Mark knew that the only way he would be able to sneak across to the Warren was if he could get across the water. The only problem was, he didn't know how to swim. It was like learning to ride a motorcycle, its something you don't need to know in the city. Of course, if he could fly...

No, humans flying without some sort of machinery is science fiction, everybody knew that... but everybody thought super humans were science fiction as well... so maybe...

Mark set off at a full run towards the edge of the building. He knew just the building he could test his theory on. The Empire City Megabuilding, the tallest building in the whole city. He kicked off the ground and grabbed the ledge closest to him when he reached the height of his jump. He climbed faster than he ever thought possible, grabbing windowsills and flag poles, climbing the external water pipes and shooting off of them like a rocket. Finally he got to the top and looked out at the city, and his heart dropped the whole way down to the ground. The whole city was dark, there was no light at all except for one little section of the Neon District.

Mark then remembered the whole reason why he was at the top of this building. He looked down at the ground, he couldn't see a thing, it was too dark. At first he thought he was going to chicken out, but then something seemed to... push him. He dropped, at first he just flailed around like a bird with a broken wing, but then he got into the sky diving position he learned only from watching television. He pulled the top of his body up, attempting to send himself forward. He went forward a foot, but slammed into the ground instead. He slid forward along the entire road, and slammed into a building.

Moaning, Mark got up. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by First Son soldiers.

"Oh," Mark muttered. "Shit."

Mark jumped to his feet and the First Sons lifted their guns, they were going to fire. Mark then realized that he could make the bullets go through him. He looked behind him to see a women with her children, if he made the bullets go through him then they would me shot instead.

It's always something, he thought, trying to think of what to do. I could do the world a lot of good, I could cleanse the world of these First Son bastards... but I may survive through the firing, these people will definitely die from the bullets... Then Mark had and idea, he turned and wrapped his arms around the mother and children just as the soldiers fired. The bullets went through all of them like fish in water. When the firing stopped and Mark heard the mags being replaced he jumped up and grabbed the first soldier and through him at the one next to him. Then he grabbed the next one over and threw him into the air, and the man land on top of a street light. Mark heard a distinct snap as the soldier's spine broke. The last soldier could only wish he was as luck as his fallen comrades, Mark grabbed him threw him up into the air, then he jumped up so that he was higher than the man and threw him to the ground. Mark flung himself to the ground and smashed right into the man, when he rose the man was just a splattered mess on the ground.

Mark looked over at the mother and children the mother was holding her children close and giving Mark a look of fear and disgust, but there was something else in her eyes, gratitude. Mark nodded to her and turned away, and kicking of the ground he went to the top of the building again. He would keep trying until he got it right, even if it took him years to master.

Luckily it only took him roughly 14 days...

On the 14th day of quarantine Mark was on his way to the building when he heard a noise from behind. When he turned around however, he saw nothing but the wreckage and carnage he had come to know so well. When he got close to the building something hit him hard enough to send him flying forward. When he looked up he saw a car, someone had thrown a car at him, a car! He looked around and saw a hooded man with a sort of electronic arm and panel on his chest. The panel had 6 glowing circles on it.

"Who are you?" Mark asked, jumping up.

"I am Kessler," the man responded, his voice was deep and grim, the voice of a man who had lost everything, and was seeking for revenge. "I am the leader of the First Sons, and you are a Conduit. This is good, very good. I could use another Conduit."

"I'm a what?" Mark asked, the First Son remark seemed to fly over his head.

"A Conduit, boy." Kessler replied, with a look of patience on his face. "A... a Super human. You see, 1 in every, say, 500 people are conduits. The Conduit Gene is a mutation in the cellular structure. And given the right amount of Ray Field Radiation that gene can be activated, giving the Conduit amazing abilities. Were you near the explosion 14 days ago?"

"Yeah," Mark replied. "The messenger with the... the bomb or whatever came to my friend John's apartment asking for direction to the park."

"Ahh," Kessler said with a grin. "Then you were very near the center of the blast then. Good, good. That means you shall be very strong, not as strong as Cole but still strong enough."

"Listen," Mark said. "Obviously you're the bad guy here, your whole aura screams evil. So I think I'm going to cut this little cut short and skip right to kicking your ass."

Mark ran toward Kessler and just as he went to punch him, he vanished. Mark, not expecting this, lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"No Mark," Kessler said from behind, Mark stood and looked toward him. "I am not the villain here. All that I do, I do for the common good for all of mankind."

"Yeah," Mark said with a snort of laughter. "Because when I want to do something good for mankind, I send a messenger out to blow up the friggin' city!"

"It is not a bomb, dear boy. It is a Ray Sphere, its a... a Conduit activator if you will. It takes the energy of anyone near and concentrates it into the nearest Conduit, which happened to be Cole. Although it seems as though other Conduits in the city have been granted powers, like you and dear Johnathan."

"Wait," Mark said, realizing something. "I never said John got powers."

"Oh, yes I I know," Kessler responded. "As I said, I am the leader of the First Sons, I gave the order for any Conduits in the vicinity to be brought to me. I am very impressed that you were able to stay hidden from my men for so long. But please, join me. And together we can save all of humanity!"

Well, Mark thought hard. If I join him, he either A: keeps his word, or B: goes against it and kills everyone else who isn't a Conduit... but what about John? Maybe I could use this to my advantage, I can go in, find John, and leave with him and flee Historic District! But Kessler is fast, and he isn't stupid. He would have someone keeping an eye on me at all times. Hmm...

When Mark finally decided, he looked into Kessler's eyes, they seemed sincere, they seemed sad...

Mark sighed. "Your intentions are good, right? Your aren't going to stab me in the back first chance you get?"

"You have my word," Kessler said, relief on his face. "I swear on my family's graves."

There it was, that was the look of sadness in his eyes. Whatever happened, he wanted to do something to avenge his family. So together, Mark and Kessler went back to the crypt, where they entered the elevator, and went deeper than six feet under...

Mark had been made Kessler's right hand man, probably because of the heart to heart they had back in the center of the Historic District. Mark had found John, they had both been made heads of First Son units. The lair of the Sons ran underneath the whole city, not just Historic District. John was to be made head of the Warren District. Mark, the Neon. The First Sons in the other districts were to dress as civilians, they were spies, they never acted unless ordered to. Mark knew the reason for that was so the people in charge of these districts didn't know about the spies.

People, please, they were monsters. The Reapers, who control the Neon, had black liquid coming from their mouths most of the time. The Dustmen, of the Warren, wore trashbags and smelled worse than the garbage they collect.

"Once," John told Mark on their 5th day on the job, "I saw a Trashbagger digging though a dumpster. He found a slice of pizza with mold all over it, and ate it!"

"Dude that's nasty," Mark said, grimacing. He was definitely glad that he had the Reapers instead of the Dustmen.

One day he had receive communication from Kessler, it was Day 24 of the Quarantine.

"Cole has just stopped Sasha and is now making his way into the Warren," he told Mark, "have your boys keep a look out on the cameras so you can warn them when Cole gets back."

"Yessir," Mark said.

"Also," Kessler said, "This 'Voice of Survival' guy is starting to get on my nerves. Do something about his, please."

"Alright, consider it done."

The Communications Monitor went out, and Mark left his hideout through a watertower. He made his way to the Television Station in the Historic District. He ran along the rooftops, thinking he would see no one. When he was half way through the Warren he was hit, mid-jump, by a person.

Mark fell to the ground and looked up to see what had hit him. There he was, the Terrorist himself, Cole MacGrath. Cole, who looked as shocked as Mark was, reached a hand out to help Mark up. Mark took the hand and was pulled to his feet.

"Who are you?" Cole said, blue lightning flashing in his hands.

"Whoa," Mark said, holding his hands up and leaning back defensively. "Calm down Cole, I'm a friend."

"A friend? Every other super powered freak I've met has tried to kill me."

"Who you callin' a freak? Listen, I don't want any trouble. I'm just trying to get over to Historic District."

"Good luck with that, the bridge is up."

"Don't worry man, I can get over there."

"If you say..." Cole was interrupted by gun shots, which came from the building to Mark's left. Cole ducked behind a chimney. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed to Mark, seeing him still standing in the line of fire. "Get down!"

"Ah, don't get your panties in a bunch. I can't be hit with anything unless I'm caught by surprise. Hold on."

Mark jumped toward the Trashbagger who was shooting him and landed lightly next to him.

"Hey smelly," he said with a grin, and then punch him square in the face... or at least he thought it was his face, it was hard to tell with all the trash. The bagger went flying off the building and got stuck on a flagpole. "OH!" Mark yelled, laughing. "That had to hurt!"

Mark went back to Cole, still laughing. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat Cole but I gotta go deal with a situation."

"Right," Cole said, looking uncomfortable. "Well, I have to go turn on the power in this area."

Cole ran off in one direction while Mark ran off in the other direction.

"Mark," Came John's voice from the radio. "Where are you? I am waiting at the TV station, you were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago!"

"Sorry John," Mark said, climbing into a watertower, which led to the Warren-Historic tunnel. "You won't believe who I bumped into though!"

"Who?" Came John's reply.

"Cole MacGrath," Mark said. "I was just jumping across rooftops in the Warren when he hit me!"

"You didn't fight did you?"

"Of course not, of course I did have to end a bagger. He was shooting at us."

"As long as you didn't attack MacGrath. Kessler would have your ass on a platter if you did."

"Oh I know," Mark climbed out of the tunnel and through the watertower. "Listen I'm almost to you, ETA 2 minutes."

He hung up the phone and made it to the Television station in less than 2 minutes.

"Alright," John said. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Mark said, pulling up his sleeves. "Lets do you it."

They barged through the door, there was no one there. They looked in every room, and in every room they found the same thing, nothing. They met back up in the lobby in front of the big screen TV that said "EMPIRE TELEVISION BROADCAST."

"Man," Mark said. "He isn't here."

"You're too slow First Son chumps," came a voice. The two Conduits turned to see the Voice of Justice on the big screen TV. "I heard about your raid attempt before you could do a thing, so I skipped out and made it to my new hideout, where no one can find me!" The TV went to static...

Mark and John walked out of the TV station and sat on the front steps. John pulled out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth. He took the cigarette out and sighed, smoke coming out of his mouth.

"Where do you think he is?" he asked Mark.

Mark sigh, "Hell if I know, but we gotta find him. If he knew we were coming for him that means we got a leak in the Sons. If he finds out what we are planning he could inform the authorities, or worse, the public."

"You're right," John said, stamping out the cigarette and standing up. "Lets ask around, someone must know something."

"Yeah," Mark said, standing up. "Hey, you know who we can ask?"

"Who?" John asked.

"There is this guy, he seems to know his stuff. His name is Zeke Dunbar."

"Dunbar," John said, closing his eyes. "Why do I know that name?"

"I don't know, but lets get to the Neon, he hides out on a rooftop."

The set off at a run, they didn't have to worry about being shot in the Historic District, but they wanted to be fast. They went into the watertower tunnel to the Warren. They came out through the otherside and sped across the rooftops, punching and shoving any Dustman that got in the way. They got close to the next watertower when they both skidded to a stop. There were dustmen surrounding the tower.

"Son of a bitch," John mutter. "They know about the tunnels!"

"Now just hold on man," Mark said, eying the dustmen. Soon the Dustmen left via fire escape, when the rooftop was clear Mark and John made a run for it.

"I thought they almost caught on," John said.

"Yeah," Mark said. "That would have been bad, they would have been able to walk straight to the Historic district and shoot it up."

They came out of the last tunnel and walked to the edge of the building.

"Alright," John said. "Where is this Dunbar guy's hideout?"

"You see that building with the barbed wire and spotlights?" Mark said, pointing to a building approximately a mile from their position.

"Yeah, that's it then?"

"Yep, we should go now."

They kicked off the rooftop and launched themselves toward the building they grabbed the side of it with a smash. There was a grunt and swear from above. Then they spotlights started whizzing around. Mark didn't wait he just flung himself up to the roof, John came in behind him. They landed and a fat man with an Elvis Presley hairdo turned toward them with a sixshooter. Mark couldn't put his hand on it but he knew that face.

"Who the hell you boys?" The fat man asked.

"Zeke Dunbar?" Mark asked.

"That's a little hard seein' as how I'm Zeke Dunbar."

"Whuh... no, I mean, are you Zeke Dunbar?"

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"We were wondering if you knew where the Voice of Survival is hiding."

"Oh yeah, he ditched his hideout in the Historic District 'cause some pricks called the First Sons were after him. Yeah I know where he is now, but how much is it worth to you two?"

John and Mark looked at each other, John made a look that said, "Lemme threaten this fatass." Mark nodded and John grabbed Zeke's collar and held him over the edge of the building.

"Alright fatty," John said in a menacing voice. "Tell us where this asshole is or I'll drop you."

"No!" Zeke yelled. "Ohh shit, oh shit. Okay! Okay! He's hiding out in the sewers, man! The entrance is the manhole next to the Neon-Warren bridge! Please don't drop me, man!"

John threw Dunbar at the fence behind him. He turned toward him and stared at him with Clint Eastwood style squinted eyes.

"If I find that you are lying to me I will be back. And no amount of girlish screams or baby cries will get me to drop you anywhere but over the edge of this building. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah man. And, uh, you mind not tellin' anyone that I begged for mercy?"

"Of course," John said. "Scout's honor." They jumped from the building and toward the bridge.

"You were never a Scout," Mark commented.

"Yeah," John smirked. "Wait til the boy back home hear about this one heh heh!"

They made it to the bridge with no difficulties and found the manhole. They pried it open and jumped in...

They landed on a metal platform, there was no lighting, they were going in blind. Half way through the tunnel their eyes adjusted and they were able to stop just in time. They had reached the end of the tunnel, and they saw that there was a near bottomless pit with a bridge. The bridge was pulled over to the otherside of the pit unfortunately.

"Dammit!" John cursed. "How the hell are we going to make it across this?"

Mark considered, he had to do it, it was the only way they were going to get this guy. He turned and walked the other way.

"Mark, where are you going?"

Mark didn't reply, he just kept walking, he turned back around and braced himself. Then he set of at a full run, he could see John growing closer, closer, closer. He jumped past John, despite his yells to stop. He was launched forward, forward, forward... and then he dropped, dropped into the deep, black darkness.

"MARK!" John shouted into the hole, and got an echo in return. John slumped down onto the floor, and put his head in his hands. And then there was a whooshing noise and when John looked up he saw Mark, standing on midair. "Mark!" he scrambled to his feet. "Peter Pan found his happy memory then did he?"

"Yeah, hold on, I'll go open the bridge." Mark flew to the other side of the pit. "Shit." He turned on his radio. "John, the controls need a key. And I don't think I'll be strong enough to carry you over here. I'm going to go on alone."

"Crap," Came John's reply,"alright. Give him an extra kick in the balls for me. I'll meet you back at Kessler's office."

"Alright, Mark out."

Mark made his way forward, and found a door. He put his ear up to it and heard the Voice. The Voice of Survival. He kick the door down and stormed in.

"Hey," Voice said. "You can't be in here!" Mark smashed the camera and grabbed the VoS.

"Alright bud, shows over."

"Ah, ah, ah," VoS said. "The show isn't over until the director says cut, and I am the director so back up pal, we are about to throw down!"

Mark snorted. "You really think you can take me?"

"Yeah, I do." VoS stretched his hand out and sent Mark back with such force, if he hadn't seen VoS push with his hand, Mark would have sworn he was hit by a train. Mark went through the wall using his powers and came back around the otherside he kicked VoS so hard he heard a crack in the Voice's leg.

"Dammit!" VoS shouted. He got up and faced Mark. "Alright First Son asshole, I won't let you have the satisfaction of taking me out!" He ran through the door and jumped past the bridge and into the darkness. Mark jumped in after him, ready to pull up at any moment.

Mark stopped at the bottom of the pit and found no body, VoS had escaped. There was no way Mark would find him in this place, there were hundreds of tunnels and he couldn't search them all. He flew back to the top and out the way he and John had come, ready to face the scolding he was going to get from Kessler...