It was the middle of the day and yet, the city was as dead as ever. Behind him, the biggest DUP force he had ever faced was following. He ran and ran until two helicopters flew into view just in front of him. He shot a molten lava ball at one and it collided into the other, causing both to explode and fall towards him. He picked up the pace and slid underneath the wreckage. He took a second to stop and catch his breath. As he did so, the APCs and armored cars caught up and began firing upon the conduit.
He ducked into a vacant building as bullets flew around him. Through the windows, he tossed several molten grenades into the group, causing a chained explosion. He was then greeted by several missiles heading in his general direction. One by one they hit the building, each strike deteriorating the building's structure. The building began collapsing as he climbed up it, when he got to the third floor, he shot a lava ball at the wall, causing the impacted area to melt away. He jumped out and hovered onto the ground, where he was greeted by a large group of DUP soldiers, their guns trained on him. He brought up several pillars of lava in front of him and the soldiers opened fire.
However, the molten pillars served as a barrier and protected him as he pushed it forward. The pillars grew wider and encompassed the entire group of soldiers, leaving nothing left. The buildings and empty vehicles behind the group were completing disintegrated as well. When the veritable wave hit a gas station shortly afterward, the nearby area was completely engulfed in flames. He sighed and then smiled.
Suddenly, the world around him began to pixilate and brighten. Seconds later, he found himself in a poorly lit room surrounded by various cameras and sensors as if he just materialized. He looked over at the conduit running the equipment.
"How was that?" he asked.
"P-Pretty good, Troy," Eugene stuttered, "I do have a few notes though."
"Notes?" he questioned.
"Y-yeah… you seem to be a little uh… overzealous?"
"But we're conduits, being all-powerful is kinda' our thing," he argued.
"Yeah but… we don't want to hurt others."
Troy sighed.
"Well… I guess I'll… try tomorrow then," Troy stated before walking away. When he was gone, Eugene took the time to reset the simulation on his machine and transfer the results onto a thumb drive. He then stepped out of the room and walked down the hall of their new base. It was considerably smaller than their previous one, and much easier to navigate.
Eugene oversaw training. At first glance, Eugene's reserved demeanor didn't seem appropriate for teaching. However, he was slowly working on specific conduit-related mission scenarios in the same machine he was using when he first met Delsin. The data he learned was then used to further hone each conduit's skills. Seeing as how intensive the process was, Eugene was almost never in the field and instead devoted his time to helping the other conduits become mission-ready. Troy's trial was the last for the day and he had to deliver his daily report to Alex, Sam's sister. He walked into her office and she looked up and sighed.
"Anything interesting?" she asked, taking the thumb drive.
"Looks like Charlie might be ready for his next exam," he noted.
"What about Troy?" she asked.
"Nothing new," he said with a sigh. She shook her head while plugging the drive into her computer.
"We need him out in the field. His powers are wasted in here. If only he showed more control," she commented.
"That's an understatement, he's starting the wear me down with the number of agents I have to create for him."
"Well get some rest, I'll look over the footage. I'll let you know if I have any questions."
Eugene nodded and left the room. He walked down the narrow hallway towards the rec room. When he walked in, he was greeted by another conduit.
"Hey, Eugene."
"Oh… hi, Kat," he spoke out of surprise, not seeing her on the couch in front of the TV.
"How did the testing go?" she asked.
"Oh… same old same old," he said while staring at a reporter on the television, "Another one?"
"Yeah," she said with a sigh, "Anti-conduit supporter was murdered."
"I guess that means they haven't found her yet," Eugene assumed.
"Sure seems that way. Any idea on when they're getting back?" she asked.
"No… but uh… Delsin, Fetch, and TJ are supposed to be back soon."
"And hopefully with Ash and Sebastian," she added.
A few hours later, when Alex finished going through the footage she was given, she took it to Director Davis' office for examination.
"Come in," he called out when Alex knocked on the door. She walked in confidently with a small stack of papers in her hands.
"Cooper, what did you find?" he asked as she handed him the papers.
"Mark Blade and Charlie Patch are ready for their next exams. Naomi Stung passed her first exam with flying colors… and Troy—"
"I said no," he interrupted while rolling out from behind his desk towards a drawer on the opposite side of the room.
"But sir, we could use that kind of firepower in the field," she pleaded.
"Not until he can show more restraint," he said while pulling a folder out of the filing cabinet.
"You think all the others show restraint? They don't have nearly the same firepower Troy does. He can go for hours without having to recharge his powers. We need that."
"Yes, just not now. We're in hot water as it is after breaking these conduits out of a high-securi—"
He was immediately interrupted by a violent coughing that pursued for several seconds. When it finished, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it to his face.
"Are you okay sir?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," he replied with an irritated throat, "Just a change in weather is all."
The two headed back towards the director's desk and Davis pulled out the contents of the folder he extracted: previous reports of the conduits' examinations and training.
"At least look at today's training footage," she pleaded while handing him the flash drive Eugene gave her.
"I'll look at it, but my position still stands," he said while taking the drive.
"Very well sir, if there isn't anything else you need, I'll see myself out."
"Have a good evening Ms. Cooper," he told her as she left his office.
The next morning, Delsin's team arrived at the refuge. Alex and Eugene were the first to greet them personally. However, their smiles disappeared when then noticed a lack of faces with the group.
"Where's Ashton and Sebastian?" Alex asked.
"It was a setup. They were expecting us," Fetch explained.
"And they have a new weapon," Bentley added while holding an open hand to display one of the recovered beads.
"What is this?" she asked while examining the foreign object.
"I'll explain when Sam gets back, any word from him?"
"He should be back later today," Alex answered. The group then left the hanger and proceeded to follow Alex to her office. Recently, it had turned into the major hub for their activities. Since Celia's attack, many of the conduits lost faith in The First Sons and demanded they get taken home. Knowing they weren't kept here against their will, they were forced to oblige. This exodus led to a massive deficiency in time and resources. Now, the remaining conduits are trained and sent on missions to track down conduits in trouble, including Ashton and Sebastian. When Delsin, Fetch, and TJ gave their reports, they left the office with Eugene.
"So… no Ash and Sebastian yet?" Eugene clarified.
"No," Delsin said with a sigh, "Not yet."
"We're wasting our time here, we need to find them," TJ spoke angrily.
"You know it takes time for Bentley to find them with the tracker, just be patient," Fetch pleaded.
"Patient?! You wanna' talk patient?" he snapped while turning to face Fetch.
"I did what I had to," she replied.
"No, you did what you want to!"
"Guys!" Delsin butted in, "Knock it off!"
"Hmpf!" he slowly back away from them. "You need to keep her on a tighter leash," he said while walking away from the trio. Fetch immediately stomped after him. However Delsin stopped her before she could take a step.
"Come on, let's go find Ryan," Delsin urged, "He said he got a new power remember?" Fetch took a second to breathe and compose herself. Once she felt ready, the trio headed over to the breakroom. There, Ryan sat on the couch while watching TV. When the three of them walked in, Ryan turned his head and stood up to greet his friends.
"Delsin! Any luck with the power twins?" he asked.
"No… it was a dead-end," he answered.
"Damn it… I'm sorry to hear about that. We'll find them."
"I know we will… In the meantime, I heard you got a new power?"
"Oh yeah! Check this out!" he said excitedly while running over to the cupboard. He grabbed a small grab of chips with one hand and closed his other. When he opened it, a bluish-white orb materialized in his hand. When his hand was extended completely, the orb was about the size of a baseball.
"You might want to stand back for this," he warned them. He then looked over at the couch and gently tossed the glowing orb onto the couch. When it impacted the surface, the orb transformed into a large translucent sphere that encompassed the couch as well as the part of the rug that the couch rested on.
"What the hell?" Fetch awed.
"That's not even the best part," he said with a smile. Ryan then tossed the bag of chips into the sphere. As soon as it entered the sphere, its velocity slowed down significantly. It was as if the bag was in slow motion.
"I call it a time bomb," he said proudly.
"Time?" Fetch repeated.
"That's correct," spoke a voice in the doorway. Zeke stood behind Delsin, Fetch, and Eugene.
"Turns out, Ryan here can manipulate time. Whenever he teleports, it's just him moving faster than we can see."
"So… does that mean you can travel through time too?" Delsin asked.
"Not yet," Ryan said with a smile on his face.
"How did you get your new power?" Fetch asked.
"Yeah, why don't you tell them what you did?" Zeke said condescendingly.
"I uh… went into storage and… found a blast core," he explained.
"I thought only Delsin can use those…" Fetch recalled.
"Only Delsin can drain them. But, Cole used them by passing a current through it. So I… found… a Taser and zapped the blast core."
"Yeah, and caused a real ruckus while doing it, nearly put the whole base in lockdown!" Zeke added.
"But we're fine, nothing happened, besides getting a new power of course." As their conversation ended, the bluish orb slowly faded away into nothingness, leaving time in that spot the same it was previously.
"Well, I suppose I should uh… get back to work…" Eugene said as he made his way past Zeke, "It was nice seeing you two again."
"Nice seeing you too, Eugene" Fetch replied.
"Yeah, you playing DnD later?" Delsin teased.
Eugene chuckled at the comment before leaving.
"So, I heard you guys didn't have any luck with our missing friends?"
"Not yet. And I thought this was going to be our big break too," Delsin confirmed.
"Well, if there's anyone that can find them, it's you too," Zeke commented.
"Oh, we will," Fetch replied cockily.
"How's Cole doing?" Delsin asked.
"Why don't you come see for yourself?"