//------------------------------//
// New Marais: New Powers 
// Story: InFamous: The Unusual Conduits 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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After Cole told the Dazzlings about the last time he and Zeke had come to New Marais, and they leaned against some of the wood poles so they could relax a little, Cole told them everything that he remembered about the city that was in front of them and knew that they were happy for any information so they wouldn't be lost when they headed out to find Wolfe's lab when Kuo arrived. The only problem that Adagio thought about was where Trish was going to go, as she and her sisters didn't honestly trust Zeke to keep her safe, but Cole was sure that she would be able to find someplace to pick up being a doctor and heal some of the wounded that were no doubt around the city. Aria and Sonata spent most of the time looking up the nearby ramp and stared at the city, wondering if anyone was going to come and check out the area that they had landed in, but as the seconds ticked by it didn't appear that they were going to be interrupted by anyone and Zeke would be able to dock the moment he arrived. That was good news, as there wouldn't be anyone to witness their arrival and tell their new foe about them until it was too late, though at the same time Bertrand might already know that they were there, so it was only a matter of time until they figured out what he knew and didn't know.

It wasn't long before Zeke steered the boat up to the dock that they were standing on and pulled up beside it, where he came to a stop and allowed Kuo to step off, while at the same time Trish stayed on the boat, because despite how Zeke acted by joining Kessler's side she still trusted that he might be able to keep them safe.

"Zeke, you move this boat at the first sign of trouble." Kuo ordered, as the last thing she wanted was for someone to discover that the boat had arrived, as that would tell whoever found it that someone had entered the city and then they'd have to move fast before Bertrand found out about them.

"Aye aye, Super Spy." Zeke stated, still acting like this was a game and that he was going to have a blast when it was time to relax, even though Kuo shook her head as she walked away from the boat and Trish glared at him, silently threatening him with another slap to the back of the head if he pulled anything funny.

"You expecting some action in the near future?" Cole asked, though at the same time he couldn't fault Kuo for acting in such a manner, as this would also keep Trish safe, something that he wanted for her after the pain that she had been through at Kessler's hands.

"The Militia is going to be on guard after that little stunt you and the Dazzlings pulled in the swamp." Kuo replied, to which the sisters stopped leaning against what they were leaning on and walked over to where she and Cole were standing at the moment, "Though that raises a question. Why didn't one of you blow up the oil tanks in that camp? It would have made getting through the area a lot easier."

"We're not about to start torching families to make our lives easier." Aria stated, where she flexed her fingers for a moment and let the flames return for a few seconds, reminding Kuo that Cole wasn't alone in his decisions, before she clenched her fist and the flames died immediately, "We're here to help the innocent people of the city, not cause them to fear us and wish us dead."

"Good, that's exactly what I wanted to hear." Kuo said, causing the group to glare at her for a moment, as they felt that asking such a question, with Trish still nearby, was a bad thing to do, though that was when she started moving and the four of them followed after her, "You all made the right choice. I'm impressed, you all acted like professionals. Now, let's go find Wolfe and get you some new powers."

"Sounds like a plan." Adagio said, as it felt nice to actually be making progress instead of just simply standing around doing nothing, even though the short wait for the boat to arrive hadn't been all that annoying, and, at the same time, she could see Kuo dialing something on her phone.

"Hey, Dr. Wolfe. I'm back in town." Kuo said, indicating that she was now trying to reach the very person that would be able to increase their powers, or at the very least allow Cole to empower himself for the battle with the Beast, "I have MacGrath and the Dazzlings."

"Goog, that's very good." a new voice replied, one that was definitely male and was older than Kuo, which told the group who he was, even though Kuo had done that a few seconds ago, "Unfortunately, I have a bit of bad news. Don't worry, I'm alright, but the Militia searched my lab this morning and discovered the Blast Core I'd been hiding."

"Okay, just stay in your lab." Kuo said, as she was happy to hear that he was alright, especially since he was the key to getting Cole ready for the final battle with the Beast, who was currently making it's way down to New Marais, "We'll swing by the West Lookout and see if we can get it back."

In the moment following that statement one of the Militia soldiers, who happened to be standing on the exterior second floor of a building, loosed a rocket at them, though Cole, seeing it coming since he was curious which street Kuo wanted to take, hurled Shockwave and knocked the rocket back towards the person who fired it. At the same time, as she understood that they were under attack, Kuo called out for someone to 'hit him with a grenade', showing that she knew more about their powers than she originally told them, but none of them were in the mood to argue as Sonata hurled one of her Gale Bombs behind the soldier and blew him away with ease. As she did that Cole gathered his power and did the same thing, hurling a Shock Grenade up to where the second group of enemies were located and blew them up as well, clearing the way for them to move forward, which would have been great if Kuo was heading that way. The reason he thought that was because she headed into an alley that was blocked on the other side, by a truck that was parked there, and instead of simply climbing over it Kuo asked one of them to remove the vehicle... to which Cole sighed and loosed a Shockwave at it, pushing the truck out of the way and allowing them to move deeper into New Marais.

As they rounded the corner, and headed towards a new street, another group of Militia soldiers appeared in their way, where Aria formed a Firebomb in her hand and scattered the marbles all over where the enemies on the ground were standing, knocking them out with the force of the explosion. Adagio, on the other hand, simply blasted the final opponent into the wall and smiled when he didn't get back up, while at the same time the structure their enemies had been standing on collapsed, knocking out whoever wasn't knocked out yet. From there they turned to the right and started to head down the street that was in front of them, where another rocket launcher soldier, on a nearby roof across the street, fired a rocket at them, to which Cole loosed a Shockwave and knocked the rocket back at whoever had fired it at them. As that happened, and the four of them prepared for yet another fight, Kuo got a call from Wolfe about the Militia returning and knocking on his door, to which Kuo stated that they were on their own, indicating that she was going to help Wolfe out, and informed them that the Blast Core, whatever that was, glowed purple.

A few seconds after Kuo separated from them, however, the group approached the group of buildings that the Militia had been guarding, where it appeared that the Blast Core was located, and the Dazzlings flew to the top while Cole, in a moment of observation of a new pole, launched himself halfway up to the roof. From there the four of them regrouped on the roof and started their assault on the soldiers that were standing guard all over the area, blasting them into submission and blowing up the lookout structures that they had set up on the roof, all while the Militia called out that they were all 'freaks' and that they needed to be killed. Fortunately it didn't appear that the group of enemies in front of them had any reinforcements coming their way, allowing them to approach a container that had a strange purple glow coming from it, though as they approached it they heard someone calling for help, where Cole looked over the edge of the roof and found two Militia soldiers in the process of mugging someone... to which he growled as he jumped down to the street level, landing behind his targets, and beat the crap out of the soldiers before they could do anything to stop him.

Once the mugging had been stopped, and the lady had thanked him for helping her out, Cole climbed back up to the top of the roof and approached the container that the Dazzlings had been guarding, where they discovered that a Blast Core looked like the Blast Shards they had found all over Empire City... only the coloration that it gave off was different and even he could tell that it seemed to be even stronger than the shards he had picked up earlier.

"Kuo, Wolfe, I'm pretty sure that we just found the Blast Core," Cole commented, opening a line to Kuo, so she could hear that they found what they were looking for, while at the same time he noticed that the Dazzlings seemed to be looking at the charged piece of earth that he was holding at the moment, "Are you guys still at the lab?"

"MacGrath... the Shards, they're... Oh God!" Wolfe said, his voice sounding like he was distressed over something, though that was before the four of them heard an explosion as the area that Wolfe was in, or at least they assumed that he was in, exploded, indicating that something had blown his lab to pieces, to which Cole stashed the Blast Core in his pack before he started to move forward.

From there Cole used the various grindwires that were in front of him to make his way over to where Wolfe's lab was located, while at the same time the Dazzlings took to the skies and followed after him, though they had to be careful since it was raining Blast Shards and the sharp shards could potentially hurt if they got hit. Along the way to Wolfe's lab they ran into several Militia soldiers, where Cole ignored them while the Dazzlings blasted them off the roof that they were standing on, opening the way forward and making sure that they weren't wasting time since they had no idea what was going to happen next. At the same time, however, the Dazzlings heard the soldiers call them the 'Demon and the Sirens', revealing that Moya had been right about the name she chose for them spreading like wildfire, though that only made them more determined to set the record straight and prove that they were heroes, instead of villains. When they got closer to Wolfe's lab Cole started blasting the Militia soldiers that were in the area around the building in question, either knocking them out or knocking them off the roof that they were standing on, before he followed his friends towards their destination.

It was there that they found Dr. Wolfe, who was currently under some paneling that Cole pulled off him, the group discovered that he was an older man that was wearing a dirty, brown dress jacket with a blue shirt under it, along with gray pants and brown shoes, and that included a pair of glasses that were on his face.

"My God!" Wolfe said, as the moment Cole freed him, and pulled him into his feet, he stated at Cole for a moment, clearly remembering something that he had seen before this point and could only stare as a single thought came to mind in those few seconds, "You look just the same."

"Same as who?" Cole asked, though at the same time he had a feeling that he knew who Wolfe was talking about, because he had been working on the Ray Sphere and that meant that he likely had been in contact with Kessler, the man that he and the Dazzlings hated and had killed for his crimes a month ago.

"Kessler, the man who gave you your powers." Wolfe replied, though when Cole removed his hand from the man he didn't seem upset, rather it appeared that he had been expecting such a reaction and was slightly pleased to see that his thoughts had been correct.

"We know who Kessler is." Adagio stated, as both she and her sisters hated the future Cole, as that was who Kessler had been, for everything he had done to Empire City and the pain that he had put both Cole and Trish through, all in the name to prepare them for the Beast's arrival.

"At the beginning we were friends," Wolfe said, as if he was trying to explain what he had done, working with the man that had wrecked a good portion of Empire City, and the group let him speak, since it would give them more information than what they already had, "He told me of his plans for you, and for the Beast... but none of those plans included three more Conduits, all of which bare pony ears, pony tails, and hooves in place of feet."

"Then you know we failed," Cole replied, as the pain of what had happened, before he and the others started the journey to New Marais, still hurt, and he knew that the Dazzlings felt the same way that he did, "We couldn't stop the Beast when it arrived... Empire City is gone."

"Yes, and it won't stop unless you expand your abilities and become powerful enough to use this!" Wolfe said, to which he picked up a spherical device that hummed with power for a moment, a power that reminded all four of them of the foul Ray Sphere and the damage that it had caused.

"Another Ray Sphere?" Sonata inquired, not sure how such a thing was going to help them, not unless Wolfe was suggesting that they activate the entire city, transform them all into Conduits, and prepare them for a war with the Beast, which only seemed like a bad idea.

"No, a Ray Field Inhibitor," Wolfe replied, though he couldn't fault her for thinking that this was another Ray Sphere, since it had been built from the blueprints of the original Ray Sphere, but at the same time he found that all of them were staring at the device, "I call it the RFI. Think of it as an Anti-Ray Sphere."

"Wait, you mean that this device has the power to take powers away from people, instead of giving them out?" Aria asked, as that seemed like an interesting idea, though if that was the case she started to wonder why they needed such a thing to combat the Beast, before wondering if the Beast was actually an extremely powerful Conduit, which made her thoughts make sense.

"Precisely." Wolfe said, glad that one of them understood what he was talking about, before his smile widened when he noticed that all four of them were the same way, showing him that they all understood his explanation on what the RFI did and what it could do, "With the RFI you can combat the Beast, subtract his abilities. Please, keep it safe."

"Will do." Cole said, as he was the one that had been given the RFI, meaning that it might only work for someone like him, and carefully stored it inside his pack, determining to give it to Trish, as she would keep it safe until he needed it, before he pulled out the Blast Core that he had picked up earlier, "What about this?"

"Ah, Blast Cores. They power the RFI." Wolfe stated, taking the Blast Core from Cole's hands and observed it for a few moments, as he knew that this information would be useful to all four of them and set their course through the city, so they could gain the power they needed, "They're batteries for the same energy that fuels all genetic mutation. Pass a current through it, and it's energy will be released into the nearest Conduit."

"So this is going to make one of us stronger?" Cole asked, as that was what they had come here for in the first place, though at the same time he knew that it was a bad trade that only one of them gained incredible power while the other three stayed at their current level... despite the fact that the Dazzlings were so much stronger than he would ever be.

"Theoretically it should only work for a single Conduit, but with four near it I have no idea what might happen," Wolfe replied, as he knew that Cole was thinking of making sure that all of them had a power boost, increasing all of their powers in the process, but he honestly had no idea if such a thing was possible, "but yes, it will make one of you, at the very least, stronger than you are now, and that's only the first of the Blast Cores. Together we can defeat the Beast!"

"Oh, enough with the pep talk Wolfe," Cole said, to which he moved to an area that would give him some room to do what the scientist had said, while at the same time bracing himself as he prepared to activate the first Blast Core while the Dazzlings watched over him, "Let's do this."

The moment Cole passed a current through the Blast Core the Dazzlings watched as he was picked up by the power and floated in the air for a few moments, which was when his arms and legs became outstretched as the power danced all over his body and flowed into him, though as that happened all three of the sisters felt their own powers rise for a few seconds as well. It wasn't like the surge that was going through Cole's body, that much all three of them knew immediately, but at the same time they knew that the height of their powers had gone up, making them stronger in the process, and when Cole finally hit the ground, his body smoking, they staggered as well, but weren't downed by the sudden flow of power that he had experienced. After that happened Wolfe tried to start cleaning up his lab and moving things around, also refusing the help of the Dazzlings at the same time, to which they simply stayed on the roof and watched over Cole as the scientist headed into the building, though the majority of their time was spent blasting the various groups of Militia that were attacking the building. It wasn't long before the Militia tried to land on the roof so they could haul Cole away, though while Kuo and Wolfe chased the soldiers away from the ground floor, and headed after them, the Dazzlings made sure that Cole was safe.

During that time Zeke surprised them by making it to the top of the roof that they were on and actually fired at some of the Militia that were running away, no doubt to fight another day when the sisters thought about it, though they did move when they noticed that Cole was getting up again.

"Yeah, that's right. Run bitches!" Zeke shouted, to which he fired a few more shots at the fleeing Militia soldiers that had been trying to sneak up on the Dazzlings, who had likely known that they were in the immediate area, before he turned towards Cole and the sisters.

"What happened?" Cole asked, though at the same time Zeke offered him a hand and he took it, allowing himself to be pulled back onto his feet, but while he felt a little out of it he could tell that his power had been increased by some degree, which was good news.

"The Militia came by with the purpose of trying to haul you away," Adagio said, though while she spoke she was glad to see that there wasn't anything wrong with Cole, along with the fact that it appeared that the Militia might have given up for the moment, "Kuo's still chasing them with Wolfe."

"So, what happened to you?" Zeke asked, as the last time Cole had been laying on the ground was when he was the victim of the Ray Sphere explosion that everyone in Empire City called the Blast, so he had to wonder if something similar happened this time around, "Did that old man slip you a roofie or something?"

"No, he didn't." Cole said, as this wasn't the time to be thinking about things like that, especially since they were on a mission at the moment, but at the same time he felt something new inside his body, "Though now that you mention it, I think I might actually have a new power."

"Then strut your stuff, peacock." Zeke replied, as he had overheard Kessler call Cole that once while he was talking to him, and the Dazzlings since they were nearby, and it didn't appear that Cole hated being called a peacock, though the glare that he got told him not to say it again.

Cole looked around and spotted a small parking lot that had a few empty cars inside it and a single Militia soldier patrolling the area, to which he smiled for a moment as he made his way over to the area that he had been staring at, though when he arrived he focused his mind and he, somehow, levitated the car next to him into the air for a few seconds, which he hurled at the soldier and knocked his target out. It was a useful ability, he knew that much from simply testing it out, though it would be some time before he started changing his routine to include another ability that he had just picked up, even though it was an interesting ability when he thought about it. As he made his way back to where Zeke and the Dazzlings were standing, however, Zeke informed him that a pack of cops, three of them to be exact, were patrolling a nearby area and might actually be looking for him, since he did cause some damage with his new attack, but in the end Cole decided that such a thing was one of those 'evil' actions that he and the Dazzlings stayed away from. He also thought about his friends, finding that none of them seemed to have any additional powers to their already considerable arsenal, and guessed that, if they were affected by the Blast Core, all they got out of it was a small power boost, or maybe they got nothing and had the same level of power as they did before he activated the Blast Core.

Either way didn't matter to Cole, as the Dazzlings had more than enough power to defeat whoever was in their way, and that was without them using their full power forms, and he knew that the four of them, with Zeke, Trish, and Kuo helping them, would be able to find the remaining Blast Cores and power themselves up... and then it was only a matter of time until the battle with the Beast, where they decided the fate of this world.