Disclaimer: I don't own anything dealing with inFamous. Give the praise to Sucker Punch. Only the plot is my creation.
Alrighty then let's get this going.
(Let the thug go. Good guys believe in second chances.)
This guy seems to be sincere and I don't want June seeing me do anything like that, so, for now, I'll let him go. Releasing my telekinetic grip, the thug slides to the floor. It takes him a couple seconds to stop whimpering and realize that I'm not holding him to the wall.
"Dude get up. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Y-you're not?" he looks between his fingers.
"No, but if you don't get out of here right now I'm gonna toss your ass out the window," I say dragging him out of the apartment. The thug is practically kissing my feet thanking me for not killing him."You know the more you stay here and grovel the more I wanna change my mind." I can hear police sirens in the distance. They'll be here within the next couple of minutes. The thug must've heard them too because he's already making a break for it and is down the hall.
I really hope this decision doesn't bite me in the butt later. I walk back into the apartment and see Quincey and Reese awake. I sigh in relief that no one didn't get to those two. Behind them, June sits on what's left of the sofa looking traumatized.
"What happened? Is mom home?" Quincey yawns somehow oblivious to everything that just happened.
"Nah, but she'll be home soon. Just don't worry about it." I put a hand on his shoulder.
"OK."
I don't know any way to comfort June so pat her shoulder too. We all look up when the front door is kicked down by a police officer.
"I've located the victims. I'm extracting them now," he says into the radio on his chest. He gestures to the door with a rifle of some sort. Why would he have one?
"Let's go, I'm gonna get you all outta here safely." Reese and Quincey begin to walk to the officer while I help June to her feet. "STOP!" We freeze dead in our tracks. The officer is aiming his gun at me.
"W-what?"
"Let the girl go right now." I slowly take my hands off of June. He waves her towards him. She stays in place and frowns. Seeing that June obviously will not cooperate with him, the officer rushes forward and snatches her by the arm. I immediately throw him off with telekinesis. As he flies through the air I see the back of his uniform.
I instantly recognize the symbol embroidered on the jacket. A white triangular eagle. The symbol of the DUP. I haven't seen the DUP for so long that I almost didn't recognize him. Ever since an attack on the DUP in Seattle, Detropolis haven't been getting much DUP action. This could end badly.
The DUP agent does a turn in the air and lands on his feet. His hands begin to glow and the ground begins to shake. I push June out of the way just before the floor bursts open and black rocks slam into my body. I'm thrown into the roof so hard that my vision blurs. I think June just screamed.
I brace myself to hit the floor, but I don't leave the ceiling. The rocks have formed into cuffs around my wrists and ankles, preventing me from falling. I struggle against the concrete restraints.
"June!" I yell as I feel the concrete cuffs giving way. "Go outside right now. No arguments."
She actually seems to listen. June grabs Quincey and Reese hands and drags them out of the apartment. I hope they get to safety, but right now I have worry about myself.
"Gah!" I rip one of my arms free and my left leg is almost out too. The DUP soldier does a gesture with his hands which causes even more dark concrete to grow around me. The stone cocoon weighs so much that it falls from the roof and creates a small crater in the floor. I can't seem to break free with my enhanced strength. As I'm figuring a way out the soldier walks up to me.
He puts a finger on his communicator, "I have a Bioterrorist in custody. The suspect seems to be a Prime. Will wait here for a Cruiser to arrive and take the suspect to the Ward." "You're a pretty pathetic Bioterrorist. Hell, I've seen some younger than you put up more resistance." he mocks me while patting the cocoon.
"I'll show you resistance," I say to myself. I slam him into the concrete multiple times as quickly as possible. I let my invisible grip on him go and he slumps to the ground with a groan. The loud rumble of a DUP Cruiser lets me know time is short. I have to get free.
Powers. Defects. Gifts. Curse. Just some of the names you hear the abilities of Bioterrorists get called.
I remember the day my "gift" manifested six months ago. I wasn't involved in anything epic and life-threatening that booted up my powers.
I was tagging along with mom while she was shopping for her hobby. Painting old porcelain jars. At some antique shop, I've never seen before she had seen a pot she said she "needed" is where my powers came out. It was so lame it's sad.
The damn place was so dusty that two seconds in and my nose was already running. Then the owner did that thing you see in the movies where they blow the dust off of something old. Right in my face. When I sneezed every pot and jar in the little store floated in mid-air for a couple of seconds before shattering into billions of pieces. I don't know what shocked me more at the time: The fact that I had superpowers or the fact that the owner didn't call the authorities.
She told me that she didn't care if I was a Bioterrorist or not but I was GOING to pay for all of her merchandise or I'd be in the DUP's hands before I even knew it. So for the past few months, I've been working for free to pay for +$5000 worth of porcelain. Marvelous.
Though it's kinda strange that I can't replicate that blast results normally. Maybe...
Kalvin!
"You better let my child go you DUP bastards!" I hear my mother scream.
Must've conked out for a while. I see my mom fighting with all of her motherly might to get to me. The only thing holding her at bay is a burly dark guy with a bald head and wearing sunglasses at night. That basically sums up the description my stepfather, Cliff.
"Woman you better calm your behind down or they'll take you too!" Cliff grunts as he keeps her back. I see June, Quincey, and Reese tugging back on her as well. My chest feels a little less constricted (although I'm still encased in stone) now that I see them OK.
"Maam, you better listen to your husband. You don't want to end up where this filth is going." A DUP soldier says as I finally notice that they're carrying me to a Cruiser. I never knew that black people could turn red because my mom looks like a chili pepper. This insult only refueled her efforts to bash the everliving crap outta that guy.
I tune out my family while I concentrate on the task at hand: Shattering this concrete. I try building up energy and forcing it away from my body, but I'm too drained to attempt anything like that. An idea pops into being.
With all of my remaining strength, I push my stone shell into the ground. The sudden force surprises the soldier and he's helpless to stop me. The cocoon and I land in the dirt and immediately breathe in rapidly. I feel it. The itch in my nose.
"Get... back ma!" I shout out in between incontrollable breaths. I hear June convincing everyone to move. I try to hold the itchy feeling back to give them enough time. Nope, I can't hold it back anymore.
Ah... ah...ack...ACHOO!"
The force of sneeze blows apart the case of concrete and sends shards flying in every direction. The solider is thrown off across the street and the Cruiser has been overturned. Seeing as I can hear my family calling my name they must be alright.
Geez, that little stunt took so much outta me. My sight is blurry and my mind is so jumbled I can't tell if I'm standing or still lying in the dirt. Before I even realized what was going on I'm hit in the gut hard enough to make me black out.
"Ugh." My head is pounding.
I can't see anything and it's hard to breathe. Something is definitely covering my mouth.
I'm lying down on cold metal. I can the revving of an engine and I'm bumping up and down on the floor. I can't stay awake anymore. One thing's for sure though.
I've been captured.
I sit up quickly. I look around and I don't know where I am. I seem to be in a small, white room with a single light bulb hanging in the center.
"Ahem." says someone behind me. Behind me is a large tinted window a couple of feet from the floor. Even though it's tinted I can make out three people sitting behind it. The person in the middle stands up. A voice reverberates through the room.
"Alright. Glad to see you're awake Subject 78. How about you introduce yourself then I won't have to keep calling you Subject 78?" he says. He speaks as if he's an uncle or something. Ain't no way I'm telling him anything.
I continue to sit on the floor silently. After a couple of seconds of me not responding I see the guy on his left whisper something to him. They go back and forth a little before speaking again.
"Okay Subject 78, I'm Willis Warden. We are going to run some experiments. We need you cooperate with us." I stay quiet. He writes something on what seems to be a clipboard.
CLUMP.
Behind me, a wooden crate is now sitting on the floor. How did they even do that?
"We want you to lift the box."
"Why?"
The figures behind the glass look at each other, "So you can speak!" he says all amused like. "Our agent said to us that you might have abilities that we haven't," he pauses for a second. "Had many records on. So we want you to demonstrate what you can do. Now, lift the box."
"No." First I hear a high whine then a couple hundred volts of electricity shoot through my body. The pain is so intense it causes me to convulse violently on the floor. After a couple more seconds the electrocution stops. I'm gasping for air. Once my brain is back on track I try to sit up.
"What t-the hell?" I say immediately pissed off now. I'm slightly shaking. Warden chuckles lightly in his mic which echoes throughout this room annoyingly.
"You like that? I didn't think so. This here remote," he waves a small rectangular object around, "Sends signals to a small accessory on your ankle. The anklet deals out punishment whenever you don't listen." I pull my pants leg up a little and just as he said there's a device attached to my ankle. It's circular and so light that I probably wouldn't have noticed it if he didn't point it out. It has a small LED flashing green.
"So do you want to try this again? Minus the shocking?" While I don't want to be at the beck and call of these kidnapping scientists, I really don't wanna get zapped again. I guess I only have one choice.
"No," I say smugly. Warden sighs and activates the anklet.
I crack open my eyelids. My entire body aches like an atomic bomb detonated inside my veins. Basically, I feel like shit. I don't think I can remember how many times I denied their demands. Each time they electrocuted me they must have cranked it up to another 500 volts. Even with this super healing stuff, I didn't last long.
I look around and it seems that I'm not in that experiment chamber anymore. This room is even smaller than the one before. The walls are gray and there's a steel door with a small window next to where I'm lying. The window lets in such little light that half of this room is still covered in shadow.
"About time you woke up. Started to think you were dead. No fun in having a roomie who doesn't talk back ya know." Out of the shadowy back corner, a person walks up to me lying down. He looks down on me. "Dead bodies don't make forced incarceration anymore bearable."
"What are you talking about?"
"I guess I should introduce myself. I'm-. You look like you're in a lot of pain."
"Kinda am," I say while attempting to get my limbs to react. I'm failing miserably.
"I'll help ya out." The dude then proceeds to hold his hands over me. Just as he's about to touch me his hands spark to life with lightning. Before I can protest electricity courses through my body. But something's different. Unlike the torture anklet which causes me immense pain, this guy's shocks warm my body like a fireplace fire during winter. I'm feeling so good that I barely notice when he stops.
"You can sit up now if ya want." he offers. At first, I don't think I can until I try. I'm standing up now without a problem surprisingly. I flex my hands. I try to say something but I'm at a loss for words.
"It seems my pulse heal fixed ya up quite nice. Nine hours of torture whisked away." He waves his hands for emphasis.
Nine hours? Well, at least it's not as long as I suspected. "Um, thanks. Do you have a clue where we even are?"
"Come on, I literally just saved your life and you just disregard manners. Ya don't even introduce yourself first," he says clearly agitated at my bluntness.
"Oh sorry," I say awkwardly. "I'm Kalvin. Thanks for doing whatever you did um..." I trail off.
"Vincent. Glad to make ya acquaintance and no problemo." Vincent instantly goes back to being jolly then he holds his arm out to help me up. Now that I'm standing Vincent's features are visible. He's kinda lanky making him a bit taller than me. His skin is pretty pale almost like bones and he's skinny as hell. Can't tell whether he's naturally bony or very hungry. Vincent also has short and greasy looking jet black hair. His clothes have little chains attached and imagery of chains all over it.
"As for where we are right now, I'm pretty sure we're stationed in Curdan Cay." Then he immediately busts out in laughter.
"Curdan Cay!?" Grab Vincent by the shoulders and shake him. "As in mega Bioterrorist prison? That Curdan Cay?!"
He laughs for a couple more seconds before calming down. "No, I'm just pulling ya leg." Vincent chuckles lightly. What is up with this guy?
"Could you be serious for like two seconds?"
"Fine. Actually, this place is called the BCC. I've been here for about a month." he explains while making lightning dance between his hands.
BCC? That's the Bioterrorist Containment Center just outside my District. The DUP keep Bioterrorists here for a while before shipping them off to Curdan Cay. At least I'm not so far from home that I can't get back. If I can get back. It's not like you can just bail out of terrorist prison.
Ugh, I can't believe I was arrested so easily last night. Every time my mind wanders into a vision I never know what's gonna happen to me while I'm down. I don't even know what happened to Ma and everyone else. Until I see them again I just hope they're alright.
I walk to the door and peek through the small window. Outside is a hallway which seems that no one is patrolling. Perfect. I can't see any other cell doors either. The has no handle on the inside which makes sense if you want to keep in your superpowered prisoners.
"Hey, Vincent,"
"Yea?"
"Do you know I the cells are physically locked or not?" I ask. I keep checking the hall as I speak.
"You mean with keys? No, I've seen them use scanners or something. Why do ya need to know?"
"Because I'm bout to break out of here."
Vincent chuckles, "You really shouldn't try that."
I look away from the window for a moment, "What do mean by that? Have you tried to break out of here?"
"Every day."
I go back and focus on the door. "Then I don't see the problem." I blast down the door, or at least I try to. As soon as I focus my energy the anklet vibrates then fires electricity through me. I fall to the floor immediately. Before I black out I hear Vincent say "I told ya not to."
I feel my body jump up.
"There ya go, pal." I hear Vincent say. Vincent used his powers again to heal me. "If ya do something like that again I'm not gonna keep heal pulsing ya." He stands back so I can stand upright again. "Those bands can sense when you're about to use your powers then ZAP! Ya get zapped."
"Yeah, I can see that now." I groan. I place my hands on the door again. Vincent yanks me away from it.
"You're not seriously trying again? Ya just got just got fried!"
I push him off of me, "Then what am I supposed to do? Wait til they ship us to Curdan Cay?"
"Yeah."
He has to be joking. "You're crazy to think I'm gonna do that." I'm trying hard right now to suppress my powers.
"Look here. I've been trying to break out every day for maybe three weeks so I know how they're stationed," he says. "There's almost no way for ya to break out from inside here. Too many Dupes on patrol at any time. Ya wouldn't make it down the hall."
I hate to admit that he's probably right. I could barely knock out a single agent, let alone a small army. I lean on the door and I sigh.
"Since you're such an expert on escaping," I gesture around us, "How are you going to get out of here?"
"OK. I just said it's almost impossible to break out of here. They have this place locked tight. Right?"
"Right."
"So we both know that there's no way possible for either one of us alone or together to take on about 300 hundred Dupes right?"
"Dude, where is this leading to?"
Vincent smirks a little. "What if I can get all of the other prisoners to fight the guards while we get away?"
Now that sounds interesting.
"Ya see, I caught wind that we're getting transported in a couple of days. So if there's a big commotion on transport day,"
"The guards will be too busy with the bioterrorists to deal with us!" I finish for him. He frowns but nods. Vincent opens his mouth and is about to say something when a loud noise nearly shatters my eardrums. The lights in the room switch on to blinding level and the alarm blares on.
"What's happening?" I yell over the noise. The combination of bright lights and drowning noise is disorientating.
"Lunch," Vincent shouts just as the door opens. Someone grabs me by the shoulders and throws me into the hall. My breath is forced outta my lungs when I hit the floor. So much for hospitality. Vincent lands next to me with an "Oof!" He has a big grin on his face for some reason. He looks so stupid right now that I smile a little as well.
"Ya better get up."
"What?" Then a boot sends my ass across the floor. My head slams straight into a wall at a speed that would've given anyone else brain damage. Just great.
"Get up bioterrorist!" a "Dupe" agent threatens. To avoid getting kicked again, I do as he says. The agent forms some black concrete over my wrists to serve as handcuffs. He pushes me along while I struggle to keep my heavy hands from the ground. Vincent is soon by my side donning rocky jewelry as well. We don't say anything as we're shoved through the endless black and yellow halls of the facility. They guide us past lines of cells. All of them seem to be empty. When I whisper to Vincent he confirms my thoughts.
"Yeah, before you were dropped off with me last night I was the only one in this wing. Probably because they can't figure out our powers," he says below his breath. "Or at least that's why I've been put here."
"Hey, shut it you two!" I feel the concrete tighten around my wrists and I shut it.
We're taken to a ready elevator and we go from floor 5 to the third floor. When we exit the elevator we enter what seems to a bare-bones cafeteria. The room is about the size of a basic grocery store and is painted in the DUP's color scheme. The bioterrorists all sit at tables in groups of around five or six, and there are over 30 tables in here. Damn, the air in here is dank and hot. It presses down on me so hard that I just want to curl up. Vincent's attitude seems to have dampened a bit as well. The concrete constraints fall away freeing our hands. I hear the Dupes get back into the elevator.
"Alright, just stick with me and ya won't get stoned to death." We walk past a couple of tables. The people at these tables are of all ages. Some as young about 10 to some who look ready for retirement. It's bad. Other than a few who look like they want to beat the crap out of anyone who looks at them, damn near everyone seems to be on the brink of death. I don't know how bad any of them have had it so I can't even begin to relate. Miserable is the only way I can describe this.
"Why do they group everyone in one place? Aren't they afraid everyone getting together and fighting against them?" Just talking and walking makes me out of breath.
"Nah. The Dupes are confident that their Conduit dampening tech can keep everyone at bay. So far it's been working."
"Conduit? What's that?"
Vincent looks at me funny like you would if someone said something stupidly obvious. "Ya got to be kidding. Ya know Conduits? People with the Conduit gene? Guys like us who have powers?"
"Oh, you mean Bioterrorists?" A group at a nearby table turn my way and give me a stony glare.
"Jeezus, listen how easily it rolls outta your mouth. No man we're Conduits. Bioterrorist is basically a slur and makes us sound nasty to the public. I don't ever wanna hear ya say that again. Got it?" he pokes me for a warning.
"Yeah sure. Uh, you said something about dampening our powers."
"Oh yeah, well these things on our legs aren't the only thing that's keeping us in check." he waggles his foot. "Ya see those cameras? They're sending out some sorta waves that cover or block the gene in our bodies. I can feel it." Vincent points at a couple of the security cams in the room. "It's working so far, but they still take some precaution with some of the other Conduits."
Vincent grabs some weird little baggy which seems like astronaut food and a small bottle of water, then walks away from the rest of the tables. I grab one and follow suit. Man, I notice how dry my throat is so I guzzle down the water. As we clear the rest of the tables I notice three giant windows in the back. We start at the one window on the far left.
"Lookit." he spits in disgust. I see why.
Behind the window is a small room with a table, a chair, and a Conduit girl. I can only guess that she's in her early twenties. She's sitting there frowning. Then I notice that her hair and clothes are soaked. I think she's sweating. Her fair skin looks like she has a full body sunburn. I put my hand on the window and immediately pull back. The glass is scorching hot!
"That's Marie. She's a Conduit that can control water. Hydrokinesis or something. She has to sit in there while a bunch of heaters heat up the room. They pump in dry air as well just to keep moisture from forming. They don't even have to give her water as often as most of us because of her power. When Marie actually does need water she too out of it to do anything but drink."
I watch Marie bite some very dry bread and swallow painfully. All of a sudden I feel terrible for downing that water a while ago. "Then why doesn't she just use her sweat. It's made up of water."
Vincent shakes his head sadly, "Marie could but she's only really good at control tap and fresh water. At least that's what I heard. And with the Conduit dampers, it's next to impossible." He motions to the next window.
The room looks like it's completely made of metal and in the middle of the room is a little boy crying. Probably crying because he's wearing a metal straightjacket.
"I really don't know much about him, but someone said that he can control plastic hence why he's in a metal cage."
I look away from the crying child. If he ever gets out of this he will be scarred forever. Who knows how many more people like Marie and the boy are going through this
"The DUP act like saints coming to take away the monsters, but look at this shit man! It's worse than prison! They perform experiments on some of us. The "interesting" ones. That's why when it's time to break loose we have to make sure these guys leave with their tails between their legs. We gotta make sure they won't ever come back." Vincent squeezes the baggy food into his mouth.
"Wait. I thought we were just going to distract them and beat it?"
"Ya don't have to help me free anyone. You can just help get the riot started then do what ya want afterward. I ain't forcing ya, but I just hope ya make the right decision when the time comes." Vincent leaves the window to go sit at one of the tables.
I look at Marie and the boy's windows and it frightens me to know that possibly the only way to save them is to make a small choice.
In Dupe Hands *** Karmic Level Change: Polisher Boy
Mercy x1 - G
Take Down x2 - N
Kalvin's actions have had a positive effect on his Karma.
A/N: Alright, a new chapter for a new year! A little late on the update, but at least I'm here now.
No Karma choices this time. Unless I make I some last minute changes, the next update should have one.
Review, flame, favorite and comment because all are accepted. Until the next time, peace out.