7 years ago, Lillian Vaga found herself trapped in Empire City during the Empire City quarantine. During which time, she made a name for herself by taking photographs of various places and people of interest, like Cole MacGrath. Lillian's persistence got her into some serious trouble as the lock-down progressed. When the quarantine ended, it seemed that Lilly's misadventures would soon be over. But just as she prepared to leave Empire City, something terrible happened...
Lilly is 18 years old. She has blue eyes, and jet black hair tied back in a ponytail. She is sitting inside a shuttle bus as it passes from the Warren into the Neon. She is currently listening to punk-rock music with her earbuds in. Mere moments after passing through Archer's Square, Lilly witnesses something unusual. She notices a strange vortex of energy near the statue overlooking the square. The young adult takes off her headphones and says "What the-. The hell is going on over there?"
During the Empire Event, the portion of the Neon containing Archer's Square and the surrounding area was completely vaporized by the Beast's awesome power. The rest of the island was all but obliterated by the aftershock. The remainder of the Empire City, including the Warren and Historic Districts, was effected not by the blast itself, but by heat and radiation emitted from the blast...
Lilly looks on as the statue collapses outside. Suddenly, a shock-wave bursts through the shuttle windows. Then the bus begins to lift into the air. Then it shifts onto it's side and slowly moves in the direction of the vortex. As Lilly, along with the other passengers, struggle to hold on; the vortex suddenly dissipates, and the bus along with all of it's passengers fall to the ground.
Millions of innocent people died in the Empire City Catastrophe. The unlucky few who managed to survive, were no longer considered 'Normal'. Lillian Vaga was among them. This is her story.
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Mere moments after hitting the ground, Lilly is awakened by the sound of people screaming in terror, and the rumbling sound of the Beast's rampage. Her body still battered from the fall, Lilly lifts herself off the ground; looking on as people run screaming for their lives. Among the voices of people dying around her, Lilly notices one in particular that sounds familiar.
The girl looks around and finds a red-haired military officer lying on the ground near the edge of the road. Bloodied and weak from being injured by the Beast, this soldier's leg somehow got caught underneath a heavy piece of metal. The military officer coughs and faintly calls out "H-help! T-This is too heavy. I can't get up!"
Lilly seems to recognize the injured officer, and she says "Officer Brooke? Here...I'll help you."
The young photographer runs over and helps the woman out from underneath the metal piece. The officer replies "Thanks for this. You just saved my life, kid."
"Look. We need to get out of here," says Lilly. "It's not safe."
"Yeah. No shit. Now come on! Let's get moving!"
With the clock ticking, Lilly follows Officer Brooke across the city as cars crash all around them, and buildings fall in every direction. As the two of them reach the water, Brooke tells Lilly "This way! We're not too far from Stampton Bridge! We can still make it if we hurry!" In another few moments, a lightning strike can be seen on the horizon just off the harbor. A loud thunderclap follows soon after. Brooke is stunned. "What the hell was th-? Was that the conduit?" she asks.
"Cole...his name is Cole. He must be fighting whatever is causing all this."
Officer Brooke is skeptical. "Are...you sure about that?"
"Yeah. It's him. No question about it."
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Some time passes as Lilly and Brooke draw close to Stampton Bridge, and the noise begins to lessen. They both stop walking next to the bridge itself. "There's the bridge," Lilly says. "Got some memories of this place. Not all of them good."
"The military set up a checkpoint here," says Brooke. "I should be able to get us through without any problems."
As Officer Brooke starts walking in the direction of the bridge, Lilly stops her. "Look, Ma'am," she says. "Before we go, there's something you should know about this place."
"Know anything my superiors didn't tell me?"
The young photographer crosses her arms. "Yeah, I do. First off, the so-called 'Terrorist Riot' that happened..." She points in the direction of the bridge. "...Right here several weeks ago...those weren't terrorists who started it. Those were civilians; Innocent people. And the ones who conducted the rescue of all those people on the train soon afterwards...that wasn't the Military. That was Cole MacGrath on his own. He used his powers to get the train to safety that day."
Brooke is stunned. "What? How do you know all this?"
"Because I was there, Augustine. I took pictures of all of it. Photography is my bread and butter. You wonder why the people here don't trust the government? Well...now you know."
"Dammit," Augustine exclaims under her breath. In another moment, the two look towards the horizon as the Neon District is enveloped in a flash of light.
Lilly's Narrative: "By the time I woke up, the world as I knew it had changed. Me, Augustine...we were no longer human. We were conduits...outcasts...bio-terrorists. My body was completely gone, incinerated by the blast. With her concrete powers now active, Augustine was left unscathed. Stampton Bridge was taken out before we could cross it, so Augustine was forced to retreat back into the city. But that wasn't the end for me."
"As it turned out; a single cell, a mere spec of my existence survived the so-called 'Empire Event'. And with my plant based powers activated by the blast, that was all I needed to start regenerating. It only took me a few short hours to return to normal, at least as far as my appearance went. After that, I was all alone in the Neon District, or what was left of it."
"Several weeks later, I was captured by the military, and nearly KILLED. If it wasn't for a last minute change of plans on their side, I wouldn't even be here right now. It wasn't long before Augustine found me again, and I got shipped off to Curdun Cay. For the next seven years, that's where I lived. Then one day, I heard that one of my closest friends was murdered in her cell...That's how it all started."
YOU ARE READING
inFAMOUS: Ruins of Empire
Science FictionThis is the story of Lillian Vaga, Plant Conduit and former resident of Empire State, who seven years ago was captured in the aftermath of the Empire Event and later taken to the newly established D.U.P. prison known as Curdun Cay.
