11Disclaimer: I do not own and/or claim to own any recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction in any way, shape, and/or form. I am not attempting to and/or making a profit in any way, shape, and/or form from this work of fiction. Any and all recognizable and/or licensed material appearing in this work of fiction belongs to its respective owners in every way, shape, and/or form applicable to the law.
AN: Well, enjoy.
Alright Cole, time to take inventory. What went wrong today?
First, I'm sitting on some random building, down the street from Zeke's place just to keep an eye on them I guess. I can't camp out here, I've got things to do. The idiot I saved will be okay just like I was, I just needed time so he just needs time to get back on his feet. I should be long gone, taking down the Reapers before they can really dig in but...but I can't just leave.
Zeke is...well MY Zeke was my best friend and I loved Trish, goddamit, I loved MY Trish and I can't just leave them even if I know they'll be okay. I can't just leave them alone no matter what I may want to do.
For the life of me I can't understand why I saved that dumbass. I knew he would get out fine, I got out fine so he could too but I guess I needed to do something. I've got the Ray Sphere through so that's good. I can keep it safe since The Blast...goddammit I don't want to think about it. Make it simple, I got overcharged for a while. That's it.
Second, Empire City. I thought it was a slow descent from what Zeke told me, that people tried to hold on to some basic human decency for a while before they got hungry, before they got desperate. I'm an idiot. It took three hours before the city was engulfed in riots. No word from the police or the government meant the city had gone to hell to most people and no police meant they did whatever they wanted and more people joined them when no one said anything, nobody could say anything so they lost it.
I'm not surprised.
The Beast was the same, every time he got close to a city, people went wild and they lost it. New Marias wasn't the same because people honestly thought I could beat him, people thought I could save them even when nothing else could and I guess they were right. The Beast was done for the count when I made The Jump and fired off the RFI. Hopefully its dead or else I just killed...I just killed every-
SNAP OUT OF IT! Get your mind focused on what you need to do.
Third, and most important, right not at least, I'm feeling thirsty. Got to fix that and soon.
Anyway, I got a plan. I'll hang out in the Neon for a minute, get a few favors ready and then I'll be ready to head to the Warren. Tate is...Tate is insane and I can't let him have free reign over there as long as I can help it. I can bring him down before he does anything that really wrecks Empire City and I can at least make up for one failure, this one not in the past.
I failed to stop The Blast. I got over it so I need to end Tate before he can cause any more damage than he already has.
Huh, lucky for me he's made a nice little welcome sign with his giant ass tower. I guess I get to test a little theory of mine after all, one I thought up in New Marias with Zeke...
Oh hell yeah, I can't wait.
Eights days after The Blast, seven days post-Empire City Quarantine...
I don't know how the hell I got out of there in one piece, all I remember was some light or something engulfing me and then everything is blurry, like it was all a haze. Zeke says somebody just threw me through a window and left without saying a word.
Yeah, I call bullshit. I tried that once, turns out climbing and carrying someone isn't easy...especially when your hammered off your ass.
Trish was there through and thank God for women like her, she's the only reason I'm not in some hole at the moment. I was messed up bad in whatever happened, people are already starting to call it The Blast and say the place it happened at is Ground Zero, and I'm lucky Zeke called her once he realized how much he sucked ass at being a doctor. Sure, he's a good drinking buddy, he knows how to shoot, and a hell of a lot of other things but he doesn't know anything about first aid beyond the absolute basics. Trish nearly tore him a new one when she realized what he was doing, calling it a mash up of what he had seen in apocalypse movies and sheer, her own words right her, "Zeke's special brand of dumbassery, first class" so yeah, I'm lucky I survived as long as I did with just him.
Then weird things started to happen...very weird things.
It was just some random stuff at first, a little static shock every time I touched someone or something even a little bit conductive. We all thought it was normal, I was always dragging my feet the first few days I was out of bed. Then it started getting worse. I go to turn off the light and I'm lucky it doesn't explode when I pull the string and I've had a few close calls already. Next was trying to shower...
That's a real special kind of hell when your trying to shower and you end up shocking yourself the entire time.
We all tried to think it was just coincidence. The light? Zeke's DIY electrical job with the generators. The shower? Zeke's DIY job again. He really sucks as an electrician.
Then I shot a fucking lightning bolt from my hand and blew the TV to hell.
Yeah, not even Zeke's that bad of an electrician, his whole place would be on fire if he was. Luckily, we had a little bit of information to go one. The Blast.
Whatever it was, whatever caused it, it changed the survivors, they ended up with, I'm not kidding here, superpowers. Actually fucking superpowers. I heard whoever did it first dragged away an entire crate of supplies with one hand off of the back of a truck...after stopping it with his shoulder when it was going full speed down the streets.
Yeah, turns out I got a nice set of lightning powers from surviving...well whatever the hell happened.
Trish was freaked out at first with them but that was mainly because I joked around with them too much, before I nearly hit her with another bolt. Zeke put me through "training" later and we tested the limits of my new powers then. Turns out, it's both electricity and everything related to it, I got a bit of magnetism too, enough to throw cars if it came to it. Yeah, we practiced that one out in the parking lot and I think we scared the shit out of anyone who heard that thing blow so we bailed back inside long before anybody showed up. Anyway, besides that, I've got the bolts, which I think I can fire either as many as I want or I just don't get drained easy, I got an honest of god rocket I can fire off, some shockwave thing that I think works the same like the thing I used to lift the car, and I can drain electricity which, in Zeke's words, "makes me an the guy who licks a battery after getting an asskicking and get up like nothing happened". Zeke tested it by getting a few of his friends to beat the hell out of me and turns out he was right, I was ready to kick their ass after I drained enough electricity.
All of that took a few days, maybe a little less, and then we started planning, me, Zeke, and Trish. Empire City it got put under quarantine while I was in bed, the government drops in supplies that nobody ever gets because one of three things happen.
One, one of the gangs show up, take everything, and kills anyone in their way.
Two, people get to it first, tear it apart, and run off with anything they can get their hands on.
Or three, some guy with powers shows up and that almost never ends well.
Zeke's got a damn good stash here but it's not going to last forever, a few more weeks at best and Trish likes being prepared. I've got powers, I can get in there first and take what we need from a few, there's always a few daily all around the city, and leave the rest. Zeke thinks we should just take one who drop, it'll last us a long time but Triss doesn't like it, she says we'll be assholes if we horde that many supplies. Zeke's my friend and all but that's an asshole move and I'm with Trish...at least for now.
She wouldn't be coming with us and things...well things just happen when you head out. I'm not pulling any punches out there and Zeke knows it.
The only other thing we got to deal with is the gangs, they're all over the city and they want rent. Supplies like food, gas, guns, and, when you've got nothing else, you. Some of Zeke's friends got snatched off the street a few days ago and they never came back but he saw them from the roof, they're Reapers now and almost killed someone before I tested out how far I can fling one of my grenades. They ran real fast after those started coming down on their damn heads.
Supplies aren't our problem, the gangs are, at least the Reapers. Zeke's got a few friends around the city and they say on the radio that a gang popped up in each district of the city. The Neon, our place, is under control of the Reapers, the Historic is under control by...nobody really knows but they're definitely not a normal gang, too many guns and too many people who know how to use them too good, and the Warren is under control by an army of bums. Empire City definitely went to hell and quick.
Zeke actually worked something out through, got a plan to deal with the Reapers. I like his plan, it's short, simple, and to the point.
Step one, I head out.
Step two, raise hell, draw out the Reapers.
Step three, Zeke and his buddies kill them all.
We get control of the Neon and nobody tries anything after they see Zeke and his guys got someone with powers on their side.
Trish...Trish doesn't like it but she's willing to help, she helped Zeke set it all up in the end, told me where to draw the Reapers to so him and his guys can wipe them out but she's not picking up a gun anytime soon even if she's one of the best shots we have, her dad really liked taking her to shoot it looks like. She's happy to patch anybody up but that's it. In a way, I can understand, I'm not a killer but I'm not going to pretend that I won't kill one of those son of bitches if it comes down to saving any of the guys doing this with me but I won't like it but I'll be able to sleep at night. Trish, Trish really can't handle doing something like that and nothing me or Zeke says is going to change that anytime soon.
I really hope she never has to pick up a gun but...Ah fuck this, I'm getting off topic.
Anyway, we got a plan, we got the guns, and we're getting the guys, all that's left is for me to head out and draw the Reapers to the, Zeke named it, "Dunbar Deathtrap"...we're never letting him name anything again.
All joking aside, I got about an hour or so left before this all starts and I've got to head out and I'm a little worried. Nothing major, just...just nerves, I've got them before and I'll get them again but I'm ready. Those Reapers are about to learn not to hang around the Neon anymore once today's over with.
"Hey Cole! We're set!" Zeke's guys are ready for war it looks like, I forget sometimes my best friend is some apocalypse nut that had an armory in his house.
"Alright, I'm almost there." The Reapers have a bunch of outposts set up, really just a few pickup trucks lined up across the street. "Let's see how these guys like me."
"I hope they hate you."
"Me too."
This is going to start something, I can feel it. We're either going to win or we're going to lose. One way or another people are going to die today.
I'll make sure we're the ones standing at the end of it.
That's a promise.
AN: And the plot thickens...maybe.
(Read the following in DBZ narrator's voice)
What is Future Cole planning to do? Will he succeed or will he fail against the might of his foes? Will Cole be able to claim the Neon back from the Reapers? How long will it take for the next update?
Find out...whenever in the next chapter of Infamous: A Second Chance!
(AND outro...whatever music you want really)
Now time for replies:
Angerunleashed4doomsday-First off, that's an awesome name. Second, glad you liked it.
w1lliam-Yeah, its definitely going to be interesting how this many Coles can change the story.
Warren Sanders-I do try to keep things pretty clear.
Nishi-Half right there, it's Future Cole but not Kessler.
KuletXCore-Glad you like it even if I think calling this gold a bit of a stretch, there's way better stories out there than mine.
Olive-Ask and (even if really, really, really late) you shall receive.
Majora-Jedi-I have granted your request.
