—- “… Good,” he said with a squint in his eyes.
Cadillac had half expected her to go up in smokes right at that moment, how long was an apparition generated within the dark, endless walls of this place supposed to exist? How long did he have to watch her to notice a flaw, a bug that would confirm that she was, indeed, not real? To take note of the colors of her eyes that would spontaneously shift, hair that would clip through her neck, fingers that would pop in and out of existence within a matter of 0.1 seconds. Though, no amount of staring and waiting as she guided him to the door she came from gave him what he was hoping to find. Though, she did say she was ‘on the clock’ like some lunatic for the second time already, mumbo jumbo that clearly had no real meaning. A true work of the unnatural universe residing inside this place.
An incredibly unnatural universe, one that had eyes anywhere he looked with distant stars in each direction he turned his head to. Had it not been for the Earthen girl, he would have traveled at the speed of light to find what lay at the very end of this world. He would have reached both hands inside each crack, fingers searching for whatever monstrosity or disastrous concept hid behind walls of dark matter. It was a place that amazed him so, its mystery as well as potential for great significance to the army seemingly one daydream away. One daydream, and a door. Wait– a door?
“There is a door?” Another hallucination? Trick of the light, or perhaps he was going mad? Widened eyes fixated on the doorknob she touched as he watched from over her shoulder, but his focus was disturbed by the sound of her voice. Pointy ears tilted and his gaze dropped down to the woman as he waited for her to continue, only for her to drop it entirely. Unnecessary details to give any illusion, especially the part about some form of resurrection. Although, it left him with a gnawing worry that she was as real as the world waiting for them behind the portal, and so he kept quiet.
The freezing cold was what hit him first. Feet finally met the ground and he entered through the doorway into a world he recognized all too well. Not by what he saw, but by smell, that unforgivable smell. She was no illusion, humanity’s ability to open a portal to another region was reality, and this was most definitely PLANET EARTH.
“It’s true.” he mumbled, glancing back and forth from where they came from and the very place they stood. “It’s like a wormhole…” Cadillac would have normally hated the frozen winds cutting his skin, though this time he’d forgotten all about it. To think Earthlings would have ever figured out a way to find access to a pocket that lay out of sight. A discovery that mortified his already existent appetite for no other reason than his REVULSION to a blue planet that turned his hot blood cold. She didn’t make it any easier for him to digest the information, either.
Her snarky comment stiffened his shoulders as he shot a death glare her way. Inky claws clenched into a fist, knuckles going pale blue. “Funny,” he said without a trace of humor. “You see, I… don’t actually care much for coffee at all. Bitter. Revolting. Vile.” White snow crunched under the heels of his shoes as he moved closer, lights overhead flickered before intensifying with a loud buzz, until the bulbs exploded violently into small pieces of glass.
“Are you proud of having found that place before me? I’m sure it feels nice to know you’re one step ahead of someone who’s so… what did you say again? OMNIPOTENT? Big word coming from such a small mouth, how far do I need to pull down that jaw to rip the tongue from the back of your throat?” he hissed through razor teeth before taking a quick, deep breath. “… The void, the fourth dimension, the super massive black hole that’s spiraling toward your inevitable death– these are all places that we’ve already got a better understanding of than you could ever wish to comprehend. Do NOT-” He reached to hold the stranger’s face in a tight grip by the jaw. “- UNDERESTIMATE my reach or capabilities. It takes time to understand the mysteries of the cosmos, and just because you happened to open one of its doors, doesn’t mean you’ve unraveled all of its secrets.”
Cadillac let go and straightened his tensed back. “I’m not an idiot. You know more about that place than I do, and it would be stupid for me to think too little of that. You could be of great use to us.” As much as he resented the situation at hand, the importance of the project was greater. There was a pause. “… You said your apartment is around, right? How about you show me inside so that we can talk about this fun little fact in more detail. It’s too fucking cold outside. You’d have to agree… right?”
“Okay, let’s get one thing straight. I don’t think I’m any better than you. You’ve got a shit read on me if that’s seriously what you think.”
That grip on her chin had hurt, and she rubbed her skin in frustration after he had so graciously let go. Did he really have to be so... well, that? Describing it was simply impossible - there was nothing quite like what she had just experienced ( though being chained in Gideon’s Subspace was a close second as far as she was concerned - and yeah, this somehow topped that ). It only brought a slew of other questions into her mind.
Why was he so grouchy? Surely, he could tone it down a little; but then again, he was probably fully capable of ripping her to shreds - and no, those cold sweats of hers had not completely diminished after listening to him say all of that, offering some kind of mercy despite the fact that simply by existing she had seemingly pissed him off. But come on, that wasn’t her intention - somehow, she attracted some of the most fucked up people to her without doing anything other than simply being. That in it of itself was enough to want to call it quits on life, but that was definitely not something that ever occurred to her. She was simply not the type of woman to do so. Especially not after everything she had been through, especially not having survived all she had.
And for all of that shit she had seen and done, by God - she was still here. Somehow, for whatever reason, she hadn’t given in.
She tightened her fists, digging her fingernails into the skin of her palms, and bit her lip. Surely, there had to be some way out of this. But, it wasn’t as though she had never suspected that there would be something like this haunting the hallowed halls of Subspace - that interdimensional gateway that not only connected worlds and places, but people and things. Everyone’s mind was an entire galaxy to be explored, their thoughts and feelings shaping it - everyone was always connected, always there... always so easy to use.
Maybe he was like Gideon, but smarter. Maybe he knew the extent to which Subspace could be used against humanity, against her, even. But judging by two very particular facts, something seemed to be off about the entire affair: one, he was not making mincemeat of her right this second; and two, most important of all... was he seriously asking to go into her apartment? Yeah, that’s DEFINITELY the most wild thing happening right now.
“...You are really something, you know that? It’s over there, if you must know,” She said, gesturing her head in the direction of her quiet, sleepy and likely freezing cold apartment in the middle of the blistery night. She started off, blading through the snow with her hands shoved into her pockets, but stopped momentarily to face him again. He really seemed pissed - but now, she was a strange concoction of terrified, but sufficiently pissed off as well. He really couldn’t let her off the hook, huh? She cocked her head to the side and gave him a look of indignation, of irritation - though her heart skipped a beat at the thought of those hands of his, and that influence, wrapping around her and zapping her of all the life left in her body. Still, she relented. By God she relented. “But, uh, maybe don’t shut down the power on the whole street, though - everyone’s gonna start blaming the new girl on the block. ...Also known as me, if you didn’t pick that up.”
With that, she took off down the street and towards her apartment as he had asked just moments before. That blistering fast speed, gained from years of practice, had made her quite the force to be reckoned with. Within seconds, blazing through the snow and leaving behind a melted trail of icy water, she arrived at her front door. Presumably, he’d followed close behind; but who knew? She wasn’t about to turn around and check. The eldritch electric being from the confines of hell wasn’t exactly someone she wanted to let inside.
But she probably would have to; what choice did she really have other than to be... well. Let’s stop that thought right there.
She unlocked the door to her apartment - a townhouse, lest we forget - and made her way inside slowly. She passed by her first floor neighbor’s door, with the light underneath the doorway flickering and a laugh track to accompany it - a television set, probably some sitcom from the 90s playing until the end of time. With the grace of a trained prima ballerina, she lifted one leg up and removed her roller blade while moving with the other, repeating the action just seconds later. Hanging on to both of them, she started to ascend the stairs to her door.
She stopped, key in hand, and closed her eyes. Did he follow her? Who knew. Yet, the words fell out of her mouth as she twisted the key into the lock and opened the door.
“Home sweet home. Make yourself comfortable, uh... electric person. If you don’t like coffee, you’re in luck - ‘cause I don’t either. There’s tea. Tons of tea. Lots of it, ‘til you choke kind of a thing.”
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