A shock smashed up through Maddy's bones as her feet collided with the ground below the building. Cisco swore as his legs cracked below him, folding upwards into an unnatural position. Clarke dusted herself off and stared at her unconscious team.
'Right. Time to wake up.' She panted between exhilarated pants.
Both Maddy and Cisco threw up in reply.
'Great. Good start.'
'No shit.' Moaned Cisco.
'What the hell are we gonna do now?' Asked Maddy.
'Does anyone have a house? Anywhere that we can go?'
'I did. Though then it got attacked. And so did I.'
'Of course.'
'We can't just stay here, guys.' Pointed out Cisco, probably making the only good point of the entire conversation.
'My Mum had a house. She moved out and we used it a holiday house for a bit. We could go there.' Cisco continued.
'Good idea!' Shouted Clarke, throwing her arms up into the air exasperatedly.
'Now we only need to get across this probably Hydra-infested New York. Without dying. Without starving, getting kidnapped, getting assaulted, or robbed.' Said Maddy, and collapsed in a whimpering heap.
Police sirens screamed in the distance like a chorus of dying cats, and Clarke decided that it would be good idea to leave now. She grabbed her two non-willing assistants and closed her eyes.
When the atoms stopped flying past the runaways, they found themselves bleeding in Clarke's grip at some sort of a kid's playground that wasn't covered in police.
'Stop doing that!' Screamed Maddy.
'Okay. Okay. Just saving your life.' Retorted Clarke.
'Screw you.' Complained Maddy.
'Yah, I'd screw me too.'
Maddy walked off silently; having had deeply enough of Clarke.
'The house is over on that street. I think I can find the key.' Said Cisco, joining Maddy in walking off.
'I'm sorry?' Apologised Clarke and moped after them.
Cisco reached under a plant pot on the windowsill outside a small city cottage. He pulled out a copper key and thrust it into a lock. A chipped-painted door ebbed itself open and Ramon stepped back into his old house. Everything was exactly as the family had left it. Child's drawings still clung to the walls and dishes ached to be washed for the first time in a decade.
'This isn't creepy at all.' Commented Maddy, stepping through the abandoned fossil of a house.
Clarke sat silently down on a sofa, while Maddy tried to find something that was in date in the cupboards and Cisco looked upstairs for some clothes that weren't charred and bloodstained. Clarke kicked the brick-shaped television and was surprised that the thing actually started up again after a long, boring sleep.
'Government officials are looking for a group of superhumans that have escaped from an official lab.' Clarke swore under her breath.
'The public are advised not to panic, but if anyone sees these people; report to your nearest police station. Do not engage.'
'Don't engage. My arse.' Grumbled Clarke, toying with her blade and sipping whiskey from the flask that she'd stolen from some dude on the street.
Cisco coughed up a lungful of dead spiders and mildew as he rifled through his ancient bedroom. He found a T-shirt with a digger on it - times had changed a hell of a lot.
Maddy found a packet full of teabags which only seemed to have been out of date for two weeks. It was surprising how long these things lasted. 'Hey, guys. Come and look at this.' Yelled Clarke from the sofa; gesturing at their faces plastered on the television screen.
'Well shit.' Declared Maddy, speaking everyone's minds.
