Cannibal, Cannibal

[Ada Wong]

Ada emerged from the fortress-like structure of glass and metal, face bared to the artificial sunlight and her breath leaving her in a long-drawn sigh. A lush park was directly across the street, a handsome pond and several trash-free benches strewn alongside straight sidewalks and bicycle paths. Vehicles sped through the skies on invisible highways, and others simply dithered and buzzed through the air nearer to street-level— dizzy, bobbing, turning in broken loop-de-loops like drunken bumblebees. Sounds and sights and harsh echoes burst all around. As the automatic glass doors slid closed behind her with a musical whine, Ada brought out a map she'd obtained from the Visitor Center, scrutinizing the colored pathways that denoted the location of prominent buildings and the layer-cake depiction of Coruscant's tiers, each one accessible by elevator.

The clerk at the information desk had said that hailing a sky taxi would be the best way to travel, taken one good look at Ada's bullet-riddled side, and then promptly began to sort through a catalogue of taxi services and the levels of amenities each one offered. Ada had thanked the woman, her lips smiling a false smile and murmuring soft, friendly lies, and then she'd beat a hasty escape.

She was fairly sure she could handle catching a taxi, thank you very much, even if her appearance was a little bloodied.

A small alcove—sort of like an urban bus stop— was located just outside the checkpoint zone's doors. She had been standing under this sheltered overhang for quite a while when another person joined her, dumping themselves onto the bench with a sharp grunt and the malignant sound of metal pinging against metal.

Turning her head just a bit, half-expecting to see yet another heavily-armored soldier come to escort her someplace, Ada was surprised to see the woman who had actually elected to come near. Most of the other visitors she'd encountered were wary enough of her to keep their distance, but this one appeared almost at ease, a striking metal arm curving along her left side and a fierce fohawk spiking up from her scalp, a few prominent bangs sloping downward in a sweep of hair over her forehead. A faint snarl twisted her lips as she squinted up at the sky, her eyes darting about, seeming almost... hunted, the fingers of her mechanical arm twitching.

She noticed Ada watching her a beat later, eyes snapping up to focus on the secret agent's face before slanting down to take in the entirety of her form, blood and bruises and all. She didn't seem all that bothered by obvious signs of violence, a trait that Ada could respect, but her expression also seemed fractured, a bit cagey, like she was scanning Ada for hidden weapons about as thoroughly as the Empire's soldiers had. Her gaze lingered on the duckling, confusion evident on her face.

"The fuck happened to you?" She finally ground out, syllables grinding hard against one another like a vocal chord-sized chainsaw. "Someone kick your ass?"

Ada smiled, lowering herself to sit primly on the opposite edge of the bench, hands tucked neatly in her lap. "I was the one doing most of the ass-kicking, actually. At the risk of sounding cliché, you should see the other guy."

"Huh," the woman said, giving Ada's amused expression a skeptical glance. Apparently deciding that she liked what she saw, the other woman's face split into a shark's grin. "Not bad. Not bad at all."

Ada bowed her head graciously, accepting the compliment with a slight smirk on her mouth. An only vaguely uncomfortable silence fell between the two women, and just as Ada began to suspect that they would not be speaking anymore, the other woman began again.

"So... you a Prime, or what? 'Cause this Omni stuff is all sorta new to me and shit. Creepy law enforcement slash corporate-type lectured me back there about it all. S'not a bad deal, but I'd rather be back in my own damn universe, you feel me?"

Eyebrows knitting together in confusion, Ada canted her head to the side. "A Prime? Is that what someone brought here by Omni is called?"

"Yeah, that's what the man said. Seems like a dickish name if you ask me," the other Prime shrugged, favoring her flesh-made shoulder a tad more than her mecha-arm as she did so. Ada agreed; it was a pretty dickish moniker. She hadn't much of an idea of what sort of world she'd been so unceremoniously dumped into, but that definitely wasn't a good sign.

Then again, Ada mused to herself, Wesker would probably like a title such as that. He'd probably take it as a sign of his superiority to other life, or something. It was a good thing she'd taken the time to score a lucky hit when he was already severely weakened upon entering the Omniverse— she'd likely never get a chance like that again.

Snapping back to the present, Ada noticed that the stranger's eyes had turned to the busy street, her lips pursed in thought. Clearing her throat and regaining her newfound conversation partner's attention, Ada asked about where the other would be going after this.

The woman shook her head, looking down at the metal fingers of one arm. Gradually, the metallic joints locked into a tight fist.

"I dunno. Wherever the wind blows me, I guess, or however that dumb saying goes."

There was a long silence after that. Looking down and away, Ada reflected on her own situation and realized that she felt much the same way, but couldn't quite express it in such simple terms.

"Peep," said the duckling folded in her hands. Ada had to forcibly tamp down on the urge to roll her eyes, but stroked the yellow fuzz on the top of its head in a way that was far too gentle for someone who'd just clawed someone's face off not even three hours ago.

Determining that maybe the stranger would prefer being left to her own devices, or perhaps deciding that she was finished waiting around for something to happen, Ada stood, then made to step into the street and signal at one of the vehicles flying overhead. Her heel had scarcely laid flat against the asphalt when she was immediately waylaid by a large sky taxi swooping down in her path, heat and expelled air whooshing all around it and stirring the red folds of her qipao.

One of the glass windows on the torpedo-shaped, silvery metal vehicle slid to the side, revealing a green-skinned creature with a variety of pink-tinged tentacles curling around its face like a sea anemone.

"You looking for a ride?" It asked in a cheerful, human-sounding voice. This left Ada feeling rather cast out into a sea of conflicting thoughts and urges, unsure if she should shoot this thing in the face or locate a psychiatrist as soon as physically and temporally possible.

In the end she didn't do either of those things, primarily because the other woman had leapt up and was crowding into the cramped, curved inside of the flying taxi, dragging Ada along with her. The spy found herself pretty unluckily trapped between a figurative rock and a hard place as the vehicle gave a shocking jolt and began to ascend, the ground receding in a rush of color and blurry shapes.

"You two ladies interested in the tour?" The alien asked, and oh god, Ada could see it peering back at them in the rearview mirror around the mass of writhing tentacles covering its face.

"Sure," said the woman with the metal arm, her eyes sweeping the interior of the craft as if searching for something in particular. When she apparently didn't find it, the woman leaned back in her seat with a grumble, shifting around a bit to get more comfortable.

When she was finally finished, she turned to Ada, spiky hair brushing the roof of the space they'd crammed themselves into.

"The name's Aello, by the way."

She held out her hand. Her metal hand. Ada gently accepted the handshake with her own, marveling at the surprising warmth of the metal as it touched her fingers. At least she could cross shaking hands with a cyborg limb off her bucket list.

"Ada."