"Good pointing out Zeke." Ellie said, finishing the last of her coke. She pulled out her wallet and slipped out a $20 bill. "This will do?" She asked, giving Zeke the bill. "Yep." He replied, taking the bill and placing it in the register. "Then let's go." Ellie said, awaiting approval from Zeke and everyone else. "And just in case. I'm taking photos of certain points around the area." Ellie added. "Just... Being Prudent, y'know..." She sighed quietly and fiddled with her camera phone a little bit.

Sebastian walked along in an oddly light mood after just telling his mother that he would be at the Museum of Natural History. She didn't actually care if he went or not, but he convinced himself she did and that's all that mattered. Sebastian had been getting suspicious about how little his mother worried about him, recalling the events that occurred earlier today. He cut himself and his mother simply put a bandage on the wound and walked off. Normally she would at least talk but she didn't speak a single word. He shook away the thought and continued his walk. The air smelled fresh even though it never did to him. The grass, greener than normal. He could just tell something good was going to happen to him today.

As he made his way to the museum, Sebastian checked his wallet to make sure he had enough money to get in. Two twenties, one five, and three ones. Perfect. Enough for the ticket in and a nice meal. When he finally got to the museum, he bought his ticket and walked inside. "Ok lets see where we go next." He said staring at the board that told him where he was. "Where do you think it is Hugo?" He asked his stuffed rabbit. Looking around, Sebastian blushed hoping nobody saw him talk to his inanimate stuffed animal. He looked up and found where the exhibit was. "There it is, Hugo." He whispered under his breath before making his way to the exhibit.

On the way, Sebastian slammed into a man who was running down the hall. "Hey!" He shouted as he fell on his butt. He looked at the man angrily as Sebastian started glowing green. He gasped when he saw himself and took a deep breathe. "Calm." He whispered to himself. The other man just stared at him. "Freak." He said continuing his fast pace. "What a jerk." He said looking at Hugo. He just shrugged it off and got back up, dusting himself off. "Lets go, Hugo. We don't need to deal with jerks like that anyway." He kept walking and checked his backpack for his notebook. Perfect. He grabbed the black college ruled notebook and his pen before reaching the exhibit.

"Today seems like it will be a good day, right Hugo?" He said to his bear as he began jotting down notes on the various dinosaurs.

"Ah everyone's going to the Museum all ready? I just started drinking though," Scorn pouted slightly ",Well I guess they can have a head start, I want the rest of my bottle first." She went back to drinking from her bottle, unaware at the moment one of the early customers who had been there for awhile had been watching her, and waiting for a moment to do something stupid no doubt.

It wasn't hard to smell the alcohol on his breath, anyone could probably smell him a mile away. Some moronic drunk who was at the bar most of the time and had tried hitting on anything with two legs and was female. This time his target was Scorn and he would soon learn why no one messed with her. He must of not been there on the day when she threw a guy across the room for sitting in her chair or else he would of be smart and not bothered even going bother.

Overall the guy wasn't bad looking, a bit gruff around the edges with some bloodshot eyes but if he was sober and managed to actually take a shower he could of been a handsome person, around the age of thirty. He casually walked over, at least tried the best to walk over to where Scorn was butting in between where Sam sat and where she was. Scorn didn't even look at him, grimacing at his smell.

"Did heaven loose an-," he began before Scorn bashed her bottle over her head. It happened so fast that if you blinked you might of missed what happened.

"Sorry I don't have time for losers like you and I'm definitely not from heaven, think of a place lower and much hotter then heaven," she said getting up and then punching him in the stomach ",That's for wasting my drink and this-." She punched him again, this time lifting his face up before she did, prerhaps breaking his nose in the prose and knocking him out ",is for wasting my time. Finally this is for the shitty pick up line."
She kicked him one last time.

"Chloe what did I tell you about starting fights!" Zeke said with some annoyance.
"He started it and it was hardly a fight," Scorn said ",And don't use that name, that person is long gone. You know that."
Scorn then turned to Sam."So since it would seem our time here is coming to an end, you want to head back to Reaper HQ, or we can split our separate ways for the time," she said casually as if the last few moments were a common thing. She had one foot on top of the conduit guy who had tried to hit on her. Though she thought Conduits were above norms, it didn't mean she wouldn't beat them to an inch of their life if they stood in her way or bothered her in a way she did not like. She didn't feel like heading to the museum. There would be no point in having ten different conduits observing one place, and the attack supposedly wasn't until Sunday so nothing to do but wait for the ones who were going to scout it to give intel and report back. She would of liked to of gone herself to cause some mischief and mayhem but she got in trouble there all ready and they would be watching for her.

Grease didn't have to be told twice, he was already gone, blazing towards the Natural History Museum, leaving a trail of tar in his wake. He knew that he ought to listen to the other conduit, with the suit, but he didn't really care enough to wait. Before he left, he slapped a wad of cash down on the bar, saying a simple "Keep the change."

---

Pain grimaced, having already expended far too much of his power and energy. He shot another look at the drunk sand girl, sighing. "I suppose that's fair, in all honesty." He said, referring to the comment that he should take care of Jen getting home. He shook his head, a bit dissapointed by the groups overall lack of reasoning that the ragtag group sported.

"I suppose that if we're truly going to risk our lives and powers on a simple Hail Mary attempt, we might as well get it over with..." Pain said, seeing all of the people leaving to go to the Natural History Museum. He ignored the pain that centered behind his eyes, a clear indication to him that his power had been expended too quickly.

Pain noticed the look he received from one of the conduits, a woman who he didn't know. It was clear that she didn't like him shooting down her plan. "Take it easy, we're still going to the Museum in your little suicide run. We just won't murder anyone. Yet." He said, a friendly smile on his face, thinly veiling an angry expression.

He had to take a moment to fully acknowledge what Scorn had done in a matter of seconds, but when he did take in the information, he knew that there was quite a bit of potential. A horrifying shadow conduit, leading a gang, supposedly someone who was extremely... well, insane, to put it simply, was already a valuable asset. However, finding out that she had a short temper, and a soft spot centering on her real name, Chloe? That was priceless.

Before he even thought about leaving, he took the advice of one of the conduits, and turned to Jen. "Listen now, I'm going to attempt to help you." He said to her. "We all know that you're drunk, and we can't afford to deal with that. Now, if I'm going to help you, you can't resist, you have to let me do my work." He said slowly, as if he were talking to an angry animal. He peered deep into her eyes, attempting to disperse the dopamine in her brain, knowing very well that if even the slightest thing interrupted him in the delicate process, he would be in a world of pain.

“Oh. Ummm.. hi.” She said, looking dully into the suited conduit’s eyes. Nearby, Zeke had walked over to the TV and was attempting to do some minor repairs. “So, you staring at me for a reason?”

---

“Wait. What was that?” The Syndicate Man stared at the dull, black and white screen. A large, thick nosed man bumped into a child in the Natural History Museum. Even on the awful resolution of the screen, the man could clearly see the child seemed to glow for a moment. “Was that.. don’t tell me.” Johnson stared at his commanding officer. “Um.. sir. What do you mean?”

The Syndicate man walked over to a nearby filing cabinet, placed next to the tower of monitors for the computers. He opened one up and browsed through the letters for a moment, running a finger down the beige folders, until he came to something he recognized. The man pulled it out and walked back over to the screen. He flipped open the folder.

Inside was a complete record of Sebastion Wakefield. His mental history, eating habits, biography, age, gender, weight and height. It was a complete folder of his being. Labeled on the folder in large, black block letters were the words CURDON CAY. The man flipped through the pages for a moment before coming onto a picture of Sebastian.

A rail thin, pale boy. Looked like a vampire. “Alright, now zoom in on the face. And enhance.” The Syndicate whispered, raising the page up next to the monitor. “Um, sir, I still can’t enhance. That’s not really possible with the current.. alright.” The man scrolled his mouse wheel until the image was completely made up of Sebastion’s face. While it was blurry, it was the clear the two were the same.

“Sebastian Wakefield. I remember him. When the DUP was still functioning, he was one of the prisoners.” The man said, tucking the page back into the folder. “Phantasm Manipulation. The boy could summon ghosts. Augustine was a real big fan of that kid. We’ll need to watch out for him. Maybe drain him.” Johnson nodded before zooming out, and returning back to the crowds filling the halls of the National History Museum.

The Syndicate leader stayed by Johnson’s side, examining the screen. If more Curdon Cay prisoners started to show up, then it should become pretty clear what was happening. “Just.. watch our for any more Curdon Cay releases. I’ll keep the files open.”

Eli made his way to the one and only Museum of Natural History. Despite the distance ot only took a few minutes to get there. The true glory of roof top travel. It took only a fraction of the time as it did down below. All of the hustle and none of the bussle. Most of the people that traveled by roof tops were conduits, some of them even waved as they ran by.

He approached the build from the roof top adjacent to his target. He stood there and watched for a few moments, looking for something that shouldn't be there. That one thing out of place, yet there was nothing he could see. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Alright so.... Insane shadow organization bent on wiping out conduits are going to do something at the Museum. How would they pull that off?" He rubbed his head for a moment then an idea struck him. "I'd unleash a conduit on that place... Get public sentiment on my side and show the world how dangerous conduits are. Have the public do all the work for me. Get the noncons to kill us or turn us over to them.... Damnation, I should have been a villain. I could be ruling this town by now." He chuckled a little to himself, he was almost proud of himself for the idea.

He jump off the roof top and landed firmly on the ground. He loved being a conduit, all that power and anywhere he wanted to go. Walking in the museum, he paid his ticket and started to walk around, looking anything that was out of place or people that seemed to keep eyes locked on something or someone. The only problem was, this wasn't a place he knew very well. Mostly because he was never there. Since he was there he might as well go check out the dinosaurs.

Ellie quickly made her way to the MoNH via the rooftops. She quickly turned into energy and reformed onto the building, running from roof too roof. The wind blew her hair back has she formed and reformed from energy to her solid state. "Remember.... Home by 5:00..." Ellie muttered. Soon enough, Ellie arrived at the MoNH and looked around the buildings around, figuring out points. Ellie then pulled out her phone and began taking pictures of specific points that she found useful. "Right, 3 points. I think that will do..." Ellie muttered, stuffing her phone away and hopping down from the building next to the MoNH.

Sebastian wandered around the exhibit, taking it all in before jotting down notes. He decided to study the pterodactyl. Easy enough. Fairly basic. This would make a perfect dinosaur to study. He began jotting down notes. "Ok so I'll need the wingspan and it's wei-" He cut himself off as he noticed someone staring at him from afar. Looking up, he turned around and found a substantial amount of others looking at him as well. "Great. I thought this kind of crap was over by now. But no, I get stuck with the creepy power that everyone hates." He mumbled to himself. Looking back down he looked at Hugo. "You wouldn't ever look at me like that right, Hugo?" He made the rabbit nod its head in agreement. "Good." he whispered almost maliciously.

With that he continued his work, doing a quick sketch of what he thought a pterodactyl would look like when it was alive. He couldn't help but have that weird feeling that someone was still watching him. Trying to concentrate on his work, he couldn't shake the feeling. Knowing that some random idiot was still blankly staring at him. "What can a kid do around here to get some peace?" He said sighing. Screw it. He had to do it. In a second, he stood up and turned around. Summoning a phantasm skull and placing it over his own head. "RAAAAH!" He screamed at the man. The man screamed back but in a less terrifying way and a more terrified way, running off. "Finally." He said, sitting back down on the bench and writing his report.

Sam put on her straight face when Jen said that she'd been in Curdon Cay for eight years. Lucky moron... Sam ended up biting her lip, trying to hold in her anger. I wish I had only eight years. By my math my time would be about fifteen years. Sam said nothing until Scorn spoke, asking whether or not she wanted to split up. Sam thought about it for a moment. "I really don't have anywhere else to be. So we could go to the HQ if you want... also, would you mind if I slept there while I'm in town? I don't really have anywhere else to crash except on a rooftop..."
At least with Scorn she didn't have to worry about being belittled. Sam liked not having to pretend that she was afraid of her powers, but she was afraid of it too. If Sam messed up then people died. If she wasn't careful about her own power use, then she'd become a monster. She'd heard that norms were monsters too, but she'd never known that other Conduits were afraid of her too. If she managed to strike a Conduit with a Blood Spike or some of her transformed blood, then it was over for them. She hated that look in their eyes as they realized that they'd lost.
If these Syndicate guys were masked, then maybe she wouldn't see that look any of their faces. Sam was certain she couldn't stand it if she could see it, anyway. Regardless if they were trying to kill her only moments before. Ugh. Why do these things always have to be so complex?

Scorn smiled happily."Sure there's plenty of room," She said ",It's still in development but rooms have been worked on a bit so you should have no trouble find a room with a bed." The abondened building Scorn used as living and the Reapers base of operation, she had found shortly after arriving in New York. She had no idea why it was vacated out but it was there and her's for the taking. No one bothered her and her fellow Reapers and if someone did own it they never came around. She had gone about getting the other Reapers to fix it up a bit along with helping here and there when she wasn't working on her own little projects or trying to pinpoint small scale Syndicate operatives, those that would be puppets for the guys in the masks. She knew he had been somewhat of a needle in the Syndicate's side since she arrived in New York. She didn't doubt they knew the Reapers existed now in New York, she had been trying to be trouble for them, create chaos and disturb their plans while continuing on hers.

"Heck it could probably house a small army if we had enough beds," she added with a laugh though it was partially true. The building could of been an apartment flat once for all Scorn knew but the only thing she cared about was that it was livable and a perfect base."There should be a few spares. I think last I counted there were ten rooms with beds. Five of which are taken by the boys you met earlier today, then there's me, oh and then there's another guy you haven't met. Found him while traveling, last of the group called the Dustmen I think they were, another group from Empire City but seems all of them were killed in that blast that destroyed it besides him. He keeps to himself. Anyways, adding that up there should be at least three spare rooms. Probably have more soon when we can snatch some more beds."

"You want to walk or use powers? Powers are quicker but you didn't look to good when we got here through teleportation methods, I take it your powers take a bit out of you when you use them," She said in a somewhat caring manner. She might of been a cold psychopath most of the time but she still had a warm heart somewhere in that ice of a shell and it sometimes pierced through the bitter cold of her normal nature to show in rare spurts.

As Grease neared the MoNH, he skidded to a stop, clumsily slamming into a car. He didn't want to use his powers noticeably when he got closer, in case the Syndicate had this place under surveillance. A bit paranoid, he pulled his hat down over his head, forcing the lid to cast a dark shadow, concealing his face, even though very few people actually knew his face. However, the news had reported about him, an inFamous asphalt conduit who wore a leather jacket and black hat. His clothes would probably give him away even more than his face.

Disregarding that, he went through the process of acquiring entry into the museum, and began to search for anything overly suspicious. Nothing much, a few conduits were scattered around the blanks that milled aimlessly through the place. Grease took a moment to wonder if anyone actually enjoyed going to museums, or if they simply went to seem cultured. Grease sure as hell didn't get the point of it all.

Nothing actually stood out. He really didn't understand what kind of plan the Syndicate could have cooked up with this place. Their goal couldn't simply be to kill, could it? With the amount of conduits milling around, that plan would be grounded almost instantly. As he thought, tar subconsciously pooled beneath his feet.

---

Pain grimaced, getting nowhere with sobering up Jen. He didn't have enough energy. Hell, he barley had enough dopamine in his own brain to keep himself from going completely numb. He grumbled to himself, before muttering something about conduits, apple juice, and the pope. He turned away from Jen, still muttering a bit under his breath.

He did also take into his mind the fact that the Reapers had living space. It appeared that Scorn was on his side in this whole matter, and he might need a place to hide out. After all, he probably wouldn't be let back in his old hotel, not after the whole murder business... But now was not the time for that. Now, there was business to take care of.

As he left 'The Cinder', he made his way to the nearest gas station, where he purchased another bottle of apple juice, which he chugged the contents of on the way to the MoNH. As he walked, schemes ran through his mind, nasty plots bouncing around in his head. He knew that he couldn't fully trust any of the conduits he had met today, so he had to be prepared. In the long run, he decided that he really wouldn't mind sacrificing any of those conduits to the Syndicate, to benefit himself. He chuckled at that notion, it brought a bit of joy to him.

"Alright. Bye." Jen said, watching as Pain walked off. There were few conduits left in the bar, most having left to go to the MoNH. "I guess I should go there too, right?"

Jen slowly stood up, pushing the chair out from under her. She walked over to the sliding glass doors and pushed them open. Technically, conduits weren't really supposed to go out in the public when they were under influence. But why should she care? The police in NYC were crap anyway. A couple sand blasts, a couple dust rockets, they were sent scattering. But she didn't suppose that she really needed something on her record. That could lead to some trouble.

Jen stumbled across the rooftops, her sand form swirled around distractedly, slowly moving. She could never keep up the sand form while she was drunk for too long. She would turn, swirl around to another rooftop, then turn back to a human, stumble around, and turn again. It was a never ending cycle that would keep going on and on until she arrived at the National History museum. After several minutes of changing, she finally arrived at the museum.

"I'd like one ticket, please." She said, throwing down some money on the counter. The museum curator stared at her. "Ma'am, are you under influence? Because I'm afraid we can't let drunks into the museum. There are children here." Jen stared at him, a wide grin forming. "Or what?" She asked, raising her fist. Sand swirled around it, the beginning of a dust rocket. Usually, sober Jen liked to stay incognito. Unfortunately, drunk Jen loved using her powers.

"Or this, ma'am." The curator said. Several long, sharp shards of wood flew from the wall. They swirled around his fist. Long, deadly stakes of wood. Behind him, several more burlier conduits stepped up, the museum guards. "Well, uh, no need to be hasty. I'm perfectly fine." She said, her grin fading. "I'm not drunk, I assure you." The curator stared at her for a long time. "Don't break anything." He said coldly, handing Jen a ticket.

Jen stumbled across the museum for a couple of minutes, gaining a couple of strange looks from the other conduits and people in the museum. She passed several fossils, which she nearly wrecked if it weren't for the museum guard conduits. Eventually, Jen found what she thought she was looking for. It was a wide wing of the museum dedicated to conduits. "Here we go." Jen said, looking up at the sign. She walked in.

"Huh." Jen said. "I think this is it." On the a large, stone pedestal was a metal device. Long, snaking wires were wrapped around it. It had two large, metal prongs, occasionally spitting out electric sparks. Cole's original amp. That was probably it. It was on tour around museums around America, and it looked like it had just hit the MoHN. The small portion of her brain that was still sober knew that it ran on a Blast Shard, a piece of Earth that had been radiated by the Ray Sphere.

"Now that is one bomb ass conduit power." Eli said as he walked towards the kid. He couldn't help but look the kid over, he looked like an emo reject from South Park. If he was someone else he might find it a little more odd or disturbing. G-d only knows how far he was from being a normal functioning member of the human race. His saving grave was that he at least looked functional, this kid looked like he was the next in line for a Marilyn Manson concert. Hell, for all he knew this kid was completely normal and he was the crazy. Though it didn't look like that from outside.

"So what's the deal with the rabbit?" Eli asked now somewhat worried. This did not have have his kinda of crazy on it. A child that could summon ghosts, looked like a worshiper of the dead and carried around a dirty old rabbit. This was starting to be his most interesting day of his life. Well that wasn't spent drunk.

Ellie walked up to the ticket stand swiftly. "Ticket please." She said, pulling out another 20 dollar bill and handing it over to the lady. "Here you are." The ticket lady said, giving Ellie what she needed to get in. Ellie nodded and smiled, taking the ticket and making her way around the museum. Ellie stared and smiled around the place. She's actually never been to the museum of national history. It partially excited her too see things in the museum she hasn't ever seen before. "Awesome..." Ellie muttered. She shook her head a little bit "Just 30 minutes in here and get back to Zeke." Ellie muttered. After about 5 minutes of looking around, Ellie noticed a section dedicated to conduits. "Never saw that before..." Ellie muttered.

Evelyn sat there, enjoying her ice cold beer in peace as the chaos evolved around her; grinning back at the rather cute guy that winked at her, raising her beer in acknowledgment – however her point of interest was drawn away from the guy rather quickly. The woman wearing a rather frightening skull mask – 'Scorn', was it? - caught her attention as Evelyn noticed her looking at her. Tilting her head a little, questions erupted in her head.
Why is she looking at me...? Eve wondered for herself as she took another sip at her beer. Was her hair that out-there? That couldn't be it, Eve argued, she is wearing a skull mask after all – compared to her I am rather normal... I would say She nodded to herself a little, completely agreeing with her assessment before she took another beer.Although we sure is an odd bunch in here... she thought as she looked around at different personas that made up their little group. 'Weird' seemed to be a perfect match indeed.
Ah well...
As the situation evolved further, Evelyn didn't bother much joining in on the events, instead just opting to enjoy the rest of her beer – and ordering a fresh new one from Zeke as soon as she had finished the first one – and follow passively with in the conversation that was going on around the bar. It didn't take long before, one after another, the other conduits – or the 'X-Men' as she had dubbed the heroes of them – started to depart. Apparently going in a group was not their thing.
Sighing she took another sip off her beer.

“Shouldn't you get moving as well?” Zeke's voice penetrated the now nearly empty air at the bar, “thought you were all ready to join the group – they are hunting The Syndicate after all, Eve”
Evelyn gave him a cold glare, she hated being told what to do. “Oh shut it Zeke, I do what I want – always have, always will!” She barked, her tone never quite hit the anger-level, instead staying just on the edge of being in a jokingly tone. “You know damn well that I can get there before most – so what is the hurry? Now stick me another beer”
Zeke gave her a stare; she had already gotten quite a few by this time and he knew how drunk-Eve could behave – but nonetheless handed her another beer.
“You know,” he added, “why didn't you just take them all with you? With that handy little ability of yours wouldn't it be a piece of cake to bring them all to the museum?” he spoke as he watched the bottle-opening getting enveloped by her lips.
“Oh shush,” Eve spoke as soon as the bottle had left her mouth, “you know how I never tell others of my ability – it could be a big disadvantage if my enemies discovered what I am capable of!” Grinning she added; “of course it wouldn't help them even if they knew, they would still get a handful!”
Zeke just grinned in response, he knew that Eve could put up quite a fight.

After finishing her last beer Eve got up, sighing as she used her hands to force her body off the chair and away from the bar-counter. “Yea, I should really get going” she spoke reluctantly, suddenly she wasn't so sure it was the best idea to just charge head-on into a fight with an almost unknown enemy – but if all came down to her being in a bad situation, she could just run – she was particularly good at that. “It was Museum of Natural History, right Zeke?” She asked him just to be sure. Zeke only nodded in response, quickly turning back towards his broken tv. “Next time I will bring you a new tv if you need one” she grinned before empty space replaced her.

She appeared again on a rooftop – she always seemed to prefer rooftops as people tended to be rather disturbed when a pink-haired girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere – just in front of the museum. “So, this is where all the fun is going to happen, huh?” she spoke to herself. “I wonder where the rest of the group is...”
She didn't linger to find out, instead she disappeared once again, soon appearing inside the white halls of the museum. Once having scanned the area she had appeared in, she shrugged before starting to wander off – it would appear she had some time to kill before the 'fun' began.

Sam was surprised by the fact that Scorn had beds for her to sleep in. Actual beds. Sam couldn't remember the last time slept on something bed like with the intention of getting up. That was good news though, she might have a semi-permanent residence in New York. She even have a roof above her head and solid meals for a while. Things were looking up, thankfully.

"Yeah, I've been running all around town today. It felt a little like running a marathon when I was finished. We'll take a cab, since I'm not really interested in tiring myself out like that again." Sam said, trying to explain. "It takes concentration to control that much blood and keep it all together, and when I go fast I tend to overtax myself keeping together. It's more often used for short distances, since I'm better at running than shifting around using my powers."

Sam slid off the bar stool, paying Zeke for her soda as she went. She adjusted her jacket and waited for Scorn. "I'm ready to go whenever you are." Sam probably could shift over to the base, if it was within a block, but Sam doubted that it was that close, and she needed to walk the streets some anyway. She'd heard New York was a busy place, filled with people. She wasn't used to the crowds, but she liked being in them. It meant that she wasn't alone anymore, and wasn't at the whim of crazy Conduit woman who could change anything at the drop of a hat.

"All right then lets head off," Scorn said putting some more money on the bar ",Here Zeke, for the fight, and perhaps for you to fix the boards sand girl blew apart." She giggled and then went over to Sam and leading the way out onto the streets. Though it was still quite early in the day judging by the little amount of sun that could be seen above the building tops, it definitely appeared that things were in motion with definitely more people bustling about on the sidewalks and the occasional site of conduits jumping around going here and there. Everything was busy again and to only imagine perhaps an hour ago the streets were deserted by some rogue conduits rampage.
"We'll walk until we can get a cab," Scorn said as she made her way to the edge of the sidewalk to look and see for the familiar yellow color that would be there ride. It seemed though at the time there were none with where they were at.
"So Sam if we are partners in crime, why don't we get to know each other more. More besides our gifts," she said smiling ",From what you mumbled, you said you were in Curdon Cay right? I was there too for some time, oh Augustine hated me, I caused so much trouble for her, I was kept mostly in a padded room with lights that kept shadows from forming. I do believe I saw you once which is why I went over to you earlier today, a familiar face though you look much better then what you looked like in Curdon Cay. I take it Augustine was preventing you as well from using your powers. For a nut job who thought she was protecting conduits, she had a messed up thought process. Oh and the experimentation, always trying to push me to my limit, to let loose and destroy the targets in front of me, I will thank her for that, showing me how to control my abilties because I couldn't before Curdon Cay, but the carnage that happened because I couldn't was so lovely as well."

Scorn rambled on and on for a few minutes before she realized what she was doing."Oh I'm sorry, I'm just talking about me,me,me. What about you though anything you want to share?"

Sam thought about how Scorn described Curdon Cay from her perspective. A padded room, and no one around for what felt like years upon years. Then she mentioned seeing Sam once. Sam immediately perked up. A slight grin crossed her face as she knew faintly why Scorn was being so familiar with her. She must have seen Sam while she was comatose.
"… Yeah. In order to keep a Conduit like me in check, they had to drain away blood and keep me in a perpetual coma. Before that was solitary confinement. They didn't know what I could do so they restricted just about everything from me. Augustine must have had some way of changing the temperature or air in the room, because every day was something new. One day, she heated up the room so much all I could do was lay there and wait until I died. On the same day, she dropped the temperature down so fast that the very same sweat that had kept me cool froze. I decided I'd had enough when a guard accidentally left a door open too long."
Sam remembered the memory in more detail than that, her discovery of her powers, the frantic use of them to try and escape… the failure when she accidentally used too much of her own blood. "I tried to escape, and when they found out what I could do… I spent my life in a coma for what they told me was about seven or eight years. The bonus was that now I have a blood store set up to use. Sorry that's kind of depressing… but I did manage to see most of the things to visit in the United States." Sam shrugged, as though the story was rather dull. To her, it was. She'd told just about everyone who asked, and when they said that was rough or sympathized with her, Sam usually brushed it off.
Wherever Augustine was now, karma had her in its clutches. The thought made her smile. "The only reason they brought me out of the coma was that I had to promise not to hurt people and to submit to police if I am ever arrested. I even managed to get a lovely anklet out of the deal. Anyway, you see any taxis around here?"

Scorn looked around for a second."Not yet," she said the smiled ",Ah your break out sounds so much like when I found out my powers. I was locked in a padded room even before Curdon Cay you see for a crime of my past self, when that self died and Scorn, or me now, was truly born. Ah such mayhem it was quite lovely but D.U.P. got me and put me in a new cell and kept me locked up actually for quite some time before Augustine let me out for her tests, I think I scared her." She laughed at the thought. Augustine, the woman with hundreds of conduits with different powers, scared of just one little shadow conduit who had barely any control of her powers. Still what she had done from breaking out of the institution she had been in had been quite the grizzly work of art.
"Ah there's one," She said waving the cab down and then getting inside and gave the address to the driver who looked slightly confused at it but didn't question Scorn due to her appearance.
"Ah being free was so lovely after Curdon Cay, I traveled all around, east to west and back until I went to what remained of Empire City and found the little bits of knowledge for restarting the Reapers," she continued once Sam was in ",So many sites but so little time to see them it seemed after that point. Had to keep pace with my plans after all and why not start in the lovely Big Apple?"

"Cole's original Amp." Jen muttered, slowly walking around the exhibit. "That's interesting."

The amp was held by a plain stone statue of Cole, who held it in a mighty pose, pointing it toward the air. Several snaking grey wires wrapped around the statue, allowing the Amp electricity and causing the occasional spark. It gave the Amp am authentic feeling to it, as if Cole was actually feeding it electricity through his palm. Cole. The mighty savior of Empire City and New Marais. He was their patron saint. The conduit who stopped the beast, saving the world. The Amp was worn and dusty from little use. The blue electricity that flowed between the prongs crackled and lighted up the entire exhibit.

Awed children and conduits stood by the exhibit, looking up at the stone Cole and listening to old audio logs from his phone of exchanges between him and other conduits. "Runs on a.. um.. radioactive energy? No, no, a blast shard." Jen muttered, examining every inch of the Amp. "That would be useful. You're not gonna find a blast shard jogging in the park, so.." Nearby, Jen got a couple of odd looks from wary parents, who tried to shield their children from her. She still wore her Starbucks uniform, and her cap. She still had disheveled hair. She just screamed, Hey, look at me! Not exactly discrete.

Jen walked over to the exhibit and looked at what was on the screen. Multiple videos were playing from different moments in Cole's life. Most were shaky camera films. They were glimpses of what Cole was doing, video taped by someone with their smartphone. Most were just Cole jumping across buildings, electricity running down his hands and a blue glow in his eyes. Some were of him fighting off the corrupted government. She grinned, looking at the screen. The screen flashed a bright white, and something appeared on the screen. It was a tan scarab mask, with green slits. She almost leaped, taking some steps back.

"Yeah, nope. Let's see what else this place has got." She said, trying to brush it off. That must've just been a technical mistake, or she was too drunk for her own good. Jen hurried off."

---

"Another Curdon Cay prisoner sir." The Syndicate announced, pointing at his screen. There were two whole computer monitors dedicated to the Conduit Wing. One showed Jen looking at the Amp exhibit in the Conduit Wing, and showing her nearly jumping out of her skin at the Syndicate screen.

"Jen Darude. Sand girl. 8 years in Curdon Cay." The leader read off of the file in his hands. He flipped through the extensive pages. There were pictures, documents, photos. "Augustine didn't really care for her. A couple experiments, some basic torture, not much. Got the least of the blow."

"Hey, Johnson. I need something here. You know where the Reapers are?" The leader said, tapping on Johnson's shoulder. Johnson sighed. The Syndicate were supposed to be about equality. They all wore the same uniform, the same masks, the same suits. Not much equality with this one.

"I have three possible buildings. Reapers were seen going in and out of these three buildings multiple times." Johnson announced, bringing three possible buildings onto the screen. There were a worn down concrete building, a new brick building, and a sleek, modern clean building. They were all located in the nearby district.

"Send some detonators." The leader said. "To all three. I know we have a whole stock of them." Johnson looked up at him from his spinning chair. "All three, sir?" There are actually people in some-" The leader looked down, the green slits glowing. "All three. I want to send the troops in a couple of minutes."