//------------------------------//
// Outmaneuvered 
// Story: InFamous: Return of the Dazzlings 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata rose with the rising sun as night turned to day for Seattle, as there was much to do and they had to get started before more of the DUP went out to do their patrols, though the first thing they did was swing by Olaf's and found that Delsin and Fetch were sleeping with each other, as in Fetch's head was on Delsin's chest.

"I hate to interrupt you two lovebirds, but we've got work to do." Adagio stated, her voice being more than enough to rouse both Conduits from their slumber, who were shocked to see them standing nearby and that they had discovered them in such a position, even though it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Ah, come on. Do you really have to get up so early for hero work?" Fetch asked, where she yawned as she and Delsin got up from where they had fallen asleep, showing that while she was sort of used to getting up early, likely for Augustine's foul training or so she could hunt down drug dealers, part of her body still lagged behind.

"Considering that we're fighting against Augustine, we have to move quickly." Aria said, though as she said that she took a moment to glance down at the area just outside Olaf's, causing her to smile for a second as she and her sisters noticed the scene that was forming near them, "Though you're going to love this."

Reggie, despite not liking Fetch, her history, and everything about her, had honored whatever conversation he had with his brother back in the abandoned building before taking it one step further than necessary, as there were people outside Olaf's with food, drinks, and even recovering addicts who came to talk with Fetch about Brent. Despite his dislike for Conduits, no doubt due to the stories that Augustine was spreading about them, Reggie realized that the sisters and his brother were right, they were people and, more importantly, that they shouldn't be judged based on what they were, they should be judged on their actions. The problem with such a thing was that many likely believed that Fetch was a murderer and that she could be jailed for her crimes against Seattle, but the ladies they had saved the previous night had managed to convince everyone that she meant well, causing all sorts of people to come to this area. It was like what happened not all that long ago, Delsin and the sisters were visited whenever Delsin did his tagging, by people cheering them on or even other artists itching to see his style with their own eyes, a show of unity that defied the DUP's core beliefs and showed all of their foes that harmony was more important than anything else.

Fetch, while initially overwhelmed by the turnout that not even the sisters had seen coming, joined them in enjoying a bit of food, since it had been quite a while since she ate anything, while Adagio laid out the plan for her, Delsin, Reggie, and her sisters, a basic one that involved drawing attention to one area of the bridge between the two sections of the city, to distract Augustine, before heading into the other region.

"You do know that there's only one bridge between this island and the other, right?" Reggie asked, because the DUP had, as per Augustine's orders, crushed the pair of bridges that connected both islands together, while forging one made out of concrete for their ground forces to use, in some capacity since it was made in sections, meaning the only way over was by using the bridge in question, "Using it will mean you'll have to fight the DUP anyway."

"Actually, not really... I'm a water Conduit, remember?" Adagio remarked, where she tilted her hand a little and some of the water that was in the cup to her left twisted into a spiral, dancing around her fingers as she pulled some of it out of the symbol, before she froze all of it into icy marbles that fell to the ground, broke apart, and turned into mist, "I can make us a bridge out of ice, something she won't see coming... by the time she realizes that we've bypassed her bridge it'll be too late to stop us from starting the search for the other Conduit."

"Well then, shall we have some fun?" Fetch inquired, though it was far too easy for the sisters to see that she was looking at Delsin as she said it, no doubt wanting to have a little fun with him in dismantling some of the DUP before he joined the sisters on their mission to travel to the other island.

"Sure, I could use some exercise." Delsin said, where he finished off the rest of his breakfast and thanked the people who had come to show their support for him, the sisters, and those who were fighting to restore order to Seattle, who quickly dispersed before the DUP started their patrols and decided to imprison them for showing that they were against their occupation of the city.

With the morning meal done the sisters also separated from each other as Adagio stopped near the concrete bridge, as she needed to focus on ensuring that the bridge was ready once everyone had succeeded in their missions, though she had to smile as the minutes went by. Her reason for doing that was because she could see that Sonata decimated all of her foes with twisters and gusts of wind, Aria tore through the helicopters that were sent to take her down, and a couple of explosions went off with a rather pleasant light show going on. She had to assume that the last group was Delsin and Fetch trashing the DUP that happened to be in the area that they took on, showing a level of teamwork that happened to be even better than when he fought with her and her sisters, meaning it might be best to leave them as a team during their time on the second island. While that happened the three groups closed in on where the bridge was located, since it was a focal point for them to use against the DUP, and sure enough she found the others as they reached the start of the bridge, where Delsin, having switched to his smoke powers, covered the area with a cloud so he and the others could slip down to where Adagio was standing.

Once everyone was ready she turned around and started running, where the water below them rushed up to meet her hooves, forming an icy walkway for them to use that would collapse once everyone was beyond a certain section, which would confuse Augustine once she realized what was even going on.





Augustine was having a pretty bad day, despite the fact that it was only seven in the morning, because the President and the other leaders of the government had called her after discovering something she had been trying to keep hidden while she formulated a plan of attack: the sisters were back. Her job had been easy when dealing with ordinary Conduits, since none of them had the power of Cole MacGrath, especially since she had napped Henry shortly after his 'escape', and her plans to deal with the others had been perfectly crafted to ensure their capture. Delsin's awakening as a Conduit was, of course, an unexpected annoyance when she confirmed that he actually had powers, a powerful one that was incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands, hadn't been too much of a problem for her, despite his skills at taking down her soldiers since his arrival. The fact that the Dazzlings, the girls she had named the 'Devil's Succubi', had returned in full force, with all of their devastating powers, was something she honestly wasn't expecting and had tried her best to keep it a secret so she could continue with her operation without bringing any unwanted attention from the government.

With their return everything was already falling apart, those that were questioning her methods were coming out of the woodwork, some wondered if they should just leave the sisters alone and hope that they disappear again, and a few even claimed that nuking Seattle was the only way, causing her to sigh for a moment.

"Okay, things could be better, but the ball is still in my court." Augustine commented, speaking to herself, with her own earpiece resting out of her ear so no one else could hear her talking, before she glanced at the area she had readied for her second meeting with Delsin Rowe, as she had readied a circular arena on the concrete bridge to catch him, confirm his power with her own eyes, and maybe turn him into her next weapon, "Where is he?"

As she put her earpiece back into her ear, before someone realized that she was ignoring the outside world, she paused for a moment as she spotted a few neon detonations that had to be Abigail venting her anger on the drug dealers, just as Augustine had planned when she picked her first Conduits out. Of course there were instances of Sonata taking care of a number of DUP agents, while Aria was taking down the helicopters that were hunting her and her sisters down, though it looked like Adagio was either sleeping in or leaving the fighting to her sisters. Such a thing reminded her of just how bad they were for her operations, as the sisters had arrested a fair number of her lesser soldiers, the Pawns, crippled a chunk of her Mobile Command Centers and Jamming Stations, in fact she was sure they were all gone at this point in time, and the police were turning on her. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were pests, unruly vermin that were ruining everything she had built since she awakened her own powers all those years ago, and right now she was unsure of how to deal with them, as all her plans hinged on them never returning, while she was unsure if her own ultimate power would be enough to deal with even one of them.

While she thought about that, however, she noticed that the paths of destruction were converging on the tower that she had set up at the start of the concrete bridge, the first in a line of defenses to keep Abigail in her section of Seattle, which meant that Delsin and his allies were coming her way. After a few seconds Augustine expected some of her forces to open fire on the incoming Bio-terrorists, to stop them from crossing over to the other island, and yet nothing happened, as if all of their targets had suddenly dropped off the face of the planet. Of course she waited for a couple of minutes, since she felt that one of the attackers would have noticed the size of the walls and likely stopped the others to discuss the scene in front of them, to build a plan of attack that would allow them to get to the other island, but when ten minutes went by she realized something was wrong. With how skilled Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were, not counting the newcomers that had been brought into their fold, she had expected them to be here by this point in time, landing on the other side of the arena so she could bring out a few of her soldiers and test Delsin before his capture, and yet nothing was happening, as if they had given up on their mission.

In the next few moments explosions erupted from the island behind her, where she turned around quickly and found that the Jamming Station they had set up near the other side of the concrete bridge was under attack, towers falling to ruin as she spotted Sonata using her wind powers to break them.

"How? There's no other bridge connecting the..." Augustine started to say, though in that moment she realized something she had overlooked, Adagio was a water Conduit, someone who could turn water to ice in an instant if she so desired, and that meant it was possible that the wakes of destruction had been a diversion while she formed a bridge for her group to use, right under her very nose, "All units on the bridge, return to the tower for redeployment... we've been had."

She hated being outmaneuvered like this, especially with the carefully laid out plans she had crafted to ensure her victory, and now she had to deal with the consequences of allowing the sisters and their allies to enter the other island, she just hoped that this wasn't the start of something bad for her and her entire organization.