chimera

open the floodgates

Miguel stays knelt where he is, looking down at his empty hands as he tries to process what just happened. Kate turns away from him, still trying to process everything herself, and leans over the balcony railing of Miguel's compound on 2099.

"Hey boss, good of you to come home finally." Lyla stands in front of the broken man. "Seems like you had a rough month."

"No." Miguel holds his head in his hands. "I had a wonderful month, I had a family."

"So.. What's with the major bummer attitudes around here?" Lyla crosses her arms.

"It's gone." He speaks barely above a whisper.

Lyla raises an eyebrow. "What's gone?"

"All of it, Lyla. The people, the buildings, the planet. Probably the whole universe." He runs his fingers through his hair.

Lyla averts her gaze as she processes his words. "But.. How are you here? How is she here?"

Miguel looks up at the mention of the woman and follows Lyla's gaze to the woman standing on the balcony. He looks down at his watch and furrows his eyebrows. When he looks back up, he watches Kate leap off of the platform and towards the bustling city below. He pushes himself to his feet and runs to the railing, relieved to find her swinging through the distant city.

"How did this happen, Lyla? How could an entire universe just.. cease to exist?" He asks, turning back towards the AI.

"Well, we know that any anomalies in a dimension would fix themselves, hence the glitching." She points. "Maybe your watch overriding that natural kill switch for anomalies led to-"

"It's my fault?" Miguel asks, his voice trembling. "If I'd known.." He shakes his head. "I never would've stayed there, in that dimension."

"You didn't know, boss." Lyla points. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"No, but she can." He looks down. "And somehow that's worse."

Lyla presses her lips into a thin line. "Yeah.. That's something you two are gonna have to work out." She inhaled through her teeth. "But from the looks of how you guys showed up, she saved you. So maybe it won't be as bad as you're expecting."

Miguel glances over at the holographic woman and closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath. His suit forms around him as he approaches the railing again.

"Where ya goin'?" Lyla shouts from behind him.

"To find Kate." He states simply before leaping off the way she did.

Lyla sighs. "Probably not your best move, Miguel. She might need some space. But who cares what I have to say anyway." She says before disappearing back into the mainframe.

»»———-　　———-««

Kate swings recklessly through the alien world, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably as she weaves in and out of buildings and dodges fast-moving vehicles. She doesn't know where she's going, nor does she care. Nothing matters anymore, not to her.

Not having the strength to pull herself along by her webs any longer, she sets herself down on the pavement and continues on foot to God knows where. As she crosses yet another street, the sound of a horn echoes off of the buildings but doesn't seem to phase her, nor do the approaching headlights. Someone quickly tackles her to the other side of the road.

"What are you thinking? Walking around in the middle of the streets and paying no attention to your surroundings?" Miguel shouts. "Don't you have spider-senses? You should've known that car was coming."