InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

New Marais: The Swamp Witch

Trish spent the next couple of minutes checking over Cole's body, making sure that he wasn't terribly wounded and could get back up when he had some rest, while at the same time Zeke and the Dazzlings gathered near her, as all four of them were worried for Cole's health. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata knew that Cole would likely heal himself once he was back on his feet, by draining one of the nearby power sources, but at the same time they had no idea what sort of damage that car crash he had been in a few minutes ago had done to his body. The good part was that none of the Militia soldiers were bothering to come up to the roof that they had landed on and investigate what was going on up there, meaning that they were busy with whatever Bertrand wanted them to do, though that also meant that the group was able to hide themselves until Cole was ready to move once more. Eventually Trish sighed and packed up her supplies, showing that she had done everything she could for someone like Cole, and that she desperately wanted to do more to assist them, but at the moment all she could do was check his body, make sure there weren't any broken bones, and patch up any wounds he had so he didn't bleed out before he could drain the electricity from one of the poles around them.

"What the hell happened?" Trish asked, as Zeke had, as per her request, kept her in the loop with what they were doing and where they were going, that way in case they needed some medical assistance she would be ready for anything, and she had come to a safe area to tend to Wolfe when he arrived.

"Well, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, showed up," Adagio replied, because Cole, Zeke, and Trish were the only ones in this world that knew that she and her sisters were from a different world, one that the people seemed to have somehow found out about and make a cartoon about, which meant that the three of them knew that Equus, and all of the ponies that called it home, were real, "He distracted us by informing us that we wouldn't be able to change the course of fate when it came to Wolfe, because he mentioned that car crash being a fixed point in time and that none of us would have changed the outcome."

"Wait, does that mean what I think it means?" Zeke asked, though while he was still shocked that a show that was based around ponies, friendship, and life lessons was actually real and he was friends with three of it's former residents, he didn't really care about the creature they had encountered, as he was more interested in what was going on around them at the moment.

"Wolfe's dead." Aria stated, as she remembered what she and her sisters had seen back at the scene they had discovered, because this was going to change everything they were about to do in New Marais, especially since the only one that knew where to find the Blast Cores was gone, "And by the time we got there the Militia had carried off Kuo as well, so we'll have to find and rescue her at some point as well... and that's while also figuring out how we're supposed to find Blast Cores without Wolfe there to assist us."

"Then Zeke and I will do our best to help out in that regard," Trish said, as she could only imagine the pain that Cole was going to be in when he got up, since he was going to be pissed that Wolfe was dead, that Kuo was gone, and that there was nothing the Dazzlings would have done to assist them in stopping the car crash, "and, if I see Discord while we're at it, I'll tell you immediately, since I'm sure that the three of you are the only ones that would be able to deal with such a creature without being utterly defeated in an instant."

"I guess that we should help the citizens of New Marais while we wait for Cole to get up." Sonata commented, as she knew that there were a number of people that needed assistance with whatever was happening to them, along with the various people that the Militia was harassing on the streets and the Blast Shard bombs that might have been placed on some of the walls around the city, "At the very least we can prove to the people of New Marais that people like us aren't evil, like Bertrand is claiming that we are, and that we're heroes that are working to protect them from the terrors that exist all around them."

Adagio and Aria glanced at each other before they nodded, as Sonata's words made sense when they considered that they were Guardians of the People, or had been to the people of Empire City, and that the people of New Marais would see them in such a light when they were done assisting them with whatever they needed help with. As such the three of them took to the skies and separated from each other, because with their various powers there was no reason for them to stick together for a simple side objective that Zeke knew the location of, which he hadn't told them about since he knew that they were more interested in getting the reason they were in the city out of the way. Sonata sought out the various medics that were scattered around New Marais and assisted them in recovering the supplies that were stolen from them or clearing out the clinic that they had established, as it appeared that the Militia were keen on harassing them, just like the gangs in Empire City did before they got to them. Aria flew around and dismantled the Militia patrols that she spotted, cleaning up the streets in the process, because she was more pissed off that they apparently couldn't do a thing to stop Wolfe's death from happening and Discord even showed up to distract them from the mission they had been on.

Adagio, on the other hand, stuck to the areas that were close to the water and was surprised to find a number of civilians asking for assistance in either taking out a Militia boat that a bunch of supplies that the evil soldiers could use against the people, or actually sinking a boat that was actively firing at the city for some reason. It was rather easy for her to take out the boats, as all she had to do was manipulate the water around her target and sink them in seconds, much to the terror of the soldiers that tried to shoot her down and stop her from sinking them, even though it was impossible for them to hurt her at all. The people that were watching her blow the ships up, or sink them depending on what the soldiers did, cheered her on as she made the water around New Marais safer than they had been since Bertrand had taken control of the entire city, but eventually she ran out of targets to hit and left the streets near the water as she sought out more targets to eliminate so the people would be even safer than they were now.

---

Four hours passed before Cole woke up, though when the first of those four hours had gone by the Dazzlings returned to the roof that Zeke was standing guard on, observing an area of the city for clues as to where the Militia could have taken Kuo, while at the same time Trish watched over Cole while he slept. When the remaining three hours went by Cole finally stirred and asked what was going on, since the last thing he remembered was the car crash, to which the group informed him of what happened and what they were doing to find where Kuo had been taken. Cole was annoyed, as the loss of Wolfe really damaged their chances of stopping the Beast, despite the fact that it was going to be him and the Dazzlings against the creature when it arrived, but Trish's presence was enough to calm him down before he did anything rash, which allowed him to listen to Adagio, Aria, and Sonata as they told him everything that they had done while he was knocked out from the crash... and, after they were done, he stated that he was pleased with the sisters for proving Bertrand wrong, that they were heroes instead of villains.

Once that was done, and Trish said that he was fine to move once he got some electricity in his body to repair the damage to his body, Cole moved over to a generator that was nearby and pulled the power back into his body, allowing his body to be healed as he focused on what the group was doing at the moment... which involved him walking up to where Zeke was standing, as he was still staring out at something that was off in the distance from the roof that the entire group was standing on.

"Come on man, there's no reason for you to be down." Zeke commented, putting down the binoculars that he had been holding the entire time he had been waiting for Cole to awaken, though at the same time he knew that his friend was still annoyed with Wolfe's death, "Sure, Wolfe might be gone, but we still have you and the Dazzlings... not to mention the RFI that he gave us."

"That things a paperweight without Blast Cores." Cole replied, as he didn't want to think about the device that they had been given, the only thing that could apparently subtract the powers of the Beast when he was strong enough to power it, and wanted to focus on finding Kuo, "Wolfe was the only one that knew exactly where the Blast Cores are located, so how are we supposed to find them without him leading us to them?"

"Honestly, I don't know how we'll find them." Adagio said, because she knew that the Blast Cores were important to this entire operation, but because only one person knew where they were located it was going to be even harder for them to figure out where they're located, "But that's another thing that we'll have to work on while we're taking down the Militia and whatever operations that they're working on at the moment."

"Okay, Zeke, what's up with the binoculars?" Cole asked, as he had been wondering what his friend was doing at the moment and finally decided to ask what he was doing, though knowing his friend it was likely something inappropriate that was going to get him smacked by Trish when the truth was revealed, "You spying on a chick in the shower?"

"Not this time." Zeke replied, knowing that Trish was nearby and knew that she would smack him again if he was actually doing something like that, especially with the Dazzlings standing near them as well, before he turned his attention to what was in front of him, "I think I found Kuo. I heard that some gal escaped the lynch mob, took off through the swamp. Probably hiding in one of those bootlegging shacks they got back there."

"Finally, something to do." Aria said, to which she and her sisters got up from where they were sitting, or leaning in her case, and approached the edge of the roof that they were on, where they stared off into the area that Zeke was looking in at the moment, which Cole was doing as well, "Come on guys, let's go check it out."

Cole nodded and the four of them descended towards the ground level, where they headed in the direction that Zeke had been looking in and were immediately stopped when they found a group of protesters saying that 'New Marais won't bow down, keep MacGrath out of our town', showing that they were believers of what Bertrand was spewing and that they didn't approve of Cole and his friends. Of course one thing they could have done was break them and force them to stop saying things like that, but the sisters knew that was a bad action to go through and would ruin what they had done earlier while Cole was resting, which was why they bypassed the protesters and headed into the swamp area that Zeke had been looking at earlier. The first thing they did was jump over the ruined bridge that was behind the building that they were heading to and entered the swamp, though as they made their way around the trees they found a smaller building that was the shack that Zeke was talking about, but when Cole opened the door they found that no one was in the building and that someone might not have lived here for some time.

Since they determined that whoever Zeke had discovered the existence of wasn't here, and Zeke informed them that there were more shacks around the area, the four of them headed out and headed towards the second location that he wanted them to investigate, only to stop when they discovered a swamp monster with a gas head standing nearby. The group discovered that, when the gas head exploded the creature died, which was good to know as additional enemies came at them, because that information allowed them to defeat the additional enemies that appeared, before they walked forward and entered a Militia controlled area. The soldiers seemed surprised to see them, as they paused the moment they saw them, before they opened fire and caused the four of them to separate as they began the assault on the soldiers that were ruining New Marais, especially when Aria burned down one of the watchtowers that were looking for their enemies. The turret that was some distance away from where they were standing came online and opened fire on Sonata, who flew behind it and knocked the soldier behind it out, before destroying the turret itself, allowing Adagio to manipulate the moisture into creating some Ice Walls to prevent their enemies from accurately firing at them... though in the end that only allowed Cole to take them out as well before they approached the second shack, where a machine gun carrying soldier appeared and primed up his gun.

Adagio stared at the soldier for a few seconds as she wove her magic through the air and froze their opponent in a block of ice, allowing them to open the door of the shack and find that Kuo hadn't been there either, though that was followed by Cole, Aria, and Sonata attacking the swamp monsters that came out to ambush them. The swamp monsters didn't last long against the four of them, especially when their enemies only came in groups of three at a time, and they were able to cross over to a piece of land that had an alarming number of Militia soldiers guarding the next shack that they would be investigating. Despite their enemies numbers Cole had the advantage, as some of the soldiers were knocked back into the water by Sonata, who were then frozen by Adagio as she blasted a few more into the trees around them, and Aria knocked out the two turrets that were nearby, allowing him to take a few of the soldiers for himself before the entire area was cleared of enemies once more. When Cole went to open the door, however, the Militia squad that was over to their right suddenly exploded and caught their attention, as that wasn't normal at all, to which they abandoned looking in the shack that was in front of them and headed over to the area of the explosion... though what the group found when they arrived was a decent amount of smoke and a number of dead Militia soldiers scattered around the area, as well as a lady that was carrying a Blast Core in her left hand.

The lady in question had braided dreadlocks, with specific parts partly colored with a dark red, dark colored skin with some make up applied to her face, while her attire consisted mostly of leather, with a black half-opened vest, and leather pants and boots. The interesting thing was that the lady also had several slightly torn sleeves and wore several bands and ornaments, several decorative rope necklaces, and had metal finger attachments on both her hands, making her look more menacing than the Militia soldiers... though when she turned around, and noticed that she had company, she flashed around the area with some sort of teleportation power until she knocked Cole to the ground. As the lady came in to deliver the next attack, however, she stopped when she noticed that Cole's right hand had electricity dancing around it as he prepared to defend himself, which was followed by the Dazzlings appearing around her with a blade made from the element they command resting close to her body.

"The Demon and the Sirens?!" the lady exclaimed in surprise, which was when she backed off of Cole, the movement allowing Cole to get up as well, and took a few steps back as she realized that she had been correct in figuring out who was standing around her, and they were annoyed with her at the moment, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Cole MacGrath, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk. I'm a fan."

"Is that so?" Cole inquired, as this was a first, because the other Conduits that he had met, Sasha, Alden, and Kessler, had all wanted to kill him and the Dazzlings in their own manners, so it was unusual for them to meet another Conduit that was actually a fan, before he pointed at the Blast Core, "Where did you get that?"

"Off of these fools. I thought it was kind of pretty." the lady replied, staring at the Blast Core for a moment, as her expression revealed that she didn't know what she was even holding at the moment, before she turned and looked at the group once more, finding that the Dazzlings had banished their elemental blades for the moment and were looking at her with some interest in their eyes, "Why, you like pretty?"

"You could say that." Adagio commented, as the only thing they cared about at the moment was the Blast Core, as that would give Cole even more power so he could be ready for using the RFI, and the only 'pretty' thing that she and her sisters cared about was their pendants.

"It's all yours." the lady stated, surprising the four of them for a moment, as they could have sworn that she would have insisted on keeping the Blast Core, though that was when she beckoned to an area that was nearby, where it appeared that some of the Militia and Bertrand's rally materials were gathered, "All you gotta do is help me bust a few crackers first."

"You look like a real damsel in distress." Aria said, though she was being sarcastic about it, because they could tell that the lady was a powerful Conduit and that she actually didn't need help taking care of the Militia, which was why the four of them waited to hear the reason behind the request.

"It ain't about needing help." the lady explained, to which she turned towards Cole for a moment, as he was the one that she was the most interested in, telling the sisters so many things with how she she was looking at him, "I just... want a little company. My name's Nix."

Cole, seeing that they could either get on her good side and get her to hand over the Blast Core or get on her bad side and knock her out to get it, decided that they might as well see what she had in mind and beckoned for her to lead the way to the destination that she had in mind. As the four of them followed after her, however, they discovered that she was really excited about meeting them, as she even said that she never thought that she would have the opportunity to run with both the Demon and the Sirens of Empire City. None of them were all too happy to hear the name that Moya had given them, before they sank her boat and killed her anyway, but right now they knew that it was best to keep Nix in their sights and not fall behind, which was why they followed her to the roofs above where the lynch mob was gathering for their next attack, while at the same time helping her take out a group of enemies on the ground level. It was up on the roofs that the group found a number of Militia soldiers guarding the area, soldiers that Nix immediately the moment she saw them, to which they joined in and revealed that five Conduits rained even more destruction and defeat than just one did on their own, even though Cole and the sisters were only knocking them out while their new 'friend' had an appetite for destruction that she just couldn't seem to fill.

It took a few minutes for them to actually clear out their enemies, as Nix had a preference for jumping around and getting in the way at times, just so she could show off her control over her powers, which seemed to resemble a flammable tar like substance that she used to trap her enemies until one of the others detonated the appendages that were holding a foe in the air. When all of the enemies were taken care of, and they were sure that the area was clear for the moment, Nix had them help her dump oil on all four of the banners that were around the lynch mob, which she must have set up ahead of time when no one was here, to which the four of them simply heaved the barrels up and assisted her in her mad scheme, before they ignited the banners and filled the area with fire and smoke. From that moment forward Nix went on a killing spree as she smashed and blasted her way through the lynch mob that was trapped in front of her, while at the same time Cole and the others couldn't watch, not when she was having too much fun at the expense of everyone around her... though that didn't stop her from cheering once the entire thing was done, and acting like the four of them had gotten in on the action, even though she took everyone by herself.

"Here it is, Mr. Pretty." Nix said, as when she finally calmed down the group dropped down to where she was standing and approached her, where she held out the Blast Core for Cole to take, but paused when he grabbed onto it, as there was a weird look in her eyes, "Am I ever going to see you guys again?"

"Maybe." Cole replied, as he wasn't sure that he wanted to do anything with the local nutcase, not when she was so willing to kill everyone that got in her way and preferred to burn everything that her enemies had built, before he claimed the Blast Core from Nix's weakened grip and held an electrified hand up, "We've got a little something in common."

Nix smiled as she teleported out of the area and left the group to their own devices, though as the group headed back into the city, however, Zeke felt that they shouldn't be hanging out with Nix, something that the four of them mostly agreed with since she was crazy, but that faded away quickly when Cole told him they got a Blast Core out of it. As Zeke sent them the coordinates of the new safe house, where he was going to set up shop this time around, the four of them couldn't help but worry when he said that he had a surprise for them, to which they kept quite as they headed back into the city so they could see what sort of powers Cole got from the second Blast Core they had recovered.