InFamous: The Unusual Conduits

by Blackdrag-rose

New Marais: The Truth of the Beast

After acquiring the latest Blast Core from where it was hiding, or in this case being held considering that the Militia had been guarding it from both them and the Vermaak 88 soldiers, Cole and the Dazzlings made their way through Gas Works and headed to the roof area that Zeke had claimed as their newest base of operations. Cole wasn't exhausted or anything, since it was Adagio and her sisters that had smashed through the more powerful enemies so he could conserve his power for the fights ahead, but that didn't change the fact that he needed some time to himself before he activated the Blast Core and unlocked whatever powers it might give him. One thing they discovered was that the Militia seemed to have decided against pissing them off, as they weren't around the area that the Vermaak 88 soldiers controlled, and the parts of the area that they did control they stuck to to avoid being destroyed in a few moments. Fortunately that also spread to the Vermaak 88 soldiers, as none of them were out and about, likely because the majority of them had been defeated in their raid of the warehouses to try and find the Blast Core, meaning that they could move through the area without having to deviate for any enemies that were hurting people.

At the same time that gave the Dazzlings a few moments to understand what they had found inside the briefcase, as they were convinced that Bertrand's ultimate goal, behind the creation of all these Forced Conduits, was not to make money, since he donated a good portion of it to charities and other things like it, rather it was the genocide of all Conduits. Based on what they had learned about this world, from what little they could have found on their own, there were several people in the past that thought that they were working for the benefit of the planet by exterminating certain races or species, even though that resulted in wars and fights. It seemed that Bertrand was attempting to repeat the past for some reason, though the downside of the entire situation was that so many innocent people would be caught in the crossfire and that didn't sit well with them, not after having spent the time to learn about their own mistakes and make their lives better as Guardians of the People. They were also sure that there was no one, in all of Equus' history, that could match up to what was going on in this world, since most problems were dealt with before they could cause serious harm to the planet, before they all sighed and focused on moving through the area of the city they were in once more.

Despite the area that Zeke had decided to use as the base of operations for when they were in this part of the city, for however long that was since they were chasing Bertrand and searching for the Beast, Cole used one of the power poles to launch himself up to the roof and landed on the edge of it, before Adagio, Aria, and Sonata landed around him... while he moved forward and took a seat on the couch that Zeke had set up, before looking at the television that happened to rest in front of them.

"Hey." Zeke said, acknowledging their presence for a moment, showing that he was focused on the movie that happened to be playing on the television for now, though at the same time the Dazzlings honestly didn't care, since they were more focused on the fact that Bertrand and the Beast were still at large.

"Hey." Cole replied, though at the same time he raised his feet until they rested on the side of the table, while he noticed that the movie was an American Western that he remembered having been part of Zeke's collection, which told him why Zeke was watching it at the moment.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as Cole's phone vibrated, showing that either Kuo, Nix, or Trish wanted to talk to him at the moment, but what really happened shocked them, as Cole glanced at his phone for a moment before he raised his hand and clicked it off. Zeke, not a few seconds later, had his phone go off as well and raised his hand for a moment, where Cole glanced at him as he clicked it off as well, before picking up one of the beer bottles he had sitting in a cooler and handed one to Cole, who broke off the top on the table before drinking from it. Zeke offered one to the girls, knowing that the three of them might want to unwind as well, but they shook their heads and observed the duo as they laughed at the old movie that was playing at the moment, before sighing and keeping a watch over the area around their base of operations, since it was possible that Bertrand might find them while they were here and wanted to be sure that they kept their location hidden for as long as possible. At the same time, as they spread out to be sure they kept the entire area secure, they found that once the American Western movie was over there were a few comedy movies that both Cole and Zeke watched, to just enjoy their time together, while sharing more drinks with each other since the Dazzlings didn't want the ones that Zeke had brought for them.

Eventually the day turned to night, more bottles appeared on the table in front of the duo, and the movies continued to play, to which the Dazzlings ignored what was going on and occasionally one of them headed out to deal with one of the optional objectives that were still around the city, mostly because it was boring to wait for Cole and Zeke to do something other than sit on the couch and drink beer. The two of them fell asleep at some point in time and it took Cole some time before he woke back up, to which he pulled out the Blast Core they had gained, moved to an area that was good enough, and passed a current through the stone, releasing the power into his body before he crashed into the ground and fell asleep for real. At the same time the Dazzlings noticed the slight increase in power that they gained when Cole activated one of the Blast Cores, but this time around they sighed and waited for Cole to get back up, since they all felt that they were wasting time, especially since the Beast was still at large and Bertrand needed to be taken care off before they could focus on the true enemy.

When morning arrived, and Zeke had to use a remedy to get over the slight hangover that he had developed based on the amount of beer that he had drank, which Cole wasn't affected by thanks to his use of the Blast Core, the Dazzlings gathered together as Zeke stood nearby... and Cole, finally stirring from what he had done, opened his eyes and moaned for a moment.

"You getting used to that yet?" Zeke asked, though he had the feeling that this wasn't something that someone could get used to, not without absorbing a large number of Blast Cores, and he knew that they didn't have the time to go do something like that.

"Well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" Cole replied in kind, though at the same time he picked himself off of the floor and stretched his arms and legs for a few seconds, as the only downside to using a Blast Core was how sore his body felt for a few minutes, which usually disappeared when he tested out his new powers.

"Well, that depends... do you feel any stronger?" Aria inquired, as that was the whole point of Cole absorbing the Blast Cores that Wolfe wanted him to find and take into his body so he could power the RFI, which Zeke was still holding onto since he rarely went into the battlefield.

"I... I don't know." Cole said, to which he looked up at the roof that was higher than the one they were on and raised his hand for a moment, where he swung his hand as he focused on his new power and watched as a tether of some kind raced out and latched onto the edge of the ledge, pulling him up into the air before he pulled himself onto the roof, "Okay, now that's a nice way to climb and scale buildings."

"I also figured out what that message I got was last night." Zeke added, to which Cole dropped down onto the level that they were standing on and walked up to him, while at the same time he added some new coordinates to their phones for what was coming next, "I found out that Bertrand is loading something major onto the cargo ships in the harbor... no doubt it's the first shipment of his do-it-yourself Conduits."

"I'm willing to bet that those foreign powers paid Bertrand in advance for them." Sonata commented, remembering what they had seen in the briefcase, all incriminating evidence based on what they had seen, and knew that he was trying to start a world war, before she glanced up at the group, "How pissed do you guys think Bertrand will be if we went over to the harbor, assaulted the guards that are guarding the shipment, and sabotaged his ships? Think he'd come out of hiding long enough for us to deal with him?"

"Maybe Bertrand would get so mad that he turned into that bug thing." Zeke said, though he had to grin as the others smiled, as they were all thinking of sabotaging the ships and getting rid of the Forced Conduits that were being stored on board the ships, all while he was thinking of a way to get rid of Bertrand and the Beast, "Then maybe we can sit back while he and the Beast go at each other, and then swoop in and finish off whoever is left over."

"I'm going to be honest, I don't think that we'll be that lucky." Cole spoke up, as he had the feeling that something was going to happen after they sabotaged the ships that were in the harbor, something that the Dazzlings agreed with based on the nods that they were giving him, before he turned to leave the area, "Well then, I think it's time that we paid the harbor a visit and deal with those Forced Conduits... and whoever is guarding the shipment."

From there Cole, using his new Lightning Tether ability, moved forward and started to make his way towards the harbor that the shipments were in, while at the same time the Dazzlings flew overhead and kept an eye open for enemies that might try to stop them from progressing. Fortunately it didn't take them too long to reach the area that they were heading towards, as it wasn't hard to find the ships in question, and along the way they found a few Vermaak 88 soldiers and took care of them, just in case they were part of a larger unit in the area. When the four of them reached a certain point Zeke contacted them and informed them that the ships were still in the harbor, meaning that the ones they couldn't see at the moment were still there as well, and that the only natural way to sabotage the ships was for Cole to get to the front of the ships and disable the electric anchor winches that were located in that area. Of course they could have used Adagio's power over water to sink the ships, something that she was thinking about since it would ensure that the Forced Conduits wouldn't be used in the future, but they decided to come to an agreement once they boarded one of the ships and cleared it of any enemies that were guarding it.

As the four of them moved into the area they found that the enemies in question were the Vermaak 88 soldiers that they had encountered so far, though the reason they were here was obvious to the Dazzlings, as they had come to free their captive friends and increase their army tenfold, based on the crates aboard the ships. Adagio took a step back and let Aria, Sonata, and Cole focused on fighting the soldiers that were jumping around the area and trying to kill them, where the three of them used their powers to smash through their enemies and scattered them in the process. Adagio, on the other hand, focused her power for a few seconds and the water around the ship vibrated, as she intended to sink the ship and deprive those foreign powers of people who had been turned into Forced Conduits, while also depriving the Vermaak 88 soldiers of any additional forces that they were trying to gain. It was a good idea to sabotage the ships and prevent them from leaving the harbor, she agreed with that, but with the ice enemies around them she felt that leaving the ships in an area that they had easy access to was a terrible idea in her mind, which was why ice spikes erupted from the water and punctured the sides of the ship. Not a few seconds later she switched tactics and sent the water into the holes that she had created, causing the large ship to shudder as the water started to claim the lower levels, to which her sisters and their friend finished off the last of their enemies and pulled back.

They then spent a few moments to watch as the ship filled with water and sunk before their very eyes, depriving their foes of forces that they would use to torment the people of the city, but once the ship was under the water they turned towards the next ship, where they found it was the only one left in the area... meaning that Bertrand only had enough crates to fill two cargo ships, which made their jobs even easier since they didn't have to go out of their way to find a third ship that wouldn't have been in this harbor.

What was interesting was that the second ship had a larger force of Vermaak 88 soldiers guarding in, some of them clearly trying to open some of the containers so they could free their comrades, and near the front of the ship in question stood a Titan, something that Aria would be able to deal with without any assistance from Adagio, Sonata, or Cole. While Aria dealt with the Titan, by melting it until only the poor person that became the creature was left laying in a pool of water, the others eliminated the remaining soldiers that were around the area, making sure that they didn't free any additional forces to terrorize New Marais with. It didn't take them long to deal with the enemies that were around the ship, and make sure that the containers were sealed, before the four of them returned to the front of the second ship and Adagio started punching holes into the parts of the ship near the water, which would allow it to sink into the water and dispose of another large number of Forced Conduits. When she did that, however, the four of them felt a familiar surge of power behind them, one that belonged to the Beast, and turned around immediately, where they found a man whose iris were a deep red color and had several scars that were visible on his body, since he was wearing a dark red suit with no undershirt, though the scars roughly matched the cracks in The Beast's skin... though at the same time the Dazzlings recognized the man that was standing before them.

It seemed impossible, considering that he had been ripped apart when the Ray Sphere was destroyed and a vortex of energy was unleashed, but standing in front of them was John White, the person who had helped them by finding where the Ray Sphere was located and unwillingly sacrificed himself in the process... and, if they took Sonata's words from when they arrived in New Marais into consideration, it was possible that he had become the very thing that the four of them had been trying to defeat the entire time.

"What the hell?" Cole asked, as he wasn't sure that they could trust their eyes, because he was hoping that this was just a form that the Beast took and that it wasn't John who had been transformed into their enemy, though the next few seconds would tell him whether or not his thoughts were correct.

"It's good to see you again, MacGrath." the man said, his voice confirming that he was John White, much to the shock of the majority of the group, before he glanced at the girls that were staring at him as well, "It's also good to see the three of you again as well."

"John, you died." Aria stated, as that was something that they had witnessed and she wasn't sure that she wanted to admit that Sonata was right about another thing, because it was strange to admit that Sonata was right about anything when she acted foolish from time to time, "We saw the Ray Sphere rip you apart."

"You're right, I was dead... for a while, anyway." John replied, to which he took a few steps forward, as if he wanted to talk to them for a moment and nothing else, while at the same time his eyes shifted to Cole, showing them that he was focusing on him, "I can still feel it... the Ray Sphere exploding, tearing me apart, atom by atom. Yet, somehow, a part of me lingered on. I had to pull myself back together... do you have any idea how hard that is?"

"I imagine it's pretty tricky." Sonata said, though at the same time she knew that one of them was going to ask the question that they were thinking, which was why she was willing to step up to the plate and ask it, even though she knew that Cole and her sisters hoped that she was wrong, "It's clear that you're not a ghost, since you're clearly standing before us, meaning that you're a Conduit of some kind... let me guess, you're the Beast?"

"You're smarter than I originally thought you were." John stated, to which Sonata smiled for a moment, as she was a little happy to have right in this regard, before he focused on all of them, as he had something to say, "I want to show you something, Cole."

Before Cole could do anything John raised his right hand and placed two of his fingers on his forehead, though not even a second later the energy around his head pulsed as he staggered backwards, while at the same time John vanished before the Dazzlings could get him... which meant that they had to play his game and see what he was doing so they could form a better plan of attack for when they faced him.

You can see it now. See the plague. John said, his voice echoing in the area around them, something that only they could hear at the moment, but at the same time Cole knew why the Dazzlings wouldn't be able to see whatever John had given him, since they weren't from this world, Meet me at the plague ward... you need to see it for yourselves.

Since the ships were taken care of, and they were sure that there weren't any other ships left in the area for Bertrand to use to transport any additional Forced Conduits around the world, Cole and the Dazzlings moved forward and started their trek through Gas Works, while Adagio made sure that the ship sank before they walked to their destination. As they walked Cole glanced around every now and then, seeing something when he sensed the area around him as he focused on the people that were near them, but the Dazzlings didn't say anything about that as they walked, as they had no idea what he was seeing since John's power didn't work on them. While they did that John spoke to them again, revealing that New Marais wasn't the only place that the plague was in, because at the moment the plague was spreading all over the East Coast, infecting millions of people in the process, and, if they chose to believe his words, it was only going to get worse in the coming weeks. He then stated that the government couldn't do anything to stop the plague and that only they could do something to stop it, which was why he was directing them towards the plague ward, as there was a potential Conduit that was staying there and he wanted them to find her and attempt to heal her.

Fortunately when they arrived at the plague ward they found that Trish wasn't present, as she was usually visiting all of the areas in an attempt to heal as many people as she could, though right now she was back at one of the safe houses, resting from all the energy she had expanded so far... though even then it didn't take them long to figure out where the lady in question was resting, only Cole found that his healing abilities couldn't do anything to help her.

"These people are already dead... nothing can be done for them," John said, to which the four of them glanced to the side as he materialized nearby, while at the same time walking towards the lady and glancing at her, causing the group to back up and give him space as the Dazzlings prepared their auras to protect them, "but she's different. Because of the Conduit gene. I have the power to activate her, to activate all of our kind, but not without cost."

In the following moments John gathered his power for a moment, which was followed by a fiery explosion, like a miniature Ray Sphere, going off and knocked the four of them backwards, but the Dazzlings, thanks to their preparations, managed to move them out of the plague ward as that happened. A few seconds later they turned around and looked at the smoking building, as they were shocked that John had done that in front of their eyes, though while Cole recovered from the ordeal the lady that John had told them to seek out started to walk out of the building. She seemed to be smiling, like she knew that her life had been over the moment she found out that she had the plague, and now she was given a second chance at life, something that she intended to use to the best of her ability, but there was something that she had to do before she did anything else. She knelt down for a moment, to thank Cole and the Dazzlings for what they did, believing that they were the ones that had saved her, before she flew into the sky and went flying off into the distance, annoying Cole for a moment because he was still the only Conduit around at the moment that didn't have the ability to fly around the area.

Humanity is dead. John told them, causing them to look around as Cole pulled himself to his feet once more, but this time around none of them bothered to look around for the voice, as they knew that John would appear when he wanted to and that he could be anywhere inside the city at the moment, Help me save what I can.

Cole and the Dazzlings stared at the smoking building, realizing that John had been following them all the way from Empire City and that every time a city was attacked he was actually using a Ray Sphere blast to kill thousands upon thousands of people to activate however many Conduits were inside that city, all in a twisted sense of trying to save people from the plague that came from Kessler's creation of the Ray Sphere.

"Hey guys, I found out that Bertrand's holed up in the Molloy Building, waiting for a chopper to arrive." Zeke spoke up, his voice coming from their phones for a moment, but at the same time the four of them heard him cough more than he had been doing earlier, making them wonder if he had the plague as well, "Too bad it won't ever arrive due to a 'heinous act of sabotage' by your's truly."

"Nice work Zeke," Cole replied, as this improved their moods greatly, as they were still slightly devastated by the fact that they had figured out who the Beast was and what he was planning, because now they could deal with Bertrand and finish off his plans at long last, "We'll ambush him on the helipad and finish this."

"We got him this time!" Laroche added, his tone revealing that he was happy with the fact that they were finally going after Bertrand at long last, and this time without him having anywhere to go, meaning that the game of cat and mouse between them was over, "If he changes into the monster form of his again, my boys will light him up with those special spotlights that Zeke invented."

Cole glanced at his friends for a moment, as they were all eager to bring an end to Bertrand's plans, and they headed out of the area that they were in immediately, though once they were done with Bertrand they were going to focus on John's plan and figure out if there were any remaining Blast Cores in the city before the battle with their true enemy... and then, once they were sure that they were ready, the battle with the Beast would begin, and they were going to do everything in their power to bring him down.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

finally caught up on this after a hard day read, but has been worth it. looking forward to more

[Blackdrag-rose]

9160027 I'm glad that you enjoyed the story, especially since we're nearing the end of the story.

[PrismStrike]

9160093
looks like there will be another addition to my faves soon then

[Blackdrag-rose]

9160897 There's also the Universe 13 finale story to look forward to, once I finish this story and the other two that are going on at the moment.

[PrismStrike]

9160931
oh thats gunna be awesome. looking forward to the major cross over, though there are still two of your stories i need to read, sly cooper and world of warcraft though i will get to them eventually