chAPTER 13

The air in the stadium quickly turned to panic. The tremors increased in intensity, causing fractures to appear on the field. Players, coaches, and other staff ran from the cracks forming in the ground. Unfortunately, not everyone was fast enough to make it and fell into the earth. The crowd screamed and began running for the exits, pushing and shoving each other out of the way.

The VIP box I was in front of suddenly cracked and fell into the stadium below, taking the Echo's ashes with it. I immediately phoned Mendoza. "Mendoza, you've got to get these people out of here."

"I'm already on it," she replied.

My attention returned to the field below as a lone figure stalked cockily out onto the only untouched part of the stadium. An arrogant smirk on his face, he spread his arms wide and shouted, in an impossibly booming voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the halftime show!" Clenching his fists, he caused further quakes which sealed off the exits to the stadium, locking everyone in.

"Cole!" Nora shouted on the phone over the crowd. "We're trapped in here! Anything you can do?"

"If I try, he'll crush all of us," I replied. "I'll keep him busy, you guys start digging."

Without waiting for a reply, I jumped where the VIP box had fallen and slid down a flat stretch of debris, jumping off before I hit rougher areas. I used my static thrusters to glide to the untouched portion of the stadium. As I landed, I fired a bolt at that Quake person.

He recovered quickly, a little too quickly for my taste, and turned to look at me. "Well well well," he said, grinning. "The Demon of Empire City."

"I'm really getting tired of that nickname," I replied, annoyed.

He immediately lashed out with his powers, which more closely resembled controlled sonic blasts than earth control. I put up a frost shield, but the blast tore straight through it and hit me square in the chest. It would've probably killed a normal human being. Luckily for me, I wasn't normal.

It wasn't often I could say that was lucky.

It did hurt like hell, though. And it sent me back quite a few yards, making me crash into one of the stadium's new "walls", causing a spider web of cracks to appear on it. I dropped down to my feet, a bit shaken by the blast, but recovered quickly and reached behind my back for the-.

Realization hit me as my fingers grasped nothing but air. Damn you, Heller, I thought, focusing my electricity into my fists instead. Quake noticed this and his grin widened. "A little ill-equipped, Electric Man?"

"Still good enough to kick your ass, Fault Line," I replied, cringing inwardly at the poor choice of insult.

"I know how this works. Cut off power, you've got nothing to hit me with."

I heard thunder overhead and grinned. "Try cutting this off," I replied, raising my hand into the air and calling down lightning. As it hit me, Quake threw another blast. This time, I threw back one of my own, and though it didn't stop the sonic blast he'd thrown at me, it did slow it down enough to only skid me back a bit.

Taking advantage of his now-tired-looking stance, I ran forward and punched him as hard as I could in the face. He took it in stride though, and tried for another blast toward me. I was able to dodge it, and punched him again, this time in the gut. As he doubled over, I kicked his feet out from under him and stepped on his chest ready to restrain him to the ground. Before I could, he let out a yell, one of the most directed shouts I'd ever heard. The force of the yell sent me straight into the air. Instead of just tumbling back to the ground, I decided to turn his offense into an offence of my own. I curled up slightly and put all of my energy into my legs as I sped downward, and as I hit the ground, the energy storage exploded, crashing into Quake and sending him into the wall. I then called down a lightning strike, and it hit him in the chest.

I stormed toward him, looking to finish this, before another blast hit me, sending me flying backwards. I used my static thrusters to prevent myself from hitting the wall, then threw a rocket in his direction, too quick for him to dodge. He covered his face with his hands, as though that was supposed to stop the rocket, and took it full in the torso. He fell to the ground, unconscious, but I restrained him for good measure.

With Quake dealt with, I phoned Nora. "Quake Guy is down. How's the exit coming?"

"Not good," she replied. "Think you could lend a hand?"

"Just a sec," I said, picking up the Echo's trail again. "I'm getting the Echo, then I'll be right there."

"Alright. Hurry, Cole. There's a lot of injured people here."

I jogged to where the VIP box had fallen, and scanned for the Echo. Finding the ashes underneath some of the debris, I focused my energy and touched them, and the stadium fell away, leaving me in the same white landscape as before. A moment later, the Echo walked up to me.

"Nice fighting," he commented.

I frowned. "You saw that?"

"Yeah. That's the kind of fighting you're gonna need to do in order to stop the Beast."

"Yeah," I replied, not convinced. "I think that Quake over there and the Beast are two different things."

The Echo looked over to where Quake was laying. "His name is Blake Daniels. He was born in Riveton, New Mexico. The Beast activated his powers in New Marais. During my fight against the Beast, he came to me looking for help." He looked sad as he regarded Daniels' still-unconscious body. "He's fallen so far."

"I guess attacking civilians can have an adverse effect on how people view you," I commented.

"You can help him."

I looked at him in surprise. "I don't think he wants my help."

"But he needs it. And you need him."

"Says you."

The Echo sighed, then touched my temple again.

I came to Motor City while looking for the Beast. I had close to eighteen people working with me, some human, some Conduit. Blake was one of my closest allies. He knew right from wrong, and could tell that the Beast needed to be stopped.

We'd gotten a tip that the Beast was here in Motor City, so we came, hoping to find him and finish this as quickly as possible. What we found was an army of Conduits, all loyal to the Beast, all prepared to kill us to serve their "hero".

Led by Kuo, the Conduits attacked us. We fought them off as best as we could, but we lost a lot of lives, most of them human. Finally, I faced off against Kuo. I was angry, blinded by my fury at her betrayal. But it was misplaced. She told me that it hadn't been her that destroyed the RFI, but the Beast himself. Before the RFI could be activated in the reality I found myself in, the Beast had somehow stopped it, destroyed it.

With this information leaving me confused, Kuo took her chance and knocked me into the river. When I woke up a few days later, she was gone, along with most of my friends.

After his story, he showed me something else I could do. If I focused my power to a direct line, I could cause a blast that left a small crater in the ground. With this, he let me go. "Help Blake, Cole. He needs this."

With that, he vanished and I found myself back in the stadium. Quake was awake again, and struggling with the restraints. I walked over to him and crouched by him. "That's not going to work," I said.

"Screw you," he snarled.

I sighed and shook my head. "Why attack civilians at a football game? What were you hoping to accomplish?"

He stopped struggling for a moment, as though remembering something. "Just righting a few wrongs," he muttered.

I frowned. "What happened?"

"The DUP," he spat out, angry again. "You think they're just taking over D.C.? No. They're spreading. Soon, they'll be all over the country. Hell, maybe even the whole damn world. Humanity is against us, and they're not afraid to use monstrous tactics to get to us!"

"What do you mean?"

"They... They killed my parents, man. Held them hostage, just to get to me. I tried to save them, tried to reach them... But I was too late. When I got there, they were already dead." A tear left his eye, before his face hardened again. "So I just did them what they did to me. Hurt a few people, call out the DUP if you're a Conduit, and they'll come for you. And then you can take the bastards out."

I sighed. Poor kid. He was a victim here as much as the rest of these people. "Look, I get wanting to avenge people that you loved. I get that. But these people here are innocent. They've got families of their own depending on them to come home to them. You don't need them to get back at the DUP. You can be better than that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come with me to D.C. Aim your powers at the right people. And maybe you make up for this."

Blake sighed, realizing the full extent of his actions. "I'm such an idiot," he muttered.

"We all make mistakes. The difference is whether or not you choose to learn from them."

He sighed, then nodded. "Okay. Let me out of here."

I released him, and we moved to the main exit. I tried out the crater blast to remove the debris, satisfied that it was working.

Nora noticed Blake and looked at him mistrustfully, but I assured her he could be trusted. The three of us met Heller on the same roof we arrived on, but all of us ignored his demands for an explanation. Nora went as far as to tell him to wait for her freaking report (though, admittedly, she didn't say freaking).

Heller was quiet for the whole damn flight back.