It was cold down here. Way colder than the entrance had been. The hallway had been like a walk-in-freezer. Down here? Scandinavian Winter Night, maybe.

But what had caused this extreme temperature? Alex didn't know, and subconsciously started rubbing his arms in hopes of dispelling the freezing air that clung to him. Blacklight didn't like temperatures below freezing, though he noticed he was still in Armor when his plates cracked together. With an abortive huff, he dropped his arms.

"Cold?" Cole asked, though wasn't turned in his direction. Instead, he was looking at the opposite wall. Another door, his rudimentary sense of seeing told him.

"Some, but I can deal", Alex replied. He was actually glad he was wearing his Armor- its thicker plates allowed for a better insulation than his unprotected surface. Maybe he could come up with some form of heat exchanger below it for future trips into cold places. He still pulled back the shell covering his face so he could see better, immediately wincing at the biting air. Damn, how did Cole do this?

One glance at the Conduit told him enough, though- there was lightning crawling over his form, likely keeping him warm while also offering some light to see. He was about to pry open the door to what was probably the main part of the laboratory, when Alex stopped him briefly.

"You might not like what we could find", he told him. "If she is dead, or worse, will you be able to keep your head?"

Cole paused, swallowing. "If she is dead, if Bertrand killed her, I will kill him", he answered after a moment's hesitation. "But I know I can't take him on my own, shouldn't do that because I need to stop the Beast before that." He grit his teeth and slammed his fist against the metal walls hard enough to leave a dent. "So no. I won't charge that idiot, even if he deserved it." His eyes glowed momentarily, making him look a lot like Kessler for a brief second. "But he won't get away just because I'll be busy with the Beast."

"He won't", Alex stepped towards the door and slammed his claws into the frozen metal, making it crack and splinter under the force. He ripped it out with a satisfying shriek as the hinges snapped in halves. More cold air billowed out, momentarily taking his breath and almost freezing parts of him solid. He immediately grew back his facial armor to protect himself, stepping back while Cole stepped to the front. His gasp was clearly audible, and his hot body was easily visible in the dark blues of the surrounding area.

"Kuo", he whispered, rushing a few steps more into the cold. Alex grunted and forced himself to look, noticing the spot in the middle of the room- a spot that looked a lot like the missing NSA agent. With a mental shift, he brought back something like eyes, if only to see better in the cold and unmoving dark- wasn't anywhere near the level of his normal eyes, but it was enough.

Kuo was in front of them, suspended in mid-air from some machine with her head being covered by a helmet. Her suit jacket and shirt were gone, leaving her only in pants and her undershirt. Tubes ran into her arms, and other ran out, disappearing somewhere in the dark. She hung limp, but her ribcage was still expanding slightly. She was still breathing?

He couldn't see her breathe in the frigid air, and he couldn't see her body temperature.
No, he realized a second later, he could see it- but it was lower than even the surrounding room.

"Shit", hot flashed across Alex's vision for a split second, and he saw the twin lightning bolts impacting into the cuffs keeping her suspended. The frozen metal snapped under the sudden expansion, causing Kuo's body to tumble downwards. Cole sprang and caught her in mid-air, a look of shock and horror crossing his features the moment they made contact.

"We got to get out of here!" He hissed. "Alex!"

The Runner's attention was briefly on the monitor that began flashing red bit by bit, and he craned his head up to see the hundreds of pods installed along the walls and connected to the same machine that had kept the woman captive. Beneath his Armor, his expression turned grim. That wasn't good. They were going to have some more problems in the foreseeable future.

But that was the future, they couldn't take care of that now. With a growl, he tore himself away and hurried after Cole, catching up to him and the agent the moment they reached the destroyed elevator. Without asking, he took the half unconscious woman from him, cradling her closer to his Armor in hopes of getting her body temperature up from under freezing, bunched his legs together and sprinted towards the wall, then upwards like he was running on flat ground.
He stopped the moment he reached the upper landing, watching how Cole instantly climbed after him, using his footholds to pull himself up.

Then he heard the shattering of glass, and the shriek of metal. Cole did too, head wrenched back as his eyes narrowed. "What the-?"

"No idea", Alex admitted gruffly. "Doesn't matter, we have to get her out of here."

Cole's brows were furrowed, but he still reached for the woman. Kuo suddenly gasped once, then began squirming. Her heart was hammering away inside her chest, so Alex loosened his hold on her. Once she could move, she slid off the Runner's arm, briefly steadying herself against his shoulder for a moment before she stumbled towards the door as fast as possible.

"Kuo?" Cole hurried after her, then slipped under her arm to keep her from falling. "What did they do to you?"

They staggered out into the light, and Alex realized that there was ice crusting her hands, and frozen tears covering her cheeks. Her coloration seemed off, less pale as he should have expected and more...blue. She had changed over the course of just a day. Just like...just like Sasha.

"Conduit", he realized. "He activated her Conduit gene."

Cole's head snapped to him. "Without Ray Sphere?!"

"Not now", Kuo choked into their conversation, panting in pain as the Electric Conduit more or less dragged her down the footpath and towards the street. The cops had finished cuffing all the Militia members, but were still in uproar.

Because someone- several someones, in fact, were pouring out of the shack, flooding out of the back entrance like a swarm of ants.

Then someone hit the floor in front of them. Alex snarled and was about to lash out, when the guy jumped off again in a blast of cold. Heller charged towards them. "What the Fuck?!" He snapped, gesturing to the men appearing all over the place. Alex couldn't see much of them amidst all the fog they were producing, or the ice that spread wherever they stood. Even as he shifted out of his Armor, the sight didn't become easier to understand.

They didn't attack them, however, seemed more content with getting out of this place.

"They are not important", Cole hissed, "Come, we gotta get out of here!" He craned his neck. "Nix!"

The Fire Conduit appeared besides them, expression aghast. Without asking, she slipped under Kuo's other arm and helped dragging her, while a truck stopped with screeching tires in front of the plantation. Dunbar waved at them from the driver's side. "C'mon! Get your asses over here!" Dana was already halfway out of the co-driver's seat when Cole and Nix dragged the agent over and lifted her into the truck bed. "Get us out of here", the Electric Conduit hissed, head snapping to the side where another of those ice men disappeared.

"Shit", Dana gasped. "She's cold!"

"We can look after her when we are in a more secure place!" Alex barked, stepping back from the truck. "We'll follow you. Go!"

Dunbar nodded wordlessly and stomped down on the accelerator, taking them away from the plantation. Alex glanced back, checking the area with his thermal vision, but all he could see were icy spots that were only slowly warming up in the early Louisiana sun.

"The fuck were these guys?!" Heller snapped, running his paw over his scalp.

"Good question", Robertson approached them, looking worried. "They just appeared out of nowhere, scared the Hell out of us."

"Any casualties?"

"No, unless you count soiled pants", the cop shook his head. "You guys- have you seen the sort?"

"The sort, yes", Alex began slowly, "Back in Empire. There were men we referred to as 'Lesser Conduits', as opposed to Cole's 'Prime Conduit'."

"You mean..." Heller's brows came down. "Kuo's got the gene", he pointed out slowly, "She told me. But you said that the Ray Sphere was what activated them."

"I did, but apparently..." Alex trailed off. "I guess there are other ways. Whatever Bertrand's done to her, it worked on a similar principle."

"And these guys just now- they are all Lesser Conduits based on her?"

"I don't think they are Conduits. Even Kessler only had a hand full of these guys. This were hundreds-" Alex cut himself off when memories snapped together. "They are the Vermaak 88", he realized. "They are the mercs Bertrand got here." His gaze went back to the shack. "I'll go back inside", he decided, "Find out what happened. You", he shoved slightly at Heller's shoulder, "You go and check up on her."

"I'm not the one with medical knowledge."

"Keep the Hive Mind open then." He already turned on his heel and summoned back his Armor, modifying his face plate to gain some eye spots for better sight, then paused and glanced at Robertson, who had jerked back. "You try to hold the guys you nabbed for as long as possible. You might want some answers from them."

"No question there." The policeman frowned at him. "Whatever's going on, it's not just this Deviant business. Bertrand's got a lot to answer for if we get a judge willing to do something."

"It's a good idea", Heller agreed. "Good luck there, officer." He saluted him, then kicked off and headed after the truck. Alex snorted and rushed back to the laboratory. This wasn't right. These men couldn't be all Lesser Conduits. Were simply too many...but if they weren't Conduits, they had to be human. How did they get those ice powers, then? From Kuo? How was this possible?

"How is this possible?" Cole hissed as he and Nix got Kuo to their rooftop. His first idea had been to get a hot-water-bottle and try to get her body temperature back up, but the hot water had frozen within moments. Kuo was trembling, curling in on herself with a pained gasp when Cole thoughtlessly reached for her to tuck her into a blanket. He snapped his hand back and hissed in realization that he probably startled her.

She was freezing again- literally because the humidity of the city condensed against her skin and became ice, turning into crusts of armor. There was a blue shine to her black hair, and her eyes, once brown, had turned a light blue color that was nearly the same silvery shade that Alex's were. Her skin was pale, but her forearms and hands were whitish-blue with mist constantly rising from them.

The Electric Conduit crouched down in front of the couch, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to find a way to put his thoughts into words. But really, what could one tell somebody who just turned into a Conduit through what was most likely torture?

He still had to try. "Kuo? You know where you are?"

She trembled, eyes darting briefly across the rooftop for a moment. "The folding chair is missing", she whispered in a breathless tone, but she attempted to smile. "Thing was ugly as Hell anyways."

Cole blinked, then grinned a little. "Don't let Zeke hear that, that thing's his favorite."

"Brother", Zeke piped up, "She can offend it all she wants, as long she's not in Bertrand's hands anymore." He leaned over the backrest next to Nix, hissing through his teeth. "Shit, Super Spy, what happened?"

The moment she shut down again was easily to notice- Kuo made a noise that sounded a lot like a whimper and tried to curl up a little more. Zeke winced. "Sorry 'bout that."

Cole growled, clenching his fists. "You don't need to tell us. We'll just go and beat Bertrand up. It's personal now."

Nix hummed, slowly reaching for the agent and pushing some frozen strands of hair from her face. "Don' cry", she muttered. "Ya got us. We'll 'elp ya get trou dis." She eyed the Electric Conduit. "She one of us, no? Conduit?"

"It looks that way", Cole admitted. "But I always thought you'd need a Ray Sphere for it-" He cut himself off when he saw the expression on her face. "How did you get your powers anyways?"

Nix shrugged stiffly. "Wat ya said." She was plainly uncomfortable about it, so he wasn't going to push it any further. Instead, he turned his attention back to Kuo, finally pulling that blanket over her. "You take a nap first, get your energy back up. Once you wake up, we'll figure what to do from there."

She made a disbelieving noise, and the parts of the blanket her hands were touching already started to freeze solid. Suddenly, there was a muffled thud and he was halfway through whirling around and getting his lightning out when he recognized the dark skin and (now) sleeveless shirt.

Dana cocked her head and approached him. "James? Where's Alex?"

"He stayed there", the Evolved replied. "Wants to check up on this stuff-" He cut himself off with a frown, attention somewhere over his left shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. Got it." He turned back to them. "He says he can get whatever we need from their computers."

Cole threw a glance at Kuo, then gestured to the opposite side of the roof. "I don't think she needs to hear this right now."

Heller arched one eyebrow, then nodded wordlessly. Cole and Dana trailed after him as he went several steps away and leaned against the roof exit, while Zeke and Nix remained with Kuo.

"She's been bled dry, right?" Dana asked simply, and it made Cole's whole body stiffen in terror. More even as Heller just grimaced. The younger Mercer huffed out. "I've seen the injection points. And her skin's too pale." She narrowed her eyes. "How did she survive?"

"They traded it for saline solution", Heller told them, "Plus, when they drained her her Conduit powers spontaneously activated, saving her with their additional healing capabilities- and forcing her to survive the following treatment."

Cole forced down the nausea and rage that threatened to bubble up through his throat, instead swallowed hard to calm himself down. "Why?"

Heller scowled. "No idea" Then immediately cut himself off and stared blankly at some spot to his right. "Oh, okay. Mercer says it has something to do with Blast Cores."

That got Cole's attention. "There had been a Blast Core-"

"Had been. Past term. It dissolved when Kuo's powers manifested. So the residue radiation is probably enough to trigger an activation when enough stress is applied." Heller waved him off with a motion that was a whole lot more Alex than it was him, and for the first time, Cole realized how terrifying it must be to be constantly able to hear someone else's thoughts. He shook himself, forcing his attention to what he had said. A Blast Core had activated Kuo's abilities. And the harness she was hooked up to...there had been a mounting that could have contained the Core.

"The Blast Core...", Cole's brows furrowed again. "They did something with it and the machine, didn't they?"

The answer was a bit hesitating. "He seems to think so, though hasn't found much to work with at the moment." He frowned slightly and fell silent for a moment, his focus somewhere else as he listened to something only he could hear. Dana caught the Conduit's eyes and shrugged. "They're doing that often", she said to answer his untold question. "He knows what Alex knows, and Alex knows what he knows. If they don't, they can talk to each other-or technically, listen to each other's thoughts- no matter where either of them is. It's useful."

And kind of horrible to lose this much privacy, Cole thought, because either of them could always be listening.

Heller snorted once. "Fucking slow down, I'm still working on believing the first part-" He cut himself off, glaring at the air conditioner like it had personally offended him. "The fuck's that supposed to mean? I'm working at the Crime Labs, thank you very much."

Dana smirked and nudged Cole's shoulder. "Imagine him leading an argument like that in the middle of his work place."

"-I can talk to them no problem-"

It was a bit funny, he had to admit, but it was also mind numbing horror to realize that there were people who weren't alone in their heads- and the voices were real people in that case, not just parts of their minds who believed they were somebody else. What had Manhattan been like to them, he wondered, and decided he didn't want to know lest he'd end up sitting in a corner trying to shut away the world outside.

Heller's groan pulled him back. "Fine, fine. Yeah, got it." He was making a face that looked like he'd been forced to kick a puppy as he turned his focus to them. "Your brother's being an asshole, you know that?"

"I was aware", Dana replied. "What did he say?"

"He said it would be easiest to get the information directly from him", the Evolved grumbled. "He suggested he'd talk to you." He grimaced. "Using me as proxy."

Cole shuddered. "Shit, he can use you like you're a loud speaker?"

"Something of the sort." The man exhaled once and slumped his shoulders. Cole could see the moment Alex took over, because Heller's eyes turned from dark brown to silvery blue, and he couldn't suppress the shiver that ran down his back when he started to speak. It was still Heller's voice, but unmistakably Alex speaking.

"I'll make this quick or else I have to endure his bitching the whole time", Alex told them with a frown. "Anyways, the machine she was hooked up to- at its core it was a transfer device. Bertrand had Wolfe make it for him. That's probably why he had him killed, so he wouldn't be able to tell us how it works."

"Transfer?" Cole's head snapped up. "Like...transferring Conduit powers?"

"Exactly." He spaced out for a moment. "Far I can tell from the data, it is a prototype too. There's supposed to be at least one other."

"What does it do?" The Electric Conduit rubbed his chin thoughtfully, glancing back at Kuo's form- or, more specifically, the mist rising from her arms and freezing the humidity in the air.

"You already know it", Alex told him simply. "Kuo is an Ice Conduit. The guys that escaped the compounds had ice powers."

"So they transferred her powers to these guys?" Dana questioned. "Like, she has the main program and everybody else got a bootleg?"

"Correct" He furrowed his brows even deeper. Heller's face was made for scowling. "None of them are Lesser Conduits, either. They're human with Conduit powers." He shook his head. "By all means, this shouldn't have been possible, though I guess the residue radiation of the Core changed something. Data suggests as much too, but it's inconclusive on the entire matter." He shrugged. "I'll keep digging."

"Alex", Cole winced slightly, because that face wasn't Alex's. "What had Bertrand done to her?"

The other's brows came down. "You sure you want to hear it?"

Cole shrugged tensely. "The more motivation I get to kick his ass, the better."

He glanced at Dana for a brief moment, then turned his attention back to him. "Not sure how they knew she had the gene, but they started draining her of her blood as soon they had her in that lab- which forced her body into activating her abilities in order to survive. After that, she was weakened enough so they hooked her up to the machine."

"And then they transferred her powers over to these other guys?"

"Yes" Alex fell silent for a moment, attention briefly somewhere else, before he turned back to them. "These men- Vermaak 88- they are mercenaries. But I doubt they knew they were going to be part of the experiments themselves. The entries suggest they were drugged and placed in those containment pods, ready to obtain a Conduit's abilities."

"A Conduit?" Cole's eyes narrowed. "Kuo wasn't the target?"

"Not directly. She was just the one they caught", Alex pointed out. "I think Bertrand would have been satisfied too if he had gotten you or Nix. But since she had the gene, yet wasn't activated, she was the easiest target."

Cole growled in his throat, forcing his lightning back so he wouldn't flip his shit.

"Why did he stick Conduit powers to mercs?" Dana demanded to know.

"That's not in here", Alex answered. "I'd guess we get that either from his personal files, or Bertrand himself."

"Where is this second transfer device?"

"No idea at the moment. I'd say one of Bertrand's other bases." He cocked his head. "What are you thinking?"

"If it can copy powers, do you think it can detract them?"

Alex shook his head. "Thinking about removing the Beast's abilities? Won't work. It can, however, possibly add powers from one Conduit to another one. Since it worked with humans, it will work with Conduits."

Cole nodded slowly. That had applications, he figured. "Good. Get whatever you can find on that computer, then destroy everything. We'll find Bertrand and we will make him pay."

"You got that right", Alex's influence faded quickly, leaving Heller just staring blankly for a moment, before he frowned. "I have the feeling it's not going to be that easy. However, he did find the possible position of another Blast Core."

Dana cocked her head. "Where?"

"Somewhere in Ascension Parish. No detailed location, but it should be near the largest amount of armed idiots." He eyed Cole. "You going to check it out?"

"Yes, but", he turned to look at Kuo. "Not yet. First I have to make sure she's okay."

Alex had spent a good few hours in the freezing cold of the laboratory, and as a result, felt rather lethargic the moment he finally hauled ass and left. He still had managed to acquire a vast amount of data, along with the blue prints of the transfer device and several notes to current and planned experiments.

He also learnt how to deal with stagnant sub-zero air at least. He figured if there had been a breeze, it would have been worse, but without any draft his rough insulation made of a heat exchanger under his Armor was better than nothing. He felt uncomfortably stiff, and the late afternoon heat was more like a sledgehammer to the face as soon as he got out. He still took it in a heartbeat, and he loosened his surface briefly to let the half frozen tendrils soak up the warmth out here while he turned back into his default shape, not the modified daylight form.

Nobody was around anyways. Alex just rolled his shoulders, turned back to the shack and knelt down to jab his claws into the ground, unraveling most of his mass into it. He felt the moment they made contact with the subterranean walls, scoffed briefly- and slammed them through, crushing steel and concrete to dust. The ground beneath shook slightly as his Ground Spikes ate through the construction.

Alex pulled them back as soon he knew that down there nothing remained in one piece, then got up. It was very late already, he noticed.

You still with Cole?

Heller shivered briefly, even through their connection. "Yeah. Kept an eye out, figured that maybe Bertrand would be pissed enough to send his guys after us."

Did he?

"Nope. Guess he focused on his guys first."

How is Kuo?

"Asleep now. Wonder for how long."

The others?

"Dunbar, Dana and MacGrath are still there. Nix left a few hours ago, said she was going to take a nap at her place."

You heard from Cross?

"Yeah. Blackwatch would like to meet you later tonight. Pool information. With those ice guys around, I guess they finally lost their patience."

Alex furrowed his brows briefly, threw one last look at the ravaged area, before he kicked off and headed back to their hideout. He made sure he didn't go the direct way but rather backtracked a few times and went into complete opposite directions to throw off any potential onlookers. Before he hit the roof, he buffered his jump into a glide and set down gently. Cole and Heller had already noticed him from several blocks away, and Dana had noticed his approach too. Dunbar was probably the only one startled.

Alex didn't dawdle long on greeting. He walked up to the table in the middle of the roof and loosened his cohesion enough so he could pull all pieces he scavenged straight out of the middle of his chest. Only Dunbar winced at the sight, though Cole seemed to become a little pale, while Dana just watched with mild interest.

"That everything?"

"Well, I could have hauled the transfer device here", Alex pointed out. "But the blueprints were much easier to carry."

"I can guess", Dana mumbled, already reaching for the hard drive of the computer. "I'll just hook this up. You want to check it with me?"

He shook his head. "I just spent a good few hours freezing my ass off while looking at that stuff. I'll be more comfortable warming up." He rolled his shoulders, eying Cole. "I would have figured that you would have jumped at the Blast Core in Ascension Parish the moment you hear of it."

The Conduit shook his head. "I got a little more restraint than that. Also, I didn't feel comfortable leaving Kuo out of my sight just yet." He glanced back at her. "But I guess she finally wore herself out- plus three sleeping pills at once. Last time we checked her temperature was up too."

"'Up' being figuratively", Dana threw in from the computer. "She's still at under freezing, but at least not that far below anymore."

"What she said", he crossed his arms and locked eyes with Alex. "So, you want to come along while I go to Ascension Parish, or do you want to get a blanket and take a nap?"

"Movement's a better way to warm up", the Runner replied, then cocked his head. "When are you going to get some sleep?"

"Slept the whole time before, so I got some more time to walk around." He shrugged one shoulder towards the darkening sky. "Pretty sure we should check up the Core now."

Alex nodded. "If that is what you want to do, then let's do it." He motioned to the east where Ascension Parish lay. "Bertrand's men cut the power over in the Parish. You might find it tough to deal with them without energy." Cole was very much depending on the surrounding energy fields, after all. If there was no electricity around, his own attacks were weaker, regardless on whether he had a full battery or not.

Cole only scoffed in reaction. "So? Then I have to put them back online."

Heller snorted suddenly. "And what am I? Chopped liver?" He glared at Alex. "You shouldn't forget that you asked for my presence, and now you stand back and ignore my presence?"

I was going to get to you. Alex bit back, only realizing when Heller reeled slightly that he had spoken through the Hive Mind, not with his normal voice. That was...worrisome? He hadn't triggered it, just slipped into it- but he was aware he wasn't losing control. Or, at least, it didn't feel like he was losing control. It should have been a warning sign- or was it a sign he was evolving further? He wasn't sure, though the latter was possible- Blacklight wouldn't further its own abilities unless it was put under stress that forced it to evolve. Right now, the situation was ideal for a progress like that.

With a scoff, he shook his head, refusing to be concerned by it when he turned his attention back to the Evolved. This time, he had to focus on actually speaking. "I was going to tell you to meet back up with Cross. I want to know where these Corrupted are hiding, and utilizing Blackwatch to fight against monsters is a good idea to get the correct kind of attention." He folded his arms behind his back. "Also, Nix told us that there are some people who aren't okay with the Militia. Try to find them too, we could need all allies we can get in order to get these idiots off our backs and focus on the Blast Cores."

Heller's eyes were narrow. "I can do that. But what exactly have you planned?"

Alex shrugged. "Mostly just tagging along to see whether I can get one redneck who's higher up in the food chain." While the uniforms barely gave any hint as to which man had a different rank, he had realized that there were other ways to identify them. The quality of the weapons, the position of the person in question, maybe even body modifications such as haircut and tattoos. Of course, that wasn't foolproof, but he could deal with accidentally grabbing some of the other guys. They were assholes, after all.

"And not mostly?"

Not mostly? I'm thinking of doing a little redecoration in this place.

Heller swore under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You better know what you are doing."

"Oh, I do." Mostly. He had a certain idea already about what he could do, and he was pretty sure that it was going to work the way he intended it to. He was going to pay close attention, however. "You okay with leaving the fun part to us?"

"Fun part?" Heller arched an eyebrow. "What's so fun about switching the energy back on?"

"Oh, you know", Cole waved him off. "There's going to be lightning everywhere, and we're going to be shot at by hicks. The usual stuff."

"That was kind of a weird look", Cole said out loud. Originally, he wanted to keep it to himself, but it was just too weird to not voice it.

"What did you expect?" Alex gave back, vaulting over an air conditioner with enough momentum to cross the entire roof. "He's a soldier. His first directive is to find cover and hold his position, not run right into the gunfire like we pair of idiots."

"I resent that! I got my shield to protect myself, and I don't like being shot at either."

"That still doesn't stop you from seeking confrontation."

Cole opened his mouth to protest. And blinked. And closed it again. Alex was right- he really did look for trouble instead of trying to get out of its way. "What about the substations?" He asked instead of arguing a lost point. "Where is the sewer grate we have to get through?"

"There isn't one", Alex pointed out. "New Marais's sewage system is not the place for the substations." He stopped atop a building and waved his hand at a large box sitting in a side street. "New Marais' energy system is made up of several above-ground distributors like that one. If you activate one, you'll have energy in a part of the area."

"That would have the advantage that you wouldn't need to power up the whole place at one go", Cole realized.

"Exactly"

"How do you get these things up and running?"

"Similar to the ones in the Historic District. They have a built-in security switch that even works when they had been shut down manually like Bertrand's men had done. If the system registers a sudden spike in energy, it should restart the device in question after a short moment. Had been installed in order to avoid a total black-out."

"Spike of energy, huh?" Cole rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and let a few sparks dance over his fingers. "I can do that." He eyed the other. "You know where the distributors are sitting?"

"I do."

"Good, that's all I need to know. Get me to the closest activated distributor, and we can start this party."

Alex just inclined his head and motioned for him to follow as he led the way unerringly through the east part of the main city. Cole sensed the transformer before he could see it, could sense the energy writhing inside his head. To his eyes, it was pretty underwhelming when they found it, no more than a caged-in piece of machinery with the signs of 'Danger! High Voltage!' attached to it. He ignored the signs and just dug his fingers in.

"Oh yeah", he grunted when electricity surged through his body. "That's the stuff."

Alex arched one eyebrow under his hood. "You need a moment?"

"Just tell me where the next distributor is", the Conduit told him. "I'd like to try something."

The Runner just motioned across the last line of buildings and the canal behind them. "Between six hundred meters and a kilometer, give or take some."

"Okay", Cole squinted into the upcoming dusk, trying to imagine the transformer. It was probably going to look very similar, would it? He gathered energy directly from the transformer into his hand, forming a massive white orb of crackling energy, not unlike his so-called Megawatt Hammer. And with one difference: This one was even larger, and still connected to him through a line of pure electricity.

Cole closed his eyes, imagining himself seeing through the energy- and fired it blindly into the direction Alex told him.

He couldn't describe it- it was like he was there and then wasn't, like he was high up above them and on the ground at the same time. He couldn't see in the closer meaning of the word, but he was aware, knew exactly where to go and what to do. He could sense the energy (or lack of it) below him, could sense the water, the suburbs, knew exactly where the transformer was.

He focused on that, knew he was getting closer- and was torn back to reality the moment he collided with the transformer. He shook his head briefly to clear it, then eyed Alex. "Did it work?"

The Runner briefly vanished, kicking off the ground to leap high into the air before he came back down with a solid crack. "Light's coming on", he confirmed. Then frowned. "What was that?"

"I dunno", Cole frowned. "How did it look like?"

"Like a large ball lightning", Alex told him. "With two smaller ones circling it. It flew through the streets, made curves I didn't know where possible." He narrowed his eyes in thought. "And it was still attached to you with a line of electricity. You controlled it, didn't you?"

Cole rubbed the back of his neck. "I tried to imagine myself in it, and somehow it worked? I guess I somehow got this idea from Sasha. She could sense anything that was attached to her tar, right?" He blinked at Alex's leer. "Right, you do know."

"It was impressive", the Runner admitted after a moment. "And it has applications- you can basically form a Hive Mind on your own."

Cole beamed, then started walking into the direction of the transformer. "Yeah, but that's something for a later time to think about. Come on, we gotta stop these hicks from shutting it down before it can build up charge."

Alex snorted. "Try to catch up then." He charged right past the Conduit, building speed within three steps and disappearing somewhere. Cole cursed under his breath and sped after him, leaping clear over the small canal (still had to hover to avoid falling into the water), and dashed along the sleepy little suburban streets in the west part of New Marais. From afar he already heard the yells and shots that were gradually shut down and replaced for groans the closer he came.

The last idiot dropped to the floor the moment he arrived, but all of them seemed to be alive, if knocked out and their legs broken. He made a face when Alex stalked through the rows, paused besides a guy- and crushed his throat to consume him.

"Was that really necessary?"

"I told you, I wanted to pick off the leaders", the Runner replied simply. "Be glad I left the others alive." He simply pointed at the transformer, then moved his finger into a different direction. "Next one is over there, three blocks away."

Robert Cross wasn't sure what the Hell he was doing in the New Marais slums in full uniform and with only Heller as back-up. He wasn't afraid of the Militia, or even the Corrupted- but having his team on him would have been a better choice than going mostly alone. On the other hand, since that episode at the public speech his team had a viable excuse for shooting the Runner first, and he seriously didn't have time for that nonsense. So he agreed to go and talk with him on his own, meeting the Evolved on the way.

When they walked into the city, Cross noticed that they weren't heading towards the Smut Triangle, but rather to the east where Ascension Parish was. "He there?"

"Coming closer, actually-" Heller cut himself off, eyes narrowing briefly before his skin turned rough and scaly and claws broke through skin. Cross knew better than to argue with him, just unlatched the safety of his handgun and drew the stun baton from its holster.

Then the first Swamp Beasts charged from the underbrush cutting off the city from the swamp, screaming as they lunged at them.

Heller jumped within the blink of an eye and collided with a large rhinoceros-like one in mid-air, knocking it to the ground with enough strength to crater the street beneath and flatten a car and the beast. The Evolved whirled on his heel the next moment, grabbed two more Corrupted and slammed them together so hard they turned into mist.

If the others noticed, they didn't change course or even slow down. Cross grunted and ducked under the wide swing of one of them, then jammed his stun baton deep into another's throat and flicked the switch. The discharge made the thing jerk back roughly, the voltage throwing its system out of the loop long enough for the Specialist to shoot it into its head twice to drop it.

Heller grabbed one that tried to leap on him from behind and slammed it into two others to shatter their bodies. The Specialist didn't bother to thank him, just yanked his rifle free and took down another swamp beast with a short burst of fire.

Then came the lightning. Its intensity took his sight for a moment, so the next thing he saw was MacGrath using his staff weapon against three Corrupted at once, slamming them backwards with a brutal swing. He didn't stop spinning, though, used the momentum to finish another circle and flicked the Amp to the side, summoning a God-to-honest tornado of ashes and lightning that flung the targeted Corrupted far across the street.
They didn't hit the ground, though, because Mercer lunged at them out of nowhere, claws ripping through them as he tore them apart and consumed them within seconds. Without breaking his motion, he lunged at another rhino-like creature next and consumed it too, then proceeded to sweep up the rest of them in mere moments. None of these things had a chance, and the last blood splatters hit the ground mere seconds later. Only blood, because the Runner certainly didn't feel generous to leave them in once piece, consumed all of them instead in a flurry of tentacles and a spray of gore.

Heller made a noise in the back of his throat, drawing his attention away from the Runner to a young woman that was following them. Cross had never seen her, and she didn't look like she was the usual crowd either- not with the way she was warily eying the few carcasses and her companions, though still caught up to MacGrath and hid behind his frame.

The Specialist cocked his head, glancing at MacGrath. "Who's that?"

MacGrath snorted. "No 'Hey, nice to meet you'? No 'Good work with the Swamp Monsters'?"

Cross just stared at him blankly. The younger threw his hands up in an universal gesture of 'Fine, you win'. He gestured loosely to the woman. "Her name's Sara. We just freed her."

"You already freed a lot civilians", Heller pointed out. "What is different with her?"

"She was supposed to be a sacrifice", Mercer scoffed.

"Sacrifice?" That got Cross's attention.

"I got the team leader who strung her up", the other simply pointed out. "And he told me a lot."

"These assholes", MacGrath spat, "They were going to feed Sara to some large Swamp Monster. They were doing it for quite some time already, too keep them under control."

"Wait", Cross's eyes narrowed. "Why should they feed these things to control them if they had them under control in the first place?"

"They either don't have as much control as they think", Mercer pointed out, "Or they weren't controlling them in the first place- in this case, we'll need to look elsewhere for the Conduit responsible for these things."

"Anything on the Hive Mind?"

He shook his head. "So far, I haven't found one. Mostly they work on instinct and senses- anything that's not a Swamp Beast is fair game, but somehow they are trained to not attack the Militia." He snorted amused. "Which is the main reason for those ridiculous uniforms. Bright colors makes the men more noticeable-" He cut himself off, head snapping to the side when a distant rumble became audible. "We shouldn't dawdle", he growled.

"Please", the girl managed to grit out despite shaking like a leaf, "We have to find Uncle Laroche."

She started stumbling down the street, followed closely by MacGrath. Cross eyed her for a moment, then simply followed her too. "I think I recognize that name. Laroche, that was the leader of the resistance, right?"

"He is", Mercer confirmed.

"We're not sure whether Laroche would even want to work with us", MacGrath added, "But like that, he is going to listen at least. Plus we get to kick the Militia in the balls and save people from being eaten."

Something growled again in the distance, and the Conduit grimaced. "Also, I think it is good for luring whatever that thing is into a better place to kill it."

Cross could deal with that, and slightly picked up his pace to get next to Mercer. "While we're going to meet Mr. Laroche, we can talk." He casually lifted his rifle and mowed down two more Corrupted that tried to sneak up on them. "It's not like we have anything important to do right now."

Mercer scoffed. "Wolfe's dead", he muttered.

The Specialist just arched a brow. "The man that you came here to meet?"

"Bertrand's men killed him, abducted agent Kuo."

"Shit"

"We got her back, at least", the other continued, "But without Wolfe, we need to figure things out from scratch. However", he paused briefly and kicked a car into the general direction of a few Militia hicks, who instantly dove to the side and escaped the area. "When we found Kuo, we also discovered some technology and blueprints designed by Wolfe. I think it would be possible to cross-reference those with the RFI, to try to figure out how it works."

The Colonel grunted- it sounded logical, though he wouldn't even know where to begin. Wasn't his job anyways.

"Kuo's a Conduit now too", the Runner added. "Still out of it, though."

The older man scoffed. "It's just one after the other."

"The Beast?"

"Is on the way here, at least that's what HQ says. So far, it had shrugged off every attempt we made. That alone is already bad, but the wind has turned too." Radiation was sweeping like a cloud across the states, killing thousands in its path. "Worse even, whenever the Beast hits a town, it blows it to Hell, spraying even more of this shit into the atmosphere. We can't stop it, can barely slow it down and when we get too close, our guys croak too."

"Iodine should work-"

"It doesn't. Slows down the effect, but this isn't radioactive radiation. It doesn't destroy the genetic makeup, it adds to it- and most of the people get violently sick before they die a week later because they just can't deal with it."

Mercer clicked his tongue. "Shit."

"It gets better", Cross snorted again. "Doctor Wolfe had a lot of these Blast Cores and Blast Shards in his lab, right? Well, this stuff's spread across the city now. Same effect, if more localized."

The Runner stopped briefly. "How many are dead?"

"Last count? Over a hundred. Bodies are piling up faster than the officials can do anything, and they already got enough on their plate. We'd need the army to help here, but as long Bertrand has his finger on the city, they won't come in."

"So remove Bertrand then."

"Would be the best idea. Plus", he jabbed his thumb at a bunch of Militia soldiers, seconds before MacGrath mowed them down with lightning. "These guys shouldn't be a problem then anymore."

Another few goons tried to stop them, but before either of them turned towards them, a group of civilians knocked them out. So, there really were a few people in the city that didn't like these hicks either.

"Rebels", Sara breathed, "Then we're close." She motioned towards them to follow her. "Come, Uncle holds court in Leo Park, and with me they won't shoot at you."

She hurried to the front, waving her arms the moment they reached a circular street with a park-like inside and a lion statue in its middle. "Uncle Laroche! Uncle!"

Cross could see several civilians peeking up, and one of them rushing towards them. "Sara! Are you-?!" He hugged her tightly.

"It was so horrible. They tried to feed me to it", she told him with a shudder. "I just-"

The man grimaced slightly. "I understood why they were making these sacrifices- but not with my kin."

The woman stepped back. "What? You-"

"You knew?" MacGrath growled, cutting her off. "And you didn't think about changing it?"

Laroche eyed him. "We can't stand up to this thing, we don't have a chance-" He blinked when realization set in. "You're that MacGrath fella. The Demon of Empire City. You've been at the plantation, whooping the Militia's asses-"

"I've also just saved your niece's life and with my friends here took down a whole bunch of these things", the Conduit scoffed, crossing his arms defiantly in front of his chest. "So I'd say you owe us one."

Laroche groaned. "I am not sure yet- because if this thing doesn't get fed, it will rampage through the city. Killing hundreds."

"So?" Cross snorted, hands on his hips. "Then we'll kill it. Simple."

"It can't be killed!" The man snapped. "It is too large, too powerful-"

"Pretty sure we killed bigger already", Heller threw in simply, idly kicking a pebble over the ground.

"Look", MacGrath said, "Point is- we want the same. You want the Militia out of your house, I get tired being shot at the entire time. And we'll throw in a bonus and wipe out these swamp monsters too, what do you say?"

"I'd say we better begin right now", Mercer cut in before Laroche could answer. His arms turned into his claws in a flurry of tendrils. "We're getting visitors."

"Now? Figured they'd be faster", Heller snorted, flexing his own claws and also turning his attention into the same direction the Runner was looking.

Cross became aware of the trembling that went through the floor, and slowly turned to face into the direction of the swamp. MacGrath did too, then inhaled sharply. "That is a pretty big guy."

He was true on that one- something big peeled out of the fog that swept over from the swamps, and it was accompanied by several of the smaller rhinoceros-like beasts and the humanoid critters. Cross just arched one eyebrow, then lazily flicked the safety off on his arm-mounted grenade launcher.

"That's it?" He questioned simply. "The Goliaths were larger." Twice the height easily, and a lot faster.

"Yep, and they died all the same", Mercer confirmed. He was bouncing on his heels, then swayed back with a glance at MacGrath. "You want the honors?"

"Well, I'd like to", the Conduit squinted at the massive creature. "Ah, but I don't know whether I can get through the armor."

Cross just cocked his head, glancing briefly at the titan barreling down the street towards them and the smaller corrupted crowding around its feet. He took special note of its body- four tree-trunk-like limbs took its weight, and its whole body was protected by chitinous plates. Like an Armored Hive racing towards them- but around its head region the shell looked thinner, flexible- and his suspicion was proved to be correct when it stopped briefly and roared, plates moving aside to reveal a giant toothed maw.

"Then shoot its mouth", he pointed out simply. "If they are too tough outside, try it from the inside." He fired a grenade at the center of the smaller beasts, and the incendiary ammunition ate through five of them at once, injured four more. And the injured ones were subsequently ran over and crushed under the titan's frame.

"Nice", he heard Heller's voice, "If we can lure it around, it'll do our job for us."

"Yeah, help the kid", Cross ordered. "I'll cover you. Mercer, you the others."

The Runner grinned. "Oh, with pleasure." He kicked off with enough force to make Laroche stumble- and threw his body right into the middle of the fray, claws blazing as he ripped the things apart like they were made of wet paper.

MacGrath and Heller rushed them too, but altered their course in the last moment to get to the big one, Cross just planted his feet and fired another grenade into the crowd, taking down one of the rhino-like ones.

The titan roared, then spat orbs of goop at them, forcing them to dodge to the side. Cross wrinkled his nose at the stench those things emitted- smelled a lot like half-digested food. Great, he thought, It's throwing up on us.

Another reason to kill it, he figured. Apparently, MacGrath thought so too, because he aimed his palm at its still open mouth and fired several bolts of lightning right into its gums. The titan rumbled and shook its frame, closing its jaws with a distinct clack of its plates snapping together. Heller rushed it, kicking off the floor and slamming his Hammerfists into the thing's head with enough force to shake its entire body and crack its armor in several places. It reared and roared, only to swallow a car MacGrath catapulted right into its face.

Then Cross turned his attention to the smaller Corrupted. Mercer was currently wrestling with a larger rhino-thing, then wrenched it off the ground and slammed it into the floor with enough force to crack its spine, so it didn't offer any resistance to being consumed by the Runner.

Another pack tried to swarm him in that moment, and the Specialist simply fired into the crowd several times to draw their attention and injure them- and the tentacles grabbed and tore them apart as well.
If he or his team weren't at the receiving end of this, it was fucking beautiful, he had to admit.

Then Mercer just stopped, and Heller tensed for a moment before he grabbed MacGrath and yanked him off his feet to carry him several yards away from their adversary- seconds before the Runner exploded into a tightly packed ball of tendrils and spears that turned whatever they met into fine mist. The titan wailed in pain, though its armor offered enough resistance to barely withstand the blow- but with holes in its shell MacGrath had a point to pry from. He formed balls of lightning in his palms and just threw them over so they attached themselves to the beast and exploded a few seconds later in a brilliant discharge and an ear-splitting thunderclap.

The titan reeled, jaw snapping open as its tongue shot out like a whip- Heller easily side-stepped, grabbed the organ and simply ripped it out at the root in one movement. The beast reared and shrieked in agony, choking on its own blood in the process.

Mercer slammed into its head and burrowed both claws into its maw, tendrils rising from his flesh to sink into the titan's body, flooding it with active viral agents. Cross's eyebrows shot upwards, because this thing should be far over his limit, but as it collapsed to the ground and was subsequently eaten, he had to correct his previous thought because apparently, he could store this entire thing away.

Mercer casually brushed his pants off. Heller rolled his shoulders and flicked some saliva off his claws. MacGrath whooped. "Hell yeah! We got this down!"

Cross simply turned to Laroche, who hadn't moved an inch and was just staring. "I think this qualifies our claims."

"Shit", the man breathed. "That more than qualifies 'em." He eyed the Colonel. "I still don't like what you're selling, but you do know how to wipe the floor with giant monsters. And frankly, I guess my guys are kind of worshiping you already." He motioned briefly to his men, who were staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed. "So yeah, I'm listening. You need any help, just let us know."

First big monster, no problem when you already took down things bigger.
I honestly haven't realized that the place was called 'Leo Court', because there was a Lion statue in the middle.

Quick question, though: Is it 'Out of character' if you take a rather unfinished character and add a bit more flavor to them? In other words, write believable figures instead of what we got in-Game?

Also, to all guests: How am I supposed to answer your questions if I can't contact you?