InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose


Empire: The Ray Sphere

Cole, after dealing with the four toxin filled balloons that had been scattered throughout the entirety of Empire City, sighed and headed back to the Historic District, or more accurately the building that the Voice of Survival had used to spread his lies about him, apparently at the command of the First Sons based on the information they found around the man's corpse when they found the building. He had heard the sisters sing when they appeared on the television screens all over the city, something that they told him they might not be able to do since their original Siren powers had been broken, but it seemed that, with them coming to a new world and gaining new powers, there was a chance that they had redeemed themselves enough to earn back what they were missing. At the same time, however, he had to think about the effects of their song, as he had felt something touch his mind and then discovered that, when he fell beneath one of the balloons because he mistimed the jump, that the toxin had no effect on him, though he wasn't sure if it was because it didn't work on Conduits or that it was a smaller dose than what Sasha used. And, speaking of Sasha, he had felt her screams of agony as the sisters cut off all the mind-controlled people that she was used to controlling, depriving her of the army she had been creating and freeing many of the Reapers at the same time... and then she was gone, her voice no longer able to reach his ears, and he suspected that it was part of what the Dazzlings had done.

When he reached the building that they were supposed to be in, however, he found them standing on the roof, looking out over the city that they had sung to with a smile on all of their faces, as they were pleased with the results... and, oddly enough, each of them were wearing a strange sapphire pendant around their neck.

"It seems that your plan worked like a charm." Cole commented, causing the three of them to turn towards him for a moment, though at the same time he was happy that their plan had been so successful, as Trish would have been cross with him if he had killed any of the mind-controlled people that Kessler was trying to create, "The people are free of the toxin that Kessler was spreading throughout the city, they're showing no signs of ever being mind-controlled in such a manner again, and it seems like you've even managed to expel Sasha's whispers from my mind as well. What in the world did the three of you do?"

"Remember what we told you earlier, about our true selves?" Adagio asked, though as Cole nodded she glanced down at her neck, where she fingered the gemstone that was resting there, as she understood why the three of them had been given a second chance, before turning her gaze back to their friend as he nodded, "Before we lost our original powers, which we told you the tale of, we used to sing and sow chaos among the people that were around us, until eventually we went over our limits and suffered a terrible defeat. Our voices were the key to what we had done, so without our powers we couldn't do anything, but after coming to this city, and helping you tackle the Reapers, Dust Men, and the First Sons, as well as helping you save the people at the same time, I thought that maybe, just maybe, we had earned another chance."

"And it appears that, by following a different path, we've been given that second chance," Aria said, though she was fingering her sapphire, enjoying the fact that both she and her sisters had gemstones again, even if this time they were different from their original ones, "When we sung we focused on using our power to free the people from the mind-control that Kessler was enforcing on them and protect them from future attempts, by either him, Sasha, or anyone else that comes after them... and our original powers resurfaced and gave us what we wanted."

"I don't think we'll need to feed on negative emotions anymore," Sonata spoke up, staring into the heart of the gemstone that she was holding, while at the same time remembering what they had done when they had their original ruby pendants, that the Rainbooms had shattered when they were stopping them, "I think that these represent the return of our original powers... and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to unlock our true power with these gemstones."

Cole knew what the sisters were talking about, as he remembered what they had told him back when they explained that they were from an entirely different planet that worked differently than his world, and happened to be full of magical creatures that were strong enough to beat them in battle. Them getting these gemstones back had to be a temptation for them, one that might make them return to the evil that they had been doing before their defeat and, at the same time, he knew that if that happened he'd never be able to best them, but even as that thought crossed his mind he knew that it would never come to pass. From what he had been told the original gemstones had been like rubies, based on the color they had possessed, and these new ones were sapphires, meaning that they had to reflect the fact that they were on the path of good and that the temptation to go back to their old ways wouldn't work on them... they were heroes of the people, and the new gemstones reflected that fact, so he knew that there was no way for them to return to their old habits, not without them suffering if they made such a decision.

He was also sure that the desire to turn the people against each other had risen when they sung their song, but he was pleased to see that they were sticking to their new lives as heroes... though as he opened his mouth to say something, however, his phone went off and they turned towards it, because it was either Kessler, John, or Moya that wanted to bother them at the moment.

"Listen to me, Cole." Moya stated, her tone indicating that she wasn't about to play by the rules that the Dazzlings had told her earlier, to which the sisters looked at their phones for a moment, because they were simply curious as to what she could say to them and what threats she would make, "I know you and those girls are angry, but this is bigger than you and them... it's bigger than all of us! The fate of our country, maybe even the entire world, depends on what happens to the Ray Sphere. Imagine what would happen if it fell into the hands of a terrorist organization. The Ray Sphere isn't a weapon of mass destruction, it's a weapon of ultimate destruction. The four of you HAVE to find it and give it to me, so I can safely lock it away where no one can get their hands on it."

"Listen well, Moya," Aria said, as she was getting tired of this lady and the constant lies that she was telling, because it sure sounded like she had no intentions of locking away the Ray Sphere, rather it sounded like she knew exactly what it was capable of and wanted a loyal soldier that was as powerful as Cole was, "We told you that you, as well as Kessler, are no longer in control of the situation and, since you lied to us from the very beginning, you can consider the deal void as of this very moment. It's like Adagio said earlier, we're in complete control of this situation, so back off and let us do what needs to be done to save these people."

With that said Aria disconnected the call and the four of them smiled, as they were all happy for their own various reasons at the moment, though as they sat down, to discuss the next stage of their plan, their phones rang again, but this time it was someone completely different.

"You know, I think it's time we went of the offensive." John said, surprising the group for a moment, because so far John had been sticking to the shadows and only coming out when he felt that the time was right, which meant that there was a reason behind this sudden change, "I've managed to rig up an old police chopper with some surveillance gear, which should help us locate the Ray Sphere's location. Forty-three seconds."

"And you're sure that such a thing is going to work?" Cole asked, because while he didn't doubt John's ability to plan things out, as so far he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, there was also the fact that certain things kept catching him off guard.

"Look, I spent months following Kessler around, copying his notes." John stated, reminding them of the fact that he had been put inside the First Sons to get information and eventually smash the organization down from the inside, only he never got the chance to do that considering that Kessler got what he wanted, "With the rig I've got on this chopper, you riding shotgun, and the girls flying around us, we'll find the Ray Sphere in no time. Meet me by the old Ashford Building in the Historic District. Sixteen seconds."

Without wasting a second Cole and the Dazzlings walked out of the studio that the Voice of Survival had been using and headed over to the building that John wanted them to met up on, which wasn't too far away from where they had been standing, and they were able to climb it easily, as there weren't any First Sons soldiers in the area. A few moments later a helicopter, one carrying a decent sized platform with several metal dishes on the bottom side, came into view and eventually pulled up beside the building, where they found John sitting in the cockpit and discovered that the platform was being powered by a generator inside the helicopter. Cole assumed that John had taken notes when he was watching them help Trish to the hospital, or when they assisted the cops in defending the prison, and made this according to what he had seen, though he smiled and jumped onto the platform while the Dazzlings floated in the air near the helicopter, keeping a decent distance so they didn't get hurt by the blades that kept it in the air.

Once they started moving through the area, however, John opened a line so that all four of them could hear him easily, which meant that he was likely going to tell them exactly what they were going to do and how they were going to go about completing their mission.

"Kessler's positioned a mobile jammer on each island, and the damned things are cloaked." John said, to which Cole and the Dazzlings glanced at each other, as they had the feeling that they knew where this was going without him saying what he was going to say, "They mask the emitted by the Ray Sphere, which is why no one is able to find it. The dishes on the bottom of the platform are set up to find those jammers... though as I find each one I'll stop in the area and you four will go down and destroy it."

As they acknowledged what John was saying, indicating that they knew the plan he wanted to stick to, Adagio and her sisters noticed some RPG carrying members of the First Sons and attacked them before they had a chance to get into position, preventing them from firing at the helicopter, while at the same time Cole fired a few blasts at some other enemies that were on a nearby roof. Aria had a blast with their enemies, as some of the groups that they came across were bunched up enough where she could use the Firebomb technique she had developed and blew the groups apart before they could even attack the helicopter. Sonata used the wind to push back the rockets that were being launched at them, the ones that Cole didn't see anyway, while blasting the First Sons that were in their way, though at the same time Adagio called the moisture out of the air and hurled Ice Spears at her targets, damaging them and knocking them out of the way at the same time. For the most part Cole stayed still and returned the rockets that were coming from a different direction, but thanks to the Dazzlings moving through the air, blowing the First Sons apart, despite their obvious attempts to prepare for such an attack, and opening the way for John to get them over to the Warren... where they continued to blast their way through the enemies that were waiting for them.

A few seconds after entering the Warren again, however, John came to a stop and told them that he had the location that the first jammer was in, to which Cole jumped off the platform, climbed down the building that John had stopped near, and crossed over to the area that the Dazzlings were heading towards. As they did that they discovered that the First Sons had flying drones of some kind, ones that attacked them when they got close, though at the same time the four of them found that they were easy to destroy and took them out immediately, before heading down into the lower area that the jammer was hidden in. The soldiers of the First Sons turned towards them as they dropped down into the area and opened fire, causing them to scatter and use their powers to dismantle the guardians of the jammer, but before they bothered to find the jammer Sonata noticed that something seemed to be moving with some sort of invisibility cloak on and discovered that it was another type of Conduit that Kessler had created for his operation in Empire City, but since she was watching the area it was easy to take the new enemy out.

Once the enemies in the area were taken care of, and the Dazzlings confirmed that, Cole had them move out of the way before unleashing a Lightning Storm on the jammer, blowing it to pieces, to which they returned to the helicopter and let John take off as they started the search for their second target... while at the same time blasting the soldiers that were on the rooftops around them. As they flew towards the location of the next jammer, which John had located while they were dealing with the first one, John revealed that he had been chasing after Cole the day the Blast happened, to stop him from opening the package that contained the Ray Sphere, only he lost Cole when he ran a red light. Cole, of course, had been a bike courier and had been behind schedule delivering the 'package' to the area that it was supposed to go to, but even he had to admit that if John had caught him, or if he hadn't run that red light, none of this would have happened the way Kessler originally planned... but, at the same time, the Dazzlings knew that Kessler would have just gotten his hands on the Ray Sphere again and the Blast would have happened anyway.

One other thing John wanted to talk about was Cole's plans for leaving the city, since that had been the plan when the Voice of Survival started to ruin his good name, though after a few seconds Cole said that he wasn't planning on leaving Empire City, not when there were people that were threatening the people that had embraced them as heroes... though John insisted that they worry about their futures, especially since the government wasn't going to leave them alone, not with the power they commanded. John seemed to think that the government, if they couldn't recreate the Ray Sphere, would be able to lock them up and force them to follow orders, causing the Dazzlings to huff at such a thought, because while they trusted John a little they weren't about to tell him everything. Cole, on the other hand, knew that, as Sirens, they were likely immune to mind-control and had to be extremely hard to command when the order wasn't something that they would have done anyway... and besides, he was sure that the Dazzlings would escape whatever prison or cell the government tried to throw them in, if they could even catch them anyway.

When they entered the Neon District they made sure to take out the First Sons that were along the path that John was following, though at the same time the group found that some of the former Reapers, now cured of Sasha's mind-control, were firing at the First Sons while they were distracted, while at the same time they all had their hoods pulled back and looked at the skies with a look of joy on their faces. Cole knew that they were looking at the Dazzlings, knowing that they were the ones that had saved them from the terrible fate that Sasha had planned for them, and were eager to take their rage out on another group that was trying to take control of the area, or at the very least that was what was going through their minds at the moment. He then glanced at the sisters for a moment, finding that they hadn't planned for such a thing to happen, to which he wished the people luck and that they didn't get hurt, as they likely had loved ones waiting for them at the end of the day, and let John carry them to the location of the second jammer, though upon arriving at their destination they assaulted the First Sons that were in their way and headed towards their target. Just like the last jammer they found some cloaked enemies protecting the cloaked device, but at the same time none of them cared as they used their powers to blast the First Sons out of the way... until Cole unleashed a Lightning Storm and tore the jammer apart, once the sisters had taken care of the soldiers anyway.

With the deed done they returned to the helicopter and John moved out for the third jammer, which was located in the Historic District and couldn't have been located while the other two were still operational, where the four of them guessed that the explanation made sense, but paid it little attention as they engaged the enemies that there trying to stop them from reaching the third district... and, along the way, they got a call from the last person they expected to hear from, especially after his betrayal.

"Cole, I know you're there." Zeke said, to which the sisters raised an eyebrow for a moment, as they were surprised that he wanted to talk with them, after what he pulled on top of Alden's tower when he had his hands on the damned Ray Sphere, "Come on man, talk to me."

"There's nothing for us to talk about." Cole replied, as Zeke's betrayal had hurt him more than he had expected it to, mostly because of how close they had been before he had made the terrible decision that he had made, "If you want to talk so badly, then why don't you call Trish and apologize for what your new best friend did, because if it wasn't for Adagio and her sisters, and their quick thinking, Kessler would have killed Trish."

"I didn't know what Kessler was going to pull something like that, honest." Zeke stated, his tone insisting that he didn't know anything about what their enemy was planning, which made sense considering that he likely didn't trust Zeke and was only keeping him around to inflict some more pain on Cole, in the sense that his best friend betrayed him.

"Zeke... I'm just hang up before one of us says something that we'll regret later on." Cole said, to which he tapped his phone and disconnected the call, because while he was angry with Zeke, furious even, he had some hope that his best friend would see the light before it was too late, and, at the same time, being mad at him was only going to distract him for their current mission.

Before Cole had a moment to ask one of the sisters their opinion on Zeke, however, John came to a stop at the garage they had run through after the Blast happened, when they were all still wounded from the explosion, and indicated that the third jammer was somewhere inside the structure. As such Cole jumped down onto the floor below him and the Dazzlings joined him, where the four of them carefully cleared the floor they were on of all enemies, what few there were, before they made their way to the next level and repeated the process of clearing out the First Sons that were guarding the jammer. This time around the cloaked enemies were a little smarter about how they approached the battle, but at the same time their movements alerted Sonata to where they were standing and she knocked them out accordingly, allowing Adagio, Aria, and Cole to deal with the other soldiers and drones that were in the area. Even with the small force that was guarding the final jammer the four of them were able to take it out quickly, opening the way for John to figure out where the Ray Sphere was being hidden so they could retrieve it... and hopefully destroy it without anything happening.

"I need to get some things ready before we go after the Ray Sphere," John stated, to which the helicopter moved out of the area, indicating that he was leaving them behind, though at the same time that didn't concern the group, not with the flying abilities that the Dazzlings had picked up earlier, "so try and get some sleep. When we make our move, Kessler's going to hit us with everything he's got."

"Um, how about no." Adagio replied, as she couldn't believe that John was going to have them go through all this work, smashing the jammers so they could figure out where the damned Ray Sphere was located, and then not move until he was ready to take action, when it was going to be the four of them that did the fighting, "By the time you finish getting ready, which might be an entire day if we're being honest, Kessler might run off with the Ray Sphere and then we'll never find it if he runs away from Empire City. Just tell us where it's located and we'll go secure it, then you can join us and we'll blow the damned thing to pieces."

"Fine, have it your way." John said, though at the same time Cole wondered if Adagio had used a little bit of her old power to convince John that they needed to move now, but if that was the case he would have heard something in her voice and he hadn't actually heard anything that was different, "Get to a roof near the old Examiner Building and I'll explain the next stage of our plan once your in position."

"Did you command him to obey you?" Cole asked, as he only mentioned that the moment the call between them and John was disconnected, though at the same time it was his curiosity that was getting the better of him at the moment, as he wanted to know the truth before they went forward.

"No, but I was thinking of trying that if he refused to agree with my suggestion." Adagio replied, as she was happy that John had agreed with her, as she knew that they couldn't waste an entire day, especially since there was no telling what Moya was going to do now that she wasn't in control of the situation anymore, "Come on, let's get the show on the road."

Cole nodded and the four of them headed out from the garage that they were standing in, where they carefully climbed the nearby building and made their way over to their destination, though as they did that all of them noticed something odd about the skies, there were planes approaching the Historic District that appeared to be some of the military vehicles that they had seen earlier. It appeared that Adagio's suggestion to get things underway was well worth it, because it seemed like Moya was launching an offensive to try and claim the Ray Sphere, though at the same time that made them get over to the roofs near the Examiner Building so they could get the device first. Fortunately, with the fact that the sisters could fly through the air, it didn't take them long to reach one of the buildings in question, though as they landed all four of them noticed that, while they were busy with the jammers, Kessler had his forces install large machines on some of the roofs, which were pointing at the planes at the moment... and, as they looked around the area, there was no sign of John and his helicopter, meaning that he was wasting time that they clearly didn't have.

A few minutes later they spotted the helicopter in question, though from what little they could tell they could see that John was both annoyed about something and happy about another thing, where Adagio suspected that he was happy to follow her suggestion, since Kessler's forces would be under attack from the military soon, and annoyed that things were moving faster than what he originally planned.

"Kessler's been keeping the Ray Sphere inside the old Examiner Building, though it'll be a bitch to get into it." John said, which made sense considering the machines that Kessler had set up and the fact that Moya was sending in the military to take care of things, "I have a canister of fentanyl rigged to the bottom of the chopper, which should incapacitate anyone inside the building. The downside is that Kessler has set up some anti-air guns on the surrounding buildings, which will tear me apart long before I can get into position."

"It also seems like someone else has come to play as well," Cole commented, referring to the military plans that were currently drawing the fire of the anti-air guns, but at the same time knowing that John would become a prime target if he moved too close to the building, "Look, I'll take out the guns on the surrounding buildings, the sisters can deal with the incoming military plans, and then you can gas the bastards... then we'll take the Ray Sphere and be on our way."

"That sounds like a plan." John said, though this time around he was happy to hear that everyone had some part to play, as they needed to act quickly before Kessler moved the Ray Sphere again, before he cut off the connection between their phones and continued to pilot the helicopter until the skies were clear.

Cole nodded and turned towards the sisters, who understood what they were going to do this time around, as they knew that the planes were only going to ruin this operation before they had a chance to get what they had come for, but before any of them could move Cole's phone went off again... and this time around they all had an idea as to who was calling him without even looking at the front of the phone.

"Do you see those jets, Cole?" Moya asked, though her tone was a mocking one, as if she believed that she was in complete control of the situation and that, in the moment she was told that she wasn't in control, she had ordered the planes to take flight, which was why they were coming towards the Historic District, "They'll be hitting targets all over Empire City, clearing the way for a ground invasion in a few hours time. I warned the lot of you that if I lost 'control' of the situation, which you claim to have done to me, they would escalate things and take action immediately. You shouldn't have reneged on our deal."

"So what, you lied to the military and told them that the situation was worse than you thought it was?" Cole asked, as he couldn't believe that Moya was actually willing to kill everyone in Empire City, all the innocent people that Kessler had put in danger, all because the Dazzlings had taken the control of the situation away from her, "You can't pin the blame on us, Moya, not when you're the one that's ordered the death of thousands of innocent people because we won't hand over the Ray Sphere... which we don't even have yet."

"Oh Cole, I've already pinned all the blame on you and those girls that keep following you around," Moya replied, her tone remaining the entire time, showing that she believed that she had control of the entire situation, regardless of what everyone else did, "even if you all survive the bombing, and somehow make it out of Empire City, the entire world will know that the 'Demon and Sirens of Empire City' are still at large... and sooner or later you'd wish you had taken my deal when it was still on the table."

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata stared at their phones for a moment, anger written all over their faces, before they turned towards the incoming bombers that were preparing to destroy more of the city and kill so many more people, where Cole watched as their auras snapped to life and they surged off into the distance. This was further confirmation that they had turned over a new leaf, as they weren't about to let Moya have her way, and he watched them for a few seconds as they flew towards the bombers, where the first one to react was Sonata as she formed some wind claws and tore the wings off the planes that she was targeting, while dropping the bodies into the water below them. Adagio pulled the moisture to her hands and started hurling Ice Spears at the wings that were her targets, blowing them to pieces in the process, before moving onto the next plane that needed to be destroyed, while at the same time Aria, using the fires her sisters created with their explosions, created a pair of flaming swords that allowed her to cut through the metal wings like they were made of butter or paper. Even when the bombers started firing at them the sisters proved that they were too much for them, as they flew out of the way and smashed the planes to pieces, while at the same time making sure that the pilots escaped their vehicles before they exploded... showing that, despite their anger, they were only pissed off at Moya and weren't about to hold the pilots accountable for the orders they were given, save for the one pilot that attacked Adagio, who simply froze him in ice and let him sink to the bottom of the harbor.

Cole chuckled as he got to work as well, carefully fighting his way through the First Sons soldiers that were protecting the anti-air guns that were his target, as this time around he was actually fighting all on his own without the sisters to back him up, but at the same time he proved that he was stronger than his enemies... and he unleashed his Lightning Storm to blow the anti-air guns apart, giving John some space at the same time. When the last of the anti-air guns were taken care of, and before John could say anything, Cole moved away from the building and let John move in with the fentanyl, which he dropped the container down onto the building and let the gas spread throughout it. The only downside was that there was a team of soldiers waiting across the street from the building, hidden in the cloaking device that had kept the jammers hidden, that moved into the building with their masks on and hauled the Ray Sphere into a nearby truck, one that got moving the moment the soldiers were ready to leave the area. As John moved to follow them, and ordered Cole to follow without stopping for a moment to let him onto the helicopter, the Dazzlings flew back into the area and Sonata grabbed onto Cole as they took to the skies... where Cole found that every plane Moya had sent at Empire City, and he meant all of them, were wrecks that were now floating in the water around the city.

It was in that moment that Cole was, once again, happy that the Dazzlings weren't his enemies, as they were already strong enough to tackle a fleet of planes that were ordered to drop bombs on the city, but at the same time he knew that such a thing was going to keep the military from allowing Moya to send in more troops... not when the results of the mission she sent the last ones on was a total failure. The First Sons led them on a short chase from the Warren and headed into the Historic District, where they stopped at the longest pier that was in the city and had their guards ready themselves, while at the same time the sisters landed just outside the area and set Cole down, where John retreated to set the chopper down before he joined them.

As John went and did that Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata advanced forward, where they started firing at the First Sons soldiers that were in front of them and destroyed the drones that happened to get in their way, though at the same time their enemies decided to use some sort of gas grenade to obscure their vision for a few seconds, as Sonata cleared away the gas not even a few seconds later. In addition to all that their foes had a turret lined up and ready to fire at them at a moments notice, something that wasn't a threat when Aria threw some Firebomb marbles over the container that they were hiding behind and blew the soldiers manning the turret away from it, allowing Cole to disable it in the process. There was also a few cloaked Conduits that wanted a piece of them, which Sonata pointed out and let both Adagio and Cole deal with them, before they continued forward and blasted their way through the enemies that were in front of them, all while they kept their eyes at the end of the pier, where the Ray Sphere was resting. After they smashed their way through the area that the third turret was keeping guard over they discovered that they had already cleared out all of the guards that Kessler had assigned to this mission... which meant that he either wasn't expecting them to have cleared out the soldiers that quickly, or he fully intended to sacrifice them so they could get their hands on the Ray Sphere.

As the four of them approached the glowing device they already knew what they were going to do, as this thing was capable of leveling whole parts of a city and killing thousands of lives in a single instant, making it an incredibly dangerous weapon for someone to possess, even when it created people like Cole... and, as they considered how to get it out of it's casing to smash it, John ran up to where they were standing and glared at the glowing orb.

"You know, I had my hands on that THING once." John said, though the group noticed that he put some emphasis on the word 'thing', indicating that he despised the Ray Sphere with every fiber of his being and that he would enjoy having the chance to destroy it, "Kessler asked me to hold it for him while he adjusted some of the cables that were inside it, during one of the tests to make sure it was working right. I could feel it pulsing, like something was inside it, trying to get out of it's cage... it's not right, and everyone wants to get their hands on it. Look, that big lightning strike of yours should be able to destroy the protective container that it's resting in... and then, once it's free, we can blow it sky high."

Adagio snapped her fingers and some of the water rose up to where they were standing, where she manipulated some of it into longer Ice Spears that she stuck into the ground around the protective container, keeping it in one place in case it decided to move when it was struck. Aria and Sonata, on the other hand, created some spherical shaped balls that contained some potent fire and wind energy, indicating that when the container was hit they were all going to add their power and hopefully blow the Ray Sphere to pieces, before the three of them back up onto the top of the truck the First Sons used to bring it here. Once they were in position Cole glanced at the Ray Sphere one last time, knowing that any lesser man would activate the sphere and gain some sort of power, or even increase the power they had already been given, before he remembered all the people that suffered because the device had been activated. The sky rumbled for a moment, feeling his power rise for a few seconds, before Cole jumped back and raised his hands towards the sky, where he pulled one of the strongest Lightning Storms out of the sky and directed it right into the protective container... setting off the attacks that the Dazzlings had prepared for this occasion, which exploded the moment the lightning stuck Cole's intended target.

In that moment something went horribly wrong, as when the Ray Sphere cracked open it unleashed a vortex of energy, one that immediately grabbed onto John, who was the closest to the protective container at the time, and tore him apart until they were absolutely nothing left of him. The Dazzlings, seeing what was coming next, hightailed it out of there by flying towards the entrance of the pier, though Adagio grabbed Cole before he could be hit by the blast and pulled him to safety as the vortex exploded, tearing the majority of the pier apart in the process... though when the energy died down, and the smoke disappeared, they found that both John and the Ray Sphere were gone, protecting who knew how many people with the device's destruction.

"I'm disappointed, Cole." a voice said, to which the four of them looked down at their phones and found that Kessler was calling them again, thought at the same time none of them were surprised that he was disappointed in what had transpired, since they weren't aiming to please him, "The Ray Sphere was the catalyst of your powers, and it could have easily strengthened you even more... and you rejected it. I, for one, wouldn't have done what you did."

"Yeah, well we're not like you, Kessler." Cole stated, as he was getting sick and tired of this man acting like everything was a game and that he could do whatever he wanted, because that was what they had seen from him so far, and he could tell that the Dazzlings wanted to put him down as well, "I'll admit that, at the beginning, I used to believe that I thought this was all about us and what we wanted, but now, after everything that we've seen and everything that we've done, I can tell you that we know the truth. This is about keeping Empire City, and the people that call it home, safe from monsters like you... and once you're dead, there won't be anyone else to threat these people."

"That remains to be seen." Kessler replied, as if he was challenging them to a battle or something, which all of them were more than ready for since they had been trying to find Kessler since they first discovered his existence and the future that he was destined to bring about, "Meet me at the Stanton Building."

The look in Cole's eyes told Adagio, Aria, and Sonata everything they needed to know, they were heading back to where the Blast had happened, where Kessler intended to fight them for both Empire City and the future of the planet, to which the four of them set out immediately... and the Dazzlings intended on making sure Kessler had a taste of their full power before they gave him the death that he deserved.