The Gear

It's all about creating wealth. Not making money, but wealth, there's a subtle difference. Creating wealth is about adding value to the world around you. In exchange, one of the many benefits, is that you make money (a unit that represents wealth). Over three generations, the Redmond family had created a lot of wealth. In public, and even more so behind the scenes, the three Redmonds added more value to the world than many other people.

Arthur, the patriarch, discovered the mysterious neo-particles, and pioneered the new field of neo-science. His son, Michael, was an industrialist like a modern Edison, until his untimely demise. Miles, Arthur's grandson, had yet to prove himself to the world. Miles lived on the edge of the Island City, his state-of-the-art mansion was built into the caverns of the cliffs, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

In the hidden garage, Miles worked on programming the super-computer his father had built. An alarm went off, and Miles immediately jumped into action. He wore his flexi-armor, a black jumpsuit made of bullet proof non-metal. He slipped his feet into metal boots, which went up to his knees and clamped on automatically. He slipped on a gauntlet, with a long metal forearm. Finally he slipped on the helmet: a full-faced helmet with no marks or openings, simply one opaque glassy orb. Inside, Miles could control his whole operation cybernetically. He walked up the the Hover-Car, designed like a Lamborghini, but with a heavier metal for the exterior, wheels replaced with his fathers experimental hover-tech, and a turbo-thruster in the back. He jumped into the Hover-Car and sped away.

Before long he was in the center of town. In the middle of the street a cop car chased an armored truck. Miles hovered above in the hover-car. Gunmen opened up the back doors, carrying a bazooka, and aimed it at the police vehicle. The officer hit the brakes, and, Miles dove downwards into the line of fire, simultaneously ejecting from the car.

Two hover disks ejected from Miles' belt. The disks shot two tranquilizer darts at the two gunmen in the back of the truck. Miles landed on top of the truck, and walked towards the front. He attached a line to the truck with a super magnet and scaled down the side of the cabin. The driver pulled out a semi-auto and fired at the Helmeted Adventurer. Miles grabbed the drivers arm to point it away from himself.

The hover disks (which Miles had dubbed 'gears') traveled under the truck to the engine, destroying it. As the car lost it's power, the driver braked to a stop, slipped from Miles' grip, and escaped out the other side.

The gears followed the driver who ran on foot through the city. Miles wished that he had a hover board. Miles ran after, out of shape, following his target through the visual displays on his helmet. He sent untraceable messages to the Island City Police Force, on the coordinates.

Then he saw Redmond Tower: the tallest, and one of the only skyscrapers in the city. He launched his line up, and ascended the walls as fast as he could. At the top, he looked over the whole city. The visuals on his helmet pointed out where the gears were, and the gears relayed the image of the driver they were following from a distance.

Miles watched a cop car pass by, as the driver hid in an alley behind the dumpster. Sometimes, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Miles dove from his perch on the top of the Tower. After falling from a certain height, he fired one line from his back, which attached magnetically to a strategically placed metal piece.

He fired another line from his gauntlet onto a nearby building, and the end of the line wrapped securely around a railing.  Miles swung building to building, much like a certain arachnid-esque hero he had once idolized. His lines were made of prehensile nano-bots, which could act more like tentacles if needed. As he swung across 3 blocks, one of the gears projected a 3D hologram of him next to the driver. The driver fired the remainder of his shots into the projection, to no avail. The real Miles swung in, and punched the driver out in one fair swoop.

As Miles stood there, the police finally arrived. "It's The Gear!" they exclaimed, as he was legendarily known in the city. "He's back!" they gawked. Truth be told, Miles had never left. It was the guy before him. He had given up the mantle of the Helmeted Avenger. Miles decided it was a good time to exit. He ran back to the hover-car, leaving the cops to clean up the mess.

*****
"Are we any closer to building miniature hover-thrusters that can lift a human?" Miles asked the super-computer he decided to dub, the Architect (or Archie).
"No."
"How about making a more durable non-liquid material."
"No."
"Am I any closer to being an American Ninja Warrior?"
"No"
"All right, tell me when we make any breakthroughs in these areas. I have a date."

Miles walked out of the hidden Garage, into his living room which looked out over the Ocean. Inheriting his father's wealth had changed the way girls looked at him. All through college he tried to shun his father's handouts, and any asscociation with the Family name. He buried himself in his studies, neglecting his social life entirely. All through college he never dated anyone. Now he was turning a new leaf. Maybe he had bit off more than he could chew, asking out the most attractive girl in the world: a student he had met, guest speaking at the local university. He planned to pull out all the stops to impress her. She had other plans...