David's kiss overwhelms him, and it's stupid to run, so stupid to run away into the blankness, when they should be focusing on how to go back, but he doesn't know how to respond, he doesn't know what to say or to do and so he runs away. He needs to stop doing that. Maybe tomorrow.
He slows to a walk after about a minute, completely turned around now, at a loss for what to do. It's then that he notices there's a line on the ground. It's different than the boxes around him, like it was drawn in pencil. And it's getting thicker as he continues down it's path.
He should go find David. He should figure out what to say to Billy when he sees him next. He should, he should.
He continues to follow the line.
It spirals around itself at each corner, before straightening out again. Mother works in straight lines, harsh corners, which is maybe why he's so keen to follow it. Or maybe he's just happy to not have to make any decisions, right now.
Like what to do about David. Or Billy. Or Mother. Or Loki and America and where Eli was and was Tommy okay and would he be okay and would him and Billy be okay? He doesn't know. He doesn't know how to fix it, fix anything. He's just a kid, a kid who plays at being a superhero because he doesn't know how to be a person yet
Maybe. Maybe the line is David's way of finding him again. Or maybe it's Mother, playing with them, like she's been doing the whole time.
He rounds another corner, and stops. He's found the source of the spiral, but it's not David. It's not Mother, either.
The path he's been following goes into one of the squares on the wall, and disappears. But inside the box is a strange green creature, surrounded by bright drawings that all but erased the eerie whiteness of this world. The creature turns to look at him, and their eyes go wide. They open their mouth to speak, skull like face twisting in confusion, but if anything is spoken it doesn't escape the harsh black lines of the box. The cage, really.
How had Loki gotten him and Billy out of their cells? Maybe Teddy's being naive, but there's a desperate kind of hope in this strange kid's eyes, and with the day he's having, Teddy needs something good. He can't just walk away from this. He has to stop running at some point.
Anyway, any enemy of Mother's is a friend of his, right?
Punching a line on a wall seems silly, but it would be sillier still to not give it a shot. As he investigates the line, looking for any thin spots, a crack, something, the creature comes closer. At first glance, he thought maybe they were a malnourished Skrull, but now that they're closer, he realizes he's never seen this kind of person before. He spent his childhood memorizing alien races and galactic heroes, so the fact that this person is so… alien, is exciting. Their face really does resemble a skull, but their eyes are bright and intelligent. There's nothing dead about them. They're quite small, they'd be dwarfed by him even in his human form, and they're wearing a little green suit, with a symbol that he can't quite make out, but looks oddly familiar.
"Back up," he says, slow enough that they can hopefully read his lips. If they speak English. But they get the message, taking a few quick steps back. Teddy takes a breath, feeling the muscles of his arm rearranging themselves to give him a bit of extra strength. As he does, he spares a glance at the pictures on the ground behind them, doodles of kids in colourful, strange clothing, more spirals like the one that led him here. He's doing the right thing, saving this kid. He's not positive what makes him so sure, but something in their eyes, and the friends on the floor. He's been unsure about a lot of things, lately, but this isn't one of them.
Loki had gone straight for the line, when he broke open their boxes. Teddy's not sure if it will work as well for him, seeing as Loki is a god, and Teddy is… just Teddy. But it's a starting point. He clenches a fist, and the movement feels so comfortable. Because maybe he can't be a great boyfriend, or a great superhero, or a great son. But he throws a damn good punch.
His fist makes contact with the line, and there's a large crack. The creature stumbles, their cage shakes, and the line is now 3D, half hanging off the wall. Teddy grabs it, and it feels strange under his fingers, like touching something in a dream. No matter. He yanks at it, muscles straining, and the whole side pulls away. Out of the square tumbles the person, with a quiet 'oof!'. Teddy lets go, resisting the urge to wipe his hands on his trousers, because there's nothing on them but that strange lingering wrongness. Instead, he offers his hand to the fallen creature.
"Sorry about that."
They take the offered hand, and Teddy pulls them up. They're so light it's almost frightening, but their smile is wide, once they get their feet under them.
"No need for apologies, mister." A higher voice than he expected, and a strange accent that sounds like old radio broadcasts. "My name is Calliope. Thank you for the assist."
"Oh, yeah, it was… no big deal." It hadn't been, really, but it felt big, looking at this strange little green girl, beaming at him. "I'm Teddy."
He lets himself shrink down, until he's in his default green body. And he's not safe, not by a long shot, but he almost goes back to his human self anyway, because the strange landscape of Mother's isn't as scary with someone with him.
Calliope is staring at him in shock. "You… change shape? I do apologize for my forwardness, but I'm not familiar with what you are. We're the same colour, but you are definitely not a cherub…"
A cherub? A strange name, definitely not a race Teddy has heard of. Isn't that another name for an angel? It suits her, though, in a strange way. "That is… kind of a long story. I'm actually half Kree, and half Skrull? Hence the shapeshifting… I was raised human, though, and I try to stick to Earth as much as possible."
"Earth?" Calliope whispers it, like a treasured object. "Can I… can I follow you? I was… with my brother, but I don't…" And if she whispered Earth like it was something precious, then this next sentence is like a dream, "I don't think he's here with me anymore."
"Do you want to look for him? I actually… lost someone around here somewhere too, so we could look for them both?"
"No!" And she actually grabs his arm, her voice laced with fear, and if Teddy ever runs into her brother he might punch him, just for that. "It's okay. I don't want to find him."
"Okay. It's okay. You can come with me, then." The team probably wouldn't mind, they'd already picked up some strays, another one won't make a difference. And leaving her alone, alone with Mother, isn't an option at all.
"Back to Earth?"
"Yeah, if you want. I mean, we're kinda all over the place, right now, me and my team, but eventually Earth, if everything goes okay."
They're walking, away from her spiralling path, directionless in a directionless world.
"And it will be okay? That I… look like this?"
Teddy smiles down at her, the strange skeletal alien angel who's named after a muse. His team kinda needs a guardian angel right now, and Kid Loki doesn't count.
"With the company I keep, you won't even be the weirdest looking on the team."
And this gets a surprised laugh out of her, somewhere between bug wings and bells. "What kind of team do you mean? I do hope you're not all playing a video game together, or anything."
A video game? Something to ask later, maybe. Once they are out of danger, once they have a chance to talk about what brought them on the wrong side of Mother. For now, he just shrugs, knowing it sounds kinda absurd but they're in some weird pocket dimension prison anyway so why not. "More like a superhero team, I guess."
"Superheroes?" And there's something in her eyes, like she's just heard the punchline of a joke long time in coming. "I have always wanted to try my hand at being a hero." And then she points to the left. "There's a human boy about a hundred feet that way, of that's who you've lost? I am… good with Space."
He believes her, and they turn towards David and a way out.
His team is lost, scattered, and he stumbles on a strange green girl with a gift for Space? In spite of himself, he smiles. Their guardian angel indeed.