Chapter Text
“Adina. We need to talk.”
The shorter mutant flinched in surprise and glared at him with stone-grey eyes.
“Shit, man! Do you always sneak up on people like that? Don’t fucking do that!”
Cable took a moment to consider that. Yes, he did certainly have a habit of, say, appearing randomly without ceremony. It had served him well as a political power move in the past, but he could see how someone as... high-strung, as Adina might take issue with the practice.
“My apologies for startling you. However, we do need to talk.”
“Can this wait?” They dug into a weathered brown leather satchel, pulling out a set of car keys polished to a shine. “I’m kind of busy right now.”
They smoothly flipped the keys around, then bent down to unlock the sleek, low-riding, iridescent blue Lamborghini parked out front of the townhouse.
“It really shouldn’t- is that your car?”
“Yeah.” they said aggressively, turning to stare directly into Cable’s eyes, almost like a challenge. He’d thought they owned an old-yet-practical pickup truck the colour of mud, but it had been several months since he’d spoken with them. Maybe they’d finally acquired better taste in vehicles.
Adina slid into the driver’s seat and Cable moved around to the opposite side, maneuvering himself into the cramped passenger side.
“You’re not going to go away, are you?”
“Adina, I know you must be upset with me and I want to apologize-”
“Ugh, fine. Walk and talk it is. Or rather, drive and talk.”
The car peeled off into the road and immediately picked up speed. Adina deftly wove through streets and alleys, often passing through openings that must have been much too small for even this sleek machine. It seemed like they had no regard for traffic law, aside from some preternatural ability to avoid every single red light in the city. And the speedometer just kept on climbing.
Cable was trying to recall why exactly he’d gotten into this car when he heard the first siren. They were in the outskirts of the city, tearing towards some back road most ignored in favour of the freeway. He expected Adina to slow down, pull over, do something that made sense for the first time since he’d approached them. Instead, they glanced in the rear mirror and let out a gleeful laugh that Cable found oddly disturbing. The police cruisers were gaining on them and he was beginning to seriously consider grabbing the wheel. As he thought that, he realized his left arm was growing cold and stiff. Adina’s hand was resting on his shoulder and granite had spread from their palm down his arm, slowly creeping across his chest.
“I’d think twice before you do that, big guy.” they said with a wink.
Adina Smith, threatening him? This day got stranger by the second.
They put both hands back on the wheel just in time for the car to rocket out of the alley onto a wider street. Three cruisers had caught up with them, racing after the Lamborghini with lights flashing and sirens blaring.
“Seat belt.” Adina’s nonchalant voice was a stark contrast to their wild, gleeful face.
“What?”
“Put your goddamn seat belt on, Future Boy.”
Cable obliged, too thrown to question. Was this how people felt when dealing with him? Swamped in a tide of illogical events and incomplete explanations? No wonder Irene was annoyed all the time, this was exhausting.
They sped down the street, passing a ‘Dead End’ sign and leaving it in their dust. Cable found himself clutching at the dashboard, the car door, his own seat. None of it felt solid enough. The brick wall marking the end of the road rose to meet them and the cruisers drew closer.
“Adina, stop! You’re going to get us killed!”
“And here I thought you were supposed to be smart. Damn, Future Boy, didn’t anyone ever tell you not to get in cars with strangers?”
He frantically ran the numbers in his mind: he could bodyslide them both out of this hellbound hot rod in an instant but the momentum-
The world spun around him. Tires screeched and he could smell the burnt rubber on the pavement. Adina’s face was a mask of delight unlike anything he’d ever seen. He hadn’t even known they were capable of grinning that widely.
The car completed its 360 and tore back out of the alley, squeezing impossibly between a pair of cruisers and rocketing out, leaving the city behind. They were a few miles out into rural New York when Adina’s words finally clicked into place. Cable hadn’t had time to consider them in the moment, he’d been more concerned with survival. But now they rattled in his mind, demanding attention. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to get in cars with strangers?
He slowly turned to look at Adina. Or rather, at whoever was wearing Adina’s face. It seemed so obvious, now that it had been pointed out. Adina wouldn’t shut down a conversation without explanation, and they wouldn’t casually threaten anyone. And Cable figured he could safely assume that they could not drive like that. Hell, the only person he’d seen maneuver a vehicle with that level of precision was Ghost Rider, and he had the advantage of an undead car. The evidence kept falling into place and Cable’s confusion was replaced by a dawning horror as New York City faded into the distance.
“Who are you?”