Static Sparks (Good Karma)

Day 17...

Cole woke up and stood up from where he was sleeping. He walked over to Twilight on the couch. He looked at her and saw that she was tossing and turning in her sleep. He frowned and slowly placed a hand on her head. She calmed down slightly at his touch. He jumped when someone spoke to him.

"Hey Cole. You going to head out?" Spike asked. He had woken up from where he was sleeping on the ground next to Twilight. He had fallen off of the couch, it not being made for two people sleeping on it. He stood up and stretched, several joints popping. He looked at her and saw that she had calmed down somewhat. He also noticed Cole's hand on her head. He smiled slightly at Cole, "Thanks for helping her."

"I didn't really do anything, Spike," Cole said.

He shook his head, "You helped keep her calm when it happened and didn't let her collapse under what she did. You brought her back safely through this, no offense, awful city when she couldn't do anything. Just being here helps a great deal as well. So again, thank you Cole."

"I was just helping a friend," Cole said, shrugging slightly. As he said that he felt like that it didn't quite describe their relationship. He felt more strongly toward her, but was unsure just what he felt.

Spike continued smiling, "And I'm glad you consider us as such. If not, there's no telling what might have happened to Twilight."

"If it wasn't for me she wouldn't have had that happen to her in the first place," Cole argued. He felt that he had broken his promise to her in keeping her from seeing death. Not only did he fail that, but she had inadvertently killed someone herself.

"Are you kidding? Do you think we would sit back and do nothing?" he asked. "We would have gone out there and helped anyone we could. We would fight the Reapers and eventually would have run into those kamikaze Reapers. She would be in the same situation as now, only with less people to help her through it."

Cole was still unsure, but knew that he was right. They would have helped the people of the city. Which meant they would run into the Reapers and the bomber sooner or later.

Cole removed his hand from Twilight's head as she woke up after they finished their conversation. She looked at them still looking rather sad, "Hey Cole. Are you going to check what Moya asked you to?"

"I wasn't planning on it. I wanted to make sure you were okay," he said.

"I'm feeling better," she said. Seeing him look at her rather skeptically she reworded, "I still don't feel great, but I do feel better than yesterday. Thank you for your help then Cole." She looked at him with a strained smile.

It broke Cole's heart at seeing Twilight in such pain. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay here until you're back to your usual self," he said.

She slowly shook her head, "You need to go check on what Moya wanted you to look at. People could be getting sick or worse. I'd feel terrible if me keeping you here got more people getting ill."

He hesitated. He didn't want to leave Twilight, again. He was very worried about her, but knew that she would feel even worse if he didn't head to what Moya wanted him to check out. He slowly nodded, relenting, "Fine. You rest some more and I'll head over there." When she laid back down he walked over to Spike and led him over to the back of the roof. "You going to stay here?" he asked.

"Yes. Zeke's still out and I don't want her to be alone in the state she's in," Spike said.

Cole nodded and headed off the roof. He headed toward Smith Fountain.

He reached the roof of a building overlooking the fountain. He stared at the fountain, not believing what he was seeing. The fountain couldn't really have been called the cleanest, especially in this city, but it was no longer had clear water shooting out of it for birds to bathe in or people to make wishes. It was now leaking what looked like tar, staining the already dirty fountain black. There were people scattered around the fountain writhing in pain.

He called Moya, "It's not looking good Moya. People are all over the area sick and the fountain is black as a starless night."

"Okay, head over there. See if there's a way to stop this," she said.

Cole jumped down from the roof and headed to the fountain. When he reached it, he heard a familiar voice. It was Trish.

"Come on, breathe! Breathe!" she shouted. She looked up and saw Cole walking up to her. She scowled, her voice full of venom, "What are you doing here?"

"Moya wanted to check what's going on with the fountain," he said. He hesitated, then said, "Trish, Twilight feels really bad about how she reacted the other day. She wants to apologize to you."

"So why are you doing it instead of her? And who's Moya?" she asked.

"Who Moya is isn't important. Twilight isn't here because she isn't feeling great. She accidentally killed a Reaper yesterday. She's never killed someone before. Even if he was one of those psychopaths he was alive and it's hit her pretty hard," he explained. "Listen Trish I know what that guy said about us."

Sympathy flashed across Trish's face, but disappeared when he brought up what happened. "My sister is dead because of you two," she hissed.

"I swear, I didn't know what was in that package. And Twilight had nothing to do with it! She just happened to be there!" Cole shouted. He hadn't meant to yell. He didn't care about himself, but Twilight being accused of something she had nothing to do with made him angry.

Trish was slightly surprised that Cole had yelled at her, but quickly shook it off and narrowed her eyes, "You want to help? Then close that valve that's letting the black tar into the fountain. I can't turn it because it's jammed. I don't want to hear any of your excuses." She went back to trying to help the person in front of her.

Seething slightly, Cole walked to the valve and started to turn it using all his strength to dislodge it. When he finished turning it, the black tar shot out into his face. "Aahh!" he shouted.

Trish started to talk to him, sounding annoyed, "Ugh, follow me. It's all over your eyes. I have a solvent in my car. Let's go."

Cole started to follow her to get the tar off his face. As he did he started to here a woman's voice, 'I've been waiting for this moment, Cole. Watching, anticipating. She can't stand you. She can't handle that you have powers. She won't ever love you. Neither will the other girl, she's too fragile. She won't be able to take how deal with your enemies.'

Cole groaned, "What... the hell?"

'I can help you forget about them. Every single thing that you shared with them, gone like that,' the voice continued. 'No more heartache, nothing to cause you pain.'

"You... aren't real. You are... nothing," he said to himself. When he got near an ambulance he fell to the ground, unable to take the pain.

Trish grabbed a spray can and walked back to him, "Stay still." She started to spray his face with the solvent. He felt the pain going away.

Getting up he said, "Thank you."

She just started to walk off saying, "I'm not going to help you again if you get that stuff on your face, Cole. You'll just have to wait for it to wear off."

As she left he called Moya, "I had to shut off the feeder pipe, but the fountain is taken care of."

"There are still two more water mains in the area. They are in the park," she told him.

"Right. I'll go turn them off and see what will happen," he said.

He headed to the park. When he entered he headed to the valve. As he neared it, a couple Reapers started to shoot at him from a small archway. He aimed at one of them and hit him in the head. He ducked to avoid the rain of bullets from the remaining Reaper. In the lull of shots he threw a grenade at him. The grenade stuck to the Reaper. When the Reaper noticed the bomb he tried to remove it from him, but it exploded knocking the Reaper off of the archway. He landed on the grass with a soft thump and laid still.

He turned back to the valve and shut it off. As soon as he did, the tar shot in his face again. "Ah! Damn it," he yelled.

The voice returned, 'So much emotion that's bottled up with nowhere to go. Why do you care/love them? She's beneath you caring about her and the other, even with her power, doesn't deserve your love. You deserve far better.'

"Shut... the hell... up!" Cole shouted.

'You are all by yourself. You know that, right?' she continued, 'Not one person cares about you. Not the girls, not the fat man, not the child, nor the woman under the bridge. I'm the only one who loves you. I always have and always will. Forever.'

"Get the hell out of my head!" he shouted again.

As the sensation ended he heard gunshots behind him. Three normal Reapers and a Conduit Reaper. He charged toward the big Reaper to get rid of it right away. Gathering electricity in his hands, he made his gigawatt blades dodging the Reapers bullets and shockwave. When Cole was in front of him, he drove the blades into his face, sending him flying into a tree smashing through it. The others were standing near each other, so he threw a grenade between them. Before they could jump out of the way, it exploded sending them flying in different directions.

After taking care of them he restrained all of them before heading to the next valve. Before turning it he thought over his options, 'If I turn this I'm going to end up getting sent on another mind trip.' He noticed a man crouching next to the pipe. 'I could get this guy to do it for me.' He considered his choices. 'No. He's just an innocent bystander. I'll be fine after a moment. There's no telling how it will effect him.' After deciding that he turned the valve. He was blasted in the face again with the tar and started to hear the voice again.

'You can't keep me out forever. A crack will appear, then it will spread and the wall will crumble. The only question is when,' she said.

Moya contacted him, "Now you need to figure out how those maniacs are getting that tar into the system. Only one primary water line runs around that area and it's under Memorial Park. You need to head to the tunnel and look for it."

'You don't know what love is. Not true love. I can teach you,' the woman's voice returned. 'Then that bastard will realize what he lost.'

Ignoring the voice this time, Cole headed into the tunnel. As soon as he entered, he encountered two Reapers. He dispatched them both with bolts to their heads. He headed farther into the tunnel and came across a Reaper on a bus trying to snipe him. Cole fired several bolts at his torso and he went down. He resumed his trek. When he reached a lull in the tunnel, he felt similar effects to the tar and saw a great number of Reapers shooting at him. He came to a halt and was about to jump behind a car, when he noticed the bullets passing through him without piercing him. Knowing that it was an illusion he ran through it until the effects disappeared.

When he got pass the hallucinations he came across a semi-truck with a pipe coming out of it going into the pipes in the tunnel. There was a Conduit and several Reapers. Cole threw three grenades at the normal Reapers and then aimed his bolts at the Conduit. As the grenades exploded taking out the Reapers, he shot the Conduit twice in the head. After restraining them he called Moya, "A truck is attached to the pipes down here."

"It's most likely the source of the plague. Destroy it now," she said.

Cole drained the electricity in several cars before turning back to the truck and throwing five grenades at it. He ducked behind one of the cars and after a minute they went off and the truck exploded. The container held so none of the tar was sent anywhere. He contacted Moya again, "Exactly what the hell is that stuff?"

"A mind-control agent of some kind. It appears to be organic, but I can't tell how they are creating it," she said.

"Ugh, it sure as hell did a number on me. I'm heading back to Zeke's. My head is positively killing me," he said. He left the tunnel making his way back home.

As Cole climbed onto the roof he noticed Twilight was up looking slightly better. He walked towards her.

She looked up at him and her eyes widened. "Cole, what happened?" she asked, rushing over to him.

"Got some kind of tar blasted to my face. Except for a headache, I'm fine. You don't need to worry," he assured her. "You look a little better. Are you feeling better?"

"I'm getting better, but I think it will still be a day or two before I go back out," she said.

"You take as long as you need Twilight," Cole said.

"Thank you Cole, but I feel like I should get back out there soon," she told him, shaking her head.

"As long as you feel better and are up for it," he said. "Where's Spike?"

She pointed at the chair and he saw Spike laying on it passed out. In the other chair Zeke was sitting there waiting for them to finish their conversation.

When he was sure they were done, he began speaking, "You can't give the feds that Ray Sphere, Cole."

Twilight rolled her eyes and sat in one of the lawn chairs. Cole looked at Zeke, "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Come on man. Do you know what will happen if they get something like that? Especially if the Pentagon is involved in this? The thing is the ultimate weapon!" he yelled.

Twilight hushed him. Cole asked, "What do you suggest we do, Jedediah? That we hide it under the couch?"

"Only my mother calls me Jedediah, but that isn't the point. We should crack that thing open and given everybody powers. That way we can make sure we don't get screwed," Zeke said.

"I think it's a little late for that Zeke," Cole said. He started to walk to the chair he slept in, but Twilight stopped him.

"Take the couch Cole. I've been asleep all day and I'm not tired in the least," she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked, hesitating. He didn't mind sleeping in the lawn chairs and wanted to keep her from sleeping in them.

"Yes, I'm sure. I've slept enough today and you don't feel well. You should sleep laying down, not sitting up," she said, with finality.

"Alright," he said, laying on the couch. "I'll see you guys in the morning." With that he went to sleep, so he would be ready for the next days missions.