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Nick was the last of the group to climb up on the chopper. Once everyone was safely on board Arsenic gave the order to get moving. After a few more moments of preparation, they were off, their chopper following the armored transport vehicle with two others, while the rest fallowed the ambulances, taking a different route. The helicopter rose a little further into the air, giving the group a better look at the city; Nick stared in awe and despair at the scene, it was one thing to walk among the carnage and see the destroyed buildings and properties individually, but to see them all at once in a panoramic view like this, it was just horrifying.

"My god..." He just whispered to himself. Buildings that he saw and entered daily now lie in ruin, some destroyed beyond recognition, even the campus of his university was not spared. He stared at the destroyed city until they finally left its boarders, and even then he looked in its direction as it began to fade away into the deep red horizon. When the city was finally out of view he sat down in the chopper, staring at his hands as they balled into fists in determination. Cure or no cure, the Beast was killing people, making them suffer, and Nick would do everything in his power to make sure that the rest of the world is spared from his wrath.

Back at the headquarters.

Inside a small cellar sat a young woman, a conduit imprisoned inside a small cell. The walls were hard bricks and the floor didn't look like it was cleaned for a long time. It wasn't very sanitary but it was better than the other cellars the hostile conduits were placed in. The small cellar didn't have any bathroom, windows or beds. But it did have a hard bench for the woman to sit on.

It was better than nothing, bjt it felt it was going tk break off at any moment.

The young woman sat on the middle of the bench, looking down at her shoes and the dirty floor under her. She didn't look up from the barsto see the scientists and new recruits pass by. She just sat they're, tracing the cracks of the bench with her finger. She wore specialized gloves she received from a doctor since the day she arrived. They restricted her powers, but it felt like she was untrustworthy. But they're was bright side towards it all.

At least she didn't kill anyone by mistake this time.

The chopper landed on a tall building in the centre of Chicago. The town seemed mostly sectioned and in each section was a scanner and troops of soldiers patrolling.

Sly walked over to the edge of the buildings looking down at the people being herded like sheep... This was no way to live, it disgusted him... "how could they give away their freedom like that..." He said under his breath.

As Arsenic gave the tour of his HQ, Sly saw a door that said 'cells'. It didn't take a genius to figure where that door led. Ofcourse, Arsenic gave him the red light to go in, that didn't stop him, he disobeyed him completely and used a nearby guards finger to open the door... It was disgusting... Conduits... Left there to soil in their own juices, it was a horrifying sight indeed.

Sly walked along the corridor looking in each cell, he saw all types of conduits... From child to fully grown adult to elderly person. He saw the cuffs on their hands, they were obviously restricting the conduits from using their powers but even so, this was no way to live.

Sly stopped when he arrived outside a cell containing a young woman, around about his age. He looked at her cell, then at her, rage boiling up inside him... "I thought you wanted conduits and normals to coexist, now I find that your locking up conduits!?" his arms frosted up as he turned to face Arsenic "explain, and do it quick" he was going to bust these cells down regardless but he wanted to know the reason.

"Welcome to the CCD headquarters my friends." He said to the group as they stepped off the chopper. "This facility will be your new home for the time being, come, I'll give you the grand tour." He lead the group into the building, down a flight of stairs into a long hallway that seemed to divide the two buildings that the complex was composed of. "First, let's go to the research labs, I want to show you exactly what we've been working on to neutralize the Plague." He said. As they walked down the hall they passed the entrance to the Conduit Holding Facility, Arsenic noticing Sly stopping and examining it. "Stay with the group Sly, we'll get to that section later." He advised him, but the rebellious Conduit flat out ignored him. "Sly no, wait..." He chased after him, entering the Holding Facility as the young man was examining the Conduits that were being held, most of them Hostile. Sly threatened Arsenic, and he had no choice but to explain himself.

"...I told you, the government doesn't exactly have high hopes for our research, they've put a lot of restrictions on us." He began. "We needed to keep them in a safe place for our research, so creating a sort of living quarters was obvious. Originally we intended to have the non hostile Conduits be put in more reasonable living conditions, but our funding is limited and most of it goes to research, so forgive me if we can't offer five star luxury comfort!" Arsenic snapped, he didn't like it either, but much like their detainees, his hands were tied. Sly's hands didn't thaw however, Arsenic could tell that he still intended to break the glass that separated him and the Conduit.

Nick followed Sly and Arsenic into the Holding Facility, the sight before him was disturbing to say the least. The cells were small, with only a bench for the Conduits to sit and sleep on, sealed with a glass door as if to taunt them with the freedom they were denied; but the worst part of it all was the people inside. There seemed to be two types of detainees, most had large, heavy duty cuffs on their hands that looked rather painful to wear, those were obviously the Hostile Conduits. They looked up at him as he walked passed their cells, their eyes were the same as the Beast's, a cold, hard stare that showed that they would have no qualms about killing him if given the chance. Then there was the girl, the one with the gloves on, her eyes were different, not a trace malice could be seen in them. They were... not innocent, but humbled, with traces of fear and despair as well, she was just like them, and innocent Conduit. He could see why Sly was angry, but at the same time he understood Arsenic's explanation and knew that he was right.

"Sly... please, listen to him." Nick interjected, facing the angry Conduit. "Look, I don't like this either, anyone with a brain could see that this is degrading, but understand that most of these people are hostile, they're Conduits that sided with the beast, captured because they were trying to hurt people; they're the reason that people are scared of us and the government is forcing the CCD to lock up even innocent Conduits, setting them free would only make things worse! Remember why were came here, to change things, to stop the Beast and make people trust Conduits, not put more dangerous ones back on the streets to cause more havoc or send innocent ones out into a world where they would just be locked up again or worse. If we're going to change things we need to trust Dr. Arsenic, and you don't trust him then at least trust me, the guy who saved your life, the guy who doesn't even kill the Conduits that tired to kill him... please." Nick pleaded. He knew that if Sly broke any of the Conduits out it would just make things worse, he just hope that Sly could set aside his anger enough to see that.

Sly was hesitant,he looked between the girl, Arsenic and Nick. The frost on hi arms melted "It doesn't cost anything to hose down these cells. if you're going to lock these people up by force, Then clean their living quarters at least" Sly turned and looked at her, he couldn't help but feel drawn to her. There was something in her eyes that said she didn't belong.

Sly placed his hands slowly onto the cell glass doors "What's your name?" he asked her, his hands frosting up. The door iced up turning ashy black and freezing cold as his hands lay upon it. After a while it froze up enough for an opening. He managed to shatter the glass wide enough for a person to walk through. "Doc, she's gunna be part of this team, i don't care what she's done"

The girl continued to trace her finger on the cracks of bench. Doctor Arensic was right about the cells not being a five star hotel. But it was better than nothing, at least they're wasn't any rats and roaches running around. That would make even more worse conditions than the imprisoned conduits were already in now.

The young conduit didn't look up to see what was going on until Sly placed his hands. On the bars. "..." the young woman didn't know if she was supposed to reply or not. She didn't know this guy at all, but he didn't seem all too bad. "M-my name is Geneviève...." she answered and quickly looked back down. She didn't step away from her bench or try to escape from the cell. She didn't want to get into any trouble.

Jaqulynn soon caught up, along with Evan. She glanced at the caged up conduits. She was already formulating a plan to get them out. She glanced ahead at Sly, and the hole he made. "And what if she doesn't want to be on the team?"She asked. "Not against letting her out or anything, but just because she's a conduit doesn't mean she wants to help."Jaqulynn said. "Well, it's not gonna kill us to ask."Evan said.

Dr. Arsenic let out a sigh. "I told you we would get to this part later, but no time like the present I suppose." He said as he walked over to the cell holding the girl. "This here is Ms. Genevieve Greco, she is a refugee, a non hostile Conduit we found among the survivors of a previous Blast, just like you four. She also just so happens to be one of the few Conduits that is able to absorb Blast Cores, I was going to introduce her to you after the tour but... what can I say, you have an eye for people Sly." he then turned his attention to Genevieve, who was still sitting on the bench in her cell.

"Genevieve," He called to her, gaining her attention. "It's alright Genevieve, you can come out now, there are some friends I'd like you to meet." He said in a friendly voice.

Genevieve sat on her bench listening to everyone trying to knock some sense into Sly. Geneviève had no training with other conduits before so it would'nt make any sense for her to join lr that's what she thought. But didn't bother to say this oitloud. Geneviève sat on bench, staring at the floor while Dr. Arensic introduced hee to the others. She didn't get up to shake their hands or say hello. Until Dr. Arensic called her over.

Geneviève looked up at the group, giving a quick scan of everyone before getting up fro the bench. Geneviève stood up from the bench and walked away from her cellar. She gave a small smile and lightly waved to the group. "Nice to meet youuu..." Geneviève didn't know any of their names and stold they're with a short pause. "Friends...." she finished.

"Um, hello, I'm Nick, Nick Kell." Nick introduced himself in a friendly manor. "And this is Evan, Jaqulynn, and you already know Sly. So it looks like we're gonna be working together for a while, that is if you're willing to help us out." Nick could tell she was uneasy, he himself wasn't all too good with meeting new people either, but the more people they had on their little "team" the better.

"Nice to meet you, I'm sorry for being so forward a second ago" he smiled at her, the frost on his hands faded away "seeing all these people like this, it didn't feel right" he was sincere and honest but, honesty gets him under the bad spotlight.

"so doc, my weapon?" he said turning to the good doctor

"I see you've learned nothing of patience Mr. Fox." Arsenic replied. "Don't worry, we will provide you a weapon just as we promised, in fact it currently in our Research Facility, come, we will continue the tour on the way." He led the five Conduits back into the hallway and walked down a few more feet until he came to another door that read "CCD Research Facility". He put his finger on a scanner and after a moment the light flashed green and the sound of the door unlocking could be heard. He opened the door and led the group into the second building, which had an entirely different atmosphere than the Holding Facility. They were led into another hallway with glass windows all across both sides that showed all of the different laboratories the CCD HQ had. Arsenic introduced them one by one as they walked passed them.

"This here is our Plague Analysis Lab, it is there that we try to learn everything we can about the disease and how to coup with it, things like treatment options, how to prevent infection, and of course, an eventual cure. We study blood and tissue samples from Plague Victims, and if they agree to it, we examine their remains, this is by far our most important lab." he explained as he pointed to the window where scientists in has-mad suits worked. "Next is the Blast Protection Lab, in there we study the effects of Ray Field Blasts and how to defend against them. We use simplified Ray Spheres to replicate said Blasts for out tests, we hope to find a way to create Blast Shelters for major cities to protect people from the Beast's Blasts. Of course, that is also the lab where our Blast Cores are developed." The window showed a couple of scientists tinkering with a used up Ray Sphere, pulling out the Blast Core and storing it for later use. "And right here, we have the Conduit Conditioning Grounds, it is in here that most Non-Hostile Conduits spend most of their time during the day. Here we teach them how to better control their powers, how to keep them from unintentionally hurting others, in hopes of one day reintegrating them into society." The window showed multiple Conduits of all types doing various activities to strengthen their control over their powers, some seeming more enthusiastic than others.

"And finally, the moment that Sly has been waiting for." He said sarcastically as he reached the last door in the hallway. He entered a code in a keypad and then put his finger on a scanner, opening the door. "Welcome to the Ray Field Utilization Lab." he welcomed as he held the door open for the group. Inside they saw a multitude of gadgets and technologies being worked on, from Core Relays to Power Transfer Devices. "Here we develop technology that runs on Ray Field Radiation, we figured if we can't get rid of the stuff, might as well put it to good use." He said as he allowed the group to look around.

Nick was incredibly impressed with just how much work was being done in the facility. The CCD really was more than just a Conduit police force, they really seemed to be doing everything they can to protect Normals from the Beast, relieve people of the Plague, and help innocent Conduits; it almost made the horrible conditions of the Conduit Holding Facility seem worth it... almost. Nick took special interest in the Conduit Conditioning Grounds, it put his heart at ease to see that the Conduits that weren't a threat really weren't just thrown into a cell to rot. He was also surprised to see that the activities the Conduits were partaking in seemed almost therapeutic in nature, when he first heard of the program he figured they would be breeding a Conduit army in order to fight against the Beast or something, but it truly was just enough training to keep their powers under control. Sure there was some basic "target practice" thrown in the mix, but most of it was just creating art with their respective elements, moving objects without breaking them, and other challenges that championed control over combat, it was actually kind of relaxing. Eventually the moved on to the Ray Field Utilization Lab, Nick looked around at the various technologies that the CCD was developing as Dr. Arsenic went off to check on Sly's weapon.

"No need to worry, I don't have a problem telling you my name!" Geneviève told Sly, "just don't make me take off mu gloves..." Geneviève said, it hard to tell if she was making a joke or being seriouz with that smile on ber face. But that didn't matter anyways, at least she found out everyone's names. But Geneviève wasn't going to open up tk everyone from the drop of the hat. Geneviève watched everyone leave the cellars to cotinue on their little tour. She felt a little puzzled by this, what about my cell? she thought.

Geneviève thought for a moment turning her head and tapping her fingerg, she had nk idea whag to do. But roll with it and follow behind them, still wondering what she was supposed to do. While Geneviève followed behind the group and Dr. Arensic explained what room was along the tour. Geneviève stared out the windows, she remembered hkw she was sent into the room where non hostile conduits were put in training, bjt she didn't know about the research labs and such.

"Is there anything we might be able to do to help cure the plague? Maybe that Conduit gene thing could help find a cure?"Jaqulynn asked Arsenic. "Have you been using the conduits in your care to try and find a cure?"She asked.

"It's true that Conduits are immune to the Plague, and we have explored the possibility of creating a sort of vaccine by analyzing Conduit DNA, but so far we haven't found any real connection between a Conduits immunity and the gene itself, after all just having the gene doesn't make one immune, it has to be activated, and the only sure fire way of activating a Conduit's powers is through Ray Field Energy. And yet, Conduit-Positive victims of the Plague, which is caused by Ray Field Radiation, do not have their powers activated by it; even after all our research we are still unsure as to what exactly is the relation between Conduits and Ray Field Energy, so creating a cure by directly studying Conduits does not seem like a viable option at the moment." Arsenic explained.

"Maybe it's kind of like a blast core?"Evan offered. "You said that the only some conduits could absorb blast cores. Maybe what ever allows a conduit to absorb blast cores is what allows the Conduit Gene to be activated?"He added.

"If so then only Conduits able to absorb Blast Cores would be immune, but that is not the case." Arsenic pointed out. "As far as we can tell all activated Conduits are immune, they're ability to absorb additional Ray Field Energy is irrelevant. One theory we have about a Conduit's immunity to the Plague is that their bodies are simply strong enough to resist the harmful radiation, Conduits still carry the Plague, it just... doesn't harm them."

Geneviève listened intensly behind everyone. This information was so interesting, but so confusing at the same time. Even though she's been in the facility longer than everyone else in their small group they're were so many things she didn't understand. Geneviève crossed her arms and looked down in thought. They're was something about the plague she thought was worth asking. Geneviève looked up at the doctor trying to join into the conversation. "Does the plague that Conduits carry effect mlre then just humans?" Geneviève asked "have you tried using blood from animals or experimenting with..." she paused, "n-nevermind."

Geneviève quickly looked down, why am I asking questions, I'm no scientists. Geneviève looked up at Dr. Arensic, forcing a smile on hee face. "Forget I said anything! That was a stupid question I asked...hehehe." Geneviève rubbed the back ou of the conversation, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry."