The Beast was history. As Cole Macgrath activated the Ray Field Inhibitor and erased every Conduit, active or dormant, from existence, the world have cheered for the eradication of the Ray Field Plague and the return of Normalcy.
However, the Normalcy did not last long...
As for better or for worse, over the next seven years, new Conduits, termed type II conduits, have started to appear once again on the continent. Starting with Abigail Walker in the city of Seattle, then with Henry Daughtry and Brooke Augustine, the number of them first sparse, and then start to explode like wildfire- As the method of testing the presence of what was believed to be a "Conduit Gene" using Blast Shards, was discovered, the DUP was formed in order to track the presence of the Gene, and to detain whoever tested positive of it's presence.
Initially, the population tested positive for the Conduit Gene was well under 1 10000th... But as time come by, just within the city of Seattle itself, Conduit Positives have risen from less than 70 to more than 760. New conduits appears, apparently unlocking their powers all by it's own, which includes Eugene Sims. The City of Seattle start to grow worried about the emergence of these new Conduits, and after another two years, the City of Seattle have underwent a total quarantine, what used to be called "Conduits", have now been branded as "Bioterrorists."
The emergence of type II Conduits have become more and more frequent in the following year. Brooke Augustine, seeing it as an opportunity to create Forced Conduits that would strengthen her rule behind the DUP, started to capture Conduit-Positives, using the Power Transfer Device to force her power over Concrete upon them, converting them into the DUP enforcers that chased and captured "Rogue" Conduits, or "Bioterrorists" mercilessly.
Trucks after Trucks, the caught and imprisoned type II Conduits was shipped out of Seattle, 15, 30, 45, 60, and have now risen toward near 360 known Prime Conduits being caught and sent out for detainment. The truck containing the 351th, 352th and 353th Prime Conduits caught and sent out of Seattle, including Henry Daughtry, crashes upon the Indian Reserve of the Akomish Tribe, and the 352th and 353th Prime Conduits escaped, while a local young man, Delsin Rowe, accidentally absorbed the smoke-and-ember-kinesis power of Henry Daughtry, starting the events of InFAMOUS Second Son.
InFAMOUS: Second SonThe 7th year after the RFI detonation event, with a total count of suspected Conduit-gene positive individuals reaching more than 1 percent concentration, The DUP, lead by Brooke Augustine, have finished fully developing their training program for the Enforcers. Worried as seeing people, both of the City of Seattle and of his Tribe being forcefully conscripted by the DBU and turned into Faceless Goons, Delsin Rowe used his new-found Conduit powers to infiltrate the city of Seattle, spreading resistance against the DUP while dismantling their surveillance and enforcement networks bit by bit.
New Conduits have popped out one by one in the entire U.S. Conduit Tests now returned Positive on more than 2 percent of all population of the United Stated. Multiple DUP- controlled cities declared quarantine, as they feared another Outbreak of "Bioterrorists" within their borders.
(InFAMOUS: Second Son- Canon route and ending)
As the secrets of Brooke Augustine is finally fully exposed, being a Conduit herself that wanted nothing more than absolute power over everyone else, every previously caught and Imprisoned Conduit was released while the DUP was dismantled by the angry mob who imprisoned her inside her own slab of Concrete by the aid of Delsin Rowe. A brief era of coexistence between Humans and Conduits have started.
Returning to his tribe, Delsin Rowe used the powers he absorbed from Brooke Augustine to cure the tribe members of their disability- while accidentally awakening two other type II Conduits within the Akomish Tribe. Total concentration of known Conduit-Positive individuals within the Population of Seattle have reached 3 percent.
Returning to Seattle, Delsin Rowe started to follow the Paper trail toward what was fabled as the legacy of Cole MacGrath- and it was revealed that the Ray Field Plague may have mutated- instead of killing non-Conduit people, it turned normal people into Conduits instead. However, as the Ray Field Plague was thought to be the result of radiation poisoning, the results is dubious at best, and may have been completely wrong.
More and More Conduits have awakened. Which includes Richard Lawson, whose elemental power was the control of Light, and Den Tenebris, whose elemental power was the control of Darkness. By the time, the total known Conduit population in Seattle have reached to almost 1225- almost twice of what would be expected to be the result of an un-affected Conduit Gene, let lone the one that was supposed to go extinct after the RFI went off.
5 months later.Richard Lawson, zipping through Interstate 66 faster than a commercial jet using nothing more than sunlight as power, met his old brother Michael Lawson down in Los Santos California. He was trying to know what happened to the city of Los Santos after the destruction of the DUP and the freeing of the Conduits- unknowingly to him, his arrival have triggered another outbreak within Los Santos, and at least 4 different type II Conduits have awoken due to his presence, with more than 29 people becoming Conduit Positive from his arrival.
Den Tenebris, siding with Delsin Rowe in an effort to find out the truth about the RFI and the Conduits (causing Delsin to wield darkness-related powers as well. At least during this mission.), entered Los Alamos just east of the state of California. Sneaking into a lab apparently abandoned by the First Sons when the RFI went off, more and more of the details about the "Cole's Legacy" was revealed- apparently, an organization called Blackwatch, which was one of the United States' top secret military departments, have studied the Ray Field Plague long before the Beast and the RFI, and have already developed a vaccine that rendered 99 percent of all Human subjects tested on it immune to the effects of the Plague. Almost two weeks before Cole's final battle with the Beast.
Delsin: "So... They already had a cure?"
Den: "Yes. It was apparently so. It appeared to be something that attacked a biological pathogen. But with majority of the Ray Field Energy and the Plague now gone, we have no way to confirm this."
Delsin: "You mean... Cole's near eradication of the entirety of our kind was in vain? The Plague could have been cured even without the RFI at all?"
Den, using his control of Darkness, written onto the dimly-illuminated floor of the lab in shadow: "Yes."
Delsin, graffitied onto the somewhat-visible beam of a local street light: "Blackwatch will need to pay for this."
5 days later, New YorkRichard Lawson, Delsin Rowe and Den Tenebris have arrived, day after night, toward the once-burgeoning city that was now the center of a plague that nearly wiped out the entire city' population. The Plague, of course, was gone. But the broken buildings and the scattered bodies have all told a story of horror, death and destruction 7 years and 8 months ago. The city was never rebuilt- and all the corpses, who have died during the Plague, have somehow remained completely Intact, without weathering or rotting, in all this years.
Delsin approached one of the bodies- and to his surprise, a stream of what looks like blue dots of energy have spontaneously emerged from the body, and entered Delson's body.
"Raycite." Said Delsin.
Richard Lawson, with a large glowing "?" appearing on top of his head: "What is it?"
Delsin Replied: "It's a Blast Shard. A concentrated form of Ray Field Energy. I absorbed a lot of them from DUP drones and Core Relays when I was busy exposing them in Seattle. It grants Conduits new or improved abilities when being absorbed."
Den Tenebris approached another preserved, dead body, and the same stream of Blue Energy have emerged from the corpse and entered Den's body.
"It's so weird... but I could definitely feel my energy capacity and limits increase after absorbing this 'Blast Shard'. Though we do know that, from the data we collected in Cole's safe house in Seattle, that the Detonation of the RFI device should have erased it's existence. The Blast Shards should not exist in this world since the RFI detonation 7 years ago."
After being absorbed by Delsin and Den, the two preserved bodies started to crumble, and soon disappeared into nothingness as the crumbled remains appears to have DISSOLVED into the air around them.
Delsin Rowe: "But then the DUP should also not have the shards to arm their drones- shards that I clearly absorbed and used to develop my Smoke, Neon and Video power when I was using them in Seattle."
Richard Lawson: "And the bodies should have decayed away lone before. It appeared that the Blast Shards was the factor that have preserved them. I believe that the Shards may have a relation with the Plague, since they all appeared within the bodies of Plague Victims. I think that we need some friends to take the bodies to a proper lab for further research."
Delsin Rowe: "And I had the perfect choice for this."
One week later.Eugene Sims: "Why bring me here?"
Delsin Rowe: "You know about Blast Shards right? Conduits absorbs these shards as soon as they touch or go near one of them. So neither me, Lawson nor Tenebris could move any of the bodies without destroying them. And we need the bodies to find out what have happened during the Plague and the RFI event that caused the formation of these shards. And their connection to us type II Conduits that shouldn't have existed if the RFI worked as it supposed to. They may be the key of Improve our understanding of our Powers. And may strengthen them if used properly. Your power was digital materialization right? Which is exactly why I need you."
Delsin touched Eugene Sims, and summoned a large Staff of sorts made from pixels. He proceeds to prod at another preserved body a few times, confirming that the body could be moved without the Blast Shard that seems to be maintaining the bodies being absorbed and causing the bodies to crumble away.
Delsin: "Do it as I says."
Eugene Sims summoned a long Hook made of pixels, and proceed to grab the body with it. Delsin changed his staff into a long-handled shovel, and as the two Conduits carefully Pulled and Pushed the body out of it's way and across the ground, the mysteriously preserved, Blast Shard-bearing dead body is eventually transported onto an operating table in the makeshift lab Richard Lawson and Den Tenebris have set up.
Delsin: "You take the cut."
Eugene Sims forms a long-handled scalpel with Pixels, and start to carefully cut into the body itself. The innards of the preserved bodies looked nothing like Human tissue- bits of blue, energy-emitting material could be seen dotting an amorphous matrix of sorts.
"Richard, Light. Den, Lens."
As Eugene Sims carefully picked up a small sample of the tissue with his scalpel, Richard Lawson produced a concentrated point of light, while a gravitational anomaly have appeared on top of the makeshift "slide" that the tissue sample was resting upon. The lens was a Mutation Power of Den Tenebris- after absorbing a few Blast Shards within the bodies during their first visit to New York, Den Tenebris apparently have learned to Bend light using his Darkness-manipulating powers, instead of just canceling it out. Den Tenebris called his new mutation "Singularity". Which is in fact the Mutation Power of the other Conduit that have helped Delsin in the overthrowing of the DUP- Abigail Walker.
The light, after passing through the Tissue sample, gets focused by the gravitational lens, and is projected onto a piece of broken wall that was used as one of the support structures of the makeshift lab.
Delsin Rowe: "Cole MacGrath was Right."
The other three: "What?"
Delsin Rowe: "Cole MacGrath was right that we are the result of the Ray Field Plague mutating after the RFI have been detonated, and Blackwatch was right that the Plague was caused by a virus. More specifically, we ARE the virus."
The projection on the wall showed an aggregate of crystal lattices composed of what looked like thousands of viral capsids that were composed of a material that is almost identical to that was being released when a type II Conduit uses his/her power. More specifically, the material was Concrete. The power of the used-to-be DUP leader Brooke Augustine.
1 day later. Dr Bertrand's lab, Ruins of Empire CityPushing apart the rubble in front of the entrance to the underground lab, Delsin Rowe revealed a machine, a bit like an x-ray machine, lying on the center of the lab.
"This is a Ray Field Energy Scanner. Machines like this were used to screen for Conduits and Plague Victims during the era of Cole MacGrath and the Ray Field Plague. The machine takes a scan of the body of anyone standing in front of this detector, and displays the result on the screen. Yellow shows the presence of the Conduit gene. Red shows the presence of the Plague Pathogen."
In order to show the machine is working, Delsin went out of the lab, brought in a feral cat that wandered around the ruined city, and took a scan of the cat. The screen lights up, and it showed the skeleton of the cat in x-ray- nothing unusual or strange can be seen.
Delsin then stood in front of the detector, the feral cat ran away as the machine took another scan. This time, the entire shape of Delsin Rowe, including clothing and accessories, was displayed as a blood-red silhouette on the screen- no bones, no organs, no tissue. Just red indicating the presence of Plague Pathogen.
Eugene Sims was the second to step in front of the detector- and the same thing happened. Just a silhouette of red that represent the entirety of his being, clothing and all. Richard Lawson and Den Tenebris did the same, and the same thing resulted.
Delsin Rowe: "We are not the survivors of the Conduit Race. No. we are the survivors of the Plague. And the RFI and Cole's sacrifice was completely in vain. "
Richard Lawson: "What?"
Delsin Rowe: "This was what every of us type II conduits really are. A sentient Virus that took the shape, personality and memories of the formal human host that was infected by it. A mutant strain of the Plague Virus that survived the RFI detonation. We ARE the Plague."
Eugene Sims: "But... that can't be possible- The time I got my powers I was still myself... Same love for video games, same love for junk food, same everything."
Delsin Rowe: "Think of your powers. My Powers, Abigail Walker's, every type II Conduit had the same four basic powers that only differs in the specific element one uses to manifest. A fast travel ability that allows you to turn into your corresponding element and run on walls, dash in midair, run through porous obstacles, etc., as well as propelling yourself midair with said element. A Melee attack using the corresponding element, a Projectile attack using the same element, and an area-of-effect attack that fires a projectile that explodes into a burst of the corresponding element. My ability is copying the powers of other Conduits- I knew this very well."
Richard Lawson: "Maybe it's just a coincidence- after all, every one of us had some sort of Mutation power that is not part of the basics, right?"
Delsin Rowe: "But it makes no coincidence when EVERY Conduit I met have started with exactly these four basic powers- mutations come later. These four basic powers were the transmission traits of the virus itself! You see, a successful virus needs to be able to spread to places that are very far away- hence the fast travel abilities that allows you to cross obstacles with ease. Again, a virus can't go too far if the host was killed easily, hence the enhanced melee attack. Projectiles of course allows the virus to be transmitted across distances, and what's better than a cloud of splashed elements when it comes to transmitting a pathogen to a large amount of potential hosts?"
Richard Lawson: "But how could elements transmit a virus/pathogen? For example, my element is light, Den Tenebris' was darkness. We recharge our powers using these elements present in our surroundings- surely it can't be a kind of living thing, be it viruses or other pathogens?"
Delsin Rowe: "Did you ever see light of this intensity that can be used to exert physical force upon objects? Or darkness that carries actual energy? Darkness itself is a Lack of energy. It can't carry any energy by itself. So there must be something else that does the energy transfer within the "Darkness" elemental power. And the Ray Field Plague was no normal virus either- it was the result of a microbial organism being exposed to Ray Field Radiation and a certain trait within it causing it to interact with elemental substances and use it as a part of their biology- just like the Conduits of the old times. The elements we are using, the lights, the smoke, the neon, the pixels, and the shadows, elements that seems to defy the laws of physics that governs the actual form of that element, they were all variations of the capsids of the viruses itself! The more we use them, the more we transmit our viruses to our surroundings- which is a trait that would benefit the virus itself."
Den Tenebris: "Isn't the Ray Field Plague extremely deadly? Then why we comes to survive, and even using the virus itself as superpowers? Surely viruses can't be this kind toward it's host?"
Delsin Rowe: "Viruses are organisms that are controlled by genes- and genes are replicators. Genes does not have a purpose of their own, and their sole purpose is to survive and produce offspring- the same thing applies to the Ray Field Plague virus itself- the Virus itself does not have a set goal, emotion or a sense of morality- it just evolves to have the traits that are best suited for it's survival and reproduction. The ones that are able to reproduce best survives, while the ones that can't dies out. Virulence itself is a negative trait for viruses- Viruses need a host to survive and replicate, and a virus that killed it's host quickly have less chance of spreading. Natural viruses develop virulence only because of the chance that the Host's immune response will eliminate it if it does not consume it's prey quickly- a concern that is not present for a super-powered virus that can bypass all immune systems as we know it. The original Ray Field Plague killed it's host quickly only because the Conduit-physiology of the virus itself and the structures it makes in the cells they infect was not compatible to the Organic-physiology of the cells themselves. Imagine setting fire to or dropping concrete into the bloodstream of a normal, non-Conduit Human. The Human will die, while if he/she was an active Conduit then the elements would be controlled and no longer result in death. Hence the Immunity of Conduits against the Plague."
"And from the files we find in the archives left behind by the First Sons, this mutant strain somehow solves the issue with Incompatibility- it converts the physiology of a Human host into that of an active Conduit, or that of the Viral infection itself. While it does so it confers the same sort of physical traits of the Conduits- like great resistance or quick healing, which manifests on Conduit-positive individuals that increases in activity with time. Once the conversion is complete and the nervous system is converted into viral physiology, the host Consciousness is able to control the element conferred by the viral physiology as well as the mature viruses themselves, awakening the host as a type II Conduit. Of course, a mature type II conduit is a much better transmission vector for the Virus than what few micrograms of debris and secretions that are released only when a Plague Victim dies like the original version did."
Eugene Sims: "But it still didn't solve the issue with the RFI. Which was supposed to erase every bit and trace of the Ray Field Energy on the earth- and as we know from the plague being cured by the RFI, the Ray Field Plague virus can not survive without Ray Field Energy. And also, why bother for a healing factor? The lack of need for normal food or air? Or the other traits of Conduits like super-strength or super-resistance? Most importantly, if the 'Me' as a type II Conduit is a sentient viral entity, how I am still myself after the Awakening? I certainly feel still being myself after all this."
Delsin Rowe: "If the RFI is so thorough, then how did the DUP gets it's Blast Shards and Blast Cores that are used to establish surveillance on our kind? The answer is the same- when encased within solid matter, like Raycite, Ray Field Energy is impervious toward the effects of the Ray Field Inhibitor. We believe that, when the RFI was activated, it killed most strains of the Ray Field Plague virus by depriving it the necessary energy it needs to function, curing the Plague. However, according to recovered Blackwatch files, certain strains of the virus, specifically the strains that forms membrane-bound compartments that isolated the Viral machinery and Conduit physiology from the rest of the Cell, survived in the same way Blast Shards and Blast Cores survived- the compartmentalized structure forms a barrier that protects the virus within from being drained of energy and dying. And it was the very same trait that allowed the Human physiology of a partially converted host to be compatible with the element-based Conduit physiology of the virus- Host cells are first converted from the cytoplasm out, carefully keeping the critical cell Nucleus and cell Membrane to be converted last. Upon excitation by a sufficiently large impulse of Bio-electricity, like that of a strong emotion event, the Nucleus and Cell Membrane is converted by the Virus using that energy, awakening the host as a type II Conduit."
"And for why the person that got infected and converted is still the same person? A person's Memories, Personality and Consciousness, the things that makes You, You, is fundamentally encoded as the pattern and density of the neuro-electric elements on the membrane of the neurons in your brain, as well as the structure and proximity of said membranes toward each other. When finally maturing and awakening the Host as a type II Conduit, the virus fully replicates and recreates the structures and surface patterns of the neurons themselves, as well as reproducing the Bio-electricity as flows of the specific element of that Virus-Host complex. So of course you is still you- it just changes the substrate you are based upon."
Den Tenebris: "And I'm still confused- why a deadly virus would mutate into what is essentially a new Conduit Gene? It makes no evolutionary sense."
Delsin Rowe: "Remember that we are not just some unlucky host that gets Infected with the Virus- we ARE the virus. The mutated version of the Ray Field Plague virus that grants us or powers are fundamentally, still a virus- a virus that is unable to reproduce outside of it's host. Although it converts the cellular structure of it's hosts into a structure that is encoded within the virus itself, it can not carry the resulting structures with it- just like the cells of a type I Conduit can not produce Conduit powers on their own, the viraly encoded cell structure of a type II Conduit can not support the replication of the Virus when scaled down to fit inside the viral capsids themselves. The Virus need Ray Field Energy to survive and reproduce- and the only way to generate Ray Field Energy is to first convert a source of energy into neuroelectricity of a Human-like mind, and then converting the neuroelectricity into Ray Field Energy. Just like the Ray Spheres did, or what was done subconsciously by type I Conduits when they are 'recharging' using their corresponding elements. The virus need our minds and physiology to survive- and that is why making it compatible with human physiology during initial conversion turned the used-to-be-deadly virus into a new Conduit Gene. The Healing Factor? The cellular structure of type II Conduits like us are composed of the same elemental substances we use in our powers, and we can control these elements according to our will. Controlling the elements to patch up the broken/missing parts of our bodies is as easy as using any other powers we have, and the Virus does it subconsciously- repairing even clothing and accessories given an ample supply of our corresponding elements. The ability to transform into the element of our power and squeeze through spaces that isn't normally passable? Remember that our elemental powers are manifestation of our viruses, and we ARE the virus. Transforming into the element we use and performing actions with it is just as easy as performing any actions with our limbs and bodies."
Eugene Sims: "But at least the Plague Virus itself have became Benign after the RFI detonation event since me Eugene Sims is still myself. So Cole's effort and sacrifice is not completely in vain."
Delsin Rowe: "And the hope of Human Evolution was not completely lost. If we could figure out exactly how this Virus works and how we could take the advantage of the virus itself... Then we could still make our way through the Great Filter by continuing the next evolution of Humanity as it was destined."
Den Tenebris: "Or never supposed to. Since we have yet to find any aliens yet. Let alone super-powered aliens."
Seattle, 2 days later."What do we do next?"
"We gather as many active type II Conduits as we can into the small area within the city- once a critical amount is reached, the combined radiation from all the active Conduits would spread the new Conduit Gene into all normal people within the area, maturing them quickly and turn them into new type II Conduits. Which would accelerate the process even further. The process repeats itself, and soon every human on earth will be converted... Free of death, diseases and the bodily needs of mortal beings like the victims of the Old Plague..."
A new era of Evolved Humanity have started.
CODEX: Type I and II Conduits
Conduits, Bioterrorists, Ray aberrations, Mutants, whatever they are called, are Human-like individuals that wields seemingly supernatural powers over a specific substance or phenomenon due to their interaction with a kind of radiation known as Ray Field Energy. According to their origin, they could be roughly subdivided into Prime and Forced Conduits- Prime Conduits awakens their powers naturally from a variety of reasons, while Forced conduits are created through a transfer of power from a Prime Conduit. The potential of an individual becoming a Conduit is largely governed by a factor that was known as the Conduit Gene... However, the reality is far from being this simple.
Type I Conduits, or Natural Conduits, are the result of a rare, 1 in 1000-th pre-existing factor within the Human genome, known as the Conduit Gene, being exposed to Ray Field Radiation. The Conduit Gene in Humans encodes a specific mutant protein on their neuron membranes that interacted strongly with it, which grants them the power over a specific kind of substance or phenomenon. Type I Conduits are capable of greatly enhancing their metabolism, strength and durability to supernatural levels through skillful manipulation of their respective Elemental particles. However, they are still Human physiologically, and Can become disabled if they were damaged badly enough. Type I Conduits, alongside with the Conduit Gene, were presumably extinct after the disruption of Ambient Ray Field Energy followed by the detonation of the Ray Field Inhibitor in the New Marais Event, which presumably deprived them of their necessary life-energy and caused the death of all Individuals, Dormant or Active, that bore the type I Conduit Gene.
Type I Conduits require significant training to control their powers, and being a random phenomenon, every Type I Conduit is unique in the manner they control their elements.
Type II Conduits, or Viral Conduits or simply The Virus or The Outbreak, on the other hand, was the result of a mutant strain of a pre-RFI Pathogen known as the Ray Field Plague Virus that nearly wiped out the entire population of the East Coast. Originally, the Ray Field-Enhanced Pathogen reproduced inside their host cells, while doing so converts parts of the host's Cellular physiology into that of a Conduit's, imbuing elemental manifestations into the Host Cell Biology. However, since the biochemistry-based physiology that of a Human cell is radically different from that of the Elemental-based physiology of Conduit or Viral Physiology, this conversion triggered rejection reactions that quickly killed the host despite the pathogen itself not having any traits of Virulence encoded within it's genome, leaving the pathogen barely enough time to spread. Since the detonation of the Ray Field Inhibitor, and the subsequent usurping of all Ambient Ray Field Energy within the earth-moon system, majority of the Virus died without a source of energy to reproduce, curing the Plague. However, it was believed that in Some of the Plague's former Victims, the Virus have mutated the strategy of isolating the parts that are already Converted from the parts that are still Human, keeping the Host alive until a Type II Conduit is born. This trait is also believed to confer resistance toward the energy of the Ray Field Inhibitor, allowing this mutant strain to survive after the RFI Detonation Event in a manner that was similar to the mechanism of which Blast Shards survived Detonation.
Unlike Type I Conduits, Type II Conduits possessed the same set of four basic powers that are basically an elemental reskin of the same thing(s): Mobility, Melee, Projectile and Area-Of-Effect attacks. They had the unique physiology of being literally composed of the elements they control, and utilizes these basic powers almost Instinctively, though Mutations and additional powers are possible through training, or absorption of additional Ray Field Energy such as Blast Shards or Blast Cores.