While Meditat still was on a long losing streak without a single win to even try balancing anything, it was also clear that he was improving noticeably, getting gradually closer to the day where he'd acquire his first victory, as he was always fixing what went wrong for each battle, meaning every next fight he had at least one less weakness that could be exploited.
While he still felt bad about the loss he endured a week ago against Seth, as the battlefield left buildings destroyed and people hurt without anything to show for it, he was at least close to victory, which helped motivate him to keep pushing further. His weapons system was incredibly versatile as he sought out to make it, if he didn't have such a complex system there was a good chance he wouldn't even be able to last through the flower phase.
Orial was also improving rapidly, as he was steadily becoming more useful in combat, and the work put in to make him was starting to show. He was able to locate more crimes in progress in places Meditat would never find, and when the crimes weren't outside, he was able to pick up on early developments recorded on different social medias and news feeds.
However, there was still far more room to grow before Meditat could be a truly effective protector, as while he may have been getting closer to victories, he was still unable to achieve them, and of course there was a reason that he could analyze.
For one, while he had a relatively versatile weapons system, there were still many flaws and limitations to it, and Meditat wasn't prepared for as many situations as he arguably should be. Just doing something as simple as locking his arms meant he was completely unable to fight, and he wasn't utilizing his creative potential as much as he could.
Sometimes Meditat felt somewhat restrained by the nature of his abilities when compared to other Exhumans, as it seemed other Exhumans had abilities to transcend logical limitations and execute magical stunts with little planning. They could just choose to shoot fire out of their hands, they could just want to shake the ground and then do just that.
Meditat instead had to spend days and sometimes weeks designing complex technological armaments to be able to create, which was bound to the laws of physics and such, meaning he constantly ran into issues regarding distribution of power and the reliability of his own equipment. There was a whole process to make any change, he had to first think on exactly he'd want to add and brainstorm it to a point where he could think of it perfectly, then he had to draw it out on his Connect, which included both the external design while also having to work out what inner components and systems would need to exist, where and how, which usually took the most amount of time due to how hard it was to work on such complicated systems that nobody his age should technically be designing. Then from there he'd have to create three dimensional models to be able to study and practice creating, and then be able to get to a point of perfectly creating it with his abilities every time he had to, as even the slightest misstep could cause the whole suit to fail, which could even hurt Meditat himself wearing it.
That didn't even bring up the issue about stamina and energy generation, as there was first the initial strain of creating the suit, then the constant output of even letting it exist without vanishing. Then the actual issue of powering the suit was extremely draining, and everytime Meditat had to add more functionality, he had to account for if he could even give it enough juice for anything to operate.
Since his stamina was shared, all of these complications had to be worked on with nothing being negligible, making it feel as though he had the most tedious powers to work with.
Of course, he was thankful for the fact he even had abilities in the first place, as he wouldn't be able to engineer the suits without them. With his abilities, he was able to do what he wanted to do, and that was something he was incredibly special to have.
Also, while his abilities were the hardest to use and required the most preparations, he was enabled to have near infinite potential, as the only limit was truly his imagination, as long as he was able to work what he wanted. While it would be easier just to have the power to shoot lightning, if he came across a situation of fighting an opponent where such a simple power didn't let him win, he wouldn't be able to easily improve.
As long as he could brainstorm a solution, which was his speciality, he was able to keep going. It might've been a burden, but it was one he chose to take on and keep carrying. And no matter how hard every loss was, he wouldn't give up the burden.
Also, naturally over time as Meditat worked more in the city and encountered more enemies that led to his changes, Meditat also naturally grew his stamina, able to endure more both in terms of how many hits he could take and keep fighting, and how much he could exert without his suit turning to dust.
As long as he kept optimization in mind when he created his designs, he didn't suffer the issue of overexertion, and he didn't have to worry about tiring himself out completely in battle.
With more energy he could produce, he could create more powerful weapons and gadgets, which is what he had been doing ever since the fight against Seth, making sure that he had more than enough weapons to take on anyone.
His gauntlets were fine as it is, however the issue was that the gauntlets were the only weapons he had, when he had his whole body that he could weaponize. He was still limiting himself on a creative level, and had to work to unlock those chains.
As long as it was attached to him, Meditat didn't have to worry about putting all his weapons on certain parts of the suit.
It was late into the night, and Versepolis lived off its own lights, stretching on past the horizon past where the sun would've been if it had been a day. The central region of the city was the most lit up as always, with streaks of light running up the towers of infinite height, residing under the great array of stars in the sky.
Pods drive down the lanes both on the road and above, keeping the city in constant motion, with some pods even coming from the space above, and others leaving the city into the great void in the sky.
Most of the city's activity was in the central regions, as that was where the majority of the business was, however there was also attraction to the other regions, such as the east which had a more calm suburban side. The west however wasn't as attractive to just anyone, as the west contained the majority of the city's factories, and such an industrial sector wasn't particularly attractive to tourists or people who wanted to shop. However, it was almost as much if not more important than the central region, as without the great factories, Versepolis wouldn't be the top producer among the hundred worlds.
Among the skyscrapers of the central region, Meditat is in flight, swinging off of the tallest towers while boosting ahead of the pods in traffic. His cape glides in the wind, his blue eyes glowing among the street lights.
He alternates between hands for pulls, with one always being extended out, and the other being by his side. While his combat would be worked on, his movement was near perfect, as it was something he had true experience in after years of playing with similar equipment.
It was always liberating to throw himself from one building to the next, always moving forward, with the world pulling him ahead, pushing him to a better tomorrow. That was what he wanted the most out of all: Just a better tomorrow where the world didn't have to fear those who could strike them if they so pleased. And Meditat would be the one to bring that better tomorrow.
As Meditat swings down the city, he converses with Orial, asking "So Orial, can you access the virtual machine inside the suit through a ranged connection? You said yesterday that you kept disconnecting, is that still happening?"
Orial responds on the topic of Meditat's quest to set up a computer system in the suit advanced enough to the point where Meditat wouldn't need to bring his Connect on missions: "I can connect, yes. The connection also seems to be more stable, however I can't tell when it would cut out until it does, since it seems to be random."
Meditat catapults himself forward, spinning in the air as he says, "Got it, well at least that's progress. And you can connect to the other systems of the suit like the inputs through the virtual machine?"
Orial asks, "Would you like me to run a test?"
Meditat pulls himself up with a high pull, and then begins diving down, putting his hands together to speed his descent. He then answers, "Sure, try it."
Meditat then continues to dive down from the highs of the city, with a substantial amount of space to continue his freefall.
A few seconds into Meditat's drop, Orial speaks again, saying "He-itat, ar-ou pi-up th-nal?"
Meditat stays silent for a few moments, trying to understand what he just heard, as it seemed Orial stuttered extremely badly, and he sighs, figuring that the virtual machine still had a weak connection. He says, "I have no idea what you're saying, I don't think it's working."
Meditat stares at the distant ground as he approaches it, feeling the powerful wind push against him.
As he passes the ceilings of some of the relatively lower towers, Orial speaks again, saying "Okay, I think I calibrated my connection better. Does this work now?"
Meditat aims his right hand at the top corner of one of the lower buildings, and he pulls himself towards it, throwing his arm back to throw himself far back into the sky once again. He answers, "Oh wait, that works now! Are you still using the virtual machine, or did you switch back? You sound like you did earlier."
Orial responds, "No, I am still using the suit's systems. I just wasn't properly integrated, but now it should be fine. Is this adequate?"
Meditat approaches a lane of pods, and he aims his left hand at one of them, pulling himself towards the lane. He answers, "Yeah, it's perfect. If you can try to get used to this, that'll be nice. I still need to figure how to transfer you over through...that might be an obstacle."
Orial says, "Well, this is progress, yes?"
Meditat flies with the pods, his body shooting forward next to other vehicles. His cape blows heavily from the speed, and he boosts himself forward with his hands and feet. He responds, "Yeah, that's true. Well good, okay. Now, have you picked up on any crimes so far?"
Orial answers, "Well, not really, I haven't scanned anything. Although...I've been focused on this news story I accessed and have been following updates on. I've been trying to get better at following stories online to be able to track developments, and I've been enticed by an ongoing story about a mass murderer who seems to target factory workers and such. It appears this murderer has been an ongoing issue for several years now."
Meditat hums, and he pushes his back up, causing his body to boost upwards, ascending past the pods. He then boosts forward, and swings off of a nearby skyscraper. Intrigued by the topic, as it was new from Meditat to hear Orial mention trying to follow up on long-running stories, he asks, "Oh? Go on...-."
Orial does so, saying "Well, it appears this murderer has never been spotted, however it's easy to link the murders by similar scenes. The victims seem to either have heavy scratch marks, have parts of them bitten or bitten off, and some even seem to have poison in their systems. It seems to attack workers who stay up late, and hardly ever take on multiple victims at once. By these images, it doesn't seem the attacker is human, however it's unlikely to be a real animal given the complexities necessary to achieve such murders. But that's what I've collected, for all I know this could be a myth."
Meditat contemplates for a few moments while swinging, and he says, "Well...it sounds serious. Is there any pattern to the killings besides just it being in factories and being at night? Maybe something we can go off to investigate?"
Orial thinks for a few moments, and then answers, "Well, besides what is on the reports, that is about how far it goes. However...I've also been working on analyzing data as you've instructed, and I've looked into it more. Accessing public knowledge on underground network systems and such, I noticed that all of the buildings that the murders took place in share the same tier 6 sewer system. Honestly, there's a chance this is public knowledge, but nobody's ever dared look into it. Some of the bite marks on a few victims are quite intense."
Meditat hums, and he innocently asks, "I see...just wondering, I want to look around the city some more, can you send me directions to that sewer?"
Orial sighs, and he says, "Meditat, for one, the sewers are not meant to be traversed publicly. For another, the dimensions of the tier 6 sewers is quite tight relative to a human, and taking into account your fighting style, you would be badly restrained in such a small arena. You would be heavily limited on how to approach the situation, perhaps there is another way."
Meditat huffs, and he says, "Orial, I made you, not the other way around. You don't need to baby me, and besides, I should take on rigorous challenges that push me to expand on my norm. Not every fight will be in an open space, I shouldn't hide from ones that aren't, and come on, the weapons I have now shouldn't force me to fly around to fight. It'll be fine."
Orial sighs again, and he responds, "If that is what you want, then very well. Routing a course for the path, turn 137 degrees to the right and continue forwards. I would advise you to contemplate this decision as much as possible before moving forward, Meditat."
Meditat aims his right hand at the corner of a nearby rooftop, and fires a link, swinging around to make the turn. He extends his arm out as he begins orbiting around the building, and once he makes the turn, he throws himself forwards, and boosts down the city.
He says, "Hey, it's not like we've never fought anyone before, I don't know what's got you all worried," and continues swinging off of the taller skyscrapers, thrusting his chest forwards every couple swings to accelerate.
Meditat swings towards the western region of the city, which differs greatly from where he is, as while he was surrounded by massive beautiful skyscrapers meant to house thousands everyday and act as the star site for citizens, the western region was full of industrial factories that are far lower to the ground, and were reserved for those who work in them.
Eventually the grass lawn made of skyscrapers is replaced by a sea of factories, and while there are still lights coming off of the buildings, the region was noticeably darker than the central region of Versepolis. There was also far less noise, which was due to the far lower numbers of residents, giving an ominous energy.
A cloud of green smoke hovers over the factories as it releases constantly from chimneys, shrouding the area in a dark green atmosphere due to the night.
Coming from the east side, a single man glides towards the sea of factories, the seemingly only living being in the area, as the area was far more desolate than any other section of the otherwise booming city.
Meditat flies past rows of factories, passing through streams of green smoke, his blue eyes piercing through the dense fog as it's the only part of his body that lights up. His white mask emerges from within the mask, covered by the black hood that blows in the wind of the flight.
As his cape blows behind him, he looks at the factories in front of him, and he observes, "This place doesn't even feel like it's part of Versepolis, it's so devoid of life or anything."
Orial responds with a curious tone, "I notice that as well, this sight is unique when compared to the majority of what I have witnessed. It's perplexing, but also interesting."
Meditat continues in free fall, with his body lightly pressing itself forward with a soft push, which helped him make great distances especially after having used such a high vantage point to fly off from.
He responds to Orial, saying "Well yeah, it's very different from the rest, but I guess it's necessary to be like this. Versepolis is the hub of trade, and so they need to produce the products close by, and it also kind of shows off Versepolis's production power. I guess it also looks a bit cool, or that's just me."
Orial speaks back, "I see, it is reasonable in that sense then for the factories to be so close to the main part of the city. It does give the city variety in terms of landscape, so even though we are limited to traversing one city, I can still study a diverse range of communal regions and building types."
Meditat, who keeps his focus ahead with his hands by his side, replies "Yeah, I guess I haven't thought about that. It's kind of funny when I think about it...you've lived, well existed, for far less time than me, you've only been around for several months. And I'm in my late teens, and yet for some reason, I've hardly experienced anything more than what you are. My family was never rich enough to afford travel to another Earth, whether it was teleportation or taking a pod, so I never went anywhere but here. And even then, my family never really took me out far, I just always resided in my small neighborhood with a few acquaintances. I guess while we are on a job, it's nice that we get to appreciate this place, because even though I was always intent on coming to work here, I would've never been able to examine it so freely as I do now. I guess we're exploring the world together."
Orial makes a chuckling sound, and he responds, "Yes, perhaps. We're nearing an access point for the sewer system, I will now highlight it for you."
Meditat looks down, and he notices that within his vision through the goggles of his mask, his goggles seem to overlay a screen similar to the thermal imaging and x-ray, however rather than completely changing Meditat's perception entirely, it only slightly lowers the brightness of his surroundings, almost unnoticeably. What is noticeable however is a lit green beacon that projects from the street beyond him, although it seems artificial, almost digital. On the right side of Meditat's vision, a circle appears as well, and an image of a map appears, with a blue triangle in the center surrounded by gray rectangles.
Meditat heads towards the green beacon, and he comments, "It seems the AVG works just fine, I can see where to go, and the map works as well. Let's hope it works underground."
As he approaches the beacon, he begins diving straight down, orienting himself vertically to descend. He passes another factory, and looks down to see an intersection, as there were still roads between the factories of course. As he descends straight down, the green beacon vanishes, and instead, a small circle in the center of the intersection lights up, with fainter rings around it to make it more noticeable. The circle was made of the same green effect as the beacon, and seems to be guiding Meditat towards his destination.
Meditat makes his landing a few feet from the main circle, using his hand to balance himself. He then stands up to his feet, and looks down, seeing that in the center of the road is a metal circular pad with a grid of vents.
Meditat walks over to the pad and stands in front of it, which has the green highlight on the edge, as it was clearly the point of interest. He takes a deep breath, and kneels down, eyeing the handle.
Meditat asks for clarification, "So, this is the way inside?"
Orial answers the question, "Yes, that is the manhole that leads directly into the tier 6 sewer system in question. There are larger entrances for the lower tiers, however to directly access a higher tier system requires direct passage into one of these."
Meditat sighs, and he remarks, "Well okay, I guess I'll need to take a shower after tonight then. Let's see if we can find this guy, and stop him from taking anyone else."
With that, he stands back up straight, and aims his right hand at it. His right gauntlet then transforms into the plasma launcher, and once it completes, he fires a tractor beam at it, grabbing onto the manhole cover, hoping that his way of getting inside would work.
He jerks his arm back, and as he hoped, the cover flies right off of the road, and hovers in the air in front of Meditat. Meditat gently places the cover beside where it once was, and then turns back to where it was, finding a dark hole in its place.
Meditat's right gauntlet transforms back into its normal state, and he stands over the hole, looking down to see seemingly nothing below. He takes a deep breath, beginning to feel the crawling anxiety of being in such an odd place, about to enter an enclosed space with what could be a horrific monster who had killed countless people. What's more, the monster killed people who were alone, and Meditat was putting himself in that exact position.
Just to be safe, Meditat transforms both of his gauntlets, with his left gauntlet transforming into his arm cannon, and his right gauntlet transforming into his reinforced fists. His carbon fiber fists start to glow blue as he readies the shield, prepared for everything, as he didn't want to take any chances.
Orial reminds, "Remember sir, this is not a typical situation, as you will be in a more enclosed space than anywhere you've fought before. Your maneuverability is arguably your greatest strength, and will be of hardly to no use as you will not have adequate space to move. I would recommend that if you engage in combat and are unable to win, and it seems you are in a situation where fatality is possible, then you should leave the sewer system, and we can handle this threat another way."
Meditat rolls his shoulders, and he says, "Since when were you so worried about my safety? Come on, we've done nothing but fight for so long, and every fight has the possibility of death, but that doesn't mean we run away. But I guess if retreat is necessary, I'll take it. Let's hope it doesn't come to that though."
He then jumps into the hole, both of his gauntlets ready for battle. He dives into the darkness, vanishing from the surface, leaving nothing but the manhole cover behind.
A great distance underneath the surface of the city resides the sewer system, a dark circular tunnel made of what looks like gray concrete, however they were heavy patches of the walls covered with a substance similar to dark green moss, giving an unnerving living sense of the underground system. The tunnel was not tiny persay, however it was also very much not spacious, as the tunnel was seven feet in radius, not much more than twice the height of a person.
It was completely silent, as a shallow level of water sits on the floor of the tunnel, completely stagnant and dark. It seems to be only possibly a foot high, if even.
The circular tunnel was next to a small side area that bridges off, which was rectangular instead, and has a hole at the top. Leading up to the hole is a podium on top of what is most likely an elevator pad, allowing a way up, however the podium itself also has moss, as it seems almost abandoned. The area seems to be slightly elevated compared to the tunnel, as it wasn't flooded, and instead the ground remains dry.
The silence breaks from the sound of a falling object and soft hum, and a blue light comes from under the hole, shining down on the ground below.
Meditat then lands on the ground underneath the hole, his boots giving a loud thud. His cape flows down to his boots, and his blue eyes shine in the dark tunnel, staring at the system he was in.
His eyes aren't the only sources of light, as the three vents on his left arm cannon pulses softly, and his carbon fiber fists on his right hand glows.
He slowly walks towards the circular tunnel, leaving the exit behind, walking away from escape. He looks down at the tunnel's floor, staring at the dark water. He aims his cannon at the water, and from underneath the cannon's barrel, a small second barrel forms from the movement of the blue plates, being the same color.
The second barrel then shines a white light, allowing Meditat better visibility, as while his goggles offered such, he still felt the need for extra support. He shines the light ahead and down the tunnel, able to look down the gray and green sewers, knowing where he was heading to.
Meditat walks off of the platform, stepping into the water, which makes a soft splash. He winces at the disgusting water he was in, knowing he was in a rather undesirable place, but also knowing he had to stay and hunt the killer on the loose.
He begins walking down the tunnel, his cannon pointed ahead of him, with his right fist by his side. While the white light was made for Meditat to see the most clearly, the artificiality of it gave a more unsettling feeling, but he perseveres nonetheless.
Meditat asks Orial while walking, "Okay, can you get the RTM going? I'm still kind of blind down here."
Orial answers, "Yes, I will begin sending the pulses, your map should appear shortly. I will also begin the thermal sensing process to detect any lifeforms, which will hopefully help us locate the enemy in question. Let's finish this mission quickly."
After he says that, Orial, through the systems built in, begins emitting a signal out of the suit that bounces off of the walls of the sewers, encompassing the arena. The data received by the signals then begin to shape up an estimation for the sewer's design, and that design is then uploaded to replace the circular map on Meditat's HUD, allowing him to be able to see his triangle inside the skinny tunnel.
While doing so, Orial also begins to send signals throughout the sewers to search for sources of thermal energy with the intent to then locate and track any other beings inside, as being able to find the murderer would quicken the job.
Meditat continues forward, breathing slowly and calmly, trying to keep his arm steady and prevent any shaking.
Meditat notices the updated map, seeing that the sewers were composed of a complex system of multiple tunnels connected together, with a few detected even being parallel to the one he's in. He zooms the map out to get a better look of the area, willing to enhance the amount of space it takes, and sees that far up ahead were intersections to various other tunnels.
Meditat sighs, and he asks, "Why is this place so large? I thought tier 6 would be more specific and smaller, how many tiers are there even?"
Orial answers as he monitors Meditat's sight: "There are indeed only ten tiers of sewers, with the final tiers above being largely untraversable due to their far smaller sizes, as tier seven sewers have a diameter of seven feet, half the size of this one, and the ones above are under your height. Also, going to a sewer of a higher tier level would be gambling more, as the variability of how much those sewers are connected to the facilities where the murders took place are more random. This place still connects blocks of factories, as the tiers above handle neighboring factories, single factories, and then inner systems of single factories. The ones below range from districts to the entire city, but I will spare such details to allow you to focus."
Meditat continues walking down the quiet tunnel, the only sound being the hum of his gauntlets, the splashes caused by his footsteps, and his voice, with Orial's being only audible to him.
He responds, "No it's okay, you can keep talking, it's easier that way. I guess for whatever reason I programmed anxiety into you better than I am myself, at least you're perceptive about the event before it begins, while I'm only now judging my own actions."
Orial says, "I don't believe I have anxiety, as that is an emotion only carried by living conscious organisms like yourself. If you mean my analytical advision, then perhaps you are right, do you regret this mission Meditat?"
Meditat shakes his head, and he answers, "No, I don't. If I'm not going to do this, I don't know who will. Thanks for coming to me with this issue, or I would've never known. Tonight, we will find the one who has killed countless, and put an end to him."
Orial sighs, and he says, "Perhaps you do not feel regret, but I am beginning to wonder if you've programmed me the ability to regret informing you on such a dangerous story."
Meditat chuckles, and he says, "Well, I don't think I did that, and I don't remember programming a sense of humor in you, Orial. I didn't realize how much I'd need it until now, thanks."
Orial sighs again, and in a defeated tone, he says, "That statement was not meant to be taken as a compliment."
Meditat keeps walking until he approaches one of the intersections, where he then stops to examine it, shining his light down the left tunnel, as the intersection only branched to the left while still going ahead. He looks down the circular tunnel to his left, seeing that it was long enough that shining the light didn't show the end, yet shining it does reveal more tunnel intersections.
He decides to walk down the left tunnel, going deeper into the sewers, trying to scout out for the killer. He walks past different intersections, continuing onward, as he guessed that in a sense he was on one of the main stems of the tunnel system.
Every time he passes another tunnel, he stops and aims his light down it, hoping to spot a moving person, however all he ends up aiming at is moss and wall. He continues forward, trying to listen out for any movements, as he knows footsteps caused loud splashes that he should be able to pick up on from afar.
He asks Orial, "So, you mapped out the whole system, have you gotten any thermal readings yet? Any possible candidates for our hunter? Searching on the ground isn't the most effective plan."
Orial responds, "I have not picked up on any thermal sources, oddly. Of course however, I cannot confirm that the murderer will be using this system today, as the deaths are random, and he could've either have already done or plan another day. It may be a waste of time staying here searching when there could be other crimes on the surface to deal with. Are you sure you wish to continue this mission?"
Meditat continues walking and shining the light down various tunnels, unable to find anyone. While he does, he responds, "Yes Orial, I am sure. And I know we may be taking time that we could be using elsewhere, but if we can catch this man, we can make it easier for the workers here to do their jobs without the fear of death. Imagine the people who work at these factories, knowing they spend their days in a death zone, wouldn't it ease them to know that threat is extinguished? We have to try."
He then stops in front of a tunnel on his right side, and looks down at it, seeing that it appears to be a typical tunnel. However, on his minimap, it appears that the tunnel leads to many more, leading to areas that could be where the target is.
He turns towards the tunnel and walks down it, deciding to go deeper in, his footsteps making splashes as it seems the water level becomes slightly greater.
As Meditat walks down the tunnel, his cannon's underbarrel lights up the space ahead, allowing clear visibility of the gray walls with moss patches. It also allows him to notice other markings on the wall, which he turns his attention to due to their surprising complexity.
He approaches one which stands normal to another tunnel, and stares at it, inspecting the phenomenon.
On the wall seems to be painted graffiti, which was surprising as the sewers seemed largely abandoned, and yet there was a sign of a human's work.
The painting was of what appears to be a long alligator, with sharp hard scales on the back, and long sharp gray teeth with green liquid dripping off the ends. The alligator was in an almost slithering stance like a snake, which was odd, as alligators typically didn't even have liquid dripping from its teeth nor appeared in a position a snake would take.
The painting was well done, clearly having taken a great deal of time to make, and Meditat internally commends whoever had made the graffiti for having the courage to do so, while also resenting them as vandalism was still a crime.
Meditat takes his attention off it to continue, turning around to the next tunnel, to which he finds surprise when he sees that the walls of the tunnel were full of more graffiti. He shines his arm cannon down the tunnel, seeing that there was far less moss, and far more graffiti.
Meditat slowly walks down as he observes the art, seeing different paintings of iguanas and snakes, lizards and turtles, crocodiles and once again more alligators. There were multiples of them, with some of them being beautifully artistic, and others being more messy doodles.
The deeper Meditat walks, the more he sees less and less quality art, as the graffiti becomes more messy and simple, with some unfinished ones that seem to have been stopped after failures such as exaggerated paint strokes that stick out. Some of the paintings even appear as uninspired green blobs, with some having black circles as if attempting to indicate eyes.
Meditat shines his light on the different drawings, and he quietly asks, "Who had the time to do all these? And why reptiles?"
Orial answers, "Hmm, I'm not very sure…. It's interesting, I am guessing these are not meant to be here, as they serve no purpose to the design of the sewers. Was this created by someone else in that case?"
Meditat nods, and he answers, "Yeah, probably. This is likely some random person's doing, they broke in here and painted all over the place, it's called vandalism, which is a crime. Not a massive crime usually but...still not entirely legal. I just don't know what's with the reptile focus...it's weird…."
Nevertheless, his curiosity pushes him on, and he continues down the tunnel. His eyes survey the art, however the deeper he goes down, the more the graffiti becomes even odder. The drawings come to an end, and instead he finds markings, still made of the green paint. At first there are random streaks, however the streaks ahead begin to form different shapes, and as Meditat moves forward, he starts to notice the shapes begin to resemble letters, with three lines creating an 'H.'
Meditat turns his attention to the left side as he sees more shapes that also look like numbers, seeing another set of three lines, all parallel with one perpendicular through them, which resembles an 'E.' He continues forward, his heart starting to beat faster, as the next letter ahead is composed of only two adjacent lines, which creates an 'L.'
Finally, Meditat gets to the last letter, and he stops in front of it, staring up at it with his blue eyes. He shines his light on the final green letter, which is made of a vertical line, and a circular at the top, creating what looks like a 'P.'
Meditat then looks down his left, and steps back, reading all four letters, and reading out the message it creates. His body freezes, and he quietly whispers to Orial, as if worried that he'd be overheard, "Wait...you're sure you don't sense anyone here?"
Orial reports back, "No I have not, I do not believe there is anyone here due to the lack of other thermal sources. You should be safe right now, at least."
Meditat quietly asks, "Wait Orial...just wondering...what is the person wasn't emitting thermal energy?"
Orial answers the hypothetical with a curious tone, "Well...theoretically if it didn't...then I guess the thermal scanning would not indicate such presence. However, due to the surface being flooded, any footsteps should be audible, yet I have not picked up any splashes besides your own this whole time. Anyways, why wouldn't the target emit a thermal source?"
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he answers, "Because...what if they don't produce their own body heat, like a reptile? And even if we can't hear it, only walking on the ground would make a sound...what if it doesn't walk on the ground?"
His left arm begins to shake, causing the light to become shaky as well, as anxiety starts to creep up on him. His breathing becomes shaky and fast as well, as he starts to feel regret for coming on such a mission, as he realizes how inexperienced he is in a battle of such terrain.
Meditat tries to think of a plan of action off the spot, but he's interrupted by a soft hissing sound coming from above him. His eyes behind the mask instantly widen, and he feels shivers run down his whole body. Petrified, he slowly turns to the left of himself, staring down the tunnel from where he came, where the first graffiti was.
He aims his cannon towards it to shine a light down, and then slowly raises the light up as his eyes follow, moving his gaze towards the ceiling, where the hissing came from. He hears more hissing as his eyes settle on the ceiling, staring into the spotlight.
On the ceiling of the tunnel was what appears to be a man, however he's covered in a dark gray hide similar to an alligator, with hard scales on its long back, which is lined with spikes. The scales continue past where the end of the body would've been, but instead there is a long tail, which moves slowly behind its legs. The head, which seems to have once been human, is elongated to appear more like an alligator, with its bright white teeth showing.
Meditat immediately jumps backwards in shock and fear of the man, his heart beating heavily and quickly, as he forces his hand to stay traced on the man against his instinctual shaking.
The man, who seems to hold onto the ceiling with both his hands and feet able to attach, throws himself off and towards Meditat, his tail dancing as he reveals his hands, which were instead extremely sharp claws. He then opens his long mouth, revealing a vast array of sharp teeth, as if intent to bite and even possibly consume Meditat, a haunting thought.
Meditat immediately opens fire on the reptilian man, firing a barrage of bolts out of his arm cannon in hopes to quickly neutralize the man, skipping backwards while firing as he tries to make distance.
However, the man doesn't even seem affected by the shots, as his thick hide seems to protect himself from the shots, and he drops to the ground, having missed his pounce. However, he's quick to his feet, jumping at Meditat again, readying his claws for slashes.
His claws begin to start glowing green, similar to the green of the graffiti, and a green liquid starts dripping off of the tips of the claws, appearing to be some sort of venom.
The man slashes at Meditat with his poisonous claws, which were deadly enough that one slash would instantly kill him.
Meditat recognizes that his arm cannon wasn't slowing down the reptilian man, and he puts his right hand out, which glows blue even brighter. His energy shield projects out of his hand, forming between himself and the man, who's slash ends up impacting the shield rather than Meditat himself.
Meditat continues walking backwards as the man continues slashing at him, advancing forwards, and pushing Meditat back into the unknown depths of the sewers.
The reptilian hisses loudly as he continues slashing at Meditat, his claws clashing with the shield, unable to penetrate it. While he can't use his mouth due to the fact that it is too far from his reach, he doesn't stop the slashing, as if he is still mindlessly trying to get through to his meal.
Meditat realizes that the consistent damage tires the shield, and he couldn't hold it forever. While he still had a good amount of time before it would have to be let to cool off, he knew he would have to find an alternate way to stay his ground.
As he's being pushed back, he notices another tunnel that bridges to his left, seeing it as his way to escape and make more distance, as he couldn't risk a short ranged battle against venomous claws or a bite that could rip his head off.
He takes a deep breath, and pulls his left arm back while he keeps his shield up with his right gauntlet. His left arm then transforms back into its normal state, getting rid of the light, leaving the only source of light left to be his glowing features and the reptile's glowing claws.
Meditat's left gauntlet transforms into the plasma launcher, and a charge immediately begins to build, as Meditat recognizes that he had limited time before he'd pass the tunnel. As he moves towards the edge of the window, the plasma orb in front of the barrel grows to a sizable amount, not exactly material to blow up a wall, but enough to push back.
He lets the reptile make one more slash, and the moment it gets blocked, Meditat disengages the shield, putting himself at risk. Immediately after, he throws his left arm forwards, and fires the plasma charge at the reptilian man.
The plasma charge strikes the man, exploding on impact, and throwing his body back by several feet, seeming to have been effective. He continues flying backwards before he extends his arms out, and stabs his claws into the walls of the tunnel. He skids down a few more feet before coming to a stop, still able to fight.
The reptilian man throws himself onto the ceiling, flipping around before gripping the ceiling with his hands and feet. His tail continues to distance as he hisses, his black eyes staring into Meditat's, with saliva dripping off his mouth as if he was hungry.
He then begins to crawl towards Meditat at incredible speed, causing Meditat to make a run for the tunnel to his left, using the short window of time to maximize his distance.
As Meditat runs into the tunnel, he uses his suit to thrust himself forwards, as while he couldn't swing anywhere and traditional boosting would be dangerous, he was able to use moderate pushes on his back to enhance the speed of his running.
He hears the hissing and crawling from behind him, as he knows he is being followed, and begins thinking of a plan of attack. His first thought was returning to the arm cannon, however using the concentrated beam. While it was inhumane to use directly on a person, it could be strong enough to penetrate the hide, and as long as Meditat didn't aim at any vital organs, the man wouldn't be necessarily dead.
Meditat's left arm transforms back into the arm cannon, as he chooses to keep his right arm in the armored fist in case he needs the shield at any moment. The arm cannon's vents light up, and it starts humming as mist starts seeping out of the barrel.
Meditat takes a deep breath, and spins around, facing behind himself, looking up to see the reptile crawling on the ceiling towards him. He then aims his arm cannon at the man's left upper arm, and fires the concentrated beam, which lights up the whole tunnel for a brief moment.
The reptile continues crawling towards Meditat, however the bright beam of energy penetrates his left arm, and slices his arm entirely off. His arm falls into the water, and he falls off of the ceiling, the loss of the limb removing his balance on the ceiling.
He manages to spin around and land on ground, using his tail to balance himself upright, smoke exiting the hole in his arm.
Meditat sees that the beam had cut off the reptile's arm, and while he felt disgusted at his own action and felt remorse for the beast for having lost a limb, he stays focused on the fight, and aims his arm cannon at the reptile's right arm, as if trying to disarm him to then neutralize him more easily.
The reptile hisses, and begins sprinting at Meditat again. To Meditat's surprise, skin begins to generate on the hole where the reptile's arm once was, as though his whole arm was regenerating within seconds. The skin extends out to grow the upper arm, and then continues to create the forearm.
The hand finally forms, and the sharp claws regrow, as the whole arm was seemingly reattached, while the old arm lays in the water behind, still detached and smoking.
The man, once more with both hands, leaps at Meditat, and seems to spin backwards while its tail extends out towards Meditat's left hand.
Meditat fires his beam once again, aiming at the reptile's right arm, which was now directly in front of him. As he keeps moving backwards, using his boosts to speed his retreat, he pierces the reptile's left arm, causing the man to roar similar to a crocodile, clearly in pain, as regardless of its regeneration abilities it still felt its arm being cut off.
The reptile's tail wraps around Meditat's arm cannon, and it throws Meditat backwards, straight into the back wall that he was already close to, as Meditat seems to have flown into a dead end. As the reptile's tail holds Meditat's left arm down, he grabs Meditat's right arm with his regenerated left arm, holding him against the wall, forcing him to be unable to use either hand.
The reptile hisses as it moves closer towards Meditat, and it moves its head towards Meditat's, flicking its long tongue out, causing Meditat to squirm in place. The reptile then slowly opens its mouth, and moves it closer to Meditat's head, intent to bite off.
As Meditat stares into the reptile's open mouth, which was full of a row of sharp teeth, he tries to slow and calm his breath, knowing he couldn't move his arms. However, that wasn't a problem, and he just has to think clearly to avoid it being a problem and instead find another solution.
While both of his arms were locked, and he was about to be bit, the golden armor in the center of his left shoulders pops up, revealing a rectangular compartment that seems hidden under the pauldrons, and has both a long parallelogram-shaped vent that nearly takes up the whole compartment's front, along with a smaller parallelogram-shaped opening above it towards the neck-side. The vent and opening lights up blue, and begins humming, not held down unlike the arms.
The vent then seems to fire a powerful blast of energy similar to an overwhelming gust of wind, which blasts straight into the reptile's face, causing him to lose his grip on Meditat and fly backwards, being thrown off several feet and creating distance with Meditat.
Meditat, now free once again, stands up straight, having avoided an untimely demise. He puts his left foot ahead, and another compartment reveals itself on his shoulders, however this being on his right shoulder, which has a vast array of openings placed together, appearing similar to a missile launcher.
He leans forward, and multiple small darts fire out of the openings, being pushed by a blue flame similar to missiles. The many darts strike the reptile, which causes small explosions on impact, which further throws him backwards.
Meditat steps forward, and he turns to his side, seeing another tunnel that he could escape into. However, he instead turns back to the reptilian man, who slowly gets up to his feet, struggling after the barrage.
Meditat had come here to defeat the murderer, and now that he was face to face, he wouldn't run away anymore.
Meditat begins running towards the reptile, and he fires a powerful yet thin laser out of his left shoulder, which strikes the reptile in the shoulder, which penetrates straight through the natural armor and causes the reptile to squeal in pain.
He continues sprinting, and on the front of his gold plates, two circular barrels stick out on his far sides by the collarbone, and open to reveal a blue glowing opening. As Meditat approaches the man, both barrels fire powerful bursts of energy with an immediate stopping power, which knocks the reptile on his sides of the shoulder with the force similar to a great swing of a warhammer.
The reptile squeals again as his body is thrust backwards, and Meditat leaps forward, boosting himself towards him, contrasting his earlier plan of keeping distance. He pulls his right armored fist back, and throws it right into the reptile's long face, punching him far backwards again, getting the upper hand on the battle at last.
Even though the reptile was clearly once a man due to his humanoid shape, and was most likely an Exhuman, he was far from human now, and Meditat had to be ready to stop him. He felt bad inside, knowing that it must be painful to lose oneself completely and become a different beast, as clearly there was a humanity to him who managed to create the graffiti.
There used to be a person inside, but Meditat couldn't let that hold himself back from doing what he had to do.
The reptile slams into the wall of the tunnel where the graffiti was, groaning in pain as he slides into the water. His tail wags in pain as he struggles to get back up, with burn marks in his hide, and bruises now visible.
Meditat slowly walks towards him, as his shoulder cannons retract back into the suit, and his left arm transforms into the plasma launcher, which then immediately starts building a charge, as streams of energy come out of the barrel, and build up an orb.
Meditat speaks out loud, unsure if his words would even come across to the stray Exhuman, "I know there was someone once in there, and if that person can somehow return, then it would be nice to resolve this peacefully. I don't want to hurt you, and I'm sure you don't want this either. I've seen your messages on the wall, I don't know how long the process of your metamorphosis was, but I'm sorry that I wasn't able to save you before it got to this point. If someone is still in there, back down."
The reptile growls, and he watches as Meditat approaches him. His tail slows down as he stares at Meditat's face, his black eyes watching Meditat's blue eyes, as if for a moment, there was an understanding made.
Somewhere underneath the thick reptilian hide was a person, someone in pain, someone who wanted to do no harm but was forced to by a force external to himself.
The reptile watches as Meditat stops in front of him, and looks down, waiting for a response. It hisses quietly, as if contemplating, thinking for a moment.
Meditat stares at the confused reptile, waiting patiently, his plasma orb having been built up more than well, and still charging with every passing second.
He was more than ready to shut off the charge without releasing it however, and that was more of what he wanted.
However, he can't have what he wanted, as the reptile roars before leaping back to its feet, and then proceeding to slap Meditat's body away from him, farther down the same tunnel as he was in. The reptile growls as it stares down at Meditat, who flies backwards before stopping himself with balancing pushes, and landing on his feet.
The reptile opens his mouth, revealing his teeth, and in place of the hole where his right arm once was, his arm regenerates again, the skin extending out as it did with the left.
The reptile, fully regenerated, hisses loudly at Meditat, who stands across from him. He had chosen his place, unable to change, committed to the monster he had become. He stomps his foot on the ground, and lowers his knees, as if getting ready to charge at Meditat.
It starts running at Meditat, who in a reluctant response, throws his plasma orb that he had been generating at the reptile, which was charged enough that it shoots out its own plasma arcs due to it being overloaded with energy.
The plasma orb strikes the reptile, causing it to shriek in pain, and an explosion erupts between him and Meditat, causing the wall making up the tunnel to slightly crack.
The reptile is shot backwards due to the explosion, shrieking as it feels the burning energy surge through it, as it flies back down to the ground, sliding backwards before coming to a halt. It growls as it tries to get back up to its feet, disoriented but trying to fight, however Meditat gave no such opening.
Instead, Meditat kicks off of the ground and boosts straight towards the reptile, pulling back his right knee. Once the knee is pulled all the way back, as if preparing for a kick, the wide barrel forms around the knee cap, extending out slightly to create another weapon subtly located on his body.
Meditat then knees the reptile straight in the chest, and right as he makes contact, the barrel fires another powerful burst of energy, adding to the pain of the kick, and causing the reptile to go flying backwards once again.
Meditat continues his flight, and he aims both of his arms at the reptile, with both arms transforming into arm cannons, as he was even ready to give up some of his defense in exchange for offensive power. Both of the arm cannon's vents light up, and powerful concentrated beams of energy fire out of each, striking both of the reptile's arms to dismember both of them, a cruel yet effective method at ending the fight quickly.
The reptile squeals as its body strikes the opposing wall, hitting the graffiti of the alligator. The reptile growls as it stands up straight, trying to fight back, even though both of its arms are gone. It looks back at Meditat, leaning against the wall, growing as it tries to keep enough energy to fight.
Meditat's right arm transforms into the plasma cannon, which immediately gets to work with building a charge and his left arm stays aiming at the reptile. His left arm instead seems to revert back to the standard gauntlet, as if it wasn't meant to be weaponized. However, an under barrel of sorts forms on his left arm, and it ejects a metal disk out, which he grabs with his hand. Once in his hand, the center of the disk lights up blue, and four streaks of lines appear coming out of the center and to the circumference, as if it was activating.
Eager to end the fight soon, he had already deployed one of the few EPDs he had on him, which were capable of attaching onto enemies and then sending powerful pulses that would paralyze them, which was Meditat's method to be able to detain Exhumans to stop them from utilizing their abilities again.
The device affected the brain, making it hard for the brain to be able to communicate with the rest of its body by blocking the brain from sending motor neurons to the body, and even sedating the brain enough to prevent them from utilizing their abilities.
He could only create a few on hand, however they were extremely useful, as they could end a fight.
As the reptile roars at Meditat, and Meditat gets close to the wall, he fires his plasma charge that he had built up, throwing it straight at the reptile with the intent of knocking him down.
However, the reptile ducks right under the charge, causing it to fly past him, and instead strike the wall behind. The charge explodes on impact, creating a massive crack in the wall, so much so that it ruins the alligator art.
However, while the reptile moves forward slightly, its tail manages to keep it steady. It watches as Meditat approaches it, holding his left hand out to try placing the device on it to end the fight. Although now the reptile was acting smarter, and before Meditat could place it, it ducks again and slams Meditat as hard as it could with its tail, knocking him down the tunnel.
Meditat yells in pain from the smack, and the metal disk slips out of his hand, flying out and disappearing into the water, ridding him of the chance of using it on the reptile.
Meditat groans in pain as he slides down the water, but quickly uses his boosts to get back up, seeing that the reptile was now charging at him, with his arms beginning to both regenerate, albeit it slower due to the heavier task of healing both arms.
He takes a deep breath, and aims his right gauntlet at it, which was still set to the plasma launcher. He backs up as he waits for the right timing, watching the reptile chase him, and then fires the tractor beam at him, which strikes straight in the chest.
Meditat then jerks his arm back and ducks, utilizing the reptile's momentum and quick thinking to throw the reptile straight past himself, and down the tunnel, avoiding the charge.
He stands back up straight, and turns to face the reptile, seeing it fly forward before landing in the water. Meditat takes another deep breath, knowing that now without the disk to easily end the mission, he'd have to tire the reptile the traditional way.
He begins running towards the reptile, and both of his arms transform into cannons once again, with light coming off the vents. Both of the shoulder cannons reveal themselves, and the two launchers on his collarbones do as well, as he seems to bring out all the weapons he can.
He leaps towards the reptile, and as it finishes regenerating both of its arms at last, Meditat fires both concentrated beams of energy at the arms, cutting it off once again.
The reptile squeals, and it staggers backwards, throwing its tail in front of itself as if trying to shield its body with it.
However, Meditat then fires the laser beam from his left shoulder cannon, which strikes the reptile's tail, and Meditat tilts himself down to cause the beam to completely cut it off, dissecting the reptile's weapons to sedate it quickly.
Meditat's gauntlets then transform to plasma launchers, and as he closes in on the reptile, he fires both of the collarbone launchers at him, while also kneeing him and summoning the kneecap launcher, which further adds more energy into the slam, along with the firing of the left shoulder launcher's blast.
The strike causes the reptile to fly back again and into the back wall of the tunnel, hardly able to keep fighting, although it's tough hide still makes it hard for it to be easily defeated.
The reptile roars as it lays against the back of the wall, hoping that its armor would protect it until it could somehow fight back or escape, as it was tiring out too much to regenerate.
Meditat fires both of his plasma charges at the same time after having built it up, and immediately after firing them, while his arms were still out ahead, he transforms them back into the arm cannons, and starts firing rapid barrages at the reptile. As he does, he also fires his missile barrage from his right shoulder to further suppress the reptile.
The reptile, struggling to get up, gets hit by both plasma charges, which both explode on his hide, further slamming him into the wall, which causes cracks to form from the impact.
The reptile hisses in pain after the powerful blast, however it's not given much time to recover as it's immediately struck by a continuous barrage of bolts, which cause it to stay marooned to the ground, fighting to get up without being able to.
It watches as Meditat approaches it, keeping heavy fire on it to keep it down, with the bolts starting to wear it out. It stays on its back as it fails to regenerate, groaning from the concentrated fire.
As Meditat closes in on the reptile again, he pulls his arms back, and both of his gauntlets transform into armored fists. He continues forward, and then begins boosting as many times as he could forwards, speeding himself up dramatically.
He throws both fists forward, as while it was an unusual punch, it would maximize damage, which is what happens when both fists strike the reptile's jaw, causing an explosion of wind to be produced by the impact, as a powerful gust of wind flies in all directions after the hit.
Even after all the strikes, the reptile still hisses, still awake and not having been entirely defeated. As Meditat slowly approaches it to check out the damages, the reptile roars, and even though it is heavily tired, it manages to kick Meditat hard on his right side, sending him flying down the tunnel again.
The reptile hisses as it pushes itself back up to its feet, unable to regenerate its lost limbs, but at least able to fight with what it has. It stares at Meditat as he slams into the water, and the reptile roars again, its hide still protecting it well.
Meditat falls to the ground again, confused with how the reptile could even keep fighting. He groans before boosting himself back up to his feet, and standing up straight. He stares at the reptile, who stares at him from the other side of the tunnel.
Meditat takes another deep breath, beginning to feel slightly tired, although he could keep pushing. He transforms his left arm into the arm cannon and his right arm into the plasma launcher, and readies the missile barrage again. He pulls his right arm back to begin charging his plasma launcher while aiming his left arm at the reptile, ready to give all he could to overpower the beast.
However, as Meditat readies for another round, Orial speaks to him, warning, "Meditat, it seems your suit's internals are getting hot, which may be a product of overheating systems. I advise you to be more cautious with your output."
Meditat sighs, and he asks, "Can you cool the suit down then? I can take him, I know it, we can do this. Just do whatever you need in the background."
Orial argues back, "The temperature system is meant to moderate the layer of the suit that contains you, as it's made to moderate your own body temperature. This is not an issue regarding your body temperature, this is an issue regarding the temperature of the suit itself. You are forcing too much into the suit at once, and it is overheating, as the cooling you have for the cannons are not enough to counter the intense work put in. If you continue this, this suit will not hold up much longer."
Meditat takes a deep breath, and he says, "Okay, then I'll end this before anything can happen. Trust me, Orial, we can end this. I've trained hard to get the stamina to fight this strong this long, I can't be bottlenecked again when it matters. Just hold tight, it'll be alright, this will end soon."
The reptile then begins to charge at him again, constantly snapping its mouth as if trying to get Meditat with a bite. It roars aggressively as it gives its all, and Meditat readies to do the same.
The reptile leaps at Meditat, opening its mouth wide as it seems to try to consume Meditat's head, its teeth shining blue as Meditat stares down at it.
Before the reptile could take its meal, Meditat counters by first firing his plasma orb at it, causing the orb to explode on impact, sending the reptile backwards and killing its momentum.
He then immediately fires his arm cannon's intense beam at the reptile's scales, which doesn't initially penetrate through, but it slowly begins working to try. To keep the reptile down, Meditat fires the laser beam from his left shoulder, and then begins sending barrage after barrage of missile darts to push it farther back. As he does, he charges his plasma launcher once again.
Meditat keeps his right arm back as plasma streams feed the energy orb, and continues firing his concentrated beam into the reptile's scale, which slowly begins turning hot as if he was burning through it gradually.
While he continues pushing the reptile back, he throws another plasma orb at the reptile, and immediately brings it back for another charge, not wasting a second to strike. Another charge builds as the first one explodes on the reptile's body, causing massive blunt damage to it, making it hiss in pain.
Another barrage of missile darts fires as the laser on the other shoulder starts piercing the scales as well, burning more holes through the thick armor, which would hopefully make the takedown easier or at least possible.
Meditat feels sweat run down his forehead, and his body begins to feel hotter and hotter, as though he was being slowly cooked alive. He perseveres regardless, seeing that his beams were cutting through the scales, and he was tiring the reptile.
However, once again Orial warns: "Meditat, the suit is reaching critical stages of burnout. I advise you to cease operation, you are overheating the suit. It will not last much longer like this, and continuation could be catastrophic to yourself."
As Meditat unleashes his barrages and another plasma charge, he boosts forward gradually to equalize his recoil, holding himself steadily. The suit's back boosts harder as there's more force being applied on it from all the constant firing, but it holds up, albeit using even more energy.
Meditat groans, and he says, "Orial, I can't let out now! I finally have the chance to be strong enough to win, I can't leave because it's too much to handle, I can handle myself. I'm about to end this, I need to stay for a little bit longer."
He continues his concentrated beam on the reptile's body, and the scales begin turning bright red as indication of heat.
As Meditat begins charging another plasma shot, his beam finally penetrates through the scale, causing the reptile to squeal in pain. The beam continues firing, as it tears straight through the reptile's inside, and hits the back scales, as Meditat puts the effort to cut all the way through. Another barrage of missiles blow the reptile back, and Meditat's cape starts flying from all of the current both applied and opposed.
Meditat continues to build his plasma charge more than earlier, as he locks on the hole he had cut into the body, preparing to aim at it. His beam continues cutting through the back and tougher scales, putting more energy in to make it happen.
The plasma orb becomes far larger than the barrel itself as it builds, and its own arcs start sparking out, as Meditat tries to hold on it as much as possible.
The beam finally penetrates straight through the back scales, firing straight through the reptile's body, missing his organs intentionally while leaving an opening into the vulnerable tissue.
Meditat pulls his right arm back a bit more, readying to fire the orb. He takes a deep breath, sending more barrages to steady his target, ready to finally end the fight with everything he had.
Just then however, the plasma charge explodes before release, blasting Meditat himself backwards, as the massive explosion causes cracks all around the tunnel's wall. The boosts holding Meditat steady give out, and his body flies backwards for a few seconds before diving into the water, creating an explosion of water from the force of the fall.
Meditat groans as he tries to get up, however his whole body feels slower and heavier, making it harder to move. He sits up, aiming his left arm cannon ahead to continue the firing, however when he raises his cannon, he notices that it is no longer glowing blue, as if it was no longer active.
While Meditat's shoulder weapons were still revealed, he couldn't fire another missile dart, nor did his laser seem to work. None of his weapons were working at all, as Meditat just sits there, staring at the reptile on the other side of the tunnel, who was heavily injured from the attacks.
Meditat takes a deep breath and raises his plasma launcher before pulling it back to create another charge, however nothing happens again, as there are no streams to build an orb.
Meditat asks with an annoyed tone, "What's happening??"
Orial responds to him disappointedly, "You reached maximum capacity, and your suit's built in anti-overdrive systems cut off the power to most of your suit's systems. If your suit hadn't done that, the suit would have exploded, killing you inside. You are no longer capable of utilizing your weapons systems due to the suit's lock, I am sorry."
Meditat takes deep breaths as he stares at the reptile, who hisses in pain, but still seems to be up. While its arms and tail were missing, and it now has a gaping hole in its body, it was angry and hungry enough to stay standing.
Meditat stands up to his feet, and he staggers backwards, his blue eyes glowing more dimly, as it seems all the power in his suit has lowered drastically.
He asks desperately, "What do I do? I need to keep fighting, I'm about to neutralize the Exhuman. Can you enable my weapons again? Please, we have to end this."
Orial sighs, and he admits, "I cannot enable your weapons system, that can only be done manually by you, as your system predates my implementation. The only part of your suit that is still active is your maneuverability system, giving you the ability to retreat. That is the only current option, Meditat. You have done all that you can."
The reptile slowly begins approaching Meditat, growling in rage, as it lowers its back to position itself more horizontally.
Meditat slowly steps back, and he aims his left cannon at it, trying to fire. However, nothing happens, as it is true that none of his weapons would work.
Meditat stares with wide eyes, as he was so sure that he could finally beat the Exhuman, finally strong enough, and now he was held back by the limitations that his own suit could handle. Not even himself, his suit.
He speaks between breaths, "There has to be another way. Orial...please...there has to be a way to fight."
Orial simply guides, "The exit point is behind you down the tunnel. Your weapons will not operate, I suggest you switch out of them. The Exhuman will consume you otherwise."
Meditat stares with eyes of defeat, and his gauntlets transform back into their standard state. He slowly backs up as the rest of his weapons, such as his shoulder weapons and collarbone cannons, retract back into his suit, being disengaged.
He turns around as he begins running down the tunnel, and his suit returns to its neutral state, officially resigning from the fight. He pants heavily while running, feeling full of shame for such a near defeat, as he knew if his suit could handle it, he could've finally defeated his first Exhuman, and it would've been a cold blooded killer whose defeat would've brought peace to the people who worked in the factories above.
He hears the reptile follow him, and he uses the little power he has left to enhance his running with boosts, sprinting down the tunnel, just barely running as fast as the reptile. He reaches the exit platform and jumps up on it, running directly under the hole.
He stops and turns to the reptile, who catches up to him, and turns to face him, growling with its teeth revealed.
Meditat lets out a defeated sigh, and as the reptile leaps at him, Meditat boosts upwards and into the hole, narrowly avoiding it. The reptile flies into the wall, missing Meditat, who leaves the sewers in a necessary retreat.
From under the manhole on the surface in the intersection, a blue light glows, and moments later Meditat flies out, using his hands and legs to thrust himself upwards. He lands down on the street next to the hole, and quickly locates the cover.
He stares at the cover for a few moments in contemplation, reluctant to end the mission, but he picks up the cover, and places it over the hole, blocking entry from the sewers once again. He locks it in place before standing straight over it, knowing that below him the beast lived to fight another day.
Meditat sighs, and he turns around, walking away from the hole. He aims his hand up towards one of the factories before pulling himself towards it, reeling himself to a nearby rooftop. He throws himself onto the edge and rolls on the flat ground before laying on his back, staring at the moon above.
He pants heavily, exhausted from the fight, wondering if anything he had done amounted to anything, just like all the other fights. He was so close, and in the end, something had to hold him back from achieving victory.
He keeps his eyes on the moon, and quietly asks Orial, "Do you think...I'll ever...be able to win…?"
Orial sighs, and he responds, "You will only truly know if you can find your limits and protect yourself to live to see that day."
Meditat lets out a soft breath, and he quietly says, "An overheating problem...who would've thought...dammit…."
He lays on the rooftop, laying beside the chimneys pumping the green smoke into the air, resting to regain his strength to return back to his feet.
Once again, he found himself interrupted from success by a missing component in his suit. Just like before, when it was the basic armoring, or when it was the back protection, or when it was decent weaponry, and now it was something as basic and fundamental as a cooling solution.
Meditat couldn't tell when at what point he'd be able to fight without something limiting him, when at what point he'd finally be able to do what he sought out to do, properly protect the city and become a true balance against the reign of the Exhumans.
He was unsure of what he was doing sometimes, wondering why he was spending so much time and effort into a mission he had never cared about until only a few months ago. All of this work had taken away attention from his studies back on campus, so what good even came out of it all?
Meditat turns to watch the green smoke rise, which he knew was a compound released by most major factories that was healthier than the carbon dioxide released centuries ago, as this compound contained more beneficial elements to the environment, including oxygen to balance out any carbon emissions. While it was more complicated for factories to burn this type of energy, it had become law to do so long before Meditat was born, back in a time when humanity was destroying its own planet, back in a time when the world had to bond together to ditch an easy approach for something far more complicated and challenging, but one that would pay off greater for the generations to come.
In the end, the movement as a whole was a success, as most Earths including Earth 50 suffer no dangerous levels of pollution or even man-caused climate change. Even if it was a more tedious task to take on, it was a success, and the worlds were safer ever since and for centuries to the present.
Now, there was a new threat to the world, one that had been ignored for far too long, as it was too grave to be dealt with. Now, Meditat had to be the one to take that more difficult path to lead humanity to salvation, for the world he lived in.