The assembly of memories hurt, especially when it happened in a set of memories he already had for a while- but when Nix told them of the blue-eyed man in the white coat that retrieved the Ray Sphere, everything suddenly clicked and became clear. First only a vortex of images, of memories, thoughts and things long past that all snapped together with a spike of pain like somebody had driven an ice pick into his brain.

The last time this had happened, it was at the worst moment thinkable, on the roof of a Hive with his back turned to the enemy.

Cole's voice, talking to Nix, was something to latch on and hold to until his brain stopped hurting. "Hey, uh, you don't need to stay here if you don't want to. I'm really grateful you showed this to me, but if it gets to you, you shouldn't have."

Alex grunted and shook his head briefly, getting himself back together quickly. The whole episode had taken maybe half a minute, and neither Conduit had noticed it.

Nix shook her head in reply to Cole's words. "A jus' 'ad to show somebody. Ya was de firs' a showed. Guess it was to prove it was real. Figured de Demon would understand." She turned to go. "Is a weigt off mah chest."

"How do you feel?"

"Better now", she clapped her hands, and a wide smile of relief appeared on her face. "Now come. We don' 'aff to spend de nigt. Ya don' want to spend de night", she added a moment later.

As she walked off, Cole stopped Alex for a moment. "You alright? You just went pale there. Well, paler than you normally are, and you are pretty pale already-"

"I get it", The Runner cut him off somewhat gruffly. "I just remembered."

"Remembered?"

"Having been here after the Blast", he pointed out as they worked themselves through the thicket surrounding the crater.

Nix stopped, frowning at him. "A didn' saw ya. A saw dat oter man. In de wite coat."

Alex sighed, not eager to share his abilities with someone else- or at least, not willing to share his more devastating powers. "His name was Kessler. Kessler was the one to give Cole his powers by activating the Ray Sphere in Empire City just three months ago. I just know because it's part of my powers."

Cole's eyes narrowed. "You said his memories were damaged- that he damaged them himself-"

"But I still had them. Just not in a order I could understand." Kessler had altered his own memories, tried to delete most of his presence in New Marais- most of Wolfe and Bertrand included. He hadn't succeeded everywhere, and where he did, he had only been able to cut the neural pathways, but couldn't destroy the neurones in themselves. When Alex consumed him, he had noticed the jumbled mess of memories, though had been incapable of restoring them without knowing what they coded for.

"When Nix told us she'd seen him, everything just...came together. Repaired the damaged neural pathways, if you want."

Cole's eyes were alert. "What did you remember?"

"Kessler saw the chance to fund his Ray Sphere research by offering Bertrand a piece of the cake- ultimately leading to the plan that led to you, Cole."

"So Bertrand had given him money?"

"Kessler, Bertrand and Wolfe worked together for a few years. Bertrand first because he saw the chance to profit from the entire research. Same thing Moya wanted- make Conduits, use them for war- only Bertrand wanted to sell these Conduits as weapons."

Cole's eyes narrowed. "These Vermaak guys."

"My guess too." Alex lifted his hand to shove a branch out of his way. "That had been Bertrand's plan initially- then he changed it when Kessler told him that he had the gene too. Bertrand was a Conduit- and after that, the man became obsessed. Kessler later figured that Bertrand started using his Militia behind his and Wolfe's backs- and then he stole the Ray Sphere."

"Was wen 'e killed mah mamma", Nix noticed with a dark expression. She cursed under her breath for a moment and angrily punched a tree, cracking its bark. "Dat ass'ole wanted power?! An' 'e killed eva person a eva cared about?!"

"Kessler wasn't very happy", Cole noticed.

"No. After retaking the Sphere, he went to Bertrand and flipped his shit. Epically. He devastated half of Bertrand's compound, then left New Marais to continue his work with the First Sons. He never cared about New Marais anymore, and as such, had no idea what Bertrand was doing."

"But that's wrong. If Bertrand activated his Conduit abilities, why keep it hidden? Why doesn't he flaunt it, shows it off as 'Gift of God'? Why is he demonizing the other Conduits?"

Alex furrowed his brows, then shook his head. "No idea. My guess is that his abilities either didn't manifest correctly, or it is a power that he doesn't want to flaunt. Anyways, he's back to making Conduits to sell them as weapons."

"We stopped it", Nix pointed out. "'E ain' got dem."

Cole was silent, expression thoughtful. "I don't understand. Why delete those memories then?"

That Alex now remembered. He bared his teeth in a grimace. "Because he knew I was going to get them, since he was at the end of his line already. He altered his memories simply so I wouldn't be distracted by things that shouldn't be of interest."

"Not of interest?", Cole stopped, staring at him incredulously. "Wolfe's research opens up a whole lot more applications to this entire Conduit business- Ray Field Inhibition, Transferring Powers, unlocking new Powers-"

"You're forgetting one thing", Alex cut him off. "The Beast Kessler fought and what he thought you were going to face is an completely different entity to the Beast we have."
The differences were obvious- Kessler's Beast had destroyed everything, even blew up the fucking moon as it hunted Kessler down. Their Beast was only destroying humans- and created Conduits in the wake of its path. Conduits that would ultimately profit from the lack of competition. Like a Runner creating the perfect conditions for its Hive. He wasn't sure how much of it was intentional, but the similarities with Greene were startling.
"I think Kessler's Beast was actually the result of the Conduit-Weapons-Research going horribly awry", he added. "The one we have is actually tame compared to that."

Nix made a confused noise. "Anoter Beast? A tougt dere was only one?" She cocked her head. "An' wo is Kessler?"

Cole blinked, then grimaced. "Kessler is...kind of my evil future self. He created the Ray Sphere to give me my powers so I could face the thing that's currently destroying the East Coast." He rubbed the back of his neck. "There was time travel involved."

The Fire Conduit turned to Alex with an arched eyebrow. He just shrugged. "It's true. There was time travel involved."

She turned back to Cole. "So...ya Evil Future Self is resp'n'ble for mah family dyin'?" Cole flinched back badly, but she just patted his shoulder. "Wasn' ya. Was Kessler, no? An' Kessler is dead, so 'e got wat was comin' for 'im. Now we gotta kill Bertrand too, an' a will be 'appy."

"It shall be done", Alex pointed out. "Killing Bertrand- but remember that you please don't do head shots. I need his brain intact."

"But we can still break 'is legs?"

"You can rip him to pieces if you want. Just leave the head to me." He loosened his shoulders to let a few tendrils curl through the air. "It would be mostly appreciated."

Nix grinned at him. "Sure, man. 'slong a get to kill dis piece of shit."

"You'll get the first shot", Cole threw in, "But after that- as long he gets dead I don't care who does him in."

She shrugged. "Can deal wit' dat. But 'e don' get to live in prison, ya 'ear mah?"

"He won't."

It was nearing afternoon when they finally got back to the docks. Nix made a face, stretching her arms. "A gotta punch sometin'. Been drivin' dat damn boat for too lon'."

"Wait a moment", Cole lifted his hand as his phone chimed. "Yeah?"

"You back in the city?" Dunbar asked.

"Just came here"

"Cool, then come over here. We got some news and you might want to hear them. Drag Nix along, I think this is right up her alley too."

"We'll see, Zek'", Nix threw in.

"Yeah, I think I'll be right on this one. Just come over and take a look. Oh, Alex there?"

"I am."

"Dana told me to tell you to keep your connection open, so we can get Blackwatch in on this."

"Got it."

"Good, see you around then." Dunbar ended the call and Cole shrugged. "Well, guess we better don't let them wait then."

"Wonder wat is", Nix mentioned.

"Knowing Dunbar- he found something in the Militia's hands", Alex glanced at Nix. "So you'll get to punch someone after all."

"Good" She cracked her knuckles and Cole snickered a little. He waved at them, then started leading the way away from the docks and back into the city proper. There was a curious lack of Militia around, and the civilians they encountered cheered at them when they recognized the Electric Conduit. Nix made a confused noise at the first encounter, and stopped to stare at them. Alex grunted in displeasure- not wanting to be seen in public, and tugged at Cole's sleeve. "Let's get topside", he growled, "I don't like those guys."

Cole grimaced. "Yeah, I know. Gratitude isn't your schtick, I get it."

After that, they relocated their path to the rooftops, which felt leagues better than the crowded streets down there did. Reaching their roof was easy, and Alex noticed Dana and Kuo present, as was Dunbar. And the madame of the brothel they made their hideout on was present too. She was smoking, listening to Dunbar, while Dana and Kuo were bent over their table and studied a map of sorts. All of them looked up as they approached.

Cole headed straight over to the couch, snatching a sandwich off a plate there and biting into it. Nix crossed her arms. "So, was de big secret, Zek'?"

Dunbar puffed out his chest. "It's official", he declared, "The Power Transfer device, the second one, is in Fort Phillipe."

That didn't have the effect he apparently waited for- Cole just arched an eyebrow, Kuo grimaced with a shudder, Nix cocked her head in confusion and Alex himself just scoffed. "And?"

Dunbar gaped. "What? No 'Good Work, Agent Dunbar'?"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Good work, Agent Dunbar. Now tell us why this should interest us? I mean, asides from finding that thing and destroying it?"

"Destroy it?"

"So nobody can copy any Conduit's powers on somebody else ever again", Kuo bit out maybe a bit too quickly. From her elevated heart rate, Alex figured she didn't like to remember it.

"Wait", Dana lifted her head. "Alex said it'll work between Conduits as well, so maybe not destroy it yet?"

Cole turned to her with a frown. "You mean- we could swap between us three?"

Dana shrugged. "Yeah. More abilities would always be appreciated."

Nix clapped her hands. "Ya mean ah get Frost an' Ligtnin', and Cole get Frost an' Fire, and Reine des glaces here get Fire and Ligtnin'?" She glanced at Alex. "Not sure anybody would want ya power."

He shook his head. "Trust me, it wouldn't work anyways. Pretty sure if I were to give you my powers, your normal ones would just get lost in the process." He furrowed his browns. "However, between you three it would be a good idea. Gives you some variation in your moves."

"Makes for nasty surprise", Nix added.

"It won't matter if we don't get the damn thing", Cole pointed out. "What do you know about Phillipe?"

"Big place", Dana pointed out. "Several side exits, blind spots. Very well defended by the Militia."

"So we'd need an army to get in there. Somebody who can block all escape routes and sweep the yard while we look for the device", Alex noticed. "In other words, Cross and the Wisemen."

"They'd be our heavy hitters", Dana agreed. "What about Laroche and his men?"

"They might be another possibility", Kuo agreed. "They have the manpower and equipment we need."

"An' wy should dey 'elp us?", Nix demanded to know.

Sherry cleared her throat. "They hate the Militia just as much as you do. And if you offer them somethin', they'll do somethin' for you in return."

Dunbar frowned at her. "You had anythin' special in mind?"

"They need medication to treat their men. This Plague goin' around- the Militia doesn't get sick", the woman pointed out. "They have a lot of this stuff lyin' around."

"A drug against the plague?" Alex cocked his head. "I know there is a combination of antibiotics possible, but the plague is radiation sickness. A bunch of antibiotics won't work to treat it."

"But- I haven't seen any sick hicks", Cole pointed out.

"That's because what they have treats only the symptoms and slows the sickness down. It doesn't stop it."

Cole grimaced. "It's better than leaving it untreated." He turned to Kuo. "That should get their attention, right?"

"It should", the Ice Conduit agreed. "And that would give us a few more men to work with."

"I can get some distraction ready too", Alex admitted with a sigh. While technically, it should have hit too close to home with that, the idea of Greene, of the Outbreak didn't dissuade him as much as it should have. "I'll need some time to ready it, however." He glanced at the Fire Conduit. "You can lay a few traps, fill some holes with your tar- that way, we can channel those idiots to where we need them."

"No problem, man."

"Do it. We'll deal with Laroche's problem in the meanwhile", Cole acknowledged. "What about Colonel Blackwatch?"

"Heller can deal with him", Alex claimed.

Dunbar beamed over his face. "And Dana and I will keep everything under supervision. Maybe play the hub between the different groups."

"Getting shot at is your job", Dana agreed with a grin.

Alex snorted, then cocked his head. "We're doing this then?" Strictly speaking, he could wreck Fort Phillipe by himself- either going in overt by dealing with the Militia like he dealt with the Military Bases in Manhattan- which would result in the fort being absolutely wrecked- or covert by consuming one man after the other- which was a little more time intensive.

That would be a little unfair towards the others, he figured, because they too wanted to have some fun. And Alex wasn't one to take it away from them.
He shifted his focus, let his vision slide into the muted colored hues of the Hive Mind. Heller, I have something for you to do. Trust me, it's going to be fun.

Zeke had been surprisingly helpful, but Cole already knew that. He had used the information he had acquired while being undercover in the Militia to sniff out the medication stockpiles they refused to share with the general population. Kuo and him raced there, with her quickly leaving him behind- and when he approached, he heard the wail of sirens and an ambulance crashed through a fence directly in front of him, forcing him to stop swearing. The truck stopped too, and Kuo yanked the window open. "Get on top!" She ordered, "We'll get this to Laroche!"

Then Cole heard the shouts of the hicks, and decided to ask his questions later. He leapt up and magnetically anchored himself to the metal again, and Kuo ground down on the accelerator, making the ambulance jump to the front.

"How the Hell-?!"

"They were just trying to relocate this stash", the Ice Conduit yelled over the squeal of tires and the rushing of air, "Had everything loaded into this truck and were about to take it away. I just-"

"You beat them up and stole their car", Cole grinned. "Holy Hell, Kuo, you'll go places!"

"Prison, for example." He noticed the laughter in her voice.

Cole also heard the tell-tale roar of a rocket, and just lazily smacked a shockwave into it to bounce it back. "Guess they aren't too happy."

"Nope, but why should we care?" Kuo yanked at the wheel and the ambulance skidded around a corner into a narrow alleyway. Cole spun and fired a few grenades at a bunch of hicks that tried to stop them, summarily blowing them up.

"Obstacles to the front", she pointed out.

He just casually threw a shockwave to the front to remove the pickup trucks the Militia had piled up to block their way. "Not anymore."

She was silent for a moment as she maneuvered around a wreck, then sighed. "I hope Laroche knows what we're doing here for him."

"We show up with this stuff, they'll love us", Cole declared.

"I'll settle for some acceptance." There it was again, the dead tone in her voice. Cole knelt down and peeked into the driver's cabin upside-down. "Hey, come on now. You are not a freak. You are still you, just with ice coming out of your ass."

Kuo choked once, and it took Cole a moment to realize that it was actual laughter that just got her by surprise. "That's some way to say it. Thanks."

Something cracked, and Cole turned slightly- and froze. "Holy shit", he breathed, then tapped the roof. "Uh, Kuo? You might want to hit the brakes."

"Why-" She cut herself off. "Oh. That is a big swamp monster."

A Devourer, and from the looks of it, it was right in their way. "You want me to drive around it?"

"No", Cole shook his head. "It'll just hurt the people around if we don't stop it. Better, if I don't stop it." He grit his teeth and let lightning run over his arms. "You wait here, Kuo. If anything happens, drive past it and get this stuff to Laroche."

She swallowed briefly. "You sure you can take it?"

"I am sure", he squinted at the thing, saw the flesh beneath the armor plates sizzle in the sun. "It's weakened from the sun anyways. I can deal with it." The inside, he had to aim at the inside of its mouth. He generated a grenade in his palm and leapt off the ambulance, racing towards the Corrupted. It snarled and turned towards him, plates moving asides so it could roar at him. He silenced it by throwing his grenade into its maw, the following explosion made the thing jerk back with another roar. Cole yanked up a car from the side and threw it into the Devourer's face violently enough that the resulting friction blew the vehicle up the moment it made contact.

The Corrupted swayed back, snarling, then opened its jaw in a rapid succession to spit several globs of acid at the smaller human. Cole slammed a few shockwaves into them to bounce them back, but they splattered uselessly against its shell. Figured these things would be immune against their own attacks.

He had to doge a tongue grab the beast shot at him without warning, losing some of his previous built up momentum- then it screeched suddenly as one of its legs collapsed the ground beneath and trapped it in a pitfall.

Black tentacles snaked out of the hole and wrapped tightly around the thing's leg- and suddenly turned into black spikes that slammed right through the thing's armor. The Devourer reeled and shrieked in pain, and Cole instantly clenched his fists and fired several powerful bolts of lightning at where lances were driven into the Devourer's body. Without the shell offering resistance, the charge went right into the Corrupted's inside.

It was tough on the outside, but its internal organs were hardly sufficient to endure the additional strain put on its system through the sudden discharge- the beast collapsed into the street with a pained whine, and the black mass impaling it quickly spread out to consume every last bit of the creature and drag it under the ground.

Cole grimaced and headed back to the ambulance. Evidently, Kuo had watched everything with a startled expression. "What was that?!"

"A Devourer."

"I meant the other thing. The one that ate it?"

"That was Alex", Cole blinked. "Or a part of him. Uh, apparently he put pieces of himself all over the place to act as booby traps for these things."

Kuo shook herself. "Ugh, nope, not going to think about that." She exhaled slowly. "Come on, MacGrath, we're almost there."

Asides from a few more hicks trying to stop them, there was nothing notable left. Kuo eventually took her own phone and rang up Laroche. "Mr. Laroche, Kuo and MacGrath here- we're coming with a peace offering."

"...I was just about to ask why he was surfin' an ambulance", was the man's reply.

"We have medication", Kuo explained as she stopped next to an old cinema and shut down the engine. "For you and your men, courtesy of Mr. Bertrand."

Laroche's reply was cut short. "You got more than medicine woman, Goddamnit! This place used to be secret!"

"What the-" Both Conduits' heads snapped up when several dozen hicks stormed the place. Cole snorted. "Well, Laroche, guess you'll have to move then. We'll stop them meanwhile." He leapt to the front and summoned another vortex, trashing the narrow alleyway. "Kuo! Cover me!"

"On it!" Kuo dashed to the front in the shape of a misty cloud, freezing parts of the way to create a narrow channel. Something impacted into the ground in front of them, spraying small bits of concrete. "Snipers on the roof!"

"You get them!" Cole ordered, diving at another few idiots- one of them was like two heads taller than the others and much more muscled than his friends. Kuo hissed and darted off, and ice suddenly spread across the rooftops, taking all chance of the men up there to target them.

More hicks charged towards them, but Laroche's men also entered the alleyway, firing at the guys. Cole spun around and created another vortex of ashes and lightning, ripping another dozen guys off their feet.

"More still incoming!" Laroche yelled from behind cover, "MacGrath, if you want us to listen, you'll deal with them!"

Cole rolled his eyes. Seriously, what else did he have to do to prove that he was on their side? He still complied, though, because that meant he got to beat up these idiots and show them who was their boss.

And no matter how many there were- he was a lot better, especially with a small distributor nearby which supplied him with much-needed juice should he run dry, and Kuo appeared besides him when he went to drain it to protect him from harm as long he was vulnerable.

Teamwork right there.

And then something big hit the ground just behind the rebels. For a split moment, Cole thought it was one of the Corrupted, but that wasn't right- that wasn't a shell, that was an uniform, and body armor, and a mask.
He blinked and recognized the form. A black-and-white uniform hugged a frame that was ridiculously massive, too large to be a real human. Muscles the size his head covered arms and legs, and a mask hid his face. The whole man stood even taller and wider than Heller did- and that was a feat in itself.

That was the big guy that had been with Colonel Blackwatch's team.

He just glanced at him briefly, then lunged to the front much faster than anybody his size had any right to, tackling into a group of hicks to send them flying. Bullets didn't seem to faze him, and after a moment, Cole decided that the big guy was probably on their side and charged right after him, knocking another hick right down with the Amp.
He heard Laroche shout something, but that probably wasn't important. Icy mist flitted past him and slammed another few guys against a wall, freezing them against it.

It took them just a few minutes to take out all the guys that tried to sneak up on them, and after a short radar pulse, Cole noticed that nobody was left. The giant man dusted off his hands and turned to face Laroche, bending a bit at the hip to look him in the face.

"You Laroche?" He questioned in a deep rumbling voice. "Captain Grayson", he held out a pan-sized hand for him to shake. "Colonel Cross sent me to assist you."

"Wait", Laroche's eyes narrowed. "Colonel? Captain? You've been with Bertrand's Militia! Who are you people?"

The giant cocked his head. "We've only been working with the Militia to find an opening. We did. He's suspected in the spread of these Swamp Beasts, and as such, is our target now."

"And we kick his ass, Bertrand will be forced out of Ascension Parish and New Marais", Cole added. "We got this plan to take the fight to him, right into Fort Phillipe."

"That's insane", Laroche groaned, glancing at his men. "But my boys think they can't lose with you on their side, and you kind of blew our hideout, so what the Hell? Let's do it."

"Fucking finally"

"Language"

"Sorry. Fucking finally, Sir!"

Cross felt his lips tug into what could have been described as a grin, but smothered it ruthlessly the moment he became aware of it. "And why would you say that, Captain?"

"Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted."

Santos cocked her head and put one hand to her hip. "With all respect, Sir, but I've been waiting since we came here to ventilate these Militia assholes."

"You're not the only one, Reneé", Jackson commented. "With the exception of the boss, Neil and Ian, none of us are white. These idiots treat us like we're trash." He cocked his rifle. "Time to show them what Blackwatch does to fuckers."

"Yeah", Anders turned to Cross. "Orders, Sir?"

"As much as I'd love to tell you to go in and screw shit up, I am obliged to tell you that we need to meet up with Grayson first, see whether he has the additional cannon fodder with him- I mean, the rebels." He gestured to the massive 19th century complex just down the street at the very East of the Ascension Parish. "Once we have, we will storm the fort, take control. If anybody asks, we're officially in the business of subduing a bunch of alleged bio-terrorists. Mercer will be named our 'contact'."

Unofficially, they were here to establish dominance and create a base to try and take out the Beast, and Mercer technically too as their priority target. But Cross and the Wisemen knew perfectly well that the Runner was a much better as a willing ally than an enemy. Besides, who knew what kind of abilities he already obtained since they've seen each other last?

MacAlistair made a noise, head cocked slightly as a small collection of pickup trucks stopped near them, and Laroche got off the front one. Agent Kuo and MacGrath were with him, as were Grayson and several dozen men of the Militia. At the same time, a small flame flared to life and was snuffed in a cloud of smoke the next second, revealing the form of another Conduit, a young woman with dreadlocks and tight leather clothes. Cross assumed she was the local 'Swamp Witch', though hadn't met her before. On that note, Agent Kuo was looking different from when he'd seen her last- with ice constantly crusting her forearms. Another Conduit, then? God, these guys apparently bred like rabbits, or either of them had 'Superhuman Magnet' as their abilities (probably MacGrath, it all started with him).

Laroche approached him, arms crossed, so his attention shifted to him fully. "Okay, Mister 'Nobody Important'. Out with it. What is the plan?"

Cross appreciated it that the man didn't try to figure out who they were and accepted that they were on the same side currently. "The plan is to position men at every possible exit to prevent the Militia from escaping. Then we'll send in the Conduits first", He motioned towards Kuo and MacGrath, "Since they are more resistant than we are. Once they've sufficiently drawn attention and have disposed of the turrets, the Rebels will go in under the leadership of my Wisemen."

"Wait there-", Laroche furrowed his brows. "Who says you get to call in the shots?"

"Experience and abilities", the Specialist pointed out. "We are fully trained and armed special military forces. You are a group of civilians with motivation. With all respect, sir, but you aren't equipped for this kind of deal."

The rebel leader wanted to argue, shut his mouth quickly however with a shake of his head. "Yeah, guess you're right about that one." He huffed out. "Okay, so your guys show my guys the ropes."

"Exactly", Santos acknowledged.

"On that note", Kuo threw in, "There should be a device here. A transfer device. Try not to damage it too much."

"You help us get the Militia out of here, that thing's all yours."

"To swap powers", the Swamp Witch commented gleefully. Kuo inhaled once, but MacGrath cut them off. "Ladies, don't argue about that now. We decide once we actually have that thing."

"Once they are out, we would like to use Fort Phillipe as our base of operation", Cross continued without paying them attention. "Our primary mission is to suppress the infection- the Corrupted, as you call them. For this, we need more men and equipment. The fort would be an ideal base for this, the side buildings should be spacious enough for a few Blackhawks."

Laroche frowned slightly. "I guess that would be possible. As long your guys don't make any trouble."

"Good. Battle plan?"

"Cole and I start by going in from the north side", Kuo pointed out. "The turrets are stationed there. Once we have destroyed them, I will meet up with some men to sweep the inside of the fort, drive these guys out."

"I'll be with you on that one", Heller threw in. "I don't need open spaces to fight efficiently."

"You do that."

The other female Conduit grinned at them. "Afta de turrets, we brin' de pain sout'. Keep dem runnin'."

"So they won't get a clear shot", Heller noticed. "Good idea."

"That everything?"

"Yeah. Go."

MacGrath and Agent Kuo dashed off to the North, while the other female Conduit ducked and tapped the floor a few times.

Then Cross heard it. Distant rumbling, like a subway running below them- but he knew for fact that New Marais did not have a subway. Heller and Grayson both made a choked sort of noise when the tremor became noticeable- and the ground exploded.

"Fuck!" The Wisemen all reeled back, rifles snapping into position. "Fucking Copperhead, Sir!"

The setting sun behind them dyed the Hydra in front of them in an eerie light. Red and glistening, like during the final days of the Outbreak. But not like the Outbreak in any way- there were no Hives, no Infected, just a lonely Copperhead that screeched once, grabbed a car off the street and threw it violently into the fort's gates to shatter them and allow them entrance- and the female Conduit cheered loudly. "C'mon baby! Rip dem a new one!" She vanished in a cloud of ashes and smokes, reappearing on the Hydra's head, and using it as a vantage point to throw orbs of fire at the panicking Militia, jumping off the next moment to let the Hydra grab another car to throw. She whirled in mid-air, laughing. "C'mon ya slowpokes, door's open!" Then she vanished in another cluster of smoke.

Cross paled. "Fucking Mercer", he ground out, then flicked his stun baton to the side. "Team!"

Heller and Grayson were the first to charge in, racing past the Hydra and slamming into the crowd to break their order. At the same second, he heard the distinct crackle of electricity and the explosion of what were definitely turrets.

Blackwatch moved like a well-oiled machine, heading into the yard of the fort without exposing themselves and taking down several of the men stationed there within moments. Icy mist flitted past him, freezing the remaining men in place and exposing them to Heller's violent tackle.

There was the constant roar of thunder above their heads, and Cross had to duck behind a solid obstacle once to avoid one of MacGrath's tornadoes. Another Hydra (or was it the same?) rose from the courtyard in itself, swiping its body in a circular motion to knock the men there clean off their feet, then shrieked at those outside of its range. The men ducked back- directly into a tar trap set by the Fire Conduit who gleefully blew them up.

"Sir!" Santos and Redstone appeared besides him, back against the wall. "The Copperhead-"

"Is one of Mercer's", the Specialist groaned. "Bastard started a Hive."

"Fuck", The Captain leaned back and dragged her palm down her face. "What does that mean?"

"Currently it means we have to assume he's still on our side", the Colonel replied with a tired tone. "Then we need to figure out whether we are dealing with an Outbreak, or not." To do that, they could just ask, however- different from other Runners like Greene.

"I don't think so." Cross very nearly jabbed his stun baton into MacGrath's face when he appeared right besides them. The kid apparently hadn't noticed anything, and was grinning at them. "He would really appreciate it if you wouldn't shoot his pet."

"Kid", Santos growled, "You apparently haven't seen what this fucker's family had done to Manhattan."

"You know perfectly well that he's different, right?" He made a noise at the back of his throat when suddenly all lights went off, then tapped his phone. "Zeke?"

"Already noticed it. The closest transformer is just across the street."

"Thanks, man." The Conduit popped up from behind the cover, yelling at the Hydra. "Yo, Alex! Get me an escape route ready!"

The Hydra rumbled in reply, then swung to the side, grabbed a damaged turret and flung it into another gate to break it open. "Thanks, man!" The Conduit ran off, seemingly unbothered by the serpentine Infected.

Cross groaned. "Hell, I'm too old for this crap."

When the lights went out, Kuo grabbed Heller's arm hard. The Evolved winced briefly from the icy burn that settled seemingly instantly into his muscles, but didn't pull back otherwise.

"Get out", she hissed. "Help Cole! Without electricity, he'll be at disadvantage!"

Heller nodded and just threw himself out of the closest window, eyes instantly catching sight of the Hydra in the middle of the courtyard that whirled and slammed its body into the ground to force several men to back off.

"Cole is fine. But there is a mortar ordnance on the roof. Get them before they blow up Laroche or Cross." Heller cringed slightly at the voice inside his head, though instantly altered his direction towards the rooftops anyways. He hit the roof not even five seconds later, shoulders hunched as he rammed his body into the few hicks stationed up there to knock them out. Much like MacGrath, he pulled his punches when fighting them- they were human, idiots maybe, but that wasn't enough to warrant death. Injury yes, but he paid attention to not throw them off the building. Not like the mortar once he head it ripped out of its mounting and crushed it. Then the light came back on, and Heller could see the tell-tale blue of MacGrath's attacks rip through a few guys on the ground. He turned to hurry to the side, where another mortar was- only to see Grayson crush it and the man operating it. The D-Code dusted his hands off. "I guess that was it."

"Guess so too", he turned his attention downwards, where the rebels finished sweeping the place. There were barely any hicks left standing, and those that did quickly yielded to them. The whole thing hadn't taken longer than ten minutes maybe, but the short amount of time was entirely enough to trash the whole place and either kill or cripple dozens of men.

But hicks were hicks, and as such stood no chance against trained soldiers and rightfully pissed civilians.

There was a low rumble down below and the Hydra pulled back, as Grayson stopped besides Heller. "Shit, I wouldn't have imagined that he's going off his rocker that much."

"I'm not sure that is the case", the Evolved muttered. "He looks pretty sane to me."

"But...Hydras? Which poor asshole was that just now?"

"Nobody special" Heller swore at the sound of Mercer's voice. Somehow, he had managed to sneak up on him and the D-Code without them noticing. But there he was, leaned against the wall and idly inspecting his fingernails. He glanced at them briefly. "As in, I didn't kill anybody, or infected them, or made a Hive. That just now, it wasn't a part of me. It was me, just in a different form." "I told you I was going to do a little redecoration to this place. I refuse to face the Beast without backup."

That...made sense actually. But it was still fucking terrifying to think about. Heller shook himself, then paused at a hissing noise and the scent of smoke right behind them. Mercer looked up, expression confused when the Fire Conduit tackled into him to hug him briefly, then pulled back. "Ya was awesome!" She cheered, "Made dese fools scared like no tomorrow!" She cackled again, clapped his shoulder and grabbed his wrist to try and pull him along. "Reine des glaces found de machine. De rebels dragged it out, an' a wanna see it. Now come, slowpoke."

Mercer glanced at Heller with a shrug. "You heard what she said. It's not fair to leave a lady waiting."

Heller scoffed. "She ain't a lady." He still moved to follow after them, though stopped to eye the D-Code. "You want to come too, or team back up with Cross?"

"Nah, I got enough headache with you infected assholes running around, I don't need to add comic book super powers to the list, but I think the Colonel would want to see what we just charged in here for." He hummed for a moment, then shook his head. "I guess I go see what the others are doing. I bet this Laroche guy is going to treat everybody here with a drink, and I seriously don't want to miss it."

"Save one for me, will you?"

"No promises", Grayson turned and easily leapt off the roof, while Heller turned and went to look for the biggest crowd. He found the others quickly enough, standing around a machine in the middle of the courtyard. Laroche and Cross at least were nearby, eying the contraption suspiciously.

It was nothing fancy, a cylindrical middle section with a mounting that contained one of those Blast Cores, and two cuff-like structures on either side of it right in front of what looked like satellite dishes. Still, Kuo shivered at the sight of it. "I'm going to enjoy watching this thing burn", she muttered, staring at it in both parts hate and terror.

"'Ow's it work?" Nix demanded to know.

"Power it up, strap the subjects in", Mercer explained without much preamble, "Add a Blast Core as power source, flip the switch. Simple, really."

"And suffer while it rips your insides out", Kuo muttered.

MacGrath was drawn to the Blast Core at its center, wiggling his fingers with a delighted glint in his face. Somehow, he reminded Heller of a magpie that just found a shiny thing to steal. Then he paused and eyed one of the cuffs on one side of the machine. "Strap me in."

Heller just arched an eyebrow, Nix grinned and Kuo looked offended. She was also the one to speak first. "What? Are you sure-"

"I thought about what Nix said", MacGrath explained. "And don't you think it'll be the best course of action? If either of us had more powers, we can vary our attacks, take these guys by surprise, no?"

"That is-"

"Is sweet, man", Nix declared. "A am down for it."

"Cool", MacGrath nodded, and turned to Kuo. "Look, I'll swap with Nix first, so you can see that it won't be like last time. Then I'll swap with you, then you and Nix. All three of us get power ups so we can kick more ass- I mean, just look what we managed to do here."

"Bigger is better", Nix agreed. Kuo furrowed her brows, not looking really convinced.

"Problem there", Mercer threw in. "Each swap would consume a Blast Core, and I don't know where some more are. Also", he rapped his knuckles against the machine. "This one looks unfinished. I'll bet you it'll burn out after the first time."

MacGrath's face fell, though Heller cocked his head. "How about you do it at the same time then- if you really want to do it?" He suggested. "I mean-" He tapped the satellite-like dish just besides one set of cuffs. "This space here should be big enough to accommodate two smaller Conduits, right?" He eyed Nix and Kuo. "And you two are thin enough to stand here together. MacGrath gets one himself, he's larger than you two."

"It's an idea", Mercer confirmed. "Once the powers are in the system, it should be possible to distribute them across all of you. That way, you'd only have to do this entire thing once- saves Blast Cores and me from trying to repair this thing."

"Also", MacGrath added, "It might reduce the strain too. I mean, share the pain, halve the pain, or something like that?"

"We can do dis solo", Nix shrugged. "Jus' ya an ol' Nix."

Heller recognized the moment Kuo's decision hardened- and it came along with a spike of jealousy. "I'm in then", the agent growled. Mostly to demonstrate to the other that she wasn't weak, and also so the other woman wouldn't have the man all for herself. Lord, give me strength.

He caught Mercer grin briefly, then he turned around to switch the machine on. MacGrath strapped himself into one side, while the other two went to the other side and attached their wrists as well.

"Ready?"

"Ready"

"Les go, man."

"Hurry before I change my mind and chicken out."

Mercer eyed them briefly, then flipped the switch- and backed off with a swear on his lips as a powerful glow emitted from the device, nearly blinding him. The moment Mercer stepped back, lightning cracked out of the machine, crackling along the sides and making contact with all three- ice and fire followed. One burning, the other freezing.

It looked like it hurt. A lot. Heller grimaced in sympathy, his own toes curling as he watched all three Conduits jerk back with a pained groan as three elements bit into their bodies, dragged powers out and forced new in.

He heard the crack the machine made just as Mercer did, smelled the stench of electronics fizzling just at the same time. But getting closer was out of the question, because in that moment, the electric arches intensified and turned into massive bolts of lightning that slammed into the ground, the machine, the Conduits, to scorch everything with an enraged roar of thunder.

Then the machine broke. The Blast Core exploded into every direction, scattering dust-like shards everywhere only seconds before the device followed. Metal tore, cables ripped, supports and clamps burst from the inside like popcorn. When the cuffs ripped, all three were yanked from their position and flung across the courtyard. From position alone, the two females were thrown far further than the male, and Mercer instantly dove after the two women to catch them, while Heller moved to grab MacGrath. Out of instinct, both turned their back towards the device to shield the others from the following explosion- Heller grit his teeth when he felt a pretty large shard of metal dig into his spine just as the heat of the explosion hit and seared his shirt and skin beneath. Better him than those without a Wolverine-like healing factor he figured, though he mourned his shirt. It wasn't in tatters yet, but the back was burnt clean off.

MacGrath groaned, sparks still running over his body and his limbs shaking, but he was lucid mostly.

"Shit! That's Bertrand!"

Heller's head snapped up at the muffled voice of Laroche, his eyes narrowing the second he found the helicopter that was hovering over the rooftop of the highest building- how in the blazes could they have missed it?- and pulling away. MacGrath made a noise, struggled briefly and went limp. Mercer snarled and twisted slightly, throwing his Whipfist into the direction of the chopper and hitting the fuselage with enough force to rip through the metal. Most of the energy got lost however when the chopper spun away from the impact and fell to the side, smoking and twisting, but still airborne.

Heller snarled, claws digging into the ground as MacGrath stirred again. "He can't-" He gasped, then briefly twisted away to throw up, "Can't get away!"

"He won't", Heller dragged him to his feet. "Mercer!"

"I stay!" The Runner snarled, then picked up his voice. "Cross! You with me! I want to know where this asshole was hiding and whether there are a few guys left to interrogate! Laroche! Look after Kuo and Nix! Heller! Get that bastard before he runs off!"

"On it", Cross was on his feet and out of there faster than a cat off a hot roof, with Mercer hot on his heels.

"Got it" Heller acknowledged, grabbed the Conduit and more or less dragged him along, eyes glued to the smoke track the chopper trailed after it. MacGrath grunted, but quickly managed to fall in step besides him, even though it was somewhat unsafe the first few steps. Then they passed by a transformer box and the kid drained it. Within seconds, his whole demeanor shifted, his expression turned determined and the shaking stopped.

"Bertrand-" He grit his teeth and glared at the Evolved. "He can't get away!" Then he hurled himself off the wall and towards the streetcar line, landing securely on the overhead wires. Lightning sparked along his legs and calves, and thrust him to the front.

Heller cursed and set after him, the speed at which he went having taken him by surprise- but only for a moment and once that passed, he fell in step easily to chase after the Conduit. He could still smell the leaking gas and the smoke from the helicopter, so he knew where it was- and charged to the front to lead them.

When they hit the end of the overhead wire, MacGrath leapt off and hovered several yards further across the ground, then hit the street in a roll and thrust himself forwards- though slower than when he was grinding across the wires.

Heller fell back to stay besides him, and MacGrath obviously wasn't too happy about that- he kicked the floor with what was a frustrated snarl and suddenly catapulted himself two stories into the air with a pillar of god-to-honest ice- a move that not only took Heller by surprise, but him too, because he stumbled when he came back down.

"The Hell?!" He stared for a second at the pillar of ice that stood there on the street, then tried it again, stomping on the floor- and sure enough a second pillar erupted right beneath him to fling him back upwards.

Then he clenched his fists and the lightning that sparked across his arms shared the space with distinct flames. MacGrath's face turned giddy. "It worked", he grinned. "It-"

"Bertrand", Heller said simply, watching the other's expression fall. "Right." He spun and rushed back along the bridge separating the Old District from the Ascension Parish, then used another ice pillar to catapult himself back on top of the overhead wire of the Old District's west tram line, instantly shooting across it. Heller sped up too, racing along just beneath the Conduit at roughly the same speed- while he could go faster, he'd also rather keep an eye on the kid, because the wire made a sharp turn just ahead of them.

MacGrath ducked and only sped up, then flung himself off the end and enveloped himself in flames to continue his breakneck speed by gliding very similar to how Mercer did- only with jets of fire propelling him further to the front. Didn't go far enough, but at any rate further and faster than his normal static hovering- though he didn't seem to have much control over it Heller realized the moment the kid more or less crashed against the ground.

He caught up to him and pulled him back to his feet, watched how he healed himself with a few sparks, and shook his head. "Leave stuff like that to the professionals, kid. At least until you have more control over it."

"Yeah, I figured that much-" He winced briefly as he set his nose with an audible crack, then spat out blood. "Bertrand's chopper got to be at the end of the quayside, right?"

Heller sniffed the air briefly, taking note of the scent of hot metal and spilled gasoline. "Yeah. Pretty close, actually."

"Good" MacGrath dusted off his pants, then kicked off the ground again and charged towards the East line of the New Marais tram. Heller easily kept up with him, even as he leapt back to the wire to continue grinding. When he noticed the crashed helicopter and the crowd that gathered nearby at the intersection between the clock-tower-facing street and the bridge into the flooded part of the city, he sped up and easily left the Conduit behind. Even as he slowed down to avoid slamming into the civilians, he was still faster, then approached the wreckage. There were a few Militia gathered between the civilians, but the moment they saw him, all of them backed off fearfully. Heller figured it was because he was still stained with his own blood and had various holes from explosions and bullets in his shirt.

Plus probably his claws.

He inhaled sharply through his teeth, eyes narrowing on the wreckage. "Looks bad", he muttered, slowly circling the wreck. The pilot was very much dead, but...that was a bullet wound in the middle of his head- and it was shot from behind.

The people were murmuring, the Militia weakly protesting- and Heller's focus shifted. MacGrath had arrived, just glared at the few hicks before he obviously decided they weren't worth his attention. Instead he climbed into the wreckage, calling for Bertrand.

"Already checked that", Heller threw in, "The only body I found is the pilot. He was shot."

"Ah, shit", MacGrath groaned, then blinked. "Wait, shot?"

"From behind, so..." He cocked his head. "Bertrand killed him? Why?"

"Guess we could ask him if we find him. Or his guys", the Evolved pointed out with a nod to the few hicks that obviously tried to back off without drawing attention.

"Best plan-" MacGrath cut himself off at the sound of a deep growl. Heller's brows came down, his nose twitching. "Fucking Corrupted", he scoffed. "There are some here."

"Yeah, but I haven't heard one of them sound like that-" The ground shook. Violently.

MacGrath's head snapped to Heller, then back towards the city. There was thick fog crawling along the base of the clock tower...only it wasn't fog. It was smoke.

Something was burning, and people started screaming when another ear-shattering roar tore the normal city noises apart.

MacGrath was moving before Heller even realized it, forcing him to charge after him with a swear. He caught up to him quickly enough, grabbing his shoulder roughly to make him stop. "We do not run blind into an unknown situation", he snapped at him.

The Conduit twisted slightly, trying to break the hold, but couldn't actually do so. "Let go- people need our help!"

"You won't be able to help them if you are dead-" He cut himself off and dragged the kid behind his frame when the ground shook and the twin explosions of two cars on either side blew the smoke away.

Revealing a behemoth of Corrupted right in the middle of the city. And it wasn't very happy.

First real victory against the Militia, and getting a power up, too.

Oh. Smells like Boss time.