Static Sparks (Good Karma)

"And that's who they are," Cole concluded, as he finished explaining to Twilight and Spike who Santa and JFK were. Spike had been interested when Cole was talking about Santa, but quickly lost interest when he moved onto John F. Kennedy. Twilight, on the other hand, listened with rapt attention, taking in everything he said. Zeke had left to do something when Cole started his explanation.

"Thank you for the explanation, Cole," Twilight said, smiling.

"It wasn't a problem Twilight," he said.

Moya contacted him, "The final substation in the Neon has been located. It's been uploaded to your GPS. As soon as your able you need to head over there."

"You mind if I go with you Cole?" Spike asked.

Cole glanced to Twilight, who nodded her approval. Looking back at Spike, he said, "Sure, Spike. Let's head there."

As they walked to the edge of the roof, Twilight called out to them, "Oh and Spike, from now on at least one of us is to go with Cole when he goes on the missions."

Spike raised an eyebrow at Cole, who was looking the other direction. "Okay!" he called back.

The two descended to the street and started toward their destination.

As they walked, Zeke called, "Hey guys, you know the thought of the Ray Sphere falling into the government's hands scares the hell out me."

"I thought we just talked about this," Cole said. Spike shook his head, slightly exasperated.

"Now, I know that you guys were caught off guard, but you should think about this for a minute. If it can give people super powers, what's to keep 'ole Uncle Sam from powering up the military? Or even the cops?" Zeke asked. "We wouldn't have anyway to protect ourselves from them."

"Why would you need protection from them?" Twilight asked.

"She's right, Zeke," Cole agreed

"Are you two serious? Have you not been paying attention? Do you see Red Cross or National Guard? I sure as hell don't. They lied about what happened on the bridge. They'll do anything to stay in power," Zeke said. "The two of you need to wake up before it's too late to do anything." Zeke ended the call.

The two continued toward the blacked out area. As they walked Cole tried out what Twilight had told him. He focused on their bond. As he concentrated he could tell where she was. He could even tell what her condition was. She was slightly tired from the exertion of getting to him earlier, but was otherwise healthy. When they reached the powered down area they were already near the sewer they needed to head to. Before any Reapers could find them, they ran to the man hole cover and entered.

When they reached the sewer Moya contacted them. "I managed to get some intel on the leader of the Reapers. It's a woman named Sasha. She was a high-ranking member of the First Sons that spearheaded a lot of the research. At least until a few months ago," she said.

"Do you think she has an idea where John is?" Cole asked.

"We have no way of knowing. Even if she doesn't, you need to take her out. Until she's taken care of the plague will continue to spread. Once I've found out where she's hold up, I'll let you guys know," she said, ending the call.

Cole and Spike started their trek through the sewer. They soon reached a dead end. The only thing there was a chargeable electric box. Walking up to it Cole started to charge the box. When it was charged the two jumped when there was a loud creaking noise. Turning toward it they saw a strange mechanism move back and forth. Under it there were nozzles spraying gas out of them. When it moved back toward them, Cole and Spike jumped to it when the gas stopped. They quickly climbed onto it before it started shooting out again. The mechanism started moving back to other side. As it did they jumped to the pipes over there. The two followed the pipes to the transformers.

When they reached them, Cole proceeded to connect the circuit. As he did he saw his new power. When the circuit was re-established he noticed another electric box behind a giant fan. He walked as close to it as he could. Once he did, he started to focus. The world seemed to slow as he did. He timed his shots and hit the box when the blades weren't in the way. When he charged it another mechanism started to move.

Cole turned to Spike, to see him looking at him slightly confused. "Is something wrong Spike?" he asked.

Blinking, Spike shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong. It's just that your lightning was blue, right?"

"Yeah it's blue, why?" Cole asked, wondering about the strange question.

"Because it's violet now," he said.

Cole blinked and then looked down at his hands noticed Spike was right. The electricity sparking off of his arms had turned from blue to violet. "Huh, I wonder how the hell I didn't notice that," he said.

"Well, you're probably too busy focusing on the enemy to notice the color of your lightning changing color," Spike reasoned.

As they turned to the mechanism and continued through the sewer, Zeke called them, "I've been hearing quite a few people talking about you guys. Saying how your all these big heroes, those kinds of things. I heard one gal saying you look different Cole, like you have an aura of goodness around you."

"Zeke you know I really don't care about stuff like that," Cole said.

"Me either," Twilight's voice came through the phone.

"I don't mind," Spike said.

As Cole chuckled, Zeke started speaking again, "Yeah I know you two don't care. But keep it up. The chicks dig it, and I'll probably be able to use that to my advantage. I'll talk to you two later."

"ZEKE!!" Twilight's shout was the last thing they heard as he ended the call.

Cole and Spike glanced at each other. They walked down the path until they heard the tell tale shouts of Reaper bombers. Several feet ahead of them two of them charged toward the two. Before the Reapers could get too close Cole fired a shockwave at them. The wave hit, sending them flying. As they floated through the air, Cole quickly hit them with bolts. As soon as they hit the Reapers went up in flame. Both Reapers landed in the water surrounding them, the flames instantly going out.

Spike was stunned slightly by the sudden appearance and quick dispatch of the Reapers. Shaking the suddenness of what occurred off they resumed their journey.

As they reached a small generator a turret opened fire on them. Cole quickly went behind cover. Spike started breathing green fire into his hand. Cole, while wondering what he was doing, started to use his precision. Focusing on the Reaper behind the turret, he fired a concentrated bolt at his head. The Reaper was flung back and went down. He was about to turn his focus to the other Reaper, when he noticed Spike readying the baseball sized flame in his grasp. Spike drew the arm with the flame back and aimed at the shield wielding Reaper. He threw his arm forward and released the ball. When it connected with the Reapers shield, instead of being blocked the flame melted through the bulletproof glass. The ball then connected with the Reaper and caused a small explosion that sent him flying, smashing into the wall behind him and falling unconscious to the ground.

Getting up, Cole said, "You keep surprising me, Spike."

Spike just smiled as they went back to finding their objective. They walked through the tunnels and soon reached the substation. Cole strode up to the power box attached to it and began to recharge it. Once he was done the two climbed to the surface.

After they reached the road, the electricity returned to the city. As they stood there taking a moments rest, Cole received an unexpected call.

"Are you there, Cole?" a woman's voice came from the phone.

"Trish?" Cole asked. Upon hearing her voice Spike let out a low growl.

"....Spike's with you isn't he?" Trish guessed.

"Yes he is," Cole said. "You can imagine why he isn't happy to hear you."

"Listen a crate with medical supplies in it was just dropped and someone needs to keep it away from the Reapers," Trish said ignoring Cole's comment.

"And you want the two of us to do it don't you," Cole guessed.

"I don't care if Spike joins you or not, but your one of the only people I know with super powers," Trish said. "You owe me... everyone in this city, for what you and Twilight did. I'll let you know where the crate will be." She ended the call before Cole or Spike could retort about her accusation towards Twilight.

The two just stood there fuming. They stalked into an alley to let out some frustration without hurting anyone. Once in the alley Spike shot out a huge pillar of fire and let out a small roar. The pillar went as high as the building, but after a minute the flame died down. Cole let out shout of rage and let his lightning arc off of him. The electricity jumped to the many vehicles around him causing them to explode. After the two of them had vented, they stood there taking calming breaths to settle themselves down. Once they had the two decided to head where the medicine crate was located.

Once they reached where Trish had indicated the crate would be, the two had calmed down considerably. They were still rather peeved.

"I'm tired of her blaming the two of you for this. If you were reason this happened you wouldn't be helping people the way you have been," Spike fumed.

"I know Spike. I honestly don't care what she or anyone else in the city thinks about me though. It's how Twilight had absolutely nothing to do with any of this, but gets blamed for it," Cole seethed. "She just showed up at the worst possible time."

Before the two could make themselves any angrier they headed to the crate. Soon after they reached it a group of Reapers showed up and started to shoot at the medicine.

They separated from each other. Spike charged toward the Reaper that wielded a shotgun. The Reaper shot at him, but all it managed to do was push him back from the force. Quickly recovering from the blast Spike ran at the Reaper and grabbed the shotgun. Tightening his grip, he easily crushed the barrel of the gun. Yanking the gun away he quickly turned and swung his tail around, swiping the Reaper off his feet. Facing back to the prone Reaper, Spike wrapped his hand in flame and struck the Reaper in the chest. The fire spread outward as his fist connects. Small flames appear on the nearby Reaper as he was trying to catch Spike off guard. As he tried to pat the fire out, Spike jumped up and brought his knee up, slamming it into the Reapers gut. As he doubles over, Spike brings his hands together and brings them down over the Reapers head, smashing him into ground knocking him out.

Cole ran toward one of the other Reapers, avoiding his bullets, and slid under him. As he slid between the Reapers legs he grabbed them and, as he got up, pulled him to the ground. Not letting go of the his legs, Cole swung the Reaper around and threw him at the other one that was aiming at him. They collided and were pushed back several feet. Cole rushed over to them and quickly restrained them. Behind him, he heard a familiar shout. Turning he saw Spike running down the front alley. Heading over there he saw three kamikaze Reapers charging toward them.

"Spike!!" Cole shouted, worried that he would get himself greatly injured.

Spike, however kept running. He punched one of the Reapers and sent them flying into another one. As the final Reaper reached the other two and Spike, the first two exploded, setting off the third.

Cole looked on in horror as Spike was engulfed in the flames of the huge explosion. As he continued to stare he heard a clanging coming from the roof. As he looked over he saw a large Reaper with a minigun take aim at him. Rage building in him from the apparent loss of Spike he rushed toward the gunner. Not even trying to dodge the bullets fired at him, many glancing him. Climbing the building, Cole jumped onto the roof. He rushed toward the Reaper and grabbed his head. He dropped the gun and grabbed Cole's arm, trying to pry it off of his face. Before he could even try, Cole then began electrocuting him. He kept channeling electricity into the Reaper even after his arms went limp, indicating his loss of consciousness. After several moments, he stopped the flow of electricity and released the Reaper. Cole straightened himself as he steadied his breathing.

Cole turned back towards the blast and froze at what he saw. Spike stood in the middle of where the blast had occurred, not even looking like he was inside of an explosion, except for a little soot. Spike was staring at Cole looking very surprised at the ferocity he had taken the Reaper out with.

Cole jumped from the roof and ran to Spike, pulling the boy into a tight hug. After a moment, he pulled back and looked into Spike's eyes. "How the hell did you survive that?" he asked, glad he was okay, but was upset he just did something like that.

Spike, sensing that he was upset, lowered his head, "I'm sorry I worried you Cole. Dragon's can survive a great deal of heat. Hay, I jumped into lava once and was completely fine."

He sighed, "It's fine Spike. You're okay that's all that matters, but before you do something like that again, tell me."

"I will," he promised, looking Cole in the eyes.

They soon heard a truck coming toward them. Looking toward the left alley they saw a turret truck pulling up. As it got near it started shooting at them. The two split up, Spike keeping the gunner's attention as Cole snuck around him. Cole climbed onto the truck and tiptoed to the Reaper. As he neared him, Cole charged his gigawatt blades. When he got the gunner, he drove the blades into his back. As the Reaper was launched foward, Cole grabbed the turret and sent an electric current through it, causing it to explode.

Cole started to walk back to the crate when they heard the horns of two more trucks. As soon as he heard them Spike started to breath fire into his claws. Cole aimed for the first truck and threw several grenades at it. Cole stepped back as the explosives stuck to the vehicle. The bombs started going off, each one moving the truck slightly. After the fourth blast the truck exploded sending the Reaper on the turret flying back.

Spike soon finished breathing fire into his claws. In his grasp was a flame the size of a soccer ball. Turning toward the remaining truck, Spike dropped the ball of flame. Before the sphere hit the ground he kicked it as hard as he could. The ball of emerald fire shot toward the vehicle. When it connected with the truck it melted straight through it. As soon as it did, the truck blew up from the flame hitting the gas inside of it.

They waited for several minutes to see if there were anymore Reapers. Once they were sure there wasn't anymore, the two walked back to the crate. As they did, Trish and a man came running toward them. The man went to medicine crate and Trish walked up to them. Spike walked back away from them, not wanting to hear Trish say anything about them.

"Do you need any help moving the medicine?" Cole offered.

"It's fine, we can get it," Trish replied. "And thanks for the help Cole. You too Spike!" she yelled back.

He just glanced back and nodded.

"He's still not happy is he?" she asked.

"I don't think he is, no," Cole said. "So we talking again?"

Trish hesitated a bit, then said, "We'll see Cole. I'm pretty busy." She walked off to help the man that had come with her to help with the medicine.

Spike walked back up to Cole. Looking at him skeptically and asked, "Why do you want to talk to her?"

"I just want to be friends with her nothing more. So, if that's what your worried about you don't need to," Cole said.

He shook his head, "No, I don't think you would do that to Twilight. I was just wondering why you wanted to talk to her after the way she's treated you and her."

Cole sighed, "Spike, you know what she's normally like. She lost her sister and saw the two of us holding the thing responsible for it. It's not a big surprise she would think that we had something to do with it, though I really wish she wouldn't blame Twilight for it. Do you know how you would react if your positions were switched? If it was Twilight that was lost?"

Spike stayed silent, not knowing how to respond.

Cole knelt down and placed his hands on Spike's shoulder's, "Hey Spike, I'm sorry I asked you such a difficult question. Let's not worry about that, let's ju-" he was cut off when Moya contacted them.

"I've managed to pin down Sasha's location. She's operating under the Jefferson Tunnel. You need to head to the location I've marked on your GPS. When you get there, I'll fill you in on the details," she said.

Spike looked at Cole, "So what should we do?"

"Let's go back and get some rest. We're going to need it if we are to go against the leader of the Reapers. Plus it's getting rather late," he said.

They headed back home to replenish their energy for what's sure to be a tough fight.

The two climbed to the roof to find Twilight laying on the couch reading one of her books.

Hearing them approach she looked up from her book and smiled. "I'm glad to see you both back safe," she said. Spike flopped onto one of the chairs, while Cole laid across the couch. Twilight sat up and moved to lay next to him. Seeing them seem so tired, she looked at them concerned, "Are you two ok? You were gone the rest of the day."

"Yeah we are fine Twilight," Spike said. "It's just that after we took care of the substation, Cole got a call from Trish."

Turning to Cole, Twilight narrowed her eyes "What did she want?"

"She just wanted some help in securing medicine and keep Reapers from destroying it," Cole said. "We are the only people who can really deal with them. Especially a big group of them."

Twilight relaxed slightly, "A lot of people could use that medicine, it's good that you protected it." She paused, then asked, "So she didn't accuse you of anything?"

Before Cole could answer, Spike spoke up. "Of course she did. Pretty much used it as the reason we should help her. Not because it would help people and it's the right thing to do, but because you two 'owed' her and the city for what you did," he said very upset with how Trish went about getting their help.

"However," Cole said, before Twilight could get too angry, "she is starting to move past it. She talked to me completely differently than she was before and when I wanted to talk to her, instead of just saying no and accusing me, she said that she'd have to see how things turn out."

"Why do you want to talk to her?" she asked, curiously.

"Because she's not a bad person, she just lost a loved one," he said, shifting to lay on his back and looked at the night sky. "I just hope we can get past this and become friends is all."

Rolling onto her side, Twilight moved closer to Cole and wrapped an arm around him. "She was a rather good friend to have," she said, smiling slightly.

They then heard snoring and looked over to see Spike was out like a light. Laughing quietly the two looked to each other. "We should probably go to sleep, but before we do there's something else I need to tell you," Cole said.

"Okay," Twilight said, slightly apprehensive.

"The other reason we come back to rest was because Moya managed to locate where the big boss of the Reapers is," he told her. Her eyes widened at this information. "We decided it would be best to be well rested and at full power before we take her on."

"That was good thinking. So let's get some rest, so that we can take care of her," she said.

The two kissed and bade each other good night. They fell asleep somewhat fitfully, not looking forward to tomorrows confrontation.