InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

New Marais: Stories of the Past

Upon hearing that Nix had something that she wanted to show them, and finding that Zeke still needed some time to figure out if the rumors about the device being transferred were true, Cole and the Dazzlings decided that they might as well head out and see what their friend wanted to show them. As such the four of them made their way through New Marais, stopping every now and then when they spotted the Militia trying to mug someone, when they tried to cart off 'deviants' in the name of Bertrand, defused more of those Blast Shard bombs, and generally helped whoever they could along the way. One thing that Adagio and her sisters noticed was that the people of New Marais seemed to be warming up to the idea that not all people with powers were as bad as the media made them out to be, especially when one of the ladies they had assisted went out of her way to tell her friends that the four of them were heroes and not villains. It was nice hearing that some people enjoyed them coming to their assistance, especially when the Militia was involved in the ordeal, and that brought a smile to their faces as they continued to make their way to the coordinates that Nix had sent them earlier.

One thing they had to contend with was running into a few groups of swamp monsters, one of which was lead by one of the Ravagers and another lead by a Devourer, that they had to pause and take care of before they killed more innocent people than they had already. Cole was pleased that they had already figured out the weaknesses of their enemies, as it allowed them to bring an end to the larger threats in a timely fashion before they focused on the smaller, less threatening, enemies that were running towards them. Doing all of that also brought a smile to the faces of the people that were around them, showing that the swamp monsters were a blight on New Marais and that they were pleased to see that they were being taken care of at long last, since the Militia was having such a hard time killing them. Of course the people that the four of them had saved were also pleased to see the Militia were being beat as well, since it was clear that they weren't doing their job in keeping New Marais safe, and that brought a smile to their faces as they continued towards the destination that Nix was waiting at.

It took them some time, in addition to stopping some fights between the Militia and the swamp monsters, but eventually the group made their way to the area that Nix was waiting in, though when they arrived they found themselves in a part of the swamp that had a small dock that had no ships... and, as they entered the area, they found Nix sitting at the end of the dock, with her feet rather close to the water that was in front of them.

"You had better watch your feet," Aria commented, letting Nix know that the four of them had arrived, even though she likely knew that they were there since three of them had hooves instead of normal feet, but it never hurt to talk and someone know what was going on, "alligators aren't the worst thing in the waters anymore."

"Too bad, nice day for a skinny dip." Nix replied, though as she spoke she glanced back at them for a moment, just to show that she was acknowledging that they were there, before she glanced out at the water once more as she thought about something else.

"Go right ahead, we're not stopping you." Cole said, even though he wasn't interested in seeing Nix in such a situation, especially since he still had Trish in his life, and his tone even reflected that for a few seconds, though whether or not Nix caught that none of them could really tell, "Want to tell us what this is all about?"

"I grew up out there..." Nix stated, beckoning to the swamp in front of them, to a specific part that she knew about, while at the same time the group watched what was going on, as they were interested in what she had to tell them, since that was the whole reason they came out here in the first place, "It's a whole other world. Only people I knew were thieves and crazies, and poor like you never seen. My momma was all that... used to be..."

"Nix... what happened?" Sonata asked, as the tone in Nix's voice revealed that she was emotional about what she was talking about, meaning that it had to be a sore subject of some kind, and she knew that talking about it would help ease the pain that she was feeling at the moment.

"That's what I'm going to show you." Nix said, to which she held up a hand and Cole, being nice to her, helped her back onto her feet, though that was before she turned and looked at them with a familiar smile on her face, "But first, we have to get the four of you a boat... and these good 'ol boys have a real nice boat."

Of course Nix was referring to the nearby plantation that the Militia currently controlled, who she attacked instantly once they arrived outside the gate, but as the group followed her they knew that they could have bypassed getting the boat since one of the Dazzlings could have carried Cole to the destination as they followed Nix. Since their friend wanted to harass the Militia once more, and this would affect their overall influence on this area at the same time, the four of them joined Nix in her assault and started blasting the soldiers that came out to fight them, who clearly weren't expecting such an attack at the moment. Nix, just like Kuo the previous night, called out for Cole to assist her in taking out the enemies that were in front of them, combining their powers in the manner they had done when they first came into contact with each other, while at the same time the Dazzlings simply focused on the task at hand and continued to take out the soldiers that got in their way. Between their power, and the combination that Cole and Nix were pulling off, it didn't take the five of them long to clear out the enemies that were all around them and secure the boat that Nix wanted them to claim... and she was the only one that smiled when she looked at it.

Cole and the Dazzlings hoped that whatever Nix wanted to show them was worth all this effort, because while they were happy to clear out the Militia, and let someone else take control of the plantation that they had just cleared, none of them had any idea what they were doing.

"Let's go for a ride." Nix stated, though at the same time, as the group noticed that the boat in front of them was identical to the boat they had used to get into New Marais in the first place, she jumped onto the boat and started to head towards the control room, "I know the way, so I'll drive. You just enjoy the view."

Cole, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata jumped onto the boat and let Nix get them underway, allowing her to take them out into a part of the swamp that they hadn't been in before, not that they cared enough to explore the area in question, to which they stood still and watched as they moved out from where the plantation was located. It didn't take them long before one of them found something out of place, as the four of them were the first to notice that there were some Militia watchtowers that were lining the way to Nix's destination and, as it turned out, even Nix spotted them, but not a few moments later they found out that, while the first tower was empty, the ones following it had guards on them. As such Cole focused on knocking around the rockets that were being fired at them while Aria, using some of the fire that was already near them, destroyed the towers that were attacking them and allowed Nix to continue moving them towards their destination. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Nix ordered them off the boat, as she wanted them to take care of the Militia that were in front of them so they didn't sink their boat, and the group replied immediately, attacking the various enemies that were in front of them and knocked them around, while at the same time obliterating the towers that were all around them.

When the swamp monsters made their arrival, however, Nix immediately called out for them to let the idiots fight it out with the creatures, to which the group decided not to annoy her and returned to the boat as Nix moved up to where they were standing, allowing them to move even deeper into the swamp. Cole even commented that the swamp monsters seemed even more pissed off than usual, where Nix informed him, and the Dazzlings, that they were just defending their territory and the five of them didn't need to waste time on them, not when the creatures would take care of the Militia for them. A few seconds later, however, some of the blade arm swamp monsters jumped onto the boat and tried to attack one of them while they were looking at the other enemies, but Cole and the sisters were ready for battle and retaliated the instant their enemies showed themselves, while at the same time they wondered if the swamp monsters was why the Militia had built a stronghold of sorts in this area, to keep them from heading into New Marais.

It didn't take them long to reach another Militia camp, one that had already been broken by something that clearly wasn't them, and Nix continued to drive the boat towards her destination, before they spotted a Hive Lord that wanted to fight the 'invaders', forcing them to battle it... not that it lasted too long, since their grenades were more than enough to take care of their opponent and allowed them to return to the boat so they could move forward. As they moved forward more Ravagers and Hive Lords started attacking the boat with projectiles, though Nix told the group to leave them alone and that they should ride it out, before they heard a roar that was vastly different than the others they had heard so far from the swamp monsters... and, if they were right in their thoughts, it was even larger than their current enemies.

"What was that?" Adagio asked, though while she wasn't afraid of anything this world had to offer them, since they had fought the Beast already, she was still curious as to what they had jut heard, and she could tell that the others had the same thoughts that she had.

"A sign that we're getting close." Nix replied, though her tone was more silent than what they were expecting, telling them something about the situation, but before anyone could say anything Nix spoke again, cutting them all off in the process, "Shut your mouths, and maybe it'll pass us by."

The five of them remained silent as they heard the large creature make it's way through the swamp, crushing some things as it walked through the area and growling every now and then, but, for the most part, it appeared that Nix's idea was worth it, as the creature never came to attack them and left them to their own devices.

"Think we're good." Nix eventually said, showing that they had gotten some good distance between them and whatever creature was hidden by the fog that had sprung up, though at the same time the group looked around the area that they were in as she continued to move them forward.

"What the hell was that thing?" Cole asked, because he sensed that Nix might know more about the creature than what they knew about, though at the same time he was happy to put that behind them, while knowing that, at some point in time, they would have to deal with that creature.

"Never stuck around to get a look." Nix replied, showing that she actually knew nothing about whatever they had seen in the fog, despite what Cole had been thinking, and she continued moving the boat towards their destination, "Anyhow, we're here. The real show's up ahead on foot."

When Nix brought the boat to a stop, and turned off the engine, she went dead silent as she lead the way to what she wanted to show them, forcing the four of them to do the same thing as they followed after her, before their eyes widened as they reached the area in question. Resting in front of them was a familiar sight, as they had been in one when the Ray Sphere went off and gave Cole his powers, because resting in front of them was a blast zone that looked like it had been created by either the actual Ray Sphere or a modified one of some kind, with a pillar where the device rested in the dead center of the blast. Nix, speaking with a pained voice, described what had happened here, revealing that Bertrand had come here with a number of outcasts and a Ray Sphere, though the people he had brought here were prostitutes and swamp dwellers, people that he thought no one would care about, before he released the power of the Ray Sphere. Nix was forced to watch as her entire family was swallowed by the blast, especially her mother, and her own powers had been activated that night, turning her into a powerhouse of a Conduit, but, at the same time, she wasn't the only one that had survived the activation of the Ray Sphere.

As the group started to leave the area in front of them, and took the boat back to New Marais, Cole and the Dazzlings had to wonder what sort of power Bertrand, who hated Conduits with a unique passion, had unlocked by sacrificing all those people in such a manner... and something told them that they wouldn't find out for some time, even though not knowing his powers meant that they had to be careful with him in the near future.

"I had to show that to someone, just to prove that it was... real." Nix commented, though at the same time she brought the boat to a stop when she reached their destination, which would allow them to leave once they were ready to depart, "Figured that the Demon and the Sirens of Empire City would understand."

"We're going to get Bertrand, Nix, I can promise you that." Cole said, though now they had a few more reasons to take out the man that was in control of New Marais, because he needed to be stopped before he did something that couldn't be reversed.

"Oh, I know, it's just, uh..." Nix replied, where both Cole and the Dazzlings noticed that she was thinking about what she had showed them earlier, as it had to be deeply emotional for her in the first place, before she stared down at them from the room where the controls were located, "look, I gotta go punch something... been driving that boat too damn long. You know?"

Before any of them could reply Nix charged out of the control room, jumped back to where the dock was located, and headed off into New Marais without looking back, causing the four of them to look at each other for a few seconds as they wondered what they were going to do about her in the future... though before they could consider anything they heard their phones go off and found that Zeke wanted to talk to them for a few moments.

"Hey guys, I've got some big news." Zeke spoke up, though as he said that Cole and the Dazzlings could tell that he was pleased with the results of his spy work, meaning that he might have found the machine that Bertrand had used on Kuo earlier, something that Kuo wanted to destroy, "It's time we huddle up."

Cole nodded his head the moment the call was over, to which Aria grabbed onto him as she and her sisters took to the skies once more, before they headed towards the base of operations that Zeke had chosen for them this time around, which happened to be the first one he created and not the one that was near the fortress he had been staring at the last time they had seen him. Fortunately it didn't take too long for them to reach their destination, on account of the fact that the Dazzlings could move fast when they were flying, and when they reached the hideout Aria set Cole down before they all landed around him, where they found that Trish had joined them this time around... and both Kuo and Zeke were walking up to the roof at that very moment.

"Hey guys, I thought that was you," Zeke said, looking at the four new arrivals for a moment, as only they could have gotten here so quickly, despite the fact that Nix had a head start on them, and, just by thinking of her, the easy to anger Conduit joined them as well, even though she may have some crazy idea in mind when he said what he was thinking about this time around.

"So we is all here." Nix stated, noticing that all of the Conduits were present, meaning that the unstoppable force had gathered once more, even though she personally felt that six was a little too much for New Marais at times, before she focused on the task at hand, "What's the big secret, Zeke?"

"It's official: the Transfer Device is somewhere inside Fort Phillipe." Zeke replied, revealing that his work studying the fort for signs of the machine that had been used on Kuo had bore some good fruit this time around, because Cole and the Dazzlings were smiling the moment they heard the news, even though a pained look appeared on Kuo's face as she thought about the machine once more.

"Oh, little girl's pissed that Bertrand copied her powers onto a bunch of nobodies." Nix said, though at the same time the majority of the group glanced at her, because they were a little surprised that she was going to stir up drama when they needed to be united against their enemy.

"It's got to be destroyed..." Kuo stated, to which she turned from where she had been standing and faced the rest of the group, deciding that now wasn't the time to be fighting with Nix, as that would come at a later time, once the Beast was no longer a threat for them to worry about, "We have to destroy it."

"What?" Nix replied in kind, showing the group that she had her own thoughts on the matter, while at the same time Kuo raised an eyebrow as she stared at the Conduit that was clearly her polar opposite, "No, no, no way. We keep it for ourselves, rip off the powers of everyone else. Yeah?"

"Kuo, Nix, now isn't the time to be talking about what to do with the machine, since you don't have it yet." Trish said, as while she didn't have the terrible experience that Kuo had with the Transfer Device, as Zeke called it, she knew that such a thing had to be destroyed, especially when she thought about the power that the Dazzlings commanded and wondered if those could be transferred as well.

"What did you say, bitch?" Nix asked, though as she turned towards Trish, as she was annoyed that someone with no powers at all had the nerve to offer some advice on the situation, because she could put up with Zeke, mostly because he found her some fun things to do, she wasn't about to take it from her, while the others raised their eyebrows as Cole glared at the back of her head, "Just because you hang out with Zeke doesn't mean that we have to listen to your opinions on what to do and what not to do. Who the hell do you think you are?"

"She is Trish Dailey, and she's my girlfriend." Cole answered, though at the same time he rested his right hand on Nix's left shoulder, where her eyes went wide for a moment as she felt some of his electricity as he touched her, "Trish has had some wonderful ideas in the past, ones that have helped us take care of business back in Empire City, so I would suggest that you listen to her from this point forward."

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata knew that, since Nix was pretty much a fan of Cole and the three of them, thanks to the stories that Moya had spread, she would be willing to listen to what he said, to which Nix nodded her head and Cole stopped touching her shoulder, before they returned to the task at hand.

"Now then, onto the matter at hand." Cole said, as he was already getting tired of this and wanted both Nix and Kuo to not fight for a few moments, even though that wasn't going to happen for some time, and he hoped that their friend from the swamp could mind her manners in the future, in regards to Trish, "Fort Phillipe is huge, so it's going to take an army to help us clear it out, cover the exits, and do anything else that we can think of before we claim the Transfer Device from Bertrand. I suggest that we ask Laroche if he and his Rebels would assist us, since it will remove a thorn from his side in the process."

"Yeah, we can use the textbook 'Hearts and Minds' campaign," Kuo added, as she was liking where this was going, even though Nix looked like she was irritated that she couldn't just destroy the rebels and the Militia at the same time, as she turned towards Cole, "We give them something that they really need."

"You mean like medicine?" Trish asked, though that was when a smile appeared on her face when Kuo nodded her head for a moment, as she knew something that the others didn't, not that it mattered since they were Conduits and they healed differently than normal people, "Since we've arrived in New Marais, and you've started gathering more power while freeing the people, I've noticed that none of the Militia suffering from the plague. Zeke, thanks to his Militia status, has made a map of all the Militia patrols, so if we look at it we can find where Bertrand is hoarding all the medicine and then, with them in hand, we can give them to the Rebels and enlist their help in this mission."

"Oh yeah, this is going to work out just fine." Kuo said, to which she, Zeke, and Trish headed down to where Zeke kept the map in question, leaving Cole and the Dazzlings alone with Nix, who was clearly upset that they were already thinking about taking the side of the Rebels.

"No, no, no, that's going to make them stronger!" Nix stated, showing that she was definitely annoyed about what was going on, as if she had another plan of attack that they could use, though the Dazzlings, at least, were willing to amuse her since she showed them that blast zone earlier, "We need them angry, and dependent on us."

"Nothing good comes from trying something like that." Adagio replied, remembering what she and her sisters had tried to do before their original amulets had been shattered, before she stared at Nix, knowing that she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Here's my idea: you dress me up as one of those Militia guys, and then I go on an ass kicking spree." Nix said, her tone revealing that she liked her idea, as it involved killing people instead of giving away medicine to people she considered lower than her, "Then one of you, or all of you, can swoop in and save the day, making you look like big heroes to those Rebel idiots. What do you think?"

"Personally, I think you're crazy." Aria stated, as that sounded like a horrible plan, going on a massacre and then swooping in to 'save the day', just to convince an army to assist them, as that would actually weaken their chances of succeeding in the assault and Nix wasn't thinking about that.

"I think you like it." Nix said, to which she joined off the roof and headed off to the area that she was going to wait in, to see if they picked her over Kuo and the others, as if she thought that they were actually going to change their minds from what Cole had said earlier.

Cole and the Dazzlings sighed as they waited on the roof for a few moments, as they weren't going to go with Nix's insane plan and knew that helping the Rebels was the correct path at this point in time, and a short break would allow Zeke, Kuo, and Trish some time to figure out where the medicine was located... and then, once they were located, they would give the medicine to the Rebels and get the assault of Fort Phillipe underway.