//------------------------------//
// The New Conduit 
// Story: InFamous: Return of the Dazzlings 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata found that their time on the Isle of Thunder was incredibly short, just as they expected after the discovery of the DUP and how Conduits were being treated by the rest of the world, though Cole insisted on them spending the night before they departed. Zeke ensured that they were given new phones, as theirs were several versions behind what a lot of people in this age and age used, though the sisters ended up taking one that was better than their old ones while also not being totally new, since they didn't need all of the features the new ones had. Other than that the rest of the day was spent getting to know some of the other Conduits that had been brought to the island some time ago, since many were eager to meet them, while it also gave them some time to see what Zeke's team was up to. One thing they knew was that they were looking for something, anything, that would give them the dirt on the DUP, enough to bring them down, and Zeke was sure that whatever was going to happen in Seattle was the key to everything.

When morning arrived the sisters bid Cole and Trish farewell for the time being as Zeke and his small team of five left the island, where he informed them that, to avoid the DUP's gaze, they had to travel along a specific path with the boat he used, which was large enough for all of them. Zeke informed them that it was a command vessel that looked like a yacht, one that most people ignored whenever they moved it into position, before telling the sisters that he was going to get them as close as he could to the new Conduit's awakening point before his team moved onto Seattle. With how the DUP operated they had to maintain a fair distance from the city itself, least Augustine zero in on their position and bust their operation, but he and his team would be hacking into her systems in an attempt to get some dirt on her movements or goals, and if the sisters joined up with the new Conduit it would be the perfect distraction. It was, in some way, a pincer attack by the Resistance, one that might spell the end of the DUP if they were lucky, where the sisters agreed with the plan he was presenting, as it would allow them some time with the new Conduit.

In the end it took them roughly six days to reach the edge of the area that Zeke was planning on dropping them off in, on the side of the road that was between a reservation and Seattle, so while he continued on his way to Seattle the sisters headed over to Salmon Bay to track down the newly awakened Conduit.

"I wonder what sort of power this new Conduit will possess... we've seen some interesting ones before, and it sounds like new ones awakened after the Beast's defeat." Sonata remarked, as they had discussed the various possibilities on the way here and she was bringing it up again, since this time they didn't have to worry about Zeke or someone else cutting into the conversation.

"Personally, I hope they haven't left yet, otherwise we'll have to fly to Seattle and appear on Augustine's radar sooner than we planned." Aria said, because she knew that when one trusted the power of peering into the future it usually came with downsides or the user became too complacent in how they approached things, though Cole seemed to have a good grasp on his new power and tried to determine the truth before telling someone something.

"I think we're in luck girls." Adagio commented, as she was staring at a dark green truck that looked like something that a sheriff would drive, complete with cop lights that were turned off, though her focus was on the pair near it, two young adults that looked like brothers, one in a light brown coat and blue pants while the other wore denim jeans and a denim vest, a red beanie, a black hoodie, and a red shirt, "Hey, you guys wouldn't happen to know where we can find a Conduit by any chance?"

"Oh my god! It's the Devil's Succubi!" the sheriff exclaimed, causing the sisters to stop and raise their eyebrows for a few seconds as he dived behind his truck, as if he was terrified of them or something, meaning that Augustine had tarnished their names while they were gone.

"No way, it's the Angels of New Marais!" the other figure said, where he sounded like he was interested in them, no doubt due to some of the stories that were told about them, while Adagio noticed that he had a chain wrapped around his right wrist, a thick one at that, "Come one Reggie, they're not going to hurt us... or me, for that matter, since I'm the Conduit they're looking for. With that in mind, why are you three looking for me?"

"We heard that a concrete Conduit came through here and did some damage, so we were hoping to figure out what went down and set things right." Adagio replied, where she noticed that the younger of the two, who identified himself as the one they were looking for, was studying them in interest, no doubt because he had heard the stories about them and just wanted to see how they measured up to reality.

The young Conduit smiled and introduced himself as Delsin Rowe, along with his brother Reggie Rowe, causing the sisters to do the same thing, even though they already knew that the pair knew who they were based on their reaction to their presence, which meant things were going to be bad in Seattle. With the introductions done Delsin beckoned for them to join him and his brother, though they had to sit in the back of the truck, the part open to the air and wind, while Reggie took the driver seat as Delsin sat in the passenger side. Once that was done they departed from Salmon Bay and started to make their way to Seattle, which involved using the 520 Bridge, where the brothers informed the sisters about what had happened before their timely arrival, about how a military vehicle had crashed, three Bio-terrorists had escaped, and one of those two had been caught. As it turned out Delsin's contact with the first Conduit, a smoke user, awakened part of his power and his body went crazy as he tried to control it, while his second contact with Hank had given him some weird information while allowing him to stabilize his powers a little.

After that he explained that he had chased Hank right into Augustine's hands, who immediately assumed he was more than he was showing due to his use of the word 'Conduit', since only 'traitors' used that word, and he had offered to give himself up to protect the Akomish, his people. Augustine didn't believe his tale about how he was a Conduit who could copy the power of any Conduit he came into contact with, something that surprised the sisters since it was a power that none of them had considered on the way here, and she used her power on him. After being attacked by concrete shards in both of his legs, however, Augustine moved onto the rest of the Akomish and 'interrogated' them, which meant she had attacked all of Delsin and Reggie's people, who refused to give Delsin up after many saw him with his new powers. As Delsin started to get emotional about what was going on his brother told him that he'd take over and did so without delay, informing the sisters that, due to the damage Augustine had done, the Akomish were dying, as everyone had a number of concrete shards in their bodies and it was only a matter of time until someone died.

That was why they were heading to Seattle, as Delsin was sure that he could leech some of Augustine's power from her, just enough for him to save his tribe, they just had to reach the city, figure out where the other two Conduits were, maybe get a bit of their powers, and then take the fight to Augustine herself.

While they rode to Seattle, however, Adagio noticed something interesting on the back of Delsin's vest when he changed how he was sitting, there was a star shaped marking on it that looked like two birds, as it was split down the middle and she could see two birds heads on the fifth point. The bird on the left was blue colored and the one on the right was red, which reminded her of what happened back in Empire City, that good choices were represented by the color blue and bad choices were represented by the color red. Such a thing made her wonder if the vest might reflect Delsin's Karma stance, because the birds were resting with the blue one being higher than the red one, something that, when connected to the fact that he told them that he had turned himself in to protect the tribe, revealed that he was walking the path of a hero, without any assistance from someone else. Her sisters noticed it as well and decided to say nothing, there was no need for them to weight him down right now, causing them to focus on his plan of attack, Augustine was the big target and they would have to focus on the other Conduits before doing anything else.

The ride came to a stop when they discovered what appeared to be a DUP blockade, one that had been destroyed by two new powers, one that seemed to be related to light in some manner while the other seemed to be glitching, almost as if it was connected to television or something.

"Something doesn't feel right... this was a transport mission, right?" Sonata asked, recalling the information that they had been given back before they left the Isle of Thunder and started this mission, where her sisters nodded as Delsin and his brother investigated the scene with mixed feelings, one excited and one slightly frightened, "Even if the DUP knew about the crash, since they lost a vehicle and everything, there's no way they could have had the time to set up a roadblock, not if the other two Conduits made a beeline for Seattle... it's like..."

"They knew it was going to happen ahead of time and came prepared?" Aria remarked, as she had thought the same thing as her sister, a benefit of them having spent years upon years together, as they were able to tell what the others might be thinking at any given moment, and this was one of those moments, "Yeah, the DUP knew this would happen."

"Figures. Remember what we were told? The DUP's going to be disbanded soon... what better way to secure their future than to arrange for an accident and use the 'escapees' to their advantage." Adagio said, it all made sense, with what little real information they had on the car crash that lead to Delsin awakening his powers in the first place, though for the time being she knew this needed to be kept between them, at least until they knew more about Augustine's plans.

As her sisters agreed with her Adagio found that there was some sort of metallic box that was damaged, one that just so happened to have what appeared to be energy like a Blast Shard coming from it, a whole chunk of Rayacite Energy, based on what Dr. Wolfe had told them in the past, which Delsin seemed to absorb before their eyes, allowing him to unlock a new power, a small blast of smoke energy.

"Wow, just like what happened when Cole reconnected transformers in Empire City." Aria commented, though Reggie was annoyed that his brother was adding more powers to what he currently had, apparently feeling that there was some way to reverse what had happened to Delsin.

Reggie was of the opinion that there was a way for them to get around the dilemma that was in front of them, having to get to Augustine, but he wanted to wait until they were in Seattle before saying anything, though they were interrupted by someone crying for help. Delsin beckoned for his brother to go ahead, since it would give him a chance to look around the rest of the area, and when Reggie went to investigate the noise the sisters found that the new Conduit used his newfound power to blast a few drones, small flying devices, out of the air. Such a thing allowed them to discover that each one held a Blast Shard inside them, a power source while also allowing whoever was using it to hunt down Conduits, or people that might have the genetic marker slumbering inside them, so removing them took away some of Augustine's eyes. Delsin also had the power to drain the Blast Shards, just like Cole before him, to increase his overall power to store more energy, or smoke in his case, and even strengthen his other abilities so he'd be more prepared for what the future held.

"So do you guys absorb the power of these things as well?" Delsin asked, because if so he felt bad about taking all four of them without thinking of his fellow Conduits, who had just watched him go to town on the drones, which he would have to keep an eye out for when they reached Seattle.

"No, we're... unique... among Conduits. We don't need Blast Shards." Sonata replied, though it was nice that he thought about sharing with them, even if it was after he took down the drones and drained their batteries, instead of being either greedy or vain, like some of the other eviler Conduits they had encountered in the distant past.

As Delsin opened his mouth to say something his phone went off and found that it was Reggie, oddly enough, who told him and the sisters that he had found a bus full of relief workers up ahead, only the way was blocked and there was nothing he could do to get through the blockade, much less convince them to abandon the bus. With that in mind Delsin used one of his newer powers, a condensed smoke blast, to tear through one of the blockades, even if his brother was disappointed in him since he wanted to keep a low profile during this venture, not that Delsin cared. Since there were a few more blockades in front of the bus, all made with the power that the DUP possessed, Adagio and her sisters approached them and used their base power, just simple Ki blasts, to carefully remove them while preserving the road. Delsin was, of course, amazed by the level of control they possessed and wondered if he'd be able to do the same thing in time, though he was the only one who approved of their actions, as Reggie and the workers were horribly frightened by their power.

While Reggie and Delsin talked on the phone, about how Delsin couldn't get on the bus since it would cause everyone else to riot, the sisters had to wonder just how much brainwashing Augustine had done to the people of this world to make them into what seemed to be the ultimate boogeyman, the ultimate nightmare.

In the end Adagio told Delsin it was fine, they could walk the rest of the way to Seattle while Reggie took the bus to the city, that way the innocent people wouldn't have to worry about being stuck here and their supplies could be brought to those in need, causing him to sigh as his brother drove off without them. Such a thing allowed them a chance to further study the two tracks that the other Conduits left behind, because they were unlike anything the sisters had seen so far and they told Delsin that the ability users they were familiar with didn't leave too much of a trace, save for the ice users. Most powers, in their experience, only affected the world for a specific period of time and disappeared once that limit was up, so this was a little outside what they had seen in the past, but it only made them more interested in meeting the other Conduits that had been freed earlier. Delsin also got another call from Reggie, reminding him about the GPS link that their phones shared since he was always losing his and had to use his brother's to track his down, giving him an idea of where to go and how far he had to walk to reach his destination.

As they entered the tunnel that Reggie used, however, there was an announcement that the DUP would be destroying the 520 Bridge, which had to be totally illegal, and they found some thugs trying to break into a car, though upon being seen by the group the thugs opened fire on them. The sisters, having trained a fair bit for the tournament, reacted immediately and blocked the incoming bullets with Ki shields, while Delsin, who didn't have one, took a few to the chest and collapsed, but his regeneration ability kicked in a few seconds later and he was on his feet in no time at all. Once he was ready to go the group attacked the looters, the sisters dodging bullets while punching their foes and knocking them to the ground, while Delsin used his chain, infused with smoke energy, to hit his foes into submission. While they did that the sisters found that he also had a power that was similar to Cole's, where when a foe surrendered he had the power to 'chain' him to the ground for the cops to collect, even if it was just modified smoke keeping him pinned in one spot.

After that, however, they felt the tunnel shudder and rushed towards the end of it without delay, only to find that the bridge leading to Seattle was literally being torn apart before their eyes, with concrete spikes tearing through the road with ease, segmenting the entire structure in the process.

Adagio and her sisters were sure that this was illegal in the grand scheme of things, just like how it had to be illegal for the Conduit they were after to attack a whole tribe and leave them on death's door, though as they started to make their way over the ruined bridge they spotted a few more Core Relays. They knew that name because on the side of one of them was a label that informed them of what the massive sources of Rayacite Energy was, though they gave Delsin some new powers so he could make his way over the bridge as Augustine's power tore it apart before their very eyes. Those abilities allowed him to launch himself into the air after standing on a car for a time, while another gave him the power to glide, similar to how Cole used his Static Thrusters in the past, though the sisters followed after him with ease, thanks to their flight power they had mastered long ago. While they were doing that Delsin got another call, this one from Betty, the lady he risked his life to save when he told Augustine he was a Conduit, even though he did it for the tribe as a whole, who seemed a little annoyed that they went to Seattle, but wished them well when she learned that Delsin was busy.

When they reached the end of the bridge Delsin messed with his brother a bit, who was dangling on the edge of a pier, but as the brothers did that the sisters came to a stop nearby and stared at the city for a few seconds, as they knew that the first step of their mission was now behind them and they were eager to see what the future held for them and their brand new acquaintances.