The soft sound of wind is accomplished by the gentle brush of a breeze, as the life of nature slowly begins to return after having been swept away from the calamity that seemingly ended the all and infinite, leaving nothing but a dark and cold void, one devoid of light and energy.
That void then slowly begins to brighten as well, as light starts to pass into the abyss, initially fuzzy and unclear, and the soft sound of calm and rested breathing joins the wind, however much closer and louder.
The light then gains clarity, as the world suddenly reappears, with the first sight being the light blue skies, and the great blue supersun in the center, reigning with royal might. The sun is once more reserved in its spherical confines, simply passing its energy into the worlds that orbit it, once more supporting the system rather than being its doom.
Meditat slowly wakes up, his suit initially being completely dark, as the streaks of glow weren't present. However, upon awakening, his black eyes begin glowing blue, dim but brightening gradually. His black hood rests calmly over his head, drifting slightly from the winds, as his head seems to lay on the ground by his side, similar to how he left the captives.
His chest begins to glow blue as well, as the central emblem lights up, his body waking up next. The blue energy spreads out from the emblem, pouring down the streaks going to the belt and arms, activating completely.
Meditat groans tiredly, and he lifts his head off the ground, sitting up to try remembering where he was, as his head is still light, as if suffering a hangover.
He places his hand on his forehead, finding himself towards the edge of the ZPrints Enterprise rooftop, somewhat confused why he was there, as he initially has no idea what he was doing earlier. He takes his hand off and shakes his head, and the memories begin flooding back.
He remembers the battle in the warehouse, fighting both of the Exhuman criminals that he had squared off against months before individually, but managing to come out victorious through endurance and utilizing all the upgrades he had made to his suit over his time in the field.
He then remembers taking them to the rooftop, where he now is, and then waiting with them. He then was hit by a blinding light, and witnessed a terrifying apocalypse, as the city was ravaged by an army of Exhumans, and the sun seemed to die and consume the Earths with it.
Meditat pushes his hand into the ground to throw his body up to its feet, and he runs forward, his eyes wide as his immediate worry was the city's safety. However, once he gets to the edge, he finds himself looking down at the perfectly normal city, with all of the skyscrapers still present and gleaming in the sunlight, and the streets clean with pods driving above them.
Meditat blinks in confusion, and he looks back up at the sky, seeing the sun again. He was sure that he witnessed the end of everything, as he could still feel the pain in his chest from the overwhelming anxiety, however the world was fine.
He shakes his head, lost and confused, before hearing Orial's voice in his ear, asking in a hurried voice, "Hello Meditat? Are you there? It appears you are awake, what happened?"
Meditat gazes at the city below in shock to its prime condition, and he shakes his head again, before responding, "Orial, is that you? What happened? I thought the city...the world was gone...what happened? I swear I witnessed the end...but everything is here...I'm still alive…."
Orial sighs, and he answers with a worried tone, "What are you referring to? Neither the city nor the world was damaged, although your heart rate made it seem like to you it was. I usually try not to interrupt you during combat to give you focus, however I tried to bring attention to the extraction of the two Exhumans you defeated, yet it seemed you weren't able to hear me at all. You were staring right at their direction while they were being dragged away confused, but you didn't do anything, you just stood there blankly. I kept trying to reach out to you while you started walking around the platform and began falling over while randomly staring at the city. I ran several brain scans which returned abnormal results, the closest references to your condition was schizophrenia, but even then it was an extreme variant. You then seemed to go into shock unprovoked, as though you had a stroke, for a moment I had thought you died. What happened, Meditat?"
Meditat's eyes widen, as he remembers what he is doing on the rooftop: he was surveying Cratus and Indra to transfer them to the police. While Meditat wasn't able to properly listen to Orial's entire ramble, he clearly heard him mention the extraction.
He turns around towards the elevator door, eyeing where he had left the two. His eyes widen as he makes the turn, sharply inhaling, as he faces the portion of the rooftop where the two criminals were, only to find nobody there.
Meditat couldn't move, as his body freezes in petrification, for he watches all the hard work he put in completely erased in his eyes, the positive results he thought he had gone as if they were never made. He just stares in silence, breathing slowly, his cape drifting in the heavy winds.
Meditat quietly asks, "They...they got...they got away...they got away...how...but the EPDs...they shouldn't have been able to move-...."
All the relief and joy he felt when he first defeated the two was completely lost, as all there was left in him was grief.
As he stares, unable to determine a course of action, he hears the incoming sound of a pod behind him, even though he was far above any normal driving lanes. The engine of the pod seems much deeper, signifying greater power, as if it was built for higher speeds. Speeds necessary to reach for someone like a policeman.
It then hits Meditat like a pile of bricks, he had requested for a policeman equipped with criminal transfer to come pick the two up, even claiming they were Exhumans, which required more time due to the necessary reinforcements for such a task.
However, now Meditat was empty handed, as the two Exhumans were nowhere in sight, and according to Orial, they were pulled away while Meditat did nothing to stop it. Meditat was sure that they were only gone by the time he checked, and yet he was told that he was watching their escape live.
He thought he would finally stand out as a capable protector, a hero for the city, a beacon of hope in such a dark era. However now, as he stands on the empty rooftop, he realizes he was nothing more than a laughing stock.
Meditat turns around to face the source of the sound, and as he thought, it was a police pod, similar to the ones that approached him in the aftermath of his battle with James Seth. The pod was larger, as if built to contain multiple prisoners, with all the heavy reinforcement that was no longer necessary.
The pod drives up to the rooftop before coming to a stop in front of Meditat, the front side of the car in front of Meditat, leaving him to stare at it, trying to think of an explanation.
The pod's driver window then vanishes, revealing the driver inside his seat. The driver was recognizable, and while it takes a moment to remember exactly who it was, Meditat recognizes him as the older wrinkled policeman who had ordered him to surrender when battling Seth, who Meditat then rebelled against when he chose to escape, putting himself against the police.
The driver looks at Meditat, and his eyes widen in surprise, as both of them recognize the other, and both of them feel the cold awkward air of the situation. The two just stare at one another for a few moments, not expecting to cross paths again, or at least not in the form of a criminal apprehending.
Meditat steps back, anxious that the cop would try to detain him as well for refusing to obey orders, and technically escaping from the police. While he has the power now to escape the situation if need be, he would rather not need to defy the people he was trying to assist again.
The cop stares back, and blinks twice, making sure he was looking at the same man he thought he had seen weeks ago. He wasn't sure what the man was doing there, as he simply went to the recovery zone, so he wasn't sure if it was a coincidence that he was seeing the man, or if he was indeed involved in the capture of the supposed duo of Exhuman criminals.
Meditat speaks first, trying to stop any contemplation the cop was having that could lead to undesirable conclusions, and he says, "Hello officer, the weather is nice today, isn't it?"
The cop stares at Meditat, and his eyes contract, as he dawns a more serious and intimidating expression. It was clear that the suited man wasn't trying to escape like last time, inferring that he was trying to work with the cop.
The officer answers, "It is nice, the weather last night was a pain to deal with though, but at least the sun is out again. I don't want to waste too much time, I am here because I was told that there was a citizen's arrest and the criminals were detained, although it was hard to tell if it was a prank, because the location to pick up was oddly high up, and the description of the criminals made it sound a bit too good to be true. So, are you the one who detained them? Where are they?"
The cop looks past Meditat and at the rooftop, seeing that there was nobody else present on the platform.
Meditat puts his hand on the back of his neck with nervousness, as he realizes that he had set himself up with high expectations, and now wouldn't be able to follow up on them. He couldn't do anything, he no longer knew where the two were, and according to Orial, they had escaped with help.
Just to make sure, Meditat turns around to look back at the rooftop, wondering if maybe just by chance, his vision was being fuzzy and unreliable, however upon a double check, he confirms that neither of the captives were there.
He sighs, trying to find words to format a response, knowing that he was wasting the cop's time after having caused him to set everything up for transfer all for nothing.
The cop speaks again, asking, "Hey, hello? I heard you talk before so I know you can talk, where are they? Or was this a prank all along? We get a lot of those, too many, and honestly we were planning to ignore it, but we also heard how specific the descriptions for the criminals were. To us it sounded like you said you captured part of the Babylonians, and we've never even been able to keep up with one, let alone apprehend two. I'm surprised you even claimed they were alive, usually we'd just shoot to kill as soon as possible, but I'm beginning to feel like my hunch was right that this was all just another kid messing around with my time."
Meditat turns back to face the cop, and he lets out another sigh before finally speaking again: "Look, I promise you, I did indeed come across the two of them, and I did detain them. The man in purple approached me first, and the man in orange intercepted the fight. I did restrain them and have them in a state where they wouldn't have been able to escape, I wasn't doing this as some big joke. They just...I think they got help and got away. I don't know though...that's what apparently happened...all I remember is seeing everything…-"
Meditat puts his hand on his forehead, remembering the terrifying haunting screams coming from the burning city.
The cop leans back on his seat, and he gives a chuckle, laughing off the bad comedy of the situation, as he quickly understands what had happened. It was already a bit odd that only a few of the Babylonians were captured, and seeing Meditat's emotional reaction to recounting the events, as though he was experiencing trauma, everything started sounding familiar.
He shakes his head, and says, "I get it now, you captured their two front cannons, the powerhouses who usually commit the acts, and I'm guessing to you, they were alone. You must've not seen the rest then, because from the long list of encounters with this group, we have deduced that they have hidden members who aid them from the shadows. Since they hardly show themselves compared to the other two, there is hardly any information on them, however we're led to believe that they have at least some sort of overseer who plots their attacks, and possibly another Exhuman terrorist that can induce experiences that have been described similar to hallucinations or mind fogging, as there have also been accounts of possible mind control or delusions. Is that what happened to you?"
Meditat tilts his head in confusion, as the cop makes it out as though these enemies were well known, as he was suddenly throwing out information left and right that he had never heard prior. Yet, Meditat thought they were never heard of, or at least their specific presence would be nothing more than conspiracy.
He asks with curiosity, "Wait, how much do you know about these people? And yes...that's surprisingly precise to what I experienced, well I don't think I was mind controlled, but I felt like I was experiencing hallucinations and haze. But what is this 'baba-lonians?' I thought these guys were relatively unknown, but you talk like there's been a lot of cases of them."
The cop shrugs his shoulders, and he responds, "Well, that's because there has been. The first case was in 2832, specifically winter, it wasn't too bad, there was a power outage at a home in the south side and there were knocked down doors leading up to where the family kept their safes. The damage wasn't that severe either, but it seems over time, they became more ambitious. For so long now that group has been a pain for all of us, they've become the longest running and most deadly group reported, we lost count of the amount of casualties they brought. The press started reporting on their bigger attacks, and the name Babylonians was tossed around, so we decided to take that as a way to keep track of their attacks."
Meditat lowers his head as he remembers the mall incident, the first time he met Indra, and while it was a horrible sight, he had hoped that this was just a rare occurrence, and that he hadn't done similar acts before. However, by the sound of the man, it seemed he was wrong, and those acts were usual.
He raises his head up and looks at the cop, asking "I see...so they're called the 'Babylonians?' And they've been around for...huh...five years now...they must be rather old and experienced them. The orange guy, he went by the name Cratus I believe, he wasn't very talkative, however the purple guy, Indra, loved rambling about how he felt the world betrayed him and whatnot, honestly his speeches became irritating. I just didn't know they were around for so long...and that they were such a threat...now I feel worse for getting your hopes up, officer."
The cop sighs, and he asks, "Well, what can you do? Hey, if it helps, it did feel good at the time to think that maybe there was some hope in the city, maybe somehow these weapons that exceeded our own would finally stop thrashing us around. I mean sure it was short lived, and I don't think that drink at Castin Bar is going to be as fun as I first thought. And huh...Cratus and Indra? I've never heard of those names before, they didn't even have names to us, we've just had codes for them. Well, I don't know what mothers named their child that sounds like some outlandish fantasy name, but then again some of these Earths are weird."
Meditat hums in intrigue, surprised that the cop didn't seem to know about the names before, which meant that Meditat had gained intel that hadn't been gained before over the five years.
While he still feels humiliated from letting the enemies slip away, knowing that at least he provided new information for the police was relieving and made him feel slightly better, although it wasn't much.
He responds, "I don't think they're real names, they're most likely codenames, I doubt they'd pass their actual birth names around so freely. Then again, I've met a few Exhumans who openly exposed their identities so I don't know for sure...but yeah, I didn't know how much history they had. I should've tried harder to keep them down until you could come...I was finally at the cusp of being able to do something...and it failed at the end."
The cop turns his head to Meditat, and his eyebrow raises. He then asks with confusion and curiosity, "'You've met a few Exhumans?' Wait, I know I met you a few weeks ago, during that attack that the boys are still having trouble trying to wrap their heads around. I thought you were working in the chaos, you did run away from me, don't think I forgot just because I haven't asked you to get in the pod yet. But were you trying to...fight the Exhuman?"
Meditat tilts his head from side to side, as the cop had broken the ice on the fact that the two had a previous encounter, and had now asked an interesting question. While Meditat preferred to announce his presence to the officials while having proof of his effectiveness, he had to give up the heroic showcase for a more embarrassing confession.
He nods his head, answering, "I...guess. I'm trying to help with the Exhuman terrorism problems in this city, I know how bad they are, and I know how rampant and free they are. So yes, I've been trying to stop them, and I thought I finally succeeded. But I guess not...I still have a ways to go ...."
The cop hmms as he tries to decipher the interesting man before him, perplexed by the response he was given. He looks at the suit Meditat wears, examining it and its technological marvel, while also noticing that it was indeed some sort of power suit.
He then asks, "Wait, what are you? Are you some sort of government agent I don't know about? One of those confidential programs they've been working on, are they running tests now? Are you a licensed hitman, or hired at least, is there a bounty on these Exhumans? I'm sure there's a price for them somewhere...that suit doesn't look like something you find in most retail stores, so who's your contractor?"
Meditat gives a slight nervous laugh, as he realizes just how bizarre the truth really is. He looks down for a few moments as he ponders what to say, but looks back up, deciding to go with whatever made sense first.
He answers, "I'm not any of those, I don't really have a boss or contractor. I'm not getting paid by anyone either, this isn't really a job to me. As I said, I'm doing this to help, I want to use what I have to help the city. My...suit, it uh...it's my most prized possession, and I want to use it for something good."
While Meditat was mostly truthful in his response, he had to slip in the lie that his suit was something he possessed, as if it was something he always had, not something he constructed with his own abilities. He couldn't say he made the suit himself, the greatest advantage of his abilities was that he didn't need to worry about the rarity and prices of materials necessary to construct the parts, and so it wasn't feasible for any random person to build the suit he was wearing, nor most of the ones he had dawned over the months he spent in the city.
The cop blinks twice, and he lets out breath through his nose. He stares at Meditat with surprise, and a smile creeps along his face, as if there was something funny about the response.
The officer turns ahead of himself to the windshield and chuckles before coughing twice, almost trying to choke out his laughter, as something Meditat said he found hilarious.
Meditat just stared in confusion, and took a step back, unsure if he had said something wrong, or if the officer had seen through his lies and caught him red handed.
The officer chuckles again, and he turns back to Meditat, finally having gotten over himself.
Meditat asks with concern, "Is everything alright, officer?"
The officer nods his head, and he answers, "Yes yes I'm fine, don't worry. It's just...wait...so...are you telling me then that you're...a vigilante?"
Meditat tilts his head in confusion to the question, as he was familiar with the term, however he had never heard it applied to his situation. He never put a name on what he was, but vigilante was never one of the ideas.
He never thought of himself exactly undertaking law enforcement with his own hands, he always thought of himself just aiding the police, more of an ally rather than a replacement. He didn't think the police were exactly inadequate, however he also avoided such trains of thought, as he felt it was important to have some faith in the city's own defense systems.
When he thought of vigilantes, he thought of mysterious demons who caught and struck criminals in the darkness, always hiding from the authorities, leaving no regard for the world around them while their only priority was the win.
However, as Meditat contemplates the question, he remembers the carnage brought to the warehouse, as he knows that if he was tracked down and given the blame for it, he would be in a huge pile of trouble he didn't know how to get out of.
He also only started the mission because he felt nobody else could, because the line of defense wasn't able to stop the speeding train that was the Exhumans, however Meditat never saw that as patheticness.
He straightens his neck, still unsure of how to answer the question, as he knew that vigilantes usually pitted themselves against the police and other defensive bodies natural to the world they protected.
He answers, "I uh...don't know...I guess that word could work...but it's a gross oversimplification."
The officer nods his head, and he leans back on his chair, letting out a loud sigh.
Meditat steps forward, and he argues, "But I aim to aid you as an ally, not a replacement, I have no ill will towards you."
The officer chuckles, as while he was a rather old man, he acts like a child for once.
He shakes his head, and says, "No no, don't worry, I mean hey maybe it would be better if someone able could replace us. The VPD has practically eradicated crime caused by regular people, but when it comes to Exhumans, we've hardly stopped anyone. I don't think I've stopped one Exhuman in my life and I've been in this job since I was young and idealistic."
Meditat tilts his head in confusion and surprise at the officer's sudden humbleness, as he seemed to poke fun at both himself and the whole department he had apparently served for so long, even though Meditat explained that he wasn't trying to rival them in any way.
The officer continues, "And in all my years of living, I've never thought I'd actually meet a vigilante. There have been hardly any over the past centuries, and I don't think Versepolis itself has ever had any. All I've heard about vigilantes were short stories, Exhumans that tried to rival other Exhuman criminals, and either met their end to their first battle, or they end up getting in quarrels with the police, which end with their premise. Some vigilantes wouldn't fight back, and they'd get themselves killed quickly, and others tried to fight back, but they would just end up losing whatever care they had and turn to crime again. I think the only successful vigilantes I've heard of are a small group of Exhumans who jump around different Earths, apparently they managed to eradicate one of those factions who've been fighting it up in the outer worlds, the weird cultist one, but I don't really think I buy it. I mean, those factions have been making a mess for I don't even know how long, taking down one of those isn't something anyone could do. But who knows, maybe they do exist, but they're so rare that I'll never see them with my own eyes. Then again, they are still Exhumans, so at the end of the day, they might be confusing devils, but they're devils nonetheless. But you, you're a man in a suit, what makes you think you can take them on?"
Meditat sighs, as his guess was right: The officer didn't believe Meditat had powers of his own, and was just wearing some random power suit. It was a safer theory for Meditat's sake though, as him being outed as an Exhuman could put him in danger, especially since the officer seemed to have the belief that Exhumans were instinctively devils.
He decides to roll with it, as while it was quite a lie, he hoped that at least one day he wouldn't need the training wheels, but for now it could help let him pedal.
Meditat answers, "Well, Exhumans at the end of the day are still humans, they have strength but they also have weakness, and if I can put this suit to its limits, then maybe I can exploit those weaknesses. I did defeat those two, and even if they were retrieved, I at least know it is possible to defeat them. I just need more time before I can return the results, but I will return them, I'll make it my mission to stop this 'Babylonians.'"
The officer's eyebrow raises, and he asks, "Huh? You mean you want to try taking them down, the group that's been causing us trouble for half a decade? I mean hey go ahead if you really want, I won't stop you, but I hope you know that you'll probably end up dead doing so. And you seemed kind of messed up from whatever nightmare they put you through, they can do it again."
Meditat shakes his head, and he swears, "No, I'll be fine, I can endure more dreams if I have to, that's all they are. And maybe this mission will get me killed, but if it does, then I'll just be like the other vigilantes: not strong enough for the job. But I will find and dismantle the Babylonians, however many there are, I'll make it my focus. And I'll prove that I'm here to help you and the rest of the city, this is my life."
The officer sighs, and he looks Meditat in the blue eyes. He admits, "You know, by code I'm supposed to arrest vigilantes since they are technically enemies of the law. Also, I'm not sure how authorized you are to man that suit, and you have ignored direct orders by officers. But also, when you stay in this line of work for so long, you tend to get looser with the codes. You're a good talk, and that suit also intimidates me too much to try throwing you in here. So I won't put you down, but what I will do is tell you this: it's cute that you have this optimistic attitude on being able to put an end to this chaos, but optimism doesn't equate to ability. You're more than lucky to even be alive after practically asking for death, and while I still don't know how much I believe you saying you captured two of the members of the Babylonians, at least I know that you have a will that I've never seen before, not even in the police force. You shouldn't waste that life away on this job, trust me, it's a rabbit hole that you'll never crawl out of. You get in here thinking you can make a difference, but the only difference you make is making the department more laughable when people see how big it is and yet how unable it is. Want my advice, kid? Go get a life, leave this hell to the guys who at least get something out of it, I've seen a lot in my days, and if you aren't even getting paid for it, you might as well not have started at all. You seem determined, if you wanted to take any path, you could get far in it, so find literally any other job, and get as far away from this quicksand."
The officer turns ahead, and he takes a deep breath. He finishes, "It's good that people with your heart exist, but it's people like that who don't survive in this cruel world. The suit looks cool, but don't walk around with it in the city. I won't shoot you if I see you doing that, but they will. Now, I would say I have work to do and I'm busy, but I'm supposed to be truthful. So I'll just say that I shouldn't waste more time on this conversation. Good day."
With that, he drives off, leaving the skyscraper's rooftop, and descending down to the city's surface. The deep roar of the pod gradually fades as it gets farther and farther before vanishing from Meditat's sight, as he watches the pod leave.
Meditat softly sighs, and he responds, "Good day, sir…."
He then looks ahead at the city, and looks up at the supersun, but instinctively looks down, as the mere sight of the sun reminds him of the horrid hallucination. He looks down at the city, and looks away again, remembering it being flooded and crushed, remembering the cries for help, the cries that were never answered.
He looks back down at the ground, feeling repelled by every sight, and he closes his eyes. He wants to continue fighting, he wants to find the criminals that he had caught, and he wants to find their accomplices. He wants to save the city and prove himself as an adequate defender, and he wants to bring peaceful sanity to the chaotic mess people had to live through.
However, even a man who gave his life for the city seemed to discourage the idea, and Meditat's mind lingers on the flashes of the destruction of the city, destruction that he could never stop no matter how much he put into the fight.
Orial asks, "Meditat, do you want me to begin searching for a crime in progress? While crime might be more light due to the time, I am sure there will still be a mission I can locate. Just give the word, and I will begin looking."
Meditat opens his eyes, staring at the gray ground. He stares at the floor, his cape still drifting in the morning breeze, as he contemplates how to answer the question.
He lets out a defeated sigh, and instead answers, "Actually, you don't need to do that, Orial. I think I'm drained after the long night, and my suit is still battered. We should get back to the campus, besides, I probably have homework to do."
Orial sighs, and he asks, "Are you sure? I know you do attend a university with classes, but usually you don't seem concerned with work from it."
Meditat reassures, "Yes, I want to go back to campus. We can...think about going back out later...I need to get some rest before we can do any fighting, right? You always told me that I need to be more attentive to rest."
Orial answers, "Well, I understand your way of thinking. Very well, I am routing a course for your dorm now. Turn 230 degrees to the left, and begin straight."
Meditat nods his head, and he says, "Thank you Orial," before walking to the edge of the rooftop. He then leaps off of the building, and fires a pull link back at the skyscraper, using it to swing around before throwing himself the other way, making the necessary turn. He boosts forward, and begins his flight back, his body a blue blur as it flies over the morning city.
For the first time, Meditat had the choice between taking on a fight and staying back, and he chose the latter. He didn't know if he was making the right choice, but he wasn't sure what the right choice was, and his head was still dizzy from the earlier predicaments, so he couldn't think too critically.
He told himself that this was just a quick return back to his room to do other work, just making sure he maintained all aspects of life, as he was still attending a prestigious university, and he had to make sure he wouldn't fail out of what he worked so hard to get into.
However, while Orial only lived for a few months, he spent nearly everyday with Meditat, and learned a great deal of the person he was, his habits, and was even able to read his vitals so he always knew what was going on.
Orial knew that this was not what Meditat claimed it was, it was not so casual, nor was it so inconsequential.
It was a retreat.
And both of them knew that.