Clara Cabello and Alejandra Jonas




"Look! Look AJ! I made headlines!" Clara slapped the newspaper down on AJ's workbench. Sparks flew and set the paper on fire, which Clara quickly put out, the smile not leaving her face. AJ tipped up her welding helmet and looked at Clara.

"Huh what now?" AJ asked.

"Lookie!" Clara frantically tapped a blurry black and white image. The fire of AJ's welding tool slowly faded.

"I can't hear you- Clara this is dangerous! Give me some room I'm working on something here!" AJ shoved Clara away and started putting things down.

"This's more important, I swear." Clara reassured her friend. An exasperated younger sister managed to stop welding together the seams of the spherical device for a few moments, and gave her best friend the attention she so desperately wanted.

"Look! It's me!" She shoved the newspaper in AJ's face. AJ leaned back and stepped away.

"...I don't see anything."

"There, right there!" Her finger zeroed in on where she knew a dark spot in the corner of a still frame was. "From when I stole that stuff from Hardtcorp. I zoomed right on by the camera!"

AJ read the entire article in a ludicriously fast amount of time, mouthing some of the words to herself. "Clara, this isn't a good thing. They're onto us."

"I'm famous." Clara peaked over the top of the newspaper to study AJ's reaction.

"This is bad. They know-"

"I ain't been caught since! I've been blocking all their camers with your new Zopper, remember?" Clara shows the blocky but undoubtedly effective red devices attached to Clara's wrist. "I've been a ghost. Only common evidence link now between all our heists have been that there is no evidence."

"...I suppose we've been doing better than the other people with superpowers." AJ remarked.

"Right? I mean, that other weird shit has to be people like me, right? Only they're going around beating the shit out of people. I haven't even had to punch one single person since getting my powers!" Clara celebrated.

AJ smiled. "You've been doing great. I suppose we are famous. That's not the worst. " AJ looked again at the photo.

"All we gotta worry about is like, Strand."

"Strand?"

"Yeah, you know, Strand. The superhero?"

"Clara, Strand isn't real." AJ said.

"Pfft. Okay, whatever, new kid. That's how I know you ain't been livin' in New York you're whole life." Clara playfully shoved AJ on the shoulder and then chucked the newspaper in the garbage. "I wouldn't be surprised if those other freaks like me decided to put on a costume and start fightin' crime, too."

AJ smirked. "Sure."

"Don't 'sure' me. Smug." Clara clicked her tongue. "Anyway. What's this?"

"Radial adhesive explosive." AJ released the incomplete prototype from it's vice and showed it to Clara. It was a small, red plastic sphere with an orange button ontop. "Press this, wait four seconds, and it will spread adhesive over a 5 meter radius."

"Hell yeah! Like a Goo Grenade."

"...You've always been better at naming stuff than me. That's what we're calling it now, huh?"

"Because no one wants to say Adhesion Projectors and Radius Adhesive Exploder. They want to say Zopper and Goo Grenade. Thirty dollar word usin'-ass." Clara slapped AJ on the shoulder. "Anyway, great work. That'll come in handy for sure! When'll you think it'll be ready?"

"Soon. I just need to make sure it doesn't leak." AJ turned to place it back in the vice. Clara put a hand on AJ's shoulder, catching her by surprise. The redhead, her cheeks turning a shade of floral-like yellow. A few spots of the shade appeared on her arm and knuckles. AJ blinked.

"Err. I'm uh. Proud of you. Or whatever. Good job." Clara cleared her throat. "I'm gonna go- steal something. Bye." She pulled the pair of orange goggles down over her face and sped out of the garage. She quickly closed the metal door behind her and swung off into the night.

AJ smiled broadly and got back to work, pulling the welding mask down over her face.