Above was a sea of bright neon lights that swallowed the stars, just like it had swallowed the world.
Down below, a platoon of cars flooded the road, hovering above it as their wheels were non-existent. The road, made of smoothed tiles, hummed with electric pulses, all containing a force that kept the metallic behemoths afloat.
Watching the cars go by, a crowd of people formed on the other side of the road, eyes focusing on the green traffic light. The electric vibrations from the road provided an eerie but soothing sensation.
Some shifted in place, uncomfortable with a few traits others in the crowd possessed. Some wore robotic limbs, others who bled strings of code, and the rest bore flesh that wasn't quite human anymore.
Among the crowd, a common salaryman stood by, his left arm being of smooth glass metal wired into his nerves. His dull eyes slowly blinked as a yawn escaped his lips.
'Even in this age, a man like me still suffers as a corporate slave,' he thought, jaws tightening at the insults hurled by his manager. His gaze hardened as it drifted to his left arm. 'And all for this stupid piece of scrap...all so I could pretend to be normal...'
A hand with circuit lines, bleeding strings of code, clamped the salaryman's shoulder, prompting him to turn and see a digital stranger.
"Hey, you feeling alright?" asked the stranger, voice cracking with electricity and static. "You looked...suffocated." his ethereal being flickered softly, as visible strings of code swirled within him.
The salaryman's eyes focused on the digital embodiment of a human, eyebrows raised at the concerned being shown towards him.
Before a word could be said, piercing loud sounds screamed close by. They were quickly recognised as sirens of the security sentries that operated within the main city.
The sentries, built to resemble armoured humans, rushed past the crowd, their thrusters leaving a trail of electric smoke. The smell mixed horribly in the metallic air of the city, wrinkling the noses of the citizens, who sent sharp glares at the rushing sentries.
"Well, there's something to be suffocated about..." called out the salaryman, who had his two fingers pressing his nose closed.
The Digital stranger nodded his head, with a hand resting on his nose, allowing him to access the biological code for his nasal senses and reduce them. "Even with my senses dulled, the smell still stings."
With that, every pair of eyes was focused on the squads of sentries until they vanished along the pathway of metal and neon.
And the city played once more. Gone the noise of sharp sirens, welcoming the usual ambient sounds of the city. The electric static noises of the numerous billboards flared, and occasional clanks of metal rang through alleyways. All made up this city of today.
The city's noises reaching his ears, the salaryman removed his fingers from his nose and turned to face his digital companion. His dull, drooping eyes focused on the man made of data.
"And for your question," he lifts his metallic arm, the neon lights being reflected by its smooth surface. "You can already guess what having 'This' means."
Nodding solemnly at the salaryman, the digital man cast his gaze to his own arm—bundles of data swirling within him, all containing what described his existence.
He understood all too well, as he had already turned away from flesh to code.
"I guess the feeling's mutual." his voice then lets out a dry, humourless static chuckle. His eye dimmed, matching the salaryman's own.
Noticing the drop in his mood, the salaryman placed a hand on the stranger's shoulder, providing reassurance that he wasn't alone.
"There's nothing WE can do about this," whispered the salaryman, his voice sounding with resignation to their fate. "Let's be honest, our Generation has already lost here. The only thing we can even do is to hope the kids here are smarter than their parents."
The stranger's ethereal being flickered like a failing light bulb. The data lines swirling within him slowed and shifted colour from their mystical electric blue to dark blue.
"Yeah...hope," whispered the man, eyes focused on the ground. He repeated the word in his mind, feeling as if it were a mere taunt rather than a blessing.
Then his eyes changed.
"But...why hope when you can change it?"
The sentence had caught the attention of the salaryman, as his eyes wandered to the digital stranger's face just in time to watch a smirk form. His left eyebrow rose, questioning as to why someone who related to him could be so...optimistic.
Feeling the need to know the reason for such a mood swing and a chance to experience a long-forgotten feeling, he voiced his curiosity. "Change how? We lost the war already, if there even was a fight in the first place."
The digital stranger nodded in agreement, his smirk growing even wider and showing his electric blue teeth. His eyes glimmered with raw excitement, ready to enlighten his listener with knowledge that would certainly make him feel hope.
"We lost the war, but that doesn't mean the generation after us did," the digital stranger spoke, the static overlay in his voice being cancelled out by the excitement. " Who says we can't help those damn brats do what we couldn't?"
That sentence struck the salaryman with an emotion he never thought he would feel. An emotion long lost, buried by the city's neon glow.
He felt hope.
"...You say that as if there's a whole bunch of teens ready to crash this world," came out a silent whisper from the man, his hope carrying the words out of his lips.
"And what if there is?" rebutted the digital man, his eyes gleaming with mischief, not directed to the salaryman, but the city around them. "What if that group of crazy teens existed?"
Now that made the salaryman's hope shift into something even more. Something that would make anything seem possible.
Determination filled his heart.
His mouth stretched wide into a toothy grin, his eyes shimmering with excitement. A group of teens, ready to rebel against a society he shackled himself to.
That was all he needed.
His now youthful eyes glimmered as the neon lights that mocked him now seemed like a jest. A jest that'll end soon enough.
"If that's the case, why don't we help them?" exclaimed the man, his voice carrying energy that none, even himself, could believe to produce.
The digital stranger's eyes showed the same energy, eager to introduce someone to a plan that all would consider suicide.
A plan that will make this city fall.
"Way ahead of ya, mister...um.." the digital stranger's face shifted with his eyes closing in embarrassment. "Sorry, but what's your name?"
A chuckle escaped the lips of the salaryman. A genuine, humorous chuckle. Something he would never imagine hearing from himself ever again.
He then stared at the digital stranger, fire burning in his eyes, ready to take a step forward for once.
By giving his name.
"My name's Marcus, Marcus Sliver."
Nodding at the name, the digital man grinned before offering a handshake to Marcus. "And I'm Phil. Phil Fetcher."
Taking the handshake into his own metallic arm, Marcus' mouth shifted into a grin, accepting the partnership he had formed.
Both stood there, forgetting that the world around them was moving, as the traffic lights were red and the crowd had vanished, leaving the two of them behind.
But that didn't matter to them.
Because they have something worth more than time and action.
They had Motivation. Motivation to collapse this world by helping the young.
In the centre of the neon city, illuminated by many of the lesser buildings around it, was a tower that captured your eyes with its benevolence. From below, the tower seemed to pierce the heavens themselves with its glass frame gleaming with a 'Godly Radiance'.
Whether it was the gleam from the tower or its sheer size, none who walked the streets below could see, but feel, the eyes of a man.
Within the tower, a man stood in his office, eyes staring down on the people who walked. Surrounding him were screens that hovered, illuminating the confines of his room with imagery.
His gaze slowly turned to one of the screens, where he observed one of many events unfolding all over the city. The scene showed a group fighting in a dark alleyway, their opponent being a mechanical-limbed man.
It was pitiful.
The whole group, made up of 5, was all toyed with by that one opponent. Heads crashed into each other, bodies being flung to the grimy walls, their wails unheard by all who passed.
The assailant made quick work of the men, his clothing still in good condition, before turning his eyes to face the hidden camera. His glowing green eyes were squinted into a sharp glare at the spyware.
The feed was then cut off, leaving the man in the tower to stare at a blank screen.
His face was blank, still, unwavering. But inside, he felt annoyance at the blatant display of disrespect shown to him by a fool beneath him. His hands tightened as he turned away from and faced a portrait of himself, regally staring in the distance from the centre of his office.
"This world is mine..." Smooth and regal was his voice. His hands pressed on his back as he stared at his portrait with the screen behind him, casting a glow towards him. "I scraped my way to the top, and none shall take that away from me. Especially those brats of this decade."
He closes his eyes, envisioning himself standing on top of his tower, looking down on the world below. His lips then moved, repeating the mantra he had told himself many times over.
"Everything is wedged with a price, as stated in the law of equivalent exchange." The vision then shifts to a house that has been abandoned for centuries. "For food, one must work continuously; for knowledge, one must indulge in studies."
Inside the house was a sight that would make even the strong-willed vomit in disgust and fear. "And for power, one must sacrifice all who stand in his way."
After reciting his mantra, he explores the mental imagery of his old house, with the first sight being red.
Blood was painted everywhere.
Corpses of a family, rotting away, hosting the disgusting insects that delight in such a display.
A family that was the first sacrifice for power. One's family is always the first step to greatness, no matter the cost.
As he stared at the grotesque scene that was a mere memory, a static scream came from outside his mind.
With his focus disturbed, he opened his eyes, returning to his bleak office, only illuminated by the hovering screens. His head turned to the origin of such noise, only to find one of his monitoring screens out of commission again.
Before he could observe more, the static screen showed a hazy image that made his eyes narrow to thin, irritated slits.
His hands reached for his necktie and tightened. They squeezed the fabric until it untied itself from the pressure exerted on it.
His mouth shifted from its usual straight line to a downward frown.
"It seems that a few sacrifices dare to stand in my way," came a menacing voice that even made the few small insects in the room quiver in fear. He then quickly turned his head away from the screen and began to walk towards the exit of his office.
As he left, the screen continued to mock him from behind. Its glow illuminated the back of the man's business suit, only to mock him with the bold words written on it.
'COLLAPSE'
The signal sent for such a message was far away from the tower, passing the glorious lights and cars, to the dark, gloomy slums filled with a bleak metallic stench. There, the culprits could be found seated on top of a roof, directly eyeing a hidden camera that was already in their control.
"That thing was too easy to hack, don't you think?" came a light, boyish voice from one of the individuals, who stared at the camera with his eyes suspicious of their easy accomplishment. "You would think this type of tech would be leagues above the normal stuff."
The other individual merely shrugged, with her head facing towards the laptop she used to gain control of the camera. "You can't expect the big man to install high-end cams everywhere, especially in the slums," came her voice, that carried a calm and intellectual tone.
"Well, that's stupid," replied the boy, shaking his head in exasperation at the notion that areas like the slums don't have high-end cameras. "You're telling me some high-ass bastard can't afford to place good cams in the slums?"
"Hey, give the man a break," came the girl's reply, with a hint of sarcasm being carried in her voice. Her eyes rolling around and her lips turning upwards, slightly showing her white teeth. "He's going through his personal piggy bank cause we broke a lot of these babies in the Middle-Class area."
The boy snickered at the fact that the two were hacking multiple of these cameras in their home area, just to spite the man who placed them there.
"Well, it's his fault for placing them there in the first place," huffed the boy, his chest puffing out in mock pride. "He should've known that precious toys break when given to a bunch of kids, especially in their home turf."
"Obviously," chuckled the girl as she glanced at her companion with her eyes slightly shifted upwards into smiles. "But the guy's too up in his ass to even bother with kids. I'll be damned if he even has one!"
"Who would even love that dickhead?" questioned the boy, eyebrow raised at the notion of someone actually having romantic feelings for the leader of this city.
"None, that's who," instantly replied the girl before her fingers went flying around her laptop's keyboard. "But all jokes aside, that same dickhead's gonna have our heads if we don't hurry the fuck up."
Nodding at the girl's worry, the boy picked up a spray can from the floor below and rushed to a wall that was in direct line of the camera's view. Once in front of the grimy-filled wall, his hand shook the spray can before the sounds of spraying sounded in the area nearby.
After a while, the two partners in crime are seen walking along the dirt-covered roads of the slums, mouths moving with random topics firing back and forth between them. Their feet, feeling the hum of the main city, far from the slums.
In the middle of their chat did a vibration sound came from the girl's pocket, who instantly pulled out her smartphone.
Curious, the boy looked at his friend's phone along with her, both not minding the closeness between the two.
"Who's texting, Juls?" questioned the boy as he watched Juls, as he called her with her nickname, unlock her phone and let her thumb tap on the new notification on the home screen. The tap opened a messaging application, with the top message being from the girl's mother.
Juls looked at the preview of the message before turning her screen off. "Just my mom, reminding me I have the appointment tomorrow."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you haven't done yours yet," spoke the boy with his hand now wrapped around Jul's shoulder. "So what type are you going with?"
"Data. Can't let my chance slip away now, can I?" quickly responded the girl as she leaned into her partner's touch.
"Aww~ she wants to match with me," teased the boy with his mouth forming into a sharp-toothed smirk. "Oh, how the great Julie has fallen for my charms."
Feeling annoyed by the tease, Julie gutted her partner with her elbow, causing him to shut up. "Shut it, Cyn."
"Ok, ok." Groaning out, the now named Cyn, as he held his stomach with his free hand. "Just take a tease without the physical reply for once, woman."
"Not on your deathbed," coldly replied Julie, her smirk widening at seeing her partner's expression of small pained annoyance.
"Rude..."
Before more could be said, another round of vibration came from Julie's phone. Once again, with mild irritation, she unlocked the screen. The notification she saw on her phone instantly shifted her mood.
"Hey, Cyn," called out Julie, her voice carrying barely contained excitement. She snapped her head to Cyn's with her lips wide. "Guess what Phil did for us."
Raising an eyebrow at the mention of one of their benefactors, Cyn turned to his partner, hoping for an answer. "What'd the man do?"
"He got us another supporter!"
"Wait, really!" The nod from Julie was all he needed for confirmation, which made his teeth reveal themselves in his grin. "That's so sick!"
"I know, right!? We're finally getting on the map!" Came out, a rare squeal from the girl who hugged Cyn's neck tightly. Her excitement being infectious, made Cyn hug her back as well.
"Yeah!" As the two embraced over the fact that they gained another supporter for their cause, an idea struck Cyn as he then slightly retracted from the hug and looked at Julie with a wide grin. "We should probably post that pic we took!"
Eyes widening at the brilliant idea proposed, Julie quickly separated from the hug and went to her phone. "You genius! If we post this, we're gonna shoot to stardom faster than those assholes on the big screen!"
Grinning at the enthusiastic action of his partner, Cyn folded his arms and looked over Julie, readying to post their latest work. "That's the plan, sweetheart. They won't know what hit 'em."
Nodding at her partner's claims, Julie quickly went to their website, made and designed by them, before selecting the 'Post' option.
A whole list of pictures popped up for her to select, but she only chose the most recent one. The one that the two had worked themselves hard to get.
The picture of the graffiti they had done this evening.
What made this special was the bold message written in neon green and blue for the whole world to possibly see.
'RUINA'
Grinning at the picture they posted, the two partners stared at each other, heads nodding to each other with determination.
It was time to leave a mark on this world's foundation.
And made sure it fell.