Chapter 14

We sat atop a sky scraper, Eugene was still in one of the rooms below recovering. The sun was slipping below the horizon. We said nothing, I had no idea what Delsin was planning next – I doubted it would be peaceful. Now was not the time to talk about a moral crusade… and apparently I was not the sort of person who had the right to do so. I shook my head.

"Everything okay?" Delsin asked.

"Yeah," I nodded and got to my feet "yeah."

Delsin's attention left me – he summoned up a small rock of concrete and threw it out as if he was attempting to skim it along a lake that wasn't there – of course it just shot off into the scenery and fell off into the distance down into the city below. He repeated this several times.

"What next?" I finally said.

Delsin didn't reply he continued throwing his summoned concrete rocks.

"There's no real reason to be here," I sighed "why not go back to the Akomish? … You have any other family there? Maybe someone there will know who I am?"

Delsin halted, his head slumped but he didn't face me.

"Delsin?" I give up - was he even listening?

"The last conversation I had with the Akomish ... heh, 'you are Akomish no longer,' " Delsin sighed – he still remained faced away looking out into the city.

I frowned, "because ... you're a conduit?"

He summoned another rock and tossed it, this time shooting it mid trajectory with a bolt of neon, "everything I did was for them, for my people," his voice trailed off – I'm not sure he actually wanted me to hear.

On reflection I felt a pang of guilt, perhaps I'd been too hard on Delsin? He'd obviously been through a lot – I had no idea really. I'm sure he'd made many bad choices but apparently... so had I.

These empathetic thoughts brought on an unwelcome side-effect - I involuntarily recalled Delsin's memories, they came to me in a burst of intense emotions and images –

- my arm only just clinging into it's socket as the load increased, lunged over clenching onto him with everything I had - I felt my grip /Delsin's grip/ loosen. I could see that in Reggie's eye's - that he had already given up. He became heavier and heavier as the concrete crept up his torso and encased him – he pleaded with me /with Delsin/ to let him go – not an option! ... The choice wasn't Delsin's – Reggie took the option away, that last exchange of glances seemed to last forever - he let go of my hand and everything slowed down, there was nothing I could do to save him - helplessly, I watched him plummet into the depth of the water below -

I clenched my eyelids shut.

"Woah Miles," Delsin gripped my shoulder and shook me lightly "what's wrong man? - you look as white as a ghost!"

I shook myself into reality but couldn't prevent a tear from escaping my eye – I quickly turned away and pressed my eyes into my sleeve. Delsin gazed on with an incredulous look across his face.

"I'm fine," I said "I'm fine," more than a little embarrassed.

"Dude, are you ... crying?" Delsin asked awkwardly, I think he tried to sound sympathetic - it didn't.

I pressed my hand over my face, what the fuck was this? These felt like my memories, like my feelings – it felt like Reggie was my brother and it felt like it was my loss, I paused – composed myself and spoke up "I'm sorry."

"OooooKaaay?" Delsin replied "heh heh really starting to freak me out now."

I let out a long sigh, I owed Delsin an explanation, "when you absorb powers, you can see ...parts of people's lives - right? ... their memories?" I said, I assumed he could - when we first made contact, I could feel him prying as much as I was, "when I got your powers, I saw Reggie -I saw what happened... his last moments."

Delsin said nothing - he gave a slow nod, his eyes slightly glazed but gave nothing away but his mouth drooped and his whole demeanor changed, he fought against expressing himself, he couldn't look me in the eye.

"I didn't know Reggie," I admitted "but he didn't deserve that and you didn't deserve it and … and, it fucking sucks... I'm sorry,"

Unexpectedly, Delsin lunged forward and wrapped an arm around me, he gave me a very brief hug, broke away and turned away from me.

"I guess you're the only person who can see from my point of view," he sighed.

We stood there in silence for a few moments longer before I spoke up again, "Delsin, what do you plan to do next?"

Delsin had composed himself and his persona had pretty much returned to his normal self - it was a little scary how he'd recovered so quickly, but I was glad - it probably wasn't a good idea to bring Reggie up from now on.

"I err…" would Delsin trust me? "Ok - I'm looking for a conduit – I need his power and then I'm gone … and then what's say we go activating conduits, rise up and take out the DUPs out once and for all!"

I didn't hide very well that I wasn't a fan of the idea.

Delsin frowned "we got no choice man, they're going after normals too – you wanna play the hero? Protect the people?"

I sighed.

"Who's the conduit you're looking for?" I asked, almost forgetting he'd mentioned that.

"That, my friend, is a secret - but if you stick around long enough…"

"And you want me to do what exactly?" I asked.

"Activate conduits, I mean we get their powers too – it's win win," Delsin said "plus I'll be there to, ya know, stabilise their powers… if needed."

"I wonder how my power works?" I muttered.

"Beats me," Delsin shrugged "I didn't manage to get the whole activation amplification thing – come to think of it, I still can't get gravity to work either – I think it's broken."

So Delsin couldn't absorb my powers?

"And you didn't get anything from me, right?" he asked.

And I couldn't absorb Delsin's powers, I shook my head.

"Still can't complain – I am new and improved thanks to your little boost at least," he smirked.

"OK," I replied.

Delsin frowned "okay what?"

"I'll help you - but under one condition,"

Delsin grinned, I think he already knew what my condition was.

"We don't hurt innocent people."

"Urgh," Delsin sighed "it's self defence, man - hey some of those signs have very pointy edges!"

I sighed.

"Alright, alright - I guess I can live with that," he agreed "anything else?"

"We lay low," I said "don't use powers unnecessarily."

"Dude we have all this power – and you wanna what? take the bus?!"

I frowned.

"Ok, OK!" he said "that it?"

"For now," I grinned.

"OK, OK ...That's all awesome and all but," Delsin looked around "I just have one question -without powers ... how do we get off the roof?"

...

Shit! no exits... Looked like that second condition was going to be harder to commit to then I thought.