All Apologies
The old senior camp member did the presentations, as if he was introducing distant relatives to his grandchild. «Hello uncle Cole, aunt Lucy. I'm Albert, it's a pleasure to meet you.» He greeted the two, giving them a polite little nod with his head. Cole and Kuo exchanged looks. Aunt and uncle? Well, given the circumstances, it wasn't unexpected that a kid like Albert would get a dent or two in his mind. Cole didn't know where to start and he kept on wishing that Sonya would come flying in through a window.
The silence dragged on and Cole found himself remembering Alden. He'd been a little kid, born and raised to take over the First Sons, and he most like would have, if it weren't for Kessler. Kessler had kicked in the doors, taken over the show and thrown little Alden out on the streets. Why he wasn't sure, since Alden was a Conduit he might be of some use to Kessler, as an experimental subject for some Ray Sphere prototype or whatever. No point in dwelling on what your alternative future self did in the past, Cole thought to himself and tried to find ways to approach the ugly and tragic truth in front of him.
Albert wasn't really taken aback by the silent minutes that ticked by, he just sat there calm as a winter still lake. «I'm very happy that you decided to visit, uncle Cole and you too aunt Lucy. And, and you're helping people, right?» Albert beamed a large smile as he spoke. Was it a real smile or just something Albert did to cope with the Hell he'd found himself in? Had he gone insane? Could he, would he snap and go berserk if Cole or Kuo didn't play along with is act as uncle and aunt? Cole wasn't too keen on finding out. He wasn't feeling like getting into a fight, with a kid like Albert. Insane or sane, Cole decided to tag along even if it was an act. He couldn't stomach anything less.
Struggling to find a starting point, Cole sat down flat on the floor and just started with some basic stuff; how was it going, were there anything he or aunt Lucy could help him with, was Albert himself doing okay and so on. Cole felt he was walking through a minefield and that he had a thousand needles loaded with poison poking every inch of his skin. Albert did remain remarkably calm and answered each question with a smile. Things were bad, but it could have been worse and Albert was doing his best to make it better. He appreciated Cole's offer for help and would take him up on his offer. Regarding himself, Albert said that collecting rocks had helped him getting over the worst part, but he was missing his mother badly.
Suspecting that Albert's mother might have been killed when John first came to town, Cole didn't press the issue. Carefully, Cole asked what Albert knew about Rose. «She's a bad lady!» Albert pouted and explained that Rose was bullying people to forget her own misery. «Hurting people just to make yourself feel a little better for a fleeting minute is just wrong!» Albert seemed very firm in his belief. Afraid that any more might upset Albert unnecessary, Kuo gave Cole a nudge, suggesting they'd call it a day. Cole was curious to know what gave this little kid the conviction to do all this, stand up against Rose and her thugs, protect ordinary people and shelter them, but let the question drop.
Once they were outside and had walked for a few blocks, Kuo squatted down and started crying. Cole thought he'd seen it all, but Albert had just taken it to a whole other level. He squatted down next to Kuo and embraced her. «Sshhh, sshhh, it's going to be okay.» He whispered in her ear as he gently rubbed her shoulder and rocked her slowly back and forth, as if putting a child to sleep. Kuo calmed down a little, still sniffing her ice blue eyes met with Cole's. He gently brushed her hair aside, giving her a comforting smile.
John, all apologies in the world is not enough. Your way was wrong and I'm glad I stopped you, Cole thought while looking up at the blue skies, still holding Kuo in a close embrace. «We can't use him.» Kuo said, regaining some of her composure. Cole whole heartily agreed. Moya could spit molten lava for all he cared, he was not going to ask Albert help them take out Rose. On their way back to Sonya and the main camp, Cole called in to Zeke and the rest, reporting in on the status of Albert. Every word tasted like rotten meat as Cole told them about Albert. Zeke didn't say much, just telling him to keep it together and not give up.
That evening, Cole, Kuo and Sonya went over their options in how to take out Rose. As far as they could tell, Rose was the glue that held it all together, much like with Bertrand in New Marais. Take her out and her thugs will fall apart, confused, scared and leaderless. Without a Conduit backing them up, admiral Davidson could clean up any remaining goons that still clung to their guns. Kuo volunteered to take on Rose's goons, as she could easily freeze them without hurting them. Cole would then be free to concentrate on Rose. Various ranged attacks were discussed, but what worried Cole the most was that smog.
Even of Kuo froze the goons in their tracks, it was still possible for Rose to drain them with her smog, making it a long battle. Since Rose had taken in an unknown number of blast shards, they could not tell how much smog she could carry before she had to... recharge, however she did that. Moya came with some input regarding Sasha, whom had been captured and studied by DARPA to an extent. Nearly all of Sasha's bodily fluids had been replaced by the tar and her body was producing massive amounts of it, taking in just about any other liquid and converting it using her own body, into the tar. If Rose was anything like Sasha, she'd be able to take in just about any type of gas and convert as Sasha could.
After planning for the bulk of the night, Cole, Kuo and Sonya had a plan worth trying. Kuo'd take care of the goons, Cole would get Rose's attention and keep her pinned. Sonya would get a chance to laser target Rose from a distance and admiral Davidson would fire special missiles that would knock away the air upon detonation. It would thin out the existing smog and rob Rose of any fuel to create new smog. Plus with the absence of oxygen, Rose would be gasping for air, allowing Cole or Kuo to move in for the kill. It was a sound plan and as soon as Sonya came back with the laser target device, they were good to go. «Rest up, we'll strike at first day light.» Admiral Davidson told them over the radio.
Sonya fell asleep like a rock the moment she got inside her sleeping bag. For Kuo it wasn't that simple, she was still pretty shaken by Albert. «Want another cup of soup?» Cole asked, offering her a cup. Without saying anything, Kuo accepted the cup with a blank expression. The two of them sat quietly, watching the stars as they shimmered and blinked in the night sky. «What about Albert?» Kuo asked finally. Yeah, it'd been on Cole's mind as well. One thing was to clean up this mess, another was what to do with Albert. He was a Conduit, but just a kid – no parents either. Would DARPA move in and lock him up in some lab or bunker as soon as they turned their backs to him?
Should they take him with them? The road they were traveling wasn't a joy ride, just one paved with cities like this, fates like Albert's. Cole took a sip from his soup. He didn't know. Simple as that, he didn't know what to say, what to do, what was the right thing to do, what was the best thing to do. Cole was at a total loss. «I don't know Kuo, I honestly don't know. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.» Cole told her with all sincerity, looking up at the pale milky way stretching across the night sky. That wasn't much of a comfort, but at that time and at that place, it was all Cole could come up with.
«I wonder... if John had not been in such a rush... if he'd stopped and looked closer, do you think he'd have a change of heart?» Kuo asked. Cole thought it over for a long, long time. «Yeah, I think he would. He did what he felt was best, but if he'd learned about people like Albert, I think... I know that he would not carry on. At least the John I got to know in Empire City would.» Cole answered, looking deeply into his soup cup as if the answers were somewhere between the pasta and the onions.
Kuo wiggled herself a little closer to Cole and tilted her head over, resting it on his shoulder. He knew that he should stop her, push her away to keep from getting too close. Cole could almost hear Kessler screaming out objections as if he was standing right behind them. For once, Cole did not listen. Kessler was dead, John was dead and Cole together with Kuo was moving into uncharted territory, where Kessler had no dominion. His advice, teachings and prophecies had ended with the death and defeat of the Beast. From here on, Cole would be the maker of his own fate.
«You know, I've been wondering. Did you dye your hear?» Cole asked for no real reason. Kuo was breathing calmly and steadily as if asleep. «No... after my rather... educational first shower, I realized that the color of my hair had changed.» Kuo replied. «I did add the make-up though, to make it complete.» She added shortly after. The conversation died again, but Cole didn't mind too much, since he'd managed to change track from Albert to smaller things. He wasn't sure if it was successful for Kuo as well, but at least he made an effort.
Around them, the camp settled down and got ready for another cold night sleeping outside. People walked away from the flickering, golden lights of barrel fires and crawled into the shadows. It was a scenery that Cole had seen before in Empire City, but after meeting with Albert, he saw it in a totally different light. Rather than a group or a crowd, he started looking for individual fates. Someone's father, someone's mother, someone's son, someone's sister, someone's lover... they were most likely all here, hanging on to the best of their abilities.
Kuo started to talk, gently bringer Cole out of his train of thoughts. For the first time, Kuo spoke about her capture and what Bertrand had done to her. She'd been dazed and confused at first, but she gathered herself, especially after learning that Dr. Wolfe was dead. Lashing out and call Bertrand names didn't do her much good though, as he just let his thugs give her a beating. She told Cole how she grew scared as a little girl when Bertrand told her he knew she was a Conduit and that she'd better be of use to him.
Without another Ray Sphere available, Dr. Wolfe dead, his lab in ruins and research notes in the hands of the enemy, Bertrand had to go through some nontraditional channels to get what he wanted. He held survivors of Dr. Wolfe's staff at gun point, telling them to get Kuo's Conduit abilities activated. When they presented nothing but excuses, no matter how valid, Bertrand had them hurt in ways Kuo failed to explain in detail. Eventually, a badly beaten staff member suggested a blood transfusion from one of the earlier experiments to Kuo.
The process was slow, painful and chilling to through heart, mind and soul. Kuo said it was as if she'd been drained for live and filled with death. After God knows how long, she reached a critical point and the scales tipped from human to Conduit. It almost killed her. If that had been it, perhaps she could get to terms with it. But Bertrand was just getting started. After a few initial tries, Bertrand gloated that they were ready; ready for mass production.
Kuo fell silent. Cole wasn't sure why she decided to talk about that kind of topic now, but he'd just heard her out nonetheless. He was unsure if he should let Kuo call it quits or if he should give her a little nudge. In the end he decided to ask. «Then what?» Kuo thought it over, sighing deeply a few times. Guess it is hard on her, even after all this time, Cole thought and silently kicked himself for asking. «Then... you came.» Kuo said, sighing one last time. An calm and soothing silence followed.
Cole felt something round, soft and icy cold on his left cheek. Startled, he pulled away, looking at Kuo. She looked at him with lost, sad eyes as if hoping and waiting for something. It had felt a little like when Kuo touched his cheek for the first time at St. Charles Cemetery back in New Marais. This time it was gentler, it didn't have that icy burn and sting to it. She didn't, did she...? The question lingered in Cole's mind. «I-I'm sorry. Just... just forget it, okay?» Kuo apologized, sounding flustered as she quickly rose and walked over to her sleeping bag.