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// New Marais: Leading the Charge 
// Story: InFamous: The Unusual Conduits 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Despite the protesters they had spotted earlier, and had left along since they didn't want to piss off the people of New Marais, the journey to the coordinates that Zeke had sent them was quite uneventful, as there weren't any Militia soldiers to stop, the Dazzlings had completed many of the side objectives before Cole had woken up, and the streets seemed to be silent for the first time since their arrival. The only thing that they stopped for was the various Blast Shard bombs that had been put on the walls in the path they were following, where Cole drained the power from them and swiped the shard from where it was being held, allowing him to drain it's energy before they moved forward. The area that Zeke had put his base of operations in, hopefully for the time being, was in a shopping area that could easily be found by anyone that was willing to take a few seconds to look around, especially since it appeared that he had picked the roof once more, just like he had gone back when the quarantine of Empire City had gone into effect, only this time he didn't have any walls or safety measures, so someone could get to him and he wouldn't be able to fight back too much.

When the four of them reached their destination, however, they found that Zeke had decorated the area in question with pieces that looked like what he had back in Empire City, essentially making it look like the roof house that he had stayed on for the majority of their mission to find the Ray Sphere and stop Kessler's plans.

"Looks just like home." Cole commented, as he was impressed that Zeke was able to make a base in this short amount of time, especially since they had only been in New Marais for six or seven hours so far, while at the same time finding it strange that his friend chose to replicate the place he had lived in earlier.

"It sure does." Adagio said, though she honestly didn't care too much about the temporary base that Zeke had set up, as she had the feeling that they weren't going to be getting any sleep anytime soon and that they would be spending the majority of their time either fighting the Militia, the swamp monsters, or hunting down the Blast Cores.

"Cole? Dazzlings?" a voice stated, to which the group turned towards the stairs that would allow someone to reach the roof base that had been created, where they found Zeke walking over towards them, only this time he was wearing the attire of one of the Militia soldiers that the four of them had been fighting since they arrived in New Marais, "Get your hands up you deviant subhuman homosapiens!"

"You... joined the Militia?" Aria asked, though at the same time she hoped that this wasn't a repeat of what happened in Empire City, where he joined Kessler's side for some power that he never got, but at the same time the group readied themselves for whatever was going to happen next.

"Nah, it's more like, Zeke Dunbar: Double Agent." Zeke replied, where he used his hands like they were a gun and pretended to fire them, though that was followed by him pulling his hands apart with a smile on his face, one that still brought up some concern with the group, "You get it? I'm a spy!"

"For our side, right?" Cole inquired, as he was still thinking about what Zeke had done back in Empire City and wouldn't put it past his friend to try something if he felt that the other side was better than the one he was currently on, even though betraying them again would result in his immediate death since the Dazzlings weren't going to let something like that happen again.

"Oh ye of little faith." Zeke said, though the look on his face told the Dazzlings that he was still trying to overcome what he had done back in Empire City, and that this might be a good idea in the long run, since they were sure that their enemies might know more about the locations of the Blast Cores than they did.

"Well, my faiths been shaken before, Zeke." Cole replied, showing that he wasn't about to forget Zeke's betrayal and that it would take some time for him to make amends for what he had done, even though the Dazzlings might be more than willing to forgive him since they had been evil at one point in time before turning into the heroes that they were.

"Thought that was water under the bridge." Zeke said, his expression fading from the happy tone that it had been a few moments ago, once more indicating that he wasn't happy with Cole reminding him of his failings and that he was trying to overcome his past mistakes, "Come on, man! You ready for that Blast Core you picked up a few minutes ago?"

"Yeah... yeah, I am." Cole answered, though as he pulled out the Blast Core and prepared himself, since this was going to be intense like the first one, he also glanced over at the Dazzlings, who would watch over him and make sure that nothing happened, where they nodded and he turned his attention back towards the Blast Core.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched Cole as he activated the Blast Core and allowed the power to course through his body, just like the first one that Wolfe had given them, and soon enough he collapsed on the floor of the roof and twitched a few times. At the same time, just like the last time this happened, the Dazzlings felt their own power increase as well, confirming that they hadn't imagined what they had felt earlier when Cole used the Blast Core that the Militia had been attempting to steal, though that was followed by them sitting down as they waited to see what happened when Cole woke up. Zeke, on the other hand, said that he would be right back and he simply headed downstairs so he could change out of the Militia attire that he was wearing, as he came back up a few minutes later with his normal attire on, showing that he clearly was playing for their team, otherwise he would have run off and called in the Militia to arrest them, which would have sucked for the soldiers and for him, especially because of the powers the three of them commanded.

Fortunately they didn't have to wait long for Cole to wake up, as it took about ten minutes at most, but as he finally stared to stir, and got back onto his feet, the Dazzlings heard the sounds of someone firing at someone else, indicating that the Militia were at war with someone.

"Cole, I'm glad to see that you're up and ready to go." Zeke said, to which Cole stretched his arms for a moment, as he was curious as to what sort of power he had unlocked by using the Blast Core, before the four of them faced him, "As you can no doubt hear, there are some idiots down there that are currently shooting everything that moves."

"I'll take care of them," Cole replied, where the Dazzlings nodded, as they understood that he was eager to see what sort of skills he had unlocked by absorbing the power of a second Blast Core, before he turned towards the edge of the roof that they were standing on, where he saw the Militia that Zeke was talking about, "This will give me the chance to see if I got anything from that Blast Core."

Zeke nodded and stood near the girls as they watched Cole as he jumped into the air and glided down into the area that the Militia were in, where they discovered that whoever they had been fighting had either been killed for they were simply drunk and were firing at everything around them. At the same time, however, Cole wasn't about to let them have their way, which was why the first person he approached he blasted with his normal blasts, the second person he knocked around with his Shock Grenade, and the third one was unfortunate, as he was the one that Cole smacked around with his Amp for a few seconds. The moment the three soldiers had been dealt with he looked around for any additional enemies that might be in the area and found that, for the moment anyway, there appeared to be no one left for him to fight, but at the same time he stopped as he spotted a strange purple sphere floating near the third soldier he had smacked around, one that hadn't been there a few moments ago.

"Man, you see that?" Zeke asked, though at the same time Cole was sure that he and the sisters were watching what he was doing at the moment, but he didn't deny that he was interested in seeing what was up with the sphere, "There's some sort of weird glow on the last soldier you knocked out. You do that?"

"No, but I can feel it." Cole replied, to which he walked over to the strange sphere and held his hand out, where it surged into his body and disappeared a few seconds later, but at the same time he understood more about it than before he tried to touch it, "It's... it's Ray Field energy. I bet this guy was around when they were testing the Ray Sphere."

Just as Cole was about to test the new power he had unlocked, as he was positive that he had one now, he noticed a bunch of civilians walking over to where he was standing so they could check out what happened here, so he moved out of the area that he was in and headed towards the street near the water. Fortunately he found that there was no one in the area that he had chosen, and the Dazzlings were on a nearby roof so they could see what happened, to which he took a deep breath and centered his mind, which was when he gathered some power into both of his hands, brought them together, and spun around before releasing the charge towards the water. What happened next was that a vortex of some kind, like a twister or a tornado, formed with the base connected to the charge that he had released, to which he watched the Ionic Storm move out into the water for a few moments before it finally broke apart. He was surprised by the power that he had unlocked, as it reminded him of his Lightning Storm skill he had learned shortly before the fight with Kessler, but he knew that he'd never actually use this power unless he was sure that there were only enemies around and no civilians, as this could definitely hurt them if they got caught in the crossfire.

He was also sure that the Dazzlings were impressed by his power now, as they clearly weren't expecting him to get something like that, so soon into their second adventure together, but before anyone could say anything it appeared that Zeke wanted a word with them, to which Cole accepted the call and waited to see what his friend had to tell them.

"You guys might want to come on back to our base, I've got some good news." Zeke said, though the way he spoke revealed that he might have found something that they could use, or had found someone that would be able to help them further down the line, before they heard the sound of Nix in the background, "That, and I just met your pal from the swamp. Well, then she disappeared, and now she's back again... it's so confusing."

Cole glanced at the Dazzlings for a moment, as they were curious as to what Nix wanted, before Adagio grabbed onto him and pulled him into the air as they flew back towards the hideout that Zeke had created, though as they flew down to where Zeke was waiting for them they found that he was reading something while Nix moved around the area... but when they touched down on the roof Zeke closed his book and stood up while Nix stopped teleporting everywhere.

"I tell you guys, spying on the Militia, man, it's taken years off of my life already," Zeke said, to which he walked around for a moment like he had something bad to say, but then a smile appeared on his face as he faced the entire group of Conduits that were waiting for him to reveal the news he had found, "but man was it worth it."

"You found out where they're keeping Kuo." Cole replied, though a smile did appear on his face, because if this news was correct they would gain someone that could decipher Wolfe's information, or what she remembered from all of it, and hopefully point them in the direction of the remaining Blast Cores.

"Bertrands got all of his veterans protecting an old cane plantation." Zeke continued, thankful that Cole and the Dazzlings appeared to be happy with this information that he was giving them, otherwise he was sure that one or more of them would have been disappointed with him wasting his time in such a manner, "Word is they got all the serious 'deviants' caged up in there."

"That's the place with the streetcar out right, yeah?" Nix asked, though at the same time the others knew that she had come up with a crazy idea, if the banner burning and her breaking of the lynch mob earlier was anything to go by, and only wondered what she was thinking this time around, to which Zeke nodded his head, "I've got an idea. We fill that streetcar with explosives, we get it going real fast, we ram it through the front door, and boom!"

"Not to rain of your parade, but that would kill everyone inside the main building," Aria said, though as she spoke flames danced around her arms for a moment, causing Nix to glare at her for a moment, while the others gaze her their attention for a few seconds, "not to mention possible spread to the trees surrounding the entire building and, potentially, even do the same to the nearest buildings on the other side of the street. Setting the house on fire isn't going to work this time around, regardless of what you think, Nix."

"The Militia's also been parading around some cops, the ones that have been fighting against them," Zeke added, telling them that there was more news that he needed to share with him, but at the same time they knew that this was likely connected to where Kuo was being held, "If some of you break them out of their cage, and arm them once more, they might help us clear the Militia out of the old plantation building... not that it matters since we've got so much firepower to use against them anyway."

Nix immediately complained that there was no way that she was going to help them free cops from their cells, arm them with the guns they had been using before their capture, and then ask them to assist them in attacking the plantation that she said needed to be burned to the ground to strike fear into the Militia's hearts. Zeke, on the other hand, said that Nix clearly didn't know who Cole was and said that it was up to him and the Dazzlings, before Nix growled and teleported out of the area as he went to the location where he could prepare for the mission, not that it mattered since there was no reason to discuss what they were going to do. The moment Zeke ran out the door Cole took to the grindwire as the Dazzlings took to the skies, as they were planning on heading towards where Zeke had placed the area that he wanted to speak to them at, but as they made their way through New Marais they got a call from Nix asking them not to get soft on her, informing them that she wholeheartedly believed that they were evil, like Moya wanted everyone to think, and she declared that the plantation would burn, one way or another.

When they arrived at the destination that Zeke wanted them to be at they looked over the edge of the roof that they were standing on and looked down at the Militia that were driving around with a cage full of cops, while at the same time noticing the firepower that they had on them at the moment.

"They're sure packing some heat just to humiliate some police officers." Cole commented, knowing that this would have been a challenge for him, if he had been the only one to do something like this, but with the Dazzlings assisting him he was sure that they would be done with this in no time.

"It'll be worth it." Zeke replied, as he knew that the four of them had no idea what he had seen while he was beginning his spy run through the Militia, which was surprisingly easy for him to join when it should have been hard since he was sure that someone knew that he was Cole's friend, "The cops in those cages are just a fraction of what they got back at the plantation. You bust those boys out, and you're going to have a hard time keeping them back."

The four of them stood there for a moment, because Bertrand had recorded a message for his soldiers to play while they paraded the police around New Marais, saying that they were arrogant and were unwilling to accept the help of the Militia when the swamp monsters showed up, making the civilians suffer because their loved ones died. Of course once the four of them had heard enough, and were annoyed with the Militia once more, Cole dropped down to the area below them and started firing at the Militia soldiers that were currently riding on the cage the police were caged in, while at the same time the Dazzlings supported him by blasting the other soldiers as well. What was interesting was that Bertrand even had a helicopter flying around the area as well, though when it fired a missile and missed one of them, however, it also blew up a car that someone was inside, to which Aria growled and repeated what she did earlier, as she was getting tired of helicopter pilots killing innocent people. As such she hurled a flaming blade through the air and it connected with the gas container for the helicopter, blowing the entire thing to pieces as she turned her attention to the other soldiers that were currently standing in their way... who were currently a little more terrified of them than what they had been a few moments ago, which meant that her stunt had paid off as well.

The cops, grateful for the rescue and slightly terrified of the Dazzlings, as some of their powers were even stronger than Cole's, armed themselves with the weapons of the Militia and advanced on the plantation building that the rest of their friends were being held in, to which the group followed after them and Cole lead the charge as the Dazzlings kept an eye out for Nix. For the most part Adagio, Aria, and Sonata found that they weren't actually needed for this type of assault, as the freed cops were already in the process of freeing more of their friends, along with arming them with weapons that the Militia soldiers had been carrying, and Cole was already smashing apart the various artillery weapons that were scattered around the grounds, since that was what was preventing him from entering the warehouse he and Zeke believed Kuo was being kept inside. The only strange thing the sisters found were several coffin like containers that had an icy fog emitting from them, like someone was trying to flash freeze someone or something, and the same strange chill seemed to be coming from the small warehouse that Cole was heading towards... and they had to jump to the side as Nix, who had somehow gotten the streetcar to run on her own, rode the explosive filled streetcar through the main gate and jumped off as it crashed into the house, blowing up a good portion of the building in the process and killing who knew how many people as well.

Nix simply shrugged as she headed off into the distance, clearly seeking more fun with the Militia that were coming in as reinforcements, to which the sisters walked over to where Cole was and helped him open the door, where they all noticed that the air inside was cold and seemed to get colder as they used the elevator to descend into the depths. It was too easy to find Kuo, who looked like she had been bled dry and had her blood replaced with something else, as it looked like her body was starting to freeze in some manner, to which Cole growled and zapped the machine to let Kuo go, allowing the sisters to catch her. Once that was done they all walked over to the elevator and took it back to the surface, but as that happened Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as the lights came on and revealed that there were more ice coffins lining the walls around the room they had found Kuo in, where the glass cases smashed open and the occupants that were trapped inside, wearing some sort of weird armor, started to pile out of the room. When they reached the exterior of the warehouse, and found that Zeke was waiting for them with a truck, the four of them walked Kuo over to their destination and found that the people that Bertrand had locked up were Conduits in some manner, the only thing common about them, besides the armor, was the fact that they all used ice type powers as they made their escape from the area they had been imprisoned inside.

Fortunately the cops and the Militia were still fighting, as that allowed them to get Kuo to the truck and Zeke took off the moment they were ready to leave, though as they left the burning plantation behind all four of them knew that their troubles had only grown larger... as they had released another enemy into the world, which meant that finding the next Blast Core was going to be even harder than before, and they hoped that Kuo was ready to assist them after she got some decent rest after her ordeal.