All Over Again

So in the middle of the night, Cole, Kuo, Zeke and Sonya were extracted from New Marais by boat. The commissioner of the police along with Laroche saw them off. They both seem to understand why Cole & Co had to go, but it was clear that they were worried what might happen to the town in Cole's absence. After about an hour or so, they arrived at their destination; the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. «Can't believe that uncle Sam would give another one of these to Moya.» Zeke commented once they were on board. «Who said that she's the one running the show?» Kuo whispered back. «This ship is most likely commanded by Rear Admiral Philip S. Davidson, not Moya.»

The four of them were ushered to the admiral's office and Cole agreed to let Kuo do most of the talking, since she was more government material than any of the others combined. This was not the time or place to throw some lip and Cole steeled himself for some prejudice comments with border lining racist undertones. Just don't let it get to you, Cole told himself over and over again. Thankfully, the admiral proved to be a reasonable and understanding man. He was discreet about it, but there were faint hints that he wasn't too happy about Moya either. A rough plan was presented to the group.

They'd set course north right away get get busy securing the cities closest to Washington D.C. The president and other important government personnel had long been evacuated to a secure location. Most likely a nuclear fallout shelter, Cole thought to himself. He was in no hurry to meet the president though, Cole had bigger fish to catch. Once those cities had been secured from Conduits, they'd move to their next target. A prioritized list would be ready by then. So far, things were going smoothly. The military were quick and efficient, no dabbling about on this ship.

The next part was a bit hard to swallow, as the admiral asked for detailed descriptions of their individual powers, in order to come up with the best strategies and tactics. They all fell silent and it was only after a small nudge from Cole's side that Sonya spoke up. He figured that she'd be least useful to the military, so she'd work as an icebreaker. Cole was the real price, so he'd wait as long as he could. «So you can fly and that's it?» The admiral asked, not sounding disappointed at all. Rather a genuine interest and fascination could be seen on his face.

Sonya explained her ability as best as she could, but failed to give specifics in terms of maximum height, speed, range and the like. «Tell you what Ms Croft. We better get some solid answers to those questions. I suggest we start tomorrow morning to collect some data.» The admiral said. «But sir... we're at sea?» Sonya pointed out a little nervously. «True, but we also got a lot of planes and helicopters at our disposal.» The admiral assured her. That didn't seem to be very comforting for Sonya, but she didn't press the issue. Next up was Kuo.

Her NSA agent persona kicked in and she gave clear, sharp answers to all of the admirals questions. Even if the answer was nothing more than «Sorry sir, I don't know.» Kuo didn't waver and was straight as an arrow. Cole was impressed to say the least. The admiral also appeared to be pleased with Kuo's professional take on the questioning. «And you figured out these powers on your own? Through trial and error? Even learning how to best utilize them? I wish you were on my crew, agent Kuo.» The admiral was full of praise. «Yes and no, sir.» Kuo replied.

She went in detail that for the first few hours she'd try things out, being encourage by Zeke to do so. However, Kuo was not shy to admit her limitations and gave Cole much credit for what she could do today. «In short Mr MacGrath allowed me to reach as much of my potential as possible.» She concluded, to which the admiral actually gave her a short applause. «Straight and honest, even if it means putting yourself in a lesser bright light. I like that!» He smiled at Kuo before turning his attention to Zeke.

Zeke didn't put on any act and right of the bat he put the cards on the table. He wasn't a Conduit, but he'd been with Cole from the start. Explaining how he'd been the supporter, doing little things that if left unattended, would be a distraction to Cole, making him loose focus on the bigger and important things. Kuo stepped in and vouched for Zeke, giving concrete examples of how Zeke, despite being without Conduit powers, had helped them with either information or pointing out things they might otherwise have missed. With the military added to the team, Zeke's role might become excessive, but Cole couldn't think of fighting this fight without him.

The admiral didn't seem to be willing to press that issue right now. Instead he turned his focus on the crown jewel; Cole MacGrath. Of all the Conduits, he was the first, the original, the strongest and the most experienced. «I've gone over the audio logs of a NSA agent, John Smith.» The admiral began. «Do you know him?» He asked Cole. «Yes sir, we talked during the Empire City incident and even worked together to secure the Ray Sphere.» Cole answered, figuring he better stick to the truth for as long as he could. He just hoped that the admiral wouldn't ask questions that would force him to lie. Admiral Davidson stuck to the same questions he'd given Sonya and Kuo, more details about Cole's powers.

Cole was forthcoming and answered the questions the admiral came with as best he could. He also mentioned that some of his powers were compatible with Kuo's, but left out that he'd gotten some of her powers thanks to Bertrand's Power Transfer Device. Cole felt that it was a little too early to give that kind of info for free. So far the admiral had given a solid first impression, but so had Moya back in the day. He'd rather wait a while and see if the admiral was a real ally or just another power hungry government opportunist. The Power Transfer Device had been destroyed and as far as Cole knew, there were no more blast cores left. Unless John had made some when he turned those cities into smoldering craters.

At this point the admiral told them that he'd heard enough for today and had them taken to their quarters. He insisted that they all get a good nights sleep, for it would be an early day tomorrow with more questions and practical demonstrations of their powers. Cole and Zeke shared one room, while Kuo and Sonya shared another. «So what's your take on the admiral, Cole?» Zeke asked once they'd settled down in their room. «I don't know man. He seems legit and all, but...» He left it hanging. «Yeah, he's got that military vibe going on. Lots of medals, spotless uniform, the works.» Zeke agreed. Of course he has a military vibe, the man is an admiral for crying out loud.

They could easily be double crossed. Far out at sea, Cole couldn't do too much. Knock him overboard and he was dead. Same with Kuo, except she'd just freeze inside a small self made iceberg. Cole was unsure if she'd be able to survive something like that, but he had heard that there were some frogs that could survive inside a chunk of ice. No breath, no pulse, no heartbeat, nothing. But thaw it up and it wakes up and goes about its business as if nothing had happened. Then again, Kuo could freeze people and not fatally injure them. If she could do that to normal people, you'd expect her to survive herself.

What about Sonya? She'd take off, but with all the guns, missiles, targeting systems, jets and helicopters on this ship, she'd be hard pressed to get away alive. Yeah, they were sleeping inside the jaws of the lion now. True that Cole had taken out an air craft carrier before, but that thing was docked and it was not by Cole's effort alone. David and those weird super soldiers that Moya had cooked up had a say in it too. No, this time it was different. Better play it cool until they get solid land on their feet. «I just need a hammer. Please, I'm okay, it's no big deal!» Cole could hear Kuo talking to someone outside their room.

Opening the door a little to take a peek, Cole saw Kuo talking to a very upset crew member. «What's the problem?» He asked, opening the door wider. «Oh Cole. It's nothing, just something stupid. Sorry if I woke you.» Kuo said, hiding her hands behind her back. «Is that a bucket on your hand?» He asked, barely holding back a laugh. Embarrassed, Kuo held up her left hand, which was inside a bucket. «By accident, I put my hand into a bucket of water, causing it to freeze and now it's stuck.» She sighed. The crew member on the other hand wanted to take her to the infirmary right away, worried about frost damage and what not.

Cole couldn't help but laugh and assured the crew member that this was going to work out just fine. Rather than a hammer, he suggested that Kuo stopped by the kitchen and borrowed their stove to melt the ice. Still embarrassed, Kuo followed the crew member to the kitchen while Cole went back to his room. «What was that all about?» Zeke asked. «Not much, just some practical issues with Kuo's powers.» Cole brushed it off as a minor, but amusing thing. The two sat down on each bed, facing each other. «We're going at it again, huh?» Zeke said more to himself than to Cole. «Yeah, hey third time's the charm. This time we got some back-up.» Cole pointed out.

Ah, who was he kidding? He knew what Zeke meant. It would be Empire City all over again. A handful of Conduits, fighting over scraps and smoldering ruins, with innocent people getting caught and used in the cross fire. Who'd be waiting? Another Sasha? Another Alden? Another Bertrand? The only comfort he'd find was that it wouldn't be another John. «Say, I've been wondering about something. What happened to Nix?» Zeke asked, bring Cole out of his troubled thoughts. «She... she's dead Zeke. I killed her at Fort Philippe.» Cole told him, which left Zeke without words for a long time. «Why?» He finally asked Cole. «Nix... she was going to kill Sonya and she attacked Kuo too. I tried to talk to her, stop her, but she left me no choice Zeke.»

The mood and atmosphere sank to new depths. Nix had been different from the other Conduits, she'd been one of them. True, they didn't always see eye to eye, but she was still miles away from Sasha, Alden, Kessler or the rest of the lot. A metallic knock on their door startled the living shit out of both Cole and Zeke, making them jolt with surprise. Cole cleared his throat and went to open the door. Kuo stood there, still stuck to the bucket and in near tears. «It won't melt!» She cried. Now that Cole thought about it, Kuo's powers were probably freezing the water faster than the stove could melt it.

«Zeke, come over here. We've got a problem for you.» Cole called over his shoulder with a smirk, the depressive mood was thawing away. Zeke stepped up and had a look at the bucket, the ice and Kuo's hand. «Maybe we could use a blowtorch?» He mused, shifting the bucket around to look at it from different angles. «Are you crazy? You could cut her wrist of!» Cole objected. «Just take of the larger chunks, then melt off the rest.» Zeke said defensively. «Maybe a hammer is the best choice after all?» Cole asked. «No can do brother, you'd crush her hand if you did that.» Zeke protested. «JUST GET IT OFF!» Kuo screamed. «Not exactly the Fantastic Four, are you guys?» The same crew member that was with Kuo the first time commented dryly.