#44: All life matters
On a random day...
"I'm telling you A.D., I should get a ride or something." Aaron said as he and his robot went down the street. After a long day of school, he needed to get his mind on something else. That something else being yet another project for his alter-ego.
"I thought you were working on you're project for Karen." A.D. said. "I am, but the Anti-Microchip can wait a while." Aaron answered. The answer for what that is and does can also wait a while. Back to the ride thing, Aaron's been thinking about getting something for him to ride around with as Techno. Something that can reach high speeds, work with his powers, be big enough to sit on but small enough to easily hide, and just makes people say, 'Yep, that's Techno's alright.'.
"Would a electric motorized aerodynamic two wheeled vehicle best suit your style?" "You mean an electric bike?" Aaron thought for a second. "You know what? That's not a bad idea. Techno on an electric motorcycle, that's something everyone could agree on. Anyway, re-changing the subject to the walk. They were on their way to this EnviroBeat thing that Jessica was being a part of. Apparently, there's this ancient tree here in Metropolis that's about to be taken down and in its place is gonna be another Lexbucks coffee house, like there isn't enough of those in Metropolis already. Aaron had an idea that 50/50 chance of working and could stop the workers, and yes, it involves singing. If that fails, he'll have to get physical.
They just arrived, and saw Jessica and someone else chained to said tree. "Hey Jess, and Pamela surprised to see you here." "Aaron, you made it." "Guh-doy, I wouldn't miss this for the universe. All this land belonged to the plants and animals in the first place, then we came along. This is one of the least things we can do." "ALERT:" Aarondroid warned, "Multiple conveyances incoming." That means the workers were coming. "(Whispering)And that's my cue. (Normal volume) B.R.B. guys, Give me five minutes." Aaron ran off and turned a corner.
The workers and their construction vehicles were in sight. Pam saw this and was about to do something, when she saw a figure running at a high speed at and stop in front of the workers. The figure was Techno.
"Okay guys, how about we permanently put this plan on hold, alright?" "Techno? Why are you here? Why do you care about something like this?" One of the workers asked. "For the right reason, I'll care about anything."
"Aaron what are you doing?" Jess thought.
"Listen up dudes," Techno started, "you can't just tear something down and replace it with something just because you feel like it. By the way, *taps visor twice* this is live on TechnoHelp. Plants are people too. You wouldn't know that because you haven't paid enough attention to notice anything. You know what, how about we do this with a little change of scenery?"
Using some pixelation, he made clones of himself and each clone held on to a worker. Here's another one of Aaron's powers: just from touching someone, he can show them past events in an area. The original Techno made a copy of himself who went to Jessica and Pam and put his arms around both of them. He also altered the visor's footage so people saw what everyone else saw. What did everyone see? The land before the humans showed up, wildlife and all. Aarondroid on the other mechanical hand, started to play some music.
Here we go.
Play 'Gone Away' by CG5
(Techno) I see the face of peace on the horizon,
Rising in the east.
But it only took one moment, just one moment.
In the background, construction machines showed up.
Now they got battle scars,
And freedom feels so far,
Away!
The land was being destroyed and built over left and right. Scaring off the animals and cutting the trees down.
Tyranny was meant to be,
All that remains is an unfinished symphony.
We were so in love with chaos, I could never see.
Good things don't happen to heroes, just like you and me.
It only took one moment, just one moment.
These adventures are a gift,
And we will never drift
Away!
The thing they built this nation for, doesn't exist anymore.
Gone away.
Online, the live video was getting a lot of views, over two thousand likes, and ton of hate comments to Lexcorp. Everyone in the area was starting to tear up. Pamela looked to Techno surprised at what he's doing. He looked back and gave her a smile that said, 'You're welcome'. He then went back to singing.
It only took one moment, just one moment.
Their life and liberty,
He wiped his eyes through his visor and took a breath.
And pursuit of victory gone,
Away!
The thing they built this nation for, doesn't exist anymore.
Gone away.
End song.
The workers couldn't take it anymore. They shook free from all the Technos and drove off in the vehicles with tears in their eyes. All the clones went back into the original Techno. Tech then went to Jessica and Pamela and with one swing of his energized hand, he cut the chains in two. "Thank you Techno. We can't thank you enough." Jess said. "No, thank you. I'm glad to see that there's still people who still care for the environment." They winked at each other. Techno turned to Pamela and smiled and winked, making her face heat up a little. He saluted off to them and said, "Welp, time to go. If you ever need me, use TechnoHelp. See ya." He turned into electrical signals and went away.
A minute later Aaron appeared with a fountain drink in his hand. "Sorry, line was too long, what'd I miss?" Jess would've laughed if Pam wasn't here. Aaron's a good actor, he could get an Oscar.
#45: Talk in the park
Later at night...
You know, even though I hate the fact that we took something away from those we think are weaker than us, live like this has its pros and cons. You already know the cons side, but on the pros side is this scene.
Right now I'm Techno and I'm sitting on the skyscraper I was on in part number twelve looking down at the streets. You gotta admit, it's amazing what people are capable of these days. I don't remember mentioning this, but I always had a thing for talented people. Wait, huh? Something just wrapped around my arm. Is this a vine?
"Where'd you come from little guy?" I said to it. Okay, follow the flowers it said. "That's a lot of flowers." I said, looking at the long trail of flowers that go down this building and across others with my Techno Vision. "Hold on pal, this is gonna be wild ride." Somehow, someway, the vine traveled up my arm and wrapped around the top of my head in a crown kinda way.
I did a backflip off the building and before I hit the ground, I grabbed a lamppost and swung to the side of a building and started wall running. The rest of the way, you can imagine, there's too much parkour involved. Those traversal challenges are really paying off.
Four minutes later...
Landing with a crouching pose, I'm in the middle of a park. Getting weird vibes from this place for some reason. Walking down the sidewalk, I'm seeing all kinds of flowering plants growing around the place. They started producing this weird pinkish pheromone out of them. Luckily, whatever it does won't work on me. Up ahead I see an old tree. It's a big, leafless, crooked, and twisted tree. Poor thing. I touched tree used my powers and in a heartbeat, it looked less crooked and twisted, it grew some leaves and when it looked normal it thanked me.
"You're welcome. I wish I knew what happened to you." "What do you think happened?" I turned around and saw someone who I guess I shoulda seen coming. The eco-terrorist herself: Poison Ivy. She walked next to me and we both looked at the tree as she continued. "Mankind. They cut them back, built over them, stopped them from reaching the sun. They're too selfish too see what they're even doing." I said, "People here are a lot less selfless than the people in MegaCity." "What's MegaCity?" "It's my hometown. It's where I lived before moving to Metropolis. We may've been hi-tech there, but we cared about the environment more than people think."
I went over to a bench and gestured Ivy to sit with me, which she did. For a very long while, I told her everything about what MegaCity's capable of. Like how we don't cut trees down for paper, wood, or plastic. We have special machines that can make those things from even the smallest amount of tree D.N.A.. Speaking of which, instead of cutting or harming plants to make space for new structures, there's special zero-point energy beams that can move them somewhere else for them to grow. Here's another thing, we don't pollute. Our trashcans and dumpsters all lead to a facility where we recycle anything that goes in there and make it new again. As for the food scraps, they get made into fertilizer for the plants. As for the air and water, certain pipes, flumes, and smokestacks have special filters that get rid of any harmful chemicals or bacteria so the water and sky don't get mucked up.
"MegaCity sounds...nice." She said. "I know, right? You should see it sometime." My watched beeped. "Well Ivy, it was nice talking to you. I gotta go." Before I could get up, Ivy grabbed my arm and said, "Wait. I know what you did earlier today. Thank you." I smiled. "I made an oath to help those who can't help themselves. We're all on this planet together." The vine traveled down my arm and onto Ivy's. "See ya." I said before blast jumping away.
#46: Interaction action
At school three days later...
"Phil, I'm a villain, he's a hero it won't work. I could force him, but the plants had no affect on him."
We're actually starting this with Pamela Isley this time.
She sighed. "I need to know more about him. And in order to do that," She peeked over a corner and saw Aaron by his locker on his phone calling someone. "I need someone that knows about his home."
"Look dude, how 'bout this: You can come visit anytime two weeks from now. Happy?" Aaron saw Pam walking up to him with Phil in her hands. "Zach, I'll have to call you back." He hung up and put his phone away. "Hey Pam, Phil, what's up?" "I need a favor." "Depends. What is it?" "How much do you know about your home, MegaCity?" "Oh, where do I start?"
Cutting to the cafeteria at lunchtime...
"...and that's the tale of how Techno fixed the great blackout of 2017. Drumstick?" She took it and ate it savagely. She finished with a burp. "Anything else about the Town of the Future you wanna know?" "Nope, that's enough." She's been listening to him go on about MegaCity for hours. "Well if there is, feel free to ask." She picked up Phil and got up and left, but stopped and turned back to Aaron and said, "Just one question: Why's MegaCity so ecofriendly anyway?" "The same reason Superheroes are around. *swallows some of his lunch* They may be smart and strong, but they still have hearts."
Pam turned and left with that one phrase going through her head. She shook it off and kept going.