JUNE 16th, THURSDAY, 2018, 9:32 AM
Jen Darude stood lazily at the counter, drumming her fingers on the granite cover. Today hadn't started off amazingly. She had to deal with quite a few angry customers who hadn't had their dosage of caffeine already. So far, not many people had come, surprisingly. Usually the place was bustling with tired adults mulling about and sipping coffee. But today, she had a few enraged customers, and that was about it. Most conduits rarely got stellar job opportunities. So far, she had landed about 6.. 7 jobs by now. Starbucks was her longest one. She had worked at places like McDonalds, Burger King, and plenty of other low grade fast-food restaurants. Most lasted 2-3 months. Starbucks lasted about 8 months. A stream of sand surged down her arm and twirled around her fingers. Sometimes when business was awful, she just practiced her powers in the back room. Jen sighed. Just another day she had to deal with. "Friday can't come quick enough.." She murmured, tracing a particular pattern on the countertop with her finger absentmindedly. She was here with a couple of coworkers. There was some guy in the corner tapping away on his laptop. Just the regular crowd.
Jen was immediately woken up out of her drowsiness by something she always dreaded. It was loud, wailing shriek. Every civilian in NYC knew the siren. It was a continuous whine, something that was drilled into your head so you would never forget it. Screams echoed down the street. "No. No no no no no noooo.." Jen muttered, walking out past the countertop. Not today. Why did it have to be today? "Oh godd. Tell me this is just a drill..." Jen slowly pushed the sliding glass doors open. "Just.. just lock the door. Please." She said, turning behind her. The manager stepped forward with a set of jingling keys. "Jen, just try not to damage anything." He advised her, placing a hand on the glass door. "Be careful." The man reached forward and locked the glass door behind her. Behind her, her coworkers immediately began protocol. They locked the doors. The man in the corner was escorted to the back room with everyone else to minimize damage. She could hear the lock click as they backed away from the main entrance. Jen watched through the glass door for a while as everyone disappeared. "Great. This is the 5th time this month.." Jen muttered, slowly turning around. The conduit immediately stepped out into the street to survey what she knew was happening right now.
There was a massive tornado making it's way down her street, absorbing anything that stepped into it's path and adding it to it's already growing mass. It was a swirling vortex of rubble and scrap. But she knew it wasn't a regular tornado. When did one see a tornado just hurling itself down NYC? It was controlled. It wasn't veering off and absorbing anything in it's path. It was trying to maximize it's damage. Several conduits had already stepped up to do their duty. One was standing on a rooftop, and launching massive rockets of multicolored paint toward it. Another was shooting rubber shards at it from the ground. This was the rogue conduit siren. Every citizen in the surrounding district knew the drill. They were to escape immediately. Her coworkers in Starbucks were already heading out the back entrance to another district. They were to stay there until the rogue conduit was dealt with. The drill was slightly different for conduits. All conduits in the surrounding district were to step up to the challenge and take down the rogue. It was their duty as a conduit. Those who did disable the rogue conduit were given a fee for their duties. There was a police force, but conduits rarely joined, despite the fact it would greatly aid them.
"Great. Another rogue. Just absolutely fantastic." Jen morphed into a stream of sand and scaled another, tall concrete building. She stood on top of the rooftop, examining the tornado from her viewpoint. Inside, she could see the very faint silhouette of a person inside. The rogue conduit. The conduits were all aiming for it. Disable the person, disable the power. Jen sighed. "I always hated these days." She said to no one in particular. Jen aimed her arm toward the tornado, and a swirling vortex of sand began to swirl around her arm. A massive blast of wet, hard sand was launched at the tornado with a thump. It could be describe as crouching beside a mortar. The tornado simply ate the sand right up. "Hm. That.. That might be a problem." She said, watching as it ripped the asphalt off of the road. "We need something thick.." Jen morphed into a stream of sand and moved onto another rooftop. The tornado was moving quickly. She needed to keep up with it. Several other conduits were stepping up, moving onto rooftops and shooting. They were all eager for the money it offered for detaining the conduit.