Chapter 18 - Cool car

"Ugh what the heck is wrong with this stupid car! Why can't I figure out how to get it to start!" Clara smashed buttons impatiently on the dash board.

"Now playing, Jump Start My Heart." A robotic voice said over the speaker.

"Nooo!!! This is not cool, Car!" Clara yelled.

"Turning fan to cool mode." A shot of cold air forcefully wisp in Clara's frowning face.

20 minutes later Clara was finally on her way to Cyra's house. A light pink gym bag sat in the passenger seat. She had decided to pack an overnight bag this time, just in case the snooping lasted all night.

When she arrived to the house it was lit up just as it was yesterday. She tried to imagine what the electrical bill must be like to constantly light up a house this size and shook her head disapprovingly.

Before she could knock, Natalia opened the door. "Your pet is here." She barely even looked at Clara when she spoke. She was wearing all black just like earlier. She reminded Clara of a female version of Cyra.

"Darling, we are in the kitchen." Cyra hollered. Clara followed the back of Natalia into the kitchen. The whole place smelled like freshly brewed coffee even though it was almost dark outside.

"Hello Love. We were just going over the game plan. Come, have a seat." He touched the seat next to him invitingly with a smile. It was a comforting contrast to Natalia's coldness.

Natalia sat on the counter in front of them and pulled a laptop on to her lap and studied it intensely.

"We have a location, a work schedule, and a registered vehicle." Cyra informed Clara. "We should go to his workplace now and wait there for his shift to end."

"Ok. Just tell me what to do." Clara said, nodding but was shut down by Natalia's glare. She snapped her laptop shut angrily and hopped off of the counter.

"You do nothing. I don't even know why you are here. I could do this alone with no problem."

"Natalia." Cyra scolded. "Clara is here because my powers only work when we are together. You care about my safety right? Well, I am safer when I'm with Clara."

"Be honest, you mean you are more powerful with me." Clara said under her breath.

"What do you say?! What is that supposed to mean?!" Natalia barked.

"I said your boss only uses me for power!" Clara snapped back.

Natalia looked as if steam was going to come out of her ears. She was just about to hop down when Cyra caught her in his arms before she could get to Clara.

"Ladies, calm down. We are going to be stuck in a car together for hours. Let's try to get along." He put Natalia down and she rolled her eyes but didn't attempt to pursue Clara further.

"Clara deserves a chance to seek and stop a dangerous drug lord and gun dealer and beside, she is incredibly smart too. We can use her brain not just her superpowers. And Clara, my love, I am saddened that you think so lowly of me but alas, this time together might just change your mind about me yet."

Clara sighed. "Ok. I can be civil. Truce?" She offered her hand for Natalia to shake but she refused.

"No. I'm not doing this. It's pointless. You can do this alone without me, yes?" She asked Cyra throwing her hands up. He nodded and she picked up her laptop and walked out without another word.

"What... why?" Clara asked Cyra once Natalia was gone.

"I know better than to force Natalia to do something she does not want to do. I don't know why she has so much hatred for you but she's not exactly the trusting type."

"Maybe she's in love with you." Clara suggested.

Cyra laughed wholeheartedly, his eyes watered and he was almost out of breath. " I indubitably doubt that Love." He wiped a tear from his eye.

"Why are you laughing? You're an attractive guy and the two of you spend a lot of time together. Not to mention you are her boss and in a place of authority. It's only natural for her to catch feelings for you."

"You find me attractive do you?" He said with a sly smile. Her hair whipped as he pulled her stool closer to him. "Tell me more." He teased.

"No, not that again. I'm not beating you off with a stick the entire time we are out there tracking this guy down. You are going to behave yourself." She pointed a finger at Cyra.

"Fine. But just so you know, it's impossible for Natalia to be in love with me. She's far too professional for that. Besides, she prefers the company of beautiful women, not handsome devils like myself."

"Lucky for her because you can be absolutely repulsive." Clara joked as she hopped off the stool.

"Now you're just being rude."

Clara laughed and walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup. She let the steam hit her face and she inhaled the aroma before she took a sip. She glanced up and noticed Cyra was staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing. I just like how you smell your coffee before you drink it. You did that on our date too."

Clara's cheeks flushed and she took another sip of her coffee.

Soon after, Cyra stood up and suggested they head out. Clara followed him out through a back entrance and up and over the hill to a large concrete building. It was half the size of the house itself and had it's own metal gate with a passcode.

At first she thought it must be Natalia's house until the gate opened and she could see many garage doors lined up. There was probably a dozen parking garages but instead of going to one, they headed to a dark stairwell to the right.

They descended into the darkness and a motion sensor flickered on a light above their heads. "Is this your lair? I knew you had a lair."

Cyra laughed and walked up to a panel on the wall and flicked a switch and a light started to emerge from down the way as a door lifted up. The light was just bright enough to show Clara that they were in an underground parking garage with even more spaces than above them.

"Jesus Cyra, how many cars do you have?!" Clara interrogated.

"Many." Was all that Cyra answered.

"We need something less conspicuous than my usual choice." He added as they made their way to the open parking space.

Clara gasped with shock when she saw the car. It was about 10 years old, dark green and some of the paint from the hood was starting to peel. "You mean to tell me that this whole time you have normal ass cars and you gave me that voice commanded demon car from hell!?"

Cyra laughed even harder. "Natalia picked that one. I told her to bring her personal favorite and she brought her second favorite! She thinks I don't know that she favors the Porsche."

"You both are the absolute worst. You both deserve each other even if she doesn't like men, you keep the perfect company."

"I promise we are not all that bad. Now come on, we have a man to stalk and kill."

"No kill."

"Fine! You are absolutely no fun."