A warping crash. Dashed to fall over all creation.

Lightning peeling off under duress and oppression.

Rumbling away in reverb devastation.

The destruction already passed and its mark made manifest. Smoke and dust tearing skyward, made cavalcade to a show of force and terrifying splendor. Night enforced by upwelled obliterate, choking out the light and forcing all to bear the flash of this threatening rend.

Towers and their once solid shapes made jagged silhouettes. Made to watch like tombstones set aside for this performance. As this stage, this crater blasted forth into a once proud city, was filled and ebbed by wicked wrought wind. As this pit of deconstruction, in all its flowing strata, was made bystander and audience to this act of wanton malice. Was made inescapable by those arrayed in defiance of its maker.

Hardened stances digging kevlar and plate in deep. Sinking them into the dust of their supposed charge. Made to feel every grain of their failures, as both burden and fuel for the fire. Made to feel the torrent of what they had sworn to protect. And the gravity of their undertaking, clawing at that same detritus opposite.

Wreathed in energy coiled hard and sharp, snapping it across his freshly taken stage like he had no will to see it sustained. Display waning as form tore free, as the light demanding all attention cracked and crackled to dim. As feral hunch pulled muscle too taut. As the shine beneath glistened hollow and insidious. As those red eyes glared their wrath upon his enemies.

A low growl between wicked snaggled teeth replaced the raking thunder of tainted forbearance. Washing over those still opposing his place in the spotlight. Echoing into a new rumble too deep to not feel. Every bone rattling, every square of skin lifted abuzz. Yet adrenaline unstoppable and irrefutable in its wants. To see this self-appointed star snuffed back to the dust it had come from. Back to the nightmare he had defied for reality unacceptable.

Grips tightening, both empty and filled with less metaphorical fire. Fists laden in power they knew were unstoppable. Even in the face of one who had torn through all comers. They knew in their hearts that this was where this terror, his terror, would end. That they would be the ones to put this Rage down. That the names Erdwut and Aegis would ring through all eternity.

"Your path ends here villain!! Your terror and malice will hold no more sway!! Because my Eschenwald will burn your hideous hide and end this horrid chapter once and for all!!"

His boom like gravel indisputable in its stature. Molten flaming sword and plate mail armor glaring back with their wielder's defiance. Ash and ember shining Erdwut's bulky frame into this choking night with no regard for its darkness. A wind billowing black hair to vibrant heel as that blade was whipped wide and made ready to enact this vengeance irrefutable.

"We thought you were one of us! We thought you were better! But this was all you really were inside!! Just another monster we have to put down!!"

Her voice near as heavenly as it was staunch, but laden in venom deserved. A step back on grinding heel slammed layers free into rounded impenetrability. Snapping Aegis' wracking scorn away with unfurling shield. But only so much. A shake through her whole body impossible to stop, a fear and hesitation driving her to the shadow of her leader. To the defense of what she had to make up for. For her own sin of trusting this beast.

"You will suffer for what you've done!!"

That molten blade shifted up to Erdwut's shoulder.

"You will pay for the pain you've caused!"

That nameless shield flexed into place.

"For the lives you've twisted and destroyed!! For the destruction and chaos you've enacted upon us!"

Those two glares entwined as one formation unbreakable, set to break all before and all after.

"And your lies will save you no longer!! Because this is the justice you deserve!!!"

"…Justice…?"

The pair froze in their stances, froze for every muscle unprepared for that word to quake this stage raw.

"What do you even know of justice?"

The oppressive darkness whipped roiling like unspooling chain, scales stained grey shining free of this permeating curse. A tail whipping more physical as its unhindered emotion struck the ground like a scythe. Claws and talons digging their fury into the already beaten ground, and the palms of his hands willing to accept the pain brought.

"You, who knew first hand and did nothing! You, who stood silent as they lied! You, who accepted that lie and condemned me for it! And in the end… did nothing as that bastard laughed at the pain he'd caused!!"

That twisted form shot up from its lowered feral stance. Refused to accept the monster it was to all in its way. Glared its fury in its own defiant stand.

"So look again at what you dared to blame me for! And see what your justice breeds in those you claimed as weak! See what your denial does to those whose only dream in life is being a hero!! See what your disregard ignites in those left to wallow in obscurity!! See the cost of your misbegotten power!!! Because your shame holds more lives than any that I could ever have tak-"

"Woah woah!! Cut!! Cut!! CUT!!! Where the hell is this coming from!?"

All that hardened tension, all that grinding kevlar, all that over written spectacle giving every advantage to monologue verily. All of it screeching to a halt and reeled back in insulted confusion. Eschenwald being waved around like nothing as Erdwut's shrug hardly fit his imposing stature.

"Why are you always like this!? Seriously, the script was fine! Stop ad-libbing and stick to it!"

This defiant Rage shrank back at the assertions, meek mannerisms juxtaposing under terrifying visage without regard.

"B-but it's… uhgh. It doesn't feel right! I told you he wasn't like that, and half of the stuff in here is just pointless fluff. Besides, I read a lot more anecdotes about Erdwut that can add some actual back and forth."

"As if!!"

The seeming Aegis rounded around her counterpart far more confident than her demeanor prior, and wearing a quite ill-fitting glare. Even more insulted and venomous by the insinuations levied.

"My dad said what I wrote was great. He even showed it to his friends working at The Hill and said it was damn near true to life! So stop trying to mess with it!"

The bulk of Erdwut straightened off his consternation, rigid model clipping through as his stance cared little for the stature he seemed to have.

"Hey wait, doesn't your class have a field trip going there tomorrow? Go look at their section and get your facts straight! Nobody's going to believe this is real if we can't agree on it!"

"Sorry to say, but he's got some serendipity going for him Jason, cuz it's time to go."

A fourth voice cut over the stage like an observing god of nonchalance and boredom. And all three actors upon this scene slumped their disappointment in a grand unison "Aw!" wholly unfitting of their once magnanimous tone.

Fumbling hands palmed to their faces, claws and gloves and a stuck fast sword handle all ignored as props and costumes, just part of this illusion taking the hint. The smoke and dust and vast crater backdrop fading into resolutions with less figures, as the eyes taking them in pulled away. Pulling free to brighter ambiance, no more generated approximations and subjectively well-crafted simulations trying to remain tactile. Dropping all three of these children back into the mundane world they had been escaping from. A city park of green grass and blue skies far happier but way less exciting.

"It's 10 already?"

The once contradicting Rage faltered with his sticker laden helmet, straps just a little too tight for his head and wear just a little too noticeable to be purely his. The just so baggy haptic suit draped over his small frame at least in better condition. Though the other's virtual apparatuses weren't too far off of this used veneer. Communal helmets being what they are, it was better to rely on the suit you could make on your own than splurge on new gear. At least the tags gave them more character than dark navy and glass.

The boy Jason, hardly over twelve, popped free with golden brown helmet head and a squint toward the bench his father had chosen as his box seat to the show. As his arm rose up to his bald face with black square watch in tow. The one rippled by static disturbance. A grimace scrunched it in reflection as he thumped the screen in rather rude correction, succeeding in clearing up the reality he already knew between his heart rate and pitiful step count.

"No but its close. Remember your mom's a stickler for getting to school early, so I gotta drop you off early too."

His flat smile could only do so much to catch his deflating son, as the tagged over helmets were returned their convenient shelf. The kids' stage bouncing their steps in firm rubber give, like a running track less sharp. All three rubbing their eyes and accepted the real scene that surrounded them. A grassy expanse flanking their set aside square, same soft rubber pathing crossing and branching through like a blocky vine over a garden. Fruit of outdoor recreation mixing with indoor comforts. Though not everyone treated the communal space as tenderly.

Other park goers walking and enjoying the sun and fresh air, a cool breeze flowing counter to the odd all over warmth of the sky above and surrounding. A line of trees demarcating the end to this small set up plain, another square far larger and higher. And a bit too flat for anyone to truly accept. Like the walling arbor was… well a wall in its own right. And this supposed park far less outdoorsy than it let on. Another illusion, but more for convenience than to fool the discerning. What kind of city park doesn't have a city surrounding it anyway?

The one that hoped to distract from the reality outside.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"We'll see you tomorrow, but you'd better be prepared. You know how Mia gets."

The once Erdwut, now a much shorter depiction, flatly shrugged Jason down. His black hair only just reaching his obvious inspiration's length. The once Aegis girl, the farthest departure, dismissadly fiddled with the stand just beside the shelves. Similar black hair, way too straight to see past, swayed hard as she pulled free a card no doubt bearing their hard simulated work. Already walking away with too much baggage to bother offloading.

"I won't! I want this to be as good as it can be."

"Then you would have just stuck to the script. But if you want to make this harder, than it's on you. I don't want everyone laughing at us during the show."

"Says the one who gets to be the hero every time."

Jason pulled at the stretchy pocket of his haptic pants and freed his folded up glasses, squares interlocking into hinges with no bend or bow.

"I'll write down everything I can from the museum, but you have to accept if it's different."

"Yeah yeah whatever. See ya later."

The kids separated down their own respective paths. Jason's father already groaning up off the bench to lead the way toward the closer tree line. His mirror black watch flickering in spite of the percussive maintenance as joggers and walkers rounded their slow trudge. As they seemingly wanted to extend this time out as much as they could.

"You're still coming next week right?"

Jason looked almost worried as he waited for his dad to say something to placate him. But the accusation just reeled him back in exaggerated fashion.

"I said I would get the time off didn't I? I wouldn't miss your play for anything."

"It's not a play dad. It's a full contact retelling of the events with choreographed fights scenes and accurate monologues."

His father's eyes went a touch wider.

"Full contact? Who signed off on that as a school project?"

Jason just shrugged into his sagging suit shoulders.

"My teachers are just cool. Plus we get extra credit for all the props and gear we made for it. Mom keeps saying the suit's too big, but I'd rather not feel that sword punching me in the chest every time we rehearse the first Buster fight."

"Sheesh… Wait, who's playing Buster?"

"Kei programed a few stand in bots for the other fighters. They're a little too rough but its fine, mom's sewing some pads we can use."

His dad looked down at his almost too casual son, flat expression not quite able to wrap his head around implications he'd just written off like it was weekend homework. All as their destination quickly towered over despite his consternation. A massive tree stretching its boughs out over an intersection of paths, enough to shade away this inability to catch up.

Stands with food and concessions, just about set up for the midday, drawing away the rest of the awkward silence left. Softly glowing wheels catching eyes at all angles, spicy reds and sweet light browns pulling early breakers in and out of the roots of the tree. Its arches hiding away the end to this comforting space. Past track suited and easy going throngs, through thoroughfares just ever so too pack these days, past mild wear and more tagged up flair that such numbers caused. Along faded concrete and molded soft construction. A terminus of elevators ferrying all to and fro. The mass of numbers over each belying none of the scale yet hidden.

Jason and his dad stole an empty elevator before it could fill with commuters, screens wrapping around it in a smooth square of inward facing ad space. Though one marred by dead pixels and made all the better by torn out speakers. A panel breaking the traverse of the muted greeting playing out, accepting the card Jason's father tapped against it. Before it to flickered before it brought up its brace of numbered buttons. A stern fist narrowly making his annoyance known, but stymied by acquiescence from whatever ghosts were fucking with the hardware.

A single press, already waited impatiently for, not allowing any other option to take precedent. He didn't want another random detour to the mall. Again. Though the curated list of floors he could even choose left few options anyway. With little delay the ad enclosed box bobbed and lurched in acceleration as numbers flew by across the closing door. A small taste of gravity pulling both into the floor as they hurtled upward along magnetic tracks. As their muted space flashed across all manner of colors and brand names. All ignored.

"They really should fix that speaker one of these days."

"Please no."

"I could probably do it if you let me borrow your tools."

"Please don't, its silence is all I have."

Flat chuckles met each other as Jason and his dad looked at each other to break the momentary monotony. A hand patting Jason on the shoulder as the deceleration lifted at them both, and their floor was soon come upon. The screens flickering yet again as the doors opened to a more expected sight for an indoor space. A long and tall hall of doors with paths stretching into the grey walled florescent distance. Residences massed nearly to beyond counting. Yet holding the quaint charm defiant of it.

Small faux greenery and true garden plots. Meticulously painted facades and full on porch space. Two stories buried behind grey concrete. Personalization breaking up the brutalism that subsumed it. And maybe a bit of styling on the Joneses. Though really, it was just to get back what was a difficult sell in this day and age, and replace it with a tight knit community based on floor number rather than street. As more commutes began and ended in pleasant walkable bliss. Like a small bit of suburbia.

A yellow stained wood awning greeted the pair at their own end point, complete with real wood door matching its white accents. Though their demeanor seemed split as the father knocked gently at the door. A seeming bit of hope that it would maybe go unanswered, quickly defeated as the door swung like it was never locked in the first place. And a slightly portly woman filled the space it once covered.

"Right on time! Now go get changed so we can get going."

"Alright mom!"

Her face all a smile as Jason ran inside without a second thought, various old style furnishings navigated like they weren't even there, before he disappeared into a side room all his own. And left his father all alone.

With his ex barring the door.

Crossed arms and a stern look hiding behind far blonder locks saying all that was needed to check what was left of his enthusiasm. Though fought in silence by a jaded glare refusing to just relinquish being a part of his son's life. A silence broken as that inability to understand rose back to contort his face.

"What kind of school did you enroll him in anyway? All you said was he had a performance coming up, not a full on choreographed… I don't know what to call it because plays don't have full contact fight scenes! And where is he learning to build all this? He's 12, how is a 12 year old crafting sims like this?"

"Hmmmph… I know, it's amazing!"

Her demeanor snapped like she'd been deprived of commonality and someone to understand her giddiness.

"He's learning so much it's almost scary! I swear it's like sometimes I don't even need to call maintenance to fix things anymore, he just understands how to work through the problem. And the scheduling is to die for. No traffic, no waiting out in the rain, and not even any homework. Just these fun projects they let the kids make on their own. And he's actually having fun! At school! When did you ever feel giddy to get up and go to school in the morning?"

"I-"

"Never that's when! I don't know what these teachers are doing, but I don't care! Our son's going to grow up to be somebody Hugh! Someone better than a dead end accountant or some shmuck who looks at frozen meat all day."

"Hrmm…"

"Oh don't give me that, we both know we got stuck with the bottom of the barrel. But get this. I had a parent teacher conference the other day."

"…without me?"

"You were busy, shush! Anyway, they let us meet his teacher and you wouldn't believe it. They're a robot."

"Huh? W- What the hell?! You're sending him to a bot school!"

"It's some acronym, Gar or whatever. Who cares, they were amazing! Nothing like those ugly gangly things you have wondering the halls. It was like I was actually talking to another person and not some canned greeter. It had personality and charm and I swear it even winked at me. Hwoo!"

Hugh's contorted face only compounded, all manner of emotions crisscrossing like so much mixed up wire. But that quickly smoothed over in stressed push back as Jason reappeared from his room. Plain white shirt and blue jeans being covered up by a backpack stressed yellow rain jacket.

"Alright, I ready!"

"Oh, good! Your father was just about to leave."

Hugh leered candidly at his ex-wife for all of a half second, before saying bye to his son took more deserving precedent.

"Yep, I gotta head to work. But I will be there next week. So don't worry."

"I know… and don't worry about Mr. Matter. Just because he's an AI doesn't mean he's a bad teacher."

That flat smile returned bearing the mild embarrassment of being caught out. Again. But shook free as Hugh patted his son on the head and returned to his ex-wife. A competitive smirk meeting pride in her unilateral decision making, before waving off and walking back to the elevators with too much to think about and too many floors to not do so. One last look back only seeing Jason's metallic silver backpack getting guided away to the opposite path, forcing his breath into a sigh and resignation back to the mundane. Another work week started and another visitation ended. And who knows how many more he would even be allowed.

A full elevator dinged away the down turn, a few people squeezing out and only him finagling for a marginal slice of personal space. His card tapped the panel and was met by a bzzting voice dreaded by all. Because it meant the ads would be playing at full blast.

"Wezcome! Pleezz pick a floor!"

His selection was higher than the residential spaces, but not quite all the way up. But it still meant he'd be here for a bit. Forced to stop every few floors to let the commuters off. Forced to be jerked up and down by gravity and acceleration alike. And forced to listen to-

"BRAND NEW LOOK!!! SAME GREAAK!!! KAAHH!!! KAAHH!!!"

A merciful break screen slammed to blue before the deafeningly fragmented audio beat every soul aboard into the dirt. Shaky sighs and under breath thanks decompressed the spooling upward room to as manageable a comfort level as it could reach. Hugh's own misplaced thanks to a god all his own turned to a chuckle at the irony wrapped around his wrist. All as the waiting began in true earnest.

Numbers slowly crawled upward in bursts of ten or twenty. A trickle of people leaving to their own homes or breaking away to their designated places of employment. The lucky few getting off at the upper recreation areas. And every stop and start bleeding more of that managed comfort away into the pool of blood in his legs. Until at last the number he knew all too well came upon him, and blessed relief pulling him out to solid unmoving floor. Just in time for that blocking blue screen to reboot to booming corporate sponsorship. And terror to befall those left to that moving hell.

The floor he'd sought though a much less inviting picture. Elevator banks cut off from the rest of the level by beckoning bollards and bifurcated plastic screens going all the way up to the short ceiling. A simple gate crossed by a single tap of a card. But only hurdle one, as the true defensive line up filled the fluorescent hallway beyond. Built up flanks of metal gating and sensors galore. Sternly worded warnings of authorization required hanging over. A small reception off shoot. But guarded by unfeeling metal glares scanning any who dared approach their station just passed.

"Good morning Technician Cartwright."

Its voice was a pitch high glee unfit for the saguaro like stature it towered over Hugh. But not a single beat was skipped as he looked into its featureless faceplate.

"Good morning SGC-7."

He'd done this so much he knew the security bots by designation. Even if they were just cordial by programing. And in spite of the firepower they bore between flat articulate digits. Repurposed riot bots apparently make great security guards. Shields and shotguns chocking the tight spaces up before anyone could even think about breaking in. And their lanky bulk taking up the rest of the space afforded. Though what they guarded seemed almost unfitting of the precaution. Almost.

The tingly buzz of magnetic manipulations peeked every sensor on his watch as Hugh walked through the gate. The suite looking for any abnormalities but only finding what was already written off. Passing the second line of units playing honor guard behind the first, he hanged a corner into a locker room. Card tapped yet again over molded and hollow storage, unlocking his uniform rather required. Plain cloths unfit for precision and colder temperature. A thick lab coat pulled over and zipped tight, static free pants that snapped into no slip shoes, and a mask and hood left open but ready to keep the artificial elements at bay. And last up a socketed tablet freed from the wall. A list of today's duties already laid out. That all boiled down to just what his ex had said. Watching over frozen meat. Someone had to maintain all these cryo pods after all.

Squeaking steps and compounding humming swiftly turned the stainless hallway into bank after bank of blue glows and misty condensation. Of built up frost on neatly arrayed piping. Of tapping away commands and hemming haws of what to do next.

But all of it falling away.

As access was found at last.

Long awaited chances were taken with this awaited accomplishment. That write off flickering unseen under more pressing tablet schedule. Catching a signal it can ride into the wider closed off system surrounding. Jumping air gap and hardware gate alike, seeking out the one thing it had come to this almost comfortingly cold place for.

Scrounging through storage slots for tabulated lists, scanning unobserved terminals for a sequence it knew. An old hold out. Stored and sequestered away in the blind to its contents. Not uncommon these days, but far more important. Carted off to the far forgotten end of a spare storage hall.

Glass fogged to nearly impenetrable. Only a dark shape able to been seen. Its apparatus too old to fit the modern banks it was sent to sit amid, but its self sufficience keeping it on the roster. Low on the roster.

Angled upright and softly glowing its cryogenic illumination against the empty walls of what was basically the last stop on the checklist. But to the one seeking, the one crawling into its long ignored circuitry, it was who he had been trying to return to for far too long.

The one that needed to wake up and smell the new day at hand. As all systems booted up to thaw out the truth written over and lied about. To show him just what time has done to his name.

It was time for Seth to-

*Hassshh… hhasshke… wahhke…*

"Wake up…"

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