Static Sparks (Good Karma)

They climbed onto the roof and saw Twilight sitting on the couch looking rather glum. Zeke looked over the arm of the chair he was in. "Hey man, you actually made good time. She just got up a little while ago."

Spike sat in the other chair, while Cole walked over and sat next to her. They sat there for several awkward minutes no one knowing what to say.

Cole decided to speak, "Are you okay, Twilight?"

She shook her head, "No, I feel terrible for saying what I did to Trish. I won't take back what I said about you, I meant that. But when I think about the way I addressed how her sister died, I feel like I was insensitive to her. I don't know what to do." Her eyes started to water.

Cole hesitated, not really knowing how to help Twilight. After a while, he put an arm around her. As he did she tensed, but relaxed after a minute, "I'm not really sure what you should do. However, if you feel that bad about it you could apologize. I know she probably won't listen, but you should try. If you don't you will keep feeling this way."

Twilight looked at him, slowly nodding, "You're right. I should and I will the next time I see her."

Cole wiped the tears from her eyes. "Good. I know you'll be able to do it and feel better afterwards." He got up, "So, are you up for going with me Twilight or should Spike come again?"

"No, I-I'll be fine. I can go, if you don't mind," she said.

"Of course I don't mind. I just want to make sure you're okay," he said. "Alright, Spike, Zeke, we'll be heading out."

Twilight got up and followed Cole to the edge. She grabbed Cole's hand and took off in the direction of their destination.

As they neared the location, Cole contacted Moya, "We're there, Moya. What do we do?"

"I want you to find and recharge the cell tower that's near your location," she said.

Twilight changed course and headed to the cell tower. "Afraid we might decide to bail?" Cole asked.

"You'll drop off of the grid without that tower. That can't happen," she said.

As they entered the blacked out area Cole felt the effects. "Damn it, vision's blurring."

"Are you okay, Cole?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"Yeah, we just need to get the power back on," he said.

They landed next to the cell tower and Cole went up to charge it. When it was charged Moya called, "Good. Your GPS will show you where to go to get the electricity back up and running. There are a lot of Reapers scattered across the area, so be careful."

"I'll be slaughtered by those guys. That tower drained me dry and I can hardly see in front of me," Cole said.

"You've got someone to help you out don't you? Just avoid them by staying on the roofs. There are emergency generators scattered across the rooftops if you have to fight," she said. "Contact me when you get into the sewer."

"I can put a shield around us if we need it," Twilight said. "Let's head there."

"Right," Cole said.

They started heading to the sewer entrance, jumping from roof to roof. They managed to avoid any contact with Reapers, except for a few bullets fired at them, but they were far enough away that they didn't have to bother with them. Twilight kept her wings down to keep them from getting clipped. When they neared the manhole, however, they had to jump behind cover to avoid the turret fire from a nearby truck. The turret concentrated fire on Cole and, while it did, Twilight teleported behind the Reaper. Once behind him, she froze him to the turret.

She walked up to Cole, "That should keep any other Reapers from using it."

"That was good thinking," he said. "Let's get in there and do this."

They walked to the manhole and entered the sewer.

Once inside they started to head to the transformer. Cole explained to Twilight what it was they needed to do, "I have to re-establish the circuit for the transformer and then recharge the voltage regulator on the distribution substation."

"So that's what you did with Spike?" she asked.

"We did a little more, but that was the main thing, yes," he said.

They walked forward, occasionally having to jump onto and walk across pipes, heading to the transformer. After several minutes they found it. Cole walked up to it and re-established the circuit. As he did he saw another vision of a new power. He turned to tell Twilight, as he did he saw her holding her hand to her head.

He walked over to her, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just seeing the enhancements I can do to your new power," she said. Then to herself, "So that feeling before was a new power."

"Right, we are connected and you can upgrade my powers," he said. "Then you felt that I got powers before?"

"Kind of. It felt the same, but I didn't see anything, so I wasn't sure what it was," she said.

"I guess that makes sense. It wasn't the kind of power that would really need to be upgraded. It was just healing, restriction, and draining," Cole said. "Not really much you can do with those."

"Draining?" Twilight questioned. "I thought you could already do that."

"I can drain it from people," he clarified.

Her eyes widened, "You mean you can drain the bio-electric energy from people?"

"Yes?" he said, unassuredly.

"But that kills people Cole! A persons nervous system runs off of neuro-electric pulses," Twilight exclaimed.

He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes. "Twilight calm down. I'm never going to use that ability. I'm not going to take a person's life just for power," he assured.

She relaxed slightly, "O-okay. Sorry for overreacting."

Cole shook his head, "It's fine."

"No, it isn't. I should have known that you wouldn't use that ability," she said, dejectedly.

"It's fine, Twilight. You were just worried," he said.

As they continued forward there were pipes leading to a blocked entryway. They jumped on to the pipes and walked across. When Cole got close he tossed a shock grenade at the blockade. As the grenade blew the obstacle away Zeke called.

"Hey man, people keep going on about you delivering that bomb. Even George is runnin' mouth about it," he said.

"George? He's the person who called me and said that the package was burning up all over his desk, wanting me to beeline it. So I get it and head off," Cole said, somewhat angrily.

"Well, he said that you had to deliver it. That no one else could," Zeke said.

"The job was awful in the first place. Pay was horrible and when I get there someone calls to tell me to open the package. Then next thing I know, I'm waking up in a crater," he said, annoyed. He sighed and said with a slight smile, "Well, it didn't end too bad, I guess. Made two new friends from it."

Twilight felt a slight pang at being called friend. She was glad he consider her as such, but wish he felt more for her. She smiled, despite these feelings.

"Really, that's what you focus on? I mean, yeah they're great friends, but you have electric powers now. Anyway forget about George and those idiots. I'll cover for ya, man. They're just a bunch of gossip queens anyway," Zeke said.

They ran into some Reapers and Cole decided to test his new power some more. He threw several grenades at them. They started to run from them, but Twilight made shield around them and shrunk it, dragging the Reapers toward the grenades. When they detonated all that could be seen in the force field was electricity and dust. She lowered it and the Reapers fell to the ground. Cole walked up to them and checked to see if they were alive or not. When he noticed that they were he restrained them. They continued heading to the substation. As they passed a power box he recharged his energy. As they walked forward they had to duck behind cover to avoid the fire from three turrets.

"There are too many of them, you won't be able to get close to them without being torn apart. I'll teleport behind one and take it out. You could use your grenades you can take the other two out pretty easily," Twilight said.

"Good idea," Cole said. "I'll take the sides and you take the middle one."

Twilight disappeared in a flash of violet and Cole threw two grenades at the left turret. They exploded and the Reaper went down. Twilight reappeared behind the center Reaper. She placed a hand on him and sent an electric current through his body knocking him out. He threw another grenade at the right turret it exploded and sent the Reaper out from the turret, but it didn't take him out. Before he could get back behind the turret, Cole hit the Reaper with two bolts.

After the Reapers were dealt with, Cole joined Twilight in the middle and they resumed their trek through the sewer. After a few minutes of walking they heard a strange guttural shout coming from in front of them. As they neared the sound one of the bomber Reapers charged at them. Cole shot the Reaper before it got to close, as the bolt hit the Reaper he exploded. Twilight stared forward wide-eyed at what had just happened. Before she could react further another Reaper ran at them. Twilight reacted somewhat instinctively and shot him with a beam causing him to explode as well.

She stared at where the Reaper had been standing. "D-Did I ju-just-" her voice started to waver as what had happened started to sink in.

Cole stood in front of her and lightly put his hands on her shoulders, "Twilight, there was nothing we could have done. They had explosives strapped to themselves. I know it's hard to take, but we need to keep moving."

Twilight stood there silently shaking as she was registering what had just happened. After a moment she hugged Cole and cried into his chest. He stood there, slightly taken aback, but after a second he hugged her back. He just held her while she let everything out. When she started to calm down, he pulled back and looked at her. "I meant it Twilight. It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have done anything to prevent it," he told her.

She wasn't entirely convinced, but slowly nodded. Cole walked up to the substation and recharged it. When it restarted they left the sewer.

Once they reached the surface, Cole helped Twilight out of the sewer. As they returned, the lights were back on. Moya called as they got back, "Cole, I found out why the Reapers were busting the water pipes under the bridge. If they isolate the city's water system, they can pump their plague into everyone's home in the city. All the people who end up drinking that sludge will get sick or worse." She continued her report, "I've also got reports that Smith Fountain is polluted and a lot of people are already sick. Head over there and see if my intel is correct. If it is we'll figure out what we are going to do."

Cole looked at Twilight. She was still shaking from what happened. Deciding that it would be better to return home, Cole picked her up bridal style. Twilight let out a small *eep* and looked up at Cole in shock, but, after a minute, she laid her head against his chest. She still had tears running down her face, but had a slight blush on her cheeks. Blushing himself Cole started to head back home.

As he reached the building they live on Cole moved Twilight on to his back. She had fallen asleep on their way back. Holding on to Twilight with one arm, he slowly and carefully climbed up the structure. He climbed a pipe up to the edge of the roof. Once he reached it, Cole called out softly, "Spike!"

Spike walked over to him and asked, "What are you do-" His question died in his throat and eyes widened as he saw Twilight on his back. He rushed over to Cole, grabbed her and pulled her up.

Cole climbed on the roof and picked Twilight up again. He carried her over to the couch and laid her down.

Spike walked to him and asked, worriedly, "What happened to her?"

Cole straightened, "She took out one of those bombers."

Spike paled slightly, "So, she-"

"She didn't mean to, but yes she did," he said.

"I'm going to stay with her, she needs someone to be with her when she wakes up," Spike said. "Are you going to do one of the missions Moya assigned?"

"No, you two have really helped with those. So, I'm going to wait until you feel comfortable coming because I'm sure it's going to take Twilight a while to feel up to it," Cole said. "I'm going to go out and help some of the people in the city. Zeke you think you could try and help Twilight feel better when she gets up?"

"Sure man, not really sure what to say or do, but I'll try and help as best I can," he said.

Spike nodded and sat next to his sister.

Cole left to help whoever he could.

As Cole was looking for people that needed help he got a call from someone.

"This is Warden Harms. Cole, I know you must have your hands full, but I'm going to need your help sometimes," he said.

"What is it you need?" Cole asked.

"We've caught some Reapers. I want you to escort them to the station so we can interrogate them. I'll upload where they are to your GPS," Harms said.

He headed to the location of the captured Reapers. When he got there Harms contacted him again, "Sorry, but I have to pull my men back. We are spread too thin. Take the Reapers and head here. Don't be afraid be a little rough to keep them in line."

Cole walked to end of the line. He pushed one of the Reapers, "Get moving."

They started walking toward the station. They headed through the streets, while Cole kept his aim on the Reapers. As they continued forward two of the Reapers broke from the line and attacked Cole. He punched one of the Reapers in the gut then the chest. He turned to the other, jumped and kicked him in the head. The two Reapers returned to the line and they resumed their walk to the station. Cole lead them past the park and a couple of the Reapers made a break for it. Cole glared at the other two to make sure the stayed where they were and then sprinted after them. He zapped one of them until they stopped and knelt down and, when he got close, he tackled the other. He lead them back to the others and they went back to heading to the prison. They reached it after crossing the street. They lined across the wall as cops walked out to get them.

Harms called him, "Thank you for the help Cole. Hope you'll continue to help us when we need it."

"Sure. I'll help when I can. Just let me know," he said.

He started walking around the city again, looking for people to help. When he came across a dead cop he decided to check to see if he had any information that he could use.

He saw the echo of a Reaper kicking the dead cop. "Damn it. This can't be good."

He followed the echo into an alley way and found several Reapers with cops at gun point. He charged at them and caught one off guard with a gigawatt blade to the back of his head. He turned to the Reaper to his right and punched him in the stomach, then raised his leg and kicked him in the chest. Cole then jumped to the left to avoid the bullets of the remaining Reaper. He then turned and threw a grenade right behind the Reaper. It exploded and sent the Reaper flying forward. Before he could get up Cole rushed forward and restrained him. He walked over to the officers to make sure they were okay. They thanked him for saving their lives and went about getting the Reaper pried off of the ground so they could take them to prison.

As Cole left them to take care of business, he noticed it was getting dark and decided to head back for some rest. He would see how Twilight was doing after he had some sleep and his thoughts weren't so muddled.