I have to say I'm kinda surprised with myself. I didn't think that I would do all that good with starting this out. I mean…I'm gaining more and more writing experience year after year and all but when it comes to starting new subjects to write I feel iffy on how well I perform in bringing out it's best. Like that 1st chapter, I wanted to make it as good as I initially was able too. I'm still glad that it was enjoyed by a lot of people. Already under 100 views….but not as many reviews as I'd like. Oh well….it's a work in progress. Just to let you know, if you haven't known already, I'm placing any MAIN OC's Bio on any story I make into my profile. Namely somewhere at the top section. It's going to be updated constantly because as the story progresses so will the characters. When the stories are over that's going to be the finalized version of my OC characters. I can also say that this story…miraculously…is ALSO going to tie into "The Second Kessler". It wasn't my idea…but it's a cool concept to think about, right?
Side Note: I just wanted to say that Jake is based from some of my own personality. That makes him much easier to write out as a character, obviously and that also means you people get a taste of how unbalanced I can be. Giving me powers….would be a VERY big mistake. Once again….this is set 2 years before the events of 'Second Son'. Same time as Fetch's trials in Seattle in 'First Light'. If you haven't figured out why it's because his journey is going to span over 2 years but it's going to end before 'Second Son' starts. I also wanted to say this about the Dust Dash. The full time for that ability lasts 2 seconds which is probably the equivalent of Delsin using his Smoke Dash two times if he were able to chain both for a longer dash, but even then the Smoke Dash seems very short, so the Dust Dash may still have about a few milliseconds over it. But hey…Delsin is basically a very powerful "Forced Conduit" being a Mimic Conduit and all, so that's kinda expected.
Oh…and DarkWolf Publications and I are OFFCIALLY friends, now. AWESOME!
Making a Name
Jake's body jerked a bit as the bus he was riding ran over a pothole. His earphones were in as "Two Steps From Hell: Salvation" played loudly. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping. He was using this time to think about all the events that had played through earlier in the day. He couldn't tell if it was a great thrill or a great mistake that he's taking, though in his opinion it had to be in the middle of both. Here he was…running away from home and the rest of his family were completely unaware about it. He knew they still haven't found out about his leaving for he didn't receive any calls from them. He had to admit he was nervous as hell waiting on when they would. So much so in fact his heart wouldn't stop thumping hard for ten minutes straight. He knew he'd get a massive earful from both his mother and brother simultaneously, for any other person would most certainly put a conversation like that on speaker phone. Because of that he made sure to turn his phone off…which would more than likely bite him in the ass later.
But he couldn't worry about that. No matter how much they screamed, begged or yelled he wouldn't go back. He had to gain as much distance from the house….from the city as fast as possible. He didn't want them to try and follow and even he knew that his mom could make probably the evilest of hearts do a 180, even if for a moment to fulfill any request of hers if she begged enough. He could never bear to see or hear her cry and it nearly compelled him to stop and rethink what the hell he was doing. But he knew full well what he was getting himself into. He could get lost in the world, he could never find his dad again, he could become a very wanted bioterrorist criminal, he could get captured and sent to Curdun Cay...and he could very much well get killed. But he was always more stubborn than he was fearful.
'So far…if I have to guess, the way that I am now, I'm not gonna be able to flip the world upside down. Damn things gonna kick my ass if I don't manage to get strong. Dad has more of a chance to make it out there than me. I can't stop and toss a damn truck just by thinking about it. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll find more of those glowing rocks and Core Relay things…but I guess I can try to make it up as I go along.' Jake opened his eyes and turned his head towards the window, watching as the outside world sped by, before the bus came to a halt at a stop light.
He glanced down at his hand before pressing his index and thumb together. Small wisps of dust flowed from them before he stopped it. "Make it up along the way, huh?" He mumbled to himself, while narrowing his eyes in thought. He lifted up his phone and opened up Google Chrome, while still keeping his music playing. 'I got fucking powers now…and that still sounds so cool to say. But….before I start thinking about powering up, I should figure out just what the hell I can even do, for one. Not be retarded and wait for them to work out by themselves. So…I absorb dust, yeah…but I don't even know where to really find it, what it really is, or what the hell kind of new powers I can possibly get.'
*What's dust?* He typed on the Google page, while the bus began moving again. He waited for the browser to load before the "dust" and the multiple definition and synonyms showed up on the screen.
'Let's see here. *fine, dry powder consisting of tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground or on surfaces or carried in the air.*' He looked at the synonyms next. "Dirt, grime, filth, smut, soot and fine powder. Besides the 'fine powder' some of those other words sound cool. Better than calling everything 'Dust This' or 'Dust That'. So…what should I call that third power I saw I could use, with me slamming into the ground? Some kind….bomb thing? Nah…nothin' like that. Maybe…a…crash or smash? No, that still doesn't….it was more like a drop above anything else. Alright, so I ruled out using the word Dust for a bit. So...'Dirt Drop'? But dust isn't really dirt and 'Grime Drop' doesn't really sound all that cool. Maybe…'Smut Drop'. (Gasp) Oh, yes. 'Smut Drop' is what that's gonna be called. Now I can't wait until I actually use it!"
Jake scrolled down the page a bit a saw the description for the Wikipedia on the subject.
"Dust can be found in…*soil dust lifted by weather (an Aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes, offices, and other human environments contains small amounts of plant pollen, human and animal hairs, textile fibers, paper fibers, minerals from outdoor soil, human skin cells, burnt meteorite particles and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.*"
He exited the page and looked through definitions of dust. "*(1) fine powder made up of very small pieces of earth or sand. (2) A matter in fine, dry particles. (3) Any finely powdered substance.*"
His eyes widened the more he read and he blinked a few times. He looked around his area and was glad that no one was sitting in the back where he was. "Holy…fuck. I can find dust nearly everywhere. The ground and dirt, even my own clothes, I get….but my skin, dandruff, animals and even from paper or the air? And ANY powdered substance? Like chalk dust, saw dust…or even smoke and ash? I can get….almost unlimited energy, anywhere."
With a satisfied grin he closed the browser for now and went back to his music. 'I'm gonna have to remember to do that off and on. Hell, the internet might become the reason I will get stronger in the future. I'm so going to experiment with this.' The bus was coming up to another stop and that's when Jake decided that it was time to get off after riding for God knows how long. When it did make that stop he stood up and moved past anyone in his way to get off, not caring if he was being rude. As far as he was concerned he could now afford to be.
"Hehehe. Now that I think about it, I can afford to be a lot of things now." He said to himself as he began to walk. His legs ached a little after not being used for some time but they quickly got back into regaining their natural feel. Though compared to walking long distances and catching a few buses to get to his current location it's no wonder they seemed to be slightly numb. "Alright….now where the hell am I, now?" He sat down on a wooden bench and brought out his phone once more before picking the "Map" application. "I'm…not even all that far away. I mean…if someone were to go by car. It'd take about over 40 minutes to get to where I am. Oh well…I'm lookin' for dad anyway, not to runway from home…completely."
He paused his music for a second and reached into his bag. He pulled out Don's phone and turned it on. The cracked screen appearing again and showing nothing. "I really need to get this fixed." He put it back into his bag and stood up before waking in a random direction, though it wasn't anywhere back to where he was coming from. "How am I gonna do this? I can't track him by phone since I have it on me, got no idea the direction he went, don't know if he left Colorado at all or not. I also don't know if he was even captured again or still free and I'm blindly going to travel around the world with no lead of the sort while I get attacked by DUP's.….I'm getting fucked already."
Add all of that plus the facts he doesn't have any set place to rest and can only eat inexpensive snacks to conserve his $126 dollars, which he initially planned to spend doing fun stuff over the Summer, then he really was in a bad way in the long run. He sighed to himself and figured sulking about it wouldn't do much of anything. He just had to keep moving and moving.
"Maybe I'll get around better by using the rooftops again." He broke off from the sidewalk and rounded a corner. He did his best to avoid bumping into any people while he looked for a gap in some buildings. He managed to find one and headed into the alley. Some civilians glanced in his direction but shrugged him off almost instantly. He stopped when he was out of view from anyone and looked around for a vent to use. He found a rectangular one made of tin that ran all the way up to the roof.
"There we go." He made his way to it and dashed right through, before finding himself running out of the other end on the roof, of the same building. Running since the vent was bent at an angle instead of pointed right up. He walked over to the edge and sighed as he looked out to the town. "Man…I could really get use to this kind of stuff. (Grins) I feel like I'm in the show 'Heroes'…or maybe even 'Powers'." He let dust flow from his right arm, starting from his shoulder going all the way down to his hand. He lightly flicked his wrist making a puff of dust disperse from it. He clenched his fist as light grey wisps trailed from it.
"Hm…maybe more like Heroes. Huh…now that I think about it I wonder if there are any Conduits out there with the same power as Peter. Having the Mimic power and all that. I mean…it seems possible. That's a cool power I could'a used….but…then it kinda sucked when he had to actually start touching people to get their powers, instead of just having to be around them and even then he could only hold one at a time. Nah, I'll stick with my dust." He blinked before an idea struck him, making him look at the roof. "And…speaking of dust…it's nearly everywhere?"
To experiment Jake walked to the center of the roof and raised his hand in front of him, trying to use that "pull" sensation whenever he was around dust. Not seeing it instantly working he raised his other hand and concentrated even more. After 5 seconds he began to hear a faint "whisping" noise that steadily grew louder and louder. He nearly gasped when he saw near invisible grains of dust lift up from around him and converge into one big mass, making it a lot easier to see. He then absorbed the mass into both hands slowly, drawing his arms back when he was finished. He blinked a bit while staring at his arms.
"Unlimited…ammo!" He cheered, with a big smile, throwing his arms up in victory. He may not have gotten a new ability or anything but learning anything new about his powers is just as good as a new way to fight opponents. "Dust is like REALLY hard to see unless there's a lot of that shit. So…just because I can't see it…doesn't mean it's not there. I'm going to have to remember THAT one!"
Feeling the rush of the dust energy flow through him he felt the need to burn it off or he'd never come back down from his hype. He took off running. Hopping to other rooftops and using his Dust Dash to cross the gaps he couldn't cross with speed and leg strength alone. Though with his years of Taekwondo training he had VERY impressive strength in his lower body, so the Dust Dash was rarely used to make those leaps. Even he was surprised by how high or long his jumps were but then it could've also been his Conduit blood enhancing his muscles and bones as well. How else was he and others like him able to survive jumping from areas that would kill any normal person?
"I'm gonna have to jump off of a Skyscraper someday. The second thing I placed on my bucket list…except now I'm not gonna be needing that parachute." He said, in a giddy tone, smiling broadly. Though in his fit of excitement he didn't notice his foot placement. He landed his heel on the edge of a building, forcing him to slide forward with a yelp. He landed on the roof of a lower one but he crashed his behind onto something during his landing.
"GAAAHAAAH!" He held his rear cheeks in both hands and began to roll left and right on his side. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! What the hell!? That hurt! It's like something clipped my butt! I swear to God, if I have a scar on my ass too…!" He yelled and cursed at nothing. Soon his quick healing began to kick in and the stinging sensations on his lower cheeks healed up. "Alright….that was awful. But…it's not the most embarrassing thing that happened to me. What the hell was that anyway?"
He stopped rolling and laid flat on his front side, taking his hands off of his butt. He had his arms laying down and turned his head to the right. He was intrigued to find some form of…machine that was giving off multiple beeps. Though what really caught his attention was the familiar blue glow seeping from the machine.
"Is that what I think it is?" He wondered and in a fit of ridiculousness rolled his way over to the broken machine. Getting a closer look at it Jake saw it was some form of mini-copter and had 'Property of the D.U.P' written on it. He sat up and pulled the top part of it off, letting free more blue mist but more importantly one of those stones from before. "It's one of those glowing rocks that gave me my powers! Awesome!"
He picked it up and examined it a little before absorbing the energy from it, feeling the quick but large rush of energy through is body. The rock became black and useless. "But what the hell is one doing in this thing? Wait…they have these rocks in those scanners to see if people are Conduits or not," he looked to the mini-copter, "so is this thing used the same way or something?"
It had to be the only explanation otherwise he wouldn't have found what he found. He knows he was sure lucky though. If he hadn't tripped up like that he would've missed this and any known DUPs in the area, since Jake was sure there had to be for something like this to be here, would've been all over him with how he's been vaulting across the roof's. That previous jump was going to require him to dash across anyway. "Lucky me. But where the hell are some D.U.P? I wouldn't mind getting some more practice in, with my epic powers."
He moved to the edge of the roof and looked around for anything that seemed very out of place. Specifically, something that was D.U.P related but try as he might he couldn't catch a single glimpse of something like that. He was sure he wasn't capable of taking on a whole army…yet. But if there were D.U.P then that meant more of those glowing rocks and if there's a chance, a Core Relay. He may wish to develop his powers his own way but if they're being handed to him, who's he to say no?
"Was it around here?"
"It has to be. The scanner said this is where the signal was lost."
'The hell?' Jake thought, as he heard two voices that seemed to have been coming from ground level. He walked to the other side of the building and looked down. His mouth opened in shock and then became a smile of happiness at the sight of two normal D.U.P Pawns. 'Oh thank you, universe.' Though Jake couldn't help but wonder, just what in the world were two D.U.P agents even doing out here, when there seemed to be no D.U.P bases around the area? It seemed kind of random to be honest. He crouched down, resting his arms on his legs as he listened to their conversation.
"You sure that copter was around here? Maybe it just flew off." The DUP Officer on the right said, with disinterest. The other one was still looking around the area, while pulling out something. Jake changed up his viewpoint a little to see that it was some kind of small device.
"No, I'm sure it went down. I mean…the signal that was coming from the Blast Shard inside of it just stopped. Something must've gotten to it."
The other soldier gave a small scoff and rested his rifle on his right shoulder. "Or maybe you're just being paranoid."
'Blast Shard?' Jake thought, raising and eyebrow. He turned his head to the broken copter's empty storage area. 'Is that what those things are called? Better than always calling them "glowing rocks".' A small light bulb went off in his head that made him give his natural grin. Making sure he wasn't spotted he discreetly moved over to the broken DUP Copter and picked it up. He walked back over to the ledge of the building where the two DUPs were still looking around. 'This is too easy.' Jake thought with a smirk. Dust began to flow from his arms, while he tossed it down to ground level.
The machine hit the concrete and the sound of it doing so alerted the officers, nearly making them pull out their weapons. They slowly walked over to the machine and the second said, "See that? I was right. It did go down."
The first officer was mildly surprised at how accurate his companion's assumption was. "Alright, I admit I was wrong this time. It must've fallen from a building." He gain a curious look on his face, even though no one would be able to see it and said, "But…where's the shard that was in here? It's gone!"
His comrade was about to reply but they both jumped in surprise from the very loud cry of "SMUT DROP!"
"The fuck was-!" Is what the first officer exclaimed while they both looked up to where they heard the yell. However the moment they did they found only a blotch of grey falling towards them before Jake crashed into the ground, slamming both of his fists into the ground. He sent out a powerful shock wave of dust that knocked away the D.U.P Pawns to the sides. Their guns were flung from their grasps and slid to some random parts in the lot they were in. Jake stood up and laughed a little to himself.
"That was awesome. If I'm not careful I could really hurt someone." He said in a jolly, but also, sarcastic tone. He looked to both DUP agents and saw one of them was unconscious. The other one however was getting up to his hands and knees. Jake dashed over to him and reformed. The soldier stopped moving at hearing a "whisping poof" sound at his side. He turned to see Jake who was smiling down to him, as the last remnants of dust dispersed.
"A…a bioterrorist!?" He gasped.
Jake quickly kicked his right leg into the air before bringing his heel down to the man's back hard. The DUP gasped in pain as some bones in his vertebrae cracked a bit while his arms and legs gave out. His body hit the pavement but he was still conscious. Jake dug his foot under the guy and rolled him to his back. Getting an idea Jake rose his right hand before throwing a mass of dust over him, shrouding his body in a literal blanket of it that stuck him to the ground and stopped any movements. The only thing that was free was his head.
"What the...!? Get me outta here, now!" He yelled, as he struggled to move, trying to force his body from the dust blanket, but to no avail. Jake was busy laughing as he rested his hands on his knees seeing the DUP Officer wobble his head around violently. "STOP LAUGHING AT ME, BIOTERRORIST SCUM!"
Jake slowly calmed down and gave a big sigh as he stared at the man's masked face. "Fuck…that was funny. I mean look at you, bitch. Damn. I would hate to be in your position. That looks kinda comfortable actually."
The DUP just growled in anger and tried to use his powers to break free. It was pointless since his hands were tightly bound to his body and the dust blocked his movement. "What do you want!? Gonna kill me I bet! Just do it and get it over with!"
Jake stopped smiling and stomped on his chest, making the man cough and groan in pain. "Will you shut the…fuck up? Stop screaming already. I just wanna ask you something."
The DUP turned his head to the other side. "I have NOTHING to say to a bioterrorist like you! You might as well kill me and be done with it."
Jake raised a finger. "First of all, bitch, we're called Conduits," he pointed to him, "get that shit right. Second of all, if I kill you, which would be kinda pointless right now, then I can't ask you what I wanna ask you. So I'ma ask ya' now before you say 'no'. That thing you used to look for that copter. It was a radar, right?"
"Humph. So what if it is?" He said, not looking at Jake.
"I want it." Jake said, plainly.
"And why the hell would you…" The DUP was beginning to say before he stopped talking. His eye, though unnoticeable, slowly widened before he turned his head to Jake. "Wait…did YOU take the Blast Shard from it!?"
Jake innocently raised his hand. "Yeah, I took it. I've grown quite fond of rock collecting. One of my new hobbies to pass the time, nowadays. Blast Shards are my favorite rocks and I wanna find more of 'em. So I'm going to be using your tracker or whatever kind of radar you have."
'Maybe if I can get this brat to get this crap off of me…' The DUP thought before he sighed. "Well…I can't. It's in my pants pocket. I can't reach it if you keep me restrained like this."
Jake blinked and kept staring at him with a blank gaze, making the soldier feel slightly uncomfortable. "…you serious?"
The DUP blinked in surprise as he couldn't believe this was actually working. 'Just how gullible is this kid? Well whatever. I'll take what I can get. I just need to get my arms free.' Thanking that he was wearing a helmet and face mask he nodded. "Yeah, I'm serious. I swear I won't attack. I'll lose anyway." It pained him to say something like that but he was willing to say anything to get out of this situation he's been placed it.
Not saying anything Jake slowly rose his palm to the DUP and began to absorb the dust coating slowly. He started from the feet and began to work his way up. 'That's it. Just a bit more.' The DUP thought, anticipating blasting all the concrete he had at his disposal once he could use his arms again. When Jake absorbed the dust around his legs he stopped, leaving only the tips of the fingers free and the rest of his torso restrained.
"H-hey! What are you doing!? Get me outta here!" The DUP yelled, as Jake went through his pockets pants pockets. He found what he was looking for and pulled out the man's phone. He turned it on and was at the Home screen.
"No Lock screen? Damn, you must feel like no one would be able to get this from you, huh?" Jake said as he went through the apps that was on it.
"Give that back, now!" The DUP began to flail his legs and head, as he tried to break free from the remaining dust.
"…..no?" Jake responded, though it sounded more like a question than a statement. He opened up a 'Scanner' application and a map of the city popped up, like any other map. However when he zoomed out a bit he found 6 blue dots on the map. 3 were moving and the other 3 were stationary. 2 of those dots were twice the size of the others. There also seemed to be some kind of yellow ripple-like interference that blocked off visibility in that specific area. There was a yellow dot at the center of it. "Your phone? The radar…is your phone!? Now that's hot."
Jake got out his phone from his jacket pocket and began to transfer the link over from the DUPs to his. "Why do you even need something like that anyway!?" The DUP demanded. When Jake was done he pocketed the phone in his backpack. "What the-you can't take that! It's mine! And I thought you were gonna get me out of here!"
Jake opened up the new 'Scanner' app on his phone and gave a grin when he saw the same features pop up. "I never said that, did I? I may not be all that smart but I'm not retarded. Why the hell would I let an enemy go? You were either gonna run or try to blast me with concrete, or some shit. Anyone with common sense wouldn't trust someone's word alone. Key word being 'try'. Plus you could have some stuff on your phone I can use later. I was thinking about pawning it…but I changed my mind." He moves the touch screen and shows the area with the interference. "I wonder what that blocked-off zone is. I can't wait to check it out."
The downed soldier gave a light chuckle, making Jake turn to him. He lost his smile, again. "What's so funny?"
"It's just that's the area where a good amount of my comrades are stationed. About 30 of them last time I checked. Go there at your own risk…but I highly doubt a green-nosed bioterrorist brat like you is gonna be able to go in and make it out alive. You'll be dead in 2 minutes." He said with complete confidence.
Jake wasn't fazed by the threat at all. In fact he began grinning once again before he started to giggle. The action bewildering the DUP Officer. "You mean to say I'm going to have to fight ALL of those guys…at once? Seriously?" He threw his arms up. "Yes! Finally! I get a REAL challenge to test my powers! I'm tired of beating down a few of you all the time, I want something bigger! This is it! Now I REALLY need to find those shards!"
The DUP only stared at him and blinked incredulously. "Y-you're fucking insane!"
"I know." Jake responded in a jolly tone. He threw his palm over the man's face and covered his mouth with dust. "So you don't scream anymore. I'm sure someone will find you…probably. I honestly hope not."
Jake turned and began to run towards a vent he found, while scouting the area. He nearly tripped when his foot landed on something smooth and circular. There was a slight 'clang' noise as he turned his attention to a short black steel pole that rolled against a brick wall.
"Damn thing." He said, as he walked to it. He picked it up and gave it a look over. It was kind of dirty and was 9 inches in length. The inside was hollowed out, making an opening on both ends. "Huh….maybe I could use this somehow. It'd be kinda cool to have a weapon. I'll have to get something to hold it in, though." Jake placed the pole in his backpack and headed back over to the vent. He dashed into it and shot up to the roof. He performed a single back tuck in the air before landing on his feet. He pulled his phone out and used his new scanner app, checking all the sites for the Blast Shards.
"All of those dots are Blast Shards…and that yellow one is where that horde of D.U.P is. I'll take care of that after I level up some more. The moving ones keep going over the same places…like a pattern. So I just have to be somewhere to be able to catch those." His attention was set on the two bigger dots. "How come those two are bigger than the others? Bigger shards or something? Guess I'll find out when I get there."
With that he set the GPS to tell him the directions to the first shard. He placed his earphones back in to hear his phone much more clearly before he dashed over the vent and shot himself into the air. Incorporating his jumping, free-running skills and Dust Dash he bounded over the rooftops heading for the Blast Shards. Luckily for him the copters didn't seem that far apart even though three of them kept flying around. So to make it easier on himself he decided to go after the moving shards. It took about 17 minutes to find the moving shards and drain the three of them. But with everyone he absorbed he felt the rush of energy course though him and it only spurred him on to get the rest.
Jake headed for the smallest marker of the last three, wanting to see what the two bigger ones had to offer for last. The fourth shard was under a bridge, where no people had luckily been around. He dropped down from the roof to the other side and landed in a crouch, kicking up a bit of dirt. The copter was floating in front of him, giving off a blue glow. He fired a single shot and broke it, making it fall to the ground. He went over and drained the shard. He pulled out his phone and set his sights on the two bigger blue dots. Unlike the shards these were separated a good deal but with his new mode of travel it wouldn't take long to get to them.
"Let's see what you guys are all about." He said to himself. He moved back a bit before he dashed at an upward angle. He reformed and grasped the ledge before climbing over. People who were right near him wondered how he was able to climb over the wall with how high up it was but they didn't voice it. Even so he wouldn't have listened. Jake just headed for the rooftops again and punched in the coordinates to one of the markers. He let the female-sounding voice of the GPS guide him to it, not helping but perform a few acrobats along the way.
He stopped on another rooftop that was pretty far out from the mass of city behind him. "Alright…the map says its right below me." He jumped from the roof, performing a front flip and landing on a single knee. He stood up and turned to see a peculiar sight. It was a very thick mass of concrete, obviously created by the D.U.P. It was big and rectangular, attaching to the ends of two buildings and the back of the one on the right. Though there was no reason for something like this to be here. He looked at the map again to see the blue dot was inside of it.
"Well if they made something this obvious to keep whatever in there inside, it has to be more important than a normal Blast Shard." He put his phone away for a second and raised his right hand to the mass of constructed earth. "Welp, it's breaking time." He began to fire a steady barrage of Dust Shots at various parts of the concrete but the most he was getting was chipping it small pieces with each impact. He stopped shooting and sighed. "Alright…this ain't gonna work. Maybe if I try to make a bigger attack."
He raised his arms to his waist as dust began to charge and gather in his palms. He brought his arms back a bit and then through them forward releasing a wide, powerful blast of dust, that completely destroyed all of the concrete. Hiding underneath all of it was a Core Relay that took some damage from the blast. Jake pulled his arms back a grinned at the results.
"Nice! Another ability! That's was like a burst or blast! Guess I don't need to keep using the small stuff anymore," he said referring to his Dust Shot, "and I got me a Core Relay bonus, too!? So that's what those bigger dots were on the scanner. I can't wait to see what kind of new power's I'm going to get next. But that thing I just did…what's that gonna be?" He raised his left hand and charged it full of dust before releasing the same powerful blast on the Core Relay, breaking it completely. "Yeah, that's more like a blast above all else. So…I guess 'Soot Blast' sounds cool."
Nodding at his newest ability he went over to the Relay to drain it of its contents. The blue mist was absorbed into his hands as a blue bubble of Ray Field Energy expanded around him and lifted him into the air. He began to see more visions like before. The first vision he had showed him jumping from a high altitude like with his Smut Drop. However instead of crashing down in a shock wave he expelled dust from his arms, which had allowed him to apparently glide across wide terrain. The second vision was him firing a much bigger version of his Dust Shot. It exploded in a huge burst when it collided against something. Though if he were to jerk his hand in a certain direction the huge ball of dust would stop midair and then shoot for that specified. If he clenched his hand than it would explode automatically.
When the visions faded Jake landed back onto the ground. When he stood up dust circled around his arms. However he felt something else in his body as the dust went away. "Weird." he said raising his right hand and making a fist. "It feels like…I have more power than I did before. Haven't really noticed until now. Then there's those new abilities I got. Alright…so I can hover and shoot giant blasts of dust. (Sigh) If there's one thing I'm not digging its finding new names for new powers to damn quickly."
Jake decided to dash through a vent and appear back onto a rooftop, just in case someone wanted to investigate what those loud noises were. He sat down on a wooden crate that was up there and put on his thinking cap.
"Alright…new names for new powers. Well for one I know that gliding thing is gonna come in handy since I be cutting it close by just dashing across buildings. But I don't want to call it 'Gliding'. I mean that's what I'm doing but it doesn't describe what the power itself is doing. What should I call them? 'Grime Gliders'? Nah, that's dumb. And…replacing the first word and keeping the 'glider' part won't change anything. 'Boosters'? No, they're more like 'thrusters' above all else." He nodded at the concept. "Yeah, they're 'thrusters'. What kind though? Should I go with using 'dust' again? Yeah. I'll call 'em 'Dust Thrusters'. That works fine. Then those dust blast things. Well I already have a 'blast' so I can't use that word. 'Soot Missile' sounds cool enough."
With a grin as well as a few satisfied nods of his head he stood up from his position. "Yeah! I like those names! Man…3 new abilities and that was only the first of both Relay's and 4 Blast Shards! That DUP retard was so sure his posse will 1-Up ME!? When I get that second Relay," he slowly brought his hands together, "I'm comin' for ya'll bitches! Really!"
Not caring that he was talking to himself or was getting a bit too giddy thinking of his upcoming battle with 30 D.U.P soldiers he set the next coordinates, ran over to a vent on the other side of the building and dashed over it, shooting into the air. He used his new Dust Thrusters to carry him a good amount of the way to another building and when he began losing altitude he used his Dust Dash to make it the rest of that way.
"Oh yeah. That's REALLY going to come in handy!" He exclaimed happily, as he began to use his new maneuvering ability to its fullest, while he quickly incorporated it into his dashes and leaps. As he dashed through another vent to get to a much higher building he caught what appeared to be a small army of DUPs in the distance to the right. Some were walking around the ground, or patrolled the roofs. He wasn't able to completely see all of them, though some soldiers seemed to be a bit more fit and wore extra armor coatings. The color of it being a blackish-grey.
"Still comin' for you bitches." He said with a giggle before he took a running start and jumped from the roof. He used his Dust Thrusters to glide a good distance over to the next building and continued his trek. He finally found the next Core Relay on top of another building. Only difference compared to the last one is, instead of concrete this one was protected by 3 D.U.P Pawns. Jake gave a small gasp before unzipping his backpack a little and digging inside of it. "This would be a cool chance to test out my new powers," he pulled out the pole, "but I wanna see what I can do with this. Now…if I channel power I should make a cool weapon. But…what?"
Jake thought for a while about how he should go about his newest form of melee combat when he got a small idea. Focusing on his dust it slowly seeped from his hand into the hollow area. It compressed inside, making the pole even more durable because of the hardened material in it would stop it from bending. From the top of the pole formed a blade made from the light substance. The blade itself was a Roman Gladiator-type. It was 24 inches in length and was double edged with a sharp point. Jake twirled it a few times in the space between his thumb and index finger. He gave a few practice swings and felt the weight of the blade. Heavy, as if it was made from real steel.
"Time to take this for a test run." He mumbled before he dashed over and headed straight towards the DUPs. They noticed him almost immediately and began to let loose a storm of bullets but like before Jake just dashed through the barrage of deadly projectiles. He reformed in front of one of the soldiers with his blade in his right hand. He took a diagonal swing to the upper right, slashing the armor on his chest and making him stumble. He brought his arm to the side and took a left swing, nailing him again. He just began slicing away leaving thin trails of dust everywhere he marked before the DUP fell to the ground, not moving. Jake chuckled and said, "Now THAT'S what I call a weapon."
"Kill the bioterrorist!" One of them yelled, his arms amassing concrete.
"Save the animals!" Jake yelled right back with an almost pleading look on his face. That threw the DUP off a bit as he dropped his arms some.
"Wha-"That was all he had the chance to say before he was pelted by Dust Shot to the face and chest. He was down for the count as well.
Jake looked to the still body and shrugged. "….you let your guard down…plus people need to save the animals. Like the Elephants. You know them shits' getting' killed for their tusks? Fuckin' Chinese." He said plainly. He felt something hard hit his back and knocked him to his stomach. He burst into dust and reformed back to his feet. "What the…?"
He turned to see the last D.U.P had swapped out his gun to use his concrete powers. His arms glowed with a yellow aura as he threw a ball of concrete at Jake, which was probably what hit him before. Jake wasn't having any of that. He grabbed his Roman Dust blade and ran over to the DUPs position. The guy saw from earlier how Jake dodged that barrage of bullets so instead of shooting a spread. He threw his arm down and Concrete Launched himself to a higher ledge, just a Jake swung his short-sword at him. The DUP then figured it would be best to pelt Jake with more Concrete Bombs. He began to throw one at any chance he had, even though he couldn't do it rapidly. Jake was being lazy as he only dashed left and right to avoid them but he was getting tired of this guy.
"Alright. You know what?" He said aloud. When he reformed again his palm was pointed to the DUP. There was a 'poofing whoosh' when he fired his Soot Missile at the guy. It moved much faster than his concrete attacks and he was too close to dodge. The attack crashed into him hard. The explosion sent him sailing over the building's edge and he screamed all the way down. Jake absorbed the dust from his weapon, turning it back to normal, and placed it once more in his backpack.
"Annoying piece a….anyway. Since that's finally done..." He pointed his hand at the Core Relay and blasted it with a Soot Missile. Since the energy he gains from them replenishes his energy he didn't care that he wasted unnecessary power to destroy it. He walked over to the Core Relay and couldn't stop grinning thinking about what other kind of powers he could get. He didn't even feel his hands shaking. He saw them when he raised his palms to the blue mist but stopped and looked at his hands. "Wow…I must really have a problem to be shaking like this. Hahaha, I need to calm my ass down."
Getting himself under control…slightly, he drained the final Relay of its power. The same effect happened as before. There was a burst of blue energy around him and he was lifted into the air as the mass of power surged through him. The visions came seconds after and Jake wasn't prepared for the new set of powers that he would be receiving. His first vision was him being able to take masses of dust and shape it into various things. He took a mass of dust and created a thick wall of it that was capable of stopping head on attacks or even making a humanoid dust soldier to fight for him. In the second vision Jake saw his body transforming into dust itself. Nothing like his dust dash where he was a cloud of the substance, but his flesh and bone body actually transforming into element. Bullets and concrete passed harmlessly through him while he charged forward at enemies or made a clean get-away. When he landed on the surface dust swirled around his arms before vanishing.
"Oh my god. Did I just see myself doing what I thought I just saw?" He said, near speechless. Eyes moving from left to right and he looked at his palms forming his power again. "So now…I can make things out of dust….and even turn into it!? Yo! That's like Sandman!" He slapped his head with both hands. "Aww! But I don't know what to name these powers! (Sigh)…I need some help."
Dashing up to a higher point of the building, he moved to sit on the ledge. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and opened up Google. "Alright…since I have no idea where to go to for this I can try one of my favorite sites." He began to type on the touch screen. "Superpower…Wiki." He mumbled before he pressed 'Search' and the link popped up. He pressed the link going to the home page. This site had, more than likely, every possible super power known to man. Created even before Conduits appeared 5 years ago and because of them even more powers were being added to this day. It was Jake's favorite site with YouTube being the second.
Before looking through to find abilities relating to his new powers he silently gasped and looked up. "Hold on…does this thing have information…about Dust Manipulation!? Why didn't I think of THAT before!?" He pulled up the 'Search' engine and typed 'Dust Manipulation' before hitting 'Enter'. The screen was loading before it began to buffer.
"Please, please, please, please, please!" Jake chanted, not wanting to have gotten so hyped for nothing. Soon the screen loaded and he screamed in happiness, nearly dropping his phone, so he grasped it more securely. "Oh my god. Ohhhhh my god. I am going to get TOO strong. Alright…Dust Manipulation." He scrolled down to see a picture of Ōnoki from Naruto Shippuden, forming a grey transparent cube with a glowing white core. Jake read the entry under the picture. *Ōnoki (Naruto) combining Fire, Earth and Wind to use his Dust (Particle) Release, allowing him to manipulate dust particles.*
"The Particle Style. Oh man…if I ever get to learn to do that…" The realization of manipulating the pure element of dust, the very particles itself, slowly dawned on Jake. He gulped at the prospect of ever learning to use such an incredibly powerful and unstoppable ability that had the potential to completely vaporize anything without leaving a trace of anything. Not even a single molecule. One would have to be wise on when to unleash a power of that magnitude. He moved the window down some more to read the ability listings. Going through the many applications and techniques that were apparently possible with his kinds of powers, which in turn made him gasp and had his imagination run wild as the prospect of such abilities, he found the two he was looking for, as well and an unintentional third.
*Dust Explosion Inducement, Terrakinetic Constructs of dust, including weapons, walls, armor or allies/servants, and Dust Mimicry*
"Oh, I've GOT to check these out." He looked through the Dust Explosion Inducement. "*The user can cause an explosion of any scale, with varying effects ranging from stunning to total annihilation.* that's what I did with my Soot Missile in that vision! I made it explode automatically! So…can I blow up my dust whenever I want?"
To test this he turned a bit and fired a regular Dust Shot. He flexed his fingers, trying to make it exploded, even if it would be a small one. But nothing happened and it dissipated soon after. He then released a small cloud of dust into the air and did the same motion but instead it began to compress until it formed into a ball of dust that rolled over to him.
"Alright then. No explosion…but that 'Construct' thing works at least. Guess that's going to be that ability's name. And 'Grit Explosion' sounds nice. Just need to learn to do that with all my attacks instead of just my missiles." He picked up the ball of dust and tossed it a few times. It had the weight and size of a baseball. The ball deformed into a small vortex before dissolving back into his palm. "Being able to make weapons, armor or allies, huh? Yeah…I see the Construct becoming a big part of my arsenal. Then there's the 'Dust Mimicry' power. Yeah…I can work with that. So now I have Construct, Grit Explosion and Dust Mimicry."
He closed down the internet and placed his phone back into his jacket pocket. He held out his fingers and counted on them, going over his current abilities. "Okay, so what do I got? Dust Dash, Dust Shot, Smut Drop, Dust Thrusters, Soot Blast, Soot Missile, Construct, Grit Explosion and Dust Mimicry. Add to the fact I can store more power plus I have my own weapon…and all that combined spells 'I'm awesome'."
Jake stood up from his position and stretched. He was now more prepared than even he thought he'd be. Though you weren't going to hear him complaining about it. He could see the mass of DUP from his position and he was ready to go kick some faces in…literally. It was the question on how would he approach this situation that got him a little confused. Would it be best to use a few sneaky tactics and confuse them to take some heat off himself…or rush in powers blazing and fight them all at once? Making up his mind quickly Jake dashed over and vent and blasted into the air. He used his Dust Thrusters go glide a little before dropping to the ground and running for the building overlooking the DUPs. He couldn't completely go over there by rooftop or else the guards patrolling the ones around the area would spot him and alert the others.
"I'm the one that's gonna get the drop on these guys. Not the other way around." He spotted a vent that was hiding behind some bushes. They were large enough for him to crouch behind to avoid the people watching him. He dashed through the vent before he sped through to the top and launched out the other end. He was now overlooking the DUPs and how they were stationed. Though what caught his eye the most was the huge antenna with a satellite on the end of it, that was on a building not that far from him. Some DUPs were guarding it for some reason.
"Well that thing must be important if they're keeping watch over it. Wait…is that what's jamming the signal around this place?" He gave a shrug and pointed his hand at it. "Well…if that's how it is." Without warning he fired a Soot Missile towards the antenna and watched as it collided with the big piece of metal and blew up, as well as taking 2 DUPs with it in the explosion. That was enough to stir them all up and direct their full attention to the broken equipment. Jake then fired another one that took out the remaining 3 that stood around the area. That move caused all the attention to be focused on him now and he wouldn't want it any other way.
The 5 D.U.P soldiers already on the rooftops used their Concrete Launch to make their way over to Jake's position on the tallest building in the vicinity. But instead he leaped from his perch heading for the ground. Some DUPs shot at him but with his movement downward and the increasing change in distance each shot missed though a few almost grazed him. Dust flowed from his body in wisps as he fueled it completely with his power. "Smut Drop!"
He slammed into the ground sending out another dust shock wave. The DUPs tried to get out of the way before he made impact thought some tripped when he did and 2 more were completely caught in the attack, taking them out the game. He stood up and laughed a bit. "Hahaha….that's funny. They never even see it comi-"
He was cut off from his sentence by a barrage of bullets pelting him from left and right. "OH SHIT!" He shouted as he dashed ahead and phased through a few shields that had been placed by the D.U.P. He reformed and hid behind them in a crouch while dust wisped from his body and swirled around him for a few seconds, initiating his fast-healing. He almost recovered from the damage completely, though he was surprised when a DUP Pawn landed 2 meters in front of him, via Concrete Launch.
"I got the bioterrorist!" He shouted as he began to fire. Jake dashed through the gunfire, towards his enemy. He rematerialized in the air, to the side of him. His right leg was drawn back before he sent it flying forward, colliding with the DUP's face. He was knocked to him back hard, and Jake threw a blanket of dust over him, stopping his movement. His remaining enemy count was now 22. He jumped when a loud blaring sound erupted from nowhere and echoed out into the streets. He caught red flashes in his peripheral vision. He looked to find a camera pointed dead at him as well as shining a light. This alerted all the other DUPs and they headed towards his position.
"Fukin' cameras!? Still not regretting this!" He said to himself. He fired multiple Dust Shots at a random soldier, taking him down. Though some of the others threw a mass of Concrete Bombs into the air. The rocks coated with a slight yellow glow as they headed straight for him. He gave a scream that gradually gained volume before he crossed his arms and held his head down. "DUST MIMICRY!"
The blasts of concrete collided with his body and the ground areas around him. They exploded like grenades, breaking apart and sending out burst of shrapnel. Some dust was kicked up from the destruction of some of the ground and slightly obscured their vision. The remaining D.U.P held their weapons at the ready in case that wasn't enough to take down their target. You could never tell with a bioterrorist. Their suspicions were confirmed when the dust was rapidly fading away and Jake came into view, sucking the substance through his palm to regain power. But not his body was completely comprised of dust itself. There were some holes and missing pieces of his body but it didn't matter since his body seemed to regenerate itself. The process apparently happening faster from the extra dust intake.
"That…didn't hurt." He said with a smile. "That didn't hurt!" This time he shouted.
"OPEN FIRE!" One of the D.U.P in the concrete armor, a Super Pawn, yelled to his comrades. They began firing their rifles, unloading a mass of lead at Jake. But it was pointless seeing as the bullets kept passing right through him and hitting everything behind him. "Yo! I AM like Sandman!" With renewed vigor he charged forward at the DUPs, running through the bullets. Some of them stopped firing as the weapons didn't do anything to slow down, no less stop, Jake. He was going to run past two DUP Pawns and before he did he crossed his arms and charged his palms full of power. The moment he was running between them he threw his arms to the side and blasted them both in the head with simultaneous Soot Blasts. The both hit the ground and didn't get up.
"Two more bites the dust. 20 more to go."
He gave a shout of pain as he felt blasts of concrete and bullets strike at his back, instead of passing right through him. He looked to his body and saw that, starting from his chest and spreading outwards, his body turned back to normal. He tried activating his Mimicry again but it wouldn't work. Must've had a cool down time. With quick thinking he turned around and clapped his hands and dust from the area in front of him gathered and collected. "Construct: Wall!"
A wall of tick dust that was 10 feet high and wide erected from the collected dust and began to take the punishment he was taking previously. He turned around and placed his back against the wall while his fat healing began to do its thing once more. He took a few breathes and sweat dripped from his head a bit and he felt that he was at half power after using those abilities in a row like that. But he was still having fun and wasn't going to disappoint his opponents. He threw out a cloud of dust in front of him and clapped his hands, concentrating as he molded the grey powder into a human like shape. He might need the dust around him for use instead of using it to make his next creation. "Construct: Soldier." He said and that's what the dust became. A face-less puppet, that was the height of a 6 feet and had the build of a man.
"Alright. I got no idea how long you're gonna last but take out as many as you can." The Dust Soldier didn't give any noticeable way of showing it understood the command it was given but when it ran from the constructed wall into the wall of enemies Jake couldn't help but grin. He had his own foot soldier and he couldn't be happier at the moment. Seeing that this would be a perfect opportunity to regain energy he raised his hand to his chest and drained all the dust and grime that had gotten on his clothing. Though he could feel it wasn't enough to get him to max power. A light bulb went off in his head again and he raised his hand to his hair. Every grain of dirt that had gotten inside or the dandruff that had been collected from it not being washed was forcefully dragged out from his scalp and absorbed.
"That is fucking awesome." He said with a shake of his head. He heard the sound of a big poof and turned his head from the side of his man-made, or better yet, Conduit-made protection. The soldier he made had been taken out and became dust on the ground. Though he could see that it managed to take out 3 DUPs. He looked to see that the Super Pawns had made their own protective walls of concrete. Though not as big or as wide as his they still did their job at protecting them. 'Alright. Those guys had been in the game long enough.' He though. A blast of concrete smashed into his walls and it broke down into a pile of dust.
He then began to return the favor as he thrust his palms back and forth, unleashing Soot Missiles. More soldiers were caught in the blasts and he even took out 2 of the armored ones. 14 more to go. Though some launched away and embedded themselves into the sides of buildings for a better vantage point. He then threw another barrage at the separated soldiers, using up the rest of his power in his final shots. One soldier jumped from the roof to dodge the missile and landed on the ground.
"You wish!" Jake shouted and with a flick of his wrist he jerked his hand downwards. The missile stopped, swung around and quickly collided with the DUPs back, sending him flying across the ground and skidding to a halt. Jake absorbed the dust that used to be his wall going back up to full power again. He could see some D.U.P on the roof while the rest were shooting at him from the ground. He fired back at some with Dust Shot taking out 2 more and launched another Soot Missile. 3 of the soldiers narrowly dodged the blast but when Jake clenched his fingers the blast activated the Grit Explosion right between them, still taking defeating them all.
"8 more to go. This is FUN!" He exclaimed to himself before he headed to a railing that led to lower ground and jumped over it. There was a vent a few feet from his position, so he ran and dashed right into it. He shot himself through the vent on the top and surprised 3 DUPs who had launched themselves up there. Since they were in close proximity he figured melee was the way to go for this. He quickly reached behind him into his back, leaving the zipped open a little for better access, and pulled out his pole. He charged it with dust getting his Roman Dust Blade and dashed over to a soldier. He slashed and hacked mercilessly at his armor before kicking his face hard. He was out before he chose to only slash away at the next one. While he was doing do the third soldier charged his arms with concrete and got ready to fire the multiple scatter shot of rocks Jake knew all too well about.
He used his Dust Dash to get behind the DUP he was attacking and let the concrete pound into him, knocking him backwards. But Jake slashed his back leaving a long thin line of dust as well as slicing his armor. He fell to his stomach while the last DUP gasped.
"Damn you! I'll kill you for that!" He screamed charging more concrete. Jake just blinked a few times before throwing his hand up and firing a Soot Missile, ending it too easily. "….no ya' won't." He said in a childish manner. Now the count was 5 more enemies and he couldn't find them anywhere. That is…until he looked over the ledge and saw the remaining ones huddled together. 3 Pawns and 2 Super Pawns, looking at all sides for where he could strike next. They didn't think to look above them and that would be their mistake. Jake gave a grin as dust flowed from his body again in wisps. He was going to end the battle with the same move that truly started it.
His body overflowed with dust and he crashed right on top of the guys. They took the full effects of the shock wave and were sent in different directions. One regular soldier hit the wall right behind him. Right where he noticed the camera still blaring. He frowned before blasting it to pieces with some Dust Shots.
"Hope your guys at HQ enjoyed the show." He said with a toothy grin, to the DUP in front of him. He was still slightly conscious and groaned. Jake noticed this and walked over to him and knelled. "Hahaha! Man! You guys are real troopers, huh!? Gotta say you did AMAZING for a practice run." He touched the man's shoulder. "Needed…a real challenge, you know? And you damn DUPs sure as hell deliver. But…you're…nowhere near as good as I used to think you were."
The DUP slowly lifted up his head and gave some harsh coughs. "Why…why did you…do this? Just…who the hell…are you?"
Jake used a small amount of power for Construct and made a small ball of dust, like before. He juggled it between his hands. "Well…I'm kinda new to this whole Conduit thing. I also just got some kick-ASS new abilities and I figured…why not fuck with some DUPs to get in some practice? That was so FUN! And if you…or your buddies on the other end, lookin' and listenin' to us through that hidden camera you got, want to know who I am…call me Cipher. The guy…that's going to fuck with you…for shits and giggles." After a few seconds he giggled to himself for no apparent reason.
The DUP began to lose consciousness. "You…damn twerp. You don't know…who you're dealing…with. There's…thousands of us…and you'll be caught and…brought in. Just like…the rest of those other…bioterrorists. Ms. Augustine…won't let some punk…like you….run wild like you did today. We're….in control…..of…." His head slumped down, as he was officially out of commission.
Jake…now renamed, Cipher, absorbed the dust ball he made. He reached over and unhooked the latches on the helmet before sliding it off the man's head. He held it up over his own and gave a big cocky smile like before. He held the helmet in his right hand and began to speak through it.
"You are not…in control."
With a toss he sent it upwards before blasting it with a single Dust Shot, destroying it completely. Ending whatever transmission was playing through. Sighing he reached into his pocket and pulled out his earphones. He placed them in before taking out his phone. Turning it on he saw his 'Missed Call' section had 54 missed calls. His eyes widened and his heart dropped when he looked through them. His mother and brother's numbers made an entire list down his screen.
The only thing he could say at that moment was, "Holy...shit."
In a mass of snowy mountains, where a raging blizzard seemed to be never ending, was a massive prison-like facility. It was entirely comprised of very thick and durable concrete and metal. Large steel gates were all around the sides and APCs with the D.U.P logo was sitting out in front of or parked inside the walls. Guard towers were placed on all sides, with soldiers standing inside of them, protected by the clear windows and concrete shells. At the center was a large spire and that a crescent like top and seemed to span most of the facility.
This was the infamous Curdon Cay. The maximum security prison for bioterrorists as well as D.U.P HQ.
The inside even had the feel of a prison if anyone had actually ever been to one. Though that was to be expected. Any amount of freedom meant being expected of bestowing privileges which would in turn mean giving true freedom to prisoners meant to stay. Inside of the Communications Department the head of the D.U.P herself, Brooke Augustine, was watching the giant monitor with her hands folded behind her back. Many of her technical workers, other D.U.P soldiers but with regular clothing, began to relay the most interesting display of bioterrorism that had been expressed as of yet. Recorded from the camera that startled the boy as well as the hidden ones from each helmet on the troops. The boy, no less than a teenager, using his powers, another interesting one being Dust, to do battle with a horde of D.U.P agents. The tide seemed to shift back and forth however the battle began to lean into the boy's favor before he just began to pick soldiers off with ease.
"Where is this being transmitted from?" Augustine asked…well…more like commanded to anyone that was going to answer for her.
"Ms. Augustine, this transmission is coming from Loveland, Colorado. Actually the base that was stationed in Denver, Colorado had been destroyed as well." One of her cronies responded.
"Really, now?" She said with disinterest. "Was it that boy who destroyed it?"
"Unsure…possibly. The Mobile Command Center we had stationed there was destroyed as well. But early camera footage shows he was seen entering the facility. But…so were two more bioterroists that had been captured and sent there as well. One of them had managed to escape…but the second one was captured. After that…the place had been destroyed half-an-hour later."
"So it could possibly have been the other bioterrorist then." She concluded.
"Yes. It's a possibility, ma'am." The same worker said before getting back to the transmissions.
Soon the boy walked over to a downed soldier that had been defeated. He wore a cocky, toothy smile and began to down-talk to the soldier about the D.U.P. Augustine heard some insults, rude side-comments, of the occasional 'tch' from her men and women listening to more of the boys words, but Augustine paid the men and women no mind. She was, however, mildly surprised that he said he just gained his powers yet he was able to cause that much destruction and defeat 30 of her soldiers at once. And it was for no true reason at all…but to test what he was capable of. Augustine couldn't tell if this boy was confident in is abilities or was just a complete fool who thought he was invincible since he can fast-heal. She figured it was right in the middle of both options. Then he gave his name afterwards or at least, what Augustine was sure was a nick-name, since no true parent would name their child something as strange as Cipher.
But as he said he wasn't really saying it to the soldier he beat…but to everyone in the room. He wanted her to know who he was for reasons she couldn't understand but it didn't matter to her. Though she didn't expect for Cipher to take off the downed DUPs helmet.
"You are not…in control." That time he was speaking directly to her before he destroyed the helmet. She also had to admit he had serious guts. A newbie to her world, probably someone who used to fear her, and now he declared she didn't possess what she worked too hard to rightfully gain. Without control then her plans would never go into fruition and her ultimate goal would halt before crumbling. No…she HAD control. Other people just needed to be reminded about it.
"Cipher. The bioterrorist with Dust Manipulation." She said before turning around and heading for the exit. The same crony from before turned to her.
"Ms. Augustine…is there something we should do? Send in more D.U.P to Colorado and apprehend that kid?"
She didn't say anything and just gave a small sigh. "It would just be pointless. There's no need to send in a small army just for one bioterrorist. He's capable of defeating 30 of my highly trained men and possibly any more he encountered from the base that was built in Denver. He has some skill…but in the end he's just like all the others. Pretty soon he'll be captured and be brought here to me. Knowing that I won't have to expend any more of my troops just for a single runner when there are many others out there that could be more potentially dangerous. He'll come across more D.U.P in Colorado anyway. That reminds me…make sure to spread the word to send troops to Seattle, Washington. There's another bioterrorist that's been spotted there and she's apparently been causing a mass of murders and thousands of dollars in collateral damage. Abigail Walker, I believe she was called."
"Yes ma'am. Anything else?" He asked yet she still didn't turn around.
"Yes. I want you to add this…Cipher into the archives. Same with Ms. Abigail…or 'Fetch' as she's called. Any new or old information on them you find. Friends, family, etc. Just update the information with any new thing. It could be useful for future references. Especially if they get taken into custody. Now I expect to not be disturbed for the next few hours. It's time for Celia, Edward and Jace to run through their weekly crash course and they can't be interrupted with ME being interrupted."
"Yes ma'am." He then returned to his work while the sound of the automatic doors sliding open indicated Augustine had taken her leave.
And finished! Not 20,00 words like my first one...but it's still above 10,000. Not a bad mark to stop, huh? So...if you read "The Second Kessler", "Of Glass and Hellfire" or "Twisted Metal" then you should've been able to catch something at the end, right? I hope so. I couldn't have made it more obvious than that. Now...just in case anybody starts to believe that I made Cipher too strong for a beginner Conduit I honestly didn't. It's not like I did what Delsin did and gave him nearly all of his initial powers PLUS a finishing move. He doesn't have all his initial powers and the ones he does have are either at their lowest stage or have been upgraded by all the Blast Shards obviously. Plus...I felt that giving him more powers would begin to demonstrate that Dust is really his own thing, instead of just a copy from smoke, but with a different name and look. Besides...Delsin and Cole could fight helly enemies with their limited Smoke and Lightning powers at the beginning of their games. So it would just make more SENSE to me by giving Cipher more powers to actually put up a much better fight.
Plus since you can see from the first chapter Cipher take his powers VERY seriously of COURSE any he would consort to the internet for ideas. What sensible person wouldn't!? I know I sure as hell would for the potential to get stronger. If not for more powers...than at least on what the hell to name them, am I right?
Oh yeah...and as of now Jake is going to be referred to as Cipher.