InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

Empire: Taking out the Reapers

Suffice it to say that Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were slightly annoyed with Moya by the time she contacted them, as it took her longer than they were expecting for her to find where Sasha was hiding, but it gave them the time they needed to tackle the Reapers that were in the Neon District. They used that time to find the various EMT's that needed their help in either reclaiming the clinic that they had set up, since the Reapers had attacked them and drove them out, or acquired the supplies that had been stolen from them, while also taking out the enemies in that area as well. Cole and Sonata stopped every now and then to take out the tar kegs that were attached the to water towers, though while they did that they took out the Reapers that were guarding them and Sonata saved Cole from taking some tar to the face in the process. They also found an informant that was supposed to have information on the Reapers, but he died when they found him and the four of them avenged him immediately. There was also the fact that they had to follow some of the Reaper couriers and claim the Blast Shards that they were carrying around, since Cole was the only one that could use them, and even came across some Reapers attacking one of the police stations that existed in the Neon District.

When they found that group of Reapers none of them hesitated and engaged their enemies, blasting the Reapers to the ground and destroyed their turret truck that they were using to attack the station, though the cops were more than happy to have some additional Reapers to interrogate once the attack was dealt with.

While they were busy liberating the Neon District from the Reapers, and waiting for Moya to tell them where Sasha was located, the four of them collected the Blast Shards that happened to be in the various areas that they traveled through, allowing Cole to store more energy for the fights ahead of them. At the same time Cole found a number of John's dead drops, where they revealed more about his time with the First Sons and the various things he had to do while he was undercover. One of the things that interested all of them was the fact that John gave them the name of the mysterious man they had seen earlier, as John stated that he had some sort of metallic device attached to his right arm, which they recalled immediately, and now knew that the man's name was Kessler. As it turned out John reported that Kessler appeared to be a true believer of the First Sons' beliefs and that he was an incredibly dangerous individual, something that the group believed since the older man had moved faster than they anticipated... and that was without using whatever sort of power he clearly had access to.

Eventually they ran out of optional objectives to do, as they had smashed through the various groups of Reapers and their operations, to which they simply gathered on top of a building that overlooked the area that the medical supplies had been dropped in and waited... as they knew that Moya would eventually contact them and there wasn't much they could do, and fortunately they didn't have to wait long as Cole's phone went off.

"Cole, I've pinned down Sasha's location," Moya said, to which the four of them stood up the moment she started talking, as this was what they were waiting for the moment they finished dealing with the other Reapers, "she's operating out of the Jefferson Tunnel. Head to the location I've marked on your GPS and I'll fill you in when you all get there."

"Will do." Cole replied, though at the same time he smiled as he turned and looked at his companions, as they were all eager to take care of Sasha, especially since she and her Reapers were a danger to the people of the Neon District, who were just trying to survive after the Blast, "It's time to take out the leader of the Reapers."

"About time." Aria said, echoing what was going through all their minds at the moment, but at the same time Cole started moving and the sisters followed after him, though as they moved they kept their eyes open for any enemies that might want a piece of them this time around.

The group made their way through the now liberated areas of the Neon District, where the people cheered them on while the remaining Reapers fled in terror, allowing them to have a peaceful walk to the area that the coordinates were taking them to. It only took them a few minutes before they approached the structure that looked like the main base of the Reapers, as there was a bunch of metal and fences that happened to be protecting a tunnel of some kind, including a small fortress area behind the fences. From what they could see, as they climbed one of the buildings near the coordinates that Moya sent them, there were a fair number of Reapers in the fortress area of the base, but they had no idea how many enemies were waiting inside the tunnel itself, or how many innocent people that they needed to free before they found the area that Sasha was hiding in. The people, seeing them climb the building and stare at the area that served as the Reapers' main base, moved out of the area so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, which the group appreciated, while praying that they succeeded in stopping the Reapers.

A few moments later, when the four of them were standing on the roof of the building that was across from the Reaper base, they stared down at the fence and studied the area that they would have to go through soon enough, where they found some of their enemies preparing themselves for battle, knowing that they were coming.

"All right Moya, we're in position across from the Jefferson Tunnel." Cole said, though at the same time they were ready to jump back down to the ground level and start their battle, as it was time to kick the Reapers out of the Neon District and disband their gang.

"Since the entrance is blocked, the four of you are going to have to figure out a way to get down there." Moya stated, though the group wondered what she hoped to achieve by repeating the obvious, as they already knew this from their own observations, "Your best bet is to head into the compound across the street and look for a way to open the gate."

Cole and the sisters rolled their eyes as they disconnected the call and dropped down to the area below them, where they approached the gate and allowed Cole to charge the power terminal that was on the left side of the gate, to which the sisters watched the metal gate open before them. As the gate opened the three of them fired a single blast through the air and slammed into the suicide Reaper that was coming their way, knocking him into one of the fortifications that the Reapers had set up when they made this place. After that they all entered the area in front of him and carefully jumped up to the next area that was above them, where they had to separate and start firing at the three watchtowers that were in the fortress, as the Reapers were expecting them to attack the area, but they also had to avoid the turret fire that was protecting two of the towers. As Cole took down the first watchtower the sisters moved through the small area in front of the turrets and took the Reapers that were commanding them out, before they fired up at the Reapers that were at the top of the towers and blasted them off their pedestals.

As they cleared the small fortress of enemies, and started to group back up near the third watchtower, the sisters noticed that Cole seemed distracted by something, or rather someone, before he told the voice in his head to shut up before he regained himself... to which the four of them pulled the lever that was in front of them and the crane pulled open the gate, allowing three Reapers to pour out and guard the entrance of their main base.

The instant that happened the group jumped over the edge and surprised the Reapers before they even had a chance to react, taking them out in the process, before they turned towards the now open tunnel that was in front of them and walked into the Reapers' main base. As they walked into the tunnel the Reapers attacked them immediately, forcing the four of them to retaliate by firing several blasts in return, though while Sonata knocked their foes backwards Cole blasted them with his electricity, Aria commanded the nearby flames to attack the Reapers, and Adagio manipulated the water nearby to form ice crystals that she threw through the air, which slammed into her targets and knocked the Reapers backwards. One thing they noticed, besides the number of foes that were standing against them, was the fact that the Reapers had apparently dragged several cars and buses into the tunnel, or the vehicles had been abandoned when the Blast happened... but the flames that happened to be coming from them gave Aria the chance to flex her powers while they moved through the tunnel.

As the group moved forward they found a turret blocking the path forward, to which Sonata ran out and distracted the Reaper manning the machine and allowed Cole to use his precision attack to strike his target, eliminating the turret from the equation entirely.

From there the four of them carefully moved forward, dealing with the various types of Reapers that they had encountered throughout the Neon District while Cole occasionally suffered another burst of Sasha, as that was who they assumed was doing these deeds, attempting to talk with him. They also had to jump several times along the way, since the pieces of the path were cracked and were staggered because of the Blast, but that didn't stop them from blasting their way through the Reapers that happened to get in their way. While they walked Cole stopped every now and then and told the sisters about what Sasha was trying to tell him, in an effort of sorts to twist his perception on what was going on, and it appeared that she was hallucinating or something, as she thought that he was Kessler, which caused the sisters to stare at him before declaring that Sasha seemed insane.

"Seriously? She thinks your Kessler?" Adagio asked, to which Cole nodded as they ducked behind the cover that was in front of them, where Sonata and Aria opened fire on the Reapers that were in front of them, and that included the pair of White Reapers that were following their allies towards where they were standing, "Wow, she's gone off the deep end if she thinks your someone else, especially someone as bad as Kessler... and that might help us in the battle ahead, because Sasha might focus on you and ignore us completely."

"Oh, I'm hoping to mess up her day," Aria commented, though at the same time she gathered her energy together, mixed it with the flames that were around them, and hurled a fireball into the Reapers that were coming their way, setting them on fire and causing them to run around as they attempted to put themselves out.

Cole had to admit that he was hoping to take out Sasha as well, maybe not in the same fashion that Aria was, but at the moment he was more focused on hunting for their target and joined the sisters in blasting the Reapers backwards as they progressed further into the tunnel... until they had to stop again, when they came to an area that had a lock they needed to blast off to get on the other side of the gate, but that was the moment the four of them discovered how the Reapers were being made.

"No way..." Sonata said, looking at the innocent people that were locked in the various cages that were in front of them, as well as the pistons that were above the cages and happened to be spreading a black tar like mist over the people that were in front of them, "You mean to tell me that the Reapers aren't a gang like they used to be, rather they're a bunch of innocent people being mind controlled into obeying Sasha's orders and turning into monsters that harass their old friends and family with the purpose of turning them into the same thing?"

"It seems to be that way." Adagio replied, though at the same time she growled, because while she and her sisters hadn't been much better than Sasha, back during the Battle of the Bands, they didn't brainwash innocent people and turn them into monsters, "Just gives us another reason to take her out."

Cole couldn't agree more, as this was just wrong now that they knew how the Reapers were being made, to which the four of them smashed open the cages and freed the people that were trapped inside them, knowing that the effects of the black tar would eventually fade away in time. While they were doing that they found a few people that were dressed in the attire of the Reapers, where they carefully removed the clothing and let the confused person be pulled out of the tunnel by the other innocent people that the Reapers were trying to convert into more soldiers. After releasing the people, and ensuring that they were heading towards the entrance they used to reach this point, the group moved over the bus that served as a bridge between this area and the one in front of them, where Cole growled and told Sasha to shut up again, indicating that she was still trying to break into his mind. That was before they reached a gaping hole in the ground that was at the end of the open area in front of them, to which they dropped down into the area below them, where they found an area that seemed to be Sasha's hiding place.

As they opened the gate in front of them, or rather it opened for them, the group noticed that Sasha happened to be bald and wore a red hood over her head, along with the fact that her skin was gray colored and her hands happened to be claw shaped for some odd reason. The jacket that she wore didn't really do much, since she had it opened and showed off the sides of her breasts, and the lower half of her body was caked in red tar, preventing them from seeing if she was actually wearing anything or if she was nude. There were some strange devices attached to the shoulder parts of her jacket, almost like they were pumping tar or something, and the device she was sitting on appeared to be a throne of some kind, one that seemed to be a part of the tar production that was going on.

"Darling! What took you? Was there traffic? I told you not to take the bridge, it's always backed up at night." Sasha said, though at the same time the sisters could tell that her eyes were focused solely on Cole, especially when the four of them entered the area she was resting in and spread out, which caused her to get off her throne before it ascended into the ceiling and moved out of the way, "Get dressed, we have dinner plans tonight. Of course I told you, silly man."

The moment they entered the area Sasha disappeared entirely, though as Cole walked forward she burst out of the tar pool that they were having to walk on and reached for Cole, who defended himself by grabbing onto her head with his left hand as he struggled to move his right hand up to her head. It took him a few seconds to reach his target, though when he did so he grabbed onto one of the pump devices on her jacket and tore it off, causing Sasha to scream in pain for a few seconds, revealing that her tongue had been transformed into four tendrils, before she disappeared again. That caused the group to go on their guard, as there was no telling where their foe was going to spring up, though when Sasha revealed herself she also created images that looked and fought like the Reapers she had created, though their bullets didn't inflict any damage to any of them and she was definitely focusing all of her efforts into taking Cole out. That fact allowed Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to use their powers to their advantage, though in the process Aria grinned as she ignited the tar and turned the area into a pool of fire, while at the same time Adagio used the water to raise several ice crystal platforms for them all to fight on... giving Cole the advantage over Sasha, as she had to leap out of the tar and reach for him, allowing their friend to grab onto their target before she did the same to him.

Sonata, on the other hand, used her own wind based powers to create flaming wind gusts that rushed through the air and slammed into Sasha when she revealed herself, either causing her to disappear with a hiss or forced her to stand her ground as Cole grabbed onto another part of her jacket and ripped off another pump attachment, wounding her in the process before she fled into the burning tar.

Sasha tired to use tar based blast waves to her advantage, as in she was trying to harness the power that Aria was using in her battle against Cole, but when Aria saw that she withdrew the flames from Sasha's attack and used them to blast the insane lady in the back. Adagio, after creating the platforms, joined in the battle and blasted Sasha whenever she showed herself, weakening her in the process and giving Cole the chance to put the serious hurt on her, which worked to their benefit since she seemed to be too focused on a single target. When Sasha fell down into the tar, and created a green field of sorts around her so she could regain her energy, Aria moved the flames and allowed Cole to jump down and rip another pump piece off of her jacket, before he was forced to retreat after wounding her again. As the sisters helped Cole fight Sasha they heard her talk to him as if he was Kessler, speaking about events that Cole never was a part of and even threatening Trish, indicating that she believed that she and Cole were in a serious relationship... though that weakened her attacks and Cole eventually knocked Sasha onto her back, where she turned on her side and made no move to leave or disappear, causing the sisters to withdraw their powers as they all approached their foe.

"You'll never control it Cole." Sasha weakly said, the desire to fight them gone from her voice, especially as she turned and looked at Cole for a moment, still focusing her full attention on him and ignoring the sisters, "Look at me. Look at what it's done. It controls you!"

Cole glared at Sasha for a moment, remembering who she had been before the Blast happened, before he raised his hand and prepared to get whatever information he could out of her, so he and the sisters could find the Ray Sphere, but before that happened one of the walls exploded and they were blown backwards. As the dust started to settle, and they pulled themselves from the rubble, the four of them noticed an armed unit, that happened to be trained for this sort of thing, pulling Sasha out of the ruined area they were in. None of them were able to even throw a single attack before the group was gone, though they had to put that at the back of their minds as the area around them started to crumple around them and water started to pour into the tunnel, to which they pushed themselves forward and followed the path that was right in front of them... where they left the Neon District behind and headed into the slums of the Warren, not even looking back as the Reapers' base was buried under the rumble.

The instant they reached the opening of the other side of the tunnel, the side that lead out into the Warren, the four of them found a new type of enemy, people who appeared to be wearing trash bags and other discarded items as armor while carrying guns, that started firing at them immediately... but instead of sticking around the group climbed the nearest building and made sure they were out of sight for now.

"Cole, what happened down there?" Moya asked, to which the group sighed for a moment, as she definitely heard the explosion that had knocked them away from Sasha and caused the tunnel to start breaking apart, but they said nothing as they rested for a few moments, "Is Sasha dead?"

"Unfortunately she's still alive." Cole replied, though at the same time he smiled for a moment, because without Sasha as the figurehead the Reapers would be lost and, once the tar ran it's course, the innocent people would be freed from her control, "We beat the living hell out of her and prepared to start interrogating her for information on the First Sons and their Ray Sphere, but then some guys in masks blew open a hole in the tunnel and grabbed her."

"It was probably the First Sons." Moya commented, indicating that the people that had retrieved Sasha was the same organization she had been banished from, meaning that they didn't want their secrets falling into the hands of their enemies, "If we're lucky, they'll take care of her for us."

"Yeah, that would be nice." Adagio said, though while none of them had any love for Sasha, after what she was doing to the innocent people of the Neon District, she knew that Sasha didn't actually deserve to die, rather she should be locked up somewhere designed to restrict her abilities, "Look, the power's out in this borough and we need to recover from our fight with Sasha, so we're going to hit the nearest substation and get it back online."

Moya said nothing as the call was terminated, though since she approved of them turning the power back on, and giving Cole new powers in the process, in the Neon District they knew that she would approve of them doing the same thing in the Warren. At the same time, however, Cole tapped his phone and made a call back to someone in the Neon, someone that deserved to how what was happening to them and where they were located, in case Trish came looking for them for some reason.

"Hey brother." Zeke said, though his tone told them that he was definitely worried about them, because this was the time that they usually returned to his roof so they could rest for the next day and start a new set of missions, "Where the hell have you and the sisters been?"

"It's a long story Zeke." Cole replied, and he fully intended on sharing what happened with his friend at some point in the future, but right now the four of them had more immediate concerns that they had to worry about, "I just wanted to let you know that the four of us are over in the Warren."

"The Warren?" Zeke asked, mostly to be sure that he had heard Cole correctly, though at the same time he seemed a little thoughtful about what he was remembering, "Damn man, that place was nightmare-central before the Blast... I'd hate to see what it's like now."

"I can tell you that it hasn't gotten any better." Cole said, telling Adagio and her sisters that this place had always been in a state like this, though they had the feeling that the armed men that had been firing at them earlier were a new addition to this part of Empire City, "Look, I'll call you again when we figure out how we're going to get back home."

"Keep your nose to the wind, man." Zeke stated, though that was when the call was terminated, causing the group to sigh as they started moving towards the coordinates that Moya had sent them while they were talking to Zeke, as it was time for them to get some of the power back online.

Since the power was off in this part of the Warren, and there were a lot more enemies walking around than there were when they fought the Reapers, the group stuck to the roofs and made their way towards the coordinates that would allow them to enter the sewer. Eventually they had to use a grind line to get across the street, where Cole had to walk as well because the power was offline, though their fortune in not annoying their new enemies came to a close as the trash wearing soldiers on the roofs ahead of them started firing the moment they spotted them. As such Adagio and her sisters fired several blasts at their targets, since the power was offline and Cole couldn't recharge off of nothing, before they all dropped to the ground level and opened the manhole. Aria and Sonata stayed where they were standing, indicating that they would hold the line against these new enemies, to which Adagio followed Cole into the sewer so she could see the next power he would unlock.

As the two of them landed on the platform below them, and prepared themselves to move forward, Moya decided to contact them once more, to which they listened to what she had to tell them while they looked for the circuit that needed to be re-established.

"I've pulled some information on the Warren." Moya said, though at the same time the duo jumped onto the pipes that were in front of them and moved forward, as they knew that time was of the essence since it was only a matter of time until Aria and Sonata were overwhelmed, "A couple of days after the Blast, the homeless living there banned together and seized control of the entire borough. They call themselves the Dust Men."

"I guess that explains why they're all wearing trash bags." Adagio commented, though she wondered if there was someone like Sasha, another powerful conduit, leading the homeless people of the Warren as an army, which meant that this was going to be tough for all of them if she was right.

"I suspect that they're led by an extremely powerful conduit." Moya stated, echoing what was going through Adagio's mind at the moment, which then made her wonder if she already knew who that conduit was and was letting them figure things out on their own, "It would be a mistake to underestimate them."

Once Moya terminated the call, for now anyway, the duo made their way through the area in front of them and smiled when they found the circuit that would give Cole a new power, to which he bridged the two sides of the machine and restored the connection... though when he landed his smile from earlier returned, indicating that this power was one he liked as well.

"Check this out," Cole said, though that was followed by him running towards the path they needed to take and jumped into the air, where he held the palms of his hands towards the ground and Adagio watched as he released some power that kept him floating as he reached the platform in front of him, "I've got a glide ability now."

"That's... impressive." Adagio replied, though at the same time that complicated things for her, as she and her sisters didn't have something like that and she was sure that whatever she had learned to take out that White Reaper earlier wouldn't help her in the slightest, "I wish I had a flying ability like you do... hell, even a gliding ability would be great."

"If you want I can move on ahead and activate the substation by myself." Cole said, though based on the last time he had said something like that Adagio had surprised him, so he was trying to see if he could help coax out her inner power, as it was the only way she gained anything.

Adagio knew that she could use her power over the water to form an ice bridge, a path she could use to catch up with Cole, but that didn't change the fact that she and her sisters didn't have any sort of flying powers, which caused her to remember something that Zeke had shown them when they were first training with their new abilities. Zeke insisted that their base powers, the auras they had and the original blasts they started with, were akin to those of the Dragon Ball Z show that he liked to watch, when he wasn't focusing on the dirty shows. One of the things he showed her and her sisters was the moment in the show that one character showed another one how to tap into their 'ki' until she was able to fly, causing her to wonder if maybe they had something like that. She remembered how she had tapped into the power that had allowed her to channel her power in the first place, where she focused her mind and tried to tap into a power that would let her fly so she could follow after Cole without creating walkways... though as she thought about it her aura surrounded her and she felt her hooves leave the platform she was standing on.

She glanced down and found that a very light blue aura had surrounded her, lifting her off the platform in the process, to which she grinned as she floated over to where Cole was standing, who was smiling at her, almost as if he had intended for something like this to happen.

"You knew this was going to happen." Adagio said, though even if a part of her was mad over what Cole had done the other part of her, the part that knew better, was happy that he had done so, as this allowed her to tap into her power and unlock something else, which she would pass onto her sisters later on.

"And now you have the ability to fly as well." Cole replied, to which he beckoned for Adagio to follow him, though that was when he started moving forward and used his new ability to cross gaps while Adagio carefully flew through the air as they descended into the sewers.

The two of them used their new powers to make their way through the part of the sewer they were in and only stopped when they came to a metallic barricade, one that Cole launched a grenade at and destroyed instantly, allowing them to move forward again. On the other side of the barricade they found some Dust Men standing guard on the platform and in the water, so while Cole blasted the water and knocked out their enemies Adagio floated into the air and hurled blasts at the foes on the platform. What surprised Adagio was how deep this part of the sewers were, as there were a few instances where they descended deeper into the sewer and had to take out several Dust Men just to clear the way forward. Adagio didn't mind the change of pace, as fighting large groups of enemies over and over again got old after some time, and using her new ability like this was good experience for when she went to show Aria and Sonata what she had unlocked... especially when she and Cole jumped off one ledge and descended even deeper into the sewer, where her own power would be the best course of getting out of this area.

It wasn't long before they found the substation in question and Cole blasted it a few times, restoring the power to the area of the Warren that the four of them had found themselves in, though once that was done Adagio grabbed onto him and carried them towards the entrance of the sewer that they were in... where she let him go and they climbed out by using the ladder, to which they discovered Aria and Sonata holding down the fort once more.

"Well, the power's back on and you got a new power," Aria said, though as she looked at the two of them, and Sonata settled down as well, she noticed something odd about her sister, something that she immediately wanted to ask about before they moved, "What happened down there?"

"Cole's not the only one with a new power." Adagio replied, though at the same time she activated her aura again and floated into the air, causing Aria and Sonata to stare at her for a few seconds, as they weren't expecting one of them to unlock the power to fly, "I've gained the ability to fly... and I can show you two how to do this as well."

Cole smiled as the sisters grinned and cheered for what they had unlocked, as it appeared that when one of them actually unlocked a new power the other two were quick to follow the first one, though this made them stronger as a group and increased their chances of finding the Ray Sphere... once they stopped the Dust Men from terrorizing the people of the Warren and dealt with the conduit that controlled this area.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

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