We ARE the Virus

by dzha4225

After Second Son, "Plague turn into new Conduit gene" theory. [PROTOTYPE] crossover. The RFI may have erased the normal Conduit gene from the Human gene pool. But after the destruction of the DUP and the freeing of the remaining "Conduits" that somehow stayed alive... It was discovered that the power wielded by the Second Sons are in fact, Contagious. Rated M just to be sure.

3. Chapter 3

Episode 2: New Conduitkind, The Conspiracy and preparing for the Corrupted Wars.

Jul 1st 2020

As Joseph Bertrand III let out a deafening roar in his giant mutated Conduit Form, the ground of New York Zone shook and opened to reveal nearly a million Corrupted Monsters-both large and small, highly ranked and lowly ranked. As they left their hideouts, thousands of soldiers wearing a black uniform, with masks for face and blue glow all over their bodies, poured out from structures and bases that were not even registered on the maps previously and joined the march of the Corrupted- Out of the Blue Zone and into the rest of the United States.

"We will burn our own to hold the red line, it is the last line to ever hold!"

"Death to the Ray Aberrations!"

Some of the Type II/Viral Conduits, or Runners, have traveled outside the United States in bits and trickles- and the result was another outbreak in Mexico City, and a sudden increase of Conduit-Positive population in many locations in Canada and South America.

Jul 2nd 2020 Houston, Texas

A young black guy, Liam "Force" Kosta, standing on the wall on top of the former NASA command facility building, dialed on his phone as hordes of monsters could be seen coming from the east of the city- The Corrupted have mobilized, and was on an unstoppable march westward in an attempt to wipe out the emerging race of Type II Conduits. The last ditch effort of the political secret societies and Blackwatch in their desperate move to hold own their political power in a changing world.

"I'm Liam 'Force' Kosta of the Conduit Right Organization calling every Runner on the continent for help- The Corrupted have mobilized- I REPEAT, The Corrupted have mobilized! And they are currently raiding the Yellow Zone!"

Just like when another sentient virus in another universe did when Nature tried hard to maintain her political power, so did the New Conduitkind in this universe- they mobilized, resisted, and united under a single cause that was to usurp the rule of Old Nature on Earth and survive whatever this dark universe throw at them.

"This is Delsin Rowe of the Akhomish tribe in Seattle. And I am the cause of all of this. 8 years ago, You know what happened. The Ray Sphere, the Plague, and then the enormous energy surge from Cole Macgrath and the RFI cured the Plague and supposedly eliminated every Conduit in the entire world, dormant or active."

"Of course it did not play out the way it was supposed to. Just 4 years ago, the Seattle Government assembled what's known today as the DUP, the Department of Unified Protection. And their Enforcers had the same powers as the Conduits, which were supposed to go extinct. And their target was active Conduits- something that were supposed to never exist after the claimed event."

"Then you know what happened next. A year and a half ago, a transport carrying captured 'Bioterrorists' crashed near our Indian Reserve. I touched one of them while the other two escaped, finding myself to be one of them- with the ability of absorbing and replicating the powers of other Conduits by touch."

"Realizing the reality to be very different from claimed, I went to Seattle, where I met Abigail 'Trace' Walker and Eugene Sims. We then realized the true nature of the DUP and exposed their purpose in front of people's eyes. The DUP was dismantled, their leader, Brooke Augustine was caught and got what she asked for as a Conduit herself. I returned to my tribe and cured their disability using the powers I got from Brooke Augustine. You know, the reason why we are called the Second Sons."

"However, after that, more and more Conduits popped up. I met the other two members of my team Richard Lawson and Den Tenebris. Then Thomas "Falcon" Wilson. We learned about the Plague and the mechanism of the DUP's Conduit Test from the Heritage left from Cole MacGrath following the Paper Trail, which we conducted on samples of the local population and found out that the population of potential Conduits are Increasing. So we went to the origin of the Plague, the New York Zone, where we conducted a series of tests on our impossible Conduit Factor and met Alex 'Zeus' Mercer, telling him that he did not get transported into another video game."

"And it's through the further tests conducted using what's left of Bertrand's lab at Empire City did we finally realized what we actually are- the children of the Plague rather than the children of the Conduits. We learned about the presence of Blackwatch and went back to New York Zone to retrieve a secret document of their research on the Plague and the new, or Type II Conduits that pops up like mushrooms after a rain after the RFI event 8 years ago. And we discovered the fact that Joseph Bertrand III, the man who was actually behind all this chaos, was still alive."

"And worth off, he have already succeeded in his plan of getting to the top of the Political Power in the entire United States, possibly the entire world. And he want all of us, DEAD."

"That's the reason why we spent this entire year amassing in numbers and triggering Outbreaks. We Type II Conduits by ourselves are never strong enough to defeat the Corrupted or any of the Prime Type I Conduits that survived the RFI blast- But with each new friend and every new teammate we get exponentially stronger. Our powers are complementary toward each other- just like what Alex 'Zeus' Mercer and the Majestic Twelve discovered. With each new Power and new Element we unlock more potential of chemical reactions and technology- Technologies that was the only REAL difference that separates a sentient virus from an animal."

"The Corrupted have been mobilized. Old Nature have dished out her trump card against us. Here I call every Type II Conduit in the world, Runner or not, to unite under this common goal of fighting for our own survival and the defeat of the Corrupted conspirators that used to rule the world. The age of Nature is ending, and the Age of Technology have just begun."

One week later

Joseph Bertrand III : "Yellow Zone reclamation- 24 percent. So far only Runners have been encountered- difficult to kill, but nevertheless easily defeated with concentrated Corrupted attack. It's the time to show them the REAL power of the Corrupted."

On the ruins of the New York Zone, twisted, abominable fleshy structures have risen from the ground, as the Corrupted grouped together and merged into each other, then into the constructs themselves. The Constructs grew larger and larger... before large, yellow-colored glowing pustules start to appear near the bottom of the structures, which soon bursts to reveal other Corrupted: Spikers, Ravagers, Gasbags and even a few Hive Lords and Devourers. There were no Swamp Monster however- the Swamp Monsters was considered a waste of Biomass for what they could do.

Steve "Pariah" Nivens, looking down from a satellite that happened to move across the New York Zone, took a few records, before returning to Seattle as a stream of data.

Steve "Pariah" Nivens: "It's really bad." Before taking out a few photographs of the New York Zone taken from the advantage point of the Keyhole-22 Satellite.

The photographs showed that there were constructs of sort- Constructs that were not seen before in the New York Zone.

Alex "Zeus" Mercer: "What was it?"

Steve "Pariah" Nivens: "Readings suggest that these Constructs... Or, rather, Hives were composed of an unknown form of organic matter. Or Biomass. Readings suggest that they were likely powered by Raycite. Or Blast Shards. The dots near the structures were all high-ranked Corrupted. And the hives are either assimilating Corrupted Biomass into themselves, or are making Corrupted out of their Biomass."

"Oh no. They were making Corrupted like ant queens pop out eggs." Steve "Pariah" Nivens corrected himself after reading through a few additional photographs.

Alex "Zeus" Mercer: "And judging by how the Type I Conduits are known to utilize the radioactive energy from Blast Shards... These Hives won't need additional Biomass to continue producing more Corrupted. As long as the Type I Healing Factor were still there for them to use."

Abigail F. Shepard: "We know about what we are capable and what we aren't as mere individuals as I was one of the most powerful type II Conduits that could be, being on par with Delsin Rowe. And I knew very well that this isn't something one Runner of a small team of type II Conduits could handle on their own. Delsin, Trace, Zeus, Falcon, Pariah, Richard, Tenebris. And we will need many more of us for us to have any chance in defeating Joseph Bertrand III and his crazed crusade for 'Nature'."

First stop- University of Washington, the Majestic Twelve.

Abigail F. Shepard: "So this was the University of Washington. It looked... changed."

What used to be the University Town have now been turned into a stronghold- it looks like that the Majestic Twelve have knew about the Corrupted's Conquest of the rest of the United States and have Fortified their own hideout with...

"PolyDimethylSiloxane. Polyacrylamide. Agarose. Magnesium Metal. DeoxyriboNucleicAcid. What's this fluid... Tris(Hydroxymethyl)AminoMethane in HCl. It looks like it was mostly HCL. Poly(n-Butyl (2-Methyl)Acrylate). Gold on a cleaved Mica substrate. Pure Platinum...WTF? And it looks like that someone tried to build something with Sodium. Or Sodium Hydroxide since that was all that was left."

Swinging herself over a slightly shorter part of the wall, Abigail F. Shepard entered the Majestic Twelve's Hideout. Which quickly got splat onto with a large blob of Alginate:Ca2+ coming from one of the University buildings.

Abigail F. Shepard: "Relax- We are not Corrupted- and we need your help to actually defeat them!", Before a blob of Bromine was splattered onto Alex "Zeus" Mercer, who have responded by catching the blob with a shield created from Biomass. Which is now melting away as Bromine reacts with Biomass and dissolves it.

Delsin Rowe: "We need to see your leader."

Apparently, the person within one of these buildings recognized Delsin Rowe being one of the "Invaders", and a small door (which looks like it was made from Aluminized Polyester A.K.A Mylar) was opened on the bottom of what used to be the Chemistry Building of the original University of Washington campus.

Chemistry Building, University of Washington

As Delsin's team enters the Chemistry Building, more and more strange things showed up: pools of Liquid Bromine and Metallic Mercury could be seen replacing water within the decorative ponds and waterfalls within the hall of the building, Hydrogen and Helium fills the top part of the room with what looks like electrical arcs through the various gaseous elements providing light. The walls appeared to be constructed out of pure metals- Iron, Zinc, Aluminum and Titanium, with trimmings of Copper and Gold decorating the walls. Abigail "Trace" Walker, first did not notice about anything, but later finds out that the Ground below her was actually composed of a lattice-work of Graphite, Silicon, Red Phosphorus and Amorphous Boron, with "Gems" of yellow Sulfur and metallic Arsenic dotting the seams. The Furniture appears to have been changed as well- the cubit, crystalline design was clearly composed of Bismuth, and what looks like the top surface of the desks and chairs was created from a gray, oxidized metal- Magnesium metal. Pipes made from Platinum and Zirconium could be seen used as the "legs" of some of the desks.

Due to losing a lot of energy in the way in from the attacks of the over-reacting guards, Abigail "Trace" Walker instinctively absorbed some of the ionized gasses from just below the ceiling, which was composed of an unknown metal or metallic mixture.

Delsin Rowe: "Hello? Are there anyone here?"

The large throne at the end of the Hallway turned toward the visiting party, and a black, hairy male greeted Delsin's team from the Iridium and Uranium Glass throne.

And the appearance of the figure surprised everyone in Delsin's team. "CaptainSparklez? Why you? Aren't you supposed to be a video game youtuber? Why are you now ruling whatever strange kingdom of sort in a College? Aren't gamers generally illiterate and hate academics in general?"

And the black male, wearing his iconic paper 3D glasses over his forehead, replied: "Isn't this entire world now a Video Game? I was on my post-graduate project in the University of Washington which I was forced to do by my parents, before the 'Outbreak' came as claimed by the University's TV outlets, and I and many of my colleagues in the same lab suddenly finds out that each of us had control over a specific chemical element. The others got control over other chemical compounds- mostly solvents, polymers and the other bulk chemicals that were used in the labs. My real name was James D. Norlan, but I don't think that name would be needed anymore since my parents have probably died from the Rampancy or have been turned to one of the Corrupted by Joseph Bertrand III as they lived in the Blue Zone. Now they all call me Captain 'Fluorine' Sparklez instead."

Alex "Zeus" Mercer: "Okay, Captain 'Fluorine' Sparklez, So, what's the rest of the Majestic Twelve?"

Captain "Fluorine" Sparklez: "They were all there, minding their own business in the Chemistry building. You know, maintenance jobs and technology development. They were all nerds- and the first time they got their powers they just went full Geek on this. Of course none of them are able to solve the mysteries surrounding the 'Outbreak' on their own. Or how did EVERYONE in the so-called Red Zone suddenly got the alleged 'Conduit Gene' which were supposed to go extinct."

Captain "Fluorine" Sparklez dialed a number on his phone, and what looks like gateways soon opened on the metallic walls of the hall they were meeting in.

Captain "Fluorine" Sparklez: "Let me introduce to you, all the 12 major members of the Majestic Twelve."

Henry "Proton" Cavendish: "I am the most abundant element in the entire universe! Just call me 'Hydrogen' for the rest of your journey. My element was Hydrogen. The same stuff 1 8th the weight of Water was made off. I help clearing out water in our little kingdom... you know, Conduits and Water don't mix."

Pierre "Sun" Johnson: "And I am the second most abundant element in the universe... Just somewhat rare on Earth. Just call me 'Helium' as my element is, you guess, Helium. The same gas you find in Balloons. I help providing physical support and aerial coverage for the Majestic Twelve."

Johan "Rocks" Arfwedson: "I am the element you find in your phone batteries. Or Tesla batteries. And the reason why I am not allowed to use a smartphone like other ones in the University uses as I can not suppress the urge to eat the lithium out of it. I am in charge of electricity generation in the Majestic Twelve- the electrical arcs you see illuminating this building was created by me. Or at least with the aid of a certain person known as Carl "Flames" Scheele."

Louis "Saccharin" Vauquelin: "Just don't touch me- my element may give skin rashes to a certain type of Prime or Forced Conduits. Or outright kill a Baseline human by contact. My element is Beryllium. And I am one of the reasons why you don't find emeralds around in Seattle. Any way, I compete with Rocks and Luminous for the brightness of the intensity light I could make using my powers."

Humphry "Wildfire" Davy: "I am green- yet I am neither cool to the touch nor hypocritical like the other 'Greens' in the Blue Zone. They call me Wildfire because my element burns green and makes a lot of heat when burned. You guess it- I am Boron. The same chemical element you find in both Roach Killer and Rocket Fuel. I want to be the Pyro for the Majestic Twelve- but the others who needed me mostly simply want to use my element to stick things together. Collaborating with you may help alleviating this."

Laurent "Universal" Lavoisier: "Don't piss me off Alex 'Zeus' Mercer- I could suck the very being out of you in a whim of thought, as I controls the Element of Life- Carbon. I did most of the Construction work once the Majestic Twelve decided to take University of Washington for ourselves. Both for providing construction materials as Graphite and for cutting through things as Diamond. I also forms the most diverse of all chemical compounds in the entire universe. I dare the Corrupted to challenge me."

Daniel "Breathless" Rutherford: "I am Nitrogen. And I love to be just myself. Don't expect to drain me as long as I have access to air. I help to keep everything within this building and the Campus from reacting with itself and exploding- Yet I also help creating the most used explosives in the entirety of our little kingdom. Though others just use my abilities on the Highly Explosive side... and they NEVER leave me alone, nomatter how I complained."

Carl "Flames" Scheele: "You have just heard the testimony by Lithium, Beryllium and Boron. Possibly Hydrogen and Carbon or Magnesium. Yes, they had great powers with their highly volatile/energetic Allotropes and/or Compounds they could form- But none of them could use these reactions nor powers by themself without the presence of my element in the air around them. My element is Oxygen- and fires goes where ever I go. Even a single spark could be turned into a massive crater if I happen to have a bad moon or be near. As long as you bring something flammable to burn with."

Captain "Fluorine" Sparklez: "And I am the king of all Chemical Elements- Atomic number 9, mass number 19 and a love for electrons from everything. While Oxygen could only accelerate fires, I can set fire to anything I want- Water and Concrete included. Or I can coat something with my element and make it impervious to corrosion and chemical-based attacks. I don't use my powers often- but recharges are certainly quite cheap at least for me. Like Glowstone in Minecraft. Of it's counterpart in the Real World- Fluorite. I can also greatly enhance the fire-related properties of some of the other members of the Majestic Twelve like Hydrogen, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Sodium or Magnesium. Which is why I became the leader of this place in the first place."

William "Inert" Ramsay: "Except for me. I am an Inert gas just like Helium, so I don't react to Fluorine. And because I can be found in the air, I don't have to worry about recharging like the 'Second most abundant element in the Universe' just above me. I provide the gas for lighting up the University of Washington while Lithium and Oxygen (Or Fluorine) provides the electrical power that is needed. I don't think I had any weakness against anyone."

"Except for me- I can absorb you once you are ionized through some means. Which is prettymuch the only way you could perform any form of real attack." digressed Abigail "Trace" Walker.

Humphry "Volatile" Davy: "My element makes the food you eat taste salty... Oh, I forgot that Type II Conduits don't eat in the usual way. In salt form, I dissolves in water. In pure form, I reacts with water explosively. Yes, I know that Conduits of any kind, both Type I and Type II, generally don't play nice with water. But don't know how did the RNGs wind up making me entirely incompatible with it- even moisture in the air hurts like Caustic Soda. Oh, wait a minute, Sodium reacts with water to form Caustic Soda... Luckily, I don't have issue with recharging as most materials burn yellow when placed into a flame- an evidence of the material's Sodium content. And you won't need Cobalt Glass for further identifying the composition of your sample in a flame test once I glide any pa `rt of my body across it. Anyway, I am the other one in the Majestic Twelve who can produce explosions without Oxygen- I can throw sodium toward water, and it will explode and rain death upon everyone in it's vicinity- Humans and Conduits alike."

Joseph "Luminous" Black: "Just call me 'Magnesium'. Don't worry about the 'Black' in my full name. I used to be the Brightest element in the Majestic Twelve- until Beryllium come alone and stole my fame with her 22.45MJ*Kg^-1 reaction with Oxygen gas- the most energetic reaction in the entirety of chemistry. However, as my element is much, much, cheaper than the other two, I still got the job as the mobile light provider and one of the many material providers for Fluorine's small 'Kingdom'. About 2 3rd of all the furniture you see in this building was made by me."

Delsin Rowe: "That's... Plain... Weird..."

Alex "Zeus" Mercer: "You totally didn't recruit the entire Periodic Table of the Elements to your faction, right?"

Captain "Fluorine" Sparklez: "As a matter of fact, I did!"

CODEX: Festival Of Blood: Naming Type II Conduits

The Name of a Type II Conduit, unlike that of a Type I Conduit which inherits that of Baseline Humans, differs from that of a Baseline Human by one and exactly one word- Unlike a normal Human name which consisted of a Given name and a Family name, the name of a Type II Conduit contains an additional "title" which identifies the nature of the Elemental powers of the Individual.

Inactive type II Conduits, both Conduit-Positive Converted Individuals and nascent Created Individuals are named the same way Baseline Humans are named- which is often subjected to change as the various Viral traits within the new Individual reconciled and stabilized, resulting in subtle yet remarked subconscious changes- a common phenomenon of transferring a mind from one substrate to another. There may also be a chance that the Hair, Skin and Eye color will change during late states of Conversion, especially during the Activation process where the Individual awakens their powers.

Once the incubation period finishes and the Type II Conduit is activated, the Individual is given a title depending on the element of the Conduit powers the Individual awakens- which is normally called between the Given and Family name of said Individual. Unlike the Given and Family names which are partially inherited from their parents if Created, the title of a Type II Conduit is not inherited- While the name of a Created Individual is derived from the memory fragments the parents put into their creation, their title are derived in the same way as a Converted Individual- From the element of their powers once they are awakened.

It's not uncommon for certain features of a Type II Conduit's clothing to change according to their mood and affiliation states- as the clothing of Type II Conduits are a part of their own bodies which heals with their "biological" components when damaged, it is too subjected to the same effects one's mental state can have on the more traditional parts of their bodies- such like hair, eye or skin color, or the color tint of their powers if such a tint is applicable.

CODEX: Second Son: The Karma System, R and K affiliation

An interesting fact about most Conduits, Type I or Type II, are the fact that they are physically affected by the way they handle their everyday lives- Emotions, Mood states and moral choices affect their appearance and powers in ways that could be largely directed in two directions on a continuous spectrum, which got it's name, ironically, from a certain system in an old Video Game.

For Type I Conduits, the spectrum they are affected by their morality was based on the moral standards of Baseline Humans- "Good Karma" and "Evil Karma", which could be accumulated by performing their respective choice and accumulating their respective moralities. Generally, "Good Karma" improve the accuracy and precision where the Type I Conduit utilizes their powers, while "Evil Karma" improve the energy and destructive potential one's powers can have. Type I Conduits gain Karma through actions that are traditionally associated with "Light" and "Dark" in the alignment system of Knights of the Old Republic.

For Type II Conduits, however, the spectrum they are affected by their way of action was instead based on the two different evolutionary strategies their particular viral strain could take- "K Affiliation" and "R Affiliation". Analogous to "Good Karma" and the "Evil Karma" of the Type I Conduits, "K Affiliation" improves the accuracy and precision one may have in controlling their powers, enabling the use of non-lethal restraining attacks- maximizing efficiency in converting existing hosts at a cost of transmission of the Virus to potential hosts; While "R Affiliation" improves the range and raw power of a Type II Conduit's elemental powers, enabling powerful AOE attacks toward all targets within a certain range- maximizing spread of the Virus to potential hosts at the expense of risk killing a few existing hosts in the process. Type II Conduits gain Affiliation through actions that are traditionally associated with "Paragon" and "Renegade" the affinity system of Mass Effect.

Generally, a Conduit that is affiliated with the upper left part of the Alignment spectrum will have their optical emissions blueshifted to a cyan-blue tint, while a Conduit that is affiliated with the lower right part of the Alignment spectrum will have their optical emissions redshifted to a orange-red hue. This effect is purely cosmetic, and is in no way an indicator of their Strength and Abilities- Different Karma/Affiliation are simultaneously strong and weak in different ways so that neither is generally stronger or weaker than the other, and it often happens that Conduits of opposite Alignment have to team together and cooperate in order to best utilize their strengths and compensate their weakness for any particular task.