There was always a distinct smell to autumn air, the wind would carry the smell of the forest into Arcadia. In Seattle it was different somehow but now it reminded Max of days spent running around with Chloe dreaming of their future. No matter how many afternoons they did this, their plans always centered around them being together. Today felt different. From the moment that Max had woken up this morning she knew that to be true. She had spent most of the morning trying to pin it down. The answer was all too obvious when she found herself gazing at Chloe for more than a moment. She felt so silly but she couldn't help but worry if she took her eyes off of her, she would disappear. She had the power to alter reality, to change things how she wanted them to be, but all she ever used it for was to make sure that one thing remained constant.

"You're such a creeper." Chloe said with a smile. She had an eyebrow raised as she looked over at Max sitting in the passenger seat of her truck. They had just left Blackwell and were almost into town. Max hadn't noticed one of her gazes had turned into a full on stare. Max quickly turned away to look out the window feeling embarrassed. "Awww no, I think it's cute...like a cute creeper." Max looked back at her with a coy smile. The punk was nodding and her nose was scrunched up as she smiled fondly. "You're just so quiet and thoughtful when you do it. I always wonder what you're thinking about in that head of yours." Chloe leaned over checking herself out in the rearview mirror, "Or if I got some kinda thing on my face and you're trying to decide whether to tell me."

Max couldn't restrain her giggle and the heat in her cheeks subsided. Finally she replied matter-of-factly, "No, you're perfect." Chloe straightened up returning her eyes to the road but still smiling. It was a beautiful day and it was chilly out but the cabin of the truck felt cozy with the heater running on low. Max knew that it should rain today, it made her think of Kate. She hoped that she had gotten through to her this morning.

"You seem a lot better this morning. I was kind of worried about you last night." Chloe said but she was hesitant, Max could tell she was anxious about getting this right. "I know yesterday was hard for you and if you need to talk about it...I'm here."

Max just nodded acknowledging the offer, but she wasn't exactly sure how to take her up on it. She couldn't tell Chloe everything that Jefferson had done or what it was like. She knew that Chloe had felt she had failed when she found out that Jefferson had shot her and it had led to Max being taken. Max didn't blame her but she knew Chloe would blame herself.

Chloe continued this time more firmly, "I know you feel like you have to take on all of this yourself because you have this power but you don't." She glanced over, "You did say you brought me back with you to help." The way she said it however made it sound more like a question than a statement of what was true.

"You are helping me Chloe." Max replied but it came out more defensive than she had intended.

Chloe kept her eyes on the road but frowned. "You want me to help with things that you think are safe for me to help with but if it's risky or something you think I don't want to hear, you won't share that. If we are going to do this then you have to share everything, even the bad things."

Max crossed her arms almost hugging herself. "And what do you want me to share?" Her chest tightened as if something was grabbing a hold of her and clenching her together so that nothing ugly would spill out for Chloe to see. "That I had to watch you die unable to use my power to save you? That it felt useless when I was in the dark room strapped to a chair? I had to use Jefferson's pictures to time jump to moments of him taking them so I could find a way out."

Max's voice kept rising with each sentence and she could see that it did hurt Chloe to listen, just as she knew it would. She didn't want this but Chloe had opened that door and everything was tumbling out. "When I used them, Jefferson was there. He was using me for his art. I laid there, I couldn't move. He drugged me so I was dead weight, I was helpless. It was like being a prisoner in my own body. He talked to me and told me awful things. He told me after he was done he was going to kill me. I went through so many timelines trying to get out of there and set things right and most of them didn't have you in them. I knew if I got it wrong I'd never see you alive again."

Chloe turned to her again, her eyes were wet from blinking tears. "We are both adults now Max, I can handle it. Let me help you." She was pleading now, her voice breaking, it reminded Max of standing in the rain at the lighthouse. "You're always saving me and showing me how much you care. I don't feel like a lost cause around you like I did before. But now I see you carrying around this pain you won't talk about and it hurts me because it looks so familiar."

"Chloe…" Whined Max, the anger started to melt away. It was half to protest and partly a plea for Chloe not to press her on this. Max wasn't sure where following this direction would take her.

"No, Max. Listen. I can carry some of the weight and you don't have to tiptoe around me and tell me only what you think I want to hear." She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket adding bitterly, "I've really had enough with being left out on things and now that you can include me I don't have to be anymore."

Max heard the notes of pain in her words that normally only hid beneath her eyes. She uncrossed her arms and ran her palms back and forth on her jeans. "I'll try Chloe. I just don't want you to get hurt." She stared down into the floorboard. They travelled for a few minutes in silence before Chloe held out her hand for Max to take as if to ask 'are we ok?'. Max reached out and felt the girl's familiar grasp. It always made her feel safe and secure. She knew that Chloe only said something because she cared but it was hard to listen to.

They were coming into town and Chloe was making her way to the main road to take it out to the woods. What they would find out there Max couldn't guess, but she was hoping that it wasn't another dark room. A totem of some kind was supposed to be there but she wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do about it or how it would help. She could see they were coming up to a traffic light that had just turned green and Chloe had pulled her hand away from hers to point up to a building.

"Look. It's a…" Max followed her finger up to the roof of a building that they were getting closer to. She saw black beady eyes staring back at her.

"...Raven." Max finished for her.

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNK

Max tried to warn her but it didn't matter, Chloe had heard it. Time seemed to slow down but this time Max wasn't controlling it. They were under the traffic light and the grill of a red semi truck was barreling for the door. Chloe let go of the steering wheel and half lept and was half thrown into the passenger side. Max felt arms wrap around her small frame while the steel cage they were in rolled upside down. The momentum of the spinning made her sick and her body slammed into the passenger door that groaned a threat of caving in.

Is that the pavement?

The truck found itself upright again only to spin again. Max could see shards of glass breaking into a crystal spiral and feel them sting her face and arms. She felt Chloe push against her or was it pulling? She held her back tightly and there was a cry of anguish. The outside world through the busted windshield revolved once more. Max felt herself weakening, she struggled to stay conscious the beating her body was taking, it begged her mind to shut off. It wanted the pain to stop. A tendril of something wet was sliding down her forehead.

No. Chloe needs me.

Then time stopped. This time it was Max's doing. She felt Chloe clinging to her and could see that the truck had stopped upside down. She could see the pavement as it hovered so close to them as they hung suspended above it in mid air. The frame of the truck had been twisted forming dangerous shapes, all of which they could find themselves impaled on. Everything around Max had turned a grey hue and the air around them was warped and it quivered between the real and the intangible. It was like reality itself was shuddering.

"Max…? What is...this?" Chloe called out but her voice wasn't emanating from her mouth. It echoed in this death chamber of gnarled metal. It came from far away but seemed so close. Max looked around searching for the answer to the question. Her eyes fell back to the pavement and to the razor edged ruins of what was once was Chloe's truck. This was the moment before their death.

"Hold on." Max replied without the use of her lips. The world had stopped to ask her to make her choice. She concentrated and gave it an answer. Max and Chloe clung to each other as the truck started to spin in reverse. It's metal carriage repaired itself before their eyes. The tiny fragments of glass wound themselves together again melding together like puzzle pieces.

Then something popped. It was as fast as a blink, a cut in a movie. Max was sitting in the passenger seat and Chloe was driving again. They were speeding towards the green traffic light. The tires cried out in a screech as Chloe slammed on the breaks. Max could smell the burnt rubber and Chloe jerked the truck right. The truck came to an abrupt halt. Max felt her side elevate but to her relief the tires set themselves back down and the red semi passed them.

Chloe was clutching the steering wheel with both hands, her knuckles white from squeezing. She took a few breaths and looked over to Max scanning her up and down.

"Max. Are you okay?"

Max looked herself over and nodded as she tried to get her bearings. She wasn't injured and neither was Chloe. The truck wasn't destroyed. They were okay. Max looked up at the building across the street and Chloe's worried eyes followed hers. They both watched as the raven looked down at them and then spread his wings before flying away.

Chloe looked back at Max, "It tried to kill us."

"We have to get out of the middle of the road." Max replied as she put her hand on the dash to steady herself. She felt woozy from the rewind but it was fading. Chloe got them back on the road and they were on their way out of town now. Max rubbed her forehead and pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn't concentrate but it didn't stop her thoughts from scattering themselves everywhere. It took a moment before she was able to focus on one at a time but at least there were no nose bleeds.

She watched Chloe. She was driving in a quiet shock at what she just witnessed. Max wasn't sure if Chloe knew what she had been looking at. Max knew she was suppose to be sharing. This was her moment.

"You asked me what that was back there." Max said and Chloe glanced over at her and nodded silently. "Sometimes things happen too fast for me to respond. When I get into a dangerous situation and I need to rewind, time will sometimes freeze and allow me to concentrate on the rewind. It's almost like time limbo. I feel like i'm doing it but also it's reactive. It only happens when I don't have time to react normally." Max's brow furrowed, "Like when you flinch? It's just something your body does without thinking. It's still you doing it but it's like passive, reflexive. It's like that."

Chloe placed a hand on the back of her neck and squeezed. "So we...were about to die?"

Max's released a breathy whisper, "...Yeah."

Their eyes connected and to Max's surprise she didn't see fear but something else that she couldn't place. "You were amazing back there Max. You saved me again. You saved us. We can beat this thing. It's no match for us because it failed. We are getting closer to the truth and it wants to stop us."

Chloe smiled at her and Max couldn't help but return it as it slowly became a grin. "I'm totally better than triple A."

"Hella."

Max giggled and scooted over to the middle seat so she could wrap her arms around the punk.

Chloe kissed her before turning her attention back to the road. Max rested her head on Chloe's shoulder and tried to process everything that had just transpired. Chloe had her arm around her and was rubbing her side with her free hand soothingly.

"Shit's getting real Maximus. That was crazy back there but we have to follow this through to the end. I'm not going to let some mangy bird get away with this." She saw Max smile at her attempt at levity as she looked down at her.

"It's really weird to think that this is the new norm for us." Max replied, then a thought hit her.

It tried to kill us

Max raised her head up and Chloe turned to her slowly, the abrupt motion disrupting her investment in the cuddle. "Good?" She asked with a consoling note.

"What you said before, you said it tried to kill us."

"Well yeah. It has to be that raven spirit. It must have fucked with the traffic light." Chloe replied unclear on why Max was retreading this ground.

"But don't you see? It was another freak accident, like the ones that I had to save you from last week. You said that it was because I was using my powers to change things like your death. Like the universe was trying to right something I messed up."

"The first time you used your power, it was to save me." She answered biting her lip.

"This isn't happening because of my time powers. That spirit was always trying to stop us from the very beginning. The only reason we noticed it this time is because we are very close and it's getting desperate to stop us."

Chloe let out a laugh that was half a gasp, "Hah." She smiled at Max, "I'm not cursed then. This thing is afraid of us." She smirked, "It better be afraid, my girlfriend is a badass super hero and we are coming to kick it's ass."

Max chuckled and laid her head back down on the punk's shoulder. "We do need to be careful though."

Chloe checked her directions and found a dirt road that seemed weathered enough to be a path that would take them to Nathan's mystery spot. She drove halfway down the road before getting too close to the location. She turned around and parked on the side of the road so that just in case they needed to leave quickly they could. The rest of the way they would walk on foot. They weren't sure what this place was, and if anyone was there to spot them. Chloe pulled out a small brown canvas bag from underneath the seat.

"Nabbed this from step fuhrer's lair when I was getting my stuff for our extended sleep over. Has binoculars, a swiss army knife, compass, and just random crap that could help us. I wasn't sure what we would be doing or where we would be going. I figure these binoculars could at least let us scope out the place from a safe distance like recon."

"What would I do without you?" Max replied shutting the truck door.

The punk strapped the bag across her chest and closed hers. "Uh, let's see. First, no time powers. Second, be really freaking bored at Blackhell and not know your photography teacher is a psycho."

"I try not to think about it." She snarked, "Let's do this agent Price."

Chloe gave her a sloppy salute and together they walked through the trees sticking close to the dirt path so as to not get seen. The forest was dense here and even though they weren't wearing any camouflage Max figured that it would be difficult to spot them from a distance. It was quiet except for the autumn leaves crunching underneath their feet. Here the woodsy smell was strongest unlike the second hand version you could get anywhere in town. Chloe was trudging ahead, her boots stomping through the vegetation. Max couldn't help but smile at her, if she didn't know better it felt almost like they were on a normal hike and she looked cute with her survival bag.

Chloe stopped and held her hand out to stop Max. "Think I see something." She said low and she opened up her bag drawing the binoculars out. She put them up to her eyes. "It looks like a small warehouse."

"Out here?" Max asked softly.

"Yep. It's not very big but it's like a little bigger than the Prescott barn was." Max crept closer and peeked around the taller girl's shoulder. She could just make out between the trees a metal building ahead. Chloe handed her the binoculars over her shoulder and Max pointed them toward the wall. She could see that it did indeed look like a warehouse.

"I can't see the door. Let's get closer and walk around." Max said handing the binoculars back.

Chloe nodded and added a wave of two fingers forward in a squad leader gesture to move forward. Max shook her head and they snuck closer to the warehouse and circled around it from a distance. The dirt road stopped just before the building. It didn't appear that any vehicles were driving into it unlike the Prescott barn.

Chloe peered through the binoculars. "I see the door...and something else you aren't going to like." Max stood next to her and Chloe shifted the binoculars so she could see. Max put her eyes up to them. The door was now easily visible but standing beside it was a tough looking man in cargo pants and combat boots. Everything about him shouted hired thug but the thing that worried Max the most was the sidearm strapped to his hip. She spotted a key card badge hanging from a strap on his belt on the other side.

"Ugh. This is going to be tougher than last time. How are we going to get past him?" She turned to Chloe who was already grinning at her with mischievousness.

"Duh... timey wimey stuff of course."