Guys, I'm gonna try my best to keep this fic updated. This is honestly one of the few fics that I've even planned an ending to (it's a sad ending, a really, really sad ending) and I want to finish it. But I have so many others planned, not to mention some of my own works. So if I don't update, it's cos I'm busy.

Thanx and PEACE!
Haru

I woke up, noticed I was in my bed and immediately wondered who had put me there. The second thing I noticed was that the sun was shining outside, a stark contrast to the midnight sky before I passed out. I was out all night? The clock read 9:30am. The funeral is in exactly 24 hours.

"Finally!" I turned my head to see Celia sitting in my armchair, "Why do you love your beauty sleep so much?"

I yawned and sat up, "It keeps me alive."

"How old are you?" I was surprised by the abrupt question.

"That's a little rude."

Celia sighed in response, "Just answer the question, for God's sake!"

"Sixteen." Jeez!

"A bit young, aren't you?"

"Spiderman started when he was sixteen." I mumbled.

She gave me a confused look, "Spiderman?" She honestly doesn't know who Spiderman is?

Curdun Cay can do that to a person.

Alice, stay out of my head!

Okay… control freak. I got out of bed and stretched, my entire body was aching. Imagine that pain when you have a crick in your neck… all over your goddamn body, then you'll probably understand how stiff I feel. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, before turning back to Celia. She had decided to disappear. Great. I've only been here for a few days, I could get lost easily in this fucking mansion! An iPhone 5S was lying there on the armchair. Celia Penderghast: the ninja so awkward that she leaves her phone behind when she disappears.

I got ready with the usual toilet, teeth, shave and shower (in none other than my en suite bathroom!) before wrapping a towel around my waist and studying myself in the mirror. Same old cobalt/midnight-blue eyes. I couldn't really judge my hair since, not only was it still short (ain't gonna grow a metre in a few days), but it was wet now too. What immediately caught my attention though were all the abs! It's as if simply being a Conduit is a workout… I'm suddenly starting to like inFAMOUS a whole lot more. Again, Spiderman comes back to mind, I feel like Tobey Maguire when he discovered his six-pack and pecs in the first movie. I flexed a couple of times before noticing that my skin had become slightly tanned. The few times I'd ever tried to get a tan before had always ended with me getting sunburnt, must be another benefit of Conduits: super-healthy skin. It was kinda ironic, given the ice powers but I couldn't deny the smexiness.

The wardrobe was full of clothes and I managed to find a Hugo Boss black polo shirt with a blue trim which went good with both my black-and-blue Vans and my eyes and contrasted nicely with the pale chinos that fit comfortably around my legs. After some rummaging around in the drawer, I also found a cool steel bracelet that wasn't as heavy as it looked. Or maybe it was just me. I snapped the bracelet on, picked up Celia's phone and left my room— my stomach begging for breakfast.

I heard Delsin and Fetch talking and just followed the sound of their voices until I found them in the room where Alice did the thing yesterday. The two of them were sitting on an armchair designed for one person only and looked like they were discussing something private so I silently made my way to the kitchen instead. Celia was inside and had just finished devouring a plateful of pancakes

"What took you so damn long?" She scowled.

I ignored her question, "I think this is yours." I held up her phone.

"Yours, actually. Abigail told me you needed one." She replied, taking a big gulp of OJ.

"And it would have burnt too many calories to simply tell me that when you decided to just leave it in my room, right?" Seriously, though. She can't deny that I have a point.

"Take that tone again with me and you'll suddenly find yourself without a head," She finished her orange juice and took her dishes to the sink.

"Touchy, touchy." Not a phrase used much in Britain but, being my amazing self, I knew what it meant. Celia glared at me before walking to the door.

"Meet me in the training room next to the swimming-pool in ten." There's a training room? And a swimming-pool? I need to pay more attention… but then again, me and Delsin trained in the garden so I wouldn't really know about the training room and I'm not the exploring type either.

Fifteen minutes later, I had finished my own breakfast of blueberry-pancakes, cranberry juice (I can't stand OJ), and some leftover casserole because I was feeling a bit more peckish than usual. I almost bumped into Delsin on the way out and apologised before asking him where the training room is. He gave me directions and told me that he'll join us ASAP.

Now I'll tell you something, I kinda reckoned that the training room would be big but I didn't think it would take up the entire bloody space underground. That includes under the mansion, the garden, the sparse forest area just beyond the garden, and then some. The light came from the high-tech floor tiles, which were a glowing fluorescent colour and looked like they wouldn't break easily. Other than the long bench next to the door— where Celia, Fetch, Kuo and Zeke were sitting— there was nothing else in the colossal room. The only person I hadn't seen so far was Alice, that is if you don't count that mental exchange earlier.

The three of them looked at me when I entered. Celia stood up and approached me, "When we fought, you displayed some sound martial-arts skills. Where'd you learn how to fight like that?"

"I've been taking MMA for twelve years."

Her eyes widened a bit, "Now why in the world would you do that? Preparing for the zombie apocalypse?" Pfft, coming from the girl who doesn't even know Spiderman.

"It's a hobby." It is. It is. I SWEAR! Don't look at me like that!

"Okay then, let's spar." She paper-dashed into the middle of the of the training room and I followed suit by sliding forwards with ice. "No powers." She explained before adopting an ever-so-slightly crouched stance and bending her elbows a bit. I stood up straight, my feet aligned with my shoulders— left foot in front— and my hands up, half-curled into fists.

She attacked first, driving her foot sidewards towards my stomach. I caught her kick with a Thai catch and dumped her on the ground. She executed a perfect kip-up and was back up in a flash. She attempted a high-kick, which I caught again and dumped her back on the floor. Again, she got back up and, again, tried to kick me. I used my left arm to stop the attack and scooped my right arm underneath, catching it easily.

I couldn't resist gloating, "You just don't get it, do you? Kicking me is not gonna work." I smirked.

"Oh I 'get it', Ash," She twisted her body at the waist, twisted the foot in my grip, gave me an evil-as-fuck smile and, before I knew it, her other foot was soaring through the air and slammed into my cheek. I fell face-down onto the floor, while she landed gracefully on her feet, "And it seems to have worked from where I'm standing." I rolled back on my feet, my pride destroyed, and resumed sparring with Celia. I attacked, she blocked; she attacked, I blocked and occasionally, one of us would get a hit in— Celia being the one who gained the upper hand most of the time, but I made sure to keep my guard up so that she didn't get to gift me with another kick in the face. It went on like this for twenty minutes, neither of us had broken a sweat but Zeke suggested that we take a bit of a break.

"You kids know how to fight!" He slapped his belly and chuckled though, to be honest, I didn't get the joke. Nor was I sure it even was a joke. Why is he laughing? I must be anti-social or something cos I have no idea. He was looking for something in Alice's backpack, which I swear wasn't there when I came in, and pulled out a large cardboard box that had no right to fit inside a backpack which was already overstuffed, "Now, Alice is the one who's obsessed with gifts, but I thought I'd give you kids something of my own." He opened up the box and inside were four presents, wrapped individually and with ribbons too!

Delsin picked the perfect time to stroll in, "Your timing is just class," I said, "after the she-demon finishes her sparring session but just before Zeke hands out presents."

"Well, I must say, I am quite a classy fellow." He attempted a cockney accent and straightened an imaginary collar.

"Don't. Please, just stop." I grinned; his accent was hopeless. Zeke stood up and started to hand out the presents. Celia got a box that was long and thin, about the length of her torso and wrapped in white paper with coffee coloured ribbons. Delsin's was a normal sized, cube shaped one with bright red paper and deep green ribbons; Fetch got the smallest box which was bright blue with a pink ribbon and about the size a large book (the last in the Twilight series is a good example) and I got the biggest, a midnight blue one with a cyan ribbon, which was almost the size of the original box. Alice must have done some TARDIS bigger-on-the-inside shit or something. My inner eight-year-old started screaming at me to tear it open. Fetch opened hers first and found a pair of night-black knuckledusters which she immediately slipped on with an intrigued look, I mean after-all, who gives knuckledusters as a present? The fit snugly on her fingers and as soon as she put them on, strings of neon energy coiled around them and all the way up to her shoulders.

"Amps." Zeke spoke up while Fetch admired her new weapons, "It took me five years to perfect the 'art'. Each one is specially created to amplify your individual powers." Upon hearing this we practically teared ours open. Delsin got a small cylinder shaped object with a variety of buttons on the sides.

"This is a lightsaber," He ran his hands over it, wondering which button to try first, "isn't it?" He pressed a random one in the middle and a long tendril of smoke slithered— a whip.

"Each option is made for a different power, a whip for smoke, a sword for neon, a battle axe for concrete and... the fourth one's another surprise." He informed him with a smile. Delsin looked pretty pleased with it.

Celia inspected her amp with a scary sort-of smile on her face, it was a five-foot tall staff with a wickedly curved, sword-sized blade on the end. A glaive of sorts.

"Some sort of glaive?" I asked.

She glared at me, "A naginata." She said it as if everyone should know. That girl has got some sort of rod up her arse.

I turned to my own Amp. It was a… take a wild guess. Go on! I'll give you some clues… Katniss Everdeen — Clint Barton — Oliver Queen — Legolas — Robin Hood… What do all of these people have in common? Guessed it?

A damn mother-trucking bow!

"It's definitely one of my favourites," Zeke commented, "I assumed you knew how to use it."

"You assumed I was good at archery?" I raised an eyebrow but couldn't help admiring the sleek black metal of the bow, it looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie

"Well… Y'know all-powerful Conduits are usually," He made a circle motion with both hands, "well rounded." I shook my head and inspected the other object. It was a large black cylinder, about the size of my torso and was hollow. Two lines of blue light ran down either side and there was an adjustable nylon strap attached. The quiver, probably. I'm only sayin' probably because there weren't any arrows. Zeke must have noticed what I was thinking because he spoke up, "Just strap it on."

It took a bit of fiddling but I managed to fasten it on my back, the strap diagonally hugging the front of my polo shirt. Zeke walked back to the bench and touched a button on the underside. A thin touch-screen panel slid out of the side and he tapped it a couple of times. One of the fluorescent floor tiles slid open and a target sprang out. "The quiver actually creates arrows, using whichever power you currently use. There's a panel on the side of the bow which you can use to change the style of the arrow. I kinda guessed that it wouldn't be that useful having a bow and arrow but when Kuo tried it, the arrow travelled further and was a hell lot more accurate than your usual projectiles."

"Cool," I smiled, though it was a lot more than that. I put a hand into the sleek black quiver and I felt the familiar tingling feeling of fiery-cold cryoenergy. When I drew my hand, I was holding a long, thin arrow. There were three fletchings— surprisingly not brittle like ice would be— that made a kind of triangular shape when looked at directly from the nock-end. The edges of the diamond shaped arrow-head were serrated but the point wasn't especially sharp. It barely mattered though, the aluminium-fibreglass arrows that I used to use back on Real Earth almost looked blunt, but had no problem piercing an inch of wood.

I nocked the arrow, took a deep breath and pulled the bowstring up to my right ear. Holding my breath, I aimed— there weren't any sights but I didn't particularly need them. Time seemed to slow as I let go of the arrow and the string pushed it forwards. For a millisecond, it looked like it was about to swerve away but the fletchings bought it back on track.

Bullseye.

I smiled as the target snapped back down.

I felt, rather than heard, another target spring up behind me and another arrow flew before I realised that I had even drew and nocked it. It snapped back down, an arrow firmly lodged in the centre. Well, that's probably the most badass reflex I've ever witnessed… and it came from me. So by right, I'm a badass.

Blowing your own trumpet never benefitted anyone, Aiden.

What, who— WHAT? I turned around to see Alice, in all her white haired, icy-eyed gloriness, staring at me. Where had she even come from? Oh fucking great.

Your secret's safe with me.

Ho— How did you even— I'm meant to have MENTAL BARRIERS! Does that mean nothing to the laws of physics? (Well… inFAMOUS breaks a lot of rules so…)

Your guard was down. You weren't even thinking of defending your mind… which was honestly all you had to do to stop me.

How… How much do—

Not much. Except that your name is Aiden McKinney and you're definitely not who you say you are.

Okay, how do you know what I'm about to think before I think it?

Practise. She mentally chuckled. Don't worry. Like I said, I won't tell anyone. Finally I get to meet someone who's not entirely psychopathic but goes by a fake name.

Alice isn't your—

My name's Esther actually. But call me Esther, and I'll call you Aiden. And that might not end well with you.

I was gonna say "Alice isn't your puppy?"

Sure you were. She smirked. Her face honestly looked like a porcelain doll and whenever she showed even the smallest sliver of emotion… it looked ceramic. So damn disturbing.

"You have no idea how obvious it is when someone has a telepathic conversation with you, Alice. The pair of you looked like you had taken too much heroin." Kuo spoke up, (first time I heard her speak all morning and I gotta say, she sounds exactly like she did in the game) and Zeke covered a laugh with his hand when he saw the way Alice glared at her.

"Okay," Delsin loudly intervened when he realised that he wasn't sure whether or not the near-omnipotent Conduit would go on a killing rampage, "How 'bout we try and figure out what new powers we got, Ash?"

"Great idea." I agreed.

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I've been waiting so long to include Vince. I wanted introduce him with a huge fight but tbh I like this little coincidence better. The character relationships properly start from this chapter.

I know I said that Sasha is gonna be in this chapter but I completely forgot about the funeral (I know, stupid!)... sorry…?

Don't forget to drop a review if you liked this chapter. I've asked a few people if they can guess who the Second Kessler actually is. Well if anyone can guess right, well you're a genius. Think of the original (from my fanfic's POV, the third) Kessler's story.

Thanx, PEACE… and sorry again