Following the painful defeat in the concert hall, Meditat recognized that trying to stick to familiarity in trying to create a weapons system was not the greatest idea, as the little knowledge he had was for a purpose completely different from battling superpowered beasts. While he was comfortable using weapons that mimicked a mechanism he was well familiar with, the gauntlet's launcher, it was abundantly clear that it wouldn't be enough.
Of course, he kept the launcher nonetheless, as he felt it was an item that would still prove useful to his arsenal, as it had expansive potential for explosive blows. The fatal flaw of it however was the required charge time, however even if he allowed it so it could fire projectiles that didn't require a charge time, just the simple motion he used took time itself.
He needed something more versatile, something that he could fight with at an instant's notice. Even if it meant abandoning what he knew in search of something new that he'd have to get used to, it was the necessary step he had to take.
He started off simply trying to create a firearm or blaster attachment for his suit, trying to design some easy weapon that could fire more rapidly at opponents. However, once that box was opened, Meditat was sucked in deeper, as a world of ideas sprung up. While he had his priorities, he became more ambitious with his design, even if it took longer to perfect.
What once began as trying to create one single long-range attachment ended up becoming a quest to create a whole complex weapons system that would be more than adequate for any combative situation, taking into account various fighting styles he may encounter, trying to think ahead.
It took a week to work on the various complicated components of this new system, as he had to redesign old components as well to fit the integration. For one, he had to reinforce his armor more, not to handle outside impact, but to be able to handle its own recoil better, and absorb any pushback its own weapons caused better.
He also had to work on allowing his suit to contain more power, as while he was the battery, the suit still had its own systems of batteries that were fed and run various components, and there were still limits to what he could output. Just being able to maneuver in the suit already had its own toll, but fueling a whole complex weapons system was a whole new tier of work that needed extensive upgrades to handle.
The main modification however was the gauntlets, as their inner workings were rebuilt from scratch, as while they still looked similar to the old ones, the internals were completely different.
In that time, he also made great strides in improving Orial, as while just spending time with him greatened his experience and knowledge, he also had to make sure to provide more assets to him and improve the code whether by changing or adding.
A great fundamental that Meditat recognized was that Orial needed extensive connections to resources, and he needed to be able to access as many useful databases as he could. For this, Meditat created a private network for Orial, which allowed him to access about any database he could, while also being able to extract information to create his own. This would let him improve on learning, and would also let him be able to use several programs such as the maps in combination with other programs to effectively carry out necessary tasks.
While Meditat didn't speak during battles, due to the fact that he needed to concentrate, Orial was still very much interactive with him, and took note of the various battles Meditat faced daily. While he had to suffer watching Meditat take loss after loss, he noted improvements to Meditat, and tried to find ways to help.
He managed to do so on an evening out in the city, where the supersun was still not completely gone, giving some natural night for Versepolis. Most of the buildings already started lighting up nonetheless as the sky was clearly darkening, as the day was in shift to the night.
Skyscrapers still inhabit the east side of the central region, however they were more distanced and scarce, transitioning from the tall urban offices to the low suburban stores. The space was more clear than the almost claustrophobic center, making it a calm place to cruise.
Meditat's pull link attaches to one of the offices, and he throws himself forward, his black cape blowing from the heavy wind resistance. He had already fought and lost to a couple of Exhumans earlier, and was searching for another fight. While he hadn't won any fights, he was at least able to hold out for longer, and hoped that it showed progress. At the beginning, it was incredibly demoralizing every time he failed, however he eventually learned to accept it, and prioritized trying to reduce human casualties as much as possible at least.
He was better at that, as his more recent battles featured almost no deaths, and while many criminals got away with the citizen's belongings, at least they didn't take their lives too.
Still, Meditat trained for the day where he could put a definite stop to an Exhuman, gradually becoming stronger to face them, his resolve still unwavered.
Meditat throws himself off of another office before boosting with his chest, and he asks, "Orial, just checking, my shoulder isn't injured, right? It kind of feels rough after that rock guy."
Orial answers, "Checking...no, your shoulder is healthy. It may have been bruised, but it seems that it has healed. It seems you have been quicker at healing, if you want me to derive a concavity, I can try to offer that."
Meditat responds, "No, I think I'm fine. And yeah, I've been feeling that, I don't know if I'm just getting used to getting beat up more, my suit is helping me heal faster, or it's just natural."
Orial says, "I don't know either. If you were to lose a limb, such as your leg, from for example mutilation, how long does it typically heal?"
Meditat answers somewhat confused, "Uhh...I don't think that can heal, actually. I sort of lose it forever, I guess the most I can do is cybernetic parts, but I'd rather not have to do that. Besides, the school would get suspicious of me if I came in one day looking like I fight superhumans all day."
Orial responds, "But you do."
Meditat sighs, and he says, "I know, but they can't know. I don't know if I've told you this or not, but technically what we're doing isn't allowed, it's not legal. So if someone finds out who I am, I could be done for, and the city would lose a chance at having a protector. Besides...I also...don't want my friends to know…."
Orial asks, "Wait, we are criminals? Does this mean I am breaking the law? I was created by you to follow your orders, however should I be worried that I am acting on forbidden commands? I believed we were doing positive work."
Meditat answers, "We are doing good work, we're saving people, just because we may be going against the rules doesn't automatically make us bad. It's just...people are scared of people like us...people with abilities. So if they know I have them, they'll kill me in fear, even if it hurts them more. Maybe they're right to fear us...and maybe me hiding from my friends is confirming that fear...I just don't really know. I created you because I have nobody else to go to, we're fighting everyone, our enemies and allies."
Orial asks, "Oh...you sound distressed from saying that. If you require my presence to operate, then it is understandable if it is difficult to not be able to rely on other people. I have overheard and learned about people's fear about Exhumans, I just wanted to hear your personal input in a casual situation. I think you are benefitting the civilians, based on the difference between casualties of crimes committed without your interference, and casualties of crimes committed with your interference. I hope I am an adequate ally to you, Meditat."
Meditat takes a soft breath, and he assures, "You are more than adequate, Orial. I'm proud of where you're going, and thanks, you're surprisingly more human than I thought."
Orial questions, "I thought I was an artificial intelligence program, not a human. Was I mistaken?"
Meditat corrects himself, "No never mind, you aren't human, it was more of a...figure of speech maybe? I'm not sure, sorry for confusing you. I was just complimenting you on your social abilities, they make this job easier."
Orial says, "I understand, and thank you, I know I was built for this job, but I am fascinated by it as well."
Meditat chuckles, and he says, "Well, so am I. We'll eventually become the protectors we sought out to be, not just me, the both of us. And one day, the people will know that not all Exhumans are devils, that some of us care about them. Even if it is a long journey and I die fighting in it, it will be worth it."
Meditat continues to swing, staying close to the border between the central and east side of the city, which was still spacious as the city wasn't small by any means, giving him ample room to survey the area.
That is, until Orial speaks again, however his tone was more urgent: "I just picked up on an abnormal development towards the west of your current location. It appears there are stores and other facilities that seem to be in the process of being destroyed, and there is a strange construct growing. It also appears there is a great number of people who are moving away from the area, is this a possible attack?"
Meditat's eyes widen, and he instantly switches directions, boosting westward. He asks, "Wait, what? Where? Give me directions Orial, we need to check that out now. Let's hope whatever is happening, we're not too late-."
He continues swinging towards the west, pulling himself much faster, no longer cruising casually as before. He utilizes boosts after every swing, trying to build up as much speed as possible.
Orial guides him, "Very well, routing the best course. Done, turn 23 degrees to your right, and continue towards that, that will bring you to the site optimally."
Meditat listens, turning slightly, and continuing to boost and pull onwards. It was the first time he had ever been alerted of a crime by Orial, which surprised him, but he had no time to think about that, he had to focus on the mission.
He continues down for miles, continuously boosting to accelerate, pushing as far as he can, as his suit would protect his body from any resistance, giving him no limitation but what he could give. He reenters the space full of skyscrapers, making sure to utilize them to push him forward faster while also maneuvering around them, since he had to go at a slight angle and thus he had to be careful not to fly into any buildings.
While he pushes himself towards the location, he begins mentally preparing himself to use his weapons, knowing that if buildings were already being destroyed, he had a tough opponent.
After some time of flight, the tall skyscrapers become more scarce again, as it seems Meditat manages to get through the large central region, which was easier to achieve due to his stronger batteries.
As Meditat swings off of the few towers in front of him, he notices that there were still many offices, as he was still far from a suburban region. There were also apartment complexes, and shopping centers with taller buildings.
However, in one of the shopping centers, the whole middle was completely gone, and there was a fire in the other ones. Also, there were people running on the streets, and pods stuck in traffic near the area, unable to move anywhere else.
Meditat analyzes the area while approaching, and he notices a man in the streets, seeming to be elevated in the air, with an odd silver goo of sorts under him, which gives off steam.
It was the best bet for the perpetrator, so Meditat dives down towards him, boosting several times to catch up.
The man seems to be wearing an unzipped leather jacket without a shirt underneath along with blue pants, with long hair that goes past his shoulders. He seems to be a young fit adult, who's eyes lay on a crowd of scared innocents running away.
The man approaches the innocents while standing on a small silver platform, which is hoisted about twenty feet in the air by a strange moving goo that moves him forward. While the platform appears solid, the goo was more liquidy.
As the civilians continue running for their lives, the same silver goo however with greater abundance comes from the right side, and flies in front of the civilians. The goo then seems to harden, creating a wall, and causing all of them to have to stop, as the wall boxes them in, with the only open side being in front of the Exhuman, who approaches them.
The man moves, smiling maniacally, ready to kill them.
However, before the man could reach the civilians, Meditat lands between them, his fist hitting the ground to balance his drop. His cape waves in the air from the sudden deployment, and the civilians behind him gasp in fear and confusion.
The man also stops, confused as to who just dropped in, as he seemed to come completely out of nowhere.
Meditat stands up to his feet, and his blue eyes look at the man, his hood sitting over his goggles.
He clenches his fists, and yells to him: "Who are you?"
The man growls in annoyance, and he yells back: "I'll tell you! My name is James Seth, I don't care anymore about hiding who I am, I am an Exhuman and I will rule this city as a god! For far too long did I hide in fear of who I am, for far too long have I been too scared to show my true colors. But now, I realize, there was no reason for me to hide, when it should be everyone else hiding from me. I don't care, I'm a monster, and I'm going to devour this city if I have to."
Meditat takes a step forward, and he lowers his stance, preparing himself for a fight. He tries to talk first, arguing back, "James, you don't need to hurt other people just to be who you are. None of these people did any wrong, and you don't have to do any wrong either. So stop this, before I have to stop you myself."
James laughs, and he announces, "I can't be stopped, especially by an action figure like you! This is who I am, to be myself I have to destroy others. That's how I've been, that's how I'll always be. But if you're willing to be a show for these people, go ahead, your little cop uniform won't touch me."
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he raises his right arm at James. His right gauntlet's black band then raises, and plates start to come out from under, as it seems to begin transforming.
From the back of the forearm, the gauntlet widens like a cone, opening up before stopping where the black bland was positioned. The center of the gauntlet where the black band starts straight, still elevated far above where his arm is, as the bottom of his arm also seems to dip lower.
Past his band though, the gauntlet seems to shape as a cone once again, however it closes in rather than opens, passing where his fist would be as it creates an arm cannon, which stops to create an open barrel. Three rings of vents open up close to the barrel, which then begin glowing blue as energy builds up.
The gauntlet finalizes, transforming his arm into a blaster, with his fist replaced with a barrel of a gun. The back cone of the gauntlet has white plates, and the center under the black band and barrel is blue. That barrel aims at the Exhuman, glowing with a light blue mist coming off the vents and opening, ready to fire.
Meditat says, "Very well, you won't be hurting anyone else," and he fires a barrage of blue shots of energy out of the cannon, shaped like short lightning bolts, all aimed at James.
James puts his arm in front of his face, and some of the goo under his platform flies out in front and curves up, creating a shield for him, which hardens and blocks the shots.
He immediately then begins ascending higher, and begins approaching the stores nearby, as they were next to a parking lot to one. He creates a shield for his back, protecting himself.
Meditat chases James, and he boosts off of the ground, aiming his left hand at the back to grab on. He then pulls himself towards it, rotating himself around to try getting a shot on him. He pulls himself to James's side, which was open, allowing him to get a shot. He takes it, firing a bolt at him, not waiting another moment.
James turns to Meditat and his eyes widen, not anticipating the shot, which hits him and throws him off the platform.
James flies off of his platform, close to hitting the hard ground if it wasn't for the coil of goo under the platform dashing under him, blanketing his fall. He falls softly on the goo, which carries him towards the stores, and his platform liquifies to the goo as well.
Meditat sees James saved by the odd goo he was in control of, and he throws himself off of the platform before it changes state before boosting again to try staying with pace.
James's coil brings him to the other stores, which had been evacuated by now, lucky enough to have avoided the destruction of the other store. James gets off and staggers forward, looking at the stores, and sighing in relief.
He says to himself, "Yes...this will do…," and holds his hands out.
Meditat approaches James as he watches the stores in front of him seem to melt in front of his eyes, the walls turning from the shiny silver solids to liquid goo similar to the one he was controlling. As the goo creates a steaming puddle, which moves towards James, curling up as though it was a living organism.
It surrounds James, creating a helix around him as a protective shield while he continues melting more of the wall.
Meditat runs towards James, and he begins firing another rapid barrage of bolts, however they become blocked off by the helix. He groans, realizing that James was destroying the whole area to seemingly build his controllable substance, and he had no idea how to stop it.
He boosts upwards and thrusts forward, firing a link with his left hand at the helix and spinning around it, searching for an opening, however he couldn't find any opening as he seems to have strengthened it to a cocoon.
He turns to see all of the store's walls melted into goo, with massive puddles in front of the parking lots.
The puddles move to surround the cocoon, and it raises the cocoon up with the wire elevating it from underneath. More of the puddle goes into the wire, which thickens as more of it crawls up to the cocoon, as though trying to reach the controller.
The cocoon then suddenly opens up like a flower, exposing James from inside, who stands on the pistil, surrounded by pedals.
The opening of the cocoon causes Meditat's link to detach, leaving him flying without a stable hold. He begins falling, but then fires another link on the stem, trying to use it to keep himself airborne to get aim on James.
He aims his cannon at James, who was out in the open, and he fires multiple shots at him, hoping to bring him down quickly.
However, a silver rod sticks out of the pedal, blocking the shots from hitting James. He then extends his arm and points at Meditat, which causes metal spikes to shoot out of the stem, trying to stab Meditat.
The spikes also make it a harder point for his link, and so Meditat disconnects, and boosts to the right to avoid the spikes. He then thrusts his chest towards the flower, trying to close the distance while avoiding the spikes.
He boosts with his feet, and continues firing a consistent stream of short bursts of bolts at James, who blocks it with more rods that stick out of the pedals, creating a wall around him.
A wide puddle resides under the stem, and James uses it to begin creating spikes from the ground, and shooting them up to try getting Meditat from both in front and below.
As James fires more spikes, his flower becomes taller, trying to get out of Meditat's range. James looks down to see that all of the stores around him have melted, and he was in control of everything he could take from the complex.
It was time to go bigger.
James turns back to see Meditat constantly boosting upwards to reach him, using the spikes that jut out above him to attach to and throw himself upwards, climbing up in the race. He climbs faster than James does, meaning that if nothing changed, he'd eventually be able to get another shot.
If James fell from the height he was at, he could be in great danger, as failure to save himself would result in death.
James grits his teeth, surprised by the persistence of the opponent, realizing he needed more strength. The petals around him close back up, protecting him in the cocoon.
The spikes on the puddle liquify and the puddle crawls up the stem, bringing all of the goo into the flower. The spikes that jut out from the stem also suddenly retract back in, and the whole stem becomes far more reinforced and thick, which causes Meditat to lose his attachment to it.
The stem bends forward as the whole object changes shape, turning from a flower to more of a giant snake, as the cocoon descends into the center of the thick body, and where the top of the flower becomes a giant snake head.
The snake head sharpens and slopes as two openings are created for the eyes, and a massive mouth opens, with sharp spikes inside acting as teeth.
The snake begins falling down, and Meditat boosts towards where the head was falling. He looks back to see the form become far more aggressive, and he links himself to a nearby office to assess the situation as it develops.
While the snake falls on its belly, the end of it sharpens to a tail, and spikes begin to jut out from the back to morph it into something even more terrifying than a snake, as it becomes a completely different monster.
It becomes hard to tell there was even a human inside, as the people in the streets begin screaming in terror to the creation.
The snake begins slithering down the city, seeming to be trying to move towards the center, where the most people were, where the most amount of casualties could be made.
Its form doesn't seem to stop changing as the body becomes more sharp than smooth, and a long hair of horns form from the head, which runs down the body before curving and sharpening up. It slithers surprisingly quickly, trying to find prey.
Meditat throws himself off of the office, realizing that the snake was trying to find people to kill. He boosts towards the path of the snake, trying to catch up with it as quickly as possible.
He dives down towards the snake as it slithers down the streets, and he links his left hand to it, using it to surf while still keeping distance from the horrid beast. He holds on tightly, his eyes looking at the path of destruction it was already causing, as the road under it cracks.
He takes a deep breath and focuses, switching his goggles' vision from default to thermal imaging, which causes his sight to turn from how he'd normally perceive the world to one with thermal colorization, as the world becomes red and blue, helping him tell where specific heat signatures are coming from. The hope was to use it to locate James's body within the beast, however instead, Meditat notices that the whole snake was hot red, and he couldn't tell where James was at all.
Confused, Meditat for the first time speaks to Orial during battle, desperately asking, "What's going on? I can't locate where James's body is, it says the whole construct is hot."
Orial responds, "I noticed. It appears whatever the material that makes up this construct is, it is giving off its own heat, so much that it's masking the host's individual signature. I do not think thermal imaging will locate the body, however if you want advice, I believe the X-ray mode will provide better results, as that should better separate the man's body."
Meditat sighs in relief, and he says, "Thank you Orial," before doing just that, and switching from thermal vision to X-ray, lucky that he was able to get assistance during the fight.
Meditat's vision changes once more, as though he was looking through an X-ray scanner. As Orial predicted, he is able to see a humanoid skeleton within the long construct, which seems to be located several feet away from the back of the head, right under where the horns end.
Meditat tightens his right fist, ready to pull James out before he could hurt anyone else. He keeps the vision to keep a live visual of James's body, and begins reeling himself towards the snake. He detaches from the snake, as he was initially holding towards the middle, and instead attaches to the snake's right horn before once again reeling towards it.
His arm cannon glows even brighter, emitting a greater mist, as he readies for a far greater attack. He aims his hand to where James's skeleton is, and then just slightly down, trying to separate James from the body of the snake to more easily capture him, as he didn't want to kill him exactly, as he was unsure if him murdering someone else, even an Exhuman terrorist, would be a mistake he'd regret forever, as it was a question he had tried avoiding mentally due to its complexity, but now wasn't the time to act on a final decision.
Instead, he keeps his cannon aimed for below the body, and continues reeling in, the snake still more on the west side of the city, as it didn't get into the skyscraper paradise.
Once Meditat gets close enough to the snake, he stops reeling, and aims his cannon at the right side, the top from his perspective. He then fires a shot, however it wasn't just another single short bolt, but instead it was a highly concentrated and continuous beam of energy, which almost appears like a lightning strike, which strikes the far side of the snake's body.
Meditat then slowly brings his arm down, causing his beam to cut through the snake's body, which works effectively as he seems to be able to completely melt it. The metal itself was already hot, and due to the immense amount of heat Meditat's cannon could generate, he is able to completely cut through the body, as he keeps lowering his arm until it reaches the other side.
He stops firing the beam, causing the cannon to smoke from the burn, as the vents were absolutely necessary to even let it happen. He watches as the snake continues moving, however most of its body is dropped and left behind, and even seems to stop smoking and become solid metal similar to the walls of the stores he melted, as if it had returned to normalcy.
Meditat thrusts his back, reeling himself away from the snake again as it continues moving with just its head. He then boosts forward multiple times, passing the snake, and then swinging downwards, falling towards the ground.
Before he can hit the ground however, he suspends himself right in front of the snake's head, just barely hanging on. He then allows his right arm to transform again, and the excess plates that create the launcher begin to crawl back into the launcher. The tip of the cannon also retracts as the blue glow stops, and the cones both collapse and return inside the band. The band then lowers, returning his gauntlet to its normal state.
However, that was only to then let him transform it again into something new that would help him with the immediate threat. His black band raises again, and more plates start coming out, as though he was about to transform his gauntlet back into the cannon. The back of the black plate creates a slope down to the back of the gauntlet, and the forearm in front begins to thicken as more plates crawl around the arm, reinforcing it and making it larger. There were predominately white plates, which take up the middle sides of the enlarged arm, with bottom still being blue, and the top still being black.
The gauntlet seems to harden as the plates become more rigid, and his gloves become encased in a black layer with a texture similar to carbon figure. The gloves become far larger than before, as does his whole arm, making it seem far stronger.
The snake seems to recognize Meditat, as it begins opening its mouth and attempting to chomp at him, making aggressive metal clanks as it tries eating him.
The snake moves even faster than before, due to the loss of weight but also the aggression it has for the one chasing him. It keeps trying to bite at him, however Meditat was just a few feet too far ahead of him due to the link.
That wasn't for long though, as Meditat waits for the snake to open its own for another bite before he jerks his left arm forwards, and then detaches the link, throwing himself straight into the snake's mouth.
He then boosts himself with both feet straight inside before the snake could chomp him with its teeth, and Meditat flies inside the snake's body, trying to find James.
The inside of the body is incredibly hot, however Orial begins cooling the suit after detecting the heat, returning Meditat quickly to a balanced state to allow him to keep fighting.
Meditat sees himself approach the skeleton, as he flies towards the cocoon. He pulls his right arm back, and then thrusts it forward, giving it a boost with a push from the arm and throwing a heavy punch into the cocoon.
The punch causes the cocoon to shatter completely into metallic shards, exposing James's body in front of Meditat, who stares with wide eyes in surprise at the situation he was in.
Meditat grabs James with both hands, and boosts again forward, leaving out of the back of the snake's body, and pulling him away from his weapon. He boosts James towards a nearby apartment building, and slams him into the wall.
Meditat grabs James as he holds him against a wall, having managed to grab him before he could reach the inner city and hurt anyone. He stares at James's face, which seems to be tired with a disoriented expression, confused with what happened.
Meditat says, "Got you, you're not going anywhere now, you're done James."
James coughs, and he looks at Meditat's blue eyes, his hair covering part of his face. He responds annoyed, "What? What are you going to do, take me to prison? You think you can cage someone like me? A guy in a little suit with some toys can take on a god like me?"
He places his hands on the silver wall behind him, and smirks, before asking "Is this what I think it is?"
Meditat keeps his hold on James, however while he does, he notices the wall behind James start to melt, as it seems James still had fight in him left. The liquidy goo that is once the wall slides down, as it seems the entire apartment building's wall was coming down. All that was left was the thin layer of white drywall, as the whole first story of the wall seems to melt down.
Meditat slowly feels his body begin to rise as the melted goo sticks to James's back and lifts him up. Meditat holds tighter, realizing he was being picked up, and James was trying to fight.
He pulls his right arm back, hoping to throw one punch to knock him unconscious, and prevent the fight from further escalating. He throws the punch, hoping for the best.
Right before his black fist could make impact with James's face, he felt his arm being held still, unable to keep pushing forward.
Meditat struggles to push his hand forward, trying to drive his fist into James's face, but he couldn't move at all. He then slowly turns around, and his eyes widen as he sees that there was a long metal arm grabbing his arm, which seems to be connected to the wall from under the two.
Before Meditat could do anything, the arm violently pulls him off of James, and Meditat loses his left hand's grip. His body is pulled back several feet, to which he struggles to move, but couldn't. His first instinct is to try boosting away, and so he readies to use his left hand to push away, since only his upper arm was being grabbed.
However, right before Meditat can thrust his left hand forward, he feels his left arm also being grabbed, as it seems the arm wraps around Meditat's back. The fingers that hold Meditat becomes longer and widens, becoming more of a giant hand that holds Meditat in place.
Meditat, unable to use his hands, tries to kick off, hoping he could boost out of the hold and continue fighting. Besides, he could easily shoot James if his hands were free, as James wasn't protected at all, for he simply sticks against the wall as the two continue to elevate.
The melted goo begins to spread wider behind Meditat, creating a larger and heavier hand, with more fingers gradually growing from the palm and wrapping around Meditat, further confining him, as he feels the fingers hold his body like a stick, forcing his arms to stick to his body.
With his arms stuck to his body, he could no longer aim at James, which worries him far more. His only weapons were being forced from aim, leaving him unable to fight.
As Meditat tries as hard as possible to get out of the situation, he watches as James's body pushes off of the apartment's wall, and the melted goo wraps around James as well, with long wires covering his limbs and extending out. The wires thicken more as the ones coming off his legs extend to the ground, and create flat bases shaped like feet.
James's body begins to become encased in a massive metal container that looks similar to a torso, and the wires where his limbs come off of thicken and shape up to look like massive arms and legs. The walls of the upper floors of the apartment building melt off and attach onto James's construct, crawling to different parts of the giant that he was creating, as his large heavy feet form, and his legs continue getting taller.
A neck forms on top of the torso, which then widens to begin creating the shape of a head. Meditat just stares at James, who was still visible, for the torso didn't cover his body yet, as James knew he wouldn't be able to get hit.
Unfortunately, as Meditat tries to free any of his hands to fight, he watches as the goo stretches over the last open part of the torso, thus protecting James from any outside strike. Meditat's eyes widen as he loses his window to strike, and feels his body being lifted again, as he's forced to meet with the developing face.
The body stops growing taller at last, as almost the whole body is finished, with the head still forming. A humanoid face of sorts form, although the features weren't well defined, as if it was masked. There were two sharp holes for eyes though, and eventually the top of the head finalizes, making the body finished.
Meditat stares into the empty eyes, still being held in the giant's hand, as it stands up straight, and takes a step forward, seeming to be able to even move like a person.
The giant then steps forward again, keeping Meditat in its grip. It slowly turns around to face the apartment building, and pulls its arm back. Meditat stares in horror, as he realizes what was about to happen, but he is unable to stop it.
The giant throws its massive fist holding Meditat into the seventh floor of the apartment, easily destroying the drywall, and leaving a massive hole in the building. Meditat hears people scream, and he looks in front of himself to see people of all ages running away from him, scared for their lives.
The giant then pulls its fist back, and then throws it again, smashing the fifth floor's wall, breaking it again. Meditat once more to watch the civilians he aimed to protect run away from him, screaming terrified.
The giant retracts its hand, and it brings Meditat up to its face, staring at it menacingly, even though it had no face at all. It then throws once more punch, right at the sixth floor, and Meditat closes his eyes as he hears the screaming fill his mask. He couldn't bear to look again, as he hoped the pain would stop.
After the third punch, the hot metal fingers gripping Meditat in its fist finally loosen and open up, letting Meditat's beaten body fall to the wooden floor.
Meditat groans, his body in pain after feeling as if he was being crushed. He takes deep breaths, lucky that his suit was able to moderate the immense heat of the fingers, but still unlucky as he couldn't stop James from the transformation.
Meditat lays on his arms, trying to find the strength to get back up. He was so close to victory, and in the end, he missed it by such a slim margin. He feels the dust of the drywall fall on his body, as the lights of the apartment flicker due to the damages.
Outside of the gaping hole caused by the punch, Meditat watches as the silver giant that James seems to be controlling looks down at Meditat for a few moments, glaring with content in its victory, and then turning around to face the direction of the main city, where there were much more buildings full of civilians. Meditat's eyes widen, as he realizes what James was planning.
Meditat watches in pain as the silver giant walks away from him, causing the road to crack beneath its feet, as people scream in its dominant presence. The giant stomps down the main road, taking the route towards the central region of the city, which was filled with skyscrapers. They were already relatively near the center, as there were skyscrapers close to them, but going even closer could spill countless casualties.
Meditat takes a deep breath before throwing himself back on his feet, staggering forwards before catching himself. His chainmail cape unfolds down to his boots as he approaches the gaping hole, wondering how he was supposed to take on the titanic threat.
He puts his hand on the edge of the hole, and looks out the building, staring up to see the holes in the other floors. He then looks down to see the carnage that surrounds him, as just by walking James was creating a path of destruction. As he stares at the destruction done to the city so easily, he remembers when he fought the man from the train, and when his massive armor destroyed more than it saved. When he saw people inside the buildings he was accidentally wrecking, scared for their life.
All of it made Meditat wonder: Was this dread shared by those who suffered the damages he brought on that day? Was this how it felt to be a civilian when Meditat was the monster?
The line of thinking depressed Meditat, as he felt the returning guilt of his earlier days, but he also knew that all he could do now to atone for these crimes was to prevent another one from being followed through.
The good news was that he was finally free to use his arms as he pleased, which meant his weapons were usable again. Meditat's right arm quickly transforms back into its natural state, allowing him to reset his stance, as he tries to figure a way to attack the beast. He takes a look at the tall body, and figures that if he could slice the legs with his laser, he could possibly end the fight quickly, similar to how he defeated the snake.
Meditat lowers his body, and he kicks off of the ground, boosting out of the apartment building. He aims his hand at another building which stands next to the street, and he fires a pull link before pulling himself towards the direction of James. He pulls himself towards a building to the right with an arm jerk, and then thrusts his chest forward, trying to chase the giant before it could continue its path of destruction for longer.
The silver giant seems to pay no attention to him, as his focus was not on Meditat, but the city. This meant Meditat had the advantage of being able to use a surprise attack, which he had to use carefully and correctly.
After catapulting himself forwards again, he finally gets within range of the giant, who while surprisingly fast, was nowhere as fast as Meditat, and so Meditat attaches a link with his left hand onto the giant's back to hold on. He holds his left arm still as he surfs in the air, feeling the heavy stomping of the beats he was holding onto.
Meditat extends his right arm up, and his gauntlet transforms to create the arm cannon again, covering his fists with the three vents. The vents light up blue a moment after transformation, and Meditat takes a deep breath, trying to concentrate for another high-powered strike, which was exhausting to use due to the amount of energy he had to supply, but if he could time it well, he could end the battle swiftly.
He aims his cannon at the left side of the giant's left knee joint, and the cannon's barrel begins smoking with the blue mist. The sound of energy building and generating hums from inside the cannon, and a powerful blue stream of energy similar to the one he fired earlier projects out of his hand, striking the giant's leg.
Meditat slowly glides his hand to the right, letting his beam cut through the leg of the giant, leaving a red glow. The beam slices completely through the giant's left leg, causing it to fall off.
The giant begins staggering as it loses one of its legs, causing Meditat to need to tighten his hold, as his attack seems to knock off the beast a considerable amount. Meditat watches the giant's left leg hit the road, becoming cold nearly instantly as it detaches from the body, leaving the thigh hanging.
The giant's path changes as rather than running down the street, it diverges to the right side, where a glass office building stands, which is more close to the height of a skyscraper.
Meditat detaches from the giant's back after recognizing its course, and he boosts backwards, already beginning to feel guilt for those inside the office working.
The giant drives its shoulder in as it collides into the building, shattering the front wall, as its body crushes several floors. It puts its back against the building to support itself, and lowers its head to see its detached leg on the road. It then turns its attention to Meditat, who hovers ahead of him, and it instinctively throws its arm at him, trying to grab the persistent fighter.
Meditat's right gauntlet begins transforming again oddly, seeming to reset as he strafes to the left, avoiding the grab. He then thrusts his chest forwards while his gauntlet begins to start being covered with black plating, seeming to be his plasma launcher that he had created earlier.
He passes the massive metallic arm, which reaches past his right, failing to grab him. Meditat focuses on the giant's right eye hole, and pulls his arm back. The plasma launcher that sits on his forearm begins to light up as plasma streams start to shoot out of the barrel, and build up an orb. Meditat lets himself glide towards the giant, giving himself as much time as he has to build a charge, as the plasma orb becomes larger in front of the barrel.
Right as Meditat gets right in front of the eye, he fires the orb directly inside the hole, and boosts backwards with his boots.
While Meditat flies backwards, his plasma orb enters the giant's eye, causing it to explode from within the beast's head. Meditat's right gauntlet transforms back to its reset state, and watches as the right side of the giant's face suddenly explodes, with pieces of metal debris flying off its body. He waits to see the giant's reaction, trying to plot his next strike.
The giant's head rolls backwards, crashing through another floor of the office. The glass shatters behind its head as it suffers yet another highly damaging blow, with only one eye left.
The silver giant puts pressure on its right leg, causing it to dig into the ground, with pieces of the road cracking off. It then throws its body forwards, and springs off of its leg, flying right at Meditat. It then throws its arm at him, as if trying to slash him, having become far more aggressive now that it was losing itself.
Meditat begins boosting upwards rapidly, realizing that if he was hit, he was done for. He ascends just past the giant's grasp, barely escaping, and he thrusts forward to get behind it. He turns around as he watches the giant fly over a whole row of buildings, and crashes on the street on the other side, slamming into the various shops and restaurants there.
Meditat boosts towards the giant, using his left hand to pull himself towards the closer row of buildings, tsking at the fact that there was more damage being done to the city.
The giant pushes itself off of the rubble of the destroyed shops, shaking its head to throw the debris off. It then quickly turns towards the direction of Meditat, planting its hands on the ground like jaws, taking a stance similar to a cheetah. With only one leg, it has to use its hands to move as well, and it stares with its one eye as Meditat flies over the buildings to approach him.
The giant, enraged by the developments of the fight, aims its right hand to point at Meditat, as if commanding fire on him. It perks his head up, with half its face melted clean off.
Suddenly, the right hand begins to start melting, as the shape deforms and mist starts coming off of it again to become more manipulatable. Its fingers then start firing shards of metal at Meditat, using its own body as a source of projectiles to shoot at him, sending a massive barrage of tiny shards at Meditat's way.
Meditat watches the barrage of metal fly at him, observing how desperate James was getting to win, even ready to sacrifice his giant to bring Meditat down. Meditat extends his left arm out ahead of him, and brings his right arm back. Both of his gauntlets begin transforming, with plates coming from beneath he black band to create the heavier gauntlets for both arms. The larger gloves layer over his standard ones, with the carbon fiber shining in the light of the city.
He creates a fist with his left hand, which oddly causes the back of his hand and fingers to begin glowing blue. The blue glow then projects forward, and small glowing diamonds start appearing in front of him, with lighter edges and a more misty inside. The diamonds start forming next to each other, forming an even larger diamond, with lighter lines still visible inside. The blue diamond finishes forming as the last smaller diamond forms, and Meditat braces for impact.
The shards of metal that aim for Meditat strike the glowing diamond, which seems to cause the metal to bounce off, as though the diamond projection was a shield. All of the shards that would've hit Meditat instead hit the wide, large shield, protecting him from the front, as the rest flew past him.
Meditat boosts his feet towards the giant, who then uses its whole arm to fire shards, desperate to keep Meditat away.
While it was trying to put more energy to fight, Meditat could clearly notice that it was tiring out, and was just fighting to even stay. It reminds him of his own shortcomings when fighting the speedster, who exhausted him to the point of the suit vanishing.
While he wasn't sure how James's abilities worked, it was clear he was using the metals he could to fuel creations of his own, and if his stamina burned from creating in a similar fashion to Meditat's, that meant that Meditat could very well defeat James the way he was defeated by the speedster: A battle of attrition.
Meditat boosts again towards the giant as the last of its shards fire, and once it runs out, Meditat pulls his left hand back, his window finally open. He dives towards the neck of the giant, intent to blow its whole head off, ready to throw his right fist, which was armored for a punch to hopefully break through.
Meditat throws his fist just in time to make contact, and punches the neck of the giant, causing the metal part to crack multiple times. The neck then shatters, as metal pieces fly right off the silver giant, causing the rest of the head to fly backwards and off the body, separating it completely, and the head crashes into the second street past the two's fight.
Meditat boosts backwards after the successful punch, trying to get another look at the giant. He stares down at its headless body, and then guides his attention at the chest, knowing it was where James was hiding. Now without the head, all there was left was a torso, a left arm, and a right leg.
Now without a head, the giant hardly stands. Although, it wasn't done, and two holes on the collarbone seem to dig in, as if creating a new set of eyes on its own body. The eyes look up at Meditat by turning its back, staring up at him, who hovers in the air. The beast stares at Meditat, and its left arm seems to begin melting, as smoke comes out and it starts to deform as well.
It was hard to tell what was about to happen at first, as the possibility of another attempt to fire shards was there, however it'd be rather unintelligent after the first time failed. That wasn't the plan however, as the arm begins to take on a new shape, with the hand turning into a massive spike, and excess metal crawls to its wrist where two prongs develop on the side, creating a trident. The spikes lengthen to a sharp tip, before finally hardening.
The giant stomps on the ground with its right foot again, and then kicks off of the ground, leaving behind another massive crack from the immense weight of the beast. The giant flies in the air, shooting itself towards Meditat, and then throws its new trident arm at him, hoping to pierce Meditat's body.
Meditat sees the strike play ahead of himself, and he boosts forward, realizing that he had to be careful with how he proceeded. He puts his hands to his side to take a diving stance. Now with his body being less spread, he flies towards the center spike, waiting for the right time, knowing he had to only move when he knew the giant wouldn't be able to react back due to its tiredness.
Before he could be stabbed by the massive silver spike, Meditat rolls to his right, and his body boosts him to let him strafe. He just barely misses the central spike, and gets between it and the right prong. He then thrusts his back up, causing it to fly above the trident, letting him use his arms again.
Meditat turns around in the air as he watches the giant continue in its leap, and he sees the back exposed. His eyes target the upper back, behind where the chest would be, behind where James would be piloting.
He locks in his target before his gauntlet transforms back into its normal state, and he watches as the giant begins to descend after reaching its maximum height. He then aims his right hand at the back of the giant, and pulls himself towards it, grappling onto the beast. He jerks his hand to throw himself at the back, and once he breaks the link, his gauntlet transforms again back into the armored fist, and he holds his arm back to ready for another lunch, this time to end the fight.
Meditat punches the back of the giant with his armored gloves, causing the whole upper back to crack multiple times, with some cracks even creating farther below. What mattered the most was the upper back then shatters, exposing James from inside.
James's eyes widens as he feels the powerful air behind him, and realizes what had happened, but it was too late.
Behind him, Meditat hovers above, staying just above the giant's body. Both of his gauntlets transform into arm cannons, with both arm's vents glowing at an instant's notice. He then aims each hand forward, with his left hand aiming at the metal wire connected to James's left hand, and his right hand aiming at the wire connected to the right hand.
He then fires highly concentrated beams of energy at the wire before gradually lowering the beam, slicing off each of the connections to the body, and isolating James from the giant. The wires connecting the arms are first to be fully sliced, and the wires connecting the legs are next, with the metal steaming even more as the last connection James has to the large form is severed.
Once the last wires are cut, both of Meditat's gauntlets return to their standard state, having cut all that was needed. His right gauntlet then transforms into the plasma launcher, and once his arm is fully black, he aims it at James, and fires the tractor beam at his back.
James feels the sudden powerful hold on his back, and he screams in rage as his body is pulled out of the giant by Meditat, who then grabs him with his left hand.
James yells, "GET OFF OF ME!!!!," but it was no use, as he couldn't do anything to stop his opponent.
The giant's body crashes into the street, landing in front of the partially destroyed office. The trident pierces the ground, stabbing straight into it, causing the body to get itself stuck. It lays on the ground, defeated, with smoke surrounding it after the horrible landing.
Meditat throws James away from the giant, and to the street, causing his tired body to hit the ground.
He then jumps off of the body himself, boosting up before landing in front of James. He pants, tired, but relieved that it was finally over. His right arm transforms into the cannon, and he aims it point blank at James, the vents lighting up as he was ready to finish the fight.
He takes a deep breath, and says tiredly, "You...are not...hurting...anyone else...anymore."
James pants, his whole face sweating, his jacket drenched in sweat. He turns to face Meditat's masked glare, and sighs, wondering if this was the end for him. However, he then lowers his head, and notices the severed left leg across the street, which was behind Meditat.
He looks back up at Meditat, and responds, "I won't...be able...to fight...for a while...you're right…. But...I'm not...going anywhere...with you-!"
With the remainder of his strength left, the severed metal knee melts down into metal goo, steaming as it awakens in James's final stand. It crawls towards Meditat quickly, and then begins crawling over his body, moving past his legs and towards his arms.
Meditat feels the odd tingly sensation, and then looks at his right arm as he sees the metal goo spread on his body. He gasps in surprise, and before he could do anything, the metal goo wraps around both of his arms, covering his cannon, blocking the barrel.
James rolls out of the way, and Meditat tries to fire a neutralizing shot, however he misses due to his own disorientation to the situation along with the sticky feeling of the goo. James gets back up to his feet and steps back, watching as the goo extends past his arms, and sticks to the ground, forcing Meditat to be unable to move his arms to aim.
More goo spreads on his legs and fixes him in place, trapping him in his stance.
Meditat looks up at James, and he begins trying to move his arms and legs as hard as possible, yelling "Wait, get back here! You're not getting away!! Get back here!!"
James walks backwards towards the destroyed giant, whose right leg begins melting as well, removing itself from the defeated body. He stares at Meditat, who was trapped once again, leaving James free from harm.
The goo crawls on James's body, covering his legs, torso, and arms, as if he was putting on a body suit. He extends his arms out to ease the merging process. His height raises as the metal legs become longer, as his arms also lengthen more, as if enhancing his own body.
The metal feet widen and shape with claws, and the part of the legs that wasn't over his own bend. More legs start to form from his back, giving him two extra long legs, and the body finally finishes, enhancing his height by several feet, which were shaped better for running.
James looks down at Meditat, who stares furiously at him, and he tiredly says, "You're a strong opponent, I should've accounted for pushback like you. But one day, I'll be this world's god, even if I have to strike down the current one. We'll see each other again one day, and I'll kill you. Good luck with the damage."
With that, he turns around, and the metal goo covers his face, completely protecting his body. The metal then hardens after finalizing, and he runs off, running far faster than a normal human.
He runs a couple steps before leaping off the ground, jumping insanely high, leaping over streets as he makes his escape from the battle.
Meditat watches helplessly as he loses his victory in front of his eyes, and James vanishes from his sight, going wherever he wanted, no longer worried about being followed.
Meditat stands still for what feels like years, however it was several minutes, and he hears the sirens of police pods and ambulances approach. He looks around to see exactly them approaching the site, observing the aftermath of the battle.
Meditat breathes heavily as he realizes that there was a good chance that he'd be taken by the police, and he tries to move again, struggling in anxiety. He looks around at the carnage that was caused, the wrecked office, the destroyed road, the pieces of the suit laying around.
While Meditat was lucky to have prevented James from destroying the city, there was still substantial damage done, as there was no doubt in his mind that there were casualties. He looks at the debris from different buildings, knowing how bad it looked for him to be in the middle of the destruction.
One of the police pods comes to a halt in front of Meditat, and a man exits the pod, wearing a blue uniform with light armoring. He seems to be an older man, with wrinkles on his forehead, and a black and blue suit covering everything but his head. His arms seem to have a projectile launcher connected to it, as if he was ready to fire if he felt it was necessary.
He approaches Meditat, and yells, "PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE I CAN SEE THEM, AND IDENTIFY YOURSELF!!"
Meditat looks down at his covered arms, and then back up at the officer, unable to move his hands. He looks back up at the officer, unable to respond. He knew his voice was altered anyways, but that didn't stop him from being in fear of somehow being tracked and exposed.
He just stands there, watching the officer approach him, as several more police pods surround him.
The officer repeats, "That wasn't a suggestion, that was a command. Now do it, or I will shoot."
Suddenly, the metal covering Meditat begins to crack automatically, even though Meditat hadn't done anything. The metal then shatters like clay, causing the officer to take a step back in shock to the move.
Meditat staggers backwards as he's freed, and looks at his hands, seeing that he was free. He immediately transforms his right gauntlet to the normal state, realizing that having a cannon out could pose a threat. He breathes silently, confused as to what happened, as it seems the metal creation broke, possibly due to how far the host was, but he wasn't entirely sure.
The police officer yells, "Hey, do another party trick and I'll show you my own! Now, last time, put your hands up! Is that suit legally registered? State your name."
Meditat slowly raises his hands, and his eyes drift off to the office building in the distance ahead of him, which still had glass walls higher up where the giant hadn't crashed.
He then looks back at the officer, and takes a deep breath. He was low on options, as turning himself in would most likely go horribly, especially if he was somehow detected as an Exhuman. He was lucky it seemed the officer just thought he was wearing some suit, but if his luck ran out, he knew execution would be waiting for him.
He wanted to help the city, but to do it, he knew that he had to avoid interaction with the rest of the protectors, as they wouldn't understand them.
Maybe one day they would, and Meditat would fight to prove himself, but for now, he wasn't safe in their custody.
Meditat fires a pull link out of his right hand, and his body is pulled towards the office building at an instance, flying out of the officer's sight.
The officer turns around and aims his hand at Meditat, yelling "HEY, YOU!"
However, after turning around, he finds that Meditat had completely disappeared already, and was nowhere to be seen.
Meditat throws himself off of the office building, flying quickly away from the site, using the night to help cloak him. Lucky due to his cape being black, it already made it hard to see him from behind, but he still had to make distance.
As he flies away, he looks back at the damages of the city, feeling guilty for not having stopped any of it, and especially guilty for even running from the police.
He was standing on a very weak gray line now, and knew that this was a sloppy start to trying to work with the city. He hoped that at least he'd be able to prove himself with the defeat of James Seth, however in the end, he couldn't do anything. He was helpless, as just by covering his arms, he couldn't fight.
He thought he had created a weapons system more than versatile and adequate, and yet he quickly found another problem, and realized he was still far from being enough.
He turns back ahead of himself and continues swinging through the central region of the city, through the skyscrapers, knowing that tonight created many more victims.
He was the first monster, and couldn't even properly stop the second one.
He was in the wrong, he was technically a criminal, and he was another Exhuman who caused destruction, and he wouldn't be anything else if he couldn't prove otherwise.
He wouldn't be a hero if he couldn't put an end to the reign of the Exhumans, he'd just be another villain.