"There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles."
-Stephen Covey
Morning came to Olympia, and along with it, a message to everyone. News for both humans and conduits alike. TVs around Washington all let out a special report of the situation in Seattle.
A blonde, female news anchor said, "We have just received word on the bio-terrorist threat in Seattle. Local Law Enforcement confirms that the neon bio-terrorist has been taken into D.U.P custody. She is currently being transported to Curdan Cay Station."
As she kept talking about the D.U.P's success, some began to get worried about the increasing reach of the soldiers.
"They got a poor little girl, I hope those dick heads are happy." Alvin said as he, Craig and Michael walked by a TV.
"Half the time those assholes wanna kill us. So be thankful that 'dat druggie is still alive." Craig told Alvin.
"Whatever you say, dear."
"Don't call me dear."
"Fine then, young man. You should try to show a little more kindness though. That girl did…"
"I'm still deciding whether or not that was stupid of her."
"She helped someone in need."
"And she got knocked the hell out for it!"
"At least she did something, Craig." Michael told him. "She's only a child, but she stayed to help out someone in need."
"How do you know if she's just a child? She's as tall as me, and has a deeper voice than any little girl…"
"I'm more than twice your age, kid. I've seen much more than you, and have had experienced with all kinds of people."
"Which is why you have us running everywhere instead of talking us into a little motel or something."
Michael turned around and stopped the other conduits from moving any further. He looked at Craig with a stern look before telling him, "In case you haven't noticed, those days are dead now. People all looking at each other funny, no love and no trust. The kind of shit that's followed me most of my life.".
"Oh, and I bet you got some great story about how you became the foo' you are today. I don't care about any life experiences of yours that don't help our situation. I'm hungry as hell!" Craig told Michael.
Alvin giggled a little before asking Craig, "Ahhhhhh, does the young man need some food to stop the "rumbly" in his tummy?".
Craig got really irritated before he said, "You guys both suck… wong?".
The teenage conduit was staring at a food truck that said "Wong Way". The other two looked at it as well, noticing that the truck was in bad shape. The tires were either flat or ripped off, and there were huge dents all over the vehicle. They started walking towards the truck, being curious about the situation.
Michael stopped the other conduits again to tell them, "Stare on your guard you two."
Both responded with, "Alright.".
Michael walked around the flat side of the truck, while Alvin and Craig went by the window. Michael founda mixture of mold, sweet and sour sauce, and blood dried on some of the dents in the trunk. Alvin and Craig found something rather different from strange sauce mixtures.
Alvin said, "Ewwwww… What is that smell?", as they walked by the service window.
"Crap. It smells like the damn sewer." Craig told him as he looked over the counter.
Inside the truck was a bigger mess of sauces. Along with that, they spotted the top of a huge, green object by the counter. They couldn't tell what it was, for the rest of it was just out of view. With this, Alvin told Craig, "Let's get to the back to get a better view.".
Craig responded with, "As long as you mean the back of the truck to see the green thing, and not somethin' else."
"You call me a fag when think about those things? Someone seems to be stuck in the closet."
"Screw off."
"Hey, you two get over here." Michael said from the back of the truck.
The other two conduits walked over to Mike to see what he wanted. He pointed out a rusty stop sign pole that appeared to be welded against the door.
"This is some crazy stuff here. They torched it to the door." Craig said.
"I don't think they torched it. Some of these marks on the pole look like hand prints." Michael stated.
Alvin looked straight at Michael and asked, "Do you think the D.U.P. did this?".
Michael took a closer look at the hand prints. He told them, "I have no doubt of how low they can go…"
"Ha, tight." Craig said.
"...but I don't know of any rock heads that can weld metal with their bare hands. I guess I'll try something a little different for this."
"You think you can handle that?" Alvin asked.
"No, but let's find out."
Michael set down his backpack, and pp roll down his face.
Craig turned around, and began to vomit. He started to see things, like another man's corpse being burned. He couldn't understand why he was seeing it.
Michael stood there, feeling a slight bit worried about the situation. He had seen what many things other conduits could do, but this was quite unique.
"God help us. I've seen a man shoot lazers from his eyes, a woman run on water, and a child lift a car… but this…" Michael said with discomfort.
"This is screwed up is what it is! He looks like he's been left for days!" Craig said abruptly.
"Look over there. What is that?" Alvin asked, pointing towards something small and white down an alleyway.
Alvin ran straight towards it, with Craig and Michael slowly following. He picked it up, turned around to look at Michael to show him what he found.
Michael raised an eyebrow before asking, "You found Chinese take out?".
"I'd feel in the mood for orange chicken if I didn't just see a dead guy." Craig said.
"Same here, along with fried noodles. Do you think that that other conduit did this?" Alvin said as he dropped the box on the ground.
"No, but I pray who did this… doesn't have Nicky." Michael responded.
Only a matter of minutes away, the other group of conduits gathered together to talk on their rooftop home. Nicky had just barely woken up to hear the conversation between everyone.
"You pair of useless retards. Are you trying to give her BRAIN DAMAGE?!" Rebecca yelled at Sebastian and Felix.
"Hey it's not my fault that this fool over here can't do anything." Sebastian told Rebecca as he pointed towards Felix.
"Hey, you were the one who slammed her head against the building." Felix said to Sebastian.
"You were the one that didn't do…"
"Both of you, shut it. I'm tired of hearing two girls fighting over their boyfriend." Rebecca told the two teenagers.
Both stared at Rebecca in confusion, right before the big conduit said, "That got you two to shut up, just like when I shut up an old man last night.".
"What do you mean?" Nicky asked as she tried to get to her feet.
"Oh crap, the undead G in training is still with us." Sebastian said.
"Really?" Felix questioned.
"Shut up."
"Both of you quiet." Rebecca said as she moved between the two conduits.
As Rebecca walked, she lifted her hands to point at both Sebastian and Felix. From both of her hands came a strong burst of air, knocking the two onto their behinds. After she did so, she headed towards Nicky, who felt scared at the moment.
She told the child, "Glad you're awake. I might have been close to killing those two morons over there.".
"What was the big one talking about?" Nicky asked.
"Oh, that. Just a little issue we had to deal with last night."
"What was the issue with the 'old man' poop head was talking about?"
"About the same issue that all conduits face when it comes to humans: You cannot trust them."
"Oh,... I see."
"See what?"
Young Nichole kept silent for that moment, remembering what the cannibal conduit had told her. About how he trusted Jacob, and how he was betrayed by him as well. Nicky, being no ordinary child, quickly felt the similarities between the two situations without having to hear more from Rebecca's mouth. Before she completely settled on that conclusion she asked, "So did this man really deserve to die?".
Rebecca paused for a moment before saying, "Enough about that kid. How are you doing? You don't seem to have any scratches on your skull, but you look tiny as hell now.".
"What are you talking abou…?" Nicky said as she tried to get up, only to fall over in pain.
"God damn it! Are you alright?! Kid?" Rebecca said with a serious tone of voice.
Rebecca turned Nicky over to see if she was responsive at all. The young, skeletal conduit felt very weak. Outside of anyone's knowledge, she had not consumed anything for days. It was only a matter of time before the child would become unable to function properly.
"I feel… thirsty." Nicky told Rebecca.
"Well,... I'm not sure what I can do for there kid. Can you drink water?" Rebecca asked the child.
"I… don't… know…"
"Great! Any of you morons got an idea on how to help her?"
"How 'bout dis?" Sebastian said as he brought his boom box to set right next to Nicky.
Rebecca looked up at Sebastian before saying, "Noose boy, are you fu…?".
In the middle of Rebecca cursing at Sebastian, Nichole put her hand by the boom box. She concentrated on it, and absorbed the energy from the loud music player. The orange aura surrounded her again, and she got a rush that went up and down her spine. Rebecca backed up as the little skeleton kid got up on to her feet.
"Oh, well… Now you can start talking kid." Rebecca said.
"What are you trying to get out of me?" Nicky asked.
"Since you're looking alright, I want to ask you a little bit about what you're doing here. Or perhaps I should be asking about these pretty rocks." Rebecca said as she held up a blast core. "The energy from this almost feels like that of a conduit tracker's generator."
Nicky was a little shocked, for she thought her bag fell off, and was in the hands of Michael and the others. Nicky tried her to keep her calm as she told Rebecca, "They were… rocks… that a man gave me.".
"Really? Where is this man now?"
"He was in the forest. In a small cabin."
"Alright. Well, that was awful nice of that man to give you this. But what are you and the handsome one doing here? Trying to set up another freak show on our location?"
"We just wanted to get some supplies, and a warm place to rest. I haven't eaten something in days."
"I guess that explains why you almost blacked out when you stood up, kid. You know, I would like to talk to that group of yours. Hopefully we can all get along, and help each other out. Wouldn't that be nice, kid?"
"I don't know if all of them would get along with killers."
"Killers? What are you talking…? Oh, so you think we're just a bunch of psychopaths?"
Sebastian walked up closer to the two, telling Nicky, "I don't know about you kid, but I had to kill just to get away from my home town.".
"You killed? Why?" Nicky asked.
"It was in self-defense. My brother's friend tried to sell me out. His dad tried to hold me 'til some putos could pick me up. I tried to get out, but they were too stubborn to let my ass go. The father had a gun at me, so I whipped it out his hand, and tried to wrap a rope 'round his chest."
"What did you grab?"
"I got him by the neck. The same foo' who tried to sell me out grabbed me, and the rope tightened around his father's neck. I killed him just like that."
"Oh… my…"
"The dumbass then tried to get the gun too. But I also got him by the neck, but he was only knocked out. After all that, I ended up living a life no different from my previous one."
"You're saying that you…?"
"I don't care about what I did. I killed someone's dad, and now I'm on the run with a crew that knows how to survive in a world that sees you for the way that you're born, rather than the way you act."
"Ok. Then what about you? Did you kill anyone when you found out?" Nicky asked Rebecca.
"I didn't kill anyone. I didn't live a shitty life like Noose Boy or Shit Head before my powers started. I had a nice, simple life with my father. My mother died in an accident when I was young, but I still had a great life with what I had. My father, in truth, was the only one who really cared about me."
"What happened to you that changed you into what you are?"
"The D.U.P did a bullshit "random check for bio-terrorist activity. And they found me. My father stood up to them. He acted so brave in that moment, telling them, 'You aren't coming into my house without a fucking warrant to do so.', and slammed the door on them."
"He does sound like a brave man. A real hero."
"Yeah, well… heroes tend to die easily in this world. After he did that, a woman busted through the door, and sent ten bullets into his chest."
Nicky just sat there trying not to feel sad about the stories she was hearing.
Rebecca continued on with her story on how her start was. "I ran up to his lifeless body, and uselessly tried to help him. One of the soldiers tried to grab me, while another came in with handcuffs. I wasn't going to let grab a hold of me, and let my dad's death be for nothing. In anger, I somehow let out a sonic boom. One that sent all the soldiers flying, and one that I haven't been able to repeat since. I was the first conduit to have successfully escaped from the D.U.P since the big one destroyed Detroit.".
"The big one? You mean the monster that tore apart Michigan?"
"Yeah, the 'monster' that did that. Anyway, like we're trying to say, we don't kill because we want to squander our powers. We kill because it's what has kept us alive after the redhead hag became a poster child."
"Hold up one sec'." Sebastian said out of the blue. "I hear something something."
"What do you hear?" The brute asked.
"Sounds like three dudes walking this way. Might be another patrol."
Rebecca got up and said, "That can't be right. The next patrol doesn't come for another 1 hour at least. Oh well, we can't take chances."
Rebecca pointed to the ground, telling the others to get their heads down. She grabbed Nicky by the back of her neck to force her head down. As the conduits tried to keep quiet, they all could hear the three individuals walking through the alleyway below.
One of them asked another, "I don't know if this could be the right place at all." with a squeamish tone.
A very familiar voice said, "Well it does smell just like like the other crap does."
"Huh?" Nicky blurted out, before Rebecca pushed up her bottom jaw.
"Oh yeah, this is definitely the place. I guess unlike you two, I can actually track a killer." Another voice said.
"Hold up,... is that...?" Sebastian whispered to himself.
A few wire hooks shot up from below, gripping the edge of the roof they were on. Rebecca and the brute got up to fight whatever came up. As both Nicky and Sebastian got up, an individual in a black hoody jumped up, with wires going into his skin.
"Nicky?" The hoodie wearing conduit questioned as he looked at the young skeleton.
Nicky put on a smile as she said, "I thought that was you…" right before Rebecca grabbed her.
"Who the hell are you?!" Rebecca yelled at the individual.
"What the hell are you doin' to her?!" he said back.
"Woah, Craig. We don't have to escalate crap here." Sebastian said.
"Wait a minute, how you know my name?" the wire conduit said as he pulled back his hood.
"What? How do you not remember?"
Rebecca made a sour face before shouting, "What are you even talking…?"
Before the angry gal could finish her question, both the stylish hobo and the plaid shirt character jumped up onto the top of the roof. The brutish conduit ran up to stand next to Rebecca, expecting a showdown to happen.
"So you are here, Nicky. It's good to see that you're alright." Michael said.
"You mind letting the little girl go now? We were hoping to get her some place safe." Alvin told Rebecca.
"And she'd be more safe with you? I'm not sure about that." Rebecca responded.
"Then what would you suggest then, you crazy foo?" Craig asked Rebecca.
Rebecca paused for a moment, giving a real stern look as she told Craig, "Why don't you join us?"
"The hell?" Craig responded.
"Why should we join you? We've only just met you now." Michael said.
Rebecca let go of Nicky, who decided to sit on an edge of the roof away from everyone. Felix had that same idea, and ran to the door, which was locked.
"In case you you haven't noticed, things are not getting any easier in this world. Especially for people like us." Rebecca told him.
[Nicky Comic Scene]
Rebecca talked with Michael about how it would be a good idea for all of us to group up. Talking about how all of us came from different backgrounds, but have the same goal in mind. We all wanted to be equal, yes. Michael thought that it would be nice to team up as well, if it wasn't for the fact that Rebecca was a killer, and neither of them could agree on what to do with the people of Olympia. Michael wanted to help them gain freedom of the D.U.P, but Rebecca desired their destruction for their mistreatment of conduits. She turned out to be one of the D.U.P's most wanted, and a killer of many people. The big conduit attempted to attack Michael, but had his legs tied together with wire instead. Michael and Rebecca walked towards each other, and stood with only three feet of space between them. It looked obvious here at this point. I was in the middle of two groups that already disliked one another. A group that preferred to keep people alive, and one that murdered just to get by. It would seem that I had to choose who to back up, even though I had not spent even a day with either clique.
L2 Michael's Sense of Honor: Follow Michael to help the people of Olympia.
R2 Rebecca's Thoughts of Carnage: Join the new group to take Olympia over.
[Author Notes]
No comment. This has been one long ass wait. Been working plenty, and I only so much time to even think about what looks good on paper before I type it. Big sorry to all those who sent in character concepts. As one can tell, gon' be a long wait. To be honest, I was encouraged by my girlfriend to write up some more for this story, (god knows what I'd do without her). But enough about my weird, Flip lifestyle. This choice right here is another big one. This one will change how I write the rest of this story, and switch around a thing or two in Nicky's Karma Rank. So, (as I usually say), choose wisely. CAJ OUT, PEACE!