InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

Empire: Nemesis Revealed

Moya didn't contact Cole, Adagio, Aria, or Sonata after they had saved the people in the train, meaning that she was likely killing some time and looking for something before she told them anything, to which the four of them climbed onto the top of the train and waited as it started moving. Cole was able to determine, from glancing at his phone, that there was a fair number of optional objectives around the part of the Neon District where they re-established the satellite uplinks that Moya wanted them to fix, but at the same time there weren't any like that in the west side of the Neon. Adagio, curious as to what he was looking at, did the same thing with her new phone and stared at the area that he was focused on, though she let a smile appear on her face when she realized that Cole had missed something. There was a mission for them to accomplish in the western side of the Neon District, one that would help them out in the future, and there was another 'good' objective they could potentially do while they were in the area.

"There's actually another set of satellite uplinks in the area we're heading to," Adagio commented, causing Cole to look at his own phone for a few seconds before he moaned, as he couldn't believe he missed something that was so easy to spot, before she looked at the city, "Once you get those uplinks up and running again, and we've gotten back together, we can either take on that good mission that Moya found for us or we can do some of the optional objectives."

"More uplinks means more people to help!" Sonata said, knowing that now that her sisters were actually trying to become heroes of the people, and leave their terrible past behind them, they would be happy with the prospect of helping more of the civilians that the Reapers were harassing.

"Agreed." Aria said, where she still found it odd that she and Adagio were agreeing with Sonata, as Adagio was nodding her head in agreement, but at the same time they were interested in what else they might be able to do once Cole connected the uplinks again.

Cole and the sisters rode the train towards the area that the uplinks were located in, to which they climbed up to the top of the building that it was resting on and took out the Reapers that wanted to gun them down from afar, though that was a mistake on their part. The moment the Reapers were taken care of, as it had been a small group that they had spotted, Cole approached the uplink that was in front of them and drained it of all the electricity that was inside it, though once that was done he started moving across the rooftops. As Cole did that Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as he used his new 'induction grind' ability, as that was what Cole was calling the new technique he had picked up earlier, and stayed beside the first one so he could return to them when he was done. It wasn't long before the uplinks had been re-established, as they knew that the moment their GPS maps updated with new objectives for them to do, and Cole returned to them with a smile on his face.

As they went over the various optional objectives that Moya had sent them, and determined which ones they wanted to tackle first, they all discovered one particular optional objective that mentioned a mobile poison, which told all of them that the Reapers might be planning on spreading more of their tar throughout the city. Since they weren't sure what the mission entailed the four of them dropped down to the street below them and followed the GPS through the city, though they had to stop a few times to take out another group of Reapers that wanted to stop them. Adagio found it surprising that the Reapers thought that they could stand up to four powerful beings like them, especially when she and her sisters channeled their elemental powers to aid Cole in dealing with them. She had no idea why the Reapers thought they could take out someone that could drain the electricity near them and shoot lightning from his hands, another that could launch fireballs that only hurt their targets and not the builds, a third that commanded the power of the wind itself, and her, who now had the power to manipulate the water around her and even freeze it into ice type attacks.

As such the four of them were able to topple the Reapers that they came across, restrained those that were still moving on the floor, healed the various wounded civilians that were all around them, and made their way to the alleyway that the optional objective was in... where they found a man waiting for them, who seemed really concerned about something that was going on at that very moment.

"I think I saw one of those Reaper trucks over there," the man said, beckoning them to follow him to a nearby tunnel, which they did since it would allow them to see their objective, where they found a Reaper tar truck slowly driving along the street on the other end of the tunnel, guarded by a pack of Reapers, "I think you should destroy it."

Cole and the sisters charged out of the tunnel and separated from each other, forcing the Reapers that were walking alongside the tar truck to separate and follow after them, to which the four of them fired at their pursuers while avoiding the rocket fire that the RPG carrying Reapers were loosing. Fortunately there were only eight normal Reapers on the street, two for each of them, though as they outmaneuvered those Reapers they all noticed that there was a White Reaper in the area as well, who was focused on taking them all out. As such the four of them focused on outmaneuvering the pair of Reapers that were following after them, eventually knocking them out in the process, before they all turned their attention to the White Reaper. It didn't take them long to take out the White Reaper, especially since it was four powers against one, though once their foe fell they turned their attention to their main target, where they found that the tar truck was still close to where the tunnel was located. As such the four of them charged down the street and opened fire on the truck, while also making sure that the civilians stayed away from the street for the moment so they didn't get fried or hurt by any their powers, before part of the truck exploded, followed by it shuddering for a few seconds, and then it finally stopped moving. The instant the group saw that, however, they knew what was coming, to which they moved out of the way as the truck exploded and the tar simply burned away, meaning that the Reapers wouldn't be able to come back here later and claim whatever was leftover from the truck's contents.

As they finished taking care of the tar truck, and knocked out the remaining Reapers so the cops in the area could interrogate them later on, Zeke called them and informed them that a lady had approached him and asked if he could get Cole's autograph, though while their friend was annoyed about being a 'butler', as he called himself, he said he might just fake the signature and see if he could score. Once Zeke was done calling them Cole and the sisters headed back into Memorial Park and headed to the building that was in the center of the entire park, where they nodded their heads to the people that were around them as they approached their destination. When they arrived Cole's phone went off and he recognized that it was Warden Harms, meaning that he likely had another task for them to accomplish, one that would show the Reapers that they weren't in charge of the Neon District anymore.

"A group of people are marching through the streets in a form of protest." Warden Harms said, informing them that the people were definitely doing something, though at the same time the group prepared themselves for the task part of why he was calling, "They're trying to send a message to the Reapers that the people are on your side."

"I'm sure the Reapers appreciate that." Aria commented, though at the same time she knew that the Reapers were likely to attack the protesters, to try and send a message that they were still in command of the area, which the four of them were going to have to deal with.

"I've got some of my men over there," Warden Harms stated, revealing that he wanted to keep the people safe as well, but his tone meant that there was something else he was thinking about at the moment, "but in case something goes wrong, I'd like the four of you to be there as well. You have to protect the people that are marching."

"Don't worry, we'll keep them safe," Cole said, though at the same time he disconnected the call and headed towards the street that was near their location, as the street happened to be near the same street that the tar truck was trying to get to before he and the sisters destroyed it.

The four of them moved through Memorial Park and jumped down to the street level, where they found a decent group of people being escorted through the streets by a pair of cops and a police vehicle, indicating that the police were protecting the people as well. The people that were marching through the streets cheered as Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata came to a stop near them and stood with two of them on the right sidewalk while the other two did the same on the left sidewalk. Their plan was to follow the convoy for a time, until they were told that they were no longer necessary, and take out any Reapers that wanted a piece of the civilians that were showing who there were loyal to, as they were all sure that the Reapers would attack soon enough. Before they even reached the intersection that was in front of them, where the tar truck had been heading to, one of the Reapers on the roofs around them raised an RPG and fired down upon the people that the group was trying to protect... though Cole, seeing the missile coming, raised his hands and loosed a shockwave that sent it flying back towards the person that fired it.

As the RPG Reaper went down Adagio, Aria, and Sonata started firing at the Reapers that were pouring out of the alley they had just gone by, as well as the one that was further ahead of them, where they made sure the people were safe from harm and knocked down the various Reapers that were in the area. They also restrained the defeated Reapers to the ground and followed the marching people for a few more minutes, where they found that there was only once group of Reapers that wanted them dead. That was weird, especially since they had considered the fact that their enemies would have wanted the protesters and would have come in greater numbers, but with the one group of six Reapers that came after them they decided not to question it. After all, they managed to save the people from harm and earned the respect of the cops that the four of them had helped, though once that was done they stood on some steps nearby and watched the people continue walking for a few minutes.

Once the protesters had been assisted Cole noticed that there was a new GPS location on his map, one that seemed more important than the optional objectives they had been doing so far, so the four of them started making their way down the streets as they followed the coordinates... though upon their arrival they found Trish further down the street, tending to some of the sick people, but when she glanced up and saw them she packed up her stuff and marched over to where they were standing.

"This is like the fountain all over again," Trish said, which the sisters could see that it was the same as the fountain, as the sick people seemed to have the same symptoms as the people they had seen near the fountain yesterday, though that was before Trish glared at Cole, "Why aren't you stopping this?"

"We blew up a truck that was pumping tar into the main water main of Memorial Park," Cole replied, though at the same time he knew they had blown up a second vehicle that contained the stuff, which would have made this situation worse if they hadn't taken it out, "Sorry, I figured that the Reapers only had one container of that stuff and that the events at the fountain would have been the last we saw of the tar."

"Well, it's coming from somewhere..." Trish stated, to which she turned back and waved a hand towards the sick people that she had been tending to before she found the group, "these people aren't getting sick on their own, Cole."

"Trish, we'll find out what's going on," Adagio said, though she wasn't too surprised to see that Trish was being angry and hostile towards Cole, especially since she was so convinced that he was responsible for the Blast and the death of her sister, "and then, once we've figured out where the tar's coming from, we'll take care of it."

Trish's gaze softened when she looked at Adagio and her sisters, as she knew that they had nothing to do with the Blast, but she said nothing as she returned to taking care of the sick people that she had been tending to before she spotted them, allowing the four of them to stand there for a few seconds before they considered what to do.

"Hey Moya, it's that black tar again." Cole said, after making sure that the person he was calling was Moya, though at the same time the sisters joined him in glancing around the area for any additional water sources that the Reapers might be using, "There are sick people all over the place."

"The only remaining source of water in that area is from the water towers on the rooftops." Moya commented, to which Cole brought his palm to his face, telling the sisters that he had forgotten something that he should have known, but they didn't hold it against him since he had more important matters to deal with.

"All right, we'll head up there and see what we can do." Aria stated, to which the call between them was disconnected a few seconds later, where the four of them started climbing the nearby building so they could reach the rooftop that was above them and start their search for the water tower.

Oddly enough the building that Trish was standing near, tending to some of the wounded and sick, was where several Reapers were patrolling, so when the four of them finished climbing to the roof of the building they had chosen they had to start loosing blasts at their targets while also dodging the incoming gunfire. The good part about there being four of them was that the Reapers had to pick and choose who they wanted to fire at, as some of them fired at Cole and the others fired at one of the sisters. Because of that fact the four of them were able to take out the Reapers that were trying to hurt them and Cole even knocked some of them into the air with his one of his shockwaves, where either he would shoot them with his power and take them out or one of the sisters would fire and knock them out. The one other thing that was working in their favor was that there weren't any other Reapers in the immediate area, meaning that when they took out the last of the Reapers they could focus on the water tower.

As the four of them calmed down they all noticed that there was something attached to the top of the water tower, which had to be what they were looking for, but to be on the safe side Cole decided to call this in and see if Moya had something to say on the matter.

"Reapers are all over the place up here, and there a strange metal keg attached to the water tower." Cole said, hoping that Moya had something for them to do in this regard, as he was sure that if they tampered with the keg they could either improve the situation or make it worse in an instant, "And there's tar dripping out of it."

"That must be how they're polluting the water." Moya stated, though her tone suggested that she had an idea, one that the group hoped was different than what they were thinking about so far, "Destroy it."

Cole weighed his options for a moment, he could easily overcharge the system and destroy the tar keg, like Moya had asked him to do, but he was sure that if he did that he would accidentally pump more tar into the water tower and poison more people in the process. That, in turn, would likely upset Moya and make Trish even more cross with him, while at the same time the sisters would understand that he had no idea if his thoughts were right and likely wouldn't judge him for what he had done. At the same time he wondered if he could hit the tar keg from below with his shockwave, or from the front, and knock it off the water tower without expelling more tar into the system, which would keep people safe and only harm him, unless one of the sisters caught the tar before he was able to be hit. In the end Cole decided to test his theory and climbed up to the top of the water tower, which was easy thanks to the ladder that was attached to it, before he stood in front of the tar keg and charged his power once more.

A few seconds later Cole, sticking to his morale decision, readied a shockwave and threw it at the tar keg, where he successfully knocked it off the water tower and destroyed it at the same time, though that also sent some tar flying in his direction... only for Sonata to weave her energy into the area between him and the keg, stopping the tar from hitting him in the process and saving him from suffering the side effects again.

"Moya, I knocked the tar keg off the water tower and destroyed it," Cole said, though at the same time he dropped down to where the sisters were standing and nodded his head towards Sonata, who smiled and rubbed the back of her head for a moment, "none of the tar got into the systems when I did that."

"That's good to hear, for both your sake and the sake of the people," Moya stated, to which Adagio glared at the phone she was carrying on her pack strap, as Moya's tone make her wonder if the FBI lady had been expecting something else, as if she was expecting Cole to get hit by the tar again, "I've found another water tower in an area near where you're currently standing. You should check it out and see if the Reapers have trapped it as well."

As Cole nodded his head, and disconnected from Moya, the four of them had to separate as a White Reaper rushed into the area and started firing at them, though he was without reinforcements and that meant that the four of them would be more than enough to take him out. The White Reaper was only able to target one of them at a time, to which the four of them made sure that whoever he was targeting was hard to hit and struck him in return, eventually doing enough damage to drop him to the street in the alley behind him. With the White Reaper taken care of the four of them jumped over to the building that was right across from where they were standing and found a single Reaper standing guard over another water tower that had a tar keg attached to it. As such Adagio blasted the Reaper in the chest and knocked him backwards, allowing Cole to climb up to where the tar keg was located and loosed a shockwave at it, where he knocked it loose like the first one and Sonata saved him from the tar that was sent out from inside the keg.

From there the four of them jumped over to the building on their left and started to climb up the side of it, as the next water tower was supposed to be at the top of the tower and that meant that there had to be Reapers patrolling the entire roof as they looked for enemies. As such the four of them separated as they ascended to the roof, because they were planning on attacking from four different sides, but as they reached the roof and did so they found that there were only two Reapers protecting the next tar keg. Since it was four against two the group was able to take the Reapers out in a few seconds, allowing Cole to loose a shockwave and knock the tar keg off the water tower, in addition to Sonata saving him once more. After that happened the four of them studied the map of the area, and where Moya was telling them where the other water towers were, though that meant they had to cross the street that was below them, and the train track that was there was well... and head into an area that might be infested by Reapers, if the RPG guy that was pointing at them at that very moment was any indication.

Cole stayed back for a moment, since the RPG Reaper was focused on him, and let the sisters cross over to the other side of the street, where they waited for him to launch his missile, and Cole to redirect it into the air, before they revealed themselves and knocked him out so their friend could join them again. As they joined back up the Reapers on the roof of the building that was directly in front of them started firing at them the moment they spotted them, to which the group separated and returned fire, or at least Adagio and Aria did, as Cole and Sonata were using the distraction they were providing to climb up the side of the building so they could reach their target. When Cole and Sonata reached their destination they launched the Reapers into the air from behind, allowing Adagio and Aria to blast them while they were above them before they hit the ground... to which Adagio and Aria climbed up to the roof and watched the duo repeat their earlier tactic in loosing the tar keg from the water tower and preventing Cole from taking damage.

After doing that the four of them opened fire on the group of Reapers that were on a roof in front of them, where one of them seemed to be carrying a riot shield, but fortunately that particular enemy didn't stand much of a chance when Cole hurled a shock grenade at them, blowing most of the Reapers to the ground, for the sisters to take care of, while the riot shield carrying Reaper was blown off the roof and descended towards the ground. From there they noticed that the tallest building in the area around them seemed to contain the water tower in question and that all of them needed to climb up the side of the building so they could reach the roof. As such the four of them carefully climbed up the side of the building and headed towards the roof, where they found a Reaper that was manning a turret that happened to be aimed at two of them, but that allowed Aria and Sonata to attack from behind and knock the Reaper out... allowing them to gather around the water tower, where Cole got rid of the tar keg and Sonata kept him safe once more.

As the four of them got together again, so they could go over whether or not there were any other tar kegs in the Neon District, they heard the sound of something moving and turned to their left, where a new person was standing near them, someone that hadn't been standing there a few seconds ago. The man was wearing a long white trench coat, white trousers, a gray hood over his head and a gray scarf around his neck, though as the group took that into consideration they noticed that he had some sort of device on his chest and right arm. As the four of them stared at the man they discovered that he was actually was bald and had several wrinkles over his face, though he also had bright blue eyes with no pupils that gave off a dim glow... making him look like a person of great power, which worried the four of them as they turned towards the man.

"She's going to be pretty pissed about this." the man commented, though instead of looking around the area he simply stared at them, or rather he stared at Cole and completely ignored the sisters, causing Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to prepare themselves for a fight.

"Who the hell are you?" Cole asked, though at the same time he did the same thing that the sisters were doing, preparing himself for a fight, because the way the man talked made him think that he was allied with whoever was in command of the Reapers, a lady by what the mysterious man had just said.

"Just a concerned citizen." the man replied, but even said he said that his stance shifted, indicating that he was up to something, to which the four of them prepared for whatever the man was going to do next, "Now hold still."

The moment the man finished talking he dashed forward and raised his hands, where his fingers dug into Cole's face for a few seconds, though at the same time that prompted the sisters to grab onto the man so they could pry him off of their friend before Cole was hurt. What happened next, however, was them stalling the instant their hands touched the man, where their minds focused on a series of images that were coming off of the strange man, images of a world that had been decimated by something terrible. Despite the fact that it appeared that the man was only trying to show Cole the information he was giving them he decided to allow all four of them to see the same thing, where the sisters watched as the people in the images were slaughtered in unimaginable ways. They all quickly came to the conclusion that this man was showing them the future, a future that he was responsible for creating, that he had opened Pandora's Box and that it was never going to close. A few seconds later, when he finished showing them what he wanted to show them, the images stopped flowing out of him and he let go of Cole, causing the sisters to go weak for a moment as they each fell down to the floor as well... but before any of them could do anything the strange man disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived, leaving them to think about what he had shown them.

"So... who thinks... that guy... was responsible... for the Blast?" Sonata asked, though at the same time she and the others huffed for a few seconds, as it was an intense experience to be shown that unless they stopped that strange man, how she had no idea, this world was going to die.

"I do." Cole, Adagio, and Aria replied at the same time, as they all had come to the same conclusion that Sonata had, and they all knew that the damned Ray Sphere was somehow involved in the man's plan to bring that future to their reality, which none of them wanted.

"Good. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't the only one thinking that." Sonata said, though at the same time they all pulled themselves back onto their feet, or hooves in the sisters' case, before they stared at each other while they thought about what they were going to do next.

Fortunately that decision was made for them, as Zeke called them a few seconds later, almost as if he felt that the four of them needed a break, though right now they were all willing to listen to any distraction from what they just learned, especially since it meant they needed to rethink part of their mission.

"Get on back here guys," Zeke said, addressing all of them at the same time, which they were happy to hear, while at the same time adding something else that made Cole put a small smile on his face for a few seconds, "I've got some beverages chillin' for all of you."

"We're on our way." Adagio replied, though she was shocked by the fact that the world was now in danger from a strange man that had some strange components attached to his body, something that the others were shocked by when they thought about it as well.

Once the line to Zeke was cut off the four of them jumped back down to the alleyway below them, once more surprising the sisters by the fact that they could survive jumping down heights like this without hurting themselves in the process. The moment they were on the ground they made their way through the Neon District and quickly returned to Zeke's apartment building, pausing to heal and assist the wounded while also taking out any Reapers along the way, before they reached the base of the building in question. From there the four of them started to climb up the side of the building and headed towards the roof, where they smiled at Zeke as they reached their destination, though when they arrived they found that Zeke was actually standing this time and wasn't laying on the couch.

"Hey, I've been looking into your new BFF Moya." Zeke said, though that made the sisters wonder how that was possible, because they were sure that finding some information on an FBI agent would be hard, if not impossible.

"Find your magic eight-ball did ya?" Cole asked, though at the same time he knew that if Zeke put forth the effort to do something like this, even if it was to satisfy his own curiosity, he might have actually found something worth sharing.

"She's real FBI." Zeke stated, repeating a fact that the group had known from the moment they encountered Moya, but at the same time none of them spoke as they listened to what he had to say, "In fact, she's big time FBI. Highly decorated, the kind of person they send out when the shiola hits the fan and sprays all over everyone. About six months ago, she gets moved over to some new division called DEFENDER and her trail goes completely cold. Now one of my boys thinks she's working for DARPA."

"You have boys?" Aria inquired, as she understood what Zeke was saying, as she had picked up on some things when she and her sisters were living in the magicless world, but at the same time Zeke seemed annoyed when she asked that question, as if he thought he wasn't being taken serious.

"I'm being serious here." Zeke insisted, though he was happy that it wasn't Cole that had said that statement, as he would have gotten more annoyed with him than with one of the sisters, because he knew his best friend more than he knew the three sisters, "You have to pay attention. DARPA is the mother lode of black ops crap... it's this secret Pentagon group that doesn't answer to anybody. If she's in with those clowns, the lot of you had better watch your backs."

"And we will," Cole said, though at the same time he took a seat on the couch and relaxed, as right now he wanted to take his mind off of what he and the sisters had learned about who they were up against, or rather what would happen if they failed to stop the mysterious man, "but first things first... where are those drinks?"

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata grabbed one of the sodas that Zeke had provided and simply sat down around the roof, each of them thinking about what they had been shown when the mysterious man had revealed himself and showed Cole, and by extent the three of them, what was clearly a vision of the future. They all knew that the man was going to bring about the end of this world, how and when they had no idea, but at the same time they had the feeling that if they didn't stop him soon he was going to succeed in his mission... and somehow the Ray Sphere was connected to his plans, which meant that they needed to find it and fast, otherwise the man would win and they would all lose.

---

"The unusual conduits have been identified." Kessler commented, hearing the ticks of keys as he returned to his base of operations in the Historic District, where he could watch Cole and the strange girls that followed him around, "The first one, the one with the vivid orange hair with yellow streaks, is called Adagio Dazzle and she appears to have the power to manipulate the water in the area around her. The second girl, the one with the purple hair with aquamarine colored streaks, is her sister, Aria Blaze, and her power is over the element of fire. The final girl, with the arctic blue hair that has persian blue stripes, is Sonata Dusk, sister of both Aria and Adagio, and her power is over the wind around her."

"Updating our information," one of his soldiers stated, as they had created a small profile on the three girls the moment they first appeared near Cole when the Blast Happened, but this was the first time they were actually able to add anything to the profiles, "Does this change your plans?"

"Not at all... I'll just need to make a few modifications." Kessler said, though at the same time he stared at the screen that was in front of them, where he saw Cole and the girls arrive at the building that their fat friend called home, while his mind worked out how to overcome the changes that were in front of him.

Soon he would mold Cole into what he needed to be, to face the true evil that he had run from, and he would teach him everything he could before that happened... and if those girls survived the Reapers and the Dust Men, the keepers of the Warren, maybe they could help Cole fulfill his destiny.

Comments

[Midnight Moon]

"The unusual conduits have been identified." Kessler commented, hearing the ticks of keys as he returned to his base of operations in the Historic District, where he could watch Cole and the strange girls that followed him around, "The first one, the one with the vivid orange hair with yellow streaks, is called Adagio Dazzle and she appears to have the power to manipulate the water in the area around her. The second girl, the one with the purple hair with aquamarine colored streaks, is her sister, Aria Blaze, and her power is over the element of fire. The final girl, with the arctic blue hair that has persian blue stripes, is Sonata Dusk, sister of both Aria and Adagio, and her power is over the wind around her."

Roll credits

[Firefoxino]

8954935
Cinemasins... Is that you XD?

[sonictj3]

Nice to see Kesler's avoding the end of the world thing and not Seeing those 3 as people to ruin it. Hopefully when he and COle have their confrontation things might go smother than one may think