I arrive at another intersection.
“Okay, Moya, can you see my location?”
“I can. One of my contacts, an electrician named Brandon Carey, didn't check in last night. He's pretty important, so you need to find him. He was last seen in the alley across the street from you,”
I jog across the street to the alley and look around and find a dead woman.
“Your boy isn't here, Moya, just a dead woman,”
“A woman? That doesn't make any sense”
“Hang on a second,”
From what I remember, memories are controlled by electricity in the brain. I should be able to see her memories if I look for them.
I put my hand over her head, and I start to see something.
The woman, Lynnae, starts to speak.
“...Reapers... no... leave my husband alone... where are you taking him... Brandon!”
“It worked,”
Moya speaks.
“What did?”
“I... I was able to tap into her memories, the reapers kidnapped Brandon. This is his wife, Lynnae. They took Brandon out of the alley,”
“See if you can see where they took him,”
“Got it,”
I look around for more dead people, reapers love to shoot people.
I eventually find one and tap into their memories.
“..Yeah, I’ll be there in a sec…Ah! Reapers!..Please, I have a family!”
I look up and they’ve seemed to go towards an alley across the street.
I go into the alley and find another body.
“..Damn it, where is he..Shit!..L-look..I don’t have anything…let me go!”
They went to the substation yard on the next street. Bingo.
I start heading over as Zeke calls me.
“Pick up your damn phone,”
“What's up?”
“The Feds, man, that's what's up. Watching our every move. I even caught one scoping out our roof. Was leaning against a wall down there, eatin' a fresh apple. Now you tell me, where the hell'd he get that?”
“I dunno Zeke, but if we want to be out of here, this is the way it's got to be,”
“C'mon, man, don't be stupid. They'll ride you as long as they can, but the second you're no longer useful, BAM, you vanish. Permanently,”
“I think all that conspiracy stuff has rotted your brain,”
“Don't kill the messenger, brother. I'm just tellin' it like it is — you watch your back”
Zeke hangs up.
When I reach the substation yard, I see a light in the distance and walk over to it.
“The hell? Why would they run here?”
From around a corner I see a shadow of a person, since I’m not being shot yet it must be Brandon.
I walk toward the corner and say.
“Hey, Brandon! Moya’s looking for you!”
When I turn the corner I don’t see Brandon, but a stubby-looking reaper messing with the wiring to the Neon.
“What the hell? You’re not— “
The reaper turns around and pulls out 2 sticks of lit dynamite.
My eyes widen and before I can start running, it blows up.
I open my eyes a couple of minutes later, and that nutcase just blew the entire Neon’s power.
Moya starts to talk.
“What the hell happened? The entire Neon just went dark,”
“That's ‘cause one of those maniacs blew up a whole substation... man, my head feels like it's in a vice…”
I can barely get my words out.
“Your body must be reacting to the absence of electricity. You're going to have to hurry up and find Brandon. If we don't restore the power, the reapers will be unstoppable”
I try to stand and I almost fall over,
“This is unbearable. Shit..”
I try to support myself on a nearby trash can.
“Did they plan this, ‘cause it’s sure as hell working,”
I sit and try to gain my composure. After a few seconds I start getting used to it, not fast but enough.
I close my eyes and sense for nearby neuro-electric energy. It’s hard to explain but it’s sorta like a radar for electricity.
I sense something below me, it’s in the sewers. I make my way to a nearby manhole cover and jump down.
“All right… I tracked the echo to the sewers,”
I produce lightning from my arms for a source of light.
“The reapers must've needed Carey's help in shutting down the underground linear transformer,”
“There should be a transformer down there. Find a way to get it back online. You can re-establish a circuit, right?”
“I’ll try,”
I head forward and navigate through the sewers and after a bit I find the transformer. One side was full of electricity, the other was bone dry. If I put my hands on both sides, I could transfer the electricity from one side, through my body and to the other. I walk up and put my hands on the 2 ends of the transformer and let the energy flow through me, but I start to see... something…
In a type of dreaming and subconscious state, I see … myself?
I put my hands together, gathering electricity and reached out towards a civilian on the ground. Electricity cascaded across their body and they got up like nothing happened.
“Wh...What the hell?”
Then, the scene shifts to a street, with a reaper on the ground, I see myself walk forward and stomp my foot on the reaper’s chest, after my foot makes contact, lightning materializes around it’s wrists and ankles and he becomes bound to the ground by the lightning.
The scene changes again, it’s another reaper and he’s on the ground. I see myself lean down next to him and reach for its head. It trying to push my hand away, but the second that my hand makes contact with the reaper’s skull, the neuro-electric energy is drained from the reaper, and kills him instantly, leaving it lifeless on the ground.
“Are these.. new powers..?”
When I regain consciousness, I’m on the ground.
“New powers, huh? Guess I could use a bigger arsenal,”
When I finish saying that I hear someone yell for help just ahead.
“Help!”
“I’m coming!”
I run forward through the sewers, and I see someone on the ground in front of me.
“I’m here,"
I lean down and try to mimic what I saw in the vision. I put my hands together, gather electricity and use them like a defibrillator. Luckily enough the guy gets up.
“Huff..Thank you,"
He walks towards a gate and speaks to someone behind it.
“Hey Janet, you back there? Open the gate, this guy's okay,”
The gate opens and he walks in, I follow him.
He turns to me.
“You've got to stop the reapers. They're running around with some electrician, killing anyone they find down here,”
He points in the direction that leads further into the sewer.
“I’ll see what I can do,”
I speak to my receiver.
“The transformer is back on. Now what?,” I say to Moya.
“Restart the distribution substation by charging up the voltage regulator mounted to its front. It should be near the end of the sewer,”
I get a call from Zeke, I answer it.
“Hey man, you there?”
“Yeah,”
“Trish just stopped by and grabbed some of her stuff. She'd barely talk to me, and when I brought you up, whew, she damn near blew a gasket,”
“She thinks I killed her sister,”
My voice lowers when I say this.
“Man, ain't your fault that package was a bomb — hell, you're lucky to be alive. She needs to see things for what they are,”
“Thanks for trying to reassure me man, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. I'll catch you later,”
I hang up on Zeke. Moya was still on the other line.
“Cole, are you having any problems finding your way around down there?”
“Nah, I got into urban exploration about four years ago. Crawled all over this city. I know these sewers like the back of my hand,”
I see citizens and reapers lying on the ground. Without thinking about it, I restrain the reapers to the ground, heal the citizens, and trek forward. After a few rooms and hallways, I see a gate, and behind the gate is someone wearing a yellow jacket and red beanie. It’s Brandon.
He speaks up.
“What are you doing here? Did they see you?”
“I need to turn on the substation,”
“Are you out of your damn mind? The reapers will kill my wife! No one is getting in here!”
Kill his wife? But..she’s already..
“Just.. please open the door,”
“Screw you! I've jammed this thing up tight. No one is getting in or out until she's safe!”
I sigh.
Poor guy still thinks he's protecting Lynnae — doesn't change the fact that I need to get in there. Maybe I could try and trigger the memory in his head, see if that convinces him.
I walk up to him and he steps back.
“What are you doing?! S-stay back!”
I reach through the gate and manage to manipulate the electricity in his brain. I don’t know for sure if it’s working but I get confirmation when his eyes widen.
He starts tearing up.
“I knew I shouldn't have trusted... I'm so sorry, Lynnae…”
He walks forward and opens the gate.
I walk in and he looks at me.
“Listen to me — I've seen what you can do. You have to kill them. All of them. Promise me,”
“I'll do what I can,”
I nod towards him and head towards the substation.
Just ahead I see the substation. I just have to charge it up and it’ll be back on.
I put my hands on the substation and started to charge it up. After about 5 seconds the mechanisms start whirring.
Nearby, there’s a ladder leading to the street above. I climb it and lift up the manhole cover. I look around and it seems the power is restored.
Moya starts to talk.
“Alright Cole. The power is back on but only in that section. You have to turn on the substations in the other parts of the Neon. We can handle that later, for now head to the next objective I sent to you,”
“Alright,”
I look down at my phone and head for the next coordinates.