Chapter 15 - Scene of the crime

"Is that the place where we electrocuted those men, Cyra?" Clara asked, pulling herself off of the pavement and making her way to a large crack in the earth. She dusted her leg off and walked towards it. When she was close enough, she could see that it was not a crack, it was melted asphalt in vine-like shapes. It looked like lightning had struck except... horizontally.

"Yes, that would be the spot." Cyra answered grimly. He was leaning on his car with his hands in his pant pockets. His sunglasses were shading his onyx eyes which were protectively watching Clara as she poked around at the scene. Being back here made him feel a slight heightened sense of alertness, even though there was not a soul in sight.

She touched the ground, tracing her fingertips over the scorched asphalt. A spark illuminated from her fingers.

"The energy is still active here." Clara was intense and focused as she spoke. "I don't know what it all means, but I will find out. It must have something to do with radiation or gamma waves... maybe photon energy... I.. I need to figure out..." Clara's pacing and rambling was interrupted by a soft touch on her hand. An electric wave rippled out of them. She hadn't noticed when Cyra had left his spot or when he had came over to her but he was now standing right next to her and pulled her to him ever so gently.

"Clara, darling. Does it matter?" His words were soft and he removed his glasses so that she may see that his eyes were too. "There is no need to stress about this. Look at your hands, they are glowing. It does not matter how you got this gift, only what you do with it." He smiled sincerely and Clara's tense shoulders relaxed a bit and she let out a lungful of air. She smiled back appreciatively.

"I hate not having all of the answers but you're right. You're a good friend Cyra." She touched his arm and turned back to the burned asphalt. "Hey, Cyra? What do you mean "what I do with it"? What does that even mean, do you plan on doing something -spectacular- with your power?" She mocked a faux explosion with her hands and laughed.

Cyra laughed as well but answered slightly more serious. "I do, actually. I plan to use this power to control all weapon exportation on this side of the hemisphere and eventually around the world! I will have the largest arms trafficking that anyone has ever seen, and I know just where to start." He looked at the markings on the floor and scowled.

"Cyra..." Clara started but couldn't make any other words come out.

"Join me Love, Clara my dearest friend and whom I respect entirely, join me and we could be unstoppable. We could combine our powers and conquer it all and have everything our hearts have ever desired." He took a step toward her but she stepped back from him instead.

"I want..." she said firmly, forcing herself to be firm and not stammer, "... to do the right thing. I want to use my power for good and not evil. To stop drug lords and illegal mass weapon traffickers." Her threatening tone was matched by the fire in her eyes. Her hands began crackling like a firework.

"Easy there tiger. I am not your enemy. Yet. Hopefully one day you will see that we are fated together and change your mind but until then... we have a common goal." He smiled and his dark eyes burned darker and more sinister.

Clara continued to slowly take steps backwards. She didn't like the direction that the conversation had turned but while they were waiting for Natalia to arrive, she had no choice but to hear him out.

"I want revenge for the betrayal by Emor and you want to stop all drug lords and weapon dealers, am I right? As of this very instant we have a common objective, find Emor and stop him. We should work together to accomplish it. If later you decide that you prefer to become the hero to my villain, so be it."

He had all but backed Clara into the side of the building by the end of his sentence. She felt like she was being rushed for an answer and she needed time to think. The air around her felt thick and warm.

"I need some space... ompf!" Clara had stumbled on something while she trying to back away from Cyra. He caught her mid descend with cat-like reflexes.

"Are you ok darling?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I just tripped on a ... uh, a wallet?" She pondered, picking up the brown leather wallet and examining it.

"Clara, you little detective you!" He took it from her and impatiently scanned the item for clues. "If this belongs to one of those men that we fried," Cyra began but Clara frowned at his choice of words. "Oh my apologies Love, I mean the lovely gentleman that we delicately stopped from murdering us using strictly self defense... better?" Clara rolled her eyes but let him continue. "This could help us track them down. And finding them brings us closer to finding their leader, Emor."

"Or..." Clara said grounded. "It could be from a worker. This place wasn't deserted that long ago, it looks like it might even be used as a secondary output or seasonal work."

"Does this mug look familiar?" Cyra asked showing her the driver's license and a very grumpy looking man.

"Maybe? It kind of looks like the short man that was here. But it was dark, how can you tell?" She examined it further, turning her head this way and that to see him from different angles.

"There's only one way to find out. His address is there. We should pay him a visit. Tonight."

Clara continued to flip through the wallet. "Oh! I found a phone number!", Clara winked and held up a strip of paper between her index and her middle finger. Her smile beamed.

"Well done mon cherie!"

Cyra pulled Clara closer to him and took the wallet from her hand and held them for awhile as they both laughed. They were both giddy at the excitement of the chase. Cyra pulled her even closer, so close that their noses touched. "Partner." He whispered with a smile. His breath on her felt warm and made Clara exhale involuntarily. She drunkenly raised her chin, bringing her lips mere centimeters away from his. "Partner", she mouthed, leaving her lips parted invitingly.

*skkkkkkrr*

Before she could realize what was happening, a bright red sports car was screeching towards them and quickly drifted sideways to a halt, less than an inch away from them.