The Rally
Delsin and Fetch tried to keep their heads low until the rally began. Unwanted attention would have probably been the death of them. Allison's word were rattling in their brains until they had to shut their eyes to process the information. Delsin tried to think logically; in all the years that Conduits have existed, it only made sense that a Conduit supremacist were to show up, right. Fetch cleared her mind and thought about other things. Once night fell, the two of them were going to stake out the location of the rally.
"What do you expect to see," Fetch asked.
"No idea. We see what we see, analyze the situation, then designate our actions accordingly," Delsin furrowed his brow.
Fetch sneered, "Look at you, using grown up words."
Delsin dusted off his shoulders and smiled more to himself than Fetch.
One by one and group by group, Conduits from around Seattle began pouring into the seemingly tiny venue of the rally. Delsin and Fetch couldn't get the best view of what was going on from their vantage point.
"We have to go down there," Delsin decided.
"Together?!" Fetch looked at Delsin, almost appalled that he would say that.
"I'm not the worst thing you could bring to a Conduit Supremacist rally," Delsin responded.
Fetch hit him on the chest and explained, "What if something happens to one of us, it's better that they get just me or you rather than both. I'm not saying that trouble follows you or anything but –"
Delsin chose not to fight with her on the last comment and turned back to the entrance of the rally. He hasn't had this much excitement in his life since he met Lana. Not to say that Lana has taken all the interesting things out of Delsin's life, but they found less dangerous interests. Just thinking about getting captured and Lana, made Delsin's palms sweat. Fetch put her hand on Delsin's shoulder and nodded. This was a signal that she was going to go first.
Fetch ran off the side of the building and dashed down in a stream of magenta neon. Delsin watched her walk up the the entrance and disappear inside. He made his way down to the street via an air vent and began walking to the venue. There were no guards at the door. However, what was there was what looked like a Conduit detector made by the DUP. Delsin was a little hesitant to walk through the threshold, but Fetch made it through with no problem… why wouldn't he. The organizers of the rally managed to reverse engineer the machine to detect non-Conduits. Delsin made it through without alarm and opened a heavy steel door that lead to the main stage of the rally. He skipped down the 6 steps and onto the hard concrete floor that was filled with people. The room was kind of dark and everyone looked similar. Delsin couldn't tell Fetch from any other stranger.
Some walked to center stage to test the mic, he was wearing a red armband with unrecognizable words from the distance that Delsin was standing. The man tapped the mic a few times, looked out in the crowd, and went back from where he came.
Time went on and there was no sign of Fetch. Time passed even more and the lights turned completely off. The only thing illuminating the room was the stage lights. Delsin chose to stand close to the exit, Fetch had the same idea in mind.
Someone covering their face with a hood walked slowly to the mic. The hairs on Delsin's arms began to stand up. Once the person reached the mic, they pulled back their hood, and took in the presence of the crowd. The man standing before them was middle aged, but had a soft face marred by a scar extending from under his chin. He still looked trusting though, like he cared about you without actually knowing you.
"Most of you know me as Dillinger. I'm glad that all of you show an interest in saving the Conduits of Seattle. Well, the Conduits of the world," His voice could have carried through the room without the mic.
Dillinger took the mic in his hands and smiled, "As Conduits we have been oppressed and trampled on and beaten by humans. I'm saying right here, right now… no more. We have endless powers, endless knowledge, and we are endless."
Dillinger extended his free hand to the crowd.
"We contain multitudes," he quoted Walt Whitman, then continued, "As Conduits, the world belongs to us by natural selection or divine intervention or destiny. Whatever it is that has granted us our abilities, we must use them."
The crowd cheered, but Delsin and Fetch looked on without a response.
Dillinger began speaking again, "Many of you may stare at me with looks of disgusted astonishment, but my claims are true. We are better, smarter, and wiser than any other being beyond those doors. We have the power to take what the humans took from us; whether it be dignity, property, or family. We can take it back. Today I come to you as a speaker instead of a leader. Our cause has no leader because we have the ability to self govern..."
Delsin finally spotted Fetch about 15 feet away from him. He began walked and pushing his way towards her.
"Are you stupid, I said stay away from me," Fetch kept her voice down.
"No, I'm getting a bad vibe, we gotta go," Delsin grabbed Fetch by the elbow.
"I know what he's saying is horse shit, Del, but we should stay until it's over. The more intel we get from him, the better," Fetch argued and Delsin wasn't listening.
Everything became background noise to Delsin, his top priority was getting the two of them out safe. Once they got to the top step, the pair was met with a locked door. Dillinger turned his attention to Delsin and Fetch.
"We have two deserters," Dillinger's blue eyes went from charismatic to icy.
The absent guards at the door began coming from backstage. Delsin shot the floor with a Smoke Shot and drained the shards of splintered concrete. Fetch was about to shoot covering neon to distract the guards, but neon didn't leave her hand. She and Dillinger made eye contact. Delsin put up a concrete wall between them and the guards instead. Fetch looked to the door and used neon to demolish the handle and lock.
The pair ran up an adjacent building then ran from rooftop to rooftop until they were a safe distance from the rally.
"Well what now asshole," Fetch pouted to Delsin.
"I don't know."
It was now going to be impossible for them to keep their heads down.
The following morning Fetch and Delsin looked on the internet to see the parts of the rally they missed. Dillinger labeled them as a sickness to the cause, human sympathizers, and not to be trusted. In just a few minutes, the pair managed to become public enemy number one.
