“How’s it looking from up there?”

The radio called out in a familiar voice to the lone conduit on the roof . The conduit looked over the roof’s edge. Down below, an overpass was devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of commuters at this hour. Though that was to be expected with it being closed off to the public that day. The DUP really didn’t want their interference this time around. Not to say that they wouldn’t be getting any.

The conduit known as Samuel Reed, a wire conduit, picked up the radio to reply, “Nothing yet. You sure that you didn’t get the times mixed up?”

The last remark was merely a joke. He and the rest of the ‘Four Aces’, as they were known in the city of Memphis, had gone over their info at least three times before they set up their plan. That didn’t stop the other person on the radio to chime back in.

“You trying to say something, bitch?”


‘Eloquent as always, Lu,’ Samuel smiled, “Yeah, that there is a difference between a two and a three in case you forgot.”

“Both of you shut up!” another voice cut in, “I swear, if either of you miss your cue. I will electrocute you both into a coma!”

Samuel would never doubt the threat, as he liked not being hit by a couple gigawatts of electricity every other day.

“Nataline, please.” the final voice of their group spoke up over the radio, “We’re just a little anxious about this. I mean, this is the first time that we’ve tried something like this.”

A sigh from Nataline came over the radio, “I know, but we can’t afford to mess this up. Conduit or not, those are innocent lives We’re attempting to rescue.”

Isabelle, always the voice of reason. Samuel was sure that their little group wouldn’t have survived as long as it had together without her. Or their powerhouse, Nataline. They could certainly due without a certain rocks-for-brains loudmouth, but even he had his uses. This ambush/rescue plan had to go off without a hitch if they were to show the DUP what ‘bio-terrorists’ were made of.

Samuel’s thoughts were interrupted by the radio crackling back on to life, “I think I see something.”

Samuel knew that everyone else had to have heard Isabelle’s call, and like him, were getting ready for the strike.

“I have them coming down the overpass, four, no five vehicles.” Isabelle continued, “They should be coming around to you all here now.”

From Samuel’s spot, he watched the corner where Isabelle’s watch point was blocked by an apartment building. Seconds ticked by, and then he saw them. Just like they anticipated, the DUP convoy came around the bend at a relaxed pace. When all the vehicles came into view, Samuel counted three APC’s, two in the front and one bringing up the rear, and two heavy transports in the middle.

Samuel raised the radio in his hand up to speak, “I’ve got them; my guess, at least a dozen on guard.”

“No shit sherlock. Wanna tell us what the color the sky is next?”

“Shut up, Lu,” Samuel hissed in reply.

Nataline cut in again, “One more word, and both of you are getting fried! Now get ready, they’re about to hit the marker.”

The ‘marker’ was a DUP billboard that hung just above the overpass section the conduits planned for their ambush. Lu, had also placed a big ol’ target on the back of it with some red spray paint he found lying around. With everything else ready, and the convoy just about in place. Samuel listened to the countdown Nataline was giving over the radio.

“3...2...1...NOW!”

The DUP billboard gave an audible groan before collapsing into the overpass below. Shards of concrete embedded in the back where the target was. The convoy screeched to a halt in front of the impromptu blockade. Shouts of orders to turn around were cut off as an impressive wall of fire erupted behind the convoy, effectively sealing off any retreat. Now is when the real conflict began. Lu, being brash as ever jumped first. The leap he made from the top of the building he shot the billboard off of down to the overpass would have killed any other man. Though to a conduit, it was akin to stepping down the last step to a staircase.

He shot off a blast of concrete into the first APC at the front just as the DUP troops were getting out. Two of them were knocked off their feet and one unlucky soul actually got blasted over the side of the overpass guardrail. The ones that were only staggered rejoined their comrades that dispatched from the second APC at the front of the convoy, trying to overwhelm the concrete conduit with sheer numbers. Their plan failed as Nataline joined the fray by slamming into the center of their ranks from above with a shockwave of electrical energy. Together they kept the aggressors pinned to the cover of their vehicles armor plating and the barriers they erected from the ground. And now, it was Samuel’s turn to get in on the action.

He leapt from the building he was perched on. The air whipping past his body for a few seconds before he skillfully rolled out against the ground and got back to his feet to engage. His right arm tensed and he felt the familiar tingle of his power manifesting as a coil of wire sprouted out from his wrist. The first trooper he encountered didn’t have enough time to react as Samuel used the tendril of wire like a whip. The lashing sent the trooper sprawling. Unfortunately, the element of surprise would only work once and Samuel dove for cover as three more troopers zeroed in on him. The air was rife with gunfire, crackling electricity, and pelting concrete shards.

“Another contact!” one of the DUP goons cried out, momentarily drawing Samuel’s suppression away from him.

He heard a few screams and a ‘fwoosh’ of fire signalling their final member, Isabelle, was now in the fight. Samuel ducked away from his cover behind one of the transports to assist her. Two of the DUP troopers were subjected to a combination of fiery blasts and wire lashings. A few of the bullets from the DUP struck home in the two conduits. The pain was more than bearable and their increased regenerative abilities made it easy to recover from in a matter of seconds.

Up front, Lu and Nataline’s opponents were thinning. The DUP troopers may have been endowed with a few conduit abilities, but they were nothing compared to prime conduits.

“Sam,” Nataline shouted out, “Get to the transports!”

Sure the plan wasn’t to take on every DUP trooper they came across, but you can’t blame a guy for getting into the spirit of things. Alas, there was a plan and Samuel finished subduing the last trooper he defeated with some wire shackles. The rest of the conduits were handling the DUP forces so Samuel hurried over to the first transport. The back door was secured with a heavy plating that would make bank vaults jealous. Not that that would stop the wire conduit and proceeded to snake a few wires into the crevices of the door’s seam and around the internal locks. The mighty door groaned under Samuel’s exertion, but eventually the internal pins gave way and the door swung open. Inside a teenage girl, no older than 13 by the looks of her shied away from the entrance and the commotion outside. She wore a purple, spaghetti-strap tank top with a black skirt and off-white leggings. She had a pair of ugg boots with eggshell colored puff tassels.

Samuel reached out only to have the girl shy away even more.

“Hey,” he tried again, more gently, “I’m here to get you out of here.”

The girl looked skeptically to her would be savior. Slowly, but surely, she too reached out her hand. Samuel gave the most disarming smile he could to further encourage the girl.

“Halt, bio-terrorist!”

The intrusive order came from behind them at the transport’s exit. The DUP trooper already had his weapon raised and ready to fire. Samuel wasn’t about to let himself or the other conduit be captured so easily and lashed out. Though unlike his witless brethren. This trooper was ready and dodged the tendril with a backstep. Having unexpected this, Samuel left himself wide open. The trooper took hold of his advantage, blasting the conduit with a wave of concrete and dazing him.

The DUP trooper smirked from behind his covered face shield. He could almost taste that capture bonus. All he had to do was bind the two conduits for transport. His plan was cut short though as the frightened girl screamed and stretched her arms out in panic. Reflective shards wove their way from her palm. Caught off-guard by the surprise attack, the pawn was blasted away by the shards and into what appeared to be a mirror. Samuel, having recovered, watched as the trooper was thrown through the mirror behind him, but instead of shattering, the trooper disappeared into the reflection all the while screaming.

Samuel couldn’t believe his eyes. One minute, the trooper was there, the next, he pulls a houdini. The mirror soon cracks then shatters. The shards lazily float back to the little girl he was protecting. As the last of the shards are absorbed, the girl begins to sniffle with a few tears.

“Hey there,” Samuel tries to comfort the girl, “It’s going to be okay. He’s gone now. Gotta ask though, what happened back there?”

The girl shook her head as if to ward off a bad dream and buried her face in her hands. She could only mutter under her breath, to which the other conduit could only catch a few words.

“...th-the mirrors…take them away...it’s my fault”

Samuel could already see where this was going, feeling sorry that the young conduit had to be put through something like this. With a little more empathy in his voice, he spoke to the scared, little girl.

“Hey, there’s nothing to fear,” just as a large explosion rocked the transport, “ignore all that outside, just tell me your name, please?”

The girl finally looked up from behind her hands. A few errant tears dotting the corners of her eyes, “Jessica.”

“Well, Jessica. Me and my friends are here to rescue you from the DUP’s. Does that sound okay?”

Samuel could see a small glimmer of hope return to the younger conduit’s face. He smiled back with as much reassurance as he could which seemed to work in his favor. With an arm outstretched in support, the girl took Samuel’s hand and ducked out of the transport. Outside Samuel’s friends were huddled behind a concrete barrier facing away from the first transport.

Lu spotted the two first and gritted his teeth, “Geez, wanna take all day?!”

“I don’t see you doing anything important out here, besides hiding behind a wall,” Samuel retorted.

As always, Nataline was the one to cut them off, “Will you two shut it! Sam, was that all who was in the transport?”

Samuel looked behind him where Jessica was taking refuse. Sure enough, there was no one else on the transport which he affirmed with a nod.

“The other conduits must be in the other transport then,” Nataline mostly talked to herself, but Samuel caught that hint of surprise in her tone, “get to the other transport. There’s a few DUP’s out there, but they’re keeping their distance. Most likely waiting for back-up.”

Samuel nodded again and sidled along Lu’s concrete barrier to the other transport just on the other side of the highway. With Jessica right behind him, which he didn’t seem to mind, Samuel moved up to the rear door of the other transport.

“Stay back, Jessica,” He motioned to the younger conduit beside him.

Just like before, he snaked a few wires between the transports locks and pulled with all his might. Also like before, the door heaved with a resounding groan of resistance until it finally gave way. Though unlike the last time, Samuel’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the interior. Time slowed to a crawl as he took in what was inside. A container the size of a car engine sat menacingly in the center of the transport. Color coded wires snaked along the outside of the whole contraption along with several hazard placards. Though what caught his attention the most was the large LED timer facing him with a display that instilled only more panic in him. Six whole seconds was all he got as a warning as to the true nature of this DUP detainee transport.

“IT’S A TRAP!”

He couldn’t see how his friends reacted to the outburst as he had another issue to focus on.There wasn’t enough time to move, especially with the younger conduit just behind him, so he did the only other thing he could think of. Wires shot out from his hands, criss-crossing over one another in an attempt to become a woven shield. He worked as fast as he could, but the timer was already at the two second mark.

Scratch that, one second.

There was no more time, so he braced. Then, there was an explosion. One that was louder than anything Samuel had ever heard or felt before. The shockwave that hit was more than enough to rattle him to the bone. Then there was pain; searing pain in many different parts of his body. In his nearly blinded state, he could swear he could feel his body no longer firmly planted on the ground where it belonged and simultaneously crashing through what sounded like a sheet of glass behind him. A sense of vertigo took hold and no matter how far back he was thrown, there was no solid ground he expected to hit on the way back. It was like he was perpetually falling. He tried to scream, but even then he could not hear the sound of his own voice. Just the agonizing ringing in his ears as he prayed for it to stop.

Then another crash of glass before he hit the ground and passed out.