Supervillain Soulmate

Chapter Nine

Cataclysm started taking off his mask when he was in the apartment after that, although he didn't make much more of an effort to try and get to know Nora any better. He still had his guard up, and she knew that there was a small part of him that still believed this was some kind of long con. That she'd been chosen for this. And she didn't know how to make him believe that she hadn't.

She was finally starting to get over the itch in her bones that told her that she should be at work doing a million things instead of sitting on her butt and just reading a book all day, which was a refreshing change.

He still hadn't given her back her phone, and at this point Nora was starting to think that he never would. But that was... okay too, she kind of didn't miss it. With its constant notifications and the buzzing, it had basically ruled her life.

Now that she was free of its constraints, Nora wasn't sure if she could ever go back to it. What she did miss, however, was her patients. There had been a few people she'd been taking care of on her last shift and she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to them. Some other intern had most likely gotten to scrub in on the surgeries she would have gotten to assist on. They were probably glad that she was gone.

Did they even think about her? Had anyone tried to find her? She tried to imagine missing person posters with her name on them. News bulletins. Videos of her mother crying and begging for information.

Somehow, though, it all seemed a little far-fetched for it to actually happen. Maybe she could ask Cataclysm about it sometime, if she could figure out a way to do so without him getting defensive about it.

The apartment was quiet, aside from the low humming of various appliances and the sounds of Nora turning the pages of her book. At first the quiet had bothered her, pulling at the corners of her subconscious to the point of distraction.

Now, though, she basked in it. Expected it now. So when thunder boomed directly over her head, she just about had a heart attack and fell sideways out of her chair.

"What the?" She exclaimed as inky black clouds started to accumulate on the ceiling. They were wispy at first, like a fine layer of fog but they very quickly thickened up, swelling into proper storm clouds.

Another rumble of thunder followed shortly after the first one, the clouds crackling with energy and if a thunderbolt had suddenly shot out and struck the rug, Nora wouldn't have been at all surprised.

But that wasn't what happened.

Instead, the clouds began to move, swirling violently around the ceiling and she could only watch from her place on the floor as they seemed to take on a life of her own.

Just before the next rumble of thunder, she could have sworn that she heard a voice. Whoever it was sounded like they were screaming and it was only getting louder and louder.

In the center of the ceiling, one of Cataclysm's portals opened up directly above her head and she barely had chance to scramble backwards out of the way before the villain in question was plummeting through it.

His body hit the floor with a thump and Nora froze, eyes wide. After a second, all of her hospital training kicked in and she pushed herself up onto her feet, scrabbling over to Cataclysm's prone form.

He wasn't speaking or making sounds of any sort, so she wondered whether the force of the impact had knocked him out. The portal above their heads remained wide open, swirling viciously. Beyond it she could hear sirens and was that a gunshot?!

"Cataclysm, hey can you hear me?" She asked as she placed her fingers on his neck trying desperately to find a pulse. This couldn't be happening. 'Calm down, Nora.' She told herself, trying to push away the fear that she was losing her soulmate before she had even gotten chance to really get to know him.