chAPTER 4

Washington D.C. wasn't quite as big as Empire City, though it did beat New Marais by a bit. Some of the buildings were a bit farther apart, which might make running more of a hassle, but it wasn't bad so far.

I tethered up to a building, scaring the hell out of a few folks, and began a morning run, enjoying the cool air in my face. The hoodie protected me from the majority of the cold, which was nice, but the flapping in the wind would take a little getting used to. In Empire, my courier jacket was always closed, and I didn't need a jacket in New Marais, so this was a little new to me. For a moment, I considered stopping and zipping it up, but I decided against it.

To be honest, this felt great. No destination, no problems, no gangs or hicks trying to kill me. Just me, the rooftops, and electric powers guiding my steps.

I stopped for a quick breath and to take in some energy from a nearby air conditioning unit, when I heard a group of voices that sounded like a mob coming from the Capitol entrance. Curiously, I stepped over to the edge of the roof and watched the scene unfold.

A crowd of about thirty people were yelling at -or for- some guy standing on a stage. He held up his hands and started yelling out to make himself heard. "My fellow Humans!" he called out. "The world is a dark place right now! Conduits -monsters that look human, sound human, may even have been human at one point in their life- plague our lands! Their only goal: to end all life of those who do not share in their brotherhood of evil!"

The guy was nuts, obviously. Probably from one of the cities the Beast had rampaged through on its way to New Marais. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but I also felt some apprehension as well. This guy had no idea what the hell he was talking about, and here he was preaching to the choir like Pope John Paul.

"Look at the destruction they've caused! We've lost Empire City! New Marais! And god knows how many more in between! This is a war, and we are losing! We need people standing on the front lines, ready to die for humanity's survival!" The crowd nodded and cheered, fear and desperation driving them to accept this maniac's words as fact. "We need real humans, with real convictions! This is not about vengeance! This is about survival!" He pulled something about of his pocket and my eyes widened. A blast shard? Where did he get that? "We must take the source of their power! Leave them weak! Then, when they can no longer sustain themselves, we will strike!" The crowd grew even louder, voicing their support. "I swear to you all, we will stop the Conduit menace!"

At this cue, two armed people drug someone by their arms to the stage. My eyes narrowed as I tried to see what exactly was going on. It was a woman, fairly young, and completely terrified. Was she a Conduit? I did a quick scan, but she was too far away. An ability I was given by John allowed me to sense the plague, to see it in people. If she was a Conduit, it definitely wouldn't show. Then again, just because it didn't show, didn't mean she was a Conduit. It was a fine line. Either way, I couldn't just sit here.

I dropped off the building and landed on the ground with a thud. A few people turned to see me, startled. I slipped past them, ignoring their awed faces, and made my way to the front while trying to remain inconspicuous. I did another scan near the front, and this time it worked. I saw the plague in many people, in an early stage. They still had time, but they would soon start to show symptoms. The woman they had also had an early stage of the plague, which meant she wasn't a full-fledged Conduit, if she was one at all. Her captors didn't seem to care one way or another, as their leader held the blast shard like a dagger, preparing to stab the poor woman. "Thy will be done!" he shouted.

Snarling at the barbarism on display, I leapt from the crowd and landed on the stage, throwing a punch blast at the leader and sending him over the rail. His pals tried to flank me, and were rewarded with an electric punch and kick to each of them. A few others opened fire at the stage, and I ducked behind the podium to avoid their shots and returned fire with my lightning bolts. These punks were a cakewalk compared to some of the shit I'd been through.

A sniper on an adjacent roof opened fire on my position, so I tossed a lightning tether to the roof and zipped up there, right in front of the guy. He reacted pretty quick, I had to hand it to him. He swung at me with the rifle, which I caught with ease. Of course, any gun I ever got my hands on exploded, so I kicked the guy backwards and he stumbled before the rifle exploded, sending him off the building. I looked over the edge, and saw him writhing on the ground. He'd live.

I looked for the ringleader for a moment, but he disappeared. He did leave behind the blast shard, though. I picked it up and ran a touch of electricity through it, shattering it and absorbing its energy. There were probably more of these around D.C. I'd have to look for them... if I had the time.

A call came in, and I answered using my earpiece. "MacGrath, we're picking up a weird signal coming from a rooftop near your position," Heller explained.

"Ah, spying on me, are you?" I asked.

"Just go find out what the hell it is."

And as abruptly as the call came in, it disconnected. "Okay, then," I muttered. I tethered up a building and jogged to the location Heller pinged for me. On the way, I thought of the people I'd just fought. Pro-human, anti-Conduit, just like Bertrand and his Militia. Part of me wondered if their leader was a Conduit, like Bertrand had been. Nah. What were the odds of that happening twice?

I found the location and looked around for this "signal", but saw nothing. I called the number Heller had pushed onto my phone, and a moment later he picked up. "Hey, Heller, I'm at the location. Nothing here that could be throwing off a signal, though."

"Take a look around, anyway. You're right on top of the mark."

I frowned, but looked around the roof I was on, anyway. I even did a quick scan, but only saw some energy sources. I scratched my head. I had to be missing something. A cloud passed overhead and I looked up. A pigeon flew overhead, and I remembered getting dead drops in New Marais from them. I focused some energy to my hand and threw a blast to stun it. It fell to the roof, and I searched it for a flash drive. Nothing. "Oops," I muttered.

I placed my hands on my hips. I was definitely onto something, but where the hell would this thing be? I did a few more scans, looking around as I went. There was air conditioning units, an electrical panel by the door to the roof, the water tower... My mind lurched. Electricity in a water tower? I climbed the ladder to the tower and opened the lid. Floating in the water was a parcel. I phoned Heller. "I think I found that signal," I said. "It's a package."

I tethered the parcel and pulled it to me and dropped from the ladder. I opened it up, only to find a brick of styrofoam. Frowning, I looked over the package and noticed a blinking light. I ran my finger over it and noticed a groove at the edge. I looked over it and saw a flash drive. Bingo.

I pulled it out and slid it into my phone. A moment later, a new voice spoke up. "Special Agent Moya Jones, Memo 3208." Moya? She left dead drops? For who? The recording continued. "My investigation into the war criminal known as "Kessler" has yielded some interesting results. The NSA is also onto him, connecting him to a group known as the First Sons.

"They have two agents on the case. The first is Lucy Kuo in New Marais, working with Dr. Sebastian Wolfe, a mid-ranking member of the First Sons. According to his dossier, he's a leading expert on a new field called the Ray Field. The NSA is obviously offering him some sort of immunity deal in exchange for his cooperation. He is of little interest to the investigation.

"The other agent is John White. He's been assigned directly to Kessler on a project known as the Ray Sphere. This is a much more interesting point, as it may lead to Kessler's arrest. I'm going to look into what exactly this "Ray Sphere" is. These dead drops will be left where DARPA agents could find them, should anything happen to me."

The recording ended with a click, and Heller's voice replaced Moya's. "Holy shit," he muttered.

"What's up?"

"Moya left those just after the Blast in Empire City. She was supposed to deliver the full report after Kessler was captured. Only, that never happened." I could tell the last sentence was pointed at me. "After she was killed, we tried to find the dead drops, but couldn't. Guess the signals just now activated."

"If I find any more, I'll get 'em."

I disconnected the call and put the flash drive in my pack, then I ran along the roofs some more. Eventually, I saw someone waving, so I decided to investigate. Sure enough, they were flagging me down. I used my static thrusters to land softly in front of the woman, and immediately recognized her from the DARPA warehouse. "Hey," I said. "Shower Lady."

Her cheeks flushed slightly at my teasing. "My name is Nora," she replied, as though fighting to redeem some sort of dignity. "Nora Mendoza."

I nodded taking the hint. For the first time, I got a good look at her. She was pretty, for the government types. Latina-American, short dark hair, brown eyes. Not a bad catch for whoever got her. "Nice to officially meet you, Agent Mendoza," I replied. She nodded at the gesture, but I doubted I was forgiven just yet. "What'd ya need?"

"Well, it's not exactly what I need, but more it what they need." She pointed to a guy standing on a corner looking really nervous. Another guy was nearby, with a more sinister air around him. "It's already no secret the Electric Man is here," Mendoza explained. "People are going to want help wherever you go."

"Nothing new there," I replied good-naturedly.

She wasn't amused. "Just be careful who you help out," she warned. "Help out some bad people, good people may turn their back on you."

"And vice versa, I get it."

"Good. And good luck."

With that, she walked away, leaving me frowning. I'd certainly had better introductions. Shrugging off my less than stellar meeting, I jogged forward, weighing my options against Creepy Prowler or Scared Shitless. In the end, Shitless won over and I jogged over to him. "What's up?" I asked.

"There are some guys with my wife," he cried out. "They think she's a Conduit! They're gonna kill her!"

"I'll take care of it. Stay here."

I ran up the street where he pointed and found the pro-humans matching a woman at gunpoint. "Bingo," I muttered, drawing the Amp from it's sling. I ran forward slid under the first guy, tripping him before turning around and swinging the Amp like a bat, sending him flying across the street. The others looked at me with a startled expression while the woman ran for cover. The three others came at me at once, and I let out a quick blast, knocking all three of them back at once. Once they were on the ground, I ran up to two of them and restrained them, but the the dot up before I could reach him. I held up my arm, ready to fire if he tried anything, but he just turned tail and ran, stuttering something about "Jeremiah has to hear about this". I let him go, as the woman was now safe.

She ran up to me and hugged me. "Thank you so much!" she sobbed.

Her husband came up and hugged her. "Thank you, sir!" he said.

I nodded to them both and jogged out to the street, but Creepy Prowler was no longer there. Guess I made an impression.

My phone beeped, and Mendoza's voice came through. "Nice work, MacGrath. More people may need help around the city, so keep an eye out."

The call cancelled, and I frowned. These secret agents were starting to confuse me. Did they want me to save the world by killing myself, or did they want me doing a dozen odd jobs?

While I was pondering my newest predicament, a call came in. "MacGrath!" Heller said urgently. "We've got a problem!"

"Let me guess: your funding got cut?"

"Stop dicking around! Your friend Kuo? She ran off. We think she's headed for New Marais."

"Son of a bitch," I muttered.

"Get back to base. Chopper's ready to go."

The call disconnected and I hung my head.

"Kuo, what the hell are you thinking?"