Chapter 2
I honestly didn't know what I was expecting to find when I had reached my destination. Maybe I was hoping to see that it was ruined like it had been the last time I saw it. Maybe I was hoping it was actually still in tact and that what had happened never happened here. Well, that last possibility was the most accurate out of the two.
I had spent the last day and a half travelling to Empire City, only to find out that it doesn't exist here. The Lake Ontario bridge that connected Rochester, NY to Empire City, NY, which sat on an island on the U.S side of border, wasn't there. The Empire City and the island it sat on wasn't there. That revelation nearly broke me.
I probably stood frozen on the edge of Ontario Beach Park staring out into the empty water for an hour. I was so overwhelmed by the implications of what I was seeing, or rather not seeing, and I couldn't process it all. It was only when I considered that the people I knew and loved all my life may have never existed now was what got me to collapse onto a park bench. My phone obviously had no service, though I may have been able to connect via WiFi I just hadn't tried it yet.
It was about 4:30pm, the sun was setting and I had no idea what I was going to do. So far, I had broken into a music store and clothing store, needed to hide my amp in a guitar case and swap out my obvious yellow and black jacket and t-shirt for a dark blue bomber jacket and forest green hoodie. I shook my head, my long hair and beard were probably next to go but I decided to reserve that for when the heat becomes too much. I've been stopping into local diners and just about anywhere else with a TV to see if my face would be plastered all over the news, but so far nothing. Not like it would be the first time.
There was a distinct possibility that I gave that sleeper agent a concussion and it caused him to forget my appearance but there isn't a guarantee. Besides, knowing my luck and being reasonable here, if a secret organization that knows about and guards something they refer to as the time travelling train, there were probably security cameras somewhere in order to keep an eye on things.
I sighed as I realized I wasn't going to be getting very far with that line of thinking and decided that maybe I should head south, to Louisiana. Maybe I'd be lucky and New Marais would still be around. I wasn't sure at the time what I was going to do regardless of whether or not that city was there but honestly I just needed to keep myself preoccupied with a goal. Short term was travelling south, discover what's different, history, landscape, technology, etc. Long term... find out what this organization is and what to do about that train. I tried my best not to think about the entity that had me at it's mercy.
With that, I decided to stand up and head back to town, maybe I'd be lucky and could hitch-hike part way there.
Two Weeks Later
Well I'd be lying if I said I was a super sleuth. Sure, I can be pretty sneaky when it's necessary, but when you've got the powers of electrokinesis and flash those a couple times in the second week of being around in order to stop an active shooter, people take notice. Really, there are few downsides to my powers, one being water, the next being how bright and loud they are. Alden was probably the only conduit I met that had a discrete power. His magnetic powers were pretty phenomenal, and he could toss metal around without making it obvious. Can't really fire a bolt of electricity or chuck a lightning grenade without a flash and drawing attention to yourself.
Somebody had recorded my actions with their phone and posted it on Youtube. It was up for a day and almost gained a million views before another Youtube account made a debunking video to prove it was all fake and eventually the video got removed. The damage however was done, and I knew I would be tracked down soon enough. I decided then that unless it was absolutely necessary I wouldn't be using my powers. I changed my outfit again and shaved my hair and beard like I had intended to in order to avoid being identified so easily.
The thing that got me though was somehow the clandestine group that was after me knew I was heading south. I highly doubted it was a coincidence and decided to just use an internet cafe to figure out what I was after. It wasn't really my thing to rely on the internet for info, plus seeing it with my own eyes would make it more impactful, but I had to change paths before I was caught for being dramatic.
As it turned out I was right, New Marais along with very few other cities I had been to in my timeline didn't exist here. The President of the United States was African-American, and there had never been any reports on anything called a conduit, Ray Sphere, First Sons, or anything like that. I looked up my name and there was no online presence of an alternate me. There was a guy that shared my name with a different spelling, but he wasn't an alternate me. I checked Zeke Dunbar and Trish Daily and nothing came up. The two names hit me harder then my own. Part of me was glad, ensuring that I couldn't screw up their lives as well, another part of me felt an echoing loneliness that I had felt before.
Besides the events that had involved the aforementioned checklist of disaster that was my life, the fact that the president of this U.S was a democratic black man instead of a republican woman, and the cities that I've always known to exist don't, I determined that most everything about our two worlds and their history was the same with minor tweaks where the lack of said cities were involved.
A few days after that revelation I decided to head west, cutting through the desert. I had hitched a ride to Albuquerque, and was now thinking of settling down for the day. Luckily my money worked here, though I was running out. I normally only used it for food and motel rooms. Though I was willing to sleep outside under a bridge or hidden just about anywhere I could find, I didn't want to chance somebody finding me by accident.
I had briefly considered staying here, but I didn't like the fact it was lined up with the I-40 and decided that I'd be better off being somewhere like Yellowstone or just leaving the country all together. Border hopping was something I had never done before. I figured Canada would be a safer bet, because if I went to Mexico and ended up crossing the wrong people, not to mention being a white guy that doesn't speak any Spanish and has super powers, well I'd be fine but it would have drawn too much attention. I considered going to live up in the mountains. Sure, the lack of a huge power grid would make me fuzzy but I could survive and hide from anybody looking for me. At that point in time I just wanted to be left alone.
Of course, nothing is that simple. I had spent half the day exploring the town, never having been here before, found some nice spots to utilize my urban exploration talents, got myself a motel room for the night and decided that I was hungry. Leaving my amp and backpack under the bed of my room was something I didn't normally do, the Amp especially. It was a gift from my best friend and I would be damned if I ever lost that thing. However, I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb everywhere I went so I left my stuff and went to go find a local diner.
It was about 10:30 in the morning when I stepped out into the morning sun. There was a chill wind with a few clouds in the air but the sun was out never the less. When I looked to the west, an unshakable sense of dread washed over my person. I looked around, using my enhanced senses, but nothing was appearing out of the ordinary. I thought maybe it was just my nerves, but normally my instincts aren't wrong. Deciding to take the risk I headed west.
Walking through town on such a nice Saturday should have given me the urge to go swimming, not that there were any beaches to go to. Even with all the people around me enjoying their weekend, heading out to go camping, play sports, or even just party all day and night, I still felt off. Something was wrong, and I was worried that something bad was about to happen.
I must of walked for about 30 minutes before I came across this mom and pop diner that had a sign claiming to have the best pancakes in the state. As much as I love waffles made by an actual waffle maker, pancakes will always be top dog in the breakfast foods, along with eggs and bacon of course. Trish actually used to make the best pancakes, was able to make them consistently good regardless of type. Strawberry, blueberry, chocolate chip, banana, a mix of either of those, you name it.
Just ahead of me was a family getting out of their minivan, wife, husband, three kids, one of which was in a car seat. They were normal enough and taking their time getting ready. As I focused on the interior of the diner however, I noticed the people and staff inside were barely moving. Upon further inspection it became clear to me that almost everybody sitting at a table was staring at each other without eating or talking. That wasn't good.
Behind the bar by the register was an obvious employee, young woman in an apron with a name tag, and a young man that had an intense look on his face and he was staring right at me and the family in the parking lot. Looking through some of the other windows on the front of the diner I could see there was a cop sitting in a booth by a window alone and looking across from him one booth over was two men and a young woman sitting right next to each other. The younger man had his arm around the woman and she looked to be very agitated, and a little scared. The guy next to her didn't look scared, instead he looked like he was enjoying himself with a big grin on his face as he stared at the cop. The much older man sitting across from them caused a chill to run down my spine. He looked completely relaxed, as if he'd been in situations like that before. He looked even more calm then the cop and he definitely looked like he was ready to kill the asshole in front of him. God damn it.
The last van door slamming closed pulled me out of my inspection of the situation and drew my attention to the family. I urgently marched up to the father and grabbed his shoulder.
"What the-?" I cut him off before he could even finish his protests at my sudden actions.
"If you look closely, don't though you'll give it up that you noticed and that could be bad, you'll notice that the diner is a dangerous place to be right now. Nobody is moving or eating and there are at least two suspects that I can see," The man briefly glanced at the diner then back to me.
"I've got a conceal carry license and I'm an off duty cop. I hadn't looked up before you approached so kudos for that." He stated. I nodded.
"Are you insane? Our children are here!" The woman whispered with force at her husband. The man turned around and shook his head.
"Yeah, and Rob is already inside Marry. Take the kids across the street to Joe's Barber shop and wait there. I'll call for reinforcements." The woman's brow furrowed and she gave him a worried frown. As they were talking I took that opportunity to head inside now that I knew they weren't getting in harms way. I briefly heard the off duty cop curse at me for heading in before I got inside.
The suspect behind the counter never took his eyes off me. The employee next to him was terrified as I walked in, stopping her count of the cash in the register as she looked up at me. To my left is where the asshole with the grin was sitting. His grin shrunk a little bit when I entered and I glared at him, but the girl was looking at me with a confused look. She was nervous, but the kind of nervous that had experienced a familiar trauma and was waiting for things to pop off as they always did. I never used to be this good at reading people, but after awhile of fighting for your life you get to read body language pretty accurately and I had loads of time to learn how people held themselves. Using my extra sensory power, I could see the bio-electrical signature of everybody inside. There was at least one person in the kitchen, one in the bathroom, and another around the corner of where the register was. He was hugging the wall.
I hated hostage situations. The more hostages the more annoying it is to deal with the assholes that took them. I moved from the door and approached the counter, regarding the guy in the booth before looking over to the dude at the register.
I gave a slight nod at the employee with the cash in her hand and I turned and walked towards the booth containing the goon. After three steps the one behind the register told me to stop and the one in the booth raised his gun from under the table to the girl's head. My pace was already deliberately slow because I knew this would happen, I just wanted confirmation as to where the weapon was pointed. Keeping pace I responded.
"You know, I never understood this hostage situation. Point a gun at the human meat shield and threaten to kill them if I come any closer..." My pace continued, slow and deliberate, my eyes never leaving the asshole. I almost smiled. "...yet that math never added up to me. You kill her and I'm still going to put you into the ground. That wasted time and bullet on the girl is better spent on your more immediate threat."
I raised my hand to the guy behind the counter, palm out and fingers open but curled like I was holding a persons face. That golden electricity formed around my shoulder, crawling around my arm down to my hands and jumping between my fingertips like each one was a Tesla coil. The familiar feeling of time slowing down as I quickly glanced and took practised aim at the head of the robber behind the counter was so natural at this point I didn't really have to think about it.
My first shot went unanswered, the poor bastard fell against the wall hard after being pegged by a round, low voltage, bolt, right between the eyes. Just enough to knock him out. I didn't stop moving and using my left hand, I threw a lightning grenade past the wall to catch the other guy. He yelped in surprise, definitely not expecting to see a sparking ball of energy fly in his direction, and definitely wasn't expecting it to give off a small concussive explosion that would use my arc restraints to pin him to the wall. Luckily I had figured out in the first week of having these powers that I could control just how destructive my abilities could be and that I could reign it in for situations like this.
The first shot understandably shocked the one in the booth into freezing up, and in that second and a half window where I fired a bolt and threw a grenade while picking up my pace a little, he had finally come to his senses. He drew the gun on me and fired once, hitting me in the shoulder. The wound hurt, no matter how many times I get shot, but the damage side arms used to do to me the first year I obtained my powers was considerably less. I was pretty sure my wound was already almost done healing.
The Cop in the booth behind me drew his weapon and was about to fire at the goon. Despite my problems with authority, cops included, working with them in Empire City after getting my powers gave me an appreciation for how hard their job can be. Some of them are very genuinely good people with their heads screwed on right. Even then, they can still make mistakes and sometimes end up dead. Others are good stupid people, and then there are those that are a mix of everything bad about the system. This guy I wasn't too sure about good or bad but he was definitely stupid for aiming past the head of the older guy in front of him and shooting a suspect so close to an innocent civilian. So, ignoring the second shot aimed at me I quickly snatched the gun out of the cops hands and tossed it behind me before I cooked the gunpowder. Didn't want that exploding in my hands again.
The second shot grazed the top of my head and appeared to have lodged itself into the ceiling. Looking back, I saw the girl and the old man tag teaming the crook. At first I thought they were just being supportive of me because I was helping them but the holds they were using to restrain the bastard told me they had some training. The girl not as much, but the older guy definitely served, or did some kind of dirty work at the very least. To make things easy I simply walked up to the guy yanked the weapon from his hand and tossing it much the same way. I using my left hand, I enveloped his face and told them to let go with stern look, punctuated by making my eyes slightly shimmer gold. They complied just as his two buddies came in from the kitchen and bathroom.
I electrocuted the guy a little bit as I raised my other hand and projected a polarity shield to block the hail of bullets coming our way. These guys were sloppy. They could have shot their partner or the people behind me. After they wasted their entire clips I dropped their now temporarily paralyzed friend, using the electricity I put into him to create arc restraints, locking him to the floor.
One of the goons stood their terrified of what they just saw, while the other actually ejected his magazine and began reaching for another. I ran forward, causing the one just standing their to throw his gun at me. It missed. He turned to run while shouting about not wanting to die and his friend called him a coward as he pulled out a knife, realizing I was too fast for him to reload. He didn't get a chance to use it however. I leapt up delivered an electric-flying-side-kick that would have made Bruce Lee proud. The guy bounced off the wall behind him and fell unceremoniously to the ground, unconscious.
"You can get involved now officer." I didn't look back, just kept moving forward to catch the guy trying to escape through the kitchen.
As I turned the corner I could see the off duty cop from before had gone around to flank the bastards and caught the criminal as he was trying to escape out the back. He was hauling him back inside, having him subdued and under control. Turns out, the cop in the booth was Rob, and the guy I had warned outside was his brother Jack. I informed them that the cooks and management were locked in the walk in fridge in the back and sat down at he front counter closest to the cashier who was sitting on the ground with her back to the wall. She didn't pay me any attention as I sat down, shell shocked probably given she was being robbed at gunpoint but definitely because she just witnessed a conduit for the first time in her life. Without even knowing anything like that even existed. Poor girl.
I reached my hand over to the still open register, putting the cash back into the drawer and closing it. The sound of it clicking shut caused her to look up at me. She didn't seem to care that I just handled the money, but definitely now had a look of wonder and intrigue in her eyes. I shook my head as I was about to stand to leave, not wanting to stick around for the questions or the praise and idealization of what they want to believe is a real life super hero.
When I had made the full 180 on the stool I was met face to face with the blonde girl that was held at gunpoint. She had to have been in her late teens, couldn't have been anything older then 17 or 18 years of age. She was short, like five-foot-nothing short. She was wearing a simple outfit, black t-shirt, blue jeans, red and white runners and a blue and grey fleece zip-up hoodie. Her hair was similar to Trish's sister Amy; straight, long, blonde, hair that was almost seem to glow. Her skin was so pale, I could have sworn she hadn't left her house for weeks, maybe more then a month, and this was the first day in a long time for her to see any kind of pure daylight.
Her eyes, they were a dull blue. Even sad and misunderstood dramatic teenagers have that spark of youth in their eyes, but this girl looked to be rather depressed, like the fire was snuffed out and she's just going through the motions. Her shoulders were slumped and there didn't appear to be any joy or elation in regards to her surviving the armed robbery. The server behind me even had an ecstatic and vibrant look in her eyes, regardless of the confusion and fear. In fact most people in the diner were pretty happy about the fact that nobody died and were intrigued and also nervous about me, but not this girl. Then, my instincts kicked in again. Something about this girl was different. Using my radar pulse I examine the girl.
Everything about her was normal. Her energy levels and bio-electrical currents were normal for a girl her age, albeit slightly off, but again was probably due to her mood. Probably wasn't eating a lot due to stress or what have you and that can fuck with your electrolytes and overall energy. What I did sense however was something I didn't notice the first time. The man she was with in that booth, helping her fight the goon, definitely wasn't normal. Something about him was... wrong. At first glance, his readings were normal, but then I noticed they were normal for a much younger person. Even people who are healthy at middle-age/in their senior years, still don't have as much bio-electrical energy in them as somebody in their 20's let alone a teenager. Not only that, his currents had weird breaks in them that would appear and disappear, then reappear in other places. Those breaks were bright, almost like flood lights. Conduits didn't even look like this. They had consistent patterns and energy levels, even if they were a lot higher then a non-conduit, but this was something else I had never encountered before. My guard was definitely up.
"Thanks for the help. Let me return the favour. If you're smart you'd run. They won't stop looking for you now." The girl said in a flat and defeated tone. Something about her whole demeanour told me she was speaking from experience. Not the 'I've seen a lot of movies like this so I'm an expert' experience either.
"Iris, that's enough." The man behind her said forcefully, as he took a step towards us. I glared at him, making it apparent that I didn't want him getting any closer. He hesitated a bit, but his movements told me he was calculating rather then being bashful.
"Who's they." It was more of a demand to know rather then a request of information. Despite this she still answer me.
"The Foundation."