chAPTER 11

D.C. was much quieter without people out at night. It was almost unsettling how the human element was being removed throughout the city. The DUP, as they were so proudly called, patrolled the streets looking for... well, looking for me. Nix was asleep, and Alden wouldn't risk taking on the whole damn army, even if he felt he could take them. As far as I knew, the three of us were the only "bio-terrorists" in the city. So, yeah. I was pretty sure they were looking for me.

I kept to the rooftops whenever possible, avoiding the patrols in the streets below. I had a couple of close calls with a spotlight, but I was able to avoid detection.

In fact, nothing was happening. At all. Sighing at the boredom I was beginning to feel, I turned to head back to the warehouse, maybe to try to catch a bit more sleep, when my phone beeped. "Uh... Electric Man?" a voice on the other end asked nervously.

"Who's this?" I returned.

"My name's Brandon. I used to work with Jeremiah Slade."

I frowned. A Humanity goon calling me? "How the hell'd you get my number?"

"Kind of my specialty," Brandon replied quickly. "Listen, I need your help. Some friends and I are wanting to defect from Humanity, but we need a place to lay low."

"Do I look like a real estate agent to you?"

"Not what I had in mind. Look, I'll explain everything. Just meet me by the bistro near the capital."

I rolled my eyes. Was this guy serious? No way was I going to trust a Humanity goon. But... on the other hand, I did need all the help I could get. I sighed. "Fine," I muttered. "But I see anything I don't like, and it's your ass."

"Sure," he replied nervously. "Yeah, that sounds fair."

I disconnected the call and pulled up the bistro on my phone, setting a waypoint before taking off in that direction. On the way, my frown deepened. Why the hell had that guy seemed so familiar? His voice, his mannerisms... just listening to him ask for my help was annoying.

I found the bistro fairly easily and dropped down behind it, startling a guy looking out for patrols. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed semi-quietly. Then he saw who I was. "Hey, there you are. I was starting to think you'd never show up."

He stepped into the light, and I immediately recognized him. One of the many pains in my ass in Empire City. The self-proclaimed Voice of Survival. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You have got to be kidding me."

He seemed to know what I was talking about. "Hey, man, look, I know I kinda made your life hell once upon a time, but that..." He chuckled nervously. "That was a long time ago."

I folded my arms. "I thought Kessler killed your sorry ass. How're you even alive?"

"Not for a lack of trying on his part," Brandon replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Got shot by those First Son assholes and was left for dead. If it wasn't for a quick-thinking doctor, I would've died in that station."

"Instead of being here annoying the hell out of me. Again."

"Look, do you want my help or not, man? If not, I need to find a place to hunker down, now."

"And just what exactly can you do?"

Brandon looked around, as if expecting someone to be listening. "You know that DUP message that's playing on a loop?" he asked in a hushed voice. I nodded. "I can turn that off. They're playing it from a news station not far from here. Only problem is, the place is overrun my those bastards. You clear them out, I can get in there and stop the loop. I can even put something else up, if you wanted."

I still wasn't convinced. "Just like that? I seem to remember you said you worked for Slade."

"I did. That was before he started targeting civilians. I may not like the idea of people like you being out there, but you seem to be doing more for humanity than Slade's ever done."

Hearing the sincerity in his voice, I sighed. He sounded genuine enough at least. And I was already here. Might as well give him a chance. "Alright," I said finally. "I'll see what I can do."

I moved away from him, heading for the station. I knew I'd have a fight on my hands, but I figured it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. As long as they kept the tanks away.

I found the station fairly easily and moved in close for a better look. It looked almost deserted, save for a few official-looking guys with guns. I focused energy into my my arm and brought it downward, signaling a lightning strike to hit the two. It missed the people, but hit the ground next to them close enough that they went flying. I jumped down and prepared to call Brandon when I heard a voice yell "Prime Conduit in Sector Six! Send immediate backup!"

I looked to see a DUP guy on his radio, and I ran forward and knocked him out with the Amp. Noticing the radio on his vest, I figured there were more who could call for backup. The key would be to eliminate those threats first.

It took a startling short amount of time for the backup to arrive, a convoy of fifteen or so soldiers. I gripped the Amp tightly as I ran to them and attacked, barreling through a couple to get to the machine gunner on a Jeep. I placed the middle space of the Amp over the gun and sent electricity through it, destroying the gun and sending me flying back. It didn't hurt, but the explosion made me lose my balance.

The others began their assault while I was still on the ground. Guns went off in every direction, making the hastily-thrown-up frost shield buckle at the impact, though it did help to keep most of the bullets from hitting me. As a few began to reload, I saw my chance and summoned an ionic storm, the bolts crashing onto the shield and destroying it. I rolled out of the way as it hit the ground, but the DUP weren't so lucky. The ground around them electrified, sending them all flying back.

The fight over, I reached to call Brandon, but my phone sprang to life before I touched it. "Uh... MacGrath?" he said nervously.

"What is it?" I demanded.

"Humanity kinda found us. We're pinned down over here."

I groaned inwardly. "I'm on my way," I replied.

Sure enough, Humanity was back at the bistro, firing at the group of defectors huddled up in the alley. I jumped down and helped them fire back, but there were a lot of then out there. Humanity really didn't like it when people disagreed with their cause, I guess.

It took a few minutes, but the bistro was soon clear. The defectors loaded up in cars and followed me to the TV station, which had more DUP soldiers around it. Groaning at the thought of another fight, I used he last of my energy to throw a vortex in their direction, sending them all flying back and clearing the station.

The defectors ran inside, except for Brandon. "Thanks for the help, man," he said.

"Now it's your turn," I replied. "The DUP loop's gotta go.

"On it now. Just sit back and watch the magic happen."

He ran inside, and I tethered up to the nearby building with a view of a screen still playing the DUP's message. In a few moments, it flickered, and the image was replaced by Brandon, back in his old "Voice of Survival" outfit. "People of America, we have been lied to!" he began. "We've been told these Conduits, these 'bio-terrorists' are here to kill us? To enslave us? If that's true, then why did one just save my life?" The screen changed to me fighting Slade's men at the bistro. "This is Cole MacGrath! The so-called Demon of Empire City. He is the one that saved me. He saved God knows how many more in D.C. alone. Does that seem like a terrorist to you? Somebody in your family got saved? Did you get saved? Now you know who to thank! Not every Conduit is bad. Most of them are good, are normal, want normal lives!

"We've been lied to, America! And it's high time the Truth was heard!"

The screen cut out, and went to regular programming of a show. I smiled at the result of the mission. That Brandon guy had been a pain in the ass before, but now he was actually helping. It was about damn time he did something useful.

To be honest, it felt good to get an actual victory. Scraping by on luck and survival alone wasn't enough. We needed a morale boost, and this was definitely it.

Now all we had to do was win the war. No pressure.

Author's Note: And there's two more gameplay element ideas: the Radio Man and Influence. The Radio Man is a simple concept that's been brought up a million times before, but I figured it'd add a little spice to the story, the idea of that kind of challenge. More new is the idea of Influence. Influence takes over the system the first two games had of side missions eliminating enemies in the area. Now, Influence would increase with side missions completed or large groups of enemies defeated. The higher the Influence in an area, the fewer enemies there would be there. The enemies won't be gone forever, though. They would try to regain any Influence they lose at periodic times. Failing to stop them would result in the decrease of a zone's Influence, and a stronger enemy presence. Just an idea, anyway.

Hope you enjoyed, and please review!