***
"This... is pretty surreal."
'No shit, Max. Welcome to understatement city.' Was that even the right word? "Surreal" was having a particularly vivid dream one night, or meeting a hero of yours in person. Those things were surreal.
Max Caulfield was pretty sure the English language didn't even have a word to
describe... whatever this was. Crazy? Insane? Kooky, nuts, bizarre? They all just seemed too... mundane. How was she supposed to react to finding out there really were whole other universes than her own? That some evil arch-demon thing was threatening all of them, and the only way to stop him was to sign up for an interdimensional, real-life game of Clue?
Well... maybe it wasn't so different from finding out she was a human time machine. God, her life really
had become a comic book lately, hadn't it? Warren would've had a stroke if he knew a thing about any of it, but he didn't. And Warren wasn't here.
Which wasn't to say she was here alone, though.
Honestly, Max was
so glad Chloe came with. She needed a security blanket of some kind. They were still in way over their heads, but at least this way they were in way over their heads together.
They still had stuff to do at home, of course. Arcadia Bay, Rachel Amber, all of it. She hadn't just
forgotten. But something as big as this obviously had to take precedence, and the town would still be there when they got back. It wasn't like they were pressed for time, anyways. They had all of it in the world. Literally.
Come to think of it, she hadn't actually
asked how her partner in time (insert groan here) was taking all this. Was she freaking out, or was she as tough as ever? Couldn't hurt to ask. They were in this together, after all. She wouldn't have it any other way.
"I feel so out of my depth... like an otter trying to swim in the Bermuda Triangle. All the weirdness in Arcadia Bay suddenly doesn't seem so weird anymore, does it?"
She rubbed her elbow uncomfortably, casting a quick glance around at their pristine white surroundings.
"Also, I'm pretty sure we're lost. These hallways go on forever."
"Max? Don't know if you got the memo, but you can reverse time. You thinking something's surreal means there's gotta be some cereal shenanigans going on."
Yeah, after being saved multiple times by your best bud who had the gift (a fuckin' AWESOME one at that!) to rewind time, the normal person wouldn't have been bothered by much else. But Chloe Price wasn't your average everyday normal person. That was
waaaaaaay too boring a lifestyle for, as her mother put it, a hellraiser like her!
She was always up for pushing the envelope and seeing
everything life had to offer. And then lookin' past even
that to reach under life's couch cushions and see what they mighta had stuffed under there. Not that she spent her time snooping through couches! No sir, she was
way too mature for that-- oh who the hell was she trying to kid, of course she did. Just when Joyce and Step-Douche weren't looking, of course.
But this shit they were in right now wasn't something as minor and insignificant as couch-poaching. This was like something straight out of the edgiest fan-fic ever, complete with bigshot arch-demon being a douche. Chloe wasn't about to let her best friend slip away from her again, so naturally she tagged along with Max on this 'adventure' (if it could even be labeled that) when those Coalition freaks came a-knockin' for Arcadia Bay's resident time rewinder. But while internally Chloe's thoughts were a scrambled mess consisting of putting her and Max's safety above all else, Rachel's whereabouts were ever present throughout Chloe's mind. Maybe... Maybe they could possibly find answers while they were here? No, even if that was the case, she couldn't afford to let it cloud her judgement right now. It was just her and Max against the world. Just as it should've been. Speaking of which as her pal spoke up, she shrugged.
"Just stick by the good ol' shark and you'll be fine, otter." Chloe teased, uttering the iconic 'dun-dun-dun-dun' Jaws theme to get a reaction out of Max (who was, much to Chloe's delight, immediately freaked out). Once that was out of the way (and Max was done unleashing her inner deadarming beast on Chloe as payback), she let her impish grin fade and went on more seriously.
"C'mon, don't gimme that self-deprecating bullshit. I sure as hell don't feel outta my depth, and neither should you. Anyone gives you shit, you can just rewind and make 'em do the funky chicken dance."
Max rolled her eyes, crossing her arms somewhat sullenly.
"I can't mind control, Chloe. I'm not a Jedi. Plus, we're still lost. All the rewinding in the world isn't gonna get us out of these hallways."
She smirked, slinging an arm around Max's shoulder.
"Chin up, hippie! If we're lost, at least we're lost together. Eh? Ehhhhh?"
"Sentimental stuff? Cue gag reflex."
Chloe had a point, though. Even with all this crazy shit going on, there wasn't a force on this earth that could've torn the two of them apart.
***
They had a pretty eventful first day. Kittens were saved, ticks were tocked, detectives were yoinked through wormholes and a door even got busted down. Things settled down after that, though; they found their rooms, ate, exercised, showered, and all that normal stuff. Flash forward a few days and there they were, standing with the rest of the colorful crew in the teleport chamber, getting ready to, well... teleport. She was
never gonna get used to referring to that as an actual mode of transport.
"Are you... ready for this?"
"Fuck no. You?"
Max shook her head breathlessly, the same weird, unpleasant jittery sensation people got while waiting for job interviews gnawing at her stomach and making her knees restless. Was this it? Were they prepared? How
did they prepare?
What the fuck was even going on???
"...Chloe, I-"
"You better not be about to go chickenshit on me, Max. Look, I can't do this without you, you can't do this without me, but together?"
"...Fuck, okay so we probably still can't do this but we can damn well give it our best shot! Our universe needs us, Max. We got this."
Max was silent for a few moments, collecting her thoughts with raised eyebrows before she finally gave her response.
"...You're right. Sappy, but... right. Don't worry about me, Cap'n Price! My morale's at an all-time high."
She gave a sardonic salute, transitioning seamlessly into their basic secret handshake for good luck.
"What's the worst that could happen, anyway?"
***
"Oh, fuck! Chloe! Get this rock off my leg!"
Max gave a pained hiss as she carefully moved her leg underneath the pile of rubble pinning it. Nothing was crushed or broken, thankfully, but she was pretty sure that was gonna bruise.
Welp. Did
not take long for everything to go to shit, judging from their surroundings and the haggard state of the rest of the teleportees. Now what?