Nurture vs Nature

The intercom buzzed as Adrian listened to the captain announce the next stop, or at least he would have if it wasn’t so damn loud on the train. The momentum of the train rocketing through the underground jostled him into the man standing near him who has his phone on speaker.

“Yea man, she would totally love that place. I’m sure it’ll score me another for the books tonight.” He laughed as his friend responded.

“Damn son, keep this up and we’re gonna have to get you one of those frequent flyer cards to the clinic. Don’t they know you by name now?”

The conversation got drowned out by the kid who cranked the bluetooth speaker connected to his music. As it clashed with the music coming from the train speakers Adrian clenched his teeth, rubbing his temple with his free hand. He heard a cough come from down the car and a sneeze on the other end. The frat boy with the speaker phone bumped into him again as they rounded a corner and a baby started crying.

There are far too many people crammed into this metal can. He thought to himself as he stood there shoulder to shoulder with strangers. What a great way to spread disease and illness. He put his hand over his mouth and glanced about him. The old lady sitting on the bench smiled at him as he made eye contact and he looked away quickly. 

The subtle clack of wheels warned him someone had lost their skateboard in the chaos right before it slapped into his ankles. “Thanks dude!” Some kid said to him as she grabbed her skateboard and moved off. How she was able to bend over packed in like this Adrian had no idea.

The train slowed and finally stopped at the next station, relief flooding Adrian as he stepped onto the platform. He sucked in the freshest air he could, being stuck beneath a giant metropolis. He looked up at the concrete ceiling and sighed. This place needs a good reset.

The streets hummed and sang beneath the tires of the cars cruising by as he mounted the last stair from the underground. The bleak sky looked down at him, its unhappiness evident. It has to be hard to look down at us through all that smog. Adrian almost cried at the thought. Nature blazed over just so another greedy soul could milk it for all it’s worth. He started his walk home to his apartment crammed into yet another abomination of a structure. He walked by the usual shop appeasing to humanities gluttony and heard some explosions off in the distance. Heroes must be going up against someone new. Adrian sighed again. Only in this age would people call these things heroes. People born with powers being funded by huge corporations to defend their interests, more like private military on steroids.

He didn’t see the man coming out of the cafe until he ran into him and caused the cup of coffee to drop. Adrian just looked up at the man and his breath caught. The meager light pushing through the smog and cloud cover brightened a little and shone down on the person in front of him. “I’m so sorry,” he sputtered.

The man smiled at him, “Don’t worry about it.” He reached down to scoop up the cup. “I probably shouldn’t be drinking this anyway, terribly unhealthy the amount of sugar they have in it.” His golden blond hair catching the sunlight just right.

“Still,” he responded, “at least...at least let me make it up to you with dinner or a drink or something.” That smile could stop wars.

“If you insist,” he chuckled, “my name is Thomas. Let me put my number in your phone.” He held his phone up and it beeped.

“Of course!” Adrian fumbled his phone out of his pocket and touched it to Thomas’s. His screen lit up letting him know he received a new contact packet. “I’ll uh…I’ll text you the details.” He shook Thomas’s hand and continued on his way home, the sun warming his face as he whistled along to the vehicular hum on the streets.

…..

“To one year!” Thomas said as he raised his glass of champagne and clinked it against Adrian’s. “Who would have thought that a change meeting outside that Starbucks would change everything.”

“Too right,” Adrian responded as he took a sip from his drink. He set the flute down and stabbed another ravioli from his plate, sliding it over to Thomas’s. “You really need to try this, it’s absolutely amazing.”

Thomas’s eyes rolled back slightly as he took the ravioli to his own mouth, the cheese sauce spreading across his tongue. “Oh wow, they really outdid themselves with this new place,” he commented and chased it down with his own drink. “I can’t believe we got in on the ground floor with this. This was a really smart investment Adrian.” Thomas slid his arm around Adrian’s shoulders as they sat there in the restaurant they helped fund.

“It is my job, telling people which of these greedy cash suckers to put their money in,” he replied, eyes drawn down to his plate. “I just wish I could do something more, something better. Have you ever seen an actual tree Thomas?”

“No,” his voice came out quietly, “not around here I haven’t. I hear there are still plenty of trees down in the south though.” He looked to Adrian, “the air is supposed to smell great, not this metallic tang we are used to from the oxygen generators.”

“It really makes me want to do something about it.” Adrian played with his food a bit, “imagine, being able to go to a park, like in the old days!”

“I know, and eating real meat raised on a farm. Not this processed stuff grown in a lab.”

“It would be a dream come true, but the corps would never go for it. It would cut into their bottom like too much.”

Thomas sighed gently as he placed a hand on Adrian’s arm. “Maybe one day it’ll all burn down and we can see what it’s like.” Thomas threw some credits down on the table. “Well let’s go to the second part of our evening. I want to go see the beach.”

They walked out the front door into the busy street, the holographic trees slowly giving way to the streetlights of nighttime. They went down the escalator to the underground and boarded the train heading to the coast.

As the door opened the sharp smell of salt water filled their noses as they followed the crowd to the surface. The waves gently lapped against the beach and kids ran and splashed in the water. “The only preserved part of the area.” Adrian whispered. The ocean always filled him with wonder, the large body of water stretching off into the horizon. The gentle pinks and blues of the setting sun washing over the white sand, giving it a stained look. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

“It really is,” Thomas said looking at Adrian. “And the ocean isn’t too bad either.”

Adrian laughed, “Wow, you are so cheesy.”

Thomas shrugged and waded into the water. “Hey, you know what you got yourself into.” There was a loud BOOM in the distance.

“Looks like the heroes are active again.” Adrian whispered as he lay his head on Thomas’s shoulder. It felt wet and sticky. As he looked up he noticed the brief sight of one of the heroes flying out across the water, covered in crimson. He looked over to Thomas to see what was wrong and let out a stifled scream. All that remained of Thomas was the arm that was wrapped around Adrian’s shoulders. He sagged into the sand, now stained with the crimson of Thomas’s blood and cried, the sun slowly going dim.

…..

Adrian looked down at the weathered headstone marking the grave to his heart. “Don’t worry Thomas, they are going to pay.” He looked down at the remote he held in his hand and read the display that was showing there. “I finally completed the seed. Soon we will see what nature has in store for us.” He turned to leave and walked out the gray concrete fence that surrounded the grave lot. He looked to the sky and stared at the gray sun, wishing it could rain to help mask the tears he felt burning his eyes. He pressed the button on the remote and the rumbling started under his feet.

He started walking west towards the ocean, if he was going to pull this off he wanted it to end where his heart had broken. He tucked the remote into his pocket and before he knew it he was ankle deep in the crystal blue salt water. He felt the temperature of the water slowly rising as his plan slowly took shape. He stepped out of the water and sat on the sand, now white during the midpoint of the day. The blood stain completely gone from the spot he sat all those months ago, like nature didn’t even care about what it took from him. He saw the orange glow of the lava in the shallows and heard the screams of the beachgoers as they ran from the disaster that was peeking through the ground.

Adrian sat there and watched his handiwork slowly emerge from beneath the ground. He heard the familiar sound of one of the heroes flying to his location to see what was going on. 

“What’s going on here,” he asked, landing next to Adrian.

“Well, soon there will probably be a volcano here, spewing lava to burn down this abomination of a city.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” He turned towards Adrian and crossed his arms, “did you have anything to do with this?”

“I planted a seed, and a volcano grew.” Adrian smiled up at the man, his eyes staring into the distance. The ocean began to bubble as the lava coursed up through the crust of the earth and Adrian chuckled. “I’m not even going to be around to see the aftermath.”

The hero pulled a clear crystal out of his pocket and it began to glow. “By the authority of the board of corporations, I place you under arrest.”

Adrian just sat there, staring at the boiling water as the crystal grew and enveloped him, enclosing him in a clear prison. He stopped breathing and everything went black.

…..

Adrian opened his eyes and blinked. The bright yellow light blinding him momentarily as he looked around. He was still trapped in a clear crystal floating above what appeared to be the ground. He looked around at the vibrant greens around him.

“Trees.” He gasped. He turned around and saw a small mountain not too far off, smoke coming from its peak twisting into the sky. “The sun, that’s what that light is. It’s so bright without all the smog.”

Adrian turned to the east and saw the remains of the metropolis he once lived in. A pack of animals ran through the streets, their cries echoed back to Adrian filling his ears with a strange new music. “It’s so beautiful Thomas. I wish you could see it.”