Static Sparks (Good Karma)

Day 16 after The Blast...

Cole awoke and got up from the lawn chair he was sleeping in. He stretched and walked over to where the others were sleeping. Zeke and Spike were sleeping on the armchairs, while Twilight slept soundly on the couch. They had all insisted that she should take it. The armchairs could recline so Spike and Zeke could still lay down and Cole could sleep fine sitting up. She had put up a slight resistance, but they managed to convince her to sleep there. He looked at her, smiling, 'She looks really cute when she's asleep.' He slowly frowned, 'Where are these thoughts coming from? Yes, I like Twilight, but I still have feelings for Trish... Right?' His thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind him. He turned and saw Spike getting up.

He looked at Cole, "Good morning."

"Good morning, Spike," he said.

"So any plans for today?" he asked.

"Moya has another place for us to head to," Cole answered.

"Do you think I could go with you this time?" Spike asked.

Cole thought about it, "I don't know, having three of us might attract even more attention than normal."

"Well, can I go with you instead of Twilight? I mean she's still asleep, so can I?" he pleaded

"I'm not sure she would like me taking you out there," Cole said. "It would be a good idea to switch things up to keep them from coming up with anything to counter us though. We should still try and convince Twilight of this."

As if hearing them Twilight started to stir. She got up and saw them. She smiled sleepily at them, "Good morning."

Cole could feel heat on his face. "Good morning, Twilight," they said simultaneously.

Spike nudged Cole. He looked down at the dragon-boy and saw a slight smirk on his face. Cole cleared his throat, "Um, Twilight there's something we wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, what is it?" she asked.

"We, well Spike brought it up but, we thought that it would be a good idea for him to come with me today," he said.

"Uh-huh," she said sleepily, laying back down. After a moment, what Cole asked sunk in and she shot up. "What!? You want to take him out there?!" she shouted.

Zeke woke with a jerk at her shouting. The recliner shot up nearly knocking him out of it. "What the hell? What's with all of the shouting?" he asked, annoyed he was woken up.

"Twilight's upset that I wanted to take Spike out on our missions for Moya," Cole explained. "I knew she was going to react like that."

She looked at him, fuming slightly, "Then why did you even ask?"

"Because I think that changing up who goes on them would throw the enemy off. They won't know which of you comes with me and they won't be able to prepare to combat one of you," Cole said.

Twilight's eyes narrowed, "You say that like your always going to go. Why?"

Cole raised an eyebrow, "Because neither of you know the city that well. Even if you've been here two weeks you haven't traveled to all of the city yet."

Twilight blinked, then sighed, "Okay, I see what you mean. But please watch out for him."

"Of course," he said. He looked at Spike, "Let's go."

At his nod they jumped off of the roof to the ground. They headed to the location of their next task.

Cole contacted Moya when they reached their destination, "Alright Moya, we're here. Now what?"

"Brandon Carey, an electrician, didn't check in last night. He was last seen in an alley. He's a rather important person, so you need to find him," she said.

"She always so bossy?" Spike asked.

As Cole snorted, Moya asked, very annoyed, "Cole who hell is that with you?"

Smiling slightly, he said, "This is Spike, brother and number one assistant of Twilight Sparkle."

"He sounds like a kid. Why is a kid with you?" she asked, starting to get angry.

"He's fourteen Moya and much stronger than you think," Cole told her. "Now we are going to do what you instructed us to do," he said ending the call.

"Should you have done that?" Spike asked, surprised and worried.

"She'll probably be pissed, but I don't think she'll do anything. We've done what we were told and we are going to do what she tells us, so she doesn't really have anything to complain about," Cole said.

When they reached the alley, they walked to the back of it. Once there they saw an awful sight. "There's just a dead woman here, Moya. There isn't a man." Spike looked at the body, he seemed like he might be ill. However, he managed keep his composure as Moya and Cole conversed.

"That can't be right. Why would a woman be there?" she asked, still sounding slightly annoyed.

"Hang on. There's something I want to try," he said. He placed a hand on the woman's head. He saw a vision of Reapers attacking her and taking a man from her. When the man was gone they shot her. He stood up, holding a hand to his head, "Holy shit."

"What? Are you okay?" Spike asked, still slightly green.

"Yeah I'm fine Spike. I just had a sort of vision. This is Brandon's wife, Lynnae. He was taken by some Reapers," he said to them. He looked off to the side and saw something. "I can see some kind of phantom of someone running away from here."

"You mean like a ghost?" Spike asked nervously.

"No not a ghost Spike. I can just see where someone was headed," he explained.

"See if it will show you the way to what happened," she said.

"Follow me, Spike," Cole said.

When he nodded they set off following the trail Brandon had left. They ran out of the alley and across the street into another alley way. As they followed the trail through the back end of the alley they ran into a new type of Reaper. He was taller than the others and had a white coat instead of the usual red. He gathered energy around himself and pushed it forward, sending a shockwave at them. They jumped to the side before it hit them. Even then they felt the wave as it passed and pushed them back. Cole rolled when he hit the ground and shot a bolt at the Reaper. Before it hit the Reaper disappeared and reappeared across from where he was standing before.

"He can teleport? That's going to be a pain," Spike groaned.

"It doesn't seem like he can go very far though and with two of us it should be easier. So let's just keep on him," Cole said.

They ran in two different directions to force the Reaper to focus its attention on only one of them. Deciding Cole is the most dangerous he focuses his attention on him. He starts to shoot and sending shockwaves at him. Cole dodged the attacks, not striking back to be sure the Reaper had no reason to teleport as Spike snuck up behind the Reaper. He blew fire at his fists enveloping them in flames. Once directly behind the Reaper, Spike let out a low growl. The Reaper turned and Spike drove both his fists into the Conduit's torso. When they connected the Reaper was shot back against the wall, smoldering slightly.

Cole looked from the Reaper to Spike, "Whoa."

"It didn't seem like just punches would take him down, so I added my fire to it," he said, with a slight shrug.

"Considering the amount strength you seemed to use, it might have been enough, but better to be safe than sorry," Cole said.

After making sure the Reaper wouldn't get up they continued on their trek. They ran across a street and entered another alley. As the two walked through it, Zeke called, "Dude, pick up the freakin' phone."

"Hey, Zeke. Something up?" Cole asked.

"The Feds are what's up. Their watching us, I even saw one checking out the roof. He was eating a fresh apple. Where the hell did he get that?" Zeke asked.

Twilight's voice came through the phone, "It does seem pretty strange, Cole."

"Even still, if we want to get out of here, this is what we have to do," he said.

"Man, don't be dense. They're going to ride you as long as your useful, but when your not, you vanish," Zeke said, ominously.

"I think your brains been rotted by conspiracy theories," Cole said.

"I'm just tellin' you what's going to happen," he said.

They walked on through the alley. As they went farther in, the echo entered a power plant.

"What the heck is this?" Spike asked.

Before Cole could answer, Reapers started firing at them. They jumped behind some transformers for cover. They looked at each other and nodded. They ran out from their cover and headed toward them. Cole took aim at the Reapers on the platforms above them and shot them off. They fell to the ground unable to get up. As he did this Spike ran at the ones on the ground. He punched one into the fence, jumped to another and kicked them into a transformer. The transformer exploded from the impact and killed the Reaper that was kicked and one that was near it. Spike, however, didn't notice as he was going after the last Reaper. He dropped to the ground and slid as they opened fire on him. He swiped the Reapers feet from under him and when he was on the ground Spike brought his tail down across his chest.

Cole walked up to him, "Good job, Spike."

He beamed, "Thanks."

They went back to following Brandon's echo. It entered a substation. As they walked to it they saw another Reaper that was different from the usual. He had a gray coat and what looked like some kind of case attached to him. He was holding two explosives in it's hand. When the Reaper saw them he lit the explosives and they exploded, blowing them backward and destroying the substation.

"Why the hay did he do that?!" Spike asked, getting up.

"I don't know why he blew himself up, but I guess he wanted to destroy the substation," Cole said. "Ugh, damn."

"What's wrong?" he asked.

As Cole was about to answer him, Moya called, "The whole Neon District just went dark. What happened down there?"

"One of those crazy ass Reapers just blew himself and an entire substation up." He put a hand to his head, "Shit, it feels like there's a vice on my brain."

"Your body has electricity flowing through it, so it might be because of the lack of electricity around you. You need to find Brandon, if the power isn't restored we won't be able to stop the Reapers," she said.

"Right, let's keep following his echo. Come on Spike," Cole said.

The two followed Brandon's echo, Cole staggering slightly, to a manhole. They entered into the sewer.

Once in it Cole contacted Moya, "Okay, we tracked the echo to the sewers."

"In order to shut down the linear transformer underground, they must have needed Brandon's help," she said. "Find the transformer and get it back up and running. You'll need to re-establish the circuit if they've killed it."

"Right. Let's go Spike," he said.

Cole let the electricity run through his arms, so they could see by it. They jumped on the platform in front of them and then to the rail around the other pipes. They landed on the little island with the transformer on it.

"Alright. This must be what we are looking for," Cole said.

"So how are you going to connect them?" Spike asked.

"I'm going to use myself as a bridge to connect the two transformers and re-establish the circuit," he said. He walked up to it, jumped and grabbed the transformers. The electricity surged through him from one transformer to the other. After he dropped down he saw a vision of him doing several new things with his powers. "Did that just?" he wondered.

"Did it wh-" Spike was interrupted by someone nearby calling for help. They looked around and saw a man laying on the ground on the other side in front of a gate. Cole jumped over to him and charged electricity in his hands, he then lowered his hands. "Cole what are you doing?" he asked slightly worried about what he was doing.

Cole continued what he was doing and brought his hands down on the man. He gave the man a small shock, after he did the man got up feeling better. "Thank you. Hey Janet, are you back there? This guy's good, open the gate for us," the man called out. "The Reaper's need to be stopped. They're running around killing anyone they see. There's an electrician with them."

They walked through the gate and Spike said, "You could of explained what you were doing you know."

"Sorry, if I worried you, but I thought that it would be better to show you than try to explain it." He called Moya, "Transformers back on. Now what do we do?"

"The distribution substation needs to be restarted. To do that you need to charge the voltage regulator on the front of it. The power should turn back on after that," she said.

They headed across the walkway toward a group of people. Spike asked, "People actually live down here?"

"Yeah. They probably thought it was safe from Reapers or they didn't or couldn't live on the surface," Cole said. As they passed people he stopped to help everyone that was hurt. They thanked him for healing them. There were a few Reapers knocked out or injured on the ground around the camp. He walked up to them and restrained them to the floor. "There that should keep them from causing trouble."

"Whoa, you can restrain them too?" he asked.

"Yep. I can do something else, but I think that it kills them," Cole said, solemnly.

"Right, so you'll just avoid using it," Spike said.

Cole nodded and they headed forward. The only way they could get across the water was a thin pipe going from the ceiling across the area. As they headed forward, Zeke called, "Hey Cole, are you there?"

"Yeah Zeke what is it?" he asked.

"First off, I really wish Twilight had gone with you rather than Spike," Zeke said, rather nervously.

"Really? Why?" Cole asked.

"Because Trish came by to get her stuff. Didn't really talk to me, ignored Twilight completely of course. She didn't really care though, but I brought you up and Trish pretty much exploded. As soon as she went off about you, Twilight started yelling at her. Saying she shouldn't be treating you the way she has been. She knows that Trish's sister died during the explosion, but that you had nothing to do with it," Zeke explained. "Scared the hell out of me. Trish was one thing, but I haven't seen Twilight angry like that. I swear her hair caught fire for a second."

Cole felt a bit happy that Twilight stood up for him, but wish she hadn't done it like that. "Where is Twilight?" he asked.

"She's resting. She felt bad about losing her temper the way she did and laid down to cool off," Zeke said.

"Well if she wakes up tell her she'll see us when we're done. I think we're almost finished here," Cole said.

"Right," Zeke ended the call.

Cole sighed. He looked at Spike, "Do you know why she did that?"

"Why? She's your friend Cole. She doesn't like it when her friends are treated badly," Spike said. "Though, except for one time, I've never heard or seen her that angry. That was different than this though so it doesn't really count."

"What was the other time about?" he asked.

"Well, our friend Pinkie Pie has something she calls Pinkie Sense. Random things would happen with her body that seemed to predict the future," he said. "Of course Twilight couldn't just believe something like that, so she tried everything in her power to prove that what had happened before was just coincidence. It nearly drove her crazy trying to prove it was dumb luck that the things happened when Pinkie predicted it. Like I said that was different than this."

"So what do you think it means?" Cole asked.

"Probably that she feels differently toward you than her other friends," Spike said as they walked on. "She sure looks at you differently than them." He had a slight smirk as he said this. Cole was about to say something, but Spike cut him off, "She looks at you differently than she does Zeke too."

Cole felt somewhat uncomfortable about the direction the conversation was going, but he also felt rather good. His thoughts were interrupted when some Reapers attacked. They ran toward them. Spike punched one that was close, knocking him into the water. He turned and uppercut the next Reaper and followed it with a kick to his stomach. Cole shot bolts at the water the Reapers were in electrocuting them. He turned to the last one and punched him several times. After he went down Cole went over to each Reaper and restrained them.

As they went on with their journey, Moya called, "Are you two having problems finding your way through the sewer at all?"

"Not in the slightest. About four years ago, I got into urban exploration. I know these sewers as well as I know the city," Cole said.

They came to five platforms. On the first one there was an injured person, when they jumped over, Cole walked to him and healed him. Spike grabbed the man and jumped back. After he took the man back they jumped to the next platform. Cole grabbed the edge railing and pulled himself up. Spike, however, barely missed it and slid down the side of the platform onto a rail. He sidled around until he found a ladder and started to climb it.

"You okay?" Cole asked.

"Yeah just didn't get the rail is all," Spike said.

The pair continued across the platforms until they reached ground. As they walked forward they noticed a man behind a locked gate.

The man shouted at them, "Who are you? Did the Reapers see you?"

Spike smirked, "Yeah they saw us alright."

Cole chuckled, looking at the man, "We took care of them. We need to restart the substation."

"No way in hell! They will kill my wife. No one's getting through here," Brandon said.

"We need to get in there," Spike said.

"I'm not letting anyone in or out until she is safe. This gate's jammed up tight. You aren't getting through," he said.

Cole was getting slightly impatient, but couldn't blame him. 'Damn Reapers. They have this guy thinking that he is protecting his wife when they killed her the first chance they got. I still need to get in there though. I could fry him and open the gate that way or tell him the truth about Lynnae and hope he opens it,' he thought. He shook his head, 'I'm not going to kill him just so I can get through. He's just trying to protect the woman he loves.' His thoughts wandered to Trish and for a moment Twilight. He shook his head, "Brandon your wife, Lynnae, is dead. They killed her."

"How do you know our names?" he asked.

"I know it's hard to hear, but we saw the body. Nobody could do anything," Cole said somberly.

"Lynnae, I can't believe I trusted them. I'm so sorry," he said, sadly. He opened the gate, "You need to promise me that you'll kill them, all of them. I know what you can do."

"I'll take care of them," Cole said.

They walked through the door and continued on their way. When they were a good distance away, Spike asked, "Are you really going to kill them?"

"I'm not going to try and kill them. If they die from my attacks, I can't help that, but I will try to just take them out and restrain them," he said.

They finally reached the substation. "Alright time to bring this thing back online." He shot the voltage regulator with several bolts of electricity. When all of the lights turned green it started up again.

As they reached the surface the lights started turning on again.

"Good job. The North Beach's power is back. There are three more substations that are down. I'll mark them on your GPS as I locate them," she said.

Spike looked at Cole, "So should we head back for now?"

"Yeah, let's go and tell Twilight your fine. She's probably pretty worried," he said.

They made their way back home. Spike grumbling a little about taking care of himself.