In a universe where everyone is born with numbers on their wrists counting down to when they’ll meet their soulmate, send me 00:00:00 for my muses reaction to their numbers hitting zero when they meet yours.
Evelyn Phoenix was in excellent shape, yet her sprint seemed to be lacking. Running so fast for so long was pulling at her hamstrings. The alleyway was not infinite, however, and a wall stood not too far before her. A dead end. Fantastic.
With a pistol in either hand, she’d eventually skid to a stop just before the wall, turning about face to reign fire upon the enemy. This alien race was like none Earth had encountered before. If the Chitauri were formidable, these guys were divine. There was no mother ship to detonate, no leader to abduct. They were a barbaric, savage, war-loving species.
But they sure as hell weren’t bulletproof.
"Fuck yourselves!" yelped the agent in a show of celebration. She was about to let a fist pump loose when another person tackled her to the ground. Only once her world had stopped spinning did she realize who’d been responsible for the assault.
"Loki?" Evelyn’s voice hardly ever went high-pitched, but it definitely did at the mention of his name. "The hell were you—?"
"Look!" He exclaimed, jerking her to gaze in the direction of where she once stood. The wall that had been just feet behind her was now rendered to ash. "If you truly wish to be vaporized, I’ll leave you to it next time.”
"Thank you," breathed the agent in response. Only now was she finally aware of how desperately her lungs needed oxygen. "I owe ya one."
"This army shan’t fall back from gunfire alone. Your people have to have more than— this!” He’d picked up one of her pistols at that last word, examining it in disgust.
"We’ve got a scant amount of superheroes, and I’m pretty sure half of them are dead." Evelyn attempted to swallow her sadness, though there was no mistaking the pain in her eyes. She’d lost a few good friends oh too recently.
The duo had been so wrapped up that they had nearly forgotten how momentous this day was to be for the both of them. Neither knew their clocks were in sync, but they both remembered in the back of their minds that today held Zero Hour.
"Christ," muttered the redhead, eyes coming down to glance at her wrist. "I’m about to hit zero." Her head leaned back against some rubble, smoke and sirens all around them. "Mother Nature, your timing is so shitty. Like, you don’t even know.”
Evelyn’s comment had prompted Loki to check his own wrist. Lips parted as a quiet gasp escaped him. Curious eyes slowly went from his clock to the beaten and bruised agent before him. The look on his face was certainly a rare one; genuine surprise.
"You okay?" Evelyn suddenly sat up, concerned by his expression. "I have a med-kit on me if you’re hurt, and—"
She’d reached for him but when he looked to his wrist once more, so did she. The two watched their clocks reach zero at the same time, staring down at their wrists for longer than necessary before they finally met each other’s eyes again.
Eyelids growing heavy, they began to lean in for a kiss — something ceremonious to honor the impossible feat that had just happened. As far as they knew, they were the first from two separate realms to be assigned as soulmates. The moment did have a level of grace to it, but the explosion from half a block down ruined it as quick as it came.
"For fuck’s sake!" exclaimed the agent in anger. She was glaring in the direction of yet another battle. "Can you all pause this war for five goddamn seconds? I’m trying to be sentimental, here!” Turning back to Loki, she held one finger up in a show of protest. “And that doesn’t happen often, so don’t you even think of getting used to—”
Of course he’d shut her up with a kiss.