InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

Empire: Alden's Downfall

What Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata discovered was that there were no Dust Men patrolling the streets at the moment, which allowed them to make their way to the area that they had fought the first golem in without having to waste time and energy on enemies that would be easy to take out. At the same time all four of them thought about the fact that there was the very real possibility that either Moya or John was lying to them, trying to get at least one of them on their side so that they could accomplish their goals, and so far the evidence they had found was making them lean towards siding with John. Sure, Moya said that she had promised them a chance to leave the city if they handed over the Ray Sphere, and would also clear Cole's name in the process, but at the same time every instance of where she told them something, like the extraction team, didn't pan out the way they had hoped and she had no regard or respect for Zeke. The sisters, thanks to the large considerable amount of time that they had spent in the other world, knew that something about her screamed that she couldn't be trusted and were happy that Cole was willing to put his faith in John at the moment, as he seemed to be the only one of the two that was trustworthy... even though he fled from them after they saved his life and the lives of the other innocent people, but that was something to talk about in the future.

After a few minutes of walking the four of them reached the area that they had been heading to and stood around the pillars that were still standing, knowing that any moment Zeke would show up and they would get this operation underway, even though it could be done with the four of them and Cole was calling on Zeke because he was his oldest and most trusted friend, something that the sisters were still understanding.

"You know, despite how smart it seems Alden is, his tower isn't the best place for him to fight," Cole commented, to which the sisters turned and looked at him for a moment, as they were interested in what he had to tell them before Zeke arrived and they got moving, "From what I can tell there are several barrels that contain some fire in them, likely so that the Dust Men can keep warm during the night, and that already gives two of us the ability to fight about with some good energy sources nearby. Add in the fact that you, Adagio, can pull moisture from the air itself to form your attacks and that Sonata can use the wind means that the Dust Men don't stand a chance against us... even though I'm hoping for something like what happened at the prison, with an entire army coming at us."

"I don't think Alden realizes just how many followers he lost in that attack." Adagio said, recalling how many Dust Men that she and her sisters had taken out, so that the cops could put them in the parts of the prison that were compromised by the assault that had their foe had planned, "He might be planning on letting the heat die down, giving him time to collect his followers and free the others, meaning that he wouldn't be expecting us to attack him in such a manner... and maybe we can get the damn Ray Sphere before he shows up."

"I'm still annoyed that there aren't any combustibles on this tower," Aria added, to which she manipulated her power for a moment and started creating a few marbles as they waited, indicating that she was preparing for a fight since the marbles were her Firebomb attack, "I was looking forward to blowing the entire place up and reducing it to ash and metal in a single instant... but doing this is better than nothing anyway."

Adagio knew that Moya would have been listening in to their conversation, but at the same time there was a high chance that John, to earn their trust, had found out how Moya was listening in on their conversations and might have actually jammed the signal, making it so that she would have to call them. She was only speaking about the Ray Sphere in such a manner because there was no chance that the FBI agent would have enough time to authorize an attack on the tower before they claimed their prize, especially when she had no idea that the Ray Sphere was supposed to be at the very top of the structure. Even if Moya did figure out where the item was located there was no way that the sisters would allow her forces anywhere near the tower, meaning that the Ray Sphere was as good as theirs, once they climbed to the top of the tower, fought the Dust Men that were likely guarding it, and either fought Alden or counted their luck that he was absent for the moment.

As it turned out she didn't have a lot more time to think about the situation, as not a few moments later she, Aria, Sonata, and Cole heard the sound of someone running towards them, though they all smiled as Zeke ran up to where they were standing, to which he huffed for a few seconds before pulling out his gun.

"Glad you made it here without being shot at," Cole said, to which he walked over to Zeke and put a hand on his shoulder, as he was happy to have his best friend with them as they took on the Dust Men and claimed what everyone wanted to get their hands on, "and that you came at all... after what happened at the prison, I honestly thought that you might decide to back out and let us handle the Dust Men."

"Like I would miss the chance to help defeat the trash-baggers that killed all those cops the other day," Zeke replied, showing that his respect for the cops that had been trapped inside the Warren hadn't been fake, that he actually respected them for all the hard work they were doing, before he gestured towards the tower, "So, ugh, what's going on? You said that there was something that you guys couldn't tell me over the phone, which is why I got here as fast as I could."

"We just found out that the Ray Sphere is at the top of this tower," Aria stated, where she glared at the structure once more, possibly imagining that the entire thing was on fire, before she turned back towards the group, "The plan is rather simple; we start climbing the exterior, beat up every Dust Men we find on the way, take the Ray Sphere from where it's being held, and then we get the hell out of here before Alden and reinforcements show up. You want in on this?"

"You mean it's all the way up there, at the top of the tower?" Zeke asked, as he was honestly surprised that they had even found where the damn thing was located, because he had started to believe that it might have been a lie the entire time, but it seemed like the evidence to support it's existence was nearby, "I'm not sure how much I'll be able to help the four of you, since you can topples armies on your own... but hell yeah, I'm in!"

"It looks like the Dust Men have elevators so they can reach the upper levels of the tower," Sonata commented, as she had spotted something that was going to make Zeke's ascent even better, as he wouldn't have to climb the tower like Cole would, since he was going to be stubborn and refuse their assistance to fly them both to the top, "that should make it incredibly easy for us to get to the top of the tower."

Cole nodded and together the five of them started moving towards the tower, though while he used the pipes to start climbing up to the next level, and Zeke ran over to the elevator so he could wait for them to call him up, the sisters simply flew up to the area that Cole was heading towards and started firing at the Dust Men that were literally around the corner from where they landed. As that happened Cole aimed at the fan that was attached to the elevator and shocked it a few times, giving it enough juice to start moving and allowed Zeke to join them, where the two of them fired at the other Dust men that were blocking the way.

"How did you guys manage to track down the Ray Sphere anyway?" Zeke asked, because the last thing that he recalled them telling him was that they didn't appear to be any closer to finding the device, which made him wonder what had changed since this morning that would have allowed them to find where it was resting.

"Believe it or not, but we actually ran into John earlier," Adagio replied, allowing Cole, Aria, and Sonata to move forward and blast the Dust Men that were in front of them, even knocking one of them over the edge in the process, while she focused on the question that Zeke had asked, "He's the one that told us that the Ray Sphere is at the top of the tower, after one of his UAVs spotted it before we knocked them all out of the sky earlier, since we were told they were being controlled by the First Sons."

"Wait, you ran into Moya's husband?" Zeke inquired, as he remembered what the four of them had told him after the disaster on the bridge, after the Voice of Survival declared that Cole was a terrorist because he happened to be carrying a package that exploded seconds after being opened, "How'd he take the news that she was more interested in finding and recovering the Ray Sphere, than having the four of you track him down first?"

"According to John, Moya lied to us." Adagio stated, though she was still angry about that, so much so that she blasted a Dust Men off the edge and dropped him into Tent City, where an alarm may or may not go off in the next few seconds thanks to the body falling from the sky in such a manner, "He's never heard of her before and doubts that she's even a member of the FBI, which means that either Moya lied to us and tried to play us, or John is trying to lower our defenses while plotting whatever it is that he's plotting."

"And what about the Ray Sphere then?" Zeke continued, because he was interested in what they had to say about the device that they were after, especially since Moya wanted them to hand it over to her in exchange for their freedom, which was a lousy trade in his mind, "I take it, with this new information, that you guys aren't thinking of handing it over to her and the feds anymore?"

"Honestly Zeke, we haven't gotten that far in our planning yet," Cole said, to which Zeke and Adagio came to a stop behind him, Aria, and Sonata, where they discovered that the second elevator was right in front of them, "We will figure out what to do with it, once we've managed to get our hands on the damn thing, but right now we need to focus on getting up to the top of the tower."

As Cole started to climb up the side of the tower, using the signs that happened to be sticking out of the wall, the sisters floated into the air and followed after him, making sure that any Dust Men that showed themselves wouldn't be able to harm him at all or make him fall down and force one of them to catch him. For the most part the climb seemed to be nothing more than a serious of jumps that Cole was able to perform with little to no effort, though when he neared the end of the line the sisters moved towards the walkway and started blasting the Dust Men that were in their way, opening an area for Cole to use. Not even a few seconds later Cole jumped onto the area that they were on and together the four of them blasted their way through their enemies, either knocking them out or sending them off the edge, where the height either severely shattered their bodies or killed the outright. It didn't take them long to silence the Dust Men and let Cole power up the elevator, allowing Zeke to ride up to the level that they were on, though as he followed them a few more enemies decided to try and attack them... where they soon found themselves defeated as the group moved forwards once more and continued towards the next level of the tower.

That's how it went for the next couple of minutes, as Cole would climb the sides of the tower with the sisters following after him, and even sometimes just one of them since they wanted to be sure that Zeke didn't get ambushed while they were away, before he reached a point where he either needed the sisters to tell him where the next jump was located or to clear out some enemies that might have shown up. It was a good arrangement, since it gave them time to think about the Ray Sphere and what they were going to do with it, though they returned to reality when they had some Dust Men to deal with, which was generally followed by the fight being over not even a few seconds later, which made sense when Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were super powered beings that could hold their own in such a manner. For the most part Zeke really didn't have to fire his gun at anyone, save for when someone really surprised them, though he kept his mouth shut as he thought about what they were doing and what they were going after... though Adagio couldn't help but feel that there was something about Zeke's attitude that she should be focusing on, but thanks to the battles they were in she kept her attention on their enemies and not on Zeke.

Of course the situation changed when they reached the very top of the tower, near the controls for the crane that was keeping the tower together, as the moment all five of them got together they immediately noticed something that was different from what they encountered so far.

"Hey, what the hell's going on?" Zeke asked, as they all walked forward and stepped onto what appeared to be a flat area, save for some barricades that he had to wonder why they were there in the first place, but he had the feeling that he'd found out soon enough, "There's no one up here."

"I know you!" a voice said, to which they stepped out into the middle of the platform and turned towards the metallic structure that was nearby, where they found Alden standing or sitting in some sort of control point, along with the fact that he was glaring at them all, "All of you! Locked me up like an animal, tied me to that bed, tried to electrocute me! I showed you, though. You and those pigs."

Not even a few seconds later the contraption that Alden was standing in started to move down to the platform they were standing on, as if it was going to attach to something, but as it started to move down towards them, and Dust Men jumped down from the top of the crane to engage them, the sisters spotted the Ray Sphere attached to the area in front of where their foe was standing. Cole glanced at Zeke, who nodded his head in understanding and backed up as the four of them attacked the Dust Men that were trying to stop them from dealing with Alden, where Cole blasted them with his electricity and knocked them to the floor, while Adagio either froze her targets or pinned them to the floor, Aria simply blasted them with her power, and Sonata knocked them around with the wind. As all of this was happening Cole noticed that Alden seemed surprised by the power that they were displaying, which made sense considering that he had actually never seen the four of them fight and likely hadn't gotten a good chance to determine what their powers were, but even as that happened he called a golem to join the fight and told it to smash them... though as the golem advanced towards them Cole nodded towards Zeke for a second, to which their friend rushed forward and started tugging on the Ray Sphere.

While all of this happened Alden appeared to be talking to himself, saying that when the tower was complete he would replace his old and frail body with one that was made from steel and concrete, which the group thought was insane when they thought about it. There was also the fact that, while Alden was talking and the group was tearing apart the trash monsters that were attacking them, a helicopter flew around the top of the tower, though standing on the railing was none other than Kessler, who hadn't been noticed by Alden yet. That, however, changed the moment the golem and the rest of the trash monsters were dealt with, as the pilot picked that moment to pull up beside the platform and Kessler stepped out onto the platform, where his eyes seemed to dance between Cole, the sisters, the Ray Sphere, Alden, and even Zeke... making it hard for them to determine who he was more interested in and what his plans were, which only made the group ready themselves for a fight with the big bad himself.

"Kessler!" Alden shouted, his attention immediately diverting toward the man that, according to the information the group had been given, had stolen everything away from him, though at the same time the group stared at them and hoped that they would attack each other and save them some time and energy, "You stole my childhood, my home! You dare come here?!"

"Poor, poor Alden." Kessler replied, his tone revealing that he didn't much care for the old man that was in front of him, who had suffered greatly for the actions that he had caused in seizing control of the First Sons in the manner that he had used in the past, "All that potential, squandered. Your father would've been so disappointed."

"You dare mention my father!" Alden exclaimed, his rage and anger filling his voice as he focused solely on the one man that he hated more than anyone else, as Kessler was the one person that he wanted to kill above all overs, even if he had to kill others to get to him, "I'll kill you, all of you! Tear you limb from limb!"

It was in that following moment, as Kessler took a step near Alden, that Zeke was able to finally pry the Ray Sphere from the cradle that Alden had attached it to before stepping into whatever machine he was standing in, though now he was caught between two very powerful men that could easily tear him apart if they wanted. Cole called out to him, telling him that it was time to move and that if they jumped from the top of the tower the sisters would catch them and the Ray Sphere, something that all three of the sisters agreed to, but even as they did that Zeke stood there as fear gripped his heart. The four of them watched as Zeke, though the fear that he was now feeling, realized that the key to his dreams, the powers that had made the four of them so likable by the people of Empire City, was resting in his hands and he seemed to play back the information that Moya had given them about the device. It was in that moment of understanding that Zeke, reverting to the asshole that Cole had known long before the Blast had ever happened, pressed the two halves of the Ray Sphere together and activated it, choosing to kill thousands of innocent people, who were already suffering from the first Blast, in order to give him the power to fight both Alden and Kessler... though when the light faded there was nothing different about him or the area around them, shocking Cole and the sisters as they wondered what had gone wrong with the activation sequence.

Before they could react, or even Alden for that matter, someone was much faster than all of them and made the first move, as the moment the light disappeared Kessler held out his hand and stared right at Zeke, indicating that he was talking to him and him alone.

"It seems that the Ray Sphere didn't do what it was supposed to do," Kessler said, a faint look of glee appearing in his eyes as Zeke turned towards him, because they all knew that he was the man that had been responsible for the creation of the device that he was holding, the same one that Kessler had been searching for after the Blast happened, "and I know exactly what went wrong! Come, Zeke Dunbar, bring me the Ray Sphere so I can fix it... and give you the power you crave."

"Zeke, don't you dare listen to this asshole!" Adagio said, because she and her sisters knew exactly what Kessler was doing, as they had seen the tactic used time and time again over their years in the other world, though at the same time all three of them prepared to attack Kessler before he slipped away from them.

It was in that moment that Zeke, understanding that the power he wanted was so close that he could almost taste it, turned and looked at all four of them, looking them straight in the eye for a second, before he charged at Kessler, who jumped back onto his helicopter and grinned as he pulled Zeke, and the Ray Sphere, aboard. Cole was stunned by the sudden betrayal of his closest friend, the person that he had trusted time and time again throughout the years, while the sisters were shocked that Zeke would do something like that, especially since he knew that Kessler was the person they were trying to beat. At the same time Alden went ballistic at the loss of the Ray Sphere, causing the tower to start coming undone as something emerged from within it, but instead of sticking around Adagio tackled Cole off the platform and grabbed onto him, where she flew away from the tower as Aria and Sonata followed her... though they landed nearby and watched as the tower of trash collapsed before their eyes, kicking up a lot of dust and smoke up in the process, while preventing them from doing much as they kept an eye out for Alden or the helicopter.

As they did so they heard a roar of some kind as a creature moved through the smoke and headed towards the bridge that connected the Warren to the Historic District, which meant that Alden, and whatever body he had been creating, was heading towards were Kessler had made his base of operations... and, in all the excitement the day had brought them, none of them had noticed that it was already turning towards the late evening, making them wonder where the day had gone for a few seconds, before Cole's phone went off.

"I told you to pick someone that you could trust." John stated, indicating that he not only knew what was going on, how none of them really wanted to know at the moment, but he had seen what Zeke had done and what he had tried to do with the Ray Sphere, "Ninety-three seconds."

"Zeke's my best friend, almost like a brother to me." Cole replied, because right now he wasn't in the mood to be talked to or lectured by someone that was hiding from all of his problems, especially since he could be helping them deal with the situation in some manner, "He's one of the few people, besides Trish, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, that I actually do trust... or did, anyway."

"Well genius, you blew it." John said, his tone revealing that, as of this moment, he was going to pin everything that both Alden and Kessler did on Cole, since he was the one that made the decision to bring Zeke in when he wouldn't have been of any help to the group, "Thanks to you Alden's on a killing spree and, to make matters worse, Kessler has the Ray Sphere once more. We need to resolve both situations. Sixty-three seconds."

"Why don't we let the two of them fight each other and swoop in when the dust clears?" Aria asked, because she was sure that the Historic District was mostly uninhabited at the moment, since that was where the Blast had taken place some time ago, "Surely we can grab the Ray Sphere once they've taken each other out."

"What if one of them activates it again and kills another ten thousand in the process?" John asked in return, apparently not knowing that the Blast annihilated everyone that was living in the Historic District, save for the unlucky survivors that were now living under Kessler's rule, which had to be far less than the number John said, "And who the hell knows what that Moya person wants with it. No, this is the only path we can take. Thirty-eight seconds."

"Look, you had best be serious about blowing that damn sphere to pieces," Adagio said, because right now she was annoyed and both her sisters knew that when she was annoyed she always broke something, though this time around it was likely going to be Alden that suffered her wrath, "because we're not in the mood for jokes."

"You have my word." John replied, though at the same time none of them were actually going to believe that promise until John did something that showed that he was committed to the destruction of the Ray Sphere, "Alden's heading into the Historic District, so you need to catch up with him and take him out, before looking for Kessler. I'll be in touch."

Instead of wasting time, and heading through the wreckage that was all around them, Cole let one of the sisters, Aria this time he noticed, pick him up as they flew towards the bridge that Alden was using to get to the Historic District, where they made record time and safely landed in front of the entrance of the bridge. From there the four of them walked forward, noticing that several of the Dust Men were following their leader, to the best of their ability, and started to fire at them the moment they saw the group enter the area, only for the group to attack them in return. The bridge, as they soon discovered, was already partly destroyed and some parts of it were on fire, though Aria used the flames to their advantage as she cleared out the Dust Men that were in their way, allowing Cole and her sisters to move forward before she caught up with them as they searched for Alden. While that happened, and Cole had to use the support structures on the side of the bridge to move forward, Moya called him and said something about being disconnected almost every time she tried to call one of them... to which they replied that they were a little busy and couldn't provide her with any tech support, before the call was disconnected by someone else, likely John at this point.

Fortunately it didn't take them long to blast their way through the Dust Men that were in their way, especially since they were all in areas were a single blast knocked them off the area they were standing on, before they found the area that Alden was in... and he happened to be traveling in what appeared to be the upper half of a golem that was made to resemble a person, though he turned and glared at them.

"Alden, this ends NOW!" Cole stated, because it was four against one, meaning that no matter what Alden did he was going to lose to the group, since they had the superior firepower and the attacks that the sisters used were sometimes even stronger than his own attacks.

"Ignorant piss-ants!" Alden snapped, indicating that he believed himself to be untouchable, that his incomplete metallic body would still give him the upper hand in this fight, all while he glared at them with anger in his eyes, "This is what my father wanted... me, governing all I could see! My destiny will be fulfilled! The four of you are like Kessler, craving something that doesn't belong to you. None of you understand, see the truth! But I do. I see it all!"

"You know, for something that can 'see it all', you aren't very smart." Adagio said, knowing that such an insult was going to make Alden mad, though at the same time she ignited her aura and extended her hands, along with her power, towards the water that was all around them, "You saw our powers when we were fighting your followers earlier, and what we were capable of at the top of your tower, though now... well, it's time for you to see your folly."

Cole watched as Adagio willed the water to rise and two massive dragons made out of water rose from the harbor, where she had them circle around the golem's arms for a few seconds before biting into the shoulders, where they froze into solid crystalline ice that prevented Alden from moving the arms. Aria took it another step forward as she latched her own energy onto the flames that were in front of Alden's golem, where the flames took on the shape of flame spikes and punctured the golem's body, further limiting the amount of movement that it was allowed to do. Even Sonata got in on the action as the wind acted up, forming blades that pierced the golem's back and not only pinned it against the spikes that were poking through it's chest, but also making sure that it was unable to move from that point forward, to which Alden stumbled out of his dead golem with a look of fear in his eyes, as he now understood how strong the group was... so much so that he actually threw himself into the harbor to get away from them.

This time around Adagio didn't do anything with the water as she and her sisters retracted their powers, as Alden was either going to be collected by authorities or drown, so she didn't find it necessary to bother with him at this point, not when he understood that he was outclassed now.

"Well, he's dealt with." Cole said, though at the same time the sisters nodded their heads and turned towards the other side of the bridge, where all four of them knew what was on the other side of the entrance, "One more district and we'll bring an end to this adventure... and finally make Kessler pay for all the lives he's destroyed so far."

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata followed after Cole was he started to head towards the Historic District, where Kessler and his army were gathering themselves for the final battle with the four of them, though this time they would be playing in Kessler's territory... and they had no idea what sort of tricks or traps he had for them, which meant they had to be careful as they moved forward from this point and engaged their enemies.

Comments

[Kamen rider yokai]

god damn it zeke!

[Daxen123]

Oh fuck I completely forgot about Zekrs betrayal here