//------------------------------//
// Empire: Telling the Truth 
// Story: InFamous: The Unusual Conduits 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

The moment Cole heard that Trish needed their help, because the Reapers were apparently harassing her and whoever else was on the bus that she was using to get to the hospital, the four of them got moving and made their way back towards the Neon District. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all wondered how many more Reapers there could be, since they had smashed Sasha's operation and had freed quite the number of innocent people she was trying to corrupt, but all they could guess was that she had small groups hidden throughout the Neon District, which would dissipate in time, since their leader was no longer in command of the area. Sure, he could have easily taken the train rails and used his Induction Grind ability to race over to the bridge as the sisters flew after him, but for the next few minutes he decided that they might as well get some exercise and started to climb one of the buildings, as he intended to climb his way up to the roof and then jump to the next one until he was forced to use the power lines to get to his destination. The sisters, of course, decided to follow after him, as they had taken to doing this rather easily since he showed it to them, but he knew that there was more for them to learn and he was eager to show them.

As they reached the top of the first building, however, the mood was spoiled when Cole's phone went off again, though this time around whoever was calling them didn't seem like the type that wanted to wait, because before Cole could even raise his hand the call sound was cut off and whoever was calling started to speak.

"I've been keeping an eye on you and those girls, Cole." Kessler said, causing the four of them to pause and look around, searching for any signs of the leader of the First Sons, because he could either be in the Neon District, the Warren, or even the Historic District at that very moment, "Watching the four of you parade around while a bunch of peacocks, showing off every chance you get. Pathetic."

"That's real tough talk coming from a guy who tortures people." Cole growled, as he couldn't forget the last time Kessler decided to call them, where he and the sisters had heard the sounds of Sasha in the background, sounding like she had been tortured since they had last seen her.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Kessler inquired, his anger filling his voice for a moment, as if he expected Cole to have some sort of life changing discovery since the last time the two of them conversed, but at the moment they had been busy and really didn't have the time for such thoughts, "You don't get any second chances. Every time you fail, someone's world ends... ends in the worst way imaginable. I learned that the hard way... and by god, you and the girls are going to learn it as well, one way or another."

"Tell you what," Adagio said, where she stepped forward and stared at Cole's phone for a moment, silently hoping that Kessler could feel her gaze through it while she spoke, "why don't you crawl out of whatever hole you happen to be hiding in and meet us somewhere. Then we can settle this once and for all."

"All in good time, my dear Adagio." Kessler replied, to which Adagio took a step back for a moment and stared at the phone, as she was shocked that the evil man even knew her name, which meant that he must know Aria and Sonata's names as well, "All in good time."

A few seconds later the call was disconnected, indicating that Kessler had said his piece and was gone, though at the same time none of them felt like moving yet, as there was something that their true target had said that made them all pause for the moment.

"He knew your name." Aria said, though she couldn't believe it, because the only people that actually knew their names were Trish, Cole, Zeke, a handful of people that they had helped, and Moya, which didn't explain how Kessler had discovered her name, "How did he figure out your name?"

"Maybe it was back when we first encountered him?" Sonata offered, because based on what she knew, from what they had seen and what they had heard from the various recordings that John had left behind, that was the only thing that could have worked, "I mean, when he was touching Cole's head, and we grabbed onto him, he showed us what was to come by a terrible vision of the future, almost like he was pushing what was in his mind into all of our minds. Maybe when he did that, and was starting to pull back, he took the opportunity to partly read a little of our minds as well, just enough to gain the knowledge of our names."

"Considering that we know next to nothing about Kessler and his abilities, that might not be a bad guess." Cole said, though at the same time he sighed, because while he wanted to take Kessler out now, and stop his plans from coming to life, they had no idea where he was located and he appeared to be dong nothing more than taunting them, to which he turned to continue on their way, "Let's get to the Neon District and give Trish the help she needs... and then maybe we can have a few moments to relax from this stressful day."

The sisters nodded and started to follow Cole over to the edge of the building, so they could figure out the path they were going to take to get back to the Neon District, but as they did so Cole's phone went off again, though this time around it was Zeke, of all people.

"Hey, brother." Zeke said, his earlier anger and frustration gone from his voice, indicating that he had taken the last few minutes to cool down and think about what he had said and what the group had done for him, especially saving his life from the Dust Men, "Sorry I was such a prick back at the shipyards. Really screwed the pooch on that one."

"Zeke, I know you mean well, but the world is changing." Cole replied, deciding that now wasn't the best time for his anger towards Kessler to rise to the surface, as Zeke didn't deserve to have that directed at him, while at the same time hoping that his friend stayed safe, "The truth is that if you make a mistake now, like what happened with the Dust Men earlier, then you're as good as dead... unless whoever you encountered you decided to use you as bait for a trap, just like the Dust Men did."

"Hell, I know that now." Zeke stated, to which the sisters stood around and looked out for enemies, because with Zeke there was no telling if he was going to be quick about his call or if he was going to take a while, telling them about things they didn't need to know while reminding Cole of the past, "But you know how it's been for me, no family, broke all the damn time. When this quarantine went up, I thought it'd give me a fresh start. Let me really be something."

"We understand Zeke, but we need to be careful." Aria said, as while she and her sisters didn't honestly know what sort of past Zeke was talking about, not without him telling them everything, they did know the desire to change their lives for the better, which had been Sonata's reasoning for heading through the mirror, "All of us need to be careful."

Zeke didn't say anything as the call disconnected, allowing Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to continue on their way through the Warren, jumping over the roofs and crossing the canals in the process, before finally reaching the bridge and crossed over to the Neon District. From there it was a simple matter to follow the rail over to the coordinates that Trish's phone indicated that she was at, mostly because there weren't any Reapers out and about for them to take out, which let them cool down for a moment. Sure enough it wasn't hard for them to locate Trish and her gear, though when they reached the area that she was in they discovered that she was standing near what appeared to be an armored bus with some sort of stand on the top, one that appeared to have electricity arcing over the top of it. The armor itself seemed to be there for protection against the Reapers, and maybe the Dust Men if they were unlucky, though at the same time the four of them approached the bus and wondered what they were going to do next... and they were interested in what Trish had to say before they moved forward.

"Trish!" Cole said, causing Trish to stop what she was doing, which appeared to have been her checking her gear before it was put on the bus, before she turned around and faced them, where she seemed happy to see the sisters and slightly happy to see Cole as well.

"Guys, I'm glad you were able to get here so quickly." Trish replied, though that was when she zipped up the bag and gave them her full attention, but at the same time they could all tell that she was worried about all of the people that were sick and injured at the moment, "The remaining Reapers attacked me on my last trip to the hospital... they must think that I'm in league with the Dust Men or something. There's no way I'll make it back there on my own this time around."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of them." Adagio promised, because she was itching to get rid of the rest of the Reapers, to make the Neon District an even safer place for the people that still lived here, even though she wished they had disbanded after Sasha's defeat.

"I had Roger rig up the roof of the bus with metal mesh, and a generator to keep it electrified." Trish said, explaining the reason why the roof had electricity on top of it, though at the same time the sisters knew who she had done that for and why, "Cole, it should provide you with a non-stop source of energy. Adagio, I'm afraid that we couldn't do the same for you and your sisters. Wind, water, and fire aren't as easy to manipulate as electricity is."

"Wow, that's really smart." Cole said, in the sense that he had never once considered taking a vehicle and setting up this sort of contraption, though at the same time it was just the thing he needed to make sure the Reapers didn't take out the bus, even though the sisters were going to be a big help as well.

"They don't let dumb-asses into med school, Cole." Trish growled, annoyance flashing over her face for a moment, as she couldn't believe that he had said something like that, before she shook her head and turned towards the bus, "Once you and the sisters are ready to go, with you on top of the bus, we'll get going. If you need to stop for something, please let me know so I can stop the bus and wait for you."

"Trish, can I have a quick word with you?" Sonata asked, surprising the group for a moment, as none of them were actually expecting her to say anything at the moment, but Trish simply nodded her head, letting Cole inspect the roof of the bus for a few moments with Adagio and Aria, while the two of them remained where they were standing, "Why are you acting like everything in the world is Cole's fault? And why, for that matter, are you so set on turning a simple comment into an insult that's designed to hurt him more than he already is?"

"All the evidence points to him causing the Blast," Trish replied, to which she stared at Sonata's face for a few seconds, though the look on her face told Sonata that she was going to be incredibly stubborn, "I know that he's been working hard to repair the damage he's done, with you and your sisters helping him out, but that doesn't change what happened."

"And you would be wrong to assume that Cole willingly had anything to do with the Blast." Sonata stated, as she remembered what happened that day, as it was when she, Adagio, and Aria had stepped through the portal and appeared in this world, which had been mere minutes before the Blast occurred, "Trish, we saw Cole the day the Blast happened, when that picture the Voice of Survival had shown had been taken, and the look on his face, when he saw the Ray Sphere inside the package, was one of surprise. He had no idea that the package contained something as dangerous as it did, nor did he realize what would happen when it went off, so it's unfair that you, not to mention a large number of people in this city, blame him for something that wasn't his fault... at least the civilians we help are at least willing to look beyond what happened that day and see that Cole is doing his best to help them out, and many of them lost family that day as well."

Trish stared at her for a few seconds, apparently thinking about something, before she shook her head, like she was annoyed about something, before she returned to her pack, zipped it up, and climbed into the bus without saying a word to anyone else. Sonata sighed, as she was hoping that Trish would have at least considered what she had said, but right now she guessed that her mind was more focused on getting to the hospital and nothing else, to which she floated into the air and let her sisters join her. Once the three of them were in the air around the bus, and were keeping their eyes open for Reapers, Cole climbed up on top of the bus and let one of them tell Trish that they were ready to go, which was followed by the bus starting to move as Trish began to head down the street they were on. Sure enough not a few moments later the four of them noticed that some Reapers were already coming out of the alleys they had been hiding in and were starting their assault on the bus... so while Cole focused on taking out the RPG wielding Reapers, as those posed the most danger to the bus, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata blasted the other Reapers that were in the area around the bus.

For a while it seemed like there weren't a lot of enemies in their way, which made sense considering that they had taken Sasha out, but as Trish turned the bus to the left the sisters noticed a turret truck moving into position ahead of them, so they flew forward and blasted the entire thing to pieces, reducing it to a broken truck. Once the turret was taken out they combined their Shockwave type attacks and pushed it out of the way, allowing Trish to continue on her way as Cole fired at several more Reapers that were charging at them, knocking them out so they didn't do any damage to the bus and it's cargo. Trish continued driving forward, not caring about the Reapers that the group was taking out, while she focused on making her way over to the bridge, though that didn't stop her from occasionally glancing around and watch as Cole or one of the sisters took out something or someone that would have damaged the bus. When she neared the bridge, however, she spotted something that was actually going to improve their chances of getting to their destination without attracting too much attention... and that was because a fair amount of Reapers were currently engaged with a larger group of Dust Men on the bridge, almost as if they were declaring war on each other and were fighting it out.

"Guys, the Reapers have stopped attacking us!" Trish said, though at the same time she turned the bus into the war zone, because it was the only way for her to get across to the Warren, since she didn't have powers like they did, but she was still happy to see the two gangs trying to take the other out.

"Let's let them fight the Dust Men," Cole replied, allowing his statement to broadcast to Trish, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, that way the sisters would know not to attack the Dust Men or the Reapers, before turning his attention back to the bus and it's driver, "Trish, just keep moving and we'll do the rest."

It was hard for the four of them to not lash out at both the Reapers and the Dust Men that were on the bridge, even more so since Adagio could simply wash all of them away in an instant if she seized control of the water around them, but fortunately neither side was interested in the bus, allowing them to pass through the battlefield and slip into the Warren at last. As they started to head down the streets of the Warren, and started to fire at the Dust Men that were patrolling the streets and wanted them dead, Moya decided that now was the perfect opportunity to tell the group that she had a picture of the person that might be leading the Dust Men, but she needed to run it through the NGI to get a name, but the four of them kind of ignored the statement as they protected both the bus and Trish at the same time. One thing the group immediately noticed was that the Dust Men were definitely smarter than the Reapers, as they set up a car road block on the road that Trish had picked, preventing her from moving until it was taken out, though fortunately the combined power of all of their Shockwaves at once eliminated the blockade entirely. Just beyond the blockade was the turn that Trish needed to take to reach the hospital, which had more dead cars blocking the way and Dust Men waiting for them in the alleyways, but Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were ready for them.

Despite the fact that it took them a few moments to clear out the enemies, and the cars to form a straight path, the four of them were able to open the way for Trish to move forward... though as she came to a stop in front of the hospital, however, an elderly man appeared on top of the entrance sign with a RPG wielding Dust Man standing next to him. At the same time Moya decided to speak again and revealed that the leader of the Dust Men was none other than Alden Tate, son of Richard Tate, and had been next in line to inherit the position as the leader of the First Sons, before Kessler came and stole that future from him. While that was happening the sisters barely had a second to react before the RPG wielding Dust Man loosed a rocket and blasted Cole off the roof, though as they landed beside him they found that, despite some scorch marks, he was just fine. Not even a few seconds later the elderly bald man, who happened to be using a cane to help him walk, stared down at the bus and suddenly lifted it into the air, confirming the fact that Moya informed them that Alden was an incredibly powerful mentalist, before raising his hand and threw the bus into the air, where it landed on it's side at the top of the hospital's roof. Cole and the sisters were shocked, because while they were powerful it required some intense concentration to do anything like that, though as they turned their attention back to Alden they found that, while they were focused on the bus, he had taken the opportunity to slip away... but the message he left behind was clear to them, he was telling them not to interfere with whatever he was planning.

Fortunately it appeared that the majority of the Dust Men were preoccupied with the war with the Reapers, as there weren't any around the hospital at the moment, so Adagio flew over to Cole and grabbed onto him, hauling him into the air as she, Aria, and Sonata headed for the bus... though when they landed she dropped Cole off and helped her sisters make sure that the bus wasn't in danger of falling off the edge, which gave Cole more than enough time to pull Trish out of the bus and get her on solid ground.

"Trish, are you alright?" Cole asked, though he had to assume that the answer was no, because he couldn't imagine someone being forced to go through that experience without coming out of it terrified for their lives, and based on the fact that Trish was shaking he had to assume that he was right.

"Cole... when he threw the bus up here, only one thought crossed my mind," Trish replied, to which she took a few seconds to calm herself down, allowing Cole a brief moment to see that the sisters had pushed the bus into a position that would allow it to remain up here, before turning back towards Trish, "and that thought was focused on you, and how things stood between us."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that," Cole said, though that was when he wrapped his arms around her, to make sure that she knew that he would always be there for her, even after everything that had happened since the Blast changed the reality of their world, "I'd never let anything happen to you Trish."

"I... I'm sorry that I keep blaming you for Amy's death." Trish said, though that was when she embraced him again, to which a smile appeared on the sisters' faces when they saw that happen, because this was what Cole had been working for ever since their relationship had been shattered, "Sonata was right, I shouldn't be blaming you for what's happened to Empire City and be mad at you all the time... I just want things to be how they were before the Blast happened. I want us to be together again."

"I want that as well." Cole replied, to which Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as the two of them actually kissed for a moment, apparently sparking their relationship back into existence, even if it was still weakened from Amy's death, before Cole broke it, "But, before we have that talk, we need to get you and your supplies into the hospital... there's a lot of sick and injured people that need you help."

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata smiled as Cole and Trish headed into the hospital, using the roof entrance that was nearby, leaving the three of them to take the supplies down into the building for them, but the three of them were more than willing to help them out, because seeing the duo happy again, with each other, put them in a good mood... and besides, the duo had walked into the building while embracing each other, which was a good sign that they wanted to keep strong in the days to come.





As it turned out, after getting the supplies into the room that Trish wanted them put in, there weren't too many sick or injured people in the Warren, most likely because a lot of them were still scared of the Dust Men, informing the group that they needed to clear out the area more to make the civilians feel safe again. Still, since there were a few patients for her to take care of, Trish made sure to see if she could help all of them and did the best she could to assist them, even though one came in terribly injured and Cole's healing touch was what was required, which made both Trish and the patient happy. Since they had next to no experience in this field Adagio, Aria, and Sonata made sure that they were out of the way, going over the information that Moya had sent them on Alden, what she could find anyway, and knew that they were going to have to get Cole up to speed before they left the hospital. Zeke, who had apparently been sulking around the Warren, came by when he noticed that Cole's phone was in the same building that Trish's was in, though he was happy to see that the two of them were together again... even if it would take some time for them to rebuild their relationship and return things to how they had been before the Blast.

When all of the patients had been taken care of, for the moment anyway, Trish and Cole moved to a private area of the hospital and had that conversation that Trish wanted to have, though since it was private the sisters made sure that Zeke was far away from it, as he didn't need to hear what was going on... but, after some time went by, they pulled him into the same room that the duo had been talking in. The reason behind this was that Adagio just happened to have enough of what they were doing, of lying about who they were and where they came from, and since everyone was in a chatty mood she figured that now would be the only time all of them had to talk without being interrupted... and, to be sure that Moya didn't hear anything, the six of them left their phones in another room, to be on the safe side.

"You know, of all the people that would call an 'emergency' meeting, I should have guessed you'd do it first," Zeke said, though as he spoke he sat down in a nearby chair, as Cole and Trish were taking the couch that the previous nurses and doctors had placed inside the lounge area that they were sitting in, though the sisters were also sitting in normal chairs like he was, "So Adagio, what's so important that the three of you couldn't wait until another day?"

"There's something that, well, we'd like to confess." Adagio replied, to which she rubbed the back of her head for a moment, as she honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen when she told the trio that their Earth wasn't the only Earth in existence, or that they was another sentient race out there that could rival humanity, "The three of us aren't from this world and we certainly aren't humans that had been modified by the Blast, like Cole was, even though it may have helped us awaken new powers in the end."

"The three of you... aren't from this world?" Cole repeated, clearly not seeing the point of that statement, but since he had spent the most time with the three sisters he knew that there was some truth to their statement, even if he found that such a thing was hard to believe.

"What she means is that there's another Earth out there, where we came from," Sonata said, though at the same time she thought about something important, which was going to freak Zeke out when he heard the news, especially when she considered what they had heard when they first met him, "and that Earth, in reality, is an alternate reality of sorts that had a mirror image of everyone from the planet we were born on. One of the native species on our home planet, one of the sentient ones, were the three pony tribes, Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, who were ruled by Princesses Celestia and Luna, who controlled the sun and the moon... or at least they started doing so a thousand years ago. It's been a long time since we've had a chance to see our home world, so long that I'm pretty sure we'd get lost trying to figure out the new layout of the land and the various kingdoms."

"The three of you... were ponies?!" Trish exclaimed, though while part of her found that such a thing sounded ridiculous, which had to be the part that went to med school, she at least looked at their hooves, tails, and ears for a few seconds, before her eyes widened as she seemed to understand what was going on.

"Well, we weren't born as ponies and twisted into these forms when we came here," Aria stated, as it was hard to forget what they had been before they were banished to the magicless version of Earth they had been sent to, before Sunset Shimmer came along, "Once upon a time we were evil Sirens, using our powerful magic to cause disharmony among the ponies and the other native species of Equus, until a powerful sorcerer called Starswirl the Bearded banished us to the other Earth that Sonata mentioned. That version of Earth had no magic for us to live off us and slowly our powers began to decrease, though during our stay on that world we took a more human appearance, which is basically what you three are seeing at the moment, minus the hooves, tails, and ears. After a thousand years we were starting to lose hope of ever getting back to a world with magic, before someone brought equestrian magic to the alternate version of Equus and gave us a chance to return to our former glory..."

"Did you take the chance?" Cole asked, because while this was interesting, including the fact that they had actually been evil at one point in time, revealing why Adagio had been so resistant to change, he knew that the three of them had changed for the better.

"We did... and it cost us greatly." Adagio replied, to which all three of them moved their hands to their necks, where their gemstones had once rested, before she sighed and continued speaking, "The source of our powers shattered into tiny fragments and we not only lost the ability to sing, but also the immortality that had kept us alive for the last thousand years. Fortunately the human Elements of Harmony, led by Princess Twilight herself, did us a kindness by allowing us to live our the rest of our new mortal lives, instead of reducing us to ash, and we fled for a time, to come to terms with our new lives and what we had to do to survive. Two weeks ago, almost three at this point, we came to the conclusion to try and use the portal between worlds to head home, to try and make a new life in a world that didn't hate us, just like Sunset Shimmer did a month before we did... only the portal didn't work as intended, as we were brought here, to this world, mere moments before the Blast changed the reality that you all faced."

"And Sunset?" Trish inquired, because from the sounds of it she guessed that the person in question was another pony that had either been banished to the world they had been sent to or had gone there willingly, only to want to return home after some time, "What happened to her?"

"No idea." Aria replied, to which she glanced at the trio for a moment, finding that two of them were interested in what they were saying, while Zeke's brain seemed to have shut down or something, "All we're sure of is that she was either sent off to a whole new world, like we were, or she went home, to the continent of Equestria, and never bothered to write back to the friends she left behind. Part of the reason we even went through the mirror was to find her so we could tell her human friends what happened to her, as we figured that we'd go to the same planet she went to, but, as usual, we were wrong with our guess."

"Wait a second... where have I heard the name 'Equestria' before?" Trish commented, though as she thought about it she seemed to remember what Zeke had been talking about when he first met the sisters, and more importantly the show that he had been talking about, "That means that the world of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic is real!"

That was followed by the sound of Zeke falling out of the chair he was sitting in and hit the floor a little hard, though as Trish ran over to help him they all found that he was mumbling something about the world the show revolved around being real, him not being able to comprehend that it was actually real, and that he felt that he was going crazy. Cole, on the other hand, was shocked to find that what little information he had on the show, as he didn't watch it and had only half listened to Trish when she mentioned it, matched up with the names the sisters had said, meaning that it was highly likely that they were telling the truth, as he didn't see anything on their faces that would tell him they were lying. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata smiled for a moment as they helped Trish deal with Zeke, since it was their fault this had happened to him in the first place, but they were also happy that no one thought they were lying... not counting Zeke's complete shock at finding that a world from a television show was real, leading him to question reality now.

They were sure that he was thinking about the world from his favorite show, Dragon Ball Z, and was likely curious if it was real as well, but the sisters had to imagine that it was a real world, out there across the various stars that inhabited the vast universe they were in... but for now they focused on helping him, and then getting some well deserved sleep so they could begin to retake the rest of the Warren from the Dust Men and their leader, Alden Tate.