Downtown traffic was picking up with the growing light. Sunrays bounced between tall glass facades, scattering reflections. Rubber rustled on the pavement as a small delivery van rolled ponderously among scooters and bicycles. Bells mixed with voices and the flapping of pigeon wings, drifting into the bright sky above. Somewhere nearby, heads turned to watch a minor commotion.
It was two kids, in colorful jumpsuits with little capes and domino masks, dodging trees and street vendors while they chased each through the foot traffic. The van braked abruptly as one of them dashed across the road. Startled, the girl jumped high into the air, and never came down again, instead hovering at second-floor height, hands on her hips. Her friend followed a moment later, only to be met with a bright energy beam. He took it on his chest, seeming unfazed, then rushed his playmate so hard they both flew into the windows of a nearby office tower. The reflective surface rippled like water, splitting up long enough to admit them, then reformed.
Inside, countless columns lined a vast gloomy space. Loose pieces of construction materials littered the bare floor. Little feet echoed, punctuated with shrieks of delight; now and then, the air crackled with energy beams that didn't seem to cause much damage apart from leaving pockmarks where they hit.
After a while, someone came up the stairs. Someone two meters tall, with glowing eyes and metallic skin.
"Hey, kids!" he shouted. "How many times do I have to tell you, this isn't your playground. You could get hurt!"
"Sorry, mister!" they both answered at the same time, and ran outside past the uniformed guard at near-supersonic speeds.
A good way from there, towards the periphery, was a sleepy side street with little gray apartment buildings on one side and houses along the other, some new, some old. The doors of a garage stood half open; voices could be heard arguing inside the bay.
It was a small group around a workbench, on which a high-tech suit of armor sat partly opened. Curious devices pointed at it from the ceiling, and wires led to a nearby console, on which a screen showed animated graphs. The woman fussing over it all had a kind of racing suit on, and streamlined goggles with little lights dancing on them.
"I'm telling you, boss, it doesn't work. There's no way it could. That's his power, he makes it work anyway."
The man she addressed came closer, opening his longcoat to reveal a black jumpsuit with a compact utility belt.
"Are you telling me his power is, what, making machines break the laws of physics?"
"Pretty much, if these readings are correct. We're wasting our time here."
Her boss leaned over the workbench. "Why don't you let me decide how to use the time I'm paying you for!" They stared each other in the eye for a moment, while the other mechanics backed away nervously.
"You should listen, Drake." A shadow covered the already narrowed entrance. "The lady knows her stuff."
Another man walked in, wearing a skeletal version of the suit on the table. Drake turned towards him defensively, backed by most of the others.
"What are you doing here, George? You abandoned it in the wreckage of that truck. Finders, keepers."
"I was literally a hundred meters away giving statements! Now hand it over."
George advanced menacingly. His rival hesitated, then took a couple of steps back, hiding behind his crew. "Stop him!"
They obeyed, pulling little blob-shaped rayguns. Laser beams lanced towards the armored man. He dodged some of them while catching others on mirror-like armguards. Pipes along the ceiling sprung leaks, flooding the room with steam. He took advantage to get out of the way and launch a swarm of micro-missiles in response. Most of them found a target, and Drake's henchmen fell down, electrical arcs all over their bodies.
"All right, all right!" Drake ran a gloved hand through his shock of blond hair. "Take it. No harm, no foul. I'll even waive the salvage fee."
"How generous." George exchanged a meaningful look with the woman across the table while he pressed a release inside his other suit. It folded neatly into a futuristic backpack. "See you around."
Nobody tried to stop him while he walked out with his haul then jumped into the air, vanishing over the block in an instant.
Even farther out, along a road heading into the countryside. Half a dozen fire engines raced towards a plume of smoke in the distance, leaving behind the jagged, gleaming skyline of the city. In the middle of an industrial area sprawled a warehouse, itself dwarfed by the parking lot in front. Open flame burst from every skylight and loading bay, causing a draft of storm-like proportions as the firefighters spread out, dodging the last stragglers as the latter ran away in their cars.
"Holy mother of...!" exclaimed one of the firefighters.
"How did it overwhelm the meta-structure so quickly?!" asked another. He looked younger than most of his teammates.
Instead of answering, another pointed at the rising flames as they took on a humanoid shape struggling to emerge from the building. It turned what passed for a head to look at the firefighters, and roared. They backed off, then something else approached: a small twister, following the same road they had. It touched ground in the middle of the parking lot, and shrank down to the proportions of a mountain man in leather and furs, who wielded a great sword made of lightning.
"Let me," he said, and marched towards the fire.
"What do we do, chief?" asked the young firefighter as they took cover behind their engines.
The chief pointed a hand over his shoulder. "Raise dispatch on the radio. Tell them to send the other kind of firefighter. Things are about to get heated."
Downtown, a little old lady still ranted loudly about kids today, but nobody cared. It was an ordinary day in Energrad.
The End
Felix Pleşoianu,