Chapter seven
'' You know what I don't quite get?'' A DUP member groaned from their position, this man was Alexander and he was new to the organization that called itself the DUP. Short for Department of Unified Protection, which was quite a mouth full if you are being blasted away by a damned conduit and you need backup… you get the idea. It wasn't really his choice either, it was that or going to jail and while he was a pussy when it came to fighting conduits, it seemed like a better deal than serving time in prison.

One of the persons doing surveillance next to him turned their head towards him, indicating he got her attention. This girl was Nelly and Nelly was more of a talker than a listener, so it was a big thing she was willing to lend an ear at all.

''Why do we arrest so many people, to just lock them up, half of them are proved to not be conduits. After all we used the everlight.'' Nelly shot him a glare, brown eyes meeting his mid air and the look she had would sent shivers up everybody's spine.

Alexander coughed, rubbed the back of his neck and continued: ''Right, bio-terrorists, you know what I mean. Aren't they innocent?'' His partner scoffed, brushing off her jacket and stood. Her muscles protested and her bones cracked.

''We don't know how much they have associate with the terrorists and if they are potentials. Besides that, they are always arrested for a good reason, not just because you walked the wrong way.'' With a roll of her eyes and a dramatic flip of her hair, she stepped towards the fence. She peeked over it, looked left and right, never up or down and gave the other a nod.

''Nobody seen.'' Alexander confirmed when he spoke into his walkie-talkie. Some static and then: 'Roger that.' He stretched his legs and made his way over to the other DUP member.

''So, what are we going to do all day, they aren't coming back today, that's for sure.'' Nelly complained, a whine audible in her voice. He shrugged, biting his lip and watched the civilians. That was what he did, until a certain so called 'civilian' stood out. It wasn't that hard for him either, with his ripped jeans, half burned away shirt, menacing looking tattoos and scarred face. He was bulky and had some muscle on him for sure.

It wasn't really that weird in Seattle, but after all the events you couldn't be careful enough. He poked Nelly in her side and pointed at the guy. Said man seemed to shine and his eyes almost glowed, but it couldn't be a cond- bio-terrorist, from what Alexander had seen and read they were violent and out to destroy every human being, this man in front of them, was just quietly making his way down town. Had this, whatever it was, gotten to his head that he saw ghosts?

Nelly, for the record, thought he did. She put her hand on his shoulder and steered him away from the fence. She shook her head, what had her partner been up to?

''He is just walking down the street, Alex. You paranoia!'' She tried to laugh it off, but the fake cheeriness was even to her noticeable. Alex just nodded, shrugging, but somehow he couldn't get his mind of the guy from down the street.

Delsin just meant to blow of some steam and that became reality, quite literally. He let the fire form in his palm, warm, small and familiar. He threw it, really at nothing, but somehow it ended up on the towel of the lady, swimming in the sea. It was a hot day and the towel was spread out far enough from the water, to let the flame grow. It nipped at the cotton of said towel and slowly it disappeared. Burned away and eaten by his flame.

It was a miracle nobody saw anything, but what do you expect? A beach full of ignorant people, many laying down, sunglasses planted on their nose and bathing, others splashing in the sea, trying to hold their breath under water. A beach full of ignorant people, not only to the small fire, Delsin had started, but to the worlds situation. Here they were, enjoying the rare sunlight Seattle got on the beach, instead of tending to the situation at hand.

There were conduits, somewhere, who wanted to invade their Seattle and kill the pathetic human beings living there. Yet here they were swimming and playing in the water. It wasn't really a miracle, at all.

When the towel was gone and his flame hit the sand, it slowly hissed and dissolved. What a shame, he thought when he stared at the patch of sand. But like the flame, his anger was just gone. Leaving him behind with raging argument inside his head and a heavy heart.

Delsin jumped down from the jetty and with a thud landed in the sand. He stuck out, with his beanie covering most of his hair and the warm coat he wore, the long pants he had on didn't help him blend in.

Some people shot him a look, some worried, others foul, but he could deal. He had dealt with the good and the bad side of humanity ages ago, especially the bad side. You got enough of shady figures around and in Seattle, look for them in dark, enclosed areas and you're bound to find someone, anybody.

The youngest Rowe was used to the looks filled with vulgar and the insults thrown around him, it was easy to ignore and close himself off to everyone. Easy and simple, but that didn't have to mean he liked the solitude. Although it was the only thing he knew nowadays.

Alexander knew something wasn't right and in a way that guy had something to do with it. His sense tingled and his instinct was screaming at him. Nelly just grinned at him, laughing at him, not with him and turned around to face their supervisor. She saluted him and bowed slightly, such a heckler the girl was. A little less excited Alex put his hand in the air and said the salute, before hurrying and sitting down next to his partner. She may be a shitty one, but she was his partner all the same.

Nelly spared him one look and then switched her eyes to the supervisor. It was a woman in her mid-thirties. A strict look was plastered on her face, arms across her chest and her in a tight bun. She made wild hand gestures, lips forming words, Nelly didn't quite catch.

The meeting was brief and they were lucky to have a recap at the end. It was like they had all expected about the bio-terrorist that had come to their city, to destroy and take. The supervisor had ranted and rambled on about how bad they were and how Satan had sent them to claim the land in his name, she was a bit cray-cray, as the youth liked to say. Nelly wasn't really listen and so she did notice when Alex stood and tried to sneak out of the room.

He did a good job, till he tripped, like four times, over the legs of people. She snorted, brushing some bangs out of her face. The supervisor didn't pay the young boy any attention, rather continued with her rant with passion. Nelly wanted to go after her partner, but the look she got from the old lady made her freeze. God fucking damn it.

Alexander waited in front of the entrance a few minutes for Nelly, but when the door on exactly the fifth minute didn't open, he turned around and speeded away. The supervisor always seemed to have this weird hate for men, her eyes always judging and her hands always swatting them away. It was most defiantly from her past, something, anything had happened and changed her. Trauma. What? Well he rather didn't find out.

With a skip in his step, he hurried down the street, set on finding the man. It had bugged him, still bugged him and he couldn't just shake the feeling off. It didn't hurt checking it out, right? That was if he could find the man at all.

North, he went north and for once Alex was glad he paid attention to the little things, the small details everybody else seemed to just brush to the side. It was always like that, when others looked at the power of the terrorist, he remembered the eye color, small things, unimportant things, but yet somehow so important.

Little details, he mused, could save your fucking life.

When Cole emerged from the shadow, it was already getting dark, the clouds gathering above his head and shielding the raising moon. He noticed men, women and children hurrying home, out late for a family gathering or a shopping day and he observed them. Civilians flocked together, like nothing had happened just a few days ago, like no conduits had tried to kill them all. No, instead they just talked, laughed and played around like it was fucking Christmas.

''Merry fucking Christmas.'' Cole bristled, sinking a little more in his coat. It wasn't cold and even if it was, the beast wouldn't feel the cold wind beat down on him. He was invulnerable. He was the beast. He was Cole fucking MacGrath.

The pull in his chest tugged harder, towards his left and he didn't deny the feeling and twisted to his left. He flung one of his arms to his side, little sparks of fire spinning around his palm. Fire. A foreign, icky feeling spread in the pit of his stomach, he didn't like fire. His fire was not only harmful and dangerous for those he deemed his enemies, but for its master too. It would burn the hand that formed it, melting away skin, that knitted together just as quick. It was a flame that would spin out of control, losing its boundaries and lashing out.

It was like Cole in some ways.

His fire would also very unpredictable, coming out when it pleased and even he, the beast, couldn't stop it from having its own free will. The fire was one of the reasons Cole stuck to his beloved electricity. Many of his new found powers were in some degree uncontrollable.

He could count on one hand with which he felt good with and with more than hundred unique powers in his arsenal, that was something, alright.

When the flame hissed for one last time, Cole made his way down the now empty streets of Seattle, following his feeling.