The hours following Kessler's attempt to kill Trish, or six doctors depending on what decision Cole made, were quite emotional for Trish, as it was the second near death experience that she had been through since the Blast had happened, though unlike her encounter with Alden, who was sending a message, Kessler fully intended to kill her without a hint of regret or regards for the lives he had nearly ended. Cole, on the other hand, remained by her side as he tried to calm her down, but the fact that she had actually been seconds away from death had triggered a response in her and it would be some time before she put this behind her, even though both she and Cole were grateful to the sisters for making sure that she survived the encounter. Of course her clothes were wet from the fact that Adagio had caught her with a large cube of water, after Sonata used the wind to catch her, but at the same time the doctor who was allowing them to spend the night in the building had found some replacement clothing for her to wear, at least until her actual clothing had dried out and could be worn again without making her cold.
The sisters, on the other hand, sat near the windows and looked out at the Historic District, keeping their eyes open for the First Sons that were patrolling the area, as they were sure that their enemies were under orders to kill them the moment they came outside. Kessler was no doubt pissed over the fact that they had played his game and then cheated to save everyone that he had endangered, but at the same time it only stood to reason that he had been anticipating that he'd only have to deal with one Conduit, Cole, and not four of them in total. With the three of them helping Cole it made sense that they would be able to overcome everything that their foe used against them, though a good side effect of that was that Trish had been saved and that both she and the doctors would be able to save the people of the Warren or the Historic District, but all of them agreed that Trish needed to head back to the Warren, where she would be safe. The reasoning was that if she was still in this district, where she was supposed to have met her end, Kessler might order her immediate death, just to get at Cole and punish them for cheating like they did... but even then the sisters were sure that his hands would be tied once they went to town and started fighting them once more.
There was no telling what Kessler had planned next, because they honestly hadn't been expecting the villain to kidnap Trish in such a manner, but now that they knew the lengths he was willing to go to, in order to 'teach' Cole the 'lessons' he needed to know, they all agreed that he needed to be taken out soon, before he endangered someone else.
As the hours ticked by Trish recounted how she had been kidnapped, as the First Sons had barged into the hospital when she was looking over what else she needed to do and threw a bag over her head the moment she tried to stop them from taking her and some of the other doctors she was working with. They quickly discovered that four of the doctors were actually from the Warren, while the other two had been stationed inside the district they were in and had been taken by Kessler the moment the quarantine went into effect, indicating that their foe had planned for this to happen and had prepared accordingly. That just informed them that Kessler had planned all of this way in advance, making them wonder what else he had planned for them, but at the same time the group comforted Trish and made sure that she was calm after what had happened to her, before she asked what happened to Zeke, as she expected one of the sisters to have gotten him so that all of them could have been in the same area for the final confrontation... even though she was going to be taken back to the Warren, where the Dust Men had lost control of the situation thanks to the collapse of their tower and their leaders' downfall.
"Um, well, you see..." Cole said, rubbing the back of his head for a moment, as he honestly didn't to tell Trish the news that Zeke had taken the Ray Sphere and joined Kessler's side, especially after what she had just been through, but at the same time he honestly couldn't see a way out of this situation.
"Zeke tried to activate the Ray Sphere when we attacked Alden's tower," Adagio spoke up, knowing that if they didn't tell her the truth now, and waited until they were done with Kessler and the First Sons, Trish would be mad at them and that might undo all the work Cole had done to earn her trust back, "when that failed Kessler, who arrived to taunt Alden, promised him that he could 'fix' the device and give him the power that he desired... so, as of right now, Zeke's somewhere inside the Historic District, under the watchful eye of the First Sons and their leader."
"Zeke... betrayed us?" Trish repeated, clearly shocked by the fact that Zeke would have done such a thing, but then, when she started to recall what he had done before the Blast happened, she growled as she stared out the window for a few seconds, "If I see him again, after everything that's happened to me, I'm going to slap him for even thinking that joining Kessler's side was a good thing... and I don't care what his reasoning is, because there's no reason for him to give that damned sphere back to the person that made it, whose likely use it again."
"Don't worry Trish, we'll deal with Kessler and his plans." Cole said, though he was thankful that someone had stepped in and told her about the situation, but at the same time he wrapped his arm around her neck, so that way she knew that he was there for her, "We'll stop him from activating that device and killing anyone else... even though we'll have to break his plans and kill him before he's able to do that."
Trish nodded her head, as she clearly didn't like the thought of them actually killing anyone, but at the same time she knew that Kessler was one of the few people that she would agree that needed to die, because he had put the lives of so many people on the line earlier. Instead of saying anything the group remained silent and continued to rest from their various ordeals that they had been through, as they needed to be ready for what the next day brought them... and the first thing they were likely going to do was restore power to the rest of the Historic District, after making sure that Trish made it back to the hospital safely.
When the morning of the twentieth day arrived Cole, Trish, and the sisters had a light meal, as supplies were running low in the Historic District, or at least it was for the civilians since they were sure that Kessler had stockpiled food before the Blast happened, before Cole said goodbye to Trish for now. A few moments later, once Cole and Trish said their goodbyes for now, Aria, having been chosen to take Trish back over to the Warren, let Trish grab onto her and held tight, where she leapt into the air and flew back to the Warren, where she would drop Trish off before coming back to her sisters. Fortunately it didn't take Aria long to get back to the Historic District, where she landed in the park where the dead had been buried by the survivors of the Blast, though at the same time the others discovered that she had gotten Trish back to the hospital without anything happening along the way. The moment they were back together they discussed how they were going to go about restoring the power to the rest of this island, as, according to Cole, this island didn't have any sewers, which meant that there wasn't a substation under the ground either... though before they could get too far into their thoughts Cole's phone went off, where he found that John wanted to talk with them again.
"I saw what Kessler tried to put you through," John commented, his voice reflecting that he felt sorry for Cole, since the love of his life had been endangered and he had been forced to make a choice, though Cole was fortunate he didn't have to face it alone, otherwise Trish would have died last night, "Hell of a thing. Every minute that mad dog walks the planet, all of our lives are at risk. Seventy-five seconds."
"You know, if you've been keeping tabs on us, you could have at least told us that Trish was in danger." Sonata said, as it made sense that John would have known about the kidnapping, since he was keeping tabs on the four of them and everything that the First Sons had been up to since the Blast happened.
"I couldn't risk distracting you, not when Alden was on a rampage." John replied, his tone immediately shifting back to what they were used to, his uncaring attitude towards anyone that didn't benefit his mission, a tone that all four of them were starting to hate, "But you're right, I could have told you the news and I should have the moment you crossed over into the Historic District... though it doesn't matter anymore. You saved a lot of lives last night, including the love of Cole's life, and you should all be happy for it... and burning with a desire to get revenge on Kessler."
"Oh trust me, we all have the desire to bring him down." Cole stated, as the four of them, plus Trish and the doctors they had saved, wanted to bring Kessler down before he did something that put the entire city in jeopardy, before he turned his attention to what they had been discussing, "And I take it you have an idea?"
"I can help you get some payback for what Kessler did." John said, revealing that he had thought about this and knew what they needed to do, causing the four of them to listen as they waited to hear what sort of information he could give them at the moment, "The power grid on the southern half of this island never got updated, so it still uses the old external substations. Turn on all three substations, and you will restore the power to the rest of the island... and get a new power in the process."
Cole smiled for a moment, because the thought of adding a new power to his already considerable arsenal of powers, and knowing that the sisters would find a way to grow their own powers for an ability that was like his, made him excited to see what sort of power he might unlock. Since their enemies might be looking at the skies, as Kessler was now likely prepared for flying enemies, the four of them agreed to follow the streets and ignore the roofs this time around, though at the same time they were forced to fight the First Sons that were in their way. What didn't surprise them was that their enemies had a turret trunk on a few of the entrances into the powered down section of the Historic District, as that was common with all the gangs they had encountered so far, and they were still easy to take out thanks to Cole's Megawatt Hammer or the grenade attacks that the sisters had. What did surprise them was that, for the moment anyway, there weren't any RPG wielding soldiers in their way, though when Sonata went to one of the roofs, to be sure that they weren't being followed in some manner, she jumped off the roof as a mine went off, informing the group that they would have to be extra careful when they used the rooftops later on... while at the same time getting more confirmation that Kessler was definitely out to kill them.
It didn't take them long to reach the manhole that would allow them to descend to where the circuit was located, even when they had to take out several more members of the First Sons and pass by where the Blast had happened, though this time around, when they arrived at their destination, Cole lifted the lid out of the way and insisted that all three of them join him this time. He suspected that they would come out of the sewers in a completely different area and he wanted to be sure that they were all together when that happened, to which the sisters nodded as they climbed down the ladder that was in front of them and headed into the sewers, before Cole followed after them and let the lid fall behind him. As they suspected there were soldiers guarding the path to the circuit, to which the four of them fired at the enemies that were blocking the way forward, blasting them out of the way and dropping them into the water, where either Cole blasted them or Adagio froze them. Fortunately the group that was in front of them, containing only two men, were easy to take care of without any real work on their part, allowing them to climbed their way through the pipes that were in front of them before they reached the circuit... where Cole stepped forward and bridged the two halves together, allowing the power to course through his body and awaken another power.
"Oh yeah, that's a good one." Cole said, just as he touched the ground and looked at his hands, as he had seen what sort of power he'd be able to call upon next and knew that it was going to be a devastating one, especially since their enemies wouldn't see it coming until it was too late, "I got a Lightning Storm ability... meaning I can pull powerful bolts of lightning from the sky to deal with our enemies."
"Sort of like what happened when you first activated your powers," Adagio commented, referring to the day of the Blast, when the powerful bolts of lightning and torn themselves from the sky and struck down the unfortunate cops that had been near Cole, where the three of them had been protected by their auras coming to life at the same time.
"Exactly." Cole replied, though at the same time he started to make his way though the path that was in front of them, as he really wanted to go outside and see what sort of damage his new power could cause, something that the sisters were eager to see since they had only experienced this power when he was out of control.
The moment the group understood that Cole had a new ability, which was common when he reconnected the circuits down in the sewers, they headed through the opening that was in front of them and engaged the First Sons that were waiting for them. Despite the fact that the First Sons were prepared for battle they weren't expecting the sisters to be the ones to attack them first, as Adagio used the water that was around them to freeze some of them where they were standing, while Aria burned them and forced them into the water and Sonata simply used what little wind she could gather to push them off the platforms, allowing Cole to finish off the enemies that were swimming at the moment. It was clear that Kessler had prepared his soldiers to fight against someone with electric based powers, so while they fell back on their training they were slightly outmatched by someone that could manipulate the water around them, someone that could throw fireballs at them, and someone that twisted the wind at a moments notice. Cole guessed that this was only further verification that Kessler had planned for this to happen, that he had chosen him from the moment he seized control of the First Sons... which only made Cole want to hurt Kessler even more, because the man seemed to think that he was playing a game with them and that the lives of those around him were expendable, which they weren't.
After taking out their enemies the four of them headed to the end of the sewer, where a ladder to the surface was waiting for them, though as they climbed up the ladder and started pouring out onto the street that was above them, so they could find the substations, a turret truck didn't seem to notice them as it drove by them and came to a stop close to where they were standing.
"Oh, those idiots are going to be the first to taste my new power." Cole said, though at the same time he had the sisters back up a little, as he had no idea where the lightning was going to strike first, and he waited for a moment as they moved out of the way, before turning his attention to the truck.
Cole raised his hands towards the sky for a moment, feeling his own power connect to the sky, before he brought them down in a pulling motion and a powerful bolt of lightning came down from the sky, striking the ground in front of him and moved in the direction he was facing. The resulting damage was some cracks in the ground where the bolt had struck, but more importantly the bolt surged through the turret truck that was in front of him and blew the entire thing to pieces, including taking out the soldier that was standing where the turret was located, though when he stood straight the bolt stopped and disappeared. That told him that, if he wanted to use this power, he'd have to stay in the same stance until he had the desired effect that he was going for, though part of him wondered if he could direct the lightning with his gaze and not where he was facing, as he was sure that if he moved a little the bolt would disappear as quickly as it came to his call... and when two more turret trucks came into the area, and parked in front of him, Cole grinned as he glanced at the one to his right and called the lightning down, blowing it to pieces, before shifting his gaze and tore the one on his left apart as well.
"That's some powerful lightning." Adagio commented, as she and her sisters walked out of the area they had been standing in while Cole was dealing with the turret trucks, though she wasn't surprised to find that the trucks their friend had fired at had been torn apart, before she looked at him, "How are you feeling?"
"Incredible... yet at the same time I'm a little drained." Cole admitted, indicating that his newest ability really took a lot out of him and that he was going to need a continuous source of power if he was going to use it multiple times in a row, like the bus he had rode on earlier when they were helping Trish go to the hospital, "I guess it's time we head out and find those substations so we can restore the power to this isla..."
"Cole, we need to talk." a voice said, to which the four of them glanced down at their phones, as it appeared that Moya had gotten tired of being ignored and was calling them once more, though at the same time Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were tired of her presence, "I know what John's been telling you."
"Listen Moya, there's nothing for us to talk about anymore." Aria stated, stopping Cole before he could say anything, because right now their 'handler', if she could even be called that since she had a terrible time fulfilling her promises to them and was pretty much at the mercy of the military in terms of getting stuff done, was just another annoyance that they didn't want in their lives at the moment, "You've lied to us, about this entire situation, from the very beginning... you should have known that it was only a matter of time until we found out that you weren't telling the truth."
"I didn't have any other choice." Moya replied, though the annoying tone that she used all the time, when she was calling them, was back and the sisters stared at their phones for a moment, while at the same time Cole did the same thing, as he was annoyed with the FBI agent as well, "I had to make myself appear sympathetic, to get all four of you to help me. The Ray Sphere cannot fall into the wrong hands!"
"I'm going to call bullshit on that." Sonata said, surprising Adagio and Aria for a moment, as this was a first from their sister, but they said nothing as they waited for her to finish talking, as they were sure that she had something specific to say to Moya, "There were other things you could have said that wasn't feeding us a spoonful of lies, like maybe say that John was a rogue agent or a traitor and that he needed to be brought in. We might have bought that, but instead you went with a lie that easily fell apart when we ran into John, so it's your own fault that this is happening now. And, based on what we saw earlier, I'm sure that your real plan was to just take John and the Ray Sphere when we found them, leaving us here to fend for ourselves once more... but I hate to break it to you, no ones getting that damned sphere."
"No, I would have done everything in my power to get the four of you out of there." Moya stated, as if she thought that such a ploy was going to work at this point, but at the same time it showed that she really wasn't paying attention to what the four of them had been thinking.
"Moya, you're no longer in control anymore," Adagio replied, knowing that, since Moya was near where the military was stationed, this entire situation could escalate in a matter of seconds and introduce another enemy for them to fight, but they would cross that bridge when they reached it, "We told Kessler this yesterday, and it applies to you as well; you are no longer running this game anymore, you don't get to decide what rules we follow, and you don't get to decide what happens when someone tells you off. The Dazzlings are in control now, and you will find that we play for keeps... now go away and leave us to our work."
A few seconds later Adagio tapped her phone and the connection was terminated, though at the same time Cole stared at the sisters for a moment, as he was surprised that they had suddenly changed when he wasn't looking, but he suspected that it was Kessler's endangering so many lives that had made the change... and yet, at the same time, he found that this was something he could accept, because the three of them seemed happy about the situation.
"You do realize that Moya's not going to just sit on the sidelines and let us walk away, right?" Cole asked, as he wanted to be sure that the sisters understood what they had done, though even if they didn't understand the situation he was sure that their powers would allow them to overcome anything that Moya threw at them.
"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it," Adagio replied, to which she, Aria, and Sonata turned towards him for a moment, as they were interested in getting underway, since there was something that they needed to do before they did anything else, "Come on, let's go find those substations and restore power to the rest of the island."
What they did, instead of heading through the streets, was climb up the side of the nearby building before using the rooftops to reach the location of the first substation, though as they made their way through the city the four of them blasted the mines that were on the roofs in front of them. At the same time the sisters flew through the air and made sure to stay near Cole, though while they did that they blasted the First Sons soldiers that were on the street level, surprising them that some of their enemies weren't standing on the roofs, but they weren't going to complain about the situation that was presented to them. It didn't take them long to reach the area of the first substation, which happened to be located near a gas station, though it also had a bunch of First Sons soldiers standing around it, indicating that Kessler knew what they were going to do and had his followers ready to stop them. As they headed towards their destination the First Sons decided to blow up the gas station when the four of them neared it, as the plan was to clear out the area first, but as flames consumed the station Aria grinned as she extended her hand towards the destroyed station... to which the flames danced and she sent them at the First Sons, burning them in the process while blowing up the turret truck that was moving into position.
Adagio shook her head for a moment, as that was a stupid decision for the First Sons to make considering that they were fighting someone that could control the flames and use them against them, but once the area was cleared out Cole approached the substation and loosed a few bolts at it... though at the same time, since it was one of the older machines, he could tell that it needed to charge before it was ready to go.
"Those substations are old, so they're going to come online in fits and starts," John spoke up, though whether or not he had heard what they had told Moya wasn't important at the moment, as he was focused on the mission at hand and nothing else, "The four of you are going to have to defend each one until they power up."
"I've got an idea," Cole said, seeing that there was some electric field on top of the substation, which he climbed up on and felt the power course through his body as he turned towards the sisters, "You might want to back up, because I don't want this to hurt any of you."
Adagio was tempted to tell Cole that the possibility of Cole's Lightning Storm hurting them was slim to none, since the three of them could use their aura to defend themselves, but instead she nodded her head and headed to the top of the building that was above the substation, where her sisters joined her. As they prepared themselves for what the First Sons had planned for them, since they weren't going to let them do this without a fight, their enemies charged out from where they were hiding and started heading towards where Cole was standing, who only grinned as he raised his hands towards the sky. What followed was Cole unleashing a Lightning Storm upon the First Sons, who suffered as the lightning coursed through their bodies and scattered them in the process, to which the sisters simply stood where they were standing and watched the mayhem as their enemies were defeated by Cole's attack. While that happened some of the First Sons actually tried to attack the three of them from behind, though Sonata was the first to react as she used the wind to push them off the roof and let them fall to the ground... giving Adagio and Aria the chance to stare at the enemies being dealt with by Cole and the couple of Lightning Storms that he summoned.
When the first substation was finally powered up, and the First Sons stopped coming at them, the sisters rejoined Cole and headed towards the second location on their GPS, though as they moved through the city they fired at the enemies that got in their way and destroyed the turret trucks at the same time.
"So how much did Moya know about me? Fifty-two seconds." John asked, though at the same time he added the number of seconds at the very end, something that the group was used to hearing since they had first encountered him, while at the same time they carefully moved through the city.
"Honestly, she didn't tell us much about you." Cole replied, as while Moya had asked them to find John, for her own purposes anyway, none of them were sure what pieces of information they had been given were the truth and which ones were the lies, "Does it really matter at this point?"
"She works for a different agency and knew I was undercover." John stated, his voice revealing that he was annoyed about what he was talking about, which made sense considering that someone could have easily ratted him out to Kessler if they really wanted to, "That means the NSA has been compromised, and that someone is outing agents. Our entire national security apparatus could be exposed. Twenty-nine seconds."
"John, no offense, but we've got some more important matters to deal with at the moment." Adagio said, her mind focused on Moya and what she was going to do now that she knew that she was no longer in control of the situation, as she was sure that the lady had something planned, "Look, once we've dealt with Kessler and the First Sons, and their damned Ray Sphere, then we can focus on figuring out what's wrong with the NSA and see to helping your fellow agents."
Sure, she and her sisters knew nothing about this world's organizations, the security based ones, but she was sure that with some time and patience they might be able to learn something about them, while at the same time she meant what she had said, as Kessler was their target at the moment and he needed to be dealt with. Even though she was busy thinking about their enemy it didn't take them long to reach the second substation, where Cole powered it up and took up his defensive position on top of it, while at the same time the sisters stayed in the nearby tunnel and blasted the First Sons soldiers that tried to use it to attack Cole. At the same time Cole unleashed the power of his Lightning Storm and carved his way through the soldiers that were coming at him, knocking them around like dolls and knocking them unconscious at the same time, meaning that he wouldn't have to worry about them at all, as the four of them would be long gone by the time they woke up. While all of this happened Cole knew that John was likely looking for the Ray Sphere, no doubt annoyed that Zeke had given it back to the man that had created it, but Cole simply used his anger as he summoned the Lightning Storms to deal with his enemies, intending to use as much of his anger as he could so he wouldn't be upset over what had happened at the top of Alden's tower... at least for the next couple of minutes anyway.
Eventually, thanks to their combined efforts, the four of them were able to restore the power to the second substation, to which they vacated from the area and started to make their way towards their third and final destination, so they could restore power to the Historic District and get to work on stopping Kessler.
"What would you have done if Trish had died, Cole?" Kessler said, causing the group to stop as Cole glanced down at his phone once more, as he absolutely hated this man with every fiber of his being, because he was responsible for everything that had happened so far, "Would you have buried her? Would you have mourned her passing and used that as inspiration to fight on? Believe me, I know how hard it is to bury a loved one, even though I am still disappointed in your friends for stepping in when they did."
"Kessler, you might think that you're in control of this game of yours, but that's a lie," Adagio stated, though this time around Cole was glad that she was stepping up and talking to the person on the other end, as all he was thinking about was telling the evil man that he was going to tear him apart until he was dead, "My sisters and I have played this type of game before, on a much smaller scale anyway, and we always play for keeps... so, as of right now, you no longer have a say in what rules we follow or what we do. We're going to tear your plans apart, destroy the First Sons until there's nothing left of them, and then the four of us are going to kill you with all the skills we've learned so far."
"Yes, you probably will." Kessler replied, surprising the four of them by how tired he sounded, like he had been forcing himself to do so many horrible things for the greater good or something like that, but they knew that he was an insane old man that was out to destroy the world, so they didn't let his tone weaken their resolve to kill him, "In fact, I hope you do. I've been at this for a very long time, and I'm tired. Worn out. Won't be much longer until the end."
The group glanced at each other, as it was clear that Kessler was planning something this time around, to which they resolved to keep their eyes and ears open as they continued through the city, bringing defeat to the First Sons soldiers that were in their way, before they found the location of the third substation. This time around their enemies brought in more soldiers and turret trunks to try and destroy the substation, to which the sisters each took up a position that wasn't facing the direction that Cole was facing, before they all unleashed their might upon the First Sons. Lightning rained down from the sky and blew several groups of enemies apart, while Sonata used the wind to knock her targets around like dolls until they surrendered, Aria created a wall of fire to purposely make her targets decide whether they stepped through the flames or went around to another side, and Adagio used the moisture in the air to create small ice lances that pinned her targets down in a single spot, before she froze them completely. Between the four of them there was no way for the First Sons to even get close to the substation, so when the machine was fully powered up, and the power was restored to the area that they were in, their enemies fled the scene and left them alone.
Victory was clearly their's, there was no doubt about that, though before they said anything they waited to see what John might have to say about their situation, since he always seemed to have something new to tell them when they finished an objective he sent their way... and sure enough their phones went off a few moments later, with a call from John about the next task they needed to complete.
"I just found out what Kessler wanted with Sasha," John said, reminding them that Kessler had taken Sasha and was likely torturing her at that very moment, though while they didn't care about her too much they knew that there had to be a reason behind his actions, "he's milking her like a damn cow, turning her mine-control tar into a gas based toxin. Forty-one seconds."
"Do I even want to know what he's got planned for that toxin?" Cole asked, because Sasha's tar had controlled the minds of so many people that had lived in the Neon District, corrupting them and transforming them into obedient members of the Reaper gang, which they had taken out before heading into the Warren.
"It seems that Kessler is planning on spreading the toxin across the entirety of Empire City." John replied, though as he said that the four of them stared at their phones, as they already knew the implications of what he was saying and knew that this had to be stopped before it got worse, "If Kessler succeeds in spreading the toxin to everyone in the city, he could take control of each and every one of them... and then send them all after the four of you."
Adagio growled for a moment, as she couldn't believe that Kessler thought that he could get away with something like this, as he was pretty much trying to create an army of innocent people that they would have to fight through in order to get to him, but at the same time she found herself touching the area where her pendant had been. Sure, she and her sisters had used their compelling voices to either subtly or directly manipulate the minds of those that were their targets, save for the human versions of the Elements of Harmony, thanks to what Sonata was able to find out about them when Sunset up and vanished, but now that power was gone. Even as she thought about it she knew that the only other way to deal with this madness, instead of attacking whatever was dispensing the toxin, would have been to use their voices and target the people, as in freeing those that were already trapped under Kessler's thumb and shielding the others from the toxin, but that wasn't an option. It would have been an act of redemption, that they used their voices for the good of others instead of controlling them and ruining their lives, but with their shattered singing voices such a thing was no longer a possibility... and she barely moved when she felt someone touching her shoulder a few seconds later.
When she felt a like shaking she turned and looked at her sisters, seeing that they had been thinking the same thing that she had been considering, and yet, in their eyes, there was a fire that glowed that showed that, even though they didn't have their voices anymore, they would like to try anyway... and, as she stared into their eyes, she found that the desire to try awoke in her as well, so much so that the three of them asked John if he knew where the Voice of Survival's studio had been located. If Kessler was going to try something like this, and attempt to brainwash everyone, then it seemed like the perfect time to try their luck and see if they earned the right to have their old powers back... even if they weren't on the same level as before.
Kessler stared down at the screens in front of him, four of them showing the balloons that were spreading his mind-control toxin over the entirety of Empire City, and found that his plan seemed to be working like a charm, despite the fact that those pesky girls that were following Cole told him that this was no longer his 'game'. He was annoyed that he didn't kill Trish and teach Cole the lesson that he was supposed to have learned, but at the same time he decided that it wasn't too much of an issue, as he could always try again later and correct the mistake while Cole was distracted. That wouldn't be too hard to arrange, since the Ray Sphere was still in play he could tempt the 'heroes' with the tool that had given Cole his powers and send them on a wild goose chase, but first he needed his men to finish up their preparations for the next stage of the plan, which they would be finishing any moment now. Once Cole and his group found the Ray Sphere, and did whatever they wanted with it, he knew that the final showdown between them would begin, and he planned on making sure that Cole was ready for what was coming next, as it was going to be even worse than he was.
His thoughts were interrupted as one of the screens showed on the many screens that the Voice of Survival had revealed himself on when he had a message to say, even though most of the recent ones had been from the First Sons to paint Cole as a terrorist so the people would be out for blood, even though they're on his side at the moment. After some thought he had ordered the death of the Voice of Survival, tying up a loose end in the process, and had forgotten about the studio the man had worked in entirely, which was why his attention, and that of his followers, were drawn to the screen that was in front of them. What he discovered was that the three girls that were following Cole around had quickly cleared the area of the studio to give themselves some room, along with three microphones that they happened to be holding onto, as if they were going to play a song for the people of Empire City, which actually caused some of his followers to laugh at them before they even started. He had to wonder if the news of what he was going to do to the people of the city had reached them and had broken their spirits, as if they were going to apologize or something before they died... but then, when they opened their mouths, that was when everything seemed to fall apart.
Kessler had to admit that he wasn't fond of music, not after all the pain and hardships that he had been through to reach this point, but as the sisters started to sing, in what sounded like the voices of three angels, he heard them sing about 'falling under a spell' and that the people needed to break free, or something like that. Since the song was being broadcast all over the city he determined that nothing could go wrong from it, but as he watched them sing his followers reported that the people that were already under the control of the toxin were somehow breaking free and were dancing along to the song. As the seconds went by Kessler found that everyone that had been influenced by the mind-control toxin had broken free and was now acting like they had been before the balloons went into the air, and those that weren't under the influence weren't affected at all. He honestly couldn't believe what he was seeing, as Conduits didn't have the power to do something like that, not unless that was part of their power like it was for Sasha, and yet the three sisters, who commanded one of the most powerful elemental powers he had ever seen, had somehow developed another new power that they shared together... one that was breaking the hold that he had on the people across the city, though while that happened he noticed Cole MacGrath destroying the balloons and blowing his entire operation out of the water.
Kessler growled as he ordered his followers to proceed with the next objective and ignore the singing girls, though as the screens changed, and left his second failed task behind, he noticed that all three of the sisters now wore a sapphire pendant around their necks... though he soon let that thought fade away as he focused on his next objective, knowing that it was only a matter of time until the group started their search for the Ray Sphere.