Christmas Gift.

[Ethan Snow]

It was once more Christmas in Central City and thankfully this time there were no false Santa's or marauding robotic nut-crackers. In fact other than marauding shoppers and some unseasonably warm weather, everything was normal within the city center. Ethan found himself back in Central for two reasons, the first being to do some shopping of his own and second, on invitation of an acquaintance he'd met the year before, Mister Andronazi, the owner of the Æ building. Ethan had quite enjoyed the man's company when they had completed their adventure the year before and was looking forward to renewing the friendship. Approaching the building by air, Ethan could see though that besides the decorations and the well appointed mall Santa outside of the building's main entrance, the square seemed to lack a little something that completed the classic Christmas mystique. It was in fact the warm weather and more importantly, the lack of a fluffy white blanket coating the ground. Without snow the picture was simply incomplete and Ethan couldn't abide a Christmas without snow. Thankfully in the recent months Ethan had accumulated quite a bit of skill in manipulating the weather within a fairly contained area using his control over water, so he was well equipped to change the situation.

The boy was on foot at the moment, crossing the great square in his most hated of winter attire, the heavy coat feeling more like a strait jacket to the usually half clothed young man. As he walked, Ethan could see that without the wintery blanket of snow to complete the scene, the citizens of Central City just didn't seem to be in the same Christmas Spirit that they usually were in at this time of year. Being the publicly minded fellow he usually was, Ethan decided to do something about it and turned his attention to the tallest building in the area, which to no surprise was the huge, black steel and glass edifice of the Æ building, dominating the whole northern end of the square like a corporate monolith. From the roof of the monster building the blue haired young man would have no problem overlooking the entire city to put his Christmas gift to the people in motion. Gaining access to that roof was another matter entirely however. He could fly up the side of the building, yes, that however would no only be seen by everyone outside on which ever particular side of the building he ascended, but also by those on the inside of the structure as well. No, he would have to get to the roof in a much more conventional manner, the good old fashioned elevator.

Gaining access to the lobby was easily enough, the first ten floors of the Æ building were a gigantic shopping center open to the public. Once inside though the blue haired teen was faced with a few issues, not the least of which was the task of fighting the urge to unzip his winter coat right then and there, though that would surely be frowned upon by security and would make him instantly recognizable to the general public around him. It was a fierce battle of willpower to keep the down filled sweat bag on his body, clinging to it like a clammy prison while he made his way to the elevator banks and specifically to the the express elevators that served the upper floors of the building. In spite of his coat and festive Santa hat, Ethan's brilliant blue eyebrows gave him away to the security clerk working the desk for the express elevators and he let the boy boy pass with a knowing smirk. Oh boy what saucy rumors had been floating about the building's grape vine about the boy's last visit? What ever they were, judging by the grin on the man's face, he must of though the teen more akin to an athletic gigolo than the former President. It did put an uneasy look on the boy's face as the elevator doors were closing and in the last instant the man winked and gave him a double thumbs up, as if to say 'Go get him tiger' or some other such lurid suggestion.

At least now he was safe in the lift and on his way up... but oh no, he was on his way to the wrong floor. Ethan wanted number one fifty, the helipad level on the roof. Instead he was on his way directly to mister Andronazi's suite on one thirty six. Hitting the button for the helipad a few times to to try and add it to the elevator's queue, the blue haired boy saw to his horror that the destination was not changing. Indeed, every time he pressed the desired button, there was a barely audible buzz from the control panel as if it were indicating that the one hundred and fiftieth floor was in invalid selection. “Crap.” the teen cursed under his breath and stood back from the door. He wasn't fearful of the tall, red haired man, no not in the slightest, he quite enjoyed the man's company. He however would have preferred to keep his gift to the public in the square a secret and to involve minster Andronazi would almost certainly turn the event into a media circus. That being the last thing he needed, Ethan looked for another option. By now the lift had exited the first fifty floors of the building and was traveling inside of a glass tube that ran for another fifty floors up a more narrow portion of the structure. As he looked out on the rapidly descending square below him, he got an idea. The elevator would continue traveling to the one hundred and thirty sixth floor no matter what, but he didn't have to get off on that floor. He could either ride it back down to the lobby and try another lift, or leave through the hatch of the top and exit the elevator shaft on one of the upper floors, bypassing one thirty six all together.

With his plan now in mind, Ethan stood back from the doors of the elevator and watched the numbers on the display tick by as the glass enclosure ascended towards the one hundred and thirty sixth floor. He could jump up through the hatch in the ceiling at any time, however getting caught up in the greasy cables from which the car was suspended was not only a was to completely ruin his coat, but also something he simply did not want to risk. Instead he would wait for the elevator to slow and just as it reached floor one thirty six, he would pop up through the hatch. No doubt there would be some confusion if mister Andronazi was in his suite at the time when the lift arrived containing no occupants, but at least he wouldn't have to explain himself just yet. After a few more, and one might say, agonizingly long moments, the elevator entered the floors ranging in the hundreds, then the hundred and teens, hundred and twenties and finally the hundred and thirties and started to slow. As it reached one thirty six, Ethan jumped up and pushed the hatch open and then jumped again, using his arms to haul himself up through the opening. He obviously could not fly within the confined space as there was no where for his board to fit. Instead the boy got into the elevator shaft by muscle power alone and then, once on top of the lift, had the space to form his ethereal construct.

Ethan did not have to go far, as he only wanted to ascend another floor or two so that he could gain access to the stairwells. To ascend the rest of the shaft to floor one hundred and fifty was unnecessary and quite frankly logistically unhelpful as there was no way through the top of the shaft and into the elevator machine room, at least not unless she could squeeze himself through the rectangular opening in the top of the shaft through which the cables passed. No, instead of that the blue haired teen would ascend to floor one hundred and forty, making sure he did not to brush the grease coated cables on the way up and then once there would simply force the doors open. It was a simple task, however what the crafty boy did not know was that from the moment he entered the lobby, the building security cameras were keeping a watchful eye over his movements. They had watched his transit through the lobby, past the security desk and his ride up in the lift it's self. The camera in the lift even caught the young man opening the hatch and leaping up through the opening. Likewise the camera in the elevator lobby for the one hundred and thirty sixth floor showed the elevator doors opening and clearly the lack of a passenger on board.

Of course Ethan had no way of knowing he was under such scrutiny, nor that as he walked through the office space on floor one hundred and forty, that he was likewise being tracked. His entry into the stairwell was not obstructed and a few flights of stairs later, Ethan arrived on the one hundred and fiftieth floor and the helipads. The building was so large that it actually sported twin pads, one on the east and one on the west side of the building with the elevator lobby and central stairwell in between the two. Thankfully neither seemed to be in use at the moment and the blue haired teen was as far as he knew, the only person on the floor. Of course there were cameras here as well and as Ethan stepped outside to perform his elemental magic, the ever watchful electronic eyes followed him. Making his way to the East pad, Ethan looked out across the square and took a deep breath, what he was about to do wasn't particularly hard, just somewhat draining considering the amount of water vapor he would need to manipulate. Still, once he prepared himself, the sweaty teen raised his hands to the sky and started to concentrate. It started almost imperceptibly at first, a flake here and a flake there. Then as more of them started to fall, the temperature it's self started to descend as well. Before long thick, gray clouds had rolled in from off shore and were belching out a thick torrent of snow. It wasn't a blizzard of course, Ethan didn't want to cause people trouble, but the snowfall was particularly heavy and centered mainly around the city blocks surrounding the great square.

Once the snow fall was well under way and Ethan felt he could leave the reaction running without further influence from himself, the sweaty young man, and boy was he a bag of sweat by now under his coat, turned and headed back into the elevator lobby to page one of the lifts to take him down to floor one thirty six. He couldn't very well pop into the building and then leave without at least saying hello to the man who owned it. Well when the lift did arrived Ethan was in for quite the shock, as when the doors slid open, who else was standing the the lift smiling at him but none other than mister Andronazi himself.

“Oh...cra... Uh... Hello mister Gælon.” the blue haired teen stammered.

“Well good evening to you mister Snow. I was wondering where you had gotten off to.” the well dressed man replied and stood aside for Ethan to enter the lift. “Security told me you were on your way up, imagine my surprise when I went to meet the elevator and no one was in it.”

“Oh... Uh... Sorry about that mister...” Ethan started as he stepped into the lift and took his Santa hat off, his blue locks messily plastered down by the sweat soaking them. Before he was able to continue his response though, the man turned to him and shushed him with a gentle finger against the boy's lips.

“None of that mister Snow, I know exactly what you were doing.” the man interrupted and then moved his hand to the zipper of Ethan's coat and started to pull it down. “That was a very nice thing you did out there, completing the Christmas spirit with a man made snow storm. And look at you, sweaty and worn out from the effort. I think very much that you need to be rewarded for your hard work. First we will get that off and sent to the laundry and then you will be my guest for the rest of the evening.” Gælon stated rather than suggested. He knew quite well what buttons to push to both get what he wanted and what other people wanted, in this particular situation, with this particular boy, he was in charge and would tell the young man what to do, and this evening he was commanding Ethan to relax and enjoy himself.



{Topic concluded. Would like to request Money please.}