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"Reggie, man, I need you. All of my powers are gone - I got nothing new from Eugene or any of the old stuff!"
The sense of loss that came with this realisation was near crippling, in a way that would surely have alarmed his brother immensely. The powers that had seemed so terrifying and wrong only a few days earlier now felt as much a part of him as any of his limbs and the thought of losing them so suddenly threatened to drown him in a cold sweat.
He thrust his arm out again and concentrated, focusing on the tingling in his fingertips as he tried once more to do something, anything. A dim blue spark fizzled in his outstretched palm and disappeared just as feebly a moment later. He cursed and turned his attention back to his brother on the phone.
"Woah, what? Stay where you are, I'm coming."
An armoured D.U.P vehicle cruised past and Delsin felt his skin crawl as he watched it go, half expecting the doors to fly open and the turret to open fire. He let out a shaky breath as it turned the corner without incident.
"No, it's too open here." He paused to think. "There's an alley a few blocks away."
"Alright, I'll meet you there."
The call ended abruptly. He took a deep, shuddering breath and pocketed the phone with numb fingers. For the first time since he'd entered the city, he actually felt afraid. Afraid of the D.U.P with their concrete powers, of their damn auto-turrets and the way their soldiers had a habit of appearing at the worst possible moments. All the dangerous things he'd shrugged off before suddenly felt about as threatening as they were supposed to. If he were to go up against them now, he'd be defenceless. Powerless.
He fought back the buzz of rising panic and made his way towards the alley, progress painfully slow without the help of Fetch’s neon powers. He actually had to remind himself to look both ways before crossing the street and it was a slap in the face to suddenly see how dependent he'd become on his new abilities. He passed a group of protesters with their picket signs and infuriating chants and ground his teeth painfully. "Oh, they are so lucky I don't have my powers."
---
The alley wasn't quite as quiet and empty as he'd hoped it would be. At any other time the sight of the drug deal in progress a few feet away would have filled him with exhilaration. Now, he was frozen to the spot in disbelief because of course this would happen to him now of all times. The deal was a small one, only two thugs milling about, but without powers just one was more than enough. "Aw, great," he muttered, backing up. Any hopes he'd had for escaping unseen vanished the moment one of the men turned to face him and raised his gun in alarm. He raised his hands in a placating gesture, though he doubted it would do him any good.
"Take a wrong turn back there, kid?" the man on the right called out. He bit back a retort, staying silent as he hastily pulled together an escape plan. There was no guarantee that this was going to work and he steeled himself to make a break for it just in case.
He put on the cockiest sounding voice he could muster. "What, you guys don't recognise me? Honestly, I'm a little insulted." The gang members glanced around at each other in a mixture of confusion and amusement and Delsin silently prayed that Reggie wasn't going to end up caught in the middle of all this. He pulled in a deep breath and continued in a voice far steadier than he thought possible. "I mean come on, don't you guys ever watch the news? Take a good long look and tell me you don't know who I am."
There was a few moments of silence before the man on the left spoke up, voice trembling in alarm. "Oh shit! It's that guy, the smoke guy! The one the D.U.P is after!" The ripple of unease that passed over the two was almost tangible. For the first time, Delsin was grateful for the stigma attached to Conduits; he needed them to fear him.
"Oh, you better believe it buddy. So why don't you and your friend here take a hike and save me the effort of kicking your asses, because believe me you don't want that." They regarded him with apprehension but neither moved to let him go. He'd been hoping they'd run as soon as they recognised him, but it seemed they were gutsier than he'd thought. His mouth went dry as the man on the far left pulled back the hammer of the gun. For the longest time, nobody moved. Then, a familiar voice broke the unbearable silence.
"Police, drop your weapon!"
A gunshot rang out and he staggered backwards, barely regaining his balance before another sounded. He watched in a daze as the left thug collapsed unceremoniously, gun clattering to the ground and blood pouring from a chest wound. The other threw his hands into the air and allowed himself to be wrestled to the floor and handcuffed, his gun kicked out of his reach. He was still reeling as he watched his brother swiftly step over the cuffed man to check the pulse of the downed one, sighing upon finding nothing.
Reggie finally looked up at him and fixed him with a look of concern. "Hey, you alright?"
Delsin blinked and found himself incapable of forming words, staring back into his brother's increasingly alarmed face which had suddenly morphed into full blown horror. "Oh my god, Delsin, you're bleeding!"
Bleeding? That wasn't right; he healed too fast to bleed. And yet, when he looked down to his stomach where his brother's eyes were still fixed, he was surprised to find that his vest was soaked through with red. He gave a slightly hysterical laugh, though there was nothing remotely funny about the situation, and felt arms wrap themselves around his shoulders as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor, face falling into the crook of his brother's neck. He was vaguely aware of Reggie's panicked yelling, but it was getting further and further away until he couldn't make out the words any more. He was hit with the bizarre sensation of sinking into the floor before the spots in his vision took over completely.
---
He woke to a horrible wheezing sound and the sight of Reggie's horrified face looming over him. It took him a few seconds to realise that the wheezing was, embarrassingly enough, coming from his own mouth.
The scene was familiar, so much so that for a few moments he half expected to feel the crunch of shattered glass under his trainers - but there was no neon glow around him, no unconscious sniper beside him and when he looked up he could see straight through to the sky. When had it gotten so dark? His brother's shaky hand swept through his hair and he realised with a stab of irritation that he wasn't wearing his beanie any more. Well shit, he'd really liked that one. Maybe he could persuade Reggie to buy him another.
"…sin? Delsin! Hey, can you hear me?"
Oh, he was being spoken to. He found it strange that the sound of his own breathing registered before the sound of Reggie's voice, because Reggie's voice was loud. He blinked hard to clear his vision and when he opened his eyes again he finally got a good look at his older brother.
Reggie looked… bad. In fact, he didn't think he'd ever seen him look this terrible, not even after he'd first seen him use his conduit powers. The expression on his face was a combination of fear and… something else, something he couldn't place. Regardless, his brother looked awful and the blood streaking his face didn't help matters at all. Concern clawed its way up his stomach with an uncomfortable burning sensation as the sight sank in. Was Reggie hurt? Wait, how could Reggie have gotten hurt? Where were they, again?
He hadn't even realised he'd moved until he felt rough stubble across the backs of his fingers and found that he'd reached up to wipe away the blood. The expression on his brother's face grew more desperate and he felt clammy fingers grasping his own.
He should probably say something reassuring.
"Y'really need a shave, man."
Or he could say that, that also works.
Reggie laughed, but it sounded more like a sob. "You really think I have time when I'm so busy covering your ass?"
Delsin cracked a smile, but it wavered into a grimace as the burning sensation from before intensified to a white hot stab of pain. Instinctively, he brought his free hand to the source of the pain and found his brother's already there, pressing down firmly. He tried lifting his head to see the damage, figuring that it must be bad if he was in this much pain, but found he could barely raise his head off the floor before dropping back down, exhausted.
It took a few moments to realise that dropping his head back onto tarmac like that probably should have hurt a lot more than it actually had done, and a few moments more to gather that his head had never been on the ground to begin with. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw red and black fabric and deduced that Reggie must have shoved one of the thugs' jackets under his head at some point. Resourceful as always, that was his brother.
"Hey... how long was I...?" he trailed off.
"Not long, only a few minutes. Scared the shit out of me brother, you wouldn't wake up."
Delsin grinned despite himself. "Part of... being a little brother though, right? Scaring the shit... outta everyone."
Reggie smiled fondly, but his face creased with concern when a particularly strong wave of pain caused the tagger to curl in on himself, whimpering. The hand Delsin hadn't realised he was still holding clutched his tighter. He would have been embarrassed by the pathetic noises he was making if the pain wasn't so intense that he couldn't bring himself to care.
Reggie regarded him with despair. "I can't take you to a hospital Delsin, the D.U.P would be onto us within the hour." He frowned and added, "Shouldn't this have healed by now? I thought all conduits had fast healing."
Delsin shook his head slowly, "I... I don't..."
Reggie's expression darkened suddenly. "Your powers… You said you couldn't use them, right? That all of them are gone?"
Delsin frowned through the haze of pain, struggling to see where his brother was going with this. "Uh, yeah, all of them. Why?"
"What if that's what's causing this? Delsin, what if the healing went away when the powers did?" Reggie's voice trembled noticeably and a ball of ice settled in the younger Rowe's chest as the revelation sunk in.
If that were true, they were beyond screwed. The D.U.P wouldn't give a rat's ass if he was 'cured' or not, they'd take him in regardless, so a hospital was still out of the question. And now without the safety net of his fast healing, he was probably going to bleed out on the sidewalk before they'd even be able to think of a plan.
He thought of the Akomish, how they were depending on him to bring home a cure, to save them all. The weight of that failure hurt far worse than the bullet wound and he was suddenly very angry. Augustine had come into his life and caused nothing but suffering and he'd be damned if he was going to go out without a fight. He looked around sluggishly, taking stock of his surroundings. Surely there was something around here that could be useful.
He glanced to the left and his gaze fell upon the large, intimidating looking structure at the end of the alley. He recognised the D.U.P's insignia and with a jolt an idea hit him. He turned back to Reggie, eyes wide.
"Reg, those core relays… if they can give me new powers, maybe-"
Reggie's eyes widened in realisation. "Maybe they can reactivate the old ones! Delsin, that's genius!" He barked out a laugh, face still pinched with worry but alive with renewed hope.
The older Rowe stood suddenly, startling Delsin. As he watched, the Sheriff marched over to the Core Relay and pulled out his gun. The tagger flinched weakly as three gunshots rang out in quick succession, watching in astonishment as the side of the Relay opened up to reveal its glowing interior. Reggie barely gave it a second glance before jogging back over to kneel down in front of him, blocking his view of the Relay.
His vision was dimming rapidly and through the fog he found that the blue glow surrounding his brother looked almost ethereal, like some kind of migraine inducing halo. Or maybe the migraine had been there all along - he'd lost track of all his aches and pains long ago.
He scoffed internally, mouth twitching up into a pained smile. Man, he really must be dying if he was comparing Reggie of all people to an angel. A really annoying, goody two-shoes angel, but still…
His brother shuffled forwards a little and slipped an arm underneath his back, lifting him up as gently as he could possibly manage. The pain flared again, angrily this time, and Delsin gasped as the sounds of the city were replaced by white noise. His vision greyed and he must have blacked out for a second because when he came to he was being set down on the floor next to the Relay.
"Alright, brother," the older Rowe said, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Let's give this a shot. You ready?"
Delsin nodded shakily. "Hope this works…"
"Yeah. Yeah, me too." Reggie's breath hitched as he stepped back to a safe distance, face twisted in fear. If this didn't work…
He lay there for a few moments, collecting himself. Preparing for the worst. Then, with an immense amount of effort, he slowly lifted an arm. Reaching out for the Relay, he felt the strange energy pulsate through him. For a few agonising seconds, nothing happened.
Then, all at once, the Relay flowed into his outstretched palm. He felt himself being lifted off the ground, completely numb. Images flashed before his eyes, Eugene's powers surging through him. He let out an exhilarated giggle as the power washed over him. When it was over, the glow faded as quickly as it had come and he tumbled into oblivion.
---
Reggie watched in awe as blue light swirled violently around his brother, lifting him several feet into the air. The sight was as frightening as it was astonishing and he wondered briefly whether this was hurting him at all. Those fears were allayed the moment a laugh rang out from the centre of the blue swirling mass and he felt some of the worry ease a little.
When the light faded, he darted forward as his brother's unconscious form dropped to the ground unceremoniously. He caught him under the shoulders before his head could hit the floor and cradled him carefully in his arms. He lifted a hand to the younger man’s throat to check for a pulse and upon confirming that he was, in fact, still alive he reached down to lift up his bloodied shirt.
The wound was now nothing more than a raised, pink welt on his stomach and as he watched it continued to fade. A quick glance around calmed his fears of the bullet becoming trapped inside the wound as he saw it glinting on the ground in the street lights a few feet away.
He huffed out a sigh of relief, pulling his brother closer and resting his chin on the tagger’s unruly mop of black hair. “I need a shave? You need a haircut, little brother,” he murmured fondly. They remained that way for several minutes, Reggie taking comfort in the steady rise and fall of his brother’s chest as he tried very hard not to think about how close he had come to losing one of the most important people in his life. Around them the city bustled on, the rumble of traffic and chatter of pedestrians soothing in their familiarity.
The form in his arms shifted then and he felt as if a weight had been lifted as his brother’s eyes slowly fluttered open. Delsin lifted a clumsy hand to drowsily scrub at his face, still a little paler than the older Rowe felt comfortable with but a damn sight better than he had been before. “We’re gonna have to get you a new shirt, little brother. Pretty sure this one’s beyond saving.”
The younger man blinked in confusion before glancing down at the now healed bullet wound under bloody cloth and flashed him a bewildered grin. “I can’t believe it actually worked.”
Reggie frowned slightly, “Let’s not get cocky; wouldn’t wanna jinx it.” He swept an appraising eye over his brother and once he was satisfied that he had not, in fact, jinxed anything, moved to help him up.
Delsin staggered to his feet, wobbling slightly even with his brother’s strong grip around his shoulders. “I’m... I’m good, Reg, really.” Reggie raised an eyebrow but said nothing, slowly loosening his grip until Delsin was standing by himself.
Still keeping half and eye on the Conduit beside him, he pulled out his phone and quickly texted an anonymous tip about the drug deal to the local police, carefully leaving out the part about shootings and dead bodies, before gesturing out of the alley. “We should probably get out of here before the police turn up - I don’t particularly want to have to explain all of this,” he waved an arm in the direction of the two prone forms lying at the other end of the alley, “in a way that doesn’t end up with both of us being brought in for questioning.”
Delsin shrugged nonchalantly, following his brother out into the courtyard.
“So, I know I’m gonna regret asking but... what’s new?” Reggie asked with a sigh.
Delsin smirked mischievously. “You might wanna step back.”