Conduits vs Supes : Civil War

Hello, again ! Still a good week ? Hope so ! Just a few words… or rather, a request. Read this chapter and tell me what you think, will ya ? I think that's a pretty accurate reaction from Vought and co… Tell me if you think they'd react differently. And now, without further ado, enjoy !

==============

Rooftop, Empire City.

Cole and his best friend Zeke were relaxing on the roof of Zeke's apartment building, watching the TV powered by Cole's power. The news were talking about the situation in Empire City, and while both of them knew it was mostly bullshit, they were curious about how the people outside the city perceived it.

« Exclusive news, everyone ! We've just received this leaked footage recently sent to the FBI. It's coming straight from Empire City's bioterrorist : Cole MacGrath. Ladies and gentleman, we have to warn you… The contents you are about to see are not suitable for all audiences.»

« What ?! » The man himself reacted, shocked and bewildered.

« As of today, I declare that Empire City is a sovereign nation. » The man on screen, who looked exactly like Cole, started to say. « We no longer recognize or tolerate any intervention from the US government, its law enforcement agencies or its heroes ! Your presence and interferences are unwelcome and will be met with immediate and decisive retaliation. You have been warned. »

The man on the video who was previously close to the camera, obscuring the rest of the room took a step back. He could now be seen walking in some kind of abandoned warehouse, approaching a bound man with a jacket bearing the letters FBI. He grabbed the man by the neck and pushed him closer to the camera.

« This man has been caught illegally crossing our borders and will now serve as an example to anyone who decides to ignore my warning ! »

Retrieving a weapon which looked suspiciously like his own Amp, the man started to beat the man to death. Violently, over and over the weapon struck, until the man no longer moved and the 'Cole' on screen was covered with his blood.

With a final look at the camera, the man repeated :

« You have been warned ! »

And then, the feed was cut to return to the anchor :

« The authorities believe that Cole MacGrath and his bioterrorists accomplices harbor a number of hostages in unknown locations, in order to keep our valiant heroes from putting an end to this violent insurrection. Homelander had this to say :… »

The video switched to an interview of Homelander :

« Cole MacGrath is a thug, a terrorist and a coward. We will find a way to rescue the innocent civilians he and his gangs are enslaving and he will face justice ! »

« Son of a bitch ! » Cole swore as he got up.

Zeke switched off the TV and looked at his friend. After a second, he asked him :

« Why the hell are they doing this ? And how ? It looks too real to be doctored footage. »

Cole seemed to calm down as he considered the question. Though he was pissed to have his likeness used like this on national television, it didn't really change with how people already perceived him. Everyone believed him to be responsible for detonating the Ray Sphere.

« I don't know, » He admitted. « … but we have to do something. I can't work on fighting the gangs and the entire population of Empire City. Which is probably what's gonna happen if they all believe this… garbage ! »

Zeke nodded in agreement.

« A good thing we can call on a certain genius, can't we ? I bet he'll have a solution for us ! »

* * * * *

« I don't have a solution for that. » Frederic Saint-Claire admitted. « Vought's PR department has decades of experience dealing with the aftermaths of heroes' fuck-ups : they've made twisting a narrative into an art form. A disgusting, disturbing art form. On the other hand, my intuition is very situational and works mostly on what's happening around me. »

Frederic was lying. However, the two calling him currently already knew too much about himself and were a potential danger. He didn't want Vought to find him and Zeke and Cole knew he was a Vought-Baby. If they were to carelessly let it slip… Or worse, if a Supe managed to get their hands on one of them…

So, he hid another facet of his personality : Internet influencer, conspiracy theorist and keyboard enemy of Vought, TVL or TruVoughtLies. It's been years since he started undermining their authority and the truths they fed to the masses. First by reacting on forums, then creating his own website and finally by shooting anonymous and heavily edited videos. Actually, more than edited, TVL was an animated character with a distorted, comical voice straight out of a comics books. Which was fitting really, since he was modeled after one of his childhood heroes, a comic book character that existed before Vought Heroes and might have given birth to the idea of them : Superman.

Of course, he'd been modified so as not to infringe on any copyrights : the S had been replaced by the letters TVL, the design was very cartoonish with the character being a small, almost child-like size with an oversized head. His voice too, was computer generated by a program he'd written himself. And frankly, the most difficult part of the program had been to give a little life to the character's voice, make it act, as if there was a voice actor behind it.

The reason behind all this work was that technology evolved constantly, and it was possible to pass a modulated voice through filters and uncover the voice of the original person. So, yeah : artificial voice and animated character.

Unfortunately for the two, Frederic wasn't about to tell them he was TVL. Besides, TVL had neither the audience nor the significance needed to change Cole's public opinion. While he'd been gaining traction in recent years in some circles, he was also painted by a lot of people as a conspiracy nut.

« The person you want to see is my foster sister… She's actually a pretty successful streamer. Even more now that she's doing dangerous stunts on her channel. If you can convince her to invite you on one of her streams, it'd go a long way to make people question what they saw on TV… »

The two friends looked at each other in silence. They enquired if Frederic knew her location or how to contact her before ending the call.

* * * * *

Another Rooftop… Still Empire City.

Danielle Dreadhill, Internet handle DDH-88, was scarfing a massive amount of food on one of her live. Between two bites of her current sandwich, she explained :

« You see, guys, my conduit power needs energy to function. Without it, my fat and muscles will atrophy, I'll turn into a living mummy - and not the warm and cuddly British one. Worst case scenario, I can even die for reals, ya know ? I don't want that… » She muttered to herself out of range of the mic : « …Even though my home life's crappy enough that I'd want to off myself. »

She cleared her throat and continued :

« Anyways ! Where was I ? Right ! Energy ! So, yeah… That's why you've watched me devour food like a starved ghost these last few streams. The stunts I pulled… I obviously hurt myself and needed the energy to recover. » She chuckled to herself as she reacted to a comment. « Yeah, you're right, Artias1473 : I'm not the one who figured it all. I've mentioned my friend, kind of brother, right ? Long story short, I thought the Ray Sphere had only given me regeneration. One which sucked because every time I healed, I felt the tiredness overcome me almost instantly. He gave me a diet to increase the… How did he call it ? ATB ? AT…M ? or was it ATP ? » She shook her head. « Basically, the human body runs on a particular chemical energy produced in the body by converting certain kinds of food. » She motioned toward the large table. « I've noticed that… the more I shoot these videos, the hungrier I get. My friend says that's because I'm increasing my energy stores. »

She dropped her cutleries into her plate, wiped her mouth with a napkin. Her silence lit up her chatroom, her viewers sending comments non stop. She reacted to the most recurring one :

« Yes. It's time ! »

She got up, clipped something on her shirt and reoriented the camera toward the edge of the roof. Another tripod with a phone pointed down could be seen. She turned to the camera while walking backwards and spoke :

« I'm guessing some of you have already figured out the stunt of the day : I'm gonna jump off the roof ! » At this point, Danielle couldn't see the screen or the comments of her followers. She could only guess what they'd say : « I know that some of you believe it's all fake. CCG or whatever they call it. That I'm somehow manipulating what you're all seeing. I'm repeating myself : We are live ! So yeah… This… » She shuddered as she looked down the street. « It's all real. And painful… » The second part was said in a low voice.

She turned back toward the camera on the table, her arms spreading slowly to the sides. She explained :

« As you can see from the stream, there are three live feeds shooting. This one, on the roof. The other… » She flicked a finger at the camera on the tripod beside her. « … Is gonna film my fall toward the ground. And the last… Is shooting from my car parked down the street. It should capture the last few stories and my body splattering over the ground. »

She looked back down the street and admitted in a small voice :

« I'm really scared, guys ! I've never down something like this before… But Fre… I mean, my brother says that as long as I have energy, I'm basically immortal. In my case, he says that the saying 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' is kind of true… Or at least, it's supposed to make me more resilient. According to him, I'll only be hurt the first time… Shall we test that ? » The question was asked, a tenuous smile directed at the camera near the table.

Her eyes never left the lens as she let herself fall backward.