Hey guys! Sorry it took a little while to get this up, but it was close to the end of the marking period and two of my teachers haven't updated my grades, even after I handed the assignments in, and my parents are getting irritated. But hey, you're not here to listen to the sob story that is my life, you're here to read about Marshall's adventures in the world of inFAMOUS! (I hope...)

Anyways, hope you enjoy, and I'll talk to you again in the next chapter!

...

Chapter 9: Repairs Continue

I woke with a groan, clutching my head as I sat up. I could see Delsin a short distance away - as well as the fire everywhere from the crashed chopper.

"Hey man, you alright?" Delsin called out with a grunt as he got to his feet.

"I'll live." Delsin nodded, then offered me a hand, which I gladly accepted before being pulled to my feet. I bright blue glow out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Looking at it, I could see it was the remains of the helicopter - with a blue sword sticking out of its side, letting off what appeared to be pixels.

"What the hell?" I muttered, moving closer. This was definitely a Conduit's work - you couldn't make something like this in the real world with out powers. "Think it's the one we're looking for?" I asked, turning to my leech of a friend.

Delsin shrugged, then pulled out his phone.

"Eugene, those busses are long gone. Any chance you know where they went?"

"I dunno, radio chatter's all over the place, I can't figure out where they're headed."

"Wait, you're inside the DUP's radio network? How the hell did you manage to do that?" I sputtered. I was honestly surprised - if this guy could worm his way into their system, it either meant he was an agent, he was an amazing hacker, or that the DUP's radios are crap. I wouldn't be surprised if the last two statements were true.

"Just this phone app I've been tinkering with. Here, I'll send you a link." Delsin's phone beeped a few seconds later, signifying a received message.

"Alright, so how's it work?" I asked, glancing over Delsin's shoulder as he pulled up the app.

"It's a signal tracker. You can listen in on the DUP's communications. But, the cool thing is you can use it to pinpoint the direction the signal's coming from."

"Oh man, I'm going to have to take this thing out for a test drive!" Delsin chuckled as he absorbed the smoke from the wreck. I copied him, bricks flying off a nearby wall to replenish my supply. After making sure we were both ready, Delsin hit 'Track' - and was met by 'No Signal - Climb Higher.'

"Damnit." Delsin took a few steps toward a nearby vent before I grabbed his arm.

"Hold up - there's something I want to try." I said with a grin.

...

"Alright, this is great!" Delsin complimented as we hovered in the air over the buildings atop a platform made of bricks. I grinned - my new method of travel has been concocted. This 'Brick Slab' technique was much better and much more maneuverable than just plain-old Brick Jumps. Delsin held up his phone and hit the 'Track' button again.

"...drove right into a goddamned ambush. It was definitely Rowe. We were able to get clear with our cargo, but we lost contact with the others." A voice spoke up as Delsin tapped into the radio signals.

"Hey Eugene, we got something!"

"I told you!" Eugene exclaimed proudly.

...

We continued to follow the signal until we found a bus crashed into the side of a building, still smoking heavily. A nearby APC had another one of those glowing pixel-swords embedded in its side. Delsin grinned as we descended, smoke curling around his arms as he prepared to fight. It took all of three seconds for he DUP to spot us.

"It's them! Rowe and Tern!" One yelled, pointing us out before beginning to shoot. Delsin jumped ship and Comet Dropped onto several poor soldiers while I jumped and launched my Brick Slab at the one who yelled, smashing him into the ground. I landed and immediately turned toward the dozen or so soldiers who were currently trying to riddle Delsin with holes.

"Hey assholes!" I yelled, brick swirling around my arms and beginning to build up around me. Delsin took the hint and got out of the way before I unleashed an enormous wave of brick at the unfortunate soldiers. The ground shook and cracked from the force as the red wave traveled forwards; those unfortunate enough to be caught in its path were swept up in the 'current' and knocked into the side of a building before becoming trapped there, the brick covering them and sticking them to the wall.

"Nice!" Delsin complimented, grinning at my handiwork. I grinned back.

I'd discovered how to use the 'Tidal Brick,' as I called it, a while ago. It was essentially the Karma Bomb technique for my powers, but I needed quite a lot of Good Karma to use it. On the plus side, it was immensely powerful, and didn't drain my supply (for whatever reason), so it was fairly useful in stressful situations. On the downside, it took a full ten seconds to charge up, during which I was vulnerable, not to mention due to its wide range I might hit innocents. But when it came to crowd control, there was no better attack.

"Alright then, let's see if we can't help these prisoners..." I trailed off as I noticed the prison bus was empty.

"Someone else must have beat us to 'em." Delsin suggested with certainty.

A sudden crash brought our attention back to the bus, where a DUP soldier, completely clad in concrete armor, had landed.

"Well, you're new." Delsin commented.

"Delsin Rowe and Marshall Tern, you are coming with us!" He declared gruffly. Delsin and I glanced at each other, then spoke as one.

"Sorry, but we've got other plans!"

And with that, we leapt into battle.

...

"Again, this was really disappointing." I said, kicking the arm of one of the dead, concrete-covered agents. I immediately regretted it, as a bolt of pain shot through my foot. Delsin spoke into his phone as I hopped around on one foot.

"Eugene, we found that first bus, but its empty. There were three on the overpass, which means-"

"There's still two to go." I finished. We got no reply.

"Hey there, fan-of-ours, you still there?" Still no reply. "Heh, one minor setback and you hang up on us. Some fan you are."

Once my foot stopped hurting, I created another Brick Slab and hopped aboard, Delsin following as he began tracking the signal again.

...

"We need help!" A panicked voice yelled this time. "There's too many of them! They're everywhere! Everywhere! The fog... I can't see a thing! Can you hear? You hear that?! It's them! Send reinforcements! We're pinned down! Not many left! Oh god, what are they?!"

"Well that sounds promising." I muttered sarcastically.

...

"Again? Seriously?" I asked, staring at the empty prison bus we'd found.

"Eh, third time's the charm, right?" Delsin joked, gently punching my shoulder.

"Let's just try and find that third bus before whatever did this does." I suggested, glancing toward the pixelated sword stuck in the roof of the bus.

...

"Okay, what in the hell have we walked in on?" I asked as we descended again. Delsin had no answer for me as we stared at the blue, angel-like beings who were currently beating the hell out of the DUP troopers guarding the bus, which was laying on its side.

"It's Rowe and Tern! These monsters have to be theirs! Screw the Angels, kill them!" A DUP trooper yelled, pointing us out.

"Oh, great. Blamed for something we didn't do. I hate that feeling," I grumbled as we got to work.

...

Once we were done, the angel-like creatures flew away. Delsin began grumbling to himself.

"Angels? Are you kidding me?"

"That means we're either after a Conduit that makes angels, or we're going after God." I added.

"I don't like our odds with that matchup." Delsin's phone suddenly rang, catching our attention.

"Hey Delsin, they found one of those vests the DUP suspects wear over by the Hing Hay Market." Eugene said the moment the call was accepted. "Guy it belonged to might still be there, there's lots of places to hide."

"Oh, well thanks for the tip. So where'd you disappear to earlier, huh?"

"Hey, maybe Conduits don't have to go to the bathroom, but the rest of us do." Delsin sighed, then changed the subject.

"How do you get all this information about what's going on?"

"Hey, in the Lantern District the walls have ears and eyes. I just have friends in high places." The call ended there.

I glanced at Delsin as he put the phone down.

"Okay, one last time." He grinned.