Chapter 4: Step into the Spotlight. Hero? A Day Later It was near the middle of the night, and everyone in the city was at home. Gathering around their television, watching their own family shows. Jason just returned from work, and the sound of his exhaustion filled the apartment. After a quick shower, he put on his signature look, with the solar panel Karin gave him on a wristband. He was supposed to meet with Clark for a drink, well Clark would drink while Jason and him would just talk. As he left his apartment, taking the stair well to the ground floor, he could not help but shake a feeling of dread, as if the world would change over night. He laughed at the thought as he walked by the reception desk, and jokingly waved at the receptionist whose eyes were glued to a screen. But he was stopped as he heard a sudden blast of static, and his attention went to the TV. On the screen plastered across was the Emergency Broadcast Service. Then it flicker and was replaced with a black screen with yellow letter that read DUP. "Attention citizens of Creek Central," a voice broke out, "This is a broadcast from the Department of Unified Protection, a newly formed government agency. Due to the recent virus outbreak and with sanction of the President of the United States, the city has been placed under quarantine. Marshal Law has also been put into effect, you will now abide by any rules that the DUP will give you. They are here to contain the situation. Please preform you're lives as you normally would. Good night." Jason blinked, the whole damn thing sounded like so cover up bullshit. Granted the quarantine made sense, but not this "DUP" taking charge of the city. He may not care about government agency or their duties, but he knew the CDC was supposed to be in control of quarantines and other stuff. He ran outside, ready to make a mad dash to his friends, but stopped when he saw the streets were littered with military vehicles. Not having any patience, he dashed to the nearest ally, climbed up the first fire escape he saw, and made for the roof. As he raced across the rooftops, he caught a horrible sight. "Holy shit." He muttered, normally the night was calm, minus the traffic, and you could hear the city's beauty in the night But the symphony of the night was drowned out by screams. Left and right, Jason could see people being dragged out of their home. Some had guns to their heads others were trying to not be shot. They were being pulled along in a straight line, one after the other. The only light was in the horizon in the direction they were being shepard towards. The closer they got the quicker the sound of breaking glass, and screams were drowned out by the sound of cheering. They were being led to an auditorium. People crowded together, clinging to their loved ones scared of what would come next. Jason clenched his fists in anger. There was something about this whole damn set up that was wrong. These guys were rounding up certain people and treating them like animals, while other people were being order to go to the stadium. He managed to find a way to sneak inside the stadium and hide up in the rafters, his eyes widened as he recognized Jenna in the crowd before the stage. He felt his blood boiling and anger flow through him, but before he even considered fighting, he knew he need more information. So he sat and watched. In the center of the stadium a large stage had been set up, there were guys dress in swat like armor, and armed with government issued assault rifles. Directly in front of the stage, were all the people that had been dragged out of their homes at gun point. There were also camera's everywhere, and podium as well. Then a woman in a wheel chair entered, it was Moya who was smirking. Back at the cabin, Cole, Zeke and Lucy were watching in horror. Both Zeke and Cole knew what was going on, one look at Moya and they had pieced it all together. Cole was amazed that Moya had even survived sinking with that damn battleship. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen of Creek Central," she cooly said, "I apologize for the unpleasantries that my men had to use. However this is all for your best interest and health." She then revealed a picture of Empire City after the Beast destroyed it, along with serval other cities. "As many of you are aware," she continued, "The Empire Event claimed the lives of countless cities. But what you don't know is that this was done by a single man. A man that had superpowers. A Conduit" the whole stadium went into an uproar. Jason blinked, finding the information hard to believe. He finally knew what he was, but he did not know how to feel about it. He like everyone else watched the whole Empire Events play out, all that death and destruction. He could not help but wonder if that was what his powers were going to do to him. Would he become a monster? "I know what you're thinking," she went on, "Superpowers? I wish I was joking, believe me. But Conduits are indeed real, and their powers cause terrible destruction. Not just property damage mind you, the activation of conduits caused the creation of the Empire Plague, which as you took countless lives. However somehow two years all active and non-active conduits dropped dead and the plague was destroyed. This would have been cause for celebration, had we not learned that a mere year ago, a new conduit was activated. Denis Moray, a young man with multiple arrests and priors, who somehow gained the ability to control wind. To which he went on a crime spree taking many lives including federal agents. After finally catching him off guard we put him down. We then started the DUP and developed Conduit detectors. Our instruments tell us that this city is crawling with inactive Conduits, which are just as dangerous as active ones. Even an unactivated conduit can create a disease much similar to the empire plague. So in order to keep you all safe and healthily we must round up all conduits in the city. Those of you gathered in front of the stage, are conduits Although our devices aren't perfect they will work at short range." Moya nodded to one her guards, and he walked into the crowd, with a device in hand, along with his gun in the other. Even from the angle he was at, Jason could see the soldier moving towards Jenna. Jason felt tense and readying himself to fight. He moved to remove Karin's panel, but as he moved to touch it, a spark flashed between his hand and the panel. Before he could even react, his vision was flooded by crisp white, and slowly replaced by images of him, teleporting. When he came back to reality, he felt...different. Almost as if there was a new power coursing through him. He had to tested this out. He looked over the a better vantage point, and as he leapt into the air, he felt a surge of power. Then a bright flash of light occurred, and he landed on the new vantage. He chuckled as he thought how cool this power was. Deciding to call it his "Flash Jump." Then he heard a scream, Jenna's scream. "GET OFF ME!" "Shut up!" Followed by a loud slap. Jason gritted his teeth, and put tied his bandana around his face, and slid his shades on, he was done sighting on the sidelines. Screw his powers turning him into a monster, these people were the real monsters and he would make them pay. He charged up his hand with power. "Time to meet the house guests," he coldly joked, he then flashed jumped towards the soldier that was struggling to get Jenna to cooperate. He let out a high pitch whistle, catching the soldier attention. Using his powers Jason shot the man in chest three times, sending him crashing to the ground. Jason landed calmly above him, smirking beneath his bandana. He heard the collective sound of rifles being readied, a quick glance behind him revealed several DUP officers weapons ready and trained on him. He knew he'd be toast, knowing that fueled his body with an adrenaline he had never experienced before, and he unknowingly flash jumped towards the closet one and blasted him right in the face. Another Officer came at him, and Jason simply fired off two shots, disarming him with one and taking his leg out with the other. He flash jumped again as two others tried to charge him, he materialized his hands on their helmets, and with a surge of strength he slammed their skulls onto the hard ground, knocking them out. For second he was enjoying this, using his powers on actual people instead of stupid thrown away trash, the feeling he got the fight was unlike any other. It was amazing, rewarding, incomparable, and intoxicating, like the sweetest of drinks! It was...he looked upon the terrified people in the crowd...wrong. He wasn't here to test out his powers, no he came here to free these people. They were his reasons, they had to be! Otherwise he might become like that other Conduit...The Beast. So he decided no more lethal strikes for the night, and did his best to avoid being shot, as he looked for a way to free the captives. The front door was out of the question, cause there were guards there, and there was no back door. So he would have to make his own door. But how? "Oh shit!" He shouted and he dodged an rocket, he watched as the missile nailed the solid wall behind him, studying the cracks it made. Then he saw a small amount of propane tanks, and smirked. He flash jumped to the tanks and placed them by the wall. He then found the officer with the RPG and whistled. "Hey chicken shit!" He mocked, "Bet ya can't hit me!" The officer started firing off rockets instantly, and Jason kept flash jumping out the way of each blast and saving innocents from the blasts. He stopped briefly in front of the propane tanks he had stacked by the crack in the wall. He saw the laser shine down on his face, and he waved jokingly, hoping the officer would take the bait. He hopes were repaid, as he watched the rocket sail towards him, at the last second he flash jumped out. From a safe distance he watched the rocket pierce a propane tank, causing a miniature explosion, and as the dust cleared a glance of freedom emerged. The explosion had great a big enough gap that people could escape from. He smirked, flash jumped at the RPG officer and knocked him out. He jumped back down and cupped his hands over his mouth. "GET OUT OF HERE!" He shouted, "THESE IDIOTS CAN'T HOLD YOU HERE! GO HOME!" The crowd didn't need anything else, they rushed towards the makeshift exist. Jason would have joined them, but their was one thing he need to take care of. He scanned the stadium and saw an antenna looking thing, and figured that was how they found Conduits, and he flash jumped to it. He rubbed his hands together and they glowed with power. "Now let's take care of this junk!" He smirked, and he blasted the thing until it looked broken and disappeared in a flash of light. Zeke and Cole watched the whole thing on the TV, and instantly recognized Jason as the kid that helped them with the thief. They both knew that they need to find him before this DUP did. Jason re-materialize five-blocks away on a rooftop. He was out of breath and exhausted, figuring he had strained his powers a bit too much. But soon he started laughing. He actually did it, he actually used his powers and came out on top! He beat up the DUP! He had showed them that they were not in control! He had showed them that this was his town, and his responsibility to protect it's people from them. More importantly that HE could do it! Ring Ring Ring His phone brought him out of his thoughts and found a text from Clark waiting for him. "We need to talk." It read. And end chapter. It was a little rushed and I'm sorry about that but sometimes I get writers block...not a great excuse but it's all I got, sorry. If you have any other suggestions for this story or wanna leave a review then ya know what ta do.