"You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don't trust enough."
-Frank Crane
It had been two nights since her confrontation with the flesh conduit. Nicky wondered about her choice to let that man live, as she wandered through the forests. She forgot to grab her maps or any real supplies, so the child did not realize that she was just North of the Mount Rainier National Park. The worst part for her was that she still maintained the skeletal form, and could not figure out how to do anything with her powers. Nicky needed some guidance for conduit life, but most everyone would capture and kill one if given the chance.
As she kept walking, feeling drained from there being no source of energy around, Nicky stepped on a random twig. It made a loud enough sound for any animal to hear. She heard a few foot steps, before, "What was that?" which was said in a deep and feminine voice.
Nicky hid by a tree to escape any unneeded fighting. This would likely not end well for her since that person she heard was not alone.
"It better not be one of those Dup foos again. I might just lose control, and snap someone's neck." another person said in a slightly higher, but rougher voice.
"You should really calm down, you know how crazy he went on us when ya caused that explosion in Vancouver."
"Oh yeah, the Vantucky fire you never shut the hell up about."
"How can I? You nearly killed 3 people by scrapping the ground near gasoline."
"It wasn't that bad."
"You blew up a gas station, and burned an entire field of grass!"
The two of them kept arguing with one another, so without hesitation, she started to tiptoe away from the tree. Nicky moved a few feet away, looking behind to see a slightly brown man, wearing a baseball cap, a plaid shirt, and cut up, light jeans. Along with him, a black teenager in a black hoody, wearing a beanie and dark jeans. She was smart to keep quiet as she moved, but she did not think to turn her head back to see what was in front of her.
"What are you doing out in the middle of the woods for, kid?" a man said with a deep voice.
She turned her head to see a pale man with an Ivy League cut right above a pair of shades. If it weren't for those features, his jacket would have made him look like a hobo. The young girl looked at him and said, "How… how do you know… I…?"
"Because the way you're moving, because I sense a conduit that isn't seven foot five, and as of now, your voice is very light."
"Huh?"
"Obviously, unlike me, you don't have much experience with the outside world, do you? Let alone, experience with your powers?" the man said as he turned his face from a lit fire towards the conduit child.
"I... "
"There it is! I thought I heard something… holy shit look at that thing!"
Nicky turned her head around to see the she walked away from looking straight at her.
"Yeah that's scary looking. At least you didn't completely screw up and get our buddy killed." said the man in the plaid shirt.
"Screw off! Hey Mike, what should we do with this weird, skeleton… thing?" said the teen in the hoody.
The man got up, looked towards the two guys, then back at Nicky. He walked up to her with a slight look of suspicion. Looking up towards the skull, he quietly asked her, "Tell me kid, have you ever killed anyone, or tried to use your powers to steal from people?"
She felt uneasy, but like always, she sucked it up and cooperated. "No, I never killed anyone, and everything I have was given to me."
"Really? Tell me kid, how did you end up this way?"
Remembering what happened made her start shaking a little. "I… would prefer not to talk about it. Please."
"That bad of a story? Well I'm sorry for all you had to experience kid. I didn't have much when I grew up, and it got only worse for me year after year. But I can keep that from happening to you. You sound like a good kid, so if you choose, you can hang around me and my friends here. We'll help you learn to control your powers."
Nicky looked down at the ground, then nervously towards the other two. Both looked ready to beat up someone. She said, "I don't know." before turning back towards the man.
"Don't worry about those two. They're a pain in the ass at first, but you'll learn to love 'em."
"I just don't know if I should. I feel like more of a burden than help to you."
"Kid, you don't know how it is to feel like a burden. You are no burden, but you seem like a child living with some. I wanna help you kid."
"What do you want us to do?!" the teenager yelled to interrupt the quiet conversation.
The man talking with Nicky turned towards the teen and glared. The teen then glared back, and just sat down against a tree. With that out of the way, he continued to talk with the young conduit.
"Like I said, pain in the ass. You'll see the lovable side though, assuming you'll hang around with us."
"I don't know, I've been told not to hang around random groups of men."
"Yeah, I guess that works for this situation, since we obviously look like stalker molesters with PLAID SHIRT AND HOODY OVER THERE!"
"WHAT DID WE DO?!" said the two outside of the conversation.
"Seriously though kid, if you stick around, we can and will help you."
Nicky thought to herself, thinking of the people she trusted in the past. Thinking of that man from the cabin, how she let him go, and how he let her go with the blast cores. It was odd, but she decided that maybe, she should have some faith in people. She wouldn't be able to make it out on her own, not with people likely to rat her out, other conduits attacking everywhere, and D.U.P soldiers waiting around for any "bio-terrorists" to capture. Nicky said, "Yes, I'll… stay with you."
"Well great then. Glad you wanna stick around kid."
Nicky wasn't sure how to feel about this situation. She felt abandoned by her father, and attacked by just about every other adult she's met. At least for now, the young one might get a little rest, and maybe some training that wouldn't be found in any "Conduits For Morons" book. As she got to meet up with these other conduits in the middle of the woods, another, even more powerful conduit, was meeting someone. Someone more… sinister.
[Switch to Curdan Cay Station]
A woman in a dark blue trench coat sits in a dark room with a man in a black suit. The woman sits upward, and says, "Thank you for joining us today."
"Thank you for allowing me to see what I am funding. It's good to know that whatever money I had left with me is going towards a good cause." said the man.
"Yes, well, thanks to your funding, we were able to start up Curdan Cay Station. We've captured nearly three-hundred conduits without the need for use of lethal force."
"Why not lethal force? It's always fun to be a little ruff with the new inmates. Anyway though, that isn't what I came in here for."
"What is it that you need sir?"
"I came in because I was hearing of a "bio-terrorist" in Seattle and Olympia. I'm wondering if my good investment is still capable of what it claims, and will take care of the situation."
"We have control of the situation. We know that the conduit in Seattle is a girl named Abigail Walker. Early 20s, and has been involved with the local drug dealers. Men have been sent in to her current location. In Olympia, we have Richard Knight, who used to work at a local food stand in the area. Now he's on the run, and headed towards a trap."
"You act as if their capture is inevitable."
"You don't believe us to be capable of…?"
"I'm referring to the incident back in Michigan. You and your toy soldiers had no idea what you were up against. What Cole Macgrath was capable of after the New Marais explosion. Whoever that kid was that got in the middle, you mine as well thank him for saving your sorry ass."
The man began to smile a little in the shadows, while the woman began to sneer angrily. She calmed herself before saying, "We were unprepared at the time, but some of our sources have gained information on technology to combat the rising bio-terrorist infestation."
"Technology? Along the lines of my good old friend Doctor Wolfe I suppose?"
"Yes, and much more. If Moya can help dig deeper into the NSA's Intel on the First Sons, we can build another device to kill Cole MacGrath."
"Then the rest of the bio-terrorists would run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Genius Ms. Augustine, genius. Now I remember why I funded your little parade of rock heads you call… the D.U.P."
The two continued to talk for some time. Eventually, they left the room. The man to his helicopter transport outside, and the woman to the surveillance room that covered the drone camera feed. One screen showed a young man running through a town, trying to escape the D.U.P chasing him. Right below the screen, it read:
Model #: 24
Current location: Olympia, WA
Hello everyone, CAJ is back. Sorry my update is taking forever, I was hoping to have two already in by now. Either way, just hoping you all like the new entry to my story. Looks like Nicky is making new friends, and likely to meet more in the near future. That is, considering the fact that she's in a forest just East of Olympia. If you couldn't tell already, you should know by now that Cole, Lucy, Alden, and Augustine are going to be involved. Going to have a huge cross of paths in the future, secrets revealed, and etcetera, etcetera. 'Til the next entry, CAJ out. PEACE!