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// New Marais: Departure 
// Story: InFamous: The Unusual Conduits 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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A month had gone by since Kessler's death and the destruction of the military ship that Moya had brought in to deal with Cole and the Dazzlings, only for the sisters to blow a number of holes into the exterior, flood the interior, and sink the entire vessel before it could reach Empire City, resulting in the deaths of a few hundred soldiers and Moya herself. Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata weren't happy with the loss of life, since it could have been prevented, but in the end Moya made the decision to attack the city and the four of them acted accordingly, though that didn't change how they felt about what happened that day. Even Trish, who was used to saving lives, had to agree that this was one instance where they couldn't have much else, though when the Dazzlings mentioned their songs, and explained what had happened earlier when Kessler tried to mind-control everyone, she simply said that Moya likely had them all bent to her will in some manner, so it would have been a waste of energy, even if she wished they could have saved some of those people.

The days following Kessler's death were interesting, as the four of them took their time in clearing out the Dust Men and the remaining soldiers of the First Sons, as the Reapers that they found were simply brought before the Dazzlings, who sung to them and cured them of Sasha's mind-control. They did everything in their power to make sure Empire City was as close as it could be to how it had appeared before the Blast happened, helping the people whenever they needed assistance, aiding Trish in collecting the occasional medical drop that the government sent in, and cleaned up the streets. It amused them that the government, who had authorized Moya's mission in some manner, were still helping the innocent people inside Empire City, but at the same time Adagio's reasoning was that they had seen what happened to Moya's ship and didn't want to repeat it with anything else, be it another ship or a squad of bombers. The Dazzlings had officially created a stalemate of sorts, one that they could turn to their favor in a moment if they so desired, but at the same time they were waiting for Cole to come up with a plan of attack for when the Beast arrived, as they knew it was coming and were preparing themselves accordingly.

Cole spent his time, what parts of it weren't used to help the citizens out with whatever problem they were having, fixing the other electrical parts of the city, improving the lives of everyone inside the city's districts, while at the same time further empowering his body for the fight that was coming. The Dazzlings, not having a way to power up like Cole did, had to do the next best thing, they practiced fighting against each other every day, using the crater they had fought Kessler in, and sometimes some of the citizens would stop and watch them, which usually turned to them cheering the sisters on as they practiced their skills. Sometimes the people even set up things for them to destroy, to further improve their existing skills, though the one thing they preferred to practice alone, as in just the three of them and no one else in the immediate area, was when they transformed into their full power forms, where they felt their wings and fish tails return, as well as their true Siren voices. They didn't want their practice sessions to accidentally enthrall someone that was watching them, which was why they had a secluded spot that everyone knew to stay away from when they were in the area, as Cole was the icon that told them that they were doing that, though he was happy to make sure that the three of them were undisturbed when they practiced their music sessions.

The time standing guard gave Cole time to think about Zeke's attempts to make amends towards him and Trish, the latter of which having smacked him upside the head for joining Kessler like he had, but at the same time there was still some tension between him and Zeke... and that included the fact that, one time before he became the guard for when the Dazzlings did this, Zeke happened to be spying on them from afar. From what Cole recalled Zeke had seen the three of them strip down and slip into the water, which had earned him a smack the moment Cole figured out what he was doing, but all he knew was that the sisters must have wanted to feel the water around them in their full powered form, to feel like their former selves again, and he wasn't about to stop them. The Dazzlings also ended up smacking Zeke when Cole told them that he had been peeping on them, and another from Trish since she said it was an inappropriate thing to do, and soon enough Cole became the guard to make sure that no one, not even him, saw the Dazzlings when they wanted to do this private practice session... even though he couldn't control all the satellites and whatever the military used to spy on them from afar.

Other than beating up the rest of the Dust Men and the First Sons, and wiping out the rest of the Reapers by freeing them from Sasha's mind-control, there wasn't much left for them to do, save for patrolling the streets every now and then, but the Dazzlings took most of the shifts, since they could fly, and let Cole spend some time with Trish, who had gotten some spare time with the number of enemies dwindling and the number of innocents being hurt going down as well. Cole also ended up telling both Zeke and Trish the truth about Kessler, where Zeke seemed to understand and helped calm down his anger in some manner, while at the same time Trish had been shocked at first, that the future Cole was such a coward when she compared him to her Cole, but she was happy that Cole and the Dazzlings had taken Kessler out. The two of them were able to improve their relationship, to what would have been the dating phase once more, save for the fact that most of the shops and restaurants were broken still, but it was better than what their relationship had been after the Blast happened.

When Cole and the Dazzlings were out on their morning patrol, walking around the Neon District for a change, they heard the sound of a helicopter and found one of the military type coming down towards them, where a lady named Lucy Kuo came down to meet them all. She also had a folder with her, one that she handed to Cole, and explained that she knew all about the Beast, so much so that she had purposely come here, into the quarantine, to get Cole and the Dazzlings out so they could be made ready for the Beast's arrival. As the four of them examined the papers that were inside the folder, and both Trish and Zeke caught up with them since the Dazzlings informed them that something was happening, Kuo explained that she had a friend, a Dr. Wolfe, that had worked on the Ray Sphere prototype and that he had a method that would allow them to amplify their already incredible powers to the point where they should be able to tackle the Beast and destroy it. All they had to do was get on the ship that would be arriving in the next thirty minutes, head down to New Marais, and she would make sure that they met up with Dr. Wolfe, so they could prepare for the coming of the Beast and strike at it the moment it showed itself.

Neither Cole nor the Dazzlings liked the idea of leaving the people of Empire City without any protectors, especially since the military could move in at a moments notice, but in the end they all agreed that they should get going and even convinced Kuo to let Zeke and Trish come as well... to which they quickly gathered what they needed and prepared to depart from the city, all while feeling that something bad was right around the corner.





Agent Kuo, true to her word, had a ship docked at the large pier before they even made their decision, one that she ushered them onto after locking the gate behind them, as she didn't want any civilians catching wind of what they were doing, before she walked off to tell the captain that they were ready to leave. As she went and did that Cole, Zeke, Trish, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata stood at what was the back end of the ship, near the ramp that had allowed them to climb aboard the vessel like normal people, and stared at Empire City, the place that they had fought to protect and would have died defending if it came to that.

"Man, I tell you, Cole, that Agent Kuo?" Zeke commented, staring out at the city while he spoke, while at the same time the others glanced at him while Cole simply stared at Empire City, imagining what the citizens would think if they saw a boat with their protectors leaving all of them behind, "She doesn't mess around, huh? First boat outta town? Chick's got some connections."

"At least her connections are real." Trish spoke up, as she was liking how efficient the agent was, in the fact that she had everything lined up perfectly so that they could leave without raising the alarm, especially since it gave her a moment to change out of the attire she had been wearing and wear her agent clothing again, "Unlike Moya's, as, from what you have told me, she was never able to use them to the best of her ability, always screwing something up or misjudging what was happening around her."

"Look, Zeke, this is going to be a short term visit." Cole said, to which he glanced at his former best friend, because right now he was letting the Dazzlings have that, especially since Trish was his girlfriend, while he spoke, "We're going to get inside New Marais, find out where Dr. Wolfe is waiting, get some new powers in the process, and then we'll come right back and prepare for the Beast's arrival."

"Come on man, you and the Dazzlings deserve to relax a little after everything that Empire City put you through!" Zeke replied, as if he actually wanted to spend some of his time relaxing in the city before they came back here, though at the same time Trish and the Dazzlings shook their heads for a moment, "I mean, we're going to New Marais of all places!"

"We need to be ready for when the Beast arrives," Adagio stated, where she stopped leaning against the metallic wall that she had been leaning on since they boarded the ship, while at the same time Aria and Sonata glanced at the city that was in front of them once more, "as much as I would love to relax, and take a vacation of some kind, we need to be focused on our mission and be ready for what's coming."

"Trust me, the four of you will be more than ready once you're done working with Dr. Wolfe." Kuo said, where she walked over to where the group was standing, knowing that they were all anxious to get underway and get the powers they needed to face the Beast.

"Work? Ha, that's easy Kuo." Zeke replied, though at the same time Cole and the others brought their palms to their faces, as they knew that he was going to say something that wasn't appropriate for this operation, "When we get there, we're gonna be about the 'Three Bs'... that's beer, boobs, and mechanical bulls."

"Can I smack him again?" Trish asked, because at this point she honestly had no idea why Cole was even bothering to bring Zeke with him, especially after his betrayal, but at the same time Cole simply shook his head and calmed her down, as he knew that something was coming.

"Zeke, I don't think you understand the scope of what's going on here," Kuo stated, as it appeared that Cole's friend was as stupid as she believed him to be, from just the first glance anyway, and wondered why he was coming along in the first place, though before she said anything else there was a bright red explosion nearby that caught her attention... not to mention the attention of everyone else in the process, "What is going on?"

As Cole and the Dazzlings focused on the source of the explosion, which couldn't be any of the gangs since they had dismantled all of them before Kuo arrived to meet with them, they found that it was being centered around the statue that the first food drop had been caught on. Fire, ash, and smoke immediately began to gather near the top of the large statue, which was starting to fall apart at the same time, before they noticed that people were being picked up and disintegrated before their very eyes, their existence destroyed in a matter of seconds. It was in that moment, as the statue's top snapped off and fell to the ground, that Kessler's memory of the day the Beast appeared in his future, in the future Empire City, flashed through their minds, where the events of the future matched what was happening before their eyes... and, at the same time, four of them understood what was going on. The moment they understood what was going on the four of them jumped off the ship, Cole by jumping onto the dock by the side of the ship and the Dazzlings taking to the air, before they started moving towards the gate.

"Uh, MacGrath, we had a deal." Kuo said, speaking over their phones for a moment, as she had given them her number the moment they agreed to come with her, so they could contact each other better when they arrived in New Marais, "This boat is leaving."

"Relax Kuo, we got this." Cole replied, though at the same time he noticed that there were some civilians that were actually at the gate, but whether it was because they had seen the boat or because of the Beast's appearance didn't matter to him at all, as he raised a hand and blasted the lock off the gate... allowing the people to head to the boat while he and the Dazzlings headed towards the Beast.

As they moved down the pier they found buildings around the statue collapsing, being destroyed by the Beast's power, and the creature even launched a flaming bus through the air, where it struck the other boat that was off on Cole's right and it went all the way through it, causing it to sink in the process. When Cole reached the end of the pier, which the part that connected it to the city had been destroyed, Cole stood there and started firing bolt after bolt at the Beast, who was currently tearing the area around the statue apart in what appeared to be the same rampage that Kessler had seen on the news. After a moment or two the Beast, annoyed with Cole, grabbed onto the top part of the statue and hurled it towards the pier, though at the same time Adagio, having landed behind Cole, commanded the water to rise and caught the upper body with the water, freezing it before it could crash into the pier. Of course the Beast saw that and walked over to where they were standing, where the Dazzlings discovered that the Beast was a gigantic humanoid creature made out of molten lava and rocks, with fire pulsing through his system and his eyes appearing to be inflamed.

When the Beast got close to the wall of ice he raised his fist and swung at it, crushing the entire structure while letting the upper body of the statue fall into the water, though at the same time Adagio waved her hand and the ice turned into water, which she moved out of the way so it didn't hurt Cole... but with the Beast being able to use one punch to destroy her Ice Wall, with as thick as it had been, she knew that this wasn't going to be an easy fight.

"Cole! Stall him for a few moments!" Adagio called out, to which she flew backwards a bit, so she could get some distance between herself and the Beast, before her sisters flew over to her, where the three of them focused their minds and awoke their inner powers.

While that was going on, and the Dazzlings were engulfed in the pillars of energy that came when they were in the middle of a battle and they transformed into their full power forms, Cole blasted the Beast with everything he had, though he wasn't going to run out of juice for some time, as a benefit to his work had given him an unlimited supply of electricity he could use, which was perfect considering who was in front of him. Not even a few moments later, after getting annoyed, the Beast gripped the bottom of the pier and ripped part of it up, knocking Cole into the air, before loosing some sort of energy wave that kept him in the air, where Cole used his Ionic Thrusters to keep himself where he was and moved around the area, continuing to attack the Beast. As that happened the pillars disappeared and the Dazzlings, now sporting their translucent wings and fish tails, emerged with their full power unlocked, to which they started to unleash the pain on the Beast, as Adagio used the water to create two large Ice Dragons to keep the Beast pinned down in one area, allowing Aria to use the Beast's inner fire to their advantage by blowing some of it up, the parts that the dragons weren't attached to, while Sonata called upon the wind and cut several gashes into the Beast's face and body.

At one point part of the Beast's head blew off, a small portion when they considered how gigantic the creature actually was, and that only seemed to piss him off as he snapped the Ice Dragons in half, though that prompted Adagio to turn the Ice Dragons into a storm of Ice Spears, large ones that punctured the Beast's body. Despite those spears slowing him down a little, however, the Beast continued to move towards Cole, though at the same time Cole grinned as he raised his hands towards the sky and loosed the newly upgraded Lightning Storm, now called the Ionic Storm, down on the Beast, which was basically a really powerful lightning bolt from the sky, supercharged by his power and the sky itself, that struck the Beast square in the head. That was followed by another part of the Beast's head blowing up as the lightning ended, to which the Beast sunk into the water, seemingly defeated, though instead of sticking around to find out the Dazzlings flew back to the ship as Cole started to run over the pier that was still falling apart around him. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata landed on the ship and turned towards their friend, who was making his way up the ramp, though as Cole jumped into the air he stalled for a moment... which was followed by the Beast bursting out of the water and grabbing Cole before he had a chance to escape, though Cole had the sisters stand back for the moment as he unleashed another Ionic Storm on the gigantic creature that was holding him.

The good news was that the surge of power blew the Beast back and forced him to drop Cole, who landed in the water for a moment, though as the Beast sunk into the water once more, and the ship got underway to leave Empire City behind, Adagio used her power and lifted Cole from the water... where Trish took him to the infirmary, so she could be sure that her boyfriend didn't die from fighting the Beast. The Dazzlings stood at the back of the boat for a few minutes, watching Empire City slowly start to disappear as they headed for New Marais, though as they did that the three of them stared at the water as the Beast pulled itself out and continued his rampage. The resulting destruction seemed to fuel his recovery, because as they watched the Beast put itself back together, his face reforming in a matter of seconds and any other wound he had been dealt closed as if it had never happened, revealing that Kessler had been right to fear the Beast, because even four powerful Conduits weren't enough to critically wound such a creature. Once the Beast had put himself back together, however, he turned and looked at the ship the Dazzlings were on, as if telling them that he was coming for them, before he loosed an explosion that rivaled that of the Ray Sphere... and, when the smoke cleared, Empire City was a ruined place with no one left, indicating that the explosion had wiped everyone out.

As the Dazzlings watched the ruins of Empire City disappear in the distance, however, they noticed the military engage the Beast as he started walking, knowing that he was chasing them and that he wouldn't stop until the world was dead... though the three of them vowed that they would bring an end to the Beast, and that meant traveling to New Marais, where they had the feeling that a new danger was waiting for them to arrive.