Act II - Conduits

   The early sun's warmth covered the bustling city of Seattle like a large blanket. The occasional white, cumulonimbus clouds dotted the morning sky. Many people were waking up and headed to work to start their daily duties. The sound of car horns honking rudely woke up Cole. Groaning loudly, he accepted being woken up and hopped out of bed. Stretching and yawning at the same time, he grabbed a pair of clothes and headed into the shower.

About fifteen minutes later, all of his bathroom duties were done and he walked downstairs. Yawning once more, he began making coffee and sat down on the couch as it was being prepped. He turned on the television and began watching. About another fifteen minutes later, Zeke finally awoke. He walked downstairs after he awoke and poured him a cup of coffee. He then noticed Cole was staring out the window.

"Cole?" Zeke pondered what he was doing.

"Take a look at this." Cole claimed. Zeke walked over and peered out of the window as Cole instructed. Along the sidewalk in large numbers were soldiers adorned in black and yellow plated armor. Armed with either a machine gun or a shotgun, they were patrolling the streets. "Check the news."

Zeke turned around and sat down on the couch. Grabbing the remote, he changed the channel to the News. A whole new story was being looked into.

"Today on the news, the Department of Unified Protection seizes control of Seattle. The director of the government agency, Brooke Augustine, said this earlier today at a presentation speech." The camera switched to a view of an somewhat aged woman with orange hair in a blue trench coat.

"The men and woman here at DUP are only here to prevent any deaths at the hands of 'Bioterrorists'. Yes, that's right, Bioterrorists. More formally known as Conduits, I am here to stop any of these deviants from committing any crimes. You see, we have already caught hundreds of 'conduits' and are being stored at the Bioterrorist prison, Curden Cay. It is my job to make sure the people of the world are safe from Bioterrorists and Seattle will the first of many!" The sounds of people cheering her were heard after her speech ended.

"There you have it folks." The camera switched back to the local anchorman in a suit. "The DUP proving they're here to stay." Zeke turned off the television. He looked towards Cole. Bright, scarlet electricity was surging through him as he gritted his teeth in anger. This was Cole's repressed negative karmic energy he kept locked away, fearing what would happen he became evil once more.

"I try and save those goddamn people and they do this to me? Why the hell do I even try?" He angrily slammed his fist on the couch.

"Cole, calm down! They just don't want another like Empire City to happen. It's perfectly justifiable." Cole stared at Zeke before sighing and calming down. The sparking crimson lightning reverted to his normal icy blue coloration. "So, what do we do?"

"Show them their place." Cole headed upstairs and came back down a few moments later. He had on a different outfit rather than his bed clothes. A black and white T-shirt paired with charcoal pants. His sling bag was hung on his bag with the Amp in it's sheathe. "I'll be back before dinner." Cole then walked out the front door.

"Hey, you hear about that 'Bioterrorist' smokey dude?"

"Yeah, I did. His brother is apparently a cop."

"That's funny. Imagine it, your own brother is a 'Bioterrorist'. It's a little weird to imagine."

"Yeah, I'll sa-" One of the guards were interrupted as he was whacked in the back of the head.

"Hey, what the he-" The same fate was directed towards the second one.

"Two down, thousands to go." Cole said to himself.

"What do you think your doing?" Another guard walked up and asked, not seeing the bodies immediately.

"Just doing cleanup." Within a instant, Cole bashed the guard with the Amp. The guard was knocked unconscious as he fell to the ground. Cole then walked off, sheathing the Amp as he did.

  The next few hours of the day were spent doing cleanup on the city. Cole ran through the city, taking down any guard he saw and moved on. Each of them didn't stand a chance. Their armor was made up of a highly-conductive metal allow, he just didn't know what but they were easy for him to pick off. A few hours later, Cole found himself atop the Space Needle, staring at Seattle from high above.

"I just helped this planet two years ago from Changelings and I'm not about to let this happen."

"I hear ya, man. This just isn't right." Cole turned to the right and saw a man approach, roughly in his early twenties like Cole. On his head was a red beanie. He had on a black denim vest with a solid black shirt on underneath. He wore a pair of faded charcoal jeans with athletic shoes.

"Who are you?" Cole asked.

"The name's Delsin. You must not be from around here, or you'd know about me. I have quite the reputation here already and I've only been in this city for about fifteen minutes."

"I've been here since yesterday. All day I've been cleaning up D.U.P."

"Really? So have I. How the hell you do it?"

"With this?" Cole raised his left arm as lightning pulsed in his palm. Delsin gawked at his show of power.

"You're a Bio-Terrorist too?" Delsin raised his arm and formed Smoke in his palm, emanating fire and ash.

"Bio-Terrorist. I hate that name." Cole spat.

"Me too. So, who are you?"

"The name's Cole." He answered Delsin.

"Wait, Cole? The Cole MacGrath?"

"Yeah. You heard of me?"

"Dude, you're like famous!" Delsin stated.

"I wouldn't say that but thanks."

"Dude, how do you use your..you know...so easily?" He asked Cole.

"I've had these powers for two years now." Cole claimed, surging lightning to both hands after another like a rubber toy ball. "After so long, you adjust. And thanks to the Blast Cores."

"The what Cores?"

"Large rocks of Ray Sphere energy. You pass a current into and it releases one back into the nearest Conduit."

"Whoa. What does that do?" Delsin asked.

"Two things. One, it gets you a brand new spanking power or more. Two, it makes you stronger. Your Conduit powers are accelerated. As you get stronger, your power do as well. I've learned tons of powers, in fact I can show you a few on some D.U.P if you want."

"Sure. I love these powers, but my...brother doesn't. He's a cop and thinks it's a disease, a virus that needs to be cured."

"It's a curse and a blessing, Del. C'mon, follow me." Cole blew out the window and jumped right out. Delsin stared at the quickly plummeting Cole until he slammed into the ground in a blast of electricity. "Hurry up!" He yelled from the ground. Delsin gulped and jumped out.

  In mere second, he hit the ground, still unaffected by the fall at such a height. His brain had trouble racking how he lived that fall from so high. He knew he could fall from a large height but the Space Needle?"

"You good, Del?"

"Yeah. I think I am. Yo, heads up, D.U.P Patrol, probably wondering what those noises were. Let's do this!" Delsin charged at the patrol, whipping his chain at a Guard.

  Cole joined and smack a Guard with the Amp, charging him with lightning. Delsin quickly blasted the guard with a few shots of Smoke, downing that one. Sheathing the Amp, Cole threw a Electrocution Grenade at two guards. They were zapped intensely as they fell backwards to the ground. Cole then fired a Alpha Rocket at the last Guard. Unable to dodge at the amazing sight of it, the Guard took the attack head-on.

"Oh yeah!" Cole pumped his fist in the air.

"What the hell was that?" Delsin asked.

"I call it the Rocket. That was an Alpha, the normal one, I got others. Wanna see?" Cole nodded to the next group of Guards running towards the two Conduits.

"Do it." Delsin smirked. Cole nodded in response.

With no time to lose, Cole fired a Tripwire Rocket at them. One guard stepped to close and was zapped intensely. The lightning traveled from object to object, person to person. More Guards piled in as Cole piled a Hellfire Rocket. It nailed one Guard and then exploded in mini clusters, exploding once more on the unspusecting D.U.P."

"Damn, that's awesome! You gotta help me some of those Blast Cores, man."

"Sadly, there aren't anymore - to my knowledge anyways." Cole claimed. Delsin return a disappointed face.

"Dammit. Anything else you gotta show me?"

"Yeah. This is kinda a wa-" Cole was interrupted by a Helicopter flying above.

"Oh shit, Cole, chopper!"

"Now it ain't a waste. Just watch this." Tapping into one of his three Ionic Charges, Cole summoned forth a Ionic Storm. From the sky above, gray clouds quickly formed and let down a gigantic bolt of pure azure lightning. With nearly no effort, the Chopper was exploded. Parts of charged metal flew from the sky as smoke covered the air. Delsin then absorbed the smoke, clearing the air once more.

"Holy shit." Delsin's mouth was agape at the Ionic Storm.

"Yeah. Wasn't that awesome? I can do two more too. Then, I'm out of Ionic Charges. I should really save those though. I highly doubt anyone here has Charges. They'd have to been around the Ray Sphere which was in Empire City. Well, I found in New Marais so it's not too farfetched."

"Wait, Del. I have an idea from one of my friends. I'm gonna shoot a bolt and I want you to shoot it, okay?"

"Alright..."

Cole fired a Alpha Bolt from his hands as Delsin released a Smoke Shot at the bolt. The two elements then fused together. Clouded by ash, the Bolt became black and red with embers as it hit a a tall, four-story building. As it hit, it made a small burst of fire, singing the brick wall.

"What the?"

"The right Conduits can fuse together their powers, creating epic stuff like that. Cool, ain't it?"

"Are you kidding? Cole, I can see a bright new friendship here."

"Yeah, I can too."