hands at the belly of one of the pods. He then pulls, causing his body to swing and reel, increasing his speed even more. He flies in front of the pod, flipping in the air, and then boosting with his feet once they position themselves behind the rest of his body.
Meditat soars towards the building, deciding to use it as his next point to pull towards, and thus he doesn't need to worry about attaching himself to another pod.
As Meditat approaches the building, his arm getting ready to use it as a reference to swing from, his eyes survey the platforms he nears, seeing that they were indeed parking lots, as there were rows of pods resting, with what seems to be an entrance at every floor which includes a doorway under a canopy.
Meditat continues observing the different platforms, his eyes climbing up the building to see as many as he could before flying off, but he notices a peculiar scene on one of the upper platforms. His eyes lock on it, and while he continues to glide, he no longer is focused on making the next swing.
On the platform were rows of pods as usual, however rather than them resting on the platform's surface like usual due to their inactive state, the right column of pods all begin hovering simultaneously, as though they all were taking off at once, and happened to lift off the ground at the exact same moment.
That was only the beginning, as continuing from the right side, each column of pods started to hover, with every column hovering at the same instance.
In only mere seconds, half of the parking lot's pods were hovering, with the other side joining in as well. It was nearly impossible, at the least incredibly improbable, that the whole parking lot of pods were being driven out, especially because even the farthest left column of pods stayed stationary, suspended in the air. All of them were following the same movement, as though they were all being controlled by one individual.
Meditat holds his hand out, however rather than aiming towards the top of the building to swing away, he aims it at the platform of floating pods, and pulls himself towards the anomaly.
With the sharp change of direction, he loses some of his accumulated speed, but he builds back up quickly with a chest thrust and boosts from his boots. He flies like a bullet towards the building, jerking his arm back and throwing his other one out front, using it to pull himself as well to get to the platform quickly.
Meditat puts his hands in front of himself and gives a balancing boost backwards right before he lands on the ground, stabilizing himself on the platform. He immediately looks at the rows of floating pods, and begins running down the platform.
As Meditat runs past the rows of pods, he gazes at the windows, noticing that all of the pods appear to be empty, meaning nobody was driving them.
He asks quietly, "Orial, do you think this is some big hack?"
Orial responds cluelessly, "I not sure, I never seen this."
Meditat keeps his eyes on the pods, trying to analyze the source of the anomaly, and he begins to notice an odd distortion around the pods. He continues running, however his eyes stay fixated at the pods on the left, trying to understand what he was noticing. It seems as though the space around the pod was vibrating in a sense, and as he tries to listen, he also manages to hear a soft humming sound coming from the pods.
The vibrating space seems to be in a closed shape, as the space Meditat runs in wasn't vibrating, but it seems there is a wide tunnel that has the pods of the column confused, a tunnel only visible from the vibrational effect.
Meditat turns to his right, seeing the same vibrating tunnel, which specifically runs through all the pods in the column, all the objects being suspended in the air. Each column seems to have one of these tunnels, and each of these tunnels seem to be holding the pods up.
Suddenly, all of the pods slowly begin to move forwards, however rather than seeming to drive, they just are pushed forwards, seeming to follow the path of the tunnel. For whatever reason now, they are all being mobilized, as the pods from the two columns next to Meditat along with the pods of every other column move.
All of the pods in the platform were being moved away from their lots, taken by an unknown force, an unknown presence.
As Meditat runs down the platform to find whoever was behind the act, he hears breathing come from his left side. He stops and turns to face his side, and as the pod next to him moves out of his sight, he notices a man in a heavy coat walking down the platform, however rather than walking the same way as Meditat, he walks towards the edge of the platform.
Meditat looks up, seeing that the tunnels were not too much taller than the pods they were carrying, and he had enough height to boost over the column. He has to be careful however, as he didn't know what would happen if he stepped into the tunnels, nor did he wish to find out from experience.
Meditat bends his knees, and he kicks off the ground, boosting off of the surface of the platform and leaping over the pods in front of him.
He lands on the other side, with the pods he was just staring at now on his right side. Luckily, he manages to make the jump without touching the tunnel, and he turns to face the back of the man, who seems to completely ignore him.
The man wears a long dark blue coat, along with black casual pants, and keeps his hood up to hide his head.
Meditat shouts to intervene, "Stop! What are you doing?"
The man seems to hear Meditat, and does indeed stop, turning to reveal his face as a young adult, somewhere in his middle 20s.
The man asks annoyed, "None of your damn business."
Meditat shakes his head, and he aims his hand at the man, as if threatening with the initiation of a fight. He argues, "And these pods aren't any of your business either."
The man groans, and he holds his right hand out to Meditat. Suddenly, what appears to be a funnel made of the same vibrational energy of the tunnels comes out of his hand, firing straight at Meditat. The funnel narrows as it reaches its target, striking Meditat.
The funnel's tube then widens to the size of Meditat's chest, and before Meditat could speak, he feels his body suddenly become incredibly light, as if he didn't have a body at all. He tries to shout, but before he could get out any words, his body flies straight backwards, as though the gravity that once pulled him to the ground instead yanked him to the wall, causing him to slam into it violently, forcing him out of the man's way.
The man turns around, and continues walking to the edge of the platform. The pods in his tunnels hover in the air as they leave the platform, continuing in a straight line, leaving the area.
As he approaches the edge of the platform, a tunnel forms around his legs, and his body levitates a few feet off the ground, following the path of the pods, taking it away.
On the other side of the platform, Meditat groans, his back in pain after the slam. He throws himself back on his feet, shaking his head as he tries to get back into the headspace of battle. He then looks to see that the pods were leaving the platform, and the Exhuman criminal was escaping with them.
A very strange sensation came over Meditat when he was thrown backwards, as for a moment, he felt completely weightless, and then suddenly felt heavy on his back. It was as though the gravity around Meditat had changed directions, and rather than pulling him towards the Earth like usual, it instead pulled him backwards and into the wall.
The Exhuman seemed to wield incredible abilities of gravitational manipulation, and that made him a great threat.
He sprints towards the end of the platform, noticing that the tunnels end a few feet past the last pod in the column, before turning his attention back on the man in the coat.
He leaps off the ground, boosting towards the man, trying to catch up to him. Luckily with the speed of his suit, that wasn't a challenge, as he manages to approach the man fairly quickly.
He holds his arms out, ready to tackle the man, hoping to defeat him.
However, the man turns to face Meditat before the tackle could be made, noticing the sneak attack. His eyes contract to an annoyed glare, and suddenly, the vibrational tunnels that once only point away from the platform begin intersecting, with the gravitational tunnels in between the man and Meditat.
Just before Meditat could reach the Exhuman, two of the pods suddenly fly between him and the criminal, causing him to slam into the pods. He groans before picking himself back up, and kicking off of the pod and back in the air.
He then aims his hand at the pods that stopped him, and uses them to swing over to the other side, hoping to then gain an opening to strike the man again.
Just as before, the man notices the attempted strike, and he aims his left hand at Meditat, and concentrates.
Multiple of the tunnels around him all start pointing towards Meditat, as though they were targeting him.
Tens of pods immediately start flying like bullets at Meditat, as if to attempt to kill him with such heavy weapons.
Meditat kicks downwards, managing to boost right above the pods as they fly past him, just barely having missed. Meditat lands on one of the other pods due to the fact that there was a stream of them flying at him, and he kicks off of it, trying to use it to get closer to the Exhuman.
The man seems to get more annoyed at Meditat's persistence, and he aims his other hand at Meditat as well, focusing more on bringing him down. All of the pods which were originally moving at a constant pace away from the building stop, pausing in the air, as if the man needed them at the ready to fire.
Most of the tunnels aim towards Meditat, with only a few still stationary, even though weaponizing them ran the risk of damaging, which would hurt sell prices.
Although, the man was no longer thinking about the pods as items to sell, but rather weapons to fight off a pest.
Meditat notices the greater barrage of pods flying at him, and he thrusts his chest at a diagonal upwards, dodging two streams of pods. He immediately then holds his right hand out, aims it towards the pod next to him, pulling himself in a rotation around the pod before letting go once he is right above it.
He aims each hand at a stream of pods farther to the edge, catapulting himself forwards, his mission to still grab the criminal.
He succeeds at last, grabbing the criminal by the coat, and flying with him onto the roof of one of the stationary pods. The grab causes the funnel holding the criminal to break, and Meditat brings the man down onto the surface of the pod, slamming him onto the metal top and pinning him down.
Meditat puts his left forearm against the man's chest and aims his hand down at the criminal, putting him in a position where he'd have no choice but to surrender.
He lets out a deep breath, and orders, "You're down, don't make a move."
The man lays on the ground, panting heavily, staying still as he sees that Meditat was able to blast him at any given moment.
Meditat sighs in relief, as it seems that at last, he finally caught one of the criminals. He finally seems to be making progress, and had something to show for.
He could finally protect Versepolis, after all the work he put in, it paid off.
The man coughs, and he smirks. He then remarks, "I don't think you know how we work. Look ahead."
Meditat immediately turns around, and sees that all of the vibrational tunnels suspending the pods that had already been thrown at Meditat earlier extend backwards, aiming at Meditat once again.
Meditat looks down at the Exhuman, who chuckles, knowing that he just put Meditat in a checkmate.
Meditat kicks off of the roof, boosting up in the air, and leaving the man free once again. It was a sacrifice he had to make space, as only a moment later, all of the pods ahead flew backwards and straight for Meditat.
Meditat holds his hands out and boosts himself to his left, dodging a pod that nearly struck him, and then throws his whole body to the right, pushing himself out of range from several more pods.
He boosts backwards to keep the pod that he threw the man onto in sight, seeing that he was sitting up, just watching casually at Meditat try to avoid being smashed by speeding pods.
Meditat groans, annoyed that he was so close from victory, and was thrown into a second round. He boosts backwards again to make more space, and then pulls himself towards a pod that had shot too far left, using it to reel himself away from another barrage of five pods from hitting him.
He floats in front of the Exhuman, seeing that he was in sights again, and now there was only one pod left to hit him. The pod flies at Meditat, who dives deep down and under the pod's path, and then uses the belly of the pod to swing off of. Meditat passes the last pod after swinging off it, throwing himself at the Exhuman once again, ready to bring him down and end the fight.
Meditat pulls his arm back, aiming for a punch right to the head, hoping it would knock the criminal out. His body glides towards the enemy, moving ever closer towards his first win.
The criminal groans, and he balls his hands into a fist.
As Meditat flies towards the defenseless criminal, a punch ready to collide with the man's face, one of the pod's that had missed Meditat and was now behind him flies backwards, being shot at Meditat once more; however this time, Meditat didn't see it coming.
Meditat throws his fist, and right before it could make contact with the man, the pod runs right into his back, making a direct collision.
The pod flies back into the platform, crashing into the parking lot, and throwing Meditat's body forward. He screams in agony as his back was in severe pain, only even staying intact due to the armor he had, although it still felt nearly broken.
He cries out in pain, laying on his back as he tries to get back up, however he couldn't pull himself together.
The Exhuman stares at Meditat and the pod, which was now totaled after crashing onto the platform. He sighs before announcing: "Well, I can't sell that, good for you."
He then turns around, and the funnel around his legs reappear, letting him hover on his own. He then flies away from the building, along with the rest of the pods that were still in the air. While he had to give up one, he was mostly successful.
Meditat groans as he lays on the ground, and turns on his side to watch the Exhuman make his getaway with all the stolen vehicles. He breathes heavily, his back in excruciating pain, as he tries to think clearly.
He looks at the demolished pod that was utilized as a bullet on him, seeing that the only pod that wasn't stolen wasn't usable either.
He was so close to victory, and just at the end, as always, he lost. He was left empty handed, with the criminal having taken whatever they came for, and he was left in mortal pain.
He tries to silence his pained screams, wishing he had thought ahead, or just wishing he wasn't thrown so easily. He thought he had his only enemy ahead of him, and failed to recognize the one behind.
As Meditat lays on the ground, Orial asks, "Are you okay? It seems the systems say your back has been bruised heavily. Hello? Are you alive?"
Meditat quietly says, "I know Orial...I know...just...give me a few minutes...and we'll get out of here…."
He stays on the ground, staring at the night sky above, wondering if he'd ever be able to even win a fight.
And until then, how many more innocent people had to suffer for his ineptitude?