c l o u d n i n e

“You know what– you people suck. And yeah, it feels shitty sometimes, but honestly– I’m fine with it. I don’t want this life. I just want to fly. Plain and simple.”

“Right now? As in like, currently on the radio kind of songs? Maybe Bad Guy? Or uhh— I mean that– Lil Nas- dude seems pretty chill.”

“Uh, yeah. Besides— doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks.”

“I love technicalities.” Rules too. Formulas? Sign her up. But the world didn’t work in codes. Just to be nice, Riri let Abby push ahead while she fiddled to make sure the AI was on and all screens were functioning as they should be. It was unnecessary since she had worked her ass off to make sure that they were, but when she felt done she thrusted forward to fall into place next to her. “At first I was waiting for the day this all starts getting old, but I don’t think it’s ever going to come.”

Riri fell behind for a bit, and Abby picked up speed, gliding through the air as the wind carried her. Suddenly, Abby tried not to flinch as a bird sped past, but let out a yelp regardless, the entire incident more comical than she’d hoped it to be. Unsure if Riri had witnessed the encounter, she pretended she hadn’t, responding to the other girl’s observation, “--you’re darn right it’s not. I had to have had wings in a past life.”

“Was that a yes or a no? I didn’t hear an answer.” The wings retracted back into the shoulder blades of the pack that Nadia wore over her suit so that she could drop down onto the ground. “Short ride.”

“Hey! And she makes it!” Abby teased, levitating a few inches off the ground for a brief moment as she turned to face Nadia, mist swirling at her heels, “--you wanna go further? Is this your way of challenging me to a race, Van Dyne?”

“You literally have a worse one. All those buttons? Impractical. You just got a head start this time because I was actually doing something instead of loitering alone on rooftops.” She tugged the mask over her face and fastened it. “Boom.”

“Hey! I take major offense to that,” Abby’s face morphed into an exaggerated frown as she popped her jacket collar, “This outfit is cool as hell. You’re just jealous. And you take for-ever to get ready.”

“Yeah? You never struck me as the type.” Kate’s words were teasing. She and Abby weren’t close but they were fine. Sitting on a roof together didn’t feel forced or strained. “At this point, I don’t know what to say. Everyone’s upset but we have to move on. I’ll be fine.”

“Hey, I’m an open book--- you just haven’t read it yet,” Abby shrugged, fully expecting Kate to roast her for the cheesy metaphor, “But I get that. Sometimes it’s better to just sit by and watch things grow and heal on their own. Everything does eventually.”

“Does it weird me out that my palms ‘secrete a special fluid’ that makes me sticky?” she paused. “No. I’ve been this way as long as I can remember. It’s different when you grow up with it.”

Abby’s face wrinkled in disgust for a brief moment, “Wow uhh- when you put it that way---” letting out a puff of air, she touched down on the rooftop finally, expression now shifted to one of acknowledgment, “Understandable. The cloud hasn’t really been around as long as one might think--- you know, despite my absolute mastery of it,” she joked.

Gwen broke her staring match with the city skyline, scuffing one foot against the concrete. “We come up here to fly, not you play therapist. I don’t want to unload on you.” Besides, Gwen wasn’t sure what it was specifically. There was just something wrong. “It’s just weird seeing how things are back home and then here.”

“Trust me, playing therapist is at the top of my to-do list right now,” and she meant it. Sure, Abby was a little flaky sometimes, but she was a damn good friend when she needed to be.

“Hey, I get it-- but every Earth has their share of good and bad.”

Julian looked skeptical, “Leaving for where? The afterlife? What are you doing?”

“Right,” Abby nodded, “—you don’t fly? Do you fly? I have no idea if I’m being honest.”

She was still distracted, gaze scanning the tops of the buildings instead of paying any attention to Abby. Vaguely realizing she was being spoken to, Gwen blinked a few times and looked over. “–I ?? Me?? Yeah. Yeah. We’re good.”

Abby frowned as the mist dissipated and feet met rooftop once again. Approaching the blonde with caution and concern, Abby hoped that Gwen would look at her, “—hey. What’s up? You know you can talk to me.”

“Since it became time for check-ins. No ones above the check in.” Jess was still in the middle of sending her patented stare when Abby plunged out of sight. At this point she knew better than to be scared by the sight of the teen throwing herself over the ledge, and she waited until she popped back up. “Jesus, kids.” She muttered under her breath before taking a running leap over the buildings edge. A common misconception was that she could fly. Wrong. Jessica Drew could glide and even calling it that was pushing it. She was able to propel herself far enough that the side of the building was in reach and as soon as she was close enough Jessica made contact and instantly sucked on. It only took a second to climb to the top after that, wall crawling complete. “That’s fine.”

Abby was hovering a few feet off the ground, cross-legged and reclining as Jessica rejoined her on the next rooftop, “Does it ever weird you out? That you stick to things?” The question was wholly unnecessary, but Abby didn’t know what else to make conversation about at the moment.

Kate swung her legs, the feeling of nothingness under boots nowhere near as concerning as it could have been. She couldn’t fly but she did have a grappling arrow if push came to shove. Clint had said Natasha had used a grapple to save him back when they were getting one of the Stones. Natasha – someone clint had loved her very much – had died so people like Kate could be back. How could she reconcile that? “–Everything.” She finally settled on. “Everyone says man, it must be so weird coming back but they don’t know the half of it.”

Abby let Kate talk, only opening her mouth to reply after hearing the archer prompt her for an answer, “Can’t say that I can relate. You wanna talk about it? My mom says I’m a pretty good listener,” the statement was partly a joke, but the sentiment was completely genuine.

“You don’t want to make an explosion? Really, Abby, you should be glad you have such a dynamic friend.” With her jacket now on, Lana held up the mask she had yet to put on. “C’mon, we have to now. I’m this $@#$  far along in getting ready.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’ve got the world’s most impractical superhero outfit,” Abby teased, lifting the goggles away from her face for a moment. Abby, on the other hand, clad in something akin to a 1940s pilot, had no room to talk.