Just a heads-up: get prepared for a surprise...
The building was rectangular shaped and as Eugene said, had three floors and a flat roof. There were three buildings surrounding it that had Akurans on the roofs. We couldn't subdue them without alerting the other Akurans on the roof of the main building and we also needed to get the guys inside it. So we decided for a more stealthy approach. Delsin and Eugene could both turn invisible and, with a bit of concentration, would be able to turn me invisible too but only if I stayed close to them, which was actually tricky because they were both invisible. Halfway to the building I almost got out of their range and lost the invisibility but Eugene grabbed me by the arm and made sure I stayed close. We silently stalked towards the Akurans' hideout and stopped just outside the opened glass front-door.
"You guys ready?" Delsin asked us, from here the building looked like a hospital inside and I won't be surprised if it once had been one. But it sure as hell isn't one now, there's a pistol lying on what may have been the reception desk and six Akurans sitting on plastic chairs; 5 were smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and the last was snorting some white powder, probably cocaine, with a metal straw. All of them were armed with at least one gun, all automatic assault rifles, and one guy had a bazooka. It would be very stupid for him to use that indoors but Akurans aren't exactly famous for their brains. If he did shoot it, I'm guessing it'd hurt a bit more than a bullet, but I doubt he'd get the chance. We became visible again but it didn't matter, we were hidden from the view of the guys on the roofs, each behind a concrete pillar.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied, already gathering a ball of energy in my hand.
"Yeah." Eugene agreed.
"Alright Ashton, you just sit tight for now, me and Eugene got this." Delsin saw that one Akuran had stubbed out his cigarette and had lit another one, but the smoke from the one he had discarded was within absorbing distance. Delsin reached his hand out and the small wisp of smoke travelled towards him. He absorbed it, switching his power again, "See those guys smoking? I can control the smoke and make 'em choke on it, should make 'em unconscious. But that leaves the guy who isn't smoking. Eugene, you can take him, yeah?"
"With ease." I felt a bit left out but I guess I'm the least experienced of the trio and with Delsin's method; we would still remain under the radar.
"Alright," He nodded to Eugene, "on three. One. Two... Three." They both acted at the same time. Eugene shot a blue pixelated bolt of energy that turned into hammer midair and smashed the guy snorting cocaine straight in the nose. He wouldn't be getting up for a while. Meanwhile, the other five guys were stood up and clutching their throats, trying to scream or call for help, but their lungs were full of smoke which leaked out of their mouths and made their eyes water. It only took a few seconds for them to pass out. So that's the first floor done. From Eugene's description, the second and third would be nowhere near as easy.
Delsin turned to smoke and darted inside - me and Eugene swiftly followed.
"What's the plan?" I asked. Delsin scoffed at my question.
"Hmm. Go to the second floor. Beat up the Akurans. Don't kill anyone and try not to die," He smiled, "That good enough?"
"It'll do." I chuckled.
"After you." He said, opening the door to the stairs. There was an Akuran on the other side. Eugene conjured his hammer again and whacked him over the head, knocking him out cold before he could shout to his buddies. "That was close." Delsin turned into smoke and dashed up the staircase, faster than us two. We soon heard the sound of gunfire and ran up the stairs to help out. When we got there we saw that a cloud of smoke and embers darting between a few dozen Akurans and materialising just long enough to pin them down with smoky restraints. They kept on trying to shoot him, but by the time they aimed, he had already turned to smoke and the bullets passed harmlessly through and they occasionally hit each other, which just made them more angry and therefore more stupid. We joined the fight and caused even more chaos. Eugene turned into a smaller version of his avatar, just about short enough to not blow off the ceiling and started blasting away at the Akurans. I created a thick sheet of ice on my arm the size of a shield and blocked most of the gunfire directed at me, the few bullets that did get pass my defense instantly froze and shattered on my hardened Conduit skin. With my other hand I shot a beam of cryoenergy into the crowd, freezing as much people as I could. I realised that their frozen bodies would make good projectiles so I stopped the beam and lifted the frozen Akurans into the air. Their bodies orbited around me, fast enough to knock out anyone that came near me but not fast enough to kill them. This method was a lot better; I could knock them out this way faster than I could freeze them. Delsin had switched to video and he and Eugene had started to create a small army of angels, but it was taking a while and they slowed down every time someone shot them. So I created I threw my ice shield at the closest Akuran and dropped the frozen bodies around me, providing myself with some cover; I needed to defend Delsin and Eugene so I focused on creating a wall of ice to block off the gunfire.
Unfortunately, they realised that they couldn't hurt them two now, so instead they focused their gunfire on me. I just about had enough time to create a flimsy shield that managed to block some of the gunfire but it started to crack and break at the sides. I crouched down so that the shield blocked more of my body and I could avoid any shots to the legs. I tried to make the shield thicker but my hands had stopped glowing. I was out of juice... and I didn't even know what my powers source is.
"Guys, whatever you're doing, hurry up!" I shouted at Delsin and Eugene. I looked at the Akurans through the blur of my shield. They had retreated backwards but were still shooting at me with the exception of two; they were still close to me but for some reason, weren't shooting. They both had something in their hands. I peeked out the side of my shield to see what the hell they were doing. Big mistake. A bullet clipped my head and I dropped my shield, stumbling backwards - now with no defense. And I didn't see what the closer two Akurans had in their hands until they threw them at me. Two grenades.
Crap. The explosions threw me backwards and smashed my body clean through the ice wall. And it didn't stop there. I head another smashing sound similar to the one of the ice breaking, except with a higher pitch... Glass. A window. Shittt! And suddenly, I'm falling. Bullets are hitting me from every angle. I can't breathe. And then I smash into the ground. I wasn't prepared for the pain that coursed through every cell of my body. Why was it hurting so much? The building wasn't even that high up; I'd landed without a scratch when even higher up before... maybe it had something to do with me being out of energy. But still, I was in so much pain that I could hardly move. And the bullets didn't stop and my vision blurred. If I didn't get away soon, I knew I would die. With a groan, I pulled myself onto my hands and knees. Agony erupted across my body with every bullet that hit me, but I managed to crawl behind a low concrete barrier. The gunfire carried on, but most of the bullets didn't hit me, although the ones that did refreshed my pain and added a sizeable amount more. I could feel myself slipping away. My vision was slowly going darker.
Let us heal you. The voices again, except this time they sounded different... silky - regal, almost. Replenish you. Replenish me? That sounds good... We are here!
I managed to finally realise where the voices were coming from, the broken fountain in front of me. There were so many bullet holes in the stone fountain that it's hard to tell what its original shape had been and it wasn't spouting any water. But one thing was clear: There was still some murky water at the bottom. And the voices were coming from there. Of course... Am I that stupid? My power's ice, so it only makes sense for the 'fuel' to be water. I extended my hand towards the fountain and water poured out. It trickled through the air in a mesmerizing pattern, coiling around itself before it finally reached me. And when it touched me, my vision immediately cleared and the pain was literally washed away (pun, heh). Thank god for me being mental or else I'd be dead! A few bullets hit me, but it didn't hurt as much as the last wave of gunfire. I noticed that my shirt was in tatters, obviously by the bullets and the goddamn grenades. A few more bullets hit me, these ones hurting a bit more - I created another ice shield but didn't try and take on the Akurans on the rooftops that were shooting at me, there were way too many. Instead I launched myself upwards with small pillar of ice and landed in the same floor that I had fallen out of. Delsin and Eugene had summoned a dozen armoured angels and had taken care of the rest of the Akurans on the second floor.
"You're still alive!" Delsin beamed. I was about to reply when Eugene interrupted.
"Augustine's stuff is here," He walked up to four small metal crates stacked on top of each other and created a large blue sword in his hand. He swung the weapon and cut open each box. We expected guns or weapons or maybe even a stash of blast shards but we found the shackles that Augustine used to stop Conduit's powers. Each one was made of a sleek black metal and had a stripe of blue light running down each side. What was most confusing was the fact that the Akurans had them. What were they going to use them for? Maybe they were going to sell them on the black market, or maybe they were going to try and capture some Conduits. The thought of that made me clench my fists and Delsin and Eugene looked equally grim. Even though I was a new member of the species, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for the Conduits that were caught and experimented on by Brooke Augustine and her DUP. And these Akurans are probably planning a similar sort of thing.
"We need to destroy them," I said, creating a small boulder of ice between my hands.
"You read my mind, Ash." Delsin created a sword identical to the one Eugene had conjured earlier. We hit the crates together and left them - and everything inside - in a mixture of both frozen and smoking chunks of metal. "And onto the third floor..."
The third floor was easier than the second. Mainly because, since it had just been one huge room, we almost got overwhelmed on the second floor. But the third was made up of two narrow corridors with adjoining rooms. This meant that the Akurans could only fight us from one side and it would be harder for them to avoid friendly-fire. But it also meant that they could surprise us by hiding in the rooms and blowing us out of windows with grenades. Yes... it did happen again. And it was NOT amusing. We had split up, knowing that we could clear the floor fast if we did so, when I peered through the glass door of one of the rooms. It looked like a storage room and appeared to be empty of any Akurans. I decided to go inside, just to make sure, and to look for the Core-Relay that Eugene had said would be on this floor when an Akuran in a white shirt jumps out from behind the door and darts out of the room. Too late do I realise the small metal ball rolling towards my feet.
"Oh, boy..." The explosion would have only sent be staggering backwards, but - with my luck - I happened to be standing with my back to a window and I was sent flying through it. I managed to create a thin ice shield (Ice shields are definitely a favourite now) that was shattered by the blast but still absorbed most of it. The momentum still sent me tumbling through the air again and this time when I landed on the ground, the Akurans on the rooftops looked surprised by my reappearance. In fact, they were so surprised that they forgot to shoot at me and I quickly launched myself up to third floor, through the broken window, and only got hit by three bullets on my way back up. I stormed out of the storage room and saw the Akuran in the white shirt running through the corridor. He grabbed the hand of the fire-escape door but I shot a ball of cryoenergy at him, intending to freeze him. Except, in my rage, I hadn't spent enough time creating a non-lethal projectile and ended up actually shooting a sharp shard of ice. I tried to stop the shard before it hit the man, but I was too late... it had already sunk into his back. Blood spattered on the walls around him and he fell down. I ran over to the man, hoping I could heal him somehow - Cole and Delsin could so why can't I? - But you could tell by the way his eyes glazed over that he was already dead. Shit, I thought. What had Delsin said?
'If you kill even one of those guys, you can forget about my help.' I started to panic. I may be a Conduit but I was new to this entire world not to mention Seattle itself. I wouldn't survive two day out there without Delsin's help. And I had killed this person. In a split second decision, and with my head clouded with anxiety, I froze the man's body and used my power to lift him. Hopefully Delsin wouldn't look in the storage room, if he does... I'm screwed. I had just thrown his frozen body into the room when I heard Delsin and Eugene coming. I turned around to see if I had missed anything when I noticed the blood on the walls and floor. Oh fffu...
"Hey Ash, you missed all the fun!" Delsin shouted. I'm starting to panic again, if they noticed the blood...
"Yeah, who knew beating up Akurans is a great stress relieving technique?" Eugene added. Hastily, I decided to create a wall of ice that completely blocked off the side of the corridor with the blood stains. "What was that about?" Eugene asked. I turned around and they were right behind me. Crap... had they seen it?
"Oh... Urmm" I looked at the ice as if I had no idea how it got there, "I think... maybe, um, I'm havin' a bit of trouble, urrrr, controlling my powers." My uncomfortableness was evident. Eugene had a suspicious look on his face and he was squinting at the translucent ice... but Delsin didn't look like he suspected a thing. Still, if Eugene was going to check behind the wall to see if there was anything there that had made me so nervous... 'You can forget about my help.'
"Oh don't worry, you just gotta get used to them." Delsin said, "The Core-Relay is just over there," He pointed at a room on the other end of the corridor. Me and Delsin walked toward the room, but Eugene stayed squinting at the wall. Oh no. "Hey, Eugene, you comin'?" He turned away from the wall and joined us outside the room. PHEW! I opened the door and saw that the room was even smaller than the storage room that I had got blown out of. It was just big enough to contain the Core-Relay and one person. Delsin nodded his head, a signal telling me to go ahead.
Hello, again. The voices greeted him like an old friend. And when I absorbed them, the surge of power was even stronger than either of the last three. When it was over, I looked at my hands which were glowing with Cryokinetic energy.
"I think I got something big."
We walked up the last flight of stairs to the roof. It was amazing that the other Akurans hadn't come down to attack us but it was probably to guard whatever was up there. According to Eugene, there were a lot more Akurans on the roof and the surrounding roofs so they must be protecting something that was even more valuable than the Core Relay and Augustine's Conduit shackles. We readied ourselves for a big fight, Delsin and Eugene summoned a horde of angels and I created a strong ice-shield. Delsin blasted open the door and we gave them everything we got. Eugene turned into a glowing blue version of He Who Dwells and shot twin beams of Video energy into the crowds on each roof. Delsin turned invisible and shot explosive swords and created a giant hand to grab and subdue the Akurans. And I smashed a fist into the ground of the roof, making blunt shards of ice shoot out and freeze the guys that Delsin and Eugene missed. Like before, I raised my hands and the frozen bodies lifted up into the air, now my weapons. I created a tower of ice to stand atop, and I managed to freeze even more Akurans from my higher vantage point. They didn't even stand a chance. Within minutes they were all either frozen, knocked out or pinned to the ground with giant swords.
"That wasn't so hard." I commented.
"Yeah." Eugene agreed, "But now we gotta figure out why there was so much Akurans up here in the first place"
"Reckon it's got something to do with that?" I pointed at a pyramid shaped container on the closest building. Delsin looked at where I was pointing.
"Let's check it out."
Just then I heard a whooshing sound to my right. I turned to find what had made the sound and saw a tail of fire speeding towards us. Delsin and Eugene noticed it on the last second and flew to the building with the pyramid, but I wasn't fast enough. I know that Conduits are super-durable but if even Delsin won't risk a missile straight to the chest, I don't see how the hell I could survive one. It would have killed me, except Eugene threw a sword at it just in time; the blast still threw me back - and my shield went flying out of my hand - but it didn't hurt anymore than the grenades had and, thankfully, I was still on the rooftop. The missile was soon followed by what had shot it, and the tell-tale sound let us know exactly what it was before it arrived. A helicopter. There were two automatic turrets on either side accompanied by an arsenal of missiles.
"They're new..." Delsin mused, seemingly unaffected by the threat. As if one helicopter wasn't bad enough, two more joined it. We were surrounded.
"Since when did Akurans get helicopters?" Eugene asked to no one in particular, "Ash, you said that you got something new?" I nodded and raised my hands skywards and held my breath - channelling as much cryoenergy through my body as I could. Instantly the sky grew darker. A clap of thunder was followed by sheets of rain. No, not rain. Hail. It soon escalated into a full on hail-storm and the tennis-ball sized blocks of ice made one of the copters completely lose control and swerve into a building. I snapped my hands downwards and the other two helicopters froze instantly. They fell to the ground and broke into shards of metal and ice. I started to breathe again and the clouds parted. The sky returned to normal.
"If you're finished, come see this." Delsin smirked. I smiled back at him and launched myself at the building. I landed and realized that I felt exhausted. But in a different way... I had run out of energy again, I couldn't see any water nearby, I'll recharge later. The pyramid had been broken open - a stain of Video energy on the shell gave a hint as to how - and inside were two objects. One caught my attention immediately.
No way. It was a Blast Core. The other object was a blue SD card. Delsin picked up the glowing purple rock.
"Got any idea what this is?" He asked us.
"Yeah," I answered, "It's meant to..." But Eugene interrupted:
"Who's that?" Eugene was looking at someone on the first building's rooftop. He was wearing a dirty-yellow trench coat that may once have been white and a hood that completely covered his entire face in a shadow, with the exception of his eyes that burned orange. On his right hand was some sort of metal gauntlet and... He was holding a large white pistol. He raised his gun and pointed it at Delsin.
"WATCH OUT!" I pushed him out of the way and an echoing bang hung in the air. The man started laughing; his voice sounded like his throat was on fire. The bullet missed Delsin, who was fast to retaliate; he swiftly raised his hand and shot two bolts of Video energy at the hooded figure. Both missed but he didn't shoot anymore. I looked at Delsin in confusion, why had he stopped? And then I realized. Delsin was trying to shoot but the Video energy had disappeared. Okay... but what about Eugene? I looked at him.
"Shit... DELSIN!" he turned to me and then to what I was staring in horror at. Eugene was lying in a pool of blood.
I'm sorry for the cliffhanger! No I'm not... MWAHAHAHA! If you liked this chapter please review. I might take a break from this fic but I'll return when you can't bear it anymore... hehehehe...