The Watch – Part 49:

The shaking grew more violent at a rapid rate. At first I thought the building was going to fall down, but it stayed firm throughout the ordeal. I rushed outside so that I wouldn’t be stuck indoors when whatever is happening finally reveals itself.

When I stepped outside, I discovered that is wasn’t just the building that was shaking, but the area that the building was sitting on. My strength allowed me to keep my balance as the shaking increased beyond that of any recorded earthquake in history. Nothing had showed itself yet, and so I wondered if this was some kind of self-destruct mechanism that caused it to tear itself apart instead of a simple explosion that would have destroyed this place in a matter of seconds.

I didn’t know what to do or how I was going to stop this from shaking. The more violent the ground becomes, the more the houses and the people will be affected, and I can’t let that happen. I have to think of something.

I flew into the air to get a better look. Once I was at a good distance, I was able to see the surrounding area. I could see the houses across the way, but only the houses, as they were a bit too far away to make out any people, but I don’t have to see them to know what they are doing. Panicking.

Maybe I can go underground and stop the shaking by grabbing the underside of the ground. No, that won’t work. What the heck was I thinking? Maybe I could let it play out and then stop whatever will happen when it does. No, I can’t do that either. I have to figure out what is happen before I can make a move. I don’t want to make things worse, if it is indeed possible for things to get worse.

Then I spotted what all the ground shaking was about. I was so focused on the ground itself, I wasn’t paying attention to Sebastian’s skyscraper itself. I was wrong, it wasn’t the surrounding area that was shaking, it actually was the skyscraper. I only noticed it when it grew to be as tall as I was high in the sky. I struggled to fathom how it was possible for a skyscraper to grow by itself until I looked down and saw that it wasn’t just an ordinary skyscraper. It was also a rocket.

The ground surrounding it broke away as easily as wet playdough. The crater that the rocket left was ginormous, for not only was it big enough to accommodate the building, but it also was connected to an underground facility, built specifically for the rocket blasters themselves to sit and ignite when necessary without destroying the building itself from all the pressure. I spun around in the air and noticed that the smoke was filtering out from a large vent from one of the hills on the outer edge. As well as terrified from what I was seeing, I couldn’t help but be amazed from the incredible engineering of it all. A skyscraper that is also a rocket was currently flying into the air at speed and getting faster each second. That has to be the least expected thing to happen.

I didn’t have to work out what this skyscraper-cum-rocket’s intention was. It was going to reach a suitable height before swinging round and shooting downwards, eventually colliding with the ground, which will cause an apocalyptic nightmare of a situation. The heat from the rockets as they passed me hugged my body, but my invulnerable skin kept me from being affected. As hot as it felt, I wasn’t burning. What was left of my suit was smoking though.

I guess the only way I’m going to push this into space is from the bottom, and that meant getting directly in the middle of all the flames and smoke and insane temperatures. I wasn’t going to go in without thinking. I increased my invulnerability some more, until I was confident that I wasn’t going to be affected in any way shape or form, even though I’m pretty sure that it is already high enough.

The skyscraper/rocket was a few thousand feet in the air by now meaning I had to act fast before it reached its maximum altitude. Before I could do anything, I wanted to find myself some breathing apparatus for when I enter all that smoke. As tough as my body is, I doubt it would be able to survive without any oxygen.

I searched through the menus and scrolled upwards and downwards as fast as I could before I found exactly what I wanted. I slammed my finger on to the picture and it immediately appeared onto my body. The giant tank of oxygen on my back, far bigger than anything the firefighters use when they enter a burning building, should keep going for as long as I want it to.

I turned my body downwards and flew up toward the rockets. I could barely feel the heat as the flames licked my body as I positioned myself in such a way that I could push with effect. The thick white smoke was blinding. The breathing equipment worked magnificently.  I had to go about my positioning by touch alone. But when I found the bottom of the rocket I placed the palms of my hands on the metal and readied myself to push upwards.

I counted down from three in my head before directing all my strength upwards. I wasn’t worried about flying upwards due to the fact that it was doing most of the work for me, it was the fact that it was forcing itself to the left that I had to contend with. I had to keep it as straight as possible for when the rockets died down a bit before entering the atmosphere that connected the world’s sky with the edge of space. Once it was free of the atmosphere, I could let it go and watch it sail off into space

I could feel the rocket’s mechanisms try and pull it to the right more and more, but my strength forced it straight. Then, as expected, the rockets started to die down and the skyscrapers weight started to increase on my hands and shoulders. I never felt anything this heavy before and that’s coming from someone who has just defeated an army of gigantic robots.

Gravity was fighting me with everything it had, but I stayed true, directing every ounce of my strength through my hands just to keep the building above my head for as long as I possibly can. Slowly, the muscles in my arms started to weaken and shake uncontrollably. I should have increased my strength some more before taking on this task, but it is far too late now. I have to keep going no matter what.

As the rockets started to lose power, I could see more and more of the world below me. If I wasn’t in this situation, I would have said that it was the most beautiful scene I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing with my very own eyes.

I pushed and pushed for some more until the rocket’s weight started to lessen nicely, telling me that I was leaving the gravitational pull of the world below me and into space.

Within space, an absolute vacuum, everything has the same weight. If you put this building in a chamber alongside a feather and dropped them at the same time, they would fall at the same rate, landing on the ground at exactly the same time. And that was incredible to think that a heavy building such as this one can weigh the same as a single feather. However, to turn things around, if you gathered up enough feathers, they can weigh just as much as this building when on earth, and that is also mind blowing considering just how lightweight a single feather is.

I flew upwards until I was satisfied with how far away I was before letting it go. I gave one last push, sending it on its way for a journey that could very well go further than the voyager one itself. I watched for a couple of minutes as it silently glided away from me. It was an incredible and satisfying experience that I never felt happier knowing that the world was safer than it was before. I smiled broadly.

I could have stayed up here forever, just looking at the incredible sight of the world below me, but I knew that I had to get back to earth before my oxygen tank ran out. Turning around, slowly returned back to earth.

That’s when I spotted something that froze me from the inside out. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. Another skyscraper-cum-rocket, turning around in the atmosphere until it pointed downwards and heading straight towards the ground. I was about to race over there and stop it before it made contact, but then I noticed that it wasn’t the only one. A dozen were already in the atmosphere, each one getting ready to plummet. My eyes widened as the impact of what was about to happen hit me inside. There was no way that I could go fast enough and stop each building before it collided with the ground. It would take far too long for me to even increase my speed once more and race over there, for once I’ve stopped one, another one would have succeeded it its mission, followed by another, with the potential of wiping out the entire human race.

This must have been Sebastian’s back up plan. If in doubt, destroy the lot. He wasn’t worried about going to prison because there soon wouldn’t be a prison for him to be in after this, and he doesn’t care if he isn’t around to be in that then destroyed prison either.

This was it. This was his victory.

There’s nothing that I can do.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

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