Chapter 10: Hidden Package Bertrand Takes A Stand

Cole and Cassandra had until tonight, so they kept themselves busy, they split right up and ran around the sector. They then pants as they regroup at a roof and sat down, then they look at each other. "So… how did you do?" he asks her, she pants and huffs, "Stop muggers and a couple abductions, and was able to put a few of the musicians together, and created a band," she answers him, he chuckles at her and leads back. "I heard, they sound pretty good together, I even heard one from that gorilla movie with the man that was raised by them," he states and she blushes a little. "Tarzan is a really good movie and Sho bu bo de do it's a catchy tone." she defended herself. Cole just laughs at her, she growls at him and looks away, her nose stuck up in the air. He wipes a tear away and pats her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, but I'll admit, it is a catchy tone and it sounded good real good," he admits to her, she then looks back at him and arched her eyebrow at him. "No really, I promise." he assures her and she just rolls her eyes at him, "Oh. And I found two more dead drops and figured you would want to hear them as well." he informs him as she pulls her phone from her belt. He nods at her and she flips her phone open and presses play.

"Audio surveillance of Joseph Bertrand, file D082." "We need to do something about the swamp trash! She's been killing my boys and disrupting my operation. it's costing me money. The mean started to get superstitious about the Swamp Witch. She's slippery too. We can't track her once she jumps in the mangroves." "What did you have in mind, sir?" "Well… I thought perhaps you could whip up some kind of Conduit radar, or something of that nature." "Does this take precedence over the five other projects you have me working on?" "No, dammit. You finish those other things first. But the Conduit detector put it on the list."

the recording ends and they looked at each other, "So, he's obsessed with something, something that really has his attention." Cole states and Cassie nods at him, "I was thinking the same thing too and whatever he has planned it can't be good." she states and he rubs his chin, "Oh and this Swamp witch, isn't a witch at all, but a Conduit." she informs him, making him look at her. "Really?" he asks her, "Just listen," she tells him and plays the next one.

"Audio surveillance of Agent Kuo, file G58." "Reports keep coming in. Some kind of Swamp Ghost's been tearing up the Militia camps." "You don't believe it's a ghost?" "Well, I had a hunch we might be dealing with a new Conduit. So I bugged one of the camps last night, I got lucky. Listen to this:" "(Nix Warped.) Wha-What was that? (Nix warped then crazed laughter.) (Gunfire)" "Ahh!" "You come into mu swamp. My home!" "(Explosions and more gunfire.) Ceasefire! You, idiots, are shooting each other! (Nix warped) Ow! Get off me! Ahh!" "Come out here again, you best bring an army!"

Cassie ends the recording and she looks at him, "Okay, so we have another conduit on our hands, but is she friendly or enemy." he states as she crossed his arms, she smiles and lays her arm on her knee. "Well she really hates the Militia, which means she hates the Bertrand and that can only mean, she can be a potential ally." she informs him, he just looks at her, "Why do I except a but coming?" he asks her and she gave him an apologetic smile. "She…. Maybe… just a little crazy." she informs him. Cole just sighs at her, "But hey we can't pick and choose the people we want, right." she informs him. He just sighs again, "Of course." he mutters. Then he facepalmed. "Oh and I found this after killing some Militia," she states and then pulls out a paper with a picture on it.

Cole pulls his head away and looks at the picture, then he took it from her and looks down at it, "This is just at the Church." he informs her and she smiles then stood up and dust herself off. "Then that's where we're going," she informs him, then grabs his arm and then pulls him right onto his feet. He smiles and allows himself to pulled to his feet and dragged along behind her.

They ran along the roofs then jump in the air, glides down onto the ground and looks up at the Church and Cole looks down at the photo. "So it in one of the bell towers." he states then places the picture away, "It has to be in the right on, I'm sure of it." Cassie informs him and he looks at her, "I get that, the angle of the photo and the shading as well." he states and she ran to the Church and started to climb, Cole shakes his head and he hurried after her, she was getting better at the parkour climbing, some people around them notice that the two were climbing as they went to cheer them on.

Cassie stops as she looks down at them and laughs, Cole caught up with her and he too looks down and waves at them. Cassie chuckles at him and continued to climb, Cole looks up and follows after her, she then pulls herself into the tower and saw the package. Cole swung himself into the tower and sees her stand up and turn to him with the package in her hands he walks up to him and offer it to him, he smiles at her and grips it in his head, the package then grew bright as shards separated and were absorbed into their bodies, then the paper fell to dust as there was nothing left. Cole and Cassandra exhaled and looks at each other. He nods at her as she just smiles and the walk over to the edge and they both jumped.

~8~8~8~

After completing a few of the problems in New Marais, the ran into an alley then climb up the building as they were overlooking St. Ignatius. "Zeke. Cassie and I are in position for the rally, but we're going to stay out of sight until Bertrand takes the stage. We'll meet you inside." Cole informs him as he kneels down and looks over the stage that was outside of the church. Cassie just looks out at the Church looking and analyzing every possible escape route. "Low profile, got it." Zeke states.

The two then waited for nightfall to happen, seeing how it was only a half hour away. Cassie then exhales as she sat down and sat in Indian style. Cole looks at her and exhales then looks back at the stage and they waited.

Night time had finally come and people were gathered in front of the church, in front of the stage and some did not sound too happy about, whatever was going on. And there Joseph Bertrand stood on the stage, in front of the mics. "My friends, tonight we face the gravest threat that this fair city has ever seen. The devil and his spawn walk among us." he preached as the two ran along the balcony and then jumps down onto the street, "Cole Macgrath and Cassandra Macgrath, the Electric Man and the Electric fox here in New Marais." he states as the two walk into the crowd and blend in with them, walking past them and brushed past them as well. He then raised his hands and settles them down. "I know I know." he states as they cheered for him, "Yeah, go, Bertrand," Zeke said in a dull tone as the two walk up to them. "What did we miss?" Cole asks him as he held Cassie close to him. "Basically Bertrand's been telling everyone that, uh… that you're the devil and Cassie's your spawn," he informs them and they weren't all that shocked. "Oh, nice." they both answered.

Then suddenly Cassie's head started to ache, she blinks for a moment then exhales looking away and pressed her hand against her head, Cole then looks down at her with concern. But she assures him that she was fine then she took a quick look around and they look back at Bertrand, "Our forefathers bled and died in defense of this city. When history called upon them to stand against the enemy!" he shouts as he moves away from the stand. Cole looks at Cassie as she rolls her eyes and shakes her head "Did they cower? No! They fought!" he shouts as he pulls out his sword then stood back in front of the stand and lean in close. "To the last man," he states and the people cheered for him. Zeke just shook his head in disbelief as this man then looks back at his friends, "Let's get the hell out of here, figure something else out." he tells them and went to leave, but Cole places his hand on his shoulder and stops him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he states and Zeke turns back at him. "We gotta do this now, man. Otherwise, he's going to kill Wolfe." he reminds him. Zeke just glares at him and Cole exhales, "You don't have to stay here Zeke." he tells him and Zeke took a step back, not believing that his best friend just said that, "Hey man, I ain't going anywhere." he assures him.

Then Cassie's headache grew stronger making her groan a little then she presses her palm to her head, the two turn to her as she was hunched over, gripping her head with one hand in pain, "My men, these fine young men, are the guardians of the city. And they are all that stand between you and the freaks." he shouts and Cassie looks up trying to find out what was causing her head to ache, then she looks up and saw that on the church that one of the gargoyles, wasn't a gargoyle. "And as God as my witness, we shall hunt them down and destroy them all!" he shouts and the clapped for them. Cole held Cassie in his arms as he exchanged looks with Zeke and Zeke just shook his head. "Up there, freaks!" a man shouts and people started to scream as they saw the thing as well. Bertrand looks up as well, then he steps back and walks to one of his men, "You know what to do." he whispers to them. Then he was gone, Cassie exhales as the pain was gone, he looks to where Bertrand walk off too and she pulls out of Cole's arms and marches forward. Cole follows her in sync, "Out of our way." he snaps, shoving a man away then they charged into battle, "The Devil and his spawn's coming through!" Cole shouts as they charged.

They looked at the Militia and the monsters as the monsters were winning, but the stood firmed and pulls out their weapons, the monsters then growled and charged at them. Cole swung his Amp at them as Cassie cracks her whip and pulls the monsters away from the civilians. "Look! She just saved me!" a woman shouts, "They're trying to save us!" another shouts as Cole round about kicks two monsters, "They're protecting us!" a man shouts as Cassie spun and killed three monsters with the sharp edge of her whip, "Kill them all!" a woman shouts at them, once they were dead, Cassie cracks her whip back at her hip and pants, then Cole's phone went off and she ran to him, "Hey, man. Bertrand heading for his limo, but you can still catch him!" Zeke warns them. The two exchanged looks and they make a break for it. They jump over the ledge then they ran down the stairs, heading for the limo, "Another time Macgrath!" Bertrand shouts at them and the Limo took off, the two chased after him, but they couldn't catch up, "We can't keep up with him on foot. I'm going to need to get to some higher ground." Cole states as he pants, "The power-lines or the roofs." Cassie states and he nods at her.

They climb up the wall of the building, reaching the top then they ran to a power line and the grind on it going faster, "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about." Cassie laughs as they jump at the end then glides over to the next one and the chased after him, but RPGs were now firing at them "Aw, come on!" Cole whines and Cassie send them right back at them killing them, "Fuck off!" she shouts and went faster. But they ran out of power lines and land on the ground, Cassie send the rocket back to the Militiaman and they ran after the limo, but the make it to the roundabout and then there were more lines, Cassie smirks as she jumps onto it first and Cole follows after her, and they grind forward, jumps and lands on the limo. Cassie landed on top of the limo as Cole landed on the trunk. Bertrand wasn't all that concerned as he was smoking a cigar, the limo swerves a little, but then two were able to keep their balance. Then Cassie pulls Cole onto the hood and they look down at the man himself, "About time you and we had a little chat." Cole informs him, but Bertrand just glares at him. "I got nothing to said to you… freaks," he growls then looks away. -There's no fear in his eyes when he looks at us, only… hatred. Why would he hate us if he wasn't afraid of us?- Cassie wonders to herself but their hands pulsed with electricity, "Cut the crap. You're going to take us to Wolfe. Now!" Cole orders him, but Bertrand just laughs, "What's so funny?" Cassie questions him "Oh ho… wait, wait… if I were you, I'd be more worried about my head." he tells him, "What?" Cassie questions as she stood up, but they turn and saw a chopper, as it was too low and then it smacks Cole right in the face and he smacks Cassie as they went flying right off the limo, rolled on the ground and laid there on the cold cement ground. But Cassie just groans as she pulls herself right up, with her head on her forehead, then she looks around, crawling to Cole and pulls him onto her lap and rolls him on his side, but they looked up and saw that chopper fire missile at them, making them scramble onto their feet as a few cars were blown up.

Then they ran and jump into an alley then climb up the wall and peek out over the roof, "What the hell? This is your city, man!" Cole shouts at him, but the pilot ignored him and then Cassie growls as she pulls herself up and fires their latest upgrade, "Cassie!" Cole calls out to her, but she ignores him and fires at the chopper, Cole caught on and then joined her and they did some serious damage to the chopper, but it trained lasers on them, "Cover!" Cole shouts at her and they both turn and ran then they jump over the edge as the missiles were fired at them. The two fell and they landed on the ground, then they ran out of the alley from different directions and they did some more damage to the chopper, the Pilot couldn't get the both of them and it exploded, Cole chuckles a little, "Yeah! Yeah, huh! Hit me in the head again!" he shouts as the chopper spirals out of control and lands in the river. Cassie ran over to him and they both pant, looking over to where the chopper dive. They both looked at each other then they exhaled, walking over to the wall, pressed their back against it then slides down it, sitting on the ground. "Damn, that sucks." Cassie states, "Uh-huh." Cole agrees with her, "No one said that we would be fighting choppers or monsters. That was not in the deal." she informs him and Cole nods at her again. Then she smiles, "I love this town so much!" she laughs and Cole just laughs as well.

Then his phone went off and he answers it, "Damn man, Kuo never told us this town was overrun by a pack of inbred shirtless crocodile freaks." Zeke informs him, "Oh man I know, it's pretty cool right?" Cole asks, and Cassie looks at him as he was smirking at her. "Fuck yes!" she shouts with a smile on her face and Zeke laughs on the other line, "Oh, completely. Totally makes up for the Militia being here. And it gets even better, man. I think I might have stumbled onto a lead to Wolfe. Overhead some folks talking about a strange device they found on Gaffney street." Zeke informs him, "Alright, cool. We'll give it a look." Cole informs him and then hung up. The two just pants and looks at each, "Best. City. Ever." Cassie states and Cole just laughs as he wraps her in his arms.