As it turned out Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata didn't have to go far to find out where Kuo was waiting for them, as the set of coordinates that Zeke had sent them brought them right into the cemetery that was across the street from where they met Laroche and took out the Devourer. As the four of them entered the area, and looked at all of the coffins and stone structures that had been built to house the dead, they wondered why Kuo, if she really was up and about like Zeke claimed, would want to meet them here, of all places. The best reason that the Dazzlings could come up with was that she had figured out where one of the other Blast Cores was located and wanted to share it's location with them, as well as finding it along side them, though the only other reason would have been because this place was mostly deserted and, if she had become a Conduit herself, this was a good place to train her new powers without the risk of hurting people. Of course if that was the case she could have easily practiced inside an alleyway, like the four of them did when they first started learning their own powers, but at the very least they could give her some pointers and see just how skilled she was once they were done teaching her.
It didn't take them long to find Kuo sitting on one of the stones that rested near a coffin, though what was interesting was that she was no longer dressed in her agent attire, rather she was wearing some slightly more revealing clothing, less than what Nix wore, she now wore blue eye shadows to her eyes, which were now icy blue colored, and she had dyed her hair a very dark blue. Adagio glanced at Kuo's hands for a moment, where she and the others noticed that her hands were emitting some icy exhaust at the moment, revealing that her powers had to be ice based, not that such a thing was a surprise since she had been trapped with those ice soldiers earlier... but their observations came to an end as they approached Kuo.
"Kuo." Cole said, though as he and the sisters came to a stop Kuo turned towards them and got up from where she had been sitting, but as she neared them, and he crossed his arms a little, the Dazzlings looked around as they kept an eye open for enemies that might come for them, "Wow, that's a really new look for you."
"Yeah, you... you like it?" Kuo replied, but the look on her face showed that she wasn't mentally prepared for the sudden change from an ordinary human being and was forced to become a Conduit in such a manner, but it was much better than having an explosion take out so many people and empower her.
"Well, you did forget a cape..." Sonata started to say, in an attempt to be humorous, to try and make this situation a little different than the reality that they were in, before after a few seconds she could tell that now wasn't the best time to be doing this and switched statements, "Come on, don't you think that this is a little extreme?"
"I'm not an agent anymore... you're looking at the new me." Kuo said, though her tone revealed that she had enjoyed being a simple agent and not a super powered Conduit that people either liked, because they were heroes, or hated, since some went out of their way to cause pain for ordinary people, before she sighed, "It's a little hard to hide."
"Kuo, are you alright?" Cole asked, because he knew that this couldn't be easy for her, especially since she had a good future with her agency once the Beast had been taken care of, but now she had to adapt to a new life and that was something that she was focusing on a little too much at the moment.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... I'm fine, but, uh, it's cute that you care," Kuo replied, though it was in that moment that she decided to raise her left hand and reached for Cole's face, where the area around where her fingers touched froze a little and made Cole pull back, where Adagio raised her own hand and removed the ice by turning it back into water, before she turned towards Kuo.
"Kuo, you need to learn how to control your powers." Adagio stated, though she held up her hand as Kuo started to open her mouth, as she had an idea what she was going to say in that regard, but as Kuo kept her mouth shut Cole, Aria, and Sonata watched what she was going to do in the next few seconds, "I know, you're likely wondering how you'll even get around to controlling your powers, but remember, back in Empire City we went through the same thing when we recovered from the Blast. We know what it's like to suddenly awaken with new powers, even if my sisters and I took a couple of days longer to figure out what our affinities were, and all four of us can help you figure out how to help you control your powers, so that way you can join us in taking out Bertrand for what he did to you and what he's doing to the people of New Marais."
"Okay... you're right." Kuo said, where the look in her eyes showed that she had been expecting to be screamed and shouted at for what she had accidentally done to Cole's face, even if Adagio could reverse it in a second with her own powers, but she was also ready for whatever they had in mind, "When do we start training?"
"Right now." Aria spoke up, as it was time that they figured out what Kuo was already capable of, since all Conduits had some sort of power unlocked when they first awakened their powers, so they could help her build her powers and see how she could assist them in the future, "Let's see what you can do."
"Well... I can fly." Kuo replied, though at the same time, if that was true, it explained how she was able to get over here, to where they had been fighting the Militia and the swamp monsters, in a few minutes, instead of the ten to twenty minutes it would take a normal person to traverse the area between the two points.
It was in the seconds that followed that Kuo lifted herself up into the air for a few seconds before rushing forward, where she seemed to disappear entirely, to which Cole sighed as the four of them headed into the rest of the cemetery as they searched for her. As it turned out she was standing on the other side of the stone wall that separated two parts of the cemetery, on one of the stone structures to be exact, and this time around they found that there was a light smile on her face as she stared down at them as they approached her once more.
"That's pretty cool, right?" Kuo asked, though she knew that the Dazzlings might not be impressed, since they were used to flying around the area all the time, as that was how they followed Cole when he moved through the areas that they were working in, she figured that Cole might be impressed by having another ally that could fly.
"Okay, if you're trying to make me jealous, it worked." Cole replied, as Kuo might think that the Dazzlings were Conduits as well, but they still hadn't told her the truth that the three of them were actually inhabitants of a world that many considered to be a cartoon world, and that they were even stronger than what Kuo thought they were.
"Some of Wolfe's notes talked about the theory that two Conduits, compatible ones, might be able to combine their powers in some manner." Kuo said, where she raised herself into the air and dropped down to the area that the others were in standing in, knowing that Cole had to be rather annoyed about being the only one among them that didn't have the power to fly on his own.
"Really? That's interesting." Cole stated, remembering when they were hanging with Nix the one time and how his power seemed to resonate with her napalm power, as that was what he and the Dazzlings had determined her power had to be, since it was similar to Sasha's own powers in some manner, "You know, I did a few things like that when we were with Nix, and..."
"Please stop." Kuo said, where she stared at Cole for a moment, as from her perspective, which was heavily influenced by her job as an agent, Nix was an evil Conduit that was only hanging with Cole to corrupt him and burn the city down until they moved on to somewhere else, "I do not want to hear anything about that."
That was, once more, followed by Kuo flying through the air as she continued to explore the cemetery, why the four of them still had no idea, and the group made sure to stay a few steps behind her, but this time, when they reached her, they found that she was staring down at a pair of Militia soldiers that were drunk on the job. When they noticed the enemies Kuo flew down near them and started to manipulate the air around one of them, where she nodded to Cole and prompted him to loose a blast into the icy mist, freezing the soldier in a block of ice in the process. Adagio, seeing that happen, raised an eyebrow as she snapped her fingers and the second soldier was frozen in ice as well, though Kuo was lost in the fact that her powers and Cole's powers were compatible, and then moved out to see what else the two of them could do in this situation. Kuo followed that up by finding two more enemies and knocked them into the air with a small blast of her power, where Cole knocked the wounded soldiers out when they landed on the ground near him, showing him and the sisters that Kuo already had a decent control over her powers.
"So, I've been reading over the notes that I was able to pull out of Wolfe's lab, and everything points to there being a Blast Core somewhere in this cemetery." Kuo stated, revealing the reason why she wanted to meet them here, as there was something that they needed to power up Cole located somewhere in the numerous coffins that were scattered throughout the entire area, "Unfortunately his clues are intentionally cryptic, so without him we'd be screwed, but luck is on our side, as he happened to leave a photograph attached to his notes... and I've already sent it to your phones."
Cole and the Dazzlings looked at their phones for a moment, finding that the picture was of part of the cemetery that they were currently in and that Wolfe seemed to have circled one of the crypts that he had taken a picture of, one that just so happened to have a sword carving pointed toward a statue. Fortunately it appeared that Kuo had cracked the first clue long before they knew that they were coming here, or maybe it was dumb luck, as the coffin in question wasn't too far from where the five of them were currently standing, to which they simply walked over to their destination, had Cole lift the lid with the first power he had picked up since they entered New Marais, and found a new photograph waiting for someone to pick it up. This time it revealed a part of the cemetery that was further away from where they were standing, but that wasn't a problem for them as they started moving towards the location that another clue was likely hiding in, as the Dazzlings were sure that another one was waiting for them. What was annoying was that a group of Militia were fighting an invading group of swamp monsters that came out of nowhere and were completely silent until the group turned around the corner... though they simply waited for their enemies to weaken the other side before they finished both sides off, allowing them to continue on their way once more.
Fortunately it didn't take them long to find where the second picture was taking them, as the grave in question just happened to be a little bit beyond the last of the enemies they were taking out, but as they found the third picture in the grave, just as the Dazzlings thought they would, Cole stopped when he noticed something odd.
"What's with the graveyard?" Cole asked, to which he beckoned over to the pile of body bags that were laying near some of the stone coffins, causing the others to look at what had caught his attention at the moment, to which Kuo sighed while the sisters looked around in disbelief, "Why is it so packed?"
"You didn't know?" Kuo replied, where she noticed that none of the four Conduits that she was training with seemed to know what she was referring to, to which she shook her head and got to explaining what she knew, "It's a... it's the same plague that you guys dealt with back in Empire City, only it's... it's more lethal now. It worked it's way all the way down the coast, so it was only a matter of time before it hit New Marais... and now it's raging out of control. So many people are sick or dead already... and there are more bodies than people can bury."
"Wow, that's just sad." Adagio said, looking at the pile of bodies that was resting nearby and wondered how many of them had loved ones that were left behind, to suffer through the loss of a loved one, before she, Aria, and Sonata sighed for a moment, "Maybe the Beast won't be the worst thing to happen to this city."
Cole nodded his head and found that the third photograph showed a rectangular building with some sort of stone circle surrounding it, one that they remembered seeing by the entrance they had used to get into the cemetery to begin with, and got moving right away. Of course it wasn't going to be easy on them this time around, as not only did they have to fight another Militia group, who clearly wanted them dead, they were also attacked by the ice guys that had broken out of Bertrand's lab when they rescued Kuo, who apparently felt them before the others even saw them. As Adagio, Aria, and Sonata started the battle with their enemies, and some of the ice guys paused when they saw Adagio could do with her powers, Kuo started to freak out over the fact that she had felt them before even seeing them and then made a comment about their enemy having a device that could transfer powers, before joining them as they took down all of their foes and moved on once more. As with the last photograph it didn't take them long to find the structure in question, but as they approached it, and found what appeared to be a vault with a skull carving on it, they were attacked by a Ravager, only this one was slightly different than the others the group had fought... and, as it roared at them, it also pulled up egg clusters from the ground beneath them, spawning more of the smaller roller insects that they had smashed earlier.
The Hive Lord, as Sonata decided to call it, had one glaring weakness that the group could exploit, as while Aria and Sonata focused on breaking the eggs, with fell apart in one hit, Adagio, Cole, and Kuo focused on the true enemy, finding that the grenade weakness from the previous Ravagers worked perfectly, as the creature howled in pain whenever one of those attacks went off in it's face. Fortunately the group was able to beat the Hive Lord in a minute or two, as it was more resilient than the original Ravagers were, and dropped it to the ground as the last of the eggs broke, allowing them to approach the stone structure once more, where Cole opened the lid and immediately found the familiar glow of a Blast Core waiting for him.
"So, uh, that wasn't so bad," Kuo commented, though at the same time Cole reached into the vault area of the structure and removed the Blast Core from where it was resting, stashing it away in his pack until he was ready to use it, before he turned towards Kuo, "you know, using powers."
"Kuo, you have a bright future ahead of you as a 'deviant freak'," Cole said, to which the Dazzlings, impressed by Kuo's display when they were battling the Militia, the swamp monsters, and the ice guys earlier, nodded their heads, showing their friend that they agreed with Cole's statement.
"Thanks for your help back there," Kuo added, referring to the couple of pointers that Cole had given her while the Dazzlings were busy taking care of some of their enemies, only for Kuo to come in and show them her own power, which was actually quite impressive, "I feel... I feel better about things."
"Hey, you'll get used to being a Conduit." Sonata said, as while she and her sisters might not be Conduits, since they were Sirens, no one besides Cole, Zeke, and Trish knew that fact and they preferred to keep it that way, which was why they were acting like Conduits, "It just takes some time, that's all."
"Maybe." Kuo replied, though as she turned to leave the cemetery, since she knew that Cole would be heading somewhere to fire the Blast Core and increase his power even more, she did pause for a moment and glance back at them with a small smile on her face, "See you around... Coach."
Cole smiled as Kuo departed from the area that they were in, heading back to wherever she wanted to be when she felt like being alone, before he and the Dazzlings moved out of the cemetery that they had been searching through and made their way to the new hideout that Zeke had created, near the opposite end of Ascension Parish. Since three of them could fly, and Cole could use the grindwires to move around, it wasn't hard for them to move out of the cemetery and start making their way towards the coordinates that Zeke had sent them, just in the off chance that they wanted to swing by and use the Blast Core. When they reached the new hideout, and Cole climbed the side of the building it was on while the Dazzlings just landed on the roof, they found that it wasn't as great as the one that Zeke had previously built, but it was still better than nothing... and, from the looks of it, Zeke was spying on something else.
"Detective Dunbar, are you on a stakeout?" Aria asked, though at the same time the four of them relaxed a little, as in a few minutes Cole was going to spark the next Blast Core and increase his power even more, while at the same time boosting the power of their magic in the process, something that she didn't care to figure out.
"Yeah... sort of." Zeke replied, taking a brief moment to lower his binoculars for a moment, so he could look at the four of them as they came to a stop around him, before he glanced at the fort that was close to where he had chosen to make their latest hideout, "You guys remember the machine that Bertrand used on Kuo? The one that gave her the powers that you helped her out with? I heard that it's going to be moved around soon... and, if I'm right, I'm betting that it'll end up here, in that fort."
"That's interesting." Cole said, as he could already imagine what might happen if he got his hands on the machine, as it would be easy to add another affinity to his electricity, like Kuo's frost or Nix's flames, and increase his strength at the exact same time, before he focused on the task at hand and pulled out the Blast Core, "Hey, I'm going to activate that Blast Core Kuo helped us find. You mind sticking around until I wake up?"
Zeke glanced at him for a moment, with a look that said that he would be more than happy to stick around until he was ready to move and see what sort of abilities he gained this time around, to which Cole moved off to the side and braced himself as he went through the process of unleashing the power inside the Blast Core... before he hit the ground and the Dazzlings, feeling their own power rise as well, simply sat around the hideout and decided to get some sleep while they waited for Cole to get back up.
It was just a little after six in the morning when the sisters stirred and found that Cole was still knocked out, telling them that whatever power he had to be getting was worth being out for so long, but instead of waiting around they found out where Trish was hiding out, flew over to the building in question, picked up some items for breakfast, and flew back to the roof that Zeke and Cole were currently on. Zeke appreciated them going out and getting something, since all of them hadn't had something for quite some time, and joined them as they waited for Cole to wake up from what he had done, though eventually it was the smell of breakfast that caused Cole to awaken. He joined them for a couple of minutes, letting the rest of the energy from using the Blast Core dissipate, while at the same time the others were interested in what sort of abilities he had unlocked this time around. When they were done with the food that the Dazzlings had brought over to the hideout, and Zeke started to go back to to what he had been doing before the sisters had arrived, Cole got up and stretched his arms a little, showing that he was ready to get started on figuring out the abilities he had unlocked.
As the Dazzlings observed what Cole was able to do they found that his new abilities were an odd bunch, as he had some improvements to his Static Thrusters, as he could float higher and farther than he did before, had the ability to do what they referred to as a Car Jump, where he could use a car to launch up into the air a little more than his normal jumps allowed, and he regained his Precision Bolt attack, which brought a smile to his face.
"Cole baby, you wanna play a little show and tell?" Nix asked, her voice coming over the phone for a moment, making him and the Dazzlings wonder when she had gained his number, while at the same time revealing that she seemed like a crazy stalker that had met her idols, "I got something that'll blow your mind and the Sirens' minds."
"She must have something important to show us." Adagio commented, because Nix closed the call before any of them could respond to what she had said, but at the same time she could see that the others seemed to be thinking the same thing that she was thinking.
"Then we had best see what she wants to show us." Cole said, to which he sighed for a moment, as they should be focusing on finding the remaining Blast Cores and preparing for the Beast's arrival, but something told him that this might be important enough to invest some time into seeing what Nix wanted.
The Dazzlings nodded as they and Cole headed out of Zeke's new hideout and started the trek to where Nix wanted to meet them, as they were all interested in seeing whatever important item that Nix wanted them to see, and they all hoped that it was worth the time they were taking out of their budy day to be with her.